| Gotham Girls | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | |
| Written by | Paul Dini Hilary Bader |
| Starring | Adrienne Barbeau Arleen Sorkin Diane Pershing Tara Strong Stacie Randall Jennifer Hale Bob Hastings Tom Kenny Dee Bradley Baker |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 30(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Producers | Jeremy Rosenberg Ben Stein |
| Running time | 2–5 minutes (more with interactive elements) |
| Production companies | NoodleSoup Productions Warner Bros. Animation |
| Original release | |
| Network | warnerbros.com |
| Release | July 27, 2000 (2000-07-27) – November 19, 2002 (2002-11-19) |
Gotham Girls is an American animated web series focusing on several of the female characters ofGotham City, produced jointly byWarner Bros. Animation and Noodle Soup Productions. The series, which ran from 2000 to 2002, starredHarley Quinn,Poison Ivy,Batgirl,Catwoman,Renee Montoya andZatanna in short stories of varying length about the daily lives of the characters. It takes place in theDC Animated Universe, withArleen Sorkin,Diane Pershing,Adrienne Barbeau,Tara Strong, andBob Hastings reprising their roles fromBatman the Animated Series andThe New Batman Adventures.
It is also the name of a related comic book series.
Gotham Girls is one of the few series ofFlash animations made by a professional publisher of mainstream cartoons, and features professional voice-acting by the same actresses and actors as those who voiced the television series. Its use of Flash (and alsovector graphics) enables the animation to appear undistorted and unpixellated at anyresolution. However, the episodes do not tend to show the Symbols (the pieces used to create the flash) outside of the intended viewing area. For example, in Season 1 Episode 1 while the light beam on Harley continues off screen, her body is only drawn for the dimensions of the intended viewing area.
Each episode features a mini-game or puzzle which can be played while the clip downloads, as well as an interactive feature which allows viewers to help a character make a certain decision.
Other features of the website include downloadable trailers, screensavers, desktop backgrounds, internet chat buddy icons, as well as biographies of the characters, and an online version of the classic game Othello (aka Reversi) featuring the Gotham Girls. The screensavers, desktop backgrounds and internet chat buddy icon sites, however, no longer work, and simply redirect to the Warner Bros. website, as the Gotham Girls website also does.
The series lasted for three seasons (10 episodes each), with each episode released month-by-month. While the first two seasons featured primarily comedic episodes, the third season attempted to make the show more serious. These episodes linked directly toBatman & Mr. Freeze: SubZero. Dropping the magicianZatanna from its lineup and adding a host of new characters to the cast, includingDetective Renee Montoya, each episode from this series tied into the next, forming a collective half-hourwhodunit. The storyline also dealt with issues not seen sinceBatman: The Animated Series, such as the corruption of the Gotham City Police Department,Poison Ivy's environmental crusade andCommissioner Gordon's wavering faith in costumed superheroes. The series takes place in theDC animated universe.
The series finale "Cold Hands, Cold Heart" aired in 2002, wrapping up the mystery and ending the website. The final episode was dedicated to the memory ofHilary J. Bader, script writer for numerous DC Animated series, and who had died in November 7, 2002, of breast cancer.
GothamGirls.com is no longer online, but the individual .swf files were still accessible until mid-2015.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 10 | July 27, 2000 (2000-07-27) | December 14, 2000 (2000-12-14) | |
| 2 | 10 | June 5, 2001 (2001-06-05) | October 9, 2001 (2001-10-09) | |
| 3 | 10 | July 16, 2002 (2002-07-16) | November 19, 2002 (2002-11-19) | |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "The Vault" | Hilary Bader &Paul Dini | July 27, 2000 (2000-07-27) | |
| 2 | 2 | "Lap Bat" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | August 10, 2000 (2000-08-10) | |
| 3 | 3 | "Trick or Trick" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | August 24, 2000 (2000-08-24) | |
Note: This is a two-part episode. | |||||
| 4 | 4 | "A Little Night Magic" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | September 7, 2000 (2000-09-07) | |
| 5 | 5 | "More Than One Way" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | October 5, 2000 (2000-10-05) | |
| 6 | 6 | "Precious Birthstones" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | September 14, 2000 (2000-09-14) | |
| 7 | 7 | "Pave Paradise" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | October 19, 2000 (2000-10-19) | |
| 8 | 8 | "The Three Babes" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | November 16, 2000 (2000-11-16) | |
| 9 | 9 | "The Gardener's Apprentice" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | November 30, 2000 (2000-11-30) | |
| 10 | 10 | "Lady-X" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | December 14, 2000 (2000-12-14) | |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 1 | "Hold That Tiger" | Hilary Bader &Paul Dini | June 5, 2001 (2001-06-05) |
| 12 | 2 | "Miss Un-Congeniality" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | June 19, 2001 (2001-06-19) |
| 13 | 3 | "Strategery" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | July 3, 2001 (2001-07-03) |
| 14 | 4 | "Baby Boom" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | July 17, 2001 (2001-07-17) |
| 15 | 5 | "Cat -n- Mouse -n- Cat -n- Mouse" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | July 31, 2001 (2001-07-31) |
| 16 | 6 | "Bat'ing Cleanup" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | August 14, 2001 (2001-08-14) |
| 17 | 7 | "Catsitter" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | August 28, 2001 (2001-08-28) |
| 18 | 8 | "Gotham Noir" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | September 11, 2001 (2001-09-11) |
| 19 | 9 | "Scout's Dis-Honor" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | September 25, 2001 (2001-09-25) |
| 20 | 10 | "I'm Badgirl" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | October 9, 2001 (2001-10-09) |
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Written by | Original release date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 21 | 1 | "Ms.-ing in Action" | Hilary Bader &Paul Dini | July 16, 2002 (2002-07-16) |
| 22 | 2 | "Gotham in Pink" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | July 30, 2002 (2002-07-30) |
| 23 | 3 | "Hear Me Roar" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | August 13, 2002 (2002-08-13) |
| 24 | 4 | "Gotham in Blue" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | August 27, 2002 (2002-08-27) |
| 25 | 5 | "A Cat in the Hand" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | September 10, 2002 (2002-09-10) |
| 26 | 6 | "Jailhouse Wreck" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | September 24, 2002 (2002-09-24) |
| 27 | 7 | "Honor Among Thieves" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | October 8, 2002 (2002-10-08) |
| 28 | 8 | "No, I'm Batgirl!" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | October 22, 2002 (2002-10-22) |
| 29 | 9 | "Signal Fires" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | November 5, 2002 (2002-11-05) |
| 30 | 10 | "Cold Hands, Cold Heart" | Hilary Bader & Paul Dini | November 19, 2002 (2002-11-19) |
Sayantan Gayen, writing forCBR, praisedGotham Girls for its women-led narrative, humor, and "unique flavor" within theDC Animated Universe. While noting the datedFlash animation, Gayen highlighted the series' strong character dynamics, clever storytelling, and its evolution from lighthearted antics to darker, more ambitious themes in its final season. Despite its short run, the reviewer considers it an underrated gem and a cult favorite among Batman and DC animation fans.[3]
DC Comics produced a five-issueGotham Girls comic bookminiseries in 2003, written by Paul Storrie. It starred Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Catwoman, Batgirl, with each issue spotlighting one of these characters to a certain degree. The story, which took place in theDC animated universe, involved a vial of chemicals that the three villainesses fought over, as they also tried to avoid capture by Batgirl and Detective Montoya. A three-issue miniseries,Batman: Harley and Ivy, followed the continued misadventures of Harley and Ivy.
The completeGotham Girls series was included as a bonus feature on the DVD release of theBirds of Prey television series, released by Warner Home Video on July 15, 2008.[7][8] On the DVD, the animated episodes are presented in a linear fashion, with the interactive, decision-making option omitted.
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