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As a lifelong student of television, I was forced early on to learn a sad
fact of
life. It's the same realization you make when you realize your own
mortality. TV
shows are mortal, too. Heck, I still love SCTV, The Man From
U.N.C.L.E.
and The Garry Moore Show.
But they are dead. Even reruns won't bring new thrills, only reminders
of what once
was.
Everything has a limited lifespan, and that includes cartoon shows.
Sometimes a show
dies before its time, through stupidity or enemy action; witness
Rocky and Bullwinkle
or any of Jay Ward's shows. Sometimes a show is kept alive by artificial
means, and
shouldn't be. The heart-lung machine has sustained Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles
, but it's brain-dead, a show repeating its few good moments with nothing
living left
in it.
Gargoyles
is now dead. The ABC episodes, Gargoyles: The Goliath
Chronicles
, are the last that will be made. Some people might petition Disney to
sustain the
show, but this would not only be futile; it would be a mistake. Disney
took the concept
of nocturnal, semi-mystical defenders as far as they could. They mixed in
Shakespere's Macbeth
and A Midsummer Night's Dream
, l' Mort de Arthur
, and worldwide mythology ranging from American Indian deities to Jewish
legends.
Upon this rich canvas, they created compelling villains. They knew that
in drama,
villains are far more critical to exciting stories than heroes. Near the
end, they
even allowed the main villain Xanatos to reform because he learned the
meaning of
family - a lesson taught by the Gargoyles. And it was an example of
family which Jerry Falwell
would despise; Goliath was an unmarried single father who had trouble
acknowledging
that Angela was his daughter. (He never acknowledged having sex out of
wedlock with
Demona, but then some things don't need to be explained to kids.)
Although Toon
Magazine said that "you always knew they could do it" - i.e. that Disney
could make
a good serious cartoon - I never did. I couldn't imagine Disney having
the courage,
let alone the sensibility to do it right. Well, they did. And now they're
done.
Keeping Gargoyles
alive, even if Disney wanted to do so, would mean retreads of previous
episodes.
Either that, or there would have to be a massive change in the show's
universe, a
change that was never intended in the show's creation. This is almost
always a disaster.
Ask any comic book fan about what happened to Marvel's Spider-Man in
1996, where we suddenly
discovered that he was not really Peter Parker, but a clone - and then,
after a year
of angst, he was revealed not
to be a clone. Or ask a TV fan about the year of Dallas
that turned out to be one character's daydream. Like these instances,
putting Gargoyles
on life support would devalue everything the series did so nobly.
I will keep fond memories of Gargoyles
, but I will be watching to see if Disney treats its descendents
responsibly, the
same way that Goliath came to accept responsibility for Angela. Disney
has now established
that they can do serious dramatic cartoons. But can they build on the
foundation
established by Gargoyles
? Can they beat their main competitors in this arena, Time Warner and
Marvel?
Marvel is in serious financial trouble as of this writing, due to the
foundering of
their comic book empire and near-criminal behavior by its CEO, Ron
Perlman. This
is unfortunate, because for the first time in their history, they have a
verified
success outside the printed page. Spider-Man,
appearing on the Fox Kids Network, is one of the strongest-written
superhero cartoon
shows. It is built on a firm mythology, decades of Marvel Comics
characters. In fact,
the Marvel editorial board has trashed the continuity and character
histories in
the comics, but the animated series remains true to the spirit and
history of the Marvel
comics I knew and loved.
As for Time Warner, their two explorations of DC Comics mythology
(Batman: The Animated Series
and Superman
) are superb; while remaining "cartoony " in their art design,
they have fully rendered
characters, and their female characters are sexually attractive without
becoming
sleazy or inappropriate for kids. The shows could be a bit more
adventurous; I'm
disappointed to hear that Warner wants new Batman: TAS
episodes to be more "campy." But these shows accomplish what they
intended to do.
They give animated life to existing, well known and loved characters.
However, Disney has an advantage over Time Warner and Marvel. They aren't
tied to
a mythology or pre-existing merchandised characters. They can start from
scratch
and create something unique. Selling Gargoyles
toys and junk was not Disney's primary motivation, a virtue lost on the
many Disney
haters who haunt the Internet. Compare that to the revival of Claster's
Transformers
, a show which exists only
to sell toys.
Disney is free to do anything. They could do something beyond the
superheroes and
cutesy-girl series the other companies insist on doing. They could
animate relatively
ordinary human teenagers in extraordinary circumstances, like the live
serials that
were the most popular features on the original Mickey Mouse
Club
. Disney loves buying children's stories on the cheap; how about the
award-winning
A Wrinkle in Time
as the basis for a good kid's adventure series?
The theme and ideas behind the story don't have to be original; they
rarely are in
popular culture. What matters is the love of telling a good story, and
allowing the
creative people the freedom to express them. Garoyles
wasn't terribly original; its theme was the same as Drac Pack,
Monster Squad
and other, more inferior cartoons - monsters acting as heroes. The
difference was,
Disney wanted to tell a strong, honest story.
Disney has plans for lots of cute cartoons. But after establishing that
Disney can
do serious series,it's a shame to see them rehashing familiar territory.
Instead
of leaving Goliath and Company in the cold, cold ground, I'd like to see
their tombstone
used as the cornerstone for an even better, more involving, serious
Disney animated show.
(Thomas E. Reed is a television engineer in Orlando, Florida. He wonders how much money there is in animating cheap ripoffs of Disney's theatrical films, like the Goodtimes Video versions of Beauty and the Beast, Hunchback of Notre Dame and a host of others. He also wonders why a self-respecting animation producer would bother. Ask him at tomreed@sundial.net.)
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Page last updated 1/15/1998
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