Who's the girl that saves the world?
(Birdgirl!)
Brings the fire, unique like pearls?
(Birdgirl!)
Who's the one they can't defeat?
(Birdgirl!)
Ultra fierce and so unique?
(Birdgirl! Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo! Birdgirl!)
Birdgirl is a 2021 Dramedy Western Animation cartoon created by Michael Ouweleen and Erik Richter for Cartoon Network's [adult swim] block with characters developed by Erik Richter and Christina Miller. The show is a Stealth Sequel and spinoff to Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law with production done by William Street.
Following the death of Sebben & Sebben's eccentric CEO, Phil Ken Sebben, his daughter Judy Ken Sebben (Paget Brewster) finds herself stepping into his shoes. Judy means well and wants to help, but she's got some obstacles in her way: primarily her excitable and incautious crime-fighting alter ego Birdgirl, whose approach to superheroics tends to leave a trail of collateral damage in its wake. Additionally, Sebben & Sebben tends to attract eccentric personnel and clients, whose ideas aren't always as ethical or sensible as Judy might like.
Helping her along the way are her employees and friends on "the Birdteam": Meredith the Mindtaker (Negin Farsad), Paul/The Feels (Tony Hale), Charlie/Strongarm (Lorelei Ramirez), Evie/Big Ten and her pet cat Birdcat.
It's revealed on October 4 that the show will have another season. The show premiered via Adult Swim on June 19, 2022 and HBO Max on June 20, 2022.
You can see the official AS website here
.
Birdgirl contains examples of:
- Artistic License – Economics: Birdgirl appoints Judy as her replacement CEO without proper protocol in a few seconds. Dog in Bucket Hat even points it out.
- Brick Joke: Judy lies about not going out to eat together with a fellow coworker in "Pilot" by telling him he's not repulsive when he complains he is. It's after he leaves that Judy tells herself she has to come up with a good excuse to avoid going out with him. At the end of the episode, days later, he returns, but he's turned down by Judy's whole team unable to make up an excuse.
- The Can Kicked Him: "Pilot" has a prototype smart toilet named Calypsis, meant to convert human waste into fertilizer discs, sprout arms and begin converting people, growing larger the more it consumes.
- Cassandra Truth: Judy doesn't believe Dog in Bucket Hat at first her father died because she's too used to him Faking the Dead, until she's shown a bag with his severed foot.
- Circular Reasoning: Birdgirl's first interaction with her secretary Gillian in "Pilot". Gillian can't unlock the CEO's office without approval from the CEO, and Birdgirl can't be the CEO because she's not in the office. Gillian then opens the office on Birdgirl's instructions, and because Gillian followed those instructions, Birdgirl must be the CEO.
- Dark Secret: "Baltimo" has one when Judy finds out that an unknown mineral dubbed Baltimo by Phil is used in company items and in a town called Sebben Town. The public never knew that it has a short halflife and the people who live in the town were consuming Baltimo that it's slowly killing them.
- Driven to Suicide: Sebben & Sebben has the highest suicide rate of all companies in the world.
- Faking the Dead: Averted: Judy initially doesn't believe Phil's actually dead, as he faked his death many times over the duration of Harvey Birdman. Dog in Bucket Hat tries producing Phil's eyepatch as proof they found a body.Judy: Please, he had a hundred of those eyepatches!
Dog in Bucket Hat: (takes out a wet paper bag) Here's his foot. - Make My Monster Grow: For some reason, Calypsis gets bigger the more it consumes people.
- MegaCorp: Sebben and Sebben has a hand in producing a wide range of products between the events of Harvey Birdman and the show.
- Mythology Gag:
- "Thirdgirl" has Gillian telling Judy on keeping her secret as Birdgirl. The image of Judy in court shows a Lizardman goon seated in the benches.
- Placebo Effect: Over the course of "Pilot", Meredith occasionally turns a "dial" in Birdgirl/Judy's brain that forces her to stop being Birdgirl (overexcited, unthinking, comically violent) and start communicating as Judy (a relatively normal person who needs to grieve the death of her father.) At the end of the episode, Meredith tries to tell Judy that there was no switch and Judy was in control of herself the entire time. Judy doesn't buy it.
- Secret-Keeper:
- Judy's team is made up of people who know her secret identity, though Brian only happened to become a part of the team because he accidentally overheard Charlie casually mentioning Judy's alter-ego.
- The ShareBears are therapeutic talking bears who give personal counseling to their owners while promising to never spill out their secrets to anyone...until Meredith accidentally reprograms them all to spout out loud the secrets they were told.
- It turns out Gillian takes Judy's identity as Birdgirl very seriously that she even goes to online boards to disagree with people completely being on the nail that both are the same person.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: In-Universe. Judy's decision to change the tuna can-like design of Topple Popple makes an irate woman fan of the old design to screw her company by sending a virus to it. Ultimately, Judy decides to keep the old design around next to a slimmer, taller design.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Sebben & Sebben's employees and much of their executive board react this way to Birdgirl's absentee management style and destructive tendencies while in the office, to the point of voting to replace her in "Pilot" as the CEO.
