Beginning April 18, 2004 a brand-spanking new season of Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law begins. Continuing his interpretations and sometimes consternations with those in legal jeopardy, Harvey does what he can to save the hind side of cartoon has-beens and to save the credibility of the law firm as well. This review covers three of the first four new episodes; I jumbled them into one review because, well, they're fifteen minute episodes after all...

First, some history. The original Birdman animated series was made by the animation legends William Hanna (1910-2001) and Joseph Barbera (1911-present) way, way back in the day. It is doubtful that there is anyone that frequently browses Animation Insider that was keen on the original airings of Birdman and the Galaxy Trio back in September of 1967. Created and designed by Space Ghost artist Alex Toth (1928-present), this animated series helped propel the industry into an interesting new age of character personalities and such, some of which also spilled over into the wonderful world of comic books. Those lovely concepts of super-heroes facing super-villains, both with astronomical powers and abilities not only allowed for fans of such designs to catch a glimpse of pioneering artwork, but it also allowed for a television program for some kids to busy themselves with. Alas, good ol Ray Randall only dawned the outfit for two seasons… and yet strangely enough, he was reborn 34 years later as "Harvey Birdman," and with just as much knowledge and superhero wit as before… kind of.

Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law is a new animated series where "Harvey Birdman" takes to the courtroom helping other cartoon characters (usually other Hanna-Barbera characters) get out of, or perhaps around the law. Also many characters have been added and/or reprised, both enemies and allies for this comedic adventure. I won't go through all of the interesting tweaks and changes, but for a bit of fun research the original cast of characters the original series and contrast it to Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law, there are some interesting parallels. In any case, some fans of Adult Swim dislike Harv's show because it uses an odd sense of humor, with its frenetic pacing and character development as well as its (rather intentional) lack of seriousness. Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law is filled with a kind of low-brow humor that can only be appreciated by fans of animation that prefer to just sit back and do absolutely nothing. Not to say that you can never 'get anything' out of the show, but only to say that if you go into watching this program expecting something ultra dynamic and revolutionary you will be greatly disappointed.

More recently, in the episode entitled "Trio's Company," for example, the series gives viewers a more lose look at Harvey; rather than finding humor in the courtroom it finds humor in an array of other settings. I know that the show oftentimes tries to balance the comedic drama of Harvey's life and the courtroom, but "Trio's Company" falls onto the side of Harvey hands-down. In the episode Harvey joins a fitness club/gym because he's getting a little out of shape. And as the episode goes on he becomes infatuated with the personal trainer Gigi (voiced by Debi May West), therefore bringing out his true nature, a pathetic, lonely, and slightly insecure attorney. Unfortunately for Harvey, the luscious and half-exotic Gigi is offering herself to just about every guy she meets but him. such is life... So, Harvey's sidetracked from his case in the courtroom for a somewhat reasonable agenda; and although this episode is fairly predictable in its plot scheme, it is still quite funny. The many underlying themes of the Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law episode "Trio's Company" do in fact include relationship tension, love versus infatuation, and workplace discrimination.

Which reminds me, Harvey's case in this episode is for Inch High Private Eye, who was fired because of his short stature. Inch High (voiced by Maurice LaMarche), poor guy, cant' get his case taken seriously due to the fact that Harvey is distracted by Gigi. But it's pretty funny though when he drives himself nuts trying to get the attention of all of the giants, nothing ever seems to work when you are only one inch high. And as you can guess, Reducto goes absolutely ballistic when he first sees Inch High... Probably one of the funniest things I've seen in a while, is when he just throws his arms up in the air and just runs around, screaming his head off, it's hilarious. If you're any sort of Reducto fan, don't miss this episode; it has some very, very good Reducto parts in it. By the way, the animation Turner Studios (with direction by Richard Ferguson-Hull) did for the "reduction" Reducto's gun causes was excellent. It wasn't blocky or out of proportion or odd looking at all. I'd venture to say they used some alternative animation techniques in doing it, because it looked so smooth, but that's still a rather loose-ended guess.