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RETORTS 2004-12 (December)

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Todd Jensen writes...

When you recently answered one of my questions about "Pendragon", you said in the course of it:

<So elements, like the Illuminati, the Gargoyles and Macbeth would have definitely entered into stories of the Questing Beast and the Holy Grail, and vice versa, etc.>

I was interested in the "Questing Beast" part, because I hadn't seriously thought that the Questing Beast was going to show up in "Pendragon" - for one thing, it hadn't made the "Arthurian survivors" list - but now it appears that the Beast would still be around. Did I read what you said correctly? That the Questing Beast would feature in "Pendragon"? I'm glad to learn that, since I'd always had a certain fondness for the Questing Beast dating back from when I first read about it in T. H. White's "The Sword in the Stone".

Greg responds...

As I've said, given enough time and episodes, we'd eventually cover everything in one way or another -- so how could I leave out the Questing Beast?

Response recorded on December 10, 2004

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Spacebabie writes...

I guess Ask Greg is open again for our Gathering Journals. If that is the case then here is the first part of mine.

Thursday

Woke up at seven, ate showered and dressed in my naughty school girl outfit. I went online briefly to print out two more copies of my itinerary, one to keep, and another to leave with my family. Made sure the animals were secure with enough provisions.

My mother returned home from a REAL EARLY morning shift. She helped me with my luggage. (I packed the night before) and off we went to the airport. She dropped me off and helped me unload my bags before she gave me money to get my brother something nice.

Nothing really interesting happened at the airport nor during the flight. (I'm getting used to using E-tickets) Landed and followed the signs to luggage pick up. I was a bit surprised that La Gaurdia didn't have a tram, but it made it easier to find the luggage area.
Standing near the conveyer belts was my Revy aka William "Revel" Anson. Being the sweetie that he is he offered to carry my heavy carry on. We went to wait for the bus to grand Central Station where it dawned on me I was in New York, not just NY but in Queens where my father was born and raised.
At Grand Central I did the average tourist thing and took a picture the large clock. We switched to another bus that took us to the corner next to the hotel. We checked in, found our room and dropped off our luggage.
Our room was tiny. It had a long hallway with a small room. It had a bathroom with a phone booth sized shower. So small that if you bent down to pick up your shampoo you would bump your head. There was a tiny closet, a big bed, a dresser with a TV, two lamps, a night stand and small fridge where I stowed my snack pack that I took on the plane with me.
After I changed shirts decided to search around for other attendees. After stepping into the lobby I noticed three guys in trench coats and knew that they had to be with us. Turns out they where Hudson, Goliath 116 and Zaius. They did not know where everything was.
After scoping out Chris Roger's LARGE room Revel and I went to get sandwiches. We ate them along with a couple of sodas while watching TV. (Can't get away from Disney World Commercials).
After we ate we went to check out the lobby to find out if others had checked in to the hotel. I got little cuddly with Revel when we entered the elevators. There was man standing there wearing a tie dyed T-shirt.
"Not in front of the Norms," Revel said, but the norm turned out to be The Man himself Greg Weisman. He knew where the Con suite was. We rode with him down one floor and found the gang…aka the con staff. They were busting their butts over the last minute details but Lynati took a brief brake to show Greg W her beautiful bronze craft of the Phoenix Gate.
We decided on dinner of sushi. I just had a sandwich but that did nothing to quell my burning hunger, and who could resist sushi?
We were joined with Thom before we made our walk to the restaurant. The place is called Monster Sushi and they ha tables for us…we just had to separate. I sat in front of my Revy and stared into his beautiful blue eyes before we ordered. While waiting for the food we talked about our plane trips. Our food came and I received my Tigers eyes (Cooked salmon wrapped in seaweed and squid, served with radish noodles and sprouts) a rare treat for me and I eat a lot of sushi.
After dinner we returned to the suite and munched on cookies while watching Rocky Horror until we were about to drop. We crawled back to our room and crashed.

Greg responds...

Ah, yes, fond memories of sushi dinners in NYC...

So, the Gathering 2003 has officially begun here at ASK GREG. And before we hit 2005 in real time. That's progress of a sort.

Response recorded on December 10, 2004

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Zarok writes...

SANCTUARY

Ding Dong the queue is dead, well wounded anyway. I Know this is late but the asking function was closed down before I could post it and I've been awful busy lately. A well here it is.
I was interested to learn you had planned to use a Quasimodo character originally since Quasi is kind of a Gargoyle himself. I wonder if Quasi existed in the Gargoyle Universe, hey if you can have J.V.
I also was kind of disappointed you didn't give Demona's alter ego an angel themed name like Angelique like you planned in your memo. Would've made a great parallel with Angela and created another of those cool name parallels like Peter Maza and Petros Xanatos or Alexander Xanatos and Alexander
Speaking of thailog I have something to tell you that I think you'll like. When these episodes were first being aired on Disney Channel UK they seriously aired them out of order, skipping over most of the episodes between "City of Stone" and "Avolon" as well as a few pre-CoS episodes. They actually aired half the world tour before "Avolon" and even that before "Eye of The Beholder"! Luckily they sorted it out for the reruns but the point is that when I first saw "Sanctuary" I had not yet seen "Double Jeopardy" and it didn't hurt my enjoyment of this episode one bit. Sure there was some initial confusion over this Goliath look-alike (I thought at first that Thailog's "no way to treat a lady" line was Goliath's) but once the word clone popped up I immediately went "now I get it". More reason to believe that new viewers can get into "Gargoyles". In fact I think the World Tour was good at bring new viewers in, the episodes were much more stand alone

Greg responds...

That is good news. Thanks for telling me that.

We made a conscious decision not to use Angelique. Dominique just seemed more like the kind of name Demona would choose for herself.

Response recorded on December 09, 2004

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Zarok writes...

Gargoyles 2198

Greg I have a question regarding "Gargoyles 2198", actually it's more of a comment, to be brutally honest it's a criticism.
Every time I read through the G2198 outline I am fascinated by the little glimpse I get of the new characters, Delilah's insecurities, Zafiro's spirituality and Guardian's embracing the Gargoyle way of life.
They all show great potential as characters, with one dubious exception
Samson has a 150 word long profile all to him self but do we get any of the same Character insight? No, instead we are merely told that he looks like Goliath and then are treated to a lot of speculation as to who his parents were. Even Brooklyn's dog gets more characterisation than Samson! What is even more distressing the fact that this is supposed to be the show's lead.
I'm sorry if this sounds like a rant because it really isn't. I'm sure you have lots of interesting character stuff in mind for Samson but none of that came across in the outline. I really think a great character should defined by their choices, personality and beliefs rather than their lineage, even if their lineage is as illustrious as Samson's. Don't you agree?

Greg responds...

Totally. And it's very possible I got distracted by less important stuff in that document. Rest assured, Samson would be a strong lead character -- as strong and interesting and fascinating, etc. as I know how to make a character -- if I ever get the chance to do that series.

Response recorded on December 09, 2004

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Zarok writes...

Bringing Gargoyles Back

You know Greg, recently I've become far more optimistic about the prospect of bringing "Gargoyles" or one of the spin-offs back to the small screen. Don't know why, maybe it's because of the DVD release or maybe I'm just in an optimistic mood but I am willing to bet that we will have a new "Gargoyles" series on the air by the end of the decade. So I thought I'd follow this train of thought with some questions…

1) From your point of view does the promotion of David Stainton to the head of Disney's Animation Department increase or decrease our chances of getting "Gargoyles" or one of the spin-offs back on the air?
2) On 07-18-00 you said "I'm still in there trying to come up with ways to bring the show back in some, well, way, shape or form. In fact, I've got a new nefarious plan in the works now with Doug Murphy, a former GARGOYLES (and BAD GUYS) storyboard artist. Too soon to talk about now, but give me time". Did you have any success with this?
3) If you do bring the show back what do you think the chances are of getting back most of the old writing staff? (with the obvious exception of the late Gary Sperling)

Greg responds...

1. David's no longer running WDTVA, but in hindsight he had no effect.

2. No. The various artists and tech people we had involved, including Gorebash, just couldn't put enough unpaid time in (though they put a LOT of unpaid time in), to get the project off the ground. I've tried other things since with other groups of people, with no more success, I'm afraid. It's a lot of work to do on spec and juggle with paying assignments.

3. I don't know. I'd hope that Michael, Brynne, Lydia and Cary would be able to contribute. But in any case, I'm confident that we'd be able to assemble a stellar writing staff. I currently have a stellar staff on W.I.T.C.H. (that includes Cary).

Response recorded on December 08, 2004

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Gerald Smith writes...

what else have you written? before and after gargoyles.

Greg responds...

My complete resume as of October, 2004:

GREGORY DAVID WEISMAN

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY:

4/83 - present: Emmy Nominated Freelance Writer / Producer / Story Editor / Voice Director / Development Guy. See credits below.

1/02 - present: Voice Instructor, SPECIAL DATA PROCESSING CORPORATION, Clearwater, Florida. Developed and gave seminars to telemarketers on how to increase sales by using their voice and acting skills as tools.

1/98 - present: Writing Instructor, UCLA EXTENSION PROGRAM. Introduction to Animation Writing, From Script to Cell: The Complete Writer's Guide to Television Animation. Designed and taught course on animation writing. Evaluated exercises and spec teleplays for both format and ability.

6/96 - 9/98: Writer / Developer / Producer, DREAMWORKS SKG TELEVISION ANIMATION. Developing series and video projects including Invasion: America, Steven Spielberg's Cliffhangers, Sword of the Shogun, The Avenger, Blackhawk, Madison & MON-Ro, Rain of the Ghosts, Tai-Fu The Series, Treasure Hunters, Inc., Small Soldiers: The Animated Series.

10/94 - 5/96: Creator / Supervising Producer / Supervising Story Editor, Gargoyles animated television series, WALT DISNEY TELEVISION ANIMATION. Created and developed series and characters. Writer/Producer on 66 half-hour episodes. Came up with overall story arc, and all 66 springboards. Managed four story editors; oversaw all premises, outlines, scripts and voice recordings. Voice directed an episode. Gave notes on storyboards, design work and timing direction. Supervised editing, sound mixes and video on-lines. Nominated for "Golden Reel," "EMA" and "Annie" Awards. Created and developed sequel series, Bad Guys, Pendragon, The New Olympians, TimeDancer, Dark Ages, Gargoyles 2198.

2/93 - 10/94: Director of Series Development, DISNEY TV ANIMATION. Developed new series for afternoon syndication and network Saturday morning. Including Marsupilami (CBS), Bonkers (syn), Aladdin (CBS & syn), Schnookums & Meat (syn), Timon & Pumbaa (CBS & syn), Quack Pack (syn), Mighty Ducks (syn), Gargoyles (syn) and Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles (ABC). Developed animated feature length idea, The Tempest.

2/90 - 2/93: Creative Executive, Current Programming and Series Development, DISNEY TV ANIMATION. Current Programming (including Talespin syndicated series, among others): managed staff of over fifty writers, story editors, development artists and script coordinators. Negotiated contracts. Gave notes on scripts, outlines, premises & storyboards. Supervised voice-recording sessions. Story Edited episodes of Duck Tales syndicated series. Series Development: developed new series for afternoon syndication and network Saturday morning, including Darkwing Duck (ABC & syn), Raw Toonage (CBS), Little Mermaid (CBS) and Goof Troop (ABC & syn).

7/89 - 2/90: Staff Assistant, DISNEY TV ANIMATION. Covered outside submissions. Read current programming; gave notes. Worked in development. Acting Creative Executive on New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (ABC), Gummi Bears (NBC, ABC & syn), Chip N' Dale Rescue Rangers (syn) and DuckTales the Movie: Secret of the Lost Lamp (feature film).

8/88 - 5/98: Assistant Lecturer, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. Taught courses in Composition. Designed curricula and assignments; evaluated papers and examinations.

2/88 - 8/88: Food Server, Cashier & Soda Jerk, JOHNNY ROCKETS, Melrose Avenue, CA. Waited on counter; worked computerized cash register; made great shakes & malts.

3/87 - 7/87: Associate Editor, DC COMICS, New York, NY. Edited and developed new comic book series, including Young All-Stars.

3/86 - 3/87: Assistant Editor, DC COMICS. Trafficked comic art and stories; maintained schedules on over five monthly titles, including Teen Titans.

10/85 - 3/86: Editorial Assistant, DC COMICS, Distributed mail, photocopied, etc.

2/85 - 6/85: Teaching Assistant and Preceptor, STANFORD UNIVERSITY. Led discussions and evaluated student work including fiction, essays and quizzes for two courses. Shakespeare: Organized discussion sections for class of 140 students. Personally responsible for section of 15 students. The Mythic Hero in Modern Literature: Proposed, designed and taught accredited seminar of 11 students.

WRITING / PRODUCING / STORY EDITING / VOICE DIRECTING / DEVELOPMENT CREDITS:

2004 - Present: W.I.T.C.H., SIP Animation/Disney Channel. Supervising Producer & Story Editor of Second Season of Animated Series.

2004 - Present: Robotech: Mars Force, Harmony Gold. Developed new Animated Spin-off Series. Wrote Bible.

2003 - Present: Kidd/Hero, DAG. Developed Animated Series, writing bible and voice directing sales reel.

2002 - Present: The Bible for the Platinum Megaverse!, PLATINUM STUDIOS. Developed multiple series, characters, movies and stories for comic books, television and features. Writing Bible for their entire comic book universe, including encyclopedia, biographies, mini-bibles and timeline.

1997 - Present: Ask Greg, Maintained website at http://s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/. Designed to keep fan interest in the Gargoyles television series alive.

2004: Alien Racers, MGA Entertainment. Wrote an episode of Animated Series.

2004: Robo-Sapiens, WARNER BROS. Co-created and developed original Animated Series. Wrote bible and pilot treatment.

2004: Mechromancers, DISNEY. Voice directed pilot for Animated Series.

2004: Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, DISNEY. Writer for multiple episodes of Animated Series.

2003 - 2004: The Batman, WARNER BROS. Writer for multiple episodes of Animated Series.

2002: Phoenix Force, HASBRO. Developed animated series based on the Action Man toy property.

2002: Kim Possible, DISNEY. Writer for Animated Series.

2002: Creature Force, DISNEY. Developed Animated Series. Wrote Series Bible.

2002: Spider-Man, SONY. Writer for Animated Series.

2002: Bionicle, LEGO. Story Editor / Consultant for Animated Direct to Video Feature. Shared Story Credit.

2002: The Mummy, UNIVERSAL. Writer for Animated Series.

2000 - 2002: Team Atlantis, DISNEY. Writer / Story Editor / Voice Director for Animated Series and Direct-to-Video Feature.

2000: 3 x 3 Eyes, NEW GENERATION PICTURES / PIONEER. Voice Director for Direct-to-Video Anime Series.

1999 - 2000: Max Steel, SONY. Developed Series. Producer / Story Editor for first season. Writer, multiple episodes.

1999: Macbeth, DREAMWORKS FEATURE ANIMATION. Writer.

1998 - 99: Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles, SONY. Story Editor (10 episodes), writer (2 episodes), assisted on Post-Production (7 episodes). Series and Writer nominated for Best Animated Series Special Class Emmy.

1998: Justice League Giant, DC COMICS. Writer.

1998: Buzz Lightyear of Star Command, DISNEY. Writer (multiple episodes) for Animated Series.

1998: Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot, SONY. Writer for Animated Series.

1998: Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends, BKN. Developed Series. Writer / Story Editor on Bible and Pilot.

1998: Disney's Hercules, DISNEY. Writer for Animated Series.

1997 - 1998: Stargate: The Hunted, MGM. Developed Animated Series, wrote Bible.

1997 - 1998: Men In Black: The Series, SONY. Writer for Animated Series, multiple episodes.

1996: Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles, DISNEY. Developed series. Writer / Story Editor of pilot episode.

1994 - 1996: Gargoyles, DISNEY. Creator / Supervising Producer / Supervising Story Editor on 66 half-hour episodes. Nominated for "Golden Reel," "EMA" and "Annie" Awards.

1995: Gargoyles Comic Book, MARVEL COMICS, New York, NY. Writer. Supervised writing on all issues.

1986-1991: Captain Atom, DC COMICS. Reconceived and revamped character of "Captain Atom" with partner. Co-wrote 33 issues of comic book series, plus two annuals. As an individual, wrote 16 issues. Samples available upon request.

1990: Duck Tales, DISNEY. Story Editor on multiple episodes.

1983-1990: Secret Origins, among others, DC COMICS. Proposed, plotted and scripted many comic book stories. Also wrote text pieces published in Who's Who in the DC Universe, among others.

1989: The Artemis Choice, U.S.C. Two-act stage-play.

1988: Valley of the Vampire, INTERVISUAL COMMUNICATIONS, L.A. CA. Writer on Pop-Up Book.

1987: Jem and the Holograms, SUNBOW PRODUCTIONS, NYC, NY. Writer (with partner) for Animated Series.

* Multiple short stories also *

EDUCATION:

9/87-10/89: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA. Masters of Professional Writing (M.P.W.). Course work included fiction and screenwriting, with emphasis on playwriting. Produced and directed my own play, The Artemis Choice.

9/81-6/85: Stanford University, Stanford, CA. B.A. in English and Creative Writing. Course work included a broad Liberal Arts background specializing in Shakespeare, Faulkner and fiction writing.

9/84-12/84: Stanford-in-Oxford, Oxford, England. Studied Shakespeare and the English Novel. Wrote short story published in New Oxford Magazine.

MEMBERSHIPS:
3/92-present: Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
2/95-present: N.A.T.P.E. International.
3/95-present: Museum of Television & Radio.
9/98-present: Motion Picture Screen Cartoonists a.k.a. The Animation Guild

NOMINATIONS:
1994: Golden Reel Award Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in the Motion Picture And Television Industries for GARGOYLES, "Awakening, Part Five".
1995: Annie Award Nomination for Individual Achievement for Creative Supervision in the Field of Animation for GARGOYLES.
1996: Environmental Media Award Nomination for Children's Animated Television Program for GARGOYLES, "The Green".
1996: Annie Award Nomination for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Television Program for GARGOYLES.
2001: Emmy Award Nomination for Best Animated Series - Special Class for ROUGHNECKS: THE STARSHIP TROOPER CHRONICLES.

10/11/04

Response recorded on December 08, 2004

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I GOT MINE!!

Just got back from the Amazon my friends -- went their via the Gathering 2005 site at www.gatheringofthegargoyles.com -- where I purchased my copy of the GARGOYLES SEASON ONE on DVD. I'm pretty excited. Nervous too.

I want to thank all of you who are supporting this product. Supporting this property, this fandom and my emotional state.

But let's try this. Everybody contact SOMEBODY from the fandom whom you haven't heard from in a while. Someone maybe who attended a Gathering in 1998, maybe. Or someone who used to frequent Station 8, but just sort of drifted off. Search these people down. Odds are they'd love to get the DVD, but if they've been out of the loop, they may not know it's available NOW!!!

If all of you contact just one lost fan, it would really help to spread the word!!

Thanks!


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TOMORROW OR NEVER

Well, guys, tomorrow -- December 7th, 2004 -- is the big day. The GARGOYLES first season comes out on DVD.

I know I'm preaching to the converted, but I can't emphasize enough how important it is to the fandom that this DVD sells well.

Good sales on the first day, particularly a nice Amazon turnout, are important, but what's more important are PHENOMENAL SALES over the next month or two.

If you can't get it at Amazon, get it somewhere else.

If you can't get it tomorrow, get it soon.

But get it. And more than that get everyone you know to get it.

Get strangers to get it.

Yes, I know we're all a bit disappointed in the way Disney has somewhat failed to support the DVD with advertising. But as I've always maintained... the burden is on the fans. They need to prove to Disney that Disney needs to spend money to make money on Gargoyles.

They need to prove to Disney that the fandom is rabid and large and ready to support the property with actual dollars and cents.

A very small part of me feels bad about asking you to spend money. But keep in mind if this DVD doesn't do EXTREMELY well, it will be very difficult to convince Disney to support the property in other ways -- including a second season on DVD, let alone new and original material set in the Gargoyles Universe.

By the way, we did get a nice write-up here:

http://www.silverbulletcomicbooks.com/rage/index1.htm

Check it out.

But mostly, take advantage of this opportunity to demonstrate your love for the show. Again this is NOT just about money. This is about SPREADING THE WORD WITH RELIGIOUS FERVOR!!!

Good luck to us all.


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Question writes...

What exactly happened in Paris with Team Atlantis, Fiona and Demona?

Greg responds...

An adventure. Come to the Gathering in Las Vegas in the summer of 2005 if you want to know more.

Response recorded on December 03, 2004

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Marz J.S. writes...

I looked at the FAQ page & I don't think this was asked. I was wondering, I'm curious to this, do female gargoyles have periods? You know, a monthly visiter? I've always wondered. Thank you for your time.

Greg responds...

It wouldn't be monthly, since they're not fertile that often.

Response recorded on December 03, 2004


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