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Awakening, Part IV
Synopsis | Review by Juan F. Lara | Review by Todd Jensen
Overview
- Elisa and Goliath fight the attackers in the Park. Morning comes, Goliath turns to stone, and Elisa fights the remaining attackers alone. She stays with Goliath's statue all day.
- Meanwhile, the Trio glide over Manhattan. Lex causes a motorcycle wreck. Brooklyn tries to hail a cab.
- Goliath returns to the castle at dusk. The clan take names.
- Xanatos reveals the existence of another surviving gargoyle: Goliath's mate.
- Demona convinces the clan to retrieve the diskettes.
Synopsis
Act I
The leader of the commandos levels his gun at Goliath, who is incapacitated on the ground. He smiles as he says once Goliath is out of the way, they will hunt down the other gargoyles. Goliath weakly protests, but the leader tells him he doesn't have a choice. Elisa stomps the foot of the commando that is holding her, and knocks him out. She runs toward thew leader and knocks him over. Goliath fights off the other commandos and gets up. One of the commandos draws her weapon and fires at the two of them. Goliath picks up Maza and runs off. One commando follows, firing at them. Goliath runs up a small hill, and catches enough air to fly off. The leader runs up and orders his subordinate to cease firing. "They won't get far," he says.
Brooklyn, Lexington and Broadway fly over the Manhattan skyline. Broadway has a pastry that he is greedily consuming. He stops eating long enough to comment to Brooklyn that it is great, and he should try one. Brooklyn says he would have if Broadway hadn't eaten the entire cartful. The two land on a rooftop, followed by Lexington, who loses control and crash lands. Lex sighs that the city is a big place and his wings are tired. Brooklyn agrees, and comments that it is a long way back to the castle. He peers over the ledge, watches a man hail a taxi in the street below, and gets an idea.
On the street, the three hide in a doorway. Brooklyn watches and sees an approaching cab. He steps into the middle of the street, mimicks the gesture that he saw the man use earlier, and says, "Yo, taxi!" The cabbie sees what is hailing his taxi, slams on the brakes, turns around, and speeds off. "Looks like we walk," sighs Broadway.
In the park, Maza and Goliath rest under a bridge. Goliath wonders why he feels so strange. Elisa puls the dart out of his shoulder, and tells him that they pumped him full of something. She sees a small device on his back. "This is how they found us," she says as she removes it. Goliath asks her what it is. She hands it to him and explains that it is a radio transmitter. "Some form of magic that led them to us," Goliath asks as he hands it back. Elisa says that is one way of putting it. Maza notices a manufacturers logo in the shape of a stylized beetle on the transmitter. Goliath asks how the transmitter got on him. Elisa's answer is that it is a good question. A stray dog is rumaging through the trash nearby. Elisa walks toward the dog and it growls. She speaks softly and holds out her hand for the dog to sniff. It makes up to her, she attaches the transmitter to the dog and it runs off. "Let them chase rover for a while," she quips. She helps Goliath up, and they walk off.
At the castle, Hudson is watching television. He is enjoying flipping channels and laughing, while Bronx is napping, slightly annoyed at the noise from the TV. Hudson sees the dawn though a window and truns off the television. He and Bronx walk to the tower.
On the tower, Hudson and Bronx watch as Brooklyn, Lexington, and Broadway return. Hudson admonishes them that it is close to sunrise. Brooklyn says that the city is a fascinating place. They all relate their experiences with the sights of New York. Broadway, of course, remarks on the food. Hudson asks if they have seen Goliath. The others are surprised that he has not yet returned. "Aye," says Hudson, "That's what worries me."
Elisa helps Goliath walk through the park. Goliath notices the coming sunrise. "Too late," he says, "I'll never make it back before sunrise." Elisa wonders why he is so concerned about sunrise. Goliath walks toward the bushes and groggily says that he is helpless durnign the day. Elisa persists that she doesn't understand and wants to know what happens at sunrise. "You'll see," Goliath says as he kneels in the bushes. Elisa turns and sees the commandos searching the park as the sun rises. She tells Goliath that they have to keep moving, but when she turns around, Goliath has turned to stone.
Act II
Maza calls to Goliath, but he is unable to answer. The commandos come closer every second. Elisa runs into the path in front of them. They see her and give chase. One asks the leader about the beast. The leader responds that they can track him later with the transmitter. For now, Maza is their target. They chase her through the park, and come to a picnic ground. Elisa hides under one of the tables. The commandos fan out and search. One approaches Maza. When he is close enough, she trips him, knocks him out, and takes his gun. She runs off, but the others see her and open fire. Elisa shoots back, and hits one. She runs into a boathouse on the shores of a nearby lake. The two remaining commandos follow her. Elisa checks her gun. The chamber is empty. She ducks as the two outside spray the boathouse with gunfire. She notices that she is kneeling next to several leaking cans of gasoline. She runs and dives out of the boathouse into the lake as the commandos fire again and the boathouse explodes. The leader chuckles that their problem is taken care of, but his companion wants to make sure. Elisa swims underwater and comes up beneath a pier. The second commando is standing on the pier, checking the surface of the lake. When she walks over where Elisa is in the water, Maza grabs her leg and pulls he rinto the lake. The leader sees her run off and changes the clip in his weapon. He chases after her, saying that she may not know it, but she's making it harder than it had to be. Elisa runs through the park, but stops when she comes to a small stream with very large rocks on the other side of it. She can go no futher. The leader runs through the trees and sees the rock outcropping. He smiles and says, "It's over lady. Don't get me wrong, I admire you. You and that freak-job took out four of my people." He sees Elisa's jacket amongst the bushes. He jumps out from behind a tree, but the jacket is only hanging on a branch. Elisa comes at him from behind and knocks the gun out of his hands into the stream. He fights back, but she flips him and knocks him cold. "A lot to go through for a piece of lawn sculpture," she says as she wipes her brow.
Elisa sits next to Goliath. A jogger runs by and stops momentarily. "I've run this path for five years," he says, "I've never noticed that statue before." Elisa chuckles and says, "The park is full of surprises." The jogger runs off.
The sun sets. Maza is startled as Goliath awakens. She asks if he is okay. "Of course," Goliath replies. She notices that the sedative has worn off. "Sleep rejuvinates us," he says. He asks if she stayed with him all day. She answers that someone had to protect him. Goliath thanks her and says that she probably saved his life. "So now we're even," she says as the two shake hands. Goliath says that he must return to the castle. The others will be worried. Maza says she understands. Goliath turns to leave, but Elisa asks if they can meet again later that night. Goliath smiles and nods.
At the castle, the other gargoyles awaken as well. Brooklyn hops off his perch and looks for Goliath, who did not return. "Don't worry, lad," Hudson says, "we didn't survive a thousand years sleep just to lose him now." Brooklyn hopes Hudson is right. "Look!" he exclaims as he sees Goliath approaching. Goliath lands and the other express their concern. "It appears we have enemies," Goliath says.
Xanatos is watching the scene on a monitor in his office. He turns to Owen and says, "I think we're ready for him now."
Goliath explains what happened, and tells Hudson that he wishes he had come along last night. "Hudson?" asks Brooklyn. "Aye, it's my name," Hudson answers, "and what would you make of it?" They all agree that it's a good name, and that they should choose names as well. Goliath wonders what they have in mind. Brooklyn thinks for a moment and says, "Brooklyn! I'm Brooklyn." The other choose names as well; Broadway and Lexington. Lex asks if Goliath likes their names. Goliath says they're all fine names, and that Bronx should have one as well. Brooklyn gives Bronx his moniker. Bronx just growls and walks away. Lexington laughs and says that he thinks he likes it. Owen walks in.
Goliath walks into Xanatos' office. "You wanted to see me?" he asks Xanatos. "I have someone want you to met," says Xanatos, "an old acquaintance, I believe." A side door opens to reveal a figure in shadow. "Who..." Goliath starts, and gasps when he sees who it is. Demona steps out of the shadows.
Act III
Goliath and Demona embrace. Xanatos smiles at their reunion and clears his throat. "I'm very happy for you both," he says. Demona tells Goliath that they owe their reunion to him. Goliath asks how this is possible. She was smashed by the Vikings. Demona says that she feared for his safety and followed him that night. She lost her way and the sun rose before she could return. Goliath asks how she survived for all the centuries. She explains that when she returned to the castle, the Magus had already turned the others to stone. She begged him to cast his spell on her as well, so she could awaken with the rest of them. Xanatos says that he acquired her for his private collection about a year ago. After he woke the other gargoyles, it seemed a trip to the castle would do the same for her. "With you alive, I can start to live again as well," Goliath says. Demona agrees and says, "As you said, Goliath, you and I are one."
Goliath and Demona walk to the tower where the others are waiting. They greet each other and have a happy reunion. Demona asks Goliath for a favor. "Anything," Goliath replies. She says that Xanatos has told her of the stolen disks. She thinks that they should help him recover them, out of gratitude for reuniting them, if nothing else. Goliath agrees and suggests that doing this may stop the humans that hunt them as well. "Besides," he says, "with you by my side, I can do anything." Demona smiles.
In Xanatos' office, the gargoyles watch the monitor as he explains the defenses of each of the fortresses. He says that only their speed and strength can make the mission a success. Goliath says that he and Demona will take the airship; Brooklyn, Lexington, and Broadway will take the tower; and Hudson will attack the underground base. He asks Hudson to take Bronx along. "I'm perfectly capable of..." Hudson protests. Goliath rephrases that Hudson should take Bronx along, since he needs the exercise. Hudson smiles. Goliath tells them all to be careful. "Humans are more dangerous in these times," he says. They leave to carry out their missions. Xanatos smiles.
On the tower, the three young ones take off with vigor. "They'd better not be harmed," says Goliath. Demona reassures him that, while they may be young and impetuous, they are warriors. They take each others' hand. Goliath says that to soar with her again is like a dream. She says that it is time for their dreams to come true. They fly off as Xanatos watches from his office.
Demona and Goliath approach the air fortress. They are blown back by the downdraft from the rotors. They fight against the currents, and grab onto an antenna. Goliath tears through the steel hull, and hoists himself and Demona up through the hole. Goliath warns that the disk will be well guarded. "If humans wish to throw away their worthless lives, that's their concern," she says. Goliath is surprised at her lack of feeling. They walk down the hallway.
As the two of them walk through the ship, two guards come up from behind and draw their weapons. Demona turns and walks toward them, saying that they won't fire. They would damage the airship. They tell her not to bet her life on it. Goliath tells her that it is too risky, but she pounces on one. The other backs up and fires at her. Goliath pulls her out of the way in the nick of time. The bullet hits a pipe on the wall, and steam fills the corridor. The guard looks all around him, but sees nothing. His companion flies out of an adjacent hallway and hits the wall. Demona comes out of the hallway at the guard, and Goliath knocks him out from behind. Goliath tells her to hurry. The gunfire may bring other guards. Demona picks up one of the guards and holds him over the hole in the floor. Goliath stops her and asks what she is doing. She says that she is making sure they don't cause anymore trouble. "To kill in the heat of battle is one thing," Goliath protests, "but not like this." She concedes and tosses the guard away. She tells Goliath that the centuries have made him weak, and walks off. Goliath follows.
Brooklyn, Lexington and Broadway fly toward the tower in the bay. They land and Lexington says how wonderful the magic in this century is. They others agree. Brooklyn looks for a way in. Broadway walks to a nearby steel hatchway, cracks his knuckles, and tears the door off its hinges. The three climb down the ladder into the tower. Brooklyn forces open the elevator. "Xanatos said it's four floors down," he says. Broadway looks into the open elevator shaft and says that this one is not like the elevators back at the castle. Lex observes that there is not enough room to glide down. Brooklyn suggests using the "rope" in the center of the shaft. They slide down four floors, and Brooklyn prys open the door. "This is easy," says Broadway, "we'll have that disk and be home in time for supper." The door opens, revealing several armed guards on the other side. "...a late supper," Broadway rephrases.
Review
by Juan F. Lara
The quality started to go down, IMHO, with Part 3, but things get a lot better in Part 4.
Eliza makes a much better impression here than in Part 3:
Eliza does the "Die Hard" routine in taking on the soldiers singlehandedly. I have to admire someone who can kick ass like her. :-) And we had some more great action which this series does best. ( The soldiers suffer from bad aim syndrome, though. They can't hit her with a machine gun, but she hits one of them with the dart gun. :-)
Her best moment was protecting Goliath, though. I imagined how Goliath must've felt after he woke up. He's had humans betray him and wasn't able to prevent his people from being shattered. But then this human protects him from the same fate. His line "You possibly saved my life." is one of the series's most poignant moments.
I wonder if she ever called the police about those soldiers. Surely some- one found these bozos scattered all over the park and must've told the police about them.
Hudson's scene in Act I was hilarious. You should especially watch out for the "Lion King" outtake, reanimated in the "Gargoyles" style! And TLK looked great with "Gargoyles" animation.
I laughed at Brooklyn's "Yo, taxi!" scene. But jokes about people being scared of "monsters" went out with "The Munsters". I hope they quit doing this in the series.
Brooklyn: Cool!
Goliath: What?
Broadway: It's a new word we learned last night.
Lexington: It indicates a positive response.
Goliath: But, take Bronx with you.
Hudson: I'm perfectly capable of...
Goliath: Take him with you. He needs the exercise.
Of course, Demona stole the show. I think she and Xanatos are hiding something, too. I noticed how manipulative she was with Goliath. She put a heavy guilt trip on him that he owes Xanatos for reviving them. And she also appealed to his love for her to make him go along with the mission, even though he had doubts.
Later on, we see her in battle. Excellent animation with her pounce on the guard. And her comtempt for the human was chilling. She's going to make a formidable adversary.
DYN: Also good animation for their wings embracing.
If anything in this series looks like B:TAS, the air fortress definitely did. Very awe-inspiring, and in the Art-Deco style.
Commentary/Review
by Todd Jensen
Goliath and Elisa's friendship continues to build through this episode. Elisa does a sterling job of protecting Goliath, not only by first leading the Commandoes away from him and taking each one of them down in a dramatic action sequence, but then by guarding him during his stone sleep during the rest of the day - an act that impresses and moves the gargoyle deeply when he awakens, and forms a striking contrast to his earlier embittered attitude towards humans in Parts Two and Three. He even smiles when she asks him "Later tonight?"
Providing contrast to Goliath and Elisa's life-and-death struggle, we see the trio and Hudson learning more about the modern world in a series of comic relief moments. Hudson finds himself enjoying television, while the trio discover pretzels (at least, Broadway does) and taxis. Bronx shows less interest in 20th century technology (though there's the fun moment when he growls at the yipping dog on a dog food commercial).
The gargoyles continue their process of adopting names with the trio not only choosing names for themselves, but even finding one for Bronx (who responds with an unimpressed snort, followed by Lexington saying, "I think he likes it" - another great comedic moment).
Things become serious again as Goliath finds himself unexpectedly reunited with Demona; his joy at finding her alive in the modern world is another moving moment. (And it gains a strong sense of poignancy when one remembers how soon he will discover that she is no longer his "angel of the night".) Between Goliath's conviction (thanks to the Commando attack in Central Park on the previous night) that Cyberbiotics is deliberately targeting the clan, and his joy at having Demona by his side again (and believing that he owes it all to Xanatos), he is now open at last to carry out the raid to "recover" the discs that Xanatos had proposed to him in Part Three, without suspecting the truth behind it.
Already, however, we can see the reunion turning sour, as Demona displays how her bitterness towards humans has turned into outright hatred on board the airship. Goliath is disturbed when she displays her callousness in her talk about "humans wish[ing] to throw their worthless lives away", and horrified when she attempts to drop one of the unconscious guards to his death, and only barely manages to prevent her. The scales are beginning to fall from his eyes.
There are many more wonderful scenes in this episode, among them Xanatos standing by the glass window after the gargoyles depart, waiting, and the Cyberbiotics airship (especially when the camera runs over the logo painted on its side), which looks almost like a contraption out of "Batman: TAS" (not too surprising when Frank Paur worked on both series).
Tidbits
The Alice in Wonderland sculpture that Elisa runs past while pursued by the Commandoes is an actual Central Park landmark, but it was not shown there for mere local color. The animators deliberately placed it there (as Greg Weisman and Frank Paur explained on the DVD commentary for "Awakening") to symbolize Elisa's having "fallen through the rabbit-hole into Wonderland", in a sense, through having met the gargoyles and becoming involved in their adventures.
The Jogger, another familiar recurring figure, appears in the series for the first time as he passes Elisa watching over the stone Goliath.
Vinnie makes another cameo as a Cyberbiotics guard (though we won't discover that it was he until "Vendettas").
When Hudson is channel-surfing, we get a brief glimpse on the television screen of the scene at the beginning of "The Lion King" where Rafiki the baboon holds up the young Simba.
Greg Weisman has humorously suggested that the stray dog whom Elisa plants the tracking device upon in Central Park is actually the grown-up puppy in the dog food commercial that Bronx growls at (another sad case of an out-of-work actor going downhill).
Xanatos's first name is revealed in this episode to be "David", obviously for the purpose of providing a reversal of the biblical tale which Goliath's name is derived from.
The names chosen for the supporting gargoyles have a particular appropriateness to them, reflecting how well their bearers respond to the modern world. Hudson, the most conservative of them, who has the strongest difficulties adjusting to the 20th century, takes his name from a river, a natural feature that had been part of Manhattan even before the humans came to dwell there. The trio, on the other hand, who are filled with enthusiasm over their new surroundings, take their names from man-made features of New York, two streets and a borough. (As for Bronx, his name was no doubt chosen on the grounds that it was the New York place-name that most evoked an animal's bark or growl!)