One thousand years ago, superstition and the sword ruled.
It was a time of darkness. It was a world of fear.
It was the age of gargoyles.
Stone by day, warriors by night,
we were betrayed by the humans we had sworn to protect,
frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years.
Now, here in Manhattan, the spell is broken,
and we live again!
We are defenders of the night!
We are...
With our 2nd pick in the Television Draft, The Channel Surfers could not possibly pass up the opportunity to select their favorite television series ever: Gargoyles.
This selection will be tentatively placed in the Action/Adventure category.
Quote:
The series features a clan of six nocturnal creatures known as Gargoyles that turn to stone during the day. They glide using large wings and age twice as slowly as humans, living twice as long because they are stone during daylight hours, even when not directly exposed to sunlight. Their leader is Goliath and his mentor is the elder gargoyle named Hudson. The others are three younger warriors named Brooklyn, Broadway and Lexington. There is also a dog-like beast without wings named Bronx.
In 994 A.D. on the coast of Scotland the six clan members, along with several dozen unnamed gargoyles and Goliath's female gargoyle love, later named Demona, protect Castle Wyvern and Princess Katherine along with many other Scots from Viking raiders until betrayal causes a massacre of the clan during their stone sleep (when they cannot defend themselves). Believing the gargoyles to be the cause of death for the princess, a magician called the Magus casts a spell on the six survivors putting them to sleep, day and night, using a spell that loosely translates to "Sleep, until the castle rises above the clouds."
In 1994, a billionaire named David Xanatos purchases the castle and moves the crumbling remains, piece by piece, to the top of his New York City skyscraper called The Eyrie Building. The magic spell is broken when the castle is literally placed "above the clouds" due to the skyscraper's height and Xanatos acquires the Magus' original book of spells called the Grimorum Arcanorum. Awakening in modern day Manhattan, the gargoyles must adapt to their new surroundings as they vow to protect the citizens of New York. Goliath befriends a detective of the NYPD named Elisa Maza and stops Xanatos from creating an army of robotic gargoyles after Demona returns, having somehow survived the 1000 years as well. She attempts to destroy them all but is stopped and Xanatos is arrested by the police for theft. The Gargoyles secret existence is kept safe with Elisa as they remain at the castle to protect New York City from various hostile forces.
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I cannot say enough good things about this series. Originally developed as a children's television show by Disney,
Gargoyles quickly took a life of its own and has become a cult classic to thousands and thousands of fans with its rich mythology and completely rounded characters.
A big staple of
Gargoyles was the development of its supposed central villain, David Xanatos (voiced by Jonathan Frakes). Xanatos' character was seen as an ultimate opportunist, and very rarely ever "evil". He always had motivation behind his actions, and by the end of the series would become the Gargoyles' main ally.
I really loved this show as a kid, and just recently procured a copy of the entire series and watched it beginning to end, and found that a lot of the episodes were still relevant and aged very well. This is especially true of certain episodes like "Deadly Force", an episode in the first season that focused on the consequences of gun violence and was greatly praised by parents groups.
Some YouTube:
The opening:
Xanatos compilation: