A Station Eight Fan Web Site

Gargoyles

The Phoenix Gate

Comment Room Archive

Comments for the week ending May 26, 2024

Index : Hide Images

MORRAND - Thanks for your review. [SPOILER] I seriously doubt that any of the swords in Prospero's vault were Excalibur, since the episode "Pendragon" had already established that King Arthur had recovered it. [/SPOILER]

I'd also noticed just how quiet this room had been, and the Memorial Day weekend does seem lie a good explanation for that - though I'd thought it might also be a case of nobody having anything more to say (at least, until #3 comes out, or the next "Voices From the Eyrie", or more news from Dynamite or the convention in July).

Todd Jensen

Thanks for the great Blog
Drywall Contractor Akron - [service at drywallakron dot com]
Drywall Contractor Akron

The one thing I probably regret most about "Quest" is that I'm sliding back into my old habit of putting off reading the new issues because I want to save the pleasure for later. It's not great. But, it's also a personal problem, so never mind. It does mean I've been off the Room for a couple of weeks again, trying to dodge spoilers (among other reasons; Palm Springs is unexpectedly hot this time of year, by the way).

Checking as I draft this: what, no traffic since Wednesday? That's unsettling. I'm hopeful that's just a sign everyone here is having a great holiday weekend with friends and family, both those here and those departed.

Turning to "Quest" #2, as always without looking over other comments yet:
[SPOILER]
So, the opening pages are a view up Goliath's neck, and I'm not sure that's his best angle. On the other hand, the distant lights effect in the last pane is very pretty, and as a signal of something up between Vinnie and Goliath I think it's suggestive. It'll be interesting to find out what they're up to. Obviously it's something he thinks is good.

(Unlikely prospect: Vinnie is tied back to Coldstone via intermediaries and is clueing in Goliath to a scheme cooking in the background. I sort of doubt this and, as always, I'd need to do more research to figure out if that's realistic or not--honestly, Kickstarter can't cough up "Bad Guys" fast enough at this point--but it would be intriguing.)

Goliath's position on money is not a surprise given his reaction in the last series, and it may be an interesting contrast to Wyvern (whom, well, see below) depending on Wyvern's reason for making a hoard. Goliath's position on wealth is a bit naive, maybe: it can be argued fairly that he's been living on David Xanatos's wealth, after all, for almost three years at this point. That can be answered fairly by pointing out that, consequently, he's been saddled by Xanatos with certain responsibilities, which just proves the point he's making and may even be what he means. This is a longer discussion that I could have with myself for pages and pages to no great enlightenment and it's just the first page of the comic, so let it be, but interesting to get something that could go so deep just from opening the cover of this thing.

Action moves to Bermuda, and my first reaction really was, "OK, so who's going to get slaughtered this time?" I *guess* I could hope that Thailog and company would be a bit more...nuanced?...than Demona, but since we're just setting the scene here, no way to know yet.

Goliath's grasping Turquesa's and Jade's shoulders. That's interesting to me: we've seen that once in a while (flicking back to Brooklyn doing that to Mary and Finella all the way back in "Clan-Building," and it shows up elsewhere) and it does fit with the level of affection the clan has for the two of them. So much so that everyone completely fails to notice the time, apparently. Oh well. Something it took me a couple looks to realize is that Angela calls Nashville "Gnash." That's nice.

Back in Bermuda, Shahrizad beams a smile at someone with a truly impressive beard and questionable taste in fashion, whose name is...Prospero? And he has companions named Caliban and Ariel? Well. I guess even I know who that is, then.

I'm puzzled by the purple ball on the bottom of the next page that seems attached to Coldstone's tail. I don't recall seeing that previously, and on first read I thought that was some sort of a gas bomb being dropped on the four of them (it took a bit of reading back and forth to rule that out). There's a later panel that makes clear that it is a part of his tail. Huh.

I kind of like Prospero urging Shari to tell them a story--if it weren't already clear that he knows her, that'd make it clear--and I don't know if this is the first time in continuity that it's mentioned, but her need to not tell the end of the story surely explains a few things. What's really interesting to me is the point that she's able to thwart his magical burglar alarm by telling a story to him. That's another thing I'll need to take away, go back and reread her parts, and think about for a while.

Man, there is a LOT packed in here already.

And so back in Manhattan we dispense with the loose end around the Mayan Sun Amulet, to the delight of our two guests, but not for long as we have a battle starting up in a nice two page spread. (This is two pages before the actual center signature of the book I have. Other than making it a bit lumpy in the middle, it doesn't matter, but it makes me wonder if that was just chance or if something got trimmed earlier that pulled it forward a touch.)

In Bermuda, the scheme continues in about the simplest way to continue it: rip off the vault door and take the thing. I can appreciate not over-complicating that part of it.

It is interesting, back at the castle, to see Gnash taking charge of at least that sub-unit of the clan. It's early yet to say he's his father's son, but that would fit.

Coldstone's reaction to Goliath's command not to harm the humans is understandable, but a bit strange given the reveal coming up. Going back to the spread, one of those exo-frames clearly has a human silhouette in it. I'm not sure if that was a fake by Demona's crew or if it may turn out they weren't quite as unoccupied as it seems, but either way, it certainly looks like Coldstone might not have been told the whole plan.

More interesting stuff in the vault alongside the Hand of Valmont. What looks like a Grimoirum (no shock, given it's Prospero) and a couple of (hovering?) swords. I'm not going to go so far as to guess one of those swords is Excalibur--that would be fun, but I don't feel much like going back to cross-check in "Dark Ages" right now since the story doesn't linger on it.

The hilts on those swords look like the hilt of my own sword, except mine has a much simpler crossguard and simpler pommel. I'm thrilled by the coincidence.

Yikes. Jean Le Maire is a bit of a hardacre, isn't he, taking down Thailog on his own? I hope we get to see more of him. But anyway, we get the reveal (to Prospero) that the Hand is gone. In scanning the area, he looks at a group of cyclists riding along under the full moon, with a very odd silhouette on the moon: I guess that is supposed to be Thailog, but it's a funny stylized rendering of him. Unless...

So now the reveal that this is a (mostly?) remote-control attack, and Gnash giving the key line here that I hope links up Demona and the Dracons for our heroes.

Oh, Owen. The resignation in his voice on the last page is just funny to me, kind of a, "what, not this again?" attitude. I look forward to figuring out what Demona needs from him next issue.

Two points about the teaser page. First, we get the tease of Wyvern's return. This sort of figures: as awesome as it is on its own terms to bring in a dragon to the story, I don't suppose Wyvern was ever going to be a one-off character. Second, the art, which shows Goliath's right heel sinking through the page. I don't know yet what this represents but could we be looking at something very unpleasant happening to him? I guess we'll find out in a few weeks. (Drew Moss gets another upvote from me for working in that detail.)
[/SPOILER]


As usual, I keep reading this and keep feeling a little like I haven't quite done my homework. That could be annoying in another story, but it's less so here: the universe is so enormous that it doesn't feel so humiliating not to know all the details of what went before. And I am dead certain I'll get filled in when I read the Comment Room back after posting this.

morrand - [morrand276 at gmail dot com]

Jurgan> [SPOILER] That's very good storytelling! [/SPOILER]
B

JURGAN - [SPOILER] Thank you for the theory on gargoyles in French history. I looked up Turreau and read a bit about him (learning, among other things that he served as an ambassador to the United States during the Napoleonic era). The depiction of him as linked to the Canmore family gave another "Auld Alliance" feel (alongside Lord Valois working with Culen and Princess Elena - evidently a member of the ducal family of Normandy - marrying Prince Malcolm). [/SPOILER]
Todd Jensen

Oh, and I think I'm 8th this week.
Jurgan - [jurgan6 at yahoo dot com]

[SPOILER]
So the Director is a man who has his own idea of justice, but seems to have a more punitive view of it than "Monsieur Le Maire" and has kind of a frosty relationship with him. Wonder if he's Javert. I could see it if he survived his suicide attempt.

Thoughts about gargoyles in French history are coming into my head faster than I can process them, and I could write a whole novel length story about it, though I doubt I have time to do so. Here's a rough mental outline I have now:

Gargoyles were scattered throughout the Roman Empire and were vaguely tolerated, if not first class citizens. When that power collapsed, gargoyles were subject to persecution again. Scattered clans made the old deal: we'll guard your fortress at night if you protect us during the day. Many of those "fortresses" were in fact cathedrals, and gargoyles started to be associated with the Catholic Church. Some poorer cathedrals commissioned stone gargoyle replicas to frighten troublemakers. They often used them as water spouts, leading to the myth that the word "gargoyle" is derived from "gurgle." A clan of Parisian gargoyles helped build and then move into Notre Dame and declared it their protectorate. There was one memorable event in 1482 where they defended Notre Dame against a gang of Romani looters*. (If this were on TV, I don't care who voices the gargoyles as long as it's not Jason Alexander.) At one point, a gargoyle with particularly gruesome features glided down and saved an innocent woman from being hanged, though many witnesses misremembered him as a deformed human swinging down from a rope.

The French Revolution started out hopeful for the future, but paranoia over the war with Austria drove violent attacks against those suspected of disloyalty. For the gargoyles, the dechristianization campaign was the greatest threat. The Catholic Church was seen as a corrupt ally of the monarchy, and gargoyles being so associated with the Church made them scapegoats as well. The conflict came to a head when Notre Dame was sacked in fall of 1793. The statues of kings that adorned the front were decapitated, and any gargoyles who slept there met the same fate. After this massacre, the non-juring priests (those who refused to swear allegiance to the new government) urged their gargoyles to flee from Paris and other cities in the grips of radicalism. Some, of course, refused, but those who left fled to the Vendee.

The Vendee was a region in western France that was more rural and more monarchist. The Catholic Church in that region did not have the association of wealth and corruption it had in the big cities. Priests were typically locals with personal relationships to the community. Resistance to the demands of Paris to place the priests under national control, as well as conscription of young men for the war against Austria, led to violence and eventually civil war. The Army of the West was strong, but was unprepared for resistance from gargoyles. Louis Marie Turreau wrote to the National Convention proposing the creation of what would be later known as the “infernal columns,” notorious for slaughtering tens of thousands. "My purpose is to burn everything, to leave nothing but what is essential to establish the necessary quarters for exterminating the rebels." War Minister Lazare Carnot met with Turreau, telling him that his plans were acceptable, but was he sure that he could handle resistance from gargoyles? “Of course,” replied Turreau. “I have learned this year how to fight men. But hunting gargoyles-“ here he slipped on a black mask with red claw marks across it, “that’s in my blood.”

Leaving off here for now. I have thoughts on how Valjean might be incorporated, but we’re likely to get more canonical information on him soon, so I’ll hold off for now.
*If you've only seen the Disney movie, the Romani (or "Gypsies") were not nearly as sympathetic in the novel. Which is not to say they were "the bad guys," pretty much everyone in that book except Esmerelda was awful in one way or another.
[/SPOILER]

Jurgan - [jurgan6 at yahoo dot com]

Just checking. What Blaise said made me nervous that maybe comments from close to the end of the week can get overlooked.
B

I always check the previous week's comments when the Room resets just in case. And yes, B, I saw what you posted.
Matt
"And, thus, given no choice, we waited..." - Alesand, "The Reach"

Blaise> "Waited for the Room to wipe so I could post my review on the latest issue" Does everyone check the last few posts of a week? For example, did Matt see the post where I cited the Ask Greg responses where Greg has said that only gargoyles who produced eggs that generation are officially called rookery parents, which was one of the last posts on the week ending May 5?
B

Matthew> Plus inspirations from Gummi Bears and Hill Street Blues.
Antiyonder

Matt> Shakespeare and Star Trek. Two cornerstones of the Gargoyles world.
Matthew
Ain't nothing crazy 'bout me but my brain!

As a reminder, we do have a Gummi Bears article on GargWiki:

https://gargwiki.net/Adventures_of_the_Gummi_Bears

Maybe the "Night of the Gargoyle" would merit a Tidbit mention?

Antiyonder

Matthew> The second you said Avery Brooks, I figured it out!
Matt
"And, thus, given no choice, we waited..." - Alesand, "The Reach"

Matt> I had a feeling that might be a deep pull.
Nokkar of course is played by Avery Brooks famously Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine. There was a recurring arc involving his former Chief of Security Michael Eddington (Kenneth Marshall) who defected to a militant group of human colonizers who engaged in terrorist attacks against both the Cardassians and against the Federation. Eddington had a knack for staying ahead of Sisko and making a fool of him, leading him to smugly call Sisko "Javert." This leads to Sisko realizing that Eddington sees himself as a romantic hero and figures that the best way to bring him in is to play the role of the villain.

It does not go well for Eddington.

Like I said, I had a feeling this would be a deep pull. But considering Gargoyles' connection to Trek I still thought it would be appropriate.

Matthew
Ain't nothing crazy 'bout me but my brain!

CRAIG - Thanks for the "Gummi Bear" post and thoughts. I remembered the gargoyle episode (they even did a "sound clip" from it at the end of the first "Voices from the Eyrie" podcast), but had forgotten about Tummi making friends with the blind woman until you mentioned it. Then the memories came rushing back.

And I recall your bringing up the "in danger of extinction" part here last year, when I was speculating on what "Gargoyles" might have been like if the production team had gone for the "last of their kind" approach. (One additional detail that came back to me in that context; the Season One finale had the Gummis attempting to make contact with the new Gummi homelands that had been established across the sea; the first two lands did not respond (though the third did), raising the possibility that some disaster had befallen those two lands.

[SPOILER] Noting that all three members of the "White Council" featured in "Gargoyle Quest" #2 were famous literary/fictional characters - Prospero, Shahrizad, and Jean Valjean (or at least, a counterpart to Valjean, like the Falstaff of "Bad Guys" to the Falstaff of Shakespeare),, I thought about the one other member of the group we know about, the Director from "Bad Guys". Is he such a figure as well? Or is he an exception, someone firmly native to the modern world? (I did reread his scenes - with the additional bonus of looking at his conversation with Monsieur LeMaire from the vantage of what we now know about the latter.)

Another thought that came to me. We know that Greg Weisman had planned for the Redemption Squad to do battle with the Manhattan clan (and win - though it'd obviously be a non-lethal victory). In "Gargoyle Quest", we see the people behind the Redemption Squad (the "White Council") getting involved with the Manhattan clan's adventures for the first time, though not directly (their big clash at the moment is with Thailog). I wonder whether in the remaining three issues, something will happen involving the Manhattan clan that will lead to the "White Council" seeing them as dangerous, and thus sending the Redemption Squad after them in a later story. (It'd have to be something pretty big; the clan's clearly made some progress on its public image, and Prospero, Monsieur LeMaire, and Shahrizad are all most likely far more knowledgeable about gargoyles than the general public.)

And thanks for your review, Blaise. [/SPOILER]

Todd Jensen

Fourth!

Great comments, Blaise.

Care to explain your last comment, Matthew? I think I'm lacking the knowledge to get it.

Matt
"And, thus, given no choice, we waited..." - Alesand, "The Reach"

Blaise> [SPOILER] I took was surprised that this dweebish, wannabe gunman had a name as cool as Solomon Hawke. That's the kind of name reserved for a modern day sorcerer or warlock. Or a mad scientist with a keen interest in Baroque-era paintings, not this guy. David Xanatos, Anton Sevarius, those are baddies that live up to their names. This guy needs to either step up his game are change it to Jerry or Leonard or something.

Oh, something I just thought of. If Nokkar ever gets the chance to meet Monsieur Le Marie, I imagine he'd have the weirdest case of déjà vu. [/SPOILER]


And Third.

Matthew
Ain't nothing crazy 'bout me but my brain!

****Blaise walks in.****
...what? Does every entrance have to be big and loud? Oh, and--

SECOND!

Waited for the Room to wipe so I could post my review on the latest issue, "Where are you going with this?," or in Latin (so we can keep the "every title begins with 'Q'" scheme)...
QUO VADIS CUM HOC?> [SPOILER] We begin with Bowtie (or Solomon Hawke as he has been officially identified elsewhere, a name way too cool for him) being handed over to the actual on-duty cops by Elisa. Looks like Morgan and...most likely Phil, but could be Matt. While that’s going on, Goliath and Vinnie are finishing up their little discussion. While Goliath does not want or need the “remuneration” involved (he already has more than he wants on that front), he apparently found Vinnie’s description of his boss’s cause “beneficial, admirable and righteous” and so decides to agree to the deal. What is the deal? Or the “cause?” Is Vinnie’s boss Taro and is Goliath aware if so? All mysteries for now, as we catch up with Goliath several hours later (not long before sunrise) finally heading home.
And look who’s there to greet him! Jade and Turquesa have indeed landed in Manhattan and been brought into contact with our clan by the beasts.

Meanwhile, Thailog’s gang (including Sevarius, who I believe was absent from the previous meeting) are landing in Bermuda while Shari reviews the plan they have to acquire the Hand of Valmont and “fulfill [Thailog’s] Devil’s Bargain with Demona.” Yeah, Thailog’s not a complete fool and he knows nothing Demona has planned is going to be good for him in the long run, but this is the best play he has at the moment.

The mood is much merrier in Manhattan, though, as the rest of the clan (well, everyone but Hudson and the TimeDancing couple) come out to meet or re-meet the visitors. Angela in particular seems happy to see them, what with her practically glomping Turquesa. It makes sense to me, though: these two are among the first 8 or so gargoyles Angela encountered after leaving Avalon, and from the first group who were not initially at odds with them, so she may have developed a kind of affection for them back during their World Tour visit. Also, Angela strikes me as a bit of an “all-loving heroine” whose friendship and affection are strong once earned. Huh, something occurs to me now: Angela is probably an extrovert. No wonder she wanted off Avalon...
However, Broadway and Lexington seem to be excited about something and tell Jade and Turquesa to wait and Broadway will be “right back” to give them something they’ve been holding onto for them...right before the sun rises and freezes in stone sleep every living gargoyle without a magic pendant (which explains why most of the clan arrived on the roof at the same time). Looks like B & L were so excited they forgot about bedtime. Either that, or Broadway meant “wait here all day until we wake up.” At least point them to the library or something, dude.

During the day in Bermuda, though, Shari drops by an old friend--one so familiar with her he calls her Shahrizad. This old man with long white hair and beard (whose "wizard" look is only marred by the rather casual attire he’s wearing) remarks on the unexpected nature of Shari’s visit but nevertheless welcomes her to the “current headquarters of the White Council.” We then learn that this man is none other than Prospero!
Also, that his first name is Paolo.
Also, also--Shari does not like the name “White Council,” stating that it’s 1997 and the group needs a new name. Is it because she finds the name to be old-fashioned or full of unfortunate implications? Whatever the reason, though, Prospero doesn’t seem to be too defensive about it, even playfully joking about calling themselves the “Powder-Blue Council” with matching tracksuits (because they are *so* comfortable!). This tells me that this is probably an old “argument” and these two are (or were) on very friendly terms.
But Prospero moves onto suggesting other more serious names (“Star Chamber” and “Shadow Cabinet” and I will leave it for others to suss out their meanings and origins) and eventually confirms that Ariel and Caliban are no longer around, both being on Avalon for the Gathering. I just noticed in my second readthrough Shari’s hand on Prospero’s leg as she comforts him...not sure how much to read into that (if anything). The surprises don’t stop coming though, as Prospero turns out to have had another guest already: Monsieur le Maire, back for the first time since “Losers” and “on-screen” for the first time. And Shari even calls him “Jean” pretty much verifying his identity.

I’m going to stop for a moment to say that I was all but “squee”-ing over this pair of introductions. Love to finally see both Prospero and (most likely) Jean Valjean in the “Gargoyles” universe years (or decades) after Greg talked about them in Ask Greg. I remember when “Losers” first came out folks were guessing that the mysterious “Monsieur le Maire” would be revealed as Jean Valjean, and lo and behold! But there’s also the revelation that they and Shari are apparently working against the Illuminati, and Shari’s job is to “infiltrate the enemy” (which she says she’s been doing since before Jean was born). Are Prospero and Jean in similar positions (or were)? The thought going in was that the Illuminati had the Hand of Valmont, but is the theory that others have put forth last week true and WE the audience are being misdirected and the Hand is not the item that they need to get from the Illuminati but a means of retrieving it? Really looking forward to these answers as well as more from these two old men and Shari.

Back in Manhattan the Cold-Duo compare notes with the Malaysian Duo. Is it just me, or does Jade not look very happy when talking to Coldstone? Maybe it’s a kind of “Uncanny Valley” thing. At any rate, the Xanatos family appears to be leaving via helicopter (where to, Xanadu?) with Owen left behind at the Eyrie Building. Coldstone makes an excuse about having to recharge his cybernetics in order to leave (though it seems a rather clumsy one if Turquesa’s reaction is anything to go by) and contacts Demona to say, “Our moment has come.” She says to tell her everything and I wonder if he will include the bit about their visitors and the magic pendants. He had warned them to take care of those pendants earlier: an honest warning (made knowing he was going to tell Demona about them)?

Back in Bermuda, the sun is starting to set and the...Powder-Blue Council is sitting down to hear a progress report from Shari (or a “story” as Prospero requests), although Shari gives the cryptic statement that her life “depends on not telling you how it ends.” A playful jab at the story (or stories) she’s from? Or an insight into her particular brand of immortality? Probably both.

And here’s where we play around with the “Unspoken Plan Guarantee” trope, the one where if the plan is explained in detail beforehand it will go bad, but if it’s kept a secret from the audience then it will go off without a hitch. The variation here uses flashbacks to explain the plan *as* it is happening, which not only gives us insight into Shari and company’s planning process but allows us to learn a few things about Shari and Prospero. For instance, Prospero not trusting any technology he didn’t invent himself and using a magic field to sense intruders, while Shari’s storytelling is apparently magic, too, and able to captivate her audience (even to the point of ignoring said magic intruder-sensing field). So, yeah, she’s pretty much casting Enthrall here (yeah, I’m still dropping D&D names and terminology).

The Manhattan clan wakes up and Broadway rushes off to get the thing he was talking about last night and FINALLY the Mayan Sun Amulet is given back to Mayan Clan members. For some reason, I’m glad time is taken for them to mention the Clock Tower blowing up and Elisa going back to recover it from the wreckage. Turquesa and Jade’s reactions really help sell this, too, what with their initial exclamations and their tears of joy.
Too bad someone has to be a party-pooper...with a whole mess of mechs! There’s *at least* 16 of them here! And yeah, they’re the same kind Demona used and Dino later co-opted.

Cut to Bermuda: the plan goes apace as Brentwood infiltrates the home through a small window and lets Thailog in through a large door. Their objective is a large, suitably old-fashioned iron vault, and Thailog’s next part of the job is ripping it open!

Cut to Manhattan: Gnash orders the beasts to the Rookery to help his parents and Hudson guard the egg while Coldstone plays his role of “angry defender” against an attack he helped orchestrate. And once again he doesn’t like it when he’s ordered not to kill the human pilots, but grudgingly complies.

Going back to Bermuda (and thankfully that’s the last of the “different location each page” format and I can finish out the Bermuda side of things), the difficulty in hiding a gargoyle tearing open a safe is addressed and Thailog moves to his next role in the plan: the Distraction! While he’s knocking over Prospero and matching strength with Jean (and yeah, I fist pumped at finally seeing how Jean Valjean’s super-strength was going to be implemented here), Brentwood is nabbing the Hand of Valmont (just going to ignore those glowing, floating daggers and other paraphernalia). The last part of the plan is “don’t linger,” though, so Thailog immediately takes off after Jean gets a good smack in. But Prospero is pretty canny and immediately casts Scry or something to learn that they’ve taken the Hand. He widens his “Mystic Perception” (something like Detect Magic and Locate Object) in order to find the Hand but he can only check if someone is holding it or not. Turns out Brentwood doesn’t have it, either. And there just happens to be a half-dozen people riding their bikes by the house this early in the night...and one of them splits off to drop a package in a mailbox. We’ve more-or-less guessed that this courier is Sevarius, but I’m wondering if the rest of the group may not have been hired as well. It fits with how well planned this heist was--it seemed to go off without a hitch even with the presence of Jean, who Shari did NOT know was going to be there. Of course, Shari’s sudden disappearance at the end may do her no favors with Jean and Prospero. Given how many teams she seems to be on, though, one wonders how many dimensions of chess Shahrizad is playing right now.

We finish at the Eyrie Building, where Turquesa and Jade scramble to protect the amulet they only JUST got back (and now I wonder if Coldstone’s earlier comment may have been a red herring to make them focus on the amulet...). Gnash gives the rundown on the suits while Goliath tears one open to reveal...robots, or dummies, or anything but people.
[GOLIATH: “Brother, never mind: you can destroy these.”]
Goliath groks that they’re being remote controlled, but only we see Antoinette with the RECAP visor.

And inside the castle, Owen grouses about the castle being under attack *again,* only for Demona to greet him with a large gun to his face and indicate that *he* is her actual objective here (or at least it’s something he has). Loved the echo of the Captain and Princess Katharine’s lines here.

So, we’ve had a lot of revelations here, a number of new mysteries, and some character moments. It is frustrating to have to wait for the next issue (I remember when “Awakening” first aired, each day was an eternity until the next episode), but that means that I am really, most sincerely hooked. I’m eager to see where this goes. [/SPOILER]


Later!
****Blaise explodes. Don't worry, it's nothing gory; just a big and loud boom with a bright flash and he's gone.****

Blaise
"There's no point in being grown up if you can't be childish sometimes."--The Doctor

First!

A few thoughts, as I continue to gradually work my way through a Gummi Bears rewatch...

I'm almost certain this has come up before, but an early episode entitled "Night of the Gargoyle" features a gargoyle (technically a grotesque, per the recent discussion in this chat room) which is stone during the day but comes to life at night. This guy is a lot more malevolent than the gargoyles we know, though (smaller, too). I wonder if Greg had seen this episode when he created the show.

Another episode, entitled "What You See Is Me," is about Tummi befriending a blind shepherd woman. It's similar conceptually to the Jeffrey Robbins storyline in Gargoyles: Tummi is able to be friends with a human without fear of the usual prejudice against the Gummies because she assumes he is human. (It's left ambiguous whether or not she actually knows he isn't human.)

I recall some discussion here a few months ago about how, since Gummi Bears was a lighter-weight series, it never addressed the possibility of the species going extinct. (In fact, it's possible that I was the one who said this...I can't recall.) In any event, the second season premiere is entitled "Up, Up, and Away," and it actually focuses on this a bit. The main characters encounter another Gummi Bear (voiced by Jim Cummings, one of his very first animation roles) who was the last survivor of his group of Gummies. He points out how Cubbi might someday suffer a similar fate, as the youngest of his own group, and Zummi acknowledges that this is something they have discussed.

Craig