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GARGOYLES 2198: THE CONTEST

GARGOYLES 2198
(Fill-in-the-Blank Contest / 9-26-00)

Written by

Greg Weisman

Well, here it is. This contest took me almost as long to put together as it did to develop the show it's based upon. Below is a good-sized document on GARGOYLES 2198 with tons and tons of info about the proposed spin-off series, its characters, settings and situations. The only problem is that there are five hundred and twenty-five blanks making it slightly difficult to read. Actually, those aren't quite blanks. They're place-holders. Numbers. Each number has a corresponding clue which I'll post right after I've posted this. Those clues should help you RE-place those holders.

As requested, there are two prizes to be handed out. One is for the person who contributes the most answers overall. The other is for the first person to TOTALLY COMPLETE the puzzle.

At this early stage, I think it's pretty useless for people to reprint the entire essay attempting to fill in ALL the blanks at one fell swoop. So early entries should read like this:

212: Mayberry
303: Andy
444: Opie
521: Fife

Notice, there's no need to guess all of them every time. (And please don't.) Just guess the ones you think you know or we'll be here forever. Capitalization does NOT count. But spelling does. [I do reserve the right to admit later that I made a mistake here and there. I don't think I have, but it's been quite an undertaking, so who knows…]

Let's say in the above answer that "Mayberry", "Opie" and "Fife" were right, but Andy wasn't. The person who posted it would get three points. UNLESS, someone's already posted the correct answer to, say, 444. In which case, this poster only gets points for Mayberry and Fife. Clear? Obviously, it's important that you use a consistent screen name to post your answers in order to get credit for all your points. Anonymous postings will be deleted by Todd in advance. (Waves at Todd.)

I know the contest looks imposing, but in many ways, I think this is easier than the Clan Contest. There are a lot more clues and you all have a lot more information. Once we've filled in a bunch of the blanks (say 500 out of the 525) then we can start seeing completed answers being posted with the blanks filled in.

I encourage teamwork. And everyone remember that this is just a game. Just a diversion. Just some fun. Don't take it too seriously. As usual, the prizes (again, one for points and one for the completed answer) will be of no real value. Hopefully, they'll be interesting though.

I'm hoping we'll have finished this by next June's Los Angeles Gathering. Go to it…

One thousand years ago…
Superstition and the sword ruled.
It was a time of darkness.
It was a world of fear.
It was the age... of gargoyles!
Stone by day, warriors by night,
We were betrayed by the humans we had sworn to protect,
Frozen in stone by a magic spell for a thousand years.
Finally... the spell was broken, and we lived again!

But our 1 was 2 from 3...
For the last 4 5 6 we have faced the 7,
Navigating an 8 9 with the 10 11.
But now the 12 13 itself is 14 15!
16 is 17!
And 18 may be 19 20 21 for 22…

We are 23 of the 24!
We are 25 of 26 27!
The 28 is 29.

And 30… are 31!

In 1996, humanity and the world at large discovered there were gargoyles living among them. Fortunately for the human race, Gargoyles are by nature a protective species. Unfortunately for the gargoyle race, humanity is by nature an intolerant species. Humans did not welcome having to share their world with other 32 33. Many were quick to 34 the gargoyles as 35, 36, 37 or worse. Gargoyles were 38 basic "39" 40. They were 41 against. 42 upon. 43. 44. And sometimes 45.

Despite this, GOLIATH, the leader of the gargoyles, maintained hope that one day humans and gargoyles would live in peace. Eventually, that day came. The "46 47 48 49" was adopted by the 50 51. Gargoyles were 52 full "53 54". Though Gargoyle 55 were 56 across the globe, they were collectively granted 57 58 as an 59 60. 61 Gargoyles became a crime.

True acceptance, however, is not so easily legislated. At best, Gargoyles were still barely tolerated by their human neighbors. Real peace would have to wait.

But the gargoyles would take what they could get. The 62, once on the 63 of 64, began to make a 65. Clans that were 66 helped to 67 those that were not. By 68, 69 70 comprised the 71 72. Each was strong in 73 and 74. Now it was time to 75 again. As a potent act of 76, every clan brought its 77 78 to 79 80 81, off the 82 83 of 84. The 85 would 86 together to demonstrate gargoyle 87. Some of the 88 would eventually return to the other 89 Clans. But many would stay to form the basis of a 90 clan. A 91 clan.

Someone should have told the gargoyles that 92 is NOT a lucky 93.

94, 95. 96 97 98. From around the globe, human Heads of State and all 99 Gargoyle 100 101 have come to this small 102 for the 103. They wait within the 104 of the 105 dormant 106 to witness the new 107 of gargoyles 108 out of their 109. Meanwhile, 110, a young gargoyle 111 is stuck on 112 113 114 at the base of the mountain. Out of nowhere, an immense 115 materializes above the 116. It emits a blinding beam of light that stabs down into the 117. 118 races up the slope, but it's too late. The 119 is empty. No 120. No gargoyles. No humans. No World Leaders!

Simultaneously, another giant 121 hovers over 122. Another beam stabs downward. And 123 124 125 126 -- the 127 system for nearly everything on the planet -- vanishes.

It all happens so fast, there's no time to react. 128 is paralyzed and 129 when the 130 131-132 133. In less than twenty-four hours, the planet is 134, absorbed into the 135-136 137. There is very little loss of life. Very little damage done. Unless 138 matters to you.

It matters to 139, the new 140 of the 141. One by one, he gathers his team…

142 - 143 of the 144 Clan hatched in 145. Though his 146 is different, it's obvious to anyone who'd care to look that he is descended from 147. Still no one knows how many 148 generations 149 from 150 he is. He might be the biological 151 of either 152 or 153, 154 and 155 first two biological 156, or he might be the biological 157 of 158, their third born. Frankly, it doesn't really matter. There were many 159 in that 160. All raised collectively by the 161 Clan.

By 162, 163 is 164 years old, but only 165 biologically. He has been trained as a Gargoyle Warrior both in 166 and in 167. He demonstrated enough promise to have recently been named 168-169-170 of the 171 Clan. Now, a reluctant 172 must become 173 not just of his clan, but of the entire 174.

175 - 176 of the 177 Clan is a 178-179. Mostly Gargoyle… but 180 181 as well. Her 182 include her namesake, the 183 that 184 185 186 by combining the 187 of 188 189 with that of 190. Being 191 part of both 192 has left 193 feeling like she's not truly a part of either. Upon learning of her "194", humans seem to react with fear and even disgust. And 195 has never been confident that the 196 she was raised with don't feel the same way. All this has made her tough on the outside, but desperately insecure on the inside. Nevertheless, she's a fierce young 197 198 (the same age as 199), and 200 makes her his 201 in the 202.

203 - 204 of the 205 Clan hails from the 206 207 of 208. He's a descendent of 209 and the 210 from "The 211". He has 212 wings, 213 features and skin the color of 214. From the 215 down, he looks like a 216 217. He's 218 contemporary and close friend. 219, 220 and 221 all trained together as Gargoyle Warriors, studying 222 in 223; they have a Three Musketeers kind of rapport. 224 isn't quite the fighter that the other two are, but he has other strengths. He's more 225, more intellectual, more book-smart. He has also been entrusted with his clan's 226 and sacred 227 228; this magical 229 230 prevents him from turning to 231 during the 232.

233 - 234 year old 235 236 237 is a scion of both the 238 and 239 families (which technically makes him a distant relative of 240). 241 was 242 among gargoyles and has taken the family tradition to heart. He too has traveled to 243 to join the ORDER OF THE 244. He has trained as a Gargoyle Warrior, embracing the Gargoyle 245 of 246 & 247. He's as much a 248 as a guy can be and not have 249. He's eager, perhaps a little too eager, for a chance to prove that he can hold his own with any other gargoyle. Only he's 250 a gargoyle. He's one hundred percent 251, with a 252 253 unique strengths and weaknesses.

254 - 255 (the original model for the mysterious 256 statues of 257 258) landed on 259 260 ago to stand 261 and protect our 262 from the 263-264. But by the time the 265-266 actually arrived, their 267 so far surpassed his, he was completely caught off guard. Now, there's nothing he can do but join 268 269 cell and try to pitch in. 270 is deeply shamed by his failure to protect his adoptive 271. He would gladly sacrifice his life to redeem himself.

272 273 - 274 275 was Chief of 276 of the 277 278. An indispensable aide to 279 General 280 281 282 IV. In fact 283 has been an indispensable aide to the 284 family since before 285 was born. But now the 286 General is gone. Taken by the 287-288 and put in stasis with the rest of the world's leaders. The new acting 289 has surrendered the 290 to the enemy. He has no use for 291 292 293 and intensity. And 294 has no use for a man who won't fight. So 295 has left public service to rejoin the private sector. Secretly, he has placed all the resources of the 296-297 298 at 299 disposal. Of course, we all know that 300 is really the 301. But since he already failed to 302 his charge, and certainly has no opportunity to 303 him anything at the moment, he's stuck as 304, stone 305 and all.

306 - 307 (a 308 of the 309-310 311) stands for 312-313-314, a line of 315 personal assistants that were all but ubiquitous in 316. Almost everyone who was anyone had one of the cute little, 317-foot tall, 318-shaped chrome 319. Each 320 was directly connected via satellite to the 321 322 in 323, giving each one the ability to instantaneously summon any or all of mankind's collective knowledge. But when the 324-325 attacked, one of their first acts was to steal the 326 327. Now each 328 is on its own. Each one still has a powerful 329 brain with crude 330 intelligence and long-term adaptive 331. But now, knowledge is finite, and experience is becoming the best teacher. Actually, two of these 332, 333-334 and 335-336 will play a role in our series. When we open, these 337 will be all but indistinguishable from each other. 338, merely. But as the series progresses, each will slowly develop its own 339.

340 - For over a 341 years, 342 has plotted against 343, blaming them for 344 against the gargoyle 345. Now that a greater threat, the 346-347, has reared it's many ugly heads, 348 has reluctantly joined 349 350 cell. But no one, including 351 herself, is fully confident that she'll continue to 352 on the 353 of the 354. This may be her last chance at 355... or her final opportunity to 356 the human 357. Still, 358 felt it necessary to actively 359 her. It's hard to pass up the help of a warrior who's survived a 360 worth of battles, a 361 who knows how to combine ancient 362 with modern 363. And then there's that bit about her turning into a 364 during the 365. The only question is how she will use her talents. 366 367, she's siding with the 368. But can that last?

369 - 370 is a young gargoyle warrior from our 371 372 day. In our second episode, he'll 373 374 to 375. The 376 is as new and strange to him as it is to our audience, and often 377 will be the point of view character to introduce us all to this 378 379 380. 381 does hope to 382 to his 383 384 someday, and so makes a special effort not to 385 too much about his own "386". But he has no intention of abandoning 387 or 388 in their time of need. Someday, however, he may have to make a choice.

389-390 - 391-392 is a 393 394 395 by the 396 Clan in 397, who arrives in 398 with 399. 400-401 is fiercely 402 (especially to 403). The ultimate 404.

[NOTE: Eventually, the large cast will be split in half. 405 will take 406, 407, 408 and 409-410 into 411 to hit the 412-413 where they live. 414, 415, 416, 417-418, 419 and 420-421 will remain on 422, thwarting the 423 at every turn and engaging in many non-424-425 stories.]

Anyway, those are our 426. (Other characters will be added over time.) Here's who they're up against…

THE 427-428 - Our main 429. This 430 race was literally "431 in 432", born amidst the 433 of an 434 435. For thousands of years, they have expanded their 436 in all directions, and 437 has been able to stand in their way. Their 438 is far 439 to anything we had on 440. They possess 441-than-442 443 travel, 444 devices, powerful force 445 and 446 447. They also have 448 capable of 449 the entire 450 in a matter of minutes. This creates a dilemma for 451 452. If 453 becomes more trouble than it's worth, the 454 will simply evacuate the 455 and 456 it.

THE 457 - Decades ago, the 458 organization fell out of favor. They were no longer "politically correct". But the events of March 21st, 459 changed all that. Because most of the 460 leaders were abducted while attending the 461 462, many 463 became convinced -- at least in part due to 464 465 -- that the 466 had conspired and 467 with the 468. Now the 469 are making a comeback. They don't much care for the 470-471, but their 472 of choice is still the Gargoyles.

THE 473 - Of course, the Gargoyles are not 474. But THE 475 476 is. The 477 is an 478 479 organization made up of almost all the true movers and 480 on 481 482. Many of the 483 leaders abducted by the 484-485 were 486 members of the 487 -- proof that the 488 definitely did NOT have advanced warning of the 489. But once the 490 was complete, the 491 wasted no time capitalizing on it. They negotiated a secret treaty with the 492, promising to infiltrate, sabotage and expose any sign of 493. In exchange, the 494-495 promised to release those world 496 that the 497 was prepared to vouch for. This 498 agreement was the beginning of a profitable arrangement for all concerned -- and the onset of a major headache for the 499.

500-X - 501-X is a super-502 503 with a highly evolved and Machiavellian 504 505. He has multiple 506 and 507 operatives, and any number of 508 509 that can accommodate his 510. Once upon a time, 511-512 had designs on taking 513 the 514. But that was before the 515-516 showed up and 517 his 518 519. Now anything less than total control of the entire 520 would strike him as under-achieving.

And that's the series in a 521.

522 523. The 524 is 525!


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WELCOME TO 2198...

As many of you know, one of the proposed Gargoyles spin-offs developed at Disney in 1996 (by myself and Gary Sperling) was set in the year 2158. The original title of the series was "GARGOYLES: FUTURE TENSE". But later, working here at Ask Greg, I came to two conclusions. (1) That it was too confusing having a spin-off series and an episode of the original series with the same title. (2) "Future Tense" wasn't that great a title for a spin-off series. So the series was renamed GARGOYLES 2158, which frankly sounded cooler and more immediate.

A couple months ago, however, I took a close look at the development for that series. And lots of stuff started bugging me. Some of it was literally MATH related. I had clearly made some mistakes in calculating WHEN certain things would happen. But creatively, I decided I wanted to make some changes as well. So I started from scratch. Everything was up for grabs. And I rebuilt the show.

The result is "GARGOYLES 2198". The immediate benefit is that I think this is an even better title. Being closer to the end of a century mark seems slightly more dramatic to me (an incidental benefit, since that wasn't why I did it). But beyond that, I think the idea is now much stronger, more cohesive and powerful.

But you won't have to take my word on that. You can read all about it...

Assuming you like contests, that is. Instead of just telling you guys everything, I've turned it all into our latest contest here at ASK GREG.

And I WON'T BE ANSWERING ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT 2198 until the contest is OVER!!

Enjoy...


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Farewell to 2158...

Say good-bye, finally, to GARGOYLES 2158.

The proposed GARGOYLES spin-off series originally known as "GARGOYLES: FUTURE TENSE" and later retitled "GARGOYELES 2158" has been redeveloped.

For more information, check out the "GARGOYLES 2198" ASK GREG archive.


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More on villains...

The same day as our last memo, Fred re-submitted the villain guidelines (his interpretations of stuff I told him) along with some notes on proto-Xanatos and proto-Magus/Arch-Mage.

RECEIVED BY
JAN 09 1992
GREG WEISMAN'S OFFICE

THE GARGOYLE -- WEISMAN GUIDELINES FOR VILLAINS
(Schaefer 1-9-92)

DISTRIBUTION: Cranston, Fair, Felix, Guler, Kline, Krisel, Ryan, Stones, Weisman

THE CRAZIES

-- Batman-esque villains. E.g. The Joker; Two Face (half of face scarred by acid; duality); Scarecrow (plays on people's fears, scares them to death). Avoid silly villains (e.g. the Penguin, the Riddler, Cat Man, Mr. Freeze).

-- The villains' craziness should be life-threatening. Attempted murder represents the majority of their crimes.

THE BIG GUYS

-- Considering what they'll be up against (The Gargoyle), physically they should be BIG, perhaps MUSCULAR, villains. Some may be hired by Xavier.

-- Fantasy-based. ogres, Trolls, etc.

-- Horror-based. A Mummy, A Werewolf, etc.

-- Empower the villains; make them formidable!

[Of course, there will be overlapping between the above two categories.]

AND THEN THERE'S XAVIER...

Very big, very rich, and very powerful. On a good day, he's vain, ruthless, lecherous, wicked, deceitful, unscrupulous, and vile. His corrupt hand is involved in a slew of nefarious endeavors. A self-taught Machiavellian; a manipulator, by nature.

He's a big, muscular man. His three-piece suit can scarcely contain his conspicuous bulk, much less maintain the air of civility desired by most businessman. But Xavier disdains most businessmen; they're weak, spineless cogs. Worker ants. Cowards. Powerless.

Powerlessness. Xavier abhors this more than anything in the world. It's his one big fear and the root cause of most of his frustrations.

A FINAL VILLAIN CATEGORY ... THE ANCIENT WIZARD

This is the Brit who created The Gargoyle 1000 years ago. Now he's back and he's mad as hell, but he doesn't know who to take it out on. The princess who turned the Gargoyle against him is long since dead. Of course, there's the Gargoyle. Well, what should the Ancient Wizard do? What's his big plan? Does he have a talisman that can place the Gargoyle (and the little gargoyles) under his power? How does it work? And how much power does it exert over them? Maybe Xavier discovers the Wizard's existence and views him as a threat. After all, the Wizard has powers that Xavier can never have and they both want the same thing -- The Gargoyle.


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Finally...

The queue is again empty.

But this time, I don't think Todd has fallen behind. I think finally, after, what, three years, I have caught up. Completely, totally, caught up.

I know it won't last. Won't even last a day, probably. But let me revel in the moment.

I'm caught up. I'm caught up. YES!


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Villain-work...

After Fred Schaefer's attempt at Villains like Mortify, I must have sat him down to give him some pointers on more dramatic villains for our new dramatic series. He wrote up the following:

THE GARGOYLE -- WEISMAN GUIDELINES FOR VILLAINS (1-9-92)

DISTRIBUTION: Cranston, Fair, Felix, Guler, Kline, Ryan, Stones

-- Batman-esque villains. E.g. The Joker; Two Face (half of face scarred by acid; duality); Scarecrow (plays on people's fears, scares them to death). Avoid silly villains (e.g. the Penguin, the Riddler, Cat Man, Mr. Freeze).

-- The villains' craziness should be life-threatening. Attempted murder represents the majority of their crimes.

-- Considering what they'll be up against (The Gargoyle), physically they should be BIG, perhaps MUSCULAR, villains. Some may be hired by Xavier.

-- Fantasy-based. Ogres, Trolls, etc.
-- Horror-based. A Mummy, A Werewolf, etc.
-- Empower the villains; make them formidable!
(Compiled by Schaefer 1-9-92)


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And now "THE GARGOYLE:

Now that we had left the comedy development behind, it was timE to start working on a pitch to sell our new dramatic development. I wrote what follows, breaking it down so that our artists could figure out what pictures they might need to draw.

NOTE: The show was (briefly) retitled "THE GARGOYLE". And the Gargoyle (proto-Goliath) was a magical creation who lived in despair through the thousand years. Some of which background was later better incorporated into Demona's story.

THE GARGOYLE
(Weisman / 1-7-92)

DISTRIBUTION: Cranston, Fair, Felix, Guler, Kline, Krisel, Ryan, Schaefer, Stones

PITCH BREAKDOWN
(First Pass)

1. Title Card

2. Typical stone gargoyles. (Perhaps stone versions of our mini characters.)

3. Pull back, we see them on the ramparts of a castle under seige by the evil army of the WIZARD. Stalemate.

4. Evil Wizard creates our GARGOYLE king.

5. GARGOYLE sets out very menacing to do the wizard's bidding.

6. PRINCESS turns our Gargoyle to the side of good. Touches his heart.

7. Gargoyle prepared to fight for Princess...(with small goofy army of little gargoyles?)...just as the sun begins to rise.

8. Gargoyle turns to stone at rise of sun. (As the wizard's army attacks?)

9. Sunset. The castle has been sacked. The princess is gone. Our Gargoyle is heartbroken. (More TRAGIC than pathetic.) He's failed.

10. The years pass. He haunts the ruined castle. Howling in front of the full moon??

11. Years in solitude. (Stealing books from library??)

12. Occasional forays into humanity? (World War II? Ripping the wings off a German plane?)

13. Always left with sense of isolation and futility. Nothing for him in this world. Nothing for 1000 years.

14. Than everything changes. Castle lifted by giant airships. Laputaesque.

15. Castle lowered onto XAVIER'S skyscraper.

16. Introduce NEW menacing XAVIER??? (Maybe save til later?)

17. Introduce our heroine. Female police detective? (Do we reuse the Princess model??) How does our Gargoyle meet her?

18. As before, this woman gives him hope, a sense of purpose. And real human friendship.

19. Gargoyles protect from Barbarians at the gate. Manhattan is full of "Barbarians". Gargoyle stops a mugging?

20. Escalate. He stops a car full of bank robbers in it's tracks.

21. Escalate. Major villain card.

22. Escalate. Even tougher villain card.

23. Escalate. The toughest villain card. (Show villain and Gargoyle fighting?)

24. Gargoyle in city atmosphere. Gothic melodrama in very modern setting.

25. Maybe introduce Xavier here? Or perhaps in some way, shape or form, reintroduce threat of the Wizard? Are these two related?

26. Supporting characters. (Other gargoyles, perhaps, or our lead girl's kid? Other cops? The old librarian?)

27. Where does he live? Still in Xavier's tower? With Xavier? The library maybe?

28. Other types of stories?

29. End Card.

Open to suggestions and input. (Particularly from you, Gary. Call me if you get a chance. I don't want to lose time while your out of town.) There are a lot of open issues here. Most important, is this the structure your looking for, or do we want to begin in the present, with a compact flashback for explanation? It's harder to get the capital-T Tragic element in that way, but we're less likely to get the question "So this takes place in the past?" from JK or ME at the end of the pitch.


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Clarification...

Someone asked me whether or not gargoyles would accept a homosexual gargoyle into the clan with open arms.

My response:

"The world isn't perfect. I think generally they would be tolerant. (Tolerant, in my book, is unsatisfactory.) But generalities do not
define individual reactions to individual revelations. Open arms would exist in many cases. "

My brother read that and wrote:

"I think writing "Tolerant is unsatisfactory"could be interpreted as you saying that they should not be tolerant, that you are against
tolerance rather than tolerance being insufficient."

So, just to be clear, I was saying that I find tolerance insufficient. Certainly, tolerance is better than hostility or neutrality, but I'd prefer acceptance.


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brainstorming villains...

Now that we had put our comedy development aside and moved on to an action-drama approach, I must have asked Fred Schaefer to come up with (a) some possible names for our new lead gargoyle (the proto-Goliath) and (b) some possible villains for him to combat. Unfortunately, the results were a bit underwhelming. But this was a new area to Fred. We had never developed a show like this before at Disney. It was an adjustment for all of us.

GARGOYLE DEVELOPMENT
(Schaefer 1-6-92)
[My handwritten notes in brackets.]

OUR MAIN GARGOYLE -- POSSIBLE NAMES

Griffin
Crag
Palisade
Dover (carved from the Cliffs of Dover, Wales)
Mortar
Igneous
Granite

GARGOYLE - POSSIBLE VILLAINS

MORTIFY- A sleazy unemployed (yellow) journalist. Humiliation and embarrassment are his weapons. He's a walking tabloid magazine (not literally), eager to expose people's emotional weaknesses. He gets under people's skin the way Hannibal Lector does, by prying into their personal affairs, but he's much more outlandish and not as gracious and composed as Lector. Mortify obviously relishes an awkward or scandalous moment.

Perhaps he wears a yellow suit with matching hat. He used to be a newspaper reporter, but his journalistic methods were so sloppy and immoral that he was fired and never hired by another paper. So, he decided that he doesn't need to work for a tabloid newspaper to do that damage he loves to inflict. He goes directly to the source -- the innocent citizens of Manhattan. [By these two paragraphs I wrote: "Does our audience 'get' yellow journalism?"]

(E.g. A CEO receives flowers at her home from her secretary. She's confused, but her spouse is obviously perturbed (is she having an affair?) and an argument ensues. Of course, it was Mortify who sent the flowers. In fact, he delivered them himself so he could see the disconcerted reaction of his victim. Now the CEO has been emotionally weakened and Mortify can sabotage the business further (in whatever devious plan he ultimately was up to). [By this paragraph, I wrote "Very subtle."]

LICHEN -- a strange, demented man who lives in the tree tops of Central Park; responsible for your basic muggings, but revels in terrorizing his victims beforehand. He claims that South Central Park is his territory and he won't stop his reign of terror until everyone refuses to enter it again. He's skinny, agile, resembling a spider monkey without the tail. He's petrified of cement -- sidewalks, actually -- and won't venture out of the park. [I wrote "too weak" here.] Strangely, he seems to have control over a large pack of rats that inhabit the Park. Like Willard, they obey his every command. Scary. (Aka Tree Rot, because of his fungus, lichen-encrusted face; and Tree Rat, for obvious reasons.)

VAL STARCH -- Owner of a string of second rate cleaners which are fronts for his illegal business -- counterfeit fashion. Fake name-brand clothes. He always wanted to be a fashion designer, but had none of the talent. Now he doesn't need it as he leeches off the fashion industry and makes a bundle doing it. His ulterior goal, however, is to destroy the New York fashion industry and its most creative talent. On a small scale, he occasionally loves ruining people's clothes at his cleaners. (So he loses a customer, big deal, that's not where he makes his money!) On a larger scale, Starch sabotages other fashion businesses.

(E.G. A big day in the fashion world -- Ellis Perry is unveiling his new line of clothes at the most talked about fashion show of the year. Unfortunately, Val Starch has secretly swiped the clothes and replaced them with replicas, which will fall to pieces by remote control. The fashion models are supremely embarrassed. Cameras flash. Ellis Perry faints. More camera flashes. (Perhaps this one is a co-crime venture with Mortify.) [I wrote: "Too specific. Too gymicky [sic].]


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The paradigm shift...

Shortly after the last document I posted, we finally pitched the comedy version of the GARGOYLES series to Eisner, Katzenberg, etc. They passed. So it was back to the drawing board. I showed what we had to Tad Stones, producer of numerous Disney shows including Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck and Aladdin. Tad suggested we go the action-drama route, creating a MAIN Gargoyle protagonist who was more of a tragic figure. He pointed to the success of the Disney BEAUTY AND THE BEAST feature film, and suggested that there was something in that for us.

This, given my comic book background, of course struck an immediate cord with me. Thus the proto-Goliath known simply as "Gargoyle" was born. We deconstructed all that we had created for the comedy series (much of which would later work its way back in to the show) and started from scratch. In some ways this version is even farther away from the end result than we were at our last glimpse of the comedy development. But it was an important step.

What follows is a memo that I wrote up summarizing a development meeting we had late in 1991. Elisa's starting to take a more familiar form. So is Xavier/Xanatos. And "THE GARGOYLE":

THE GARGOYLE
(Weisman / Summary of meeting 12/19/91)

1000 years ago in barbaric Briton, an evil Wizard wanted to ransack the castle of the good princess.

Gargoyles are stone sculptures that are used to decorate castles. Inspired by this, the wizard creates his own giant (Beauty & the Beast-sized) Gargoyle. He instructs this engine of destruction to fly to the castle tonight, while the wizard's army attacks from the outside.

(Perhaps he gives the Gargoyle a powder that will temporarily bring the other little stone gargoyles to life.)

The Gargoyle, which is stone colored, even when it isn't stone, flies to the castle, intent on destroying it.

He meets the princess who teaches him the error of his ways. He will fight against the wizard. But as the sunrises [sic], he falls asleep turning to stone. A part of the spell he was not aware of.

When the sun sets again, and he awakens, it is too late. The princess is gone (dead?). The castle has been ransacked. Even the wizard has left him behind. Angry at his betrayal...He is alone. Cursed as an outsider, able to function only during night hours. Frozen as stone during the day.

He stays in the ruined castle over the centuries. Making occasional forays to the outside world. Sometimes briefly, to steal books. Sometimes for long periods to fight evil (World War II, perhaps). But always returning to the castle and his loneliness. He despairs of ever finding a true friend. Despairs of ever having a purpose to his life.

One night he awakens, and finds that some repair work has been done on the castle. Each night he finds that a little more work has been done while he slept during the day. Construction equipment has gathered outside the castle walls.

One day, as he sleeps, the castle is lifted, lock, stock and gargoyle and flown whole across the atlantic to New York, by giant airships.

It is placed on the top of the Xavier Enterprises skyscraper.

Xavier is our arrogant villain. Not comic. Evil behind the scenes. Manipulator. Respectable to the rest of the world. Untouchable.

Our Gargoyle finds himself in this strange new world. Here he meets a young idealistic girl (perhaps a plain clothes police detective) who will be his friend and teach him not to despair. That he can help make the world a better place. In New York, the barbarians are at the gate, every night. This time, he can do something about it.

He becomes a de facto super-hero of sorts, though we don't have to flag it.

Xavier can hire other minor villains, plus we need to create some real psychos, and powerful ones at that, for Gargoyle to battle. Plus the ancient wizard could return in some form. Perhaps he has put his spirit in a amulet. Whoever wears it is possesed by him.

Perhaps, our Gargoyle can still temporarily awaken other gargoyles, little mischevious things who aren't too bright, but would try to follow his orders. But when they sleep each day, they have to be awakened by the magic dust each night or they will remain as stone. Only our hero awakens by himself every night.

Does our young girl have a child?

Who else populates this world?

Is the Gargoyle named Gargoyle, or is there another name for him?

Other villains?

cc: Bruce, Gary, Kat, Bob, Mike, Fred, Tad, DoMo
[This cc list includes my bosses, Bruce Cranston and Gary Krisel, our development associates, Kat Fair, Mike Ryan and Fred Schaefer, our Art Director Bob Kline, "consultant" Tad Stones, and Dolores Morris (DoMo) who was my opposite number in developing MovieToons like "A Goofy Movie".]



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