Customer Reviews

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Vol. 2

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This long-awaited DVD set of shows from the Harvey Birdman series is hysterically witty and clever. If you loved the first 13 shows available on the volume 1 DVD you should enjoy this set every bit as much. Harvey, Sebben and all the other wacky, insane versions of old Hanna-Barbera characters are back making the usual mess of the legal system. Here's a list of episodes:

Back to the Present
Blackwatch Plaid
Grape Juiced
Peanut Puberty
Gone Efficien...t
Droopy Botox
Guitar Control
Booty Noir
Harvey's Civvy
X Gets the Crest
Birdgirl of Guantanamole
Beyond the Valley of the Dinosaurs
Evolutionary War

Extra features include commentary on nine episodes, some additional footage and other features as well.

If you're a fan of Adult Swim then the antics on Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law probably aren't going to surprise you at all. Harvey Birdman is a failed superhero from a show in the 70s that has decided to pursue a law career (similar to Space Ghost Coast to Coast) representing other Hanna Barbera cartoons. The characters featured in this volume include the Jetsons, Grape Ape, Quick Draw McGraw, and other famous names you would recognize from Saturday morning cartoons.

Harvey Birdman was one of the four first shows that Adult Swim debuted in 2001. The other three are Aqua Teen Hungerforce, The Brak Show, and Sealab 2021. Birdman's antics during the show are the farthest thing from an actual lawyer but you would expect that from Adult Swim. Joining him is his loyal falcon Avenger who know acts as his secretary and Peanut who acts as his legal clerk. The random pop culture references found in other Adult Swim shows are present in Birdman and it's a great show to kick back and watch a couple of episodes. The episodes are only eleven minutes so I highly recommend the DVD so you can watch them in a row.

You get thirteen great episodes in this set along with some deleted scenes, audio commentary, and a couple other special features. It's not very expensive and it's a great value for your money. If you love Adult Swim then Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is the right show for you.

THe episodes contained in this second volume of Adult Swim's Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, are another injection of insane animated hilarity featuring the bird-winged superhero turned lawyer and his insane cast of supporting characters. Gary Cole once again supplies the voice of Harvey as he tackles cases involving steroids ("Grape Juiced"), Droopy the Dog and botched plastic surgery ("Droopy Botox"), his sidekick Peanut hitting puberty ("Peanut Puberty"), and even the debut of female would-be sidekick Birdgirl ("Birdgirl of Guantanamole") who is secretly the daughter of Harvey's insane, one eyed boss Phil (the always excellent Stephen Colbert). There's a handful of episodes here that are instant classics as well, including "Blackwatch Plaid" which spoofs the patriot act and Bush administration when Phil goes on a rampage following a heist of his office (sort of), "Gone Efficien...t" in which the law firm attempts to go more efficient by saving time in the craziest of ways, the gun law spoofing "Guitar Control", and "X Gets the Crest" in which X the Eliminator (voiced by Peter MacNicol) finally gets Birdman's crest which sends Harvey in a downward spiral, for a while anyway. There's a nice assortment of extras here as well including commentary tracks from Cole, Colbert, MacNicol, John Michael Higgins (Mentok the Mindtaker), and Paget Brewster (Birdgirl) which is worth the price of admission alone. All in all, if you're even a casual fan of the series, you've got to have this.

First off, I'd like to say that Attorney at Law is one of my favorite cartoons ever. The timing and absurd humor are almost always spot-on. Gary Cole (Birdman), Stephen Colbert (Reducto, Phil Ken Sebben), Paget Brewster (Birdgirl) and John Michael Higgins (Mentok) provide hilarious voice overs, as do all the other actors. I didn't really grow up with the original Hanna-Barbera cartoons that the show is based on, but I can say you don't really need to know who the characters are, seeing as how they're generally so different from the original characters, and sometimes so obscure, that it doesn't matter. You shouldn't be worried about "not getting it" if you've never seen a Hanna-Barbera cartoon. In terms of "getting it," you probably will if you're between 16 and 40. Younger or older and you'll proably either miss a lot of the jokes or think the jokes are too weird or "vulgar" (older people sure do love that word, don't they?).

The episodes of volume 2 are better than volume 1 in terms of the plot and humor, in my opinion. The writers and actors have clearly hit their stride by the second set of episodes, and each episode has some memorable, oddball moment. Unfortunately, there are only 13 episodes, which is normal for an [adult swim] "season." Also, the show is meant to fit into a 15-minute time slot, so the episodes are pretty short, but that's not to say nothing happens; they pack a lot into the time they're given.

The DVD itself is pretty good for an [adult swim] set. Most of the time their DVDs are fairly weak in terms of extras, but this one is actually fairly good. While it doesn't match the likes of Futurama in the way its DVD sets are piled with extras, this one does have a respectable amount. The commentaries with the main voice actors are nice, especially Stephen Colbert's. However, it's only one actor at a time for select episodes, each actor only doing one episode, despite how the various descriptions make it sound (I was hoping it would be everyone in one room for all the episodes). There are also a few extra little segments to watch, which are good for a few chuckles.

More of a 4.5 overall, but I'll give it a full 5 given the rating limitation.

- REVIEW

Ally McBeal, Dennis Crane, Ronnie Cooke, and Helen Gamble: what do these people have in common? Well, they're all part of David E. Kelley's programs that I never watch, nor did I watch any lawyer shows in general. However, I did played "Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney" and Phoenix is quite the debonair lawyer, and so is Harvey Birdman: half-superhero, 100-percent-attorney at law. This second volume continues to prove that you can't keep the bird-lawyer down when he's riding the law against those that touches it in its naughty place. Volume Two gives the paying fan another 13 episodes of rapid-fire, satirical, non-sequitous humor: more cases, more copyrighted Hanna-Barbera characters, more Pea-nutty-nutty, more crest-on-birdman's-helmet, more bear and Colbert.

What's important in Volume Two, however, is that it gives other characters besides typical-ol' Birdy a chance to stride, especially Peter Potomus. I may not have spelled his last name right, but the lecherous hippo has manages to have bigger roles in two episodes, "Harvey's Civvy" and "Beyond The Valley of The Dinosaurs." Granted, these two episodes made him a bigger comic relief, but his ever-unreliable prescence and goofball determination strides his character to be more than just wondering if anyone got that thing he sent them. Peanut also manages to get his own episode in "Peanut Puberty", a brilliant and hysterical episode that brilliantly combines the brilliant topics of superheroism and sexual maturation; BRILLIANT (and also "hormone"-erotic)!

One new member of Sebben & Sebben that I'm glad to see is Judy Sebben, played by the magnificent Paget Brewster*. She is a mild-manner meatbag and daughter of crazy Sebben, but her true identity is BIRDGIRL, fighter of justice and aria of onomatopoeia. Birdgirl only appears in one titualar (HA HA! Lewd pun) episode in this set, but it's enough to know her pressures of doing a terrible job at keeping a secret identity, and having the same ambitions as her father, only less on doing the nasty and more on helping Birdman with his Morocco Mole case. It's easy to see she's the Scrappy Doo of the Law gang, but that's not true: Birdgirl is both annoying and likeable, whereas Scrappy is just playing annoying.

Although this volume is more consistent with the random humor thanks to the wonders of Flash Animation, there are a few uninspiried episodes. "Back To The Present", funny as it is, had a nonsensical plot. Okay, the whole series is built around randomness, but the plot itself shouldn't be as confusing as the humor; it's about The Jetsons going to the past from the future, which is also the past, to stop the present, which is the future, from damaging the earth (does this makes sense to you?). "Grape Juiced" wasn't that great of an episode, though it's mainly due to Gigi; I don't like the tramp, which makes the appearance of Birdgirl all the more sweeter. I think the most guilty episode of the set is "Gone Efficien...t", a "Brazil"-themed plot about saving time and money in an absurd manner, which doesn't quite work as the episode tends to drag at a few scenes, and the theme itself is redundant and ended quite unsatisfying.

Still, these episodes overshadowed some great ones such as "Blackwatch Plaid", "Booty Noir", and "X gets the Crest", the last two of which are also character-centered episodes. The DVD extras are also great this time around, as this set have commentaries for nine episodes with the creators AND cast. Admittedly, I only listened to three, two of which is with Stephen Colbert; it's good that he took his time off from "The Colbert Report" to bring some witty insights while the creators have a few trivias to speak of. When I watched "Evolutionary War", I thought, "Man, that one scene must be time-consuming to make", and the animators pretty much agree with me on the commentary. There are other extras such as deleted scenes and a funny music video, so the extras, which short in time, are quite substantial.

This show continues to be laugh-out-loud funny, but not only that, it's surprisingly smarter this time around. The set deals with subject matters such as global warming, steroid abuse, national security, segregation, and guh---itar control (this is also evident in the first set, but I hardly noticed), and though the topics aren't in-your-face, that's probably a good thing; the sometimes-subtlety of social commentary makes these episodes more in-depth for repeated viewings. It continues to be a favorite for those who like to shrink things and taking minds.

This is Del Keyes, saying "HA HA HA! Rec-come-mendation!"


*No, not PUNKY Brewster. PAGET Brewster; y'know, the girl from "Andy Richter Controls The Universe". Never seen it? For shame.

If you have watched ANY episode of Harvey Birdman at adultswim.com (legit and for free!) and liked it, buy all three seasons of HB: AAL no questions asked. Consistent, funny, definitely on the clean end of the Adult Swim cartoon block, worth every penny! ENJOY!

This cartoon makes fun of EVERY possible cliche cartoon, movie and tv show to ever exist. It is possibly the most satirical show to ever grace the tv screen and it is not only clever but hilarious, for not all shows are both clever and laugh out loud funny. Most are just chuckle-worthy.

And do not be hestiant either because it is a cartoon. If you have ever heard of tv networks like Adult Swin played on the Cartoon Network late at night then you will realize that these are not any cartoons, they are for adults. They really are hilarious and this show alone features actors like Stephen Colbert from the Colbert Report and Dail Show, Lewis Black form COmedy Central standup as well as the Daily Show, Gary Coleman and so on. If you have ever even enjoyed Futurama, Family Guy or the Simpsons, then this show would be a welcomed joy in your life.

This program used to air on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" programming block that came on at night. I bought this set because I bought the first season and wanted a complete collection. It's not a bad set if you liked the first series. As with the first set, most of the episodes feature cartoon characters from the '60s and '70s who find themselves in adult world situations and requiring the assistance of a lawyer. Who does a 'toon turn to when they are in trouble? "Harvey Birdman Attorney At Law" of course. This program is not for younger viewers, but if you watched cartoons in the '60s and '70s than you might like this. The humor is low-brow and suggestive in nature with some typical cartoon slapstick thrown in.

Ha ha...thing. Good times with Birdman and the gang. Hilarious, most definately worth the investmen. Buy this. Now. Oh and also watch it.

Never thought that I would be a fan of a man dressed up as a bird-man-superhero fighting crime in the courtroom... until I saw this show. Great repeating jokes from the first season, love every episode, especially since I have a very childish sense of humor :)