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Gargoyles: Deadly Force
Reviewed: 07/28/2013
Broadway: The New BS&P Nightmare of Disney.
Well; we finally reached that point of no return as we now have Broadway's focused episode. Now you would think that if this was any other DTVA series; it would be on Broadway's food fetish. Well; you would be wrong and Disney BS&P is going to be wishing that they did the food gimmick in hindsight because you are going to see Broadway playing with a gun; and shooting it; and almost killing someone. Yes; I swear to God this all happened. Blood was spilled too. Don't believe me? Let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written and story edited by Michael Reaves. Animation is done by Walt Disney Animation Japan. Additional services were provided by the following: Animal-Ya and Jade Animation (who did backgrounds with Tama Pro).
We begin this one at the docks BEFORE HAPPY HOUR (sunset) as a large ship is unloading a large box marked with an "X" onto a green truck as security is watching on along with Owen Burnett. The security guard proclaims that nothing happen has happened which annoys Owen as we pan over to the large crates of doom (the secret weapon in making people hate FPS) as we see two shadow figures loading up their loads with oversized canisters. So they shoot their pieces and they land at the feet of the "babyfaces" and they explode bringing up a lot of clear like smoke. Everyone sells coughing as we get a sequence where four heels in gas masks including one with black hair and a stronger build than the rest. Owen manages to subdue one of the blond haired heels and steal his gas mask while coughing with a white cloth. That was pretty neat. Another blond haired heel gets into the truck and shoves the red haired trucker out. He starts the engines as the heels get to the back and the blond haired heel drives the truck away as the black haired thug unmasks and he looks like someone who is a heel with a babyface look. Owen tries to give chase; but it's no good as he manages to get away from the smoke and he unmasks and looks annoyed as usual. It's hard to believe that Owen Burnett's real personality is the exact opposite of this one; but that's for another rant. So we get a sun setting sequence as nightfall approaches once again and the gargoyles live again. So; who's getting the focus this time around? There is only three choices left; actually two: Broadway and Hudson with Bronx since I doubt the writers could find a way to do Bronx solo. It's funny how people claim how groundbreaking this show is; and Bronx is basically a lot less timid version of Scooby Doo. And once again; for the second time in as many episodes; Goliath's back is to the hard camera.
Broadway bails as he flies towards the city. Goliath lands and asks where he is going in such a rush as Lexington and Brooklyn explain that he has gone to see the movie Showdown again; which is your typical Western movie. I wonder if Chip has seen that movie; that would explain his laughable attempt to being an enemy agent in Double'O'Chipmunks. Hudson wonders like a lot of old farts do: It's difficult to tell what is real and what is not. HAHA! Irony is so damn ironic sometimes isn't it? So we head to police headquarters for the first time in the series as Eliza is in the police chief office as a brown haired lady wearing a blue suit is at her desk as Eliza is wanting a warrant for the arrest of some pond scum named Dracon; but the police chief refuses since they have no evidence and that he's bulletproof. I think that casts doubt on him being innocent because no human being is "bulletproof". Unless Dracon is a gargoyle; then you might have a chance; however slim that is. And yes; the police chief is a woman. You got a problem with that SIR? Eliza asks about the stolen property. Personally; the way Eliza worded it shows she clearly has a personal grunge with Dracon because she is accusing Dracon without any evidence anyway. I would have said: "So; what was stolen?". I was hoping the police chief would point this out; but she explains that it's non-projectile weapon prototype from Xanatos Enterprises. Eliza wonders if they are lasers as Owen comes in conveniently to explain that 322 lasers of various power sizes and ranges were stolen. This does not please Eliza as she leaves; prompting the police chief to ask where she is going and Eliza opens the door; sezs that she is doing her job and walks out closing the door behind them. By the way; the police chief's name is Maria Chavez in case everyone doesn't know.
Maria Chavez is voiced by Rachel Ticotin and according to IMDB: One tough cookie who can definitely hold her own next to the boys on film and TV, lovely, dark-haired Rachel Ticotin has stepped up to the plate many times in strong-armed femme roles, playing everything from cops and bodyguards to military corporals. Born and raised in the Bronx, she learned the fine art of discipline at a young age with ballet training at age 8. She made her first stage appearance at age 10 as a Siamese princess in a production of "The King and I" at NYC's City Center Theatre. At age twelve she joined the Ballet Hispanico of New York and went on to work with such famed choreographers as Alvin Ailey, Geoffrey Holder and Anna Sokolow. She made her film debut at age 20 in a bit role as a gypsy dancer in the King of the Gypsies (1978) starring Eric Roberts. She gained valuable experience in off-Broadway shows and on the other side of the camera as a production assistant for such films as The Wanderers (1979), Dressed to Kill (1980) and Raging Bull (1980). Rachel earned her big break after being handed the top female role opposite Paul Newman and Edward Asner in the brutal police film Fort Apache the Bronx (1981). Television became a viable forum with the TV pilot For Love and Honor (1983) (TV) as Corporal Grace Pavlik. The pilot introduced her to up-and-coming actor David Caruso. They married later that year. Rachel went on to appear in the short-lived series version of "For Love and Honor" (1983) without Caruso. Other television projects included assertive roles in Prison Stories: Women on the Inside (1991) (TV), Aftershock: Earthquake in New York (1999) (TV) and Warden of Red Rock (2001) (TV). On the big screen she played tough in Critical Condition (1987), Where the Day Takes You (1991), and Falling Down (1993). Her best known role is probably the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi blockbuster Total Recall (1990) in which the athletic Rachel has a memorable fisticuffs scene with Sharon Stone.
In 1997, Rachel earned an ALMA award for her role as a prison guard in Con Air (1997). Divorced from Caruso after six years in 1989, she later met actor Peter Strauss on the set of the TV movie Thicker Than Blood: The Larry McLinden Story (1994) (TV). They married in 1998. In series drama she joined the cast of "Ohara" (1987) as a U.S. attorney and played detective in the police drama "Crime & Punishment" (1993). Although she has yet to hit the very top rungs of stardom, Rachel is a proven talent. Alluring as well as enduring, her latest work in the popular films Something's Gotta Give (2003) starring Jack Nicholson and Oscar-nominated Diane Keaton, Man on Fire (2004) with Denzel Washington and the recent The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), not to mention the critically acclaimed bi-cultural series "American Family" (2002), is proof of the pudding. She began her career with King Of The Gypsies as a dancer in 1978. Gargoyles is her DTVA debut and only appearance. Blue Bloods as Carmen Castillo is her most recent credit. She has 57 acting credits, four self credits and four other credits (Four Friends as a dance assistant, and a production assistant for Dressed To Kill, Raging Bull and Obsession) to her resume. So we get that sky shot of a street filled with cars sandwiched between buildings in NYC and the cars look like two red dots with two large white dots. Which means everyone in New York City has a red car like Eliza Maza. Ummm; yeah. So we head to the theater with a crowd of people trying to get into the theater to see "Showdowh" which is on Broadway. Heh. I think Broadway goes there because they are giving tribute to HIM. Ummm; no they aren't you future manchild, moronic starfish.
So we head inside a theater room with the humans coming in and sitting down in their chairs to get ready for the movie as we pan up to the theater's storage area which doubles as the balcony as a trap door opens from the ceiling and down comes Broadway as they tease him being too fat for the trapdoor; but it doesn't happen thankfully. He lands on big ass bags of popcorn which are helpfully labeled as such and the lights go dim in the theater and Broadway sits down and opens one of the bags of popcorn and eats out of it; which justifies way he skipped breakfast. Sadly; we don't get to see the movie because we are going to a hotel and into the lobby as various businessmen with briefcases go up the stairs. Then we see five men coming down the stairs together and four of them are in the Necrophobe/Barrier formation from Final Fantasy V. Three of the "barriers" are the exact same character design with the only differences being their tie, suit and hair colors. The bottom right one is African American with glasses and a black hair crew cut. He looks like Owen if he were black actually. And in the middle is the same guy who stole the weapons from Xanatos in the beginning of the episode with the black hair and red suit. His hairstyle looks awfully familiar to a famous actor; but my memories on his name and stuff are completely shot. I think he looks similar to Jem's boyfriend; but that is only speculation on my part. This is what happens when I play video games so much. And I don't know half of the characters in Project X Zone either. You know they are the heels because they are giving focused mean looks right on the hard camera. They are about to turn the corner and we hear Eliza saying "Dracon" and as the businessmen walk past; she appears on the corner of the stairs. Two of the front "barriers" reach for what appears to be guns (real nice way of blowing your cover there fellas); but Dracon waves them off and calls Eliza honey. Yeap; he's a sexist pig too.
Dracon is voiced by Richard Grieco and according to Wikipedia (DANGER! DANGER!): Grieco worked as a model for Armani, Calvin Klein and Chanel. He later studied acting. He played Rick Gardner on One Life to Live from 1985 to 1987. In 1988, Grieco began appearing as Detective Dennis Booker on the shows 21 Jump Street and its spinoff Booker. He also appeared in the TV series Marker in 1995. Grieco's feature film debut was as Michael Corben in If Looks Could Kill (1991) and has appeared in numerous films since then, almost all B movies. Later in 1991, he played the young Jewish bootlegger and mobster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel in the movie "Mobsters". He played himself in the 1998 film A Night at the Roxbury. Grieco dated another One Life to Live star, Yasmine Bleeth, in 2001. He and Bleeth also co-starred in the 1999 movie Heaven or Vegas and the 1999 made-for-TV movie Ultimate Deception. Grieco began a singing career in 1994 with the Dunmore Band. He signed to a German label and released a CD, Waiting for the Sky to Fall, in 1995. Later on he teamed up with music manager Cheryl Bogart and formed the band Wasteland Park in 2004. He began his career in One Life To Live as Rick Gardner in 1987 and then followed it up with Rags To Riches as Billy Gallento. Gargoyles is his DTVA debut and his only appearance. After Midnight (Dr. Sam Hubbard), A House Is Not A Home (Rafkin), and AE: Apocalypse Earth (Sam Crowe) are his most recent credits. He has 59 acting credits, 12 Self credits and 3 direction credits (Last Cry, eight episodes of Gigolos and A House Is Not A Home) to his resume. So Eliza wants to question Dracon on the hijacking; but Dracon claims that he is the wrong guys. The good news for Eliza is; we have footage to prove Dracon is guilty of the crime. The bad news is; this show is a work of fiction and we cannot deliver said footage to her. Sorry Eliza. We discover that Dracon is his last name and his first name is Tony. Ummm; yeah. The "barrier" giggle in her face for fun.
Dracon proclaims that his "rock solid alibi" is that he was out with the guys in the town. Dracon is so cocky that he basically proclaims that if he were the guy; there's nothing she can do about it even if they were able to catch him selling stuff on the market. Eliza is angry; but she does nothing as Dracon and his cronies leave. So we head back to the theater as a B&W screen is showing a cowboy showdown to pay off the title of the movie. Man; even in 1994, they are still showing B&W movies. Must be a public domain movie. AHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sadly; the other cowboy has a toothpick in his mouth. You can have someone bleed once or twice in this show; but no smoking ever. So the two cowboy unleash their guns and shoot them; plus spin them. The guy with the Mexican cape like poncho wins as the one with the McBeth look is on his back and dies. Broadway is eating popcorn and saying that this is cool. I'd call him a psychopath; but he's a gargoyle in a world he doesn't know much better than his own; so I can understand why he thinks it's cool; since it's not happening to him. So we head to an apartment complex and inside an apartment building as the door opens with a light beige cat walking in on cue. It's Eliza as she walks in and hangs her red sweater and the holster holding her gun on the coat rack. That is the stupidest place to put a gun on; and any gun owner worth his salt would tell you how stupid this is. Eliza notices that the cat is purring and rubbing her legs in a cute spot. Eliza grabs the cat and addresses it as Cagney (Frank Welker) and asks if it is hungry while rubbing the cat under it's chin. Eliza then proclaims that the streets got a whole lot meaner now. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. So we head back to the theater as we see the worst written credits ever on the screen as they appear to be done by a two year old. The popcorn bag is almost empty as Broadway goes up through the trap door and still doesn't get stuck. Then we head into the city on the sky shot with Broadway as he does gun pointing and fake noises of gun shooting which sets up this episode perfectly now.
So Broadway lands on the roof of the building which has a solar window as we discover that Eliza's apartment is on the top floor. Broadway opens the roof and jumps in calling for Eliza who is in the kitchen greeting him and wants him to make himself at home. She even offers some steaks since Broadway was in the neighborhood. So Broadway looks around and sees a picture of Eliza's family of police officers on the television which is a neat setup for the impending doom that is forthcoming. Broadway looks at it; and then turns around and see the coat rack which contains the holster and Eliza's pistol. Cue ominous music...Broadway goes over and takes the gun out of the holster...Cue ominous music...Broadway looks at it and calls it cool...Cue horror music...Broadway barely gets his finger in the trigger and starts pointing the gun and mimicking John Wayne..Cue ominous music... He goes around and someone Eliza doesn't hear any of this for whatever reason as Broadway turns around right in the direction where Eliza is; and he unintentionally pulls the trigger and the gun is still loaded and shoots a bullet. The gun drops from his hand on cue and he apologizes since he didn't mean to actually pull the trigger; which is understandable since his finger is way too big for that trigger. Now in any other universe; that shot would have missed and probably do a comic spot where he shot a cupboard and flour got poured on Eliza's head which would be racist; but whatever. Broadway grabs the gun and hopes he didn't break anything. The steaks are sizzling on the stove; but there is no sign of Eliza. Broadway calls for Eliza as he slowly walks to the kitchen and Eliza is in the prone position and appears to be dead as Broadway does the worst selling ever as we finally see Eliza down and probably dead because there is blood on the floor. A little less blood flow than when Goliath got stabbed in the hand in the pilot. Yes folks; this is the "gun responsibility" episode that spooked Disney for years to come....
This was pulled off perfectly and while it would have been better if there was an actual entry wound on Eliza and a bit more blood; the impact is still there because no human being nor anthro has ever been shot in the chest with a gun in DTVA. There was some really good buildup where they not only showed the flaw of Eliza putting her gun in clear sight for someone who doesn't know any better to grab as shown when she put it on the coat rack. That gave Eliza the "deadly" flaw she needed as a character. They also did a perfect showing on the influence of media without acting like Jack Thompson on steroids; or being preachy about it. Even Hudson's comment on influences of media had much better nuance than most politicians (and most media consumers) do; and I really believed that Broadway killed Eliza Maza right there. It's not the first time a child (well Broadway is a manchild with a Tummi fetish; and he's a teenager so...) has shot a gun (Honker did shoot a rifle in one Darkwing Duck episode); and it's not like DTVA characters have had moments where they could have been easily shot successfully (Kit Cloudkicker nearly getting shot in the head in the Disney Channel version of Plunder and Lightning was so close that when the episodes were cut up for syndication in November of 1990; they snipped out that moment...). In fact; this was such a BS&P nightmare almost on par with Kit Cloudkicker admitting that he was an Air Pirate (I say it's not worse because Broadway's was a one off unintentional incident that turned deadly; Kit being part of a terrorist group is much worse because it implied Kit might have done something MUCH worse than Broadway ever could) that Disney refused to air this episode after it first aired; which confused some people when Eliza went from being healthy to being on crutches in the next episode after this one. Guns are a hot political hot potato of the most vilest kind and regardless of your opinions on gun control/violent media/social issues/mental health and so on; you have to admit that the way we have dealt with it has done more damage to America than the very things we are condemning; and the splash damage is what it is as a result.
I'm personally glad that this episode not only had the stones to show an actual human get shot (TaleSpin did have an animal getting shot in the wings in Paradise Lost and in a way it should count; but that is in a different context than an actual human getting shot); but managing to do it and have it make sense. I also commend them for not actually showing Eliza taking the bullet onscreen because that would have lessen the suspense of Broadway discovering that he really, really f*cked Eliza up this time. Now the question is; can the writers do a wonderful job of showing the consequences of Broadway's actions, however unintentional? Now I do have confidence in them pulling this off because I saw how From Here To Machinery showed the after effects of disruption with the Auto Aviator and Martin Torque; so I think they can pull this off. The thing that this moment makes this somewhat hilarious in hindsight is because Broadway is voiced by the same guy who voiced PATRICK STAR and sounds EXACTLY like him. I cannot imagine Broadway with the gun without thinking about Patrick Star holding the gun and unintentionally shooting Spongebob; and trying hard not to laugh at it. One final note: I mentioned that this would have been a perfect plot for a TaleSpin episode too: Molly sees a Dangerwoman movie; then a burglar gets in while Kit is babysitting her; Kit manages to get the gun out of the burglars' hand (which is not smart; but been in the line of fire before so...) ; the gun manages to land in Molly's hands and it unintentionally goes off in her hands and Kit is shot in the chest. Molly goes after the burglar as Danger Woman and along the way meets the voice actor who does DW who is in a wheelchair; a victim of being shot, paralyzed from the waist down which makes Molly realized that she would lose the one playmate she had in Kit. Kit does fully recover (because he's the luckiest DTVA character ever) and Molly forsakes DW forever and calls Kit the real hero. Would make a powerful two part episode too. Anyhow; that ends the segment eight minutes in.
After the commercial break; we see Eliza still down as Broadway kneel beside her and she manages to wake up for a split second and then she closes her eyes again. Broadway grabs her and flies out the window as there is a conveniently placed ambulance along with a stretcher in front of the entrance to the apartment building. Someone was on the ball here eh? Broadway places Eliza on the stretcher and they barely show it; but there is a shot of Broadway looking at his hands and they have blood on it. Now that is so symbolic of this whole incident and a great spot. I should note that in the opening scene we even see blood on the floor when Broadway picks Eliza up. So the blood thing was not a one shot deal. Although seeing blood on a DTVA show isn't all that out of place since there are several Darkwing Duck episodes with blood flowing scene changers during Morgana focused episodes. Broadway panics and flies away as two medics in lime green outfits come out and they notice Eliza right away and they check on her and she has no pulse left. She looks near dead as her eyes aren't even moving as the medics rolled Eliza into the apartment building again. One of the medics is voiced by the same guy who voices Hudson by the way. So we head back to Wyvern Castle as Bronx is roaring on his perch as Brooklyn and Lexington are on their perches as well. Brooklyn wonder where Broadway is and Lex figures that he is watching the movie a few more times. We pan up to Goliath's perch as Goliath hopes he finds a safe place to roost. Then Owen shows up about 15 seconds before they are supposed to turn to stone as Goliath wants Owen to speak quickly. Owen explains that Eliza has been shot and she might not last long as Goliath is in shock and before he can say anything; he turns to stone. Damn; can any gargoyle in this show finish their lines before the gargoyle sleep? The sun quickly rises over New York City....
...and in a shock we don't do the sunrise to sunset shot as we head to a forest as someone is using red lasers to destroy boulders. Oh wait; it's Dracon and his crew. I have now realized that the black version of Owen is supposed to be addressed as Glasses. What a dumb booking name?! Glasses is voiced by Rocky Carrol and according to IMDB: A classically-trained actor with a deeply-rooted seed in theatre, Rocky Carroll has solidified his career in cinema, stage and television with varied and impressive performances. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, as Roscoe Carroll, he attended the prestigious School for Creative and Performing Arts, graduating in 1981 at age 18. Pursuing an interest to expand his knowledge in acting, he went on to attend The Conservatory of Theatre Arts at Webster University in St. Louis. For his efforts he earned a BFA. Finally he decided to move to New York to test his acting mettle and started out doing Shakespeare. He graduated to television work after proving himself on the stage, appearing in such series as "Chicago Hope" (1994), "Law & Order" (1990), "The Game" (2006), "Boston Legal" (2004) and "The West Wing" (1999). It could be said that his most notable and perhaps breakthrough role, however, came when he was cast as Assistant Director Leon Vance on "NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service" (2003). It was a role that reunited him with his "Chicago Hope" cast mate Mark Harmon. His character Vance would later be promoted to Director of NCIS after the death of Director Jenny Shepard, played by Lauren Holly. In 2009, he appeared in a spin-off of the series, "NCIS: Los Angeles" (2009), joining the process of establishing the Los Angeles-based NCIS office. He began his career in 1989 as Dwan in Money, Power & Murder; followed up by Born On The Fourth Of July as Willie. Gargoyles is his DTVA debut and he also appearance on WITCH as Bitteroot. NCIS as Leon Vance is his most recent credit. He has 46 acting credits and 19 Self credits to his resume.
So the gangsters all have a laugh at the plight of Eliza like a bunch of heelish psychopaths and more shooting as a tree gets shot right through along with destroying another boulder. The ravens flee from the scene on cue as we get an FPS shot of the tree with a burning laser hole in it. Tony asks about the selling shipments on the streets and Glasses insists that they had to sell a handful to cover expenses; but they might need to sell more. Tony takes this awfully well as we head to the operating room in Manhattan General (I know this because Owen mentions this in the next scene) as we see a number of doctors operating on Eliza as I believe the main doctor asks for a sponge. I'm guessing he is Doctor Sato voiced by Robert Ito in a much less racist role compared to Wan Lo in Last Horizons. Someone doesn't like guns for some reason since the word is mentioned here. Then we go to an office as Goliath opens the door and all the gargoyles minus Broadway are inside as we discover that this is Owen's office. Goliath demands answers to what happened to Eliza and Owen explains that Eliza was trying to get stolen laser weapons off the street and that was an important mission to her. Owen also mention that she is at Manhattan General Hospital as the goofballs of doom are worried since Broadway has yet to return. Goliath decides to go to Manhattan General to check on Eliza and calls for Brooklyn and Lexington to find Boradway. Hudson get castle guarding duty as usual; which means he'll be watching television behind Goliath's back again. As usual. So we get a shot of Broadway crying on top of a really neat clock tower spot which seems so disconnected because the next shot is inside the hospital room where Eliza is sleeping and Goliath is watching from the window. He then gulps as he comes away from the window and we see Doctor Sato walk in with I believe is Eliza's mother and father; along with someone who looks almost like Glasses only without the glasses and a dark blue shirt. So this is interesting. I'm guessing he's Derek Maza; also voiced by Rick Carroll which increases my theory that he might be Glasses for all we know.
Peter Maza is voiced by Michael Horse and according to Wikipedia: His film debut came in the role of Tonto in the ill-fated 1981 film, The Legend of the Lone Ranger. Horse portrayed Deputy Tommy Hill, a Native American policeman, in the TV series Twin Peaks (1990–91)[5] and also acted in Passenger 57 (1992),[6] House of Cards (1993), the 1990s version of the television series The Untouchables (1993),[7] and North of 60 (1995–97).[8] He also appeared in the Thanks episode "Thanksgiving" in 1999, portraying Squanto. He appeared as Deputy Owen Blackwood in 4 episodes of the first season of Roswell (1999). Horse also appeared as Sheriff Tskany in The X-Files episode "Shapes" in 1994. Michael Horse portrayed American Indian Movement (AIM) Activist, Dennis Banks, in the 1994 TNT movie Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee. Eight years later, he lent his voice to Little Creek's Friend in DreamWorks Animation's Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. He recently portrayed Mike Proudfoot on Sons of Tucson. Michael Horse was born in a Yaqui Native American reserve near Tucson, Arizona, and is of Yaqui, Mescalero Apache, Zuni, Latino descent.[3][4] His birth name was Michael Heinrich. He lived twenty years in Sun Valley, California on Sancola street. He began his career in The Legend of the Lone Ranger as Tonto in 1981. Gargoyles is his DTVA debut and that was his only appearance. He is one of the few DTVA voices to be in Liberty's Kids. Just random stuff since I need to flesh him out. Behind The Door Of A Secret Girl as Mr. Thomson. He has 69 acting credits, five self credits, one stunts credit (American Strays) to his resume. He also did ADR for Smoke Signals.
Diane Maza is voiced by Nichelle Nichols and according to Wikipedia: In 1994, she published her autobiography Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other Memories. In it, Nichols claimed that the role of Peggy Fair from the television show Mannix was offered to her during the final season of Star Trek but producer Gene Roddenberry refused to release her from her contract. Between the end of the original series and the Star Trek animated show and feature films, Nichols appeared in small TV and film roles. She portrayed a foul-mouthed madam in Truck Turner (1974) opposite Isaac Hayes - which was her only appearance in a blaxploitation film. Nichols appeared in animated form as one of Al Gore's Vice Presidential Action Rangers in the "Anthology of Interest I" episode of Futurama, and provided the voice of her own head in a jar in the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before". She voiced the recurring role of Elisa Maza's mother, Diane Maza in the animated series Gargoyles and played the role of Thoth-Kopeira in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series. In 2004, she provided the voice for herself in The Simpsons episode "Simple Simpson". In the 2002 comedy Snow Dogs, Nichols appeared as the mother of the male lead, played by Cuba Gooding, Jr. In 2006, Nichols appeared as the title character in the film Lady Magdalene's, the madam of a legal Nevada brothel in tax default. She also served as executive producer, choreographer, and sang three songs in the film, two of which she composed. She has twice been nominated for the Sarah Siddons Award as best actress and is an accomplished dancer and singer. Her first Siddons nomination was for her portrayal of Hazel Sharpe in Kicks and Co. and the second for her performance in The Blacks. Nichols was cast in a recurring role on the second season of the NBC drama Heroes. Her first appearance was on the episode "Kindred" which aired on October 8, 2007.
Nichols portrayed Nana Dawson, the matriarch of a New Orleans family financially and personally devastated by Hurricane Katrina. She cares for her orphaned grandchildren and her great-nephew, series regular Micah Sanders. In 2008, she starred in the film The Torturer, playing the role of a psychiatrist. In 2009, she joined the cast of The Cabonauts, a sci-fi musical comedy that debuted on the internet. Playing CJ, the CEO of the Cabonauts Inc, Nichelle is also featured singing and dancing. After the cancellation of Star Trek, Nichols volunteered her time in a special project with NASA to recruit minority and female personnel for the space agency, which proved to be a success.[14] She began this work by making an affiliation between NASA and a company which she helped to run, Women in Motion.[15][16][17][18][19][20] Those recruited include Dr. Sally Ride, the first American female astronaut, and United States Air Force Colonel Guion Bluford, the first African-American astronaut, as well as Dr. Judith Resnik and Dr. Ronald McNair, who both flew successful missions during the Space Shuttle program before their deaths in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986. Recruits also included Charles Bolden, the current NASA administrator, and Lori Garver, the current Deputy Administrator.[20] An enthusiastic advocate of space exploration, Nichols has served since the mid-1980s on the Board of Governors of the National Space Society, a nonprofit, educational space advocacy organization founded by Dr. Wernher von Braun.[18] Always interested in space travel, Nichols flew aboard NASA's C-141 Astronomy Observatory, which analyzed the atmospheres of Mars and Saturn on an eight-hour, high-altitude mission. She was also a special guest at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on July 17, 1976, to view the Viking 1 soft landing on Mars.
Along with the other cast members from the original Star Trek series, she attended the christening of the first space shuttle, Enterprise, at the North American Rockwell assembly facility in Palmdale, California. On July 14, 2010, she toured the space shuttle simulator and Mission Control at the Johnson Space Center.[21] As you might be aware; she was Uhura in the original Star Trek which is odd considering that many of the voice actors were in the more recent Star Trek shows at the time. She began her career as an uncredited dancer in Progy & Bess in 1959. Gargoyles is her DTVA debut and was in Buzz Lightyear of Star Command as Chief. Omaha Street as Amanda Tolliver and Escape From Heaven as Jules is her most recent credits. She has 50 acting credits, 50 Self credits and four production credits (including Lady Magdalene's in 2008) to her resume. Anyhow; Sato explains that she did live through ten hours of surgery; but she is in really bad shape since the bullet hit her in such a manner that it did hit her heart and the bullet landed in the base of her spine. Sato also points out that the next 12 hours are critical as Derek is certain that she will pull through as Peter (the white haired guy) ponders calling their sister from Arizona. Diane proclaims that all they do now is wait and pray. And yes; you can still say pray in a DTVA cartoon. Then the door opens and in comes the police chief who they officially address as Maria. We exchange notes as Derek wants to know who shot Eliza; and Maria states that they believe Dracon shot her as a revenge plot for butting into his business at the hotel earlier on. Maria also points out that her own gun was used; but the fingerprints are smudged so badly; they don't look human. Diane wants Eliza to sleep and everyone walks out to let her do so.
Then we get a shot of the door closing and then Goliath's shadow enters the room. We see Goliath holding her hand and stating that Dracon is going to pay for what he did to her; and tells her to come back to them and don't quit fighting this. Goliath goes into white eyes mode and flies out of the window and lands on a conveniently placed building in front of a huge window as we discover that inside is the office of Tony Dracon along with Glasses and his thugs. They are talking about selling these Buck Rogers laser beam stuff and they are about to land a huge deal of sorts. Goliath is lightly growling in the background behind the window and we head to Central Park as a trench coat wearing brown haired man with glasses is running around looking panicky and is stopped by a blond haired man with an brown shirt and wants to mug this poor guy with glasses. So he brings out the most BS&P'ed weapon I have seen in this show thus far. Now to be fair; BS&P'ing the weapons actually is a great unspoken angle because it gets the point across how easy it is to make the gun look fake and still be deadly. I mean; Eliza's pistol looked like a toy gun most of the time; thus it looked fake; and made it that much easier for Broadway to believe that he could use it without anything happening. That is a great unspoken thing this episode has done and it's a great giant middle finger to BS&P too. Then we hear growling and the thug's eyes turn all white for some reason (they return to normal on the next shot) as Broadway is stalking this dude. I cannot believe I just said that considering who voices Broadway. By the way; I didn't mention it because in my view, it's none of my business, but Gregory Weissman has stated on the record that Broadway is openly gay. The other reason I don't mention it is because I have no idea if he is being serious; or he's playing Jymn Magon's "Rebecca's husband ran off with Goofy's wife" cards.
So Broadway jumps the thug from behind like a back fighter (of course) and allows the man in the park to bail stage right. Broadway grabs him by the coat as he's in PISSY BROADWAY MODE~! It is really difficult to take Broadway seriously now that I know who voices Broadway. Seriously; imagine Patrick Star doing this and try telling me that you would take anything he sezs seriously? And Broadway finally sezs the word kill as he grabs the gun and crushes it in his hand. He demands to know where he got it and the blond haired dude surrenders faster than France and tells him that Glasses gave it to him on Canal Street near the docks. Broadway throws the thug onto the ground and flies off towards the city as we head back to Manhattan General as we see footsteps in the hallway as there is a code blue which is not a good sign for someone as they head into the Intensive Care Unit and it's Eliza who has gone from bad to worse as her pulse is gone and she's completely flat line as she is knocking on heaven's door as we speak. That ends the segment 15 minutes in. This is exactly going the way it should be booked; with Broadway turning into the anti-gun crusader to cover up his screw up, Goliath wanting to make Dracon pay for what is now turning into a situation of Eliza being close to being pronounced dead. This is the type of consequences I want to see in this situation. Good for you Michael Reaves! You are redeeming yourself after a really lame episode...
After the commercial break; we have Doctor Sato coming in with his team and one of the blond haired doctors on the team looks similar to Miranda from Bonkers. So they try the drugs through the biggest needle that they could find (It didn't need to be big guys) and they inject drugs in her from the ground to sky shot. No dice. So they bring in the defibrillator and give her 400 watts and that shock gets her out of cardiac arrest as her function is now normal. Doctor Sato wipes the sweat from his forehead and orders the family to be brought in which is a sign that Eliza might have gotten near out of the woods in this. So we head to the main streets with more red cars with white headlights; which the continuity is shot anyway due to the cheapness of the budget since we pan down and see the cars in different colors. That is the only logic break in this entire episode I should point out. We discover in the lavender car has in the passenger side Maria and a red haired male driver with a trench coat on. Hmmm; he looks awfully familiar to me. They notice the black limo as we cut to it and sure enough someone is driving Tony Dracon in it. The driver notices that there might be cops chasing them so they head to a sequence while they pull off the road by getting in front of a huge gasoline truck. They drive onto a side street; which the lavender car follows; and then they go into an inside parking lot and the doors gets sealed. The lavender car doesn't suspect a thing and drives on past which makes little sense, but whatever. Nothing can stop this episode from it's destiny now as the gate opens up and the black limo drives away in the opposite direction. However; while Maria missed this, we pan up to see Goliath in white eyes mode seeing the whole damn thing. HA!
So we head to the docks (the scene of the crime perchance?) as we see a thug and Glasses showing up in front of the red van as Glasses shows another BS&P gun under a white cover to said thug. The thug has blond hair and glasses by the way as Broadway appears on the top of the van in a neat shot and Broadway grabs Glasses by the head. Seriously; he does. The thug loses his hat and glasses as a result and bails stage right looking like he crapped in his pants. Broadway demands to know who he's working for as it's clear that he wants to crush Glasses skull in with the way Glasses' skull is twisted. HA! So we cut to a shipping hanger as Tony Dracon's limo has arrived and the steel gate opens to let them inside. The gate closes as Goliath lands on the roof and watches on as Broadway arrives from behind. Goliath is about to give him the fifth degree; but decides not to bother since Broadway doesn't know that Eliza was shot and the human responsible for it is in the building. Goliath is now in white eyes mode as he swoops down to the ground and Broadway just sezs right in a monotone before joining him. So we head inside the shipping hanger as the limo is parked somewhere inside and Tony...Now I know who he looks like: Tony Danza! From Who's The Boss! Me memories are all coming back to me. What a dickish character design by the creators there huh? Now if only Tony Dracon can box (since Danza in real life was a legit boxer); the cycle of life will be complete. They open the crates which still bear Xanatos' log and we see the big ass laser guns stuffed perfectly inside. Tony proclaims that they only have to wait for the buyer coming at midnight. Then he gets a call from his cell phone from Glasses and Glasses is clearly panicking because Tony claims that Glasses is not making sense. Somehow; in all this, I'm going to find out that Glasses is Derek Maza in disguise, knowing this show.
And then the wall is torn up and here comes Goliath as Tony tried to get everyone to move the weapons out. So one of the bodyguards grabs a laser gun and begins shooting at everything in sight and completely destroys the limo. What a dumb heel?! You shot your only chance to escape. Wonderful! NOT!! Goliath dodges and hides behind some crates and is right beside the conveniently placed console which brings electrical power to the hanger and Goliath destroys it making the lights go out. Sadly; there is way too much light to take this spot seriously. They couldn't use green/blue lighting here. Tony and company look around not selling that it's dark and here comes Broadway is PISSY BROADWAY STAR MODE~! I cannot take Broadway seriously for doing this because...you know why. So the blond haired bodyguard is shooting at someone while Tony bails and a shadow of Goliath is in the background going after Tony. At least they did a better job of concealing him this time which was not needed since there are only two gargoyles in the building anyway. So the brown haired guy is shooting from two direction and nearly shoots Tony in the process who has to backtrack. Broadway runs in from the blind side and grabs the blond haired bodyguard's gun. Then Broadway notices Goliath as Tony is walking up the steps to the catwalk. Goliath runs up those stairs and does absolutely no damage whatsoever to them; but tears through the metal floor to dodge Tony shooting at him from the catwalk. Tony is scared so much that he teases free falling over the catwalk; but Goliath snags his ankle. Goliath is teasing killing Tony for shooting Eliza which Tony is stammering about in surprise as Broadway lands and pleas for Goliath not to drop him to his death; which isn't much of a drop to say the least. Goliath tells him to give him one good reason not to. Lapse back into his normal character? Where have I seen that before? Oh yeah; TaleSpin. Good for you Michael Reaves!
Broadway finally confesses that Tony had absolutely nothing to do with the shooting and that he shot Eliza unintentionally because he played with the gun and it went off. He apologizes to Goliath for it too. As much as the guns in the last sequence were BS&P'ed; again, making them look fake actually adds an extra element of danger. Too bad they were lasers and I suspect Disney isn't going to allow any more bullet shooting guns after this episode is over. So Goliath grabs Tony and throws him on his back on the catwalk. Goliath tears an iron railing and ties up Tony with it along with his other cronies. Goliath tells Broadway to come and Broadway follows him with his wings folded looking ashamed of himself on the way out. So we head to the gate as it opens and a blue limo is outside. Then a figure comes in as Goliath accuses him of being the buyer...and it's...wait for it... Owen Burnett. Yeap; Tony was merely trying to ransom David Xanatos' weapon prototypes. That is just great! Owen inspects the shipment and deduces that 37 of them were already sold onto the street. Goliath takes one of the BS&P weapons which appears to be a rocket launcher and he shoots the entire shipment of weapons and they melt into molten metal. HA! Owen's response is as deadpan as Shere Khan; which is hilarious considering what happens to Owen later on in this series. Goliath destroyed them to make sure they didn't land in the wrong hands if case you didn't notice. Goliath is about to leave to see a sick Eliza again as Broadway perks up thinking that there is hope and that she isn't dead. Goliath gives him the icy cold stare which makes Broadway look shameful again and they both walk out. Oh; before that happens, Goliath breaks the rocket launcher he used into two pieces and lays it neatly onto Tony's lap proclaiming that this will link them to the stolen property. Which is fine because we have the footage of Tony stealing it, so that's that.
So we head to the ICU as Goliath and Broadway watch on from the window as Eliza's family is praying for Eliza at this point near her bed; and then Eliza's right arm begins to stir and she slowly wakes up as the family is estatic to see Eliza alive as Eliza feels lousy and wonders what happened. Peter explains that Maria called and Tony was arrested for grand theft as he and his bodyguards were found with the stolen weapons which were for Xanatos and they were all destroyed. The blond haired doctor arrives to check the IV and orders the family to leave to allow Eliza to rest now that she is past the crisis point. Goliath and Broadway come in as Broadway apologizes for playing with her gun and Eliza apologizes to him for carelessly putting the gun on the coat rack. Broadway proclaims that he'll never touch a gun again and Eliza agrees not to repeat her mistake again. Goliath then states that he and Broadway need to go as Goliath assures her that she's safe and can rest now. The sun comes up as Eliza is sleeping and we zoom out from the window to see Goliath and Broadway guarding the hospital room as stone statues in a really awesome ending and that ends the episode at 21:18. You know what this episode is getting. ***** (100%). Michael Reaves really earned his crew cut here.
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; I knew coming in that I was in for one of the best episodes in the series and they finally delivered after a slow start. The "gun safety" episode delivered exactly what it promised it would do: present a believable episode about the consequences of getting shot by a bullet shooting gun. Broadway was the perfect character for this because he is the most manchildish of the gargoyle clan; so him getting influenced by the Western movie was completely believable and made what happened with Broadway playing with the gun so memorable. I also love the fact that they were able to allow media influence to play a role; but do it without being so overbearing like Darkwing Duck was in Film Flam. This is the perfect way to allow something like that without rubbing your audience the wrong way. Hudson's comment about what is real and what is not allowed me to say that this is believable without rubbing me the wrong way like some politicians I know. I'm also glad that they wrote it to allow Eliza Maza to make a mistake by putting the dangerous weapon on the coat rack; since she has been mostly flawless up to this point. We saw the consequences of Eliza getting shot: like the bleeding, the symbolic blood on Broadway's hands was delivered perfectly and considering that Broadway looks like Patrick Star, it was amazing, Eliza flat lining in the hospital; the wrenching display by the family in the ICU. Sure; the weapons that followed were all lasers; but that doesn't matter because Eliza's gun was BS&P to look fake and that actually carried an added sense of danger which was completely opposite of what BS&P wanted the editing to do. So you have basically ingrained into the audience that fake looking guns can be as deadly as the legit looking ones. As demonstrated by Broadway's hate for guns in general. Everything in this episode clicked like magic to me; something that TaleSpin did a lot as well. I wanted Goliath to defeat Tony; but I was booing him for trying to kill Tony because I knew Broadway was responsible, and this gave Broadway added sympathy for me because he showed incredible remorse for what he did. Sure; the whole weapons stealing thing is a Spiderman-equse plot device; but that wasn't the main event. Tony was there to give motivation and justification for Eliza trying to bust Tony and made great cover for the real shooter because Eliza had been on Tony's ass for the longest time on stolen weapons. That made "Tony as the shooter" a believable cause which is what you want to do to convince an audience who already knows who shot Eliza.
Michael Reaves deserves all the praise he ever got in this episode because in my view; this is the best episode he ever did. Obviously; Disney BS&P was not amused, but screw them! They wanted Gargoyles to be Batman like; so why not have Eliza getting shot? Once that happened; Disney cut it in re-runs; then played it on Toon Disney with edits to obscure the blood which was pointless because the editing dulled the impact of the blood. I get why Disney did it due to their no blood policy on the channel at the time, but there is no way you can paint a smiley face on this without losing the effect. Thankfully; the scene is on the DVD with the red stuff for all to see. We should have seen it coming since we saw a dead body stretched out in Temptation; but the difference is, Temptation was lame compared to Deadly Force. While this episode is a BS&P nightmare to be sure; it was a one-off deal which could have been edited and still got the message through (just not the full impact though). And Broadway didn't mean it either. Kit Cloudkicker is a much bigger nightmare for BS&P since he's a legit child (and he has shot cannons in the prototypes that I have seen) and he's a former air pirate which the implied stuff he probably did would have been much scarier. Did I mention that he's 12? So I pencil this episode in the number 3 slot of best episodes I have ever seen (behind Stormy Weather and the Plunder and Lightning television movie) due to a few silly moments; but it's #1 with a bullet in term of handling gun safety properly. So next up is Enter MacBeth as we introduce one of the best male heels in the series and it's the beginning of Bizzaro World in the world of Gargoyles as well. Did I mention that he's like El Captain from Ducktales; only with a more tragic backstory? So....
Thumbs way up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.