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Lord Sloth writes...
Why do none of the New Olimpians bother to tell Goliath that there are other Gargoyles on New Olimpis? Where do the other gargoyles live on the island? How big is the Island? it looked like it was just one floating city.
Greg responds...
It's fairly big. They may have thought Goliath knew. The Gargoyles of New Olympus are isolationists, even from their fellow citizens.
Anonymous writes...
Were you trying to imitate Kirby's Gods among us theme when you were developing New Olympians?
Greg responds...
As I've mentioned before, Kirby's Eternals (and to a lesser extent his Inhumans and New Gods) were definite inspirations. We hope what we created was unique and original, but I don't deny the influence. We were going for something Kirbyesque.
Lord Sloth writes...
What part did Roddy McDowell play in Gargoyles?
Greg responds...
Proteus.
Todd Jensen writes...
You recently (as of June 29) mentioned that New Olympus is a representative democracy. However, in the television episode, the New Olympians (during the scene where Elisa is on trial in the Senate-house; I believe that it's Ekidna who says it) describe their homeland as a kingdom. How do we reconcile these statements? Was there some sort of change in government system since New Olympus was originally founded?
Greg responds...
Yes.
Anonymous writes...
Were you ever influenced by the Inhumans of Marvel comics while you were making New Olympians?
Greg responds...
More the Eternals and the New Gods. But I suppose you could throw the Inhumans in there too. It was a very Kirby-inspired concept, and we made no bones about it. Bob Kline, Gargoyles' original Development Art Director and later a Producer/Director on the series' second season, came up with the original idea that developed into New Olympians. This was some time before Gargoyles. We later folded it in.
Laura 'ad astra' Ackerman writes...
I was looking over the [finally] completed description of the future series and after happily ooing and aahing, I had a few questions.
-1- I noticed that Broadway and Angela's biological children had similar sounding names, (arthurian in my mind). Since they were not named specifically by the parents but rather as clan children, (I assume), I was wondering if this was intentional. Are rookeries intentionally named with similar names, like the angel theme with the Avalon eggs? Do near rookeries share somewhat similar names and distant ones more different ones? Am I reading way too much into a statistical sample of three?
[Side question- Broadway, raised by Gargoyles would not care who was his biological child, but Angela was raised by humans, even if they did try to follow the gargoyle mode. Does she care a little, or at least think about it?]
-2- Nicolas Natzilani Maza, (please excuse my spelling, I am composing this offline): From which of the current Maza siblings does he descend?
-3- Alexander Fox Xanatos IV: I have a feeling I am being a bit dense here, but is he the same Alex as Alexander Fox Xanatos I but covering for extreme longevity?
-4- I don't remember any mention of the New Olympians. Do they play a notable role? If not, where are they?
-5- Logistically I am confused about something- In a perfect world all the Gargoyle spin offs would be running at the same time for an indefinate amount of time. More specifically Time Dancer and Gargoyles 2198 would be running at once. [Which leads to another side question: What you call the series after the first year?] As I see it the first year or two wouldn't be a problem- Timedancer Brooklyn would be a couple of years younger than future Brooklyn and we just wont see him describing in detail events that haven't happened yet in Time Dancer to people in 2198.
The problems start when it comes time for Time Dancer Brooklyn to go to 2198. The easiest way I can see it is, we see him leave, we see him return ten years older all in one ep, "wow! I just spent ten years fighting aliens in the future! But I wont say anything more as not to let you know too much about what will be." Then we have a Time Dancer Brooklyn ten or so years older than the Future one and a massive, sustained chuck of time that he can't give away to the audience. It seems like it would be a very awkward.
Thanks... And enjoy the con!! I hope you give a passing thought to those of us stuck on the other side of the continent. (This whole being an adult with a job kinda sucks sometimes.)
Greg responds...
1. You probably are reading a bit too much into a statistical sample of three. Plus, keep in mind that the Manhattan Clan doesn't exactly have deeply held traditions in naming. The whole concept is fairly new to them.
1a. I think Angela does think about it. But keep in mind, she was group raised. This way, as a parent, she has more children to love. That suits her fine.
2. I'm SO not telling.
3. Yes.
4. They will eventually play a roll. Technology-wise, the rest of the world has caught up to them. I wouldn't fully re-intro them right away, although their leader will be kidnapped along with Alex.
5. You worry too much. I should have such worries.
Sloth writes...
The New Olipians said Elisa was the first human to visit in 2000 years, does that mean another human has visited, or is that when the built the city?
Greg responds...
Others have been there. Just not recently. Also the island wasn't quite as isolated at first.
Sloth writes...
Do the New Olimpians worship the old greek gods (Zues, Hera, Aires)?
Greg responds...
Worship, no. Honor, some.
Todd Jensen writes...
In Greek mythology, the original Boreas had a pair of sons, named Calais and Zetes, who were portrayed as having wings. Was this what inspired the notion of the New Olympian Boreas having wings?
Greg responds...
Yes. Also, we'd be meeting his sons eventually.
Todd Jensen writes...
At the end of "The New Olympians", Taurus, after discovering how Elisa had risked herself to stop Proteus from destroying New Olympus, comments that she is not like the "humans of legend". Was this particular phrase intended as a sort of "double-meaning one"? While the obvious and immediate meaning is the humans of the New Olympians' legends, the evidence presented in the episode is that the same humans who mistreated them and drove them into hiding in their tales were, or included, the heroes of Greek legend such as Theseus, so that "humans of legend" could mean as much the humans of our legends as the New Olympians'. Was this intended as being the case?
Greg responds...
Yeah. Plus the on-going reversal in this episode. Like Gargoyles of legend or Olympians of legend. Here we were taking the point of view of these mythical creatures, to whom humans were the legendary "Other" that we've been talking about recently. Just part of the on-going exploration of the shows core themes, seen from the other side.
LSZ writes...
Do any of the New Olympians look as human in their natural forms as Alex?
Greg responds...
No.
Sapphire writes...
After the arrival of the New Olympians in New york city would the new Olympians be keen on sharing their technology and scientific discoveries with humanity?
Greg responds...
Cautions, not keen.
Anonymous writes...
What kind of government does New Olympus have?
Greg responds...
Representative democracy.
Anonymous writes...
How does the New Olympus cloaking field work? Does it make it invisible from sensors and our eye?
Greg responds...
From outside, yes.
Anonymous writes...
You said that the New Olympians had something better than nuclear tech could you tell us what it is?
Greg responds...
Zeracoy Enex Power.
(I just made that up.)
Anonymous writes...
What faction does Sphinx's family belong to?
Greg responds...
It's a big family. But most are in Ekidna's Isolationist faction.
Anonymous writes...
Why is Proteus an insane mass murderer?
Greg responds...
Not enough iron in his diet.
Anonymous writes...
Who was the father of the original minotaur? Was it fay?
Who was the person that bore the Minotaur's children? What happened to her?
Was the minotaur locked in the Labyrinth on Crete really slayen by Thesus?
Greg responds...
1. I guess if you say ORIGINAL minotaur than at least one of his parents was fay.
2. I'm not revealing these details at this point.
3. Yes. Though exactly what happened there is subject to many interpretations.
Anonymous writes...
Happy Fourth of July
What does Sphinx's family's think of her relationship with Terry?
What does Terry's family think of his relationship with Sphinx?
Greg responds...
Neither family is thrilled.
(And it's still June. But you're not far off.)
Rob Irwin writes...
Man, they just keep coming!
The new Olimpiens, I get the felling that they are not a group of Oberon's children, yet they all seem to differn't to be of one race. Are they a group of many differn't races living together to help ech other, there seemed to be only one of each kind (ie. centaur, winged guy, fire dude).
OK, that will be the last one for awhile I think, at least till my others get answered
Greg responds...
It's not like you saw every New Olympian on the island. Talos is a robot. He's a citizen. There are Gargoyle New Olympian citizens as well.
But most are a single hybrid race descended from the mingling of Oberon's Children with various mortals. They are almost all compatible enough to breed with each other.
Anonymous writes...
Who exactly is Terry's mother? Has she been mentioned or seen in the series?
Greg responds...
No.
Laura 'ad astra' Ackerman writes...
Another try at sending this out-
I just typed up a particularly long question that didn't post and got lost, and I was foolish not to copy it somewhere before hitting submit. I apologize if it turns up later and this becomes a double post, and also if I can't get rid of the autoformating in Word and it looks a little screwy. After losing that long a question I am not taking a chance working directly into the web page.
It has been a long time since I posted a question... of course it has been a long time since I have been caught up with your answers. After reading all of the new responses, particularly those dealing with Oberon and Titania, a question has come to mind. [Actually two, but how many new ways can you ask, "What did Titania whisper to Fox?"? That question should almost have its own section.] The short form of the question is this: Just how different are Oberon's hildren from humans? I am not referring to physical or magical characteristics, but rather do they think in a quantifiably different way than do humans?
The long version of the questions comes after the long digression:
A while back a friend practically shoved an anthology into my hands and insisted I read a particular article. I believe it was called, "Hamlet in the Bush". The gist of it was that a young anthropologist found herself with an indigenous culture for a long boring stretch. [She had thought the off season would be a wonderful time to get to observe their culture. Had she asked them they would have told her the off season is the off season because the weather is so miserable that they cannot even visit the next village. They spend the time drink the local equivalent to bear waiting for it to pass.]
Before leaving she had had an argument with a friend. She argued that at base all humans are the same and once you do some explaining to take care of cultural differences, a great work of literature would be recognized as such by all people. The example that was bandied about was Hamlet, so he gave her a copy as a going away present.
With nothing else to do she sat in her tent and read it over and over until the locals asked her what on Earth she was doing. They were a non-literate culture and to them reading papers meant reading boring legal documents. Even a white person could not be so daft as to spend weeks doing so. She seized upon it an opportunity to test her theory and they, being a story telling culture, were happy to oblige.
She immediately ran into two problems:
-1-They didn't have a concept of "ghost". Zombie, yes. Evil spirit in false guise, yes. But the idea of a dead person's spirit hanging around this world was simply ludicrous to them.
-2-They thought Claudius was a great guy. He acted as an exemplary uncle and brother-in-law, although he waited a bit long in taking care of his brother's household. [Three whole months! And with only one wife to tend the fields!]
In the end they loved the story (with their corrections) and thought she was on her way being a great storyteller, (being female aside). They also told her to be sure to tell her elders that they had been good hosts and had corrected her misremembering lest she continue in error.
I think her premise held, but she hadn't realized how far cultural difference went. The more complex the story, the more it was tied to its own cultural assumptions and the harder it is to explain to another culture.
Back to Gargoyles-
In Gargoyles the basic emotions seem pretty much universal. Gargoyles, humans, New Olympians, and even Nokar and Matrix as far as we have seen them, display them. Love, hate, curiosity and fear, as well as slightly more complex emotions of protection and loneliness are clearly expressed and are more easily understood than some lost cultures of our own ancestors. Are Oberon's Children fundamentally different, or if we can imagine long enough the effects of great power and incredibly long lives we can empathize without too much brain-sprain?
There are great works of speculative fiction that try to understand the mind of The Other. Zelazny had a whole series of stories of robots worshiping and trying to understand the long last human race. I recently read a great book called "Exogesis" (a post-modern Prometheius) by Astro Teller dealing with how a newly emerged AI might think and how humanity might respond. If I would list every book I could think of on the topic I will never stop typing and will eventually have feel the urge to start listing plays and movies as well, (and probably have to deal with Frankenstein, and I am not fond of the book. It is hard to like a book when you hate the main character. Perhaps the movies were right to make the monster the lead character. :).
It all boils down to this: Are the Children of Oberon "the Other", or something very much like ourselves?
Boy this is long! sorry.
Greg responds...
Don't apologize. It's fascinating.
Boiling it down...
YOU WROTE:
Are Oberon's Children fundamentally different, or if we can imagine long enough the effects of great power and incredibly long lives we can empathize without too much brain-sprain?
I'd have to say the latter. Great power. Little or no responsibility. Long lives. Being able to look however you feel at a given moment. You add these things up and they may seem other for awhile. But fundamentally, it's about extrapolation on our human emotions.
Because fundamentally, as a writer, what else can I do? Maybe someone else has the talent, ability, INTEREST in truly creating the OTHER. But not me. I'm interested in US. Gargoyles, humans, Oberon's Children. Toss in the New Olympians, Nokkar, the Space-Spawn, the Lost Race, etc. I'm fundamentally interested in figuring out what makes us real world humans tick. Or boil it down further, and I'm fundamentally interested in figuring out what the hell makes ME tick. All the characters in the Gargverse are just there as an alternative to me being in therapy, I guess.
Does that make sense?
Sapphire writes...
Is New Olympian society a Patriarchal society in which males are in charge or is everyone equal regardless of gender? as a woman I get really offended when some men say that woman belong in the home, as a comedian on t.v. impersonating Artimis greek goddess of the moon and virgins once said 'all right girls down with men" I totally agree with her, right Matt (not the cartoon Matt but the Matt on this question server)
Greg responds...
Huh?
You lost me toward the end there.
Anyway, no. New Olympus isn't strictly patriarchal. HOWEVER, like our own society, there are remnants of patriarchy still extant. Ekidna holds an important position. Sphinx will too, eventually. But at the moment, the three biggest wigs are Boreas, Taurus and Talos. All guys.
Anonymous writes...
Who has more power in terms of electricity a Labyrinth mutate or Jove of the NOs?
Greg responds...
Probably Jove. But I'm not big on this kind of question.
Anonymous writes...
Who was Helios decended from?
Greg responds...
Lots o' folk.
Anonymous writes...
1. Was the Ekidna in New Olympus a descendent of Echinda of mythology?
a.If so which one of the monster children was she descended from?
b.Why doesn't she look anything like Echinda who had the face of a human?
Greg responds...
1. Yes.
a. I'm not going into that now.
b. She has multiple ancestors.
Anonymous writes...
Does Daedalus exist in the Gargoyles Universe? If so was he a scientist or was he a magic user?
Greg responds...
An inventor.
Anonymous writes...
How did the first Talos work? Gears? Magic?
Who created it?
Greg responds...
Not magic.
As to the who, it was, I believe a team effort. Daedelus and Hephaistos worked on it together.
Anonymous writes...
You said that the ancestors of the New Olympians were the Olympians. Are these Olympians the gods who sat on Mount Olympus or are these Olympians something else entirely?
Greg responds...
The ancestors were the "gods and monsters" of legend. Many of whom were known as the Olympian Gods of Ancient Greek and Roman mythology.
Most of them were of the Children.
Sapphire writes...
Taurus said that Elisa Maza was the first human to visit New Olympus in over 2000 years meaning that around the time Christ was born, a human must of accidently stumbled on to New Olympus can you give discription of what must have happen to this human when he accidently dicovered the secret island?
Greg responds...
I can, yes.
Anonymous writes...
Why does Terry's mother become the UN ambassador to New Olympus?
What exactly is his mother's profession?
Greg responds...
She's a diplomat.
Sapphire writes...
Did the New Olympians made any great advances in the field of genetic engineering? Are New Olympian scientists at present capable of turning someone like Matt (not the cartoon Matt the Matt on this question server that always trys to condidict me) into a mutate like Sevarius did with Derek?
Greg responds...
I don't think that's been of interest to them. They're pretty diverse as it is.
Sapphire writes...
Some monsters in Greek Mythology were once human for example Athena the Greek goddess of wisdom turned Medusa a very beautiful woman into a snake haired monster because Medusa had a love affair with Poisiden. I was wondering are any of the New olympians desended from humans who were turned into monsters by the fay?
Greg responds...
Descended? It's possible, I guess.
But I'm not currently going to commit to any specific myth.
Anonymous writes...
If Proteus is a villain for NO then how does he get off New Olympus to menace our protagonists or does he stay on NO?
Greg responds...
I'm not going to get into the specifics of how he escaped at this time. But he does.
Anonymous writes...
Why does Terry and Sphinx fall in love with each other? Afterall Sphinx isn't even human?
Greg responds...
And Terry isn't even Olympian. And Romeo wasn't a Capulet. And Juliet wasn't a Montague.
Why do any two people fall in love?
What an odd question.
Anonymous writes...
Why would the Eternal looking NOs think that humans would worship them?
Greg responds...
Cuz once upon a time they did. And cuz they have power. And cuz they want to believe it.
Anonymous writes...
What other New Olympians were you planning to introduce besides Ekidna, Medusa, Chiron, Jove, Helios, Boreas and his son?
Greg responds...
Eventually, lots. But you've covered the biggies for the time being. (If you throw in Taurus, Talos, Sphinx and Proteus.)
BTW. Kiron. Not Chiron.
What's with all the "anonymous" posts, anyway?
Anonymous writes...
What are Talos and Taurus's function in the show? Are they also ambassadors to the UN?
Greg responds...
Also? Taurus is the primary ambassador from New Olympus. Talos is his advisor. Sphinx is an aide.
Anonymous writes...
How does Terry become the ambassador to New Olympus?
Greg responds...
He doesn't. His mother does.
Anonymous writes...
You said that Sphinx was a student so what does she study?
Greg responds...
Among other things... humans.
Anonymous writes...
You once said that you had a medusa character in NO that was eventually replaced by Sphinx. So did you take out the medusa character because you wanted to show that there were also human looking NOs?
Greg responds...
Sphinx isn't particularly human-looking. She's certainly less human looking than Boreas, for example.
Mostly we took out Medusa in a lead role, for two reasons...
1. We thought she'd be very hard to animate. So we wanted to be able to use her sparingly.
2. I liked the ability to use angelic imagery for the first meeting of Terry and Sphinx.
Anonymous writes...
So have you planned a crossover with the casts of Pendragon, Bad Guys, Gargoyles and New Olympians appearing in the same episode?
Greg responds...
Sort of.
Sapphire writes...
When the New Olympians moniter humanity do they moniter events like someone getting dressed or taking a shower? If they do I bet they get to see a lot of heaveanly bodies.
tee hee
Greg responds...
Very funny.
No. They monitor broadcasts.
matt writes...
obviously Elisa told Matt about many of the World Tour adventures (i.e. Hunters Moon- Easter Island Statues) did she tell him about the New Olympians? did she tell any other humans? did Goliath and co. tell the trio and Hudson about the New Olympians?
Greg responds...
My guess is that Elisa told Matt some of their adventures, but not everyone. She probably left out the New Olympians as (a) not her secret to reveal and (b) not the most fun adventure for her.
But I'm guessing that either Goliath or Angela eventually told Hudson and the Trio EVERYTHING.
Basilisk writes...
1. In the GARGOYLES universe, is the classical Greek legend of the Minotaur (as being born from the union of Pasiphae, Queen of Crete and wife of Minos, and the white bull sent by Poseidon) true?
2. If you consider the Minotaur "a New Olympian before the term existed" or something like that, and if the answer to the above question is yes, do you see the white bull as fae? Assuming you consider
3. What about Chiron? Do you see him as the son of Cronus and the nymph Philyra?
Greg responds...
I'm not going to reveal these details at this time. Sorry.
Jim R. writes...
1. If the New Olympians are slightly more advanced than humans, why do they not take an interest to explore space? Or go somewhere else, like a new planet, to get away from humans if they fear them? I mean surely they could build something to liftoff without possibly getting detected by our satellites (if they even know that we have satellites in orbit and that we've already been to the moon and back).
2. Or is this only a human trait to explore? If so, does this make the New Olympians similiar to gargoyles, since gargs don't really seem to take an interest in exploration either?
3. And lastly, if you would get your show back, would you explain better the past history relations between mankind and the Olympians, because I'm kinda interested to know really why the Olympians left the humans, and why no human who lived then left any trace of the Olympians existence. (I know there could be a massive story behind this)
Greg responds...
1. I'm not sure that's as easy as you make it sound. But also, they are isolationist. Not explorers. And certainly finding a habitable planet isn't as easy as you make it sound. And finally, why would they WANT to abandon their home AGAIN?
2. No, I don't think it's a purely human trait. But the New Olympians have a cultural imperative toward isolation.
3. Yeah, I'd love the chance to go into more detail.
matt writes...
did the New Olympians leave to go to New Olympus all at once or was there a gradual migration to the island?
Greg responds...
Both.
Vashkoda writes...
Hi Greg. I just want to clarify two questions I had previously asked you, in hopes of getting a better response.
1) Roughly how many NO are of gargoyle descent? (you answered "huh?", perhaps because the preceding question had already asked how many full-blooded NO gargates there were). Previously, you implied that non-gargoyle NO's may have mated with gargoyles. My question was meant to uncover whether there were any/many gargoyle half-breeds on New Olympus. Are there?
2) How will the NO clan be discovered by the outside world? (you said, "They will reveal themselves in front of the United Nations Building." We know that this is how the NO delegation will appear, but you have also implied that the NO gargoyles will be a bit more reluctant to reveal themselves. Looking over my question, I know that you may have decided to interpret "NO clan" to mean NO's in general (and the NO gargoyles may in fact have adopted the whole island as its "clan")). So, in case I get a different response, let me rephrase the question to ask: How will the NO gargoyles be discovered by the outside world?
Greg responds...
1. Or perhaps I said 'huh' because I didn't know that 'NO' meant New Olympians. Anyway, Vash, as I'm sure you've gathered by now, I'm not much of a numbers guy. I'm not going to quantify things for you.
2. Over time.
matt writes...
is Proteus the only shapeshifter on New Olympus when Goliath and co. visited? or, at least, is he the only shapeshifter with his range of abilities?
Greg responds...
I'm not saying at this time.
Anonymous writes...
Did you ever plan a crossover between the Redemption Squad, Gargoyles, Pendragon and New Olympians?
Greg responds...
You mean all at once?
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