As the region two release of this DVD set is imminent I thought I'd review the region one version as that's the one I have.

I've been into some general detail about the show in the Why You Should Watch feature on it, so I'm going to talk about the specific episodes included in this set. If you want broader strokes about the show click that link.

Volume One contains, funnily enough, the first thirteen episodes that cover Harvey Birdman's early adventures/cases while working for Sebben & Sebben. Over the course of this volume Harvey deals with the problem of a wide range of classic cartoon characters in the courts of law. This volume also introduces us to many of the other core characters; including Harvey's boss Phil Ken Sebben (Falcon 7 from Birdman), Harvey's sidekick Avenger the eagle, his clerical assistant Peanut, co-worker and general philanderer Peter Potamus, nemesis X the Eliminator, Judge Hiram Mightor, Judge Mentok the Mind Taker, Attorney's Myron Reducto, Stan Freezoid, Evelyn Spyro Throckmorton and Vulturo. Oh and of course, Bear.


The episodes deal with in order:
Bannon & Quest's custody battle (Johnny Quest), Apache Chief's hot coffee incident (Super Friends), Shaggy & Scooby being busted for drugs (Scooby Doo), The Unabooboo (Yogi Bear), a case of intelectual property theft (The Neptunes), A mafia mob boss (Flintstones), Murder (Blue Falcon), X's attempts to get Birdman's crest (X, The Eliminator), skin cancer caused by over exposure to the sun's rays (Birdman is solar powered), a stuntman being sued for imitable stunts (Ernie Devilin), a very short detective suing for wrongful dismissal (Inch High Private Eye) and a case of an out of control buggy (Speed Racer).

Really there's just no way to express how enjoyable and funny this show is, poking in a good natured fashion at a lot of old classic cartoons that many adults will have watched as a child growing up. Each episode runs for about ten minutes and is packed to the feathers with gags, puns, non-sequiturs, practical jokes and low brow humour of every kind. It's a great show and the first batch of episodes are all brilliant.

Packaging:
Volume One (and indeed all of the three volumes of this set) is a fantastic little package, the external box is cardboard styled like faux leather, complete with added wear and tear to make it look more like a law book.


Isn't it lovely? Then you slide out the interior box and it's made to look like the internal pages of one of Harvey's own books.


Fold that out and you get this.


Which is absolutely choka-block filled with stuff to read. The production of this set really is just fantastic, a lot of other companies could learn from this set. It's a real tactile experience getting the DVD down off the shelf to watch, you just can't help run your fingers across the cover and read the little notes on the interior box. This is amongst the best packaging I've ever had the pleasure to own. There is a downside, because it's all constructed of cardboard it is a little more prone to damage/wear and tear on the corners. Mine is already dinged.

Extras:
First of all, I have to give big props to the main menu; it's not the most exciting thing to look at, but it more than makes up for it's looks with the music. They've put the full length version of Wesley Wills's song "Birdman kicked my ass" playing over the top of it, it's fantastic that the main menu has something like this. Too many menus are half assed attemptes with broken animation/music loops loops that have just part of the theme song playing on them.

As for Extras, there are a decent amount of them on here, let's have a list:

• Deleted Scenes from Deadomutt and Trio's Company
• Live Action version of the opening credits
• Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law Movie Trailer
• Casting What Ifs? Stephen Colbert and Todd Barry as Harvey
• Pencil Test and Final Animation Comparison on Shaggy Busted
• Tab Can Redux, with lyrics
• The Wind Beneath his Wings
• Commentaries for: Very Personal Injury, The Dabba Don, SPF, The Devilin Made Me Do It (2 versions), Trio's Company

Price:
The Region 2 version will apparently retail for £19.99 in the UK with a run time of 154 mins plus extras. It's a hefty 13 ppm, which is far from the best ratio I've reviewed so far. A price of around £10 would be a better one to pay, so you might want to wait for it to drop a little before buying.

Details:
Runtime: 154 mins
Region: 0 (Yes, that's right. Volume One is region free!)
Sound: Dolby Surround 2.0
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish


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Starring:
Gary Cole as Harvey Birdman
Stephen Colbert as Phil Ken Seben/Myron Reducto
Thomas Allen as Peanut
John Michael Higgins as Mentok the Mindtaker
Chris Edgerly as Peter Potamus
Maurice LaMarche as Various
Peter MacNicol as X, the Eliminator
Grey DeLisle as Debbie
Erik Richter as Avenger
Phil LaMarr as Black Vulcan
and Paget Brewster as Birdgirl

Back in the 1960s there was an average at best children's cartoon called "Birdman and the Galaxy Trio" a cartoon divided into two sets of stories, one starring the titular Birdman and the other starring Galaxy Girl and her two colleagues Vapor Man and Meteor Man. The show was very lackluster and after two years it disappeared off into the vaults destined to never be thought of again. (Except as "How not to do it")

That is until Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter decided to create a spin-off inspired by Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. The character Birdman had made an appearance on SG:C2C previously (with the first name Harvey) and it seems this is what sparked HB:AtL into existence. Of course, this technically means HB:AtL is a spin-off from two separate shows, one of which is a spin-off itself. I guess it's a 2 ½nd generation spin-off mutant bastard child thing. But despite this it's a surprisingly good show.

HB:AtL deals with Harvey's life after his time as a superhero, as to be expected from the title of the show Harvey has become an attorney since he hung up his suit for the last time. Likewise many of the super villains he previously encountered have also given up their various nefarious plans to move into law. Harvey spends much of his time working as a criminal defense attorney or civil litigator in Sebben & Sebben's law firm (Phil Ken Sebben was previously known as Falcon 7 on Birdman) and he has various Hanna-Babera characters of old as clients. The list of his clientele includes Atom Ant, Fred Flintstone, Inch-High Private Eye, Scooby and Shaggy, Droopy, Captain Caveman and the Jetsons.

The show is a short 10 minuted animated affair that derives it's humor from pop culture references, humanisation of superheroes/villains, observations of Hanna-Barbera inconsistencies/strangeness and good old slapstick. It ran for 39 episodes (with a 20 minute finale) and just about every episode is filled to the brim with quality comedy. The short run time ensures that not a single moment in the show is wasted, there's a constant, well-paced movement from one event to the next and the jokes never let up. The animation style is clean and detailed - some jokes are placed on screen for less than a second: so there's plenty to see on a second or third viewing. (It wasn't until my third viewing of this series that I spotted the Kevin Costner/Waterworld/Mutant joke for example.)

The character acting is just top notch, Gary Cole portrays a Harvey who's barely able to keep it together with pitch perfect dialog. Stephen Colbert is phenomenal as the paranoid Reducto and the strange and off-beat Phil Ken Sebben. But for me personally it's the performances of John Michael Higgins as Mentok and Chris Edgerly as a truly perverted Peter Potamus that entertain me the most. This is not to take anything out of the other actors involved in the project, even the guest stars are superb (especially Frank Welker reprising his role as Freddy) and there's never a dull character or performance from anyone.

Harvey Birdman is one of the best in the range of 'adult' cartoons out there, it looks good, sounds amazing and has almost peerless comedy. It's fantastic fun for the generations that grew up with the old Hanna-Barbera cartoons and very watchable for others. I really can't recommend it enough, It'll only take approximately 400 minutes of your life to see all of it, but you'll certainly want to go back and watch it all again and again.



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