Return of Birdgirl

Return of Birdgirl
Premiere date	September 18, 2005
Writer(s)	Michael Ouweleer, and Erik Richter
Director(s)	Richard Ferguson-Hull
Episode navigation
← Previous	Next →

"Return of Birdgirl" is the ninth episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law season three, and the twenty-ninth overall. It aired on September 18, 2005 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block. It was written by Michael Ouweleer and Erik Richter, and directed by Richard Ferguson-Hull. The Hanna-Barbera series ridiculed in this episode is Jonny Quest and to a lesser extent Birdman itself.

To ensure that Race is legally seen as a father to Jonny and Hadji, Birdgirl gets Harvey to appeal to the Supreme Court in allowing Dr. Quest and Race to be married.

Memorable quotes

Peter Potamus: Do you have that one thing...
Harvey: What thing? Tell me. What is it?
Peter Potamus: It is that thing that I sent to you.

Characters

In order of appearance:

Non-speaking characters are in italics

• Harvey Birdman (Gary Cole)
• Avenger
• Birdgirl/Judy Sebben (Paget Brewster)
• Race Bannon (Thom Pinto)
• Dr. Benton Quest (Neil Ross)
• Jonny Quest
• Hadji
• Bandit
• Lizard Men
• Spider Bots
• Anubis
• Liza Minnelli
• Phil Ken Sebben (Stephen Colbert)
• Peanut (Thomas Allen)
• Judge Mentok (John Michael Higgins)
• Peter Potamus (Chris Edgerly)
• Blue Falcone
• Rehnquist (Neil Ross)
• Waitress
• Citizen (Thom Pinto)
• Cook
• Janitor
• Judge (Thom Pinto)
• Dick Cheney
• Priest (Chris Edgerly)
• Aunt Phyllis
• Boo Boo Bear

Organizations

• Sebben & Sebben
• Quest Labs
• Justices League
• Justice League
• Junior League

Locations

• Harvey's apartment
• Sebben & Sebben offices
• Maine
• Hall of Justices
• All Saints Church

Objects

• Woman Stuff
• Superhero Sidekick Handbook
• Soundolux

Vehicles

• Birdmobile

Music

The music is composed by Michael Kohler.

Behind the scenes

• The opening credits happened before the theme song. The credits are also rearranged so the writer credits appear before the produced by credit.
• Dr. Quest refers back to the last time he was helped by Harvey in "Bannon Custody Battle".
• Unlike the continuity of Harvey Birdman still using 1967 as the basis of when Birdman was a superhero, this retcons the time Race has spent with Dr. Quest to be 20 years ago, setting it in 1985, instead of when Jonny Quest first started airing which was in 1964.
• This episode continues the 1960s Batman TV series riffing by making Harvey's car resemble the Batmobile, while Batgirl accentuates the speech she gives him by adding action words for him to say such as "Kapow!" and "Bam!"
• The entrance of the Justices League and the logo are are a parody of the Justice League animated series which had been airing on Cartoon Network around at that time. Although by then it had become Justice League Unlimited.
• The Justices League's Hall of Justices resembles the Justice League's Watchtower in the comics, although it is named after the Hall of Justice in the Super Friends cartoons.
• Phil holding up a boombox to get another date with Birdgirl, is an allusion to the famous scene in the film Say Anything...
• Despite not being canon, this episode all but verbally acknowledges that Dr. Quest and Bannon are in a romantic relationship.
• Phil expresses strong homophobia in this episode.
• Within the episode the church has the same Evo Lotion name as the Evo Lotion Gentlemen's Club from "Evolution War", although during the end credits, it's now called All Saints Church.
• The end credits also continue the relationship between Harvey and Boo Boo.

Errors

• The original Jonny Quest series was set in Florida, not Maine. Although incidentally, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest was predominately relocated to Maine.
• Edgerly and Ross are credited for Supreme Court bailiff and narrator, respectively, despite neither being seen nor heard.

Home availability

• This is free to watch on the US geo-restricted Adult Swim website.