Pyro X writes...

Greg;
The Native Peoples of NA came to NA VIA the Bering Strait some thousands of years ago.

1) When Oberon dispatched his "family" to live among mortals, did Raven make his way imediatly to Q.F.I off Canada?
2)Did Raven "take on" the persona of "The Raven" based on Native legend, or was he always "Raven"?
3) As you have said, you never know if that is Pucks true form (As the in the elvish form). Does this, as well, apply to the Other children? Was that Raven's true form?
4) Does Raven have a true form?
5) Did the "Raven" legend spring from "Raven" himself?
6) What WAS that thing Grandmother turned into??? (the thing with the weird mouth).

Thanks!

Todd Jensen writes...

In "Eye of the Storm", Erik and Gunther's surname was "Sturluson". Was this an allusion to Snorri Sturluson, the author of the Prose Edda (one of the leading primary sources on Norse mythology)?

Sloth writes...

Did Goliath, elisa, Angela & Bronx return to Avolon in between every world tour episode? If so was it just to go there and quickly leave, or did they have more adventures there? And when they leave do they just sail into the mist and land where ever Avolon wants?

Sloth writes...

The show states that gargoyles can withstand very cold tempretures, but how about hot? I'm asking cause Goliath and co fly close to the Magma in two volcanos and seems fine. BTW, can volcanos be like that and not be active?

matt writes...

just watched "The Hound of Ulster", and (arn't you surprised?) i had some questions:

1. when the Banche saved Goliath, Elisa, and Angela from drowning in the bog, how did she do it? did she transport them to that chamber, or was that chamber directly below the bog or what?

2. How old is Rory? and how old is Molly? Rory said he was out of school and i'm asuming he means high school... so is he, 19? 20?

3. after the episode, what and how much did Rory tell his father? everything?

and as Gargoyles is known for its foreshadowing:

4. when Goliath said, "A whole clan of gargoyles could not batter down these walls!" were you thinking of the Irish garg clan you've said existed being in that same chamber ever?

5. Rory said, "The Hound of Ulster? Sure, and dwarves made me shoes..." well, the hound turned out to exist, so DID dwarves make Rory's shoes? :)

Todd Jensen writes...

When you first had Xanatos and Owen mention the Emir in "The Edge", did you know that he'd feature in an episode in a prominent role at that time? Did you when you got to their mention of him in "Double Jeopardy"?

Anonymous writes...

Are there actual gargoyles that resemble Raven's clan of illusion?

Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky writes...

Ok, this has been on my mind for a while, and checked the archives and didn't find it there.

What was Raven hoping to gain by driving everyone away from Queen Florence Island in "Heritage". I don't really understand his motivations there.

Sloth writes...

Was there a point To Xanatos finding out that Goliath was missing in "Kingdom" other than to prove that Brooklen is a good desision maker? Xanatos did meet up with Goliath in Arazona, but that seemed to be a coincidence that he turned to his advantage in finding Cyotie (the trickster, not the robot :^). Was this a point you wanted to expand more on?

Todd Jensen writes...

This is something that I should be posting later, ideally, since you haven't yet gotten to the Avalon World Tour episodes in your ramblings, but I finally decided that I needed to let this out of me soon, so I'm doing so now.

I've noticed, over the years since I discovered "Gargoyles" fandom on the Internet, that many people didn't like the Avalon World Tour for various reasons (the length of time, the absence of Hudson and the trio, the focus on myth and fantasy aspects rather than more "mundane" elements like crime-fighting, etc.). On the other hand (while I may have had my moments of wondering when Goliath, Elisa, Angela and Bronx were going to get back to New York), I quite liked the World Tour. To a certain extent, I'll admit that I'm biased - my tastes naturally run towards fantasy/myth elements. But after doing a little thinking on this one, it increasngly struck me that, aside from all that, something of the nature of the Avalon World Tour was a must for "Gargoyles" at some point.

The reason for this is that the World Tour served a very crucial purpose (besides the general one that you mentioned of expanding the "Gargoyles Universe"). It made it clear that Goliath, his clan, and Demona weren't the only gargoyles left. And that was a crucial step. Because if they really had been, the gargoyle species would have been almost irrevocably doomed to extinction, with only seven members left, only one of those seven a female, and that one estranged from all the rest and very unlikely to reconcile with them. Goliath and the others would have been the "last gargoyles", not only in the sense of being the only ones left, but also in the sense that no new gargoyles would come along after them.

If that had been the case, it would have obviously made a rather depressing series. Admittedly, having the main character be the "very last of his kind" wouldn't necessarily be utterly melancholy - Superman is the very last Kryptonian, and his story's an upbeat one, on the whole. But the situation there's different; Superman's alien origin is treated more as a plot device to explain his abilities, so his being "the last of his kind" doesn't appear quite so melancholy. Goliath and his clan's "gargoyleness", however, was treated in the series from the start as a crucial part of them and their very nature, rather than a similar handy plot device to allow them to serve as effective protectors of New York. And also, it was clear enough from the start that an important part of the series would be the gargoyles seeking to make peace with humanity, to overcome the fear that so many humans view them with. Such a quest would have been futile (in a sense) if they were the last of their kind - the understanding on humanity's part of the true nature of gargoyles would come too late to avert the race's extinction - the best that the gargs would be able to hope for in such a situation was that they might be able to live out their last years without the general human population hunting them down, but still aware that there would be no new gargoyles after them. Not very happy.

So there'd obviously have to be gargoyles living in other parts of the world to ensure a future for the species. And Goliath and his clan would have to come into contact with those other gargoyles for the audience to see that they weren't the last. But the clan's situation would make that tricky. For one thing, there'd be the obvious transportation problems - they can't simply hop aboard the next plane bound for London or Japan. And given how secretive gargoyle clans would obviously have to be in modern times, even if Goliath and Co. had a mundane means of transportation to wherever it was that one of these clans was living, they would certainly not be likely to find out about these other clans easily. The only solution to both questions that wouldn't feel contrived was magic - as in the magic of Avalon that sends you where you need to be. That way, Goliath could be brought to the locations of the clans in London, Guatemala, and Ishimura in a convincing fashion.

So I think that the Avalon World Tour was indeed a practical must for the series, to allow the crucial moment when the clan can learn, as Hudson put it in "The Gathering", "We're not alone. We're not the last."

Anonymous writes...

What was the purpose of the episode Cloud Fathers? Was it to introduce Coyote the trickster or Beth?

Anonymous writes...

Did you have plans for Tea's hunter friends?

Anonymous writes...

Whatever happened to that guy and his son that we saw in eye of the storm? Do you have plans for them?

matt writes...

obviously Elisa told Matt about many of the World Tour adventures (i.e. Hunters Moon- Easter Island Statues) did she tell him about the New Olympians? did she tell any other humans? did Goliath and co. tell the trio and Hudson about the New Olympians?

Justin writes...

Hey Greg, it's been awhile since I posted.
My question is
1) Was it Avalon's magic that enabled Goliath and co. to talk to Zafiro, Kai etc. during the world tour?
2) If yes then would the residents of New Olympus speak some Mediterranean language?

Thanks

durax writes...

<i>You said that the yeti would be seen in Gargoyles for sure. Is it an animal elated to the gargoyles or a gargoyle.
--------------------------------------Greg answered---------------
That story is actually written. It was written for Marvel's Gargoyle comic book before it was cancelled.</i>

Would Coldstone have been involved with this story?

Anonymous writes...

You said that the scenario in Bushido was purposely similar to that surrounding the Wyvern massacre so was the scenario of the two were panthers purposely similar to MacBeth's and Demona's scenario which is a fay giving mortals extraordinary power for a price?

Anonymous writes...

Whats the difference between Shangri-La and Xanadu?

matt writes...

ok, if you won't answer what other World Tour episodes you had "planned" besides the Himalayas and Korea, what were some ideas you had for other possible locations?

Todd Jensen writes...

You indicated in one of your recent responses that Shangri-La came to mind as the site of a possible, but unmade, Avalon World Tour adventure. What I'm curious about is whether it'd be possible to include Shangri-La in "Gargoyles". I believe that it was invented by James Hilton in his novel "Lost Horizon", written and published in the 1930's, which could make it a little too recent to be quite in the public domain as yet, though I'm not certain on that.

matt writes...

in "The Gathering" when Goliath and co. arrived in New York what happened to the Avalon Skiff? did it sink as Arthur's skiff had done in London? if the just left the skiff in the lake or river could anyone have gotten in it and accidently gone to Avalon?

matt writes...

besides the Himalaya w/ Coldstone episode and the Korean garg episode were there any other possible World Tour eps planned? if so, where would they have taken place?

matt writes...

when Derek was mutated into a panther like mutate did you have "Mark of the Panther" in mind? i found it really great that Diane was telling this story about humans turning into panthers, which is kinda what happened to her son, and then is still surprised when the were-panthers change, and again has seen Derek as a pseudo-gargoyle and still is shocked by the gargoyles in Nigeria with Elisa!

matt writes...

how does the World Tour thing work? do the travelers return to Avalon after every stop in the real world, or only sometimes, or only when the spell is cast? who would cast this spell among Goliath and co. and Jade and Tequesa?

Tanika writes...

Hello, Greg!

I was recently reading a Nigerian folktale, "Nana Miriam," (in the book "Not One Damsel in Distress," bu Jane Yolen) which reminded me of some questions I had about "Mark of the Panther," and brought up some new ones.

1. Specifically, two of the characters in the tale are named Fara Maka and Kara-Digi-Mao-Fosi-Fasi. What is the relation of those people/names to the character of Fara Maku and the city of Kara-Digi? (Were those the correct spellings of the names in the episode?)

2. Was the tale of Anansi and the panther woman an actual folktale, or did you (or someone else) write it for the show?

3. If it was written, what elements, such as the character of Anansi himself, were drawn from actual legend?

4. If it is an actual legend, what elements, if any, were changed or adapted to suit the purposes of the episode?

Thank you . . . this is something I've been wondering about for some time. :)