Noah writes...

Re: The Season 2, Volume 1 DVD set.

One word: AWESOME! As a long-time Gargoyles fan who never got to see quite a few of the episodes (sigh...stupid Canadian TV) this set was a real treat. I received it as a Christmas gift and finished watching every episode within 3 days.

One of the best things about the DVDs (aside from the episodes themselves) was the episode introductions. This is something I've never seen before, and they were great! It's really interesting to hear, even briefly, about the thought that went into each and every episode. I enjoyed and appreciated them a lot more. Oh, and thanks for the spoiler warnings - I'd forgotten about a few plot twists and it was nice to have them as a surprise again!

For the next DVD release, I would heartily encourage you to do the intros again - make them a bit longer, if possible! The special feature with the cast and crew was also really neat.

Also, from a technical standpoint, I thought the DVDs were very well done - good menus and excellent picture and sound quality.

All in all, a fantastic release! I'm loaning out my Gargoyles DVDs to my friends to get them hooked as well. I'm looking forward to the next set! Thanks Greg for all your effort on the DVDs and here on the website too (which makes an excellent companion for the DVDs - I read your rambles and the memo(s) after each episode). Cheers,

Noah

Gabriel writes...

Hey Greg,
You asked for thoughts on the new DVD release. In short it's great to have so many eps on one release.
A few things that really impressed me:
The disk art is stunning- especially the Demona pick on disk one.
I love that while we couldn't get commentaries,Since budget,disk space and your personal time are issues, we still get episode intro's for all the eps.
Thanx for the spoiler alert in your intro to Outfoxed, turns out I knew the spoiler, but I really didn't remember the episode before I watched so that was cool.
The main menu's are also great- so much going on.

A few little things that could make it (or a future release) better
Chapter stops in the episodes
I prefer keep-case style packaging like season 1. All the artwork potential is cool on cardboard-plastic packaging, but I like the durablity of keepcase.
I realise those aren't content related, but the only content comment I would make is that it was a pity that Marina Sirtis or John Ryhs-Davies weren't on the CoS commetary (though I've heard report that Marina was asked but unavailble so you guys tried) Other than that I'm completely satisfied with the disks' content.

Really looking forward to S2 v2. Here's hoping for commentary on both "The Gathering" and "Hunter's Moon" (It's five eps like on the season 1 release) And I'd absolutly love to hear from Jonathan Frakes- Xanatos is still one of my all time favorite characters! Looking forward to seeing MIA, Golem, Future Tenses, and the one ep I've never seen Grief.

Thanx for reading
Keep up the good work
You're an insiration for those of us looking to do great things in the entertainment industry.

Ciao,
Gabriel

Jonny Modlin writes...

I wanted to know when will Gargoyles Season Two, Volume Two on DVD with the final twenty six episodes of Monsters to Hunter's Moon in what month/year? How were the sales for Gargoyles Season Two, Volume One on DVD? Thank you.
Jonny

Torvik writes...

Hey Greg. My sister and I have NO PROBLEM shopping for each other at Christmas. We just get each other the latest Garg DVD release. (We won "Best Couple" at the Montreal Gathering ~ Fox & Xanatos a la 'Eye of the Beholder'.)
Watched/listened to the 'City of Stone' commentary last week. I think the BEST part was hearing you laugh. There was something about it that showed you 100% at ease. You were comfortable, and everything you were saying flowed unhindered from within you. No masks. No false pretenses. It was clear that you were really enjoying yourself, and that helped me to enjoy what you were saying so much more. Even if I had never met you, I bet I'd feel some sorta weird kinship with you, just because you were so personable. Every time you laughed, I couldn't prevent a smile from creeping across my face.

Thanks for the great work!
Alan

(The only thing I haven't really enjoyed from the 2 releases are the cheese-zoid 'animated' menus. Maybe the designers are gearing for a younger age, but I would be even happier with something more tasteful and simple, ya know? A bit more understated. But, that's just me :)

Vicky writes...

Hi

I live in the UK and I like to know when the Dvd's are coming out over here?

Axem Gold writes...

Not too good doing reviews, so I'll post what I liked about Season 2 Volume.

Seeing the uncensored episodes.
Commentary for City Of Stone was fun to listen to. (I too felt the animation errors concerning Demona could be explained as the stress).

The music for the episode intros were creepy, but cool.

I kind of like the original ending of Vows. Even developed an explaination for that, which could be used for the flashback in Reawakening (You know, Hudson with his sword before the Viking attack?). Like some people who might dream about some memory, Goliath tend to have a lot on his mind when reminicing.

Anyway, thanks for helping to put the DVDs together.

King Cobra3 writes...

Gargoyles, Season 2, Volume 1. My Personal Review, broken down into categories as any good review should be.

THE SOUND - It was very crisp. Very clear and 'new', considering that the episodes are now over 10 years old. The audio just floored me, from Goliath's opening 'speech' to the end credits. I felt very satisfied with the sound factor.

THE PICTURE - Very smooth. The animation was nicely done on TV, and it looks even better on DVD. Nice job there.

THE ACTING - Top notch. As usual, with Thom and Jeff excelling in the "voices" section. But then, Brooklyn and Lex were already my faves to begin with. *shrugs* Maybe for the next DVD set we could get "The Trio" involved in the commentary? :) *crosses fingers*

THE FEATUES - Great touch on the episode introductions, Greg. They were very cool and to the point in terns of each individual episode plot. The Cast and Crew featurette were very nice, and it was really cool seeing the VAs talk about their experiences doing the series, (Gotta feel sorry for Thom, though, since he doesn't know much about computers. :P) and I loved every second of it. I personally would've liked to have seen Laura San Giacomo, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Keith David, and Salli Richardson give their two cents, but that's just me. We can't have everything, after all. Though we damn near do with this spectacular set. :) Thanks for making these DVDs possible.

Sorry for the short short review, Greg, but I'm having a really busy day today, (and lately) and I only had a few minutes to write this review up. Hope you enjoy it.

See you at G2006.

King Cobra3

Shannon "Shan" Muir writes...

Greg,

You asked for our comments on the DVD, and I think you missed the comment room the week I posted most of this information, so I've reposted here but tailored it to emphasize and de-emphasize areas as I think would better fit your personal interest and remove date specific wording. It also is presented in a single unit versus the three parts it originally showed up as in the Comment Room.

As to the "Gathering of the Cast and Crew" featurette, I think it was well edited though at times the backgrounds were hard on the eyes. This may just be a personal thing. The footage clips intercut throughout from the series fit incredibly and it really feels like they took the time to find the best bits. It drove me nuts at first that you were the only person facing screen right when everyone else faces screen left, but after multiple views I understood why. It's because you get the majority of screen time and they very likely wanted to create a balance between how often a person was on one side of the screen over the other. Your on screen percentage set it up that you logically should be the only one on that side. Had it been able to be more balanced as far as each person's on screen time, Michael Reaves and Frank Paur could have been on the same side as you, and the voice actors all facing the other way (sorry this is my Radio-TV degree training kicking in).

My favorite part is Frank Paur's ending on the whole thing about optimism. He said exactly why I think the show resonates with me, it's a lot like the way I try to look at life. One gets kicked, then get back up again and still believing there's got to be some good in the world. The most thought provoking line is Michael Reaves when he talks about most animation being people "just whacking each other on the head" and - all due respect to Mr. Reaves! - every time my gut reaction is to yell at the screen "then why don't you change it?" (Side note: it just makes me more aware of why I stay in the animation business and where my heart is).

As to the Introductions. Generally I think they work, especially as someone who didn't watch the series years ago and only caught up more recently on the Toon Disney airings. For people newer to the show, I think they help you feel "caught up" or refresh your memory if you haven't seen them all in order. I also like the fact you can select them in isolation without watching the episode, in case you didn't choose it initially but then want to back up and find out what he said after viewing. But... I'm sorry, but I find it hilarious you can watch just all the Introductions back to back. I mean, I like and respect you and all, but I don't see a point! My boyfriend Kevin had an awful lot of fun with this, making a joke along the lines not to watch it too much and get obsessed with Greg Weisman. (I couldn't let it pass without comment. I feel safe enough since you know both Kevin and myself, so I feel safe bringing it up just for you to ponder.) This is my one major question abotu the set: can you illuminate more as to why the option of watching all the Introductions was included?

As to the "City of Stone" commentary: Very good overall. Thought the wrong Demona model issue was a tad overemphasized, though I think this couldn't be helped because of the conversation between the three of you (which was a definite plus over hearing just one person's take). And to be honest, I wrote most of the animation errors off as a overstressed Demona and the effects of the loss of the last of her innocence by making the choice she made, I never really noticed until the three of you brought it up. And I'm usually REALLY picky about continuity, as it is part of my job when I work on shows. And I did learn some new things as well about the series, mainly from Mr. Reaves and Mr. Paur as fresh voices.

Overall, I am pleased with the sound quality and visual quality of the episodes compared to how I saw them aired on TOON DISNEY, with the obvious exception of "Vows". Mistakes happen, I know, but the wrong ending making the DVD submarines a powerful story, in my not so humble opinion. I say that as a writer even more than just a fan of the show. I know there's no real way to correct this box set, but I think there should be something addressing both endings as a bonus on the last disc (should it be made), talking about the whole situation of why the ending was changed for subsequent airings and presenting both endings. Provided of course, you can sell Disney on even addressing this (or that you even see this in time to make any impact on that level, given the queue backlog). It would (semi) satisfy those more knowledgeable of the series that have precisely forgotten the intended ending (though obviously not included in the episode), be more trivial bits for those into that kind of thing, and educational for those wanting more behind the scenes information about the animation process and the kinds of things that can happen. And I say that as an animation professional, a fan of the show, your former student, and someone who has written about the animation industry for non-artists.

Anyway, I hope that information and insight is of some help to you.

Todd Jensen writes...

Here's a few comments on the second Gargoyles DVD.

One thing that I find a little startling is the "introduction sequence", which contains what may be the first case of 3-D animation that I've seen for "Gargoyles", in the form of a 3-D representation of Goliath in his stone sleep - which then breaks away to reveal a more conventionally animated Goliath beneath. It's certainly taking a little getting used to.

I've been watching the DVD, at any rate, and enjoying it, particularly its clearer animation than my old tapes enjoyed. The first thing that I saw, of course, was "City of Stone" with the audio commentary on. The comments from you, Frank, and Michael were mostly familiar information from "Ask Greg", though I got a kick out of the remark that the only ones happy about Demona's spell upon the city (besides Demona herself) were the pigeons! (I was also pleased that you allowed the audience to hear Demona's two most important lines in the four-parter - perhaps two of her most important lines in the series - "What have I - what have they done to you?" and "The access code is 'alone'.")

I also enjoyed the "Gathering" interview with cast and crew. (One bit that amused me was Brigitte Bako's comparison of Angela to such Shakespearean heroines as Desdemona and Juliet. Her particular choice of those two struck me as appropriate, since Angela gets possessed by Coldfire/Desdemona in "Possession" and she and Broadway are reading "Romeo and Juliet" in the library in "The Journey".)

And I certainly hope that sales will be good enough for Disney to come out with the final 26 episodes of Season Two this December (the December of 2006) so that we can have the entire set. At any rate, my congratulations for an enjoyable product, that definitely beats my old tapes from the nineties (except that they use the original ending for "Vows").

dph writes...

1st, I want to thank Greg Weisman very much for answering my timeline question, even though by the time you read this post it will have been a couple of years since you answered it.

About the december dvd release

I loved the commentary on CoS. I was hoping for commentary on Avalon as well, but having it just on CoS was pleasing.

The only 'complaint' about the dvd release that I have is the lack of links to scenes within the episodes. That way I can jump straight to particular spots within episodes without having to fastforward through the episode.

I was very pleased on have unedited versions of quite a few episodes. I actually im'd GXB when I saw "Leader of Pack" because the tape I had of that episode had selected edits (Toon Disney) and I didn't remember what the original episode looked like towards the end. I also enjoyed watching "Eye of the Beholder", again, because of problems with the quality of the recording that I had with that episode.

Overall, I enjoyed/am enjoying the release of those dvds.

On the next dvd release, I would love to see commentary on both The Gathering and Hunter's Moon, but if I had to choose between the two, I would choose Hunter's Moon.

I am looking forward to seeing you in person at the 2006 Gathering of the Gargoyles.