The Tick: A Very Creative Show Based on a Comic Book
The Tick likes to have conversations with the toilet. Arthur doesn’t really mind The Tick talking to the toilet, but, then again, sometimes, The Tick’s conversations with the toilet get on Arthur’s nerves. The Tick likes to feed the toilet a certain chemical. We see a lot of, unlike early television, The Tick in the bathroom. There were just no scenes in a bathroom nor there were no scenes depicting a toilet flushing (this was unheard of) in early television.
Characters in a sitcom, when scenes in the bathroom started to appear on television, like in “All In The Family”, now had normal bodily functions. Ms. Karen Lindsey says: ‘Bathrooms that had once contained only bathtubs and showers suddenly acquired loudly flushing toilets.’ The Tick, on the other hand, doesn’t have bodily functions (At least I don’t think he does.). He just likes to feed his pet toilet and talk to it as if it was his best friend (as if he has nothing else better to do). All four superheroes really like each other and really do support each other.
Television viewers are aware of this friendship between the four superheroes (& the relationship that they evidently have with each other) in each and every episode. Each superhero stands for justice.
Ms. Karen Lindsey says: ‘Here too some of America’s cultural changes were evident. Though the two most powerful people in the hierarchy were male . . .’ The two main protagonists (starring roles) in “The Tick”, created by Ben Edlund, are both male superheroes played by two male actors. The two other protagonists (supporting roles) on the series are Captain Liberty, a female superhero, played by Liz Vassey, and Batmanuel, a male superhero, played by Nestor Carbonell. This country has certainly come a long way in the development of all too new and very creative television sitcoms like “The Tick”.
Debuting in 2001, “The Tick” didn’t last very long because there weren’t enough viewers watching the show to ultimately keep the series on the network. There were many people, who were fans of the show, writing letters to the network executives pleading with these head honchos to keep the show on the air. Fans, even, included a blue spoon in the same envelope that they put their letters in (The Tick’s symbol is the blue spoon.), but unfortunately “The Tick” stayed off the air. The two main actors, the one female supporting actress, and the one male supporting actor, obviously, went on to act in other shows (on the same network & on other networks) and movies.
The Tick’s number one sidekick, Arthur, in this particular episode, has found out that he is meeting his mother and sister at the local superhero diner for lunch. He wants to meet with his family alone and tell them both about his new secret life as a superhero. His mother and sister don’t quite know what to say when they find out that the joint they are meeting their son and brother in is a place inhabited by superheroes. They are shocked when they first catch sight of Arthur (fully dressed in a white superhero costume). Both family members are also shocked to learn that Arthur quit accounting and that his full time job now is being a superhero crime fighter. The Tick is no help.
He smashes through the glass when Batmanuel comes by, trying to desperately see what is going on inside the diner between Arthur and his family. This is another total shock for Arthur’s family.
It is almost too good to be true when The Tick comes into the superhero diner and introduces himself to Arthur’s family. Arthur says, “Mom & Dot, This is The Tick. He is my new crime fighting partner.” Everything happens a little too quickly for Arthur’s family with The Tick sitting at the table. The Tick is sitting next to Dot, Arthur’s sister, and Arthur is sitting next to his mom. Arthur’s two family members, as expected, are repulsed by Arthur and what he has chosen as a career for himself.
Arthur’s sister wants to leave and she sternly asks The Tick to get up. She obviously wants to leave the diner as soon as possible. Arthur’s mom says to Arthur just before she leaves him, “Stay safe with your new friends, dear.” Dot walks by Batmanuel as she walks out. Batmanuel looks her up and down very curiously. Arthur says to Batmanuel that his sister is both married and has two kids. Arthur, I would assume, is not married. Captain Liberty tries to comfort Arthur when she sees him. Arthur tries unsuccessfully to tell his family about his new life as a superhero.
Arthur, in The Tick’s rundown apartment (the next scene), gets a call from his family. He is so happy. His family anxiously want to see him again since they are still in the city. Arthur excitedly tells The Tick. The Tick wants to come with him, but Arthur tells him to stay where he is. The Tick says, “Okay.” When Arthur goes to leave, The Tick follows him again and Arthur tells his blue friend once more to stay where he is. The Tick again says, “Okay.” When it happens a third time, Arthur just leaves without his blue friend. The Tick forlornly then says to himself, “We’re a duo.” The toilet growls and then The Tick yells back to the toilet, “You! Stay out of this.”
Dot greets Arthur at the door in the next scene. When Arthur comes in, Dot securely closes the door. Arthur walks into the center of what looks to be like a hotel room (seeing his mom by the window). The lights are off. Arthur wants to know what is going on. A funny little man comes over to Arthur from, I’m assuming, his hiding place in the bathroom near to where Arthur entered the hotel room. The funny little man tells Arthur that he can explain everything. He is a licensed psychologist able to rid Arthur of his addiction as this funny little man calls it (Arthur’s problem.).
The funny little man calls himself Francis Peacock. I notice that Francis comes all too close to Arthur, walking all around him as he speaks, and touching him once on the shoulder. Arthur thinks that this is ridiculous and he just doesn’t think that he has an addiction. When Arthur tries to leave, Francis shoots him with a tranquilizer gun. Arthur falls down and, just before he loses consciousness, tells his mom that he’s not crazy. Francis tells Arthur’s two family members that he needs both of them to be strong for Arthur, they both have done the right thing, and that the two of them have got to trust what he’s doing for Arthur. Francis calls his assistants, Rex & Mohamed, to take Arthur and put him in a van.
The Tick, meanwhile, in the next scene, doesn’t know where Arthur went and he keeps telling the toilet (& himself) that toilets don’t talk. We see The Tick running to the window and yelling, “Arthur! Where are you?”
There’s a commercial break at this point in the episode. The next scene, after the commercial break, takes place at the insane asylum where Arthur is now seen as one of the patients. He doesn’t have his superhero uniform on, but he is now seen wearing both a white t-shirt and white sweat pants. We see Francis Peacock lecturing to Arthur and the other patients, but we never see, I noticed, the other patients’ faces. Francis doesn’t get why Arthur would use his own name as his superhero identity. Arthur says twice (first time under his breath), “I just haven’t figured out a good one yet. I’m working on it.”
Arthur, in the next scene, sneaks into Francis Peacock’s office and calls, his buddy, The Tick. The line is busy. The scene then depicts The Tick sitting on the toilet and talking to himself, “I just can’t understand what happened to Arthur. He’s gone for so long . . .” The scene then depicts Arthur hanging up the phone and thinking for a moment. Arthur then decides to call, his other two superhero friends, Captain Liberty & Batmanuel. We then see both of these superheroes making fondue. The phone rings. Batmanuel tells Captain Liberty to let it ring.
Captain Liberty says to Batmanuel that the phone call could be important. Captain Liberty, nonetheless, picks up the phone, but Batmanuel continues to blabber on. Batmanuel finds out from Captain Liberty that Arthur is in an insane asylum. Arthur blames Captain Liberty for his predicament because she was the one who told him to tell his family about his superhero lifestyle. Captain Liberty said to Arthur, “Wasn’t it freeing?” Arthur said, frustratingly, to Captain Liberty, “Freeing?! Freeing?! I have been locked away in a loony bin. . . .” Batmanuel gets on the phone and asks Arthur if he’s ever tried fondue. Arthur screams. Just then Arthur sees the shadow of Francis Peacock about to come into the room.
Arthur hangs up on Batmanuel and hides under Dr. Peacock’s desk. We hear Dr. Peacock singing, “Who’s super now? Who’s super now? I think it’s you, Francis.” We see Francis’ pants go down and Arthur sees it too. Arthur soon is beginning to figure out that Francis Peacock is surely up to no good. Arthur, very slowly, sneaks up and around the desk. Francis Peacock comes out of the closet wearing a space super hero uniform and immediately confronts Arthur. Francis is shocked to see Arthur there.
Rex & Mohamed, then, in the next scene, take a restrained Arthur and put him in the padded seclusion room (a locked room). The padded seclusion room has one very small bubbling metal toilet. Arthur screams, while he is being put in the padded seclusion room, “I’m not crazy! I’m not crazy!” We see Francis Peacock’s eyes through the little padded seclusion room door window and it is now that the television viewers really see just how evil he can really be. He shuts the little padded seclusion room door window and Arthur screams.
We see The Tick, in the next scene, coming out of a garage and meeting his two superhero friends. Captain Liberty says to both of her two superhero friends, “Normal people think that putting on tights and mask is an act of madness.” Batmanuel says, “There is a place where they put superheroes to cure them – to make them normal.” The Tick says, “Normal?!” Captain Liberty says, “And the police can’t do anything about it because it’s out of their jurisdiction.” The Tick proudly says, “That’s just where our jurisdiction begins.”
The next scene is back in the insane asylum. Dot & Arthur’s mom have come to visit. The nurse at the reception desk tells them both that it’s not the time for visiting hours. Dot and Arthur’s mom move out of the way to make room for the three superheroes. The nurse tries to say something, but Captain Liberty tells her to shut up. The Tick goes in one direction and Captain Liberty goes in another.
The receptionist presses a button and an alarm sounds. Batmanuel stays in the lobby near to where the reception desk is situated with the three ladies (acting like their protector if anything negative ever ended up happening to any of them). We see Captain Liberty kicking Rex’s butt and getting into a major fight with Mohamed. She beats both of them in one instantaneous instant. We see the other patients in the background, but, again, we never see their faces. The patients are surely all around as Captain Liberty beats both Rex & Mohamed single handedly. She says, “Hey! Now which one of you has seen Arthur?”
We see Arthur next to the bubbling toilet and then we hear The Tick’s voice. The Tick repetitively calls out Arthur’s name. Justice is finally served when The Tick opens up the little padded seclusion room door window and reveals his eyes. The Tick, as one would imagine, picks up the padded seclusion room door and takes it out of the wall like it is as light as a feather. The Tick throws the door down and enters the padded seclusion room. Arthur is so happy to see The Tick. Arthur gets up and The Tick starts trying to tear through Arthur’s restraints.
The Tick says that his family wants to see him, but Arthur doesn’t want to rightfully see them because they were the ones that put him in the loony bin. The Tick says,” That was the mom & Dot last week. The mom & Dot this week are much nicer.” Arthur says, “A week doesn’t make a difference. They have no trust and no respect.” The Tick, trying to make Arthur feel better, says, “They don’t have a lot of things, Arthur, but all we have to do is accept them for what they are. Now your mother wants you back and your sister, . . . your sister . . . She’s fine. Now.
Let’s get going.” The Tick manages to free Arthur from his restraints. Arthur then says to The Tick, “I have to do one thing first.” and leaves The Tick alone in the padded seclusion room with the small bubbling metal toilet. We see The Tick interestingly and intriguingly look down at the small bubbling metal toilet. Any fan of the show is going to know full well what The Tick will do next as far as his obsession with toilets is concerned. The show, with this in mind, just simply moves on to the next scene.
Francis Peacock is dressed as Arthur in Arthur’s costume, dancing around his office to the tune of “Greatest American Hero”. Arthur, still in his insane asylum clothes, comes into the office, followed by The Tick, and catches Francis Peacock red-handed. The music stops and, I would assume, Francis Peacock is brought to justice.
Arthur, in the next and final scene of this episode, is finally back in his superhero costume. His sister and mom both apologize to him. They are both on each side of him. We see Arthur filling out papers at the reception desk and the episode ends here. I am wondering why Arthur would need to fill out papers at the end of the episode if Francis Peacock was the bad guy. Arthur was not put in the insane asylum because of anything he did wrong.
He was just put in the insane asylum because he was a superhero. An insane asylum is where Francis Peacock puts superheroes to make them normal. It was Francis Peacock who wore other people’s superheroes costumes so he could be a superhero himself. Francis Peacock should have been the one to put himself in the insane asylum. He was the crazy one.
Arthur and all the other innocent superheroes, who Francis Peacock betrayed and took advantage of, were never ever the crazy ones. This insane asylum, like I stated, was a place where Francis Peacock put superheroes to make them normal. Mr. Peacock would steal clothes off the superheroes’ backs. These were all the superheroes he hospitalized himself. He would then wear each of the superheroes’ costumes – a villainous act out of his own inconceivable madness.
“The Tick” was a very creative show. It was a funny show with strange and neat characters. The series was based on a comic book of the same name. The comic book is popular with kids, teenagers, and young adults. The series, keeping this in mind, would’ve been popular understandably with people in this same age group. The series lasted, if I’m not mistaken, 9 episodes, but ultimately “The Tick” is now just another part of our television history that depicts people, err superheroes, in the funniest and weirdest of situations.
