title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Laura Hogue, a lawyer for Gregory McMichael, argued that "Arbery was not an innocent victim," describing him as "a recurring nighttime intruder ... frightening, and unsettling," who arrived in Satilla Shores "with no socks to cover his long dirty toenails." She said Arbery was "acting erratically when approached and making terrible, unexpected, illogical choices," failed to "stop" or "wait, to tell the police what he was doing," and ultimately died because he "chose to fight", "without any sense of reason to run at a man wielding a shotgun."


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Kevin Gough, the lawyer for Bryan, argued that Bryan could not have known that the McMichaels had guns and would shoot Arbery, and that "by the time [Bryan] knew there was nothing he could do." Gough also questioned why Arbery never asked for someone to call 911, suggesting that "Arbery doesn't want help." Gough argued that if the McMichaels "were vigilantes and harbored some ill will toward" Arbery, "then what difference does it make whether Roddie Bryan was there or not?" Gough concluded by stating that Bryan's "presence is absolutely superfluous and irrelevant."


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski delivered the final rebuttal to defense arguments. She disputed the defense arguments that the McMichaels were afraid of crime in their neighborhood, stating that their five-minute chase of Arbery proved that they were not afraid. Dunikoski described Gregory's description of Arbery "trapped like a rat" as an acknowledgment of false imprisonment, and Gregory's description of Arbery as an "asshole" just after the shooting to be evidence of malice. She concluded that all three men were responsible because they all committed felonies leading up to the murder.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: As a result of the verdicts, both the McMichaels and Bryan faced mandatory sentences of life imprisonment. The prosecution did not seek the death penalty in this case.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On January 7, 2022, the McMichaels were sentenced to life imprisonment with no parole and an additional 20 years, while Bryan was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 30 years.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: In sentencing the defendants, Judge Walmsley said "remorse is something that's felt and demonstrated", noting that "after Ahmaud Arbery fell, the McMichaels turned their backs" and "walked away". Walmsley further said that Gregory McMichael "very early on in this tried to establish a narrative", when (1) at the crime scene Gregory told Travis that he had "no choice" but to shoot, and (2) at the crime scene Gregory described Arbery as "an asshole". Walmsley indicated that Travis appeared to be more concerned about his own well-being while Arbery lay dead at the crime scene, with Travis stating: "This is the worst day of my life." In contrast, immediately after the shooting, Bryan "demonstrated that he had grave concerns that what had occurred should not have occurred", and also "did cooperate with law enforcement", said Walmsley.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: In April 2021, all three men were indicted by a federal grand jury with one count each of interference with rights, and with one count each of attempted kidnapping. Travis McMichael and Gregory McMichael were also indicted with separate counts of using firearms during a crime of violence. The "interference with rights" charge is a hate crime, specifically claiming "that the defendants used force and threats of force to intimidate and interfere with Arbery's right to use a public street because of his race". The range of sentencing included the death penalty, life in prison, another prison sentence length, and a fine. All three men initially pleaded not guilty.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: The Justice Department filed a notice of plea agreement on January 31, 2022. The deal, signed by federal prosecutors and defense attorneys for Travis and Greg McMichael, specified 30 year sentences to be served in federal prison, in exchange for guilty pleas. Travis McMichael's agreement stated that had not set out on the day of the murder to harm anyone for racist reasons, but that he had "made assumptions" about Arbery due to his race and that race played a part in decision to chase Arbery with a gun. He also acknowledged that in digital messages he had associated black skin with "criminality" and supported vigilantism against black criminals. Greg McMichaels was prepared to plead guilty in a subsequent session.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: But Arbery's family took the unusual step of opposing the agreement in open court, begging the judge to reject the deal so that the McMichaels serve their sentences in the Georgia state prison system, which was considered more dangerous and where both the interracial nature of the crime and Greg McMichael's history in law enforcement would make them likely targets of other prisoners. Caught by surprise, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke released a statement saying that the plea deal had been signed only after Arbery family attorneys "informed me that the family was not opposed to it." Assistant US Attorney Tara Lyons also asserted that Arbery's family had been repeatedly consulted about the agreement and were unopposed. But District Judge Lisa Godbey Wood sided with the family, acknowledging their emotional testimony as she took the rare step of rejecting the signed plea agreement, stating that she did not have enough information at that time to know whether the 30-year sentence it specified was fair.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On February 3, Greg McMichael's lawyers indicated that he would plead not guilty; on February 4, Travis McMichael withdrew his guilty plea. Legal experts expressed concern that public reporting on the plea agreement could prejudice the jury and make it more difficult for the McMichaels to get a fair trial.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: In the federal trial, the prosecution called 20 witnesses while the defense called one witness. GBI agent Richard Dial testified that Arbery ran "just about every day", and that Arbery did not take anything or damage anything from the under-construction home. Glynn County policeman Robert Rash testified that days before the shooting he had told the McMichaels that there was no evidence that Arbery stole anything from the under-construction home.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: FBI analyst Amy Vaughan testified about messages and social media posts made by Travis McMichael and William "Roddie" Bryan, which showed that Travis often described Black people as "savages" and "monkeys", linked them to criminality, and additionally stated that they "ruin everything". In January 2019, Travis wrote that a restaurant patronized by Blacks should "change the name from Cracker Barrel to Nigger Bucket"; two months later, Travis wrote that he loved his job because: "Zero niggers work with me." On social media, Travis shared a video of a young Black boy dancing, where the audio had been edited to that of a racist song entitled "Alabama Nigger" by country singer Johnny Rebel; Travis also reacted to a video of a Black man pranking a white man by declaring that he would "kill that fucking nigger", and then responded to a story about black people assaulting white women by stating that he "would beat those monkeys to death" if that was done to his family members. In other social media posts, McMichael responded to a video of Black Lives Matter protesters by wishing that he had a rifle to shoot the "goddamn monkeys", and separately called for a vehicle to drive into a group of Black people.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: According to Vaughan's testimony, William "Roddie" Bryan stated on 2019's MLK Day that he was "working so all the niggers can take off", further describing the MLK Day's parade as the "monkey day parade". Bryan also stated that a Black man that his daughter was dating would "fit right in with the monkeys", and that this relationship "is the only thing I said I would never accept". Vaughan testified that the FBI could not access Gregory McMichael's phone because it was encrypted, but a social media post on Gregory's account four months before the shooting was found stating: "A gun in the hand is worth more than the entire police force on the phone."


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: During Vaughan's testimony, prosecutors showed a social media post made by Travis McMichael within two months of the shooting, where he posted a video of himself in front of a "No Trespassing" sign, while stating that he would be hunting on private property. Multiple videos of Travis trespassing while hunting were shown. Separately, GBI agent Jason Seacrist testified that a Confederate flag sticker was found pasted on Travis McMichael's truck, while a vanity plate with a Confederate emblem was visible on police body camera footage from the day of the shooting had been removed from Travis' truck by the time investigators accessed the truck months later.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: A white woman who was a former subordinate of Travis McMichael testified that Travis repeatedly called her a "nigger lover" for dating a Black man. A woman who met Gregory McMichael in 2015 while he was working as a prosecutor's investigator testified that Gregory reacted to the death of Georgia's civil rights activist Julian Bond by wishing that Bond had died earlier, and that Gregory then said: "All those Blacks are nothing but trouble and I wish they'd all die." A neighbour of the McMichaels said that Gregory had discussed a Black tenant of his, whom Gregory described as a "walrus". Gregory said that after he shut down the property's air-conditioning to induce the tenant to pay rent, remarking: "You should have seen how fast her big fat Black ass came with the rent check".


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: The defense played a recording of Gregory McMichael telling police in July 2019 that he and Travis had confronted a homeless man staying under a bridge near Satilla Shores, due to their suspicion of him committing theft. The race of the homeless man was not mentioned. The defense's sole witness was a resident of Satilla Shores who said she had never met the McMichaels or Bryan. She testified that sometime in 2019, she saw an apparently Caucasian man under the same bridge, who seemed to be camping there, but she did not know if she saw the same person as the McMichaels.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On February 22, 2022, the McMichaels and Bryan were found guilty of all counts in the federal trial. A jury of eight white people, three Black people and one Hispanic person reached a verdict in just over three hours.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On March 8, 2022, attorneys for Travis and Greg McMichael appealed the verdict, citing that federal hate crimes laws apply only to public places, and that the crime occurred in a private street. Attorneys for Greg McMichael also appealed the conviction on targeting Arbery because he was black, citing his career as law enforcement agent, spanning several decades, where McMichael's attorney said, there was no evidence of racist behavior.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On August 8, 2022, Travis and Gregory McMichael were sentenced to second life terms for committing a federal hate crime. Travis received additional 10 years and his father Gregory seven years in addition to their life sentences. Bryan was sentenced to 35 years in prison.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On August 23, 2022, the McMichaels and Bryan were transported to the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification State Prison.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: In May 2020, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said that his office would review how the investigation into Arbery's murder "was handled from the outset". At Carr's request, the GBI investigated whether District Attorney Jackie Johnson or District Attorney George Barnhill's actions in connection with the appointment of a conflict prosecutor to investigate the murder of Arbery constituted a crime. In November 2020, Jackie Johnson lost her bid for re-election as Brunswick District Attorney.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On September 2, 2021, Carr announced that a Glynn County grand jury had indicted ex-District Attorney Jackie Johnson on one felony count of violating the oath of a public officer "by showing favor and affection to Greg McMichael during the investigation" (Gregory was formerly her subordinate), and for being unfair to Arbery by having "recommended Barnhill to the Attorney General's Office for appointment as the case prosecutor without disclosing that she had previously sought Barnhill's assistance on the case". The grand jury also indicted Johnson on one misdemeanor count of obstruction and hindering law enforcement, in this case the Glynn County police, "by directing that Travis McMichael should not be placed under arrest." On September 8, Johnson turned herself in for arrest, and then was released from detention without needing to pay her $10,000 bond.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: In response to a motion from Johnson to dismiss the charges against her, in May 2022 prosecutors submitted a response showing that Johnson engaged in 16 phone calls with defendant Greg McMichael in the period starting on the day of the shooting and extending until May 5, 2020. One of the calls lasted over 21 minutes.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Georgia Attorney General Carr called for a federal investigation into how local investigators and authorities handled the case, including "investigation of the communications and discussions by and between the Office of the District Attorney of the Brunswick Judicial Circuit and the Office of the District Attorney of the Waycross Judicial Circuit related to this case."


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: The next day on May 11, the U.S. Department of Justice responded that the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division, the FBI, and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia "have been supporting and will continue fully to support and participate in the state investigation. We are assessing all of the evidence to determine whether federal hate crimes charges are appropriate." In April 2021, all three men were indicted for federal crimes – one count each of interference with rights (a hate crime), one count each of attempted kidnapping, and one count for each McMichael of using a firearm during a crime of violence.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: The involvement of the GCPD as the primary investigator in a case involving its former officer Gregory McMichael was controversial. Following Arbery's murder, media investigated the history of the GCPD. "The New York Times" noted that in preceding years, the department had "been accused of covering up allegations of misconduct, tampering with a crime scene, interfering in an investigation of a police shooting and retaliating against fellow officers who cooperated with outside investigators."


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Days after Arbery was fatally shot, the chief of police who had been brought in to clean up a police force described by the county manager in 2019 as poorly trained and characterized by a "culture of cronyism" was indicted on charges arising from an alleged cover-up of a sexual relationship between an officer and an informant. In response to a grand jury report issued in November 2019, which had condemned the GCPD over "alleged officer misconduct and poor coordination with the local sheriff's office", State Senator William Ligon of Brunswick in early 2020 introduced legislation to allow voters to abolish the Glynn County Police Department. Although the legislation initially stalled in the General Assembly, after the legislature returned following the COVID-19 recess, the House passed the legislation 152–3. The Senate then passed the legislation as Senate Bill 509, which Governor Kemp signed. The legislation allowed a November 3, 2020, binding referendum such that the police department would be abolished if a majority of Glynn County voters agreed. Nevertheless, the referendum was ruled unconstitutional by a superior court judge on September 11, 2020, so it did not appear on the November 3 ballot.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Arbery's murder also prompted re-examinations of the way prosecutions of shootings were handled by the Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office. In 2010, two police officers fatally shot an unarmed white woman through her car windshield. Four former prosecutors, who had worked under Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jackie Johnson, alleged that Johnson shielded the officers from criminal prosecution. A 2015 investigation by WSB-TV revealed that Johnson had agreed to withhold a draft murder indictment from the grand jury and had "allowed the officers' department to present a factually inaccurate animation they created showing the car escaping through a gap and running over the officers."


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: In late June 2020, Georgia enacted new bipartisan hate crimes legislation (House Bill 426). Previous versions of the legislation had passed the state House but failed to pass the state Senate. Arbery's murder was a catalyst for passage of the bill; at the time Georgia was one of just four states without any hate-crimes legislation, as Georgia Supreme Court struck down a previous hate crimes law in 2004. The law requires a higher sentence for defendants convicted of targeting a victim due to "actual or perceived race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender, mental disability, or physical disability."


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On February 16, 2021, exactly a week before the first anniversary of Arbery's murder, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announced he would introduce legislation that would significantly amend the state's citizen's arrest law. Georgia's citizen's arrest law had been textually very broad in scope, dating back to the Civil War era. The legal defense argued by the defendants accused of murdering Arbery was that they were only attempting to perform a lawful citizen's arrest. Kemp criticized the law for being outdated and vague. According to Kemp, the changes would close numerous loopholes under the existing law while still protecting the rights of law-abiding citizens. On March 4, 2021, the proposed changes were passed out of legislative committee in the Georgia House of Representatives by a unanimous vote. The bill – House Bill 479 – received widespread and bipartisan support. The bill to repeal the citizen's arrest law passed the legislature and was signed by Governor Kemp on May 10, 2021.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: In repealing the citizen's arrest law, it was replaced with new legislation that allowed for certain private persons such as licensed private detectives, security guards, shopkeepers and restaurant employees to conduct arrest under specific circumstances.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On February 2, 2022, the Georgia General Assembly designated February 23 as Ahmaud Arbery Day within the state henceforth. The Georgia General Assembly further encouraged people to run 2.23 miles on this day every year to advocate for racial justice and equity.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On August 9, 2022, officials of the city of Brunswick designated that all intersections along a 2.7-mile stretch of Albany Street bear a sign in his memory.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Arbery's mother Wanda Cooper-Jones said her son was jogging when he was murdered and called for arrests to be made. The Arbery family retained Benjamin Crump, S. Lee Merritt, and Chris Stewart as attorneys. Meritt described the McMichaels as "vigilantes" and "a posse" who "performed a modern lynching in the middle of the day." Arbery's family attorney charged that videos of earlier police encounters show a pattern of unfair treatment of Arbery based on his skin color.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On May 1, Gregory McMichael told "The Daily Beast" he "never would have gone after someone for their color". He also said he had no direct evidence Arbery had stolen anything in the neighborhood. However, McMichael argued Arbery was on property "without permission".


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: A lawyer for William Bryan Jr., the man who recorded the shooting using cell phone video, said his client had done nothing wrong, had fully cooperated in the investigation, and "is not now, and never has been, a 'vigilante'." The attorney also described Bryan as "a mechanic with a high-school education" who was simply a witness to the shooting.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Attorneys for Arbery's family called for Bryan's arrest. They said that because Bryan had participated in chasing Arbery and had "corralled" him, Bryan participated in the murder.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: After the video went public, Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr said, "I expect justice to be carried out as swiftly as possible." Governor Brian Kemp said on May 7 that "Georgians deserve answers" about the incident. Two Glynn County Commissioners, Peter Murphy and Allen Booker, called for a federal probe. After viewing the video, Georgia U.S. Representative Doug Collins and U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler said it was "disturbing" and called for a full investigation and answers.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Speaking to reporters, President Donald Trump commented, "My heart goes out to the parents and to the loved ones of the young gentleman. It's a very sad thing." Then-presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, said that "the video is clear: Ahmaud Arbery was killed in cold blood." Biden offered condolences and called for "a swift, full, and transparent investigation into his murder." Biden also described the shooting as a lynching.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: After the video was released, demonstrators gathered outside the Glynn County Courthouse to demand an arrest in the case, and called for the resignation of District Attorney Jackie Johnson. The local Brunswick NAACP chapter also called for the resignation of the Glynn County police chief. The Southern Poverty Law Center called for a federal investigation into the incident, citing their belief Arbery's murder was racially motivated.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Political commentator and former attorney David A. French wrote that, under Georgia's stand-your-ground law, because the McMichaels initiated the confrontation,


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: It's a crime under Georgia law to point a gun (loaded or unloaded) without legal justification. When Arbery was confronted by armed men who moved directly to block him from leaving, demanding to "talk" then Arbery was entitled to defend himself. Georgia's 'stand your ground law' arguably benefits Arbery, not those who were attempting to falsely imprison him at gunpoint.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On May 8, 2020, which would have been Arbery's 26th birthday, thousands of supporters of Arbery's family took part in a run of , the date of his murder; they documented it to social media with the hashtag #IRunWithMaud.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Many clergy and celebrities have voiced support for review of the case, and concern about the violence. Russell D. Moore, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said, "under any Christian vision of justice, there is no situation in which the mob murder of a person can be morally right, nor grounds for a person to be chased down and shot by private citizens." LeBron James expressed outrage on Twitter, and offered "prayers and blessings". Some posted tributes to Arbery, including Lecrae, David A. French, Scott Sauls, Christine Caine, Jack Graham, J. D. Greear, Viola Davis, Wanda Sykes, Padma Lakshmi, Gabrielle Union, and Andy Lassner.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: On social media, far-right and neo-Nazi groups spread falsehoods about Arbery; their white-nationalist supporters attacked President Trump for his sympathetic comments regarding Arbery. According to an analyst from the Middle East Media Research Institute, such groups claimed Arbery was wielding a hammer and wearing Timberland boots when he was shot dead; Arbery was wearing running shoes. They also spread racist remarks about Arbery, and claimed that the McMichaels were victims. Several far-right groups said the McMichaels' arrests reflected a bias against whites. Some far-right members appropriated "jogger" as an euphemism for "nigger" to both mock the circumstance surrounding his death, and as a way to circumvent anti-hate speech policies.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Civil rights leaders and politicians reacted overwhelmingly to the verdict with hopeful yet cautionary statements, and Arbery's family thanked those who showed support.


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Arbery family lawyer and civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said, "Today certainly indicates progress, but we are nowhere close to the finish line. Keep marching. Keep fighting for what is right. And never stop running for Ahmaud." Crump added, "While today is not one for celebration, it is one for reflection." Derrick Johnson, President and CEO of the NAACP, called the verdict "long overdue."


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Arbery's mother Wanda Cooper-Jones has said, "It's been a long fight, it's been a hard fight...Thank you to those who marched, the ones who prayed, thank you." Arbery's father Marcus Arbery commented, "We conquered that lynch mob."


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: Georgia Governor Brian Kemp condemned the actions of the murderers, saying Arbery "was the victim of a vigilantism that has no place in Georgia." Kemp and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr each called for community, state, and national "healing and reconciliation." Activist and former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives Stacey Abrams said, "A jury believed the evidence of their eyes and saw the meanness in the killers' hearts. May this verdict bring a small measure of peace." U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock from Georgia said the verdict "upholds a sense of accountability, but not true justice." Warnock's colleague Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff said, "A historic civil rights mobilization was necessary for the killers to face prosecution at all...[demonstrating] profoundly the urgency of reforms to make equal justice real in America."


title: Murder of Ahmaud Arbery

text: President Joe Biden said Arbery's murder was "a devastating reminder of how far we have to go in the fight for racial justice in this country." Vice President Kamala Harris said, "We honor (Arbery) best by continuing the fight for justice." Congressional Black Caucus chair Joyce Beatty said, "This story - although devastating - is not new; we've seen this play out repeatedly...Justice has been served. However, there is still much work to be done."


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: The Island is a 2005 American dystopian science fiction action thriller film directed and co-produced by Michael Bay from a story by Caspian Tredwell-Owen. It stars Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Djimon Hounsou, Sean Bean, Michael Clarke Duncan, and Steve Buscemi. The film is about Lincoln Six Echo (McGregor), who struggles to fit into the highly structured world in which he lives, isolated in a compound, and the series of events that unfold when he questions how truthful that world is. After Lincoln learns the compound inhabitants are clones used for organ harvesting as well as surrogates for wealthy people in the outside world, he attempts to escape with Jordan Two Delta (Johansson) and expose the illegal cloning movement.


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: "The Island" has been described as a pastiche of "escape-from-dystopia" science fiction films of the 1960s and 1970s, such as "Fahrenheit 451", "THX 1138", "", and "Logan's Run". "The Island" cost $126 million to produce. The original score was composed by Steve Jablonsky, who went on to score Bay's further works. It opened on July 22, 2005 by DreamWorks Pictures in North America and internationally by Warner Bros. Pictures, to mixed reviews, earning $36 million at the United States box office and $127 million overseas for a $162 million worldwide total.


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: On July 19, 2019, Lincoln Six Echo and Jordan Two Delta live with others in an isolated compound. This dystopian community is governed by a strict set of rules. The residents are told that the outside world has become too contaminated to support life with the exception of a pathogen-free island. Each week, one resident gets to leave the compound and live on the island by way of a lottery.


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: Lincoln begins having dreams that he knows are not from his own experiences. Dr. Merrick, a scientist who runs the compound, is concerned and places probes in Lincoln's body to monitor his cerebral activity. While secretly visiting an off-limits power facility in the basement where technician James McCord works, Lincoln discovers a live moth in a ventilation shaft, leading him to deduce the outside world is not really contaminated. Lincoln follows the moth to another section, where he discovers the "lottery" is actually a system to selectively remove inhabitants from the compound, where the "winner" is then used for organ harvesting, surrogate pregnancies, and other important purposes for each one's wealthy sponsor, of whom they are clones.


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: Merrick learns Lincoln has discovered the truth about his existence, which forces Lincoln to escape. Meanwhile, Jordan has been selected for the island. Lincoln and Jordan escape the facility and emerge in the desert. Lincoln explains the truth to her, and they set out to discover the real world. Merrick hires Burkinabé mercenary and former GIGN operative Albert Laurent to find and return them to the compound.


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: Lincoln and Jordan find McCord, who explains that all the facility residents are clones of wealthy sponsors and are kept ignorant about the real world and conditioned to never question their environment or history. McCord provides the name of Lincoln's sponsor, yacht designer Tom Lincoln, in Los Angeles and helps them to the Yucca maglev station, where they board an Amtrak train to LA before mercenaries kill him. In New York City, Jordan's sponsor, supermodel Sarah Jordan, is comatose following a car crash and requires transplants from Jordan to survive. Lincoln also meets Tom, who gives him some explanation about the cloning institute, causing Lincoln to realize that he has gained Tom's memories. Tom seemingly agrees to help Lincoln and Jordan reveal Merrick's crimes to the public, but secretly betrays them to Merrick and Laurent, as he desperately needs Lincoln's liver to survive his cirrhosis. Tricking Lincoln into leaving with him, Tom brings him to an ambush that results in a car chase through suburban LA and ends with Lincoln tricking Laurent into believing Tom is the clone and killing him, allowing him to assume Tom's identity. Returning to Tom's home, Lincoln and Jordan give in to their romantic urges and have sex.


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: Merrick surmises that a cloning defect was responsible for Lincoln's memories and behavior, resulting in him and every future clone generation to question their environment and even tap into their sponsor's memories. To prevent this, he decides to eliminate the four latest generations of clones. Lincoln and Jordan, however, plan to liberate the other clones. Posing as Tom, Lincoln returns to the compound to destroy the holographic projectors that conceal the outside world. Jordan allows herself to be caught to assist Lincoln's plan. Laurent, who has moral qualms about the clones' treatment after witnessing their fight for survival and learning that Sarah Jordan may not survive even with the organ transplants, helps Jordan. Lincoln kills Merrick with a harpoon gun, and the clones are freed, seeing the outside world for the first time. As Laurent seemingly gives up his mercenary life, Lincoln and Jordan sail away in one of Tom's boats together toward an island, fulfilling their dream of one day going to such a place.


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: Principal photography for The Island began on October 24, 2004. The ruined buildings where Jordan and Lincoln sleep after leaving the subterranean compound are in Rhyolite, Nevada. The city parts were shot in Detroit, Michigan, with Michigan Central Station one of the notable locations. Other portions of the film were shot in the Coachella Valley, California.


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: "The Island" grossed $12,409,070 in over 3,100 theaters its opening weekend in fourth place behind "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory", "Wedding Crashers" and "Fantastic Four". The film went on to gross $35,818,913 domestically and $127,130,251 in other markets, for a worldwide total of $162,949,164.


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: Ultimately, it was considered a box office bomb, which Edward Jay Epstein of "Slate" blamed on poor publicity. Epstein notes that research polls showed little awareness of "The Island's" impending release amongst its target audience and that trailers bore little relation to the film's plot. He writes, "What really failed here was not the directing, acting, or story (which were all acceptable for a summer movie) but the marketing campaign."


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: "The Island" drew mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 39% based on reviews from 201 critics, with an average rating of 5.40/10. The website's consensus reads, "A clone of "THX 1138", "Coma", and "Logan's Run", "The Island" is another loud and bombastic Michael Bay movie where explosions and chases matter more than characters, dialogue, or plot." On Metacritic, the film received "mixed or average reviews," with a weighted average of 50 out of 100 based on 38 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: "Chicago Sun-Times" Roger Ebert said, "[the first half] is a spare, creepy science fiction parable, and then it shifts into a high-tech action picture. Both halves work. Whether they work together is a good question." Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and praised the performances of the actors, in particular Michael Clarke Duncan: "[He] has only three or four scenes, but they're of central importance, and he brings true horror to them." On the critical side, he said the film "never satisfactorily comes full circle" and missed the opportunity "to do what the best science fiction does, and use the future as a way to critique the present."


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: "Variety"'s Justin Chang called the film an "exercise in sensory overkill" and said that Bay took on "the weighty moral conundrums of human cloning, resolving them in a storm of bullets, car chases and more explosions than you can shake a syringe at." He noted McGregor and Buscemi as highlights of the film, along with Nigel Phelps' production design. Chang felt the story lacked in surprises and blamed "attention-deficit editing by Paul Rubell and Christian Wagner" for action sequences that he thought lacked tension and were "joltingly repetitive".


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: "Salon"'s Stephanie Zacharek also praised the actors but felt that when the film "[gets] really interesting, Bay thinks he needs to throw in a car crash or a round of gunfire to keep our attention." She felt the film had enough surprises "to make you wish it were better." A.O. Scott of "The New York Times"' said "[the] film is smarter than you might expect, and at the same time dumber than it could be."


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: The creators of the 1979 film "", which was also about a colony that breeds clones to harvest organs for the elite, filed a copyright infringement suit in 2005. DreamWorks attempted to have the suit dismissed but a federal judge determined that there was indeed a copyright infringement case to be heard and scheduled the case to go to trial in February 2007. However, DreamWorks then settled the case out of court in late 2006 for an undisclosed seven-figure sum.


title: The Island (2005 film)

text: Michael Marshall Smith's 1996 novel "Spares", in which the hero liberates intelligent clones from a "spare farm", was optioned by DreamWorks in the late 1990s, but was never made. It remains unclear if the story inspired "The Island", and so Marshall Smith did not consider it worthwhile to pursue legal action over the similarities.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated children's television series based on the fourth incarnation of Hasbro's "My Little Pony" franchise. The series follows a studious unicorn (later an alicorn) pony named Twilight Sparkle (Tara Strong) and her friends, (Ashleigh Ball), (Tabitha St. Germain), Fluttershy (Andrea Libman), Rainbow Dash (Ball), Pinkie Pie (Libman), and her dragon assistant (Cathy Weseluck). They travel on adventures and help others around Equestria, solving problems with their friendships.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Animated in Flash, the series aired on Discovery Family (formerly The Hub) from October 10, 2010, to October 12, 2019. Hasbro selected animator Lauren Faust as creative director and executive producer. Faust created deeper characters and adventurous settings, seeking a show resembling how she had played with her toys and incorporating fantasy elements. However, due to hectic production schedules and a lack of creative control, she left the series during its second season.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: "Friendship Is Magic" became one of the highest-rated productions in The Hub's history. Despite its target demographic of young girls, the series attracted an unexpectedly large following of older viewers, mainly adult men, who call themselves "bronies". The series gave Hasbro new merchandising opportunities. A spin-off franchise ("") was launched in 2013, and ran alongside the series for six years. A feature-length film adaptation based on the television series, "", was released in October 2017 in the United States. "", a spin-off comedy series, premiered on Discovery Family in November 2020.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: In the kingdom of Equestria, its three species of ponies—earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns—live harmoniously. Twilight Sparkle, a studious unicorn, travels to Ponyville to learn about friendship at the urging of Equestria's ruler (and her mentor) Princess Celestia. Twilight and , her dragon assistant, become close friends with five other ponies: , , Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. The ponies discover that they represent different facets of friendship, with magical artifacts known as Elements of Harmony. They have adventures and help others in and around Equestria, solving problems in their friendships.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Hasbro has produced several incarnations of the "My Little Pony" franchise, often called "generations" by the toy line's collectors. With many brands, including My Little Pony, the company uses a multi-generational plan. The "Transformers" film (2007) inspired Hasbro, since it helped to increase sales of the Transformers toy line; the company wanted to retool the "My Little Pony" franchise to appeal to the young-girl demographic. According to Margaret Loesch, CEO of The Hub, revisiting properties which had been successful was an important decision; it was somewhat influenced by the network's programming executives, several of whom were fans of the shows. According to Hasbro senior vice president Linda Steiner, the company "intended to have the show appeal to a larger demographic"; the network was trying to create shows that parents and children would watch together. Central themes Hasbro sought for the show included friendship and cooperation, determined from market research in how girls played with toys.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Animator and writer Lauren Faust approached Hasbro to develop "Galaxy Girls", her girls'-toy property, into an animated series. Faust, who had worked on Cartoon Network's "The Powerpuff Girls" (1998–2005) and "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" (2004–2009), had unsuccessfully pitched animation aimed at girls for years. When Faust approached Lisa Licht of Hasbro Studios, Licht was uninterested but showed Faust the "My Little Pony" special "" (2006). Licht thought that Faust's style was suitable for that line, and asked her to consider "some ideas [on] where to take a new version of the franchise".


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Faust was initially hired by Hasbro to create a pitch bible for the show, enabling her to get additional help with ideas. She was "extremely skeptical" about taking the job, because she thought that shows based on girls' toys were dull. Although "My Little Pony" was one of her favorite childhood toys, Faust was disappointed by the television shows; the characters "just had endless tea parties, giggled over nothing and defeated villains by either sharing with them or crying". With the chance to work on "My Little Pony", she hoped to prove that "cartoons for girls don't have to be a puddle of smooshy, cutesy-wootsy, goody-two-shoeness" like the original series. Faust incorporated many elements contradicting stereotypes of girlsdiverse personalities, the message that friends can differ and remain friends, and the idea that girls should not be limited by what others sayinto the design of the characters and the series. Elements of the characters' personalities and the show's settings were based on her childhood imagination of the ponies' adventures, inspired by shows such as "Transformers" (1984–1987) and "" (1983–1986) which her brothers watched. According to Faust, she was making "Friendship Is Magic" "for [herself] as an eight-year-old". Faust wanted the characters to be relatable, using "icons of girliness" (such as a waif or a bookworm) to broaden their appeal to a young female audience.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Using her childhood as a guide, she imagined the three types of ponies—unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies—with different cultures and living in different places. Faust pictured the unicorns in the mountains, the pegasi in the clouds, and the earth ponies on the ground. She envisioned them as realistic horses who ate hay, lived in barns, pulled carts, wore saddles, and picked up objects with their mouths.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Faust said that Hasbro's positive response to non-traditional elements inspired her as she gave the company more ideas for the show. Although she pitched a balance of adventure and relationship stories, she de-emphasized adventures and focused on exchanges between characters for pragmatic reasons. The show incorporated creatures intended to frighten children, such as dragons and hydras, but emphasized friendships among the characters which were leavened with humor. When the series was approved, Faust had developed three full scripts.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Faust drew concept sketches, several of which appeared on her fyre-fly DeviantArt page. They included ideas about how she envisioned the original series' poniesApplejack, the cowgirl; Firefly, the "badass"; the bubbly, enthusiastic Surprise; Posey, the kind, shy pony who loved other animals; and Sparkler, the fashion artistwhich inspired this series' main cast. Hasbro approved the show with Faust as executive producer, and asked her to complete the pitch bible. She hired Martin Ansolabehere and Paul Rudish, with whom she had worked on other animated shows. Faust credited Rudish with inspiring Nightmare Moon, a villain who appears in the premiere episode "", and the pegasus ponies' control of the weather; she then imagined the ponies as stewards of their world who made weather happen, flowers grow, and animals thrive. She also consulted her husband Craig McCracken, creator of "The Powerpuff Girls" and "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends". In six weeks, Faust sketched over 40 pages of "the universe that had existed in her 8-year-old mind".


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: The visual collaboration brought a unique style to "Friendship Is Magic". Pennsylvania Dutch design, steampunk fantasy art, European fairy tales, and Bavarian folk art influenced the original pony world. Designing the settings, Faust sent photos to artist Dave Dunnet. Ponyville was based on German cottages, with a fairy-tale quality and equine elements such as horseshoe-shaped archways, hay bales, and troughs. Canterlot was based on castles and cathedrals, giving it a European feel; its location on a mountain and its purple-and-gold palette conveyed royalty and aspiration. Fantasy inspired elements of the series which were modified to suit its setting, story, and target audience. After seeing the initial version of the pitch bible, Hasbro requested more character designs and hired Dunnet and Lynne Naylor to refine the background and characters.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: After the pitch bible was completed, Hasbro and Faust evaluated animation studios. Studio B Productions (renamed DHX Media on September 8, 2010) worked on Macromedia Flash-based animations and shows featuring animals. Faust felt that the studio would be a good fit, and agreed that Jayson Thiessen should direct. Faust, Thiessen, and James Wootton (who later became a director) presented a two-minute pitch to Hasbro, which approved the production. Faust estimated the time between being asked to develop the show and its approval at about one year. The foundation of the series took roughly two years.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Faust's initial writing staff at Hasbro Studios included several with whom she had worked on other shows and were approved by Hasbro, such as Amy Keating Rogers, Cindy Morrow, Meghan McCarthy, Chris Savino, Charlotte Fullerton, M.A. Larson, and Dave Polsky. McCarthy accepted Faust's invitation due to her dedication. Composer William Anderson presented a blind audition to Hasbro for "Friendship Is Magic"; the company admired his incidental music, and selected him.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: After the first season's finale aired, Faust announced that she had stepped down as executive producer to become consulting producer. Her involvement in the second season consisted primarily of story concepts and scripts, and she left after that season. In an interview with "New York" magazine, Faust said that her reasons for leaving were a combination of hectic production schedules and a lack of creative control. McCracken said that Faust's departure was due to its being a toy company-driven show, and there was "still some frustration" with being unable to bring some of her ideas to the screen.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Initially scheduled to work on its fifth season, McCarthy gave up most of her work on the series to write "" (2017). After Thiessen also left to work on the film, Jim Miller became supervising director; Denny Lu, who had led the animation, replaced Miller as director. During season six, layout supervisor Tim Stuby was also appointed as a director to assist Miller and Lu.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Writing began with the premise and "getting a nugget of a story to build upon" at Hasbro. Faust and Rob Renzetti conceived broad plots for each episode, and held a brainstorming session with each episode's writer to flesh out scenes and dialogue. They worked with the writer to finalize the script and provide basic storyboard instructions. Hasbro was involved throughout the process, laying down concepts for incorporation into the show. Examples included Celestia as a princess instead of a queen; a fashion-focused pony; and toy sets in the story, such as Rarity's boutique. Hasbro sometimes asked for a setting, allowing Faust and her team to create its visual style and basing a toy set (such as the Ponyville schoolhouse) on it. As Faust adhered to the educational and informational standards which Hasbro required of the show, she found creating situations more difficult; having a character call another an "egghead" was "treading a very delicate line", and a character's cheating was "worrisome to some". When DHX Media went into the design phase of an episode, scripts were finalized. Each episode generally included a moral or life lesson, chosen to "cross a broad spectrum of personal experiences" and not just aimed at children. Because intellectual-property issues had caused Hasbro to lose some rights to the original pony names, the show included a mix of original characters from the toy line and new characters developed for the show.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Hasbro and Faust planned for episodes to be 11 minutes long before the series was approved, and Faust observed the limit in "The Ticket Master" (her first full-length script). Faust preferred 22-minute episodes, however, and Hasbro eventually agreed. Scripts were written around the episode runtime, and Miller said that most editing removed supplementary dialogue and action. Initial production stages were tight, requiring a schedule twice as fast as Faust had previously experienced. Communication between the Los Angeles writing offices and the animation studio in Vancouver was frequently remote. The two teams sometimes held "writer's summits" to propose ideas for characters and situations, at which the animation team provided suggestions on visuals, body language, and characterization. Larson said that his writing often used "ridiculous shorthand" for conciseness, and he referred to other works.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: The series' background music and songs were composed by William Kevin Anderson and Daniel Ingram, respectively. The production team identified parts of each episode where they wanted music cues, allowing Anderson to provide the music. The score was composed after each episode's initial animation, and was reviewed by Hasbro. Ingram worked with Anderson's compositions to create songs which meshed with the background music and fleshed out the show's fantasy setting. Ingram's songs usually began with a piano and a basic melody. The creative team received the song and provided input; background voices and instrumentation were then layered before the lead singer's vocals. Writers sometimes suggested lyrics and overall musical themes, including two songs written by Amy Keating Rogers. Music composition substantially preceded the broadcast of an episode; songs for the series' third season, which began airing in November 2012, were composed in 2011. Ingram thought the songs from previous "My Little Pony" shows were "a little bit dated", and decided to bring more-modern work to the "Friendship Is Magic" series. Changes included songs with more emotional depth than those typical of children's animation, which could also be enjoyed outside the episode. Ingram said that his songs had become "bigger and more epic, more Broadway and more cinematic over time", and Hasbro endorsed the effort to try "something groundbreaking for daytime television". "Putting it Together" from the musical "Sunday in the Park with George" inspired "The Art of the Dress" in the first-season episode "Suited for Success", and "At The Gala" from the first-season finale was based on "Into the Woods". A musical number in "The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" paid homage to "Ya Got Trouble" from "The Music Man".


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Voice casting and production was handled by Voicebox Productions, with Terry Klassen the series' voice director. Faust, Thiessen, and others participated in selecting voice actors, with Hasbro giving final approval. Tara Strong was cast as Twilight Sparkle after Faust, who had worked with her on "The Powerpuff Girls", asked her to help pitch the show by voicing Twilight, Pinkie Pie and "Applejack [or] Rainbow Dash". After Faust heard Strong as Twilight, she knew she wanted her for the role. When Cathy Weseluck auditioned for Spike, she envisioned him as a baby with a high voice. The director later told her to "boy him up a bit", "chang[ing] everything".


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: The series was recorded in Vancouver. Voice work was done after writing and before animation, with the animators providing direction. According to Andrea Libman (the voices of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie), this approach enabled the actors to play the characters without limitations; Libman said that she was allowed be as exaggerated as she wanted without the animators stopping her. The actors received songs before recording, and practiced them at home. The songs were recorded with the dialogue.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Completed scripts were sent to Studio B for pre-production and animation with Macromedia Flash Professional 8. Thiessen's production team was allowed to select key personnel, subject to Hasbro approval; one of those selected was art director Ridd Sorensen. The Studio B team storyboarded the provided scripts, incorporating direction and creating scenes which the writers believed were impossible to animaten. The DHX Media team went through the storyboard and design process, recorded dialogue, and created a storyboard animatic from the voice recordings. The animators then prepared key-character poses, layout, background art, and other major elements. These versions were sent back to the production team in Los Angeles for review by Hasbro with suggestions from the writers. Hasbro also received rough black-and-white drawings, colored and finalized character and prop designs, and animatics and a rough cut. Thiessen credited much of the technical expertise to Wooton, who created Flash programs to optimize the placement and posing of the pony characters and other elements; this simplified the work needed from other animators. The ponies' manes and tails are generally fixed shapes, animated by bending and stretching them in curves; this gave them movement without the need to animate individual hairs.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: According to Timothy Packford of DHX Media, storyboarding action scenes was difficult because the stories' important points might be lost; storyboarding and intent needed to be clear. Episodes with large amounts of dialogue could "sort of slog and grind because there's so much talking". A crucial point was to keep the shots interesting, with a good flow of one into another, and action sequences tended to have more cuts than dialogue. The storyboard artists and animators also added unscripted background characters to populate the world. According to McCarthy, many fandom acknowledgements, pop-culture references or other Easter eggs were added by the studio. Filipino animation studio Top Draw also worked on the animations.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Each of the main characters had distinctive expressions and mannerisms, and shared general ones. According to the DHX Media team, they "avoid[ed] certain expressions if it [went] outside [the ponies'] personality". The creative team interpreted each character's personality as mannerisms, facial expressions, props, and home environment; Twilight's purple color signified royalty and mystical awareness, and her hard, angular edges personified her as tidy. Other examples include Rainbow Dash's rainbow hair, representing her ability to cause a Sonic Rainboom; Fluttershy's hair, indicating her bounciness, gentleness, and optimism; Applejack's cutie mark, symbolizing her simplicity; Pinkie Pie's shape (similar to a bubble, balloon, or cloud), reflecting her cheerfulness and buoyancy; and Spike's design, embodying his difference from the ponies.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: The director and supervising director managed half of the episodes each, working together on two-part episodes, and the supervising director oversaw all episodes. Faust estimated the time to complete one episode at one year. The team simultaneously worked on various stages of all 26 first-season episodes; when the second season was approved, that number rose temporarily to 32. Episodes were originally aired about one month after completion, with the timeframe becoming six to eight weeks by the sixth season. According to Thiessen, they had pushed to start work on the second season as soon as the first was completed to prevent staff turnover.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Female friendship is a central theme of the series. Faust said that its deeper message is that friendship means being oneself and accepting others. According to Ethan Lewis of Den of Geek, the show often "takes on very morally complicated situations [...] that don't seem to have easy answers as opposed to very cut and dried children's messages". Lewis added that the series taught lessons about friendship which some adults would be unable to comprehend. "The A.V. Club" Emily St. James compared "Friendship Is Magic" to "an owner's manual to being a kind person". St. James said that making friends could be difficult for children; the series broke it down to its most basic aspects, demonstrating the importance of a few friendly gestures. Den of Geek writer Alana Joli Abott cited the celebration of differences, faith, and inclusion as prominent themes.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Megan Crouse described the series for Den of Geek as serious' fantasy", drawing comparisons to "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Sword in the Stone". According to Crouse, "Friendship Is Magic" consistency and system of magic made it work well as a fantasy story. "The Cut" Lisa Miller said that the series could be compared to almost any children's fairy tale or fantasy story. Faust said that mythology and the fantasy genre influenced all of "Friendship Is Magic".


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Several writers have called the show's setting a matriarchy. In the OpenEdition.org journal "Transatlantica", Isabelle Licari-Guillaume wrote that the series counters sexist portrayals which are common in media for children. Lewis considered the characters some of television's "best representations" of females, neither stereotypically feminine nor masculine. In the analysis "Orienting Feminism", Kevin Fletcher wrote: ""Friendship is Magic" exhibits a feminist sensibility rather than an individualistic post-feminist one." Fletcher added that by focusing on the value of community, the series abstains from post-feminism. A study by Christian Valiente and Xeno Rasmusson which sampled 13 episodes found that the series has characters in circumstances which dispute gender stereotypes; females often play primary, active roles in positions of authority. Valiente and Rasmusson said that although some male characters have abilities and authority, the series focuses on females often shown in positions of strength and leadership while maintaining traditional feminine traits. According to Valiente and Rasmusson, gender is "[no]thing more than an aesthetic story element" in "Friendship Is Magic".


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic", which is targeted at girls aged 4–7, was one of several animated shows which aired on The Hub (a retooling of Discovery Kids owned by Discovery Communications). The network was rebranded Discovery Family on October 13, 2014. Each episode is about 22 minutes long.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: "Friendship Is Magic" premiered on October 10, 2010. In March 2011, less than two months before the season finale aired, the series was renewed for a second season which aired from September 17, 2011, to April 21, 2012. A month before the second season ended, the series was renewed for a third season which premiered on November 10, 2012, and ended on February 16, 2013. One month later, The Hub renewed the show for a fourth season to air during the 2013–2014 television season. On May 7, 2014, the series was renewed for a fifth season. On August 4–8, 2014, The Hub aired "My Little Pony Mega Mare-a-thon": a 50-hour marathon of every episode from the first four seasons of "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic" and specials from the toy line's third generation. The fifth season premiered on April 4, 2015, and ended on November 28, 2015. A month before the prior season's airing, Discovery Family renewed the series for a sixth season which was broadcast from March 26 to October 22, 2016. In October 2016, the show was renewed for a seventh season which aired from April 15 to October 28, 2017. An eighth season was broadcast from March 24 to October 6, 2018. Discovery Family announced the ninth and final season on March 8, 2019, which premiered on April 6 of that year. Before its finale, "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic — A Decade of Pony" (a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the series) was aired on October 11, 2019. was broadcast the following day.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: With several other Hasbro properties, "Friendship Is Magic" was added to Netflix on April 1, 2012, in the United States. In 2015, the series and several other shows based on Hasbro properties were planned to be dropped from the streaming service. However, Hasbro and Netflix later decided to keep the shows on the latter. "Friendship Is Magic" was intended to be removed in August 2018; a few seasons were dropped before they were brought back. The series is set to be removed from Netflix on January 31, 2022. In 2011, "Celebration at Canterlot" (a two-episode DVD) was available at Target stores with toys from the franchise.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Shout! Factory has the DVD rights for the series in Region 1. Twenty-three five-episode DVDs and three six-episode DVDs have been released. The series' first seven seasons have been released in DVD box sets. United Kingdom-based Clear Vision has the publishing rights in Region 2 (which includes most of Western Europe and the Middle East), but the company entered administration in December 2013. Madman Entertainment has the Region 4 DVD and digital-download rights.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: "Friendship Is Magic" has been praised for its animation style, stories, characterization, and exploration of feminism. Rotten Tomatoes reports that 100 percent of 10 critics gave the show's first season a positive review, with an average score of 8/10. According to the website's critical consensus, "Smart and sweet, "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" proves that children's entertainment can be fun for adults, too."


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Critics responded positively to the series' characters, messages, and morals. A review by Emily Ashby on Common Sense Media, an organization focusing on the parenting aspect of children's media, emphasized the show's themes of loyalty, friendliness, friendship, tolerance, and respect. Den of Geek's Anna Dobbie appreciated the ponies' different personalities (which she believed worked well to achieve stability) and the series' focus on self-discovery and acceptance; According to "Screen Rant" writer Carly Olsen, the show develops both its major and minor characters well. Jamie Spain similarly applauded the show's elements of growth, learning, and social skills on BuzzFeed, which she considered uncommon in children's television. The characters, messages, and morals have been called "super cool", relatable, "absolutely genuine", inspiring, positive, and enjoyable. Kathleen Richter of "Ms.", however, disagreed with the praise; she wrote that "Friendship Is Magic" promoted sexism, racism, and heteronormativity, saying that Rainbow Dash's character encouraged the stereotype that "all feminists are angry, tomboyish lesbians" and criticizing other aspects. Faust responded to these claims, stating that although Rainbow Dash is a tomboy, her sexual orientation is never identified; Richter's assumption that tomboys become lesbians is "extremely unfair to both straight and lesbian tomboys".


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: The series' visual designs and references have also been praised. St. James found the show "blessed with great looking characters and brightly colored backgrounds", and "IndieWire" Liza Shannon Miller and Hanh Hguyen and "Entertainment Weekly" Hillary Busis credited its style and homages as contributing factors to the show's position as a pop-culture phenomenon. Lewis agreed, highlighting the series' "vintage" style and "geek references". For "Wired", Matt Morgan wrote that the Easter eggs deepened the viewing experience. Ashby and Amid Amidi (writing for "Cartoon Brew") expressed concerns with the show's embedded marketing. Ashby warned parents to be wary of the effect "Friendship Is Magic" could have on their children's wants; Amidi believed that assigning a talent like Faust to a toy-centered show was part of a trend focusing on profitable animation genres (such as toy tie-ins) to deal with a fragmented viewing audience, "an admission of defeat for the entire movement [of creator-driven animation]", and a "white flag-waving moment for the TV animation industry".


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: "Friendship Is Magic" was included on a number of best-of lists. "TV Guide" (top sixty), "IndieWire" (forty-fifth), and "Rotten Tomatoes" (sixty-fourth) listed it as one of the top animated series of all time, and readers of Television Without Pity voted it the best animated show on television. "IndieWire" ranked it the twentieth-best animated series of the 21st century. Other rankings are "Time Out" list of best kids' shows (twenty-fourth) and "Paste's" list of best Netflix children's shows (eighth).


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: "Friendship Is Magic" premiered with an average viewership of 1.4 million per month, increasing to 4 million per month by the end of its first season (the highest-rated Hasbro show at the time). "Advertising Age" reported that the series' audience doubled between its first and second seasons. According to "Vox", its peak years were 2012 to 2014. In March 2013, The Hub reported that the series had triple- and quadruple-digit-percent year-to-year growth. In September of that year, it was the second most-watched show on The Hub for girls ages 2–11 and women ages 18–49. A month later, "Friendship Is Magic" was one of the most co-viewed television series and the best-performing show on The Hub (with "Littlest Pet Shop"). In the first quarter of 2014, the show had an American viewership of over 12 million. Ratings began to decline after that year.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: Despite Hasbro's target demographic of young girls and their parents, "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic" became a cultural and Internet phenomenon with male fans between the ages of 13 and 35. The Internet response has been traced to cartoon and animation fans on 4chan responding to Amidi's essay on the show and current animation trends. As a result of the 4chan discussion, interest in the show spread throughout the Internet and inspired a fan base, creative works, fan sites, and conventions. Male fans adopted the name "brony" (a portmanteau of "bro" and "pony") to describe themselves. The term "pegasister" (a portmanteau of "pegasus" and "sister") was later adopted to refer to older female fans of the show. The older fan base surprised Hasbro and staff members involved with the series, who appreciated the fandom by adding acknowledgements to fans in the show and toys. Bronies were a meme early in the series, but their Internet popularity gradually faded as the show continued.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: "Friendship Is Magic" is associated with the 2010 relaunch of the "My Little Pony" toy line of figurines and play sets. Due in part to older fans, Hasbro saw "My Little Pony" as a "lifestyle" brand with over 200 licenses in 15 categories of products which included clothing, housewares, and digital media. The brand grossed over US$650 million in retail sales in 2013, and US$1 billion in 2014 and 2016.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: The series gave Hasbro several opportunities for spin-offs and other works. The company released games such as "", a by Gameloft, and a collectible card game. In 2012, IDW Publishing began releasing monthly "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic" comics; the series ended in September 2021. The comics were replaced by "My Little Pony: Generations" the following month. A crossover comic of "Friendship Is Magic" and "Transformers" was released in 2020 and 2021. Hasbro observed from the brony fandom that some fan-produced art was a humanized version of the show's characters, and was inspired to develop the "" spin-off series of movies and shorts which ran with "Friendship Is Magic" for six years. "My Little Pony: The Movie" was released on October 6, 2017, in the United States. Hasbro and Discovery Family announced a subsequent animated series, "". The series, based on the same characters (with most of the voice actors returning), has a new animation style and depicts more stories about mundane experiences.


title: My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

text: After the show's finale aired, Hasbro began working on a fifth generation which began with the feature film "". Like "Friendship Is Magic", it is set in Equestria because the production team wanted to further explore the fourth generation's lore and world-building. The fifth generation is set in after the events of the fourth, focusing on different ponies and unexplored parts of Equestria; this gave Hasbro the opportunity to include Easter eggs of the previous generations. The film was released on Netflix in September 2021 to positive reviews; it will be followed by a television series which will be released on the streaming service in 2022.


title: Colombo

text: Colombo ( ; , ; , ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo metropolitan area has a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 in the Municipality. It is the financial centre of the island and a tourist destination. It is located on the west coast of the island and adjacent to the Greater Colombo area which includes Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, the legislative capital of Sri Lanka, and Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia. Colombo is often referred to as the capital since Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte is itself within the urban/suburban area of Colombo. It is also the administrative capital of the Western Province and the district capital of Colombo District. Colombo is a busy and vibrant city with a mixture of modern life, colonial buildings and monuments.


title: Colombo

text: Due to its large harbour and its strategic position along the East–West sea trade routes, Colombo was known to ancient traders 2,000 years ago. It was made the capital of the island when Sri Lanka was ceded to the British Empire in 1815, and its status as capital was retained when the nation became independent in 1948. In 1978, when administrative functions were moved to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, Colombo was designated as the commercial capital of Sri Lanka.


title: Colombo

text: Like many cities, Colombo's urban area extends well beyond the boundaries of a single local authority, encompassing other municipal and urban councils such as Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Municipal Council, Dehiwala Mount Lavinia Municipal Council, Kolonnawa Urban Council, Kaduwela Municipal Council, and Kotikawatte Mulleriyawa Pradeshiya Sabha. The main city is home to a majority of Sri Lanka's corporate offices, restaurants, and entertainment venues. Famous landmarks in Colombo include Galle Face Green, Viharamahadevi Park, Beira Lake, Colombo Racecourse, Planetarium, University of Colombo, Mount Lavinia beach, Dehiwala Zoological Garden, Nelum Pokuna Theatre, One Galle Face, Gangaramaya Temple, Dutch Museum, Colombo Lotus Tower as well as the National Museum.


title: Colombo

text: The name 'Colombo', first introduced by the Portuguese in 1505, is believed to be derived from the classical Sinhala name "Kolon thota", meaning "port on the river Kelani".


title: Colombo

text: Another belief is that the name is derived from the Sinhala name "Kola-amba-thota" which means 'Harbour with leafy/green mango trees'. This coincides with Robert Knox's history of the island while he was a prisoner in Kandy. He writes that "On the West, the City of Columbo, so-called from a Tree the Natives call Ambo, (which bears the Mango-fruit) growing in that place; but this never bear fruit, but only leaves, which in their Language is Cola and thence they called the Tree Colambo: which the Christians in honour of Columbus turned to Columbo."


title: Colombo

text: The author of the oldest Sinhala grammar, "Sidatsangarava," written in the 13th century wrote about a category of words that exclusively belonged to early Sinhala. It lists "naramba" (to see) and "kolamba" (ford or harbour) as deriving from the indigenous Vedda language. "Kolamba" may also be the source of the name of the commercial capital Colombo.


title: Colombo

text: As Colombo possesses a natural harbour, it was known to Indian, Greek, Persian, Roman, Arab and Chinese traders over 2,000 years ago. Traveller Ibn Battuta who visited the island in the 14th century, referred to it as "Kalanpu". Arabs, whose prime interests were trade, began to settle in Colombo around the eighth century AD mostly because the port helped their business by the way of controlling much of the trade between the Sinhalese kingdoms and the outside world. Their descendants now comprise the local Sri Lankan Moor community.


title: Colombo

text: Portuguese explorers led by Dom Lourenço de Almeida first arrived in Sri Lanka in 1505. During their initial visit they made a treaty with the King of Kotte, Parakramabahu VIII (1484–1518), which enabled them to trade in the island's crop of cinnamon, which lay along with the coastal areas of the island, including in Colombo. As part of the treaty, the Portuguese were given full authority over the coastline in exchange for the promise of guarding the coast against invaders. They were allowed to establish a trading post in Colombo. Within a short time, however, they expelled the Muslim inhabitants of Colombo and began to build a fort in 1517.


title: Colombo

text: The Portuguese soon realised that control of Sri Lanka was necessary for the protection of their coastal establishments in India and they began to manipulate the rulers of the Kotte kingdom to gain control of the area. After skilfully exploiting rivalries within the royal family, they took control of a large area of the kingdom and the Sinhalese King Mayadunne established a new kingdom at Sitawaka, a domain in the Kotte kingdom. Before long he annexed much of the Kotte kingdom and forced the Portuguese to retreat to Colombo, which was repeatedly besieged by Mayadunne and the later kings of Sitawaka, forcing them to seek reinforcement from their major base in Goa, India. Following the fall of the kingdom in 1593, the Portuguese were able to establish complete control over the coastal area, with Colombo as their capital.


title: Colombo

text: This part of Colombo is still known as Fort and houses the presidential palace and the majority of Colombo's five star hotels. The area immediately outside Fort is known as Pettah ( "piṭa koṭuva", "outer fort") and is a commercial hub.


title: Colombo

text: In 1638 the Dutch signed a treaty with King Rajasinha II of Kandy which assured the king assistance in his war against the Portuguese in exchange for a monopoly of the island's major trade goods. The Portuguese resisted the Dutch and the Kandyans but were gradually defeated in their strongholds beginning in 1639. The Dutch captured Colombo in 1656 after an epic siege, at the end of which a mere 93 Portuguese survivors were given safe conduct out of the fort. Although the Dutch (e.g., Rijcklof van Goens) initially restored the captured area back to the Sinhalese kings, they later refused to turn them over and gained control over the island's richest cinnamon lands including Colombo which then served as the capital of the Dutch maritime provinces under the control of the Dutch East India Company until 1796.


title: Colombo

text: Although the British captured Colombo in 1796, it remained a British military outpost until the Kandyan Kingdom was ceded to them in 1815 and they made Colombo the capital of their newly created crown colony of British Ceylon. Unlike the Portuguese and Dutch before them, whose primary use of Colombo was as a military fort, the British began constructing houses and other civilian structures around the fort, giving rise to the current City of Colombo.


title: Colombo

text: Initially, they placed the administration of the city under a "Collector", and John Macdowell of the Madras Service was the first to hold the office. Then, in 1833, the Government Agent of the Western Province was charged with the administration of the city. Centuries of colonial rule had meant a decline of indigenous administration of Colombo and in 1865 the British conceived a Municipal Council as a means of training the local population in self-governance. The Legislative Council of Ceylon constituted the Colombo Municipal Council in 1865 and the Council met for the first time on 16 January 1866. At the time, the population of the region was around 80,000.


title: Colombo

text: During the time they were in control of Colombo, the British were responsible for much of the planning of the present city. In some parts of the city, tram car tracks and granite flooring laid during the era are still visible today.


title: Colombo

text: This era of colonialism ended peacefully in 1948 when Ceylon gained independence from Britain. Due to the tremendous impact this caused on the city's inhabitants and on the country as a whole, the changes that resulted at the end of the colonial period were drastic. An entire new culture took root. Changes in laws and customs, clothing styles, religions and proper names were a significant result of the colonial era. These cultural changes were followed by the strengthening of the island's economy. Even today, the influence of the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British is visible in Colombo's architecture, names, clothing, food, language and attitudes. Buildings from all three eras stand as reminders of the turbulent past of Colombo. The city and its people show an interesting mix of European clothing and lifestyles together with local customs.


title: Colombo

text: Historically, Colombo referred to the area around the "Fort" and "Pettah Market" which is known for the variety of products available as well as the Khan Clock Tower, a local landmark. At present, it refers to the city limits of the Colombo Municipal Council. More often, the name is used for the Conurbation known as Greater Colombo, which encompasses several Municipal councils including Kotte, Dehiwela and Colombo.


title: Colombo

text: Although Colombo lost its status as the capital of Sri Lanka in the 1980s to Sri Jayawardanapura, it continues to be the island's commercial centre. Despite the official capital of Sri Lanka moving to the adjacent Sri Jayawardanapura Kotte, most countries still maintain their diplomatic missions in Colombo.


title: Colombo

text: Colombo's geography is a mix of land and water. The city has many canals and, in the heart of the city, the Beira Lake. The lake is one of the most distinctive landmarks of Colombo and was used for centuries by colonists to defend the city. It remains a tourist attraction, hosting regattas, and theatrical events on its shores. The Northern and North-Eastern border of the city of Colombo is formed by the Kelani River, which meets the sea in a part of the city known as the Modera ("mōdara" in Sinhala) which means river delta.


title: Colombo

text: Colombo features a tropical monsoon climate ("Am") under the Köppen climate classification, falling just short of a tropical rainforest climate ("Af"). Colombo's climate is hot throughout the year. From March to April the average high temperature is around . The only major change in the Colombo weather occurs during the monsoon seasons from April to June and September to November, when heavy rains occur. Colombo sees little relative diurnal range of temperature, although this is more marked in the drier winter months, where minimum temperatures average . Rainfall in the city averages around a year.


title: Colombo

text: Galle Face Green is located in the heart of the city along the Indian Ocean coast and is a destination for tourists and residents alike. The Galle Face Hotel is a historic landmark on the southern edge of this promenade.


title: Colombo

text: Gangaramaya Temple is one of the most important temples in Colombo. The temple's architecture demonstrates an eclectic mix of Sri Lankan, Thai, Indian and Chinese architecture.


title: Colombo

text: The Viharamahadevi Park (formerly Victoria Park) is an urban park located next to the National Museum of Colombo and the Town Hall. It is the oldest and largest park in Colombo and features a large Buddha statue.


title: Colombo

text: As part of the Urban Regeneration Program of the Government of Sri Lanka, many old sites and buildings were revamped into modern public recreational spaces and shopping precincts. These include Independence Memorial Hall Square, Pettah Floating Market and Old Dutch Hospital, among others.


title: Colombo

text: Colombo is a multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-cultural city. The population of Colombo is a mix of numerous ethnic groups, mainly Sinhalese, Sri Lankan Tamils and Sri Lankan Moor. There are also small communities of people with Chinese, Portuguese Burgher, Dutch Burgher, Malay and Indian origins living in the city, as well as numerous European expatriates. Colombo is the most populous city in Sri Lanka, with 642,163 people living within the city limits. In 1866 the city had a population of around 80,000.


title: Colombo

text: Colombo is a charter city, with a mayor-council government. The mayor and council members are elected through local government elections held once in five years. For the past 50 years the city had been ruled by the United National Party (UNP), a right leaning party, whose business-friendly policies resonate with the population of Colombo. However, the UNP nomination list for the 2006 Municipal elections was rejected, and an Independent Group supported by the UNP won the elections. Uvais Mohamed Imitiyas was subsequently appointed Mayor of Colombo.


title: Colombo

text: The city government provides sewer, road and waste management services, in the case of water, electricity and telephone utility services the council liaises with the water supply and drainage board, the Ceylon electricity board and telephone service providers.


title: Colombo

text: Colombo was the capital of the coastal areas controlled by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British from the 1700s to 1815 when the British gained control of the entire island following the Kandyan convention. From then until the 1980s the national capital of the island was Colombo.


title: Colombo

text: During the 1980s plans were made to move the administrative capital to Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte and thus move all governmental institutions out of Colombo to make way for commercial activities. As a primary step, the Parliament was moved to a new complex in Kotte, with several ministries and departments also relocated. However, the move was never completed.


title: Colombo

text: Today, many governmental institutions still remain in Colombo. These include the President's House, Presidential Secretariat, Prime Minister's House (Temple Trees), Prime Minister's Office, the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, Central Bank of Sri Lanka, important government ministries and departments; such as Finance (Treasury), Defence, Public Administration & Home affairs, Foreign affairs, Justice and the Military headquarters, Naval headquarters (SLNS Parakrama), Air Force headquarters (SLAF Colombo) and Police national and field force headquarters.


title: Colombo

text: Colombo is divided into 15 numbered areas for the purposes of postal services. Within these areas are the suburbs with their corresponding post office.


title: Colombo

text: The great majority of Sri Lankan corporations have their head offices in Colombo including Aitken Spence, Ceylinco Corporation, Stassen group of companies, John Keells Holdings, Cargills, Hemas Holdings and Akbar Brothers. Some of the industries include chemicals, textiles, glass, cement, leather goods, furniture and jewellery. In the city centre is the World Trade Centre. The 40-story Twin Tower complex is the centre of important commercial establishments, in the Fort district, the city's nerve centre. Right outside the Fort area is Pettah which is derived from the Sinhala word "pita" which means 'out' or 'outside'.


title: Colombo

text: The Colombo Metropolitan area has a GDP (PPP) of $122 billion or 40% of the GDP, making it the most important aspect of the Sri Lankan economy. The per capita income of the Colombo Metro area stood at US$8623 and purchasing power per capita of $25,117, making it one of the most prosperous regions in South Asia. The Colombo Metropolitan (CM) area is the most important industrial, commercial and administrative centre in Sri Lanka. A major share of the country's export-oriented manufacturing takes place in the CM area, which is the engine of growth for Sri Lanka.


title: Colombo

text: Pettah is more crowded than the Fort area. Pettah's roads are always packed and pavements are full of small stalls selling items from delicious sharbat to shirts. Main Street consists mostly of clothes shops and the crossroads, which are known as Cross-Streets where each of the five streets specialises in a specific business. For example, First Cross Street is mostly electronic goods shops, the Second cellular phones and fancy goods. Most of these businesses are dominated by Muslim traders. At the end of Main Street further away from Fort is Sea Street – Sri Lanka's gold market – dominated by Tamil interests. This mile-long street is full of jewellery shops, including the former head office of SriLankan Airlines.


title: Colombo

text: The Sri Lanka Police, the main law enforcement agency of the island, liaise with the municipal council but is under the control of the Ministry of Defence of the central government. Policing in Colombo and its suburbs falls within the "Metropolitan Range" headed by the Deputy Inspector General of Police (Metropolitan), this also includes the Colombo Crime Division. As with most Sri Lankan cities, the magistrate court handles felony crimes, the district court handles civil cases.


title: Colombo

text: As in other large cities around the world, Colombo experiences certain levels of street crime and bribery. Indeed, the corruption extends to the very top, US reports show. In addition, in the period from the 1980s to 2009, there have been a number of major terrorist attacks. The LTTE has been linked to most of the bombings and assassinations in the city. Welikada Prison is situated in Colombo and it is one of the largest maximum-security prisons in the country.


title: Colombo

text: Colombo has most of the amenities that a modern city has. Compared to other parts of the country, Colombo has the highest degree of infrastructure. Electricity, water and transport to street lights and phone booths are to a considerably good standard. The majority of the major shopping malls in Sri Lanka are in the city, of which all are Wi-Fi enabled. Apart from that, many luxurious hotels, clubs and restaurants are in the city. In recent times there has been an outpour of high-rise condominiums, mainly due to the very high land prices.


title: Colombo

text: Colombo Harbour is the largest and one of the busiest ports in Sri Lanka. Colombo was established primarily as a port city during the colonial era, with an artificial harbour that has been expanded over the years. The Sri Lanka Navy maintains a naval base, "SLNS Rangalla", within the harbour.


title: Colombo

text: The Port of Colombo handled 3.75 million twenty-foot equivalent units in 2008, 10.6% up on 2007 (which itself was 9.7% up on 2006), bucking the global economic trend. Of those, 817,000 were local shipments with the rest transshipments. With a capacity of 5.7 million TEUs and a dredged depth of over 15 m (49 ft), the Colombo Harbour is one of the busiest ports in the world and ranks among the top 25 ports (23rd).


title: Colombo

text: Colombo is part of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road that runs from the Chinese coast to the Upper Adriatic region with its rail connections to Central and Eastern Europe.


title: Colombo

text: Colombo has an extensive public transport system based on buses operated both by private operators and the government-owned Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB). The three primary bus terminals – Bastian Mawatha, Central and the Gunasinghapura Bus Terminals – are in Pettah. Bastian Mawatha handles long-distance services whereas Gunasinghapura and Central handle local services.


title: Colombo

text: Train transport in the city is limited since most trains are meant for transport to and from the city rather than within it and are often overcrowded. However, the Central Bus Stand and Fort Railway Station function as the island's primary hub for bus and rail transport respectively. Up until the 1970s, the city had tram services, which were discontinued. Other means of transport include auto rickshaws (commonly called "three-wheelers") and taxicabs. Three-wheelers are entirely operated by individuals and hardly regulated whilst cab services are run by private companies and are metered.


title: Colombo

text: Post-war development in the Colombo area also involves the construction of numerous expressway grade arterial road routes. The first of these constructed is the Southern Expressway, which goes from Kottawa, a southern suburb of Colombo, to Matara City in the south of the country. Expressways constructed in the Colombo metropolitan area include the Colombo–Katunayake Expressway, which was opened in October 2013 and the Colombo orbital bypass Outer Circular Highway (Arthur C. Clarke Expressway). The Colombo-Katunayake Expressway (E03) runs from Peliyagoda, a northern suburb of Colombo, to Colombo International Airport and it is linked with one of the major commercial hubs and a major tourist destination of the country, the city of Negombo.


title: Colombo

text: An international ferry liner, the Scotia Prince, is conducting a ferry service to Tuticorin, India. Ferry services between the two countries have been revived after more than 20 years.


title: Colombo

text: Ratmalana Airport is the city's airport, located south of the city centre. It commenced operating in 1935 and was the country's first international airport until it was replaced by Bandaranaike Airport in 1967. Ratmalana Airport now primarily services domestic flights, aviation training and international corporate flights.


title: Colombo

text: The two World Trade Centre towers used to be the most recognised landmarks of the city. Before they were completed in 1997, the adjacent Bank of Ceylon tower was the tallest structure and the most prominent city landmark. Before the skyscrapers were built, the Old Parliament Building that stood in the Fort district with the Old Colombo Lighthouse close to it used to be the tallest building. Another important landmark is the Independence Hall at Independence Square in Cinnamon Gardens.


title: Colombo

text: Even before the parliament was built some claim that the Jami Ul-Alfar Mosque was recognised as the landmark of Colombo by sailors approaching the port. The mosque is still one of the most visited tourist sites in Colombo.


title: Colombo

text: Another landmark is St.Paul's Church Milagiriya, one of the oldest churches in Sri Lanka, first built by the Portuguese and rebuilt by the British in 1848. The Cargills & Millers building in Fort is also a protected building of historical significance.


title: Colombo

text: The Galle Face Green is the city's largest promenade. Lined with coconut trees and adjacent to the coast. The Green frequently hosts international and local concerts and performances, such as the World Drum Festival.


title: Colombo

text: Cannons that were once mounted on the rampart of the old fort of Colombo were laid out for observance and prestige at the Green. The colonial styled Galle Face Hotel, known as Asia's Emerald on the Green since 1864, is adjacent to Galle Face Green. The hotel has played host to guests such as the British Royal Family and other royal guests and celebrities. After a stay at the hotel, Princess Alexandra of Denmark commented that "the peacefulness and generosity encountered at the Galle Face Hotel cannot be matched." Also facing Galle Face Green is the Ceylon Inter-Continental Hotel.


title: Colombo

text: Education institutions in Colombo have a long history. Colombo has many of the prominent public schools in the country, some of them government-owned and others private. Most of the prominent schools in the city date back to the 1800s when they were established during the British colonial rule, such as the Royal College Colombo established in 1835. Certain urban schools of Sri Lanka have some religious alignment; this is partly due to the influence of the British, who established Christian missionary schools. These include the Anglican, Bishop's College(1875); the Methodist, Wesley College Colombo (1874); the Buddhist, Ananda College (1886); the Muslim, Zahira College (1892); the St. Benedict's College, Colombo (1985), the Catholic, St. Joseph's College (1896). The religious alignments do not affect the curriculum of the school except for the demographics of the student population. Colombo has many International Schools that have come up in recent years.


title: Colombo

text: Higher education in the city has a long history, beginning with the establishment of the Colombo Medical School (1870), the Colombo Law College (1875), the School of Agriculture (1884) and the Government Technical College (1893). The first step in the creation of a university in Colombo was taken in 1913 with the establishment of the University College Colombo which prepared students for the external examinations of the University of London. This was followed by the establishment of the University of Ceylon in Colombo. Today the University of Colombo and the University of the Visual & Performing Arts are state universities in the city. The Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology has a metropolitan campus in the city centre. There are several private higher education institutions in the city.


title: Colombo

text: Colombo has widely varying architecture that spans centuries and depicts many styles. Colonial buildings influenced by the Portuguese, Dutch and British exist alongside structures built in Buddhist, Hindu, Islamic, Indian and Contemporary architectural styles. No other place is this more evident than in the Fort area. Here, one may find new, towering skyscrapers as well as historic buildings dating far back as the 1700s.


title: Colombo

text: The Portuguese were the first colonists to settle in Colombo. Establishing a small trading post, they had laid the foundations for a small fort which in time became the largest colonial fort on the island. The Dutch expanded the fort, thus creating a well old fortified harbour. This came into the possession of the British in the late 1700s, and by the late 19th century, seeing no threat to the Colombo Harbour, began demolishing the ramparts to make way for the development of the city. Although now there is nothing left of the fortifications, the area which was once the fort is still referred to as Fort. The area outside is Pettah, Sri Lanka or "Pitakotuwa" in Sinhala which means outer fort.


title: Colombo

text: There are none of the buildings of the Portuguese era and only a few from the Dutch period. These include the oldest building in the fort area, the former Dutch Hospital, the Dutch House which is now the Colombo Dutch Museum and several churches. The President's House (formerly the Queen's House) was originally the Dutch governor's house and successive British governors made it their office and residence. However, it has undergone much change since the Dutch period. Adjoining the President's House are the Gordon Gardens, now off-limits to the public.


title: Colombo

text: Much of the old buildings of the fort area and in other parts of the city date back to British times; these include governmental, commercial buildings, and private houses. Some of the notable government building of British colonial architecture includes the old Parliament building, which is now the Presidential Secretariat; the Republic Building, which houses the Ministry of Foreign affairs but once housed the Ceylon Legislative council; the General Treasury Building; the old General Post Office, an Edwardian-style building opposite the President's House; the Prime Minister's Office; the Central Telegraph Office; and the Mathematics department of the University of Colombo (formally the Royal College, Colombo). Notable commercial buildings of the British era include the Galle Face Hotel, Cargills and Millers' complex, and the Grand Oriental Hotel.


title: Colombo

text: Colombo's most popular festival is the celebration of Buddha's birth, enlightenment and death all falling on the same day. In Sinhala this is known as "Vesak".


title: Colombo

text: During this festival, much of the city is decorated with lanterns, lights and special displays of light (known as "thoran"). The festival falls in mid-May and lasts a week. Many Sri Lankans visit the city to see the lantern competitions and decorations. During this week people distribute, rice, drinks and other food items for free in "dunsal" which means charity place. These "dunsal" are popular amongst visitors from the suburbs.