Note: This document originated at Buena Vista's Official Gargoyles Site, and is copyright Buena Vista Television. Used without Permission.
To most people, if they know about them at all, a gargoyle is nothing more than a stone carving, a scary little statue of a monster that adorns the side of an old-fashioned building. Sometimes it takes on the not altogether glamorous role of drainspout: sitting on its haunches on the back of a cornice molding, it absorbs rainwater from the roof and impassively funnels it out into the pavement below.
But for the producers at Walt Disney TV Animation, these architectural ornaments became the inspiration for a legendary new breed of creature to star in the forthcoming series entitled, aptly enough, "Gargoyles." Disney's creative team concocted a mythology - and biology - for these creatures that is nothing short of extraordinary and fantastic. In an epic saga that began this past October and is unfolding over subsequent Friday afternoons, five gargoyles and a gargoyle beast are finding adventure and battling the forces of evil in beleagered and hero-hungry New York City.
They do so only at night; with dawn's light, gargoyles are transformed into stone, posed on ledges and attracting scant attention from busy Manhattanites. At sundown, however, the gargoyle's internal clock begins an awakening process. It turns back into flesh and blood from the inside out, until all that is left is a thin layer of exoderm, which cracks and is shed by the gargoyle as a snake sheds its skin, leaving behind small fragments of grit and gravel.
Gargoyles are not pretty, and can be very intimidating to the uninitiated. Though no two look exactly alike, they are powerfully built and very strong, with sharp, fang-like teeth and enormous claws capable of gouging stone and metal. Their eyes appear humanoid, but when they are angered, the irises disappear and glow like beacons--white in males, red in females. In addition to arms and legs, gargoyles have long, lizard-like tails and webbed wings. When not outstretched behind them, these can be folded about their bodies like a regal cloak. (With their long tails and sharp teeth, they are thought by some to have evolved from dinosaurs, but undoubtedly the warm-blooded kind.)
Undeniably, the super-human strength and unique appearance of the gargoyle makes them suited to subduing villains. Most unique are their restorative powers: if a gargoyle is wounded during the night, the transformation to stone at daybreak will seal and heal any cuts, bruises, or abrasions. If properly set, broken bones will knit and sore muscles will be refreshed. But gargoyles are not invulnerable. A dismembered limb cannot be reattached, and if a gargoyle should be killed at night, daylight would do nothing to restore his life.
A gargoyle's wings are particularly useful. While they cannot fly like birds, bats, or certain well-known superheroes, they are able to glide in the manner of "flying" squirrels and paper airplanes. Once in the air, Gargoyles are adept at using up-drafts and down-drafts to simulate flight.
On the ground, a gargoyle cannot flap its wings to power itself into the air, nor can it take a running start to achieve flight. Should it want to ascend to the top of a skyscraper, it will scale the building's walls with the use of its sharp claws, or, should that prove impractical, take the elevator.
Just before sunrise, a gargoyle senses fatigue and searches for a high, out of the way place to strike a frightening pose just as the sun rises over the horizon. The transformation to stone is nearly instantaneous, and once completed, subjects the gargoyle to the same indignities borne by other public statuary -- when awakened the next evening, a gargoyle harbors a distinct dislike for pigeons!
