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Gargoyles: The Price
Reviewed: 09/24/2013
...Is Another Dumb Clone!
So; this is officially the last Pre-Avalon episode as the gargoyles suddenly get attacked by "Macbeth" somehow and have to rest prematurely on a roof. When they live again; Hudson is suddenly still in stone statue form with powder on it's face. So what has happened here? And can Hudson "Soft" be saved? Let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written and story edited by Michael Reaves. Additional material is provided by Lee Nordling. I have nothing on Lee Nordling television wise; but he did writing for comics in his career. Animation is done by Walt Disney Animation Japan with additional services provided by Takahashi Productions, Nakamura Productions, Jade Animation Productions, Studio Cats, Studio Robin and Light Foot.
Opening Moment #1: I wasn't expecting a recap; but there is one which is focused on Hudson and The Long Way To Morning; which gives away who is the focus character of this episode too.
We begin this one with a great painting like shot of NYC from far away AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as it's winter again. We pan over and then do a northern closeup pan shot of a building which tries to not look like cardboard; but fails. We then see the gargoyles flying up over it (first in shadow; then full profile which is neat with better animation.) and then we fly around for a while as Brooklyn complains about the cold. Goliath claims that the patrol is almost over. I see everyone but Bronx is here; so he's guarding the clock tower. This is the last episode where Bronx plays the Zipper role if anyone wants know. Hudson claims that this is not a bad life all things considered; and then we get the white laser beam explosion of doom which causes the babyfaces to separate. And here comes...Macbeth? On a hi-tech hover scooter? Okay folks; it's clear that this is not Macbeth because anyone who has watched five or six episodes of him knows the real Macbeth does not have an evil look. So we do some shooting for a while as Goliath has no idea how he escaped the Weird Sisters; but Brooklyn is going to make him wish he hadn't. The babyfaces surround Macbeth's scooter; but Macbeth rises up like a phoenix. More shooting as Macbeth is attacking them because he wants trophies. Yip! That is not the real Macbeth. Will the real Macbeth please stand up? Please stand up? Please stand up?! More shooting and Brooklyn is hit in the midsection and drops like a fly. Goliath grabs him on the way down and lays him on the snowy roof of the building. Yeah; that will surely wake him up. Broadway and Lexington try their luck; but Macbeth shoots the net at them and they are completely stupid to not get out of the way because they get caught and the net zaps them. You would think after Enter Macbeth that they would have figured that one out. Hudson jumps from the side of buildings after Macbeth and tries to come in; but Macbeth counters with..I cannot believe I'm typing this...the ANTHRAX LIME LETTER OF DEATH right in Hudson's face. The dust seems to put Hudson in a slight daze as he is having trouble flying. Yeah; this is one of those episodes.
Goliath jumps Macbeth from behind and tries to grab him for the German Suplex of Doom; but Macbeth takes his gun and sticks it in Goliath's midsection and shoots. He gets hit and Goliath winces for a moment before landing on a perch and looks all right as Hudson manages to stop selling and somewhere in this whole thing; Hudson notices that it's close to sunrise. Hudson casts the net away from Broadway and Lexington as Macbeth flies up and points to all the faces except for Goliath who is right behind him. Macbeth waves goodbye and Goliath screams "NOOOOOOOOOOO"; and then rips the antenna off into a spear and throws it right on the control panel of Macbeth's Segueway and it goes into a vicious tailspin (BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!) and then we get the blue lights going up off-screen as the babyfaces look down and we have a mass explosion sort of off-screen. The babyfaces are shocked because Goliath killed "Macbeth". Riiigggggghhhhhhtttttt. The fact that Macbeth turned into a Saturday Morning Cartoon Villain tells me otherwise. Goliath flies over to the roof claiming that "Macbeth" would have killed them if he didn't throw the spear. Hudson assures him that it was only in self-defense in roundabout terms as the sun is slowly rising and all the gargoyles decide to rest on the roof as we get a longish sequence of the babyfaces doing their fierce poses and turning to stone as the sun comes up. So we look at the NYC skyline and the sun begins to set towards night time and the gargoyles live again! Except one gargoyle who on the far shot; still had the whacky sword not turn to stone. On the close up; the sword is now stone. Now if I were there; I would say that this is not Hudson; but a stone statue of Hudson because his whacky sword doesn't turn to stone with Hudson; but the whacky sword is stone, so it has to be a stone statue of Hudson and not the real Hudson "Soft". However; that would end the idiot plot in about 12 minutes or so and we're only six and a half minutes in. So Goliath is shocked to see Hudson has not woken up as Broadway wonders why.
We see the powder on Hudson's statue (which proves nothing since whoever kidnapped Hudson probably put the powder on the fake statue) and I'm yelling: "CHECK THE DAMN SWORD!!" while the babyface deduces that magic is responsible for this. Anyhow; Goliath thinks that there might be a cure which Lexington doesn't understand because Macbeth is dead see. Riiiigggggghhhhhttttt. Goliath tells Brooklyn and Broadway to guard Hudson on the roof while he and Lexington go to Macbeth's mansion. Broadway asks Goliath what will happen if there is no cure. Goliath looks ashamed and then states that there must be a cure as Lex and Goliath fly off stage left. And we FINALLY got the first scene changer of doom nearly seven and a half minutes in. Macbeth's property looks so cool in the winter time I should note as Goliath and Lexington so we fly overhead and see that the fire pot is still intact and in use! Now originally; Fleance and Banquo were suppose to appear in this episode and act all creeped out that their boss wasn't around any longer; but they were written out for no reason because the laser turrets come out and they are on automatic with no heels manning them! I don't know who's idea was this; but it looks awfully stupid. So we shoot and dodge for a long ass whomping time until Goliath jumps onto the left turret (complete with anime background of doom) and turns it around to face the right turret as Lexington jumps on it and does the same thing in reverse. Both turrets shoot and they both jump up and the turrets destroy each other with ease. Goliath and Lexington land on the grounds as Goliath wants to look for the cure. So we head back to the roof with Broadway and Brooklyn guarding Hudson as Broadway realizes that even if Goliath finds something; it means nothing because they cannot use magic see. Brooklyn waves it off because it's more important to protect Hudson at all costs. Now despite the obvious stupidity of the episode; the suspense is still there...and then it gets pissed away as we head to a basement of some kind with Hudson in white eyes mode inside a electrical type dome cage. He is angry and pissed off so much that he's yelling from the top of his lungs. Way to go guys! We are not supposed to know Hudson is alive until the moment Hudson's statue is destroyed. That ends the segment almost nine minutes in. Okay so far; but come on guys!
After the commercial break; we see Hudson pacing around in the dome cell as we hear the door open from afar and Hudson starts blowing them off as two shadows emerge and it's David Xanatos and Owen Burnett. Good going guys; now the "death of Hudson" means nothing now. Hudson demands answers to this outrage and David proclaims that he is after Hudson Soft's skin. Hudson blows him off claiming that he has the devil's task of getting it. So David simply brings out a remote control and pushes it to push Hudson's cell out of the way as I discover the debris underneath Hudson's feet was in fact the stone skin of Hudson which flakes off during the live again sequence. David takes some of the stone skin and replaces Hudson's cell back. Hudson asks if he is through with him; but David claims that there is one more thing left to do and that is for Hudson to be a part of an experiment. So we get a sequence of one of the Steel Clan bringing in a black cauldron of some kind; which we never see the front of the SC's body; only the wings and the back. Hudson asks what David has and David claims that it's the cauldron of life and legend has it that it can make people live as long as the mountain stones. Hudson looks bashful when he deduces that David wants to be immortal. David claims that he wants to share his wealth with Fox forever. Hudson asks where he fits into all this as David points out that he needs the stone skin of a gargoyle which was Hudson's purpose of all this. Hudson warns him about the dangers of using such magical objects; reminding him of what happened to Fox in Eye of The Beholder. David agrees with that and decides that he'll test the formula and asks for any volunteers basically implying that he is going to use Hudson for the job. So David takes the skin and dumps it into the cauldron claiming that the mixture needs to boil for a night and a day. It's 36 hours by the way as we watch the mixture simmer and then boil as we return to that moment. Hudson then calls the Cauldron of Life an oversized chamber pot. That is a toilet fans. It's what we used to relieve ourselves in Ancient Egypt.
David claims that he intends to throw Hudson into the COL; and if Hudson lives forever, he goes free. Hudson asks if he dies; and David claims that Hudson has given up his life for science. So there is no Hippocratic Oath when it comes to Gargoyles. Come to think about it; David is no doctor and neither is Owen. But Doctor Sevaruis is and it's not he hasn't broken that oath already; so why isn't he in this episode? Couldn't pay Tim Curry for another appearance? That's awfully cheap of you Disney. Hudson blows him off claiming that the gargoyles will find him; but David points out that they already have as Owen shows a model of the Hudson statue which causes Hudson to gasp. David claims that he had trouble finding a version of his whacky sword which is really stupid because he could have used the real one instead of making a stone one. Bad logic break there guys! Owen is yelled at by David to make sure he distracts the babyfaces as Hudson asks what is in it for Owen and Owen claims that service is it's own reward before they both walk off. So we head back to the roof with Broadway and Brooklyn standing watch on the perch as suddenly; the whacky sword is now real again. Make up your mind guys! And then here comes the scooter and Macbeth shooting at them again. Broadway is shocked because they saw Macbeth die. Yeah sure; that is no robot, no siree! So Broadway and Brooklyn bail as Macbeth follows them in order to keep Macbeth away from "Hudson Soft". So we head to inside Eliza's apartment as Eliza asks about finding a cure at Macbeth's house and Goliath claims that they found nothing at all. Goliath turns to the window and admits that he needs help from a mage and mentions Demona's name. He also asks for help from Eliza because she is a detective; but Eliza doesn't know where to start looking; but promises to find a cure as Lexington hops on a chair and notices the skies are slowly becoming light and it's time to return. So we cut to outside as we see Goliath carrying Eliza and flying with Lexington following towards their destination.
So we head back to the basement as Hudson is still in the dome cell; sitting cross-legged while one of the Steel Clan members is watching over the Cauldron of Life. David comes in and comments about the soup simmering as Hudson asks why bother carving a stone statue of himself weeks in advance for him. David claims that Hudson is old and getting older and wants to give him one chance of meaning something to this world. David taunts Hudson claiming that he wastes months watching television outside the clan. This is in fact true. How many times has Hudson been in an episode not watching television?! Very few episodes actually. In fact; he has had only one other focus episode besides this one. Hudson dares David to open the cage to show him how useless he really is; but David simply walks off. Hudson paces around and the background music is off with the scene because it takes forever before he finally grabs a dagger like stone skin and looks at it. So we scene change back to the city as Brooklyn and Broadway are dodging laser gun which has a cool side laser firing on a building that appears to do no damage whatsoever. Still better than in Protection though as we do the SCOOBY DOO CHASE SEQUENCE THE GARGOYLES EDITION~! Wow; when was the last time I brought that joke out of the mothballs? It's almost sunrise and they will be sitting ducks; but at least they got them away from Hudson. Brooklyn wishes that this fiend would get away from them as Broadway backflips over and tries to fly behind Macbeth as "Macbeth" is repeating the same lines over and over again with no variation. Yeah; it's a robot of Macbeth. Brooklyn tries to grab him for the German Suplex of Doom ; but Macbeth grabs him and throws him like a lawn dart. Broadway comes at Macbeth just as Brooklyn regains his senses and bearing and Macbeth "punches" Broadway in the face which misses by at least two feet; but Broadway sells it anyway.
Man; the power of suggestion is so powerful in this fight. Broadway falls down; but recovers as Brooklyn heads to a building called Royal Persian Carpets on the sign in rainbow colors. We are really dabbing into stereotypes today aren't we?! He looks on as Broadway is being chased by laser fire; and "Macbeth" as Goliath and Lexington arrive with Eliza just as the sun rises. Goliath notices Macbeth chasing Broadway and he's shocked and appalled. Goliath tries to go after him; but Lexington and Eliza stop him because the sun has risen and everyone turns to stone in probably the most not believable stone turning sequence ever. Macbeth seems to leave on cue as Broadway turns to stone in midair (everyone else is on solid ground) and Eliza panics as she see Broadway free falling to the ground to end the segment almost sixteen minutes in. Okay episode so far; but there is not much heat for it.
After the commercial break; we see Broadway free falling towards the street as Eliza then notices a crane and there is a wooden box suspended from a rope. Eliza takes out her gun and shoots the rope to snap it (And you thought TaleSpin was the only one who did stuff like this? HAAAAAAAAAA~!) and the box falls quicker than Broadway and it breaks and out comes Persian Carpets which somehow pad Broadway's fall and gain no damage whatsoever. Riiiiiggggggghhhhhhhtttttt. I don't know what breaks logic more: The box falling faster than stone; or the carpets providing more protection than a feather bed. Even blue gym mats would jar the crap out of Broadway's body; and even those are thicker than Persian Carpets. So dumb. To be fair; they were rolled up and that made them thicker, but still. Eliza breathes a sigh of relief. Macbeth yells trophies and then leaves on his scooter. So we head back to the basement as Hudson is in the cage turned to stone of course as we see Owen come in to inform David Xanatos that Macbeth has sent in a field report proclaiming that he distracted the gargoyles all night long. David is impressed and claims that he's gunning for Owen's job as Owen stand there looking stunned. So we cut back to the carpet building as a crane is attaching a parachute like rope to Broadway and is being lifted up onto the roof with the rest of the babyfaces with Eliza on the ground looking on. Now; who is operating the crane? We never know because we cut to the next scene which is at Castle Wyvern with a clear Japanese like sunset which looks really neat. So we head inside the basement as Hudson lives again; but is not free. He notices the stone dagger and puts it in his belt as we head back to the PC building as Brooklyn flies over to the roof as he yells Jalapena; in a reference to Protection; so I'm assuming Broadway told him about the prank he pulled on Goliath. Okay. Brooklyn thanks Eliza for saving Broadway's skin literally. Lexington is confused about all this because Macbeth keeps talking about trophies; but doesn't kidnap them during sunrise and Goliath panics because there is Hudson all alone. So they leave for that building...
...and we head back to the basement as the cauldron burns and the cauldron bubbles. David proclaims that Hudson's bath is ready and he uses the remote control as a Steel Clan robot walks over to the electrical cage as it opens and grabs Hudson by the arms. Hudson proclaims that immortality has a heavy price and he has lived for 1100 years and most of his clan has bit the dust. You just cannot say die in this episode can't you Hudson? Hudson points out that Demona and Macbeth are immortal and asks if that brought happiness to them. David takes the whacky sword (indication that the sword was supposed to be stone on the statue of Hudson in the first place. Idiots!) and tells him to save his breath because age and death come with a heavy price and they are too expensive for him see. So we head back to the roof; and the Hudson statue is perfectly intact as the babyfaces all land on the roof. Brooklyn doesn't understand why Macbeth is still alive and why he keeps attacking them. I cannot understand why Disney Captions changed the word lived to survived; it's like changing "Oh my god" to "Oh my gosh" with captions in A Baloo Switcheroo. And this change is less justified than the one in TaleSpin. No wonder Disney Captions decided to skip the TaleSpin Volume 3 DVD set altogether. Goliath thinks that Macbeth is doing the fine art of distraction; and here comes Macbeth on his scooter as he sezs the same exact lines as before with the same evil look. Everyone bails as they try to keep Macbeth away from Hudson. Brooklyn and Lexington go over the building as Brooklyn thinks this is getting old. YOU THINK?! So Macbeth hovers around and keeps shooting as Eliza goes for her gun and points it; but there are no bullets there. You know you screwed when THAT happens.
So Macbeth continues to hover and finally shoots the laser right into the Hudson statue (after missing twice by about four feet); right in it's "heart" as Goliath looks absolutely horrified and the statue is completely destroyed of course. Sorry folks; no pathos whatsoever because they showed that Hudson was still alive ALREADY. So we as the viewer cannot even pretend to feel Goliath's pain and anger and sadness because they blew David's scheme far too early. So all the heat in this is gone out of this now. Goliath gets angry and goes after Macbeth on the scooter and crumbles the laser gun of doom. Macbeth turns around and uses the Megavolt Hands of Death to shock Goliath causing him to hang on the hover board for dear life. Goliath gets up and we have an anime background of them fighting on the scooter. Goliath calls Macbeth a murderer and punches him into the chest and we see various metal parts coming out of him as Macbeth robot has a really cool death animation in stammering before shutting off and then he falls off the scooter and dies. That was good; but I have a much better finish than that. I would have Hudson run in with the stone knife (or whacky sword; same thing) and just before he kills Macbeth the same way; Goliath stops in shock and then we flashback to all the scenes with Hudson and David and then have it end with Hudson stabbing Macbeth in the back. That would have been a lot cooler and wouldn't have wasted any more time because I wouldn't show the scene of Hudson with David at all in the episode until that moment. That keeps the suspense up and there is no BS&P'ing it since it all the same content anyway. Well; most of it. So we head back to the basement as the Steel Clan has Hudson by the right arm as Hudson struggles to get free; but David plays with the whacky sword and tells him to relax because he's useless without a sword. Hudson then brings out the stone knife and jams it into the Steel Clan's face and Steel Clan releases Hudson who perches onto the edge of the cauldron (here; I would have Hudson taking out the stone knife; but it doesn't matter since he gets his whacky sword back anyway) and then kicks David off and reclaims his sword and points it at Owen.
David is impressed by this and asks if he is going to destroy the cauldron of life; but Hudson decides not to because he doesn't want to interfere with David's plans to be immortal. However; Hudson tells him also that he wants David to realize that immortality has nothing to do with living forever, but what you do in that time of living. Hudson also tells him to consider the schemes he has does and asks him if he wants to be remembered by that legacy. That is actually a great question to ponder over as he walks out. Owen goes for his cell phone; but David waves it off because Hudson has earned his respect or something along those lines. So we head back to the roof as we see the Hudson statue in pieces while Goliath is delivering a memorial service which Brooklyn tries to cry; but cannot. Broadway apologizes for things turning out this way as Hudson arrives on the roof and does the Gruffi pose claiming that all things considered; he's glad it ended this way. This shocks everyone as Hudson is not dead as Hudson goes over to the statue and takes a piece of it's head to claim as a trophy because it's a first to reclaim your head after losing it which is really neat. Hudson has a long story which he would like to go back to the clock tower and have some hot tea. The babyfaces agree and everyone jumps off the roof (except for Eliza; who is carried by Goliath of course) and flies away stage left. So we head back to the basement as the place is much darker than usual. David is disappointed that he couldn't find out about the legend because there is no one to test it on. So Owen takes his coat off and dips his arm right into the solution. Now there's a badass for life. He takes it out and the arm turns to stone on contact. David then realizes that the legend states that you live as long as the mountain stones means that this is basically the Break spell from Final Fantasy IV. He thanks Owen and walks out as Owen looks at his stone arm and that ends the last episode before the Avalon stuff at 21:15 approx. Yeah; David Xanatos acted like he took that one well. The story itself was very good; but all the heat was gone because they revealed their hand much too quickly. I realize that you are marketing this to kids; but kids love suspense anyway, so why kill the suspense less than halfway through it. Some bad logic breaks didn't help either; and no Fleance and Banquo? Idiots! *** 1/2 (70%).
THE REVIEW LINE
Wow; I was actually into this episode when Hudson was replaced with a statue and then they killed the suspense of it. I mean; they had a perfect pathos story about Goliath and company thinking that Hudson was turned to stone during stone sleep (like in Awakening Part Two) and trying to find a cure; while "MacBeth" is attacking them. The problem is that they revealed the David Xanatos/Hudson stuff about nine minutes into the episode and we are not supposed to know that Hudson is alive until after Macbeth destroys the stone statue of Hudson; thus killing whatever pathos that they were trying to pull of. I couldn't feel sad for Hudson's death because Hudson is still alive. Goliath and company didn't feel all that upset about it either which also killed off the pathos as well; but by then, the whole thing meant nothing. This episode had all the right elements and both story lines were pulled off really well on their own (although I would change the part with Goliath killing the robot to Hudson doing it and giving him his crowning moment of awesome); but together; they were put in a way that kills the suspense to the viewer. Sure; the statue was supposed to have a stone sword of Hudson's; but that was more animation errors than anything else. Most kids wouldn't notice that problem if it was done my way. This episode was marred by the lack of Fleance and Banquo not showing up during the mansion sequence even though they were planned because the automated defenses were pretty stupid. I realize that some will say that reveals Macbeth's robot too early; but I say, it would have covered the suspense even more. Overall; this episode was a ***** episode marred by someone thinking that kids would have changed the channel if they show Hudson at the end for no reason even though the flashback would have given them that reason. Kids love suspense and if they had changed the channel; it wouldn't be because of Hudson's flashback. They would have changed the channel because the episode was bad to begin with. So there you go.
As mentioned before; this is officially the last episode before they start one of the most surreal moments of the series in which next up is Avalon which is a three part episode in itself as Goliath, Bronx and Eliza go with Tom who somehow makes it to New York City and takes these three to Avalon to fight the Archmage, Demona, Macbeth and The Weird Sister who are now officially heels. They will also meet a new female gargoyle babyface who will appear for the rest of the series and Goliath Chronicles as well; who apparently is Demona's daughter. And after all these heels are defeated; they DON'T go home. No; we then start the infamous "Avalon World Tour" which is designed to give Bronx focus episodes after acting like Zipper for the longest time, develop this new babyfaces' character and give tension to Eliza and Goliath. It also at times will give us a look at Brooklyn's leadership duties. So after Avalon; it will be Shadows of The Past (The prelude of this tour which causes the babyfaces to return to Castle Wyvern in 994 AD), Heritage (the first official stop on the tour in Canada/Alaska) and then Kingdom (Brooklyn's first episode as leader as he is playing mediator for Talon because Fang is about to turn on him) to end the Gargoyles rants for this year. And this tour goes on forever. Like 24 episodes long which ends with The Gathering as we discover that some overlord named Oberon is trying to kidnap Fox's little child to send to Avalon. Although we are only doing six episodes in this arc in 2013. Next weekend is Avalon of course; followed with the first three episodes of the Avalon World Tour, and then I move on to the Recess movie, followed by prep work and then Kick Buttowski with at least seven shorts; followed by Fish Hooks with eight shorts, ending with the Goof Troop Christmas Special sometime before Christmas Day. So....
Thumbs in the middle for this episode and I'll see you all next time.