PRODUCTION/CULTURAL REFERENCES (written 4/3/16)
-This episode was originally set to air in February before the big delay. I started writing it then and finished it over the last two days, not including today.
-This is a very odd episode, even by Thank You, Heavenly standards so how did I come up with this idea? It all started back in November when I watched an episode of Rick and Morty called "The Ricks Must Be Crazy." It was one of funniest things I had seen on television in a while, and I started getting more interested in the series. Before that, I watched "Big Trouble in Little Sanchez" when it first aired but this was the episode that officially made me a fan. Plus, I had heard so many great things about it. A day after I watched it while doing the garbage, I just came up with this idea in my head of Thank You, Heavenly doing Rick and Morty. I just came up with the concept of RK and Wade having to take care of radioactive hamsters and that became the episode. At the time, I was unsure about it because it seemed like a really big concept and it felt like it was too unusual for the show to do. Eventually, I just let go of whatever reservations I had and gave it a shot. I knew the episode had to start realistically, so I decided to have Wade expose the hamsters to his new chemical just to make RK happy.
-I knew the episode was going to come in February because at the time, I already had other episodes lined up. Plus, February just seemed like the perfect month for an episode of this style. In order to do this Rick and Morty episode, I had to tailor the story towards RK and Wade's clashing personalities: RK is the impulsive kid who prefers using science for his own benefit, and Wade is the responsible genius who wants to get down to business and complete the task at hand. This is to create contrast from Rick and Morty, where Rick is the reckless, misanthropic scientist and Morty is the thoughtful kid reacting to the adventures he goes on with Rick.
-I was debating over whether or not to do this, but in the end, I decided to give Justin Roiland a guest spot in the episode. Roiland is the co-creator of Rick and Morty alongside Dan Harmon (of Community fame) and voices both main characters on the show. I was on the fence about it because I was hoping for people to just get the connection between this episode and R&M but I finally realized that it would be a lot funnier if he was in it. I wrote all of Roiland's lines as if Rick was on Thank You, Heavenly reacting to what the characters said and did, right down to the stuttering and burping. I loved Pete's character but chances are, he will never appear on the show again.
-I thought writing this episode was going to be a serious challenge because of the main plot, but it ended up being a lot easier than I expected. I had a lot of fun writing it as well, as I believe the episodes that put an emphasis on comedy tend to be my favorites to work on.
-Originally, I was going to have the hamsters speak in an incomprehensible dialect and use subtitles, but then I decided to just have all of them act like everyday people. The key was in making the hamster universe as absurd and ridiculous as possible to generate more laughs. Also, RK and Wade would have been unable to understand the hamsters and communicate with them.
-Originally, Pete was going to factor into the main plot when Sparky, Buster, and Jaylynn ask for his help about the hamsters, but then I just decided to have them go to the pet store for their own purposes, creating the subplot. I wanted to do an episode this season revolving around Jaylynn finding a lost dog and the owners coming back to retrieve it. Right now, I have no plans to write it anymore but things can always change. Along with the potential episodes/100th episodes for season five, I have a couple episodes that were never made that I might write someday. I call that section of episodes "development hell."
-The Bud Light commercial was inspired by the ones starring Seth Rogen and Amy Schumer. I thought they were stupid and ridiculous, so I just decided to make this one really cheesy.
-When RK talks about KG's eavesdropping, he indirectly references computer professional and former CIA employee Edward Snowden.
-Jaylynn's questioning of RK calling people Scully is a callback to "The New Sparky MacDougal" where RK kept using the name as an insult towards her.
-I started writing this episode before "11 Ways to Ruin a Birthday" so this is the actual introduction of Buster's fascination with Miami. I don't know whether or not this is going to become a running gag.
-Buster makes a reference to what was going to be Sparky's catchphrase back in season one, "I should have went to community college." It never really caught on and I think I remember only using it in one episode before dropping it completely.
-RK's paranoia about the police may actually become a running gag. I don't know, I just found it really funny to include in this episode.
-When RK wakes up from fainting and sees Wade, he makes another indirect reference to the Diff'rent Strokes episode "The Bicycle Man," an episode where the local bicycle shop owner tried molesting Arnold and his friend Dudley.
-I was debating over whether or not to show RK owning a gun but then I realized that he had used guns before. I also figured someone like him would just keep it in any old box, hence the shoebox.
-RK makes a reference to the "Little Bit of Luck" character from the New York Lottery commercials they used to play on TV when I was younger. Also, as he climbs the mini-ladder, he mentions WWE's Money in the Bank ladder match and color commentator Jerry "The King" Lawler.
-RK's first lines of dialogue when he gets inside the farm is an homage to the dialogue used on Rick and Morty. Rick, being an alcoholic, tends to stutter a lot, pause frequently when he talks, burp, constantly have drool over his mouth and repeat Morty's name even when Morty is paying attention to what he says.
-The snake in Jaylynn's fantasy is named after Degrassi character Archie "Snake" Simpson.
-One of the earliest lines I came up with this episode was RK screaming, "MUTANT HAMSTERS ARE TRYING TO KILL ME!" over the phone while talking to Sparky. While writing it, I changed "ME" to "US" because Wade was getting chased as well.
-The joke about the hamsters having unloaded guns was supposed to be in "Super Bowl Cum-Day III: The Story Box" when the kids found out that RK was never actually going to kill himself. However, I thought the joke was really inappropriate so I just waited for another time to use it.
-The "Pony" gag was pretty much just that, a gag to laugh at. I knew the hamsters were all going to die but I was stuck on what song to use in the climax where RK and Wade solve the problem. I wanted a song that contrasted heavily with what was going on in the scene for comedic effect so I used "Pony." I also did not want the hamsters dying in a way that was too disturbing so I just went with them dancing themselves into dust. Some of the hamsters wearing cowboy hats and boots is a reference to the music video for "Pony," where Ginuwine performs at what appears to be an old-school Western tavern.
-As a reference to the previous episode (something I rarely ever get to do), I decided to have Paramore make another guest appearance. I knew I couldn't give them that many lines since it was the ending but I tried having both Hayley and Taylor talk as much as they could.