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Okay, here's a question about Halcyen Renard. In the show you say he was close to 70. Well, today that's not too old, and yet he looked much older and rather crippled and decrepit. Is this due to a disease that he may have, like Multiple Sclerosis? My grandmother died of that recently and the symptoms seemed to be the same. I'm just curious. Thanks a bunch!
As I've said before, I think that Renard had MS, but I never got the chance to do the research. Before I definitively state what he had, I'd want to make sure that the symptoms we depicted and described fit that disease.
And yes, his condition contributed to his appearance.
Well, I'm glad I chose to trust them Angel writers. I thought last night's episode of Angel, with the new Illyria/Fred was another extremely powerful and well done hour of television.
It was a nice variation on a theme in that Illyria ISN'T going to be the big villain for the season. She's now just another lost soul. An ancient demon who has to start over.
I do have a couple quibbles:
I wasn't fond of the artificial way they wrote Lorne out of the episode until the montage at the end. It just seemed like they felt they were too crowded to give his character any screen time.
It bothered me that no one could acknowledge that what was happening to Gun was an exact parallel to what happened to Wes when he stole Connor, because no one remembers Connor. That whole nobody-remembers-Connor thing still strikes me as only a step above the Bobby-Ewing-reappearing-in-the-shower/it-was-all-a-dream ploy on Dallas. But the Connor thing is more a fault of LAST season (which had its share of problems) as opposed to this season.
So I'm very optimistic that Angel will continue to be brilliant throughout its final year.
What is Stargate the hunted? Were you involved in the show's creation?
"Stargate: The Hunted" was an animated spin-off series that I developed for MGM Animation back in the late 90s. We were about to head into pre-production -- and I even took a trip up to Vancouver to meet with the live-action show's Executive Producers (including Richard Dean Anderson) -- when MGM's animation division imploded.
The show never got made. I attempted for years to get people interested in the property. It seemed like a natural, what with how well the live-action version was doing. But no one would bite.
Then one day I found out that DIC had made a deal to produce their own Stargate animated series. Their show was practically on the air before I even heard about it. I've never seen it. (Why torture myself?) They're development, I'm sure, has nothing to do with mine -- other than, I'd imagine, elements that are naturally common to both versions because of the source material.
My own ramble on "The Price".
You mentioned in the course of your ramble a number of misconceptions that first-time viewers of this one could have had; I'll confess that, the first time that I saw "The Price", I fell victim to all of them!
1. I thought at first that Hudson might actually die in this episode, between the name of it and Goliath's line in the "Previously on Gargoyles" section about how Hudson had years ahead of him to live. I was relieved to see that Hudson doesn't actually pay the price (although Owen does, in a different sense, but I'll get to that later).
2. I thought at first that Macbeth really had turned Hudson to stone (and, when you stop to think it over, it probably wasn't too difficult to dupe the audience into believing it, thanks to the fact that we already knew that it was possible to trap a gargoyle in his stone sleep, with the Magus in "Awakening").
3. Since I knew that only Demona could kill Macbeth, I wasn't surprised at all by the fact that Macbeth "returned from the grave", to battle the clan again, and thought that he'd survived because it was Goliath who "slew" him rather than Demona.
4. And when I first saw Hudson in the cage, I thought that it was a metaphor for the spell imprisoning him. Even after Xanatos and Owen showed up, I initially thought that they were just "metaphors", like Xanatos being the shape of the Xanatos Program in "Legion". But I soon understood otherwise.
I did get suspicious about "Macbeth" in this episode, though, not so much from the "only a few lines", as from the fact that he appeared to be acting out-of-character here. I found it hard to believe that Macbeth really would go gargoyle-hunting just for the sake of a few trophies; that motivation was more appropriate to, say, the Pack. I could buy the notion of Macbeth going after the gargoyles again, but for a cause much bigger than just something to have stuffed and mounted. (Especially since, after "City of Stone", I'd become quite fond of him). So the "robot revelation" worked for me.
I also get a kick out of the scene where Xanatos acquired a bit of Hudson's stone skin. Just one of those moments that makes it so hard not to have a sneaking admiration for the man. "There, that wasn't so hard now, was it?"
This is the episode where we learn about Xanatos's desire for immortality, but it occurs to me that we also get a hint of it in "City of Stone", where Demona dupes Xanatos into thinking that the effect of her spell is to steal one minute of life from everybody who watches it, which she can use to augment their life-spans.
I very much enjoyed the interplay between Hudson, Xanatos, and Owen (I honestly hadn't thought that "The Price" helped lead to Puck's use of Xanatos and Hudson slaying each other in "Future Tense" prior to your ramble, I must admit), which certainly had some fine moments there. Like many viewers, I particularly found interesting the fact that Hudson wasn't interested in destroying the Cauldron of Life, but just in regaining his freedom. And also how Xanatos lets him escape from the castle on the grounds of "he's earned it".
Of course, the biggie here is Owen getting his hand turned to stone. That was one bit that definitely got my attention, because of the permanent change to a major character. (Interestingly enough, I didn't pay that much attention to the characters' response to the stone hand, maybe because I was too busy dealing with the mere physical change to pay attention to the fact that Owen was just staring at it. In fact, it wasn't until "The Gathering Part One" that I started to really suspect the truth about Owen, but that's another story.) Still, you've got to admit that it beats being turned into an anthropomorphic aardvark. :)
That's quite true. So Owen gets off easy.
THE PRICE
This is one of my all-time favorite episodes. The revelation that Macbeth was an android was done with astounding grace. I didn't realize he was a robot until Goliath's arm literally went through him. And then when I did realize, I didn't feel cheated, because it made sense out of everything (why he would be working for Xanatos, why he kept repeating those same four lines, why he had become such a narrow-minded character all of a sudden).
In general, I watched GARGOYLES with a jaded perspective. I kept waiting for it to become the run-of-the-mill, hackneyed cartoon series. I did this because I was so terrified of the show becoming that. So, when it appeared Macbeth was being used as a stock antagonist, I rolled my eyes. When it looked like we were supposed to be fooled into thinking Macbeth really died and then being surprised when he returned, I rolled my eyes. When it all made sense, it kind of restrengthened my resolve in the show.
I didn't expect Hudsun to leave without doing anything to the Cauldron. That was well-done. I was also left with my mouth hanging open when Owen stonified his arm.
My only complaints about this episode are that I think your original hunches were better on. We should've seen Banquo and Fleance at Macbeth's, and Broadway shouldn't have gotten frozen in stone in mid-air. The rescue was too hard to believe. I noticed and appreciated Elisa not hitting the cable on the first shot, but it was still too convenient, and really, it was a distraction. Hudson was the one in jeopardy this episode, not Broadway.
But none of that matters. Macbeth was a robot. I don't think another scene had me in more shock, short of when Elisa seemed to fall to her death in HUNTER'S MOON.
Well, I can understand the trepidation, though I'm sure you'd have been able to enjoy it more if you could have relaxed and gone with the flow as opposed to constantly being on the alert and waiting for us to screw up.
The Broadway thing is a shrug to me now. We still needed a good act break, and it was a jeaopardy that we hadn't done. It's not our most realistic solution, but I tried taking it out and the episode was missing a jolt of something. So I put it back in and just tried to make the situation as realistic as I could within the context.
I'm glad we shocked you though. Nice when that works.
Last night, I finally got around to watching last week's Death of Fred episode on Angel.
Very powerful, very powerful stuff.
And yet....
You see, I'm conflicted, because Angel's writers have certainly earned my trust this year with powerful episodes, including:
--The Death of Cordelia (one of the best hours of tv and endings that I've ever seen)
--The lunatic Slayer (another great, great ending)
--Angel's turned into a puppet
But I'm a little tired of the "One of our regulars goes bad" storylines. Hell, Smallville, which I don't watch because it sucks, seems (judging by their commercials) to do this every week.
And Buffy/Angel has had it's fair share of the same thing. Just last season they did evil Cordelia and the return of Angelus. (Plus there's Angelus' original appearance in Buffy Season 2, Dark Willow and various episodic evil versions of everyone from Xander to Anya.)
So I'm just not looking forward to seeing another evil version of one of their characters. Been there. Done that. If this is Angel's last season -- as it reportedly is, then I'd have liked to push a different way. Lyndsay and the Senior Partners, for example.
But on the other hand, how can I not trust Joss and the Angel writing staff. This season has been jam-packed with amazing episodes, and last night was no exception.
So I'll just cross my fingers, and in any case, try not to weep as the last of Joss' amazing series goes off the air.
in A shakespeare's book;
Who murders a king and marries the widow
What is the alternative title of 'Twelfth Night'?
In which play will you find the stage direction 'Exit pursued by bear'?
Who demands a pound of flesh as a guarantee on a loan?
Which play begins with;
'If music be the food of love,play on?'
'Now fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour/Draws on apace?'
Who is the 'Serpant of old Nile'?
Who attempts to kill himself after the high Roman fashion?
which play has a female character disguises herself as a boy?
Who dies in a vat of malmsy
If the second line of the sonnet is; Thou art more lovely and more temperate what is the next line
Now it's getting more annoying and less amusing.
What's the point of this?
which play ends with:
a)We that are young/Shall never see son much nor live so long?
b)So thanks to all at once and to each one,/whom we invite to see us crowned at Scone?
c)Give me your hands, if we be friends,/And Robin shall restore amends?
d)But that's all one, our play is done/and we'll strive to please you everyday?
a. Lear
b. Macbeth
c. Dream
d. 12th Night
I'm not sure why you're quizzing me. It's both annoying and (admittedly) a bit fun. I didn't look any of them up, but I'm extremely confident of a-c and fairly darn confident of d.
Hey Greg, I was just reading some of the posts about the actors/Actress in Gargoyles and it crossed my mind that no one (from what I read) asked if you knew any of them (the actors) so I thought I would ask.
Do you see them a lot if ever?
Are you good friends with any of them?
If so who do you know the most? see the most and live closest too?
hehe, I know you'll probaly say something like, "there all really great and I can't comment on just one of them." Lol but thats ok I brought that on myself.
Dont add anything if you dont want too (I see why you wouldnt), Im just a curious 16y old who LOVES!!! your show.
PS: Thanx a lot Greg for your time, you truly are a genius, your show is both inspireing and creative, its also Intense yet dramatic, (I could go on) but I really dont want to take to much more of your time. you probably have much more important stuff to do. Well, thanx again for shareing your ideas with the world. you did a really great job.
There are only three of the actors that I really still see at all, outside of the occasional recording for another show.
1. Thom Adcox. One of my best friends. Still don't get to see him as often as I'd like. Interestingly, it wasn't the show that really cemented our friendship, but the Gathering. We really got to know each other in Dallas in '99.
2. Keith David. Don't see him as often, but through Keith, I met Josh Silver, his manager, and Josh and I are now really good friends. Same with our wives and kids. I see Keith once in a while through Josh. But Keith is practically the busiest man in show biz.
3. Jonathan Frakes. For awhile, Jonathan and I were in business together, trying to sell a project. It didn't work out, and he's been pretty busy, so I haven't seen him recently. But he's a good guy too.
There are a few others that I've seen occasionally. Brigitte Bako. Elisa Gabrielli took me to lunch about a year ago. But basically, Thom's the only one I hang with.
Thanks for the kind words.
while watching "The Price" tonight, something struck me for the first time: when Xanatos builds the robot to distract the Clan while he does his thing with Hudson, why does he model the robot after MacBeth? he could've modeled any number of 'villains' or even a new character, so why MacBeth?
I think he felt that Macbeth would be the perfect character for misdirection. Had he chosen Demona, there would have been a greater risk of Goliath et al figuring out that it was a robot, because they know Demona so well. And obviously, he didn't want to chose any villains (Pack members, Thailog) that Goliath would associate with him.
Plus he needed someone that Goliath would believe knew some sorcery -- in order for his con to work.
Obviously, there were other options. But his pick made sense.
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