Greg responds...

I hope you don't dread it. The in-jokes are minor. Not that a garg fan wouldn't notice them immediately, but give me a little credit for not betraying one project to satisfy another. Please. I'm a professional. And I'd never get hired again, if I did that kind of crap.

I only ever listened to a small part of the "old dub" so I don't know what "princess perl" remark you're talking about. But we never say that in the new dub. It doesn't ring a bell. At any rate, we did NOT use any of the "old dub" as a reference of any kind.

As for the "new dub", which I'd prefer to call the first "complete dub", I'm actually very proud of it. I think the voice work is pretty terrific. Particularly Christian as Yakumo and Brigitte as Pai/Sanjiyan/Pabo/Parvati/Howasho. Susan Chesler, who plays Ling-Ling was a great find. I'd never worked with her before, but she was terrific. I did use a bunch of former garg voice actors, but I hardly think having Thom Adcox, Keith David, Gregg Rainwater, Edward Asner, Bill Fagerbakke, Elisa Gabrielli, etc. should qualify as a strike against it. They're all very good.

My advice (and at this point, I've made all the money off it that I'm going to, so it's less obviously selfish than it may seem) is get the thing and decide for yourself. If you don't like it, you know where to come to let me know.

But try to approach it with an open mind.

Greg responds...

It was dubbed by a different company, and never completed. So now that we were going to do the entire seven episodes (available on two volumes starting in October) we started from scratch. In addition, neither myself or Producer Jonathan Klein cared much for the old version. We're all quite pleased with this new version though. People at G2K seemed to like it. I hope you do as well.

Greg responds...

I was one of the story editors on it. Hired by Sony after they liked my MEN IN BLACK scripts.

I have a few projects in the works, but it's premature to talk about any of them except 3x3 Eyes. (Check the 3x3 EYES ASK GREG archive for more info.)

Greg responds...

Thank you. Yeah, it's a great cast. The garg/3x3 overlap was fun, but I wouldn't have used any of them (including Bill Faggerbakke, Gregg Rainwater, Elisa Gabrielli, Ed Asner, in addition to he ones you mentioned, if they hadn't been just RIGHT for their parts.

But what about me? Didn't you like my work as Hide? Or as the homeless hummer?

Greg responds...

Joe, I'm not sure I agree with you, but in any case that wasn't an option. We didn't have access to any of the "original English voices" for 3x3 EYES. We HAD to recast everyone from scratch. The new Yakumo is a very talented actor named Christian Campbell. (Neve's brother by the way.) Christian is the voice of Max Steel, and he's a regular on a new prime time series that will premiere this fall: "The Street".

Greg responds...

1. We averaged between 400K and 500K per episode in the first two years. The third year had, I believe, a lower budget.

2. I'm not sure what you mean.

3. New York isn't that far from Orlando, Florida -- which is where this year's Gathering is. (Next year's is in California.) And where were you during the TWO NYC Gatherings in 97 and 98? Anyway, what material did you have in mind?

4. On Gargoyles or period? Gargoyles is my best work. I'm fond of Starship Troopers and the comic book Captain Atom too.

5. I just completed voice directing a Japanese Anime video series called 3x3 Eyes. It should be available in September.

Greg responds...

It was fun. Come see the preview at Anime Expo this week-end or at the Gathering in August. Or buy the tapes or DVD.

(End of commercial.)

Greg responds...

1. I doubt I slipped a garg reference into EVERY episode of Max. For starters, you want those things to be fairly organic. If they're forced they're not funny, even to those in the know. They're just labored. And besides, for those not in the know they'd stick out like a soar thumb.

But trust me, there are a number of Garg references, though to be fair, the one you cite above is really a Monty Python reference common to both shows.

The fun thing was slipping garg in-jokes into our English dubbing of 3x3 Eyes. Once both volumes are out on video and dvd, I'm gonna hold a contest here to see who can find the most garg references in that one. Some slap you in the face and are pretty funny. Some are much more subtle.

2. Two different companies worked on Max Steel. The first was Netter Digital. They did episodes 1-4 and 9. That's "Strangers", "Sacrifices", "Shadows", "Sportsmen" and "Sabres". Then Netter and Sony had a parting of the ways. And Foundation Imaging, which did the bulk of the Roughneck/Starship Troopers episodes took over for 5-8 ("Seraphim", "Spear-Carriers", "Snow-Blind" and "Sharks") and 10-13 ("Sphinxes", "Swashbucklers", "Scions" and "Shattered").

But I'm afraid I can't agree with your glowing assesment of the CGI. Generally, I think Starship Troopers is MUCH stronger.

Greg responds...

Rick Simone who is a very good friend of Thom Adcox, did the voice of Dan in Nazca. (He also did the voice of Tatsuya in the episode of 3x3 Eyes that will premiere at the Gathering this August. Tatsuya, Monkey and Hide are the best buddies of Yakumo, our hero. Rick plays Tatsuya. Thom is Monkey. And I voice Hide.) Anyway, Rick also produced opening title sequences for a number of different prime time series, including Malcolm. That's the connection.