TV Talk - Gargoyles

This installment of TV Talk is brought to you by the guy who spends millions on castles, ancient artifacts, and making complex and subtle plans for gaining more power. That's right, I'm talking about...Broadway. Fear him!!!



So, as you can tell by the title, this one is a little different in that it's not part of some themed month. It's pretty much off the cuff. For those who don't know, Gargoyles was a show done by Disney in the mid-90s. The show is most remembered for being a lot like another show from the 90's called Batman: TAS. Was this show any good? Find out below. The layout is the same as always: Background, Likes, Dislikes, and Favorite Episodes. So, let's roll out!

Background
When Gargoyles first came on the 90's I wasn't able to see it since I didn't have cable or FOX. I do remember renting a VHS tape of the first five episodes of the show at either Movie Gallery or this other store called Jitney Jungle. I remember liking it. When we got cable later on, I was able to catch reruns of the show. I was also able to see some of the show on ABC at one time. Recently, an Internet review (SFDebris) looked at the first few episodes of the series and that peaked my interest in the show again. I was able to find all of the episodes on YouTube and thought that this was a show worth blogging about.

Likes

Why does this look epic? Five words: Keith David and Clancy Brown!

So, is there anything to like about this 78-episode show? Yes, Yeah, and Yep.

• Serious setting - The show has a pretty realistic feel to it, and yeah it also has talking gargoyles, evil sorcerers, immortals, and other stuff like that. The thing is, it's all taken pretty seriously. The show really doesn't talk down to the viewer, though you may get some not-too-subtle things about bigotry and racism on the show (especially in the Third Season). The show was action-packed and felt a lot like Batman: TAS. Personally, I think that this show was Disney's answer to Warner Bros.' Batman show. There was even an episode where Elisa accidently gets shot by one of the Gargoyles. The only lesson I can gather from that episode is this:"DON'T PLAY WITH FREAKIN' GUNS! THEY CAN HURT!" I heard that episode actually got banned on Toon Disney and I can kinda see why. 
• Awesome character development - This show also had great character development. Relationships were developed well, and characters were able to evolve from what they originally were. The biggest example would be Xanatos. 
• Awesome voice-casting - The voice acting on the show was pretty awesome as well. Everyone may know Keith David as "The Voice" in those military recruitment commercials, but others know him as Goliath, leader of the Gargoyle Clan. Heck, even Tim Curry even provides his voice to a character! All of the characters looked and sounded like they should sound Another thing that is awesome about the voice-casting is the next point...
• Star Trek Alumni Unite! - A lot of Star Trek Alums from the TV shows and movies provided their voices on the show. The most notable ones are Johnathon Frakes, Marnia Sitiris, and Michael Dorn. Other actors you might not recognize right away are Nicelle Nichols, David Warner, Paul Whitfield, Kate Mulgrew, and  LeVar Burton. I don't know if any other alums have lent their voices.Oh yeah, there's one more, Brent Spiner as Puck. 
• Great villains - The show had its fair share of villains. Xanatos was a good one. Demona was also good, but could get on you nerves with the constant "I hate humans" thing. One thing that was cool about most of the villains is that they weren't one-dimensional types. Macbeth (yes, Macbeth) was also a villain but he had honor as well.  They grew along with the heroes and some of them even believably reformed. 
• There are many great things to this show...go watch it.

Dislikes

 It's so easy to hate the human-hating, self-loathing, ...fine-looking Gargoyle.

Are there any dislikes? There are a couple but every show has them. 

• The fact that it ended - I'm going to say that about a lot of shows I used to watch. At least this show got to have as many episodes as it did. 
• The Goliath Chronicles - This was the title of the third season of the show. From what I heard, the main creator(Greg Wiesman) left after the first episode. It's different from other seasons and it's okay to me, but the last episode felt really, really rushed. 
• Avalon story drags a bit - During the long second season, Goliath, Elisa, and Bronx go on a world tour of sorts. While the 16-episode arc was good, there were some episodes that didn't feel needed and just drug out the arc too much. 
• ...That's it. Go watch the show! 

Favorite Episodes

While I say that you should check the whole series out, here are some of my favorite episodes:

1. Awakening - The five-part pilot that starts it all. 

2. Deadly Force - The episode where Elisa is accidently shot by Broadway.

3. The Mirror - This introduces Puck and is also pretty hilarious. 

4. Eye of the Beholder - A werewolf episode...I like werewolves.

5. City of Stone - Demona's and Macbeth's past is revealed.

6. Avalon - This begins the world tour...and has King Arthur fighting Macbeth..:)

7. Pendragon - King Arthur vs. Macbeth II!!!

8. Future Tense - ...One messed up episode. Everyone Dies.

9. The Gathering - The Clan, Xanatos, and others team up to save Xanato's son. 

10. Hunter's Moon - The Clan is hunted by hunters looking for Demona.
11. The Journey - Enter the Quarrymen (aka the Gargoyles KKK).
12. Angels in the Night - The last episode. 

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Do I recommend this series? Is water made of hydrogen and oxygen? Check it out.

Wow, he really is Tony Stark!