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Anonymous writes...
Have you seen Batman Beyond?
What do you think of it?
I've been told that the design of Terry McGinnis from BB is similar to that of Terry Chung of the NO any truth to that?
Greg responds...
Yes.
I think it's very well made. And I like certain things about it. But it just feels more Spider-Manish to me than Batman.
Well, there's no final model for Terry Chung, but from what I've seen, no. For starters, Terry Chung is Chinese-American. Terry McGinnis isn't. And Terry Chung wears contemporary clothes. Terry McGinnis wears... well... clothes from beyond.
Anonymous writes...
I the original version of New Olympians that you made was Ekidna Medusa's mother?
Was Sphinx in the original? If so what role did she serve?
Greg responds...
Yes.
Yes.
The exact same role.
Anonymous writes...
Are there any other sentient races native to our solar system besides Lost race,Gargoyles,Humans,Fae and New olympians? If so care to list a few?
Greg responds...
If there were, I wouldn't list them. But there aren't. But if there were, I wouldn't list them.
(All this of course ignores our recent discussions about the misuse of the term 'sentient'.)
Lord Sloth writes...
Is the reason you created the clone's differn't skin, eyes and hair pigmintation, because you didn't want another cartoon where your trying to figure out which one is the real Goliath or Lexington? Or at least not overdue it since this happend latter with Proteus?
Greg responds...
I liked Thailog's look. It was partially inspired by the changes that John Byrne made to the Fantastic Four's costumes in the eighties.
But yes. Though we played the beat for a couple of acts, I didn't want to do EVIL TWIN takes the place of the good guy and confuses everyone. Once Thailog was revealed, there wasn't any question as to who was who. Just seemed a more original take on the old clone idea. What do the rest of you think?
(And Proteus had nothing to do with it. At the time we were creating Thailog, I didn't yet know that I was going to insert The New Olympians into the Garg Universe.)
Lord Sloth writes...
Top of the milk to ya greg.
Greg Bishansky just posted a bunch of info about the New Olimpian spin off, that I had never heard before, and said that you had reveled all of it at Gatherings. So have you, or will you ever post profiles about each of the spin offs on the internet in as much detail as you have with Gargoyles 2198?
tanks.
Greg responds...
Maybe.
Lord Sloth writes...
1. Are the New Olimpian Gargoyels under the same Government as all of New Olimpis, or do they have an independant system?
2. Did the N.O. Gargoyels come to New Olimpis for the same reasons as the "halflings"? b. Did they come at the same time?
Greg responds...
1. They are citizens of New Olympus. But they have a 'local' clan government and largely keep to themselves.
2. Largely, yes.
b. New Olympus wasn't colonized at one specific time in history. Though it was founded at a specific time and closed off at a specific time. But there was a LONG span in between these two events.
Kelly L Creighton/Kya White Sapphire writes...
ooh wait found another one. (please, if you dislike the fact that im posting dozens of questions, let me know and i will stop at once.)
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.)
recorded on 06-29-01
thats great!
Greg responds...
I feel like now, I could come up with something that sounded better but made no more sense.
Anonymous writes...
What exactly is Mount Thanatos? City?
Why did they name it after death incarnate?
Greg responds...
It's a mountain. And that's a LONG story.
Sapphire writes...
What is the New olympians role in the liberation of earth against Space Spawn rule?
Greg responds...
Eventually, significant.
JEB writes...
How genetically compatible are New Olympians with gargoyles and humans? Can the NOs successfully have children with those races?
Greg responds...
It is unlikely, but not impossible.
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.
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