Gargoyles (TV series)

''Gargoyles'' (also known as ''Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles'' for season 3) is an animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, in collaboration with Jade Animation and Tama Productions for its first two seasons and Nelvana for its final, and originally aired from October 24, 1994, to February 15, 1997. The series features a species of nocturnal creatures known as gargoyles that turn to stone during the day. After spending a thousand years in an enchanted petrified state, the gargoyles (who have been transported from medieval Scotland) are reawakened in modern-day New York City, and take on roles as the city's secret night-time protectors.

''Gargoyles'' was noted for its relatively dark tone, complex story arcs, and melodrama; character arcs were heavily employed throughout the series, as were Shakespearean themes. The series also received favorable comparisons to ''Cybersix'', '' Batman: The Animated Series'', and ''X-Men''. A video game adaptation and a spin-off comic series were released in 1995. The show's storyline continued from 2006 to 2009 in a comic book series of the same title, produced by Slave Labor Graphics and was again revived by Dynamite Entertainment in 2022.

Premise

The series features a species of nocturnal creatures known as gargoyles that turn to stone during the day, focusing on a clan led by Goliath. In 994, the clan lives in a castle in Scotland. Most are betrayed and killed by humans while petrified and the remainder are magically cursed to sleep—i.e., be frozen in stone form until the castle "rises above the clouds." A thousand years later in 1994, billionaire David Xanatos purchases the gargoyles' castle and has it reconstructed atop his New York skyscraper, the Eyrie Building, thus awakening Goliath and the remainder of his clan. While trying to adjust to their new world, they are aided by a sympathetic police officer named Elisa Maza and quickly come into conflict with the plotting Xanatos. In addition to dealing with the gargoyles' attempts to adjust to modern New York City, the series also incorporated various supernatural threats to their safety and to the world at large.

Episodes

A total of 78 half-hour episodes were produced.

The first two seasons aired in the Disney Afternoon programming block. The first season consisted of 13 episodes, including a five-part opening story. This season's episodes were almost entirely written by Michael Reaves and Brynne Chandler Reaves. The second season featured 52 episodes, and a long mid-season story arc dubbed by fans as "The Gargoyles World Tour" in which four of the main characters travel the world, encountering other Gargoyles and confronting various mystical and science-fictional dangers. The writing staff was greatly expanded for season two.

Following Disney's purchase of ABC in 1996, the third and final season aired during Saturday mornings on ABC as ''Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles''. Behind the scenes, the animation producers and writers had almost completely changed from seasons one and two, while on-screen, the Gargoyles' relationship to the world changed considerably.

Voice cast

The voice cast featured several actors who are alumni of the ''Star Trek'' franchise, including Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes (respectively, Deanna Troi and William Riker on '' Star Trek: The Next Generation''), who were featured regularly as principal cast members. Other ''Star Trek'' actors had recurring roles on ''Gargoyles'', including Michael Dorn (Worf on ''TNG'' and ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''), Kate Mulgrew ( Kathryn Janeway on '' Star Trek: Voyager''), Nichelle Nichols ( Uhura on '' Star Trek: The Original Series''), and Brent Spiner (Data on ''TNG''); while Avery Brooks (Benjamin Sisko on ''DS9''), Colm Meaney ( Miles O'Brien on ''TNG'' and ''DS9''), and LeVar Burton ( Geordi La Forge on ''TNG'') made guest appearances.

Development

The series bears no creator credit, though there were several people who are responsible for the show's format. Michael Reaves, who wrote the first six episodes and was the primary writer/story editor of the show's first two seasons has described himself in respect to ''Gargoyles'' as "in on the ground floor fcreating something iconic". Greg Weisman also describes himself as one of the creators of ''Gargoyles''.

The series' first season was almost entirely written by the husband-and-wife team of Michael Reaves and Brynne Chandler Reaves, who wrote 12 of the 13 episodes; the remaining episode was written by Steve Perry. All three writers were just coming off having written extensively for '' Batman: The Animated Series'' (for which Reaves won an Emmy, and Chandler Reaves an Emmy nomination). Weisman officially joined the series as a co-producer with episode 6 (though he also oversaw earlier episodes in his capacity as a Disney executive), and did not have any writing credits on the show until the third season.

The first season was developed on a sliding schedule; each phase of developing the thirteen episodes, such as writing, storyboarding, and animating, was given a ten-month period, with significant overlap. After they had delivered the first thirteen episodes, the production team asked Buena Vista Television

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