G2009 Radio Play

Okay, gang, here's the Title Page, Cast List and Teaser for the G2009 Radio Play. As I've mentioned before this is NOT canon for either GARGOYLES or THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN. It's just a goof, which I wrote in three days. As anyone who was at the Gathering knows, it was a tremendous success. ALL credit for that should go to (a) my amazing cast of professional voice actors and talented fans and (b) my ability to pander mercilessly to my audience. So READING it, as opposed to seeing it, may be quite the let down. If you dislike it, well, what do you expect from a script written in three days? And if you like it, I guess I am a genius. ;)

THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN
MEETS
GARGOYLES

Religious Studies 101:
A Handful of Thorns

A Radio Play Crossover Event

Written by
Greg Weisman

For
The Thirteenth Annual
Gathering of the Gargoyles
in
Los Angeles, California

Performed August 22, 2009.

THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN MEETS GARGOYLES
“Religious Studies 101: A Handful of Thorns”
(Radio Play)
CAST LIST
NARRATOR 104 lines. (Greg Weisman)
SPIDER-MAN/PETER PARKER 76 lines. (Josh Keaton)
DEMONA/DOMINIQUE DESTINE 60 lines. (Marina Sirtis)
GOLIATH 32 lines. (Keith David)
LEXINGTON 24 lines. (Thom Adcox)
ELISA MAZA 23 lines. (Zehra Fazal)
BROOKLYN 22 lines. (John Clemens)
CURT CONNORS/LIZARD 22 lines. (Dee Bradley Baker)
BROADWAY 19 lines. (Crispin Freeman)
ZAFIRO 19 lines. (Joshua Poole)
MAY PARKER 19 lines. (Deborah Strang)
GREEN GOBLIN 18 lines. (Steve Blum)
OBSIDIANA 17 lines. (Elisa Gabrielli)
KRAVEN THE HUNTER 17 lines. (Eric Vesbit)
HARRY OSBORN 17 lines. (James Arnold Taylor)
DOCTOR OCTOPUS/OTTO OCTAVIUS 17 lines. (Michael McAdam)
J. JONAH JAMESON 16 lines. (Daran Norris)
MARY JANE WATSON 16 lines. (Vanessa Marshall)
ELECTRO 15 lines. (Crispin Freeman)
VENOM/EDDIE BROCK 15 lines. (Ben Isaac Diskin)
GEORGE STACY 14 lines. (Lucas McClain)
BIG MAN 13 lines. (Keith David)
CALYPSO EZILI 13 lines. (Jennifer L. Anderson)
ASHLEY KAFKA 12 lines. (Elisa Gabrielli)
ROBBIE ROBERTSON 10 lines. (Phil LaMarr)
LIZ ALLAN 10 lines. (Kaitlyn Robrock)
SALLY AVRIL 10 lines. (Jennifer L. Anderson)
GWEN STACY 10 lines. (Sarah Williams)
MATT BLUESTONE 9 lines. (Eric Tribou)
GREG BISHANSKY 8 lines. (Greg Bishansky)
KENNY KONG 8 lines. (Andrew Kishino)
COLONEL JUPITER/JOHN JAMESON 8 lines. (Daran Norris)
NED LEE 7 lines. (Andrew Kishino)
VULTURE 7 lines. (Seth Jackson)
FLASH THOMPSON 7 lines. (Ian Bassett)
SHARI 6 lines. (Zehra Fazal)
FANCY DAN 6 lines. (Phil LaMarr)
GULYADKIN 6 lines. (Dee Bradley Baker)
CARNAGE/CLETUS KASADY 6 lines. (Ian Bassett)
HOMUNCULUS #1 5 lines. (Dee Bradley Baker)
HOMUNCULUS #2 5 lines. (Phil LaMarr)
SMUGGLER #1 5 lines. (Andrew Kishino)
DOMINIC DRACON 5 lines. (Seth Jackson)
BLACKIE GAXTON 5 lines. (Steve Blum)
EMILY OSBORN 4 lines. (Kaitlyn Robrock)
TINKERER 4 lines. (Thom Adcox)
SEYMOUR O’REILLY 4 lines. (Steve Blum)
SILVER SPOON MANAGER 4 lines. (Crispin Freeman)
ANGELA 4 lines. (Sarah Williams)
PUMPKIN BOMB 4 lines. (Nicki France)
THAILOG 3 lines. (Keith David)
HOMUNCULUS #3 3 lines. (Steve Blum)
HOMUNCULUS #5 3 lines. (Thom Adcox)
MARIA CHAVEZ 3 lines. (Elisa Gabrielli)
FREDERICK FOSWELL 3 lines. (James Arnold Taylor)
ALAN O’NEIL 3 lines. (James Arnold Taylor)
HOMUNCULUS #4 2 lines. (James Arnold Taylor)
ROSIE THOMPSON 2 lines. (Vanessa Marshall)
MARGOT YALE 2 lines. (Marina Sirtis)
MORGAN MORGAN 2 lines. (Keith David)
JASON IONELLO 2 lines. (Ben Isaac Diskin)
RAND ROBERTSON 2 lines. (Phil LaMarr)
BRENTWOOD 1 line. (Fox Anderson)
CHAMELEON 1 line. (Steve Blum)
NORMAN OSBORN 1 line. (Eric Vesbit)
DILBERT TRILBY 1 line. (Steve Blum)

THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN MEETS GARGOYLES
“Religious Studies 101: A Handful of Thorns”
Radio Play

1. NARRATOR
Manhattan. The Ravencroft Institute. Office of Institute Director, Dr. Ashley Kafka.

ASHLEY KAFKA STANDS.

2. KAFKA
A… “dig” beneath the building’s foundation can’t help but disturb our residents. And this list of patients you’ve requested for the excavation: Edward Brock Jr., Maxwell Dillon, John Jameson, Cletus Kasady, Otto Octavius, Dominic Dracon… These are some of the most disturbed â€" perhaps even dangerous inmates we have here at Ravencroft. There’s even been some suggestion a few of them belong in the OsCorp Vault at Rykers. I know you have connections on our Board of Directors, Ms. D’STYNE, but--

DOMINIQUE DESTINE STANDS.

3. DOMINIQUE
It’s pronounced Des-STEEN. Dominique Destine. And you’ll find we’ll get along better, Doctor… if you give me what I want.

4. NARRATOR
The Spectacular Spider-Man Meets Gargoyles. RELIGIOUS STUDIES 101: A HANDFUL OF THORNS.

TOMORROW: ACT ONE...

Misinformation...

So I did a bit of lurking on sites like IGN, Toonzone, S8 and Superherohype and the quantity of misinformation based on my statements here and in a couple of brief, brief interviews is truly depressing. So let me at least attempt to dispel some of the erroneous assumptions that have been made.

1. Is it true that if you get a third season of THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN you'd be able to use Kingpin?

Answer: I have no idea.

2. Is it true that if you get a third season of THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, you still would not be able to use Kingpin?

Answer: I have no idea.

3. Is it true that if you get a third season of THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN you'd be able to use Johnny Storm?

Answer: I have no idea.

4. Is it true that if you get a third season of THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN, you still would not be able to use Johnny Storm?

Answer: I have no idea. (Sense a trend?)

5. Is it true that THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN is the first "victim" of the Disney/Marvel merger?

Answer: It's WAY too soon to know, but I have no particular reason to think so. I'd think this merger could only HELP us, as Disney would now be more personally invested in the series.

6. Is it true that THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN is all but guaranteed a third season now that Disney/Marvel is merging?

Answer: It's WAY too soon to know. Our last six episodes will be airing between October and December. I'm sure the biggest factor for or against any renewal is RATINGS, RATINGS, RATINGS. Either that, or maybe RATINGS.

A few thoughts...

Got easily a hundred calls, texts, e-mails yesterday about the big Marvel/Disney news and a few about the Sony/Marvel/Spidey news, so here are a few random thoughts to go with what I posted yesterday...

1. SPEC SPIDEY: The main thing that's changed about the Spec Spidey situation is that Sony is now out of the loop/decision making process about whether or not there's a third season. Before Sony was waiting to see if Disney picked up the series. Then they'd decide on its economic feasibility for Sony. Now Sony isn't part of that equation, leaving the whole thing in Marvel and Disney's hands. Of course, now that Marvel and Disney are kinda one hand, so-to-speak, I don't know what that means for us. Other than the obvious, which is that I'm sure we're not exactly Disney/Marvel's highest priority at the moment. How and when this decision gets made is really up in the air, but a former negative does feel good -- now -- that our last six episodes won't start airing on Disney XD until late October. That means our last episode won't air until early December, which may be a better time for Disney/Marvel to focus on the show. (Or not.) Of course even a positive decision in December or (more likely) January means a HUGE gap between Seasons Two and Three, but I'd take that over no new episodes.

2. FLASHBACKS:I can't help but be reminded of events in the mid-nineties, when Michael Eisner (then CEO of Disney) wanted to buy Marvel, so that he'd have super-heroes to compete with Warner Bros' DC Universe heroes (including Superman and Batman). Back then, however, Marvel was, or so I was told, a corporate mess. And it wasn't just that -- as now -- various studios already had the rights to individual characters, but that the rights had been double sold all over the place, and that every character pretty much represented a lawsuit in the making if not already in the works. Eisner was advised NOT to buy Marvel, and of course he didn't. But he REALLY wanted to be competing in the boys action/super-hero market. That was when the Gargoyles Universe was raised as a possible alternative. We pointed out that the Marvel Universe began with the Fantastic Four, and that we could use Gargoyles as a springboard to more properties and to an entire Universe. We were encouraged by Michael to create spin-off properties, backdoor pilots, etc. And that was THE major impetus for us to work on things like New Olympians, Bad Guys, Pendragon and Dark Ages. (Gargoyles Future Tense -- which became Gargoyles 2198 and TimeDancer came later.) It was also a reason to be expansive with the World Tour and introduce more and more new characters, etc. Of course, by the time all this stuff was actually made, the world had changed again. Frank Wells died. Michael and Jeffry Katzenberg went to war, with Jeffry eventually leaving to found DreamWorks, and taking two of my immediate superiors, Gary Krisel and Bruce Cranston, with him. Rich Frank (another of my bosses up the chain) also left. Dean Valentine was placed in charge of Walt Disney Television Animation and he had no affinity for Gargoyles or its spin-offs. And Michael, who had initiated the whole thing, had way bigger concerns on his plate. I was more or less forced out. But for one bright, shining moment...

3. GARGOYLES: I'm sure a lot of people are wondering what this means for our favorite winged warriors, but in the short term, I'm sure the answer is "Not much." Gargoyles is pretty much under Disney's radar right now, and really doesn't exist on Marvel's radar at all, as far as I can tell. We'll be an extremely low priority. Our best bet is still SLG, which HOPEFULLY will be motivated by the sales of the Trades to want to make more content with me. Having read Dan "Mr. SLG" Vado's recent reaction to the Disney/Marvel merger, I'm hoping he isn't too discouraged by being in bed with his competition. But I have no doubt that the best way to get Dan fully on board is to make it worth his while by having those trades sell VERY well. So again, buy the trades and/or SPREAD THE WORD!!!!

SUCH BIG NEWS

Okay, in the period of just a few days, I have been rocked by two incredible pieces of news.

1. Last Thursday (8/27/09), Vic Cook and I were informed that in exchange for some concession vis-a-vis the live action Spider-Man features, Sony returned the television rights (including the animated television rights) for Spider-Man to Marvel. This took place the day before ComicCon, I'm told. But I was only informed of it this past week.

2. Today (8/31/09) comes the news that Disney has purchased Marvel outright.

NOW, before you ask -- before you post a thousand duplicate and/or overlapping questions to ASK GREG -- let me be clear: I have NO IDEA what this means for either Gargoyles or The Spectacular Spider-Man. Neither of these developments are by definition good news or bad news. Shocking news, sure. But how it will play out for either or both properties is a complete mystery to me. As soon as I have ANY information on either property, I will post it here at ASK GREG. Until then, don't ask. Seriously. Just don't. There's just no point in bogging down the queue with questions I have no answer to. Thank you for your cooperation.

GATHERING 2009 - Sunday, August 23rd

GATHERING 2009 - Sunday, August 23rd

1am - Got back to my room.

2am - Went to bed.

9am - I woke up. Wow, a real night's sleep. I showered and dressed quickly, attempting to make the tail end of the staff breakfast, but got waylaid along the way by arriving guests, like Bob Kline. Managed to snag one croissant, but that's it.

10am - Gargoyles Production panel with Frank Paur, Bob Kline, Brad Rader, Pamela Long, Vic Cook, Greg Guler and Doug Murphy. More fun old stories.

11:30am - Spidey Production panel with Bob, Pamela, Vic, Greg, Kevin Altieri, Jennifer Coyle, Sean "Cheeks" Galloway, Joey Mason and Phil Weinstein. We showed the unaired scenes clip from ComicCon and the animatic for the main title. And again, more fun stories.

1pm - I finally had a break, but I couldn't resist sitting in on the Composer's panel with Carl Johnson, Gargoyles Composer, and Dynamic Music Partners (Lolita Ritmanis, Kris Carter and Michael McCuistion) the Spider-Man composers. They were WELL-prepared. Way more well-prepared than I was for any of my panels. Brought a bunch of clips and talked process. It was fascinating.

2:30pm - Writers Panel. From Spidey: Andrew Robinson, Kevin Hopps, Nicole Dubuc and Matt Wayne. From Gargoyles: Bob Skir and Michael Reaves. Michael has Parkinsons, so first Bob and later Michael's daughter Mallory Reaves served as interpreters for him. It was great having everyone there.

4pm - The writers (and Karine) had a signing.

5pm - My wife dropped my son Benny off at the con. So we hung out a bit.

6pm - Benny and I went to the Banquet. We sat with Gayle, Lauren, Ryan, Grey Wolf, Read and Abbie. Real sweet spread at the buffet. But I've forgotten exactly what. I guess I'm just not that into the food this time. Is that progress?

7:30pm - Another Q&A. This time with myself, Bob Skir, Vic Cook, Greg Guler, Nicole Dubuc, Kevin Altieri, Jennifer Coyle, Ben Diskin, Crispin Freeman, Karine Charlebois and Wendy Pini. Michael Reaves kibbitzed a bit from the sidelines too.

8:30pm - By this time, Beth had picked Benny up again. I went to the bar and hung out with Vic, Guler, Kevin, Jennifer, Wendy and Karine. Just had a coke.

9:30pm - Masquerade time. The judges were myself, Wendy Pini, Keith David, Thom Adcox, Ben Diskin, Carl Johnson and Karine Charlebois. I will attempt to remember all the awards we handed out, but I forgot to save my award sheet...

Best Junior - Ryan & Lauren as Owen & Banshee
Best Performance - Abbie as the Lady in the Lake
Best Original Character - Rika as Venus
Cutest Trio - Jade, Eric and Kyari as Fox, Owen and Alex
If I give you this, I'll have to kill you award - Zehra, Tony & Andrea as Shari & the Illuminati
Best Canon - Aaron as Upgraded Jackal
Excalibur Award - Justin as King Arthur
Gorelisa Award - Charlie as Kalia Sartre
Thom Adcox Memorial Award - Rebecca as a Star Trek Dispensable Red
Best in Show - Esopus as ... okay, this was best in show and it was really great, but I just can't remember the name of the character! SORRY!!!!

10:30pm - We all just hung out in the Ballroom for awhile. I chatted with GXB, Carl Johnson, Zehra & Sarah and many, many others...

MORE NEXT WEEK!!!!!

GATHERING 2009 - Saturday, August 22nd

GATHERING 2009 - Saturday, August 22nd

3am - Went to bed.

8am - Woke up, with five hours sleep being the most I'd had in any one night in over a week.

9am - Staff Breakfast. Usually, I'm all about telling you what I ate at every meal, but I just don't remember. Orange Juice and a croissant, I think. But also... uh... not sure.

10am - Jennifer and I were joined by Gargoyles/Spidey Voice Director Extraordinaire Jamie Thomason for our second round of auditions.

11:30am - Casting session. We only had thirteen slots for fans to participate in the play because of the LARGE pro "turnout". You see, most years I ask the pros to participate and we get one or two saying yes. But this year SIXTEEN said yes. So from a fan standpoint, we had an embarrassment of riches. Over forty people auditioned and most of those did great, so we decided to cast the thirteen slots, plus STEAL a role from Thom Adcox and give that to another fan, PLUS cast a couple of fans as understudies in case someone didn't show. (But everyone did.) We posted the cast list...

12pm - Lunch in the staff room with Marina Sirtis, Keith David, Karine Charlebois, Greg Bishansky, Thom Adcox and Keith's son Owen. It's always great to see Keith, but it was very cool to see Marina again, whom I haven't seen in years. And, man, has Owen grown!! Broccoli soup, salad, and... see, can't remember!

1pm - Gargoyles Voice Acting Panel with Jamie, Keith, Thom, Marina and Elisa Gabrielli. Fun stories told. Marina and I have very different memories about how she was cast. (I'm right, but I'd never say that.)

2:30pm - Spidey Voice Acting Panel with (again) Jamie, Keith and Elisa. Plus Dee Bradley Baker, James Arnold Taylor, Ben Isaac Diskin (what's with all these three name guys?), Steve Blum, Daran Norris, Deborah Strang, Vanessa Marshall, Josh Keaton, Andrew Kishino, Phil LaMarr, Crispin Freeman and Eric Vesbit. More fun stories. Jamie and I disagreed about how many characters we auditioned. And once again, I'm right. It's a blessing and a curse, as Monk would say.

4pm - Radio Play Rehearsal. We barely had time to do one full read through of the ridiculously long and over-stuffed radio play. There was really no time to direct the actors at all, beyond telling them to project louder, though Jamie and I tried to give an occasional pointer.

5:30pm - Radio Play. Gotta say, thanks to my shameless pandering in the script and the amazing talent of my cast, we really had a phenomenal success with the three night mess of a bloated script I wrote. Got lots of laughs, even a few gasps. Pros were spot on, of course, including some Gargoyles folks who hadn't played their characters in years. But our fan cast was great too.

Here's the cast list:

THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN MEETS GARGOYLES
“Religious Studies 101: A Handful of Thorns”
(Radio Play)
CAST LIST
NARRATOR - Greg Weisman
DEMONA/DOMINIQUE DESTINE - Marina Sirtis
SPIDER-MAN/PETER PARKER - Josh Keaton
GOLIATH - Keith David
LEXINGTON - Thom Adcox
ELISA MAZA - Zehra Fazal
BROOKLYN - John Clemens
CURT CONNORS/LIZARD - Dee Bradley Baker
BROADWAY - Crispin Freeman
ZAFIRO - Joshua Poole
MAY PARKER - Deborah Strang
GREEN GOBLIN - Steve Blum
OBSIDIANA - Elisa Gabrielli
KRAVEN THE HUNTER - Eric Vesbit
HARRY OSBORN - James Arnold Taylor
DOCTOR OCTOPUS/OTTO OCTAVIUS - Michael McAdam
J. JONAH JAMESON - Daran Norris
MARY JANE WATSON - Vanessa Marshall
ELECTRO - Crispin Freeman
VENOM/EDDIE BROCK - Ben Isaac Diskin
GEORGE STACY - Lucas McClain
BIG MAN - Keith David
CALYPSO EZILI - Jennifer L. Anderson
ASHLEY KAFKA - Elisa Gabrielli
ROBBIE ROBERTSON - Phil LaMarr
LIZ ALLAN - Kaitlyn Robrock
SALLY AVRIL - Jennifer L. Anderson
GWEN STACY - Sarah Williams
MATT BLUESTONE - Eric Tribou
GREG BISHANSKY - Greg Bishansky
KENNY KONG - Andrew Kishino
COLONEL JUPITER/JOHN JAMESON - Daran Norris
NED LEE - Andrew Kishino
VULTURE - Seth Jackson
FLASH THOMPSON - Ian Bassett
SHARI - Zehra Fazal
FANCY DAN - Phil LaMarr
GULYADKIN - Dee Bradley Baker
CARNAGE/CLETUS KASADY - Ian Bassett
HOMUNCULUS #1 - Dee Bradley Baker
HOMUNCULUS #2 - Phil LaMarr
HOMUNCULUS #3 - Steve Blum
HOMUNCULUS #4 - James Arnold Taylor
HOMUNCULUS #5 - Thom Adcox
SMUGGLER #1 - Andrew Kishino
DOMINIC DRACON - Seth Jackson
BLACKIE GAXTON - Steve Blum
EMILY OSBORN - Kaitlyn Robrock
TINKERER - Thom Adcox
SEYMOUR O’REILLY - Steve Blum
SILVER SPOON MANAGER - Crispin Freeman
ANGELA - Sarah Williams
PUMPKIN BOMB - Nicki France
THAILOG - Keith David
MARIA CHAVEZ - Elisa Gabrielli
FREDERICK FOSWELL - James Arnold Taylor
ALAN O’NEIL - James Arnold Taylor
ROSIE THOMPSON - Vanessa Marshall
MARGOT YALE - Marina Sirtis
MORGAN MORGAN - Keith David
JASON IONELLO - Ben Isaac Diskin
RAND ROBERTSON - Phil LaMarr
BRENTWOOD - Fox Anderson
CHAMELEON - Steve Blum
NORMAN OSBORN - Eric Vesbit
DILBERT TRILBY - Steve Blum

Thanks to the entire cast. You guys were amazing, and totally saved my butt.

7pm - Once the play was over, all the tension and adrenaline that it had generated over the last week or so melted away, leaving me nearly comotose. I went to dinner in the hotel with my wife Beth and my son Benny. I didn't eat much. Clam Chowder, a roll, a coke and a shrimp cocktail. I was all but passing out. Fortunately, I got a second wind... and I'd need it.

9pm - Blue Mug w/Thom Adcox and the staff of Blue Mug Productions: Mara Cordova, Kalia Sartre, Jennifer L. Anderson and Boswell Bosley. I had to duck out for awhile, and I hear Edmund Tsabard showed up and pretty much insulted everyone in the room. (So what else is new?) I came back, by which time Edmund was gone. I picked up my water glass to take a drink, and someone told me that Thom's chihuahua had sipped from my glass. Someone else pointed at another glass and said that was the one the dog had lapped from. I shrugged it off and sipped from my glass. Then Jen told me Edmund had used that glass. I did a spit-take. I mean do you know where Edmund's mouth has been?!!! I hate to do anything to promote anything that reprobate is working on, but the work of the rest of the Blue Mug staff is so good that I'll ignore his contribution and recommend BlueMugProductions.com to all of you (who are 18 or over). I've seen the work, and it's really good!!! By the way, whomever took my Vox-made macrame Greg doll and put an eyepatch on it to turn it into an Edmund doll: UNCOOL!!! I don't even see the resemblance anyway!

11:30pm - After the mug, a few of us -- Jennifer, Mara, Eric and Tony -- went upstairs to the staff room. I had a virgin jello shot. Black Cherry!

More tomorrow!