"Birds of Prey" Prey for the Hunter (2002)

Director:

Chris Long

Writers:

Adam Armus (story)
Nora Kay Foster (story)

TV Series:

"Birds of Prey" (2002)

Original Air Date:

23 October 2002 (Season 1, Episode 3)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Action | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Superhero | Batman | Psychic | Interracial Relationship | Based On Comic Book

Cast

Ashley Scott	...	Helena Kyle / The Huntress
Dina Meyer	...	Barbara Gordon / The Oracle / Batgirl
Rachel Skarsten	...	Dinah Lance
Shemar Moore	...	Jesse Reese
Joe Flanigan	...	Det. Claude Morton
Shawn Christian	...	Wade Brixton
Rob Benedict	...	Gibson Kafka (as Robert Patrick Benedict)
Callie De Fabry	...	Gabby
Nathan Holland	...	Carl
Josh Waters	...	Frosty the Bartender
Autumn Reeser	...	Sherry
Charlene Hall	...	Kindly Teacher
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Marc Schaffer	...	Acid Man

Trivia:

When Huntress and Gibson enter the bar, Gibson turns a statue, just like Bruce Wayne did in the original "Batman" (1966) TV series to enter the Batcave. In Batman, the button was concealed in the neck of the statue.

Quotes:

Helena Kyle: [Throws Acid Man over a dumpster only to have him come flying back to land at her feet] Okay, normally the bad guys don't bounce.

Movie Connections:

References "Batman" (1966)

Soundtrack:

Leader

Entertaining but overly familiar.

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

While this is the best episode, so far, it's still quite annoying that the main plot has been stolen from Smallville. In fact, I just don't think I like the whole meta-human angle at all. It's just a substitute for meteor rocks and it prevents the show from truly having its own identity.

Gotham City is the most rotten to the core city in comic books when it comes to the human element. What's the point of having a rich history of crazy villains if they are not going to be used? If every villain in this series is to be a super-powered freak then all it is going to do is copy every episode of Smallville.

It would have also been nice to see Barbara's dinner date with her boyfriend's parents. Simply having Barabara tell us how it went down doesn't have quite the same emotional impact. It's just bad writing. The first rule of script writing. Show! Don't tell!

I don't just want to moan here. As it happens, the characters in this show are starting to grow on me. They are mostly quite likable. But the producers have boxed themselves into a corner and I'm starting to see why this show was cancelled.

This was still an entertaining forty-five minutes, but it's clear that the show's failure is rooted in its over familiarity with that other superhero show, which is a shame because I have always been more of a Batman fan than a Superman fan.

7/10