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Justin writes...

Greg,
You have mentioned that there is a clan in Korea.
1)Where in Korea is this clan located?
2)Who is the leader of the clan?
3) Have they had a massacre recently? Or do the Koreans in the area even know they exist?
4) In 1998 did the clan have a rookery?
5) Will any Korean gargs play a part in future story lines?
6) Of the 12 Existing clans; how many is the Illuminati aware of?

Thanks

Greg responds...

1. Pukhan, Korea. This clan lives in tunnels and caves that run through the mountains along the Pukhan River.

2. Don't know yet.

3. No full-scale massacre, if that's what you mean.

3a. There are legends.

4. Yes.

5. Yes.

6. In 2001, there are not 12 existing clans. There are 10, including Avalon, Manhattan and the Labyrinth. And the Illuminati probably know about fewer than you think.

Response recorded on March 02, 2001

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Matt "KS" Maybray writes...

Greg,

This is my first time asking a question here, so be gentle...

It's been mentioned that in "Bad Guys", The Director would've been fighting against the Illuminati's Mr. Duval. Since you had planned for Duval to be Sir Percival, was the Director going to be any notable character from history, mythology, or literature? If so, then who?

In closing, I'd just like to thank you for helping create something that I've had much enjoyment from these past 7 years. There hasn't been any show quite like "Gargoyles" since (unfortunately).

Greg responds...

No.

(Was that gentle?)

And thanks. Glad you've stuck around.

Response recorded on March 02, 2001

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Baal writes...

Hey, um. Sorry about Question 2 in my Angela post.
I guess you DID say that you weren't gonna answer in questions about 2198 until the contest was over. (Although SOME people are already asking questions.

Here are some questions of my own.
1. Do Arthur and his comrades go on a quest to retrieve the Holy Grail. (I think I've seen yes in the archive). If so, does this pit the against Percival/Duval, the leader of the Illuminati.

2. Does Macbeth get involved.

Greg responds...

1. Eventually and yes.

2. A bit.

Response recorded on February 15, 2001

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LSZ writes...

How did Matt first learn about the Illuminati's existence?

Greg responds...

Good question. Fun answer. But it's a long story.

Response recorded on February 01, 2001

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LSZ writes...

Is the Director's enmity primarily aimed at Duval himself, or the Illuminati?

Greg responds...

"enmity" is the wrong word.

Response recorded on January 26, 2001

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LSZ writes...

Are there any other Garg-universe controlling-major-events-from-behind-the-scenes secret societies besides the Illuminati?

Greg responds...

Not really. (Would get redundant.)

Response recorded on January 26, 2001

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(The Guppi) writes...

What was the Illuminati Society's reaction (if any) to the various historical Anti-Mason movements?

Greg responds...

As long as they're ire was directed at splinter groups, copy-cats and shells, the actual Society was just fine with them.

Response recorded on January 26, 2001

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Sapphire writes...

How many people are members of the illuminati society in 1996?

Greg responds...

I've never counted.

Response recorded on January 26, 2001

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Ithica writes...

Would Duval make any attempt to make his identity known to King Arthur? Arthur was Percival's great uncle, and Percy was one of Art's best knights, so would they make contact of any sort?

Greg responds...

Contact would be made.

Response recorded on January 26, 2001

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Sapphire writes...

Will any gargoyles ever become members of the illuminati society in the future?

Greg responds...

How do you know some aren't already?

Response recorded on January 17, 2001

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LSZ writes...

Are any of the members of the Illmunati pre-2198 non-humans? If so, what race are they?

Greg responds...

Not answering.

Response recorded on December 21, 2000

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LSZ writes...

1) Do the Illuminati know about Macbeth?
2) Do the Illuminati know about the Gathering?
3) The were-panthers?
4) The Golem?
5) The Matrix, whether before or after it hooked up with Dingo?
6) Do they know Owen is Puck?
7) Do they know why Macbeth or Demona are immortal?

Greg responds...

1. Maybe.

2. Probably.

3. Doubtful.

4. Probably.

5. Yes.

6. No.

7. See (1).

Response recorded on December 21, 2000

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Chapter XXI: "Vows"

Written by Shari Goodhartz
Michael Reaves, Story Editor

Benny: "But Daddy, when it's dark they get alive. But when it's light, the get frozen like a statue."

Last night, the kids, my sister, my wife and I all watched "Vows" together. Time to ramble.

Back to the Golden Cup Bakery Building. As I noted in the previously posted memo about this episode, I wanted a little opening battle, but I didn't want to waste time in a tight, packed script explaining how this came about. It does beg the question though. Assume that X contacted Elisa. She told Goliath. He went ALONE? His friends allowed this? Hmmm.

Xanatos knows from the letter to himself what to do, but I sometimes wonder just how detailed the letter was. I like to think it was fairly sketchy. That exactly HOW Xanatos got Goliath to come was his own machinations. Otherwise, though he takes the credit for the letter, the truth is that the plan itself wasn't his idea. He got the idea from the letter. And he wrote the letter based on what he had done, which he had gotten from the letter. None of this is really his to own, though he does claim ownership. So I like to think that at least some of the details were X's. For example, X knows what G will respond to, i.e. Demona.

Hudson, on hearing about the wedding, suddenly makes the connection to the long ago incident when he met the Goliath from the future. So he's strangely ambivalent. Elisa on the other hand, seems flat out jealous to me. After the events of "The Mirror" and "Eye of the Beholder", she's much more aware and focused on her feelings for Goliath. SHE DOES NOT WANT TO ACT ON THOSE FEELINGS. At this time, she thinks it's impossible. But that doesn't change how she feels. And now, she's jealous. Goliath's feelings for Elisa are just as intense, but so are his feelings for the "Angel" of his youth. He HAS to give it one last chance. (And this will be the last chance. The final nail in the coffin of his and Demona's "marriage".) Brooklyn, meanwhile, is just knee-jerk against anything involving Demona.

PETROS XANATOS is introduced. Again, I wonder why he was invited. Was he also included in the letter? Or did Xanatos invite him to prove something to his father. Is X that needy? Or did X invite him to the wedding, because of course he'd invite his father to his wedding, and his already planned "honeymoon" to 975 shouldn't alter his decorum. Perhaps he's mildly surprised his father winds up coming along? Anyway, Petros was a fun character. A tough hard physical man. With morals. A great contrast to the son. I knew even then that we'd give Petros and David an arc to their relationship, (one that eventually would culminate in Gathering2).

"Oh, reason not the need." A little King Lear is always nice. And I love Petros' attitude on the line, "And the armor?" I mean what would you say to your son if you saw him dressed like that? I'd like to know how many people had sort of forgotten that X was even wearing armor (we're so used to it) until Petros made an issue of it?

I love all the irony in the dialogue between Petros and David. David knows what he's planning. He must be smiling when Petros says "I'd like to get my hands on the man who gave you that coin." And when David says, "Someday, I'll prove to you that I'm a self-made man," he must really be patting himself on the back.

I love the voice work of Keith and Marina when doing their teen-age counterparts. So subtle, yet it's always clear which Goliath and Demona is talking at any given moment.

CONTINUITY:
Gotta love that storage room in the clock tower. The Eye of Odin, the Grimorum, half the Phoenix Gate, and, oh, yes, a comatose Coldstone. By the way, despite what the memo said, I think generally, Goliath carried that Gate in the pouch attached to his belt. Not behind some brick. We hadn't actually come up with that pouch yet, not until the World Tour. But using RetCon, I think that's where he kept it until they moved to the clock tower and Demona tried to kill him, Hudson and Elisa in "Long Way to Morning".

One interesting thing: this is the first episode where we actually CONFIRM that the ILLUMINATI does exist. Matt's mentioned it. Even chased it in SILVER FALCON, but we've never been shown any proof of it's existence until now. Was anyone surprised by that?

Judge Roebling was interesting in theory, though not so much in the episode. I'd like to do more with him some day. I also thought that it was interesting that despite seeing the tape of the Gargoyles in advance. And not reacting outwardly when he saw Goliath, he still gasps when Demona enters. What is it about her? When she entered, Benny turned to me and said: "She's queen of the Gargoyles." Oh. So that's it.

(And everytime Xanatos and Fox are on screen together, Benny likes to point out that he and Erin dressed up as them at the last Gathering. "That's me. That's you, Erin.")

To some extent, X must have filled D in on his plan. I love her "acting" when she enters and gives her bitter "excuse" for being there to Goliath. She's playing hard to get!

I love Petros: "Unnacceptable." He's still trying to teach David the error of his ways.

The Gate itself is very idiosyncratic. It's size, the size of its portal, and the duration the portal stays open seems to vary not just from episode to episode but from scene to scene. Sometimes it annoys me, like when Princess Elena removes the Gate from her sleeve, and suddenly it's bigger than her hand. But now I'm just amused by it. Again, if you think of it as a steam valve for the timestream, it explains a lot.

I love the little sound that Paca put in when the two pieces of the Gate first come together. What a tip-off that was, yet it's subtle. Did anyone think about the significance of the talisman that Demona had shared with Goliath before she started speaking in Latin and flames appeared out of nowhere?

It was hard to make people understand the time loop a bit. But it seemed really hard to make them see why I kept wanting to repeat scenes to show the connective tissue. We had to squeeze in Owen's "Honeymoon" line the second time. No one left space for it.

For the first of many times in the series, someone (X) says the line: "It's not where, it's when". (Erin: "I know when.")

I love X & Fox's relationship. "Having fun." "A marvelous time." Great stuff.

Hudson gets a close look at 1995 Goliath and immediately sees the age and wear and tear on the guy. (I love the shot of Goliath gagging him.) That says a lot for Hudson, because the visual difference between the two Gs was extremely subtle in the animation -- when it existed at all.

Knowing what we had planned (more or less) for Avalon, we were already laying groundwork here for that. Setting up the combined power of the Gate, Grimorum and Eye. Setting up the Archmage's desire for that power. Further demonstrating his enmity for the people he'd wind up using. Of course, making Demona his apprentice was fun. Tells a lot about her own desire for power that even when she was a good girl, she was still willing to work for the Archmage in order to learn his secrets. Willing even to steal for him.

The Norman Ambassador and Prince Malcolm make a BIG deal about how odd the Xanatoses' clothes are. But were they THAT strange? Was Fox's wedding gown that odd? And even if they were strange, did they look as shabby as Prince Malcolm seemed to suggest?

Not every episode gives you a double wedding. Fox and David. Elena and Malcolm. Hey, did anyone notice that we married off our lead villain? That was very daring, and we all but threw it away in Act One. Was anyone expecting Fox and X to really get married? And once they were, did you think you'd see them have a kid by season's end? I think we broke new ground there.

I like the exchange between Goliath and Hudson. Goliath's trying to explain that he's not a creature of sorcery, but a time traveler. H: "And I suppose you came back in time on the wind." O.k., well sorcery was involved if you're gonna get technical. And Goliath has some amusing tense problems while trying to describe what happened in his recent past, Hudson's FAR future. Then Hudson looks him in the eye and decides to trust him on no further evidence. Cool.

I knew a girl named Bryant from Bar Harbor, Maine once. That's where we got X's home town.

Fox is so proud of her man. But I love Petros' "Mr. Big-Shot Time Traveler" line. Or rather I love the way Morgan Shepard read the line.

How hard did Demona try to do things differently from the way she remembered them being done? She knows Goliath is going to fly down to try and join her and her younger self. She tries to leave before he can get there. But the gate stays open long enough for him to go with. Did it ever occur to her to go somewhen else other than 994? I guess part of it could be chalked up to dim memory. It was over a thousand years ago. And Demona lived through that 1000 years. Even for a very significant event in her life, it must still be very hazy.

That exchange between Demona and Demona is a lot of fun. Demona is so brutal to Demona. (And, hey, she spells out the Gate's power to any audience member who hasn't yet caught on.) "Do not share it with-- Do not share it!" I love that line. Also:

"I am what you will become."
"I will never be like you."
"I don't want to hurt you."
"And I don't want to BE you."

pretty cool stuff.

I also like the moment when we have two gates rolling about on the floor and young Demona and older Goliath both bend over to pick them up. At first we had a lot of discussion as to who should pick up which gate. But the discussion became moot, since after the gate pieces were reunited, they almost always seemed like they had never been broken in the first place. Magic.

And the young Demona, older Goliath scene is also gorgeous.

"What am I to do?"
"Nothing."

Love that. Love his whole "Do nothing/attend the petty jealousy" speech. I think it's very pretty. Very sad. At that moment, does Goliath hope he's changing the future? Or is he simply trying to spare this young Angel a couple extra decades of pain?

Showing Demona's natural bents again: Goliath isn't sure if he remembers the incantation, though he's heard it multiple times by this point. Young Demona, having only heard it ONCE, does remember and uses the Gate perfectly.

"Time Travel's funny that way." At least it is in the Gargoyle Universe with the strict, strict rules that I imposed. Of course, I've always thought that those strict rules made the stories more challenging for the writer and, yet, more fun and satisfying for the viewer.

I also really like Petros' "American Penny" speech. For once the "Xanatos Tag" of victory doesn't go to David.

Where did the expression "More's the pity." come from? I've heard it many times. I know what it means, though that's more from sound and context than from the words themselves. What am I quoting when I use it? Does anyone know? (This isn't a contest. I really don't know.)

Finally, my tape has the weird mistake ending that first aired, which shows Demona and Goliath in the clock tower. It's pretty, but it drives me nuts and I think it's really confusing. But I've talked about that many times before, and I'm sick of it, so this time, I'll let it go.

COMMENTS WELCOME!


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Todd Jensen writes...

A second comment, on "Vows". You mentioned that you weren't certain as to whether the one-eyed pyramid design on Xanatos's Illuminati pin was a genuine Illuminati symbol or not. Actually, it is - or at least, it's popularly associated with the Illuminati in conspiracy theory mythology. (Said conspiracy theories like to particularly make a big thing of the one-eyed pyramid also showing up on the Great Seal of the United States and the back of the one-dollar bill, as if indicating that there was some connection between the Illuminati and the Founding Fathers. I won't ask if that was indeed the case in the Gargoyles Universe; I doubt that the fandom has been cleared for that answer yet :)

Greg responds...

:) Yeah, I thought I remembered something about that even at the time, but the Illuminati was a concept that Michael had intro'd into the series, so I didn't want to be presumptuous.

Response recorded on November 16, 2000

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Sapphire writes...

Will the Illuminati ever lose its interest in capturing a live Gargoyle?

Greg responds...

Ever's a long time.

Response recorded on November 15, 2000

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Todd Jensen writes...

In "The Silver Falcon", the letter from Mace Malone to Dominic Dracon shows that Mace's full first name is "Mason". Was this a reference to the Freemasons (who seem to have been a partial-original for the Illuminati of "Gargoyles" - or at least, the popular beliefs about the Freemasons were), in light of Mace Malone's being an Illuminatus?

Greg responds...

Maybe. I'd have to ask Cary Bates, who came up with the name.

Response recorded on November 01, 2000

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Sapphire writes...

1)Why does sir Pervical want the Manhatten Clan?
Does he want to destroy them, enslave them, cage them for protection from humans, or some other sinister plan?

Greg responds...

He wants to neutralize a variable. Incorporate it into his master plan.

Response recorded on November 01, 2000

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Anonymous writes...

Where did Mace Malone really hide the gems Dominic Dracon was looking for in the Silver Falcon?

Greg responds...

He didn't. He gave them to the Illuminati as his admission fee.

Response recorded on November 01, 2000

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Shihuang and his trusty goat writes...

Do the rejuvination drugs the Illuminati give out to their senior members have any connection to the Holy Grail? I ask because their leader is the Fisher King, the keeper of the grail.

Greg responds...

Maybe.

Response recorded on November 01, 2000

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Todd Jensen writes...

In one of your recent answers to "Ask Greg", when somebody asked you if you had any plans to include events in "Gargoyles" that people blamed on the Illuminati, you asked if people do still blame events on the Illuminati. Actually, there are a few people out there who do - generally the ones who see the United Nations and the European Economic Union as Satanic tools to unite the world under the Antichrist. They actually believe that the Illuminati are the ones behind these events (and often identify them with the Freemasons, or with some sort of inner clique of the Freemasons).

(For my own part, given Duval's function as Fisher King, i.e., guardian of the Holy Grail, I doubt that the Illuminati of the Gargoyles Universe can be seriously intending to promote Satan-worship).

Greg responds...

No. Not Satan Worship. Just expediency. (Or is that the same thing sometimes?)

Response recorded on October 20, 2000

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Sapphire writes...

Some Questions about the illuminati society in the Gargoyles universe.

1) Matt Bluestone once said that the president works for the Illuminati society, is this true?

2) It is extremely hard for a person in power to have completly loyal followers. Does Sir Pervical who is the leader of the Illuminati Society have any followers that are willing to betray him and try to sieze power in the Illuminati society?

Why does Sir Percival want the Manhatten clan?
Does he want to destroy them, enslave them, put them in a cage to prevent them from getting killed by the humans? or does he have other plans for them?

Greg responds...

1. I'm afraid to say.

2. It's certainly possible.

Why did YOU stop numbering your questions?

Response recorded on October 20, 2000

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Todd Jensen writes...

Does the Illuminati Society accept female members, or is it strictly a "males-only" organization?

Greg responds...

These days it'll pull from either gender.

Response recorded on October 20, 2000

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Todd Jensen writes...

1. What is the legal status of Percival/Duval and Blanchefleur's marriage at present? Are they still legally married (although clearly estranged)?

2. Do the marital problems that Percival and Blanchefleur are having at present have anything to do with the Illuminati's activities (particularly the less ethical ones such as the Hotel Cabal and the Quarrymen)?

Greg responds...

1. Yes.

2. Yes.

Response recorded on October 20, 2000

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John writes...

Hi Greg,
Some Illuminati questions
(Some of them are hard to understand. But I hope, you could awnser them):
1.:In the Illuminati books, written by Robert Wilson, the Illuminati are founded by a man called Adam Weishaupt in Germany around 1700. Well, I could imagine, that in "Vows" we see a man in Wyvern Castle, who is a member of the Illuminati. Hmmm... that was around 970... Weishaupt is born 800 years later!!! So, the "Gargoyle-Illuminati-therory" isn´t the same like the one from the "real life", huh?
2.:Have you planed to show one of the five MAIN members of the Illuminati in the show?
3.: Matt is now member of the Illuminati too. Would he fight his new bosses, or work with them?
4.: If in our "real world" now happens something, like a murder case, and manny people say "Hey, that was the Illuminati", and the show is on air again, would then the same thing happen in the "Gargoyle world"?
Hope, you could help me with that.
CU, John

Greg responds...

1. Right. Or at least not the same as Wilson's version.

2. Who said there were five Main members? All I've said is that Duval is the leader.

3. On the surface he would work with them. Secretly, he'd be working to expose them.

4. Uh, do people in "our real world" really continue to blame things on the Illuminati?

Response recorded on October 18, 2000

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Sapphire writes...

Will Sir Pervical be the leader of the illuminati society forever or will someone else replace him?

Greg responds...

Not saying.

Response recorded on September 27, 2000

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Sapphire writes...

what kinds of problems will the illuminati society create for the New Olympians when they reveal themselves to the world?

Greg responds...

That's too complex a question to answer in this format.

Response recorded on September 27, 2000

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Ed writes...

How many members of the Illuminati are there in 1996?
Or for that matter, in 1974 and 974?

Greg responds...

I haven't counted.

Response recorded on September 21, 2000

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Ed writes...

Would Matt have much success long-term in his dealings with the Illuminati. I mean, one conspiracy nut against an organisation that's a millennium and a half old doesn't lend him much of an advantage. Would he ever really expose them?

Greg responds...

Matt would have some success. But he wouldn't do it alone.

Response recorded on September 21, 2000

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Vasy writes...

1.When was the illumanati offically created in your universe
2. how does that symbol of the eqyptian pyramid with the eye fit in
3. was the illumanati found by the egyptians

Greg responds...

1. 642, I think.
2. That's a long story.
3. No.

Response recorded on August 23, 2000

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Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky writes...

Does the Director know that Duval is Percival?

Greg responds...

No.

Response recorded on August 23, 2000

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vasy writes...

this is about the 8 authurian survivors
1. merlin is trapped. for how long?
2. how does merlin get out.
3. who put him there
4. who is the green knight exactly
5. how was the pheonix gate envolved with the 8 authurian survivors
6. what was the price duval had to pay for his current status
7. in the journey episode, duval was on the phone and kept on hold....what did duval want?

Greg responds...

1. 'Til Arthur frees him.
2. Arthur frees him.
3. Nimue.
4. Who are you exactly?
5. Who said it was?
6. I'm not telling.
7. To talk to Xanatos.

Response recorded on August 23, 2000

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Todd Jensen writes...

In the episode "Revelations", Mace Malone's key to the Hotel Cabal bears a large number 23 on it. What interested me about that is that, in conspiracy theory mythology, the number 23 is often held to be a number of great mystical significance in relation to Illuminati-style secret organizations. Was the number on Malone's key intended as a little reference to that theory?

Greg responds...

If I told you, I'd have to kill you.

Response recorded on July 29, 2000

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Todd Jensen writes...

Another Grail-related question, this one about Percival/Duval. In the traditional legends, Percival is portrayed as a rather naive, guileless fellow, even something of a fool at times, ignorant of the world and its ways. Duval, as the head of the Illuminati Society, would obviously have, by the mere nature of the job, to be a very cunning and duplicitous man, a la Xanatos. When you gave Percival the role of the Illuminati's leader, were you going for a contrast between him as he was in Arthur's time period and the way that he is as Duval now?

Greg responds...

I'm not going to confirm or deny your description of Duval's personality.

But I will acknowledge that time and tide have had their effect on young Percival.

Response recorded on July 29, 2000

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Silver Falcon story memo...

I'm not sure when I'll get around to viewing the next episode of Gargoyles with my family, but I thought I'd get ready to ramble by posting my November, '94 memo to story editor Cary Bates. This was Cary's first Gargoyles script, so he was still new to the characters, which was one of the reasons he started with a single gargoyle story. Just Broadway, Elisa and a little Matt, basically.

You'll notice in what follows that some of the big twists still weren't present at this stage. We just hadn't cracked it fully yet. As I recall, Development Associate Eddie Guzelian suggested making the OLD MAN into Dominic Dracon. I was probably resistant a bit at first, just because of how much work that change would involve. But we all realized that Eddie's idea made the story much, much better. So the change was made...

Anyway, here's the memo, unedited as usual:

WEISMAN 11-7-94

Notes on "The Silver Falcon" Outline...

GENERAL CONCERNS
My main problem is that as a mystery story, this is a bit of a dud. We want to stump our audience, but here, we're cheating to do it. There's no way they could figure out where the diamonds are. We don't show them any options but the red herring. And if we did show them the true location, the answer becomes too obvious, and frankly not tricky enough. There's a silver falcon gargoyle on top of the speakeasy. There's another on top of the building across from Malone's office. We check both. One has it. One doesn't.

We need a double entendre here somewhere. We're looking for a silver falcon, and it turns out to be something that isn't literally that. Or in this case, Malone is being literal -- the jewels are in the silver falcon across from his office. But for most of the episode, we're looking for a more obscure answer, i.e. the speakeasy itself. Best not to have a literal silver falcon gargoyle in the vault at the speakeasy.

Even so, it's pretty straightforward. So let's make the whole situation more mysterious. Let's not learn what Matt was up to quite so fast. Let's not have Elisa be a Mace Malone expert. Let's not learn about the loot at all until act three. Let's misdirect more.

We also need secondary suspects. I suggest the Illuminati. That's the name of the Secret Society that Matt's always going on about. It'll be a huge red herring, if even Matt thought he was investigating the Illuminati, when in truth he stumbled on something considerably more mundane. For us, this would accomplish two goals. One, it misdirects Broadway, Elisa and the audience. Two, it sets us up for a future story where we actually use the Illuminati.

THEME
You get major points here. The theme is partnership, and it's presented clearly. Let's just give it more of an arc. Elisa doesn't have to be thrilled to have Sam Broadway Spade as a partner at first. She learns to appreciate the back-up.

S&P
You need to start thinking about the Audience you're writing for. Vogel's murder in the other premise, was never gonna fly. Likewise, here, a major clue revolving around alcohol consumption is definitely out. I wouldn't be afraid to do a story about alcohol, if we were really going to focus on that issue, but not as a throw away.

BROADWAY
Don't make him or his rookery brothers too young. They can have the occasional childlike response, but don't overdue it. Showing them enjoying a cartoon is one thing. Generalizing that they always are watching cartoons makes them sound like kids. Think of 19 or 20 year old Viet Nam Vets. These guys are warriors.

Also, when he's stone, Broadway is WAY TOO HEAVY for Elisa to budge.

And as flesh, Broadway getting shot is like anybody getting shot. Fatal. Or maybe he'd just bleed to death before sunrise. Even if sunrise were close, without surgery to remove the bullets, he wouldn't heal. Basically, what I'm getting at is that the gargoyles are NOT invulnerable.

DRACON AND GLASSES
Dracon is young and hungry. He's tough, violent, savvy, sarcastic. It's not that he can't get angry, but please resist the temptation to show him throwing temper-tantrums -- ranting (and whining) like a cliché d foiled villain.

He's got money, but he doesn't have the high-tech resources of a Xanatos. We have to be sparing with our use of that stuff. Which does not mean we can have massive gun battles with real bullets. (For S&P reasons.)

And if Dracon is not Xanatos, Glasses is not Owen. Glasses shouldn't quietly clear his throat so that he can feed his boss a plan. It's not that Glasses is stupid, but he's not the brains behind the organization either. He's an aggressive, tough and violent street thug in expensive clothes.

Let's also keep clear on Dracon's motivations and how they differ from Elisa's. He wants the loot, but he doesn't want to have to flee to South America with it. He's crossed the line by kidnapping two cops. He's going to have to kill them.... So he frees Elisa to follow her to the diamonds? Major problems all around. 1) Why does he think Elisa will be able to find them? 2) Why does he think she's even going to try after she's freed her partner? She has no motivation for finding the loot. She's a cop who's out to save her partner and bust the guy who kidnapped them both. (It's not that I don't buy her being curious. But that can wait until after Dracon is in custody.) 3) After she drops Matt off at her place, why don't Dracon's men sneak in and kill the unconscious detective? After all, they can't let him live. What are they waiting for? For him to wake up and come take them out? Etc.

Also, blowing up Matt's apartment is cool, but it has to feel like more of a last resort. Dracon doesn't want to draw any more attention to Matt's disappearance than necessary.

And, please note in your script that Dracon has a white streak in his hair from his previous encounter with the gargoyles.

CHAVEZ & BLUESTONE
Please do not play Maria as a callous boss, who doesn't care that one of her detectives has gone missing for two days. And yes, Matt's into secret society's and the like, but he's not the type to blow off work for two days in a row. Despite Matt's paranoia/hobby, he's a good partner and a good cop, someone that Elisa and Maria can count on.

On the other hand, Matt isn't psychic. He's seen gargoyles at a distance, but he knows nothing about them. Certainly, he has no idea of Elisa's connection to them. There's no way he'd casually decide that a "gargoyle" helped them crack a case. Why would it?

And we must resist the constant temptation to knock Matt out so that he doesn't find out the truth. We don't need it here. So I cut the drugged sleep.

HACKER
Let's change Hacker into a real character that we might want to re-use later. An FBI agent who used to be Matt's partner before Matt was booted out of the bureau for investigating the Illuminati Society. The bureau doesn't officially acknowledge the Illuminati's existence. (All this will be a revelation to Elisa. She didn't know Matt had ever been in the bureau. Her surprise about this will add to the general feeling of mystery in the story.) Matt is persona non grata with the FBI, and Agent Smith (or whatever) can no longer be seen with him, which explains the clandestine meeting.

LIBRARY
For future reference, the library is the other face of the same building that houses the twenty-third police precinct, above which is the clock tower where the gargoyles live. The library is closed at nights, and Goliath often reads down there. But I've cut the library scene, so it doesn't matter here.

BEAT OUTLINE
ACT ONE
1. Make the setting someplace other than a slaughterhouse, but otherwise MATT's kidnapping can play pretty much the way you had it.

2. Two days later at ELISA's place. BROADWAY is there to watch his video of the detective movie, (because Hudson is sick of him playing it over and over again on the tv set at the clock tower). Elisa gets a phone call from CHAVEZ. (Intercut.) Matt took some personal time to investigate Bigfoot or something. But he hasn't checked back in 48 hours, which isn't like him. And there's no answer at his place. Elisa hasn't heard from him either. This isn't good. Elisa's going to check on him on her way to work. Chavez makes Elisa promise to call for back-up if there's any trouble. Elisa says, yeah, sure, whatever.... (But she doesn't really think she needs any help.) Broadway overhears and wants to come along. He'll act as her back-up, her partner until she solves the mystery of the missing Matt. But Elisa's got one partner already. She doesn't need two. She'll handle this alone.

3. Matt's apartment. Elisa's outside Matt's door. She rings bell, knocks, calls for him. What she doesn't know is that the place has already been ransacked and that the ransack-er, a man dressed all in black and wearing a black SKI-MASK, is still inside. Plus another, bigger man in a trench coat and slouch hat (think Ben Grimm) is out on Matt's small terrace/balcony. (We should momentarily think these two men are working together -- the man on the balcony acting as look-out for Mr. Ski-Mask inside, but in reality, Ski-Mask is one of Dracon's men, and the guy on the balcony is Broadway. So in fact, Ski-Mask is unaware of Broadway's presence.) Elisa reaches above the door and finds Matt's spare key on the molding. She does not take out her gun. She is not expecting trouble. But inside, as she unlocks the door, Ski-Mask has his gun out and ready. Which is more than enough justification for Broadway to rip the terrace door right off and reveal himself, in a decidedly monstrous fashion. (NOTE: He does not crash through the glass!!) The clothes he's wearing should increase the scare factor, not make him look silly. By the time Elisa gets the door open, the terrified thug is pushing right past her and high-tailing it down the empty hallway with Broadway (who pauses only to say "Got you covered, partner") in close pursuit.
Ski-Mask makes it to the waiting elevator, and the doors close before Broadway can get to them. But Broadway pulls the elevator doors open and grabs the moving cable, which strains against him, until the elevator stops. Then he leaps down (about a flight) onto the roof of the elevator, shaking it's occupant. He rips open the trap door and yanks the guy up. By the time a stunned Elisa gets to the elevator, she barely misses getting hit by the flying thug whom Broadway has tossed out of the shaft. Ski-Mask crashes into the corridor wall and is temporarily knocked out.
Broadway climbs out of the shaft only to face the wrath of...ELISA. She definitely isn't pleased. But she's not going to fight with Broadway out in the open. They'll discuss things privately, in Matt's apartment. She indicates the thug. "Better bring him too."
Inside Matt's place, Elisa searches the thug, while she verbally chews Broadway out for interfering. She removes the ski-mask, but she doesn't recognize the guy. She does find a page that the thug clearly ripped from Matt's calendar with today's date, a time and a specific location (just saying Central Park isn't enough, it's a big park). Ski-Mask starts to come to just as Broadway suggests checking Matt's computer to see if they can find any info there. The thug panics, tipping Elisa off that the thug had rigged the computer to blow. She tries to stop Broadway from flipping the switch, but it's too late.
Cut to outside Matt's window. There is a brief high-pitch whine, during which Broadway leaps out holding both Elisa and the thug -- and then BOOM!! The force of the explosion propels them across the gap to another lower rooftop. (Broadway can't spread his wings because of his trench coat.) They land hard. Broadway drops both humans and the momentum nearly takes him over the roof. Elisa helps him up, and by the time they turn around, the thug has split.
Now Elisa is really ticked off. But Broadway points out that he did just save her life. Only after creating the dangerous situation in the first place, Elisa reminds him. Broadway's embarrassed, but tenacious. Look, it's obvious that Matt was working alone and got into something way over his head. If Elisa tries to handle this alone, the same thing could happen to her. We get tight on Elisa. What will she decide?

4. Elisa arrives alone at the meeting described on the page from Matt's calendar. She cautiously approaches a man, who turns out to be Matt's ex-partner from the FBI, AGENT SMITH (or whatever). It's tense at first, but once Elisa identifies herself, Agent Smith is very cooperative. Matt's told him that Elisa is all right. A good partner. (Elisa's a little embarrassed.)
So Smith fills her in. As usual, Matt's been trying to prove the existence of the Illuminati Society. He's been investigating a gangster from the 1920's who was rumored to have ties to the Illuminati and vanished mysteriously on March 22, 1924. Matt had found a letter, that he wanted Smith to authenticate. The letter was hand-written on Malone's pre-printed stationary:

MACE MALONE
3150 Third Avenue #45D, New York

March 21, 1924

D.D.,
Our little Society is turning a nice profit.
Everyday I see the Silver Falcon, I smile. You
would too, if you knew what I knew.

Your Senior Partner (and don't you forget it),

Mace

The ink and paper do date from the 20s and the signature checks out too. The letter is legit. But where did Matt get it? Smith doesn't know. What's the Silver Falcon? Smith doesn't know. Who's "D.D."? Smith doesn't know.
Smith isn't happy to hear that Matt is missing. If he can help Elisa in any way.... But Elisa insists she can handle it from here. So Smith takes off. Elisa stands there examining the letter. She seems to be talking to herself. The only real lead it offers is Malone's address, but what good could it be 70 years later.
And Elisa may never find out. Suddenly, we discover that Elisa is surrounded by three BAD GUYS, led by Ski-Mask. It looks bad.

ACT TWO
5. Elisa calls out: "Broadway, NOW!!" And Broadway comes out from wherever he's been hiding and takes out two of the thugs. But Ski-Mask hops into a getaway car that pulls up fast and takes off faster. Elisa handcuffs the two unconscious thugs to something, but she's worried. She doesn't know if the escaped thug heard her talking about Malone's old address. They have to get there before the Illuminati blow it up like they did Matt's apartment. Broadway sweeps her up and they're off.

6. 3150 Third Avenue. 45th floor. Elisa's inside. Broadway watches from the roof. (We need to somehow establish that Elisa and Broadway both might have seen the Falcon-heads across the street -- and yet we need to do it in a way that doesn't immediately tip off our audience. One thing that would help is if the chrome falcons were now literally black with NYC soot and grime.)
There's a light on in 45D. An OLD MAN answers Elisa's knock. He's an accountant, working late. She realizes it's a long shot, but wonders if he knows anything about Mace Malone. Turns out that he's something of a Mace Malone buff. That's why he rented this particular office. He's got Mace's original desk and everything. Here, sit down.
Mace's mysterious disappearance makes him a curiosity, and every once in a while someone stops by and asks questions. Why just the other day, that nice red-headed boy was here. Elisa realizes he's talking about Matt. What did the old man tell Matt? Nothing. He ran out of here, as soon as he saw the picture. What picture? This one. It's an old photograph of Malone and a couple of other men (at least one of which is Dracon's grandfather) in front of a non-descript building. Does the old man know where this was taken? Sure, that's Malone's old speakeasy, the Silver Falcon. He gives Elisa the same lower east side address he had given to Matt, and the same caveat... the Falcon was torn down ages ago, they built something else there. Elisa thanks him as she ushers him out of his own office. It's temporarily unsafe here. She asks him to call Chavez and fill her in on everything he told Elisa and Matt, (and also about the two hand-cuffed thugs). She's heading straight to the lower eastside, as the crow flies, so to speak.

7. Elisa and Broadway arrive at the scene-one location where we last saw Matt. They soon discover GLASSES and his salvage operation. He's clearly digging for something, but what? Matt is there. Tied up and blind-folded. But before they can get near him, Broadway's weight collapses the wooden staircase, and they're discovered. A brief battle ensues. Glasses and his MEN use their semi-hi-tech construction equipment as make-shift weapons. Plus maybe a stick of dynamite or something. There's a cave-in that buries Elisa and Broadway. Glasses turns to Matt and taunts him. So much for the cavalry, Bluestone -- That was your partner. And she's dead.

8. Cut to a small cavity, with-in the cave-in. It's pitch black except for Broadway's glowing eyes. Elisa asks Broadway if he's o.k. He says he is but his voice is clearly straining. As she fumbles for her pocket flashlight, Elisa points out that there can't be much air in here. Will Broadway be able to use his claws to dig them out? Broadway has a couple of problems with that. The main one being that he's starting to feel real tired and that can only mean one thing. What? But Broadway is strangely silent and his eyes stop glowing. Elisa finally clicks on her flashlight and looks. Broadway's frozen in stone.

ACT THREE
9. Outside, the sun has come up on a new day. Inside the cavity, Elisa realizes that when the cave-in occurred, Broadway acted as a living pillar, straining under the weight of a lot of rock and dirt, protecting them both from being buried alive. Now he stands there frozen like a medieval column. There isn't anything she can do but start digging.

10. Out in the main cave, Matt convinces Glasses to try and dig Elisa out. She's probably dead anyway, but she might have Malone's letter. If she does, Glasses' boss can stop looking for it. Glasses isn't dumb. He knows that Matt is simply trying to save his partner, but he can't deny Matt's sound logic regarding the letter, so he sets his men working.

11. Dissolve to a short while later. Glasses' men are getting close to Elisa, who's dug a little of the way out but is running out of air. She can hear them getting close, and she can't let them find Broadway in his vulnerable state. So to protect him, she pulls down one of the rocks above her own little dugout, and allows herself to be buried alive. Fortunately, she's timed it right. Glasses digs her out, but to all appearances, she's lucky to be alive and the guy in the trench coat is still buried under all that rock. She has Malone's letter. So the guy can stay buried.
Finally, DRACON arrives with the Ski-Mask guy from Matt's apartment and the old man from Mace's old office. Ski-Mask got to the old man before he could call Chavez, so there's no help on the way. (And Elisa realizes that the few minutes it would have cost her to call Chavez herself would have been well worth it.)
Dracon's fairly annoyed that Glasses hasn't finished digging through to the vault yet. Glasses explains the delay and produces the letter. But Dracon, shakes his head. We don't have to worry about someone else getting the letter, if we already have the loot. Dig out that vault!!
Loot? Vault? Dracon? What's going on? Matt fills Elisa in. Malone's letter didn't refer to the Illuminati at all, but to a bank robbing syndicate that included both Malone and Dracon's grandfather, Dominic Dracon (aka D.D.). Malone disappeared before he got around to telling Dominic where the loot from all their heists was. But the letter suggests that it might be here at the speakeasy. It wasn't found when the place was demolished decades ago, so Tony is convinced that there must have been an underground vault.
But how did Matt get involved? Matt had found the letter, among the younger Dracon's papers when Dracon was arrested months ago for grand theft. (Dracon's case is still pending. He's out on bail.) Matt investigated on his own, thinking he was on the trail of the Illuminati, and accidentally stumbled on this. Dracon kept him alive, because they wanted to make sure the letter was out of circulation. They didn't want anyone else stumbling on their little operation, before they had the loot. Matt apologizes for not keeping his partner up to speed. He really screwed up by acting alone.
Finally, Glasses hits pay dirt. There is a vault. Soon, they're burning through that. They break through. And inside... nothing. Nothing but a note:

Sorry, D.D.

Guess again.

Mace

Dracon is furious. But Elisa's not surprised. If the loot had been there, Dominic would have found it when he first received the letter seventy years ago. He must have been pretty confident it was here, or he wouldn't have gotten rid of Mace the day he received the letter. Dracon's a bit embarrassed by Elisa's superior powers of deductive reasoning. Embarrassed enough to tell Glasses to "take care of" the three hostages. But Elisa stays their hands by telling them she's figured out where the loot is hidden. Dracon demands to know where. But Elisa's not dumb. If she tells now, then she, Matt and the Old Man are wormfood. She's willing to take Dracon there. But it's pretty public, they'll have to wait until after dark, and we push in on the mound of dirt where Broadway is buried.

12. Let's indicate some passage of time here. The sun sets. Then we return to the underground chamber. No one's there at all. Broadway bursts from the cave in. He's panicked about Elisa. He finds Mace's second note and reads it with great difficulty. Will he figure everything out?

13. In a helicopter above the city, Dracon, Glasses and Ski-Mask are escorting Elisa, Matt and the old man to the roof of the building opposite Malone's old office. Matt whispers a warning: "They'll kill us as soon as you show them where the loot is." But Elisa says, "Don't worry, I've called for back-up. I think."
The building's too old to be equipped with a heli-pad, but Glasses manages to get close enough to allow Dracon and Elisa to jump onto the roof. Once on the roof, Elisa explains that from Malone's desk across the street, you can see these black bird-heads. And sure enough when she wipes the grime of seventy years away, she reveals the silver-like chrome beneath. Dracon probably has to check a couple heads, before finding the little bag of precious jewels that Mace had the bank loot converted to.
Now all Dracon has to do is get rid of his trio of hostages. He invites Elisa to step off the side of the building. And to his surprise she does.
Of course, she did it because she had already spotted Broadway, who catches her. (He didn't know anything about the loot or Dominic Dracon. But Mace's 2nd note invited "D.D." to guess again. The falcons on this building were the only other place Broadway could think of to check out. He's just glad he guessed right and that he was in time.)
Ultimately, Broadway takes out the chopper, without revealing himself to Matt or the old man. With Matt's help, Glasses, Ski-Mask and Dracon are all taken down. (This can all play largely as you had it.)
Matt thanks his partner Elisa for pulling his fat out of the fire.

14. And in the TAG at the clock tower, Elisa thanks her partner Broadway for doing the same.

That's it. Call me if you have any questions.


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LSZ writes...

Why did Duval found the Illuminati?

Greg responds...

To make things right.

Response recorded on July 10, 2000

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Sapphire writes...

2 Questions about the Illuminati

1) Is the Illuminati evil? (I think this because they help create the Quarrymen with that Phycopath Castaway)

2) Will the Gargoyles, Pendragon, David Xanatos, and their allies eventually bring down the distruction of the Illuminati? (Since the Society is proberly itself the biggest threat to all humanity

Greg responds...

1. Not in their opinion.
2. I'm not sure I agree with you're assessment -- it's so sweeping. Anyway, I figured on having the Illuminati still in existence at least until 2158 and beyond. Forever's a long time. But I don't see it going away any time soon. Which doesn't mean the gargs, et al, won't hand it a few setbacks here and there.

Response recorded on July 10, 2000

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Reverend Attila writes...

Meow!! Greg!!!

I have some questions:

Is Ross Perot the current identity of Duvall today?
Is Todd Jensen the current identity of Mr. Duvall?
Is Vinnie the current identity of Mr. Duvall?

BTW, Guess what day today is ;)

Greg responds...

Ahh, April 1st in your dimension Attila. But here in mind it's July 4th. Quite a different holiday.

So no, no, no.

Response recorded on July 05, 2000

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Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky writes...

What would have Duval's physical cost to using the Grail have been?

Greg responds...

I don't want to say now.

Response recorded on June 28, 2000

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Todd Jensen writes...

What sort of antagonist do you picture Duval as being? Do you see him as a very malevolent figure, like Thailog and the Archmage, or a more "greyish" enemy, like Macbeth?

Greg responds...

Both. (And that's not meant to be a smart-ass response.)

Response recorded on June 23, 2000

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Todd Jensen writes...

Is there any connection between Duval's Fisher King role (guardian of the Holy Grail) and those rejuvenation drugs that they give the older members of the Illuminati such as Mace Malone?

Greg responds...

Yep.

Response recorded on June 23, 2000

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Chapter X: "The Edge"

By the end of this episode, everyone is happy.

Both Goliath and Xanatos are afraid they've lost their edge. Both are convinced by the end that they've regained it. Both are at least partially deceiving themselves. [One of the little ambiguities that I love about the Xanatos tags is that one way to interpret them is that David is just full of it. He loses, but claims victory anyway.]

But David is just so lovable in this episode. You gotta love the villain who does NOT penalize his subordinate for beating him in a judo match. And he has such great audacious dialogue (kudos to Michael Reaves and Jonathan Frakes). A few approximate samples:
--"I'm the best friend you have."
--"If you're going to be picky, we won't get anywhere."
--"You're taking this much too personally."
And those were all in one scene. A scene where he's just standing out there awaiting their arrival. I mean, a guy as busy as he is... Is that confidence/arrogance or what?

And he's not afraid to get his hands dirty. Giving X the armor was essential. Up to this point, David had been only the brains. But to be a true reverse-hero, he had to be a warrior as well. Here we showed he had what it takes to mix it up. But always without being stupid. Question: How many of you knew the "red robot" was Xanatos in armor before the tag? Of course, now it seems obvious, but what about the first time you saw this ep?

And yet Elisa "Wouldn't want his karma." What goes around comes around. All that arrogance, had to receive some commeuppance. (Can anyone say Oberon?)

One thing that I thought was TOO OBVIOUS was the Steel Clan theft of the EYE OF ODIN. I would have preferred if that scene had been more ambiguous in Act One. Preferred that the audience maybe think that the Robot WAS Goliath, so that when Matt takes aim at the cliffhanger, we think he's going to shoot Goliath. The cliffhanger doesn't really play as is. Only Elisa is fooled, not the audience.

Everyone wonders why Xanatos donated the Eye to the Museum of MODERN Art. (Maybe because it had mediocre security, but adequate security cameras.) But what I want to know is whether or not Edvard Munch's "The Scream" is really at that museum?

Speaking of THE EYE, I may have mentioned that this was actually the idea of the Disney interactive video game people. We wanted to be synergistic, and I kinda liked the whole idea, so we put it into the show. It was another of our step-by-step additions to the continuity. Intro it as a minor maguffin. A dewdad for Xanatos. And build from there, with the eventual plan to actually make it Odin's eye. At some point in all this, we completely forgot that the idea came from the interactive people. We went back to see them months and months later and were reminded. Luckily the concepts hadn't gotten too far away from each other. But the design did. Unfortunately, our design wound up looking a bit Egyptian for my tastes. The Interactive design had a great Raven motif. (Oh, well.)

New characters (more or less):

A cameo by Derek.

The first mention of the Emir.

The first appearance of Travis Marshall. Michael and I worked this guy out together. He wouldn't be one of those fluff journalists. He'd be old school. He wouldn't whitewash David, just because the guy was a rich man. We always made sure to give Travis that edge. And still, I always felt we underused him. In this episode, Matt gives him a lift in Derek's chopper. Matt says, "You owe me one." Eventually, I'd like to see Matt collect on that favor in a story focusing on the two of them.

And speaking of Matt...

The first real appearance of Matt Bluestone. This guy was largely Michael Reaves' creation. (Although the "Bluestone" name was one of our earlier choices for Elisa's last name. After Chavez, Reed and Chavez, but before Maza.) At first, I admit I was dubious about him being a conspiracy nut. But it so worked. And this was the first time I ever worked with Tom Wilson. He's just so great. And so damn funny to have in the booth. (I love him in FREAKS & GEEKS.)

Matt & Elisa discuss the Illuminati, UFO's and Loch Ness. I love how dubious she is, with her inside joke: "Believe me, the world's strange enough as it is." Little does she know.

But my favorite thing about Matt is that ultimately he's a healthy influence on Elisa... "Maybe that's when you need one [a partner] the most." He's just a really good guy.

As usual, characters keep their promises. Matt vows to find out what those creatures (the gargs) are. And by God, eventually he does.

More on continuity...

Elisa's only JUST coming back to work. In cartoon terms, the fact that we waited this long after her gunshot wound, was a relative eternity. The height of cartoon realism. It doesn't seem like very long, but months passed between the original airings of DEADLY FORCE and THE EDGE.

And Chavez won't let her go back on the job without a partner. Michael conceptualized Matt -- after I mandated the creation of Elisa's partner. Cops have partners. It is one of the defining things about cops. When cop-shows show cops working solo, it always bugs me. I felt we got away with it for a bit. But it was time to make Elisa a more real cop. And that meant a partner. Not a bad guy. But someone who could potentially cause her trouble. And yet still really be her partner.

Broadway is still very solicitous toward Elisa. Taking the tv from her. It's sweet.

Random stuff:

The show is gorgeous to look at. (Thanks Roy, et al.)

I love Lexington's line when he regains consciousness: "We're still alive. How come?"

Watching the show this time, my daughter was very nervous that the Statue of Liberty would be damaged in the battle between our gargs and the Steel Clan. But when Broadway nailed one robot by impaling him with a metal claw from the other robot, Erin said, "Nice one."

Goliath is reading Dostoevsky. Are you?


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Todd Jensen writes...

A fresh effort to do the eight Arthurian survivors correctly.

1. King Arthur
2. Merlin
3. The Lady of the Lake
4. Sir Percival
5. Blanchfleur
6. Morgan le Fay
7. Nimue
8. The Green Knight (the one whom Gawain had that encounter with)

Greg responds...

Eight points.

Thank you. Come again.

No, wait! Eight points. Eight out of eight. FINALLY, A WINNER! And Todd, I have to admit, I'm kinda glad it's you, since you've been the most dedicated to exploring the Arthurian angle here in ASK GREG.

As to the speculation of how they survived, well, I was gonna make another contest out of it, but I realized it would violate my NO IDEAS policy, so...

1. King Arthur Pendragon. Slept under a spell in the Hollow Hill.

2. Merlin. Son of Oberon by a mortal woman. Imprisoned in the Crystal Cave.

3. The Lady of the Lake. One of the Oberati.

4. Sir Percival. The Fisher King. Mr. Duval. Founder of the Illuminati. Spends a lot of time in Castle Carbonek, a sort of mini-traveling-Avalon, where time passes differently. Also uses the Holy Grail to maintain his youth, though at a very real physical cost, due to his, shall we say, sins.

5. Lady Blanchefleur. Percival's wife. Queen of Castle Carbonek. She lives there and uses the Grail. The only cost being her estrangement from Percival.

6. Morgana le Fay. A changling in the old-fashioned sense.

7. Nimue. A sorceress with connections to Merlin, the Oberati and Morgana. (Think about it.)

8. The Green Knight. An Oberati.

Anyway, the above revelations are a gift I'm giving all of you on Todd's behalf. Thank him. Todd, to claim your prize, have Gore or DemonaCrzy forward your e-mail address to me.

Response recorded on March 18, 2000

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DougJoe writes...

Greg,

Back in August I asked some questions about Duval, his name, and identity. I wasn't trying to figure out who he was. I already had that figured out... as you said, it's one of your worst-kept secrets. I just noticed that no one ever mentioned his first name, so I thought that it might be a sneaky clue or something to that effect to his identity... I was actually surprised when you responded that you hadn't thought of one. I would have definitely liked to see how that particular revelation would have played out in the series.

No question here, but thanks again for answering all of ours. You mentioned that you had wanted Ask Greg to be something sort of a dialogue... hope this is what you had in mind.

Greg responds...

Yeah. Sure.

You'd be surprised at how many things I HAVEN'T worked out yet. I'm a little amazed I know as much as I do, but I don't pretend to have it wired. For me to really tap into the gargoyles universe requires concerted effort. And I rarely have time to do that these days.

Response recorded on March 09, 2000

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Julian Benton writes...

Sir,
How did you get the idea's and the information about the inclusion of the Illuminatus into the Gargoyles story line?

Greg responds...

I think the initial idea was Michael Reaves'. We all just expanded it from Matt Bluestone's first mention.

Response recorded on March 03, 2000

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Todd Jensen writes...

Since you mentioned Thor in your last batch of responses, that reminded me of something that I'd been meaning to ask you for some time. You mentioned that the Eye of Odin came from a "Gargoyles" computer game (and added that you thought that the folks who did the computer game had a better, more Norse, design for the Eye than did the series). I read that in the computer game, they had a "Thor" robot as an opponent for Goliath at one point, armed with a high-tech hammer. Was the hammer an at least partial inspiration for the Quarrymen's hammers in "The Journey"?

Greg responds...

If so, it was pretty subconscious. As I don't remember the Thor robot or the hammer, even with you mentioning it now. Of course, I never played the game.

But frankly, I think the hammers were a natural extension of the whole Quarrymen/Freemason idea. What's a gargoyles natural enemy? A hammer.

Sometimes a hammer is just a hammer.

Response recorded on March 03, 2000

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Todd Jensen writes...

A couple of questions about the Quarrymen.

1. What is the relationship between them and the authorities in New York? While obviously the local government figures in Manhattan don't know that the gargoyles are actually a race, and therefore wouldn't interpret the Quarrymen as a hate group, there is the fact that these people could be viewed as vigilantes, are armed with potentially dangerous high-tech weaponry, and their leader is clearly the unstable sort. Would the New York authorities be willing to tolerate them?

2. You mentioned that the Quarrymen would still be around in 2158. What sort of legal status do they have by then? Would they have become more of a criminal organization, like the Pack, by that time, outside the law and the mainstream public, or would they have some fleeting legitimacy left?

Greg responds...

1. Not Matt.

2. Legal status? Again, I have always seen them as a KKK parallel. It never ever quite goes away.

Response recorded on March 03, 2000

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niner writes...

Oops, sorry that last one was me.

As long as I'm here I might as well ask those New Olympian questions.

1) What was Spynx's occupation before she became an ambassador to the outside world?

2) When Taurus said Proteus wasn't like other Olympians did he mean that Proteus was the only criminal on New Olympus or that he was the only one that was an insane murderer?

3) On a scale of one to ten, with ten being a sentient android like Data from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and one being a Steel Clan robot, how inteligent is Talos?

4) Do the Illuminati know about the existence of New Olympus? If not, how would they react when the New Olympians revealed themselves to the human world?

5) If The New Olympians were to become a cartoon show how much of the series would take place in New York and how much of it would take place in New Olympus?

Thank you very much.

Greg responds...

1. Student.

2. Generally, the latter.

3. I hate quantifying things. I'm not a numbers guy. He's smart, o.k.?

4a. No.

4b. Quickly and with determination.

5. Again, don't ask me for percentages. A good amount in both, but I also saw the series as international in scope.

Response recorded on March 03, 2000

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Todd Jensen writes...

Something that I've wondered about Matt's pursuit of the Illuminati and plans to expose them. If he's correct about the Illuminati (they run everything behind the scenes, and even the President of the United States is their puppet), then how could he bring them down, even if he did obtain proof of their existence? They must surely have enough of a hold over the governments of the leading nations of the world and the press that they couldn't be brought down. (Of course, Matt does seem a bit on the quixotic side, and may never have addressed that problem in his search, but I still can't help wondering about this).

Greg responds...

"Quixotic" is a great word for Matt. And he may be slightly exaggerating their influence both for the sake of effect and to help with his own self-justification of the pursuit.

But largely, he's winging it. Confident that one man (with a little help from good friends) can make a difference.

Response recorded on February 25, 2000

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lisa writes...

1.does the illuminatti know about macbeth?
2.does macbeth know about the illuminatti?

Greg responds...

1. I don't know.

2. Probably.

Response recorded on February 09, 2000

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2TUM writes...

What's the name of the secret organization that Xanatos and Hacker are a part of? <And don't say something like "Well, I'd answer but, it's a secret, if I tell you, I'd have to kill you">

Greg responds...

The Illuminati.

Response recorded on December 30, 1999


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