I have loved The Tick since the 90's cartoon series on Fox. It's a show (and concept) that stands to this day: still quotable, still original, still funny, funny, truly funny. Remember the Breadmaster and his henchman, Buttery Pat? Remember Dinosaur Pete? Chairface? That Punisher parody who'd unload all of his ammunition and then break down into tears? God, that was a funny show. Let's all smile in gratitude for the 90's version of The Tick.

OK. Moment over.

So they've made another live-action version of The Tick even after the Patrick Warburton version (which wasn't that great, despite the effort of the players.) How does it stand? Not bad at all. There are some slow parts, mind you. Arthur learning how the suit works with the repeated "access denied" line went on for too long and the CGI (the Tick jumping, Arthur flying) can be clunky. Plus, Arthur is annoyingly drab. There's nothing to his character but his "issues," but to quote Herman Melville, "Who ain't a slave?" Honestly, in life you can have either excuses or results, not both. Arthur does eventually come around and become more of a person, but not towards the end. Where this series is weak is that there's way too much of Arthur and not enough of The Tick.

The Tick himself, meanwhile, is stellar. He's as affable and unflappable as ever and it's nice to see him back. I was disappointed when The Tick said the word "awesome" (a word that's been used so much it's lost all meaning, like "epic") but that's my only gripe. Peter Serafinowicz is truly great in the role, with a beautiful voice and "nigh-invulnerable" delivery. I have respect for Warburton but I can't imagine anyone, with the exception of Townsend Coleman, doing a better job of The Tick than Serafinowicz.

The Terror, played by Jackie Earle Haley, is hilarious as well. He was brilliant in the original cartoon (I'd list some of his comedically evil endeavours but those might be spoilers) but we see little of him here. I hope they continue to do justice to him. (Love the old man voice, though.) I wish there were a few more fights to this series and less of Arthur looking uncomfortable around others. The Tick is basically a really good-natured version of the Hulk: he can knock people out by just backhanding them and villains who fire on him usually wind up hurting themselves via ricochet. But the fights we do have are funny without being slapstick-y. Plus, the Knightrider parody is pretty clever.

Anyway. More Tick, please.