Solar Opposites

[on:]

The co-creator of Rick and Morty has a new animated show on Hulu titled Solar Opposites, co-created with Mike McMahan. The entire first season was released on the 8th May.

Has anyone had a chance to watch? I finished it in one sitting. Really gorgeous animation like in R&M, but the overall tone feels less pretentious. I found all the characters to be quickly likeable and the voice acting is solid (Korvo sounds almost identical to Rick, but nonetheless).

Also, damn:

Show spoiler

Episode 7. Who knew the death of a mouse you only know for less than 20 minutes could be so heartbreaking. The whole Wall subplot was really clever and I'm intrigued to see where it goes in coming seasons.

I feel like this was a really solid first season that has enough going for it to warrant more than than just a cheap "the other show by the Rick and Morty guy" label.

[Reply #1 on:]

Took me a bit to know which Co-creator you were referring to.  He is the less pretentious one--I think you can kind of get a feel for each of those and whose influence is stronger in any given scene of R&M -> the more serious, sometimes depressing, a bit pretentious stuff is the other guy.

The guy you're talking about though is a bit more random...but he has other work he released on the web before he struck...  If you wanted to seek it out (some of it is....nsfw for sure, including what very very clearly became R&M) for yourself, like Doc & Marty (hub, that kind of sounds...), or that bizarre one about the house full of Bill Cosby's...

[Reply #2 on:]

The new season just dropped and there's an episode called "The What If?! Device".

The synopsis says "The Solars have a what if device which can show them what their lives would be like if they made different choices."

Uhhh...

[Reply #3 on:]

OK I'm watching the episode now and they literally namedrop Futurama in it.

"Inspired by Futurama, now airing on Hulu!"

And they only actually use the idea of a What If Machine as a jumping off point before using it to do something completely different.

[Reply #4 on:]

I haven't caught up with the last couple seasons yet, but that doesn't really surprise me. When they do out-of-pocket episodes they never literally rip off the Anthology/THOH format. And the idea of a "what if" device that can show you possible futures or alternative lives isn't really original to Futurama in sci-fi, or fantasy generally. Rick and Morty also did an episode where they shouted out Futurama because Morty had a device he could use to go backwards in time a few seconds over and over, but it was honestly completely different. I think they just have to directly acknowledge the similarity because a lot of the audience probably just doesn't watch a lot outside of other adult cartoons and modern shows and will instantly make that connection, even though there's like a million episodes of The Twilight Zone and old sci-fi stories with those basic concepts in them.

[Reply #5 on:]

There's a line between inspiration and outright rip off that I think you plough straight through when it gets as close as calling your plot devices "The What If XYZ" and have them both operate by asking a "What if" question into a microphone only for your characters to watch the outcome on a screen.

But like I say they were only using it as a jumping off point. The episode isn't actually a three-part anthology showing alternate realities. If it had been, I think they would have gone out of their way to make it different. It would probably be called something like "The Alternate Reality Simulator" and Terry would still make some quip like "Isn't that basically just The What If Machine from Futurama?"

In fact, they'd probably just tell their ship computer voiced by Tiffany Hadish to simulate their what if scenarios for them instead of needing a special device for it.



Also, I know what you're saying but, for what it's worth, I don't think there's a single episode of any version of The Twilight Zone where characters have a device that can send them repeatedly back in time a few seconds.

[Reply #6 on:]

I was referring more to the "what if" conceit (there are definitely TZ episodes where people get access to some device or power that shows them alternate versions of their life) but as far as the time button there is some sort of basic similarity with episodes like "A Kind of Stopwatch" even if it isn't the exact same premise. Futurama didn't necessarily invent a lot of sci-fi ideas (the whole aesthetic of the series is basically 50s/60s sci-fi), it was just especially good at doing clever spins on them. So are the Roiland (no longer Roiland) cartoons although not to the same extent.

[Reply #7 on:]

I'm quite familiar with The Twilight Zone and I honestly can't think of any. The closest I can think of are episodes that deal with literal alternate realities or that end with the twist reveal that the entire thing was some sort of dream.

I'd argue going back in time but only an arbitrary, not particularly helpful amount of time is very different from being able to freeze time indefinitely, too.

I'm not suggesting for a second that Futurama invented most of the concepts it uses but like I say, come on. There's a difference between having the power to see alternate realities and between literally having a box that's basically called "The What If Machine".