Wes's Guide to Gargoyles: Future Tense

Welcome to this very awesome of Gargoyles!

Our episode opens like any other, with our heroes on the Avalon Skiff. Suddenly, Goliath is struck by lightning, because even the sky itself has gotten in on the electrocution craze. However, when Goliath comes to, he and the others are elated to see the familiar skyline of Manhattan in the distance. However, when they get a little closer, they see that New York City isn’t looking so good these days. In fact, it looks a bit like Terminator, 1984, Mad Max and Blade Runner all happened at once. Even the Statue of Liberty is in ruins so throw in a little Planet of the Apes for good measure. Clearly, more time has passed during our hero’s time on Avalon than we thought. The skiff is soon besieged by Steel Clan Robots. Looks like these new models have been upgraded with more firepower, Xanatos goatees and the voice of Owen. Cool! The robots destroy the skiff and Goliath is separated from the others. Goliath and Bronx are picked up in a boat by an old man revealed to be a heavily aged Matt Bluestone. Goliath is happy to see Bluestone but would like to know just what the hell is going on. It seems that forty years have passed since Goliath first left for Avalon and in that time, things have gotten pretty bad.

Goliath, Bronx, Bluestone and a now wingless Claw walk through the city streets and things are looking pretty scary. There’s even an especially horrific scene where an army of Cat Gargoyle Stormtroopers destroy a homeless person’s food supply simply for standing in their way. In a nice bit of detail, we see from a picture she’s carrying that this is the daughter of Chavez, Elisa’s police captain. A very nice touch. So, who turned the world into this 1984 hellscape? I’ll give you one guess. Yes, Xanatos has finally taken over the world and from the looks of things, it’s not nearly as awesome as I’d hoped it would be. Xanatos himself (Jonathan Frakes, Take a Shot) appears via holographic projection from a large pyramid in the center of the city where the skyscraper that held Castle Wyvern once stood. Xanatos says that soon that all suffering and hardship will soon come to an end and the entire planet will enjoy his benevolent leadership. Goliath knows that Xanatos must be stopped and Bluestone takes Goliath back to the resistance base in the sewers.

At the base, Goliath is heartbroken to see a bronze statue memorializing Hudson, the first hero to fall against Xanatos’s regime. Apparently since that fight, no one has seen Xanatos in person and since he doesn’t look forty years older in his broadcasts, the rumor is he’s realized his dream of immortality. We then meet the leader of the resistance, Brooklyn. Goliath is happy to see him but Brookyln can’t say the same as he greets Goliath with a punch in the face. Apparently Brooklyn has a lot of pent up resentment towards Goliath for abandoning the clan all those years ago, mostly because, without him, the clan was no match for Xanatos. Brooklyn is ready to beat the hell out of Goliath, but he’s stopped by Broadway. Broadway’s looking to be in pretty rough shape these days, especially the part where he has NO EYES!! He doesn’t even have anything to cover it up, he just has black empty voids where his eyes should be, it’s disturbing as all hell. Apparently, Broadway lost his sight in a battle with the Ultra-Pack (something I really wish we got to see), a battle that also took the lives of Talon, Maggie and Cold Stone. Seeing what the world has become, Goliath says he’d give anything to change this. Brooklyn has an idea, the Phoenix Gate. If they use it, they can stop all this from ever happening. Goliath says that this will not work, knowing from his experience of trying to save Griff that the past cannot be altered. Goliath instead suggests that they must defeat Xanatos here in the present, but a familiar voice says that that is easier said than done. That voice belongs to Demona and brace yourself because we’re about to get the strangest moment in an episode chuck-a-block full of strange moments. It seems in the forty years since Goliath left, Brooklyn and Demona have become a romantic item. There is a LOT to unpack here and I don’t have the time or the mental energy to unpack it. This, this is wrong on so many levels. Goliath looks like he’s not sure whether to scream or vomit at this revelation. It was so shocking to me that I forgot to say “Marina Sirtis, Take a Shot.” Actually, take two shots. Trust me, alcohol is the inevitable conclusion of trying to process Demona and Brooklyn together. Goliath wonders what happened to Thailog, Demona’s previous mate, and Brooklyn says that Thailog was killed in the clone wars. Clone wars eh? Someone’s a Star Wars fan. We need a distraction from this Brooklyn/Demona shipping. Oh hey, there’s Lexington as a cyborg, that’ll do. Seems Lex upgraded himself a la Jackal and Hyena. He looks cool, but it seems his kind and optimistic attitude is another casualty of war. It seems their agent has infiltrated Xanatos’s lair and their receiving the transmission now.

In the war room, Lexington is tapping into their agent’s signal. Goliath is shocked to hear the agent referred to as Fox but turns out this is not the Fox we know. It’s actually Xanatos’s son Alexander, having apparently taken his mother’s name… and eye tattoo for some reason. Once Lexington gets the feed up and running, we join father and son in a sweet Dragon Ball Z style fight scene already in progress. Alex looks to be just as cool as dear old dad, sharing his charm, charisma, fighting prowess and even his voice actor, but Xanatos appears is no pushover, especially since it looks like he’s spent the past forty years doing the Scott Steiner workout routine. Alex seems to be handling his old man just fine, until Xanatos reveals that he’s used Alex’s broadcast signal to find the location of the rebel base. This distracts Alex long enough for Xanatos to take advantage. Since Xanatos is already immortal and will soon rule the entire planet, he has no need of an heir and kills his son on the spot. Holy Shit! Maybe Xanatos had too much as a cliché villain back in cloud fathers and it eventually pushed him off the deep end because the Xanatos we know would never go this far. In any case, with Xanatos likely to nuke the base, our heroes have no choice but to engage in a full assault on the castle to destroy Xanatos once and for all.

On their way to the castle, Demona, concerned for her daughter, suggests that if they fail, Goliath must give Angela the Phoenix Gate so she can hide in the past. Goliath still refuses, but it’s worth noting that that’s two people who have tried to get the Phoenix gate from Goliath so far. Interesting. Anywho, our heroes assault the castle only to be cornered by an army of Thailog Clones. Fortunately, the sonar collar that Broadway uses to see has a couple of tricks, including the ability to short out the tech in the shock troop’s head pieces and disorient the clones. This allows some of our heroes to take advantage but sadly, not all of them. Lexington is hauled away and tragically, Broadway is killed, dying in Goliath’s arms in a moment that even got me crying like a child. However, our heroes must press on. Brooklyn, Demona and Goliath find themselves in the castle’s great hall, only to find it filled with computers and wiring. A beam of light engulfs our heroes and they disappear.

Our heroes find themselves in a strange landscape where Elisa and Angela have been tied up. The voice of Xanatos is heard and it is revealed that this is Cyber-Space and that Xanatos’s body was indeed destroyed in that fateful battle with Hudson. However, his brain patterns and personality were copied and downloaded onto a computer, granting him the immortality he’d always longed for. Goliath realizes that this isn’t Xanatos at all. The real Xanatos, even at his worst, would never go so far as to murder a loved one in cold blood. Accidentally turn them into a werewolf, maybe, but never kill them. The real Xanatos would also never attempt something as small minded as taking over the world for Xanatos, the real Xanatos, is confident in the fact that he already rules the world in all the ways that matter. This pale imitation is merely a computer program that thinks it’s Xanatos, not unlike the one we met in Cold Stone’s head way back in Legion. Well, whatever it is, it’s about to download itself onto every computer on the planet and declare itself ruler of all creation, but first, it’s going to kill our heroes. The Xanatos program summons a virtual sun, turning the Gargoyles to stone, all accept Demona. Seems Puck’s spell of transformation works even in cyber-space, so Xanatos opts to see her suffer as he blasts Brooklyn and Angela to smithereens. The program then starts slowly torturing Demona to death. With her final words, she tells Goliath that this world is controlled by the mind, and if his will is stronger than that of this false Xanatos, than he can destroy it. Goliath’s stone form springs to life and attacks the program, but the sinister machine transforms itself into a spiked drill and chisels away at Goliath until there is nothing left but a head. However, Goliath’s will allows the dust that was once his body to envelop and destroy the Xanatos Program. With the program defeated, the cyber landscape begins to collapse, so Goliath grabs Elisa and escapes.

Once Goliath and Elisa are back in the castle, we finally reveal the real mastermind behind this evil, Lexington. It seems that, after feeling abandoned by Goliath, Lexington allowed himself to become corrupt and power hungry. Turns out Xanatos really did die in the fight with Hudson, Lexington just saw it as an opportunity to use the Xanatos program to rule the world in secret. That whole fight back there, merely a distraction so our heroes wouldn’t interfere with him going through with his plan to upload Xanatos to the entire world, which now cannot be stopped. Even if Goliath destroys this computer terminal, there are others just like it all over the city. Goliath has lost. Goliath is enraged beyond all reason and attacks the traitor to his clan and while Lexington Luthor here is now a badass super villain, he’s still about one third the size of Goliath so the fight is more than a little one sided. Goliath tosses Lex into a computer screen, killing him and blowing up the castle, Goliath and Elisa barely escaping with their lives.

On the ground, Goliath is physically and emotionally exhausted to the point where he can’t even move. Elisa suggests that their only option is the Phoenix Gate and Goliath finally capitulates, though he’s too weak to use it himself. Elisa demands that Goliath physically place the gate in her hands, getting increasingly agitated when Goliath does not. Goliath figures out what’s really going on. None of this is real and this isn’t Elisa. The world around them collapses and Goliath stands in black void alongside the true architect of this nightmare, Puck (Brent Spiner, Take a Shot). Seems that with the gathering at hand, all the Children of Oberon will soon be forced to return to boring old Avalon. Puck has no interest in going back since he has too much fun hanging around mortals so he planned to get his hands on the Phoenix Gate to bribe Oberon into letting him stay. Problem is, the rules of Avalon forbid him from stealing it, so created this nightmarish illusion in order to trick Goliath into handing it over willingly. So, let me get this straight. Puck subjected Goliath to an apocalyptic nightmare hellscape in which he was forced to watch all of his friends and loved ones killed before his very eyes in the hopes of breaking his spirit to the point that using a magical and dangerous time travel talisman as his only salvation, all so the little imp could get out of attending his family reunion. That is beyond messed up, but then again, if the alternative is having to hang out with guys like Raven and Anansi, I can't say I wouldn't try something similar. Anywho, Puck leaves with a cryptic warning that what Goliath saw may not be a dream, but a prophecy. Goliath wakes up on the Skiff with Angela and Elisa standing over him. Turns out the whole ordeal only took about three seconds of real time. Goliath activates the Phoenix Gate and throws it into the portal. Without a mind to direct the gate, it will be lost in time for all eternity, away from those who seek it. When Elisa asks what happened, Goliath merely says he had a nightmare, one that must never come to true.

This episode man, this episode was a fucking trip. I had vivid memories of watching this one when it first aired and I credit it with being one of the reasons the show has stuck with me for twenty plus years. Even people who barely remember watching the show as a kid seem to remember watching this episode. There is so much going on in this episode that to analyze it in full would keep us here all week. There is so much attention to detail in this post-apocalyptic universe and I love it. If I had only one complaint, I would have asked to have had Lexington’s heel turn explored a little further. However, I guess with Puck being the one pulling the strings, it’s ultimately a moot point. Speaking of, let's talk a bit about Puck. It can be difficult to spot with all the craziness this episode keeps throwing at you, but one of the things I love about this episode is how, if you're paying close attention, it drops subtle hints at what's actually going on. Pay close attention to the way Brooklyn delivers that Clone Wars line, almost as if he just thought of it on the spot. It's an easy enough line to dismiss on your first viewing, but in hindsight, this was likely Puck not knowing about Demona and Thailog and improvising an explanation then and there. The other more obvious, and yet still very subtle clue comes when the Gargoyles fight the Xanatos program in cyber space. When you really think about it, Demona reverting to her human form in that world doesn't make a whole lot of sense. The program even goes out of it's way to mention Puck. Puck strikes me as the type whose ego is just big enough to where he couldn't help patting himself on the back. Still, this episode is phenomenal with great animation, great fights, a unique setting, so much attention to detail and twists upon twists that you genuinely don’t see coming. Easily one of the greatest episodes in the show’s history. Some may argue that the fact that it was all an illusion is a bit of a cop out, and that isn't an invalid criticism, but the ride getting there is still fun and it doesn't let up off the gas until we get to the big reveal, so I think that more than makes up for it. Next time, The Gargoyles finally return to Manhattan, Oberon begins recalling his children back to Avalon and we learn that the newest member of the Xanatos family will soon be born as we kick off the two part episode The Gathering.