Todd Jensen writes...

A ramble-review on "Revelations".

I quite liked this episode. I'd been curious for some time about Matt's interest in the Illuminati (as I mentioned before, when I first saw Xanatos donning an Illuminati badge in "Vows", my immediate thought was "What would Matt say if he knew about this?") and in the gargoyles. So now we got an episode in which these two pursuits of his intersected.

And I did initially believe that Matt had sold Goliath out to the Illuminati, which shocked me, since I hadn't thought that he'd actually do something like that. I was glad when the truth came out at the end. I very much liked Matt's narration, as well.

(One thing that did occur to me about Elisa's "uniqueness" in being the only human whom the gargoyles considered a friend; actually, she had lost her "unique" status by this point, in light of the gargoyles also making friends with Jeffrey Robbins and Halcyon Renard - but Elisa wasn't there at either of those meetings, so I don't feel bothered by that inconsistency. And I could understand her reluctance in introducing Matt to the gargs for that reason).

Mace Malone and the Hotel Cabal worked for me (I hadn't even known about the Tower of Terror part before now, or suspected it, for that matter). So did the surprise revelation at the end of the episode that Hacker had been "one of them" all along. I was very curious about what would happen now that Matt knew that his former FBI partner was really an Illuminatus who had been hindering his search.

Actually, that brings me to one of the very few regrets that I have about the series as a whole: the fact that we didn't see anything further with the Illuminati for the rest of the season, and the only element involving it for the remainder of your run on "Gargoyles" was Owen's mention of Duval in "The Journey". (The Goliath Chronicles did do an Illuminati episode after you left, but I definitely didn't like the way that they handled the Illuminati there - they reduced them too much to the level of cliched villains as "evil munitions manufacturers who start up wars just to make a profit" - the Illuminati of your run felt much more "greyish" to me, rather than out-and-out villains like, say, the Archmage or Thailog). I hope that if you get to do the series again, we'll get to see the Illuminati thread (and particularly the Matt-and-the-Illuminati thread) developed some more.

Kathy Lowe (AKA The Gatekeeper) writes...

Just my $.02 worth on "Outfoxed". I'll leave the in-depth analysis up to Todd and Aris.

When I saw Preston Vogel for the first time, I honestly thought that is was Owen. All the characters extremely complex; I never thought that it was a copout from an animation standpoint. I went right to wondering what Owen's hidden agenda was. All the other villains had a hidden agenda, why not Owen. His "I've got a secret" attitude was evident from "The Awakening".
By the end of the episode I started having doubts that Vogel was Owen, but I didn't entirely dismiss the idea until I watched "Golem". The amount of care that Vogel had to give to a very sick Renard was more time consuming that even Owen could handle.
While I was expecting a hidden agenda out of this episode, (how could I not, Xanatos was involved via Fox) I never expected it to be Fox's agenda which was her relation to Renard. While I definitely understood what the "Tests" were, my vocabulary is woefully inadequate, so I did not know that Renard meant Fox.
I was not surprised by a pregnant cartoon character. I grew up with the Flintstones; and Wilma being pregnant with Pebbles. Back then, knitting baby booties was the way to indicate that someone was expecting. (The last sentence is for those readers who are half our ages <g> Boy do I feel old)

Kathy Lowe writes...

As I understand it, you wrote the beat sheets in response to an outline or script that was submitted to you. I really enjoy reading the summaries that you wrote; I am curious about the purpose of these summaries. Were you writing down what you interpreted the story to be from the script (thinking out loud on paper)? The way it is presented in the beat sheet, seems (to me at any rate) like most of the episode ideas are coming from you rather than the other way around.

It would be nice to see one of the scripts that you did a beat sheet on, but I can certainly understand if they no longer exist. Just seeing the evolution from Beat Sheet to final episode extremely interesting.

Axem Gold writes...

I know where the Phoenix Gate really came from. It came from the writer's of the Gargoyle Animated Series.

Greg Bishansky writes...

Here's my "High Noon" Ramble

First of all, I like how the "Previously on Gargoyles…" recap was done. I liked Coldstone in his first two appearances and was glad to be seeing him again. Also it didn't give away the involvement of Demona, Macbeth and the Weird Sisters, which shocked the Hell out of me, but I'll get to that later.

First things first. The animation in this episode is breathtaking. I don't think it'd be a stretch to say that this is episode is animated more beautifully than any other… though that is saying a lot.

I like the opening scene with Othello and Desdemona. Also nice touch with the animators drawing real Scottish Heather, I read in a magazine article that the episode's writer (I forget who it is), had to actually fax a picture of Scottish Heather to an artist during production. It shows that more care was put into this show than any other.

Iago comes off quite menacing, even though his actions are out of spite. He can't have Desdemona, so he won't let Othello have any peace with her. When I first saw this I though Iago was dead after "Legion", so it was nice to him back.

Nice continuity with Hudson and Broadway reading, I was glad this was touched on again, most cartoons would just forget about it after one episode, but not this one. Also Elisa is great in this scene, really humble, but yes, she is more of a hero than she wants to be. Also, I liked Hudson's "hit a sack" line, maybe it was late for it, but I liked it and still like it.

Hmm, nice little touches on Lex's computer monitor. "Othello Program", "Desdemona Program", "Iago Program". You have to really look to catch these, and I'm sure I missed some. Were these your idea?

So Macbeth and Demona walk past Elisa in disguise. I have to say that I did not recognize either of them. For on thing the look we got of Demona as a human was so brief, and I wasn't expecting to see them again so soon. I liked the chase scene through the station, and as soon as they got to the Clock Tower I knew something dangerous was up. When it was revealed that that was indeed Macbeth, I thought the woman was Fleance or another mercenary that Macbeth hired. Of course I kicked myself for mistaking Demona for Fleance, considering how much I adore Demona. I guess I just wasn't paying attention to her, and focusing on Macbeth.

I figured that they stole Coldstone of course, since he was going to play a major part in this episode. Also I did like the costume change on Mac & D. I also really like Demona's green eyes as a human… once again, expect a lot of gushing towards her ;)

When Elisa asked how they got Coldstone out of there without being seen, I just assumed that Demona used some kind of cloaking spell on Macbeth's plane. Turned out I was right, though I didn't factor the Grimorum in. I was too busy trying to figure out why they were working together and how they found the Clock Tower.

The animation when Demona changes from her lovely human form into her lovely Gargoyle form is beautiful (though it looks extremely painful), and I was glad to finally find out the truth behind Puck's gift. It confused me for a while, I was expecting to be human in "Vows".

Even when under a spell, Demona and Macbeth still hate each other.

Michael Dorn does a great job with Iago/Coldstone's first two lines. He's a great actor.

Goliath and Elisa share a nice moment here, I like it, can't think of more to say about it.

I like the way the scene changes on the Moon, another really nice touch.

I really like the scene when they enter the mansion, the animation on their reflections in the camera is nice, as is Goliath tapping the camera with his wing. Nice to see that Goliath has learned a lot of the modern world by saying that Macbeth is probably watching them from a control room. I also like how they kick the door open in battle stance and quickly come out of it when they see the room is empty. Also like them using the room to their own advantage.

The Demona-Brooklyn fight is very well done, it moves really fast with Brooklyn not even having time to breathe. Nice show of her warrior skills.

Once again I like the continuity from "Lighthouse" especially with Macbeth and Broadway's lines and staging the fight in a library.

The villains are really smart in this episode. I was really impressed with Iago's cunning here… a shame we never got to see "Dark Ages". The trap was really clever as well.

Demona's "Sex Pot" scene. Well, you probably already know that I love it. I don't think it's out of character at all, someone earlier posted here a good reason for her to do that saying to Elisa "I'm prettier than you". If we get the show back, I hope to see her do more of these ;) I also like seeing her hail a taxi.

Now what I want to know is how did Demona manage to walk through an entire police station in her halter-top and loincloth and not be arrested for indecent exposure? Though there is nothing indecent about it ;) Okay, on to the next scene…

Very nice scene between Elisa and Morgan. I liked how you took a minor background character and turned him into a "real" person. Elisa looks good here also, very nice animation. She looks exhausted.

I still have to say I was not confused by nobody being able to see our villains at Belvedere Castle. I just figured that Demona was using an invisibility spell. Also I have to confess that until I got on the Internet, I never thought that Coldstone was re-animated stone. But now it makes perfect sense to me.

I love that line of the Sisters' "Even shadows must be true to their shade." Also, they have their correct hair colors when they say that line on my copy of the episode.

I love the way Elisa just walks past Demona, Macbeth and Coldstone without even glancing at them. Elisa took a big gamble here. Sure Macbeth has a code of honor, but not Demona. Demona could have just ignored Macbeth and shot her. But now on to one of my favorite scenes…

THE CAT FIGHT- Demona may fight like a rookie at first, but she quickly manages to grab her. I love Iago/Coldstone's line and Macbeth's. On behalf of all male "Gargoyles" fans every where, I thank you for this scene ;) Hmm, I had less to say about this scene than I thought.

Now here, the Sisters' hair is wrong, all blonde. But I still knew it was them, and then when they phase together, Desdemona has black hair. Oh well, this episode is so well animated that I can forgive a few mistakes.

I like the fight between Othello, Desdemona and Iago. Very nicely done. Also nice to see Othello realize that he can't let evil triumph just by his doing nothing.

The fight ended well, ooh, considering where Elisa kicked Demona before slamming her head into a statue… that's gotta hurt. Still was confused to see Macbeth rescue Demona here.

I also like the scene between Coldstone and Elisa. He has a great line before leaving. And nice use of the jogger to.

I actually thought it was out of character to here Demona call Elisa by her first name rather than "Maza" or "the Detective." I also raised an eyebrow when Macbeth mentioned the "primary objective."

When I saw the Grimorum, the Eye, and the Gate all laid out, things began to make sense. Also nice to see I was right that Demona used a cloaking spell earlier, but didn't suspect that she was using the Grimorum. Also liked seeing them asking the same questions I was asking… especially. "WHY ARE WE WORKING TOGETHER!"

The Weird Sister's finally explain everything and it all makes perfect sense. Nice scheme they had. Of course I had to wait about two months to learn what the "coming battle" was. Nice way to keep us in suspense.

Overall, I like this episode. Not one of the best, but still very good. A lot of nice character moments, and a nice epilogue to "City Of Stone", and foreshadowing of things to come. Though the wait was unbearable.

THe bAbBleR writes...

Hey, I know how much you like viewer insight, so here goes:
GARGOYLES ROCKS. period. I didn't get it when I was seven. I missed all those subtleties and nuances that you put in there, but I see so clearly now! I wish that Toon Disney would air Deadly Force, but there all so stupid . "It's too violent" they say. They'll let Goofy fall of a cliff without a scratch and air it, but if they show someone getting shot and (realistically) having to go to the hospital they won't air it. What a bunch of crack heads.
Anyway, about what Titania whispered to Fox. I know what she said. She said, "All good Garg supporters go to The Gathering."
What a motherly message. Too bad Fox is a bad daughter.
* * So until Goliath plays for the Harlem Globe Trotters, I'll luv ya, Greg.

Basilisk writes...

A quick thing about OUTFOXED:

When I saw Vogel, a near-twin of Owen, I chuckled to myself and thought "Oh, there's gonna be something interesting behind that!"

Aaron writes...

My favorite smart ass responses.

<<Demona Taina writes...

1. Where did Demona get those gargoyles from in "City Of Stone"?

Greg responds...

1. Wall-mart.>>

Which was funny enough when I read it as Walmart, but then I realized just what a terrible pun it is...

and...

<<Aaron writes...

Y'know, it's amazing how many of my questions seem to end up in the Smart Ass Responses category.

Greg responds...

It's also amazing how many of my responses end up in that category. I wonder why that is? >>

Sigh.

I haven't asked you about the Magus' given name lately, have I?

demona writes...

hi greg could u go to my chat room the addy is http://www.masquerade.com/main.htl my group sog would be very excited to see u there out meetings are every sunday at 8:00 pm eastern or standerd time i am there as demona there is also a macbeth etc and we all would love 2 see u there !

matt writes...

okay, Dirk, i have to agree with you about Sixth Sense, the movie was awful and i guess people today will forget about an hour and a half of crap if they get mildly surprised in the end, what a dumb movie.

i don't agree with you at all about your dislike of Coldstone and "High Noon". i admit that i think there should have been more time between "High Noon" and "City of Stone" and that viewers had to understand alot to understand this episode, but that doesn't make it a bad episode. one of the best things about "Gargoyles" is that there are so many stories, so many threads and sometimes they are told alone and sometimes those threads can come together to make a great episode. its so interesting when we see the Eye of Odin in "The Edge" and who would of thought we would eventually meet Odin himself, or when Mary and Finella take the Grimorum to hide it who would've thought that they'd meet a timedancing Brooklyn, the story may seem tossed together but its really all a great pattern that makes for a really neat series.

as for Coldstone, i think he is one of the best characters in the show, actually my favirote episode is "Reawakining" where Coldstone is created and most of my other favirote episodes have Coldstone including "High Noon" and "Possesions". Coldstone portrays one of the shows many lessons to learn, that there is good and evil in everyone. Coldstone not only shows this in his behavior, but also very literally in that he has good and evil souls within him. i'm not sure why you think he is silly, he always seemed to be a tortured soul to me, did you ever notice that he has something bad happen to him or a task forced upon him at the end of every episode he is in? i'm amazed that he keeps as good of an attitude as he does sometimes, it probably helps that Desdemona is by his side. the fact that Coldstone and Elisa have the same choice in this episode really gives this episode a good theme and it reminds me of what Goliath says later in "The Hound of Ulster", that being a hero is rarely easy. "High Noon" really shows that our heroes sometimes just don't want to be heroes and don't want to do things that they need to do, but they do it anyway because it is right and the people they care for need them.

i think both Coldstone and "High Noon" were great additons to the series and "Gargoyles" wouldn't be as interesting and fun without them.