Brian writes...

Hi Greg,
To be honest I hadn't followed your work religiously until Young Justice and now I can't get enough. As a theater person I really fell in love with Gargoyles rewatching it now as a 19 year old and noticed so many references to pop culture and to my delight Shakespeare.

I recently purchased Gargoyles in its entirety on DVD as well as the comic continuation. Watching it from start to finish as an adult I saw so much character growth and depth that is often missing from live action television and for that I thank you. Now please don't take this as a criticism, because it is not it is simply my observation about the World Tour arch. I did enjoy it the first time around as I saw great stories. The one thing that I don't want to say bothered me because it really didn't bother me, I was more curious than anything else. Why did many of the original regular characters seem to be sidelined as a result of the arch. I guess for me characters like Demona, Hudson, Lexington, and Xanatos all seemed to be thrust to the side in favor of Goliath and Company. My question is was that intentional or just the way the story worked itself out?

Furthermore my next question is about Xanatos' change of heart regarding the Gargoyles. When looking at what the Gargoyles did to save Alexander the change makes perfect sense to be and I even admire David for that honorable quality. However, when comparing his actions in the Gathering to his behavior in Cloud Fathers, I find the change slightly out of left field. In Cloud Fathers, Xanatos admits to clichéd villainy and in several other appearances his actions towards Goliath and Co. felt so amoral that calling a permanent truce seemed as though it wouldn't have lasted. I guess my question is this do you see Xanatos as so indebted to Goliath that he would never hurt them again or is he still willing to harm them if they threaten his endeavors?

Thanks so much for great storytelling and looking forward to Rebels,
Brian

Endless Strategy writes...

Why didn't Xanatos try to capture the Kachina Coyote again? Did it go to The Gathering immediately after "Cloud Fathers?" Because if not, he had a couple weeks still before The Gathering. Even if the Tribal Police shooed him off, could he not have sent Coyote and a few other robots to destroy the soil carving without implicating himself?

Endless Strategy writes...

Why doesn't Xanatos make his Steel Clan more intelligent? Both Coyote and his Macbeth-bots have proven to be a tremendous improvement over the Steel Clan, in-part because of their more sophisticated programming: why not apply some form of that programming to the Steel Clan?

Riker+Troi writes...

I love Xanatos and Demona as much as I love Riker and Troi. I know they'll never get together or anything but does Xanatos at least think Demona is attractive?

Merlin writes...

What were Xanatos's original intentions with the Pack? He said he created them to be far more than a TV show and he sicced them on Goliath to see how good they were and to also test Goliath.

But how long were they on the air before this? He couldn't have always intended to use them as a test for Goliath, so what were his original intentions there when he created them to be far more than a TV show?

Greg Xanatos writes...

Dear Greg,

Through your career, you've shown a fondness for various "Master Planner" type villains (Xanatos, The Light, Nerrisaa etc.) You've also become notable for thinking out things to great detail (as your timelines and posts on askgreg have shown). So I wanted to know, has your own "master planning" informed these characters? For example, does Xanatos plan his schemes out with cards like you do? Do the Light's group planning sessions reflect an evil version of the Writer's room?

Thanks!

John Essex writes...

Dear Mr Weisman,

I have a question about the character you wrote called David Xanatos. As you know, he was a manipulative Machiavellian mastermind always trying to win at everything. It was started first when he was dating Fox that he didn't love her at first. So here is my question, while the cold David Xanatos was dating her, did he have any feelings of intimacy towards Fox when they first had intercourse or did he have intercourse as a way to keep her in his hand on the metaphorical chessboard he called life? What I'm saying is basically, when he had the birds and the bees with Fox, did he just do it for his own gains in the future? Did he enjoy it at all?

MasterGhandalf writes...

I've recently been reflecting on your shows, and one thing that's really jumped out at me is that every one of them I've seen is extremely arc and continuity based, but also has, rather than a single "Big Bad", at least two core villains who contrast with and play off each other- Xanatos and Demona, Nerissa and Phobos, Tombstone and Norman Osborn, the Light and the Reach. Even the unproduced Stargate spin-off you posted about a while back had Osyros and Anubis. I was wondering if this was a conscious decision on your part to deliberately include this element in your shows, or if it's just something that flows naturally while designing a series?

FallenLegend writes...

Hey greg what's up?. I would like to ask you about your anti-revenge theme.

Was there something in your life that taught you that?

If so what it was?

Why do you usually convey that message trough villains (Xanatos and Luthor both hate revenge for example) ?

Why do you think revenge is a sucker's game?. I agree it's a very good message. But I think some people would argue that they are just trying to get justice.

Thank you for your time.