I don't see a problem with this
Okay I went a little nuts with my first post here. I’ve been thinking about The Tick a lot, because my wife and I are addicted to it on our Xbox Netflix.
I get why The Tick was canceled. Sort of. The live-action follow-up to the explosively fantastic Saturday-morning cartoon of the same name suffers from season-one-lack-of-budget-ositis, and as such has some clear issues. Number one, and I am only halfway through the season here, but they never really fight crime or save the day.
In the Pilot, yes, they do. They fight Red Scare, a re-activated soviet-era Russian robot bent on… I don’t know, something. Probably destroying America. My point is, there was a villain with a great name and a gimmick — perfectly on par with the cartoon. Arthur’s costume is great and actor David Burke fills the role awesomely. Doc Brown from Back to the Future shows up just to fire him! Everything starts off so great!
When the show was picked up for its season on Fox, there were some changes, notably the absence of villains, fight sequences, and the general saving of the day. The characters just sort of… live their lives, and the comedy that results from them being superheroes with day-to-day bullshit to deal with is actually pretty good. But that is all there is. There’s two or three sets, and most of the action takes place in a diner. Like Sienfeld.
In fact, I’m sure the major note from Fox was “let’s make this more like Sienfeld” and I can’t really blame them for that. Sienfeld was still hugely relevant as a show template in 2001. Other changes were Batmanuel’s costume from a very dark brown shade to a more screen-friendly burnt-yellow, (yes, that’s actor Nestor Carbonell, who you may know from LOST and THE FUCKING DARK KNIGHT. Playing BAT MANUEL. Deal with that.) and Liz Vassey’s Captain Liberty costume going from smoking hot sexy to regular normal sexy with a little less underboob:
Captain Liberty, before and after
But the shining star here is Patrick Warburton as The Tick. Literally the only human alive who could fill the roll. Word on the street is he made connections on this show that would later lead to his induction into the most-badass-voice-actors-evar hall of fame as Brock Samson on Venture Bros.
The Tick is awesome
The humor is a lot more adult than the cartoon but it never looses its grip on that innate “Tick-ness” of its predecessor. Basically half the show is about the sex, but since it was on network television instead of say, FX, they had to joke and pun their way around the topic. So no-one can really come out and say they’re trying to get laid without kind of not really saying it. and Bat Manuel’s is always trying to get laid, so you get a lot of this.
It is also worth noting that the show’s lack of “stick” to the airwaves of television may have had something to do with airing the Fall after 9/11. When the country had real, real problems, perhaps a show about self-centered superheroes not-really-saving the day wasn’t the right thing at the right time.
Despite shortcomings I can only describe as “obvious” the show is really goddamn funny. I never saw it when it was on air originally but I laugh out loud all the time watching these episodes now. I will keep the series in my Xbox Netflix well after I’ve run through the season just so I can watch it again.
Andy & Nate Play Games and Watch Movies Sometimes 