Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law (sometimes referred to simply as Harvey Birdman) is an American animated television series comedy created by Williams Street and produced by Cartoon Network Studios that aired on Cartoon Network during its Adult Swim late night programming block. The series' pilot first aired in 2000,^[1] and later became a series in 2001.^[2] The show revolves around the activity of the Sebben & Sebben law firm, which is staffed mainly by superheroes and other characters who had originally been featured in 1960s-era Hanna-Barbera cartoons, most notably Birdman and the Galaxy Trio. The series had its final episode on July 22, 2007. The show also screens in Australia on The Comedy Channel as part of the channel's Adult Swim block of programming.

Premise[link]

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law features ex-superhero Harvey T. Birdman of Birdman and the Galaxy Trio as an attorney working for a law firm alongside other cartoon stars from 1960s and 1970s Hanna-Barbera cartoon series. Similarly, Harvey's clients are also primarily composed of characters taken from Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the same era. Many of Birdman's nemeses featured in his former cartoon series also became attorneys, often representing the opposing side of a given case.

Harvey usually fills the role of a criminal defense attorney, though he will act as a civil litigator or other such job when the plot calls for it. The series uses a surrealist style of comedy, featuring characters, objects, and jokes that are briefly introduced and rarely (if ever) referenced thereafter. Also, because the series relies heavily on pop culture references to classic television animation, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law constantly delves into parody, even featuring clips of these series or specially-created scenes which mimic the distinctive style of the animation being referenced.^[3] Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law is the first Williams Street cartoon to maintain continuity through the entire series. Various episodes reference Harvey's (or another superhero's) former crimefighting career. The episode "Turner Classic Birdman" even serves to bridge the gap between Birdman and the Galaxy Trio and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.^{[citation needed]}

Instead of rigid plot structure, much of the humor is derived from the fact that superheroes and supervillains are given more realistic and human qualities, such as a mad scientist named Dr. Myron Reducto, who becomes a paranoid prosecutor. Also, several of the plots revolve around the popular myths about classic Hanna-Barbera characters, such as Shaggy and Scooby-Doo being stoners.

Production[link]

Although the first season was animated using traditional cel animation, the remaining seasons were animated using Adobe Flash. The reason for the switch was that the animation studio was having difficulty maintaining the fast pace of the show, and thus the production of episodes slowed down due to constant retakes. By animating the series at Turner Studios in Atlanta, Georgia with Flash, not only were problems corrected faster, but production costs were much lower.^{[citation needed]} Some animation was also done for the show at Bardel Entertainment in Vancouver, British Columbia.^{[citation needed]}

Characters[link]

Episodes[link]

Voice cast[link]

Gary Cole provides the voice of the lead role, Harvey Birdman.

Guest appearances[link]

• Larry Morris – Harvey Birdman in live action segments (numerous episodes)

• Paul Adelstein – Murro the Marauder
• Jack Angel – General / Drunk Man / Additional Voices (in "Very Personal Injury")
• Dee Bradley Baker – Jonny Quest, Lizard Man
• Michael Bell – Zan
• Jeff Bergman – George Jetson (in "Shaggy Busted")
• Mary Birdsong – Tana
• Lewis Black – Eliot The Deadly Duplicator
• Steven Blum – Yakky Doodle (in "Gone Efficien...t" and "Identity Theft"), Clamhead
• Omid Djalili - The Perfectionist
• Bill Farmer – Secret Squirrel
• Pamelyn Ferdin – Sallie
• Keith Ferguson – Bill Ken Sebben
• Nika Futterman – Debbie (in "High Speed Buggy Chase")
• Mark Hamill – Ricochet Rabbit
• Toby Huss – Ernie Devlin, Shado
• Scott Innes – Shaggy Rogers, Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo
• David Kaye -
• Tom Kenny – Boo-Boo Bear, Elroy Jetson, Top Cat, Choo Choo
• David Koechner – Cubby McQuilken
• Steve Landesberg - Dr. Quincy, Bailiff (in "The Dabba Don")
• David Lodge -
• Tress MacNeille – Wilma Flintstone, Pebbles Flintstone
• Diane Michelle – Jane Jetson, Orbity
• Laraine Newman – Sybil Schussler
• Rob Paulsen – Baba Looey
• Thom Pinto – Race Bannon
• Doug Preis – Thundarr, Beegle Beagle
• Kevin Michael Richardson – Barney Rubble
• Joseph Seal - Bobby
• André Sogliuzzo – Dynomutt
• B.J. Ward – Velma Dinkley
• Frank Welker - Fred Jones, Jabberjaw, Biff
• Billy West – Dr. Zin
• Wally Wingert – Hadji, Mr. Harry Twiddles, Moby Dick, George Jetson (in "Back to the Present"), Astro

Reception[link]

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law was named the 91st best animated series by IGN. They compared it to Space Ghost Coast to Coast, a show that is also based on an old Hanna Barbara cartoon, and called it a clever show.^[4]

DVD releases[link]

Each DVD is in the shape of a law book, each season's box art is nearly identical, the only change for each season is the background color (Season 1 is brown-purple, Season 2 is blue and Season 3 is black), the small picture next to the title, and the title itself also appears different.

Additionally, all of the episodes are available on the "Build a Custom DVD" feature on the Adult Swim website.

Music[link]

The theme song is an edited version of the song "Slow Moody Blues" written by Reg Tilsley. Other notable songs used in the show include Charlie Steinman's "It Is Such A Good Night" (AKA "Scoobidoo Love") and a lyricless version of Gianni Morandi's "La Mia Mania" (AKA "Okay Maria").

Video game[link]

A video game based on the series has been released for the PlayStation 2,^[5] Wii^[6] and PlayStation Portable^[7] video game consoles.

It was developed by High Voltage Software and published by Capcom, with gameplay mechanics similar to Capcom's Ace Attorney series. It was released on January 8, 2008.

See also[link]

• List of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law episodes
• Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law (video game)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law

• Official website
• Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law at the Internet Movie Database
• Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law at TV.com
• IGN's 10 Questions: Harvey Birdman
• IGN's review of the DVD set, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Volume 1

Attorney at law or attorney-at-law, usually abbreviated in everyday speech to attorney, is the official name for a lawyer in certain jurisdictions, including, Japan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and the United States.

England and Wales[link]

The term was also used in England and Wales for lawyers who practised in the common law courts. In 1873, however, attorneys were redesignated solicitors (which had always been the title for those lawyers who practised in the courts of equity). Attorneys did not generally actually appear as advocates in the higher courts, a role reserved (as it still usually is) for barristers.

In England and Wales,^[1] references in any enactment to attorneys must be construed as references to solicitors of the Senior Courts.^[2]

Northern Ireland[link]

References in any statutory provision in force in Northern Ireland to attorneys must be construed as references to solicitors of the Court of Judicature.^[3]

See also[link]

• Attorneys in Japan
• Attorneys in Sri Lanka
• Attorneys in the United States
• Attorneys in South Africa

References[link]