Gargoyles
Though in college at the time, I took a liking to the Disney cartoon Gargoyles. It ran from October 24, 1994 to February 15, 1997. Currently Season 1 and Season 2 Volume 1 are available on DVD. I purchased the DVDs a few years ago and have since gotten my kids hooked on the series as well. I am still waiting for Season 2 Volume 2 to be released by Disney even though they claim there weren’t enough sales from Volume 1 to warrant releasing Volume 2! Anyway, I loved that the series had a surprisingly dark tone for a Disney cartoon, complex story arcs well and Shakespearean references.
The series is about 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 medieval Scotland alongside humans, until many of them are betrayed and killed. Those who survived were frozen in stone by a magic spell until the castle “rises above the clouds.”
A millennium later, in 1994, billionaire David Xanatos purchases the castle of Wyvern and has it moved to the top his New York City skyscraper. The six remaining gargoyles awaken since the spell is now broken. NYPD detective Eliza Maza becomes their friend and ally. She helps them adjust to modern life and deal with the ever-plotting Xanatos.
Shakespeare’s plays Macbeth and a Midsummer Night’s Dream played prominent parts in the plot of Gargoyles, particularly in Season 2. Macbeth and Demona were linked and made immortal by the Weird Sister’s spell. Puck is enlisted by Demona to play tricks on her fellow Gargoyles. Oberon calls all the Fey, his children, back to the isle of Avalon. And we find out the Fox’s mother is Tatiana, Queen of the Fairies—although she spent time in our world and was known as Anastasia.
It was the character of Anastasia in Gargoyles that got my husband and me to talking about how much we liked the name Anastasia. It wasn’t the movie about the lost Russian Princess that started the conversation, but the afternoon cartoon series. In any case, we ended up naming our daughter Anastasia when she was born in 2003.
I was so taken by the idea of the supernatural gargoyles and the Gothic vibe of the cartoon that I also incorporated Gargoyles and Scotland into my own story Gothic tale My Perfect Drug. Check it out at:http://www.writerscafe.org/writing/carilynn27/566825/
Growing up, Star Trek the Next Generation was one of my favorite series on TV. I was pleasantly surprised to recognize many of the actor’s voices from Star Trek NG in Gargoyles. There was Marina Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes who played Deanna Troi and William Riker on Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as Michael Dorn who played Worf, Brent Spiner who played Data and LeVar Burton who played Geordi La Forge. Colm Meaney who played Miles O’Brien on TNG and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Nichelle Nichols who was Uhura on Star Trek: The Original Series, Avery Brooks who was Benjamin Sisko on DS9 and Kate Mulgrew who was Kathryn Janeway on Star Trek: Voyager who were guest or recurring stars in the series.
carilynn27 