“HONK IF YOU LOVE JUSTICE!”
I actually have this on a bumper sticker, but not on my car. I almost put it on my last car (it was crappy enough to allow bumper stickers,) but my new one is too nice to mar its surface with adhesive and vinyl.
I’ve heard this “Spoon!” quote before, but I have no idea what it means. Could a Tick Head kindly explain to me what it means?
Thanks
Spoon is The Tick’s battle cry.
I burned the whole series to DVD when it was run recently on (I think) Toon Disney. My son watched all the episodes and has not ceased to quote them since. His favorite line:
“And most importantly, Arthur, you learn how to close your eyes and tell yourself that this just isn’t happening to me.”
That helps a little bit. I still have no idea what he means by “spoon”. Does it have any context? Is he a cutlery specialist? Does he demonstrate affection by “spooning” people? Is it a reference to something - a character, a past event?
Well, see there’s the problem. I don’t think The Tick means by “Spoon!” either. It’s just his battlecry.
"And you don’t eat crackers in the Bed of Justice. You get all scratchy."
No. He’s discussing battle-cries with Arthur one day, and Arthur advances the notion :
“Not in the face Not in the face!”
The Tick muses, and replies “Hmm… Lacks force, chum. I was thinking something more like… (spotting spoon in his hand) SPOOOON!”
Arthur : “I don’t get it.”
Tick : “SPOOON!”
And so on.
Hehe, thanks CandidGamera, I understand now. It means nothing, but it’s funny.
It was heart wrenching when he lost Macarronni Boy.
Toon Disney or some such channel has been showing these at 10pm every night, it’s so great. My favorite is either the Aztecs (I still call stuff -itlan) or the Mad Science Fair.
I can taste the floor.
Oh, and Speak rules!
Yes yes! If anything you do causes them to release the Tick cartoon on DVD I will send you cookies!
Little Wooden Boy was a brave and selfless sidekick. I wonder if that name would fit in the City of Heroes character generator…
“Like a great blue salmon of Justice, the mighty Tick courses upstream to the very spawning ground of evil.”
Ahhh, brilliance.
I have these on VCD and it is the one cartoon I love to sit down and watch with my kids. Fun for the whole family!
I can taste your back.
“Poor Tongue-Tongue. He has but one small tongue to taste an entire world.”
“And when you’re finished with him, he evaporates in a fragrant puff of potpourri!”
Hands down, my favorite episode.
“The little bunny guy was chafing, so I let him go.”
Yeah, I’d buy that series on DVD.
I used to have the whole set of action figures (except Die Fledermaus), but I managed to lose them in the course of a move. I still have the big talking Tick and the Steel Box.
My favorite episode is “Grampa Wore Tights.” “Rocket from the sockets!” “I’m filled with tinier men!” “READ A BOOK!”
I recently caught the whole series on Toon Disney, except they didn’t play the Santas episode. I saw it during the original FOX run, but that was a long time ago.
–Cliffy
In Allan Neuwirth’s book Makin’ Toons: Inside the Most Popular Animated TV Shows and Movies, the section of the book which covers The Tick features an image with the caption “©ABC Childrens Productions.” So I’m guessing they do own the show. Ben Edlund, of course, owns the rights to the character.
I remember finding this great article online about all the censors’ notes that the producers recieved from Fox about a single episode. Most of them were riduculous, and involved bombs. I wish I could find it.
Second best:
"Leap before you look."
Best:
"Well, Evil has been rousted and the baby sitter’s been paid.
Either that or when he beats the dolphin in a breath-holding contest, climbs out of the pool, and says, “Bracing!”
Oh, oh, and:
"But you may ask, ‘How does one prove one’s mightiness?’ To this I answer, ‘By surviving the most dangerous engine of destruction nineteen-seventy-four had to offer!’"
Yeah, it’s hard to pick a best line.
“Down here I’m considered the apotheosis of cool.”
I think you mean Little Wooden Boy. The only macaroni I recall is the macaroni duck he and Aruther were making for crafts night. But as we all know, you can’t fight evil with a macaroni duck!
Oh. My. God. When he started coming apart into the smaller nesting men, I about passed out from laughing so hard.
“Sometimes you have to smack evil on the nose with the rolled up newspaper of justice!”