Blaise writes...

CITY OF STONE PART FOUR
Finally! I've been trying to respond to this for weeks! But due to a hectic schedule (and a testy computer) I've been hampered in my efforts.

Anyway, Bronx saves Elisa--as we all knew he would--and Demona still manages to work around him. I always did find this scene interesting for the same reasons you mentioned. Bronx won't attack Demona if she does not SEEM dangerous. It's a fun scene to watch (especially when Demona still loses her cool when referring to Elisa).

Yeah, I also like the choral music in the flashback battle sequence. Actually, I have an affinity for any music with choral parts ("O Fortuna" or "Ode de Joy" for example).
One of my favorite scenes in the battle--Demona is fighting a human. He's on the ground in front of her, screaming. She brings down her mace hard. The camera quickly closes in on her face, putting the guy and mace action off-screen. We hear the sound of impact and the scream abruptly cut-off. Maybe I'm sick, but it just pleases me that people actually are dying in this battle. More real.

Seeing Demona happy (truly smiling and laughing) in her interaction with Macbeth is another one of those "heartbreaking moments" for me, because I know it won't last. It always gets me how quickly Demona's smile turns to a frown after Macbeth leaves.

While I never believed Macbeth would betray Demona, it is nice to have confirmation of that.
Demona on the other hand, I can't help but feel a bit frustrated with. That she suspects Mac will betray her I can understand, but why not go with Luach, the one who openly and VEHEMENTLY supported her and her clan? Why go over to the guy who wears a mask with a legacy of GARGOYLE KILLING? Just goes to show that Demona believes in hurting her enemies more than the salvation of her kind--at least that's what it shows to me.

You mentioned in PART TWO how Emma Samms' voicework as Gruoch improved noticably over the four eps. You're so right, she's absolutely smoking in this episode, especially when she chews out Demona. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The ineffectiveness of the boulders dropped from above is something that always sets my brother off. The first time he saw that scene, he couldn't even complete a whole sentence. :D

The confrontation with Canmore (whose wardrobe I really love, BTW). Macbeth still tries to reason with him, something I admire. Canmore on the other hand, stabs Mac in the back. Like Todd, I find this rather despicable and cowardly. I like Canmore even less when he gives his little anti-gargoyle statement. Gruoch has a similar line, but I can't help feeling a bit more sympathetic towards her.
It's another one of those, "I always found it interesting" bits when Demona doesn't kill Gruoch. Very nice character work.
Backtracking a bit, it is good to know that Bodhe may have finally learned that sometimes you must stand and fight.
The Sisters come in and do their thing. While I already figured the spell out, I did like the way it was phrased. Good dialogue.
And Macbeth and Gruoch part. I still find it one of the most touching moments of the series.

Back in the present:
I didn't find the scene between Goliath and Xanatos too feeble. Granted the tapestry bit comes from out of nowhere somewhat, but the mouth of the armor moving is no big problem. I say that because in later airings (like the one I taped) the animation was fixed and the mouth doesn't move anymore.
I love Macbeth's interaction with Demona here. Yes, she's more rational than usual, but I love the look on her face when she realizes that Macbeth WANTS to die. Didn't see that one coming, did she?

You are right that the DUCKTALES pilot had better "fall-away floor" animation, but this one served it's purpose well enough.
Two of my favorite moments occur after falling out of the castle but before falling into the atrium. Goliath tries to stop D and M--they BOTH punch him. Xanatos tries to use his laser, Macbeth just says, "You're not the only one with weapons, laddie" and throws down a small grenade.

The final confrontation with the Sisters. Their revelations to Mac didn't much surprise me, until they mentioned Luach's death. That got me.
After the Sisters put Mac to sleep, I found myself thinking, "This would be the sort of thing Xanatos might like seeing." Immediately after, Xanatos pops up with "Normally, I'd find this all very fascinating, but right now I need that code to save my city." Wonderful touch of character. Two touches counting Xanatos' reference to Manhatten as his city.

And now, the sequence that pretty much left me breathless. The Sisters show Demona how she had been responsible for the Massacre, the Hunter, and Canmore's victory. I had never thought on that until now. And then, "The access code is...'alone'." When she said that, with tears in her eyes...I cannot adequately describe what I felt.

Xanatos jets up and saves the day. And is painfully aware that he has been seen doing that, even if it is the "dog." "What are you looking at?" Such a funny line.
It's also funny to see Demona, now her ol', vindictive self trying to break the grip of the Sisters-as-children and failing. The Sisters' exit left me eagerly anticipating their next appearance.

Then the sky burns. Whatever you guys did, kudos. Xanatos said it best, "Magnificent."

While it might have been nice for the gargoyles to lift Elisa up into the air, the scene still played well, and Xanatos' "You'll forgive me if I just shake your hand" remains humorous.

While I knew that Xanatos wasn't the type of villain to try to "kill the good guys at all costs," it is a nice final interaction he and Goliath have, explaining this.

Let's hope this posts now. With luck, I'll catch up with the next two rambles over the next couple of days.

matt writes...

ramble on "Revelations"-

first of all, the name is perfect for this episode, perfect!

ok, i agree, Tom Wilson is excellant in this episode, you can hear what he's thinking with his tone throughout the episode, both while narrating and not. its Tom's performance here that makes Matt one of my favirote characters.

until your ramble i had no idea that a different person was voicing Chavez, which is wierd cuz i usually notice things like that. oh, well, she did a great job!

when Matt first discovers the stuff in the clocktower i was horrified, "Oh no! He's going to discover the gargs and hate them!!" then i realized i've been wanting for Matt to discover the gargs since "The Edge"

until your recent posts i didn't realize that Mace ended up dying at Hotel Cabal, i figured that eventually the Illuminati came in and saved him. Hacker seemed too casual talking about Mace for me to think he died. actually for the rest of the series i was waiting for Mace to get his revenge on Matt and Goliath... guess not, huh?

this episode definetly had the best turn-to-stone scene in the series, its like Matt said, "Wow..." sometimes i'll watch just this part of the episode, its amazing, especially Bronx, i love his stance, beautiful.

Chavez's line to Elisa and Matt about finding each other is one of my favirotes. they were finally acting like real partners by "The Silver Falcon", now they are friends too. Chavez looks especially pleased with herself at this too, probably remebering Elisa's objections to a partner in "The Edge".

i'm happy Matt got his own episode, not just tagging along with Elisa and dissapearing at the right times, what a good episode too...

Revel writes...

"Your Revelations ramble"

This is probably more a compliment than anything else. Revelations was actually the first episode of the show I ever saw. I happend to flip through as the opening theme was playing and i stopped and started to watch. As you can guess I was in front of the television again the following Friday. (man that was a while ago)
What I did want to ask was did Mace get his tattoo by choice or was it sort of like branding by the society? (ouch)
Thanks

Todd Jensen writes...

A ramble-review on "Revelations".

I quite liked this episode. I'd been curious for some time about Matt's interest in the Illuminati (as I mentioned before, when I first saw Xanatos donning an Illuminati badge in "Vows", my immediate thought was "What would Matt say if he knew about this?") and in the gargoyles. So now we got an episode in which these two pursuits of his intersected.

And I did initially believe that Matt had sold Goliath out to the Illuminati, which shocked me, since I hadn't thought that he'd actually do something like that. I was glad when the truth came out at the end. I very much liked Matt's narration, as well.

(One thing that did occur to me about Elisa's "uniqueness" in being the only human whom the gargoyles considered a friend; actually, she had lost her "unique" status by this point, in light of the gargoyles also making friends with Jeffrey Robbins and Halcyon Renard - but Elisa wasn't there at either of those meetings, so I don't feel bothered by that inconsistency. And I could understand her reluctance in introducing Matt to the gargs for that reason).

Mace Malone and the Hotel Cabal worked for me (I hadn't even known about the Tower of Terror part before now, or suspected it, for that matter). So did the surprise revelation at the end of the episode that Hacker had been "one of them" all along. I was very curious about what would happen now that Matt knew that his former FBI partner was really an Illuminatus who had been hindering his search.

Actually, that brings me to one of the very few regrets that I have about the series as a whole: the fact that we didn't see anything further with the Illuminati for the rest of the season, and the only element involving it for the remainder of your run on "Gargoyles" was Owen's mention of Duval in "The Journey". (The Goliath Chronicles did do an Illuminati episode after you left, but I definitely didn't like the way that they handled the Illuminati there - they reduced them too much to the level of cliched villains as "evil munitions manufacturers who start up wars just to make a profit" - the Illuminati of your run felt much more "greyish" to me, rather than out-and-out villains like, say, the Archmage or Thailog). I hope that if you get to do the series again, we'll get to see the Illuminati thread (and particularly the Matt-and-the-Illuminati thread) developed some more.

Kathy Lowe (AKA The Gatekeeper) writes...

Just my $.02 worth on "Outfoxed". I'll leave the in-depth analysis up to Todd and Aris.

When I saw Preston Vogel for the first time, I honestly thought that is was Owen. All the characters extremely complex; I never thought that it was a copout from an animation standpoint. I went right to wondering what Owen's hidden agenda was. All the other villains had a hidden agenda, why not Owen. His "I've got a secret" attitude was evident from "The Awakening".
By the end of the episode I started having doubts that Vogel was Owen, but I didn't entirely dismiss the idea until I watched "Golem". The amount of care that Vogel had to give to a very sick Renard was more time consuming that even Owen could handle.
While I was expecting a hidden agenda out of this episode, (how could I not, Xanatos was involved via Fox) I never expected it to be Fox's agenda which was her relation to Renard. While I definitely understood what the "Tests" were, my vocabulary is woefully inadequate, so I did not know that Renard meant Fox.
I was not surprised by a pregnant cartoon character. I grew up with the Flintstones; and Wilma being pregnant with Pebbles. Back then, knitting baby booties was the way to indicate that someone was expecting. (The last sentence is for those readers who are half our ages <g> Boy do I feel old)

Kathy Lowe writes...

As I understand it, you wrote the beat sheets in response to an outline or script that was submitted to you. I really enjoy reading the summaries that you wrote; I am curious about the purpose of these summaries. Were you writing down what you interpreted the story to be from the script (thinking out loud on paper)? The way it is presented in the beat sheet, seems (to me at any rate) like most of the episode ideas are coming from you rather than the other way around.

It would be nice to see one of the scripts that you did a beat sheet on, but I can certainly understand if they no longer exist. Just seeing the evolution from Beat Sheet to final episode extremely interesting.

Axem Gold writes...

I know where the Phoenix Gate really came from. It came from the writer's of the Gargoyle Animated Series.

Greg Bishansky writes...

Here's my "High Noon" Ramble

First of all, I like how the "Previously on Gargoyles…" recap was done. I liked Coldstone in his first two appearances and was glad to be seeing him again. Also it didn't give away the involvement of Demona, Macbeth and the Weird Sisters, which shocked the Hell out of me, but I'll get to that later.

First things first. The animation in this episode is breathtaking. I don't think it'd be a stretch to say that this is episode is animated more beautifully than any other… though that is saying a lot.

I like the opening scene with Othello and Desdemona. Also nice touch with the animators drawing real Scottish Heather, I read in a magazine article that the episode's writer (I forget who it is), had to actually fax a picture of Scottish Heather to an artist during production. It shows that more care was put into this show than any other.

Iago comes off quite menacing, even though his actions are out of spite. He can't have Desdemona, so he won't let Othello have any peace with her. When I first saw this I though Iago was dead after "Legion", so it was nice to him back.

Nice continuity with Hudson and Broadway reading, I was glad this was touched on again, most cartoons would just forget about it after one episode, but not this one. Also Elisa is great in this scene, really humble, but yes, she is more of a hero than she wants to be. Also, I liked Hudson's "hit a sack" line, maybe it was late for it, but I liked it and still like it.

Hmm, nice little touches on Lex's computer monitor. "Othello Program", "Desdemona Program", "Iago Program". You have to really look to catch these, and I'm sure I missed some. Were these your idea?

So Macbeth and Demona walk past Elisa in disguise. I have to say that I did not recognize either of them. For on thing the look we got of Demona as a human was so brief, and I wasn't expecting to see them again so soon. I liked the chase scene through the station, and as soon as they got to the Clock Tower I knew something dangerous was up. When it was revealed that that was indeed Macbeth, I thought the woman was Fleance or another mercenary that Macbeth hired. Of course I kicked myself for mistaking Demona for Fleance, considering how much I adore Demona. I guess I just wasn't paying attention to her, and focusing on Macbeth.

I figured that they stole Coldstone of course, since he was going to play a major part in this episode. Also I did like the costume change on Mac & D. I also really like Demona's green eyes as a human… once again, expect a lot of gushing towards her ;)

When Elisa asked how they got Coldstone out of there without being seen, I just assumed that Demona used some kind of cloaking spell on Macbeth's plane. Turned out I was right, though I didn't factor the Grimorum in. I was too busy trying to figure out why they were working together and how they found the Clock Tower.

The animation when Demona changes from her lovely human form into her lovely Gargoyle form is beautiful (though it looks extremely painful), and I was glad to finally find out the truth behind Puck's gift. It confused me for a while, I was expecting to be human in "Vows".

Even when under a spell, Demona and Macbeth still hate each other.

Michael Dorn does a great job with Iago/Coldstone's first two lines. He's a great actor.

Goliath and Elisa share a nice moment here, I like it, can't think of more to say about it.

I like the way the scene changes on the Moon, another really nice touch.

I really like the scene when they enter the mansion, the animation on their reflections in the camera is nice, as is Goliath tapping the camera with his wing. Nice to see that Goliath has learned a lot of the modern world by saying that Macbeth is probably watching them from a control room. I also like how they kick the door open in battle stance and quickly come out of it when they see the room is empty. Also like them using the room to their own advantage.

The Demona-Brooklyn fight is very well done, it moves really fast with Brooklyn not even having time to breathe. Nice show of her warrior skills.

Once again I like the continuity from "Lighthouse" especially with Macbeth and Broadway's lines and staging the fight in a library.

The villains are really smart in this episode. I was really impressed with Iago's cunning here… a shame we never got to see "Dark Ages". The trap was really clever as well.

Demona's "Sex Pot" scene. Well, you probably already know that I love it. I don't think it's out of character at all, someone earlier posted here a good reason for her to do that saying to Elisa "I'm prettier than you". If we get the show back, I hope to see her do more of these ;) I also like seeing her hail a taxi.

Now what I want to know is how did Demona manage to walk through an entire police station in her halter-top and loincloth and not be arrested for indecent exposure? Though there is nothing indecent about it ;) Okay, on to the next scene…

Very nice scene between Elisa and Morgan. I liked how you took a minor background character and turned him into a "real" person. Elisa looks good here also, very nice animation. She looks exhausted.

I still have to say I was not confused by nobody being able to see our villains at Belvedere Castle. I just figured that Demona was using an invisibility spell. Also I have to confess that until I got on the Internet, I never thought that Coldstone was re-animated stone. But now it makes perfect sense to me.

I love that line of the Sisters' "Even shadows must be true to their shade." Also, they have their correct hair colors when they say that line on my copy of the episode.

I love the way Elisa just walks past Demona, Macbeth and Coldstone without even glancing at them. Elisa took a big gamble here. Sure Macbeth has a code of honor, but not Demona. Demona could have just ignored Macbeth and shot her. But now on to one of my favorite scenes…

THE CAT FIGHT- Demona may fight like a rookie at first, but she quickly manages to grab her. I love Iago/Coldstone's line and Macbeth's. On behalf of all male "Gargoyles" fans every where, I thank you for this scene ;) Hmm, I had less to say about this scene than I thought.

Now here, the Sisters' hair is wrong, all blonde. But I still knew it was them, and then when they phase together, Desdemona has black hair. Oh well, this episode is so well animated that I can forgive a few mistakes.

I like the fight between Othello, Desdemona and Iago. Very nicely done. Also nice to see Othello realize that he can't let evil triumph just by his doing nothing.

The fight ended well, ooh, considering where Elisa kicked Demona before slamming her head into a statue… that's gotta hurt. Still was confused to see Macbeth rescue Demona here.

I also like the scene between Coldstone and Elisa. He has a great line before leaving. And nice use of the jogger to.

I actually thought it was out of character to here Demona call Elisa by her first name rather than "Maza" or "the Detective." I also raised an eyebrow when Macbeth mentioned the "primary objective."

When I saw the Grimorum, the Eye, and the Gate all laid out, things began to make sense. Also nice to see I was right that Demona used a cloaking spell earlier, but didn't suspect that she was using the Grimorum. Also liked seeing them asking the same questions I was asking… especially. "WHY ARE WE WORKING TOGETHER!"

The Weird Sister's finally explain everything and it all makes perfect sense. Nice scheme they had. Of course I had to wait about two months to learn what the "coming battle" was. Nice way to keep us in suspense.

Overall, I like this episode. Not one of the best, but still very good. A lot of nice character moments, and a nice epilogue to "City Of Stone", and foreshadowing of things to come. Though the wait was unbearable.

THe bAbBleR writes...

Hey, I know how much you like viewer insight, so here goes:
GARGOYLES ROCKS. period. I didn't get it when I was seven. I missed all those subtleties and nuances that you put in there, but I see so clearly now! I wish that Toon Disney would air Deadly Force, but there all so stupid . "It's too violent" they say. They'll let Goofy fall of a cliff without a scratch and air it, but if they show someone getting shot and (realistically) having to go to the hospital they won't air it. What a bunch of crack heads.
Anyway, about what Titania whispered to Fox. I know what she said. She said, "All good Garg supporters go to The Gathering."
What a motherly message. Too bad Fox is a bad daughter.
* * So until Goliath plays for the Harlem Globe Trotters, I'll luv ya, Greg.

Basilisk writes...

A quick thing about OUTFOXED:

When I saw Vogel, a near-twin of Owen, I chuckled to myself and thought "Oh, there's gonna be something interesting behind that!"