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DEFINITE UNCERTAINTY 2021-08 (Aug)

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Theodore writes...

Well I don't think my questions are very interesting but I'm curious, so:

1 - What are the names of Arsenal's parents? And how did they die?

2 - What is the name of Zatanna's mother? And how did she die?

3 - What are the names of Rocket's parents and husband?

4 - What are the names of M'gann M'orzz's parents?

Greg responds...

Some of this stuff you can probably look up in old comics, but otherwise, I'm just going to lay out a big NO SPOILERS to all of this.

Response recorded on August 26, 2021

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FallenLegend writes...

Hey greg, I have a question Regarding time skips. I'm not complaining, just worried. The skips are fine if Young Justice remains as the only earth 16 show, but if any spin offs get made, don't you think we are missing a lot of content and getting a lot of spoilers?

As a fan of your work I've noticed that you tend to avoid making characters immortal. In one answer you said that even the third race of Gargoyles might just be extremely long lived. And you removed Wonder Woman's immortality outside of Themiscyra.

So I'm guessing you are planing to long term retire some characters.

If you got hired to write a Captain Marvel (Shazam) show, well Billy is 18 by season 3, so we basically missed all of his childhood adventures. He is traditionally a kid, isn't he?

If you got hired to do a Superman tv series, and you started from the beginning, we already know he ends up with Lois and even has a son with her up until season 3, so that throws out any tension out of the window.

This applies to all characters, introduced in season 1,2, and 3 that could get spinoffs I think. You would need to start early in their timelines (with people entering spoiled from their fates), or start late Like billy being 18 ( and miss the charm of a kid superhero that made him famous)

Not complaining, just worried. Do you have any contingency for that?

Greg responds...

Your question is so EXTREMELY hypothetical that I just can't worry about it. Brandon and I need to make the best version of Young Justice that we can make. In the extremely unlikely event that somewhere down the line WB asks for an Earth-16 spinoff, we'll deal with that then.

Response recorded on August 26, 2021

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FallenLegend writes...

Hey Greg I got a question regarding Batman on earth 16.

I know the real-life answer is just that they are different characters and giving superpowers to Batman doesn't fit him, but, still, I've always wondered why no empowering entity ever chose Bruce Wayne as a champion.

Say Why didn't SHAZAM chose Bruce Wayne Over Billy? Bruce already had the training, maturity, and skills, and instead, he decided to empower an orphan kid.

Same for other people giving powers like the guardians of the universe (or is it the ring that chooses?) going over people like Guy over Bruce.

Have you thought of an explanation for that?

Greg responds...

I could say that Billy has a purity of heart that Bruce doesn't have. That Hal, John and Guy have a greater ability to overcome fear with willpower. But really, the premise of the question doesn't work for me. There are billions of people on Earth. Why assume that Bruce is the be-all/end-all of humanity?

Response recorded on August 26, 2021

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Anonymous writes...

1) So are the titles of the series just meant to be meaningful? Like for example, in Young Justice: Outsiders, Beast Boy's team is called "The Outsiders" even though Black Lightning, Halo, and Geo-Force are the original Outsiders.

2) Is it like a metaphorical title about characters feeling like outsiders?

Greg responds...

1. I'm not sure I understand the question. The Outsiders from the comics are an influence, but this is Earth-16 continuity. The Outsiders refer to a state of mind, a social phenomenon and, ultimately, a new team of heroes, founded by Beast Boy.

2. That's part of it.

Response recorded on August 26, 2021

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Anonymous writes...

In the Young justice episode Overwhelmed when Super boy took Forager to Geranium city some thoughts crossed my mind 1. What do Benny, Erin, Kraig, and Karen all do for a living in geranium city? 2. What do each of the human disguises of the aforementioned Genomorphs look like? 3. Do thay each use the real names when outsiders are in town or fake names like Dubbilex does? 4. Are there any other secret Genomorph cities besides Geranium city?

Greg responds...

1. No spoilers.

2. No spoilers. For now, what you see is what you get.

3. They use their real first names and have adopted surnames.

4. Not at this time.

Response recorded on August 26, 2021

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Abdullah Khan writes...

Hey Greg,
Q1)I wanted to ask regarding the castings for Young Justice Outsiders, How did you and the crew decide to give the roles of Geo-Force, Terra, Halo, Forager,Cyborg and Darkseid to Troy Baker,Tara Strong,Zehra Fazal,Jason Spisak, Zeno Robinson and Michael Leon Wooley?
Q2)And for replacments decide on David Kaye and Greg Cipes to be Vandal Savage and Beast Boy, i know regarding Greg as Beast Boy u did not cast him in the initially because u did not want any Teen Titans reprisals at the time so what change your mind instead of picking another actor because Logan Grove was unavailable for S3?

Greg responds...

Geo-Force - Brandon had worked with Troy Baker before and knew he was a good candidate to play Geo-Force/Brion Markov. We did have him audition (against no competition) just to confirm he could do the Eastern European accent without it sliding into Boris Badenov territory. He could. So we cast him. And he's been great as Brion and other characters ever since.

Terra - We held auditions for Terra/Tara Markov, and Tara Strong just nailed it.

Halo - I knew I wanted to cast Zehra Fazal as Halo / Violet Harper / Gabrielle Daou, and basically wrote the part with her in mind. Brandon and Jamie and I went to see her in a stage play, where she played multiple roles, so that they could confirm just how great and versatile she was.

Forager - With Wally West largely out of the picture, we knew we wanted to find something else to keep Jason Spisak in our cast. Brandon thought Forager would be a good bet and talked about the character with Jason, who loved the idea. We hired him without any try-out, and he was instantly great.

Cyborg - We held auditions for Victor Stone/Cyborg under the false flag of a pretend show with a fake character name. Zeno Robinson was our clear favorite for the role. We brought him in for a callback (with no competition), mostly to see if he had the versatility to play any other roles (such as Steel). We decided then and there that he was our Vic, and seeing Brandon and I in the Control Room, he had already begun to suspect whom he might be playing. We told him he had the role and confirmed he was playing Cyborg, and he practically BURST right in front of us. It was great fun.

Darkseid - We had already discussed a number of potential people to find YJ's version of Darkseid, when Brandon remembered Michael Leon Wooley's performance of the character from Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Jamie and I listened, and immediately Michael had the job.

Vandal Savage - We held auditions to see who could do the best job performing in the giant shoes that the late, great Miguel Ferrer had left behind. David Kaye was the clear favorite.

Beast Boy - When it became clear that Logan Grove was not going to be available to us, we talked with Jamie about who might be able to take his place. After we described the character's journey in Season Three, Jamie suggested Greg Cipes, knowing that we might not go for it, but feeling like Greg'd be perfect for the part. I'd worked with Greg on W.I.T.C.H. and agreed, but our upper management had been pretty adamant about us not using Titans' lead actors to play the same roles they had played on Titans. (Other Titans' actors were kiboshed for certain parts for that reason.) It was something Brandon and I initially agreed with way back in Season One, but by this time, we felt YJ had established itself as its own thing, and we were less afraid of comparisons. And for whatever reason, TPTB were fine with us casting Greg as Beast Boy.

Response recorded on August 18, 2021

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An Old Fan writes...

So I know you've answered this a number of times over the years, but rather than I asking the nth time, I've spent a while thinking about the "how".

So Macbeth and Demona cannot die but by their own hand and although there are situations that seem like they could die by another's (beheading, smashed stone, etc), these situations cannot happen because of the spell the Wierd Sisters placed on them. It protects them from assured fatal injuries that normally would kill mortals (again beheading, smashed stone, etc). The spell basically would manipulate events to ensure that Macbeth and Demona would always get out of such a situation (Macbeth getting caught in the French Revolution and is scheduled to be beheaded but some mishap with the dungeon keys delays it, buying him time to escape or Demona is forced to roost elsewhere instead of her normal spot because of some freak storm preventing her in getting back, thus sparing her from being smashed by the Hunters one morning).

They would have uncanny luck in avoiding death situations that would otherwise be assured.

Greg responds...

I guess you're basically right, but I would recharacterize it. The Sisters may not have magically enforced this "manipulation," as you put it, so much as they magically predicted future events.

Response recorded on August 18, 2021

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Anonymous writes...

Hey, Greg.

Watching Young Justice season 3, and was shocked by the appearance of designations A41 and A42. Given that the highest known A-series designation prior to this is A20 (Tye Longshadow), it seems like a lot has happened in the two-ish years between Endgame and Quiet Conversations.

I know you are loathe to reveal designations in an off-screen environment, so I won't ask who the missing twenty names are (or even the still-unrevealed A08, A09, and A14), but do you know exactly who those numbers are?

On another note, in Away Mission, the computer reads a designation as "Pierce comma Jefferson G01". But in Humanity, it reads a designation as "Zatanna Zatara A03". Is there any rhyme or reason to which designations are last-name-first or first-name-first?

Thanks!

Greg responds...

1. I do know exactly who the numbers are for. But, no, I won't be revealing any of that here.

2. The A-Designations are first name first. The G-Designations, hacked into the system by Dick Grayson are "[Last Name]-comma-[First Name]-G-[Two-Digit-Number]"

Response recorded on August 18, 2021

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Jeremy G. McLaughlin writes...

Pretty much the entire main cast of Gargoyles have popped up in some way or another on "Young Justice." But there are just a couple who have not quite shown up as of yet. Will there ever be a potential role for Salli Richardson, Frank Welker or Jonathan Frakes?

Greg responds...

Without going into specifics, Jamie and I have talked about bringing more ex-Gargoyles actors to YJ when the role seemed to fit. Sometimes we didn't have the right role. Sometimes the actor wasn't available at the right time. But there's literally no one (living or dead) from Gargoyles that I wouldn't love to get on YJ.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Kiddo writes...

Hey, thanks for hours of entertainment through your shows. I just recently finished watching the canon run of Gargoyles on DVD through the library (Me and a friend greatly enjoyed the journey, and had a lot of fun watching it!) after growing up on your other shows, like Young Justice and Spectacular Spider-Man. So, thank you, and as I’m new here, I’d figure I’d try and put a question that isn’t quite so... obvious.
Did Eliza’s palate change much after the Avalon World Tour?

Greg responds...

Um... sure.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Joshua writes...

Hey Greg I'm a newbie who just started watching your show on disney+ and first off wow! How did miss this? Now that gargoyles is on a exclusive streaming service is there any new possibilities for it to come back? -also while typing this would you be open to a kingdom Hearts crossover or a gargoyles video in general?

Greg responds...

We're trying to get everyone to #KeepBingingGargoyles over and over again on Disney+ - because we DO think there's a possibility that Gargoyles might be able to come back, if fans prove to the company that there's an interest.

I don't know much about Kingdom Hearts, but I'm certainly open to including Gargoyles. That's been discussed in the past, but never happened - to my knowledge.

And I'd love to do Gargoyles in ANY medium, if given the chance.

The thing to keep in mind is that it's not up to me. But the fans (collectively) have more power than they think, if they understand how to exercise it.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Andrew writes...

Hey Greg, got two questions for you

1. How did you meet Brandon Vietti?

2. I ask because I'm a big of the DCAU, how did Rich Fogel get involved with the series?

Greg responds...

1. Brandon and I met a couple times when I was at Sony and when I was freelancing for WB. But, honestly, we really didn't meet for real until Sam Register teamed us up to develop a new series for WB Animation. (That series was a Green Lantern series that was never made, followed by a Space Ghost series that was never made, before we finally were assigned to Young Justice.)

2. Rich and I go way back to my Disney days. He and Mark Seidenberg were partnered up, editing Gummi Bears. We've kept in touch, on and off, over the years. And more recently, we were both staff writers on Shimmer & Shine. I truly loved the Shimmer & Shine writing staff (Stephanie Simpson, Dustin Ferrer, Kevin Hopps, Cisco Paredes, Andrew Blanchette and Rich), so when YJ started up again I tried to get everyone to write an episode for Season Three and/or Four. Stephanie and Dustin haven't had the time, but the rest have all pitched in for an episode or two. (Of course, Kevin was already a YJ writer.)

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Andrew writes...

Hello Greg, In YJ, what is the thought process behind each season's time jump, how do you and the creative team decide the length of each jump and how do you believe they add to the characters and the overall narrative?

Greg responds...

Again, this has been covered in the ASK GREG ARCHIVES multiple times. But generally, we think it allows us to show the growth and maturation of our young characters.

The length of the time jump is generally determined by both what we want to hide (and later reveal) about our characters and when in the timeline does the story fall that we want/need to tell.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Andrew writes...

Hey Greg, how do you plot seasons and specific episodes, do you set end goals to achieve in the story or do you begin to plot and see where the story flows naturally?

Greg responds...

Um, both. Go through the ASK GREG ARCHIVES for more detailed responses. But we use index cards with events marking tent poles in our stories, and then fill in with more index cards until every season, every episode, every scene is fleshed out fully.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Andrew writes...

Hey Greg, I've noticed in the credits for Outsiders, all of the Milestone characters are credited as "Created by Milestone Media." Are there any specific reasons why Dwayne McDuffie and the other Milestone creators aren't individually mentioned?

Thanks for a great season.

Greg responds...

It's a legal decision that's way above my paygrade to credit the creation of all Milestone characters to the Milestone company. That's all I know. But I don't think it began with Season Three. Didn't we do the same thing in Seasons One and Two?

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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A.M.Sirce writes...

I'm not certain if this has been asked.

What are the "cursing" equivalents from Macbeth and King Arthur's times compared to modern day "cursing"(sh*t, F**k, B*tch, etc.)?

I imagine the "olden times" curse words/expletives and similar expressions would be considered quite "tame" and even silly compared to modern stuff. Though I suppose they could potentially be taken up as "alternative curses" by modern day generations.

It's something that's made me wonder.

Greg responds...

I'd have to research that. I may have known the answer at some point, but it's just been too long.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Todd Jensen writes...

I decided to reread "Clan-Building" as well, after rewatching the first two seasons of "Gargoyles" on DVD, starting with Chapters One and Two ("The Journey)).

The "hunting" analogy continues even past "Hunter's Moon" with Vinnie stating that he hunted a gargoyle down, and Castaway mentioning it (both specifically use the word "hunted").

In my "review comments" on "Hunter's Moon", I noted how it ended, in its final scene at the castle, on what went well for the gargoyles (they're back in the castle, they've made peace with Xanatos, etc.), with their being revealed to the public not mentioned. "The Journey" opens with it being made clear that their problems aren't that over after all, with the public's alarm, the foundation of the Quarrymen, and even Brooklyn raising the question of whether Xanatos really has changed that much. I think his sardonic "Welcome home" establishes the "It's not so happily ever after, after all" tone - in contrast to the way Elisa said "Welcome home" at the very end of "Hunter's Moon".

Greg responds...

It was nice to finally be able to do my version of "The Journey" - as opposed to the reedited piece that was used in The Goliath Chronicles.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Todd Jensen writes...

Rewatched "Hunter's Moon" yesterday (Sunday) on DVD - all three parts.

I've mentioned before spotting a lot of mentions of hunting, usually applied to humans going after gargoyles with hostile intent, and it struck me that this made it appropriate that the Hunters would be the gargoyles' adversaries in the finale. (Well, the Disney Afternoon finale/Season Two finale.)

And it struck me that the Hunters were the most dangerous opponents that the gargoyles faced in modern times, judging by results. They blew up the clock tower, destroying the gargoyles' home, and then exposed them to the public. The former was partly undone by the gargoyles getting their old home (the castle) back by the end of the episode, but not the latter - now the gargoyles are facing an alarmed public (even though they're safe at the end - for the moment). None of the gargoyles' other adversaries in modern times have been able to inflict that much damage on them. To top it, you'd have to go back to 994 and the Wyvern Massacre.

A few things that struck me this time around:

Goliath and Elisa are actually openly speaking to each other and even sharing a brief embrace on board the passenger train, just after foiling the robbery; fortunately, the passengers apparently didn't notice that.

Hudson greets the returning gargoyles as "lads" - then quickly adding in "And lassie, of course", for Angela. It reminded me of his use of just "lads" for the younger gargoyles in "Possession" that I mentioned in my post on it - apparently he's getting more adjusted now to Angela's presence in the clan.

The trio's clash with Demona in Part One seems the last "trio action" in the series; they're increasingly split up (or else acting with the rest of the clan present) after this.

Lexington and Brooklyn's shared uneasy glances when they return to the clock tower with Goliath near the end of Part Two seemed all the stronger when I realized "the audience knows that Robyn and Jon survived Goliath's fight with them, but Lex and Brooklyn don't - from their perspective, Goliath had apparently killed those two."

Jon Canmore's cry about the gargoyles when he's facing Jason at the end, "They killed dad!", struck me as a sign of how (even before shooting Jason) he was losing it; it was Demona who killed Charles Canmore, none of the Manhattan clan were even present at the event, and Jon was there so he knows it.

Broadway shows how much his attitude towards reading has changed since the start of "A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time" when he's talking to Angela about how great the castle library is (and we'll see them there together in "The Journey").

This story really does seem like a good conclusion for the series in so many ways - the gargoyles are back in the castle again, their war with Xanatos is (seemingly) over, they'd defeated Demona's big scheme to wipe out humanity, Elisa finally admitted her feelings for Goliath and even kissed him. Except there's a big loose end with the gargoyles' existence being made public, and most of the New Yorkers aren't too happy about it. (Brooklyn's "And so it begins" remark does also support the feeling that the story could continue past this spot.) But it certainly makes a good season finale.

Oh, and I counted the number of "claw-mark transitions" in the entire two seasons during this review - 28 in all.

Greg responds...

We were pretty happy with it.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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tom writes...

in nevermore why did the light wanted garfield dead

Greg responds...

For the effect it would have on the League, Team and Outsiders - and because they felt they could leverage his death into creating a super-hero registry, which they could then exploit.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Todd Jensen writes...

New thoughts and observations on "Possession", which I also rewatched on DVD today.

Coldfire and Coldsteel's bodies are initially covered by cloths; while it serves the function of keeping their nature secret from the audience at first, it also does a good job of echoing the "Frankenstein" tone of Coldstone's introduction in "Re-Awakening".

When Goliath and Hudson return to the clock tower from patrol, Hudson initially says "lads" - and just that, with no mention that there should be a "lass" among them as well. We get an echo of this, I recall, in "Hunter's Moon Part One" when he addresses the clan as "lads", then remembers Angela and adds "lass" in; this moment brought that scene to mind.

Coldstone's line near the end about how "we truly lived again" echoed Goliath's "we live again" words in the opening narration, though I don't know if it was intentional.

Greg responds...

It's a pretty safe bet that most everything is intentional. (Or that I will intentionally take credit for it.) But seriously, we were very aware of pushing call back moments throughout. I do that on every series I produce.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Todd Jensen writes...

I watched "Turf" on DVD yesterday as well, but don't have anything new to say about it, so my new thoughts on "The Reckoning", which I watched with "Possession" on DVD today.

In Act I, Hudson warns Angela that her mother "is capable of anything". Angela later uses those exact words when confronting Demona in Act III.

Elisa gets bitten by a mosquito while in the Labyrinth; I wonder if that was the moment when Sevarius and Thailog acquired her DNA for Delilah; it'd certainly be a "playing fair with the audience" moment.

While Demona professes outrage over Angela's claim to be her daughter, her eyes aren't glowing red - and later we learn that she'd known Angela to be her daughter all along. The "eyes not glowing red" part makes a good hint to the audience that she was feigning anger and disbelief.

Greg responds...

That mosquito is exactly when Elisa's DNA was taken for later use in creating Delilah.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Todd Jensen writes...

Rewatched "Vendettas" today - this time around, I spotted what looked like a small village in the opening shot (near the former site of Castle Wyvern). A minor detail, I know, but I liked the discovery of a village or small town in the area.

Greg responds...

Yep. Especially one that the Vikings haven't sacked for a century or ten.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Krazyfan writes...

You like Ghost Rider, right? since they have the ability to amplify and boost anything they ride on, what kinda things would you ever want to see one ride? I kinda like the idea of Johnny or another Rider Riding, and therefore Boosting, either The Hulk, or the Helicarrior...

Greg responds...

Um... how about a motorcycle? Is that too radical?

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Todd Jensen writes...

Rewatched "The Gathering" (both episodes) on DVD today. A few new things I noticed about it.

A minor detail, but which I find touching: when Renard learns about Anastasia's remarriage,, he sadly clasps her hand.

The letter X is prominent among the Xanatoses: Xanatos, FoX, and AleXander. And then I thought of LeXington, who isn't one of the family, but who's close to Alex, and who became Xanatos's secret successor in "Future Tense". (And there's that bit, also, in your "Gargoyles 2198" piece, about the Lexington-Xanatos Corporation.)

Goliath's homecoming makes a lovely contrast with "Future Tense", as he warmly embraces the overjoyed Brooklyn and Lexington (the two members of the clan who'd been bitter towards his late return in "Future Tense") and Hudson says "I knew you hadn't abandoned us." (While Broadway hugs Elisa, tying in with his being the closest to her among the trio, ever since "Deadly Force".)

One feature of Goliath's pondering the possibility that Avalon sent him to Manhattan to stop Oberon from taking Alex away; if his speculation was correct, that means that Avalon was, in a way, going against its lord and master. Though that made sense when I thought about it; without going too deeply into hypotheticals, I suspect that things would have not gone well for Avalon if Oberon *had* spirited Alex away (no way would his parents have accepted that), and Avalon would be sparing itself and its lord and master a lot of potential trouble in thwarting him.

You mentioned once that you wanted to have Puck break the fourth wall, but the rest of the production team objected to it. I noticed that he does come close, though, when he turns towards the camera while saying "I'm on a roll". (And when somebody *did* break the fourth wall, it was Brooklyn instead.)

At the very end, Broadway turns to stone shortly before the rest of the clan does.

Greg responds...

Interesting observations. Thanks for all these, Todd.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021

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Todd Jensen writes...

Rewatched "Future Tense" on DVD today. Things I noticed this time on it.

Bronx looks sad when Hudson's death is revealed; given the bond the two had showed throughout the series, I thought if both fitting and touching (even if it's not really Bronx).

Goliath tells Brooklyn "we thought our odyssey was fated". I thought "odyssey" an appropriate term, since Odysseus spent twenty years away from Ithaca, and Goliath supposedly spent forty years away from Manhattan - and since gargoyles age at half the speed of humans, twenty years for humans would translate to forty years for gargoyles. (I'll admit I'm reaching here - and it feels odd to be linking Goliath to Odysseus when I'd normally think of comparing a different "Gargoyles" character to Odysseus - a fellow Greek trickster....)

The Xanatos Program's intention of using the "World Wide Net" to download itself on every computer marks one of the extremely few occasions I can think of where the Internet was alluded to on "Gargoyles"; the only other example that comes to mind was Sevarius receiving his instructions for "kidnapping" Thailog via "electronic mail". (It also got mentioned in one of the Goliath Chronicles episodes, but that doesn't count.) The near-absence of the Internet from the series certainly makes it appear
technologically dated" from today's perspective.

Greg responds...

I think "odyssey" is a particular apt word. And though Goliath and Odysseus don't have a lot of character traits in common, I do think the comparison here was intentional. And they are both big, strong heroes.

The absence of something like the internet is less of a problem for me - in terms of dating the series - than, say, the brick-sized cellphones that Xanatos and others occasionally use.

Response recorded on August 17, 2021


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