Birds of Prey Finally Coming to DVD
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, The WB canceled it after only thirteen episodes.
It featured three superheroes fighting crime in New Gotham City, waiting for Batman to return 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 has come 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 was finally released on July 15, 2008 in the United States.
PS3 Birds of Prey – You Won’t Believe Your Eyes!
PS3 Birds of Prey is a World War II era video game focused on fighter-plane battles over major famous European war areas of the time period-Stalingrad, Sicily, Korsun, Berlin and Britain. It is based on real and famous battles and strives to be accurate and exciting at once. It includes fighter planes and aerial battles as well as heavy bombing.
The game’s visuals have been brilliantly designed. If your airplane suffers damages, its image is updated to show that. It demonstrates realism in real time. Air-to-air combat results in damages to sections of the aircraft, leaving realistic effects. Birds of Prey is particularly good at handling major missions, frequently with numerous airplanes engaged in the fighting at the same time and with some land-based skirmishes too, as in warfare that really took place.
Also especially realistic are the aircraft featured in Ps3 Birds of Prey-this is definitely a game that a World War II enthusiast or even survivor [not that many of these types of people are buying video games, but you never know] could enjoy without decrying inaccuracies that often infiltrate new Ps3 games. Sure, it’s not perfect, but the creators of Ps3 Birds of Prey have obviously attempted to create a game that is well-researched and crafted.
This realism includes everything from extremely accurate aircraft actually used during WWII to targets based on real historical events from World War Two era Eastern and Western Europe, not battles that are only tangentially related to history. It also extends into gameplay simulation, great music and many visual details. The sound in Birds of Prey is great and also very realistic.
Probably the best thing is the new level of customization available during gameplay. Everything from level of difficulty to colors and styling of your aircraft can be chosen. This makes the game adaptable and enjoyable many times over-you can choose how you want the game to unfold, to a point, as well as choose your gameplay style, weapons, aircraft and details.
Taking everything into account, its attention to detail makes Birds of Prey stand out. A wonderful historical World War Two period game, Birds of Prey incorporates numerous engaging features. Birds of Prey is a fantastic selection for those who look for rapid-fire game with a real-world tale.
Birds of Prey – The Gail Simone Years
In 2003, DC newcomer Gail Simone took over from Chuck Dixon as the writer for “Birds of Prey”, an all girl super hero comic starring Barbara “Oracle” Gordon and Black Canary. She decided to add Huntress to the team and the combination of these three characters and Simone’s flare for mixing drama with wit and action resulted in her 5 year run being one of the finest of the decade.
Let’s be honest, strong women have not been given a fair hand in the entertainment world. For most writers a powerful woman either means an ultra cold bitch (Katherine Janeway) or just a guy with boobs (anything with Michelle Rodriguez). So whenever an exception to this rule comes along it’s a real treat. Ellen Ripley or Jadzia Dax ect.
Comic books are hardly guilt free. Lord knows Frank Miller has a hard time writing any female character that isn’t a prostitute. And the less said about Lois Lane’s tantrums in the 70′s the better. I guess they figured it was a better alternative than just using women as victims. But, sadly, that still happened too. A lot. Even in the supposedly more progressive modern era women were still kidnapped, tortured and murdered in mainstream super hero adventures. This led to Gail Simone setting up “Women in Refrigerators”, a website named after a gruesome event in Green Lantern #54 and pointing out how many times the murder of women is used as a plot point in comics. This website actually caused the industry to stop and think about it’s actions and while things aren’t perfect, (Identity Crisis still hurts) a hell of a lot has changed and, hopefully, will stay that way.
This change is due in no small part to Simone’s “Birds of Prey”. Her run on the title from issues 56 to 108 breaks all the previous rules regarding female super heroes and actually dares to make them into, wait for it, human beings! Many members of the group come and go but the core line up consists of super hacker and former Batgirl Oracle, Black Canary, a reserve member (and soon to be chairman) of the Justice League and Huntress, a Gotham vigilante who has no qualms about punishing criminals. These three unique individuals share laughs, argue, talk nonsense and eat take out food while remaining very loyal to each other throughout. Simone has an uncanny ability to insert simple throwaway words and phrases we all use every day into her dialogue and it never seems forced and never drags the story down. There is real human drama involved and has the reader worrying not only if they will survive their next fight, but if they will remain friends after their last bitter argument.
All this drama and human relationship does not get in the way of the action. Every issue has some sort of fight, chase or rescue. Even wheelchair bound Oracle has a scrap or two. (She was trained by Batman after all). All these thrilling scenes are peppered with clever lines that manipulate the villains during their pummelling. That is what makes Birds of Prey such a great title. These are women who don’t talk their way out of trouble because they can’t fight or don’t fight their way out of trouble because they can’t talk. They do both when required, making for strong and powerful heroes for both male and female readers.
Gail Simone left the title in 2007, a move which she described as “agony”. The series continued but never reached the same level of success or recognition as it had before and was cancelled less than two years later. It just wasn’t the same. Chuck Dixon may have started it but Birds of Prey was Gail Simone’s comic.
Or should I say “is”. In May of this year Birds of Prey vol. 2 was launched with Simone once again at the helm. Whether the series will reach the same level of success remains to be seen but her return is more than welcome. It’s fitting that it is launched under the “Brightest Day” banner as the future does indeed look bright for these Birds.
“The characters don’t apologize for being ass kickers, nor for being smart, nor for being sexy, nor for being sexual, for that matter. There are always going to be some people who find that not to their taste, but at the same time, BoP regularly brings in people who don’t otherwise read mainstream comics, a whole audience that may not pick up any other superhero titles, and I love that niche, that little area between good taste and utter shamelessness”-
Gail Simone