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Anonymous writes...

1.What do the Space-Spawn look like?
2.What special attributes do the Space-Spawn possess? For example gargoyles turn to stone, the fay can use magic without outside help and Nokkar's race has a very long lifespan.

Greg responds...

1. Not telling at this time.

2. They don't eat cheese.

Response recorded on July 09, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

Which star system(s) did Nokkar's people originate? How many sentient races emerged there?

Greg responds...

Sentient races are few and far between in the Gargoyles Universe. Not commonplace. I have a good idea about this. But I'm not going to break it down in specific numbers for you.

As to which star system, I don't pretend that I've bothered to figure that one out yet.

Response recorded on July 09, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

What did you mean when you said "hit the Space-Spawn where they live" in Gargoyles 2198 contest? Are you referring to the Space-Spawn homeworld? If so shouldn't Nokkar's people be doing that already?

Greg responds...

I'm not going to get as specific as to say "homeworld".

As for Nokkar's people, what makes you think they aren't doing just that. Or for that matter, what makes you think any of them are still alive?

My point is that you don't know enough to judge.

Response recorded on July 09, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

1.How could the Space-Spawn be "born amidst the fury of an exploding star" I'd think thats impossible considering the heat and radiation?
2.Where and when was the exploding star?

Greg responds...

1. It's wonderful that you're so confident given the incredibly small amount of information that you have about them.

2. In space. Some time ago.

Response recorded on July 02, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

How close is Nokkar's people to First One status?

Greg responds...

I don't know what that means.

Response recorded on July 02, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

Compared to the territory held by Nokkar's people is the territory held by the Space-Spawn larger or smaller?

Greg responds...

When?

Response recorded on July 02, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

1.How old is the Space-Spawn race?
2.What is their name for themselves?
3.Did you plan to introduce specific members of the Space-Spawn?
4.Are they as long lived as Nokkar?

Greg responds...

1. Old enough.
2. Space-Spawn.
3. Yes.
4. Individually? No.

Response recorded on July 02, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

By now the 2198 contest has probabyl ended so a few questions

1.Why doesn't Oberon involve himself in the war afterall the head of his honor guard has been taken hostage along with Titania's grandson?
2.What ever happened to Natsilane's parents?
3.Is the Delilah, Samson and Zafiro relationship in anyway like that of the trio? Who exactly is Samson's mate going to be?
4.What is the proper name for the Space-Spawn
5.How did Coyote become so devious?

Greg responds...

1. Are you sure Oberon is still alive?

2. I'm not answering this now.

3. Well, there are three of them. But no two groups are exactly the same. Samson likes Delilah. Delilah likes Samson. But whether they ever become mates is an open question.

4. As opposed to Space-Spawn?

5. Iron supplements.

Response recorded on June 30, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

How does Nokkar's race reproduce? Are they asexual?

Greg responds...

Not going into that now.

Response recorded on June 29, 2001

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Laura 'ad astra' Ackerman writes...

Another try at sending this out-

I just typed up a particularly long question that didn't post and got lost, and I was foolish not to copy it somewhere before hitting submit. I apologize if it turns up later and this becomes a double post, and also if I can't get rid of the autoformating in Word and it looks a little screwy. After losing that long a question I am not taking a chance working directly into the web page.

It has been a long time since I posted a question... of course it has been a long time since I have been caught up with your answers. After reading all of the new responses, particularly those dealing with Oberon and Titania, a question has come to mind. [Actually two, but how many new ways can you ask, "What did Titania whisper to Fox?"? That question should almost have its own section.] The short form of the question is this: Just how different are Oberon's hildren from humans? I am not referring to physical or magical characteristics, but rather do they think in a quantifiably different way than do humans?

The long version of the questions comes after the long digression:

A while back a friend practically shoved an anthology into my hands and insisted I read a particular article. I believe it was called, "Hamlet in the Bush". The gist of it was that a young anthropologist found herself with an indigenous culture for a long boring stretch. [She had thought the off season would be a wonderful time to get to observe their culture. Had she asked them they would have told her the off season is the off season because the weather is so miserable that they cannot even visit the next village. They spend the time drink the local equivalent to bear waiting for it to pass.]

Before leaving she had had an argument with a friend. She argued that at base all humans are the same and once you do some explaining to take care of cultural differences, a great work of literature would be recognized as such by all people. The example that was bandied about was Hamlet, so he gave her a copy as a going away present.

With nothing else to do she sat in her tent and read it over and over until the locals asked her what on Earth she was doing. They were a non-literate culture and to them reading papers meant reading boring legal documents. Even a white person could not be so daft as to spend weeks doing so. She seized upon it an opportunity to test her theory and they, being a story telling culture, were happy to oblige.

She immediately ran into two problems:
-1-They didn't have a concept of "ghost". Zombie, yes. Evil spirit in false guise, yes. But the idea of a dead person's spirit hanging around this world was simply ludicrous to them.
-2-They thought Claudius was a great guy. He acted as an exemplary uncle and brother-in-law, although he waited a bit long in taking care of his brother's household. [Three whole months! And with only one wife to tend the fields!]

In the end they loved the story (with their corrections) and thought she was on her way being a great storyteller, (being female aside). They also told her to be sure to tell her elders that they had been good hosts and had corrected her misremembering lest she continue in error.

I think her premise held, but she hadn't realized how far cultural difference went. The more complex the story, the more it was tied to its own cultural assumptions and the harder it is to explain to another culture.

Back to Gargoyles-

In Gargoyles the basic emotions seem pretty much universal. Gargoyles, humans, New Olympians, and even Nokar and Matrix as far as we have seen them, display them. Love, hate, curiosity and fear, as well as slightly more complex emotions of protection and loneliness are clearly expressed and are more easily understood than some lost cultures of our own ancestors. Are Oberon's Children fundamentally different, or if we can imagine long enough the effects of great power and incredibly long lives we can empathize without too much brain-sprain?

There are great works of speculative fiction that try to understand the mind of The Other. Zelazny had a whole series of stories of robots worshiping and trying to understand the long last human race. I recently read a great book called "Exogesis" (a post-modern Prometheius) by Astro Teller dealing with how a newly emerged AI might think and how humanity might respond. If I would list every book I could think of on the topic I will never stop typing and will eventually have feel the urge to start listing plays and movies as well, (and probably have to deal with Frankenstein, and I am not fond of the book. It is hard to like a book when you hate the main character. Perhaps the movies were right to make the monster the lead character. :).

It all boils down to this: Are the Children of Oberon "the Other", or something very much like ourselves?

Boy this is long! sorry.

Greg responds...

Don't apologize. It's fascinating.

Boiling it down...

YOU WROTE:

Are Oberon's Children fundamentally different, or if we can imagine long enough the effects of great power and incredibly long lives we can empathize without too much brain-sprain?

I'd have to say the latter. Great power. Little or no responsibility. Long lives. Being able to look however you feel at a given moment. You add these things up and they may seem other for awhile. But fundamentally, it's about extrapolation on our human emotions.

Because fundamentally, as a writer, what else can I do? Maybe someone else has the talent, ability, INTEREST in truly creating the OTHER. But not me. I'm interested in US. Gargoyles, humans, Oberon's Children. Toss in the New Olympians, Nokkar, the Space-Spawn, the Lost Race, etc. I'm fundamentally interested in figuring out what makes us real world humans tick. Or boil it down further, and I'm fundamentally interested in figuring out what the hell makes ME tick. All the characters in the Gargverse are just there as an alternative to me being in therapy, I guess.

Does that make sense?

Response recorded on June 29, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

What is the birthrate for Oberon's children?
What is the birthrate for Nokkar's race?
What is the birthrate for the Space-spawn?
What is the birthrate for the third race involved in the galactic war?
What was the birthrate for the lost race?

Greg responds...

At this time, I have not set any of these things in stone. INTENTIONALLY.

Response recorded on June 28, 2001

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Jim R. writes...

(Laughing at Sapphire's comment to matt.) Well, buddy, it looks like you and I both get ourselves in deep water sometimes...Let the Almighty and Honorable Greg Weisman be the judge, for this is his courtroom. (Laughs)

Anyways...(turning to Greg)

Do members of the Third Race exist outside of Earth? Because, we all know that from what Broadway said, there are three Earth races: Humans, Gargoyles, and Oberon's children. But....
Should your Space Spawn series go through...there would undoubtedly be a fourth race, maybe not Earth-originated, but yet another race. So eventually that leads me to believe that could there be be other races in the universe that exist like Oberon's children?

I've always sort thought of Oberon's children like the "Q" on Star Trek...And the Space Spawn spinoff sort of clashes two worlds together, as if Babylon 5 and Hercules got together, if you know what I mean...

Greg responds...

I don't think I do know what you mean.

If you're asking if there are other magic-based races out there in the cosmos, then I'd be a fool to say NO absolutely. Big cosmos, you see. But if you're asking if those races are directly related to Oberon's Children, then the answer is no.

Response recorded on June 27, 2001

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Steven L. writes...

Hey,
I'm sorry this question has been asked before. I've been going through the archives for a while now (this'll be my first question) and I haven't come across any references to it, but you never know, right?
Anyway, I just saw a repeat of "Sentinel" last night, and it struck me as a very pilot-esque episode, like you'd set up in mind for a spin off (something like "Widget the World Watcher" meets "Transformers", only more grounded in reality). And yet, you seem to have no intention to spin it off. How come? Did you originally intend to, but decided against it as you felt it wasn't strong enough to carry a series, focusing instead on the other possible spin-offs? Or am I just making things up in my head?
Thanks.

Greg responds...

Mostly in your head.

It was never intended to be a spin-off per se, but it was a plot thread I wanted to pick up again later. MUCH LATER. Like in 2198.

Response recorded on May 08, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

How do Nokkar's people reproduce?

Greg responds...

Behind closed doors.

Response recorded on May 02, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

How is it that the space spawn war hasn't ended after a few thousand years? I mean both sides would have felt the results of the war that they would want to negotiate a treaty.

Greg responds...

So you say.

Response recorded on March 29, 2001

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Jim R. writes...

Would a gargoyle be any different in space than a human? Does their physiology differ that much from ours if they were to be sent into space? And do gargoyles have a lesser tolerance for gravity then us seeing how they are more like birds and bats that have wings? (I would think their skeletal structure would be hollower than that of a human so they could generate lift)

Greg responds...

As I've said before, nothing about Goliath's strength suggests a hollow skeleton to me.

Otherwise, there are going to be some differences. But not obvious stuff like gravity and oxygen and vaccuum.

Response recorded on February 15, 2001

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LSZ writes...

Would the Space-spawn be curious about magic, or would they be unaware it even really exists on Earth?

Greg responds...

Not gonna answer this 'til contest is over.

Response recorded on December 07, 2000

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LSZ writes...

Do any of the races involved in the Space-spawn War possess technological time travel?

Greg responds...

Not casually, no.

Response recorded on November 17, 2000

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Anonymous writes...

How many other races besides the Space-Spawn, Nokkar's people and the third unknown race are involved in the intergalactic war? Hundreds? Thousands?

Greg responds...

"involved" is a pretty vague word.

But less than twenty.

Response recorded on November 15, 2000

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Faieq writes...

If Nokkar's race has a very long natural life span, then wouldn't Nokkar's home Planet be overpopulated?
Nokkar has been on the Earth for 3000 years, obviously he wasn't born on our world and he would have reached adulthood before he came to the Earth. Then he was older than 3000 years when he first came here.
So if all the beings on his home world have long life spans, their death rate wouldn't be very high and their birth rate must be much larger that the death rate.
Or is that most of the race is posted on other Planets, like Nokkar is on Easter Island, looking out for the Space Spawn?

Greg responds...

The birth rate, though higher than the death rate, may still be VERY low. Plus they aren't limited to one planet.

I wouldn't worry about it.

Response recorded on November 14, 2000

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Anonymous writes...

What is the average lifespan of a member of the space-spawn race?

Greg responds...

Don't know.

Response recorded on November 14, 2000

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Anonymous writes...

Was the intergalactic war between Nokkar's people and the Space-Spawn always a hot war or was it sometimes a cold war?

Greg responds...

I can't answer that now.

Response recorded on November 13, 2000

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Todd Jensen writes...

This is a question on Nokkar, but don't worry; it's about him as portrayed in "Sentinel" and isn't "Gargoyles 2198"-linked.

I've noticed that a great many "Gargoyles" fans have displayed a low opinion of Nokkar as a character because of his treatment of the gargoyles, mistaking them for spies for the Space-Spawn and refusing (until almost the last moment) to reconsider; they've considered him a stubborn fool. While I can't approve myself of Nokkar's attitude of "I've already made up my mind; don't confuse me with the facts" myself, I have wondered from time to time if we haven't been doing him something of an injustice.

The big element in this pondering is this question that I find it's occasionally useful to ask ourselves regarding those enemies of the gargoyles who fought against them because they believed the gargs to be evil monsters; would we have felt the same way about these people if the gargoyles really were a race of evil demons? In some cases, my answer would have been "Yes". I would have felt the same way about the Pack in "The Thrill of the Hunt", for example, or Castaway in "The Journey", because their reasons for going after the gargoyles were ignoble ones (the Pack motivated by a desire for simple excitement, Castaway by hatred and a desire for revenge) rather than for the purpose of protecting the community, and because they were willing to endanger innocent bystanders in a very ruthless fashion to achieve their goals.

But with Nokkar, my response is different. For one thing, he really does come across in "Sentinel" as genuinely concerned for the well-being of the inhabitants of the planet that he's been assigned to protect. He clearly shows concern for Elisa - he immediately asks her, after bringing Goliath down, if she's all right, and trusts her enough, in fact, to give her the personal guided tour of his spaceship. When Elisa finally, out of instinct, sides with the gargoyles and comes to their rescue, Nokkar still does whatever he can to treat her gently, and asks her (and actually listens) why she insists on risking her own life to protect them. (He also mentions having had a good relationship with the original inhabitants of Easter Island who built the moai statues of him, and seems willing enough to make friends with the two archaeologists and Dr. Arnada at the end of the story and share his mission with them). Indication enough that he was no simple mercenary but someone with a genuine protector instinct.

As for his treatment of the gargoyles - again, it wouldn't have hurt for him to have kept an open mind. But to return to my original point, would I have felt the same way about the guy if Goliath, Angela, and Bronx really had been an advance scouting party for the Space-Spawn? I will admit that I wouldn't. Even when Nokkar was about to execute them, he made it clear that a) he was doing this because the laws of his people forbade Sentinels to take prisoners and b) he was going to give them as merciful and painless a death as possible. (And, also to be perfectly fair to the guy, what proof did the gargoyles have to offer him that they weren't enemy aliens? To the best of my knowledge, none).

So this consideration does lead me to wonder whether we may not have done Nokkar a bit of an injustice in how we viewed his actions in "Sentinel". At any rate, I'm curious as to what your thoughts are on the matter.

Greg responds...

Well, I like the guy. I don't know that I'd jump through the same hoops to rationalize his actions, but I like him. For us, he was like those stories of WWII soldiers on remote Pacific Islands still fighting a war that they didn't know was over. (Not that the Space-Spawn War is over.) They go a bit batty over the long, long haul. And Nokkar's had a longer haul than most. The truth is he was anxious to be doing something productive. Anything. He wanted the Gargoyles to be S-S spies. That's bad. But when he realized his error, he didn't compound it. That shows he's redeemable. Easier to redeem than most, I think.

And I agree, he did demonstrate a real concern for humans.

Response recorded on November 10, 2000

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Anonymous writes...

How many races are involved in the war between Nokkar's people and the Space Spawn?

Which of the three main races in the war is the oldest? Which one is the youngest?

Greg responds...

Three main alien races. Plus, by 2198, humans and gargoyles at least.

Of the alien races, Nokkar's people are the oldest. The Space-Spawn is the youngest.

Response recorded on November 09, 2000

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icemann writes...

Just one question I've been wondering for a while

What would happen if a Gargoyle were to go into space (on a shuttle or something)? would it go into stone sleep until it came back to earth?

Greg responds...

No.

Response recorded on October 19, 2000


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