DVD Review: Birds of Prey: The Complete Series

I guess it’s true about the glass ceiling, as this series about the gals of Gotham seems to have not had the budget that the boys got.

On a dark night in Gotham City, the Joker (guest voiced by Mark Hamill, but physically played by actor/stuntman Roger Stoneburner) shot down Batman’s love Selena Kyle aka Catwoman. He then took revenge on Barbara Gordon (Dina Meyer), Commissioner Gordon’s daughter and Batgirl, and shot and paralyzed her. Batman finally managed to take down the clown prince of crime, but in doing so he left Gotham to mourn his lost love and appears to have given up his crime-fighting career.

With the caped crusader’s absence the crime of Gotham continues to rise and some heroes to fill the void left by his departure. Unbeknownst to Batman, he and Selena have a daughter named Helena (Ashley Scott). She takes up his mantle and becomes the Huntress and stalks the streets of Gotham to clean up crime. Barbara Gordon who is now wheelchair bound has adopted the alias of the Oracle and uses her computer skills to assist the Huntress. A young clairvoyant named Dinah (Rachel Skarsten) comes to Gotham after having visions of the night of the Joker’s revenge when she was a young girl. She joins up with Oracle and Huntress to rid the streets of Gotham of the criminal element. They’re also joined by Detective Jesse Reese (Shemar Moore) and faithful Wayne family manservant Alfred (Ian Abercrombie). Helena has a court-mandated psychiatrist, Dr. Harleen Quinn (Mia Sara), who has a secret. You can’t overcome first impressions and the flashback of the events that formed the Birds of Prey can’t help but come across as cheap. They try and tie this new series to the animated series by having Mark Hamill voice the Joker, but it just doesn’t work. They don’t try to do the same for Batman or Catwoman as they’re played by silent actors/stuntpersons, she does have the costume from Batman Returns through. In my opinion, Birds of Prey appears to be a show with somewhat of an identity crisis. It seems to be playing both to the girls in the audiences yet wants to show enough tight costumes to entrance the fanboy community. Dina Meyer – yum!

Again I have to say that the show just feels cheap. It did seem to improve somewhat as it went on but by the time those improvements started the dice had been cast and cancellation was imminent. My bias above tells you that I thought that Dina Meyer was the best part of the show and that she played Barbara Gordon with a great deal of skill. I found both Ashley Scott and Rachel Skarsten a bit grating at times, but Skarsten was the more annoying of the two to me. It might’ve helped if a stronger trio of actresses was at the core of the show, but it never really helped that the main storyline (metahumans) seemed a bit too much for the kiddies. I know the series has a following and they’ll be delighted that it’s on DVD, but I’m giving my impressions of the show. Birds of Prey is presented in fullscreen. The first three discs of the set feature the three seasons of the flash animated Gotham Girls (Season one – 26 minutes, Season two and three – 35 minutes). The real thing that fans will want is on disc four and is the 49 minute unaired pilot that featured Sherilyn Fenn in the role of Dr. Quinn. You may love it, but it didn’t do much for me, thought it could fall into the “guilty pleasure” category. Fans may take delight in that the unaired pilot is on the set but they may end up wanting more special features. Birds of Prey: The Complete Series is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.