Greg responds...

1. Bronx was a later addition.
2. I'm sure she knew. I'm not sure he knew she knew.
3. I'd hardly say Shakespeare goofed up. Same with Malory. But I think the
seeds of truth in Malory may not always have grown in the same direction as
in our series. Have to take it case by case.
4. I haven't finished reading his complete plays yet. Faustus is episodic
but impressive. Tamburlaine is very episodic, but certainly has some great
moments. That's all I've read so far. I just started THE JEW OF MALTA. Ask
me again later.
5. Hmmm. Maybe subconsciously, although I think you're giving us too much
credit this time.
6. Among other human hearts, yes.(GDW/1-27-98)

Greg responds...

1. Before you met either character.
2. Before you met either character. (Or at least before you met Demona in
the 20th century.)
3. Same answer.
4. Good question. I can't answer that with absolute certainty, but I don't
think much more would have been added from the standpoint of PLOT POINTS. I
just think we would have had more room to deal with Angela and Demona, with
Thailog, with each of the clones and our characters' responses to them.
5. No, of course not. And he's not the only gargoyle with facial hair.
What makes you think the others don't shave? :) (GDW/1-27-98)

Greg responds...

I've discussed this a lot recently, both here and in the comment room. The
Archmage survives BECAUSE his future self saved him, which allowed him to
live and age so that he could come back and save his younger self. It's a
loop. Like the Revolution at SIX FLAGS MAGIC MOUNTAIN. (GDW/1-27-98)

Greg responds...

Good question. The answer's pretty self-evident.
Yes, that's a hint.
(GDW/1-26-98)

Greg responds...

Well, Evelyn, I think you're in the minority on that one. But basically, we
had a Beauty and the Beast motif in mind from the beginning. (GDW/1-26-98)

Greg responds...

Anubis appeared in "Grief."
(GDW/1-26-98)

Greg responds...

I've answered this before. It's not daylight. The moon is bright in Avalon
when it's full, and they were all framed by the moon and torchlight.

And, yes, of course, we messed up a bit, but since I've got the above
explanation, I'm gonna stick with it and pretend we didn't mess up at all.
At any rate, please don't think we didn't notice that the lighting in the
scene was too bright. We did but we couldn't fix it before it aired.
(GDW/1-26-98)

Greg responds...

I doubt it. I've never met Neil, and God knows he doesn't need me to tell
his stories. Also we work in different media, and though we are both
interested in many of the same themes and topics, I think we have very
different approaches, very different tones, very different voices. I once
used his character of Death in an issue of CAPTAIN ATOM. I tried to be
respectful, but I heard through the DC Comics grapevine that he didn't care
for the appearance, though I never talked to him about it personally. But
Neil, if you're out there, I'd be willing to give it a shot.
(GDW/1-15-98)

Greg responds...

What was the context of my previous statement?

I'd say, as an example, that the old Norse Gods represent a faction reporting
to Odin, who in turn reports to Oberon. It's a fairly feudal system. Maybe
that's where we humans got the idea for feudalism. (GDW/1-15-98)

Greg responds...

1. Maybe.
2. Maybe.
3. When he was on duty, he was strickly Owen, cause that was the deal he had
with Xanatos. That didn't proclude him from messing around a bit on his off
time.
4. No. (GDW/1-15-98)

Greg responds...

It's not your imagination. In fact, the Magus pretty much, as I recall, came
right out and admitted to Elisa that he loved the Princess. She loved him
too, but not in the same way. (GDW/1-15-98)

Greg responds...

It's still going and it's been over a year.
(GDW/1-15-98)

Greg responds...

I don't think I confirmed that absolutely. I'm still not going to.
(GDW/1-15-98)

Greg responds...

You probably don't want to hear this, because among other things, I'm sure
you know it, and yet you asked the question anyway. There are limitations to
our resources in making an animated series. One of these limitations is not
to redesign a character's clothing for every episode. So Elisa always seems
to wear the same outfit and Demona dresses in the same rags for a millenium.

As for the headband, there was some confusion with our animators, partially
because Demona has horns behind that headband. But there was nothing wrong
with the editing.

Come to think of it, this may be exactly the answer you were looking for,
since I'm sensing you just wanted me to cop to the fact that our process was
flawed.(GDW/1-14-98)

Greg responds...

1. That's PRINCE OF EGYPT. And, no, I have nothing to do with it. I know
it's the story of Moses, but it's being done by the Feature Animation
Division in a completely different building, in a different part of Los
Angeles. I've got nothing new to report on my own work. Wish I did. I'm in
development hell.

2. I don't think they qualify as a race, but I think any reference with the
word "freak" in it might not be politically correct.

3. He knows what he was taught. It depends on how you count of course.
We've met beings of four separate races on the show. Humans, Gargoyles,
Oberon's Children and the New Olympians. The latter, as I've mentioned
before are an ancient hybrid of Oberon's children and mortal humans. We've
also met Nokkar, who's a member of an alien race, and he's mentioned the
Space Spawn, who are still another alien race. I'm not counting "animals"
like dogs, panthers, gargoyle beasts, loch ness monsters, etc. I'm also not
claiming that this answer is definitive.

4. The odds are against us. But it isn't impossible. I don't know how to
quantify beyond that. I guess I'd have to say three or four.

5. I have no idea. 6? 2?

6. Humans didn't evolve from monkeys. Both monkeys and humans evolved from
a common ancestor. Same with Gargoyle Beasts and Gargoyles. I don't know
enough about dinosaurs et al to answer this question. At least not yet.
(GDW/1-14-98)

Greg responds...

Sorry, you assumed wrong. Gargoyles had interaction with humans long before
humans were building castles. So they "picked up" the native human tongue
long, long ago. They have no living spoken language of their own.
(GDW/1-14-98)

Greg responds...

1. Yes. I've answered this before, at least in part. Check the archives.
Gargoyle myths and legends would probably differ in different parts of the
world, just as human myths and legends do. But I'm sure there are thematic
consistencies.

2. Mohammed was a prophet, not a god. But basically, there was no point in
even proposing stories that we knew we could never get on the air. Your
evaluation may therefore be correct, though I admit to balking at it a bit,
because it sounds like we were condescending toward these other
cultural icons. I hope that's not the case. We tried to treat each
character with respect, but it may be that I have to cop to being more
presumptuous toward deities with less "political" power. (GDW/1-7-98)

Greg responds...

1. I think he likes it, but you'd have to ask him.

2. At least into the 22nd century.

2a. Maybe, maybe not.

3. I forget her name, but you can look it up, I believe, in Geoffrey of
Monmouth. Or read about her in Mary Stewart's THE CRYSTAL CAVE.

4. Prior to VOWS.

5. Prior to LONG WAY TO MORNING, for plotting against Prince Malcolm.

6. The Archmage thought Demona had betrayed him at the end of VOWS. He
wasn't completely wrong. That ended their professional relationship.

7. 1994.

8. A few months.

9. I'm not revealing that yet.

10. Ditto. (GDW/1-7-98)

Greg responds...

We had been struggling to name all the characters for some time (with the
exception of Demona). I came up with the New York names and the rationale
that they had no names in the past. But that didn't seem to work for
Goliath. So we went with something classic. It appealed to me that Goliath
was named by the humans for an evil giant. A perfect indication that humans
didn't understand him (or gargoyles in general) at all.

I don't remember who chose the Coldstone name. It might have been me. Or it
might have been Michael Reaves who suggested it (or almost anyone on the show
for that matter). I know I came up with the Coldsteel and Coldfire names.
In early drafts of POSSESSION, Coldfire was called Goldfire, which was
another name I came up with. Finally the Coldfire name occurred to me.
It was obviously a better name, and I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of
it first. So I switched it. That was a bullet I dodged. (GDW/1-7-98)

Greg responds...

1. You assumed wrong. But at any rate, Brooklyn is not in control of the
Gate, so he's got no choice where and when it sends him.

2. The Gate pops open in front of him. He reaches for it and falls through
the rabbit hole BEFORE he can get a grip on it. (GDW/1-6-98)

Greg responds...

1. Both.

2. It's part of Earth, but it's location isn't reached in a three
dimensional manner. It's magic. A nexus of native Earth magic.

3. Is "alines" a typo for "aliens" like Nokkar? If so, the answer would be
that they could in theory with study and practice and the right equipment.

4. I think he considers Jason to be a victim, not a traitor. I don't think
he would intentionally hurt his brother, but as we've seen, there's a bit of
a gap between Jon's actions and his intentions.

5. Both.

6. The animation wasn't great in that scene, but the idea is that the robot
body has a small internal repair function. Mini-robots (less sophisticated
and much larger than the nanotechnology used for Matrix) enact repairs.

7. Well, is any appliance immortal? I'd say time takes it's toll on most
things, but obviously they don't age in the same way an organic creature
does. So they have a greater immortality potential. As to their restart
capabilities, that would depend on how they were destroyed, I guess.

8. In 1996, all the clones (including Delilah, Malibu, Burbank, Brentwood
and Hollywood, but excluding Thailog) were biologically aged into their early
twenties. Thailog was aged into his late twenties to match Goliath.

9. Speed-aging has side effects. Also Hollywood is biologically older than
Broadway.

10. Metaphorically, yes.

11. She had studied their culture, and the village had invited her to be
story teller at the festival of the Panther Queen. This was a great honor
that she had been preparing for for years.

12. No. In my mind, they eventually returned home.

13. That's a story for another day. Not a short answer question.

14. He testified against the Dracon family.

15. More of a smart-ass remark, but it was a vague foreshadowing of
Brooklyn's TimeDancer adventures.

16. Someone asked this already. See my earlier response.

17. The axe had absorbed a lot of magic. And yes, he's permanently gone. I
figure the character is now spent. (A lot of people felt he was already
spent went he appeared in Vendettas.) (GDW/1-6-98)

Greg responds...

I don't think they've ever had intercourse, if that's what you're asking,
including when she was his fiancèe. That was part of her mystique as
Dominique. (GDW/1-6-98)

Greg responds...

No. (GDW/1-6-98)

Greg responds...

1. Give me a list of buildings your curious about, and I'll let you know
which ones, to my knowledge, are real. Eyrie Building is not of course.
Cloisters are. (There, that's a start.)

2. Prejudice. (GDW/1-6-98)

Greg responds...

I haven't given that much thought yet. So at the moment, It's hard to
divorce my answer from the issue of the comic book SANDMAN that dealt
with this exact subject and which I read some time ago. That felt pretty
close to right for me. Having said that, if I ever got around to telling
my version of that story, I'd probably take our characters in a very, very
different direction, because I wouldn't want to be copying Neil Gaiman.
(GDW/1-6-98)

Greg responds...

I do have plans for Lex's significant other, but they are tied into other
long-term plans, so it doesn't make much sense to reveal the details now.
(GDW/1-6-98)

Greg responds...

1. I would think so, yes.

2. I'd guess that the magic that generates her transformation would also
allow the child to live.

3. Ditto.

4. We honestly don't know. (See the Archives for a more complete answer on
the immortality of Oberon's Children.)

5. She hasn't been designed. I have a vague (extremely vague) picture in my
mind, but I wouldn't want to pin anything down here. Sorry. (See I'm
neither omniscient nor omnipotent. I'm rarely even omnipresent.) (GDW/1-6-98)

Greg responds...

1. I think you're reading in more than is there. Bronx is a good
instinctive judge of character, but Goliath and Angela aren't particularly.
I think Goliath largely did trust Raven right off. Angela was suspicious,
but that was because his story didn't make sense to her, although not
necessarily for the right reasons. As for Leo & Una, I think Goliath, Angela
and Elisa were all trying to solve the mystery of the War Memorial and were
too distracted to have too much of a guard up.

2. Some answers are spur of the moment. Some are not. Some answers are
part of my overall thinking but have never been articulated before. Are you
wondering about anything in particular?

3. Never too inquisitive. I don't always feel like giving an answer, but I
don't mind the questions. I don't think it's a secret that I've found a
couple of commenters a bit presumptuous. Assuming they know better than I
what went on behind the scenes in the making of our show or even what is or
was going on inside MY head. That's annoying, but not exactly tragic. I'm
also not too fond of rumor spreaders, who take advantage of fans by
spreading false info so that they can feel superior. But generally, the
fans have been incredibly courteous and enthusiastic. We haven't always
agreed on everything, but I don't expect the fans to goose-step in line
behind me. And it has been great to see how you all have responded with so
much passion for the series. (GDW/1-6-98)

Greg responds...

1. Yes. I went to high school with a guy named Morgan Morgan. His full
name was Morgan Lord Morgan III. He had nothing in common with our Morgan,
but I always thought he had a bizarrely cool name.

2. Um, I'm not sure what you mean. I'm not going to reveal his given name,
but it wouldn't be of any particular significance to you. He's not an
existing character, if that's what you're thinking.

3. I've basically given this away already, but I think I'll maintain a bit
of mystery here.

4. When?

5. Not saying.

6. See above.

7. Sorta.

8. It's called "The Big Sleep Syndrome". I just watched a tape of it today
for the first time. It hasn't aired as of today's date, but probably will
have by the time you read this post.

9. Disney on the Family Channel? I think you're confused. Magazine sales
would have to be enormous for it to effect programming decisions. I got
less than 300 responses to the poll. That barely qualifies as a drop in the
bucket. (GDW/1-5-98)

Greg responds...

1. Letters to the editor certainly. I'd have to check the legalities on the
rest. Of course, it's all looking mighty moot now, but maybe someday.

2a. Yes.

2b. Evenutally.

2c. Complex.

3. Not at the moment.

4. I'm not going to reveal that right now. Sorry.

5. Both.

6. Kismet? I'm not saying that we didn't write to Jonathan's strengths, and
certainly Jonathan brought a great deal to the role. And he was clearly
perfect for it. But the character was designed and developed before Jonathan
came aboard. Before he even occurred to us. The only character from the
original group of regulars that was developed with a specific actor in mind
was Hudson. (And, yes, that actor was Edward Asner.)

7. No more than most. (GDW/1-5-98)

Greg responds...

1) He knew her first husband was Oberon.
2) I'm not revealing that right now.
3) I'm not sure how exact a guy Oberon was (or is). Basically, it was get
out there and live among the mortals 'til I gather you back. Which I
probably won't do for about 1000 years.
4) It's a real blow. He didn't want to go back now, but that's not the same
as being banished from your home forever.
5) Owen is much too competent for that. Don't you agree?
6) Not too much. Ask me again when I've done the whole timeline thing.
7) Basically, he cared too much not to.
8) He has a few ties, but he favors a certain style.
9) That's his "non-powered" form. The one he's stuck with when he isn't
teaching or protecting Alex.
10) I think I've answered this a lot, so I'd recommend checking the
archives for a more complete answer. Basically, Owen is one of Puck's many
identities. A persona Puck created. Owen is, however, a persona that Puck
has a lot invested in. They ARE one guy though. I hope that answers your
question. I don't really think it's that confusing. Are you sure you're not
over-thinking it? It's pretty much what Puck said it was in "The Gathering,
Part II." (GDW / 12-24-97)

Greg responds...

1. It was under reconstruction during "THE JOURNEY", though I'm not sure if
that was clear in the episode. It was, at least in my mind, being rebuilt.

2. Yes.

3. I don't think there was an Internal Affairs investigation, but Elisa had
to tell Chavez something when she got back. And there was a Missing Person's
Report filed. That case was closed.

4. Elisa told them it was an accidental shooting. There was no evidence to
the contrary, so they let it pass. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that Elisa has a
fairly stellar record, not to mention that she's the daughter of a police
sergeant with an equally clean record.

And, Tim, I don't think I did make a mistake. Who said the FBI
DIDN'T get involved? I never did. I just didn't depict it. But don't tell
me that a local police force cannot create a Task Force at the drop of a
hat. The LAPD does it all the damn time. I'm sure it's no different in
NYC. They don't need the FBI's permission to launch a task force. Just
the Police Commisioner's permission (and no veto from the mayor). And don't
tell me that FBI juristiction or no, the NYPD isn't going to be very
territorial and involved in any investigation into the destruction of one of
their precinct houses. Cops get very intensive when it comes to attacks on
their own. Very intensive. Sorry for sounding prickly. (GDW/12-15-97)

Greg responds...

1. THE PRICE. And I just don't think there was time to take it all in,
before the real Hudson showed up. (GDW/12-15-97)

Greg responds...

The Director and the Hunter both know that Yama is fully sentient. That
doesn't mean that they choose to recognize that he has any rights. As with
Dingo and Fang, they basically blackmail Yama into joining the team or
else. The Squad's operations are, at least in theory, covert, so there
wasn't any need for a public stance on this point. Good question though.
(GDW/12-15-97)

Greg responds...

1. They're all pretty different, but I'd guess it ranges from between 13 and
250 years.
2. Raven was present for the Gathering on Avalon, where he's currently
residing. I did have more stories planned for Raven.
3. Shortly after Puck created Owen.
4. As far as it goes, your analysis is correct. I'm not particularly
concerned about having both Castaway and Demona as villains. I wasn't
concerned about having Xanatos and Thailog as villains, and their motivations
were fairly similar. I'm making no attempt to have a quota on the number of
Major Villains, Minor Villains, Swing Characters, etc. I try to be true to
each individual and allow them to grow if they're capable of it.
5. I can't answer that. It depends on when, if ever, I get another chance
to tell their story. It's intended to be a contemporary event however, if
that's what you're asking.
6. Xanatos chose Macbeth presumably because he served as believable
misdirection. David guessed correctly. Goliath did believe that Macbeth had
a magical powder that could keep Hudson frozen in stone.
7. I don't think Goliath wanted to intrude on their moment of reunion. They
had enough to deal with, without having to hear Elisa's whole history with
the Gargoyles on top of everything else. And yes, Goliath probably could
have passed for a Mutate, but I doubt he'd want to lie to Elisa's parents,
even by ommision. Also, I'm sure Elisa had input on the decision, and as we
know, Elisa wasn't big on sharing that secret with anyone.
8. Uh... How do I answer that? Both. I mean, how would you look if you
were born a platypus? How would a mule look if he were born an anteater?
9. Yes.
10. When?
11. Maybe. Or maybe to his eye being transformed into the jeweled form we
were familiar with.
12. I'm not sure yet.
(GDW/12-15-97)

Greg responds...

1. I'd have to think about that. I'm sure he was looking for something that
had the feel of Preston Vogel without actually sounding so close as to arouse
suspicion. (They already looked so much alike.)

2. What spare time?

3. I'm not telling.

4. Ask me again later.

5. Less at stake, so in its way, probably. But the play is heavily
anachronistic and analocalistic (a new word), so it's not exactly a
documentary.

6. Puck is ONE of his many "real" names, others include Owen Burnett and
Robin Goodfellow. In fact we briefly considered using the latter name or
just plain Goodfellow instead of Puck because a couple people were nervous
that Puck would be mistaken by parents for another word which it happens to
rhyme with. Ultimately, we figured that we'd go with the name that the
character was most famous for and just make sure we were really careful with
our enunciation.

7. Yes. I don't know the exact amount. Quite a bit, but he's worth every
penny.

8. Xanatos would let Owen take a vacation, but I don't think Owen's
requested one yet.

9. Design fluke?

10. Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh.

11. I honestly don't know, because they don't know. I'm not trying to be
evasive on this point. Here's what we do know: (1) they are, at the very
least, extremely long lived; (2) none of them have died of old age YET;
(3) They are shape-shifters, so they don't ever have to look old, and most
choose not to. Even the ones who do choose to look old, like Grandmother for
example, don't age visibly, they simply maintain an elderly form. None of
this is evidence against the evenutal possibility of dying of extreme old age.

12. Who knows? I doubt Puck does. Or Oberon or Titania for that matter.
When you can choose any form, who's to say which form is the "true" form?
I'd say Puck, Titania, Oberon et al are in their "true" forms because those
are the forms they most often choose to be in.

13) You'd have to ask Titania, but I wouldn't bet against her.
(GDW/12-15-97)

Greg responds...

1. I think Disney would consider that. The question is, how do you get a
new comic company interested, when Marvel's version poisoned the water from a
sales standpoint. Still if you guys could convince a comic company to take
it on, I'd love to write the book. Again, I was poised to take over the
writing of the Marvel book (and I had already scripted one issue) when the
mag was cancelled by Marvel. Incidentally, I think the art was generally
pretty strong on the book. The stories suffered because they were tangential
to my series continuity, but I don't think it was a bad effort. The main
problem was that it was marketed poorly and/or incorrectly.

2. To my knowledge, they were not. Though I didn't watch them. I'm just
confident that they didn't spend the money to do any editing.

3. There were no new scenes. Even that wasn't a new scene. As you noted
the two (nearly) simultaneous edits of "AWAKENING" and "THE HEROES AWAKEN"
were done by two different sets of people who had two different sets of
marching orders.

4. Thank you and you're welcome. (GDW/12-15-97)

Greg responds...

1a. Yes.
1b&c. I'm not telling.
2. Around.
3. I'm not telling.
4. No. Though I received it as a gift while I was working on the show, I
haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Right now I'm in the middle of
reading the plays of Christopher Marlowe. After that, I plan on reading the
complete works of William Faulkner. In between, I generally fit in a Tony
Hillerman book here and there. Everything else is in line behind those three
authors. (GDW/12-15-97)

Greg responds...

1. I'm not sure that I said exactly what you're reporting here. I don't
remember. At any rate, I'm not responding to this.
2. Not very.
3. Huh? Oberon owed his own son Merlin a favor.
4. Friends and relatives will be in attendance.
5. "Final Copy"? I'm not sure what that means. From premise to air can
take as little as six months to as much as two years, depending on schedule,
staff, money, etc. Obviously, the more time, the better the odds that the
quality will be high in the end result. Time is no guarantee of quality, but
it sure helps.
6. Yes.
7. I'd say it was progress, though aborted progress. You'll notice
Elisa did dress up for it. (GDW/12-15-97)

Greg responds...

I do like Star Trek -- some episodes and films more than others, of course.
I've discussed why we had so many Star Trek voice actors before. Check the
archives, but the short answer is that a bunch of them auditioned for us
right off the bat, so that later when we were casting we had them in mind.

No plans for putting the 2nd season out on video as far as I know.
(GDW/12-15-97)

Greg responds...

1. Not really, though I have written a couple of short things here at ASK
GREG. A little story about City of Stone, as I recall, plus the multi-part
background piece called "Once upon a time there were three brothers..."

1. [Two question ones. Boy, this numbering thing must be harder than it
looks. :)] I don't know how to numerically rate a character's evilness.
Everything with Demona is situational. I'm sure she believes she could smash
in an infant human's skull. But frankly, I doubt she'd do it when push comes
to shove.

2. There was no question 2.

3. Yes. Mommy Mab for starters.

4. There were 13 episodes done after the HUNTER'S MOON 3-parter. They were
collectively titled "Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles". I worked on the
first episode of those 13, a show titled "The Journey". I'm fairly proud of
that episode. The other twelve were done by other people, and I don't much
care for them, but I'm hardly objective. I'm told that they aren't as
good as the original 65 episodes, but that they are pretty good compared to
other cartoons. (GDW/12-11-97)

Greg responds...

Yes.
(GDW/12-11-97)

Greg responds...

1. You answered your own question. (Man, I'm feeling so redundant.)

2. I'm only guessing here, because you gave me no context, but I assume
you're referring to the proposed FUTURE TENSE spin-off series.

3. Kenneth I was Kenneth MacAlpin, considered by history to be the first
High King of Scotland. And no, I'm writing "Once upon a time there were
three brothers..." as the mood strikes me, as an ASK GREG exclusive. A lot
of the ideas were already in my head of course. And it's all based on a few
real historical facts.

4. I'll include as much stuff as I get around to including, but all the
major stuff has already been included.

5. I'm sorry, I really don't understand the question.

6. All right, quit worrying about whether your questions are going to be
wiped. Questions aren't wiped individually anyway, only posts. Gore has his
instructions and parameters. So do you, if you've read the guidelines. If
Gore wipes it, I'll never know it existed. If he doesn't than the odds are
good that the questions were o.k. If you are unsure about what is or
isn't acceptable, just e-mail Gore. As to question 6, well, you are asking
me to answer a hypothetical question based on a whole set of hypothetical
circumstances. There's nothing "real" to hang an answer of any substance
on. Sorry.

7. I haven't done the Math yet to that degree of specificity. Ask me again
some other time.

8. Again, this is all theory. We didn't know how many series if any would
be on the air. But I was prepared to have Brooklyn as the lead of TIMEDANCER
and as a member of the ensemble of GARGOYLES simultaneously. As to the
details of how the Gate operated in TimeDancer, I don't feel like revealing
that right now.

9. A lot of questions, many completely unrelated to each other, are grouped
under one number here. Please, NUMBER EACH QUESTION SEPERATELY.

10. The TITLE of that proposed spin-off was Bad Guys. It was indicative of
attitude and background of the characters, not necessarily their
immediate good/evil orientation, though Fang would be fairly slow to make a
real transition.

11. Can't be done in the Gargoyle Universe, no matter how stupid you are.
And again, Gore let the question through, so you're safe. But again,
let me make this totally clear. If you suspect that you've slipped in an
idea, than you had better erase it yourself. Gore has very specific
instructions not to edit posts. (He won't play this game: "Question 5 is
o.k. But this question 8 must be deleted." Uh uh. No way. That's not how
it works.) IF EVEN ONE QUESTION IN A POST DOESN'T JIBE WITH OUR GUIDELINES,
GORE WILL KICK THE ENTIRE POST. THE ENTIRE POST. Everyone clear. Good.
Thanks. (GDW/12-11-97)

Greg responds...

1. Yes and yes.

2. A lot depended on how much interaction a particular clan had with
humans. The Ishimura clan taught Bushido to the Samurai of that province.
That caused them to take names early on. The Guatemalan Clan had some
interaction with a Mayan sorcerer with whom they protected the rain forest.
They're all named after their pendants. Probably traditional monikers handed
down from generation to generation, occupations that became names over time,
like John Smith or Karen Carpenter. I'd guess that the London clan began to
use names around the time they opened their Soho shop. Basically, naming is
a human trait. But it's addictive and easy to adapt to. In fact, it's
somewhat hard to resist once you've started. I'd guess there aren't many
gargoyles left in the world who don't have names. (But there are a few.)

3. Perhaps.

4. Besides the one in Macbeth's original era? No, not for any length of
time.

5. I don't know. Can't imagine Goliath in a tux. I'm also not sure what
ceremonies we'd be having in my continuity, at least in the immediate future.

6. White, I think. But I reserve the right to change my mind.(GDW/12-11-97)

Greg responds...

1. A mortal. I'm blanking out on her name, but I think you can find it in
Geoffrey of Monmouth.

2. Check out Geoffrey.

3. Long story. Some of each. (GDW/12-11-97)

Greg responds...

1. His mom.

2. Not saying now.

3. I don't know what's given you this idea. It's inaccurate.

4. Yep, but I'm not saying yet.(GDW/12-11-97)

Greg responds...

1. This sounds like a job for...
"Once upon a time there were three brothers..." PART FOUR
"Duff is still with us, will always be with us," says Kenneth. Malcolm
nods. The young former prince has been thinking a lot about birth and
death, since the family came to England four years ago. Since his mother
died. Malcolm misses her. Misses his eldest brother Duff too. And yet life
goes on. Down in the courtyard, Malcolm's nephews play at battle with wooden
swords and much gusto.
The year is 971. Lieutenant Robert has crossed enemy lines once again,
bringing news from home. And the news isn't good. King Culen finally has an
heir. Until now there had been hope. Culen was 49 and had had no sons.
That had left Scotland unsettled. That had left open the possibility that
Kenneth and the others would be called upon to secure the throne. But
Culen's queen had just given birth to Prince Constantine. The succession
was now secure. The unrest would soon fade. Unless...
Kenneth has a decision to make.
He and Malcolm have climbed the battlements of Northumberland Keep. But
neither has spoken since Kenneth raised the spectre of their late brother.
Still, Malcolm knows what Kenneth is thinking. Duff was the king. Kenneth
was always just the strong right arm. Now Kenneth is 39 years old. Is he
prepared to start a war over a crown he never truly wanted?
Malcolm waits in silence for a long time, but Kenneth doesn't elaborate.
Finally, Malcolm speaks: "I'm seventeen now, Kenneth. I'm not a child that
needs protecting. If you will take up Duff's crown, I will take up your
sword. And together we can secure our land for those boys down there."
Kenneth's head turns slowly. He looks at his brother, and then down at the
wee warriors below. His own son Maol Chalvim is a nine year old tyrant
lording his size over Duff's orphaned four year old boy. Not that little
Kenneth's complaining, mind you. Both are clearly having a grand time
playing at war here in England. But a real war in Scotland would be an
entirely different matter.
"Look at them, Kenneth," Malcolm continued, "If we raise them to be good
Thanes, then someday their honor will demand they recover what their
fathers and uncles have lost. It doesn't end with you and me. So your
choice is clear. Do we leave this struggle for Maol and Kenny and this
new Constantine to fight? Or do you and I take the battle to Culen now?"
Kenneth turns back to his brother. "Duff will always be with us," he
repeats, "Leading us to victory." And the brothers grasped each
others arms -- firmly and with newfound resolve.
Preparations are begun. Allies are secured. But Kenneth had been through
this sort of thing before. Three times before. He knows the Thanes are
fickle. They like to pick a winner, even if that means changing horses mid-
stream. Kenneth needs allies he can count on. Powerful allies.
And so it comes to pass that Robbie is once again slipping past the Scots
border guard and riding north by northwest. This time, however, Malcolm's
come along for the ride... and the mission.
Malcolm and Robbie approach Wyvern Hill alone. The sun is still out, and
they know they could walk among the frozen sentinels unmolested. Be among
the creatures already when they awaken. But that's no way to begin an
alliance. They wait a good mile from the cliffside. The sun sinks. Even at
this distance they can hear the cracking of stone and the roars. Malcolm
shivers involuntarily. He's seen gargoyles before. But at a distance. And
he's never had to ask one for a favor before. They leave their horses and
climb up the steep grade, taking pains to keep their hands in plain
view.
Suddenly, a sentry swoops down upon them. A huge winged demon with
shock-white hair and two great devil horns rising from his brow. The
creature speaks -- and Malcolm's terror fades: the voice is a low
earth-shaking rumble, but the cadence betrays excitement and inexperience.
This gargoyle is young, perhaps no older than Malcolm himself.
Robbie responds quickly. "We've come to see your leader. He and I have met
before."
"I remember you." The monster's tone makes it clear that he remembers
Robbie and only Robbie. Malcolm is still a stranger.
"He's my friend," Robbie states. "My greatest friend. I would lay down my
life for him."
The gargoyle seems impressed. Frankly, so is Malcolm. Not that Robbie's
statement was a revelation. But to hear it out loud like that. Malcolm
suddenly feels awed by his companion's loyalty.
The gargoyle crouches and says, "Follow me." And then races off like a beast
on all fours. After but a moment's hesitation, Robbie and Malcolm take off
after him. Passing through a gauntlet of Gargoyles 'til they've climbed
their way up... to the Rookery!
TO BE CONTINUED...

Sorry, Sam. I know I've stopped right at the point where I might just be
starting to address your question. Frankly, even using this abbreviated,
time-telescoping style which I established with chapter one, it took me a
little longer to set up Malcolm and Hudson's first encounter than I thought
it would. So let me answer the rest of your questions now, and hope
you'll stay tuned (so to speak) for Part Five, which should at least touch on
life at the Rookery before the Castle was built.
2a. I'm certain there were and are gargoyle poets -- in the oral tradition.
The written word is a largely human invention. But gargoyles adapt. Maybe
the Ishimura or London clan have a writer or two in their ranks.
2b. Probably.
2c. Maybe.
2d. Probably. (Does Lex qualify?) A lot depends on how formal you want to
be about defining a composer or a scientist, etc. Does someone who dabbles
qualify? Or do they have to have made a career of it? And what qualifies as
a career to a gargoyle. Generally gargoyle philosophy works in terms of
"being." Popeye's famous "I yam what I yam" proves that Popeye would have
made a good gargoyle. If a gargoyle enjoys music -- or science or poetry or
whatever -- he or she simply engages this interest, without attempting to
let the activity define the individual.
3. Wars? I don't know. I doubt it. Battles? Sure. Fights? Plenty.
4. Currently, none of the Manhattan gargoyles worship the Judeo-Christian
God specifically, though they wouldn't recognize that God as being
inconsistent with their faith. And they do have a faith. Though I don't
think they've practiced it much since arriving in the twentieth century. I
don't think the particular group who survived the massacre included anyone
who was particularly priestly (except maybe Desdemona). (As with science or
music, a gargoyle might have pursued a spiritual interest, without letting
that interest define him or her as a priest or priestess.) This faith is
both monotheistic and pantheistic, though a gargoyle would not see any
paradox in that. "All things are part of the whole." Their most important
credo has to do with how they perceive their part of that whole: "A Gargoyle
can no more stop protecting the castle than breathing the air." Gargoyles
don't simply exist. They protect their community. It was a primitive belief
when our gang lived in the tenth century. Goliath found a modern application
by the end of our first season. But I think the credo will continue to have
validity even as our characters continue to redefine and evolve its
parameters. (GDW/12-10-97)

Greg responds...

1. Odin was swallowed, not eaten.
2. The Eye wasn't destroyed.
3. Sigh. I wanted Slep to have eight legs. But Frank Paur and Bob Kline
convinced me that it would just be too hard for our overseas animators to
draw. We agreed that a well-animated four-legged horse was preferable to a
poorly animated but accurate eight-legged horse. In my head, Slep still has
eight legs, but as a changeling himself, he can choose to appear with four
legs if he wants.
4. We thought we had AN accurate reading on the pronunciation of Cu's name.
I'm still not sure we don't. Someone in that session was pretty positive,
and there are always variations depending on locale and tradition. As for
Banshee, both spellings are correct, as far as I know. We went for the
simpler one.
5. Ultimately, it didn't.
6. The furniture is all disguarded junk (except for the t.v., which Elisa
did purchase as a gift). Xanatos donated the laptop back when they lived at
the castle. (Lex went back for it.) The big question is the food.
Gargoyles probably require less than you think, since they absorb solar
energy in their stone form during the day. Still... Fortunately, I can dodge
the question now, because it's moot. They're back living with Xanatos who
can afford it.
7. Other than Derek? No. Definitely not.
8. Let's afford them a bit of dignity and privacy, shall we?
9. Maybe in flashback.
10. Yes, she did. In streams and rivers, mostly. Though maybe she had the
opportunity to do a bit better than that in Paris and a couple other places.
11. From beginning to end, we always used a combination of Frank Welker
as well as some electronic enhancements. I've never noticed a significant
change over time, though obviously each roar was literally mixed on a case by
case basis, each roar required its own decision as to whether we were going
to use no enhancement, a little enhancement or a lot. It's possible that as
we progressed, Frank's familiarity with the nuances of the character required
less and less enhancement. But the policy never changed.
12. No. He's a New Olympian.
13. Right.
14. "Hate" isn't the right word. And that's not why he divorced her
anyway. But yes, there was a last straw incident. And incidentally, the
Titania of 1000+ years ago was not the same woman we met in our series.
(Wait, wait, she is the same person. I wasn't being literal.) She was
considerably less mature than the Anastasia/Titania you know today.
At the time, Oberon was substantially more mature than his mate, and
consequently "wiser". Over the millenium however, Titania really grew as a
person. Oberon, thinking he needed no improving, remained stagnant. Now
it's easy to see Titania as wiser and more mature. But she's the one who
changed, not him. And if you think he's bad, wait 'til you meet his mother.
15. That's "Oberon's Mirror" at the Gathering. Demona did smash
Titania's. But a long time ago, they each had one made at the same time.
16. They arrived in Manhattan after the spell was cast. Their bridge
may also have been protected by an energy field, which jammed Oberon's
magic, just as Owen's field protected David, Petros and Fox inside the
castle. (GDW/12-10-97)

Greg responds...

1-12 & 15. Man, "Illuminator", bad timing. I just promised "Xanatos" I
wouldn't give out any Duval clues in this post. Ask me again later, and I'll
try to be a little more forthcoming.
13. He's a civil servant.
14. No.
16. Did I say that they had a son? Was that the word I used?
17. I believe in most everything, up to a point. But if the Illuminati (or
something like it) does exist, then I'm not too impressed with the results.
18. The first time I was at Tintagel was during the summer of 1981. I had
just graduated from high school here in Los Angeles. I went to France and
England with my Dad, Mom, my younger sister Robyn and my younger brother
Jon. I was really into King Arthur in those days and had gotten my father
interested as well, so our trip through England was something of an
ArthurQuest. Of course, we went to Tintagel. I remember I was wearing my
high school sweatshirt, you know the kind... big, over-sized, grey thing with
a hood. There was a light, very fine rain, so my hood was up. Tintagel is
impressive: it's location, it's scope, the ruins themselves. I climbed over
every inch of that thing. I intentionally moved off away from the rest of my
family, so that it would take some time to find me if they wanted to head
out. I climbed to the top of the cliff, overlooking the castle ruins. The
light rain continued above me, but the surf pounded below. And looking off
to sea, I could see that a major storm was literally sitting just off shore.
Lightning. Thunder. High winds. Rolling seas. Torrential Rain. The
works. And just in case that wasn't awe-inspiring enough, something else
happened. The black clouds parted directly in front of me, and the sun shone
down. Like a spotlight on the water. So I stood there, in the light rain,
and watched the sun shining down through the midst of a lightning storm. I'm
not sure how to describe what I was feeling. But "religious awe" is probably
the best I can do. It seemed to prove the existence of God to me. I removed
my hood and stood there. Then I knelt and touched the ground. I felt like
it was charged with some kind of power. Eventually, the storm died down and
the sun went away. And it was just another cloudy day in England. I walked
down the hill.
It would be easy for me to be cynical about this experience. Neither my
parents nor my siblings recall any weather phenomena that equates with what
I've just described. They weren't standing with me, but they were all on the
cliffside. It's certainly possible that I've exaggerated the whole thing
over the years. But in my mind, I saw the hand of God at work. I don't see
any reason to question that, even if I don't quite know what to do with it.
In 1992, I returned to Tintagel with my wife Beth. We stayed in a Bed &
Breakfast overnight so I went to the castle twice. First with Beth, and
then again by myself the next morning. I figured it wouldn't live up to my
memory of the place. But it did. I didn't see the big show-stopper again,
but I felt the same rush I had felt eleven years before. I also had the
opportunity to go through "Merlin's Cave" under the cliff, which I hadn't
been able to do in '81 because of the tide.
I'm told that every year, erosion removes a little bit more of Tintagel. I'm
told that Arthur could not have been born there. I'm told a lot. But I know
what I felt. For me, it's a place of power. There's only one feeling in my
life that has ever topped it: the love I feel for my wife and two children.
If Tintagel wasn't enough, than the fact that I found her and had them, is
all the proof I'll ever need of God's existence.
Now, are you sorry you asked? (GDW/12-8-97)

Greg responds...

1. Nothing I'm ready to talk about yet. Nothing that will definitely happen.
2. Yeah, I watch Seinfeld.
3. A lot.
4. You don't have to apologize. No, I don't watch B5. I did see the pilot,
and it didn't grab me. Later, a number of people recommended it to me, but
by the time I tuned in, I couldn't make heads or tails of what was going on.
Frankly, it made me nervous that GARGOYLES would have the same effect on a
new viewer.
5. I think I've pretty much given his identity away already, but I won't
give any clues in this post, I promise.
6. No. But there are a lot of subsets within Oberon's Children.
7. I wanted to open things up, bring more magic and mystery into things.
Create the opportunities for more stories, and more myths and legends to
reinterpret.
8. You don't want to hear about Duval, but you don't mind me revealing the
identities of Demona's last two great loves? That's too selective for one
post. :) (GDW/12-8-97)

Greg responds...

1. I had some imput, but the real credit should go to my partner Frank Paur
who oversaw design for the series. (And of course to whoever designed the
character for "The Mirror". I'd guess that was Greg Guler, but I'm honestly
not sure anymore.)
2. I knew I wanted Coyote to be reminiscent of both James Dean and a young
Peter Maza. Anansi was going to be a giant spider, so that was easy. Raven
had many forms, dictated by the script. Credit for how they actually looked
should go to Frank (and producer Dennis Woodyard and our designers).
3. Sure. But I'm not telling now.
4. I never said I wouldn't write it. In fact, I've almost finished writing
it, but I doubt I'll be able to find a publisher, which is what I said.
(GDW / 12-5-97)

Greg responds...

The best description of my job is Writer-Producer. I'm responsible for story
and script. But I also oversee voice and play a major role in watching
over the entire production. In other words, I produce. I don't direct.
Although you should keep in mind that directing in Animation is very
different from directing in live-action. The end result (and much of the
brainwork) is the same, but the process is very different. (I did voice
direct one episode, but that's not the same as directing.)
I did a lot of reading on myths and legends, cuz the topic fascinates me.
Much of this began in school. I was rarely bored in my English and History
classes in school. I was lucky. I had great teachers almost without
exception in those two subjects. But I also WANTED to learn, even on those
rare occasions when my teachers weren't that great. I don't mean to
lecture, but if you're bored in school, fix it by finding
something you'd like to learn about and pursuing it in a serious and
passionate fashion. Myths and legends are as good a place to start as any.
I think Goliath went through some changes, but they were subtler than the big
obvious changes that, say, Brooklyn or Xanatos went through. But I will
admit that Goliath acted as an anchor for the series. He was a strong,
basically optimistic and capable leader. He didn't require as much change
as some of the others did. Still, I had plenty of plans to continue to
evolve the character. The changes might still have been subtle, but taken
over the run of the series, I think you would have seen a substantial
evolution.
I haven't seen Clerks, and I'm not sure I know who Kevin Smith is... did he
direct Clerks? (I have two very young children. My wife and I don't get
out to movies very often. Am I boring or what?) (GDW / 12-5-97)

Greg responds...

Nope. Sorry. (GDW / 12-5-97)

Greg responds...

1. I'm not saying right now. I didn't plan on revealing Mab right away
either. You're just getting ahead of me.
2. Yes.
3. Mab is more powerful. No one else.
4. Nokkar's race IS one of the other two. (And keep in mind, I said
three races were the main players in the conflict. I never said
there were the only players.)
5. No. There were other events, but they were more cummulative than
defining. Wyvern is still the defining moment. She wasn't genocidal
immediately after Wyvern, because I don't think genocide occured to her. She
was alone (largely) and hunted. I don't think she felt that powerful. Her
brief alliance with Macbeth only confirmed her feelings about humanity. But
it also gave her immortality. The ability to start making some long term
plans. As I said, other things happened. But nothing as devastating as
Wyvern.
6. Samson will be born in 2058. The inciting incident of that
proposed spin-off series was to take place in 2158. I'm sure you can do
the math. (GDW / 12-5-97)

Greg responds...

Puck wanted to devastate Goliath enough that he would be willing to turn over
the Phoenix Gate. Death makes for great devastation (which is why we
included it in the story). Goliath didn't immediately react to Angela's
death, because (frankly) he didn't know he could at first. (GDW / 12-5-97)

Greg responds...

It's a law he must follow which makes him physically unable to become Puck...
unless he can think of a loophole. (GDW / 12-5-97)

Greg responds...

When push came to shove, Puck/Owen cared about Xanatos, Fox and Alex.

Thanks for numbering your questions, although when you only have one, it
isn't that necessary. (GDW/12-5-97)

Greg responds...

Elena got the Gate from her father. The Gate exists, like the protagonist of
Robert Heinlein's "All You Zombies". Goliath, Elisa and the Avalon clan
learned of the link after the death of the Magus and before the good-bye
scene at the beach. The rest of the Manhattan Clan learned of the link when
Goliath and Angela returned to the Tower, sometime after saving Alex from
Oberon. As I've said before, Hudson knew Demona and Macbeth were immortal.
That's obvious. They're not dead. They're really old. He didn't know any
details about the how or why. He didn't know about the link, though their
behavior did suggest a connection of some sort. Why would Hudson know
Brooklyn's future? I'm skipping the Titania question on purpose. Oberon is
Merlin's dad.
In the future, please number your questions. (GDW/12-5-97)

Greg responds...

Eventually, way, way down the line, I see Elisa and Goliath addressing the
issue of children. All sorts of options are available, except natural
procreation between two widely and wildly divergent species. Elisa could
never be pregnant with Goliath's child without assistance from science or
magic. I've already stated that I don't see them going that way. But I do
see them raising a child together. But not without serendipity (and
some tragedy) playing a role. I don't want to say anymore right now.
As to Bronx and Boudicca, of course they could have offspring. One every
twenty years if they saw each other at the right times. I'm not sure what
"explanation" you're referring to that would lead you to believe otherwise.
And yes, hatchlings do turn to stone during the day. The lighting in the
scene you're referring to is misleading. It's night time.
In the future, please number your questions. (GDW/12-5-97)

Greg responds...

1. I've already explained the working time paradox that allowed the Archmage to save himself. If you haven't seen the explanation, check the archives for this page. If you have.... well, all I can say is that it seems pretty straight-forward to me, though you're not the only one who didn't get it. In any case, his "mentor" was not a look-alike. He was the more powerful Archmage of the future. And from my point of view, no "creative license" was taken, unless you count time travel itself as creative license. The classic story of this kind of time travel working paradox is by Robert Heinlein.
It's called "All You Zombies". Maybe reading that would help clear up "Avalon", Part Two for you. It's worked for others.

2. Hudson had had the most contact with Scotish humans.

3. In the movie version of "Awakening", which we originally produced for the DisneyWorld Premeire, my boss decided that references to the eggs slowed down the film and raised questions that "the movie" would not even attempt to answer. Since we were cutting the length down for time anyway, I reluctantly agreed to remove egg references. I had no idea that Disney's Home Video Division would later decide to use this edited version for the video. As to "Vows", I've mentioned before that mistakes were corrected in that and many other episodes after they first aired. (6-23-97)

Greg responds...

1. We do the voice work first. Animators animate to the voices, not the other way around.
On extremely rare occasions we did something called ADR (short for Automatic Dialogue Replacement). This is something done as a last minute fix in both animation and live action. In that case, we do have a screen. The actor (usually, one at a time) looks at the lip movements, practices getting the rhythm down that he or she needs to match, and then speaks the line (cued by an electronic tone which tells the actor exactly when to start speaking).
ADR is a tremendous pain in the rear, so we avoided it whenever possible.
2. I've answered this... in the same answer where I listed Elisa and Demona's old names. I'm not sure how you could have missed it. No other names for Angela. No other names for Goliath that we considered for more than a minute or two. The trio had names like Coco, Lassie and Amp in the original comedy development.
ANOTHER RAMBLE FROM GREG:
"Once upon a time there were three brothers..." PART TWO
[Disclaimer: I should have mentioned this somewhere before or after Part One. The historical framework for this story is all true. Most of the details, on the other hand, I'm making up.]
The year is 962. King Indulf is 58 years old. Prince Culen is 40. Neither are happy men. Culen is childless. He is heir to the throne, but it's beginning to look like Indulf's dynasty will end with his only son. Assuming it even lasts that long.
No one likes Indulf very much. The main problem is that everyone knows that he has kept (the former Queen) Katharine and her young son Malcolm prisoner in Edinburgh Castle. This alone is enough to make people believe that he is a tyrant. After that, any little infraction on Scottish liberty is viewed as more evidence that Indulf is unfit to rule. Honestly, Indulf wouldn't mind dumping both prisoners, but, aye, there's the rub. Katharine and Malcolm are the only insurance Indulf has against Malcolm's older brothers Duff and Kenneth.
And as Indulf's popularity has waned, Duff's has waxed. Even noblemen who had once helped Indulf to the throne approach the fifty year old Duff and his thirty year old brother Kenneth and pledge their support if only Duff will act. But Duff stubbornly refuses to risk Katharine or Malcolm's lives. What kind of King would he make if he can't even keep a vow made to his own father on the man's deathbed?
Malcolm isn't exactly a happy child. He's eight years old, and he's never been outside the walls of Edinburgh castle. He has only one friend. A peasant boy named Robbie who's twice his age. Robbie's a short, stout lad with a face like a bulldog, but he's loyal and helps Malcolm with some petty acts of ceremonial sabotage that would only earn Malcolm a reprimand if he was caught, but would certainly cost Robbie his life.
Malcolm's mother Katharine is a strong woman but she knows the situation is intolerable. She conceives a plan, and through Robbie, sends a letter to Duff. Duff and Kenneth consider her proposal. They argue about it. But, ultimately, they agree. They summon Robbie, who knows nothing of Katharine's plan. They give him no details, only a date. They send him back to Katharine. Then Duff and Kenneth gather their forces.
Word of Duff's rebellion reaches Indulf, but he's slow to react. After all, he has his hostages, safe at hand. But then on the pre-arranged date, Duff and Kenneth march on Edinburgh Castle. They demand Indulf's unconditional surrender. Indulf orders his guards to bring Katharine and Malcolm to him. Soon, Katharine is dragged before the king. But Malcolm cannot be found. Indulf orders Culen to personally search every inch of the castle. Duff and Kenneth and their armies settle down to wait.
Culen searches for hours. Katharine seems anxious. Still, Malcolm cannot be found. Indulf draws his sword and threatens to cut Katharine in two if she doesn't reveal Malcolm's whereabouts. She hesitates, but finally agrees.
She leads them to the tallest tower in the castle. Malcolm isn't there.
Indulf threatens to throw her off the ledge, but she points to the ground below. There in the moonlight, Malcolm can be seen riding away from the castle, his purple cape flapping in the breeze, toward the safety of Duff's camp.
Indulf is furious! But he still has Katharine. Duff still won't attack.
But Katharine doesn't agree. Her tone becomes threatening. She commands Indulf to open the castle gates and let Duff's troops enter. He laughs at her. Why would he do that? "Because," she tells him as she climbs out of his reach onto a battlement, "If you don't open the gates, I will jump off this tower." Indulf starts to laugh again, but the impulse catches in his throat. It all becomes clear. If Katharine throws herself to her death, than his last hostage is gone. Worse, his last hostage is martyred. Duff and Kenneth will lay siege to Edinburgh and in time, they would ultimately triumph and then... And then things might go very badly for a tyrant.
He makes a quick decision. He and his son will be granted safe passage to Ireland immediately following his "voluntary" abdication of the throne to Duff. Culen protests, but Katharine agrees to his terms. She remains on the tower's battlement until the gates are open and Duff and Kenneth are at her side. "Hurry," she says, and rushes with her step-sons to the Castle's small cemetary.
Robbie is already there, still wearing Malcolm's purple cape. He is digging up a fresh grave. Some of Duff's men are helping him, but Duff and Kenneth push them aside and personally begin to dig. Katharine falls to her knees, pulling dirt aside with her hands until a waiting woman is brought to comfort her. The coffin is unearthed. Robbie has a crow, and snaps off the lid with the kind of bull-like strength he would one day be famous for. Malcolm lies still in the grave. Suddenly he gasps for air. He is alive. He had been buried alive with a slim wooden tube to provide air. But he had spent hours below ground. And the tube had been only barely sufficient. Much longer and he would have succumbed. But now the brave boy rocks back and forth in his mother's arms. He smiles at his good friend Robbie. And then he is introduced to his two older brothers for the very first time. He has worshipped them from afar his whole life. But it is they who are impressed.
Duff, soon to be King Duff, lifts Malcolm to his feet. "Prince Malcolm," he says, "I am honored to be your brother."
TO BE CONTINUED

Greg responds...

1. This is too big a question to answer here.
2. 11 issues worth of stuff. I consulted on the comics, but I'm hardly an authority on them, so you'll have to look to another source for that information.

Greg responds...

Demona is always alone, even in a crowded room. But basically, the answer to your question is a story (actually many stories) for another day.

Greg responds...

From the beginning, yes, though that doesn't mean he wasn't physically attracted to her.

Greg responds...

"Faeries" is one name. The Fair Folk is another. So is Dark Elves.
Changelings. Fae. The Children of Oberon. The Third Race. The Aesir Gods. (The Vikings took certain very powerful Children of Oberon to be gods. For that matter, so did the Egyptians. So did at least two Native American tribes and the Hauka tribe of Nigeria. (At least, that's how we played it in the GARGOYLES Universe.)) The generic name doesn't matter so much. Because it changes depending on who you're talking too.
As to their immortality, it depends on how you define it. Certainly they are extremely long-lived. Certainly they are difficult -- but not impossible -- to kill. Certainly, they are almost all shape-shifters, so no matter how old they are, they can always look as young as they desire. So, again, it depends on point of view.

Greg responds...

[Questions numbered to make life easier. As usual, no other editing.]

1. Hi? Uh, hi back to you.
2. The development team? None. Well, me. Keep in mind, the team that developed the show was largely not the same team who produced the first two seasons. The unsung (read largely uncredited) people who worked on the development of the series included the following:
Greg Weisman - Director of Series Development (Greg went on to be Supervising Producer of GARGOYLES.)
Bob Kline and Dave Schwartz - Development Art Directors (Bob later became a Producer/Director of GARGOYLES in its second season.)
Paul Felix and Greg Guler - Development Artists (Greg became lead character designer for GARGOYLES in its second season.)
Fred Schaeffer, Paul Lacy, Kat Fair, Cindy Chupack, Ellen Gurney - Development Associates.
(I hope I'm not leaving anyone out; we had a lot of development
associates at Disney, and I'm not 100% sure if any of the others worked
on GARGOYLES specifically.)
Also Gary Krisel and Bruce Cranston - my bosses, who were very involved in
developing the show.
And Tad Stones - who provided some important conceptual advice.
After the show was developed and sold, we began assembling a production team for the first season, most of which was pre-produced and produced in Japan.
I was still a development executive at the time. I asked to be switched over to Producer, but my bosses wanted me to prove that I could do the job while I simultaneously held down my Executive slot. So that's what I did.
We went through a couple of writers who didn't work out, and then Michael Reaves was brought aboard as writer and story editor.
In Japan, Kazuo Terada, Saburo Hashimoto and Takamitsu Kawamura were brought on as directors. Kazuyoshi Takeuchi was our lead character designer. And that's just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Japanese talent that worked on the show. (But I don't want this answer to turn into me just rewriting 66 episodes worth of credits down here.)
Back in L.A., Frank Paur was hired as our producer. Jamie Thomason was brought on as voice director. Laura Perrotta was our production coordinator. Dave Witting was our production assistant. Denise Byrne was our script coordinator. And Carl Johnson was our composer. Again, a lot of other people were involved, but that was the basic team for the first thirteen episodes.
Some of you may have noticed that I don't have a credit on the episodic television version of "Awakening". That's because, I was still officially an executive, and Disney executive's don't receive credit. The decision to allow me to officially move over from Executive to Producer came after the pre-production of the first season was completed. In fact, it came during post-production. As a matter of fairness, it was decided that any work that I had done as an executive would still not be credited. Frank Paur posted the five part "Awakening" by himself, while I posted the "Movie Version" for our Disneyworld Premiere. So I was credited as co-producer on the "movie" (which later became the home video) and on the other 8 episodes of the first season. Co-producer because I hadn't participated in pre-production except as an executive. I received no credit on any of the five parts of the television mini-series "Awakening" because my pre-production contributions were as an executive and
my post-production contributions were minimal, because I was busy on the "movie".
The second season was a whole other story. We did 52 episodes and the crew expanded geometrically. Most (though not all) of our pre-production was brought back to the U.S. We added Bob Kline and Dennis Woodyard as Producer/Directors. Lisa Salamone was brought on as Associate Producer.
(Laura Perrotta left Disney around this time.) Tom Pniewski was added as another Production Assistant. Greg Guler became our lead character designer. Butch Lukic, Patrick Archibald, Doug Murphy and others were brought aboard to storyboard and design, etc.
I officially shared producer credit (later supervising producer credit) with Frank. Michael remained a story editor and Brynne Chandler Reaves, Cary Bates and Gary Sperling were added as additional story editors. Lydia Marano became a regular writer on the series. My assistant Monique Beatty made the move with me and joined the Gargoyles team as a script coordinator.
Since I was no longer an executive, new executives were assigned to oversee the show. Jay Fukuto was director of current programming. Initially, he had Ellen Gurney watching the show. Later, my former development associate Kim Christianson took over. Adrienne Bello was the S&P executive from day one.
Again, refer to episode credits for a fuller listing of people.
GOLIATH CHRONICLES was a whole different animal. I wrote and story edited one episode only. Jamie Thomason remained the voice director. Denise stayed on as script coordinator. Tom Pniewski was promoted to Production Coordinator or Manager (sorry, Tom, I get those credits mixed up). Cary Bates wrote a couple episodes. Lydia wrote one. Another of our writers, Adam Gilad wrote one. Jay and Kim were still overseeing the scripts, but otherwise Pre-Production and Post- Production were moved to Nelvana in Canada. A new Supervising Producer, Scott Thomson was brought in. A new story editor, Eric Lewald, was brought in. Officially, I was a consultant, but I had my consultant credit removed, because I felt I hadn't been consulted enough
to earn that credit. I believe Frank Paur may have consulted a bit as well, but I'm not sure. For the most part, it was a complete turnover in creative personnel. I've always thought that hurt the show.
But there were also other problems that I've gone into before, (and this "answer" has gone on long enough). I should say, however, that Goliath Chronicles is probably still an above average cartoon show. Any problems with it are probably relative.
3. When Gary Sperling and I were working on the episode "Turf" we realized that we needed to know who, if anyone, Angela would wind up with. We talked about it. In some ways, Brooklyn did seem like the obvious choice, but it soon became clear that he was the wrong choice. It had to be Broadway.
Nothing else made sense. There are some subtle clues in "Turf". For example, Broadway never refers to Angela as Angie in that episode, despite the fact that he had been the first one to call her that in "The Gathering, Part Two". By "Turf" he had already realized she didn't care for the nickname. Lex and Brooklyn didn't figure it out until she told them (at high volume).

Greg responds...

1. Yes.
2. Brendan & Margot were in "Awakening". They had lines. They were in the script. The animation is done last. In other episodes we began using them as background characters. That became amusing to us. So we kept using them as recurring. We made a particular effort to parallel their appearance in "Hunter's Moon" to their original appearance in "Awakening". Later, I decided to make more use of Brendan & Margot in the third season -- develop them beyond their cliches, which is why Margot had such a prominent role in "The Journey". But then I didn't do the rest of the third season, so I had no control over how Margot was used or how Brendan wasn't. But the animators only put in the characters we told them to use. As far as I know.
A LITTLE BACKGROUND (aka GREG'S ABOUT TO RAMBLE):
"Once upon a time their were three brothers..." PART ONE
The year is 954. The King of Scotland, Maol Chalvim I, is 66 years old. He is very ill.
He has two sons. They are half-brothers. (Maol is the father of both, but they had two different mothers, both of whom died in childbirth.) The eldest son, Duff, is 42 years old. The youngest, Kenneth, is 22 years old. Despite the twenty year age difference, they are the best of friends.
Maol Chalvim also has a new, young wife. Very young. And very pregnant.
She is 18 years old, and her name is Katharine.
On his deathbed, Maol begs his sons to support each other and to protect his third wife and their child. The brothers vow to do just that. Duff assumes he will be the new king. Kenneth assumes he will be Duff's strong right arm.
Indulf has other ideas. Indulf is a 50 year old nobleman and is, himself, a descendant of kings. He has a 32 year old son named Culen, and hopes to launch a dynasty of his own. While Duff and Kenneth wait by their ailing father's bedside, Indulf makes alliances. While Duff and Kenneth close their father's eyes for the last time, Indulf gathers his troops. While Duff and Kenneth take their father to be buried on the holy Island of Iona, Indulf has himself crowned King on the Lia Fail at Scone.
Needless to say, Duff and Kenneth aren't too pleased. They prepare for battle, but Indulf pulls his trump card. He has Katharine. And he will kill her if they raise a sword against him. Bound by their vow and their sense of honor, Duff and Kenneth retire to a family stronghold and wait.
At Edinburgh, Katharine gives birth to a boy. She names him Malcolm, (which is a more modern variant on the name Maol Chalvim). Indulf is now willing to return Katharine to her step-sons. But the babe will stay in his custody as insurance. For obvious reasons, Katharine chooses not to leave.
TO BE CONTINUED...

Greg responds...

As usual, I've added numbers to your questions to make them easier to answer. No other editing was done.
1. Thanks for not breaking the rules. Jade & Turquesa eventually returned to Guatemala after dropping the plants off in Avalon and making a couple of other quest-type stops. I had plans for Zafiro to come in search of the Sun Amulet, which is still in Broadway's possession.
2. I'm glad your glad, but let's take everything one step at a time.
Nothing much has been done on the movie yet. We'll see how truly involved we are when the thing gets rolling.
3. Where? In the movie? If we had done more episodes? I guess the answers probably yes, either way.
4. I didn't exactly decide. I realized Owen was Puck about 12 hours after I decided to put Puck into the series. At almost the exact same time, Lydia Marano and Brynne Reaves realized the same thing independently. That confirmed we were on the right track.
5. I've answered this fully elsewhere. My favorite single episode is "The Mirror", but I like all 66 that I worked on, particularly the multi-parters.
6. I'm not going into this now.
7. Maybe.
8. That was a joke.
9. Yes.
10. Mortal Sorcery. Fae magic. Talisman magic. Location magic. Ghostly illusions and telikinetics. Just to name a few.
11. Until they die.
12. Gargoyle hatchlings are taught in the rookery that there are three races. Gargoyles. Humans. And Oberon's Children. The fae are the third race from the Gargoyle point of view. (To themselves, I'm sure the fair folk feel that they're number one.)
13. Why would they? Why give up something with long-term income potential?
And by the way, who exactly is lining up to buy the rights? No one with nearly enough money, I'll tell you that.
14. Sort of. Xanatos' orignal name was Xavier, which we dropped because of Professor X from the X-Men. But I still wanted a name that had that same kind of sound to it. It's a subjective thing, but I liked it. I thought of Thanatos, which is the name of the Greek God of death, which seemed cool. X and TH sounds are often exchanged. So I tried Xanatos.
Everyone liked the sound of it. Later, I checked the phone book, and the name was there, (different first name though). It all seemed to fit. The name David was chosen because Goliath's name was Goliath. The hero/villain role reversal of David & Goliath was too perfect to resist. I have on occasion abbreviated the above story by simply saying I found it in the phone book. But usually I only do that when someone says the name sounds phony or cartoony.
15. It wasn't planned. I think I've answered this, but who remembers?
Marina nailed her audition right out of the gate. Jonathan had a more competitive field, but after a few false starts he got the job. After that, it was natural when we were casting new characters to think about the gang from the various Trek shows. Michael, Brent, Nichelle, Colm, Kate, Le Var, etc. They did great work for us.

Greg responds...

You didn't. But that's o.k. Dakota was a bland comedy heroine who was transformed into a much more interesting comedic traitor and villainess named Demona. The reason for the name change is probably obvious: Demona sounds more villainesque than Dakota, which is kinda generic, and certainly has no particular gargoylean feel to it. 6-10-97)

Greg responds...

No spin-offs were planned for Demona, though I had hopes to tell more flashback stories about her life. She would have remained a recurring character in GARGOYLES and she would have been a regular in both DARK AGES and FUTURE TENSE. And she would have appeared at least once in TIMEDANCER.
All of that is moot for now, but maybe someday...
I basically enjoy villains a lot. I think the villains in our show were very unique, particlarly Demona and Xanatos. Much of Demona's character came so easily and fit together so well, I hesitate to take credit for it. Demona was out there in the mist ready to be revealed to the world. At any rate, I certainly must share credit with everyone else who worked with the character, in particular Michael Reaves, who wrote "Awakening". Still, from the beginning of our second phase (read non-comedy) development, we already knew Demona was a traitor who had meant well initially but could not face up to her own guilt. Though I hadn't worked out all the details of "City of Stone" from that early point of pre-Awakening development, I also knew that she had not slept through the centuries as Goliath and the others had. She would have had to live through 1000 years of persecution and prejudice. I knew that she was Goliath's lost love. How he viewed her defined both who she was
and who she wasn't. I knew she was a tragic figure. I didn't want the audience to forgive her actions, but I did want them to understand.

Greg responds...

It depends. Outside of the series, different artists have interpreted their talons/claws differently. I'd have to say, all of those interpretations aren't cannon. On the series, Frank Paur had the designers make the claw an integral part of each finger or toe. It made for cleaner animation, but you'd have to ask Frank for a definitive anatomical description.
A FEW ADDITIONAL WORDS FROM GREG
Today is Monday, June 9th. On Friday, June 6th, I logged onto Gore's chatroom. It was fun, but I must admit that I felt rushed. Part of the problem was that just as I was scheduled to log on, I got an important phone call that I had to take. That meant I was late getting to the room, and I never had time to get settled. Another problem was technological.
Everything was moving very slow for me at this end. Maybe, it's my computer. Maybe it was heavy traffic to the site. I'm not sure. But today JEB sent me a transcript of the questions and answers, and I realize that I missed a ton of questions which had scrolled off the bottom of the room by the time the page reloaded to my screen. Sorry about that. If I missed your question, ask it again here. But the result of all that rushing and missed postings was that I didn't really get to "chat" with you. I just answered questions at a faster speed than I do here at ASK GREG.
I'll try the chat thing again sometime, I promise. But all this led me to realize something else. Answering questions is only part of what I want to do here. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the question/answer thing. All the details, all the plans for the future. But I'd also like to discuss the show with you guys. Discuss the episodes we already made. The characters, the themes, etc. Occasionally, I lurk in the comment room, but I almost always have to vacate fast, because someone invariably posts an original notion, like a "What If" or something. That's appropriate to the comment room and I WOULD NOT want to see that change, but unfortunately, it keeps me out.
So let's turn ASK GREG into a bit of a comment room also. Feel free to post your reactions to a given episode. Sometimes I'll respond. Sometimes, I may not. But I'd like to hear what you have to say. And you never know, it might inspire me to relate some behind-the-scene story and/or some tidbit of the Master Plan and/or what was going through my head at a given time and/ or what I think of the episode in hindsight. I'm not suggesting we quit with the questions, but I think adding this aspect to the page would be more fun for me, and I hope, ultimately, more interesting for you.
A few brief groundrules:
1. Don't forget the old groundrules. They still apply.
2. Let's limit discussions to the first two seasons of Gargoyles and also "The Journey" from the Goliath Chronicles. I'm not saying that the other 12 Goliath Chronicle episodes aren't cannon, but since I had almost nothing to do with them, I'm not going to be able to respond effectively to them.
Anyway 66 episodes worth of material should keep us busy enough.
3. This is not supposed to take the place of the existing Comment Room, obviously. For starters, this page doesn't "move" fast enough for ongoing (or even cogent) discussions. But a comment here or there, and my response to it, might spice up this page a bit.
Anyway, let's give it a shot.

Greg responds...

I don't know. I'd have to go through every episode to answer that question.
Any specific buildings you're curious about?

Greg responds...

1. I wanted Elisa to have a partner, but it was Michael Reaves who basically originated Matt. I wasn't watching X- Files much in its first couple of seasons, so Mulder definitely wasn't in my mind. You'd have to ask Michael if he had Mulder on the brain when he came up with Matt's conspiracy- hunting mentality.
2. One town, as I recall. It was wiped.
3. Yes, Macbeth was always Macbeth. And he was included because he fit. He filled a short-term role, AND he was perfect for our long-term plans. I've read and seen Shakespeare's MACBETH so many times, I can't say if any one line influenced me so much as my entire reading of the character did. His weariness, however, was again, logical and right to the character we had "created". Nothing else made sense.

Greg responds...

Owen never hit Oberon with it, though he did use it on Talon once.
Originally it was put in to deepened the mystery of who Owen was. What kind of man would react so casually to such a drastic change? I also felt it was a kind of clue to Owen's true identity. Now, it's largely a reminder of what Puck has lost to stay in the mortal world; a disability he lives with and a weapon he occasionally makes use of.

Greg responds...

(Numbers have been added to your comments/questions to make my life easier.) 1. Who?
2. I've been asked to attend, and if we can work out the details, I'll be there.
3. Lots of interesting stories that you just wouldn't be able to get enough of.
4. No one offered to make an animated feature. But the guys at Touchstone were interested in making a live-action movie. Who am I to say no?
Actually, no one. I have no control over what Disney does with the property.
5. You've raised two different points. Animation was done at a number of different studios. Our best work was done by Walt Disney Japan's in-house teams. Second best work was done by other Japanese units. Third best by KoKo in Korea. That was all great stuff. The rest ranged from O.K. down to poor. Your second point was about storylines, but I think it's interesting that you credit better animated episodes with having more interesting storylines. You're not alone, I've noticed in general that fans of the show seem to like the stories of better animated episodes and dislike the stories of poorly animated episodes. My guess is that at least to some extent, the animation is creating a bias negative or positive. The reason I feel that way is because, with the exception of the multi-parters, I never knew which studio an episode was going to go to when creating our stories. I never knew whether it was going to get great animation like "The Mirror",
"Future Tense" or "M.I.A." or whether it was going to get lousy or mediocre animation like "Monsters" or "Vendettas". We wrote the best 66 episodes we could. I find it hard to believe that the best stories just coincidentally happened to go to the best studios. Some stories certainly turned out better than others, but evidence suggests that animation quality had a larger subliminal effect on which stories people liked than anyone realizes.
6. First off, I don't have a lot (read any) control over this situation. I hope the live action movie is great. They are planning to use some CGI, although I don't think even they know how much yet. But mostly, I'm not worried about the look. Hollywood movies invariably look great. I'm hoping for a good story that is faithful to the spirit of the GARGOYLES property, if not the details.

Greg responds...

Good question, Greg. NO, YOU CAN'T. It's probably right most of the time, but as far as I know no one involved with the show approved the close captioning, and I know of at least a couple of examples where it was dead wrong. Particularly on the spelling of names. That suggests to me that whoever wrote the captions didn't even have access to the scripts. I'm guessing he or she simply listened to the episodes and wrote down what they heard (or thought they heard). That means the "guesswork" known as close captioning has no more authority than what your own ears reveal. If you have any specific questions about dialogue or name spelling, don't check the captioning. Ask Greg.

Greg responds...

I think I've answered this but it's faster to type it in again then it is to check: EYRIE BUILDING. (I think Michael Reaves came up with that name.)

Greg responds...

1. Hee hee hee.
2. Always.

Greg responds...

Sorry, but I didn't save that info. It must be on file somewhere, so why don't you try writing a polite, typed and carefully proofread letter to Nielson. (And no, I don't know their address, but a good reporter should be able to find it. :))

Greg responds...

Mutual self-interest.

Greg responds...

1. Hey, Xanatos. I'd rather call you Greg, but I'll respect your wishes.
I added numbers to your questions to make this easier to read. No other editing. Hope you don't mind.
2. The Illuminati had their reasons.
3. No.
4. "Beth Maza" and I are trying to work out the details for me to be there.
We don't have it nailed down yet, so I don't want to make any promises. But we're trying, and it looks likely. Hopefully, I'll see you there.

Greg responds...

1. Most (though not all) of the Shakespeare was me. Beginning with Macbeth. We were looking for an immortal Scottish hunter. Macbeth had the name recognition. It felt like the kind of thing Stan Lee would have done in the early sixties at Marvel. Plus I love Shakespeare. The other things flowed from that rather smoothly. The Weird Sisters were obvious. Puck, Oberon and Titania likewise. Marty Isenberg & Bob Skir, the writers on "Legion" created an Othello/ Desdemona/Iago/Cassio set up (with Goliath in the Cassio role). I'm still not 100% sure if Marty and Bob did that on purpose, because per our rules, none of the other characters were named in their original outline for the story. In order to relieve some of the stress on our all-too-human brains, I suggested the Shakespearean names for internal use in order to keep all the characters straight. With more episodes, we would have included more Shakespearean characters. But I think that covers it for now.
2. NO. NO. NO. First off, Nelvana did none of the animation on the first two seasons. (Frankly, they didn't do any animation production for the third season either. They just handled pre-production.) The original background in front of the clock tower was a mistake. A MISTAKE. It was supposed to be a flashback to the moment when Demona first broke the gate and gave her piece to Goliath at the castle. A wistful memory. The mistake with the clock tower background came in too late to fix in time for the first airing. Maybe too late for the second too, I can't remember. But eventually, we got the correct background back from overseas and cut it in. Our intent never changed. Pragmatic realities dictated the two versions you saw. Sorry if that's disappointing.
3. Both.
4. There is a tradition of triple goddesses connected to the phases of the moon. It seemed to me that the Weird Sisters fit that tradition.
5. Demona and Macbeth. And the Archmage.
6. Elisa/Goliath from the start, and we never wavered. Demona's journey to some kind of redemption is another subplot, (if possible an even slower one then Goliath and Elisa's journey to finding each other). Sometimes, these subplots are going to intersect. But again, our intent remained constant.
7. I can't answer any questions about any Goliath Chronicle episodes except for "The Journey". Didn't work on them.
8. Again, I had little to do with Goliath Chronicles. But I doubt there was any executive pressure. Your questions suggest a clear bias toward wanting Goliath and Demona to reunite. All I can say is it wouldn't happen if the show was under my watch. As far as I was concerned we put any real chance of that to rest with "Vows". Someday, Goliath and Demona might have eventually reached some kind of detante. But Goliath's destiny is with Elisa. IMHO.

Greg responds...

1. Griff and Leo were involved in the 40s, but by the 90s Una and Leo were mates.
2. Yes. Yama means "the Mountain". Gary Sperling told me what all the names mean, but I don't remember the others. Sorry.
3. Sure.
4. Not that I know of.
5. Not really.
6. Probably.
7. You're welcome.

Greg responds...

First and foremost, you write. Then write some more. Then do a little writing. Read a lot. Write some more. Read some more. Read a lot. Write a lot. Study story structure. Study great literature. Study myth and legends. Joseph Campbell. Listen to how people talk. How they really talk. Learn your craft. Get a kick-ass education. Write. Read. Write.
Get copies of animation (or other television) scripts. Learn the format.
Write spec scripts for shows that you like. Try to use those specs to get an agent. Then your agent can use those specs to get you work. Write more specs. If you can't get an agent, send the specs to production companies that you admire. Don't send a Batman spec to Warner Bros or a Gargoyles to Disney. Legally, they can't risk reading those. But you can send Batman to Disney and Gargoyles to Warners. (I know it sounds weird. There's a real good reason for this, but it's a whole other question, so for now just trust me.) Actually, you shouldn't be writing a Gargoyles spec at all, since that show isn't producing new episodes now. You don't want your spec to come off as yesterday's news. Keep reading. Keep writing. Try writing a pilot script and a short bible for an original series. Try using those to get an agent or work (any work, you need credits on your resume.) Oh, yeah.
PROOFREAD. PROOFREAD. PROOFREAD. Read your own work aloud, you catch more mistakes that way. Read. Write. Write some more. Get used to a lot of rejection. A LOT OF REJECTION.
That's the best advice I can give you except this: writing for television is an extremely difficult career to break into, let alone succeed at; so if you don't really have a PASSION for it, then do something else. You'll need that passion to see you through a lot of dark times. If you can be happy doing anything else, then do that other thing. Otherwise, good luck.

Greg responds...

1. Sevarius.
2. Yes.
3. Michael Reaves came up with the name "Sevarius". I don't know if it had a meaning to him. Initially, I wasn't sure if I liked the sound of the name. It sounded cliched to me at first, though I was at a loss to explain why. Later, it seemed perfect for the character. I was wrong on that one, so I'm glad I deferred to Michael.
4. Uh.... Sorry. I can't think of anything that hasn't been asked. But I'm sure you guys'll come up with something.

Greg responds...

1. I've answered this. The short answer is yes. For a longer answer look at the archives for this page.
2. They were (usually) a tremendous amount of fun. The most fun part of the job, frankly. You get to be there as actors bring your characters to life with their voices. I sat second chair to our fantastic voice director Jamie Thomason, so I got to pretend I was helping. Plus most of our actors were a complete joy to work with. Particularly our regulars: Keith, Jeff, Bill, Thom, Ed, Brigitte, Salli, Frank, Marina and Jonathan. Laura San Giacomo, Peter Scolari, Sheena Easton, Jim Cummings, Morgan Shepard, Kath Soucie and John Rhys-Davies were also great fun people to work with and talk to. (Actually, I'm nervous about leaving people out. Most everyone was great.) Anyway, yeah, it was a lot of fun. It WAS also work. Some sessions lasted for hours and could be grueling. But mostly it was a hoot.

Greg responds...

The future is hazy. I'll consult Puck later (not that he can be trusted).
As to the past, I've worked on a number of animation projects, most of them as a development executive. These include (in no particular order) Gummi Bears, Duck Tales, Winnie the Pooh, TaleSpin, Rescue Rangers, Duck Tales the Movie, A Goofy Movie, Mighty Ducks, Bonkers, Goof Troop, Darkwing Duck, Aladdin (series), Little Mermaid (series), JEM, Timon & Pumbaa, Schnookums & Meat,
Raw Toonage, Marsupilami, Quack Pack, etc. Some of these I had a lot to do with, others I had almost nothing to do with.
I also worked for DC Comics for some time. The main thing I did was CAPTAIN ATOM. But I worked as a writer or assistant editor on DC Challenge, Tales of the Teen Titans, Justice League of America, Justice League, Justice League International, All Star Squadron, Infinity Inc, Young All Stars, Titans Spotlight, Silverblade, Watchmen, Secret Origins, Millenium, Who's Who, etc.

Greg responds...

1. Katana.
2. Xanatos and Goliath will never be totally in synch, but Xanatos no longer desires to be at odds with the gargoyles. That doesn't mean that occasionally they won't wind up at odds.
3. Meet? Sure.

Greg responds...

Macduff was Duncan's lieutenant in 1040. He was knocked out by Demona, allowing Macbeth to go one-on-one with Duncan.

Greg responds...

It's on Central Park South. At least it is in my Manhatten.

Greg responds...

The question you should ask yourself is whether ANY of Disney's animated series from that era of the Disney Afternoon received MORE promotion.
Personally, I don't think so. Other producers complained that they didn't get as much of a push as Gargoyles did.
Now you could argue that Disney didn't promote any of their shows enough.
But keep in mind that promotion costs a LOT of money. It just wasn't money they felt like spending at the time.

Greg responds...

A one time deal. Elisa's humanity and Goliath's gargoylity make up one of the series prime dynamics. Any permanent alteration of that would have been a betrayal.

Greg responds...

1. Uh, draw a lot? Seriously, I'm not an artist or animator, so I'm not the guy to ask. But I guess you could try to get into to an art school which has an animation department and a history of industry recruitment.
2. Yes. In my mind, at least.

Greg responds...

About 90 years worth of stuff.

Greg responds...

Thanks.

Greg responds...

1. I did.
2. In my mind, he never abandoned his old tricks. But some of his goals and priorities have changed a bit.
3. I don't think the show ever even implied that. The Coyote was "joined" to Peter Maza when he danced the part of Coyote in a kachina ceremony.
4. Sorry. Not in the mood today.
5. Depends who you ask.
6. Yes.
7. They can be killed. Or destroyed. They might age very slowly. Hard to tell, since they can alter their forms to suit their vanity.
8. Which legends specifically?

Greg responds...

She caught him off guard. Then he turned to stone, so there wasn't much time to react.