xtnshun's Blog

Birds of Prey was a short-lived TV series shown on The WB network in 2002 and 2003, based on the DC Comics series of the same name. Even though almost eight million people watched it, it The WB canceled it after only thirteen episodes.

It featured three superheroes fighting crime in New Gotham City until Batman returns from his self-imposed exile.

Their leader is Barbara Gordon, also known as Oracle and Batgirl (played by Dina Meyer). As Batgirl, the Joker shot her, paralyzing her, and confining her to a wheelchair. Using her skills in computers and weaponry, she leads the group and directs Huntress from the New Gotham Clocktower. During the day, she is a teacher at New Gotham High.

Helena Kyle, or Huntress (Ashley Scott), is the action-oriented one of the trio. She is the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, only finding out after the Joker murdered her mother. Barbara Gordon then took her in and raised her. She inherited her mother's cat-like abilities including super human strength, agility, healing properties and the ability to see in the dark.

The third member of the group is Dinah Redmond (Rachel Skarsten). Dinah is drawn to New Gotham by dreams of the Joker's revenge. She has precognitive dreams, can read the thoughts of anyone she touches and develops some telekinetic abilities. She is taken under the wing of Oracle (no pun intended) on the condition she trains herself to use her abilities.

Detective Jesse Reese (Shemar Moore) who is infatuated with Huntress provides love interest. As it is a Batman-related show, the faithful butler Alfred (Ian Abercrombie) attends to Miss Gordon's needs in the Clocktower.

The recurring villain is Harleen Quinzel (Mia Sara), or Harley Quinn, the girlfriend of the Joker before he died. She comes to New Gotham to wreak revenge on the city.

Even though it only lasted thirteen episodes, the producers knew it was being canceled relatively early, and were able to wrap up the story line by the final episode in a consistent manner.

I enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek seriousness of the show (also seen in Smallville, which has the same producers), the cinematography was excellent and the music was good too. There were some cheesy lines, but hey, it's a comic book!

Birds of Prey is to be released on July 15, 2008 in the United States.