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Exolex (repost by Aris) writes...

Hi again Greg, this isn't a opinion, but just a question. What exactly do you know about the Gargoyles movie script? Because, aparently a critic read it and had this to say:

"I've followed this page from the get-go, and now I've finally decided to share my views on Devlin's script, which I read almost a year ago.

"Let's put it this way: I think both ID4 and Godzilla were execrable. The type of stuff that makes true movie-lover's bladders loosen and gives the likes of Woody Allen heart attacks.

"But Gargoyles, written in a sort of John-Hughes-meets-an action-film mode, is much, much worse.

"This thing is so preposterous, so inane, so stupid... I wouldn't even know where to start. Even bad scripts have ONE good moment. This has NONE. Nothing. It's a total bore and a complete embarrassment. Someone here said Scott Rosenberg is rewriting it. I'm all for that. I'd like some of his Bad Moon Rising dialogue to permeate this script. And maybe he'd give it some BALLS, which this film is severely lacking... as well as a brain.

"The story -- for those who care -- is this: A grotesque granite gargoyle is brought to New York by a rich architect to sit atop a perch on his favorite building. Since the thing is lifted above the clouds, its spell -- placed there by a queen long, long ago -- is lifted. The gargoyle is then awakened, accidentally, by a young boy, and the gargoyle -- Goliath (so named by the kid -- after he thought better of 'Arnold') -- assumes him to be a prince and his mother a queen.

"The cliches run rampant here: We have a group of kids picking on our shy, loner young boy (only to be saved by the Gargoyle); we have a gang of thugs trying to mug our group of characters on a train -- though there's no reason in hell that they should even BE on this train (only to be saved by the gargoyle); we have the single mother who is not ready to date and the guy that keeps trying for a date (unsuccessfully) and the flashback scenes where we see that the husband was killed during a mugging.

"What's most bizarre is how this thing becomes something close to a Disney Christmas special in the end. You see... this is yet another script involving the millenium and how evil will take over the world when we reach 2000. The main bad guy in the film has shown Goliath that he's not needed in this world. So Goliath sits back as the 'evil spirits and zombie army' takes over the city. And what gets him back into the fight?

"Seeing people come out for the annual New Year's party at Time Square even though it was cancelled because of the weather (as if this would happen!).

"Dean COULDN'T have thought this worked. There's even long speeches about how the world is a really good place and that we can pull together.

"Watch those Italian loafers, I'm going to vomit.

"My friends and I keep this script around for when we need a good laugh. All we have to do is randomly pick a piece of dialogue and we're in stitches. I also suggest this script for any of the unproduced screenwriters out there. One look at this and you'll have a renewed confidence you didn't think imaginable."

OK, so the $64,000 question is: if there's just one gargoyle in Devlin's script, why is it called Gargoyles??

Just though that it might be a point of intrest for you, if you didn't know anything about it. And in responce to another fan's responce to my earlier remarks, I never ever said what you made after Avalon was garbage, just not high calibur.

Greg responds...

I never read Devlin's script, but I heard from Touchstone that they weren't satisfied with it. Calling it "the Gargoyles movie script" at this point is innacurate. It's been OVER two years since Devlin left the project. Since then they have gone through at least three writers I know of. And these guys weren't rewriting Devlin's work. They were starting from scratch on their own versions. Now they have a new writer, who's also starting from scratch. Right now there is NO Gargoyle movie script, though they hope to have a first draft by October.

And of course, I don't agree with your assessment of the post-Avalon episodes.

Response recorded on July 26, 2000