Entrevistas  /  Interviews

TV´S PRODUCER AND COMIC CREATOR MARK ASKWITH

                                       
                                                                                           by Jose Carlos Neves

  “Mad Love (Publishing), Ltd., would like to thank Mark Askwith…” among other people – BIG NUMBERS # 1, 3^rd cover.

This official and public Aknowledgement prompted me to contact this Canadian TV´s Producer to the Interview below – and I´ve learned also that he is a Comic Creator and  had created and produced the reputed weekly themed show called “Prisoners of Gravity”* – which in the early 1991 devoted an episode to the 'Chaos´ (due to this also, it´s at  growing-up every day “Wants List” since the beginning of this Site).

With us, Mark Askwith for - as himself called it - " a Big Numbers interview"

-First of, Mark, in order our readers (mainly Brazilian´ones) knows you better, please, introduce yourself: were did you born, grew up and lives today? Marital status, sons, Academic graduation and profession?

I grew up in a military household. We moved around a lot until I was six,when we moved to Canada’s capital- Ottawa- and I had a very happy childhood. I have two sisters and a brother. I moved to Toronto in 1974 to attend the University of Toronto. I loved Toronto instantly, and have remained here ever since. I studied many things at U of T, genetic engineering, math, but ended up with a degree in English. I discovered semiology and became very interested in analyzing popular culture.

I worked at Oberon Pres, Coach House Press, and the Silver Snail before moving into my current role as producer.

I became a full time television producer and writer in 1989. These days I’m a producer at Canada’s national SF channel- SPACE: The Imagination Station. I am also a freelance writer, and I’ve been developing television shows and pitching movie scripts. I adapted the anime series ‘Powerstone’ into English. I occasionally write for comics. I’ve just finished an eight page story about Jean ‘Moebius’ Giraud at a signing in Toronto (drawn by artist R.G. Taylor). The last mainstream story I wrote was a short B&W Batman story drawn by Michael Kaluta.

-As a child, did you spend a lot of time indoors reading? What? 

Oh, I read everywhere. Indoors, outdoors, on trains and buses…I read everything. The joke in my house was that I’d read the phone book if there was nothing else.

--How did you get started writing for Comics and producing show for Canadian´s TV?

That is a very long answer!
The short version is that I had a friend called Peter who had The Tiny Perfect Collection, and one afternoon I read all the Steranko, Eisner, Kaluta and Wrightson comics in his collection. I’ve never been the same since.

In the late 70’s I met a very young Frank Miller, and we became friends. He encouraged me to get into comics.

In 1982 I became the manager of the Silver Snail (a leading Canadian comic book store), and left in 1987 to write the Prisoner comic, and work on a documentary film called ‘Comic Book Confidential’. The success of ‘CBC’ prompted Daniel Richler to hire me to create what became the weekly TV show ‘Prisoners of Gravity’, which ran for 5 years, and 137 episodes. I interviewed hundreds of writers and artists including Alan Moore and many of his collaborators, David Lloyd, Dave Gibbons, Melinda Gebie, Oscar Zarate, Steve Bissette…, as well as creators like Jack Kirby, Chip Delany, Harlan Ellison, David Cronenberg… I interviewed well over 400 people in 5 years. When PoG ended I produced the flagship literary show in Canada- IMPRINT- and soon after that I became of the founding producers of SPACE.

-What is it that attracted you to writing? What were your influences?

You might as well ask-‘What attracted you to breathing air?’
Reading and writing are just things I have to do.

-What had been your “involvement” with Alan Moore´s 

and Mad Love Publishing would-be magnum-opus BIG NUMBERS? 

My connection with Big Numbers is very tangential. I read several articles about chaos theory in the mid- 80’s and saved them. One was the great NYTimes article by James Gleick, that spawned his remarkable non-fiction book- Chaos. Several articles were from scientific and computer journals, as nobody had seen a fractal until computer modeling revealed them. I had hoped to use chaos theory in a story. While working at the Snail I met Bill Sienkiewicz, and he and I became friends. He mentioned that Alan was working on a story that involved chaos theory, and I got very excited, and sent Bill and Alan my research. Bill would often call me at two o’clock in the morning, and we would chat about the implications of chaos theory…

I was very surprised when I saw that Alan had thanked me in Big Numbers. It was delightful, and unexpected! It just goes to show how generous Alan is.

--What do you think about BIG NUMBERS, if you did read the two published issues?

I read the first two issues, and Bill showed me a major chunk of Book 3, as well as some covers. I remember a great shot of a pair of hands with what seemed to me to be traces of atomic decay (for one of the later issues).

I loved the first two issues, and I felt Alan was laying the ground for a wonderfully complex, very human story. 
I remember feeling this ‘getting started’ vibe about the first 2 issues of Watchmen, and in retrospect Watchmen really didn’t click for Alan until the third issue, so we are left with one of the great ‘what ifs’ in comics… 

Bill’s pages for the third issue seemed quite sparse to me- they were incomplete- but the story telling was wonderful. I had the feeling that Big Numbers was about to elevate into very rarified atmosphere.

-What do you think Alan would have intended to convey with this very promising story? – to me, his true would-be magnum-opus.

We’ll never know.

My friend, the wonderful Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown visited Alan while he was writing Big Numbers, and he told me about the giant chart of interlocking stories. It sounded spectacular, and very evocative of the ‘order in chaos’ principle of Chaos Theory. That, coupled with Bill’s remarkable art could have, at the time, brought comics into the mainstream. I remember noting at the time, that Big Numbers felt like ‘what if 
Pynchon did comics’.                       (Below, "Prisoner" # 5, drawn by Jack -"The King"-Kirby)

-Could a graphic-novel comprise all the complexity of human existence, common life, the whole Universe and so on, as an unique, united system, as Alan Moore had intended to do with BIG NUMBERS? 

Of course not. To quote Alford Korzybski ‘The map is not the territory’.

--Do you think someday Alan could change his mind and thinks about it again – mainly now that he is “retiring from mainstream, super-hero comics”? 

Alan strikes me as a man who moves forward. Even if he did decided to revisit Big Numbers, it wouldn’t be the same now. 

-At that time do you still remembers what Alan and Bill had “revealed” you about this stunning GN? (-Do you still holds on a copy of this episode? Or it´s transcription at least?)

I do not have a copy of the ‘Chaos’ episode, and the format of my computer has changed, so I can’t retrieve the data. I wasn’t able to interview Alan for this episode- I didn’t meet him until the fall of 1991. Bill talked about his art, and the tension between a 
‘realistic’ art style, the tight grid, and Bill’s desire to underscore randomness and chaos in the work.

When Alan and I did meet (in a London Hotel), I conducted a three hour interview. It is still one of the longest interviews I’ve ever done (up there with the four hour Douglas Adams interview) but I had to focus on certain books and themes. As Big Numbers was cancelled, I chose to focus on Alan’s other projects.

-Do you agree with Chaos theory that our world (and the Universe as a whole by extension) is ruled by fractals, strange attractors and so on, where a little alteration on initial conditions could cause big and unexpected alterations on the final ones – the proverbial “butlerfly effect”?

I think that humans are pattern recognition machines, and we are searching for profound patterns in our world, and worlds beyond. Newtonian math solved lots of 
problems, and Chaos Theory has advanced our understanding of math and pattern. I find it fascinating that the alchemists were right when they noted ‘As above, so below’. We see fractal patterns everywhere on earth- snowflakes, the veins in leaves, cloud structures, and it is mind-blowing to me that we see fractals in star formations seem by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Chaos math is an incredible tool, and the philosophical implications are fascinating.

-How writers could use Chaos Theory and fractal geometry in his fiction? Could mention examples? 

The reason that I devoted an episode of Prisoners of Gravity to Chaos Theory was that I saw many examples of Chaos Theory and Fractals in literature, especially Science Fiction. The first example of what became Chaos Theory shows up, I think, in Ray Bradbury’s prescient (1952?!) short story, A Sound of Thunder. I also think it is a fundamental principle in much of Michael Moorcock’s work. In one of my interviews with Moorcock I asked him what his reaction to Chaos Theory was, and he said he was delighted, because the theory seemed to describe the inside of his head! 

Elements of Chaos Theory are now firmly imbedded in what some call ‘cyberpunk’ novels, mainly because those writers, most notably Gibson and Sterling, are fascinated by patterns, and pattern recognition (Pattern Recognition is even the name of Gibson’s latest novel…) 
So chaos and fractals show up in many SF novels written post 1987. Check out Connie Willis’ Bellwether, for example- it’s a nice look at iteration and patterns as manifested by humans.

-When and where you did first meet the bearded Northampton´s scribber? Are you a friend to him? 

Like most people I encountered his work before I met him. While we’d talked on the phone, but we didn’t actually meet until I interviewed him in the fall of 1991.

By then he was aware of me, perhaps because I came up with the title for ‘Taboo’,( #4, Mark Askwith and Rick Taylor "Davey's Dream" - jcn)...and Alan stated in an interview later that From Hell was partially inspired because of that powerful name. Who knows, really. I set up a TV interview with Alan, and Alan said yes…

Alan, Steve Bissette and I met for lunch prior to the interview. Alan pointed out that Chester Brown had captured not only my likeness, but the way I moved in the various Yummy Fur stories that I appear in. I conducted the interview, then we went down for a drink (with cartoonists Shakey Kane, and Steve Bissette), and later Neil Gaiman joined us for dinner at an Indian restaurant. After dinner Alan told me the entire plot of Voice of the Fire, and we walked the streets of Jack the Ripper’s London, with Alan pointing out various points of historical interest. It was a thrilling evening, and Alan was remarkably generous with his time and ideas. I didn’t get to bed until the wee hours of the morning.

--What was the first comic by Alan Moore did you read? Did it had a special impact on you? Why?

I read the first few Warrior magazines in one night, in the summer of 1982. I liked the magazine, particularly the two Alan Moore scripted features, but I really fell in love with V for Vendetta. I thought that V was the best eight page continuing story I’d read since Goodwin and Simonson’s Manhunter. I loved Lloyd’s graphic approach, and the whole energy of the strip. I thought that Alan was brilliant to examine the two poles of human politics- Anarchy and Fascism- while managing to tell a very bleak human story, full of wry humour and insight. To this day V remains a favorite, and I’d love to turn it into a movie. (BTW- I met a scriptwriter who had the assignment, but he clearly wasn’t reading it the way I did. He saw it as a dystopian adventure story…) V feels very experimental, and the limitations Alan and Dave placed on themselves (no sound effects, every chapter beginning with the letter ’V’, and so on) are fascinating. Frankly, I prefer the original black and white versions rather than the coloured version…

---Same as me...

...On the strength of those first few Warriors I felt Alan was the best new comic book writer, and did my best to read everything he wrote. A feat made easier because as 
manager of the Silver Snail, I could find almost anything!

Years later, when I was working on the Prisoner, I dropped by to see Richard Bruning, and while we were chatting a batch of the newest V pages came in, and I was like a kid in a candy store. My hands were literally shaking. (I also got to read Killing Joke from the original pages, which was another awesome cheap thrill.)

-What do you think is his best work to date? Why?

I love the fourth issue of Watchmen. Swamp Thing is spectacular, with The Anatomy Lesson and Pog standing out for me. I have a peculiar fondness for two ‘minor’ works- Pictopia, and ‘Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow’, as they seem to mirror my own feelings about nostalgia for the comics I grew up with. I think that A Small Killing is vastly under-rated. I love the mythological history of From Hell, I love the twisted science of Jack B. Quick, I love the subversive literary plundering in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. That said, I think Alan’s best work is Watchmen, and my favourite is V for Vendetta.

-What are your ideas about Watchmen's innovations?

When the second issue of Watchmen came out I wrote in the Silver Snail Newsline that Watchmen was teaching me how to read comics in a new way. Lots of people thought 
this was very funny, and thought I was admitting that I didn’t know how to read comics.

On one level Watchmen is a thrilling murder mystery with an unexpected antagonist. As with any great mystery, we are exposed to an environment with several suspects and 
a compelling world.

On another level you can read the story as a reaction to Watergate- it’s a paranoid ‘power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely ’ story.

On yet another level Watchmen can be read as a collision of viewpoints. Each character has a unique perspective on the world, and it is fascinating to contrast the various perspectives.

I think the true accomplishment of Watchmen is that there exists yet another level to the story, and it’s a tough assignment to encapsulate here (after all, it took most of an episode of a Prisoners of Gravity to explain!). Still, I’ll try.

Watchmen explores how comic books work, and how much information can be transmitted by the medium. Alan, and the remarkable artist Dave Gibbons have set a very high bar in terms of the ‘craft’ of comics. By confining all but one page to some variation of a nine panel grid the panels themselves set up an almost musical rhythm. 
Visual tricks and echoes abound. Text and dialogue is used in various ways- to underscore, emphasize, or undercut certain scenes. When I point out to people things like the hidden skull on the cover of the third issue, or the symmetrical panels in the fifth issue (and who is at the center… ?! - Veidt),or the hidden smiley faces,they are usually stunned they missed them, even after repeated readings. Watchmen pushes the limits of storytelling, and in so doing, Watchmen moves beyond a simple whodunit mystery, and explores the mystery of the power of words and pictures.

The fourth issue of Watchmen is remarkable, because Alan and Dave attempt what most creators would assume would be impossible- they portray the world as seen by 
somebody who sees all of time at once. I cannot imagine any other medium other than comics being able to accomplish this.

In re-reading my reaction to Watchmen, I think I make it sound very clinical, but that precision is augmented by the most amazing humanity. Small, often mundane details, 
like the breaking of a watch, or the gift of a pair of earrings, become filled with emotion. It is this tension in the work, between clockwork and emotion, that I think makes it a classic.

It is also interesting to read Watchmen knowing that this was to set the groundwork for Big Numbers, and may account for why so many people feel that Big Numbers was 
going to be a classic as well.

-Tha´s it! BTW what do you think of super-heroes, this true icon of american´s comics? Is there still space for superfolks, with steroided muscles exploding trough ridicule colorful spandex uniforms, fighting each other in comics today? – other than for children, of course…(I explain that I am not criticizing, only trying to understand the true fascination they exert over a lot of people, me included; I like to draw them, I like his aesthetics, and could not explan this…) 

Comics are a medium, and not a genre. There will always be a place for Superheroes, but hopefully spandex will not dominate the medium. We need more works like Maus, 
Jimmy Corrigan, and Cages, Sandman and Fires.

-And for From Hell, do you think it could be considered a history of the cradle to the 20th Century, with all its paranoia, conspirations and corruption? 

I read From Hell the way I think most people did- full of amazement at the fresh insights that Alan brought to the case, and the breathtaking art of Eddie Campbell. 
Before Eddie got the gig, I lobbied for (ironically, as it turned out) Kevin O’Neill, as I thought he’d be perfect. He has a great art style, and he was British (which I thought was important for From Hell). Luckily,

I was over-ruled! Eddie did a brilliant job, and I can’t imagine the story by anybody else.

-What are your impressions on Alan/Sienkiewicz’s Brought to Light and its references to the CIA's covert operations around the world?

I am fascinated by the world of covert actions, as The Prisoner and Silencers will attest. I watched the Iran Contra hearings on television with a former Intelligence Officer, and I was aware of the Christic Institute’s investigations.

I thought Alan and Bill did a brilliant job of distilling down the information, and presenting it in a compelling way. By turning the narrator into a deranged bald eagle, and distorting images into grotesque caricatures, gave the facts of the case(s) a compelling immediacy. This story is as relevant today as it was then.

The only thing that surprised me about Brought to Light was its lack of mainstream success. I thought this would enjoy the same success as, say, Michael Moore does 
today.

--Man, I am very found,also, to "real-life-based" spy novels, mainly those very realistic, dense and sensible ones by John Le Carre and - mainly - Graham Greene. Do you use to read them?

Both writers are major influences, and personal favorites. I was very lucky to have attended two personal appearances by David ''Le Carre' Cornwell, and he was surprisingly open and scathing about modern politics, and espionage. I've bought the last two Le Carre's, but haven't had time to read them...

--Do you think they really captures the moral-ethical-and-mainly-indentity dilemmas and dramas lived by real spies?

I think both men capture a spiritual and moral struggle that transcends standard 'spy' fiction. I think questions of identity, and 'who are you loyal too?', and 'are some ideals worth lying killing and dying for?' are fascinating. I also love the encoded love stories throughout their work.Many of Alan's stories also have love stories, often'transgressive' 
love stories, at their core. Swampthing, V for Vendetta, Lost Girls, to name just three.

-Do you think that comics can be a political instrument, that they can reach and appeal to a large audience? 

Comics are a medium, and not a genre. They can be used as propaganda (as they are in some countries in the world), and they can be used to educate and enlighten, as in the cases of Brought to Light, and the Neil Gaiman/Dave McKean AIDS comic. There is no reason why Joe Sacco or Marjane Satrapi should not enjoy a large audience.

--And AM´s debuting in mainstream literature with Voice of the Fire, do you think it accomplished it´s intention, to tell the history of magic, wichtcraft, shamanism and so on, through the history of Northampton?

I have the original Voice of the Fire, and based on my discussions with Alan, I read it out of order. That is, I started with the final chapter, and then jumped around.
I am delighted that Voice of the Fire is now back in print, but I don’t think it is a mainstream book. It will never enjoy the sales of From Hell or League. I think it should be required reading for the serious Alan Moore fan!

--What do you think about Magic and about Alan's lyrics, CDs, The Birth Caul and Snakes and Ladders?

I think it’s great that Alan doesn’t confine himself to one medium. My only regret is that I’ve never been able to attend any of his live concerts

--I do know that Alan Moore and his partners always amazing and sometimes revolutionary comics had been “dissecated” several time by your TV´s show. At my mentioned “Wants List” I have the following:” Prisoners of Gravity-  Alan Moore appeared in several episodes of this show ( an entire episode dedicated to the Watchmen, with interviews from Moore and Dave Gibbons).   Episode #11 "Horror" Stephen Bissette talks about his run on "Swamp Thing." Moore doesn't appear in this 
episode.   Episode #16 "Chaos" Bill Sienkiewicz talks about "Big Numbers - Moore doesn't appear in this episode.    Episode #17 "Ecology" Moore talks about his run on Swamp Thing.     Episode #19 "Watchmen" Rick pays tribute to the seminal British comic book series, with "Watchmen" writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons.    Episode #28 "Cosmic Cavalcade" Features upcoming projects in the 
world of speculative fiction and comics, with Alan Moore, Oscar Zarate, Dave McKean, Stephen Baxter, Clifford Stoll, Nancy A. Collins, and Alan Grant. Moore and Zarate interviewed together about "A Small Killing."    Episode #49 "Comic-Book Layout" The Commander looks at the craft behind the art of comics with comic-book creators Scott McCloud, Joe Kubert, Frank Miller, and Howard Chaykin. Dave Gibbons also appears in this episode to talk about the layout in "Watchmen."     Episode #67 "Politics" Politics in science fiction, fantasy and comic books, featuring Alan Moore and David Lloyd, Ellen 
Datlow, Geoff Ryman, David Wingrove, and Lewis Shiner. [Moore and Lloyd talk about "V For Vendetta.]     Episode #72 "Awards" Commander Rick discusses awards with the award winners. Dave Gibbons discusses winning the Hugo for "Watchmen." Moore doesn't appear in this episode.    Episode #77 "Sex" Rick looks at the role of sex in 
speculative fiction and comics. Moore talks about "Lost  Girls."   Episode #79"Violence" Guests review the depiction of violence in sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and comic books. [Moore talks about the third volume of "Miracleman," especially issue #15.]    Episode #100 "The Ricky Awards" Features a few clips from interviews with Moore in previous episodes.”.
Have you been the Producer to all of them?

I was the co-creator/co-producer of PoG. Sadly, I do not have copies or transcripts of most shows, but some friendly fan may!

-Movies and mainly music, can affect us deeply, rousing imprevisible emotions. So it is Poetry. They all can transcend its limitations as a genre. What about comics? Could it have this quality also?

Comics should be considered as just as vital as music.Comics can make you laugh. Comics can make you cry.The only limitations seem to be that of the creators. 

--Being a little philosophical again, what are your considerations about Time? Do you think about it as being "the Fourth Dimension of space as theorized by Einstein, or what else?

I normally only think about time when I’m late, or trying to get out the bed in the morning.

-What do you think it would be The Fourth Dimension? How you would conceive an object (the so called Tesseract) and a being for the 4th D if it could appear in our 
tridimensional world?

I think our world probably has more dimensions, but our nervous system can only process 6.

-Do you view our inability to see the higher reality as a problem related only to human perceptions or does it involve our spiritual aspect?

Beats me. 
I’m sure Bill Shakespeare was correct when he wrote- "There are more things in heaven
and Earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy".

-Are the cognitive limitations of present-day man technological, philosophical or epistemological?

Physical, and those are changing as we speak.

--Do you know the writings of culture luminaries such as Gurdjief, his pupil P.D.Ouspenski, Robert Anton Wilson, Colin Wilson, Crowley and so on, some even recommended by Alan? What other authors do yourself reccomends?

I’ve read some Gurdjief and Ouspeski because their work shows up in some of the writers I’m interviewed, like Charles de Lint.

-What about drugs? Do you think that acid ( and other kind of drugs, like the mushrooms of Terence McKenna, the DMT) could help us in opening the gates to altered states of counsciousness? For you, this "states" are another reality, a parallel universe, another dimension, an alien landscape, an inner world - like he "Immateria" 
concept by Alan - , the summ of all this or anything else?

I’ve interviewed writers like Ken Kesey, William Burroughs, and Timothy Leary, and they thought so. But this is an area of exploration that does not interest me in any personal way.

- Could you tell us which writers, from the new generation, we should keep an eye on, as far as your opinion is concerned?

I’d recommend Nalo Hopkinson (author -The Salt Roads), Cory Doctorow (author-Eastern Standard Tribe) and Kelly Link (author- Stranger Things Happen), and Jasper Fforde (The Eyre Affair).

-Man, you are the 4th person I interviewed already that recommends Cory Doctorow. I must  read his books.
Prose fiction can be very often the mirror of our reality. After that disaster in New York how do you think the fiction community and writers themselves are reacting to what's going on in the world?

I think this is a great question, and one I have been asking constantly since that dark day.

I think that Marshall McLuhan was correct when he wrote that ‘Artists are the antennae of the race’, and 911 seems to have crushed our antennae.

None of the philosophers, writers or scientists that I’ve talked to in the last few years will predict any further than six months. They can no longer separate the ‘signal’ from the ‘noise’. In fact, I think our very sense of ‘future’ has changed. We don’t have a future the way our grandparents did. We don’t see the future as a frontier, or a place where things will be better. Our future has collapsed.

One side effect of this will be a rise in historical and fantasy audiences, as we retreat into the ‘safer’ past.

The second thing that has happened is that we now live in a crisis culture. It’s every man and women for themselves. Watch for graft and spectacular monetary scandals to continue. Wealth will become concentrated in the hand of less than 3% of the world.
Watch for people to return to their homes, and home furnishings, repairs and renovations are going to be a growth industry. 

The other thing that happens in a crisis culture is that we will also see acts of great bravery and heroism. 
Watch for great community movements to grow.

We will face some great crises in the next decade, famine, storms and a plague, and these will harnessed to a growing sense of dread. People will look for ancient solutions- oracles, secret codes (esp in the bible), and the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012 will cause great anxiety.

--Man, you must write some prose (science) fiction! You sounded very likely Alvin Toffler´s "predictions". How do you perceive science and technology nowadays, and do you think that we may lose control over them one day in the future?

We have already lost control of them. 
We don’t know what the Internet is doing to us. 
We have unleashed myriad bio-creatures into the world.
We are like babies with a hammer…

-Do you still read – and like – comics? What kind of? Authors and artists do you appreciate? 

I follow creators, so (off the top of my head today...) I like the work of Will Eisner, Robert Crumb, Moore, Gibbons, Frank Miller, Sienkiewicz, Gaiman, McKean, Mattotti, Pierre Clement, Moebius, Kaluta, Vess, Jeff Smith, Chris Ware, Chester Brown, seth, Jay Stevens, Storey…
I read as much as I can, and hope every day to discover another great and singular writer or artist.

Thank you, Jose!

                             *  Prisoners of Gravity 

Prisoners of Gravity was the most thoughtful and creative television program ever produced anywhere in the world about the literature of science fiction, and it was a substantial Canadian success story. In first-run, it was one of the most popular series on its originating network, TVOntario, lasting for five seasons and 139 installments; it also ran on several PBS stations. 
Among the program's many honors were: the Broadcast Media Award from the International Reading Association (for the Ray Bradbury installment, which featured Robert J. Sawyer); a Silver Medal from the New York Festivals of Television (for the installment on Zero Population Growth); 
an Honorable Mention from the Columbus International Film and Video Festival (for the installment on Sexism and Feminism); two Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Awards ("Auroras") (with Robert J. Sawyer accepting on PoG's behalf during the ceremony at the 1994 World Science Fiction Convention); and two nominations for the Gemini Award (the Canadian counterpart of the Emmy) in the Best Lifestyle-Information Series Category (for the program's third and fourth seasons). 
All of the author videos included on Grolier's CD-ROM version of John Clute and Peter Nicholls's Encyclopedia of Science Fiction are actually clips from Prisoners of Gravity. 

                                                                            Science Fiction Writer Robert J. Sawyer

                   Prisoners of Gravity 'Favourites/Bests'
                                                                                       by Mark Askwith 

I'm often asked about my personal feelings about individual PoG episodes. I won't hide behind the old 'it would be like choosing one of my children' dodges- We did 137 episodes and some were simply better than others! Oddly most of my favourite episodes are not the 'best', for reasons I will try to explain. 
For the record- we produced roughly 30 episodes in 40 weeks. Then we would take a summer break. To my mind, PoG didn't really start to cook until the third season. We had been to England, and discovered that the British really can talk! We also changed the way we worked.
In the first 2 seasons I did most of the interviews, and then found the best sound bites, and passed them to Rick who screened them, and put them in order, and then wrote the script. We'd then have a 'round table' and Rick would read the script. We'd listen, and offer suggestions/ revisions. 
In the middle of the second season Rick had two jobs- PoG and the 'Red Green Show', and we shifted to work load to free him up. Monday to Wednesday I'd screen the material, do additional research, and then on Thursday, Gregg and I would structure the quotes, and provide a 'template' of the show for Rick. 
It would look something like this-
Teaser quote- Ray Bradbury 'Mars take me home!'
Rick intro mythological idea of Mars as God of War.
Run Show opening.
Intro Mars show. Set up idea that when Mariner went to Mars it destroyed theclassic idea of Mars...
Intro Kim Stanley Robinson. Ask him- 'Why are you in love with Mars?'K. S. Robinson - <his quote>
Rick would put in the jokes, and the personality. Sometimes we would build a show and include 'Rick does something clever for 30 seconds'. Often these 'bits' were my favorite things.
Often we would write 'Rick intro show on education', and Rick would write a wonderful skit with various children from SF (offscreen) giving Commander Rick a hard time.
We gave Rick a lot of leeway to be creative and have fun, and he didn't have 
to worry about how to order the material.
Usually this meant that Thursdays were a killer day. Gregg and I would look ourselves into a room and watch all the material that I'd chosen, and then argue about its inclusion, and then the order.
What tended to happen was that I'd have found a through line that worked, and a basic structure. Gregg and I would refine the order, and then we would listen to the quotes and Gregg would find a way to edit the quotes together. 
Usually this took 10- 12 hours. I'd eat a tub of popcorn at 4 pm to keep me going...
An aside- there was no co-relation between how hard a script was to structure, and how good the show was.
After we structured the show,. Rick wrote a draft, then read/performed it to us. Usually present- Gregg, Rick, Shirley, Sally (our Production Assistant) and me. I always seemed to be the 'designated laugher'.
After the read we'd discuss what worked, and what didn't.
Rick had great training in comedy, so he usually knew from the read what worked and what didn't. 
Rick would write the second draft. Usually we'd shoot from that script.

A Few of the Best 

Ray Bradbury 
A great interview with the American Master of SF. Informative, inspiring and candid, this show somehow captures the energy and spirit of Ray. We won an American Literacy award for this show. Frankly, this was a fairly easy show to produce- we simply turned a great storyteller loose. If only there wereall so easy, and so good.. 
Censorship 
This features great interviews with director David Cronenberg, and cartoonist John Callahan, among others. This is a must watch show for any creator. A wide range of politics and mediums are addressed, and it wasaired precisely during the peak of 'Political Correctness'. Rick Green has a passion for this topic, and his script and performance show great knowledge, passion and nuance. 
I was at a literary book launch shortly after the show aired, and several well known 'high' literary types raved about the episode, and how well it tackled a very difficult subject with clarity and balance. 
Layout- with Will Eisner, Scott McCloud, Joe Kubert, Mike Ploog, Stan Lee, 
Denis Cowan, Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, Frank Miller and Howard Chaykin. 
This is one of our best, and one of my favorite ( and quite timeless) episodes. 
This is the Primer for anyone interested in the CRAFT of comics and showcases the talent of some of the finest craftsmen in comics. The show also served as a 'book launch' for Scott McCloud's brilliant 'Understanding Comics'. 
On a technical level, this was one of the most difficult episodes to assemble and edit. How do you capture such a vague idea, an idea so brilliantly served in print or a lecture, and translate the medium of comics(with a different aspect ratio) to television? 
At it's best, PoG gave a voice to craftspeople who had no other forum. 
This show boasts the crème de la crème of comic book storytellers, who finally get to talk about the subtle secrets of their craft. 
As an aside, I love several 'bits'- Mike Ploog discussing his mentor Will Eisner- Frank Miller taking a sip of water to begin- all the creators trying to find metaphors to explain comic book storytelling- Joe Kubert's aside about when an artist should stop... 
If you are a comic book fan, or an aspiring comic book creator, if you only watch one episode of PoG, do yourself a favour, and make it this one. 

Information 
Once again we took a very broad topic, a topic not necessarily 'SF', and found a compelling SF view point. 
This show celebrates information and television, but also has a balance to it. I was honoured to interview John Brunner, and he really shines in this. Ditto the Cyberpunk authors. I think that the U2 video dates the show, but we get away with it... 
Mars 
Well, before we left to do interviews in England, this show looked fairly boring on paper. There was a nice chunk of the always compelling Ray Bradbury, but everyone except Kim Stanley Robinson seemed to feel that Mars was old news. But then, enter associate producer Shirley Brady who discovered a book launch in London for 'New Worlds'. Not only did we get a whole (unexpected) show on the groundbreaking British SF magazine, but we got interviews with many of the hottest SF writers in Britain, and suddenly this topic came alive. The Brits had suddenly all discovered that Mars was ripe for reinterpretation. The show barrels along, exploding the 'Old Mars' myths, and showcasing Michael Moorcock and Ian MacDonald. 
I had the feeling that PoG was ahead of the curve on this topic, and you could feel it in the energy of the interviews. Passion. 
This is one of the few shows where Commander Rick seems totally in control of the material, and every time an author is mentioned, he was able to go to them (with NanCy's help!). 

Memory/ Amnesia 
We only did 2 two part shows- this pair, and Shared Worlds/ Medea. 'Memory/ Amnesia' is successful because the material is so strong, and Rick was able to relate so strongly to the interview clips. There are some great creators in these shows, and because the topic is so broad, anyone can watch this show and get something out of it. Personally , I think Lynda Barry and Neil Gaiman are brilliant on this topic. 

Favorites 
Will Eisner 
This show is the watershed episode- this aired as the third show in season 2- but it was the first show with director/producer Gregg Thurlbeck and editor Brian Karn. I remember watching it with Executive Producer Daniel Richler, and at the end of the show Daniel simply said 'Fuuuuuuck', and 
then walked away. 
I cornered him later, and asked if he liked the show, and he said that he was completely unprepared for the quantum leap we had made. In retrospect it is not among our best shows, but it was the first step in the rightdirection. Will Eisner liked the show, so that was good enough for me! 

Fairy Tales 

This is one of my favorites because the topic near and dear to my heart. 
It also turned out to be a disguised 'feminism' show. As I was compiling the show it seemed flat, so I got some extra money in the budget to go to the World Fantasy Convention in Minneapolis... there I interviewed Jane Yolen, Terri Windling, Peter Straub and several other writers, and those interviews galvanized the whole episode. I particularly enjoyed Jane Yolen, because she is so eloquent, and generous. I told her that her novel 'Briar Rose' is the only book I've read on a subway that caused me to cry. 
She loved that! 
Vess, Gaiman, Straub, Anne Rice, Terri Windling, Jane Yolen... quite a line up! 
I think Rick did a great job of seamlessly filling in the holes, and providing a foil for a lot of the material. 
The Watchmen 
One graphic novel. 
Two creators. 
That's it. 
Just Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. 
This show was really helped along by Gregg and Rick. They challenged me to put my money where my mouth was, and prove that the Watchmen was/is the finest piece of craftsmanship in comics. 
This show would simply have not worked without Rick's energy and enthusiasm for the material. He really sells Watchmen to the audience. 
I was nervous that the show wouldn't work with only two guests, and I was very concerned that the images had to be perfect. Gregg and our editor Brian Karn really knocked themselves out in the edit bay, and technically this episode paved the way for the 'Layout' episode. While I think this show is bested by the Layout show, we all learned a lot from this, and it remains a favorite, and very f

Neil Gaiman 
I'm not going to get into my history with Neil here- suffice to say that I met him on the set of the first Tim Burton Batman movie, several months before Sandman #1 debuted. 
The first interview was very odd- Neil insisted on wearing his dark sunglasses, and with his twinkly eyes shrouded he came across as a bit demented... 
The second interview, against a black background, and keylit by a green gel was one of the most valuable and personally rewarding interviews I conducted. I had an agenda- I thought Neil had become the best comic book writer since Alan Moore, and I recognized that Neil was a writer and a 
storyteller first and foremost. I challenged Neil in this interview, and he responded. It's no surprise that this interview was so good that our viewers chose Neil as their 'favorite guest' on the Reality 1 awards, over Alan Moore, Clive Barker, Anne Rice, and dozens of other fan favourites 
(and his acceptance speech, directed by Dave McKean is hilarious). After that ground breaking interview I interviewed Neil several times- once in the back of a limo on the way to a signing- but somehow I never thought we reached the pinnacle of our second interview. 

Jack Kirby 
The King was dying. 
Frank Miller convinced me, as only Frank can, that I should interview Jack. I had misgivings, as Jack was never a good interview, and even in Comic Book Confidential we had trouble making him watchable. Frank's final argument was- 'Even if he doesn't make it to TV, you owe it to Jack to 
try'. 
I prepared for months, and researched like crazy. I met Jack and his wife Roz the day before the interview, and it was fairly clear that the interview was going to be a wash. There was some concern that Jack couldn't make it, and it could only be for half an hour... 
When Jack walked into the room he was a tired, sick old man. 
When the interview started, The King of Comics was in the chair. 
Jack's passion and simple directness poured out. I kept things very simple- no memory stuff- I was going for the pure essence- and Jack delivered. 
The interview ended when I asked him about how important his family was to his creative work, and as he answered, I knew I had gold. We ended the interview, and Sally, my Production Assistant burst into tears, and hugged Jack. 
The highlight- I was at work the day after Boxing Day, and the phone rang. 
It was Roz Kirby, and she told me she loved the show, and that 'the kids' had watched the show all Christmas. Jack got on the phone, and I choke up to this day telling the story, Jack told me I was a good man... I told him that it was an honour to have interviewed him, and I couldn't ever begin to repay the debt we all owed him, and Jack graciously said that I could consider the account balanced. 
Jack died a few weeks later, and we re-ran the show as our tribute to him. 

People Who Make It Look Easy- The Newt List 

There are some people that it is just a pleasure to interview. 
They are so good that I'm sure that they could conduct an interview with a newt. 
These include Douglas Adams, Clive Barker, Dr. Gregory Benford, David Cronenberg, Will Eisner, Robert J. Sawyer and Connie Willis. 
If you ever get a chance to interview one of the creators, grab it. 
They'll make you look good!