Customer Reviews

The Tick Vs. Season Two

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First let me say that this is a five star ***** season for a five star ***** series! I drop one star because of the DVD presentation and the high price. They are charging the price of a 24 episode season set for only 12 episodes!

Buena Vista has announced that episode 15 "Alone Together" will NOT be included in this set! The reason was not given.

#14 Little Wooden Boy and the Belly of Love (9/9/95) Villain: Swiss Commandos.
Arthur goes off on a date with Carmalita on Hobby Night, so Tick builds himself a new wooden side kick. Meanwhile the Swiss Commando's are after Dr. Vahtoss' notebook.

#16 Armless but not Harmless (9/23/95) Villain: Venus, the love goddess, & Milo.
Tick & Arthur's arms get removed and attached to crude look-a-likes for a crime spree.

#17 Leonardo da Vinci and His Fightin' Genius Time Commandos (10/7/05) villain: Leonardo.
Leonardo makes a time machine & goes back in time to kidnap the greatest inventors and re-invent everything.

#18 Coach Fussell's Lament (9/30/95) villain: Brainchild & The Idea Men.
Brainchild uses his 'Nanny of the Apocalypse' to capture The Tick and turn him into a bird to match his brain.

#19 Bloomsday (10/21/95) villain: El Seed.
The return of El Seed with his newest monster Rosebud.

#20 Evil Sits Down for a Moment (11/4/95) villain: The Ottoman Empress
A villain that can animate furniture tries to take over The City.

#21 Heroes (11/11/95) villain: various.
A camera crew follows The Tick & Arthur for a day of crime fighting.

#22 Ants in the Plants! (11/18/95) villain: Betty: Queen of Ants.
The Tick checks himself into Captain Sanity's Superhero Sanitarium, letting Betty capture the other superheroes and lock them into a giant people farm.

#23 Tick Loves Santa! (11/25/95) villain: Santa Clause.
A small-time bank robber, dressed as Santa, is chased into an electric billboard, giving him miraculous powers.

#24 Tick v.s. the Big Nothing (2/3/96) villain: The Whats.
The Whats, and alien race, kidnap The Tick and Arthur to thwart their nemesis the Heys from destroying the universe.

#25 Tick v.s. Reno, Nevada (2/10/96) villain: The Fin.
While performing in Reno, dolphin The Fin plans to rule the world with his Fish Magnet. Arthur & Tick come to the rescue only to find that Tick has a gambling problem.

#26 Grandpa Wore Tights (2/17/96) cillain: The Terror & Terry
An aging Terror sends his so-so villainous son Terry to recover his Desire-O-Vac from the aging Decency Squad.

Lets hope that when it comes time to release the shorter 10 episode 3rd season, the rights problems will be cleared and the missing episodes from seasons 1 & 2 will be included to make that a 12 episode set.

****UPDATE****
I found out that both omitted episodes from the season 1 & season 2 DVDs were written by the same screenwriter! These were the only ones he wrote for those seasons. Now I don't know for sure that he is the reason, this is just a common denominator of the two missing episodes. DO NOT BLAME HIM THERE IS NO OFFICIAL WORD ON THIS! This same screenwriter also wrote 4 of the 10 episodes for season 3.

Again, I am only looking at what these two episodes have in common.

I have been waiting for ten friggin' years for my absolute favourite cartoon to make it to dvd. What do I get for not just buying illegal bootlegs off of the internet? MISSING EPISODES!!!!!! Once again one episode is exempt, making this an incomplete set. No reason was given. I do not buy the copyright infringement rumour as parody is very legal. Every character on this show is a parody of an earlier character. This is a five star show and I cannot give it more than three for not giving fans what they want: the whole series. Shame on the makers of this dvd.

Let me start off by saying that I know how everyone feels. I agree. "Alone Together" was one of the best episodes of the season, and for me, the only one that's better is the one where they fight against the dolphin with the fish magnet. The lines, "You call that a haiku? You're just counting syllables! Get back in the water!" are burned into whatever part of my brain controls joy. Really, I understand your anger. But please, don't take it out on this DVD set, because it's not the DVD sets fault. This is a Walt Disney Studio's problem, and we should definitely blame them, and write them letters, and moan at them until they give us what we really want.

But support The Tick. And here's why. If sales of this DVD are poor, then the execs over at Walt Disney are going to decide that they failed because people weren't interested in the content, because they don't want to blame themselves. Studio execs get paid enormous salaries, all based on the idea that they don't make mistakes that cost the company lots of money. If they make that mistake, they will find something else to blame. It's what they're good at. It's why they still have their jobs, even with all those atrocious movies Disney's been peddling for the past few years.

So yeah. It stinks that this set doesn't have Alone Together. It really does. But if we want to give The Tick a chance for a truly complete collection, a collection that the studio execs are going to be willing to go to bat for, to fight for the rights to all the episodes for, then we have to prove to them that it's going to be a hit when it happens. Support the Tick. If not for you, then for me. Because this show epitomizes everything that I love about what comics can be, what television can be, and what true heroism in the face of horrid cynicism can be. Fight for the Tick, cause he'd damn well fight for you. Spoon, baby. Spoon.

The Tick is still the gold standard when it comes to children's cartoons. Unfortunately several problems plague this disc, which makes it difficult to recommend purchasing it, in spite of the high quality and sheer fun of the show.

In this season we learn all about the origin of Arthur's suit in "The Little Wooden Boy and the Belly of Love". The villianous Venus steals Arthur and the Tick's arms and uses them on crime-committing robots in "Armless but Not Harmless". Die Fladermaus falls in love with a villianess in "Evil Sits Down for a Moment". The Tick and Arthur appear on a reality show, "Heroes". And we meet an entire alien race that looks just like Arthur in "The Tick vs. the Big Nothing". Of course, it is not the plots of the shows (summarised in other reviews) that is the fun of the show. No, it is the absurd villians, the even more absurd heroes, and the Tick's social commentary (mostly unwitting) and head-shaking malaproposes that gives the show it's enduring charm.

For me, the highlights of this season are threefold - (1) the battle between our heroes and the Deadly Bulb, caught on camera on the reality show "Heroes." It is especially fun for those old enough to remember Cops, as it is clearly meant to be a parody (or homage?) of that show. (2) the introduction of Carmalita as a love interest to Arthur in "The Little Wooden Boy and the Belly of Love" - this subplot plays out more in Season 3, but it's fun to see the Tick become jealous of Arthur seeing someone else on craft night. (3) My favourite episode of the season is far and away "The Tick vs. the Big Nothing" - two alien races are battling each other, one whose only word is "what" and the other whose only word is "hey" leads to a "Who's on First"-like moment where the Whats interrogate Arthur,

Interrogator: "Hey?"
Arthur: "What?"
Interrogator (getting agitated): "Hey?!"
Arthur (getting frightened): "What??"
Interrogator (very angry): "HEY!!!"
Arthur (bewildered and very frightened): "WHAT!??!"

I guess it's funnier when you see it on the screen.

Unfortunately, all is not good in The City. There are a couple of almost unforgiveable problems with this DVD package. First is the lack of one episode, missing for no apparent reason. Second is the lack of extras - there is absolutely nothing on the discs but the episodes and the ads, which is the third problem. Yes, the ads. They go on forever. They cannot by skipped en masse (you can skip them, but each one individually). It is DVD packages like this that drive otherwise honest people to piracy - it's like the makers of the DVD are punishing us for actually buying the discs instead of downloading them episode-by-episode from some file-sharing site. Because the ads are at the beginning of disc one, someone like me who has to share his DVD player with 2 children (Thomas the Tank Engine and Bob the Builder keep appearing in it!) has to skip through the ads EVERY TIME he puts the disc in. It's simply unacceptable.

I can still remember the day that my best friend introduced me to this cartoon show. I was amazed. At the age of fifteen, I had no idea how much brilliance could be packed into 22 minutes of animation until I saw The Tick. Season one was fantastic but by the time Little Wooden Boy and The Belly of Love aired as the season 2 premiere, I was completely hooked...and sore from laughing.

While the quality of the animation hints at the show's low budget, it is completely effective and enjoyable to look at. It has a warm and quaint hand-drawn quality that is sorely missing from today's CG aided shows.

The characters in this show are absolutely marvelous. Some are clever satires, others are utterly and hilariously original. The voicework by Coleman and others is absolutely top notch.

The lack of Alone Together is indeed a sad thing for this set. Unlike the Mindy Moleford episode that was omitted from the season 1 set, this episode was one of the best and an essential piece of Tick history.
It would also be nice if the publishers would see fit to have more special features...but as all Tick fans know, we should feel lucky to be getting episodes on DVD at all. We'll probably never see anything better.

I considered knocking a star off of my rating for this set (because of the sorely missing episode and lack of features) but the show is just so devastatingly wonderful, I couldn't make myself do it. It really deserves 5 stars.

Of course I love the Tick! Arthur too! But I cannot believe they're doing this again! How can they leave Christopher McCulloch's smash-bang episode Alone Together off the DVD? It has to be a tie for the best episode in this season! (Tied with The Tick vs the Big Nothing) Heck, I'll be honest, it probably is THE best one.

This is Vs. The Mole Men all over again. No Cindy Crawford look-a-like in this one so what excuse shall we get this time? Can't do it because of the Galactus spin? Well, it seems the the Impossible Family over at VB made it onto DVD okay. Er, okay as they can be, I suppose.

Oh, I can't wait for season three! Let's see... no That Mustache Feeling, no Sidekicks Don't Kiss, no Devil in Diapers, no the Tick vs. Science... Oh, no... NO SPEAK!!! Well, maybe. Would they remove Speak's back story and still keep 'it all starts at the UN'?

I can't tell anyone NOT to buy this thing. Ben Edlund has like 8 (2) kids at home to put through college. I'm just saying... do not disrespect the McCulloch!

To start with: Yes, definitely, one star gets taken away for the missing episode.

Return now to the City and its mighty but brain-addled sworn protector in THE TICK VS. SEASON TWO. Another season on the small screen, it seems, hasn't mellowed the indestructable but half-certifiable blue superhero. His patrols still cause vast structural damage to the city's rooftops, and he combats evil with the same brand of indomitable good cheer, incoherent speeches, and, oh yes, superstrength. In its entire series, Ben Edlund doled out a total of 36 spoofy and witty episodes. THE TICK VS. SEASON TWO offers 12 of these. But just as THE TICK VS. SEASON ONE withheld one episode ("Tick vs. the Mole Men"), SEASON TWO repeats the offense, denying us "Alone Together." The dirty rats.

Still intact are all the cleverness, the inventive spins, the surreal leanings, and the quirky humor. Tick's universe is a fabulous one, which merrily lampoons a whole lot of things superheroic. Plenty of smarts in the show, as we witness evil hand puppets who quote Sophocles and penguins who are discerning haiku critics. We're exposed to the speed of lint, which is way faster than the speed of light. Arthur finds love. As does Der Fledermaus, even if, in his case, it's ephemeral. And we find out the function of Tick's antennas.

I must say that Rob Paulsen, who this season plays the put-upon Arthur, does quite a job as he provides the consistent grounding voice in all this nuttiness. But the Tick, dementedly idealistic and brimming with righteous bombast, is as oblivious and off the wall as ever. And voice actor Townsend Coleman, with his exuberant, over-the-top delivery, works hard to keep it that way. Now that's one cat who really gets his character. What other superhero engages in a breath-holding contest with a dolphin? Or patrols the City with a plank for a sidekick? Or demands to be probed by space aliens? Or lays an egg? Only the Tick.

Present and sometimes assisting the Big Blue Bonkers in his fight against injustice (but mostly hanging out in the diner like losers) are the preposterous Der Fledermaus and the Rain Man-inspired Sewer Urchin. Admittedly, American Maid is pretty reliable and deadly with a shoe. As for the even more peripheral crimefighters, for some reason, I have a fondness for the Decency Squad's Living Doll, whose battle cry is "I'm full of tinier men!" But, for my money, the grossest superhero award just has to go to the Visual Eye (yech!). Meanwhile, villains El Seed, the Terror, and Brainchild return, even as we greet for the first time the porcine-infested Deadly Bulb and the Splendid and Perfect Queen of the Ants, whose name is Betty.

The TICK remains one of the most quotable animated superhero series ever. Some of my favorite Tick-isms in this season are: "Honk if you love justice!" and "Evil's out there making hand-crafted mischief for the swap meet of villainy." But, of course, you can't beat the Tick's battle cry, the classic "Spoooon!"

Here are the Season 2 episodes:

Episode 1 - "The Little Wooden Boy and the Belly of Love" - When his moth sidekick Arthur falls in love, will the Tick just whittle away?

Episode 2 - "Alone Together" - This is the missing episode and it's a good one (dammit!). Tick goes to the moon and ends up pulling grooming duties for Omnipotus, the gigantic devourer of planets. Back in the City, with the Tick absent and thought dead, Arthur sidekicks for Die Fledermaus and Human Bullet.

Episode 3 - "Armless But Not Harmless" - When the evil Venus is foiled by Plungerman (actually just a regular plumber, mistaken for a superhero), she is snubbed by the Annual Enemy Awards show. To impress the Enemy Awards, she has her lackey apply his invention which causes the arms of the Tick and Arthur to fall off. Arms which are then used by Venus to commit crimes. Cameo by the insanely cool The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight.

Episode 4 - "Leonardo da Vinci and His Fightin' Genius Time Commandos!" - The androgynous Mother of Invention kidnaps the famous inventors of the past. It's up to Leonardo da Vinci (and the Tick) to save the day.

Episode 5 - "Coach Fussell's Lament" - Charles the Brainchild returns and transforms the Tick into a two-headed bluebird that speaks only in high school French.

Episode 6 - "Bloomsday" - El Seed steals the 400 Year Bloom, a plant that requires constant soothing with gentle music, else it'll bloom "the bad way." This forces the Tick and American Maid to serenade it.

Episode 7 - "Evil Sits Down For a Moment" - The focus is on Die Fledermaus as he falls for a villainess. Meanwhile, Tick falls a great height and begins to talk in a British accent. Oh, and now he wants to addressed as "Duchess."

Episode 8 - "Heroes" - This one's a send up of the TV show COPS. A camera, belonging to the reality show "Heroes," films a day in the life of the Tick and Arthur. Just as it seems there's gonna be a lull in villainy, Deadly Bulb shows up to make it interesting.

Episode 9 - "Ants in Pants!" - At Captain Sanity's Superhero Sanitarium, the Tick undergoes therapy as he discloses an awful day involving ants in trenchcoats who've pilfered the City's window glass.

Episode 10 - "The Tick Loves Santa!" - The evil Multiple Santa is running amok and unchecked because the Tick just can't bring himself to hit Santa.

Episode 11 - "Tick vs. the Big Nothing" - Hilarious episode! The Tick and Arthur are abducted by aliens whose language consist of only one word ("what"). The kidnappers want the Tick to infiltrate the mothership of a hostile alien race called the Heys - whose language also consists of only one word (can you guess?) - and deactivate a doomsday device.

Episode 12 - "Tick vs. Reno, Nevada" - When the Nevada-based performing porpoise Monsieur Smartypants is abducted, Tick is asked to get him back. But when he ventures to Reno, he is seduced by the gambling bug.

Episode 13 - "Grandpa Wore Tights" - A great episode, my season's favorite. The hoary and decrepit Terror sends his angst-ridden son Terry to the equally-aged Decency Squad's retirement home to sniff out info about an ultimate weapon, the Desire-O-Vac. When Terry coaxes 'em into talking about superweapons, he hears this comment: "The Ray Gun was the worst. One blast from that sucker turned half the town into a guy named Ray. And then there was the Tommy gun..."

This 2-disc collection presents 8 episodes on Disc 1 and the final four on Disc 2. Huge, huge disappointment, though, as there's nary a whiff of a special feature, although we do get a lithograph insert of the Tick which reveals on its back our hero's erstwhile secret identity and civilian job. So, that's something. But, still, damn...

The Tick is one of my favorite animated television programs. A wonderful and hilarious send-up of the superhero genre, with plenty of both incisive satire and outright silliness. Ben Edlund's comic should be required reading for all superhero comic fans everywhere; and the animated series captures it perfectly. When the DVD was first announced, I was ecstatic.

Then Walt Disney/Buena Vista went and screwed it up. Badly. For starts, as many others have noted, there are missing episodes. Like Season One, this set is also missing an episode. However, unlike the first missing episode, generally regarded as one of the weakest; this one is one of the best espisodes of the series. But enough has been said on this subject by others. There are numerous other weaknesses with this release; which make it seriously disappointing, and rather overpriced.

The biggest is simply the incredibly poor quality of the transfer. Having purchased numerous other DVD releases of old animated programs, I'm astounded at just how bad this transfer is. Even on an ordinary analog television, the low resolution and high level of compression artifacts is painfully obvious. It almost looks like they created the DVD, not from the original sources, but from some of the pre-DVD videos that have been floating around the Internet for years. The sound transfer isn't much better, and is rendered flat and lifeless, although without obvious artifacts.

There are no extras to speak of, and it appears that they instead used all the space saved by the low-bitrate transfer to cram in a lot of extra advertisements that are extremely annoying to have to forward past to get to the show.

If it wasn't for the fact that this is likely to be the only offering of The Tick on DVD, and if The Tick wasn't as great a show as it is, I'd say don't bother with it.

I loved the Tick when it originally aired, and went on to enjoy the comics as well. Season two contains some of my favorite Tick episodes, and it is great to finally see them on DVD.

If you love satire, screwball humor, or hilarious moral messages, you'll love the tick. This show kept spot on faithful to the Tick of the comics and brought him into an animated world that a character like him could really thrive in. This is entertainment great for kids and adults alike. I doubt you will be disappointed with the show itself.

The DVD however is another story in itself. Why they keep cutting out episodes is beyond me. The Mole Men episode from season one wasn't too much of a loss, but will hopefully be on an upcoming DVD. This season really lost a great one though. "Alone Together" is one of the best Tick episodes that aired, and it is completely missing from this collection. My only hope is that this episode, and possibly the mole man episode make it on to the Season Three DVD. This all is kind of strange to me. The UK seasonal DVD's contained all of the episodes. In fact, there is actually a three disk boxed set you can get on Amazon UK if you can play region 2 DVDs.

These DVD's also seem to be lacking any sort of feature. The story of how the Tick came to get published is certainly interesting enough to warrant, at the very least, a five minute featurette. Instead we get ads for unrelated shows.

Overall, above-par episodes, sub-par DVD. Let's hope The Tick Vs. Season Three redeems the seasonal DVDs.

-Matt

What a joy to be able to avail oneself of the second season of the miraculously funny cartoon series The Tick! How could this series have been so consistently hilarious? I don't know how they managed it week after week. One thing the Tick teaches you: if you're a superhero fan, it just doesn't matter whether the story is told with a straight face of for laughs! Either way, it's the "real thing." At least it is when you're watching The Tick!

Hey! Did you ever notice what kind of a moth Arthur is supposed to be? He is very distinctively a LUNA moth. And from whence did the Tick emerge to become guardian of The City? A mental asylum. Put him and Arthur together, and what have you got? A Luna-Tick! Coincidence? I doubt it.