When I heard they were turning Birds of Prey into a TV series, I wasn’t sure what to think, having never picked up the comic book (although I do follow various comics news sites). Having seen 3 episodes, I’m still not sure. The premiere episode was pretty good, for a pilot. In fact, most of the things I disliked about it were, as another review termed it, “pilot-itis” – excessive exposition, cast not quite settled in, etc.
I quite liked the second episode. Some good dialog, interesting plot and characterization, decent acting – showing definite promise. And I figured out why Barbara’s wheelchair is motorized: it places her higher than a self-propelled chair would, making it easier to frame shots with everyone’s faces visible.
But tonight’s episode seemed a bit too much like a “very special episode” of Birds of Prey, and the plot just didn’t grab me. That and the fact that Helena was being just as bigoted as the villain, if the other way around: the metas-only bar, the repeated references to “our kind,” etc. One of the things I like about the DC universe vs. the Marvel universe is that it doesn’t have this anti-mutant hysteria underlying everything, and I’m concerned that it’ll turn into X-Men style everyone-hates-the-mutants – er, metahumans.
Anyway, I’ll stick around for at least a few more episodes.
While I’m rather fond of the actress who played Ms. Gordon’s character, I never really got into the BoP television series.
More noteworthy, I suppose, was the fact that I LOVED the comic book series, at the time. These days, I’m less-enthused about it, but I *think* I own of just about every tpb of Gail’s run.
The tv series lacked what I enjoyed most about the comic series… though I’m hard-pressed to say precisely what that was.
One of the upsides of team books is that familiar characters are presented in less familiar situations, with different dynamics. So we get to see different sides of them. It builds on the past without contradicting it.
The television series built upon something different. It was its own world and I was much more interested in these characters as I knew them.
That’s not to say that different continuity is a bad thing. I watched a bit of X-Men: Evolution and I followed Ultimate X-Men for quite a while, despite being pretty fond of (a lot of) the main X-Men series.
I think my interest in those “What If’s” (if you will) was partly based on the fact that I KNEW they were different and they were different takes on characters and teams I already knew very well. The BoP series surprised me with its differences, as I knew nothing about them in-advance… so that wasn’t exactly a pleasant surprise – especially because BoP was still new to me, at that point.
I wasn’t VERY interested in a new take on something that was still new to me, at that point. So, their window of opportunity to seize and hold my interest … was pretty doggone narrow.
“Oh, Mistress Harley… buttle this!”
I also liked the second episode of Birds of Prey. It was this episode that I really felt the adventure, drama and action.
*blaine