 The Gargoyles
animated series, full of romance, passion and Star Trek voice actors, is
gone but not forgotten. It's still popular enough to generate its own convention
in 2001 in California, featuring a reunion of most of the cast and creative
staff. Gargoyles creator Greg Weisman would love to restart the series,
and has never run out of ideas for the characters. "Every time we told
a story, we created an idea for five more stories," Weisman said at a Fanime
Con panel. (By the way, the link between Gargoyles and anime is Weisman,
who handled the dub of 3x3 Eyes for New Generation pictures). |
 If Gargoyles
was so good, why did it fade off the air? Weisman said that's a complicated
explanation. The first two seasons of the series generated 65 episodes,
enough to make it ready for re-release via syndication to TV stations.
On the other hand, Gargoyles wasn't as popular in its day than Mighty Morphin'
Power Rangers, and the series wasn't successful enough to encourage Walt
Disney Co. executives to continue it in the form that Weisman preferred.
And those executives didn't necessarily understand the meaning or appeal
of the stories about great stone creatures who fight their battles only
at night. Weisman admitted that Gargoyles really may have appealed too
much to adults to be a successful cartoon series in the U.S. |
 What about
the Star Trek voices? Weisman said those actors were great for the roles
they played, and after a couple were hired, it was easy to get more (Marina
Sirtis and Jonathan Frakes were the first). "It was a matter of the best
people auditioning for the roles," he said. And weisman had to admit that
it was great publicity for all of the familiar voices from the cult TV
series (from Michael Dorn, LeVar Burton and Nichelle Nichols to Brent Spiner
and Kate Mulgrew) on a cartoon show. "We got at least one person from every
Star Trek cast," he recalled. |
