Greg responds...

Damn good question. Most people reading this won't like the answer, but NO,
Gargoyles were never THAT popular. We had midling success, and a core group
of extremely loyal followers, but it never made the impact that Power Rangers
made. Some merchandise did well. Some of it died. Our ratings started out
promising. Moved on to respectable. Moved to disappointing and ended up
being lousy. I wish it weren't so, and there were tons of mitigating
factors. But they don't alter the facts.

Greg responds...

1) Brooklyn developed overtime. He began as two characters in the show's
original comedy development. "Amp" looked more like Lexington, but had
Brooklyn's basic personality. "Lassie" (a male gargoyle who admired the
collie's heroic qualities) was an idiot-savant character. But he looked a
bit like Brooklyn. I think Bob Kline did the original designs on these
comedy characters. (They were all diminutive.) Dave Schwartz redesigned
Brooklyn, Lex and Broadway. The final models were done by Kazuyoshi Takeuchi
based on Dave's inspirational design. Frank Paur also made some minor
changes to it.

2) One answer is because the character demanded it. That is the stories of
his life seemed to exist and need to be told. On another level, I felt that
childhood friendships must evolve or die. Brooklyn, Lex and Broadway
couldn't go through life as The Three Musketeers. By sending Brooklyn away
for five minutes of Broadway's life, but forty years of Brooklyn's it would
demonstrate that although the trio would always be the best of friends, the
days of being joined at the hip were quite, quite over.

Greg responds...

She was fated to a lot more self-delusion, but eventually she would have had
a true epiphany. And two more great loves. (Aren't I a stinker?)

Greg responds...

I've answered that question a lot. Gore, maybe you could repost that long
message I sent you to the AskGreg Archives. You know the one where I
list the factors why the show was cancelled and explain what steps might
be taken down the line. It's been passed around a lot, but some people may
not have seen it.

The short answer to your question is to keep the flame burning and hope the
live-action movie spurs renewed interest.

Greg responds...

Well, first of all I'd have them discuss it.

Then come to the conclusion that it was impossible.

Then I was going to send them on a Halloween double date. Goliath with
Delilah. Elisa with either Morgan or Jason (I hadn't decided). The date
would have made it clear that no matter how impossible their relationship
seemed, they would just have to find a way to make it work.

Eventually, there would have been some kind of commitment ceremony. I don't
know if you'd call it a wedding per se, but the purpose would have been clear
enough.

I know more, but that's enough for now. (Boy, this is my day to be coy.)

Greg responds...

I once said that given enough time and episodes, Gargoyles would have
included every legend ever. I was scoffed at. Completely scoffed at. But I
meant it.

Greg responds...

Well, I'm not going to give these all away right now, but I'm feeling
obnoxious, so I'll give you some useless clues just to drive you crazy.

Keep in mind that there were once hundreds of clans, but most of them died
out by the end of the middle ages. We're talking about new and/or surviving
clans, not every clan that ever existed.

The first Eight existed at the time of "Awakenings" (1994).
1. London - Most of the clan actually lives on an estate just outside
London.
2. Ishimura.
3. Guatemala - down to only four gargoyles, but poised for a
comeback.
4. No way you could guess this one. I don't think there are any
clues in the show's content.
5. Ditto.
6. This one could be guessed by a sharp viewer who understands the
way we planted clues in the show. For example, Elisa and Matt's
first conversation in her car, re: the Illuminati, Loch Ness
Monster, etc.
7. Ditto.
8. Avalon - formed after the eggs hatched on Avalon. Duh.

Two more existed (barely) by the end of "The Journey" (1996).

9. Manhattan - Our guys, of course, as a start.
10. Shouldn't be too hard to guess. Though "Goliath Chronicles" might
be a trifle distracting. Two more existed by 2158.
11. This one would take some extrapolation, but it's possible it could
be figured out if the life-purpose of certain existing characters
were followed to their logical conclusions.
12. This would also take some extrapolation. Think "nostalgia".

Two more clans would be formed in the years that follow.

13. Very tough to guess, but possible via the same kind of thinking
as #6.
14. Even harder to guess, but an absolute natural.

Anyone who can guess 8 out of 14 is a true fan.

Anyone who can guess 10 is a true fan with too much time on his or her hands.

Anyone who can guess 12 is a true fan with too much time and a lot of
intuitive ability.

Anyone who can guess all 14 is just a psychic freak.

Greg responds...

Some things have already come true. Alexander was born. The Clock Tower was
destroyed. Other things have already been proven untrue. Primarily, Goliath
did return to Manhattan before 2036. As for the rest, well, ask me some
other time.

Greg responds...

He survived. The Thailogs of this world always survive.

Greg responds...

1. No.

2. Disney would NEVER consider selling the rights.

3. Michael Reaves and I are officially co-producers on the movie. I'm not
sure what that means exactly yet. But we are being kept abreast of things.

Which brings me to my first set of as promised RAMBLINGS.

RUMORS AND THE MOVIES
I'm relatively new to the internet, but I've just been appalled by the way
people clearly start rumors based on nothing with the
explicit purpose, to my thinking, of misleading dedicated fans. Does this
make them feel superior? Why aren't they ever called to account for it?

For example, who started the Jean-Claude VanDamme rumor? Ask yourself where
you first saw it. Track down who told you. Ask that person who told him or
her. When you find the guy or gal who first stated that Mr. Van Damme was
going to be in the GARGOYLES live-action movie, mark him down on some kind of
list as untrustworthy.

Anyway, here's what's going on with the Live-Action Feature, in development
at Touchstone Pictures, as of 4-10-97.

There are NO ACTORS attached. NONE. Not Jean-Claude. Not Jonathan Frakes
or Marina Sirtis or anyone. No one. It's way too soon.

Tom Jacobson is the producer. Dean Devlin is the writer. They are the only
two people currently attached to the project. The only ones. (Besides
Michael and myself, in our minor roles as co-producers.)

The script is supposed to come in from Dean by the end of this month.
GOLIATH is the lead character. Other gargoyles will appear but this is
basically Goliath's movie. Saying anything else before the first draft is
even completed is folly. If someone claims to know more, and he or she isn't
Dean Devlin, then I'd take the info with a boulder of salt.

Anyway, end of ramble.

Greg responds...

Frank doesn't work at DreamWorks anymore, so I don't know when I'll next talk
to him, but when I do, I'll let him know you guys want him to show. Maybe
we'll set up a special "Ask Frank" day or something later. Angela, I'm a
writer, not an artist, so I don't have a lot of advise to offer to
animators. Learn your craft. Compile a portfolio. Hustle yourself some
work. I know that's not much, but I hope it helps.

Greg responds...

Again, no censors. One very understanding lady. I think while I was at
Disney, we received two letters of complaint about the show. Both had
nothing to do with content. In fact, it was clear from the content of the
letters that neither complaintant had ever watched an episode. They objected
to the show's Satanic content, basing their objections on the way the
Gargoyles looked in the commercials or opening titles.

Actually, we were expecting a flood of this type of mail. It never came.

Greg responds...

O.k. I can only speak to Gargoyles, not to the Goliath Chronicles. We had no
censors on Gargoyles. We did have an executive in charge of Broadcast
Standards and Practices. Her name was Adrienne Bello. (Still is,
actually.) She loved the show and is a personal friend. She understood that
some things were necessary to story, and that in context they wouldn't be
that bad. Duncan's magical death wasn't problematic. But we weren't allowed
to stab him, because we didn't want anyone getting a kitchen knife and
imitating that. Fox and Xanatos did live together at the Eyrie before they
got married, but they also had separate bedrooms until they got married. I'm
not saying nothing ever happened between them, and certainly we were walking
a line, but I think we were always responsible to the young end of our
audience. Adrienne allowed us to do this without compromising the shows
integrity.

Greg responds...

Disney's Gummi Bears. Hill Street Blues. Yoknapatwpha County, i.e. the
complete works of William Faulkner. The Complete works of William
Shakespeare. The Simpsons. Various comic book universes. The novels of
Tony Hillerman. Lots of myth, legends, etc, which I have always been
interested in. Plus the input of all the other talented people who put the
show together with me. I was not a one-man band here.

Greg responds...

Depends on how you define "mortal".

Greg responds...

Yes. Magic isn't an exact science. There are glitches. If Demona gets
angry enough, we get a glitch.

Greg responds...

Magic powers the Phoenix Gate. The idea for the gate came to me in a fevered
dream (well, actually in an editorial panic), while we were working on
"Vows". We new we needed a maguffin for that story. Something that both
Xanatos and Demona would want to get from Goliath. Something that Goliath
associated with his love for Demona, but didn't know the true nature of.
Originally there was no time travel in that episode. Then I came up for with
the idea of the Gate for the maguffin. I squashed the entire episode into
Act One, so that we could have two acts of time travel. That's one reason,
why that episode might seem a little rushed. It really should have been a
two-parter.

Greg responds...

Ah, the mystery of genetics....

Greg responds...

We had very specific plans for Yama. I had a few ideas for Sora and Zafiro
as well. And we had long term plans for all of the surviving clans. There
were ten clans at the time of "The Journey". Although some of those clans,
were either in pretty sorry shape or just beginning. I had planned on having
fourteen clans eventually.

Greg responds...

I've been fascinated by Gargoyles since at least my college days. But
someone else at Disney made the suggestion to do a show about Gargoyles.
That's all they gave me. That one word. Gargoyles. I ran with it. Though
I had a LOT of help. It was a real team effort.

Greg responds...

I like cartoons. I always have. But I don't know if I was inspired to work
in animation. As I was finishing graduate school, I began looking for jobs.
Disney TV Animation offered me one. So I took it. Sorry, it's not much of a
story.

Greg responds...

A lot.

Greg responds...

The magus comes up? I'm not sure what you mean. The Magus was a human
being. He trained under the Archmage, after Demona gave up being the
Archmage's apprentice. The Children of Oberon have a lot of stories. I'm
not going to tell any here. Not today, anyway.

Greg responds...

Macbeth was reading Merlin's writing. Merlin sealed those scrolls with his
own hand. Macbeth wasn't even born when Arthur first surfaced. To Macbeth,
Arthur was a great and legendary king.

Greg responds...

Whoah, slow down there. Demona came to America for many of the same
reasons most immigrants came. There's a story behind it, but I'm not
ready to give that away yet. As I've mentioned once or twice before, Demona
and Xanatos were introduced by Owen/Puck, who had met Demona centuries
before. The Weird Sisters kept a careful watch on Demona, but largely stayed
out of her life. With two exceptions.