document_title: List of Gavin & Stacey characters

question_text: who plays jason west in gavin and stacey

text: List of Gavin & Stacey characters

text: Characters[edit]

text:
Actor/Actress

Character

First Appearance

Last Appearance

Duration

Total

Mathew Horne

Gavin Shipman

13 May 2007

1 January 2010

2007–2010

20

Joanna Page

Stacey Shipman

13 May 2007

1 January 2010

2007–2010

20

James Corden

Neil "Smithy" Smith

13 May 2007

1 January 2010

2007–2010

20

Ruth Jones

Nessa Jenkins

13 May 2007

1 January 2010

2007–2010

20

Rob Brydon

Bryn West

13 May 2007

1 January 2010

2007–2010

20

Larry Lamb

Mick Shipman

13 May 2007

1 January 2010

2007–2010

20

Alison Steadman

Pam Shipman

13 May 2007

1 January 2010

2007–2010

20

Melanie Walters

Gwen West

13 May 2007

1 January 2010

2007–2010

20

Steffan Rhodri

Dave Coaches

13 May 2007

1 January 2010

2007–2010

11

Margaret John

Doris O'Neill

13 May 2007

1 January 2010

2007–2010

8

Adrian Scarborough

Pete Sutcliffe

13 May 2007

17 December 2009

2007–2009

7

Julia Davis

Dawn Sutcliffe

13 May 2007

17 December 2009

2007–2009

7

Sheridan Smith

Ruth "Rudi" Smith

16 March 2008

1 January 2010

2008–2010

7

Robert Wilfort

Jason West

3 June 2007

1 January 2010

2007–2010

6

Mathew Baynton

Deano

11 November 2008

10 December 2009

2008–2009

4

Russell Tovey

Budgie

3 June 2007

10 December 2009

2007–2009

4

Andrew Knott

Dirtbox

3 June 2007

10 December 2009

2007–2009

4

Samuel Anderson

Fingers

3 June 2007

10 December 2009

2007–2009

3

Ifan Huw Dafydd

Neil Jenkins

26 November 2009

1 January 2010

2009–2010

3

Pam Ferris

Cath Smith

26 November 2009

17 December 2009

2009

2

text: Main characters[edit]

text:
Gavin Shipman (Mathew Horne) - Gavin is 28 when the series starts. He is an only child, and when the series starts he still lives with his loving mother and father in Billericay, Essex. He works for a company called ICB and spends his spare time with his best friend Smithy (James Corden) along with his other friends Gary & Simon, Dirtbox, Fingers, Budgie, Swede, Chinese Alan and Jesus. He is a big fan of Tottenham Hotspur (as is Mathew Horne) and is often seen wearing his Spurs shirt. In the course of his job, he had to deal with a company called Bedmores, based in Barry. The Bedmores representative he had to correspond with was a woman called Stacey West (Joanna Page). The pair found they got on very well and after months of talking and flirting, they decided to meet in London. They agreed that Gavin would bring his best friend Smithy, and Stacey would bring her best friend Nessa (Ruth Jones). They met up, went clubbing and had sex. When Stacey and Nessa boarded the coach back to Wales, Gavin took a taxi home, jumped in his car and drove all the way to Barry, and met Stacey when her coach arrived in Barry. The two quickly told each other they were in love, and within 9 weeks, they had got engaged and married. Gavin, and his father Mick (Larry Lamb), often play the "straight men" in the series, baffled and frustated by the antics of their family and friends. Gavin's main personality flaw is that he is slightly spoiled, possibly due to being an only child, and gets irritated when he does not get his way. He is not always very sensitive; when Stacey, who is very attached to her hometown, gets depressed and homesick upon moving to Billericay, Gavin is more confused than concerned. Gavin is also less willing to discuss his private life than his wife. He finds it odd that Stacey is so eager and ready to spill intimate details to Nessa, Bryn, her mother and her brother. Despite these differences, Gavin loves Stacey enormously, demonstrating this by finding a job in Wales so he can move to Barry, despite previously expressing a dislike for it. In Series 3, he agrees with Stacey to try to have a baby, only to discover she had not been on the pill for a year. Although he is very angry about Stacey not telling him the truth, he becomes much more depressed when he learns that he has fertility problems. Eventually he comes round, and has a serious discussion with Stacey, deciding they will carry on trying to conceive for a few months, and they should start looking at alternatives afterwards. However, in the final episode, Stacey discovers she is pregnant, and Gavin is just as thrilled as she is.
Stacey Shipman (née West) (Joanna Page) - Stacey is 26 and is from Barry, near Cardiff. Her father, Trevor, died three years ago, and she lived at home with her mother in Barry until her marriage. Her gay brother, Jason (Robert Wilfort), lives in Spain. She had been engaged five times before meeting Gavin Shipman (Mathew Horne), something she preferred to forget and kept from him. She is very bubbly, excitable and full of conversation but also slightly fragile and prone to overreacting. An example is her misreading Gavin's sudden businesslike tone during a call from work when his boss appears over him, immediately thinking he is trying to break up. Gavin then  has to drive all the way to Barry to patch things up. She confides frequently in her best friend, Nessa (Ruth Jones). Stacey has never been away from Barry Island before she visits Gavin, and becomes very homesick when she marries him and moves to Essex. After a few months of finding no work, she tells Gavin she can no longer live in Essex and will be moving back home. During the course of their separation, Stacey decides their selfishness about where they live means they are nit meant to be together and is on the verge of giving her wedding ring back when Nessa goes into labour. After Nessa gives birth, they make up and resolve to find a way for both of them to be happy. A few months later, Gavin decides to get a job in Cardiff so he can move to Barry Island to keep Stacey happy. Stacey discovers she is pregnant in the final episode of Series 3, after desperately taking a large number of pregnancy tests.
Neil "Smithy" Smith (James Corden) - Smithy is 28 and Gavin's (Mathew Horne) best friend, and they've known each other since primary school. He is a self-employed builder and decorator. He is very protective of Gavin - he is disappointed when Gavin gets engaged to Stacey (Joanna Page) and when Gavin and Stacey go on a honeymoon, he calls Gavin every day for the 3 weeks they are there, and gets angry at Gavin for leaving his phone off. He loves Gavin's parents more than his own, and has an unseen girlfriend called Lucy, who, according to Smithy, is seventeen years and three quarters old. He loves unusual beer, paintball and West Ham United. When Nessa (Ruth Jones) gives birth to their son, they name him Neil after himself and Nessa's father. In the series finale, Smithy stops Nessa's wedding declaring his feelings for her, thus causing Nessa and Dave (Steffan Rhodri) not to get married. He is shown to have obvious similarities to Nessa, such as: refusing to share food, being very upfront, protective of their best friends, and they like most of the same food and drink, such as KFC, corn on the cob, and Irn-Bru. Smithy wears his heart on his sleeve and is given to intense public displays of emotion, and will cry or sulk with little provocation. Smithy eats, drinks and smokes to excess and is overweight.
Vanessa Shanessa "Nessa" Jenkins (Ruth Jones) - Nessa is Stacey's (Joanna Page) best friend, also from Barry. She discovers she is pregnant in the fourth episode of Series 1 and it is later revealed that Smithy (James Corden) became the father the second time they were intimate at Pam (Alison Steadman) and Mick's (Larry Lamb) house. She speaks fluent Italian and Welsh, has several tattoos, most notably a large red dragon on her right upper arm. She is a chain smoker (except during her pregnancy) and was one of the original members of All Saints (but didn't get along with Shaznay). She works at the Barry Island Amusement Arcades or "The Slots". Nessa regularly recalls strange and often lewd experiences with celebrities. She gives birth to baby Neil in the series finale of Series 2 and becomes engaged to Dave Coaches (Steffan Rhodri) in the 2008 Christmas special. In the series finale, Smithy declares his feelings for Nessa at her wedding, and Dave accepts that the feelings he and Nessa share are not as strong as hers and Smithy's. Nessa's age is unknown throughout the show even to Stacey. To date she has slept with Gavin's (Mathew Horne) best friend Smithy four times. Her catchphrases include "Ohhhh", "Tidy", "Genuine",  "Truth be told", "Immense", "I'm not going to lie to you" and "What's occurring?". In the third series, it was discovered that she is an Aston Villa fan. She has a jet black bob-style hair and wears Gothic style make up. She is serious, ongoing and surprisingly intelligent at times. She has had a number of interesting occupations including being a BBC radio producer, a roadie for a major band, and driving trucks for Eddie Stobart (who gave her two trucks to keep when she left,) and a running feature of the programme is her wide range of impressive occupations, abilities (apart from speaking fluent Italian she is an excellent ten pin bowler) and acquaintance or relationships with various famous people. The reaction of those around her to mention of these invariably suggests that they are factual rather than a fantasy, despite the rather incongruous fact that she now works as a cashier at an amusement arcade in Barry.
Michael "Mick" Shipman (Larry Lamb) - Mick is Gavin's (Mathew Horne) father. He is often mistaken to be 53 and is a down-to-earth bloke, like his son. He's happy with his life — running his own company, playing golf and going to the pub quiz every Tuesday. He is something of a calming influence on his wife, Pam (Alison Steadman).
Pamela Andrea "Pam" Shipman (née Griggell-Eschefska) (Alison Steadman) — Pam is Gavin's (Mathew Horne) proud and doting mother. She is in her fifties, though her exact age is unknown as, according to her husband, she has claimed to be 51 on her past five birthdays. She is a stereotypical Essex wife and is very house-proud. She is also very caring of Smithy (James Corden), Gavin's best friend, and treats him as if he were her own son. Pam adores Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (referring to Princess Diana as a "hussy") and acts out sexual fantasies of Charles and Camilla with her husband, Mick (Larry Lamb). She dotes on Gavin, who she calls her "Little Prince". She is very welcoming of Stacey (Joanna Page) into the family - the first time Stacey meets her, she helps her with a pimple on her face, in a motherly fashion, which allows the two to bond. Although she is initially angry at Stacey when Gavin announces they're moving back to Barry, accusing Stacey of 'stealing' her son, she apologises the next morning for overreacting. Pam is prone to malapropisms, such as saying "ours is not to question while" (instead of "why") or "Barry's Island" instead of "Barry Island".  She is often nervous and excitable and this leads her into awkward social situations, such as forcing Mick to go food shopping in response to an attack of paranoia about her guests' dietary requirements, and then falsely claiming to be newly vegetarian (a pretence she is forced to maintain, much to her frustration because she craves meat) in order to explain why he has arrived with several bags of vegetarian food.  Her catchphrases include "Oh My Christ", "I panicked (name)" and "Mick! Michael!"
Brynfor "Bryn" West (Rob Brydon) - Bryn is Stacey (Joanna Page) and Jason's (Robert Wilfort) uncle. He is the brother of Stacey's deceased father, Trevor and is a single man in his late forties. He lives across the road from Stacey and his sister-in-law, Gwen (Melanie Walters) and is very protective of them. In Series 1 and 2, he had a strained relationship with his nephew Jason due to an unspecified but clearly disturbing incident on a fishing trip. He leads a very simple life and often gets excited about trivial things such as his Sat Nav or the Internet. He also enjoys typically female-oriented TV shows such as Desperate Housewives and Sex and the City. He is a keen singer and sings with Stacey's best friend, Nessa (Ruth Jones). In Series 2, he puts a home gym in his house that is "the talk of the street". Bryn also displays latent homosexual tendencies but is seemingly too innocent and childlike to address them. For instance, Bryn converted one of the bedrooms in his home into a gym and invites Smithy (James Corden) over where they strip shirtless and have a close workout followed by a "warm down" that involves rubbing each other. Smithy does not see this as a sexual thing at all, even though it makes Gavin (Mathew Horne) uncomfortable. It has been implied a number of times that Bryn was abused by his brother Trevor as a child, such as Trevor leaving him terrified on a ghost train or hanging him by his ankles and swinging him against rocks, resulting in two broken arms. He claims he "rather enjoyed the experience" as it was only "tomfoolery" but it shocks everyone and horrifies Pam (Alison Steadman).
Gwen West (Melanie Walters) - Gwen is Stacey (Joanna Page) and Jason's (Robert Wilfort) mother. She is a widow in her late forties and has two children, Jason and Stacey. She is a housewife and regularly offers to cook omelettes. She's a caring, kind woman who lets herself be taken advantage of by Stacey's best friend, Nessa (Ruth Jones). She's very close to Stacey as they spent many years living together. In Series 3, she lives with Stacey and her husband Gavin (Mathew Horne). On the day of Nessa's wedding, Nessa told Gwen that she was like a mother to her before kissing her on the lips, which gobsmacks Gwen but does not affect Nessa.

text: Other characters[edit]

text:
David "Dave Coaches" Lloyd Gooch (Steffan Rhodri) - Coach driver in Barry and Nessa's (Ruth Jones) fiancé, after they got engaged in the Christmas special. Aspersions are cast regarding his sexual health in Series 1, although it is revealed in Series 2 that he has been to "the clinic". He is the only person, other than Bryn (Rob Brydon) and Jason (Robert Wilfort), who knows what happened on the fishing trip, after Bryn told him to get the matter off his chest. His relationship with Nessa results in both Bryn and Jason being incredibly nervous about him telling their friends what happened, although he makes it very clear to Bryn he wouldn't tell anyone about it. He also has his own company named Dave Coaches. He often shows jealousy towards Smithy (James Corden) for being the father of Nessa's child. Smithy gets jealous of him for always spending time with his son and treating him like his own, and in the final episode leaves Nessa at the altar as he doesn't believe she loves him. Nessa's father mentions him having "blood on his hands", but says he was joking, knowing that "nothing was proven". Dave often has a strained relationship with the other characters, and has publicly had angry exchanges with Bryn, Smithy and Pete (Adrian Scarborough), who punched him in the face after he made an uncharitable remark about his wife, Dawn (Julia Davis).
Jason West (Robert Wilfort) - Stacey's (Joanna Page) elder brother, son of Gwen (Melanie Walters) and her late husband, Trevor. Lives in Spain with his boyfriend, José. He and Bryn (Rob Brydon) share a rather awkward relationship due to some mysterious goings-on on the fateful fishing trip. Although the events of the fishing trip are never explicitly revealed, it is strongly implied that there was a close and intimate encounter between Jason and Bryn. When they attempt to explain to Dave the reason for what they did that night, Bryn says "It was freezing cold...and when you're that cold you-" before being cut off by Gavin entering the room. He is disappointed in the first series when Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Stacey get married and he is not chosen to take Stacey down the aisle. He and Bryn eventually become friends again, something they are both glad about.
Peter "Pete" Sutcliffe (Adrian Scarborough) and Dawn Sutcliffe (Julia Davis) - Friends of Pam (Alison Steadman) and Mick's (Larry Lamb). They have a very strained marriage and regularly insult each other in public. Also part of the ongoing joke that characters share their surnames with serial killers — in this case Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper. He punches Dave in the Christmas special. He also attempts a threesome in the beginning of Series 2 with his wife Dawn and a man named Seth. It didn't work out as Seth said the photo was not representative of them as a couple. The couple renewed their vows in Series 3. They have two children, Fiona and Alex. In the series finale of Series 1, their surname is revealed to be Whitely, but in the 2008 Christmas Special, it is revealed to be Sutcliffe.
Catherina "Cath" Smith (Pam Ferris) - Smithy (James Corden) and Rudi's (Sheridan Smith) mother who first appears in the first episode of Series 3. She is rumoured to have had a lesbian relationship with the headteacher of Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Smithy's primary school. She claims to suffer from narcolepsy, though Pam (Alison Steadman) attributes this to her excessive drinking. She attends single mother support groups and has been known to perform lewd acts on webcam, having once accidentally exposed herself to Nessa (Ruth Jones) thinking she was a man named John.
Doris "Dor" O'Neill (Margaret John) - Gwen's (Melanie Walters) elderly next door neighbour. She looks like a stereotypical "little old lady", in sharp contrast to her behaviour and blunt, profanity-littered conversational style. Doris regularly dates younger men, even offering herself up to Gavin (Mathew Horne) for "discreet" extramarital relations, and is described by Bryn (Rob Brydon) as "a player". She has a daughter named Moira, whom she loathes and would like to "smother" if she saw her again. Gwen even goes so far as to say "she was a nasty piece of work". It is Doris who spots the unfortunate coincidence of Gavin and Stacey (Joanna Page) sharing the West and Shipman surnames with serial murderers Fred and Rose West and Harold Shipman.
Ruth "Rudi" Smith (Sheridan Smith) - Smithy's (James Corden) sister, also likes to be called "Smithy" in an attempt to imitate her brother, with whom she often fights.
Neil Noel Edmund Smith aka Neil, the Baby - The son of Smithy (James Corden) and Nessa (Ruth Jones), named after both Smithy and Nessa's father. His middle names come from Smithy's uncle Edmund and Nessa's friend Noel from Hear'Say.
Neil Jenkins (Ifan Huw Dafydd)[1][2]- Nessa's (Ruth Jones) father; appears at the Christening but is obviously uncomfortable at being back in Barry due to unknown previous events. He is a part-time actor who has appeared as an extra in Lark Rise to Candleford and as a man in a coma in Holby City.
Dick Powell (Gwynfor Roberts) The only exclusively Welsh-speaking inhabitant of Barry. Sells items on the black market such as satellite navigation systems and meat that his brother steals from the slaughterhouse where he works. He enjoys chicken and Glamorgan sausage sandwiches.
Deano (Mathew Baynton) is a friend of Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Smithy's (James Corden). He works with Smithy and is known for being gormless and somewhat naïve. He learnt Welsh prior to coming over to Wales with the "Essex Lads".  He wasn't at Gavin's stag, but got a T-shirt made afterwards when they went to the foam party.  Among his idiosyncrasies is a fondness for drinking a mixture of equal parts tea and coffee, which he calls a "toffee" or a "cea" (pronounced "key").
Owain Hughes (Steven Meo) - one of Gavin's (Mathew Horne) co-workers at his new job in Cardiff in Series 3. Constantly the subject of an unclear joke - "My name is Owain Hughes and before you ask, no I don't!".

text: Gavin and Smithy's Friends[edit]

text:
Budgie (Russell Tovey) - A friend of Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Smithy's (James Corden). He is nicknamed as such because he has big ears. He has a brother called Magpie, who works as a DJ.
Chinese Alan (Dominic Gaskell) - A friend of Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Smithy's (James Corden). His catchphrase is "Did someone order a Chinese?"
Fingers (Samuel Anderson) - A friend of Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Smithy's (James Corden). He is so named because of his womanizing attitude. He has an on-off relationship with Stacey's (Joanna Page) friend, Louise.
Dirtbox (Andrew Knott) - A friend of Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Smithy's (James Corden). He seems to be somewhat short tempered and snappy.
Jesus (Daniel Curtis) - A friend of Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Smithy's (James Corden). He only appears in the stag episode; most likely owing to the fact that no one in the group really seems to like him.
Swede - (John Grisley) A friend of Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Smithy's (James Corden). He rarely says anything.
Gary (Jason Gregg) - A friend of Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Smithy's (James Corden). He has been friends with them since primary school. He is never seen without his best friend Simon; except for in Series 3, where it appears they have had an argument.
'N' Simon - A friend of Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Smithy's (James Corden). He has been friends with them since primary school. He is never seen without his best friend Gary (Jason Gregg); but he does not appear in Series 3, as it appears he has had an argument with Gary.
Luggy - A friend of Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Smithy's (James Corden). He has glasses and is quite tall. He is relatively quiet when compared to the rest of Gavin's friends as he is often seen in the background of the conversation and has no dialogue. He is not seen in Series 3 for unknown reasons.

text: Minor and unseen characters[edit]

text:
Japanese Margaret - A friend of Pam (Alison Steadman) and Dawn's (Julia Davis) whose name came up during the protest over the telephone mast.
No Man Jan - A friend of Pam's (Alison Steadman) who told her about the rumour of Cath's (Pam Ferris) lesbian relationship with Smithy (James Corden) and Gavin's (Mathew Horne) headmistress. Mick (Larry Lamb) claims she can't be trusted - "that's why she's been divorced three times".
Big Fat Sue - Pam's (Alison Steadman) overweight friend. Pam calls her "Susan" to her face; however, other characters such as Dawn (Julia Davis) directly address her as "Big Fat Sue".
Fat No More Pat - Pam's (Alison Steadman) friend from her Fencing class. She was mentioned when Pam asked Stacey (Joanna Page) if she would like to come along in Pat's absence.
Seth - Swinger who responded to Dawn (Julia Davis) and Pete's (Adrian Scarborough) request for a threesome partner, he denied because the picture of Dawn and Pete was 15 years old.
Nigel Havers - Actor, Nessa's (Ruth Jones) ex-boyfriend
Tom Jones - Singer, Nessa's (Ruth Jones) ex-boyfriend
John Prescott - Politician, Nessa's (Ruth Jones) ex-boyfriend
Noel Sullivan - Singer, Nessa's (Ruth Jones) close friend. Nessa's son, Neil's middle name is after him.
Griff (Alan David) - Bryn (Rob Brydon) and Doris' (Margaret John) friend. He attended Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Stacey's (Joanna Page) wedding with Doris in Series 1.
Father Chris (William Thomas) - A vicar in Barry.
José - Jason's (Robert Wilfort) boyfriend, who attends Gavin (Mathew Horne) and Stacey's (Joanna Page) wedding.
Edna Sutcliffe (Edna Doré) - Pete's (Adrian Scarborough) mother, only seen once in the Christmas Special, where Pete forgot her and she stayed behind the bar over night
Betty (Hazel Douglas) - A neighbour of Pam (Alison Steadman) and Mick's (Larry Lamb). She is only seen talking to Pam about Mick's short stint on a news broadcast.
Scott - One of Doris' (Margaret John) much younger boyfriends, whom she casually describes as "a bit of a pothead".
Natalie Lewis - Sales assistant whose brother and father once had a fight with Nessa (Ruth Jones)
Lucy - Smithy's (James Corden) much younger girlfriend, who is still in secondary school. She is never seen on-screen, and dumps Smithy in Series 2 when he discovers that she has been seeing somebody else. In a running joke meant to illustrate the age gap between her and Smithy, she is often mentioned to be doing activities that would normally be associated with younger people (such as Brownies or trampolining).
Jean - A character who Bryn (Rob Brydon) invites to Gwen's birthday party, due to guests he'd already invited saying they can't attend. Jean is hated to Gwen however for reasons that weren't really mentioned. Doris (Margaret John) warns Bryn not to invite her and does not like her. Jean is not seen on screen, however Gwen sees her and it is unknown what happened next.
Glenda - In series 3 episode 5, Glenda gets in contact with Bryn (Rob Brydon), Doris (Margaret John) and Gwen (Melanie Walters) almost immediately after Pam (Alison Steadman) and Mick (Larry Lamb) arrive outside Gwen's house all via different forms of contact. It is not mentioned where Glenda lives, though she is within hearing range as she heard that Pam and Mick were going to the beach, nor is she ever mentioned again.


document_title: History of the United States public debt

question_text: when was the last time the united states did not have a deficit

root

text: Early history[edit]

text: Except for about a year during 1835–1836, the United States has continuously had a fluctuating public debt since its Constitution went into effect on March 4, 1789. During the American Revolution, the Continental Congress, under the Articles of Confederation, amassed huge war debts, but lacked the power to repay these obligations through taxation or duties on imports.[1][2]

tag: p

text: On the founding of the United States, the financial affairs of the new federation were in disarray, exacerbated by an economic crisis in urban commercial centers.[3] In 1790, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton pushed for Congress to pass a financial plan, called the First Report on the Public Credit,[4] a controversial part of which involved the federal government assuming state debts incurred during the Revolutionary War.[5] Northern states had accumulated a huge amount of debt during the war, amounting to $21.5 million, and wanted the federal government to assume their burden. The Southern states, which had lower or no debts, whose citizens would effectively pay a portion of this debt if the federal government assumed it, were disinclined to accept the proposal. Some states, including Virginia, had already paid off almost half of their debts, and felt that their taxpayers should not be assessed again to bail out the less provident, and further argued that the plan was beyond the constitutional power of the new government. James Madison, then a representative from Virginia, led a group of legislators from the South in blocking the provision and prevent the plan from gaining approval. Jefferson supported Madison[6] The plan was finally adopted as part of the Compromise of 1790, as the Funding Act of 1790. The compromise meant that the state debts were all picked up by the federal Treasury, and the permanent national capital would be located in the South, along the Virginia-Maryland border in what became the District of Colombia.

text: The assumption issue[edit]

text: Historian Max M. Edling has explained how assumption worked. It was the critical issue; the location of the capital was a bargaining ploy. Hamilton proposed that the federal Treasury take over and pay off all the debt that states had incurred to pay for the American Revolution. The Treasury would issue bonds that rich people would buy, thereby giving the rich a tangible stake in the success of the national government. Hamilton proposed to pay off the new bonds with revenue from a new tariff on imports. Jefferson originally approved the scheme, but Madison had turned him around by arguing that federal control of debt would consolidate too much power in the national government. Edling points out that after its passage in 1790, the assumption was accepted. Madison did try to pay speculators below 100%, but they were paid the face value of the state debts they held regardless of how little they paid for them. When Jefferson became president he continued the system. The credit of the U.S. was solidly established at home and abroad, and Hamilton was successful in signing up many of the bondholders in his new Federalist Party. Good credit allowed Jefferson's Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin to borrow in Europe to finance the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, as well as to borrow to finance the War of 1812.[7]

text: The Southern states extracted a major concession from Hamilton in the recalculation of their debt under the fiscal plan.[8] For example, in the case of Virginia, a zero-sum arrangement was contrived, in which Virginia paid $3.4 million to the federal government, and received exactly that amount in federal compensation.[9] The revision of Virginia’s debt, coupled with Potomac residence issue, ultimately netted it over $13 million.[10] Another result of federal assumption of state debts was to give the federal government much more power by placing the country's most serious financial obligation in the hands of the federal government rather than the state governments. The federal government was able to avoid competing in interest with the States.

text: The debts of the federal government on January 1, 1791 amounted to $75,463,476.52, of which about $40 million was domestic debt, $12 million was foreign debt, and $18.3 million were state debts assumed by the federal government, of the $21.5 million that had been authorized.[11]

text: 1790s to 1910[edit]

text: To reduce the debt, from 1796 to 1811 there were 14 budget surpluses and 2 deficits. There was a sharp increase in the debt as a result of the War of 1812. In the 20 years following that war, there were 18 surpluses. The United States actually paid off its debt entirely in January 1835, only to begin accruing debt anew by 1836 (the debt on January 1, 1836 was $37,000).[12][13]

text: Another sharp increase in the debt occurred as a result of the Civil War. The debt was just $65 million in 1860, but passed $1 billion in 1863 and reached $2.7 billion by the end of the war. During the following 47 years, there were 36 surpluses and 11 deficits. During this period 55% of the national debt was paid off.

text: World War I and Great Depression[edit]

text: Debt increased again during World War I (1914–1918), reaching $25.5 billion at its conclusion. Approximately $17 billion in debt was raised through the selling of Liberty Bonds to the general public to finance the U.S.'s military effort. The war was followed by 11 consecutive surpluses that saw the debt reduced by 36% by the end of the 1920s.[14]

text: Warren G. Harding was elected president in 1920 and believed the federal government should be fiscally managed in a way similar to private sector businesses. He had campaigned in 1920 on the slogan, "Less government in business and more business in government."[15] Under Harding, federal spending declined from $6.3 billion in 1920 to $5 billion in 1921 and $3.3 billion in 1922. Over the course of the 1920s, under the leadership of Calvin Coolidge, the national debt was reduced by one third.[16] The decrease was even greater when the growth in GDP and inflation is taken into account.

text: Debt held by the public was $15.05 billion or 16.5% of GDP in 1930. When Franklin D. Roosevelt took office in 1933, the public debt was almost $20 billion, 20% of GDP. Decreased tax revenues and spending on social programs during the Great Depression increased the debt and by 1936, the public debt had increased to $33.7 billion, approximately 40% of GDP.[17] During its first term, the Roosevelt administration ran large annual deficits of between 2 and 5% of GDP. By 1939, the debt held by the public had increased to $39.65 billion or 43% of GDP. The buildup and involvement in World War II during the presidencies of F.D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman led to the largest increase in public debt. Public debt rose over 100% of GDP to pay for the mobilization before and during the war. Public debt was $251.43 billion or 112% of GDP at the conclusion of the war in 1945 and was $260 billion in 1950.

text: After World War II[edit]

text: The public debt fell rapidly after the end of World War II under the presidency of Harry S. Truman, as the U.S. and the rest of the world experienced a post-war economic expansion. Unlike previous wars, the Korean War (1950–53) was largely financed by taxation and did not lead to an increase in the public debt.[18]

text: Growth rates in Western countries began to slow in the mid-1960s. Beginning in the mid-1970s and afterwards, U.S. national debt began to increase faster than GDP.[19][20]

text: The public debt reached a post-World War II low of 24.6% in 1974.[14][21] In that year, the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 reformed the budget process to allow Congress to challenge the president's budget more easily, and, as a consequence, deficits became increasingly difficult to control.[22] National debt held by the public increased from its postwar low of 24.6% of GDP in 1974 to 26.2% in 1980.[23]

text: Debt held by the public relative to GDP rose rapidly again in the 1980s. President Ronald Reagan's economic policies lowered tax rates (Reagan slashed the top income tax rate from 70% to 28%, although bills passed in 1982 and 1984 later partially reversed those tax cuts.)[22][24] and increased military spending, while congressional Democrats blocked cuts to social programs.[20][22][24][22] As a result, debt as a share of GDP increased from 26.2% in 1980 to 40.9% in 1988,[23] and it continued to rise during the presidency of George H. W. Bush, reaching 48.3% of GDP in 1992.[14][25]

text: Debt held by the public reached a high of 49.5% of GDP at the beginning of President Clinton's first term. However, it fell to 34.5% of GDP by the end of Clinton's presidency due in part to decreased military spending, increased taxes (in 1990, 1993 and 1997), and increased tax revenue resulting from the 1990s boom.[14][21][26][27][28] The budget controls instituted in the 1990s successfully restrained fiscal action by the Congress and the President and together with economic growth contributed to the budget surpluses at the end of the decade.[29] The surpluses led to a decline in the public debt from about 43% of GDP in 1998 to about 33% by 2001.[29]

text: In the early 21st century, debt held by the public relative to GDP rose again due in part to the Bush tax cuts and increased military spending caused by the wars in the Middle East and a new entitlement Medicare D program. During the presidency of George W. Bush, debt held by the public increased from $3.339 trillion in September 2001 to $6.369 trillion by the end of 2008.[30][31] In the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007–08 and related significant revenue declines and spending increases, debt held by the public increased to $11.917 trillion by the end of July 2013, under the presidency of Barack Obama.[30][32]

text: 2011 credit rating downgrade[edit]

text: On August 5, 2011, the United States debt-ceiling crisis of 2011, the credit rating agency Standard & Poor's downgraded the rating of the federal government from AAA to AA+. It was the first time the U.S. had been downgraded since it was originally given a AAA rating on its debt by Moody's in 1917.[33] BBC News reported that Standard & Poor's had "lost confidence" in the ability of the U.S. government to make decisions.[34]

text: Changes in debt by political affiliation[edit]

text: The President proposes a national budget to Congress, which has final say over the document but rarely appropriates more than what the President requests.[35]

text: Economist Mike Kimel has noted that the former Democratic Presidents (Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, Lyndon B. Johnson, John F. Kennedy, and Harry S. Truman) all reduced public debt as a share of GDP, while the last four Republican Presidents (George W. Bush, George H. W. Bush, Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford) all oversaw an increase in the country's indebtedness.[36] Economic historian J. Bradford DeLong, observed a contrast not so much between Republicans and Democrats but between Democrats and "old-style Republicans (Eisenhower and Nixon)" on one hand (decreasing debt) and "new-style Republicans" on the other (increasing debt).[37][38] David Stockman, former director of the Office of Management and Budget, blamed the "ideological tax-cutters" of the Reagan administration for the increase of national debt during the 1980s.[39] Former Treasury official Bruce Bartlett attributed the increase in the national debt since the 1980s to the policy of "starve the beast".[40][41] While noting that George H.W. Bush's budget deal in 1990 was one of the reasons for improvement of the fiscal situation in 1990s, Bartlett was highly critical of George W. Bush for creating budget deficits by reducing tax rates and increasing spending in the early 2000s.[42][43]

text: Causes of recent changes in debt[edit]

text: Public debt is the cumulative result of budget deficits; that is, government spending exceeding revenues.

text: 2001 vs. 2009[edit]

text: According to the Congressional Budget Office, the United States last had a budget surplus during fiscal year 2001. From fiscal years 2001 to 2009, spending increased by 6.5% of gross domestic product (from 18.2% to 24.7%) while taxes declined by 4.7% of GDP (from 19.5% to 14.8%). Spending increases (expressed as percentage of GDP) were in the following areas: Medicare and Medicaid (1.7%), defense (1.6%), income security such as unemployment benefits and food stamps (1.4%), Social Security (0.6%) and all other categories (1.2%). Revenue reductions were individual income taxes (−3.3%), payroll taxes (−0.5%), corporate income taxes (−0.5%) and other (−0.4%).

text: The 2009 spending level was the highest relative to GDP in 40 years, while the tax receipts were the lowest relative to GDP in 40 years. The next highest spending year was 1985 (22.8%), while the next lowest tax year was 2004 (16.1%).[44]

text: 2001 vs. 2011[edit]

text: In June 2012, the Congressional Budget Office summarized the cause of change between its January 2001 estimate of a $5.6 trillion cumulative surplus between 2002 and 2011 and the actual $6.1 trillion cumulative deficit that occurred, an unfavorable "turnaround" or debt increase of $11.7 trillion. Tax rate cuts and slower-than-expected growth reduced revenues by $6.1 trillion and spending was $5.6 trillion higher. Of this total, the CBO attributes 72% to legislated tax rate cuts and spending increases and 27% to economic and technical factors. Of the latter, 56% occurred from 2009 to 2011.[45][46]

text: The difference between the projected and actual debt in 2011, the budget office said, could be attributed largely to:

text:
$3.5 trillion – Economic changes (including lower than expected tax revenues and higher safety net spending due to recession)
$1.6 trillion – Bush Tax Cuts (EGTRRA and JGTRRA), primarily tax rate cuts but also some smaller spending increases
$1.5 trillion – Increased non-defense discretionary spending
$1.4 trillion – Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
$1.4 trillion – Incremental interest due to higher debt balances
$0.9 trillion – Obama stimulus and tax cuts (ARRA and Tax Act of 2010)[46]

tag: ul

text: The U.S. budget situation has deteriorated significantly since 2001, when the CBO forecast average annual surpluses of approximately $850 billion from 2009–2012. The average deficit forecast in each of those years as of June 2009 was approximately $1,215 billion. The New York Times analyzed this roughly $2 trillion "swing", separating the causes into four major categories along with their share:

text:
Recessions or the business cycle (37%);
Policies enacted by President Bush (33%);
Policies enacted by President Bush and supported or extended by President Obama (20%); and
New policies from President Obama (10%).

text: Several other articles and experts explained the causes of change in the debt position.[47][48][49]

text: 2008 vs. 2009[edit]

text: In October 2009, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) gave the reasons for the higher budget deficit in 2009 ($1,410 billion, i.e. $1.41 trillion) over that of 2008 ($460 billion). The major changes included: declines in tax receipt of $320 billion due to the effects of the recession and another $100 billion due to tax rate cuts in the stimulus bill (the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act or ARRA); $245 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and other bailout efforts; $100 billion in additional spending for ARRA; and another $185 billion due to increases in primary budget categories such as Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, Social Security, and Defense – including the war effort in Afghanistan and Iraq. This was the highest budget deficit relative to GDP (9.9%) since 1945.[50] The national debt increased by $1.9 trillion during FY2009, versus the $1.0 trillion increase during 2008.[51]

text: The Obama Administration also made four significant accounting changes to more accurately report total federal government spending. The four changes were:

text:
Account for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ("overseas military contingencies") in the budget, rather than through supplemental appropriations
Assume the Alternative Minimum Tax is indexed for inflation;
Account for the full costs of Medicare reimbursements
Anticipate inevitable expenditures for natural disaster relief

tag: ol

text: Obama administration officials predicted that these changes will make the debt over ten years look $2.7 trillion larger than it would otherwise appear.[52]

text: Historical debt levels[edit]

text: Gross federal debt[edit]

text: This table lists the U.S. federal debt as a percentage of gross domestic product, or GDP, each year since World War II.[53] The gross federal debt shown below reached 102.7% of GDP at the end of 2012, the most recent figure available; it was the highest percentage since 1945 and the first yearly percentage figure to go over 100% since then. (The gross federal debt in the table includes intra-government debt – that is, money owed by one branch of the federal government to another. When this latter amount is subtracted, the remaining quantity is known as the public debt.)

text:
Congressional session
Years
President
President's party
Debt-to-GDP ratio at start of period
Debt-to-GDP ratio at end of period
Change in debt (in billions of dollars)
Change in debt-to-GDP ratio
(in percentage points)

77–78
1941–1945
Roosevelt
Democratic
50.4%
117.5%
+203
+67.1

79–80
1945–1949
Roosevelt, Truman
Democratic
117.5%
93.1%
-8
-24.4

81–82
1949–1953
Truman
Democratic
93.1%
71.4%
+13
-21.7

83–84
1953–1957
Eisenhower
Republican
71.4%
60.4%
+6
-11.0

85–86
1957–1961
Eisenhower
Republican
60.4%
55.2%
+20
-5.2

87–88
1961–1965
Kennedy, Johnson
Democratic
55.2%
46.9%
+30
-8.3

89–90
1965–1969
Johnson
Democratic
46.9%
38.6%
+43
-8.3

91–92
1969–1973
Nixon
Republican
38.6%
35.6%
+101
-3.0

93–94
1973–1977
Nixon, Ford
Republican
35.6%
35.8%
+177
+0.2

95–96
1977–1981
Carter
Democratic
35.8%
32.5%
+288
-3.3

97–98
1981–1985
Reagan
Republican
32.5%
43.8%
+823
+11.3

99–100
1985–1989
Reagan
Republican
43.8%
53.1%
+1,050
+9.3

101–102
1989–1993
Bush Sr.
Republican
53.1%
66.1%
+1,483
+13.0

103–104
1993–1997
Clinton
Democratic
66.1%
65.4%
+1,018
-0.7

105–106
1997–2001
Clinton
Democratic
65.4%
56.4%
+401
-9.0

107–108
2001–2005
Bush
Republican
56.4%
63.5%
+2,135
+7.1

109–110
2005–2009
Bush
Republican
63.5%
84.2%
+3,971
+20.7

111–112
2009–2013
Obama
Democratic
84.2%
102.7%
+6,061
+18.5

tag: table

text: (Source: CBO Historical Budget Page and Whitehouse FY 2012 Budget – Table 7.1 Federal Debt at the End of Year PDF, Excel, Senate.gov)

text: Notes:

text:
Some of the debt included in this chart for each presidential administration may include debt added under the next presidential administration.[54]
For net jobs changes over the corresponding periods, see: Jobs created during U.S. presidential terms.

text: Publicly held debt[edit]

text: Publicly held debt is the gross debt minus intra-governmental obligations (such as the money that the government owes to the two Social Security Trust Funds, the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program, and the Social Security Disability Insurance program).[55]

text: Federal spending, federal debt and GDP[edit]

text: The table below shows annual federal spending, gross federal debt and gross domestic product for specific fiscal years.[56] The government fiscal year runs from October 1 of the previous calendar year to September 30 of the year shown.

text:
Fiscal year
Federal spending
Federal debt
Gross domestic product
Inflation adjuster[57]

Billions[58]
Adjusted[59]
Change
Billions[60]
Adjusted[61]
Change
Billions[62]
Adjusted[63]
Change

1977
$409
$1,040

$705
$1,795

$1,974
$5,019

0.39

1978
$459
$1,093
5.1%
$776
$1,850
3.1%
$2,217
$5,285
5.3%
0.42

1979
$504
$1,107
1.3%
$829
$1,821
−1.5%
$2,501
$5,494
4.0%
0.46

1980
$591
$1,175
6.1%
$909
$1,808
−0.8%
$2,727
$5,422
−1.3%
0.50

1981
$678
$1,219
3.8%
$994
$1,787
−1.1%
$3,055
$5,492
1.3%
0.56

1982
$746
$1,252
2.6%
$1,137
$1,908
6.8%
$3,228
$5,417
−1.4%
0.60

1983
$808
$1,294
3.4%
$1,371
$2,195
15.0%
$3,441
$5,510
1.7%
0.62

1984
$852
$1,300
0.4%
$1,564
$2,386
8.7%
$3,840
$5,858
6.3%
0.66

1985
$946
$1,396
7.4%
$1,817
$2,680
12.3%
$4,142
$6,108
4.3%
0.68

1986
$990
$1,426
2.1%
$2,120
$3,052
13.9%
$4,412
$6,352
4.0%
0.69

1987
$1,004
$1,406
−1.4%
$2,345
$3,283
7.6%
$4,647
$6,506
2.4%
0.71

1988
$1,065
$1,447
2.9%
$2,601
$3,534
7.7%
$5,009
$6,806
4.6%
0.74

1989
$1,144
$1,499
3.6%
$2,867
$3,757
6.3%
$5,401
$7,077
4.0%
0.76

1990
$1,253
$1,590
6.1%
$3,206
$4,067
8.3%
$5,735
$7,277
2.8%
0.79

1991
$1,324
$1,610
1.3%
$3,598
$4,374
7.5%
$5,935
$7,215
−0.8%
0.82

1992
$1,382
$1,624
0.9%
$4,001
$4,703
7.5%
$6,240
$7,334
1.7%
0.85

1993
$1,410
$1,615
−0.5%
$4,351
$4,987
6.0%
$6,576
$7,536
2.8%
0.87

1994
$1,462
$1,642
1.7%
$4,643
$5,216
4.6%
$6,961
$7,820
3.8%
0.89

1995
$1,516
$1,662
1.2%
$4,920
$5,395
3.4%
$7,326
$8,033
2.7%
0.91

1996
$1,561
$1,673
0.7%
$5,181
$5,554
3.0%
$7,694
$8,248
2.7%
0.93

1997
$1,601
$1,684
0.7%
$5,369
$5,647
1.7%
$8,182
$8,606
4.3%
0.95

1998
$1,653
$1,721
2.2%
$5,478
$5,704
1.0%
$8,628
$8,985
4.4%
0.96

1999
$1,702
$1,746
1.5%
$5,605
$5,750
0.8%
$9,125
$9,361
4.2%
0.97

2000
$1,789
$1,789
2.5%
$5,628
$5,628
−2.1%
$9,710
$9,710
3.7%
1.00

2001
$1,863
$1,821
1.8%
$5,769
$5,638
0.2%
$10,058
$9,829
1.2%
1.02

2002
$2,011
$1,929
6.0%
$6,198
$5,945
5.5%
$10,377
$9,954
1.3%
1.04

2003
$2,160
$2,018
4.6%
$6,760
$6,316
6.2%
$10,809
$10,099
1.4%
1.07

2004
$2,293
$2,082
3.2%
$7,354
$6,677
5.7%
$11,500
$10,441
3.4%
1.10

2005
$2,472
$2,165
4.0%
$7,905
$6,923
3.7%
$12,238
$10,717
2.6%
1.14

2006
$2,655
$2,249
3.9%
$8,451
$7,158
3.4%
$13,016
$11,024
2.9%
1.18

2007
$2,730
$2,263
0.6%
$8,951
$7,419
3.6%
$13,668
$11,329
2.8%
1.21

2008
$2,931
$2,366
4.6%
$9,654
$7,793
5.0%
$14,312
$11,553
0%
1.24

2009*
$3,107
$2,452
3.6%
$10,413
$8,218
5.5%
$14,097
$11,529
2.6%
1.27

2010*
$3,091
$2,392
−2.4%
$11,875
$9,247
12.5%
$14,508
$11,297
−2.0%
1.29

text: Note: The values for the years 2009, and 2010 represent estimates from the source material.


document_title: Still waters run deep

question_text: what is the meaning of the proverb still waters run deep

text: Still waters run deep

text: Still waters run deep is a proverb of Latin origin now commonly taken to mean that a placid exterior hides a passionate or subtle nature. Formerly it also carried the warning that silent people are dangerous, as in Caesar's summing up of Cassius in William Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar I.2.195–6:

text: This interpretation was also given currency in the commentaries of those who based a fable on the saying.

text: According to the Oxford Concise Dictionary of Proverbs, the first mention of the proverb appears in Classical times in the form altissima quaeque flumina minimo sono labi (the deepest rivers flow with least sound) in a history of Alexander the Great by Quintus Rufus Curtius and is there claimed as being of Bactrian origin.[1] The earliest mention in English sources goes back to 1400.[2]

text: The fable[edit]

text: In about 1490 the Italian writer Laurentius Abstemius expanded the proverb into a short fable in Latin titled De rustico amnem transituro[3] in his Hecatomythium and this was subsequently included in European collections of Aesop's fables. In 1692 Roger L'Estrange included an outline of the Abstemius version in his edition of the fables under the title of A Country-man and a River, along with the interpretation that men of few words are dangerous:

text: Slightly earlier than L'Estrange's translation, there was an amplified version of the story in La Fontaine's Fables under the title "The torrent and the river" (Le torrent et la rivière, VIII.23). It tells of a man trying to escape a robber who easily fords a turbulent stream but drowns in a smooth-flowing river, ending on the caution that 'Silent folk are dangerous'.[5] The French proverb that is the nearest equivalent to the English 'still waters run deep' also emphasizes this danger: 'no water is worse than quiet water' (Il n’est pire eau que l’eau qui dort). When the caricaturist J. J. Grandville illustrated La Fontaine's fable, he further underlined this meaning by transposing it into a seduction scene. In the background a capering donkey and a shrew are advancing along the road, watched by a woman whose hands are clasped by a sleek cat. Unnoticed at her feet, a snake is slithering through the grass.


document_title: The Last Airbender

question_text: who plays zuko in the last airbender movie

text: The Last Airbender

text: Plot[edit]

text: 15-year-old Sokka and his 14-year-old sister, Katara, are near a river at the Southern Water Tribe, a small village in the South Pole. While hunting, they discover an iceberg that when broken open shoots a beam of light into the sky. Inside of the iceberg is a 12-year-old boy named Aang and a giant flying bison named Appa. Unknown to them, Aang is the long-lost Avatar – the only person capable of "bending" all 4 elements of Air, Water, Earth and Fire. A century has passed since the Fire Nation has declared war on the other 3 nations of Air, Water, and Earth in their attempt to conquer the world.

text: Zuko is the scarred 16-year-old exiled prince of the Fire Nation on a quest to find the Avatar and bring him to his father, Fire Lord Ozai, so he can regain his honor. Seeing the light that appeared from Aang's release, Zuko and some Fire Nation soldiers arrive at the Southern Water Tribe to demand the villagers hand over the Avatar. Aang reveals himself and surrenders to Zuko on the condition that he agrees to leave the village alone. On the ship, Aang is tested by Zuko's paternal uncle Iroh to confirm he is the Avatar. After being informed that he is to be their prisoner for passing the test, Aang escapes using his glider and flies to his flying bison brought by Katara and Sokka. Aang and his new friends visit the Southern Air Temple where they meet a winged lemur, who Aang later names Momo. Aang also learns that he was in the ice for a whole century and that the Fire Nation wiped out all of the Air Nomads, including his guardian, Monk Gyatso. In despair, he enters the Avatar State and finds himself in the Spirit World where he encounters a Dragon Spirit. Katara's pleas bring Aang back out of the Avatar State.

text: To seek shelter, Aang's group arrives at a little Earth Kingdom village controlled by the Fire Nation, but they are arrested and taken to a prison for Earthbenders surrounded by earth [13] because Katara tries to help a young boy escape from Fire Nation soldiers. They incite a rebellion by reminding the disgruntled Earthbenders that Earth was given to them. Aang tells Katara and Sokka that he only knows airbending and he must master the other three elements. Katara is given a waterbending scroll that she uses to greatly strengthen and hone her waterbending abilities and to help Aang learn as they make their way to the Northern Water Tribe (where Aang will be able to learn from waterbending masters) and liberate more Earth Kingdom villages in the process, weakening the Fire Nation's food and water supplies.

text: During a side track to the Northern Air Temple on his own, Aang is betrayed by a Southern Earth Kingdom peasant and captured by a group of Fire Nation archers, led by Commander Zhao, a Fire Nation Commander appointed by the Fire Lord. However, a masked marauder, the "Blue Spirit", helps Aang escape from his imprisonment, fighting off the Fire Nation soldiers under Zhao's command until the blue spirit realises they will be overwhelmed, at which point he takes Aang hostage to negotiate their way out. During the prison break, Zhao realizes that Zuko is the masked vigilante. He arranges to kill the prince, first by having a crossbowman fire a bolt over a huge distance that shatters the lower half of Zuko's mask and knocks him out, however Aang uses his skills to bend a cloud across the bridge connecting the prison to the other side of the valley, causing the Fire Nation soldiers in pursuit to stop in fear. With the cloud covering their escape, Aang escapes with an unconscious Zuko into a nearby forest and watches over Zuko until morning, when he leaves to reunite with Sokka and Katara. Zhao tries again to kill Zuko, this time by rupturing a gas pipe running through Zuko's quarters on Iroh's ship. Noticing the danger, Zuko manages to survive the attempt on his life with Iroh's help. He sneaks aboard Zhao's lead ship as his fleet departs for the Northern Water Tribe, which is a heavy fortress, to capture the Avatar. Upon arriving, Aang's group is welcomed warmly by the citizens of the Northern Water Tribe. Sokka quickly befriends the Northern Water Tribe princess, Yue. After a few agreements, a waterbending master, Pakku, teaches Aang waterbending. Katara also becomes a much stronger and more powerful waterbender due to her training with Master Pakku.

text: Soon, the Fire Nation arrives and Zhao begins his attack while Zuko begins his search for the Avatar on his own. After defeating Katara in a battle, Zuko captures Aang as he enters the Spirit World to find the Dragon Spirit to give him the wisdom to defeat the Fire Nation who tells him to let his emotions "flow like water". Returning to his body, Aang battles Zuko before Katara freezes him. Before leaving to join the battle, Aang lowers the ice so that Zuko can breathe. As the battle escalates, Iroh watches Zhao capture the Moon Spirit, with which its Ocean Spirit counterpart had assumed the form of a fish. Despite Iroh's pleas, Zhao kills the Moon Spirit to strip all of the waterbenders of their ability to waterbend. Iroh, enraged by Zhao's disrespect for sacredness and by his actions to unbalance the world, reveals the extent of his mastery of firebending by using his chi to create huge flame jets from his wrists, scaring Zhao and his entourage of Fire Nation Soldiers out of the sacred cave. Yue explains to everyone that the Moon Spirit gave her life and, with Iroh's help, realises she can give her life back to the Moon Spirit as she dies in the process. With the tables turned, Zhao finds out Zuko survived. They almost fight before Iroh appears and tells Zuko it's not worth it. Zhao attempts one more time to kill Zuko with a massive blast of fire, which Iroh manages to deflect. Zhao is drowned by waterbenders after Zuko and Iroh leave him to his fate. Aang remembers his life before being trapped in the ice, including when he left his home, seeing his master's face. With his waterbending powers and his emotions "flowing like water", Aang enters the Avatar State and raises the ocean into a gigantic wall to drive the armada back. Aang now fully embraces his destiny as the Avatar as he, Katara and Sokka prepare to continue their journey to the Earth Kingdom to find an earthbending teacher for Aang. The Fire Lord learns of the defeat; angry over the betrayal of his brother Iroh and the failure of his eldest son Zuko, he tasks his youngest daughter, Zuko's sister, Azula to stop the Avatar from mastering Earth and Fire before the arrival of Sozin's Comet.

text: Cast[edit]

text: Noah Ringer as Aang[14]

text: Dev Patel as Prince Zuko[15]

text: Nicola Peltz as Katara[14]

text: Jackson Rathbone as Sokka[14]

text: Shaun Toub as Uncle Iroh[16]

text: Aasif Mandvi as Commander Zhao[16]

text: Seychelle Gabriel as Princess Yue

text: Cliff Curtis as Fire Lord Ozai

text: Summer Bishil as Princess Azula

text: Francis Guinan as Master Pakku

text: Randall Duk Kim as Old man in temple

text: Isaac Jin Solstein as Haru

text: Keong Sim as Tyro

text: John Noble as Dragon Spirit

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: According to an interview with the co-creators in SFX magazine, Shyamalan came across Avatar when his daughter wanted to be Katara for Halloween. Intrigued, Shyamalan researched and watched the series with his family. "Watching Avatar has become a family event in my house ... so we are looking forward to how the story develops in season three," said Shyamalan. "Once I saw the amazing world that Mike and Bryan created, I knew it would make a great feature film."[17] He added he was attracted to the spiritual and martial arts influences on the show.[18]

text: Avatar: The Last Airbender co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko voiced their opinion within an interview regarding Shyamalan writing, directing, and producing the film. The two displayed much enthusiasm over Shyamalan's decision for the adaptation, stating that they admire his work and, in turn, he respects their material.[19] Producer Frank Marshall explained that they have high hopes to stick to a PG rating. "I'm not even sure we want to get in the PG-13 realm. Furthermore, Shyamalan said, "A lot of the inspiration for the direction we took comes from a friend of mine. A Nathan Blackmer helped shape this Idea into the film it became. I took away a little bit of the slapsticky stuff that was there for the little little kids, the fart jokes and things like that...We grounded Katara's brother...and that really did wonderful things for the whole theme of the movie."[20] Paramount's president Brad Grey said that despite the director's career being inconsistent, he "believed in [Shyamalan's] vision and that he could execute it," adding that "It's a bold step because he had to create a potential new franchise."[5] The studio was willing to spend $250 million in a trilogy of films, one for each season.[21] The Last Airbender's budget wound up being $150 million, with later over $130 million being spent on marketing costs, making it Shyamalan's most expensive film.[5] During production, the name Avatar was removed from the title to avoid confusion with the highly-successful 2009 film Avatar.

text: Casting[edit]

text: Shyamalan originally offered the roles of Aang to Noah Ringer; Sokka to Jackson Rathbone; Katara to Nicola Peltz; and Zuko to Jesse McCartney.[22] In an interview with People, Shyamalan claimed that he did not want to make The Last Airbender without Nicola Peltz, "I said that only once before in my career, and that was when I met Haley in The Sixth Sense auditions."[23] In February 2009, Dev Patel replaced Jesse McCartney, whose tour dates conflicted with a boot camp scheduled for the cast to train in martial arts.[24][25] Katharine Houghton played "Gran Gran", the grandmother of Katara and Sokka, and Seychelle Gabriel portrayed Princess Yue, another of Sokka's love interests and princess of the Northern Water Tribe.[26] Isaac Jin Solstein played an earthbending boy.[27] Comedian Aasif Mandvi played Commander Zhao, Cliff Curtis played Fire Lord Ozai, and Keong Sim was cast in the role of an Earthbender.[28]

text: Ringer began practicing Taekwondo – the martial art and national sport of Korea – at the age of 10.[29] His skills later garnered accolades, including the title of American Taekwondo Association Texas State Champion.[29] He began shaving his head during his martial arts training to help cool off, which gave him the nickname "Avatar" due to his resemblance to Aang from the animated series.[29] When he heard about the film adaptation, he made an audition tape with his instructor and sent it to the filmmakers. He hadn't worked on a film before, but his resemblance to Aang – enhanced by painting a blue arrow on his already shaved head, swung him the role.[29] Having not acted before, Ringer was required to attend acting school a month before filming commenced.[29] Peltz was familiar with the character before submitting for the part of Katara, having faithfully watched Avatar: The Last Airbender, the animated series on which the film is based, with her younger twin brothers.[29] She describes her character as being a big role model with young girls and women, "She's really mentally and physically strong, strong-willed and -minded, but she's also caring and compassionate... The movie has a lot of values, but it's also fun. It's fantasy, but it's also a really cool battle between good and evil."[29] She explained that she initially didn't know about Rathbone starring in the Twilight films until after she met him and said that working with Shyamalan was an amazing experience.[29] Rathbone, who originally auditioned for the role of Zuko, was approached by Shyamalan to audition for the film.[30] After waiting for six months, he received a call informing him that he was cast as Sokka.[30] Rathbone stated that his favorite scenes were the fight sequences, which he prepared for by stickfighting.[30]

text: Before Slumdog Millionaire was released, Patel auditioned for the role of Zuko by submitting a tape to the studio.[31] Shyamalan called Patel personally to inform him that he got the part.[31] Training for the film was intense, as he had to learn Wushu and different martial arts.[31] Patel recalls fighting, punching, and throwing and said the experience was "truly amazing."[31] While he was filming Slumdog in India, he would finish a take and turn one of the channels over to the animated series.[31] Even though it is based on a cartoon, he wanted to bring as much of himself as possible to the character he was portraying.[31] Shaun Toub, who was cast as Iroh, describes his character in the first film as "loose" and "free".[32] He compares Zuko's "obsession" to his childhood memories and how kids are always looking for their parents' approval, saying that Zuko just wants his father's. "He isn't necessarily bad, he just has a great deal of built up anger and forgets to consider others. I think people will understand that he's not bad, he's just angry and hurting because he really wants his father to love him, but his father is too busy with other things."[32] He says that Patel is an "18 year old with all this energy," and that Patel was able to influence him into appreciating the business of filmmaking more.[32] While comparing the animated series to the film, he says the film is much more serious.[32] He attributed this change to the director trying to relate to every age group, rather than just kids.[32]

text: Filming[edit]

text: Pre-production began in late 2008, while filming began in March 2009 in Greenland. After two weeks, the cast and crew moved to Reading, Pennsylvania, where production designers and special-effects crews worked for several weeks, preparing the local site for the film.[33] A production team scouting the area found the pagoda on Mount Penn, which served as an ancient temple in the film.[33] Reading mayor Tom McMahon explained that crews made road improvements and buried electrical lines surrounding the structure.[33]

text: Filming also took place in Ontelaunee Township and at the William Penn Memorial Fire Tower in Pennsylvania after the production crew finished at the Pagoda. When asked about shooting the film in Reading, Pamela Shupp, vice president of Berks Economic Development said, "They needed buildings to shoot all the interiors, and were looking for a group of buildings with high ceilings and specific column spacing. We showed them a number of buildings, but we couldn't come up with enough to meet their requirements. So the interiors will be shot in Philadelphia."[20][33]

text: Visual effects[edit]

text: With a film as technologically advanced as Avatar, the expectations of realistically throwing balls of fire and water were pushed to the limit on The Last Airbender.[34] Pablo Helman, who previously worked on Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, was the visual effects supervisor for the Industrial Light and Magic team on the film.[34] He worked closely with Shyamalan, reviewing each scene and talking about the visual effects needed to tell the story, and ultimately worked with about 300 people to reflect the director's vision, who he said planned it all in a story-board book.[34]

text: Industrial Light and Magic was posed with visualizing the elemental tribes of Air, Water, Earth, and Fire; most importantly creating the "bending" styles of these elements.[34] Additionally, they were required to animate creatures and enhance stunt work with digital doubles. "The work was challenging," shares Helman. "We had to figure out what "bending" is for fire, water, air and earth."[34] The project was started without the desired technology needed to create the effects. Rather than software, computer graphic cards were the basis for "bending" the elements, allowing previews to be viewed more swiftly. This resulted in Shyamalan having to direct more than sixty takes before the effect was finished and lined up with his visions.[34]

text: Due to reality-based expectations, fire and water were the hardest elements to effectively bend, and because of particle work which was unable to be rendered in hardware, earth bending also was difficult to create.[34] With water, the variety in different scales required Helman and his team to create different techniques. The concept for air was derived from the animation of the television series.[34] To create the air bending effect, visual effects art director Christian Alzman and digital matte department supervisor Barry Williams explained that seeing dust and snow particles, rather than seeing the air itself, helped shape the real world effect of bending the element. Before the bending effects could be applied though, the actor's movements had to be matched; Shyamalan therefore wanted each character's bending styles to be unique to fit with their unique personalities.[34]

text: The challenge for fire didn't come with making it look realistic, but rather making the fire behave in an unrealistic way that would be believable to the audience.[34] The film that inspired The Last Airbender's fire style was the sixth Harry Potter film, which was re-engineered to reflect two-dimensional simulations.[35] Helman's team referenced images of flames being pushed through the air by giant fans for certain shots needed throughout the film. The team also considered using a meshed image of real and digital fire, but in the end, went with the richer, deeper texture of computer generated flame.[35]

text: In matte paintings, this was the biggest show that Helman had ever done. The paintings had to be in 3D because the visual style included long duration shots in which the camera always moved.[34] The climax, which was enacted on a 200 by 200 feet (61 m × 61 m) set, had to be incorporated with still of the landscapes shot in Greenland, as well as the low-angle lighting that was captured on location there.[34] The camera was animated to get angles needed for different shots in the film by importing these stills into the computer. Multiple cameras were used to capture the different wire-work and animation that was used to create the creatures and many fight scenes within the film. In creating these creatures, the team referenced nature.[34] In order for them to be believable, they looked for examples of the same size and weight as the animated character and then developed hybrids from different animals to make each species unique. This was done by observing actual animals to get a take on how they would act.[34] Shyamalan's take on the personality of each creature also influenced the creation stage of the creatures. For example, the lemur Momo has flying mechanics based on a giant fruit bat. Other elements, such as texturing, hair or scale simulation, and light and shadow complimentary to the live action, were added to make the final animation appear as real as possible during the later stages of character development.[34]

text: Paramount Pictures made an announcement in late April 2010, revealing that The Last Airbender would be released in 3D.[36] This decision came after an increasing number of films being made or converted to 3D, such as Avatar, Alice in Wonderland and Clash of the Titans, made a decent profit at the box office.[37] Although Helman stated that Shyamalan's way of shooting without fast edits and the film's visuals could lend itself to the 3D conversion well, James Cameron voiced his disapproval on any film being converted using this process, saying, "You can slap a 3-D label on it and call it 3-D, but there's no possible way that it can be done up to a standard that anybody would consider high enough."[38][39] Despite this, Shyamalan opted to work with Stereo D LLC, the company who worked on James Cameron's own Avatar.[36] The conversion process for the film cost between $5 million and $10 million, adding to the reported $100 million that already went into the film.[37]

text: Music[edit]

text: In December 2008, James Newton Howard was announced as the composer for The Last Airbender.[40] The film marks the seventh collaboration between Howard and M. Night Shyamalan, after the 2008 film The Happening. Howard had received acclaim for his work with Hans Zimmer on The Dark Knight.[40] On May 13, 2009, producer Frank Marshall announced that Howard was recording music for the teaser trailer that was later released that summer;[41] it was later confirmed by Frank Marshall that all of the film's trailers featured original music by Howard himself.[42] The soundtrack, released by Lakeshore Records on June 29, 2010, required Howard to hire a 119-member ensemble.[43] Running at about 66 minutes, it contains eleven tracks ranging from three to seven minutes, with a twelfth track, called "Airbender Suite" running at nearly eleven minutes. Reviews for the score were overwhelmingly positive.[43][44][45]

text: Casting controversy[edit]

text: The casting of white actors in the East Asian and Inuit-influenced Avatar universe, as well as the fact that the casting of the heroes and villains seemed to be backward racially from the show, triggered negative reactions from some fans marked by accusations of racism, a letter-writing campaign, and various protests.[46][47] "To take this incredibly loved children's series, and really distort not only the ethnicity of the individual characters but the message of acceptance and cultural diversity that the original series advocated, is a huge blow," said Michael Le of Racebending.com, a fan site calling for a boycott of the martial-arts fantasy.[48] As a result of the casting, the Media Action Network for Asian-Americans urged a film boycott for the first time in the organization's 18-year history. "This was a great opportunity to create new Asian-American stars...I'm disappointed." stated Guy Aoki, president of the organization.[49] After a casting call specifically looking for "Caucasians and other ethnicities," Shyamalan explained that "Ultimately, this movie, and then the three movies, will be the most culturally diverse tent-pole movies ever released, period." Furthermore, Paramount provided a statement about the casting choices, "The movie has 23 credited speaking roles – more than half of which feature Asian and Pan Asian actors of Korean, Japanese and Indian descent. The filmmaker's interpretation reflects the myriad qualities that have made this series a global phenomenon. We believe fans of the original and new audiences alike will respond positively once they see it."

text: Shyamalan commented on the issues regarding fans' perceptions of the casting in an interview with Washington Post columnist Jen Chaney, saying, "Anime is based on ambiguous facial features. It's meant to be interpretive. It's meant to be inclusive of all races, and you can see yourself in all these characters...This is a multicultural movie and I'm going to make it even more multicultural in my approach to its casting. There's African-Americans in the movie...so it's a source of pride for me. The irony that [protesters] would label this with anything but the greatest pride, that the movie poster has Noah and Dev on it and my name on it. I don't know what else to do."[50] In this quote, Shyamalan's reference to Noah Ringer can be explained by Noah's self-identification of his ancestry as "American Indian," although critics of the film's casting have presumed that the actor is simply "white" when making their complaints.

text: Rathbone was also one to dismiss the complaints in an interview with MTV, saying, "I think it's one of those things where I pull my hair up, shave the sides, and I definitely need a tan. It's one of those things where, hopefully, the audience will suspend disbelief a little bit."[51] The controversy was poorly received by critics as well.[52] Film critic Roger Ebert was one of the critical voices against the casting. When asked about casting a white cast to portray the characters, he said, "The original series Avatar: The Last Airbender was highly regarded and popular for three seasons on Nickelodeon. Its fans take it for granted that its heroes are Asian. Why would Paramount and Shyamalan go out of their way to offend these fans? There are many young Asian actors capable of playing the parts."[53] Jevon Phillips of the Los Angeles Times noted that despite Shyamalan's attempts to defuse the situation, "this is definitely not an issue that will fade away or be overlooked" and that this film exemplifies the need for a debate within Hollywood about racial diversity in its films.[54]

text: In July 2013, series co-creator Bryan Konietzko responded to an online comment about skin color in The Legend of Korra. Konietzko wrote that his work on the two series "speaks for itself which obviously does not include the gross misinterpretations and misrepresentations of our work in [Shyamalan's] work."[55]

text: Marketing[edit]

text: Promotion[edit]

text: The teaser trailer for the film was attached to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, released in theaters on June 24, 2009.[56] The teaser trailer was also shown exclusively on the June 22, 2009 episode of Entertainment Tonight.[57] The trailer shows Aang airbending in a temple which is being attacked by a multitude of Fire Nation ships. A trailer was to be released around Christmas 2009, but it was pushed back until February 2010 because not enough visual effects shots were completed.[58][59] This trailer was attached to the first Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief film released on February 12, 2010.[60] A trailer was later released on March 25, 2010.[61] It was then attached with How to Train Your Dragon. The last theatrical trailer is attached to Iron Man 2 which was released May 7, 2010.[62]

text: The first TV spot aired during Super Bowl XLIV on February 7, 2010.[63] It showed parts of the film that were not shown in the teaser trailer and had no diagetic dialogue, but merely narration. On February 10, the theatrical trailer was released online.[64] It shows multiple scenes from the film and is an expanded version of the first TV spot. McDonald's sold Happy Meals to promote the film.

text: On February 9, 2010, Nickelodeon Consumer Products also debuted the upcoming line of toys based on The Last Airbender. It includes various 33⁄4-inch action figures, as well as larger, action-enabled figures, costumes and other props. Among the toys featured in the line were figures based on Aang, Prince Zuko, Sokka, Katara, and a fully ride-able Appa the Sky Bison.[65] "We worked very closely with M. Night, the rest of the Paramount team and our in-house design team, along with our partner Spin-Master, to come up with the right assortment, the right size for these action figures and make sure we had representation of all the nations within the 'Airbender' series," said Nickelodeon's Lourdes Arocho. The Last Airbender action figures are expected to be released in three "waves"; wave one on June 1,[66] wave two near the film's July release date, and wave three near the 2010 holiday season.[65] THQ Studio Australia also developed a video game based on the film. Titled The Last Airbender, it was released on June 29, 2010 for the Wii and the Nintendo DS.[67]

text: Graphic novels[edit]

text: Two original black-and-white graphic novels, entitled The Last Airbender Prequel: Zuko's Story and The Last Airbender, drawn in the manga style, were written by Dave Roman and Alison Wilgus. "We're excited to be working with Nickelodeon to bring these great stories to the manga audience", says Dallas Middaugh, Associate Publisher of Del Rey Manga. "Avatar: The Last Airbender has shown incredible crossover appeal with manga fans. The release of The Last Airbender movie and original tie-in manga gives us the chance to share completely new stories with Avatar fans looking for more about Aang, Zuko, and their favorite characters."[68] The second manga, The Last Airbender, illustrated by Joon Choi, was released on June 22, 2010. The plot, like the film, is a condensed version of the first season of the series.[69]

text: The prequel, Zuko's Story, is co-written by Alison Wilgus and Dave Roman and illustrated by Nina Matsumoto and was released on May 18, 2010.[70] The synopsis for the graphic novel was released in early 2010, "When Prince Zuko dared to question authority, his father, Fire Lord Ozai, banished him from the Fire Nation. Horribly scarred and stripped of everything he held dear, Zuko has wandered the earth for almost three years in search of his only chance at redemption: the Avatar, a mystical being who once kept the four nations in balance. Everyone he encounters believes that this is an impossible task, as the Avatar disappeared a century ago. But Zuko stubbornly continues the search. He must regain his honor, so his quest is all he has left."[70]

text: Roman and Wilgus, who developed comics based on the series for Nick Magazine, consulted series creators Mike Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and head writer for the show Aaron Ehasz while they were developing Zuko's Story.[71] The four wanted to try a comic that would fit into with the continuity of the show. The prequel, though mostly associated with the film, was meant to be a prequel to the series.[71] Roman explained, "In a lot of ways, it's like an expanded origin. With the film and the series, there are differences and there are places where they split off, but the setup for both is exactly the same – so when you're introduced to the characters, that's the part where they're completely identical." The prequel allowed the expansions of different details told in the series; for example, an episode called "The Blue Spirit" in the series was seen in the film.[71] However, since explaining everything that happened in that episode was hard to translate onto film, the prequel allowed for them to "delve" into that specific story. What more, when asked about whether he answered some questions that were left open at the end of the series, Roman stated that, while he had a strong relationship with the show's creators and got their blessing for his project, it wasn't his plot to address.[71]

text: Release[edit]

text: The Last Airbender was rumored to be released in the summer of 2010 before it received a formal release date of July 1, 2010.[72] To avoid confusion with James Cameron's Avatar, the title was changed from Avatar: The Last Airbender to simply The Last Airbender.[72] On June 16, 2010, it was revealed that the film would be released on July 1, 2010, and after questions about the definition of the release being limited or wide, was later confirmed by the studio to be a full nationwide release.[7][73] The film premiered in New York City on June 30, 2010,[11] and opened the following day in 3,169 theaters, against The Twilight Saga: Eclipse which also stars Jackson Rathbone.[74]

text: Home media[edit]

text: The Last Airbender was released on DVD and Blu-ray on November 16, 2010.[75] At the same time, a Blu-ray 3D version was also made available exclusively at Best Buy locations.[76] The Last Airbender grossed $12,757,094 and sold a total of 750,859 units in its first week on DVD.[77] The Last Airbender was re-released on DVD and Blu-ray on April 25, 2017.

text: Reception[edit]

text: Box office[edit]

text: The Last Airbender had grossed $131,772,187 in the United States, and $187,941,694 in other countries, making for a total of $319,713,881 worldwide.[2]

text: On its opening day in the United States, The Last Airbender made $16,614,112, ranking fifth overall for Thursday openings.[78] For its opening three-day, Fourth of July weekend, The Last Airbender accumulated a total of $40,325,019. The following Monday, it grossed $11,479,213. 54% of its total gross was from 3D presentations at 1,606 screens. On Thursday, July 1, 2010, its opening day, it debuted at #2 behind The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. It stayed #2 until Monday, July 5, 2010, when it went down to #3 now behind Eclipse and Toy Story 3. On July 9, it went down to #5 behind Despicable Me, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, Predators, and Toy Story 3. By Friday, July 23, it was down to #9 behind Inception, Salt, Despicable Me, Ramona and Beezus, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Toy Story 3, Grown Ups, and Eclipse.[79]

text: Opening overseas in 923 sites, the film grossed an estimated $9 million, $8 million of which was from 870 sites in Russia, making it the number one film there.[80] The film grossed $9.4 million from its second weekend in overseas markets.[81]

text: The film was the twentieth highest-grossing film of 2010.[82]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: The film was panned by critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave a 6% approval rating based on 183 reviews with an average rating of 2.8 out of 10, making it the lowest rated film ever produced by Nickelodeon Movies, and Shyamalan's worst-reviewed film to date.[83] The consensus was "The Last Airbender squanders its popular source material with incomprehensible plotting, horrible acting, and detached joyless direction."[84] By comparison, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating based on reviews from the top mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 20 out of 100, based on 33 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[85] CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade moviegoers gave the film was "C" on an A+ to F scale.[86]

text: Liam Lacey of The Globe and Mail stated the film had little chance to develop its characters and therefore suffered, with the overall storyline of the film becoming a run-on narrative.[87] According to Owen Gleiberman from Entertainment Weekly, who gave the film a C, "The Last Airbender keeps throwing things at you, but its final effect is, in every way, flat."[88] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film half a star in his review, stating that it "bores and alienates its audiences," and notes the poor use of 3D among the film's faults.[89] Keith Phipps of The A.V. Club gave the film an F, criticizing the performances of the child actors, overuse of exposition, and shoehorned 3D special effects, calling it the worst summer blockbuster of 2010.[90] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said that the lack of correct casting caused the film to lose substantial credibility in regard to its source material, but did praise the casting and acting of Noah Ringer as Aang.[91] Peter Debruge of Variety criticized the casting and the score, saying that the overall effect of each play into making the film a bore.[92] Rifftrax put the film at number 5 of The top 10 Worst Movies of All Time, saying "We CAN state for the record that it is quite easy to detest this movie even if you've never seen a frame of the TV show." [93]

text:
"The Last Airbender" is an agonizing experience in every category I can think of and others still waiting to be invented. The laws of chance suggest that something should have gone right. Not here. It puts a nail in the coffin of low-rent 3D, but it will need a lot more coffins than that.

—Roger Ebert, Sun Times[94]

text: Charlie Jane Anders in the review by io9 criticized "the personality-free hero, the nonsensical plot twists, the CG clutter, the bland romance, the new-age pablum...", concluding that "Shyamalan's true achievement in this film is that he takes a thrilling cult TV series, Avatar: The Last Airbender, and he systematically leeches all the personality and soul out of it – in order to create something generic enough to serve as a universal spoof of every epic, ever."[95] Anders summarized the experience of watching the film by stating that, "Actually, my exact words when I walked out of this film were, 'Wow, this makes Dragonball Evolution look like a masterpiece.'"[95] Ain't It Cool News' review questioned why Shyamalan was allowed to write the script, as well as why he was even chosen to direct such a high-profile film after a string of previous flops: "Burdened by [a] never-ending onslaught of expository dialogue awkwardly delivered by actors giving career-worst performances across the board, The Last Airbender is so outrageously bad it's a wonder it ever got before cameras."[96]

text: Scott Bowles of USA Today gave a generally favorable review, claiming that Shyamalan delivered on fight scenes and the film worked as a kid's film, although he also added that poor scriptwriting made some of the performances sound wooden.[97] Another favorable review came from Stephanie Zacharek of MovieLine, who praises the way Shyamalan captures the art of action and human motion.[98] David Roark of Relevant Magazine accused other critics of having a bias against Shyamalan and gave the film a positive review, stating that its visuals and heart far outweighed the clunky plotting and "awful" dialogue.[99]

text: Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian noted an unfortunate linguistic problem that reduced British viewers to "a state of nervous collapse" due to laughter. In British English, 'bent' is a slang term for gay, with 'bender' meaning a gay man, giving an entirely different meaning to lines such as, "I could tell at once that you were a bender." Bradshaw commented that the response from the audience to such lines was "deafeningly immature" and would "inevitably be repeated in every cinema in the land showing The Last Airbender."[100]

text: Creators' responses[edit]

text: In a Reddit AmA thread by Dante Basco, the original voice of Prince Zuko, when he was asked what he thought of the Last Airbender film, he responded by saying that Konietzko and DiMartino told him not to see it.[101]

text: The creators officially said that they would like to pretend the film does not exist.[102] Bryan and Mike spoke extensively about how the project was given the go-ahead without their approval, and when they tried to provide input it was ignored.[103]

text: Director's responses[edit]

text: In a Vulture interview, Shyamalan argued that his style and art-form of storytelling resulted in the negative reviews of the film and compared it to asking a painter to change to a different style: "I bring as much integrity to the table as humanly possible. It must be a language thing, in terms of a particular accent, a storytelling accent. I can only see it this certain way and I don't know how to think in another language. I think these are exactly the visions that are in my head, so I don't know how to adjust it without being me."[104]

text: Shyamalan also addressed criticisms about the barely 90 minute runtime of the film, which was considered bizarre given that it had to condense a 20-episode TV season into one film, and is a far shorter runtime than is typical for summer blockbusters. Shyamalan's response was that all of his previous films were 90 minutes, because they were small-scale supernatural thrillers, and as a result his instinct for the pacing of the film was to edit it down to 90 minutes. This short runtime indirectly led to several other problems which multiple critics listed above objected to: characters frequently resort to giving long speeches of exposition to summarize entire scenes that were cut for time, and a running voiceover commentary by Katara was added in which she summarizes entire subplots (e.g. Sokka's relationship with Yue) that barely appear on screen.[104]

text: Awards and nominations[edit]

text: The Last Airbender received nine nominations at the 31st Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Picture.[105] The film went on to sweep the Razzies with five awards: Worst Picture, Worst Director (Shyamalan), Worst Screenplay (Shyamalan), Worst Supporting Actor (Jackson Rathbone), and a special award, "Worst Eye-Gouging Mis-Use of 3D."[106][107][108]

text:
Award
Year
Category
Nominee
Result

Teen Choice Awards
2010
Choice Summer: Movie
The Last Airbender
Nominated

International Film Music Critics Association
Film Music Composition of the Year for "Flow Like Water"
James Newton Howard

Best Original Score for a Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror film

Young Artist Award
Best Performance in a Feature Film (Leading Young Actor)
Noah Ringer

Best Performance in a Feature Film (Supporting Young Actress)
Seychelle Gabriel

31st Golden Raspberry Awards
Worst Picture
Frank Marshall, Sam Mercer and M. Night Shyamalan
Won

Worst Director
M. Night Shyamalan

Worst Screenplay

Worst Supporting Actor
Dev Patel
Nominated

Jackson Rathbone, also for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Won

Worst Supporting Actress
Nicola Peltz
Nominated

Worst Screen Couple
The Entire Cast

Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel
The Last Airbender

Worst Eye-Gouging Mis-Use of 3D
Won

text: Possible sequels[edit]

text: Shyamalan or Paramount/Nickelodeon did not immediately confirm the "go-ahead" or whether the plug will be pulled on the trilogy.[109][110][111] While filming The Last Airbender, Shyamalan mapped out a rough draft for a second film that is "darker" and includes Azula, portrayed by Summer Bishil, as the main antagonist.[109] In a July 2010 interview with New York Magazine, Shyamalan commented "In the next few months we'll be able to know whether we have that opportunity or not" when asked about the sequel.[110] No such announcement was made and in a September 2010 interview when asked if he knew when the sequel will be made, he replied, "I don't, because there are so many factors they take into account", adding, "I guess it will get into an area where it becomes a discussion – like pros and cons."[112][113] In September 2015, Shyamalan confirmed to Metro UK that he may work on the sequel after completing his next thriller,[114] which started shooting in November 2015.[115]


document_title: List of San Diego Padres seasons

question_text: when was the last time the padres made the playoffs

text: List of San Diego Padres seasons

text: The San Diego Padres are a professional baseball franchise based in San Diego, California.

text: They began play in 1969, but did not achieve their first winning season until 1978, though they failed to sustain this over the next half-decade. However, in 1984 the Padres surprisingly reached their first-ever postseason appearance and won the National League Championship before losing to a very strong Detroit Tiger outfit in the World Series.

text: This did not usher in a prolonged period of success for the Padres, who failed to achieve a second postseason appearance until 1996, and after a disappointing 1997 they rebounded again with a franchise-best 98 wins and reached the World Series only to face another exceptionally formidable opponent in the late-1990s Yankees dynasty. The Padres yet again faltered, but achieved four consecutive winning seasons for the only time in franchise history between 2004 and 2007 without winning more than one playoff game. The Padres have not played in the postseason since 2006 despite only the fourth 90-win season in franchise history during 2010.

text:
World Series champions †

NL champions *

Division champions ^

Wild card berth (1995–present) ¤

text:
Season

Level

League

Division

Finish

Wins

Losses

Win%

GB

Postseason

Awards

1969

MLB

NL

West

6th

52

110

.321

41

1970

MLB

NL

West

6th

63

99

.389

39

1971

MLB

NL

West

6th

61

100

.379

28½

1972

MLB

NL

West

6th

58

95

.379

36½

1973

MLB

NL

West

6th

60

102

.370

39

1974

MLB

NL

West

6th

60

102

.370

42

1975

MLB

NL

West

4th

71

91

.438

37

1976

MLB

NL

West

5th

73

89

.451

29

Randy Jones (CYA)Butch Metzger (ROY)

1977

MLB

NL

West

5th

69

93

.426

29

1978

MLB

NL

West

4th

84

78

.519

11

Gaylord Perry (CYA)

1979

MLB

NL

West

5th

68

93

.422

22

1980

MLB

NL

West

6th

73

89

.451

19½

1981

MLB

NL

West

6th

23

33

.411

12½

6th

18

36

.333

15½

1982

MLB

NL

West

4th

81

81

.500

8

1983

MLB

NL

West

4th

81

81

.500

10

1984

MLB

NL *

West ^

1st

92

70

.568

—

Won NLCS (Cubs) 3–2Lost World Series (Tigers) 4–1 *

1985

MLB

NL

West

3rd

83

79

.512

12

1986

MLB

NL

West

4th

74

88

.457

22

1987

MLB

NL

West

6th

65

97

.401

25

Benito Santiago (ROY)

1988

MLB

NL

West

3rd

83

78

.516

11

1989

MLB

NL

West

2nd

89

73

.549

3

Mark Davis (CYA)

1990

MLB

NL

West

4th

75

87

.463

16

1991

MLB

NL

West

3rd

84

78

.519

10

1992

MLB

NL

West

3rd

82

80

.506

16

1993

MLB

NL

West

6th

61

101

.377

43

1994

MLB

NL

West

4th

47

70

.402

12½

Playoffs cancelled

1995

MLB

NL

West

3rd

70

74

.486

8

1996

MLB

NL

West ^

1st

91

71

.562

—

Lost NLDS (Cardinals) 3–0

Ken Caminiti (MVP)Bruce Bochy (MOY)

1997

MLB

NL

West

4th

76

86

.469

14

1998

MLB

NL *

West ^

1st

98

64

.605

—

Won NLDS (Astros) 3–1Won NLCS (Braves) 4–2Lost World Series (Yankees) 4–0 *

1999

MLB

NL

West

4th

74

88

.457

26

2000

MLB

NL

West

5th

76

86

.469

21

2001

MLB

NL

West

4th

79

83

.488

13

2002

MLB

NL

West

5th

66

96

.407

32

2003

MLB

NL

West

5th

64

98

.395

36½

2004

MLB

NL

West

3rd

87

75

.537

6

2005

MLB

NL

West ^

1st

82

80

.506

—

Lost NLDS (Cardinals) 3–0

2006

MLB

NL

West ^

1st

88

74

.543

—

Lost NLDS (Cardinals) 3–1

2007

MLB

NL

West

3rd

89

74

.546

1½

Jake Peavy (CYA)

2008

MLB

NL

West

5th

63

99

.389

21

2009

MLB

NL

West

4th

75

87

.463

20

2010

MLB

NL

West

2nd

90

72

.555

2

Heath Bell (ROY)Bud Black (MOY)

2011

MLB

NL

West

5th

71

91

.435

23

2012

MLB

NL

West

4th

76

86

.469

18

2013

MLB

NL

West

T-3rd

76

86

.469

16

2014

MLB

NL

West

3rd

77

85

.475

17

2015

MLB

NL

West

4th

74

88

.457

18

2016

MLB

NL

West

5th

68

94

.420

23

2017

MLB

NL

West

4th

71

91

.438

33

Regular season
3612
4201
.462
5 Postseason Appearances

Playoff games
12
22
.353
5 Division Titles, 2 League Pennants

Playoff series
3
5
.375
0 World Series Championships

text: Lost 2007 National League Wild Card tie-breaker game to the Colorado Rockies.

text: Record by decade[edit]

text: The following table describes the Padres' MLB win–loss record by decade.

text:
Decade
Wins
Losses
Pct

1960s
52
110
.321

1970s
667
942
.415

1980s
762
805
.486

1990s
758
799
.487

2000s
769
852
.474

2010s
532
602
.469

All-time
3540
4110
.463

text: These statistics are from Baseball-Reference.com's San Diego Padres History & Encyclopedia,[1] and are current as of October 18, 2016.