BIRDS OF PREY

Now, Batman has vanished, but New Gotham still seethes with generations of criminals. For the good citizens of this dangerous place, hope comes in the unlikely form of a trio of beautiful and relentless heroines, the "Birds of Prey." In this exciting action-adventure series, the Batman legend takes an unexpected turn.

The story begins on a terrible night seven years in the past when The Joker attacks the two women at the center of Batman's life: Catwoman and Barbara Gordon, who fought at Batman's side as Batgirl. With Catwoman dead, Batman mysteriously disappears from New Gotham. Batgirl, now confined to a wheelchair, redefines herself with a complicated double life - by day, she is Barbara Gordon, a teacher of computer sciences, but by night, she is "Oracle", a master of cybernetics and weapons design, who monitors the activities of New Gotham's criminals from her secret lair in the city's Clocktower.

Barbara takes under her wing the secret daughter of Catwoman and Batman, young Helena Kyle. Helena has inherited Batman's strong sense of justice, along with Catwoman's meta-human abilities. Although she longs for a normal life, she quickly grows into the fierce and beautiful "Huntress". The pull between good and evil is strong within her, and Barbara knows she must guide Helena carefully.

Into the lives of these two remarkable women comes an innocent teenage girl named Dinah (Rachel Skarsten, Virginia's Run) who is drawn to the Clocktower by powerful, haunting visions. Unsure of her background, but impressed by her budding meta-human powers, the two crime-fighters take Dinah in, and the trio is complete. They are now the "Birds of Prey."

In this city full of crime and corruption, there is one honest cop. Detective Jesse Reese (Shemar Moore, The Brothers) is wrestling with his own dark secret - he is the son of New Gotham's most ruthless crime lord. Atoning for the sins of his father, Reese is on a personal mission to fight crime wherever he finds it, and he refuses to turn a blind eye to the strange events that always seem to involve the mysterious Helena Kyle.

In the center of this mix of heroes and villains is Harley Quinn, a brilliant madwoman who was the paramour of The Joker. Carrying on his dream of creating a criminal empire, Harley uses her daytime persona as a therapist to achieve her savage purpose - to release all the lunatics from mental institutions and use the resulting chaos to take control of New Gotham. Though Harley crosses paths often with Barbara and Helena, they are unaware of each other's secret identities.

As the leader of the "Birds of Prey," Barbara has gone from being Batman's protégé to the leader of a new generation of crime fighters who are determined to carry on his legacy. To her own surprise, Barbara finds that the responsibility of family - even a self-made family like these three amazing women - is ultimately just as important as any mission to save the world.

(Courtesy of GothamClockTower.com)

REVIEW

I was pretty excited about this series, way before its official launch. But after watching a few episodes, I kinda got the feeling the producers were either low on budget, or ashamed of characters in masks. The only time you see anyone in a mask or a suit is during the flashbacks when Batgirl and Batman are in action. I don't see why the Huntress wasn't made to wear a costume, or the Black Canary for that matter. Though I give it to them that it made the characters more suitable for today's world, but on the whole, it just made the whole series another 'Charmed' or 'Buffy the vampire slayer'.

Another thing I did not like about the series was the fact that 'metahumans' were introduced. I've always preferred Batman to the other superheroes just because he's mortal like us, not an alien like Superman or a mutant like the X-men. By introducing 'metahumans' the producers are compromising the series, and bringing them into a new arena of film competition. An arena that they surely could not win in, given it's a series with such a small budget.

But on the bright side, any film with anything distantly to do with Batman is a good film. Or maybe I'm just biased. At least I can safely say that Barbara Gordon cum Oracle was very very well done, I'd never think that Dina Meyer would be a good choice for Batgirl/Oracle, but after I've seen her in action, I can picture no one else more perfect for that role. I would watch season 2 purely just to see Dina Meyer as Oracle... but of course that would not be possible now that the series has been cancelled.

Though it wasn't the best Bat-series that it potentially could've been, I miss it already.