This article is about Gargoyles, the animated television show. For the stone statues, see gargoyle.
Gargoyles is a Walt Disneysuperheroanimated series that aired from October 24, 1994 to 1997 featuring a clan of six warrior creatures that were turned to stone during the day. Led by the gargoyle Goliath in the year 994, they protected Castle Wyvern and its resident humans on the coast of Scotland until betrayal allowed a Viking massacre to destroy almost all of their clan and a magic spell forced them to sleep in their stone forms for a millennium until the castle could rise above the clouds.
In 1994, a billonaire named David Xanatos purchased the castle and had it moved to the top of his skyscraper to fulfill the conditions of the spell. Waking up in modern day Manhattan, the gargoyles must adapt to this new world as they protect the citizens of New York (most of whom don't even believe they exist) and face both new and old enemies with the help of their new human friend (and possible love interest for Goliath), NYPD detective Elisa Maza.
Gargoyles in medieval Scotland didn't have names, as it wasn't their custom. Goliath only had one because it was given to him by Prince Malcolm. In the modern world they find that having names would make things easier for their humans friends (particularly Elisa), so the five choose names from New York landmarks.
The series was known for its very complex story arcs and drama. A major example is the episode, "Deadly Force" which dealt with gun violence when Broadway accidentally shoots and seriously wounds Elisa when he was playing with her gun. Character arcs are also heavily employed through the series with such examples being Brooklyn's coming of age and Xanatos' conflict with the Gargoyles and its resolution.
It is often mentioned alongside Batman: The Animated Series as one of the best American cartoon series ever. Also, a remarkably large number of voice actors for the show had been actors on various Star Trek series.
The most important difference between our universe and the Gargoyle universe is the existence of the so-called Three Races: humans, gargoyles, and Oberon's Children. Humans are, of course, the dominant species and most members of the other races are extinct or hidden away in the modern day. Oberon's children are inherently magical creatures and shapeshifters, often taking the roles of creatures from mythology around the world. It is the interactions between these three races that form the core of many the stories in the series.
Gargoyles
Manhattan clan - The main characters throughout the series
Angela - Courageous daughter of Goliath and Demona, she was raised on Avalon and joined the Manhatten clan mid 2nd season; named for her angelic nature -- Brigitte Bako
Demona - Goliath's former mate and Angela's biological mother; not frozen in stone like the others, she lived through the thousand years because of magic and developed a hatred of all humans, making her an enemy to the clan; named for her demonic nature -- Marina Sirtis
Avalon Clan - The gargoyle eggs of Castle Wyvern were protected by Princess Katherine and taken to the mystical Avalon, where they hatched and grew to adulthood
Gabriel - The gargoyle leader of the Avalon clan; named for the angel
Clan London - An English clan appearing like creatures of heraldry, they run a magic shop to supplement their income and until recently had abandoned their mission of protection
Griff - A griffon-like gargoyle that Goliath encountered when he travelled back in time to the Battle of Britain; he later encounters King Arthur and joins him on his quest
Clan Ishimura - A gargoyle clan in Japan that has lived in harmony with humans, teaching them bushido since feudal times
Clan Guatemala - Protectors of the rainforest in Guatemala and possible inspirations of Quetzalcoatl myths, the four surviving gargoyles there possess special talismans that let them evade their stone sleep
Humans
Elisa Maza - NYPD detective, friend of the Gargoyles and later love interest for Goliath -- Salli Richardson
David Xanatos - Billionaire nemesis and later ally of the gargoyles; his name is reminiscent of David, the Biblical king that defeated Goliath -- Jonathan Frakes
Owen Burnett - Aide to Xanatos; later revealed to be the immortal trickster Puck -- Jeff Bennett
Macbeth - Former King of Scotland; eternally bound to Demona, he is forced to live in conflict with her forever; initially an enemy of the gargoyles -- John Rhys-Davies
Matt Bluestone - Elisa's partner in the NYPD and former FBI agent. He believes in aliens and the Illuminati -- Tom Wilson
Anton Sevarius - A geneticist with the professional ethics of Josef Mengele; his experiments on gargoyles lead to the creation of the Mutates, as well as the clan of gargoyle clones lead by Thailog -- Tim Curry
Halcyon Renard - An elderly businessman, CEO of Cyberbiotics and rival to David Xanatos, he formed a friendship with Goliath; his name renard is the French word for fox
The Pack - Mercenaries organised by Xanatos first to be TV stars, then to hunt Gargoyles; they were subsequently 'upgraded' into more deadly forms
Fox - The unsatisfied daughter of Halcyon Renard, she quit the Pack and married David Xanatos then bore him a son, Alexander
Jackal & Hyena - Psychotic twins who later turned themselves into cyborgs and continued to receive upgrades
Wolf - A strongman who underwent genetic manipulation, becoming a mutant wolfman; he was descended from Hakkon, the Viking leader responsible for the Wyvern massacre
Dingo - Weaponsmaster of the group, he refused to sacrifice his humanity in the upgrades, and used an exo-suit; he later quit the Pack and joined with the nanotech creature, the Matrix, to defend Australia
Coyote - An AI robot originally disguised as Xanatos, who reappeared in each subsequent episode in new and less human forms and was destroyed each time
Princess Katherine of Scotland - A supposed daughter of King Kenneth and cousin of Constantine; the mistress of the Scottish clan of gargoyles during the 990s, she vowed to protect the clans' unhatched eggs and raised them on Avalon.
The Magus - The court magician of Castle Wyvern, it was the Magus that cast the spell that imprisoned Goliath's clan in stone; he guided Princess Katherine and the eggs to Avalon, and later gave his life to protect his charges
Tom the Guardian - A peasant boy at Castle Wyvern, he also accompanied Princess Katherine and the gargoyle eggs to Avalon; he took on the role of Guardian, protecting the eggs and training them when they hatched
The Archmage - The enemy of the gargoyle clan in the Dark Ages, he returned with the help of the Weird Sisters, gained vast magical powers, and invaded Avalon -- David Warner
Arthur Pendragon. The legendary Once and Future King of Britain, awakened by Elisa to help fight the Archmage on Avalon. He later meets the English Gargoyle Griff, and battles Macbeth alongside the Manhattan Clan to reclaim Excalibur)
The Hunters - Descendents of King Malcolm through his son Donald, they have sworm to hunt down Demona and continue the use of the Hunter Mask; they also seem to harbor strong prejudices against gargoyles in general; the three modern Hunters are Jason, John and Robyn Canmore
Tony Dracon - Organized crime figure in New York, he knows about the gargoyles and has a score to settle with Elisa -- Richard Grieco
Margot and Brendan (a yuppie couple who have the misfortune of running into the Gargoyles often)
Oberon's Children
Oberon - Oberon is the lord of Avalon, arrogant and very powerful; he is not the literal father of his race - rather his is the role of leader and he governs all the Third Race strictly
Titania - Oberon's ex-wife, and mother of Fox Xanatos by Halcyon Renard; she is a highly skilled manipulator, and has a great deal of control even over Oberon himself; they later remarry -- Kate Mulgrew
The Weird Sisters (Phoebe, Selene, Luna) - Powerful magic users, they frequently appear as enemies (and sometimes temporary allies) of the gargoyles; it was they that bound Demona and Macbeth together forever; they guarded Avalon for a time, and were displeased when the Magus forced them out. -- All three voiced by Kath Soucie
Puck - A trickster fay, he was responsible for Demona's ability to become human during the day instead of turning to stone and reappeared several times; it was eventually discovered that he was Owen Burnett, having made a deal with Xanatos to serve him faithfully, after which he was put in charge of training Alexander Xanatos -- Brent Spiner
Other characters
Coldstone - A gargoyle from Goliath's clan resurrected though science and sorcery. He was formed from the remains of three different gargoyles (usually called Coldstone, Coldfire his mate, and Coldsteel his rival), and each personality remains mostly intact. Eventually they are each transferred to separate robotic bodies. -- Michael Dorn (Coldstone), CCH Pounder (Coldfire), Xander Berkley (Coldsteel)
Thailog - A clone of Goliath created by Sevarius and given many of Xanatos' traits, he is a genius and a persistent enemy. He commissioned Sevarius to create him the clan of clones. -- Keith David
The Mutates - The mutates were created when Sevarius combined animal genes with humans in an attempt to create gargoyle creatures for Xanatos; they rebelled against Xanatos and now protect the homeless in the underground facility known as the Labyrinth and also take care of the clones
Talon - Formerly Derek Maza, Elisa's brother, he became the leader of the mutate 'clan'
Claw - A strong-but-silent mutate
Maggie Reed - An innocent mutate, she was once desperate to find a cure for her condition; Brooklyn had a crush on her for a time
The Illuminati - A secret society started up by Sir Percival, the Fisher King, that presently controls a large bit of the world including politics and organized crime
The New Olympians - Descendents of certain members of the Third Race (Oberon's Children) who imitated creatures and gods in Greek Mythology; they live on the island of New Olympus and remain hidden through advanced cloaking technology
Nokkar - A sentinel and member of the N'Kai (interstellar aliens who oppose the Space-Spawn empire); he waits on Easter Island to protect the Earth
Avalon
Avalon plays an important role in the series. It is located in another reality whose rate of time is 1/24th that of Earth that can be accessed when traveling by water and using magic on route to summon the Mists of Avalon. The Princess Catherine, The Magus and Tom flee there along with the surviving Gargoyle eggs from Castle Wyvern. Once there, the humans raise the hatched Gargoyles which grow into adulthood. In the 1990s, the immigrants are twice assaulted by Children of Oberon until the returning Lord Oberon himself is persuaded to let them stay as his honor guard.
In addition, Avalon seems to have an intelligence of its own with altruistic interests that sometimes conflict even with Oberon himself. This is evident when Goliath, his daughter Angela, Eliza Maza and Bronx attempt to leave the island after saving it from the first attack. Instead of being sent immediately home to Manhattan, they are sent to various locations around the world to do good deeds and awaken heroes and gargoyle clans to their duties.
What could have been
Before the firing of most of the writers and producers of Gargoyles, there were plans to expand the universe with a series of spinoffs.
Timedancer -- A story about Brooklyn being caught by the wayward Phoenix Gate thrown into the time stream by Goliath. It would have detailed his journeys through time for forty years (biologically 20 years for a gargoyle) while trying to catch the gate and return home. During his journeys, he would have journeyed to China where he picks up the gargoyle beast Fu-Dog, the future where he would have contributed to fighting against the Space-Spawn occupation and also Japan where he meets his mate Katana. They would have eventually returned home to Manhattan just five minutes after his departure along with their children Nashville and Tachi, who would still be an egg. The spin-off would have also featured the enhanced Archmage and Calaban of Shakespeare's Tempest and how Brooklyn, Puck, Mary and Finella helped Xanatos and Demona form their eventual alliance. (Note, katana and tachi are both types of Japanese sword.)
Pendragon -- A spin-off series about King Arthur and the english Gargoyle Griff as they search for Arthur's mentor Merlin, the biological son of Oberon by a mortal woman. Along the way they would have clashed with the Illuminati and would have journeyed to such places as Tintagel (the birthplace of Arthur), Stonehenge and Antarctica in their search for Merlin. Eventually they would have found Merlin trapped in the Crystal Cave for more than a 1000 years and Arthur would have founded the kingdom of New Camelot in Antarctica which would also become the site of a gargoyle clan. There were also plans to introduce Blanchefleur, the estranged wife of the Fisher King, as one of the main protagonists.
Gargoyles 2198 -- A future spinoff to the gargoyles series, this would have dealt with the Earth being invaded and occupied by the Space-Spawn, who would have kidnapped the newly formed gargoyle clan of Queen Florence Island along with the human and gargoyle leaders there and stolen the Master Matrix (the computer processor for much of the world and the weather control center of New Camelot) located in Antarctica. The primary characters were to be Samson, the descendent of Goliath through Angela and de-facto leader of the Manhattan clan, Delilah, presumably a clone of the gargoyle created by Sevarius, and Zafiro, a descendent of the Guatemala clan. They would have also been joined by Owen, incapable of transforming into Puck due to the fact that Alexander now the leader of the UN has been kidnapped by the Space-Spawn, Demona, Nick Maza, a descendent of the adopted child of Goliath and Elisa and of the Natsilane family, a timedancing Brooklyn from the past accompanied by Fu-Dog, Nokkar of the N'Kai who has failed in his task of stopping the Space-Spawn from taking Earth along with two robots resembling Lexington who are now without guidance due to the fact that the Master Matrix was stolen. The team would have mainly dealt with the Space-Spawn and their proxies the Illuminati who have decided to turn collaborator and the Quarryman who blame the gargoyles for the invasion.
New Olympians -- This would have dealt with the New Olympians and their relations with humans after they make contact with the United Nations. The main characters would have been Taurus (the minotaur security chief of New Olympus and the new ambassador to the human world), Talos (a New Olympian robot who advises the New Olympians due to the fact that he was built thousands of years ago in ancient Greece by Daedalus), Sphinx (a young New Olympian student) and Terry Chung (a human who stumbles upon New Olympus and precipitates the New Olympians into making contact with humanity). The New Olympians themselves would have been split into three factions made up of those who still fear humanity, those who want humanity to worship them again and those who just want to co-exist.
Dark Ages -- A prequel, this would have dealt with the original Wyvern Clan. It would have covered the time period before the creation of Castle Wyvern and would have ended with the massacre. This spinoff would have dealt with the developlment of Goliath, Demona, Hudson, Coldstone, Coldfire, Coldsteel, the Archmage, Prince Malcom, the Captain of the Guard and also Hudson's mate and daughter Hippolyta both of whom would have been killed by the end of the series.
Bad Guys -- A series featuring former enemies of the Gargoyles joined together by the Director, an American public servant. The team would have been lead by Robyn Canmore, one of the hunters, and would have included Dingo, Matrix, Yama of the Ishimura Clan and Fang, one of the mutates of the Labyrinth goes estray. All of the team members would have been blackmailed into joining with Robyn and Dingo been wanted by law enforcement in America and Yama through the secret of his clan dwelling in Ishimura.The primary purpose of the team would have been to combat the Illuminati and would have also dealt with a romance between Dingo and Robyn whose descendents would be in conflict with the Castaways and the Quarryman in the future. Of the spin-offs, this was the only one that was almost made before being cancelled and a leica reel that was made is shown each year during the Gathering.
While these plans have not panned out so far, there have been fan fiction efforts to explore Pendragon, Timedancer, Bad Guys and Dark Ages.
Episodes
A total of 78 episodes were produced. Each episode ran 30 minutes per episode including commercials. The 3rd and final season aired on ABC as The Goliath Chronicles, without the involvement of series creator Greg Weisman (except for "The Journey", the first episode of the season); these episodes, "The Journey" apart, are considered inferior in quality by many fans and ignored in much of the fan fiction.
Season 1
Awakening, Part I
Awakening, Part II
Awakening, Part III
Awakening, Part IV
Awakening, Part V
The Thrill of the Hunt
Temptation
Deadly Force
Enter MacBeth
The Edge
Long Way to Morning
Her Brother's Keeper
Reawakening
Season 2
Leader of the Pack
Metamorphosis
Legion
A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time
The Mirror
The Silver Falcon
Eye of the Beholder
Vows
City of Stone, Part I
City of Stone, Part II
City of Stone, Part III
City of Stone, Part IV
High Noon
Outfoxed
Revelations
Double Jeopardy
Upgrade
Protection
The Cage
The Price
Avalon, Part I
Avalon, Part II
Avalon, Part III
Shadows of the Past
Heritage
Kingdom
Monsters
Golem
Sanctuary
M.I.A.
Grief
The Hound of Ulster
Walkabout
Mark of the Panther
Pendragon
Eye of the Storm
The New Olympians
The Green
Sentinel
Bushido
Cloud Fathers
Ill Met By Moonlight
Future Tense
The Gathering, Part I
The Gathering, Part II
Vendettas
Turf
The Reckoning
Possession
Hunter's Moon, Part I
Hunter's Moon, Part II
Hunter's Moon, Part III
Season 3 (The Goliath Chronicles)
The Journey
Ransom
Runaways
Broadway Goes Hollywood
A Bronx Tail
The Dying Of The Light
And Justice For All
Genesis Undone
Generations
...For It May Come True
To Serve Mankind
Seeing Isn't Believing
Angels In The Night
Fandom
Perhaps more than any other Disney television production, the series inspired an intense fan following. Disney has recognized this with their selection of this series for the first DVD TV series box set for retail for their animated TV series.
In reaction to displeasure with the episodes of Season 3, a group of fans created an ongoing virtual seasonfan fiction series, The Gargoyles Saga, to continue the franchise along a more desirable direction.
The unusual romantic subtext between between Goliath (a gargoyle) and Elisa (a human) was fodder for quite a bit of discussion on the Internet, particularly about its appropriateness. A later episode of the series, set during Halloween, had the two dancing together in open view with Elisa in the yellow dress of Disney's Belle character.
Fans of the series continue to meet and celebrate its legacy at the annual convention, The Gathering of the Gargoyles. Previous locations have included New York and Montreal, and the summer of 2005 will see the assemblage move to Las Vegas.
