Avalon Part Two

"Avalon" Part Two is the thirty-fifth televised episode of the series Gargoyles, and the twenty-second episode of Season 2. It originally aired on November 21, 1995.

• Director: Dennis Woodyard
• Writer: Lydia Marano
• Story Editor: Brynne Chandler Reaves
• Animation by Koko Entertainment Co., LTD
• Backgrounds by Koko Entertainment Co., LTD
• Additional Production Facilities: Anima Sam Won Co., LTD

Continuity

Angela, Gabriel and the other gargoyle members of the Avalon Clan are introduced in this episode. Angela becomes a regular cast member beginning in this episode.

Elisa Maza comments to Goliath that Angela "looks like Demona, but her coloring's different" and asks about her parentage. This foreshadows the revelation in "Monsters" that Angela is the biological daughter of Goliath and Demona. Goliath's response (that gargoyle children are raised by the entire clan) foreshadows his reluctance to accept her as his daughter until the episode "Mark of the Panther".

Angela is not the only member of the Avalon Clan to be the biological offspring of two gargoyles whom we had already met in the series. Gabriel is in fact the biological son of Othello and Desdemona (as his appearance strongly hints) - though this would not be confirmed until "Reunion". (On a related note, Greg Weisman has also mentioned that Broadway is Hudson's biological son, although neither of them are at all interested in this piece of information, thanks to the gargoyle custom of "Daughters and sons belong to the whole clan.")

The Archmage travels back to 984, and witnesses the events depicted in flashback in "Long Way To Morning". We learn that the Archmage was able to survive his plunge into the chasm by rescuing his past self.

During the Archmage's visit to 1020, Demona's granary robbery from "City of Stone Part One" reappears, this time from his perspective, and Findlaech makes a cameo, teaching Macbeth swordplay.

The "Sleeping King" is referenced for the first time, foreshadowing Arthur Pendragon's introduction in the following episode.

Tidbits

In the original draft for "Avalon Part Two", the Archmages' time loop included two more stops that had to be cut for time: a visit to Scotland in 1040 (where the "enhanced Archmage" instructs the Weird Sisters to make Demona and Macbeth immortal) and to New York in the present day, during the events in "City of Stone" (where the "enhanced Archmage" would deliver further instructions to the Weird Sisters that would lead to their actions in that episode).

The latter scene, incidentally, could explain a remark by the "enhanced Archmage" to his former self about how the modern world is now powered by science and technology rather than by magic. From the point of view of the episode as aired, this is astonishing, since his time in the 20th century is spent entirely on Avalon, rather than the outside world, and so he could not have seen this first-hand. He also calls Demona "cannon-fodder." (Admittedly, he does witness Demona and Macbeth making use of their high-tech firearms in their initial assault upon the palace, which could be how he learned of it. An even more entertaining possibility is that the Archmage doesn't actually know this fact, but only says it because it's all part of the time loop!) These lines might have been left over from the longer version of the episode, where he would have had the opportunity to learn of this during his brief stopover in Manhattan during the 1990s.

Early in this episode, the Archmage mocks the gargoyles by saying "What have you accomplished? You beat up a beach!" This is referenced in the animated series W.I.T.C.H., in the episode "I is for Illusion", when one of the protagonists asks "How are we supposed to beat up a beach?" while fighting the monster Sandpit. Season 2 of W.I.T.C.H. was story edited and produced by Greg Weisman, and the episode was written by Cary Bates.

DVD Release

• Gargoyles: Season Two, Volume One

Links

• Background Memo
• Greg's Ramble
• Extensive Synopsis and Review
• Official episode upload on Disneyshows

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