Alex Destine writes...

THE THRILL OF THE HUNT comments
You said we take for granted such things as Continuity & Real Ramifications. Well maybe in Gargoyles we do, but that's cause you've spoiled us! :P
But I think that's one of the main reasons Gargoyles is so loved by it's fans. Things don't just happen, everything we see has a reason for it and in turn everything we're seeing will be a base for future actions.
At the end of that ep. I also loved it when Lex mentioned that it was nice to know there were a few heros left (implying Goliath was his hero). I found that beautiful since it would explain Lex's disapointment on Future Tense. (seeing as how the whole clan felt abandoned)
About the change in POV, (could you believe I hadn't noticed till now) but now that I did, I loved it!
Great Job Mr. Weisman! ^_^

Todd Jensen writes...

A ramble-reply to "The Thrill of the Hunt".

I liked reading your comments on it. I will confess that I can't remember now what my response was, when I first saw this episode, to the fact that Xanatos was still in prison or to Elisa's indication that the gargoyles would have to leave the castle (although looking back on it now, I'd say that I appreciate both - and the bit at the end where we get that look at Xanatos again and that taste of his character). A few bits that do stand out to me:

1. I always get a bit of a chuckle at the way that the announcer shouts, "Oh, no, it's the Evil Ninjas!" The guy sounded there as if he'd taken the same acting class that Sevarius did :)

2. That little bit where Lexington enthusiastically calls the Pack "defenders of the realm". I liked that touch as fitting in with the gargoyles' medieval origins and the fact that, so soon after their awakening, they'd still be seeing the world in such a light.

3. The bit where Billy and Susan show up was extremely funny, particularly the groans and facial expressions from Fox and Hyena over the timing of their arrival. (And I must confess, I hadn't even given that much thought to Wolf showing a bit more smarts in that scene in coming up with a way of explaining the gargoyles to those kids. Thanks for pointing it out).

I'm looking forward to the rest of your rambles on each individual episode.

Bengali writes...

In response to your recent {though you're probably reading this a few months from when you posted them} rambles about the gargoyles episodes. You asked for responses to the episodes "Awakenings" so heres mine. I loved Awakenings parts 1-5, they were very well animated and written, when I first heard about Gargoyles I figured that it was another dumb cheap cartoon that lasts for ten episodes before being cancelled because nobody likes it but needless to say Gargoyles proved to be the best animated series I have ever seen. It had everything I liked in it, from mythology to Shakespeare to history to wonderfully unique characters to great animation etc, etc, etc...Awakenings was not the first episode of Gargoyles I saw but it was great nonetheless. Xanatos's quotes were great {finally a main villian that isnt a moron, another thing I liked about the series is that the villians were not a bunch of idiotic side-show freaks}. You, Frank, Michael Reaves and everyone else always did a superb job on the show.

Pyro X writes...

Awakening 5:

Demona's name revelation got me interested in thw hole series. I had heard that they were adding this show to the dis afternoon, and I thought "What a horrible title,". Boy, was I wrong! It was the first ep I'd seen, and at that point, I turned on the TV to "See" what the show was about. That was the first scene I saw... and it got me hooked. It was very dramatic... Walking through the smoke, eyes glowing... very cool. I loved the Animation!

Coldplasma writes...

Here are my comments on Ramblings of Awakening (1-5)

I must admit, when I first saw Gargoyles, I thought it just another Ninja Turtles clone. Strange creatures in NY, a pretty woman vow to help the creatures. But Goliath made the difference; he never smiled, he was way too serious; he wasn't like other heroes.

I wasn't hooked up on Gargoyles yet, but I kept watching. I couldn't tell why. (Maybe because it played only on friday at that time). Anyhow, I still admit that animation, dialogue, characters were great, but I found that action was so-so.

But later, I'll learn that there are things more important than action in cartoons. Thanx for changing my views Greg!

Ambrosia writes...

I'd never thought about it until you said so in your rambling about Awakening 5, but it does seem strange that right after he is reunited with his love, Goliath goes, "Well, it's been nice seeing you, but I have to go meet Elisa." The crash of the airship affected him much more than he let on from the outside. Perhaps they were DONE far before Vows… maybe before even Demona knew they were…

BTW, I *always* use my thumb, index and middle finger to say "three." Oh, and get this, I use all but my ring finger for four. I'm just weird like that.

That line, "There is good and evil in all of us. Human and gargoyle alike," has always been my favorite. It says so much with so few words… and it's a universal truth for so many scenarios…

Adam writes...

Hi Greg

Once again thanks for the opportunity to chew the fat.

One thing that always bothered me was how easliy the surviving clan memebers pick up their lives after the sudden murder of almost everyone they cared for. When they wake up in Manhattan for the first time, by their reckoninging, the massacre occurred the day before and would be fresh in their minds. I couldn't even imagine getting out of bed or even wanting to go on if I lost my family. Yet the trio are resilient enough to go exploring. I know they are in a brave new world and all but would they be so thrill seeking after so recently being rocked with grief. I hope I don't sound overly critical here, I don't mean to be. It just appears that the emotional impact of the massacre on the clan isn't as pervasive through the series as I'd expect. I just keep coming back to the notion that grief over a loss of that magnitude would be almost paralyzing. Would they even want to be alive?. Obviously, for the show, yes but ..... uhhh .

And then there is Tempatation. I know Brooklyn is grateful to Demona for saving him from the bikers, but you have to think that in the back of his mind he's thinking, "My family and friends were killed because of what you did !" I'm surprised he didn't go for her throat. How angry are we at the drunk driver who unintnentional kills. I certainly wouldn't want to be in the same room with that individual let alone take a tour of the city them.

If the clan is capable of getting on with their lives so quicky and still not give into to hating Demona then they are certainly better than I am.

Todd Jensen writes...

My little "return-ramble" to your "Awakening Part Five" ramble.

One part of this that I especially like is Xanatos's response when Goliath's holding him over the edge of the castle, correctly pointing out that "without me, you'd still be gathering moss". It's refreshing to see a major villain in an animated series who doesn't start whining for mercy in such a situation but maintains his sang-froid. That's one reason I find myself having that sneaking fondness for Xanatos: he defies so many of the cartoon master-villain cliches. (Other examples of that are his complete lack of interest in getting revenge and his having the highly efficient and capable Owen for his chief assistant in contrast to the conventional "bungling sidekicks" that most cartoon villains seem to be saddled with).

Your remarks on the little ironies in Goliath and Demona's conversation surprised me: I hadn't even considered the fact that Goliath's remark that the people responsible for the Wyvern massacre was deliberately intended by the writers to be wrong because of Demona's part in it, but it makes sense to me at once. I've got to admit, I think that Goliath must have afterwards had a very hard time believing that he'd actually argued that Xanatos was proof that there are good humans out there :)

One certainly can't help but feel a little sorry (or maybe even more than a little sorry) for Goliath; first he thinks that his "Angel in the Night" is lost to him forever. Then he gets reunited with her, only to discover that she's become lost to him in a much darker sense, turned into a vengeance-driven would-be genocidist. At least he has the rest of the clan and Elisa; that must be some consolation there.

I must confess that I never made the connection between Goliath's "Giants?" line at the end and Oberon's gigantic form. (There do seem to be giants apart from that in the Gargoyles Universe, since I remember spotting a couple in Oberon's throne room in "The Gathering Part One"). I did see that line, though, as another good little example of how Goliath is still seeing the modern world through his 10th century eyes. (One of my favorites, which I forgot in my earlier "Awakening" responses, was that bit where Xanatos has to describe the "stolen" disks in terms of "magical talismans filled with hundreds of spells". I thought that the production team did an excellent job of showing the gargoyles' response to the modern world).

Bud-Clare writes...

"Anyway, to indicate three she holds up her index finger, her middle finger and ... her thumb."
It's part of the secret Illuminati handshake. They had a member working at Disney Japan. (Didn't Roy work on Elisa? No one trust him...)

Personally, I liked the part where Demona announced her name... although I had already seen The Mirror by then, so I'm not sure if the fact that I already knew her name and what she was like affected my impressions of that scene in some way.

Um... I have no idea which topic Gore will archive these under, so I don't know if they should have be submitted separately or not. He needs to add a "Random Comments From Fans" topic to the archive, so I won't have to be confused about it anymore.

Ambrosia writes...

Hi Greg!! I was just reading your interview with Lexy. You said that you hoped Gargoyles would inspire people to learn more about sujects you touched on... and I realized that it has done exactly that for me. In fact, I don't know if I realized the magnitude of an impact Gargoyles has had in my life until I thought about that...
In The Mirror when the clan is trying to explain to Elisa who Oberon's Children are (I thought everybody knew this??), Brooklyn says, "Yeah, that guy Shakespeare wrote a play about them: A Midsummer Night's Dream." The next day after I saw that episode, I had the play in my possession and began poring over it. This began a love/obsession for Shakespeare- particularly that play.
Also, I read your ramblings about Theseus and decided I needed to learn more about him. Mary Renault's The King Must Die stuck out in my memory one day between classes and I found it in the library. I'll post again when I'm finished with it.
In ancient history 103, I could be tired and completely tune out my professor, but I'd hear the word "Scotland" and snap back awake and pay perfect attention.
I never really thought about these things as they were happening, but looking back I can see that so many things I've learned or done came from gargoyles: I'm teaching myself to draw, I want to visit New York... stuff like that. I wanted to say... thanks!