title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Like the first film, "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" is a live-action horror comedy film; however, Dante put effort into taking the sequel in new anarchistic directions. Dante created the film to act almost as a parody of the original "Gremlins", and it is meant to be more cartoon-like and less dark than the original. Its violence leans more towards slapstick, so the film received a PG-13 rating by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). There are also a number of parodies of other films and stories, including the "Rambo" films, "The Wizard of Oz", "Marathon Man" and "The Phantom of the Opera". When released into theaters on June 15, 1990 "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" was a box office disappointment, grossing only $41.5 million on a budget of $30–50 million. Despite its mixed critical reception when it first released, it has since developed a cult following.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: The film opens at an undisclosed date in December close to Christmas. After his owner Mr. Wing dies, the "mogwai" Gizmo becomes the guinea pig of scientists at a lab in the Clamp Center, a state-of-the-art highrise building in Manhattan, owned by eccentric billionaire Daniel Clamp. At the mercy of the chief researcher Dr. Catheter, Gizmo is rescued by his former owner Billy Peltzer and his fiancée Kate, both of whom work elsewhere in the building. Clamp befriends Billy upon being impressed by his skills in concept design, sparking the interest of Billy's superior Marla Bloodstone. Gizmo is left in the office, where water spills on his head from a broken drinking fountain and spawns four new "mogwai", one of them being Mohawk, a reincarnation of Stripe. They cage Gizmo in the air vents and later eat at the building's food court after midnight, becoming gremlins.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: After Gizmo escapes from the vent, Mohawk captures and tortures him. The other gremlins set off the fire sprinklers and spawn a gremlin army that throws the building into chaos. Billy attempts to lure the gremlins into the lobby, where sunlight will kill them; after Billy briefs Clamp on gremlin knowledge, Clamp exits through a secret tunnel to cover the front of the building in a giant sheet to trick the creatures. The gremlins drink genetic serums in the lab; one becomes the intelligent Brain Gremlin, another gremlin becomes female, and a third becomes a being of pure electricity and kills Dr. Catheter before Billy traps it in the building's telephone system. All the while, television host "Grandpa Fred" films the chaos, aided by a Japanese tourist named Mr. Katsuji.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Murray Futterman, Billy's neighbor from Kingston Falls who is visiting New York City with his wife Sheila, is attacked by a bat-gremlin hybrid immunized to sunlight by the Brain Gremlin with "genetic sunblock". After fending it off, Murray realizes that he is not crazy and has to help; when Clamp escapes the building using his secret route, Murray uses it to sneak inside to aid Billy. Billy and chief of security Forster team up, but the enamored female gremlin chases Forster off. Mohawk drinks a spider serum and transforms into a monstrous gremlin-spider hybrid. He attacks Kate and Marla, but Gizmo saves them by killing Mohawk with an ignited bottle of white-out.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Billy's plan to kill the gremlins by flooding the lobby with sunlight fails when rain clouds block the sun. He instead directs Murray to spray the gremlins with a fire hose, then releases the electric one from the telephone to electrocute and melt them all. Clamp charges in with the police and press, but sees the conflict is resolved; thrilled by the result, he promotes Billy, Kate, Fred, and Marla and hires Mr. Katsuji as a cameraman. Billy and Kate then return home with Gizmo. Forster calls Clamp to notify him that he is trapped at the highest floor of the building. The female gremlin, the sole survivor of the horde, corners him and entices him to marry her.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: The film has various crew and guest cameos: Jerry Goldsmith as a yogurt customer, John Astin as a janitor, and Henry Gibson as an employee fired for smoking. Rick Ducommun cameos as a security guard, and Joe Dante as the director of Grandpa Fred's show. Dick Butkus and Bubba Smith cameo as themselves getting attacked at the salad bar. The cast of the PBS children's show "Square One TV" appear as themselves filming an episode in the lobby of the Clamp building. Dean Norris and Raymond Cruz, who both would later gain prominence on the acclaimed television series "Breaking Bad" as well as its spin-off "Better Call Saul", appear in the film as a SWAT team member and delivery man respectively.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: The film includes animated segments written and directed by Chuck Jones and featuring the "Looney Tunes" characters Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. Jones had retired from animation before returning to work on "Gremlins 2: The New Batch". Dante explained the animation at the beginning of the film was meant to "set the anarchic tone."


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: The first scene initiates the film and features the classic "Looney Tunes" opening card, causing people to assume it is the short cartoon that usually plays before a movie begins; however, when Bugs appears through the rings on top of the Warner Bros. shield, Daffy interrupts the intro, and steals the shield from Bugs. Daffy attempts to recreate the opening with himself in Bugs' place, but the shield overshoots, causing the entire title card to fall apart. Daffy surrenders the stardom, claiming that since he will not star in the cartoon, they might as well just skip straight to the movie. Bugs is willing to do so, and spins Daffy off screen like a spinning top for the movie title to appear.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: The DVD and Blu-ray include a longer version of the cartoon short. In it, Daffy is informed by Bugs that he has been promoted to executive and is subsequently put in charge writing the title of the movie. When Daffy mistakenly writes the title "Gremlins 2" as "Gremlin Stew", Bugs corrects the error. Daffy then attempts to rename the film "The Return of Super-Daffy Meets Gremlins 2 Part 6: The Movie", but Bugs rejects this for being too long, changing it back to "Gremlins 2" (rendered in the font of the official logo). Daffy then quits his new job and Bugs decides to add in the subtitle, saying it looks "a little skimpy". This material was removed from the film because early audiences expected a live-action film and were bewildered by the lengthy animated sequence.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Throughout the film's closing credits, Daffy pops into frame sporadically and spouts off sarcastic comments. The last scene appears after the credits, and again features the "Looney Tunes" rings. This time, Porky comes out of the rings and tries to say his usual "Th-th-th-that's all, folks!" However, Daffy interrupts again and takes over. After Daffy says the slogan, the back of the Warner Bros. shield, with the words, "Title Animation Written & Directed by Chuck Jones (with Chuck Jones' signature)", smashes him. He peeks his head out to the left side and says, "Fade out," and the segment ends.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: The original "Gremlins" was a financial success, and Warner Bros. asked its director Joe Dante to make a sequel straight away. Dante declined, because he saw "Gremlins" as having a proper ending, and thus a sequel would only be meant to be profitable. Moreover, the original film was a taxing experience for Dante, and he wanted to move on. Work on "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" continued without him, as the studio approached various directors and writers. Storylines considered included sending the gremlins to cities like Las Vegas or even the planet Mars. After these ideas fell through, the studio returned to Dante, who agreed to make the sequel after receiving the rare promise of having complete creative control over the movie; he also received a budget triple that of the original film. Dante later acknowledged that by this point too much time had passed between the films, thus possibly reducing public interest in a "Gremlins" sequel.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" was shot in New York City in June 1989 and released in 1990. As the filmmakers noted, this was a time when cable television, genetics, and frozen yogurt were becoming more common in popular culture, hence are all parodied in the movie.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: With more control over the film, Dante engineered a project that he later referred to as "one of the more unconventional studio pictures, ever." Dante included some material that he believed Warner Bros. would not have allowed had they not wanted a sequel to "Gremlins". Allowed to break a number of rules in filmmaking, he also later claimed it was the film into which he had put the most of his personal influence. Dante imagined "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" as a satire of "Gremlins" and sequels in general.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Screenwriter Charlie Haas introduced the concept of moving the gremlins to New York City and a corporate head (Daniel Clamp) as Billy's boss. When the Warner Bros. executives grew concerned about the expense of portraying the gremlins attacking an entire city, Haas came up with the idea of confining the action within Clamp's "smart building". Haas also included a great deal of material in his screenplay that proved too elaborate to produce, including having a cow–hamster hybrid running on a treadmill in the laboratory.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: In keeping with Dante's desires to satirize the original film, the sequel has some meta-references and self-referential humor. These include a cameo appearance by film critic Leonard Maltin. He holds up a copy of the original "Gremlins" home video and denounces it, just as he had in reality; however, his rant is cut short when gremlins pounce on him. Partly for this scene, one academic called Dante "one of contemporary cinema's great pranksters."


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Additionally, when Billy is trying to explain the rules regarding the mogwai to staff in the building, the staff finds them quite absurd and derisively interrogates Billy on their precise meaning; at one point considering the thought experiment of a mogwai in a plane which crosses a time zone. This scene originates from the fact that the filmmakers themselves saw the rules as irrational, and some questions in the scene were based upon those raised by fans of the original film.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: At one point in the film, Dante attempted to involve his audience in the story by making it seem as if the gremlins had taken control of the theatre where "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" was showing. The filmstrip appears to be broken by the gremlins, who then engage in shadow puppetry over a white screen before replacing the reel with the vintage nudie film "Volleyball Holiday". Hulk Hogan then makes a cameo appearance as an audience member and intimidates the gremlins into running the rest of "Gremlins 2: The New Batch". This joke was inspired by a similar stunt in William Castle's film "The Tingler" (1959). The studio feared that people might leave the theatre if they thought the film had broken; Dante therefore secured the inclusion of the sequence by assembling some people for a preview of the film. When the scene was shown, the real-life audience found it enjoyable and stayed in the theatre. Dante later described this scene as one of the most widely enjoyed jokes in "Gremlins 2".


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: When the film made its debut on home video, the filmmakers replaced the scene to make it seem as if the viewer's VCR had been broken by the gremlins. In this version, the gremlins do their shadow puppetry over white noise before changing the VCR's channels. Their antics stop at a broadcast of "Chisum", where John Wayne forces the gremlins into continuing the film, although voice impersonation was needed since Wayne had been dead since 1979; actor Chad Everett was recommended by Wayne's son Patrick Wayne. Notably, a clip from "Falling Hare", a film released in 1943 featuring Bugs Bunny and a gremlin, appears in this version. Also featured is a clip of the opening titles of the KTHV local newscast at the time in Little Rock, Arkansas. These sequences occur in lieu of the Hulk Hogan sequence which also featured Paul Bartel; home video audiences would not see these sequences until the DVD and Blu-ray releases (which includes the reworked VHS scene as a bonus feature).


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: The original version of the film was longer, but executive producer Steven Spielberg claimed that there were too many gremlins, and several scenes were cut as a result. One deleted scene portrayed three of the main gremlins, Daffy, Lenny, and George, sneaking into television host Grandpa Fred's studio and "helping" him host, acting on the premise that Grandpa Fred's show was intended to be scary (though this scene was later included in the tie-in novel).


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Several actors from the original film returned to make "Gremlins 2: The New Batch", including Galligan, Cates, and Dick Miller. Miller reprised his role as Billy's neighbor Mr. Futterman, who the gremlins severely injured (both physically and mostly mentally) in the first film, in an expanded role in this film. In the second, he plays a part in wiping out the creatures by dousing one in cement and using the building's fire hose against the others. Character actress Jackie Joseph returned to play Mr. Futterman's wife, and there were also brief reappearances in the movie theatre sequence from Belinda Balaski as a complaining mother and Kenneth Tobey as the projectionist. Keye Luke also returned to play Mr. Wing, Gizmo's original owner. When Luke heard his character would die in "Gremlins 2: The New Batch", he quipped, "Remember, when you make "Gremlins 3", I'm a flashback!". Hoyt Axton was meant to return as Billy's father, the inventor. He would have appeared at the end of the film, having designed special clothing for Gizmo that would ensure Gizmo would never come into contact with water again. At the last moment, the filmmakers decided not to shoot the scene to reduce time.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: New performers included Robert Picardo, who had previously worked with Dante and producer Michael Finnell in films such as "The Howling" (1981) and "Innerspace" (1987). He plays Forster, one of Billy's crueler bosses. Robert Prosky played Grandpa Fred, a television host, and his character was based upon Al Lewis's character Grandpa Munster. Joe Dante has a brief cameo as the director of Grandpa Fred's show. John Glover played Clamp (character based upon Donald Trump and Ted Turner) and brought to the role an enthusiastic innocence that overrode the fact that his character had been written as a villain, which Dante thought lightened the film in general.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Christopher Lee (who previously worked with Spielberg in "1941") played the mad scientist Dr. Catheter. Lee imagined his role as light-hearted; but Dante encouraged him to portray the scientist as evil to better match the atmosphere of the laboratory set. Lee was revered on the set for his experience. In a deleted scene, Dr. Catheter examines a bat injected with "genetic sun-block". He then says to his colleague, "I'm told they sometimes feed on blood"; this is a reference to Lee's performances as Count Dracula in the "Hammer Horror" films. Later, as the Bat Gremlin is transforming, Dr. Catheter experiences Deja-vu (the audience hears Dracula music). The doctor's first name, Cushing, is a reference to Lee's frequent Hammer co-star, and best friend, Peter Cushing.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Leonard Maltin, movie critic for "Entertainment Tonight", had given a negative review to the first "Gremlins" film. While Dante was initially hurt by the review, he invited Maltin to film a cameo as the movie critic of a fictional Clamp Cable Network show, "The Movie Police." Maltin gives a snide review for the video re-release of the first film along the lines of his original review before being assaulted by gremlins, pleading, "I was just kidding! It's a ten! A ten!"


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: For special effects, the original film relied on Chris Walas, who moved on to pursue a directing career. Dante turned to Academy Award-winner Rick Baker to create the effects for "Gremlins 2: The New Batch". Baker was not interested, as he saw "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" as too much work for a project in which he would not be the creator but rather a successor to Walas. He was eventually persuaded to accept the job when it was suggested he could make the gremlins and mogwai more diverse.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: In the first film, when Gizmo multiplied, his offspring closely resembled himself, except for the leader, Stripe. Here, the four mogwai Gizmo produces each possess their own distinct personalities and physical features. Additionally, each mogwai has a name, although the names were used in the script and never spoken aloud in the film. Two of the mogwais were George, black without a stripe and a caricature of Edward G. Robinson, and Lenny, buck-toothed, named for the principal characters in "Of Mice and Men", whom they resemble in both appearance and demeanor. Daffy was named for his manic behavior, and the leader, Mohawk, for his mohawk hairstyle. Based on the original film's character, Stripe, Frank Welker also voices Mohawk. While both the mogwai and gremlin versions of Stripe had fur stripes, Baker hit upon the idea of giving the Mohawk mogwai a fur stripe and giving the Mohawk gremlin something scalier. Gizmo was also redesigned; the puppet was generally larger and its design was simplified. Dante commented Gizmo may look less real in "Gremlins 2: The New Batch", but the result was that Gizmo could convey more emotion.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Later on, when the mogwai metamorphose into gremlins and multiply, they further diversify by running amok in the bio-lab and ingesting various drugs. One turns into a sunlight-resistant hybrid with a bat, thus becoming the Bat Gremlin. Mohawk becomes part-spider. One becomes part-vegetable (Vegetable Gremlin, as Dante named it), and another consumes a drug and turns into a female gremlin, referred to in at least one script as the "Girl Gremlin" and in the official trading card series and other promotional materials as "Lady Gremlina" with shiny red lips and mascara. Yet another has acid thrown onto his face, quickly presenting a mask of the Phantom of the Opera.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: As with the first, puppetry was involved, and some of the puppets were mechanical. An actor holding a puppet would have to have wires strapped to him. "Gremlins 2" also includes more stop motion animation than the first film; the Bat Gremlin was portrayed through some stop motion animation. Film technology since the original had improved, and as a result the creatures can be seen walking more. Gizmo is able to dance, although this scene took the longest to make. Because there are more gremlins in "Gremlins 2" than the original, additional filming lasted five months. Many of the effects had to be completed after the actors had finished their work.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: For the gremlins' voices, Howie Mandel returned as the voice of Gizmo, while Tony Randall provided the voice of the Brain Gremlin, Frank Welker provided the voice for Mohawk, Mark Dodson provided voices for George, Lenny, and Daffy, Joe Dante provided voices for the Beanie Gremlin and the Witch Gremlin, Nancy McConnor provided the voice for the Bat Gremlin, while Kirk Thatcher provided voices for most of the gremlins, alongside Welker.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: As with the first film, the music in "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" was composed and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith, who also has a cameo in the film alongside his wife. The song "I'm Ready" by Fats Domino was put into the film after singer Billy Idol denied the filmmakers the right to use the song "Dancing with Myself", so Joe Dante had to find a song that fit the beat that Gizmo was dancing to. In the latter half of the film, Gizmo, inspired by the "Rambo" films and tired of the abuse he has suffered at the hands of the gremlins, takes revenge on Mohawk. Gizmo shoots the Mohawk spider-gremlin with a makeshift bow and flaming arrow. For the scene in which Gizmo prepares for this move, Goldsmith – who had also authored the music in the "Rambo" films – employed a variant of Gizmo's theme in the style of the "Rambo" theme. The soundtrack was released August 31, 1990 through Varèse Sarabande and features twelve tracks of score at a running time just under forty minutes. On June 22, 2015, an expanded release came from the same label.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: The scene featuring Mohawk transforming into a spider-like monster features a portion of the song "Angel of Death" by thrash metal band Slayer. In another scene, the Brain Gremlin leads hundreds of gremlins to sing "New York, New York". Dante claimed that "The musical number is a shameless steal" from the film "Dames" (1934).


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Film critics varied in their reviews of "Gremlins 2: The New Batch." On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's consensus states; ""Gremlins 2" trades the spiky thrills of its predecessor for looney satire, yielding a succession of sporadically clever gags that add some flavor to a recycled plot." Roger Ebert, who had approved of the first film, observed that "Gremlins 2" was meant to satirize sequels. Nevertheless, he felt it did not manage to differentiate itself from the original enough and was not as good. He went on to claim that the film lacks a well-constructed plot, and once the gremlins arrived the film simply becomes a "series of gags." He thus gave the film two and a half stars, out of a possible four. Hal Hinson of "The Washington Post" caught on to how the "Looney Tunes" animation is meant to imply "anarchic wit," but nevertheless felt both the cartoon short and the film itself are failures. He saw the beginning as too slow and, like Ebert, thought the film is too similar to the first. Hinson did, however, approve of the characterization of the gremlins and their version of "New York, New York." He also noted that turning the gremlins against Clamp resembles anti-corporate "poetic justice."


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: In contrast, while one reviewer for "Films in Review", like Ebert, argued the film resembles the original and abandons its plot when the gremlins arrive, he also felt the film's appeal could be found partly in its self-consciousness of these facts and its in-jokes and satire. He also complimented Cates as "wholesomely bewitching," and Galligan as "a suitably naive foil for the scaly fiends."


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Desson Howe of "The Washington Post" also approved of the film, including its special effects and the parodies of Trump, Turner, genetics labs, cable television, and the film "Marathon Man".


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Some critics thought the film has qualities the original lacked, such as wit. A critic for "National Review" called the film "much freer and wittier than the first one," though he felt the sequel shies away from becoming an important piece of satire.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: The cover of an issue of "Entertainment Weekly" in July 1990 also exclaimed that "actor John Glover... and director Joe Dante made "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" wittier, better, and more subversive than the original." Some critics who found the first film too dark also gave "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" more positive reviews. Leonard Maltin, who appears in the film, gave it three out of four stars for its references to other films, Glover's imitation of Turner and Trump, and Lee's performance. "VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever" gave the film three-and-a-half bones out of four as opposed to the three bones given to the original, stating:


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: An Allmovie critic complimented the sequel by saying the "original's violence and mean-spiritedness are gone, making this follow-up somewhat more kid-friendly." The film was nominated for several Saturn Awards, namely for Best Director, Best Fantasy Film, Best Music, and Best Special Effects. Glover and Picardo were both nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: Still, the film did not perform as well at the box office as the original. "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" was released into US theatres on June 15, 1990, the same day as "Dick Tracy". In its first weekend it made $9,702,804, and it ultimately made $41,482,207. It was thus only the thirty-first highest-grossing film of the year, behind a few other films in the comedy, horror or fantasy genre, such as "Back to the Future Part III" ($87,727,583), "Edward Scissorhands" ($56,362,352), and "Arachnophobia" ($53,208,180). It did, however, outperform "Predator 2" ($30,669,413), "Child's Play 2" ($28,501,605) and "The Exorcist III" ($26,098,824).


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" also played in other countries. Canadian audiences reportedly enjoyed one scene where Billy and his boss meet at a Canadian-themed restaurant, where the waiters are dressed like the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The film was released in Norway on July 5, Finland on July 6, Colombia on July 12, and much of Europe in the rest of July, including in the United Kingdom and Spain on July 27. It opened in France and Argentina in August and reached Australia on September 20. It earned £7,400,000 in the United Kingdom.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: As with the first film, merchandising accompanied "Gremlins 2: The New Batch". This may have been integral to the film's purpose. As one critic wrote, "it's a savvy, off-the-wall comedy that acknowledges, yes, it is just one more silly rip-off sequel, produced to sell off the merchandise inspired by the first film." One reference the film makes to the original, an allusion to the merchandising surrounding Gizmo, drew criticism. Some critics saw the mention of merchandise as tasteless. This type of product placement has since become more common.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: The new merchandise released alongside the film included PVC figures, plush, and other collectibles by the now-defunct Applause company in 1990. Much later, action figures by the National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA Toys) based on characters such as the Brain and Mohawk gremlins were released. NECA also planned to release mogwais and gremlins from the film in late 2011 and 2012; with mogwai and gremlin versions of Daffy, Lenny and George, as well as a mogwai version of Mohawk. The Electric gremlin, flasher gremlin and the Phantom of the Opera gremlin were also planned to be released in action figure form by NECA. There were also newer versions of Gizmo released, including his Rambo look. Greta, a newer version of Mohawk and Mohawk in Spider form were also being planned.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: There were also children's books like "Gremlins 2: The New Batch: Movie Storybook", by Michael Teitelbaum, published by Goldencraft in December 1990. Little Golden Books published "Gremlins 2: The New Batch: Gizmo to the Rescue" in July 1990. In the United Kingdom, William Heinemann Ltd. had published two tie-in picture books from Buzz Books in August 1990 which contains photographs and scenes taken from the film. They were titled "Don't Get Wet" and "Midnight Feast". Buzz Books had also released other picture books that are particularly suitable for children such as "Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends", "Fireman Sam", "TUGS", "The Flintstones", "The Animals of Farthing Wood", "Looney Tunes", "Bugs Bunny", "Joshua Jones" and "Rupert". David Bischoff wrote a novel based on the film published by Avon Books in June 1990. A unique aspect of the novel is how Bischoff adapts the sequence where the film breaks. In the novel, the Brain Gremlin subdues and locks Bischoff in his bathroom before taking the reins for a little bit to explain that the gremlins take over at this point in the film, his displeasure at Bischoff using the nickname "Mr. Glasses" instead of his official name and begins a treatise on politics before Bischoff breaks his way out of the bathroom with an axe and subdues the Brain Gremlin. The novel then continues where the film picked up after the film break.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: The Spanish company Topo Soft developed a side-scrolling "Gremlins 2: The New Batch" video game for Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, MSX, Amstrad CPC and the ZX Spectrum, distributed by Erbe Software in Spain and by Elite abroad, being the first time a Spanish video game company got an exclusive license from a Hollywood movie to make a videogame. Hi Tech Expressions also released a DOS game at around the same time, but it was poorly received. Sunsoft released for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy in 1990.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: In January 2013, Vulture reported that Warner Bros. was negotiating with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment to reboot the "Gremlins" franchise. Seth Grahame-Smith was tapped to produce, alongside David Katzenberg. However, Grahame-Smith has since stated that the project has been put on hold. In November 2015 Zach Galligan confirmed that the third film will be a sequel and not a reboot.


title: Gremlins 2: The New Batch

text: In a December 2016 interview with "Bleeding Cool", Galligan said that Columbus had been "aggressively working on a "Gremlins 3"", which had writer Carl Ellsworth on board. A 2017 interview with Chris Columbus discussed his "twisted and dark" script which explored the idea that has been on the fans' minds for a long time: "If all the gremlins come from getting Gizmo wet and feeding his mogwai offspring after midnight, should Gizmo be eliminated?" In November 2020, Columbus stated that CGI would not be used for the gremlins and that traditional puppets and animatronics would continue to be used.


title: Asher Angel

text: Asher Dov Angel (born September 6, 2002) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor in the 2008 film "Jolene", starring Jessica Chastain. He is known for his role as Jonah Beck in the 2017 Disney Channel series "Andi Mack". In 2019, Angel portrayed Billy Batson in the DC Extended Universe film "Shazam!"


title: Asher Angel

text: Angel was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and lived in Paradise Valley, Arizona. His parents are Jody and Coco Angel, and he is the oldest of three siblings, with a brother and sister. He is Jewish. He sings and plays the guitar.


title: Asher Angel

text: At the age of 5, Angel appeared in the 2008 film "Jolene". Angel started his career by appearing in numerous theater productions. At the age of 7, Desert Stages Theatre held auditions for the musical "Oliver!" and, with his parents' permission, Angel auditioned and won a role in the production. His mother promised to take him to Los Angeles if he "put in the work and [did] 30 [local] shows", and he went on to act in multiple plays including "The Little Mermaid", "Seussical", "Mary Poppins", and "Into the Woods" at the Desert Stages Theatre in Scottsdale. His mother kept her promise, and Angel traveled to Los Angeles where, at age 12, he auditioned for and won the part of Jonah Beck in the Disney Channel television series "Andi Mack". His whole family moved to Utah to accommodate filming for the series.


title: Asher Angel

text: In April 2019, Angel played the lead role of Billy Batson, with Zachary Levi starring as his adult superhero alter ego, in the film adaptation of DC Comics' "Shazam!" The film, a further installment of the DC Extended Universe, was released to critical acclaim. Angel released his debut single "One Thought Away", featuring Wiz Khalifa, on June 6, 2019. He is set to reprise the role of Billy Batson in the sequel film "Shazam! Fury of the Gods", which is scheduled to be released on March 17, 2023.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: The Kamov Ka-27 (NATO reporting name 'Helix') is a military helicopter developed for the Soviet Navy, and currently in service in various countries including Russia, Ukraine, Vietnam, China, South Korea, and India. Variants include the Ka-29 assault transport, the Ka-28 downgraded export version, and the Ka-32 for civilian use.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: The helicopter was developed for ferrying and anti-submarine warfare. Design work began in 1969 and the first prototype flew in 1973. It was intended to replace the decade-old Kamov Ka-25, and had to have identical or inferior external dimensions compared to its predecessor. Like other Kamov military helicopters it has coaxial rotors, removing the need for a tail rotor. In total, five prototypes and pre-series helicopters were built. Series production started at Kumertau in July 1979, and the new helicopter officially entered service with the Soviet Navy in April 1981.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: The Ka-27 has a crew of three with a pilot and a navigator both installed in the cockpit, and a sonar operator installed behind. It has a four-leg fixed landing gear. The Ka-27 is equipped with two lateral buoys, that can be inflated in the case of a forced landing on water.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: The Ka-27PL anti-submarine version is equipped with a radar, and either a dipping sonar or a magnetic anomaly detector. It can also carry either up to 36 sonobuoys, or a torpedo, or between six and eight conventional depth charges, or a single nuclear one. Ka-27PLs generally operate in pairs as hunter-killer teams.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: The Ka-27PS search and rescue helicopter can carry 12 folding seats or four stretchers in its cabin, and is equipped with a 300-kg winch. Its fuel capacity is greater than that of the Ka-27PL (3.450 L against 2.940 L).


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: Ka-32 variants, e.g. the Klimov-powered Ka-32A11BC, have been certified for commercial operations throughout the world, notably in Canada and Europe. The Ka-32 has been certified for the newer Klimov VK-2500PS-02 engine.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: A Russian Navy Ka-27 helicopter from the Russian "Severomorsk" conducted interoperability deck landing training on board the US command ship on 22 July 2010.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: Ka-32A11BC multipurpose helicopters have been successfully operated in Portugal for over five years. In 2006, Kamov won the tender for the supply of Ka-32A11BC firefighting helicopters, to replace Aérospatiale SA 330 Pumas.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: Over 240 Ka-32 have been built as of 2019 and have been exported to more than 30 countries; South Korea operates some 60 Ka-32s. In the mid-1990s Russia offset debt to South Korea through supplies of weapons.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: The Ka-32A11BC features a high power-to-weight ratio and ease of handling, owing to its coaxial rotor design. The rotors' diameters are not restricted by the presence of a tail rotor and associated tail boom; this facilitates maneuvering near obstacles and helps assure exceptional accuracy when hovering in heavy smoke and dust conditions. The Ka-32A11BC may be equipped with the Bambi Bucket suspended fire-fighting system of up to five tons capacity.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: Since the 1990s, China has purchased the Ka-28 export version and Ka-31 radar warning version for the PLAN fleet. Ka-31 purchases were first revealed in 2010. It is believed that Chinese Ka-28s have been equipped with more enhanced avionics compared to Ka-28s exported to other countries.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: In 2013, Russia tested the new Kamov Ka-27M with an active electronically scanned array radar. The basis of the modernization of the Ka-27M is installed on the helicopter airborne radar with an active phased array antenna FH-A. This radar is part of the command and tactical radar system that combines several other systems: acoustic, magnetometric, signals intelligence and radar. All the information on them is displayed on the display instrumentation.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: Ka-32s are used for construction of transmission towers for overhead power lines, as it has somewhat higher lift capacity than the Vertol 107. In Canada, the Ka-32 is used for selective logging as it is able to lift selective species vertically.


title: Kamov Ka-27

text: In August 2013, a Kamov Ka-32, C-GKHL operating in Bella Coola, British Columbia, Canada, experienced failure of one of its Klimov TV3-117BMA engines (manufactured by Motor Sich in Ukraine). The subsequent technical investigation indicated that there was poor quality control in the assembly of the compressor turbine, leading to failure of the complete unit after several compressor blades separated.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is an action-adventure game developed by LucasArts and part of . It was initially developed for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360 consoles and on iOS, second-generation N-Gage, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, and Java-equipped mobile phone handhelds. The game was released in North America on September 16, 2008, in Australia and Southeast Asia on September 17, and in Europe on September 19. LucasArts released downloadable content for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. An "Ultimate Sith Edition" of the game, containing both new and previously released downloadable content, was released in November 2009, and later ported to the macOS and Microsoft Windows. An enhanced remaster of the Wii version, developed by Aspyr, was released on Nintendo Switch on April 20, 2022.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: The project bridges the first two "Star Wars" trilogies, acting as an origin story for both the united Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Civil War depicted in the original trilogy. The game introduces a new protagonist named "Starkiller", a powerful Force user trained as Darth Vader's secret apprentice, who is tasked with hunting down Jedi survivors of the Great Jedi Purge while trying to keep his existence a secret. However, after he is tasked with planting the seeds of what would become the Rebel Alliance, which Vader plans to take advantage of to overthrow the Emperor, Starkiller begins to question his own morality and to slowly redeem himself. Following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012, the game became part of the non-canonical "Star Wars" Expanded Universe (also known as "Star Wars Legends"), and an alternative origin for the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Civil War was given in other forms of "Star Wars" media, such as "Star Wars Rebels".


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed" received generally mixed to positive reviews from critics, with praise for its story, voice acting, physics, art and soundtrack, but criticism for its linear gameplay and technical issues. The game was a bestseller in the United States and Australia, with over one million copies sold its debut month. , the game had sold over seven million copies, and was the fastest-selling "Star Wars" video game of its time. A sequel, "", was released in October 2010.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: "The Force Unleashed" is a third-person action game in which the player's character's weapons are the Force and a lightsaber. Developers treated the main character's lightsaber like another Force power, and wanted to ensure "something visceral and cool" happened with each button-push. The game has a combo system for stringing lightsaber attacks and for combining lightsaber attacks with Force powers. Experience points earned by killing enemies and finding artifacts can be used to increase Starkiller's powers and traits. The gameplay is intended to be easy to learn; the development team included "horrible" gamers to help ensure the game's accessibility. Players can casually run and gun through the game, but the game rewards those who take a stealthy, more tactical approach. The game includes enemies that are easy to overcome; game difficulty arises from presenting these enemies in large numbers that can wear down the player's character. Additionally, enemies learn from the player's character's attacks; using the same attack on different characters can sometimes lead to the player's character doing less damage. The enemies, which number over 50, have various strengths and weaknesses; developers faced the difficulty of effectively placing them throughout the game's varied environments.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: "The Force Unleashed" has different features across platforms. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, powered by the Ronin engine, utilize high-definition graphics and advanced dynamic destruction effects. These versions also support downloadable content in the form of two expansions that expand upon the game's plot. The Nintendo versions use motion controls to implement Starkiller's attacks, with the Wii version using the Wii Remote to execute lightsaber attacks and the Nunchuk to wield Force powers, while the Nintendo DS version utilizes the touchscreen to execute attacks, where single actions can be executed by tapping a certain region of the screen (with each region corresponding to a particular action, such as jumping or Force pushing), while more advanced attacks can be performed by dragging the stylus across neighboring regions of the screen.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: The PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable versions are identical in content to the Wii version, which is different than the PS3 and Xbox 360 version due to these three systems' technical limitations. Since these versions do not support or use downloadable content, they exclusively intersperse certain levels with three of the five Jedi trials that Starkiller completes at the Jedi temple in Coruscant to further hone his abilities, which are all included in a DLC pack for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions. The PSP version also exclusively features five additional "historical" bonus levels that re-enact pivotal scenes and duels throughout the "Star Wars" saga, as well as special scenarios that can be played with as different "Star Wars" characters who have the same abilities in the standard single-player mode. The Nintendo DS version utilizes 3-D graphics like all other major versions, but lacks voice acting.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: The Wii and handheld versions support multiplayer. Two players duel against each other as famous Jedi and Sith in the "Star Wars" saga in the Wii version, while the handheld versions utilize wireless multiplayer for a four-player battle mode.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: Shortly into the Galactic Empire's rule, Imperial spies locate a Jedi survivor of the Great Purge named Kento Marek on Kashyyyk. Darth Vader arrives as the planet is invaded and eliminates any Wookie resistance between him and the fugitive Jedi. Reaching Kento’s home, Vader easily defeats him in a lightsaber duel but senses someone far more powerful nearby. Initially believing it to be Kento’s Jedi Master, Vader prepares to execute the defiant Jedi until his lightsaber is suddenly force pulled from his hand by Kento’s son Galen. Sensing the boy’s strong connection to the Force, Vader proceeds to kill Kento and an Imperial squadron after they try to execute Galen and secretly takes him as his secret apprentice with only a select few knowing of his existence.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: Years later, an adult Galen (given the alias "Starkiller") completes his Sith training. He is sent by Vader to eliminate several Jedi survivors across the galaxy in preparation for assassinating the Emperor so that the two of them can rule the galaxy together. Starkiller travels aboard his personal ship, the "Rogue Shadow", alongside training droid PROXY (who is programmed to try and kill Starkiller) and Imperial pilot Juno Eclipse. Starkiller's targets include Rahm Kota, a Clone Wars veteran and leader of a militia; Kazdan Paratus, insane after years of isolation on Raxus Prime; and Shaak Ti, who is hiding on Felucia. As they duel, Kota senses that Vader will not always be Starkiller's master and that he will be part of his future before being blinded with his own lightsaber and falling to his seeming death. Before she dies, Shaak Ti warns Starkiller that he will eventually be betrayed by Vader. His final mission complete, Starkiller is summoned by Vader as the Emperor arrives. Vader then swiftly impales Starkiller, and at the Emperor's insistence, hurls his apprentice through a window into space to prove his loyalty.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: Unbeknownst to the Emperor, Vader has Starkiller recovered and resuscitated. Vader sends Starkiller to foster a rebellion among the Empire's enemies, as part of his plan to create the proper conditions to overthrow the Emperor. Starkiller rescues Juno, who had been arrested and branded a traitor to the Empire, and escapes with her and PROXY. Looking for allies to aid his mission, Starkiller finds an alive Kota on Cloud City, rendered blind and reduced to alcoholism, and rescues him from Imperial forces.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: The group travels to Kashyyyk to locate Kota's contact, senator Bail Organa. Starkiller discovers his old home and meets his father's spirit, who expresses remorse for Starkiller's upbringing under Vader. To gain Bail's trust, Starkiller rescues his captive daughter Princess Leia Organa, and liberates the enslaved Wookiees at her request. Starkiller learns from Kota that Bail went missing on Felucia, after searching for Shaak Ti in the hope she would rescue Leia. Starkiller travels to Felucia to find Bail, discovering he had been captured by Shaak Ti's former apprentice Maris Brood, who succumbed to the Dark Side after her master's death. Starkiller defeats Brood but spares her life, and convinces Bail to join the rebellion.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: To convince more dissidents to do the same, Vader suggests that Starkiller attack a Star Destroyer facility on Raxus Prime to show that the Empire is vulnerable. Juno learns Starkiller is still serving Vader and chastises him, but agrees to keep silent. On Raxus Prime, Starkiller is attacked by PROXY, who attempts to fulfill his programming by killing him, but Starkiller defeats him, destroys the facility, and pulls a falling Star Destroyer out of the sky using the Force. Bail meets with fellow senators Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis on Corellia to formally organize a rebellion, only for Vader to arrive and arrest them and Kota. After overpowering Starkiller, Vader reveals that he was merely a tool to lure out the Empire's enemies, and had never intended to use him to overthrow the Emperor. Starkiller escapes after PROXY sacrifices himself by attacking Vader.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: Juno rescues Starkiller, who uses the Force to see that Kota and the senators are being held on the Death Star. After bidding farewell to Juno, Starkiller battles his way through the station to reach the Emperor's throne room. Vader confronts him, but Starkiller defeats his former master and faces the Emperor, who tries to goad him into killing Vader so Starkiller can take his place. Kota tries to attack the Emperor, but is subdued with Force lightning. At this point, the player must choose between saving Kota (Light Side) or killing Vader (Dark Side).


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: Three downloadable content (DLC) levels for the game were released. The first one is set during the events of the main story and explores more of Starkiller's background, while the second and third ones expand upon the non-canonical Dark Side ending of the game, taking place in their own alternate timeline.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: The Coruscant DLC depicts Starkiller, at some point before traveling to Kashyyyk, deciding to visit the abandoned Jedi Temple to learn more about his identity and connection to the Force. After fighting his way past the Imperial security forces, he reaches the old Council Chambers, where he meets Kento Marek's spirit who tells him that he needs to pass three Jedi trials. Upon doing so, Starkiller is faced with a mysterious Sith warrior, revealed to be a dark reflection of himself created by his own fear. Following his defeat, Starkiller finds a holocron left by Marek, who reveals himself as his father and implores him to return to the light side. Starkiller then returns to the "Rogue Shadow" to resume his current mission.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: The Tatooine and Hoth DLC's are set during alternate depictions of "A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back", respectively, and present Starkiller as the Emperor's trusted assassin, referred to as "Lord Starkiller". In the Tatooine DLC, he is tasked with retrieving the Death Star plans stolen by the Rebel Alliance, which have been tracked to Tatooine. He visits Jabba the Hutt, who has knowledge on the plans' whereabouts, revealing they are in the possession of two droids at Mos Eisley. When Starkiller refuses to work for him, Jabba attempts to have Starkiller eaten by his rancor. Killing the beast, Starkiller escapes from Jabba's palace after massacring Jabba's mercenaries, including Boba Fett. At Mos Eisley, Starkiller kills Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi after a duel which allows the droids to board the "Millennium Falcon", though Starkiller manages to place a tracking device on the ship before it takes off.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: In the Hoth DLC, Starkiller partakes in the Battle of Hoth, where the Empire attacks the weakened Rebel Alliance's base. During the battle, Starkiller infiltrates the base with orders to capture Luke Skywalker, who had begun training as a Jedi. Starkiller finds and defeats Skywalker in the base's hangar, severing his right hand. When the "Falcon" tries to take off, Starkiller seizes the ship with the Force while goading Skywalker to give into the Dark Side to rescue his friends. Skywalker attacks Starkiller with Force lightning, causing him to let go of the ship and congratulate Skywalker for embracing the Dark Side, planning to make him his apprentice the same way Vader did to him.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: Other performances include Tom Kane as Kento Marek and Captain Ozzik Sturn, Larry Drake as Kazdan Paratus, Susan Eisenberg as Shaak Ti, and Catherine Taber as Princess Leia Organa. In addition to voicing Starkiller, Witwer also provided the voice of Emperor Palpatine. R2-D2 also makes an appearance in the game alongside Leia. The game's downloadable content features David W. Collins as Jabba the Hutt, Dee Bradley Baker as Boba Fett, Rob Rackstraw as Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Lloyd Floyd as Luke Skywalker.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: Game planning began in summer 2004. Initially, about six developers started with a "clean slate" to conceptualize a new "Star Wars" game; the small group of engineers, artists, and designers spent more than a year brainstorming ideas for what might make a good game. Over 100 initial concepts were whittled down to 20 to 25 that included making the game the third entry in the "" series or having the protagonist be a Wookiee "superhero", Darth Maul, a bounty hunter, a smuggler, a mercenary, or the last member of the Skywalker family. The decision to focus on the largely unexplored period between "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope" helped energize the design team. Consumer feedback helped the developers narrow in on seven concepts, and elements from those seven went into "The Force Unleashed"s overall concept.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: Production was greatly aided by concept art, which was intended to visually bridge the two "Star Wars" trilogies, convey the impression of a "lived-in" universe, show how the galaxy changes under Imperial rule, and to seem familiar yet new. An off-hand comment about the Force in the game being powerful enough "to pull a Star Destroyer out of the sky" inspired an image by senior concept artist Amy Beth Christenson that became an important part of the developers' idea pitches and evolved into a major moment in the game. These illustrations also inspired the creation of dozens of simple, three-dimensional animations. Eventually, a one-minute previsualization video highlighting the idea of "kicking someone's ass with the Force" helped convince the designers that "The Force Unleashed" would be "a great game"; George Lucas, upon seeing the one-minute video, told the designers to "go make that game". Once the concept was solidified, the development team grew from ten to twenty people. The idea of "reimagining" the Force as "amped up" in "The Force Unleashed" aligned with LucasArts' overall goal of harnessing the power of the latest video game consoles to "dramatically" change gaming, specifically through the use of simulation-based gameplay.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: In April 2005, after several months of planning, the LucasArts team received Lucas' encouragement to create a game centered on Darth Vader's secret apprentice in the largely unexplored period between "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope", drawing the two trilogies together. LucasArts spent six months developing the story. Lucas spent hours discussing with the developers the relationship between Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine and provided feedback on what Vader would want out of and how he would motivate an apprentice. Lucas Licensing reviewed many game details to ensure they fit into canon. Focus group feedback indicated that, while hunting down Jedi at Vader's order would be fun, the character should be redeemed, in keeping with a major "Star Wars" motif. Although the game introduces new characters, developers felt the presence of characters already part of "Star Wars" would help anchor the game within the official continuity. Before the game's release, Lucasfilm claimed it would "unveil new revelations about the "Star Wars" galaxy" with a "redemption" motif. The story progresses through a combination of scripted events, in-game cinematics, cutscenes, and dialogue.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: During pre-production, about 30 people were on the project team. LucasArts spent several years developing the tools and technology to create "The Force Unleashed". Prototyping, level construction, marketing, and public relations took about a year. Until late 2006, the production team was ascertaining "how many polygons, lights, [and] characters" next-generation platforms supported; a year of full production began in early 2007. A series of quickly-produced "play blast" videos helped the developers focus on mechanics, the user interface, and finishing moves. Development of the Xbox 360 version came first; PlayStation 3 development started when the production team had enough development kits. Making the game run on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 was "a monumental task".


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: The game is based on LucasArts' proprietary "Ronin" game engine but also integrates third-party technology: Havok for rigid body physics, Pixelux Entertainment's "Digital Molecular Matter" (DMM) for dynamically destructible objects, and NaturalMotion's Euphoria for realistic non-player character artificial intelligence. LucasArts' programmers had to overcome technical hurdles to get Havok-, DMM- and Euphoria-coded components to interact. Developers also had to strike a balance between realistic and entertaining physics. LucasArts initially opted not to release a personal computer version of "The Force Unleashed", stating that doing the game well would be too processor-intensive for typical PCs and that scaling down the game's procedural physics for the PC platform would "fundamentally" change "The Force Unleashed"s gameplay. However, LucasArts later announced Windows and Mac versions of the game, developed in conjunction with Aspyr Media, for release in Fall 2009.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: Lacking Havok, Euphoria, and DMM, Krome's Wii version relies on the company's in-house physics engine. Some character animations may be ragdoll while others are preset; in developing the game, Krome tried to blur the distinction between the two. The lighting system in the Wii version is more advanced than that in the PS2 version, which Krome also built; the PS2 includes more graphic details than their PSP version.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: "The Force Unleashed" is intended to make players think they are "actually, finally, in a "Star Wars" movie". It is the first game on which LucasArts and Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) collaborated since they both relocated to the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco, California. This collaboration allowed the companies to co-develop tools to make film-quality effects. LucasArts worked with ILM's Zeno tool framework and helped ILM build its Zed game editor. Lucas said having the two companies working together in the same building was "a great collaboration".


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: It took Senior Manager of Voice and Audio Darragh O'Farrell four months to cast "The Force Unleashed". ILM's face- and motion-capture "CloneCam" technology recorded actors' voice and physical performances. This led to a change in LucasArts' casting process: for the first time, actors needed to match characters' age and gender. Actors performed their lines together, rather than in isolation, to better get the sense of their characters interacting with each other. Consequently, the script's dialogue was reduced while reliance on characters' expressions — captured through the CloneCam — increased. CloneCam technology had previously been used in producing the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: LucasArts music supervisor Jesse Harlin said the music matches the game's motif of redemption and goal of bridging the gap between "Revenge of the Sith" and "A New Hope":


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: The game's soundtrack includes material composed by John Williams for the films in addition to material created specifically for "The Force Unleashed". Jesse Harlin composed the game's main theme, while Mark Griskey composed the score. Griskey made use of several motifs from the film scores as well as Harlin's main theme. The 90-minute soundtrack was recorded by the Skywalker Symphony Orchestra and mixed at Skywalker Sound in Lucas Valley in September and October 2007. During gameplay, a proprietary engine combines "musical elements according to the pace, plot, and environment of the game at any given moment", resulting in a unique musical experience. A promotional soundtrack album was made available online through Tracksounds.com in 2008.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: Two weeks after the game's release, LucasArts announced development on two downloadable expansion packs for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game. The first expansion added "skins" that allow the player's character to appear as "Star Wars" figures other than Starkiller, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Qui-Gon Jinn, Jango Fett, C-3PO, Luke Skywalker, Darth Maul, Darth Sion, Mace Windu, Plo Koon, Kit Fisto and Ki-Adi-Mundi. The skins chosen to be part of the expansion were based in part on fans' feedback. The second expansion pack added a new mission that expands on Starkiller's background. Although a moment in the game's main story was considered as a "jumping off point" for the expansion, LucasArts decided instead to make the new mission instantly accessible to players. The mission's location — the Jedi Temple on Coruscant — appears in the Wii, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable versions of "The Force Unleashed", but was cut during planning from the PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: The Tatooine Downloadable Content, released August 27, 2009, is the first of two expansions that occur in an "Infinities" storyline, an alternate history in which Starkiller kills Vader and becomes Palpatine's assassin. The second Infinities expansion, which takes place on Hoth, was originally only available as part of the "Ultimate Sith Edition", which also includes all previous downloadable content. However, the Hoth expansion was later made available for download on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: 1.738 million unit sales of "The Force Unleashed" across all platforms made it the third best-selling game globally in the third quarter of 2008; as of July 2009, it had sold six million copies. "The Force Unleashed" was both the fastest-selling "Star Wars" game and LucasArts' fastest-selling game. "The Force Unleashed" won a Writers Guild of America award for Best Video Game Writing.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: "The Force Unleashed" received mixed to fairly positive reviews. "Electronic Gaming Monthly" said the game is "ambitious--yet dissatisfying"; however, GameSpot said the game "gets more right than it does wrong". GameSpot said the PC port of the game retained all of the game's strengths and weaknesses, but that the port failed to take advantage of the PC platform.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: GameSpot called the game's story "more intimate and more powerful" than the "Star Wars" franchise's prequel trilogy; X-Play identified the game's story as one of the game's "few bright spots" and said the game's visuals successfully convey "Star Wars" "classic used universe" feel. GamePro and GameSpot praised the game's art and physics, and GamePro also commended Starkiller's "cool powers". IGN praised the game's voice acting, particularly Witwer's performance as Starkiller. "The Washington Times" identified Mark Griskey's soundtrack as "another star" of the game, and Tracksounds called it "the most entertaining Star Wars score since "Return of the Jedi"". "Time" called "The Force Unleashed" the seventh best video game of 2008. The game received GameSpot's 2008 award for Best Use of a Creative License and was nominated for Best Voice Acting. Gaming Target selected the game as one of their "40 Games We'll Still Be Playing From 2008".


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: Conversely, "Entertainment Weekly" called "The Force Unleashed" the second-worst game of 2008 and GameTrailers called it the most disappointing game that year; it was also a nominee for GameSpot's Most Disappointing Game recognition. "Official Xbox Magazine" cited the game's linear gameplay and lack of multiplayer as reasons the game falls short of being "an all-engrossing "Star Wars" experience". "gamesTM" suggested that allowing players to take a hack-and-slash approach means many "will never view the title's full potential". IGN and X-Play criticized some boss battles and enemies' behavior; "GamePro" also faulted "disappointing" boss battles and the game's "uneven" combat. Rather than feeling more powerful as the game progresses, "GamePro" felt that increases in Starkiller's powers were dampened by increasingly difficult enemy abilities and positions; X-Play commented that despite a good level-up system, Starkiller and his enemies are "pretty much on even ground most of the time". Wired.com, X-Play, and GameSpot criticized the game's third-person camera and the sequence that requires the player to make Starkiller pull a Star Destroyer out of the sky. Wired.com speculated that LucasArts could have recognized the frustration of the Star Destroyer sequence and removed it, but left it in because they hyped the sequence before the game's release. Wired.com and GameSpot further criticized the load times and abrupt gameplay-cinematic transitions. GameSpot also faulted "loose" targeting and some visual and audio glitches. IGN, which also identified problems with targeting, speculated that DMM's processor intensiveness limited its use throughout the game, detracting from players' ability to feel immersed. GameTrailers and IGN were disappointed with the lack of variety within and between levels. X-Play, pointing to "Default Text" as the bonus objective description in the Xbox 360 version's final mission and other glitches, said it seems the developers one day "just stopped working on the game". GameSpot cited the port's lack of visual options and poor framerate as evidence the PC edition had been rushed.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: IGN described the Jedi Academy expansion as "pretty decent". GameSpot said LucasArts seems to have acknowledged some of the game's criticisms in developing the Tatooine expansion, but IGN called the level's boss fights "a joke" in light of the player's high Force powers. IGN found the level design in "The Ultimate Sith Edition"s Hoth scenario uninteresting, and called the boss fight against Luke Skywalker tough but "not nearly as fun" as it could have been.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: The demo was the fourth most-played Xbox Live game during the week of August 25, trailing "Grand Theft Auto IV", "Halo 3", and ""; it was the ninth most-played Xbox Live title throughout all of 2008. The week it was released, "The Force Unleashed" was the sixth most-played game on Xbox Live, and it rose to fifth the following week. In its first week on sale in Australia, the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of "The Force Unleashed" were the top and second-best sellers, respectively. In the United States, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version sold 325,000 and 610,000 copies, respectively, in September 2008; that month, the Xbox 360 version was the best-selling game and the PlayStation 3 version was the fifth best-selling game for their respective consoles.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: "Nintendo Power" praised the story and the number of lightsaber combos but criticized the game's easiness and hack-and-slash gameplay. It also praised the Wii version for its story and Force powers, but criticized the game's lightsaber controls and linear gameplay. GameSpot noticed visual glitches and problematic audio compression that detracted from the Wii version's "mature and exciting" story, adding that the reduced number of Force-manipulable objects helps mitigate the targeting problems experienced on other platforms. Referring to the Wii remote and nunchuck controls, GameSpot also speculated that "The Force Unleashed" is "possibly the most waggle-heavy" Wii game. Zero Punctuation criticized the Wii version's graphics and compared lightsaber combat to "trying to follow an aerobics routine with both your arms tied to different windmills". The ability to upgrade Starkiller's abilities in the PS2 version, according to IGN, is not as "robust" as it should be, and the game's targeting system is sometimes frustrating. IGN said the PS2's real-time cutscene rendering made Starkiller seem emotionless, and that pre-rendered cutscenes would have been better. GameSpot found the DS version's plot interesting but the storytelling itself "lackluster". While the DS version is easy, with Starkiller killing enemies "like a hot knife through butter", GameSpot said the player's sense of power is not matched by a sense of freedom. GameSpot called the PSP version's camera "unwieldy", but added that smaller and less cluttered environments make the targeting system less frustrating than on other platforms. The Wii version was a nominee for multiple Wii-specific awards from IGN in its 2008 video game awards, including Best Story and Best Voice Acting.


title: Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

text: In the week of its release, the Wii version was the sixth bestselling game in Australia and was second to "Wii Fit" among games for that platform. The PS2 version was the eighth bestseller in Australia, and both the PS2 and PSP versions were the top sellers on their respective platforms. The DS version was eighth most sold among DS games in Australia. In the United States, the Wii version sold 223,000 copies in September 2008, making it the ninth best-selling game that month. In the United States, the PlayStation 2 version was the 14th best-selling game in September 2008, selling over 100,000 copies.


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: Michael John Knowles (born March 18, 1990) is an American conservative political commentator, actor, author and media host. He works for "The Daily Wire".


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: Knowles was born in Bedford Hills, New York, and graduated from Fox Lane High school. Descended from Italian Sicilian and Irish immigrants, his ancestry also includes four English members of the Mayflower voyage: Dr. Samuel Fuller, Stephen Hopkins, Francis Eaton, and John Billington.


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: Knowles began training as an actor with the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, as part of its Advanced Teen Conservatory. He graduated with a B.A. in history and Italian from Yale University, where he produced the first English rendering of Niccolò Machiavelli's play "Andria" in 2012. He was raised in the Catholic faith by his family, but fell away during his adolescence; at Yale he experienced a reconversion to the Church, spurred at first by ontological arguments.


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: Before graduating from Yale University, Knowles participated in two Web series, "Never Do Business with Friends" and "Survive". Upon graduation, Knowles trained with Wynn Handman at his acting studio in New York City and appeared in various Web series, films, and television shows.


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: After moving to Los Angeles, he acted in the television pilot in of "I'm Back" and in the television movies "Life Coach" and "Blend In". He also starred as Alejandro in the comedy feature film "Hóllyweird".


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: In 2016, Knowles was invited to join "The Daily Wire", beginning as regular guest and cultural correspondent for "The Andrew Klavan Show" podcast. He had worked with Andrew Klavan's son, Spencer Klavan, on theater productions while they were undergraduates at Yale.


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: In 2018, Knowles reiterated his opposition to same-sex marriage and opposed attempts by some in the conservative movement to recognize such unions.


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: In April 2019, Knowles gave a speech at the University of Missouri–Kansas City titled "Men Are Not Women" on gender identity during his YAF national college speaking tour. Student protesters disrupted his talk, deeming it transphobic. One protester assaulted him and sprayed him with an unknown mixture, later determined to be lavender oil and other non-toxic household liquids. The protester was charged with assault and other violations. Chancellor C. Mauli Agrawal praised the protestors and condemned Knowles, alleging that Knowles "professed opinions do not align with our commitment to diversity and inclusion and our goal of providing a welcoming environment to all people." Agrawal also acknowledged how Knowles was treated "crossed a line." Many Missouri lawmakers were dissatisfied with Agrawal's response and threatened to cut the school's budget.


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: In September 2019, Knowles called teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg "a mentally ill Swedish child" on the Fox News program "The Story". Fellow segment guest and Democratic Party activist Christopher Hahn replied, "You're a grown man and you're attacking a child. Shame on you." Knowles responded, "I'm not. I'm attacking the Left for exploiting a mentally ill child." Hahn returned, "Relax, skinny boy; I got this." Knowles promptly added, "She is mentally ill. She has autism. She has obsessive–compulsive disorder. She has selective mutism. She had depression." The network apologized for Knowles's statement by saying his comment "was disgraceful—we apologize to Greta Thunberg and to our viewers." Knowles did not apologize and Fox said it had "no plans" to have him on again in the future, but the channel welcomed him back shortly thereafter for a segment with host Tucker Carlson. Knowles later said, "Obviously there is nothing shameful about living with autism or any other psychiatric condition. What is shameful is exploiting children for political purposes."


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: In September 2019, Knowles's lecture at USC was met with a partial student walkout of around 30 students.


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: In January 2020, while the first impeachment proceedings of President Donald Trump were underway, Knowles and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz launched the podcast "Verdict with Ted Cruz." On January 27, Cruz announced on Twitter that "Verdict" had secured the top spot on the podcast charts for that week. After the impeachment trial ended with Trump's acquittal, Cruz and Knowles began to interview Washington politicians such as U.S. Senators John Barrasso, Mike Lee, and Tim Scott, Trump administration officials including then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. They also interviewed actors Jon Voight and Isaiah Washington.


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: On January 20, 2020, PragerU's website published the inaugural episode of "The Book Club", a video series that features in each episode a book review or discussion with a guest. Knowles has been serving as the host for the series.


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: On November 13, 2020, Knowles was scheduled as the guest host of "The Rush Limbaugh Show". After this opportunity, "The Daily Wire" in collaboration with Westwood One announced that Knowles would be hosting his own daily radio show on WHLD.


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: In 2017, Knowles released an empty book called "Reasons to Vote for Democrats: A Comprehensive Guide". The book, which contained 266 empty pages and an extensive bibliography, became the top-selling book on Amazon. Shortly after Knowles lauded President Trump on "Fox & Friends", Trump called Knowles's book "a great book for your reading enjoyment." That year, Knowles began his role as host of "The Daily Wire"s third podcast, "The Michael Knowles Show".


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: Knowles's second book, "Speechless: Controlling Words, Controlling Minds", became a number one bestseller for hardcover nonfiction according to "Publishers Weekly", and a number two bestseller for nonfiction on Audible.


title: Michael J. Knowles

text: Knowles wrote the introduction to the 70th anniversary edition of "God and Man at Yale" by William F. Buckley Jr.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Raised in Owosso, Michigan, he was a member of the Republican Party. As a New York City prosecutor and District Attorney in the 1930s and early 1940s, Dewey was relentless in his effort to curb the power of the American Mafia and of organized crime in general. Most famously, he successfully prosecuted Mafioso kingpin Charles "Lucky" Luciano on charges of forced prostitution in 1936. Luciano was given a 30- to 50-year prison sentence. He also prosecuted and convicted Waxey Gordon, another prominent New York City gangster and bootlegger, on charges of tax evasion. Dewey almost succeeded in apprehending mobster Dutch Schultz as well, but Schultz was murdered in 1935 in a hit ordered by The Commission itself; he had disobeyed The Commission's order forbidding him from making an attempt on Dewey's life.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey led the moderate faction of the Republican Party during the 1940s and 1950s, in opposition to conservative Ohio Senator Robert A. Taft. Dewey was an advocate for the professional and business community of the Northeastern United States, which would later be called the Eastern Establishment. This group consisted of internationalists who were in favor of the United Nations and the Cold War fight against communism and the Soviet Union, and it supported most of the New Deal social-welfare reforms enacted during the administration of Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. In 1944, he was the Republican Party's nominee for the presidency, but lost the election to incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt in the closest of Roosevelt's four presidential elections. He was again the Republican presidential nominee in 1948, but lost to President Harry S. Truman in one of the greatest upsets in presidential election history. Dewey played a large role in winning the Republican presidential nomination for Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952, helping Eisenhower win the presidential election that year. He also played a large part in the choice of Richard Nixon as the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1952 and 1956. He was the first major party nominee for president of the Greatest Generation, and the first to have been born in the 20th century.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Following his political retirement, Dewey served from 1955 to 1971 as a corporate lawyer and senior partner in his law firm Dewey Ballantine in New York City. In March 1971, while on a golfing vacation in Miami, Florida, he died from a heart attack. Following a public memorial ceremony at St. James' Episcopal Church in New York City, Dewey was buried in the town cemetery of Pawling, New York.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey was born and raised in Owosso, Michigan, where his father, George Martin Dewey, owned, edited, and published the local newspaper, the "Owosso Times." His mother, Annie (Thomas), whom he called "Mater," bequeathed her son "a healthy respect for common sense and the average man or woman who possessed it." She also left "a headstrong assertiveness that many took for conceit, a set of small-town values never entirely erased by exposure to the sophisticated East, and a sense of proportion that moderated triumph and eased defeat." One journalist noted that "[as a boy] he did show leadership and ambition above the average; by the time he was thirteen, he had a crew of nine other youngsters working for him" selling newspapers and magazines in Owosso. In his senior year in high school he served as the president of his class, and was the chief editor of the school yearbook. His senior caption in the yearbook stated "First in the council hall to steer the state, and ever foremost in a tongue debate", and a biographer wrote that "the bent of his mind, from his earliest days, was towards debate." He received his B.A. degree from the University of Michigan in 1923, and his LL.B. degree from Columbia Law School in 1925.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: While at the University of Michigan Dewey joined Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, a national fraternity for men of music, and was a member of the Men's Glee Club. While growing up in Owosso he was a member of the choir at Christ Episcopal Church. He was an excellent singer with a deep, baritone voice, and in 1923 he finished in third place in the National Singing Contest. He briefly considered a career as a professional singer but decided against it after a temporary throat ailment convinced him that such a career would be risky. He then decided to pursue a career as a lawyer. He also wrote for "The Michigan Daily," the university's student newspaper.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: On June 16, 1928, Dewey married Frances Eileen Hutt. They met in Chicago in 1923, when Dewey took singing lessons during a summer course offered by Percy Rector Stephens, for whom Hutt worked as a secretary. A native of Sherman, Texas who was raised in Sherman and in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, she was valedictorian of her 1920 high school class. Hutt was a singer and stage actress; after their marriage she dropped her acting career. They had two sons, Thomas E. Dewey Jr. and John Martin Dewey.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Although Dewey served as a prosecutor and District Attorney in New York City for many years, his home from 1939 until his death was a large farm, called "Dapplemere," located near the town of Pawling some north of New York City. According to biographer Richard Norton Smith, Dewey "loved Dapplemere as [he did] no other place", and Dewey was once quoted as saying that "I work like a horse five days and five nights a week for the privilege of getting to the country on the weekend." In 1945, Dewey told a reporter that "my farm is my roots ... the heart of this nation is the rural small town." Dapplemere was part of a tight-knit rural community called Quaker Hill, which was known as a haven for the prominent and well-to-do. Among Dewey's neighbors on Quaker Hill were the famous reporter and radio broadcaster Lowell Thomas, the Reverend Norman Vincent Peale, and the legendary CBS News journalist Edward R. Murrow.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: During his twelve years as governor, Dewey also kept a New York City residence and office in Suite 1527 of the Roosevelt Hotel. Dewey was an active, lifelong member of the Episcopal Church.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey was a lifelong Republican, and in the 1920s and 1930s, he was a party worker in New York City, eventually rising to become Chair of The New York Young Republican Club in 1931. When asked in 1946 why he was a Republican, Dewey replied, "I believe that the Republican Party is the best instrument for bringing sound government into the hands of competent men and by this means preserving our liberties... But there is another reason why I am a Republican. I was born one."


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey first served as a federal prosecutor, then started a lucrative private practice on Wall Street; however, he left his practice for an appointment as special prosecutor to look into corruption in New York City—with the official title of Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. It was in this role that he first achieved headlines in the early 1930s, when he prosecuted bootlegger Waxey Gordon.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey had used his excellent recall of details of crimes to trip up witnesses as a federal prosecutor; as a state prosecutor, he used telephone taps (which were perfectly legal at the time per "Olmstead v. United States" of 1928) to gather evidence, with the ultimate goal of bringing down entire criminal organizations. On that account, Dewey successfully lobbied for an overhaul in New York's criminal procedure law, which at that time required separate trials for each count of an indictment. Dewey's thoroughness and attention to detail became legendary; for one case he and his staff sifted "through 100,000 telephone slips to convict a Prohibition-era bootlegger."


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey became famous in 1935, when he was appointed special prosecutor in New York County (Manhattan) by Governor Herbert H. Lehman. A "runaway grand jury" had publicly complained that William C. Dodge, the District Attorney, was not aggressively pursuing the mob and political corruption. Lehman, to avoid charges of partisanship, asked four prominent Republicans to serve as special prosecutor. All four refused and recommended Dewey.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey moved ahead vigorously. He recruited a staff of over 60 assistants, investigators, process servers, stenographers, and clerks. New York Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia assigned a picked squad of 63 police officers to Dewey's office. Dewey's targets were "organized" racketeering: the large-scale criminal enterprises, especially extortion, the "numbers racket" and prostitution. One writer stated that "Dewey ... put on a very impressive show. All the paraphernalia, the hideouts and tapped telephones and so on, became famous. More than any other American of his generation except [Charles] Lindbergh, Dewey became a creature of folklore and a national hero. What he appealed to most was the great American love of "results." People were much more interested in his ends than in his means. Another key to all this may be expressed in a single word: honesty. Dewey was honest."


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: One of his biggest prizes was gangster Dutch Schultz, whom he had battled as both a federal and state prosecutor. Schultz's first trial ended in a deadlock; prior to his second trial, Schultz had the venue moved to Malone, New York, then moved there and garnered the sympathy of the townspeople through charitable acts so that when it came time for his trial, the jury found him innocent, liking him too much to convict him.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey and La Guardia threatened Schultz with instant arrest and further charges. Schultz now proposed to murder Dewey. Dewey would be killed while he made his daily morning call to his office from a pay phone near his home. However, New York crime boss Lucky Luciano and the "Mafia Commission" decided that Dewey's murder would provoke an all-out crackdown. Instead they had Schultz killed. Schultz was shot to death in the restroom of a bar in Newark.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey's legal team turned their attention to Lucky Luciano. Assistant DA Eunice Carter oversaw investigations into prostitution racketeering. She raided 80 houses of prostitution in the New York City area and arrested hundreds of prostitutes and "madams". Carter had developed trust with many of these women, and through her coaching, many of the arrested prostitutes – some of whom told of being beaten and abused by Mafia thugs – were willing to testify to avoid prison time. Three implicated Luciano as controller of organized prostitution in the New York/New Jersey area – one of the largest prostitution rings in American history. Carter's investigation was the first to link Luciano to a crime. Dewey prosecuted the case, and in the greatest victory of his legal career, he won the conviction of Luciano for the prostitution racket, with a sentence of 30 to 50 years on June 18, 1936.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: In January 1937, Dewey successfully prosecuted Tootsie Herbert, the leader of New York's poultry racket, for embezzlement. Following his conviction, New York's poultry "marketplace returned to normal, and New York consumers saved $5 million in 1938 alone." That same month, Dewey, his staff, and New York City police made a series of dramatic raids that led to the arrest of 65 of New York's leading operators in various rackets, including the bakery racket, numbers racket, and restaurant racket. The "New York Times" ran an editorial praising Dewey for breaking up the "shadow government" of New York's racketeers, and the "Philadelphia Inquirer" wrote "If you don't think Dewey is Public Hero No. 1, listen to the applause he gets every time he is shown in a newsreel."


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: In 1936, Dewey received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York".


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: In 1937, Dewey was elected New York County District Attorney (Manhattan), defeating the Democratic nominee after Dodge decided not to run for re-election. Dewey was such a popular candidate for District Attorney that "election officials in Brooklyn posted large signs at polling places reading 'Dewey Isn't Running in This County'."


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: As District Attorney, Dewey successfully prosecuted and convicted Richard Whitney, former president of the New York Stock Exchange, for embezzlement. Whitney was given a five-year prison sentence. Dewey also successfully prosecuted Tammany Hall political boss James Joseph Hines on thirteen counts of racketeering. Following the favorable national publicity he received after his conviction of Hines, a May 1939 Gallup poll showed Dewey as the frontrunner for the 1940 Republican presidential nomination, and gave him a lead of 58% to 42% over President Franklin D. Roosevelt in a potential 1940 presidential campaign. In 1939, Dewey also tried and convicted American Nazi leader Fritz Julius Kuhn for embezzlement, crippling Kuhn's organization and limiting its ability to support Nazi Germany in World War II.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: During his four years as District Attorney, Dewey and his staff compiled a 94 percent conviction rate of defendants brought to trial, created new bureaus for Fraud, Rackets, and Juvenile Detention, and led an investigation into tenement houses with inadequate fire safety features that reduced "their number from 13,000 to 3,500" in a single year. When he left the District Attorney's office in 1942 to run for governor, Dewey said that "It has been learned in high places that clean government can also be good politics...I don't like Republican thieves any more than Democratic ones."


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: By the late 1930s Dewey's successful efforts against organized crime—and especially his conviction of Lucky Luciano—had turned him into a national celebrity. His nickname, the "Gangbuster", was used for the popular 1930s "Gang Busters" radio series based on his fight against the mob. Hollywood film studios made several movies inspired by his exploits; "Marked Woman" starred Humphrey Bogart as a Dewey-like DA and Bette Davis as a "party girl" whose testimony helps convict the mob boss. A popular story from the time, possibly apocryphal, featured a young girl who told her father that she wanted to sue God to stop a prolonged spell of rain. When her father replied "you can't sue God and win", the girl said "I can if Dewey is my lawyer."


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: In 1984, journalists Neal Peirce and Jerry Hagstrom summarized Dewey's governorship by saying, "for sheer administrative talent, it is difficult to think of a twentieth-century governor who has excelled Thomas E. Dewey ... hundreds of thousands of New York youngsters owe Dewey thanks for his leadership in creating a state university ... a vigorous health-department program virtually eradicated tuberculosis in New York, highway building was pushed forward, and the state's mental hygiene program was thoroughly reorganized." Dewey also created a powerful political organization that allowed him to dominate New York state politics and influence national politics.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: In 1938 Edwin Jaeckle, the New York Republican Party Chairman, selected Dewey to run for Governor of New York against the Democratic incumbent, Herbert H. Lehman. Dewey was only 36 years of age. He based his campaign on his record as a famous prosecutor of organized-crime figures in New York City. Although he was defeated, Dewey's surprisingly strong showing against the popular Lehman (he lost by only 1.4%) brought him national political attention and made him a front runner for the 1940 Republican presidential nomination.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: In 1942, Dewey ran for governor again and won with a large plurality over Democrat John J. Bennett Jr., the outgoing state attorney general. Bennett was not endorsed by the American Labor Party, whose candidate, Dean Alfange, drew almost 10 percent of the ballots cast. The ALP endorsed for re-election incumbent lieutenant governor Charles Poletti, who lost narrowly to Dewey's running mate Thomas W. Wallace.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: In 1946, Dewey was re-elected by the greatest margin in state history to that point, almost 700,000 votes.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Usually regarded as an honest and highly effective governor, Dewey doubled state aid to education, increased salaries for state employees and still reduced the state's debt by over $100 million. He referred to his program as "pay-as-you-go liberalism  ... government can be progressive and solvent at the same time." Additionally he put through the Ives-Quinn Act of 1945, the first state law in the country that prohibited racial discrimination in employment. As governor, Dewey signed legislation that created the State University of New York. Shortly after becoming governor in 1943, Dewey learned that some state workers and teachers were being paid only $900 a year, leading him to give "hefty raises, some as high as 150%" to state workers and teachers.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey played a leading role in securing support and funding for the New York State Thruway, which was eventually named in his honor. Dewey also streamlined and consolidated many state agencies to make them more efficient. During the Second World War construction in New York was limited, which allowed Dewey to create a $623 million budget surplus, which he placed into his "Postwar Reconstruction Fund." The fund would eventually create 14,000 new beds in the state's mental health system, provide public housing for 30,000 families, allow for the reforestation of 34 million trees, create a water pollution program, provide slum clearance, and pay for a "model veterans' program." His governorship was also "friendlier by far than his [Democratic] predecessors to the private sector", as Dewey created a state Department of Commerce to "lure new businesses and tourists to the Empire State, ease the shift from wartime boom, and steer small businessmen, in particular, through the maze of federal regulation and restriction." Between 1945 and 1948, 135,000 new businesses were started in New York.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey supported the decision of the New York legislature to end state funding for child care centers, which were established during the war. The child care centers allowed mothers to participate in wartime industries. The state was forced to provide funding for local communities that could not obtain money under the Lanham Act. Although working mothers, helped by various civic and social groups, fought to retain funding, federal support for child care facilities was considered temporary and ended on March 1, 1946. New York state aid to child care ended on January 1, 1948. When protesters asked Dewey to keep the child care centers open, he called them "Communists."


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: He also strongly supported the death penalty. During his twelve years as governor, more than ninety people were electrocuted under New York authority. Among these were several of the mob-affiliated hitmen belonging to the murder-for-hire group Murder, Inc., which was headed up by major mob leaders Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and Albert Anastasia. Buchalter himself went to the chair in 1944.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey sought the 1940 Republican presidential nomination. He was considered the early favorite for the nomination, but his support ebbed in the late spring of 1940 as Nazi Germany invaded its neighbors, and Americans feared being drawn into another European war.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Some Republican leaders considered Dewey to be too young (at 38, just three years above the minimum age required by the US Constitution) and too inexperienced to lead the nation in wartime. Furthermore, Dewey's non-interventionist stance became problematic when Germany quickly conquered France, and seemed poised to invade Britain. As a result, at the 1940 Republican National Convention many delegates switched from Dewey to Wendell Willkie, who was a decade older and supported aid to the Allies fighting Germany. Dewey led on the first ballot, but was well below the vote total he needed to win. He steadily lost strength to Willkie in succeeding ballots, and Willkie was nominated on the convention's sixth ballot. Willkie lost to Franklin D. Roosevelt in the general election.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey's foreign-policy position evolved during the 1940s; by 1944 he was considered an internationalist and a supporter of projects such as the United Nations. It was in 1940 that Dewey first clashed with Robert A. Taft. Taft—who maintained his non-interventionist views and economic conservatism to his death—became Dewey's great rival for control of the Republican Party in the 1940s and early 1950s. Dewey became the leader of moderate Republicans, who were based in the Eastern states, while Taft became the leader of conservative Republicans who dominated most of the Midwest.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey was the frontrunner for the 1944 Republican nomination. In April 1944 he won the key Wisconsin primary, where he defeated Wendell Willkie and former Minnesota governor Harold Stassen. Willkie's poor showing in Wisconsin forced him to quit the race and he died later that year. At the 1944 Republican Convention, Dewey's chief rivals—Stassen and Ohio governor John W. Bricker—both withdrew and Dewey was nominated almost unanimously. Dewey then made Bricker (who was supported by Taft) his running mate. This made Dewey the first presidential candidate to be born in the 20th century. As of 2021, he was also the youngest Republican presidential nominee.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: In the general election campaign, Dewey crusaded against the alleged inefficiencies, corruption and Communist influences in incumbent president Roosevelt's New Deal programs, but mostly avoided military and foreign policy debates. Dewey had considered including the conspiracy theory that Roosevelt knew about the attack on Pearl Harbor beforehand and allowed it to happen and to say: "...and instead of being re-elected he should be impeached." The allegation would have suggested the then-secret fact that the U.S. had broken the Purple code still in use by the Japanese military. Dewey eventually yielded to Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall's urging not to touch this topic. Marshall informed Harry Hopkins of his action in late October that year; Hopkins then told the president. Roosevelt reasoned that "Dewey would not, for political purposes, give secret and vital information to the enemy".


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: During the campaign, in a first, Roosevelt provided Dewey with information on the war efforts, such as the breaking of Japanese naval code. This was the first time that an opposition presidential candidate was given briefings by the incumbent presidential administration.


title: Thomas E. Dewey

text: Dewey lost the election on November 7, 1944, to President Roosevelt. He had polled 45.9% of the popular vote compared to Roosevelt's 53.4%, a stronger showing against FDR than any previous Republican opponent. In the Electoral College, Roosevelt defeated Dewey by a margin of 432 to 99.