Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is a comedic television animated series that airs on Cartoon Network during its Adult Swim late night programming block. Each episode is twelve minutes long and like Cartoon Network's Space Ghost Coast to Coast, the show features a cast of characters from 1960s-era Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Most of the characters on the show originally appeared in the series Birdman and the Galaxy Trio. The current show revolves around the day-to-day activities of the Sebben and Sebben law firm staffed mainly by superheroes. The show is currently produced by Cartoon Network and Turner Studios.

The newest season will air on Adult Swim on July 24 2005.

Contents

1 Premise 2 Characters 2.1 Sebben and Sebben 2.2 Court 2.3 Others 2.3.1 Superheroes 2.3.2 Hangers-on 3 Cast 3.1 Guest Appearances 4 Crew 5 Episodes 5.1 Season 1 5.2 Season 2 5.3 Season 3 5.4 DVD Box Sets 6 See also 7 External link

Premise

This show stars Birdman as a defense attorney, working for various animated characters from old Hanna-Barbera cartoons. It features cameos from numerous cartoons, including Scooby Doo (episode "Shaggy Busted") and The Flintstones (episode "The Dabba Don").

Characters

Sebben and Sebben

• Harvey Birdman is a retired superhero, now working for the law firm of Sebben and Sebben. In the sixties he starred in the Hanna-Barbera show Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, but that has gone by the wayside. Superheroing in general seems to be passé in Harvey's world. Most of the villains are retired, and the SuperFriends have started laying off their less important functionaries. Harvey is a guy with large wings growing out of his back and a mask covering his face. He wears a suit at work on top of his old costume. He gets strength and power from sunlight, and grows weak if kept away from the sun for too long (although tanning lotion can give him a quick fix). He can fly, create a solid light shield, and shoot energy beams from his hands. He rarely does these things nowadays, what with him being officially out of the hero biz. Harvey is a generally nice guy, although not particularly good at his job. He is easily pushed around, and delegates most of the actual legal work to his legal assistant, Avenger. His clients consist of other Hanna-Barbera characters of the past and present. He desperately wants to advance in life and become a partner in the law firm, but his insane boss Phil obviously has no intention of promoting him. His most prized possession is his "lucky mug". There is a "crest" on the forehead of Harvey's mask, which may or may not be the source of his powers. Nobody seems to know for sure, although X The Eliminator would do anything to get his hands on it. He is six and a half feet tall.

• Avenger is a large purple eagle with a mean streak. He (she? Avenger's gender was called into question in one episode where he/she appeared to have laid an egg. Even Harvey isn't positive if Avenger is male or female) sits on a perch on Harvey's desk, and sleeps in a canary cage in the office at night. Avenger is far better at law than Harvey is (even capable of making a case simply by squawking), and is excellent at taking dictation. He is extremely nasty at times, and is responsible for the deaths of Jonny Quest's dog Bandit, as well as Scrappy Doo. He dislikes Peanut.

• Peanut looks exactly like Birdman's old sometime-sidekick Birdboy, only with a pink vest on. Because he doesn't use this name, and only recently developed superpowers, it is unclear whether or not they are actually the same person. Peanut is devious, violent, self-absorbed, conniving... and those are his good traits. He often seems in a world of his own, talking nonsense and insulting other characters apparently out of the blue. He can speak Japanese, possibly learned from his time working at an oriental "Baltimazation" plant. Harvey hired Peanut as a clerk, to help keep his office organized. Despite this, he has never been seen to do any sort of useful work, and mainly hangs around getting on peoples' nerves. When Harvey announced his intention to hire a clerk Avenger got upset, thinking he was being replaced as Harvey's second banana. Because of this there is some bad blood between Peanut and Avenger, which Peanut does little to defuse: "Polly want a beating?" Unlike Birdman, Peanut's powers are not natural. His wings are metal, and his shield and energy beams come from "power bands" on his wrists.

• Phil Ken Sebben is the president and founder of the law firm Sebben and Sebben. Back when Birdman was a superhero Phil was his boss, Falcon Seven. Phil is a blond man with an eyepatch and a dark suit. The fact that he is missing an eye gives him a poor perception of spatial relationships, and he often sees people and objects as being a couple feet away from where they really are. Phil is clearly a little bit out of touch with reality, and at times seems downright insane. He is also a bit paranoid. Phil has the odd tendency of laughing out of place, and repeating or re-iterating dirty or strange aspects of his own speech. Example: "Good things come to those who wait. HA HA! Come!" or (on the subject of cookie bouquets) "HA HA HA! Cookies on dowels!". Phil is even more incompetent at his job than Birdman is, is a terrible driver, won the silver medal in the Laff-a-lympics for judo, and has numerous sexual hangups. Despite showing no skill as a leader or businessman, his company seems quite profitable. The toilets in the executive bathroom are made out of solid gold, many rich and famous characters hire his employees, and a recent episode at a financial meeting showed graphs that indicate things are only getting better. Phil's goal is to make enough money to buy a lake house where he can run around naked all day ("HA HA! Dangly parts!"). Phil has demonstrated the ability on a couple of occasions to hear Harvey's thoughts.

• Peter Potamus works at the law firm of Sebben and Sebben, although it is unclear what he does. The former star of Peter Potamus and His Magic Flying Balloon, he is the ultimate annoying co-worker, showing up at awkward moments, stealing things, photocopying his butt, and parking his dirigible so it blocks Harvey's parking space. He has never been seen to do any actual work, merely to bother people by asking them "Did you get that thing I sent you?"

• A bear works at Sebben and Sebben. Nobody knows why. He is just there. Doesn't speak, doesn't have a name, just sort of shows up. Nobody seems to question this. Mostly he turns up in crowd shots.

• Azul Falcone is a Spanish lawyer who is very charming and popular. Actually the superhero Blue Falcon, Falcone was made partner in the Sebben & Sebben firm (which became Sebben, Sebben and Falcone), when Phil passed over Harvey for a promotion. In actuality, Falcone is even more incompetant than Birdman, relying on his sidekick Dyno-Mutt for all the work. His brief moment in the sun seems to have been short-lived, most well known for his original appearance; he got Harvey jailed for five years as a 40th birthday bash for him. In the episodes since his arrival, the law firm has gone back to being called Sebben and Sebben, and he was last seen as an attendant at the executive bathroom.

Court

• Judge Mentok the Mindtaker was a former enemy of Birdman. He has various psychic powers including the ability to teleport, read minds, hypnotize, see the future, and move things with telekenesis - all referred to as "mind taking". He is a terrible showoff, and can barely get through a minute of conversation without boasting about his abilities. He claims to know everything, and often predicts the outcome of the cases he presides over before they have even started. Instead of a gavel, he uses a brain on a stick. He is incapable of entering the courtroom without some of grand entrance, such as appearing in a cloud of smoke or from a bolt of lightning. Often these elaborate entrances are accompanied by an announcement from the court room's bailiff, who seems entirely unimpressed.

• Judge Hiram Mightor was a Hannah Barbera super-hero of the sixties known as the Mighty Mightor, one who lived in prehistoric times and got his powers from a magic club. He uses such a club as his gavel and speaks with a southern accent. He has trouble remembering names, calling Birdman everything from "Birdbath", "Beanbag" to "Bootylicious". He dresses in traditional judges robes and wig, the effect of which is slightly marred by the large horns that protrude from the top of his mask. He has an odd tendency to cough strange things up while speaking, such as a live squirrel or a small car full of clowns. After crossing Fred "The Dabba Don" Flintstone, Mightor was pinned under a huge block of stone and replaced in the courtroom by Mentok. Since then he has only appeared in small roles on the show, though he did temporarily take over for Mentok again when the former had to perform at his nephew's birthday party. Mightor is known to be somewhat corrupt: he has taken bribes from the "Guitar Lobby" and used to take them from organized crime groups as well.

• Myron Reducto is an attorney at a rival law firm, and is Harvey's most common courtroom opponent. He is a very small man with green tinged skin, who brandishes a shrink-ray. He and Birdman were bitter enemies back during the old days, but seem to have put aside their differences, clashing only on a professional level. They often eat lunch together and have even been known to carpool to court together. Reducto, unlike most of the former hero/villian characters, seems to have a great deal of trouble letting go of his past. He obsessively points his shrink-ray at anything that moves, shouting things like "Back off! I'll make you fun-sized!". He is obsessed with size, and prefers everything to be small, often shrinking innocent bystanders and nearby objects just because they are there. On the one occasion he met someone who was naturally smaller than himself (Inch High Private Eye) his response was to shrink himself down and engage him in hand to hand combat. Reducto is paranoid delusional, and believes in all sorts of crazy conspiracy theories.

• Vulturo is another of Harvey's rival lawyers. Vulturo is much like Birdman himself: both wear bird based costumes and hang around with large birds. He was a villain in Birdman's old show. His primary set-back is a speech impediment that he seems entirely unaware of. He starts out talking in a normal voice, but soon trails off into incomprehensible gibberish. This seems to have little effect on his success rate as a lawyer.

• Stan Freezoid is yet another former-villian-turned-lawyer. A metal robot with the power of freezing anything he touches, he talks like a nice guy, but has a terrible temper when ignored or angered.

• Evelyn Spyro Threakmorton is another villian/lawyer. He is obsessed with drama. He acts very theatrically and stages plays in the courtroom as arguments.

Others

Superheroes

• Apache Chief is a superhero like Birdman. He is a member of the SuperFriends who was laid off during budget cuts. He has the power to grow to enormous sizes. He temporarily lost this ability to "enlarge" when he spilled hot coffee on his genitals. He regained it when turned on by a beautiful woman. This marks the first in a long line of running gags throughout the series that equate superheroics with sexuality. Young heroes go through "superty" when they develop their powers, and start to notice bad-guys. Fighting a villain for the first time is the equivalent to losing one's virginity. Apache Chief activated his enlargement power by saying "Inuk-chuk!". After getting laid off he did a series of odd jobs, and even starred in some pornographic movies with names like "The Chief's Tee-Pee" and "The Chief's Totem Pole". He and Birdman remain friends, sharing the common bond of being second tier heroes at best. Although his powers have returned, Apache Chief is still wary around hot liquids.

• Black Vulcan is the lone black member of the SuperFriends. He believes that his race is secretly the reason he was among those laid off. Incidentally, the real reason that these characters are the only Superfriends to appear in the show (along with a brief cameo by Zan of the Wonder Twins) is that they alone were created specifically for the Hanna Barbera Super Friends show, and thus are the only ones the company has copyrighted. Other heroes, like Batman and Wonder Woman never have their faces shown. Black Vulcan has the power of electricity "in his pants", meaning the ability to turn to a lightning bolt from the waist down and fly. He can also throw lightning bolts. He has since formed a minority based super-team called the Multiculture Pals along with Apache Chief. He prefers to be called Supervolt, claiming that Black Vulcan was thought up as a racist joke by Aquaman. When he appears in the show he usually works some variation on the phrase "In my pants" into his dialog.

Hangers-on

• X the Eliminator is a former villian of Birdman's who is far more pathetic than threatening. He was hired by the organization F.E.A.R. to eliminate Birdman by stealing his crest, and offered a million dollars for doing so. He misunderstood the order as "crust" and failed in his mission. In the years since, he has grown increasingly pitiful. He is fat, whiny, and obsessed with killing Birdman and taking his crest. In fact, this obsession with his enemy has grown to the point of a stalking. X has Birdman posters and paraphenalia all over his house, a talking Birdman phone, and a huge awkward machine which fires lasers which he intends to use on Birdman. Unfortunately, the machine takes so long to charge up that it is next to useless. For what it's worth, Harvey barely seems to notice he is there at all. X's obsession with Birdman, and with getting his hands on his crest, is another example of the way the relationship between heroes and villians is given sexual overtones in the show.

• Gigi (Gravity Girl) is Harvey's girlfriend/wife. Sort of. She is an absolute tramp who has slept with every character in the show except Harvey. She is an aerobics instructor who has been married many times, and never gotten a divorce. She moved in with Harvey and claims to love him, but refuses even to kiss him, a privilege she extends to everyone else, even complete strangers. She married Harvey, along with 6 other characters, by the end of her first episode. Later she turned up pregnant with a baby she claimed was Harvey's (though they have never had sex). It was later revealed that the father of the child was Grape Ape.

Cast

• Gary Cole as Harvey Birdman, Hiram Mightor
• Stephen Colbert as Myron Reducto, Phil Ken Sebben
• John Michael Higgins as Mentok
• Peter MacNicol as X the Eliminator
• Pietro Cavallo dell'Acqua as Avenger
• Joe Alaskey/Chris Edgerly as Peter Potamus
• Debi Mae West as Gigi
• Maurice LaMarche as Apache Chief, Stan Freezoid and Azul Falcone
• Michael McKean as Spyro
• Neil Ross as Vulturo
• Phil LaMarr as Black Vulcan
• Matt Peccini as The Bear

Guest Appearances

• Billy West as Dr. Zin (in "Bannon Custody Case")
• Dee Bradley Baker as Jonny Quest (in "Bannon Custody Case")
• Jack Angel as various voices (in "Very Personal Injury")
• André Sogliuzzo as Dynomutt (in "Deadomutt Part 1")
• Laraine Newman as Sybil Schussler (in "Very Personal Injury")
• Michael Bell as Zan (in "Very Personal Injury")
• Neil Ross as Dr. Benton Quest (in "Bannon Custody Case")
• Thom Pinto as Race Bannon (in "Bannon Custody Case")
• Wally Wingert as Hadji (in "Bannon Custody Case")
• Tom Kenny as Boo-Boo Bear (in "Death By Chocolate")
• Toby Huss as Ernie Devlin (in "The Devlin Made Me Do It"}

Crew

• Michael Ouweleen, Erik Richter -- Creators/Writers

• Evan W. Adler -- Producer

• Richard Ferguson-Hull -- Director (Second and Third Seasons)
• Ben Jones -- Director (First Season)
• Vincent Waller -- Director (First Season)
• JJ Sedelmaier -- Director (Pilot)

• Kevin Desmarais -- Line Producer
• Lisa Jones -- Associate Producer

• Dan Sousa -- Storyboards, Animation
• Sean Lattrell -- Storyboards

• Les Harper -- Lead Animator (Episodes 10-19)
• Steve Vitale -- Lead Animator (Episodes 20-29)
• Brian DeTagyos -- Animator
• Jon Henshaw -- Animator
• Bryan Capik -- Animator
• Adam Fuchs -- Animator
• Mario Orlando -- Animator

• Victor Beitzel -- Ink and Paint, Special Systems
• Jeff Brody -- Composite

Episodes

Season 1

1. Bannon Custody Case
2. Very Personal Injury
3. Shaggy Busted
4. Death By Chocolate
5. Shoyu Weenie
6. The Dabba Don
7. Deadomutt Part 1
8. Deadomutt Part 2
9. X, The Exterminator

Season 2

1. SPF
2. The Devlin Made Me Do It
3. Trio's Company
4. High Speed Buggy Chase
5. Back To The Present
6. Blackwatch Plaid
7. Grape Juiced
8. Peanut Puberty
9. Gone Efficien...t
10. Droopy Botox

Season 3

1. Guitar Control
2. Booty Noir
3. Harvey's Civvy
4. X Gets The Crest
5. Birdgirl of Guantanamole

DVD Box Sets

Warner Home Video released "Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Vol. 1" on DVD on April 12 2005, alongside the third boxset of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. The boxset contains the first 13 episodes of the show on 2 discs, along with commentaries on selected episodes, deleted scenes, and other special features.

See also

• Adult Swim

External link

• Official Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law Website (http://www.adultswim.com/shows/birdman/index.html)