Today’s Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles revisit looks at Demona’s return in “Generations” (aired November 16, 1996) and “For It May Come True” (November 23, 1996), where Goliath is put in an It’s a Wonderful Life situation where he experiences life as a human instead of a gargoyle.
1. Discontinuity
Hate to get off on a boring, grumpy start, but “Generations,” which sees Angela trying to reconcile the rest of the clan with her mother, is boring. Ironically, this whole episode can’t seem to reconcile itself with the events of “Hunter’s Moon“: why is Angela so determined to befriend someone who almost committed global genocide? And without building on that, every dialogue exchange feels dull, trite, and copy/pasted from their previous interaction in “The Reckoning.”
Thus far I’ve felt Goliath Chronicles has done ok following up the first two canonical seasons, but this episode really felt like it was ignoring the original show, so likewise I felt disinterested in investing in it: it’s like an 11-year old’s fanfic that rehashes everything because they don’t know how to move a show forward.
2. Titania’s Writing Fan Fiction Too
Speaking of alternate universe fan fiction, “For It May Come True” sees Goliath suddenly waking up in a world where he’s a human. After this extended dream sequence wraps up, Queen Titania shows up to explain she cast this spell as she noticed Goliath was beginning to become despondent about his battle against the Quarrymen, and wanted to show him what would happen if he gave up. Er no, Titania, that’s not what you did, you just weaved a story where Goliath is a white guy married to Elisa with two kids, and Xanatos and the gargoyles are still at odds. It feels like they got far into writing this episode, realized “Future Tense” had the same premise, and hastily rewrote it so it would have a different message.
3. Isn’t This Just Batman‘s “Perchance to Dream”?
Oh goodness, it is. So a show that began with everyone comparing it to Batman: The Animated Series didn’t just fail to escape its shadow, it ended ripping off a classic Paul Dini episode (and one named after a line from Hamlet to boot). That’s sad isn’t it?
4. They Made Goliath White
And speaking of Batman: The Animated Series, this show’s take on a human Goliath is totally Bruce Wayne’s look in that show. I must ask – what was wrong with the version from “The Mirror“? He looked awesome, like Jason Momoa before he was Jason Momoa. Maybe they made him a literal white man to belabor the metaphor, but all I can think about is Frozone losing his temper watching Mr. Incredible and Pals.
5. What’s Up With the Liquid?
I can’t say I like the way Nelvana renders liquid in these episodes: Demona’s tears, or the rain that pours when Human Goliath tries to convince the gargoyles he’s one of them, both wind up looking like someone’s dropped globs of glue on the cast’s hair and clothing.
Bonus thoughts:
– Jon Castaway, the Quarrymen leader, looks like a blonde Oswald Mosley, which is an appropriate historical reference – these fascist leaders are always more pampered than they lead on.
– The Quarrymen’s anti-gargoyle cannons are pretty ineffective, fortunately, but that’s pretty much killed my suspension of disbelief.
See you all next week as we limp into the next two episodes before the series finale.
