A Station Eight Fan Web Site
Ask Greg Archives
RETORTS 2004-01 (Jan)
Archive Index
: « First : « 10 : Displaying #44 - #53 of 59 records. : 10 » : Last » :
Posts Per Page: 1 : 10 : 25 : 50 : All :
WereFox writes...
Greg
In your mind, when Demona fell from the castle at the end of Awakenings 5 what happened to her? Did she manage to recover from her tumbling fall beneath the falling masonry and glide away? Or did she pancake into the pavement, shattering every bone in her body, and then recover a la her link with MacBeth?
Greg responds...
The former.
AZRAEL writes...
HELLO GREG!!!!! I WRITE TO YOU FROM PERU, IN SOUTHAMERICA!!!!!! AND I REQUEST TO YOU THAT EXCUSE MY WRONGS,SINCE MY NATIVE LANGUAGE IS NOT THE ENGLISH. MY QUESTION IS: COULD YOU TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE FINAL EPISODES OF "ROUGHNECKS"?
SERIE WAS AIRED HERE WHIT VERY HIGH AUDIENCE RATINGS, BUT THERE WAS NOT THE FINAL EPISODES. ABOUT THE END OF THE WAR AGAINST THE BUGS. I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT IT!!!!!!!
PLEASE, GREG, ANSWER ME,SINCE I WRITE YOU FROM PERU (VEEEEEEEEEERY FAR).
THANS AND GOOD LUCK, GREG!!!!!!!!!!!!
Greg responds...
Sony had an order for 40 original episodes. And we wrote all 40. And we voice recorded all 40.
But at some point -- I think because one of the CGI studios declared bankruptcy, taking with it a chunk of Sony's budget -- Sony decided that to save money on the order of 40, they'd have to cut four episodes and replace them with four clip shows.
By that time, pre-production was pretty far along. Since this was a money-saving solution (not a creative one) in the first place, it made budgetary sense to shelf the episodes that had the least work done on them. So the last four episodes were shelved. Then someone realized that the episode depicting the destruction of Buenos Aires would be extremely expensive to produce. So that one got shelved and they put the fourth to last episode back into the pipeline.
The_Souldier writes...
I didn't come across this anywhere in the archives so, how did you decide to name your cat Iggy? I'm really just curious, I can't really say it's a stupid name or anythig, because here we have a cat we call Mr. Cat, a cat named Monkey, and a lizard we simply call Stinky.
Greg responds...
Iggy is short for Igthorn, as in Duke Igthorn from the Gummy Bears tv series. The Dukey was always a favorite of mine.
Another favorite was Bigtime Beagle from DuckTales, and our other cat is named Bigtime.
Our dog is Norman, named after Norman from Marsupilami. Not sure he was one of our favorites, but we wanted to use a Disney villain name, and no other name fit our dog.
Lacy writes...
Hi, actually this is more of a general ramblin fan letter than a question.
I love gargoyals, and even after all this time I still do.
OH! Though one good question just came to mind (and likely has been asked a million times) Do you plan on ever re-releasing gargoyals as they were in the first two seasons? (not that stupid farce that ABC mangled.) Do you have to wait for any wavers of contracts or has Disney totally bought out all rights to the show so that we never have hopes of seeing it anywere unless they deside to grace us with it (like that would ever happen)
I also noticed that Aladdin the series was in your list of series you did, that was surprising to me, but then again not really, now that I think about it the series had alot of the same feel as gargoyals. (GO MOZENRATH! chee, I'm such a sap for the bad boys)
Gargoyals still holds a strong place in my heart and was definately the first series I ever did fan art, as well as stories about. (Hey I can read,just said I did it, not giving nothing here, nor do I want to. They just fun stuff for me personally anyway.)
Puck is definately my favorite charactor, and it was a huge disapointment to me, my little sister and our circle of friends who are all fans when he wasnt even given an apearence in that chronicals series. (well other than as Owen) So much got crammed and cliche'd in that series, BLEH gotta get off it >.<
Anyway, love the details and developement of the charactors, they all were so believeable and real. The series touched imagination and feeling as no show has, it wsn't just animation as america treats it, but a true series, like Babyalon 5 and StarTrek series. It is the exsample I use most often in arguements for animation used as another form of filming rather than just entertainment for children.
I really hope to see more someday.
OH!!!! End question!!! Did you ever write out how you planned the series to go? If so, did you ever put them to the web? If so... CAN I SEE?!!!!!
Greg responds...
I'm glad you liked the show.
I worked on developing Aladdin for television -- though that wasn't exactly rocket science -- but had nothing to with its production. I'm sorry if that was unclear.
Disney ALWAYS owned Gargoyles outright. Bringing it back is not up to me, though I'd like to and I continue to hold out some hope.
I have a master plan and tons of ideas in my head, going forward and backward. A fraction of that plan is on the web, and can be accessed by checking the ASK GREG FAQ.
Zarok writes...
Here is a question that's being rolling around in my head for a while now. Considering your 'all things are true' policy have you given any thought to how you would approach the 'life after death' aspects of the mythologies you've introduced? I mean did slain Viking warriors really join Odin in Valhalla or mummified Pharaohs join Anubis beyond the western horizon? How would this work in relation to Oberons non-interference edict? I'm not asking you to give me the Gargoyles version of every afterlife myth in existence or even to set out anything in stone, I just want your perspective on the subject that I've been pondering.
Greg responds...
My gut reaction, based on Dante as much as anything, is that people go where their souls truly want to go. Since it's voluntary, though not necessarily consciously so, there's no conflict with Oberon's edict.
Anonymous writes...
Is the culture of the N'kai monolithic like that of most alien races in scifi?
Greg responds...
As you've probably noticed, I try as much as possible to avoid monolithic cultures. I don't believe they exist in real life, so I try to keep the Gargoyles Universe as multi-lithic as possible.
Same would hold true for the Nokkar's people.
"Multi-lithic". I like that.
Liz writes...
what is the name of the episode when broadway shoots elisa?and why?
Greg responds...
It's called "Deadly Force". And the reason it's called "Deadly Force" is because that's the title that Michael Reaves picked out, based on the technical/legal term.
Aaron writes...
Hi Greg. Long-winded question, so bear with me.
One of the recurring themes of Western story-telling is that those who "tamper in God's domain", to borrow a phrase, will be struck down for their hubris. After the enterance of Frankenstein into our collective consciousness, one of the "rules" for Western literature is that Frankenstein must always be destroyed by his monster, for his arrogance in playing god.
The reason I bring this up, is that Xanatos is a man who seems to like playing god. And he has left a trail of monsters in his wake.
I'll ignore Jackal, Hyena, and Wolf for the purposes of this question, since it could be argued that they were already monsters who merely allowed their exteriors to be altered to match their true natures. (Although, it could also be argued that those three were tempted by David and his offers of power and vengeance, but at the end of the day, I still think they all damned themselves willingly)
I'd go so far as to even ignore the mutates, because even though they become monsterous looking, they really don't fit the bill as "monsters". They're just ordinary people who, by virtue of making some bad character judgements, find themselves with fur and wings. (Although it probably doesn't help Xanatos' karma any)
But even ignoring those two examples, you still have...
1. Coldstone. Such an obvious Frankenstein archtype that you joked about it. (The "It's alive! ALLLLLLLIVE!" sequence remains one of my favorites from the whole show) Of course, you could lay Coldstone at least partially at Demona's feet as well, so we'll move on.
2. Thailog. Grown in a lab, created with a mixture of different people, (Goliath's body and temper, Xanatos' mind and ethics, Sevarius'... libedo? Whatever accounts for Delilah) he turns almost immediately on his "fathers" You could call Thailog Sevarius' creature rather then Xanatos' except that David is the force behind his creation, and that Anton, for all his mad scientist posturing, could be seen as no more then a lab assistant, an Igor to David's Dr. Frankenstein.
3. The Coyote robot series. Xanatos' most personal "creature", the one to whom he gave his face (well, half of it) and voice. Loyal (?) to David for now, but unless forming the Ultrapack is David's idea, he presumably goes indepentant eventually. That, and we know he sets his sights on galactic domination in 2198, presumably not with his creator's blessing. (Then again, I could be wrong)
4. The Matrix. Created so that David and Fox could reshape the entire planet at their whim. If that's not arrogance, I don't know what is. Admittedly, I don't think it's becoming sentient along the way was part of the plan, and it's inclusion here might be a bit of a stretch, but I thought it was an example of Xanatos' hubris, if nothing else.
So, I guess, after all that lead up, my question is this: Would the pattern hold true? Would one (or all) of Xanatos' "creatures" come back to bite him in the ass later? As Elisa said "I wouldn't want Xanatos' karma."
There is a second part to this question, but I'll submit it separately, in case it's viewed as an idea.
Greg responds...
Well, for starters, I'd argue your premise. Victor Frankenstein's life was certainly decimated by the monster he created and abandoned -- but he survived the experience, sadder and hopefully wiser.
Moreover, it was the abandonment that was his true sin in Mary Shelley's original work. The creation was certainly hybris. But Shelley is pretty darn clear that she viewed the abandonment as worse. And I tend to agree. It's nature vs. nurture. The creature wasn't created evil. He was driven to it.
As to X's karma and whether it will all come back to bite him in the ass, I think the answer is clearly yes. But I really see it as a separate question. That is, it is a karma question more than simply a playing god question. That's one element. But only one. After all, one might argue that David and Fox were playing god by bringing Alexander into the world. But I wouldn't argue that. And I'm sure that's not what you had in mind.
So let's go through the numbers.
I tend to agree that Wolf, Hyena and Jackal built their own cages. And for the record, seem quite happy to live in them.
The Mutates seem to be following the same path as the gargoyles themselves. That is to say, that Xanatos woke the gargoyles, and has often suffered for it since. He then turned these four humans into mutates, and has had to suffer a bit (though admittedly not much) for that. It will be interesting to see Talon's post-Hunter's Moon reaction to Goliath and Co. moving back into the Castle. But the larger truth is that Talon, Maggie and Claw are making lives for themselves.
1. Coldstone. Well, yeah, duh. This is our Frankenstein's monster. But as with most things, Xanatos is too smart to truly follow in Victor's footsteps. He helps create the creature -- and certainly uses it -- but he never simply abandons it. And he also tries to balance (or bury) the Karmic scales, by helping out with Coldstone's Multiple Personality Disorder and by building Coldsteel and Coldfire.
2. Thailog. Here's the big threat, frankly. A guy with something to prove and three fathers to prove it all to. I think Xanatos hasn't seen the last of Thailog. One could argue that Thailog is the only guy to ever beat Xanatos at his own game (in Double Jeopardy). So the hybris of creating him has already bitten X's ass. But I doubt Thailog is through.
3. Coyote... I just don't want to reveal too much on this right now. Sorry.
4. I really think you have to chalk Matrix up to Fox's hybris (and competitive spirit) rather than to David's. She was certainly having the Matrix engineered for her and her man, but that doesn't mean that Xanatos was behind it. That would assume that she cannot operate independently. And I sure as heck wouldn't assume that about her.
So the short answer: yes. But it's all very nuanced.
Liz writes...
Why does Demona hate humans?
Greg responds...
If the series hasn't answered that question, than I truly have nothing to add.
Stuff...
ASK GREG isn't exactly a BLOG. I'm not always sure what's appropriate to put here...
For example, I had a weird thought last night. It occured to me that I'm old enough (based on my sexual history) to have a 22-year-old child. (My actual kids are 9 and 6.) That freaked me out. But I'm not sure it's appropriate for this forum. Still -- I guess it doesn't hurt to be advocating protected sex over unprotected sex, right?
(I know that's gonna come back and bite me on the ass. I just know it.)
Saw RETURN OF THE KING. And I really, really liked it, although I didn't really, really like the first hour. Overall, I enjoyed the first two movies more, but don't get me wrong. I'm not comparing this to the awful Return of the Jedi, at all. I still loved it, and I can't wait to see the extended version.
I do wish there had been some mention of what the dwarves were up to. And some indication of where the elves went who fought at Helm's Deep. How come they didn't lend a hand in Gondor? Even a line of dialogue would have been helpful to me.
The movie that actually caught me by surprise was PETER PAN. I really liked it a lot. It's so melancholy and bittersweet. Peter looked terrific (and was about 50/50 on the acting). Some things may have been a bit on the head, but it's Neverland, not Subtletyland. Just to be clear, I'm not saying it's a better movie than LOTR, but I thought the reviews of Pan were way harsh.
HATED CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN. But there was one VERY FUNNY scene in it when the twins confessed. Otherwise, as a dad, I thought the message it sent was EXTREMELY dubious -- and extremely unrealistic.
Had a great vacation. Hope you all are having a happy new year.
: « First : « 10 : Displaying #44 - #53 of 59 records. : 10 » : Last » :