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Hello Greg,
very often I have seen creatures on TV and pictures that should represent the evil. Most times those creatures have claws instead of fingers, large wings and a tail - very much like gargoyles. With this picture of the evil in one's head it might seem quite strange to see those creatures being nice and friendly. Was this kind of contradiction planned or was it more accidentally?
Very planned.
Why is it always a full moon?
Just because it looks cool?
Largely, yes. It's artistic license. Unless we had a specific reason why the moon shouldn't be full, as in "Hunter's Moon, Parts One and Two", then we tended to let it be full because it looked cooler.
Also keep in mind, I didn't have the detailed timeline then that I have now. So it's not like we were tracking the phases of the moon.
I've heard that disney cancled Gargoyles because it was getting to in depth and lossing its whole "kiddy show" thing. Do you think that's true and if it is then what do you think about that?
I don't think that's true.
They cancelled the show for a number of reasons which I have outlined in great detail here:
http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/faq/realworld.htm
You could have found this by checking the ASK GREG FAQ, btw.
why was it that all of the 6 original gargoyles in manhattan were male?
Well, you're not counting Demona, of course.
Originally, we had two females. Dakota and Coco. Dakota evolved into Demona. Coco evolved into Broadway. At which point, to be honest about our cowardice, we didn't feel comfortable making our only positive female character overweight. In addition, there's a conventional wisdom -- which I don't subscribe to, but which influences my choices because so many in the industry DO subscribe to it -- that states that boys don't want female heroines in their boys action shows. Our primary target (not our only target) was boys 6-11 years old. No one wanted a female hero.
Of course, I love writing female heroes. They're easily my favorite. And I think properties like Buffy or Tomb Raider prove that I ain't wrong about the appeal to both gals and guys.
But, I don't always have the courage of my convictions. Introducing Angela was, in part, a way to make up for a clear void in the original show.
I just wanted to ask, what's your feeling on clip shows? I think they can be fun, in a kind of remember great moments of a series, or recap for new audience members way, but they can also be percieved as laziness on the part of the writers and/or actors. (Or am I completely wrong, and it's really, really hard to find a decent plot contrivance to string a clip show out)
Anyway, what's your feeling on them, and would we ever have seen a gargoyle clip show?
I've never been a huge fan of clip shows -- which are absolutely NOT about writer (or any other staff member's) laziness. Rather they are a reflection of budgetary (and occasionally deadline) concerns. Clip shows are MUCH less expensive, for obvious reasons. And they can be put together, even with a framing sequence, much more rapidly than a typical episode.
I recall admiring some early year SIMPSONS clip shows, for being cleverer than most. And I actually think FRIENDS has done a half-decent job at taking a clip show and making it matter to the audience by tying the flashbacks to a character's important decision. But usually, I don't much care for clip shows. For example the STARSHIP clip shows all make me cringe, though I know that the people involved were working their hardest to make something worthwhile out of them. And the fact that some of my material was used in the clips is flattering, but doesn't actually make it work any better. Of course, I'm biased. Those clip shows on ROUGHNECKS were done to save money -- and they took the place of my last three episodes which would have concluded the series.
Like I said, just not a fan.
Did you ever submit that CGI Proposal or whatever it was that matt and Phil won from the 2198 contest? I would imagine you might have since they told us it was dated 9/21/00.
No, actually I didn't. I was planning to, but it was made VERY clear to me that Disney wasn't interested in any Garg spin-off at this time. So I'm saving it until the wind changes. To mix a metaphor, there's no sense poisoning the water on a perfectly good idea with a group of execs that are determined not to like it. I'd rather pitch it fresh when personnel or strategies have changed.
when and are you going to try to start a new series.
I have been trying non-stop since 1995. I've even gotten (or helped to get) a few things on the air, including Max Steel and Roughnecks. But it's hard.
Where there any Gargoyle episodes that were made but never aired? Because if there are, I hope that some television channel can show them.
No. There were a couple scenes here and there that were written and recorded, but never animated. But there were no episodes of the series that were made and not aired.
There was one entire episode of Team Atlantis that featured Demona that was written and recorded but not animated or aired. We did a radio play version of it at the last Gathering.
I know you generally dont DESIGN characters, as to give the artists more freedom, but do you (or would you) ever say "i really want this character to have this specific trait" or "i want them to look kind of like this" or would you never even go there. (please dont take the words 'ever' and 'never' to be all inclusive, i just mean generally. :)
I often do exactly what you describe. For some characters, I have a real clear picture in my head. For others, almost nothing. Depending on how strongly I feel, I'd give guidelines to an artist... and I certainly give feedback. But I try very hard to keep my mind open, to allow the artist to surprise me with something I hadn't thought of but just feels right.
More old memos from the original development file...
At one point a Disney Executive came to me and asked me to rename Hudson as a personal favor. She had just had a son, whom she had named Hudson, and was concerned for reasons I can no longer clearly remember.
I wanted to be nice, but this was very problematic for us. Hudson's being named for the river was the way into the New York names for the whole clan. I couldn't see an easy way to make the change.
But in the spirit of being a team-player, we tried to give it a shot.
The following is a hand-written note in my files of possible names. The ones marked with an "x" were actually crossed out by me.
[Castle Logo] Walt Disney Television
Gregory David Weisman
FIRE - x
LONG - x
CONEY - x
SHERIDAN - x
COLUMBIA - x
HARLEM
ROCKEFELLER
MADISON - x
LAGUARDIA - x
SHEA - x
YANKEE - x
TRIBECA - x
SOHO
JERSEY
BATTERY - x
WASHINGTON - x
LINCOLN - x
VERRAZANO NARROWS - x
ROOSEVELT
EMPIRE - x
CHELSEA - x
GRAMMERCY - x
WALL ST. - x
BROAD ST. - x
BOWERY
NOHO - x
HOUSTON - x
BLEEKER - x
After jotting those down, I composed a memo for my boss to see if he wanted to make the change. He didn't have (or at any rate didn't use) e-mail back then. So traditionally, I would send the memo to myself. Print it out and then leave a hard copy with his assistant.
[4] From: Greg Weisman 9/13/93 12:44PM (616 bytes : 28 ln)
To: Greg Weisman, Paul Lacy
Subject: Hudson Names
------------------------------- Message Contents -----------------
Gary, here are some possible alternatives to the name Hudson:
Rockefeller
Roosevelt
Bowery
Harlem
SECOND CHOICES:
Madison
Soho
Jersey
LaGuardia
Shea
Yankee
Tribeca
Battery
Washington
Lincoln
Sheridan
Greenwich
Coney
Grammercy
He returned the same memo to me stamped from his office with the following little note:
RECEIVED BY
SEP 13 1993
GARY KRISEL'S OFFICE
Greg
WHY
1) Would "Hudson" pick his own name?
Keep this for the teens
GK
Having received that note, I then had to go into his office and remind him about the whole naming schema. The fact that we had names for the 'teens' and that the reason we were considering changing Hudson's name was because of the request of this one executive. Gary then considered all this and decided to stay the course. I apologized to the executive but told her we wouldn't be making a change. I felt bad -- a bit. But I also felt sure that we had chosen the correct names.
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