02.06
Has there ever been something that you enjoy so very much but can’t necessarily put into words why you like it so much? Even if many agree with you, there’s just something about it that you can’t touch yourself.
Gargoyles is that for me. I’ve seen most of the original 65 episodes multiple times and never tire of it, but for some reason, I just can’t put into my own words how much this series means to me. As you can tell, I love many of the Disney Afternoon series, I like how balanced the characters can be, how varied the humor on these shows are, and I appreciate a lot of the different studios who handled their animation. Gargoyles may not look as sharp as DuckTales or Goof Troop, but it has a unique layout, containing great twists on Scotland ground and New York. The sense of the humor on the show is light, subtle work but pleasing when it shows up. The characters and the stories they go through, however, is what draws Gargoyles to me.
Being one of three series planned for the Disney Afternoon’s 1994-1995 series, Gargoyles would air on Friday during Bonkers’ 4:00 slot when it‘s 13 episode first season aired, and took the 4:30 slot the following year when it’s second 52-episode season aired, and stayed in repeats for the block‘s 7th and arguably last season. A third, non-canonical season exploring the life of the clan past the original episodes, subtitled The Goliath Chronicles, was made for the 1997 Saturday morning season for ABC. These episodes didn’t air on the Disney Afternoon block, and the less said about them, the better, do I’ll be looking over them.
Looking at the five part pilot, “Awakening”, there’s a lot to get about the show. We travel to Avalon, a Scotland-like island, in 994 AD, during which humans and gargoyles lived together. The lead gargoyle, Goliath, and his nameless clan help protect the castle that they turn to stone on during the day from oncoming enemies. Despite the good they do for the Scots, there is still prejudice among the stone warriors, as some of the head hierarchy still don’t respect the good the gargoyles do for the kingdom. One day a rival Viking bitter attacks most of the gargoyles as stone, while an angry wizard from the castle turns most of Goliath’s clan to stone for a thousand years, after a tragic misunderstanding. Goliath and his beloved are the only ones to survive. His companion leaves to claim her vengeance while Goliath decides to wait for when his clan comes back to life.
In 1994, multi-billionaire David Xanatos picks up the remains of the castle for himself, and moves it back to his native New York. Finally, the clan awakens and storm through New York, exploring their new location. While the nameless are exploring Xanatos’ area, Goliath finds a local police officer, Elisa Maza, on the ground. He befriends her and shares some of his clan’s secrets with her, including the existence of them. It is at this point that Elisa decides to name the other members of the clan, mainly after parts of the state they take claim in now; the wise, old gargoyles decides to name himself Hudson after the river; the big, fun loving one goes by Broadway; the small, technologically savvy one goes by Lexington; the clever second-in-command names himself Brooklyn; and their trusted dog-like gargoyle goes by Bronx.
The gargoyles find Goliath’s lover again after years of isolation when Xanatos calls for her. She comes to them and reveals that she goes by the name Demona. She has the gargoyles attack a data storage facility, while telling them of her lack of need for mankind. While this confuses the gargoyles, who have already grown close to Elisa, they return to Xanatos, who decides that they have outlived their usefulness. This is when they learn that David Xanatos is not a good person, but one of the reasons that Demona despises humans, which is ironic, considering that Xanatos is the only human Demona trusts.
Notice something I mentioned in the episode description? “Awakening” was a five-part pilot, something Disney hasn’t done in a while. DuckTales and Chip ‘N Dale Rescue Rangers, Disney’s first 2 syndicated series, were given five parters to introduce the series to audiences (DuckTales also got two five parters to introduce new characters Bubba and Fenton, like mentioned in it’s article), but the number of debut episodes were cut down after these series. TaleSpin’s pilot only had four parts, while Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, and Bonkers were cut down to just 2 parts. I suppose since Gargoyles had more to tell with it’s premire, it was given the full five parts that the show needed to debut.
There were many more multi-parters in the show’s run, as well. While most of these series didn’t have too many episodes that drifted into more than one part beyond their pilots, Gargoyles had quite a few two, three, and even a particularly great four part episode. Like most of the show’s original episodes, little time on screen was wasted with fluff, and many of these episodes further advanced the ongoing story and multi-dimensional characters.
The big one has got to be “City of Stone”, the four-part epic. Creator Greg Weisman(I told you that name would come up again), initially planned this to be a movie, but Disney opted it to become a four part episode instead. In it, Demona tricks Xanatos into allowing him to air a television broadcast that gave her the chance to turn all humans who view it into stone at night, reversing the situation that her kind goes through at day. During this, Demona begins her rampage on the humans. In the mean time, her old enemy, MacBeth(yes, that MacBeth) comes to New York in search of her. We are flashed back to both of their pasts in the mean time, and learn that Demona and MacBeth are cursed to live eternally, because of a freak accident. They both resent each other for this and MacBeth frequently comes back to try to gain his vengeance on this curse.
Out of all the highlights of the series, this story arc is the biggest of them. If any episode can capture Demona’s rash hatred of mankind as well as her torching flame for Goliath, this would be it. This also captures the complexity of the surviving members of Avalon, not just the clan but the remaining members. MacBeth’s character, as well as his group, will come back to haunt the gargoyles later in the show’s run, as well as many seemingly one-time events.
To write about each of the characters and their worth would take me eons, so rather I should focus on arguably the four most characters on the show.
Goliath is the leader of the clan, whose motives are the center of the series. He sees the tragedies that his people went through and tries to ensure that each of the newly-minted Manhattan clan don’t have to go through an ordeal such as what happened to them 1000 years ago again. Goliath sees what Demona and other humans think of him but tends to ignore hem for his own thoughts, usually of equality. Goliath can get quick to anger though, which can help him in combat but also cause him to claim vengeance needlessly. Goliath tries to be the best leader that he can be but never feels complete. He is the best that there can be but may just never be satisfied until he regains their castle.
Elisa Maza, the gargoyles’ best human friend, realizes what Goliath has to go through every night for his clan, being a cop herself. They both have to protect the people, through good and bad, and because of this strange bond they share a growing relationship with each other. They both had an interest in each other that started brewing since the beginning of the show, but the fact that Goliath is made out of stone but Elisa isn’t has the two question their potential until the end of the series. The two go through a lot during the show’s run, especially thanks to Demona, who still harbors feelings for Goliath and despises Elisa for how they treat each other.
Elisa is a particularly special character, as she is one of the few truly powerful female forces in kid’s entertainment who isn’t a Sue. Despite how fast she can solve a case, she gets too personal in her cases, which also leads to rage, similar to Goliath. More importantly, she is one of the few black/Native American mixes in animation. It is rare to see an African American character who wasn’t a caricature or stereotype, but rather existed because she did. If anything, it’s a powerful element of the show for Elisa to be two of two different breeds, as equality is one of the themes of the series.
Xanatos is a great antagonist himself. He is not evil nor simply grumpy. His schemes are done merely for gain; he wants immorality for himself, his wife Fox, and his son, as well as wealth beyond his current financial state. He is a brilliant, highly determined character who can get whatever he wants without lifting a finger. If anything, he is one of the best chess players out there; five steps ahead of everyone else, everything he does has a purpose. He is also quite sufficient in combat, particularly karate and judo, and has even stood up to Goliath in a suit made just for the odd occasion.
My favorite character is probably Demona. She is filled with emotions, many of which she won’t bring out at first. She is angry at humans because of the bad experiences that she has gone through with them. She is jealous of Elisa’s relationship towards Goliath since she still has unkempt feelings for him. She still cares for Goliath but at the same time resents him for leaving her for a thousand years. When she learns of her daughter Angela, who she and Goliath are responsible for, she expresses her love more openly than she had before. Despite some of the actions that she has done during the series run, Demona isn’t completely stone in character, as she has enough emotions to spare.
Everything in Gargoyles adds up to one thrilling, layered experience after another. I could write much more on the aspects of the 65 episodes that I love to death, but I want to keep this as brief as I can. To see some of the strongest written characters in any television series go through some of the toughest ordeals to imagine, you would have few better options than looking into Gargoyles. It’s a lot darker than your average Disney show, which helps to make it as unique and outstanding of an experience that it is.
Disney has released sets of the first season, as well as the first half of the second season, but stopped after these. There is an especially active interest in releasing the rest of Gargoyles from fans, but Disney won’t take the initative by themselves, so if you want the rest of the series on DVD, order these sets if you already have not. There were also recent comic book continuations of the series, which are encouraged reading for fans, as Greg Weisman tackles most of it.
Originally posted on Tuesday, June 15, 2010.