Honestly, looking back at 2013 feels like peering into a different dimension where TV didn't quite know what was about to hit it. When Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland first unleashed the chaos of the Smith household, it wasn't just another adult cartoon. It was a weird, jagged, occasionally gross, but profoundly smart shift in how we tell stories. People hunting for Rick and Morty season 1 full episodes today usually find themselves surprised by how much the show has evolved—and how much of that original "rough-around-the-edges" DNA still holds up better than the newer, high-gloss seasons.
It started as a crude Back to the Future parody. Remember The Real Animated Adventures of Doc and Mharti? It was barely watchable. But by the time "Pilot" aired on Adult Swim, the dynamic had shifted into something else. We got Rick Sanchez, a nihilistic super-genius who treats the laws of physics like mere suggestions, and Morty Smith, a kid who just wants to survive 9th grade without losing a limb.
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The Raw Energy of the Early Days
There is a specific vibration in those first eleven episodes. It’s chaotic. You can hear it in the stuttering dialogue and the improvised "burp-talking" that Roiland became famous for. Unlike the later seasons where every meta-joke is polished to a mirror sheen, season one felt like it was being figured out in real-time.
Take "Lawnmower Dog." It’s basically two movies crammed into twenty-two minutes. You have a Inception parody involving a scary, legally distinct version of Freddy Krueger named Scary Terry, and a B-plot about a dog named Snuffles gaining sentience and building a robotic mech-suit. Most shows would spend a whole season building to a "robotic dog uprising." Rick and Morty did it before the first commercial break.
The stakes felt weirdly high back then. When you watch Rick and Morty season 1 full episodes, you’re seeing a family that actually seems to dislike each other in a grounded, depressing way. Jerry and Beth’s marriage wasn't just a punchline; it was a slow-motion car crash. That grounded misery is what made the sci-fi elements pop. You need the boring, beige reality of suburban life to make a portal to a dimension made of giant "butt-hamsters" feel truly insane.
The Episode That Changed Everything
If you ask any hardcore fan when the show "became" Rick and Morty, they’ll point to "Rick Potion #9." This is the sixth episode. It starts as a standard "love potion gone wrong" trope. Morty wants Jessica to like him. Rick gives him a serum. Things escalate. By the end, the entire world is mutated into "Cronenbergs"—horrific masses of pulsating flesh.
In any other show, Rick would have pressed a "reset" button. Instead, he just gives up. He finds a parallel universe where he and Morty died in a freak accident, buries their alternate-reality corpses in the backyard, and takes their place.
The image of Morty staring into space while "Look on Down from the Bridge" by Mazzy Star plays is haunting. It changed the show from a wacky adventure to a cosmic horror story. It told the audience: Nothing is safe. The protagonists you started the episode with are technically dead. Deal with it. This level of narrative bravery is why people keep coming back to those early runs.
Why the Animation Style Matters
The "pupil-less" eyes. The wiggly mouth lines. The background art that looks like it was colored with a slightly muted, toxic palette.
In season one, the animation handled by Bardel Entertainment had a hand-drawn grit. It wasn't as fluid as the later work by Titmouse or the current internal teams, but it fit the cynical tone. The creatures in "M. Night Shaym-Aliens!"—those scammers who keep Rick in a simulation—looked genuinely grotesque.
There’s a charm in the "Pilot" episode where the backgrounds feel a bit empty. It adds to the loneliness of Rick’s character. He is the smartest man in the universe, and he’s surrounded by... nothing. Or at least, nothing that interests him.
Breaking Down the "Full Episode" Experience
When searching for Rick and Morty season 1 full episodes, it’s easy to get lost in the sea of clips and TikTok edits. But watching them back-to-back reveals a specific rhythm.
- The Pilot: Establishes the "Mega Seeds" and the fact that Rick is a functional alcoholic who may or may not be ruining his grandson's life.
- Lawnmower Dog: Introduction of the "Dream Inceptor" and the iconic "Where are my testicles, Summer?" line.
- Anatomy Park: A bizarre tribute to Jurassic Park set inside a homeless man named Reuben. It’s gross, it’s festive, and it features John Oliver as a displaced amoeba.
- M. Night Shaym-Aliens!: This is where we learn Rick is almost impossible to outsmart. The "Pluto is a planet" debate also starts here, though that's technically a few episodes later in "Something Ricked This Way Comes."
- Meeseeks and Destroy: Introduced Mr. Meeseeks, a blue creature that lives only to complete a task and then die. It’s a perfect metaphor for the show’s existential dread.
- Rick Potion #9: The turning point. The Cronenberg disaster.
- Raising Gazorpazorp: A look at gender dynamics through a sci-fi lens. It’s probably the weakest of the bunch, but it builds out the world.
- Rixty Minutes: The first "Interdimensional Cable" episode. Most of this was improvised by Roiland in a recording booth. It gave us "Ants in my Eyes Johnson" and "Real Turbulent Juice."
- Something Ricked This Way Comes: Rick goes to war with the Devil (Mr. Needful).
- Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind: Introduces the Citadel of Ricks and the legendary "Evil Morty." This episode proved the show had a long-term plan.
- Ricksy Business: The season finale. A house party that ends with the house being teleported to another dimension.
The Meeseeks Phenomenon
We have to talk about Mr. Meeseeks. "Existence is pain!" became a mantra for an entire generation of viewers. What started as a gag about Jerry being bad at golf turned into a philosophical deep dive into the burden of consciousness.
The brilliance of season one is how it disguises high-concept philosophy as low-brow humor. You come for the fart jokes, but you stay because you’re suddenly thinking about whether your own life has a "purpose" or if you're just a Meeseeks trying to take two strokes off your golf game.
Common Misconceptions About Season One
A lot of people think the show was always this cynical "god-is-dead" anthem. Not really. In the beginning, there was a lot more emphasis on the family.
- Misconception: Rick is a hero.
- Reality: In season one, Rick is an absolute monster. He nearly blows up the world in the first three minutes of the Pilot. He isn't the "cool anti-hero" yet; he’s a dangerous lunatic who happens to be right about science.
- Misconception: The show is just random humor.
- Reality: Every "random" joke in season one usually pays off. The "Interdimensional Cable" bits seem improvised because they were, but they serve the purpose of showing how vast and uncaring the multiverse is.
Tracking the Canon
If you’re watching Rick and Morty season 1 full episodes for the first time, keep an eye on the background details. The cracks in the driveway from when the house was teleported stay there for seasons. The dead bodies in the backyard? They get referenced years later.
This was one of the first animated comedies to take its own history seriously. Before this, The Simpsons or Family Guy would reset everything every week. Rick and Morty said, "No, these characters are traumatized, and they’re going to stay that way."
Where to Find the Goods
Legally, the landscape for streaming is always shifting. As of now, Adult Swim's website often cycles through "marathons" where you can catch blocks of episodes. HBO Max (or just "Max" now) generally holds the full catalog.
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Avoid those "24/7 Live" YouTube streams that zoom in 400% on the corner of the screen to avoid copyright strikes. It ruins the timing. The comedic pacing of this show is surgical. If the frame is cropped or the pitch is shifted, the jokes just don't land.
Final Actionable Steps for the Ultimate Rewatch
If you want to truly appreciate the foundation of this show, don't just put it on in the background while you fold laundry.
- Listen to the "stutters": Notice how Rick’s speech patterns reflect his constant mental processing of multiple realities.
- Watch the B-Plots: Often, the side stories involving Beth and Jerry are more revealing than the sci-fi adventures. They explain why Rick is the way he is.
- Track the "Original" Morty: Remember that the Morty we follow from episode 6 onwards is not the same Morty from episodes 1 through 5. Every time he looks at his family, he’s looking at strangers who look like his family.
- Check the Credits: Look for the names of the writers who moved on to massive projects. People like Mike McMahan (who went on to create Star Trek: Lower Decks) got their start here.
The best way to experience these episodes is to watch "Rick Potion #9" and "Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind" back-to-back. It bridges the gap between the "monster of the week" format and the massive, serialized lore that would eventually define the series. Grab some Szechuan sauce—or just a regular burger—and pay attention to the details. The seeds of the entire multiverse were planted right here.