Christmas Aftershocks: Rick and Morty Season 8

“Rick and Morty is back for Season 8! Life has meaning again! Anything is possible! Look out for adventures with Summer, Jerry, Beth, and the other Beth. Maybe Butter Bot will get a new task? Whatever happens, you can’t keep Rick and Morty down for long. People have tried!” – Product Description on the Box

·      Media Format‏: ‎ DVD

·      Run time : ‎ 5 hours and 30 minutes

·      Release date‏: ‎ November 11, 2025

·      Here it is, Season 8, the season they replaced Justin Roiland, for – reasons. People seem to be of divided opinion, some saying it sucks without him, others saying it is as good as it ever was, and that Roiland had been phoning it in for years. I’m going to have 5 ½ hours of viewing time to come to my own conclusions. I found it difficult to follow this Season when it was on the air; lately I’ve been going to sleep early and waking up when it was over. Found it, to my surprise, when I went to Walmart early this morning to get a new belt and some lancets for my glucose bloodletting. 

 

Into the Archive: Rick and Morty Season Seven

This DVD was released on March 12^th of 2024; the season itself wound up on December 17^th, 2023. Since that time, I have not really cared too much about watching reruns or getting the DVD. The season was only 10 episodes long; it was the season that replaced Justin Roiland as the voice of both Rick and Morty, rather flawlessly, I thought. It was not that. Why did I find it so easy to put aside, so forgettable until a few days short of a year?

Perhaps it was the resolution of several through-lines in the show that had teasingly led us over several seasons, especially of Rick Prime and Evil Morty. Suggested backstories with tantalizing clues were resolved into ‘established canon.’ Perhaps it was the over-use of already introduced characters, sometimes batches at a time. Even Mr. Poopybutthole, quite satisfying as a background character and season commentator, is given a complete episode (along with his family!). Halfway through the season Rick must deal with the sudden flatness of fulfilling his Ahab-like life goal. Episodes do tend to be rollicking roller-coaster rides, but are less entertaining than the saga of the other seasons.

Still, I had to have the season for completeness’ sake, and there are bits and pieces that rise to interest. Perhaps the best ‘new’ character is Bigfoot; but even he seems like a scrambling effort to gather in all weirdness. And there are rumblings about Season Eight, which will come out ‘sometime early in 2025’. The extras on Season 7 are rather scant, a few moments comment by Dan Harmon and other creators on each five episodes on each of two discs. Here’s hoping that they’ll hit the ground running in Season Eight and regain their momentum. ‘At least until Season 10!’

Off the Wish List and Into the Archive

I am slowly but surely regaining my mental equilibrium, mostly through a great visit with my brother John over at his house yesterday, where he bought us Chicken Express for supper (for which I made some of Pop's old-fashioned BBQ sauce), and we watched The Ten Commandments in the amazing transfer he owns. There was much nostalgia mulled over (we always watched it when it came on around this time of year, and our Mom had actually seen it in theaters and had an old souvenir program) and we passed along much movie trivia to Kameron and Joey. Then today I was heartened again when I received (at about 5 PM) an order from Amazon that I had only made about two days ago.

There have been many 'add-ons' to the Gravity Falls franchise (comic books, journals, and such) but the only item I thought really checking out was this one, Gravity Falls: Lost Legends, written by the series creator Alex Hirsch himself. The four tales therein span time periods from when Stan and Ford were kids until right before Dipper and Mabel leave the Falls. The collection ends with the ostensible narrator, the gnome Shmebulock, more or less advocating another season. A tease, or a sidelong hint from Hirsch?

Rick and Morty: Season Six (DVD)

We come to the rather complicated Season Six of Rick and Morty, where the stories become a little more convoluted and the personal development of the characters deepens. It seems over time the writers are growing more tied to these instances of the iterations of the cast and their growth; in the old days any Beth, Jerry, or Summer could be replaced by one from another dimension. This season has been plagued by drama offscreen as well, with Justin Roiland (who voices both Rick and Morty) facing accusations of sexual misconduct, being canceled from his various projects, and then having the charges against him dropped for lack of evidence. What will happen now is anybody's guess, though Roiland's character still seems problematical, and the studio appears intent on re-casting the voices of Rick and Morty.

I ordered this book on a whim. I had been kind of nosing around Clark Ashton Smith for quite a while, my interest aroused by the high regard H. P. Lovecraft and others of his circle held him in. The only other books I had of his were Hyperborea, a short story collection edited by Lin Carter in the Ballantine Books Adult Fantasy Series and The Abominations of Yondo. The Dark Eidolon and other Fantasies seems to be an interesting anthology of his better short stories and poetry. It is edited with notes by S. T. Joshi which should help guide me through the tales. But what really put it over for me was that cover illustration, which I suppose to be a drawing by Smith himself. It recalls for me the sort of 'hieratic' art of the kind that fantasists of all stripes were probably scribbling in their high school notebooks in every age of time.

Rick and Morty: Season Five

 

Rick and Morty: Season Five has been called by some a series-breaker, mainly because in places it ‘establishes canon’, has actual character development, and brings several story arcs to a kind of a conclusion rather than constantly juggling and teasing them through a simply episodic serial. People are afraid, I think, that they will miss the kind of show they have come to love; they cannot see how it could progress from here, and that it might grow beyond a simple series of absurd adventures without losing the adventures or the absurdity. While I acknowledge that Rick and Morty is walking a kind of highwire here, I don’t think this season any worse than the past seasons, and I enjoy it for what it is. My only beef with this DVD collection is that it doesn’t contain a proper commentary track with each episode as the other seasons have had in the past.  

Update: Looking back I see I didn't mark when I got Season Four. Well, I do have it.

Items from the Wish List: From the Sublime to the Hilarious

Poetic Diction: A Study in Meaning by Owen Barfield

First published in 1928, 'Poetic Diction: A study in Meaning' presents not merely a theory of poetic diction but also a theory of poetry and a theory of knowledge. "Language has preserved for us the inner, living history of man's soul. It reveals the evolution of consciousness." Owen Barfield Owen Barfield is one of the twentieth century's most significant writers and philosophers. A member of the Inklings, Barfield's ideas and literary artistry influenced fellow-Inklings C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, and won praise from many of the foremost literary figures of the century. Praise for Owen Barfield: "A prolific and interesting thinker" - Times Literary Supplement "The wisest and best of my unofficial teachers."- C.S.Lewis "A masterpiece ... of prophetic value" - T.S.Eliot "possibly the clearest and most searching thinker of the present time" - Howard Nemerov. – Amazon.

The Rediscovery of Meaning, and Other Essays by Owen Barfield

'The Rediscovery of Meaning' is a collection of essays about language, imagination, the human being, society and God. In each, Barfield points to solutions to the modern-day experience of meaningless fragmentation. This book includes some of Barfield's most brilliant, most readable, and most profound pieces. Among them are 'Poetic Diction and Legal Fiction', 'The Harp and the Camera', 'Matter, Imagination and Spirit', and 'Philology and the Incarnation'. – Amazon.

Owen Barfield on C.S. Lewis by Owen Barfield

'Owen Barfield on C.S. Lewis' is a collection of essays and lectures about the author, theologian, and literary scholar, C. S. Lewis. Barfield and Lewis were close friends for 44 years, from their Oxford days after WWI to Lewis's death in 1963. Barfield's reflections on their relationship ended only with his own passing, in his hundredth year. Barfield was instrumental in converting Lewis to theism. However, the two disagreed on many points, and it is that creative dialectic which defines and irradiates their friendship: "In an argument we always, both of us, were arguing for the truth, not for victory" (Owen Barfield). C.S. Lewis on Owen Barfield: "The wisest and best of my unofficial teachers." "Barfield towers above us all." To Walter Field: "You notice when Owen and I are talking metaphysics which you don't follow: you don't notice the times when you and Owen are talking economics which I can't follow. Owen is the only one who is never out of his depth." – Amazon.

Symbol or Substance?: A Dialogue on the Eucharist with C. S. Lewis, Billy Graham and J. R. R. Tolkien by Peter Kreeft

In this engaging fictional conversation, Peter Kreeft gives credible voices to C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Billy Graham as they discuss one of the most contentious questions in the history of Christianity: Is Jesus symbolically or substantially present in the Eucharist?

These widely respected modern Christian witnesses represent three important Western theological traditions. Graham, an ordained Southern Baptist minister who traversed the world and the airwaves to spread the good news of salvation, represents evangelical Protestantism. Lewis, an Oxford professor, a prolific Christian apologist, and the author of The Chronicles of Narnia, was a member of the Church of England. Also an Oxford don, Tolkien was a friend of Lewis, the author of The Lord of the Rings, and a Roman Catholic.

While Lewis and Tolkien likely discussed the Eucharist during their long friendship, the conversation in this book never took place―but it could have, says Kreeft, who faithfully presents the views of these three impressive men. – Amazon.

Christian Mythmakers: C.S. Lewis, Madeleine L'Engle, J.R.R. Tolkien, George Madonald, G.K. Chesterton, and Others 
by Rolland Hein

The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (Penguin Classics) by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Anthea Bell

 Tomcat Murr is a loveable, self-taught animal who has written his own autobiography. But a printer's error causes his story to be accidentally mixed and spliced with a book about the composer Johannes Kreisler. As the two versions break off and alternate at dramatic moments, two wildly different characters emerge from the confusion - Murr, the confident scholar, lover, carouser and brawler, and the moody, hypochondriac genius Kreisler. In his exuberant and bizarre novel, Hoffmann brilliantly evokes the fantastic, the ridiculous and the sublime within the humdrum bustle of daily life, making The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr (1820-22) one of the funniest and strangest novels of the nineteenth century. – Amazon.

Upstart Crow - The Complete Series 1-3 And The Christmas Specials Boxset

Upstart Crow by Ben Elton

It’s the 1590s. William Shakespeare—brought to life on screen by the inimitable David Mitchell—is at the start of his career. But no one is taking him seriously. In London, he is mercilessly mocked by his rivals and at home in Stratford he is belittled by his sullen teenage daughter.

Yet he is determined to find an ending for his newest creation,Romeo and Juliet. Luckily, inspiration is forthcoming. The trials and tribulations of his closest friends and family reveal the plot twists he’d been missing. And not only for this famous tragedy but for many of his finest plays.

With sparkling wordplay, hilarious gags, and his trademark wit, Ben Elton celebrates the great William Shakespeare and reveals the startling stories behind the playwright’s best-known plays. – Amazon.

Rick & Morty: Season 4 (DVD) Starring Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland 

DVD Library: Rick and Morty

Rick and Morty: Season 1 Justin Roiland (Actor), Chris Parnell (Actor)  Format: DVD

Rick And Morty: Season 2 Justin Roiland (Actor), Chris Parnell (Actor)     Format: DVD

Rick And Morty: Season 3 Justin Roiland (Actor), Chris Parnell (Actor)   Format: DVD