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The inarguable highlights of Gex and its sequel, Gex: Enter the Gecko, are the nonstop jokey-jokes bantied about by its wisecracking reptilian protagonist. That voice and those jokey-jokes are supplied by stand-up veteran Dana Gould, whose resume includes several HBO comedy specials, and who can currently be seen on the NBC sitcom "Working." Dana chatted with us via el telefono about his career and his involvement with Gex. Zach Meston: How'd you get involved with the first Gex? Dana Gould: Crystal Dynamics had been developing the game, and they wanted Gex to have a personality apart from just the visuals. They wanted him to talk and react to the environment and the levels. Crystal Dynamics is located in the Bay Area, and I do stand-up a lot in the Bay Area. They were familiar with my stuff, they called, they asked if I'd be interested, and I'm like "Yeah! Love to!" I went to a meeting, I saw their setup and the prototypes of the game, and that was it. ZM: How much of Gex's dialogue is scripted, and how much of it is ad-libbed, off-the-cuff stuff? DG: 75% to 80% is scripted by me and a guy named Rob Cohen, a friend of mine and a very funny gentleman. It's me and Rob sitting in a room riffing and then scribbling it down and repeating it. It's a very Mystery Science Theater 3000 process. Once I get in the booth, I do the whole Jim Morrison thing, I have the leather pants, I have a heroin addict follow me around. Last time it was Brett Butler, so I'm not too excited about that. You tend to riff around a little, and those are usually the best ones. You do have to watch the game as you do it, and you'll get little ideas. But it's surprisingly not off the cuff. ZM: How long is the entire process, from the time you go in and start writing until you've got it all on tape? DG: It usually takes a little bit of work over two to three months, because you get different sections of the game, you sent them back, you make revisions. Then you get the next section of the game, you work on it, you sent it back, you make revisions... and then you go in to record. That's an eight-hour day. Then you usually have to go back and do some clean-ups. Not like stand-up, which is 45 [minutes] and done. ZM: Does someone else play through the game while you watch? Do you watch a videotape? DG: It wouldn't work if I was playing the game anyway. They sent us a videotape of -- the reason it takes so long is every permutation of movement has different responses. SO we get a videotape of every possible movement. It's never the same game twice, because you never play it exactly the same way. I would have a problem playing Gex, because I don't want to hear me that much. I'm in my head enough, I don't need to be coming out of my TV. ZM: Has there been any discussion of a Gex 3 if this one does well? DG: I guess they'll see how this one does. My only rule with third sequels is no Ewoks. ZM: Are there more lines in Enter the Gecko than in the original? DG: Oh, yeah, a lot more. In the first game, I think it was like maybe 300. In this, we have over 500. It's funny, because a lot of those are like, "Blaugh." "Let's have that again." "Blaugh!" "A little more pitch." "BLAUGH!" You really feel like a moron in the booth. I really like the 3D graphics; they really do draw you into the game. This is the first time we were afraid the graphics might upstage the jokes. But they seem to work pretty well together. We knew that because it was a sequel we'd have to do as many sequel jokes as possible. There's a lot of Beneath the Planet of the Apes and The Empire Strikes Back. Evil Dead 2 made the cut. ZM: Excellent. You can never have enough Evil Dead 2 references. DG: I actually emailed Bruce Campbell. ZM: You and he are both doing the voiceover thing. DG: Oh, is he in a game, too? ZM: Bruce has been in two games now. Or, he's going to be. He appeared
in the game Broken Helix, and then he's going to be in Pitfall 3D. |
 Gex Sequel Interview Dana Gould Interviews Jon Stewart |
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