PopFilter Vs. Our Childhood

In which we reminisce about childhood entertainment, then go back and watch it and re-assess.

MIKE GRAVAGNO

VS

DISNEY’S GARGOYLES

        In my head, Disney’s Gargoyles was a silver lining in the post-OJ Simpson trial world. That event changed my life, because it took away most of my favorite afternoon shows for what felt like years. I still watched every minute of the trial, because what’s a kid to do from 3 -5 PM? That was TV time, before quick homework time, dinnertime and more TV time. I don’t even know if the timing is right, but that’s how I remember it.

        The ultimate travesty of the OJ trial was losing Tiny Toons to cable. Once the trial ended, I assumed my favorite shows would come back to me, but alas poor kids would no longer be able to escape reality with their pals Buster and Babs. In that time slot instead we received Disney’s semi-decade play for more male interest.  Gargoyle’s pretty open wears its influence (read: stolen IP) from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on its stony sleeve. A group of reluctant, non-human heroes befriend a sexy lady and fight some shit. Maybe I’m oversimplifying both shows, but they definitely both dealt with interspecies romantic relations pretty heavily. Gargoyles added some loose UK mythology, Shakespeare, environmental and corporate concerns. That is, Gargoyles love the environment and hate corporations, even if the characters themselves don’t realize that.

        The six heroes are brought back from the past when greedy businessman Xanatos takes their castle from Scotland and puts it on top of his skyscraper in New York because he likes what it says about his cock. This pisses off hottie detective Red Jacket, and she becomes friends with the gargoyles who wake up pissed they’re not at home. They all throw away their old stupid Scottish names and update to their new home, taking monikers like Broadway and Bronx. Except the leader Goliath, who is badass enough that he wants to keep his stupid old name (and is probably bummed all the good NY names are taken–the only thing left was Flatbush, and no one wants that association). The group fights crime in the city, and around the world, generally doing good things while never being truly accepted as heroes. Red Jacket and Goliath talk about getting together, but never really do, and the whole show is pretty dark for children’s television. Even as a kid, I acknowledged the cheesy parts, but the good outweighed the bad. Let’s see if my memory holds up…

Gargoyles is better and worse than I expected it to be. The cheesy parts are awful, and at times it feels like the characters hate how terrible the dialogue can be. No one’s heart is in any of the “jokes” that occur throughout the show, and at times they bring the rhythm of the show to a halt. The look of the show is much better than I expected, if Batman the Animated Series hadn’t launched around the same time this could be…no there’s no contest, nothing beats Batman’s animation. But Gargoyle’s is closer to that (if still very far) than it is to the likes of Duck Tales or the Back to the Future cartoon.

There’s less romantic tension between Goliath and the detective than I remember, maybe I just really wanted to see some interspecies action as a kid– something I’m still a fan of. She’s probably the weakest characters, all of the gargoyles at least have defined character traits to fall back on, but in attempting to flesh her out ( I seriously cannot remember her name, and just watched the show), they created a vanilla character who doesn’t stand for much, except for DOING WHAT’S RIGHT. In Goliath, they created a tortured, out of time and place hero who is constantly misunderstood by those around him. He’s a noble dude who wants his species to live in peace, and will fuck shit up in order to make that happen when people step up.

The show starts much darker than I remembered, essentially a gargoyle genocide occurs, including the deaths of countless eggs and hatchlings, all off camera of course. They go from a large tribe to 6 in the pilot alone. That’s probably why the light-hearted moments don’t work. In addition to just being shoddily written jokes, the weight of what’s happened to them as a species is really only hanging over Goliath’s head, the other gargoyles are ready to party and eat pizza, not caring that they’ve become next to extinct. The 5 part pilot, with its numerous flaws, is decent enough that I may just have to continue watching to see where the show goes after establishing the Gargoyles in New York City. It’s a brave move to convince kids to watch a 5 part introduction to your show, a self-contained movie really, there are no hints about future plots or villains, everything is wrapped in a nice little package. My biggest question is why the detective never calls for back-up or follow normal cop procedure, it seems she’d rather die than tell people she’s a cop, or ask her fellow officers for help. I guess Disney was just really into early-90’s rap.-MG