:: Captain's Personal Blog ::

Stardate: Tuesday, October 22, 2002

Birds of Prey and other Picture Postcards

And so the time has come for me to write a review of the television show, BIRDS OF PREY. Well, let me just say, I like it enough to continue watching.

First off, let me state that I have nothing against the female leads of this series. Dina Meyer, Ashley Scott and Rachel Skarsten to FANTASTIC jobs bringing life to the characters.

Dina Meyer has done a lot to overcome the handicap of having to act in a wheelchair. The pilot showed a certain green-ness in the chair, but this was eliminated by the second episode. One can hardly fault her for having any problems when considering that she had to concentrate on more than just her feelings, being in the moment. Also, and let's be honest, the one overriding thing that prevents me from giving the series four gold stars hindered the pilot as well as the second episode. And that would be the writing. The stories, don't get me wrong, are great. It's the dialogue that is having problems. Harley in particular, but the characters in general.

The writing leans heavily towards melodrama. People are saying things that human beings just don't say. Since no particular piece of dialogue stands out enough to make this point, I'll just have to settle for saying that the series dialogue lapses occasionally into the parlance of 1950s comic books. How can this be a condemnation for a series that has it's roots in comic books? Good question. Here is the answer. The dress and feel of the series would seem to lend itself to a more mature audience than those 50s comics (well before BIRDS OF PREY was ever published) would be associated with.

Back to Dina Meyer. It is this sort of melodramatic writing, which I felt hurt Dina in the Pilot. Not her acting. She did an excellent job with what she was given, and for all intents and purposes, she IS BATGIRL/Barbara Gordon. The second episode featured a little less of this melodrama for Oracle, and so her performance benefitted greatly.

Harley, is another matter. Mia Sara does a great job as Harleen Quinzel, but is a bit hindered when it comes to playing Harley Quinn. The writers/producers have to make a decision as to how Harley should be portrayed. It is a tremendous burden to put on any actress to have to speak in Harley's Urban Tones (even more so for one who does not sport that particular accent.) Certain phrases that Harley uses work better when used in that tone/accent. "Mister J," "pudding" (actually, it would appear that her nicknames for people work best with the accent.) To give the character of Harley the names and not the accent seems a bit of a bad fit. As an acting choice, it would work greatly to have Harleen not have the accent, but Harley to have it. Make a distinction to show the mania of the character.

Now, I can't say that I know anything better than Ms. Sara, and I would not presume to tell her how to do the job. The fact may be that hearing that voice in a cartoon works, while live action just looks silly, and I would not wish that on anyone. This is the largest problem with me for the series, and that says a lot seeing as how it's pretty small.

Ashley Scott's Huntress suffers from the melodrama a little bit, but I think that her character needs to grow a bit and that will take care of it. In fact, I think tomorrow night's episode will do that nicely.

Rachel Skarsten has done a marvelous job, thus far, and I look forward to a larger role from her in the next few episodes.

Ian Abercrombie is excellent and Alfred. Shemar Moore is good as Reese, and like Huntress, his character just needs to grow a little past his hook (or, in layman's terms - why he has to be a character.)

It's good to see that the canon people are working overtime on this series, making references to all kinds of DCU characters and events. It's a wonderful nod to the audience, and also opens the possibility (in our hearts) for these people to show up - especially during sweeps. And you know which characters I am referring to (and if you don't, watch the show, because they may have been throwaway lines, but they were cool.)

Also, I am looking forward to a flashback episode. It would be great to see an episode that shows more of Batgirl/Batman, but told from Batgirls point of view (to keep her in the limelight.) Dina Meyer exuded confidence and power and Batgirl, and the audience sure wouldn't mind seeing some more of that. She pulled off what Alicia Silverstone could have done, if she had been in a better film than Batman & Robin.

As a whole, I give this show *** (three out of four stars) and look forward to seeing this show grow into the powerhouse that it could be.
:: J 11:11 AM [+] ::
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