Christine The Machine writes...

Ok, I'll give this a try:

Gargoyles 2198 contest

517- confused

and as a first time poster here, I have to say thanks for answering everyone's questions and working so hard to make an awesome show!

Jason Barnett writes...

Is there any TV show or book that you would like to be able to crossover with Gargoyles?

Spore-chan writes...

Well, you said in SoCal we have 5 subtle seasons. Gee, and here I always thought we had 2: summer, and not summer. Of course, these don't actually correspond in any way to the time of year. (It was summer on Christmas, 80 degrees!) Ok, so what 5 seasons are you talking about?

Eliza Pettit writes...

Dear Greg, I was looking at Todd Jensen's questions on Roswell Conspiracies and since I am a fan Roswell Conspiracies... Please answer these questions:

1. I was wondering where you got the Vampire anatomy/body-structure from. Were you thinking of the Lamia, when you designed the Vamps, or was there another source of inspiration?

2. This is a strange question, but who are the male counterparts of the Banshee. Are they parthogenic, or do they actually have consorts which wasn't shown in the series? And how old is Queen Mab supposed to be?

3. What was the basic premise in the episode "Father of Terror". Who is Sethaka, and I was wondering how a thousand year-old Vampire could be resurrected? [Because I missed it, and it hasn't been showing repeats in the U.K.]

I'd be extremely grateful if you could take some time to answer these, since you are the main founder of both Gargoyles and Roswell Conspiracies.

Jim R. writes...

matt told me that the garg off to the right on the latest responses page (holding the surfboard) is of Brooklyn, which I sort of can make out better now (considering that I first thought that it was your drawing of your garg-self when I first found this site). Anyways, what is the deal with the thing on his shirt?

(Stupid question, I'm expecting a smart-ass response to this)

Blaise writes...

CITY OF STONE PART FOUR
Finally! I've been trying to respond to this for weeks! But due to a hectic schedule (and a testy computer) I've been hampered in my efforts.

Anyway, Bronx saves Elisa--as we all knew he would--and Demona still manages to work around him. I always did find this scene interesting for the same reasons you mentioned. Bronx won't attack Demona if she does not SEEM dangerous. It's a fun scene to watch (especially when Demona still loses her cool when referring to Elisa).

Yeah, I also like the choral music in the flashback battle sequence. Actually, I have an affinity for any music with choral parts ("O Fortuna" or "Ode de Joy" for example).
One of my favorite scenes in the battle--Demona is fighting a human. He's on the ground in front of her, screaming. She brings down her mace hard. The camera quickly closes in on her face, putting the guy and mace action off-screen. We hear the sound of impact and the scream abruptly cut-off. Maybe I'm sick, but it just pleases me that people actually are dying in this battle. More real.

Seeing Demona happy (truly smiling and laughing) in her interaction with Macbeth is another one of those "heartbreaking moments" for me, because I know it won't last. It always gets me how quickly Demona's smile turns to a frown after Macbeth leaves.

While I never believed Macbeth would betray Demona, it is nice to have confirmation of that.
Demona on the other hand, I can't help but feel a bit frustrated with. That she suspects Mac will betray her I can understand, but why not go with Luach, the one who openly and VEHEMENTLY supported her and her clan? Why go over to the guy who wears a mask with a legacy of GARGOYLE KILLING? Just goes to show that Demona believes in hurting her enemies more than the salvation of her kind--at least that's what it shows to me.

You mentioned in PART TWO how Emma Samms' voicework as Gruoch improved noticably over the four eps. You're so right, she's absolutely smoking in this episode, especially when she chews out Demona. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The ineffectiveness of the boulders dropped from above is something that always sets my brother off. The first time he saw that scene, he couldn't even complete a whole sentence. :D

The confrontation with Canmore (whose wardrobe I really love, BTW). Macbeth still tries to reason with him, something I admire. Canmore on the other hand, stabs Mac in the back. Like Todd, I find this rather despicable and cowardly. I like Canmore even less when he gives his little anti-gargoyle statement. Gruoch has a similar line, but I can't help feeling a bit more sympathetic towards her.
It's another one of those, "I always found it interesting" bits when Demona doesn't kill Gruoch. Very nice character work.
Backtracking a bit, it is good to know that Bodhe may have finally learned that sometimes you must stand and fight.
The Sisters come in and do their thing. While I already figured the spell out, I did like the way it was phrased. Good dialogue.
And Macbeth and Gruoch part. I still find it one of the most touching moments of the series.

Back in the present:
I didn't find the scene between Goliath and Xanatos too feeble. Granted the tapestry bit comes from out of nowhere somewhat, but the mouth of the armor moving is no big problem. I say that because in later airings (like the one I taped) the animation was fixed and the mouth doesn't move anymore.
I love Macbeth's interaction with Demona here. Yes, she's more rational than usual, but I love the look on her face when she realizes that Macbeth WANTS to die. Didn't see that one coming, did she?

You are right that the DUCKTALES pilot had better "fall-away floor" animation, but this one served it's purpose well enough.
Two of my favorite moments occur after falling out of the castle but before falling into the atrium. Goliath tries to stop D and M--they BOTH punch him. Xanatos tries to use his laser, Macbeth just says, "You're not the only one with weapons, laddie" and throws down a small grenade.

The final confrontation with the Sisters. Their revelations to Mac didn't much surprise me, until they mentioned Luach's death. That got me.
After the Sisters put Mac to sleep, I found myself thinking, "This would be the sort of thing Xanatos might like seeing." Immediately after, Xanatos pops up with "Normally, I'd find this all very fascinating, but right now I need that code to save my city." Wonderful touch of character. Two touches counting Xanatos' reference to Manhatten as his city.

And now, the sequence that pretty much left me breathless. The Sisters show Demona how she had been responsible for the Massacre, the Hunter, and Canmore's victory. I had never thought on that until now. And then, "The access code is...'alone'." When she said that, with tears in her eyes...I cannot adequately describe what I felt.

Xanatos jets up and saves the day. And is painfully aware that he has been seen doing that, even if it is the "dog." "What are you looking at?" Such a funny line.
It's also funny to see Demona, now her ol', vindictive self trying to break the grip of the Sisters-as-children and failing. The Sisters' exit left me eagerly anticipating their next appearance.

Then the sky burns. Whatever you guys did, kudos. Xanatos said it best, "Magnificent."

While it might have been nice for the gargoyles to lift Elisa up into the air, the scene still played well, and Xanatos' "You'll forgive me if I just shake your hand" remains humorous.

While I knew that Xanatos wasn't the type of villain to try to "kill the good guys at all costs," it is a nice final interaction he and Goliath have, explaining this.

Let's hope this posts now. With luck, I'll catch up with the next two rambles over the next couple of days.

matt writes...

ramble on "Revelations"-

first of all, the name is perfect for this episode, perfect!

ok, i agree, Tom Wilson is excellant in this episode, you can hear what he's thinking with his tone throughout the episode, both while narrating and not. its Tom's performance here that makes Matt one of my favirote characters.

until your ramble i had no idea that a different person was voicing Chavez, which is wierd cuz i usually notice things like that. oh, well, she did a great job!

when Matt first discovers the stuff in the clocktower i was horrified, "Oh no! He's going to discover the gargs and hate them!!" then i realized i've been wanting for Matt to discover the gargs since "The Edge"

until your recent posts i didn't realize that Mace ended up dying at Hotel Cabal, i figured that eventually the Illuminati came in and saved him. Hacker seemed too casual talking about Mace for me to think he died. actually for the rest of the series i was waiting for Mace to get his revenge on Matt and Goliath... guess not, huh?

this episode definetly had the best turn-to-stone scene in the series, its like Matt said, "Wow..." sometimes i'll watch just this part of the episode, its amazing, especially Bronx, i love his stance, beautiful.

Chavez's line to Elisa and Matt about finding each other is one of my favirotes. they were finally acting like real partners by "The Silver Falcon", now they are friends too. Chavez looks especially pleased with herself at this too, probably remebering Elisa's objections to a partner in "The Edge".

i'm happy Matt got his own episode, not just tagging along with Elisa and dissapearing at the right times, what a good episode too...

Maxy Steel writes...

I just keep rollin' them out, don't I?

1. From the episode "Scions," who played the voices of Jim and Molly McGrath, and Marco Nathanson?

Thanks for putting up with me, and catch ya later! Luv ya all!
-Maxy Steel

Bruno writes...

Hi, Greg,

I was thinking: Im Max Steel and Starship Troopers, you worked with old garg fellows: Michael Reaves, Lygia Marano, Cary Bates... You invited them or was it a case of great professionals hired to work togheter?

matt writes...

along the same lines as Todd's last question, who is Dane?

matt writes...

in "Turf" Mace Malone's bitter stepson (sorry, can't recall his name) has joined Thomas Brode's gang. in one scene Brode, some thug, Elisa in disguise, and the stepson are being questioned by Matt in a restaurant. didn't Matt recognize Malone's stepson from "Revelations"? or vice versa? afterall, Matt did track this guy down, and his discovery changed Matt's life in many ways after it. what were their reactions to each other, if they even saw each other, which they must've.

Jason Barnett writes...

I know you've repeatedly stated that Peter Maza's connection to Coyote doesn't make his kids Fey but does it affect them at all? Perhaps shifting luck to their favor. Being turned into a bat-winged panther might seem unlucky but Derek wouldn't have met Maggie. Elisa lost an incredible amount of blood but still managed to survive being shot.

LSZ writes...

Why was Azrael of the Avalon clan named Azrael by the Magus et all? It seems to be a Muslim(and possibly Jewish, unsure) Angel name, not even a vaguely Christian one..why did they choose it?

Anonymous writes...

How do Nokkar's people reproduce?

Anonymous writes...

Who is Fiona?

Todd Jensen writes...

In the list of characters' ages that you printed just now to Mel Celestial (from King Arthur all the way down to Thailog), you included a certain "Fiona". Who is she? I don't recall anyone by that name in the series.

matt writes...

i just watched "City of Stone Pt. 1" and i thought of something strange. Demona's spell steals one minute of life from all that see and hear it, right? i just can't imagine that Xanatos or Owen would believe this! i did the calculations and found that Demona would have to cast the spell on 525 million people to live a thousand years!!! 525,000,000!!!!! thats a TON of people. i know a thousand years is a long time to cast spells, but lets say that she casts this spell on a crowd of an average of 50 people, if the spell takes 30 seconds to cast she spent about 10 years of her life casting this spell!!! 10 YEARS constantly repeating this incantation!! yes, i know she didn't do all these spells in a row, i'm just putting it into perspective... another 500 years she was sleeping in stone, she certaintly wouldn't have alot of free time. she would've had to cast this spell on about 30 people a day, for a thousand years!! i understand that since Demona was lying none of this really matters, but what bugs me is that Xanatos and Owen so easily believed her. maybe Xanatos isn't as smart as we think, eh?

Revel writes...

"Your Revelations ramble"

This is probably more a compliment than anything else. Revelations was actually the first episode of the show I ever saw. I happend to flip through as the opening theme was playing and i stopped and started to watch. As you can guess I was in front of the television again the following Friday. (man that was a while ago)
What I did want to ask was did Mace get his tattoo by choice or was it sort of like branding by the society? (ouch)
Thanks

Todd Jensen writes...

A ramble-review on "Revelations".

I quite liked this episode. I'd been curious for some time about Matt's interest in the Illuminati (as I mentioned before, when I first saw Xanatos donning an Illuminati badge in "Vows", my immediate thought was "What would Matt say if he knew about this?") and in the gargoyles. So now we got an episode in which these two pursuits of his intersected.

And I did initially believe that Matt had sold Goliath out to the Illuminati, which shocked me, since I hadn't thought that he'd actually do something like that. I was glad when the truth came out at the end. I very much liked Matt's narration, as well.

(One thing that did occur to me about Elisa's "uniqueness" in being the only human whom the gargoyles considered a friend; actually, she had lost her "unique" status by this point, in light of the gargoyles also making friends with Jeffrey Robbins and Halcyon Renard - but Elisa wasn't there at either of those meetings, so I don't feel bothered by that inconsistency. And I could understand her reluctance in introducing Matt to the gargs for that reason).

Mace Malone and the Hotel Cabal worked for me (I hadn't even known about the Tower of Terror part before now, or suspected it, for that matter). So did the surprise revelation at the end of the episode that Hacker had been "one of them" all along. I was very curious about what would happen now that Matt knew that his former FBI partner was really an Illuminatus who had been hindering his search.

Actually, that brings me to one of the very few regrets that I have about the series as a whole: the fact that we didn't see anything further with the Illuminati for the rest of the season, and the only element involving it for the remainder of your run on "Gargoyles" was Owen's mention of Duval in "The Journey". (The Goliath Chronicles did do an Illuminati episode after you left, but I definitely didn't like the way that they handled the Illuminati there - they reduced them too much to the level of cliched villains as "evil munitions manufacturers who start up wars just to make a profit" - the Illuminati of your run felt much more "greyish" to me, rather than out-and-out villains like, say, the Archmage or Thailog). I hope that if you get to do the series again, we'll get to see the Illuminati thread (and particularly the Matt-and-the-Illuminati thread) developed some more.

Jason Barnett writes...

Did Elisa ever have to deal with a case involving Tony Dracon before Deadly Force? He seemed very familiar with her.

Jim R. writes...

Greg, in a reply to matt's question you said Boudicca is older than Bronx. But how could that be since Bronx was with the rest of the clan in 994 A.D. and I'm guessing Boudicca is a beast which hatched with the rest of the garg eggs that were taken to Avalon? How could Boudicca be older than Bronx if this is true? I would not think that is should have to do with anything about how time passes more slowly on Avalon either, because logically Bronx would still be older or about the same age even though he was stone for a 1000 years.

Blah writes...

Okay... I know that you mostly thought up Gargoyles, but it is essentially owned by Disney right?

You've said that you had this grand plan to continue Gargoyles and have a bunch of nifty spin offs and such, and that you still hope for this to happen one day. What my real question is, if Gargoyles does eventually get the chance to be continued, would the company producing it *have* to be Disney, or could another company not associated with Disney take over?

Seeker of Knowledge writes...

Why didn't Renard and Vogal fall asleep when Oberon cast his sleep spell?

Jacob writes...

What happens to a gargoyle if he is at the north pole during the long night in the winter? does he sleep like humans?
Give a smart-ass answer if you want to, but I woud be pleased if you don't.

Angie I. writes...

Howdy, Greg! I'm not a regular visitor to this area, so I apolgize in advance if you've already been asked about this. I looked through the archived responses, but I might have missed something.

In the episode "Grief," Goliath mentioned that gargoyles age at half the speed of humans. Does that mean that a young gargoyle that has been alive for 20 years would only appear to be a 10 year old equivelant to a human child? Because if Jackel aged the Gargoyles for the same amount of years as he did Elisa, wouldn't they really have become half of what Jackel had intended? Aging 40 years ahead instead of 80? If it's true that they age at exactly half the rate of humans, I'm sure Angela would look worn and maybe a grey hair or two, but I doubt that she would look as near death as she did. Please clear this up for me. What is the exact rate that Gargoyles age when compared to humans?

Thank you. :)