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Releases - DVD - Birds of Prey: The Complete Series
 
Packaging
Menus
Announce Date: 4/3/08
Street Date: 7/15/08
MSRP: $39.98
Packaging Type: Viva Multi-Disc (2-5)
Subformat: Multi Disc
Media Quantity: 4
Disc Configuration: DVD 9
Soundtrack Language: English
Run Time: 541
Subtitles:
English

Aspect Ratio:
Original Aspect Ratio - 1.33, Standard [4:3 Transfer]
Note: Image is widescreen matted in a 4:3 frame.

Sound Quality:
English (Stereo, Dolby 2.0)
Episodes: Pilot; Slick; Prey for the Hunter; Three Birds and a Baby; Sins of the Mother; Primal Scream; Split; Lady Shiva; Nature of the Beast; Gladiatrix; Reunion; Feat of Clay; Devil's Eye

DVD Features
:
Unaired Pilot
All Three Seasons (30 Episodes) of Gotham Girls.

Synopsis: Who will stand up to villains now that a heartbroken Dark Knight has mysteriously vanished? Never fear, New Gothamites, a trio of champions is ready to take wing – and Helena, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, is among them. She calls herself Huntress and crime is her prey. Teenaged Dinah is the youngest of the group, learning as she goes and gifted in clairvoyance. And overseeing the awesome threesome’s high-tech nerve center is Batgirl. Left wheelchair-bound by The Joker, she has reinvented herself as Oracle, the team’s cyber expert. Huntress, Dinah, Oracle: They are the Birds of Prey. Fighting together. Living together. And soaring into adventure together in 13 breathtaking live-action episodes.

Review (James Harvey): With the runaway success of Smallville, TheWB was quick to come up with a Batman spin-off, Birds of Prey. After a highly successful premiere, the series quickly hit the skids and the ratings fell. Hard. So hard, in-fact, the series lost nearly 75% of its audience and the series was cancelled after a mere thirteen episodes. Still, a core fanbase for this series remained and clamored for this release. And now, on the eve of the theatrical release of The Dark Knight, Warner Home Video is giving this series another shot at life with the long-awaited release of Birds of Prey: The Complete Series. Is this a series that should have fostered, or one that deserved to have its wings clipped?

Who will stand up to villains now that a heartbroken Dark Knight has mysteriously vanished? Never fear, New Gothamites, a trio of champions is ready to take wing – and Helena, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, is among them. She calls herself Huntress and crime is her prey. Teenaged Dinah is the youngest of the group, learning as she goes and gifted in clairvoyance. And overseeing the awesome threesome’s high-tech nerve center is Batgirl. Left wheelchair-bound by The Joker, she has reinvented herself as Oracle, the team’s cyber expert. Huntress, Dinah, Oracle: They are the Birds of Prey. Fighting together. Living together. And soaring into adventure together in 13 breathtaking live-action episodes.

Before I go any further, I feel I should warn Birds of Prey fans that this won't be an overly, blindingly positive review. Now, to let you know, yes, I am Recommending this set, and I'll explain why later, but, I also won't be sugar-coating my thoughts on this series. So, just, be prepared.

I'm going to go right out there and say it: this show just isn't very good. Now, I know "true Batman fans" will get upset with that comment, as many of them rushed to the shows aid when it was initially plastered with negative reviews when it premiered, calling those who didn't like it "not true Batman fans." Well, let me say this. A true fan is someone who can distinguish when a character is being treated properly, not someone who turns a blind eye when a horrible interpretation of said character is bandied about. That's solely my opinion, however. I'm sorry, but this is not a good interpretation of the Batman mythos. It has Harley in it? Big deal. It has Oracle in it? Big de…well, she was the best part of this show, which I'll get to later. "New Gotham?" Please.

And true, the show did get better toward the end of the run, as it seemed to finally find some stable footing, but that doesn't count for the overall mediocrity of the series. I know, people will defend this series until the bitter end, but, again, that's my own opinion. I'm not viewing the shows through binders or with a bias on my shoulder. These are just my honest thoughts on a series that is just dripping in missed opportunities. Look at the pilot, especially the original unaired one, and tell me that this show could have been much better than what it ended up being? We'll never know, and I applaud the show for gaining such a rabid fanbase, but I can see how it came crashing down toward the end of its run.

The major misstep with the characters of Dinah and Huntress were probably the two fatal bullets that killed this show, though their iffy portrayal of Harley Quinn likely added to the fatal blow, as well. These two characters, both of whom are supposed to be strong and identifiable, turn out to be mostly off-putting and annoying. Whether it was Dinah's incessant complaining or the off-putting attitude of Huntress, these two characters, two of the main characters of the series I might add, sink more than they swim. Of course, the villains they fought weren't really the best, either, most of whom coming off as leftovers from Smallville. Like I said, potential was ramping up toward the end, but they squandered it.

Sadly, the show ends with the longest and one of the most painfully boring fight scenes ever, all set to a horrible song by one-hit wonder "t.A.T.u." (the song was, naturally, replaced in this DVD release). It's just bad. Plain ol' bad. Still, the series down manage to wrap up most of its storylines in the final episode, a rarity for a cancelled series, even with the overly long fight scene. And I could really go on and on, but I'll spare everyone. However, I am going to get to something I mentioned earlier - my rating for this series (and DVD release).

So, why am I stamping this set as Recommended. Well, even though I don't think this really is a great show, I still enjoyed it. It is one of the most outrageous guilty-pleasures around. It's has three girls kicking butt, ridiculous stories, even more ridiculous villains, and more than its fair share of laughable moments, both intentional and not. At the end of the day, it's not a good series, and even though I know that as I watch it, I still manage to somehow get that "guilty pleasure" enjoyment out of it. It's like eating too much candy; you know you shouldn't but you do anyways. Well, that's what it's like to watch this show.

And I feel that the Dina Meyers deserves a huge amount of credit for arguably giving us the best rendition of Barbara Gordon outside of the comics. Personally, I prefer Gordon's animated adventures in Batman: The Animated Series, but here, she's given a lot of room to grow and really become her own character, and she does. Sure, it leads into a somewhat predictable story-arc with her, the climax involving her debating whether or not to kill, but still, Meyer is just flat-out excellent as Barbara Gordon and is perfectly cast. I also want to point out the inspired casting of Ian Abercrombie as Alfred Pennyworth. He really does bring a warmth and intelligence to the role, something this show sorely needed, as the main characters tend to lack both intelligence and warmth (save for Gordon). And yes, the constant comic book references are sorta cool, but that doesn't make up for the actual quality of the series.

So, like I said, I'm still giving Birds of Prey a Recommended rating, almost solely on Dina Meyer, Ian Abercrombie, and the "guilty pleasure" vibe it has going on. I mean, come on! Three attractive women kicking butt? Hit tunes in the background (well, "hit" tunes at the time)? Some moderately okay special effects? You definitely need to shut off your brain for this to enjoy. Did the series deserve to be cancelled? I think if it was given a full 22-episode order, it may have improved in quality to become something more than a guilty pleasure. But, given the quality of what's there, maybe it was the right move to put this series down. This isn't a good Batman-inspired series, no matter how you spin it. You can kid yourself or whatever but there's a reason this show flopped. Even if it was recovering toward the end, that still doesn't make this a good show. It's not. Birds of Prey isn't good, but, remarkably, it works as a guilty pleasure. So, if you wish to drop a bit of money on a series such as this, then go for it.

The DVD:
Well, this is interesting. Warner Home Video has released Birds of Prey: The Complete Series in a special Amaray case with inserts and a cardboard slipcase. Now, the cardboard slipcase makes the set look more impressive than it is. Under it, it's a regular transparent Amaray case modified to fit four discs. In-fact, I actually like what Warner Home Video has done here, especially with all the gimmicky packaging for TV programs as of late, it's nice to see a scaled down package for this series. A detailed insert for the series is included in the packaging.

The content itself is a bit of a mixed bag. The audio and video is big letdown for this release. The show is roughly six years old, and there's no 5.1 (at least) audio mix? Just a Stereo Surround mix? Weak. The transfer is also surprisingly average, as well. This series obviously isn't given the same attention that Smallville receives. However, this release is tied to the theatrical release of The Dark Knight and Warner Home Video needs to get some product out there for those with disposable income. And, hey, this DVD is long overdue for the actual fans of Birds of Prey, but I still feel that the should have at least put a bit more effort into giving the release a solid video and audio transfer. It's serviceable, don’t get me wrong, but it won't impress anyone at the end of the day.

I want to note that some music, including the show's original theme song, have been replaced. And it's not done well. So brace yourself for some jarring changes to each episode.

And the same can be said for the extras, which is nothing more than the original unaired pilot and the entire Gotham Girls online cartoon series. The unaired plot is a nice addition to the set, especially with the changes, admittedly minor but still interesting. The complete run of Gotham Girls is a great and fun addition that fan of DC's Animated Universe should enjoy. They're spread over three discs, with each disc housing a ten-episode season of this enjoyable web-series. The series is a fun distraction, nothing more, though the third season is actually a bit ambitious. It's a small collection of extras, but extras that should give fans a good way to spend a couple of hours. This collection is seriously lacking a good "making-of" featurette, but I suppose the insert does help fill-in with some interesting production information.

Overall, like I said, I'm going to give this release a Recommended rating, but with some reservations. It’s a complete guilty pleasure for Batman fans. It's not that good of a show, but it manages to somehow be enjoyable, even amidst the bad special effects, acting, and lame-duck storylines. The DVD itself is nothing special, with an average audio/video transfer, maybe a bit below average, and a small collection of extras. Regardless, this release is something that should give both Batman-fans with some extra income something to plunk down some cash on and Birds of Prey fans something to finally enjoy.

Review (Zach Demeter): Back when Smallville first exploded on the WB! Network and became a big hit, it seemed only fitting that Warner explore their other superhero franchises and see which ones might make a solid outing. While there’s been attempted spin-off’s from heroes that have appeared on Smallville, Birds of Prey is the only one that was completely disconnected from the original Superman effort that started so strong on the network. Unfortunately for the network, and fans, Birds of Prey was such a wildly different effort than what fans were hoping for from a Dark Knight inspired series; indeed, Batman himself was rarely present aside from a flashback in the pilot and the series instead focused on three women of Gotham that had never before seen live-action components: Oracle, Huntress and Dinah.

Loosely based off of the same graphic novel of the same title, Birds of Prey stars Ashley Scott, Dina Meyer and Rachel Skarsten as the title leads of Huntress, Oracle and Dinah, the crime-fighting trio of Gotham City. After the love of his life dies, Batman disappears from city he swore to protect and as a result the city is plunged into chaos. Headed by ex-Batgirl Barbara Gordon, now in her new role as Oracle, Oracle begins to work with Huntress exclusively until young Dinah Lance shows up at their doorstep, sporting all kinds of meta-human powers to help bolster their team. Together the three clean the streets of Gotham, all the while looking for answers as to who’s behind the majority of the crime waves and villainous meta-humans that are flooding the streets.

Even when the show was on and I was fifteen, I found the show to be an incredible waste of time, much like Smallville. Like Smallville, however, I continued to watch the show in its entirety and while I could definitely see improvement in the series by the end of its first season, it was still such an incredible mess of a show. Never mind the fact that Batman leaving simply because the woman he fathered a child with died (Batman was founded on the death of his parents…I don’t think someone else dying would drive the man away so easily), that was easy enough to overlook in an attempt to enjoy the series a bit more. The main issue with the series is that it borrowed far too heavily from Smallville in storytelling efforts, right down to the “freak of the week” formula that infested nearly every episode of the series. A shame, as I really feel they could have explored the characters a bit more than they were in the series.

There are enjoyable elements; the pilot especially has quite a few flashbacks with Batman in it and an appearance by Joker, but that is about all of the “classic” Batman lore we see in the series. The main villain of the series is Harley Quinn, a creation of the animated series from the 90s, who fills the role of big baddy quite well, even if it’s entirely out of character for her. Harley’s has always been a partner with someone else, whether Joker or Ivy, and she’s not entirely believable as a stand-a-lone. I will say Mia Sara did a heck of a job in the role, but it was about as easy to swallow as the dialogue in the film.

Another positive point of the series was Dina Meyer, who was absolutely fantastic as Oracle. Should they ever work Oracle into a live action film one of these days, she would be an absolutely fantastic choice as she was the peak of the series. She had a believability about her that just made her role as commander completely believable; on top of that her characterization was closer to the comics than anyone else in the series, so the writers definitely did some positive things with her character.

As the series progressed, we saw the characters grow a bit, but not enough to really get any real idea of what they were completely capable of. Dinah’s character grew immensely when her mother showed up, the original Black Canary (played by Lori Loughlin—also brilliant casting), and as the identities of some of the other Birds members are discovered by their significant others, we get a sense of what a second season of the series would have been like…which, honestly, could have been interesting but the declining ratings just proved there wasn’t an audience for this show.

Another thing I did like about the series was the theme song, “Revolution” by Aimee Allen. I remember attempting to find her CD when it was supposed to come out (it never did), but to this day I still have the MP3 of the Birds of Prey theme song on my hard drive. So imagine my disgust when I popped in this series set and found that it was replaced with something less rock sounding and more whiney; not only that, it was horribly merged into elements of the series and just creates an entirely different mood than what the original theme set up. I understand that it was cheaper to do it this way, but it’s kind of a bummer; I really liked that theme. Oh well, I’ll just have to stick with the MP3 I guess.

Overall there are elements of the show to enjoy, but the plots are so nonsensical and absolutely annoying at times (not to mention Huntress’s early sound effects of a tiger roar become incredibly annoying; thankfully they peter out during the course of the season) that it makes you roll your eyes in disgust. Still, the actresses in the show did their jobs admirably with the material and it was really only the writing that stood out as the weak points; some of the show felt really…boxed in, in terms of set locations and almost fan-made at times, but other than that it was a decent production. If you’re a fan of Batman, and only if you’re a fan of Batman, then this series comes Recommended simply for that. Anyone else who hasn’t heard of it or are looking for something entertaining to watch should spend their money on something that actually has some substance and quality to it. Birds of Prey is pure fluff and is only something a die-hard fan wanting to see his comic book fantasies come to life in.

The DVD
Despite what the full image of the cover shows, this set doesn’t come in a massive digi-pak set. In fact, it comes in a standard single disc width amaray DVD case with four discs packed inside. A reflective foil/embossed slipcover is included inside the clear amaray case with a double sided insert. A booklet with an intro from Paul Levitz (who boasts about this series way more than he should have; I remember full well the fan comments about the series, how he could call this show “fondly remembered by…comics fans” with a straight face is beyond me. Still the intro is nice, even if it is a bit horn-tooting (it starts out “In 1977, I created The Huntress”). The rest of the booklet has cast information as well as episode descriptions and original airdates. It becomes evident from the look of the packaging that this show was inspired, visually, by Schumacher’s live-action efforts, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. Big, silvery object covered in blue LEDs may look cool but…really? Blue LED’s on something you’re going to throw at someone? Regardless of that, the shows packaging presentation is admirable and is one of the best things about this set.

So how about the video and audio? Well the show was shot in widescreen and is presented here as such but…unfortunately not only is it interlaced but it’s also a 16x9 image boxed into a 4x3 frame. It would have been so easy to create anamorphic transfers for this set; it’s not like they haven’t had years to do it and it was rushed to market, so the half-assed transfers are incredibly disappointing. On top of that the unaired pilot on the set, located on the fourth disc, is in anamorphic widescreen. Granted it’s still interlaced, but if the unaired pilot can be in anamorphic widescreen, why the hell can’t the rest of the series? The video quality of the series is what you’d expect from a six year old show; a bit grainy and on the more compressed side than it should be, but still not half bad. It definitely could look better, but I suppose for those who wanted the series on DVD this is better than nothing. Audio is a standard Dolby Surround Stereo mix and the aforementioned theme song change may not be the only change in music for the series, as the packaging denotes that “some music differs from original television version”; I don’t know the series well enough to pick out what songs were replaced and what ones weren’t, so I can’t comment on the specifics on that front too much.

The extras on this set consist of the aforementioned unaired pilot (relatively the same, only with at different [and brunette] actress in the role of Harley Quinn’s role). Sadly enough they removed the original music from the unaired pilot, which leaked out online months before the series premiere and contained clips from Mask of the Phantasm and Return of the Joker. Warner instead replaced them with what sounds like music from other episodes. Not entirely sure why they went through the effort of that…anything to avoid turning the video transfers into anamorphic copies, I guess.

A big plus for those looking to get this set are the digital copies of the Gotham Girls online web series. This has been long asked for by fans who wanted to see these clips on their TV rather than streaming them online. Unfortunately for fans they still look a hell of a lot better in their original Flash file format, as the compressed ugly transfers that the episodes receive here look rather atrocious at times. That and there’s something about the primitive animation that just really doesn’t work well on DVD. Funnily enough, however, these extras upstage the series itself, much like Sub-Zero did with Batman & Robin. Although I think a clogged toilet could upstage Batman & Robin, so perhaps that not the best compliment.

Overall it’s a solid DVD set for those who have wanted the series on DVD, but for those of us who really didn’t like it that much to begin with, it’s worth a Rental to get in the mood for the next Bat flick, so you can really appreciate what Batman in the hands of the proper writers can do.

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