At a time when the Disney Afternoon was stacked with a strong lineup of colorful and cuddly animal-based characters, An idea was conceived to bring in something similar but different, with a more muted palette, sharper tone, and an interwoven story structure. These were the defenders of the night, ancient creatures awoken again in modern-day Manhattan, stone warriors known as Gargoyles, which received a movie adaptation you might not know about called Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken.
“One thousand years ago, superstition and the sword ruled. It was a time of darkness. It was a world of fear. It was the age of Gargoyles.”
The Gargoyles cartoon originally debuted on television in October of 1994 with an impressive five-part story arc known as “Awakening,” it received a lot of praise. These episodes are an origin story for Goliath (Keith David) and his clan of gargoyles. Their story begins in Scotland, 994 A.D., where they protect castle Wyvern, their home, but the humans who live there don’t appreciate what the creatures do, and our heroes are soon betrayed, but like many parts of this show, there is more to the story, and it won’t come to light until later. These events lead to them being cursed, turned to stone even at night, and it is a spell that cannot be broken until the castle rises above the clouds, which, thankfully, a man named David Xanatos (Jonathan Frakes) has the money and power to accomplish. With their home moved to Manhattan, now sitting atop a skyscraper, they will become the protectors of New York, even if humans still fear them.
Part of the promotion for the show would be a World Premiere screening of these episodes to take place at Walt Disney World’s Pleasure Island multiplex in Orlando. Since they wanted this to feel more like a big epic showing, and it would be mostly for members of the press and school kids who had been bussed in for the event, the five episodes needed to be cut down into something closer to a movie. Producer Greg Weisman and a separate team worked on this project while Frank Paur pushed on with the original crew to make sure the episodes were ready. They knew that what they had was strong for television, but the energy and pacing would need to be different for a feature presentation, chiseling it down to around 82 minutes and focusing on scenes that feature the two main characters.
The movie Weisman and the others created premiered in September of ’94 and might have been the last fans would have heard of that version until Buena Vista Home Video made a deal to release “Awakening” on home video. Finding out there was already a shorter, edited-down cut without the intros, credits, and commercial breaks made that the version they asked for to save time and money on their end. Weisman wasn’t thrilled with the idea of selling an adaptation that had less overall material, but the company said they would be adding value in other ways. So, though it was never intended to be shown again or made available to the public, Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken was released on VHS and LaserDisc in early 1995.
So what’s the difference?
Being a home release, there are the expected teaser trailers – you have to love seeing one for Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad on there – as well as a promotional video for the Gargoyles series featuring several of the voice actors and crew, hyping up the production. But the main attraction is the interactive board game at the end. Players race against a literal ticking clock to reach Xanatos so he can’t destroy the gargoyles, featuring several event cards and the video barking instructions as well. I can’t imagine this received a lot of play as just a game, and it was likely a quick and easy attempt at making the tape seem more enticing, but it does have some original voice lines and is almost neat.
Since the movie premiere and televised episodes were close together, separate teams worked on finishing each to ensure they were both ready on time. This meant that the two versions had different editors and sound mixers, with the former tweaked for a theater experience. Many scenes were edited out of the movie, especially those that didn’t focus on Goliath or Elisa Maza (Salli Richardson), playing off the Beauty and the Beast dynamic that helped shape the pitch.
We lose out on many scenes featuring the secondary characters acclimating to their new home and all mentions of the eggs in the rookery as well, which had to be a bit confusing later on in the series for those who only saw this version. A lot of dialogue was cut as well for what is genuinely an excellently-paced feature, but some had to be changed or completely redubbed in post to help everything make sense. Several scenes were also moved around to make sure the plot would be easy to follow without the additional content and to spread the action out better. The movie does have a few small bits that aren’t in the original episodes, mostly extra lines or quick animations that help emphasize key moments, like when Goliath first awakens from the curse. According to Weisman, there are editing, sound effects, and musical choices that are superior in the movie, but also plenty that turned out better on television, and it’s a shame they didn’t have the time and money to work on a perfect version of “Awakening.”
Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken is awesome. There was more money put into this first set of episodes, and it shows, but the show excels because it has a different look than its contemporaries on the Disney Afternoon, with bold lines and dark foreboding atmosphere featuring some incredible cityscapes and backgrounds that still hold up. It’s part aesthetic but mostly craftsmanship, as we see some inspired angles and movements that make shots feel like a movie while other scenes look like rich paintings. The show was going for a superhero vibe, and whoever decided to have them clasp their wings together as cloaks made an amazing call that helped accent the character visuals. Chef’s kiss. The voice actors are the other part of this great work, a top-notch cast that feels perfect for each of their characters as they recite commanding lines and navigate these Shakespearean storylines.
Then there’s the tone. For a cartoon conceived as a comedy to mirror something like Gummi Bears, the final form felt darker with higher stakes that embraced its fantasy elements without ever letting them stand in the way of masterfully written drama. The writing felt more sophisticated, with epic-sounding orchestral music recorded on a budget. Part of the idea was to make a more mature series, less safe compared to how they had been operating, and they owed some of that direction to Batman: The Animated Series. It mirrored the tone while having their characters face prejudice, hatred, and even racism, featuring two female characters who were both effective and involved in the main stories at a time when that wasn’t common. One was a policewoman of color, and the other was Demona (Marina Sirtis), a complex villain dealing with her own issues that made kids question what it truly meant to be alone.
Gargoyles the Movie: The Heroes Awaken is somewhat of a novelty now. It can be hard to track down physically, but there are some on eBay, and a digital copy has been available on the Internet Archive for a while, but it isn’t the best quality. Seeing this version is something for hardcore fans and completionists who love the series and want to experience everything it has to offer. For me, it was a curiosity that I’m glad to have explored, reliving memories of such a fantastic cartoon.
Most fans agree that season one is Gargoyles at its best – and they don’t like to talk about The Goliath Chronicles – and it certainly starts strong, which this movie is a condensed version of. Its popularity helped spawn merchandise, a video game, comics, and a slew of action figures, many of whom I have sitting on my shelf, old and new. The franchise keeps trying to come back and break free from the stone curse for one more flight, in whatever form. I’m not holding my breath, but seeing this story again, I’m hoping the rumors are true so they may live again.
