Original air date: 8/23/2015
A giant floating head disrupts the planet, demanding to see a hit song performed. Meanwhile, a religion quickly forms around said giant head.
Tropes:
- All Crimes Are Equal: Principal Vagina's religion punishes everyone by tying them to a ton of balloons and launching them into the sky.
- And Mission Control Rejoiced: Happens when the huge head leaves after approving of the schwifty song. Happens again when Earth wins the Talent Contest at the end.
- Anthropomorphic Typography: Ice-T is revealed to be an alien from the planet Alphabetrium, whose inhabitants are shaped like letters and embody various simple substances (H₂O, magnesium, etc.), and are currently at war with a species who are shaped like numbers.
- Balloonacy: Principal Vagina's head religion sends undesirables up to the heads by tying balloons to them.
- Bawdy Song: With Word Salad Lyrics other than the hook, "Take off your pants and your panties..."
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Ice-T is actually a being made of water from the realm of Alphabetrium, where all beings are shaped like letters and embody various simple substances (H2O, magnesium, etc.). He was turned to ice and banished for his apathy. In the stinger, he returns to his homeworld and becomes Water-T.
- Big Damn Heroes: Ice-T blocks the Cromulons' Earth-destroying Wave-Motion Gun long enough for Rick and Morty to come up with a winner song.
- Bilingual Bonus: Arboles Mentirosos (the alien band) is Spanish for "the lying trees."
- Bolivian Army Ending: The freeze-frame in the final scene as Ice-T charges out at the enemy.
- Brainwashing: The cult of Headism pretty much has all members act crazy that even Summer begins to behave like an educated daughter around her bewildered parents, who can't completely embrace the cult's laws when once more their marriage is tested. Cue both of them being strapped to balloons to float away to their deaths.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Morty gets exasperated with Rick taking it easy when trying to come up with a new song that he ditches him, even if it meant not understanding how the portal gun works.
- But What About the Astronauts?: When the planet is teleported out of orbit, Rick awkwardly mentions to the president that any astronauts in orbit are likely dead.
- Continuity Nod: To proto-pilot, "The Real Adventures of Doctor and Mharti", a short for Channel 101. Rick tells Morty to, "lick his balls". Also could be a reference to the previous episode "Total Rickall" in which Rick sings another Bawdy Song, this time referencing his genitalia.
- Creator Cameo: Dan Harmon as Ice-T.
- Creator Provincialism: Apparently an earthquake hitting the Grammy Awards (Mostly geared towards American artists) is enough to need to force Rick and Morty, rather than any other singer on the Planet to save Earth.
- Deadline News: The news reporter early on is almost killed by falling debris.
- Disproportionate Retribution: The Headism religion executes such people as goths, "movie talkers", and "inappropriate joke tellers".
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The penalty for losing.
- Elemental Shapeshifter: Ice-T's true form is a big letter T made of water.
- Eliminated from the Race: One planet after the other goes kaboom in the competition.
- Evil Is Petty: The General, even after being proven that his nuke plan wouldn't work, tries to gun down the President only for Rick to vaporize him.
- False Cause: Principal Vagina is celebrated by the community for appeasing the Cromulon with his worship while in reality, it was Rick and Morty's schwifty song that saved the day. A new religious cult, called Headism, is then formed in the wake of this misconception and the town turns into a Headistic theocracy with Vagina as the Head Priest.
- Felony Misdemeanor: Principal Vagina punishes people for theft, being a goth, or talking at the movies.
- Feud Episode: After getting fed up with Rick's antics, Morty steals his portal gun and goes to get his family so they can escape to another dimension while leaving Rick behind to face the Cromulons alone. However Morty doesn't know how to use the portal gun and nearly gets himself killed portal-hopping through dangerous worlds before stumbling upon Bird Person's world, who heals Morty and encourages him to return to Rick. He does just that in the nick of time and they save the Earth.
- Flying Face: The aliens seem to only consist of faces.
- Forced Transformation: Rick uses a wrist laser that turns people into snakes. Subverted at the end when he reveals it's actually a mundane particle beam that vaporizes people and the snakes are kept in a tube strapped to his leg.
- Friendship Moment: How did Morty manage to get to Birdperson? Of course Rick programmed that location into his portal gun.
- General Ripper: All the General can think of is to nuke the giant head.
- Hairpin Lockpick: Parodied with Jerry telling Summer that he has a paper clip hidden in his cheek but he doesn't know what to do with it.
- Hellish Copter: The President and Morty fast-rope off a helicopter which then crashes on the ground in the distance.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: According to the president, the contents of Area 51 can be seen on Google Maps.
- Humanity on Trial: And only a live performance of a newly written, catchy original song can save us.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Literally. The General, after nearly getting the planet destroyed by firing nukes that fail to even scratch the Cromulons, runs towards the President with a machine gun in his hand after the day is saved, only for Rick to vaporize him.
- No-Sell: The General's attempt to nuke the head ultimately does nothing except make the heads angry, and nearly doomed everybody.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Morty manages to survive a trip across an unknown number of planets before running into Birdperson.
- One-Hit Wonder: The General believes Rick and Morty to be this and urges the president to vote for the Nuke 'em option instead.
- Our Presidents Are Different: President Keith David is President Buffoon, but when his two options are Rick and Morty getting schwifty vs. General Kurtwood Smith's insistence on nuking everything, it's understandable he'd go with the former. What's not understandable is flying a helicopter personally when he doesn't know how.
- Perfectly Cromulent Word: Schwifty and Bulldops.
- Planet Destroyer: Disqualified or losing planets will be blown up by the Cromulons in Planet Music.
- Planetary Relocation: The planet Earth is teleported away by a giant floating head as part of a song competition. Rick is contacted by the President of the United States to try to do something about this, as any planet that doesn't impress the judges is exploded.
- Post-Climax Confrontation: After the day is saved, the General launches a final attack which is foiled by Rick's Disintegrator Ray gun.
- Prayer Is a Last Resort: Atheists turn into followers of the Flying Face once it becomes apparent that Earth's destiny is in the Cromulons' hands.
- Precision F-Strike: By the US president:President Keith David: What the hell are you doing, Nathan? I'm the goddamn president of the United fucking States!
- Previews Pulse: The Title Card at the end of The Stinger announcing Water-T's upcoming blockbuster movie is underscored with a pumping brass sound.
- Scientist vs. Soldier: At the War Room, a scientist suggests impressing the Flying Face with humanity's scientific discoveries while the General suggests nuking it into oblivion.
- Shout-Out: Also, a Take That! to Pharrell, Randy Newman and the-Dream, they die in this episode. Ice-T is lightly mocked. Also to Zardoz, the Whole-Plot Reference.
- Stealth Pun: When Ice-T returns home, the three buildings are in the shape of GAF. This is also an initialism meaning "Give A Fuck". Ice was banished for not caring (or "giving a fuck").
- The Stinger: Ice-T returns to his homeworld, and is welcomed back in reward for his efforts in saving the Earth from the Cromulons, and returns to his true form of Water-T. Their world is then attacked by an enemy society of numbers, and Water-T jumps into combat with them.
- Stylistic Suck: Rick and Morty are barely musicians.
- Talent Contest: Planet Music is this on an inter-planetary scale.
- Title Drop: "Get Schwifty" is the chorus to the song Rick improvises.
- Toilet Humor: The lyrics of "Get Schwifty" encourage the listener to "shit on the floor".
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: We get a swift view of a number of photos of Rick and Birdperson from their past. Rick was happy, and we get a glimpse of him holding baby Morty with a huge grin on his face.
DISQUALIFIED!
