Gargoyles (1995)

We are defenders of the night. We are Gargoyles!

Having settled into their new home, the Manhattan clan patrols the city to protect those that need it while remaining hidden to the population at large and going on many fantastic, dangerous adventures with many themes like environmental conservation, acceptance and personal integrity. They will face numerous foes, new and old, that are both mundane and magical along with various allies.

New characters are introduced and older ones are expanded while some plots that had been hinted at come to fruition. Excellent work by the writers on that. The episodes also add many more myths and legends to the show's backstory that are a delight to watch. The drastically expanded episode count from 13 to 52 allows for plenty of time for all the science and sorcery with oodles of action, great writing and interesting, dynamic characters. Adults can easily enjoy it as well as kids and can possibly get even more out of it than the kids.

It's a perfect continuation as it is the same excellent quality of the first season. There is just more of it. Points against it are the same: The sometimes low quality animation for TV and some small animation goofs are sometimes visible, but nothing totally disengaging.

Buyer's Guide:
The first half of the season is available in a DVD box set with uncut episodes and special features, but Disney scrapped plans to release the rest citing low sales. They have made the season available on their YouTube channel. Though for some reason Disney omitted 2 episodes; Sentinel and Mark of the Panther.
 *EDIT* Disney has since released the second half on DVD and removed the YouTube episodes.

5 Villains laughing maniacally out of 5

Gargoyles (1994)

And they say the Middle Ages were barbaric...

In medieval Scotland, creatures called gargoyles that turn to stone during the day and protect their castle's human inhabitants at night are betrayed to marauding vikings and are almost all killed. The survivors are then put under a magic spell that will put them into their stone sleep "until the castle rises above the clouds." 1000 years later, billionaire David Xanatos comes across the story and in an effort to see if it is true buys the castle and moves the entire thing to the top of his New York skyscraper which breaks the spell. Now the gargoyle leader, Goliath, must lead and protect his clan of 6 of the last gargoyles on earth in modern Manhattan. He will find there are no shortage of enemies both criminal and supernatural. Those who would be their ally, like NYPD detective Elisa Maza, are few and far between.

Gargoyles was quite the departure from Disney's usual animated fare. It was a serial drama with stories and characters heavily influenced by various world mythologies, a heavy smattering of action and some actual violence. Very PG violence mind you as it was ostensibly a kid's show, but it was still a break from the norm even if a lot of it was later invalidated by censorship of repeat airings. Despite being for kids, adults could still get a lot out of it as the characters were actually fleshed out with motivations and personalities and the themes could be picked up by history buffs and Shakespeare fans alike. Star Trek fans might get some kicks out of it as a majority of the voice actors were also on one of Trek's incarnations. Jonathan Frakes voices the scheming David Xanatos and Marina Sirtis voices the fiery Demona among others. Goliath is voiced by Keith David in his wonderfully deep baritone voice. The sometimes low quality TV animation is a point against it, but it is never bad enough to break engagement.

Buyer's Guide:
Available on a 2 disc DVD set with the uncut 13 episodes and some bonus features. Or you can watch the edited versions on Disney's YouTube channel here.

5 probably irritated though job-secure cleanup crews out of 5
It was actually a 4½, but remember, Keith David gets an automatic ½ bonus.