{"id":1721,"date":"2008-07-02T07:22:34","date_gmt":"2008-07-02T11:22:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinemacrazed.wordpress.com\/?p=1721"},"modified":"2019-01-28T11:49:59","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T16:49:59","slug":"birds-of-prey-the-complete-series-2002-dvd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2008\/07\/02\/birds-of-prey-the-complete-series-2002-dvd\/","title":{"rendered":"Birds of Prey: The Complete Series (2002) (DVD)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I can imagine that if there were a commentary for the \u201cBirds of Prey\u201d DVD set, it would begin with \u201cWell\u2026 it seemed like a good idea at the time.\u201d And in theory, it does seem like a great concept. After the success of \u201cSmallville\u201d the (then) WB Network tapped the well by digging in to the Batman universe. What with the new franchise being developed how do you work around DC\u2019s ridiculously strict guidelines of not including the same character in more than two property? You make stuff up, and work with what you have. \u201cBirds of Prey\u201d is based on the successful comic book series where Gotham\u2019s girls team up to take on crime. The problem was that audiences just didn\u2019t care for these characters, and what was worse was that well\u2026 it sucked. I saw the entire series on the WB Network when it first premiered and I couldn\u2019t stand how awful it was.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know why I finished it, but I did. \u201cBirds of Prey\u201d had some great nods toward Batman in the beginning with a cameo from the Joker (as well as a great voice cameo from Mark Hamil), lip service to Catwoman and Batman, and there\u2019s even Alfred who appears as a recurring moral center of the group. The problem was that people didn\u2019t want \u201calmost\u201d Batman. They wanted Batman. And instead we were given an Alfred who was more of a nuisance and had nothing to do but play a doting grandpa who pops up to crack wise or provide a moral for the girls, there’s Harley Quinn in the flesh\u2026! except only dressed in business suits and without the trademark costume, and\u2026 villains who were absolute knock offs of better rogues like Clayface and the Riddler.<\/p>\n

The entire time we\u2019re given a hamfisted romance with Huntress (star Ashley Scott) who is a morbid precursor to Halle Berry\u2019s Catwoman, the elder of the group Oracle (Dina Meyer) who is also almost Batgirl and even featured in costume at one point, and a lame angsty teenager by the name of Dina who\u2026 probably drifted in from the X-Men at some point. There\u2019s also the lame mutant knock offs: meta-humans, and endless allusions to potential cameos by Huntress papa Batman, Catwoman, and Robin. None of whom ever appeared, by the way. The actresses really tried their best in these roles, but there was only so much you could do here. The scripts were terrible and the story was so rushed that it was impossible for the writers to calm down and decide on a proper tone.<\/p>\n

There are also the special effects that look horribly incomplete and quite amateur when you consider the network. Some of the wide shots of Gotham are rather embarrassing. And one particular gripe are the questions that linger. Why did Batman put himself in to exile? Where is Nightwing and Robin? Did Catwoman really die? \u201cBirds of Prey\u201d mercifully only lasted one season with build-up to a Huntress and Harley Quinn fist fight that is rather anti-climactic. When you see the Joker\u2019s best sidekick with Batman\u2019s daughter, you expect more than two women flipping around each other in slow motion as Tatu\u2019s \u201cAll The Things You Said\u201d blare in the background. Ouch. Almost ten years later it\u2019s painful, even if the series isn\u2019t as bad as I remember.<\/p>\n

As for the DVD,<\/strong> it\u2019s rather incredible treatment for such an obscure show. The packaging is phenomenal with a flip disc set that is just kicking of all asses. I loved the design put in by Warner. For the features we have the Bonus Unaired Pilot that is pretty much business as usual with a great concept but bad execution. There\u2019s also the thirty animated episodes of the web series derived from the show that ends up being slightly more entertaining than the whole of the series. I just wanted some commentary, perhaps some interviews, maybe\u2026 bloopers or explanations. No? Okay. I\u2019m still trying to decide if this was a nice attempt at giving Batfans their rewards while Superman fans were watching \u201cSmallville,\u201d or just a really cheap grab at cash and ratings from a network pushing their luck. I\u2019m on the fence in that regard. Otherwise, watch it for the camp, watch it for the lovely women, watch it to revel in the horrific production quality, and stay for the cool DVD treatment. Collectors need apply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I can imagine that if there were a commentary for the \u201cBirds of Prey\u201d DVD set, it would begin with \u201cWell\u2026 it seemed like a good idea at the time.\u201d And in theory, it does seem like a great concept. After the success of \u201cSmallville\u201d the (then) WB Network tapped the well by digging in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[58,67,71,125,240,268,302,797,906,1087],"class_list":["post-1721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-collectors-den","tag-action","tag-adpatation","tag-adventure","tag-batman","tag-crime","tag-dc-comics","tag-drama","tag-prequel","tag-science-fiction","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1721"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30266,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1721\/revisions\/30266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}