VOTD: How 'Rick And Morty' Evolved From An Attempt To Troll Major Movie Studios

Rick and Morty is one of the best television shows on air right now. While the animated antics on the Adult Swim series are undoubtedly crass and vulgar, the writing on the show is sharp, witty and has some of the best sci-fi satire that TV has ever seen.

Many fans of Rick and Morty know that the series originally started as a more direct parody of Back to the Future, following characters named Doc Smith and Mharti McDonalds. But the original idea was actually meant to more directly infringe upon the copyrights of Universal Pictures in an effort to get the studio to send creator Justin Roiland a cease and desist order.

Find out all about the Rick and Morty origin story after the jump.

As the video explains, Justin Roiland initially intended to call the animated series Back to the Future: The New Official Universal Studios Cartoon Featuring the New Doc Brown and Marty McFly. That's a long way to go for a prank that results in legal action, but it wasn't the first time that Roiland had dabbled in such an effort.

Before Rick and Morty, Roiland created an animated series called House of Cosbys that follows a household that is full of clones of Bill Cosby. The series got the attention of Cosby's lawyers, and a cease and desist order asked them to shut it down, which is exactly what he was hoping for. Funnily enough, House of Cosbys has an idea in it that ended up being the inspiration for one of the fan favorite episodes of Rick and Morty, the interdimensional cable episode called "Rixty Minutes."

It's crazy to think that one of the most popular shows on TV today just started as a way of trolling a major movie studio.