Movies: DVD Reviews

'Toons grow up, but luckily, we don't have to

"Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: Season One"
(Warner Home Video, $29.98)
(TV show)
(DVD format and extras)

To give you an idea of how few and far-between the episodes of the excellent animated show "Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law" air, here's the schedule for the first few episodes. Pilot: December 2000. Second episode: September 2001. Third episode: July 2002.

To be fair, the show has brought the pace up since then, but as of 2005, only 20 episodes of the show (whose episodes are about 11 minutes long each) have aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block of Sunday night animated shows.

Perhaps because of its molasses, HBO-like production cycle (new episodes are said to be on the way in June), "Harvey Birdman" might be the best Adult Swim 'toon. Immaculately timed comedy and great voice work (from the likes of Gary Cole as the titular character, "Daily Show" regular Stephen Colbert and Peter MacNicol, to name a few) give life to the peculiar story of a washed-up superhero practicing law. The wing-sporting attorney defends Hanna-Barbera characters such as Scooby-Doo and Shaggy (for pot possession) and Yogi's pal Boo-Boo Bear (for domestic terrorism; he's dubbed "The Unabooboo").

As revealed in the commentary for some of the show's first 13 episodes, "Birdman" creators Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter are perfectionists who control every detail of the show, from its off-kilter random humor to its new-but-not-too-new look. The results can be sublime: the set's standout episode, "The Dabba Don," features Fred Flintstone as a Tony Soprano-esque mob boss. Transcending its recycled-animation roots, "Birdman" flies here with one of smartest, funniest episodes of any Adult Swim show. Other extras, including a surprisingly unamusing commentary for Turner Broadcasting's standards and practices staffers, are minimal. That's all right. Ouweleen and Richter would better spend their time cranking out more episodes of "Harvey Birdman."
-- Omar Gallaga

"Space Ghost Coast to Coast: Volume Three"
(Warner Home Video, $29.98)
(TV show)
(DVD format and extras)

By the third season, "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" had solidified into the weird elder statesman of Cartoon Network's original programming. Debuting a few years before Adult Swim staples such as "Harvey Birdman" and the truly whacked "Aqua Teen Hunger Force," the show had moved from being an odd 15-minute "talk show" that recycled images from the old Hanna-Barbera cartoon into one of the strangest and most innovative programs on television, quarter-hour blasts full-on surrealism. The talk-show format became less and less important, occasionally abandoned entirely for digressions of an increasingly random nature. It was as if there were an ongoing challenge on "Coast to Coast" production houses: How far can we depart from various narrative rules before the ideas of "talk show" "TV show" or "basic narrative" are scrapped entirely, in favor of, say, Randy Savage voicing Space Ghost's grandfather, a Space Ghost telethon, a guest turn by an inept Birdman.

Extras include decent commentaries, but the set is worth owning for "The 1st Annual World Premier Toon In" essentially a half-hour promo for Cartoon Network's first round of original programming, including the "Powerpuff Girls" who went on to conquer the world. Set up like a game show, it's simply one of the funniest half-hours of 1990s, even if the cartoon samples have been excised.
-- Joe Gross

"Teen Titans, Volume 2 -- Switched"
(Warner Home Video, $19.97)
(TV show)
(DVD format and extras)

It's good to be a Teen Titan. You live in a sweet T-shaped tower, you fight crime with your friends and you have the catchiest theme song on TV. Oh, and then there are your super powers. But even with all of that, you're still a teen, and that means some angst.

"Teen Titans, Volume 2 -- Switched" collects the second half of the Cartoon Network hit's first season. The seven episodes combine clever adventures and emotionally satisfying character development. There are the expected lessons about life, friendship and teamwork but they're never heavy-handed.

The Titans are stubborn Robin (of "Batman and ..." fame), sweet alien Starfire, cool tech-guy Cyborg, brooding sorceress Raven and wisecracking shape-shifter Beast Boy. The characters are well-defined, and each takes a turn in the spotlight. The episodes are uniformly strong. Eleven-year-old co-reviewer Alex's favorites were "Deep Six," in which Beast Boy finds a witty way to defeat an underwater foe, and "Mad Mod," which boasted eye-popping M.C. Escher-like visuals. The grown-ups had a preference for the two episodes involving Robin's obsession with the villain Slade, in which the head Titan has to confront his dark side.

The extras are a mixed bag. An interview with Puffy AmiYumi, the Japanese group who sings the theme song, went on so long that we were all bored senseless, even the one of us whose impossible dream in life is to be in a Japanese pop-punk girl group (hint: It's not Alex or his dad, Jeff). The video game based on the "Deep Six" episode felt tacked on, ace gamer Alex reported. On the other hand, two short episodes of a 'toon called "The Hiros," about a couple of hipster teen crimefighters, made us eager to see more, and the trailers are all tantalizing, especially the one for another "Titans" volume. Don't wait till you have a handy 11-year-old around to check either one out.
-- Sarah Lindner