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Anonymous writes...

1. My guesses as to the seven survivors from the Arthurian Age in the
Gargoyles Universe:
a. King Arthur b. Merlin c. The Lady of the Lake (all three the obvious
ones) d. Sir Percival (I think that he's Duval's true identity) e. Morgan
le Fay f. Queen Guinevere g. Sir Mordred

2. I'd suspected myself that Arthur would visit Tintagel and Stonehenge on
his quest for Merlin (they're both places that I'd have thought for
looking) - and I certainly agree that the South Pole was a very unexpected
location :) I really think that it's a pity that you didn't get to make
the "Pendragon" spin-off; as a long-time King Arthur fan, I would have enjoyed
it - maybe even more than I enjoyed "Gargoyles" itself.

3. One thing that puzzled me about the episode "Pendragon": in it, the
Stone of Scone/Stone of Destiny was identified as the stone that King Arthur
pulled the sword out of to become King of Britain. What puzzled me was
that in Arthur's day (the late 5th century), the Stone was in Ireland (followed
by Scotland in the early 6th century), and the Sword in the Stone was set
up in London, which the Stone of Destiny didn't reach until Edward I took it
from the Scots in 1296. Was there a piece of the Stone's history missing
from the traditional stories?

4. When the production team first came up with Griff for "M.I.A.", had you
already planned for him to team up with King Arthur, or was that something
that took you by surprise? (I might add that I liked the notion; Griff is
my personal favorite of the non-Wyvern gargoyles - I quickly got to like
him in "M.I.A." - and I thought that he would indeed make a fine
knight-companion for Arthur).

5. Why was King Arthur not the least bit taken aback by gargoyles in
"Avalon Part Three" and "Pendragon"? Even Elisa was initially scared of Goliath
and Bronx, after all. Was he just very good at accepting the unusual
(considering what he'd seen in his time according to Malory and all, I can
easily believe that) or was there some other reason involved?

6. How did the two magic suits of armor get into the Hollow Hill to guard
the sleeping Arthur? Since they were made out of iron, they couldn't have
been enchanted by faerie magic, and human magic is forbidden in Avalon.
(I've got a theory of my own, but it could count as an idea so I won't
mention it).

7. What prompted the notion of Goliath having that little encounter with
Vinnie and Mr. Carter in "Vendettas", complete with the banana creme pie?
Were you afraid that the big guy was getting a little too solemn and
serious, and needed to be given a little comical humiliation to keep some
perspective?

Greg responds...

1. Guesses: Nope. Todd, you'll have to try harder than that.
2. Yeah, me too. Ah, well, maybe someday.
3. Yep.
4. Griff was my idea, basically. (Though none of us, including
myself, Frank or Greg Guler ever felt that we totally cracked his design.)
Most of the Gargoyles in England are of the Griffon, Lion, Unicorn, etc.
variety. Modelled off heraldry. I knew I wanted to intro English gargs
that explained that architectural quirk in the terms of our series
mythology. A Griffon named Griff with the heart of a swashbuckler just
seemed like a natural. Something we were missing. Something we needed.
Now, did I always know he'd join with Arthur? Well, honestly, no.
Everything was part of a continuum of revelation. As I've said before, when
we were humming, it felt like the stories already existed out there. A
perfect puzzle that just needed revealing. But the idea for the World Tour
came to me long before we were done with the first season. The idea to
include English Gargoyles came shortly after that. Griff came simultaneous
to that. Arthur was a natural and early planned inclusion too. I can't
honestly say when it all came together, but it was before we even recorded
the voices for MIA, because I remember telling Neil Dickson that we'd be
bringing him back to do Griff again.
5. He'd seen Gargoyles before. He knew what they were and what
they were like. You mean Mallory never wrote about that? Gee, I don't know
how he could have skipped that part.
6. What a coincidence, I've got a theory of my own too.
7. The idea began with the Schnook. The Schnook evolved into
Vinnie. But before there was Vinnie, there was the idea that every action
has repercussions. Our series was always, I believe, pretty good about
showing the repercussions of actions. At least the major repercussions.
But actions have small repercussions as well. I had always wondered about
that poor guy who lost his motorcycle. How did he explain that? Another
example that we didn't get to put into the show had Goliath ripping off the
hatch of the Huntership before entering it. We didn't have room for it, but
I would have loved to show Vinnie nearly getting killed by that falling
hatch. That's the poor Schnook. Vinnie was just a funny guy to put in that
role. The pie idea came from Brynn Chandler Reaves, I believe. Something
about an old Superman comic or cartoon, I think. Making it Banana Cream,
was me. A tribute to BONKERS actually -- a reference to a semi-essay about
which pie is the funniest pie that I made the Bonkers staff put into a
GLOOMY THE CLOWN episode of that show. As to who would get pied, well, who
else? Goliath leads the Gargoyles. He must take responsibility for their
collective actions. And yes, he can be a bit of a stiff. It's nice to take
him down a peg occasionally. Who knew that in Goliath and Vinnie I was
creating two great cosmic opposites? The perfect Yin and Yang of the
Gargoyles Universe. :)

(GDW / 7-17-98)

Response recorded on July 17, 1998