Blaise writes...

DEADLY FORCE

I missed the first few minutes of this the first time it ran. I came in on Broadway in the movie theatre, but I was able to pick up what was going on. When I did see the first few minutes...I was already impressed with Owen because I had seen him in ENTER MACBETH. Regardless, I still think he ROCKS in how he handles the attack. The way he takes out one of those goons...coolness.
Bruno--didn't notice him the first few times. But when I did, I liked the touch.
And then the end of Act I. When I saw Broadway watching the movie, I figured out what the ep would deal with. When I saw Elisa leave her gun out, I figured that Broadway would play with it and that she would be hurt. I DID NOT expect her to be hurt to the point of unconciousness. I really appreciated the realism in this. Yeah, you couldn't let her die, but at least you had her flat-line.
Dracon and Glasses had some style--Dracon especially in his confrontation with Elisa.
I love Goliath and Broadway's respective rampages. You're right, Broadway indeed presents a fearsome force when angered. That fight at the end...excellent. I, too, notice that the gargoyles seem to have more edge in these early eps, and I like it. I've always enjoyed monstrous heroes of the night, so to speak.
Broadway's reaction to shooting Elisa, and his accepting responsibility for it really speak to me.
Goliath destroying the guns> I've always wondered if, at the back of his mind, Goliath got a small kick out of destroying Xanatos' property. I'm not saying it was his main intent, but maybe sort of a "bonus."
The family Maza and Capt. Chavez were also touches I liked, and I'm glad this wasn't their only appearance. A wonderful cast. And in later viewings, I did recognize Matt as Chavez's driver. Just another thing to smile about.
Yeah, I noticed Goliath's feelings for Elisa here, too. I especially love their last moment together, when Elisa calls his name and he strokes her hair saying, "Shh. Rest now. You are safe." So beautiful.

Blaise writes...

Repost of THRILL OF THE HUNT thoughts.

I also was still getting used to the characters in this episode, so I didn't notice a lot of the little things you mentioned until later viewings.
Now that you mention it, Wolf did seem to display a bit more cunning in this episode than usual. Fox taking the hostage I could definitely see as "floundering for a life preserver" if you will. In fact I did find the Pack quite appealing in this. Maybe because they were a unique type of enemy I didn't normally see animated action heroes fighting. I liked their style and the fact that they had fairly individual personalities. And for some reason, I think I found it fitting that in this episode Wolf was the last to fall. Actually, at this time I thought the Pack were just some one-shot villains (I missed the first part of the Tag, see below) and so was quite pleasantly surprised when Jackal and Hyena returned several eps later.
I was also glad that you guys didn't just sweep Xanatos going to prison under the rug, or the danger he posed to the gargoyles. And the stunt show and kids scenes are so wonderfully ironic.
I almost didn't see the Xanatos Tag the first time. After the gargoyles went to sleep, I think I went to get a drink or something, and then I came back and saw Xanatos in prison talking about how the "Test was most...informative" and giving his smirk. I was blown away to see he was behind it and still a menace even IN prison. The show gained even more respect in my eyes. And how about Owen, huh?
In later viewings, I took especial note of Owen's first few lines in the episode. A villain who "is not the sort to harbor a grudge"--you don't find many of those. Then there's when Goliath and Lex become the hunters to the Pack's prey. I just love how Hyena is taken out without even a sound. Then Dingo's swooped away, and we only see Goliath take out Jackal as shadows. Kind of like a horror movie, only the monsters are the good guys.
I hadn't noticed the change in POV before, but you're right, it is VERY effective. And in later viewings, I noticed Lexington made valid point. He just tried with the wrong people this time.

Todd Jensen writes...

Because my ramble-replies to "Temptation", "Deadly Force", and "Enter Macbeth" were all lost in the recent crash, I'm sending reconstructed versions in again. This one's for "Temptation".

One thing that I really like about this episode is Demona's development. She's in the wrong, but she's convincingly in the wrong, as she explains why humans will never accept gargoyles. Even Goliath has to admit at the end that what she told Brooklyn about humans is partly (but only partly) true. It's part of what makes her such an effective villain.

At the same time, Elisa shows at the end, by her loyalty to the clan, and her cleverness in finding a way of freeing Goliath from the spell, that not all humans are evil or anti-gargoyle, an important point. (That's why I don't really mind Elisa's means of freeing Goliath, even if it is, as you mentioned, borderline "cheating". The reward that came from showing that some humans could help gargoyles more than outweighed the problem in question). Merely showing Demona to be treacherous and scheming wouldn't be enough to counter her arguments.

And Brooklyn comes across very sympathetically, too. I liked your analysis of his behavior in this episode.

The Cloisters bit is one of my favorite parts, especially where Brooklyn talked about it being so much like "the world that we came from". (And no, I didn't think that that meant that the gargoyles were aliens; I understood that he was talking about medieval Scotland). That part clicked for me because of my (mentioned before) fondness for things relating to the Middle Ages.

And I was amused by your little bit about the motorcycle. Between that and the "garg-chopper" in "Her Brother's Keeper", it's pretty clear that the gargoyles' vehicles never seem to last very long. (Not that that's really surprising; as Goliath pointed out in "Protection", gargoyles supply their own transportation, which makes fancy motorcycles and aircraft for them pretty much redundant).

(I take it that the "Eye of the Storm" "suggested toy" that you eluded to was Goliath in his "Odinic" form?)

Blaise writes...

Hey Greg, sorry to hear about your troubles with the crash on the weekend of April 16th. It also seems that approximately 7 days of questions and replys to your rambles on THRILL OF THE HUNT, TEMPTATION, DEADLY FORCE, and ENTER MACBETH have also been lost.
That being said, I shall try to repost my own thoughts (as near as I can recreate them) on each of these in the next few days.
Here's hoping no more gets lost in the future.

Ambrosia writes...

Hi Greg!
Have you heard about the movie Frequency? It looked interesting to me because it presents the *other* theory of time-travel: what if you *could* change the past? From the previews, the theory doesn't seem to make any sense... it's the whole Back to the Future thing again: people disappearing from photos etc. (doesn't mean it doesn't look like a good movie though...)
It just seemed to reinforce the accuracy of the rules of the Phoenix Gate...

Lexy writes...

Hello Greg:)

I just read your lil ramble that mentioned how they pulled the switch-a-roo when airing Bonkers. I just thought I'd put down a comment or two on that since I loved watching the show. Now that I know Meranda (?sp?) was supposed to be the ONLY partner for Bonkers, I can see your point of view. That really rips that they took the original and just kinda stuck it in later as an after thought.<--(one word or two?? scratches head) But when the show was still airing new episodes I have to tell you, when they suddenly stuck in a new parter and we all said goodbye to Lucky I was pleasantly surprised. This wasn't because I didn't like Lucky, I just loved the idea that they had no problem with taking out a main character and just replacing him like nothing had happened. They sub'ed Meranda in..and life just went on. The episodes IMO were still good. I guess what I'm trying to say here is..when they took Lucky away and added Meranda, It never came off to me as "Oh geez, their getting lazy..so who's this blond chick??" It didn't _feel_ like I was getting some second hand idea shoved in my face. I considered both partners and the episodes they generated to be well done. I really can't say which I liked better. It wasn't like here comes this new character and things went down hill. Part of the reason I loved the switch. It just appealed to me seeing that a show had the guts to mess with MAIN characters like that and still come back at you with, IMO, good episodes. I believe that to be one of the main reasons Gargoyles was so awsome. Like life, things change. I dunno...just thought I'd mention that to you:) Seeya!!

Lexy

Abigail Thorne writes...

Okay, I've been reading everyone else's comments on "Awakening, Parts 1-5," so I finally decided to give it a go. When I first saw the commercials for "Gargoyles" way back in 1994, I had absolutely no idea what the show was supposed to be about. Neither did my brother. But hey, it was on the Disney Afternoon, which we both loved, so why not try it out? That's what we were thinking when we tuned in and watched Part 1.

My first impression? I couldn't tell whose side I was on. We were in this big battle with evil Vikings attacking on one side, and scary-but-cool-looking flying monsters on the other. As the fight went on, especially with Goliath and Demona kicking Viking ass, it was still hard to tell if the show was called "Gargoyles" because it was going to be about monsters terrorizing everybody in sight.

But I was curious to find out what was going on, and as the half-hour progressed it was easy to see that the Gargoyles were noble creatures who were being unfairly treated by the humans. The humans saw them as monsters, just like I initially had, when all they were doing was protecting them from harm. I really felt bad for the clan when I learned this, and I admired Goliath for his wisdom in dealing with the Princess (it's funny how he can be so hot-tempered about some things yet so patient about others, like waiting for acceptance from the humans).

The bottom line? By the time the episode was over, I was hooked. I cared about these characters, and I wanted to know what was going to happen to them. I thought the animation was great and the story was soooo cool, and I wanted more. I could already see that this show was going to be different from any other cartoon I had seen. It was like a sophisticated and engrossing novel, and I was annoyed that I couldn't just read on and find answers to my questions (Is that red-haired gargoyle really dead since she's in the opening theme? Are the gargoyles responsible for those explosions at that skyscraper? How'd they get there anyway?).

So thanks for the great opening. You got me, my brother, and my mom hooked from the very beginning, which is what good storytelling does. I watched the rest of the show religously, and I was never disappointed. I just hope we haven't seen the last of "Gargoyles," because there's so many stories left to tell in this novel of yours.

Todd Jensen writes...

My "Deadly Force" "reply-ramble".

Your ramble on this story was good. I honestly don't remember my response to first seeing it that well, beyond some shock at Elisa's fate at the end of Act I. I agree, however, that it was very effective drama, and a great story.

(About your admission that it was a bit dishonest to have Elisa survive but that you just weren't ready to have her die yet, I can certainly agree with you about the latter particularly. Truth to tell, after analyzing the situation for the clan at the time, I'd definitely say that if Elisa had died, the gargoyles would have been in serious trouble, given that she was the only human whom they were on friendly terms with at the time. The only other humans that they knew by that point were Xanatos and the Pack, who were their enemies - and Owen (though, as it turns out in Season Two, he's a borderline case as a human), who is too loyal to Xanatos to hide them from him. With Elisa dead, they'd have had no new home such as the clock tower ready when Xanatos drove them out of the castle, and things would have gotten almost hopeless; it would certainly have made for a very short series. So I don't blame you for having Elisa survive; she had to for the series' sake).

I agree that Broadway's well-handled in that one, and certainly does not come across as a mere "garbage disposal with wings" :) (The scene of him weeping on the building, and of him yelling at the mugger in Central Park, "What's this? A new kind of gun? A new way to kill people?" are ones that I especially found memorable). Nice job of highlighting him.

Two other little notes about this ep, both which I find rather amusing. One is the way that Owen pronounces "power ranges" when he's describing the stolen particle beam accelarators to Elisa and Chavez; a bit of a dig at the competition there, eh? The other is that the last two times that I watched this episode on tape, when Cagney meowed at Elisa, my own cat sat up at attention for a moment upon hearing it. (I always rather liked Cagney; I'm quite fond of cats, in fact).

Todd Jensen writes...

An additional little thought, inspired by your comparing Coldstone to the Frankenstein monster. As somebody who's read the original book by Mary Shelley, and quite liked it, I feel that while Coldstone certainly has a strong echo of the monster in him, as you've pointed out, I feel that Goliath does as well, although more in a contrast than in a similarity.

Like the monster (as portrayed by Mary Shelley in her book; alas for the way that Hollywood weakened the character by turning him into a mute, shuffling brute), Goliath is a noble being who appears threatening towards humans and is shunned and feared by so many humans whom he seeks to help. Also like the monster, Goliath is a thoughtful and eloquent being, and well-read with a taste for the classics (the Frankenstein monster reads Plutarch's Lives and Milton's "Paradise Lost", while Goliath reads Shakespeare and Dostoyevsky). The big difference is that the Frankenstein monster is all alone, with nobody to befriend him, and becomes embittered towards humanity thus, while Goliath has the clan and Elisa, which undoubtedly helps him. They're almost foils, in a sense. (Of course, Goliath also isn't an artificial creation, either, as the monster was). Just a little thought that had occurred to me.

Todd Jensen writes...

Ah, at last the "Re-Awakening" ramble. It was well worth the wait, too.

One thought that I've recently had on Coldstone: I wonder if any of us, living in the end of the 20th century, can fully comprehend the horror that his cybernetic condition must have held for him when he was first "re-awakened" by Xanatos and Demona in this episode. For any of us, waking up and discovering that we'd been turned into a cyborg would certainly be a horrifying enough experience. But Coldstone's experience is all the worse, at least, IMHO, because of one simple factor: cybernetics are completely beyond the world-view of anybody born (or hatched, in this case) and raised in the 10th century. He wouldn't know what they were, beyond just some strange form of magic. All that he can know is that something utterly alien, beyond his comprehension, has become part of him. I thought that the episode did a good job of displaying his horrified response to his transformation (especially the part where he uses that blaster built into his arm for the first time and is staring at it in shock and horror).

I'd also spotted some of the parallels with "Awakening", including the bit about how Goliath pronounced "detective". And I certainly agree with you that, if "Gargoyles" had ended there, "Re-Awakening" would have given it a great series finale. (Of course, you got to do another 52 episodes, all the way up to "Hunter's Moon", an even better "might-have-been" series finale, but that's another story).

I also liked your pointing out about how the gargoyles' thoughts on protection, and its evolution into protecting Manhattan, were handled in this story.

A couple of minor parts that I particularly like in this episode:

1. The way that Xanatos glares at Demona when she introduces him to Coldstone as her servant.

2. The "explosions in Bambi" bit.

3. And the very resurrection of Coldstone, which is one of my favorite "special-effects" sequences in "Gargoyles".