title: Prototype (video game)

text: The player character, Alex Mercer, has the ability to shapeshift, allowing him to change his body to resemble anyone. His powers also play into the game's combat system, as Alex can "consume" others to regain health, absorbing their biomass entirely. This also allows him to take on the forms of the human enemies he absorbs, thereby allowing the player to move about the enemy as one of them. The disguise will only last as long as Alex remains inconspicuous. Alex also possesses superhuman strength, and will kill most humans with a single punch. He can perform various melee attacks without shapeshifting, as well as more gymnastic moves such as air combos, sliding along the ground using any humanoid enemy's body, and a high-speed rolling cannonball attack.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: Alex can also transform parts of his body into a selection of martial implements acquired over the course of the game, either as purchased upgrades or being given them. Offensive powers include the large and powerful Blade arm, fast razor-sharp Claws (which can also erupt large spikes from the ground), the telescoping Whipfist, Musclemass that augments his strength, and the slow but powerful Hammerfists. Defensive options consist of a large shield on Alex's left arm for blocking ballistic attacks that needs to regenerate after excessive damage, and full body armor that exchanges agility and speed for toughness in hand-to-hand combat; both will allow Alex to plow through most obstacles when active. Vision modes include thermal vision, which allows Alex to see enemies through smoke and other obstacles at the expense of a decreased vision range, and Infected vision, which highlights those infected with the Blacklight virus as well as military units. Both vision modes muffle all of Alex's other senses, such as hearing, in order to concentrate on his sight. One defensive and offensive power may be active at a time, and using either will negate Alex's current disguise. In addition to his own abilities, Alex can take the weapons from defeated or absorbed enemies. These include automatic rifles, machine guns, grenade launchers and missile launchers. He can also seize control of military vehicles, such as tanks and helicopters.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: Alex's most powerful attacks are the Devastators, which require Alex to be in Critical Mass- either a state of near-death or the exact opposite, having excess stored biomass and increased health. These include the Tendril Barrage, which fires impaling tendrils from his body in all directions, the Groundspike Graveyard, which erupts massive spikes from the ground all around Alex, and the Critical Pain, which fires a single beam of hardened biomass from his hands to severely damage a single target.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: For movement around the city, Alex uses his increased physical abilities. When sprinting, he will automatically hop over cars, barriers and other obstacles without losing momentum. Alex will also scale any wall he comes into contact with and simply knock aside any humanoids that get in his way without stopping. He can jump great heights and distances, enough to clear five-story buildings, and can sprint at extreme speed indefinitely. Falls cause no damage to the player even from the greatest heights. Even small jumps are enough for Alex to dent the ground beneath him, and falls from sufficient heights will create shockwaves at the point of impact which will kill most humans nearby and send objects as large as cars flying. Falling height also factors into several of Alex's melee attacks.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: Enemies in the game consist of the Infected and the Military. The Infected consist of ordinary civilians infected with the Blacklight virus that are generally not a threat to Alex. However, the Hunters, huge creatures created from Infected water towers, are one of the main enemies in the game. Evolved Hunters referred to as Leaders are one of the most powerful creatures in the game and are incredibly hard for Alex to kill. The Military consist of ordinary soldiers which are usually not a threat to Alex, although they are capable of operating weaponry that is extremely dangerous to Alex, such as tanks and heavily armed helicopters. The Military also consists of Blackwatch, an agency dedicated to combating biological and nuclear warfare. Blackwatch is one of the intricate parts of the game's story and create some of the most deadly biological weaponry to combat Alex, including viral detectors capable of detecting Alex even in his disguise, and, introduced later in the game, the deadly poison Bloodtox, capable of slowly killing Alex and the Infected. Introduced later in the game are heavily armored and durable soldiers referred to as Super Soldiers, capable of fighting against Alex and some of the strongest Infected.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: In order to gain more advanced upgrades, Alex is capable of sneaking into Military Bases using a disguise and stealthily consume various officials within the base. He can also set off an alert within the base, in which the only way to escape is to slaughter whoever is in the base. Alex can also gain upgrades from the Infected by collecting genetic data. Infected Hives, like Military Bases, are located all over the city, and produce genetic data constantly. Alex can destroy the Infected Hives or simply absorb the data on the outside as it is being produced. At the start of the game, only small factions of the Infected and Military are present in the city. However, as the game progresses, the Military and the Infected begin to expand. Territory in the city is made out of three distinct zones. Blue Zones are in Military control and are relatively clean of the Infection. Red Zones thrive with the Infection, although there still remains a strong Military presence. In some areas of the city, a Blue Zone and a Red Zone might converge, creating a new and distinct Purple Zone. In these Zones, the Military and the Infected are in a constant battle for control. How the player decides to act in these Zones determine which faction seizes the territory.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: The game's protagonist is Alexander J. "Alex" Mercer (voiced by Barry Pepper), a shapeshifter suffering from amnesia, causing him to forget his previous life, including how he obtained his powers. As he attempts to uncover his past and stop an outbreak of a virus called Blacklight, which has overrun Manhattan, Alex comes into conflict with two factions: the United States Marine Corps and Blackwatch, a Fort Detrick special forces unit dedicated to combating biological warfare; and the Infected, people infected by the Blacklight virus, which turns them into violent monsters. The main antagonist is Robert Cross (Jeff Pierce), also known by his codename, "The Specialist", a Blackwatch officer tasked with containing Alex.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: Supporting characters include Alex's sister Dana Mercer (Lake Bell); Dr. Bradley Ragland (Phil LaMarr), who helps Alex throughout the game; Alex's ex-girlfriend Karen Parker (Vanessa Marshall); Dr. Raymond McMullen (Paul Guilfoyle), founder and head researcher of bio-research company Gentek; General Peter Randall (Gordon Clapp), the head of Blackwatch; Randall's second-in-command, Ian Taggart (Richard McGonagle); and Elizabeth Greene (Kari Wahlgren), also known as "The Mother", a former test subject that hosts the Blacklight virus. Brian Bloom has a minor role as a Blackwatch commander whose appearance Alex assumes at one point. Additional characters are voiced by Dave Fennoy, Dave Wittenberg, David Andriole, David Lodge, and Diane Hsu.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: Alex Mercer wakes up in a morgue in the basement of Gentek, a genetic engineering company based in Manhattan, scaring away a pair of scientists that were about to perform an autopsy. Alex escapes and witnesses the scientists being gunned down by military operatives. Alex is discovered and attacked. He survives bullets being fired into his chest, and leaps over a wall to safety. He soon discovers he now possesses powerful abilities, including shapeshifting, superhuman strength, speed, agility, durability, senses, endurance, weaponry and the ability to "consume" people to gain their memories, skills and appearance. With no memory of his previous life, Alex decides to find and consume those related to the conspiracy in order to uncover the truth, quickly bringing him into conflict with the US Military and Blackwatch, a black ops unit trying to contain the Blacklight virus which is overruning Manhattan.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: Alex makes contact with his sister, Dana, who assists him in tracking down targets, leading to the infiltration of Gentek headquarters, where Alex encounters a young woman called Elizabeth Greene who is contained in the building. Greene is a host for Blacklight, and upon her escape, she unleashes it upon Manhattan. Dana directs Alex to Karen Parker, his ex-girlfriend, who agrees to aid him in stopping the Blacklight outbreak, asking him to bring her samples of the virus. However, Karen later leads Alex into a trap, where he is confronted by Blacklight commander Robert Cross. During their battle, Alex almost defeats Cross, until Cross mentions 'Penn Station', triggering a flashback that leaves Alex dazed. Alex is injected with a parasite that threatens to kill him. Alex seeks help from Dr. Bradely Ragland, a pathologist linked to Gentek. Ragland helps Alex remove the parasite and turn it into a weapon against Greene. However, when Alex tries using it on her, Greene's body rejects the parasite, which then transforms into a monstrous being: the Supreme Hunter. Alex defeats the Supreme Hunter, and later finds and kills Karen as revenge for setting him up.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: The origins of the virus and Elizabeth Greene are uncovered through a contact: in 1969 the government tested the virus' predecessor in Hope, Idaho, designed to target predetermined races. Although the entire town was infected, no ill effects manifested until Greene's infection. An anomaly in her body's biology accepted the virus, rewriting her genetic code and causing her to take control of the infected town, becoming hostile in the process. The entire population of Hope, Idaho was liquidated by Blackwatch with only Greene and her son, codenamed "Pariah", surviving. Although kept separate, the two were held in captivity for further research. With samples taken from Greene's blood, Gentek's team led by Alex synthesized the current strain of Blacklight virus.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: Alex also discovers his own past: Blackwatch shut down the Gentek project due to leaks and ordered all project personnel eliminated. However, Alex disobeyed the order and took a sample of Blacklight as "insurance". Eventually pinned down by Blackwatch in Penn Station, Alex, in a final act of desperation and vengeance, shattered the vial containing the Blacklight, releasing the virus before being gunned down. The virus entered Alex's bloodstream through the bullet holes and repaired his body at the cellular level, giving him his powers in the process.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: The contact and Alex pump a new "Bloodtox" biological agent underground in order to drive the virus above ground where it can be fought directly, causing Greene to emerge, encased in a towering monstrosity. Greene falls from the monster in human form once she is defeated, and is consumed by Alex. Through her memories, it becomes apparent that General Randall, head of Blackwatch, is prepared to destroy Manhattan with a nuclear weapon. Alex, with the help of the contact - revealed to be Cross - infiltrates the USS Ronald Reagan to stop Randall. Once Alex consumes Randall, Cross is revealed to be the Supreme Hunter, who assumed Cross' identity after consuming him, and attacks Alex, asserting that when Blackwatch leaves NYZ (New York Zero, the name given to the city after the outbreak) they will no longer be searching for infected, and that after he consumes Alex, he will be strong enough to survive the nuclear detonation. Alex defeats the Supreme Hunter and moves the weapon out into the Atlantic Ocean with a helicopter, where it detonates and catches him in the blast. His remains float back to the city and regenerate after consuming a crow.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: During the credits, it is revealed that the public considers the military to have been the one who stopped the infection. A US Senator is heard telling the media that the events in Manhattan were a case of nuclear and biological terrorism, and promises retribution upon those responsible. Alex, reflecting on the recent events and the truth he uncovered about himself, claims he has "become something less than human, but also something more". After the credits, Manhattan is shown to be slowly recovering, with the virus close to being eradicated. Alex, standing on top of the Reuters Building in Times Square, comments that his work is almost done.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: The game was announced by Vivendi Games subsidiary Sierra Entertainment on August 10, 2007, revealing it would release for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the summer of 2008. The company revealed more information about the title over the upcoming months, including support for THX's neutral 7.1 surround sound, being the first video game to support it, and the reveal of the voice cast in February. On April 8, 2008, Sierra announced the opening of the game's official website . On May 5, 2008, Sierra and Radical announced that the game would be pushed back to 2009.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: On July 28, 2008, after the merger of Activision and Vivendi Games to form Activision Blizzard, the company announced that they would only publish five Sierra titles, with "Prototype" being one of the five titles retained alongside fellow Radical Entertainment title "". On August 14, 2008, Radical laid off some of their staff, which led to a fear that the game would be delayed again.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: On April 8, 2009, Activision announced they would release the game on June 5 in Europe, and on June 9 in North America. However, the game's European release was later delayed to June 12.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: On April 15, 2008, Sierra announced that a six-issue comic book miniseries would be released by DC Comics under their Wildstorm imprint. The comic book miniseries functions as a prequel to the game, revealing more details about the Blacklight outbreak and characters such as Elizabeth Greene.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: The game received "generally favorable reviews" on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. "Prototype" was released on Steam as well as in retail stores and topped the Steam sales on the week of its release. The Xbox 360 version of "Prototype" was the top selling game of June 2009 in North America, with over 419,900 units sold. This made the game a Platinum Hit. As of March 2012, the game had sold 2.1 million copies worldwide.


title: Prototype (video game)

text: GameSpot praised the game for its "intriguing storyline and protagonist" and "massive arsenal of moves and abilities", but criticized it for its "occasionally fiddly controls" and "dull scenery". "The Escapist" said the Xbox 360 version was a perfect "summer fling," praising the combat and movement systems as well as the unique mechanic of the Web of Intrigue. "The A.V. Club" gave the same console version an "A−" ranking, calling the movement style "exhilarating" and saying it was a "mature, science-fiction superhero fantasy that somehow makes players feel simultaneously powerful and vulnerable." 411Mania gave it a score of eight out of ten and called it "an entirely different type of sandbox game that will attract and please most gamers." "The Daily Telegraph" gave it a similar score of eight out of ten and said it "offers an action-filled experience that few games can match, and the array of attacks on offer is almost unparalleled in both its variety and its easy accessibility. The pure adrenaline-boosting entertainment value of the finished product is enough to push most visual and gameplay niggles far enough into the background so as to eradicate them as concerns in all but the most snobbish of gamers." "Edge" also gave it a score of eight out of ten, saying that the game "does what it does, and does it with distinction." However, "Teletext GameCentral" gave it five out of ten, concluding, "The initial feelings of power and freedom hide another badly designed and unimaginative superhero sim."


title: Prototype (video game)

text: "Prototype" was released two weeks after Sucker Punch Productions' "Infamous", a game with many similar concepts including a character with superpowers, and a large open world environment that can be traveled by climbing up buildings and gliding about the city. This led many game critics to compare and contrast the games. In his Zero Punctuation review of "Prototype", Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw compared the two games point for point, and determined that he could not tell which was the better game - "Prototype" won on open world gameplay and combat, while "Infamous" won on story and side missions. To decide which one was better, he jokingly stated that he'd award the best game to the team which created the best picture of the other main character wearing "a woman's bra". To his surprise, both development teams rose to the challenge, producing said images, and forcing Croshaw to call it a near-tie, edging out in favor of "Infamous", though he still noted that, like their games, both images created independently were nearly equal in the themes that they included. A review on "GameSpot.com" says: "[Mercer is an] incredibly fun character to play as in a game that also counts an intriguing story, varied missions, and some memorable boss battles among its features."


title: Prototype (video game)

text: A sequel, titled "Prototype 2", was released in April 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and in July 2012 for Windows. The game follows a new protagonist, former U.S. Marine Sergeant James Heller, as he pursues vengeance on Alex Mercer, who serves as the main antagonist.


title: House of Normandy

text: The House of Normandy ( ) designates the noble family which originates from the Duchy of Normandy and whose members were counts of Rouen, dukes of Normandy, as well as kings of England following the Norman conquest of England. It lasted until the House of Plantagenet came to power in 1154. The house emerged from the union between the Viking Rollo (first ruler of Normandy) and Poppa of Bayeux, a West Frankish noblewoman. William the Conqueror and his heirs down through 1135 were members of this dynasty.


title: House of Normandy

text: After that it was disputed between William's grandchildren, Matilda, whose husband Geoffrey was the founder of the House of Plantagenet, and Stephen of the House of Blois (or Blesevin dynasty).


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: Inspector Gadget is a 1999 American superhero comedy film directed by David Kellogg and written by Kerry Ehrin and Zak Penn from a story by Ehrin and Dana Olsen. Loosely based on the 1980s animated television series of the same name, the film stars Matthew Broderick as the title character, Rupert Everett as Dr. Claw, Michelle Trachtenberg as Penny, and Dabney Coleman as Chief Quimby. Three new characters were introduced such as Dr. Brenda Bradford (played by Joely Fisher), Mayor Wilson (played by Cheri Oteri) and the Gadgetmobile (voiced by D. L. Hughley). The film tells the story of how Inspector Gadget and Dr. Claw came to be. It was filmed in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and Los Angeles, California, with the castle-like main tower of Pittsburgh's PPG Place playing a central role.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: Produced by Caravan Pictures and DIC Entertainment (which was owned by The Walt Disney Company at the time of production), the film was released theatrically by Walt Disney Pictures on July 23, 1999. It was the last film produced by Caravan Pictures, before the company merged into Spyglass Entertainment. It was also dedicated to the memory of production designer Michael White, who died on January 19, 1999 in Los Angeles during production of the film at the age of 36.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: The film had a worldwide gross of $134 million against a $90 million budget, while also receiving negative reviews from critics, who gave little praise towards the acting, but criticized the screenplay, visual effects, humor, and lack of faithfulness to the source material (particularly when Dr. Claw shows his face). It lost the studio approximately $30 million. It was followed by the 2003 direct-to-video sequel "Inspector Gadget 2", though only D. L. Hughley reprised his role as the voice of the Gadgetmobile.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: John Brown lives in Riverton, Ohio, with his niece Penny and her pet beagle Brain. Dreaming of becoming a police officer, John works as a security guard for the Bradford robotics laboratory. Artemus Bradford and his daughter Brenda are designing a lifelike robotic foot as part of the Gadget Program, designed to add android officers to the Riverton Police Department. Sanford Scolex, a tycoon, steals the foot to build an army of androids from its technology, assassinating Artemus in the process. John chases after Scolex's limousine in his hatchback, but both vehicles crash. John is left for dead by getting blown up in his car by Scolex's Dynamite stick disguised as a cigar, but a bowling ball launched by the explosive blast from the destroyed car lands in the limo and crushes Scolex's left hand. Scolex receives a mechanical claw from his associate Kramer, taking on the alias "Claw".


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: Brenda decides to make John, who nearly died from the intensely heavy-injuries from the fiery car explosion, the first test subject for the Gadget Program. John is transformed into a crimefighting cyborg, with the alias of "Inspector Gadget", who is powered by a control chip. John is given an orientation from Brenda, which goes horribly awry, and he is also given a lesson from a guru. The lesson ends in failure, however, when John accidentally emasculates the guru. He is helped by the Gadgetmobile, a robotic car with a chatty AI, and one day, despite initially struggling to use his new gadgets, Gadget manages to stop two criminals who were trying to rob a car.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: At a charity ball, Scolex approaches Brenda, having known her at Harvard, inviting her to work for him in her own laboratory. Brenda accepts, unaware that Scolex plans to steal her technological ideas and designs. Unimpressed with Gadget, police chief Quimby assigns him to menial assignments rather than investigate Artemus’ murder. Upset at not being taken seriously, Gadget investigates on his own, finding a piece of scrap metal which he later connects to Scolex, with help from Penny.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: Claw uses Brenda's research to build his own android, "Robo-Gadget", sending him out on a rampage across Riverton to frame the real Gadget. Gadget himself infiltrates Claw's lab to recover the foot, but is caught and deactivated when Claw breaks his chip. Claw's minion Sykes dumps Gadget in a junkyard, then is tasked to dispose of the foot. Brenda encounters her own robotic doppelganger, Robo-Brenda, who confirms Claw stole the foot and murdered her father. Brenda, Penny, Brain, and the Gadgetmobile track Gadget to a junkyard. A kiss from Brenda awakens Gadget, proving his will can control his new body, regardless of whether the chip is needed or not.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: After dropping Penny and Brain off at home, Gadget and Brenda chase Claw and Robo-Gadget's limo. Gadget and Robo-Gadget fall off the roof and duel on a bridge, until Gadget removes the latter's head, tossing it into the river, though Robo-Gadget's body runs off. Brenda crashes the Gadgetmobile into Claw's limo, but is taken prisoner. Claw tries to escape in a helicopter, but Gadget appears using his helicopter hat to intercept. Claw destroys it, and Gadget is stuck hanging from the landing skis. Gadget deconstructs a pen that is in his finger (one of his gadgets) and launches the metal ink chamber, sending it bouncing around and making it hit the button on Claw's claw, causing it to clamp shut and break the joystick of the helicopter and send the helicopter out of control. Brenda leaps out of the helicopter onto Gadget's back, but they fall down the side of Scolex's skyscraper, using a parasol to land safely. Claw parachutes down, but lands in the Gadgetmobile and is captured by it. The police arrive to arrest Gadget, but Penny appears with a repentant and reformed Sykes, who confesses his boss's crimes to the police. Saluted and acknowledged by Quimby as an actual member of the police force, Gadget departs with Brenda and Penny, as Claw vows revenge as he is taken away by the cops. Gadget begins a relationship with Brenda.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: During the "Minions Anonymous" scene in the credits, the henchmen include Mr. T and Richard Kiel (who is credited as the "Famous Bad Guy with Silver Teeth", in reference to his role of James Bond's enemy Jaws), as well as Richard Lee-Sung as the "Famous Villain with Deadly Hat", Bobby Bell as the "Famous Identifier of Sea Planes", Hank Barrera as the "Famous Native American Sidekick", Jesse Yoshimura as "Bane of the Bumbling, Idiotic Yet Curiously Successful French Detective's Existence", John Kim as "Son Before Second Son", and Keith Morrison as the "Famous Assistant to Dr. Frankensomething".


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: Universal Pictures at one point had an option on the film rights to the animated television series in 1993. Ivan Reitman signed on to produce with a script by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman. "Inspector Gadget" moved to Disney when the film studio bought out DIC Entertainment. At one point, Peter and Bobby Farrelly were considered to write and direct. Martin Scorsese was also considered to direct. Disney eventually hired David Kellogg to direct, best known for "The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman" TV commercials and the Vanilla Ice film, "Cool as Ice" (1991). At one point, Steven Spielberg, a fan of the 1980s cartoon, considered being the film's executive producer, but he was too busy with other films such as "Saving Private Ryan".


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: Cameron Diaz declined the role of Dr. Brenda Bradford in favor of "Any Given Sunday". Brendan Fraser was considered for the role of Inspector Gadget, but turned it down on account of working on "George of the Jungle", another live-action Disney film based on an animated cartoon. Kevin Kline, Steve Carell, Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Mike Myers, Jay Mohr, Jerry Seinfeld, Mel Gibson, Dana Carvey, Michael Keaton, Adam Sandler, and Robin Williams were also considered for the role. When Steven Spielberg considered being the film's executive producer, his two choices for the role of Inspector Gadget were Chevy Chase and Steve Martin, while the Farrelly brothers' choice was Jim Carrey. Lindsay Lohan turned down the role of Penny, due to her working on "The Parent Trap". Eddie Murphy, David Alan Grier, and Chris Tucker were considered for the role of the Gadgetmobile. Tim Curry, James Earl Jones, Willem Dafoe, Jack Nicholson, John Lithgow, Tommy Lee Jones and Dennis Hopper were considered for the role of Doctor Claw. Louis C.K. auditioned for a role as a police officer.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: The Gadgetmobile, designed by Brenda Bradford, is a white & chrome 1962 Lincoln Continental convertible instead of a Matra Murena/Toyota Supra hybrid from the cartoon and can't transform from a minivan to a police vehicle and often drives by itself. It has an artificial intelligence with a male persona. Like most anthropomorphic cars, "his" front bumper is his mouth and he has eyes in his headlights. However, unlike those cars, who have two eyes, he has four. He also has a face on a computer screen on the dashboard and a license plate that reads "GADGET". Among other things, he can camouflage himself, has a radar system to track Gadget's location (and other people's as well), can extend his tires upwards, has retractable jail bars in his back seat (for transporting criminals), a vending machine (options on this include Skittles, M&M's, Surge, Sprite, Coca-Cola and McDonald's), police lights hidden in the hood that mechanically move onto the windshield, and a jet engine he keeps in his trunk. His artificial intelligence has a laid-back personality. The Gadgetmobile openly breaks the law constantly (he is a particular fan of backturns), but claims it is okay: "Speed limits are for cars, not the Gadgetmobile". Comedian D. L. Hughley provides his voice.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: The soundtrack of the film, composed by John Debney, contains the singles "All Star" by Smash Mouth and "I'll Be Your Everything" by the boy band Youngstown.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: "Inspector Gadget" was released on VHS and DVD on December 7, 1999, and re-released on DVD on May 27, 2003 by Walt Disney Home Entertainment.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: Despite negative reviews from critics and fans of the 1980s cartoon series themselves, the film was a moderate box office success with a worldwide gross of $134.4 million worldwide, against a budget of $90 million. It lost the studio approximately $30 million. In its opening weekend, the film grossed $21.9 million, finishing in second at the box office behind "The Haunting" ($33.4 million). In the United Kingdom, it grossed just over £7 million.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 21% based on 63 reviews, with an average rating of 4.10/10. The site's critics consensus states: "Despite an abundance of eyecandy, the film doesn't amount to much". Metacritic reports a weighted average score of 36 out of 100 based on 22 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: Lawrence Van Gelder of "The New York Times" stated that it "wastes a lot of good talent". In his review for the "Chicago Sun-Times", Roger Ebert gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four and mentioned that fans were angered when Dr. Claw reveals himself in the movie. Ian Freer of "Empire Magazine" gave the film a two out of five stars.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: At the 1999 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards, the film received five nominations: Worst Picture, Worst Director (Kellogg), Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy, Worst Resurrection of a TV Show, and Least "Special" Special Effects.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: "Inspector Gadget 2" is a 2003 made-for-video sequel to "Inspector Gadget", with French Stewart taking over the title role. It follows Gadget getting a replacement named G2 (Elaine Hendrix) who is a woman-like version of Gadget. Meanwhile, Dr. Claw gets out of prison and plans to steal gold from the United States Treasury, so it's up to Gadget, Penny, Brain and G2 to stop Claw's plans.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: The sequel drew more from its source material than the original film and also experienced a slightly improved critical reception, earning a 40% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 5 reviews. The film was released on March 11, 2003.


title: Inspector Gadget (film)

text: In May 2015, a new film with a rebooted version of the character was in development, with Dan Lin as producer. In October 2019, Mikey Day and Streeter Seidell were hired to write the film.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: The Book of the New Sun (1980–1983) is a four volume, science fantasy novel written by the American author Gene Wolfe. It inaugurated the "Solar Cycle" that Wolfe continued by setting other works in the same universe ("The Urth of the New Sun", "The Book of the Long Sun" series, and "The Book of the Short Sun" series).


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Gene Wolfe had originally intended the story to be a 40,000-word novella called "The Feast of Saint Catherine", meant to be published in one of the "Orbit" anthologies, but during the writing, it continued to grow. Despite being published with a year between each book, all four books were written and completed during his free time without anyone's knowledge when he was still an editor of "Plant Engineering", allowing him to write at his own pace and take his time.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: The tetralogy chronicles the journey of Severian, a journeyman torturer who is disgraced and forced to wander. It is a first-person narrative, ostensibly translated by Wolfe into contemporary English, set in a distant future when the Sun has dimmed and Earth is cooler (a "Dying Earth" story). Severian lives in a nation called the Commonwealth, ruled by the Autarch, in the Southern Hemisphere. It is at war with Ascia, its totalitarian northern neighbor.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: In a 1998 poll of its subscribers, "Locus" magazine ranked the tetralogy number three among 36 all-time best fantasy novels before 1990.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Severian, an apprentice in the torturers' guild, barely survives a swim in the River Gyoll. On his way back to the Citadel (whose towers appear to be disused rockets), Severian and several other apprentices sneak into a Necropolis where Severian first encounters Vodalus, an aristocrat who is the Commonwealth's leading revolutionary. Vodalus, along with a noblewoman named Thea and a servant named Hildegrin, are robbing a grave. Vodalus and his companions are attacked by volunteer guards. Severian saves Vodalus's life, earning his trust and the reward of a single "gold" coin.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Later Severian rescues a fighting dog that has lost a leg and names him Triskele. When Triskele leaves, Severian tracks him to a place in the Citadel called the Atrium of Time, where he talks with a beautiful young woman, Valeria, but he does not get Triskele back.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: In the torturers' tower, Severian falls in love with Thecla, a prisoner. She is Thea's half-sister and was imprisoned for helping her and Vodalus. Severian's attraction to her is hastened by his sexual initiation in a visit to a brothel at the guild's expense. The brothel is run by a eunuch and the prostitutes are clones of noblewomen; Severian chooses the clone of Thecla for his encounter.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Shortly after Severian is elevated to journeyman, Thecla is tortured with a machine that makes her uncontrollably suicidal so she will mutilate herself to death with her bare hands. Severian smuggles a knife into her cell. By thus letting her shorten the time of her suffering, he has broken his oath to the guild.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Severian expects to be tortured and executed. Instead, the head of the guild is uncharacteristically forgiving and dispatches him to Thrax, a distant city that needs an executioner, also giving him Terminus Est, a magnificent executioner's sword. Severian travels through the decaying city of Nessus. He meets the hulking Baldanders and his companion Dr. Talos, traveling as mountebanks, who invite Severian to join them in a play to be performed the same day. During breakfast, Dr. Talos recruits the waitress for his play with a promise to make her beautiful. Instead of participating, Severian parts with the group and stops at a rag shop to purchase a mantle to hide his guild uniform (a cloak and breeches of fuligin, "the hue that is darker than black", which inspires terror in common folk; when working he also wears a fuligin mask). The shop is owned by a twin brother and sister, and the brother immediately takes an interest in Terminus Est. Severian refuses to sell the sword, shortly after which a masked and armored hipparch enters the shop and challenges Severian to a duel. Severian is forced to accept, and he goes with the sister, Agia, to secure an avern, a deadly plant that is used for dueling. He becomes strongly attracted to Agia and develops complicated feelings toward her. While on their way in a carriage, they race with the riders in a passing fiacre, and they crash into and destroy the altar of a female religious order, the Pelerines. The Pelerines accuse Agia of stealing a precious relic called the Claw of the Conciliator. After Agia is searched and released, she and Severian continue their journey to the Botanic Gardens, a large landmark of Nessus created by the mysterious Father Inire, right hand to the Autarch.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Inside the gardens, Severian falls into a lake used to inter the dead and is pulled out by a young woman named Dorcas who also seems to have come up from the lake. Dazed and confused, Dorcas follows Severian and Agia. Severian acquires the avern and the group proceeds to an inn near the dueling grounds. While eating dinner, Severian receives a mysterious note intended for one of the women, warning her the other is dangerous, but it's not immediately clear which is which. He meets his challenger, and though stabbed by the avern he miraculously survives and finds that his challenger was Agia's brother. When Severian wakes again, he finds himself in a lazaret. After finding Dorcas, who he is falling in love with, and identifying himself as a torturer, he is requested to perform an execution. The prisoner turns out to be Agia's brother, who had provoked the duel expecting to win when he could claim Terminus Est. Severian executes the brother.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Severian and Dorcas return to their travels. In his belongings, Severian finds the Claw of the Conciliator, a large glowing gem. Apparently, Agia stole the Claw from the altar they destroyed and knowing that she would be searched, placed it in Severian's belongings. Eventually, Severian and Dorcas encounter Dr. Talos, Baldanders, and a beautiful woman named Jolenta. Severian takes part in the play they perform, and the next day the group sets out toward the great gate leading out of Nessus. There Severian befriends a man named Jonas who is obviously attracted to Jolenta. The first volume ends with a riot or disturbance at the gate, whose nature is not immediately clear, separating Severian and Jonas from the rest of the group.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: The story continues shortly after the previous installment left off. Now in the nearby town of Saltus, Severian and Jonas delay their search for the others as Severian has been hired to practice his art of execution on two people. The first was a servant of Vodalus. As the man is dragged out of his home by a mob, Severian glimpses Agia amidst the crowd. Agia flees and Severian still attracted to and hoping to reconcile with her, follows, searching for her at the town fair. Unable to find her, he consults a green-skinned man whose master offers his services as an attraction, claiming he can answer any question. In answer to Severian's queries as to how he could know everything, the green man tells Severian he is from the future (where the sun is bright and people have photosynthetic organisms in their skin). The green man does not know where Agia can be found, but Severian takes pity on him and gives him a piece of his whetstone so that he can free himself by grinding through his chains. Severian returns to town and executes the two prisoners.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Eating dinner with his friend Jonas that evening, he finds a letter that seems to be from Thecla (but is actually from Agia) asking him to meet her at a nearby cave. In the cave, Severian barely escapes a group of man-ape miners. The light from the Claw stops the man-apes' attack, but it also seems to wake a gigantic unknown creature deep below in the cave, which is only heard and not seen. Severian escapes, only to be attacked by Agia and her assassins outside the cave. One of the attackers is killed by one of the man-apes, who had his hand cut off by Severian in the battle in the cave. The ape gestures its stump at Severian, wanting him to do something with it, but Severian does not know what. Severian prepares to behead Agia, but still unable to hate her, lets her go. He returns to Saltus, where he and Jonas are captured by Vodalus's rebels for executing one of its members.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Severian recalls to Vodalus that he saved his life some years past, so Vodalus allows Severian to enter his service. Severian and Jonas attend a midnight dinner with Vodalus, where they eat Thecla's roasted flesh, which, when combined with a substance from an alien creature called an alzabo, lets the eaters experience her memories. For Severian the experience is permanent; Thecla lives again in his mind. Given the task of delivering a message to a servant in the House Absolute, the Autarch's seat of power, Severian and Jonas set off to the north. They are attacked by a flying creature that feeds on the heat and life force of living beings and escapes only by tricking the creature into attacking and killing a nearby soldier instead. Severian feels guilty and, having come to suspect the Claw has healing powers, uses it to bring the soldier back to life. He and Jonas are captured by guards of the House Absolute and thrown into an antechamber where prisoners are held indefinitely. Severian's Claw heals a wound Jonas receives during the night they spend there; then the pair escapes some unknown horrible creature by using a pass-phrase drawn from Thecla's memories to open a secret door. As they walk the corridors of the House Absolute, Jonas is revealed to be a robot who once crash-landed on earth and has been repaired with human parts as prosthetics. He steps into a mirror and disappears, promising to return for Jolenta when he is healed. Severian is lost and eventually encounters Vodalus's spy, who is the androgynous brothel-keeper. After the androgyne opens and then closes a portal to someplace with a giant winged alien, Severian swears service to him. In the subsequent conversation, he realizes that the supposed spy is the Autarch.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Stumbling into the gardens of the House Absolute, Severian is reunited with Dorcas, Dr. Talos, and Baldanders, who are preparing to perform the play they performed in the first book. Severian participates again, but the play is cut short when Baldanders flies into a rage and attacks the audience, revealing that aliens are among them. Talos and Baldanders part ways with Severian and Dorcas at a crossroad, Severian heading toward Thrax, and the giant and his physician headed toward Lake Diuturna. Jolenta tries to have Talos take her with him, but he has no more use for her now that the plays are no longer necessary, and Severian takes her. As they head north, Jolenta is bitten by a "blood bat" and falls ill. Severian realizes that she had been scientifically altered by Dr. Talos to be gorgeous and desirable, but is quickly becoming sickly and unattractive. Soon the trio meets an old farmer who tells them they must pass through an enigmatic stone city to get to Thrax. In the ruined city, Severian sees a pair of witches initiate a dream-like event in which ghostly dancers of the stone town's past, led in a ritual by a teacher named Apu-Punchau, fill the area and fight with the witch's servant, who is Vodalus's lieutenant Hildegrin. The book ends with Dorcas and Severian emerging from a stupor in the stone town, Jolenta dead and revealed to be the waitress whom Dr. Talos had promised to make beautiful, and the witches and Hildegrin gone.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Severian takes up his position as the Lictor of the city of Thrax. His lover Dorcas falls into depression, in part because of her position as the partner of a reviled and feared figure in a strange city. She is also becoming increasingly upset by her inability to remember her past and convinced that she must unravel its secrets, however disturbing they may turn out to be.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: After escaping an exotic creature that incinerates things, which seems to have come to Thrax to find him, Severian again shows mercy to a woman he had had sex with—she was to be executed for adultery—and must flee the city. He journeys alone into the mountains in search of the Pelerines so that he can return the Claw of the Conciliator.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: On the road, he battles Agia and an alzabo, a beast that acquires the memories of those it eats, as well as a gang of men who have opted to become like animals. He takes a boy also named Severian, whose family was killed by the alzabo, into his care. They encounter a village of men who claim to be sorcerers and possess more power than Severian at first believes, but they escape amidst the threat of yet another dangerous creature set upon his trail. While exploring an ancient mountain stronghold in search of sustenance or something of value, Severian and little Severian climb to a gold ring on the finger of a monolithic statue carved into the mountainside. When little Severian touches the ring he is blasted by heat and immediately perishes. On his way back down, a suicidal Severian inadvertently revives a monarch from the past, Typhon, who was in suspended animation. Typhon tries to dominate Severian with physical threats, psychological manipulation, and something like hypnosis, but Severian finds a way to kill him.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Continuing his journey to the great Lake Diuturna, Severian is drawn into a local conflict on the side of a group of islanders being enslaved. He discovers that his old companions Dr. Talos and Baldanders are the oppressors. Severian makes his way through their lakeside castle, discovering that Baldanders is an inventor and scientist who conducts experiments on people, and in fact created his own homunculus in the form of Dr. Talos. Severian encounters the otherworldly hierodules within, who unexpectedly prostrate themselves in front of him. Severian then battles the giant Baldanders. He barely survives, while Baldanders vanishes in the lake. Severian's sword is destroyed in the battle, as well as the Claw. Down at the shore, he finds a curved thorn that he believes is the true claw that was set in the now-shattered stone.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: In the wake of this battle, Severian seeks to digest a series of revelations: about the nature of Baldanders, the nature of the aliens (including Father Inire and the older witch in the stone town) who manipulate events on Urth and profess to be his friends and the nature of the Claw he carried for so long. As he does so, he finds himself approaching the edge of the war in the North.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Wandering around, Severian happens upon a dead soldier, whom he revives with the Claw, and they make their way to the Pelerines' camp. In the camp, Severian suffers a fever and is treated along with people injured in the war. While recovering, Severian judges a story-telling contest held by fellow patients. He returns the Claw by putting it on an altar. A leader of the Pelerines tasks him to bring a friend of theirs in the mountains away from the danger of the war to the safety of the camp. The man, a time traveler from a future where the world is covered in ice, refuses to come with Severian, and when Severian leads him away by force, the man disappears, as he does not belong in Severian's time. Upon returning to the camp, Severian discovers it has been attacked and abandoned. He soon finds the new camp, where most of those he met during his stay are dead or dying.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Severian is drawn into the war against Ascia. He nearly perishes in battle but is rescued by the Autarch. Severian is nursed back to health and converses with the Autarch about his role in the Commonwealth. Taking a flier over the war zone, they are shot down. The Autarch, dying, tells Severian to drink the contents of a vial around the Autarch's neck and eat his brain, as Severian is to be the next Autarch. Severian does so, and since the vial contained the alzabo drug or something similar, he acquires hundreds of consciousnesses that the Autarch had through the same process.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Before the Autarch died, he sent a message to Vodalus that the Autarch was aboard the flier. Thea and a group of Vodalus's men descend on the crash site and rescue Severian from their allies the Ascians. Severian is held prisoner and is visited by Agia in company with a former spacefarer who calls from other planets the creatures that have been attacking Severian. Agia attempts to kill Severian again, but he survives and is rescued by the green time traveler whom he rescued in "The Claw of the Conciliator". The green man opens a passage through time in which Severian is visited by an alien who takes the form of Master Malrubius, a torturer who had died in Severian's boyhood, accompanied by the dog Triskele. "Malrubius" tells him that he must one day face a challenge that will either create a New Sun and allow humanity to return to the stars if he succeeds, or strip him of his manhood, leaving him unable to produce an heir, if he fails. Severian realizes that the last Autarch must have failed and thus become an androgyne.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: After the meeting, Severian is left on a beach where many wild rose bushes are in bloom. He is pricked by a thorn and realizes that it is identical to the Claw, even to glowing. Seeing that and countless identical Claws on other bushes leads him to a religious experience. He also ponders the meaning of the Claw, higher beings such as the alien who appeared as Malrubius, time travel, and the New Sun. In an interlude at the time of writing the book, he says that he is on his way to the test.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Severian makes his way back to Nessus aboard a ship whose crewmen revere him on sight. In a long-abandoned part of Nessus, he finds Dorcas in her old house but leaves without making himself known to her. He visits other people of his past, assumes the role of Autarch, and suspends the practice of torture. Finding the gold coin Vodalus had given him, he realizes it was counterfeit. He returns to the waiter who slipped him the note in "The Shadow of the Torturer". The note was meant for Dorcas, who reminded the waiter of his mother. A picture of Dorcas in a locket around the waiter's neck confirms this suspicion. It is implied that the waiter is Severian's father, making Dorcas his grandmother. Dorcas had died long before, and though Severian did not yet know he had the Claw, it brought her back to life in the lake.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: The book ends with Severian exploring the Citadel and retracing Triskele's steps through an underground building. He follows his own tracks, returning to the Atrium of Time and Valeria.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Severian, the main character and narrator of the series, can be interpreted as a Christ figure. His life has many parallels to the life of Jesus, and Gene Wolfe, a Catholic, has explained that he deliberately mirrored Jesus in Severian. He compares Severian's profession as a torturer to Jesus's profession as a carpenter in "The Castle of the Otter":


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Severian's life parallels Jesus' occasionally, with his descent into the cave of the man-apes being a Harrowing of Hell scene, his resurrection of Dorcas being a Lazarus of Bethany scene, and his friendship with Jonas reflecting Ahasuerus. Jonas has traveled the world looking to reconnect with the Hierodules, "tinkers with clumsy mechanisms", and is redeemed from wandering exile after befriending Severian. In this respect, he represents the wandering Jew. Severian also suffers from occasional seemingly random bleeding from his forehead, as if from a crown of thorns. Also mirroring the crown of thorns, the Claw of the Conciliator, a thorn that causes Severian to shed blood, becomes a religious relic due to its relation to Severian. Terminus Est represents his crucifix, with Severian describing his sword in "Urth of the New Sun" as a "dark cross upon my shoulder." In the following volume, "The Urth of the New Sun", Severian is resurrected as well, escaping to a Heaven-like plane of existence where an angel resides and then emerging from a stone tomb, as Jesus rose from his stone tomb.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: However, Wolfe said in an interview, "I don't think of Severian as being a Christ figure; I think of Severian as being a Christian figure. He is a man who has been born into a very perverse background, who is gradually trying to become better."


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: During the years when "The Book of the New Sun" was published, Wolfe published two stories from it separately: "Foila's Story: The Armiger's Daughter" (one of the entries in the story-telling contest in the Pelerines' hospital) and "The Tale of the Student and his Son" (one of the two stories that Severian reproduces from a book he obtained for Thecla when she was imprisoned).


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Shortly after "The Citadel of the Autarch", Wolfe published "The Castle of the Otter", a book of essays about "The Book of the New Sun" containing a few fictional elements, such as jokes told by some of the characters.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: After the original four-volume novel, Wolfe wrote a novel often called a coda, "The Urth of the New Sun" (1987). He also wrote three short stories, "The Map", "The Cat", and "Empires of Foliage and Flower", that are closely related to "The Book of the New Sun".


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Later he wrote two-book series that are set in Severian's universe. The Internet Speculative Fiction Database catalogs it all as the "Solar Cycle", comprising the short works and three sub-series. The two later subseries are "The Book of the Long Sun" (1993–1996, four volumes) and "The Book of the Short Sun" (1999–2001, three volumes). Two of the "Long Sun" books were nominated for Nebula Awards.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: "The Book of the New Sun" belongs to the Dying Earth subgenre of speculative fiction. Peter Wright calls the series an "apotheosis" of traditional Dying Earth elements and themes, and Douglas Barbour suggests that the book is a foundational mosaic of that literary heritage: Traces of this literary tradition can be found throughout the book. In "The Sword of the Lictor", Cyriaca (the woman whom Severian spares in Thrax) tells Severian a legend about an automated city, with rebirth as a central theme. This mirrors John W. Campbell's "Twilight", where sentient machines remove the need for human labor. Wolfe himself said that when he was a teenager "Twilight" had a great effect on his writing, and this homage to that story is not just a passing reference, but an allusion to a literary predecessor. Later in the story, Wolfe alludes to "The Time Machine", with the scene where Severian meets the glowing man-apes mirroring the Time Traveler's confrontation with the Morlocks. In both stories, the protagonist holds up a light to awe the cave peoples, but in the "Book of the New Sun" Severian relates to the humanity of the man-apes with the glowing Claw of the Conciliator, while in "The Time Machine" the Time Traveler intimidates the Morlocks with his fire.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: The tetralogy was first published in English in the United Kingdom by Sidgwick & Jackson from 1980 to 1983, and the coda published in 1987, with second publications for each book occurring approximately a year after the first. Don Maitz illustrated the cover of the first publication, and Bruce Pennington illustrated the second cover. The series was also published in two volumes, named "Shadow and Claw" and "Sword and Citadel", both published in 1994 by Orb Publications.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: It was published as a single volume titled "The Book of the New Sun" in 1998 by Science Fiction Book Club and again in 2007 under the title "Severian of the Guild", published by Orion Publishing Group.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Each of the four original volumes won at least one major fantasy or science fiction award as the year's "Best Novel" as shown by the table below. The tetralogy was not considered as a whole for any of the annual literary awards compiled by the Internet Speculative Fiction Database (ISFDB).


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Gene Wolfe uses a variety of archaic and obscure terms throughout the series and in the appendix of "The Shadow of the Torturer" he explains his fictitious method:


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Wolfe admitted, however, that some mistakes may have been made in spelling or exact meaning. His unusual words often come from an English–Latin dictionary or an English–Greek dictionary, where he finds roots of words to use.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Wolfe stated that he uses strange and arcane words because he "thought they were the best for the story [he] was trying to tell." Language is Wolfe's medium as a writer, and he wishes to "press against the limits of prose." Wolfe's deliberate use of exotic words is meant to manipulate the reader and force upon them a certain visualization of the story, but he does not mean to confuse the reader. He compares the narrator, Severian, and the reader to an English-speaking person and a German-speaking person building a boat:


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: Two examples of the arcane words Wolfe uses are "Ascian" and "Hydrargyrum". Ascian, despite its similarity to "Asian", is derived from a Latin word meaning "without shadow", as the Ascians are tropic dwellers who have no shadow at noon. Hydrargyrum, the fluid contained in Severian's sword Terminus Est, is derived from the Ancient Greek "ὕδωρ", meaning water, and "ἄργυρος", meaning silver, as hydrargyrum is liquid mercury.


title: The Book of the New Sun

text: The Ascian language further expounds on the idea that word choice alters the thinking of people, as the Ascian language is simply a set of quotations from government propaganda called "Correct Thought". In order to communicate, Ascians must memorize many quotations and learn to interpret others' use of them. This government regulation of language is intended to directly regulate the thought of Ascians. However, it is illustrated in the novels that the human capacity to adapt language to its own immediate needs and deploy it in unintended or unforeseen ways allows the Ascians to convey meanings outside of or even contradictory to those intended by the creators of "Correct Thought."


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: Les Liaisons dangereuses (; English: Dangerous Liaisons) is a French epistolary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos, first published in four volumes by Durand Neveu from March 23, 1782.


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: It is the story of the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, two amoral lovers-turned-rivals who amuse themselves by ruining others and who ultimately destroy each other.


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: It has been seen as depicting the corruption and depravity of the French nobility shortly before the French Revolution, and thereby attacking the Ancien Régime despite having been written nearly a decade prior to those events. The author aspired to "write a work which departed from the ordinary, which made a noise, and which would remain on earth after his death".


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: As an epistolary novel, the book is composed of letters written by the various characters to each other. In particular, the letters between Valmont and the Marquise mark up the majority of the plot, along with those of Cécile de Volanges and Madame de Tourvel.


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: It has been adapted multiple times, including the successful 1985 play and subsequent award winning 1988 film adaption.


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: The Marquise de Merteuil is determined to corrupt the young Cécile de Volanges, whose mother has only recently brought her out of a convent to be married—to Merteuil's previous lover, who has rudely discarded her. At the same time the notorious Vicomte de Valmont is determined to seduce the virtuous, married, and therefore inaccessible Madame de Tourvel, who is staying with his aunt while her husband is away on a court case. Cécile falls in love with the Chevalier Danceny (her young music tutor), and Merteuil and Valmont pretend to help the secret lovers in order to gain their trust and manipulate them later to benefit their own schemes.


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: Merteuil first suggests that the Vicomte should seduce Cécile in order to enact her revenge on Cécile's future husband but Valmont refuses, finding the challenge too easy and preferring to devote himself to seducing Madame de Tourvel. He is however interested in resuming their affair. Merteuil promises Valmont that if he seduces Madame de Tourvel and provides her with written proof of seduction, she will spend the night with him.


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: At first Valmont is able to convince Tourvel that he has turned over a new leaf, but he does not find it as easy as his many other conquests. During the course of his pursuit, Valmont discovers that Cécile's mother has written to Madame de Tourvel warning her about him. He avenges himself by seducing Cécile as Merteuil had suggested. Meanwhile, Merteuil takes Danceny as her lover.


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: By the time Valmont has succeeded in seducing Madame de Tourvel, he seems to have fallen in love with her. Jealous, Merteuil tricks him into deserting Madame de Tourvel—and reneges on her promise of spending the night with him. In retaliation, Valmont reveals that he prompted Danceny to reunite with Cécile, leaving Merteuil abandoned yet again. Merteuil declares war on Valmont and reveals to Danceny that Valmont has seduced Cécile.


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: Danceny and Valmont duel, and Valmont is fatally wounded. Before he dies, he gives Danceny the letters proving Merteuil's own involvement. These letters are sufficient to ruin her reputation so she flees to the countryside, after she contracts smallpox. Her face is left permanently scarred and she is rendered blind in one eye, so she loses her greatest asset: her beauty. Desperate with guilt and grief, Madame de Tourvel succumbs to a fever and dies, while Cécile returns to the convent, dishonoured.


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: "Les Liaisons dangereuses" is celebrated for its exploration of seduction, revenge and malice, presented in the form of fictional letters collected and published by a fictional author. The book was viewed as scandalous at the time of its publication, though the real intentions of the author remain unknown. It has been suggested that Laclos's intention was the same as that of his fictional author in the novel; to write a morality tale about the French nobility of the Ancien Régime. The theory has been questioned on several grounds; Laclos enjoyed the patronage of France's most senior aristocrat—Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans. All the characters in the story are aristocrats, including the virtuous ones like Madame de Tourvel and Madame de Rosemonde and many royalist and conservative figures enjoyed the book, including Queen Marie Antoinette, which suggests that—despite its scandalous reputation—it was not viewed as a political work until the French Revolution made it appear as such, with the benefit of hindsight.


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: In a well-known essay on "Les Liaisons dangereuses", which has often been used as a preface to French editions of the novel, André Malraux argues that, despite its debt to the libertine tradition, "Les Liaisons dangereuses" is more significant as the introduction of a new kind of character in French fiction. Malraux writes that the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont are creations "without precedent"; they are "the first [in European literature] whose acts are determined by an ideology".


title: Les Liaisons dangereuses

text: "Les Liaisons dangereuses" is a literary counter-thesis to the epistolary novel as exemplified by Richardson's "Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded". Whereas Richardson uses the technique of letters to provide the reader with a feeling of knowing the protagonist's true and intimate thoughts, Laclos' use of this literary device is the opposite: by presenting the reader with grossly conflicting views from the same writer when addressing different recipients, it is left to the reader to reconcile story, intentions and characters behind the letters. The use of duplicitous characters with one virtuous face can be viewed as a complex criticism of the immensely popular naïve moral epistolary novel.


title: M67 grenade

text: The M67 grenade is a fragmentation hand grenade used by the United States military. The M67 is a further development of the M33 grenade, itself a replacement for the M26-series grenades used during the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the older Mk 2 "pineapple" grenade used since World War I.


title: M67 grenade

text: The M67 grenade has a spheroidal steel body that contains of composition B explosive. It uses the M213 pyrotechnic delay fuze. The M67 grenade weighs in total and has a safety clip to prevent the safety pin on the grenade from being pulled accidentally. The safety pin prevents the safety lever, or "spoon" on the grenade from moving and releasing the spring-loaded striker which initiates the grenade's fuse assembly.


title: M67 grenade

text: The M67 is typically known as a "baseball" grenade, because it is shaped like a ball that can be easily thrown. According to the FY2021 US Army Justification, the average cost of a single M67 grenade is around 45 US dollars.


title: M67 grenade

text: The M67 can be thrown by the average male soldier. Its fuse delays detonation between 4 and 5 seconds after the spoon is released. Steel fragments (not to be confused with shrapnel) are provided by the grenade body and produce an injury radius of , with a fatality radius of , though some fragments can disperse as far out as .


title: M67 grenade

text: The M33 was the original successor to the M26 fragmentation grenade. It was essentially identical to the M67, but lacked the safety clip that is fitted to the safety lever of the M67.


title: M67 grenade

text: This is a variant of the M67 fitted with the M217 impact fuze and a safety clip on the safety lever. This fuze has an electrical impact function which arms within 1 to 2 seconds and will detonate the grenade upon impact, and a back-up pyrotechnic delay function which will initiate the grenade after 3 to 7 seconds if the impact function fails. The M68 has the same specifications and markings as the M67 except it has a red-painted fuze and lever to indicate it has an impact fuze.


title: M67 grenade

text: Predecessors to the M68, these impact-fuzed grenades used the M33 grenade body fitted with the M217 impact fuze, without a safety clip on the safety lever, and are marked similarly to the M68.


title: M67 grenade

text: The M69 grenade is used for grenade training to safely simulate the M67 grenade. The fuze screws into the body, and is replaceable after use. The simulator produces a report and a small puff of white smoke when employed.


title: M67 grenade

text: The M69 has a blue-painted lever and a blue body with white markings. This is to indicate that it is a safe practice grenade rather than a live fragmentation grenade like the M33 or M67.


title: Matt Haig

text: Matt Haig (born 3 July 1975) is an English author and journalist. He has written both fiction and non-fiction books for children and adults, often in the speculative fiction genre.


title: Matt Haig

text: Haig was born on 3 July 1975 in Sheffield. He went on to study English and History at the University of Hull.


title: Matt Haig

text: Haig is the author of both fiction and non-fiction for children and adults. His work of non-fiction, "Reasons to Stay Alive", was a number one Sunday Times bestseller and was in the UK top 10 for 46 weeks. His bestselling children's novel, "Father Christmas and Me", is currently being adapted for film, produced by StudioCanal and Blueprint Pictures.


title: Matt Haig

text: His novels are often dark and quirky takes on family life. "The Last Family in England" retells Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Part 1" with the protagonists as dogs. His second novel "Dead Fathers Club" is based on "Hamlet", telling the story of an introspective 11-year-old dealing with the recent death of his father and the subsequent appearance of his father's ghost. His third adult novel, "The Possession of Mr Cave", deals with an obsessive father desperately trying to keep his teenage daughter safe. His children's novel, "Shadow Forest", is a fantasy that begins with the horrific death of the protagonists' parents. It won the Nestlé Children's Book Prize in 2007. He followed it with the sequel, "Runaway Troll", in 2008.


title: Matt Haig

text: Haig's vampire novel "The Radleys" was published in 2011. In 2013, he published "The Humans". It is the story of an alien who takes the identity of a university lecturer whose work in mathematics


title: Matt Haig

text: threatens the stability of the planet who must also cope with the home life which accompanies his task.


title: Matt Haig

text: In 2017, Haig published "How to Stop Time", a novel about a man who appears to be 40 but has, in fact, lived for more than 400 years and has met Shakespeare, Captain Cook and F. Scott Fitzgerald. In an interview with "The Guardian", Haig revealed the book has been optioned by StudioCanal films, and Benedict Cumberbatch had been "lined up to star" in the film adaptation. "Reasons to Stay Alive" won the Books Are My Bag Readers' Awards in 2016 and "How to Stop Time" was nominated in 2017. In August 2018, he wrote lyrics for English singer and songwriter Andy Burrows's music album, the title of which was derived from Haig's book "Reasons to Stay Alive".


title: Matt Haig

text: In 2020, Matt Haig released his novel "The Midnight Library" about a young woman named Nora Seed who is unhappy with her choices in life. During the night she tries to kill herself but ends up in a library managed by her school librarian, Mrs. Elm. The library is between life and death with millions of books filled with stories of her life had she made some decisions differently. In this library, she then tries to find the life in which she's the most content. It was shortlisted for the 2021 British Book Awards "Fiction book of the year". "The Midnight Library" was adapted for radio and broadcast in ten episodes on BBC Radio 4 in December 2020.


title: Matt Haig

text: , Haig was married to Andrea Semple, and they lived in Brighton, Sussex, with their two children and a dog. The children were homeschooled.


title: Matt Haig

text: Haig identifies as an atheist. He has said that books are his one true faith, and the library is his church.


title: Matt Haig

text: Some of Haig's work—especially part of the non-fiction books—is inspired by the mental breakdown he suffered from when he was 24 years old. He still occasionally suffers from anxiety.


title: Frank Iero

text: Frank Anthony Iero, Jr. (, born October 31, 1981) is an American musician who is the rhythm guitarist and backup vocalist of the rock band My Chemical Romance and post-hardcore band Leathermouth. He is also the guitarist in the metal band L.S Dunes. He has a solo project titled "Frank Iero and the Future Violents" (formerly "frnkiero andthe cellabration" and "Frank Iero and the Patience"). He released his debut solo album titled "Stomachaches" on August 26, 2014.


title: Frank Iero

text: He was born in Belleville, New Jersey. As a child, he suffered numerous bouts of bronchitis and ear infections, which meant he spent a lot of his childhood in the hospital. Iero is lactose intolerant and has other various food allergies.<ref name="https://twitter.com/FrankIero"></ref> He attended Queen of Peace High School. He went to Rutgers University on a scholarship, but dropped out to go on tour with My Chemical Romance.


title: Frank Iero

text: Iero's parents split when he was young and he grew up living with his mother, who lent out her basement to her son's many band practices; his father and grandfather were musicians and both were big influences on Iero when he was young. His father had taught him to play drums, but Iero later began playing the guitar.


title: Frank Iero

text: Frank started playing in local bands on the New Jersey punk scene when aged 11. Before joining My Chemical Romance he served as frontman for the punk band Pencey Prep. The band released an album, "Heartbreak in Stereo", on the independent Eyeball Records before disbanding. Whilst playing with Pencey Prep, he became friends with Gerard Way and the other My Chemical Romance members, became a fan of their original demo and helped them get their first shows. After his band broke up, Frank played in several bands, including I Am A Graveyard, Hybrid, and Sector 12 before being offered the slot of rhythm guitar in My Chemical Romance.


title: Frank Iero

text: Iero joined My Chemical Romance in 2002 and was featured on two tracks, "Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough for the Two of Us" and "Early Sunsets Over Monroeville", on their debut album "I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love". Iero performed on the band's second studio album "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge", released on June 8, 2004. My Chemical Romance released their third studio album, "The Black Parade", on October 24, 2006. My Chemical Romance's fourth and final studio album "" was released on November 22, 2010. The band announced their breakup on March 22, 2013.


title: Frank Iero

text: Iero fronted the hardcore punk quintet, Leathermouth, who released their debut album "XO" in January 2009, on Epitaph Records. The band split later in 2010. He is involved in a tribute band to The Cure named The Love Cats, after the song of the same name, and played bass with Reggie and the Full Effect on their farewell tour. His first solo song "This Song Is A Curse" was released as a bonus track on the official soundtrack to the Tim Burton film, "Frankenweenie". He later posted an anti-Xmas track he recorded as a joke in 15 minutes, and followed that up with a cover of the song 'Be My Baby', originally made famous by The Ronettes.


title: Frank Iero

text: On December 7, 2010, Iero left the record company Skeleton Crew that he and his wife had co-founded in order to concentrate on his family and his music with My Chemical Romance, stating that although he would have loved to carry on, he could not juggle his career with the band, the new additions to his family (newborn daughters), and co-running a business . He was a judge for the 7th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.


title: Frank Iero

text: In early 2013 Iero and James Dewees announced that they were working on a new project, a digital hardcore act called Death Spells. They also announced a tour supporting Mindless Self Indulgence and a performance at the Skate and Surf Festival in New Jersey. Starting a week before the Mindless Self Indulgence tour, Death Spells posted a short demo of a new song each night at midnight, culminating this with their first full single "Where Are My Fucking Pills?" and an accompanying music video. A full-length album was expected to be released in late 2013 but was delayed until 2016, when their album "Nothing Above, Nothing Below" was released on July 29th of that year.


title: Frank Iero

text: During Death Spells' initial inactivity in 2013, Iero performed new solo songs live and posted others to his Soundcloud, then implied he had a full album worth of songs wrote with more content being created on a continuous basis. This was confirmed to be for a solo album.


title: Frank Iero

text: On November 28, 2013, he announced via his official website and his Twitter account that a two-track release entitled ""For Jamia..."" would be released digitally and via limited vinyl on December 10. After his former band broke up, Frank began writing songs in his home studio. Throughout the rest of 2013 he started playing a couple of songs live at events, posted a demo of "joyriding" and recorded a full-length album. Frank plays everything on the album except for drums which were handled by former My Chemical Romance drummer Jarrod Alexander. He also assembled a touring band composed of Evan Nestor, Rob Hughes and Matt Olsson. In June 2014 he announced his signing to Staples Records and his debut album called "Stomachaches" due out August 25, under the moniker frnkiero andthe cellabration. This was followed up with tour dates (a support slot on the Taking Back Sunday and The Used co-headline US fall tour) and a debut single called "Weighted". On August 4, 2014. he released the music video for this song. A second single and accompanying video for the song "Joyriding" was released. The band opened for Mallory Knox in the UK in November 2014 on their first overseas run. The band announced headline dates for 2015 in Mexico, the US and Europe and are playing Reading and Leeds festivals. The band also opened for Against Me in the US on a summer tour and ended the year on a headline run.


title: Frank Iero

text: They performed two acoustic shows in New Jersey showcasing new material and announcing they were go into studio to record a second album in two weeks. On May 22, 2016, he officially announced recording a new album and an Australia tour, with a name change to the band which is now known as Frank Iero and the Patience. The band performed at Shadow of the City with The 1975 in New Jersey and are playing both Riot Fest dates (Denver and Chicago) in September 2016. After a motor vehicle accident that injured Iero and his bandmates all remaining 2016 dates were canceled. Iero released his second studio album titled "Parachutes" on October 28, and returned to touring during 2017.


title: Frank Iero

text: On December 31, 2018, Iero announced his new solo moniker, Frank Iero and the Future Violents. He released his third solo studio album, "Barriers", under the new moniker on May 31, 2019. "Loudwire" named it one of the 50 best rock albums of 2019.


title: Frank Iero

text: On October 31, 2019, My Chemical Romance announced they would be reuniting with a date in Los Angeles on December 20 and a new merchandise line. They announced that they would also be playing shows in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan in 2020. The tour was later postponed to 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Frank Iero

text: In the earlier days of My Chemical Romance, Iero mainly used Gibson SG's & Epiphone Les Paul guitars (most notably his white Les Paul nicknamed 'Pansy' which proved popular amongst his fans but has since been broken while onstage) and Marshall amps. He has since switched to using Gibson Les Pauls (with the Neck Pick-up removed) and occasionally uses a Gibson SG. He also used a Fender Stratocaster in the video. In 2011, he collaborated with Epiphone to design the Wilshire Phant-O-Matic guitar, which he used onstage for the My Chemical Romance 'World Contamination' Tour, the Honda Civic Tour and for the Reading and Leeds festivals. He also uses the Orange Rockerverb MKII 100 head and Orange 160 Watt Guitar 4x10 Vintage Cabinet. He primarily uses a Boss BD-2 Blues Driver pedal as his main overdrive.


title: Frank Iero

text: Iero has many tattoos including logos for the bands Black Flag and The Misfits, symbols of his love for his home state, New Jersey, a matching 'revenge' tattoo with James Dewees and others by acclaimed tattoo artist Kat Von D: a Frankenstein's monster and portraits of his grandmothers and grandfather, all of which were featured in Von D's book "High Voltage Tattoo" and the latter of which was done on an episode of her reality show "LA Ink" in which Iero was featured.


title: Frank Iero

text: On February 5, 2007 Iero married his long-term girlfriend Jamia Nestor after proposing on May 25, 2006 during the recording of "The Black Parade". On September 7, 2010, Iero announced on the My Chemical Romance official website that he and his wife Jamia had become parents of twin girls. On April 6, 2012, he announced via his official Twitter account that his wife had given birth to their son.


title: Frank Iero

text: On October 13, 2016, Iero was injured in a motor vehicle accident. As he and his band unloaded their van for a show in Sydney, Australia, a passenger bus with no passengers hit them. Iero was dragged about 10 feet along the curb by the bus and credits "an enormous rucksack" for saving his life that day. He canceled all remaining 2016 shows, and would later speak about that day saying "It's incredible to me that we're all still alive. No one that witnessed the accident thought that we would be."


title: Frank Iero

text: In response to Donald Trump winning the United States presidential election of 2016, Iero tweeted, "I feel sad and ashamed. This morning, all I could say to my kids when they woke up was 'I'm so sorry.'"


The 1844 United States presidential election was the 15th quadrennial presidential election, held from Friday, November 1 to Wednesday, December 4, 1844. Democrat James K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay in a close contest turning on the controversial issues of slavery and the annexation of the Republic of Texas. This is the only election where both major party nominees served as Speaker of the House at one point.


title: 1844 United States presidential election

text: President John Tyler's pursuit of Texas annexation divided both major parties. Annexation would geographically expand American slavery. It also risked war with Mexico while the United States engaged in sensitive possession and boundary negotiations with the Great Britain, which controlled Canada, over Oregon. Texas annexation thus posed both domestic and foreign policy risks. Both major parties had wings in the North and the South, but the possibility of the expansion of slavery threatened a sectional split in each party. Expelled by the Whig Party after vetoing key Whig legislation and lacking a firm political base, Tyler hoped to use the annexation of Texas to win re-election as an independent or at least to have decisive, pro-Texas influence over the election.


text: The early leader for the Democratic nomination was former President Martin Van Buren, but his rejection of Texas annexation damaged his candidacy. Opposition from former President Andrew Jackson and most Southern delegations, plus a nomination rule change likely specifically aimed to block him, prevented Van Buren from winning the necessary two-thirds vote of delegates to the 1844 Democratic National Convention. The convention instead chose James K. Polk, former Governor of Tennessee and Speaker. He was the first successful dark horse for the presidency. Polk ran on a platform embracing popular commitment to expansion, often referred to as Manifest Destiny. Tyler dropped out of the race and endorsed Polk. The Whigs nominated Henry Clay, a famous, long-time party leader who was the early favorite but who conspicuously waffled on Texas annexation. Though a Southerner from Kentucky and a slave owner, Clay chose to focus on the risks of annexation while claiming not to oppose it personally. His awkward, repeated attempts to adjust and finesse his position on Texas confused and alienated voters, contrasting negatively with Polk's consistent clarity.


text: Polk successfully linked the dispute with Britain over Oregon with the Texas issue. The Democratic nominee thus united anti-slavery Northern expansionists, who demanded Oregon, with pro-slavery Southern expansionists who demanded Texas. In the national popular vote, Polk beat Clay by fewer than 40,000 votes, a margin of 1.4%. James G. Birney of the anti-slavery Liberty Party won 2.3% of the vote. As President, Polk completed American annexation of Texas, which was the proximate cause of the Mexican–American War.


text: Whigs and Democrats embarked upon their campaigns during the climax of the congressional gag rule controversies in 1844, which prompted Southern congressmen to suppress northern petitions to end the slave trade in the District of Columbia. Anti-annexation petitions to Congress sent from northern anti-slavery forces, including state legislatures, were similarly suppressed. Intra-party sectional compromises and maneuvering on slavery politics during these divisive debates placed significant strain on the northern and southern wings that comprised each political organization. The question as to whether the institution of slavery and its aristocratic principles of social authority were compatible with democratic republicanism was becoming "a permanent issue in national politics".


text: In 1836, a portion of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas declared its independence to form the Republic of Texas. Texans, mostly American immigrants from the Deep South, many of whom owned slaves, sought to bring their republic into the Union as a state. At first, the subject of annexing Texas to the United States was shunned by both major American political parties. Although they recognized Texas sovereignty, Presidents Andrew Jackson (1829–1837) and Martin Van Buren (1837–1841) declined to pursue annexation. The prospect of bringing another slave state into the Union was fraught with problems. Both major parties – the Democrats and Whigs – viewed Texas statehood as something "not worth a foreign war [with Mexico]" or the "sectional combat" that annexation would provoke in the United States.


text: The incumbent President John Tyler, formerly vice-president, had assumed the presidency upon the death of William Henry Harrison in 1841. Tyler, a Whig in name only, emerged as a states' rights advocate committed to slavery expansion in defiance of Whig principles. After he vetoed the Whig domestic legislative agenda, he was expelled from his own party on September 13, 1841. Politically isolated, but unencumbered by party restraints, Tyler aligned himself with a small faction of Texas annexationists in a bid for election to a full term in 1844.


text: Tyler became convinced that Great Britain was encouraging a Texas–Mexico rapprochement that might lead to slave emancipation in the Texas republic. Accordingly, he directed Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur of Virginia to initiate, then relentlessly pursue, secret annexation talks with Texas minister to the United States Isaac Van Zandt, beginning on October 16, 1843.


text: Tyler submitted his Texas-US treaty for annexation to the US Senate, delivered April 22, 1844, where a two-thirds majority was required for ratification. The newly appointed Secretary of State John C. Calhoun of South Carolina (assuming his post March 29, 1844) included a document known as the Packenham Letter with the Tyler bill that was calculated to inject a sense of crisis in Southern Democrats of the Deep South. In it, he characterized slavery as a social blessing and the acquisition of Texas as an emergency measure necessary to safeguard the "peculiar institution" in the United States. In doing so, Tyler and Calhoun sought to unite the South in a crusade that would present the North with an ultimatum: support Texas annexation or lose the South. Anti-slavery Whigs considered Texas annexation particularly egregious, since Mexico had outlawed slavery in Coahuila y Tejas in 1829, before Texas independence had been declared.


text: The 1844 presidential campaigns evolved within the context of this struggle over Texas annexation, which was tied to the question of slavery expansion and national security. All candidates in the 1844 presidential election had to declare a position on this explosive issue.


text: Martin Van Buren, President of the United States between 1837 and 1841, and chief architect of Jacksonian democracy, was the presumptive Democratic presidential contender in the spring of 1844. With Secretary of State John C. Calhoun withdrawing his bid for the presidency in January 1844, the campaign was expected to focus on domestic issues. All this changed with the Tyler treaty. Van Buren regarded the Tyler annexation measure as an attempt to sabotage his bid for the White House by exacerbating the already strained North-South Democratic alliance regarding slavery expansion. Calhoun's Packenham Letter would serve to spur Democrats of the South to the task of forcing the Northern wing of the party to submit to Texas annexation, despite the high risk of "aggressively injecting slavery into their political campaign over Texas."


text: The annexation of Texas was the chief political issue of the day. Van Buren, initially the leading candidate, opposed immediate annexation because it might lead to a sectional crisis over the status of slavery in the West and lead to war with Mexico. This position cost Van Buren the support of southern and expansionist Democrats; as a result, he failed to win the nomination. The delegates likewise could not settle on Lewis Cass, the former Secretary of War, whose credentials also included past service as a U.S. minister to France.


text: On the eighth ballot, the historian George Bancroft, a delegate from Massachusetts, proposed former House Speaker James K. Polk as a compromise candidate. Polk argued that Texas and Oregon had always belonged to the United States by right. He called for "the immediate re-annexation of Texas" and for the "re-occupation" of the disputed Oregon territory.


text: On the next roll call, the convention unanimously accepted Polk, who became the first dark horse, or little-known, presidential candidate. The delegates selected Senator Silas Wright of New York for Vice President, but Wright, an admirer of Van Buren, declined the nomination to become the first person to decline a vice presidential nomination. The Democrats then nominated George M. Dallas, a Pennsylvania lawyer.


text: Van Buren realized that accommodating slavery expansionists in the South would open the Northern Democrats to charges of appeasement to the Slave power from the strongly anti-annexation Northern Whigs and some Democrats. He crafted an emphatically anti-Texas position that temporized with expansionist southern Democrats, laying out a highly conditional scenario that delayed Texas annexation indefinitely. In the Hammett Letter, published April 27, 1844 (penned April 20), he counseled his party to reject Texas under a Tyler administration. Furthermore, annexation of Texas as a territory would proceed, tentatively, under a Van Buren administration, only when the American public had been consulted on the matter and Mexico's cooperation had been pursued to avoid an unnecessary war. A military option might be advanced if a groundswell of popular support arose for Texas, certified with a congressional mandate. In these respects, Martin Van Buren differed from Henry Clay, who would never tolerate annexation without Mexico's assent.


text: With the publication of Clay's Raleigh Letter and Van Buren's Hammett Letter, Van Burenite Democrats hoped that their candidate's posture on Texas would leave southern pro-annexationists with exactly one choice for president: Martin Van Buren. In this, they misjudged the political situation. Tyler and the southern pro-annexationists posed a potentially far greater threat than Clay, in that the Tyler-Calhoun treaty would put immense pressure on the northern Democrats to comply with southern Democrats' demands for Texas.


text: The Hammett Letter utterly failed to reassure Middle and Deep South extremists who had responded favorably to Calhoun's Pakenham Letter. A minority of the southern Democrat leadership remained obdurate that Northern Democratic legislators would ignore their constituents' opposition to slavery expansion and unite in support of Texas annexation once exposed to sufficient southern pressure.


text: The extent to which Southern Democrat support for Martin Van Buren had eroded over the Texas annexation crisis became evident when Van Buren's southern counterpart in the rise of the Democratic Party, Thomas Ritchie of the "Richmond Enquirer", terminated their 20-year political alliance in favor of immediate annexation.


text: Ex-President Andrew Jackson publicly announced his support for immediate Texas annexation in May 1844. Jackson had facilitated Tyler's Texas negotiations in February 1844 by reassuring Sam Houston, the President of Texas, that the US Senate ratification was likely. As the Senate debated the Tyler treaty, Jackson declared that the popular support among Texans for annexation should be respected, and any delay would result in a British dominated Texas Republic that would promote slave emancipation and pose a foreign military threat to the southwest United States.


text: The former military hero went further, urging all Jacksonian Democrats to block Martin Van Buren from the party ticket and seek a Democratic presidential candidate fully committed to the immediate annexation of Texas. In doing so, Jackson abandoned the traditional Jeffersonian-Jacksonian formula that had required its Northern and Southern wings to compromise on constitutional slavery disputes.


text: The annexation treaty needed a two-thirds vote and was easily defeated in the Senate, largely along partisan lines, 16 to 35 – a two-thirds majority against passage – on June 8, 1844. Whigs voted 27–1 against the treaty: all northern Whig Senators voted nay, and fourteen of fifteen southern Whig Senators had joined them. Democrats voted for the treaty 15–8, with a slight majority of Northern Democrats opposing. Southern Democrats affirmed the treaty 10–1, with only one slave state Senator, Thomas Hart Benton, voting against.


text: Three days later, Tyler and his supporters in Congress began exploring means to bypass the supermajority requirement for Senate treaty approval. Substituting the constitutional protocols for admitting regions of the United States into the Union as states, Tyler proposed that alternative, yet constitutional, means be used to bring the Republic of Texas – a foreign country – into the Union.


text: Tyler and Calhoun, formerly staunch supporters of minority safeguards based on the supermajority requirements for national legislation, now altered their position to facilitate passage of the Tyler treaty. Tyler's attempt to evade the Senate vote launched a spirited congressional debate.


text: Henry Clay of Kentucky, effectively the leader of the Whig Party since its inception in 1834, was selected as its nominee at the party's convention in Baltimore, Maryland, on May 1, 1844. Clay, a slaveholder, presided over a party in which its Southern wing was sufficiently committed to the national platform to put partisan loyalties above slavery expansionist proposals that might undermine its north–south alliance. Whigs felt confident that Clay could duplicate Harrison's landslide victory of 1840 against any opposition candidate.


text: Southern Whigs feared that the acquisition of the fertile lands in Texas would produce a huge market for slave labor, inflating the price of slaves and deflating land values in their home states.


text: Northern Whigs feared that Texas statehood would initiate the opening of a vast "Empire for Slavery".


text: Two weeks before the Whig convention in Baltimore, in reaction to Calhoun's Packenham Letter, Clay issued a document known as the Raleigh Letter (issued April 17, 1844) that presented his views on Texas to his fellow southern Whigs. In it, he flatly denounced the Tyler annexation bill and predicted that its passage would provoke a war with Mexico, whose government had never recognized Texas independence. Clay underlined his position, warning that even with Mexico's consent, he would block annexation in the event that substantial sectional opposition existed anywhere in the United States.


text: The Whig party leadership was acutely aware that any proslavery legislation advanced by its southern wing would alienate its anti-slavery northern wing and cripple the party in the general election. In order to preserve their party, Whigs would need to stand squarely against acquiring a new slave state. As such, Whigs were content to restrict their 1844 campaign platform to less divisive issues such as internal improvements and national finance.


text: Whigs picked Theodore Frelinghuysen of New Jersey – "the Christian Statesman" – as Clay's running mate. An advocate of the colonization of emancipated slaves, he was acceptable to southern Whigs as an opponent of the abolitionists. His pious reputation balanced Clay's image as a slave-holding, hard-drinking duelist.


text: On July 27, 1844, Clay released a position statement, the so-called "Alabama Letter." In it, he counseled his Whig constituency to regard Texas annexation and statehood as merely a short phase in the decline of slavery in the United States, rather than a long term advance for the Slave Power. Clay qualified his stance on Texas annexation, declaring "no personal objection to the annexation" of the republic. He would move back to his original orientation in September 1844. Northern Whigs expressed outrage at any détente with the Slave Power and accused him of equivocating on Texas annexation.


text: Clay's central position, however, had not altered: no annexation without northern acquiescence. Clay's commitment brought Southern Whigs under extreme pressure in their home states and congressional districts, threatening to tarnish their credentials as supporters of slavery.


text: After the closed session Senate debates on the Tyler-Texas treaty were leaked to the public on April 27, 1844, President Tyler's only hope of success in influencing passage of his treaty was to intervene directly as a spoiler candidate in the 1844 election. His "Democratic-Republican Party", a recycling of the name of Jefferson's party, held its convention on May 27, 1844, in Baltimore, Maryland, a short distance from the unfolding Democratic Party convention that would select James K. Polk as nominee. Tyler was nominated the same day without challenge, accepting the honor on May 30, 1844. He designated no vice-presidential running mate.