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ANSWERVINGS 2011-01 (Jan)

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Hugo writes...

Hi Greg,

I was totally blown away by the first episode(s) of Young Justice. I knew the show was gonna be good, but... wow. The story was very well-crafted, and the quality of the animation was like nothing I've seen on American television. I can hardly wait until the show continues in January!

A few questions:

1. I'm a big Hawkman fan. I know he and Hawkwoman aren't main characters, but will we eventually learn which versions you're using?

2. I love the new Aqualad, and appreciate your efforts to diversify the cast. Can you comment on why you chose Aqualad in particular to re-imagine as a minority character, as opposed to, say, Artemis or Kid Flash?

3. Would you be willing/allowed to include any openly gay or lesbian characters on an all-ages show like this?

Thanks for your time, and for producing such a great show!

Greg responds...

1. Eventually. Either in the series or in the comic.

2. Artemis is also a minority, she's half-Caucasian, half-Vietnamese.

3. I would, yes.

Response recorded on January 13, 2011

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Pumpkin Bomb writes...

Wow, the number of questions since the premiere of Young Justice has really exploded upward. I tried to read through all of them to see if any made reference to my question, and I didn't find any, but apologies if I missed it and this has been asked before you get to my question.

One thing I've always found a little frustrating in DC comics is that the fictional cities of specific heroes (Gotham, Star City, Central City, Metropolis) are never definitively placed anywhere in the United States, even when they use actual cities as locations (using Washington DC as Justice League headquarters, for example). It's not like I expect there to be a giant, meticulously drawn map of the US with all the fictional cities marked, but it would be nice to know what region of the country they're in, but it's never really confirmed in the comics. But knowing how specific your planning can be when taking real world matters in account, I was wondering if you had decided where these major cities were in the country.

If so, would you tell us which states/regions of the country the cities of our main heroes (Robin, Kid Flash, Speedy, etc) are? As we probably won't know where Superboy or Miss Martian are staying until you decide to show us, would you touch on some of the other fictional cities and their locations if that information isn't something that will be revealed in the show (Bludhaven, Metropolis, Gateway City, Opal City, Fawcett...?)

Thanks!

Greg responds...

I'll give you time zones, how about that?

(We actually do have a map, but it seems to change all the time, so I'm going to NOT get myself in trouble by nailing things down until I know they're nailed.)

Both Gotham and Metropolis are in the EDT/EST time zone. So is Happy Harbor - the location of Mount Justice - which is in Rhode Island.

Central City is in CDT/CST.

Star City is in PDT/PST.

I'm not going to confirm or deny whether the rest of the cities you mentioned appear in the series or not. But I will say, that of DC's fictional cities, the above are our big five (or four and a half, since Happy Harbor is more of a town than a city). Throw in some non-fictional locations, including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, New Orleans, Miami Beach, New York and Yellowstone, and you've covered a lot of our ground domestically.

Internationally, we have both fictional (i.e. DC created) and real world locations too.

Response recorded on January 13, 2011

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Quentin Beck writes...

Hey Greg. I was just wondering if you were a Blockbuster fan? Not of the rental store, but of the DC Comics villain. I ask this because the episodes you wrote featured him in it. For example, in the Batman episode Meltdown, which you wrote, I noticed Mark Desmond was the chief scientist working on trying to cure Ethan Bennett. Blockbuster also appeared on Batman: Brave and the Bold. He was in the teaser for Death Race to Oblivion, which you wrote. FInally, he appeared on Young Justice, great premier by the way, which you wrote and produced. I'm a bit of a Blockbuster fan to so I just wanted to know if you were? Thanks for taking the time to read this and keep up the good work.

Greg responds...

I do like Blockbuster, although his appearance in B&TB, at least, originated with Producers Michael Jelenic and James Tucker, who came up with the entire story for that episode (including the Teaser).

I can't remember if, on The Batman, it was story editor Duane Capizzi or myself who decided to use Desmond. Could have been either of us.

But it was definitely my idea to include Desmond/Blockbuster in YJ.

Response recorded on January 13, 2011

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Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

Hello Greg,

So you've said that Nashville is bilingual. Which two languages does he speak?

Thanks again for answering all these questions!

Greg responds...

English and Japanese.

Response recorded on January 12, 2011

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Joyous writes...

Have you ever considered turning Gargoyles into a series of novels? I don't know how it would work with Disney owning the show rights, but a comic was made, so why not a book? There's so much story untold and I would love to see it continue in any form possible. :)

Greg responds...

Does anyone EVER check the archives? Like maybe the archive entitled "Gargoyles the Novel"? <sigh>

Yes, I've considered it. I'd love to. It's not up to me.

Response recorded on January 12, 2011

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Richard Jackson writes...

Todd Jensen and others have commented on the similarities between “Grief” and the Batman episode “Avatar.” Todd’s question being here:

http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?qid=2870

I noticed another pair of episodes of Batman and Gargoyles that really reminded me of the other, because of the same writers. “Legion” and the Batman episode “What is Reality?” Both were written by Robert Skir and Marty Isenberg. Both episodes deal with virtual reality, but the third acts are very similar to me.

Batman/Goliath has to go into a virtual reality world to help his friend, Commissioner Gordon/Coldstone. His VR savvy compatriot Robin/Lexington tells him how it works. Once inside Batman/Goliath battles his enemy, The Riddler/Xanatos. Robin/Lexington tries to help Batman/get Goliath out of the VR world, but is painfully rebuffed. A shrill noise blasted into his ear piece in Robin’s case. An electronic shock emanating from Goliath’s body in Lex’s case. Side note: That was the biggest problem I had with “Legion.” I can buy a cybernetic gargoyle and that Xanatos can design a computer program based on his personality, but I never understood how Goliath’s body became akin to a live wire when hooked up to Coldstone. It must be one of those side effects when science and sorcery are combined.

Of course, “What is Reality?” and “Legion” are two different episodes and the execution of third acts are very different. Dialogue, characters and virtual reality as represented in the respective episodes were all different. Even the resolutions are different. I guess writing the virtual reality Batman episode gave Skir and Isenberg the experience to write the Gargoyles VR episode. Interestingly enough, they did write “Future Tense”, which also had a VR sequence in the Xanatos Pyramid, albeit in a dream. They didn’t write “Walkabout”, which had a metaphysical reality (MR?) scene.

I do think the examples of “Avatar/Grief” and “What is Reality?/Legion” are interesting examples of how writers will take previous ideas they’ve had and use another chance to expand or improve on them. “Avatar” didn’t work for me, but “Grief” is one of my favorite episodes of Gargoyles. And it’s close between “What is Reality?” and “Legion”, but I slightly prefer the former.

Greg responds...

Science and sorcery indeed.

Anyway, as always, the springboards for every Gargoyle episode pre-date writer involvement (unless the writer was also a story editor). But it may be very possible that once they got the assignment, they created or emphasized parallels with other work they had done.

Response recorded on January 12, 2011

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Marc G. writes...

Is there a list online somewhere of all the overseas animation studios used for Gargoyles, by episode? It's frustrating because the credits always just listed "Walt Disney Television Animation".
Also, a related question: did you have control over which scripts were sent to which studios? Or was it purely dictated by scheduling and budgetary concerns?
Thanks!

Greg responds...

I don't have a list. Most of the first season was animated at Walt Disney Television Animation Japan, though I seem to recall that a couple were subcontracted out to Korea.

Season Two featured some eps by WDTVAJ, plus more from Korea (such as Hanho). But I can't remember who did what.

Scheduling tended to dictate what studio got what episode, but we did make an effort to make sure that "Bushido" went to Japan.

Response recorded on January 12, 2011

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Henry writes...

Am I wrong to think that people are reading to much in to the covert ops premise of the show? From what the Flash said it seemed that it meant that they would be taking side missions, and missions that the justice league wouldnt have been able to do because theyre always being watched.

But are they going to be staying out of the public eye completely?
Or are they trying to not let villans find out that theyre a team?

Greg responds...

Wait and see...

Response recorded on January 12, 2011

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Greg Bishansky writes...

Heh, well, after my last question about Xanatos and Fox being swingers, I figure I'll make a slightly deeper post about our favorite Machiavellian industrialist.

Throughout the entire series, we've really only seen Xanatos' armor penetrated twice. The first time was in "Eye of the Beholder" when he admitted he had lost control of the situation and practically begged Goliath for help. The second was in "The Price" when Hudson made a very sharp observation.

Demona and Castaway are both driven by repressed guilt and self loathing that they project on to their scapegoats of choice. Thailog is driven by an inferiority complex, so he feels he has something to prove. What drives Xanatos? I think it's fear.

Now, I'm not saying Xanatos is a coward, we know he's not. But let's look at the two above incidents.

"Eye of the Beholder" starts with Xanatos cool and confident as always, he thinks he's in control. But quickly loses it, and has to beg his enemy for help. There was even a moment when he looked like he was on the verge of a total breakdown while pleading to Goliath.

In "The Price" Hudson observes that Xanatos is terrified by the prospect of growing old and dying, and damn, for the first time that we've seen, Xanatos loses his temper, and retorts with a jab that's beyond petty. I will admit, I can't help but wonder how many conversations Xanatos had with his father that were like this.

Granted, both of these episodes end with Xanatos regaining his cool. But still, this guy is obviously a control freak. Nothing terrifies him because he feels he controls everything already, and when he knows he's not in control, he frets.

I suppose "The Gathering" could be another example, but that was very brief in his scene with Owen, but he quickly regained his cool when Owen showed him the security measures he had already implemented.

I'd be interested in know what you think, Greg. Is Xanatos driven by fear? That does seem to have been his most consistent weakness.

Greg responds...

I guess. I'm not sure we've EVER seen Xanatos "lose it" as you put it. But he's clearly afraid of things he cannot control (Gargoyles, death, etc.) and quickly attempts (and often succeeds) in co-opting them.

Response recorded on January 12, 2011

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Young Justice on Conan

It's Just after 8pm PST on Monday, January 10th.

I just caught the east coast feed of tonight's Conan O'Brien show, which featured a big shout out to Young Justice. If you are a fan of Young Justice (or Conan) try to catch or record the west coast feed or the late night rerun of the episode. You'll be glad you did.

Flaming C Forever!!!!



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