CRAIG - Thanks for your comments. I'm looking forward to rereading the comics and writing my reviews/commentaries on them.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Fri, Feb 21, 2025 7:00:00 pm EST from 68.99.93.213

Very excited about the Demona miniseries solicitation. [SPOILER] Ever since I first learned that Demona had been alive for 1000 years, and not in stone sleep, I was greedy for that backstory to be filled in. Obviously we've gotten some great glimpses, especially in "City of Stone," but I'm greedy! A thousand years of history is a long time, and Demona is just about the most compelling character on the show, so I've always felt that THIS was the spinoff that made the most sense, and certainly was the spinoff most desired by yours truly. Should be a blast. The tease of her daughter out-aging her is completely unexpected and promising. Frank's art looks terrific in the preview pages we got. [/SPOILER]

And I've really enjoyed reading all your thoughts on the episodes, Todd, especially those final five episodes, which are some of the strongest of the series. I look forward to your writeups on the SLG comics (and hopefully we'll all soon have the new editions of the SLG comics in hand!).
Craig
posted @ Fri, Feb 21, 2025 12:41:12 pm EST from 69.118.30.106

I like the comparison of the upcoming Demona mini-series to "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck" (a really delightful covering of Scrooge's backstory, by the way, that I highly recommend - and [SPOILER] Macbeth even gets a cameo in the first chapter, though with a different character design, of course [/SPOILER]).

[SPOILER] There's a legend about Canmore's death, by the way; an English nobleman was said to have slain him by striking him in the eye by a spear, and was nicknamed "Pierce-Eye", which turned into a family name for his descendants, changed to "Percy". The Percy family was indeed prominent in northern England during the Middle Ages (and even found their way into Shakespeare, particularly Hotspur in "Henry IV Part One", but their name was actually derived from a place-name in France that they hailed from (they were Normans, of course, who came over with William the conqueror), and the story was invented as a more fanciful explanation for their name). I've long-suspected, however, that in the Gargoyles Universe, it was actually Demona who pierced Canmore's eye in a fatal manner. [/SPOILER]
Todd Jensen
posted @ Fri, Feb 21, 2025 8:47:45 am EST from 68.99.93.213

Just read the solicitation for Demona #1 that is now up on GargWiki thanks to Bishansky. I'm really getting the feeling that this mini-series is Demona's version of "The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck". Looks like we'll get snapshots of her misadventures over the centuries.

[SPOILER] First stop, Northumberland in 1093. We know that Canmore dies that year, so I can assume this is related. Canmore will likely learn that Demona has survived and begin the Hunt that will continue to modern times. There is a hint that gargoyles are alive in the area. Will these be "English stock"? Since it doesn't seem that the mysterious Angelika has her roots in Demona's Clan, perhaps she is related to these gargoyles? Perhaps a survivor or an egg (due to hatch in 1098) that Demona adopts? Who knows? But it sounds like Bodhe is getting more wrong all of the time about the English wiping out their gargoyles long before 1057. I'm really looking forward to all of this as gargoyle history, culture, and biology intrigues me greatly. [/SPOILER]
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me! I have no daughter." - Demona, 1996
posted @ Fri, Feb 21, 2025 8:37:17 am EST from 204.184.178.1

MATTHEW - Thanks for your comments. I suspect that Demona hasn't realized how her actions have helped cause humans to fear gargoyles thanks to her long tendency to blame everyone but herself for her troubles, the old "None of this was my fault!"
Todd Jensen
posted @ Thu, Feb 20, 2025 8:10:35 pm EST from 68.99.93.213

Good coverage of the finale, Todd. One detail I especially liked was Elisa pointing out if the Canmores even know why they're continuing the blood feud. Greg's made use of the futility of revenge in most of his works but one thing that works well here is the flashbacks involving Charles Canmore falling victim to the feud just as "City of Stone" ultimately showed what happened with Gillecomgain and Duncan. It didn't matter that Gillecomgain managed to take stewardship of Moray or Duncan ruling all of Scotland, that need for vengeance consumed them all the same until it led to their deaths. And one thing that the episodes also did well was depict how easy for even the heroes to want to get in on vengeance, even if for ostensibly speaking, the 'right reasons."

Goliath willing to align with Demona, even temporarily, shows how far he nearly falls and once again demonstrates that he's not an infallible character. Though now that I think about it, it's darkly amusing how many enemies to the gargoyle species Demona has created in her time. You'd think after a while she'd start to pick up how many adversaries came about because of her and her bad decisions.
Matthew the Fedora Guy
Ain't nothing crazy 'bout me but my brain!
posted @ Thu, Feb 20, 2025 7:47:00 pm EST from 135.180.3.149

BISHANSKY - Thanks for posting the link. It looks like a good story. [SPOILER] I'm a bit surprised about Demona's "revenge on Canmore" starting shortly after 994; Canmore wasn't even born yet, and Demona doesn't have a motive for seeking revenge on him until 1057. But it could be another case of "Never trust a spoiler".

I'm curious about Angelike, and just how Demona managed to have another daughter during those thousand years of wandering. Presumably Angelike was after her alliance with Macbeth, since Demona wasn't immortal until 1040, and Macbeth's reign was only seventeen years, not long enough to do much with "Demona doesn't age but her daughter does". But it seems unlikely that Demona met another male gargoyle and had a child by him during the period in her life after 1057. Of course, it didn't say that Angelike was Demona's *biological* daughter; it's possible that, say, she's an orphaned hatchling, the sole survivor of a slaughtered clan whom Demona found. Her name, of course, is very similar to Angela's; of course, Demona did used to be known as "angel of the night", but it's still a striking coincidence.

And we see Demona now dressed up in a more Norse style, including a shield with runes on its edge and what looks like Odin mounted on Sleipnir. What strikes me even more about that is that Demona would have ample reason to hate Vikings, for obvious reasons - and now she's donning that style of armor. [/SPOILER]

Also rewatched "Hunter's Moon Part Three" today, bringing my rewatch of the animated series for the 30th anniversary to an end. I'll be reading the comics next.

The opening flashback has two features I thought I'd mention. First, it places the Hunter's Moon in late September, probably because of the personal significance September 28 has to Greg Weisman. The Hunter's Moon is generally in October, in fact, though Longfellow in his "Poet's Calendar" (which I quoted here a couple of years ago) placed it in September as well. Second, the current Canmore Hunters go after Demona because she killed their father in front of them when they were children. It feels like an echo of Bruce Wayne's reason for becoming Batman (particularly appropriate given the work the production team put into making it clear that "Gargoyles" wasn't an imitation of "Batman: TAS") - if darker in some ways; one obvious big difference is that Charles Canmore wasn't an innocent victim like Bruce Wayne's parents, but brought his death upon himself by pursuing Demona over a centuries-old feud that the Canmores had forgotten the reason for.

Speaking of which - I still really like that "lost scene" between Elisa and Jason Canmore where she asks him why his family is going after gargoyles, and Jason realizes that he can't answer that question; the hunt's gone on for so long that the Canmores have forgotten how it began. It's a really great moment, and while it's a pity that it didn't make it into the finished episode, at least Greg shared it with us at "Ask Greg" and in the radio play at the 2001 Gathering.

(I also recall the radio play's description of the aftermath of the Canmores blowing up the clock tower, with all of the gargoyles' few possessions - Hudson's recliner, the television set, and Lexington's laptop - thoroughly destroyed. It got a big sick laugh from the audience.)

There's so much else to talk about. Jon Canmore, who started off as the reluctant Hunter, turning into the most vindictive of them. (As I mentioned when I reviewed "Hunter's Moon" for the 25th anniversary, I particularly like the touch where he's saying to Jason at St. Damien's that the Manhattan gargoyles "killed dad" - of course, he knows that they weren't present, and it shows just how mad he's become - a further neat touch is how Robyn, up to this point the calm and matter-of-fact member of the Canmore trio, becomes especially alarmed about his behavior, a mark of just how serious it's become.) Demona, as she goes over her plans, talks about gargoyles taking "their rightful place as rulers of this world" - another sign about how she doesn't just want gargoyles to survive, but to dominate the planet. And so much more.

"Hunter's Moon Part Three" makes a great piece of drama to wrap up both the multi-parter and the season - and "Gargoyles" in its Disney Afternoon phase. I'll have more to say, later, about the ending note, but for now, here's

FAVORITE LINES.


CHARLES CANMORE: Tonight is the Hunter's Moon, children. Our moon. Your great-grandfather died fighting the demon. My father sought in vain for her all his life. Tonight, it finally ends with me.

ROBYN: Just because our ancestors hunted gargoyles doesn't mean we have to.

CHARLES CANMORE: It is our destiny as Canmores, Robyn.

JON: Daddy, don't go! You'll get hurt.

CHARLES CANMORE: Don't worry, Jonny. I've trained all my life for this. I won't fail.


HUDSON: Leave me, lads. The next attack....

GOLIATH: We are clan, family. We do not abandon each other.

{Jon Canmore, waiting in secret, ready to open fire on the gargoyles, moves his finger away from the trigger, unable to bring himself to attack.}


HUDSON: We cannot abandon our home.

GOLIATH: Our home is no more, Hudson. This time of our life is over. And for that, the Hunters will pay.


OWEN: Obviously the gargoyles did not destroy their own clock tower.

FOX: Maybe not, but anyone who saw that report is going to think they did. The whole city will be hunting them now.

{Xanatos turns his chair, in thoughtful silence.}


ELISA: Goliath, please. Let the law handle this.

GOLIATH: The law? What about justice?

ELISA: Look, I'm sorry, but you don't want justice. You want vengeance.

BROOKLYN: She's right, Goliath.

GOLIATH: What?

ANGELA: Look what this feud has cost us already.

GOLIATH: That's exactly why we must have vengeance!

HUDSON: Or maybe that's why we should let it go.


BROOKLYN: Listen, Goliath, you know we're with you.

GOLIATH: Stay here! That's an order!


ELISA: I don't suppose you can stop this.

JON: I wish.


GOLIATH: I ordered the clan to stay behind!

BROADWAY: The clan *did* stay behind. But Elisa needed a lift.

{Goliath smiles at Broadway's use of that loophole.}


LEXINGTON: We heard everything. I - I - I wish I'd never kept this thing.

GOLIATH: We still need it Tomorrow is the Hunter's Moon. It will be the last moon they ever see. Elisa's death will be avenged.

{He turns to stone, a tear falling from his eye.}


JON: They killed him. Just like the demon killed our father.

ROBYN: There was nothing you could - .

JON: If I'd wiped them out in the tower, Jason would still be alive! He was right about them. They're all evil. And they all will pay!

ROBYN: Jon, I don't want to lose you too.


DEMONA: And gargoyles will take their rightful place, as rulers of this world! I will take my rightful place.


GOLIATH: You do not have to come with me.

HUDSON: The clan stands or falls together. And Elisa was one of the clan.


LEXINGTON: You should be really close.

BROOKLYN: Uh, I'd say we found them.


ROBYN: Out of my way, demonspawn!

ANGELA: We're not demons, and we're not monsters. We're gargoyles, and we're going to teach you to respect the name.


JON: You're the one we want! You took my brother from me!

GOLIATH: You'll join him soon enough.


ELISA: Goliath, stop!

GOLIATH: Elisa! You're alive! How?

ELISA: Jason, the Hunter, saved my life.

JON: Jason, thank heaven! Now help me! We can still destroy these monsters!

JASON: No, it's over. We've all suffered for my stubbornness, but I've finally come to my senses. You were right, Jon. These gargoyles are not our enemies.

JON: No, I was wrong! They killed Dad! They nearly killed you!

JASON (standing between Jon and Goliath): We've got to stop, Jon. Before it's too late.

JON (pulling off his hood): No, the demon! She's going to destroy us all!

{A flare blazes as Brooklyn battles Demona in the next chamber; Brooklyn cries out in pain.}

GOLIARTH: Brooklyn!

{Goliath runs towards Brooklyn and Demona, but Jon misinterprets it as an attempt to attack Jason.}

JON: Jason, look out!

{He shoots at Goliath, but Jason interposes himself and is badly wounded. Goliath catches him.}

JASON (in a weak voice): It has to stop....

ELISA: We've got him. Stop Demona.

JON: What have I done?

ROBYN: Jon, help me. We can still save him. I know we can.

JON: What have I - What have they done? I will have my revenge! The hunt is not over!

{He blasts off.}


DEMONA (to an injured Brooklyn): You'll thank me for this later.

BROOKLYN: Don't hold your breath.


GOLIATH (after shattering the Praying Gargoyle): Now spread your evil, if you dare. We can all die together. You and me, the whole clan, and our daughter.


ROBYN: I don't understand. He risked his life to save us all.

ELISA: That's what he does. That's who he is.


XANATOS: Can I interest you in a ride?


ELISA: Hi.

JASON: Hi. Did they tell you?

ELISA: Severed spine. Paralyzed from the waist down. I'm sorry.

JASON: I'm not too thrilled myself. But it's not my body that needs the most healing.

ELISA: I'd like to help you, if you'll let me. But I have to be honest. There's someone else who will always come first.

JASON: I understand. Have they found Jon?

ELISA: No. He and Demona are still out there, hunting each other.

JASON: And your friends?

ELISA: They're safe. I hope.


XANATOS: Of course they're safe, Detective. Goliath just saved the whole world. More important, he saved my son. The least I can do is reinstate his clan to their ancestral home.

ELISA: What's the catch, Xanatos?

XANATOS: No catches, no tricks, no strings. The feud is over, Detective. He's waiting for you.

{Goliath stands by the battlements on the top of the tower, gazing out, while below him Bronx runs about, barking joyfully.}

HUDSON: All right, boy, enough! We're all glad to be back.

LEXINGTON: It feels weird. Cool, but weird.

ANGELA: I was just getting used to the clock tower.

BROADWAY: Oh, you'll love it here. They've got an incredible kitchen, and an even better library.

BROOKLYN: And so it begins. Gargoyles Chapter Two. Or is it Three? I've lost count.

{Elisa joins Goliath at the top of the tower.}

GOLIATH: So, things have come full circle.

ELISA: Somehow they always do. You know how I feel about you, right?

GOLIATH (brushing a lock of hair away from her eyes): How we both feel. Yes.

ELISA: Good.

{She kisses an astonished Goliath. The sun rises and turns him to stone.}

ELISA (turning away from a now-smiling stone Goliath): Welcome home, Goliath. Welcome home.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Wed, Feb 19, 2025 7:47:27 pm EST from 68.99.93.213

[SPOILER] Lot to unpack with these solicitations. And, as we learned from Here in Manhattan, solicitations are not guarantees of anything. But holy wow! So much fun to speculate. First we heard of a OTHER daughter of Demona. A few thoughts on her: First, I suspect the name Angelika might be a placeholder name like Second or Schnozz or Sacrifice. But maybe not. Second, I wonder when she hatched and who might be the father. I can't see Demona moving on from Goliath quickly, but maybe she paired up with someone in her clan for the good of the species. Maybe Brooksbro! If so, Angelika could've hatched in 1018 or 1038 or 1058. After that, she would've had to find a mate among another clan. Could Angelika's father be from the London Clan? That might explain a couple things (how Griff knew what "Scottish stock" looked like and why Constance has "Scottish stock" wings; Coco could be a descendent of Demona!). Anyway, it'll be interesting to see Angelika age past her mother. Wow. I also love the idea that we will apparently see lots of snapshots of Demona's life over the centuries including how the Hunters learned she survived. Being her worst enemy and all, she could've hidden away and the Hunters and their cause might've dwindled and died out, but her seeking revenge might've continued to stoke those fires all the way to the modern day. I also like seeing Demona's armored look on the cover and the sample cover... Is that Sleipnir on her shield? And seeing Hudson and Katana have a moment is great to see since I continue to wish we'd see more interactions between the new clan members and the old. So, yeah, a lot here and only a few months away! Exciting stuff! [/SPOILER]
Matt
"My daughter?! How dare you mock me!" - Demona, 1996
posted @ Wed, Feb 19, 2025 5:20:56 pm EST from 47.233.90.133

Oh, wow...

https://bleedingcool.com/comics/gargoyles-demona-by-greg-weisman-frank-paur-from-dynamite-in-may/

... this is going to be big.
Greg Bishansky
posted @ Wed, Feb 19, 2025 12:54:35 pm EST from 67.189.200.184

Sorry for the double-post, but one other thing that struck me in this episode.

The Canmores discuss the possibility that Demona might have shared her "human-by-day" ability with the Manhattan clan (she hasn't, of course), in which case they could turn human when the sun comes up and blend in; the Canmores would never be able to recognize them. The Canmore Hunters themselves have a similar trait; thanks to their wearing those masks, nobody knows about their regular identities, and can interact with them without suspecting their double life - including Elisa, who's partnered with Jason, even attracted to him, without being aware that he's one of the Hunters endangering her friends the gargoyles.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Tue, Feb 18, 2025 9:57:01 pm EST from 68.99.93.213

Rewatched "Hunter's Moon Part Two" today.

We open with Demona in Renaissance Florence stealing the Medici Tablet and being pursued by a Hunter in a hang-glider that looks as if it was designed by Leonardo da Vinci. Looking up the historical background, I wondered about the building she snatched the Medici Tablet from. In 1495, the Medici had been banished from Florence for a year; they were driven out in 1494 thanks to the incompetence of the then-head of the family, Piero de Medici (the son and successor of Lorenzo the Magnificent), after which the townspeople sacked the Medici palaces. The building Demona broke into didn't look as if it had been recently visited by a mob; perhaps it belonged to an associate of theirs who had managed to avoid the wrath of the Florentines. (After the Medici were driven out, a preacher named Savonarola came to power, who urged the people of Florence to turn their back on the Renaissance, which he viewed as corrupt, and burn all manner of luxuries in the original "bonfire of the vanities" - though he eventually fell from power as well and was burnt at the stake a few years later. I've wondered whether, in the Gargoyles Universe, at least a few Florentines might have decided to follow Savonarola after glimpsing Demona gliding about the city and interpreting it as a sign that their corrupt and sinful life-styles were drawing Satan's creatures to the city.)

We don't know for certain whether Leonardo da Vinci *did* supply the Renaissance Hunter (Stuart Canmore according to canon-in-training; his name makes an allusion to the current royal family of Scotland) with that glider. According to my research, in 1495, Leonardo was working for the Duke of Milan and had even been given the job of building a giant bronze horse as a monument - but it never got built; the duke wound up turning the bronze that the horse was supposed to be built out of into cannons for waging war on his various enemies. Maybe Stuart Canmore took advantage of the bronze horse's stalled production to hire Leonardo to manufacture equipment for him. (I suspect, from what I know of Leonardo da Vinci, that he'd be more interested in studying and observing gargoyles - particularly how they glided through the air - than in hunting them. I still highly recommend the recent Ken Burns documentary on him, narrated by Keith David.) Leonardo, incidentally, was employed for another new project by the end of the year: the "Last Supper".

One moment at the end of the flashback that still strikes me is the Hunter fuming over Demona having escaped him - while she's just a few yards behind him, smirking as she climbs out of the Arno (no doubt over just how unobservant he is).

Switching to the present day: Elisa and Jason's conversation at the damaged warehouse makes a particularly great moment of irony. Elisa is talking to Jason about someone attacking and almost killing her friend, unaware that the person who did so is the very man she's speaking with. And Jason offers his condolences, equally unaware that the injured friend was the gargoyle he'd fought and almost killed the night before.

While Elisa and Jason's developing feelings for each other does lead to some trouble, when Goliath overhears them (it probably throws him even more into a state of reckless anger), it also helps save the gargoyles' lives a couple of times. First, because Jason is visiting Elisa in her apartment, he's not there when Robyn and Jon temporarily capture Goliath and the others, whom they specifically keep alive because Jason should be with them when they execute them. (Of course, Robyn also wanted Goliath, Brooklyn, and Lexington to escape so that she could track them back to their lair and wipe out the rest of the clan - and, incidentally, I like how she's given a specific opportunity to plant the tracker on Goliath, when she shoves him into the cell.) And then, because Jason sees Elisa arriving at the police station just as they're about to open fire on the clock tower, he dives down to rescue her rather than waiting to open fire on the gargoyles if they survive - meaning that only Jon's left to carry out that task, and as we'll see in Part Three, he can't bring himself to do it.

Cagney welcomes Jason; he's much more open to visitors than my cat Zoey is. I don't have people over often, but on the rare occasions I do, she hides under my bed and won't come out until they leave.

When Robyn comments how Sevarius's carrier virus could be used to create a deadly plague to threaten all life on the planet, we see Sevarius and Dominique exchanging glances, Sevarius looking suddenly uneasy (as if he's starting to guess why Demona got him to create that carrier virus) and Dominique frowning at him. This is the first time I've noticed that.

Demona admits she has no idea why the Hunters are after her - it matches her being unable to recognize the first Hunter as the boy whose face she scarred years before.

And we end on a grand cliffhanger as the Canmores destroy the clock tower, with "To Be Concluded...."


FAVORITE LINES.

GOLIATH: She lives, thanks to you.

ELISA: CPR, the gift that keeps on giving.


GOLIATH: They call themselves the Hunters, but soon they will be the prey. My prey.


ELISA: A very close friend of mine was... assaulted. She nearly died.

JASON: Do we know who did it?

ELISA: Not yet. I feel so....

JASON: Frustrated. Helpless. Angry.

ELISA: All of the above.

JASON: You wanna nail the guy who hurt your friend.

ELISA: Yes, I do.

JASON: I've been there. I'm still there.

{Elisa and Jason look silently at each other for a few moments.}


ELISA: Hope you don't mind. I just wasn't up to a crowded restaurant.

JASON: Not a problem, believe me.

ELISA: Besides, I've got one of the best-stocked refrigerators on the East Coast. With friends like mine, it's safer.


ELISA (as she and Jason are about to kiss): Wait! We shouldn't.

JASON: What's wrong?

ELISA: Well, for one thing, we're partners.

JASON: Temporarily. In a week, you'll be back on night shift with Bluestone.

{He pauses.}

JASON: There's someone else.

ELISA: Yes.... No, not really. Oh, I mean there is someone whom I care for deeply, but it would be impossible to get involved with him.

{Goliath, outside Elisa's window and watching the whole scene, looks devastated.}


BROOKLYN: This doesn't strike you as a tad reckless?


GOLIATH: I do not want escape. I want vengeance.

DEMONA: Perhaps you can have a little of both.

GOLIATH: There's no such thing as a little vengeance.

DEMONA: At last you're thinking like a true gargoyle.


DEMONA: Come! We must escape!

GOLIATH: No! I want their leader, the one who nearly killed Angela!

DEMONA: Vengeance will be ours, I promise you that. But it must wait.

GOLIATH: I will not wait!

DEMONA: I have waited a thousand years. You can wait two more nights.


DEMONA: You did well, Goliath. Perhaps you and I are not so different after all.

GOLIATH: Perhaps not.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Tue, Feb 18, 2025 7:35:44 pm EST from 68.99.93.213

Been rewatching some Arrowverse stuff.

For the fun of it, all of the known Gargoyles VAs who had a role even if one episode.

Keith David - Solovar in The Flash (2014).

Salli Richardson-Whitfield - Montez in the Black Lightning episode "The Book of Consequences: Chapter Four: Translucent Freak". Show was at the time separate, but added in as an alternate Earth before integrated into Earth-Prime.

Clancy Brown - Wade Eiling in The Flash (2014) S1.

Tom Wilson - Hank Heywood in S4 of DC's Legends of Tomorrow where the character was suppose to be a villain, but ironically Wilson's portrayal made him too likable to go that route.

Xander Berkeley - Peter Lockwood in the Supergirl episode Man of Steel. Based on the character owning a steel mill. Father of S4 villain Ben Lockwood/Agent Liberty.

Michael Dorn - Voice of Prometheus in Arrow.

Michael Bell - A staffer in several S3 episodes of Batwoman.

Sarah Douglas - Jindah Kol Rozz in the Supergirl episode Fort Rozz.

Ian Buchanan - Stan Kovacs in The Flash (1990) episode Honor Before Thieves. The show was implemented into the Arrowverse continuum as a parallel Earth during the 2014 Flash series episode "Welcome to Earth-2" and even had John Wesley Shipp portraying Earth-90's Barry Allen.
Antiyonder
posted @ Tue, Feb 18, 2025 4:01:01 am EST from 68.119.3.1

MORRAND - Yes, "Awakening" was certainly a great introduction to "Gargoyles".

Rewatched "Hunter's Moon Part One" today. (It's arguable that a more appropriate "Gargoyles" story for today would have been the Double Date story in "Clan-Building", which features a visit to the White House and four U. S Presidents being named, but that would be out of order, so it'll have to wait for a few more days.) The introduction to the Season Two finale, and also the "Disney Afternoon" finale for "Gargoyles". It's certainly an effective start to a memorable story.

The episode title looks different from the previous sixty-two ones, with the red of the Hunters' symbol creeping into it. I thought it an effective touch, all the more so since this is the grand finale (at least, for "Gargoyles" in its Disney Afternoon manifestation). (We also get the "To Be Continued" line read aloud with a Scottish accent.)

We open with another look at the young Gillecomgain and his face getting scarred by Demona, with a few additional details, including the revelation that he had a very unsympathetic father (no wonder Gillecomgain turned out the way he did), and his vow of revenge....

The animators took some liberties with the phases of the moon. On the first night (the one where the gargoyles and Elisa handle the three street thugs), it's a crescent moon - with the full moon being less than a week away. The second night (when Matt Bluestone and Jon Canmore separately visit Xanatos, the trio and Bronx have their fight with Demona at the warehouse, and the Hunters seriously injure Angela), the moon's already reached its "half-moon" phase.

After they foil the robbery, Goliath and Elisa speak to each other for a few moments in front of the passengers - none of whom seem to notice that. They seem too shocked about the gargoyles just showing up to pay attention to Goliath and Elisa's exchange. (Of course, less than two years later, Goliath and Elisa's friendship - and more than that - will become public knowledge.)

The first time I viewed this episode on DVD (rather than on television or on a VCR recording), in 2013, the moment when Elisa and Jason drove past the Bethesda Fountain (I think it was that fountain) while chasing Demona's henchmen stood out to me more than before. I'd recently seen the "Doctor Who" episode "The Angels Take Manhattan", where the Bethesda Fountain had a prominent role as a base for the Weeping Angels. It stood out to me all the more because the Weeping Angels have struck me as the most "gargoyle-ish" of the Doctor's major adversaries (I even once wrote a ficbit where a couple of Quarrymen mistake two Weeping Angels for gargoyles - following by them making an even more fatal mistake when they blink just as they're about to bring their hammers down on them....).

Robyn Canmore's list of references has long amused me. They list Edinburgh, Florence, and the Sorbonne. The three opening flashbacks in "Hunter's Moon" are set in Scotland (though the Scottish countryside rather than at Edinburgh), Florence, and Paris (where the Sorbonne is, though the Parisian flashback was set outside Notre Dame instead).

I really liked the Canmores' robot falcon, and thought it a bit of a pity that it only appeared in Part One (though its demolition ensured some variety in the Hunters' attacks in Parts Two and Three).

When Brooklyn asks who's going to tell Goliath about their accidentally burning the warehouse, and Broadway and Lexington, after a bit of thought, point at him - I've thought it a bit of a pity that Bronx didn't stare accusingly at Brooklyn as well, to add to the scene.

And the ending to this episode is truly chilling. I remember being alarmed, the first time I saw it, at Goliath vowing to kill the Hunters - almost wanted to speak to him through the television set and urge him not to do it. In fact, I was more worried about it than whether Angela was going to survive or not.

As I said, a great start to this story.


FAVORITE LINES.


MARGOT: Great idea, Brendan. "Ride the subway. Meet interesting people."

BRENDAN: Oh, don't start with me, Margot.


BROOKLYN: We've still got a little PR problem.


OFFICER MORGAN (looking at the street thugs hanging from the outside of the train): Air conditioning must be broke.


MATT: Had a little help on this operation, I see.

ELISA: Just some concerned citizens, with wings.


ANGELA: Ah, this is a good life.

BROADWAY: Yeah, just one thing would make it perfect.

LEXINGTON: breakfast?

BROADWAY: How did you know?


JASON: Town this size would take a lot of work to protect.

ELISA: Yeah, it's more than a job. It's a way of life.


ELISA (watching the clan awaken from stone sleep): I never get tired of that.


XANATOS: Alex, can you say "harassment"?

{Alex makes gooing noises.}

XANATOS: I knew that you could.


OWEN: A reporter from WVRN to see you, Mr. Xanatos.

XANATOS: I'm a popular guy tonight.


JON CANMORE: Speaking of gargoyles, what's your opinion on these urban myths about real live gargoyles in New York? Seems everybody's got a friend or a cousin or a dentist who's seen one.

XANATOS: Did you say you worked for WVRN or the Daily Tattler?


{Bronx whines as the clan gather around the badly injured Angela.}

BROADWAY: Don't worry, Bronx. The sun will heal her.

HUDSON: Dawn is hours away.

GOLIATH (digging his claws deep into the stone as he speaks, eyes glowing): They did this to her, those masked Hunters. On my daughter's life, I swear I will hunt them down, and I will kill them.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Mon, Feb 17, 2025 7:32:13 pm EST from 68.99.93.213

Fourth!!

I watched "Awakening" pt. 5 last night to refresh my memory on a couple of story points. I didn't expect to also remind myself of why I like this show so much, but I did.
morrand - [morrand276 at gmail dot com]
posted @ Mon, Feb 17, 2025 5:45:19 pm EST from 108.69.72.60

Third!
Jurgan - [jurgan6 at yahoo dot com]
posted @ Mon, Feb 17, 2025 10:40:16 am EST from 97.182.60.34

Second!
Matt
"Human problems become gargoyle problems..."
posted @ Mon, Feb 17, 2025 9:03:06 am EST from 47.233.90.133

First.
Todd Jensen
posted @ Mon, Feb 17, 2025 7:52:25 am EST from 68.99.93.213