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Gargoyles: Avalon Part One
Reviewed: 09/28/2013
Now We Get Surreal!
So we finally have come to the big fork in the road as we split the gargoyles into two teams and start something I call story forking in which we get stories from two different arcs. On one story arc we have Eliza, Goliath, Bronx and "Guardian" as he wants the gargoyles to come to Avalon to protect the eggs from the unlikely team of Macbeth, Demona, Archmage and now turning heel, The Weird Sisters; while the second arc features Brooklyn and the clan as Brooklyn has to defend the fort which sadly only lasted about two or three episodes tops. This is where the episode starts getting really whacky and absurd as it's clear that the serial format is taking it's toll on the writers who are in an episodic culture and sometimes cannot keep their storylines straight. The Avalon World Tour is basically designed for a number of reasons: [1.] To give focus on Bronx who needs it badly. [2.] To introduce a new female babyface gargoyle to the team. [3.] To do something different that will eliminate the chance that this series will suffer from serial fatigue and [4.] To create tension between Eliza and Goliath. This arc is 24+ episodes long; as it begins here in Avalon and ends with The Gathering with the guy which has been referenced to death in this show: Oberon himself. So; we start with part one as a Guardian wearing a helmet shaped like Goliath has somehow rowed himself from nowhere and into Central Park. And he's looking for Goliath. Why? Let's rant on shall we...?!
This episode is written by Lydia C. Marano and story edited by Brynne Stephens. Animation is done by Koko Entertainment with additional services done by Dong Yang Animation.
Opening Moment #1: We get recaps of Awakening Part Two (Magus, Tom, Mary, Gargoyles), The Long Road To Morning (Prince Malcolm and The Archmage) and the end of High Noon (Demona, Macbeth). Macbeth asks why we are working together. Read on to find out sir!
We begin this one with a really crappy sunrise shot of the buildings in NYC. Oh man; doesn't anyone in animation know how a real sunrise works?! Obviously not because when we pan over to the clock tower; it is automatically night time and the gargoyles live again! Wow; barely 30 seconds in and we have a logic break. Hudson calls this a glorious night as Goliath walks into the clock tower and sits down on the red love seat. Brooklyn ask about Goliath going; but Goliath has a good orange book to read and wants to finish it see. Bronx wants to come on for whatever it is supposed to be; but Hudson pets him and tells him that this isn't his night which Bronx doesn't like at that. Don't worry Bronx; you won't be treated like a Zipper for long. Hudson, Broadway, Lexington and Brooklyn all fly off the perch and into the sky. Take a good picture of this because you won't be seeing them again for other five episodes or so. Then we cut to Central Park as there is dense fog on the lake only. We then see a small boat which has a weird statue like head on the front. It docks as a shadow of a knight like guy in armor with a winged like helmet and cape gets off as we see that there is a steerer in the back. We see him walking towards the gate and then cut to a front shot and his suit makes him look like Goliath. He takes off the helmet and the guy has light brown hair and is really old. We see him walk on the streets as once again Brendan and Margot appear once again even though they are supposed to be dead as per City of Stone. Even seeing Kitten Kaboodle and the Vanderschemes as cameo after being arrested in their episodes makes a hell of a lot more sense than this. And the gang members from Awakening Part Two are back as well as they shove Goliath Guardian into the alleyway brick wall; and taunt him as wearing a tin tuxedo. The man's voice is clearly Scottish as we get more taunting as this guy draws his sword and gets beaned from behind and squashes one of the goons into the wall. Knight squashes the heels and then walks out of the alleyway while blowing off the leader for being all noise like NYC. Wow; that was a lame burn.
Leader grabs a trash can and throws it at the knight who swings it away into the glass window of a furniture shop which allows the alarms to go off and knight almost steps back into the street and nearly gets run over. The goons laugh at him and then in comes Morgan and his BAD EPISODE POLICE~! No, not really. The goon squad tries to run; but the police cars block the way as Morgan comes over to the knight as knight blows him off as a lawless rufffin. Morgan shows his silver badge and apparently doesn't allow swords in the city. The knight calls him a guardian and then he kneels and gives the sword to Morgan claiming that he'll submit to his law. Okay; that was cute. Morgan grabs the sword and he drops on him. HAHA! The goon squad laughs at him as they are handcuffed and dragged away. Since he called himself a guardian during that exchange...Guardian is voiced by Gerrit Graham and according to IMDB: Gerrit Graham was born on November 27, 1949 in New York City. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, Chicago, Illinois and Grosse Pointe, Michigan. Gerrit made his acting debut at age eight in a Detroit Art Institute stage production of "Winnie the Pooh." Graham was the president of the dramatic association as a high school student at Groton and general manager of the Columbia Players while studying at Columbia University. He began his cinematic career acting in movies for director Brian De Palma: he's excellent in his film debut as paranoid conspiracy nut Lloyd Clay in "Greetings!" and gave a hilarious performance as preening flamboyant rock star Beef in "Phantom of the Paradise." Graham's other memorable comic roles include no-talent aspiring country singer Perman Waters in Paul Bartel's "Cannonball!," hippie commune leader Magic Ray in "Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw," sleazy used car salesman Jeff in the uproarious "Used Cars," the snobby Bob Spinnaker in "Class Reunion," and the leering Rodzinski in "The Creature Wasn't Nice."
Moreover, Gerrit has demonstrated his considerable range and versatility in such occasional serious parts as computer nerd Walter Gabler in "Demon Seed," Susan Sarandon's abusive boyfriend Highpockets in "Pretty Baby," tough Vietnam veteran Ray Stark in "The Annihilators," and Alex Vincent's jerky foster father Phil Simpson in "Child's Play 2." Among the many TV shows Graham has done guest spots on are "Baretta," "Starsky and Hutch," "Laverne & Shirley," "The A-Team," "Fame," "St. Elsewhere," "Miami Vice," "Dallas," "The Wonder Years," "Seinfeld," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "Babylon 5," "The Larry Sanders Show," "Star Trek: Voyager," "Law & Order," and "Third Watch." Gerrit had a recurring role on "The Critic." He wrote three episodes of the 80s "The Twilight Zone" revival and acted in the "Welcome to Winfield" episode of the same show. On stage Gerrit has performed improvisational comedy sketches with Chicago's Second City troupe and worked with improvisational director Paul Sills in Chicago as a member of Sills' Story Theatre ensemble. Graham has written several songs with Bob Weir (these include the lyrics for the Grateful Dead tune "Victim or the Crime"). Graham wrote additional dialogue and provided additional voices for the hit Disney animated picture "The Little Mermaid" and co-wrote the screenplay for the cartoon feature "The Prince and the Pauper." He's the father of sons Jack and Henry. He began his career as Lloyd Clay in Greetings in 1968. Gargoyles is his DTVA debut and his only appearance. Cove Road as The Hitchhiker is his most recent credit. He has 120 acting credits, five writing credits (The Young Riders, The Twilight Zone, The Prince & The Pauper, The Little Mermaid and Oliver & Company), two other credits (Cannonball for writing the soundtrack, Hi Mom! as a set constructor) and one Self credit to his resume.
So we scene change to inside the computer room of police headquarter as Eliza is on the computer as Morgan and his police buddies laugh, giggle and cosplay in that order. Eliza turns around and asks Morgan what is so funny and Morgan explains that he pulled in a rangy old guy. I love real comments that aren't supposed to be real comments. Morgan claims that the Guardian has real King Arthur style armor and was looking for gargoyles. Eliza talks about them starting their own fan club and then Morgan claims that the Guardian knows one of the gargoyles' names...which is Goliath. This is a shock to Eliza as we head to inside the clock tower as Goliath and Eliza exchange notes on the situation. Goliath has no idea who this Guardian is; but the Guardian seems to know Goliath very well. Goliath claims that they cannot bring him to the clock tower and Eliza cannot bring Goliath to lockup; so Eliza decides to find a way to spring him from the cell and meet Goliath in Belevdere Castle in one hour. Goliath gets up as Bronx comes over all giddy inside and Goliath tells him that he can come this time; making Bronx the happiest mutt on the face of the earth. It completes him as a gargoyle person. So we head to Belevdere Castle (ironically shown in High Noon) as Eliza and Guardian are on the grounds talking about how Eliza was talking about his family and using it to convince someone to let him go; Guardian's response is quite true. Goliath and Bronx come in and Guardian puts the Goliath mask on; for no reason. Guardian greets him and takes about 90 seconds to get to the point that he is related to Princess Katherine and the gargoyle eggs as he reveals himself and takes the helmet off. We discover that he is Tom who apparently had his hair bleached blond when he was a kid. That's really cruel. He remembers the gargoyle clan being destroyed and that the Magus and Katherine took the eggs away to somewhere safe; but now the eggs are in danger which shocks Goliath and that ends the segment nearly seven minutes in. Yeah; now we are heading into bizzaro world with this show and it's only going to get more surreal as time goes on...
After the commercial break; we see Guardian talking some more and then he runs off because he wants them to come. Goliath, Bronx and Eliza chase him through the park towards the lake where the small boat is as Tom brings out the row stick and as I didn't note earlier; Bronx is so happy to see him that he gets petted for the second time. Eliza asks about Tom and Goliath explains that he was a friend in a time when friends were too few. Bronx and Tom get on as Tom wants Goliath to join in because if he doesn't; the Archmage will destroy the eggs. Goliath is shocked to hear this and gets on instantly. Eliza joins in and we have Eliza wondering how Tom got here and if they are going to the other side of the lake. Tom rows and then chants in Latin which I cannot speak at all; but I do know that Oberon and Avalon are used as words. So the fog consumes them as Tom explains his strange journey as we HIT THE FLASHBACK~! So we head to an eastern pan shot towards Castle Wyvern in Scotland 994 AD as we head inside to a much cleaner castle than usual as the denizens are packing up their stuffs on horse and carriage. We pan over to Katherine and the Magus loading up the straw wagon with gargoyle eggs as all of them are on the wagon now. Tom claims that he counts 36 eggs are there. Mary is worried about getting the eggs to King Kenneth; but Katherine promises that all of them will make the journey. Tom roleplays a knight and promises to fight to protect the eggs. So Katherine takes a dagger and tells Tom to kneel down and Tom sells it. Katherine officially knights him and Tom takes an oath to swear to protect the eggs at all costs; which Tom agrees to. Magus has grabbed the Grimonium and Mary places Tom in the back as Tom sits cross legged and does the Gruffi pose; and his face looks like he doesn't like this at all. It is a long journey as we see the path consumed with rain as they do the "push the car out of the mud spot" and both Magus and Tom fall flat on their faces. Tom and Magus get up and have a bonding moment. Then they get out as the solid ground looks like they are stepping out of deep water on the way out.
So we scene change to King Kenneth's kingdom as we see four red armored guards on horseback looking surly as the carriages arrive at King Kenneth's castle which has two crosses sandwiching a circle in the middle. That was neat. Sadly; the red guards on horseback do nothing else. So we head on the castle grounds as Tom is tending to the horses and then we head inside a banquet hall as Tom is in the background while we see Katherine, Magus, King Kenneth (wearing a crown, red clothes and a blue/gold trim cape; voiced by the same guy who voices Petro Xanatos), a blond haired maiden wearing all blue and a brown haired with a beard and a golden headband wearing at least a blue cape and red clothes. Yeah; that is so not a logic break there guys! Kenneth raises his goblet and has a toast for his niece for coming home safely and assures her that there will be contentment within these walls for her. Everyone raises a goblet for her as Katherine thanks Kenneth for the kind words and Tom (dressed up in royal gear now instead of his noble gear) leaves the area as Kenneth goes over to the maiden saying that there is contentment for her too. We discover that she is Lady Finella; who looks like a Weird Sister now that I have had time to think about it. She waves off the restlessness of herself as one of the guys on the far right of the table is not amused. At first; I thought it was Constantine himself, but he comes in with the red armored guards who were surly with Katherine and company earlier; are now bowing before her. Constantine is the one with the green tunic as he is grateful and Katherine thanks him for that. Finella is not amused at all as Kenneth's roast beef dish appears on the table for fun. So let's get all the remaining voices out of the way for this first part... Constantine is voiced by Ian Buchanan and according to Wikipedia (DANGER! DANGER!): After studying acting in New York at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute and privately with Marcia Haufrecht,[1] Buchanan's first major daytime role came in 1986, when he joined the cast of General Hospital in the role of Duke Lavery, whom he portrayed until 1989. After leaving the role of Lavery, Buchanan appeared in roles on prime-time series including It's Garry Shandling's Show as Ian McFyfer from 1988 to 1990, and Twin Peaks as Dick Tremayne from 1990 to 1991. In 1990, he played a wealthy Playboy style magazine publisher who murders his partner in the Columbo television series episode Columbo Cries Wolf.
In 2002, joined the cast of Port Charles where he portrayed the sinister Joshua Temple, until the show's end in 2003. In 1993, Buchanan returned to daytime and was cast on The Bold and the Beautiful in his second most recognized daytime role as Dr. James Warwick, which he portrayed until 1999. Buchanan has since reprised his role as Warwick in several guest appearances from 2004 to 2011. Following the end of his regular appearance as Warwick, Buchanan made a cameo appearance on Days of our Lives in 2001 as Lord Sheraton. On 30 May 2005, Buchanan joined the cast of All My Children, in the role of Dr. Greg Madden, a fertility specialist involved in the controversial "un-abortion" storyline involving Erica Kane (Susan Lucci), as well as the abduction of the daughter of Dixie Martin (Cady McClain) and Tad Martin (Michael E. Knight). Buchanan's role as Madden came to an end on 5 July 2006, when his character died as the result of being buried alive by Tad, a move which was widely criticized by fans for its apparent character assassination of Tad. In February 2012, Buchanan joined Days of our Lives in the newly created contract role of Ian McAllister, who is the husband of Madison James (Sarah Brown) and a former lover of Kate Roberts DiMera. (Lauren Koslow), but was let go in August, as the result of a shift in the direction of the series. On 27 August 2012, Buchanan returned to General Hospital as Duke Lavery after a 23-year absence.[2] On 12 November, it was revealed that Buchanan was playing a dual role. "Duke Lavery" was actually Cesar Faison in disguise, and Faison was holding the real Duke hostage at a clinic in Lucerne, Switzerland. He began his career as harried man in The Equalizer in 1986 (!!). Gargoyles is his DTVA debut and his only appearance. General Hospital (Duke Lavery) and Old Dogs & New Tricks (Christoph) are his most recent credits. He has 43 acting titles and 11 self credits.
Finella is voiced by Sheena Easton and according to Wikipedia: Her first single, the disco-tinged soft-synth-pop tune, "Modern Girl", was released in the UK before the show aired and reached #56. At the end of the show, Easton was still unsure of her future as a singer. The question was soon resolved when, after the show aired, her second single, "9 to 5", reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart in 1980. "Modern Girl" re-entered the chart subsequently and climbed into the top 10, and Easton found herself with two songs in the top 10 simultaneously. During the year 1980, Sheena was voted "Best British Female Singer" by the Daily Mirror Pop & Rock Awards, "Best Newcomer" by Capital Radio, and "Best Female Singer" by the TV Times Readers Awards.[citation needed] "9 to 5" was Easton's first single release in the United States, although it was renamed "Morning Train (Nine To Five)" for its release in the US and Canada to avoid confusion with Dolly Parton's hit movie title song "9 to 5". "Morning Train" became Easton's first and only #1 hit in the US and topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts in Billboard magazine. "Modern Girl" was released as the follow-up and peaked at #18, and before 1981 was over Sheena had a Top 10 hit in both the US and UK with the Academy Award-nominated James Bond movie theme ”For Your Eyes Only”. The song was nominated for an Academy Award in 1981 in the category "Best Music (Original Song)".[2] Easton's US success culminated in her winning the Grammy Award for "Best New Artist" of 1981. Easton's first three US albums, Sheena Easton (1981) (retitled edition of Take My Time), You Could Have Been With Me (1981), and Madness, Money and Music(1982), were all in the same Soft Rock/Adult Contemporary pop vein.[citation needed] The title track from You Could Have Been With Me made it in to the Top 15 (US), however, by the end of 1982, she saw her sales slumping.[citation needed] Some of her songs on these albums were covered by other artists too: "For Your Eyes Only" was covered by Marilyn McCoo and "Prisoner" was covered by the bands Sue Saad and the Next and Uriah Heep.
In 1983, she released the album Best Kept Secret and its first single, the synthesized dance-pop tune "Telefone (Long Distance Love Affair)" became her fourth Top 10 hit. The single "Telefone" was Grammy-nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" 1983.[citation needed] That same year, she had a Top 10 hit in the US with "We've Got Tonight", a cover of the Bob Seger song and duet with Kenny Rogers, which also earned her a #1 single on the Country chart (it reached the Top 30 on the British charts). The follow-up to "Telefone", "Almost Over You", was a #4 AC chart hit, Top 30 pop hit, and later became a hit on the Country charts for Lila McCann in 1998.[citation needed] "Almost Over You" was very popular in Asia (especially the Philippines) and was covered by the Filipino artists Sarah Geronimo, Regine Velasquez, Aiza Seguerra, Karylle, and Janno Gibbs and the Chinese singer Sandy Lam. In 1983, Easton recorded a Spanish-language single, "Me Gustas Tal Como Eres" ("I Like You Just the Way You Are"), a duet with Mexican star Luis Miguel. The single earned her a second Grammy, this time for Best Mexican-American Performance. The track was taken from the album Todo Me Recuerda a Ti (1984), which featured Spanish-language covers of seven previous Easton recordings and three new tracks.[citation needed] In 1984, she made a transformation into a sexy dance-pop siren. She was rewarded with the biggest-selling US album of her career, RIAA certified platinum A Private Heaven (1984), and her fifth Top 10 single, "Strut". Easton was, again, Grammy nominated for "Best Female Pop/Rock Vocal Performance" in 1984.[citation needed] She was also one of the first artists to have a music video banned because of its lyrics rather than its imagery; some broadcasters refused to air the sexually risqué "Sugar Walls",[citation needed] which had been written for her by Prince (using the pseudonym Alexander Nevermind). "Sugar Walls" was named by Tipper Gore of the Parents' Music Resource Council as one of the "Filthy Fifteen", a list of songs deemed indecent because of their lyrics, alongside Prince's own "Darling Nikki".[citation needed] The song eventually hit #3 on the R&B singles chart and #9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Easton's follow-up to A Private Heaven, entitled Do You (1985), was produced by Nile Rodgers and achieved gold status. In late 1985, Easton contributed "It's Christmas (All Over the World)" to the holiday release Santa Claus The Movie.
In 1987, the release of a follow-up album, No Sound But a Heart (1987),[3] was hampered in the United States after an initial single release, ”Eternity”, (another Prince composition) failed to reach the pop, R&B or adult contemporary charts.[4] The album's release moved from February to June;[3] then in August the release was further held up as Easton's attorneys asked that the album be delayed after EMI Records was absorbed into EMI/Manhattan.[5] Songs from the album were covered by other artists: Crystal Gayle and Gary Morris featured "Wanna Give My Love" and "What if We Fall in Love" on a 1987 duet album named for the latter song; Celine Dion recorded "The Last to Know" on 1990s Unison while Mexican singer Yuri featured the tune on her album Espejos De Alma (1995); Patti LaBelle covered "Still in Love" on 1989's Be Yourself; Pia Zadora recorded "Floating Hearts" on 1989's Pia Z. No Sound But a Heart eventually did get released in the United States in 1999, with four bonus tracks, including Easton's contributions to the soundtrack of the 1986 film About Last Night..., "Natural Love" and the Top 50 single "So Far, So Good". In 1987, she sang on Prince's #2 hit, "U Got the Look", and also appeared in the video. Prince and Sheena were Grammy nominated for "Best R&B Vocal, Duo or Group" in 1987.[citation needed] The two would later team again for "The Arms of Orion" written by Easton and featured on Prince's soundtrack to the movie Batman in 1989, reaching #36 in the US and #27 in the UK. They also co-wrote a song for Patti LaBelle's album that year titled "Love '89". In addition they co-wrote "La, La, La, He, He, Hee", which Prince recorded. Tabloid press linked the two romantically, which she has always denied.[6] In November 1987, Easton made her first dramatic acting appearance on the television program Miami Vice.
She played a singer named Caitlin Davies, whom Sonny Crockett was assigned to protect until her court appearance to render crucial testimony against certain corrupt music industry mavens. Sonny and Caitlin ended up married by the end of the episode, the first of five for Easton until her character was killed off.[citation needed] By the spring of 1988, the latest installment of the Miami Vice soundtrack was released and featured "Follow My Rainbow", which Easton had finished singing on her last appearance just moments before her character was eliminated. The song also appeared on her next album The Lover in Me (1988), a gold-selling disc debut released the following autumn on her new label MCA Records, that put Easton back on the charts. This album features Urban R&B and Dance-pop, and a sexier image.[citation needed] The title song from "The Lover in Me" reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 (UK#15) and became her biggest pop hit since "Morning Train". It also became a (#5) hit on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles and Tracks chart. It was followed on the R&B chart by "Days Like This" (#35) (UK #43), which missed the Billboard Hot 100. A third single was released "101" (UK #54) and missed the Billboard top 100 but did make it to #2 on the Billboard Dance chart.[7] The album received positive reviews and featured collaborations with LA and Babyface, Prince, Angela Winbush, and Jellybean Benitez. In 1990, Easton revisited her home country of Scotland to perform at a festival (The Big Day) in Glasgow. After announcing, that it was "good to be back home" in an American accent, she had bottles (some containing urine) thrown at her and, visibly shaken, she was forced to cut her set short. She vowed never to perform in Scotland again.[8] In 1991, What Comes Naturally became the last of Easton's albums to chart in the United States, peaking at No. 90. The title song was also her last Top 40 single to date, reaching No. 19. It also became her first hit in Australia since the mid-1980s, peaking at No. 3.[9] Another two singles "You Can Swing It" and "To Anyone" followed but failed to chart.
"What Comes Naturally" (US No. 19, UK No. 83, Australia No. 3.) remained on the pop chart for 10 weeks, and 11 weeks in the ARIA Chart in Australia. Easton has songwriting credits on three tracks. Easton is one of the few pop artist to adopt the New Jack Swing sound from the early 90's. Easton followed this with the non-charting No Strings (1993), an album of Jazz standards and My Cherie (1995) her last album to date stateside. Easton contributed vocals to the soundtrack on "Count Me Out" and "I Will Always Be With You". Easton also contributed the theme song "Are There Angels" to the soundtrack for Shiloh in 1997; and provided the song "A Dream Worth Keeping" for the 1993 animated film FernGully: The Last Rainforest. In 1997, she played 'Melissa', a recording star, who is visited by time travelers from the future in an episode of the Canadian television series The Outer Limits (Season 2/Episode 19) entitled 'Falling Star'. The episode featured her singing two songs from My Cherie. In the late 1990s, Easton retained an album contract with MCA Japan and released 2 discs of new material. Freedom in 1997, a return to her trademark pop including a remake of her debut single "Modern Girl" and in 1999 Universal/Victor released the self-produced acoustic set, Home. Also around this time, a greatest hits collection featuring 12 MCA singles recorded from 1988-1995 charted in Japan at #98. Easton adopted a boy (Jake) and girl (Skylar) between 1995 and 1996. Motherhood led her to curtail her appearances and focus on casino gigs, corporate shows and theatrical work.[10] "Because I adopted my children, I could plan my timing", she told The Arizona Republic. "I knew exactly when they were coming along, so I knew when I had to change my life so it would be a stable life."[10] Easton continued acting in America, starring in Broadway revivals of Man of La Mancha opposite Raul Julia in his last stage role (1992), and Grease (1996). Between 1994 and 1996, she played several characters in Gargoyles the animated series, including Lady Finella, the Banshee, Molly and Robyn Canmore.
In 1999, she voice-acted a part-demon character, Annah-of-the-Shadows, in the computer game Planescape: Torment. She lives in Las Vegas with her two children and often performs in various casinos' entertainment venues. She voiced the character of Fiona Canmore for a scripted but unfinished episode of the cancelled animated feature, Team Atlantis. In December 1998, Easton toured with "The Colors of Christmas" with artists Roberta Flack, Melissa Manchester, Peabo Bryson, and Jeffrey Osborne. Windham Hill Records produced "The Colors of Christmas" disc by Robbie Buchanan of holiday music. Easton contributed two tracks, "The Place Where We Belong" (a duet with Jeffrey Osborne), and "The Lord's Prayer". 1999-2000 saw New York based One Way Records gain the rights to release all of Easton's EMI-America catalog. For the first time in the US, No Sound But a Heart was released. All Easton's EMI back catalogue was re-released with bonus tracks, incorporating B-sides and remixes. However, there was one notable exception to the re-release schedule, Easton's Spanish language album Todo Me Recuerda a Ti. She also signed an album contract with Universal International UK and attempted a comeback of sorts with Fabulous (2000), an album of classic disco covers.[citation needed] The first single, "Giving Up, Giving In", reached UK #54, and the album failed to chart in the UK and was not released in the US. A second single, a cover of Donna Summer's hit "Love is in Control", was withdrawn. In Japan, the first single was "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and the album included a cover of Teena Marie's "I Need Your Lovin'" as a bonus track. Remixes of the singles were produced by Joey Negro, Sleaze Sisters, Sharp Boys, Rob Searle, DJ Soma Grow and Almighty. This was to be Easton's last album release to date. Released in 2000, it was Easton's 16th studio album. The album was only released throughout Europe, Japan, Australia, and Argentina. The album contains mostly cover versions of hit songs from the 1970s and 1980s, and most of them disco classics. There are also two original compositions. The first single released from the album was a remake of "Giving Up Giving In", which had originally been a hit for The Three Degrees in 1978.
Easton's version was less successful, peaking at #54 on the UK singles chart. A second single was released in 2001, a cover of Donna Summer's 1982 hit "Love Is In Control" with an accompanying video, that was taken from footage of Easton's album launch concert at G-A-Y nightclub in London. However, this too was unsuccessful and shelved indefinitely. In Japan, Fabulous was released in February 2001 and the first single was "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", which had originally been recorded by Frankie Valli in the 1960s, though a disco version had been a hit for The Boys Town Gang in the early 1980s. The album was packaged differently from the UK version and included two bonus tracks; "I Need Your Lovin'" (a cover of the 1980 Teena Marie song) and a remix of "Can't Take My Eyes Off You". In Australia, "Fabulous" was released 24 February 2001 and Easton was asked to perform songs from the album to close out 2001 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras ceremonies. The album was a commercial failure in the UK, though the album did enjoy mild success in dance clubs in London, Japan, and Australia. However, the album was not released in the United States. Easton also went back to Australia in 2001 for the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras and closed the celebration with songs from Fabulous.[citation needed] She began her career as a performer for the movie For Your Eyes Only in 1982; but started acting in 1987 on Miami Vice as Caitlin Davies. Gargoyles is her DTVA debut and she appeared in The Legend of Tarzan as Doctor Robin Doyle and Phineas & Ferb as Doofenshmirtz's girlfriend which is her most recent credit. She has 23 acting credits, 28 soundtrack credits (Kenny Rogers: The First 50 Years most recent credit), one composer credit (The Lover In Me) and 65 self credits to her resume. Yeah; Finella's tribute is longer than the entire rant itself; including the two other tributes combined.
So we scene change to inside the drawing room as Tom is back in his noble clothes again tending to the fire while Mary is walking to the table with a teapot. Magus and Katherine exchange notes on Lady Finella being smitten by the king for some unknown reason. Mary claims that her heart yearns elsewhere and she is behind Constantine who one true love is power which Katherine calls a terrible thing to say. How Teddy Ruxpinish of you. We get a shot from the fireplace while the fire is still lit as Tom is looking at the fire while Mary plays the "It's not nice, but it's accurate" card on Katherine. By the way; I failed to mention this earlier, but when Guardian was fighting the goons; one of them said "no shiv"; which has to be on par with using the word dastard. Nice! So we head outside as Kenneth and the brown haired golden headband wearing prince come out of the barn and the brown haired prince is finally named as Maol Chalvim as Maol is blowing off Kenneth for being too soft and not knowing what is going on around him in roundabout terms. Constantine comes in and bows to Kenneth; and lets him pass as Maol looks to sneer Constantine; but Kenneth tells him to play nice because Constantine is a good boy who simply lacks Maol's privileges. Ooooo; that has to burn silently. So Constantine does the MAX EVIL STARE OF DEATH which always signals that he has evil intentions and walks into the barn as we discover that Lady Finella is watching him. So we somehow see Magus inside sitting on bales of hay writing with the feather (the tickling jokes are suspended until this series is done by the way) as we pan over west to Katherine attending to the eyes. I'm guessing Mary and Tom are here too as Constantine comes in and offers to give Katherine a tour of the gardens. He also claims that the roses are almost as beautiful as you are. So Constantine is a two-woman man. Why doesn't that surprise me? Katherine tells him that she would like to; but it's not her time because she's attending to the eggs. Constantine does not look amused; but he walks out and Finella comes over to him and blows him off for being such a two-timer. HA!
Constantine grabs Finella and they go over to the garden and stand in front of the door which leads to the drying house. Constantine assures her that he has no love for Katherine and Finella breathes a sigh of relief. See; Kenneth (who is the king of this kingdom by the way) wants to marry Finella because she is restless and thinks this will cure her. I guess laughter is still not the best medicine at this point. Constantine and Finella both agree that it's time to tell Kenneth how they feel in their hearts and Finella states that they should do it during the feast. Constantine doesn't want anyone to know about this marriage stuff; so he wants Finella to tell Kenneth to go to in front of the drying house which is away from the peeping eyes of the servants. So there are a lot of perverts in King Kenneth's kingdom. Okay; good to know. I should know that Constantine is wearing a SWANK golden hawk talon emblem on his chest; which looks awesome. Finella leaves with Constantine as we see Tom looking from behind the drying house as we head back to a sky shot of the drying house as Tom has made it to the straw roof and looks from the open window as we see inside Finella telling Constantine to let her handle Kenneth because Constantine is way too blunt. So Constantine hides behind the door as it opens to reveal Kenneth wearing a blue hood (it's raining outside by the way) as he greets Finella and asks what she wants and Kenneth shuts the door and proclaims that he wants the throne as he has the O HAPPY DAGGER OF DEATH and we have a struggle which we see in shadow while Finella is shocked, appalled and horrified all at the same time. And then BS&P steps in and we cannot even see Kenneth getting stabbed by Constantine in shadow because they cut to Tom on the roof when the fatal blow is struck and he is in tears. Then we cut over to Constantine as Kenneth is down on the floor dead; and there is no blood on the dagger at all. And remember; five years ago, TaleSpin allowed a dinosaur to get shot ON SCREEN. Constantine proclaims that the king is dead while Finella cries; and he grabs the crown, puts it on his head and declares himself king to end the segment 13 and a half minutes in. BS&P really has it's fingers in the pie in this episode. It's pretty good otherwise...
After the commercial break; we see the castle as there is a massive "squash of the dissidents" sequence going on outside as we cut over to Constantine cutting the emblem cloths on the lookout balconies and replacing them with his hawk talon emblem. We then see his train of soldiers rounding up the denizens who according to Tom's narration refused to bow down to the king basically and lock them up in the dungeon. They also force Katherine, Mary and the Magus into the drawing room and locked the door. Mary is deeply worried about Tom; almost to the point of being panicky. And then the doors fling open and in comes Maol with Tom in his arms along with his sword. Mary takes him as Maol found him sleeping with the eggs in the barn and they all feel bad for Tom seeing the direct horrors of this tragedy. I assume Tom told Maol what happened and then fainted because Maol points out that Constantine has indeed murdered King Kenneth and taken the throne; throwing anyone in jail for questioning is birthright to said throne. Katherine asks for time to move the eggs from the castle and Maol calls her daft and there is no time. He wants to flee with Katherine; but Katherine declines because she swore to protect the eggs. Maol understands her decision and runs off. Katherine tells the Magus that he can take Mary and Tom and get out of the castle; and Magus simply refuses on cue. So we head to morning on the castle ground in front of the castle doors as we get another logic break as we see Constantine swear an oath on the Destiny Stone; and there is no Destiny Stone to be shown. The denizens are here as the green tunic guards force Katherine to do the KNEEL BEFORE ZOD sequence and Katherine puts her headband on the arm as there is no bracelet there to make the pledge she does properly. She decides to pledge loyalty to the crown and then Constantine proclaims that she will be his queen and Finella is shocked and angry as she storms off because Constantine has turned on her thus proving Mary was right all along. It's not nice; but it's accurate. If Teddy Ruxpin would heed that more often; then his worldview wouldn't sound so not believable.
Anyhow; Katherine blows him off for that and then Constantine points his staff to the barn and gives her 36 reasons why she should marry her, and they are all in gargoyle eggs. Katherine relents and storms off stage left. The denizens all leave as Katherine goes over to Tom as the crowning party is over and done with. Tom asks if she is going to marry that murderer and of course Katherine refuses, but she wants to buy more time for the eggs as Magus is checking the Grimonium and he might have a way to solve this problem. Oh goody; the same guy who thought Goliath killed Princess Katherine has a plan; this is going to be fun to mock. So we head in the castle grounds AFTER HAPPY HOUR (after dark) as we see a poor maiden in red dumping broken clay pots into a wagon and then leaves upstairs. Magus comes in with the spell book as he motions to Tom to come out with the wagon loaded up with the gargoyle eggs and Magus casts a morph spell on them (in Latin of course) and changes the eggs into kitchen garbage; as Tom thinks the guards will be fooled as seeing it as more kitchen stuff to dump into the sea. Yeah. So Tom rides the horse and wagon out of the castle to a house boat somewhere as Magus casts a spell on the real kitchen garbage and they get morphed into gargoyle eggs on hay. Magus and Katherine takes the eggs and return them to inside the barn and lays them onto the hay. As the last egg is laid; in comes Constantine asking what is going on and Katherine explains that the eggs must be turned in order to protect the shells from cracking too soon. So Constantine takes the oversized staff mace of his and breaks a barrel of what appears to be brown rice and it spills on the ground; as Constantine proclaims that he hates gargoyles and we scene change to inside the drawing room as Katherine wants Magus, Tom and Mary to leave because she will be queen tomorrow morning as she throws the wedding dress into the fire in the fireplace. And Constantine checks Katherine every hour on the hour as the doors open and in comes Finella as Katherine proclaims that Finella had no prior knowledge of Kenneth's murder.
Finella proclaims that she will help Katherine because she wants to hurt Constantine. I don't think you can hurt him at this point. Finella has a plan as she is going to lure Constantine into the drying room again to beg for him to take her back.So Magus gives her a yellow glowing pill and a goblet and tells her to put it in her mouth while having a toast of sleeping liquid with Constantine which will protect her from the sleeping potion Magus created as we segue to the drying room scene where Finella puts the pill in her mouth and they toast and drink up as Constantine drops dead; while Finella takes the pill out of her mouth. Please explain to me how a tiny pill can keep you from sleeping when there is a cup of liquid that could easily go down the throat. Why not just fake drinking it? That seems a wee bit too contrived for my liking. So that buys them a few hours time as we head to the ocean water as we see Mary, Tom, Magus, the eggs, Katherine and Finella on three boats sailing away as the eggs are underneath the hay to keep them warm. Magus proclaims that they are going to the magical island of Avalon because a spell can make it reachable from any body of water. In other words; the Zoom spell from Dragon Quest. He brings out the Grimonium as Mary & Tom embrace themselves frightened about the consequences of this magic. Magus starts chanting the same spell that Guardian chanted earlier in the episode; which shows that Tom is in fact a magic knight. The fog comes in and we dive into the deep fog; only to see a ship with torches and The Weird Sisters show up invoking the LEGAL HANDS OF GOD. We finally also discover that the Weird Sisters are in fact three of Oberon's children since Oberon has claimed the island for himself. Avalon magic is allowed; but not outsider magic like the Grimonium.
Tom gets all offended by this because the princess might die along with the eggs and demands that they let them pass. The Weird Sisters of Oberon calls them screeching owls and uses their magic to try to turn them into owls (which turning big like Super Mario and managing to cause waves and snap the rope on the back boat containing Katherine and Finella which causes the boat to sway); but Magus uses the spell book to block the magic and somehow casts his own magic at the same time causing the WSO's to turn into owls using the exact same owl design. And then Magus takes the rowing stick and bashes them away. That was awesome! That's the first great thing the Magus has done in this series. Magus is not happy anyway despite the fact that he defeated three Weird Sisters with his own magic and his own spell book (which makes Oberon look weak I might add) because he cannot take the spell book into Avalon and feels useless. Katherine proclaims that he's still the Magus and still her friend as Finella and Mary decide to return to Scotland to defend against Constantine; which Tom doesn't like at all. However; they finally name Tom the Guardian of Katherine officially as Magus doesn't want to give up the spell book because it's a map to Avalon for Constantine to steal; which Finella offers to take and protect it with her life from Constantine. Finella and Mary get on the rear boat and row away as Tom can no longer see her Mama and Mary sezs Godspeed Tom as we get a closeup of Tom's face in tears and we finally return to reality (no, not at all) as Tom sheds tears and Goliath proclaims that this is a debt that he could never repay. Eliza asks how he lived through these years and Tom explains that time passes differently on Avalon as one hour in Avalon equals one full day in the real world. Which means 1 day in Avalon equals 24 days in the real world which is almost a month. So one year in Avalon equals 8760 days in the real world; which is equal to 24 years. I'm guessing when he means 100 years; he's saying 100 years in the real world; which means he checks every four years or so Avalon time. So he's at least 60 years old now. Okay.
So Bronx gets all giddy as we see the boat land on the beach in front of a large cliff which appears to be an encampment on the cliff edge (check the torches and wooden structure). Everyone climbs out as Bronx goes to the base of the cliff as Eliza comments on how giddy Bronx is and Tom proclaims that he has found the eggs and we pan up to the cliff edge and see three gargoyles on the cliff edge in the far shot. One of them is like Bronx; only in a shade of green; there is a male gargoyle with brown hair and a female gargoyle with the same shade of colors as Goliath. Goliath is shocked and that ends part one of this episode at 21:17. Basically a time filler story which was pretty good; but there wasn't much heat for this story and the logic breaks didn't help any. It's becoming more and more apparent with each passing episode that the creators are basically trying to make this sound more and more whacky as time goes on. Hopefully; the quality won't go down the chute for the sake of being absurd and cool. *** 3/4 (75%). But at least Magus proved that he wasn't a stupid mage in this episode; so I'm happy.
THE REVIEW LINE
Well; I have not much to say about this episode. It was really good; but the epic bloom of this series is off the rose now because I'm feeling it much less than I did at the beginning. While the story was well told and the animation for the most part was well done; it felt like I have seen this played out already and it comes off as a country song now. This was basically a flashback and a setup that seems really silly and cute; which is the exact opposite of the series. I still like Tom though and hopefully we find out what happened to Finella and Mary soon. I also have to give props to Magus for a change as he finally stopped being stupid and actually got some character development as a mage (and he kicked the Weird Sisters' ass already, so he is now the most threatening guy to Oberon by proxy); which makes Archmage look so weak in comparison. I didn't get the logic of the sleeping potion and the yellow pill because it looked so contrived. Again; why not just fake drink it? Same result. Overall; this was basically a shortened story flashback episode using the same plot device as "City of Stone". I can now see why people get tired of serials because it's the same type of stuff every time and there is no difference in the plot. Sure; it's well written and all; but the entertainment value is getting less and less as time goes on. This thing needs a surreal, whacky fight in Part Two and Three because if it doesn't, I think most people will finally stop watching this show. I think that is also one of the big reasons for the "Avalon World Tour" too; because at least that is whacky enough to keep some extended audience fans watching this and not turning into comedy animation from Warner Brothers; or something along those lines. So....
Thumbs in the middle pointing up for this episode and I'll see you all next time.