Thursday, April 20, 2006

The Tick, The Entire Series – 2001

     Wow! If you thought Firefly was a short-lived TV series, take a look at this. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the TV series that couple even break double digits. Eight episodes are all that they made. Which is really too bad, as this was pretty good stuff.

First off, if you have any experience with the Tick, be it comics or the animated series, you know what this is about. It’s the stupidest superhero since Gruu. But boy, can he sling the lingo of superheroes. And Patrick Warburton nails the part. Of course, that’s probably because the part is about ¾ voice, and much of his career has been voice work in animation.

Actually, every one of the four main characters really nails their part. Batmanual was spot on, and David Burke as Arthur was genius. They all look and sound just like you’d expect.

So why did the series not even make it half way thru the season? Well, I can’t say for sure, but I suspect it was the fact that the studios didn’t know what to do with the show. Although it’s humorous, it’s not constantly funny, so it’s not a comedy. And there’s very little “super” activity, so it’s not a superhero show. In fact, it’s probably closest to Seinfeld in sensibility. It’s what happens to supers between fights. An interesting enough concept if you are a comic geek, but probably not what Mr. & Mrs. Joe 6Pack want to watch.

The discs have one commentary by the executive producer Barry Sonnenfeld (who has a lot of history, coming from Cinematographer of such flicks as When Harry Met Sally and Big to directing Men in Black II and Wild Wild West) and two by the creator of the Tick, Ben Edlund. Unfortunately, none are very good. Barry is WAY too positive, and Ben is flat out boring, almost a monotone.

Three beers out of five, mostly for the humor, and spot on casting.