Gargoyles (1994–1996): Season 2, Episode 34 - Mark of the Panther - full transcript
Goliath, Angela, Elisa, and Bronx, arrive in Africa - only to discover Elisa's Mom; The Father/Daughter "tension", between Goliath and Angela, intensifies; The Gargoyles, Elisa, and her mother (who learns about Elisa's "secret"), become involved in a tribal curse.
GOLIATH: 1,000 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.
Stone by day,
warriors by night.
[roars]
We were betrayed by the humans
we had sworn to protect,
frozen in stone
by a magic spell
for a thousand years.
Now, here in Manhattan,
the spell is broken
and we live again!
We are Defenders of the Night.
We are gargoyles!
GOLIATH:
Previously onGargoyles...
MATT: Why did you keep me
in the dark for so long?
ELISA: It’s not that
I didn’t trust you.
I guess I just didn’t
want to share them.
It made me feel special.
Angela,
I’ve told you before...
you and your rookery
brothers and sisters
must look on the whole clan
as your parents.
That is the gargoyle way.
You never told me that you
and Demona were once in love.
It doesn’t matter anymore.
It matters to me, Father.
(PANTHER GROWLS)
(GROWLING)
(GUNS FIRE)
(BIRDS SCREECHING)
(ALL SCREAMING)
(GRUNTS) Where are we?
In big trouble!
(ALL SCREAMING)
(GRUNTS)
(WATER SPLASHES)
(GASPING)
(ALL PANTING)
Now, where are we?
I’ve never seen
trees like those before.
(MONKEY SCREECHING)
(GROWLS)
Could be Africa.
My mom’s ancestry is Nigerian,
and we went there once.
You’re lucky.
My father never wants
to talk about himself,
or my mother.
You have many
mothers and fathers.
You’re the child
of the entire clan.
But you’re
my biological father!
(GASPS)
Why would any hunter
take an animal’s skin,
and leave
the meat behind?
Poachers don’t care
about the meat.
They get rich selling
the skin, teeth and claws.
Maybe that’s why
Avalon sent us,
to stop
this disgraceful thing.
DIANE: The Panther Queen
was the most beautiful
creature in the jungle.
Her fur was soft
and shone with
the blackness of
a moonless sky.
Her claws were
razor sharp,
and her teeth huge and white.
But she was also very vain,
and careless.
She mocked the hippo.
She mocked the crocodile.
And then she made
the mistake
of mocking
Anansi the Spider.
Anansi wove a magic spell
into his web
that transformed
the Panther Queen
into a human female.
Gone were her beautiful
black fur and sharp claws.
And when she opened
her mouth to speak,
she had no fangs,
but puny little teeth.
The Panther Queen
begged Anansi
to return her
to her proper form.
But he would not.
She threatened to kill
the little spider.
Anansi just laughed at her.
Creatures such as he
cannot die, he said.
But he agreed
to change her back,
if she would build him
a great city shaped
like a giant web.
The Panther Queen knew
she would need help,
so she married the oba
of the Hauka Tribe.
The oba was very good to her,
and they had many strong sons
and clever daughters.
But the Queen never
forgot her true form,
and longed to race
through the night
in her beautiful panther body.
In time, they built
the city of Kara Digi.
Anansi was very pleased.
When the Panther Queen
came to him,
he wove a spell giving back
her beautiful black fur,
sharp claws,
and shining teeth.
But Anansi
had tricked the Queen.
For now she was lonely,
and she missed
her human children.
She asked Anansi to turn
her children into panthers,
so they could run with her
through the dark nights.
The Queen showed him
her broken heart
and finally he agreed,
but with a price.
The spider would
let her have one
and only one of her children,
if she hunted for him.
So, the Panther Queen
hunted for Anansi
and brought him food.
And Anansi
became fat and happy.
The Panther Queen made
her mark on her oldest son,
who was the wisest, bravest
and most handsome
young man of the tribe.
But the selfish
Anansi did not want
to let his
favorite subject leave.
The trickster told
the Prince
of his bargain
with the Queen.
The Prince did not want
to become a panther.
He asked if there was
any way to escape this fate.
Anansi told the Prince
to kill the Panther Queen.
The Prince was
young and very angry.
He hunted the Queen.
But when he found her,
looking into her great,
golden eyes,
he remembered the sweet voice
and gentle hands
of his human mother,
and realized that
she had chosen him out of love.
He loved her, too,
and could not
bring her to harm.
So, Anansi was forced to change
the Prince into a panther.
Anansi was so furious,
he banished all the humans
from Kara Digi.
(LAUGHS) But that was foolish,
because now he had
no one to tend his needs.
And so the spider
went hungry.
(ALL LAUGHING)
ANGELA: Is that woman
the queen of this tribe?
Or is she their Magus?
Actually, Angela,
that’s my mother.
Come along, my child.
Come, come, come.
It’s time
to go now. Come.
After the feast, we’ll free
the ceremonial panther
in honor of
the Panther Queen.
Well, Fara Maku, how did I do?
I’ve been studying for months.
That was one of
the best tellings
I’ve ever heard.
You do us proud,
Diane Maza.
Especially for someone
born and raised
in New York City.
(GASPS) Elisa?
Oh, Elisa!
Thank goodness you’re all right!
Why did you
just disappear?
We’ve been
out of our minds with worry!
-I’m sorry.
-Would you like to explain
what you are doing in Africa?
I’m, uh,
here on a case.
Oh, please!
Why doesn’t
Elisa just tell her?
Elisa does not like
to share her secrets.
But she should not
keep this from her mother.
You’re right.
Parents and children
should always be able
to discuss anything.
Nobody move!
(MONKEY SCREECHES)
Tea? What are you doing
with these men?
Only what must be done,
Fara Maku.
(GROWLS)
This pelt will
bring many naira.
(GROWLING)
We’ve got to stop them.
We do not want
anyone getting shot.
Give Elisa a chance.
We don’t want
any trouble.
Step away from the cage
before someone gets hurt.
Is this what they’ve taught you
in the big city, Tea?
Stay back!
You have no idea
what happened to me in Abuja.
That panther’s going to die,
and if necessary,
-so will every panther
in the jungle!
-(GROANS)
Ah, let’s get rid of them all.
We don’t want no witnesses.
(GROWLS)
(GASPS)
(GROWLING)
It was you!
(GROWLING)
(GUN FIRES)
Now we’re even.
(GUN FIRES)
No!
Deal with them.
That panther is mine!
(MONKEY SCREECHES)
Say bye-bye.
GOLIATH: Bye-bye.
Ahh!
(SCREAMING)
Going somewhere?
(BRONX GROWLS)
(GRUNTS)
Easy. You don’t wanna anger
my friends, do you?
No, ma’am. Not at all.
You know these monsters?
They aren’t
monsters, Mom.
They’re my friends--
Goliath, Angela,
and this guy is Bronx.
Your friends?
And how long have you
been keeping this secret?
(STAMMERING) No,
that’s not important now.
Didn’t we just see
your friend turn into a panther?
I don’t know
what I’m seeing!
I thought
the legend was just that,
a story.
GOLIATH: Most legends
contain a seed of truth.
True or not,
we need to protect
Fara Maku from
that Tea person.
(GRUNTS)
Angela’s right.
You better go back
to the village, Mom.
While you go
chasing an armed woman
and a wounded panther
through the jungle at night?
I don’t think so.
(GUN COCKING)
(PANTHER CRIES)
Fara Maku!
I loved you once,
but for what you did to me,
you won’t live
through this night!
(SCREAMING)
No one dies tonight,
poacher!
No! He’s getting away!
GOLIATH: Stop struggling!
You will not escape!
(GRUNTING)
(SCREAMING)
(PANTHER GROWLS)
(GASPS)
(GASPS)
-(SCREAMING)
-(SNARLS)
(GASPS) Look, over there.
She must have caught
Fara Maku’s scent.
How will we track them
in there?
We’ll use our secret weapon.
(SNIFFING)
Are you sure
he knows what he’s doing?
(GASPS)
The Spider Gates
of Kara Digi.
I can’t believe
they’re real.
Then again reality’s gotten
awfully strange, lately.
(BIRDS SCREECHING)
(SNIFFS)
(WHINES)
They must have
taken different paths.
The four of you
go that way.
Take my Mom with you.
She’ll be safer that way.
And who will
look after you?
I can do that myself now.
I don’t need
looking after.
Of course not.
-(GROWLS)
-Bronx, no!
(GROWLS)
Hold still. You’re only
making it worse.
(GASPS)
(ALL STRUGGLING)
There!
There’s one of them!
Diane, no!
(DIANE GASPS)
(GRUNTS)
ANGELA: Ready?
Now push!
DIANE: Can’t you
fly us out of here?
Even if I had room
to spread my wings,
I can only glide.
Hold on to me.
Spiders! Why did it
have to be spiders?
ELISA: Aw, yuck.
I hate spiders.
I’m just glad my mom
didn’t see us
get caught in that web-trap.
I’d never hear
the end of it.
You’re lucky.
I wish Goliath would
talk to me
the way
your mother talks to you.
No, you don’t.
She always wants more.
More time, more details,
more... honesty.
And you think
that’s a bad thing?
Angela,
she’s your daughter?
Biologically, yes.
But gargoyle hatchlings
belong to the whole clan.
She is demanding
special treatment from me,
but I cannot favor
one hatchling over the others.
All children demand
special treatment at times.
It’s natural.
And Angela is
the only hatchling with you.
(CHUCKLES EVILLY)
Yes, I know...
Company is coming!
(GROANS)
Now it ends!
(SCREAMING)
(BRONX GROWLING)
(GRUNTS)
Why are you
hunting Fara Maku?
Ask him. He knows.
-I loved you.
-Loved me?
The day I left for Abuja,
I was attacked by a panther.
I wasn’t hurt,
but it marked me.
Living in
the big city was hard,
full of frustration.
And every time I got angry,
I turned into a panther!
Love.
Your love made me a freak!
A half-animal with
no hope of a normal life!
Your life was here with me.
I loved you!
I couldn’t let you go.
That’s not love, Fara.
That’s selfishness.
It wasn’t supposed
to be this way.
Wait a second.
You marked Tea,
but who marked you?
Who transformed you
into a were-panther?
ANANSI: I did.
(GASPS)
Anansi!
Why did you mark
Fara Maku?
He came to me,
storyteller.
He believed in the legends,
and hunted until he found me.
So that he could
make the old bargain,
change them both into panthers
and keep his love by his side.
Then it’s you
I’ll destroy!
(GASPS)
I should never
have marked you, Tea.
Anansi, free her
from the panther curse.
I will serve you for
the rest of my life.
Oh, yes, you will.
All of you.
Fara, hunting alone
has made Anansi this fat.
Imagine what seven
hunters might do.
Dream on, spider-man!
(GRUNTS)
(GASPS)
(YELLING) No!
(SNARLS)
Fara!
(EVIL LAUGHTER)
You will all serve me,
you puny creatures!
Cut the webbing! He’s too fat
to fight us on the ground!
No! Stop!
I will spin you wishes,
give you treasures
beyond counting!
Your gifts always come
with a price, trickster!
(ROARS)
Diane, the spear!
(GRUNTS)
(ANANSI SCREAMS)
With Anansi gone,
we cannot break the spell.
How can I ever
atone for this?
I, too, must atone
for the poachers,
and the panthers
I helped them destroy.
Maybe we can use our curse
to protect this jungle.
And maybe that’s
penance enough for us both.
(WATER SPLASHES)
Your quick thinking
helped us defeat Anansi.
I am proud of you,
my daughter.
Oh, Father!
Magical creatures,
these friends of yours.
Mom...
I should have told you.
Elisa,
if love is about
growing closer,
then it’s also
about letting go.
Okay, but don’t
let go just yet.
My friends and I
are on a quest,
and we’ll have to leave soon.
So while they sleep,
let me tell you
the whole story.
DIANE: There aren’t any more
spiders in it, are there?
ELISA: (LAUGHS) No.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)
superstition
and the sword ruled.
It was a time of darkness.
It was a world of fear.
It was the age of gargoyles.
Stone by day,
warriors by night.
[roars]
We were betrayed by the humans
we had sworn to protect,
frozen in stone
by a magic spell
for a thousand years.
Now, here in Manhattan,
the spell is broken
and we live again!
We are Defenders of the Night.
We are gargoyles!
GOLIATH:
Previously onGargoyles...
MATT: Why did you keep me
in the dark for so long?
ELISA: It’s not that
I didn’t trust you.
I guess I just didn’t
want to share them.
It made me feel special.
Angela,
I’ve told you before...
you and your rookery
brothers and sisters
must look on the whole clan
as your parents.
That is the gargoyle way.
You never told me that you
and Demona were once in love.
It doesn’t matter anymore.
It matters to me, Father.
(PANTHER GROWLS)
(GROWLING)
(GUNS FIRE)
(BIRDS SCREECHING)
(ALL SCREAMING)
(GRUNTS) Where are we?
In big trouble!
(ALL SCREAMING)
(GRUNTS)
(WATER SPLASHES)
(GASPING)
(ALL PANTING)
Now, where are we?
I’ve never seen
trees like those before.
(MONKEY SCREECHING)
(GROWLS)
Could be Africa.
My mom’s ancestry is Nigerian,
and we went there once.
You’re lucky.
My father never wants
to talk about himself,
or my mother.
You have many
mothers and fathers.
You’re the child
of the entire clan.
But you’re
my biological father!
(GASPS)
Why would any hunter
take an animal’s skin,
and leave
the meat behind?
Poachers don’t care
about the meat.
They get rich selling
the skin, teeth and claws.
Maybe that’s why
Avalon sent us,
to stop
this disgraceful thing.
DIANE: The Panther Queen
was the most beautiful
creature in the jungle.
Her fur was soft
and shone with
the blackness of
a moonless sky.
Her claws were
razor sharp,
and her teeth huge and white.
But she was also very vain,
and careless.
She mocked the hippo.
She mocked the crocodile.
And then she made
the mistake
of mocking
Anansi the Spider.
Anansi wove a magic spell
into his web
that transformed
the Panther Queen
into a human female.
Gone were her beautiful
black fur and sharp claws.
And when she opened
her mouth to speak,
she had no fangs,
but puny little teeth.
The Panther Queen
begged Anansi
to return her
to her proper form.
But he would not.
She threatened to kill
the little spider.
Anansi just laughed at her.
Creatures such as he
cannot die, he said.
But he agreed
to change her back,
if she would build him
a great city shaped
like a giant web.
The Panther Queen knew
she would need help,
so she married the oba
of the Hauka Tribe.
The oba was very good to her,
and they had many strong sons
and clever daughters.
But the Queen never
forgot her true form,
and longed to race
through the night
in her beautiful panther body.
In time, they built
the city of Kara Digi.
Anansi was very pleased.
When the Panther Queen
came to him,
he wove a spell giving back
her beautiful black fur,
sharp claws,
and shining teeth.
But Anansi
had tricked the Queen.
For now she was lonely,
and she missed
her human children.
She asked Anansi to turn
her children into panthers,
so they could run with her
through the dark nights.
The Queen showed him
her broken heart
and finally he agreed,
but with a price.
The spider would
let her have one
and only one of her children,
if she hunted for him.
So, the Panther Queen
hunted for Anansi
and brought him food.
And Anansi
became fat and happy.
The Panther Queen made
her mark on her oldest son,
who was the wisest, bravest
and most handsome
young man of the tribe.
But the selfish
Anansi did not want
to let his
favorite subject leave.
The trickster told
the Prince
of his bargain
with the Queen.
The Prince did not want
to become a panther.
He asked if there was
any way to escape this fate.
Anansi told the Prince
to kill the Panther Queen.
The Prince was
young and very angry.
He hunted the Queen.
But when he found her,
looking into her great,
golden eyes,
he remembered the sweet voice
and gentle hands
of his human mother,
and realized that
she had chosen him out of love.
He loved her, too,
and could not
bring her to harm.
So, Anansi was forced to change
the Prince into a panther.
Anansi was so furious,
he banished all the humans
from Kara Digi.
(LAUGHS) But that was foolish,
because now he had
no one to tend his needs.
And so the spider
went hungry.
(ALL LAUGHING)
ANGELA: Is that woman
the queen of this tribe?
Or is she their Magus?
Actually, Angela,
that’s my mother.
Come along, my child.
Come, come, come.
It’s time
to go now. Come.
After the feast, we’ll free
the ceremonial panther
in honor of
the Panther Queen.
Well, Fara Maku, how did I do?
I’ve been studying for months.
That was one of
the best tellings
I’ve ever heard.
You do us proud,
Diane Maza.
Especially for someone
born and raised
in New York City.
(GASPS) Elisa?
Oh, Elisa!
Thank goodness you’re all right!
Why did you
just disappear?
We’ve been
out of our minds with worry!
-I’m sorry.
-Would you like to explain
what you are doing in Africa?
I’m, uh,
here on a case.
Oh, please!
Why doesn’t
Elisa just tell her?
Elisa does not like
to share her secrets.
But she should not
keep this from her mother.
You’re right.
Parents and children
should always be able
to discuss anything.
Nobody move!
(MONKEY SCREECHES)
Tea? What are you doing
with these men?
Only what must be done,
Fara Maku.
(GROWLS)
This pelt will
bring many naira.
(GROWLING)
We’ve got to stop them.
We do not want
anyone getting shot.
Give Elisa a chance.
We don’t want
any trouble.
Step away from the cage
before someone gets hurt.
Is this what they’ve taught you
in the big city, Tea?
Stay back!
You have no idea
what happened to me in Abuja.
That panther’s going to die,
and if necessary,
-so will every panther
in the jungle!
-(GROANS)
Ah, let’s get rid of them all.
We don’t want no witnesses.
(GROWLS)
(GASPS)
(GROWLING)
It was you!
(GROWLING)
(GUN FIRES)
Now we’re even.
(GUN FIRES)
No!
Deal with them.
That panther is mine!
(MONKEY SCREECHES)
Say bye-bye.
GOLIATH: Bye-bye.
Ahh!
(SCREAMING)
Going somewhere?
(BRONX GROWLS)
(GRUNTS)
Easy. You don’t wanna anger
my friends, do you?
No, ma’am. Not at all.
You know these monsters?
They aren’t
monsters, Mom.
They’re my friends--
Goliath, Angela,
and this guy is Bronx.
Your friends?
And how long have you
been keeping this secret?
(STAMMERING) No,
that’s not important now.
Didn’t we just see
your friend turn into a panther?
I don’t know
what I’m seeing!
I thought
the legend was just that,
a story.
GOLIATH: Most legends
contain a seed of truth.
True or not,
we need to protect
Fara Maku from
that Tea person.
(GRUNTS)
Angela’s right.
You better go back
to the village, Mom.
While you go
chasing an armed woman
and a wounded panther
through the jungle at night?
I don’t think so.
(GUN COCKING)
(PANTHER CRIES)
Fara Maku!
I loved you once,
but for what you did to me,
you won’t live
through this night!
(SCREAMING)
No one dies tonight,
poacher!
No! He’s getting away!
GOLIATH: Stop struggling!
You will not escape!
(GRUNTING)
(SCREAMING)
(PANTHER GROWLS)
(GASPS)
(GASPS)
-(SCREAMING)
-(SNARLS)
(GASPS) Look, over there.
She must have caught
Fara Maku’s scent.
How will we track them
in there?
We’ll use our secret weapon.
(SNIFFING)
Are you sure
he knows what he’s doing?
(GASPS)
The Spider Gates
of Kara Digi.
I can’t believe
they’re real.
Then again reality’s gotten
awfully strange, lately.
(BIRDS SCREECHING)
(SNIFFS)
(WHINES)
They must have
taken different paths.
The four of you
go that way.
Take my Mom with you.
She’ll be safer that way.
And who will
look after you?
I can do that myself now.
I don’t need
looking after.
Of course not.
-(GROWLS)
-Bronx, no!
(GROWLS)
Hold still. You’re only
making it worse.
(GASPS)
(ALL STRUGGLING)
There!
There’s one of them!
Diane, no!
(DIANE GASPS)
(GRUNTS)
ANGELA: Ready?
Now push!
DIANE: Can’t you
fly us out of here?
Even if I had room
to spread my wings,
I can only glide.
Hold on to me.
Spiders! Why did it
have to be spiders?
ELISA: Aw, yuck.
I hate spiders.
I’m just glad my mom
didn’t see us
get caught in that web-trap.
I’d never hear
the end of it.
You’re lucky.
I wish Goliath would
talk to me
the way
your mother talks to you.
No, you don’t.
She always wants more.
More time, more details,
more... honesty.
And you think
that’s a bad thing?
Angela,
she’s your daughter?
Biologically, yes.
But gargoyle hatchlings
belong to the whole clan.
She is demanding
special treatment from me,
but I cannot favor
one hatchling over the others.
All children demand
special treatment at times.
It’s natural.
And Angela is
the only hatchling with you.
(CHUCKLES EVILLY)
Yes, I know...
Company is coming!
(GROANS)
Now it ends!
(SCREAMING)
(BRONX GROWLING)
(GRUNTS)
Why are you
hunting Fara Maku?
Ask him. He knows.
-I loved you.
-Loved me?
The day I left for Abuja,
I was attacked by a panther.
I wasn’t hurt,
but it marked me.
Living in
the big city was hard,
full of frustration.
And every time I got angry,
I turned into a panther!
Love.
Your love made me a freak!
A half-animal with
no hope of a normal life!
Your life was here with me.
I loved you!
I couldn’t let you go.
That’s not love, Fara.
That’s selfishness.
It wasn’t supposed
to be this way.
Wait a second.
You marked Tea,
but who marked you?
Who transformed you
into a were-panther?
ANANSI: I did.
(GASPS)
Anansi!
Why did you mark
Fara Maku?
He came to me,
storyteller.
He believed in the legends,
and hunted until he found me.
So that he could
make the old bargain,
change them both into panthers
and keep his love by his side.
Then it’s you
I’ll destroy!
(GASPS)
I should never
have marked you, Tea.
Anansi, free her
from the panther curse.
I will serve you for
the rest of my life.
Oh, yes, you will.
All of you.
Fara, hunting alone
has made Anansi this fat.
Imagine what seven
hunters might do.
Dream on, spider-man!
(GRUNTS)
(GASPS)
(YELLING) No!
(SNARLS)
Fara!
(EVIL LAUGHTER)
You will all serve me,
you puny creatures!
Cut the webbing! He’s too fat
to fight us on the ground!
No! Stop!
I will spin you wishes,
give you treasures
beyond counting!
Your gifts always come
with a price, trickster!
(ROARS)
Diane, the spear!
(GRUNTS)
(ANANSI SCREAMS)
With Anansi gone,
we cannot break the spell.
How can I ever
atone for this?
I, too, must atone
for the poachers,
and the panthers
I helped them destroy.
Maybe we can use our curse
to protect this jungle.
And maybe that’s
penance enough for us both.
(WATER SPLASHES)
Your quick thinking
helped us defeat Anansi.
I am proud of you,
my daughter.
Oh, Father!
Magical creatures,
these friends of yours.
Mom...
I should have told you.
Elisa,
if love is about
growing closer,
then it’s also
about letting go.
Okay, but don’t
let go just yet.
My friends and I
are on a quest,
and we’ll have to leave soon.
So while they sleep,
let me tell you
the whole story.
DIANE: There aren’t any more
spiders in it, are there?
ELISA: (LAUGHS) No.
(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)