[7.7/10] The cynic in me wants to call Gargoyles Disney’s answer to Batman: The Animated Series. You have the dark palette and largely nighttime setting. The cold open is set in an impressionistic version of New York. A stenatorian-voiced prowler of the night takes center stage as the protagonist. The characters are designed and animated in a similarly semi-realistic but still stylized style. You even have D.C. Animated Universe stalwarts like Clancy Brown and Ed Asner on board in the opening half hour.
But the optimist in me says, “Who cares?” I love B:TAS, and taking stylistic elements du jour and turning them into your own thing is a constant part of media and storytelling since time immemorial. There are worse blueprints to pull from.
More to the point, the first half part of ‘Awakening” is a great introduction to the gargoyles and their backstory. The opening sequence in New York creates intrigue about what exactly is happening with these creatures of the night seemingly awakening in New York City. Then the flashback to Scotland begins to explain what sort of creatures might reasonably carve through rock in the present day, and why.
Letting the audience see the Gargoyles in action for the first time in flashback is a sharp move. We get to see Goliath and his allies in their prime and in their element. The director and team do a good job of making the soldiers of the castle seem vulnerable to the Viking assault, until their winged allies make an entrance and turn the tide. Seeing Goliath stop a sword with his bare hands, or Demona let her eyes glow to terrify an intruder, or Hudson offer some of that old Scottish cuss with mid-battle gives you a flavor for the show’s central characters. These scenes create an impressive sense of what the impressive beasts are capable of.
It also gives us the rest of the crew, letting us see them as nice enough fellows, but also not quite up to the prowess or imposing nature of their brethren. I’ve seen enough snippets of Gargoyles to know that Lexington, Brooklyn, and Broadway will have bigger stories to come, but for now I like them as the little brothers of the group, still a little green and slightly cuddlier and more comic than the other, more serious members of the group. And there’s an excuse for why they weren’t destroyed in the great betrayal here.
Frankly, that’s my favorite part of this one. The opening battle is cool, and you can see the plotting and piece-moving to get the key Gargoyles into place so they’re in a position to survive until the present. But I like the exploration of the dynamic between them and the humans that creates levels of complexity beyond that of most kids shows.
The humans who benefit from the Gargoyles’ protection nevertheless resent, fear, or otherwise look down upon their supernatural guardians. The princess in particular feels herself quite above them, and a peasant woman in the square shoos them away as foul beasts even after the Gargoyles saved them all in the preceding battle.
These simple interactions tell us where the Gargoyles stand in Scottish society (or at least this Scottish society) and provoke two different reactions among the Gargoyles themselves. Goliath takes the high road, finding a sense of duty and moral superiority that sustains him despite the prejudice. Demona, on the other hand, massively resents their shabby treatment at the hands of people whom they protect. These differing responses take on extra resonance when we learn that the Gargoyles were here before the humans arrived, creating a tone of relations between settlers and indigenous peoples that gives the story extra force.
I particularly like the story of the captain of the guard we meet here, who is more compassionate and grateful to the gargoyles than any other human we encounter, but who also seems to resent being upstaged by them and his own lack of esteem in the eyes of the monarch he serves. It’s enough for him to collaborate with the Viking invaders, sabotage his own side, and ally with the man he was fighting the day before. The fact that he’s a friend to the gargoyles, to the point of trying to stop the Vikings from destroying them even after he’s flipped sides, but is still willing to sell out his own people under the right circumstances, gives the captain a set of motivations that are shades of gray, rather than purely good or bad, which I appreciate.
On the whole, this first half-hour does a great job of setting the tone for Gargoyles, with exciting action and animation, complicated character dynamics and motivations, and an immediate sense of place and worldbuilding. I’m excited to dive into this beloved series and can only hope the rest of the show offers this much quality!
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2021-06-14T19:18:22Z
[7.7/10] The cynic in me wants to call Gargoyles Disney’s answer to Batman: The Animated Series. You have the dark palette and largely nighttime setting. The cold open is set in an impressionistic version of New York. A stenatorian-voiced prowler of the night takes center stage as the protagonist. The characters are designed and animated in a similarly semi-realistic but still stylized style. You even have D.C. Animated Universe stalwarts like Clancy Brown and Ed Asner on board in the opening half hour.
But the optimist in me says, “Who cares?” I love B:TAS, and taking stylistic elements du jour and turning them into your own thing is a constant part of media and storytelling since time immemorial. There are worse blueprints to pull from.
More to the point, the first half part of ‘Awakening” is a great introduction to the gargoyles and their backstory. The opening sequence in New York creates intrigue about what exactly is happening with these creatures of the night seemingly awakening in New York City. Then the flashback to Scotland begins to explain what sort of creatures might reasonably carve through rock in the present day, and why.
Letting the audience see the Gargoyles in action for the first time in flashback is a sharp move. We get to see Goliath and his allies in their prime and in their element. The director and team do a good job of making the soldiers of the castle seem vulnerable to the Viking assault, until their winged allies make an entrance and turn the tide. Seeing Goliath stop a sword with his bare hands, or Demona let her eyes glow to terrify an intruder, or Hudson offer some of that old Scottish cuss with mid-battle gives you a flavor for the show’s central characters. These scenes create an impressive sense of what the impressive beasts are capable of.
It also gives us the rest of the crew, letting us see them as nice enough fellows, but also not quite up to the prowess or imposing nature of their brethren. I’ve seen enough snippets of Gargoyles to know that Lexington, Brooklyn, and Broadway will have bigger stories to come, but for now I like them as the little brothers of the group, still a little green and slightly cuddlier and more comic than the other, more serious members of the group. And there’s an excuse for why they weren’t destroyed in the great betrayal here.
Frankly, that’s my favorite part of this one. The opening battle is cool, and you can see the plotting and piece-moving to get the key Gargoyles into place so they’re in a position to survive until the present. But I like the exploration of the dynamic between them and the humans that creates levels of complexity beyond that of most kids shows.
The humans who benefit from the Gargoyles’ protection nevertheless resent, fear, or otherwise look down upon their supernatural guardians. The princess in particular feels herself quite above them, and a peasant woman in the square shoos them away as foul beasts even after the Gargoyles saved them all in the preceding battle.
These simple interactions tell us where the Gargoyles stand in Scottish society (or at least this Scottish society) and provoke two different reactions among the Gargoyles themselves. Goliath takes the high road, finding a sense of duty and moral superiority that sustains him despite the prejudice. Demona, on the other hand, massively resents their shabby treatment at the hands of people whom they protect. These differing responses take on extra resonance when we learn that the Gargoyles were here before the humans arrived, creating a tone of relations between settlers and indigenous peoples that gives the story extra force.
I particularly like the story of the captain of the guard we meet here, who is more compassionate and grateful to the gargoyles than any other human we encounter, but who also seems to resent being upstaged by them and his own lack of esteem in the eyes of the monarch he serves. It’s enough for him to collaborate with the Viking invaders, sabotage his own side, and ally with the man he was fighting the day before. The fact that he’s a friend to the gargoyles, to the point of trying to stop the Vikings from destroying them even after he’s flipped sides, but is still willing to sell out his own people under the right circumstances, gives the captain a set of motivations that are shades of gray, rather than purely good or bad, which I appreciate.
On the whole, this first half-hour does a great job of setting the tone for Gargoyles, with exciting action and animation, complicated character dynamics and motivations, and an immediate sense of place and worldbuilding. I’m excited to dive into this beloved series and can only hope the rest of the show offers this much quality!