Explosive Episodes!
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"HEROES"
The Summary:
The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight appears in the opening credits when The Tick and Arthur appear in a show called "HEROES", a spoof on "COPS". The entire episode is told from a "COPS"-like perspective, with cheesy home movie-ish camera operating. The Tick and Arthur confront a villain called The Deadly Bulb (voice by Maurice LaMarche!) The Bulb kidnaps Arthur and a HEROES cameraman, and it's up to The Tick to save them. In the end we discover the Bulb's dark secret: He has a pig for a leg. Tired of being called "Pig-leg" he tried to cover up his identity. But when the pig leg saves him from nearly falling off a building, he accepts his heritage and vows to pamper his oinker/foot for the rest of his days.
Since the Bomber doesn't play a large role in this episode the "script" will be a little less thorough than the other ones.
The Cast:
THE GOOD: The Tick, Arthur, American Maid, some cameraman.THE BAD: The Deadly Bulb (a.k.a Pigleg), henchmen.
THE EXTRAS/CAMEOS: The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs At Midnight, Chairface Chippendale, Chromedome, Die Fledermaus, Sewer Urchin, Four-legged man, Capt. Muscileage, Jungle Janet, and a bunch of of others who I can't remember, or who don't appear in other episodes.
The Story:
Opening
The episode opens with a COPS-like title sequence. It has the same
Reggae-style music, and they show a series of Supervillains being foiled by superheroes.
The Evil Midnight Bomber What Bombs at Midnight is featured in one scene, being captured
by a Roman-God styled hero.
After the opening sequence, we see Arthur and The Tick on a rooftop, being interviewed by
a cameraman. The Tick is explaining the finer points of early morning patrol, "There don't
seem to be many early morning villains. I'm not sure why that is." Arthur looks at his watch,
and notes that it's time to take the show on the road. The cameraman diligently follows
The Tick, but quickly discovers that he isn't to hot on The Tick's rooftop-jumping mode
of transportation. He somehow gets injured (probably the Tick's fault, and becomes
unconscious.
The camera operator wakes up in Arthur's apartment. The Tick tells him about the apartment's
features, and mentions where they're going to put their crime computer, the switch to open
the roof, and how the kitchen will become "ejectable". Arthur is seen in the background,
shaking his head.
The Rising Action
Now the trio are on patrol in Arthur's sister's car. They enter, "What we superheroes call a lull...normally the lulls don't bunch up together like this." After a few hours of driving around the city, they find a villain!Floating overhead in a lightbulb-shaped air balloon, the villain declares that he is the deadly bulb, and he will take control of The City. The Tick throws a streetlight into his plans, though. The pole punctures the balloon, and The Bulb is downed. The Tick confronts the dastardly Bulb, but gets his eyes flashed. While the Tick walks around trying to get his sight back (looks at three fingers and sees nine, then says, "Sight old friend, I knew you wouldn't turn on me!"), the cameraman asks The Bulb to sign some release forms. One of the henchmen foolishly says, "Hey boss, this Deadly Bulb thing is sure to make everyone forget about that pig-leg." A mystery, ha ha! Now The Bulb takes off, and The Tick finds the cameraman and thinks he's The Deadly Bulb.
Now everyone is sitting in the diner. The cameraman gives The Tick a head-mounted camera which is normally meant for chimps, but is a useful safety device when working with Tick. Arthur notes that they will probably see The Deadly Bulb soon, as they have ruined some of his, "expenive equipment". The Tick has gotten his camera covered in mashed potatoes, and Arthur tells him to be careful. The cameraman says, "Oh, don't worry, the chimps did the same thing." Suddenly the lights go out. A battle scene ensues, with a strobe-light effect created by The Bulb that shows the various fights taking place, (may be a parody on a 1963 film called "Fail-Safe").
In The Deadly Bulb's lair, he is explaining his plot to the cameraman, when the interviewer asks what is going on "down there". The Bulb refuses to tell him about the pig, but when he has his henchmen attack the cameraman, the truth comes out. The Bulb has a pig for a leg! Now he opens up to the cameraman. Explaining the trials of having a pig for a leg, "People can't help saying, 'Oh, there's a pig there!'" Bulb becomes rather depressed.
Meanwhile, at the diner, American Maid is admonishing The Tick for letting Pigleg get away with Arthur and the camera guy. American Maid and The Tick decide to go after them.
The Denouement
The Deadly Bulb now explains that this is what Supervillains call the "denouement" -french
for "When we defeat the Superhero." He has suspended Arthur above a giant lightbulb, and
is using him as bait for The Tick.
Down on the ground, The Tick is explaining to his own camera that this is what "We Superheroes
call the 'denouement'- french for when the Superhero beats the Supervillain." Then he
sees the pig, "Woah, roof-pig. Most unexpected."
The Bulb welcomes The Tick, and tells him to prepare for battle. As the Tick advances on
him, he falls into a trapdoor. The Deadly Bulb explains that he is now being processed,
and says, "..let's take a look." From The Tick's camera, we can see him going through
a series of computer-animated gears and hammers. He emerges in the lightbulb, and Pigleg's
plan comes to fruition. The Tick is now the world's largest lightbulb filament!
The Tick is lit up, and the Bulb guesses that he will last about five minutes. While
The Tick ponders the fact that he is sparkling, and suspects that perhaps he is a shiny
new star, American Maid gets Pigleg by throwing an apple and getting the pig to fetch.
She then shuts the light off. Tick wonders, "The Universe has already ended, my life
has barely begun!" He decides to find out what's up, and attempts to escape from the bulb.
He accidentally removes the bulb from it's socket, and it rolls along the roof, nearly
knocking Pigleg off. Luckily, the pig snags on the edge of the roof, holding him up.
Realizing that his pig saved him, Pigleg vows never to ignore his leg again. Meanwhile,
Arthur checks on The Tick. The Tick thinks that Arthur is a planet, and attempts to
bring life to the lifeless world by breathing his warmth on it. Eventually he's OK, and
they all live happily ever after. ta-da!