I remember one of the last things Bridget said to me. It came after I admitted to her that I was watching the much-shunned Mighty Ducks. She didn't contest my assertion that it was actually a good show, but followed it up with, "Just don't start watching Gargoyles."

Quite obviously, neither of us had the slightest clue what the show was about, or we would certainly have incorporated it into our marathon of MST3K, Daria, and The Last Unicorn. Disney has done an amazing job of marketing the show to adolescent boys. They've managed to reduce a well-crafted, intricate masterpiece of a series to a bunch of snarling, bloodthirsty monsters.

Everything that occurs over the course of the series - every sneeze, every handshake, ever feature of every character - has some potential significance. You really must watch it from the beginning of "Awakening Pt. 1" to understand anything at all, not to mention the fact that you can't possibly get the maximum amount of enjoyment from the show if you spoil any of the plot twists. And there are many. Take it from one who knows. Your best bet is to find out when the first episode is being shown, watch every one in order, and don't read a single thing - don't look at a single picture - until you've finished at least the first two seasons (up through "Hunter's Moon").

Without giving away any spoilers, I can only tell you that the series is characterized by marvelous writing, deep, organic characters, and emotionally charged plotlines that keep you guessing throughout. Magic, deception, love, loss, betrayal, vengeance, the best stuff of the supermarket tabloids, but with better writers and more interesting characters. The character designs are great, and the animation is (almost always) dark and breathtakingly gorgeous.

The acting is brilliant. The casting director was very obviously a Trekkie, as Jonathan Frakes, Mirina Sirtis, Michael Dorn, Brent Spiner, Nichelle Nichols, and Kate Mulgrew all have recurring roles, and Avery Brooks, Levar Burton, and Colm Meany, have one-shot characters. The cast also includes Jeff Bennett, Jim Cummings, Keith David, Kath Soucie, Frank Welker, Salli Richardson, Bill Fagerbakke, Ed Asner, Brigitte Bako, Thom Adcox-Hernandez, Cree Summer, Clancy Brown, Matt Frewer, Laura San Giacomo, Thomas F. Wilson, Tim Curry, David Warner, and John Rhys-Davies, all in varying levels of involvement.

Now, go watch it. You'll thank me.

Gargoyles was produced by Greg Weisman, Frank Paur, and Michael Reaves, three absolutely marvelous men who have earned my adoration. Jamie Thomason did a marvelous job of voice casting and dialogue direction. Carl Johnson composed some really nifty music for the show. And a whole slew of others did a whole heckuva lot to make this show one of the best ever.
It airs on ToonDisney (for the moment) Saturdays and Sundays from 3:30 to 4:30 PM and from 11:00 PM to midnight (they're the same episodes in both timeslots, so don't worry about trying to catch both. And they're generally really good about playing them in order, but the almost always skip "Deadly Force," which falls between "Temptation" and "Enter MacBeth")

Leave the castle before sunset

Created July 5, 2003.