Gargoyles and TNG connection

[HarryCanyon1982]

For those who remember the awesome 90s animated show, ever noticed they sometimes would get TNG writers and some guest stars on the show?

I was 12 when it first aired and noticed some of the ST stars including Marina Sirtis, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton and more. I was 12 when it first aired and i noticed the STNG connection.

 

[bbjeg]

Back when it was on TV, I started watching it because of all of the Trek cast members.

 

[Christopher]

Not to mention Kate Mulgrew as Titania, Nichelle Nichols as Elisa's mother, Avery Brooks as Nokkar, Colm Meaney as some Irish guy, etc. And Salli Richardson herself was a DS9 guest star once, as was Matt Frewer. (And Clancy Brown did ENT, but that was after Gargoyles.)

 

[dstyer]

^Salli Richardson was the voice of the main character Elisa Maza in Gargoyles. She played the characters of Fenna and Nadell in the DS9 episode Second Sight in the second season.

 

[Terra Pryme]

This topic should be retitled (and moved) "Gargoyles and Star Trek connection" (not just TNG).

 

[Lance]

Because of Disney's penchant for basing the visual looks of their animated characters based on the actors providing the vocal talent, it was way cool that David Xanatos looked, as well as sounded, like Frakes. In fact I picked up a Xanatos action figure at the time for exactly this reason.

 

[Christopher]

Yup, and Demona looked kinda like Sirtis, and Elisa looked like Salli Richardson, and her parents looked like Nichelle Nichols and Michael Horse, and so on. At the time the show was on, you could've plausibly done a live-action movie with almost entirely the same cast. I always kind of hoped they would. (Though I'm not sure if Keith David would've been considered ruggedly handsome enough to play Goliath.)

I don't see that as a Disney thing, though, just a feature of that particular show. Are there other examples you're thinking of?

 

[Anwar]

They thought about getting Patrick Stewart to voice Goliath, but they couldn't afford him.

 

[Lance]

Yup, and Demona looked kinda like Sirtis, and Elisa looked like Salli Richardson, and her parents looked like Nichelle Nichols and Michael Horse, and so on. At the time the show was on, you could've plausibly done a live-action movie with almost entirely the same cast. I always kind of hoped they would. (Though I'm not sure if Keith David would've been considered ruggedly handsome enough to play Goliath.)

I don't see that as a Disney thing, though, just a feature of that particular show. Are there other examples you're thinking of?

It's a very Disney thing, going back at least to The Lion King (where many of the characters are dead ringers for their voice actors -- the one that struck me most at the time were the Hyena played by Whoopi Goldberg looking exactly like her, and Zazu totally is Rowan Atkinson).

Or we could look at the Pixar catalogue (same difference), where for example Woody and Buzz in Toy Story look like Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, Sulley in Monsters Inc looks like John Goodman... and many more besides.

I think a lot of studios do it now, but back in 1994 it was very much a Disney trademark.

 

[HarryCanyon1982]

Yup, it was Disney of them to make their characters be like the select actors.

I heard about Patrick wanting to be Goliath before Keith was chosen.

 

[Christopher]

I heard about Patrick wanting to be Goliath before Keith was chosen.

That's news to me. I'd always wondered why Patrick Stewart never did the show. He would've been a great choice for Oberon or King Arthur.

(Also, how come Hudson was the only one in this Scottish clan of Gargoyles who spoke with a Scottish accent??? Not that a Scottish accent from 1000 years ago would've sounded much like a modern one, not to mention the language itself being different, but still.)

 

[Anwar]

Patrick Stewart was considered for Goliath, MacBeth and King Arthur. He either wasn't available or they couldn't afford him because his US career takeoff made him too expensive.

 

[Albertese]

Man, I haven't seen Gargoyles since it was on the air when I was a kid. And, yes, I totally noticed the Star Trek connection. I ought to find those on DVD. Such a great show.

--Alex