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Anonymous writes...
Just a few questions this time around. Heh heh, my definition of a few.
Mr. Greg Weisman, 1)How tall is: a)Puck, b)Owen, c)Macbeth, d)Demona, e)Fox,
and last but not least f)Xanatos? But Puck and Owen most specifically.
2)Whats the name of that Cloth piece in Pucks outfit, held up by the
broache and forming the skirt-like thing? No one seems ta know that I've asked,
people have said Sash-which would be his cloth belt, Tunic-which is more
like his shirt, and even Toga which is wayyy to big. Please please tell
me.
3)People have asked, what character you relate to the most.... but my
question is, Which was the most fun for you to write for?
4)Why do Gargoyle Loincloths turn to stone. You must have a reason
whether it be magical etc.
5)Is Owen vunerable to iron in the same context as fae? Or is he so
perfectly Human that he can handle it the same as any other normal person?
6)Was it Owen or Puck that first met Demona? If Puck, when? Be as
specific as ya want, I'd settle for the decade or century even.
7)Xanatos' reaction when meeting Goliath was like he was expecting it,
which he was. But how did he react when he first met Demona?
8)a)Did you ever plan on teaming up any of the tricksters? b) If so whom?
9)Do you ever plan on revealing what Titania said to Fox in the forseeable
future? just wondering if theres *any* hope in knowing.
10)What other business rivals would Xanatos have aquired?
11)You mentioned before, that Titania had become... lets say wiser in a
way than Oberon, because Oberon never changed over the Millienium. Well Puck
seems to be a very everchanging Character, exactly how much *wisdom* does
he have? And how much do you think he'd actually take his own advice?
12)Duh duh duhhhhnnn the Puck family question! Does Puck have a mother or
father currently living on Avalon? yeah yeah yeah, all I wanna know
basically is if they're still alive.
13)Did Puck
Greg responds...
1. I've never measured them.
2. I don't know.
3. They were all fun to write for. Though Thailog and Xanatos
stand out. Puck too. And Vinnie. And Goliath. I even liked writing
Renard. And Titania. The Archmage. I could go on forever. They were all
interesting to me for different reasons.
4. I've answered this before. A modesty spell cast by the guy who
wrote the Grimorum back in the time of Caesar Augustus.
5. Pretty much the latter.
6. Puck. That's as specific as I want to get right now.
7. Awe, wonder and humor.
8. Yes, as I've stated before, the story that eventually became
"Ransom" under TGC's new creative team, was originally supposed to be a
multi-Trickster story featuring Puck and Raven for sure, and probably Anansi
and Coyote as well.
9. Hope springs eternal.
10. Didn't have any specific plans for that beyond Cyberbiotics and
Nightstone. But I wouldn't have hesitated to create a fourth company if I
saw a need.
11. Hard to quantify "wisdom". And which advice are you talking
about?
12. Crystal Ball is cloudy. Check again later.
13. I don't think that tricksters like hanging with other
tricksters. Small doses, please.
14. Chuck would do what?
15. If you're too lazy, why should I make an effort?
16. Nope.
17. Nope.
(GDW / 7-21-98)
Anonymous writes...
1. Thanks for answering my questions about the Quarrymen's motivation -
and for pointing out about how they wouldn't have been aware that the
gargoyles were sentient beings. Which brings me to a question-cum-theory about one
of the main reasons for TGC's failure. The first two seasons had Xanatos and
Demona, two complex and intriguing characters, for their main villains,
and did a good job accordingly (plus some good supporting villains such as
Macbeth - also a complex and intriguing character, and one who quickly
became a favorite of mine - Thailog, Jackal and Hyena, Sevarius, and so
on). TGC had for its main villains the Quarrymen, who were done (after "The
Journey") as a bunch of flat, one-dimensional characters with no real
depth to them - I liked the fact that you'd chosen to give them some variety
(some being mercenaries like Banquo and Fleance, others being terrified citizens
like Vinnie or Billy and Susan's mom), but in TGC, they nearly all seemed
to have been recruited from the local "Thugs R Us". Do you think that the
way that your successors handled the Quarrymen (both making them cardboard
villains and the main villains) could have had much to do with why The
Goliath Chronicles failed?
2. A query about Jon Canmore/Castaway. When I first saw "Hunter's Moon",
I was very distressed at the way that the initially most sympathetic Hunter
wound up turning into an insane gargoyle-hater at the end. But then,
after watching it a few more times and studying Jon's actions, I found myself
wondering if his fall from grace hadn't actually been carefully prepared
for. His suggestions to his siblings that maybe Goliath and his clan
weren't evil had a rather half-hearted feel to them and he allowed Jason
to easily quell them. He spared the clan at the ruins of the clock tower,
but THEN proceeded to publicly frame them on the news at Jason and Robyn's
request, without (as far as could be told) protesting about trying to turn
the public against the gargs, now that he knew that they weren't the
monsters that the other Hunters believed them to be. During the fight at
the dam, Jon was just standing around looking miserable, while Elisa was
making an active attempt to get Jason and Goliath to stop their feud. In
fact, Jon's only pro-gargoyle action was a negative one (not killing them
at the clock tower), whereas Elisa and Jason (after he finally saw the light)
took a much more active stance (Jason actually taking a shot for Goliath
in the cathedral) in trying to stop the slaughter. (Not to mention that, in
"The Journey", Vinnie also actively resisted Castaway's efforts to kill
Goliath and Elisa). So.... am I reading too much into this, or was Jon's
rather passive behavior during his "pro-gargoyle" behavior purposely
designed that way, to show that he was weak (to fit in with his
transformation into Castaway)?
3. Another commentary rather than question, mainly. I've also been
working out why Thailog is such an effective villain, and I think that it's more
than just that he's cunning and malevolent (though he's definitely both).
He's also a clone of Goliath, and looks and sounds almost exactly like
him. But his moral character is very different from Goliath's - in contrast to
Goliath's nobility and honor, Thailog is scheming, power-hungry, and
duplicitous. So there's a matter of a very chilling incongruity. Was
this part of what you had in mind when you created the character?
Greg responds...
1. Todd, "failure" is one of those hot-button words that I don't
much like to throw around. Many people regarded the second season of
Gargoyles as a failure because it didn't meet those people's financial
expectations. Many people regard the World Tour as a failure because it
went on too long or whatever. I don't agree with either assessment, but
it's all subjective.
So let's not talk about failure. But now that I'm past the
disclaimer, I do agree that the villains on Goliath Chronicles were not that
well-handled, and I think the handling of the Quarrymen was particularly
problematic. You, as usual, are dead-on in evaluating what I was trying to
do with them. My successors took a different route.
2. Todd, people are going to start to think that either (a) I'm
paying you to write this stuff or (b) you actually are me writing under a
pseudonym. Again, you're dead-on correct. Jason was a strong man. Strong
in his prejudice. Strong in his resolve to change once he came to that
conclusion. Jon was a weak man. I'm gonna botch this quotation about the
banality of evil, but it goes something like, "All it takes for evil to
thrive is for good men to do nothing." That's Jon Canmore. I hope we built
him so that his transformation -- though shocking and tragic -- was
believable. If you're any indication, then I did my job.
3. Very much so. To me, the creation of a great villain depends on
making that villain a true counterposing force to the hero. Each villain
has to make us feel, at least in that individual story, that he or she is
the ultimate nemesis. This is accomplished not simply with opposition, but
by juxtaposing similarities and contrasting them with opposition. Let's
look at Batman for a moment.
a. Batman and the Joker both operate in strange, even garish
costumes, outside the law. But the Batman represents ORDER, the Joker
CHAOS.
b. Or... Batman is a man with two faces. Bruce Wayne and the Bat.
Two sides of the same coin. Personify that, and you have TWO-FACE. Now
you've got two characters who share a bond, and yet are as different as
night and day.
c. Batman was created to inspire fear in criminals. The Scarecrow
exists to inspire fear in decent people.
d. Batman is a man seduced by the darkness in his soul. Catwoman
is that seduction brought to life.
e. Batman strives to find order out of chaos, Ra's al Ghul strives
to establish his own order in place of human freedom. To me, these have
always been Batman's best villains, because they each speak to his soul.
Anytime I thought about working with any of the others, it was always more
of a struggle.
f. Take the Riddler. As fun as he can be, he was never my
favorite. The best I could come up with was to piece out a segment of the
Batman mythos, i.e. Batman is supposed to be the world's greatest detective.
Thus we pit this man of answers in a battle of wits against the world's
greatest questioner. (Not bad, but not great either.)
g. Penguin always stumped me until I saw the movie BATMAN RETURNS.
Now, I didn't care for that movie much. I thought it was a mess. But the
one truly brilliant addition to the Batman mythos was the notion that the
Penguin was a monster. Batman has a monster inside him. And he puts on a
monstrous aspect to give that monster reign. Tim Burton's Penguin was born
to that misshapen life. Suddenly, the villain worked for me.
Now. Return to Gargoyles. And specifically to Goliath. I
attempted to make every villain succeed in that manner. Thailog is of
course, obvious for the reasons you stated, but hopefully that resonance
carries through to all our antagonists. Goliath is the ultimate medieval
bastion of gargoyle morality. David is the ultimate modern stand-in for
human amorality. Demona was once Goliath's great love. Now she's his
greatest enemy because she turned away from the very things that made her
love him. Goliath is a gargoyle from another time. Macbeth is a human from
another time. Goliath is steadfast and serious, Puck is out there and in it
for the laugh. Goliath is thought of as a beast. The Pack are supposed to
be hunters. But their animal names and their actions make it clear who the
real beasts are. Etc. All this was very conscious. I'm glad it worked for
ya.
(GDW / 7-21-98)
Anonymous writes...
I really love Gargoyles. You've hinted that vampires would have
eventually appeared on the show. 1. Would they have been pure evil? Or would some
be evil and some good? If they were evil it would be an interesting contrast
between Gargoyles who are hunted wrongly by humans and vampires who are
hunted by humans because they deserve to be. 2. Would vampirism have been
like a disease or would it have been magical, perhaps having something to
do with Oberon's children?
Greg responds...
1. Few things in the Gargoyles Universe are pure anything.
2. Gonna keep a few secrets.
(GDW / 7-21-98)
Anonymous writes...
Here's a few questions that may have already been asked. I couldn't find
any instance of them in the archives, though, so if you've answered some
of them enough to make the answers come out your ears, sorry. :)
-[(1)]- There seem to be three megacorps that we've seen so far:
Nightstone, Cyberbiotics, and Xanatos' company (I don't recall its exact
name). Are there any others in the "present" world, or new ones you were
planning to introduce?
-[(2)]- Did Owen show his hand in public after "The Price"? {As
Executive Assistant to the richest man in the world, he can't exactly hide it all
the time without people commenting, could he? And I'd think it would be kinda
hard for people not to notice that the guy's arm is *stone* all the way up
to the elbow. I mean, that's not exactly normal. :)}
-[(3)]- If Obsidiana & Zafiro left their amulets behind when they went
to transport their plants (a possibility you suggested in "Ask Greg" a looong
time ago), then who steered the skiff in the daytime? [*cough*] Avalon?
-[(4)]- Is Alexander susceptible to iron like the Children of Oberon
are? He looks pretty calm around metal stuff. We know that Fox isn't weakened
by it, but she was raised human and Alex's only quarter-fae. And the
(non-garg) New Olympians spend all their lives hanging around huge
machines made of what looks like steel. [scratches head] Hmmm.
-[(5)]- Would Brooklyn's status in the clan have changed significantly
post-TD?
-[(6)]- Coldstone's 'flesh' parts are just animated stone, right? {Just
going over the facts, sir. :)} So instead of going through all that fuss
in "Possesion", couldn't Xanatos just have 'de-animated' the guy, picked
through and decided whose parts were whose, and reassembled them into 3
different bodies (replacing missing parts with machinery as necessary),
and re-animated each of them? [thinks briefly about how much work that'd
entail] Oh, never mind. :)
-[(7)]- Just how many stone bits would one need to bring back a
gargoyle? Are there some essential parts you have to have, like the head or
something?
-[(8)]- I'm confused. By "animated stone" did you mean that he's
stone-turned-to-bodily-tissue {that sounds horrible, but I'm about as bad
as turning a phrase as I am asking silly questions}, meaning he has normal skin and
stuff, or that he's living' rock like the statues Oberon enchanted in the Gathering?
-[8a]- (If it turns out the 1st is true) -- Do Coldstone's flesh parts
turn to stone in the daytime?
-[8b]- (If it turns out that the 2nd is true) -- Is he grey because
that's just the color that rocks usually are, or because that was
Othello's natural coloring {as seen in "Legion"}?
-[(9)]- Last one, I promise: If a rock scientist got his or her hands
on a gargoyle's pseudo-stone skin, what would he or she possibly think of it?
Greg responds...
1. Not per se, but that's not to say that I might not have at some point.
2. He tended to keep it in his pocket, but he wasn't exactly religious
about it. I'm sure some people saw it. Most were too polite to comment.
Or too confused.
3. They probably parked it during the day.
4. Iron and Steel are two distinct things. I doubt Alex is quite as
suseptable as, say, his grandmother.
5. It depends what you mean. It also depends on how postTD you mean.
6. Yeah, never mind.
7. C'mon....
8. Yeah, living rock.
8b. Color of the stone.
9. It depends on what kind of tests he or she ran. If any.
(GDW / 7-20-98)
Anonymous writes...
I would like to say I loved the series "Gargoyles". I believe ABC's
cancellation of the show is the same kind of mistake that NBC did when
they cancelled "Star Trek". It was a unigue one of a kind show that offered
people a chance to look at things from a different perspective and that
that we should not fear what we don't understand. Now, if you don't mind, I'd
like to ask you a few questions.
1)Where did you get the inspiration for the character Angela? I've always
found her interesting due to her background and personality.
2)Have any Canmores ever openly defended gargoyles or expressed any
concern for them? If so, what would happen to them?
4)What sort of attempts have you made to get the show back on and what can
the rest of us do to help?
5)If the show went back into production, would any of the actors/actresses
be in it?
6)Since "Future Tense" was an "Escape From New York"/"Terminator" spoof,
would there have been an "ALIENS" spoof? 'Cause Marines kick ass!!!
Greg responds...
1. Angela was a natural, almost automatic addition to the tapestry. She
was so right, she had to be created. There wasn't a single "inspiration",
unless you count Goliath, Demona, the eggs, Katharine, the Magus, and Tom,
i.e. everything else we had woven up to that point.
2. I don't want to say definitively that no Canmores ever expressed some
concern, but historically, I don't think you had a big pro-gargoyle
faction within the Canmores.
3. No number 3.
4. I've answered this before. Check the archives.
5. I assume they'd all be willing to come back in. It was a fun work
experience, decent money and a relatively benign time committment.
6. I don't agree with you assesment of FUTURE TENSE, per se. That is,
you're not going very far back. There are probably loads of things that
influenced all three. I do know that I didn't specifically base Future
Tense on Escape, which I've never seen or on Terminator (who's parallel's
don't seem that obvious to me).
(GDW / 7-20-98)
Anonymous writes...
Ah, might as well try these for the heck of it, if for nothing else:
-[(1)]- OK, -what- is Nought? {"Well, it looks kind of like a donut..."
"...it's that 'dude in the cape'" "....?" :P} and
-[(2)]- You're never actually going to tell us what Anastasia whispered,
are you? :) I don't suppose that it's too late for you to be holding yet
another unofficial contest or anything... ;D [hopeful grin]
Greg responds...
1. Yeah, that dude in the cape.
2. No. I won't. Well, maybe someday....
(GDW / 7-20-98)
Anonymous writes...
Just one quickie: The clothing of the gargoyles, and anything else they're
carrying (swords, etc.) turn to stone at day. So, if one of them happened
to be carrying the Phoenix Gate at daybreak, would it turn to stone as
well, even though it is a magi
cal artifact? This one's been bugging me a while.
Greg responds...
Accessories only turn to stone if the gargoyle thinks of it as part of his
or her "uniform". I doubt that would happen with the gate, but I suppose
it's possible.
(GDW / 7-20-98)
Anonymous writes...
Hey, I've always liked King Arthur Legends. Thats one of the reasons I
like Gargoyles. Last week I watched that NBC miniseries "Merlin" (did you watch
it btw?) and thought about the Arthur legends in Gargoyles and got some
questions:
1. I think I've figured out who Duval is, is he Mordred?
2. How come Merlin got out of going to the gathering, or was he there but
not shown?
3. Is Merlin's mortal mother someone we know of?
4. Contest about king arthur characters alive on show: a)Arthur b)lady of
the lake c) merlin d) mordred e)oberon f)queen mab g)cant think of another
5. Is the lady of the lake a fey and if yes why wasnt she at the
gathering. if no what is she?
6. Do you have a story about how excalibur got moved to New York? Any
details you can give away too =)
7. There was the stone dragon in the episode "Pendragon" but will there be
any real dragons in the show in either the the past or present?
8. What makes Alex, Fox and Merlin any different from the New Olympians?
you said both were hybrid human/fey.
Thanks for answering these, I know we can be annoying. Oh yeah you can
continue your "Once upon a time there were three brothers..." story
anytime.
Greg responds...
Yeah, I saw Merlin. I thought it was spectacular to see, though I
found the cliffnote speed at which the story flew by a bit disappointing.
Remember the days when a mini-series like Roots or Rich Man, Poor Man were
like sixteen hours long?
1. I've all but given Duval's identity away already. So I'm not
going to answer this here.
2. Like Fox, Merlin isn't considered one of the Children of Oberon.
Which is ironic, since he's literally a child of Oberon's.
3. If you mean someone who's already appeared in the series, no.
But she maintains her role from Arthurian myth.
4. Nope.
5. She was at the Gathering. Look again.
6. Yes. But I'm not telling it here. Not a good format for
telling long stories.
7. Everything is true.
8. They aren't citizens of New Olympus. It's cultural.
(GDW / 7-20-98)
Anonymous writes...
Oh, mighty Greg! Would you be so kind as to answer these questions?
1. Will baby Alex age faster than full blooded humans (physically)?
2. Do you remember any more in-jokes, besides "jalapena"?
3. When the clan was gathered around the destroyed Hudson statue in "The
Price", reminiscing about Hudson's life, was that the Wind Ceremony you
were talking about?
4. Do vampires belong to a special race of their own, or are they just
humans?
5. In "Her Brother's Keeper", Lex salvages the Pack's helicopter and
rebuilds it. How could he get it back in one piece, add special weapons,
and give it a cool gargoyle-themed armor in just one day?
6. I was reading an article about the possibility that Nessie survived.
In order to keep their species going for 65 million years, there had to be at
least 400+ animals in that lake to prevent genetic anomalies that result
from inbredding and a limited genetic pool. So are there hundreds of
pleiosaurs in Loch Ness in the Gargoyles universe?
7. Could you continue "Once Upon a Time There Were Three Brothers..." in
this post?
8. Is there some kind of mutation in Lex that causes his eyes to be
larger than normal?
9. Do gargoyles bathe regularly?
10. Star Trek fans are called Trekkies. If you could take your pick,
what would you call Gargoyles fans? That's all for now. Thank you, Exalted
One!
Greg responds...
1. No.
2. Yes.
3. No.
4. It's not a race, but they're no longer human.
5. He had connections at Kenner.
6. Perhaps.
7. No. I'm not sure why. Not in the mood. It's been a bad week.
Maybe later. Thanks for asking though.
8. No.
9. Uh, sure.
10. My abject slaves. No, wait. Just kidding. That's a joke. A
JOKE. Geez.
(GDW / 7-20-98)
Anonymous writes...
Hiya, got another two for you.
1) How much damage can Demona and Macbeth sustain before they're
permanently killed despite the immortality spell, or is there no limit?
Would they still regenerate after being dropped in a hamburger grinder or
hit by a nuke?
2) What is Alex's level of ultimate magical potential under his own
(unaugmented by Talismans or the like) power, as measured against another
character of known magical prowess? Like, is it comparable to the
Archmage, or the über-Archmage ("Avalon"), or what?
Greg responds...
1. I've answered this before. Check the archives.
2. Asking me to quantify things like this isn't too productive.
I'd say Alex's potential is very high, if he chooses to work at it.
(GDW / 7-20-98)
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