becky writes...

dear greg,
i love th gargoyles show and i've been watching on sunday on disney's sneak peek on toon disney. the only proble is they shut it off. our cable operator doesn't carry toon disney so i have no hope of seeing it ever again. please help! i really love watching gargoyles.

Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky writes...

Ahh man. Todd pointed out the Demona/Lady Macbeth connection before I did.

Since I'd rather not repeat everything he said, I'll just say that "Long Way to Morning" was a great episode.

Oh by the way, I'm glad the Archmage did return. I like evil sorcerors, even if some are cliched. And David Warner is one of my favorite voice-actors. He was great as Ras al'Ghul in Batman, and Alpha in MiB. Thanks for bringing him back to "Gargoyles". It's just too bad that we didn't get "Dark Ages".

Ambrosia writes...

Hey Greg!
This is another response to a ramble on another beautiful ep!

Like Erin said, it's not supposed to happen. The brother of our heroine isn't supposed to be in the employ of the Bad Guy. The thing that interested me most was that scene with the different reactions between the trio. Broadway and Brooklyn's lines beg some thought… Derek should trust you… but trust doesn't mean much without honesty. In a kid's show, there is usually a very clear definition between Good and Bad, but Brooklyn is subtly saying that she hasn't been entirely honest with her brother. I love my trio. Oops, there's three. And poor Lex who carries a grudge as long as any other gargoyle is inching out the Six trying to start hunting the Pack down. Great personality work. These aren't Huey Duey and Louie.

Again, the Good and Bad thing going on with Xanatos. He's supposed to be the antagonist, but he just acts so… suave! One might mistake him for a great guy… I guess Derek did.

The scene with Fox? I think the beams of light from heaven surrounding her enraptured face as she pictures "David" gave it away. :) When I first saw it, I for some reason thought that Fox was infatuated with Xanatos, but didn't know it was mutual. Silly me.

Thanks!

Andrew Warren writes...

In regards to "Her Brother's Keeper."

Great episode for Xanatos. The convuluted plan demands respect, but I was even more impressed with how his whole team worked together. While Elisa is bickering with her brother, Xanantos, Fox, and Owen are working together seamlessly to call the tune. Even Jackal and Hyena seem to be playing at sibling rivalry rather than suffering from it.

And, yes, it was obvious Fox had a thing for Xanatos here. Also that she was already pretty close to him. Not only is there that whole "brilliant man" line, but she also calls him David. Not many people in the series are on a first name basis with the guy.

The coyote diamond would be a great clue later on in the series. Was this conscious forshadowing for "Leader of the Pack" or "Cloud Fathers?" I'd guess almost certainly the former and perhaps the latter as well.

Andrew Warren writes...

A response to your ramble on "Long Way to Morning."

When I first saw this episode I was enthralled. Hudson has an easy competence about him that reminds me of my father, so I was happy to see him get his time in the sun, or out of it as the case may be. I truly enjoyed watching him be alternately crafty and amazingly physical. That spinning leap with the sword was one of my favorite moves in the series.

Unfortunately, this was an episode that didn't age well. After "City of Stone" Hudson's line about age and waiting really didn't mesh with Demona's background. I'd guess the back story hadn't been filled in when "Long Way to Morning" was written, but it still strikes me as a continuity glitch.

Todd Jensen writes...

This is sort of a brief reply to your reply to my comments on "Awakening Part One".

The "friend" conversation was the point where I decided that I liked the gargoyles - in the sense of species. (I'd already decided that I liked the series when the "Scotland - 994 A.D" segment got underway).

BECKY writes...

HI! I'VE RECENTLY GOTTEN INTO GARGOYLES AND I'VE BEEN WATCHING THE SNEEK PEEK OF TOON DISNEY THAT DISNEY SHOWS BECAUSE IT HAS THE GARGOYLES SHOW. BUT THEY'VE STOPPED SHOWING IT AND OUR CABLE OPERATER DOESN'T HAVE TOON DISNEY SO I HAVE NO WAY OF EVER SEEING THE SHOW AGAIN. I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR WEBSITES WITH SUMMARIES OF THE EPISODES BUT THERE AREN'T VERY MANY WHEN A WEBSITE DOES HAVE THEM. CAN YOU HELP?

Matthew writes...

Hi I have to find some pictures and information on Gargoiles and I was wondering if you could please send me some info at perks57@hotmail.com
Thanks

Todd Jensen writes...

A comment on Pyro X's "Gummi Bears" question.

I actually saw a slight similarity between the two series myself, but more in terms of the overall situation of the title characters. Both Gummi Bears and Gargoyles were portrayed as non-human sentient beings who once lived alongside humans, until that came to an end through human hostility (in the Gummis' case, driving most of them overseas, in the Gargoyles' case, destroying most of their clans), leaving only a few scattered communities/clans left, which would only gradually begin reconnecting with each other and recovering what was lost.

(I might add that I recall the presence in the latter part of the series of some Gummmis from the Barbic Woods who were portrayed as particularly suspicious and unsympathetic towards humans, and can easily imagine many gargoyles in the Gargoyles Universe having a similar attitude).

Todd Jensen writes...

A sort of "ramble-reply" to "Long Way Till Morning".

I'll have to confess that the only part of my "first time I saw it" response to this episode that I now remember (other than my delight at another medieval sequence - the 984 scenes in this case) was that I initially believed that Prince Malcolm would actually succumb to the Archmage's poisoned dart, and that this was how he'd died. (It was obvious that he must have died at some point before the 994 events in "Awakening", naturally, since Katharine's ruling Wyvern by then). So the fact that, in the succeeding flashbacks in this episode after the initial one, he does live in the end, surprised me.

I certainly agree with you on the Katharine-and-Malcolm scenes; I'd also felt on my own before reading that ramble that Malcolm was unwittingly planting the seeds of bigotry in his daughter when he used the gargoyles as a means of frightening her to be good. (Kind of reminds me of something I'd read once in either "Dear Abby" or "Ann Landers" about a policeman protesting the way that a few parents use police as "bogeymen" to scare their children into being good similarly). Indeed, Prince Malcolm's judgement really does come across in this episode as a bit on the poor side beyond Katharine; he's overly confident about the Archmage no longer being a threat, while Hudson correctly recognizes that the sorcerer could return for revenge - and indeed, the Archmage does.

Demona's ambitious streak in the 984 scene reminds me a bit of Lady Macbeth similarly urging Macbeth to dispose of Duncan in Shakespeare's play - which, when you stop to think over her future, is rather appropriate. (Indeed, in "Sanctuary", Demona actually becomes "Lady Macbeth" in a literal sense - and if you ask me, she fits the Shakespearean character far better than Gruoch ever did).

I must admit that I've always had a certain fondness for Hudson, and he certainly comes across as a sympathetic figure here. One can't help but admire his dogged persistence in keeping Goliath safe from Demona in the present day. He may think of himself as all washed up, but he still does his duty in protecting Goliath against a very determined adversary.

Two scenes I particularly like in this episode, both near the end: the sight of Demona slowly approaching through the graveyard in the distance, and the bit where she emerges from behind the stone angel - both positively creepy.