Gargoyles - On the Wings of Justice
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| German title | Gargoyles - On the Wings of Justice |
| Original title | Gargoyles |
 | |
| Country of production |
United States Japan |
| original language | English |
| Year (s) | 1994-1997 |
| length | 22 minutes |
| Episodes | 78 in 3 seasons |
| genre | Drama , action series |
| production |
Bob Kline Frank Paur Greg Weisman Dennis J. Woodyard |
| music | Carl Johnson |
| First broadcast | October 24, 1994 on syndication |
| German-language first broadcast |
November 25, 1995 on RTL |
Gargoyles - On the Wings of Justice is an American animated series produced by the Walt Disney Company from 1993 to 1997 . It is about the adventures of a group of Scottish gargoyles ( figures based on medieval gargoyles ), creatures who turn to stone during the day and who have to find their way around modern New York after 1000 years of sleep .
action
prehistory
In Scotland in 994 AD, Wyvern Castle, a fortress inhabited by men and gargoyles, is besieged by Vikings. Gargoyles are powerful, intelligent, winged creatures that live organized as a clan and petrify from sunrise to dusk, making them defenseless and vulnerable during the day. Although they are honorable warriors who protect people, they are feared and abhorred by most. When the attack of the Vikings can only be thwarted by the gargoyles and the castle inhabitants, especially Princess Katharine, nevertheless only despise the gargoyles, the mistress of the clan leader Goliath forges a secret plan together with the captain of the castle guard to expel the people from the castle . The plan is to lure the entire clan on a wrong track into the woods, while the Vikings can plunder the castle undisturbed and capture or kill the people. The plan fails, however, when only Goliath and his predecessor, later known as Hudson, follow this trail. Now by day instead of night the Vikings take the defenseless castle, and the captain of the guard cannot keep his oath to protect the gargoyles. The Vikings smash the remaining gargoyles, as the involvement of Goliath's consort in this plan remained hidden to them. However, she knew about the massacre, as she had received a visit from her 1995 likeness in 975, and therefore went to safety outside the castle. When Goliath returns in the evening, he can only find three young gargoyles, a gargoyle beast (a type of dog) and 36 eggs of the offspring that have not yet hatched, which the Vikings had hidden in the gargoyles' breeding cave. His companion does not dare to face him and flees unnoticed.
The remaining six gargoyles chase after the Vikings in search of revenge, and Goliath manages to save Princess Katharine from being murdered by the Viking leader. He fell to his death during a scuffle with the captain. Due to the confusion in the fight, the court mage, the Magus, is of the opinion that the gargoyles are to blame for the alleged death of the princess. He curses five of the gargoyles with the exception of the absent Goliath. They are supposed to remain petrified until the castle rises above the clouds. When he sees the princess in safety, he realizes his mistake, but cannot take the curse back. Goliath allows himself to be cursed voluntarily in order to wake up again together with his clan, should this ever happen. Goliath's companion (later known as Demona) watched on their return as the princess and the Magus remove the clutch, and believes in a kidnapping, so that she goes with gargoyles from other clans in a guerrilla war against humanity.
Princess Katharine, the Magus and the child Tom, who was appointed the guardian of the clutch, keep the eggs to make amends and flee with them in 995 to the island of Avalon, Lord Oberon's island and hostel of the sleeping King Arthur . To get to this island, they must defeat three witches, the guardians of Avalon's gates, and leave the magus's book of spells, the Grimorum Arcanorum, behind in the human world. It is kept there by Tom's mother Mary and Finella, Katharine's former beloved cousins. A 1997 Time Traveler Brooklyn brings Mary and Finella together from 997 with the book to the 1970s.
The sorcerer, an old archenemy of Wyvern Castle and the Gargoyles, appears with his parallel self from the year 984 also in the year 995 at Avalon's gate and frees the witches from the curse of the Magus. In return, he demands that the witches follow his plan against Goliath and his clan. For this, his parallel counterpart from the past needs three magical talismans, which must, however, remain in the stream of time so that he also has them at present. He asks the three witches to attend to the fate of Goliath's former mate and a young prince named MacBeth. They will meet again in 1000 years, in 1995.
In 1020, the three witches take on the fate of those chosen by the warlock. Both of them are hunted by a masked man named Gillecomgain, called Nimrod, at the time. Gillecomgain, who was on behalf of MacBeth's cousin King Duncan and murdered MacBeth's father, is defeated by MacBeth and the aging Demona when Duncan betrayed his mercenary to MacBeth by revealing the identity of Nimrod.
King Duncan, now himself in the identity of Nimrod, unexpectedly declares war on MacBeth in 1040. But he finds help again with the future Demona and her clan when the three witches appear and complete the alliance of the two forever. In a spell they give Demona, who has meanwhile become an old woman, the youth of Macbeth and him her age, but also the strength of a gargoyle, and so forge an immortal magic bond between the two people. In the victorious battle against Duncan, they both recognize the connection between their enemy Duncan, Gillecomgain and Nimrod. Duncan's son Canmore is exiled to England after MacBeth refuses to kill a child. Demona, who is now again young, permanently joins MacBeth's clan at Moray Castle and lives in its midst for many years while the gargoyle population recovers. MacBeth gives her the name "Demona". In 1057 the Moray clan is attacked by the now adult Canmore in the role of Nimrod and the English. A misunderstanding arises that destroys the alliance between MacBeth and Demona. The Moray clan and the gargoyles are wiped out.
After the lost battle, Demona and MacBeth realize their immortality and accuse each other of treason. MacBeth and Demona chase their way through the centuries, and Canmore continues to hunt her when he learns of her survival. Since Canmore cannot fulfill this self-imposed burden in his own lifetime, this blood feud has been passed down from father to son over the years.
Main storyline
1st season
In 1994 industrialist David Xanato had Wyvern Castle moved with the gargoyles to the top of his skyscraper in New York City. The curse is broken after 1000 years and the gargoyles come to life. Xanatos is in possession of the talisman "Grimorum Arcanorum", which contains the story of the gargoyles. The clan is grateful to Xanatos, but also horrified when they learn from him that they are the last of their kind. At this moment the castle is attacked by foreign fighters. After a hectic battle against modern weapons, which the gargoyles cannot cope with, the attackers escape with a suitcase in a helicopter.
The fight brought the New York police officer Elisa Maza on the scene, who encounters the gargoyles during her investigation at the castle. She befriends the clan, shows Goliath the city and indirectly ensures that the other members of the clan also get names.
Demona, who, together with Xanatos, devised the plan for many years to use Goliath for their own purposes, appears. She tells her former companions that she also let herself be petrified when the "statue" was sold to Xanatos a few years ago and through her she discovered the secret of the gargoyles. Xanatos now reports that he was robbed on the night of awakening and explains to the gargoyles who it was and where his stolen disks are now. Together with his mate and out of gratitude, Goliath is willing to help Xanatos.
Goliath, who meets Elisa again, learns from her that Xanatos used him and his clan to steal the data. Xanatos used the stolen data to activate an army of combat robots called "The Steel Clan". To test this, he attacks the clan. However, the Gargoyles defeat the robots as well as Xanatos and Demona. In his anger, Goliath wants to kill Xanatos, but Elisa and Hudson prevent him from doing so. Xanatos is arrested.
Elisa explains to Goliath that Xanatos is only in jail for six months for theft, but Goliath does not understand this. In his worldview he has defeated Xanatos and won the castle as his property. Goliath is attacked by a programmed "steel clan" robot, which is switched off without further ado. In this way, Xanatos' new ally Dr. Sevarius Goliath's DNA. From the prison, Xanatos organized a fighting team, called "The Pack", which should overpower the gargoyles. But "The Pack" fails and the team is arrested.
The immortal MacBeth contacts Xanatos in prison and offers to evict the gargoyles from the castle. Xanatos agrees, but after MacBeth explains to Goliath his reasons that he is only looking for Demona, he gives up his attacks on the gargoyles. As a result, the clan leaves the castle and moves into a bell tower above the police station. Hudson takes the "Grimorum Arcanorum". Xanatos and Demona then try in different ways to defeat Goliath, where Xanatos wants to have him alive and Demona wants to kill him.
Since Demona and Xanatos each failed in their own way to defeat Goliath and his clan, they create a combination of magic and technology: Coldstone. But the machine, half Android, half gargoyle contains the souls of three deceased gargoyles and defies Demona's orders.
2nd season
Xanato's newest weapon, an android of himself, frees "The Pack" from prison. However, this is not primarily used to attack the gargoyles, much more to release Fuchs on parole because he has a relationship with her. Meanwhile, he attacks the gargoyles through Derek, by giving him one of Dr. Sevarius has a mutagen produced by injection that mutates him into a panther-human hybrid. Sevarius fakes his death so that Derek and the other mutants bind to Xanatos, as he can allegedly find a cure.
Xanatos and Fuchs get married, Goliath and Demona are invited as groomsmen. But the celebration is supposed to bring Goliath and Demona together, because in 984 both had shared a magical amulet, called "The Phoenix Gate", like rings. Demona snatches it from him and puts the two parts back together again. She would like to go back to the past to prevent the massacre in 994 by trying to get herself to drive the people out of the castle by 994 and take action against the people. On this trip, Xanatos lays the foundation stone of his future empire as a member of the Illuminati . But Demona has to realize that history cannot be changed because what has happened has already happened. Goliath is keeping the Phoenix Gate safe so that no one can use it to cause damage.
At the bottom of the Hudson River , Coldstone's emergency power system is activated. Remote-controlled by Xanatos, he breaks into a secret service laboratory to steal valuable data. Instead, however, he downloads a computer virus that awakens the soul of Othello as well as the souls of his companion Desdemona and that of his cunning clan brother Iago. Coldstone succeeds in containing the virus with the help of Lexington and Goliath. Coldstone remains deactivated while the three souls inside fight each other.
Demona steals the mirror of Titanias, Oberon's wife. Through this mirror she calls the Elven Puck and demands the destruction of the people. Puck cannot grant her this wish, searches for her true wishes and discovers her love for Goliath. Demona then wants Elisa to be destroyed. Elisa is transformed into a gargoyle and that night Goliath and Elisa discover feelings for each other. After the failure, Demona sends Puck away, but he curses her for transforming into a human when the sun rises.
Xanatos gives Fuchs the "Eye of Odin", who then undergoes a body-consuming transformation into a werewolf. Whoever closes the eye becomes a powerful being who produces true fortitude. Xanatos asks Goliath to help him save Fuchs before she dies from the changes. Goliath agrees, because the thought that a man like Xanato can feel love gives him hope. Nevertheless, he keeps the "Eye of Odin" like the "Phoenix Gate" in order to prevent further damage.
Demona has come up with a new plan to destroy humanity: She lies to Xanatos to use him. With a magic that supposedly makes you immortal, she turns all people to stone through the television during the night. In this way she takes revenge for the massacre of her clan. Xanatos and the Gargoyle clan work together one more time to stop Demona. Mac Beth also appears again, who was able to watch her show on television. The three witches who still control the fate of Demonas and MacBeth, help Goliath and Xanatos in an indirect way. You take the two of them.
Under the influence of the witches, Mac Beth and Demona steal Coldstone, the "Eye of Odin", the "Phoenix Gate" and the "Grimorum Arcanorum". Goliath and his clan are so busy saving Coldstone that they fail to notice the disappearance of the three magical talismans. Thanks to Demona, Coldstone wakes up again and is now master of his body. He wants to rejoin the clan as soon as he has found inner peace.
Fuchs is pregnant and Elisa's partner Matt Bluestone meets the Gargoyles. He immediately needs Goliath's help too. Matt's former FBI colleague and Illuminati member Martin Hacker leads Matt Bluestone on the trail of the Illuminati in order to get an unloved Illuminati member out of the way. Matt plays along and thus earns a place in the ranks of the Illuminati. Martin Hacker is informed that Matt could only carry out this "assignment" with Goliath's help.
Sevarius 'and Xanatos' newest creation, Thailog - a clone of Goliath - develops very headstrong ideas. So he lets himself be kidnapped by Sevarius and even leads Xanatos by the nose and extortes 20 million dollars. Goliath and Elisa, who have seen Thailog, investigate the matter and put themselves in great danger. However, both Sevarius and Xanatos can save their lives. Thailog, however, successfully fakes his death for everyone present.
The Xanatosandroide, which is called Coyote, equips "The Pack" with technical and genetic upgrades, with which they can hold their own against the Gargoyles in the future. But even this is not enough to hold out against the entire clan. The packing team, already without a fox in their ranks, falls apart.
Elisa suffers greatly from the transformation of Derek and Klaue, who is still standing by Xanatos. The mutants have returned to Xanatos, but they blame Goliath for their condition. Goliath kidnaps Dr. Sevarius and forces him to develop a cure, but that does not serve Xanato's interests at all and he reveals himself. The mutant clan and the gargoyles bury the hatchet when Klaue learns that Xanatos is actually behind it all.
Xanatos' dream of immortality takes on new forms: he wants to try an old spell, for which he needs the skin of a gargoyle. To do this, he has Hudson kidnapped. But the magic that is supposed to make you as old as rock has a catch: it turns to stone. Owen, Xanatos' assistant, loses his left hand in this way, which is now petrified.
In the spring of 1995 a knight lands in the middle of Manhattan. He is arrested and declared that he is looking for Goliath. Elisa brings the two together. It turns out it's Tom - 40 years older. He is in a great hurry as the warlock is attacking the eggs. Goliath, Elisa and Bronx are brought to Avalon by Tom, where they immediately meet the sorcerer. In the Avalon dimension, time passes differently; if an hour passes here, a whole day has already passed on earth. The 36 eggs have hatched and Goliath meets his children. Together they defeat the sorcerer who has Demona and MacBeth at his side. The gargoyle children, inexperienced in combat, have King Arthur at their side. The fight can be won, the Grimorum Arcanorum is destroyed and Goliath takes back the "Eye of Odin" and the "Phoenix Gate". However, the journey home is not as easy as expected.
For several weeks the three traveled around the world with Goliath's daughter Angela, getting to know gargoyles in London, Japan and Guatemala. They meet Thailog and Demona in Paris: Thailog planned that Mac Beth and Demona, who had previously married, kill each other, which means that their fortunes will pass to him, since he is a partner in Demona's company "Nightstone Unlimited", which she as a human being Dominique Destine directs. Goliath forgives the captain's spirit for his betrayal, meets Odin, who reclaims his eye, and throws the "Phoenix Gate" without a leader into the stream of time, where it can no longer be reached and thus no longer causes any damage. When the four reach Manhattan again, the joy on all sides is great, but short. Oberon demands Xanatos' son, since his mother Fuchs is the daughter of his wife Titania. Titania asks Goliath to protect the young Alexander Xanatos during the fight. Instead, Goliath takes his side with the help of his clan and fights Oberon with him. Owen, who turns out to be "Puck", also faces his ruler, who finally gives up. Puck is banned from Avalon forever, Alexander is allowed to stay with his parents and is supposed to be trained there by Puck. Xanatos feels a great debt and deep gratitude to the gargoyles.
Demona was meanwhile not idle and collected the DNA of all gargoyles with Thailog in order to create the first clone clan. The cloned gargoyles, however, are genetically primitive and trained like animals to ensure their loyalty. Thailog now wants to kill the "originals" and start with Angela, but that's where Demona's mother instinct kicks in. She attacks Thailog and saves Goliath's clan.
Xanatos, still very grateful to Goliath, has an idea: He captures Coldstone, builds two gargoyle robots in the form of Iago and Desdemona and tries to separate the three souls from one body and transfer them to the other two. Owen alias Puck takes on this task as part of Alexander's training. Coldsteel alias Iago and Coldfire alias Desdemona awaken into a body of their own. Coldstone and Coldfire promise to join the clan if they destroy Coldsteel. Broadway and Angela find each other.
Three strangers appear under pseudonyms: Robyn Canmore as Robyn Correy, who competes in Demona's company "Nightstone Unlimited". Jason Canmore as Jason Conover, Elisa's new partner on the day shift, and a reporter named Jon Canmore as Jon Carter. The three siblings are the last of the Canmores and continue the blood feud of their father Charles Canmore, who died in 1980 fighting Demona. They manage to almost kill Angela and bomb the gargoyles from their bell tower. Demona and the Manhattan Plan are working together to hold out against the "hunters". Besides, Demona is in the process of executing a 500 year long plan that destroys all people on earth and leaves only animals and gargoyles alive. Goliath can prevent this at the last second and washes the "reputation of a gargoyle" into Robyn and Jason in this way. Matt Bluestone can stop the army, police, and angry people from bringing down the gargoyles. In the end, it is Xanatos who saves the gargoyles and offers them a home in their ancestral castle.
3rd season
The third season of the series Gargoyles does not follow a coherent plot and consists of 13 individual episodes, which also contain no character development. There is a reunion with old enemies such as Demona, Proteus, the clones and Thailog as well as Sevarius and the stone cutters.
Each episode begins from the perspective of Goliath, who admonishes the behavior of the people. In the final episode, the stonecutters plan ruthless action and are ready to kill hundreds of people in order to destroy two gargoyles. Goliath and the clan save the people even though they have already freed their friends. This changes the image of the gargoyles among people and they accept them as heroes in their midst.
Continued in the comics after the second season
Jon Canmore returns to New York as John Castaway, a member of the Illuminati, and founds the organization "Steinhauer" (English Quarrymen ) to destroy the gargoyles.
Matt and Elisa are the heads of the "Gargoyles Taskforce" and are supposed to prevent conflicts between people and Gargoyles and avoid panic. Martin Hacker approaches Matt and tells him that humanity is not ready for an interspecies society, but that the Illuminati will support him. That same night he visits Xanatos and explains to him that it is imperative that the people be educated about the Gargoyles. Xanatos has come up with a new plan to do this. Phase one is a masked ball, to which the gargoyles are also invited. Martin Hacker now visits John Castaway, who, like Xanatos and Matt, is a member of the Illuminati. He encourages Castaway in his endeavors to wipe out the gargoyles.
Thailog bursts into the mutants and demands his clones back. But apart from Brentwood (Eng. Pasadina) nobody wants to follow him. He collects blood samples from all of the Manhattan Clan's gargoyles during a battle at Wyvern Castle. Goliath is wounded so badly that an ambulance can only barely save his life. While Thailog is giving Sevarius the new blood samples, he receives a visit from a senior member of the Illuminati. Thailog is also a member.
Mac Beth wants to bring the " Stone of Destiny " back to Scotland from a museum in England. He asks the gargoyles for help. Only Hudson and Lexington accompany him and get to know the remaining members of the London clan "Knight's Spur". Coldsteel, Coyote 5.0 and some Steelclan robots attack the London clan on behalf of Xanatos, who in turn act on behalf of the Illuminati. However, they soon receive help from Coldstone and Coldfire, who destroy Coyote 5.0 while Coldsteel flees in the Thames. This attack served as a distraction to replace the " Stone of Destiny " with an imitation. Coldstone and Coldfire were then persuaded by Hudson to join the Manhattan Clan.
Brooklyn begins his Time Dancer adventure in early 1997 , in which the Phoenix Gate, which Goliath threw away in the stream of time, appeared in front of him and made him travel through time for 40 years while the others were only 40 seconds. He came back with his Gargoyle-Beast Fu-Dog, which was previously part of the Xandu Clan, as well as his companion Katana from the Ishimura Clan and their son Nashville and the egg that they called Egwardo. Together they joined the clan. In the end the whole clan sets out to fight the broken pack members wolf, jackal and hyena.
Characters
main characters
The gargoyles usually have no names. In Greg Weisman's work , however, it is pointed out several times that they adopted the custom of bearing names from people so that they could distinguish them.
- Goliath
- He is the honorable, intelligent but also somewhat naive leader of the Gargoyles, whose name is derived from the giant Goliath . His honor and loyalty to his clan are his greatest strengths, but also his greatest weaknesses. However, the marital relationship with his deputy, the future Demona, broke up as a result of events.
- He does not trust people, but sticks to the goal that it must be possible to build a common understanding between people and gargoyles. Very conscious of tradition, Goliath has problems adapting to the modern world, which is always clear in the relationship with Elisa Maza. As the first person he made contact with, a respectful friendship developed between them. Over time, this relationship solidifies until after many adventures together they both realize their love for each other.
- Elisa Maza
- A young New York police officer, daughter of an Native American father and an African mother
- David Xanatos
- Powerful industrial mogul who brings the gargoyles to New York for his own purposes
- Hudson
- Elder gargoyle of the clan, passed the leadership of the clan to Goliath. Its name is derived from the Hudson River in New York City
- Broadway
- The slightly overweight youth with the good-natured soul. Named after the famous street in Manhattan .
- Lexington
- A young genius with a passion for computers and technology. Its name is derived from Lexington Avenue .
- Brooklyn
- The always cool daredevil and deputy of Goliath by his own vision. Named after the New York borough of Brooklyn .
- Demona
- Goliath's inhuman ex-comrade, mother of Angela and later the greatest opponent of the Gargoyles
- Angela
- The somewhat naive daughter of Goliath and Demona, hatched on Avalon
- Bronx
- A gargoyles beast , a kind of gargoyle dog with enormous physical strength. He too was baptized after the New York borough of the same name .
Supporting characters
- The Pack
- A troop of martial artists who hunt the clan, members are fox (real name: Jeanine Renard), wolf, jackal, his sister hyena and dingo. Some members of "The Pack" are later arrested, spend some time in prison and later let Xanatos turn them into various monsters. Wolf can be transformed into a cross between wolf and human, hyena and jackal become cyborgs and dingo is given a cyber suit. These new "The Pack" are led by a Xanatos robot named Coyote. Xanatos also marries Fuchs after they are released from prison.
- MacBeth
- A former Scottish king. He initially appeared as an enemy of the Gargoyles, but is increasingly becoming their ally. One of his aliases is Lennox MacDuff , this is made up of the names of two actors from Shakespeare's Macbeth . It was he who gave Demona her name. Both were allies for a long time until Demona betrayed him. Because of a curse, both feel each other's pain. This curse also made long life possible without aging. The three witches bind MacBeth and Demona to each other through the curse, as the previously young MacBeth ages, but in return the previously older-looking Demona gets her younger appearance back.
- Coldstone
- He is a cyborg who was created using Xanatos' technique, a spell from the Grimorum Arkanorum and body parts from Othello , Desdemona and Iago. In his body three souls fight for control of the body, that of Othello, his companion Desdemona and that of the devious Iago. Later, the souls of Desdemona and Othello are transformed into two robots that are now named Coldsteel and Coldfire.
- Derek Maza
- Eliza's younger brother, who is poached from the police by Xanatos to work for him as a bodyguard and pilot. However, he is betrayed by Xanatos and transformed into a gargoyle-like being through genetic mutation. From now on he calls himself Klaue .
- Dr. Anton Sevarius
- An unscrupulous scientist who, among other things, is responsible for the mutation of Derek Maza. Another of his projects is breeding gargoyle clones .
- Thai log
- He is a Goliath clone created by Sevarius, but who is evil. Later begins a relationship with Demona and lets Sevarius clone her own clan with her.
- Clone clan
- Thailog communities consisting of Burbank (clone of Hudson), Hollywood (clone of Broadway), Malibu (clone of Brooklyn) and Pasadina (prop. Brentwood , clone of Lexington). The clan also includes Delilah, who was created from the genetic material of Elisa Maza and Demona.
- The sorcerer
- An evil wizard who steals the Eye of Odin , the Grimorum Arcanorum, and the Phoenix Gate and then attacks Avalon .
- King Arthur
- A mystical king who rests on Avalon until the warlock's attack.
- Nimrod
- Gargoyles hunter after being injured with three scars on the face by Demona in 994. His descendants (and MacBeth) were gargoyles hunters with a mask with three red stripes over their faces. The final hunters were Robyn, Jason, and Jon Canmore.
- John Castaway
- Only Jon Canmore did not stop the hunt for gargoyles like his siblings and continues to practice the blood revenge of his ancestors as the founder of the stone carvers.
- Oberon
- The head of the mystical Third Race and most powerful inhabitant of the Gargoyles universe. Filled with arrogance towards all mortals, he repeatedly comes into conflict with them.
- Titania
- The wife of Oberon and mother of David Xanatos' wife Fox. She respects mortals more than her companion, but nevertheless knits numerous intrigues.
Conception
The names of some characters appearing and some parts of the plot are borrowed from works of classical literature. With MacBeth and Duncan there are two characters who play a similar role in Macbeth , a work by Shakespeare , of the same name for supremacy in Scotland. Likewise, the scene of the prophecy shows a certain parallelism to the three witches of the model. Furthermore, the characters Puck, Oberon and Titania allude to another work by Shakespeare, "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
Origin and publications
development
Weisman's first draft from 1992 corresponded to a comedy cartoon series, completely in the style of Disney. The project was worked out and presented, but rejected by Disney. After a subsequent consultation with producer Tad Stone, Greg Weisman's vision was further developed. The focus was now on a single gargoyle who had a tragic past behind them. He was the basis for the character Goliath; the comedy series became the fantasy drama " The Gargoyle ", which was also rejected. " The Gargoyle " evolved through the involvement of several creative minds and the merging of both versions back to the title " Gargoyles ", which was eventually adopted by Disney.
1st season
The first season of the series, with a length of 13 episodes, was created under the producers Greg Weisman and Frank Paur from the scripts by Michael Reaves and Eric Luke for the Walt Disney Company between 1993 and 1994. The dark series is in contrast to the earlier, more cheerful productions by Disney. The drawing work was then implemented by Japanese and Korean studios. The director took over there Kazuo Terada , Saburo Hashimoto and Bob Kline, also many other series of the Walt Disney Company animated. With the relocation of animation to Japan, various allusions from anime productions crept into the series.
The first season was broadcast from October 24, 1994 to February 3, 1995 in the format "Action Friday" for the first time in the United States. The first season was well received, so a second was produced. The eighth episode ( Deadly Force ) was no longer shown due to its portrayal of an accident with a service gun after the series first aired in North America . The episode can be seen on Disney + and DVD releases. Further episodes after the first broadcast were also slightly shortened for the reruns.
2nd season
The second season was produced between 1994 and 1995. Bob Kline took on the role of director and producer. It was also directed by Frank Paur, Takamitsu Kawamura , Yeun Young Sang and Dennis J. Woodyard. The second season aired four days a week from September 4, 1995 to May 15, 1996.
Overall, several animation studios were involved in the realization of the first two seasons, including Walt Disney Animation Japan .
3rd season
The third season was produced between 1995 and 1996 with the subtitle The Goliath Chronicles as an offshoot for ABC . For The Walt Disney Company , the series ended after 65 episodes. Since the television broadcaster ABC was looking for a well-known and successful program for its Saturday morning program, it took over the sequel. The third season produced for the TV station comprises 13 episodes, all of which were produced in the Canadian Nelvana Limited Studios. According to Greg Weisman, the original team on the series had already left Disney and he was now faced with an entirely new workforce. Furthermore, he was only offered the post of story editor for the third season . Before he could give an answer, however, this position was filled with Eric Lewald. It was produced by Vince Commisso and Scott Thomas, and Chares E. Bastien directed. Greg Weisman, who has now also been fired from Disney, left as a farewell to the series his script for the first episode of the third season, which he had already written in December 1995 and thus also followed his master plan .
The other twelve episodes, written by Cary Bates , went their own way in terms of content. After the takeover of ABC by Disney in 1996, the series was terminated one more time. In close fan circles as well as by Greg Weisman himself, these twelve episodes are considered "non-canon". The comic sequel also ignores these episodes. Still, some scenes and ideas from the episodes of Cary Bates have flowed into the comics. Greg Weisman justified this with the fact that although he did not like the result of the third season, he still appreciated the work on these episodes.
The third season aired from September 7, 1996 to February 15, 1997 on ABC on Saturday morning in the United States.
German implementation
From November 25, 1995, RTL began broadcasting Gargoyles under the title Gargoyles - Auf den Schwingen der Gerechtigkeit . There the series ran on Saturdays and Sundays as part of the program Team Disney . The episodes were shown in a non-chronological order. While the first season was broadcast in full, RTL only showed the first 39 episodes of the second season, up to the episode Der Wachposten .
The station Super RTL later showed all episodes, but also followed the non-chronological specification, which corresponds to an order corresponding to the production date. The third season ran from March 7, 1998 to March 19, 1998. For their episodes, the original opening credits were not used, but that of the second season.
After the series had not been broadcast on German television for over ten years, it was repeated on Kabel Eins from October 5, 2008 , for the first time on German TV in chronological order.
In the German dubbing some names were Germanized, so translations of the names into the German language were used (for example Fuchs instead of Fox, Klaue instead of Talon, Nimrod instead of Hunter or Steinhauer instead of Quarrymen). In the episode "Kingdom" the names of the mutants claw and paw were exchanged. This was retained until the episode “Day of Reckoning”.
In Germany, the series was rated at 12 years by the FSK.
synchronization
In the original version, well-known actors such as Jonathan Frakes , Marina Sirtis and Tim Curry gave the characters their voices. These included many former Star Trek actors.
In addition, there are occasional inaccurate translations or discrepancies in pronunciation. The name Elisa is mostly used in German, occasionally also in English, or the English term Iceland is synchronized with the word Eiland .
| role | Original speaker | German speaker |
|---|---|---|
| Goliath / Thailog | Keith David | Thomas Fritsch |
| Elisa Maza | Salli Richardson | Ghadah Al-Akel |
| David Xanatos | Jonathan Frakes | Michael Christian |
| Hudson | Edward Asner | Horst Kempe |
| Broadway | Bill Fagerbakke | Andreas Conrad |
| Lexington | Thom Adcox-Hernandez | Asad Black |
| Brooklyn | Jeff Bennett | Uwe Büschken |
| Demona | Marina Sirtis | Katharina Koschny |
| Angela | Brigitte Bako | Irina von Bentheim |
| MacBeth | John Rhys-Davies | Roland Hemmo |
| Jeanine Renard (chestnut) | Laura San Giacomo | Franziska Pigulla |
| Titania | Kate Mulgrew | Inken Sommer / Martina Treger |
| Othello / Coldstone | Michael Dorn | Jan Spitzer |
| puck | Brent Spiner | Mario von Jascheroff |
| Owen Burnett | Jeff Bennett | Gerald Paradise |
| Matt Bluestone | Thomas F. Wilson | David Nathan |
Video and DVD publications
Shortly after the first television broadcast, the five opening episodes were severely shortened, but released with new scores and dubbed as a coherent feature film on VHS , but the other episodes did not follow. Only in the USA did the remaining episodes of the first season appear on four cassettes with two episodes each.
On December 7, 2004, the first season was released entirely on DVD in the USA . The first part of the second season followed on December 6, 2005 and the second part of the season on June 25, 2013.
The master plan
Greg Weisman and his team planned, before the production of the Gargoyles was canceled, various offshoots with main and supporting characters from the series in the lead roles. At the request of some fans, Greg Weisman revealed the plans to continue the series in the form of bullet points at the end of 1999. The continuation of his "Gargoyal Accelerator Universe", which he called the Master Plan , includes seven planned offshoots. These subplots should have a direct influence on the main plot, which should also be continued, such as the introduction of four new gargoyle characters that Brooklyn brings to New York from the offshoot "Timedancer". The third season under the title "The Goliath Cronicles" is not taken into account in the master plan.
Only one of the projects has so far been realized: the Bad Guys series was produced as an offshoot comic. (see comics)
Offshoot
- Bad Guys - In the main roles of this series, former opponents of the Gargoyles are again in a team: Kralle (one of the mutants), Robyn Canmore (she belongs to the hunters), Yama, who in the episode The Rules of the Japanese Knights ( Bushido ) had been banned, Dingo (formerly a member of Pack ) and his matrix. This series was the only one of the offshoots that was already being implemented before the Disney series was canceled and of which a leica reel is shown every year at the Gathering.
- Pendragon - An offshoot series about King Arthur and the Gargoyle Griffin, in their search for Merlin and their fight against the Illuminati.
- Timedancer - A story about Brooklyn captured by the Phoenix Gate. This offshoot shows parts of Brooklyn's 40-year journey through the time, during which he met his future companion Katana and started a family with her, as well as introducing Xanatos and Demona to each other so that his clan can be freed from their thousand-year sleep.
- Dark Ages - A forerunner that deals with the history of the Wyvern clan. It includes the period before Wyvern Castle was built and ends with the massacre.
- Gargoyles 2198 - A future offshoot of the Gargoyles series. In 2198 the earth is occupied by the space spawn, an alien race. A group of gargoyles and humans (all descendants of the well-known gargoyles) oppose this rule. Furthermore, a rehabilitating Demona, the time traveler Brooklyn, as well as Puck alias Owen and the guard Nokkar ("The Guardian") fights side by side. The US TV broadcaster CBS showed interest in realizing this offshoot in 1996. Due to the takeover of ABC by Disney and the repeated termination of the series Gargoyles , it did not come to that.
- The New Olympians - This offshoot is about the New Olympians who were introduced in the Gargoyles episode of the same name (In German Die Kinder von Neu-Olymp ) and their relationships with the people after they made contact with the United Nations to have.
- Team Atlantis - A planned but not realized offshoot of Atlantis: The Lost Empire . An episode called The Last was supposed to characterize Demona and include the introduction of the character Fiona Canmore.
comics
So far there have been three comic series about the Gargoyles. In Disney Adventures Magazine eleven stories were published in total. In 1995 Marvel Comics started its own Gargoyles series, which brought it to eleven issues. The content was based on the cartoon series. Greg Weisman advised that the comic would not contradict the series.
In Germany, a single issue was published in 1996 as part of the Micky Mouse series . There were other publications in the then published action comic book Limit , in which some stories from Disney Adventures Magazine and the first edition of Marvel Comics were printed in German.
SLG comics
"Gargoyles" has been published by the US comic publisher Slave Labor Graphics (SLG) since 2006 . It is a continuation of the story, largely ignoring the events of the third season of the animated series. The comic series was discontinued with the appearance of the 8th edition in April 2008 until further notice. According to his own statement, however, not because of poor sales figures, but because of an increase in license fees. So the publisher was no longer able to bear the costs. The story arc ended, however, with the appearance of the paperback books Clan-Building, Volume 2 and Bad Guys: Redemption . The unpublished issues 9–12 and 5–6 were submitted there as bonus material.
The same applies to the Bad Guys offshoot , which was also discontinued after the 4th edition was published until further notice. The main roles of this series take on former enemies of the Gargoyles, who are blackmailed by a hitherto unknown and create a troop of heroes.
Awards
| year | Result | Award | category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Won | Annie | Best individual execution for the concept development in the field of animation, for Kazuo Terada (storyboard) for the episode Reawakening |
| 1995 | Nominated | Annie | Best individual execution for the animation department, for Frank Paur (producer) and Greg Weisman (producer) |
| 1995 | Nominated | Annie | Best individual execution for implementation in animation, for Kazuyoshi Takeuchi (production development) |
| 1995 | Nominated | Annie | Best individual execution for writing in the field of animation, for Michael Reaves for the episode Deadly Force |
| 1996 | Nominated | Daytime Emmy | Outstanding actor in an animated series for Keith David |
| 1997 | Nominated | Daytime Emmy | Best commercial production, for the entire series |
| 2007 | Won | Ursa Major Award | Best comic book 2007 |
reception
Antonia Levi sees Gargoyles as one of the series that were particularly influenced by the choice of themes, atmosphere and narrative style of animes , so that they are darker and more serious than previously produced American cartoons. But in contrast to anime, despite this influence, the plot amounts to a clear separation between good and bad characters and a predictable happy ending.
literature
- Bill Cotter: The Wonderfull World of Disney Television - A Complete History . Hyperion, 1997 (English)
- Michael Haitel, Hermann Ritter: MAGIRA 2012 - Yearbook for Fantasy 2012. p.machinery 2012, ISBN 978-3-935913126 .
Web links
- Gargoyles - On the wings of justice in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Gargoyles - On the wings of justice at Fernsehserien.de
- Gargoyles - On the wings of justice at AnimatedSeries.de
- Gargoyles - On the Wings of Justice in the online movie database
- Site with background information of Greg Weisman (English)
- Gargoyles Wiki
Individual evidence
- ↑ Main characters. In: The Gargoyles fans website. Retrieved December 9, 2008 .
- ↑ Magira, 2012, pp. 9-10
- ↑ a b Cotter, 1997, p. 574
- ↑ a b c d e Cotter, 1997, p. 279
- ↑ Livia Levis: Gargoyles, an American Anime? Cornell University Anime Club , accessed April 1, 2009 .
- ↑ Film starts: Despite parental protests on TV broadcast: Disney + shows "Gargoyles" unabridged! Retrieved November 18, 2019 .
- ↑ Yeun Young Sang. IMDb.com, accessed April 1, 2009 (English, filmography by Yeun Young Sang).
- ↑ "The Best Job I Ever Had" ( Memento of the original from May 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. A review by Greg Weisman of his work on Gargoyles
- ↑ a b Life in the real world. An email from Greg Weisman dated 1997
- ↑ toonarific
- ^ Ask Greg - Response recorded on August 28, 2007
- ↑ Gargoyles - On the Wings of Justice. imfernsehen GmbH & Co. KG, accessed on December 8, 2008 .
- ↑ a b Gargoyles - On the wings of justice in the German dubbing index
- ↑ Master plan ( Memento of November 3, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), documentation of explanations by Gres Weismans
- ↑ FAQ Bad Guys
- ↑ FAQ Pendragon
- ↑ FAQ Timedancer
- ↑ FAQ Dark Ages
- ↑ Dark Ages
- ↑ FAQ Gargoyles 2198
- ↑ Gargoyles 2198
- ↑ Ask Greg - Response recorded on October 09, 2008
- ↑ Ask Greg
- ↑ 8th Annual Gathering of the Gargoyles. Montreal, Quebec, Canada, August 6-8, 2004
- ↑ anime-tourist.com
- ↑ Plans for the SLG comic
- ↑ Awards and nominations
- ↑ The Ursa Major Awards - 2007 winners
- ^ Antonia Levi: Samurai from Outer Space - Understanding Japanese Animation, p. 143. Carus Publishing, 1996.
