Six years ago, Michael Cusack translated ‘Rick and Morty’ into Australian with ‘Bushworld Adventures’
Of all the chaotic and dangerous places that the titular heroes visit during their adventures in Rick and Morty, no fictional dimension can match the unhinged peril of rural Australia.
We’re only one episode into the long-awaited (or long-dreaded) spin-off series Rick and Morty: The Anime, but it’s already clear that too much of the original show was lost in translation for the anime to be a meaningful addition to the franchise. Despite the success of the original Rick and Morty anime shorts, the new series thus far is sadly missing the humor, the nihilism and the mayhem that makes Rick and Morty so unique.
However, as hard a time as Rick and Morty: The Anime is having in translating the winning Rick and Morty formula to Japanese animation, disappointed fans shouldn’t come to the conclusion that Rick and Morty isn’t amenable to an inspired yet faithful adaptation.
On April 1, 2018, Adult Swim aired an 11-minute “special episode” of Rick and Morty, titled “Bushworld Adventures,” which proved that Rick and Morty absolutely can overcome the translation barrier. In fact, the characters sound even more delightfully deranged in Australian.
The release of “Bushworld Adventures” marked the one-year anniversary of the surprise April Fool’s Day launch of Rick and Morty Season Three, adding yet another layer of hilarity to the channel’s best prank yet. Australian animator and Newgrounds veteran Michael Cusack wrote, directed, produced, animated and voice-acted in “Bushworld Adventures,” combining the art style and tone of his popular animated YouTube videos with the characters and chemistry of Rick and Morty.
While “Bushworld Adventures” is decidedly lacking in the science-fiction elements typically associated with Rick and Morty, there’s something satanically charming about how well Cusack took the humor of Rick and Morty and made it dark in a harrowingly real way instead of a “Rick’s sad that his hivemind girlfriend broke up with him” sense — like how on-brand it is for sadistic Australian Rick to turn his portal gun into a normal gun and tell Morty that their newest adventure is a murder-suicide situation.
“Bushworld Adventures” was a huge hit in the Rick and Morty fandom — as demonstrated by its 30 million views on YouTube — and Adult Swim seemed to be equally impressed by Cusack’s work. In 2020, Adult Swim turned Cusack’s YouTube series YOLO into a TV show, and Cusack co-created the channel’s sleeper hit Smiling Friends in 2022 with fellow YouTuber Zach Handel.
But the real triumph of “Bushworld Adventures” is that it proved that an adaptation of Rick and Morty could succeed if it had the right people behind it. Maybe Cusack should try his hand at Japanese animation — it’s not like his art style is any less complex than the one in the official anime.
News
The Last of Us Part 2 Player Discovers Mind-Blowing Hidden Detail in the Game’s Final Song!
A perceptive Last of Us Part 2 player has found a cool and unique detail that has been hidden within the game’s final song, which includes a chord from the soundtrack that doesn’t fully play out to signify Ellie’s trauma. Since Naughty…
This ‘The Last of Us 2’ Character Deserves a Bill and Frank-Style Deep Dive in Season 2
One of the most beloved series in modern gaming, The Last of Us‘ strong narrative focus ironically makes it a tricky franchise to adapt to live-action. HBO, Craig Mazin, and the rest of the crew behind The Last of Us needed to strike…
Alien: Romulus Shares One Unexpected Connection to The Last of Us
Following its release, it’s clear that Alien: Romulus has been a major success. Director Fede Álvarez pulled off the seemingly impossible and made another Alien installment that most of the franchise’s fans approve of (a task that seemed particularly daunting after the massively divisive Prometheus and Alien:…
How Did PlayStation Cancel ‘The Last of Us’ Online but Keep ‘Concord’ Alive?
PlayStation has dropped the ball 11 days after its release, in a wildly unprecedented move, PlayStation has shut down Concord and removed it from sale. It has also issued full refunds to everyone who purchase the game digitally for PS5 and PC. Those…
‘The Last of Us’ Fan Discovers a Themed Drink Inspired by the Series at a Local Bar
One fan of The Last of Us got a nice surprise when, at the Library Bar in the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto, they noticed a Cordyceps-inspired drink had been added to the menu. There are many ghastly creatures in Naughty Dog’s The…
‘The Last of Us’ Season 2 Episode Count Unveiled! Craig Mazin & Neil Druckmann Reveal Why and Tease Future Seasons
(L-R) Pedro Pascal, Bella Ramsey, Craig Mazin and Neil DruckmannLiane Hentscher / HBO / Jon Kopaloff / Getty Images EXCLUSIVE: It’s a case of good news-bad news for The Last of Us fans who have been patiently waiting more than a year for…
End of content
No more pages to load