f13.net

Spoon!

Amazon is making a new Tick live action show.  Unfortunately Warburton will not be reprising his role but he's gonna be an exec. producer.

I have mixed feelings about it though, I think I would have maybe just preferred a new Tick cartoon.

Yeah without Warburton as Tick, I'd have rather seen them redo the cartoon myself. But they could get someone good to be Tick and it might be all right.

The cartoon was way better than the live action version IMO.  Since getting into the Venture Brothers I've considered that to be its spiritual successor.

Indeed, it's pilot episode is possibly the greatest half hour sitcom I've ever seen. That they proceeded to develop all of these characters that seem like just one-off gags, and did so in a consistently funny way, is an absolute triumph.

Plus the show ended just as it was getting stale.

The Tick vs. Chairface Chippendale remains a classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LJfwRxozmQ

Still remember one of my favorite lines of all time:

"I'm upgrading my apparatus!"

(http://cdn1-www.comingsoon.net/assets/uploads/2016/03/use.jpg)

Here's your new Tick, Peter Serafinowicz.

I think that's a good casting call.  He's come a long way from being the roommate zombie in Shaun of the Dead.

I had to google him because he looks like a small guy and I was ready to complain but the dude is 6'5" so maybe he can just bulk up a bit and be fine. 

I always remember him as Howell Granger from Black Books.   :awesome_for_real:

I will do so immediately, sir. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HESgkYIwvyA)

http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/the-tick-creator-says-amazon-reboot-will-be-darker-and-more-grounded (http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/the-tick-creator-says-amazon-reboot-will-be-darker-and-more-grounded)

 :ye_gods: :uhrr:

That seems... unwise.

How do you do a dark grounded Tick?  I mean it's a parody of superheroes.

It seems like he is saying that the Universe will be darker and more grounded... not necessarily the character of the Tick.  The original Tick felt more like an SNL skit than a super hero show.  

I'm picturing a show where the world seems real until it is touched by the heroes / villains and ... then it is freed from the boundaries of normalcy and gets weird.

Alice dropping into Wonderland, if you will.

They better have Chairface Chippendale.

I must have lent my copy of the first Tick TPB out to I don't remember who, because I can't find it to post reference photos.  But in the original comic, it's established that he broke out of a lunatic asylum and is schizophrenic (voices in his head and everything).  In his first adventure, the Tick snaps and straight up murders a bunch of ninjas after they stab a friend of his.

Mind you, the Tick himself is generally a manic innocent happy-go-lucky character, much like he is in the cartoon (less like the live action version, where Warburton plays him like he's on tranquilizers) and the universe is mostly a silly place.  It's dark the same way Venture Brothers is dark (not too surprising since Ben Edlund, creator of the Tick, is also involved with VB).  The cartoon worked really well for kids because they kept the silliness and removed the potentially scary parts, but I think you could also do a really good show with the darker parts included.

I'd love to see Night of a Million Zillion Ninjas done as a live action.

The tone of the original comic changes a bit over the course of 12 issues. Edlund was only a couple years out of high school when he did the first issue and issues came out months apart (12 issues over 5 or so years I think, with issue 13 never being completed). One of the more noticeable indications of Edlund changing and refining things is how Arthur rapidly goes from morbidly obese to slightly overweight.

So the pilot for this is now up on Amazon Prime, and it's GOOD.  Regarding the above speculation, they did go darker.  And it works.

It's part of the Amazon Pilot Season, where you can stream it, then fill out a survey letting Amazon know how much interest there is in the series.
So get cracking -- you're burning daylight.

I gave feedback to Amazon on this:

Dear Amazon,

You didn't make this available in my country so I stole it off the internet. I thought it was very good, please make more and I'll try not to steal the rest of them.

Yours,

Me.

When is the whole series getting released?

It might not be. Not all of amazon's pilots become actual series. Assuming it does though, it's usually seven to nine months from amazon pilot to actual season release. So, the early half of 2017 probably.

They never greenlit that sick Chris Carter shot, The After.

This has a far higher chance of being greenlit.

Watched it today, since I'm in the states. Deserves a shot. I like the playing up of the angle that Tick might just be in Arthur's head. The Terror was awesome.

Found the texturing and embossing on Tick's costume oddly distracting, but thought Arthur's was perfect.

Glad it wasn't just me! It looked really off, maybe they'll improve it if it gets to be more than a pilot.

Not sure I love the Arthur angle on this but I understand the theory of needing a non-ridiculous lead.

Just watched this and I liked it very much. I still wish Warburton was playing the lead but the guy they got can talk the Tick talk. It's tonally a bit uneven but I did LOL at "GO TELL IT ON THE MOUNTAIN!"

I will do so immediately, sir. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HESgkYIwvyA)

What sorcery is this. A YouTube video over a year old with 4k views and zero comments.. The end is nigh.

So, this got picked up for the full first season.

http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/amazon-tick-i-love-dick-jean-claude-van-damme-comedies-1201871522/ (http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/amazon-tick-i-love-dick-jean-claude-van-damme-comedies-1201871522/)

Coming in 2017.

2017 calling. Your series is ready.

https://youtu.be/GiFF18KblJ0

SPOON!

Not in the face!

It bothers me, probably more than it should, that the flag pole didn't go "wub wub wub" after he grabbed it.

So, the first season seems to have dropped. I found it entertaining, but it was very, very short. Pilot+5 episodes, about 22 minutes each with start and end credits eating up quite a bit of time.
[edit] Season 1 part 1 has dropped. The next 6 episodes will be released later in the fall. Still felt too damn short.

The Tick has always been tiny tiny. It's supposed to make up for that by being packed to the gills with jokes the way old Zucker Abrams Zucker work was, and only the cartoon seems to have pulled that off. Budget animation is better suited to quick editing than live action is, and even these limited special effects are costing them a lot for limited oomph.

It feels short because it IS short. Not a lot happens in an episode, either textually or intertextually.

I enjoyed it quite a bit and can't wait for the second half of the season.

Just FYI, Amazon released episodes 7 - 12 of Season 1 last week.

And they were better than the first half.

Season 2 releases this Friday (April 04)

Reviews are positive, and can be summed up as, "More of the same, but in a really good way."

Fucking cancelled again, bullshit.

If you haven't watched season 2 but liked Season 1, watch Season 2 immediately. I just binged it and it's great. I am SO GODDAMN PISSED that this is cancelled. They finished the season story arc well and had a great setup for at least 1-2 more good seasons. FUCK.