CSGarfield
We have Superman, Batman, Spider-man, X-Men, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Fantatstic Four, Iron Man, and The Incredible Hulk on the famous television animated series, and now we have The Tick. This is definitely one of the funniest shows around, back when cartoons actually had quality to them. Although I doubt I saw this show on Fox Kids (now called Fox Box and 4KidsTV, all because of the hostile takeover of 4KidsEntertaiment, unfortunately), I have seen three episodes- Heroes (a parody of the show Cops), The Tick vs. Dinosaur Neil, The Tick vs. Mr. Mental- on Jetix, which has luckily re-aired it along with Spider-Man, X-Men, and recently Fantastic Four.The idea of each episode is simple by fruitful. The Tick, the "blue-bug" human warrior goes out on patrol to subdue evildoers (and we know that The Tick wouldn't be evil, cause eating kittens is WRONG, yeah!). He would also have his sidekick Arthur the Moth, who could actually fly (or more likely glide) while Tick would crash through the top of buildings to find where evil has it's insidious location. There would be The Deadly Bulb (aka Pig-Leg), Dinosaur Neil (who's somewhat like Dr. Curt "Lizard" Conners, if you know what I mean), Mr. Mental (known for specialized mind control), Bread Master, Chairface Chippendale, an impostor Tick, Mole-Men, 'El Seed, even Arthur's bank account! This show has a lot of spoofs of famous comic characters like Batman, X-Men, S.H.I.E.L.D., etc. In addition to Tick and Arthur, there's also American Maid (Wonder Woman), Die Flatermeus (Batman), Sea Urchin, and many others to fight evil. The voices are just about watermark. It's strange that Townsend Coleman, the voice of Michelangelo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, is the voice of Tick, as he sounds much more like Beau Weaver or Neil Ross. Rob Paulsen, voice of Raphael, does the second voice of Arthur (who was originally voiced by Mickey Dolenz), and also others like Crusading Chameleon, and Cam Clarke, who does Leonardo, performs Die Flatermeus and sound very much the same. That's just about it except for Barry Gordon who plays Donatello. The guest voices look promising, like Mark Hamill, Dan Castelleneta, Maurice LaMaurche, Tony Jay, and Jim Cummings.All in all, this is definitely worth watching if you can find it on Jetix or Toon Disney. And remember- Spoon!
grendelkhan
Ah, the Tick. For those of us who were privileged enough to know the Tick before his Saturday Morning debut, this series was a delight. It perfectly captured the demented world of our favorite blue lunatic; and, we finally got to see some of the stuff that Ben Edlund never got around to.The voice casting was perfect. Townsend Coleman gave Tick the right combination of heroic, but insane. I really preferred Mickey Dolenz to Rob Paulsen as Arthur, but, both were good. The additions of Die Fledermaus and American Maid were superb. The only parts I missed were Oedipus and Paul the Samurai. This was a series that was too sophisticated for its environment. It didn't really fit in with the Saturday Moning kiddie fare and should have been shown in prime time. Still, it was worth getting up Saturday Morning to catch it.It's hard to pick a favorite episode, there are so many good ones. A few of the best: Tick vs Tick, Thrakkorzog, Tick in Belgium, the Tick's hero class, and the Brainchild episodes.Thankfully, this series is about to come out on dvd. Now we can relive those halcyon days. SPOOOOOOONN!!
KMM
The Tick ran on Saturday mornings for kids, but I knew of numerous adults that watched this show and loved it. The show is not for everyone, mind you. You will either understand the humor and love it, or not get it and quickly turn the channel. I was hooked on it from day one. The show had memorable characters, villains and very witty dialogue. It often left me thinking to myself that many kids were not going to get the humor because the show came off as more of a comic book satire than a kiddie show. The show did offer enough action and colorful characters to appeal to the Saturday morning crowd, though.The writers of the show, which included Tick creator Ben Edlund, really hit a bull's-eye by creating such memorable heroes like Sewer Urchin (sounded very much like Dustin Hoffman in Rainman) and Die Fledermaus and great villains like The Terror and the unforgettable Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight. I also felt that Townsend Coleman did a wonderful job in bringing The Tick to life. He gave The Tick some real heart and soul. This show will always be one of my all-time favorites because of its satirical humor and memorable characters. I never get tired of it. I have as much fun watching The Tick now as I did when I first saw the show in the mid 1990's.
