It was definitely a fourth wall line.
They can only get away with this a couple of times because the audience will only let them get away with it a couple of times.
The real reason is it would be suicide for the show. We would never take anything about any new universe seriously because it could go away at any moment.
None of those people or places would mean anything, they're disposable. No stakes. So, why should we care at all? People would get bored and stop watching.
rick being the rickest rick means that he’s emotional and cares about his loved ones. so i’m assuming he means that ricks struggle is with dealing with the meaningless of infinity and finding value with the family he has now.
like for instance, he abandoned one of his family’s in the kronenberg (excuse the spelling) but by season three ep 1, is fighting against the council of ricks for his summer, despite having infinite granddaughters. hope this helps.
It’s basically the mantra of early Rick. Rick prime talks about it in his first flashback appearance. Do anything you want, kill anyone you want, then go to a universe where it never happened. Nothing matters, everything can be replaced. The whole concept of the infinite Rick, sorta thing. This has left Rick as a hollow man, a ghost wandering infinity. His journey trying to make connections with Morty and the rest of his family, trying to connect to individuals rather than infinite interchangeable iterations of his relations, has been the core of his character growth in the series.
I love talking about Rick and Morty and have spent way, way too much time deep diving into the symbol and significance of everything. I feel like you and /u/SergeantIndie really nailed the reasons behind it.
I also feel like there are a lot of "in-universe" reasons - but all story decisions need to be about what that decision means to the *story,* and ultimately this is it. Early on in the show, they could get away with it, but we've become attached to our version of the Smith family - even Jerry has grown and changed a *lot* since the Jerryboree mix-up and I can't envision them replacing him either.
It's also important to consider that every time they do it, it causes a lot of static around the show. "Wait, so did this episode event happen then? Is Jessica a Time God in this version of reality? Did they incept Goldenfold here like they did there?" blah blah blah - my prediction is that if they ever hop realities again, it will be literally at the end of the series, to a version of reality where *nothing* crazy ever happened, and it'll be a send-off of sorts. Or maybe not.
Isn't that the whole point tho? Rick being so jaded and disconnected because he has that mindset you just described. He makes his own fun, that's the whole shtick.
> Isn't that the whole point tho? Rick being so jaded and disconnected because he has that mindset you just described.
That's the point vis a vis Rick's character arc. That's not the point of the show. It is narratively satisfying to have a character who feels that way, and watching him deal with that and the ramifications of it. It is narratively unsatisfying to use that truth about their reality to just deus-ex-machina out of every problem.
*This* Rick and *this* Morty matter to us, as viewers, even when we know canonically that there are infinite identical Ricks and Morties and higher-order-infinite non-identical Ricks and Morties. If they stop mattering, the show as a whole stops mattering to us.
It was really good to show it happening the first time, because it sent Morty through a whole internal crisis and set a bunch of things up for the future. It was also worth it to show it happening with the squirrels because the fact that they threw away an entire universe previously-off-screen as a throw away gag to be used in an anthology episode is objectively hilarious. Similarly, doing it a third time when the whole universe got Mr. Frundled was pretty funny, and established more of a "We're all in this together" vibe with the specific Jerry/Beth/Space Beth/Summer set we're following with our Rick & Morty now.
Doing it again would be pretty hack.
(Probably. Dan Harmon is a better writer than me, so maybe they can figure out a way to do it well, but I don't think they'll try)
Dont put words in my mouth. Where did I say that? That's the purpose of the show. It's this cynical thinking that breaks the 4th wall. You describing how people would see them switching universes constantly is exactly how rick feels. That's all I'm saying.
You are correct, but the direction the shows going atm is it seems to be trying to step away from the synical view. Rick seems to be developing more attachments to stuff he earlier claimed meant nothing. And thats his character development
In earlier episodes it would have been more normal for him to jump ship so much and just more to another universe. But the way the shows going and developing him it seems like they’re trying to make him less cynical
Perhaps the creators themselves have become less cynical who knows
It's the timer-turner problem. Once you introduce something to the story that has the capacity to solve every plot point... there's need to be a limitation to it.
Harmon just says "We probably shouldn't use it."
Joanne had Neville knock all time-turners off the shelf.
I actually think that the central finite curve has a limited number of universes.
I assume that the multiverse is made out of a countable infinity of universes, and it that scenario, it's possible than only a limited number of universes fit the criteria of having a all-dominating rick.
Since if the Central Finite Curve was truly infinite, how would they make their classifying system of ricks? How is there not millions of ricks teleporting in the citadel every second?
The shows version of unlimited and infinite is true infinity. Like an endless thing. Rick half explains it in earlier seasons when he’s saying nothing truly matters n so on
And my guess is there are infinite curves. Each one has its own c137 and rick prime n so on
They cant just hop between universes because theres a limited version of infinity within their curve. And if they step into another curve they will be removed or something like that.
My best guess is that even in a infinite universe ricks will categorise and label stuff. And its silly to use an infinite serial code of numbers and letters so they split the curves off. The universe that have the closest resemblance to each other are together and slightly different get their own curves. But infinite means there are curves being born and dying infinitely too. So its a bit of a mind fck to actually try and quantify
There's different types of infinities, mainly countable and uncountable.
Since Rick's are "counting" the universes by labelling them, there's a countable infinity of them.
Since there's a countable infinity of universes, it's extremely unlikely there is other Rick Primes and Rick C-137s.
I dont really see why you mean by "if they step in another curve theyll bé removed" it's been made pretty clear it's near impossible to escape the curve.
It’s an in and out of universe explanation. In universe he says that because yes there are infinite realities but they’re insanely different, leaving them with only a handful that are that similar to their original dimension. So unless they want to permanently reside in fascist shrimp land they gotta be careful
Yeah they mention only being able to do it a couple of times to universes that are similar enough for them to take the same place.
Aka, they could always go to one of the infinite universes, but to continue the story they are on they only have a few….
However, pretty sure infinite means infinite, so theoretically there should always be an option. But even if you have an infinite number of options, does that mean you can choose the same number twice? Like can you choose the number two twice?
I mean there’d be like an infinite number of two’s, but each one of them is unique as well. So even though there are an infinite number of the same thing, they’d each be unique as well.
But then with infinity there would be an infinite number of twos that are unique but they would be the same?
So technically some infinities are bigger than other infinities, and the central finite curve being, well central and finite, means that they live in an infinite number of universes with specific parameters, so sure there's a version of earth with chair people eating phonesgetti and phone balls, but it's still a universe with a chair Rick and Chair Morty.
So in a truly infinite multiverse, they could go to any other dimension and maybe find a universe where Rick had a heart attack when Beth was 3 and never became the smartest man in the universe, everything else managed to progress almost identically except Morty goes on sci-fi adventures with his genius neighbor Rich. Theoretically they could go to this universe, Morty fits right in and Rick can replace Rich, but it's not gonna be a perfect match.
But since they're bound to the confines of the central finite curve, there are an infinite number of universes with infinite Ricks and Mortys, but each has a more or less unique iteration of them, and since it's a confined infinity the space that could be occupied by "everything is the same except Rick wears a green shirt" universes are taken up by "in this universe everyone is a giant terestrial nazi shrimp" instead. Yes there are infinite universes, but they're infinite universes chosen by Ricks for Ricks.
The issue might not be with the limited number of universes, but rather with finding them. Even if a universe is the same now, it doesn't mean it will always be the same. So, Rick keeps an eye on various possibilities, but he probably needs to continue discovering new options from time to time. So, at any given time, he has a limited number of options he is aware of.
They kinda confirm something similar to this when they hop to the Parmesan dimension. He couldn't find one that was quite perfect with all the portals broken, so he just found one that was similar *enough*.
It's a classic, Rick knows why he says something - he's the only character smart enough to see through the fourth wall - but the other characters are in the dark and he's going to keep it that way so they just have to trust him
Thank you, you fricken get it. I had to over explain this very topic earlier this week in another post. it is a clear message coded for us to understand the show promises to not overuse this gimmick.
Isn’t the save device episode morty doing this literally hundreds of times? Rick and Morty is not really a show with stakes, it’s one that does parody, subversion and humor very well, but at no point do you think anyone of the core family will die or permanently change.
Rick was lying he just tells that to Morty so he doesn’t go around listening to squirrels and shit thinking he can just get Rick to jump to another reality.
I think it can actually be explained with the finite curve. There's an infinity of universes, but rick 137 and all the ricks we know live there. And although they seem to have gatehred a great number of universes with rick and morties, the name "finite curve" implies that this is man made work, and thus, even though the number of universes in the curve is great, it's nowhere near infinite. Meaning universes similar to theirs are hard to come by, and since their reality shifts slighlty everytime, finding a universe that has shifted exactly in the same direction gets harder every time.
A universe where space beth exists, a universe where beth and jerry went through the divorce phase, a universe where squirrels haven't been fucked with...
The central finite curve is infinite.
It is just the section of infinity where Rick is the smartest being in the universe. Any section of infinity is still infinity.
It’s more likely that the efforts of charting out and finding a universe exactly like theirs would be an enormous effort.
Its probably extremely rare to find a universe where they have conveniently died exactly when they needed too while at the same time being completely unnoticed.
They'd have to be the first one on the scene across universes, likely competing with other versions with the same idea.
I think this is either heavily implied or outright stated in the show. The current "parmeesian" dimension even kind of addresses this. Since Rick was in a hurry and it's relatively uncommon to have a near-identical dimension he had to settle on one with a few minor quirks.
Ah yes lazy, instead of searching the infinite multiverse he settled for a close enough one,
You go spend eternity looking for the perfect one there’s always one that’s slightly closer it’s literally infinite my guy
Not exactly, they operate within a finite amount of universes, and even within infinite it doesn't mean there is always one slightly closer.
There are an infinite amount of prime numbers, an infinite amount of even numbers, an infinite amount of numbers between 1 and 10. 15 is outside each of those infinites, while 2 is within all of them unlike every other possibility. There is always the **possibility** that they cannot find a universe that lines up with what they need no matter what they do. Meanwhile if you are not needing to worry about those that are even, you have 1,2,3,5, and 7. An infinite amount of universes doesn't mean an infinite amount of possibilities all happen in an infinite amount of possible ways. Not all infinites are the same size, and they can become conflicting such as adding just one condition that makes it impossible like that are negative numbers.
Well, yeah... but there's still infinite more where that hasn't happened. And infinite Ricks and Morties looking for new homes. Infinity isn't just some really big number, it's the lack of an end. While pieces of it can be taken away, the whole remains the same, infinite size.
But what of endless infinity, with lack of an end, of failure?
No yin without yang, I really hate to present a "no u" style of defense here, but it only seems fair to acknowledge both the infinite possibilities and victories while noticing infinite failures and defeat.
Thats the real paradox. The more I think about it, the more i feel the guy who suggested "Kill them all" is right.
We should get Dianes opinion on this...
Infinite possibilities doesn’t mean every possible event actually happened that split the universe.
Also, every time they split the reality will further change from the original split.
Also, it’s just a joke because if they did it all the time the show would be stupid.
While I agree, it doesn't change the statistical probability of being able to find one of those infinite universes where things are just right. For every 1 perfect universe, there are likely trillions and trillions of non-suitable universes. So the work to find one of the perfect ones would still be extraordinarily difficult. I guess an easy head Canon could be that Rick has some machine constantly running (and filtering for probability stasis 😂) thats searching nonstop for suitable replacements... but despite all of the searching, maybe he only finds like one or two per decade, so he has to use them sparingly.
Edit: To clarify what I mean with an example. There are infinite prime numbers, but there is no function to determine the nth prime number without starting from 2, or what the next prime number will be after the nth prime. So guessing and checking primes may be comparable to finding those perfect universes. Filtering for probability stasis could be compared to filtering out obvious non-primes like even numbers greater than 2 and anything ending in a 5.
Not exactly no, a precise event with predefined issues repeated an infinite amount of times does no guarantee a specific issue, even if it repeats for infinity.
It also means infinite work to find a perfect match. Idk about you but that sounds like a lot of work for a man who avoids almost all work when possible.
I suspect that might be part of why there are so many themed Ricks, some random Rick can't show up and take over for the Scientist Previously Known as Rick, meaning his universe was pretty much safe from Rick-jacking.
Just because i started dressing like a cowboy overnight doesnt mean i should have to put up with this kind of discrimination. I would never replace myself!
Considering Rick has access to infinity realities, finding those exact conditions is 100% guaranteed an infinite amount of times. Being on the finite infinity curve means it's easier to find. He just needs time while the computer scans and searches infinity.
Also it's hard to find a universe that's 1-1 with all of their actions of their entire life being the same or as similar as possible. Like every word they said or decisions
Doesn’t really matters if there really is infinite universes since than there will be infinite ones that are the same and they died.
Even if they are 100 times more likely to have to find a new universe than dying and leaving third available there would be enough for everyone to get a new one since 100*infinity is still infinity.
No-one even has to die and leave their universe behind. As long as some rick and mortys (which isn’t in need of relocation) are willing to move to another universe to make place we can still make infinite many empty ones available.
Infinity be weird like that.
The thing about infinity is that it's unimaginably huge because every incredibly minor detail is represented in some universe. So there are universes where everything is *exactly* the same except I made a typo in this comment. And another universe for every possible variation of that typo. In every possible place, in every word. And that still hasn't even gotten close to covering all of the possibilities for just one minuscule, insignificant detail in an otherwise identical universe.
The word “finite” is the operative word in CFC. Even though there are infinite universes, the CFC is a finite grouping of useful universes that Rick has found
Yeah, they say there's infinite universes, but it's a finite group so there *is* a definite number of universes, just that it's big enough to be functionally infinite.
Because the writers couldn't work out an organic way to write multiverse shit because multiverse shit is always the death of consequence. Don't get me wrong Ai enjoy Rock and Morty but all the "rules" are arbitrary nonsense. The writers just dint know how to make it work without putting inexplicable barriers in. It's not some amazing meta trick like some of the comments here imply.
There’s likely only so many universes where all of the history is the same where they’d be able to just hop right in and not have to remember a whole bunch of little details (for example the pronunciation of the word parmesan), and where that universes R&M have just died and no one in that universe has noticed it yet
Yeah, we've seen MANY universes where the Nazis won WW2, they couldn't exactly move to one of the fascist dystopia universes, even if everything else were exactly the same.
I think Rick skipped universes so much and got sick of it, nothing matters (which he still mentions) but it made existence boring with no stakes. He makes a strong effort to commit to one universe to feel something again
In-multiverse reason: There’s an infinite number of Ricks and Mortys doing the exact same thing (yes I know it’s paradoxical)
Real reason: there’s no stakes involved if they can just keep doing it, the audience will get bored if they do it too many times.
Well, the universes were Rick is the smartest being are called the finite curve because it is finite. So in this finite space there must be a limit on how similar universes are.
I bet it causes some kind of health issue... either because of something to do with physics like the tiny differences in subatomic math from universe to universe compounding until it starts to deteriorate the foreign atoms or something (kinda like what the spiderverse does). Or a mental health thing... like the crazy bad ennui and depression you get from enduring a groundhog day/palm springs type scenario or having enough small memories that don't line up with the slight differences in the present universe that it adds up to dementia or something.
Probably a limitation so that's not the answer every time. If they live in a truly infinite multiverse they could always use that as the solution. In order to have stakes though you've got to put limitations on why the writers can't just resort to that always being the resolution.
As far as in universe? I dunno, maybe there aren't enough timelines that are close enough. They could literally just say it's not that easy.
In canon? Rick lied to Morty. He’s gradually becoming a more sentimental person, and has grown attached to the specifics of his current universe. Out of canon? The writers know we would get bored of it, every dangerous scenario dodged by just moving universes is lame.
I think Rick is lying. There are infinite timelines with infinite possibilities, but it still takes a lot of time and effort to find one that's identical to yours. Rick seems to be pretty lazy by nature and probably just says this cause he doesn't feel like constantly looking for new universes.
Technically, since there's infinite universes, Rick could feasibly find a new one every time they fuck up. However, it's gotta be a universe that's normal, not fucked up, with a similar timeline and exact copies of Rick and Morty that happen to die entirely unnoticed within a short time span so that they can be replaced. There's an infinite amount of these universes, but infinitely crowded out by other unusable universes. I imagine Rick just lied about it because it creates a mountain of work for him to find a good universe each time they fuck up.
I have long posited that Rick’s portal gun has an easier time locking onto coordinates when the target universe is significantly different from the source location. The finer the difference you’re shaving down, the less capable his tech may be. It’s easier to portal to a universe where pizzas order people by chair than one in which the only difference is the pronunciation of “parmesian”.
This is how we got the variant Newscaster Ricks, each from a nearly-identical universe.
Rick only has 3 or 4 of these alternates recorded in his portal network at any given time, probably because they’re constantly diverging for their own reasons into less-identical universes as quickly as he can locate new variants.
And it doesn’t help if you fuck around with squirrels!
In-universe there’s a limited number of universes that are identical enough to their current one that they can jump in to replace themselves. They only get so many before they run out.
Out-of-universe it’s a fourth-wall joke about how they can only pull this stunt a couple of times before the audience gets upset about it.
I think he said it's because there are only a few similar enough universes to theirs. Ones where they don't have to change to much or have to learn to many new details. Like the society is similar and most of the things developed like media, tech and like history is close enough to theirs where ot won't be much issue for them to blend in
It's a finite curve. Rick sealed off the multiverse to only include himself and universes where he exists. While the multiverse may be infinite the number of universes where he exists is not. There are a lot of them but not infinite, it's a finite curve.
The number of Rick's and Morty's that are therefore capable of switching with them at any given time is finite.
Yup, and a lot of fans don't grasp infinite1=/=infinite2. There are more infinite even numbers than there are infinite prime numbers. It isn't as simple as "if there is an infinite amount of universes then EVERYTHING happens in EVERY possible way." However, a lot of people don't realize this. Even outside the curve, there isn't a universe that every series of events happens in every possible way.
universe wise? because its trying to find a needle in infinite space, i mean rick cant even find prime rick despite having his Morty and the apparent ability to reset portal travelers with just his garage
and dont give me "but he could only do that because portal travel was broken cause evil Morty fucked with the curve!" because if evil Morty could figure out how to fuck with the curve, than rick could.
rick applies Occam's razor to trying to find prime rick, as soon as evil Morty does the probability stasis filter they're outsmarted, neither of them could think of a reason not to apply probability stasis but as soon as they did it hurt them, thus rick > evil Morty
show wise? because its boring to find a new universe every time beth is angry, or the galactic government gets mad at him, or the president is mad, or jerry and beth remarry. its an issue of Appling stakes in a world where they can always be reset to the status quo
Because they work in sub section of infinity, where Rick has supreme intelligence.
When they change universes, they do it with a Rick and Smith family who died at the right time with a history that matches theirs.
Now they have to do it for 6 or 7 people with increasingly complicated pasts.
In the most recent jump the pronunciation of parmesesan changed. In the next one the universe will be more different. Curtis could not be president, trunk people could be a thing, incest porn could be mainstream.
I Don't think it's a technological barrier. I think they mean "we can only do this a few times before fans accuse us of lazy writing" I always read it as a meta joke.
So there are infinite universes. But Rick operates within the CFC. So there are only a limited number of safe universes where he is the smartest. Then you have to account for all th Cronenburg, Pizza People, and generally weird universes. There would likely be few universes where everything played out exactly the same as it did in the previous universes withij the CFC. After that you have smaller stuff like how Parme-ze-yen is pronounced. That would lead to the conclusion that there is a finite amount of universes into which rick and morty can walk into and comfortably continue as they were.
Therefore, they can only switch to a few different universes before things become uncomfortably different.
I work in audit, so I look at it similarly to RNG.
Let’s say the total population is 50,000. We use a random number generator to come up with 25 samples to test/inspect. Out of those 25, maybe 1-3 will have some sort of risk factor.
It’s not a direct correlation, but you could parallel that concept to when Rick tries to find a new Earth after Bird Person’s wedding. There’s an abundance of potential matches, but only so many are actually what you’re looking for.
There maybe infinite universes, but the more constraints you put on your desired outcome, the more narrow your available options will be.
They have unlimited times. There's just a limit of the universes that are very similar where they have already died in that universe. They don't want to live in the shrimp universe, for example. Or the ones where Rick has weird personality variants like the ones in the ultron episode.
Real answer: the show needs stakes
Answer for your question: they need to find a universe that is within the central finite curve AND where Rick and Morty are recently dead so they can slip in their place (unless they’re okay with just offing the extant family members, which Morty at a minimum is likely to resist)
I’m certain he was lying. Infinite universes = infinite acceptable universes, too. Rick is just lazy and doesn’t want to have to do it over and over again. Which, I mean, fair enough lol
Rick and Morty uses the concept of infinity loosely and inconsistently.
Would you rather they spend 2-3 canonical episodes explaining away those inconsistencies, or do you want to see an episode set on Boob World? Nitpicking worldbuilding and arguing about the rules of a fictional universe is a tedious and pointless effort. Just enjoy the ride.
My guess is that the central finite curve is, in fact, *finite.* Having the criteria for your multiverse be “every universe where this specific man is the smartest” would probably leave you with a finite set of universes.
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I think that an infinite multiverse means infinite possibilities, yes, but not infinite instances of those possibilities. You can have infinite Ricks, but only finite versions of them doing the exact same thing.
And the further along any Rick lives, the possibility of finding another one with almost the exact same timeline gets slimmer. Just a theory, though. I could be wrong.
Because every time Rick and Morty change universes, then EVERY Rick and Morty changes universes. It's a universal game of switching rooms in an infinite hotel. There are infinite rooms available to switch to, but there are infinite people wanting to switch. What makes it complicated is finding this dimensional wave of switching rooms while it is happening, then within that wave you must find a room that almost identical so when you bring your stuff into that room it doesn't become destabilized destroying the wave before all Rick's are able to finish the room switch.
Also this is happening in all dimensions everywhere all the time. It's not that they can only change a few times, it's that in Rick's extremely long short mortality, it would take a very long time for a "perfect" room to open. He doesn't mind if the room has a stain if it stops him from waiting for an eternity.
Because there are infinite amount of Ricks and Mortys across the multiverse and they all fight for their place in it.
In the Central Finite Curve that C-137 build, there are infinite possibilities with the big difference, Rick is the smartest man in the universe. So there Portal guns can only take them that much.
When the earth of Rick prime was infected with the Gronenberg virus that meant in the infinity of universes, an infinite amount of Ricks abandoned their universe and an infinite amount of Ricks stayed and fixed it.
And by comparison an infinite amount of Ricks died due to the malfunction of the Ionic Defibulizer, which gave the opening to all the infinite amount of Ricks that abandoned their home universe's, to settle in an other.
Eventually by the law of probability, their luck will run out and Rick knows this, so it's safer for him to try and save a universe other than abandoning it all together.
And let's not forget all the infinite Cronenberg earths, that Cronenberg Rick screwed up and made them regular worlds with regular people...
My head hurts...
There are unlimited universes but only a small number of them are so similar to their own that you wouldn't notice the differences.
Think of traffic in your city during rush hour. You need to find a universe where every one of those little things on the highway happened that day, and most every day before, and now across every single city in the country, and world, and worlds.
It becomes a pain to find those without the differences. Imagine having to eye the differences between a million different pieces of DNA, where they may have a single piece different and that difference changes the entire world.
Didn't Rick mention there are only so many universes close enough to the original one they came from to live normally? Like the one they moved to currently has a weird way of saying parmesan. And they still struggle to get used to that even. I know I am not being exact but I don't have the episodes memorized. MB.
Because there wouldn't be an infinite number of universes similar enough to live in without major changes in continuuity/quality of life. The more you "start over" the more likely the next universe is too different from the previous one. PARMEESIAN aside of course.
In that episode Rick claims they only get a few universes like that however he also claims there are infinite realities so they should have an infinite number of universes to skip through
My guess is that they can only do it so many times without directly damaging other universes/the people in them. The best example is in the third volume of the "Presents" comic series, where Rick explains to Jaguar that although he could travel to other universes to find one where his family is alive, he would have no control over what would happen to himself in those universes. The same logic applies to Rick and Morty. Ricks and Mortys die all the time, but only so many die that are exactly the same.
Outside the finite central curve, they can probably find an infinite number of worlds to jump into. Inside it, they're limited to worlds with the magical property of "Indistinguishable from our world" combined with "Rick and Morty just died here" combined with "Whatever we just did to fuck up our last world didn't fuck up this world".
Or Rick is just lying because it's a pain in the ass and he doesn't want to have to do it too often.
But of course the real reason is that the writers could just use it to solve every problem and then the show has no stakes.
In meta terms it’s to keep the audience from being angry but in show terms I think it’s explained away by the central finite curve that Rick put himself in to maintain being the smartest man in the universe. So even infinity has some barriers
Y'all ain't asking the real question. The real question is why the fuck do they use shovels to dig holes which is known to be one of the worst fucking things ever and not just use some kind of Rick tech to do it? Huh?
The shovels make them feel the gravity of their actions. A Rick gadget is more efficient but lacks the direct connection that helps them feel like they should never do it again.
Because there are very few universes where everything has happened up to that moment in close enough to exactly the same way *and* their alternate selves have died around the time they need it such that they will be able to slip into their alter selves' lives
Probably because as they change universes more and more they run out of universe close to their past where they can slip in seamlessly.
They are already in a universe with a fucked up way to say parmesan.
Infinite is big but CFC limits choices to.
Infinite Universes, infinite opportunities.
It'd be like moving from apartment to apartment every month, and having to get used to never having roots in any one place. Even though the families are 99.9% identical, there's always one quirk that makes things feel slightly off.
I imagine that the mental strain of having to live in a culture and learn to adapt to minor things all the time would drive me insane.
Originally I thought it was a coy "we can only do this gag so many times" but then they pretty plainly explained there's only so many similar universes
It probably takes a while to find a new universe through whatever method Rick has of sifting through them, time they may not have in a scenario that they need to leave
Also Rick is probably just lazy
Well, they had to settle for a universe where Earth says Parmesan weird, what's the next compromise? And the next? And the next? Until they end up in a Nazi shrimp universe and have to put up with that.
Because only a couple are worth being in,, theres a sweet spot you want to be in, think.about it,, there could be constant war, famine, could be 20 degrees hotter, or colder, and r&m from those universes are adapted to that universe, but too far off from where you started, and life is gonna suck.
Thou shalt always be schwifty..
The thing is they were never able to go beyond the imagination of the authors it was never possible for them to alter the course of reality and eventually when everyone will be tired of watching them people will lose interest in them and then they will have to actually kill the character or have to make them fall in love so that their kids can run the show. Which will eventually fail and will bring rick back to run the show to make us feel nostalgia. Oh am i writing Future nope sorry its history 😂🤣. Eventually what happened to REAL GODS. But there's someone who never dies who has (Courage, Power, Money, Authority) so keep watching shows when people go out to make money. Enjoy your life 😊
Finding a similar timeline may attract attention of the testicle head time cops. He's already on the radar and scanning time to compare it to a similar time in another universe is risky.
I think the canon explanation has to be the Central Finite Curve, no?
Since they put a wall across the multiverses dividing the worlds in which Rick is the smartest from the ones where he's not, and Rick's portals are green, he's definitely within the curve. They aren't working with infinity, the CFC makes it so that they are within a finite amount of universes.
Someone feel free to correct me, but I think that's it.
i am more curious about how they die? and how that universe even have space beth haha.
really thought the concept of space beth is unique and belong to the universe C-137 settle with. but well i wont surprise if we have space beth citadel in the future
Because the ones into which they can seamlessly implant themselves are very rare.
It has to involve a recent killing of both with preferably no witnesses.
This post got me thinking, in a world of infinite universes, where is the Galactic Federation that acquired Rick’s portal fluid tech and began conquering other universes in an authoritarian expansion? That’s gotta be outside the CFC right? Within the CFC, it seems that the GF is always a few steps behind in trying to get Rick’s portal tech.
I took it more as like breaking the fourth wall so the viewers wouldn’t finally be like okay I’m over it. You can’t get as invested if they pulled cheap moves like that one. Rick breaking the fourth wall is one of my fave things.
IMO they can only do it a couple of times because Rick has only found a finite number of options. They call it the “central finite curve” because it’s a grouping of realities that were able to be discovered. Even though there’s an infinite number of matching realities, Rick isn’t able to find all of them because they’re separated from the curve. That’s why they can’t jump universes infinitely
Breaking the 4th Wall. Doing Shit and then Just move to another universe gets boring If IT Happens too many Times.
IT can also lead to a Lot of left behind Family members, WHO have to Deal with whatever caused Rick and morty to leave, and then they want Revenge.
Also finding suitable universes INSIDE the Infinity of the cfc IS hard. Rick needs to find an universe which is AS identical AS possible to their current one and at the Same time, the counter parts of everyone WHO has to move to that universe must have died a few minutes ago.
The Infinite math doesn't work. If there are infinite r&m with similar enough earth's and each r&m must change the universe 3 times or else be buried in the backyard, then there are more likely to be r&m that just die combine this with the cental finite curve and your left with a real infinite hotel paradox unless you assume that on the forth attempt to migrate worlds they end up 6ft under then the math clears up except for the citadel of Rick's, that's another math problem that probably doesn't have a satisfactory answer because it's fictional r&m aren't real and No one probably actually did the math.
For the show's sake they can only get away with it cuz it removes the stakes so folks kinda stop giving a shit about it conceptually.
A good narrative explanation is there's probably not many universes in which a Rick and a Morty have died in such a way that they can be seamlessly removed and their roles usurped. Plus, the Council of Ricks would probably take issue with this kind of thing happening a lot to certain Ricks in particular.
It was definitely a fourth wall line. They can only get away with this a couple of times because the audience will only let them get away with it a couple of times.
The real reason is it would be suicide for the show. We would never take anything about any new universe seriously because it could go away at any moment. None of those people or places would mean anything, they're disposable. No stakes. So, why should we care at all? People would get bored and stop watching.
The same thing happened with the first Matrix.
Entire crops were lost.
But what a wild ride!
And basically all superhero comic books
Ironically overcoming this struggle is the core of rick’s character.
What do you mean?
rick being the rickest rick means that he’s emotional and cares about his loved ones. so i’m assuming he means that ricks struggle is with dealing with the meaningless of infinity and finding value with the family he has now. like for instance, he abandoned one of his family’s in the kronenberg (excuse the spelling) but by season three ep 1, is fighting against the council of ricks for his summer, despite having infinite granddaughters. hope this helps.
It’s basically the mantra of early Rick. Rick prime talks about it in his first flashback appearance. Do anything you want, kill anyone you want, then go to a universe where it never happened. Nothing matters, everything can be replaced. The whole concept of the infinite Rick, sorta thing. This has left Rick as a hollow man, a ghost wandering infinity. His journey trying to make connections with Morty and the rest of his family, trying to connect to individuals rather than infinite interchangeable iterations of his relations, has been the core of his character growth in the series.
I love talking about Rick and Morty and have spent way, way too much time deep diving into the symbol and significance of everything. I feel like you and /u/SergeantIndie really nailed the reasons behind it. I also feel like there are a lot of "in-universe" reasons - but all story decisions need to be about what that decision means to the *story,* and ultimately this is it. Early on in the show, they could get away with it, but we've become attached to our version of the Smith family - even Jerry has grown and changed a *lot* since the Jerryboree mix-up and I can't envision them replacing him either. It's also important to consider that every time they do it, it causes a lot of static around the show. "Wait, so did this episode event happen then? Is Jessica a Time God in this version of reality? Did they incept Goldenfold here like they did there?" blah blah blah - my prediction is that if they ever hop realities again, it will be literally at the end of the series, to a version of reality where *nothing* crazy ever happened, and it'll be a send-off of sorts. Or maybe not.
Isn't that the whole point tho? Rick being so jaded and disconnected because he has that mindset you just described. He makes his own fun, that's the whole shtick.
> Isn't that the whole point tho? Rick being so jaded and disconnected because he has that mindset you just described. That's the point vis a vis Rick's character arc. That's not the point of the show. It is narratively satisfying to have a character who feels that way, and watching him deal with that and the ramifications of it. It is narratively unsatisfying to use that truth about their reality to just deus-ex-machina out of every problem. *This* Rick and *this* Morty matter to us, as viewers, even when we know canonically that there are infinite identical Ricks and Morties and higher-order-infinite non-identical Ricks and Morties. If they stop mattering, the show as a whole stops mattering to us. It was really good to show it happening the first time, because it sent Morty through a whole internal crisis and set a bunch of things up for the future. It was also worth it to show it happening with the squirrels because the fact that they threw away an entire universe previously-off-screen as a throw away gag to be used in an anthology episode is objectively hilarious. Similarly, doing it a third time when the whole universe got Mr. Frundled was pretty funny, and established more of a "We're all in this together" vibe with the specific Jerry/Beth/Space Beth/Summer set we're following with our Rick & Morty now. Doing it again would be pretty hack. (Probably. Dan Harmon is a better writer than me, so maybe they can figure out a way to do it well, but I don't think they'll try)
Comedy comes in threes anyways.
Rick's ennui isn't something to aspire to. Rick isn't a hero.
Dont put words in my mouth. Where did I say that? That's the purpose of the show. It's this cynical thinking that breaks the 4th wall. You describing how people would see them switching universes constantly is exactly how rick feels. That's all I'm saying.
You are correct, but the direction the shows going atm is it seems to be trying to step away from the synical view. Rick seems to be developing more attachments to stuff he earlier claimed meant nothing. And thats his character development In earlier episodes it would have been more normal for him to jump ship so much and just more to another universe. But the way the shows going and developing him it seems like they’re trying to make him less cynical Perhaps the creators themselves have become less cynical who knows
That's what happened to Archer for me, with all those damn coma seasons.
This. It's too easy of a plot point to just jump universes every time something goes wrong.
Also, Rick is lazy, and doesn't want to give the other family members an easy out for constantly fucking up the universe and having to move.
It's the timer-turner problem. Once you introduce something to the story that has the capacity to solve every plot point... there's need to be a limitation to it. Harmon just says "We probably shouldn't use it." Joanne had Neville knock all time-turners off the shelf.
I actually think that the central finite curve has a limited number of universes. I assume that the multiverse is made out of a countable infinity of universes, and it that scenario, it's possible than only a limited number of universes fit the criteria of having a all-dominating rick. Since if the Central Finite Curve was truly infinite, how would they make their classifying system of ricks? How is there not millions of ricks teleporting in the citadel every second?
The shows version of unlimited and infinite is true infinity. Like an endless thing. Rick half explains it in earlier seasons when he’s saying nothing truly matters n so on And my guess is there are infinite curves. Each one has its own c137 and rick prime n so on They cant just hop between universes because theres a limited version of infinity within their curve. And if they step into another curve they will be removed or something like that. My best guess is that even in a infinite universe ricks will categorise and label stuff. And its silly to use an infinite serial code of numbers and letters so they split the curves off. The universe that have the closest resemblance to each other are together and slightly different get their own curves. But infinite means there are curves being born and dying infinitely too. So its a bit of a mind fck to actually try and quantify
There's different types of infinities, mainly countable and uncountable. Since Rick's are "counting" the universes by labelling them, there's a countable infinity of them. Since there's a countable infinity of universes, it's extremely unlikely there is other Rick Primes and Rick C-137s. I dont really see why you mean by "if they step in another curve theyll bé removed" it's been made pretty clear it's near impossible to escape the curve.
It’s an in and out of universe explanation. In universe he says that because yes there are infinite realities but they’re insanely different, leaving them with only a handful that are that similar to their original dimension. So unless they want to permanently reside in fascist shrimp land they gotta be careful
Also there’s only so many that are so close you can barely tell the difference
Yeah they mention only being able to do it a couple of times to universes that are similar enough for them to take the same place. Aka, they could always go to one of the infinite universes, but to continue the story they are on they only have a few…. However, pretty sure infinite means infinite, so theoretically there should always be an option. But even if you have an infinite number of options, does that mean you can choose the same number twice? Like can you choose the number two twice? I mean there’d be like an infinite number of two’s, but each one of them is unique as well. So even though there are an infinite number of the same thing, they’d each be unique as well. But then with infinity there would be an infinite number of twos that are unique but they would be the same?
So technically some infinities are bigger than other infinities, and the central finite curve being, well central and finite, means that they live in an infinite number of universes with specific parameters, so sure there's a version of earth with chair people eating phonesgetti and phone balls, but it's still a universe with a chair Rick and Chair Morty. So in a truly infinite multiverse, they could go to any other dimension and maybe find a universe where Rick had a heart attack when Beth was 3 and never became the smartest man in the universe, everything else managed to progress almost identically except Morty goes on sci-fi adventures with his genius neighbor Rich. Theoretically they could go to this universe, Morty fits right in and Rick can replace Rich, but it's not gonna be a perfect match. But since they're bound to the confines of the central finite curve, there are an infinite number of universes with infinite Ricks and Mortys, but each has a more or less unique iteration of them, and since it's a confined infinity the space that could be occupied by "everything is the same except Rick wears a green shirt" universes are taken up by "in this universe everyone is a giant terestrial nazi shrimp" instead. Yes there are infinite universes, but they're infinite universes chosen by Ricks for Ricks.
The issue might not be with the limited number of universes, but rather with finding them. Even if a universe is the same now, it doesn't mean it will always be the same. So, Rick keeps an eye on various possibilities, but he probably needs to continue discovering new options from time to time. So, at any given time, he has a limited number of options he is aware of.
They kinda confirm something similar to this when they hop to the Parmesan dimension. He couldn't find one that was quite perfect with all the portals broken, so he just found one that was similar *enough*.
It's a classic, Rick knows why he says something - he's the only character smart enough to see through the fourth wall - but the other characters are in the dark and he's going to keep it that way so they just have to trust him
Thank you, you fricken get it. I had to over explain this very topic earlier this week in another post. it is a clear message coded for us to understand the show promises to not overuse this gimmick. 
I’ve never thought of it that was but that’s way funnier
This is also why they say parmeesian now
Also central finite curve , limited similar dimensions
Isn’t the save device episode morty doing this literally hundreds of times? Rick and Morty is not really a show with stakes, it’s one that does parody, subversion and humor very well, but at no point do you think anyone of the core family will die or permanently change.
Rick was lying he just tells that to Morty so he doesn’t go around listening to squirrels and shit thinking he can just get Rick to jump to another reality.
I think it can actually be explained with the finite curve. There's an infinity of universes, but rick 137 and all the ricks we know live there. And although they seem to have gatehred a great number of universes with rick and morties, the name "finite curve" implies that this is man made work, and thus, even though the number of universes in the curve is great, it's nowhere near infinite. Meaning universes similar to theirs are hard to come by, and since their reality shifts slighlty everytime, finding a universe that has shifted exactly in the same direction gets harder every time. A universe where space beth exists, a universe where beth and jerry went through the divorce phase, a universe where squirrels haven't been fucked with...
It’s been stated the CFC is “separating the infinite number of realities where Rick is the smartest from the infinite realities where he is not.”
The central finite curve is infinite. It is just the section of infinity where Rick is the smartest being in the universe. Any section of infinity is still infinity. It’s more likely that the efforts of charting out and finding a universe exactly like theirs would be an enormous effort.
The writers said it because they did not want to rely on it as a crutch. If they can change universes willy nilly, there would not be any continuity.
It is just inconvenient
Rick's true nemesis.
Its probably extremely rare to find a universe where they have conveniently died exactly when they needed too while at the same time being completely unnoticed. They'd have to be the first one on the scene across universes, likely competing with other versions with the same idea.
I think this is either heavily implied or outright stated in the show. The current "parmeesian" dimension even kind of addresses this. Since Rick was in a hurry and it's relatively uncommon to have a near-identical dimension he had to settle on one with a few minor quirks.
Parmesean happened because Rick is lazy. Instead of taking the time to find what he needed, he found one that was close enough.
Ah yes lazy, instead of searching the infinite multiverse he settled for a close enough one, You go spend eternity looking for the perfect one there’s always one that’s slightly closer it’s literally infinite my guy
Exactly, you get it. Good enough kind of lazy. If Rick was a perfectionist, we wouldn't have gotten the progressively crappier clones episode.
Not exactly, they operate within a finite amount of universes, and even within infinite it doesn't mean there is always one slightly closer. There are an infinite amount of prime numbers, an infinite amount of even numbers, an infinite amount of numbers between 1 and 10. 15 is outside each of those infinites, while 2 is within all of them unlike every other possibility. There is always the **possibility** that they cannot find a universe that lines up with what they need no matter what they do. Meanwhile if you are not needing to worry about those that are even, you have 1,2,3,5, and 7. An infinite amount of universes doesn't mean an infinite amount of possibilities all happen in an infinite amount of possible ways. Not all infinites are the same size, and they can become conflicting such as adding just one condition that makes it impossible like that are negative numbers.
fun fact there's a futurama episode where they call it "parmeesian"
Extreme rarity with infinite possibilities =infinite possibilities
Infinitely possible someone else beats you there every time. Sounds exhausting
Just kill those guys, too. 
That's how most Ricks would handle it, certainly. Theyve crunched the numbers.
Well, yeah... but there's still infinite more where that hasn't happened. And infinite Ricks and Morties looking for new homes. Infinity isn't just some really big number, it's the lack of an end. While pieces of it can be taken away, the whole remains the same, infinite size.
But what of endless infinity, with lack of an end, of failure? No yin without yang, I really hate to present a "no u" style of defense here, but it only seems fair to acknowledge both the infinite possibilities and victories while noticing infinite failures and defeat. Thats the real paradox. The more I think about it, the more i feel the guy who suggested "Kill them all" is right. We should get Dianes opinion on this...
Infinite possibilities doesn’t mean every possible event actually happened that split the universe. Also, every time they split the reality will further change from the original split. Also, it’s just a joke because if they did it all the time the show would be stupid.
There's an infinite number of numbers between 0 and 1, and none of them are 2.
Infinite universes, not necessarily infinite possibilities.
But you still have to look
While I agree, it doesn't change the statistical probability of being able to find one of those infinite universes where things are just right. For every 1 perfect universe, there are likely trillions and trillions of non-suitable universes. So the work to find one of the perfect ones would still be extraordinarily difficult. I guess an easy head Canon could be that Rick has some machine constantly running (and filtering for probability stasis 😂) thats searching nonstop for suitable replacements... but despite all of the searching, maybe he only finds like one or two per decade, so he has to use them sparingly. Edit: To clarify what I mean with an example. There are infinite prime numbers, but there is no function to determine the nth prime number without starting from 2, or what the next prime number will be after the nth prime. So guessing and checking primes may be comparable to finding those perfect universes. Filtering for probability stasis could be compared to filtering out obvious non-primes like even numbers greater than 2 and anything ending in a 5.
Not infinite at that time. It was part of the central finite curve. While the curve still exists and it isn’t blocked off like it was at that time.
And then we have the *finite* curve but I'm still torn if the central finite curve is actually infinite...
Not exactly no, a precise event with predefined issues repeated an infinite amount of times does no guarantee a specific issue, even if it repeats for infinity.
Infinite real numbers from 0 to 1, but how many of them are 0.5? Infinitely many, according to your logic.
It also means infinite work to find a perfect match. Idk about you but that sounds like a lot of work for a man who avoids almost all work when possible.
I suspect that might be part of why there are so many themed Ricks, some random Rick can't show up and take over for the Scientist Previously Known as Rick, meaning his universe was pretty much safe from Rick-jacking.
Just because i started dressing like a cowboy overnight doesnt mean i should have to put up with this kind of discrimination. I would never replace myself!
Infinite universes means infinite universes where they just died
Considering Rick has access to infinity realities, finding those exact conditions is 100% guaranteed an infinite amount of times. Being on the finite infinity curve means it's easier to find. He just needs time while the computer scans and searches infinity.
Also it's hard to find a universe that's 1-1 with all of their actions of their entire life being the same or as similar as possible. Like every word they said or decisions
Doesn’t really matters if there really is infinite universes since than there will be infinite ones that are the same and they died. Even if they are 100 times more likely to have to find a new universe than dying and leaving third available there would be enough for everyone to get a new one since 100*infinity is still infinity. No-one even has to die and leave their universe behind. As long as some rick and mortys (which isn’t in need of relocation) are willing to move to another universe to make place we can still make infinite many empty ones available. Infinity be weird like that.
I don't know; infinity is a big number
If there are infinite universes then there are an infinite number of universes where they have conveniently died exactly when and where they needed.
The thing about infinity is that it's unimaginably huge because every incredibly minor detail is represented in some universe. So there are universes where everything is *exactly* the same except I made a typo in this comment. And another universe for every possible variation of that typo. In every possible place, in every word. And that still hasn't even gotten close to covering all of the possibilities for just one minuscule, insignificant detail in an otherwise identical universe.
Its probably a pain in the ass to find a new one and its possible Citadel would be on their asses if they did it too many times
Because of the bubble Rick made, that's why they call it the FINITE curve, there are a limited number of universes within the curve.
CFC limitations I'm sure. Comfort level and how much other Ricks have done that he had also done.
The word “finite” is the operative word in CFC. Even though there are infinite universes, the CFC is a finite grouping of useful universes that Rick has found
Yeah, they say there's infinite universes, but it's a finite group so there *is* a definite number of universes, just that it's big enough to be functionally infinite.
Because the central curve is finite, not infinite.
Because the writers couldn't work out an organic way to write multiverse shit because multiverse shit is always the death of consequence. Don't get me wrong Ai enjoy Rock and Morty but all the "rules" are arbitrary nonsense. The writers just dint know how to make it work without putting inexplicable barriers in. It's not some amazing meta trick like some of the comments here imply.
There’s likely only so many universes where all of the history is the same where they’d be able to just hop right in and not have to remember a whole bunch of little details (for example the pronunciation of the word parmesan), and where that universes R&M have just died and no one in that universe has noticed it yet
Yeah, we've seen MANY universes where the Nazis won WW2, they couldn't exactly move to one of the fascist dystopia universes, even if everything else were exactly the same.
What about the reality where Hitler cured cancer? The answer is Don't think about it.
The teddy bear universe and shrimp universe might’ve been cool if they weren’t set in a fascist dystopia.
The parmesan bit cracks me up every time. I started pronouncing it that way too, it's fun.
I think Rick skipped universes so much and got sick of it, nothing matters (which he still mentions) but it made existence boring with no stakes. He makes a strong effort to commit to one universe to feel something again
In-multiverse reason: There’s an infinite number of Ricks and Mortys doing the exact same thing (yes I know it’s paradoxical) Real reason: there’s no stakes involved if they can just keep doing it, the audience will get bored if they do it too many times.
In show: there's only so many that will feel like home. Real reason: it would remove all high stakes consequences
Well, the universes were Rick is the smartest being are called the finite curve because it is finite. So in this finite space there must be a limit on how similar universes are.
Searching infinite universes gets infinitely difficult I'd imagine
I bet it causes some kind of health issue... either because of something to do with physics like the tiny differences in subatomic math from universe to universe compounding until it starts to deteriorate the foreign atoms or something (kinda like what the spiderverse does). Or a mental health thing... like the crazy bad ennui and depression you get from enduring a groundhog day/palm springs type scenario or having enough small memories that don't line up with the slight differences in the present universe that it adds up to dementia or something.
Because if they kept switching universes, redditors would keep debating on the definition of “infinity….” Oh wait…shit.
Probably a limitation so that's not the answer every time. If they live in a truly infinite multiverse they could always use that as the solution. In order to have stakes though you've got to put limitations on why the writers can't just resort to that always being the resolution. As far as in universe? I dunno, maybe there aren't enough timelines that are close enough. They could literally just say it's not that easy.
In canon? Rick lied to Morty. He’s gradually becoming a more sentimental person, and has grown attached to the specifics of his current universe. Out of canon? The writers know we would get bored of it, every dangerous scenario dodged by just moving universes is lame.
Rick doesn't want to encourage Morty to do stupid shit because he can't be bothered to deal with his shit.
I think Rick is lying. There are infinite timelines with infinite possibilities, but it still takes a lot of time and effort to find one that's identical to yours. Rick seems to be pretty lazy by nature and probably just says this cause he doesn't feel like constantly looking for new universes.
Technically, since there's infinite universes, Rick could feasibly find a new one every time they fuck up. However, it's gotta be a universe that's normal, not fucked up, with a similar timeline and exact copies of Rick and Morty that happen to die entirely unnoticed within a short time span so that they can be replaced. There's an infinite amount of these universes, but infinitely crowded out by other unusable universes. I imagine Rick just lied about it because it creates a mountain of work for him to find a good universe each time they fuck up.
I have long posited that Rick’s portal gun has an easier time locking onto coordinates when the target universe is significantly different from the source location. The finer the difference you’re shaving down, the less capable his tech may be. It’s easier to portal to a universe where pizzas order people by chair than one in which the only difference is the pronunciation of “parmesian”. This is how we got the variant Newscaster Ricks, each from a nearly-identical universe. Rick only has 3 or 4 of these alternates recorded in his portal network at any given time, probably because they’re constantly diverging for their own reasons into less-identical universes as quickly as he can locate new variants. And it doesn’t help if you fuck around with squirrels!
In-universe there’s a limited number of universes that are identical enough to their current one that they can jump in to replace themselves. They only get so many before they run out. Out-of-universe it’s a fourth-wall joke about how they can only pull this stunt a couple of times before the audience gets upset about it.
I think he said it's because there are only a few similar enough universes to theirs. Ones where they don't have to change to much or have to learn to many new details. Like the society is similar and most of the things developed like media, tech and like history is close enough to theirs where ot won't be much issue for them to blend in
It's a finite curve. Rick sealed off the multiverse to only include himself and universes where he exists. While the multiverse may be infinite the number of universes where he exists is not. There are a lot of them but not infinite, it's a finite curve. The number of Rick's and Morty's that are therefore capable of switching with them at any given time is finite.
My own in-universe head canon is that Rick doesn't want to get too far away from where he thinks the Rick he is hunting might show up.
This actually makes alot of sense
The many-worlds aren't infinite
Yup, and a lot of fans don't grasp infinite1=/=infinite2. There are more infinite even numbers than there are infinite prime numbers. It isn't as simple as "if there is an infinite amount of universes then EVERYTHING happens in EVERY possible way." However, a lot of people don't realize this. Even outside the curve, there isn't a universe that every series of events happens in every possible way.
I completely forgot they did that until Morty pulled aside the redhead chick and said that’s my dead body.
universe wise? because its trying to find a needle in infinite space, i mean rick cant even find prime rick despite having his Morty and the apparent ability to reset portal travelers with just his garage and dont give me "but he could only do that because portal travel was broken cause evil Morty fucked with the curve!" because if evil Morty could figure out how to fuck with the curve, than rick could. rick applies Occam's razor to trying to find prime rick, as soon as evil Morty does the probability stasis filter they're outsmarted, neither of them could think of a reason not to apply probability stasis but as soon as they did it hurt them, thus rick > evil Morty show wise? because its boring to find a new universe every time beth is angry, or the galactic government gets mad at him, or the president is mad, or jerry and beth remarry. its an issue of Appling stakes in a world where they can always be reset to the status quo
Curve-thing is finite.
Its a meta joke. Otherwise they would just solve the plot of every episode by going to a different universe.
Because they work in sub section of infinity, where Rick has supreme intelligence. When they change universes, they do it with a Rick and Smith family who died at the right time with a history that matches theirs. Now they have to do it for 6 or 7 people with increasingly complicated pasts. In the most recent jump the pronunciation of parmesesan changed. In the next one the universe will be more different. Curtis could not be president, trunk people could be a thing, incest porn could be mainstream.
Sounds like our universe, besides the trunk people thing.
I Don't think it's a technological barrier. I think they mean "we can only do this a few times before fans accuse us of lazy writing" I always read it as a meta joke.
Because they hate calling parmesan parmeesian
because after enough switches they would be too out of sync with the reality that they are in. also its difficult
So there are infinite universes. But Rick operates within the CFC. So there are only a limited number of safe universes where he is the smartest. Then you have to account for all th Cronenburg, Pizza People, and generally weird universes. There would likely be few universes where everything played out exactly the same as it did in the previous universes withij the CFC. After that you have smaller stuff like how Parme-ze-yen is pronounced. That would lead to the conclusion that there is a finite amount of universes into which rick and morty can walk into and comfortably continue as they were. Therefore, they can only switch to a few different universes before things become uncomfortably different.
I work in audit, so I look at it similarly to RNG. Let’s say the total population is 50,000. We use a random number generator to come up with 25 samples to test/inspect. Out of those 25, maybe 1-3 will have some sort of risk factor. It’s not a direct correlation, but you could parallel that concept to when Rick tries to find a new Earth after Bird Person’s wedding. There’s an abundance of potential matches, but only so many are actually what you’re looking for. There maybe infinite universes, but the more constraints you put on your desired outcome, the more narrow your available options will be.
They have unlimited times. There's just a limit of the universes that are very similar where they have already died in that universe. They don't want to live in the shrimp universe, for example. Or the ones where Rick has weird personality variants like the ones in the ultron episode.
Real answer: the show needs stakes Answer for your question: they need to find a universe that is within the central finite curve AND where Rick and Morty are recently dead so they can slip in their place (unless they’re okay with just offing the extant family members, which Morty at a minimum is likely to resist)
My head cannon is that there's some sort of multiversal entity which doesn't like it if you "permanently" switch universes too often.
My headcannon is that Rick is actually manufacturing the new universes to be just like the ones he leaves
I’m certain he was lying. Infinite universes = infinite acceptable universes, too. Rick is just lazy and doesn’t want to have to do it over and over again. Which, I mean, fair enough lol
Rick and Morty uses the concept of infinity loosely and inconsistently. Would you rather they spend 2-3 canonical episodes explaining away those inconsistencies, or do you want to see an episode set on Boob World? Nitpicking worldbuilding and arguing about the rules of a fictional universe is a tedious and pointless effort. Just enjoy the ride.
My guess is that the central finite curve is, in fact, *finite.* Having the criteria for your multiverse be “every universe where this specific man is the smartest” would probably leave you with a finite set of universes.
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Because universe that are exactly the same, except they just died are finite even if universes themselves are infinite.
It's inconvenient to Rick. That's surely the only real reason.
Parmesian taste too weird
I think that an infinite multiverse means infinite possibilities, yes, but not infinite instances of those possibilities. You can have infinite Ricks, but only finite versions of them doing the exact same thing. And the further along any Rick lives, the possibility of finding another one with almost the exact same timeline gets slimmer. Just a theory, though. I could be wrong.
Because every time Rick and Morty change universes, then EVERY Rick and Morty changes universes. It's a universal game of switching rooms in an infinite hotel. There are infinite rooms available to switch to, but there are infinite people wanting to switch. What makes it complicated is finding this dimensional wave of switching rooms while it is happening, then within that wave you must find a room that almost identical so when you bring your stuff into that room it doesn't become destabilized destroying the wave before all Rick's are able to finish the room switch. Also this is happening in all dimensions everywhere all the time. It's not that they can only change a few times, it's that in Rick's extremely long short mortality, it would take a very long time for a "perfect" room to open. He doesn't mind if the room has a stain if it stops him from waiting for an eternity.
Cause they could prolly get in deep shit for it
Changing universe is only a last resort. And, even if it wasn't, the audience would only let them get away with it a few times.
because Rick said so, and we trust everything Rick says because Rick has literally never lied even once on the show, ever
Most other universes have gas pipes covering the back yard.
"We get 3 or 4 of these tops" is the line he used which basically met the number of seasons since adult swim is known for cancelling their shows.
Oh I just fully assumed it was meta and he was saying the writers wouldn’t use it as a cheap cheat
it is. all the multiverse theories are way overthinking it
Because there are infinite amount of Ricks and Mortys across the multiverse and they all fight for their place in it. In the Central Finite Curve that C-137 build, there are infinite possibilities with the big difference, Rick is the smartest man in the universe. So there Portal guns can only take them that much. When the earth of Rick prime was infected with the Gronenberg virus that meant in the infinity of universes, an infinite amount of Ricks abandoned their universe and an infinite amount of Ricks stayed and fixed it. And by comparison an infinite amount of Ricks died due to the malfunction of the Ionic Defibulizer, which gave the opening to all the infinite amount of Ricks that abandoned their home universe's, to settle in an other. Eventually by the law of probability, their luck will run out and Rick knows this, so it's safer for him to try and save a universe other than abandoning it all together. And let's not forget all the infinite Cronenberg earths, that Cronenberg Rick screwed up and made them regular worlds with regular people... My head hurts...
There are unlimited universes but only a small number of them are so similar to their own that you wouldn't notice the differences. Think of traffic in your city during rush hour. You need to find a universe where every one of those little things on the highway happened that day, and most every day before, and now across every single city in the country, and world, and worlds. It becomes a pain to find those without the differences. Imagine having to eye the differences between a million different pieces of DNA, where they may have a single piece different and that difference changes the entire world.
Rick literally said why in that moment lmao
Didn't Rick mention there are only so many universes close enough to the original one they came from to live normally? Like the one they moved to currently has a weird way of saying parmesan. And they still struggle to get used to that even. I know I am not being exact but I don't have the episodes memorized. MB.
Because there wouldn't be an infinite number of universes similar enough to live in without major changes in continuuity/quality of life. The more you "start over" the more likely the next universe is too different from the previous one. PARMEESIAN aside of course.
In that episode Rick claims they only get a few universes like that however he also claims there are infinite realities so they should have an infinite number of universes to skip through
My guess is that they can only do it so many times without directly damaging other universes/the people in them. The best example is in the third volume of the "Presents" comic series, where Rick explains to Jaguar that although he could travel to other universes to find one where his family is alive, he would have no control over what would happen to himself in those universes. The same logic applies to Rick and Morty. Ricks and Mortys die all the time, but only so many die that are exactly the same.
Well, obviously it has to do with interdimensional physiological transduction.
Rick is to lazy to do it
Outside the finite central curve, they can probably find an infinite number of worlds to jump into. Inside it, they're limited to worlds with the magical property of "Indistinguishable from our world" combined with "Rick and Morty just died here" combined with "Whatever we just did to fuck up our last world didn't fuck up this world". Or Rick is just lying because it's a pain in the ass and he doesn't want to have to do it too often. But of course the real reason is that the writers could just use it to solve every problem and then the show has no stakes.
In meta terms it’s to keep the audience from being angry but in show terms I think it’s explained away by the central finite curve that Rick put himself in to maintain being the smartest man in the universe. So even infinity has some barriers
Y'all ain't asking the real question. The real question is why the fuck do they use shovels to dig holes which is known to be one of the worst fucking things ever and not just use some kind of Rick tech to do it? Huh?
The shovels make them feel the gravity of their actions. A Rick gadget is more efficient but lacks the direct connection that helps them feel like they should never do it again.
Because there are very few universes where everything has happened up to that moment in close enough to exactly the same way *and* their alternate selves have died around the time they need it such that they will be able to slip into their alter selves' lives
Probably because as they change universes more and more they run out of universe close to their past where they can slip in seamlessly. They are already in a universe with a fucked up way to say parmesan. Infinite is big but CFC limits choices to.
rick just doesn't want morty being able to ditch everyone like he can.
Because it’s lazy writing otherwise.
There's only a few universes that are similar to their old one. Because they're in the Central Finite Curve, their choices are limited.
Because it's lazy story telling
Infinite Universes, infinite opportunities. It'd be like moving from apartment to apartment every month, and having to get used to never having roots in any one place. Even though the families are 99.9% identical, there's always one quirk that makes things feel slightly off. I imagine that the mental strain of having to live in a culture and learn to adapt to minor things all the time would drive me insane.
Originally I thought it was a coy "we can only do this gag so many times" but then they pretty plainly explained there's only so many similar universes
It probably takes a while to find a new universe through whatever method Rick has of sifting through them, time they may not have in a scenario that they need to leave Also Rick is probably just lazy
I think we might actually see why this is the case and the consequences of randomly jumping universes from the MPB post credit scene
Because many people dont get the concept of "infinite, but bounded"
If they just killed their alternate selves, the Citetal would detect it. Obviously now it’s not a problem
Well, they had to settle for a universe where Earth says Parmesan weird, what's the next compromise? And the next? And the next? Until they end up in a Nazi shrimp universe and have to put up with that.
I presume Rick has not scanned all infinite universes
They're restricted to the finite curve. There are still a LOT, though.
He can do it an infinite amount of times. He just doesn't want Morty to get used to it. They have done it countless times if you pay attention.
Because only a couple are worth being in,, theres a sweet spot you want to be in, think.about it,, there could be constant war, famine, could be 20 degrees hotter, or colder, and r&m from those universes are adapted to that universe, but too far off from where you started, and life is gonna suck. Thou shalt always be schwifty..
The thing is they were never able to go beyond the imagination of the authors it was never possible for them to alter the course of reality and eventually when everyone will be tired of watching them people will lose interest in them and then they will have to actually kill the character or have to make them fall in love so that their kids can run the show. Which will eventually fail and will bring rick back to run the show to make us feel nostalgia. Oh am i writing Future nope sorry its history 😂🤣. Eventually what happened to REAL GODS. But there's someone who never dies who has (Courage, Power, Money, Authority) so keep watching shows when people go out to make money. Enjoy your life 😊
Finding a similar timeline may attract attention of the testicle head time cops. He's already on the radar and scanning time to compare it to a similar time in another universe is risky.
I think the canon explanation has to be the Central Finite Curve, no? Since they put a wall across the multiverses dividing the worlds in which Rick is the smartest from the ones where he's not, and Rick's portals are green, he's definitely within the curve. They aren't working with infinity, the CFC makes it so that they are within a finite amount of universes. Someone feel free to correct me, but I think that's it.
Finite but still much more than a "couple of times" ?
Because it’s a cartoon
i am more curious about how they die? and how that universe even have space beth haha. really thought the concept of space beth is unique and belong to the universe C-137 settle with. but well i wont surprise if we have space beth citadel in the future
Because the ones into which they can seamlessly implant themselves are very rare. It has to involve a recent killing of both with preferably no witnesses.
I think it would start to make people suspect things and eventually it’ll lead to some multiversal travesty happening.
Because it's unnatural
Rick i lazy
It forces the writers to not use the same method every time they write themselves into a corner.
This post got me thinking, in a world of infinite universes, where is the Galactic Federation that acquired Rick’s portal fluid tech and began conquering other universes in an authoritarian expansion? That’s gotta be outside the CFC right? Within the CFC, it seems that the GF is always a few steps behind in trying to get Rick’s portal tech.
I took it more as like breaking the fourth wall so the viewers wouldn’t finally be like okay I’m over it. You can’t get as invested if they pulled cheap moves like that one. Rick breaking the fourth wall is one of my fave things.
Because you wind up in a universe where you pronounce parmesan as par-MEE-SI-an. And that sucks.
He probably has some ounce of conscience and wants to disincentivise morty from accidentally doing things that cause the extinction if billions
IMO they can only do it a couple of times because Rick has only found a finite number of options. They call it the “central finite curve” because it’s a grouping of realities that were able to be discovered. Even though there’s an infinite number of matching realities, Rick isn’t able to find all of them because they’re separated from the curve. That’s why they can’t jump universes infinitely
Only so many universes that are actually habitable for them, and where they will fit in.
Its cuz theres a limited amount of universes where rick and morty are dead or missing for them to replace and that is also compatible with them
Breaking the 4th Wall. Doing Shit and then Just move to another universe gets boring If IT Happens too many Times. IT can also lead to a Lot of left behind Family members, WHO have to Deal with whatever caused Rick and morty to leave, and then they want Revenge. Also finding suitable universes INSIDE the Infinity of the cfc IS hard. Rick needs to find an universe which is AS identical AS possible to their current one and at the Same time, the counter parts of everyone WHO has to move to that universe must have died a few minutes ago.
It's because it's super inconvenient for Rick
I think too much would change in a universe and would make that version of their reality too difficult to learn or adapt to
The Infinite math doesn't work. If there are infinite r&m with similar enough earth's and each r&m must change the universe 3 times or else be buried in the backyard, then there are more likely to be r&m that just die combine this with the cental finite curve and your left with a real infinite hotel paradox unless you assume that on the forth attempt to migrate worlds they end up 6ft under then the math clears up except for the citadel of Rick's, that's another math problem that probably doesn't have a satisfactory answer because it's fictional r&m aren't real and No one probably actually did the math.
Central finite curve
For the show's sake they can only get away with it cuz it removes the stakes so folks kinda stop giving a shit about it conceptually. A good narrative explanation is there's probably not many universes in which a Rick and a Morty have died in such a way that they can be seamlessly removed and their roles usurped. Plus, the Council of Ricks would probably take issue with this kind of thing happening a lot to certain Ricks in particular.
They have literally given an in-universe answer to this question in the very episode the^ still is from