A spoof of superheroes, "The Tick" was created by Ben Edlund in 1988. The blue-suited, overly-muscular and incredibly naive hero's life began as an independent black and white comic; it was later adapted into an animated TV show on Fox in 1994. In 2001, Fox released a live-action TV show; it was cancelled after only nine episodes, but has mainatined a cult following ever since. Edlund has written and produced all the TV series, including the new proposed series.
Patrick Warburton (best known as Puddy on "Seinfeld") played the Tick in the 2001 series, but British comedian Peter Serafinowicz will be taking on the role in the new one. Edlund praised this version of the Tick, saying, "[Serafinowicz's] voice is The Tick’s voice - it’s what I hear in my head now. And to kind of have that take place when combating the very, very large shadow that is cast by Patrick Warburton and his way of characterizing this creature, that is a tremendous relief to feel like there is a new authoritative take on this character in live-action."
Whether the pilot leads to an actual series on the streaming service will depend on the viewers. As with all its TV pilots, viewers will rate the show on Amazon to see if it merits a full season.
The original comic series could be very dark, with elements like the Man-Eating Cow, but the previous TV series were much more tame. Since the 2001 version, live-action superheroes have become more mature, and the new pilot follows suit. Edlund explained, “It’s a tremendous balancing act because it had to have stakes, it had to have blood, it had to have certain things that are part of the living language of superheroes in the popular culture today. It has a responsibility if it wants to play in that pool to have life and death, to have a relationship to violence that none of the other iterations did. And so how do you have The Tick slip in a pool of blood and have it be funny? You have to find a very specific tone."
Edlund also said the show will explore more of the Tick's sidekick, Arthur than previous versions. "He’s the main character. He’s the one who has the arc. He’s the one who gives us the shoes you wear to pass through this universe. In the previous live-action, there really wasn’t the time taken to build what is usually a compelling main character story. So I mean The Tick is no less an important character than Arthur — he’s titular — but it was really important to take this human character seriously and give us a chance to really bond with him and be with him emotionally and then have him encounter the strangest entity in his universe."
"The Tick" pilot episode is available to view now, on Amazon Prime.
