Greg responds...

I'm allowed to talk about anything I'm in the mood to discuss.

Xanatos went through a protracted, gradual change over the course of 65 episodes. Hopefully, you all thought it was organic and believable. But I never said he had stopped scheming. (Keep in mind, I had nothing to do with how he was portrated in the last twelve episodes of CHRONICLES.) I don't even believe that his goals have changed that much. But his priorities have definitely shifted, plus he gained a great deal of self-knowledge and a clearer view of what matters most in life. First and foremost, his family.
Second, true friends (or at least allies) that you can really count on. He has learned that you have to give if you ever hope to take. (But that doesn't
mean he's done taking.) As to his plans, I still think he wants immortality, so that's not over. And I felt he needed to deal with the Illuminati, who are likely to expect things from him that he's not prepared to deliver. Don't expect his methods to change much.

As to the why, well, frankly, the character demanded it. The relationship with Fox manifested itself to the pleasant surprise of everyone involved. We were all even more surprised (David included) to find out that he actually loved her. Every other step along the way was a natural outgrowth of the revelation that he was capable of love. His father influenced him as well.
Though he'd be loathe to admit it, David cares what his Petros thinks of him. It wasn't an accident that Petros was invited to his wedding.

Greg responds...

Nought.

Greg responds...

The short answer is that Macbeth & Demona asked for it. The Sisters weren't enforcing their will on the mortals, (well, they were, but Mac & D didn't know it), they were simply granting a request.

Actually, they were aiding Demona & Mac's desire to trade youth for power.
They then slipped the link in by using a specific magic spell for the youth transfer that included the immortality link. Sneaky, huh?

What you need to understand is that Oberon isn't constantly watching. His magical dictate hangs in the air around them. If they can create a justification in their own minds, no matter how superficial, they can magically get away with a hell of a lot. There's a risk involved. What if Oberon found out later? Would he care or regard it as insignificant? Would he buy their justification? Depends on his mood, probably. He's not exactly Mr. Consistent-Letter-Of-My-Law. As it is, I don't think he has found out, at least not so far.

(By the way, the reason that Demona is perpetually 35 years old is because Macbeth was 35 when they made that trade. He couldn't give her youth that he himself no longer possessed.)

Greg responds...

1. Yes.

2. Both.

3. Marriage, etc.

4. Yes.

(That was easy.)

Greg responds...

1. I guess I could.

2. I've no legal roadblocks preventing me from telling you anything and everything. But GARGOYLES does have a chance to come back, and I don't want to give away all my secrets just in case it does.

3. You wouldn't catch up to 2158 until 2158, I guess. But the (rejected) plan was to do a spin-off series set in 2158.

Greg responds...

I love Carl's music, but I wouldn't hold my breath for the CD. You don't see a lot of CD's for animated series scores out there. (SIMPSONS being a notable and hilarious exception.) If enough people send requests to Disney Records, if they believe that they could make money off of Carl's work, then trust me they would release it. But it would take a LOT of letters from a lot of different people from across the country.

Greg responds...

1. Yes. A lot. I've been writing stories since at least 2nd Grade.
English has always been my favorite subject. I took eight full years worth of English courses during my six years of junior high and High School.
(Including AP English, American Literature, Modern American Literature, Creative Writing and Advanced Creative Writing.) I took a lot of history as well. I also took a Popular American Literature course at UCLA while I was still in high school.

I received a Bachelors Degree in English with an emphasis in Fiction Writing from Stanford University. (Coursework there included: The Short Story, Fiction Writing, Poetry Writing, Detective Fiction, Eighteenth Century Views of Women in Literature, Milton, Conrad & Faulkner, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Western Culture, Reflections on the American Condition, more Fiction Writing and Authorial Voice, among others. I also took courses in acting, dance, economics, physics, calculus and computer science, among others.
Plus I did a ton of theater -- on stage, back stage and behind the scenes.) I was a t.a. for Ron Rebholz's Shakespeare class. And I taught a seminar on the Mythic Hero in Modern Literature. At Stanford's Programme in Oxford, I took courses on the English Novel, Shakespeare and British Architecture.

I later received a Masters Degree from U.S.C.'s school of Professional Writing with an emphasis in playwriting. (Coursework included: Humor, Playwriting, fiction writing, screenwriting, etc.)

And after all that, I took a seminar on Story Structure from Robert McKee.

2. Yes. Although, I know a lot of myths and legends already, I still did research, or the other writers and story editors did. My assistant Monique Beatty did a lot of research for me, as did my good friend Tuppence Macintyre. Frank Paur also contributed a lot of research. The other producers, storyboard artists and designers also did tons of visual research.

3. While I was still at U.S.C. I started interviewing for jobs informally. I wanted to be a writer, but I also wanted to be able to pay my bills. Just before I graduated, Bruce Cranston offered me a job as a "Staff Assistant" in T.V. Animation's development department. One week after I started, Disney sent Bruce to Europe for six months and I was in effect the acting head of the department. It gave me the unique opportunity to show what I could do.
When Bruce got back, I was promoted. I moved slowly but steadily up through the executive ranks, until I developed GARGOYLES, at which point I chose to change careers (or rather to pursue the career I originally set out to get) and became a writer/producer.

4. She has a family now.

5. None that I'm currently aware of, but I reserve the right to discover otherwise later.

6. They wear a different style of glasses. Vogel wears a bowtie, Owen wears a regular one. They have different hair color. There may be subtle differences in their facial structure, but depending on the animation, that tends to be less than consistent. We strived to make them look very reminiscent of each other.

Greg responds...

It was a very strange little two-parter.

[You guys should see me now. I keep typing things and erasing them. I'm really not sure I want to reveal this. I guess I still hope to do it someday, and I don't want to blow out the shock value. But another part of me kinda wants to reveal it. But not today. Sorry. Ask me again later.]

Greg responds...

I would absolutely LOVE to continue the saga in prose. Any publishers out there listening?

Greg responds...

I'm not sure I agree with your assessment of the Oberon/Puck dynamic in Midsummer. Do Owen and Oberon really look alike? I don't really see it.
Although, I think it's funny, because for months (between the first airings of "Awakening, Part Two" and "Avalon, Part Three") all I heard was how much Owen looked like the Magus.

Greg responds...

1. No. He's a New Olympian.

2. The term "Oberon's Children" refers to all the fair folk, including Puck and even Oberon. But Puck was also Oberon's personal servant. Was.

Greg responds...

I think she loves it. She wants her father to be happy, and whatever hopes she might have for Demona's redemption, they don't include a reconciliation with dad. And Angela loves and respects Elisa tremendously. Besides, when she first met Goliath and Elisa, they were already a couple, and everyone knew it, except maybe for Goliath and Elisa.

Greg responds...

I don't work at Disney anymore, but I can all but guarantee you that your "pal" is shining you (or at least passing on bad info). There are, as far as I know, no plans to make a direct to video. And I have friends at Disney and a very well-connected agent who would let me know if those plans existed.

Keep in mind that "City of Stone" and "Hunter's Moon" were both originally planned as direct to videos. "City of Stone" was rejected because the powers-that-be felt it focused too much on the series' villains and not enough on the heroes. "Hunter's Moon" was rejected months later because those powers made a strategic decision not to do a direct to video for Gargoyles. They felt it wouldn't sell enough units to justify the cost and/ or opportunity cost. (I'm not saying I agree, but that's what they decided.) So I can't imagine what could have happened between then and now that would change their minds. The ratings failure of GOLIATH CHRONICLES? I don't think that would do it.

Demona doesn't blame all her misfortunes on Goliath. Just some. Mostly she blames humanity. As to Goliath and Demona getting back together... well, I think that ship has sailed. Goliath loves Elisa now. And it's a more honest and mutual love, less naive, if slightly more impossible.

Greg responds...

NO ONE GOT TO SEE THE "FIRE IN THE SKY". Nobody. They were all frozen in stone. The terminal condition of the spell doesn't require a visual trigger. It just has to happen. So...

You live in Washington D.C. You turn on your cable box and channel surf around the dial. Once, twice. Man, there is NOTHING on. Wait a minute.
What the hell is that? Is that make-up on that woman? Or is that CGI? It looks so real, you really cannot tell. What language is that? Great looking monster, but nothings happening. So you shut off the t.v. You've got a date tonight, so you get in the shower as the sun sets. Suddenly the water is freezing. You leap out of the shower, with shampoo still in your hair.
Great. Just great. You glance at the clock to see if you've got time to run to the gym and shower there. 5:41 AM? WHAT???? You run out of the bathroom. Your answering machine light is flashing. You press the button.
That's your date on the line, pissed off about being stood up. You're freaked to say the least. Eleven hours of your life, just gone.

And so on... Basically, once Xanatos met the terminal condition, the spell is broken. Anyone effected by it is cured, no matter how far away they are.

Greg responds...

I'm not restricted from saying anything by Disney or anyone -- other than myself. There are two reasons (or three) why I'm not always forthcoming.

(1) I may get to do GARGOYLES again someday. I hope so, anyway. So let me ask you all a question: Do you guys really want me to reveal all the secrets? Would you still be as involved in new episodes if you ABSOLUTELY KNEW that they held no surprises.

(2) If I never get to do GARGOYLES again, I may canabalize some of my Gargoyles ideas and use them in a new project. (I probably shouldn't admit that, but it's true.) I wouldn't want people watching my new stuff and being able to predict outcomes and/or feeling like it was second-hand stuff because I mentioned it in passing on the www.

(3) I'm not in the mood.

I already am quite sure that I've given away more than I practically should have. But truthfully, it's hard to resist. I so want to formulate and tell these stories, I can't resist dropping clues.

I have occasionally stopped by Gore's chatroom. I generally announce it in advance, and I always use my own name.

Greg responds...

Hi.

1. No. Not really, though certain elements of it might have leaked into our reality. Like Alex's name and the destruction of the Clock Tower.

2. With my mind.

3. Maybe.

4. Which time?

5. Which time?

6. Depends on how you define "immortal".

7. Nokkar. A few others.

8. Good question. I had a story in mind for the third season where Renard would finally succumb to his illness. I planned on doing research for that story, but since I didn't do the third season, I never got around to doing the research. I was going to start by researching Multiple Sclerosis, but allow me to make this clear: I would not have used that or any disease before making absolutely sure I had my facts straight. Also I would not have made up an illness.

9. Alliances come and go. At Wyvern, Prince Malcolm and Hudson came to their initial arrangement in 971 when Malcolm's half-brother Kenneth II was crowned king of Scotland.

10. Time will tell. Or I will. Someday. Not now.

11. Ditto.

Greg responds...

Good question. Keep in mind that magic isn't an exact science. The Weird Sisters told Macbeth and Demona that "When one lives both live." Demona used the magic Praying Gargoyle statue to insure she would survive the fullfillment spell. So would Macbeth have survived? Probably. She knows about the mortality link. She would not want his death at her hands if that resulted in her own. Towards Macbeth, her impulse should not be murderous by necessity. And mindset has a real effect on magic results. However, Demona isn't the most stable and rational of characters. She certainly has murderous feelings toward Macbeth. And if their linking spell "perceived" the death of all humanity as a successful attempt to kill Macbeth, then it might very well have killed her as well. Did she consider this? Maybe.

Maybe it was a risk she was willing, even eager to take. Maybe somewhere underneath it all, she's a bit suicidal. Could she die with the idea of leaving behind a human-free "paradise" where her daughter could live in safety? Remember, Moses led the Israelites to the Promised Land, but he was not allowed to enter it himself. Maybe that's how Demona felt about it.

Then again, maybe not. Very provocative question.

Greg responds...

1. The Grimorum burnt up when the Eye of Odin was removed from the Archmage. Since the Grimorum was part of the Archmage at the time, the Archmage burnt up with it. So yes, he's really dead.

2. Princess Elena died before "Long Way To Morning". Malcolm died before "Awakening". I have ideas about their demises, but I don't feel like revealing them yet. Sorry.

3. Whew. A lot of questions for one number. I added letters to make them easier to answer.

(a). They may have killed a gargoyle here and there, but largely they were on a very specific Demon hunt.

(b). Partially, although gargoyles were nearly extinct by the time of "Awakening" let alone "City of Stone".

(c). Yeah, that too.

(d). We know she did.

(e). It's always been "the main reason", but she didn't need the Hunters to start believing that. Remember Hakon?

(f). Remember Hakon?

4. I have no idea -- though I tend to doubt it.

Greg responds...

1. No.

2. No. Angela and Broadway are already a couple. And Gargoyles mate for life. Besides, Angela and Gabriel think of themselves as sister and brother. Ophelia and Gabriel are a couple.

3. Biologically, yes. But to a gargoyle, Gabriel is as much Goliath, Demona and Coldsteel's child as he is Coldstone or Coldfire's.

4. Yes. See the answer to question 3.

Greg responds...

1. The movie has no script yet. No director attached. No casting done at all. So when you ask if there's a chance, the answer is "Yes". Is there a chance they won't appear in the film? "Yes." Is there any way for me to weigh the odds at this early stage? "No." 2. As for Patrick Stewart, we originally had him in mind for a couple of different parts in the series, but he was too expensive. (He makes a lot of money in commercial voice overs.) His agent didn't want to make an exception that would allow other companies to desire the same exception. It was a wise decision financially, but we felt we really were a special case. So we considered asking Jonathan or Marina to personally ask Patrick if he would do a voice for us. But we decided that that wasn't fair to Jonathan, Marina or Patrick. We didn't want to put any of them in an awkward spot. I'm glad we refrained.

Greg responds...

No. Or at least, not to my knowledge. I've never heard of what you're describing before now. I've been to Chicago twice in my life, and I don't recall ever having seen it.
Bob Kline did the earliest development design of that castle atop the skyscraper, and he never mentioned any Chicago building.
I can't remember who first came up with the notion. It might have been Bob or me or any of a number of people who were working in or around the development department at that time.

Greg responds...

1. I'm not telling yet.

2. Figurative.

3. "Completely" is a big word. But for all intents and purposes he's over her. But it's a very complex kind of over.

4. I hope so. I'd sure love to write one. But no one's approached me.

5. The movie (and any revived series) will, I assume, be targeted to the same group it's always been targeted to. That is, the widest possible audience. Or to put it another way, we wrote what we liked, and hoped everyone else liked it too.

Greg responds...

No. I made that up. But it made sense to me. It was an extrapolation backwards from the legends that did surround gargoyles. From the notion that gargoyles and chimeras, etc. were put on castles and churches to scare away evil spirits. Why would people think that a monstrous stone creature would act as a protective talisman? Why wouldn't you assume the opposite? I extrapolated backwards and came up with what you saw. After the fact, my co- workers and I found a number of parallel motifs all over the world, which is one of the factors that inspired us to do the WORLD TOUR episodes. One story that we could never quite crack was a Scarecrow story. Gargoyles and Scarecrows seem to me to have a lot in common. The problem was that Batman has a Scarecrow villain that's been used in 100 ways over the years (heck, I used him in a CAPTAIN ATOM story myself) and we could never quite come up with anything that seemed unique enough to make the grade. But someday, I'll crack it.

Greg responds...

"Hunter's Moon, Part Three" was designed to be a final episode OR a turning point, depending on whether we got a renewal. (The same had been true for "Reawakening" a year earlier.) When I realized that they were going to do 13 more, but that I'd only be involved in one of those 13, I made an effort to create yet a third episode of open-ended closure. A chance to say goodbye to the fans and most of the lead characters, before I journied off to other adventures. So I wrote, "The Journey". Vinnie's voyage to Japan was written to parallel my voyage to DreamWorks (although at the time I didn't know where I'd wind up working). I intentionally created new elements to the series. Mr. Duval. The Quarrymen. Etc. I pushed relationships forward. I wanted to be true to the series even in my final farewell, so I felt it was important to keep it evolving right up through the end. But it was written as a goodbye.

Which doesn't seem like an answer to your question. But it's really the best answer I could give without more information from you. There are tons of loose ends that I wish I were able to tie up or at least continue working on. I've got story ideas into the 22nd century (and back as far as the first century), so I wasn't short on material. But I wouldn't want to rush things unnaturally, just cause I was only going to get one more chance at bat. That's a great way to strike out, I figure. In this hypothetical scenario, how many episodes would I have in my new last chance? If it was only one, I'm not sure what I'd do. There's so much in Goliath Chronicles that I didn't like, I'd have to spend sometime putting band-aids on the series to get it back to a place I was comfortable moving forward from. A lot would also depend on the when. I'd like the series to continue (as it has so far) in more-or-less real time.
If my next shot at writing this was in the year 1999 I'd probably be telling different stories than if my next shot was in 2007.

How's that for a preamble? Basically, I regret not having done the last 12 Goliath Chronicles, not because I missed out telling any one specific story, but because I missed out telling 12 more stories, missed out weaving 12 more naratives into the Gargoyle Tapestry. 66 isn't bad. But 78 would have been better.

Greg responds...

1. She could definitely get sick. But the condition wouldn't be fatal. Of course, Gargoyles have a fairly substantial immune system of their own. Most sicknesses don't last past sunrise. A lot of the fun of Demona's present condition (a gargoyle with TWO magical spells that have a physical effect on her) is that these are all unanswered questions UNTIL we do the story that demonstrates the answer. Even Demona doesn't know for sure how her body will react.

2. I like them all. But it's hard to top the top two. Xanatos & Demona. I immodestly believe that in these two we created two of the most original, well-thought out and complex antagonists you'll ever see anywhere. I'm also quite fond of Macbeth and various other antagonists who aren't always villainous. Owen/Puck is a lot of fun. The Archmage was great fun for me.

Sevarius wound up being a hoot, etc. And Thailog, well, what can I say?