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Five Thoughts on Gargoyles‘ “Kingdom” and “The Hound of Ulster”

By | June 18th, 2019
Posted in Television | % Comments

Welcome back to our Summer TV Binge of Disney’s Gargoyles: this week we’re looking at the first episodes of 1996, “Kingdom” (aired February 5), and “The Hound of Ulster” (February 6). The first episode finally returns to Brooklyn and the rest of the clan in Manhattan, who are understandably confused as to where Goliath, Elisa and Bronx have gone, while the second sees the tourists in Northern Ireland.

1. TMNT, but With Bat Wings

“Kingdom” sees Goliath’s clan and Elisa’s brother Talon launching an attack on Xanatos after becoming suspicious he’s behind their disappearance. (Thanks for nothing, Renard.) We find out that since reuniting with his family, Talon has relocated his clan to one of Xanatos’s abandoned underground facilities, which he has christened the Labyrinth. It’s an egalitarian refuge for the homeless and dispossessed, which easily brings to mind the likes of the Morlocks from the X-Men comics, or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ hideout (although this is the rail tunnels instead of the sewers). I wonder why the show’s staff didn’t just have the mutates move into the Clock Tower, and I reckon it has to do with a) needing to air the show out-of-order if needed, and b) they loved this Dickensian conceit with Talon as a good Fagin, as it were.

2. Such Lovely, Lovely Animation

I really enjoyed the smooth animation here: I imagine the animators relished getting to use their R&D for New York again instead of having to churn out another global setting again. There’s a shot of Bluestone walking into his apartment before Broadway greets him asking if he’s seen Elisa, where the camera casually follows him as he walks through the door, puts away his coat, and opens his curtains – it’s very fluid, like a theatrical 1950s cartoon. Also, the mutate Claw, who has been rendered mute by his transformation, is a wonderfully expressive character – by necessity, perhaps, but his hand gestures and wide-eyed expressions are still a delight to watch.

'It was this big, I swear!'

3. Maggie the Actress

Fang (Jim Belushi), the mutate who was clearly a hoodlum in his past life, tries to stage a coup in the Sanctuary, only to be foiled by the Gargoyles and a deft act of deception from Maggie (the one mutate without a cool new name). Fang has Talon trapped and at his mercy, so Maggie calls on her past as an actress to make him believe she was surrendering and bidding goodbye to her friend, when she’d actually swiped Fang’s key to free Talon from his confinement. I loved that the writers remembered her background as an impoverished actress, and incorporated that into the episode’s resolution, as well as how Brooklyn intuitively and silently understands and lets her carry out her plan, instead of doing something daft like taking the card and swooping over to Talon’s prison. It really allowed Maggie to be more than Brooklyn’s love interest, and demonstrated why he’s Goliath’s designated successor.


4. Accents Aren’t as Bad as I Feared

In “The Hound of Ulster,” Bronx takes the spotlight after he’s separated from the rest of the Avalon tourists in Northern Ireland, befriending a young man named Rory, who turns out to be (who else) the reincarnation of the legendary hero Cú Chulainn. Now, given how horrible the Scottish accents are on this show, I was dreading the show’s Irish ones, but to my relief, they weren’t bad. Rory and his friend Molly were voiced by Scottish actors Scott Cleverdon and Sheena Easton (of For Your Eyes Only fame), while Rory’s dad was voiced by the great Colm Meaney (Star Trek‘s Miles O’Brien), who must’ve helped the Scottish cast a great deal (anyone who’s seen Sean Connery in The Untouchables knows Scots can still badly mangle the Irish brogue). For the record, it’s great the show finally landed some genuine Scottish voices – it’s just a shame it wasn’t in time for the earlier episodes in Medieval Scotland.

5. RSVP

Goliath, Elisa and Angela are captured by a banshee, who (surprise!) is actually Molly. Sensing they’ve come to and from Avalon, she believes they’ve been sent by Oberon to collect her for the Time of Gathering, but she has no interest in returning, and wants to leave them trapped in her cave. (Unsurprisingly for such a deafening creature, Goliath’s attempts to explain he’s never met Oberon fall on deaf ears.) Given how many places Goliath and his family have already been to, it’s great we finally have an indication as to what the endgame of their travels are. Still, seeing the Manhattan Clan again makes you realize how interminable Goliath’s voyages are becoming – can Avalon not conjure a list of locations for him? It’s becoming like playing a video game and realizing how many fetch quests are still left to unlock the best ending.

Continued below

Bonus thoughts:
– Won’t the NYPD notice Elisa’s cat is now living upstairs in the Clock Tower?
– Castle Wyvern’s (probably) a UNESCO World Heritage site Xanatos, you can’t just put laser turrets all over the place.
– It’s a bit weird Xanatos has no idea Goliath and Elisa have disappeared, but then Fox is pregnant.

See you next week for “Walkabout” and more from our journey through February 1996.


//TAGS | 2019 Summer TV Binge | Gargoyles

Christopher Chiu-Tabet

Chris is the news manager of Multiversity Comics. A writer from London on the autistic spectrum, he enjoys tweeting and blogging on Medium about his favourite films, TV shows, books, music, and games, plus history and religion. He is Lebanese/Chinese, although he can't speak Cantonese or Arabic.

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