The show is what many consider Disney's greatest. The irony of this is that the Disney Company had little say in what went on with the show. Their...lack of attention (for lack of a better term)...gave the creators the freedom to make the show the way they wanted, without being under the thumb of what's "acceptable" in media.
It sparked something in people that weren't the target audience. Go to a convention or visit the fan site forums and you may find what looks to be more like a college discussion on anatomy or mythology than a bunch of fans talking about an animated TV show.
It was noticeable when Disney started taking control again. Whole episodes were kept off-air because some people missed the entire point of the message. The episode "Deadly Force" is the prime example of this, in the episode, Broadway accidentally shoots Elisa while playing with her gun. The message: don't play with guns (unlike other shows, it actually shows the consequences of doing so). Why it was pulled for a while: Elisa was shot because Broadway was playing with guns.
Most of the people that dislike the show feel as such because they've missed key items.
Take the names, for example. Gargoyles didn't originally have names, unless, like Goliath (named by the people inhabiting Castle Wyvern for his size and strength in battle) and Demona (named by Macbeth for her ferocity in battle - "you fight like a demon!"), the names were given by humans. It was not part of their culture to name everything. When they did choose names in the 20th century, the names were based on what was around them. They lived in New York City, so their names were based on some of the sights they saw (Hudson for the river, Brooklyn and Bronx for the districts, Lexington and Broadway for the well-known streets; when the clones were introduced in Season 2, their names were based off west coast places). Because their culture was not the same as human culture, they did not initially understand the reason for names. "Their ways are not our ways." (Goliath) Other people find the literalness of the spells to be absurd. The magic in the show is very literal (though the spells are, in fact, Latin and truly translate), such is the way of the people of a millennium ago in the Gargoyles universe. David Xanatos makes a comment on this in "The Price" when he tries an immortality spell in which the spell states "anyone who bathes in this will live as long as the mountain stones." Quite possibly the only magic that isn't literal is Puck's, but he is, true to Shakespeare, a trickster and a Child of Oberon.
Which brings another factor in - the Shakespearian and mythological influences that were worked in. Oberon, Titania, Oberon's Children (including Puck and the Wyrd Sisters), Macbeth, King Arthur, Avalon, Odin, and even the David and Goliath reference. Gargoyles is what got me interested in Shakespeare's other works, aside from Romeo and Juliet that I was taught in school.
Another key point that people often miss is that there is no black and white, good guy and bad guy, straight right and wrong. That's part of what makes the show so intriguing. Is Xanatos a good guy, or is he a bad guy? The truth is, he's neither and he's both. He's a person with his own motives, and although the end may be "good," the means are sometimes questionable. Money is his power, and although it's not usually his motive, it is often his means of getting what he wants. "Pay a man enough and he'll walk barefoot into hell." (Awakening) Demona and Macbeth seem like obvious "bad guys," but what are they, really? Pawns, not even knowing what they do (though who's pawns?). Victims of time created by the magical pact they made in old Scotland, unable to die unless one kills the other. Or, for Demona, a victim of herself, a betrayer who's convinced she's the betrayed. The complexity of the relationships between characters simply adds to its appeal.
Some people also forget or do not know that the series was created in the mid-90s, since the DVDs were only recently released. This means pre-9/11, which in turn means the rules and ways that are in place now weren't when the show was created.
When the show was created, the audience had to see things from the different viewpoints and perspectives. The same is still true, if not even moreso, since the time-frame of the setting is now a decade ago. It forced people to see controversial topics such as guns and, to an extent, a form of terrorism (one episode showed a hostage situation), along with gangs and gang "protection." There's a uniqueness to the show that makes it not just any "children's cartoon," but as some people put it, "a living novel," and one everyone can enjoy...if they have an open mind to be able to understand the complexity and depth of the storyline.
It sparked something in people that weren't the target audience. Go to a convention or visit the fan site forums and you may find what looks to be more like a college discussion on anatomy or mythology than a bunch of fans talking about an animated TV show.
It was noticeable when Disney started taking control again. Whole episodes were kept off-air because some people missed the entire point of the message. The episode "Deadly Force" is the prime example of this, in the episode, Broadway accidentally shoots Elisa while playing with her gun. The message: don't play with guns (unlike other shows, it actually shows the consequences of doing so). Why it was pulled for a while: Elisa was shot because Broadway was playing with guns.
Most of the people that dislike the show feel as such because they've missed key items.
Take the names, for example. Gargoyles didn't originally have names, unless, like Goliath (named by the people inhabiting Castle Wyvern for his size and strength in battle) and Demona (named by Macbeth for her ferocity in battle - "you fight like a demon!"), the names were given by humans. It was not part of their culture to name everything. When they did choose names in the 20th century, the names were based on what was around them. They lived in New York City, so their names were based on some of the sights they saw (Hudson for the river, Brooklyn and Bronx for the districts, Lexington and Broadway for the well-known streets; when the clones were introduced in Season 2, their names were based off west coast places). Because their culture was not the same as human culture, they did not initially understand the reason for names. "Their ways are not our ways." (Goliath) Other people find the literalness of the spells to be absurd. The magic in the show is very literal (though the spells are, in fact, Latin and truly translate), such is the way of the people of a millennium ago in the Gargoyles universe. David Xanatos makes a comment on this in "The Price" when he tries an immortality spell in which the spell states "anyone who bathes in this will live as long as the mountain stones." Quite possibly the only magic that isn't literal is Puck's, but he is, true to Shakespeare, a trickster and a Child of Oberon.
Which brings another factor in - the Shakespearian and mythological influences that were worked in. Oberon, Titania, Oberon's Children (including Puck and the Wyrd Sisters), Macbeth, King Arthur, Avalon, Odin, and even the David and Goliath reference. Gargoyles is what got me interested in Shakespeare's other works, aside from Romeo and Juliet that I was taught in school.
Another key point that people often miss is that there is no black and white, good guy and bad guy, straight right and wrong. That's part of what makes the show so intriguing. Is Xanatos a good guy, or is he a bad guy? The truth is, he's neither and he's both. He's a person with his own motives, and although the end may be "good," the means are sometimes questionable. Money is his power, and although it's not usually his motive, it is often his means of getting what he wants. "Pay a man enough and he'll walk barefoot into hell." (Awakening) Demona and Macbeth seem like obvious "bad guys," but what are they, really? Pawns, not even knowing what they do (though who's pawns?). Victims of time created by the magical pact they made in old Scotland, unable to die unless one kills the other. Or, for Demona, a victim of herself, a betrayer who's convinced she's the betrayed. The complexity of the relationships between characters simply adds to its appeal.
Some people also forget or do not know that the series was created in the mid-90s, since the DVDs were only recently released. This means pre-9/11, which in turn means the rules and ways that are in place now weren't when the show was created.
When the show was created, the audience had to see things from the different viewpoints and perspectives. The same is still true, if not even moreso, since the time-frame of the setting is now a decade ago. It forced people to see controversial topics such as guns and, to an extent, a form of terrorism (one episode showed a hostage situation), along with gangs and gang "protection." There's a uniqueness to the show that makes it not just any "children's cartoon," but as some people put it, "a living novel," and one everyone can enjoy...if they have an open mind to be able to understand the complexity and depth of the storyline.