A Station Eight Fan Web Site

Gargoyles

The Phoenix Gate

Ask Greg Archives

Episodic Details

Archive Index


: « First : « 100 : « 10 : Displaying #544 - #553 of 643 records. : 10 » : Last » :


Posts Per Page: 1 : 10 : 25 : 50 : 100 : All :


Bookmark Link

Todd Jensen writes...

Just read your "Awakening Part Two" ramble, and thought I'd give you my comments on it as well.

One thing that I particularly like about that episode, where the gargoyles awaken in New York for the first time, is just how impressive, awe-inspiring, and almost alien the city looks. It's the familiar Manhattan skyscrapers, but we can actually see them through the gargoyles' eyes as something mysterious and strange, so different from the medieval world that they were hatched in. Nothing like seeing the modern world through a 10th century gargoyle's eyes to make us appreciate how amazing things that we usually take for granted can be (as Elisa mentions in Part Three when she's giving Goliath the grand tour).

As for Xanatos - the first time that I saw "Awakening", I was never really certain as to what to make of him. I suspected that he would ultimately turn out to be the villain, but I found myself hoping that he really was on the level until Elisa's revelations to Goliath in Part Five forced me to realize that his seeming benevolence was just an act. (I went through the same thing in "Metamorphosis", where the first time around, I actually believed Xanatos to be telling the truth about not having wanted Derek to get turned into a Mutate - and by then I knew what he was really like! Funny the sort of effect that Mr. X has on you, isn't it?)

One part of the episode that I always find a little amusing, oddly: the bit where Lexington catches the grenade, stares at it for a moment, then tosses it away over his shoulder with explosive results.

I also liked the bits about Lexington asking the female Xanatos Commando member if she was a Viking, and Hudson initially mistaking their helicopter for a dragon. One of the things that really appealed to me about the early episodes of the series was the gargoyles trying to understand the world of the 1990's while still stuck with a 990's world-view.

Greg responds...

Numbering your paragraphs...

1. I'm glad it had that effect. It is a cool moment, but you always worry that the audience is just gonna say, "Big Buildings. Big deal."

2. Yeah, David is just so ingratiating. It's hard not to want to shake his hand, even thought the odds are even that there's a knife in it.

3. That bit amuses me too.

4. I hope we didn't lose that tenth century POV too quickly. I think the first season maintained it well, but we lost it a bit in the second. OR rather, we applied it emotionally rather than experientially. Which may have been to subtle an approach. We just figured that after a year, the gargs couldn't be that shocked by, say, a toaster anymore.

Response recorded on March 31, 2000

Bookmark Link

Chapter XII: "Her Brother's Keeper"

I think Michael Reaves came up with this title. I wanted to shorten it to "Brother's Keeper" so that it would implicitly include the Trio, Goliath and his late rookery-brothers, Jackal & Hyena. But Michael talked me out of it. He was right.

This was the second out of three episodes where we attempted to do Kenner a solid by inserting a toy into the series. The Helicopter was a much more awkward fit than Brooklyn's motorcycle had been. But we all agreed to make it work. Originally, Lex was going to repair Derek's police chopper, but someone suggested using the Pack 'copter instead. So we tried to make it all play as organic as possible. Lex and the Simulator, to set up his ability to pilot the thing. Broadway bringing up the obvious question as to why winged gargs would need a chopper, so that the audience didn't think we were ignoring those points. Etc. And in the end, it still plays artificial. But fortunately it's in an episode that is othewise filled with tremendous emotional honesty. So maybe it all balances out.

Of course, the irony was that Kenner never made a gargoyle helicopter. Without telling us, they switched to a sky sled sorta thing, because they couldn't figure out how to do a helicopter that successfully interacted with the garg-toys' wings. No good deed goes unpunished.

Broadway: "If cops were meant to fly they'd have wings." I love that line.

Derek - This was part of our plan to turn Derek into Catscan. Of course, the Catscan name was eventually dropped for Talon. The original plan for Catscan had him being a scientist that worked for and was duped by Xanatos. Picture us trying to combine Derek and Anton. (I know it's a mind-bender. It was more like Derek's personality and Anton's expertise.) But the Garg Universe told me otherwise once we created Derek for "Deadly Force". He'd be the cursed one. And this was just step one. Step only, if we never got a second season. So we left it open ended. And I think it's a pretty stunning bittersweat ending. The snow starts to fall (all very symbolic) and we don't know if Derek will listen to Elisa's tape of Fox or not. And we leave Elisa, standing, wondering, thinking, as the snow falls. It's not your typical Saturday morning cartoon conclusion -- not even for a drama. What did you all think at the end of that after your first viewing?

The snow became a very important visual metaphor for me. I exchanged a few faxes with Japan to make sure (that contrary to the script) there was NO SNOW on the ground at Xanadu, no snow at all, until it starts falling during Elisa's last conversation with Derek.

CONTINUITY:

Sure, Jackal and Hyena were at large, but we establish here that Wolf and Fox are in prison. Anyone looking back at "Thrill" would know that this makes sense. Lex and Goliath take Dingo, J & H out on the roof. No human witnesses to their evil. And they didn't do anything against anyone but the gargs. But Wolf and Fox were photographed taking human (well, fashion model) hostages. So they go to prison. Dingo goes to Europe. J&H are still around to do mischief. But meanwhile, most normal humans still regard them as celebrities, until Hyena pulls a knife. (We had planned once-upon-a-time to make knives a bigger element/part of their arsenal. But it was a bit problematic S&P-wise, and it became moot after "Upgrade".)

Broadway, ever Elisa's biggest fan, thinks Derek should just trust her.

Brooklyn, still scarred from trusting Demona, points out that trust doesn't mean much without honesty.

Lex, still pissed at the Pack, just wants to catch them.

And it's nice to see Morgan and Matt again. If you like guys in towels.

Xanatos, as usual, is so cool.

"Never a gargoyle around when you need one."

"Detective. Always a pleasure."

"My life is anything but dull."

And that's just his dialogue. His plan is audacious. He has Owen call the Police, counts on Elisa and the gargs to rescue him from Jackal & Hyena. (We loved playing that irony.) And instructs Fox to tell Elisa everything. He's so confident, he even has no qualms about leaving Elisa and Derek alone to talk at the end.

And you gotta love a guy named Xanatos naming his retreat Xanadu.

I love the Hannibal Lechter inspired scene between Elisa & Fox. This of course was the moment when we all figured out what the garg universe already knew: "My god, Fox is in love with Xanatos." I hadn't known that back when Fox was created in the development days of yore. Hadn't known it when we did "Thrill". Hadn't known it until we were way into script on this. But there it was. And nothing would ever be the same. (Did you guys realize it there? And how far did you think we'd take it?)

Suddenly, the events of "Leader of the Pack", "Eye of the Beholder" and "Vows" seemed to spread out before me. And Alexander became a glimmer in my eye (if not Xanatos').

Elisa acts true to form here. What we'd spell out later in "Revelations" is already implied here. Elisa is extremely (if subconsciously) reluctant to share her gargoyles secret with anyone. Three times Goliath tells her to share her secret with her brother. Three times she finds an excuse not to. (Frank Paur found this repetitive. He tried to take one of the scenes and make it play more subjective. Like Elisa imagining a conversation with Goliath, while the actual Goliath was sleeping in stone. It was a sweet idea, but it didn't make any logical sense in terms of story flow and forced us to make storyboard changes and call retakes in order to get the version we've all seen.)

We loved playing irony. Elisa and Peter are right about Xanatos, but dead wrong about the way they're trying to control Derek's life. Diane and Derek are absolutely right about Derek needing to control his own destiny, but make the tragic choice of trusting that destiny to Xanatos. Those two scenes are terrific. (Helped immensely by vocal performances. And I also love Nichelle Nichols as the diamond exchange saleslady.)

Derek thinks Elisa thinks Xanatos is the "Prince of Darkness". "He practically is!" she responds. <SIGH> Tricksters are always being confused with Satan.

But that was more irony. It's not the demonic-looking gargoyles who are being compared to Satan. It's the handsome, rich Bruce Wayne-esque playboy. I guess the goatee helps.

My daughter's reactions:

As you may have gathered, it's become fascinating to me to see how Erin is reacting differently seeing all these episodes for the second time at age 5 1/2.

She was stunned at the end of Act One and following when Derek told Elisa that he was accepting Xanatos' offer. "That's not supposed to happen," she kept saying.

And all the trio stuff made her laugh. She especially liked Goliath's admonitions to the Trio: "Try to get along."

Brooklyn sure knows his pop-culture: Star Wars and Star Trek references within a few minutes of each other.

It was important to us to show that even guys as close as the Trio could get tired of each other. Sure they're all Rookery brothers and best friends. But if they had stayed at Wyvern (i.e. if there had been no massacre) they wouldn't have had to spend ALL their time together. At the very least, females would have provided a distraction. But here in the 20th century they're all they've got. So of course, there'd be good days and bad days. Like any siblings.

And of course, the sibling theme was central to the episode, including the Jackal & Hyena's relationship. The irony there being that they were getting along better than the Trio or the Mazas.

I loved Goliath's outrage at the lack of appreciation that the Mazas and Trio have for their siblings. It's very moving to me. (And helps us set up Coldstone for next episode.)

When Lex comments that if Broadway had his way, the garg-copter would be covered with food, I knew that we were pushing Broadway's eating habits into the dull one-joke tired category. I hate that line. And we tried to back off the eating jokes after that.

Anyone notice our tribute to Launchpad McQuack when Lex says "Any landing you can walk away from..."

Some gorgeous animation in this one. I loved what they did with the lighting when Lex gets Jackal and Hyena in the chopper's spot.

S&P

--The trio toss Jackal & Hyena out of their chopper. It's o.k. They're wearing parachutes. But did the Trio know that? Maybe with Jackal, since Hyena's chute had already opened. But was Hyena tossed to her presumptive death.

Yes. After all they're still thinking (first season) like tenth century warriors, not like twentieth century super-heros.

--One of the advantages to Syndication over Network is a more liberal S&P. We could show Broadway's fist heading into camera. We couldn't actually show him punching Jackal in the head, but we could show Jackal's POV of that fist heading toward him. A couple frames of black, and then we cut wide to Jackal on the ground, and we know what happened. But on Network, in "The Journey" or, say, "Max Steel", we are NEVER allowed to even imply a head blow. And we can't show a fist or gun or whatever pointed directly at camera (i.e. at the audience). Too disturbing, I'm told.

And finally, at the end, when Elisa arrests Hyena, I've got to ask, what do you think Hyena's smiling about?

Maybe that's the next contest...

Hmmm....


Bookmark Link

Coldplasma writes...

Hi mr. Weisman

I'm having a little argument with my friend. In "Awakening 4", Elisa shot a commando in the park. Base on what Bruno says later, I assmue that the commando is only wounded. My friend says that the commando is dead. So, who's right on this one?

Thanx, bye.

Greg responds...

She shot him with a tranquilizer dart. He didn't die until "Monsters".

Response recorded on March 25, 2000

Bookmark Link

Chapter XI: "Long Way To Morning"

"Long Way To Morning" This was my title, based on an idea I'd had from way early in the development of the series. It was always obvious to me that the fact that the gargs turned to vulnerable stone at sunrise, gave the series a built-in ticking clock that added tension. But given the gargoyles' healing factor (to borrow a Wolverine term) it occured to me early on that there might come a time when sunrise couldn't come fast enough. That was the origin of this episode and the title. (I think I may have even mentioned the scenario in the Series' Writers' Bible.)

The other obvious purpose of the episode was to give Hudson a showcase episode to equal the Trio tryptich. As I've mentioned before, Gargoyles was originally developed as a comic series, and one of the funny little gargoyles in that show was "Ralph", a very domestic couch potato Gargoyle who loved to stay at home and watch T.V. Hudson developed out of Ralph, but he spent much of the first few episodes "Guarding the castle" (or the clock tower). We'd given him some great action in AWAKENING. But we still felt a major need to UN-RALPH him.

I wanted to deal with his age as realistically as possible. To have him doubt himself, maybe even be aware of his limitations, but then have him prove to himself that he still had something to contribute. I think we basically succeed in that here.

But this ep afforded us other opportunities as well. Opportunities to explore Wyvern backstory in our parallel flashback story:

--We find out definitively that Hudson WAS the leader of the clan and that Goliath was his second. We also get to see the baton get passed.

--We learn how Hudson was blinded in one eye.

--We meet Prince Malcolm and get a sense of how Princess Katharine became the bitch she was at the start of "Awakening". I think this was very important in paving the way for her role in the "Avalon" tryptich. By the end of "Awakening", she's remorseful and has seen the error of her ways, but it doesn't change how badly she acted. But this episode reveals how and why her antipathy toward Gargoyles was created. It doesn't excuse her behaviour, but it helps to explain it enough so that we can buy her as a heroine when we next see her. Malcolm doesn't come off as well. I wanted to present how easily casual thoughtless words could be hurtful, and even lead to tragic consequences. My daughter Erin (age 5 1/2) had seen this episode at least once before. But this time, that aspect of Malcolm's inadvertent damage and Katharine's mistaken blame really grabbed her attention. The injustice of it really troubled her. Which is exactly the response I was looking for. (My kids are so cool. She also noticed Hudson's eye getting injured, and commented on how smart Hudson was to jump off into the waterfall.)

--I love the subtle changes that Jeff, Keith and Marina made in their voices when playing the young Magus, Goliath and Demona. It's interesting to see Demona's progression in hindsight from "Vows" to "Long Way" to "Awakening, Part One" to "City of Stone" to the present day. She really is a fascinating character, if I do say so myself. Here, you see her ambition. But no villainy. Of course, it made for a nice counterpoint with her vicious murderous tendencies in the present day story.

--Throughout production of this episode, I had to keep pointing out to the artists, etc., that the flashbacks all had a point of view, i.e. Hudson's. That Demona and Goliath's "private conversations" could NOT be as private as they thought. Hudson had to know what they were saying about him. Both because it further eroded his confidence in both the past and present (the true demon he had to overcome) and because if he didn't hear those conversations it would be cheating to include them in HIS dreams and flashbacks.

--We also intro'd the ARCHMAGE. A one-shot villain if I ever saw one, except that David Warner was so amazing, I knew I had to bring the character back. When he falls into the chasm, you can just here the Phoenix Gate exploding open down there. (Of course, to some people that sounded like him hitting bottom. Their mistake.)

Continuity:

Brooklyn still has it in for D. Broadway is now Ultra-Protective of Elisa. Hudson has superior tracking skills in the past and the present.

And Demona has clearly focused her hatred on Elisa. (Who, by the way, loses her second gun of the series.) It was important for these early episodes that we fool Demona into thinking that Elisa was dead. Otherwise, how else do we explain why she doesn't just kill her.

Demona at the end, uses her cannon as a club. This was designed to be ambiguous. Did Hudson's sword damage the weapon? Or was Demona just so furious that she wanted the satisfaction of cudgeling the old guy to death? Yeah, it was designed to be ambiguous, but no one ever EVER thought that the gun was damaged. They all assumed Demona just lost it. Which is probably true.

Speaking of that Waterfall thing, that image was important retro-pipe for Hunter's Moon, Part Three. (More on that in 54 chapters.)

Animation-wise, I just wish Demona hadn't come off as such a lousy shot.

I love Hudson and Goliath's last exchange. Goliath assures Hudson that he still has "Years of fighting left". Hudson, glad to be of use, is still less than thrilled at the prospect. It's a great wry beat, but it was also important to me to point out that no rational person would wish to fight like that forever. The gargs, including Hudson, fight the good fight because they have to, because it is their duty, part of their natural protective instincts. But none of them WANT to fight.

As usual, I'd like to encourage responses to this episode here at ASK GREG, particularly how you responded to viewing this for the first time.


Bookmark Link

Todd Jensen writes...

What was the bridge that Goliath and his clan had their show-down with Xanatos, Demona, and Coldstone upon in "Re-Awakening"? I thought that it was the Brooklyn Bridge, but somebody else said that it was the George Washington Bridge.

Greg responds...

Yeah, George Washington.

Response recorded on March 22, 2000

Bookmark Link

Todd Jense writes...

The first time that I saw "The Price", when Macbeth appeared to return from the dead to hunt the gargoyles down again, I had already seen "City of Stone" and so naturally thought when he had seemed to survive even Goliath downing his sky-sled, "Of course! Only Demona can kill him, so he'd be able to survive Goliath's attack!" Consequently I was genuinely surprised when it turned out that the real reason for this survival was that it wasn't the real Macbeth but a robot (although I was already starting to get a little suspicious about Macbeth here anyway since hunting the gargoyles down simply for trophies didn't seem quite his style; he generally had far more significant reasons for hunting them). Now, were you going for this response from those members of your audience who'd already seen "City of Stone"? A sort of feint left, turn right tactic to initially dupe us into thinking that the reason for Macbeth's survival was his link with Demona, before revealing the real reason?

Greg responds...

That was part of it, but mostly I just wanted to fool them with the robot, and still play fair (like by having the 'bot repeat the same few phrases over and over) so that when the truth was revealed, the audience would go "Oh, of course!" instead of saying "Duh!" or feeling cheated.

Response recorded on March 22, 2000

Bookmark Link

WereFoX writes...

Greg, did Oberon erase every obvious trace of his presence in New York during the Gathering. I imagine he would show up on a few video surviellance cameras or in real time photos from overhead satellites.

Greg responds...

No. I doubt he bothered.

Response recorded on March 21, 2000

Bookmark Link

Adam writes...

What was Thailog thinking when he turned on Demona? He can't kill her and after all the quality time he'd spent with
her, he has to know that she can carry a grudge for centuries.

Greg responds...

I think Thailog perceived Demona as the kind of loose cannon that he ultimately had to eliminate one way or another. If that meant chaining her in a funhouse basement, so be it.

Response recorded on March 21, 2000

Bookmark Link

Onil writes...

In response to your Ramble, I suggest you forget about the Chronicles completely. I was repulsed by EVERY episode; I didn't even like The Journey very much. The eps got worse week after week and I didn't know why until I found out online that you left the show. I kept watching anyway because I couldn't keep away. I eventually saw one episode I liked -- more for the unique animation style than the actual story -- with Proteus finding his way to New York. All other episodes repulsed me.

In my mind, the series ended with the conclusion to Hunter's Moon. I suppose I was dissappointed with The Journey because I wasn't expecting so much time to have passed since returning to the castle.
The kiss shared by Angela and Broadway caught me off guard and I thought it was somewhat out of context. A courtship episode would've been nice, but I understand if you were trying to pack a lot of your ideas in before you left.
I also disliked the form in which John Canmore returned. He was really different from the way he was in Hunter's Moon. I hope you didn't plan for his "cause" to be the central storyline for the forseeable future. I probably would've been tired of it after two or three eps. That is, unless you brought back the Hunter armory, exo-suit, and foreign accent :)

Greg responds...

Sorry, you didn't like "The Journey". I wasn't happy with how it was boarded or edited, but I think it turned out O.K.

(On the other hand, the Aladdin-style animation on that Proteus episode really bugged me. Like a different series.)

I don't think much time HAD passed between Hunter's Moon and The Journey. A few weeks at most. The Broadway/Angela courtship had been going on in subtle ways since they met. But that was their first kiss. You didn't miss anything. They found each other right there. As for Canmore/Castaway, well, the idea was that some astute viewers would recognize him as the same guy, but I didn't plan on revealing that right away. The Quarrymen would have been a significant subplot, but they wouldn't have taken over the series. And, by the way, John Castaway did have an accent. An English accent. (As opposed to Canmore's Scottish accent.) Personally, I thought Castaway in "The Journey" was kind of chilling.

Basically, I'd hope you would have trusted me to give you the same level of quality that you seem to have enjoyed during the first two seasons.

Response recorded on March 19, 2000

Bookmark Link

Ambrosia writes...

Hi, again, Greg!
How long do you suppose it would be (in years or whatever) before the ridiculous humans put away their predjudices and, worldwide, it was cosidered perfectly normal for gagoyles, New Olympians, humans, and Oberon's Children to be seen wandering down a street or in a dance club? I'm not saying all humans, or every member of the other races for that matter, will ever completely accept the members of the others (Margot, for example. That woman...!), but do you forsee basic equality for all the races in the future?

BTW, I have to put this in... I was reading through the archives and I came accross Celano's post. S/he's right! That gargoyle mother in The Mirror really did have a beard! I've always wondered about that too...
thanks for your time, Greg! You're my hero!

Greg responds...

I don't remember any beard, and I've seen the episode about 50 times.

As to your real question, I like to think that as a species humans take two steps forward and 1.9 steps back. Meaning that eventually, we get where we should be going. But I'm not going to attempt to set a date on the end of universal prejudice. I'm not in the Utopia business.

Response recorded on March 19, 2000


: « First : « 100 : « 10 : Displaying #544 - #553 of 643 records. : 10 » : Last » :