The Tick: The Entire Series (DVD)
Created by Ben Edlund
Produced by Bary Sonnenfeld
ASIN: B0000AUHQE
Publisher: Columbia Tristar, $29.95 at Amazon.com
“The Tick: The Entire Series” is a two disc set with all nine episodes of the short-lived series, plus a trailer and commentary by the director and writer. The series, which came out in November of 2001, barely lasted half a season at 9 episodes. It starred Patrick Warburton as the Tick, David Burke as his sidekick (kick ‘em to the side!) Arthur, Liz Vassey as Captain Liberty (this show’s version of American Maid) and Nestor Carbonell as Batmanuel (a variation on Die Fledermaus).
But before I get into the review, let me give you alittle background first on my relationship to the Big Blue one. I’ve been a fan of “The Tick” since a gamer friend of mine showed me one of the comics at college. The original Tick comic book first came out in 1987. Our first ever glimpse of the blue wonder was of him in a straightjacket, in an insane asylum, exclaiming “Bored, bored, bored.” The series only lasted 12 issues, even though it took Mr. Edlund until 1993 to get that far. The man’s a putz, I tell you. I quit collecting the series for about a year and a half after college, and when I went back, I’d only missed two issues. Sheesh. Even so, each of those 12 episodes was golden
From what I understand, Ben left the comic book to do the animated series, allowing others to continue the comic book in his absense. I’m afraid that the Tick without Ben is not the same, so I never did follow those comic book offshoots. But I did look forward to the series. Some of you may remember it. It was quite witty, offbeat and different for Saturday morning. A lot of the old characters were there, and some new ones. The various spoofs on superheros and supervillans was the best part of this series. I have them all on videotape, and I do wish they would be released on DVD too, but that’s another story. But that series soon ended too. I’m not completely sure, but I think Ben ended this project too so that he could work on the live action version. I wish he wouldn’t keep doing that.
So, you see, the Tick and I go back along way. But even through all of its incarnations and changes, I still couldn’t picture a live action version of my favorite blue avenger. I thought the show would be stupid. I thought it would be silly.
I was wrong.
After watching this DVD, I can’t for the life of me figure out why it didn’t take off. There is one explanation, of course, that Fox didn’t give the show a chance. I can vouch for that point, actually, since it was preempted in Milwaukee after the first week. This of course means I missed most of the episodes except for the first one, which is anther reason I’m glad this DVD came out.
The introductory episode shows the Tick getting to the city in a different way than the book or the cartoon, though I wish someone would have the guts to put him in an insane asylum again. Too dark, I suppose. From there, we see him meeting Arthur; doing battle with the world’s oldest master villain, the Terror; getting his superhero’s license though he has no idea who he is and where he comes from; rescuing Arthur from an asylum; dealing with the fact that Arther has a girlfriend, though he doesn’t understand the facts of life (AT ALL); and other misadventures. Through it all, the periperal characters have their own side plots going on, as when Captain Liberty has to get some nude pictures back from a skin magazine or lose her government job or Batmanuel tries to get his picture in the paper.
All in all, I like the way the creators took the basic premise of the Tick, and made it sitcom-ready. Yes, as some have said, it’s a bit like Seinfeld and/or Friends in the way the characters interact, but I see nothing wrong with that. The offbeat humor is still there, and so it still has that Tick flavor. There is a nice combination of the Tick’s innocence and some very sophisticated, dry, quirky adult humor. Kudos especially to the writing staff. This HAS to be the funniest Tick yet. And each actor fits his character like a blue body suit. I’m hungry for more, and sad now knowing it wasn’t to be. I would recommend this DVD to anyone with an off-beat sense of humor, who likes intelligent writing. I would especially recommend it to anyone who was a fan of either the comic book or the cartoon. Keep an open mind to the changes and you will NOT be disappointed in the overall product.
So...how about a movie version next, Mr. Edlund?
(review (c) January 2004 / Erica Woollums)