| Birds of Prey | |
|---|---|
Main Title Card |
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| Format | Drama Action Science fiction |
| Created by | Laeta Kalogridis |
| Starring | see below |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of episodes | 13 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Mike Tollin Brian Robbins Shawn Levy |
| Running time | approx. 42 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | The WB |
| Original run | October 9, 2002 – February 19, 2003 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Birds of Prey is a television drama series produced in 2002. The series was developed by Laeta Kalogridis for The WB and is loosely based on the Birds of Prey DC Comics series. Despite the series debut garnering ratings of 7.6 million viewers (at the time, the network's largest premier in the 18–34 demographic),[1] the series was cancelled after ratings fell sharply in subsequent weeks. Thirteen episodes were produced in total.
Contents |
The series is set in New Gotham City, several years after it has been apparently abandoned by Batman. In his absence, Oracle and the Huntress have taken over his war on crime. The two are joined by Dinah (after she assists them in defeating Larry Ketterlly, a telepath with abilities similar to Scarecrow); Alfred Pennyworth, who serves Helena as she is heir to the Wayne estate; and Detective Jesse Reese, a police officer confronted with crimes and abilities he cannot explain.
A central feature of the series is the concept of metahumans: Individuals born with powers that cannot be explained. No two metahumans have the same specific ability (or set of abilities) and there exists a whole subculture of metahuman society that the outside world knows nothing about.
It is into this world that Detective Reese is drawn, reluctantly teaming up with Huntress and the Birds of Prey to defeat metahuman criminals. At first, he disapproves of Helena's vigilantism, even trying to arrest her, but eventually he realizes there is a need for the Birds of Prey to take down criminals the police cannot handle.
During the course of the show, the Birds of Prey often confront schemes masterminded by Dr. Quinzel, (Harley Quinn) though they are unaware of her involvement until the final episode of the series. Quinzel's attempts to discover what Helena is hiding – and the duplicitous nature of their therapy sessions together – form a large part of the series arc, beginning in the pilot episode and being resolved in the series finale.
Although the series was never openly stated to be connected to the TV series Smallville, it was assumed that Birds of Prey was a spin-off or at least connected in some way, through a passing mention of a meteor rock giving humans metahuman powers and abilities, which was a common villain device in the Smallville series. However the Black Canary in Smallville is younger and quite different than the Black Canary that appeared in the series, as portrayed by Lori Loughlin, who is older and has a daughter.
| # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original air date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Pilot" | Brian Robbins | Laeta Kalogridis | October 9, 2002 | 475179 |
| The Batman legend takes an unexpected turn when the Caped Crusader vanishes from the crime-ridden Gotham City and his legacy is taken over by a trio of beautiful and relentless heroines – the Birds of Prey. Barbara Gordon started out as Batman's protégé, Batgirl, but an attack by The Joker left her a parapalegic after being shot in the back, and she uses a wheelchair. Reinventing herself as Oracle, she takes under her wing Helena Kyle, the secret daughter of Batman and Catwoman, who quickly grows into the fierce and beautiful "Huntress". Into this group comes Dinah, a teenage runaway who is drawn to the city by meta-human visions. With the help of the only honest cop in the city now-called New Gotham, Detective Jesse Reese, the Birds of Prey fight their first battle against a mysterious madman who is bent on destruction. | |||||
| 2 | "Slick" | Michael Katleman | Story: Laela Kalogridis & Melissa Rosenberg Teleplay: Laela Kalogridis |
October 16, 2002 | 175451 |
| Slick (Silas Weir Mitchell), an evil meta-human who can turn from solid to liquid, is hired by Dr. Quinzel to kill the honest cops who stand in her way. When Reese is the next intended victim, Helena comes to his aid and their mutual attraction continues to grow. Meanwhile, Barbara believes Dinah’s story that she’s just a runaway, but Helena remains suspicious. | |||||
| 3 | "Prey for the Hunter" | Chris Long | Story: Adam Armus & Kay Foster Teleplay: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz |
October 23, 2002 | 175452 |
| Helena and Detective Reese clash again when they both try to track down a serial killer who destroys metahumans by taking on their powers. Meanwhile, Dinah ditches school when she learns from Helena there is a metahuman-only bar, and Barbara meets Wade’s parents who think she is not normal enough for their son. | |||||
| 4 | "Three Birds and a Baby" | Craig Zisk | David H. Goodman & Julie Hess | October 30, 2002 | 175453 |
| When Helena rescues an abandoned baby boy and brings him back to the Clocktower, Barbara and Dinah try to help, but to everyone’s surprise, the baby, "Guy", is only happy when Helena is holding him. Even more surprising is the fact that Guy wakes up from his nap as a walking, talking 5-year-old and is soon a teenager. Now in a race against time, the Birds of Prey discover that Guy is programmed to live his entire life in three days, and to kill the first person he attaches to, putting Helena in grave danger while Dr. Quinzel also races the clock to find Guy for her own nefarious plans. | |||||
| 5 | "Sins of the Mother" | Jeff Woolnough | Story: Melissa Rosenberg & Hans Tobeason Teleplay: Melissa Rosenberg |
November 6, 2002 | 175454 |
| Dinah's mother, Carolyn (Lori Loughlin), comes to town to find her daughter, but the past comes back to haunt both women when the head of a crime family that Carolyn took down in her years as the Black Canary comes after them. Dinah must fight to save the mother she's never really known before she loses the chance completely. Helena wonders about her own mother's past, and about the secrets that the Canary could reveal to her, while Barbara tries to bring all the women together to cooperate before the past destroys them all. | |||||
| 6 | "Primal Scream" | Jim Charleston | Story: Adam Armus & Kay Foster Teleplay: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz |
November 13, 2002 | 175455 |
| At the request of Reese, Helena goes undercover to help bring down a gang of thieves terrorizing New Gotham and quickly discovers that the gang is part of a larger infrastructure. Helena goes after the big boss until her cover is blown, putting her in grave danger. Meanwhile, Barbara has to deal with her fear of intimacy when her relationship with Wade takes a serious turn. | |||||
| 7 | "Split" | James Marshall | Story: Adam Armus & Kay Foster Teleplay: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz |
November 20, 2002 | 175456 |
| Already frustrated with men thanks to her relationship with Det. Reese, Helena is none too pleased when a metahuman calling himself Darkstrike (Kristoffer Polaha) visits New Gotham to team up with her and Barbara. However, Helena warms to the enigmatic stranger when he explains his history with the Crawler (Brian Thompson) – a nefarious criminal with the nasty habit of murdering his abductees. When the fiend kidnaps an innocent teen, the crime fighters must race against the clock to ensure that the latest victim doesn't meet the fate of her predecessors. | |||||
| 8 | "Lady Shiva" | John Kretchmer | Story: Adam Armus & Kay Foster Teleplay: Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz |
November 27, 2002 | 175457 |
| Helena is thrilled when her best friend from high school, Sandra (Sung-Hi Lee), returns to New Gotham, but the Birds are troubled by a series of murders with the unmistakable mark of Batgirl’s nemesis, Lady Shiva. Determined to fight Lady Shiva as an equal, Barbara dusts off her Batgirl costume and experiments with technology that allows her to leave the wheelchair. Meanwhile, Dinah tries to use her mind-reading powers to get a boy at her school to notice her to ask her out for the school's spring dance. | |||||
| 9 | "Nature of the Beast" | Shawn Levy | Melissa Rosenberg | December 18, 2002 | 175458 |
| When a hit is put on the life of legendary mob boss, Al Hawk (Mitch Pileggi), the only person he trusts to protect him is his son, Det. Reese. Reese turns to Helena for help, but when she learns that Reese's father is the same man who killed Dinah's mother, Black Canary, her loyalties are tested. | |||||
| 10 | "Gladiatrix" | David Carson | David H. Goodman | January 8, 2003 | 175459 |
| When young metahuman women are abducted in New Gotham, Helena’s investigation leads her to uncover a secret club where the captive women are drugged and forced to fight each other in an arena. When Helena is also abducted, it is up to Dinah to rescue her with Reese's help. | |||||
| 11 | "Reunion" | Chris Long | Edward Kitsis & Adam Horowitz | January 8, 2003 | 175460 |
| When Helena's former classmates descend upon New Gotham for their five-year high school reunion, two of the alums are brutally murdered. While Helena tries to find the killer, she fears that Reese's investigation will lead him to learn too much about her true identity. | |||||
| 12 | "Feat of Clay" | Joe Napolitano | Adam Armus & Kay Foster | February 19, 2003 | 175461 |
| After a robber, Chris Cassius (Ian Reed Kesler), breaks into a chemical factory and drinks a mixture that gives him the power to turn people to stone, Barbara cancels her vacation with her boyfriend, Wade. Unwilling to allow Barbara to continue neglecting her personal life, Alfred the Butler brings Wade to the clock tower and exposes her secret. Meanwhile, Helena goes to Arkham Asylum and interrogates a villain named Clayface, who possesses the same abilities as Chris, and learns a shocking fact about her past. She must race to prevent Chris from killing New Gotham's most powerful people at a charity fashion show. | |||||
| 13 | "Devil's Eyes" | Robert J. Wilson | Adam Armus & Melissa Rosenberg | February 19, 2003 | 175462 |
| Having discovered that Helena is Huntress, Harley Quinn uses a machine that gives her metahuman hypnotic powers. She then hypnotizes Helena and persuades her to knock Barbara unconscious and steal an access disk. Barbara recovers and uses her subneural device to enable her to stand and fight Helena, eventually neutralizing the trance. But Harley uses the disk to gain complete control of the clock tower and, after killing Wade, she broadcasts the hypnotic signal to every television set in New Gotham. Working together with Alfred, Dinah, and Reese, Helena must infiltrate the clock tower and battle Harley and her cohorts before they gain control of the entire city. | |||||
Birds of Prey was released on Region 1 DVD on July 15, 2008. The four-disc collection includes the thirteen episodes that were broadcast plus the unaired pilot,[3] which features Sherilyn Fenn as Harley Quinn, and all three seasons of the Flash-animated series Gotham Girls. The episodes are presented in letterboxed widescreen format.[3] Some music differs from original televised version including the theme song, which in the original airing was "Revolution" by Aimee Allen, as well as the fight music "All the Things She Said" by t.A.T.u. in the final episode which was replaced with "Beautiful Freak" by Dirty Children.
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