The Tick vs. Season 2 Site
Animated Fox Television Series Coming to DVD August 7th
The Tick gets his very own monkey-funky website to promote The Tick vs. Season 2 DVD, which comes out August 7th.
After the depressing excuse for animated fare that was the 1980's (does anyone think that cartoons like He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Transformers and M.A.S.K. were anything more than a pathetic excuse to sell toys?), it was great to see the TV networks eventually releasing cartoons that actually had some thought behind them.
Fox was in the forefront of this new animated renaissance with shows like The Simpsons, The Critic and The Tick. Based on the Ben Edlund's underground comic (Edlund also served as writer and producer on the TV show), The Tick was a hilarious parody of superhero comics that unfortunately lasted for only three seasons.
The show featured the titular character: a dim-witted yet virtually invulnerable hero (his battle cry was "Spoon!") who protected the inhabitants of The City. The Tick was aided and abetted by his more intelligent and less courageous sidekick, the accountant-turned superhero Arthur (his battle cry was "Not in the face! Not in the face!").
These two squared off against a group of equally-ludicrous villains with names like Chairface Chippendale (a mobster with a chair for a head), The Breadmaster (who used baked goods as weapons), and the Ottoman Empress, who made furniture come alive and do her bidding.
Eleven years after the cartoon ended its run, and five years after the live-action TV show failed to break beyond its cult audience, Disney is now releasing The Tick on DVD. The Tick vs. Season 1 obviously sold well enough to justify bringing Season 2 out in stores despite the fact that one of the more popular Season 1 episodes, "The Tick vs. the Mole Men," was kept off the DVD.
To promote the new box set, the show's official site has put up several clips from the DVD which show The Tick squaring off against various evil-doers and interacting with allies like Arthur, Der Fliedermaus (a cowardly spoof of Batman) and American Maid (a cross between Wonder Woman and Capt. America). There are some image galleries, plus information about the DVD itself, plus the heroes and villains who appear in the box set.
Here are the episodes that will be on The Tick vs. Season 2 DVD:
- "The Little Wooden Boy and the Belly of Love" (originally aired September 9, 1995)
- "Alone Together" (originally aired September 16, 1995): This episode, due to copyright difficulties, won't be included on The Tick vs. Season 2 box set.
- "Armless but Not Harmless" (originally aired September 23, 1995)
- "Leonardo da Vinci and His Fightin' Genius Time Commandos!" (originally aired September 30, 1995)
- "Coach Fussell's Lament" (originally aired October 7, 1995)
- "Bloomsday" (originally aired October 21, 1995)
- "Evil Sits Down for a Moment" (originally aired November 4, 1995)
- "Heroes" (this episode parodied the live-action "reality" TV show COPS) (originally aired November 11, 1995)
- "Ants in Pants!" (originally aired November 18, 1995)
- "The Tick Loves Santa!" (originally aired November 25, 1995)
- "The Tick vs The Big Nothing" (originally aired February 3, 1996)
- "The Tick vs Reno, Nevada" (originally aired February 10, 1996)
- "Grandpa Wore Tights" (originally aired February 17, 1996)
This animated intro gives the viewer a taste of what The Tick is all about. The Tick vs. Season 2 DVD enters stores on August 7th.
Extra Tidbit: In the comic, The Tick was revealed to be clinically insane, and was in fact an escapee from a mental hospital several miles outside The City.
