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REJOINDERS 2005-01 (Jan)

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Ann Onimous writes...

Have you read the Artemis Fowl series? If you have who do you think would win the battle of wits Xanatos or Artemis?

Greg responds...

I have not.

Response recorded on January 31, 2005

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Anonymous writes...

If Lex is a homosexual gargoyle, why would he bother with Angela in the first place? Well yes, he gave up easily but why even try

Greg responds...

It is, as I understand it, not unusual for homosexuals to attempt to fit into the societal norm. (Note, I say "societal norm". I'm not making a value judgment or a biological judgment.)

Response recorded on January 31, 2005

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Shaun "BrooklynX" writes...

Ok, Greg, here's mine:

June 23 - 25:

Boarded the train in Sacramento at roughly 11:25 and was moving about 5 minutes later towards Chicago. Learned something interesting as we passed through Truckee, CA. Between 1871 and 1882, the town completely burned down 6 times. Oops.

Spent most of the time between Sacramento and Chicago sleeping, writing and listening to my E Nomine CD's. Through in a couple stops where we were there for several minutes at least, so I go off and stretched for a few. Got into Chicago around 5:00 p.m. on the 25th. Was roughly an hour late, but wasn't an issue since it cut my layover from 3 hours to 2. Then I walked into South Lounge and it was packed with bodies and more showing up every minute. They had no AC going and the only thing that was moving the air was 4' by 4' fan. This area was meant to seat roughly 250 people. There were probably about 400 of us packed in there. Lovely.

Had Pop-Tarts and a Mt. Dew for dinner. Yum. Around 6, they said the train would a few minutes late to the track due to some issue with the diner car. So instead of leaving at 7, I figured maybe 7:15. Wrong. At point, I called Kelly to let her know there was no chance of me meeting her at the hotel at 2 like planned the next day. I told her I would call back the next day with more information about the arrival time. As the delay got longer and longer, I was beginning to wonder if they somehow had lost the train out in the yard or if it burned to the ground.

At 9:45, we get told the train will be to our track in 15 minutes. Of course, it didn't pull up to the track until 10:10. No real surprise there. So the delay ended up turning into just over three hours. We board and finally depart from the station at 10:30 p.m. Just after we cleared the yards, you could tell the engineer had throttled way up and was trying to make up some of the lost time.

June 26:

Wake up at 6 a.m. Where is the train? Cleveland, Ohio. We're now 4 hours behind. Went and got breakfast in the diner car. The food left something to be desired. Explained to somebody about the show, since I was wearing one of the sweatshirts they gave out last year. As the day goes on, we get later and later. By the time we reach Buffalo, NY, we're 5 hours late. By the time we get to Rochester, NY, we're not 6 hours behind. While at the station there, I mentally waved to Siryn. At one point, it looked like we might make up about an hour, but we fell behind once again.

Because of how far behind we were, they served us a free lunch and dinner. The lunch was some Beef Stew. That food really left something to be desired. It was rather... gross tasting. Not to mention, couldn't find any beef in it either. I could just see it now: "Beef? You want beef in your beef stew? HAHAHA! That's a good one!"

Dinner was a boxed meal. Got to pick between turkey or ham and I went for ham since I rather dislike turkey. Got a drink and sat down. Opened it up to discover it was a sub sandwich, a bag of chips and an apple turnover. The sub wasn't bad, but wasn't great either. Was far better than that beef stew though! Finally got to NY Penn Station at roughly 8:40 to 8:45 p.m. At this point, I was almost 7 hours behind. I was supposed to be in at 1:50.

It sure wasn't pleasant when I stepped off the train with my luggage. Walked out from a nice and rather cool train car into a sheer wall of heat. I moved out of the way and quickly stripped off my Gargoyles sweatshirt, but that didn't help much. Trudged upstairs and tried to find the I needed to get to the hotel. I figured out the right direction, but wanted to double check, so I asked the guy at the information desk. He laughed when I asked which exit for Hotel Pennsylvania "Are you serious?"

I wanted shake my head, but didn't. "Yes, I am." He then told which way to go. I thanked him and walked off. I still find a bit ridiculous that he laughed at for making sure which direction I needed to go to get to the hotel. Short walk later, I get to the hotel and checked in. Called Kelly to see where she was, but she was out doing DDR. We had planned to meet up after I got in, but that was for the 2 p.m. timeframe, not the almost 9 p.m. timeframe.

This is the first hotel I've seen where you need to show your room card before getting in the elevators. My room was up on the 11th floor as was maybe 30 feet from the elevators. Nice and close. When I went to shower, I had to wait over five minutes just to get some hot water in my room. Of course, there was the weird water pressure that made me feel like I was getting pelted by stuff. Ate a small dinner and tried to fall asleep. Didn't pass out until roughly 2:30 a.m. 3 hour time difference can be such a pain to adjust to. Oh well.

June 27:

Woke up around 8:30 when the maids wanted to come clean my room. So much for getting a rather good amount of sleep to start the con off with. Tried to sleep for a little longer, but decided it was futile at best. Got up, showered and went downstairs to the cafe down in the lobby. Got a banana muffin and a coke for breakfast. On the way back to my room, I ran into Mandolin. On the way to her floor first,
we both started to get annoyed by the CNN that kept playing in the elevators. The first couple times it was amusing, but got real old, real quick.

She drops something off in her room, then we went to mine. She thumbed through my cels while I chewed on breakfast. We talked for a little and then headed down to find registration around 11. After getting my badge and shirt, went to lunch with a few others. I got the chicken fingers. The food was pretty good, but the service was crappy. Several times I had started to wonder if the server had forgotten we were there. Got back and was supposed to be a runner, but didn't really do anything. Went up to the art room at around 2:30 to help watch it while Kellie Faye was helping get some supplies. Took a look at the art that Disney had lent us. Very spiffy stuff.

Too bad I couldn't buy some of those pieces. Would love to get one of the pre-production Goliath's so it could join the one I picked up last year. Not to mention, would have loved to have gotten the drawings for the clones as well. Oh well, maybe someday?

Checked out an art panel before hitting opening ceremonies. After a the brief introductions by the 2003 staff, those of us on the 2004 staff got to stand on stage to make our pitch. Karine and Kelly did all the talking and did a great job at making the pitch. We handled a few questions, plus Kelly took care of the whole speaking French deal. After that, Greg Weisman went through his usual spill that I've heard four times now. Sure it's the same stuff over and over, but it's still good to hear it. Course, we started finishing his sentences too.

After that, got some raffle tickets. Was supposed to meet up with Karine, Kelly and a few others for dinner, but Kelly couldn't reach my phone for some reason. Went up to the MST3K they were doing for a few episodes of Gargoyles. After that, went to the blue Q&A that Greg and Thom were holding. Several times the questions went out of the gutter, but after did get back there. Learned that Lexington was gay, more or less. Wasn't something I really expected, but as Greg went on, I could see where he was coming from. Of course, he wouldn't say who Lexington's lover was going to be, or what species for that matter, other than it wasn't somebody we've seen on the show. Ended up getting kicked out around 2 by security.

June 28:

Tried to sleep in, but once again, didn't work out too well. And this time I had been smart enough to put up the "Do Not Disturb" sign on my door to keep the maids from waking me up. Went through the morning routine and got breakfast. Talked to several folks for a while, though I can't remember their names. Around 2, I went to check out the "When Worlds Collide" writing panel. After that, checked out a storyboarding panel by Vic Cook. After that, went up to the art room and voted. This year they had folks write down the numbers for the pieces they wanted to vote on and then enter the information into a computer. Very smart idea, since it cuts down on them having to tally it all by hand.

Skipped the radio play this year and hung out with Kelly as she did pre-registration for next year. Also got a pic done by Liz while chatting. After that, went up to wait for the banquet. Showed Greg, Thom and Vic my cels. I liked one of Vic's comments: "He's got more cels than Disney!" We talked briefly and I found out he has some relatives that live over in the Sacramento area. Sat with Karine, Kelly, Patrick and a few others. Oh yeah, Artgolem from Aimee's forum was at the table as well. Always nice getting to meet folks from forums.

Talked about a number of things before the Q&A session with Nichelle Nichols. She's got a good voice, but she seemed to be going on and on about her books. Hung around after that to get pictures at the masquerade. Was sort of disappointing to see not many entries this year. Also got picked up a free sweatshirt, since the 2003 staff was giving away free shirts and the likes for folks who went to the banquet.

June 29:

Ran into Thom on the way down to get some breakfast. He had to pretty much start a war just to get cream for his coffee from the folks in cafe. While trying to pack away my drinks, he kept trying to prod me into hurrying up. For the first time, we both got asked to show our room key cards to go up the elevators, which surprised the both of us. On the way up, we talked briefly about how rude it was on them not to want to give him cream for his coffee and how my bagel shop job a few years back, we would have the cream out for folks. Plus we both shook our head at the CNN blaring away in the elevator.

I went to browse what they had to auction while he went off to do something else. Didn't see anything of interest other than the Atlantis storyboard, but knew that would shoot out my price range real fast. Went over to the art room, where I sat down with Karine and Kelly to help sell raffle tickets and pre-registration. Kelly showed my some of the new art she had gotten from Karine, plus a doodle of some of some of the folks and how they arrived. I loved how she had me going: "Tap, tap, tap," while waiting in Chicago.

Got Karine to do a colored commission of my gargoyle character, Chaos. She did it of him counting money and saying, "It's good to be treasurer..." I really love the expression she gave to him. After seeing it finished, I went, "That is so going to be put on a shirt!" After that, we started discussing about doing special staff shirts. We would have the mascot on the front like everybody else. On the back would be "Staff" and our own character doing their respective job. Brought this up with Greg, who told us to surprise him for the design on the back of his shirt.

Moved over to closing ceremonies and sold some more pre-registrations. Also drew the raffle tickets for the prizes. Stayed through part of the auction as well, during which I bought the Gargoyles board game. We did pretty well on pre-registration. Sold 54 of them, which isn't a bad start.

Around 5, Met up in the lobby with Greg and company that was going to Coney Island. We took a vote and stopped at where the WTC towers had been. It's hard to believe that one of the places my grandfather had worked in was gone. He had worked on the 68th floor of the North Tower after they had been built. Took several pictures before we moved onto Coney Island.

Of course, Greg kept counting us... several times over. Barely had entered the place when Kelly and Liz ran over to play DDR, effectively separating myself and Talyesin from the group as well (they were my buddies). After that, we wandered for a little bit before getting on the Wonder Wheel. While going around on that, we tried to see if we could spot anybody from the group, but wasn't able to. After some walking around, we hit up the McDonald's. We stood in line for twenty or so minutes and noticed the smiles are free sign. Liz asked for a large fries, small chocolate shake and four smiles. It took the guy a couple seconds to catch on to what she had said. We only got two smiles. After we walked away, I said I felt cheated since we only got two.

A couple minutes later, we ran into a couple others from the group. Found out where we were supposed to meet up and when. Joined up at the right time and headed back to the hotel. As we waited for the subway, a few of us took group pics. Boarded the train and got to the hotel a little over an hour later. As we were walking back, Greg decided he wanted pancakes. We started searching about for diner or a Denny's. Course, this isn't Williamsburg, so no luck. Of course, he said he could go for a donut or ice cream. We finally managed to find a place one the lower level of Penn Station that was still open and selling ice cream.

We heading back and after a few minutes of seeing the con suite crowded, headed down with Kelly and a few others down to her room to chat while they drew. I said goodbye to them at around 2 a.m. and went back to my room to start packing. Finished up around 3 and set the alarm for 10:30. Course, having the con is over jitters, I didn't fall asleep until 4:30 a.m.

June 30:

Woke up at 8:30 to somebody's door slamming shut. I tried to get another hour to two of sleep, but it didn't work. Checked at around 11:30 and ended up chatting with several folks from the Gathering until about 2:15, when I had to head to Penn Station to catch my train at 2:50. Felt sad that the Gathering had come to an end. There I ran into Silver once again, who was taking the same train, but getting off long before I was. The train managed to make good time.

July 1 - 3:

Got into Chicago at 9 a.m. and got to sit there for a little over 5 hours before my train back to Sacramento. The train pulled out at about 2:40, a little over 30 minutes late. The trip went pretty well until we got to Denver. At this point, we were an hour behind, but that's nothing new from what I've heard. As they went to disconnect the mail cars and the sleepers, they derailed the sleeper cars. Thankfully, nobody
was hurt. Turned me from getting into Sacramento about an hour late into me getting there almost 5 hours late. Instead of getting in at around 2:20, I got there at 7:10.

One of the first things I did after I got off the train was go to Denny's to get some non-train food, which I was really sick of at this point. While it was nice to be home, I miss the fun I had at the Gathering.

Greg responds...

Did you have pancakes?

Response recorded on January 31, 2005

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John Clemens AKA Flanker flankerbravo@hotmail.com writes...

I'm assuming this is where we're supposed to post our little Gathering journals.
This year was my first Gargs con and it started off on a real down note. Even though I was told I could get off early, I didnt get off early enough and I missed my flight by ten minutes (ottawa to laguardia direct). So I had to take a flight that cost four times as much. There was also a connection in Montreal. I got to New York way behind schedule and with no money. Fortunately the airport shuttle took credit and I got to the hotel. I scrounged up some US money and managed to call Gabe who I had arranged on the gathering forums to share a room with.
While I was waiting for him I decided right there to stop being bitter and miserable and just relax and have a good time. Gabe was great guy. After I dropped my stuff off in the room I wandered around and met Dave AKA Wingless whom I already know, which was comforting after what I had been through.
By this time it was the blue question panel. It was the first time I had seen Greg or Thom in person and it was very interesting. I finally got ask about the politics (or lack thereof)in Deadly Force which had been bothering me. Thom blurted out that Lexington has a ten inch tongue. I can't remember how that came up but it was hilarious. Thom really seemed to indentify with Lex which was interesting. We got kicked out by a security guy. I could've handled him no problem, but I was tired anyway.
The next day I got up and ate 'breakfeast' in some grease hole called blimpie's. I headed back to the hotel and figured I'd try my hand at voice acting. Someone handed me a list of characters and reading material. On the form I circled 'yes' for accents and chatted nervously with some other people auditioning. I went in knowing I was not going to get a role, I just thought it would be fun. Being a moron I read for Hudson thinking I could tackle it. I ended up goofing off and joking around more than auditioning. Thom seemed to think I was funny, but I dont think I impressed Greg. Oh well, there's always next year. The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. I finally registered and got my con badge which was neat. I had my internet handle on it instead of my name so people I've chatted with could recognize me. When people started calling me Flanker in person it was kind of weird. I ducked in and out of various panels. It didnt take me long to realize I was totally outclassed by the artists and writers present at the convention. You can't teach me how to pop a wheelie if I cant even ride a bicycle in the first place. The original show concepts hanging in the art room were disturbing. It looked like gummi bears crossed with the gargoyles from the hunchback movie. Creepy. I watched Greg's panel on Starship Troopers and 3x3 Eyes. It was very interesting and freezing in that bloody ballroom.
I cant remember what else I did before the radio play. That was very enjoyable. I could have done a better Sevarius though.
The Banquet started on an awkward foot. Anyone interested in sitting with a Guest (Greg, Thom, Vic or Nichelle Nichols) would get in a different line. I'm no math guy, but it was a small line. There were fewer people who wanted seats with guests than there were seats. Then someone handed out numbers. I had 001. So I figured I would have my pick of where I would sit. That was weird. I figured I wanted to eat dinner with Thom Adcox. He had laughed at my stupid jokes earlier and we chatted a few times since. I figure if I had a rapport with anyone, it was him. It didnt matter since the same person came along and put us in groups of four. That was really weird. We go in and sit down. I see Thom sitting at a different table. Fortunately whoever was supposed to be at my table hadn't arrived yet. So I committed the one seat sneak and darted over to his table. He knew my name which was kind of flattering. I sat down and no one seemed to care. I was happy thinking I was at 'the funny table'. Nichelle Nichols came in with her entourage. It was odd how we were all in our jeans and T-shirts and she looked ready for the Oscars. I'm glad I wasn't at her table. I'm sure I would have had nothing intelligent to say to her. Anyway, someone asked about Thom's dogs and he mentioned that one had been put down recently. One by one everyone around the table shared a depressing story about their favourite dog passing away in some tragic fashion. All I could do was think about Maggie (greatest dog in the world) and how much that sucked. Before I could make the comment, Thom smiled and said "I thought this would be 'the funny table' John looks like he's going to cry." It was funny and then on it was all jokes and laughs. I didnt really have a masquerade costume. I had my tac-vest and some camoflauge paint. I wanted to find a bad guy and work out a skit. This never happened in time, so I figured I'd have to come up with something. I've already been participating in the M&M prank, so I figured I go with that. I got another package and hid under a table right next to the judging table. I could hear all of Thom's lewd comments. I waited for a perfect moment. I would have prefered a steathly crawl and maybe place the M&Ms on Gregs shoe or something. The layout would not permit that, so I waited for all the skits to end. I wanted to strike when Greg started talking but not yet announcing winners. When he left someone place M&Ms on his seat. Bastard. Greg and the judges returned and found the treat. He started speaking by saying "and what's with all the M&Ms its starting to freak me out.."

Perfect

I popped out and tossed the candy at him and bolted for the exit yelling about being spotted and aborting the operation. I think maybe one person in a room of a hundred people thought it was funny. I felt a little embarassed. Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose. Maybe in the post 9/11 NYC a guy wearing camo springing out from under a table and lobbing candy treats at unsuspecting Greg Weismans just isnt funny anymore. I offer an honest apology to anyone who felt that I acted innapropriately.
After the masquerade music came on and I left before I made an ass of myself trying to dance. I was tired from waiting under a table having many photos taken of my boots.
Sunday was a little depressing, but I really enjoyed hearing the audio tapes and seeing the videos of Greg's other projects. The world of animation seems so hostile and bizarre. The stuff that gets made vs the stuff that gets rejected, I'll never understand.
As the con was ending I had another chat with Thom and he told me he hadnt been 'officially invited' to next year's con. Is that even neccesary anymore? I mean, c'mon, seriously. Same with you Vic.
Dave AKA A Fan lead a walking tour the next day. I went with Leo and the Deutsch Duo. (I forget your names, beat me up next time you see me). We had a good time and I got lots of cool photos with my tiny camera. Then I forgot to give Leo the book he bought ( I was carrying it around in my back pack). I mailed it back to him when I got back up north. I'm already planning my next trip to NYC for some more sight seeing. And Montreal shouldn't be a problem. I'll see you all there. Hopefully the DVD will be out by then.

Greg responds...

Well, the DVD wasn't quite out by Montreal, but it's out NOW!!!

Anyway, I don't think anyone was actually frightened by the M&M attack. All in good fun.

Response recorded on January 27, 2005

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Future Tense outline notes...

I don't know when I'll get around to rambling on Future Tense, but as it's up next, I'm posting my outline notes on that episode to Story Editor Michael Reaves.

The thing you need to know is that there was much discussion back then of doing the episode (or at least sections of it) in 3-D. Now I do NOT mean CGI. I mean the 3-D glasses kind of 3-D. So many of the notes below reflect that.

WEISMAN 4-23-95

Notes on "Future Tense" Outline...

Michael, I know this is exactly the kind of document that drives my story editors nuts. I apologize, but in the interests of time I believe this is the best solution.

I also want you to know that I considered your suggestion that we replace one of Cary or Gary's episodes with a from-scratch 3-D affair. But after reviewing the schedule it just wasn't practical. Aside from the fact (and budgetary concern) that those guys are already underway on those stories, we just don't have time to come up with a new story from scratch and get Gary Krisel's approval on it and still make all relevant deadlines.

I believe that what I've beated out below preserves all the essential stuff from Marty and Bob's outline, but gives us more opportunity for 3-D action in cyber-space. As usual, none of it is etched in stone. If this approach works for you, you can go right to script. If there's anything you, Marty or Bob want to discuss, that's cool too.

GENERAL NOTE ON 3-D ACTION IN CYBERSPACE
Please remember the nature of this particular 3-D process: some elements push backward or forward depending on their assigned color. You guys don't have to worry about assigning the colors. Leave that to the art director. Nor do you have to sweat the foregrounding and backgrounding. We'll leave that to the board artists, art director, line producer and Frank. What you do need to be aware of though is that this particular 3-D process only really works with characters and objects. They should not be interacting with the environment or backgrounds. That's not to say that Cyber-Xanatos or whoever can't form any specific object out of the "ether" or something. But we don't want scenes of Goliath tearing up Cyber-walls or Brooklyn being swallowed up by the cyber-ground or whatever. Energy beams might work, but "energy fields" could be problematic. If this is unclear, we can set up a meeting with our technical expert, Rob Hummell.

BEAT SHEET
ACT ONE
I. Streamline and combine your beats 1, 2, 3 & 4.
Open on the skiff and the mist with some specific line from Goliath, where he's saying that the odyssey they've been on has been rewarding, but that he really is starting to miss the clan and Manhattan, his adopted home. He feels woozy for a second. Then he sees the Statue of Liberty. (The wooziness is being done in the interest of fair play. Don't make too much of it. The audience will forget about it until the end of the episode, at which point, they'll think: "Of course.")

Combine the blowing up of the skiff with the capture of Elisa and Angela by the Steel Clan robots, (we don't need uniformed human sentries). Goliath and Bronx are rescued by Matt. As they make their way to rebel headquarters we can get Xanatos's brief big brother (3-D) message. We can see the statue of Hudson and find out he's dead. Meet the hostile Brooklyn.

II. Combines your beat 5 & part of beat 6.
Meet the Blind Broadway. And bring up the Phoenix Gate. Make sure Goliath states definitively that "HISTORY CANNOT BE CHANGED". The line about 'time as a river' is a good one, but don't count on that to be clear enough by itself. Intro Good Demona and establish that she is mated (as opposed to married) to Brooklyn. Don't forget to plant another "fairness clue" with our audience. When Goliath says that he thought Demona was in love with Thailog, it takes her a flustered minute to explain that Thailog also died fighting Xanatos. Or something like that. Also I think we can let the more sophisticated members of our audience see the irony that Demona is finally good again only to be lost to Goliath forever. We don't have to state that in dialogue. It raises a lot of complicated issues.

Suddenly Cyborg-Lexington enters and announces that Talon, their inside man, is transmitting all-important data even as they speak. He turns on a monitor and we see Talon getting his butt kicked by Xanatos (in 3-D). While they are watching this, Goliath should ask where this battle between Xanatos and Talon is taking place. All Lexington knows is that it was coming from somewhere inside the Eyrie Pyramid. Xanatos gloats about his plan to do to the entire planet what he has done to Manhattan, then he destroys Talon and the transmission is cut off.

ACT TWO
III. Combines just a bit of your beat 6 and both of your two beat 7s. (Don't feel bad. This late in the season, I'm having trouble counting too.)
We don't need the attack by the Thailog Stormtroopers. Brooklyn states that it's now or never. We have to launch a pre-emptive strike on Xanatos' lair. They'll divide into ground and air forces. Brooklyn, Demona, Cyborg-Lex, Blind Broadway and Goliath will wait for Matt and Bronx and the rebels to create a diversion downstairs. Then they will go in above.

As the five gargoyles wait atop a nearby building for their cue, Demona and Brooklyn again try to prevail on Goliath to use the Gate.

IV. Combines your beats 8 & 9.
Matt and Bronx's diversion begins. The gargoyles fly in, but Lex reports with his cyborg-sight that both Matt and Bronx have been killed. Brooklyn is determined that they won't have died in vain.

They get in, but Lex is quickly taken prisoner and Broadway dies. Goliath, Brooklyn and Demona make their way to Computer Mainframe/Banquet Hall. They aren't looking for any Chief Administrator. They're still looking for Xanatos, not realizing that he no longer exists on the physical plane.

V. Basically your beat 10.
Except instead of a VR helmet, have Goliath, Brooklyn and Demona digitized into (3-D) Cyber-Space ala TRON. No physical bodies left outside. If you die in there. You dead. Obliterated.

ACT THREE
VI. Your beat 11, greatly expanded to fill most of the act.
Xanatos has been holding Elisa and Angela prisoner inside cyber-space, anticipating Goliath's arrival. We get our explanation. Our fight. And the destruction of Brooklyn, Demona and Angela. Goliath finally manages to take out Xanatos, which causes the whole cyber-world to dissolve.

VII. Combines and abbreviates both of your beat 12s.
Goliath and Elisa are re-digitized in the real world. Only to discover that Lex used the opportunity to activate Xanatos' plan. Now he'll rule what's left of the world. Goliath lashes out at Lex, which knocks him back into the main frame and the whole thing starts to blow. Castle is destroyed taking out Lex. (No redemption possible.) Goliath barely manages to save Elisa, but he's broken by it. And Elisa tries to get the gate from him. She fails and melts into Puck. In fact the entire world seems to melt into her to become Puck.

VIII. Your beat 13.
Puck reveals what it has all been about. (Make sure to specifically mention that Oberon has begun "The Gathering".)

IX. Your beat 14.
Make it clear that Goliath passed out right after he said his line about missing his adopted home. So the audience in retrospect can place the exact moment when Puck's little adventure began.

And that's it. Feel free to call with questions or concerns.


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Chapter LV: "Ill Met by Moonlight"

Time to ramble...

Chapter LV: "Ill Met by Moonlight"
Story Editor: Michael Reaves
Story: Michael Reaves
Teleplay: Diane Duane & Peter Morwood
Director: Dennis Woodyard

TITLE
This was Michael's title, which he chose knowing it would appeal to the Shakespearean in me. I liked it, but it did concern me that people would misread it. Which is often the case. "I'll Meet by Moonlight" is the one I hear most often.

LORD & LADY
We'd been building toward this one since "The Mirror" -- i.e. from the moment we introduced the concept of the Third Race (a.k.a. Oberon's Children). Note that Oberon refers to himself as "Lord of the Third Race". It's interesting to me that he acknowledges that Gargoyles and Humans are first & second. Perhaps that's his version of humility. Supports my notion that the Oberati (as I wanted to call them originally) evolved last.

Anyway, when we first intro'd Titania's Mirror, I'm curious how many of you thought you'd eventually get to meet Titania?

Note also Oberon & Titania's skin color. This was intentional. Since I knew we had the Gathering coming up and that myth-figures from many cultures would be bowing to Oberon as Lord, I didn't want to depict him or Titania with traditional caucasoid skin. I wanted them a step removed.

We also establish that Oberon divorced Titania for her hybris and disdain for mortals. That he sent her and ALL the children out to learn humility. As I've stated many times, the problem that Oberon had is that 1001 years ago, relative to his fellows, he was already humble. But that's relative. They all go out, and Titania and Puck and a few others learn the lesson that he sent them to learn. But thinking he had no lesson to learn, he learned... nothing. So Titania has evolved, and Oberon has not.

FAMILIAL RELATIONS
Gabriel has been a bit bored on Avalon. Angela says: "Join us on the skiff, my brother." This seemed like a pretty clear indication to me that Angela & Gabriel's relationship was fraternal, not romantic. (I mean, after all, Demona's called Goliath a lot of things, but never "brother".) But still some people thought that these two were an item. They take evidence, I'm told, from the way they held hands over the volcano later in the episode. But I still see that as fraternal concern.

LINES I LIKE (all quotations approximate)
Angela: "I'm beginning to think that this Manhattan is a myth."
Seline: "Humans and Gargoyles profane your kingdom."
Oberon: "A minor nuisance" and "Insolent infestation!"
Titania: "Time for even Puck to mend his manners."
Oberon: "So proud Titania, the game's a foot." (Combines Shakespeare and Conan Doyle.)
Guardian: "No choice and only one chance."
Oberon: "Now, you're just quibbling." (One of my all time favorite lines in context.)
Angela: "Gargoyles stand together."
Titania: "Oberon's word is law."
Katharine: "But does that mean he's always right."
Titania: "Not while he's married."
Goliath: "All's well that ends well."

THE BELL
Silver, we're told is for vampires and weres. So Elisa loses ANOTHER gun to contribute a bit more iron.

I thought the iron bell was a VERY clever solution, and I even thought that Titania's clues were very clever. And the oblique exchange in the forge is clever.

But the forging itself is a disaster. No mold. Just pour hot iron on the ground? Then cool it BEFORE you start hammering it into shape? I picture a forgotten scene where the Guardian finally looks up from his work and says, "I gotta confess I don't know what I'm doing here." And then Elisa says, "Didn't you forge your armor?" And Princess Katharine says, "Actually that was two of the eggs: Michael and Raphael." And Ophelia sighs and says, "I'll go get them."

I do like the overlapping hammer sound effect onto the next scene though.

Ophelia's honesty is also very neat. She questions whether they are doing the right thing. And her arguments RING a lot truer than the rationalization we get from the rest of the gang. Lucky our guys are sympathetic, and Oberon is not.

OTHER TOUCHES
I like the pairing of Gabriel with Goliath and Angela to carry the action. That was fun.

The sound effects accompanying Oberon's flight -- a kind of more meaty version of what was done with Puck in "The Mirror" -- are pretty cool. I like his arrival as a pillar of flame too. He's got style, you have to admit.

I like the cool lighting in the volcano and my daughter Erin liked the lava hands ("That's so awesome.")

I also like the Firefalls. I remember those as being part of the pre-Byrne/pre-Salkind version of Krypton. And long ago, Yosemite National Park used to do firefalls too. The image always stuck with me as very cool. And I like the steam as the lava flows into the river. (Helping to keep the island warm and balmy, perhaps?)

At one point, Gabriel says: "This way!" but on the cut, Goliath is again in the lead. A small mistake, I'm afraid.

I love Goliath's fury as he attacks Oberon (Erin: "Whoa, that was cool!") And I love how Oberon shatters to become diamond-hard beneath. And I love how Goliath STILL doesn't give up, putting Oberon into a half-nelson.

RESOLUTION
Getting us to where I wanted us to go...

Oberon grants assylum, with no hard feelings. He makes the Gargoyles his Honor Guard, which I think is cool. He exempts Goliath and his "clan" from his magic (inadvertently granting this exemption to both the Avalon & Manhattan clans, since Goliath thinks of himself as a member of both.) Oberon & Titania are remarried simply by agreeing that it is so. I mean when you're at the top of the food chain, who needs anyone else to officiate?

Goliath learns that Titania feels indebted to him, though he doesn't learn why. How many of you guys put together that Titania and Anastasia were one and the same? Of course, our voice casting was a HUGE clue. But we have enough actors doubling characters who aren't related that I thought that few people would draw the conclusion that we already had in mind.

And of course, we pave the way for the Gathering...

That's my ramble. Where's yours?


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Chapter LIV: "Cloud Fathers"

Time to ramble...

Chapter LIV: "Cloud Fathers"
Story Editor: Brynne Chandler-Reaves
Writer: Lydia Marano
Director: Dennis Woodyard

PREVIOUSLY
Our recap emphasized Xanatos' near disinterest in Goliath. It's kinda funny. And I love how Xanatos spells out that he doesn't hold a grudge. I really do think that it's his reasonableness that sets him apart as a villain. That and the fact that he's such a big picture guy. His big plans are rarely about acquiring things he can get himself. He wants immortality.

Xanatos: "It's my first real step at cliched villainy. How am I doing?"

Still, it was fun at the very end to let him at least get annoyed: "...These last minute upsets you keep handing me are becoming... irritating." THAT in fact is the closest Xanatos comes to cliched villainy.

ARIZONA, 1960
Throughout the episode, the girls keep asking Peter if he wants to "visit" his own father. I'm curious as to how many of you realized that Carlos Maza had actually passed away.

I think the Cloud Fathers memo that I recently posted gives a pretty clear indication of what I was trying to go for here. This, in my mind, is an internal struggle: Peter vs. Peter. Were his actions as a young man reasonable? Are they justifiable? If he admits his mistakes can he live with them? Etc.

I like how dialogue from the Arizona flashback is referenced by Coyote later. My kids noticed it too. Erin also noticed how much Coyote looked like young Peter with his "rugged good looks". I'm glad that was clear.

BETH MAZA
We finally get to know Elisa's other sibling -- the non-mutated one. She seems like an interesting character. Very open-minded. Influenced by her mother's more academic and anthropological pursuits, but choosing to focus on the Native American side of her heritage as opposed to the African side that her mother studies.

It's interesting to me that Elisa is the only one of the siblings who really directly follows in a parent's footsteps.

And I like Beth & Elisa's exchange...
Beth: "They're kinda beautiful... but so alien."
Elisa: "After a while, all you notice is the beauty."

So is Elisa in love or what?!

And PLEASE don't tell me that Beth's line is further evidence that the gargs come from another planet.

THE SWIMMING POOL
I thought this was VERY clever having the skiff arrive in a pool. But I wonder how visually clear it was. that it was JUST a swimming pool.

I did like Elisa's line, when asked where she came from, she says: "The deep end." True in so many ways.

MORE LINES I LIKE
Coyote 4.0: "Once more with feeling."
Coyote 4.0: "Don't quit your day job." (This said to a gargoyle.)
Xanatos (regarding Angela): "She's lovely, Goliath."
Angela (while attacking): "I'm the lovely one, remember!"
Elisa: "Bronx, hit it!" (Didn't she say the same thing in Golem?)
Xanatos: "No way my luck is this bad."
Elisa to Peter re: the Gargs: "Are THESE guys figments of your imagination?" (Answer that one for yourself.)
Coyote re Coyote: "I should sue for trademark infringement."
Xanatos: "I've always considered myself a trickster at heart."
Xanatos to Coyote 4 re the Trickster: "Bottle him."
Coyote 4: "Curious."
Xanatos: "It's so hard to program good help these days."
Coyote 4: "I'm programmed for vengeance."

TRICKSTER STORIES
Coming up with Trickster plots -- for guys like Coyote or Puck or even Xanatos -- can be REALLY hellish. It's hard work making sure that you have all these twists and turns and contingencies figured out. Now try pitting TWO TRICKSTERS, Coyote and Xanatos, against each other. Man!

You can imagine why we were never quite able to tame our FOUR TRICKSTER story involving Puck, Coyote, Raven & Anansi. Not that I think it's impossible, but we just ran out of time and had to settle for the still incredibly complex "Possession".

EYES OF THE COYOTE
I wish the carving had had NO EYES until the acid created them.

Michael Horse, who played both Peter & Carlos in this story, advised us on this script. Obviously, we were trying to be respectful of the culture. He told us to make sure that the carving and the Kachina masks were NOT copies of actual sand-paintings or masks in use. That would be sacreligious.

We did get one letter of complaint about this episode, but it was clear from the letter that the writer hadn't yet seen the episode. So we sent them a tape. Got no more complaints.

COYOTE 4.0
He's a nice stand-in for X, but pales in comparison. Still it was fun always redesigning him. Making him tougher in new ways. And I really like that the Cauldron of Life was reincorporated into him. Nothing ever wasted on this series.

I was also highly amused by the Coyote/Roadrunner schtick. With the trickster in the role of the Roadrunner, tricking Wile E. 4.0 into destroying himself.

AND BACK TO PETER
Coyote had to get Peter back. I like that. And I like the bittersweet ending at Carlos' grave. It strikes me as a graveside victory.

Anyway, that's my ramble. Where's yours?


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Anonymous writes...

In a previous question, you told someone to send a script to a production studio, as a way to break into the business. I was just wondering if someone would actually read the script, or just throw it away?

Greg responds...

Did I really say that? It doesn't sound like me at all.

You are correct, they'd either toss it or send it back to you unread. Unsolicited material is dangerous for studio execs to read, particularly if its based on that studio's properties.

I believe what I suggested was to send a sample to an agency. They still might throw it away, but they are much more likely to read it.

Response recorded on January 21, 2005

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Andrea writes...

Gathering Journal

I wasn't going to do a Gathering Journal, but here it is anyway! Feel free to point and laugh at if need be...I suck at this kind of stuff...

Friday:

Woke up around 7 am and called my friend to wake up. She'd woken up like an hour before, was already at breakfast. She got to my house around 8, and about 8:30 or so we headed down to the train station. Train was a few minutes late. We then settled back and just played gameboys and listend to music for the hour ride into Boston. Once we arrived at North Station, we had to hop the subway to South Station. We got 2 tokens each, since we had to ride 2 different subway lines along the way. When we changed over, both lines were in the same area, so there was no charge for the changeover. So, we saved our tokens for the ride home. We arrived at south station at like 10:30 or so. Our Bus wasn't leaving until 12 (we had to leave early since the next train out of our town would make us very pressured for time, and we didn't want that), so we sat around until our bus was ready. After the 11:30 bus out of our gate boarded, we got in line. There was plenty of room left (it was also going to NYC), so they let us on. There was a delay, so we didn't actually leave until 11:45, but it was still earlier than our bus was scheduled to leave.

Bus ride was okay, we were due to arrive at about 4:20 or so, giving us plenty of time to call our parents and enjoy the surrounding before opening ceremonies. But we got caught in a LOT of traffic, so we didn't rrive at the bus terminal until about 5:45 pm. We cuaght the subway to the Hotel, and when we arrived on solid ground, I SCREAMED out loud (mostly stuff along the lines of, "If I ever needed proof of the exitance of God, here it is.") my joy that we had finally arrived. We checked in, and got to our room, and called out parents, and headed up to the ballroom just before opening ceremionies were to begin. We didn't have our bdges yet, but we got okay'd by a bunch of people, and we were going to pick them up after in the Con Suite. I noted that some people looked like some people my friend and I knew back home, which was facinating and yet creepy at the same time. My friend was all, so which guy is Greg? I'm saying to my self, how can you NOT know what Greg looks like? Didn't you see his picture on the Gathering site?

Opening ceremonies was cool. We represented a few of the con virigns this year. On the way to the Con Suite afterwards, like 12 of of crammed into the elevtor. I don't remember exactly what I said, but I made a reference to Fang's saying of "Mommy" In the Bad Guys reel...and soon we were all screaming it. I was rather funny...After picking up our Con stuff, my friend and I went back to our room to put our newly aquired packages away, and headed to the 6th floor since we wanted to win Xanatos' money. Well, that got screwed over, so we went upstairs for Hudson's rant. It was great. I even had to correct Hudson at one point because he screwed up the line, "Put your head between your knees and kiss your ass good-bye" (afterwhich, he told me to shut up). My friend left in the middle of it, don't know where she went...

Afterwards, we had the Clan wars. I watched, and took a few pictures (which didn't come out too good, since it was a suck camera, but still...), and later decided to sign up. We stopped before it was my turn, since half the guns were broken or didn't shoot. I definatly plan to play next year. After, I headed down to the Blue Mug-a-guest. I'm surpirsed no one asked me to whip out my ID, sicne I don't like I'm over 18, I look maybe 15 (just for the record, I'm 19 1/2). I sat on the floor for a bit (with a perfect view), and later in a chair on the corner (So I was out of people's way of leaving). We finally got kicked out at like 1:30. I got to talk with Greg for all of 30 seconds and shook his hand (which was the reason I came in the first place). I went back to my room and to bed.

Saturday:

We got up at about 8 am to go to shopping. We had lots of fun. We got into a little bit of "touble" on the way back to the hotel. Hudson and a bunch of other people (I'm horrible at names, and was in no mood to pay attention anyhow) helped us out with, so I missed a bunch of stuff. Later, I hung out at the con suite (bringing twizlers for the gang) for a bit, discussing manga and evil twins until the Radio play. It was good, I didn't pick up on the fact that Seth was playing Claw at first (I wasn't thinking in the right terms at that moment), but I did later when he stood up. Some of the growls were quite funny. And Thom as Servarius was SOOO hilarious! It was just so wrong...

I think it was here when I got Greg to sign my book. He drew me a picture, but of exactly what, I couldn't tell. Then I got my picutre taken with him (and Greg, you're not looking at the camera!).

At dinner I got to sit at the table with Nichelle Nichols. It was okay, I admit I would have rather sit with Greg. The food was good, but I didn't eat much of it since I wasn't very hungry.

The Masquerade was fun. I look lots of pitures, but on a few, I have the back's of people's heads since they jumped in front at the last second. I ran out of film and couldn't change it fast enough, so I dont' have a good picture of Thom dropping his pants. I have the start of it though (hehe, nice boxers, Thom!), and I guess that'll do for me.

I didn't stay around for the dance, I think I went to my room for a bit maybe, and later to the Con Suite until like 1 am. I felt kinda dumb and almost invasive (being a newbie), but I'm one of those people that just have to be around other people. We listened to a bunch of music by people I'd never heard of.

Sunday:

I spend much of the day running around trying to solve the problem left over from yesterday. I missed the auction because of it. I spent time looking for my friend, and I couldn't seem to find here anywhere.

Closing cereminies was okay. I wasn't paying much attention, since I was having a bad day (Saturday's incident didn't help any at all). Plus, I was kinda mad at a few people for various reasons (I'd rather not say why, since I don't want to insult anyone).

Then the fighting between me and my friend started. She wanted to leave for the bus terminal, but I wanted to stay (I'd rather be killing time around people I sorta know than complete strangers). By the time we started to leave, she had to say by to everyone. I finally saw a teeny bit of the othercon art room (loved how inside on the board it was labeled "The Porno Room").

Bus ride home was okay. I spent the entire time listening to CD's. We would've gotten home in time, but the 15 minute rest stop turned into like 30 minutes. We missed the train back home, but we called my friend's boyfriend to pick us up because we had a feeling we were going to miss our train. We fought some more. I was trying to be respectful of people around us by telling her not to swear so darn much and turn the car radio down (that was very loud, and I told them if we get pulled over and fined $500 by the cops, I wasn't paying a penny. And yet I would probably be begged for it, as the only one in the car that had that much money in my bank account) when we hit my neighboorhood (which is a residential area that is NOT used to loud noise at all, and espicially not at 1 am on Monday morning when people have to get up and work). She made a point of saying next year she was taking her boyfriend, and they were going to room together, and that I might not be able to go (since it wouldn't be with her, and one reason our parents let us go is that we were going together). That REALLY pissed me off. I don't think she's even going to be dating him in next August, plus I can find other people to go with, and I have PLENTY of money to get me there and back. I havent talked to her, but I'm going to be compensated for this trip that I paid for ENTIRELY, one way or another (which cost me, oh, about $800. That's a LOT of money for someone with my age and current job).

I was glad to be home. After all that happened (especially Sunday, which was a REALLY bad day), I was glad it was over.

All in all, though, it was worth it, and I plan on going to Montreal next year if I possibly can.

Greg responds...

I hope you made it. And I hope you make it to Las Vegas this summer. Hope you and your friend reconciled too.

A lot of what you wrote was semi-mysterious. Incident on Saturday. People your mad at on Sunday. But I hope you had a good time overall.

Response recorded on January 14, 2005

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Greg Bishansky writes...

Gathering Journal
Knew I would get to this eventually.

Tuesday, June 24th.

Woke up early to pick up Aaron and Mara from LaGuardia Airport. Drove to my friend Nick's house in Pleasantville to pick him up, as I needed someone to navigate as I've never driven to the airport before. Well, the directions were confusing (it would take another trip later to teach me that Mapquest.com really sucked), but we got there eventually. I parked the car, Nick and I grabbed a quick bite-to-eat (though he bought a whole meal) at the food court, and waited for Aaron and Mara. They soon arrived, and we grabbed their luggage and brought it to my car, where we made the trip back home to Croton.

My brother's graduation was later in the day, so we all lounged around and rested before the event. We watched some anime music videos, and later on made our way to the graduation. We all agreed that the ceremony was way, way too long. It was a small class, and they filled it up with long speeches, and songs (I actually quietly heckled it). We knew more guests would be arriving later for the party at home, so as soon as Alex (my brother) got his diploma, we were out of there. Good thing to, cause people were already arriving. The food was great, we spent some time mingling with various guests. Got to see family I don't get to see often. And eventually Aaron and I went to pick up Lynati at the train station.

After the party ended, I drove Nick home, and came back here, where we checked e-mail, and then Aaron, Mara, Lynati, Alex and I watched this horrible animated Ben-Hurr movie, narrated by the great Charleton Heston himself. Bad animation, bad CGI, and a Jesus that looked like a child molester. All and all, it was fun to just rip into it. Then we called it a night.

Wednesday, June 25th.

Alex, Mara and I were the first ones up, we chatted out on the deck about things, and shared a smoke. Eventually, we had to get Aaron and Lynati up, cause we needed to drop Lynati off at the train station. After that, the three of us went shopping for con equipment, first to Wal-Mart and Office Max, then to a Toys R Us to grab some Nerf Guns for Clan Wars.

We came back, and watched Kevin Smith's classic film, Clerks. I've seen the movie a million times and it never gets old. But this was Aaron and Mara's first time seeing it, and since they were both fans of the six episode cartoon series based on the movie, I thought it was about damn time they finally saw it. ;)

Best reaction came from Mara after the incident in the movie with the Chewlies Gum rep that tried to start an anti-cigarette riot in the store.

Mara: I feel like going out and having a cigarette.

The movie ended, we had leftovers for dinner, and began loading up my car with Con equipment, as Aaron and I needed to be at the hotel early the next morning with it, just in case the Home Depot people showed up (they gave us an 8 AM to 5 PM window). So Aaron and I loaded up the cars, while Mara prepared envelopes up stairs.

We were done by a quarter past midnight, so we decided to get some sleep.

Thursday, June 26th.

Aaron and I woke up early, and headed down to the city. We got to the hotel shortly before 8 and had my car parked. We then proceeded across the street to take care of getting cash we owed the hotel. Chase Manhattan took a look at us and well, let's just say it took a very, very long time and a couple calls to his local Chase in San Antonio for the withdrawl to go through.

I ended up making my way back to the hotel, where I was spotted by Mooncat and Princess Alexandra (Mooncat I had met at G2002, but this was my first time meeting Princess). Also ran into Leo, and Dreamie and Winterwolf. We waited, and Aaron came back to check Greg Weisman, Thom Adcox, and Vic Cook into their hotel rooms. And soon, Mara arrived with Alex and Greg Weisman. My mom was nice enough to pick Greg up at the LaGuardia.

Everyone arrived, and we checked into the Con Suite. Soon we got a call that Home Depot arrived with the wood and panels, so we went outside and brought them in. We brought them up to the 18th floor, to the Madison Suite, which was where we were keeping our Dealer's Room and Art Show. Met Sapphire there also (had previously met her at previous Gatherings, but never really got to know her till this year). Now, I'm useless when it comes to things like power tools, so were Alex and Leo, so we all stood back while the women did the work. Quite funny actually.

We took our lunch break at Sbarro's. Tasty and cheap. And met up with Kathy Pogge there. Food was good, and we came back

A good portion of the rest of the day, and con planning is kind of a blurr, but Lynati and Ethan eventually showed up, and I saw many con early arrivals (like Hudson (though he was staff) and his crew). Then Thom and Vic showed up. Thom recognized me, which was cool ;)

(Also at some point, we had a quick meeting in the Con Suite, and Greg W laughed at me for looking dazed already)

The staff, and the guests, and some of the early arrivals went to dinner down at the Monster Sushi. I had eaten there before with Aaron, Mara and Lynati about a year or so ago, and the place is still good. Too small unfortunatly, as the large group we were could not get a table together. So we divided up by three tables. At my table was Aaron, Mara, Lynati and Ethan. We talked about the con, how to eat sushi, Aaron played with his chop sticks, and we discussed Mayor Bloomberg and NYC's new smoking ban (which none of us agreed with), and I remember Ethan was really upset about it (I don't blame him, I am too). Aaron made a great comment in reference to "Clerks". "Bloomberg is a representative of Chewlie's Gum."

We got our food, ate, and eventually we made our way back to the hotel, to the Con Suite. Revel and Spacebabie showed up around this time. We stuffed enevelopes and watched the first half of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. But it was late, so we all went to get some sleep. Aaron, Lyn and Mara in the bedroom, while I took the "couch that turns into a couch".

Friday, June 27th.

Woke up early to turn the Con Suite over to Batya and the Dreamer Clan. Saw Stephen somewhere around here. Met up with Kathy and we arranged Sky Top for panels. Then went down and had a shift at the Registration Desk in the Lobby. Got to meet a lot of familiar faces, and new faces during that. Though I got sick of people coming up and asking where the bathroom was. It got so bad, we had to put up a sign saying "Gathering 2003. We are NOT Hotel Staff. We do NOT know where the bathroom is". Of course people kept asking anyway.

My shift over, I went to a panel I was supposed to sit on, and my brain was on overload. I barely said a word. And it wasn't till later I finally thought of something to talk about. Like Kathy said, staff members should not provide content. Then it was down to audition for the Radio Play. Being on staff, I knew it was "The Reckoning" several weeks in advance. I was hoping to be cast as Thailog, cause Thailog is just good, old fashioned, evil fun. ;) Though I would find out the next day I was cast as Hollywood, but I was just happy to be in it.

After that, I browsed through the art room. Walked around the hotel to make sure everything was running smoothly, and nothing was on fire. Popped in on Mara briefly during her Round Robin. Couldn't stay though.

Eventually got back to Skytop, where Kathy and I, with help from volunteers set the room up for Opening Ceremonies. Lined up the chairs, and had one table in the middle for the projector. Then Leo, someone else (was it you Winterwolf?) tried to set up the screen, but couldn't get the damn thing open. I think Hudson finally got it open. It was also around now that I met Lain for the first time. I've been friends with her since shortly after G2001, and it was nice to finally meet her in person.

Everyone arrived, all the guests arrived. And it was time for Opening Ceremonies to begin. Now, I have had this fear of public speaking all my life. So when I first went up, first thing I did was bring up G2004. WHile watching them, I figured that I should just get over it. Mara offered to go up and speak, but I went up again, and I thought I did so much better. Made a short speech, and introduced the guests and staff. Then I turned it over to Greg Weisman, who made the same Opening Ceremonies speech he's made ever since the cons first began, but never get old.

Afterwards came Hudson's rant, which I'd have loved to stay for, but I had to set up a TV and VCR, and tapes in the London Suite for Mara's MST. This year's victims; "Enter Macbeth", and "Vendettas". We were supposed to head right into Greg and Thom's Othercon: Blue "Mug-A-Guest", but as learned at G2001, the letters in "Gathering of the Gargoyles" can be rearranged to "Get Greg In Here", so we ended up MSTing "Turf" and the first act of "The Reckoning".

Finally, Greg and Thom arrived. By now everyone has heard the big revelation, but I'll say it anyway. Lex is gay. And it took less than twenty four hours for that tidbit to reach the comment rooms ;) Greg obviously didn't plan to say it, but Anna has a way of getting things out of people ;)

Lots of great and funny, and perverted questions were asked, I think we would have been there al night had Hotel Security not told us to vacate. I think I met Allaine and Ellen Stolfa for the first time around here also.

"I have a ten inch tongue."
-Thom Adcox

Afterwards, Mara and I went to the COn Suite to get our bags, and settled in to the room Aaron got for the night. We were up for a couple more hours chatting with Hudson, Chris Rogers, Kythera and Cat. I was dozing off and really needed sleep, but I'm not one to be a party pooper. Besides, I really enjoy their company.

But we got to sleep.

Saturday, June 28th.

Got up early, and fetched sodas for Aaron and Mara before making our way to the sixth floor for a brief staff meeting.

Then went to a TGS panel, which consisted of little more than a former staff editor voicing complaints about another staffer. I didn't stay for the whole thing as I was pulled out by Goliath116 to let me know about a security issue. Which he and I made brief announcements about. I won't go into it here, but we ended up telling people not to leave the hotel unless they were in groups of four.

Went down and joined Mara for a shift at the Reg table. Sign was still up, and we still had people asking where the bathroom was. Spent a couple hours there, and then it was time for Radio Play rehearsal.

(somewhere before rehearsal, my aunt and uncle showed up, I gave them a brief tour, told them what the Gathering was. They couldn't stay long, but it was a pleasant surprise.)

Rehearsal went great. I was cast as Hollywood, and we went through Act One twice. Thom and Alex Garg (not to be confused with my brother) did this great Thailog and Sevarius Dr. Evil laughing scene. And speaking of Thom. He was great as Sevarius. Truly, truly hillarious. Thom really needs to get on to the internet, and visit the CRs.

Greg also made a funny joke about Batya and Alex Wittenberg. They were cast as Demona and Fang. And when Demona says "he's a fool but he may be of some use," and Fang says "I can work with that." Greg turns to them and says, "I bet that's what you said at the wedding." Which got a big laugh. No offense to both Batya and Alex, tyhey're great people, but that was just plain funny.

As soon as we finished Act 3, the hotel catering told us to clear out while they set up the banquet. Which caused me to spend the next several minutes arguing with them, cause the Radio Play was schedualed. but we soon cleared things up, and held the Radio Play. Which went over very well. Aside from grunts and roars, I only had one line, but it got a big laugh. I think Gore tried to one-up me, but never! I am master of the stupid voice! ;)

Afterwards it was time for the banquet. Nichelle Nichols arrived, and I have to say I was impressed. The woman looked and carried herself like a queen. And speaking of stunning looking women, Karine, Sapphire and Dreamie arrived and dressed to kill. Damn, did they look great.

We all took our seats, with at least one staff member minding each guest. I sat at Greg's table. Also there was Lexy, Revel, Spacebabie, AlexGarg... and I'm blanking out on the others. The food was great, I especially liked the rice and chicken. At some point I made this observation. "I kind of feel sorry for the people sitting with Nichelle. I mean look at her. They're all going to have to watch themselves and how they eat. Wheras Greg is probably almost as big a slob as the rest of us." To which Greg said; "Actually, I'm probably a bigger slob than the rest of you." We discussed quite a few things at the table. Revel kept a great conversation going. Lexy and I discussed Griffith from "Berserk" briefly. And we had a conversation on X2, and why Greg thinks Magneto's name is corny. I respectfully disagree though ;)

Dinner ended, and we set up for the Masquerade. Dreamie and I were running this. She MCed the event while I handled the behind the scenes organizing and the entries. The number of costumes dropped, but what we had was great. We had a great Lady Macbeth, two great Owens, Patrick and Karine as Anastasia and Fox, Revel as Vinnie, Spacebabie as Robyn Canmore, A Fan as "A Highly Educated Individual with a job straight out of college" (actually, A Fan wasn't going to enter, but I put him up to it), and of course Hudson and Kythera's show. I'm blanking out on everyone. Though I personally thought it was a shame that Aaron and Mara couldn't enter as Severus Snape and Herminone (I can't spell her name, sorry ;)).

Then came the Awards Ceremony, which ended with Siryn getting her much deserved Fan Guest of Honor award. She may not think so, but no one deserved that award more than she did. I hope she enjoys it.

After that was over, it was time for our showing of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", at first I wasn't going to attend, and went down to Chris Roger's room to watch anime. They were playing the Animatrix, which unfortunatly did not impress me, so I made my way back up to Rocky. There were problems with the DVD player (I swear that thing never gave me a problem before), but Anna and Jill were kind enough to... ahem, entertain everyone till this was sorted out. Then we had a great Rocky showing.

Afterwards I went to sleep in the con suite on "the couch that transforms into a couch".

Sunday, June 29th.

Woke up early, showered and dressed, and picked up sodas for Aaron and Mara. it was time for the auction, Aaron was in charge of the auction, and Cat resumed her role from last year of vibrating the auction items. And encouraging people to bid by removing an article of clothing as the bids increased. She was down to her bra and panties when "The Last" broke $750. Aaron, who never needs an excuse to show off his Demona tattoo manned the auction shirtless as well. And I think at some point Greg agreed to take off his shirt if anything broke $1,000. Which didn't happen.

The auction kind of died off when most of the big spenders went off to the "Team Atlantis" panel, but we resumed and sold off what we could after Closing Ceremonies.

Ah Closing Ceremonies. Always bittersweet. I introed my staff again, and let G2004 pitch their con as well. Thanked everyone for coming, then turned it over to Greg.

Then I went down to the Con Suite after Patrick set up his laptop there, so we could accept PayPal payments for auction items. While doing this, I corrupted Batya by showing her the first two episodes of "Clerks" ;)

Since the Dreamer Clan was bidding their farewell, I spent most of the day in the con suite, making sure it wasn't trashed and nothing was stolen. Helped clean up where ever I could, and eventually showed the remaining four "Clerks" episodes. Then we watched "Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker", anime music vids, and later "Cowboy Bebop the Movie". Seth made a great comment here. "This movie is about SARS! Nano-SARS!"

After that was over, we watched anime music vids again, but I was exhausted and went to sleep.

Monday, June 30th.

Woke up, showered and dressed, and Patrick, Mara and I, (forget who else), cleared up the con suite before we had to check out. We relocated to Aaron and Mara's room for the rest of the day. And later, most of us took a trip down to Midtown Comics. The majority of the time we spent in the pr0n section. I believe it was Aaron, Goliath116, Cat, Revel, Spacebabie, Y2Kecate, and I. Revel and Spacebabie cut out early. But the rest of us, shared pr0n, and just looked at it for a long time. Some might say we're all a little too comfortable with each other.

Came back the hotel, but it was almost time for me to leave. Had the hotel staff bring my car around, while we transported all my crap and other stuff to the car. I said good bye to everyone and drove off. I ended up leaving my katana in Aaron's room, but that was okay, because I had to come back the next day to pick up Greg W and takin him to LaGuardia. but first I went to work to cash my paycheck, went home and ate dinner, and got myself directions from the Hotel to LaGuardia from mapquest.com.

Tuesday, July 1st.

Lesson of the day. NEVER, EVER, EVER Use MapQuest.com.

Started driving back into the city, and as I approached the hotel, something happened and my engine began to sound like a lawnmower. but figured I'd make it. Got my katana and said good bye to Aaron again. Said bye to Carol, and Greg and i got into my car. Some small talk, we discussed comics, and his time in NYC. He mentiond pcking up "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen", and having liked it. He thought making Captain Nemo an Indian was interesting, cause he's never seen him played like that before, and it was a long time since either he or I had read the book (actually I checked the book recently and saw that Verne wrote Nemo as an Indian, the movies just made him a Brit.)

Then Murphy's Law kicked in. The direcions sucked and we were going in circles. We passed the Hotel Pennsylvania at least twice. They wouldn't let us get onto 34th St, where we needed to be to take the Midtown tunnel. A guy in a van smashed my mirror, got out, tossed $20 and left. Greg wrote down his license plate number though. The transmission in my car started going crazy up the yin-yang. We finally go to the tunnel, and missed the exit, drove all over Queens, trying to get back onto the highway. Almost ended up in Brooklyn. I'm panicing, and Greg is keeping a level head. But we got directions, and made it to the airport. Greg thankfully made his flight. He told me he's going to make fun of me in Ask Greg, but it's all in good fun. I look forward to seeing it. It was an adventure. And looking back, I can laugh about it, though I was a wreck for a couple days after it happened.

My car has been repaired, nothing bad happened, and it's running beautifully again. Figures, of all the times it goes crazy, it had to happen with Greg Weisman in my car. But we're cool. Everything's cool.

Hosting the Gathering was a real experience. It was hard difficult work, and I doubt I'll ever do it again. But everyone seems to have had a good time. And I thought it was time to give something back to the series in fandom that I love. So, I'd love to thank everyone on my staff. You all did great. Best staff I could ever ask for. So, Aaron, Mara, Lynati, Dreamie, Winterwolf, Carol, Kathy, Patrick, Hudson, Noel, JEB (you helped a lot), and Jen (I know you couldn't make it, but I still feel I couldn't have done it without you), all my best regards to each of you, and I hope to see you all in the near future. To all the Security (Kythera, Goliath116, Zaius, Duncan, etc), and volunteers, you did great. To everyone for coming, this fandom is truly awesome. And to my brother, Alex, you weren't on staff, but you broke your back for us. Thank you.

The weekend has become a big blurr, so I apologize if i forgot anyone or anything. But to everyone, you all Rule!

I hope everyone goes to Gathering 2004. Montreal has a great staff, and a great location. G2004 is going to kick ass! Give Karine, Sapphire, and the rest of the staff all the support in the world. Being on con staff is not easy. It's a very hard job. be thankful there are people dedicated enough to do this every year. It's a labor of love.

Greg responds...

Amen, brother.

Ah, yes, Mr. Bishansky's Wild Ride. Everyone should try it.

Response recorded on January 14, 2005


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