Barbara Gordon, formerly Batgirl, is now Oracle, an information specialist who uses Helena Kyle, aka Huntress, to undertake missions to clean up the dirty streets of New Gotham. As they investigate a series of murders, Dinah Lance, a girl with the power to see inside people's minds when she touches them, joins them.

I immediately have some problems with this show, as it's taken characters I like from the DC comic and radically rewritten them. However, for the sake of dramatic impact, there's no reason why things can't be changed around if it's done well, and I keep thinking of my Mum's refusal to watch Lois & Clark on the basis that it wasn't like Superman. I do want to see this series, so I have to get over the pointless prejudice, especially as it is, it has to be said, done well.

The look and tone of the series is perfect. The streets and alleys of New Gotham are dark and quite scary, and it really does look as thought a lot of money has been spent on the series. Technically, it's splendid. Where it lets itself down a little is in the script. It doesn't seem to be entirely sure which way to jump: should it introduce the main leads? The love interest? The evil villain of the year? How much back-story relating to Batman should be gone into, getting viewers interested without making them want more Batman every week? Because all these questions are trying to be answered at once, things seem a little unbalanced, with sudden leaps to get the plot moving on while still allowing the traditional introductory parts. It does make the whole thing seem rather bitty and not flowing very well, including the fact that the person responsible for all the murders is found and taken out awfully quickly after very little investigation. He does seem to have helpfully left gigantic clues behind.

However, it's hardly all bad news. The dialogue, while not really sparkling, is certainly more than good enough, and the three leads seem genuinely like a team that you'd like to spend each week with. There's a respect between them through the banter, and by the end they seem like more of a team. My concern is in the set-up of the series. I'm hoping the producers don't feel it necessary to keep flashing back to Batgirl in action just so Dina Meyer can get a bit of exercise, and I'd like Dinah to get to grips with some martial arts training quickly as being inept in battle in a place like New Gotham is liable to get her killed within a week. I also don't want some kind of metahuman turning up every week and doing something; there should be more to the series than this, and we can get enough of that on Smallville, which incidentally gets a subtle throwaway mention.

The alterations of this pilot since the original are pretty negligible; the opening scene with Dina and a potential boyfriend does a nice job of showing Barbara has some kind of life, but Mia Sara doesn't really stand out as Harley Quinn. Maybe it's just a matter of time, and the red costume and lunatic attitude might alter this viewpoint. As long as it can keep things ticking over okay in as varied a fashion as possible, this show should run for a fair old while.

***

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