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Gargoyles (TV series)

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This article is about Gargoyles, the television show. For the stone statues, see Gargoyle.

Gargoyles is a Walt Disney animated series that aired from 1994 to 1997 featuring a clan of six flying creatures that turned to stone by day. Led by the gargoyle Goliath in the year 994, their job was to protect the humans of Castle Wyvern on the coast of Scotland until a Viking massacre killed all the others of their clan and a magic spell forced them to sleep in their stone forms for a millennium. Finally waking up in modern day Manhattan, the gargoyles must adapt to this new world as they protect the citizens of New York (most of whom don't even believe they exist) and face new and old enemies with the help of their new human friend (and possible love interest for Goliath), NYPD detective Elisa Maza.

Gargoyles in medieval times didn't have names, as it wasn't their custom. Goliath only had one because it was given to him by the Prince of the castle. In the modern world they find that having names would make things easier for humans (particularly Elisa), so the five choose names from New York landmarks.

The series was known for its very complex plot arcs and surprising amount of serious drama for a Disney cartoon; it is often mentioned alongside The Real Ghostbusters as one of the best American cartoon series ever. Also, a remarkably large number of voice actors for the show had been actors on various Star Trek series.

The Gargoyles

  • Goliath (leader)
  • Hudson (elder and former leader, now advisor)
  • Brooklyn (second-in-command with a knack for strategy)
  • Broadway (overweight and good-natured)
  • Lexington (smallest and a technical whiz)
  • Bronx (gargoyle beast)
  • Angela (courageous daughter of Goliath, joins mid 2nd season)

Other Characters

  • Elisa Maza (NYPD detective; friend of the Gargoyles and love interest for Goliath)
  • David Xanatos (billionaire, nemesis and later ally of the gargoyles)
  • Owen (aid to Xanatos, really the immortal trickster Puck)
  • Macbeth (former King of Scotland who was eternally bound to Demona so that they shared their individual pain and the only way for them to die was for one to kill the other)
  • Demona (Goliath's former mate and now enemy whose scheming caused the massacre at Castle Wyvern, she has lived through the thousand years through a spell cast by the Weird Sisters and has tried to wipe out humanity on more than one occasion)
  • Coldstone (resurrected stone gargoyle, contained in him are the personalities of three gargoyles)
  • Matt Bluestone (Elisa's partner and friend to the clan, he believes in aliens and the Illuminati, which actually exists in Gargoyles)
  • Weird Sisters (Phoebe, Selene, Luna, they are Oberon's Children who bound Demona and Macbeth together to act as soldiers and agents in their revenge against the Magus)
  • The Archmage (the enemy of the gargoyle clan in the Dark Ages, he though the use of a time loop gains the ultimate powers he desires and recruits the Weird Sisters into his plan to make Avalon his headquarters for world domination)
  • Thailog (Goliath's clone, programmed to see the viewpoint of the world from Xanatos's perspective)
  • Anton Sevarius (amoral geneticist who has worked for almost everyone ranging from Xanatos to Thailog)
  • Tony Dracon (organized mob figure in New York, he knows about the gargoyles and has a score to settle against Elisa)

Other Teams/Race/Groups

  • The Pack (mercenaries organized by Xanatos as TV stars, they fought the gargoyles and were later upgraded into far more deadly forms. The main staples of the Pack are Jackal & Hyena (twins who became cyborgs), Fox (who quit and married Xanatos), Wolf (the strongman who got upgraded into a mutant wolfman and was a descendent of the viking leader responsible for the Wyvern massacre), Dingo (weaponsmaster of the group, the only one who didn't sacrifice his humanity in the upgrades, he later quit the Pack and joined with the nanotech creature, the Matrix, to defend Australia) and Coyote (AI robot who got upgraded in each subsequent episode where he was destroyed and reappeared with new and less human forms)
  • The New Olympians (descendents of the creatures and gods in Greek Mythology who fled to the island of New Olympus and remained hidden through the centuries through advanced technology including a cloaking field)
  • The Illuminati (organization started up by Sir Percival, the Fisher King, that presently controls a large bit of the world including politics and organized crime)
  • Children of Oberon (the third race aside from humans and gargoyles, they're shapeshifters and creatures of pure magic who are the actual gods and monsters of most mythologies and also responsible for the New Olympians, the results of their matings with mortals, their rulers are Oberon and Titania, who bore Fox after a relationship with Halycon Renard)
  • Clan Ishimura (a gargoyles clan in Japan that inspired the tengu and possibly oni stories, in feudal times they fought alongside the Samurai and influenced their code of bushido. Presently they are allies with the humans in Ishimura who they teach bushido)
  • Clan Guatemala (protectors of the rainforest in Guatelmala, the gargoyles there are the only survivors of their clan who had been massacred years ago by looters, unlike other clans the gargoyles there had the use of magical talismans that allowed them to evade their stone sleep, a few of the gargoyles there are possible inspirations of quezacoatl)
  • Clan London (located outside of London, the gargoyles there either look like unicorns, griffins or lions, they also run a magic shop to supplement their income, but the gargoyles there have abandoned their mission of protection)
  • The mutates (humans including Elisa's brother Derek who have been mutated by Xanatos's chief scientist Anton Sevarius, they protect the homeless in the underground facility known as the Labyrinth and also take care of the clones)
  • Cyberbiotics (Xanatos Enterprise's chief rival company, run by Halycon Renard, who is Fox's father)
  • N'Kai (interstellar aliens who oppose the Space-Spawn empire, they have stationed one of their scouts, Nokkar, on Earth)
  • The Hunters (descendents of King Malcolm, who have sworm to hunt down Demona and continue the use of the Hunter Mask, they also seem to harbor strong prejudices against gargoyles in general)

Episodes

A total of 78 episodes. Each episode ran 30 minutes per episode including commercials. The 3rd and final season aired on ABC as The Goliath Chronicles, without the involvement of series creator Greg Weisman (except for "The Journey", the first episode of the season); these episodes, "The Journey" apart, are considered inferior in quality by many fans and ignored in much of the fan fiction.

Season 1

  1. Awakening, Part I
  2. Awakening, Part II
  3. Awakening, Part III
  4. Awakening, Part IV
  5. Awakening, Part V
  6. The Thrill of the Hunt
  7. Temptation
  8. Deadly Force
  9. Enter MacBeth
  10. The Edge
  11. Long Way to Morning
  12. Her Brother's Keeper
  13. Reawakening

Season 2

  1. Leader of the Pack
  2. Metamorphosis
  3. Legion
  4. A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time
  5. The Mirror
  6. The Silver Falcon
  7. Eye of the Beholder
  8. Vows
  9. City of Stone, Part I
  10. City of Stone, Part II
  11. City of Stone, Part III
  12. City of Stone, Part IV
  13. High Noon
  14. Outfoxed
  15. Revelations
  16. Double Jeopardy
  17. Upgrade
  18. Protection
  19. The Cage
  20. The Price
  21. Avalon, Part I
  22. Avalon, Part II
  23. Avalon, Part III
  24. Shadows of the Past
  25. Heritage
  26. Kingdom
  27. Monsters
  28. Golem
  29. Sanctuary
  30. M.I.A.
  31. Grief
  32. The Hound of Ulster
  33. Walkabout
  34. Mark of the Panther
  35. Pendragon
  36. Eye of the Storm
  37. The New Olympians
  38. The Green
  39. Sentinel
  40. Bushido
  41. Cloud Fathers
  42. Ill Met By Moonlight
  43. Future Tense
  44. The Gathering, Part I
  45. The Gathering, Part II
  46. Vendettas
  47. Turf
  48. The Reckoning
  49. Possession
  50. Hunter's Moon, Part I
  51. Hunter's Moon, Part II
  52. Hunter's Moon, Part III

Season 3 (The Goliath Chronicles)

  1. The Journey
  2. Ransom
  3. Runaways
  4. Broadway Goes Hollywood
  5. A Bronx Tail
  6. The Dying Of The Light
  7. And Justice For All
  8. Genesis Undone
  9. Generations
  10. ...For It May Come True
  11. To Serve Mankind
  12. Seeing Isn't Believing
  13. Angels In The Night

Fandom

In reaction to displeasure with the episodes of Season 3, a group of fans created an ongoing virtual season fan fiction series, The Gargoyles Saga, to continue the franchise along a more desirable direction.

The unusual romantic subtext between between Goliath (a gargoyle) and Elisa (a human) was fodder for quite a bit of discussion on the Internet, particularly about its appropriateness. A later episode of the series, set during Halloween, had the two dancing together in open view with Eliza in the yellow dress of Disney's Belle character.

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