Gargoyles: To the wayback machine!
Right around the age where kinds think cartoons aren’t cool anymore, I stumbled across during the after school obligatory channel surfing, the cartoon Gargoyles – and it stuck me as quite possibly the most AMAZING SHOW EVER. Okay, keep in mind I was 13 years old, but a show that combined Shakespearean plots, themes of isolation / understanding, and a voice acting crew that was more or less a reunion for the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation? My mind was blown.
If you weren’t privy to this show, it had a somewhat complicated set-up plot. The obvious focus is around the Gargoyles – monstrous creatures that turn to stone during the day, and at night, crack out of their stone skin, and become the monsters of the night. These Gargoyles lived in a Scottish castle with humans (in a very love/hate relationship) and protected them from any dangers that would befall their castle. In 994 Scotland, the Gargoyles are betrayed by a human and one of their own kind (Demona, voiced by Marina Sirtis) where almost all of them are destroyed while they sleep in their stone form, and the rest of them are placed under a curse that they will remain asleep until the castle “Rises above the clouds”.
Enter 1,000 years later eccentric billionaire David Xanatos (voiced by Jonathan Frakes), who purchases the aging old castle knowing the story of the curse and the Gargoyles, and has the castle transported and assembled to the top of his skyscraper in New York, which conveniently rises above the cloud line. And now, we have flying nightmare creatures (who are actually very kind) with inexplicable non-Scottish accents flying around New York. They befriend a police officer who doesn’t like Xanatos, and their wacky adventures go from there.
Episodes include stories of trying to live in a world where people don’t know Gargoyles exist, and yet the antics of the younger Gargoyles who survived trying to find how they fit in this new world. They turn vigilante and protect their city, while dealing with supernatural threats , or just natural threats, or just learning how to ride a motorcycle without blowing it up (spoiler – it blew up at the end). Again with 13 year old me, there is even a forbidden love relationship that unfolds over the two seasons this show was on the air.
Some of the genius of this show is that yes, it used Shakespeare for much of it’s plot, but it didn’t re-hash the same story. Oberon, Puck, and Titiana make regular appearances in the show with maybe a casual mention of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but not actually telling that story. At the same time, the individual players were given personalities that we could all relate to; (Goliath being the stoic protector of all who is pretty much the main focus of the show, Hudson is the old warrior who is the grandfather figure to all, Brooklyn is the 2nd in command but still frequently testing his strength and having fun with Broadway the food junkie and wanna-be detective and Lexington who somehow quickly picks up computers and becomes a tech guru).
Overall, I would say the first season of this show is something that was incredible during it’s day, and worth going back to watch. The second season missed it’s mark, and possibly lost what small cult gathering it was growing at it’s time – and Disney missed the opportunity to make a movie with an incredible cast and plot! Now that I am older but wiser, I would say that it doesn’t have the sway and impact it did on me at 13, but I will forever think fondly of this show. Streaming for free over on Disney’s site, do yourself a favor and catch this show as one that got away!
That all said, I leave you with the opening lines of the show: “”One thousand years ago, superstition and the sword ruled. It was a time of darkness, it was a world of fear, it was the age of Gargoyles. Stone by day, warriors by night. We were betrayed by the humans we had sworn to protect. Frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years. Now we are in Manhattan. The Spell is broken, and we live again!”.
