mighty blue justice

Big Blue is back! I'm talking about The Tick, that lovable, over-sized, super-strong (but none too bright), well-nigh indestructible superhero who graced the television airwaves all too briefly in the mid 1990s before being perfunctorily canceled. (Is there any creature more short-sighted than a TV network executive?) It was a sad, sad day for Jen-Luc Piquant when the Superhero of Her Dreams went into exile, but now The Tick has returned -- or at least the part of him contained in Season 1 -- via the miracle of modern DVD.

For those unfamiliar with this marvelous dispenser of mighty blue justice, the series opens with Big Blue competing at the National Super Institute for assignment to a city to protect from crime. There is a slight case of explosion, however, so he ends up being assigned to The City, where -- it seems -- all the bargain basement superheroes end up... like Bipolar Bear, who would fight injustice if he could only get out of bed. The Tick meets up with Arthur, a cost accountant who has just been fired because he insists on wearing his superhero moth costume to work. (As his supervisor puts it, "We find this kind of rampant individualism strangely disturbing.") Arthur becomes The Tick's official sidekick and together they patrol the city, taking on all manner of bizarre super-villains, and occasionally clashing with fellow superheroes American Maid ("the world's most patriotic domestic"), Der Fledermaus, the Human Bullet, the Caped Chameleon, and the decidedly odoriferous Sewer Urchin. (Fortunately, the series is spared the presence of a Super Priest  Who Can Turn Anything Into the Body and Blood of Christ, per those wacky folks at The Onion.)

The genius of the series lies in its cheeky, surreal irreverence and whip-smart in-jokes. Its cleverness may have been in its undoing, in fact: very few kiddies could fully appreciate the humor of The Tick being turned into a small blue parrot that can only speak high school French ("J'accuse!"), or taking an existential tour of his own mind (a vast empty wasteland with nothing but a gigantic statue of himself in the center). It was less for the kids, and more for their parents, or older siblings, or college students... not that there's anything wrong with that, nosirree.

And there's lots of science! Of a particularly twisted nonsensical sort, granted, but science nonetheless. For people like me, who adore finding pop culture tie-ins as an excuse to talk about science, this is a very exciting thing. Consider the case of a slime-based organism called Thrakkorzog, inventor of the Clonerizer. His cloning process involves mixing together a "secret cloning sauce," a pinch of a oregano, and a toenail from the subject to be cloned. Talk about being ripped from the headlines! Or perhaps the menu of an Italian restaurant... As for foiling the plans of the infamous Mad Bomber What Bombs at Midnight, The Tick might find this link useful.

Sadly, some of my favorite science-y episodes must wait for the release of Seasons 2 and 3 on DVD, most notably the Mad Scientist's Convention ("Vat good is science if no one gets hurt?!?" one crazed attendee declares). And what's not to love about the time-traveling episode where The Tick and Arthur foil a super villain intent on changing history, with the help of Leonardo da Vinci and his Fightin' Genius Time Commandos, a.k.a, famous inventors throughout history? "Arthur, you have no historical perspective," quoth The Tick in one of his pseudo-philosophical moments. "Science in those days worked in broad strokes. They got right to the point. Nowadays, it's all just molecule, molecule, molecule. Nothing ever happens big."

Dinosaur Neil would beg to differ. He runs Dinosaur Grotto, giving guided tours to the public of a working dinosaur dig. The Tick loves dinosaurs and drags Arthur to the grotto, where Dinosaur Neil explains his experiment for growing a full-sized dinosaur from a small bit of tissue that won't stop growing unless it's kept in a solution of acetylsalicylic acid. (There's a sly nod to the "bad science" in Jurassic Park: "It should work. I saw it in a movie once.") Alas, like many scientists, Neil eats lunch in the lab, and accidentally consumes the tissue. He grows and grows into a 70-foot giant -- and a very cranky one at that. Fortunately Arthur realizes that acetylsalicylic acid is, in fact, aspirin, and a local pharmacist provides the World's Biggest Aspirin Tablet to save Dinosaur Neil from himself.

For the curious, aspirin derives form willow bark, a substance whose ability to ease aches and pains and reduce fevers were noticed as far back as the 5th century BC, per the writings of the Greek physician Hippocrates. Other cultures also made use of its medicinal properties, from ancient Sumeria, Lebanon and Assyria, to Native American tribes like the Cherokees. Willow bark extract was first isolated in crystalline form in 1828, but even then was more toxic than beneficial. Around 1897, chemist Felix Hoffman, who worked at Friedrich Bayer & Company in Germany, produced the first synthetic version (the aforementioned acetylsalicylic acid), with greatly reduced toxic effects, thereby launching the modern pharmaceuticals industry.

Ironically, Hoffman also designed an acetylated synthetic of morphine, heroin, which was far more popular than aspirin, thanks to its extraordinary addictiveness. But even aspirin isn't harmless: it can become moderately toxic at doses up to 300 mg/kg, and potentially lethan at more than 500 mg/kg. Yes, you can die from swallowing a bottle of aspirin, and vomiting doesn't always help, although oddly, doses of charcoal can, by adsorbing the aspirin in the gastrointestinal tract. Even in smaller doses, over long periods of time, aspirin can cause ulcers, stomach bleeding, and tinnitus. "Science is a two-headed beast," The Tick observes after saving Dinosaur Neil. "One head is nice and gives us aspirin. But beware the other head of science, Arthur. It bites!"

Like many scientists, Dinosaur Neil is accustomed to people who assume his subject is boring, which is why he welcomes The Tick's interest in his research: "It's a pleasure seeing superheroes taking an interest in science!" It's even better when scientists take an interest in superheroes, a la James Kakalios, physics professor extraordinaire and author of The Physics of Superheroes (soon to be out in paperback). Let us take a moment to shamelessly plug his book, and also direct our readers to a few short videos from Kakalios' recent appearance at the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Comic Book convention in the Twin Cities: the death of Spiderman's girlfriend; Electro and Magneto; Superman's Blooper; and the Atom's Blooper.

We hope that Kakalios will consider a future analysis of the science in The Tick. It's a job uniquely suited to his background and interests; we'd wager he's a fellow fan. For instance, in the pilot episode, The Tick plummets several stories after falling from a rooftop, forming a big Tick-sized crater when he crashes into the pavement. Being indestructible, he simply winces and observes, "Gravity is a harsh mistress."  Unlike us, Kakalios already knows his calculus, so it would be an easy matter for him to figure out the superhero's likely rate of acceleration and how hard he might therefore hit -- although he'd have to make some estimates regarding body mass, distance, etc., and assume that gravity works in much the same way as it does in, well, the "real world."

The latter is probably a pretty safe assumption, especially in light of a brand new paper in Physical Review Letters describing a new analysis of dark matter by Marc Kamionkowski and Michael Kesden, physicists at Caltech and the University of Toronto, respectively. (Since we're plugging, the link is to a brand-new blog called Physics Buzz, the brainchild of our science-writing pal James Riordon, a.k.a. Buzz Skyline. Jen-Luc sez check it out.) They analyzed the distribution of stars in the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy and found it to be exactly what one might expect if dark matter obeys the same gravitational laws as ordinary matter. They're, like, 90% sure of that. This is useful, because it means we can make accurate predictions. As Buzz Skyline observes, "At least we now know how long it will take to reach the floor if a resident of a dark matter planet were to knock a bit of it off of a table." (Jen-Luc Piquant is a bit more philosophical and wonders: if dark matter falls in a forest and there's no one around to see it fall, does it make a sound?)

And how about The Tick's confrontation with Chairface Chippendale, who hatches a dastardly plot to steal special lenses so he can focus a beam of light powerful enough to write his name on the moon. (He's foiled, but not before he manages to etch "CHA" on the moon.) Chairface thinks the lenses will enable him too focus the light from a single candle or flashlight to a sufficient intensity to cut a skyscraper in half; he'd have much better luck with an actual laser. This provides a terrific opportunity to talk about basic optics (how lenses bend light) and the inner workings of lasers. Just think of all the sophomoric jokes one could make about "stimulated emission."

Assuming Chairface was savvy enough to use a standard CO2 laser, which emits light in the far-infrared or microwave regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, just how powerful would his machine have to be to etch "CHA" into the surface of the moon? Would those "superlenses" really do the trick? We have our doubts, but the discussion could prove very instructive. Timely, too. Physicists have managed to construct laser-like devices using sound waves (the saser), and just last month, physicists at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology announced their demonstration of a paser (Particle Acceleration by Stimulated Emission of Radiation). Instead of photons (particles of light) being emitted in a large coherent (i.e., the photons are all traveling in the same direction) pulse of intense light, in a paser, the atoms transfer their energy to a beam of electrons. There's no beam of laser light, just a "laser-like transfer of energy resulting in electron acceleration."

Naturally there's a lot to nitpick, if one is so inclined. One resident of The City who encounters Big Blue, is so inclined. He points out that ticks are technically arachnids, meaning they have eight legs, and suck blood -- hardly superhero characteristics. Chalk it up to artistic license. (It's a cartoon, people.) Ticks aren't 7 feet tall and blue, either, although they sometimes seem to be well-nigh indestructible.

I think Kakalios, for one, might agree with me that scientists could be considered real-life superheroes. Granted, they lack Superman's X-ray vision, but they can build cutting-edge body scanners capable of seeing through skin. That's right, a biomedical engineer at the University of Pittsburgh is developing a handheld "sonic flashlight"  that combines images of the skin's surface with live ultrasound images, producing something eerily akin to X-ray vision.

Science aside, what kind of superhero would you be? According to this quiz, I'm that annoying wholesome do-gooder, Supergirl. According to this quiz, Jen-Luc Piquant is that sexy Ninja assassin, Elektra. Some avatars have all the fun. And all the admirers, like Phil Plait, a.k.a., the Bad Astronomer, who recently confessed his Cyber-Crush on my narcissistic Faux-French avatar. As it happens, Jen-Luc adores Phil almost as much as Big Blue. He needs an avatar alter ego, though, preferably one with a mask and cape and the trademark "BA" emblazoned across the chest. (He can forego the tights of justice, since even The Tick admits that wearing them is "tingly" and "uncomfortable.") Maybe Phil can't fly -- at least as far as we know -- but who else will protect us from the threat of bad astronomy depicted in all those Hollywood sci-fi blockbusters? Knowledge is power. Even The Tick knows that.

Comments

[Louise]

Jennifer, did you ever see the live-action THE TICK? That was another show that wasn't given a chance. I hope you have a Jen-Luc lookalike contest someday.

[Blake Stacey]

I can't hear "the City" without thinking of Warren Ellis's **Transmetropolitan**, the tripped-out darkly optimistic cyberpunk saga which is right up there with **Sandman** for really deserving the name "graphic novel".

"The genius of the series lies in its cheeky, surreal irreverence and whip-smart in-jokes. . . ." Reminds me more than a little of **Dangermouse**. Am I dating myself if I admit that I grew up on **Dangermouse**? (To which the requisite punchline is, "As if anyone else would date you.")

[Stephen]

I have all The Tick comics. Perhaps that's not unusual. I have alot of comics. I have a few episodes of The Tick on VHS. My 9 year old has fun with it. I could work in The City City Hall.

[pansauce]

The Physics of Superheroes (soon to be out in paperback)

Maybe my local ampersanded bookstore jumped the gun, but the paperback was out when I stopped by there last weekend to pick up a Calc book.

[Phil Plait, aka The Bad Astronomer]

Well, I may invite Jen-Luc out for tea sometime then. But first, has she seen this?

http://www.skepchick.org/forum/images/avatars/195058911645106fc38d9b7.jpg

[Jennifer Ouellette]

Wow, when we said you could forego the tights of justice, we had no idea you'd take it to such extremes. :)

[Dr. Ellen]

The quiz said I was Green Lantern, but I still insist I'm Hakubi Washuu.

[Rich]

Found my way of Google. Great to see a fellow TICK fan! Also...FASCINATING discussion. I recently read Kakalios's book The Physics of Superheroes...and it was equalling enthralling and wonderful. Imho, every comic book writer out there needs to have a copy on their shelf and consult it often!

Btw, you must know by now that the TICK vs. Season 2 is out on DVD. I have finally ordered a copy for myself for Christmas (gift cards are wondrous!). Here's hoping that it does well enough to convince TPTB to release a season 3 DVD!

Well, so long...and thanks for all the fish!

[Rich]

Errr...I meant to say above: "I found your blog by way of Google". More coffee please!

[chicken]

The information is good. but perhaps u can give some information on educational stuffs or link to websites with more of such educational details. for teenagers to do their project as they might need more information. thank you very much.:)

Cheers,
chicken