Birds Of Prey
Oct. 16th, 2002 10:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
captain_slinkySo have you seen the new Birds of Prey show on the Dubbya-Bee? I'm torn.
The optimist in me sees the good things about it; It is all treated very seriously so I don't have to be embarrased by watching it. No campy little inside jokes. No mocking the source material (like they did with the Adventures of Lois & Clark show on ABC a few years back). Much like with Smallville, they are doing a good action/drama series which happens to be about people with extraordinary powers. Shows like this can only help the public see comic books as a legitimate form or entertainment rather than just stuff for kids and 30 year-old virgins.
The pessimist in me, unfortunately, has been talking to my inner geek: First off, Birds of Prey is on at the same time as Enterprise! No way I'm missing Star Trek for some thinnly-disguised jiggle-show. Secondly, watching an episode of Birds of Prey is physically painful for me thanks to the gang-bang rape tactics that the writers have used on these characters! I wasn't a regular reader of the Birds of Prey comic book, but I know the characters! Huntress isn't the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, nor does she have any weird eye-changing ability that makes her act like a tiger... she's just supposed to be a regular woman who fights crime like Batman, with the help of various gadjets and a crossbow. Oh, and she *does* wear a mask. Black Canary (the blonde psychic girl on the show) is not psychic, and shouldn't actually have any powers! Once again, she is supposed to be just a woman who is a master of the Martial Arts and uses a variety of gadjets to fight crime, ala "Batman". The only saving grace of the show would be Oracle (the former Batgirl). They have stayed dead-on for this one; she used to be Batgirl, but the Joker shot her and she is now paralyzed from the waist down. She uses high-tech computers to aid the other two girls in fighting crime by hacking in to security systems and whatnot. The show goes a little overboard with the campy high-tech stuff, and would be improved by keeping things plausible (kinda like the movie "Enemy of the State"), but that is forgivable.
Oh, and Penny... if you happen to read this far (I know you're busy and sometimes just scan these entries real fast), check this out. Harley Quinn is in the series as a Sopranos-esque manipulating psychiatrist with NO BROOKLYN ACCENT. No spandex jesters suit. And aparently no ties to The Joker other than a desire to take over his criminal empire. AAAAAARGH!!!!
So my final verdict is that I just need to view Birds of Prey with an open mind, much like I did with the Starship Troopers movie. I didn't look at it as "Starship Troopers: The Movie", but rather "A perfectly good movie loosely based upon concepts mentioned in the book Starship Troopers".
The optimist in me sees the good things about it; It is all treated very seriously so I don't have to be embarrased by watching it. No campy little inside jokes. No mocking the source material (like they did with the Adventures of Lois & Clark show on ABC a few years back). Much like with Smallville, they are doing a good action/drama series which happens to be about people with extraordinary powers. Shows like this can only help the public see comic books as a legitimate form or entertainment rather than just stuff for kids and 30 year-old virgins.
The pessimist in me, unfortunately, has been talking to my inner geek: First off, Birds of Prey is on at the same time as Enterprise! No way I'm missing Star Trek for some thinnly-disguised jiggle-show. Secondly, watching an episode of Birds of Prey is physically painful for me thanks to the gang-bang rape tactics that the writers have used on these characters! I wasn't a regular reader of the Birds of Prey comic book, but I know the characters! Huntress isn't the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, nor does she have any weird eye-changing ability that makes her act like a tiger... she's just supposed to be a regular woman who fights crime like Batman, with the help of various gadjets and a crossbow. Oh, and she *does* wear a mask. Black Canary (the blonde psychic girl on the show) is not psychic, and shouldn't actually have any powers! Once again, she is supposed to be just a woman who is a master of the Martial Arts and uses a variety of gadjets to fight crime, ala "Batman". The only saving grace of the show would be Oracle (the former Batgirl). They have stayed dead-on for this one; she used to be Batgirl, but the Joker shot her and she is now paralyzed from the waist down. She uses high-tech computers to aid the other two girls in fighting crime by hacking in to security systems and whatnot. The show goes a little overboard with the campy high-tech stuff, and would be improved by keeping things plausible (kinda like the movie "Enemy of the State"), but that is forgivable.
Oh, and Penny... if you happen to read this far (I know you're busy and sometimes just scan these entries real fast), check this out. Harley Quinn is in the series as a Sopranos-esque manipulating psychiatrist with NO BROOKLYN ACCENT. No spandex jesters suit. And aparently no ties to The Joker other than a desire to take over his criminal empire. AAAAAARGH!!!!
So my final verdict is that I just need to view Birds of Prey with an open mind, much like I did with the Starship Troopers movie. I didn't look at it as "Starship Troopers: The Movie", but rather "A perfectly good movie loosely based upon concepts mentioned in the book Starship Troopers".
