The Return of Goliath's Clan

Growing up in Boston, I would watch the Disney Afternoon programming block on WSBK 38.  It was my window to Duck Tales, Tailspin, Gummi Bears, and Darkwing Duck.  In October of 1994, I was reading an issue of Disney Adventures that introduced me to something new, and a bit dark.  This was before Claude Frollo sang "Hellfire" to music composed by Alan Menken.  I imagine that the darkest of Disney creation prior to Gargoyles would have been the Black Cauldron and Fantasia's Chernabog.  The story was rich with deep characters and fantastic character design.  When WSBK changed their afternoon lineup from Disney, I was cut off from these stories.  During Christmas break

2004, I saw that Disney had started releasing Gargoyles onto DVD, and I fell in love with the series all over again.  There's so much about Gargoyles to gush over that I'm not even going to try cramming everything into one post.  So this what I have to say about season 1 and its DVD set.

Gargoyles imagined a species of humanoids who played big part in medieval Scotland.  They were of a different nature than humans, but shared many of the same virtues.  As human's played their part in civilization, the gargoyles felt duty-bound to protect the castles and rookeries they called home.  They were a nocturnal species who would turn to stone-like material at daybreak, resting in a vulnerable state.  When many members of the gargoyles' clan had been destroyed or trapped in stone through an act of betrayal, the leader, (Goliath) asks their few allies to enchant him as to cast the spell on him as well.  He's too grief-stricken, and the one thing to break the spell ("when the castle reaches the sky") seems impossible.  A wealthy businessman played by Jonathan Frakes (from Star Trek TNG) has heard this legend and tests it, it moving every stone and gargoyle of the castle to the top of a New York skyscraper.  Goliath and the transplanted members of the clan try to acclimate to the 1990's and protect this new home.

They find an ally in a NYPD detective, and we start to see characters and inspiration from Shakespeare's plays.  This interest of creator, (Greg Weisman) would inspire many fans to read classic literature.  As the series continues we will see more characters appear from plays, legends, and myths worldwide.  The further the series went, the more depth we as fans got to see in characters.  Sexual chemistry, ambitions, obsessions, emotional turmoil, and other elements were woven into the stories.  As the season draws to a close, we learn the fate of some other gargoyles.

Jonathan Frakes isn't the only Star Trek actor to appear in Gargoyles.  Trek actors seem to frequent many shows of Weisman's.  In season 1, you will also hear the voices of Michael Dorn, Nichelle Nichols, and Marina Sirtis.  Personally, I see Greg Weisman as a Joss Whedon of animation.  He's had a succession of strong television series, and fans have followed his career for decades now.  He regularly answers fans questions through the internet, and when preparing for this post, I had checked with him about home video availability.

While the episodes are available  on YouTube through Disney Television but only in the U.S., and otherwise there are Region 1 DVD sets which may or may not be troublesome depending on where you live.  Hopefully, If there's enough public demand worldwide for Gargoyles, we'll be able to see a wider release.


So now, I'm going to get into the special features.  Around this time, Disney would release home video packages almost sensing where there was a great fan following.  Despite Atlantis not having the best of box office sales, fans got a massive two disk release in 2002 with a big backstage featurette.  When it came time to release Gargoyles season 1, there were commentary tracks, the original pitch, and even a 15 minute video about annual Gargoyles conventions.  In upcoming years other Disney cartoons from this era would get released to DVD but not with such treats.

As a visual narrator, I love listening to commentaries and hearing the creative perspectives.  Viewers' get to watch the five-part pilot listening to Weisman, Frank Paur (the director), and Keith David (the actor behind Goliath).  It gives you an insight on just how much story there was to put into these episodes, and the keen interest in the show that the actors had.  The next feature is a copy of the pitch where you get to see a younger Greg Weisman showing some rough drawings of the gargoyles as he explains the concept.  Looking back in time like this reminds me of a video I've seen of Disney animation studios back when Tim Burton was on the animation staff.

One of the biggest features, (for me at least) was a 15 minute video about the conventions.  From 1997-2009, there were annual events called "Gathering of the Gargoyles", and I'm reading now that there was another one in Minnesota last year.  I'm hoping that I can catch one at some point in the future, because they look like a lot of fun. I wasn't that familiar with message boards until I was well into high school, so I had no idea there was a huge fan following for this show.  Phenomenally, the show has united a community of like-minded people, and not always those who had too many friends.  These fans come from far and wide, having cosplay shows, table reads with some cast members, art exhibits, opportunities to draw figure studies,  and chances to meet some of the driving people behind the series.

For anyone who wants to buy copies of the two-disk season 1, Amazon has a great deal for it.  I'll be gushing about more gargoyles releases soon enough.