This was not funny, the actor was weird, not funny, Arthur was weird, dark, disturbed and not funny, the story was dark and NOT funny. Did the writers and actors even research The Tick? Very disappointed that Amazon would waste this opportunity. I only hope they take another shot at it and do it right this time. Been waiting for this show since it was rumored back in 2014, bummed.
shareI thought it was hilarious, nearly pitch perfect. I guarantee if they get a season the weirdness will blossom, hopefully Edlund will write more episodes. I love Warburton's Tick too and he is involved as a producer, I expect great things here. Jackie Earle Haley was unexpected and oh so bizarre, this has potential classic for sure.
share[deleted]
There's a difference in being uninterested and being dumb. The original Tick, from the comic and the animated version, just had no interest in anything that wasn't gleefully fighting bad guys. He's a very simple character, but decidedly by choice ... it's not that he's too stupid to get Arthur's hesitation ... it's that he doesn't care. Fighting bad guys fixes everything ... and in fact if you knew the comic and the animated version you'd get that doing that really does help Arthur. The Tick knows it, Arthur doesn't, though he suspects it on some level.
The melodrama, of course a one-sided melodrama of constant elation (The Tick is never Bi-Polar ... has no disposition to see negativity of any kind) ... that's the original Tick. If you loved the Warburton Tick because he did have a human element to him, you won't get this Tick. It's a completely different show. Even if you never saw the Warburton version, I think there are just a lot of people who are rubbed wrong by characters that are 1-dimensional ... especially if they are a hero of sorts.
The complexity of character is all in Arthur. He's really the hero of the show. Even the original ... nobody really cares about The Tick without Arthur, and Arthur's insecurities, but momentary glimpses and bouts of greatness.
Ben Edlund, the Tick's creator, wrote the episode. Edlund wrote the comic, animated series, and worked on the previous live action attempt. So, yes, the writer knows about the characters. The comic Tick was a mental institution escapee. Do you know anything about the characters?
shareBen Edlund, the Tick's creator, wrote the episode. Edlund wrote the comic, animated series, and worked on the previous live action attempt. So, yes, the writer knows about the characters. The comic Tick was a mental institution escapee. Do you know anything about the characters?
What difference does any of that make?
Did the writers and actors even research The Tick?share
Makes a difference in your frame of reference. I suspect those who learned of all it's gooey goodness 20 years ago (with Tick's intentional single-minded goal of cheerfully meting out justice at every chance) from the animated series and the comic will like this one better. Those who only knew the Warburton version I think might have a hard time understanding this Tick. The are quite different. A lot of viewers like all of the characters to be complex ... you're not going to get that in here. There are both very complex and very simple characters ... kind of like real life ... and for those who are good with that it all works.
Edlund gets that ... is why he wrote it that way. It's alright if you don't. You can watch Warburton Tick reruns.
If anything, this makes it even sadder that this pilot fell flat in every aspect.
shareThe writer is the guy who created The Tick and was the main person behind the comics, cartoon show, and Warburton show.
I thought it was hilarious. The comedy was dark, but really, really funny.
Endlund also said he completely revamped the character, for a new generation. That sounds like desperation to me.
"That's the karma again, I didn't help Kenny so she beat me up with a telephone"
How is that desperation? It sounds to me like trying to make a character and a story that was created 30 years ago relevant. Which is s good thing.
shareOh great. We're in trouble; this generation can't handle anything funny. Everything has to be DARK. And honestly, when you try for dark, you end up being dour or just mean-spirited. Older shows knew how to be dark but also GOOD because they knew how to handle subtlety. Modern audience demographics can't grasp subtlety.
There is more in you of good than you know, child of the kindly west
Wait, what's wrong with being dark?
shareConsidering that the original comics were dark and weird...
Heck, a lot of Superhero movies are like that these days anyway.
Also, I wouldn't exactly complain about this incarnation being "weird" when weird is a big part of what the Tic is all about.
Considering that the original comics were dark and weird...
Heck, a lot of Superhero movies are like that these days anyway.
Also, I wouldn't exactly complain about this incarnation being "weird" when weird is a big part of what the Tic is all about.
Agreed. Very well put. Some people don't get that.
shareWait, what's wrong with being dark?
Not a thing. The problem with the show is it's not funny. Wilfred was a dark comedy tv series. It was very funny. This pilot of The Tick was not at all funny.
If they do pick it up, I'll continue watching it for a while. But it's going to have to start being funny. Dark and offbeat isn't enough to entertain me.
shareExactly. Not funny. In fact, much of the time it didn't even appear to be trying to be funny.
shareThe first attempt at a live action The Tick was underwhelming because it skewed more towards sitcom for lack of a budget for superhero hijinks. Amazon’s The Tick is disappointing in the opposite direction. This show takes itself way too seriously. It feels like yet another standard superhero show (Can you believe we’re now at a point where we’ve got so many to choose from?) that just happens to have the Tick in it. So far this show is just playing superhero tropes straight rather than comically sending them up. (The Ninja Hedge would be topical again thanks to Netflix’s Daredevil.) Where has its absurdist satire gone?
This new version of The Tick definitely does things differently than the prior adaptations, but in doing so it feels homogenized. It has better production values than the Tick’s last TV outing but with even less of its unique charm. Just because Ben Edlund can make a dour version of The Tick doesn’t mean it’s worth paying to watch it as an ongoing series.
https://mattthecatania.wordpress.com/2016/08/26/amazons-the-tick-where-is-thy-spoon/
I'm almost clever! https://mattthecatania.wordpress.com
I totally get that it doesn't do that for you, and I's sure there's a ton of subtle humor you think is hilarious that is just "weird" for me. It has nothing to do with intelligence, only personalities and where you're coming from.
shareSusan?
fact: 87.3% of IMDB users belong to the secret society of cynics.
I agree, it wasn't even remotely funny. I didn't mind it being so dark. I understand they want to have a different spin on it and it's not on network TV, so why not? But it has to be funny! And it wasn't. Not even close.
shareWell, there were jokes in it. visual ones as well as dialog.
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I am the forefunkel of jiggerjab.
Well, there were jokes in it. visual ones as well as dialog.
Ok so not a single joke or visual gag landed for you? That's sad 😢
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I am the forefunkel of jiggerjab.
He wasn't able to catch any of those... so obviously it was just to complex to be funny for him...
shareI'm not sure it's about complexity. Humor is rooted in intelligence, I would contend, but at the same time it's also incredibly subjective. I mean, I'd love to give a definite answer and jsut write it off as him being unable to see the humor, but that feels a little bit condescending. My knee-jerk reaction however is to react strangely to anyone who'd say that this pilot lacks humor. It's certainly there. There are a lot of jokes. Not enough for my tastes, but enough of them to appear rather in-your-face and therefore hard to miss like you mentioned.
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I am the forefunkel of jiggerjab.
It was good I love The Tick.
Lose the Game!!!!!!!