Planning is underway for The Gathering 2000: Orlando. This year, the con travels to Disney World's backyard, to be hosted in Orlando, Florida on on the weekend of August 4-6, 2000. Hotel reservations and con registrations are being accepted now, and an "Unofficial Gargoyles Day" at Disney World is being planned for the Monday following the con, where as many fans as possible will invade the Magic Kingdom for a day of fun. For the fourth year in a row, I am attending the Gathering, and I hope to see all of my rookery sibs in Orlando this year. For more information, please visit the official G2K web site. -- Patrick Toman

The Gathering 1999

Planning is underway for The Gathering 1999 / Gargoyles World Tour: Dallas. As the name would imply, this year the con is hitting the road and will be hosted in Dallas, Texas on the weekend of June 25-27, 1999. A hotel has already been found and con registrations are being accepted now. Yours truly is part of the con staff this year, and I hope to see all of my rookery sibs in Dallas this year. For more information, please visit the official GWT/G99 web site. -- Patrick Toman

The Gathering 1998

Planning is underway for The Gathering 1998. Con chair this year is Batya "The Toon" Levin, and once again, the Gathering will be held in New York City. For more information, please visit the official Gathering '98 web site. -- Patrick Toman

Gargoyles on USA

Seasons 1 and 2 Find New Home on Cable

Just as it looked like "Gargoyles" would be gone from TV forever with the disbanding of the Disney Afternoon, it was discovered that the USA cable network will not only broadcast reruns of seasons 1 and 2 starting on Monday, September 15, 1997, but that they will be showing them in the original production order as well! "Gargoyles" will air twice every weekday in September, with one episode at 7:30 AM and a second at 8:00 AM (EST). Beginning in October, airings will change to only once every weekday at 8:00 AM (EST). For more information, you can click here to go to see the airing schedule at the USA Network page. --Patrick Toman

A Report From The Gathering 1997

One Attendee's Perspective

The Gathering 1997 took place July 19-21 at the Mayflower hotel on Central Park West in Manhattan. "I don't know when, I don't know how, but I know something's starting right now..."

Gargoyles fans were out in force (yours truly was part of the staff). Highlights included: the Central Park tour, during which clannies reenacted scenes from High Noon ("You fight like a rookie!") and "The Green," proving once again that it takes a lot to surprise a New Yorker--passersby gave the group odd looks but looked amused and tolerant; the costumes--Aimee Major, also known as "Angela," as "Angela," Patrick Toman now famous for his Oberon get-up, and any number of David Xanatoses, including Chris Rogers and Gorebash. Owen Burnetts were everywhere, prompting many to accuse one of the two Sevarius of conducting genetic cloning experiments in the hotel kitchen.

Perhaps most memorable of all was the talk Greg Weisman gave on Sunday, during which he showed the original promo video for "Gargoyles" and the promo video for the show that never was, "Bad Guys." What really brought the house down was the surprise visit by Keith David, who actually read the Gargoyles intro out loud to us, and even did the line "I have been denied everything, even my revenge!" in full voice! Both graciously consented to sign autographs, and even returned later in the evening to view the fan art and talk further. Tara O'Shea had the chance to show Greg her Gargoyles music video, a montage of Goliath and Elisa set to "Part of Your World (reprise).

But above the filking and the talks and the costumes, a big part of The Gathering '97 was meeting rookery sibs corresponded with only in cyberspace, seeing them face-to-face, and meeting new sibs not encountered before.

Now, two items that must be told. First: the origin of "Jalapena." By the time you read this report, this story will no doubt have been all over the web and back, but here it is as I remember it told. Keith David told us that when he was on a visit to New Orleans, he heard a lovely chanteuse-type singer who would use the word "Jalapena" as a kind of joyful explanation, like "halleluiah!" He liked it so much, he started to use it, and this was noticed during recording sessions of "Gargoyles." So it was worked into the script, at first as a halleluiah phrase, then as a substitute curse. Greg claims that the rest of the production team eventually told him to limit the use of that word in his scripts; and that he occasionally worked it in just to rib Frank Paur (they're good buddies).

Now, how did Barney save Gargoyles? Well, it seems that when Greg Weisman and a few other people first showed the promo video to the press and syndicated stations, they were blown away by it. Apprently, Weisman introduced the promo by saying "Hi, we're from Disney...and we have something...different for you." They liked it, Greg said, but were doubtful about the show's market for children. They feared advertiser's reactions, and so asked if Greg Weisman had any kids, and what did he think? Greg Weisman's son had not yet been born at this point, so he could not give them a convincing argument. Bill Faggerbakke, however, had a child the right age. He cited Barney, pointing out that while the show had been great for keeping the kids of every parent in the room occupied, did they really want to watch that for six hours a day any more? "Gargoyles. It's better than Barney." Or words to that effect.

Batya "The Toon" and I realized the evil Barney's great destiny: to save "Gargoyles." ;-)

On a final, weird note, on Friday afternoon as the staff and early-comers convened for a "pre-con" in Mae Lee's hotel room, the weather began eerily echoing the episode the convention takes it name from. The 90 degree heat had been pressing; then the sky grew ominous and a wind, "no ordinary wind," sprang up. We watched the storm over Manhattan from the windows of the hotel that evening, a stunning sight.

There are so many more stories to tell, some on a more personal note, some to be told later as the memories settle a bit. Wind to your wings, rookery sibs. --Constance "Eilonwy"

The Museum of Television and Radio has selected the "Gargoyles" episode "Future Tense" to be included in its International Children's Television Festival. The Museum, which has a location in New York City, will run the festival through May 25th. Airings will be Saturdays and Sundays @ 12:30. "Future Tense" will be showing this weekend, April 12-13, and next weekend, April 19-20. Thus "Gargoyles" is being recognized as part of "the outstanding work of members of the international children's television community--and ...the creativity, responsibility, dedication, and eloquence they bring to their work."

Thanks to Gorebash for drawing this to the fans' attention; check the museum's web page for more info.

Gargoyles: The Series, The Fans, and Fan Impact written by rookery sib DumlaoX. An excellent essay (for a school project of his) on why "Gargoyles" inspires such loyalty, why the show is so special, and why animation on TV doesn't have to be synonymouswith fluff.

The Gargoyles live on...coming soon, the 4th season, created by the fans: The Gargoyles Saga!

"SO WHAT DO WE DO? We begin by admitting, at least to ourselves, that in the short term, we lost the battle. Then we go on and try to win the war." This letter from Greg Weisman, posted on the Station 8 comment board has a few hard truths, and some good advice, for the fans.

Rookery sibling Leva Mevis (leva@primenet.com) recently received a reply to her e-mail to Dean Devlin, who is writing the script for the upcoming live action "Gargoyles" movie. You can read Devlin's letter here, just in case you missed it on the newsgroup, Station 8's comment board, and various listservs ;-).

The Gathering" approaches, rookery sibs. A gargoyles convention to be held in New York City is in the works. Gorebash, the keeper of Station 8 has more info.