MORE - RETROSPECTIVE
It was the age of Gargoyles
A Retrospective
by James Harvey
Gargoyles has always seemed to be a little bit of an underdog. Right away, it wasn't your typical Disney Afternoon cartoon. It was dramatic, intense, heavy, and didn't pull it's punches. It was something a little different than the usual House of Mouse offerings, but fans loved it and stuck with it even as the show stepped back from the spotlight. And rightfully so. There was something ... different about this show.
While it may not have garnered the same audiences that Batman: The Animated Series, Spider-Man: The Animated Series and X-Men: The Animated Series - and other similar shows - but it was still a unquestionable hit, even with current events of the 1990s occasionally pre-empted airings. There's a host of other sites and fan outlets that document the history of Gargoyles in much further detail, and I'd recommend some quick Google searches to dig them up. Gargoyles would have a bit of a tricky time during it's run, including a third season that was done with no input from the show's creators, but its impact would persevere nonetheless.
And that's evident today, over 25 years later, with the recent wave of new Gargoyles merchandise sparked by the show's immense popularity on the Disney+ streaming service. Part of the service since its Oct. 2019 launch, a host of viewers discovered - or rediscovered - the adventures of the Manhattan Clan, prompting a resurgence in the show's popularity and recognition of its impact on the animation landscape.
On top of being a ground-breaking dramatic series, and a strong attempt by Disney to do something new, this series was more than just a simple action cartoon. It was deep, progressive (especially for the 1990s), and didn't talk down to viewers. It tackled issues like gun violence, racism, and tolerance in an honest and straight-forward manner. No tip-toeing around the subject, but instead getting right to the heart of things. Gargoyles was so good getting its messages across that it never forced or, half the time, was even noticeable, because it respected its audience.
And that was just the show' overall approach to everything: respect the audience. And it did. Gargoyles delivered a thoughtful, intelligent series that was truly made for all ages. While there were fun and engaging characters for kids to latch onto, and plenty of spectacle and great action, Gargoyles used this all to cover mature themes and tackle some complex ideas. All of this was further enhanced by how the show revelled in "grey." Not all heroes were fully good, and bad guys weren't all bad. But boy, when they were bad? Look out! There's not too many series where one of the show's main antagonists brutally and cheerfully murders a slew of innocents on screen.
And on top of that, the show's premise itself is far from light-hearted. With their leader Goliath, a group of gargoyles are betrayed by their human friends over 1000 years ago, and are placed under a spell. They awaken in New York during the mid-1990s, the seemingly last survivors of their clan, and find themselves thrown into a world they don't understand. From there, we follow Goliath and his clan as they navigate their new surroundings. Not exactly a light-hearted concept, right? Yeah, but it also gave younger viewers the confidence and trust that, yeah, they can handle it.
And it works because Gargoyles was able to walk that fine line that only a handful of true all-ages series have. And you could feel it. Never was there an instance where the series ever pandered or spoke down to its audience, regardless of their age. There were consequences. Events happened that couldn't be undone. Mistakes were made. Our heroes made mistakes (including infamously when one gargoyles mishandles a gun with dire consequences), villains were fleshed out to be more than just punching bags, but all of that just added to the authenticity of the series, of the characters. And that's just one part of what made this show work, and it also played a significant role in it being as widely accepted as it was. No matter who the audience was, the series treated every last one with respect.
Gargoyles is a series that challenged viewers with its moral dilemmas, hefty continuity, history and series creators' strong love of Shakespeare. I mean, MacBeth is one of the show's biggest protagonists! This was a show packed with love, tragedy, drama, action, and on a far deeper level than most animated or live-action series at the time. More importantly, the show also handled the themes of racism, xenophobia and tolerance as the Gargoyles stepped more and more out into the world. Gargoyles even dared to ask what one person would do if they lost everything, and dared viewers to find common ground with them when it gave the answer.
To lean into the cliche, Gargoyles was ahead of its time in so many ways. The writing, the stories, its blunt approach to some difficult questions, all of it masked as a thrilling action-cartoon that ranks up there as one of the best. As with real life, there isn't always an easy answer, we saw that time and time again. Our heroes suffered, endured losses, setbacks and struggled to find their place in their new world. There we good days, and there were bad days. But in the middle of all the fantasy, it rang true becuase the series' creators never once took the show or its audience for granted.
Gargoyles challenged viewers in a myriad of ways, some of them unheard of for an afternoon cartoon. And whatever's mentioned above isn't even a scratch on the show's surface on just how far and deep it went. There's a reason why this show resonated for years. Gargoyles honest, straight-forward approach appealed to viewers, piqued curiosity and provided a mutual sense of trust between the show and its audience, and did so with the odds stacked against it. A lot more can be said, but there are other websites and persons far more adept than I.
Over 25 years later and the impact of Gargoyles still resonates to this day, as evident by the show's recent resurgence now that it's readily available for more potential viewers to discover on Disney+. It was a show that dared to challenge its audience with mature ideas and themes, and it deserves accolades for doing just that. It let younger viewers know that not everything is black and white, that things are complicated and every conflict isn't resolved in 30 minutes, and that it was okay, because that was life. It's an incredible feat for a show to accomplish, and Gargoyles did just that in a way uniquely its own.
Let's hope the age of Gargoyles never ends.
Article written in 2020.
Get news, reviews, exclusive content and more at The World's Finest!
