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GREG-SPONSES 2010-10 (Oct)

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Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

Greg:
In response to Matthew and also to your answer earlier concerning "All You Zombies," doesn't changing what he did (let alone preventing his own birth) also change history? It is part of the past that the character said certain words in a certain order, and not other words. If he chooses to change the words, he must change history also. Isn't this true of Demona in Vows as well? But in Gargoyles, history cannot be changed.

The reason I focused on whether or not the character remembers the words spoken to their past selves is this: when Demona shows up with the Phoenix Gate, the events of her encounter with herself have not actually happened yet. So they appear not to be predetermined. But she remembers what she her future self said to her when she was on the receiving end, and she remembers watching her future self kick Goliath. The events are already in her memory, and therefore part of the history she has already participated in. If she remembers the events, then either her memories are wrong (and were wrong all along) or else the events were part of history. The other possibility I can think of is that when she went back in time, she temporarily forgot her previous encounter with her future self and was free to make it up from scratch.

What I don't follow is how she (or Heinlein's protagonist) can choose not to play along without altering history.

Greg responds...

Nothing prevents you from TRYING to change history. Succeeding is something else. Nothing prevents you from trying to jump off a cliff in order to fly under your own power. Succeeding at flying under your own power is something else.

Again, free will is NOT the same as sudden control over things you never had control over.

There's no forgetting in a mystic sense going on with Demona. (No making it up from scratch.) But it has been a thousand plus years. Her memory is good, but not photographic. She tries to make some changes, and no changes are made. They can CHOOSE not to play along. But they DIDN'T choose not to play along. It's a loop. The fact that the CHOICE itself is part of the loop doesn't negate the choice.

If you're falling off that cliff (not flying) and AT THAT POINT choose not to jump... well, it's a little late. But the fact that you can't change it halfway down the mountain doesn't negate the fact that you made a choice in the first place.

Response recorded on October 02, 2010

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Matthew writes...

In an earlier post the discussion was about Robert Heinlein's "All You Zombies..." and whether the protagonist had free will or was predestined to carry out his actions in the story. You said he could have chosen to do otherwise. I agree, but I'd like to point out that it wasn't much of choice. If he did not he would not have been born. So whether not he had free will, he had to do what he did to ensure his own existence.

Greg responds...

If existence mattered that much to him. Like any of us, sometimes the choices we're presented with aren't particularly appealing. You're in a burning building. You can jump to your death or burn to death! Choose! (Yeah, not fun. But you get the idea.) Having free will doesn't make you omnipotent in real life, so why would it make you omnipotent in a time travel story?

Response recorded on October 02, 2010

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Titansfan1211 writes...

Can't wait for young justice! From the limited we've seen ad heard, it looks great. I was wondering if you were planning on using any of the plotlines from the young jusice comic in the show, sort of like how the teen titans took the judas contract storyline and turned that into one of the major plotlines of the second season.

Also, i have to say I'm a little worried about robin being voiced by jesse mcartney. No offense to him, but being as he has a pretty high voice, and you said robin is 13, not 3... I was wondering about how you went about choosing voice actors? Robin for example has been voiced by a number of other people on all the batman shows as well as teen titans. Did you all have. Certain tone in mind for each charecters voice before casting?

Lastly, I know you probably won't dignify this with an answer, but I have a strong urge to ask (I don't HAVE to like that other person lol) I read one of your responses about the number sixteen being involved in the show so much, and you responce wa something like "chuckles evily" or something. I know you can't and won't specify, but was there a reason for using 16 so much?
Thanks for taking the time to deal with all of us :)

Greg responds...

Jesse does an EXCELLENT job. And his normal speaking voice is NOT particularly high. Not for a guy his true age and certainly not for a thirteen-year-old. Have you actually heard him speak... you know, anytime recently?

And, as I've said before, we chose our leads by AUDITIONING a ton of people for each part (i.e. Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash, Miss Martian, Artemis and Superboy/Superman). I think we probably heard something in our heads in advance -- Brandon more than I, probably -- but we knew enough to stay open to serendipity. In any case, I'm thrilled with our leads, as well as our HUGE recurring/guest cast.

Response recorded on October 02, 2010

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Emily writes...

How hard was to come up with the story for DC showcase Green Arrow since you didn't have the same amount of time you have for a tv episode?

Greg responds...

It wasn't that hard. I had a pretty clear vision of what I wanted to do.

Response recorded on October 02, 2010


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