title: Astronomy

text: In the course of this expansion, the Universe underwent several evolutionary stages. In the very early moments, it is theorized that the Universe experienced a very rapid cosmic inflation, which homogenized the starting conditions. Thereafter, nucleosynthesis produced the elemental abundance of the early Universe. (See also nucleocosmochronology.)


title: Astronomy

text: When the first neutral atoms formed from a sea of primordial ions, space became transparent to radiation, releasing the energy viewed today as the microwave background radiation. The expanding Universe then underwent a Dark Age due to the lack of stellar energy sources.


title: Astronomy

text: A hierarchical structure of matter began to form from minute variations in the mass density of space. Matter accumulated in the densest regions, forming clouds of gas and the earliest stars, the Population III stars. These massive stars triggered the reionization process and are believed to have created many of the heavy elements in the early Universe, which, through nuclear decay, create lighter elements, allowing the cycle of nucleosynthesis to continue longer.


title: Astronomy

text: Gravitational aggregations clustered into filaments, leaving voids in the gaps. Gradually, organizations of gas and dust merged to form the first primitive galaxies. Over time, these pulled in more matter, and were often organized into groups and clusters of galaxies, then into larger-scale superclusters.


title: Astronomy

text: Various fields of physics are crucial to studying the universe. Interdisciplinary studies involve the fields of quantum mechanics, particle physics, plasma physics, condensed matter physics, statistical mechanics, optics, and nuclear physics.


title: Astronomy

text: Fundamental to the structure of the Universe is the existence of dark matter and dark energy. These are now thought to be its dominant components, forming 96% of the mass of the Universe. For this reason, much effort is expended in trying to understand the physics of these components.


title: Astronomy

text: The study of objects outside our galaxy is a branch of astronomy concerned with the formation and evolution of Galaxies, their morphology (description) and classification, the observation of active galaxies, and at a larger scale, the groups and clusters of galaxies. Finally, the latter is important for the understanding of the large-scale structure of the cosmos.


title: Astronomy

text: Most galaxies are organized into distinct shapes that allow for classification schemes. They are commonly divided into spiral, elliptical and Irregular galaxies.


title: Astronomy

text: As the name suggests, an elliptical galaxy has the cross-sectional shape of an ellipse. The stars move along random orbits with no preferred direction. These galaxies contain little or no interstellar dust, few star-forming regions, and older stars. Elliptical galaxies are more commonly found at the core of galactic clusters, and may have been formed through mergers of large galaxies.


title: Astronomy

text: A spiral galaxy is organized into a flat, rotating disk, usually with a prominent bulge or bar at the center, and trailing bright arms that spiral outward. The arms are dusty regions of star formation within which massive young stars produce a blue tint. Spiral galaxies are typically surrounded by a halo of older stars. Both the Milky Way and one of our nearest galaxy neighbors, the Andromeda Galaxy, are spiral galaxies.


title: Astronomy

text: Irregular galaxies are chaotic in appearance, and are neither spiral nor elliptical. About a quarter of all galaxies are irregular, and the peculiar shapes of such galaxies may be the result of gravitational interaction.


title: Astronomy

text: An active galaxy is a formation that emits a significant amount of its energy from a source other than its stars, dust and gas. It is powered by a compact region at the core, thought to be a supermassive black hole that is emitting radiation from in-falling material.


title: Astronomy

text: A radio galaxy is an active galaxy that is very luminous in the radio portion of the spectrum, and is emitting immense plumes or lobes of gas. Active galaxies that emit shorter frequency, high-energy radiation include Seyfert galaxies, Quasars, and Blazars. Quasars are believed to be the most consistently luminous objects in the known universe.


title: Astronomy

text: The large-scale structure of the cosmos is represented by groups and clusters of galaxies. This structure is organized into a hierarchy of groupings, with the largest being the superclusters. The collective matter is formed into filaments and walls, leaving large voids between.


title: Astronomy

text: The Solar System orbits within the Milky Way, a barred spiral galaxy that is a prominent member of the Local Group of galaxies. It is a rotating mass of gas, dust, stars and other objects, held together by mutual gravitational attraction. As the Earth is located within the dusty outer arms, there are large portions of the Milky Way that are obscured from view.


title: Astronomy

text: In the center of the Milky Way is the core, a bar-shaped bulge with what is believed to be a supermassive black hole at its center. This is surrounded by four primary arms that spiral from the core. This is a region of active star formation that contains many younger, population I stars. The disk is surrounded by a spheroid halo of older, population II stars, as well as relatively dense concentrations of stars known as globular clusters.


title: Astronomy

text: Between the stars lies the interstellar medium, a region of sparse matter. In the densest regions, molecular clouds of molecular hydrogen and other elements create star-forming regions. These begin as a compact pre-stellar core or dark nebulae, which concentrate and collapse (in volumes determined by the Jeans length) to form compact protostars.


title: Astronomy

text: As the more massive stars appear, they transform the cloud into an H II region (ionized atomic hydrogen) of glowing gas and plasma. The stellar wind and supernova explosions from these stars eventually cause the cloud to disperse, often leaving behind one or more young open clusters of stars. These clusters gradually disperse, and the stars join the population of the Milky Way.


title: Astronomy

text: Kinematic studies of matter in the Milky Way and other galaxies have demonstrated that there is more mass than can be accounted for by visible matter. A dark matter halo appears to dominate the mass, although the nature of this dark matter remains undetermined.


title: Astronomy

text: The study of stars and stellar evolution is fundamental to our understanding of the Universe. The astrophysics of stars has been determined through observation and theoretical understanding; and from computer simulations of the interior. Star formation occurs in dense regions of dust and gas, known as giant molecular clouds. When destabilized, cloud fragments can collapse under the influence of gravity, to form a protostar. A sufficiently dense, and hot, core region will trigger nuclear fusion, thus creating a main-sequence star.


title: Astronomy

text: The characteristics of the resulting star depend primarily upon its starting mass. The more massive the star, the greater its luminosity, and the more rapidly it fuses its hydrogen fuel into helium in its core. Over time, this hydrogen fuel is completely converted into helium, and the star begins to evolve. The fusion of helium requires a higher core temperature. A star with a high enough core temperature will push its outer layers outward while increasing its core density. The resulting red giant formed by the expanding outer layers enjoys a brief life span, before the helium fuel in the core is in turn consumed. Very massive stars can also undergo a series of evolutionary phases, as they fuse increasingly heavier elements.


title: Astronomy

text: The final fate of the star depends on its mass, with stars of mass greater than about eight times the Sun becoming core collapse supernovae; while smaller stars blow off their outer layers and leave behind the inert core in the form of a white dwarf. The ejection of the outer layers forms a planetary nebula. The remnant of a supernova is a dense neutron star, or, if the stellar mass was at least three times that of the Sun, a black hole. Closely orbiting binary stars can follow more complex evolutionary paths, such as mass transfer onto a white dwarf companion that can potentially cause a supernova. Planetary nebulae and supernovae distribute the "metals" produced in the star by fusion to the interstellar medium; without them, all new stars (and their planetary systems) would be formed from hydrogen and helium alone.


title: Astronomy

text: At a distance of about eight light-minutes, the most frequently studied star is the Sun, a typical main-sequence dwarf star of stellar class G2 V, and about 4.6 billion years (Gyr) old. The Sun is not considered a variable star, but it does undergo periodic changes in activity known as the sunspot cycle. This is an 11-year oscillation in sunspot number. Sunspots are regions of lower-than- average temperatures that are associated with intense magnetic activity.


title: Astronomy

text: The Sun has steadily increased in luminosity by 40% since it first became a main-sequence star. The Sun has also undergone periodic changes in luminosity that can have a significant impact on the Earth. The Maunder minimum, for example, is believed to have caused the Little Ice Age phenomenon during the Middle Ages.


title: Astronomy

text: The visible outer surface of the Sun is called the photosphere. Above this layer is a thin region known as the chromosphere. This is surrounded by a transition region of rapidly increasing temperatures, and finally by the super-heated corona.


title: Astronomy

text: At the center of the Sun is the core region, a volume of sufficient temperature and pressure for nuclear fusion to occur. Above the core is the radiation zone, where the plasma conveys the energy flux by means of radiation. Above that is the convection zone where the gas material transports energy primarily through physical displacement of the gas known as convection. It is believed that the movement of mass within the convection zone creates the magnetic activity that generates sunspots.


title: Astronomy

text: A solar wind of plasma particles constantly streams outward from the Sun until, at the outermost limit of the Solar System, it reaches the heliopause. As the solar wind passes the Earth, it interacts with the Earth's magnetic field (magnetosphere) and deflects the solar wind, but traps some creating the Van Allen radiation belts that envelop the Earth. The aurora are created when solar wind particles are guided by the magnetic flux lines into the Earth's polar regions where the lines then descend into the atmosphere.


title: Astronomy

text: Planetary science is the study of the assemblage of planets, moons, dwarf planets, comets, asteroids, and other bodies orbiting the Sun, as well as extrasolar planets. The Solar System has been relatively well-studied, initially through telescopes and then later by spacecraft. This has provided a good overall understanding of the formation and evolution of the Sun's planetary system, although many new discoveries are still being made.


title: Astronomy

text: The Solar System is divided into the inner Solar System (subdivided into the inner planets and the asteroid belt), the outer Solar System (subdivided into the outer planets and centaurs), comets, the trans-Neptunian region (subdivided into the Kuiper belt, and the scattered disc) and the farthest regions (e.g., boundaries of the heliosphere, and the Oort Cloud, which may extend as far as a light-year). The inner terrestrial planets consist of Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars. The outer giant planets are the gas giants (Jupiter and Saturn) and the ice giants (Uranus and Neptune).


title: Astronomy

text: The planets were formed 4.6 billion years ago in the protoplanetary disk that surrounded the early Sun. Through a process that included gravitational attraction, collision, and accretion, the disk formed clumps of matter that, with time, became protoplanets. The radiation pressure of the solar wind then expelled most of the unaccreted matter, and only those planets with sufficient mass retained their gaseous atmosphere. The planets continued to sweep up, or eject, the remaining matter during a period of intense bombardment, evidenced by the many impact craters on the Moon. During this period, some of the protoplanets may have collided and one such collision may have formed the Moon.


title: Astronomy

text: Once a planet reaches sufficient mass, the materials of different densities segregate within, during planetary differentiation. This process can form a stony or metallic core, surrounded by a mantle and an outer crust. The core may include solid and liquid regions, and some planetary cores generate their own magnetic field, which can protect their atmospheres from solar wind stripping.


title: Astronomy

text: A planet or moon's interior heat is produced from the collisions that created the body, by the decay of radioactive materials ("e.g." uranium, thorium, and Al), or tidal heating caused by interactions with other bodies. Some planets and moons accumulate enough heat to drive geologic processes such as volcanism and tectonics. Those that accumulate or retain an atmosphere can also undergo surface erosion from wind or water. Smaller bodies, without tidal heating, cool more quickly; and their geological activity ceases with the exception of impact cratering.


title: Astronomy

text: Astronomy and astrophysics have developed significant interdisciplinary links with other major scientific fields. Archaeoastronomy is the study of ancient or traditional astronomies in their cultural context, utilizing archaeological and anthropological evidence. Astrobiology is the study of the advent and evolution of biological systems in the Universe, with particular emphasis on the possibility of non-terrestrial life. Astrostatistics is the application of statistics to astrophysics to the analysis of a vast amount of observational astrophysical data.


title: Astronomy

text: The study of chemicals found in space, including their formation, interaction and destruction, is called astrochemistry. These substances are usually found in molecular clouds, although they may also appear in low-temperature stars, brown dwarfs and planets. Cosmochemistry is the study of the chemicals found within the Solar System, including the origins of the elements and variations in the isotope ratios. Both of these fields represent an overlap of the disciplines of astronomy and chemistry. As "forensic astronomy", finally, methods from astronomy have been used to solve problems of law and history.


title: Astronomy

text: Collectively, amateur astronomers observe a variety of celestial objects and phenomena sometimes with consumer-level equipment or equipment that they build themselves. Common targets of amateur astronomers include the Sun, the Moon, planets, stars, comets, meteor showers, and a variety of deep-sky objects such as star clusters, galaxies, and nebulae. Astronomy clubs are located throughout the world and many have programs to help their members set up and complete observational programs including those to observe all the objects in the Messier (110 objects) or Herschel 400 catalogues of points of interest in the night sky. One branch of amateur astronomy, astrophotography, involves the taking of photos of the night sky. Many amateurs like to specialize in the observation of particular objects, types of objects, or types of events that interest them.


title: Astronomy

text: Most amateurs work at visible wavelengths, but many experiment with wavelengths outside the visible spectrum. This includes the use of infrared filters on conventional telescopes, and also the use of radio telescopes. The pioneer of amateur radio astronomy was Karl Jansky, who started observing the sky at radio wavelengths in the 1930s. A number of amateur astronomers use either homemade telescopes or use radio telescopes which were originally built for astronomy research but which are now available to amateurs ("e.g." the One-Mile Telescope).


title: Astronomy

text: Amateur astronomers continue to make scientific contributions to the field of astronomy and it is one of the few scientific disciplines where amateurs can still make significant contributions. Amateurs can make occultation measurements that are used to refine the orbits of minor planets. They can also discover comets, and perform regular observations of variable stars. Improvements in digital technology have allowed amateurs to make impressive advances in the field of astrophotography.


title: Astronomy

text: Although the scientific discipline of astronomy has made tremendous strides in understanding the nature of the Universe and its contents, there remain some important unanswered questions. Answers to these may require the construction of new ground- and space-based instruments, and possibly new developments in theoretical and experimental physics.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science fiction film directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay by Bob Gale and a story by both. It is the sequel to the 1985 film "Back to the Future" and the second installment in the "Back to the Future" franchise. The film stars Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Thomas F. Wilson, Elisabeth Shue (replacing Claudia Wells), and Jeffrey Weissman (replacing Crispin Glover), and follows Marty McFly (Fox) and his friend Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown (Lloyd) as they travel from 1985 to 2015 to prevent Marty's son from sabotaging the McFly family's future. When their arch-nemesis Biff Tannen (Wilson) steals Doc's DeLorean time machine and uses it to alter history for his benefit, the duo must return to 1955 to restore the timeline.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: The film was produced on a $40 million budget and was filmed back to back with its sequel "Part III". Filming began in February 1989, after two years were spent building the sets and writing the scripts. "Back to the Future Part II" was also a ground-breaking project for visual effects studio Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). In addition to digital compositing, ILM used the VistaGlide motion control camera system, which allowed an actor to portray multiple characters simultaneously on-screen without sacrificing camera movement.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: "Back to the Future Part II" was released by Universal Pictures on November 22, 1989. The film initially received mixed reviews from critics and grossed over $332 million worldwide in its initial run, making it the third-highest-grossing film of 1989.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: On October 26, 1985, Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown arrives unexpectedly in the DeLorean time machine. He persuades Marty McFly and his girlfriend, , to travel to the future with him and help their future children, with Biff Tannen witnessing their departure. They arrive on October 21, 2015, where Doc electronically incapacitates Jennifer and leaves her asleep in an alley, explaining that she should not have too much knowledge of future events. He has Marty pose as his son and lookalike Marty Jr. to refuse an offer to participate in a robbery with Biff's grandson Griff, thus saving Marty Jr. from prison.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Marty switches places with Marty Jr. and refuses Griff's offer, but Griff goads Marty into a fight, and a subsequent hoverboard chase ensues. Griff and his gang are arrested, saving Marty's future children. Before rejoining Doc, Marty purchases an almanac containing the results of major sporting events from 1950 to 2000. Doc discovers it and warns Marty about profiting from time travel. Before Doc can adequately dispose of it, they are interrupted by the police, who have found Jennifer incapacitated and are taking her to her 2015 home. They pursue, as does the elderly Biff, who has overheard their conversation and retrieved the discarded almanac.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Jennifer wakes up in her 2015 home and hides from the McFly family. She overhears that her future self's life with Marty is not what she expected, due to his involvement in an automobile accident. She witnesses Marty being goaded by his co-worker, Douglas Needles, into a shady business deal, resulting in Marty's firing. Jennifer tries to escape the house but faints after encountering her 2015 self. While Marty and Doc attend to her, Biff steals the time machine to give the almanac to his younger self, then returns to 2015. Marty, Doc, and an unconscious Jennifer return to 1985, unaware of Biff's actions. They leave Jennifer on her front porch.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: The 1985 they return to has changed dramatically, with Biff now one of the country's wealthiest and most corrupt men. He has turned Hill Valley into a chaotic dystopia, secretly killed Marty's father, George, in 1973, and forced Marty's mother, Lorraine, to marry him. Doc has also been committed to a mental hospital. Doc deduces that old Biff took the time machine to give his younger self the almanac, and Marty learns from the alternate 1985 Biff that he received it on November 12, 1955. Biff tries to kill Marty, but Marty flees and travels to 1955 with Doc.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Marty secretly follows the 1955 Biff and watches him receive the almanac from his 2015 self. Marty then follows him to the high school dance, carefully avoiding interrupting the events from his previous visit. After several fruitless attempts, Marty finally gets the almanac, leaving Biff to crash into a manure truck. Marty burns the almanac, nullifying the changes to the timeline that it had caused, as Doc hovers above in the time machine. Before Marty can join him, the DeLorean is struck by lightning and disappears. A Western Union courier arrives immediately after and delivers a letter to Marty; it is from Doc, who explains that the lightning strike transported him 70 years in the past to 1885. Marty races back into town to find the 1955 Doc, who had just helped Marty to return to 1985. Shocked by Marty's sudden reappearance, Doc faints.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Director Robert Zemeckis said that, initially, a sequel was not planned for the first film, but its huge box office success led to the conception of a second installment. He later agreed to do a sequel, but only if Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd returned as well. With Fox and Lloyd confirmed, Zemeckis met with screenwriting partner Bob Gale to create a story for the sequel. Zemeckis and Gale would later regret that they ended the first one with Jennifer in the car with Marty and Doc Brown, because it required them to come up with a story that would fit her in, rather than a whole new adventure.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Gale wrote most of the first draft by himself as Zemeckis was busy making "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". At first, the film's third act was to take place in 1967 where Lorraine was a flower child protesting the war and George was a college professor at Berkeley, but Zemeckis later stated that the time paradoxes of it provided a good opportunity to go back to 1955 and see the first film's events in a different light. While most of the original cast agreed to return, a major stumbling block arose when negotiating Crispin Glover's fee for reprising the role of George McFly. When it became clear that he would not return, the role was rewritten so that George is dead when the action takes place in the alternative version of 1985.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: The greatest challenge was the creation of the futuristic vision of Marty's hometown in 2015. Production designer Rick Carter wanted to create a very detailed image with a different tone from the film "Blade Runner", wishing to get past the smoke and chrome. Carter and his crew spent months plotting, planning, and preparing Hill Valley's transformation into a city of the future. Visual effects art director John Bell stated they had no script to work with, only the indications that the setting would be 30 years into the future featuring "something called hoverboards".


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: When writing the script for "Part II", Gale wanted to push the first film's ideas further for humorous effect. Zemeckis said he was somewhat concerned about portraying the future because of the risk of making wildly inaccurate predictions. According to Gale, they tried to make the future a nice place, "where what's wrong is due to who lives in the future as opposed to the technology" in contrast to the pessimistic, Orwellian future seen in most science fiction. To keep production costs low and take advantage of an extended break Fox had from "Family Ties" (which was ending its run when filming began), it was shot back-to-back with sequel "Part III".


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Two years were needed to finish building the sets and writing the scripts before shooting could begin. During filming, the creation of the appearance of the aged characters was a well-guarded secret, involving state-of-the-art make-up techniques. Fox described the process as very time-consuming: "it took over four hours, although it could be worse". Principal photography began on February 20, 1989. For a three-week period near the end of the filming, the crew split and, while most remained dedicated to shooting "Part III", a few, including Gale, focused on finishing its predecessor. Zemeckis himself slept only a few hours per day, supervising both films, having to fly between Burbank, where it was being finished, and other locations in California for "Part III".


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: The film was considered one of the most ground-breaking projects for Industrial Light & Magic. It was one of the effects house's first forays into digital compositing, as well as the VistaGlide motion control camera system, which enabled them to shoot one of its most complex sequences, in which Fox played three separate characters (Marty Sr., Marty Jr., and Marlene), all of whom interacted with each other. Although such scenes were not new, the VistaGlide allowed, for the first time, a completely dynamic scene in which camera movement could finally be incorporated. The technique was also used in scenes where Fox, Thomas F. Wilson, Christopher Lloyd, and Elisabeth Shue's characters encounter and interact with their counterparts. It also includes a brief moment of computer-generated imagery in a holographic shark used to promote a fictional "Jaws 19", which wound up unaltered from the first test done by ILM's digital department because effects supervisor Ken Ralston "liked the fact that it was all messed up."


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Animation supervisor Wes Takahashi, who then was the head of ILM's animation department, worked heavily on the film's time travel sequences, as he had done in the original film and in "Part III". As "Part II" neared release, sufficient footage of "Part III" had been shot to allow a trailer to be assembled. It was added to the conclusion of "Part II" before the closing credits, as a reassurance to moviegoers that there was more to follow.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Crispin Glover was asked to reprise the role of George McFly. He expressed interest but could not come to an agreement with the producers regarding his salary. He stated in a 1992 interview on "The Howard Stern Show" that the producers' highest offer was $125,000, less than half of what the other returning cast members were offered. Gale has since asserted that Glover's demands were excessive for an actor of his professional stature at that time. In an interview on the "Opie and Anthony" show in 2013, Glover stated that his primary reason for not doing "Part II" was a philosophical disagreement on the film's message; Glover felt the story rewarded the characters with financial gain, such as Marty's truck, rather than love.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Rather than write George out of the film, Zemeckis used previously filmed footage of Glover from the first film as well as new footage of actor Jeffrey Weissman, who wore prosthetics including a false chin, nose, and cheekbones to resemble Glover. Various techniques were used to obfuscate the Weissman footage, such as placing him in the background rather than the foreground, having him wear sunglasses, and hanging him upside down. Glover filed a lawsuit against the producers of the film on the grounds that they neither owned his likeness nor had permission to use it. As a result of the suit, there are now clauses in the Screen Actors Guild collective bargaining agreements stating that producers and actors are not allowed to use such methods to reproduce the likeness of other actors. Glover's legal action, while resolved outside of the courts, has been considered as a key case in personality rights for actors with increasing use of improved special effects and digital techniques, in which actors may have agreed to appear in one part of a production but have their likenesses be used in another without their agreement.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Claudia Wells, who had played Marty's girlfriend Jennifer Parker in the first film, planned to reprise her role, but turned it down due to family reasons – reportedly to care for her mother, who was ill with cancer at the time of filming the second film. The producers cast Elisabeth Shue instead, which involved re-shooting the closing scenes of the first film for the beginning of "Part II". The re-shot sequence is a near shot-for-shot match with the original, with only minor differences: for example, Doc noticeably hesitates before reassuring Marty that his future self is fine – something he did not do in the first film. Marty is also wearing a watch in the second film whereas he was not in the first.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Wells returned to acting with a starring role in the 2008 independent film "Still Waters Burn". She is one of the few cast members not to make an appearance within the bonus material on the "Back to the Future Trilogy" DVD set released in 2002. However, she is interviewed for the "Tales from the Future" documentaries in the trilogy's 25th anniversary issue on Blu-ray Disc in 2010. In 2011, she finally had the opportunity to reprise her role from the first film, 26 years after her last appearance in the series, by providing the voice of Jennifer for "" by Telltale Games.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Zemeckis said on the film's behind-the-scenes featurette that the hoverboards (flying skateboards) used in it were real, yet not released to the public, due to parental complaints regarding safety. Footage of "real hoverboards" was also featured in the extras of a DVD release of the trilogy. A number of people thought Zemeckis was telling the truth and requested them at toy stores. In an interview, Wilson said one of the most frequent questions he was asked was if they are real.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Though the filmmakers did research contemporary predictions by scientists on what might occur by 2015, Zemeckis has said that the film was not meant to be a serious attempt at predicting the future. In 2010, he commented, "For me, filming the future scenes of the movie were the least enjoyable of making the whole trilogy, because I don't really like films that try and predict the future. The only ones I've actually enjoyed were the ones done by Stanley Kubrick, and not even he predicted the PC when he made "A Clockwork Orange". So, rather than trying to make a scientifically sound prediction that we were probably going to get wrong anyway, we figured, let's just make it funny." Similarly, Gale said, "We knew we weren't going to have flying cars by the year 2015, but God we had to have those in our movie."


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: However, the film did correctly predict a number of technological and sociological changes that occurred by 2015, including: the rise of ubiquitous cameras; use of unmanned flying drones for newsgathering; widescreen flat-panel television sets mounted on walls with multiple channel viewing; smart home technology; video chat systems; hands-free video games; talking animated billboards; wearable technology; tablet computers with fingerprint scanners and head-mounted displays. Payment on personal portable devices is also depicted. Although payment by thumbprint is not widely used, fingerprint scanning is in use as security at places such as airports and schools, and electronic payment with fingerprint scanning as a security feature is deployed for Apple Pay.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Other aspects of the depiction of the future had not come to pass by 2015, but efforts were made to replicate the technology advances.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: The film shows Marty putting on Nike "Air Mag" tennis shoes with automatic shoelaces. Nike released a version of their Hyperdunk Supreme shoes, which appear similar to Marty's, in July 2008. Fans dubbed them the "Air McFly". In April 2009, they filed the patent for self-lacing shoes, and their design bears a resemblance to those worn by Marty in the film. In 2010, a fan named Blake Bevin created shoes that tie themselves. Though Nike had made a very limited quantity of Air Mags in the same style as the movie, they stated in September 2011 that their consumer-line MAG line of shoes would not feature the self-lacing feature shown in it. Tinker Hatfield, one of the shoe's designers, indicated in 2014 that they would introduce shoes with power-lacing technology the following year, 2015. In March 2016, Nike unveiled the HyperAdapt 1.0 shoe, a consumer-market model of the Air Mag which features the same self-lacing technology used for the commemorative Air Mags; these were put on sale in limited quantities in late 2016.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: The producers created a futuristic flying car to depict a typical taxi cab in the future world of 2015. This taxi was based on the Citroën DS.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: The concept of the hoverboard—a skateboard that can float off the ground—has been explored by various groups since the release of the film. Attempts similar to hoverboats, which blast air at the ground, have been demonstrated, with a 2021 record distance of . A different type is the MagBoard, developed by researchers at the Paris Diderot University. It uses a large superconductor plate on the bottom cooled with liquid nitrogen as to achieve the Meissner effect and allow it to float over a special track; it was shown capable of carrying the weight of a human in its practical demonstration. However, the requirement to run the superconductor at higher, more ambient temperatures prevents this from becoming practical. In March 2014, a company named HUVr Tech purportedly demonstrated a working hoverboard along with several celebrities including Lloyd, though this shortly was revealed as a hoax created by the website Funny or Die. Self-balancing 'hoverboards' became popular in 2015 even though they do not hover above the ground.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: In the 2015 scene, the film imagines the Chicago Cubs winning the 2015 World Series against the fictional Miami-based Gators, referring to the Cubs' longstanding failure to win a championship. In the actual 2015 season, the Cubs qualified for the postseason, their first postseason appearance since 2008, but lost the National League Championship Series (not the World Series) to the New York Mets on October 21, 2015, which coincidentally was the same day as ""Back to the Future" Day," the day Marty McFly arrived in 2015 in the film. Despite losing in 2015, one year later the Cubs "did" win the 2016 World Series against the Cleveland Indians; in congratulations to the Cubs, the official Twitter feed for the "Back to the Future" franchise jokingly tweeted out that Marty & Doc's time-traveling caused "a rift in the space-time continuum" that led to the 1994 strike (and subsequent cancellation of the 1994 World Series), thus delaying the accurate prediction by a year. In the real 2015 World Series, the Kansas City Royals defeated the Mets to win their first World Series championship since 1985, the year which Marty and Doc time traveled in the film. As for the fictional Miami team, when the film was made, Florida did not have a Major League Baseball team, but has since gained two: the Florida Marlins (now the Miami Marlins) in 1993 and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now the Tampa Bay Rays) in 1998. While both teams have each made two appearances in the World Series (the Marlins winning in 1997 and 2003, and the Rays losing in 2008 and 2020), neither qualified for the postseason in 2015.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: The film was released to theaters in North America on Wednesday, November 22, 1989, the day before Thanksgiving. It grossed a total of $27.8 million over Friday to Sunday, and $43 million across the five-day holiday opening, breaking the previous Thanksgiving record set by "Rocky IV" in 1985. On the following weekend, it had a drop of 56 percent, earning $12.1 million, but remained at number 1. Its total gross was $118.5 million in the United States and $213 million overseas, for a total of $332 million worldwide, ranking as 1989's sixth-most successful film domestically and the third-most worldwide—behind "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and "Batman". However, this was still short of the first film's gross. "Part III", which Universal released only six months later, experienced a similar drop. In Japan, it had a record opening, grossing $7.5 million in six days from 153 screens.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The website's critics consensus reads: ""Back to the Future II" is far more uneven than its predecessor, but its madcap highs outweigh the occasionally cluttered machinations of an overstuffed plot." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 57 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film three out of four stars. Ebert criticized it for lacking the "genuine power of the original," but praised it for its slapstick humor and the hoverboard in its chase sequence. Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" wrote that the film is "ready for bigger and better things." Maslin later said that it "manages to be giddily and merrily mind-boggling, rather than confusing." Tom Tunney of "Empire" magazine wrote that the film was well-directed, "high-energy escapism", and called it "solidly entertaining", though noting it as being inferior to the other two films in the franchise.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Jonathan Rosenbaum of the "Chicago Reader" gave the film a negative review, criticizing Zemeckis and Gale for turning the characters into "strident geeks" and for making the "frenetic action strictly formulaic." He believed that it contained "rampant misogyny," because the character of Jennifer Parker "is knocked unconscious early on so she won't interfere with the little-boy games." He cited, as well, Michael J. Fox dressing in drag. "Variety" said, "[Director Robert] Zemeckis' fascination with having characters interact at different ages of their lives hurts it visually, and strains credibility past the breaking point, by forcing him to rely on some very cheesy makeup designs."


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: In 2018, Bob Gale, who co-wrote the movie with Robert Zemeckis, said the movie received a mixed reception because of the dark aspect of the story: "They [the audiences] were absolutely surprised by it. The whole 1985A stuff...we went places the audience was not ready to go. That is some of my favorite stuff in the whole trilogy."


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: The film won the Saturn Award for Best Special Effects (for Ken Ralston, the special effects supervisor), the BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects (Ken Ralston, Michael Lantieri, John Bell and Steve Gawley), an Internet-voted 2003 AOL Movies DVD Premiere Award for the trilogy DVDs, a Golden Screen Award, a Young Artist Award, and the Blimp Awards for Favorite Movie Actor (Michael J. Fox), and Favorite Movie Actress (Lea Thompson) at the 1990 Kids' Choice Awards. It was nominated in 1990 for an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects (John Bell, Steve Gawley, Michael Lantieri and Ken Ralston).


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: The film was released on VHS and LaserDisc on May 22, 1990, three days before the theatrical release of "Part III". It was due to be the first release under the MCA/Universal Home Video banner. Universal reissued it on VHS, LaserDisc, and compact disc in 1991, 1995, and 1998. On December 17, 2002, Universal released it on DVD in a boxed trilogy set, although widescreen framing problems led to a product recall. The trilogy was released on Blu-ray Disc in October 2010.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: Universal re-released the trilogy alongside new features on DVD and Blu-ray on October 20, 2015, coinciding with "Back to the Future Day" the following day. The new set included a featurette called "Doc Brown Saves the World", where Lloyd, reprising his role as Doc Brown, explains the reasons for the differences between the future of 2015 as depicted in "Back to the Future Part II" and in real life. A new remaster as part of "Back to the Future: The Ultimate Trilogy" on Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray was released on October 20, 2020.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: In May 2020, the trilogy was released for streaming on Netflix. A small minor edit was noticed to "Part II" during the scene featuring the fictional soft porn magazine called "Oh La La!". Gale stated that neither he nor Zemeckis were aware of this change, and believed it originated from a foreign print of the film. Shortly after, Universal provided Netflix with the unedited, theatrical version of the film, replacing the censored cut on the streaming platform.


title: Back to the Future Part II

text: The soundtrack was released by MCA Records on November 22, 1989. AllMusic rated it four-and-a-half stars out of five. Unlike the previous soundtrack, it contains only a musical score by composer Alan Silvestri. None of the vocal songs featured throughout the film are included. On October 12, 2015, Intrada Records released the complete score of "Back to the Future Part II" in a 2-disc set including early scoring sessions and alternative takes.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Terrence Frederick Malick (born November 30, 1943) is an American filmmaker. His films include "Days of Heaven" (1978), "The Thin Red Line" (1998), for which he received Academy Award nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, "The New World" (2005) and "The Tree of Life" (2011), the latter of which garnered him another Best Director Oscar nomination and the Palme d'Or at the 64th Cannes Film Festival.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick began his career as part of the New Hollywood wave with the films "Badlands" (1973), about a murderous couple on the run in 1950s American Midwest, and "Days of Heaven" (1978), which detailed a love triangle between two laborers and a wealthy farmer during the First World War, before a lengthy hiatus.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick's films have explored themes such as transcendence, nature, and conflicts between reason and instinct. They are typically marked by broad philosophical and spiritual overtones, as well as the use of meditative voice-overs from individual characters. The stylistic elements of his work have inspired divided opinions among film scholars and audiences; some praised his films for their cinematography and aesthetics, while others found them lacking in plot and character development. His first five films have nonetheless ranked highly in retrospective decade-end and all-time polls.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick was born in Ottawa, Illinois. He is the son of Irene (née Thompson; 1912–2011) and Emil A. Malick (1917–2013), a geologist. His paternal grandparents were of Lebanese and Assyrian descent from Urmia. Malick attended St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Austin, Texas, while his family lived in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Malick had two younger brothers: Chris and Larry. Larry Malick was a guitarist who went to study in Spain with Andrés Segovia in the late 1960s. In 1968, Larry intentionally broke his own hands due to pressure over his musical studies. Their father Emil went to Spain to help Larry, but his son died shortly after, possibly by suicide. The early death of Malick's younger brother has been explored and referenced in his films "The Tree of Life" (2011) and "Knight of Cups" (2015).


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick graduated from Harvard College in 1965 with an Bachelor of Arts, "summa cum laude", and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received a Rhodes Scholarship, which he used to study philosophy at Oxford University's Magdalen College. After a disagreement with his advisor, Gilbert Ryle, over Malick's thesis on the concept of world in Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Wittgenstein, Malick left Oxford without a degree. In 1969, Northwestern University Press published Malick's translation of Heidegger's "Vom Wesen des Grundes" as "The Essence of Reasons".


title: Terrence Malick

text: After returning to the United States, Malick taught philosophy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology while freelancing as a journalist. He wrote articles for "Newsweek", "The New Yorker", and "Life".


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick started his film career after earning an MFA from the brand-new AFI Conservatory in 1969, directing the short film "Lanton Mills". At the AFI, he established contacts with people such as actor Jack Nicholson, longtime collaborator Jack Fisk, and agent Mike Medavoy, who procured for Malick freelance work revising scripts. He wrote early uncredited drafts of "Dirty Harry" (1971) and "Drive, He Said" (1971), and is credited with the screenplay for "Pocket Money" (1972). Malick was also co-writer of "The Gravy Train" (1974), under the pseudonym David Whitney. After one of his screenplays, "Deadhead Miles", was made into what Paramount Pictures believed was an unreleasable film, Malick decided to direct his own scripts.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick's first feature-length work as a director was "Badlands", an independent film starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as a young couple on a crime spree in the 1950s Midwest. It was influenced by the crimes of convicted teenage spree killer Charles Starkweather. Malick raised half of the budget by approaching people outside of the industry, including doctors and dentists, and by contributing $25,000 from his personal savings. The rest was raised by executive producer Edward R. Pressman. After a troubled production that included many crew members leaving halfway through the shoot, "Badlands" drew raves upon its premiere at the New York Film Festival. As a result, Warner Bros. bought distribution rights for three times its budget.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick's second film was the Paramount-produced "Days of Heaven", about a love triangle that develops in the farm country of the Texas Panhandle in the early 20th century. Production began in the fall of 1976 in Alberta, Canada. The film was mostly shot during the golden hour, with primarily natural light. Much like Malick's first feature, "Days of Heaven" had a lengthy and troubled production, with several members of the production crew quitting before shooting was finished, mainly due to disagreements over Malick's idiosyncratic directorial style. The film likewise had a troubled post-production phase, as Billy Weber and Malick spent two years editing, during which they experimented with unconventional editing and voice-over techniques once they realized the picture they had set out to make would not fully work.


title: Terrence Malick

text: "Days of Heaven" was finally released in 1978 to mostly positive responses from critics. Its cinematography was widely praised, although some found its story lackluster. In "The New York Times", Harold C. Schonberg wrote that it "is full of elegant and striking photography; and it is an intolerably artsy, artificial film." However, it later won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography and the prize for Best Director at the 1979 Cannes Film Festival. "Days of Heaven" has since grown in stature, having been voted one of the 50 greatest American films ever made in a 2015 critics' poll published by BBC.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Following the release of "Days of Heaven", Malick began developing a project for Paramount, titled "Q", that explored the origins of life on earth. During pre-production, he suddenly moved to Paris and disappeared from public view for years. During this time, he wrote a number of screenplays, including "The English Speaker", about Josef Breuer's analysis of Anna O.; adaptations of Walker Percy's novel "The Moviegoer" and Larry McMurtry's "The Desert Rose"; a script about Jerry Lee Lewis; and a stage adaptation of the Japanese film "Sansho the Bailiff" which was to be directed by Polish filmmaker Andrzej Wajda, in addition to continuing work on the "Q" script. Although "Q" has never been made, Malick's work for the project provided material for his later film "The Tree of Life" and eventually became the basis for "Voyage of Time". Jack Fisk, a longtime production designer on the director's films, said that Malick was shooting film during this time as well.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick returned to directing in 1997 with "The Thin Red Line", a work released two decades after his previous film. A loose adaptation of James Jones' World War II novel of the same name, it features a large ensemble cast including Sean Penn, Adrien Brody, Jim Caviezel, Nick Nolte, Ben Chaplin, Elias Koteas, Woody Harrelson, George Clooney and John Travolta. Filming took place predominantly in the Daintree Rainforest in Queensland, Australia and in the Solomon Islands.


title: Terrence Malick

text: The film received critical acclaim, was nominated for seven Academy Awards, and won the Golden Bear at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival. "The Thin Red Line" has since been ranked among the best films of the 1990s in "Complex", "The A.V. Club", "Slant", "Paste", and "Film Comment".


title: Terrence Malick

text: After learning of Malick's work on an article about Che Guevara during the 1960s, Steven Soderbergh offered Malick the chance to write and direct a film about Guevara that he had been developing with Benicio del Toro. Malick accepted and produced a screenplay focused on Guevara's failed revolution in Bolivia. After a year and a half, the financing had not come together entirely, and Malick was given the opportunity to direct "The New World", a script he had begun developing in the 1970s. He left the Guevara project in March 2004, and Soderbergh took over as director, leading to the film "Che" (2008). "The New World", which featured a romantic negationism of the story of John Smith and Pocahontas in the Virginia Colony, was released in 2005. Over one million feet of film were shot, and three different cuts of varying lengths were released.


title: Terrence Malick

text: While the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, critical reception was divided throughout its theatrical run; many praised its visuals and acting while finding its narrative unfocused. However, "The New World" was later named by five critics as one of the best films of its decade, and appeared in 39th place on a 2016 BBC poll of the greatest films since 2000.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick's fifth feature, "The Tree of Life", was filmed in Smithville, Texas, and elsewhere during 2008. Starring Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, and Sean Penn, it is a family drama spanning multiple time periods; it focuses on an individual's struggle to reconcile love, mercy and beauty with the existence of illness, suffering and death. It premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Palme d'Or. It later won the FIPRESCI Award for the Best Film of the Year. At the 84th Academy Awards, it was nominated for three awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director for Malick, and Best Cinematography for Emmanuel Lubezki. A limited theatrical release in the United States began on May 27, 2011.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick scholars Christopher B. Barnett and Clark J. Elliston wrote that it became "arguably [Malick's] most acclaimed work". It was voted the 79th greatest American film of all time in a 2015 BBC Culture poll of 62 international film critics. The work was also ranked the seventh-greatest film since 2000 in a worldwide critics' poll by BBC.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick's sixth feature, "To the Wonder", was shot predominantly in Bartlesville, Oklahoma; a few scenes were filmed in Pawhuska, Oklahoma and at the Tulsa Port of Catoosa. The film stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, and Javier Bardem.


title: Terrence Malick

text: "To the Wonder" had its world premiere at the 69th Venice International Film Festival on September 2, 2012, and opened theatrically in the United States on April 12, 2013. Critical response to the film was markedly divided, and the work has been described as "arguably [Malick's] most derided".


title: Terrence Malick

text: On November 1, 2011, Filmnation Entertainment announced international sales for Malick's next two projects: "Lawless" (now titled "Song to Song") and "Knight of Cups". Both films feature large ensemble casts, with many of the actors crossing over into both films. The films were shot back-to-back in 2012, with "Song to Song" primarily shot in Austin, Texas, and "Knight of Cups" in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.


title: Terrence Malick

text: During the weekend of September 16, 2011, Malick and a small crew were seen filming Christian Bale and Haley Bennett at the Austin City Limits Music Festival as part of preliminary shooting for "Song to Song". Malick was also seen directing Ryan Gosling and Rooney Mara at the Fun Fun Fun Fest on November 4, 2011.


title: Terrence Malick

text: "Knight of Cups" had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2015, and was met with mixed reactions. It was released in the United States on March 4, 2016, by Broad Green Pictures.


title: Terrence Malick

text: "Song to Song" had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 10, 2017, before being released theatrically in the United States on March 17, 2017, by Broad Green Pictures, and has been met with mixed reactions.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Concurrent with these two features, Malick continued work on an IMAX documentary that examines the birth and death of the known universe, titled "Voyage of Time". "The Hollywood Reporter" described it as "a celebration of the Earth, displaying the whole of time, from the birth of the universe to its final collapse." The film is the culmination of a project that Malick has been working on for over forty years, and has been described by Malick himself as "one of my greatest dreams". The film features footage shot by Malick and collaborators over the years, and expands on the footage that special effects luminaries Douglas Trumbull () and Dan Glass ("The Matrix") created for "The Tree of Life".


title: Terrence Malick

text: The film was released in two versions: a 40-minute IMAX version ("Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience") with narration by Brad Pitt, and a 90-minute feature-length version ("Voyage of Time: Life's Journey") with narration by Cate Blanchett. The feature-length version had its world premiere on September 7, 2016 at the 73rd Venice International Film Festival. The IMAX version of the film was released in IMAX on October 7, 2016, by IMAX Corporation and Broad Green Pictures.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick's next film, "A Hidden Life", depicted the life of Austria's Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector during World War II who was put to death at the age of 36 for undermining military actions, and was later declared a martyr and beatified by the Catholic Church. Starring in the film as Jägerstätter is August Diehl, with Valerie Pachner as his wife Franziska Jägerstätter.


title: Terrence Malick

text: The film was shot in Studio Babelsberg in Potsdam, Germany, in the summer of 2016, and in parts of northern Italy, such as Brixen, South Tyrol, and the small mountain village of Sappada.


title: Terrence Malick

text: "A Hidden Life" was released in 2019. Speaking about the film in a Q&A in Princeton, New Jersey, Malick said that, compared with his more recent films, with "A Hidden Life" he had "repented and gone back to working with a much tighter script."


title: Terrence Malick

text: In August and/or September 2016, Malick directed a commercial, titled "Notes of a Woman" and released on February 26, 2017, for the Mon Guerlain perfume. Starring Angelina Jolie, it was shot at her and Brad Pitt's Château Miraval estate in Correns and photographed by Austrian cinematographer Christian Berger.


title: Terrence Malick

text: On June 7, 2019, Malick reportedly started shooting his next film, code-named "The Last Planet", near Rome, Italy. The film will tell the story of Jesus’ life through a series of parables. On September 8, the cast was revealed to include Géza Röhrig as Jesus, Matthias Schoenaerts as Saint Peter, and Mark Rylance as four versions of Satan. On November 20, 2020 it was announced that the film's name would be "The Way of the Wind."


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick's films have been noted by critics for their philosophical themes. According to film scholar Lloyd Michaels, the director's primary themes include "the isolated individual's desire for transcendence amidst established social institutions, the grandeur and untouched beauty of nature, the competing claims of instinct and reason, and the lure of the open road". He named "Days of Heaven" as one in a group of acclaimed films from the 1970s that were intended to revolutionize the American film epic. Like "The Godfather" films, 1975's "Nashville", and "The Deer Hunter" (1978), Michaels argued that the movie delves into "certain national myths" as an idiosyncratic type of Western, "particularly the migration westward, the dream of personal success, and the clash of agrarian and industrial economies". Roger Ebert considered Malick's body of work to have a unifying common theme: "Human lives diminish beneath the overarching majesty of the world." In Ebert's opinion, Malick is among the few remaining directors who yearn "to make no less than a masterpiece". While reviewing "The Tree of Life", "New York Times" critic A. O. Scott compared the director to innovative "homegrown romantics" such as the writers Walt Whitman, Hart Crane, James Agee, and Herman Melville, in the sense that their "definitive writings" also "did not sit comfortably or find universal favor in their own time" but nonetheless "leaned perpetually into the future, pushing their readers forward toward a new horizon of understanding".


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick's body of work has inspired polarized opinions. According to Michaels, "few American directors have inspired such adulation and rejection with each successive film" as Malick. Michaels said that in all of American cinema, Malick is the filmmaker most frequently "granted genius status after creating such a discontinuous and limited body of work". Malick makes use of broad philosophical and spiritual overtones, such as in the form of meditative voice-overs from individual characters. Some critics felt these elements made the films engaging and unique while others found them pretentious and gratuitous, particularly in his post-hiatus work. Michaels believed the opinions "Days of Heaven" continues to elicit among scholars and film enthusiasts is exemplary of this: "The debate continues to revolve around what to make of 'its extremeties of beauty', whether the exquisite lighting, painterly compositions, dreamy dissolves, and fluid camera movements, combined with the epic grandeur and elegiac tone, sufficiently compensate for the thinness of the tale, the two-dimensionality of the characters, and the resulting emotional detachment of the audience." "Reverse Shot" journalist Chris Wisniewski regarded both "Days of Heaven" and "The New World" not as "literary nor theatrical" but "principally cinematic" in their aesthetic, intimating narrative, emotional, and conceptual themes through the use of "image and sound" instead of "foregrounding dialogue, events or characters". He highlighted Malick's use of "rambling philosophical voiceovers; the placid images of nature, offering quiet contrast to the evil deeds of men; the stunning cinematography, often achieved with natural light; the striking use of music".


title: Terrence Malick

text: While the perception of Malick as a recluse is inaccurate, he is nevertheless famously protective of his private life. His contracts stipulate that his likeness may not be used for promotional purposes, and he routinely declines requests for interviews.


title: Terrence Malick

text: From 1970 to 1976, Malick was married to Jill Jakes. His companion afterward in the late 1970s was director and screenwriter Michie Gleason. In 1985 in France, he married Michèle Marie Morette, whom he met in Paris in 1980; in 1996, Malick asked for a divorce, which was granted. Afterward he married Alexandra "Ecky" Wallace, his high-school sweetheart.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick's semi-autobiographic film "To the Wonder" was inspired by his relationships with Morette and Wallace.


title: Terrence Malick

text: Malick has received three Academy Award nominations; two for Best Director, for "The Thin Red Line" and "The Tree of Life", and a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for the former film. He was awarded the Golden Bear at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival for "The Thin Red Line", and the Palme d'Or at the 64th Cannes Film Festival for "The Tree of Life".


title: Orphan Black

text: Orphan Black is a Canadian science-fiction thriller television series created by screenwriter Graeme Manson and director John Fawcett and starring Tatiana Maslany. The series focuses on Sarah Manning, one of several genetically identical human clones, and later on some of the other clones. The series raises issues about the moral and ethical implications of human cloning and its effect on identity.


title: Orphan Black

text: The series was produced by Temple Street Productions in association with BBC America and Bell Media's Space. The show premiered on March 30, 2013, on Space in Canada, and on BBC America in the United States. On June 16, 2016, the series was renewed for a fifth and final ten-episode season, which ran from June 10 to August 12, 2017. An aftershow, After the Black, began airing in the third season on Space and was acquired by BBC America for the fourth season. In April 2022, a spin-off titled "Orphan Black: Echoes" was announced, set to premiere in 2023 on AMC.


title: Orphan Black

text: "Orphan Black" developed a loyal online fan base across social media platforms who identify as #CloneClub, a reference to those who are in-the-know in the story. Throughout its run, the series received critical acclaim and various accolades, particularly for Maslany's performance, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award, two Critics' Choice Television Awards and two further nominations, one TCA Award and one further nomination, two Satellite Award nominations, and a Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nomination. The series won a Peabody Award in 2013 and has been nominated for, and won, several Canadian Screen Awards.


title: Orphan Black

text: The series begins with Sarah Manning, a British con artist residing in Toronto, witnessing the suicide of a woman, Beth Childs, who appears to be her doppelgänger. Sarah assumes Beth's identity and occupation (as a police detective) after Beth's death. During the first season, in episode 3, Sarah discovers that she is a clone, that she has many "sister" clones spread throughout North America and Europe that are all part of an illegal human cloning experiment, and that someone is plotting to kill them and her.


title: Orphan Black

text: Alongside her foster brother, Felix Dawkins, and two of her fellow clones, Alison Hendrix and Cosima Niehaus, Sarah discovers the origin of the clones: a scientific movement called Neolution. The movement believes that human beings can use scientific knowledge to direct their evolution as a species. The movement has an institutional base in the large, influential, and wealthy biotech corporation, the Dyad Institute, which is seemingly headed by Dr. Aldous Leekie. The Dyad Institute conducts basic research, lobbies political institutions, and promotes its eugenics program, aided by the clone Rachel Duncan. It also seeks to profit from the technology the clones embody and has thus placed "monitors" into the clones' personal lives, allegedly to study them scientifically but actually to keep them under surveillance.


title: Orphan Black

text: Sarah eventually discovers that she's also wanted by the police and by a secret religious group, the Proletheans. A faction of the Proletheans carries out the clone assassinations because they believe clones are abominations, and they use Sarah's biological twin sister, Helena, to kill the other clones. Sarah and Helena share a surrogate birth mother and are twins both genetically and with respect to their early maternal environment.


title: Orphan Black

text: Eventually, the Dyad Institute and the Proletheans learn that Sarah has a daughter, Kira, the only known offspring of a clone; all other clones are sterile by design. The plotlines of the series revolve around Sarah and Kira's efforts to avoid capture by the clearly sinister Neolutionists and Proletheans, as well as around the efforts made by each clone to give sense to her life and origin.


title: Orphan Black

text: The attempt to control the creation of human life is a dominant theme that drives various story lines. A second key theme forms around the intrigues made by the Dyad Group and the Proletheans, along with the earlier intrigues made by the authors of Project Leda (an allusion to the Greek myth "Leda and the Swan"), Mrs. S., Sarah's foster mother, and her political network.


title: Orphan Black

text: Both themes intersect in the effort to control the creation of human life. Sarah, who matures because of her struggles, defends the bond between parent and child against the Neolutionists and Proletheans.


title: Orphan Black

text: By the end of the first season, ten clones of various nationalities and walks of life are revealed. Additional clones gradually emerge in the second season, including Jennifer, who died from the same respiratory illness that affected Katja and Cosima. In episode 8 of season 2, Tony, a transgender clone, is introduced. In the season one finale, Cosima discovers each clone has a different DNA tag based on ASCII coded basepairs. In addition to the identification code is the text followed by a series of patent numbers. Sarah is given a photograph whose caption suggests that the cloning project that produced her was called "Project Leda". The season 2 finale introduced Charlotte, an eight-year-old clone with a leg disability.


title: Orphan Black

text: It is also revealed that the military carried on with a male cloning initiative named Project Castor, which created Mark the Prolethean; Rudy, or "Scarface"; Miller the soldier; and Seth, the mustached clone. All the Project Castor clones are aware of their clone nature and were raised together by Dr. Virginia Coady in a military setting. The fourth episode of season 3 introduces the Castor clone Parsons, a victim of inhumane brain experiments. Sarah also discovered that Henrik Johanssen attempted to create a Castor clone from a stolen genetic sample but failed, resulting in the death of the infant Abel.


title: Orphan Black

text: In the season 3 premiere, it is revealed that, in 2006, six self-aware Project Leda clones in the Helsinki area were executed. Comics depicting these events would later place it during 2001. It is also revealed that there is a non-self-aware clone named Krystal Goderitch who works as a manicurist. She is later featured in the eighth episode, in which an unnamed Polish clone is revealed to have recently died from a respiratory illness.


title: Orphan Black

text: In the third episode of season 3, it is revealed that the original samples for Projects Castor and Leda were brother and sister, making all the clones genetic siblings. But the ninth episode of this season 3 shows even more similarity between the Castor and Leda genomes. A single woman, Kendall Malone, biological mother to Siobhan Sadler, is in fact the original of both clone lines by virtue of being a human chimera.


title: Orphan Black

text: In August 2015, the conclusion of IDW's comic book tie-in to the show revealed another self-aware clone: Veera Suominen. She was thought to be one of the clones executed in Helsinki but survived. The subsequent comic titled "Orphan Black: Helsinki", published November 2015, expands on her character.


title: Orphan Black

text: The fourth season introduces two new Leda clones and one new Castor clone. The mysterious Leda clone known as "M.K." who wears a sheep mask is later confirmed as Veera Suominen; it is revealed that she is set on exacting revenge on Ferdinand Chevalier for the murder of her sister clone and only friend, Niki Lintula. The Castor clone, Ira, is very different from his brothers due to not being raised with the same military background and savage mindset of the other Castor men.


title: Orphan Black

text: During the series finale, Camilla Torres, a Colombian Leda who is receiving the cure, is introduced. It is revealed that there are 274 Leda clones in total.


title: Orphan Black

text: Bell Media announced on June 12, 2012, that they had commissioned a 10-episode season of "Orphan Black" that would be produced by Temple Street Productions and distributed internationally by BBC Worldwide. The show is executive produced by writer Graeme Manson, director John Fawcett, and Temple Street co-presidents Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier. Co-executive producers are Karen Walton and Kerry Appleyard, while the Temple Street producers are Claire Welland and Karen Troubetskoy.


title: Orphan Black

text: On June 26, 2012, BBC America announced that they had picked up the show in the US. Though Canadian actor Elliot Page was originally considered for the lead role, the casting eventually went to another Canadian, Tatiana Maslany. The lead was announced on September 17, 2012. The rest of the principal cast was announced in late October 2012 as production began in Toronto for the first season. On February 7, 2013, it was announced that Matt Frewer had been cast as an edgy philosophical professor, Dr. Leekie, and Evelyne Brochu was cast as a graduate student in molecular and cellular biology.


title: Orphan Black

text: The show was renewed for a second season of 10 episodes on May 2, 2013, and premiered on April 19, 2014. Season 2 features several new recurring characters, including: Cal Morrison, one of Sarah's past lovers, played by Michiel Huisman; Henrik "Hank" Johanssen, a Prolethean religious leader who opposes the clone science, played by Peter Outerbridge; Mark, one of Johannsen's most devout followers, played by Ari Millen; and Marion Bowles, Rachel's boss at the Dyad Institute, played by Michelle Forbes. Patrick J. Adams guest stars in season 2, episode 6 and in the season 3 finale, portraying the character Jesse, a regular guy who becomes the love interest of one of the clones – Helena.


title: Orphan Black

text: In March 2014, BBC Worldwide North America signed a deal with Amazon.com for exclusive streaming rights to the series on Amazon Prime Instant Video. The show's "binge-worthy" quality was cited as a major reason for Amazon's interest. In April 2014, the show's second-season premiere scored a 91% rise in viewership from the 18- to 49-year-old demographic through DVR playback, the largest for any cable drama premiere that season.


title: Orphan Black

text: In April 2014, writer Stephen Hendricks filed a lawsuit against BBC and Temple Street for $5 million, alleging that they had stolen the idea for "Orphan Black" from a screenplay he had written in the late 1990s called "Double Double". He had submitted this screenplay to Temple Street in 2004, where it went into review and was ultimately rejected. The suit was filed in United States District Court in California.


title: Orphan Black

text: A third 10-episode season was announced on July 9, 2014, which began production in fall 2014. In November 2014, several new cast members for season 3 were announced, including James Frain as Ferdinand, a ruthless "cleaner"; Ksenia Solo as Shay, a holistic healer; Kyra Harper as Dr. Coady, a military doctor; Earl Pastko as Bulldog, Ferdinand's bodyguard; and Justin Chatwin as Jason Kellerman, a drug dealer. Ari Millen, who portrays Mark Rollins and other Project Castor clones, was promoted to the regular cast for season 3.


title: Orphan Black

text: A 10-episode fourth season of the show was green-lighted and officially announced on May 7, 2015. Filming for season 4 began in September 2015, and Joel Thomas Hynes was announced as having been cast as Dizzy, a self-reliant hacker. In February 2016, Jessalyn Wanlim was announced as having been cast as Evie Cho, a seductive bio-engineer and advocate of women's health.


title: Orphan Black

text: A fifth and final season consisting of 10 episodes was announced on June 6, 2016. Filming began in October 2016. Several new castings for the fifth season include: Stephen McHattie as Neolution founder P.T. Westmorland; Elyse Levesque as Detective Engers, a dirty cop associated with Neolution; Simu Liu as Mr. Mitchell, Kira's teacher; Andrew Moodie as Mr. Frontenac, Rachel's mysterious new consultant; and Jenessa Grant as Mud, an eclectic islander.


title: Orphan Black

text: In scenes in which Tatiana Maslany has multiple parts, the production films the scene multiple times with dolly-mounted motion control cameras that replicate the movement between each shot. This apparatus, the Technodolly, is referred to as the "Time Vampire" on the "Orphan Black" set due to the amount of time multiple clone scenes take from the production schedule. In these scenes, Maslany first acts the scene with her acting double Kathryn Alexandre in the alternate clone role, then alone in the same clone role, then alone in the alternate clone, and then a fourth time with the scene filmed with just the camera motion for a background plate. Suspended tennis balls help Maslany retain the proper eyelines. In postproduction, Alexandre and the tennis balls are replaced with the images of Maslany from the alternate shots, thereby allowing for more action in scenes where she interacts with herself. In the season 2 finale, when a dance party scene called for the presence of four different clones, two days of shooting and several additional body doubles were used to create the effect, and postproduction work from Geoff Scott and his team at Intelligent Creatures VFX is rumored to have taken hundreds of hours to complete.


title: Orphan Black

text: Alexandre's performances were central to Maslany's ability to create the characters. Maslany said, of Alexandre, "She's so amazing. She memorizes all of the lines, all of my blocking, all of her blocking, my mannerisms, my impulses; she, somehow, memorizes all of that and gives it back to me with a performance I can play off of." Alexandre had worked as a reader for auditioning actors in the casting stages of "Orphan Black"s initial production. She auditioned for the role of Maslany's double and earned the spot because the producers were in search of, in Alexandre's words, "an actor as opposed to just a double". Nick Abraham served a similar role as an acting double for Ari Millen's portrayal of the Castor clones.


title: Orphan Black

text: Maslany created different music playlists to help distinguish between the many clone personalities she portrays. She also used dance to develop the physicality of the characters, including their postures, gestures, and movements, and relied on her background in improv to develop the characters more fully.


title: Orphan Black

text: The character of Cosima is named after science historian Cosima Herter, a friend of showrunner Graeme Manson, who serves as the show's science consultant. Herter works with the writers to ensure the plausibility of cloning and other scientific aspects of the series, as well as the complexity of philosophical and ethical concerns the show raises. She also answers fan questions about the show's science in the writer's room blog known as "The Hive". Makeup artist Stephen Lynch, hair stylist Sandy Sokolowski, and wardrobe department head Debra Hanson are instrumental in creating the visual differences necessary to distinguish each clone, often using these to develop the characters' personalities before any lines of dialogue are written for them. Art drawn by Sarah's daughter, Kira, in the show is created by art department member Sash Kosovic.


title: Orphan Black

text: "Orphan Black" was shot on location in Toronto, Ontario. The show originally was vague about whether it was actually set in Canada. Graeme Manson said, in 2014, that the setting is deliberately ambiguous. "It's meant to be Generica. It's part of the price you pay for this kind of co-production." John Fawcett concurred, arguing that "To be honest, we don't want to say we're American and alienate the Canadians, or say we're Canadian and alienate the Americans. The bottom line is we're one big happy family. We're just a little bit further North than you." Grantland's Tara Ariano argued that this ambiguity is "a daring new way for a producer to work within CanCon strictures: Set your show in Canada (technically), employ a Canadian crew, run it on a Canadian channel...and make room for recurring guest stars like Maria Doyle Kennedy...by casting one Canadian to play close to a dozen roles." In a season 5 episode, Felix specifically identifies Canada as the location.


title: Orphan Black

text: Before this, the Canadian filming location was apparent from details such as cars with Ontario licence plates, Beth's and Mrs. S's Ontario driving licences, the currency that is used, scripted references to the suburb of Scarborough, Ontario and to Parkdale, Toronto, and a plane ticket in the pilot episode identifying Toronto Pearson International Airport. Toronto's Bridgepoint Health and Don Jail are stand-ins for the exterior of the "Dyad Institute". Scenes set in the Scarborough suburb where Alison lives are actually filmed in Markham, Ontario, a suburb immediately north of Scarborough. However, details are often deliberately obscured; American pronunciations of words like "lieutenant" are used.


title: Orphan Black

text: The co-production also influenced another important aspect of the show: Sarah's British accent and background. John Fawcett explained that BBC America asked them to make the lead character British, which she was not originally, to better fit the BBC brand. Fawcett, however, saw this directive as an advantage, as it allowed for an easy differentiation of Sarah from the other clones and a broadening of the geographical scope of the show's plot.


title: Orphan Black

text: The series received generally positive reviews, with the first season scoring a 73 out of 100 on Metacritic based on reviews from 20 critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a 94% approval rating from critics, with an average score of 8.02 out of 10 based on 31 reviews. The site's consensus reads: ""Orphan Black" is a wild science fiction ride that incorporates dramatic sensibilities which can turn from suspenseful to light at a moment's notice." Tatiana Maslany received acclaim for her performance as the various clones. Tim Goodman of "The Hollywood Reporter" called her performances "fantastic".


title: Orphan Black

text: "Orphan Black" continued to receive very positive reviews from critics, with the second season scoring 79 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on reviews from 26 critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a 97% approval rating from critics, with a rating average of 8.28 out of 10, based on reviews from 39 critics. The critical consensus reads: "Anchored by Tatiana Maslany's brilliant multi-role performance, "Orphan Black" is as densely-layered, thought-provoking, and wildly entertaining as ever." Mary McNamara of "The Los Angeles Times" wrote that "Beneath the twists and turns...lie the even more basic theme of revelation: How would you react if you discovered that what you had come to know as your life was based on misinformation." Alan Sepinwall of HitFix praised the show, calling it "a good, solid show that understands its strengths and keeps playing to them in season 2."


title: Orphan Black

text: When Maslany again failed to receive an Emmy nomination for her work on the series, critics and fans derided it as a snub.


title: Orphan Black

text: The third season received generally positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the season has a score of 70 out of 100 based on 12 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an 85% approval rating based on 21 reviews, with rating averages of 7.79 out of 10. The critical consensus reads: "Season three of "Orphan Black" lures viewers into an expanded series mythology while continuing to highlight Tatiana Maslany's multiple standout performances."


title: Orphan Black

text: The fourth season received very positive reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the season has a score of 80 out of 100 based on 5 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 97% approval rating from critics, with a rating average of 8.24 out of 10. The critical consensus reads: ""Orphan Black" makes a 180-degree return to its roots with an experimental fourth season that delves deeper into the show's strange, innovative premise."


title: Orphan Black

text: The fifth season received acclaim from critics. On Metacritic, the season has a score of 83 out of 100 based on 7 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim." On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds a 95% approval rating from critics, with a rating average of 8.3 out of 10 based on 15 reviews. The critical consensus reads: ""Orphan Black"s final season solidifies its standing as a classic science fiction television show – and offers yet another persuasive showcase for Tatiana Maslany's dramatic prowess."


title: Orphan Black

text: Maslany's failure to receive a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series at both the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards and 66th Primetime Emmy Awards was seen as a snub by critics and received significant media exposure and criticism. Tim Goodman of "The Hollywood Reporter" called it an "outrageous oversight". However, Maslany received a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 2015 and won the category in 2016. In 2018, Maslany received another nomination for the final season of the series. Maslany has also received several other accolades for her performance, including two Critics' Choice Television Awards and one further nomination, one TCA Award and one further nomination, four Satellite Award nominations, and one Golden Globe Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.


title: Orphan Black

text: The series won a Peabody Award in 2013, and has won and been nominated for several Canadian Screen Awards.


title: Orphan Black

text: The series was praised for portraying modern strategic board games as part of the plot (an idea of co-creator and board game enthusiast John Fawcett). These include "Runewars", "Agricola", "", "", "Gloomhaven" and "Scythe".


title: Orphan Black

text: In Canada, the series originally aired on Space, and made its broadcast network television debut on CTV on August 16, 2013. In the US, it aired on BBC America. It began airing in the UK on September 20, 2013, on BBC Three, with season 2 debuting on April 30, 2014. Netflix picked up the broadcast rights in the UK and Ireland for season 4 onwards. It premiered in Australia on January 14, 2014, on SBS2.


title: Orphan Black

text: In July 2014, it was announced that a comic book series published by IDW Publishing would begin in early 2015. The was released in February 2015, and the comic book series is co-written by series creators John Fawcett and Graeme Manson.


title: Orphan Black

text: In May 2015, two soundtracks were released by Varèse Sarabande Records featuring music from seasons 1 and 2. The score includes music composed by Trevor Yuile and the soundtrack includes the music featured in "Orphan Black" by other artists.


title: Orphan Black

text: In June 2019, a 10-episode audio series titled "Orphan Black: The Next Chapter" was announced, with Tatiana Maslany reprising her role as the Project Leda clones. Serving as an official continuation of the series, it is set eight years after the series finale. Malka Older serves as the showrunner with Mishell Baker, Lindsay Smith, Heli Kennedy, Madeline Ashby and E.C. Myers as writers. The series is released through the platform Serial Box and the first episode was made available on September 12, 2019. A second season premiered in October 2021, co-produced by Realm and AMC Networks, adding original cast members Jordan Gavaris, Kristian Bruun and Evelyne Brochu to the cast.


title: Orphan Black

text: A Japanese remake of the show, "Orphan Black – 7 Genes", launched December 2, 2017, on Fuji Television, starring South Korean actress and singer Kang Ji-young as Sara Aoyama, a broke and desperate single mother who witnesses the shocking suicide of a woman who looks just like her. The remake was produced by Telepack for Tokai TV under licence from BBC Worldwide.


title: Orphan Black

text: In March 2019, it was reported that a new series set in the "Orphan Black" universe was in early development stages at AMC, to be produced by Temple Street Productions. In February 2022, it was announced that Anna Fishko would be the writer of the show and that the series would follow a new story set in the same world as "Orphan Black". In April 2022, the series was greenlit and titled "Orphan Black: Echoes" and it is scheduled for a 2023 premiere on AMC and AMC+. In July 2022, Krysten Ritter was cast in the lead role of Lucy.


title: Lucas Black

text: Lucas York Black (born November 29, 1982) is an American film and television actor. He is best known as the main character Sean Boswell in "" (2006), of which he would later reprise the character in "Furious 7" (2015) and "F9" (2021), along with his other known roles such as Caleb Temple in the CBS television series "American Gothic" (1995–1996), and Special Agent Christopher LaSalle on CBS's "" (2014–2019). His notable films include "Sling Blade" (1996), "Flash" (1997), "Crazy in Alabama" (1999), "All the Pretty Horses" (2000), "Friday Night Lights" (2004), "Jarhead" (2005), "Get Low" (2009), "Legion" (2010), "Seven Days in Utopia" (2011), and "42" (2013).


title: Lucas Black

text: Black was born in Decatur, Alabama, to Jan Gillespie, an office worker, and Larry Black, a museum employee. He has two older siblings and was raised a Southern Baptist. He grew up in Speake, Alabama, played football for the Speake Bobcats, and graduated from high school in May 2001.


title: Lucas Black

text: At age 11, Black made his film debut in Kevin Costner's film "The War". He subsequently was cast as Caleb Temple in CBS's television series "American Gothic", which ran from 1995 to 1996, and in the films "Sling Blade", "Ghosts of Mississippi", and "The X-Files". Later Black starred as Conner Strong in the TV film "Flash" (1997), which aired on "The Wonderful World of Disney;" in the movie his character visits a horse every day in the hope of buying it.


title: Lucas Black

text: Black played a supporting role as Oakley in the historical drama "Cold Mountain" (2003). In 2004, he starred as Vernon, an autistic piano prodigy, in the indie musical drama "Killer Diller" (2004), and as Mike Winchell in the football-themed drama "Friday Night Lights" (2004), directed by Peter Berg.


title: Lucas Black

text: Black starred as Nat Banyon in the indie thriller film "Deepwater" (2005), directed by David S. Marfield; as Chris Kruger in the Gulf War-themed drama film "Jarhead" (2005), directed by Sam Mendes; and as Sean Boswell in the third "The Fast and the Furious" film, "" (2006), directed by Justin Lin. He described "Tokyo Drift" as the one in which he "had the most fun."


title: Lucas Black

text: Black starred as Buddy in the indie drama "Get Low" (2009), directed by Aaron Schneider; as Jeep Hanson in the Bible-themed fantasy thriller "Legion" (2010); and as Luke Chisholm, a talented young golfer set on making the pro tour, in the indie golfing film "Seven Days in Utopia" (2010).


title: Lucas Black

text: He portrayed the Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop Pee Wee Reese in the drama film "42" (2013). Black, having done previous sports films and played sports early in his life, found the filming experience "a lot more enjoyable because you get to reminisce about the days when I used to play, and then you get the experience of being on a team again with the actors and have that camaraderie with the players".


title: Lucas Black

text: In 2014, Lucas was cast in "" as NCIS Special Agent LaSalle, a no-nonsense agent with a "work hard, play hard" motto.


title: Lucas Black

text: In 2015, Black returned to play Sean Boswell in a cameo appearance in "Furious 7". Sean did not appear in the eighth installment, "The Fate of the Furious", and in July 2016, Black explained on "The Chris Mannix Show" that he could not return due to his schedule with "".


title: Lucas Black

text: He also returned to the "Fast & Furious" franchise, having a supporting role as Sean in "F9" in 2021.


title: Lucas Black

text: Black married Maggie O'Brien, a lawyer, in 2010. They have three children. After he left "," he started to upload fishing videos to YouTube. He is a Christian.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: Bandai Namco Entertainment was formed on 31 March 2006, following a corporate merge between Namco and Bandai on 29 September of the previous year. Originally known as , it merged Bandai Games and Namco Networks in January to create Namco Bandai Games America. Namco Bandai Games absorbed Banpresto's video game division in 2008 and dissolved Bandai Networks in 2009.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: Development operations were spun off into a new company in 2012, Namco Bandai Studios (now called Bandai Namco Studios), to help create faster development time and tighter cohesion between development teams. Namco Bandai Games was renamed Bandai Namco Games in 2014 and again to Bandai Namco Entertainment a year later.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: Bandai Namco Entertainment owns several multi-million video game franchises, including "Pac-Man", "Tekken", "Gundam", "Soulcalibur", "Tales", "Ace Combat", "Taiko no Tatsujin", "The Idolmaster" and "Dark Souls". Pac-Man, himself serves as the official mascot of the company.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: As of March 2022, it is the third largest video game company in Japan in terms of revenue and market capitalization, after Sony Interactive Entertainment and Nintendo, ahead of Sega, Square Enix, Nexon, Capcom and Konami.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: The company also owns the licenses to several Japanese media franchises, such as "Shonen Jump", "Kamen Rider", "Super Sentai", "Sword Art Online", and the "Ultra Series". It is the core publishing and development area of the Bandai Namco Group's "Content Strategic Business Unit" (Content SBU), and the main video game branch of Bandai Namco Holdings.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: In February 2005, in the wake of their 50th anniversary, Namco announced their intent to merge with Bandai to form Bandai Namco Holdings. The merge was finalized on 25 September, creating the third-largest video game publisher in Japan by revenue. Bandai purchased Namco for US$1.7 billion, with Namco receiving 43 percent of shares and Bandai receiving the other 57 percent.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: Both companies in a joint statement cited Japan's decreasing birth rates and advancements in technology as the reason for the merge, and to increase their relevance to newer audiences. Both companies worked independently under the newly formed Bandai Namco Holdings until March 31, 2006, when their video game operations were merged to form Namco Bandai Games. Earlier on 26 January, Namco Hometek and Bandai Games merged to form Namco Bandai Games America, the North American division.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: On 1 April 2008, Banpresto's video game operations were absorbed by Namco Bandai Games. On 1 April 2009, Bandai Networks, Namco Bandai's mobile phone business, was dissolved and absorbed into Namco Bandai Games.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: Just prior to the release of "Afro Samurai" at the end of 2008, the company announced the Surge publishing label. The new label was an attempt at creating a separate identity for the company, aimed at a Western audience desiring more mature themes in-game content. Following "Afro", early press materials indicated that "" and "Splatterhouse" would also be released under the Surge label, but neither game ultimately did; both were released with a retro Namco label instead to reflect the series' legacy, the Surge branding would be phased out following the release of "Afro Samurai".


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: In 2010, Namco Bandai Games entered the "Guinness World Records" as the company that released the most TV commercials for the same product, a Nintendo DS game called "". They created 100 versions of the ad as the game consists of 100 chapters.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: In early 2011, Namco Networks was absorbed into Namco Bandai Games America, effectively consolidating Namco Bandai's American console, handheld, and mobile video game development operations.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: On 2 April 2012, Namco Bandai Games spun off its development operations into a new company called Namco Bandai Studios. The new company was spurred by Namco Bandai's interest in faster development times and tighter cohesion between disparate development teams. It comprises approximately 1,000 employees, who were already part of Namco Bandai.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: In March 2013, Namco Bandai Games established two new game studios. The first, Namco Bandai Studios Singapore, is Namco Bandai's "leading development center" in Asia and develops game content for the Asia Pacific market. The second studio, Namco Bandai Studios Vancouver, works on online social games and game content development for North America and Europe, and is part of the Center for Digital Media (CDM). In July 2013, Namco Bandai Partners (NBP), which used to oversee the PAL distribution network since September 2012, merged with Namco Bandai Games Europe (NBGE) in order to push distribution and publishing into one entity, Namco Bandai Games Europe (NBGE), which is now known as Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe (BNEE). The Australian subsidiary of BNEE, Bandai Namco Entertainment Australia, aside from acting as the publisher and distributor for Bandai Namco titles in Australia, also publishes and distributes titles in the ANZ region for Square Enix and NIS America amongst others.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: In 2014, Namco Bandai Games and Namco Bandai Studios became Bandai Namco Games and Bandai Namco Studios, respectively. The change unified the brand internationally in order to increase the "value" and "appeal" of the name. The full company name was changed to Bandai Namco Entertainment on 1 April 2015.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: On 1 April 2018, the amusement machine business division of Bandai Namco Entertainment was transferred over to sister company Bandai Namco Amusement.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: In September 2020, Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe and Oceania acquired Canadian video game developer Reflector Entertainment. The company acquired minority stake in Limbic Entertainment in February 2021.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: In March 2021, Bandai Namco Amusement announced that withdrawal of the arcade game facility business in North America due to closure of various gaming facilities from the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the announcement, Bandai Namco Amusement America was not affected by this withdrawal. In April 2021, Bandai Namco Entertainment America announced it would close its Santa Clara office and move to a new Southern California office.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: In June 2022, Bandai Namco Entertainment and ILCA. Inc announced the establishment of Bandai Namco Aces, with 51% of the shares owned by Bandai Namco and 49% of the shares owned by ILCA. This new development company will be responsible for the development of AAA titles, including "Ace Combat".


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: Bandai Namco Entertainment was originally headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, moving their operations to Minato-ku, Tokyo in February 2016. The North American and European divisions respectively in Santa Clara, California as Bandai Namco Entertainment America, and in Lyon, France as Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe. Divisions have also been established in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Most of the Non-American and Japanese divisions were formerly distribution arms of Atari until the company sold them off to Bandai Namco in July 2009 alongside their Distribution Partners unit, which was effectively renamed Namco Bandai Partners until being folded in 2013.


title: Bandai Namco Entertainment

text: Bandai Namco Entertainment is the core development division of the Bandai Namco Group's "Content Strategic Business Unit" (Content SBU), and the main video game branch of Bandai Namco Holdings.