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REJOINDERS 2005-04 (Apr)

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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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