Title: Birds of Prey: The Complete Series
Price: $29.95
Release Date: July 15, 2008
Publisher: Warner Bros. Television
Rating: Not Rated
Pros: The transfer is perfect and the addition of the entire web series, Gotham Girls, is terrific. A bit more palatable than when it originally aired thanks to Smallville.
Cons: The series remains as fault-filed as ever with some weak performances and some cheesy special effects.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 80/100; B-; * * * out of five.
With the recent resurgence of Bat-Mania thanks to the gritty and good Dark Knight movie, it’s a little surprising that Birds of Prey DVD release didn’t get a little more attention. Sure, the series didn’t quite make a full season but the relation to the Caped Crusader is unmistakable.
Birds of a Feather
This release includes all 13 episodes and the original, unaired pilot of the 2002 TV series titled Birds of Prey presented in TV widescreen. Loosely based on a DC Comics’ series of the same name, it featuring a trio of super heroines: Batman-Catwoman love child, Helena “The Huntress” Kyle (Ashley Scott), who has super strength and Spidey-sense; Barbara Gorden (Dina Meyer), formerly Batgirl but now confined to a wheelchair and acting as the gang’s brain as super smartie Oracle; and Dinah Lance (Rachel Skarsten), the teenage superhero intern with growing psychic abilities who happens to be the daughter of Black Cannery (who does make a single-episode appearance).
Other reoccurring characters include pseudo narrator and infamous Bat-Butler Alfed Pennyworth (Ian Abercrombie), Police Detective and Huntress’ object of sexual tension Jesse Reese (Sherman Moore) and Dr. Harleen Quinzel, aka Harley Quinn (Mia Sara), Joker’s former sidekick turned psychologist. Although there are certainly mentions of Bruce Wayne, Wayne Manor and the Batcave, the cowl has been abandoned and he’s never seen except in oft repeated flashbacks and a silhouette in the season pilot.
The crime fighting femmes are stationed in a clock tower atop New Gotham in an alternate, DC Universe of the near future. In each episode they usually fight one main foe with super style abilities (aka a meta human) with Huntress partaking in most of the action and as the show’s primary eye candy.
Most of the main men have been done away with in the show’s intro, with the Joker dead and Bruce Wayne out of town and no longer wearing the cape and cowl. Robin is only mentioned one time and most of the men in the series are either infatuated with Huntress (and her cleavage maximizing outfits) or are quite literally the bad guys.
Flocking Together
The show may have been a victim of a few too many expectations: Batman fans wanted to see Batman or Bruce Wayne (heck, even Robin), creepy fanboys expected more cat fights and some viewers were just hoping for another more dramatic Buffy-esque hero show. By reaching in too many directions the show was generally too slow for action fans, to girly for manly-men, too timid for feminists and packed with poorly executed Matrix-wannabe visual effects. It landed some of the drama but also had a bit more obvious cleavage shots than necessary, although not enough to make it truly titillating (pun partially intended).
In going back and watching the series straight through, though, it’s surprisingly enjoyable and clearly reflects the production team’s vision that started in the Smallville series although with slightly less impressive special effects. There are even a few very similarities that become more pronounced later in Smallville including episode plots (eg. an underground cage match), the score, an uber villain hidden in plain view, less tights than a comic book and plenty of humans with kookie abilities.
Even though it lacked the energy and sophistication fans were expecting of a Bat-based series, Prey still had a fair amount of grit, at least visually, and a fair amount of fun. There are some surprisingly decent performances, especially by Scott and Moore, who really carried most of the show in terms of story length and sexual tension. Sara as Quin and Huntress’ serious, sophisticated psychologist instead of a giggly, jesterly caricature was a masterful stroke that somehow disappeared by mid season and resurface for the finale.
Unfortunately, you’ll periodically have to choke through some occasionally sappy acting (especially by Meyer), a few trite plot points (usually based on flashbacks), a few gratuitous cleavage shots (of Scott, of course), some sad attempts at Matrix-style moves and a few episodes where they are obviously trying to work in more Batgirl kicking butt and looking good in her familiar costume.
The DVD is a bit low in terms of the volume of extras but more than makes up for it with the quality. The first is the original, unaired pilot with a slightly more tacky Huntress costume and a different actress as Dr. Quinzel. Sara makes a most excellent Quin(zel), so that was a good move even though she’s only in 7 episodes.
The second bonus feature, and most enjoyable, is the entire 30-episode run of the Gotham Girls animated web series featuring female heroes and villains from th DC universe. The lip syncing isn’t always spot on but they are, after all, Flash videos transferred to DVD. The professionally produced series features art style and voices actors the animation series to give it an extra bit of continuity. The series is fun and really worthy of a front-of-the-box mention if not its own single-disc release.
Girl Power!
This is one of the few instances where I remember a show being pretty bad when it originally aired but it seems to have regained a bit of respectability as a DVD release. It’s not really better but perhaps the wanning depth of the Smallville series has helped make it more palatable and the low expectaitons let it become more enjoyable.
If you are into Batman at all, at last give the series a try. It’s not top notch but it’s got enough fun mixed in there to make it good for a few giggles. But not regular girlie giggle. Super girlie giggles.
Product Page [Birds of Prey] Read [SciFiPulse]
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