“Darker and more grounded” might not be what fans of Fox’s short-lived cult show The Tick think of when looking back on the 9 episodes that aired in 2001, but it seems to be what they’ll get if Amazon puts in a full order for the just-announced reboot.
In an interview with EW, comic creator Ben Edlund admitted that Fox “didn’t necessarily get it” the first time around, and he and the team jumped at the opportunity to revisit the character. Now, Amazon has ordered a pilot for the reboot, which will be shown to the public like the streaming side of the company does for all of its nascent series, and fans will get to chime in on their favorites. That’ll factor in on whether or not The Tick moves forward as a full-on Amazon series.
According to Edlund, the new angle on The Tick will be one that is a bit less out-there than the 2001 version, but the show and the characters will still “get to have fun.”
“We’ve got this show about superheroes [where] we get to have fun with the idea of superheroes by starting with kind of a comedic parody of [an] event-oriented-like universe,” he explains. “It will be darker and more grounded. And it’s going to have a real story, a real hero’s myth. We’re the ones that get to have fun with it and that’s kind of the situation where right now that’s an open field in this area of entertainment.”
The new binge-watching format of Amazon Studios – and streaming shows in general – will also bring about a serialized format to the material, as well. As pointed out by Joe Lewis, Amazon’s head of half-hour series, the studio’s creative model will lend a deeper connection between characters and the audience, and shed some of the episodic fat of the original show.
“Episodic superhero shows can’t necessarily go as deep in characters since you are rebooting the story often every hour,” he says. “Even though it’s a different tone, series like Transparent show that we’re making five-hour movies told in 10 chapters. And I think that’s something really unique to Amazon and how we are approaching this. This will [enable us] go deeper into character and story because our canvas is a lot larger.”
Edlund ended the interview by reiterating on calling the show a “superhero comedy” that will make fans want to revisit the world repeatedly, saying “I think so far we are just building this fantastic siege engine that’s going to attack your heart.”
So, in summation, The Tick reboot will be gritty, but still have humor and enough continuity that’ll make viewers care about what happens to the characters? If the creators can make that happen, maybe there actually could be room for yet another superhero TV show on the air.
Tell us, what do you think about the new version of The Tick? Still excited? Let us know in the comments.