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lisa writes...
HI GREG!
you said that when you wrote avalon part one it was to long so some of the scenes were taken out. what were those scenes about?
Greg responds...
First off, I didn't write Avalon, Part One. Lydia Marano did.
I'm sure it was too long. (Most of our scripts were.) But I don't have it with me at this moment, and I don't remember anything in particular that was cut. Probably there were a few little trims here and there. No major scene cuts.
Avalon, Part Two had WAY more cuts.
Marc writes...
1.I was wondering about the Scottish Gargoyle's religion if there was one.
2. And in Scotland the Gargoyles are a very communal species focused on the good of the clan and do not individualize anyone (i.e. by not having names or parents). Yet almost immediately when the gargoyles arrive in NY they accept names, and then continue to break with their communal tradition by acknowledging Angela as Goliath's daughter and so on. Is this a practical adaptation that would occur when the Gargoyles encounter the US where individualism is treasured, or was it part of the philosophy of the show?(or maybe just necessary for the audience to identify them)
Greg responds...
All right, first off as Diane Maza pointed out, Angela is Goliath's daughter, by any definition.
So some of your assumptions are semi-faulty. But yes, some human customs are addictive and the gargoyles adapted. It wasn't a philosophy of the show, so much as it seemed real to us. As for the name thing, well, yes, we wanted the audience to be able to identify them, but we could have given them all biblical names back in 994 Scotland. We chose not to. And I like how we handled it. It doesn't have much to do with U.S. individualism. But I think we did want to contrast modern Manhattan with ancient community and clan.
As for Garg religion. Well check the Gargoyles Customs archive for more information. They didn't have a religion per se, but they had a set of traditions and belief in an pantheistic yet monotheistic guiding force.
Jay writes...
hello,
its me again. i just went to the archives and i did`t see this question ask so i will ask it. wen Demona become a human because of puck and she is closes to MaCbeth he feel the pain of her turning into a human and wen she turns back into a gargoyle. well why is it that wen Demona and Elisa are battling in the part that MaCbeth does`t feel he pain wen she is being hurt by Elisa? and wen Coldstond hits Macbeth why is it that demona does`t feel his pain? does the spell from the sister not work wen Demona is human? if not does that mean that Demona can be killed as a human?
ty for your time
Greg responds...
Part of the true answer is that we sort of lost track of the pain thing in that one scene. We screwed up.
But I'd argue that they did feel the pain. They were just prepared and covering.
sdoh writes...
hello,
i`am a big fan of gargoyles and star trek. so my question is how many star trek actors played on gargoyles? can you tell me the actors names and the roles they played please? ty for you time
Greg responds...
I know this is in the archives... <sigh>
I won't pretend this is a complete list, but off the top of my head...
Classic Star Trek
Nichelle Nichols - Diane Maza
Next Generation
Jonathan Frakes - David Xanatos, Coyote (robot)
Marina Sirtis - Demona/Dominque Destine, Margot Yale
Brent Spiner - Puck
Michael Dorn - Coldstone, Taurus
LeVar Burton - Anansi
Deep Space Nine
Avery Brooks - Nokkar
Colm Meeney - Rory's father
Voyager
Kate Mulgrew - Anastasia/Titania
Plus there are all sorts of actors who had guest rolls on the various Trek series, for example both Morgan Shepard (Odin, King Kenneth, etc.) and Salli Richardson (Elisa/Delilah) have guested on Trek. I don't know and couldn't possibly list them all.
But this is a start, right?
Marc writes...
How did you decide on pairing Angela and Broadway? You guys really fooled me because it seemed before The Journey all was hinting towards a Brooklyn-Angela pairing.
Greg responds...
We were never hinting toward Brooklyn/Angela. Quite the reverse. Gary Sperling and I made this decision together when he was working on Turf. But it just felt right. Broadway seemed the guy who was most attentive to Angela as an individual. The person most in touch with his so-called feminine side. Brooklyn was just after any chick with wings, frankly. And I think Lex pursued her because his brothers were and it seemed like the right thing to do. Only Broadway was interested in who Angela was. In my mind, he's clearly the most mature when it comes to this stuff. Brooklyn's a leader. And I love the guy, but he confuses a crush with deep abiding love. He needs a little more emotional maturity before he's ready for this "Gargoyles mate for life" thing.
lisa writes...
HI Greg!
1,you said that Disney would NEVER sell the rights to gargoyles, why is that?
Greg responds...
That's not the business Disney is in.
Name one property they've EVER sold the rights too.
They're still making tons o' money off of Snow White.
They wouldn't sell the rights to Clarabelle Cow, even though she's not exactly a cash cow for them. Why risk that someone else would make a mint and embarrass them?
AWAKENING, PART THREE
Watched this with the family half an hour ago...
More random observations...
RE: Our supporting cast...
Who knew that Brendan & Margot would wind up being so important? Credit Marina Sirtis, for making Margot so gloriously bitchy.
And then there's Vinnie's first appearance on that motorcycle. Of course, no one knew Vinnie existed back then, which is thoroughly appropriate to his character.
And credit Keith David with breathing real life into Morgan the cop. Morgan didn't even have a name then. He was just a place holder, someone for Elisa to respond to. But Keith made me interested in him.
Little things still bug me. Xanatos' floating ponytail in the scene where he and Elisa first meet.
In the Kitchen, the Freezer door was supposed to have one of those easy to open latches on the inside. The irony being that Broadway could easily extricate himself, if he just knew how to operate the latch (or even what it was). Something a kid could do, assuming the kid was born in the 20th century. But BW has to bust down the door.
In the original script and the recording of that script, it's Brooklyn who says "So many wonders..." and it's Broadway who says "Goliath said not to let anybody see us." But in those early days, lots of people in L.A. and in Tokyo kept confusing their names (and Bronx's) so the animation came back as you see it. And it was easier to re-record the voices then to reanimate. (Or am I getting all this totally backwards? I just saw the show again half an hour ago, and already, I'm confused.)
(CAVEAT: In all these little things, I'll probably be pointing out animation errors here and there. But please understand, I think most of the animation we got, particularly from Walt Disney TV Animation - Japan, was brilliant. I think those guys did a great job and don't get enough credit. But anecdotes generally come out of when things go wrong, not when they go right, so it may seem like I'm talking about mistakes more often than not. Sorry, in advance to Roy Sato or anyone else who might take offense.)
When Elisa is first being checked out by the Trio, there was a scene in the original animation where Brooklyn seems inordinantly interested in her behind. We had to call a retake, cuz the guy was practically drooling. I wonder if that's where I got the idea that Brooklyn would fall for anyone in a skirt (or with a tail).
Also, after Goliath saves Elisa from falling off the building we have a point of view shot from her. It begins at Goliath's feet and pans up to his face, as she takes him in. In the original animation, the pan started at his head and panned down. That seemed less effective, so we had our editors reverse the pan, without calling for a retake.
At the end of Act Two, the door slides open revealing Demona in silhouette, clearly plotting something with Xanatos. That always really bugged me. I didn't want to give away that she was alive in this episode. I didn't want to know who Xanatos was talking to. How did you guys react to this? Did that spill everything? Did any of you not know that Demona was alive? Did any of you, by this point, not know that she and Xanatos were the bad guys?
Elisa says something like "This is where Dracula shows up." when she's walking through the corridors of the castle. If you take that literally (and you might as well), then you gotta figure that someday, Dracula will be roaming that very hallway.
Elisa loses the first in her series of guns, when Goliath crushes it near the end of Act One.
Goliath tells a joke: "And please, don't fall off the building this time." Goliath tells a joke. Can you believe it? It wasn't bad either. We should have let him tell jokes more often.
Elisa's surprise that Goliath can talk is indicative of what I thought a 20th (or 21st) century initial response to the gargs would be. That's why Goliath Chronicles' trial episode bugged me so much. I don't think humans would take for granted sentience. And I think most humans, those less open than Elisa, wouldn't even buy talking as enough evidence that the gargs weren't just beasts. (Cf. Margot Yale.)
Goliath is a pretty begruding hero. That's somewhat unique for cartoons. Elisa asks if there are more gargs, and Goliath responds: "Barely." He cuts her very little slack. But already you can see their relationship developing. I still think Hudson's expression after Goliath sweeps Elisa up into his arms is just priceless.
In that same scene, Hudson gets named for the river. I love that scene, as I loved the scene where Tom, Brook and Lex are talking about names. Of course, the desire not to name most of the gargoyles until we got to NYC '94, was mostly pragmatic. It allowed us to use those fun, cool NY names for most of the characters. But once we came up with the rationale for it, and once I managed to explain it to everyone, I really fell in love with the concept. Hudson's lament, here, that humans don't think something is real until they've put there stamp on it, is, to me at least, so damn true. And Elisa's response is so feeble and circular. "Things need names." Pathetic. But I'm no different. <SIGH> I'm such a human. But I aspire to gargoylosity. Anyway, after Hudson points to the river, and Elisa basically tricks him into taking that name, she used to have a line, as I may have mentioned before, where she said (under her breath) "Good thing we weren't facing Queens" -- implication being that Hudson nearly ended up being called Queen, I guess. It was always funny, but S&P didn't care for it, and I couldn't really defend it. So out it went. We tried another version, where she just says, "Good thing we weren't facing East." But it didn't play. So out it went too.
The thing that struck me most, however, was the almost thorough lack of action in this episode. After all that Viking stuff in Part One, and Vikings and a full act of commandos in Part Two, Part Three is a mood and character piece. Sure Elisa falls off a building, but that was a problem easily solved. Until the commandos' Central Park attack in the last seconds of Act Three, nothing else happens that could genuinely qualify as action. That was mostly a result of what was once a four-parter being turned into a five-parter. The reason we made that change is because Michael Reaves wrote a brillaint four-part script. It was amazing. But it was WAY too long. I was faced with either having to make drastic cuts (as I would later have to do in Avalon and Hunter's Moon) or expand it. Fortunately, Gary Krisel and Bruce Cranston saw the wisdom of expansion. For one thing, it would save us money. But also, it made sense because we could run the five parts across a whole week of the Disney Afternoon like a mini-series special event. It wouldn't require us to re-program one day of that first week. So we were all agreed, the four parter would become a five parter.
But that meant adding act breaks, and redividing everything. The episode that most benefited was Part One. In the orignal version, Part One covered all of what is currently part one, plus the first act of what's currently part two, i.e. ALL the Scotland stuff. The episode ended with Goliath's "suicide". A great ending, but we would have obviously had to cut a TON out of the flashback. This way we were able to expand into part two and preserve almost all of the story.
So Part Three winds up being nearly action-free. And by the way, I love that. I still think the episode works great, and it proved to me that the charcters themselves could really hold the audience's attention. (I'm such a proud papa. Unashamedly so. It must be pretty obnoxious.) I wish we had always had the luxury to be so... well, luxurious. To expand and play character. But generally a half-hour format makes it tough. I'm very sick of writing half hours, actually. But the powers that be in Animation believe that kids can't or won't sit through an hour long show.
As usual, I welcome posts here responding to this episode. Both your original reaction to seeing it for the first time, and your current reaction if you've seen it again recently.
Doug writes...
I'm a big fan of voice acting and was wondering. Are Frank Welker, Jim Cummings, Keith David and Jeff Bennett as cool as they seem like they would be?
Greg responds...
Yes. Keith and Jeff are truly great guys. Friends. I don't know Jim or Frank quite as well, but I like them both.
And talented... woo!
Scott Iskow writes...
First, I should say that I don't mean to offend anyone with this question. Greg, you've touched upon a lot of mythologies in some way or another, so I began to wonder...
Did you have ideas for how Jesus fits into the Gargoyles Universe? If so, what would he be? Extraordinary human, or normal fae? Perhaps something entirely different?
I'll understand if you won't touch this topic with a 50 foot pole.
Greg responds...
Believe it or not, I haven't thought about this much.
Obviously, it would be next to impossible to get anything with Jesus by Broadcast Standards and Practices, so while I worked on the show, there was no point in dedicating mental energies in that direction.
And I still haven't. Probably out of avoidance. Not too brave of me, I confess, but there you go.
Steven S. writes...
Regarding why Gargoyles ended after series 2;
was it because tv ratings had dropped?
or, the new 'regime' at Disney simply wanted to stick with classical Disney material?
or some other reason?
A gargoyle fan- now, and forever.
Greg responds...
Do you mean SEASON 2? Cause it didn't. It ended after the third season, which was sub-titled "The Goliath Chronicles".
Aaron writes...
Just out of curiosity, was MacBeth's Paris home based on an actuall house? Thanks.
Greg responds...
Not that I'm aware of, but it's possible that our layout artists used some reference for it.
MAui writes...
Hi there ;)
Just wondering...where did you guys come up With the Name Bouhdicca? (sp?) thanks alot, have a ncie day ;)
Greg responds...
Boudicca was a Celtic female warrior. I don't actually know that much about her. Brynne Chandler Reaves and/or Lydia Marano chose that name.
Heather N. Allen writes...
I'll mention here that I've reintroduced myself to Gargoyles only this summer via fan webpages and I've managed to get Toon Disney for only a month. Therefore, while not completly updated on every detail of each episode, I do remember quite a bit from the original airdates of them. And if this question has been asked before, forgive me, but I've only frequented Ask Greg for three months. If it's in the archives somewhere, just point the way. SOOO, without further ado...
I remember in a past question where you mentioned recycling characters. (Morgan, Margot and Brendan, Vinnie, etc.) While watching the AVALON episodes, I noticed that many of Angela's rookery sibs were identical to those gargoyles seen in Demona's renagade clan from 2nd century, right down to the clothing. As I understood it, she collected THEM from other clans that were destroyed throughout Scotland. No way for their eggs to end up in Wyvern's rookery, or even on Avalon for that matter.
So, here's the question: were these gargs mearly another batch of recycled characters? And if so, why use them on Avalon? Did you see any kind of conflict coming from this? Or is there another reason altogether that I'm missing entirley?
By the way, I REALLY envy you for having created such a great story, with all these fictional and factual elements mixed in to create the best animated series ever. Wish I'd thought of it :)
Greg responds...
If you're looking for the "Behind the Scenes" answer it's pretty obvious. We couldn't afford to design multiple clans of background gargoyles everytime we did a flashback story or went to Avalon. So we reused the models, figuring most people wouldn't notice.
But there's also a within the Universe explanation that works for me. When a Gargoyle clan gets too large for it's location, it splits and colonizes. The Wyvern Clan had been living in relative peace under Prince Malcolm. In my mind it got up to about 100 or so Gargoyles and Beasts. That was too large a number for Wyvern to sustain, so approximately half of the gargoyle population moved on to found a new colony, start a new clan. But all the eggs were left behind in the established Wyvern rookery. The new colony obviously didn't fair any better than Wyvern ultimately, but Demona collected up a few of its survivors, during the Maol Chalvim/Duncan era.
But some of those survivors left eggs behind at the Wyvern rookery, which explains why there are some look-alikes on Avalon.
As for the clothes.... Give me a break.
Zeliard writes...
Hi mr. Weisman!
1.Are you still in touch with Michael Reaves, Frank Paur and Laura Perrotta?
2.Do you know what they're doing now since Gargoyles was cancelled?
Greg responds...
I haven't seen or talked to Laura in some time. She left Gargoyles between the first and second season of the series to become an Associate Producer on SANTA BUGITO at Clasky-Czupo, I believe. I ran into her in a restaurant once since then, but that's it. I think she told me she had moved to Warners, but I can't remember.
I last talked to Frank, last summer. He was trying to get to the Gathering 99 and was having flight trouble. Instead of calling the Gathering staff, he kept leaving messages for me at my hotel room. I called him back at an airport payphone. He had just finished work on season two (three?) of SPAWN. I'm not sure what he's been doing since. Maybe more SPAWN?
Michael Reaves and I worked together fairly recently. He wrote a couple of the STARSHIP TROOPERS and one of the MAX STEEL scripts that I edited.
Catwoman writes...
Dear Greg,
Who was it that named Goliath, and when was he given a name?
Greg responds...
Are you asking about within the world of the show or in our Disney offices?
If the former, I think the answer to that is Prince Malcolm around 971 A.D.
If the latter, I think I named Goliath in 1992 or '93. But I'm not sure.
Alaxk writes...
During pre-Avalon Gargoyles, you developed wonderful conflict in New York between various groups, why did you not continue to use them after Avalon?
Greg responds...
Sigh. I did. And I would have continued to. We did more with Demona, Macbeth, Thailog, Xanatos, the Mutates, Dracon, the ColdTrio etc. The World Tour didn't prevent any of that. We never got around to another Illuminati story, but I would have third season, if I had stayed on. We would have had more of everything.
Exactly what conflicts did you miss?
Alaxk writes...
Had to do over again, what would you change about the series? (have I biased you yet :>)
Greg responds...
Alaxk --
No you haven't biased me yet -- except maybe against this approach to asking questions.
No. There are details I'd like to fix and change. There are additional stories I'd like to do. There's more, more, more, I'd like to do.
But no, I wouldn't make the changes that this series of not-too-subtle questions is suggesting.
I don't agree with your point of view.
(Man, I hope this is the last of these. What a downer.)
Alaxk writes...
Why do you feel that it was necessary to include every mythology in the world in the series?
Greg responds...
It wasn't necessary. It was simply what I wanted to do. And I think, for the majority of our audience, it was a great and wonderful thing.
Clearly, it didn't work for you. Which is also fine. You know what you do and don't like. So do I.
Alaxk writes...
Alright Greg, a question. Do you feel the quality of the series went down after Avalon?
Greg responds...
No. Although I'm assuming you do or why would it even occur to you to ask the question.
But I look at M.I.A., Future Tense, Hunter's Moon, plus a few great moments in literally every other episode and I have no quality complaints.
Or rather no more complaints than I had regarding the episodes that preceded Avalon.
Still everyone's entitled to his or her opinion.
Zeliard writes...
1.Will tell us the content of the Gargoyle episode that never aired?
2.Why did this episode never aired?
Greg responds...
What episode is that? They aired every episode we made. Though Toon Disney currently refuses to re-air "Deadly Force".
Idea-wise, I had a bunch of ideas that didn't air. Most of them because I only had an order for 66 shows (total) and I had more than 66 story ideas.
Kraken writes...
Did you had any difficulties to promoted the Gargoyles project to your superiors at Disney?
Greg responds...
I'm not sure I understand the question...
Or rather, I'm sure I don't understand it....
Kraken writes...
Almost every Gargoyles fans doesn't carry Disney in their heart, but I'd like to know, were there anyone among your superiors in Disney that really loved Gargoyles and regretted that the show was cancelled?
Greg responds...
Sure. I think Gary Krisel and Bruce Cranston and Jay Fukuto were all very fond of the show. But Gary and Bruce left for DreamWorks before the end of the second season. And Jay left for MGM (and now Netter) shortly after I departed.
Darkling writes...
A couple of questions about the multi-talented Jeff Bennett...
1) How did Jeff end up being cast as so many different characters? Was it because the Magus and Owen (and others) were a bit too 'minor' (I use the term loosely) to warrant getting an actor in to play just those characters?
2) Which character (if any) does Jeff most sound like when he's not acting?
Greg responds...
1. The short answer is yes. But the truth is that both Jamie Thomason (our voice director) and I knew just how talented Jeff was/is. We auditioned and cast him as Brooklyn, knowing we'd have a very versatile actor for a number of other rolls. Magus and Owen were the first.
2. Probably Brooklyn, though Jeff's voice isn't quite so raspy. Also he's from Texas, so occasionally you can detect a slight accent.
Snow writes...
In watching Bushido, I noticed among other things that the village/town of Ishimura seemed to be located in a fairly flat area of Japan, not located among many hills or mountains. Living in the country for a while, it seemed to me that a tiny away place like that would be somewhere up in the mountains...
Therefore I was wondering how much researching of other countries was done for these Avalon-traveling episodes?
Greg responds...
Quite a bit, but I don't know that I agree with your assessment of Ishimura's locale. Gary Sperling wrote and researched that show. Not everything makes it onto the screen, but we try...
Michael Norton writes...
Were any of the physical characteristics, mannerisms, or other traits of the Gargoyle characters modeled after or inspired by the actors who supplied the voice talents? For instance, is it just a coincidence that both Ed Asner and Hudson are older, portly gentlemen?
Greg responds...
It's not a coincidence. Hudson was modeled on Lou Grant.
Jalapeña was something Keith David liked to say.
The human versions of the characters seen in "The Mirror" were definitely influenced by the actors.
And Elisa was (somewhat) modelled after Salli.
But keep in mind we had the basic characters first. Then we cast the parts. I believe the actors added a huge dimension to each character, but it's not like we modeled Goliath to look like Keith.
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