Team Atlantis

The Gorlois character model by Greg Guler and colored by Vashkoda. Keep in mind that the original was black and white and stapled to the top of the script, so Vash wasn't sure if the colors corresponded to what Guler had in mind.

Team Atlantis was a series developed by Walt Disney Television Animation to follow the theatrical film Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Tad Stones was the producer, and Greg Guler was the lead character designer for the series. Vic Cook was a director, and Dave Schwartz was a storyboard artist. Greg Weisman served as the Voice Director and also wrote at least a couple of scripts for the series.

Unfortunately, due to the disappointing box-office take for the film, the series was cancelled a third of the way through production -- before more than a few episodes had begun being animated -- though scripts and voice work were nearly complete and storyboards had begun on many episodes. Three completed episodes of the series were later re-edited into the direct-to-video sequel, Atlantis: Milo's Return. Milo's Return included the following Gargoyles voice actors:

• Jeff Bennett - Sam McKeane
• Clancy Brown - Edgar Volgud
• Bill Fagerbakke - Sven
• Frank Welker - Obby/Mantell
• Tom Wilson - Ashton Carnaby

Synopsis

The main characters from Atlantis: The Lost Empire are reunited and travel about the surface world, tracking phenomena caused by Atlantis' mysterious crystals. These characters include:

• Milo Thatch, linguist
• Princess Kida of Atlantis (voiced in both A:TLE and Milo's Return by Cree Summer)
• Vinny, demolitions expert and florist
• Mole, digger
• Joshua Sweet, physician
• Audrey Ramirez, mechanic
• Cookie Farnsworth, cook
• Wilhemina Packhard, communications expert
• and Preston Whitmore, the eccentric millionaire who foots the bill.

"The Last"

One of the episodes written, voice recorded, and partially storyboarded was titled "The Last" and was written by Greg Weisman. The episode was a pseudo-crossover with Gargoyles taking place in Paris, in the year 1920. With permission from Tad Stones and Jay Fukuto, Greg was allowed to tell a new Gargoyles story in this series. He even got Marina Sirtis to reprise the role of Demona (referred to in the script as "The Gorlois") and Sheena Easton to play the part of Fiona Canmore.

Summary

As the episode opens, we see Fiona Canmore smashing gargoyle statues at Notre Dame Cathedral only for the sun to set and the Gorlois to make her escape, injuring Fiona in the process. Fiona makes her way to a hospital where she is reunited with an old flame, Joshua Sweet.

At the same time, the Gorlois makes her way to Paris' catacombs to continue digging for the Praying Gargoyle. There she encounters Princess Kida, Mole, Vinny, and Obby. After a brief struggle, Kida identifies Demona as a Gorlois and tells us that long ago, the Gorlois were allies of her father (the King of Atlantis) and regarded as trusted friends. She and the others take pity on the Gorlois, and Mole develops a strong and even more comedic crush on her.

Having agreed to help Fiona hunt down the Gorlois, Sweet and Milo Thatch bring her to a rendezvous with Kida and the others, only to find that Kida has already formed an alliance with the "creature". The Gorlois uses Mole to dig up the Praying Gargoyle before tying him up and escaping back to Notre Dame with it. She uses it to cast a spell, animating all the stone gargoyles in Paris (although they are not living gargoyles, as she is), planning to use these stone slaves to wipe out every human in the city.

Night falls, and Sweet and Fiona confront the Gorlois. Sweet comes to think the Gorlois does have a legitimate gripe, and tries to put an end to its feud with the Canmores. A huge battle takes place in the skies of Paris, and Sweet destroys the Praying Gargoyle and saves the Gorlois' life allowing her to escape, hoping that the act will change her. Sweet and Fiona exchange bitter words before going their separate ways.

The last thing we see is the remains of the Praying Gargoyle, and the Gorlois swooping down from the sky and snatching up the Atlantean crystal that was hidden within it.

Is It Canon?

One of the big questions asked of Greg Weisman since he revealed this story at the 2002 Gathering was if this story was indeed canon in the Gargoyles Universe and if so, did it tie Atlantis into the Gargoyles Universe as well. Greg's answer was that he has his own plans for Atlantis.

Events in Gargoyles and Team Atlantis took place in two different universes, and "The Last" was the one place where they intersected. Both series -- while dealing with similar subject matter -- were actually quite different. Like Gargoyles, Team Atlantis would have featured Odin (both voiced by W. Morgan Sheppard), Puck, and the Loch Ness Monster. However, there were clear differences between these and their Gargoyles Universe counterparts.

Greg felt that with all the legends that Team Atlantis was going to encounter and make use of, bringing in gargoyles made sense and decided to tell a story about Demona and one of the Hunters. Though Demona is never called by name, Gargoyles fans would have recognized her right away. Instead she is called The Gorlois, which is the Atlantean word for Gargoyle. Fiona Canmore is never referred to as a Hunter except in one vague line of the Gorlois' thrown in for old fans, while new fans would interpret it as referring to Fiona hunting the Gorlois.

As for the Praying Gargoyle being destroyed and revealing an Atlantean Crystal inside, Greg has since revealed that thanks to the crystal, the statue can regenerate itself over a period of sixty years if kept on holy ground. Sure enough, sixty years later in 1980, Demona returns to Notre Dame to claim the statue as seen in "Hunter's Moon". We also see Demona retrieving a crystal from the remains of the Praying Gargoyle at St. Damien's Cathedral in 1996 ("Masque").

The story itself is "canon-in-training," but neither the movie nor the rest of the series would have been canon. A terrible pity that the series was canceled mid-production.

Greg has stated that he plans to use the story from "The Last" in the Gargoyles comic book series. [1]

Can I Watch It?

At the 2003 Gathering in Manhattan, a small group of fans pooled together to purchase the voice tape, script and partial storyboard for the episode. They have been working hard to complete the episode by timing the board to the audio, and enlisting artists to help fill in the gaps. It is not complete, but if you're an artist and interested in helping, contact Vashkoda at her gmail.com account (address is her name)

However, since the Gathering came to an end, it currently lacks a venue to be viewed.

See also

• Atlantis: The Lost Empire at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
• Atlantis: Milo's Return at Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia