Gargoyles

Before I had the Cartoon channel and the Disney channel and a hundred other channels on cable, for some reason the Fox station where I lived in Florida played a bunch of Disney cartoons, Aladdin, Timon & Pumba, and the ultimate: GARGOYLES. I was obsessed with this show. It was so smart and intense, way more interesting than say Power Rangers. (I hated that show because the girls were stuck being pink and yellow while the boys got the best colors. SEXISM!!) This year, Santa put the Season 1 and first half of Season 2 DVDs in my stocking. (Someone get on Disney to release the second half of Season 2 already!) Re-watching this show, I have not been disappointed.

Although I do find the number of mullets hilarious - almost every bad guy and three of the gargoyles themselves sport one - it actually holds up really well. The premise is kind of insane, a bunch of gargoyles are imprisoned in stone until their castle floats above the clouds so an evil version of Bruce Wayne sticks the castle on top of his skyscraper in New York City. Drama ensues! But as ridiculous as the premise sounds, the show was smart, dark, and super intense.

I mean, THIS happens in the first episode (go to minute 4:30):


The 90’s had its drawbacks, for one DVR’s hadn’t been invented yet, but at least every other television show for kids wasn’t about being famous or being popular. There were cartoons that referenced myths, legends, and Shakespeare. In Batman: The Animated Series, Batman went to some very dark, scary places. Does anyone else remember the Clayface episode with the rain at the end? I’d never been more upset watching a cartoon. X-Men: The Animated Series was the only reason to wake up early on a Saturday. And there was Gargoyles, an awesome story told well week to week, populated with crazy complicated bad guys and the good guys that didn’t always do the right thing.

If you haven’t seen this show, or haven’t seen it in fifteen years like me, someone has downloaded almost the entire series in eight minute chunks on youtube. Be careful though, as there are hundreds of tributes to the show’s star-crossed lovers, Elisa and Goliath, and all of them are scored with cringe inducing love songs.