bob writes...

why did clu kill his own men on tron betrayal.

Artemis writes...

Is the Teen Titans show coming back, or is that just a rumor?

Todd Jensen writes...

Recently, somebody asked you if you were familiar with C. S. Lewis' work, and you said "No", apart from seeing a couple of adaptations of "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe". I thought that you might like to know that Lewis and Roger Lancelyn Green were friends, and that it's thanks to Green that "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" was finished and published.

When Lewis was writing "Lion", he read some of it to J. R. R. Tolkien; Tolkien had done the same to him with "The Lord of the Rings" when he was writing it, and Lewis wanted to return the favor. Tolkien thought that "Lion" was dreadful, however, and made that clear. Lewis was so saddened by Tolkien's critique that he considered abandoning the story, but first read it to Roger Lancelyn Green. Green told him, "No, this is a great story, you mustn't drop it," and his words encouraged Lewis to complete the story and get it published.

Green also included a tribute to Lewis in his King Arthur book. One of Lewis's fantasy novels for adults, "That Hideous Strength" had Merlin awakening in the modern world to help the main characters defeat an Illuminati-type organization; Lewis had Merlin sleeping beneath a forest called Bragdon Wood. In Green's "King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table", one of the places where Merlin is said to be sleeping is "beneath the Wood of Bragdon". Since you especially liked Green's book on King Arthur (and even drew on it for Blanchefleur, and Percival's parentage), I thought you might enjoy hearing about that (and I hope the Wood of Bragdon wasn't on your list of places for King Arthur and Griff to visit during their search for Merlin, since it was Lewis' invention!).

Onesweetsuprise writes...

I heard somebody asked Dwayne McDuffie this question about Ben 10, so I'll ask you 'cause I'm curious.

If you could have Young Justice crossover with any other TV series, what would it be?

Note: By any TV series, I really mean ANY. X)

Phoenician writes...

So the story behind this ramble actually goes back two years, starting when I first read your Ramble on EQUIVOCATION:

http://www.s8.org/gargoyles/askgreg/search.php?rid=817

Regrettably I would not have the chance to attend the Oregon Shakespeare Festival that year, dedicating my travel expenses to the last Gathering in Los Angeles. Before I go any further, can I say that I am quite jealous that you and your family go every year to Ashland? Because I am d:

Anyways, it didn't hit me until about month or so later that I could simply buy a copy of the script just as you had mentioned doing. A thorough look at (and a telephone call to) the OSF's Tudor Guild Gift Shop revealed they had quickly sold out of their entire supply, and that odds were, it'd be a while till they got more, if ever. Of course, by the time I DID check back with them, the OSF was done foe the season and Equivocation was not being performed again in the near future.

Fast forward to summer 2011, where I stumbled upon a copy of the play script at my old college in Los Angeles. I don't know how the conversation started, but the person I was talking to mentioned that the school was trying to get permission to perform the play that school year!

But before I allowed myself to get excited, I remembered I was only in town for the week to visit some friends I hadn't seen in over a year since I graduated in May 2010. My friend sympathized that my horrible, horrible timing wouldn't have me in Los Angeles if and when they did perform the play (and especially after hearing me recite your ramble from 2009 with alarming precision) he was generous enough to let me take a script with me back home!

I tried to be patient, reminding myself that I had waited two years to find a copy and that the AskGreg queue was closed during the Young Justice hiatus, but that VERY short flight back to Phoenix was suddenly felt like an eternity. Of course, its just my luck that even though I read it back in early August, I only JUST now remembered to write this rambling as yesterday (November 5th, 2011) was Guy Fawkes Night.

So did I enjoy the play, even when I only read it as a script?

In a word: YES. :D

But one thing is for sure: I really, really want to catch an actual performance now. I won't go into too much detail here (since you've seen the play and I don't want to spoil others that might read this before catching/reading the play themselves), but I will say this play reminds me quite a bit like Shakespeare in Love (a film I also remember you writing about more than once), though its obvious that (even if Stoppard and Cain were working with the same muse) this is a noticeably older Shag than the Will we saw in the 1998 film. For one, Shag's working for the King James VI/I and not Queen Elizabeth. For another, the only person caring for him these days is the very mature Judith. Finally, he's now an established name (he'll still be remembered in, oh, fifty year's time!), though the romances and comedies seemed to have been eclipsed with his slew of historical plays, earning him the reputation of killing "more Kings than any man alive."

The various references to Shag's other plays were fun, especially Hamlet and Macbeth. Speaking of the Scottish Play, remembering what you said about how Macbeth (in the Gargoyles Universe) was a drinking buddy of Shakespeare's, I vaguely wonder how the events in Equivocation looked from his perspective. ;)

I'll also say that after briefly mentioning "Doc Shakespeare" in your Equivocation ramble, I made sure to pay close attention to Judith's interactions with Shag, if only to one day have them as a reference point in understanding the characters . . . much like I hear Roger Lancelyn Green's works are a good place to see your early inspirations for King Arthur.

I must also admit to re-reading your thoughts from 1999/2000 about how Shakespeare in Love opened a door to understanding Will as a man . . . and having missed out on the 2005 Gathering in Las Vegas, I can only imagine how you treated Will (and Judith) in Doc Shakespeare. I guess I'm just hopeful to one day see you a work of yours introduce William Shakespeare the man, be it in the Gargoyles Universe or some other original work (and references in shows like The Spectacular Spider-Man will always be fun too).

I'll end this by saying THANK YOU so much for recommending Equivocation. I look forward to watching a performance one day (may the stars align soon) and its only a matter of time before I find my way to Ashland for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

hallofjustice writes...

Greg, do you have any favourite DC couples? I'll tell you my favourites. My favourites are Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon as well as Traci Thirteen and Jaime Reyes.

Gareth writes...

Love the work you're doing on Young Justice so far. Really enjoying the detail the animators are putting into the animation (i.e persistent mud on heroes) and your usage of macguffin plot items to damn good effect (Helmet of Fate in Revelations). Seriously, kudos to you for having the heroes actually use the gamebreaking artefact they have stored away in their trophy room. Heaven knows there're enough shows in circulation now which wouldn't dare do the same.

Question;

Was the recent reference by Red Volcano to "Meatbags" a HK-47 Star Wars reference or simply a general anti-human robot thing?

a random nobody writes...

Hey greg a couple months ago you answered a question asking about avatar the last air bender and I think you said you were near the end of book 1. So I was just wondering have you had the time to finish watching the series? And if you have finished what did you think of it?

Masterdramon writes...

Hiya, Greg! Glad to see Station 8's question-asking feature back from hiatus, despite the absolute flood of "ZOMGSPOILYOUNGJUSTICEPLEEZ" comments that've come in over the past three days; speaking of which, I finally saw "Targets" in television-level quality and loved every single minute of it all over again, and simply cannot wait for "Terrors." The villains in YJ are, in my humble opinion, the single greatest aspect of this wonderful show, so I was quite ecstatic to read the summary for that one.

Anyway, I'll apologize in advance if this question grows ridiculously fanboyish, but I'd really like to follow-up on a little blurb you typed way back in March. To whit:

"I don't know about Brandon, but I've begun watching Avatar with my son Benny. We're near the beginning of Season Two. I like it. I don't know how much of an influence there's been, since we started YJ before I started watching Avatar."

Now, I don't know about anyone else, but I was pretty much reduced to happy giggles the moment I read that. Personally, I consider "Gargoyles" and "Avatar: The Last Airbender" (alongside several shows in the DC Animated Universe) to, together, represent the absolute pinnacle of Western television animation, and the notion of the creator of one watching the other excites me in a way I can't really describe. As such, if you'll permit me, I'd like to ask a few more questions about your experience watching this fantastic show:

1. Have you completed watching the series yet? If not, how far do you still have to go? If so, do you have any general thoughts? What do you think "Avatar" did especially well, compared to other animated shows you've watched and critiqued? Where do you think it could've been improved?

2. Do you have a favorite character or episode? I realize that you dislike being asked this question with regard to your own shows (as they're all pretty much like your children, a viewpoint to which I can certainly relate), but I'm curious as to whether you think about these sorts of things when watching shows you aren't necessarily connected with?

3. Did you and Benny discover the series together, or did he introduce it to you? The latter is pretty much what happened with my Dad and I, LOL, so I'm interested.

4. Have you seen the Comic-Con 2011 trailer for the sequel series, "The Last Airbender: Legend of Korra"? If so, do you intend to catch it when it airs in 2012, if you happen to have the time (an unlikely prospect for you, I know, but still XD)?

Aaand...yeah, I think that's enough. Thank you so much for your patience and dedication to your fanbase, and I greatly look forward to seeing what YJ has in store for us all in the coming months!

Cheers! :D

Another fan writes...

I would like to ask you your opinion on the new show My little pony friendship is magic. In case you haven't seen it It's a show I strongly recomend.