Anonymous writes...

How advanced is the Illuminati¡¯s tech? Beyond Xanatos¡¯s tech? Anywhere close to New Olympian tech?

matt writes...

in "Vows" Xanatos says a line and i'm not sure how/what he means with it?

does he say "Time travels funny that way." meaning that time is traveling funny or does he say "Time travel's funny that way." meaning that time travel itself is funny that way? does that make sense? i keep reading over it and i think it makes sense...

anyway, kinda a pointless question, but one i've been wanting to ask for a while now...

but on a related note, right before Xanatos says that, Goliath says he wishes he could leave Xanatos in that time and Xanatos says "You won't, because you didn't..." how did Xanatos know that? Goliath could've very well left Xanatos there and that may have been what always happened! you could say, Xanatos would've sent a letter to the Illuminati warning himself of his fate or some excuse like that, but as we've seen in "MIA" that letter would've been lost or something and all his ways of warning himself would've fallen through cuz the point is he did end up in Goliaths time and if he warned himself it would have created a paradox! so, there is no way Xanatos would have known for sure that Goliath wouldn't leave him there. was he saying that to Goliath to kinda trick Goliath into thinking that he had to bring him home or something, or was Xanatos just being confident and egotistical of his abilities to have a plan all worked out?

i hope all parts of this post make sense to you. if they don't, i apologize, its late...

Lord Sloth writes...

Had Elisa ever meet Either Xanatos or Owen berfore awakening part 3? If yes, when?

Todd Jensen writes...

Since you and Entity recently (as of July 20th) had a brief exchange about Xanatos's characterization, I thought that I'd give a thought of my own about him.

One thing that has occurred to me is that there was an intriguing paradox about Xanatos in his "feud" with the gargoyles. One advantage that Xanatos had over the conventional "cartoon super-villain" was that he was a level-headed, practical man who wasn't interested in revenge or pointless vendettas. And this, on one level, made him potentially a more challenging adversary for the gargoyles. Because as a result, he wasn't likely to get so distracted in carrying out his personal score with the clan that he'd make foolish mistakes which they could take advantage of and thereby win, the way that more conventional "master-villains" in animated series do (and which, elsewhere in "Gargoyles", the Archmage himself fell prey to, when he kept on making strategic and tactical errors in "Avalon" - such as not waiting until dawn to attack or in magically tormenting Goliath when he could just as easily have simply zapped him into a pile of dust). It removed the leading source of "mistakes that antagonists make" which can save the day for the protagonists.

But, ironically enough, this very trait of Xanatos's also may have helped the gargoyles in a way. For, since Xanatos wasn't a revenge-crazed man, he wouldn't be likely to be constantly pursuing the gargoyles obssessively in "conventional cartoon super-villain" style, and indeed, he didn't. He went after them because he had specific plans about what to do with them (using them as his agents for such operations as stealing the disks from Cyberbiotics). But that motive didn't take too long to be discarded, as it became increasingly aware to Xanatos that he couldn't make use of the gargoyles in that way ever again; in fact, I recently noticed, upon examining his actions closer, that in Season Two, despite his continued clashes with the clan, he had stopped attempting to actually capture and dominate them (the one exception being his capture of Hudson in "The Price", and then there was a different reason for that - the need to use Hudson as a guinea pig for the Cauldron of Life). So he no longer had a serious reason for capturing them, and consequently, didn't see the need to make those efforts. The only possible reason left for going after the gargoyles was that of revenge, and that obviously didn't interest him. So he had no reason to pursue them (and indeed, seems to have even been aware, as the ending of "City of Stone" makes clear, that leaving them more or less at liberty could be much more advantageous to him anyway). He could afford to leave them alone.

So I find it an amusing paradox that the very factor which could have made Xanatos a serious threat to the gargoyles actually helped to make him less of a threat than he might have been. He wasn't obssessively pursuing them on the basis of a pointless grudge. He went after them only when he saw a genuine need to, and there was increasingly less reason for him to capture or destroy the whole clan as the series went on (and good reason, on the other hand, to let them be).

Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky writes...

Now that he has made peace with the Manhattan Clan, would Xanatos have continued to make use of the Steel Clan, or his Steel Clan exo-armor?

Lord Sloth writes...

When Puck was offering Xanatos 1 wish or life service, wouln't that be breaking Oberon's law if David chose the wish?

Entity writes...

Hello,

I've recently allowed myself to be engulfed in astrology, and so I'm wondering:

1) What is Xanatos' birthday?

2) What is Elisa's birthday?

3) What is Goliath's "hatch"-day?

4) What is YOUR birthday?

Thanks :)

Lord Sloth writes...

Did Xanatos tell his present day Illuminati friends about his his plans for time traval? If he did, wouldn't they want he to retreve the Phenix gate?

Entity writes...

Hi again,

This is on Xanatos. Someone asked about the logic of Xanatos going through all of the trouble of bringing the gargs to life, only to have them steal some disks, then to just wastefully try to eradicate them with the Steel Clan. I have been conflicted with this contradiction in Xanatos' character as well, and I think it is a result of so much having to be inferred from the episodes. As viewers we are accustomed to being handed everything on a silver platter. Mainstream America is lazy like that. But in a 22-minute cartoon, you didn't have that kind of time. You couldn't explain everything. So characterization, especially, needed to be shown not told.

In Xanatos' case, he really is more of the trickster than the megalomaniac. In the show we got more of an impression of control and dominance. This is the air that X likes to put off. Cool and collected. With a master plan for everything. This was mostly a FRONT. The REAL Xanatos is, as you've accentuated through your episode reviews, a trickster. He lives by the moment. He's a thrill seeker. He makes up his plans as he goes along. That's why his plan in "Metamorphosis" seemed so flimsy, as so many Ask Gregers have brought up. That's why he seemed to change priorities so much in the first season. He re-evaluated. And if you think about it, this more dynamic approach to his character makes his 'reformation' all the more plausible. X, whether we've realized it or not, was in a constant state of change throughout the entire series.

Alex Wittenberg writes...

In "Hunter's Moon," Xanatos and Owen seem rather unsurprised that the Gargoyles were based at the clocktower above Maza's stationhouse. Is this because Xanatos realized how obvious that should have been when he heard the news, or because at some point before this he figured it out and chose not to pursue it?

Lord Sloth writes...

How did Xanatos know what Iago and Desdemona looked like when he desined their robots?

The Mighty Thor writes...

I was just wondering Who did Xanatos vote for in this last election Bush or Clinton?

Sloth writes...

Was there a point To Xanatos finding out that Goliath was missing in "Kingdom" other than to prove that Brooklen is a good desision maker? Xanatos did meet up with Goliath in Arazona, but that seemed to be a coincidence that he turned to his advantage in finding Cyotie (the trickster, not the robot :^). Was this a point you wanted to expand more on?

Sloth writes...

All right, some more since it doesn't look like my others will be awnsered for a while.

How did Xanatos know to look for Coldstone in the Himalayas?

Shavri writes...

Hi, Mr. Weisman! I'm curious, how come Xanatos, in "Cloud Fathers," didn't seem to notice that Angela would have been a little too old, _biologically_, to be Goliath's daughter? I mean, she's like what--10 years younger than her father? I would have thought that was a little odd. How about you?

Rob Irwin writes...

#3
When Puck showed himself to Xanatos and offered a wish or life time service, did immortality cross divid's mind, was he not interested in it at the time, or did he think he could get his service and try to live forever another day?

I'll add this one too cause it's about Xanatos. What were Xan's thinkings when he made the steel clan and decided to kill the gargs. He went through a lot of trouble and money to bring them back just to have them steal some disks and then pulverize them. And when he gets out of jail he wants to go back to using them. Can this be explained?

One more about future stories if it's alright. Was Xanatos compleatly turned to a "good guy" or would he latter have had his moarlity conflict with his need for immortality. Same about Fox
Thank U

Rob (the Sloth) Irwin writes...

Does Demona know that Puck is serving Xanatos, since she said "You served the human, now you serve me".
just wondering

Alex "Cyclonus" Bishansky writes...

Ok, a rather stupid question.

Xanatos, Republican or Democrat?

Rhythm writes...

I am so agog, aghast, and pleasantly stunned that you still take the time to do these! Well done, Mr. Weisman. I join in the multitudes begging for the restoration and continuation of this series.

Oh don't worry, I do have a question. Don't think I'm just here to spread big words. Tell me, part of what got me so interested in Gargoyles in the first place was that the gargoyles and ol' Xanatos and other assorted characters were Scottish. I'm sort of fascinated with my heritage and it led me to wonder, did you ever work the Scottish independence into the plot, even if only in your head? You know, similar time period to, for lack of a better reference, "Braveheart"? (Awful film, IMHO...)

matt writes...

Blaise's ramble reminded me of a question i've been meaning to ask...
how does Martin Hacker rank in the Illuminati? obviously hes higher up than Matt, but probably lower than Mace was... he was partnered with Matt years ago, meaning that hes been an Illuminatus for years, is he higher up than Xanatos? how long has Xanatos been an Illuminati member?

Anonymous writes...

How does Xanatos exploit the New Olympians?

matt writes...

ok, for most the sereis Xanatos doesn't know where the gargs new home is, suddenly in "Hunter's Moon" he does. my guess is that Owen/Puck found out from Goliath in "Future Tense" that the live in the Clocktower and then he told Xanatos, is that right? if not, how did Xanatos find out? i think that Xanatos was smart enough to figure they lived in the Clocktower after two years anyway, i mean, it was an obviously good place to Elisa, couldn't Xanatos figure it out?

matt writes...

i just watched "Enter Macbeth". i think this was the first of lots of sad ending-episodes... after this in "Reawakening" Coldstone is awakened and apparently dies, in "Metamorphosis" Derek is mutated and decieved by Xanatos, really sad ending, in "Legion" Coldstone is brought back but is destroyed by a virus, and on and on until "Hunters Moon" when the Clocktower is destroyed and the gargoyles are exposed. a very bittersweet series, really, i love it! anyway, back to my point, in "Enter Macbeth" you opened with Xanatos in prison in a dark cell eating bad prison food, while the gargs are living it up at the Eyrie, Broadway cooking in a well-equiped kitchen, Hudson watching the tube in his own tv room, Brooklyn and Lex playing cards in the big foyer, Goliath reading in the nice library, and the Grimorum safe in a high-tech glass display case. but by the end of the episode the clan is the ones living in the dark uncomfortable cell, the Clocktower, no more tv room, you have to break into the public library to read, the best you have for a kitchen is a hotplate, and the Grimorum is now stored in a closet behind a regular wooden door, and as for Xanatos, he's back home now, living the good life atop the worlds tallest building. now, my literature teacher in high school taught me to always see symbolism in everything and though i didn't see it before, this whole episode teems with it. i just wanted to congratulate you and the writers, this is great television, i think!

Jim R. writes...

A few questions on "Legend" mainly some technical quarks, I noticed:

1. Who had the idea for designing the animation for the inside circuitry of Coldstone? I know its just a cartoon, but those gates that were opening and closing with electricity when Coldstone was repairing himself, I guess were supposed to be transistors, but looked nothing like them.
2. Who also, had the idea for the computer virus? Not exactly the way I'd see a virus, maybe in a biological sense. Nevertheless I guess it's how it's perceived by the person in contact with it, mainly Goliath, Coldstone, etc.
3. What caused Coldstone to go after the government-related data? It seemed as if the programming were controlling his actions, not one of the three souls trapped within him. He looked as if he were moving on impulse giving me the impression that someone else (maybe Xanatos) was controlling him remotely.
4. Even if one of the three souls (probably the hated one) was controlling him, what purpose would it want with government-related data on weapons systems? (That being if Coldstone was not being controlled remotely by someone else.)
5. How do the police boats coming after Matt B.'s VR device not notice the gargoyles? Surely someone would have noticed something seeing how they were in the middle of the bay, and the only means of escape for the gargs would be to liftoff.
6. At the end, Xanatos is sitting in front of his computer looking at what I guess is the virus running on it. If the virus were the most potentially-dangerous computer virus created thus far, why did it not destroy any of the files on his computer? Or did it?

Jim R. writes...

Oh, one other statement on "Metamorphosis":
The course of events leading up to Derek being accidently injected with the mutagenic formula seemed awkward. Was it Xanatos' plan to have Derek mutated? In a way it seems it was Derek's fate to be transformed since he asked to go with Xanatos, even though Xanatos said "That won't be necessary." But Derek insisted and ended up going for the ride.

What if Derek didn't go along or had never made an attempt to take the shot for Xanatos when Sevarius was going to shoot the mutagenic formula at him initially? Xanatos would have been hit with it and he would have mutated. That must have been one hell of a risk he took, not knowing that Derek might not come to his rescue. Seeing how the whole time Xanatos and Sevarius were allied and the whole thing seemed like a setup for Derek. But it still gets me as to why the things happened the way they did? For the story's sake in suppose. I at least would have expected Xanatos to scold Sevarius for almost shooting at him. Or is there something that I am missing?