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Recap / Gargoyles S 2 Walkabout

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  • Story Arc: Avalon Mystic Tour, The Pack
  • Characters: Goliath, Elisa, Angela, Bronx, Fox, Dingo, Anastasia Renard, the Shaman
  • Enemy(ies) : The Matrix

The Avalon tourists find themselves in Australia, where they encounter Dingo. After a bit of a scuffle, they had to postpone when a wave of liquid metal began to overtake the land, terraforming it. They also discover a pregnant Fox and her mother, Anastasia Renard, were also there at the Xanatos Australian testing site, which was the cause of the liquid metal wave from before. It turns out it is a nanomachine colony known as the Matrix that got out of their control and is now trying to terraform the entire planet to "give the world order".

Fox returns in "The Gathering". Dingo makes his next appearance as part of the Redemption Squad in the Gargoyles: Clan Building spin-off Gargoyles: Bad Guys.


This Episode contains the following Tropes:

  • The Atoner: Dingo starts this episode looking for a Redemption Quest in order to clean his slate. At the end of the episode, he decides that becoming Australia's superhero could do the trick.
  • Becoming the Mask: In the Pack's first appearance, they were actors playing heroes. Dingo eventually finds he wants to be a real hero, and at the end of the episode, that's exactly what he's become.
  • Blue-and-Orange Morality: The Matrix has very alien thought processes, prioritizing order above everything else. Dingo is able to convince it to end its destructive rampage by introducing the concept of "law and order."
  • The Cameo: In the Dreamtime, Goliath creates versions of Hudson and the Trio to fight the Matrix.
  • Continuity Nod:
    • Back in "Grief", Hyena makes a mention of Dingo leaving the group. It is here that we learn what he is has been up to.
    • Fox informed her father Halcyon Renard in "Outfoxed" that she was pregnant. She is shown to be visibly pregnant in this episode. Also, Anastasia Renard, who was mentioned in that prior episode, makes her first onscreen appearance here.
  • Crazy Enough to Work: Trying to directly attack it failed. Fox and Anastasia's scientific solution of attempting to directly install a breakdown program into the Matrix failed. Against an unstoppable wave of nanomachines, what else can be done? The Shaman simply says the only thing left to do is to talk to it in the Dreamtime and convince it of its error. Dingo wasn't amused, but their options were severely limited.
    Dingo: I must be off my nut going for this...
  • Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Dingo is looking for a fresh start and to give his life purpose. He admits he misses when the Pack were regarded as the good guys and joins with the Matrix to be a true hero.
  • Eldritch Location: The Dreamtime is portrayed as a Dream Land where thoughts and wishes are made real and time runs differently. Since the Matrix's mind works too fast for people to reason with in normal time, Dingo and Goliath astral project into the Dreamtime to fight with it before managing to convince it not to assimilate the planet.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: When the Matrix is taking control of the research facility, you can see the name "Waldo" tagged on one of the robotic arms.
  • Gone Horribly Right: The Matrix was made to create order out of chaos. In time, it decided the whole world was chaotic and attempts to create order by covering everything into billions of nanomachines.
  • Grey Goo: The scenario in a nutshell. Anastasia even name-drops it when describing just what the unrestrained Matrix will do to the world.
  • Heel–Face Turn: Dingo decides to stop doing criminal activity and become a real hero instead of pretending to be one.
  • Hope Spot: Anastasia provided a disk containing a breakdown program that would supposedly revert the Matrix to a harmless organism again. It failed. All but lampshaded by the Shaman.
  • Hostile Terraforming: The Matrix was originally designed to reshape the land as its user desired. When it broke free of control, it attempted to take its programming to the extreme by engulfing the entire planet.
  • Innocuously Important Episode: Goliath's actions in this episode will be why Titania aides him in another.
  • Internal Reveal: Goliath learns that Fox is Halcyon's daughter.
  • Irony: Dingo is shown at the start of this episode to begin a walkabout seeking to atone for his past (granted he is also providing security for Fox as she works on the Matrix, however his desire for redemption is proven genuine), but Goliath and Elisa mistakenly assume that he has malign intentions.
  • Loophole Abuse: The Matrix doesn't so much counteract its programming as evolve it to a new definition of order.
  • Nanomachines: The Matrix is a colony of nanomachines that built enough of themselves to nearly overtake Australia and possibly the rest of the world.
  • Near-Villain Victory: After Goliath and Dingo managed to stop the Matrix from turning the world into one giant metallic sphere, they return to real time. It was revealed the safe haven everyone else was at was mere moments away from being engulfed in liquid metal.
  • Non-Malicious Monster: The Matrix is simply following its directive to create order and doesn't truly appreciate what it's doing to organic life. When Goliath warns that it's regressing and killing things instead, it hesitates and requests clarity. Dingo suggests pursuing law and order instead, and the Matrix finds this intriguing.
  • Reality Warper: In the dreamtime, things are as you wish them to be. This enables Goliath and Dingo to perform feats such as throwing fireballs, generating spirit gargoyles, and creating solid cages. Unfortunately, the Matrix can do this as well, and it can think faster than they can.
  • Science Fantasy: One of the most obvious examples in the series, since the characters must enter the Aboriginal Dreamtime to communicate with an artificial intelligence (who, as it turns out, was created by Queen Titania).
  • Shout-Out: Dingo mentions (sarcastically?) that he always wanted to go to Disneyland. Considering that Disney owns both, this could also count as a bit of Product Placement of sorts.
    • The animators seem to have made a bit of a reference to the Where's Wally?/Wheres Waldo? series of children's picture books as alluded under Freeze-Frame Bonus above.
  • Talking the Monster to Death: Dingo ultimately convinces the Matrix to stop by suggesting that it create "law and order" instead of its previous order alone.
  • Tempting Fate: Anastasia warns Fox that the Matrix is evolving too fast and can present a serious danger. Fox waves it off, confident the magnetic field chamber will keep it contained. Soon after that, it begins to break out of its holdings...
  • Zeroth Law Rebellion: The Matrix took its programming to create orderly land too far and attempted to do this to the entire planet.

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