Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, Vol. 1
Of all the "re-imagining" wreaked upon the Hanna-Barbera animated  catalog by Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programs,Harvey Birdman:  Attorney at Lawis probably their most deliriously creative effort.  The series revives second-string '60s avian heroBirdman, and  via a combination of old clips and new animation, recasts him as a  crusading lawyer (voiced by Gary Cole) who defends the rights of other  cartoon characters. That Harvey is pitted in the courtroom against old  supervillain foes, who have followed his lead and become prosecutors  and judges, is one problem--but even more challenging are the pickles  his fellow Hanna-Barbera creations find themselves in: Harvey must  clear Fred Flintstone of organized crime charges ("The Dabba Don,"  perhaps the first season's most clever episode); prove that Boo Boo is  not the notorious bomber known as the "Unabooboo" ("Death by  Chocolate"); and on a more personal note, contend with an addiction to  self-tanning cream ("SPF").   Obviously,Harvey Birdman's humor  isn't for every viewer, but for those with a taste for the offbeat, the  frequently hilarious scripts (mostly by show creators Michael Ouweleen  and Eric Richter) and terrific vocal performances by Cole, Stephen  Colbert (as evil prosecutor Reducto) and John Michael Higgins's Judge  Mentok the Mind-Taker (as well as guests like Michael McKean,Spongebob Squarepants' Tom Kenny, and Peter MacNicol) make the  show a cracked delight.Volume 1's two-disc set compiles all nine episodes of the first  season and four from season 2 (the episodes are presented in order of  production--"Blackwatch Plaid" is not included here); extras include  deleted scenes, a faux movie trailer, and commentary by Ouweleen,  Richter, and director Richard Ferguson-Hull on five episodes, with the  option on "The Dabba Don" to also hear representatives from the  network's legal and Standards and Practices departments comment on the  validity of Harvey's legal decisions.--Paul Gaita