Ashley Scott in Birds of Prey: the Complete Series
© Warner Home Video
DVD Shopping Bag: Marvel vs. DC
By: Robert T. TrateDate: Tuesday, July 15, 2008
This week there are two, count them, two DC Comic live action TV properties being released on DVD. There is not one Marvel release this week. The two comic book powerhouses have been battling each other for decades. The battle has spilled over from the comic rack and into other formats. This week it is clear who the victor is. DC Comics is owned by Warner Brothers Studios which has made DC Comics the victor in the realm of live action television series. It is obvious that DC Comics is willing to take more chances than its competitor. It probably doesn’t hurt that their parent company Time Warner is one of the biggest studios in the world.
This week Birds of Prey: The Complete Series and Swamp Thing: The Series Vol. 2 will be released on DVD. Not exactly Batman and Superman marquee characters, nonetheless they are properties that are in the DC Comics Universe. Birds of Prey was a short lived series that played after Smallville on the WB network. It was set in the not so distant future where the Joker (voiced by Mark Hamill) went on a rampage and killed Catwoman. Her daughter Helena Kyle (Ashley Scott) discovers that her mother had a tryst with Batman. Having daddy issues is one thing but when her father goes missing she lashes out at the world. Helena finds a confidant in Barbara Gordon (Dina Meyer), one of Batman’s protégés. Barbara was crippled by the Joker during the same rampage in which he took Helena’s mother. Only then Barbara was known as Batgirl. Adopting the new identity of the Oracle, she works with Helena, now calling herself the Huntress, to take back the city in Batman’s absence.
The show was short lived and never really had the chance to find its feet. On Smallville there is a very real world sensibility wrapped around this alien teenager from another planet. The sets are real and the superpowers are kept low key (well at least early on they were). Having an odd mixture of Dawson’s Creek, The X-Files and The Hardy Boys mixed well with the Superman mythos. Birds of Prey took Charlie’s Angels, Charmed, a pinch of Law of Order mixed in Batman and never got the proper chance to cook. It is still fun to watch and what could have been is intriguing. These episodes prove that DC Comics and Warner Brothers are willing to take chances that Marvel hasn’t.
Swamp Thing: The Series Vol.2 was an interesting take not only on the character but a show that ran multiple plot lines and types of stories. Though the show never mixed any other of the DC Comic characters into its storytelling, the adventures of Alec Holland aka Swamp Thing (Dick Durock) ran for 72 episodes. For three years it delivered thrills, chills and life lessons in less than thirty minutes. Worth the time and the money to see this low budget TV show shine and, if anything, finally see the episodes chronological order.
Now, Marvel has had the disadvantage of being founded after DC Comics and its characters had been established. Batman and Superman both had movie serials long before Peter Parker ever swung on his first web. The troublesome nineties didn’t help Marvel either when they were forced to sell off their movie rights and scatter their characters to the wind. Imagine if Daredevil could have had the Daily Bugle characters/ actors from Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man. If the Punisher could have squared off against Michael Clarke Duncan’s Kingpin instead of John Travolta’s Howard Saint? Marvel Studios is up and running now so perhaps, with all their characters back under their control and in this new Millennium, the tide will change. Marvel has gotten their act together with their current movie properties but when will they take another chance ala Blade: The Series again?
The following list is the live action TV series properties done by DC and Marvel:
DC TV Titles
Batman (60’s) Currently Unavailable
Marvel TV Titles
The Amazing Spider-Man (1977-1979, TV series) Currently Unavailable
ACTION / ADVENTURE / KUNG FU/ THRILLERS / WESTERNS
-Extended Scenes
-“Inside The Bank Job” a “making of” featurette
-“The Baker Street Bank Raid” featurette – profile on the real Bank Robbery
-Theatrical trailer
-Digital Copy of the feature film
The Bank Job [Blu-ray] + Digital Copy
Double Dagger
Eagle Shooting Heroes (1993)
Final Approach
The Guns of Will Sonnett, Disc One
Laredo, Disc 1
Mad Bad
Sword Masters: Brothers Five *Shaw Brothers*
Sword Masters: Two Champions Of Shaolin *Shaw Bothers*
ANIME
Aquarion: Season 1, Part 2
Devil May Cry: Level, Vol. 3
Dragon Ball Z - The History of Trunks / Bardock: Father of Goku (Double Feature) [Blu-ray]
Digi Charat Nyo!, Vol. 8
Full Metal Panic, Vol. 2: FUMOFFU - Complete Collection
The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Complete Collection
My-Zhime: My-Otome, Vol. 7
Strawberry Panic Vol 3: Third Wheel
Shattered Angels, Vol. 3: Kyoshiro and the Eternal Sky
Toward the Terra, Vol. 2
Toward the Terra: Part 1
Toward the Terra, Vol. 1
CARTOONS
New Adventures of the Lone Ranger/Zorro Volume 2
Criterion Collection
-New, restored high-definition digital transfer
-In the Footsteps of Monsieur Hulot (1989), a two-hour documentary
-Interview from 1971 with the cast of Trafic
-"The Comedy of Jacques Tati,"
-Theatrical trailer
-New and improved English subtitle translation
-PLUS: A new essay by film critic Jonathan Romney
HORROR
Asylum
The Beach Party at the Threshold of Hell
Doom Asylum (uncut edition)
Guardians
Insanitarium
Poison Sweethearts
Shutter (R-rated Edition)
Shutter (Widescreen) (Unrated Edition)
Trapped Ashes
SCIENCE FICTION / FANTASY
The Fabulous Journey to the Center of the Earth (aka WHERE TIME BEGAN)
TV LAND
Birds of Prey: The Complete Series
B.L.Stryker: The Complete Second Season
Dallas - The Complete Ninth Season
-DELETED SCENES
-HAPPENINGS AROUND TOWN, THE SECOND SEASON
-INSIDE THE WRITER’S ROOM
-Sci-Fi.com Webcasts
-Live Smart Eureka PSA’s
-PODCAST COMMENTARIES
-GAG REEL
Reno 911 - The Complete Fifth Season
Saving Grace - Season 1
-An Exclusive Interview with Swamp Thing Co-creator Berni Wrightson
UNDENIABLE CLASSICS
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest [Blu-ray]
BOX SETS
The Ninja Collection
More From Mania
DVD Review of Birds of Prey The Complete Series
Review: 'Birds of Prey: The Complete Series' 4-Disc DVD
(Monday, July 14, 2008)
'Birds of Prey' flies to DVD, 'Gotham Girls' too!
(Wednesday, April 2, 2008)
'Swamp Thing' Volume 2 coming to DVD
(Friday, April 25, 2008)
SWAMP THING: The Series Vol. 2
(Friday, July 18, 2008)
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