Spoon! Amazon orders pilot for live-action The Tick reboot

I didn't really care for it for a number of reasons.

1.) Peter Serafinowicz is all wrong for the Tick. Sure, he kinda-sorta vaguely has an okay build for it if you pad up the costume enough, but he really doesn't portray the character very well. His inflections when he speaks, in particular, are just terrible.

2.) The Tick's costume is god-awful. Seriously, that's a really awful costume.

3.) The not-so-subtle implication that the Tick is somehow a manifestation of Arthur's imagination is also pretty abysmal. The Tick not having *any* background at all, let alone an origin story, was one of the greatest things about the character. I think the closest we ever got to an origin story about him involved him showing up randomly at a bus station before he was asked to leave. At least as far as the cartoon/live series goes; I never read the comics.

4.) They're trying too hard to be edgy and grounded in reality. That's... that's just not the Tick at all.

5.) Where the eff was Die Fledermaus/Batmanuel and American Maid/Captain Liberty? I know it was just a pilot so not casting them makes a certain amount of sense, but having some reference to them would have been nice. I think the closest we got was the whole Flag 5 thing, but that's a pretty big stretch at best.

6.) Chairface Chippendale. Nerdraaaaage at his lack of a presence.

There were some good things, too, however.

1.) I really liked what we saw of the Terror. And am I misremembering, or was the ship-or-whatever-it-was that delivered Superian to Earth in the shape of a lowercase T? If so, that implies quite a lot.

2.) I actually liked Arthur for the most part. Sure, it would be nice if he were more pudgy, but that's just because I really loved everything about the animated series. Him already being "famous" due to a certain childhood event was also pretty cool. But again, I don't like that they're suggesting that the Tick is some kind of manifestation of his.

3.) Despite my #4 dislike above, I did like the villains and how, for the most part, they're not just dumb brutes. They're actually going to be a real threat, not just over-the-top lunacy like the Terror himself. (Even though I liked that, too. The dude weaponized syphilis and stole a kid's ice cream.)

4.) They actually called it a bunny suit.

There's also a few things I'm curious or intrigued about.

1.) I wonder how the member of the Flag 5 who had his hands crushed is going to play into the story. My first guess is that he might eventually be revealed to be the man who ends up finding and training American Maid/Captain Liberty or some such.

2.) Why were the villains at that warehouse, and how did they know about the bunny suit? Or more importantly, what so was, well, important about it that made them seek it out?

Overall, while the things I disliked grossly outweigh the stuff I liked, I wouldn't mind seeing this show picked up. But that's almost definitely because I'm a fan of the previous shows.

 

I thought he was fine once I got used to his speech rhythms. Sure, he's not as physically ideal for the part as Warburton, but that has to be secondary to performance.

It takes some getting used to. But I'm glad the cowl actually includes a mask over the eyes. Nothing in live action could match the big white bug eyes of the cartoon version, but I always found it weird the way Warburton's cowl exposed his whole face.

We don't know yet if he actually is imaginary. I suspect that Arthur will be unsure for a while but that the Tick will eventually turn out to be real.

It's not the version we're used to, no. But then, the Batman I grew up with was the one played by Adam West and Olan Soule, but I was still able to broaden my horizons to encompass the more serious version that came along later. Ben Edlund has decided to take his creation in a new direction rather than just copying the same things he's already done. I respect that. If this were somebody else trying to reinvent the character without Edlund's input, I might feel differently; but this is coming from the guy who actually created the character, and it's safe to say he has more creative control over this version than over either of the previous TV shows. I'm pretty sure Edlund's original Tick comics had more of a dark edge than the shows did.

Die Fledermaus and American Maid were created for the animated series, which is why the live-action series didn't have the rights to them and had to create Batmanuel and Captain Liberty instead. So I'd assume this version doesn't have the rights to either pair of characters, and I can't blame Edlund if he wants to do something different than just giving us a third pair of Batman and Wonder Woman knockoffs. It seems he's casting a broader net this time -- Superian is Superman and/or Dr. Manhattan, the Flag Five are the Fantastic Four, and we'll probably get pastiches of other familiar characters if the show continues.

Now, Chairface did originate in the comics, so that means it's possible he could show up later, FX budget permitting. It's not like he's really a first-episode sort of villain. His comics debut was in issue #7 of the original series, and his screen debut was in episode 2 of the animated series.

Hmm, I didn't really register what the shape of the object was. But yeah, I did suspect that there was a connection between the two, or that they're two forms of the same entity, given that they've nominally both been active for the same amount of time.

The moth suit was in a case with Russian text on it. It was part of the shipment of high-tech weapons that the villains were bringing in to The City. The rest of the weapons were destroyed in the blast, but the suit survived and the Tick appropriated it.

(Which argues against the Tick being Arthur's hallucination, because how could he possibly have caused the explosion and taken the suit while he was in police custody? Unless he has some psychic power to manifest his delusions in physical form.)

Although I'm not sure if this show is supposed to be set in "The City" or specifically in New York City, because the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building were clearly visible behind Arthur when he snuck through the fence. If it is overtly NYC, that would be a bit disappointing, because I loved it that the name of the city was actually, officially The City. "My The City."

 

I didn't.

I didn't say anything about his cowl. The costume as a whole is incredibly awful.

Again, I didn't say anything about him being imaginary. Please stop assuming you know what other people are saying when you clearly don't.

What I did say is that the pilot is heavily implying that he's some kind of manifestation that Arthur someone created, or that he's somehow related to him in some as of yet undetermined means. The fact that he woke up in Arthur's bed the day after he first appeared out of thin air is the most damning evidence of that.

Really? Wow, I had no idea. I mean, there's no way that's why I presented the characters as Die Fledermaus/Batmanuel and American Maid/Captain Liberty. That was just, what, some random typo on my part I guess. But hey, thanks for "correcting" my horrible ignorance on the matter. I was in dire need of being educated on the topic.

Wow! Thanks again for correcting me on the bunny -- I'm sorry moth -- suit. Man, I am just so dumb! Nevermind point #4 I made in the things I liked.

Holy cow, really? Again, I had no idea! So what if everything you just regurgitated was shown, pretty much verbatim, on the show, and in no uncertain or obfuscated way. But hey, that's apparently your gig. Nevermind that it does nothing to address what I actually asked or was wondering about.

And yet again: Never said he was a hallucination.

"Ben Edlund has decided to take his creation in a new direction rather than just copying the same things he's already done. I respect that."

Yeah, you really respect that.

 

^Well, that hostility was completely uncalled for. Goodbye.

 

Mmmm.... I don't think it was completely true that it was completely uncalled for.

While lots of us love your insight & appreciate your contribution to conversations (and among those few members I remember by name and personality), there are times you can come off as condescending (limits of electronic media).

Perhaps you could have prefaced one of your previous post "Hey, I am not sure if everyone knew, but...." and talk about Bat Manuel/Die Fliedermaus

 

Even so, there are better ways to react to that perception than escalating to such extreme hostility. I was simply trying to answer the question that was asked. And my teachers in school always stressed that I should cite my evidence, show my work, explain my reasoning, etc. It's not showing off, it's just being thorough. This is a public forum, after all, so there might well be readers out there who don't know these things and would appreciate learning them. I think the miscommunications happen because I approach BBS posting as writing for a public audience while others see it more as a personal conversation.

 

I haven't watched it yet, but to be fair, I don't think anyone could live up to THAT chin!

 

Patrick Warburton's costume had a sort of chinstrap piece that made his chin appear a bit bigger (and resembles the chinstrap from the comics/animated version), and he's a fairly strong-chinned, square-jawed sort to begin with. The new costume doesn't have that chinstrap, and I think adding one would help.

 

i thought it was pretty bad. serafinowicz feels miscast. suit looks off and the show should probably be called 'arthur'.

 

Hasn't it always been more from Arthur's POV, though, at least on TV? After all, the Tick is an enigma. We don't know what he is or where he comes from. He's just this guy who suddenly barges into Arthur's life, moves into his apartment unasked, and turns his life upside-down. Arthur is the more identifiable, human character through whose eyes we witness the surreal lunacy of the Tick. The story here wasn't that much different in structure from the pilots of the previous two series, just with some darker twists added, and taking more time to establish and develop characters, in keeping with the more serialized approach of modern TV.

 

maybe it just stood out more because i really wasn't enjoying it.

 

Let the probing begin!

A younger Jay Leno.

 

Well, it's doing OK at the moment on Amazon - 5900+ views with a 70% 5* rating.

Any idea how that fares against the likes of Man in the High Castle or other pilots that got picked up

Hugo - the more he thinks about it, the more he liked the pilot

 

I watched it again tonight.

When Arthur first meets the Tick, and he introduces himself, Arthur immediately begins twitching his eye due to a -- wait for it -- tick he has.

Later, during a flashback to him as a child in his bedroom, he's lying there and hears the Tick's voice. When he rolls over, he's staring at a blue nightlight that's flashing and talking to him. And again, his eye is twitching due to his tick.

Then the morning after that flashback, Arthur wakes up with the Tick in bed with him. Despite never having told Tick where he lived or anything other than his first name in their previous meeting. What's even more interesting? When Arthur asks "You're real?!" the Tick responds with "Don't get stuck on trivia, man."

Oh, and his eye was ticking again, too. Which they also showed happening at the same time the Tick went on his rampage at the warehouse.

I'm pretty sure none of that is a coincidence.

 

Finally watched it and...just did not find it fun or funny. I liked the Terror a lot, his attack was funny but the Tick and Arthur just felt a bit off. I think it was really in the delivery of the lines. The Tick was missing a boundless enthusiasm in how he spoke. I would probably watch a few episodes in hopes it would improve.

 

I didn't get this at all - the comedy aspects seemed as funny as VD and the drama didn't grab me in any way.

(I know nothing about The Tick).

 

It's picked up for a full season:

http://www.blastr.com/2016-9-27/tick-reboot-picked-full-season-amazon-prime

Great research Blastr, no Alfreds here.

 

Looking forward to the Tick.