As a character, The Tick has been around for more than thirty years but has never quite hit the mainstream. Starting off as comic book character created by Ben Edlund, the Tick has made the leap to cartoon series (in 1994) and live action series (in both 2001 and 2016). All are great and have their own individual pluses and minuses that distinguish them from each other but I’m going to focus on just one version here…
The Tick (2001 TV series)
Why Is It Good?* There are many reasons why but let’s start with the main one - Patrick Warburton. Warburton’s portrayal of the Tick is, for me, the definitive one. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy Townsend Coleman (animated) or Peter Serafinowicz (2016 version) in their takes on it but there’s something about Warburton’s version that just feels absolutely right. There’s a strong hint of Adam West’s Batman in the cheesily cheerful and naively earnest way in which he behaves coupled with an air of other-worldliness as he apparently seems to struggle with everyday concepts like broken toilets, how fortune cookies work and non-secret-headquarters-transforming light switches. He’s not the only good thing, though - the other three characters rounding out the main quartet of the cast (Arthur, Captain Liberty and Batmanuel) bounce nicely off each other and each get their moments to shine. It’s genuinely funny with some crackingly quotable non-sequiturs from the slightly-tangential-to-reality Tick. As with the cartoon, a clear love of the tortured expressions of old school comic books comes through in his choices of phrasing.
Where Can I Find It? It’s currently streaming on Amazon Prime (in the UK at least) alongside the new version that Amazon has been producing. It was cancelled pretty much before it even aired so there are only nine episodes to enjoy which is the only real drawback - just as it’s really getting going, it’ll be over. It was probably unfortunately ahead of its time - in 2001, the superhero boom was quite a way off. Had it been aired today, it might have had a different story...
* Ah yes, you’ll note that I’ve changed this from “Is It Any Good?” as that was a silly subtitle given that I’m clearly going to be recommending stuff that i reckon to be good.
No comments:
Post a Comment