Something unfortunate happened in 2001. A live action version of The Tick, the comic creation of Ben Edlund‘s that had a brief but iconic animated series, came and went within the blink of an eye. The series was shepherded by director Barry Sonnenfeld and starred Patrick Warburton as the eponymous superhero patrolling the streets of his given metropolitan city. But the show was too ahead of its time, with the superhero craze that now dominates pop culture just a year or two away The Tick was cancelled after just nine episodes.
Now we’re living in the midst of seemingly never-ending superhero craze that is only accentuated by the proliferation of the reboot. Finally, The Tick is returning to television sets everywhere, this time streaming on Amazon Prime with a pilot episode directed by Wally Pfister, the longtime cinematographer of Christopher Nolan, which premieres on the streaming service on August 19th. Stepping into the role of the big blue lunkhead is comedian Peter Serafinowicz, whose recently been making a splash online with his comedic videos redubbing the rambings of Donald Trump.
Details as to the plot and characters of this rebooted version of The Tick are fairly scarce, with no details provided about the characters featured in most of these images. What matters is whether or not this pilot is able to capture the madcap comedic essence of the character, and I have no doubt that Peter Serafinowicz is up for the task. Co-starring with Serafinowicz are Griffin Newman, Jackie Earle Haley, Valorie Curry, Yara Martinez, and Brendan Hines.
The only way to guarantee more episodes of The Tick is to tune into the pilot when it lands on Amazon Prime on August 19th. Until then — SPOON!
The official synopsis for The Tick:
In a world where superheroes have been real for decades, an underdog accountant with zero powers comes to realize his city is owned by a global super villain long-thought dead. As he struggles to uncover this conspiracy, he falls in league with a strange blue superhero. The Tick stars Peter Serafinowicz (Guardians of the Galaxy), Griffin Newman (Vinyl), Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen),Valorie Curry (House of Lies), Yara Martinez (Jane the Virgin) and Brendan Hines (Scorpion). The Tick is executive produced by Ben Edlund (Supernatural), Barry Josephson (Bones) and Barry Sonnenfeld (A Series of Unfortunate Events), directed by Wally Pfister (The Dark Knight), and written by Edlund. The Tick is a co-production with Sony Pictures Television.