Wes's Guide to Gargoyles: The New Olympians

Welcome back to another episode of Gargoyles.

We open on the Avalon Skiff as our heroes are brought to a most unusual island full of strange architecture and advanced technology and hidden behind a magical veil. As our heroes wonder why Avalon brought them to this strange place, three cops on hover bikes show up. However, we soon see that these are no ordinary cops, but rather a Minotaur, a Fire Creature and a Centaur who bears an odd resemblance to Mr. T. By the way, the fire guy, Helios is voiced by veteran voice actor Rob Paulsen, known for such iconic roles as Pinky of Pinky & The Brain, Yakko Warner from Animaniacs and countless others. If you can track down clips of his show Talking Toons where he interviews other voice actors and has them read scenes from famous movies or television shows, I highly recommend it, it’s hysterical. The Minotaur, Taurus, is also voiced by a familiar face, Michael Dorn, who also provides the voice of Cold Stone (Take a Shot). Anywho, the monster cops are none too pleased to see a human trespassing on their island of New Olympus and immediately place her under arrest, her fate to be determined by their leader, Boreas.

Elisa stands trial at the Senate House where we meet Boreas, the leader of the New Olympians. Goliath pleads with Boreas that Elisa is not guilty of any crime. Turns out, as far as the New Olympians are concerned, the fact that Elisa is a human is a crime in and of itself. It seems that thousands of years ago, the Olympians lived side-by-side with the humans, but humans shunned them and hunted them until they were forced to flee to their secluded island. Goliath insists that Elisa is trustworthy. She has kept the Gargoyles a secret for years and she would do the same for the New Olympians. Fortunately, Boreas is a reasonable man and believes that Elisa is not a threat to them, but he still cannot afford to take chances when it comes to the safety of his people. Talos, the mechanical guardian, seems to think human allies will soon be necessary since their island will not stay hidden from the rapidly advancing technology of the human world for much longer. Taurus, who is actually a descendant of the minotaur of legend, does not trust humans since his ancestor was imprisoned in a labyrinth and killed by humans. Boreas considers everyone’s testimony and decides that Elisa is not to be harmed but cannot be permitted to leave as the temptation to reveal the existence of New Olympus will be too great.

As Elisa and the Gargoyles walk the city streets, trying to figure out just how the hell they’re going to get out of this, some of the New Olympians make it clear that Elisa is about as welcome on New Olympus as reasonable and polite discourse on Twitter and a riot breaks out. Taurus shows up and breaks things up, placing Elisa under arrest for the crime of being a human in the first degree. However, this is actually more for her safety than anything else as the rioters are likely to tear her apart unprovoked if she isn’t taken someplace safe.

At the prison, Taurus walks past a cell containing another Minotaur who claims to be Taurus’s father. Elisa is shocked that Taurus would lock up his father but it turns out it’s actually a shapeshifting criminal named Proteus who murdered Taurus’s real father the former head of New Olympus security. You can tell right away that Proteus here is bad news when he appears to take pride in the slaughter of Taurus’s father. Elisa says that she’s a police officer where she comes from and tries to find common ground with Taurus, but the big bull doesn’t seem interested. He is however nice enough to break up another riot outside her cell window and even threatens to fire one of the other cops who was taking part. Good on him.

Later that night, Goliath pleads once again with Boreas for Elisa’s release and while he is understanding, he still has the safety of his people to consider and does nothing to help. Goliath sees only one option, PRISON BREAK! After a cool scene of Goliath taking out Centaur Mr. T in shadow, Goliath comes across Proteus, having taken the form of Elisa to trick Goliath into releasing him. Goliath frees Proteus who immediately takes the form of a massive cyclops and knocks out Goliath, trapping him in his cell and tricking the real Elisa into thinking he’s the real Goliath and that the one in the cell is Proteus. Elisa falls for it and together they escape into the city. However, Elisa gets suspicious when the sun comes up and “Goliath” doesn’t turn to stone. Also, the fact that he plans to blow up the whole city was also a bit of a clue. Elisa gets away from the false Gargoyle, jacks one of the police hover bikes and, knowing that they won’t believe her if she tells the truth, lures Taurus to the city center by taunting him. Meanwhile, Proteus arrives at the Collonadium where Proteus plans to overload the city’s mainframe and make everything go boom. After dispatching Talos, Proteus begins his work, but Elisa has led Taurus right to him. Realizing that the jig is up, Proteus takes his monster form again and battles Taurus. However, Taurus manages to take down the evil shapeshifter and finally comes to realize that Elisa is nothing like the humans that his ancestors dealt with. In exchange for her help apprehending Proteus, Elisa is allowed to leave as Boreas contemplates the inevitability of the New Olympians revealing themselves to humanity.

This is another one of those episodes that has the familiar smell of backdoor pilot all over it. In fairness, it’s not quite as egregious as Hound of Ulster in that regard because at least our heroes played a vital part in the proceedings. However, I just wasn’t feeling this one. With the acception of Boreas and maybe Taurus, none of the new Olympians were likable in the slightest. They all came across as a bunch of jerks, wanting Elisa dead just because she’s a human. Proteus just wasn’t all that interesting a villain. Frankly, even in the world tour arc, this episode feels out of place. Next time, we head to Guatemala where a new clan of Gargoyles is protecting the Rainforest from some familiar foes in The Green.