Galvatron writes...

Aris- Yes I know western centric doesn't fit I was looking for something like ethnocentric.

"Anyway, the Greeks, Norse, whatever had their deities be finite creatures which began their lives within the universe. There's a difference between that and a supposedly infinite God which *created* the universe. I can imagine the monotheists being upset if they discovered their god was a fay - if The Infinite proved finite, only one of many. But the Norse and the ancient Greeks already believed that there existed many gods. Why be too upset at discovering a couple more they hadn't heard about?"

Thats not my point, my point is that making the God of the gargoyles universe the God of Jews/Christians/Muslims makes it seem that they're superior to all these other cultures since they worship the true god while the other cultures worhip energy beings.

Aris Katsaris writes...

Galvatron> I think you are confusing Greg's words and intent... His take is after all something like "Everything is true for a given value of 'true'"...

He never said that Muslims, Jews and Christians are *correct* in everything they believed. That might indeed be offensive - but it would also be impossible to pull off, since after all, they believe in some contradictory things as well.

From what I understand, Greg said that these guys worship what they perceive as Infinite and as Creator. That's factually correct in our real world. And then he went on to say that such an Infinite and a Creator exists. Some of the more specific beliefs may well be wrong.

Pagans believed in Zeus or Odin or Osiris or many others gods. And Greg says that, yes, Zeus and Odin and Osiris also exist. But some of the more specific beliefs about them may also be wrong.

So your claim seems to me to be nothing more than "Odin isn't portrayed as Infinite!". To which my response is: "He was never supposed to be, not even by the Norse themselves."

Now if Greg went on to portray the afterlife exactly as Christianity portrays it, *that* might be a bit exclusive... But it seems to me that he's going for a diversity of afterlives, a bit similar to what Terry Pratchett did...

(Weirdly enough however I *was* annoyed by the intrusion of monotheism and dualism in shows like Hercules & Xena which previously featured polytheistic pantheons. But that was more because it seemed to me to subvert the very theme of the heroism of "Man vs gods" and turn it into "The Real God[tm] vs the many false gods"... Greg portrays a universe where all these beliefs can pretty much coexist. The producers of Xena, on the other hand decided to portray a universe where they must fight to the death - the introduction of The One God immediately made the lesser gods something evil which needed to be destroyed. Bleh! )

Sorry for the rant, Greg! :-)

Aris Katsaris writes...

Possibly starting a debate...

Galvatron> Umm... "western"-centric because Greg made western deities such as those of the Greeks or the Norse be children of Oberon? Do you think that Athens is somehow located to the *east* of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Mecca?

I assure you, it's not. :-)

Anyway, the Greeks, Norse, whatever had their deities be finite creatures which began their lives within the universe. There's a difference between that and a supposedly infinite God which *created* the universe. I can imagine the monotheists being upset if they discovered their god was a fay - if The Infinite proved finite, only one of many. But the Norse and the ancient Greeks already believed that there existed many gods. Why be too upset at discovering a couple more they hadn't heard about?

Galvatron writes...

Don't you feel it's alittle bit western centric making the god of the Greeks, Norse and all the other "pagan cultures" Children of Oberon who are no better than the non-corporeal beings of scifi while the God of Judaism, Islam, Christianity is actually the creator of the universe? I mean it's like saying that they're stupid for getting suckered in by the Children while we're smart for actually worshipping the true God.

The Cat writes...

This is The Cat,

Thank you for answering my questions. You answered the more important ones today or yesterday. Anyothers I have are a bit depressing and don't really need to be answered, so if you don't want to answer them that is okay.

Anonymous writes...

I'd just like to thank you for creating such an dramatic and educational show which got me interested in Shakespeare and all those legends that appeared in the Avalon World Tour including Cuchullain, Raven and the Kichinas. Finally I'd like to thank you for answering my hundred or so question which I imagine was a very tedious task.

Lynati writes...

Oh. and while I'm here...

Do you think when Aaron finally tracks down Marina Sirtis and asks her to sign the Demona tatoo on his chest that she'll do it gracefully, or will she have someone distract him and then run away really fast?

Aaron writes...

Greg writes: "There's the amazing NEW GUY. He's terrifying."

Does NEW GUY come from the planet Mertz? If so, that really would be terrifying.

Aaron writes...

Artemis writes: "They can't flip people off either!"

Sure they can! Not having a ring or pinkie talon (consensus differs as to which gargs don't have) doesn't mean you don't have a middle talon, and thus, still have the ability to flip people the bird. (Yes Greg, we have sat around and debated this)

Aaron writes...

Shavri wrote: "...Anyway, I'm just glad the whole thing was a dream_sequence scheme created by Puck and not something that would actually happen in "your" Gargoyle Universe."

By contrast, I *loved* the idea of a Brooklyn/Demona romance. It's one of the many reasons Future Tense is my favorite episode. But then, I've seen too much anime and believe the bickering couple will always end up together by the end of the series. ;) (It's also one of the funniest touches of FT, IMHO, that only in a world where everything else has gone to Hell can Brooklyn have a happy relationship)

http://www.avalonhigh.com

Aaron writes...

Greg writes:

"If Disney 'goes under' (a fairly ridiculous notion) than the property becomes one of their assets."

I dunno, Disney was $19 BILLION in the hole, last time I looked. Buying Fox Family alone set them back a little over five billion, which is I'm sure a great deal more then Fox paid (Was it Pat Robertson who used to own it, back when it was just TFC?) for it. Attendance at the parks, at least stateside, is at an all time low, and that was before the horrible events of September 11th which, aside from the devastating loss of life, depressed an American economy already sliding toward recession. (And certainly didn't make anybody feel like running out and going to Disneyland) All the Disney Stores in the US are closing as soon as their leases are up. Of course you're right, the idea that they'd sell off anything is still absurd. They'll just make cut-backs, (Like canceling Team Atlantis) and lay people off until the ship rights itself again. More's the pity.

If it's any consolation, in contrast to Entity's view, I think you've gotten sillier since G2K1. "On second thought, let's not go to Ask Greg, 'tis a silly place." ;)

http://www.exploitationnow.com

Aaron writes...

Re: The Weird Sisters.

"Their tri_part mission."

Luna's log, Stardate: Um... It's hard to tell from Avalon.

These are the adventures of the Weird Sisters, our tri-part mission, to seek out new life, and play mind games with it... To find new ways to plague Demona... To boldly never give a straight answer to anything!

I have entirely too much free time.

And, so this'll have a question in it, is Puck's magic flute connected to the opera "The Magic Flute"?

http://www.pvponline.com

Aaron writes...

Greg writes: "(That smart_ass response was a reference to an old tootsie_pop commercial. Anyone old enough to remember it has my sympathy.)"

Actually, I'm pretty sure the tootsie-pop people have reused that one sometime in the last five years. I think I even saw that commercial while watching gargs.

http://www.megatokyo.com

Aaron writes...

Greg writes: "In 1040, after the bargain, she (Demona) was 35 (Macbeth's chronological age). She still looks great though, doesn't she?"

I think that's worth a Hell Yeah!

http://www.sinfest.net

Corrie "Cormak" McDermott writes...

Hi Greg,

I noticed that you type up notes about scripts of different episodes occasionally. ie. "The Mirror", "Eye of the Beholder" etc. Are you typing these up in any particular order? Or are they just being typed up randomly? I haven't seen notes/big ramblings on Hunter's Moon. (hint hint) Although I must admit I LOVED that scene that was never animated in the third episode between Jason and Elisa in the clocktower ruins. That was a nice touch.

I also just wanted to thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to answer our questions. I've been a fan of Gargoyles since the show aired. When I found this website I was in my glory with all the new information that was archived here. (Many thanks to Gorebash for this website as well!) So I just wanted to thank you for sharing what you have. You've made an E/G Fan VERY happy and inspired. Take care

Todd Jensen writes...

This covers much the same ground as one of my posts in the Comment Room on the night of October 25, but I thought that I'd post it here as well, to give you all the better an opportunity of reading it.

I was quite intrigued with your remark that you'd decided long ago that Jean Valjean existed in the Gargoyles Universe. The reason for that was that, up until now, whenever "Gargoyles" made use of "pre-existing" fictional characters, it was almost always people from literature, at latest, in the early modern period (as in Shakespeare's characters). The Gargoyles Universe is certainly rich in characters from myth and legend, and early literature such as Shakespeare's plays. But so far as I could tell, nobody in literature post-dating Shakespeare's time period found their way directly into the Gargoyles Universe. Some may be alluded to (such as Sherlock Holmes in "The Hound of Ulster"), or have "Gargoyles Universe" analogies (such as the Frankenstein monster with Coldstone), but none had yet shown sides of being actual characters who were real instead of fictional in that universe. (Well, maybe Dracula, whom you had mentioned intending to include in time, but since Bram Stoker based him on the historical Vlad the Impaler, he's not entirely a product of the 19th century).

So it definitely raised my eyebrows when you mentioned that decision on your part about Jean Valjean. I don't know if you'd actually reached the point of planning to have him appear somewhere in the series (a lot of it, I imagine, would depend on whether "Les Miserables" is in the public domain or not as yet), but it certainly surprised me.

Todd Jensen writes...

Something that I've occasionally wondered about the general "bring-back-Gargoyles" attitude that is so strong in the fandom. I've pondered, from time to time, the possibility that the general disappointment that nearly everybody in the fandom felt over the "Goliath Chronicles" may have been a major factor here, that one of the leading reasons why so many "Gargoyles" fans want the show to return is that they were disappointed with the episodes that followed "The Journey", and wanted to see the events following the gargoyles' revelation to the world and the formation of the Quarrymen done "correctly". Do you think indeed that this could be a major reason for this attitude?

Artemis writes...

(sorry, no questions this time, but)
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU (and all those other people) for all the Scottish history in the show. Because of it, I am totally facinated with the topic. It's even better that I know cuz I am from scottish decent (as well as a little english and irish), and my other side came from france (sounds like someone in the show, ne?)
Also, it has inspired me to read Macbeth, and I used to hate Shakespeare!
So thanx again to you and all the little peoples!
And while I'm on the topic of scottish history, can you PLEASE finish "Once Upon a Time there were Three Brothers"? I'd make me very happy!

Slash Thrasher writes...

Dear Greg,

I know I'm breaking the "Ask Greg" Rules here, but I figured this was the only way to get in touch with you. I Just wanted to say thank you for making me feel welcome at the gathering 2001. I've wanted to sit down and type this to you for a long time, but time is something I no longer am able use for such simple things. The whole time I was in L.A. I was nervous enough to be so far from home, but no one there seemed to notice me. The Mini-clanners tried there best to make me feel part of something, but It became clearly evident that I didn't fit in there clan eather. People I knew Online wouldn't say hi to me, the one person I thought was my true friend Denis Duplaen was off in his own world with a girl he met, and Demona May drove me freekin' nutz! I truely know how Brooklyn felt when the clan became caught up in there personal affairs and he had no one to talk to. I left L.A. being more depressed then I've ever been in my life, wishing the plane would crash or something.... But I wouldn't have changed a thing if I could, cause I now realize the valuable lesson this all taught me. That no matter how much you think you are apart of something, and feel like you belong, It doesn't mean that People care about you and how you feel. I don't blame anyone but myself for feeling this way, but I also learned that not everybody... er.. better make that hardly anybody likes heavy metal, and just cause you devote time and effort to something, it doesn't mean anyone will care. Now I know that I need to just worry more about what I need to do, rather then what others think of me. I hope to thank Jeff Bennet too. That guy was awesome and we got to talk a bit at Mug-A-Guest. I also wanted to appoligize for not seeming like the biggest gargoyles fan eather. I love the show with all my heart, but I've never had the time to watch every epsiode over and over till I've memorised every event and name and stuff. I've been working hard since I was 14 and now I'm paying bills for my parents. Its not easy to balace 2.5 jobs and school. I envy the people that have the time to watch T.V. everyday.
Well, I'm sorry I rambled on like this, I know you are a much busyer man than I. Thank you for you time and happy late Birthday to you!

Slash T.
(Dan W.)

Dan writes...

Happy birthday greg, i know you won't read this for months, so happy hanukah to while i'm at it:D

Matt Stone writes...

Hey Greg Weisman --

I know this may be late, but I've busy with work at the Video Connection, so --

Happy Birthday! YOU RULE!!!

Artemis writes...

I couldn't get online yesterday to wish you a happy birthday, Sorry!

Today at band practice, for the first time it occured to me that Gaygolyes have somewhat limited hand use, having only 4 fingers. For example, you could never get one to properly play a flute, clarinet, and even trumpets (they probably wouldn't anyway, but still), since they require 5 fingers per hand. They can't flip people off either! (that is, if they really wanted to). Oh well, just a stupid comment. But while my mind is on the topic, why did you decide for them to have only 4 fingers anyway?

The Cat writes...

Hey Greg,

Happy Birthday!

Ok, that wasn't a question, but hey I'm out of ideas at the moment. You're probably thinking, "Thank God!"

Bye.

Jon writes...

Hi Greg!

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday! Mine was yesterday, so it's easy for me to remember when yours is. Don't know how it is for you, but birthdays have taken on a little stronger meaning for me since the tragedy. I'm old enough that I start to think of birthdays a bit cynically (one year older, etc... I'm 29, BTW), but there are a lot of people won't have any more birthdays ever, so I'm very grateful to be home celebrating with my family and other people I care about. Hope you're doing the same. All the best to you and your family in the year to come!

P.S. Now, can you tell us what Titania whispered to Fox? Just kidding. ;)

Demona May Stephens writes...

Happy Birthday Greg W.
Sorry it wan't a question but I have to say it before I forgot again..