A Station Eight Fan Web Site

Gargoyles

The Phoenix Gate

Ask Greg Archives


: « First : « 100 : « 10 : Displaying #457 - #466 of 478 records. : 10 » : Last » :


Posts Per Page: 1 : 10 : 25 : 50 : 100 : All :


Bookmark Link

Aris Katsaris writes...

This is more of a comment/correction rather than a question. I think that you've miscalculated a date. In a previous Ask Greg question you had said that you had once calculated that the gargs both in Avalon and in the real world will lay eggs at 2008. I think that must have been a mistake on your part: I believe that gargoyles lay egg in their 50th or 49th year (biological 25). That would mean that in Avalon-time 50*24=1200 years. The gargs at avalon should lay their eggs only 1200 real-world years after they were hatched. That in turn means that if they were hatched around somewhere around year 1040, they shouldn't lay eggs until 2240 or something like that...

Anyway thought I should mention this...

Greg responds...

No, that's not right.

God knows it's been years since I did this math, however I think you are operating on faulty assumptions.

Yes, the Avalon eggs hatched in 1044.

Thus by 1995, Angela, Gabriel, Ophelia, et al. would all be biologically twenty years old. That's way past Gargoyle puberty in my book. So what remains is for their internal clocks to be in sync, so to speak, with the natural rhythms of the Earth that would put the females "in heat" (for lack of a better term). That would next occur sometime in late 2007 or early 2008.

That easily puts, say, Ophelia in synch with Angela and Obsidiana out in the real world. The difference comes twenty years later in 2028, when the latter two might again lay eggs. But to Ophelia she would have only just laid her first egg a mere 20 months ago. I don't know whether that's enough recovery time for her, enough time for her own internal cycle -- but in any case her first egg certainly wouldn't have hatched yet.

It's also worth considering whether Ophelia and Angela might have been "in heat" in Avalon in 1988? Maybe they were, and maybe Katharine was preaching abstinence in a major way.

Suddenly, I feel like this is Christine's show. :) [No, I haven't read her fan-fiction, but boy have I heard rumors.]

In any case, for those of you with dirty minds, I think Angela was a virgin even at the time of "The Journey". (Broadway too for that matter.) Not so sure about Ophelia.

Response recorded on February 02, 2000

Bookmark Link

Aris Katsaris writes...

Here's another try at the clans contest...

1.Avalon
2.London
3.Ishimura
4.Guatemala
5.New Olympus
6.Xanadu, China
7.South Pole
8.India
9.Manhattan
10.Clones
11.Loch Ness
12.Tintagel
13.Easter Island
14.SpaceStation

Greg responds...

Ten points if I'm generous.

Response recorded on January 25, 2000

Bookmark Link

Scott Iskow writes...

First, let me say that it is a truly amazing accomplishment to create a show that spawns so many questions. I think the only other franchise with such a rich mythology is "Star Wars." What intrigues me the most about both, are the characters and events that we never get to see.

What I'm most curious about (at least, right now) are the Avalon gargoyles.

1) How many other Avalon gargoyles (besides Gabriel, Ophelia, Boudicca), do you know the names of?

2) What are some (if any) of those names?

Greg responds...

There's Raphael, Uriel, Michael and Azrael.

(I'm quite sure that Katharine would have gone through all the Archangel names she could think of -- including the name Archangel itself.)

Response recorded on January 24, 2000

Bookmark Link

Todd Jensen writes...

What inspired you to give the names "Ophelia" and "Boudicca" to the female triceratops-crested gargoyle and gargoyle beast on Avalon? I can easily guess as to why the choice of the names "Angela" and "Gabriel" for the other two named Avalon gargoyles, but why did you choose the names of Hamlet's girl-friend and the ancient British Iceni queen for these two? (I might add that I did like the names, which were part of that very literate tone to "Gargoyles" that I enjoyed).

Greg responds...

I didn't choose Boudicca (though I approved of the choice). Her name was picked by either Lydia Marano or Brynne Reaves or both.

As for Ophelia, I'm not sure who picked that. It might have been me, further pandering to Shakespeare. Or it might have been one of my editors or writers, further pandering to me.

Of course, now that these names are chosen, it suggests story ideas, that I'd like to some day capitalize on. Even if the real reason the names were chosen is more prosaic.

Response recorded on January 24, 2000

Bookmark Link

Aris Katsaris writes...

Did Goliath, Angela and Elisa understand that there are gargoyles in New Olympus?

Greg responds...

I don't think so.

Response recorded on January 10, 2000

Bookmark Link

Derek writes...

In the RECKONING, Demona said that she knew every living Gargoyle. When she said this, was she assuming Goliath's clan was all that was left, or did she know of the London, Ishimura and other clans?

Greg responds...

I don't think she knew about Guatemala.

And she definitely didn't know about Avalon.

I'm on the fence about Ishimura.

But I find it hard to believe that she didn't know about London.

But to be honest, I haven't decided.

Response recorded on January 06, 2000

Bookmark Link

Todd Jensen writes...

In Japanese mythology, there's a race of winged beings called tengu who sometimes taught humans bushido. Was this a partial inspiration for the Ishimura clan in "Bushido"?

Greg responds...

Yes.

Response recorded on December 30, 1999

Bookmark Link

Airwalker writes...

How much input did you have in the designs of Gargoyles outside of the main Manhattan clan like Gabriel, Ophelia, etc? Did you just suggest a general design that got fleshed out by the rest of the production team or did you have a detailed picture in you head that you wrote out and submitted to them?

Greg responds...

I wouldn't say I had a detailed written description. But I had some ideas, many conversations and co-final approval (with Frank).

I was more specific about Leo, Griff, Una, Gabriel, Angela and Zafiro then about some of the others.

Response recorded on December 30, 1999

Bookmark Link

Siren writes...

I keep thinking of more things...
On Garg evolution...I think the most likely would evolve from dinosaurs.Birds also evolved too, from what I believe. They just took 2 different ends of the spectrum. Birds becoming smaller and more lightweight, gaining feathers and loosing scales. Gargs get are smaller dinosaurs, just not as small as birds. They are built with more muscle and kept
the pteridacyl wings ('scuse my spelling). Brooklyn is obviously evolved from one of them thingies I can't spell. Plus you have the South American Clan, they deffinetly look reptilian. And Ophelia, she looks much like a triceratops and any other horned/crested dino (which I absolutly love on her!!!!)
But also into consideration, the Britian Clan...Where did they come from? Are they too evolved
from dinosaurs???? Doubtful. They are set so far apart from the others, more mammilian. Are they
more evolved mammals? Is Griff just an evolved eagle that looks like a griffon or an evolved griffon? Is Leo an evolved Lion?
And is that Una's real horn or jewlry? Is she an evolved horse or unicorn?
Which brings something else to mind about gargoyles...How do their babies eat? Are gargoyles
mammals? I would deffinetly say, warm blooded. And they do seem very mammilian. So does that
mean, that if Demona had the chance to raise Angela, she'd be fed on breastmilk? If so, how did
Cathryn, Magus, Tom, and his mother feed 36 hatchlings?

Greg responds...

Uh. It would have helped if you had numbered your questions....

In my head, Gargoyles are a separate classification which (in the past) I've nicknamed "Gargates". Both Gargoyles and Gargoyle Beasts evolved from this grouping, just as Primates include both humans and various apes. The Gargate-ancestor species go back to the time of the dinosaurs, so to answer your first set of questions, I'd have to ask you how you are defining the word "Dinosaur"? Colloquially, i.e. to include all species that existed during what we popularly think of as the age of dinosaurs, or are you using the term in a scientific sense, which would leave out a number of species that we generally think of as dinosaurs?

As for the various clans, appearances are superficial and can be deceiving. Leo has much more in common biologically with Goliath than he does with a Lion. Zafiro has much more in common with Griff, Leo, Una and Goliath, etc. then he does with a snake. All are Gargates. None are Mammals or Reptiles or Marsupials or Birds, though they may share a few characteristics with one or more of those groups. They are, I believe, warm-blooded, for example.

Una's horn is her horn. It's not jewelry. Though it was decorated.

Garg babies generally would drink milk from clan-mother breasts.

And yes, that did present Tom, Katharine and the Magus with a problem. Fortunately, they were on Avalon. And Avalon provided. Some trial and error was probably involved, but a replacement for breast milk was found...

Response recorded on December 30, 1999

Bookmark Link

Bud-Clare writes...

All right, here are my guesses for the clans:
(Some of them are pretty bizarre, but I'm tired of thinking about it. ;)

1. London
2. Ishimura
3. Guatemala
4. New Olympus
5. Greece
6. Loch Ness, Scotland
7. Ireland
8. Avalon
9. Manhattan
10. Clones (Labyrinth)
11. Camelot
12. Wyvern, Scotland
13. Paris
14. Mars

Greg responds...

No. Sorry. But since this contest is obviously so hard, here's a clue.

You scored "10.5".

Response recorded on October 11, 1999


: « First : « 100 : « 10 : Displaying #457 - #466 of 478 records. : 10 » : Last » :