The Tick, there is no better comical superhero. I was introduced to him as a Saturday morning cartoon and would have never expected to see him in a live action TV show. Sadly the show didn’t last very long. Since the cartoon lasted considerably longer and is more widely known, I’ll spend a lot of time comparing the two.

 

I actually bought the live action show mostly because I was impatiently awaiting the release of the cartoon series. I enjoyed what I got, but it only made me long for the cartoon that much more. The live portrayals are good. I can’t imagine anyone being a better Tick than Patrick Warburton. Still, Townsend Coleman had a childlike over-the-top nobility to his vocal performance that Warburton can’t quite capture as well. David Burke’s Arthur is more realistic (even shown washing his costume!) and struggles with being a hero more than his toon counterpart which I enjoyed.

 

Liz Vassey and Nestor Carbonell round out the regular cast. Nestor in particular is an impressively prolific actor. He's been in so many things that I watch with my wife that he has become a running gag. If I ask her if she recognizes an actor in something her first answer is always, “Batmanuel?”

 

That reminds me to mention that these characters are similar but a good bit different than their toon counterparts. The name “Batmanuel” is fitting and keeps the obvious parody alive. I still prefer “Die Fledermaus,” but Nestor gives Batmanuel a persona all his own. “Captain Liberty,” on the other hand, doesn’t have the play on words that "American Maid" does and isn't as clever as what I've come to expect from The Tick.

 

The whole cartoon series has a childlike innocence (being a kids’ show and all). The Tick as a character retains that here with the exception of a few not-so-innocent words, but none of the others do. There is a good bit of sexuality that opens the doors for some good jokes with Tick being completely oblivious to the sexual innuendo in Batmanuel’s words and even Arthur’s desire to go on a date alone which the Tick can't understand. Despite the humor, though, I prefer the more innocent version.

 

One thing I like about American Maid is that she’s the one true hero of the supporting group. She’s upright, smart, and a force to be reckoned with. Tick’s pure-heartedness reawakens her thirst for justice, and she saves the day on many occasions keeping Die Fledermaus in line and helping Arthur become a hero when the Tick falls short in one way or another. This gives a great center for the peculiarities of the others: Tick’s heart but lack of intelligence, Arthur’s limitations, Die Fledermaus' being a hero for the fringe benefits rather than anything else. Captain Liberty, on the other hand, is more on Batmanuel’s level with less of a moral compass. She’s still more heroic than he is but less iconic than her toon self. I miss what she was able to do for the cartoon.

 

I can see why this series didn’t last long. Don’t get me wrong I laughed long and hard at much of it, but it’s way off the main stream. Not to mention that the stories lack. They do improve towards the end, but many of them seem more like the introduction to a full plot rather than the plot itself. The plots are often too thin with not much in the way of a climax.

 

Perhaps another part of that is that even though the comedy aspect is good, the superhero aspect is not. The super-human actions are few and far between, and what’s there is closer to Adam West's Batman than shows like Smallville or even the earlier Flash. In the cartoon there’s a great moment of Tick kicking down a door, only he kicks through it then just kind of rips it off the hinges. He’s trying to give a heroic monologue, but his leg is stuck in the door. It's a comical situation you just can't get with a normal person.

 

Such super-humanly comical moments are few and far between in the live show, and generally much less visual (in other words, obviously low budget). This means less action. Let's face it Seinfeld in costumes is not going to draw a lot of viewers. We need super-heroics for the tights to fit in properly. Less sexual escapading, more villains, that's my recipe for better comic book comedy.

 

Besides the 4 principles only a few other super beings show up, usually for brief cameos, and most of them don’t do a whole lot. In the cartoon villains and other heroes abound. The Human Bullet keeps flying into things, Caped Chameleon passes out from trying to replicate plaid, Dinosaur Neil grows large enough to swallow Tick; these are some great moments. Maybe such things are too much to ask from live action, but they are a large part of my enjoyment of the episodes they're in. Not having enough of these things weakens the overall effect and limits what the stories can explore. 4 episodes prominently feature other heroes/villains. Other than that there are a few instances of people dressed in colorful costumes for brief moments.

 

Is The Tick worth watching? Sure it is! It's just that once the laughter fades there's not much left. The series might have gotten better with time; it just didn't have enough strength out of the gate.