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ANSWERVINGS 2011-07 (Jul)

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Anonymous writes...

Who's in on the secret that Wally knows Robin's secret identity?
Does Robin realize he knows?
Does Robin know Wally's?
Will we find out how Wally found out either in the comics or the show?

Greg responds...

1. Wally and Dick.

2. Yes.

3. Yes, though that's not as big a secret.

4. Maybe eventually, but it's not that complicated. Dick told him.

Response recorded on July 28, 2011

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Antiyonder writes...

In addition to being right for the part, was casting Morgan Shepperd as Erik Hellstrom (Atlantis: Milo's Return) done as a nod to his role of Odin on Gargoyles?

Greg responds...

A bit.

Response recorded on July 28, 2011

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Dan writes...

Not a question, more something you might like: http://nebezial.deviantart.com/art/gargoyles-goliath-3d-fun-200441030?q=sort%3Atime%20gallery%3Anebezial&qo=1

Greg responds...

It's great that folks are still doing fanart of the characters.

Response recorded on July 28, 2011

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Alma writes...

Love this series, it was the best Cartoon show of my childhood and now, almost 30 I am revisiting the series and am finding ALOT of adult humor, situations and no little amount of (sexual) tension between carachters.
I could babble on but I honestly don't have the time to do it now, so I shall ask away...
At what point in Awakening do Goliath and Demona "break-up".
Yes I understand that he figured her dead for 1000 years but once he saw her, wouldn't he feel the same about her?

Look forward to hearing from you, and again, thanks for bestowing the awesomeness that is Gargolyes into our lives!!!!

Greg responds...

There's no one moment, though when she tries to kill him, the relationship really starts to go south.

Response recorded on July 28, 2011

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AJC writes...

So when it comes to defeating criminals, is the young justice team willing to take the lives of criminals if their teammates or those they are trying to protect are in danger?

I noticed in 'bereft' that miss martian used her powers to smash two planes together. Were there not pilots in them? Even artemis started shooting explosive arrows at superboy and she technically wouldn't have known if he would have withstood that. Its also pretty clear that red arrow has killed to protect the scientist in 'infiltrator'.

Greg responds...

Those weren't planes, they were drones. They weren't even big enough for a human to sit in them.

As for the rest of the examples, you mentioned, I think you're assuming a LOT. But we left things ambiguous on purpose.

Response recorded on July 28, 2011

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Elizabeth writes...

Hi Greg,

I just noticed something while rewatching "Downtime"; Tula, Garth and Queen Mera's tattoos only become visible when they are performing magic, but Kaldur's tattoos are always visible on his arms. Why is that? Is it because he has darker skin, or does he have a different kind of Atlantean tattoo than the Queen and his two best friends?

Greg responds...

It's because he dropped out of Sorcery school before he got to their advanced level.

Response recorded on July 27, 2011

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Michael McCarthy writes...

You wrote: "Superman is Superboy's genetic father."

CLONING DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. GOODNIGHT.

(Superman is actually Superboy's genetic brother.)

Greg responds...

I'll take your word for it. But what may be true genetically isn't necessarily true emotionally.

Response recorded on July 27, 2011

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Grey Wolf writes...

In as far as Brooklyn traveled into the future, did disco ever come back?

Greg responds...

Yes. And went away again.

Response recorded on July 27, 2011

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Cal writes...

Greg this is another question I am really dying to ask. Why in modern cartoons, they never cast any Simpsons voice actors, but they always do cast Futurama voice actors especially John DiMaggio? Nearly every cartoon I watched I always hear "Bender"'s voice and I'm always keep thinking that everybody likes Bender a lot these days. I'm also certain you have worked with Futurama voice actors before.

Greg responds...

Well, DiMaggio is just great, so it's not surprising that he's been cast in many series. Phil LaMarr, who voices Hermes on Futurama is a recurring actor on Young Justice and other series' I've done. I can't immediately think of anyone else off the top of my head.

Response recorded on July 27, 2011

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Cal writes...

Have you watched any episodes of Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Generator Rex and Sym-Bionic Titan? They're really great shows and they are very similar to each other in a lot of ways, oh and it would be great if you are able to writing an episode or two for those shows.

Greg responds...

I haven't seen any of them. And I'm too busy at this time on Young Justice to write on them - even assuming I was invited to.

Response recorded on July 27, 2011

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Anonymous writes...

What is Shari like, personality-wise?

Greg responds...

What you see is what you get. At least for now.

Response recorded on July 25, 2011

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Anonymous writes...

What was the reasoning behind Roy naming himself Red Arrow? He seemed to be wanting to distance himself from Green Arrow & the League, yet Red Arrow is a closer to Green Arrow's name than Speedy is.

So my question is why didn't he just keep the Speedy name, or name himself Arsenal, or you guys make up a new name for him to go by?

Greg responds...

How does "Arsenal" make any sense in this context? And, frankly, how did "Speedy" make any sense ever? (Okay, okay, I know the answer to the latter. But in a world with Kid Flash, it just smacks of both immaturity and confusion at this point.)

And I don't think Roy wants to 'distance' himself from Green Arrow as much as he wants to be treated as an EQUAL. Hence, Red Arrow.

Response recorded on July 25, 2011

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Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

Hello Greg, I have a Gargoyles question. This is the first of a few questions on episode specifics that I've been building up over the years.

When I was reading the Avalon rambles and I came to the point of the Magus' death, this thought occurred to me: was he buried? I have this impression that you've said he was left in the Hollow Hill, and its magic prevents decay. Do Katherine and Tom view the Hollow Hill as a burial? It is tomb-like, or catacomb-like. But it does not strike me as being a burial in the six feet of dirt sense. I mean, he has no coffin.

Greg responds...

It's a tomb.

Response recorded on July 25, 2011

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Michael Wahrer writes...

Hi Greg. I just had a few questions about the time line and one that’s a little more thematic.
1. When was the Justice Society active?
2. We’ve seen Doctor Fate was a member is it safe to assume that Jay from the episode downtime was as well?
3. The League was founded seven years ago how long of a gap was there between the disbanding of the Justice Society and the founding of the League?
4. How long have Superman and Batman been active as heroes. I ask because you’ve stated they’re in their early thirties and I was wondering what age they where when they started fighting crime.
5. Young Justice are essentially child soldiers something that was commented on by the light during the closing of the pilot. My question is do you plan to deal with the implications that carries or is it just an unintentional subtext that came out of writing a show about young heroes?

Greg responds...

1. 1940-1951. Although, there were years during the war when the Society temporarily expanded to become the All-Star Squadron.

2. Yes.

3. Do the math.

4. Twelve years ago for Superman. Eleven for Batman. Each was 21 the year he started.

5. Both.

Response recorded on July 25, 2011

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Larry writes...

Was Superboy jumping around the desert all enraged and smashing tanks in "Bereft" a deliberate reference to the Incredible Hulk? I spotted it right away but some people(TV Tropes) need clarification.

Greg responds...

I dunno. Up to a point, sure. We've all got that swimming around in our heads. But it also just made sense given the circumstances.

Response recorded on July 25, 2011

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Another Rumor to Squash

Back from San Diego Comic-Con and was thrilled to see the outpouring of good wishes and thanks on the internet for us. But...

Someone seems to have spread the idea that our panel went poorly and that the fans who attended were rude to us.

NOTHING could be further from the truth. The panel - to my mind - went EXTREMELY well. The response to episode 10 seemed great, despite the fact that I think many in the room had seen it already, and we had a fun (if brief) Q&A after. Plus Miss Martian (and some other dude) brought us cookies. We then had a fun signing and press interviews. All full of praise.

I'll admit that ASK GREG has occasionally been inundated with a bit of rudeness, but that's at least in part thanks to the relative anonymity of the internet. In person, at the conventions, the fans are just terrific!

So thank you,

STAY YOUNG!

STAY JUST!


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San Diego Comic-Con 2011

San Diego Comic-Con 2011

Well, I'm here!

I've so much work backed up from Oregon, ConVergence and being sick that I may spend an unfortunate amount of time holed up in my hotel room, nose to grindstone (grindstone = laptop), but if YOU are here, there are a few places you can find me:

Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11:30am - 12:30pm, I'll be signing Gargoyles TPBs at the SLG Booth (#1815 - across from the DC Comics booth). Stop by and say hello!

Sunday at 10 am, Brandon Vietti, character designer Phil Bourassa, Danica McKellar (the voice of Miss Martian) and myself will be appearing at a panel for YOUNG JUSTICE in Room 7AB. We'll be screening an episode, followed by a Q&A.

After that, from 11:15am until noon, the four of us will be signing some VERY cool and unique (and even spoilerish) YJ giveaways at the Warner Bros. Booth (#4545). So again, stop by and say hey!


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Grant writes...

What language did you base spoken martian on? Or is it just gibberish?

Greg responds...

We based it on what we knew of it, which was mostly a handful of proper names. We extrapolated from that. Whether that makes it "gibberish" or well-thought out "gibberish" is subject to interpretation.

Response recorded on July 19, 2011

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TwEaKz writes...

Hey Greg,
This is not so much a question but more a little feed back on how much I'm enjoying Young Justice. I simply love it and I can't get enough. The stories are second to none and everything just flows so nicely. I especially love the little details that go into it. This show is clearly being made with lots of passion and talented people behind it. I look forward to seeing how the rest of the season plays out.

Now the main thing I wanted to bring up here was your Brother, Jon. I wasn't really familiar with any of his prior work but the episode "Infiltrator" truly blew me away. This episode had it all. I loved the dialogue and just the whole entire pacing of the script. It was so well done and I hope there will be more scripts from him in the future. Please make sure he knows I enjoyed it very much :)

As always, Greg, keep up the great work. You and your team definitely have a winner on your hands.

P.S. The comic tie-in is also great. For anyone who hasn't picked up the new YJ comics then please do so. It's a fantastic read and it's all in continuity with the show.

Greg responds...

Thanks for all the kind words. I'll pass on your praise to Jon, who is indeed writing multiple more episodes for us.

Response recorded on July 19, 2011

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Tim writes...

Hey Greg, I have an awkward question for you. I was wondering just how "risque" you guys are allowed to go on Young Justice. In the pilot when Miss Martian is shapeshifting and turns says boys are harder to mimmick, Robin says "You won't fool anyone with THOSE." Embarrassed, she slinks down into her seat, ignoring the comment about her, uh, "lung area."

I ask mainly because other shows on Cartoon Network such as Total Drama Island, Adventure Time, and Clone Wars have a notice they are TV-PG before they start. I looked it up and PG-TV covers

The TV-PG rating may be accompanied by one or more of the following sub-ratings:

* D for some suggestive dialogue
* L for infrequent coarse language
* S for mild sexual content
* V for moderate violence

I then thought that with Superboy and Miss Martian's budding relationship, and them both living alone at the base, with only Red Tornado as an occasional visitor, we may get some implied humorous "hijinks" later down the road.

Thanks for your time!

Greg responds...

I think you misinterpreted the line. "Those" referred to the two transformations, i.e. Robin and Kid Flash.

But a double entendre is a double entendre - if only in the mind of the viewer.

Response recorded on July 19, 2011

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DC Hero writes...

Hey Greg. I am so far loving Young Justice especially the Maega and Superboy moments, but i'm really mad that what happened between Superboy and Miss Martian in the cave in the episode "Downtime" is still not answered. I was hoping "Bereft" would answer it, but the scene was cut off. Is it a really important plot point or will it be answered in the comic book spinoff.

Just to say that I think that Superboy pobably heard Red Tornado and just sat back down or they did kiss and that would explain his concern for her safety.
Anyway, can't wait to find out.

Greg responds...

They haven't kissed.

Response recorded on July 19, 2011

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Jon writes...

How exactly did the memory recovery work in "Bereft?" I know that Miss M had to personally restore Superboy's memories, but it seems like the others were starting to remember on their own. Did Psimon just cut off their access to those memories instead of erasing them? That seems to be the only way they would be able to regain them so quickly.

Greg responds...

Yes, exactly.

Response recorded on July 19, 2011

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SO WHERE HAVE I BEEN? Updates & Debunks

Hello everyone,

Haven't posted here in a while, and since I did a bit of message board lurking this morning, it seems to have led people to believe all sorts of odd things, so...

Where have I been?

Well, in early June, my family and I went to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon.
We saw seven plays in four days. Six of them (Henry IV, Part Two, The Language Archive, To Kill a Mockingbird, Julius Caesar, Love's Labours Lost and Measure for Measure) were just stellar productions. Everyone was great, but I'd like to particularly single out Susannah Flood in both Language Archive and Mockingbird, Dee Maaske in Mockingbird and Michael Winters as Falstaff in 2HenryIV.

Coming back from that, I was understandably swamped and didn't have time to post.

Next, I went to Minneapolis for the always great ConVergence convention. I did about thirteen panels. Some of which, like Gargoyles and Spider-Man and Young Justice, I felt qualified to be on. And some, like Dexter and Galaxy Quest, my only qualification was being a fan of whatever we were talking about. This was my third ConVergence, and it continues to be the best run convention I've ever attended. And now that the Gathering of the Gargoyles is no more, it has become my FAVORITE convention to attend.

Returning from ConVergence, I then got quite ill. In fact, I'm still home sick today. (Home sick as opposed to homesick, clear?)

So THOSE are the reasons I haven't posted. Nothing nefarious.

Next topic: YOUNG JUSTICE UPDATE.

We have aired episodes 101-109 (i.e. Season One, episodes 1-9).

(Yes, episode 110 accidentally was posted on Cartoon Network's website, but I'm going to pretend that never happened.)

Episodes 110-115 are in the can, i.e. they are completed and ready to air.

Episode 116 awaits only the final on-line, i.e. the final review of the episode. This has been delayed ONLY because I've been out sick this week.

Episode 117 will have it's sound mix on Friday. (I hope to be back at work by then.)

Episode 118 has been edited and work progresses on scoring and sound effects.

Episode 119 is ready to begin post-production.

Episodes 120-123 are being animated in Korea.

Episodes 124-126 are in layout in Korea, while we finish the final color models here in the States.

Episodes 201-202 (i.e. Season Two, Episodes one and two) - Are fully recorded and are in storyboard. (201 was written by me. 202 by Nicole Dubuc.)

Episode 203, written by Kevin Hopps, is almost fully recorded. We have one actor left to pick up, who has been out of town. It is also in storyboard.

Episode 204, written by me, will record this week. It is also in storyboard.

Episode 205 - Brandon Vietti, has turned in his draft of the script. I have to read and edit it.

Episode 206 - The outline, written by Peter David and edited by me, went out Monday for notes, which are due tomorrow.

Episode 207 - Kevin Hopps turned in his outline, which I need to read and edit.

Episode 208 - I'm writing this one. I'll start the outline, after I've edited the outline to 207.

Episode 209 - Jon Weisman turned in his outline, which I need to read and edit.

Episode 210 - Kevin Hopps is working on his outline.

We do NOT yet have a pick-up beyond episode 210, but our bosses have told us to start blocking out episodes 211-220 in anticipation of one.

Episode 211 - We've broken this story. I still need to find time to write up the Beat Outline, though I have it all on index cards.

Episode 212 - We've got the basics of this one down, but we (i.e. myself, Brandon and Kevin) still need to finish breaking the story.

Episodes 213-220 - We've got a very clear sense of the arc and what things need to happen, but we haven't started on these yet.

NEXT TOPIC: DEBUNKING YJ RUMORS

False Rumor #1: YJ IS A GREG WEISMAN PRODUCTION
Everywhere on the Internet, all I see is that YJ is Greg Weisman's show. That's just blatantly false. This is a VIETTI/WEISMAN production. Just as Spectacular Spider-Man was a COOK/WEISMAN production and Gargoyles was a PAUR/WEISMAN production. I am not, nor have I ever been, a one-man show on ANY project I've EVER worked on. EVER. And in particular, on YJ, it's extremely unfair to Brandon to leave him out of consideration. Brandon is heavily involved in every aspect of production, INCLUDING SERIES DEVELOPMENT AND STORY. He's been right there with myself and Kevin Hopps breaking every single episode. It's been a team effort from day one. Many of the series' best ideas came/come from Brandon. And this is aside from the fact, that of course, Brandon can write - but I cannot draw, which arguably makes him MORE important to the production than I. I am exceedingly proud of this series and my own work on it - though certain very vocal fans seem to think I shouldn't be - but that doesn't change the fact that Brandon and I are a team.

False Rumor #2: YJ WAS RUSHED INTO PRODUCTION
Another blatant misconception. Look, Brandon and I are both perfectionists. Neither of us would deny that we'd LOVE to have more time on each and every episode. But that's not the same as being rushed. Let's make a comparison: on Spectacular Spider-Man, I basically had one week to develop both the series and the entire first season. Then Vic Cook came aboard, and we raced to get into production in less than two months. Brandon and I had seven months to develop the series, break the first season (which granted had twice as many episodes as the first season of Spidey) and head into production. The show isn't and never has been rushed. That's not to say the schedule isn't tight. But we haven't aired a single episode that wasn't ready to air. And we won't.

False Rumor #3: YJ ISN'T AIRING NOW BECAUSE WE'RE REWORKING EPISODES BASED ON INTERNET CRITICISM
This is my favorite. I love it the most because the first person I saw who posted this rumor also said that I'd deny it. So here I am denying it, which of course serves to PROVE that he or she was correct, see? Let's be clear: for better or worse, this series is COMPLETELY unaffected by internet criticism BECAUSE of schedule. Everything of any significance was set and DONE before even the pilot movie aired last November, so we couldn't address fan concerns even if we wanted to. And, honestly, we don't want to. We don't in part because there is way less consensus than some people seem to think. For example, for every post I see expressing hatred for "Hello, Megan!", I see a post that likes it. And personally, I like it. Brandon likes it. So why would we change it, even if we could? In fact, even Season Two is moving forward more or less disregarding "fan" criticism. Brandon and I always had very clear ideas for what we wanted to do in Season Two (and even Season Three, should we get one) and those ideas haven't changed. As with every series I've co-helmed, all we can ever do is write and produce to OUR OWN passions - and then just cross our fingers and hope enough people share our passions to make it a success. Anything else is doomed to failure, because if we're not passionate about it, it'll show in the work, and then no one will like it. And just to make it clear: WE LIKE OUR SHOW!! Doesn't mean you have to - but don't try to tell me I don't.

So why aren't we airing new episodes now? That's a fair question that I don't have an answer for. After all, we have six unaired episodes in the can, with four more on the verge of completion. It's a Cartoon Network decision. Some fans have argued that they shouldn't have started airing ANY episodes until ALL episodes were in the can. But that too is a decision above my pay grade.

My best guess - and that's all it is - is that CN will air new episodes - starting with 110 ("Targets") - in September. The good news is that the later they wait, the more weeks they can go uninterrupted by reruns. I do know that Season Two (i.e. "Young Justice: Invasion") will begin airing as part of DC NATION in March of 2012. And by then ALL of Season One will have aired. So do the math.

People have asked me if I'm bummed about losing momentum by this delay. But the thing is we've ALREADY lost all momentum. So as long as they PROMOTE us whenever they finally do start airing us again, then pragmatically I'm good. Yes, I'll admit to a certain level of frustration in that I want our stuff to get out there, but if CN has a plan to make the most of the episodes, then more power to them.

Anyway, I think that's it for now. I'll get back to answering questions on ASK GREG as soon as I can find the time. (But keep in mind that San Diego Comic-Con is fast approaching. Note: Young Justice has a panel scheduled for Sunday, July 24th at 10am, with a signing to follow. I'll also be signing Gargoyles comics (and whatever else anyone might want) at the SLG Booth from 11:30am to 12:30pm on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (July 21, 22, 23).