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Gargoyles: Awakening Part 4
Reviewed: 07/14/2013
The Mission Of Death Commences...
So now that got all the filler stuff squared away; it's time for the real intense part of the plot to begin and the true arrival of a big surprise that will shock the world. So let's rant on shall we...
This episode is done by Eric Luke & Michael Reaves. The teleplay and story is edited by Michael Reaves. Animation is done by Walt Disney Animation Japan. Backgrounds are done by Studio Fuga. Additional services were provided by the following: Nakamura Productions, Takahashi Productions, Light Foot, Studio Cats and Studio Robin.
Opening Moment #1: Non-Goliath narrated opening as per the pilot; along with the recap which seemly recaps three episodes in thirty seconds. My guess is that Disney thought the fans came in about this time and needed to show the scene with Goliath and Demona. Execs these days have no confidence of doing a show that is so memorable that people flock to it from day one; but hey, I'm not the one in charge, so what can you do? Outside of the music; you swear you are watching a modern wrestling program which is more WWE than TNA.
We begin this one with Goliath being held down as SWAT Commander has his gun set to profit and proclaims that he's doing it to kill him and his gargoyle friends. Speaking of logic; Goliath was knocked out earlier, and now he's no longer selling it and protesting it. Despite four SWAT guys on him; he's helpless against them. SWAT Commander claims that he has no choice; so Eliza remembers Polly Wants A Treasure for some reason and stomps on the SWAT Guy's foot and then blitzes and shoulder blocks the SWAT Commander from behind which causes the gun to dislodge and slide into the bushes. Then Goliath; who is no selling the dart from last episode manages to subdue all of the SWAT Guys in spite of it; and only cringes once and it's so minor that he might as well be Hawk. Goliath grabs Eliza and they run off as the blond haired SWAT Guy fires his gun; and yes, it's a bullet shooting gun with red flashes. Sunwoo is doing flashes for this show? Probably not. Goliath cringes a bit running; but otherwise doesn't sell the fact that he was knocked out with a dart in the previous episode! Goliath finally finds a cliff large enough to get into the wind currents as he manages to fly away with the blond guy shooting his pieces; but SWAT Commander tells him to cease firing at once because he believes he won't get very far. Personally; I think firing your gun in Central Park is just asking for trouble (even more so now than in 1994); but that is just me. So we scene change to the goofballs of doom as Brooklyn, Lex and Broadway are flying; with Broadway eating like Tummi as usual (how he got the food is a different matter of logic). Broadway is talking with his mouth chew; so Brooklyn blows him off as they make to another building, which causes Lex to bump into the wall and do the Ron Tussin spot to amuse me. Since they are still too far away from the castle and their wings hurt; you just know that they are going to try something really stupid. And our first line of evidence shows from the sky shot as a human is calling for a taxi. So Brooklyn is pondering this over as the man gets into the backseat of a NYC taxi; and we cut to the goofballs of doom hiding in front of a closed store (note the iron gate on the windows) and Brooklyn sees a taxi on the FPS shot.
So Brooklyn does the dumbest thing possible by calling a taxi while breaking logic: On the closeup; he's standing on the sidewalk as he should; but when we go to the FPS shot of the driver in the taxi; Brooklyn is standing in the middle of the street. WHAT?! So the taxi driver panics and does a U-turn (in a no U-Turn Zone I betcha) and then drives away all in one motion without hitting anything. That looked not so believable; but it looked cool. The goofballs groan as now they have to walk. Which is probably a good thing for Broadway since he has gained at least 20 pounds since I last saw him. So we get the claw scene changer as we head to Central Park as Eliza is helping Goliath who is finally selling the dart after three minutes of not selling it; under a bridge. Fuzzy wrestling logic I guess. Goliath is cringing like he should have earlier as Eliza pulls the dart from Goliath's shoulder, and it's still bloodless. She also finds a radio bug on his back (Unforeseen Impact strikes again!) as Goliath calls it a magical device. Eliza then notices a brown hound looking into some litter on the ground and goes to it. It growls, so Eliza gently calms him down and it licks her hand. Awwww. She places the bug on the collar of the dog and the dog runs off; which sounds awfully cruel to me. Why not just destroy the bug; or put it under the bridge and leave? Same thing. I realize that dogs are not really friendly unless you train them to be; but come on! It's still good booking in the sense of creating suspense later on. There is also a company logo on the thing which looks like a pixelized black spider. So we head back to a far shot of David's tower and then to the living room as Hudson is watching television and having a good time with Bronx lying on the floor. Ooookkkkaaayyyyy; he has gotten over his phobia. Blink & Miss Moment: When he is flipping through the channel; there is badly drawn footage of the "Simba being shown to the animal kingdom on the mount" from the Lion King. Which Hudson is laughing at. If it's the movie; that is terrible. If that is the animation; this is apporos. So Hudson watches someone feeding his dog, dog food and Hudson chuckles at Bronx, who is not happy to see that. Geez; what a shock that was?!
So Hudson looks out the window and notices that it's almost daybreak despite the fact that the shot still looks too dark. So Hudson and Bronx get up and stretch their legs before going up to the ramparts of the castle as the goofballs return despite the fact that their wings were too tired earlier. Ummmm; how convenient is that? And the animation of them on the far shot is horrible here. So the goofballs swoop down and land as Hudson is not thrilled with them barely getting back before sunrise as the goofballs talk about how awesome the city is; while ignoring the fact that the humans are scared of them and Lex causing $100,000 worth of damage to a motorcycle. Hudson only cares about where Goliath is; and even the goofballs admit that he should have been back by now. Hudson agrees and we head to Central Park as Eliza is helping Goliath towards somewhere and then the sun rises as Goliath proclaims that it's too late and slumps over to the bushes near the trees to hide as he proclaims that something will come at sunrise as Eliza asks what it is. Goliath proclaims that she'll see as she glances over to her left and sees the SWAT Team is after them. So I'm guessing they found the dog and killed it. Radio bug must have a black box in it too. Eliza turns around and Goliath slowly turns to stone and we fade to black six minutes in. Ummm; yeah. This is a weird time to be going to commercial breaks; but who knows what happens in television's devious little minds sometimes. So we return as Eliza looks at Goliath; but there is no response as the SWAT team is closing in on them. So Eliza jumps out of the bushes to surprise them and then runs off stage right. SWAT Girl asks about the beast; but SWAT Commander proclaims that they'll track him with the transmitter; implying that they haven't found the dog yet. So I guessed wrong. I find it rather amusing that you cannot say to kill a detective (he tells them to get her) in this cartoon as we get the chase of doom to waste some time. At least this is the main storyline so it's far from time filler.
So Eliza dodges bushes for a while and then hide underneath a picnic table as the SWAT team assembles in front of a stone statue. I'm not going to comment on it's appearance as SWAT Guy #4 tells everyone to fan out as they go into "Hunt Detective Mode" which is to spread out to cover more ground in a picnic table area. That sounds like overkill considering Eliza is outnumbered 4 to 1. The umbrellas are all peaches and cream colored with strawberry designs in the underbelly which is a nice attention to detail. All this needs is Ghost & Goblins music from Project Crosszone and my life would be complete. No, not really. So SWAT Guy #4 is approaching way too close to Eliza as I realized that the underbelly design is raspberry. So he walks right in front of a crouching Eliza who proceeds to kick the pins from him and he tumbles and takes a good bump. And he steals his gun too which is a nice payoff. Although the color stylist strikes again as his helmet went from red to gray. The other heels notice this right away as it's 3 on 1; only Eliza has the great equalizer. Which is not really an equalizer given it's deadly power. So Eliza flees as the heels shoot their guns and Eliza gets a stray which hits the guy in the hand and deflects the gun away. Blond SWAT Girl shoots and apparently out came a boomerang of some sort which dings off the stone statue which went from green to gray now. Eliza goes to the boat dock (I think there is such a thing in Central Park; but I have never visited NYC. I have been to Boston though; back three years before I started the Unofficial Kit Cloudkicker homepage.) and goes in; slamming the door and barricading it. She looks around and notices an oil drum in front of the boardwalk (there is a large notch which allows the boats to enter through). The SWAT team is stalking outside and if I was a gunner out to kill someone, I would shoot at the door with 1/4 of my bullets because if Eliza is still at the door; she won't see the bullets going through the door and a few of them will hit her. Then again; that would ruin the impact of Deadly Force wouldn't it? OH MY GOD! That's EXACTLY what they did! AWESOME! Sadly; all the shots missed as the gun Eliza has is empty. Oh well; better luck next time.
Now here's a logic break for ye: Eliza is dodging the gunfire and some of the bullets exit through two conveniently placed gas canisters filled with motor oil. Now this in itself is awesome, except that there are no exit holes through the wall matching up with the gas cans. Oh come on guys! It's not that hard to draw. Eliza runs out and jumps into the water as apparently one of the bullet has ignited the gas and the whole boathouse explodes causing the old money shot explosion shot of doom. She goes underwater as the heels admire their handiwork of arson and "murder" of the boathouse and Eliza in that order. The SWAT Guy thinks that is that; but the Blond SWAT Girl is too smart for easy outs; so she walks towards the pier about 1/2 mile away as Eliza swims towards that pier underwater and appears under the docks. So we get some nice reflection effects as the girl stalks Eliza looking for her and despite being the smartest cookie of the group; she cannot find Eliza. In fact; Eliza grabs her left ankle and drags her into the lake and climbs out and flees to the west. SWAT Commander notices and replaces the cart on his gun proclaims that she is making this harder than it has to be. Sure she is; you are trying to kill her you JACKASS! So Eliza goes through the woods and then gets trapped in a large sinkhole (and no she doesn't slip in; the sinkhole was there long before she made it there) as the SWAT Commander stalks her as Eliza's red coat is showing through the bushes. So SWAT Commander goes in without shooting the thing first to make sure it was Eliza; and that only proves to be stupid because her coat is hanging from a tree branch; allowing Eliza to jump him. That causes the machine gun to go into the air and land in the water. Eliza invokes the JUDO THROW OF DEATH (a deadly move in Street Fighter 2, natch) and SWAT Commander is knocked out cold on his back. Yay! Eliza gets her coat back on and proclaims that this is a lot of trouble for a lawn sculpture. This is like April O'Neil getting stalked; only Eliza can defend herself. That's why a lot of people love her character; and rightfully so.
So we return with a fairly animated tree of leaves as Eliza is sitting next to Goliath who is still a statue at this point. Out comes a jogger in a full gray track suit and a I Heart NY hat just for the cheap pop which he'll never get. He is brown haired as he sees the statue and proclaims that he never saw the statue on this route five years ago. Most believable story is to tell him that they installed the statue last night. See; easy. Eliza proclaims that the park is full of surprises and the jogger just leaves without incident. The jogger is voiced by Pat Fraley by the way. Geez; we are up to a half dozen voices from TaleSpin. Nowadays; we are lucky to have one voice from that era as a guest character. So we get the sunset shot to AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as Eliza was sitting there and notices Goliath crumbling and becoming a real gargoyle as some of the stone fragment make contact with her. The dart effects have worn off; so everything is fine as Goliath thanks Eliza for saving his life and they slowly shake hands and Eliza proclaims that they are even now. Goliath states that he must return home before everyone worries about him. Eliza understands and asks if he wants to meet later tonight. Goliath simply nods and flies off. So we head to the castle as the rest of the babyface gargoyles are all up yawning. They look up and notice Goliath has still not come back as Hudson assures them that he'll be back since they didn't live on 1000 years and lose him outright. And here comes Goliath as he swoops down and lands in front of them. Goliath proclaims that they have enemies as we zoom out to Xanatos' television set and to his office as David and Owen are at the desk and David proclaims that Goliath is ready for them to Owen. Goliath admits that he wishes Hudson was with him which confuses the goofballs. Hudson backs him up and Broadway admits that the name is fine.
So the Gargoyles out of the blue come up with their official booking names. Most of the gargoyles are fine with it; except for Bronx it seems as he walks away in a huff stage left. They take it as him liking. Riiiiggggghhhtttttt. Well; those names came out of nowhere. Personally; I would save it for the denounment for after the four parter; but that is just me. And then someone clears their throat and out from the shadows comes Owen. Goliath isn't all that amused as we head to David's castle office as the elevator door opens and out comes Goliath as Xanatos is in front of his desk. Goliath asks why he wanted to see him as David proclaims that he has someone he would like to meet. So the side elevator door slides open and out comes from the shadows in slow motion...Demona? Goliath gasps in shock (remember that Goliath thought his beloved was killed during the raid of Castle Wyvern) as Demona calls Goliath his love and then we get a closeup shot of her face and she looks like a subtle heel. UH OH! I smell a rat in this operation. That ends the segment 14 and 1/4 minutes in. Well; this was a shock; but it could have been a more shocking moment if they didn't blow her cover to the viewers in the third episode of Awakening. It's the little things like that, that ultimately hurt the big moments which on their own is excellent booking; but it is rendered just very good because of poor decisions on those little things. Sure; all cartoons have this problem including TaleSpin, but this was a huge angle and it got off slightly off base because they blew her cover in the previous episode. Again; use complete darkness; show her red eyes, and even let her hiss. But don't show her shadowed body when she is unique among the Gargoyles to begin with.
After the commercial break; we see Goliath and Demona extend their arms and they embrace with their wings covering each other. That was awesome. So David Xanatos looks at them and clears his throat in a perverted sort of way as Goliath asks how she came back since he thought Hakon had smashed her statue to bits. Demona explains that she went looking for him out of his own well being; but sunrise occurred before she could find him and she was in the forest somewhere. Also she returned to the castle and asked the magus to cast the spell on her and Xanatos found her a year ago. Demona states that their reunion was made possible by Xanatos and her story is very believable to say the least; but her subtle smirk sezs otherwise. It also doesn't help that Xanatos calls her his property in roundabout terms as well. Xanatos had her return to the castle as Goliath is impressed and Demona proclaims that they are one, now and forever. And you can smell the love that is foreshadowing Goliath's impending doom. So we head outside as the babyfaces see Demona and they all are happy to see her as Bronx gets petted by Demona. The males want to know what happened to her; but she'll explain later as she asks Goliath about paying back Xanatos for reuniting them together by helping Xanatos recover the stolen disks from the SWAT Team. Goliath agrees to it since the SWAT Team wants the gargoyles hunted and dead; and he'll do anything. And Demon's closeup of her face is subtle; with a smile that slightly shows that she is going to turn on someone. Question is; who and why? So we head back to Xanatos' office as Xanatos is showing all the gargoyles footage of the airship as the divine lights keep the goofballs in awe. Xanatos is at his desk informing them that he has shown all their strengths and weakness; and the best tactics they can use. Goliath and Demona will take the air fortress; while the goofballs get the tower. Brooklyn sezs cool which stuns Goliath; as Lex explains that it's a positive word. Yeah.
Goliath decides to let it go since it's harmless enough and Hudson gets the underground fortress. Hudson beams with glee....until Goliath tells him that he has to take Bronx with him. HAHA! Hudson protests this; but Goliath wants Bronx to go to get the exercise. What's the matter Hudson?! You afraid of getting outclassed by a gargoyle like dog? What an old fart this Hudson fellow is? He still reminds me of Captain for some reason. So everyone walks out as we do a closeup of Xanatos and he smiles again in a way that shows impending doom; and my question to this coming in is: Who will turn on who in the end? Because we know that at least one of these characters; maybe two are going to turn on the babyfaces. Who exactly will? TUNE INTO PART FIVE TO FIND OUT! So the goofballs swoop away into the night as Goliath is worried about them being harmed. Demon claims that they are young; but they are fierce warriors who can defend themselves. They hold hands as Goliath is so happy to soar with her; and Demona talks about making their dreams come true and Goliath doesn't know the half of it. So Demona swoops down first; followed by Goliath as they soar towards the moonlight and then we cut to Xanatos looking on with determination on his kisser from his solar window office. So we head to the air fortress of doom soaring above the clouds and then the underbelly as it appears to be a modern version of the Iron Vulture; but they used a fan for a sound effect rather than a chugging train sound. At least it's not a low droning hum sound like most airships I know. So we get some light neon green lights and then a pan shot of Cyberbiotics on the side in white letters as Goliath and Demona try to get to the underbelly; but the air fans of death blow them backwards because that is exactly what this episode needs: more windbags! Actually; this episode absolutely needs windbags now that I think about it. So Goliath does about three backward rolls and then flies up and manages to barely grab the antennas below the underbelly along with Demona in a really good spot. Then he claws through the underbelly and rips a piece of metal open to allow them to get into the air fortress without any further incident.
So Goliath helps Demona inside the air fortress and states that the disc is well guarded. Demona states that if the humans want to spend their worthless lives guarding a disc; then that is their concern. This shocks Goliath as Demona walks off and Goliath follows down the hallway as they are stopped by two Gedo fashion sense security guards with guns. They point their guns at Demona as the animation makes a shadowy part for Demona to do her red eye mode as she warns them that if they fire on the ship they will damage it; and that they are stupid. Oh snap! The guards don't care and #1 tries to fire and does it successfully; but Demona tackles him down to the ground and the shot misses and hits a pipe which causes white steam. Goliath goes after #2 in white eye mode; but #2 gets out of the way and fires a shot and that damages another pipe and steam comes out of it too. So #2 is enveloped with steam and cannot see a damn thing despite the fact that there is only half of the steam showing as he turns around the hallway to the T part; and #1 goes flying towards him and takes a MAN-SIZED bump into the wall and that knocks him out. Demona comes in from the shadows once again (Dudette; this is overkill now) as Goliath appears from behind #2 and grabs his gun. I think he crumples it up; but we don't see it as he grabs the guard off-screen and punches him in the face and knocks him out. Man; that was lame since I have seen Gummi Bears with on-screen punches to the face. Even Baloo got to punch someone on-screen in Jumping The Guns. #2 is out like a light as Demona grabs him and goes over to the spot where Goliath opened the passage and threaten to play Shere Khan on Martin Torque in From Here To Machinery; only she's not making a deal here. See; she wants to throw him like Kit Cloudkicker in Plunder and Lightning Part Four because he could cause more trouble later on. You can pretty much guess Goliath's response to this in that he HATES this idea.
According to Goliath; killing in the heat of battle is one thing; but not like this. Okay; fair enough. Demona proclaims that the centuries have made him weak and then tosses the guard aside and he takes a sick bump off-screen stage right. Geez; you should see Broadway, he has really let himself go over the ages, far worse than Goliath ever did. So Goliath can only watch and then follows Demona away as we get the clawing scene changer which looks really cool. So we get a far shot of the secured tower of doom as the goofballs are flying towards the roof and lands on the tower in front of the security door. Lex's landing is pretty cool; as he curves it a bit. Lex proclaims that the magic in this world is so...and he stammers. Brooklyn claims that it's cool as Lex agrees with him. Broadway rips the door from it's hinges and they walk in and then climb down the barred ladder. I was thinking that they would do the "He's just TOO FAT" spot with the door opening with Broadway; but thankfully, it doesn't happen. So the goofballs make it to the elevator which they open with ease as Brooklyn points out that Xanatos claims that the data is four floors down. Geez; this seems way too easy...Nah; he couldn't be. He couldn't...ummm..setting them up for impending doom. That makes no sense. They comment about how this doesn't look like the castle and they cannot glide down; so they grab onto the middle steel rope of the elevator and shimmy down about four floors to the elevator door. Brooklyn tries to grip onto the floor in front of the elevator and almost loses his balance in the process. He slowly opens the elevator door as Broadway proclaims that this is too easy and they'll be home in time for supper. And once the door is completely open; there are about eight yellow suited guards at the door with their guns pointed at the babyface. OUCH! Demona and Goliath got off real easy in this one as Broadway talks about a late supper and the babyfaces gulp to end part four at 20:30 approx. So yeah; despite showing footage from part three; Hudson and Bronx are not shown going down the underground fortress. Pffft; whatever guys. The episode itself was really great once everyone stopped acting in random and everything clicked here for me; minus the taxi spot which was pointless. **** 3/4 (95%). The next episode recap was a lot more random than part three ever could by the way; but I'm not going to spoil it here. I put the best odds with Demona turning on Goliath and then Xanatos turning on everyone including Demona. It makes the most sense and it justifies Demona as a tweener rather than merely a cool heel. But we'll see what happens after my birthday.
THE REVIEW LINE
This was a lot better act than part three and certainly the best act so far. Everything is falling into place as the show is now focused on the real story which is the best part of this pilot anyway. Demona's return was almost dead on perfect along with their reunion; although the edge was gone due to the mistake they made in Act III when the animators blew Demona's cover too soon. There was absolutely nothing bad in this; although the Hudson/Bronx stuff was cute but led nowhere, the taxi spot was pointless; along with the official naming of the rest of the gargoyles which the names came out of nowhere. I would have left not naming the names angle until much later and have it built similar to the way Hudson was named so the name actually mean something. And there were a few mistakes in the animation (gas can leaks despite no exit holes coming from the walls); and some coloring mistakes. Overall; everything was set up perfectly; and it was so subtle in that a critical could tell that there is impending doom for Goliath and knows that the heel turn is coming; but most people are wondering about Demona turning heel. Personally; I know at least one of the character is turning heel and it's either Demona or Xanatos; but something in my guts tells me that it's going to be both. But that will come after my birthday party on Sunday. So....
Thumbs up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.