Arlo writes...

Hi Greg. Thanks for giving us this great series, and for all you do to help keep it alive. Here's my question:

I've always felt that "Hunter's Moon" was a much darker storyline than any of the other Gargoyles episodes we've seen. I don't know if it's the way all three episodes open with a flashback that involves someone seeking vengeance, or the fact that this is the first time we actually see Goliath wanting to commit premeditated murder (not just "murder in the heat of battle" like before), or the fact that we almost lose two regular cast members (Angela and then Elisa), or the theme of hatred being passed on from parent to child for a thousand years. Maybe it's just that there's hardly any comic relief in these episodes, as almost every scene seems to involve one of our regular cast members going through emotional turmoil in some way.

Anyway, I was just wondering if you were deliberately trying to set a darker tone for these episodes, or if this is just how I perceived them myself. And if it was deliberate on your part, just wondering what your motivation was for that, because these episodes really do stand out to me as the darkest episodes in the series. And if it wasn't deliberate, then is there anything which in hindsight might have contributed to these stories coming out this way?

Also, why is it that you chose for the series finale to be so dark? I'm not criticizing, because I love these episodes and I love Gargoyles, but it just seems unusual (not in a bad way) that in a show where you've said yourself that you wanted Goliath's basic optimism to shine through, the way you chose to write the finale was by telling a story where we see his most vengeful side coming out. Just interested in understanding what your motivation for that was, story-wise.

Thanks for taking the time to read this question, and for all you do.

Kofi Ki-Moon writes...

Hey Greg. I just had one question I wanted to ask you.

1. In the 2nd episode of the Pilot for Gargoyles, Owen mentions that Wyvern castle is haunted. Was this just originally a throw away line similar to Matt Bluestone's line about the Illuminati, or was did was the line meant all long to lay the seeds for a possible episode in the (then) future about the ghost of Hakon and the Captain? Or has it been so long that you honestly don't remember, because if it was that I honestly do understand.

Thanks.

Melissa writes...

First of all, let me say that how much I have always enjoyed Gargoyles. It was a high point of the afternoon for my younger brothers and me during the original run (while our mother enjoyed having a half hour relatively free of sibling squabbles), and now I'm having a lot of fun introducing the show to my 4-year-old son. So, you see, your show has multi-generational appeal! Thank you for all your hard work and vision.

Secondly, I guess my question is about your writing process. I recently discovered via this site your ideas for the prospective Gargoyles spin-offs. This suggests to me that you write with a, for lack of a better term, "master plan" in mind. Unlike, say, David Milch, who famously writes and re-writes furiously as new ideas occur to him, and actually plans out very little.

1)Would you say this is accurate?
2)If so, do you ever deviate from this plan, if a new and different idea strikes you?
3)Again if so, would you mind providing an example? (A Gargoyles show example would be just fine, I'm not asking for spin-off spoilers here!)

Thank you in advance for your time.

Captain Fan writes...

Someone in a Captain Action discussion group, found a clip from a Gargoyles episode entitiled "Eye of the Beholder". There is a brief appearance by Action Boy, who is the sidekick of Captain Action, a 1960's action figure from Ideal toys. His emblems were blacked out, I'm sure for copyright purposes. I was wondering if someone envolved with the show was a Captain Action or Action Boy fan. Anyway, it was a cool thing to see.

Greg Bishansky writes...

Not a question, but a comment. I was watching "Temptation" again, and when Demona first approaches Brooklyn she has this line "wasn't this like old times, fighting together side by side, comrades in arms..." and I have to say, kudos. Thanks to "Tyrants" and "The Gate" there so many more layers upon layers to that line especially. I could be wrong, but I never got the impression that they knew each other all that well prior to the massacre, so I used to wonder if the reference was generic or if she was just trying to make an appeal. Now, well... now the context of the line has changed, and for the better.

I don't know if the idea for their team up against Constantine existed in your head way back when "Temptation" was written, but I love moments of creative serendipity.

Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

This is possibly a separate subject from my first question:

After "Grief," how did Wolf get to Scotland, and subsequently back to New York? Not that Xanatos Enterprises lacks the resources to do so, but privately flying him so he can make friends with a possessed axe seems like a waste of Xanatos' effort. And I imagine that most humans at an airport would freak out if they got a good sight of him, and not allow him onto a passenger airplane. At least in the U.S., we need to show a face and a photo ID that match before boarding.

Thanks!

Vaevictis Asmadi writes...

*rushing in before the queue gets flooded*

I have a kind of strange Gargoyles question.

When watching The Green, I began to wonder something:

When Jackal bought Hyena a first-class airplane ticket, was it for a regular passenger plane? I can't imagine how they could get through airport security, even before 9/11 -- their bodies are full of knives, guns, and saws!

Thanks for putting up with our questions all these years.

Anonymous writes...

In awakenings when fortress 1 is destroyed we see the crew jumping out into the river. Does this mean all the crew escaped safely, if not were there any actual deaths from that incident?

Ice writes...

Alright, so, I'm curious about something. In Episode 2 Owen tells Xanatos that the cost of moving the castle and rebuilding it brick by brick would be "Astronomical". He also mentions something about the castle being hunted. Now, obviously now I know it was Hakon and the Captain. What I am wondering is if that was what was meant by that line at the time it was written for Owen, or if it was just a random throwaway line that ended up evolving into a part of the story like with Matt Bluestone's line about the Illuminati.

alfred writes...

I just wanted to ask something about the gargoyles episode The Gathering part 2.

Was Xanatos wearing an iron suit?If the suit is iron,how was Titania able to freeze him?

Anonymous writes...

According to your timeline, Demona and Thailog were back in New York when Oberon put the city to sleep. Did Demona and Thailog fall asleep?

Anonymous writes...

My question didn't appear for some reason:

In one episode of Gargoyles ("High Noon", I think it was), Lexington is attempting to fix Coldstone. For a split second, the name "OTHELLO" appears on his laptop, is this a name that Xanatos (or possibly Lexington) gave to him for programming reasons (or possibly as a Project name?) or was it an easter egg that was not meant to be taken literally?

Anonymous writes...

In Avalon Part II, why do the Weird Sisters say they are "banished from [Avalon] by a magicians parlor tricks"? Did the magus do more than turn them into owls or was it part of Oberon's law?

MasterGandalf writes...

Something that I've always wondered about "Double Jeopardy"- when Xanatos and Owen are discussing who could have "abducted" Thailog, Xanatos explicitly lists a small number of enemies- and he uses that exact word- who could have pulled it off. Specifically, the three he names are Demona, Renard, and Macbeth. Now the first two are easy enough to understand- Demona is the enemy of all humanity and has a history with Xanatos personally, while Renard is his main business competitor- but so far as we've seen Xanatos and Macbeth have only met in person twice (once in "Enter Macbeth", when Mac was actually working for Xanatos, albeit for his own reasons, and once in "City of Stone" when Mac pretty much ignored Xanatos and focused all his efforts on Demona). So my question is- why does Xanatos consider Macbeth an enemy? Have they had an offscreen run-in that we never saw, presumably because it didn't concern the gargoyles, that would lead to this attitude, or is it just a case of Xanatos naturally being wary of someone with the resources and skills to pose a legitimate challenge to him? Or is there some other reason?

A.B. Washington writes...

Hi, Mr. Weisman!!

In the episode "Eye of the Beholder", I've seen "Fox"(a.k.a. Jeanine Xanatos" turns back into her human self and she was naked in this episode, how did you guys come up with that story which aired many years ago??

Richard Jackson writes...

In "Leader of the Pack", there was that ship, Otoshiana-maru, and "otoshiana" means "pitfall" or "trap" in Japanese. While watching Targets, I got a kick when Superboy was giving the history of Rhelasia and he talks about the Bokun Dynasty starting in 1855. I realized, "bokun" means "split" or "cleave" in Korean, the ultimate fate of Rhelasia. Do I get a no-prize? I love how you use serendipitous names.

Anonymous writes...

Hey Greg, just curious: the folks who did Batman: the Animated Series have often said that if they could go back and change any one thing about any of their episodes, it would be to make Mr. Freeze's tears turn into snowflakes in "Heart of Ice"

My question now is this: if you could go back and change any one thing about one of your Gargoyles episodes, what would it be, and why?

MacLeod writes...

Hey Greg,

This one's about High noon. Did Demona ever pay for that taxi? And if so, were did she keep her money? I mean, she was wearing her Gargoyle outfit after all.

Tiffany writes...

I'm trying to find out which episode this part I remember comes from. In 1996 I saw part of an episode where Angela and Goliath were chained to the wall in a dungeon or metal room. The shackles were overhead and bolted into the wall, like the ones Doyle's men used on Lexington in Ransom. They were struggling when Elisa ran in and hit a button or switch that released them. "But we weren't able to leave," Goliath remarked. Do you know which episode this is? I've tried looking up guides, but I still haven't been able to find it.

Richard Jackson writes...

In "Golem", when Vogel reads the spell to transfer Renard's consciousness into the Golem, was he reading Hebrew in the original alphabet or a Latin alphabet transliteration?

John writes...

Dear Greg

Thank you for taking the time to answer all of our questions and for your part in creating so many works of exceptional story telling. May I please ask a few questions about City of Stone?

1. May I ask what the people of Manhattan thought of Demona's appearance when she appeared on their TVs? Did they just assume that she was a human in a really good costume?

2. May I ask whether the Weird Sisters saw the entirety of Demona's broadcast? In part 1, they appeared as super models standing with a crowd of New Yorkers in front of a TV store. If they did see the entire broadcast, were they unaffected simply because they're Children of Oberon?

3. Did Bodhe happen to see Demona when she first confronted the Hunter at Castle Moray? If so, may I ask if he recognized her and if he still thought of her as a potential ally?

Thank you for your time, and I apologize if any of my questions have been asked before.

Jurgan writes...

Thirty minutes left until the reairing of the Young Justice premiere, so I thought I'd pass the time asking a completely unrelated question.

I saw your recent response about zombies, and how you like the old-fashioned "voodoo zombies" but not the modern, post-Romero zombies. I at least partly disagree, as I feel the best zombie movies can be good vehicles for social commentary (for instance, I thought the recent Land of the Dead was a brilliant metaphor for war profiteering- on the other hand, Dawn of the Dead was probably pretty clever at the time, but criticism of shopping malls now seems hopelessly dated). But that's just a difference of opinion. I was more interested in seeing how zombies might show up in your work.

1. Did you think of Goliath in "Temptation" as a zombie? Was that intentional on your part?

2. Do you think zombies may make a more formal appearance in Gargoyles, or have you covered that ground in "Temptation?"

Thanks for reading. I'll probably write up a ramble on YJ sometime this weekend, once I've seen it.

Xander writes...

As the conspiracy buff that I am, I found a few references to the Erisian's Law of Fives on Gargoyles (most of which from "Revelations") that I would like you to bear in mind:

a) Mace Malone's key number was 23 (2+3=5).
b) Matt's key number was 13 (23-5-5=13; or 5+5+13=23)
c) Elisa and Matt work on the 23rd precinct;
d) and the most creepy of them all: this episode is the 36th to be produced, which means that by subtracting the 13 episodes of season one, it becomes the 23rd produced episode of season two!

I was wondering if these references were intentional or are just coincidental.

Sasha writes...

Dear Greg,
I have always wondered about what happened to the audio tape which Elisa recorded in Season 1 Episode 12, when Fox confessed to her all of Xanatos's schemes concerning Derek/Talon. Did Derek/Talon ever listen to it, either before or after his mutation? If not, what became of the tape?

Anonymous writes...

In "City of Stone," Demona said that after the clan and Xanatos blew up, she would take her laser cannon to Owen, Elisa, and Bronx.

Why was she going to kill Bronx? What did the poor beast ever do to her? She's another gargoyle, and still clan as far as Bronx knows. Couldn't she just take him home?