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Todd Jensen writes...

An "Upgrade" question. During the gargoyles' fight with the Pack at the bank at the beginning of the episode, Wolf shouts, as the Pack is retreating, "This isn't over!" The last time that I watched this episode on tape, I realized that those were the exact same words that Hakon shouted in "Awakening Part One" after the gargoyles had turned back his first attack on the castle.

Did you know at the time that Wolf was descended from Hakon, and put that line of Wolf's in as a foreshadowing of "Vendettas"?

Greg responds...

Yes.

Response recorded on May 02, 2005

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Anonymous writes...

Is Nokkar the Sentinel your version of the Green Lantern in the Gargoyles Universe just as Cuchullain and Coyote were your ideas of Thor and Ultron?

Greg responds...

Cuchullain wasn't inspired by Thor. In fact if anything, I was disappointed that the character kept overlapping into Thor-territory.

Ultron was AN inspiration for Coyote... in the sense that we kept bringing the robot back and numbering each new incarnation, but I think that's where the inspiration ended. They don't have much else in common.

Nokkar has no connection to Green Lantern in any significant way that I can see, even now that you bring it up.

In any case, this notion of "versions" (implying that all we were trying to do was to duplicate existing characters) is somewhat offensive. I'm not sure if that was your intent, and I don't want to over-react. But I thought you should know.

Response recorded on April 29, 2005

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Anonymous writes...

Space-Spawn Biology

Okay out of curiosity are the Space-Spawn solid flesh and blood like gargoyles, humans and the yetis from your Roswell Conspiracy thing or are they like energy or a mixture of energy and flesh like the children of Oberon or the Sidhe from the Roswell Conspiracy Show or are they something else entirely?

Greg responds...

Given the way you've phrased things, you're sort of forcing me to choose (c). But had you phrased it differently...

Response recorded on April 29, 2005

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Anonymous writes...

Greg responds...

Some of it came from a natural bio-chemical affinity for certain types of technology. They were literally born (forged) to travel in space, for example.

Much of it came from the spoils of war and an efficient and frightening ability to mobilize a war industry to back their war machine.

Good question, though.

recorded on 08-29-03

On the question of Space-Spawn technology what exactly do you mean by "biochemical affinity"?

Greg responds...

It has to do with their biology, their anatomy. But I'm not gonna go into details at this time.

Response recorded on April 29, 2005

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Jahadeem Clearmore writes...

And to think I've been trying to digitally tape all the episodes and have been cropping out commercials so that I can get the whole series.... Got quite a few mpeg files, so far have been able to get about 10 episodes intact and hope to get more...
Any chance to get the Toon Disney channel to have a marathon?
Be much easier that way :)

Greg responds...

They usually have a halloween marathon. But I'd go out and purchase the DVD...

Response recorded on April 28, 2005

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Lawrence Matheson writes...

How similar are coyote 1.0 and the program Xanitos put on Coldstone to monitor his personalities as they both seemed to be based on Xanitos but were either an AI?Did they know of each other?

Greg responds...

I'm sure they had similarities. Neither were full-fledged Artificial Intelligences. Did they know of each other? Uh... I don't know. Never thought about it. Does it matter?

Response recorded on April 28, 2005

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Karc writes...

First off, thank you and the staff of Gargoyles for giving us such a great series. I have a few questions about The Goliath Chronicles though, as I never got a good understanding of its production. Why was it distinctly different than the first two season of Gargoyles? Was there some sort of new direction that Disney decided to take with the series, or was this the sole discretion of the creators? Actually, I was also wondering how much creative freedom you really had on the first two seasons. My only guess has to do with syndication vs. network standards, but I think I'm way off. Help, I'm confused. Thanks.

Greg responds...

You're not way off. We had considerable freedom the first two years, and one of the main reasons was because we were a syndicated series.

The third year - The Goliath Chronicles - was network and had much tougher standard & practices rules. But the main reason that the third season was different was because they replaced nearly the entire crew, including all the producers and story editors.

Response recorded on April 27, 2005

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The Tigress writes...

I have a question regarding the stone sleep of the gargoyles and the changes in the O-zone layer due to pollution:

Since gargoyles get their energy from the sun's rays while in stone sleep, I was wondering if the difference in the O-zone layer from one thousand years ago up to the present has any positive or negative effects to the amount or the kind of energy the gargoyles recieve? Or if it even has an effect?

Greg responds...

I don't know. It hasn't had any effect that the Gargoyles immediately noticed.

Response recorded on April 27, 2005

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Don J. writes...

Hello, when the first episode of Gargoyles was released on video I was dissappointed to see that it had been severely cut down. it went from a 5-part series which should have ran over 2 hours, to less the 90 mins. Will the DVD's have the complete series premiere?

Greg responds...

They do. And they are available now.

Response recorded on April 26, 2005

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Francois Ferland writes...

Hello yet another time Greg! Sorry to flood you with questions as of late but keep fate, as I'm running out of things to ask you.

1. This one's simple and concerns the Children of Oberon.

Almost everyone uses Children of Oberon and Fae interchangeably. But after going through the archive for said beings, you once mentionned that Fae (or is it Fey? No one seems to agree on the spelling) are only one particular group of Oberon's Children akin to the Norse or African pantheon.

I'm not really knowledgeable in myths and legends, so could you tell me who the Fey are, with example from the show? I assume (perhaps or should I say probably wrongly) that it simply represents another pantheon, maybe the Anglo-Saxon one (is it Anglo-Saxon if I'm refering to England, Scotland, Ireland and other countries nearby) in which case, Puck, Oberon and Titania might be a part of it, being quite ingrained in English litterature.

But then again, what do I know?

2. This one's not a question but a personal comment, so I can get away with it not being on the same subject :) . It just dawned on me that by creating such a complex and (in itself) realistic universe with Gargoyles, you ran the risk of the viewers not "getting" many of the subtleties of the show, its universe and characters.

With your average TV show, things are often very clear. Heroes, while hardly perfect, are almost always morally right, while bad guys, which are not always purely evil persons, are almost always despisable no matter how they try to justify themselves. You rarely see a character that can't basically be classified as "good" or "evil", or to use more appropriate terms, morally "right" or "wrong".

Also, most of the time, what you see of a character on screen is a pretty accurate representation of who that person is and what they do all the time. So if someone is always seen giving money to the poor and never seen doing anything reprehensible, you assume that person is caring and generous. It never dawns on you that the man in question might actually beat up his wife everyday, because it wouldn't "fit" with the image shown to you. Yet it would not be impossible, as people are known to have very selective values sometimes. He might feel bad for those less fortunate while thinking that "disciplining" his wife is the right thing to do for a husband. Like I said, such is rarely the case, and what is shown is often intended to be representative of the whole truth.

And finally, things are often easily explained in most TV shows. The villain did this because of that, the aliens invaded for such reason, etc.

What am I getting at? That a lot of the questions you get at Ask Greg are due to the above. Although the fans recognize and live the show for its maturity and above-average (and that's putting it lightly) complexity, they fail to realize that things in the Gargoyles universe, just like in real life, don't have easy answers.

The seemingly benign Weird Sisters lost a large part of the popular vote when it seemed all their interventions were geared for the sole purpose of revenge. Yet, you said yourself that the Sisters have many aspects, with vengeance and fate being a part of them. We at first ASSUMED they were completely (or close to) benign, and then we changed our perception to one where they are only after revenge. And yet, like you said, things aren't that simple, and we STILL don't know much about who the Sisters really are. The fate part might play a larger role later on, or they could yet reveal another part of their identity. In the end, they are complex characters who cannot be summed up in a few sentence, which is what most people seem to want.

Oberon is another victim of this. I admit that I too, thought he was a big arrogant jerk, whom Titania manipulated all the time to get what she felt was best for everyone. But like you made me realize, he has a lot of quality, the first being that he cared enough about mortals and how his Children dealt with them to force them out in the real world for a millenium in the hope of them gaining some maturity. And in every story we saw with him, he always ended up being generally fair to most. He isn't perfect (and who is?); is not above pettiness and anger for example. But his behaviour, from his POV, is perfectly acceptable, if not admirable. And there is so much about him we don't know and haven't seen to be able to judge his being accurately. For all we know and despite appearances, Titania might not be THAT more mature than him.

The list goes on and on. People (and I'm guilty of that as well) want easy answers where there are only complex explainations. I hated the concept of Anubis on my first viewing of "Grief" because it seemed at first that all death on Earth were and had always been caused by the guy. It just seemed so cheap, yet I accepted it at face value because it was what was shown at the time (and like I said, we tend to not question things seemingly presented as fact). Now, thanks to you, I know better, with what little you let on about death-gods and their connection to death and such. And just like there's no solid rule as to wether the Children can go against Oberon's law. It depends on all sorts of things, like intent, bending the law itself and people's words and so long and so forth.

In short, thanks for Ask Greg, I've gotten a better perspective on the complexity of the Gargoyles universe. It doesn't mean I'm no longer looking for easy answers, but I understand why you might reply that "there are no easy answers" or "it isn't that simple", because in your mind, that's really the case. Thanks again for your patience and dedication!

Greg responds...

1. The fans took to using the term Fae (spelled variously) as a replacement term for the admittedly awkward "Children of Oberon". Sometimes in answering questions, I have slipped and used the term as well, but I was never comfortable with it. And I'm even less comfortable in trying to define it as a subset of the Children. I haven't researched the subject enough.

2. Thank you for the kind words.

Response recorded on April 26, 2005

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Lawrence Matheson writes...

will we be able to get gargoyles on vhs or just dvd?

Greg responds...

Currently, the new release of the first season is only on DVD.

Response recorded on April 25, 2005

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Storyseeker writes...

With regards to the character gargbeast Boadicea... I assume you named her after the queen of the ancient Britains? If so then you pronounced her name wrong. It came out as Bow-dee-ca, whereas the real queens name was Bow-da-cea.

Greg responds...

Your phonetic spelling leaves a little to be desired in terms of clarity, but thanks for trying to help.

Response recorded on April 25, 2005

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Punchinello writes...

Hi Mr. Weisman.

Have you ever noticed that anonymity cant disguise transparent stupidity?

I have.

Greg responds...

Careful, there. Because even though I tend to agree, I also think that anonymity can't disguise transparent arrogance either... ;)

Response recorded on April 22, 2005

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MMJ writes...

I know that Hudson is Broways dad.Butwho is Broways mom?

Greg responds...

Broadway had many rookery mothers. His biological mother was Hudson's mate.

Response recorded on April 22, 2005

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Miranda writes...

Hi I am alomost 12 and I love Gargoyles.And I know that there are lots of kids that like Gargoyles. So why would you want to make it a adult TV show?[If they make new shows]Bye

Greg responds...

Well by now you're probably fourteen. But I never said I WANTED to make it an adult show. We always wrote the show to appeal to an extremely wide age range, and that would still be my preference. But if the only offer I had was to make it for adults, I could do that too. (That offer is extremely unlikely to come from Disney, btw.)

Response recorded on April 21, 2005

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Miranda writes...

how old is Elisa?

Greg responds...

By the end of 1996, she was 28. So now in 2005, she's about 36 or 37.

Response recorded on April 21, 2005

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Miranda writes...

who is Goliths dad.

Greg responds...

Goliath had many rookery fathers, including Hudson. We don't know (or much care) who is biological father was.

Response recorded on April 20, 2005

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Puck , the triskster , alko horollio puck languge writes...

Can the Phoenix Gate trvel to the future too , or just the past

Greg responds...

Either. It's all relative anyway.

Response recorded on April 20, 2005

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"drunk" writes...

On city of stone 1 when demona was casting the spell,was it on perpos that she used the "devel horns" hand gester?

Greg responds...

I don't know what you mean by "on purpose"...?

Response recorded on April 20, 2005

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Francois Ferland writes...

Sorry, it's me again. I know you must be getting tired of me, but I just rediscovered Ask Greg after five years, and I have tons of questions to ask.

I have an animation question.

1. I'm fairly certain without being 100% sure that all the episodes of a multi-parter are being done by a single studio. Is that true? It sure seems that way, like "Awakenings" and "Hunter's Moon" having gorgeous animation throughout and "City of Stone" and "Avalon" having moderately good animation all accross their parts.

I can see how it might be better this way. It insures a lot more consistency within the same story, and that includes scene continuity from one part to the next. Character models and background for all parts will be done by the same staff or supervised to make sure they fit together. I can't see communication ever being good enough between two distant animation companies to insure that two episodes would mesh together seemlessly.

Of course, sometimes it might be difficult for a company to complete 3, 4 or even 5 episodes at the same time, but I assume that those studios had their episodes assigned a lot of time in advance, with as few other episodes as possible being expected from them while the multi-parter was being done.

You mind shedding some light on the matter?

Thanks!

Greg responds...

As far as I can recall, multi-parters went to the same studios... although often not to the same exact crews. (Often a studio has multiple crews.) For all the reasons you stated above, it makes more sense.

Response recorded on April 20, 2005

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Francois Ferland writes...

Hello again Greg! You know, this is getting addictive...

A Titania question, one I hope has never been asked, or at least not the way I'll be asking it...

I am, of course, refering to Titania's secret whisper to Fox. Since I got the hint long ago that, barring extreme circumstances, you'll take the content of her secret to your grave, I'll ask you something else.

I know you know what she told Fox. Now, my question, depending on your answer, has the potential of getting people off your back and have them never ask that damn question again.

1. Is Titania's secret to Fox of any value to us? Wait, let me clarify before you say something like "Define value". It has the potential to be a big revelation ala "Luke, I am your father", or it could be something simple of no real value to us fans except to satisfy our curiosity, like "Take care, child".

See, if it's not important for us to know, you can just answer no and be done with that question forever.

But if it IS of value to us, you'll probably just answer something non-commital and we (meaning other fans, not me) will just keep on pestering you forever...

Of course, knowing you, you could just as easily answer "Not saying" either way to keep us confused, since I'm beginning to think you like playing this game of leaving us in the dark, dangling a carrot in front of us to keep us moving foward just a bit further but never letting og of it :)

Anyway, thanks for the answer, no matter what it might be, and take care.

Greg responds...

The truth is, as I've mentioned before, is that the question has been built up WAY beyond any potential "value" as you put it. That's not to say it has no value, but I have a strong feeling that the answer would now be anti-climactic. Disappointing. In it's original context, it was probably kinda cool and neat and clever and, above all else, right. But I don't think the answer now lives up to the hype. That's the MAIN reason that I'm still reluctant to reveal it. In your minds, it's still very cool... in the not knowing, it's still very cool. Presented with it as words on a screen... maybe it's just an "eh".

Response recorded on April 19, 2005

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matt writes...

Demona's Clan

1. At its highest population (which i'm assuming was in 1057, right before Canmore killed the Clan) how large was Demona's Moray Clan? Was it what you consider a "full Clan"? Was it larger than the Wyvern Clan in 994 AD?

2. We know that the Wyvern Clan split sometime after the last rookery of eggs was laid in 988 AD and that the split-Clan was already destroyed by the time Demona encounters some of its remnants in "City of Stone", so when was this spin-off Wyvern Clan destroyed?

3. Have you figured out what happened to the spin-off Wyvern Clan after the left Wyvern? Have you thought about their story at all? We know that Demona's Second in "City of Stone" belonged to this Clan, have you thought of his story before he met up with Demona? Was this Clan destroyed by humans also?

4. When Canmore destroyed Demona's Clan in 1057 there was probably a rookery of eggs that were to hatch in 1058. Did Canmore destroy these also?

5. When Demona and the other rouge gargoyles came together to make a Clan, how was it decided that Demona should be the Leader?

Greg responds...

1. No, it was rather skimpy. Twenty gargs at the most, and most of them adult males.

2. I'm not tying myself down to a date with that yet.

3. I do have some ideas on this, but they're not fully fleshed out in my head, so I'm not going to go into them now.

4. I'm not sure Demona's nomadic clan (cobbled from remnant survivors of multiple other Scottish clans) had any eggs.

5. "Rouge Gargoyles"? As opposed to say, "Blush Gargoyles"? Yeah, yeah, I know it's just a typo. But it's a good one. Demona, as I think you can imagine, ASSERTED her leadership... physically. Also, she gathered the "clan". It didn't just come together.

Response recorded on April 19, 2005

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matt writes...

Hi Greg.

You've mentioned before that in 994 AD no one even thought that the Wyven Clan was the last of its kind and that it was probably assumed that there were other Clans in Scotland and other locales. So my question is, why did Goliath not take the eggs and try to find one of these Clans? I know he was emotionally torn apart by losing his Clan, first by the Massacre and then by the Magus' Sleep Spell, but there was still some Clan left... the Eggs. If he believed there were other clans around why did he choose to put his children in the care of someone he just began to trust. Later in the series he speaks about how trust has to be earned, and yet he puts huge trust in several people who have insulted, betrayed, and cursed his Clan in just the last several days. I don't mean to come across like i'm trying to trick you or corner you with some inaccuracy, i'm just genuinely curious about what you think of Goliath's motivations and actions in this scene. And, of course, the same question could be asked of Demona. She actually did find another Clan to join, and could've taken the eggs with her, but she didn't. I'd love to hear what you think about all this.

Greg responds...

Demona's easier to explain, I think. She didn't find another clan to join... years later, she gathered a handful of scattered, clanless gargoyles into a makeshift clan. At the time, however, I think she was too racked with guilt. She couldn't face the inevitable questions. Couldn't "face" the eggs themselves. She sent herself into exile -- a traditional gargoyle punishment in those days.

And maybe the same basic thing was going on with Goliath. He couldn't "face" anything. Not the eggs or his responsibility to them. This act -- or lack of action -- on his part ironically resulted in the eggs being saved on Avalon. But at the time, one has to regard it as an act of tremendous irresponsibility. I forgive Goliath because I believe he was suicidally depressed. I'm sure -- as "Shadows of the Past" attempted to illustrate -- he was suffering from a massive case of survivor's guilt and the feeling that as Leader of the clan, he had failed miserably... at the cost of each and every life... including Hudson, Bronx and the Trio. One might argue that simply asking the Princess to watch over the eggs required Herculean effort on his part. All he wanted was oblivion, but he had just enough strength of mind left to obtain the Princess' vow -- to assign the responsibility that should have been his. I don't think he thought about how she would protect them. I don't think he thought, "Hey, I should tell her where the nearest clan is for a convenient drop-off." I think he just barely managed to get her to relieve that last burden, so that he could slip into what he had to believe was permanent slumber... again, an exile... from the living world. (Too much sleep being a definite symptom of depression.) Also since he believed he failed miserably with the clan, he may also have truly believed that he wasn't capable of handling the responsibility for the eggs -- that even the Princess was better qualified in light of his failure.

Response recorded on April 18, 2005

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Coyote Inventor writes...

What is a sense distortion laser beam that Coyote 1.0 and Coyote 4.0 had .

Greg responds...

If we're talking about the same thing, it effects things like balance and vision and sound in the brain... makes everything go all Salvadore Dali on ya.

Response recorded on April 18, 2005

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Francois Ferland writes...

Hi Greg. Another question, a short(er!) one this time concerning Xanatos.

1. Following "The Journey", you said Xanatos would still retain his ambitions despite having different priorities now and having made peace with Goliath.

Since Xanatos has a tendency to be a bit ruthless whenever it fits his goals, were you planing on having this cause tension between him and the clan in the future, who would obviously be aware of some of his dealings now that they're back on his doorstep? I doubt Goliath would be happy finding out the landlord was involved in immoral business similar to the Matrix or the Mutates...

Thanks again for listening, we really appreciate it!

Greg responds...

Xanatos isn't a dope. He'd take precautions to keep his business private. And I don't see his basic methods changing, even if his priorities have shifted. And I don't see Goliath suddenly developing complete trust in David either...

So you do the math...

Response recorded on April 15, 2005


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