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Is it about Gargoyles in New York and the oldest one is named Hudson because of the river. (This is about all that I remember of it)
Posts: 312 | Registered: Mar 2004
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The only think I really know about it is that it seems to have had the entire cast of Star Trek, TNG on it as a voice actor at some time or another. Oh, and Mark Hammil does one of the voices. But then, he's a voice in practically every cartoon.
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I totally and completely loved this show. I would race home from school everyday to watch it. Reruns on disney. Mmmm.
Posts: 9754 | Registered: Jul 2002
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I grew up watching the show and saw about 60% of its run the summer right before I started the sixth grade.
Toon Disney airs the series from 11-12 every night, meaning in that they run through the whole series every two and a half months. More than a week ago they restarted the series with the amazing "Awakening" five parter.
After seven years, it's really pleasing watching this show again and having my suspicion that it is one of the most amazing television shows of all time confirmed. Because the show contained wonderful central characters who were truly Heroic without being cheesy, and writers who never underestimated the intelligence of its young audience and gave them long plot arcs that were demanding as much as they were entertaining--you had to pay attention because the show was like a mini-series, each episode having a long backstory to it. Shakespearean references were all over the place--just the other night an episode which clearly had "Othello" as its basis, and the character of Puck, Oberon and Macbeth were all well used by the writers in a rich and thoughtful fashion.
And the voice actors ruled, specially Keith Davids as Goliath (You know Keith Davids, he's that middle aged actor who played the Loan shark in Barbershop) and Jonathan Frakes as David Xanatos...plus Bret Spiner as Puck, Mirina Siris as Demona.
The show lasted two seasons, about 65 episodes, I think, then Disney decided it was too good a program, and canceled it, but after sometime brought it back as "The Goliath Chronicles", a pale shadow of the former show which lacked the thematic complexity and storytelling momentum, as well as gorgeous animation, of the first two seasons. It went away after 13 or so eps.
At any rate, it was a great show, check it out, if you ever get the chance...
Posts: 722 | Registered: Jul 2004
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They originally wanted Patrick Stewart to voice Goliath, but he asked for too much money, so they went with Keith Davids...
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I used to watch it all the time. Now, I'll watch it every once and a while, whenever I see that it's on. Very good show.
Posts: 145 | Registered: Jan 2004
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I still love it. First season is out on DVD, first half of second season coming this winter! =D
I really adored it in season 2 when you learn how the character of Demona managed to survive that thousand years, and her connection to MacBeth and the Weird Sisters...
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What I liked most about the show was that its lead villian was not a vengeance seeking one dimensional character. Sure there were plenty of those in the series, but the main villian did bad and evil things for purely selfish reasons. He didn't care about revenge, only success.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Dan, you're right! During the final episode of season two (season 3 is not considered canon) the character of Xanatos has a thoroughly understandable transformation! You're right--it isn't that he's one dimensional but he's driven by a need to control, and as you later learn, fear of death. =D
Even Demona--who on the outside appears more of a traditional villain--has a perfect, understandable reason for her hatred. There's an episode when we see her younger self before her hatred developed and you ultimately recognize her as a tragic figure.
Even MacBeth had a reason for hunting Demona. =D
Posts: 722 | Registered: Jul 2004
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I loved Gargoyles as a kid! But then it got into the whole Pheonix Gate thing where they kept messing with time, and I got bored/ confused with it. I'd miss an episode and have no clue what was going on. Still, would be nice if I could get my hands on a copy of that now...
Posts: 1947 | Registered: Aug 2002
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I remember watching it as a kid too and it was certainly demanding, but at the same time refreshing that they expected you to keep track of so many threads! There are three magical items that are reoccuring in the series--Grimorum Arcanorum (the magic book), Odin's Eye and the Phoenix Gate. The latter allowed for further exploration of the things that occur in the middle ages! =D
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I didn't get to see too many episodes of it, but I liked what I saw when I was younger. I wouldn't mind watching the series right through now.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I watched the first two or three episodes (didn't they premiere the series by combining 2 or 3 episodes together into a movie-style format?). After that I couldn't watch it anymore though. It was either a) because it was on in the morning and I was already off to school or b) because it was on at some other time or channel that I couldn't see it at. I don't remember which, since my memory has sort of blended together a lot of great cartoons into the "missed" category.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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pfresh85, explore this series! You're in for a treat. =D
A typical cartoon needs only one episode to establish itself. Gargoyles opens with an amazing and tragic 5 episode arc whose repercussions are always dealt with for the rest of the series. When Goliath first comes back to the sacked castle and sees his fellow gargoyles slain--that cry that erupts from him is gut wrenching.
And early on in season 2 they allow us to view the same event from Demona's perspective and it's just as tragic.
And I just read that the creator planned for the series to ultimately include characters from The Tempest! And maybe all of Shakespeare--I mean, we already had MacBeth, Titania, Oberon & Puck! =)
And ultimately its cancellation wasn't that sad anyway, as season 2 ends with a satisfying note with nearly every element of the plot and the world of the gargoyles dealt with.
I think the creator and writers were able to effectively serialize the story because Disney mass ordered some 50+ episodes for the second season, and thus they could accordingly plan ahead. =D
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I think I saw one episode once when I was a kid, but I couldn't watch it all because I had to go to school.
The show was usually on at the time I left for school so I never quite had the chance to catch it on after that.
Posts: 459 | Registered: Mar 2005
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Weird, I was talking about this show today. I watched it every day after school, I would still watch it if I had it/ knew when it was on.
Posts: 3636 | Registered: Oct 2001
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Loved this show. Used to watch it in college with a group of buds. Long live Oberon! King of the High Elves!
Posts: 4953 | Registered: Jan 2004
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So I've been looking into the series now, and I've managed to see the first 5 episodes (the little Awakening arc). It brought up some questions though. First, how did the gargoyles get up to the air ship? Goliath said (and later Xanatos mentioned it too) that the gargoyles cannot flight; they can only glide. On top of that, they said there weren't strong enough currents to carry them very high. So how is that the gargoyles got on to the air ship which was a) higher than they were and b) had air being pushed out of it thus causing a current to go against the gargoyles ascent? It just doesn't make sense. The other question goes into technicalities. So what is it about the sunlight that turns the gargoyles to stone? It can't be the light component, otherwise the street lights and such would turn them to stone (as would any flashlights, spotlights, etc.). If it's the UV component, then couldn't a weapon be easily developed to turn the gargoyles to stone once you knew their weakness? Like have some kind of UV gun or something and another person standing by the smash them once they were stone? Maybe I'm just totally off on this, but it was something that came to mind while watching.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head: Oh, and Mark Hammil does one of the voices. But then, he's a voice in practically every cartoon.
I knew he did voices in Batman and Wing Commander, but I didn't know of any others, so I went to IMDB and looked him up. Holy crap! I had no idea the guy did so many voices.
Posts: 9945 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Well, like almost any comic or cartoon, there are some physics flaws here and there. For instance one being how a quarter-ton gargoyle (that's just a guess as to weight) would be able to glide on just wings and air current at all. I suppose it's possible...and they DO have to do things like leap from a height or be thrown somehow in order to start gliding at all.
As for the light issue...they're magical creatures. Shouldn't be too much of a stretch to accept there is somethind fundamentally different about sunlight than artificial light, on that level.
Posts: 17164 | Registered: Jun 2001
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Well the light thing I'll give you. It is a fictious world, so the light could be different and such. The flying thing still irks me though. The show sets up its world and tells the viewer that gargoyles can't fly and yet we see them flying (or at least not gliding and rising higher). Just not good in my opinion.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Series creator Greg Weisman will be writing the all-new Gargoyles bi-monthly comic, starting in either January or February of '06.
It'll ignore The Goliath Chronicles in favor of the direction he planned to take the series before the disney TV animation regime changed.
If all goes well, he plans to eventually bridge the gap between where the characters were in 1993 and where they will be now.
Among other things they plan to introduce Brooklyn's destiny (and mate!), several new enemies, and expand upon the characters and situations seen during the "World tour".
Posts: 6689 | Registered: Jan 2005
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quote:Originally posted by pfresh85: So I've been looking into the series now, and I've managed to see the first 5 episodes (the little Awakening arc). It brought up some questions though. First, how did the gargoyles get up to the air ship? Goliath said (and later Xanatos mentioned it too) that the gargoyles cannot flight; they can only glide. On top of that, they said there weren't strong enough currents to carry them very high. So how is that the gargoyles got on to the air ship which was a) higher than they were and b) had air being pushed out of it thus causing a current to go against the gargoyles ascent? It just doesn't make sense. The other question goes into technicalities. So what is it about the sunlight that turns the gargoyles to stone? It can't be the light component, otherwise the street lights and such would turn them to stone (as would any flashlights, spotlights, etc.). If it's the UV component, then couldn't a weapon be easily developed to turn the gargoyles to stone once you knew their weakness? Like have some kind of UV gun or something and another person standing by the smash them once they were stone? Maybe I'm just totally off on this, but it was something that came to mind while watching.
Regarding the question of flight, I think that a gargoyle can't ever just jump up and fly--they are almost always falling from some place or another, with the ability to sustain height as long as the plot requires.
Regarding the sun/stone element, there's no scientific answer the show offers. You should just take it on faith that they're magical creatures magically affected by the sun. (I believe probably that had the show gone on with its original team of writers/producers it would've eventually explained how Gargoyles as a race came to exist. For instance, Greg Weisman hinted as much when the question of "why do their clothes turn to stone too" came up. He explained that Julius Caeser had a sorcerer cast a "spell of humility" on the Gargoyles so that what they wear becomes stone too.) =D
Posts: 722 | Registered: Jul 2004
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But where would you fall from to fly up to an air ship? That's what doesn't make sense. I can understand if there was some place equally high they jumped from and glided to, but the air ship seemed to be soaring above all else. That's why it doesn't work for me.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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No, not as much. I just assumed there were more Smurfettes hidden somewhere. Either that or that the Smurfs would eventually go extinct. I didn't put a whole lot of thought into the issue.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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quote:Originally posted by pfresh85: But where would you fall from to fly up to an air ship? That's what doesn't make sense. I can understand if there was some place equally high they jumped from and glided to, but the air ship seemed to be soaring above all else. That's why it doesn't work for me.
I think the show allows them the ability to sustain & gain height to considerable distances because, above all else, it's cool.
Let's not start wondering why Buffy doesn't have a bruised face despite the fact that the vampire just pounded her face pretty hard. =D
quote:At sunrise (more or less), the entire gargoyle body turns into an organic substance that resembles stone, placing the gargoyle in a state of suspended animation. The body does function to some degree. The organic "stone-like" substance absorbs solar energy. The internal biological clock continues to function. Healing takes place. Dreaming too. But to a large degree, a daytime gargoyle is for all intents and purposes a stone statue.
At sunset (more or less), the transformation reverses from the inside out, leaving only a shedable outer layer of "stone" that cracks off as the gargoyle awakens. "
"9. How is it possible that stone sleep is a natural biological process?
Greg:
It's one of many amazing biological processes, such as the bio-electricity of electric eels; the color-changing of the chameleon; the ability of some frogs and lungfish to hibernate without food, water, or even air for amazing lengths of time; or the ability of one species of deep-sea worms to feed directly on thermal energy. Just because it isn't a presently seen biological process doesn't mean it can't be. The boundaries on what is considered "valid" biological processes change all the time.
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See, but that still seems to imply that something about the sun is causing this metamorphosis. So that goes back to my question about some how utilizing whatever it is about the sun to force the gargoyles into the stone-like state.
EDIT: I'm not arguing that it doesn't make sense or isn't possible. I just think there could be a way for some villain to utilize the weakness artificially .
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Yeah. I don't know. I guess I had too much time to think on the subject. Too much free time on my hands in general. Well no harm done. Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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Well, as I said before, I've watched the first five episodes. I liked them pretty well. Good animation, good story, and it brought back memories (as I said in my first post in this topic, I saw the original Awakening arc as a kid). I'm interested in seeing what happens as the show goes. I probably won't get on to other episodes till Friday or so at the earliest. Too much school work for my own good.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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I'll try and dig this thread up when I have more comments. Hopefully I remember though and have something interesting to say.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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When I first played Halo 2, I thought the voice of the Arbiter sounded suspiciously familiar. So I went to IMDb, and lo and behold, he was Goliath!
Posts: 1357 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Oh this is sort of interesting. On the questions page, they talk about the whole Augustus Caesar thing and why the clothes turn to stone. It says that whatever the gargoyles consider theirs (like clothing) turns to stone with them (or at least that was how it was defined on the page). With that idea in mind, would it be possible to bring other stuff into the stone sleep? Like if for example one of the gargoyles considered a human to be theirs, would the human go into the stone sleep as well? That opens some interesting paths in my mind.
Posts: 1960 | Registered: May 2005
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