Hunter's Moon Part Three
"Hunter's Moon" Part Three is the sixty-fifth televised episode of the series Gargoyles, and the fifty-second and final episode of Season 2. It originally aired on May 15, 1996. It was adapted into a Radio Play and performed at the Gathering of the Gargoyles in 2001.
Contents
[hide]Summary
Main Plot
The Hunters have destroyed the Clock Tower and reveal the gargoyles' existence to the world once and for all with unfavorable news reports on WVRN. A vengeful Goliath pursues the Hunters to a dam where he sends Jason Canmore plummeting over the edge, but accidentally knocks Elisa over as well, and is unable to save her. Elisa and Jason are seemingly killed, and both Goliath and Jon Canmore vow vengeance, while Robyn Canmore discovers Demona's scheme to destroy human kind. Elisa and Jason return during a climactic battle at Saint Damien's Cathedral, where Jon accidentally shoots Jason, paralyzing him. Wracked with guilt, Jon escapes, declaring vengeance on the gargoyles, and Demona's scheme is foiled when Goliath risks everything and destroys the Praying Gargoyle. Surrounded by the police and an angry mob, the gargoyles are rescued by Xanatos and reinstated to their ancestral home.
Subplots
In a 1980 flashback at Notre Dame Cathedral, Demona retrieves the Praying Gargoyle when she is confronted by the current Hunter, Charles Canmore. She kills him and glides away laughing, while his three children watch from below.
Elisa unmasks Jason after he grabs her from the precinct, and she finally learns the truth about him. He drugs her and drops her off at her apartment.
Captain Chavez's leg is broken when the bombs strike. Elisa and Matt Bluestone visit her in the hospital, and learn about Charles Canmore and his three children, the three current Hunters.
Dominique Destine leaves Nightstone Unlimited to carry out her plan. Robyn Canmore raids her office and steals a disk containing Demona's genocidal plans, where she explains how she will combine the CV-1000 Carrier Virus with the chemical DI-7, and spread it with the help of the inscription on the Medici Tablet, while the Praying Gargoyle will protect her kind.
After Jason is knocked over the dam, Jon changes his tune from being sympathetic towards the gargoyles to becoming intent on killing them, more out of his own guilt for not killing them when he had the chance.
Elisa visits Jason in the hospital, and promises to be there for him, but admits there is someone who will always come first. She later goes to the castle, where she and Goliath declare their feelings for each other, and she kisses him just before the sun rises.
The Story
Act One
Paris, France. September 28, 1980. At the base of Notre Dame Cathedral, Charles Canmore, dressed in Hunter gear, waits with his three children. He tells them that tonight is the Hunter's Moon. Their moon. He explains that his grandfather died fighting The Demon and that his father looked for her his whole life with no success. But tonight, it finally ends with him. He dons the Hunters mask. Robyn suggests that just because their ancestors hunted gargoyles doesn't mean that they must, but Charles tells her that it is their destiny as Canmores. Jon is frightened and pleads with his father not to go lest he get hurt. Charles assures the young boy that he has trained his whole life for this. He will not fail. Jason suddenly spots something above and calls their attention to it: A gargoyle gliding over the Cathedral. Charles heads into the Cathedral as his children watch on. High above, Demona saunters across one of the tower's rooftops towards a corner. She smiles as she approaches a stone gargoyle. She activates a secret switch and a compartment opens revealing a small gargoyle statuette. Retrieving the relic, she suddenly has to dodge as a gunshot narrowly misses her and instead blows the head off the large gargoyle behind her. She sees the Hunter before her and gasps. Charles menacingly tells The Demon that it is over. Demona snarls and races towards him. Below, the Canmore children listen to the snarls and gunshots above. Then, they watch in horror as their father falls off the tower screaming. He slams into the ground below. Robyn and Jon run towards their father. Jason watches as The Demon leaps from the Cathedral and glides away. She is laughing in delight at having killed another Hunter.
Manhattan. 1996. The Hunters' missiles strike the Clock Tower and a huge explosion of fire and smoke results! In the police station below the building shakes and alarms blare. A piece of debris falls on Maria Chavez's leg and she falls to the ground as Jason on his Sky-Sled grabs Elisa Maza and escapes the heavily damaged building. Flying high into the sky, Elisa and Jason are able to see the destruction that was wrought. The Clock Tower home of the [Manhattan Clan]] has been completely destroyed. Elisa is horrified and rips off the Hunter's mask only to discover that her abductor is Jason! He promises the alarmed woman that he will explain later and pulls out a tranquilizer injector and presses it into Elisa's leg. Elisa quickly loses consciousness and Jason flies her away from the scene.
Back at what remains of the Clock Tower, the ruins smolder. The hatch to the building below suddenly lifts with a growl from Goliath and he emerges to face the devastation. He helps his Second, Brooklyn, and daughter Angela out of their broom closet shelter. Bronx emerges as well as Brooklyn rubs his head. From nearby, Jon the Hunter watches their emergence from his Sky-Sled. Broadway lifts an injured Lexington into Goliath's arms. Lex is somewhat delirious but still tightly grasps the Hunters' tracking device. Brooklyn is glad that his brother found the device on Goliath's shoulder. It gave the clan just enough time to take shelter. Jon from his Sky-Sled takes aim with his weapons, but does not yet fire as he listens to the gargoyles' conversation. Goliath hands Lexington to Brooklyn as Broadway helps an injured Hudson climb out of the hatch. The elder gargoyle, worried about a next attack, asks for the rest to leave him behind. Goliath picks up his old mentor and asssures him that they are a clan. A family. They do not abandon each other. Jon, with his finger on the trigger, hears Goliath's words and hesitates, then decides not to attack and departs instead. Goliath leads his clan up the stairs. They need to go before they are attacked again. Hudson, eyes closed in pain, tells him that they cannot abandon their home, but Goliath explains that their home is gone. "This time of our life is over," Goliath tells them all with eyes glowing in rage, "and for that, the Hunters will pay!" With Goliath carrying Hudson, Brooklyn carrying Lexington, and Broadway carrying Bronx, the Manhattan Clan leaves their home for the last time.
In the Hunters' Airship, Jon approaches his sister in the control room. He reports that there were no survivors. Robyn tells him to have his eyes checked. She witnessed the gargoyles' escape. Jon asks if she can still track them and Robyn tells him no. The tracer must've been damaged in the attack. Jon, unconvincingly shrugs and suggests that there is no way to find them now. Robyn disagrees. They must need a little help, she explains gleefully, and she knows exactly how to get it.
The following morning, Jon, in his guise as a WVRN reporter, speaks on television about the destruction of the 23rd Precinct House by the monsters known as gargoyles while footage plays of the Manhattan Clan departing the tower. "Jon Carter" goes on to explain that gargoyles are an urban legend no longer and launched a "completely unprovoked attack against our city's finest". Citizens on the street watching the broadcast, including Margot Yale, Brendan Quarters, the Jogger, and Dave are terrified and turn to look to the sky above in fear. At the Eyrie Building, David Xanatos, Fox, their son, Alex, and Owen Burnett are watching the special report as well. Owen turns off the TV and points out that the gargoyles obviously didn't destroy their own Clock Tower. Fox agrees, but adds that anyone seeing that broadcast is going to think they did. Xanatos says nothing, but considers the situation as his wife says, "The whole city will be hunting them now."
Act Two
Act Three
Featured Characters and First Appearances
| Gargoyles | Humans |
|---|---|
|
Quotes
- "We are clan; family. We do not abandon each other." - Goliath
- "The whole city will be hunting them now." - Fox
- "Take a few days off. Relax, enjoy life. It's so fleeting." - Dominique Destine
- "I don't suppose you can stop this?"
- "I wish." - Elisa and Jon
- "He was right about them. They're all evil! And they will all pay!" - Jon
- "And gargoyles will take their rightful place as the rulers of this world. I will take my rightful place." - Demona
- "This clan stands or falls together, and Elisa was one of the clan." - Hudson
- "We're not demons, and we're not monsters, we're gargoyles. And we're going to teach you to respect the name." - Angela
- "You're the one I want, you took my brother from me."
- "You'll join him soon enough!" - Jon and Goliath
- "What have I...what have THEY done?! I will have my revenge! The hunt is not over!" - Jon
- "You'll thank me for this later."
- "Don't hold your breath." - Demona and Brooklyn
- "I don't understand. He risked his life to save us all?"
- "That's what he does. That's who he is." - Robyn and Elisa
- "It feels weird. Cool, but weird." - Lexington
- "And so it begins, "Gargoyles" Chapter two. Or is it three? I've lost count." - Brooklyn
- "You know how I feel about you, right?"
- "How we both feel...Yes."
- "Good." - Elisa and Goliath
Tidbits
As in the first two parts, there are several echoes of Season One, and especially "Awakening", here. Among these are:
- The gargoyles are forced to abandon their home again, as they had done in "Enter Macbeth" (though this time, Goliath is far more pragmatic about it than he was then).
- In contrast to many other episodes, Goliath fails to rescue Elisa at the dam.
- The public is shocked anew by the revelation of gargoyles, just as they had been in "The Edge".
- The final scene parallels the final scene of "Awakening: Part Five". After seeing a few light-hearted moments involving the other gargoyles, we join Goliath and Elisa at the top of the tower, where we see the close bonds that they share, bonds that will be even closer now after "Hunter's Moon", followed by Goliath and the other gargoyles turning to stone at dawn.
Familiar faces again show up in the background of this episode. Brendan, Margot, the Jogger, and Dave are among the frightened citizens watching Jon Canmore's news broadcast about the gargoyles. Travis Marshall reports on the battle at Saint Damien's Cathedral, and Officer Morgan discusses the escalating situation with Matt Bluestone there.
The Hunter's Moon is a real astronomical phenomenon, applied to the full moon during October. (However, the opening flashback incorrectly places a Hunter's Moon as shining on the night of September 28 - not that this nit need interfere with our enjoyment of the episode.) [1]
It is unclear when Xanatos first learned that the Manhattan Clan's home was in the Clock Tower. Despite the fact that Puck likely knew of this fact since the events of "Future Tense", that information could not be shared by Puck when he was Owen Burnett, per he and Xanatos's agreement. It's left up to interpretation whether or not Xanatos acted as if he already knew, even if he may not have. [2]
A few more scenes were deleted from this episode for time considerations. The most important of these (see below) was a meeting between Elisa and Jason Canmore at the ruins of the clock tower, in which Elisa urges Jason (in vain) to give up his feud with the gargoyles. She finally asks him what caused the feud in the first place, and Jason has to admit that he doesn't know; his family has been at war with the gargoyles for so long that they can't remember how it began. (A deleted line in the flashback had Charles Canmore telling his children that "We can no more stop hunting gargoyles than breathing the air", another echo of the first season.) Also, in the original script, Demona and Charles Canmore's battle did not end at Notre Dame; instead, Charles pursued her from the cathedral to the catacombs of Paris, where she killed him. (Bad Guys #3 drew on this original concept, here having the three young Canmores pursue Demona to the catacombs after their father's death.) Finally, a brief scene with no dialogue was originally planned that showed Robyn Canmore under guard and leaving Jason's hospital room moments before Elisa's final scene with Jason. This scene would've been a bit of a lead in to the Bad Guys spin-off.
Robyn Canmore was to initially face prison for her attack on the police station, but the mysterious Director would see to it that she would lead his Redemption Squad instead, resulting in her becoming one of the regulars in the SLG comic mini-series Bad Guys spin-off. Robyn, the only member of the team who would have contact with the Director, would recruit a number of other "semi-reformed antagonists", consisting of Dingo, Matrix, Fang, and Yama, taking them on one secret mission after another; in the process, she would enter into a stormy relationship with Dingo.
Jason and Jon's fates, however, would be incorporated into further episodes of Gargoyles itself. Jon adopted the new alias of "John Castaway" (following the Canmore tradition of using surnames beginning with a hard C as part of their assumed identities) and, with secret funding from the Illuminati, took advantage of the public's fear of gargoyles to start up a new version of the Hunters known as Quarrymen (a sort of "Gargoyles Universe" version of the Ku Klux Klan). Jason would eventually find out Castaway's true identity (he does so in "Estranged"), and make a number of attempts to turn him away from his destructive course; Greg Weisman also considered making him Elisa's date in the Double Date story (eventually issues #3-#5 of the Gargoyles comic book), but gave the role to Officer Morgan instead (though Jason has a cameo in "Invitation Only"). [3]
Greg Weisman planned to do a story for the never-made Team Atlantis spin-off that would have included elements from "Hunter's Moon". In it, Demona would have a run-in with Fiona Canmore (a great-great-aunt of Jason, Robyn, and Jon) in Paris in 1920, involving the Praying Gargoyle (revealed here as being an Atlantean talisman); Fiona would stop Demona from using the Praying Gargoyle to bring the gargoyles of Notre Dame Cathedral to a state of quasi-life and form them into an army to slaughter the humans of Paris (indicating that the Praying Gargoyle had other abilities besides protecting gargoyles from powerful curses); the Praying Gargoyle would be destroyed in the struggle, but Demona would conceal it in a secret compartment in Notre Dame - from which she would retrieve it in 1980.
The visual of the gargoyles tearing through the Hunters' exo-frames was initially considered for Macbeth in "Enter Macbeth". [4]
Missing Scenes
[Note the following scenes were cut before they were sent overseas for animation. There's no lost footage.]
Elisa And Jason At Clock Tower
EXT. CLOCK TOWER RUINS - DAY
Elisa picks sadly through wreckage, occasionally placing something in a cardboard box. She bends to pick up a charred photograph.
TIGHT ON PHOTO
It is a snap-shot from last Halloween: Elisa in her "Belle" gown arm in arm with Goliath. Both very happy.
ON ELISA
A tear rolls down her cheek. A shadow falls over her. Elisa turns.
ANGLE INCLUDES JASON
behind her on his sky-sled, in Hunter garb except the mask, aiming a tranq gun at her. Elisa drops the box and reaches for her holstered gun.
JASON: "Please don't. I'd just have to tranq you again, and I came here to talk."
FAVOR ELISA
She lowers her hand slowly. But she's still on guard.
ELISA: "Okay. Let's talk about what a monster you are."
JASON: "I never meant to hurt you --"
ELISA: "You really are a piece of work. Using me to get to the gargoyles."
JASON: "No! I admit I infiltrated the twenty-third because there were so many gargoyle sightings here. But I never planned--"
ELISA: "Lies. Everything was part of your plan. That phony accent... even that phony kiss..."
ON JASON
He looks desperate and vulnerable, despite the gun in his hand.
JASON: "That kiss was real. And I never planned on falling in love with you."
FAVOR ELISA
This hits her hard.
JASON (CONT'D): "The hunt's been my whole life -- I never realized how lonely I was...
ELISA: "But why are you hunting them?"
ANOTHER ANGLE
We see a flash of Jason's fiery determination. Elisa responds in kind.
JASON: "Those monsters killed my father!"
ELISA: "Those 'monsters' are my friends!"
FAVOR JASON
He looks shocked and disgusted. This, he was not expecting.
JASON: "What?!!"
ELISA: "And they couldn't have killed your father. When he died, they were in Scotland, frozen in stone by a magic spell."
JASON: "So they weren't personally responsible. They're still evil! All gargoyles are! My family has been hunting them for generations!"
FAVOR ELISA
Trying desperately to reach him.
ELISA: "BUT WHY? What started this blood feud?"
FAVOR JASON
He's stumped. His fury won't help him on this one.
JASON: "I -- I don't know. It doesn't matter."
Elisa senses his uncertainty, presses her attack.
ELISA: "Of course it matters. You hate an entire race and you don't know why! Listen, Jason. You've been lucky so far. No one's been killed. Give up the feud. Turn yourself in. It's not too late to walk away from this."
TIGHT ON JASON
He hesitates, then shakes his head.
JASON: "Yes, it is."
WIDE
He revs up the skysled and takes off fast. Elisa draws her gun, but she does not fire -- it's ambiguous whether that's because he's already too far away or because she feels too much for him to shoot him in the back. Her arm drops to her side. PULL BACK to show her forlorn and surrounded by rubble.
DISSOLVE TO:
Elisa, Robyn, Jason at Hospital
INT. HOSPITAL CORRIDOR – NIGHT
An exhausted Elisa sits on a bench opposite a guarded hospital room. Robyn, handcuffed and under police guard exits the room and approaches Elisa. Elisa raises her head. Robyn doesn’t look happy.
CUT TO:
INT. HOSPITAL ROOM
Elisa enters. Jason is hooked up to multiple tubes and machines. He is weak. But he is conscious.
After that silent exchange, Elisa and Jason have their scene beside his hospital bed.
DVD Release
See Also
- 2001 Radio Play Script
- Deleted Scene with Jason and Elisa
- Collection of a few deleted scenes
- Extensive Synopsis and Review
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