Amazon's The Tick (Spoilers)

Brack

The next 5 episodes of The Tick following last year's pilot went up on Amazon today. The suit is better, there's more gags, but it still has the more developed stories and characters that you'd expect from Edlund in 2017.

A couple of things I really like is how Dot and Ms. Lint have stories we follow through too (and a fourth character introduced later) rather than just following Arthur's story. And I really like this version of The Terror, who loves super villainy just as much as The Tick loves super heroics.

If you miss the high weirdness of earlier Tick incarnations, it slowly gets weirder and weirder as it goes along.

nweathington

I still have two more episodes left, but I'm really enjoying the series. As my wife said, it's not quite “The Tick”, but it’s good. What made the comics so great were the little moments like the “wub-wub-wub” of the vibrating flag pole. We get a similar gag in Episode 4, not as funny, but I get the “wub-wub-wub” would be harder to pull off effectively in live action, especially within the context of this series. So much of the comic’s jokes relied on visual gags, and there just isn’t a lot of that in this show, but I think Episode 4 was a big improvement in the humor department overall from the previous episodes. In the pilot and following two episodes, the Tick is not just the focal point of the humor, which would be fine, he’s practically the only point of humor. Episode 4 spreads the love around much better.

Not sure if I like this more than the cartoon yet, but I definitely like it more than the previous live-action show.

Brack

It benefits mostly from how Edlund has matured as a screenwriter. He now seems interested in telling a story with real emotions rather than a superhero sitcom or superhero parody.

The key to its appeal for me is that it feels like the least cynical version of the concept.

For example, the Superman stand-in Superian doesn't come across like The Caped Wonder in the comics, nor The Immortal & The Champion in the Warburton series. He's there because they need a Superman character in the story, not to belittle or parody Superhman.

Likewise Overkill is much more sympathetic than the cartoonish Big Shot as Punisher equivalents go.

I agree that Episode 4 is where the slow burn finally lights the fuse of the show's weirdness, as we get all the elements coming together as well as seeing some of the superpowered oddness that is on the periphery of the character's lives.

nweathington

Brack said:

For example, the Superman stand-in Superian doesn't come across like The Caped Wonder in the comics, nor The Immortal & The Champion in the Warburton series. He's there because they need a Superman character in the story, not to belittle or parody Superhman.

Having not seen the final two episodes yet, I can't dispute this with certainty, but just in the bits with him through Episode 4, Superian comes across to me as smarmy and self-important.

I haven't really seen enough of Overkill yet to cast judgment on him.

mwhitt80

"Destiny is calling collect Arthur, accept the charges."

I'm really liking the the show.

nweathington

All right, I'll say it. Best superhero show, nay, best comic-related TV series going right now.

hauberk

Watched it. Liked it quite a bit. Made me literally LOL a couple of times. It may be less cynical than the previous material, but it still feels darker.

That started with the way they very clearly framed the early material to make it look like The Tick may just be in Arthur's head, and then there were the things like the flashbacks to Arthur at the cafe and some of the other things.

Brack

nweathington said:

All right, I'll say it. Best superhero show, nay, best comic-related TV series going right now.

The bus rescue might be my favourite TV representation of superheroics.

I'd recommend the currently airing My Hero Academia, which this version of The Tick reminded me of. More in tone than plot, but there are lines you can draw between The Terror and the current arch-villain in MHA.

mwhitt80

Fantastic. I just finished episode 6 and loved it. It's great.

nweathington

Last night my 11-year-old daughter asked when they were going to drop more episodes.