Plug: Fashionable Tinfoil accessories

As y’all have probably realized, progress on this blog tends to be, on the regular, slower than an unfired bullet.  I started this blog back in…2011?, and even with bursts of productivity, I’m still only halfway through both TMNT and Gargoyles‘ second seasons.    Therefore, when I look at somebody who can post things with a modicum of consistency, I seethe with envious rage and resentment.  How dare these fortunate souls exist, who can actually focus on things for more than ten seconds at a time and finish things with relative ease?  When these brilliant superhuman monsters also happen to write about things I’m writing about, and do it well, it makes me feel like, like…well, like the rival in a shonen manga / anime. You know how that goes.

On that note, Vrai Kaiser has been posting reviews of Gargoyles episodes as of late, and despite starting yesterday back in August of this year, they are well on their way to surpassing me, and I both hate and love them for it.  Their recaps are insightful and entertaining, and you should totally check them out at VraiKaiser.com.

 

Iraq: “City at War” Part Two

“My name is Karai, and I am here to restore order to The Foot.”

Written by: Marty Isenberg

Original Air Date: March 20, 2004

Recap Narrator: Michelangelo

Characters and Concepts Introduced: N/A

Gargoyles episodes I could make comparisons to: “Avalon”, “Turf”

These Ten Episodes Will Tell You Everything You Need to Know About “Gargoyles”

So I was talking to Jed Blue in an attempt to convince him to work with me on little something-something for the blog, having to do with “Golem”. Whilst talking, he mentioned that he hadn’t had the opportunity to watch Gargoyles, and that he’d been thinking of asking me for a list of episodes to watch, so that he could have an idea of what the series was about and what it was trying to do, and work the series in as part of The Near- Apocalypse of ’09, his ongoing deconstruction of the DC Animated Universe (which y’all should seriously read, because it’s great).  Because he is cleverer than me, he immediately saw through my ploy of giving him a sixty-five episode list and told me that he’d prefer it if it were around ten episodes long.  Well, since I love a challenge, so I said “yes”, and after some thinking, here are the episodes, presented in airing order.  They’re not necessarily the best episodes, or the most significant, or even ones that necessarily make a whole lot of sense outside of their contexts as parts of a larger ongoing story, but together, they are enough to give the newcomer  comprehensive idea of what the series is about.

Feet (and Everything Else) of Clay: “Golem”

“You must follow the words of our ancestors: ‘love justice and do mercy.'” — Max Loew

Written by: Gary Sperling

Original Air Date: December 14, 1995

Introduces: Tomas Brod, Max Loew, Janus, The Golem, Rabbi Loew

Timeline placement: January 19, 1996

Location: Prague, Czech Republic

TMNT episode I could make a forced comparison to: N/A

Content Notes: Anti-Semitism

Mount Everest: “City at War” Part One

“I don’t understand, Sensei. We set out to do something good; it turned out bad. But the truth is, we started it; how can we just walk away?”— Leonardo

Written by: Eric Luke

Original Air Date: March 13, 2004

Teaser Narrator: Leonardo

Characters and Concepts Introduced: Karai, Karai’s Retainers

Gargoyles episodes I could make comparisons to: “Avalon”, “Turf”

The Maury Povich of Evil Geneticists: “Monsters”

“If I seem a little nervous, it’s because I’ve never been this close to a real-life Loch Ness monster before.  But I’ll wager you’ve never been this close to a real-life gargoyle, either.  Guess that kind of makes us even.” — Angela

Written by: Cary Bates

Original Air Date: November 28, 1995

Introduces: Original Nessie, Other Nessie, Spawn of Nessies

Timeline placement: January 16 – 18, 1996

Location: Loch Ness, Scotland

TMNT episodes I could make variably forced comparisons to: “Monster Hunter“, “Junklantis”