Misconceptions and urban legends about Gargoyles

As with any product of pop culture, Gargoyles had more than its fair share of urban legends, as well as misconceptions. This page will address and correct them.

Gargoyles was originally an anime

This claim comes up a lot when Gargoyles is brought up outside the fandom. People will claim that the series was "too good" to be produced in America, and will tell others that it was a dubbed anime. But Gargoyles was created and produced at Walt Disney Television Animation in North Hollywood. All the original writing and voice work was done in the United States. The design and direction of the first season was pre-produced and animated by Walt Disney Television Japan, but all under the supervision of Greg Weisman and Frank Paur from Los Angeles. And all post-production was done in the San Fernando Valley.

The second season was written, recorded, pre-produced and post-produced in Los Angeles, though a handful of episodes animated by W.D.T.J. were storyboarded in Tokyo.

Frank Paur took at least one trip to Japan to supervise and revise final character designs for the first season. And a number of W.D.T.J. executives and creative people visited Los Angeles on more than one occasion. Much other communication took place by FAX. Yep, FAX, not e-mail.

Disney hates Gargoyles and conspired to kill it

While it is true that Gargoyles broke the traditional Disney mold, keep in mind that they made the series at all. If Disney was as set against the concept as some people claim, it would have never been green lighted. As it stands, the first season of thirteen performed so well that Disney ordered a second season of fifty-two episodes. It reached sixty-five episodes. Most animated series stop after producing that many, as they then go into syndicated re-runs.

ABC ordered an additional thirteen episodes, The Goliath Chronicles, which underperformed in the ratings. There was no conspiracy.

Space-Spawn look like gargoyles

In the episode "Sentinel", upon arriving on Easter Island, Nokkar takes the gargoyles prisoner. He angrily curses the Space-Spawn. Many fans have taken this to mean that the Space-Spawn look like gargoyles. But, in the episode itself, they missed the dialogue where Nokkar says he is unable to identify their planet of origin, but there is little doubt who sent them. He then later tells Goliath to send a message to his "Space-Spawn masters."

On that note...

Gargoyles are aliens

There are some casual watchers who have theorized that the gargoyles come from outer space. Brooklyn's line in "Temptation" about the Cloisters being "like the world we came from," confused a few people. Brooklyn was, of course, talking about medieval Scotland.

The Gathering of the Gargoyles is always in Montreal

When the first season of Gargoyles was released on DVD, it featured a small documentary on the annual Gathering of the Gargoyles convention, which took place in Montreal that year. Unfortunately, several reviews of the DVD set on major websites were obviously confused and stated that the convention is always in Montreal.

The Gathering has been to New York three times, Los Angeles twice, Dallas, Orlando, Williamsburg, Las Vegas, Pigeon Forge, and will be in Chicago in 2008 and Los Angeles again in 2009. The location of an upcoming Gathering is decided through a bidding process, where interested people or groups submit a proposal for hosting the next Gathering. The current year's Convention Committee then evaluates all of the bids and vote on the site of the next year's Gathering.

Goliath embraced the human way in "Mark of the Panther"

A lot of fans, even hardcore fans, were confused by what exactly was going on between Goliath and Angela in the early half of the Avalon World Tour, and why exactly it took him so long to embrace her as a father. Most have believed that Goliath was clinging to old school thinking concerning the Gargoyle Way, and finally embraced a more human way of thinking following "Mark of the Panther".

In truth, Goliath viewed Angela as a daughter from the moment they first met. He also viewed Gabriel as a son, and continues to do so. Angela's interest in her biological parentage scared Goliath, not because of any conservative stance, but because he was afraid of what would happen if Angela ever met Demona.

Not only that, but he didn't feel it would be fair to give one of his children preferential treatment over the others. But, as Diane Maza explained, all children want special treatment at times, and Angela is also the only hatchling traveling with him. So, Goliath opened up to Angela. But that doesn't mean his way of thinking has changed. Gabriel is his son too. Ophelia is his daughter.

Goliath has thirty-six children. Thirty-five of them just happen to be long distance.

Angela is romantically interested in Brooklyn

Angela smiling at Brooklyn

Angela smiled at Brooklyn in "The Reckoning", which some fans thought meant that she clearly liked him. In fact, Angela was helping and smiling at a fallen comrade. She does like Brooklyn as a friend. A lot of fans read more into that than was intended. Ironically, so did Brooklyn.

Angela and Gabriel were romantically involved

While Angela and Gabriel love each other very much, it is platonic. They are very close, the best of friends and confidants. Gabriel is mated with Ophelia.

Elisa said 'damn' in Awakening Part Four

Cartoon characters who can curse... among other things

A very popular urban legend that never seems to be put to rest is Elisa muttering the words "damn, empty" as Xanatos's commandos are chasing her through Central Park. People insist they heard it, and the episode was censored in all further broadcasts and video and DVD releases.

This urban legend is just that. Pure fiction. Elisa never said "damn." Greg Weisman has stated several times that Standards & Practices would never have approved of it. It was never written, and Salli Richardson never recorded it. Unless they're on Prime Time, or late night, language like that doesn't make it in to any American animated series.

Now, in the new comic book, S&P is far more lenient. As such, you'll see Angela shouting "Bastard!" and Jason Canmore say "ass."

Xanatos reformed

A lot of fans subscribe to the notion that David Xanatos reformed after the events of "Hunter's Moon Part Three". This misconception might have stemmed from Goliath's dialog about the healing power of a child's love at the end of "The Gathering Part Two", or from the interpretation of the character from The Goliath Chronicles. However, the ongoing Gargoyles comic book series from Slave Labor Graphics make it clear that this is not the case.

Xanatos is grateful to the gargoyles, and he loves his wife and son. However, he is still a ruthless and amoral antagonist. He is grateful to the gargoyles for their help, and he has provided a home for them, but he is neither their friend nor their protector (save as it furthers his own purposes). He now has the gargoyles protecting his castle... which is exactly what he's wanted since "Awakening".

Angela will reform Demona

C'mon, gang, Demona's making us all smores... not!

A subject of wide debate has always been Demona and Angela. A lot of people believe that Angela will redeem her mother as Luke Skywalker redeemed Darth Vader. A lot of them cite Demona helping the Manhattan Clan battle Thailog in "The Reckoning" as evidence that Demona will shortly change under Angela's influence. However, many of them forget that the next time Demona was seen, she attempted to commit mass genocide on the human race.

Another point that proponents of this theory often cite is the fact that Demona is a member of Samson's resistance in Gargoyles: 2198. However, closer examination of the pitch for the show reveals that Demona has joined the fight largely because the Space-Spawn's actions threaten the survival of all gargoyles and that she has not given up on her goal of destroying humanity. While Angela will probably play a role in nudging her mother towards the path to redemption, it doesn't look like she will live long enough to see Demona complete that journey.

Oberon's Children are his biological offspring

Many Gargoyles fans have assumed that Oberon's Children are literally that - Oberon's biological children. "Oberon's Children", however, is a metaphorical term; it means that Oberon presides over them as a father does his children. Indeed, in "Heritage", Raven described Grandmother as his cousin, making it clear that though they might be related, they do not share a common parent.

(According to Greg Weisman, Oberon does have at least four biological children - a son and a daughter by Titania, and two sons by human women: the little Indian boy in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Merlin. This is still canon-in-training, however.)

Gargoyles were awake during the day on Avalon

In "Avalon Part Three", there is a brief flashback scene in which Angela, Gabriel, and Boudicca are shown as hatchlings, being cared for by Princess Katharine and Tom. Some Gargoyles fans have thought that this scene took place during the daytime, when they should have been stone. In fact, the original airing of the episode did show the hatchlings awake and playing during the daytime. This was one of a few animation mistakes in the series that were corrected for later airings but still managed to cause a lot of confusion.

Castle Wyvern was in Ussex

Some viewers misheard Xanatos's line in "Awakening Part Two", "I found the castle and you six", to be "I found the castle in Ussex", and believed that Ussex was a region in Scotland where Castle Wyvern once stood. (Ussex does not even look like a Scottish place-name; it resembles such regional place-names in southern England as Essex, Sussex, and Middlesex, making it all the more improbable as a home for Castle Wyvern.)

The name "Xanatos" was picked out of a phone book

This particular story is somewhat true. Xanatos used to be named "Xavier," but the name was scrapped over worries that it was already strongly associated with Professor Xavier from X-Men. The name "Xanatos" was a combination of the "X" from "Xavier" and "Thanatos," a Greek death god. Greg Weisman later looked up the name in a phone book and found it, though with a different first name than "David." This helped to give the name credibility when anyone argued that it didn't sound like a real last name.