talarisw Review of Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey (2002–2003)

A live action TV series about Batman's daughter fighting crime with the former bat girl.

[7/10 · 28 May 2012]

This is a short lived TV series that aired on the WB network(now the cw)in 2002. This is the first live action TV series based on the iconic batman comics since the classic 60's TV show. The producers of the great WB show Smallville produced this show. I used to watch this show and I eventually got it on DVD. I feel like this show had a lot of potential but was a miss opportunity. I'm a huge batman/comic book fan so I have a lot to say. First,the show is loosely based on a spin-off comic series of the same name, with the former bat-girl working with two female heroes, huntress and black canary. Which sounds like a great idea for a fresh take for a batman TV series. But the show made some good and bad changes. In the show "the huntress" is the daughter of batman & catwoman, this is the original origins for her in the comics but was quickly changed to the huntress having no connection to batman & catwoman. Barber Gordan was the original bat girl & daughter of commissioner Gordan but in a 1988 comic book she was shot by the joker and paralyze from the waist down and became "Oracle", a professor x like mentor to the huntress & black canary. They stayed pretty true to her in this show. Black Canary is one of the few batman characters that have a super power, a sonic scream. But she only appears in one episode, but her daughter of the same name took her place in the show. The show then added something unique, that batman left Gotham city, so it's just the girls. The show starts off strong with a great back story prolong in the pilot episode. Batman's butler Alfred tells the story of a war between Batman & the joker that brought down joker's empire, he got his revenge by killing catwoman, who batman was in love with and paralyzed bat girl, which caused batman to leave Gotham in guilt. The best part of the entire show is this prolong which featured a cameo by Mark Hamil as the voice of the joker, saying the world's creepiest knock-knock joke and his best joker laugh ever. And the main villain of the show is Harley Quinn, the joker's girlfriend & henchwoman, out to avenged the joker. This is all a great set-up & premise for a new batman show, so went wrong? Despite, a great premise you need good episodes to keep you involved. First the star, the huntress played by Ashley Scott, could'eve been a better character then she was. Scott didn't do a bad job but they should'eve made her more like the comics with her purple outfit and cross-bows. Her back story was good but it was weird that she wore no costume and wore no mask, she just had a black duster. The writers tried to make her tough & rebellious like in the comics but I felt the writers could never find the right balance for her, she came off as too unlikeable at times. The best part of the show was Diana Meyer as Oracle, she looks just like a older Barber Gordan and played the part perfectly. She was smart, logical everything Barbra should be. They also have the watchtower base Oracle operates from. Rahel Skarsten as Diana Lance but despite having the same name she was not Black Canary. "Canary" appeared in episode 6 as Diana's mom and as a possible set-up for Diana to take her mom's place. But she did not have the canary's power, her power was to see into a person future by touching them. It would'eve been a lot better to just make "the canary" like how she is in the comics. Here she's a little too much like the annoying little kid who wants to be in the action but told to stay "here". I like seeing Alfred as a regular and it's a good connection to batman. The biggest problem is that the show didn't draw more from the comics, the villains were mostly created for the show and not that great, like one guy can turn into water. It would'eve been better to see the riddler,bain, scarecrow, & others as villains then the new ones they created. Mr. Zsasz, a villain too violent for the cartoons but would'eve been great to see here. Lady Sheiva, from the comics, appears, but just OK here. Harley Quinn played by Mia Sara came off as too serious not wacky like in the comics & cartoons. But I still like the way Mia played her and it was nice to see a live action version of one of my favorite villains, Harley, as the main villain no less. But the worst thing are the plot holes. They made the season finale knowing they wouldn't be coming back but failed to fill these holes.The final episode showed that Clayface killed catwoman but no mention of the joker or how he found out about batman & catwoman or how Joker knew bat girl's identity. Harley Quinn reveals her self as the main villain but how could Oracle or Alfred not know who she is when they fought the joker. And they never explained how she escaped jail time after her crimes with the joker. The season finale really had nothing too do with previous episodes and tied no lose ends. But I enjoyed watching Mia Sara finally act wacky as Harley Quinn. But they should'eve had her wear her court jester costume, that would'eve been great! The show had a great premise but the weekly episodes should'eve been better.