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The Phoenix Gate

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RESPONSES 2001-3 (March)

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LSZ writes...

Do gargoyles need to bathe, or are body odours etc disposed of via stone sleep?

Greg responds...

Bathing helps periodically.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Jim R. writes...

I'm still a little baffled about Timedancing Brooklyn and the story behind him. You state that when Goliath threw the Phoenix gate into itself without a mind to guide it, it would be forever lost in the time stream. Then you went on to say that it lands in front of Brooklyn.
1. Why did you choose Brooklyn?
2. When does it land in front of him, in what time?
I was reading through the archived responses about this, and you say that he never lays a finger on the gate.
3. But how is it possible for him to travel forty years leaping in and out of random time shifts the gate creates? The gate is just a talisman, without a mind or the incantation it really can't go anywhere, which leads me to my next question.
4. If Brooklyn is susceptable to random time shifts, how long does he or can he stay, in one time?
5. Why couldn't he lay a finger on the gate? I mean surely he would eventually find out how the gate works in some time, grab it, speak the incantation, and boom! he's back home again in his own time exactly when he left. Brooklyn isn't that stupid, he surely would have had some pre-existing knowledge from Goliath about the dangers of the gate.

Please. Maybe you could explain this whole Timedancer mess in better detail or in a nutshell, or at least point me out someplace online I could go to read more about it in further detail.

Greg responds...

No, I stated that Goliath threw the Phoenix Gate into the Timestream -- not itself.

1. He chose me largely. He was ready for the next step in his character's evolution. And I felt he could carry a series.

2. In "the present". Originally, that meant 1996. I'm not sure now. I'm leaning toward '97 though. Not 2001.

3. No, it goes everywhere and everywhen. It seems to be random. But the timestream itself may have currents and eddies guiding it.

4. There's no consistent rule.

5. He can never get to it in time.

The only place I can point you for more detailed info is the TimeDancer archive here at ASK GREG. (This doesn't seem that complicated to me, however. I certainly wouldn't call it a 'mess'.)

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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matt writes...

you've said before that unless their bodies are destroyed that the Coldtrio will live forever, so will any or all of them be around in 2198?

Greg responds...

Not saying.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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matt writes...

i just want you to confirm that Gabriel is definetly Othello and Desdemona's biological child, cuz lately there has been talk of Iago having a child on Avalon and Gabriel has some features, the large brow ridges and the small horns on his chin, that we've only see in one other gargoyle, Iago. so, if Iago has a biological child on Avalon, its not Gabriel, right?

Greg responds...

Gabriel is Othello and Desdemona's biological child.

You heard it here first.

About four years ago.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Slow writes...

Re: High Noon

I have to say that I was very confused about the three Desdemonas. Until someone mentioned it in Ask Greg I just figured it was the writer wanting to do strange and surreal stuff inside Coldstone's head. The animation was so good I never would've noticed the colour mistake. If it wasn't for this venue, I'd never have known.

"This is diverting." "You don't know the half of it."

Sure, I laughed when I first heard the line accompanied by the expression on Coldstone's face. But when I watched the episode again a few years later, I thought that Macbeth's response may have been a hint (subconsciously, maybe) that the entire situation was a diversion (staged to get the talismans). Am I wrong to think that Mac may not have been as interested in the girl-fight as it sounded?

Greg responds...

Nah. It works both ways.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Erin Peretti writes...

I am absolutely fascinated with your comment that Gargoyle's MacBeth was more historically accurate than Shakespeare's (obviously ommitting Demona and immortality).

What parts were more accurate?

I know this is a pain, but would you happen to know where I could find some historically accurate accounts of Macbeth? His home, his full name, whether Duncan was the perfect king potrayed in the play, etc....

What research materials did you use when writing Mac for Gargoyles?

Is Glamis castle in Scotland really Mac's castle, as I have been told?

Thanks so much!!!

Greg responds...

Most of the research on Macbeth was done by Monique Beatty and Tuppence Macintyre. I did little or none myself. (I didn't have time.) Monique was my assistant (and is now a producer in her own right). Tup is a close friend and a Los Angeles Deputy District Attorney.

I know Holinshed was of some use. But I don't know what other books they used specifically.

Almost everything we did -- minus the gargs and Weird Sisters and the Mask of the Hunter -- was more accurate historically than Shaekespeare. (Not better, just more accurate.) Duncan and his father hired Gillecomgain to assassinate Mac's father. They rewarded him with Mac's title and with Gruouch. Mac eventually killed Gille and married Gruoch, adopting her boy Lulach as his own. There were some rumours that Lulach WAS his child.

Mac killed Duncan in battle, not while Duncan was a guest in his house. Mac ruled wisely for seventeen years and was overthrown by Malcolm Canmore, who was backed by the English. Etc.

I'm not 100% sure about Glamis, but I believe Macbeth's historical home was Castle Moray (also called Murray).

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Todd Jensen writes...

A question about Xanatos as portrayed in "Future Tense". This was the last episode in the series where Xanatos was the antagonist (even though it may not count as such, given that it turned out that it wasn't really Xanatos). And what recently struck me about it was that here Xanatos, for once, was acting in a manner more like a conventional cliched cartoon villain than he did anywhere else in the series. He took over Manhattan by force, enslaved the population and plunged them into poverty and misery, had the city patrolled by Mutate soldiers on the ground and Steel Clan robots in the air, murdered his own son without even an ounce of pity or remorse, and was plotting to seize control over the entire planet. All very evocative of the stereotypical super-villain that one would expect to find in a more conventional animated series.

Also, in this episode, Goliath did (momentarily) "destroy" Xanatos (or the Xanatos Program masquerading as him) in the cyberspace battle (just before it turned out that it was really Lexington operating the Xanatos Program behind the scenes), in what could count as their final battle.

So, was "Future Tense" designed, in part, to trick the audience into thinking that "Gargoyles" was going to end with a more conventional showdown between Goliath and Xanatos, a more stereotypical "final battle", before going on to reveal, almost immediately afterwards (given that "The Gathering" was the story that came immediately after "Future Tense"), the real manner in which the Goliath/Xanatos conflict came to an end (through the two making peace after the gargs helped Xanatos against Oberon)? A kind of "tricking the audience raised on more conventional adventure cartoon series" method similar to that used in "Leader of the Pack" (where it initially seems as if Xanatos is out for revenge, but it turns out that it wasn't the real Xanatos and that the real one had very different and much more practical goals)?

Greg responds...

Yep. I mean that wasn't the only thing going on, but we did so love to play with and against expectations.

But it's also fun, even if it's a fantasy within our fantasy, to see such opposites go at it to the death. I knew that wasn't they're true destiny, so it was nice to slip a version of it in.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Todd Jensen writes...

In "Monsters", was Sevarius working for Xanatos or himself when he was at Loch Ness? He had the Xanatos Goon Squad along with him to help him out, but nothing that he said really confirmed that he was working for Xanatos; he appeared to be after the Loch Ness Monsters more to satisfy his own personal interest in genetic tinkering than from any interests that Xanatos had.

Greg responds...

For Xanatos, though X gave him fairly free reign to keep him happily employed.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Yadira writes...

"Outfoxed"

In this episode, one of the key things we learned is that Fox is pregnant and she breaks the news to her father, Renard. What we don't see is how she breaks the news to her husband. If you had time to explore this, how did Fox tell Xanatos about her delicate condition and what did she feel might be Xanatos' reaction. How did Xanatos truly react at first upon hearing her news.

Greg responds...

He was thrilled. I believe she told him as soon as she got off the phone.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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LSZ writes...

Did Mab have parents?

Greg responds...

One way or another.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

1) What has Mab been doing all those eons in confinement? Even prisoners must do something with their time. I assume the solitary confinement has worked wonders on her sanity.

Greg responds...

Not saying.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Oberon writes...

Where did you get the name Grimourum Arcanorum

Greg responds...

Michael Reaves came up with that. But I think it's simply Latin for "magic book".

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Vic writes...

Hellos,
I'm just wondering if you know anything about the fabled Gargoyles movie project. Last i heard it was mired in development hell. Has it moved up to purgatory or down to something more hopeless, like ohio?

Greg responds...

I hear they have a script they like. But I haven't seen it. I don't know anything else, but hope to have more info for the Gathering.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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matt writes...

what are some of the other names of gargoyles on Avalon? i'd imagine most biblical angel names were used, but Opheila, Angela, and Boibekka all have other types of names, what were some of these?, if you know any

Greg responds...

Boudicca, not Boibekka.

I've answered this. I believe that Katharine did attempt at least to use all the standard Angelic names...

Gabriel, Michael, Azrael, Raphael, Uriel, etc.

Plus some variations like Angela.

But they had more gargs than angels.

So we get Ophelia, etc.

Anyway, I don't plan on tying my hand by naming a bunch of characters I haven't yet explored.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Mary Mack writes...

Hello there.

I have a simple, small question regarding garg culture.

What goes into the average gargoyle commitment ceremony?

That's it. You don't have to include any fun geographic-cultural variations of the thing, just outline the basics-- if there are basics. If there are no basics, that'd be good to know too.

And you know what? Even in California it's cold in February. I wish the computer with Net access weren't in the garage-- I'm reezing my fass off out here!

Greg responds...

Sorry, Mary, I hate to make you reeze your fass for nothing, but I'm saving those details for now.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Sapphire writes...

Elisa Maza for a human is extremely beautiful and attractive. Do you think that the New Olympians when they first saw her saw her as a very beautiful organism since some of the New Olympians looked extremly ugly.

Greg responds...

Eye of the beholder, my friend.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Vashkoda writes...

1a) How are the majority of New Olympians educated? Are they forced to have an education? Up to what level (relative to our own system) have most of them been to? (highschool? college? post-grad?) Do they all understand advanced calculus, for example? b) Are any (if not all) NO gargoyles similarly educated?

2a) Is the majority of the NO population educated well enough to understand their island's technology? b) Roughly how many people are in charge of research and development and maintaining this technology? (tens? hundreds? thousands?). c) Would this group include any gargoyles?

3a) While I'm at it, roughly how many people live on NO? (hundreds? thousands? millions?) b) Roughly how many full-blooded NO gargates are there? c) Roughly how many NO are of gargoyle descent?

4) How will the NO clan be discovered by the outside world?

Greg responds...

1a. Forced? In the sense that kids have to go to school? I guess. But they aren't conscribed into education. Most want a good education. Most get it.

1b. Some are, yes.

2a. A good chunk.

2b. I don't know.

2c. Potentially.

3a. The low thousands.

3b. About 100 or so.

3c. Huh?

4. They will reveal themselves in front of the United Nations Building.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Vanity writes...

I have been reading Macbeth and Demona responses and the above mentioned for "High Noon" where questions were asked why Macbeth didn't feel the pain when Elisa and Demona where in combat. And I think people are putting too much emphasis on the fact that Macbeth could prepare for the blows. Couldn't it be that, and if you watch the fight scene; Elisa didn't really "hurt" Demona enough to evoke the spell? Granted Demona ran head-first into a statue but that might not of hurt too much.

Greg responds...

A combination of all of the above -- including that we screwed up a bit.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Aaron writes...

High Noon

<<Anyway, Demona's in atypical dress and species. Who knew it was her?>>

(raises hand) Aw c'mon Greg, not even human form and frumpy clothing can hide the radiant beauty that is Demona. ;) But seriously, who else has hair like that?

Random observation: When human-form Demona leaves her hair alone, instead of putting it up in that dreadful restrained thing she wears as Domonique Destine, she looks like a red-haired Puma sister. (Dominion Tank Police, in case you didn't get the ref)

Greg responds...

I still don't get the ref.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Anonymous writes...

Just a quick comment. Actually, Demona's"sexpot posing at the clock tower when she confronts Elisa did seem in character to me. I always imagined her smugly suggesting, See, even as a human I'm better looking than you. Her subconscious jealousy of Elisa and Goliath's "connection"
and her "I'm better than you are attitude, contirbute to her flagrantly exhibiting herself." Or in the words of the immortal and unknown, "When you've got it flaunt it." Got to love the Japanese animators on this one.

Greg responds...

Works for me too.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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matt writes...

does Demona have to sleep? i figure that when she is human her garg side sleeps and when she is gargoyle her human side sleeps. if this is true where does she get the solar energy from to support her gargoyle form?

Greg responds...

Magic compensates to some degree, but she does sleep as a human periodically.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Todd Jensen writes...

My "High Noon" ramble.

It's hard to be certain what my original thoughts were when seeing this one for the first time (given that that was back in 1995), but I feel pretty certain that I didn't recognize Demona in her human form until the dialogue actually named her. (And given that, as you'd pointed out, up till then, I'd only seen her as a human briefly at the end of "The Mirror", it was easy enough not to recognize her).

I don't recall now what I'd thought of the Demona/Macbeth team-up or where the Weird Sisters were all this time when I first saw the episode, though. Maybe I was just accepting the story as it went along without asking that many questions.

I very much liked Hudson's question about the "hit the sack" idiom, and the bit where Hudson and Broadway were reading the newspaper as the link back to "Lighthouse in the Sea of Time". Both struck me as very enjoyable touches.

I sometimes wonder if Officer Morgan will ever realize just how helpful he was to Elisa in helping her gain the strength to face Demona at Belvedere Castle. This may very well count as his biggest moment in the series to date.

The revelation at the end that the Sisters were behind it all, and - more importantly - that the real targets were the Grimorum, the Eye of Odin, and the Phoenix Gate definitely surprised me. One thing that I do remember from my first time seeing the episode was this: for some odd reason, I was under the impression that "the coming battle" that the Sisters mentioned was something slated for the end of the season (Episode 65 or close to it), a grand finale conflict of some sort. Well, it was a big battle, but it took place in "Gargoyles" a lot sooner than I was expecting.

(One little thing that I must admit: a good thing for Demona that she was using the Grimorum to shield herself from prying eyes during the day. I don't think that she would have been too appreciative of the way that male humans might have been looking at her in that outfit as a human if they could have seen her :)

Greg responds...

Except I don't think she was shielding THAT. She hailed a cab in that outfit, after all. (Which amuses me to no end. Hey, it's NYC!)

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Sapphire writes...

In the episode high noon Elisa was waiting for her gargoyles to return because it is nearly dawn and she was worried for their safety but instead the only gargoyle that came around was Demona, Demona transformed into a human when the sun came up but when downstairs and hailed a cab. My question is was Demona carrying any money with her when she got into the cab or did she just got out when the ride was over and not pay at all?

Greg responds...

She was probably carrying money. Or she made Macbeth pay.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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Bruno writes...

Hi, Greg,

I was wondering, how will Demona react when she discover that the Clan - and specially Angela - are back to the castle and living with Xanatos? That they sold themselves?

Greg responds...

Sold themselves? Huh?

Response recorded on March 13, 2001

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One writes...

1) What are your personal feelings regarding Demona? Do you see her as a tragic victim of humanity's fear, the weird sister's machinations, etc? Just a mad gargoyle who can't let go of the past and refuses to accept responsibility for her own actions? What's your take on her?

2) In your opinion, which character of the series is most like you? Why?

3) If you had to go through everything Demona went through... how do you think that would have changed you? What would you be like?

Greg responds...

1. She is complex. She contains multitudes. I'm fond of her in a strange way. But that fondness doesn't mitigate her actions as far as I'm concerned. On the other hand, I've always been fascinated with the idea of redemption. So who knows?

2. None really. Or all of them put together. Or Vinnie, because I'm often hapless. Without hap.

3. A puddle.

Response recorded on March 13, 2001


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