title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: To counter the MiG-15, three squadrons of the F-86 Sabre, America's only operational jet with swept wings, were quickly rushed to Korea in December. On 17 December, Lt Col. Bruce H. Hinton forced Maj. Yakov Nikanorovich Yefromeyenko to eject from his burning MiG. Five days later, Capt. Nikolay Yefremovich Vorobyov shot down the F-86A of Captain Lawrence V. Bach in his MiG-15bis. Both sides exaggerated their claims of aerial victories that month. Sabre fliers claimed eight MiGs, and the Soviets 12 F-86s; the actual losses were three MiGs and at least four Sabres.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The British Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir John Slessor, commented: "not only is it faster than anything we are building today, but it is already being produced in very large numbers [...] The Russians, therefore, have achieved a four year lead over British development in respect of the vitally important interceptor fighter".


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: At the end of 1950, the Soviet Union assigned a new unit to support China, the 324th IAD (made up of two regiments: the 176th GIAP and 196th IAP). At that time, a MiG-15 interceptor regiment had 35 to 40 aircraft, and a division was usually composed of three regiments. When the new unit arrived at air bases along the Yalu River in March 1951, it had undergone preliminary training at Soviet bases in the neighboring Maritime Military Districts and started an intense period of air-to-air training in the MiG-15. The Soviets trained alongside Chinese and Korean pilots. Both regiments of the 324th IAD redeployed to the forward airbase in Antung and entered combat in early April 1951. The 303rd IAD of General Georgiy A. Lobov arrived in Korea in June of that same year and commenced combat operations in August.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: Soviet MiG pilots were trained to attack enemy formations in coordinated attacks from different directions, using both height and high speed to their advantage. The first encounters established the main features of the aerial battles of the next two and a half years. The MiG-15 and MiG-15bis had a higher ceiling than all versions of the Sabre – versus of the F-86F – and accelerated faster than F-86A/E/Fs due to their better thrust-to-weight ratio – versus of the F-86F. The MiG-15's per minute climbing rate was also greater than the per minute of the F-86A and -E (the F-86F matched the MiG-15). A better turn radius above further distinguished the MiG-15. The MiG was slower at low altitude – in the MiG-15bis configuration as opposed to the of the F-86F. All Sabres could also turn tighter below . Thus, if the MiG-15 forced the Sabre to fight in the vertical plane or in the horizontal one above , it gained a significant advantage. Furthermore, a MiG-15 could easily escape from a Sabre by climbing to its ceiling, knowing that the F-86 could not follow. Below 8,000 m (26,247 ft), however, the Sabre had a slight advantage over the MiG in most aspects excluding climb rate, especially if the Soviet pilot made the mistake of fighting in the horizontal. The MiG also more powerful weaponry – one 37 mm N-37 cannon and two 23 mm NR-23 cannon, versus the six 12.7 mm (.50 in) machine guns of the Sabre. However, the Soviet World War II-era ASP-1N gyroscopic gunsight was less sophisticated than the accurate A-1CM and A4 radar ranging sights of the F-86E and -F.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The main mission of the MiG-15 was not to dogfight the F-86 but to counter the USAF Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers. This mission was assigned to the elite of the Soviet Air Force (VVS), in April 1951 to the 324th IAD of Colonel Ivan Kozhedub, and later to the 303rd IAD of General Georgiy A. Lobov, who arrived in Korea in June of the same year.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: On 12 April 1951, 44 MiG-15s took on a USAF formation of 48 B-29 Superfortresses escorted by 18 F-86 Sabres, 54 F-84 Thunderjets and 24 F-80 Shooting Stars heading towards the bridge linking North Korea and Red China over the Yalu River in Uiju. The experienced Soviet fliers shot down or damaged beyond repair 10 B-29As, one F-86A and three F-80Cs for the loss of only one MiG. The Soviet air units claimed to have shot down 29 American aircraft through the rest of the month: 11 F-80s, seven B-29s and nine F-51s. 23 out of these 29 claims match acknowledged losses, but US sources assert that most of them were either operational or due to flak, admitting only four B-29s (a downed B-29, plus two B-29s and an RB-29 that crash-landed or were damaged beyond repair). US historians agree that the MiG-15 gained aerial superiority over northwestern Korea.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: US strategic bombers returned in the week of 22–27 October to neutralize the North Korean aerodromes of Namsi, Taechon and Saamchan, taking further losses to the MiG-15. On 23 October 1951, 56 MiG-15bis intercepted nine B-29s escorted by 34 F-86s and 55 F-84Es. In spite of their numerical inferiority, the Soviet airmen shot down or damaged beyond repair eight B-29As and two F-84Es, losing only one MiG in return and leading Americans to call that day "Black Tuesday". The most successful Soviet pilots that day were Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr P. Smorchkov and 1st Lieutenant Dmitriy A. Samoylov. The former shot down a Superfortress on each of 22, 23 and 24 October. Samoylov added two F-86As to his tally on 24 October 1951, and on 27 October shot down two more aircraft: a B-29A and an F-84E. These losses among the heavy bombers forced the Far East Air Forces High Command to cancel the precision daylight attacks of the B-29s and only undertake radar-directed night raids.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: From November 1951 to January 1952, both sides tried to achieve air superiority over the Yalu, or at least tried to deny it to the enemy, and in consequence, the intensity of the aerial combat reached peaks not seen before between MiG-15 and F-86 pilots. During the period from November 1950 to January 1952, no fewer than 40 Soviet MiG-15 pilots were credited as aces, with five or more victories. Soviet combat records show that the first pilot to claim his fifth aerial victory was Captain Stepan Ivanovich Naumenko on 24 December 1950. The honor falls to Captain Sergei Kramarenko, when on 29 July 1951, he scored his actual fifth victory. Approximately 16 out of those 40 pilots actually became aces, the most successful being Major Nikolay Sutyagin, credited with 22 victories, 13 of which were confirmed by the US; Colonel Yevgeny Pepelyaev with 19 claims, 15 confirmed; and Major Lev Shchukin with 17 credited, 11 verified.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The MiG leaders, enjoying the advantage from the ground and the tactical advantage of an aircraft with superior altitude performance were able to dictate the tactical situation at least until the battle was started. They could decide to fight or stay out as they wished. The advantage of radar control from the ground also allowed the MiGs, if desired, to pass through the gaps in the F-86 patrol pattern.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: At the end of January 1952, the 303rd IAD was replaced by the 97th (16th and 148th IAP) and in February the 324th IAD was replaced by the 190th IAD (256th, 494th and 821st IAP). These new units were poorly trained, the bulk of the pilots having only 50–60 hours flying the MiG. Consequently, those units suffered great losses from the now better-prepared American Sabre pilots. At least two Soviet fliers became aces during that period: Majors Arkadiy S. Boytsov and Vladimir N. Zabelin, with six and nine victories respectively.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: During the six months of February to July 1952, they lost 81 MiGs, and 34 pilots were killed by F-86s, and in return, they only shot down 68 UN aircraft (including 36 F-86s). The greatest losses came on 4 July 1952, when 11 MiGs were downed by Sabres, with one pilot killed in action. Contributing to all this was the secret "Maple Special" Operation, a plan by Colonel Francis Gabreski to cross the Yalu River into Manchuria (something officially forbidden) and catch the MiGs unaware during their takeoffs or landings, when they were at disadvantage: flying slow, at a low level, and sometimes short of ammunition and fuel.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: Even under these circumstances, MiG-15 pilots would score at least two important victories against US aces:


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: In May 1952, new and better trained PVO divisions, the 133rd and 216th IADs, arrived in Korea. They would replace the 97th and 190th by July 1952, and if they could not take aerial superiority away from the now well-prepared Americans, then they certainly neutralized it between September 1952 and July 1953. In September 1952, the 32nd IAD also started combat operations. Again, the figures of victories and losses in the air are still debated by historians of the US and the former Soviet Union, but on at least three occasions, Soviet MiG-15 aces gained the upper hand against Sabre aces:


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The MiG-15 threat forced the Far East Air Forces to cancel B-29 daylight raids in favor of night radar-guided missions from November 1951 onward. Initially, this presented a threat to Communist defenses, as their only specialized night-fighting unit was equipped with the prop-driven Lavochkin La-11, inadequate for the task of intercepting the B-29. Part of the regiment was re-equipped with the MiG-15bis, and another night-fighting unit joined the fray, causing American heavy bombers to suffer losses again. Between 21:50 and 22:30 on 10 June 1952, four MiG-15bis attacked B-29s over Sonchon and Kwaksan. Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Ivanovich Studilin damaged a B-29A beyond repair, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Kimpo Air Base. A few minutes later, Major Anatoly Karelin added two more Superfortresses to his tally. Studilin and Karelin's wingmen, Major L. A. Boykovets and 1st Lieutenant Zhahmany Ihsangalyev, also damaged one B-29 each. Anatoly Karelin eventually became an ace with six kills (all B-29s at night). In the aftermath of these battles, B-29 night sorties were cancelled for two months. Originally conceived to shoot down rather than escort bombers, both of America's state-of-art jet night fighters – the F-94 Starfire and the F3D Skyknight – were committed to protecting the Superfortresses against MiGs.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The MiG-15 was less effective in getting past the Marine Corps ground-based two-seat F3D Skyknight night fighters assigned to escort B-29s after the F-94 Starfires proved ineffective. What the squat aircraft's lacked in sheer performance, they made up with the advantage of a search radar that enabled the Skyknight to see its targets clearly, while the MiG-15's directions to find bomber formations were of little use in seeing escorting fighters. On the night of 2–3 November 1952, a Skyknight with pilot Major William Stratton and radar operator Hans Hoagland damaged the MiG-15 of Captain V. D. Vishnyak. Five days later, Oliver R. Davis and radar operator D.F. "Ding" Fessler downed a MiG-15bis; the pilot, Lieutenant Ivan P. Kovalyov, ejected safely. Skyknights claimed five MiG kills for no losses of their own, and no B-29s escorted by them were lost to enemy fighters. However, the duel was not one-sided: on the night of 16 January 1953, an F3D almost did fall to a MiG, when the Skyknight of Captain George Cross and Master Sergeant J. A. Piekutowski suffered serious damage in an attack by a Soviet MiG-15bis; with difficulty, the Skyknight returned to Kunsan Air Base. Three and a half months later, on the night of 29 May 1953, Chinese MiG-15 pilot Hou Shujun of the PLAAF shot down an F3D-2 over Anju; Sgt. James V. Harrell's remains were found on a beach during the summer of 2001 just miles from the Kunsan base. Captain James B. Brown is still missing in action.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: In a Royal Navy Sea Fury flying from a light fleet carrier FAA pilot Lieutenant Peter "Hoagy" Carmichael downed a MiG-15 on 8 August 1952, in air-to-air combat. The Sea Fury would be one of the few piston-engined fighter aircraft following World War II's end to shoot down a jet fighter. On 10 September 1952, Captain Jesse G. Folmar shot down a MiG-15 with an F4U Corsair but was himself downed by another MiG.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The figures given by the Soviet sources indicate that the MiG-15s of the 64th IAK (the fighter corps that included all the divisions that rotated through the conflict) made 60,450 daylight combat sorties and 2,779 night ones and engaged the enemy in 1,683 daylight aerial battles and 107 at night, claiming to have shot down 1,097 UN aircraft over Korea, including 647 F-86s, 185 F-84s, 118 F-80s, 28 F-51s, 11 F-94s, 65 B-29s, 26 Gloster Meteors and 17 aircraft of different types. According to U.S, 57 B-29s and reconnaissance variants were lost in combat during the Korean war, almost by MiG-15.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The Soviet VVS and PVO were the primary users of the MiG-15 during the war, but not the only ones; it was also used by the PLAAF and KPAF (known as the United Air Army). Despite bitter complaints from the Soviet Union, which repeatedly requested the Chinese to accelerate the introduction of MiG-15 new units, the Chinese were relatively slow in this process at the time, and by 1951 there were only two regiments flying MiG-15bis as night fighters. Being not completely trained and equipped, both units were used only for the defence of China, but they became involved in the interception of USAF reconnaissance aircraft, some of which went very deep over China.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: By September 1951, with enough MiG-15s in the Yalu area, Soviet and Chinese leaders were confident enough to begin planning the deployment of Chinese and new North Korean MiG-15 regiments outside Chinese sanctuaries. Excluding a brief episode in January 1951, the PLAAF did not see action until 25 September 1951, when 16 MiG-15s engaged Sabres, with pilot Li Yongtai claiming a victory, but losing a MiG and its pilot. The North Korean unit equipped with the MiG-15 got into action a year later, in September 1952. From then until the end of the war, the United Air Army claimed to have shot down 211 F-86s, 72 F-84s and F-80s, and 47 other aircraft of various types, losing 116 Chinese airmen and 231 aircraft: 224 MiG-15s, three La-11s and four Tupolev Tu-2s. Several pilots were credited with five or more enemy aircraft, such as Zhao Baotong with seven victories, Wang Hai with nine kills, and both Kan Yon Duk and Kim Di San with five.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: Based on Soviet archival data, 335 Soviet MiG-15s are known to have been admitted as lost over Korea. Chinese claims of their losses amount to 224 MiG-15s over Korea. North Korean losses are not known, but according to North Korean defectors their air force lost around 100 MiG-15s during the war. Thus a total of 659 MiG-15s are admitted as being lost by all causes, while USAF claims of their losses amount to 78 F-86 Sabres in air-to-air combat. Overall UN losses to MiG-15s are credited as 78 F-86 Sabres and 75 aircraft of other types. However, one modern source claims that the USAF has more recently cited 224 losses (circa 100 to air combat) out of 674 F-86s deployed to Korea. Conversely, data-matching with Soviet records shows that US pilots routinely attributed their own combat losses to "landing accidents" and "other causes". According to official US data ("USAF Statistical Digest FY1953"), the USAF lost 250 F-86 fighters in Korea: 184 were lost in combat (78 in air-combat, 19 by Anti-aircraft gun, 26 were "unknown causes" and 61 were "other losses") and 66 in accidents.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: More recent research by Dorr, Lake and Thompson has claimed the actual ratio is closer to 2 to 1. The Soviets claimed to have downed over 600 Sabres, together with the Chinese claims. A recent RAND report made reference to "recent scholarship" of F-86 v MiG-15 combat over Korea and concluded that the actual kill:loss ratio for the F-86 was 1.8 to 1 overall, and likely closer to 1.3 to 1 against MiGs flown by Soviet pilots. However, this ratio did not count the number of aircraft of other types (B-29, A-26, F-80, F-82, F-84...) that were shot down by MiG-15s.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: In April 1951, a crashed MiG-15 was spotted near the Chongchon River. On 17 April 1951, a USAF Sikorsky H-19 staging through Baengnyeongdo carried a US/South Korean team to the crash site. They photographed the wreck and removed the turbine blades, combustion chamber, exhaust pipe and horizontal stabilizer. The overloaded helicopter then flew the team and samples back to Paengyong-do, where they were transferred to an SA-16 and flown south and then to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, for evaluation.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: In July 1951, the submerged remains of a MiG-15 were spotted by Royal Navy carrier aircraft from . The MiG-15 was broken up, a piece of the engine was visible aft of the center section, and the tail section was located some distance away. The wreck was located in an area of mudbanks with treacherous tides and at the end of a narrow channel that was supposedly mined, c. 160 km behind the front lines. The MiG-15 was retrieved, transported to Incheon and then to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: Eager to obtain an intact MiG for combat testing in a controlled environment, the United States launched Operation Moolah, which offered to any pilot who defected with his MiG-15, political asylum and a reward of US$100,000 (). Franciszek Jarecki, a Polish Air Force pilot, defected from Soviet-controlled Poland in a MiG-15 on the morning of 5 March 1953, allowing Western air experts to examine the aircraft for the first time. Jarecki flew from Słupsk to the field airport at Rønne on the Danish island of Bornholm. The whole trip took him only a few minutes. Specialists from the United States, called to the airfield by the Danish authorities, thoroughly examined the aircraft. According to international regulations, they then returned it by ship to Poland a few weeks later. Jarecki also received a $50,000 reward for being the first to present a MiG-15 to the Americans and became a US citizen.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: Following this example, a total of four Polish MiG-15 pilots defected. No military maps showed foreign Baltic coastlines and so Franciszek Jarecki navigated using a basic school atlas, three of the four pilots managed to find the small island of Bornholm while one arrived at the Swedish Coast approximate 80 km North of Bornholm.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: A North Korean pilot, Lieutenant Kenneth H. Rowe (born No Kum-Sok) defected at Kimpo Air Base on 21 September 1953. After landing he claimed to be unaware of the US$100,000 reward. This MiG-15 was minutely inspected and was test flown by several test pilots, including Chuck Yeager. Yeager reported in his autobiography the MiG-15 had dangerous handling faults and claimed that during a visit to the USSR, Soviet pilots were incredulous he had "dived" in it, this supposedly being very hazardous. Lieutenant No's aircraft is now on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force near Dayton, Ohio.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: During the 1950s, the MiG-15s of the USSR and their Warsaw Pact allies on many occasions, intercepted aircraft of the NATO air forces performing reconnaissance near or inside their territory; such incidents sometimes ended with aircraft of one side or the other being shot down. The known incidents where the MiG-15 was involved include:


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: Egypt bought two squadrons of MiG-15bis and MiG-17 fighters in 1955 from Czechoslovakia with the sponsorship and support of the USSR, just in time to participate in the Suez Canal Crisis. By the outbreak of the Suez conflict in October 1956, four squadrons of the Egyptian Air Force were equipped with the type, although few pilots were trained to fly them effectively.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: They first saw aerial action on the morning of 30 October, intercepting four RAF Canberra bombers on a reconnaissance mission over the Canal Zone, damaging one. Later that day, MiG-15s attacked Israeli forces at Mitla Pass and El Thamed in the Sinai, destroying half a dozen vehicles. As a result, the Israeli Air Force (IAF) instituted a standing combat air patrol over the Canal, and the next attack resulted in two MiGs downed by IAF Mysteres, although the Egyptian aircraft were able to successfully hit the Israeli troops.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The next day, the MiGs evened the score somewhat when they badly damaged two IAF Ouragan fighters, forcing one of them to crash-land in the desert. British and French warplanes then began a systematic bombing campaign of Egyptian air bases, destroying at least eight MiGs and dozens of other Egyptian aircraft on the ground and forcing the others to disperse. The remaining aircraft still managed to fly some attack missions, but the Egyptians had lost air superiority.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: During air combat against the IAF, Egyptian MiG-15bis managed to shoot down two Israeli aircraft: a Gloster Meteor F.8 on 30 October 1956, and a Dassault Ouragan on 1 November, which performed a belly landing – this last victory was scored by the Egyptian pilot Faruq el-Gazzavi. A third aircraft, an L-8 Piper Cub, was destroyed on the ground.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: An Egyptian MiG-15 was damaged, but the pilot managed to ditch in Lake Bardawil, and the aircraft was salvaged by Israeli forces.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: After the Korean War ended, Communist China turned its attention back to Nationalist China on the island of Taiwan. Chinese MiG-15s were in action over the Taiwan Strait against the outnumbered Nationalist Air Force (CNAF) and helped make possible the Communist occupation of two strategic island groups. The US had been lending support to the Nationalists since 1951 and started delivery of F-86s in 1955. Sabres and MiGs clashed three years later in the Quemoy Crisis.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: Throughout the 1950s, MiG-15s of China's People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) frequently engaged Republic of China (ROC) and U.S. aircraft in combat; in 1958 a ROC F-86 fighter achieved the first air-to-air kill with an AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile against a PLAAF MiG-15.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: Vietnam operated a number of MiG-15s and MiG-15UTIs for training only. There is no mention of the MiG-15 being involved in any combat against American aircraft in the early stages of the Vietnam War.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, was killed in a crash during a March 1968 training flight in a MiG-15UTI due to poor visibility and miscommunication with ground control.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The more advanced MiG-17 "Fresco" was very similar in appearance, but addressed many of the limitations of the MiG-15. It introduced a new swept wing with a "compound sweep" configuration: a 45° angle near the fuselage, and a 42° angle for the outboard part of the wings. The first prototype was flown in 1953 before the end of the Korean war. Later versions introduced radar, afterburning engines and missiles.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The USSR built 1344 MiG-15, 8352 MiG-15bis and 3434 two-seaters. It was also built under license in Czechoslovakia as the S-102 (MiG-15, 821 aircraft), S-103 (MiG-15bis, 620 aircraft) and CS-102 (MiG-15UTI, 2012 aircraft) and Poland as the Lim-1 (MiG-15, 227 aircraft) and Lim-2 (MiG-15bis, 500 aircraft). No two-seaters have been built in Poland as such – the SB Lim-1 and SB Lim-2 variants were remanufactured from hundreds of Polish-, Czech- and Soviet-built single-seaters.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: In the early 1950s, the Soviet Union delivered hundreds of MiG-15s to China, where they received the designation J-2. The Soviets also sent almost a thousand MiG-15 engineers and specialists to China, where they assisted China's Shenyang Aircraft Factory in building the MiG-15UTI trainer (designated JJ-2). China never produced a single-seat fighter version, only the two-seat JJ-2. The number of JJ-2s built remains unknown and the estimates vary between 120 and 500 aircraft.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The designation "J-4" is unclear; some sources claim Western observers mistakenly labelled China's MiG-15"bis" a "J-4", while the PLAAF never used the "J-4" designation. Others claim "J-4" is used for MiG-17F, while "J-5" is used for MiG-17PF. Another source claims the PLAAF used "J-4" for Soviet-built MiG-17A, which were quickly replaced by license-built MiG-17Fs (J-5s).


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: Many MiG-15s are on display throughout the world. In addition, they are becoming increasingly common as private sport aircraft and warbirds. According to the FAA, there were 43 privately owned MiG-15s in the US in 2011, including Chinese and Polish derivatives, the first of which is owned by aviator and aerobatic flyer, Paul T. Entrekin.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The Finnish nickname of the aircraft was "Mukelo" ("Ungainly"), after the FinnAF aircraft type designation code MU.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: This aircraft is a SBLim-2 (Polish-built MiG-15UTI), produced by WSK-Mielec in 1952. The aircraft is operated by the Norwegian Air Force.


title: Ritu Arya

text: Ritu Arya (born 17 September 1988) is an English actress. She first became known for her role as Dr. Megan Sharma in the soap opera "Doctors" (2013–2017), for which she was nominated for a British Soap Award. She gained further recognition for her roles as Flash in the sci-fi series "Humans" (2016–2018) and Lila Pitts in the Netflix superhero series "The Umbrella Academy" (2019–present).


title: Ritu Arya

text: Ritu Arya's mother and father both work in real estate. She is of Indian descent and has two brothers, Romi and Rahul. Arya began acting as a teenager. Arya obtained a B.Sc. in astrophysics from the University of Southampton and trained at the Oxford School of Drama.


title: Ritu Arya

text: Following a series of roles in short films, Arya played the recurring role of Dr. Megan Sharma in the British soap opera "Doctors", for which she was nominated for a British Soap Award for Best Newcomer in 2017. She had a guest appearance in the series "Sherlock" in 2014, and later had a recurring role as the android Flash in the series "Humans" from 2016 to 2018. In 2019, Arya appeared as Jenna in the film "Last Christmas", which was a commercial success. The following year, she had a recurring role as Lava in the Netflix series "Feel Good" and guest starred in the series "Doctor Who".


title: Ritu Arya

text: In 2020, Arya starred as Lila Pitts in the second season of Netflix original series "The Umbrella Academy", which earned her praise; she reprised the character in the series' third season, which was released in 2022. "Bustle" magazine described her performance in the series as "scene-stealing" and "Uproxx" called Arya the "wild-card" of the show. In 2021, Arya co-starred in the Netflix film "Red Notice". She will next star in the Greta Gerwig film "Barbie", set for release in 2023.


title: Ritu Arya

text: Arya was a drummer and part of the band KIN, who released their debut single "Sharing Light" in April 2020. Their follow-up single "L.O.V.E." premiered on 6 August 2020. On the 16 October 2022 KIN released a statement saying that Ritu had left the band and her last live show with them was on the 14 October 2022 in London.


title: Gotye

text: Wouter André "Wally" De Backer (born 21 May 1980), better known by his stage name Gotye ( ), is a Belgian-Australian multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter. The name "Gotye" is a pronunciation respelling of "Gauthier", the French cognate of his Dutch given name "Wouter".


title: Gotye

text: Gotye has released three studio albums independently and one album featuring remixes of tracks from his first two albums. He is a founding member of the Melbourne indie-pop trio The Basics, who have independently released four studio albums and numerous other titles since 2002. His voice has been compared to those of Peter Gabriel and Sting. Gotye achieved breakout success with his 2011 single "Somebody That I Used to Know", reaching number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and becoming the best-selling song of 2012. This made him the fifth Australian-based artist to top the chart and the second born in Belgium (after The Singing Nun in 1963). He has won five ARIA Awards and received a nomination for an MTV EMA for Best Asia and Pacific Act. On 10 February 2013, he won three Grammy Awards at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards Show: Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for "Somebody That I Used to Know" and Best Alternative Music Album for "Making Mirrors". Gotye has said he sometimes feels "less of a musician, more of a tinkerer."


title: Gotye

text: Born in 1980, in Bruges, Belgium, De Backer immigrated to Australia with his family two years later. They first resided in Sydney before settling in Montmorency, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. His mother nicknamed him "Gotye", based on "Gauthier", the French equivalent of his Dutch name. His parents chose to use the English equivalent of his name, Walter, when enrolling him in school.


title: Gotye

text: As a youth, De Backer displayed a passion for music, learning various instruments, most notably piano and drums. In 2012, De Backer recalled that as a teenager he used to listen "obsessively"


title: Gotye

text: to Depeche Mode's album "Songs of Faith and Devotion", stating, "I could single-handedly credit that record with wanting me to make records." In his teens, De Backer formed the band Downstares with three of his high school friends, including Lucas Taranto (who still plays in his Gotye live shows). After high school, the members of Downstares went their separate ways, leaving De Backer with no musical outlet.


title: Gotye

text: In 2001, his parents moved into a new home, leaving their old family house in Montmorency, so he could continue his studies at the University of Melbourne where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. Two friends moved in with him and the house became affectionately known as The Frat House, where friends would regularly drop by and hang out. The first seeds of Gotye were planted when De Backer was given a large collection of old records. An elderly neighbour, having heard Downstares rehearsing over the years, gave his then-recently deceased wife's LP record collection to De Backer.


title: Gotye

text: In 2001, De Backer recorded his first tracks primarily using samples. He put together a four-track CD which included the song "Out Here in the Cold". He made approximately 50 copies of this first collection, handwriting the track list and colouring in the cover sleeve in pencil. He named the project "Gotye". He sent the CDs out to every radio station and recording industry contact he could find in the phonebook, then followed each up with phone calls to ensure they were delivered. Feedback on the first release was mainly positive with Melbourne street press and Australian alternative, youth orientated radio station Triple J taking notice, giving him confidence to continue with further sample-based recordings.


title: Gotye

text: Around this time, Gotye met fellow singer-songwriter Kris Schroeder at a party in Mt Eliza, and the two began performing together under the name The Basics. They formed an enduring songwriting and performing partnership and became regulars on the live music scene, giving De Backer an outlet for his passion for live performance. The Basics have continued to tour and record alongside Gotye, releasing four albums between 2004 and 2010.


title: Gotye

text: De Backer went on to produce two more four-track Gotye collections which were met with positive reviews, with several tracks getting onto the rotation at youth radio station Triple J. The CDs were made in the same style as the first, with De Backer hand crafting each one and tenaciously chasing up every opportunity to get an audience for his work. Interest in the Gotye project was growing, and De Backer was eventually offered a distribution deal by the label company Creative Vibes for an album, which would essentially be a collection of the tracks from his three earlier releases. The album art is a painting of De Backer's father that was salvaged from his home garden where it was discarded. His album was released as "Boardface" in late 2003.


title: Gotye

text: In 2004, De Backer's parents opted to sell The Frat House and De Backer moved into a shared house in the South East of Melbourne. He took up work at a local library, while continuing to perform with The Basics and record his own Gotye tracks. Over the next few years, De Backer moved several times, each time shifting his home recording studio to a new location with new acoustic qualities. The culmination of this was the second Gotye album, "Like Drawing Blood"—named in reference to the difficulties De Backer experienced in recording his music in ever-changing environments. The album marked the beginning of his working relationship with long term manager Danny Rogers – manager of Australian indie band The Temper Trap – whom he had first approached via email.


title: Gotye

text: "Like Drawing Blood" was featured by Triple J in May 2006 and was voted No. 1 in the listener poll of the Best Album of 2006. The album was also nominated for a J Award that year. Two tracks from that album, "Learnalilgivinanlovin" and "Hearts a Mess", were ranked No. 94 and No. 8 respectively in Triple J's Hottest 100 for 2006. "Like Drawing Blood" has been certified Platinum in Australia for sales of over 70,000 copies. His first single, "Learnalilgivinanlovin", was released in August 2006.


title: Gotye

text: In September 2006, Gotye was nominated for an ARIA Award for best independent release for the album "Like Drawing Blood". Also in 2006 Gotye won 'Most Outstanding New Independent Artist' at the inaugural Australian Independent Record (AIR) Chart Awards and "Like Drawing Blood" was amongst nine shortlisted finalists in the 2006 Australian Music Prize.


title: Gotye

text: In 2007, De Backer won the ARIA for best male artist. As a result of the publicity of the nomination, "Like Drawing Blood" re-entered the ARIA albums chart at No. 36, surpassing the previous peak of No. 39. Also, "Mixed Blood" debuted on the ARIA albums chart at No. 44. Both of these entries came the first week after the ARIA Awards. In 2008, "Like Drawing Blood" won iTunes album of the year in the UK.


title: Gotye

text: In 2009, "Hearts a Mess" came in at No. 77 in Triple J's Hottest 100 of All Time, voted by the Australian public. Gotye's first European success came in 2008, when "Learnalilgivinanlovin" and "Hearts a Mess" charted in Belgium, followed in 2009 by the single "Coming back". "Learnalilgivinanlovin" also received air play on Dutch radio stations. In 2011, "Like Drawing Blood" came in at No. 11 in Triple J's Hottest 100 Australian Albums of All Time. Amidst the lead-up to Gotye's third album, "Like Drawing Blood" re-entered the ARIA charts in mid-2011, peaking at its highest ever position of 13.


title: Gotye

text: After the success of "Like Drawing Blood", De Backer was able to establish a permanent home, still in Melbourne's south east. In 2010, he set up a recording studio in a barn at his parents' farm and set about recording tracks for his third album. He released a new single, "Eyes Wide Open", online and on 10" vinyl in mid-October 2010. The "Eyes Wide Open" single received generally positive reviews and reached Number 25 on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2010. "Eyes Wide Open" was also shortlisted for the 2011 APRA Music Awards in the Song of the Year category.


title: Gotye

text: In late March 2011, De Backer revealed the next album's title to be "Making Mirrors". The title was inspired by an artwork his father painted in the 1980s, discovered by De Backer among old bills and newspapers in his parents' barn; it was later edited in Photoshop to become the album artwork. "The mirror reflects on artwork and it is all very related to self-reflection and introspection on the album." De Backer also revealed that the album would see a release in June or July 2011, with a single to precede the release. De Backer also stated that the album would be similar to its predecessor in terms of diversity.


title: Gotye

text: On 19 May 2011, it was announced that the album would be released on 19 August, with its launch the following day at the Sydney Opera House as part of the Graphic Festival which would feature animators and a 10-piece orchestra as part of Gotye's performance. De Backer also released a follow-up single to "Eyes Wide Open" titled "Somebody That I Used to Know", featuring New Zealand musician Kimbra, which was released on 6 July 2011 and debuted at Number 27 on the ARIA Top 50 Singles Chart. The single quickly moved up the ARIA singles chart despite a lack of airplay on commercial radio stations. The song was further boosted by endorsements from Ashton Kutcher and Lily Allen via Twitter, exposing Gotye's music to their millions of followers. The single has gone on to reach 11× Platinum status (700,000 units sold) in Australia and 8× Platinum status (8,000,000 units sold) in the US. It has peaked at Number 1 in 18 countries including the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, the Belgian Singles Chart, the Dutch Megacharts, the German Media Control Chart, the Official UK Top 40 and the US "Billboard" Hot 100. "Somebody That I Used To Know" has been the Number 1 single on iTunes in 46 countries.


title: Gotye

text: On 5 July 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Somebody That I Used to Know" on YouTube and Vimeo. Directed by Natasha Pincus, the video has now been viewed over 2 billion times (). On 6 October 2011 the video was awarded the Melbourne Design Award. The video was the Number 15 most viewed video of all-time on YouTube and the Number 4 most liked video of all-time.


title: Gotye

text: On 15 July 2011, it was announced that "Somebody That I Used to Know" had come in third in the 2011 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition. On 8 August 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Bronte" on YouTube and Vimeo. The visuals were animated and directed by Ari Gibson at Mechanical Apple. Also on this date, Gotye released a video title "Making Making Mirrors", which is a short documentary about the recording process of "Making Mirrors". The video was directed by James Bryans and Wally De Backer. On 13 August 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "State of the Art" on YouTube and Vimeo. The visuals were animated and directed by Greg Sharp & Ivan Dixon at Rubber House.


title: Gotye

text: In its first week of release, "Making Mirrors" was already at Number 1 on the Australian ARIA albums chart, making Gotye the first Australian act to simultaneously hold both the Number 1 single and album since Silverchair in 2007. The album became an international success, charting in the Top 10 in 17 countries and reaching Number 1 in six. It charted on the U.S. "Billboard" 200 (Number 7) and in Canada. The album is 3× Platinum status in Australia, Platinum in France, Poland and Belgium, and Gold in the US, New Zealand, Germany, UK, Ireland, Canada and Netherlands.


title: Gotye

text: On 11 October 2011, it was announced that Gotye had been nominated for seven ARIA Awards. Due to the release date restrictions of the eligibility period, "Making Mirrors" could not be nominated, and the seven nominations all related to "Somebody That I Used to Know". Gotye was nominated for Highest Selling Single, Single of the Year, Best Pop Release, Best Male Artist and three awards in the ARIA Artisan category: Best Video (Natasha Pincus), Engineer of the Year (Francois Tetaz) and Producer of the Year (Wouter De Backer). On the same day the nominations were revealed, the winners of the Artisan categories were announced, with Gotye and the album personnel winning all three. On 27 November 2011, Gotye won three ARIA Awards: Best Male Artist, Best Pop Release and Single of the Year for "Somebody That I Used to Know". Kimbra, who collaborated with Gotye on the song, also won the ARIA award for Best Female Artist.


title: Gotye

text: On 18 October 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You" on YouTube and Vimeo. The visuals were animated and directed by Benjamin Drake and Eddie White. On 20 November 2011, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Don't Worry, We'll Be Watching You" on YouTube and Vimeo. The visuals were animated and directed by Greg Sharp and Ivan Dixon at Rubber House.


title: Gotye

text: On 1 February 2012, Gotye made his American television debut on "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", performing "Eyes Wide Open", "Somebody That I Used to Know" with Kimbra and "State of The Art". On 12 February 2012, "Somebody That I Used to Know" reached Number 1 on the UK singles chart. The next week it fell from the top spot but on 26 February it reached the top spot for a second time, where it remained for a total of five weeks. On 24 February 2012, Gotye released a film clip for the song "Easy Way Out" on YouTube and Vimeo.This video won the award of Best Music Video at the 2013 Byron Bay International Film Festival. The visuals were animated and directed by Darcy Prendergast and Oh Yeah Wow.


title: Gotye

text: Gotye performed "Somebody That I Used to Know" on "Saturday Night Live" on 14 April 2012 along with "Eyes Wide Open". These collective performances helped the single to reach Number 1 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 for the week ending 28 April 2012, giving Gotye his first U.S. Number 1 single; the first Australian artist to reach Number 1 in the U.S. since Savage Garden in 2000. In April 2012, "Somebody That I Used to Know" broke a 47-year-old record in the Netherlands by becoming the most successful song in the history of the Dutch charts. Gotye was interviewed on 7 April 2012 broadcast of National Public Radio's "All Things Considered".


title: Gotye

text: The magazine American Songwriter named Gotye their Writer of The Week for the week of 6 February 2012. On 31 May 2012, Gotye announced that he would release a digital compilation of the 10 official remixes of "Somebody That I Used To Know" on 8 June.


title: Gotye

text: Gotye announced a world tour in May 2012 covering many parts of the world where he had not previously played. The tour began in August 2012 in Korea and wound through Japan, North America, Europe, the Middle East and finished in Australia in December 2012.


title: Gotye

text: On 15 February 2013, "Fractured Heart", an interactive sound and light sculpture designed and built by illuminart in collaboration with Gotye, was launched at the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) headquarters in Canberra, Australia. Gotye also curated and presented a special screening of works by some of his favourite animators, including those who have worked with him on the music videos for "Hearts a Mess", "Easy Way Out" and "State of the Art".


title: Gotye

text: In 2014, Gotye performed with Tex Perkins and Nicky Bomba in support of The Thin Green Line Foundation. He also launched Spirit Level, an independent record label with Tim Shiel, signing American band Zammuto. Later in 2014, De Backer claimed in an online newsletter that "there will be no new Gotye music," but maintained the possibility that the project could continue in the future. He remained active as a drummer and singer of The Basics, who released "The Lucky Country" in 2014 and "The Age of Entitlement" in 2015. Although the band formed a political movement named "The Basics Rock 'n' Roll Party" ahead of the 2014 Victorian election, De Backer denied reports that he intended to enter politics himself.


title: Gotye

text: Gotye featured as vocalist on "The Way You Talk", a track from English electronic musician Bibio's 2016 album "A Mineral Love", and "The Outfield", the 2017 debut single from American rock singer Martin Johnson's The Night Game project. In 2017, Gotye revealed that he chose not to allow online advertising on his music videos, including that of "Somebody That I Used to Know" which had then been viewed nearly one billion times on YouTube, thereby foregoing up to millions of dollars in advertising revenue.


title: Gotye

text: On November 22, 2016, De Backer made the debut of his group Ondioline Orchestra at New York, in which he paid tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey. Perrey, who was originally going to attend this tribute, died at the age of 87 on 4 November. In May 2017, De Backer launched a new record label, Forgotten Futures, whose first release was "Jean-Jacques Perrey et son Ondioline", a compilation of rare and previously unreleased Perrey recordings.


title: Gotye

text: In a 2018 interview with Australia's "Broadsheet", De Backer said, "You can dial in an incredibly wide range of sounds on the ondioline, and the unique mechanics for playing it allows you to create sounds very sensitively and with a musical deftness I just feel isn't present on most other electronic instruments from the '40s – or decades since." On 13 February 2018, De Backer and his Ondioline Orchestra performed "Circuit Breakers: Gotye Presents a Tribute to Jean-Jacques Perrey" at Roulette's Mixology Festival 2018, in New York.


title: Gotye

text: In March 2018, Les Campbell released an album entitled "Pulling the Stitching Out", with all 10 tracks featuring Gotye. In July 2018, De Backer's partner Maud gave birth to a daughter, Léonie. In August 2018, Gotye co-wrote an original verse for and was sampled in the Broods' single "Eyes a Mess", using his early hit single "Hearts a Mess", released in 2006, and "Eyes Wide Open" (2010). In November 2019, The Basics released a fifth studio album, "B.A.S.I.C."


title: Gotye

text: In July 2020, Gotye released a live album entitled "Live at The Songroom (Season 2, Episode 9)". It was recorded in 2018 for a web series by his bandmates from The Basics, who feature on the album alongside Monty Cotton.


title: Gotye

text: Gotye has previously stated his intention to release a fourth studio album; most recently in June 2018, when he mentioned a tribute to Perrey that will be included on the record.


title: Gotye

text: "The Australian" newspaper identified Gotye in its "top 50 most influential Australians in the arts" list in 2013; the selection was largely based upon the success of "Somebody That I Used to Know", with the publication describing the composition as "one of the most successful songs in Australian music history".


title: Passover

text: Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holiday that celebrates the Biblical story of the Israelites escape from slavery in Egypt, which occurs on the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan, the first month of Aviv, or spring. The word "Pesach" or "Passover" can also refer to the Korban Pesach, the paschal lamb that was offered when the Temple in Jerusalem stood; to the Passover Seder, the ritual meal on Passover night; or to the Feast of Unleavened Bread. One of the biblically ordained Three Pilgrimage Festivals, Passover is traditionally celebrated in the Land of Israel for seven days and for eight days among many Jews in the Diaspora, based on the concept of . In the Bible, the seven-day holiday is known as Chag HaMatzot, the feast of unleavened bread (matzo).


title: Passover

text: According to the Book of Exodus, God commanded Moses to tell the Israelites to mark a lamb's blood above their doors in order that the Angel of Death would pass over them (i.e., that they would not be touched by the tenth plague, death of the firstborn). After the death of the firstborn, Pharaoh ordered the Israelites to leave, taking whatever they want, and asked Moses to bless him in the name of the Lord. The passage goes on to state that the Passover sacrifice recalls the time when God "passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt". This story is recounted at the Passover meal in the form of the Haggadah, in fulfillment of the command "And thou shalt tell (Higgadata) thy son in that day, saying: It is because of that which the did for me when I came forth out of Egypt."


title: Passover

text: The wave offering of barley was offered at Jerusalem on the second day of the festival. The counting of the sheaves is still practiced, for seven weeks until the Feast of Weeks on the 50th day, the holiday of Shavuot.


title: Passover

text: Nowadays, in addition to the biblical prohibition of owning leavened foods for the duration of the holiday, the Passover Seder, at which the Haggadah is read aloud, is one of the most widely observed rituals in Judaism.


title: Passover

text: The Hebrew is rendered as Tiberian , and Modern Hebrew: . The verb () is first mentioned in the Torah's account of the Exodus from Egypt, and there is some debate about its exact meaning. The commonly held assumption that it means "He passed over" (), in reference to God "passing over" (or "skipping") the houses of the Hebrews during the final of the Ten Plagues of Egypt, stems from the translation provided in the Septuagint ( in Exodus 12:23, and in Exodus 12:27.) Targum Onkelos translates as () "he had pity" coming from the Hebrew root meaning "to have pity". Cognate languages yield similar terms with distinct meanings, such as "make soft, soothe, placate" (Akkadian ), "harvest, commemoration, blow" (Egyptian), or "separate" (Arabic ).


title: Passover

text: The term "Pesach" (Hebrew: , ) may also refer to the lamb or goat which was designated as the Passover sacrifice (called the in Hebrew). Four days before the Exodus, the Hebrews were commanded to set aside a lamb, and inspect it daily for blemishes. During the day on the 14th of Nisan, they were to slaughter the animal and use its blood to mark their lintels and door posts. Before midnight on the 15th of Nisan they were to consume the lamb.


title: Passover

text: The English term "Passover" is first known to be recorded in the English language in William Tyndale's translation of the Bible, later appearing in the King James Version as well. It is a literal translation of the Hebrew term. In the King James Version, Exodus 12:23 reads:


title: Passover

text: In the Book of Exodus, the Israelites are enslaved in ancient Egypt. Yahweh, the god of the Israelites, appears to Moses in a burning bush and commands Moses to confront Pharaoh. To show his power, Yahweh inflicts a series of 10 plagues on the Egyptians, culminating in the 10th plague, the death of the first-born.


title: Passover

text: Before this final plague Yahweh commands Moses to tell the Israelites to mark a lamb's blood above their doors in order that Yahweh will pass over them (i.e., that they will not be touched by the death of the firstborn).


title: Passover

text: The biblical regulations for the observance of the festival require that all leavening be disposed of before the beginning of the 15th of Nisan. An unblemished lamb or goat, known as the or "Paschal Lamb", is to be set apart on 10th Nisan, and slaughtered at dusk as 14th Nisan ends in preparation for the 15th of Nisan when it will be eaten after being roasted. The literal meaning of the Hebrew is "between the two evenings". It is then to be eaten "that night", 15th Nisan, roasted, without the removal of its internal organs with unleavened bread, known as matzo, and bitter herbs known as . Nothing of the sacrifice on which the sun rises by the morning of the 15th of Nisan may be eaten, but must be burned.


title: Passover

text: The biblical regulations pertaining to the original Passover, at the time of the Exodus only, also include how the meal was to be eaten: "with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the 's passover".


title: Passover

text: The biblical requirements of slaying the Paschal lamb in the individual homes of the Hebrews and smearing the blood of the lamb on their doorways were celebrated in Egypt. However, once Israel was in the wilderness and the tabernacle was in operation, a change was made in those two original requirements. Passover lambs were to be sacrificed at the door of the tabernacle and no longer in the homes of the Jews. No longer, therefore, could blood be smeared on doorways.


title: Passover

text: Called the "festival [of] the matzot" (Hebrew: ) in the Hebrew Bible, the commandment to keep Passover is recorded in the Book of Leviticus:


title: Passover

text: The sacrifices may be performed only in a specific place prescribed by God. For Judaism, this is Jerusalem.


title: Passover

text: The biblical commandments concerning the Passover (and the Feast of Unleavened Bread) stress the importance of remembering:


title: Passover

text: In 2 Kings 23:21–23 and 2 Chronicles 35:1–19, King Josiah of Judah restores the celebration of the Passover, to a standard not seen since the days of the judges or the days of the prophet Samuel.


title: Passover

text: Ezra 6:19–21 records the celebration of the passover by the Jews who had returned from exile in Babylon, after the temple had been rebuilt.


title: Passover

text: Some of these details can be corroborated, and to some extent amplified, in extrabiblical sources. The removal (or "sealing up") of the leaven is referred to in the Elephantine papyri, an Aramaic papyrus from 5th century BCE Elephantine in Egypt. The slaughter of the lambs on the 14th is mentioned in The Book of Jubilees, a Jewish work of the Ptolemaic period, and by the Herodian-era writers Josephus and Philo. These sources also indicate that "between the two evenings" was taken to mean the afternoon. "Jubilees" states the sacrifice was eaten that night, and together with Josephus states that nothing of the sacrifice was allowed to remain until morning. Philo states that the banquet included hymns and prayers.


title: Passover

text: The Passover begins on the 15th day of the month of Nisan, which typically falls in March or April of the Gregorian calendar. The 15th day begins in the evening, after the 14th day, and the seder meal is eaten that evening. Passover is a spring festival, so the 15th day of Nisan typically begins on the night of a full moon after the northern vernal equinox. However, due to leap months falling after the vernal equinox, Passover sometimes starts on the second full moon after vernal equinox, as in 2016.


title: Passover

text: To ensure that Passover did not start before spring, the tradition in ancient Israel held that the lunar new year, the first day of Nisan, would not start until the barley was ripe, being the test for the onset of spring. If the barley was not ripe, or various other phenomena indicated that spring was not yet imminent, an intercalary month (Adar II) would be added. However, since at least the 4th century, the intercalation has been fixed mathematically according to the Metonic cycle.


title: Passover

text: In Israel, Passover is the seven-day holiday of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, with the first and last days celebrated as legal holidays and as holy days involving holiday meals, special prayer services, and abstention from work; the intervening days are known as Chol HaMoed ("Weekdays [of] the Festival"). Jews outside the Land of Israel celebrate the festival for eight days. Reform and Reconstructionist Jews usually celebrate the holiday over seven days. Karaites use a different version of the Jewish calendar, differing from that used with modern Jewish calendar by one or two days. The Samaritans use a calendrical system that uses a different method from that current in Jewish practice, in order to determine their timing of feastdays. In "2009", for example, Nisan 15 on the Jewish calendar used by Rabbinic Judaism corresponds to April 9. On the calendars used by Karaites and Samaritans, "Abib" or "Aviv" 15 (as opposed to 'Nisan') corresponds to April 11 in "2009". The Karaite and Samaritan Passovers are each one day long, followed by the six-day Festival of Unleavened Bread – for a total of seven days.


title: Passover

text: The main entity in Passover according to Judaism is the sacrificial lamb. During the existence of the Tabernacle and later the Temple in Jerusalem, the focus of the Passover festival was the Passover sacrifice (Hebrew: "korban Pesach"), also known as the Paschal lamb, eaten during the Passover Seder on the 15th of Nisan. Every family large enough to completely consume a young lamb or wild goat was required to offer one for sacrifice at the Jewish Temple on the afternoon of the 14th day of Nisan, and eat it that night, which was the 15th of Nisan. If the family was too small to finish eating the entire offering in one sitting, an offering was made for a group of families. The sacrifice could not be offered with anything leavened, and had to be roasted, without its head, feet, or inner organs being removed and eaten together with unleavened bread ("matzo") and bitter herbs ("maror"). One had to be careful not to break any bones from the offering, and none of the meat could be left over by morning.


title: Passover

text: Because of the Passover sacrifice's status as a sacred offering, the only people allowed to eat it were those who had the obligation to bring the offering. Among those who could not offer or eat the Passover lamb were an apostate, a servant, an uncircumcised man a person in a state of ritual impurity, except when a majority of Jews are in such a state, and a non-Jew. The offering had to be made before a quorum of 30. In the Temple, the Levites sang Hallel while the priests performed the sacrificial service. Men and women were equally obligated regarding the offering ("Pesahim" 91b).


title: Passover

text: Today, in the absence of the Temple, when no sacrifices are offered or eaten, the mitzvah of the "Korban Pesach" is memorialized in the "Seder Korban Pesach", a set of scriptural and Rabbinic passages dealing with the Passover sacrifice, customarily recited after the "Mincha" (afternoon prayer) service on the 14th of Nisan, and in the form of the "zeroa", a symbolic food placed on the Passover Seder Plate (but not eaten), which is usually a roasted shankbone (or a chicken wing or neck). The eating of the afikoman substitutes for the eating of the "Korban Pesach" at the end of the Seder meal (Mishnah Pesachim 119a). Many Sephardi Jews have the custom of eating lamb or goat meat during the Seder in memory of the "Korban Pesach".


title: Passover

text: Leaven, in Hebrew "chametz" (Hebrew: חמץ "ḥamets", "leavening") is made from one of five types of grains combined with water and left to stand for more than eighteen minutes. The consumption, keeping, and owning of "chametz" is forbidden during Passover. Yeast and fermentation are not themselves forbidden as seen for example by wine, which is required, rather than merely permitted. According to Halakha, the ownership of such "chametz" is also proscribed.


title: Passover

text: "Chametz" does not include baking soda, baking powder or like products. Although these are defined in English as leavening agents, they leaven by chemical reaction, not by biological fermentation. Thus, bagels, waffles and pancakes made with baking soda and matzo meal are considered permissible, while bagels made with sourdough and pancakes and waffles made with yeast are prohibited.


title: Passover

text: Observant Jews spend the weeks before Passover in a flurry of thorough housecleaning, to remove every morsel of "chametz" from every part of the home. Jewish law requires the elimination of olive-sized or larger quantities of leavening from one's possession, but most housekeeping goes beyond this. Even the seams of kitchen counters are thoroughly cleaned to remove traces of flour and yeast, however small. Any containers or implements that have touched "chametz" are stored and not used during Passover.


title: Passover

text: Some hotels, resorts, and even cruise ships across America, Europe, and Israel also undergo a thorough housecleaning to make their premises "kosher for Pesach" to cater to observant Jews.


title: Passover

text: Some scholars suggest that the command to abstain from leavened food or yeast suggests that sacrifices offered to God involve the offering of objects in "their least altered state", that would be nearest to the way in which they were initially made by God. According to other scholars the absence of leaven or yeast means that leaven or yeast symbolizes corruption and spoiling.


title: Passover

text: There are also variations with restrictions on eating matzah before Passover so that there will be an increased appetite for it during Passover itself. Primarily among Chabad Chassidim, there is a custom of not eating matzoh (flat unleavened bread) in the 30 days before Passover begins. Others have a custom to refrain from eating matzah from Rosh Chodesh Nissan, while the halacha merely restricts one from eating matzah on the day before Passover.


title: Passover

text: Leaven or "chametz" may be sold rather than discarded, especially in the case of relatively valuable forms such as liquor distilled from wheat, with the products being repurchased afterward. In some cases, they may never leave the house, instead being formally sold while remaining in the original owner's possession in a locked cabinet until they can be repurchased after the holiday. Modern observance may also include sealing cabinets and drawers which contain "Chametz" shut by using adhesive tape, which serves a similar purpose to a lock but also shows evidence of tampering. Although the practice of selling "Chametz" dates back many years, some Reform rabbinical authorities have come to regard it with disdain – since the supposed "new owner" never takes actual possession of the goods.


title: Passover

text: The sale of "chametz" may also be conducted communally via a rabbi, who becomes the "agent" for all the community's Jews through a halakhic procedure called a "kinyan" (acquisition). Each householder must put aside all the "chametz" he is selling into a box or cupboard, and the rabbi enters into a contract to sell all the "chametz" to a non-Jew (who is not obligated to celebrate the commandments) in exchange for a small down payment ("e.g." $1.00), with the remainder due after Passover. This sale is considered completely binding according to Halakha, and at any time during the holiday, the buyer may come to take or partake of his property. The rabbi then re-purchases the goods for less than they were sold at the end of the holiday.


title: Passover

text: On the night of the fourteenth of Nisan, the night before the Passover Seder (after nightfall on the evening before Passover eve), Jews do a formal search in their homes known as "bedikat chametz" for any possible remaining leaven ("chametz"). The Talmudic sages instructed that a search for "chametz" be made in every home, place of work, or any place where "chametz" may have been brought during the year. When the first Seder is on a Saturday night, the search is conducted on the preceding Thursday night (thirteenth of Nisan) as "chametz" cannot be burned during Shabbat.


title: Passover

text: The Talmud in Pesahim (p. 2a) derives from the Torah that the search for "chametz" be conducted by the light of a candle and therefore is done at night, and although the final destruction of the "chametz" (usually by burning it in a small bonfire) is done on the next morning, the blessing is made at night because the search is both in preparation for and part of the commandments to remove and destroy all "chametz" from one's possession.


title: Passover

text: Before the search is begun there is a special blessing. If several people or family members assist in the search then only one person, usually the head of that family recites the blessing having in mind to include everyone present:


title: Passover

text: The search is then usually conducted by the head of the household joined by his family including children under the supervision of their parents.


title: Passover

text: It is customary to turn off the lights and conduct the search by candlelight, using a feather and a wooden spoon: candlelight effectively illuminates corners without casting shadows; the feather can dust crumbs out of their hiding places; and the wooden spoon which collects the crumbs can be burned the next day with the "chametz". However, most contemporary Jewish-Orthodox authorities permit using a flashlight, while some strongly encourage it due to the danger coupled with using a candle.


title: Passover

text: Because the house is assumed to have been thoroughly cleaned by the night before Passover, there is some concern that making a blessing over the search for "chametz" will be in vain ("bracha l'vatala") if nothing is found. Thus, 10 morsels of bread or cereal smaller than the size of an olive are traditionally hidden throughout the house in order to ensure that some "chametz" will be found.


title: Passover

text: Upon conclusion of the search, with all the small pieces safely wrapped up and put in one bag or place, to be burned the next morning, the following is said:


title: Passover

text: Note that if the 14th of Nisan is Shabbat, many of the below will be celebrated on the 13th instead due to restrictions in place during Shabbat.


title: Passover

text: On the day preceding the first Passover seder (or on Thursday morning preceding the seder, when the first seder falls on Motza'ei Shabbat), firstborn sons are commanded to celebrate the Fast of the Firstborn which commemorates the salvation of the Hebrew firstborns. According to Exodus 12:29, God struck down all Egyptian firstborns while the Israelites were not affected. However, it is customary for synagogues to conduct a "siyum" (ceremony marking the completion of a section of Torah learning) right after morning prayers, and the celebratory meal that follows cancels the firstborn's obligation to fast.


title: Passover

text: On the morning of the 14th of Nisan, any leavened products that remain in the householder's possession, along with the 10 morsels of bread from the previous night's search, are burned ("s'rayfat chametz"). The head of the household repeats the declaration of "biyur chametz", declaring any "chametz" that may not have been found to be null and void "as the dust of the earth":


title: Passover

text: Should more "chametz" actually be found in the house during the Passover holiday, it must be burnt as soon as possible.


title: Passover

text: Unlike "chametz", which can be eaten any day of the year except during Passover, kosher for Passover foods can be eaten year-round. They need not be burnt or otherwise discarded after the holiday ends.


title: Passover

text: The historic "Paschal lamb" Passover sacrifice ("Korban Pesach") has not been brought following the Romans' destruction of the Second Jewish temple approximately two thousand years ago, and it is therefore still not part of the modern Jewish holiday.


title: Passover

text: In the times when the Jewish Temples stood, the lamb was slaughtered and cooked on the evening of Passover and was completely consumed before the morning as described in Exodus 12:3–11.


title: Passover

text: Even Kosher for Passover matzah cannot be eaten all day Erev Pesach. Some even practice this up to 30 days before. In some way this restriction is analogous to how the blowing of the Shofar, done by Ashkenazic Jews the month preceding Rosh Hashana, is not done on the day before that Holiday.


title: Passover

text: Due to the Torah injunction not to eat "chametz" (leaven) during Passover, observant families typically own complete sets of serving dishes, glassware and silverware (and in some cases, even separate dishwashers and sinks) which have never come into contact with "chametz", for use only during Passover. Under certain circumstances, some "chametz" utensils can be immersed in boiling water ("hagalat keilim") to purge them of any traces of "chametz" that may have accumulated during the year. Many Sephardic families thoroughly wash their year-round glassware and then use it for Passover, as the Sephardic position is that glass does not absorb enough traces of food to present a problem. Similarly, ovens may be used for Passover either by setting the self-cleaning function to the highest degree for a certain period of time, or by applying a blow torch to the interior until the oven glows red hot (a process called "libun gamur").


title: Passover

text: A symbol of the Passover holiday is matzo, an unleavened flatbread made solely from flour and water which is continually worked from mixing through baking, so that it is not allowed to rise. Matzo may be made by machine or by hand. The Torah contains an instruction to eat matzo, specifically, on the first night of Passover and to eat only unleavened bread (in practice, matzo) during the entire week of Passover. Consequently, the eating of matzo figures prominently in the Passover Seder. There are several explanations for this.


title: Passover

text: The Torah says that it is because the Hebrews left Egypt with such haste that there was no time to allow baked bread to rise; thus flat, unleavened bread, matzo, is a reminder of the rapid departure of the Exodus. Other scholars teach that in the time of the Exodus, matzo was commonly baked for the purpose of traveling because it preserved well and was light to carry (making it similar to hardtack), suggesting that matzo was baked intentionally for the long journey ahead.


title: Passover

text: Matzo has also been called "Lechem Oni" (Hebrew: "bread of poverty"). There is an attendant explanation that matzo serves as a symbol to remind Jews what it is like to be a poor slave and to promote humility, appreciate freedom, and avoid the inflated ego symbolized by more luxurious leavened bread.


title: Passover

text: "Shmura matzo" ("watched" or "guarded" matzo), is the bread of preference for the Passover Seder in Orthodox Jewish communities. Shmura matzo is made from wheat that is guarded from contamination by leaven ("chametz") from the time of summer harvest to its baking into matzos five to ten months later.


title: Passover

text: In the weeks before Passover, matzos are prepared for holiday consumption. In many Orthodox Jewish communities, men traditionally gather in groups (""chaburas"") to bake handmade matzo for use at the Seder, the dough being rolled by hand, resulting in a large and round matzo. "Chaburas" also work together in machine-made matzo factories, which produce the typically square-shaped matzo sold in stores.


title: Passover

text: The baking of matzo is labor-intensive, as less than 18 minutes is permitted between the mixing of flour and water to the conclusion of baking and removal from the oven. Consequently, only a small number of matzos can be baked at one time, and the "chabura" members are enjoined to work the dough constantly so that it is not allowed to ferment and rise. A special cutting tool is run over the dough just before baking to prick any bubbles which might make the matza puff up; this creates the familiar dotted holes in the matzo.


title: Passover

text: After the matzos come out of the oven, the entire work area is scrubbed down and swept to make sure that no pieces of old, potentially leavened dough remain, as any stray pieces are now "chametz", and can contaminate the next batch of matzo.


title: Passover

text: It is traditional for Jewish families to gather on the first night of Passover (first two nights in Orthodox and Conservative communities outside Israel) for a special dinner called a seder (Hebrew: סדר "seder" – derived from the Hebrew word for "order" or "arrangement", referring to the very specific order of the ritual). The table is set with the finest china and silverware to reflect the importance of the meal. During this meal, the story of the Exodus from Egypt is retold using a special text called the Haggadah. A total of four cups of wine are consumed during the recitation of the Haggadah. The seder is divided by the haggadah into the following 15 parts:


title: Passover

text: These 15 parts parallel the 15 steps in the Temple in Jerusalem on which the Levites stood during Temple services, and which were memorialized in the 15 Psalms (#120–134) known as "Shir HaMa'a lot" (Hebrew: "shiyr ha-ma‘alôth", "Songs of Ascent").


title: Passover

text: The seder is replete with questions, answers, and unusual practices (e.g. the recital of Kiddush which is not immediately followed by the blessing over bread, which is the traditional procedure for all other holiday meals) to arouse the interest and curiosity of the children at the table. The children are also rewarded with nuts and candies when they ask questions and participate in the discussion of the Exodus and its aftermath. Likewise, they are encouraged to search for the "afikoman", the piece of matzo which is the last thing eaten at the seder. Audience participation and interaction is the rule, and many families' seders last long into the night with animated discussions and singing. The seder concludes with additional songs of praise and faith printed in the Haggadah, including "Chad Gadya" ("One Little Kid" or "One Little Goat").


title: Passover

text: Maror (bitter herbs) symbolizes the bitterness of slavery in Egypt. The following verse from the Torah underscores that symbolism: "And they embittered (Hebrew: וימררו "ve-yimareru") their lives with hard labor, with mortar and with bricks and with all manner of labor in the field; any labor that they made them do was with hard labor" (Exodus 1:14).


title: Passover

text: There is a Rabbinic requirement that four cups of wine are to be drunk during the seder meal. This applies to both men and women. The Mishnah says (Pes. 10:1) that even the poorest man in Israel has an obligation to drink. Each cup is connected to a different part of the seder: the first cup is for Kiddush, the second cup is connected with the recounting of the Exodus, the drinking of the third cup concludes Birkat Hamazon and the fourth cup is associated with Hallel. A fifth cup of wine is poured near the end of the seder for Eliyahu HaNavi, a symbol of the future redemption, which is left un-touched.


title: Passover

text: Children have a very important role in the Passover seder. Traditionally the youngest child is prompted to ask questions about the Passover seder, beginning with the words, "Mah Nishtana HaLeila HaZeh" (Why is this night different from all other nights?). The questions encourage the gathering to discuss the significance of the symbols in the meal. The questions asked by the child are:


title: Passover

text: Often the leader of the seder and the other adults at the meal will use prompted responses from the Haggadah, which states, "The more one talks about the Exodus from Egypt, the more praiseworthy he is." Many readings, prayers, and stories are used to recount the story of the Exodus. Many households add their own commentary and interpretation and often the story of the Jews is related to the theme of liberation and its implications worldwide.


title: Passover

text: The "afikoman" – an integral part of the Seder itself – is used to engage the interest and excitement of the children at the table. During the fourth part of the Seder, called "Yachatz", the leader breaks the middle piece of matzo into two. He sets aside the larger portion as the "afikoman". Many families use the "afikoman" as a device for keeping the children awake and alert throughout the Seder proceedings by hiding the "afikoman" and offering a prize for its return. Alternatively, the children are allowed to "steal" the "afikoman" and demand a reward for its return. In either case, the "afikoman" must be consumed during the twelfth part of the Seder, "Tzafun".


title: Passover

text: After the Hallel, the fourth glass of wine is drunk, and participants recite a prayer that ends in "Next year in Jerusalem!". This is followed by several lyric prayers that expound upon God's mercy and kindness, and give thanks for the survival of the Jewish people through a history of exile and hardship. "Echad Mi Yodea" ("Who Knows One?") is a playful song, testing the general knowledge of the children (and the adults). Some of these songs, such as "Chad Gadya" are allegorical.


title: Passover

text: "Hallel" is also part of the daily prayer service during Passover. The first day(s) it is said in its entirety (as is the case on Shavuot and all of Succot. For the remainder of the Holiday, only half Hallel is recited.


title: Passover

text: Beginning on the second night of Passover, the 16th day of Nisan, Jews begin the practice of the Counting of the Omer, a nightly reminder of the approach of the holiday of Shavuot 50 days hence. Each night after the evening prayer service, men and women recite a special blessing and then enumerate the day of the Omer. On the first night, for example, they say, "Today is the first day in (or, to) the Omer"; on the second night, "Today is the second day in the Omer." The counting also involves weeks; thus, the seventh day is commemorated, "Today is the seventh day, which is one week in the Omer." The eighth day is marked, "Today is the eighth day, which is one week and one day in the Omer," etc.


title: Passover

text: When the Temple stood in Jerusalem, a sheaf of new-cut barley was presented before the altar on the second day of Unleavened Bread. Josephus writes:


title: Passover

text: On the second day of unleavened bread, that is to say the sixteenth, our people partake of the crops which they have reaped and which have not been touched till then, and esteeming it right first to do homage to God, to whom they owe the abundance of these gifts, they offer to him the first-fruits of the barley in the following way. After parching and crushing the little sheaf of ears and purifying the barley for grinding, they bring to the altar an "assaron" for God, and, having flung a handful thereof on the altar, they leave the rest for the use of the priests. Thereafter all are permitted, publicly or individually, to begin harvest. Since the destruction of the Temple, this offering is brought in word rather than deed.


title: Passover

text: One explanation for the Counting of the Omer is that it shows the connection between Passover and Shavuot. The physical freedom that the Hebrews achieved at the Exodus from Egypt was only the beginning of a process that climaxed with the spiritual freedom they gained at the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Another explanation is that the newborn nation which emerged after the Exodus needed time to learn their new responsibilities vis-a-vis Torah and mitzvot before accepting God's law. The distinction between the Omer offering – a measure of barley, typically animal fodder – and the Shavuot offering – two loaves of wheat bread, human food – symbolizes the transition process.


title: Passover

text: In Israel, Passover lasts for seven days with the first and last days being major Jewish holidays. In Orthodox and Conservative communities, no work is performed on those days, with most of the rules relating to the observances of Shabbat being applied.


title: Passover

text: Outside Israel, in Orthodox and Conservative communities, the holiday lasts for eight days with the first two days and last two days being major holidays. In the intermediate days necessary work can be performed. Reform Judaism observes Passover over seven days, with the first and last days being major holidays.


title: Passover

text: Like the holiday of Sukkot, the intermediary days of Passover are known as Chol HaMoed (festival weekdays) and are imbued with a semi-festive status. It is a time for family outings and picnic lunches of matzo, hardboiled eggs, fruits and vegetables, and Passover treats such as macaroons and homemade candies.


title: Passover

text: Passover cake recipes call for potato starch or Passover cake flour made from finely granulated matzo instead of regular flour, and a large amount of eggs to achieve fluffiness. Cookie recipes use matzo farfel (broken bits of matzo) or ground nuts as the base. For families with Eastern European backgrounds, borsht, a soup made with beets, is a Passover tradition.


title: Passover

text: While kosher for Passover packaged goods are available in stores, some families opt to cook everything from scratch during Passover week. In Israel, families that do not kasher their ovens can bake cakes, casseroles, and even meat on the stovetop in a Wonder Pot, an Israeli invention consisting of three parts: an aluminium pot shaped like a Bundt pan, a hooded cover perforated with venting holes, and a thick, round, metal disc with a center hole which is placed between the Wonder Pot and the flame to disperse heat.


title: Passover

text: "Shvi'i shel Pesach" (שביעי של פסח) ("seventh [day] of Passover") is another full Jewish holiday, with special prayer services and festive meals. Outside the Land of Israel, in the Jewish diaspora, "Shvi'i shel Pesach" is celebrated on both the seventh and eighth days of Passover. This holiday commemorates the day the Children of Israel reached the Red Sea and witnessed both the miraculous "Splitting of the Sea" (Passage of the Red Sea), the drowning of all the Egyptian chariots, horses and soldiers that pursued them. According to the Midrash, only the Pharaoh was spared to give testimony to the miracle that occurred.


title: Passover

text: Hasidic Rebbes traditionally hold a "tish" on the night of "Shvi'i shel Pesach" and place a cup or bowl of water on the table before them. They use this opportunity to speak about the Splitting of the Sea to their disciples, and sing songs of praise to God.


title: Passover

text: The "Second Passover" (Pesach Sheni) on the 14th of Iyar in the Hebrew calendar is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Numbers as a make-up day for people who were unable to offer the pesach sacrifice at the appropriate time due to ritual impurity or distance from Jerusalem. Just as on the first Pesach night, breaking bones from the second Paschal offering or leaving meat over until morning is prohibited.


title: Passover

text: Today, Pesach Sheni on the 14th of Iyar has the status of a very minor holiday (so much so that many of the Jewish people have never even heard of it, and it essentially does not exist outside of Orthodox and traditional Conservative Judaism). There are not really any special prayers or observances that are considered Jewish law. The only change in the liturgy is that in some communities "Tachanun", a penitential prayer omitted on holidays, is not said. There is a custom, though not Jewish law, to eat just one piece of matzo on that night.


title: Passover

text: Because the house is free of leaven ("chametz") for eight days, the Jewish household typically eats different foods during the week of Passover. Some include:


title: The Lego Movie

text: The Lego Movie is a 2014 computer-animated adventure comedy film written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story by Lord, Miller, and Dan and Kevin Hageman. Based on the Lego line of construction toys, its story focuses on Emmet, an ordinary Lego minifigure who helps a resistance movement stop a tyrannical businessman from gluing everything in the Lego world into his vision of perfection. Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, and Morgan Freeman provide their voices for the film's characters.


title: The Lego Movie

text: Plans of the feature film based on "Lego" started in 2008 following the discussion with Lin and Lee before Lin left Warner Bros. to form his own production company, Lin Pictures. By August 2009, it was announced that Dan and Kevin Hageman were writing the script. It was officially green-lit by Warner Bros. in November 2011 as the planned 2014 release date. Chris McKay was brought in to co-direct the film in 2011. It was strongly inspired by the visual aesthetic and stylistics of Brickfilms and qualities attributed to Lego Studios sets. While tried to make the film's animation replicate a stop motion film, everything was done through computer graphics, with the animation rigs following the same articulation limits actual Lego figures have. Much of the cast were signed in to voice the characters in 2012, while the animation was provided by Animal Logic, which was expected to comprise 80% of the film. Mark Mothersbaugh composed the film's musical score. The film was dedicated to Kathleen Fleming, the former director of entertainment development of the Lego company, following her death in Cancún, Mexico, in April 2013.


title: The Lego Movie

text: A collaboration between production houses from the United States, Australia, and Denmark, it was produced by Warner Animation Group, Village Roadshow Pictures, Lego System A/S, Lin Pictures and Vertigo Entertainment. "The Lego Movie" premiered in Los Angeles on February 1, 2014, and was released in the United States on February 7. It became a critical and commercial success, grossing $468.1 million worldwide against its $60–65 million budget, and received critical acclaim for its animation, story, humor and acting. The National Board of Review selected "The Lego Movie" as one of the top films of the year. It received a nomination for Best Original Song at the 87th Academy Awards, among numerous other accolades. "The Lego Movie" is the first entry in what would become the franchise of the same name, which includes three more films—"The Lego Batman Movie" (2017), "The Lego Ninjago Movie" (2017), and "" (2019).


title: The Lego Movie

text: In the Lego universe, the wizard Vitruvius fails to protect a superweapon called the "Kragle", a tube of Krazy Glue with the label partially rubbed out, from the evil Lord Business, but prophesies that a person called "The Special" will find the Piece of Resistance capable of stopping the Kragle. Lord Business claims it false and kicks Vitruvius off a cliff.


title: The Lego Movie

text: 8 1/2 years later in Bricksburg, construction worker Emmet Brickowski comes across Wyldstyle, a beautiful woman searching for something at Emmet's construction site. Emmet falls into a pit and finds the Piece of Resistance. Compelled to touch it, Emmet experiences visions and passes out. He awakens in the custody of Bad Cop, Business's lieutenant, with the Piece of Resistance attached to his back. Emmet learns of Business's plans to freeze the world with the Kragle; the Piece of Resistance is the tube's cap. Wyldstyle rescues Emmet, believing him to be the Special. They escape Bad Cop and travel to "The Old West" where they meet a blind Vitruvius. He and Wyldstyle are Master Builders, capable of building anything without instruction manuals, who oppose Business's attempts to suppress their creativity. Though disappointed Emmet is not a Master Builder, they are convinced of his potential when he recalls visions of "the Man Upstairs".


title: The Lego Movie

text: Emmet, Wyldstyle, and Vitruvius evade Bad Cop's forces with Batman's help and escape to Cloud Cuckoo Land where all the master builders are in hiding. The Master Builders are unimpressed with Emmet's cowardliness and refuse to help him fight Business. Bad Cop's forces attack and capture everyone except Emmet and his friends. Fellow Master Builder MetalBeard rescues Emmet from drowning and Emmet devises a plan to infiltrate Business's headquarters and disarm the Kragle. The plan almost succeeds until Emmet and his friends are captured and imprisoned. Lord Business decapitates Vitruvius with a penny, throws the Piece of Resistance into an abyss, and sets his headquarters to self-destruct, leaving all present to die. Vitruvius reveals he made up the prophecy before he dies, but his spirit returns to tell Emmet it is his self-belief that makes him the Special. Strapped to the self-destruct mechanism's battery, Emmet flings himself off the edge in the tower and saves his friends and the Master Builders. Inspired by Emmet's sacrifice, Wyldstyle rallies the Lego people across the universe to use whatever creativity they have to build machines and weapons to fight Business's forces.


title: The Lego Movie

text: Emmet finds himself in the human world where the events of his life are being played out in a basement by a young boy, Finn, on his father's Lego set. The father — "The Man Upstairs" — chastises his son for creating hodgepodges of different playsets and begins to permanently glue his perceived "perfect" creations together. Realizing the danger, Emmet wills himself to move and gains Finn's attention. Finn returns Emmet and the Piece of Resistance to the set, where Emmet possesses the powers of a Master Builder and confronts Business. In the human world, Finn's father looks at his son's creations and sees how he based the villainous Business on him. Through a speech by Emmet, Finn tells his father that he is very special and has the power to change everything. Finn's father reconciles with his son, which plays out as Business reforming, capping the Kragle with the Piece of Resistance, and ungluing his victims with mineral spirits as Wyldstyle and Emmet enter a relationship, with Batman's blessing. As Finn's younger sister joins in playing with the Lego sets, Duplo aliens arrive in the Lego universe and threaten destruction.


title: The Lego Movie

text: Additionally, Anthony Daniels, Keith Ferguson, and Billy Dee Williams appear as protocol droid C-3PO, and smugglers Han Solo and Lando Calrissian from the "Star Wars" franchise and the television series "Robot Chicken". Other appearances from licensed Lego iterations of franchises include Gandalf from the "Lord of the Rings" and the "Hobbit" franchises (voiced by Todd Hansen); Dumbledore from the "Wizarding World" franchise; The Flash and Aquaman from DC Comics; Milhouse from "The Simpsons"; Michelangelo from the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" franchise and Speed Racer from the Lego tie-in sets released alongside the 2008 film adaptation of the eponymous animated television series.


title: The Lego Movie

text: Shaquille O'Neal portrays a Lego version of himself who is a Master Builder alongside two generic members of the 2002 NBA All-Stars. Will Forte (credited as Orville Forte) portrays Abraham Lincoln (whom he had previously voiced on "Clone High", another Lord/Miller production). Dave Franco, Jake Johnson and Keegan-Michael Key portray Emmet’s co-workers Wally, Barry and Foreman Jim respectively. Director Christopher Miller voices as a TV announcer for the Octan comedy show "Where Are My Pants?"; his son Graham Miller voices the Duplo alien.


title: The Lego Movie

text: The development of "The Lego Movie" began in 2008, when Dan Lin and Roy Lee discussed it before Lin left Warner Bros. Pictures to form his own production company, Lin Pictures. Warner Bros. home entertainment executive Kevin Tsujihara, who had recognized the value of the Lego franchise by engineering the studio's purchase of Lego video game licensee Traveller's Tales in 2007, thought the success of the Lego-based video games indicated a Lego-based film was a good idea, and reportedly "championed" the development of the film.


title: The Lego Movie

text: By August 2009, Dan and Kevin Hageman were writing the script described as "action adventure set in a Lego world." In 2008, Lin visited The Lego Group's headquarters in Denmark to pitch his vision for the film, later remarking uncertainty among executives. “They weren’t rude or anything (…) but they didn’t feel they needed a movie. They were already a very successful brand. Why take the risk?" Nevertheless, Lego's vice president of licensing and entertainment Jill Wilfert responded positively to the Hagemans' treatment that Lin pitched. “Once we heard the pitch, how Dan felt he could bring the values of the brand to life, we started to think, ‘This could be interesting.'"


title: The Lego Movie

text: "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" (2009) directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were in talks in June 2010 to write and direct the film. Warner Bros. green-lit the film by November 2011, with a planned 2014 release date. The Australian studio Animal Logic, the same studio that did the animation for other Warner Bros. films such as "Happy Feet" and "", was contracted to provide the animation, which was expected to comprise 80% of the film. By this time Chris McKay, the director of "Robot Chicken", had also joined Lord and Miller to co-direct. McKay explained that his role was to supervise the production in Australia once Lord and Miller left to work on "22 Jump Street" (2014). In March 2012, Lord and Miller revealed the film's working title, "Lego: The Piece of Resistance", and a storyline.


title: The Lego Movie

text: By June 2012, Chris Pratt had been cast as the voice of Emmet, the lead Lego character, and Will Arnett voicing a Lego version of Batman; the role of Lego Superman was offered to Channing Tatum. By August 2012, Elizabeth Banks was hired to voice Lucy (later getting the alias "Wyldstyle") and Morgan Freeman to voice Vitruvius, an old mystic. In November 2012, Alison Brie, Will Ferrell, Liam Neeson, and Nick Offerman signed on for roles. Brie voices Unikitty, a member of Emmet's team: Ferrell voices the antagonist President/Lord Business; Neeson voices Bad Cop/Good Cop: and Offerman voices MetalBeard, a pirate seeking revenge on Business.


title: The Lego Movie

text: Warner Bros. already owns the film rights to intellectual properties from which key characters appear in the film (i.e. DC Comics; Wizarding World), but the filmmakers still ran their depictions by other creatives; this included Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder, who were directing "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012) and "Man of Steel" (2013) at the time of the film's production, as well as "Harry Potter" creator J.K. Rowling. Lord recalled that Superman was omitted for an extended period of time due to a lawsuit against Warner Bros. by the heirs of co-creator Jerry Siegel, before being reinserted at the last minute. The film also features Keith Ferguson, Billy Dee Williams and Anthony Daniels reprising their roles as Lego iterations of Star Wars characters Han Solo, Lando Calrissian and C-3PO respectively. Lin recalled the closure of their deal to feature the characters as hectic, as The Walt Disney Company announced their purchase of Lucasfilm a few weeks after the filmmakers had traveled there and received permission to include them.


title: The Lego Movie

text: "The Lego Movie" was strongly inspired by the visual aesthetic and stylistics of Brickfilms and qualities attributed to Lego Studios sets. The film received a great deal of praise in the respective online communities from filmmakers and fans, who saw the film as appraising nod to their work. In the film's live-action segment, Finn returns Emmet to the Lego world via an arts-and-crafts-covered tube labeled "Magic Portal," which production designer Grant Freckleton confirmed was a direct reference to Australian filmmaker Lindsay Fleay's 1989 animated short film "The Magic Portal", which similarly incorporated live-action segments. Fleay went on to work at Animal Logic, though he left before production on "The Lego Movie" began.


title: The Lego Movie

text: Animal Logic tried to make the film's animation replicate a stop motion film although everything was done through computer graphics, with the animation rigs following the same articulation limits actual Lego figures have. The camera systems also tried to replicate live action cinematography, including different lenses and a Steadicam simulator. The scenery was projected through The Lego Group's own Lego Digital Designer (created as part of Lego Design byME, which people could design their own Lego models using LDD, then upload them to the Lego website, design their own box design, and order them for actual delivery), which as CG supervisor Aidan Sarsfield detailed, "uses the official LEGO Brick Library and effectively simulates the connectivity of each of the bricks."


title: The Lego Movie

text: The saved files were then converted to design and animate in Maya and XSI. At times the minifigures were even placed under microscopes to capture the seam lines, dirt and grime into the digital textures. Benny the spaceman was based on the line of Lego space sets sold in the 1980s, and his design includes the broken helmet chin strap, a common defect of the space sets at that time. Miller's childhood Space Village playset was used in the film.


title: The Lego Movie

text: "The Lego Movie" was the first theatrical feature film produced by Warner Animation Group, and was released over 10 years after the box office failure of Warner Bros. Feature Animation's final film "" in 2003. The film's total cost, including production, prints, and advertising (P&A), was $100 million. Half of the film's cost was financed by Village Roadshow Pictures, and was the only film in the franchise that Village Roadshow ever had involvement working on. The rest was covered by Warner Bros., with RatPac-Dune Entertainment providing a smaller share as part of its multi-year financing agreement with Warner Bros. Initially Warner Bros. turned down Village Roadshow Pictures when it asked to invest in the film. However, Warner Bros. later changed its mind, reportedly due to lack of confidence in the film, initially offering Village Roadshow Pictures the opportunity to finance 25% of the film, and later, an additional 25%.


title: The Lego Movie

text: The film's original score was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh, who had previously worked with Lord and Miller on "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" (2009) and "21 Jump Street" (2012). "The Lego Movie" soundtrack contains the score as the majority of its tracks. Also included is the song "Everything Is Awesome" written by Shawn Patterson, Joshua Bartholomew and Lisa Harriton, who also perform the song under the name Jo Li. The single, released on January 23, 2014, is performed by Tegan and Sara featuring The Lonely Island (Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone) who wrote the rap lyrics, and is played in the film's end credits. The soundtrack was released on February 4, 2014 by WaterTower Music.


title: The Lego Movie

text: Lego released a number of building toy sets based on scenes from "The Lego Movie". "The Lego Movie" premiered on February 1, 2014, at the Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles. It was originally scheduled for general release on February 28, but the film was moved up to February 7. The film was released in Australia by Roadshow Films.