title: Isabella of Valois

text: In 1396 negotiations started about marrying six-year-old Isabella to the widower Richard II, King of England (1367–1400), who was twenty-three years her senior, to ensure peace between their countries. The fact that she was a child was discussed, but King Richard said that each day would rectify that problem; that it was an advantage as he would then be able to shape her in accordance with his ideal; and that he was young enough to wait. Isabella told the English envoys (who described her as pretty) that she was happy to be Queen of England as she had been told that this would make her a great lady. She also started practising for the role.


title: Isabella of Valois

text: King Richard travelled to Paris for his bride, where great festivities where held. Then, the court and the English guests went to Calais where the wedding ceremony was performed on 31 October 1396, but would not be consummated at least until the bride's twelfth birthday.


title: Isabella of Valois

text: After the wedding Isabella went to England with her new husband, where she was moved into Windsor Castle in Berkshire. She had her own court, supervised by a governess and chief lady-in-waiting, Lady de Coucy (later replaced by Lady Mortimer). She was crowned Queen of England in Westminster Abbey in 1397. Although their union was an arranged political marriage, and in spite of the age difference, Isabella and Richard developed a mutually respectful relationship. The king regularly visited her in Windsor, where he treated her with respect and entertained her and her ladies-in-waiting with humorous conversation. Isabella reportedly enjoyed and looked forward to these visits.


title: Isabella of Valois

text: By May 1399 the Queen had been moved to Portchester Castle for protection while Richard went on a military campaign in Ireland. In June, Isabella's uncle, Louis I, Duke of Orléans (1372–1407) took power in France from her mentally troubled father. He decided that a peaceful relationship with France was no longer important or desirable, and let Henry Bolingbroke (1367–1413), Richard's cousin and rival, return to England. Henry's declared goal was to regain the lands of his father, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (1340–1399) who had died in February of that year, prompting King Richard to cancel the act by which Henry would have inherited his lands automatically.


title: Isabella of Valois

text: Many of England's lords supported Henry, who started a military campaign and took the country without much resistance, taking advantage of Richard being in Ireland. Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, Keeper of the Realm and an uncle of both Richard and Henry, eventually also sided with the rebels. He moved Isabella first to Wallingford Castle, then to Leeds Castle. On 19 August, Richard surrendered, and he was imprisoned in London on 1 September. On 13 October 1399, Henry was crowned king. Isabella was moved into Sonning Bishop's Palace (residence of the Bishop of Salisbury) and was placed under house arrest.


title: Isabella of Valois

text: On or around 14 February 1400 the deposed king died under mysterious circumstances, possibly of starvation. The French court requested that his widow be returned to France, but Henry IV wanted her to marry his son and heir, Henry of Monmouth (1386–1422). Isabella refused his demands and went into mourning for her late husband. In August 1401 she was finally allowed to return to France, but Henry IV kept her dowry, which she was supposed to get back if the marriage was never consummated. The same year, marriage negotiations were started for a match between Prince Henry and Catherine of Pomerania, Countess Palatine of Neumarkt, instead.


title: Isabella of Valois

text: In 1406, when the marriage negotiations between the prince of Wales and Catherine of Pomerania had been terminated, Henry IV repeated his suggestion that Isabella should marry his son, but was refused by the French court. In 1420, Henry's son married Isabella's sister, Catherine of Valois.


title: Isabella of Valois

text: On 29 June 1406 Isabella, aged 16, married her paternal cousin, Charles (1394–1465), aged 11, who became Duke of Orléans in 1407 following the assassination of his father. Isabella died in childbirth on 13 September 1409 at the age of 19. Her daughter, Joan of Valois (1409–1432) survived and married John II, Duke of Alençon (1409–1476) in 1424.


title: Isabella of Valois

text: Isabella was buried in Blois, in the Abbey of Saint Laumer of Blois, where her body was discovered in 1624, wrapped in bands of linen plated with mercury. Her remains were then transferred to the Couvent des Célestins (Convent of the Celestines) in Paris, the second most important burial site for French royalty, which was desecrated during the French Revolution.


title: Abbas–Mustan

text: Abbas–Mustan is an Indian filmmaking duo consisting of brothers Abbas Alibhai Burmawalla and Mustan Alibhai Burmawalla, known for directing stylish suspense, action and romantic thrillers in Bollywood with dark-lighted themes. The duo directed the Bollywood films "Khiladi", "Baazigar", "Soldier", "Ajnabee", "Baadshah", "Aitraaz", "Humraaz", "36 China Town", "Race", "Race 2" and comedian Kapil Sharma's debut movie "Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon".


title: Abbas–Mustan

text: Abbas Burmawalla, Mustan Burmawalla, and their brother Hussain Burmawalla are from Surat in Gujarat state. They began their career with Gujarati films. They joined Sultan Ahmed as assistant director who was directing the movie "Ganga Ki Saugandh" (1978). They later joined as assistant director with Govindbhai Patel to do several films. When Patel refused an opportunity to direct Gujarati film "Sajan Tara Sambharana" (1985), Abbas–Mustan received their first break to direct the movie, launching their career.


title: Abbas–Mustan

text: Their first Hindi movie as directors was "Agneekaal" in 1990. Since then, they have directed more than 14 Hindi movies. They eventually launched their own production house called "Burmawalla Partners".


title: Abbas–Mustan

text: Asian Academy of Film & Television honored both of them with the Life Membership of International Film And Television Club.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: Clostridium perfringens (formerly known as "C. welchii", or "Bacillus welchii") is a Gram-positive, rod-shaped, anaerobic, spore-forming pathogenic bacterium of the genus "Clostridium". "C. perfringens" is ever-present in nature and can be found as a normal component of decaying vegetation, marine sediment, the intestinal tract of humans and other vertebrates, insects, and soil. It has the shortest reported generation time of any organism at 6.3 minutes in thioglycolate medium.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: "Clostridium perfringens" is one of the most common causes of food poisoning in the United States, alongside norovirus, "Salmonella", "Campylobacter", and "Staphylococcus aureus". However, it can sometimes be ingested and cause no harm.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: Infections due to "C. perfringens" show evidence of tissue necrosis, bacteremia, emphysematous cholecystitis, and gas gangrene, also known as clostridial myonecrosis. The specific name "perfringens" is derived from the Latin "per" (meaning "through") and "frango" ("burst"), referring to the disruption of tissue that occurs during gas gangrene. The toxin involved in gas gangrene is α-toxin, which inserts into the plasma membrane of cells, producing gaps in the membrane that disrupt normal cellular function. "C. perfringens" can participate in polymicrobial anaerobic infections. It is commonly encountered in infections as a component of the normal flora. In this case, its role in disease is minor.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: The action of "C. perfringens" on dead bodies results in the production of tissue gas. It causes extremely accelerated decomposition, and cannot be stopped by normal embalming measures. These bacteria are resistant to the presence of formaldehyde in normal concentrations.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: "Clostridium perfringens" has a stable G+C content around 27–28% and average genome size of 3.5 Mb. Genomes of 56 "C. perfringens" strains have since been made available on NCBI genomes database for the scientific research community. Genomic research has revealed surprisingly high diversity in "C. perfringens" pangenome, with only 12.6% core genes, identified as the most divergent Gram-positive bacteria reported. Nevertheless, 16S rRNA regions in between "C. perfringens" strains are found to be highly conserved (sequence identity >99.1%).


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: Although they lack flagella, "C. perfringens" bacteria are able to glide across surfaces because their bodies are lined with filaments from end-to-end. The hypermotile variants such as SM101, are often found arising on the edges of colonies on agar plates. Video microscopy of their gliding movement suggests that they form long, thin filaments that allow them to move rapidly like bacteria with flagella. Genome sequencing was used to identify the cause(s) of the hypermotile phenotype and their direct derivatives. In comparing them, strains SM124 and SM127, hypermotile derivatives of strains SM101 and SM102, respectively, contained 10 and six nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) relative to their parent strains. Mutations in cell division genes is the common feature of the hypermotile strains.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: Food poisoning in humans is caused by type A strains able to produce the "CPE" (for "Clostridium perfringens" enterotoxin). The "CPE" is a polypeptide of 35.5 kDa that accumulates in the beginning of the sporulation and is excreted to the media when it lysates at the end of the sporulation. It is coded by the "cpe" gene, present in less than the 5% of the type A strains, and it can be located in the chromosome or in an external plasmid


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: In the United Kingdom and United States, "C. perfringens" bacteria are the third-most common cause of foodborne illness, with poorly prepared meat and poultry, or food properly prepared, but left to stand too long, the main culprits in harboring the bacterium. The "C. perfringens" enterotoxin (CPE) mediating the disease is heat-labile (inactivated at ). It can be detected in contaminated food (if not heated properly), and feces. Incubation time is between 6 and 24 (commonly 10–12) hours after ingestion of contaminated food.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: Since "C. perfringens" forms spores that can withstand cooking temperatures, if cooked food is left standing for long enough, germination can ensue and infective bacterial colonies develop. Symptoms typically include abdominal cramping, diarrhea, vomiting, and fever. The whole course usually resolves within 24 hours, but can last up to 2 weeks in older or infirm hosts.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: "Clostridium perfringens" poisoning can also lead to another disease known as enteritis necroticans or clostridial necrotizing enteritis, (also known as pigbel); this is caused by "C. perfringens" type C. This infection is often fatal. Large numbers of "C. perfringens" grow in the intestines, and secrete exotoxin. This exotoxin causes necrosis of the intestines, varying levels of hemorrhaging, and perforation of the intestine. Inflammation usually occurs in sections of the jejunum, midsection of the small intestine. This disease eventually leads to septic shock and death. This particular disease is rare in the United States; typically, it occurs in populations with a higher risk. Risk factors for enteritis necroticans include protein-deficient diet, unhygienic food preparation, sporadic feasts of meat (after long periods of a protein-deficient diet), diets containing large amounts of trypsin inhibitors (sweet potatoes), areas prone to infection of the parasite "Ascaris" (produces a trypsin inhibitor). This disease is contracted in populations living in New Guinea, parts of Africa, Central America, South America, and Asia.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: Many cases of "C. perfringens" food poisoning likely remain subclinical, as antibodies to the toxin are common among the population. This has led to the conclusion that most of the population has experienced food poisoning due to "C. perfringens".


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: Despite its potential dangers, "C. perfringens" is used as the leavening agent in salt-rising bread. The baking process is thought to reduce the bacterial contamination, precluding negative effects.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: "Clostridium perfringens" is the most common bacterial agent for gas gangrene. Some symptoms include blisters, tachycardia, swelling, and jaundice.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: A strain of "C. perfringens" might be implicated in multiple sclerosis (MS) nascent (Pattern III) lesions. Tests in mice found that a toxin made by a rare strain of "C. perfringens" caused MS-like damage in the brain, and earlier work had identified this strain of "C. perfringens" in a human with MS. MS patients were found to be 10 times more immune-reactive to the epsilon toxin than healthy people.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: "Clostridium perfringens" can be diagnosed by Nagler's reaction, in which the suspect organism is cultured on an egg yolk media plate. One side of the plate contains anti-alpha-toxin, while the other side does not. A streak of suspect organism is placed through both sides. An area of turbidity will form around the side that does not have the anti-alpha-toxin, indicating uninhibited lecithinase activity. In addition, laboratories can diagnose the bacteria by determining the number of bacteria in the feces. Within the 48 hours from when the disease began, if the individual has more than 10 spores of the bacteria per gram of stool, then the illness is diagnosed as "C. perfringens" food poisoning.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: Other tests/reactions: Catalase: Negative, Spot indole: Negative, Lecithinase: Positive, Lipase: Negative, Litmus Milk: Stormy Fermentation, Reverse CAMP plate: Positive, Gas Liquid Chromatography products: (Acetic, Butyric and Lactic Acids).


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: Typically, the symptoms of "C. perfringens" poisoning are used to diagnose it. However, diagnosis can be made using a stool culture test, in which the feces are tested for toxins produced by the bacteria.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: The growth of "C. perfringens" spores can be prevented by most importantly cooking food, especially beef and poultry, thoroughly, to the recommended temperatures. Leftover food should be refrigerated to a temperature below within two hours of preparation. Large pots of food such as soup or stew with meats should be divided into small quantities and covered for refrigeration. Leftovers should be reheated to at least before serving. A rule of thumb is that if the food tastes, smells, or looks different from what it is supposed to, then the food should be avoided. Even if it looks safe, a food that has been out for a long time can also be dangerous to eat.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: The most important aspect of treatment is prompt and extensive surgical debridement of the involved area and excision of all devitalized tissue, in which the organisms are prone to grow. Administration of antimicrobial drugs, particularly penicillin, is begun at the same time. "Clostridium perfringens" is more often susceptible to vancomycin compared to other pathogenic Clostridia. Hyperbaric oxygen may be of help in the medical management of clostridial tissue infections. It is said to “detoxify” patients rapidly.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: "Clostridium perfringens" is a leading cause of food poisoning in the United States and Canada. Contaminated meats in stews, soups, and gravies are usually responsible for outbreaks and cause about 250,000 cases of foodborne illnesses in the United States every year. Deaths due to the disease are rare and mostly occur in elderly and people who are predisposed to the disease. From 1998–2010, 289 confirmed outbreaks of "C. perfringens" illness were reported with 15,208 illnesses, 82 hospitalizations, and eight deaths.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: In human post-mortem bodies "C. perfringens" can cause extremely accelerated decomposition. The by-product, called tissue gas, is slowed or halted by embalming the body using special additive chemicals. It most commonly occurs in the bodies of people who have died of gangrene, large decubitus ulcers, necrotising fasciitis or who have had soil, faeces or water forced into wounds.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: On May 7, 2010, 42 residents and 12 staff members at a Louisiana (USA) state psychiatric hospital were affected experienced vomiting, abdominal cramps, and diarrhea". Three patients died within 24 hours. The outbreak was linked to chicken which was cooked a day before it was served and was not cooled down according to hospital guidelines. The outbreak affected 31% of the residents of the hospital and 69% of the staff who ate the chicken. How many of the affected residents ate the chicken is unknown.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: In May 2011, a man died after allegedly eating food contaminated with the bacteria on a transatlantic American Airlines flight. The man's wife and daughter were suing American and LSG Sky Chefs, the German company that prepared the inflight food.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: In December 2012, a 46-year-old woman died two days after eating a Christmas Day meal at a pub in Hornchurch, Essex, England. She was among about 30 people to fall ill after eating the meal. Samples taken from the victims contained "C. perfringens". The hotel manager and the cook were jailed for offences arising from the incident.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: In December 2014, 87-year-old Bessie Scott died 3 days after eating a church potluck supper in Nackawic, New Brunswick, Canada. Over 30 other people reported signs of gastrointestinal illness, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. The province's acting chief medical officer says, "Clostridium perfringens" is the bacteria [sic] that most likely caused the woman's death.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: In October 2016, 66-year-old Alex Zdravich died four days after eating an enchilada, burrito, and taco at Agave Azul in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States. Three others who dined the same day reported signs of foodborne illness, which were consistent with the symptoms and rapid onset of "C. perfringens" infection. They later tested positive for the presence of the bacteria, but the leftover food brought home by Zdravich tested negative.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: In November 2016, food contaminated with "C. perfringens" caused three individuals to die, and another 22 to be sickened, after a Thanksgiving luncheon hosted by a church in Antioch, California, United States.


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: In January 2017, a mother and her son sued a restaurant in Rochester, New York, United States as they and 260 other people were sickened after eating foods contaminated with "C. perfringens". "Officials from the Monroe County Department of Public Health closed down the Golden Ponds after more than a fourth of its Thanksgiving Day guests became ill. An inspection revealed a walk-in refrigerator with food spills and mold, a damaged gasket preventing the door from closing, and mildew growing inside."


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: In July 2018, 647 people reported symptoms after eating at a Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant in Powell, Ohio, United States. Stool samples tested by the CDC tested positive for "C. perfringens".


title: Clostridium perfringens

text: In November 2018, approximately 300 people in Concord, North Carolina, United States were sickened by food at a church barbecue that tested positive for "C. perfringens".


title: Annihilator (band)

text: Annihilator is a Canadian thrash metal band founded in Ottawa in 1984. It is the highest-selling Canadian thrash metal group in history, having sold more than three million albums worldwide, although most sales have been generated outside of Canada. Along with Sacrifice, Voivod and Razor, Annihilator is known as one of the "big four" of Canadian thrash metal. They are also considered to be part of the "second wave" of thrash metal bands from the late 1980s and early 1990s.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: Annihilator has released seventeen studio albums and undergone many line-up changes. Waters is the only remaining original member, and assembles touring or session musicians to perform with him. Annihilator's first two studio albums, "Alice in Hell" (1989) and "Never, Neverland" (1990), are considered to be influential Canadian heavy metal records. Many of their later albums — including their third, and only major-label album "Set the World on Fire" (1993) — also received praise from critics, and enjoyed success in Europe and Japan. Their most recent studio album of original material, "Ballistic, Sadistic", was released in 2020.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: Annihilator was formed in Ottawa, Ontario, by Jeff Waters and guitarist John Bates. Waters said he named the band after the tank that Eddie Murphy's character rode on in the 1984 film "Best Defense". Waters and Bates wrote and recorded the song "Annihilator" (not to be confused with the song of the same name released on the 1994 album, "King of the Kill"). This original version of "Annihilator" was released on the special edition of the 2005 album "Schizo Deluxe".


title: Annihilator (band)

text: Waters and Bates then recruited drummer Paul Malek and bassist Dave Scott. In 1985, the band produced a demo titled "Welcome To Your Death". Bates and Scott left the band before its release, citing "artistic differences" and "personality conflicts". In 1986, Waters and Malek recorded another demo, "Phantasmagoria". A third demo, "Wicked Mystic" / "Word Salad" was recorded by Waters and Malek in 1987 and sent only to labels. Waters then moved to Vancouver, where he assembled an entire line-up, including drummer Ray Hartmann and former D.O.A. bassist Randy Rampage on vocals. In 1988 and 1989, Waters recorded guitar and bass tracks and produced what would become the band's debut album. Once the album was finished, he hired bassist Wayne Darley and guitarist Anthony Greenham.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: In 1988, Annihilator was signed to Roadrunner Records and released their debut album, "Alice in Hell", in April of the following year. The band embarked on their first world tour, opening up for Onslaught in Europe on their "In Search of Sanity" tour, and along with Wrathchild America, they supported Testament in the United States and Canada on the latter's "Practice What You Preach" tour. The band also opened for Exodus and Metal Church. After the tour to support "Alice in Hell" ended in December 1989, frontman Randy Rampage left Annihilator to retain his seniority at a job on the shipping docks in North Vancouver.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: Rampage was replaced by former Omen singer Coburn Pharr and the band released their second album, "Never, Neverland", in 1990. The album's sales surpassed "Alice in Hell", becoming the band's only album to chart in the UK, peaking at No. 48. Annihilator spent half a year touring with such bands as Reverend, Pantera and Xentrix, and opened for Judas Priest on the latter's "Painkiller" tour in Europe. After the "Never, Neverland" tour ended in the spring of 1991, Hartmann and Pharr left the band and were replaced by Mike Mangini (though the band would find a more permanent replacement in Randy Black) and Aaron Randall, respectively.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: The band's third studio album, "Set the World on Fire", distributed by Epic Records, was released in 1993 and was successful in Europe and Asia, but did poorly in the United States. It saw Annihilator drastically change the sound of their music, toning down the speed and thrash elements of its predecessors in favour of a more radio-friendly sound. Bassist Wayne Darley had to leave the band in August 1993 as he was unable to enter Japan, where the band was touring in support of the album. The band embarked on extensive tours to promote "Set the World on Fire", touring in Europe with Coroner and in North America with Lillian Axe, and appearing at the Dynamo Open Air festival in the Netherlands. Also in 1993, Annihilator was dropped by the surging Roadrunner Records.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: Annihilator temporarily dissolved, but Waters kept the band name going when he, along with drummer Randy Black, recorded and released 1994's "King of the Kill". Black played the drums; Waters wrote the songs (the title track and a few others with John Bates) and played the rest of the instruments. This album was an improvement from "Set the World on Fire", as it returned to the thrashier sound of the early albums, and leaned towards a groove-oriented vein. Bassist Cam Dixon then joined the band, followed by Lou Bujdoso from Meatwagon. In 1997, the band released "Refresh the Demon", which was, for the most part, a return to the speed and technicality of the band's earlier days.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: That was followed, in the same year, by "Remains", a more industrial metal-oriented album. Waters is the only musician on the album (he used a drum machine); by this time, he was the sole band member.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: Inspired after seeing Slayer perform in Vancouver in the summer of 1998, Waters decided to reunite the "Alice in Hell" line-up to record another album. All members apart from Wayne Darley, who had health problems, agreed to reunite. Bassist Russ Bergquist joined the band in Darley's place. This line-up released "Criteria for a Black Widow" and toured successfully. However, Rampage was fired following the tour for his erratic and often drunken behaviour. Then-Overkill guitarist and former Liege Lord frontman Joe Comeau requested to replace him during the tour, while Curran Murphy replaced Davis on guitar and Randy Black rejoined on drums.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: During the early 2000s, Annihilator released the albums "Carnival Diablos" (2001) and "Waking the Fury" (2002), both very critically successful. After considerable success, the band's line-up once again dissolved.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: Following years of line-up changes, Jeff Waters decided to work with a touring-only line-up so he recruited Dave Padden as a permanent vocalist/rhythm guitarist, while Waters recruited touring bassists and drummers. Annihilator's first two albums in this three-man band format as Waters played both bass and guitar, with Padden on vocals and a hired drummer were "All for You" (2004) and "Schizo Deluxe" (2005). Mike Mangini rejoined for the former album in 2004 and Tony Chappelle was hired for the latter's recording in 2005.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: In 2007, Annihilator released their twelfth album "Metal". It features several guest performers, such as Corey Beaulieu (Trivium), Willie Adler (Lamb of God) and Jeff Loomis (Nevermore). The band's self-titled thirteenth album was released in 2010, coming to be in a more modern thrash metal-styled sound.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: Annihilator returned to Canada for two live shows, making it the first time since 1993 that the band had played live in North America. On July 10, 2011, Annihilator headlined the Quebec City Imperial Theatre to a sold-out crowd. They played the main stage (along with KISS and Motörhead) on July 24, 2011 at Montreal's Heavy MTL Festival.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: In the summer of 2014, Oscar Rangel replaced Al Campuzano, their bassist since 2010. Jeff Waters said on his Facebook that he had actually contacted Wayne Darley, the band's bassist from the classic early 1990s line-up, about having him rejoin, although once again he declined, in Jeff's words "Wayne wanted to do it but couldn't ... personal reasons." The band has continued their touring cycle since then.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: Dave Padden left the band sometime in December 2014 via a phone call to Jeff Waters, informing him of his desire to step away from the constant touring in order to spend more time with his family. Waters unsuccessfully attempted to persuade Padden to remain in the band, offering him a pay rise. He later admitted in a German radio interview to being emotionally shaken by the departure. After a number of weeks searching for a replacement vocalist, Waters decided that he would handle vocals himself once again, in addition to doing everything but play drums in the studio. Padden's departure was not made public until six months later, in June 2015, when Waters made an announcement on Annihilator's Facebook page, but attaching a YouTube link directly below of audio snippets from various songs on the band's then-upcoming album, "Suicide Society".


title: Annihilator (band)

text: "Never, Neverland" singer, Coburn Pharr surprised audiences when he returned for a short time on 70000 Tons of Metal concert in January 2015. Pharr performed the songs Reduced to Ash, The Fun Palace, I Am In Command, Road to Ruin and Stonewall.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: By April 2015, Annihilator had begun work on their fifteenth studio album. Waters stated that the album's musical direction would be "something quite different." The album, titled "Suicide Society", was released on September 18, 2015.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: Drummer Mike Harshaw announced via his Facebook page in May 2016 that he had parted ways with Annihilator amicably after four years in order to spend more time with his family as well as to pursue other musical interests as he continued work with his own band, Prismind. Fabio Alessandrini joined Annihilator shortly thereafter.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: In September 2016, Annihilator played Calgary Metalfest alongside fellow Canadian speed/thrash metal pioneers Exciter, Razor, Sacrifice and a local band Gatekrashör.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: In late November 2016, the band announced a compilation album, entitled "Triple Threat", which was released through UDR Records on January 27, 2017. The album consists of three discs, including one containing Annihilator's Jeff Waters, Aaron Homma, and Rich Gray (formerly Hinks) along with other artists playing an acoustic set of the band's most well-known ballads and acoustic songs, all done in single takes. The second and third discs were released as Blu-ray DVDs, one containing Annihilator's full set at Bang Your Head Festival in Germany, and the other containing a documentary profiling the band's extensive career.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: By the end of 2016, Annihilator had begun working on their sixteenth studio album. Waters stated, "On the next one, the changes I'm gonna make… I only said two things. I've got all these people telling me, 'You've gotta go back to this album,' or that album, or that album, or that album. 'You've gotta do this,' 'You've gotta do that.' So what I do is I block it out. But I've decided that I'm going to not worry about catchy, commercial choruses — 'commercial,' as in you remember it, where you intentionally make that chorus the most important part of the song and you want people to remember that one every time. That kind of is the opposite of what I used to do in the earlier days. In the earlier days, I would go, 'I don't care about the chorus being the main part; I want the whole song to be cool.' So therefore the choruses were not as commercial or catchy. And they remained heavy back then; the choruses would end up being heavy. Whereas on my "Suicide Society" record I just did, you could have a heavy song, but then you hit the chorus and you go, 'Woah, that's pretty mainstream stuff in the choruses.' And the other thing was, since I'm such a fan of so many bands, I let myself go a little bit on the last album with being too blatantly obvious with my influences and my musical loves as a fan. So you really heard a song that had a lot of the "Master of Puppets" era of music from Metallica, and you really heard a Megadeth-y song on there, and you really heard in my vocals some Hetfield and Mustaine-isms. And I think that was great, as a fan, to get it out, but I think I need to do more of my own thing on the next record."


title: Annihilator (band)

text: In February 2017, Jeff Waters said that the sixteenth Annihilator studio album was being co-produced and co-engineered by bassist Rich Gray, making it the "first time I've actually had somebody else in the studio since 1990 ("Never, Neverland") working with me on stuff." On September 12, 2017, it was announced that the album, now titled "For the Demented", would be released on November 3; more details on the album, including track listing and artwork, and the music video for "Twisted Lobotomy" were released on the same day. In support of "For the Demented", Annihilator (along with Death Angel) opened for Testament on the European "Brotherhood of the Snake" tour, which took place in November and December 2017. The band toured Europe twice in 2018; first with Testament and Vader in March and April, and toured there again from October to December.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: On August 14, 2018, former Annihilator vocalist Randy Rampage (who sang on the albums "Alice in Hell" and "Criteria for a Black Widow") died of an apparent heart attack, at the age of 58.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: In September 2018, Waters reported that Annihilator would release their seventeenth studio album in 2019. He later confirmed that it would be released in January 2020. On October 10, 2019, Annihilator released "I Am Warfare" as the lead single of the album, now titled "Ballistic, Sadistic", which was released on January 24, 2020.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: In 2019, Waters got married and moved to England. He is currently writing new material for the next Annihilator album. The band released "Metal II", a near complete re-recording of their 2007 album "Metal", on February 18, 2022, which serves as a tribute to Eddie Van Halen and Alexi Laiho, the latter of whom appears posthumously on one of the album's re-recorded tracks "Downright Dominate", which also features Dave Lombardo on drums and Stu Block on vocals. In January 2022, Jeff Waters announced that he would be once again stepping down as lead vocalist and focusing solely on lead guitar while Stu Block would handle lead vocals on the band's future live shows.


title: Annihilator (band)

text: In a 2013 interview with Photogroupie.com, Waters acknowledged his influences, stating: "I started listening to Elton John, Kiss, Sweet, AC/DC then it evolved from hard rock with electric guitar to Black Sabbath and the heavier stuff, Judas Priest, Maiden, Loudness, Van Halen was coming in. Then I get turned on to the thrash stuff, so then it was Razor, Exciter... Those first albums were a huge influence on metal bands." Elsewhere in the interview, Waters talked about the impact Iron Maiden had on him and the band: "They're all great...but Bruce Dickinson is one brilliant, unique, gifted, talented person...the guy's a genius."


title: Judah Friedlander

text: Judah Friedlander (born March 16, 1969) is an American actor and comedian, known for playing the role of writer Frank Rossitano on the NBC sitcom "30 Rock". Friedlander is also known for his role as Toby Radloff in the film "American Splendor", a role that garnered him favorable reviews and a nomination for best supporting actor at the 2004 Independent Spirit Awards. Earlier in his career, he was recognized as "the hug guy" from the music video for the 2001 Dave Matthews Band single "Everyday".


title: Judah Friedlander

text: Friedlander is known for his distinctive look, which includes oversized glasses, shaggy hair, and a t-shirt and trucker hat (both often emblazoned with slogans such as "world champion"), and a generally unkempt appearance. It is a look he maintains as a stand-up comedian, during most of his public appearances, and which he has employed in some of his acting roles.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: Friedlander was born in Gaithersburg, Maryland, the son of Shirley and Art Friedlander. His father was of Russian Jewish descent and his mother, a native of Pittsburgh, is Croatian American.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: As a child, Friedlander drew political cartoons and made animated films. He first tried stand-up comedy in 1989 at the age of 19 while attending New York University. Friedlander graduated from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: Friedlander has performed stand-up comedy regularly throughout his entertainment career. He continued to perform stand-up several nights a week in New York City while working on the sitcom "30 Rock". Friedlander has stated that he is most relaxed when doing stand-up and that he considers stand-up to be his first true love, preferring it to acting. He stated in 2012 that stand-up comedy is "still the most important thing I do from an artistic standpoint."


title: Judah Friedlander

text: Friedlander has cited comedians Steven Wright, Sam Kinison and John Mulrooney as influences. He also says that Dave Attell is one of his favorite comics.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: Friedlander's comedic performances often feature him making outrageous and bombastic claims about himself with a deadpan delivery. Many of these claims are reflected in slogans displayed on the many trucker hats he wears — the most common being "World Champion", a slogan he has worn in various languages.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: One of his claims include being an expert in karate, having achieved an "extra-dark black belt" in the sport. In 2010, he authored the humor book "How to Beat Up Anybody: An Instructional and Inspirational Karate Book by the World Champion". Friedlander's claims provide comedic irony when contrasted against his nonchalant attitude and physical appearance. Friedlander wears large, thick-rimmed glasses, is often unshaven and is generally unkempt.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: The look that Friedlander employs during his stand-up has also carried over into some of his television and film roles, including his "30 Rock" role as TV writer Frank Rossitano. Frank is however much lazier than Friedlander's "World Champion" persona.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: Friedlander played the role of a techie on the Al Franken sitcom "LateLine" in 1999. Over the 2000s Friedlander held guest roles on several television shows, including "Spin City", "Curb Your Enthusiasm" and "Flight of the Conchords", as well as providing voices for characters on the animated series "Wonder Showzen" and "". Friedlander made regular appearances on the entertainment and pop-culture program "Best Week Ever". He appeared as the online co-host of the 2009 TV Land Awards, alongside main stage host Neil Patrick Harris.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: Friedlander was a regular cast member of the sitcom "30 Rock" throughout its entire run, from October 11, 2006, to January 31, 2013. His character, Frank Rossitano, is a sarcastic and wisecracking writer on the fictional show "TGS with Tracy Jordan" Frank is lazy, slovenly, and lives with his mother (played by Patti Lupone). He is also sex-obsessed, which he often reveals by way of vulgar and sexually suggestive comments. Friedlander has stated that Frank Rossitano is based on at least two writers with whom Tina Fey used to work at "Saturday Night Live". His ever-changing, slogan-bearing trucker hats also became a running gag on the show. Friedlander makes his hats himself and created enough of them to be able to wear a different one in each scene of "30 Rock", which is about three hats per show.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: Friedlander has appeared on late-night talk shows such as "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah", "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno", "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" and "Last Call with Carson Daly". In 2010 Friedlander appeared in 2 episodes of the children's series "Sesame Street". He also appeared as a panelist on "The Burn with Jeff Ross" in 2013.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: In May and June 2014, Friedlander narrated ESPN's "Inside: U.S. Soccer’s March to Brazil" six-part series in preparation for the World Cup in Brazil.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: He has appeared on MSNBC's "Last Word With Lawrence O'Donnell" and provided personal commentary on The World Cup and soccer in general.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: In 2001, Friedlander played "the hug guy" in the music video for the Dave Matthews Band single "Everyday"; his character is seen hugging various people throughout the video. Friedlander was recognized for his "hug guy" role for years after appearing in the video, causing complete strangers to offer him hugs. The same year, he appeared in the comedy film "Wet Hot American Summer".


title: Judah Friedlander

text: In 2003 Friedlander played Toby Radloff in the biopic "American Splendor", a role that received favorable reviews — his performance was deemed "unforgettable" by "The New York Times" and "pitch-perfect" by both Nick A. Zaino III of "The Boston Globe" and Dan Dinicola of "The Daily Gazette". He was also nominated in the category of best supporting actor at the 2004 Independent Spirit Awards.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: Friedlander had roles in the Ben Stiller films "Meet the Parents", "Zoolander" and "Along Came Polly".


title: Judah Friedlander

text: He had a starring role in the 2005 independent comedy "Full Grown Men" and a supporting role in the 2008 drama "The Wrestler".


title: Judah Friedlander

text: He has also appeared in films such as "Duane Hopwood", "Chapter 27", "Southern Belles", "Live Free or Die", and "Feast".


title: Judah Friedlander

text: Friedlander has lived in the New York City area for most of his career, with the exception of two years spent in Los Angeles. Currently residing in Queens, he has stated that he prefers living in New York.


title: Judah Friedlander

text: Friedlander enjoys playing table tennis. As a child, he had played the sport competitively, and he took it up again in 2008. He is a big fan of professional wrestling, which is often used as subject matter for his trademark hats and shirts. He is also a fan of the New York Red Bulls, has attended games at Red Bull Arena and appeared in commercials for the team.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: William "Spike" Pratt, played by James Marsters, is a fictional character created by Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt for the television series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel". Spike is a vampire and played various roles on the shows, including villain, anti-hero, trickster and romantic interest. For Marsters, the role as Spike began a career in science fiction television, becoming "the obvious go-to guy for US cult [television]." For creator Whedon, Spike is the "most fully developed" of his characters. The character was intended to be a brief villain, with Whedon originally adamant to not have another major "romantic vampire" character like Angel. Marsters says "Spike was supposed to be dirty and evil, punk rock, and then dead." However, the character ended up staying for the second season, and then returning in the fourth to replace Cordelia as "the character who told Buffy she was stupid and about to die."


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Within the series' narrative, William was an unsuccessful aspiring poet in the Victorian era who was mocked and called "William the Bloody" because of his "bloody awful" poetry. Sired by the vampire Drusilla (Juliet Landau), William became an unusually passionate and romantic vampire, being very violent and ready to battle, but not as cruel as his companions. Alongside Drusilla, Darla (Julie Benz) and Angelus (David Boreanaz), Giles thinks William acquired the nickname Spike for his preferred method of torturing people with railroad spikes, but it is revealed it is because his poetry was "so bad you could stick a railroad spike through your head." He was noted for killing two vampire Slayers; one in China in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion, the other was Nicki Wood in 1977 New York, where Spike acquired his trademark leather duster. During the second season of the series, Spike comes to Sunnydale hoping to kill a third Slayer, Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar), with whom he later forges an uneasy alliance. Over the course of "Buffy", Spike falls in love with the Slayer, reacquires his soul to prove himself to Buffy and dies a hero in the show's series finale. He is subsequently resurrected in the first episode of the fifth season of the spin-off series "Angel".


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Considered a 'breakout character', Spike proved immensely popular with fans of "Buffy". The character appears substantially in Expanded Universe materials such as comic books and tie-in novels. Following the cancellation of "Angel" in 2004, Whedon considered creating a "Spike" film spin-off. Canonically, the character appears in issues of the comic books "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight" (2007–11), "" (2007–09), "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Nine", "Angel & Faith" (both 2011–2013) and several "Spike" limited series, spinning off from both "Buffy" and "Angel". Currently the character is in the canonical comic "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eleven " (2016–2017) and in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Twelve" (2018).


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike's story before he appears in Sunnydale unfolds in flashbacks scattered, out of sequence, among numerous episodes of both "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel". The first flashback occurs in "Buffy" season 5's "Fool for Love", and reveals William as in fact a meek, young man of aristocratic background (and an aspiring poet) who lived in London with his mother, Anne. Anne would often sing the folksong "Early One Morning" to her son, right up until the time he was turned into a vampire. William's surname is given as "Pratt" in the non-canon comic "" and is written on the label of his jar of blood in the comic "" #002. This surname became official with the publication of the canon comic "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 11" #7, in which Buffy calls him by it. The name William Pratt may allude to horror actor Boris Karloff, whose birth name was William Henry Pratt, and can also be understood as the British slang term "prat", describing a person of arrogant stupidity.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike is one of the youngest recurring vampires on the show, though the evidence of his age is contradictory, as the concept of the character evolved over time. When he was introduced in "School Hard" (season 2), Giles read that he was "barely 200," implying that he was either born or sired in 1797 or slightly earlier. In "The Initiative" (season 4) he said he was 126, thus born or sired in 1874. Flashbacks in "Fool for Love" (season 5) show that Spike was sired as an adult in 1880. Assuming he was in his early to mid 20s when he was sired, Spike would be in his 140s during the series. In the comic "" #002, Spike's jar of blood has a label giving his assumed human birth date in 1853, about 27 years before he was sired.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: In 1880, William was a struggling poet, often mocked by his peers who called him "William the Bloody" behind his back because his poetry was so "bloody awful." The true origins of this nickname were not revealed until three years after it was first mentioned in season 2, when it was believed to have purely violent connotations. William showed a strong capacity for loyalty and devoted love, which remained after his siring. After his romantic overtures were rejected by the aristocratic Cecily, William wandered the streets despondently and bumped into Drusilla. She consoled him, drained him of blood and made him drink of her blood, thus transforming him into a vampire – "siring" him, in the jargon of the series. Spike's grand-sire, Angelus, became his mentor (leading Spike occasionally to describe him loosely as his sire): "Drusilla sired me, but you, you made me a monster." Whereas new vampires in the Buffyverse often delight in killing their families once they become evil, William was a notable exception. Having always been very close to his mother, he turned her into a vampire to save her from tuberculosis. But his mother, as a vampire, taunted William and insinuated he had always had a sexual fascination with her. William chose to stake her because he found he could not bear to see his mother behaving like the soulless vampire he had made of her. She, like most vampires, lacked his unusual capacity for some of the softer human emotions, like love and compassion.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: After staking his mother, William began a new life with Drusilla, to whom he was utterly devoted. Euphoric with his newfound vampiric abilities, he adopted the poses and trappings of a cultural rebel, affecting a working class East London accent and embracing impulsiveness and extreme violence. He adopted the nom de guerre "Spike" based on his habit of torturing people with railroad spikes – possibly prompted by criticism of his poetry: "I'd rather have a railroad spike through my head than listen to that awful stuff." In "The Weight of the World", Spike mentions having spent "the better part of a century" in delinquency, suggesting criminal activities other than killing for blood. In the company of Drusilla, Angelus, and Darla, Spike terrorized Europe and Asia for almost two decades. He had a strained relationship with Drusilla's sire Angelus, who continued a sexual relationship with her despite Spike's strong disapproval. Although Angelus did enjoy the company of another male vampire in their travels, he found Spike's recklessness and lust for battle to be unnecessary risks. Angelus regarded killing as an art, not a sport, and killed for the sheer act of evil; Spike did it for amusement and the rush.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: In 1894, Spike and Angelus developed a rivalry with the enigmatic Immortal, who later had Spike sent to prison for tax evasion. In 1900, Spike killed Xin Rong, a Chinese Slayer while in China during the Boxer Rebellion. In 1943, he was captured by Nazis for experimentation and taken aboard a submarine, where he was briefly reunited with Angel. By the 1950s, Spike had reunited with Drusilla, and they traveled to Italy. At some point, Spike also became rivals with the famous vampire Dracula. The enmity between Spike and Dracula was explored in the comic series "Spike vs. Dracula", in which their mutual hatred is caused when Spike, along with Darla and Drusilla, slaughtered the Romani (gypsy) tribe who had cursed their patriarch, Angelus, with a soul, although it is unclear if either Spike or Drusilla knew precisely why Darla was so angry with the tribe. That clan (unknown to Spike) was favored by Dracula and he sought revenge for their deaths. Spike later mentions in a conversation with Riley Finn, "Dracula? bugger owes me £11, for one thing," because Dracula tossed Spike's signed copy of Bram Stoker's "Dracula" in a fire in 1898. Spike also notes that Dracula's fame has done more damage to vampires than any Slayer, since it made their weaknesses more widely known. Spike attended Woodstock in 1969, whereupon he accidentally became high after ingesting the blood of a hippie, he claims to have spent the six hours following the incident "watching my hand move". In 1977, he fought and killed a second Slayer, Nikki Wood, aboard a subway train in New York City, taking from her a black leather duster which he wears throughout his appearances on "Buffy" and "Angel" until it is destroyed in an explosion in season 5 of "Angel", whereupon he gets a new one that looks exactly like the old one ("The Girl in Question"). At some point post-1977, Billy Idol allegedly "stole" Spike's look and made it famous as his own (as revealed in season 7’s "Sleeper"; see "Appearance" below); Spike's thoughts on this are unrecorded. Inasmuch as Buffy knew of the "theft" as of "Sleeper," Spike presumably shared the detail with her in an undepicted moment.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike first arrives in Sunnydale in season 2 of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", in the episode "School Hard", accompanied by Drusilla. Spike and Dru were modeled on Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen; punk, "badass" vampires to contrast sharply with the more ceremonial tradition of the Master and the Order of Aurelius from season 1. Spike is in fact a fan of Sid Vicious' band The Sex Pistols and punk band The Ramones. In the final scene of the episode "Lovers Walk", he can be seen singing to a cover of "My Way" by Gary Oldman, who portrayed Vicious in the film "Sid and Nancy". Spike's first act in Sunnydale is to attack Buffy and a large group of people at her school, making his first appearance the deadliest of any of "Buffy"s "Big Bads", as he very nearly kills Buffy, but Buffy's mother distracts Spike long enough for Buffy to recover. Throughout season 2, Spike and Dru are the canon's most prominent example of affection between vampires, displaying the humanity and intricacies of vampire relationships. Spike was initially conceived as a disposable villain to be killed off, but proved so popular with fans that Joss Whedon decided to merely injure him instead, in the episode "What's My Line, Part Two", in which Spike is crushed by a collapsing pipe organ and left paralyzed. (Later it is revealed that Spikes injuries have healed and that he has been deceiving everyone by remaining in his wheelchair feigning injury.)


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike and Drusilla are major enemies of Buffy for much of the second season. They arrive shortly after Drusilla is seriously weakened by an angry mob in Prague, as recounted in the canon comic book "The Problem with Vampires". Spike is a devoted caretaker to Drusilla in her weakened condition and initially hopes the Hellmouth's energy can help restore her strength. He reunites with Angel and seems genuinely pleased to see him, but is disgusted to find that Angel has a soul (whether or not Spike in fact knew that Angel's acquisition of a soul is why he left the group nearly a century before has never been made clear) and is in love with the current Slayer, Buffy Summers. When Angel loses his soul and rejoins Spike and Dru, Spike's initial celebration soon turns to resentment when Angelus starts pursuing Drusilla as a lover and taunting him. Spike decides to ally himself with Buffy against Angelus; as he explains to Buffy, in addition to wanting Drusilla back, he also wants to "save the world":


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike reappears in the season 3 episode "Lovers Walk", in a drunken depression after Drusilla, offended by his alliance with Buffy, dumps him for a Chaos demon. He kidnaps Willow and Xander, and forces Willow to conduct a love spell for him to make Drusilla love him again, even coercing Buffy and Angel to help him in exchange for the safe return of their friends. The excitement of a brawl with the Mayor's vampires helps him see that Drusilla left him because he had begun to go soft; he resolves to win her back by torturing her until she likes him again, and tells Buffy where to find Willow and Xander. He also tells Buffy and Angel that they can never be 'just friends' because of their love for one another. This insight foreshadows Spike's later role as the "truth-seer" of the group.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike returns to Sunnydale alone in season 4, in the episode "The Harsh Light of Day", briefly living with Harmony Kendall, a shallow former classmate of Buffy, now a vampire. He is in Sunnydale to look for the Gem of Amarra, a ring which makes a vampire effectively invulnerable. He finds it and attacks Buffy in daylight, but she wrests the ring from his finger and sends it to Angel. Spike goes to Los Angeles, and hires a vampire named Marcus to torture Angel in order to get the ring, but Marcus takes the ring himself and Angel finally destroys it.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: After being captured by the Initiative and implanted with a cerebral microchip which punishes him with debilitating pain whenever he harms or attempts to harm any non-demon life forms (he initially assumes it works the same with anything living), Spike turns to the Scooby Gang for protection, bartering his knowledge of the Initiative. (Though he still spars with Buffy, provided he has no real intent on harming her) His inability to bite is comically compared to impotence, much to Spike's constant humiliation; in "Doomed", he attempts to commit suicide by staking himself at Xander's house, but is stopped by Willow and Xander. Eventually, he inadvertently discovers that he can harm demons and enthusiastically joins a fight with this knowledge, showing that he's less concerned about what side he's fighting on than fighting for the thrill of it. Occasionally helping the Scooby Gang by providing them with information and/or combat assistance in exchange for cash or for the joy of fighting, but having no qualms about betraying them to such enemies as Faith and Adam. In season 4, Spike was introduced to fill the antagonistic role that Cordelia had in seasons 1 to 3; as Joss Whedon explains on the DVD featurette, "All of our characters got to the point where they were loving and hugging, and it was sort of like, where's Cordelia?" Spike appeared in every episode thereafter with the exception of "The Body".


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: In season 5, after some erotic dreams, Spike becomes aware to his horror that he has fallen in love with Buffy. He becomes a more active participant in the Scooby Gang, jumping into several of Buffy's fights to provide assistance, whether she wants it or not. When Buffy rejects his advances, Spike attempts to prove his love by kidnapping her so that she can witness him killing Drusilla for her, to little avail; in her disgust, Buffy un-invites him from her house (something she had not bothered to do in almost three years since their alliance against Angelus) and alienates him from the group.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike then has Warren Mears make a robot in Buffy's likeness, programmed to love and obey him. Though Buffy is disgusted by this, her hostility towards him fades considerably when she learns that Spike refused, even under intense torture, to reveal the identity of the Key to Glory, nearly laying down his life to protect Buffy's sister Dawn. Buffy is moved by this unexpected loyalty and kisses him, saying she will not forget what he has done. In the days and hours leading up to the final showdown with Glory, Spike fights by Buffy's side, earning her trust and a re-invitation to her house. Spike displays unabashed grief after Buffy dies in the showdown with Glory, Spike honors her memory by remaining loyal to the Scoobies, fighting at their side and serving the role of baby-sitter / older brother / protector to Dawn, helping Willow and Tara to raise her in Buffy's absence.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: After Buffy is resurrected at the beginning of season 6, she is despondent and detached from her friends. During this time, her relationship to Spike deepens and she is able to talk to him about things she feels she cannot share with the Scooby Gang. She gets drunk with Spike, and calls him "a neutered vampire who cheats at kitten poker." After a demon's spell makes them express their emotions in song, and Buffy sings "I want the fire back", Buffy and Spike begin a physical relationship, consummated two episodes later. The relationship is frequently violent, with Buffy most often initiating both the violence and the sex between them; the violence is made all the easier when Spike finds that (as a side effect of Willow's resurrection spell) his chip now does not stop him from harming Buffy. Buffy threatens to kill Spike if he ever tells anyone about their relationship. Both are unsatisfied; Buffy is ashamed of her dark desires, while Spike obsessively craves the love, trust, and affection that she is unwilling to give. In "As You Were", Buffy tells Spike she is using him and ends their relationship. Believing he still has a chance with Buffy after seeing her reactions of jealousy and hurt when he has a drunk sexual encounter with Anya, Spike corners her and makes aggressive sexual advances. When she refuses him, he grows desperate and attacks her, nearly raping her in the process—though Buffy manages to kick him off long enough for him to realize what he was about to do and stop himself. Simultaneously horrified by his actions and angry with his status as somewhere between man and monster, Spike leaves Sunnydale soon after. He makes his way to a remote area of Africa, where he seeks out a legendary demon shaman and undergoes the Demon Trials, a series of gruelling physical challenges, in return for a wish. Having proven his worthiness by surviving the trials, Spike is granted his wish, which is then revealed to be to have his soul restored.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: In season 7, a re-ensouled Spike must cope with the guilt of his past actions and try to win back Buffy's trust. But under influence of the First Evil's hypnotic trigger, Spike unknowingly starts killing again. Upon discovering what he has done, he begs Buffy to stake him, but she refuses and takes him into her house, telling him she has seen him change. Buffy guards and cares for Spike throughout his recovery, telling Spike she believes in him, a statement which later sustains him throughout his imprisonment and torture at the hands of the First. When Spike's chip begins to malfunction, causing him intense pain and threatening to kill him, Buffy trusts him enough to order the Initiative operatives to remove it from his head. When Nikki Wood's son Robin tries to kill Spike, he unwittingly frees Spike from his hypnotic trigger: the song "Early One Morning", a favorite of his mother, which evokes Spike's traumatic memories of his mother's abusive behavior toward him after she turned; after Spike is able to address these issues, he realizes his mother had always loved him, knowledge which frees him from the First's control.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Later in the season, Spike and Buffy achieve an emotional closeness; he alone stays loyal to her when the Scoobies and Potentials mutiny against her, and his words and encouragement give a depressed Buffy the strength to continue fighting. They spend three nights together, one of which Spike describes as the best night of his life, just holding her. It is unclear whether they resume their sexual intimacy during the third night; creator Joss Whedon says on the DVD commentary for "Chosen" that he intentionally left it to the viewers to decide how they felt the relationship progressed. In the final battle inside the Hellmouth, Spike, wearing a mystical amulet, sacrifices himself to destroy the Turok-Han and close the Hellmouth. He is slowly incinerated in the process, but not before Buffy tells him "I love you." He replies, "No, you don't; but thanks for saying it." Even as he burns and crumbles to dust, Spike laughs and revels in the destruction around him and the burning presence of his soul, glad to be able to see the fight to its end. In dying to save the world, he becomes a Champion.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike had previously appeared in the season 1 episode of "Angel" "In the Dark", Spike goes to Los Angeles at the same time as Oz arrives to give Angel the Gem of Amarra, Spike's objective was to get the ring and kill Angel. Oz gives Angel the ring who then hides it in the sewer, just as he is about to leave for another case he is ambushed by Spike who hits him with a wooden plank, Angel defeats Spike but Spike warns him that he will get the ring one way or another. Angel takes precaution and goes on a manhunt for Spike, Angel finally finds him, chases him through the alley, and corners him only to fall into Spike's trap. Spike captures Angel and hires a vampire named Marcus to torture Angel until he tells him where the ring is. After a while Spike gets bored with waiting so he goes to Angel's apartment to find the ring and leaving Marcus to torture Angel, he gets to the apartment only to find Cordelia and Doyle aiming at him with weapons and demanding to know where Angel is. Spike reveals Angel's location and tells them that the only way he will release Angel is if they find him the ring. Cordelia and Doyle find the ring in the sewer and head straight to Spike. When they arrive at the location they find out that Spike had lied about releasing Angel. Taking precautions however, they then throw the ring away and just as Spike was about to retrieve it, Oz bursts through the wall in his van and rescues Angel. Spike looks for the ring but finds out that Marcus took it. Spike begins smashing Marcus's things and shouting about how he is going to work alone from now on until a hole that was in the ceiling lets sunlight in and sets the back of his hair on fire.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Despite his apparent death at the end of "Buffy" final season, Spike returns in the fifth and final season of the spin-off series "Angel". Resurrected by the amulet in the Los Angeles branch of supernatural law firm Wolfram & Hart, he spends seven episodes as an incorporeal being akin to a ghost; he starts to understand being one when he battles "the Reaper" Matthias Pavayne. During this time he realizes he is being slowly pulled into hell. Later he becomes corporeal, due to a mysterious gift that arrives at the office of Wolfram and Hart. After this, Spike takes on Angel to prove which one of them is the Champion spoken of in the Shanshu Prophecy. Spike defeats Angel, but the prophecy remains ambiguous (the Cup of Torment is revealed as a fake containing Mountain Dew). Manipulated by Lindsey McDonald into "helping the helpless", Spike becomes a sort of rival to Angel; resembling the heroic Champion Angel was in earlier seasons before becoming disillusioned and corrupted by the bureaucracy of Wolfram & Hart. Soon afterward he is kidnapped by the psychotic Slayer Dana, who believes he was responsible for kidnapping and torturing her as a child. Cordelia comments on this strange turn of events after coming out of her coma in "You're Welcome", exclaiming to Angel, "Okay, Spike's a hero, and you're CEO of Hell, Incorporated. What freaking bizarro world did I wake up in?"


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: When Fred is killed by Illyria, Spike mourns her death and decides to join Team Angel in her honor. Upon learning that Buffy is now dating The Immortal, Spike and Angel travel to Rome on the pretext of business but spend most of the time there trying to find Buffy. In the end, they fail to catch up with her. (The blonde glimpsed in Rome is later revealed to be a decoy Buffy, set up by Andrew Wells, who had researched the history between Angel, Spike and The Immortal, and thought the idea would be "hilarious".) During the final episodes of "Angel", Spike is the first to vote for Angel's plan to wound the Senior Partners by massacring the Circle of the Black Thorn. He then spends what might be his last hours on Earth returning to his mortal roots as a frustrated poet, triumphantly knocking them dead (figuratively) in an open mic poetry slam at a bar. After single-handedly (literally, he held the baby in one hand and a sword in the other) rescuing an infant and destroying the Fell Brethren, Spike joins Angel, Illyria, and a badly wounded Charles Gunn in the alley behind the Hyperion as the series draws to an end, preparing to incur the apocalyptic wrath of the Senior Partners, as a way of going out in a blaze of glory that will probably cost their lives.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike appears significantly in a number of canonical Expanded Universe literature concurrent with and subsequent to the television series, including both "Buffy" and "Angel" comic books. Many of these novels and comic books concern Spike's backstory in the periods between the events shown in flashbacks in the television series. From 2007, both Dark Horse Comics and IDW Publishing began telling canonical continuations of "Buffy" and "Angel", respectively. Marsters himself wrote for the miniseries "Spike & Dru" in 2000. The collection also featured the Christopher Golden stories "The Queen of Hearts", "All's Fair", "Paint the Town Red" and "Who Made Who?", set in or around episodes of "Buffy" in seasons 2 and 4; "Who Made Who" is set during the "Buffy" episode "Lovers Walk" and depicts the disintegration of his relationship with Drusilla when they were together in Brazil. After "Buffy" finished in 2003, Spike appeared in a comic story from the canonical "Tales of the Vampires" series. Written by series writer Drew Goddard, "The Problem with Vampires" establishes his adventures in Prague prior to his introduction "Buffy" episode "School Hard". Christopher Golden's 2000 novel "" depicts Spike killing a Slayer named Sophie in the 1940s, contradicting the two Slayers whom Spike is later established to have killed; the second Slayer Spike killed was established as New Yorker Nikki Wood. The short story "Voodoo Lounge" from the collection "Tales of the Slayer" is a sequel to this novel. Golden's 2006 novel, "Blackout", is truer to the series' chronology by depicting Spike's fatal encounter with Slayer Nikki Wood in 1977. Diana G. Gallagher's 2005 novel "Spark and Burn" depicts the struggling early-season 7 Spike remembering an account of his life, amounting to a chronological character history of Spike's life from the 19th century to the time of the framing device.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: In IDW's "", Spike does not appear until the second issue, written by Brian Lynch with art by Franco Urru (the creative team of "" and "") with plotting and "executive production" by Whedon himself. In "Angel: After the Fall", Spike has adjusted to Los Angeles' new status as a literal hell on Earth; he and Illyria both serve together as the Demon Lords of Beverly Hills, living in the Playboy Mansion after the death of Hugh Hefner and served by a harem of human and demon females known collectively as the "Spikettes." How Spike and Illyria got to be Lords of Los Angeles is detailed in the "Spike: After the Fall" (2008) miniseries, which also introduces a human friend for Spike in Jeremy Johns. In their new capacity, Spike and Illyria secretly rescue humans and benevolent demons, evacuating them into the care of Connor, Nina Ash, and Gwen Raiden. Spike rallies alongside Angel against the other demon Lords. When vampire Gunn causes Illyria to revert to her monster form, memories of Fred from Spike and Wesley are transplanted into her to restore her humanity. After the Senior Partners revert time to before the Fall, Spike begins a loosely affiliated relationship with the reformed Angel Investigations company, collaborating with Angel and his associates while maintaining independence. Spike continues to appear in the ongoing "Angel" spin-off series by IDW, under the pens of Kelley Armstrong, Bill Willingham and others. As part of its "After the Fall" franchise, IDW also published Bill Williams' miniseries, "Spike: The Devil You Know" (2010), which follows Spike's journey from Los Angeles to Las Vegas, where he acquires a spaceship and a crew of alien bugs after learning from Wolfram & Hart of a prophecy concerning the impending apocalypse (featured in "Buffy") which has driven them to abandon this dimension.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike's IDW series feeds into the "Twilight" and "Last Gleaming" arcs of "Buffy Season Eight", concluding that series in 2011. In "Season Eight", Spike and his crew come to Buffy's aid to help prevent the end of the universe. Due to his own research into the prophecies concerning this apocalypse, Spike is able to lead Buffy and friends to the site of the final showdown with Twilight. When Buffy's decision sees the world lose its magic, Spike is the only one to be emphatically supportive of the decision she had to make. In the follow-up series "Season Nine" (2011–2013), Spike bases his ship in San Francisco to be near Buffy, but eventually leaves due to the complicatedness of their relationship, setting up the miniseries "Spike: A Dark Place" (2012), which follows Spike and his insectoid crew aboard his spaceship. Dark Horse also gives the "Spike" title a new stylised logo, distinct from the "Angel"-typeface logo used prior. The arc serves to divest Spike of the ship and crew, and sets up his 2013 crossover stint in "Angel & Faith" ahead of an eventual return to the main "Buffy" series. In issues of "Angel & Faith", Spike helps Angel defeat a demon in possession of Giles' soul, but leaves London where they are based without hesitation when he learns that Dawn is gravely unwell back in San Francisco. He returns to San Francisco to provide comfort to Dawn who is rapidly fading away without magic in the world to sustain her form. However, his memories of her start to quickly fade and recordings he makes of himself talking about her turn to static. Spike appears unconcerned he missed the chance to talk to Buffy who, along with Willow and Xander, has gone to find magic to save Dawn at the Deeper Well in England. When nobody can remember the name of Buffy's sister, he phones her boyfriend Xander, and also warns him that the rogue Slayer Simone Doffler has been seeking a way to become the ultimate vampire. When the others return and Dawn is restored Buffy thanks him for staying with her sister, Spike says all that matters to him is that Dawn is safe again. Spike continues to appear in "Season 10", in which he and Buffy finally resume their romantic relationship while juggling the responsibility of rewriting the new rules of magic with the rest of the Scoobies. In "Season 11", he alongside Willow and Buffy, enter a demon internment camp where they uncover a government plot to drain the world's magic. In the final fight against White House Press Secretary Johanna Wise, who spearheaded the conspiracy, he and Buffy sustain serious magical burns–though both are nearly fully recovered soon after due to augmented supernatural healing abilities. In the final issue, they tell each other they love each other and kiss.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: As a human, William's core personality traits were passion and loyalty, though both were heavily sublimated by the conventions of Victorian England. As a product of his time, he channelled these attributes in conventional pursuits, such as nurturing an unrequited romance, an active scholarly life, and care for his ill mother. Highly creative and imaginative, William devoted considerable time to study, reflection, and literary arts, particularly romantic poetry. While his most fervent aspiration was to achieve recognition and acceptance by his peers, romantic interests, and literary community, his pervasive fear of rejection held him back from taking risks; as such, most of his contemporaries regarded him as a timid object of ridicule.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Upon becoming a vampire, his newfound romance with Drusilla, acceptance into a new peer group with Angel and Darla, mixed with the radical changes to his physiology (particularly physical strength), completely dissolved his fears in an experience he considered to be "profound." The sudden erosion of his societal and emotional barriers created dramatic shifts in his attitude and behaviors, allowing him to craft an entirely new persona that was enthusiastic to the point of recklessness, fearless in confrontation, and which reveled in having the power to flaunt laws and traditional morality. William so embraced this lifestyle that he no longer felt his name was appropriate, instead adopting the name, "Spike", as his infamy grew for torturing victims with railroad spikes; in his words, he "had to die before [he] really felt alive". Spike is also rare among vampires because he does not fear Slayers; he seeks them out and has killed two by the time he arrives in Sunnydale.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike is a highly perceptive and emotionally intelligent vampire, which starkly contrasts his raucous "devil-may-care" attitude. As a soulless vampire, his core personality remained intact but less inhibited, exhibiting the capacity for passion and deep affection, loyalty, and aesthetic appreciation. Later, after securing the return of his soul, his conscience returned without his old inhibitions, leaving his love of "a good brawl" unapologetically intact. Similarly, Spike's intense zest for life (a passion for art, love of life, devotion to specific people) remains consistent.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Quick wit is one of the character's hallmarks, as Spike enjoys verbal sparring as much as physical fighting; in all his appearances, he has a habit of pithy remarks and glib insults, even toward the few he does not view as antagonists. Among his favorite targets are Angel, Xander, Giles, and (to a lesser extent) Buffy – in season 5's episode The Gift as he and Giles are leaving to fight Glory, he wryly paraphrases Giles' quotation of Shakespeare's Henry V 'we band of brothers' speech to 'we band of buggered'. Joss Whedon credits this antipathy as what convinced him in the episode "Lovers Walk" to bring Spike back as a cast regular. As James Marsters put it, "I was supposed to be the one who stood at the side and said, 'Buffy, you're stupid, and we're all gonna die'."


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike often nicknames people, both as insults and as terms of endearment; for example, he calls Dawn "Little Bit" or "the Niblet". Spike's classical romanticism also manifests in his frequent references to poetry, songs, and literature; on occasion he even waxes poetic on the nature of love, life, and unlife as being driven by blood, reasoning that blood is more powerful than any supernatural force because it is what separates the living from the dead.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Frequently, the power of Spike's passions override his physical limitations. His pain tolerance, in particular, is exceptionally high due to his willingness to disregard physical discomfort in favor of his goals, interpersonal attachments, and general defiance of any limitation. Notably, when Glory tortures him to reveal the identity of the Key, he defies and insults her at every opportunity; privately, he later reveals in confidence that he would rather die than see Buffy hurt. In terms of his defiant nature, he often treats his vulnerability to the sun as simply an annoying inconvenience. He drives in broad daylight in vehicles with blacked-out windows (often listening to Punk Rock while he does so), and on several occasions travels outside during the day using only a blanket for cover.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Since becoming a vampire, Spike's core personality trait of loyalty has occasionally been at odds with his resentment of being controlled. While he prefers to seem himself as a rebel against any kind of authority, he recognizes that his devotion has allowed others to manipulate him and, at times, for him to put self-imposed limits on himself for the sake of others. In an extreme example, Angel was able to manipulate Spike's allegiance based on his attachment to Drusilla; in a less extreme example, he often modifies his crass tendencies around Dawn to keep from disappointing Buffy, though he ceases when she is not around.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Like many characters in the series, Spike has battled depression at times; however, this was less a tendency towards self-pity or a psychological character trait than a reaction to new limitations. After being 'chipped' by the Initiative, Spike's inability to act out violence put him at odds with his desire to resist control and authority, and he became sullen when the pain inflicted by the chip was simply too powerful to resist. Upon realizing that he could still battle (and kill) demons and other supernatural creatures, his confidence immediately returned. Later, Spike's greatest internal conflict arose due to simultaneously wanting to kill the Slayer (Buffy) due to her authority and position as the "one thing" that vampires fear, until discovering that he was sexually and romantically attracted to Buffy as a person. Recognizing that his affection for her gave her power over him caused him a great deal of self-doubt; seeing no other means to reconcile the dissonance, he chose instead to 'rebel' against his vampire nature itself, and eventually seek to be re-ensouled and purify his passions.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike has a punk look which strongly resembles English rock musician Billy Idol; humorously, Buffy claims that Billy Idol in fact "stole" his look from Spike. His hair is peroxide blond for the duration of his time on "Buffy" and "Angel", although in flashbacks it can be seen in its natural medium brown state as well as dyed black. His nails are often painted black.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: A Y-shaped scar on Marsters's left eyebrow, received during a mugging, was worked into the show; make-up artist Todd McIntosh decided to shave out his eyebrow in order to make it more prominent. He also included the scar on Spike's "vamp face" prosthesis, albeit slightly altered as though the skin has stretched. In Spike's first appearances the wound still looks fresh, but it gradually fades until, in "Angel" season 5, it is barely visible. A flashback in "Fool for Love" reveals that Spike received the scar from the sword of the first Slayer he killed in 1900.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike usually wears long black leather coats, including one that he took from a Nazi officer and another that he took as a trophy from Nikki Wood, the second Slayer he killed. He wore the Slayer's black duster for over twenty-five years. When the coat was destroyed by a bomb from the Immortal in Italy, Spike heartbrokenly declared it to be irreplaceable; but the Italian branch of Wolfram & Hart quickly supplied him with a whole wardrobe of new ones, nearly identical, which he happily began wearing. His trademark look includes the leather duster, a black T-shirt or v-neck shirt and black denim pants, usually with heavy boots or Doc Martens. He also wore a red long-sleeved shirt fairly often, particularly during the earlier seasons of "Buffy", and a bright blue shirt early in Season 6 & 7. He explained that the shirt was supposed to show Buffy that he had changed and give him confidence (because the First was messing with his head and he did not want Buffy to think he was still evil or crazy). But later, he returned to his trademark look, commenting that he was back.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: In addition to possessing the common powers and weaknesses of vampires, Spike's age and experience makes him a highly effective, skilled, and versatile fighter in both armed and unarmed combat. For example, he is able to briefly overcome Illyria during a testing of her abilities prior to her powers being greatly reduced by Wesley. Illyria criticizes his (and others') ability to adapt, calling it "compromise." He is able to withstand excessive amounts of pain for extended periods of time, particularly when properly motivated, as seen in the episodes "Intervention" and "Showtime". While not as skilled or as sadistic as Angelus, Spike also proves himself to be effective at torture, noting he had gained "screams, various fluids, and a name" from Doctor Sparrow. Much like Angel, he is highly proficient in various forms of martial arts, and his typical fighting style blends karate, kung fu, and others.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike often displays insight and skills in perception and observation, especially with regard to relationships and personalities, so long as the relationship in question does not concern him personally. This ability allows him to wield powerful psychological weapons as easily and effectively as physical ones. For example, when he wants to create disharmony among the Scoobies, Spike divides-and-conquers with "The Yoko Factor", exploiting tensions that exist under the surface to alienate Buffy and her friends against each other. Spike's skills of analysis allowed him to realize Willow was barely holding it together after Oz's departure even though Giles and Buffy thought she was doing better, to be the first to see through Tara's abusive and controlling family, forced Buffy and Angel to admit that they were more than "just friends" and identify when and why some relationships, such as between Buffy and Riley, are not meant to last, masterfully feeding Riley's insecurities in an effort to sabotage his relationship with Buffy, so Spike can pursue her. He also predicted that Willow would go fighting against Glory after what she did to Tara even though Buffy believed that she had talked Willow out of the suicidal attempt because he would do so if Glory hurt the people he loved.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: His analytical skills and intuitive insight also help him in battle from time to time, helping him to defeat, or hold his own against, very formidable adversaries. For example, he explains to Buffy he was able to defeat two Slayers because he sensed and exploited their secret desires to be free of their burden. In "Time Bomb", he identifies Illyria's fighting style as a Tae Kwon Do/Brazilian Capoeira / Ninjitsu hybrid.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: While many vampires cling to the mannerisms and speech patterns prevalent at the time they were sired, Spike has been shown to easily adjust to changing fashions and styles over the decades and displays an impressive knowledge of both British and American popular culture, demonstrating another aspect of his potential for analysis and adaptability.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Although capable of developing sound battle strategies, Spike (particularly in the days before receiving his chip and being re-ensouled) often loses patience with anything more complicated than outright attack, as mentioned in the episode "In the Dark".


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: He is also impatient to fight the Slayer upon his initial arrival in Sunnydale; the attack is supposed to coincide with the Night of St. Vigeous (when a vampire's natural abilities are enhanced), but he "couldn't wait" to go after the Slayer and recklessly leads a mass assault against Buffy at Sunnydale High, which fails and results in the deaths of many Aurelian vampires. However, Spike did exercise patience throughout the later half of season 2 of "Buffy", when he used a wheelchair for several months after a brutal battle with the Scoobies in the episode What's My Line left him paraplegic. Feigning weakness, he endured torturous weeks watching Angelus sexually pursue Dru as he waited for the right time to strike against his enemy.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike's "vampire constitution" provides him with an extremely high tolerance for alcohol (which he regularly consumes in copious quantities). His experience in crime gives him skill at picking locks, hotwiring cars and picking pockets. He is also capable of easily operating various vehicles, such as various cars, a Honda CB400T motorcycle ("Bargaining part 2"), and a Winnebago ("Spiral"). He has also been shown using video game systems and a computer, treating injuries, and playing poker and pool. Spike is also seen speaking/understanding Latin, Luganda (a language of Uganda, where he meets the demon shaman), and the language of Fyarl demons, two of whom he once employed as muscle during his pre-Sunnydale days. He is also shown to be capable of recognizing literature; in the last episode of season five, he paraphrases a line from the St. Crispin's Day Speech while in conversation with Giles after Buffy tells them her plan of attack on Glory.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: When Spike was transformed into a ghost-like intangible state following the destruction of Sunnydale and the Hellmouth and his subsequent materialization at Wolfram & Hart, he was capable of walking through solid objects. He was initially unable to make contact with objects around him until he learned how to focus his abilities through desire, allowing him to make brief contact with people and things if he concentrated enough. This ability was relatively useless in a fight; he was unable to pick up a wooden bar to hit the demon Tezcatcatl in "The Cautionary Tale of Numero Cinco", and required a few moments to properly punch a cyborg strangling Gunn in "Lineage". Naturally, he lost these capabilities when he was recorporealized by Lindsey.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: In 2004, Joss Whedon set plans for a "Spike" movie. The film, if ever greenlit, would star James Marsters, Alyson Hannigan and Amy Acker. At a 2006 convention, Acker stated the film was not going ahead due to money issues.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike was placed first in "SFX" magazine's "Top 50 Vampires" on television and movies list. The same list featured rival Angel in the third place. Spike was described as an "antihero in the true sense of the word, Spike is morally ambiguous and ready to fight pretty much anyone, for fun. But underneath it all, he loves deeply and earnestly in a way that remains achingly human. Although, ironically, his personality remains pretty much the same, whether he has a soul or not – in stark (and more entertaining) contrast to Angel." Other Buffyverse vampires to appear on the list included Drusilla (at 10th place), Darla (at 25th place), Vampire Willow (at 32nd place), Harmony Kendall (at 31st place), and the Master (at 39th place).


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: Spike is also featured in "Forbes" magazine's "Hollywood's Most Powerful Vampires" list along with Angel.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: For this role James Marsters won Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series (in 2000, 2003) and was nominated for this award in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2004.


title: Spike (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

text: In 2017 Spike made into the list of "25 Villains We Love to Hate from the last 25 years" for the 25th anniversary of Syfy.


title: Snopes

text: Snopes , formerly known as the Urban Legends Reference Pages, is a fact-checking website. It has been described as a "well-regarded reference for sorting out myths and rumors" on the Internet. The site has also been seen as a source for both validating and debunking urban legends and similar stories in American popular culture.


title: Snopes

text: In 1994, David and Barbara Mikkelson created an urban folklore web site that would become "Snopes.com". "Snopes" was an early online encyclopedia focused on urban legends, which mainly presented search results of user discussions. The site grew to encompass a wide range of subjects and became a resource to which Internet users began submitting pictures and stories of questionable veracity. According to the Mikkelsons, "Snopes" predated the search engine concept of fact-checking via search results. David Mikkelson had originally adopted the username "Snopes" (the name of a family of often unpleasant people in the works of William Faulkner) in the Usenet newsgroup alt.folklore.urban.


title: Snopes

text: In 2002, the site had become known well enough that a television pilot called "Snopes: Urban Legends" was completed with American actor Jim Davidson as host. However, it did not air on major networks.


title: Snopes

text: By mid-2014, Barbara had not written for "Snopes" "in several years" and David was forced to hire users from "Snopes.com"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s message board to assist him in running the site. The Mikkelsons divorced around that time. Christopher Richmond and Drew Schoentrup became part owners in July 2016 with the purchase of Barbara Mikkelson's share by the internet media management company Proper Media.


title: Snopes

text: On March 9, 2017, David Mikkelson terminated the brokering agreement with Proper Media, which is also the company that provides "Snopes" with web development, hosting, and advertising support. The move prompted Proper Media to stop remitting advertising revenue and to file a lawsuit in May. In late June, Bardav—the company founded by David and Barbara Mikkelson in 2003 to own and operate "snopes.com"—started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to continue operations. They raised $500,000 in 24 hours. Later, in August, a judge ordered Proper Media to disburse advertising revenues to Bardav while the case was pending.


title: Snopes

text: In July 2018, "Snopes" abruptly terminated its contract with Managing Editor Brooke Binkowski, with no explanation. By the time "Snopes" co-founder and CEO David Mikkelson confirmed the termination to her, the situation was still not clear.


title: Snopes

text: In early 2019, "Snopes" announced that it had acquired the website "OnTheIssues.org", and is "hard at work modernizing its extensive archives". "OnTheIssues" is a website that seeks to "present all the relevant evidence, assess how strongly each piece supports or opposes a position, and summarize it with an average" in order to "provide voters with reliable information on candidates’ policy positions".


title: Snopes

text: In 2018 and 2019, "Snopes" fact-checked several articles from "The Babylon Bee", a satirical website, rating them "False". The decision resulted in Facebook adding warnings to links to those articles shared on its site. "Snopes" added a new rating called "Labeled Satire" to identify satirical stories.


title: Snopes

text: In 2019, "Snopes" was embroiled in legal disputes with Proper Media, with a court case scheduled for spring 2020. By then Proper Media had become a co-owner of Bardav through acquiring Barbara Mikkelson's half-interest share, intending to take overall ownership of Snopes for its own "portfolio of media sites". The move failed as David Mikkelson had no intention to sell his share.


title: Snopes

text: As the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020, many people tried to "educate themselves on the coronavirus" and find "any comfort, certainty, or hope for a cure [for the coronavirus]". "Snopes" has around 237 COVID-related fact-checking articles.


title: Snopes

text: On August 13, 2021, "BuzzFeed News" published an investigation by reporter Dean Sterling Jones that showed David Mikkelson had used plagiarized material from different news sources in 54 articles between 2015 and 2019 in an effort to increase website traffic. Mikkelson also published plagiarized material under a pseudonym, "Jeff Zarronandia". The "BuzzFeed" inquiry prompted "Snopes" to launch an internal review of Mikkelson's articles and retracted 60 of them the day the "Buzzfeed" story appeared. Mikkelson admitted to committing "multiple serious copyright violations" and apologized for "serious lapses in judgment." He was suspended from editorial duties during the investigation, but remains an officer and stakeholder in the company.


title: Snopes

text: On September 16, 2022, David Mikkelson stepped down as CEO and was succeeded by shareholder and board member Chris Richmond. Chris Richmond and fellow shareholder Drew Schoentrup together acquired 100% of the company, ending the ownership dispute which began in 2017.


title: Snopes

text: Snopes aims to debunk or confirm widely spread urban legends. The site has been referenced by news media and other sites, including CNN, MSNBC, "Fortune", "Forbes", and "The New York Times". By March 2009, the site had more than six million visitors per month. David Mikkelson ran the website from his home in Tacoma, Washington.


title: Snopes

text: Mikkelson has stressed the "reference" portion of the name "Urban Legends Reference Pages", indicating that the intention is not merely to dismiss or confirm misconceptions and rumors but to provide evidence for such debunkings and confirmation as well. Where appropriate, pages are generally marked "undetermined" or "unverifiable" when there is not enough evidence to either support or disprove a given claim.


title: Snopes

text: In an attempt to demonstrate the perils of over-reliance on the Internet as authority, "Snopes" assembled a series of fabricated urban folklore tales that it termed "The Repository of Lost Legends". The name was chosen for its acronym, T.R.O.L.L., a reference to the definition of the word "troll", meaning an internet persona intended to be deliberately provocative or incendiary.


title: Snopes

text: In 2009, "FactCheck.org" reviewed a sample of "Snopes"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s responses to political rumors regarding George W. Bush, Sarah Palin, and Barack Obama, and found them to be free from bias in all cases. In 2012, "The Florida Times-Union" reported that "About.com"<nowiki>'</nowiki>s urban legends researcher found a "consistent effort to provide even-handed analyses" and that Snopes' cited sources and numerous reputable analyses of its content confirm its accuracy.


title: Snopes

text: Mikkelson has said that the site receives more complaints of liberal bias than conservative bias, but added that the same debunking standards are applied to all political urban legends.


title: Snopes

text: In 2016, "Snopes" said that the entirety of its revenue was derived from advertising. In the same year it received an award of $75,000 from the James Randi Educational Foundation, an organization formed to debunk paranormal claims. In 2017, it raised approximately $700,000 from a crowd-sourced "GoFundMe" effort and received $100,000 from Facebook as a part of a fact-checking partnership. "Snopes" also offers a premium membership that disables ads .


title: Snopes

text: On February 1, 2019, "Snopes" announced that it had ended its fact-checking partnership with Facebook. "Snopes" did not rule out the possibility of working with Facebook in the future but said it needed to "determine with certainty that our efforts to aid any particular platform are a net positive for our online community, publication and staff". "Snopes" added that the loss of revenue from the partnership meant the company would "have less money to invest in our publication—and we will need to adapt to make up for it".