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The Phoenix Gate

Gargoyles FAQ

XXII. The Goliath Chronicles

1. Why wasn't Greg involved with The Goliath Chronicles?

Greg's answer:

I wrote and story edited one episode, the first one, "THE JOURNEY". Otherwise, I was not involved. I was paid as a creative consultant, but I asked Disney to remove my consultant credit from the end credits of the last twelve episodes, because I felt I hadn't earned it. Eric Lewald, Jay Fukuto and Kim Christianson consulted me a bit on those episodes, but not much. They followed some of my negative recommendations, that is they chose not do some things that I recommended against, but they rarely did any of the things I suggested that they should do. So I felt I had made no positive contribution to the show that would appear on screen. Thus I felt I didn't deserve screen credit. So if you're looking for my credit on Goliath Chronicles, look fast at the end of "The Journey" and then forget about it.

As to the "story"... well, I think I've answered this, but maybe not here.

Basically, it's a decision I regret, but at the time it made sense. Disney offered me the opportunity to story edit the thirteen Goliath Chronicles episodes they were doing. I agreed to do one, while we worked out the details. But we never could work out those pesky details. It was not about money. We never got that far in the conversation, and they met my fee for "The Journey", so I don't think that would have been a problem. The problems were creative control and resources. Disney didn't offer me the opportunity to produce Goliath Chronicles. They were, in essence, asking me to take a demotion. Also, at the time, they were going to pre-produce the show at DIC and refused to guarantee me any creative approvals over DIC's work. They also presented me with an impossible schedule. (The first script was due before they made the offer to me. I'm not kidding.) I felt like they were asking me to preside over the demise of the show. So I passed.

Then after I passed, things changed. They switched from DIC to Nelvana. They gave new Producer Scott Thomas all the approvals that they wouldn't guarantee to me. They gave new Story Editor Eric Lewald a schedule that was much more realistic. I felt, well, screwed.

But even so, I shouldn't have passed. I missed out on the opportunity to tell twelve more of my stories. To let the series go out on a note of my choosing as opposed to someone else's. Eric's a very good guy, but GARGOYLES was my baby, and I should not have abandoned it. Live and learn.
 

2. Did Greg have any influence on The Goliath Chronicles?

Greg's answers:

I gave them a loose outline of what I was planning for season three. They took that info and ignored some of it and went other ways with the rest of it. "Timedancer" for example became "Runaways". An idea for a multi-trickster story became "Ransom". But when I talked about negative recommendations, I was referring to my paid consultancy work on the series. I had a contractual consultant's credit, which I waved, because I felt I hadn't made any real ADDITIONS to the content of TGC. I did kibbitz on their premises. When it seemed to me that characters were behaving out of character, I advised them not to do that out-of-character thing. In particular, the original premise of "Angels of the Night" (or whatever it was called) had the Gargoyles abandoning Manhattan at the end. Elisa changed her name and moved to Chicago with Goliath. Lex and Brooklyn went on their own world tour. I forget what happened to everyone else. I advised them NOT to do that. They took that advice, thankfully. Still the only contributions that I made of any real merit were negatives. "Please don't do that." Things you didn't see on the screen, because I advised against it.   Giving me credit for what you did see seemed unfair, both to me and to the people who actually did the work.

[Later, he adds...] ...MANY TGC episodes were inspired by my notes to the new team, including the Proteus episode, the trial, the Illuminati, a Bronx episode, a magical fantasy episode, etc. In a way, that made them even more frustrating for me.
 

3. How would Greg deal with The Goliath Chronicles if Gargoyles returned?

Greg is not entirely sure. Originally, he planned to do "damage control" but still consider TGC canon. Now, he's leaning towards simply ignoring that series, and providing an explanation on the Internet as to why it's non-canon.
 

4. Should I ask Greg questions about The Goliath Chronicles?

No. Not only was Greg not significantly involved with them (see above), but he doesn't like to think about them much. The exception is "The Journey," first episode of TGC and the only one that is considered canon- ask as many questions about that episode as you wish (after checking the FAQ, of course).
 


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