Axem Gold writes...

First of all, I apologize for posting the question about Crisis On Infinite Earths. I missed that one while browsing the archives, anyway I have a few comments:

1. I'll be getting the JLA Showcase. The issue with the Captain Atom/JLE/Gargoyles. For anyone else reading who has a question about the issue, its: JLA Showcase #1 (February 2000) 80 Page.

2. I'm sure this would be on topic since like question 1 it is about comic book heroes. You considered the Original Pack to be a cross between Power Rangers/Professional Wrestling, and Macbeth to be an Anti-Batman. Now could Xanatos be considered an Anti-Iron Man?

Both Xanatos and Tony Stark are both wealthy, as well as having facial hair and wear a suit of tech armor.

What do you think?

The Masked Retriever writes...

My Puck/Owen Ramble:

I didn't see it coming, okay? Maybe I'm thick or something but I did not have the -slightest- clue that Owen was really the Puck. Did. Not. See it. I was blown away, to put it mildly. I fell out of my chair and frothed for a bit. Having managed to see these episodes in order, I'd seen all of Owen's episodes and Puck's and still didn't see it coming. Later, when I re-watched City of Stone, I fell over again: YOU KNEW ALL ALONG!! HINTS!!! EVERYWHERE!!! AGhthth!

As to the stone fist, I'd read it like this: Owen didn't know -what- the cauldron would do, but figured if it was something really bad, he could always get a new hand, given some time. His faith in Xanatos' technology was quite high, and there was ample evidence that Xanatos was developing loyalty-like emotions of his own. (I say loyalty-like because frankly Xanatos is one scary bugger, even post-Gathering.) As for Xanatos, I (wrongly, it turned out) read him as really feeling something there, some shock, some dismay and even sympathy, BUT knowing that the worst thing he could express was sympathy. It's not the Xanatos way to cry over spilled milk, or even a few gallons of spilled blood. You arch an eyebrow, make a mental note, and go on. To me at least, he did Owen a great service by reacting in the most Xanatos way possible, and in fact anything else would have been an insult to what I thought at the time was a huge (but on some level, justified as it IS freaking immortality) sacrifice.

(That last bit works really well even if you know about Puck, but it's far less dramatically heavy and more of a sublimely funny moment the two friends share. To translate the lines into Dude-where's-my-car-ese: "Hey, check it. Human form, human effects." "Huh huh. Awesome." The pair are actually -both- parodying themselves here, Owen being subserviant to the point of near-insanity, and Xanatos blowing it off. I like to think that here Xanatos is kind of thinking to himself "boy, I'm kind of a jerk, aren't I" but having more fun playing the part than any sort of remorse-like emotions.

If I somehow haven't said it enough, holy crap Gargoyles is the awesomeness, I've bought two copies each of the two DVD sets out, and I am obsessed with Xanatos' scary hotness. I have a LiveJournal icon of him from "The Edge" with the words "OMG XANATOS!" blinking underneath it. A toast to the prettiest, scariest, yummiest villain of all time.

Rob writes...

Hi there Greg, this is the same Rob that wrote a question about the mirror WAY back in July of 2003. It was just answered recently in 2005. So I'll be here when you do get to my newest question, sometime in 2007? 2008? I'll be graduating college by then.

So I believe I should start off first by saying that this is one of the best shows I've ever seen. The characterization, the chronology, the painstaking detail are things of beauty. I am certainly grateful that you and your staff are such perfectionists, because that makes this story and mythology stand out from all the rest. The two seasons you worked on (and hopefully whatever there is to come) are masterful. Thank you for such an amazing television show.

And now to my question:
Before reading some of your answers and ramblings, I had always been disappointed in hero films or books when the hero is saved by something too lucky. I'm thinking, like in Die Hard when John McClain is in the air conditioning vents and the bad guy almost discovers his whereabouts, but leaves before he is able to kill him. Or in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, Indy is almost killed when hanging off the edge of the Nazi tank (because it was heading towards a cliff), but it veers out of the way at the last second. I always thought that it made the hero look weak because he wasn't saved by his own mental or physical prowess, but by luck or a villain's incompetence or even fate. But you made me realize that the hero is guided by fate, so any goofy saves or too lucky occurrences work because fate is at work there. So like I said fate guides the Gargoyles and the other heroes in the Garg Universe. Awhile back, you said heroes from around the world have awakened at around the same time because of something big.
*So I just wanted to ask whether Xanatos's "face turn" (becoming a 'good guy') to use a wrestling term and truce with the Gargoyles is also one of the awakenings of the heroes from around the world? I wager he would certainly be able to help with whatever this big thing is.

Thanks a lot Greg.

Rhea writes...

'The Mirror' is one of my favorites eps. But one thing bothered me about it when I first found out about Owen being Puck.
Did Puck transform Xanatos into a gargoyle with the rest of the city? Or did his terms/agreement with Xanatos prevent him from doing so?

Egon Pax writes...

What college did Xanatos go to and/or what kind of work did he do immediately after college?
Did he use up the entire twenty grand he recieved from that coin all on college expenses or did save some of that money to set himself up in the business world?

Todd Jensen writes...

A question about Xanatos's attempts to capture the clan in "The Edge" and "Re-awakening".

Xanatos's original goal for the gargoyles was to serve as his henchmen, the purpose for which he awakened them in "Awakening". However, after they discovered his true purpose for them, that prospect was clearly no longer an option. Xanatos seems to have, for the most part, recognized that, since a lot of his schemes after "Awakening" turned towards making his own gargoyles (the Steel Clan, the Mutates, Thailog) who would be more willing to serve him. But in "The Edge" and "Re-Awakening", he still attempts to capture Goliath and his clan, even though he was clearly aware that the ship had sailed on their continuing to work for him.

In "The Edge", of course, Xanatos had other goals besides just capturing the gargoyles or discovering their hiding place (giving the Eye of Odin to the MOMA and then stealing it back so that he could enjoy the benefits of donating the Eye and still have it in his possession, testing his gargoyle armor, testing himself against Goliath to make certain that he wasn't losing his edge), and in the case of "Re-Awakening", Xanatos clearly had uses for Coldstone other than fighting the gargoyles (as the raid on the Golden Bakery Building in "Legion" made clear). But the fact that he was still making a major objective of capturing the gargoyles in both of those stories indicates that he still wanted the clan.

Since (as I mentioned above) Xanatos knew by this time that the gargoyles were on to him and that he couldn't hope to dupe them again into, say, stealing technology from rival corporations, what was he hoping to achieve by taking the clan prisoner? Did he have other plans for having the gargoyles work for him than duping them? Or (as "The Price" suggests) did he have plans for making the gargoyles useful to him that didn't require their being his henchmen?

snoop g'rgg writes...

Why didn't Xanatos use his power and influence to have Elisa kick off the force or have her kill?

Entity994 writes...

WALKABOUT

I'm not big on relating my entire reaction to an episode, but highlighting certain key reactions of mine that stand out. I'll start with the negative. The idea that this Matrix could be so rapidly developed by Xanatos along with all his other projects struck me as reaching a little far. That he never chooses to use the technology for commercial gain in industry (nanite construction) or medicine (nanite healers) also threw me.

Of course, this was Fox's and Anastasia's experiment, not so much Xanatos'. I liked the notion that perhaps Anastasia infused the Matrix with magic in order to accelerate it. I also choose to believe that the Matrix represented, for Xanatos, a sort of dark temptation. I like to think that after the failure in Australia, Xanatos decides it was for the best and that transfiguring the whole world for his purposes is not him, it is the deep inner demon in him that must be silenced. I think Xanatos is a guy who values reason and considers it the barrier and interpreter between his dark, inner demon and his outer surface of grace, charm and tact.

Anyway, I loved Dingo, the Shaman, and the Dreamtime. Neither the Shaman nor the Dreamtime were very thoroughly developed, but that is what I liked about them. The spare dialogue made the Shaman and the Dreamtime feel more mysterious and therefore attractive. The way the Dreamtime was used as a bridge of communication with the Matrix was a stroke of brilliance, I thought.

Finally, in the Dreamtime, I loved the way the Matrix is represented -- as that mechanical set of arms and gyroscopic "eye" that zooms in on Goliath like an insect as he gives his gloriously-written and very eloquent speech, which I also loved. Tha whole scene is perfect and made the episode for me. I love the stuff Goliath will say in a tight spot that manages to convey desparation and maintains eloquence at the same time.

Fluffy writes...

Refering to the choice Xanatose made with Owen.
Just how did Owen show himself as puck to Xanatose with out brakeing Oberon's law?

Arwen Black writes...

a)Do you know how all of the star trek- people got involved in the show, there's so many of them.

b) i just started watching Star treck; the next genoration a few months back, and when i first started watchin the show i had an ishue... every time riker talked, i pictured xanatos. dont think i'm weird or anyhting (tho i kinda am, but whatever) but i was wondering if you wathced ST:TNG, has this ever hapened to you??

Lawrence Matheson writes...

When Did Xanitos become a member of the Illuminati, did the letter he sent himself have anything to do with it?(other than his wealth)P.S any fans of the show who thinks they can answer this question can write to me at opinionsrgood@hotmail.com

Phoenician writes...

Hey Greg,

I'm was just wondering: What does Xanatos Enterprises actually do anything in a business like way?
I know it's rival is mainly Cyberbiotics (Especially in "Outfoxed" when its seen that destroying Reynard's company would let Xanatos monopolize the industry), and that company deals with robots and such, but does Xanatos do any business besides SteelClan Robots, The "Cold" androids (Such As ColdStone, ColdFire, and ColdSteel), The Illuminati, Gen-U-Tech, Pack Media, and other shady Deals? The Matrix may be one, but I'm not sure, seeing Anastasia Reynard/Titania in that episode makes me think of Cyberbiotics.

Dasrik writes...

I know you hate hypotheticals, Greg, but this one has been kind of bugging me.

We all know Xanatos is given to fits of megalomania...

If he had chosen the wish instead of servitude, do you think Puck would have had the power to grant it?

Lawrence Matheson writes...

How similar are coyote 1.0 and the program Xanitos put on Coldstone to monitor his personalities as they both seemed to be based on Xanitos but were either an AI?Did they know of each other?

Francois Ferland writes...

Hi Greg. Another question, a short(er!) one this time concerning Xanatos.

1. Following "The Journey", you said Xanatos would still retain his ambitions despite having different priorities now and having made peace with Goliath.

Since Xanatos has a tendency to be a bit ruthless whenever it fits his goals, were you planing on having this cause tension between him and the clan in the future, who would obviously be aware of some of his dealings now that they're back on his doorstep? I doubt Goliath would be happy finding out the landlord was involved in immoral business similar to the Matrix or the Mutates...

Thanks again for listening, we really appreciate it!

Andrea writes...

In the art room at the Gathering, While looking at the some od the photos Disney most graciously lent us, I found myself discussing one of the photos to two other people (I have no idea who..). You see, among the character prototypes (or whatever the heck you call 'em, thats the word that comes to mind right now) there was one of a stone Xanatos. This was od some surprize and confustion. Why? Because Xanatos never turned to stone! Practically everyone else did in City of Stone, but he didn't (and I don't reacall any other epsiode where a non-gargoyle was turned to stone). What gives? Did he turn to stone in the original plannings for that episode or something?

Anonymous writes...

Why didn't Xanatos destroy the head of Coyote 1.0

Ann Onimous writes...

Have you read the Artemis Fowl series? If you have who do you think would win the battle of wits Xanatos or Artemis?

John writes...

Again, Hi Greg,

WOW, more german Fans to post here... maybe we should switch languages! ;)

Two more questions:

1.: Where/When did Demona and Xanatos met?

2.: How did Xanatos get the Grimorum?

Mach's gut und hab' einen schoenen Tag,
CU,
John

Puck Robyne Lover!! writes...

Can you give me a family tree of oberon and titiania's children across the centuries? I can't figure out if Puck is Alexnder Xanatos is pucks nephew or not. I would really like to know about Puck's/owen's secret love that you mentioned earlier too.

ANONYMOUS writes...

Not sure if you have answered this but if you have I am sorry to have repeated it. In TGC and by the end of the original show that you worked on it is shows that Xanatos has reformed now that he has Alexander.

1) Is he really reformed or is it just another ploy of his?

2) Why didn't he have the mutates turned back into humans if he was?

3) Would the mutates want to be turned back into humans? Being mutates let's them to help others better than when they were human.

4) Why did Xanatos's go after Derek to make him into Talon? I know that it was not some vindictive plan of his against Elisa since you have mentioned before that he isn't the sort to seek vengeance on someone.

Yehat writes...

Hi,

I just looked at some episodes recently and something funny struck me. The Eyrie Building's. Its main gate's castle was wide open even though we were many hundreds of meters.

Do you suppose Xanatos should have closed that gate or did he found a practical use for it?

matt writes...

while watching "The Price" tonight, something struck me for the first time: when Xanatos builds the robot to distract the Clan while he does his thing with Hudson, why does he model the robot after MacBeth? he could've modeled any number of 'villains' or even a new character, so why MacBeth?

Todd Jensen writes...

My ramble on "Upgrade".

I'll confess, for a start, that "Upgrade" isn't one of my favorite episodes, due mostly to the fact that it seemed much more like a half-hour "slugfest" than is generally the case with "Gargoyles" (although, given that we're dealing with the Pack here, I suppose it's inevitable - they're not the most subtle antagonists out there, after all). But it had some parts of it that I rather liked.

The transformations of Jackal, Hyena, and Wolf definitely freaked me out. In fact, the first time that I saw this episode, I tried to believe, for a while, that Jackal and Hyena were simply wearing fancy mechanical armor, but the evidence against that was too strong; I had to face the facts, in the end, and realized that they'd become cyborgs. And that definitely chilled me. (In Wolf's case, I didn't even have the option of finding an alternative explanation; it was too obvious that he'd been mutated.) Those three had permanently changed, on the physical level, from what they'd been in "The Thrill of the Hunt". They were no longer fully human. In fact, to me, the real significance of their alterations in "Upgrade" wasn't what you'd pointed out (they need to be upgraded so that it won't be too easy for the gargoyles to take them down - though I did see that there) but rather the way that the three of them were growing less human, their physical transformation being almost an outward sign of their increasing degeneracy.

By contrast, I liked Dingo's refusal to become physically upgraded, and horror at what his teammates had done to themselves. In fact, that was definitely when I began to like Dingo, as opposed to seeing him as just another member of the Pack (as he'd been to me up until then). (It certainly echoed my response to their transformations, which, I suspect, was how most of the audience was similarly responding). I wasn't surprised, therefore, when he was no longer with the Pack in "Grief" afterwards, or when he was shown seeking to "go straight" in "Walkabout". This was definitely the point where we see the "break with Eastcheap" (I chose that particular phrase inspired by your idea of Dingo's real name being Harry Monmouth, and the parallel is definitely there - though I might add that I don't see any of his former Pack-mates being a Falstaff-figure - more on the level of Falstaff's associates like Bardolph or Pistol, perhaps, but not scaling the heights of comic genius of Sir John himself - not that they were meant to.)

We also see the definite introduction (though it'd been hinted at in "Leader of the Pack") of Hyena's interest in Coyote, which has to count as the most bizarre relationship in "Gargoyles"; even Jackal gets nauseated by it, and this is a guy whose idea of a good time is redesigning Goliath's features in his stone sleep.

One side-note: re Hyena's wondering aloud whether gargoyles taste like chicken. I've sometimes wondered why the phrase is "tastes like chicken" as opposed to "tastes like beef" or "tastes like pork", or "tastes like turkey". Just one of life's little mysteries, I suppose.

On the gargoyles' side, we get to see Brooklyn becoming the new second in command. I will admit that I honestly hadn't wondered about that issue until the episode came out. (I've occasionally wondered if Goliath didn't pick one before this episode had anything to do with it having last been filled by Demona, but that's probably a bit of a stretch.) I did think that Brooklyn fitted the role well, and liked the bit at the end where he admits that he's not in that big a hurry to take Goliath's place. And where Goliath offers the role to Hudson, but Hudson declines it.

I still get a kick out of Fox's little public service announcement: "Don't 'Pack' it in. Take the train." Pretty clever of her.

I don't find Officer Morgan's remark that troublesome; in fact, I found it quite amusing.

Incidentally, Xanatos's remark at the end about having found a true equal in Fox reminds me of your analysis of Theseus, where you saw him as having found his equal in the Amazon Queen Hippolyta/Antiope. It makes me wonder whether you'd included a little of your perception of Theseus and Hippolyta in Xanatos and Fox (whether consciously or otherwise). Come to think of it, there's even a slight connection between the two couples, via "A Midsummer Night's Dream".