On DVD: Birds of Prey and Other Bat-Titles from Warner Bros. This Month

I'm hyped. Seeing The Dark Knight today right after work (actually, stepping out a little early, but don't tell the bozz). Meeting a group of friends at a nearby cinema that boasts stadium seating, a full bar, martini olives stuffed with real blue cheese "and shaken with love," and fresh popcorn served in Champagne buckets with white cheddar cheese sprinkled on top. Already I'm giving the experience my highest critical rating -- five out of five "Oh-hell-yeahs!"

I have to hand it to the WB -- their marketing of the movie has successfully worked on me tactically and strategically. So much so, in fact, that I'm jazzed about anything Bat-related lately. And that's not a bad place to be this month on DVD, because Warner Home Video -- those clever opportunists -- had a smart idea. With the debut of the latest (and reportedly greatest) big-screen expansion of the studio's "Batman" property holdings, why not make July a really good month for devotees of Gotham's finest? So if The Dark Knight whets your appetite for all things Bat, you now have several options for bringing more of the Batman universe -- the Bativerse? -- into your home.

Alfred, let's go shopping.

The obvious starting place, naturally, is the "re-imagining" that set up The Dark Knight in the first place. Earlier this month Warner Brothers reissued Batman Begins on DVD. Big and cool and new, however, is the film's first Blu-ray treatment, with DVD and Blu-ray options of a single-disc edition and a Limited Edition Gift Set that adds photo cards and other goodies to the utility belt.

Batman: Gotham Knight - Special Edition
Also out now is Batman: Gotham Knight, an anthology of six interconnected animated shorts that (according to the hype, at least) bridge Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. (Now we know that Dr. "Scarecrow" Crane hid away in the Gotham sewers with Killer Croc.) Our resident Bat fiend Cole Drumb says "the stories and animation styles kept me on my toes and thrilled me with their brilliant scenes and money shots." Batman: Gotham Knight is now available from Warner Brothers on both single and two-disc DVD editions, as well as on Blu-Ray.

For another taste of the gloomy Gothamite in full-color animation -- and an option that might be more "kid friendly" than Gotham Knight's PG-13 rating -- out this week is The Batman - The Complete Fifth Season, the latest installment in the Emmy Award-winning series on the Saturday morning television block Kids WB. The fifth and final season was said by producer Alan Burnett to be the show's "The Brave and the Bold season," focusing primarily on the Dynamic Duo of Batman and Robin teaming up with members of the Justice League.

The opening to Season 5 has Batman team up with Superman (George Newbern). Other team-ups for the season include Green Arrow (Chris Hardwick), Flash (Charlie Schlatter), Green Lantern (Dermot Mulroney), Martian Manhunter and Hawkman (Robert Patrick). The series finale features the entire Justice League.

Villains for this season are a rogues gallery that includes Lex Luthor (Clancy Brown), Mercy Graves (Gwendoline Yeo), Metallo (Lex Lang), Count Vertigo (Greg Ellis), The Wrath (Christopher Gorham), Toyman (Richard Green), Shadow Thief (Diedrich Bader), Sinestro (Miguel Ferrer), Mirror Master (John Larroquette), and the Terrible Trio (David Faustino, Grey DeLisle, and Googy Gress). Also, Firefly becomes Phosphorus. The Joining returns in the finale in alliance with Hugo Strange as we learn the identity of The Joining's leader.

The final episode -- "Lost Heroes," Parts 1 and 2 -- is a 40-minute movie, featuring all the members of the Justice League who have made an appearance in the show.

This two-disc DVD adds a featurette on how the series producers adapted the DC Comics "team-up tales" from the comic books to the TV screen.

Birds of Prey - The Complete Series
And last but arguably least, this week sees the DVD debut of a TV series that didn't quite sufficiently wow 'em when it aired in 2002.

Birds of Prey was developed for The WB network and is loosely based on the Birds of Prey DC Comics series. To get a sense of where these thirteen episodes -- the show's full run -- are coming from, imagine a Fox Force Five team-up that includes the former Batgirl, the daughter of Batman and Catwoman, a babely hot "metahuman" and a reluctant (but still improbably good-looking and manly) city cop in an episodic "kickass black-leather babes (who are also angsty and broody and boyfriendless 'cuz deep down they're just girls, y'know) fight mutant villains in New Gotham" series set several years after the hapless metropolis has been abandoned by Batman.

On paper the concept is a reasonably cool one, and some exec in a Warner Brothers penthouse office chomped a big cigar as he grinned and shouted "It's a slam dunk!" And maybe it could have been. You'd think it's a formula that knows precisely where its adolescent male target demo lives -- but it never manages to find the right address.

Instead, this vapid and obvious merchandising opportunity never gets it together. It thuds along as a contrived fantasy/cop-show hybrid that lacks the fun and zing we might expect from the premise, with scriptwriting that's as bland as cold coffee, decaf. It's a potentially ace idea too hastily and/or cynically and/or clumsily used to milk a cash cow (a bankroll bat?). Meanwhile it never feels as though it honestly belongs in any Bativerse outside the posters bin at Target.

That said, I do dig that one of the main characters throughout the 13-part "arc" is Dr. Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn (Mia Sara), the Joker's lover who has come to seek her revenge on New Gotham for what it did to her "Mr. J". Here's hoping we see her again somewhere. In the inevitable follow-up to The Dark Knight maybe? Christopher Nolan, you know how to reach me....

This four-disc set also delivers the unaired pilot and all 30 episodes of the animated Web series Gotham Girls.

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