Charles Beale writes...

As a live action film producer/director, I’ve often thought some ideas might be created as an animated series. What guidance would you give to someone looking to branch into animation? Assume I have no existing relationships.

Todd Jensen writes...

Rewatched "City of Stone" today (all four episodes). A few things that stood out to me this time.

Continuing the "gargoyles being called beasts" thread: the granary guards in Part One call Demona's clan "filthy beasts". Gillecomgain doesn't use the term "beast" for Demona, but does call her a creature and a monster.

(By contrast, the "breastplate gargoyle" comments about their old home, after Demona and her clan have to abandon it following Duncan's attack, "The hunting there was good" - probably one of the few occasions where gargoyles are talking about being the hunters rather than the hunted.)

Demona's clan uses nets twice in this multi-parter - once against the granary guards in Part One, once against Canmore's army in Part Four. The nets being in Parts One and Four gave a nice sense of "bookends".

A detail that I can't believe I missed before: Demona was bearing the Hunter's mask at her belt, as if a trophy, after the battle with Duncan. (The young Canmore grabs it from her during his attack upon her.)

Demona calls Bronx "my pet"; I looked up your remarks on gargoyle beasts in the archives and found that gargoyles don't see gargoyle beasts as pets, but as equals. Maybe another sign that Demona thinks far more like a human than she'd admit (or than it would be safe to tell her)?

I like the touch of the various new kings (like Macbeth and Lulach) being hailed as "High King of Scotland" - the "high king" part conveys all the more a sense of Scotland as a collection of recently-united chiefdoms (which it would have been at the time in actual history).

Todd Jensen writes...

I finished reading "War of the Spark: Forsaken" today.

While "Magic: the Gathering" is still a "foreign country" to me, I rather liked this book. I got a few big surprises out of it (such as the revelation about Mistress Blaise near the end), and was also amused to note the "lettered plans" gag (evocative of "Eye of the Beholder") and another use of the "Reason not the need" line from "King Lear". Plus a battle with gargoyles in a room filled with clockwork (even if it probably wasn't a clock tower). But the part that most stood out to me was the book opening with an Epilogue and ending with a Prologue. It felt almost as if it was living backwards, like T. H. White's Merlyn.

I became particularly fond of "Rat", whom I understand was your creation instead of a pre-existing figure.

Todd Jensen writes...

Rewatched "Vows" today. A few new things that came to me.

I was hesitant about mentioning this, in case it comes across as an idea, but - from the way Goliath addressed Demona as "my angel of the night" at Prince Malcolm's wedding, I wondered if this was the first time he'd called her that.

When Xanatos referred to his getting the old coin that was the foundation of his fortune as "ancient history", I thought, "well, medieval history, to be precise".

I wonder how Prince Malcolm and his court must have perceived the Norman Ambassador's departure - he rides off just before the wedding, not staying to see Princess Elena, whom he'd escorted to the castle, wedded (even though he'd presumably be the closest thing to a representative of her father there). At least it doesn't appear to have caused a diplomatic incident between Scotland and Normandy.

The Archmage addresses Demona as "you stupid beast", continuing the pattern of unfriendly humans using such terms for gargoyles, that I've been paying close attention to this time around.

Brooklyn is the one most vocal about going to Goliath's rescue at the end; I wonder if Demona's involvement and his feelings about her had a lot to do about that.

I still think it's a pity that the original ending got onto the DVD; I hope that the Disney + version uses the corrected ending. (That's the main thing I miss from my old "Gargoyles" tapes.)

Alix writes...

Where did Demona get her Tiara from? Did someone give it to her or did she steal it?

Google Translator writes...

Dear Greg,

I don't know if this site covers my question, but I have no other way to maybe get in touch with you, so ...

I just read War of the Spark: Forsaken, I don't know what to say. Many aspects pleased me, others made me think "what ?!"

I think overall I can say I liked it. Well, my question is: will you write more books from Magic: The Gathering?

The ending of this last one was very open, there is still a lot to happen and I think you should bring this ending.

Besides, you have all my support to make Liliana and Jace happen.

Todd Jensen writes...

Rewatched my DVD of "Eye of the Beholder" today. I didn't find as much new to notice with this one, unfortunately, though I was delighted to note the moment where Xanatos placed his hand on Goliath's shoulder while pleading for his help at the castle - meaning that he had an opportunity (which he used, obviously) to plant that tracking device on him. I'm glad that the episode played fair with that.

Brooklyn's eyepatch as part of his pirate costume seems all the more appropriate after the ending of "Clan-Building".

Goliath echoes "Re-Awakening" when he speaks of Manhattan as "my castle, my city".

Adam Barnhardt writes...

Hey greg â€" Adam Barnhardt here. I’m a reporter with ComicBook.com and a massive fan of Gargoyles. I’ve been covering the show for the site and there’s certainly a platform for more content â€" especially if we talk about the #KeepBingingGargoyles movement.

Any chance you’d have a chance to speak with me on the phone or via e-mail in the coming days about all things Gargoyle? Would help provide some serious media coverage for the movement.

You can reach me at abarnhardt@comicbook.com â€" look forward to hearing from you.

Todd Jensen writes...

New observations from rewatching "The Silver Falcon" today.

One line of Broadway's dates the episode: he mentions that Lexington and Brooklyn "have dibs on the VCR". I wonder how many of us remember VCRS, and how many of us have forgotten them thanks to DVDs and Blu-Rays.

Elisa's line about Broadway "living out a movie fantasy" brought "Deadly Force" to my mind this time (of course, it helps that Dracon's back in this episode). Fortunately, Broadway's wish to do that has less disastrous results this time.

I also spotted, this time around, the parallels between Matt's entering the remains of the Silver Falcon night club and Broadway and Elisa's later arrival - and how both Broadway and Elisa say "I've had better nights".

And this episode continues "A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time" , showing us that Broadway's begun to learn how to read, and has progressed enough to be able to read Mace Malone's note (and correctly figure out its meaning). In "Lighthouse" he'd initially been drawn to reading because of its ability to take you to other places and times; now he finds that it can be used to convey useful information. (And the poor guy has the word "right" in that note, though he manages to figure it out. It got me wondering - and I'll have to look it up - how so many English words which rhyme with "ite" are written "-ight" - bright, fright, fight, flight, night, sight, knight, tight, etc.

Sebastian writes...

English is not my mother tongue, so I wanted to ask you 2 questions
1. in Earth 16 Superboy is the best friend of the third robin Tim Drake and Kid Flash / Bart Allen as is the case of the new Earth and Young Justice Rebirth?
2. the fourth season in which month of 2020 will it leave?

Todd Jensen writes...

Rewatched "The Mirror" today. A few new thoughts and observations.

I saw Demona's snarl at the "Dracula's daughter" in a new light this time. Dracula was a human before he became a vampire - and, naturally, Demona's going to regard any suggestion that she's related to a human - even a human who's become another "mythical creature of the night" - as the ultimate insult.

Not on the scale of Coldstone or the "Hunter's Moon" scheme, but Puck engages in a bit of "blending science with magic" when he uses the satellite dish and the television antenna atop the Twin Towers to help him turn all the humans in Manhattan into gargoyles and back again.

Bronx gets turned into an Irish wolfhound (or close to that kind of dog) - appropriate, in light of "The Hound of Ulster".

Todd Jensen writes...

Rewatched "A Lighthouse in the Sea of Time" - a few fresh thoughts.

I remember your mentioning that you'd intended to have Goliath list a few specific books about Merlin, with Mary Stewart's "The Crystal Cave" as one of them, but weren't able to clear the rights for that. It recently struck me as particularly unfortunate you couldn't mention "The Crystal Cave", since it was published in 1970 and "Lighthouse" first aired in 1995. Goliath could have given it a 25th anniversary tribute.

Continuing the "'beast and monster' terms used for gargoyles" thread that I've been paying particularly close attention to for "Gargoyles"' own silver anniversary viewing, I noted that Macbeth addressed Broadway as "beastie" (evocative of Robert Burns, though Broadway's definitely not "wee, sleekit, cow'rin', timorous" and there didn't seem to be any panic in his breastie) and Goliath as "monster".

I spotted a drawing of a Celtic cross at the top of one of Merlin's Scrolls, when it was unrolled and the writing was visible.

Todd Jensen writes...

I rewatched "Legion" today.

When Goliath and Lexington were reunited with Coldstone near the start, I suddenly found myself thinking of your mention of a (rejected) outline for a live-action adaptation of "Gargoyles" you'd written which had Goliath, Lex, and "Othello" as the gargoyles who'd be awakened in the modern world.

This time around, also, the Xanatos Program felt like a foreshadowing of "Future Tense".

I also wondered (just a wondering, not a question) whether the ivied balcony in Coldstone's memories (where he's standing while Iago's "pouring poison in his ear" about Desdemona and Goliath) was supposed to be an actual feature of Castle Wyvern before the massacre, or just a symbolic construct.

Todd Jensen writes...

I rewatched "Metamorphosis" today. A few things that struck me this time around.

When Derek and Elisa had their "Xanatos as the reincarnation of Snidely Whiplash" exchange, I thought "No, he's a lot more dangerous than that."

I noticed the pigeons clustered around Goliath just before he awakened; you'd think they'd be staying well away from the clock tower by now. (Though they do fly off in a hurry once the gargoyles wake up.)

I spotted a few animals in cages in Sevarius's lab that I don't think I'd noticed before, though I'm not certain what they were; they were too small to be jungle cats, and the wrong shape for bats.

Todd Jensen writes...

Rewatched "Leader of the Pack" on DVD today. Elements that particularly stood out to me this time:

We see all the gargoyles awakening from their stone sleep, one by one. An appropriate way, I thought, to re-introduce them in the first episode of the second season.

Hudson displays his tracking skills in examining the traces of the fight between the Pack and Lexington, Brooklyn and Bronx at Pack-Media Studios. In fact, I've noticed him using that skill a lot - all the way back to "Awakening Part One", where he notes that the Vikings' horses' prints are too light.

Anonymous writes...

In young justice timeline when Garfield logan and Queen Perdita were dating did they attend each others birthdays ?

FusionSamurai writes...

So, firstly. Thanks for responding to all our comments, it probably gets a little bit annoying sometimes, but its really cool that you interact with your fans, and I hope you keep doing it! ^_^

So for my questions-
1. You've said you dislike how time travel works in DC. It does seem really confusing. I've flipped through all mentions in previous comments and have come up with a question regarding Bart.

So, you've said "Earth-16 had a history that Impulse thwarted. You can view his original history as Earth-16a, I suppose. Or you could just mark it up as GONE."

So, if such is the case, would Impulse be at risk of fading away? Does only the future itself fade, and Bart avoids it by not being there? Time travel is really complicated to write, so I just wanted clarity on that.

2. The team started with the original 6, being Superboy, Ms.Martian, Kid Flash, Robin, Artemis, Aqualad. Now there are somewhere around 19 members that are on the team or are associated with the team. Do you ever feel like it is hard to balance so many characters?

3.Does giving an individual character like Bart or Cassie development get harder as more characters are added?

Thanks for your time/responses, it means a ton to me. \(^_^)/

Zachary Parrish writes...

Just learned about the proposed spin-offs after all these years, and I ask:

Dude?! Seriously, why was 2198 never picked up?

That spin-off would've been awesome. I'm truly upset Disney or any other company overlooked such an amazing idea.

Hafiz writes...

Does Dick Grayson work and if so what does he do for a living?

Todd Jensen writes...

New thoughts on "Re-Awakening", after my rewatch.

I don't know whether this was intentional or not, but when Goliath and Elisa were having their conversation about the shopkeeper and why he doesn't leave the neighborhood, I found myself thinking of "Othello"'s suggestion, in the flashback, of abandoning the castle and letting the Vikings have it, and Hudson's response. I don't know if you intended those moments to be thematically connected, but they did feel that way to me this time.

It still strikes me that the fact that the gargoyles' resolution to protect the city and its inhabitants comes at the end of the first season says a lot about how different "Gargoyles" was from most super-hero series; the gargoyles are able to have plenty of adventures and experiences - thirteen episodes' worth of them - before making that vow. The series was rooted in their being gargoyles - ancient "mythical" beings with their own culture and world-view - re-awakened in the modern world, trying to make sense of it - and often making mistakes in the course of their attempts - rather than just crime-fighters.

Todd Jensen writes...

Rewatched both "Her Brother's Keeper" and "Re-Awakening" today, as part of my "Gargoyles" 25th anniversary review. New thoughts on "Her Brother's Keeper" (ones that came to mind when I rewatched it).

Broadway's concerned remarks about Elisa near the beginning (including "If cops were meant to fly, they'd have wings") indicates that Elisa had shared with them how she was following Xanatos by helicopter before embarking on it.

Derek's remark to Diane that working for Xanatos "could be the start of a whole new career for me" feels all the truer in hindsight - though he obviously wasn't thinking in terms of running an underground sanctuary for Mutates and homeless people when he said it.

I spotted the clock's hands moving at one point in the episode; apparently Lexington had indeed gotten it working again.

Akeem M. writes...

Hi Greg,

I know you are not the biggest fan of hypothetical questions, but I have a question regarding Spectacular Spider-Man that can be considered one. We all know about the untimely demise of the show, and the fact that you and the team had an outline of where you wanted the series to go. If Sony were to do animated movies in Spectacular's universe (as that seems to be the only feasible outcome at this time), would you continue with your plans as they were back when the show was running? Or do you feel that you would include some ideas from comics in the past decade while the show was off the air?

Exel writes...

hello i couldnt find this question and im not sure if you even log onto this site anymore but oh well

when making Gargoyles I've heard you had some regrets with broadways relationship with angela is that true?

Jake N writes...

In the episode "The Cage" it's implied that the final scene where Sevarius is confronted by Talon and the Mutates to force a cure out of him, takes place at a Cyberbiotics lab. However, as the scene unfolds and different camera angles are shown, the electric eel tank with broken glass is shown, as well as the ceiling that the Gargoyles broke and escaped through with Maggie in "Metamorphosis". This leads me to believe that this final scene was a return to the original scene of the crime in the Gen-U-Tech building. Growing up watching this episode, I always thought of this scene taking place in the original Gen-U-Tech lab from "Metamorphosis." Are the holes in the ceiling and the eel tank just coinicidences, or was this final scene of "The Cage" intended to be at Gen-U-Tech rather than Cyberbiotics?

Todd Jensen writes...

I rewatched "Lnng Way Till Morning" today.

I'm not sure if I noticed it (or commented on it) before, but I spotted two parallel elements in the flashbacks (beside the obvious "Goliath and Hudson pitted against someone who made a poison dart attack upon a human friend"). The scene where Demona wounds Goliath parallels the Archmage's attack on Prince Malcolm; on both occasions, Hudson tries to block the attack, but to no avail. And in both the past and present parts of the story, Demona comments on the gargoyles going underground where their wings will be no use (though in different moods).

Continuing the study of how often "beast" imagery gets applied to the gargoyles: the Archmage calls Goliath a "beast".