Gargoyles

I'm referring to the original TMNT. You know. The good one. The proper one. The better one.

The one from the early 2000's was a damn good show though.

I watched episodes here and there, and really need to revisit the show from start to finish one of these days, because I love that era of cartoons. X-Men and Batman were my favs of that time period.

Gargoyles was one of those series I only ever saw glimpses of as a kid. It wasn't until years later that I managed to watch it online, and I recently rewatched the whole show (sans some of the non-canon Goliath Chronicles episodes from Season 3).

The show's stood the test of time quite well and although the plotting doesn't seem like much now, it's still quite impressive on its own right and has that nice Weisman feel which many of his later shows imitated but with (somewhat) lesser success. I enjoy the several shoutouts to Shakespeare as well as other Renaissance era English literature, and Weisman's love of these shows, such as how Macbeth's mythos and several others are woven into the storyline. Puck in particular is a riot whenever he appears in his several, ahem, forms. ;)

Goliath and Eliza's story arc is abrupt at times and then goes smoothly, and the finale of season 2's final "Hunter's Moon" episode is a must see as it ties so many things together as far as their respective stories and the overarching storyline are concerned. Xanatos is quite an interesting character on many levels, and his plans do have nice complexity to them at times (except for that one time when he outright lampshades it). The main Gargoyles (and Eliza) all get fleshed out, and even a later group members gets some nice development down the line. The antagonists are memorable, each with their own quirks and mannerisms. Demona in particular has a great storyline, and you understand where she's coming from, and flashbacks help flesh out her personality.

Although the Avalon and World Tour stuff was interesting to see, I do think that the show's greatest strength lies in its urban setting and it discussing beliefs, moral choices ("Alone" being a rather heartbreaking example and has such weight to it when you hear just that one word; you'll know what I'm talking about when you see that scene). Many of the stereotypes of cultures from abroad were almost insulting during the World Tour, but then again, this was an American kid's show in the 90's so you take what you can get. I did like discussion about gun violence among other things; it's rare to see the consequences of such in kid's shows before or after as most of the time you see these futuristic guns and whatnot. The genetic manipulation thing just makes me roll my eyes, but at least Tim Curry as Sevarius was there so spice things up.

This brings me to voice acting. For the most part it was quite good, the actors really growing into their roles over time. Many have that interesting quality to them, a kind of quirk, which gives them personality. When you hear a voice, you know the character you're dealing with. And then there's the music which is quite catchy in many places; the main theme in particular has this dark, brooding yet hopeful tone to it which lovingly depicts the Gargoyles' struggle in this unfamiliar future (present) world they've ended up in. Kudos to the composer for that.

Gargoyles is definitely a show worth watching. It has its flaws, but it's definitely among the highlights of the 90s shows that I've seen, and I'm glad I watched it. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calliope

I finished watching "The Awakening" yesterday. It's unusual for a kid's TV pilot to span five episodes! Or any pilot, really.

Actually, a few Disney animated shows from the early 90s and so had multi-episode pilots. Just look at, for example, "Darkly Dawns the Duck" from Darkwing Duck, "Plunder and Lightning" from TaleSpin and "The Treasures of the Golden Suns" from DuckTales. It would be nice to see this kind of mentality return to animated shows although thankfully we have stuff like Avatar and Legend of Korra which give us even more interwoven story arcs (kind of like tGA now that I think of it). ;)

Aight, let's do this.

This thread is making me feel old.

I was a kid when Gargoyles came out and I can't believe that's all the way back to 94. It was one of many, many animated shows I watched back then. My brother watched it too and had several episodes on tape.

I just watched the episode "The Price", and the end of that one has always bothered me.

Haven't gotten there yet. I just finished City of Stone, which was awesome.

God, I remember this show as well as Pirates of Darkwater. I actually played teh SNES game prior to even knowing Pirates of Darkwater was a show. :p