Disney's Gargoyles

Gargoyles is an American animated series produced by Walt Disney Television and Buena Vista Television, 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 enchantedly 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 Batman: The Animated Series. 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.

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 the year 994, the clan lives in a castle in Scotland. Most are betrayed and killed by humans and the remainder are magically cursed to sleep—i.e., be frozen in stone form—until the castle "rises above the clouds." A millennium 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 female police officer, 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 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.

The controversial third and final season aired on Disney's One Saturday Morning format 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 DS9), 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 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), and LeVar Burton (Geordi La Forge on TNG) made guest appearances.

Development
The series bears no creator credit. Greg Weisman, a former English teacher, was working as a Disney executive when early versions of Gargoyles were pitched by himself and others. The initial concept for the show was a fast-paced light comedy, but the show was eventually developed by the writing staff (of which Weisman was not initially a part) into something much more complex and dark. On his blog, Weisman describes himself as "one of the creators" of Gargoyles.

The series' first season was almost entirely written by 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. 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 second season consisted of 52 episodes, and featured a much larger writing staff, including Reaves, Chandler Reaves and Perry, as well as newcomers Lydia Marano, Cary Bates, Gary Sperling, Adam Gilad, Diane Duane and Peter Morwood, amongst others. For this season, story editing duties were handled on a rotating basis by Reaves, Chandler Reaves, Bates and Sperling. For the third season (consisting of 13 episodes), most of the writing staff was new to the show, although returning writers included Marano, Gilad and Bates. Weisman wrote the third season debut — his only writing credit on the entire show.

Many Shakespearean characters and stories found their way into the show's storylines, particularly those from Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream. The series was also influenced by medieval Scottish history, as well as television shows ranging from Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears to Hill Street Blues. The latter in particular inspired the ensemble format of the series and the 30-second "Previously, on Gargoyles..." recap found at the beginning of later episodes. The former was an influence on the original comedy development of the show, which was subsequently made darker and more serious by first season writers Reaves, Chandler Reaves and Perry.

New York artist Joe Tomasini brought a suit against Disney, claiming that his copyrighted screenplay and character designs had been copied during the development and production of Gargoyles. The case was ultimately thrown out, after it was proven that Disney did not have access to Tomasini's creations.

Reception
IGN ranked Gargoyles 45th place on its 2009 list of top 100 animated series, stating: "A decent success at the time, Gargoyles has maintained a strong cult following since it ended more than a decade ago". Hollywood.com featured it on their 2010 list of six cartoons that should be movies. UGO.com included it on their 2011 top list of legendary medieval and fantasy TV shows. Less favorable assessments of the series came from animation producer Bruce Timm, who dismissed Gargoyles as "kind of namby-pamby... with all that Celtic fantasy crap" in a 1999 interview and the animation blog Cartoon Brew, which cited the series as an example of the sort of "juvenile mediocrities" that are beloved by the nerd community.

Disney
Gargoyles comics were published in the magazine Disney Adventures, 11 stories in total. A two-part story "Stone Cold" is notable in that it provided a story idea that was later used in the TV series in the episode "The Price". Another story, "The Experts", was intended as tie-in advertising for Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Marvel
In 1995 Marvel Comics issued a Gargoyles comic book series which ran for 11 issues. The books did not directly follow the continuity of the series, but they did reference specific events that took place within it. The Marvel series dealt largely with Xanatos's experiments to create creatures and machines to defeat the Gargoyles. Greg Weisman, television series co-creator, did not have any direct involvement in the story development of the comic series, but was consulted on some plot points to be sure it stayed within certain boundaries.

Weisman was eventually hired to write for the comic, but Marvel cut the deal with Disney before his run could be produced. Weisman still had his unpublished script for the comic, and would eventually use it as issue #6 of the Gargoyles: Clan-Building SLG comic series. The characters Beth Maza (who appeared in a photo in "Deadly Force") and Petros Xanatos appeared in the comics before their full debut on the show.

Slave Labor Graphics
On June 21, 2006, Slave Labor Graphics, in association with CreatureComics, began producing a new Gargoyles comic written by Greg Weisman. Weisman wrote the comic book series as a direct sequel to the first and second seasons, ignoring the third season and telling his preferred story in its place. The comic continued the storyline of the animated series, picking up after the second-season finale, "Hunter's Moon, Part III". The first two issues adapted the first episode of The Goliath Chronicles ("The Journey"), the only episode of the series Weisman wrote.

In August 2008, Greg Weisman announced that, due to Disney increasing its licensing fees, Slave Labor Graphics would not be renewing its license of Gargoyles after it ran out on August 31, 2008. The final two issues of Bad Guys and four of Gargoyles were released in the comic trades collecting both series in August 2009. Weisman also stated that SLG president Dan Vado had not given up on the Gargoyles franchise and hoped to pursue the idea of Gargoyles graphic novels in the future.

Joe Books
On December 24, 2015, Aaron Sparrow revealed that Gargoyles will be adapted into a cinestory comics series. It will be published by Joe Books Inc. and contain a foreword by series' creator Greg Weisman. The first volume, was released on March 30, 2016, it is an adaptation of the five-part "Awakening" episodes from the first season. The second volume will adapt next four episodes ("The Thrill of the Hunt", "Temptation", "Deadly Force", and "Enter MacBeth") following the pilot.

Merchandise
Various merchandise released for the series included a series of 22 five-inch action figures (along with two vehicles and a castle playset) was released by Kenner in 1995. A collectible card game, Gargoyles Stone Warriors Battle Card Game, was published by Parker Brothers in 1994. Other licensed merchandise included numerous other toys and figures, collectible trading card and sticker series, and a wide range of clothing items, books, art supplies, kitchen and bathroom items and supplies, clocks and watches, etc. A world based on the television series was initially considered for Kingdom Hearts, but the idea was scrapped.

Video game

 * The series' video game adaptation was released by Buena Vista Interactive in 1995, exclusively for the Sega Genesis and in the United States only. The game was a side-scrolling platform action game. Its plot was considered non-canon and involved the Eye of Odin attempting to destroy the world.
 * The Handheld LCD game, titled Gargoyles - Night Flight, was released by Tiger Electronics in 1995 in China.

VHS and Laserdisc
The five-episode pilot "Awakening", edited into a single movie under the title Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken, was released on VHS and Laserdisc on January 31, 1995 by Buena Vista Home Video. The following VHS tapes were later released containing the remaining first-season episodes:

Episodes 6-13 were left unaltered, except for the removal of the "Previously on Gargoyles..." segment from "Enter Macbeth".

DVD releases
In 2004, the 10th anniversary of its premiere, Walt Disney Home Entertainment released Season 1 of Gargoyles on DVD in Region 1. The first half of the second season was released in December 2005.

On June 25, 2013, Volume Two of Season Two was released.

Fan community
A small but loyal fanbase for the property developed after its cancellation, largely online.

In 1997, Weisman began answering fan questions about the series in an online forum at Ask Greg, revealing, among other things, productions details about the series, in-universe details about the characters, and his plans for the property if it had not been cancelled or if he was able to revive it in the future. Among other revelations, Weisman has detailed spinoffs for the series that reached various stages of development, including Bad Guys (for which a leica reel and comics were produced), Gargoyles 2198, Timedancer, Pendragon, Dark Ages and The New Olympians.

Conventions
The Gathering of the Gargoyles was an annual fan convention which began in 1997 and ended in 2009. The Gathering featured several regular guests close to the Gargoyles franchise including Greg Weisman and voice actors Keith David and Thom Adcox. The Gathering has featured several recurring special events such as a radio play where attendees audition and take speaking roles, a masquerade ball where attendees dress up as their favorite character, an art show where the many artists within the fandom can display or sell their artwork. Weisman has in the past shown the leica reel of Bad Guys at Gatherings. Footage and interviews from the 2004 Gathering appears as an extra feature on the Season 1 DVD of the show.

CONvergence 2014 featured a Gargoyles related theme with many guests from the series including Greg Weisman, Thom Adcox, Marina Sirtis, C. Robert Cargill, Scott Lynch, Amy Berg, and Emma Bull. It is a four-day convention held in Bloomington, Minnesota over the Fourth of July weekend. It was done to celebrate the series' 20th anniversary.

References in other works

 * Greg Weisman wrote a story for DC Comics' JLA Showcase 80-Page #1, published in February 2000. Weisman's story was set during the time of the Justice League Europe and titled "Flashback of Notre Dame". The story has Captain Atom, the JLE and Plastique meeting a group of gargoyles at the cathedral Notre Dame de Paris. After an misunderstanding battle, the JLE help the gargoyles return to their home island, Brigadoon. This version of the clan are more batlike than the characters they parodied and have names based from Paris: Behemoth (Goliath), Diabolique (Demona), Seine (Hudson), Angelique (Angela), Montparnasse (Broadway), Montmartre (Brooklyn), Champs-Élysées (Lexington), Left Bank (Bronx), Thomeheb (Thailog), Cyrano (Othello/Coldstone), Christian (Iago/Coldsteel) and Roxanne (Desdemona/Coldfire).
 * As a nod to members of the voice cast who worked on both series, the 2001 Pioneer LDC English dub of the anime 3×3 Eyes contains Gargoyles homage scenes. These include a homeless man humming the Gargoyles theme and a character who wonders "What could make claw marks in solid stone?" Shared actors included Bako, Fagerbakke, Adcox-Hernandez, Keith David and Ed Asner.