title: Gears of War

text: A remastered edition of the game titled "" was developed and released for the Xbox One and Microsoft Windows by The Coalition, after Microsoft acquired the rights to the "Gears of War" franchise from Epic Games in 2014.


title: Gears of War

text: "Gears of War 2" is a third-person shooter video game published by Microsoft Studios. It is the sequel to "Gears of War" and was released worldwide November 7, 2008. The game uses a heavily upgraded version of the Unreal Engine 3. "Gears of War 2" takes place 6 months after the first game, where the Locust are attempting to sink Jacinto Plateau, and the COG forces have decided to launch a counter-offensive to stop them before they can complete their attempt. Ultimately the COG sinks Jacinto themselves to flood the home of the Locust (the Hollow) and drown them.


title: Gears of War

text: A PC version of the game was cancelled by the developers, citing poor sales of the original PC version of "Gears of War" as well as concerns over piracy.


title: Gears of War

text: "Gears of War 3" is the concluding part to the trilogy. Originally with an April 6, 2011 release date, it was moved to September 20 to anchor Microsoft Studios' holiday portfolio for the Xbox 360.


title: Gears of War

text: "Gears of War 3" takes place 18 months after the end of "Gears of War 2". Marcus, Dom, and the last remnants of humanity must band together to survive against the Locust and Lambent, while trying to find Marcus's father and end the war. In the end, a weapon developed by Marcus' father Adam Fenix is detonated, wiping out the Locust and the Lambent, as well as ending the war.


title: Gears of War

text: "RAAM's Shadow" is a secondary campaign for "Gears of War 3" introduced as a DLC. Taking place several years before the original "Gears of War" game, "RAAM's Shadow" follows Zeta-Six during the Evacuation of Ilima, a city that appeared in ruins in "Gears of War 2" as well as taking place from the perspective of Locust General RAAM. Zeta-Six is made up of Lieutenant Minh Young Kim from "Gears of War", Tai Kaliso from "Gears of War 2", Michael Barrick from the comic book series and Alicia Valera. Supporting character Jace Stratton previously appeared as a member of Delta Squad in "Gears of War 3".


title: Gears of War

text: "Gears of War 4" is an Xbox One and Windows 10 game developed by The Coalition and released on October 11, 2016.


title: Gears of War

text: The game's plot is set 25 years after "Gears of War 3" and focuses on JD Fenix, the son of Marcus Fenix, who joins his father and two new characters: Delmont "Del" Walker and Kait Diaz against the "Swarm", a new threat risen from the remnants of the Locust.


title: Gears of War

text: "Gears 5" is a sequel to "Gears of War 4". It was released for Windows and Xbox One on September 10, 2019.


title: Gears of War

text: The game focusing on Kait Diaz, as she looks for the means to counter the Swarm, learning about the true origin of the Locust and their connection with her family.


title: Gears of War

text: "Hivebusters" is a single-player downloadable content expansion pack for "Gears 5". Taking place before the events of the "Gears of War: Hivebusters" comic book series, "Hivebusters" follows Team Scorpio — Corporal Jeremiah Keegan, Lieutenant Lahni Kaliso and Outsider Leslie "Mac" Macallister — as they investigate a method to infiltrate and destroy the Swarm's hives from within as seen in the "Escape" multiplayer mode of "Gears 5".


title: Gears of War

text: "Gears of War: Judgment" is a spin-off/prequel, released on March 19, 2013. The characters include Baird, accompanied by Augustus "Cole Train" Cole and two new characters, Garron Paduk and Sofia Hendrik, who make up Kilo Squad. Kilo Squad is put on trial by another new character, Ezra Loomis.


title: Gears of War

text: "Gears Pop!" is a spin-off for mobile devices based on Funko's POP! toyline and released on August 22, 2019.


title: Gears of War

text: "Gears Tactics" is a turn-based strategy spin-off for Xbox One and Windows, developed by Splash Damage and released on April 28, 2020. Set before the events of the first game, it follows a military unit led by Sgt. Gabriel Diaz, who would later become Kait's father.


title: Gears of War

text: Characters from the "Gears of War" series have made guest appearances in games outside of the "Gears of War" franchise. Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago are playable in the Xbox 360 version of "Lost Planet 2". General RAAM was announced as a playable character in "Killer Instinct: Season Three" during Microsoft's E3 2016 press conference on June 13, 2016, and was released following the presentation's conclusion.


title: Gears of War

text: Microsoft revealed on August 3, 2015 that the four "Gears of War" titles that launched on Xbox 360 — "Gears of War", "Gears of War 2", "Gears of War 3", and "Gears of War: Judgment" — are compatible on Xbox One through the backwards compatibility program.


title: Gears of War

text: The video game music for "Gears of War" was composed by Kevin Riepl, who had previously worked with Epic Games on soundtracks for "Unreal Tournament 2003", "Unreal Tournament 2004" and "". The music for "Gears of War 2" and "Gears of War 3" was composed by Steve Jablonsky. The music for "Gears of War 4" is composed by Ramin Djawadi. Ramin Djawadi continued to compose the music for the next title in the series, "Gears 5".


title: Gears of War

text: "Gears of War: The Board Game" was released in 2011 by Fantasy Flight Games. Designed by Corey Konieczka, it is a cooperative game for up to four players, including the option for solo play. Each player takes control of a COG (represented by a miniature figure pre-painted in red), fighting their way through randomly generated maps filled with Locust soldiers (represented by a miniature figure pre-painted in light gray). These are controlled by an AI deck of cards: after each player finishes their turn, they draw a card from the AI deck and takes actions for each Locust creature. Players play cards and roll dice to take actions as well as to resolve shooting and defense. The game proceeds until the player team successfully completes the mission. There are seven different missions, each featuring different objectives and enemies in randomly generated map layouts. Since its launch, the game has received one expansion, "Mission Pack 1", which brought more weapons, two new missions and new enemies, including General RAAM.


title: Gears of War

text: A series of novels based on the "Gears of War" series were written by Karen Traviss. The books expand on the games and detail events which occur in between installments. "Gears of War: Aspho Fields" was the first in an expected trilogy, although the total numbers of books has since grown to seven. Once the video game franchise was extended, author Jason M. Hough was promoted as the author for more tie-in novels set in the world.


title: Gears of War

text: "Gears of War: Hollow" was the first comic book series based on the "Gears of War" games, released in December 2008. The series was published under DC's Wildstorm imprint and was written by Joshua Ortega, with art by Liam Sharp. The story arc followed Jace Stratton, a young recruit of Delta Squad who made an appearance in "Gears of War 3" and Michael Barrick, a solo Gear found by Delta. The arc was 6 issues long and ended in May 2009. Two stand-alone comic book series were released. Issue 7, "The Quickening", followed the life of Tai Kaliso from his home in the South Islands to the torture den of the Locust Horde. This was released on June 9, 2009.


title: Gears of War

text: The second stand-alone was "Harper's Story". In "Gears of War 2" there are collectibles which describe the end of Sgt. Jonathan Harper, a Gears veteran. He was captured by the Locust during the events of the Hollow. He managed to survive the vile deeds of the Locust Horde and escape. He helped a family reach safety, taking the bullets into his own body before falling to the ground.


title: Gears of War

text: Issue number 9 begins a new arc, "Barren", of which the first part was released in September 2009. The "other side" of the life of humans faced by total annihilation are shown. Birthing creches, or breeding farms, filled with women who are there to just to give birth. With humanity dying out and no people to replace fallen Gears, new humans are needed. The story focuses on an escapee from one of these centers named Alex Brand. Declared to be barren at the age of 18, Brand was kicked from the breeding farm she was born in, sent to Boot Camp and trained to be a Gear. She accompanies Delta and Sigma Squads as they investigate a mysterious beacon call from the place at which she was born, which was thought to have been destroyed by Locust.


title: Gears of War

text: "Gears of War: The Rise of RAAM" is a comic book series acting as a prequel to the "Gears of War" series and taking place from the point of view of iconic "Gears of War" villain General RAAM. The supporting characters included Locust Queen Myrrah, Skorge from "Gears of War 2" and Karn from "" while the comics introduced Locust High General Sraak, High Priest Vrol and the Locust scientist Ukkon who would subsequently appear as the main antagonist of "Gears Tactics".


title: Gears of War

text: Taking place years before Emergence Day, the Locust are in a losing war with Lambent in their home which was the Hollow. RAAM who was a Lieutenant in the Locust army urges the Horde's leadership to invade the surface, exterminate humanity and claim the surface world for themselves. Despite RAAM having Skorge's backing, High General Sraak refuses to hear them out even with evidence that the war with the Lambent is lost. Sraak subsequently attempts to assassinate RAAM with the help of Ukkon using a Corpser, but he fails. As he was unaware that the Locust council is listening in, RAAM decides to include High Priest Vrol and Karn in his plot to convince Queen Myrrah to invade the surface. RAAM manages to get Karn to help by playing on his doubts and they purposefully allowed the Lambent to reach the Inner Hollow where they attacked the Locust temple. RAAM swoops in within time to save the temple, convincing Vrol to help him.


title: Gears of War

text: With the backing of Skorge, Vrol and Karn, RAAM presents his case to the council, shocking Myrrah that his reports are so different from Sraak's. RAAM presents his plan to win the war by invading the surface, taking it over and flooding the Hollow with seawater in order to wipe the Lambent out once they are gone. Myrrah agrees and she promotes RAAM to her new High General while demoting the humiliated Sraak to RAAM's old rank of Lieutenant. Myrrah privately revealed her alliance with Adam Fenix to find a solution to the Lambent and how Adam failed to deliver forcing her to invade the surface. Myrrah has also been aware about RAAM's coup from the beginning and while she agreed with his plan, she was waiting for RAAM to act. She also threatens RAAM's life should he ever attempt to dethrone her. RAAM promotes Karn and he instructs him to lead the destruction of the country of Gorasnaya. Ukkon also agrees to help RAAM in exchange for human prisoners to use as his test subjects.


title: Gears of War

text: On Emergence Day, RAAM personally leads the attack on the human city of Jannermount. Skorge warns RAAM that according to his visions, RAAM will not survive the war. However, RAAM is unbothered by the news as he intends Skorge to take over if he should fall. A crazed Sraak attacks the two, intending to kill RAAM and Skorge and regain his power. However, RAAM anticipated Sraak's actions and he has two Theron Guards shoot Sraak, destroying the chest piece of his formidable armor. RAAM executes Sraak by ripping his heart out and he continues leading humanity's extermination.


title: Gears of War

text: "Gears of War: Hivebusters" is a comic book series that came out in 2019. The comic focuses on Team Scorpio—Corporal Jeremiah Keegan, Lieutenant Lahni Kaliso and Outsider Leslie "Mac" Macallister—as they work with Colonel Victor Hoffman, Doctor Hana Cole and King Raven pilot Tak to destroy Swarm Hives across Sera. The "Gears 5" DLC "" released in December 2020 acts as a direct prequel to the comic book series.


title: Gears of War

text: Having been captured and taken into the heart of the Swarm Hive on the South Island of Pahanu, Scorpio is awakened in their pods by the adrenaline injectors that Hana created for them, although Mac becomes trapped in a nightmare of the loss of his family that the rest of Scorpio experiences through the Swarm Hivemind. Scorpio is able to plant their new Venom Bombs, but accidentally awaken the Hive in the process and have to fight off thousands of overwhelming Swarm forces as the deadly gas spreads. Tak is able to extract Scorpio as the Pahanu Hive is destroyed and Hana expresses a belief that destroying a Swarm Hive will kill all of the Swarm connected to it, taking out the remaining Swarm on the surface that they did not get. Hoffman rewards Lahni with a pardon for the crime that had sent her to prison and an official reinstatement into the COG and sets up a meeting for Keegan with his old commanding officer who survived the Locust War. Hoffman offers Mac a new mission now that they know that the Hivebuster plan works: destroy the Swarm Hive in the Outsider village of Bravelle, Mac's former home. Although Hoffman offers to find replacements, both Lahni and Keegan volunteer for the mission.


title: Gears of War

text: Scorpio is flown to the village of Croya due to Bravelle's inaccessibility by air where they witness the aftermath of the Swarm's decimation of the town. Mac finds and repairs his old delivery truck for transport while reliving his past as an award-winning delivery driver for both Croya and Bravelle before the Swarm attacked and killed everyone, including his young son Dillon. The Swarm attacks Scorpio, but they manage to escape in the delivery truck. However, an attack by a Swarm Flock wrecks the truck and forces Scorpio to continue the journey on foot, encountering the remains of the convoy where Mac's ex-wife and father lost their lives during a Swarm ambush that Mac barely escaped alive from.


title: Gears of War

text: Reaching Bravelle, Mac leads Scorpio to the old COG bunker containing the Hive where Scorpio allows themselves to be captured by Snatchers. In his pod, Mac experiences a dream of telling a bedtime story to Dillon before awakening. Scorpio is able to plant their Venom Bombs and fight their way out, but encounter and fight a Warden on the surface and all suffer injuries. Mac eventually manages to kill the Warden by ramming it with a truck and then stabbing it through the eye and Scorpio escapes the bunker as the Hive is destroyed.


title: Gears of War

text: Recovering Mac's old car, Scorpio drives back to Croya, but discovers that destroying a Swarm Hive does not kill all of the Swarm connected to it when they spot Swarm survivors off in the distance. Scorpio is attacked by the Flock again, but manage to kill it and are extracted by Tak. Mac decides to dedicate himself to continuing the mission of destroying Swarm Hives as it allows him to see Dillon again while he is podded and Lahni and Keegan agree to join him.


title: Gears of War

text: In March 2007, New Line Cinema had purchased the rights to make a "Gears of War" film, with Stuart Beattie writing the script along with Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey, who would be producing it. Producer Wyck Godfrey said of the film adaptation: "I'm not a gamer, but what blew me away about "Gears" was how it captures the mythology of a war mission and how high the stakes are." Len Wiseman was reported to direct the movie adaptation of "Gears of War" in August, but Godfrey stated that they have "a director we're about to attach" in order to film the movie during 2009 and release in 2010. Cliff Bleszinski, the lead designer of the "Gears of War" video games, would serve as executive producer and consultant.


title: Gears of War

text: Wiseman signed on in June 2008, with Chris Morgan performing script rewrites. Morgan hinted on G4's televised coverage of Comic Con 2008 that the film would be a prequel to the first game, "it could explain how Marcus Fenix got his scar". According to Morgan, Wiseman "wants to make it as realistic as possible, and to blur those lines where your mind says, 'Oh, it's a big CGI film.. Wyck Godfrey said in December 2009 that the intention of the "Gears of War" film was "to tell the epic story of an alien planet that's living in a horrific environment just feels like the wrong mood right now". In April 2010, New Line considerably scaled back the $100 million budget and story, stalling progress while they waited for a rewrite. Len Wiseman was no longer involved as he shifted his focus to other projects.


title: Gears of War

text: In April 2013, "Variety" reported that "Creative Artists Agency is eager to meet with producers in the coming weeks and set up the project elsewhere" and that Stuart Beattie would write the film. Scott Stuber is named to produce the film.


title: Gears of War

text: At the launch ceremony for "Gears of War 4" in October 2016, The Coalition's Rod Fergusson affirmed that a "Gears of War" movie entered development for a theatrical release at Universal Pictures. Scott Stuber and Dylan Clark would produce the film under Universal's Bluegrass Films division, but no director or writer has been selected at this point. Fergusson also stated that where the film takes place relative to the games has been determined. Universal hired Shane Salerno to write the screenplay with Fergusson in May 2017, saying that "the movie won't be based on one of the games but a new story set in the universe." F. Scott Frazier was reported to write the film's script the following year. The film adaptation will not be set in the same universe as the video games. In November 2022, the film entered development for streaming on Netflix, who will collaborate with The Coalition on the film.


title: Gears of War

text: On November 7, 2022, an adult animated series based on the franchise was announced to be in the works at Netflix following the announcement of the film.


title: Gears of War

text: In July 2007, NECA announced they would be producing "Gears of War" merchandise, including action figures. The first series, available in the second quarter of 2008, included Augustus Cole, Anthony Carmine, Baird, a Locust Drone, a Locust Sniper, Dom Santiago and Marcus Fenix. TriForce Sales has obtained a license from Epic Games to create full-scale replicas of the armor and weapons from the game, with assistance of sculptor Sid Garrand of Nightmare Armor Studios. The units were available for advanced order in July 2008. Mindzeye Studios has created foot high statues of "Gears of War" characters.


title: Gears of War

text: All of the "Gears of War" titles have been received positively, and the original trilogy is critically acclaimed. IGN rated "Gears of War 3" the 22nd best Xbox 360 game, out of a list of 25. In 2010, Lasse Pulkkinen from Techno Buffalo called "Gears of War 2" the best looking game on the Xbox 360. In 2011, readers of "Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition" voted Augustus Cole as the 46th-top video game character of all time.


title: Gears of War

text: According to Microsoft, the "Gears of War" series has sold over 22 million units and earned over US$1 billion in revenue as of January 2014.


title: Gears of War

text: In January 2017, former American football player Lenwood Hamilton sued Epic Games, Microsoft, and voice actor Lester Speight, stating that the character of Cole Train in the series steals from his own likeness and voice. The lawsuit contends that elements of Cole's character, including being of African-American descent, having played in professional sports, and elements of the character's clothing were all elements representative of Hamilton, and voice analysis shows that Speight's delivery of Cole's lines matches too close with Hamilton's line. Hamilton had stated that Speight had approached him around 1998 about a video game, though Hamilton had turned it down due to the violence that would be in the game. Lenwood was ultimately unsuccessful in his bid: "The district court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment on First Amendment grounds, holding that defendants' First Amendment right to free expression in creating the Cole character that allegedly resembled plaintiff outweighed plaintiff's right of publicity". The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld the district court's decision, though Hamilton has petitioned to the U.S. Supreme Court for review. The Supreme Court denied to review the case in June 2021, leaving in place the summary judgment for Epic and Microsoft.


title: Gears of War

text: Former Naughty Dog developer Lucas Pope has stated that the "Uncharted" franchise drew inspiration from "Gears of War", with the first game in the series being delayed after the first "Gears of War" game released in order for certain core gameplay and technical elements to more resemble that of the latter.


title: Our Gang

text: Our Gang (also known as The Little Rascals or Hal Roach's Rascals) is an American series of comedy short films chronicling a group of poor neighborhood children and their adventures. Created by film producer Hal Roach, also the producer of the Laurel and Hardy films, "Our Gang" shorts were produced from 1922 to 1944, spanning the silent film and early sound film periods of American cinema. "Our Gang" is noted for showing children behaving in a relatively natural way; Roach and original director Robert F. McGowan worked to film the unaffected, raw nuances apparent in regular children, rather than have them imitate adult acting styles. The series also broke new ground by portraying white and black children interacting as equals during the Jim Crow era of racial segregation in the United States.


title: Our Gang

text: The franchise began in 1922 as a silent short subject series produced by the Roach studio and released by Pathé Exchange. Roach changed distributors from Pathé to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) in 1927, and the series entered its most popular period after converting to sound in 1929. Production continued at Roach until 1938, when the "Our Gang" production unit was sold to MGM, where production continued until 1944. Across 220 short films and a feature-film spin-off, "General Spanky", the "Our Gang" series featured over 41 child actors as regular members of its cast.


title: Our Gang

text: As MGM retained the rights to the "Our Gang" trademark after buying the series, the Roach-produced sound "Our Gang" films were re-released to theaters and syndicated for television under the title "The Little Rascals". Roach's "The Little Rascals" package, currently owned by CBS Media Ventures, and MGM's "Our Gang" package, currently owned by Turner Entertainment and distributed by Warner Bros., have since remained in syndication. New productions based on the shorts have been made over the years, including a 1994 feature film, "The Little Rascals", released by Universal Pictures.


title: Our Gang

text: Unlike many motion pictures featuring children and based in fantasy, producer/creator Hal Roach rooted "Our Gang" in real life: most of the children were poor, and the gang was often at odds with snobbish "rich kids," officious adults, parents, and other such adversaries.


title: Our Gang

text: Senior director Robert F. McGowan helmed most of the "Our Gang" shorts until 1933, assisted by his nephew Anthony Mack. McGowan worked to develop a style that allowed the children to be as natural as possible, downplaying the importance of the filmmaking equipment. Scripts were written for the shorts by the Hal Roach comedy writing staff, which included at various times Leo McCarey, Frank Capra, Walter Lantz, and Frank Tashlin, among others. The children, some too young to read, rarely saw the scripts; instead, McGowan would explain the scene to be filmed to each child immediately before it was shot, directing the children using a megaphone and encouraging improvisation.


title: Our Gang

text: When sound came in at the end of the 1920s, McGowan modified his approach slightly, but scripts were not adhered to until McGowan left the series. Later "Our Gang" directors, such as Gus Meins and Gordon Douglas, streamlined the approach to McGowan's methods to meet the demands of the increasingly sophisticated movie industry of the mid-to-late 1930s. Douglas, in particular, had to streamline his films, as he directed "Our Gang" after Roach halved the running times of the shorts from two reels (20 minutes) to one reel (10 minutes).


title: Our Gang

text: As children became too old for the series, they were replaced by new children, usually from the Los Angeles area. Eventually "Our Gang" talent scouting employed large-scale national contests in which thousands of children tried out for an open role. For example, Norman Chaney ("Chubby"), Matthew Beard ("Stymie"), and Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas all won contests to become members of the gang: Chaney replaced Joe Cobb, Beard replaced Allen Hoskins ("Farina"), and Thomas replaced Beard.


title: Our Gang

text: Even when there was no talent search, the studio was bombarded by requests from parents who were sure their children were perfect for the series. Among them were the future child stars Mickey Rooney and Shirley Temple, neither of whom made it past the audition.


title: Our Gang

text: The "Our Gang" series produced during the Jim Crow-era is notable for being one of the first in cinema history in which African Americans and White Americans were portrayed as equals. The five black child actors who held main roles in the series were Ernie Morrison, Allen Hoskins, Eugene Jackson, Matthew Beard and Billie Thomas. Ernie Morrison was, in fact, the first black actor signed to a long-term contract in Hollywood history and the first major black star in Hollywood history.


title: Our Gang

text: The African-American characters have often been criticized as racial stereotypes. The Black children spoke (or were indicated as speaking via text titles in the case of the silent entries) in a stereotypical "Negro dialect", and several controversial gags revolved directly around their skin color: Matthew Beard's Stymie character sweating jet-black ink, Billie Thomas' Buckwheat character being given fake "white measles" instead of dark ones and supposedly turned into a monkey, and so forth. One early "Our Gang" short, "Lodge Night" (1924), short revolves around the kids forming a parody club based on the Ku Klux Klan (though the Black children are still allowed to join).


title: Our Gang

text: In their adult years, actors Morrison, Beard, and Thomas defended the series, arguing that the white characters in the series were similarly stereotyped: the "freckle-faced kid", the "fat kid", the "neighborhood bully", the "pretty blond girl", and the "mischievous toddler". In an interview on Tom Snyder's "The Tomorrow Show" in 1974, Matthew Beard said of his time in the series that "I feel it was great. Some of the lines I had to say I didn't like, but I never look at it like that. I just try to look at it as mostly a fun thing. We were just a group of kids who were having fun." In a separate interview, Ernie Morrison stated, "When it came to race, Hal Roach was color-blind."


title: Our Gang

text: Despite the stereotyping and racial gags, "Our Gang<nowiki>'</nowiki>s" integrated cast caused it to be disliked by certain theater owners in the southern United States. Early in the existence of "Our Gang", these theater owners complained to Pathé that Morrison and Hoskins had too much screen time and their prominence in the shorts would offend white audiences. A later "Our Gang" spin-off film, "Curley" (1947), was banned by the Memphis, Tennessee, censor board for showing black and white children in school together, a characteristic common to even the earlier shorts. Other minorities, including Asian Americans Sing Joy, Allen Tong (also known as Alan Dong), and Edward Soo Hoo; and Italian American actor Mickey Gubitosi (later known as Robert Blake), were depicted in the series with varying levels of stereotyping.


title: Our Gang

text: According to Roach, the idea for "Our Gang" came to him in 1921, when he was auditioning a child actress to appear in a film. The girl was, in his opinion, overly made up and overly rehearsed, and Roach waited for the audition to be over. After the girl and her mother left the office, Roach looked out of his window to a lumberyard across the street, where he saw some children having an argument. The children had all taken sticks from the lumberyard to play with, but the smallest child had the biggest stick, and the others were trying to force him to give it to the biggest child. After realizing that he had been watching the children bicker for 15 minutes, Roach thought a short film series about children just being themselves might be a success.


title: Our Gang

text: "Our Gang" also had its roots in an aborted Roach short-subject series revolving around the adventures of a black boy called "Sunshine Sammy", played by Ernie Morrison. Theater owners then were wary of booking shorts focused on a black boy, and the series ended after just one entry, "The Pickaninny", was produced. Morrison's "Sunshine Sammy" instead became one of the foci of the new "Our Gang" series.


title: Our Gang

text: Under the supervision of Charley Chase, work began on the first two-reel shorts in the new "kids-and-pets" series, to be called "Hal Roach's Rascals", later that year. Director Fred C. Newmeyer helmed the first pilot film, entitled "Our Gang", but Roach scrapped Newmeyer's work and had former fireman Robert F. McGowan reshoot the short. Roach tested it at several theaters around Hollywood. The attendees were very receptive, and the press clamored for "lots more of those 'Our Gang' comedies." The colloquial usage of the term "Our Gang" led to its becoming the series' second (yet more popular) official title, with the title cards reading ""Our Gang" Comedies: Hal Roach presents "His Rascals" in..." The series was officially called both "Our Gang" and "Hal Roach's Rascals" until 1932, when "Our Gang" became the sole title of the series.


title: Our Gang

text: The first cast of "Our Gang" was recruited primarily of children recommended to Roach by studio employees, with the exception of Ernie Morrison, under contract to Roach. The other "Our Gang" recruits included Roach photographer Gene Kornman's daughter Mary Kornman, their friends' son Mickey Daniels, and family friends Allen Hoskins, Jack Davis, Jackie Condon, and Joe Cobb. Most early shorts were filmed outdoors and on location and featured a menagerie of animal characters, such as Dinah the Mule.


title: Our Gang

text: Roach's distributor Pathé released "One Terrible Day", the fourth short produced for the series, as the first "Our Gang" short on September 10, 1922; the pilot "Our Gang" was not released until November 5. The "Our Gang" series was a success from the start, with the children's naturalism, the funny animal actors, and McGowan's direction making a successful combination. The shorts did well at the box office, and by the end of the decade the "Our Gang" children were pictured on numerous product endorsements.


title: Our Gang

text: The biggest "Our Gang" stars then were Ernie Morrison as Sunshine Sammy, Mickey Daniels, Mary Kornman, and Allen Hoskins as little Farina, who eventually became the most popular member of the 1920s gang and the most popular black child star of the 1920s. A reviewer wrote of the Farina character — depicted as female though played by a male child — in "Photoplay": "The honors go to a very young lady of color, billed as 'Little Farina.' Scarcely two years old, she goes through each set like a wee, sombre shadow." Daniels and Kornman were very popular and were often paired in "Our Gang" and a later teen version of the series called "The Boy Friends", which Roach produced from 1930 to 1932. Other early "Our Gang" children were Eugene Jackson as Pineapple, Scooter Lowry, Andy Samuel, Johnny Downs, Winston and Weston Doty, and Jay R. Smith.


title: Our Gang

text: After Ernie, Mickey and Mary left the series in the mid 1920s, the "Our Gang" series entered a transitional period. The stress of directing child actors forced Robert McGowan to take doctor-mandated sabbaticals for exhaustion, leaving his nephew Robert A. McGowan (credited as Anthony Mack) to direct many shorts in this period. The Mack-directed shorts are considered among the lesser entries in the series. New faces included Bobby Hutchins as Wheezer, Harry Spear, Jean Darling and Mary Ann Jackson, while stalwart Farina served as the series' anchor.


title: Our Gang

text: Also at this time, the "Our Gang" cast acquired an American Pit Bull Terrier with a ring around one eye, originally named Pansy but soon known as Pete the Pup, the most famous "Our Gang" pet. In 1927, Roach ended his distribution arrangement with the Pathé company. He signed on to release future products through the newly formed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which released its first "Our Gang" comedy in September 1927. The move to MGM offered Roach larger budgets and the chance to have his films packaged with MGM features to the Loews Theatres chain.


title: Our Gang

text: Some shorts around this time, particularly "Spook Spoofing" (1928, one of only two three-reelers in the "Our Gang" canon), contained extended scenes of the gang tormenting and teasing Farina, scenes which helped spur the claims of racism, which many other shorts did not warrant. These shorts marked the departure of Jackie Condon, who had been with the group from the beginning of the series.


title: Our Gang

text: Starting in 1928, "Our Gang" comedies were distributed with phonographic discs that contained synchronized music-and-sound-effect tracks for the shorts. In spring 1929, the Roach sound stages were converted for sound recording, and "Our Gang" made its "all-talking" debut in April 1929 with the 25-minute film "Small Talk". It took a year for McGowan and the gang to fully adjust to talking pictures, during which time they lost Joe Cobb, Jean Darling and Harry Spear and added Norman Chaney, Dorothy DeBorba, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Donald Haines and Jackie Cooper.


title: Our Gang

text: Cooper proved to be the personality the series had been missing since Mickey Daniels left and was featured prominently in three 1930/1931 "Our Gang" films: "Teacher's Pet", "School's Out", and "Love Business". These three shorts explored Jackie Cooper's crush on the new schoolteacher Miss Crabtree, played by June Marlowe. Cooper soon won the lead role in Paramount's feature film "Skippy", and Roach sold his contract to MGM in 1931. Other "Our Gang" members appearing in the early sound shorts included Buddy McDonald, Clifton Young, and Shirley Jean Rickert. Many also appeared in a group cameo appearance in the all-star comedy short "The Stolen Jools" (1931).


title: Our Gang

text: Beginning with the short "When the Wind Blows", in 1930 background music scores were added to the soundtracks of most of the "Our Gang" films. Initially, the music consisted of orchestral versions of then-popular tunes. Marvin Hatley had served as the music director of Hal Roach Studios since 1929, and RCA employee Leroy Shield joined the company as a part-time musical director in mid-1930. Hatley and Shield's jazz-influenced scores, first featured in "Our Gang" with 1930s "Pups is Pups", became recognizable trademarks of "Our Gang", "Laurel and Hardy", and the other Roach series and films. Another 1930 short, "Teacher's Pet", marked the first use of the "Our Gang" theme song, "Good Old Days", composed by Shield and featuring a notable saxophone solo. Shield and Hatley's scores supported "Our Gang's" on-screen action regularly through 1934, after which series entries with background scores became less frequent.


title: Our Gang

text: In 1930, Roach began production on "The Boy Friends", a short-subject series which was essentially a teenaged version of "Our Gang". Featuring "Our Gang" alumni Mickey Daniels and Mary Kornman among its cast, "The Boy Friends" was produced for two years, with fifteen installments in total.


title: Our Gang

text: Jackie Cooper left "Our Gang" in early 1931 just before another wave of cast changes: Farina Hoskins, Chubby Chaney, and Mary Ann Jackson all departed a few months afterward. "Our Gang" entered another transitional period, similar to that of the mid 1920s. Matthew Beard, Wheezer Hutchins, and Dorothy DeBorba carried the series during this period, aided by Sherwood Bailey and Kendall McComas, who would play Breezy Brisbane. Unlike the mid-1920s period, McGowan sustained the quality of the series with the help of the several regular cast members and the Roach writing staff. Many of these shorts include early appearances of Jerry Tucker and Wally Albright, who later became series regulars.


title: Our Gang

text: New Roach discovery George McFarland joined the gang as Spanky late in 1931 at the age of three and remained an "Our Gang" actor for eleven years, except for a brief break in summer 1938. At first appearing as the tag-along toddler of the group, and later finding an accomplice in Scotty Beckett in 1934, Spanky quickly became "Our Gang"s biggest child star. He won parts in a number of outside features, appeared in many of the now-numerous "Our Gang" product endorsements and spin-off merchandise items, and popularized the expressions "Okey-dokey!" and "Okey-doke!"


title: Our Gang

text: Dickie Moore, a veteran child actor, joined in the middle of 1932 and remained with the series for one year. Other members in these years included Mary Ann Jackson's brother Dickie Jackson, John "Uh-huh" Collum, and Tommy Bond. Upon Dickie Moore's departure in mid 1933, long-term "Our Gang" members such as Wheezer (who had been with "Our Gang" since the late Pathé silents period) and Dorothy left the series as well.


title: Our Gang

text: Robert McGowan, burned out from the stress of working with the child actors, had as early as 1931 tried to resign as producer/director of "Our Gang". Lacking a replacement, Hal Roach persuaded him to stay on for another year. At the start of the 1933–34 season, the "Our Gang" series format was significantly altered to accommodate McGowan and persuade him to stay another year. The first two entries of the season in fall 1933, "Bedtime Worries" and "Wild Poses" (which featured a cameo by Laurel and Hardy), focused on Spanky and his hapless parents, portrayed by Gay Seabrook and Emerson Treacy, in a family-oriented situation comedy format similar to the style later popular on television. A smaller cast of "Our Gang" kids—Matthew Beard, Tommy Bond, Jerry Tucker, and Georgie Billings—were featured in supporting roles with reduced screen time.


title: Our Gang

text: An unsatisfied McGowan abruptly left after "Wild Poses". Coupled with a brief suspension in McFarland's work permit, "Our Gang" went into a four-month hiatus, during which the series was revised to a format similar to its original style and German-born Gus Meins was hired as the new series director.


title: Our Gang

text: "Hi-Neighbor!", released in March 1934, ended the hiatus and was the first series entry directed by Meins, a veteran of the once-competing "Buster Brown" short subject series. Gordon Douglas served as Meins's assistant director, and Fred Newmeyer alternated directorial duties with Meins for a handful of shorts. Meins's "Our Gang" shorts were less improvisational than McGowan's and featured a heavier reliance on dialogue. McGowan returned two years later to direct his "Our Gang" swan song, "Divot Diggers", released in 1936.


title: Our Gang

text: Retaining McFarland, Matthew Beard, Tommy Bond, and Jerry Tucker, the revised series added Scotty Beckett, Wally Albright, and Billie Thomas, who soon began playing the character of Stymie's sister "Buckwheat," though Thomas was a male. Semi-regular actors, such as Jackie Lynn Taylor, Marianne Edwards, and Leonard Kibrick as the neighborhood bully, joined the series at this time. Tommy Bond and Wally Albright left in the middle of 1934; Jackie Lynn Taylor and Marianne Edwards would depart by 1935.


title: Our Gang

text: Early in 1935, new cast members Carl Switzer and his brother Harold joined "Our Gang" after impressing Roach with an impromptu musical performance at the studio commissary. While Harold would eventually be relegated to the role of a background player, Carl, nicknamed "Alfalfa," eventually replaced Scotty Beckett as Spanky's sidekick. Matthew Beard as Stymie left the cast soon after, and the Buckwheat character morphed subtly into a male. That same year, Darla Hood, Patsy May, and Eugene Lee as Porky joined the gang. Scotty Beckett departed for a career in features (he returned in 1939 for two shorts, "Cousin Wilbur" and "Dog Daze").


title: Our Gang

text: "Our Gang" was very successful during the 1920s and the early 1930s. However, by 1934, many movie theater owners were increasingly dropping two-reel (20-minute) comedies like "Our Gang" and the "Laurel & Hardy" series from their bills and running double feature programs instead. The "Laurel & Hardy" series went from film shorts to features exclusively in mid 1935. By 1936, Hal Roach began debating plans to discontinue "Our Gang" until Louis B. Mayer, head of Roach's distributor MGM, persuaded Roach to keep the popular series in production. Roach agreed, producing shorter, one-reel "Our Gang" comedies (ten minutes in length instead of twenty). The first one-reel "Our Gang" short, "Bored of Education" (1936), marked the "Our Gang" directorial debut of former assistant director Gordon Douglas and won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject (One Reel) in 1937.


title: Our Gang

text: As part of the arrangement with MGM to continue "Our Gang", Roach received the clearance to produce an "Our Gang" feature film, "General Spanky", hoping that he might move the series to features as was done with Laurel & Hardy. Directed by Gordon Douglas and Fred Newmeyer, "General Spanky" featured characters Spanky, Buckwheat, and Alfalfa in a sentimental, Shirley Temple-esque story set during the American Civil War. The film focused more on the adult leads (Phillips Holmes and Rosina Lawrence) than the children and was a box office disappointment. No further "Our Gang" features were made.


title: Our Gang

text: After years of gradual cast changes, the troupe standardized in 1936 with the move to one-reel shorts. Most casual fans of "Our Gang" are particularly familiar with the 1936–1939 incarnation of the cast: Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla, Buckwheat, and Porky, with recurring characters such as neighborhood bullies Butch and Woim and the bookworm Waldo. Tommy Bond, an off-and-on member of the gang since 1932, returned to the series as Butch beginning with the 1937 short "Glove Taps". Sidney Kibrick, the younger brother of Leonard Kibrick, played Butch's crony, Woim.


title: Our Gang

text: "Glove Taps" also featured the first appearance of Darwood Kaye as the bespectacled, foppish Waldo. In later shorts, both Butch and Waldo were portrayed as Alfalfa's rivals in his pursuit of Darla's affections. Other popular elements in these mid-to-late-1930s shorts include the "He-Man Woman Haters Club" from "Hearts Are Thumps" and "Mail and Female" (both 1937), the Laurel and Hardy-ish interaction between Alfalfa and Spanky, and the comic tag-along team of Porky and Buckwheat.


title: Our Gang

text: Roach produced the final two-reel "Our Gang" short, a high-budget musical special entitled "Our Gang Follies of 1938", in 1937 as a parody of MGM's "Broadway Melody of 1938". In "Follies of 1938", Alfalfa, who aspires to be an opera singer, falls asleep and dreams that his old pal Spanky has become the rich owner of a swanky Broadway nightclub where Darla and Buckwheat perform, making "hundreds and thousands of dollars."


title: Our Gang

text: As the profit margins continued to decline owing to double features, Roach could no longer afford to continue producing "Our Gang". However, MGM did not want the series discontinued and agreed to take over production. On May 31, 1938, Roach sold MGM the "Our Gang" unit, including the rights to the name and the contracts for the actors and writers, for $25,000 (equal to $ today). After delivering the Laurel and Hardy feature "Block-Heads", Roach also ended his distribution contract with MGM, moving to United Artists and leaving the short-subjects business. The final Roach-produced short in the "Our Gang" series, "Hide and Shriek", was his final short-subject production.


title: Our Gang

text: "The Little Ranger" was the first "Our Gang" short to be produced in-house at MGM. Gordon Douglas was loaned out from Hal Roach Studios to direct "The Little Ranger" and another early MGM short, "Aladdin's Lantern", while MGM hired newcomer George Sidney as the permanent series director. "Our Gang" would be used by MGM as a training ground for future feature directors: Sidney, Edward Cahn and Cy Endfield all worked on "Our Gang" before moving on to features. Another director, Herbert Glazer, remained a second-unit director outside of his work on the series.


title: Our Gang

text: Nearly all of the 52 MGM-produced "Our Gangs" were written by former Roach director Hal Law and former junior director Robert A. McGowan (also known as Anthony Mack, nephew of former senior "Our Gang" director Robert F. McGowan). Robert A. McGowan was credited for these shorts as "Robert McGowan"; as a result, moviegoers have been confused for decades about whether this Robert McGowan and the senior director of the same name at Roach were two separate people.


title: Our Gang

text: The last few of the Roach comedies featured Alfalfa Switzer as the lead character; Spanky McFarland had departed from the series just before its sale to MGM. Casting his replacement was delayed until after the move to MGM, at which point MGM rehired McFarland.


title: Our Gang

text: In 1939, Mickey Gubitosi (later known by the stage name of Robert Blake) replaced Eugene "Porky" Lee, who had matured too quickly. Tommy Bond, Darwood Kaye, and Alfalfa Switzer all left the series in 1940, and Billy "Froggy" Laughlin (with his Popeye-esque trick voice) and Janet Burston were added to the cast. By the end of 1941, Darla Hood had departed from the series, and Spanky McFarland followed her within a year. Billie Thomas as Buckwheat remained in the cast until the end of the series as the sole holdover from the Roach era.


title: Our Gang

text: Overall, the "Our Gang" films produced by MGM were not as well-received as the Roach-produced shorts had been, largely due to MGM's inexperience with the brand of slapstick comedy that "Our Gang" was famous for, and to MGM's insistence on keeping Alfalfa, Spanky, and Buckwheat in the series as they became teens. The MGM entries are considered by many film historians, and the "Our Gang" children themselves, to be lesser films than the Roach entries. The children's performances were criticized as stilted and stiff, their dialogue being recited instead of spoken naturally. Adult situations often drove the action, with each film often incorporating a moral, a civics lesson, or a patriotic theme. The series was given a permanent setting in the fictitious town of Greenpoint, and the mayhem caused by the "Our Gang" kids was toned down significantly.


title: Our Gang

text: Exhibitors noticed the drop in quality, and often complained that the series was slipping. When six of the 13 shorts released between 1942 and 1943 sustained losses rather than turning profits, MGM discontinued "Our Gang". The final short was "Dancing Romeo", which was released on April 29, 1944 (as an MGM Miniature, not an Our Gang comedy).


title: Our Gang

text: Since 1937, "Our Gang" had been featured as a licensed comic strip in the UK comic "The Dandy", drawn by Dudley D. Watkins. Starting in 1942, MGM licensed "Our Gang" to Dell Comics for the publication of "Our Gang Comics", featuring the gang, Barney Bear, and Tom and Jerry. The strips in "The Dandy" ended three years after the demise of the "Our Gang" shorts, in 1947. "Our Gang Comics" outlasted the series by five years, changing its name to "Tom and Jerry Comics" in 1949. In 2006, Fantagraphics Books began issuing a series of volumes reprinting the "Our Gang" stories, mostly written and drawn by "Pogo" creator Walt Kelly.


title: Our Gang

text: When Roach sold "Our Gang" to MGM, he retained the option to buy the rights to the "Our Gang" trademark, provided he produced no more children's comedies in the "Our Gang" vein. In the late 1940s, he created a new film property in the "Our Gang" mold and forfeited his right to buy back the name "Our Gang" to obtain permission to produce two Cinecolor featurettes, "Curley" and "Who Killed Doc Robbin". Neither film was critically or financially successful, and Roach turned to re-releasing the original "Our Gang" comedies.


title: Our Gang

text: In 1949, MGM sold Roach the back catalog of 1927–1938 "Our Gang" silent and talking shorts, while retaining the rights to the "Our Gang" name, the 52 "Our Gang" films it produced, and the feature "General Spanky". Under the terms of the sale, Roach was required to remove the MGM Lion studio logo and all instances of the names or logos "Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer", "Loew's Incorporated", and "Our Gang" from the reissued film prints. Using a modified version of the series' original name, Roach repackaged 79 of the 80 sound "Our Gang" shorts as "The Little Rascals". By all accounts available, none of the former child stars were ever paid a cent in residuals from this, despite the substantial profits netted. Monogram Pictures and its successor, Allied Artists, reissued the films to theaters beginning in 1950. Allied Artists' television department, Interstate Television, syndicated the films to TV in 1954.


title: Our Gang

text: Under its new name, "The Little Rascals" enjoyed renewed popularity on television, and new "Little Rascals" comic books, toys, and other licensed merchandise were produced. MGM prepared to distribute its own "Our Gang" shorts to television in 1957, and offers for the shorts to stations began to be made in 1958. The two separate packages of "Our Gang" films competed with each other in syndication for three decades. Some stations bought both packages and played them alongside each other under the "Little Rascals" show banner.


title: Our Gang

text: The television rights to the silent Pathé "Our Gang" comedies were sold to National Telepix and other distributors, who distributed the films under titles such as "The Mischief Makers" and "Those Lovable Scallawags with Their Gangs".


title: Our Gang

text: In 1963, Hal Roach Studios, by then run by Roach's son Hal Jr, filed for bankruptcy. A struggling novice syndication agent named Charles King purchased the television rights to "The Little Rascals" in the bankruptcy proceedings and returned the shorts to television. The success of "The Little Rascals" paved the way for King's new company, King World Productions, to grow into one of the largest television syndicators in the world. Currently, Paramount Global, King World's latest successor, handles distribution rights.


title: Our Gang

text: In 1971, because of controversy over some dated racial humor in the shorts and other content deemed to be in bad taste, King World made significant edits to "Little Rascals" TV prints. Many series entries were trimmed by two to four minutes, while others (among them "Spanky", "Bargain Day", "The Pinch Singer" and "Mush and Milk") were cut to nearly half of their original length.


title: Our Gang

text: At the same time, eight "Little Rascals" shorts were pulled from the King World television package altogether. "Lazy Days", "Moan and Groan, Inc.", the Stepin Fetchit-guest-starred "A Tough Winter", "Little Daddy", "A Lad an' a Lamp", "The Kid From Borneo", and "Little Sinner" were deleted from the syndication package because of perceived racism, while "Big Ears" was deleted for its depiction of carelessly ingesting an assortment of drugs out of a medicine cabinet. The early talkie "Railroadin'" was never part of the television package because its soundtrack (recorded on phonographic records) was considered lost, although it was later found and restored to the film.


title: Our Gang

text: Turner Entertainment acquired the classic MGM library in 1986, and the 1938–44 MGM-produced "Our Gang" shorts were shown on Turner's TBS and TNT cable networks for many years as early-morning programming filler, with a regular slot on Sundays at 6 am ET on TNT.


title: Our Gang

text: In the early 2000s, the 71 films in the King World package were re-edited, reinstating many (though not all) edits made in 1971 and the original "Our Gang" title cards. These new television prints made their debut on the American Movie Classics cable network in 2001 and ran until 2003.


title: Our Gang

text: Many producers, including "Our Gang" alumnus Jackie Cooper, made pilots for new "Little Rascals" television series, but none ever went into production.


title: Our Gang

text: In 1977, Norman Lear tried to revive the Rascals franchise, taping three pilot episodes of "The Little Rascals". The pilots were not bought, but were notable for including Gary Coleman.


title: Our Gang

text: 1979 brought "The Little Rascals Christmas Special", an animated holiday special produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson, written by Romeo Muller and featuring the voice work of Darla Hood (who died suddenly before the special aired) and Matthew "Stymie" Beard.


title: Our Gang

text: From 1982 to 1984, Hanna-Barbera Productions produced a Saturday morning cartoon version of "The Little Rascals", which aired on ABC during "The Pac-Man/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show" (later "The Monchichis/Little Rascals/Richie Rich Show"). It starred the voices of Patty Maloney as Darla; Peter Cullen as Petey and Officer Ed; Scott Menville as Spanky; Julie McWhirter Dees as Alfalfa, Porky and The Woim; Shavar Ross as Buckwheat, and B.J. Ward as Butch and Waldo.


title: Our Gang

text: In 1994, Amblin Entertainment and Universal Pictures released "The Little Rascals", a feature film based loosely on the series and featuring interpretations of classic "Our Gang" shorts, including "Hearts are Thumps", "Rushin' Ballet", and "Hi'-Neighbor!" The film, directed by Penelope Spheeris, starred Travis Tedford as Spanky, Bug Hall as Alfalfa, and Ross Bagley as Buckwheat; with cameos by the Olsen twins, Whoopi Goldberg, Mel Brooks, Reba McEntire, Daryl Hannah, Donald Trump and Raven-Symoné. "The Little Rascals" was a moderate success for Universal, bringing in $51,764,950 at the box office.


title: Our Gang

text: In 2014, Universal Pictures released a direct-to-video film, "The Little Rascals Save the Day". This was a second film loosely based on the series and featuring interpretations of classic "Our Gang" shorts, including "Helping Grandma", "Mike Fright", and "Birthday Blues". The film was directed by Alex Zamm, and starred Jet Jurgensmeyer as Spanky, Drew Justice as Alfalfa, Eden Wood as Darla, and Doris Roberts as the kids' adopted Grandma.


title: Our Gang

text: The characters in this series are well-known cultural icons, and identified solely by their first names. The characters of Alfalfa, Spanky, Buckwheat, Porky, Darla, Froggy, Butch, Woim, and Waldo were especially well known. Like many child actors, the "Our Gang" children were typecast and had trouble outgrowing their "Our Gang" images.


title: Our Gang

text: Several Our Gang alumni, among them Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Scotty Beckett, Norman "Chubby" Chaney, Billy "Froggy" Laughlin, Donald Haines, Bobby "Wheezer" Hutchins, Darla Hood, Matthew "Stymie" Beard, Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas, and George "Spanky" McFarland, died before age 65, in most cases well earlier. This led to rumors of an "Our Gang/Little Rascals" "curse", rumors further popularized by a 2002 "E! True Hollywood Story" documentary entitled "The Curse of the Little Rascals". The Snopes.com website debunks the rumor of an "Our Gang" curse, stating that there was no pattern of unusual deaths when taking all of the major "Our Gang" stars into account, despite the deaths of a select few.


title: Our Gang

text: The children's work in the series was largely unrewarded in later years, although Spanky McFarland was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame posthumously in 1994. Neither he nor any other "Our Gang" children received any residuals or royalties from reruns of the shorts or licensed products with their likenesses. The only remittances were their weekly salaries during their time in the gang, ranging from $40 a week for newcomers to $200 or more weekly for stars like Farina, Spanky, and Alfalfa.


title: Our Gang

text: One notable exception was Jackie Cooper, who was later nominated for an Academy Award and had a career as an adult actor. Cooper is known today for portraying Perry White in the 1978–1987 "Superman" movies, and for directing episodes of TV series such as "M*A*S*H" and "Superboy". Another was Robert Blake, who found great success in the 1960s and 1970s as an actor, with films like "In Cold Blood" (1967) and television shows like "Baretta" (1975–78), which netted him an Emmy Award.


title: Our Gang

text: E. L. Doctorow's 1975 novel "Ragtime" ends with the character of Tateh, a Jewish immigrant from Eastern Europe, having a vision of the kind of film he wants to make: "A bunch of children who were pals, white black, fat thin, rich poor, all kinds, mischievous little urchins who would have funny adventures in their own neighborhood, a society of ragamuffins, like all of us, a gang, getting into trouble and getting out again." The implication is that Tateh will go on to produce the "Our Gang" series.


title: Our Gang

text: Due to the popularity of "Our Gang", many similar kid comedy short film series were created by competing studios. Among the most notable are "The Kiddie Troupers", featuring future comedian Eddie Bracken; "Baby Burlesks", featuring Shirley Temple; the "Buster Brown" comedies (from which "Our Gang" received Pete the Pup and director Gus Meins); and "Our Gang's" main competitor, the "Toonerville Trolley"-based "Mickey McGuire" series starring Mickey Rooney. Less notable imitations series include "The McDougall Alley Gang" (Bray Productions, 1927–1928), "The Us Bunch" and "Our Kids". There is evidence that "Our Gang"-style productions were filmed in small towns and cities around the country using local children actors in the 1920s and 1930s. These productions did not appear to be affiliated with Hal Roach, but often used storylines from the shorts of the period, and sometimes went so far as to identify themselves as being "Our Gang" productions.


title: Our Gang

text: In later years, many adults falsely claimed to have been members of "Our Gang". A long list of people, including persons famous in other capacities such as Nanette Fabray, Eddie Bracken, and gossip columnist Joyce Haber claimed to be or have been publicly called former "Our Gang" children. Bracken's official biography was once altered to state that he appeared in "Our Gang" instead of "The Kiddie Troupers", although he himself had no knowledge of the change.


title: Our Gang

text: Among notable "Our Gang" imposters is Jack Bothwell, who claimed to have portrayed a character named "Freckles", going so far as to appear on the game show "To Tell the Truth" in the fall of 1957, perpetuating this fraud. In 2008, a Darla Hood impostor, Mollie Barron, died claiming to have appeared as Darla in "Our Gang". Another is Bill English, a grocery store employee who appeared on the October 5, 1990, episode of the ABC investigative television newsmagazine "20/20" claiming to have been Buckwheat. Following the broadcast, Spanky McFarland informed the media of the truth, and in December, William Thomas, Jr. (son of Billie Thomas, the person who played Buckwheat) filed a lawsuit against ABC for negligence.


title: Our Gang

text: A number of groups, companies, and entities have been inspired by or named after "Our Gang". The folk-rock group Spanky and Our Gang was named for the troupe because lead singer Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane's last name was similar to that of George "Spanky" McFarland. The band had no connection with the actual "Our Gang" series.


title: Our Gang

text: Numerous unauthorized "Little Rascals" and "Our Gang" restaurants and day care centers also exist throughout the United States.


title: Our Gang

text: In the 1950s, home movie distributor Official Films released many of the Hal Roach talkies on 16 mm film. These were released as "Famous Kid Comedies," as Official could not use "Our Gang". The company's licensing only lasted for a short period. For years afterward, Blackhawk Films released 79 of the 80 Roach talkies on 8mm and 16 mm film. The sound discs for "Railroadin' " had been lost since the 1940s, and a silent print was available for home movie release until 1982, when the film's sound discs were located in the MGM vault and the short was restored with sound. Like the television prints, Blackhawk's "Little Rascals" reissues featured custom title cards in place of the original "Our Gang" logos, per MGM's 1949 arrangement with Hal Roach not to distribute the series under its original title. The films were otherwise offered unedited.


title: Our Gang

text: In 1983, with the VHS home video market growing, Blackhawk began distributing "Little Rascals" VHS tapes through catalog orders, with three shorts per tape. Blackhawk Films was acquired in 1983 by National Telefilm Associates, later renamed Republic Pictures. Republic would release "Little Rascals" VHS volumes for retail purchase in non-comprehensive collections through the rest of the 1980s and early 1990s. By then, all but 11 of the Roach-era sound films were available on home video.


title: Our Gang

text: In 1993, Republic Pictures Home Video sold the home video rights for the 80 sound Roach shorts and some available silent shorts to Cabin Fever Entertainment. Cabin Fever acquired the rights to use the original "Our Gang" title cards and MGM logos, and for the first time in over 50 years, the Roach sound "Our Gang" comedies could be commercially exhibited in their original formats. The first twelve volumes of Cabin Fever's "The Little Rascals" VHS set were released on July 6, 1994, followed by nine more on July 11, 1995, coinciding with the theatrical and home video releases of Universal's 1994 feature. Each tape contained four shorts, as well as newly-produced introductions by film historian Leonard Maltin.


title: Our Gang

text: With these releases, Cabin Fever made all 80 Roach sound shorts, and four silents, available for purchase unedited with digitally restored picture and sound. On August 26, 1997, a limited-edition volume, "For Pete's Sake", was released in honor of the Rascals' 75th anniversary with an introduction from original cast member Tommy "Butch" Bond and "Petey," the dog from the 1994 feature. The video contained three previously-released shorts and the previously-unreleased silent short "Dog Heaven"; the VHS tape was also available in a gift set with a Pete plush doll.


title: Our Gang

text: Cabin Fever began pressing DVD versions of their first 12 "Little Rascals" VHS volumes, with the contents of two VHS volumes included on each DVD, but went out of business in 1998 before their release. The "Little Rascals" home video rights were then sold to Hallmark Entertainment in 1999, who released the DVDs without an official launch while cleaning out their warehouse in early 2000. Hallmark colorized a few "Our Gang" shorts and released them across 8 VHS tapes. Later that year, the first 10 Cabin Fever volumes were re-released on VHS with new packaging, and the first two volumes were released on DVD as "The Little Rascals: Volumes 1–2". Two further Hallmark DVD collections featured ten shorts apiece and were released in 2003 and 2005, respectively.


title: Our Gang

text: From 2006 to 2009, Legend Films produced colorized versions of twenty-four "Our Gang" comedies (23 Roach entries, and the public domain MGM entry "Waldo's Last Stand"), which were released across five "Little Rascals" DVDs. In 2011, Legend Films released black and white versions of "Little Rascals" DVDs.


title: Our Gang

text: RHI Entertainment and Genius Products released an eight-disc DVD set, "The Little Rascals – the Complete Collection," on October 28, 2008. This set includes all 80 Hal Roach-produced "Our Gang" sound short films. Most of the collection uses the 1994 restorations, while 16 shorts are presented with older Blackhawk Films transfers as their remastered copies were lost or misplaced during preparations.


title: Our Gang

text: On June 14, 2011, Vivendi Entertainment re-released seven of the eight DVD's from RHI/Genius Products' "The Little Rascals – The Complete Collection" as individual releases. This includes the 80 shorts – replacing the Blackhawk transfers on the previous set with their respective 1994 restorations – but excludes the disc featuring the extras.


title: Our Gang

text: During the 1980s and 1990s, MGM released several non-comprehensive VHS tapes of its shorts, and a VHS of the feature "General Spanky". After video rights for the classic MGM library reverted to their new owners, Turner Entertainment/Warner Bros., in the late 1990s, four of the MGM "Our Gang" shorts appeared as bonus features on Warner Bros.-issued classic film DVD releases.


title: Our Gang

text: In 2009, Warner Home Video released all 52 MGM "Our Gang" shorts in a compilation titled "The Our Gang Collection: 1938–1942" (though it contains the 1943–44 shorts as well) for manufacture-on-demand (MOD) DVD and digital download. The set is available by mail order and digital download as part of the Warner Archive Collection, and is available for purchase via the iTunes Store. A MOD release of "General Spanky" on DVD was also released by Warner Archive in 2016.


title: Our Gang

text: There are many unofficial "Our Gang" and "Little Rascals" home video collections available from several other distributors, comprising shorts (both silent and sound) which have fallen into the public domain.


title: Our Gang

text: ClassicFlix, a company specializing in releasing classic films and TV series on home media, licensed the home video rights to Hal Roach's "Our Gang" sound shorts from their current owners, Sonar Entertainment.


title: Our Gang

text: An Indiegogo fundraiser campaign was launched to finance extensive restorations of the shorts from original 35mm nitrate film sources. When the campaign did not meet its fundraising goal, other sources of financing were sought for the restorations. The first ClassicFlix release, "The Little Rascals: The ClassicFlix Restorations, Volume 1," was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 1, 2021, featuring the first eleven "talking" short subjects in the series from 1929 and 1930. Five further volumes followed through June 2022, comprising the rest of the Hal Roach era shorts through 1938 and also including new restorations of those shorts.


title: Our Gang

text: Halcyon Studios (formerly known as Sonar Entertainment, RHI Entertainment, Cabin Fever Entertainment and Hallmark Entertainment) owns the copyrights of and holds the theatrical and home video rights to the Roach-produced "Our Gang" shorts. Sonar acquired these after absorbing Hal Roach Studios in 1988, and both Roach's estate and Cabin Fever Entertainment in the late 1990s.


title: Our Gang

text: Paramount Global subsidiary CBS Media Ventures, through King World Productions, owns the rights to the "Little Rascals" trademark and has all other media rights to the 1929-1938 Roach shorts, which constitute "The Little Rascals" television package, with certain territory exclusions controlled by Cinematographische Commerz-Anstalt. CBS offers original black-and-white and colorized prints for syndication. The King World/CBS "Little Rascals" package was featured as exclusive programming (in the United States) for the American Movie Classics network from August 2001 to December 2003, with Frankie Muniz hosting. As part of a month-long tribute to Hal Roach Studios, Turner Classic Movies televised a 24-hour marathon of Roach "Our Gang" shorts – both sound films and silents – on January 4–5, 2011. Some of the silent "Our Gangs" (such as "Mary, Queen of Tots" and "Thundering Fleas") resurfaced on TCM at this time with new music scores in stereo sound; these silent Pathé "Our Gang"s are now being syndicated by Mckinaw Media.


title: Our Gang

text: The MGM-produced "Our Gang" shorts, "General Spanky", and the rights to the "Our Gang" name are owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Turner Entertainment. Turner Entertainment acquired these assets in 1986 when its founder, Ted Turner, purchased the pre-May 1986 MGM library; Turner merged with the former Time Warner in 1996. The television rights for the MGM "Our Gang" shorts belong to Warner Bros. Television Distribution, and the video rights to Warner Home Video. The MGM "Our Gang"s today appear periodically on the Turner Classic Movies cable network. Until its closure in 2018, the MGM "Our Gang"s were available for streaming via the subscription-based Warner Archive Instant streaming video service.


title: Our Gang

text: The following is a listing of the primary child actors in the "Our Gang" comedies. They are grouped by the era during which they joined the series.


title: Our Gang

text: The following is a listing of selected "Our Gang" comedies, considered by Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann (in their book "The Little Rascals: The Life and Times of Our Gang") to be among the best and most important in the series.


title: Fauda

text: Fauda (, from "fawḍā", meaning "chaos") is an Israeli television series developed by Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff drawing on their experiences in the Israel Defense Forces. The series premiered on February 15, 2015. It tells the story of Doron, a commander in the Mista'arvim unit and his team; in the first season, they pursue a Hamas arch-terrorist known as "The Panther".


title: Fauda

text: The first season was filmed in Kafr Qasim during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. It premiered on February 15, 2015. The second season premiered on December 31, 2017. The third season takes place in the Gaza Strip and was aired in 2019 and 2020. Internationally, the series is streamed by Netflix. In late 2020, it was announced that "Fauda" would be returning for a fourth season.


title: Fauda

text: Eighteen months prior to the start of the show, the Israeli soldier Doron and his unit were credited with killing the terrorist Taufiq Hammed. Following this, Doron retires from service in order to grow a vineyard. At the beginning of season 1 Doron is visited by Moreno, the commander of his old unit, who informs him that Taufiq Hammed is still alive and plans to attend his brother Bashir's wedding. Doron rejoins his team in order to go undercover at the wedding. Ultimately they are discovered and Bashir is killed, moments before Taufiq is to arrive. Although Doron is able to shoot Taufiq, and injures him, Taufiq escapes.


title: Fauda

text: Taufiq barely survives the gunshot wound and is forced to have secret emergency surgery so as to not reveal that he is alive or where he is. Doron convinces Moreno to allow him to stay on with the unit until they catch Taufiq. Bashir's family all mourn him as a shahid (martyr) and his wife, Amal, vows revenge. Taufiq's right-hand man, Walid, convinces his cousin Shirin to help Taufiq escape from the hospital minutes before Doron's team arrives.


title: Fauda

text: Amal, distraught over Bashir's death, volunteers to bomb a nightclub which Boaz, Doron's brother-in-law and a member of his unit, frequents. This will ensure that the Israelis get the message that it is revenge on Boaz for the killing of Bashir. The plan is for Amal to arm the bomb in her purse and then leave the club three minutes before its detonation. However, Amal decides to stay and die in the explosion. Boaz regains consciousness following the blast and finds his girlfriend's body. Boaz does not handle the discovery well, and after getting pulled over, physically assaults the police and ends up in jail.


title: Fauda

text: While on a mission, Boaz gets captured and is held hostage by Hamas. Doron and his team decide to prepare an unapproved mission to kidnap Taufiq's friend Sheikh Awadalla in an attempt to get Boaz back. When Doron finds out that Taufiq had a bomb implanted inside of Boaz, the team kidnap Taufiq's daughter to use as additional leverage. Ultimately Boaz and the Sheikh both get blown up, and Taufiq's daughter gets badly injured.


title: Fauda

text: Doron, still undercover, interviews for a position to be a shahid for Taufiq, a role which he ultimately gets recruited for. Taufiq reveals his plan to Walid: they received sarin nerve gas that will be detonated in the synagogue, which will cause Israel to retaliate with force, committing war crimes and forcing other Islamic states to respond. Walid eventually discovers Doron's true identity and orders Doron to be killed, however the rest of the unit shows up just in time to kill everyone who was watching him. Walid shows the proof to Taufiq and then shoots him in the back of the head.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Lior Raz. Doron is married to Gali, and has a son, Ido, and a daughter, Noga. Doron, after leaving the army, lives on a farm and grows grapes in order to make his own wine. Doron having previously been credited with killing Abu Ahmad, rejoins his old Israel Defense Force (IDF) unit, 18 months later, after intelligence discovered Abu Ahmad was still alive.


title: Fauda

text: Gali, behind Doron's back, has been having an affair with a fellow member of his unit, Naor. His son, Ido, eventually finds out about the affair while listening in on a phone conversation, and later sees them kissing on the couch from upstairs. Ido eventually pulls Naor's gun on him stating that his father is not there because of him, which Doron interrupts, and Ido tells Doron that they are together. When Doron asks Gali what it means, she tells him that he stopped fighting for her a long time ago, and that Naor loves her.


title: Fauda

text: After Boaz's girlfriend gets killed, Doron wants to try and keep Boaz out of the field for his own safety. When Boaz is captured during his first field mission following the loss Doron takes it very personally and blames Moreno for it, physically attacking him in the command center. Doron, although having previously quit smoking begins smoking again to help cope with the stress of the Boaz situation. Ultimately Doron comes up with a plan to kidnap Sheikh Awadalla, and Taufiq's daughter Abir, in order to exchange for Boaz, although it ultimately proved unsuccessful. Steve later takes Doron to Boaz's grave where he cries while reciting Kaddish.


title: Fauda

text: After Boaz's bomb is detonated Doron begins to wander the streets aimlessly, before taking shelter in a mosque. Doron wounded after the Boaz's and Sheikh's bombs explode, ultimately winds up at Shirin's apartment for treatment, after which they passionately kiss. Shirin however eventually walks out during a date with Doron when she received a video from Walid showing her who Doron really is.


title: Fauda

text: Doron, just prior to shooting the person sent to kill Shirin, finds out from him that Taufiq is looking for a man to be a shahid. Doron goes and interviews with Walid and Taufiq for the position, and is handed a phone to be called when needed. Before he can complete his mission, he is arrested and brought back to Israel, but ultimately answers Walid's call while in jail. Gabi convinces Gideon to allow Doron to complete his mission, and if successful would receive a full pardon.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Hisham Sulliman. Taufiq is commonly referred to as Abu Ahmad, and is nicknamed "The Panther". He is married to Nassrin and had a son (Ahmad), a daughter (Abir). Taufiq had been trained by Ali Karmi, since he was a kid, and considers him a father, however he ordered Ali to be killed, when Ali turned his back on him and gave information over to Israel in exchange for surgery for his daughter.


title: Fauda

text: Taufiq, is a high level Hamas terrorist, who was assumed killed by the IDF 18 months prior to the beginning of the show, only to find out he is still alive and arranging terror attacks, despite having had a funeral. Taufiq emerges from hiding, and is seen for the first time by his family since his funeral, in order to congratulate his brother on his upcoming wedding. Taufiq is credited with killing 116 Israelis.


title: Fauda

text: Taufiq does not see his family for several years while in hiding, and was willing to risk his life just to see Nassrin immediately after surgery. Despite this, when forced to choose between exploding the bomb inside Boaz and Abir's safety, he reluctantly chooses to have Walid detonate the bomb. When Nassrin tells Taufiq that she cannot live this life anymore and is taking the kids back to Berlin, Taufiq attempts to talk her out of it. When his mother later calls to say that the kids and her passports were gone, Taufiq is brought to tears.


title: Fauda

text: Taufiq throughout season 1 is planning for something big, later revealed that they will use sarin nerve gas to detonated in the synagogue, which will cause Israel to retaliate with force, committing war crimes, which will force the other Islamic states to respond. After Walid uncovers that the man they hired to be the shahid for their mission was actually Doron, Walid returns to show Taufiq, then shoots him in the head from behind.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Shadi Mar'i. Walid as of season 1 he is 20 years old. Walid is a trusted member is Taufiq's team, and one of the few who knows the truth about him being alive after his funeral. Taufiq views Walid like a son to him, and eventually Taufiq wants Walid to replace him. Walid however eventually winds up killing Taufiq, shooting him in the head from behind, however after shooting him, Walid cries and kisses Taufiq.


title: Fauda

text: Walid puts the Hamas cause above everything else, including family, as he eventually shows by kidnapping his aunt and cousin to further their cause. Although always wanting to follow through on what Taufiq tells him, when it comes to his family, Walid will not hurt them. When ordered to find Shirin and bring her back to Taufiq, Walid questions her but ultimately reports back that he is unable to find her.


title: Fauda

text: When Walid was a kid he used to wait for Shirin to return from Paris so she could take him to the park. Walid feels that he never knew what true love was until he met Shrin. When ordered to kill Shirin by Taufiq, Walid instead asks her to marry him, as a way to protect her. Shirin eventually reluctantly agrees and says yes, but pulls away when he tries to kiss her. Shirin later tells him that they are cousins and she cannot marry him because she doesn't love him. Walid believes this is because she is in love with Amir, and once Walid finds out who Amir really is, Walid sends Shirin the proof that Amir is Doron, and she walks out on him during a date.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Laëtitia Eïdo. Shirin is 32 years old as of season 1, and a cousin of Walid. Her mother is from Nablus, her father is from Paris. She volunteered with Doctors Without Borders in 2006. She studied medicine at An-Najah National University, and works in the emergency room of Rafidia Surgery Hospital. She is a widow, who was originally married at age 23 to a chemist, named Naji, who died four years later, from multiple sclerosis. She spent more of her life in Paris than in Israel, and left Paris after Naji died to be closer to her mother.


title: Fauda

text: Shirin, although has feelings for Doron is hesitant to accept his advances, but ultimately agrees to a date with him. After Doron left their date early, Shirin is put off by his advances and sends the flowers he gave her as an apology, to the pediatric ward. After Doron comes to her apartment for treatment, Doron kisses Shirin, to which she returns the kiss and quickly slips out of her dress. Shirin eventually walks out during a date with Doron when she receives a video from Walid showing who Doron really is.


title: Fauda

text: Shirin ultimately helps Taufiq escape from the hospital based on Walid's insistence, however does so only for family, not because she believes in the cause. When Walid later calls Shirin and asks her to stitch up Taufiq, she refuses as she does not want to be involved.


title: Fauda

text: Shirin later performs surgery on Boaz, reluctantly, after Walid kidnaps her and takes her mother as hostage until she performs the surgery. Following the surgery she calls Walid and insists that she must be able to check up on him to ensure he does not have an infection. Shirin admitted to Doron what she did, thinking he is a member of the Palestinian Preventive Security. After Doron's unit reveals to Walid they know he planted a bomb inside Boaz, Taufiq orders the killing of Shirin, but she is ultimately saved by Doron, when he kills the men Taufiq sent.


title: Fauda

text: After the men sent to kill Shirin did not return, Taufiq ordered Walid to find Shirin and kill her. Walid comes to Shirin's hotel room and reveals that when he was a kid he used to wait for her to return from Paris so she could take him to the park. Walid feels that he never knew what true love was until he met Shrin, and instead of killing her asks her to marry him, as a way to protect her, to which she says she needs to think about. Shirin eventually reluctantly agrees and says yes, but pulls away when he tries to kiss her. Shirin later tells him that they are cousins and she cannot marry him because she doesn't love him.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Itzik Cohen. He has been divorced twice, and lives by himself. He has five kids, with the youngest son being named Nadav, and has another son named Yiftah. Gabi's favorite time is, every year, when his family goes to the desert on vacation, and he has no mode of communication with those who are not with him.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Yuval Segal, commander of Doron's former unit, who pulled him back in. He is romantically involved with Nurit. Following the issues which followed Boaz's capture, Moreno met with Gideon Avital in order to tell him his futures plans for the unit, only to be told he was being let go, with the unit being disbanded. Moreno ultimately blackmails Avital into giving him his unit back, or else he will reveal to the press that the two of them had shot five prisoners in the head in Gaza years ago.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Netta Garti. Gali is Doron's wife, and Boaz's older sister. She is very unhappy with their life and wishes she could move outside of Israel.


title: Fauda

text: Gali is having an affair with a member of Doron's unit, Naor, and says she is no longer in love with Doron. Her son eventually finds out about the affair while listening in on their phone conversation, and later sees them kissing on the couch from upstairs. Ido eventually pulls Naor's gun on him stating that his father is not there because of him. Gali later tells Doron that he stopped fighting for her years ago, and she was afraid of him.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Hanan Hillo. Nassrin is the wife of Taufiq, and her mother is Hafida. Nassrin grew up in Germany.


title: Fauda

text: Although she supports her husband's mission, she wishes she could have her family intact. After Abir was kidnapped and injured, Nassrin refuses to speak with Taufiq and demands that she go see her daughter in Israel, no matter what others will think.


title: Fauda

text: Nassrin ultimately decides she can no longer live this life, and tells Taufiq that once Abir leaves the hospital she is taking the kids with her back to Berlin. Following Abir's surgery, Gabi presents Nassrin their passports and tells her they have a taxi outside ready for them to go to the airport, where he will arrange for their travel to Berlin.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Tomer Kapon. Boaz is fluent in Arabic, and is a member of Doron's unit. As a cover he states he works with Arabs in the Ministry of Defense. He is Gali's younger brother.


title: Fauda

text: Although Boaz survives a bombing of the nightclub he frequents, his girlfriend, Daria, does not. Unable to cope with the loss of Daria, Boaz drunkly destroys his apartment, then gets arrested while driving his motorcycle, and then beats up the cop. Following this Boaz has trouble maintaining his temper and coping with day-to-day life, and always wears her necklace.


title: Fauda

text: Although Doron wants to keep Boaz out of the field while he recovers, Moreno insists he returns to the field, where he ultimately gets captured on his first mission back. While being questioned by Walid, Boaz states his name is Mohammad Abu Snina from Surda, and works for the Intelligence Agency, and provides documentation to support his story. When questioned by Taufiq, Boaz is able to convince him that his story is legitimate but is ultimately discovered when Taufiq recognized his tattoo as the man who shot Bashir. While captured, following surgery, Taufiq tells Boaz he took his kidney in order to give it to Ali Karmi's daughter, only to later find out they really implanted a bomb. Despite Doron's best efforts Taufiq eventually gives the order to explode the bomb inside Boaz, killing him.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Tzachi Halevy. Naor is a member of Doron unit. He has been having an affair with Doron's wife for over a year. When Gali mentions she is ready to leave Doron for him, he tells her to wait, because its complicated with Doron back in the unit. Following the issues which followed Boaz's capture, Moreno intended to make Naor team leader, before Moreno was also told the unit would be disbanded.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Rona-Lee Shimon, is the sole female member of Doron's unit. She is romantically involved with Moreno.


title: Fauda

text: Although her role always kept her behind the scenes, she wished to move into the field, and actively trains for the eventuality. When she finally gets her chance, she is assigned to enter the women's locker room in order to clone Shirin's phone, and although nervous keeps composed whenever she is watched. During her second opportunity in the field, when an Arab woman attempts to stab her, she shoots her in the arm; when the woman attempts to stab her with her other arm, Nurit is forced to shoot her again, this time fatally.


title: Fauda

text: Although Nurit takes part in the mission to kidnap Sheikh Awadalla, she is shown emotionally crying while he is being tortured. Following the issues which followed Boaz's capture, Moreno informed Steve and Avihai that he was being discharged, then told Nurit that he felt she was forced into going and therefore he wanted to keep her on, before Moreno was later told the unit was being disbanded.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Boaz Konforty. Avihai is a member of Doron's unit, he has a wife and one son (Guy). Avihai considers himself like an attack dog, where he needs to always be ready to jump right into action, without thinking about the emotion. Following the issues which followed Boaz's capture, Moreno informed Avihai that he was being discharged, before Moreno was also told the unit would be disbanded.


title: Fauda

text: Portrayed by Doron Ben-David. Steve is a member of Doron's unit. Although he goes by Steve, his birth name is Hertzel. Steve has a crush on Nurit, and attempts to kiss her while staking out Abir. Following the issues which followed Boaz's capture, Moreno informed Steve that he was being discharged, before Moreno was told the unit would be disbanded. Steve later brings Doron to Boaz's grave, where he cries while reciting Kaddish.


title: Fauda

text: In the summer of 2016, the satellite network yes officially picked up season 2 of the show, stating it will focus more on real world events. During the fall of 2017 the initial trailer was released, and the official premier date was later announced to be 31 December. A few weeks prior to the airing of season 2, "Fauda" was renewed for a third season, to air in 2019.


title: Fauda

text: The series is distributed by the online streaming service Netflix, billed as a Netflix original program, and premiered on 2 December 2016. Season 2 was added to Netflix in May 2018.


title: Fauda

text: In 2016, the show took six awards, including Best Drama Series, at the Israeli Academy Awards. In December 2017, "The New York Times" voted "Fauda" among the best international shows of 2017. In 2018, the show took 11 Israeli TV Academy Awards, including best TV drama, best actor for Lior Raz and also best screenplay, casting, cinematography, recording, special effects and in other categories.


title: Fauda

text: The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes indicated that 100% of reviews were favourable for all three seasons.


title: Fauda

text: Rachel Shabi, writing in "The Guardian", criticised the show for its politics and its "relentless machismo". According to Yasmeen Serhan of "The Atlantic", "Viewers who are hungry for a Palestinian perspective on the conflict would do well to urge Netflix to commission a Palestinian-created series, because "Fauda" will probably prove a disappointment." George Zeidan of Right to Movement Palestine, was more strident; in "Haaretz", he wrote "The Middle East is already bursting with disinformation, insinuations and dangerous propaganda: there's no need for yet more. Fauda can do better". An article by Yara Hawari in Al Jazeera about the "latest surge of programmes focusing on Israel and trying to show it as a force for good" gave the opinion that "although not as crude as classic Orientalist cinema and TV, these programmes are no less racist and perhaps even more dangerous in their subtlety and slick presentation." Reviewers have described it as "shooting and crying."


title: Fauda

text: In November 2019, content studio Applause Entertainment (promoted by Aditya Birla Group) announced that there will be an Indian remake of Fauda, which will highlight the complicated relationship between India and Pakistan. Tanaav, the Indian remake of Fauda, premiered on SonyLIV on 11 November 2022.


title: John Paul Jones

text: John Paul Jones (born John Paul; July 6, 1747 July 18, 1792) was a Scottish-American naval captain who was the United States' first well-known naval commander in the American Revolutionary War. He made many friends among U.S political elites (including John Hancock and Benjamin Franklin) as well as enemies (who accused him of piracy), and his actions in British waters during the Revolution earned him an international reputation that persists to this day. As such, he is sometimes referred to as the "Father of the American Navy" (a nickname he shares with John Barry and John Adams).


title: John Paul Jones

text: Jones was born and raised in Scotland, became a sailor at the age of thirteen, and served as commander of several merchantmen. After having killed one of his mutinous crew members with a sword, he fled to the Colony of Virginia and around 1775 joined the newly founded Continental Navy in their fight against the Kingdom of Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War. He commanded U.S. Navy ships stationed in France, led one failed assault on Britain, and several attacks on British merchant ships. Left without a command in 1787, he joined the Imperial Russian Navy and obtained the rank of rear admiral.


title: John Paul Jones

text: John Paul (he added "Jones" later in life) was born on the estate of Arbigland near Kirkbean in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright on the southwest coast of Scotland. His parents married on November 29, 1733, in New Abbey, Kirkcudbrightshire.


title: John Paul Jones

text: John Paul started his maritime career at age 13, sailing out of Whitehaven in the northern English county of Cumberland as apprentice aboard "Friendship" under Captain Benson. Paul's older brother William Paul had married and settled in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Virginia was the destination of many of the younger Paul's voyages.


title: John Paul Jones

text: For several years, Paul sailed aboard a number of merchant and slave ships, including "King George" in 1764 as third mate and "Two Friends" as first mate in 1766. In 1768, he abandoned his prestigious position on the profitable "Two Friends" while docked in Jamaica. He found his own passage back to Scotland and eventually obtained another position.


title: John Paul Jones

text: John Paul's career was quickly and unexpectedly advanced during his next voyage aboard the brig "John", which sailed from port in 1768, when both the captain and a ranking mate suddenly died of yellow fever. Paul managed to navigate the ship back to a safe port, and in reward for this feat the vessel's grateful Scottish owners made him master of the ship and its crew, giving him ten percent of the cargo. He led two voyages to the West Indies before running into difficulty.


title: John Paul Jones

text: During his second voyage in 1770, John Paul had one of his crew flogged after trying to start a mutiny about early payment of wages, leading to accusations that his discipline was "unnecessarily cruel". These claims were initially dismissed, but his favorable reputation was destroyed when the sailor died a few weeks later. John Paul was arrested for his involvement in the man's death. He was imprisoned in Kirkcudbright Tolbooth but later released on bail. The negative effect of this episode on his reputation is indisputable. The local governor encouraged John Paul to leave the area and change his name while on bail. The man who died of his injuries was not a usual sailor but an adventurer from a very influential Scottish family.


title: John Paul Jones

text: Leaving Scotland, John Paul commanded a London-registered vessel named "Betsy", a West Indiaman mounting 22 guns, engaging in commercial speculation in Tobago for about 18 months. This came to an end, however, when he killed a mutinous crew member with a sword in a dispute over wages. Years later, in a letter to Benjamin Franklin describing the incident, John Paul claimed that the killing was committed in self-defense, but he was not willing to be tried in an Admiral's Court, where the family of his first victim had been influential.


title: John Paul Jones

text: He felt compelled to flee to Fredericksburg, Virginia, leaving his fortune behind; he also sought to arrange the affairs of his brother, who had died there without leaving any immediate family. About this time, John Paul assumed the surname of Jones (in addition to his original surname). There is a long-held tradition in the state of North Carolina that John Paul adopted the name "Jones" in honor of Willie Jones of Halifax, North Carolina.


title: John Paul Jones

text: From that period, America became "the country of his fond election", as he afterwards expressed himself to Baron Joan Derk van der Capellen tot den Pol. It was not long afterward that John Paul Jones joined the American navy to fight against Britain.


title: John Paul Jones

text: Sources struggle with this period of Jones's life, especially the specifics of his family situation, making it difficult to pinpoint historically Jones's motivations for emigrating to America. It is not known whether his plans were not developing as expected for the plantation or if he was inspired by a revolutionary spirit. It is known that he was elected to the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia in 1774.


title: John Paul Jones

text: Jones left for Philadelphia shortly after settling in North America to volunteer his services around 1775 to the newly founded Continental Navy, precursor to the United States Navy. During this time, the Navy and Marines were being formally established, and suitable ship's officers and captains were in great demand. Jones's potential would likely have gone unrecognized were it not for the endorsement of Richard Henry Lee, who knew of his abilities. With help from influential members of the Continental Congress, Jones was appointed as a 1st Lieutenant of the newly converted 24-gun frigate in the Continental Navy on December 7, 1775.


title: John Paul Jones

text: Jones sailed from the Delaware River in February 1776 aboard "Alfred" on the Continental Navy's maiden cruise. It was aboard this vessel that Jones took the honour of hoisting the first U.S. ensign—the Grand Union Flag—over a naval vessel.


title: John Paul Jones

text: The fleet had been expected to cruise along the coast but was ordered instead by Commodore Esek Hopkins to sail for The Bahamas, where Nassau was raided for military supplies. The fleet had an unsuccessful encounter with a British packet ship on their return voyage. Jones was then assigned command of the sloop . Congress had recently ordered the construction of thirteen frigates for the American Navy, one of which was to be commanded by Jones. In exchange for this prestigious command, Jones accepted his commission aboard the smaller "Providence". Over the summer of 1776 as commander of "Providence", Jones performed various services for the Continental Navy and Congress. These services included the transport of troops, the movement of supplies, and the escort of convoys. During this time, Jones was able to assist a 'brig from Hispaniola' that was being chased by HMS "Cerberus" and laden with military stores. The brig was then purchased by Congress and put in commission as with Captain Hoysted Hacker commanding. During a later six-week voyage to Nova Scotia, Jones captured sixteen prizes and inflicted significant damage in the Raid on Canso.


title: John Paul Jones

text: Jones's next command came as a result of Commodore Hopkins's orders to liberate hundreds of American prisoners forced to labour in coal mines in Nova Scotia, and also to raid British shipping. On November 1, 1776, Jones set sail in command of "Alfred" to carry out this mission. Winter conditions prevented freeing the prisoners, but the mission did result in the capture of "Mellish", a vessel carrying a vital supply of winter clothing intended for General John Burgoyne's troops in Canada.


title: John Paul Jones

text: Despite his successes at sea, Jones' disagreements with those in authority reached a new level upon arrival in Boston on December 16, 1776. While at the port, he began feuding with Commodore Hopkins, as Jones believed that Hopkins was hindering his advancement by talking down his campaign plans. As a result of this and other frustrations, Jones was assigned the smaller command of the newly constructed on June 14, 1777, the same day that the new Stars and Stripes flag was adopted.