Awakening Part Three

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"Awakening: Part Three" is the third televised episode of the series Gargoyles, and the third episode of Season 1. It originally aired on October 26, 1994.

Summary

Goliath catches Elisa

Main Plot

Elisa investigates the situation at the Eyrie Building, meeting Xanatos and eventually Goliath, who saves her life after she falls from the top of Castle Wyvern. After meeting the rest of the clan, Elisa convinces Goliath to let her show him the city as payment for saving her. They meet the next night, and take an aerial tour of Manhattan. They walk together through Central Park when they are suddenly ambushed by the Commandos that had fought with the gargoyles the night before.

Subplots

The gargoyles begin to grow accustomed to modern-day life. The trio explore the kitchen in the castle, and make a mess, before going out to explore the city, while Hudson discovers the easy chair and television set with Bronx.

Xanatos tells Goliath that the Commandos who attacked earlier stole three important disks from him, and that they work for Cyberbiotics. He then asks Goliath for his clan's help in retrieving the disks from three separate locations. After Goliath leaves, Xanatos talks to a shadowy figure.

Hudson receives his name from a conversation with Elisa.

Goliath saves Margot and Brendan from three street thugs, and the couple promptly runs away, more afraid of Goliath than their attackers.

Lexington startles Vinnie and then accidentally crashes his motorcycle into a wall.

The Story

Act One

In the entry hall of the Eyrie Building, David Xanatos's right hand man Owen Burnett is telling Detective Maza that the explosions at the top of the building were caused by a generator explosion. Detective Maza is not convinced; she heard automatic weapons firing. She threatens to return with a warrant and a lot more cops if Owen doesn't let her look around. He relents. In the castle's great hall, Xanatos greets Elisa and explains that the exploding generator is just a cover story for the press; the disturbance was actually caused by his men fighting off an attempt at industrial espionage by a rival corporation. Detective Maza continues to question him until Owen informs him of an issue in the kitchen, the result of the three young gargoyles exploring. He takes his leave and has Owen escort the detective out. As they're leaving the courtyard, Detective Maza notices a "stone" gargoyle that almost appears to move. Owen takes her to the elevator, but she stops it from descending and continues her investigation unsupervised.

As Detective Maza explores the hallways of the castle, the gargoyle beast catches her scent. He follows her up to the castle roof without her noticing, until she hears him growl. Drawing her gun, she orders the unseen figure to reveal himself. The gargoyle beast steps into the light. Detective Maza gasps and points her gun at the snarling creature. Goliath appears suddenly behind her, grabs the gun, and crushes it in one hand. Detective Maza backs away from him, not noticing the edge of the parapet behind her. Before Goliath can react, she accidentally steps off the edge of the castle and plummets toward the ground below.

Act Two

Goliath dives after Elisa and catches her in midair. He swoops low over the street below and lands with her on a ledge on a nearby building. Elisa is shocked to discover that Goliath can talk. He introduces himself and carries her back up to the castle. The gargoyle beast is waiting and Goliath assures Elisa that the creature will not harm her. Offscreen, Goliath explains how he and the other gargoyles came to awaken in Manhattan. The elder gargoyle and the three young gargoyles see Goliath talking to a strange human and go to investigate. Elisa meets the rest of the clan and tries to explain her job as a detective. As sunrise nears, Goliath tells Elisa she must go without explaining why. She asks if she can see the gargoyles again and teach them about modern-day Manhattan. Goliath concedes that it will be helpful to know about this strange new world and the potential dangers to their home. He agrees to meet her the following night on a nearby rooftop. When she asks about the reasoning behind the place, he presses her to reveal why she was snooping around the castle. "A good detective trusts no one," she tells him. "That's on thing we have in common," he replies. Elisa departs and Owen calls for Goliath to come and see Xanatos.

In his office, Xanatos asks Goliath to assist him. He tells Goliath that the team that attacked the castle stole three disks from him containing vital information. Goliath suggests that he use a "detective". Xanatos is impressed by how much Goliath has picked up in such a short time. He replies that bringing in the police will only increase the risk that the gargoyles will be discovered. Xanatos shows Goliath video footage of the three locations where the disks are being kept and Goliath marvels at the "living tapestry". Xanatos asks that Goliath lead the gargoyles in simultaneous attacks on all three locations so no one has time to warn the others. Goliath is reluctant to endanger his clan over something unrelated to protecting that castle, but Xanatos urges him to think it over. After Goliath leaves, Xanatos turns to a familiar figure watching from a shadowy doorway nearby. He assures her that everything is going according to plan.

Act Three

The gargoyles sleep in stone through the day and awaken again at nightfall. The three young gargoyles want to explore the city and Goliath agrees as long as they remain out of sight and close to the castle. Moments later on a nearby rooftop, Elisa arrives for her rendezvous with Goliath. He emerges from the shadows after making certain that she is alone. The elder gargoyle drops down behind them and explains that he was also worried that Goliath would be ambushed. Elisa shakes her head at the gargoyles' paranoia and asks what she should call the other gargoyle. The old warrior bemoans the human desire to name everything. "Does the sky need a name?" he asks Elisa. "Does the river?" She tells him that the river is called the Hudson. The old gargoyle gives in and takes the name "Hudson" for himself as well. He denies their invitation to join them on the tour and returns to guard the castle. Goliath and Elisa soar over the city and Goliath marvels at the changes of the past thousand years. He asks Elisa how they protect the city without any walls. She tells him that most of the threats to the city come from inside rather than out, a situation Goliath knows all too well.

In a nearby alley, a yuppie couple named Margot and Brendan are lost and experiencing car trouble. When Breandan gets out of the car to attempt to fix it, he is approached and menaced by three thugs. The thugs are momentarily distracted by something gliding overhead. Elisa walks out of an adjoining alley and lures the thugs over to where Goliath is waiting. The thugs attempt to fight Goliath, but are quickly overwhelmed while Brendan and Margot flee in terror.

Meanwhile, the other gargoyles explore what this new time has to offer. Back at the castle, Hudson and the gargoyle beast discover comfortable chairs and television. In the city below, the three young gargoyles check out the wonders of the modern world. The small green gargoyle is fascinated by a motorcycle, glides in to get a closer look, and accidentally frightens off the driver. The young gargoyle attempts to ride the machine himself, but ends up crashing it into a wall. The three agree that they're better off not telling Goliath about this.

Goliath and Elisa take a walk in Central Park. Goliath muses that modern Manhattan is no less savage than 10th century Scotland. Elisa urges him not to judge the city as humans have judged gargoyles, to look past the ugliness and violence and see the beauty that exists alongside it. Goliath hears a rustling in the bushes nearby and is shot in the shoulder with a dart. He and Elisa are immediately surrounded by five commandos, the same ones who previously attacked the castle. Elisa and Goliath fight back, but Elisa is soon overpowered and Goliath is subdued by three commandos and the sedative in the dart that hit him. "What do you want?" Elisa demands as the lead commando draws his gun. "Just tying up loose ends," he tells her, pointing the gun at the prone gargoyle.

First Appearances

Characters

Location

Miscellaneous

Quotes

  • "'Repelled an invasion'? You're a private citizen, Xanatos, not a country." - Elisa
  • "There seems to be a problem in the kitchen with our new guests." - Owen
  • "Who...what are you?"
"My kind have no names, but you humans call me Goliath."
"Your kind? You mean there's more than one of you?"
"Barely." - Elisa and Goliath
  • "And please, don't fall off the building this time." - Goliath
  • "Perhaps you should use a...a de-tec-tive."
"You're learning fast." - Goliath and Xanatos
  • "Amazing. It's like a living tapestry." - Goliath
  • "If we're going to live here, we've got to know all about this city. Its people, its devices..."
"Its food!" - Lexington and Broadway
  • "You guys are paranoid even for New York!" - Elisa
  • "Must you humans name everything? Nothing's real to you till you've named it, given it limits."
"It's not like that, it's just that...well...things need names!" - Hudson and Elisa
  • "Fine lass, then I will be 'The Hudson' as well." - Hudson
  • "You have to call a repairman to plug in the coffee maker!" - Margot
  • "Our biggest worries aren't from outside, they're from inside." - Elisa
  • "This world is just as savage as the one I remember."
"You're judging it the way humans have judged you." - Goliath and Elisa

Tidbits

Brendan and Margot make their first appearance in Gargoyles here, as do the three street thugs (who would reappear in "Avalon" Part One and "Hunter's Moon" Part One). The yuppie couple are among the best-known of the various "recurring background characters" of Gargoyles, ordinary residents of New York who have the habit of cropping up again and again. At first they were introduced simply to make things easier for the animators, but soon the production team developed a fondness for making them into people who would encounter the gargoyles over and over, particularly Greg Weisman, who saw it as similar to the "universe of characters" concept found in The Simpsons and William Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County stories. Brendan and Margot are not the first such "recurring background characters" to appear in Gargoyles, however; that honor goes to Officer Morgan in "Awakening: Part One".

Elisa comments when she first looks around Castle Wyvern, "Must have one heck of a heating bill". This remark bears a striking similarity to one made by Bugs Bunny in the 1959 Warner Brothers cartoon "A Witch's Tangled Hare", regarding, of all places, a ruined Scottish castle that he was strolling about in. Furthermore, "A Witch's Tangled Hare" contained a strong element of Shakespearean parody, primarily Macbeth, but with aspects of Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet thrown in as well. Was this line of Elisa's a deliberate homage to this short, or merely a coincidence? (While this question remains unanswered, later episodes of Gargoyles would contain tributes to another Warner Brothers cartoon character - Wile E. Coyote - in the form of Coyote and Vinnie.)

Toon Disney/Disney XD Edits

The Trio in the kitchen scene is partially cut. Specifically Brooklyn turning on a stove and almost burning himself as well as the three of them landing in a pile of pots and pans were cut out.

VHS/DVD Release

Links

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