Greg responds...

Islands or the New World? What's the connection between those two?
Guatemala isn't an island. I guess the answer is no, because I don't get the question.

Greg responds...

1. I knew that one of those eggs from the first episode was a child of Goliath's and Demona's. I didn't give too much thought initially to who that child was. Later, it became clear that she would be a female. A female who was in many ways Demona's opposite (hence the name Angela) but in other ways very much like her mother. The positive side of Demona, so to speak.
2. I'm not sure.

Greg responds...

You seem to know Diane pretty well. What's her excuse? :)
Are you sure that Cuchullain and his "hound" weren't actually combined and confused in the legend? Are you sure our version wasn't the true truth? :) :)
To be honest, I'm not that familiar with the Cuchullain legends, so I didn't double check Diane, Peter and Michael's version. Also I asked for some changes from their early drafts. They told me they had problems with some of the changes, so we compromised. (Or at any rate, we found something that I liked which they didn't object to.) Maybe they compromised too much, I don't know. But I do take full responsibility for what got on the screen.
Ultimately, I was the guy in charge of story, so the buck stops with me. I just wasn't aware we were making serious errors. I'm still not. Where did we go wrong, besides adding a gargoyle beast to the legend (a logical extension in our series)?

Greg responds...

I believe I said that we had no censors. And I didn't say "marriage ceremony", I think I said "commitment ceremony". I don't know exactly what I would have done, if I had been given enough episodes to get to this issue.
I have no reason to believe that it would have been even vaguely controversial. But rest assured, when I felt the time was right, Goliath and Elisa would have had some sort of clear moment of commitment. I don't think it would have been a traditional marriage ceremony (not because of censorship, but because that doesn't feel right to me vis-a-vis the two characters), but you'd have gotten the message. Trust me.

Greg responds...

1. I've answered this one too. The short answer is Goliath, but they're all my children, and I love them all.
2. I've answered this too, but see below.
3. Faulty assumptions. Who doesn't get the short end of the stick sometimes? Lex? Goliath? Broadway? Demona tricked Brooklyn. Goliath lost his clan and castle. The Pack tried to kill Lex. Broadway shot Elisa accidentally. Bad stuff happens. Particularly to cartoon characters.
Was Brooklyn "forced" into leadership? I suppose you could look at it that way, but don't forget he WANTED it. It's a lot of responibility, but even now, I don't think he'd give up being Goliath's Second-In-Command gladly.
And Brooklyn never lost Maggie or Angela. He never had them. Hell, he never KNEW them. He was in love with their looks, their seeming availability. He had crushes. Broadway, on the other hand, understood Angela inside and out -- her fears, her desires, her moods. He's a more sensitive guy. He sees inside people. Brooklyn doesn't. Or at least he didn't. When Brooklyn does truly fall in love for the first time, he'll know the difference immediately. It will be real, not superficial. It will be lasting.
Gargoyles mate for life. Brooklyn won't be an exception. He just hasn't met the right girl yet.
So when you ask me why I'm "doing" this to him, I don't know how to respond.
Either you go inside the show and realize that this is his life. He has to go through the bad stuff in order to learn enough to appreciate the good. Or you remain outside the show and realize that this is storytelling. We put characters through paces. We challenge them. We watch them overcome odds.
If everyone's lives were always perfect, it would make for boring television.
4. I have no idea. Sorry.

Greg responds...

Not in the sense you mean.

Greg responds...

I wrote and story edited one episode, the first one, "THE JOURNEY".
Otherwise, I was not involved. I was paid as a creative consultant, but I asked Disney to remove my consultant credit from the end credits of the last twelve episodes, because I felt I hadn't earned it. Eric Lewald, Jay Fukuto and Kim Christianson consulted me a bit on those episodes, but not much.
They followed some of my negative recommendations, that is they chose not do some things that I recommended against, but they rarely did any of the things I suggested that they should do. So I felt I had made no positive contribution
to the show that would appear on screen. Thus I felt I didn't deserve screen credit. So if you're looking for my credit on Goliath Chronicles, look fast at the end of "The Journey" and then forget about it.
As to the "story"... well, I think I've answered this, but maybe not here.
Basically, it's a decision I regret, but at the time it made sense. Disney offered me the opportunity to story edit the thirteen Goliath Chronicles episodes they were doing. I agreed to do one, while we worked out the details. But we never could work out those pesky details. It was not about money. We never got that far in the conversation, and they met my fee for "The Journey", so I don't think that would have been a problem. The problems were creative control and resources. Disney didn't offer me the opportunity to produce Goliath Chronicles. They were, in essence, asking me to take a demotion. Also, at the time, they were going to pre-produce the show at DIC and refused to guarantee me any creative approvals over DIC's work. They also presented me with an impossible schedule. (The first script was due before they made the offer to me. I'm not kidding.) I felt like they were asking me to preside over the demise of the show. So I passed.
Then after I passed, things changed. They switched from DIC to Nelvana.
They gave new Producer Scott Thomas all the approvals that they wouldn't guarantee to me. They gave new Story Editor Eric Lewald a schedule that was much more realistic. I felt, well, screwed.
But even so, I shouldn't have passed. I missed out on the opportunity to tell twelve more of my stories. To let the series go out on a note of my choosing as opposed to someone else's. Eric's a very good guy, but GARGOYLES was my baby, and I should not have abandoned it. Live and learn.
O.K. Now I'm really not gonna answer this question again.

Greg responds...

Yes.

Greg responds...

No. It was a reference to the legend of King Arthur and the Holy Grail. We did have a Python reference from "Holy Grail" in "Future Tense" when Xanatos says to Goliath's head, "What are you going to do, bite my kneecaps off?" A famous line from a funny movie.

Greg responds...

What list? What was the source? What was the date on it? You haven't given me enough information. But I can say that as far as I know, Disney isn't planning anymore Gargoyle related filmed entertainment except for the live- action movie in development at Touchstone Pictures.

Greg responds...

1. I've answered this one too, but it's a short question so

Phoebe - Blonde hair;

Seline - Black hair;

Luna - Silver hair.

There was no brunette.
3. Female Gargoyles only lay one egg every twenty years max.

Greg responds...

Yeah, I pretty much loved Shakespeare from my earliest exposures. I still have a crush on Olivia Hussey.
Macbeth was the first Shakespearean character we included, and he just seemed too perfect NOT to include. We needed an immortal and dangerous Scotish King with maximum name recognition. Who else was there? His inclusion led to all the rest. But frankly, it was inevitable given my interests. Besides, as I mentioned above, to me these stories really exist out there, waiting to be plucked down. IT HAD TO BE MACBETH, etc. Cuz that's the way it happened.

Greg responds...

1. I knew early on that I wanted to do a World Tour Story set in Arizona that focused on Elisa and Peter's Native American Heritage. I knew that story would involve the Coyote Trickster. But the specific connection wasn't decided on until Brynne, Lydia and myself started working on the that specific premise/outline/script. Why? On a very real level, we had no choice. It was the "truth", obvious once we delved into it. Plus, it made a good story and would lead us to more and more interesting things.
2. Beth's mother is a professor who specializes in African Studies, specifically African myth and legends. Beth is following in her mother's footsteps, but with the twist that she is specializing in Native American Studies, her father's heritage. She chose Flagstaff, at least in part, because that's the college nearest to where her father grew up.
3. Yes, Elisa went to Columbia on a partial scholarship. That's where her mom teaches. She majored in Psych. By the way, Derek went to Columbia also. He majored in African-American Studies.

Greg responds...

1) What happened when?
2) Control. Mostly. Plus they know some things.
3) Ever? Sure.
Hey, Luke, I don't mean to single you out, but it's time to point out again, that vague questions demand vague answers. Also, if you ask me a question so large that my only choices are to answer coyly or to write a novel- length response, you're going to get coy almost every time. Sorry.

Greg responds...

1. Something that made her smile. :)
2. Gargoyles, fae, humans, plants, animals. It's the same deal. The gargoyle race was "created" by the same thing that created the human race and most everything else. What was that, you ask? God? Evolution?
Both? I'll leave that to everyone's personal belief system.
But don't give Oberon the credit. For purposes of this discussion, he's just one of the created. Hardly the creator.

Greg responds...

1. I've answered the Weird Sister thing. Check the ASK GREG FAQ archives.
2. The Archmage is dead. Of course, so was Hakon.
3. In 994, Demona and Goliath were both 56 years old chronologically (twenty- eight biologically, i.e. in human terms.) In 1020, Demona was 82 (or 41) and aging prematurely because of the extremely difficult life she was leading. In 1040, Demona was 102 (51) until she recieved Macbeth's youth in magical trade. He was 35 (35) so she became 102 (35). He became 35 (51).
They've been stuck at those (biological) ages ever since.
4. It's hard to say. Gargoyles have always led lives of such intense conflict that it is extremely rare for a gargoyle to die of old age.
In fact, it's rare for them to get very old at all. Hudson, thankfully, is a marvelous exception. On the other hand, their daily healing is a big plus, so I'm figuring they'd wind up on the high end of what a human can accomplish. I tend to believe that a gargoyle maxes out at 180 to 200 years old (or 90 to 100 biologically) assuming they escape a violent end or a magical reprieve. Same for a Gargoyle Beast.

Greg responds...

Keep in mind, that most of the fae can take on any form that strikes their fancy. Appearances can be deceiving.
But yes, there is a relationship. With a few exceptions, the current New Olympians are descendants of a group of very mortal "gods and monsters" who chose to retire from humanity and set up shop on New Olympus. These original Olympians were the mortal children of human-fae liasons. (There's more to it than that, but that's the short answer.) Fox and Alexander are basically New Olympians. Sort of. Not really. But you get the idea.
Among the exceptions that I mentioned are the New Olympian Gargoyles, who have full New Olympian citizenship, but are descended from gargoyles, not from humans or fae. Another obvious exception is the robot Talos, who was built centuries ago and has been rebuilt and upgraded more times than anyone has bothered to count.
[Now what's fascinating to me is that I actually answered that question and didn't get cute or evasive. All of the above is info that I hadn't planned on revealing, but, hey, catch me at the right moment and I might even tell you that Brooklyn's kids are named NASHVILLE and TACHI. Doh!]

Greg responds...

Well, the immediate inspiration for the Sisters was obviously Shakespeare's Weird Sisters from MACBETH. But a surprising number of cultures have myths of a triple goddess, generally associated with fate and/or the phases of the moon. As I recall, Seline (or Selene) was the name of the Greek goddess of the moon. Luna was a roman name occasionally used for the same goddess.
Phoebe means "bright" (in its feminine form). It was a epithet occasionally used almost as an adjective to describe Artemis (or Diana), the goddess of the hunt, who was also often associated with the moon, just as her twin brother Phoebus Apollo was often associated or confused with Phoebus Helios the god of the Sun. In fact, I had a wealth of names to chose from.
So I finally just picked three that seemed to work well together.
I had many plans for the clones and the Sisters. Too much to relate in this Q&A format.

Greg responds...

Uh, if I understand your question...
We made 65 episodes of GARGOYLES. Thirteen in the first season. Fifty-two in the second.
Thirteen episodes of GARGOYLES: THE GOLIATH CHRONICLES were made. I only worked on the first one.
That totals to 78 episodes, 66 of which I was involved in.

Greg responds...

From Brooklyn's point-of-view he was gone for forty years. Sometimes he'd bounce into a time period for a few seconds, sometimes he'd be there for years. That being the case, I had a lot of villains planned. Some you know already and some new ones as well. If you're asking whether there would have been one villain who appeared in literally every episode, the answer is no.
But I did have plans for a couple of different antagonists who he'd have faced in more than one era.

Greg responds...

You're mistaken. Brooklyn asks Lex who Macbeth is. Lex remembers Goliath talking about a play called "Macbeth" by "some new writer named Shakespeare." To them, Shakespeare was new because he was born centuries AFTER the 990s.

Greg responds...

A third sigh. Time travel. A working paradox. The Archmage never did die.
Goliath, Hudson and Demona thought he had died, because they saw him fall down into the pit. But before he actually died his "future" self appeared and rescued him. Later, his future self made sure that the rescued self knew how and when to go back in time to rescue the original self, thus completing the perfect circle. The working paradox.

Greg responds...

I hate to say this, particularly since I've said it before, but the ratings on GARGOYLES were never spectacular. NEVER. They were better than GOLIATH CHRONICLES (relatively), and good enough to chalk the show up as a hit. But it was a single. Not a home run. Not even a double. We regularly got trounced by Power Rangers.
Again, the best shot for new episodes for the show is the live-action feature film currently in development at Touchstone. If that movie gets made it might reawaken interest in the show, particularly if fandom has kept the flame alive.

Greg responds...

1. I'm sure I've answered this one -- in detail. But, sigh, the answer is BOTH. Why do you assume these things are mutually exclusive?
2. Dead.
3. I did.
4. Quite separate, I'd guess.
5. No. Well, they may be distant cousins, I suppose, but that's it.
6. Did I give that away? Another sigh. Well, yeah. When the old Olympians decided to retire from the human world and set up shop on New Olympus, they invited the Olympian clan of Gargoyles to join them. Some did. Some did not. The descendents of the gargoyles who did go with them still live with the descendents of those old Olympians.
7. Yes.
8. No. It's a new character. You can't guess it, unless you're psychic.
9. North Dakota.

Greg responds...

There are no episodes that I wish I hadn't done. There were reasons, short- and long-term for every single one. Some episodes don't look very good, and I think the bad animation hurt everyone's overall impression of those episodes' stories. I obviously wish we had brilliant animation on every episode.
Of couse, some episodes were better written than others, but on the page they were all decent scripts. Sometimes we intentionally made unusual change of pace story choices to shake things up. "The Mirror," "Future Tense," "Avalon, Part II," "Night of the Panther," "Vendettas" and "Revelations" are a few examples of this. It's for you all to decide how successful we were.
But I'm very proud of all the stories we told and fairly proud of how all the episodes turned out, given the various constraints (mostly time constraints) that we were under.
There was some great material that didn't get into some episodes because I'm pretty notorious for delivering long scripts. None of it was essential, but some of it was great stuff that I wish you guys could have seen.
There were two story beats I missed until too late, and it really drives me crazy, even today. One was in "The Hound of Ulster". Cu Chullain's armor and bones should have been in the chamber where Banshee imprisoned Elisa, Goliath and Angela. The other was in "Grief". I should have let Coyote kill Elisa, Goliath, Angela and Bronx in the mastaba. If I had been paying attention, I would have noticed that with Anubis imprisoned, the heroes could not die. It would have been much more effective and would have tied in cleaner with the story than what we did do. A horrible missed opportunity. Oh, well.
As to my favorites, well it's hard. My single favorite episode is "The Mirror". Great animation, a great premise, a great story, great character work and....IT'S FUNNY. I'm proud of that, because I got some flack from people who didn't get it in script. They thought it was too complicated.
But the conceit played clear and well on screen, and the jokes still play great.
After "The Mirror", I immediately think of our multi-parters. "Awakening" got it all started and has some gorgeous stuff in there. "City of Stone" really expanded our whole universe and has some of our most honest emotions in it. Plus the Scotish History and Shakespeare and the whole stone human premise stuff is all great as far as I'm concerned. "Avalon" is more rocky, but I'm fond of it. "The Gathering" was hell to produce but had these great revelations in there. Titania's so good at the end there it still makes me smile. And "Hunter's Moon" really tied everything up wonderfully, with great animation, a powerful story, some terrific character work and an ending that left us open to do more, but could still be viewed as the end of a novel.
What next? There are some obvious choices. Although I think it's interesting that the first ones that my mind goes to tend to be the ones that had the best animation. "High Noon," "Future Tense" and "M.I.A." for example, though all also have other reasons why I like them so much. M.I.A.
has Douglas Bader in it and was sort of written for my father. Bader was/is a real hero to my dad. My whole family went with Sir Douglas and his wife to Disneyland once when I was a kid.
"Deadly Force" was probably our most important story. A very powerful episode. "A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time" was another powerful one, but it suffered from having mediocre animation.
I have a personal fondness for "Vendettas" and "The Journey". I like Vinnie a lot more than most of you. Plus I voice directed Vendettas and personally wrote the script for Journey, so I'm even less objective about those two than I am about the rest. Still, I do believe that if either episode had had the kind of animation that "The Mirror" had you'd all like them a lot, lot more.
"Vendettas" in particular depended on comic timing that the animators didn't give us. I also tell myself that Journey would have been better if I had produced it. At least, I wouldn't have messed with my script, reordering scenes and making dumb errors like having Goliath glide off at the end of the episode after making a huge deal over the fact that his wing was injured and he couldn't glide.
How many have I listed? Twenty? Thirty? I could easily keep going.
There's something I like in every single episode. It's like choosing from one's children.
So I'll just shut up now.