title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Then, adds Gibbon, "The third general or governor of Africa, Zuhayr, avenged and encountered the fate of his predecessor in the Battle of Mamma. He vanquished the native population in many battles but he was overthrown by a powerful army, which Constantinople had sent to the relief and liberation of Carthage."


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Meanwhile, a new civil war among rivals for the monarchy raged in Arabia and Syria. It resulted in a series of four caliphs between the death of Muawiya in 680 and the accession of Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan (Abdalmalek) in 685; strife ended only in 692 with the death of the rebel leader.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: This development brought about a return of domestic order that allowed the caliph to resume the Islamic conquest of North Africa. It began with the renewed invasion of Ifriqiya. Gibbon writes:


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: the standard was delivered to Hassan governor of Egypt, and the revenue of that kingdom, with an army of forty thousand men, was consecrated to the important service. In the vicissitudes of war, the interior provinces had been alternately won and lost by the Saracens. But the seacoast still remained in the hands of the Greeks; the predecessors of Hassan had respected the name and fortifications of Carthage; and the number of its defenders was recruited by the fugitives of Cabes and Tripoli. The arms of Hassan were bolder and more fortunate: he reduced and pillaged the metropolis of Africa; and the mention of scaling-ladders may justify the suspicion, that he anticipated, by a sudden assault, the more tedious operations of a regular siege.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Having lost Carthage to the Muslims in 695, the Byzantine Empire responded with troops from Constantinople, joined by soldiers and ships from Sicily and a powerful contingent of Visigoths from Hispania. This forced the invading Arab army to run back to Kairouan. Then, writes Gibbon, “the Christians landed; the citizens hailed the ensign of the cross, and the winter was idly wasted in the dream of victory or deliverance.”


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: In 698, the Arabs conquered Carthage under Hassan ibn al-Nu'man and completed the conquest of the eastern Barbary coast. Anticipating attempts at Byzantine reconquest however, they decided to destroy it. The walls were torn down, the agricultural land ravaged, the aqueducts and harbors made unusable. They established their base instead at Tunis which was heavily expanded, though Kairouan remained the governor's capital until late-9th century.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: This was immediately followed by a Berber rebellion against the new Arab overlords and a decisive victory at the Battle of Meskiana. Gibbon writes:


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Under the standard of their queen Kahina, the independent tribes acquired some degree of union and discipline; and as the Moors respected in their females the character of a prophetess, they attacked the invaders with an enthusiasm similar to their own. The veteran bands of Hassan were inadequate to the defence of Africa: the conquests of an age were lost in a single day; and the Arabian chief, overwhelmed by the torrent, retired to the confines of Egypt.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: In 703, five years passed before Hassan received fresh troops from the caliph. Meanwhile, the people of North Africa's cities chafed under the Berber reign. Thus Hassan was welcomed upon his return, and managed to kill Kahina at the Battle of Tabarka. Gibbon writes that “the friends of civil society conspired against the savages of the land; and the royal prophetess was slain in the first battle.”


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: The successful general Musa bin Nusair was appointed the governor of Ifriqiya. His armies brutally put down the Berbers, consisting of various faiths, who fought against the advancing Muslims. Their conquest reached the Atlantic coast in 708. He was noted for the vast number of mawla he had amassed which consisted of Berber converts to Islam and people from other regions as well. The number of slaves he took in his various campaigns (including campaigns outside Africa, against the Romans and Persians) is said to range from 30,000 to 300,000 in various Muslim histories and some even allude to a higher number. Philip Khuri Hitti described the attribution of figures such as 300,000 slaves (also capturing 30,000 noble maidens of Spain) to him as exaggerated which was due to the high number of slaves that were available after Muslim conquests. An assertation which is confirmed by historian Kishori Saran Lal.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Musa also had to deal with the Byzantine navy that still fought on against the Muslim invasions. So he built a navy of his own which went on to conquer the Christian islands of Ibiza, Majorca, and Menorca. Advancing into the Maghreb, his forces took Algiers in 700.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: By 709, all of North Africa was under the control of the Arab caliphate. The only possible exception was Ceuta at the African Pillar of Hercules and modern day kabylia . Gibbon declares: "In that age, as well as in the present, the kings of Spain were possessed of the fortress of Ceuta [...] Musa, in the pride of victory, was repulsed from the walls of Ceuta, by the vigilance and courage of Count Julian, the general of the Goths."


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Other sources, however, maintain that Ceuta represented the last Byzantine outpost in Africa and that Julian, whom the Arabs called Ilyan, was an exarch or Byzantine governor. Valdeavellano offers another possibility, that "as appears more likely, he may have been a Berber who was the lord and master of the Catholic tribe of Gomera." In any case, being an able diplomat who was adept in Visigothic, Berber, and Arab politics, Julian might well have surrendered to Musa on terms that allowed him to retain his title and command.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: At this time the population of Ceuta included many refugees from a ruinous Visigothic civil war that had broken out in Hispania (modern Portugal and Spain). These included family and confederates of the late King Wittiza, Arian Christians fleeing forced conversions at the hands of the Visigothic Catholic church, and Jews.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: As Gibbon puts it, Musa received an unexpected message from Julian, "who offered his place, his person, and his sword" to the Muslim leader in exchange for help in the civil war. Though Julian's "estates were ample, his followers bold and numerous", he "had little to hope and much to fear from the new reign." And he was too feeble to challenge Roderic directly. So he sought Musa's aid.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: For Musa, Julian, "by his Andalusian and Mauritanian commands, ... held in his hands the keys of the Spanish monarchy." And so Musa ordered some initial raids on the southern coast of the Iberian Peninsula in 710. In the spring of that same year, Tariq ibn Ziyad—a Berber, a freed slave, and a Muslim general—took Tangier. Musa thereupon made him governor there, backed by an army of 6,700.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: The next year, 711, Musa directed Tariq to invade Hispania. Disembarking from Ceuta aboard ships provided by Julian, Tariq plunged into the Iberian Peninsula, defeated Roderic, and went on to besiege the Visigothic capital of Toledo. He and his allies also took Córdoba, Ecija, Granada, Málaga, Seville, and other cities. Due to this, the Umayyad conquest of Hispania completed the Arab conquest of North Africa.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Fearing that the Byzantine Empire might reconquer it, they decided to destroy Roman Carthage in a scorched earth policy and establish their headquarters somewhere else. Its walls were torn down, its water supply cut off, the agricultural land was ravaged and its harbors made unusable.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: The destruction of the Exarchate of Africa marked a permanent end to the Byzantine Empire's influence in the region.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: It is visible from archaeological evidence, that the town of Carthage continued to be occupied. Constantine the African was born in Carthage. The fortress of Carthage was used by the Muslims until Hafsid era and was captured by the Crusaders during the Eighth Crusade. Remnants of former Roman Carthage was used as a source to provide building materials for Kairouan and Tunis in 8th century.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Archaeological and scholarly research has shown that Christianity existed after the Muslim conquests. The Catholic church gradually declined along with local Latin dialect. According to a view, Christianity in North Africa effectively continued a centery after the Muslim conquest but that neither the Church nor the ruling Byzantine veneer were able to resist the propagation of Islam, particularly since they were at odds with each other, and that without any particular persecution on the part of the Muslim rulers, who treated the Christians leniently because they were "People of the Book.". Had the first Muslim conquerors persecuted the North African Christians rather than tolerating them, Christianity may well have continued to flourish.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Many causes have been seen as leading to the decline of Christianity in Maghreb. One of them is the constant wars and conquests as well as persecutions. In addition, many Christians also migrated to Europe. The Church at that time lacked the backbone of a monastic tradition and was still suffering from the aftermath of heresies including the so-called Donatist heresy, and this contributed to the early obliteration of the Church in the present day Maghreb. Some historians contrast this with the strong monastic tradition in Coptic Egypt, which is credited as a factor that allowed the Coptic Church to remain the majority faith in that country until around after the 14th century despite numerous persecutions. In addition, the Romans were unable to completely assimilate the indigenous people like the Berbers.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Local Catholicism came under pressure when the Muslim fundamentalist regimes of the Almoravids and especially the Almohads came into power, and the record shows persecutions and demands made that the local Christians of Tunis to convert to Islam. Reports still exist of Christian inhabitants and a bishop in the city of Kairouan around 1150 – a significant report, since this city was founded by Arab Muslims around 680 as their administrative center after their conquest. A letter from the 14th century shows that there were still four bishoprics left in North Africa, admittedly a sharp decline from the over four hundred bishoprics in existence at the time of the Arab conquest. The Almohad Abd al-Mu'min forced the Christians and Jews of Tunis to convert in 1159. Ibn Khaldun hinted at a native Christian community in 14th century in the villages of Nefzaoua, south-west of Tozeur. They paid the jizuah and had some people of Frankish descent among them. Berber Christians continued to live in Tunis and Nefzaoua in the south of Tunisia until the early 15th century, and "[i]n the first quarter of the fifteenth century, we even read that the native Christians of Tunis, though much assimilated, extended their church, perhaps because the last of the persecuted Christians from all over the Maghreb had gathered there."


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Another group of Christians who came to North Africa after being deported from Islamic Spain were called the Mozarabic. They were recognised as forming the Moroccan Church by Pope Innocent IV.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Another phase of Christianity in Africa began with the arrival of the Portuguese in the 15th century. After the end of Reconquista, the Christian Portuguese and Spanish captured many ports in North Africa.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: In June 1225, Honorius III issued the bull "Vineae Domini custodes", which permitted two friars of the Dominican Order, named Dominic and Martin, to establish a mission in Morocco and look after the affairs of Christians there. The Bishop of Morocco, Lope Fernandez de Ain, was made the head of the Church of Africa, the only church officially allowed to preach in the continent, on 19 December 1246 by Pope Innocent IV. Innocent IV asked the emirs of Tunis, Ceuta and Bugia to permit Lope and Franciscian friars to look after the Christians in those regions. He thanked Caliph al-Sa'id for granting protection to the Christians and requested to allow them to create fortresses along the shores, but the Caliph rejected that request.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: The bishopric of Marrakesh continued to exist until the late 16th century and was borne by the suffragans of Seville. Juan de Prado had attempted to re-establish the mission but was killed in 1631. Franciscan monasteries continued to exist in the city until the 18th century.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: Although the area was under control of the caliphate, there were still some sections of the population that would resist the spread of Islam. The Berber people were thought of as inferior and made to convert to Islam and join the Arab army, receiving less pay than an Arab would have. This led to much dissatisfaction and ultimately the death of Maghreb Arab governor, Yazid ibn Abi Muslim at the hands of one of his bodyguards after ordering them to tattoo his name on their arms to signal his ownership.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: In 740, a Berber Revolt was prompted by the taxation of the Berbers. The rebels were lead at first by Maysara, a Berber chieftain. It began in southern Morocco, lasting through to 743. The rebels managed to massacre the Arab population of Tangier, its Arab governor, and capture a territory including modern Morocco, Western and Central Algeria whom were never recovered by an Oriental caliphate, but failed to capture Ifriqiya (Tunisia, East-Algeria and West-Libya) after suffering a crushing defeat at the hand of Ifriqiya governor Handhala ibn Safwan al-Kalbi.


title: Muslim conquest of the Maghreb

text: One of the unifying forces of these rebellions were the teachings of Arab Kharijite missionaries who had worked as merchants. They were able to convert some sections to their way of thinking and this provided a "unifying discipline and revolutionary zeal that powered the Berber rebellion of 739" through 743.


title: Upland South

text: The Upland South and Upper South are two overlapping cultural and geographic subregions in the inland part of the Southern and lower Midwestern United States. They differ from the Deep South and Atlantic coastal plain by terrain, history, economics, demographics, and settlement patterns.


title: Upland South

text: The term Upper South is a geographic term: the Southern states that are geographically north of the Lower or Deep South: primarily Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee, and to a lesser extent the District of Columbia and Maryland.


title: Upland South

text: The Upland South is defined by elevation above sea level; it is west of the population centers on the east coast. It has its own history and culture. It includes most of West Virginia and Kentucky, and parts of Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Upland South outposts were settled along the shores of the Ohio River.


title: Upland South

text: There is a slight difference in usage between the two terms "Upland South" and "Upper South." The "Upland South" is usually defined based on landforms. This generally refers to the southern Appalachian Mountains or Appalachia region (although not the full region as defined by the Appalachian Regional Commission), the Ozarks and Ouachita Mountains. Also included in the Upland South are the plateaus, hills, and basins between the Appalachians and Ozarks, such as the Cumberland Plateau, part of the Allegheny Plateau, the Nashville Basin, the Shawnee Hills, and the Bluegrass Basin, among others. The southern Piedmont region is often considered part of the Upland South, while the Atlantic Coastal Plain (the Chesapeake region and South Carolina's Lowcountry) are not.


title: Upland South

text: In contrast, the term "Upper South" tends to be defined politically by state boundaries. The term dates to the early 19th century and the rise of the Lower South, which became noted for its differences from the more northerly parts of the American South. In antebellum times, the term Upper South generally referred to the slave states north of the Lower or Deep South. During the American Civil War era, the term Upper South was often used to refer specifically to the Confederate states that did not secede until after the attack on Fort Sumter—Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. This can also include the border states of Kentucky, Missouri, West Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware as Upper South. Today, although many definitions are still based on Civil War-era politics, the term Upper South is often used for all of the American South north of the Deep South region.


title: Upland South

text: The "Encyclopædia Britannica" defines the Upper South as the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia. The Upper/Upland South is also described in the "Encyclopædia Britannica" as the "Yeoman South," in contrast to the "Plantation South."


title: Upland South

text: The Upland South, being defined by landforms, also includes parts of Lower South states, such as northwestern South Carolina (the Upstate), North Georgia, North Alabama, and northeastern Mississippi. It also includes parts of some Northern states, such as Southern Illinois (generally the Shawnee Hills region), Southern Indiana, Southern Ohio, and extreme southwestern Pennsylvania. Eastern Oklahoma and western Maryland are generally included as well. In the same way, the Upland South usually does not include parts of some Upper South states. This includes areas such as eastern Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, the Purchase area of Kentucky, West Tennessee, a Lower or Deep South region called the Mid-South, and the coastal lowlands of North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, located in the Tidewater region.


title: Upland South

text: Despite these differences, the two terms, Upland South and Upper South, refer to the same general region—the northern part of the American South—and are frequently used synonymously. The corresponding terms, Lower South and Deep South, similarly refer to the same general region that is south of and lower in elevation, than the Upland or Upper South. Likewise, the terms Lower South and Deep South are often used interchangeably.


title: Upland South

text: The Upland South differs from the Lowland South in several significant ways. This includes terrain, histories, economics, demographics, and settlement patterns.


title: Upland South

text: The Upland South emerged as a distinct region in the late 18th century and early 19th century. Migration and settlement patterns from colonial coastal regions into the interior had been established for many decades, but the scale grew dramatically toward the end of the 18th century. The general pattern was a westward migration from the Lowcountry and Piedmont regions of Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland, as well as a southwestern migration from Pennsylvania. Large numbers of European immigrants arrived in Philadelphia and followed the Great Wagon Road west and south into the Appalachian Highlands, via the Great Appalachian Valley. These migration streams from Virginia and Pennsylvania resulted in the Shenandoah Valley becoming well-settled as early as 1750. The early settlers of the Ohio Valley were mainly Upland Southerners. Much of the culture of the Upland South originated in southeastern Pennsylvania and spread down the Shenandoah Valley.


title: Upland South

text: These migration streams eventually spread through Appalachia and westward through the Appalachian Plateau region into the Ozarks and Ouachitas, and ultimately contributed to the settlement of the Texas Hill Country. The main ethnicities of these early settlers included English, Scots-Irish, Scottish, and German. The early culture of the Upland South was influenced by other European ethnicities. For example, the Swedes and Finns of New Sweden — relatively few in number but pioneers in Pennsylvania before the Germans and Irish arrived — contributed techniques of forest pioneering such as the log cabin, the "zig-zag" split-rail fence, and frontier methods of shifting cultivation, such as girdling trees and using slash and burn methods to convert forest into temporary crop and pasture land.


title: Upland South

text: The pattern of settlement that had begun in the Appalachian foothills was continued and extended through the mountains and highlands to the west and across the Mississippi River into the Ozark highland region. Where there was the danger of Indian attacks, people settled at first in clustered "stations," but as danger lessened, settlement tended to be in a rural, dispersed, kin-structured pattern, with relatively few cities and towns. These early settlers of the Upland South tended to practice small-scale farming, stock raising, and hunting. This settlement pattern of the Upland South was markedly different from that of the Deep South and the Midwest.


title: Upland South

text: A significant portion of 19th-century settlers of the Midwest was from the Upland South. The southern Midwest was most heavily settled by Upland Southerners, especially in Missouri, southern Indiana, and southern Illinois. This early migration to the southern Midwest included many African Americans. They were mainly freed slaves, but slavery was permitted in some places such as St. Louis, under the Missouri Compromise of 1820. In the mid-19th century, there were concentrations of African Americans in east-central Indiana, southwest Michigan, and elsewhere. Due to their early settlement of the Midwest, Upland Southerners initially controlled territorial and state governments, and played a major role in establishing the political and social culture, such as the Black Laws of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Throughout the 19th century, the population percentage of Upland Southerners fell, especially as large numbers of native-born Midwesterners joined the population.


title: Upland South

text: The Deep South is generally associated historically with cotton production. By 1850, the term "Cotton States" was in common use, and the differences between the Deep South (lower) and Upland South (upper) were recognized. A key difference was the Deep South's plantation-style cash crop agriculture (mainly cotton, rice and sugar), using African American slaves working large farms while plantation owners tended to live in towns and cities. This system of plantation farming was originally developed in the West Indies and introduced to the United States in South Carolina and Louisiana, from where it spread throughout the Deep South, although there were local exceptions wherever conditions did not support the system. The sharp division between town and country, the intensive use of a few cash crops, and the high proportion of slaves, all differed from the Upland South. Virginia and its surrounding region stand out as different from both the Upland South and the Deep South. Its history predates the West Indian plantation model, and while tobacco was a cash crop from the start, and African slaves were widely used, Virginia did not share many of the Deep South's characteristics, such as the early proliferation of towns and cities.


title: Upland South

text: As a result of the difference in the use of slaves, the boundary between the Upland South and Deep South can still be seen today on maps showing the population percentage of African-Americans. The term Black Belt originally referred to a region of black soil in Alabama that was especially fertile for cotton farming and has a high percentage of African-Americans. In contrast, the Upland South was less involved with large-scale slavery.


title: Upland South

text: In addition, the Cotton Belt of the Deep South was controlled by Indians (mainly the Five Civilized Tribes of the Cherokee, Creek (Muscogee), Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole) who were powerful enough to keep pioneering settlers from moving into the region. The Deep South's cotton boom did not occur until after the Indians were forced west in the early 19th century. In contrast, the Upland South, Kentucky, and Tennessee especially, were the scene of Indian resistance and pioneering settlement during the late 18th century. Thus the Upland South colonized earlier and had established its particular settlement patterns before most of the Deep South was opened to general colonization.


title: Upland South

text: The differences between the Upland South and lowlands of the Southern Atlantic Seaboard and cotton belt, often resulted in regional tension and conflict within states. For example, during the late 18th century, the upland "backcountry" of North Carolina grew in population until the Upland Southerners there outnumbered the older, well-established, wealthier coastal populations. In some cases, the conflict between the two resulted in warfare, such as War of the Regulation in North Carolina. Later, similar processes resulted in divergent populations in states to the west. Northern Alabama, for example, was settled by Upland Southerners from Tennessee, while southern Alabama was one of the core regions of the Deep South cotton boom. During the American Civil War some areas of the Upland South were noted for their resistance to the Confederacy. The uplands of western Virginia became the state of West Virginia as a result, though half the counties of the new state were still secessionist, and partisan warfare continued throughout the war. Kentucky and Missouri remained in the Union but were torn by internal strife. The southern Appalachian regions of East Tennessee, parts of Western North Carolina, and some parts of Northern Alabama and Georgia, were widely noted for their pro-Union sentiments.


title: Upland South

text: The two regions also differ physically. The Upland South is dominated by deciduous hardwood forest, in contrast to the Deep South's predominantly evergreen pine forests. The Upland South is often much hillier than the Deep South, due to the Deep South being part of the coastal plain.


title: Upland South

text: The Upland South contains its own sub-regions. The fertile lowlands of the Nashville Basin and the Bluegrass Basin gave rise to the cities of Nashville, Lexington, and Louisville, which grew into banking and mercantile centers during the late 19th century, home to an elite class of Upland Southerners, including bankers, lawyers, educators, and politicians. Most of the Upland South, however, remained rural in character.


title: Upland South

text: Although historically very rural, the Upland South was one of the nation's early industrial regions and continues to be today. Mining of coal, iron, copper, and other minerals has been part of the region's economy since the 18th century. As early as 1750, lead and zinc were mined in Wythe County, Virginia, and copper was mined and smelted in Polk County, Tennessee. Two major Appalachian goldfields were developed, the first in western North Carolina beginning in 1799. By 1825, Rutherford County, North Carolina was the center of the nation's most extensive gold mining. In 1828, a much richer Gold Strike was made in North Georgia, mostly within what was then the territory of the Cherokee Nation. The mining camp of Dahlonega boomed during the ensuing Georgia Gold Rush. Iron foundries in Virginia and early coal mining operations in central Appalachia date to before 1850.


title: Upland South

text: The abundance of iron ore, coal, and limestone in the mountains and hills of the Birmingham District transformed a gritty boom town, into the iron and steel city of Birmingham. Birmingham would soon be known as the Pittsburgh of the South, as it became the leading industrial and transportation hub of the south during the early 20th century. Some of these early furnaces and forges were fueled with nearby deposits of bituminous coal. This robust economy gave the city a tough blue collar culture of hardened iron workers, miners, and steel workers as well as a cosmopolitan class of bankers, lawyers, educators and politicians. Similar examples of early urban-industrial areas include Embree's Iron Works in East Tennessee (1808), the Red River iron region of Estill County, Kentucky (1806–1808), and the Jackson Iron Works near Morgantown, West Virginia (1830). Wheeling, West Virginia was known as "Nail City" in the 1840s and 1850s. By 1860, Tennessee was the third-largest iron-producing state in the nation, after Pennsylvania and New York. The scale of mining, especially coal mining, increased dramatically after 1870. The importance of mining and metallurgy can be seen in the many towns with names such as Pigeon Forge and Bloomery (a bloomery being a type of smelting furnace), scattered across the Upland South.


title: Upland South

text: Logging has also been an important part of the Upland South's economy. The region became the United States' primary source of timber after railroads allowed large-scale industrial logging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, the historic importance of the Upland South's forests can be seen in its many national forests, such as Cherokee National Forest in Tennessee, Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina, and Daniel Boone National Forest in Kentucky, among many others. The Upland South's terrain and forests, as well as history and culture, occur in parts of states usually associated with the Midwest and Deep South. These areas are often associated with national forests. For example Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri, Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, Hoosier National Forest in southern Indiana, Wayne National Forest in southeast Ohio, William B. Bankhead National Forest in northern Alabama, Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in northern Georgia, Sumter National Forest in South Carolina, and Ouachita National Forest in Arkansas and Oklahoma.


title: Upland South

text: Textile mills and industry served as an important factor in the Upland South's economy from the late through the mid-20th century. Today the Upland South contains a diversity of people and economies. Some parts, like the Shenandoah Valley, are famous for their rural qualities, while other parts, like the Tennessee Valley, are heavily industrialized. Knoxville and Huntsville both serve as centers of industry and scientific research.


title: Upland South

text: The Upper South today remains a distinct culture region, with distinct ancestry, dialect, cuisine, religion and other characteristics. The heavily rhotacized Upland Southern dialect, still predominates in much of West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and portions of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, and Missouri. Noticeable influence can even be found in parts of the Lower South, such as northern Georgia and northern Alabama. Cities as far north such as St. Louis and Cincinnati, carry noticeable dialect influence as well. Similar to the Deep South, the region is heavily evangelical Protestant with Baptists making up a plurality in the vast majority of counties. The cuisine of the Upper South is generally closely related to the south as a whole, excluding southern low-country coastal areas in which the cuisine tends to involve seafood and rice dishes, which are not common in the Upper South.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: Wheels on Meals () is a 1984 Hong Kong martial arts action-comedy film written and directed by Sammo Hung, with action choreographed by Jackie Chan. The film stars Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Lola Forner, Benny Urquidez and José Sancho. The film was shot in Barcelona, Spain.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: The film was a box office hit in East Asia, including Japan where the film was released as Spartan X. The film was also well-received by critics for its comedy and action, particularly the final fight between Jackie Chan and Benny Urquidez, which is considered one of the greatest fight scenes of all time. Jackie Chan with his stunt team were nominated for Best Action Choreography, for both "Wheels on Meals" and "Project A", at the 4th Hong Kong Film Awards, winning the award for "Project A".


title: Wheels on Meals

text: "Wheels on Meals" spawned the "Spartan X" franchise. In 1984, it was adapted into the video game "Spartan X" (released as "Kung-Fu Master" internationally), which laid the foundations for the beat 'em up genre of action games. The video game also had a sequel, "Spartan X 2", and there was a "Spartan X" comic book series. The "Spartan X" franchise grossed an estimated total revenue of approximately worldwide.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: Thomas and David are cousins who run a fast food van in Barcelona. The food is delivered by Thomas, who rushes around the square on a skateboard. After fending off a biker gang they continue business as normal.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: They pay a visit to David's father, who is in a mental institution, and bump into Sylvia, the daughter of David's father's girlfriend. Thomas encourages his cousin to try to ask her out on a date, but David chickens out of this, making the excuse she would have said no anyway.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: Later that night, while at the van serving food, Thomas inadvertently bumps into Sylvia, who is pretending to be a prostitute. She is actually a pickpocket, and she robs a man in a bedroom and runs away to their fast food van.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: Both Thomas and David are enamored by her, but after allowing her to stay in their apartment that night, they wake to find Sylvia and their money gone. The next day, they bump into Moby, a bumbling private investigator who is also tracking Sylvia. They later discover that Sylvia is the heir to a sizable inheritance that a criminal gang is trying to steal from her. When she is kidnapped, Thomas, David and Moby team up to save her, infiltrating the villains' castle and defeating them in a martial arts battle. The final scene of the film shows David, Thomas and Sylvia reunited. Sylvia asks for a summer job, and Moby asks David and Thomas if they wish to work as private detectives with him, which they refuse.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: The film's title was supposed to be "Meals on Wheels". Superstitious Golden Harvest executives however demanded the title change because their two previous films with titles that began with the letter 'M' – "Megaforce" and "Menage A Trois" – were both box office flops.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: The three action stars, Yuen, Chan and Hung, are long time best friends and had been Peking Opera School colleagues in their youth. The release of "Wheels on Meals" came in the midst of their most prolific period working together as a trio. The three men had acted together on Chan's "Project A" and the first of Hung's original Lucky Stars trilogy, "Winners and Sinners" in 1983. "Wheels on Meals" was released in 1984, and a year later they were reunited twice more for the Lucky Stars semi-sequels "My Lucky Stars" and "Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars". This was something of a golden period for Hong Kong cinema-goers, as three of the nation's most beloved action stars performed together on screen.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: The film also features cameo appearances from fellow Lucky Stars Richard Ng and John Shum as mental patients in the hospital attended by the father of Yuen's character.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: "Wheels on Meals" was the first of two films which paired star Jackie Chan against former professional kickboxing champion Benny Urquidez (the other being the 1988 film "Dragons Forever"). Their fight in this film is typically regarded as one of the greatest on-screen martial arts fights ever performed. At one point in the final battle between the pair, a spin-kick performed by Urquidez is so quick that the resulting airflow extinguishes a row of candles. This is shown onscreen, with no cuts or trick photography.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: Audio commentator Bey Logan explains why Sammo Hung decided to shoot the film outside of Hong Kong. By the time it was made in 1984, shooting in Hong Kong had become practically impossible – firstly, because the action stars had become so famous that they could not walk through the streets with impunity, and secondly due to the mounting difficulties in obtaining a permit from the government in order to film in Hong Kong. Bruce Lee had paved the way for Hong Kong filmmakers shooting abroad with the 1972 film "Way of the Dragon", whose location filming was done in Italy, whereas the interiors had been shot at Golden Harvest studio.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: When Hung took his cast and crew to Barcelona, he wanted to strongly establish the locations in Barcelona as real, and to avoid shooting interiors at Golden Harvest. In comparison to Hong Kong, the Spanish authorities were very cooperative in allowing the use of locations for filming, even for car chases and fight scenes.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: During its Hong Kong theatrical run, "Wheels on Meals" grossed 21,465,013 (), becoming the fifth highest-grossing film of the year in Hong Kong. In Taiwan, where it ran during SeptemberOctober 1984, it became the third highest-grossing film of the year, earning (US$601,075).


title: Wheels on Meals

text: In Japan, where it released as "Spartan X", it grossed (), becoming the sixth highest-grossing foreign film of 1985. In South Korea, it was the second highest-grossing film of 1985, with 307,751 box admissions in Seoul, equivalent to an estimated (). Combined, the film's total estimated box office gross in East Asia was approximately , equivalent to adjusted for inflation.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: The film was generally well-received by critics. Jamie Havlin of "Louder Than War" called it "one of the most highly regarded martial-arts comedies ever made." Casimir Harlow of "AVForums" rated it 9 out of 10, calling it "a hugely fun, thoroughly imaginative and frequently action packed affair." Justin Bowyer of "Empire" rated it three out of five stars, praising the action and comedy while criticizing the lack of plot. David Rees of "Asian Action Cinema" rated it 8 out of 10, calling it "an altogether very enjoyable if at times silly romp." John Krewson of "The A.V. Club" said that, while not as good as "other films the three principals have made", "it's right at the top of Hong Kong cinema's second tier". David Poplar of "The Digital Fix" rated it 8 out of 10, describing it as a "vintage Jackie Chan slapstick comedy featuring some astonishing choreography".


title: Wheels on Meals

text: The final fight between Jackie Chan and Benny Urquidez is considered one of the greatest fight scenes of all time. The climax leading up to that, involving Thomas climbing a Spanish castle to rescue Sylvia (with the help of Moby and David) and fighting enemies along the way, has been compared to Bruce Lee's "Game of Death" (1972).


title: Wheels on Meals

text: On 30 January 2006, DVD was released in a two disc platinum edition at Hong Kong Legends in UK in Region 2.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: Unlike the majority of Chan's later films, the standard DVD release of "Wheels on Meals" does not contain the usual outtakes over the final credits. However, a VHS release of the film did exist in the mid-1980s under the title "Spartan X", which has the outtakes intact.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: The film was adapted into an arcade video game called "Spartan X" (the film's Japanese title), developed by Irem in 1984. It is a loose adaptation of the film's final part, which involves Thomas climbing the castle to rescue Sylvia. The game also borrows heavily from the Bruce Lee film "Game of Death" (1972). It was re-titled "Kung-Fu Master" for Western markets without using the film's license. The arcade game laid the foundations for the beat 'em up genre, and inspired "Super Mario Bros." (1985), "Street Fighter" (1987), the French film "Kung Fu Master" (1988), and the Red Ribbon Army saga in the manga and anime series "Dragon Ball".


title: Wheels on Meals

text: The game was ported to the Famicom/NES console in 1985 as "Spartan X" in Japan, and released as "Kung Fu" in Western markets. The Famicom/NES version sold 3.5million cartridges, including 1.42million in Japan and 2.08million overseas. At a retail price of , the game grossed an estimated () in Japan. Internationally, at a retail price of US$24.99, the game grossed an estimated overseas, bringing the game's estimated worldwide retail sales revenue to approximately .


title: Wheels on Meals

text: The game had two sequels. "Vigilante" was released for arcades in 1988. "Spartan X 2" was released in Japan for the Famicom console in 1991.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: An image of Thomas, Chan's character in the film, was used in the title screen and cutscene of the 1995 unlicensed Super Famicom game "Hong Kong 97" as the game's character, Chin, a fictional relative to Bruce Lee.


title: Wheels on Meals

text: Between 1997 and 1998, a series of "Spartan X" comic books were published. Three issues of "Jackie Chan's Spartan X: The Armour of Heaven" were published in 1997, and four issues of "Jackie Chan's Spartan X: Hell Bent Hero For Hire" were published in 1998.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: Matthias Steiner (; born 25 August 1982 in Vienna) is a retired Austrian-German weightlifter, and Olympic gold medalist.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: As a native Austrian, he competed for Austria internationally from 1998 to 2005, in European Championships, World Championships, and the 2004 Summer Olympics. From 2002 to 2005 he was four times Austrian National Champion in the +105 kg category, and holds Austrian records in the −105 kg and +105 kg categories. In 2005, Steiner left the Austrian weightlifting federation, and married a German woman.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: Although his wife died in a car accident, he continued his weightlifting career in Germany, eventually received German citizenship in early 2008, won overall silver at the 2008 European Championships, and the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: Matthias Steiner was born in Vienna, Austria. He hails from Obersulz in Lower Austria, where he attended Volksschule (primary school), then Hauptschule (secondary school). Steiner completed an apprenticeship in plumbing.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: His father, Friedrich Steiner, a 20-time IWF-Masters World Weightlifting Champion, also ranks first on the IWF 2008 Hall of Fame Survey of Leading Master Lifters.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: Before the diagnosis, the first symptom was an intense thirst, then he lost appetite, and of bodyweight within three months. He went to the doctor when his sight deteriorated.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: In 2004, a German woman from Zwickau in Saxony had watched Steiner participating in weightlifting contests on TV. She kept asking the Eurosport commentators for his email address, until they gave it to her. She contacted Steiner, and he agreed to meet her in Lower Austria. They married shortly thereafter and hence he moved to Germany, where he then applied for German citizenship.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: On 16 July 2007, his wife, Susann, died in a car accident. Despite the tragic loss, and after losing or of bodyweight, he was able to continue his training.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: Steiner participated in the 1998 and 1999 European Junior Championships, and the 2000 Junior World Championships.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: At the 2000 European Junior Championships in Rijeka, Croatia he came in 8th place in the 94 kg category, with a total of 320 kg (142.5 kg snatch and 177.5 kg clean and jerk).


title: Matthias Steiner

text: At the 2001 European Junior Championships in Kalmar, Sweden he won bronze in the −105 kg category, with 360 kg (165 kg and 195 kg). At that time he competed for the AC Woge Bregenz weightlifting club. At the 2002 European Junior Championships in Havířov, Czech Republic he won bronze again in the −105 kg category, with 380 kg (172.5 kg and 207.5 kg).


title: Matthias Steiner

text: Steiner won the Austrian National Championships in the +105 kg category in 2002 with a total of 370 kg, and in 2003 with a total of 390 kg.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: Steiner continued to increase his performance; at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens he competed for Austria, and lifted 405 kg (182.5 kg and 222.5 kg) and went into 7th place in the -105 kg category.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: Steiner won the 2005 Austrian National Championships in the +105 kg category with a total of 382.5 kg.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: In 2005, the Austrian national coach was replaced against Steiners will, which caused tension between Steiner and the Austrian weightlifting federation. He kept the coach as personal coach, who however did not get accredited for the 2005 European Championships in Sofia.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: Steiner also could no longer keep his body weight below , and bulked up for the +105 kg category. The 2005 European Championships were his first event in the new weight category.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: At the European Championships, a lot went wrong and Steiner failed three snatch attempts. He had to compete in the B-group, because the European Weightlifting Federation did not accept the announced starting weights. After warming up he disagreed with the national coach concerning the starting weight, and time ran out on the first attempt.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: The Austrian national coach, together with other functionaries, accused Steiner of deliberate failure, which Steiner denied. As a consequence, he left the Austrian weightlifting federation.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: During the three years that Steiner applied for German citizenship, he was not allowed to compete in international competitions. At the 2007 European Championships he was co-commentator with Marc Huster for Eurosport. Since moving to Germany he competes for the Chemnitzer AC weightlifting club, and is their team captain in the German weightlifting league. Steiner trains in the German Federal Weightlifting Center in Leimen near Heidelberg, with German national coach Frank Mantek.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: Steiner received German citizenship in early 2008, and started to compete internationally again, for Germany. On 23 January he won the Beijing Pre-Olympic Tournament with a total of 423 kg.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: At the 2008 European Championships in Lignano Sabbiadoro, Italy in the over 105 kg category he was the only lifter to snatch 200 kg, winning gold. In clean and jerk he won bronze with a personal best of 246 kg. All his six attempts were successful. With a total result of 446 kg he won overall silver behind Viktors Ščerbatihs from Latvia, who lifted 447 kg.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: The biggest success of Steiner's career came in August 2008, when he won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. After World record holder Hossein Rezazadeh had retired in July 2008, the event turned into a close competition between Steiner, Evgeny Chigishev, and the tournament favorite, European and World champion Viktors Ščerbatihs.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: During the Olympic competition, Steiner failed in his third snatch attempt, and with 203 kg ranked fourth after the snatch. Ščerbatihs was in position to take the lead in the clean and jerk, but failed in his second attempt. Steiner also failed in his first clean and jerk attempt, and Chigishev took the lead with 250 kg in the clean and jerk. Ščerbatihs failed in his third attempt, which would have forced Steiner to increase his last attempt to 261 kg in order to win gold. With a successful clean and jerk of 258 kg, and a total of 461 kg, Steiner became an Olympic gold medalist.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: Steiner stood on the medalists' podium with a photo of his late wife, who would otherwise have accompanied him to the Games.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: In January 2009, Steiner was operated on for an inguinal hernia. He had to pull out of competing at the 2009 Arnold Sports Festival in March, nevertheless was part of the German delegation at the event and met with Arnold Schwarzenegger.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: At the 2009 German Championships he ranked second in the snatch behind Almir Velagic, and won overall with a total of 430 kg.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: In the 2012 London Olympics weightlifting competition Steiner was injured during the snatch portion of the competition when he attempted to pull 196 kg but was hit in the neck by the barbell. While not seriously hurt, Steiner had to abandon the competition as a result of his injury. He announced his retirement from competitive weightlifting in March 2013.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: In 2008, Steiner signed a four-year contract with marketing company "movie & more" in Cologne. Previously, he was supported by Stiftung Deutsche Sporthilfe and his weightlifting club "Chemnitzer AC". The Bundeswehr, while supporting other German weightlifters, did not admit Steiner because of his diabetes.


title: Matthias Steiner

text: On 20 August 2008, the day after he won the Olympic gold medal, Steiner featured on the cover of China Daily's "Olympian", titled "Supersteiner".


title: Matthias Steiner

text: Apart from sports events, where he participated in or commented on weightlifting competitions, Steiner also appeared on a number of talk shows and game shows in Germany and Austria, including "Wetten, dass..?" and "Die Millionenshow" (Austrian "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?", Celebrity Special Edition).


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Topaz is a 1969 American espionage thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Based on the 1967 novel of the same title by Leon Uris, the film is about a French intelligence agent (Stafford) who becomes entangled in Cold War politics before the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and then the breakup of an international Soviet spy ring.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: The story is loosely based on the 1962 Sapphire Affair, which involved the head of France's SDECE in the United States, the spy Philippe Thyraud de Vosjoli, a friend of Uris, who played an important role in "helping the U.S. discover the presence of Russian offensive missiles in Cuba."


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: In Copenhagen in 1962, a high-ranking Soviet intelligence officer, Boris Kusenov, defects to the West. During debriefing, CIA agent Mike Nordstrom learns that Soviet missiles with nuclear warheads will be placed in Cuba.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Needing physical evidence, Nordstrom discloses Kusenov's name to French agent André Devereaux and asks him to bribe Luis Uribe, a member of Cuba's UN delegation, to provide photographs of documents that confirm the missile bases in Cuba. Devereaux decides to accompany his daughter, Michèle, on her honeymoon to New York City with his son-in-law, François Picard.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: In New York City, French agent Philippe Dubois is to contact Uribe, who is the secretary to Cuban official Rico Parra, who is staying at the Hotel Theresa in Harlem to show solidarity with the black community.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Dubois sneaks into the hotel and bribes Uribe to take the documents from Parra's office to photograph. Parra catches Dubois photographing the documents. Chased and shot at by Cuban revolutionaries, Dubois purposefully knocks into Devereaux, who is watching events from the other side of the street, and slips him the camera. A red-headed Cuban guard helps Devereaux to get up but lets him go. Dubois escapes into the crowd around the hotel.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Dubois's photos confirm that the Soviets are placing missiles in Cuba. Devereaux, despite his wife's accusations of infidelity, flies to Cuba. His mistress, Juanita de Cordoba (Karin Dor), was the widow of a "hero of the Revolution," which enables her to work undercover in the resistance. Upon his arrival, Devereaux finds Parra, another of her lovers, leaving Juanita's mansion. Devereaux asks Juanita to take photographs of the missiles. Juanita's loyal domestic staff, Carlotta and Pablo Mendoza, pose as picnickers and photograph the missiles. Pursued, the two hide the incriminating film before they are captured.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: During a mass rally and a lengthy speech by the "líder máximo", the red-headed Cuban guard recognises Devereaux's face from the New York City incident.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Parra has heard from the tortured Carlotta Mendoza that Juanita is their leader. He embraces her and shoots her dead to save her from extreme torture.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: At the Havana airport, the Cuban authorities fail to find the microfilms that Deveraux has. He returns to find that his wife has left him. Devereaux is to be recalled to Paris. Kusenov tells him about the existence of a Soviet spy organisation, "Topaz," within the French intelligence service. He is given the name of NATO official Henri Jarré, who leaked documents to the KGB.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: In Paris, he is picked up at the airport by his daughter and his son-in-law. Michèle brings to a cocktail Jacques Granville, an old friend of André. Michèle hopes that her parents will get along, but Nicole cannot forgive André's affair with Juanita. André and Michèle stay alone, and Jacques complains the agent Martin that Nicole married Andre.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Devereaux researches the leak and invites some of his old friends and colleagues, including Jarré, to a lunch at a fine Paris restaurant under the pretext of helping Devereaux prepare for his inquiry. Devereaux tells the others about Topaz to provoke some reaction. Jarré claims that it is misinformation and that Kusenov died a year ago.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Jarré starts to panic and visits the leader of the spy ring, Jacques Granville. Devereaux, Nicole, and Granville were close friends from their days together during the French Resistance. Granville tells Jarré that it was a mistake to say Kusenov was dead since the Americans will easily discover that Jarré lied. As Jarré leaves Granville's house, Devereaux's wife arrives to meet Granville, her lover.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Devereaux sends his son-in-law, François, to interview Jarré. Devereaux and Michèle rush to Jarré's flat and find Jarré dead, which is a staged suicide, and François has disappeared. After being clubbed and kidnapped, François managed to escape from his captors' car with an overheard phone number.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Nicole tells her family with tearful eyes that since the phone number is Granville's, he must be the leader of Topaz. Granville, exposed, commits suicide (in the American and the French versions) or flees to the Soviet Union (in the British version).


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Shel Talmy and William Piggott Brown first tried to option the film rights to Leon Uris's novel for $500,000 in 1967, but the deal was halted by the Bank of England because of the 1967 devaluation of the pound sterling. Alfred Hitchcock first hired Uris to adapt his own novel for the screen five months later. Afterwards Philippe de Vosjoli filed a lawsuit against Uris, Universal Pictures, and MCA Inc claiming that they had stole the plot for the novel and film from his unpublished manuscript "Le reseau Topaz". De Vosjoli and Uris settled out of court with a deal that would give Uris full rights to the profits from the film but gave de Vosjoli half of the profits from the novel.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Reportedly, Hitchcock and Uris differed on aspects of character development, with Hitchcock claiming that Uris had not humanised the villains of the story. Uris also did not appreciate Hitchcock's insistence on adding black humour. After a portion of the draft had been written, Uris left the film. Hitchcock attempted to hire Arthur Laurents to complete the work on the screenplay, but he refused, leaving an unfinished draft while the shooting schedule was rapidly approaching. Ultimately, Samuel A. Taylor, cowriter of "Vertigo", was hired, but the film began without a completed screenplay. Some scenes were written only hours before they were filmed.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Hitchcock changed the script shortly before the beginning of filming, and the distributor, Universal, forced an ending that was different from the one that was preferred by Hitchcock. For "Topaz", Hitchcock engaged the 19-year-old French actress Claude Jade from Truffaut's "Stolen Kisses". She and Dany Robin, who was cast as her mother, would provide the glamour in the story. "Jade is a rather quiet young lady," Hitchcock later said, "but I wouldn't guarantee [that] about her behaviour in a taxi."


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Like his previous films "Rope" and "The Trouble with Harry", Hitchcock intended the film to be an experiment for whether colours, predominantly red, yellow and white, could be used to reveal and to influence the plot. He later admitted that it did not work out.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Production began on September 25, 1968, and concluded at the beginning of March 1969. Portions of "Topaz" were filmed on location in Copenhagen; Wiesbaden, West Germany; Virginia, Paris, New York City, and Washington, DC. The remainder of the film was shot at Universal Studios Hollywood and in and around Los Angeles.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Prior to Hitchcock's decision to hire Maurice Jarre to compose the score, other composers who were interested in offering their services included Michel Legrand, Richard Rodney Bennett, and Ravi Shankar.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Hitchcock's signature cameo appearance occurs around 28 minutes into the film. At the airport, he is seated in a wheelchair as he is being pushed by a nurse. She stops, and he nonchalantly stands and greets a man and proceeds to walk off screen with him.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: The original cut of the film ended with a duel between André and Jacques in a French football stadium. It was shot by associate producer Herbert Coleman when Hitchcock had to return to the United States for a family emergency. Audiences panned the ending during test screenings. They also said the film was far too long.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Under pressure from the studio, Hitchcock shot a second ending that he actually liked better, with Jacques escaping on an Aeroflot flight to the Soviet Union as André and Nicole board their adjacent Pan Am flight back to the United States. However, the ending apparently confused audiences. Also, screenwriter Samuel Taylor objected to the villain escaping unpunished, and there were fears that the ending would offend the French government.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: As a compromise, Hitchcock used existing footage to create a third ending in which Granville is exposed and expelled from a NATO meeting. Over a shot of the exterior of his apartment, the sound of a gunshot tells that he commits suicide behind his drawn curtains since no footage of his suicide existed.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: The film was released with this third ending and was also edited down by nearly 20 minutes to a final length of 127 minutes. The "airport ending" briefly appeared on British prints of the film by mistake, but those prints were soon altered to match the version that was released elsewhere.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: The 143-minute cut of the film was released for the first time by Universal on DVD in 1999; it used the second ending in which Jacques escapes. All three endings appear as extras on the DVD, together with an "Appreciation" by Leonard Maltin in which Maltin discusses the deleted scenes and the alternate endings.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: The longer version of the film has been released numerous times on DVD and Blu-ray in the US and in many other markets. However some markets, like Germany, Japan and Scandinavia, continue to have the shorter theatrical cut on DVD and Blu-ray.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" placed the film on his year-end list of the ten best films of 1969 and declared it a "huge success, a quirky, episodic espionage tale made rich and suspenseful, not through conventional Hitchcockian narrative drive, but through odd, perverse Hitchcockian detail, economy of cinematic gesture, and an over-all point of view that can never for a moment be mistaken as belonging to anyone but Hitchcock." Kevin Thomas of the "Los Angeles Times" also liked the film and wrote that although there was a "loss of momentum" at the climax because of the time taken to resolve the complex plot, the first three quarters of the film were "bravura displays of the fabled Hitchcock technique, replete with dazzling camera movements and acute imagery." Thomas singled out the Harlem sequence as among "the best that Hitchcock has ever done."


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: "Variety" wrote that it "tends to move more solidly and less infectiously than many of the maestro of menace's best remembered pix. Yet Hitchcock has brought in a full quota of twists and tingling moments. It is just that the picture seems to move predictably and lacks the fun and surprise blood curdling moments that can lift his thrillers with breathtaking excitement." "The Monthly Film Bulletin" in Britain wrote that the film had "intermittent pleasures (the silent conversation behind hotel doors seen from across the street, the long pull back across the conference room and the reverse track forward ending with a zoom on to Piccoli's face), yet we are constantly deprived of the action set pieces which would have given the narrative its much needed boost. It is known that Hitchcock had trouble with the climax (and juggled three different endings); but the one finally chosen for the commercial print here looks as if it could have been devised by anyone." Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" wrote, "The film as a whole dies from a lack of humor and animation... The awful truth is that Hitchcock would probably be better off if he retired. The most one can say for his direction of 'Topaz' is that it's polished: The compositions are symmetrical and the photography is glossy. But if this is all it is, the film might as well be the work of a disinterested computer." Pauline Kael of "The New Yorker" called it "the same damned spy picture he's been making since the thirties, and it's getting longer, slower, and duller." John Simon described Topaz as both wretched and senile.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: Some American critics complained that there was no Hollywood star in the movie such as Ingrid Bergman or Cary Grant although the cast included the renowned international film stars Claude Jade, Michel Piccoli, and Philippe Noiret, the last of whom had previous successes that had been primarily in France. Some attribute Hitchcock's casting choices to his negative experience of working with Paul Newman on "Torn Curtain", but Hitchcock is said to have approached Sean Connery, who had worked with him in "Marnie", for André and Catherine Deneuve for his wife. Some critics have inferred that Hitchcock was hoping to groom the relatively-unknown Frederick Stafford as a star of his own making, like Tippi Hedren; however, Stafford remained unknown in Hollywood though he had a lengthy career in European films.


title: Topaz (1969 film)

text: "Topaz" had its American network television premiere on "NBC Saturday Night at the Movies" on January 29, 1972. "Topaz" currently holds a 69% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 32 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: Haystacks is the common English title for a series of impressionist paintings by Claude Monet. The principal subject of each painting in the series is stacks of harvested wheat (or possibly barley or oats: the original French title, Les Meules à Giverny, simply means The Stacks at Giverny). The title refers primarily to a twenty-five canvas series (Wildenstein Index Numbers 1266–1290) which Monet began near the end of the summer of 1890 and continued through the following spring, though Monet also produced five earlier paintings using this same stack subject.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: The series is famous for the way in which Monet repeated the same subject to show the differing light and atmosphere at different times of day, across the seasons and in many types of weather.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: The series is among Monet's most notable work. The largest "Haystacks" collections are held at the Musée d'Orsay and Musée Marmottan Monet in Paris, and in the Art Institute of Chicago. Other collections include the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Metropolitan Museum and Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo, and the Musée de l'Orangerie in Paris. The Art Institute of Chicago collection includes six of the twenty-five "Haystacks".


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: Other museums that hold parts of this series include the Getty Center in Los Angeles, the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, Connecticut (which also has one of five from the earlier 1888–89 harvest), the Scottish National Gallery, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Kunsthaus Zürich, Tel Aviv Museum of Art and the Shelburne Museum, Vermont. Private collections hold the remaining "Haystacks" paintings.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: Monet settled in Giverny in 1883. Most of his paintings from 1883 until his death 40 years later were of scenes within of his home and gardens. Monet was intensely aware of and fascinated by the visual nuances of the region’s landscape and by the endless variations in the days and in the seasons—the stacks were just outside his door.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: Monet had previously painted a single subject in different light and different moods. However, as he matured as a painter, his depictions of atmospheric influences were increasingly concerned not only with specific effects but with the overall color harmonies that allowed him an autonomous use of rich color. The conventional wisdom was that the stacks were a simple subject but also an unimaginative one. However, contemporary writers and friends of the artist noted that Monet's subject matter was always carefully chosen, the product of careful thought and analysis. Monet undertook to capture the stacks in direct light and then to re-examine them from the same view-point in different, often more muted, light and atmospheric conditions. It was then not unusual for Monet, in search of harmonious transitions within the series, to alter the canvases back in his studio.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: The stacks depicted in the series are commonly referred to in English as hay, wheat or grain-stacks. In reality they stored sheafs of grain primarily for bread—so wheat [or possibly barley or oats]—and not hay, an animal food. The stacks were a way of keeping the sheafs dry until the grain could be separated from the stalks by threshing. The local method of storing and drying unthreshed-grains was to use straw, or sometimes hay, as a thatched 'roof' for the stack, shielding the wheat, barley or oats from the elements until, once dry-enough, they could be threshed. The threshing machines then traveled from village to village. Thus, although the grain was harvested and the stacks were built by July, it often took until the following spring or even later—so through all the light and atmosphere changes of summer, autumn, winter and spring—for all the stacks to be reached by the threshing-machines. Grain storage/drying-stacks like these became common throughout Europe in the 19th century and survived until the inception of combine harvesters. The shapes of stacks were regional: in Normandy, where Giverny is situated, it was common for them to be round with quite steeply-pitched thatched 'roofs'—just as Monet painted.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: The stacks belonged to Monet's farmer-neighbour, Monsieur Quéruel. Noticing the way the light changed on M. Quéruel's stacks, Monet asked his stepdaughter, Blanche Hoschedé, to bring him two canvases, one for sunny and one for overcast conditions. But Monet soon found he could not catch the ever-changing light and mood on merely two canvases: as a result, his willing helper was quickly bringing as many canvases as her wheelbarrow could hold. Monet's daily routine therefore came to involve carting paints, easels and many unfinished canvases back and forth, working on whichever canvas most closely resembled the scene of the moment as the conditions and light fluctuated. Although he began painting the stacks "en plein air", Monet later revised his initial impressions in his studio, both to generate contrast and to preserve the harmony within the series.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: Monet produced numerous "Haystacks" paintings. He painted five paintings (Wildenstein Index Numbers 1213–1217) with stacks as his primary subject during the 1888 harvest. His earlier landscapes (Wildenstein Index Number 900–995, 1073) had included stacks [and also some more-accurately described hayricks: that is smaller piles of hay for animal-feed] in an ancillary manner. The general consensus is that only the canvases produced using the 1890 harvest (Wildenstein Index Number 1266–1290) comprise the "Haystacks" series proper. However some commentators include additional paintings when referencing this series. For example, the Hill-Stead Museum talk of their two stack paintings even though one is from the 'proper' 1890 harvest, the other from the 1888 harvest.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: Monet's "Haystacks" series is one of his earliest to rely on repetition to illustrate nuances in his perception across natural variations such as times of day, seasons, and types of weather. For Monet, the concept of producing and exhibiting a series of paintings related by subject and vantage point began in 1889, with at least ten paintings done at the "Valley of the Creuse", and subsequently shown at the Galerie Georges Petit. This interest in the serial motif would continue for the rest of his career.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: Although the mundane subject was constant throughout the "Haystack" series, the underlying theme may be seen as the transience of light. This concept enabled Monet to use repetition to show nuances of perception as the time of day, the seasons and the weather changed. The almost unvarying subject provided the basis for him to compare changes of light and mood across his nuanced series. The first paintings in the series were started in late September or early October 1890, and he continued producing these paintings for about seven months. These paintings made Monet the first painter to paint such a large quantity of pictures of the same subject matter differentiated by light, weather, atmosphere and perspective.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: Beginning in the 1880s and 1890s, Monet focused on "Haystacks" and a number of other subjects (other series included the "Mornings on the Seine," "Poplars", "Rouen Cathedral," the "Houses of Parliament," and the "Water Lilies," among others). In order to work on many paintings virtually simultaneously, he would awake before dawn so as to begin at the earliest time of day:


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: As the morning progressed and the light changed he would switch to sequentially later canvas settings, sometimes working on as many as ten or twelve paintings a day, each one depicting a slightly different aspect of light. The process would be repeated over the course of days, weeks, or months, depending on the weather and the progress of the paintings until they were completed. As the seasons changed the process was renewed.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: Certain effects of light only last for a few minutes, thus the canvases documenting such ephemera received attention for no more than a few minutes a day. Further complicating matters, the light of subsequent sunrises, for example, could alter substantially and would require separate canvases within the series. Subsequently, different hues are evident in each painting, and in each work, color is used to describe not only direct but reflected light. At differing times of day and in various seasons stacks absorb the light from diverse parts of the color spectrum. As a result, the residual light that is reflected off of the stacks is seen as ever-changing, and manifests in distinctive coloring.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: Many notable painters have been influenced by this particular series, including Les Fauves, Derain, and Vlaminck. Kandinsky's memoirs refer to the series: “What suddenly became clear to me was the unsuspected power of the palette, which I had not understood before and which surpassed my wildest dreams.” The "Haystacks" series was a financial success. Fifteen of these were exhibited by Durand-Ruel in May 1891, and most of the paintings were sold within a month. They were especially popular among collectors from America, with twenty out of the thirty "Haystacks" created landing in American collections. Of the American collectors, Bertha Honoré Palmer bought nine of Monet's "Haystacks". The 1891 exhibit met with great public acclaim. Octave Mirbeau described Monet's daring series as representing "what lies beyond progress itself." Others described the stacks as "faces of the landscape"—they represented the countryside as a retreat from daily problems and home for contentment with nature. Camille Pissarro said: "These canvases breathe contentment." Most of the paintings sold immediately for as much as 1,000 francs. Additionally, Monet’s prices, in general, began to rise steeply. As a result, he was able to buy outright the house and grounds at Giverny and to start constructing a waterlily pond. After years of mere subsistence living, he was able to enjoy success.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: The series demonstrates his intense study of light and atmospheric conditions and Monet was a perfectionist in his renderings. Monet destroyed more than one series of paintings that he found wanting. However, this series escaped his own harsh self-criticism and destruction.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: From the 1888 harvest, Monet produced three canvases featuring two stacks each (Wildenstein #'s 1213–5) against the backdrop of hills along the left bank of the Seine and a few Giverny houses to the right. Then, he turned to his left to capture two scenes (1216–7) in which the hills are shrouded by a line of poplars.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: On May 14, 2019, a privately held work from this series ("Grainstacks", 1890) exchanged hands at $110.7 million, setting a record for a Monet work and becoming the first impressionist work to surpass $100 million. The buyer of the work was Hasso Plattner. Since September 2020, the painting is on display at the Museum Barberini in Potsdam.


title: Haystacks (Monet series)

text: Climate activists threw mashed potatoes at the painting in October 2022, but it was not damaged and was cleaned and put back on display.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee is the name of several fictional characters in the "Transformers" franchise. Arcee has been depicted as female Autobots, usually pink or blue in color. Being the most famous of the Female Autobots, she has made more appearances and has had several more incarnations than any other female Transformer. Originally she turned into a car, however, later incarnations have turned into motorcycles.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee's design, alternate mode, and personality vary depending on continuity. Usually colored pink and white, she has also been depicted as a blue-colored character, and Botcon storyline saw her reformatted into a Maximal spider.


title: Arcee

text: Although a group of Female Autobots had already been featured in one episode of the original cartoon series, Arcee quickly became the best-known due to her position as a recurring cast member following her introduction in "" (1986). Susan Blu would go on to be involved in several more "Transformers"-related shows as voice director, even reprising her role as Arcee in . Arcee was a gunner and was depicted as being an excellent marksman. Arcee was not one of the Female Autobots in the aforementioned group. In the season 3 introduction, "Five Faces of Darkness", she accompanies Springer on a mission to track down a sleezoid ship. The mission eventually reunites them with Grimlock and Rodimus Prime. They also go onto rescue Ultra Magnus, Kup and Spike Witwicky from the clutches of the Quintessons.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee would appear sporadically over the course of the season, and even kept her main character status into the fourth season dubbed "The Rebirth". She was a major player in "Dark Awakening", being among the crew zombie Optimus Prime betrayed aboard the mausoleum. And, in "Dweller in the Depths", she is seen fighting back against Springer when he is turned into an energy vampire.


title: Arcee

text: In the episode "Only Human", Ultra Magnus, Springer, Rodimus Prime and Arcee found their minds transferred into human-mimicking "synthoid" bodies by the human crime lord Victor Drath.


title: Arcee

text: In the final three episodes of the U.S. television series, when the Decepticons successfully stole the key to the Plasma Energy Chamber and opened the ancient device, a group of Autobots and humans included Arcee and Daniel Witwicky were blasted across the galaxy by the energy release, crash-landing on the planet Nebulos. Quickly siding with a group of rebels engaged in a war against the planet's evil rulers, the Hive, they deduced a process by which they could combine the best of their minds and bodies together, becoming Headmasters. While the other Autobot Headmasters combined with Nebulons, Daniel became Arcee's Headmaster partner.


title: Arcee

text: In the Japanese television series "Transformers: The Headmasters", the events of the last three episodes of the U.S. series were ignored. Although Headmasters were introduced, they had a vastly different origin. Arcee did not become a Headmaster, but was a regular on this series, appearing in most of the episodes, from episode 1 "Four Warriors Come Out of The Sky" to episode 35 "The Final Showdown On Earth Part 2".


title: Arcee

text: In the "Beast Wars" episode "Transmutate", Rattrap referred to Arcee as his great aunt: ""What in the name of my great aunt Arcee is going on!?"" The character Transmutate was coincidentally voiced by Susan Blu, who also voiced Arcee.


title: Arcee

text: "Transformers: Universe Wreckers" #1 starts with a flashback to late in the original cartoon series, where Daniel Witwicky and Wheelie are killed. This puts Daniel's friend Arcee into a sad state. The main story is set in the later episodes of "Beast Machines". Arcee, now a Maximal Valkyrie with a spider beast mode, joins the Wreckers, though initially she proves unwilling. The Predacon Fractyl speaks with her after the rest of the group leaves, but is then almost killed by the Vehicons, and Arcee saves his life by sharing her Spark with him, converting him into a new body in the process. The two then rejoin the rest of the team and flee Cybertron in an Autobot shuttle, which unbeknownst to them has been boarded by Devcon. A confrontation with him leaves Fractyl dangerously wounded, and Arcee takes him to receive medical care. She and the other Wreckers are then betrayed by Cyclonus, who had infiltrated the team in service to the Predacon criminal Cryotek.


title: Arcee

text: According to the script for the unreleased issue #4 of "Transformers: Universe - The Wreckers" the Wreckers returned to Cybertron where they helped repel an invasion by the Quintessons.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee appeared in the Devil's Due third series of "G.I. Joe vs. The Transformers". Grimlock, Arcee, Bumblebee, and Perceptor were sent to Earth to aid G.I. Joe in removing the influence of Cybertronian technology on Earth. When Cobra attacked the base, the Autobots helped repel the Cobra Battle Android Trooper armies. However, Cobra Commander was able to infiltrate the base and awaken the special project the government was working on - SerpentO.R, a cyborg created using DNA from many great warleaders and parts from Megatron. SerpentO.R. promptly turned on him and escaped to Cybertron via Spacebridge. The Autobots and a team of G.I. Joes led by Hawk pursued him. During this an attraction had been growing between Arcee and Bumblebee. This led to Bumblebee's death at the hands of SerpentO.R and Arcee and the others were captured. Freed by Snake Eyes, Arcee was part of the assault to rescue Prime and proved instrumental in SerpentO.R's (now controlled by Cobra Commander) defeat, ripping his chestpiece off and allowing Hawk to reach the Matrix, opening it and putting Cobra Commander in a coma. Arcee was seen mourning Bumblebee at the end.


title: Arcee

text: During the years when Shockwave united most of Cybertron, Arcee was in a resistance group to his rule along with Kup, Blaster, Hot Rod and Wheelie. Later, after Shockwave's defeat, Arcee joined Ultra Magnus in trying to fortify one of Cybertron's moons – but her affections were the subject of a feud between Hot Rod and Springer.


title: Arcee

text: It is revealed in IDW Publishing's "" issue that Arcee was a part of Jhiaxus's experiments to introduce gender into the Cybertronian species. Arcee was his first test-subject and her creation was due to Jhiaxus altering with her CNA. According to Arcee she did not measure up to Jhiaxus's ideals and was abandoned.


title: Arcee

text: Unlike her other versions, this Arcee, while still an Autobot by allegiance, is a violent, antisocial killer who is imprisoned by the other Autobots at Garrus 9 for her actions. Released by a reluctant Fortress Maximus during a Decepticon attack to buy time for Jetfire's team to get rid of the Monstructor components, her power level appears much higher than a normal Autobot, as she is seen taking on all of the Combaticons single handed and winning, although unable to stop their kidnapping of the Monstructor components due to a teleporter based escape plan. She is classified as a "level 9" threat, the only Autobot of that power level present in the prison during the assault. Realizing there is a link between her and the Monstructor Transformers, as they were all created by Jhiaxus, Maximus and Jetfire release her to track them down.


title: Arcee

text: Throughout the "Revelations" arc, Arcee hunts for Jhiaxus to get her revenge, finally confronting him in "Spotlight: Sideswipe". She is informed by Hardhead that Jhiaxus cannot be destroyed forever as he is bound to the Dead Universe; she is pleased by this, as it means she has the chance to kill him, over and over, forever.


title: Arcee

text: In "Heart of Darkness", it is revealed that she and Hardhead had remained on Garrus Prime to guard the portal to the Dead Universe and continue torturing Jhiaxus. When the D-Void called the entire population of the planet into the portal to feed on, Arcee was overwhelmed, but Hardhead, vaccinated against the call by his exposure to dead universe energy during revelations, held her back until the portal closed. Since then, they had been exploring the remains of a mysterious dead civilization uncovered by the portal closing. When Galvatron and the seekers arrived to investigate, Arcee and Hardhead engaged them and despite initial success including the severe wounding of Galvatron, became outmatched when Galvatron used the Heart of Darkness to heal himself and attack them, and Hardhead told her to run and get help. Cyclonus blasted a bridge out from under her, and left her for dead, but she was later seen pulling herself back out of the pit.


title: Arcee

text: Later on, Arcee joins with Prowl, becoming his personal assassin whom he deploys to murder Ratbat in order to keep peace on a post-war Cybertron. Prowl dispatches her to kill several more Decepticons, however some of these deaths are faked as a part of a conspiracy to rile up the many Decepticons on Cybertron into a frenzy against the provisional Autobot government. It is later revealed that Prowl has been under mind control by the Insecticon Bombshell since shortly after having Ratbat killed. Prowl is subsequently forced to become a part of a new Devastator under Bombshell's control. During this, Arcee appears to be loyal to the Decepticons, but once Devastator is unleashed on Cybertron, she kills Bombshell to sever his link with Prowl, enabling the newly formed Autobot combiner Superion to temporally overpower him.


title: Arcee

text: Following the Decepticons defeat, Starscream takes command of the neutral population of Cybertron, and banishes Autobot and Decepticon alike from the small city built in the aftermath of the war. Arcee leaves with Prowl and the Autobots, eventually joining them officially by carving their insignia into her shoulder.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee was absent from the U.S. Marvel Comics (barring the adaptation of the movie), because the comics had established that in their continuity, Transformers did not possess sexes, thus Arcee's presence as a clearly female robot would have defied this.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee also makes an appearance twice in the American "Transformers: Headmasters #1" as a background character in Fortress Maximus' regiment. In order to explain any Autobots introduced during the fourth (then-ongoing) and fifth production years, most of Fortress Maximus's crew on Cybertron and aboard the Steelhaven were unseen, or used generic bodies until readers were "surprised" with them later.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee would appear in the UK Marvel comic issue #234, "Prime's Rib!" This story is set in the near future, 1995, where Optimus Prime, Jazz and Hot Rod introduce the latest Autobot, Arcee, to the human feminists. She was met with displeasure by the humans, being called a token female and disliked for her pink color. They were then attacked by Shockwave, Fangry, Horri-Bull and Squeezeplay, who thought the Autobot would be unveiling a new weapon. The Autobots fought off the Decepticons, who escaped, but nothing seemed to please the human feminists.


title: Arcee

text: The UK comic also set a number of stories directly after the events of the movie. The "Space Pirates" arc saw Arcee skip guard duty at Autobot City; her dereliction of duty led directly the fall of Autobot City to the Quintessons. She was then used as bait in a Quintesson trap to claim the Creation Matrix from Rodimus Prime. Arcee achieved some measure of redemption by aiding Rodimus Prime, now reduced in power to his "Hot Rod" form, in his bid to reclaim Autobot City by activating Metroplex.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee later joined Rodimus Prime's time-travelling party, helping in the fight against Galvatron during the "Time Wars". Arcee and the other future Autobots returned to find their own time-stream changed to a different, darker future, where Galvatron was alive and ruling most of Cybertron.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee appeared among the Autobots under the command of Rodimus Prime in the alternate future story "Aspects of Evil 2" from Marvel UK Transformers #224. In this story, Rodimus Prime remembered how Galvatron, Crankcase, Ruckus and Windsweeper killed Blurr and then attacked Rodimus Prime, Kup, Arcee and the Battle Patrol. Enraged, Rodimus nearly killed Galvatron, but to keep the Matrix from being contaminated by hatred he relented.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee appeared in Marvel UK Transformers #251 "The Void!" where she was among the Autobot crew of a ship commanded by Rodimus Prime which was retreating from Cybertron.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee appears as a playable character in the 2003 video game "The Transformers", voiced by Lenne Hardt.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee makes an appearance in the "Robot Chicken" episode "Junk in the Trunk". She gives Optimus Prime flowers before he dies of prostate cancer. Seth Green noted on the commentary for the episode that "Nobody makes an Arcee, so we had to make one ourselves."


title: Arcee

text: Arcee appeared in "Lil Formers" #93, "Fembots" by Matt Moylan, where she co-hosted a television talk show series.


title: Arcee

text: The first reuse of the name Arcee was in Japan. In 2003, the name Arcee was given to the Mini-Con known in America as Sureshock (leading to some debate on the Mini-Con's gender - the Dreamwave Comics would later identify Sureshock as female, but the tech specs for "Transformers: Cybertron" Sureshock would refer to it as male). Sureshock was even repainted in pink and white colors in Japan as "X-Dimension Arcee".


title: Arcee

text: In "", Arcee had a wide-release original mold made in homage to the original character. In the "Energon" storyline, the character Arcee was a female Omnicon who transformed into a motorcycle and used an energon crossbow. She was created to be a leader for the Omnicons and, as such, was the only Omnicon to have a unique name and body-type. In Japan the toy and character were named Ariel, a name used by the female transformer who was the "girlfriend" of Orion Pax in the original series's episode "War Dawn"; this Ariel would later become Elita One.


title: Arcee

text: In the original Japanese series "Superlink", it is said Ariel took the form of a woman as a symbol of care, who protects all soldiers.


title: Arcee

text: This incarnation of Arcee was a member of the Omnicons, a race and faction of robots exclusive to this fictional universe of Transformers. Larger than Mini-Cons, they can carry passengers and process raw energon to create tools, weapons, or energon stars. Omnicons were a main group of characters "" series allied with the Autobots. They were opposition of to the Decepticon allied Terrorcons.


title: Arcee

text: While Omnicons were formerly Autobots and Decepticons, these two sides set aside their differences and left Cybertron with Team Rodimus. The Omnicons eventually began working together to mine Energon, the energy-rich mineral needed to power Transformers and their technology. Invaluable to the Transformers because of their unique ability to handle, shape and process raw energon, which is damaging to normal Transformers, the Omnicons created the Cybertron cities as only they can. There are three distinct body types shared among the Omnicon ranks, but unlike the Terrorcons, each Omnicon possesses an individual mind of his own.


title: Arcee

text: Additionally, there is one other Omnicon body-type - that of the unique Omnicon leader, Arcee. Transforming into a motorcycle and wielding an Energon crossbow, she arrived in the middle of Megatron's attack on Cybertron, guiding the Omnicon forces into subduing Unicron's hunger. She was soon frequently partnered with Kicker on the battlefield.


title: Arcee

text: All of the Omnicon toys, including Arcee, were redecoed and released as Target store exclusives for the 2007 Transformers movie. The new colors are designed to look more like a real vehicle would be painted, in keeping with the theme of the movie.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee also appeared in the Dreamwave Productions "Transformers: Energon" comics, as one of the four Omnicons watched over by the Mini-Con Over-Run.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee would first appear in issue #19, being introduced to Optimus Prime by Over-Run as the first of the new species—the Omnicons. Subsequently, assigned to Earth for training, they managed to annoy their commander Hot Shot beyond reason but subsequently apprehended Snow Cat. Arcee would have further adventures battling Mirage, Sharkticon and Slugslinger to protect Kicker, eventually defeating them with Kicker's help.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee appeared in the text story from Fun Publications called "Force of Habit". This story explained where she was during the events of the "Cybertron" story. Ultra Magnus was the commander of various Autobot ships sent to other planets in search for the Cyber Planet Keys. Arcee served as captain of the "Azusa" which was sent to Gamma Serpentis.


title: Arcee

text: Arcee was initially set to be in the 2007 "Transformers" film and had a very positive fan reaction, but due to the fact that there was not enough time in the movie to explain the presence of a "female" in a robotic race, she was dropped from the script and replaced with Ironhide. Before she was dropped, her alternate mode was stated to be a Buell Firebolt motorcycle; concept art by Ben Procter can be seen on his website. Even though Arcee was not in the movie, a motorcycle was used by Captain William Lennox to attack Blackout (although the bike was an Aprilia RSV 1000 R rather than a Buell). Arcee was also initially set to battle Blackout in the movie. According to the Hasbro 2007 movie toy's tech spec for Arcee, she received combat training from Ironhide. Arcee is armed with a machine gun.


title: Arcee

text: According to the biography printed in the collected "Reign of Starscream" books, Arcee was once a member of the Autobot science team who had to adapt her skills when the war broke out.


title: Arcee

text: According to the biography for the "Revenge of the Fallen" Chromia toy, she is a sister to Chromia and Elita One. She is an unusual Cybertronian as she and her sisters (Chromia and Elita One) are controlled by one mind, allowing them to attack with extremely precise timing. According to the biography for her 2009 movie toy she commands her team. Writer Roberto Orci has stated he intended the three motorcycles to be a single mind, but Michael Bay portrayed them as individuals just like the Hasbro bios. According to Hasbro, Arcee is only about 7 feet tall but on the scale for the first film it was stated she was 9 feet tall.


title: Arcee

text: In "Transformers: Defiance" #1, back on ancient Cybertron, Arcee was among Optimus Prime's crew at an excavation site near the temple at Simfur where an artifact was uncovered. In issue #2, Arcee helped in the recovery effort after the attack on Cybertron. She later sided with Optimus Prime against Megatron's orders to counter-attack their invaders. In issue #4, Arcee, Bumblebee, Cliffjumper, Jazz and Smokescreen ambushed Ironhide, who they believed worked for Megatron, but Ironhide instead joined Optimus Prime's Autobots. Arcee and Bumblebee later spied on the building of the Decepticon starship Nemesis.


title: Arcee

text: Although Arcee was not in the film, the character still appeared in the comic book "" where she fights as part of Bumblebee's squad. She realized that Bumblebee knew more than he was revealing, but likewise said nothing when their squad was captured and tortured by the Decepticons.


title: Arcee

text: In "Reign of Starscream" the Decepticon Starscream barely made it to the Nemesis on Mars before he ran out of power. His return was noted by the Autobot Cosmos, who alerted Arcee, Cliffjumper, Smokescreen, Camshaft and Air Raid. Aided by Thundercracker on the Nemesis Starscream recovered and sent the information Frenzy had gathered back to Cybertron just as Hardtop spotted the Autobots closing on the Nemesis. Arcee appears on the cover of issue #3. In issue #4, Arcee returned to Cybertron from Mars by hiding in the landing gear of Starscream's ship. Once on the planet she was discovered by a Dreadwing and Payload drone, who she deactivated. Returning to an Autobot training facility she discovered Clocker, who took her to Crosshairs who was planning an attack to free the Autobots at Simfur, which they attempted with the aid of Wingblade, Skyblast, Breakaway and Strongarm.


title: Arcee

text: In "Tales of the Fallen" #6 Arcee is taken by Thundercracker and given to the Decepticon medic Flatline, who experiments on her. Upon waking up she discovers Skids and Mudflap are also captives of the Decepticons. After she discovers her spark has been merged with that of Chromia and Elita One, they have a mental link, and use this to lead an escape. Arcee, Chromia and Elita One subsequently were among the Autobots to come to Earth in response to Optimus Prime's signal inviting all of his kind to come there. She joined with the Earth-based Autobots in "" #4.


title: Arcee

text: In "Rising Storm" #1, it is revealed that Arcee, Chromia, and Elita-One survived the events in Egypt and with the Autobots when they set a trap for Starscream's minions Divebomb, Fearswoop and Skystalker by having Theodore Galloway pose as an arms dealer attempting to purchase Cybertronian technology. The trap is uncovered and the Autobots send in Arcee, Chromia, Elita-One, Ironhide, Mudflap and Skids. Divebomb and Skystalker are killed while Fearswoop is captured by the Autobots and taken back to the NEST base on Diego Garcia. In issue #3, she, Chromia, and Elita one are sent to New York City hoping to get information from Starscream who was sending information to humans, but instead found Astrotrain and a monster, then they realized Shockwave is on Earth. They tried to contact Optimus and warn him, but Soundwave jammed their communications and were attack by his minions. Elita-One went to go warn Optimus. In issue #4, Elita-One is killed by Shockwave, Arcee and Chromia felt her death, they sent off the explosives which possibility killed Soundwave's minions, but Arcee and Chromia survived.


title: Arcee

text: Note - The appearance of Arcee is modified in some of the IDW Publishing stories, she has a Cybertronian alternate mode.


title: Arcee

text: Note: Information in "italics" occurs in the alternate storyline where Megatron won the battle for the Allspark.