document_title: Hercules (1997 film)

question_text: who does the voice of zeus in hercules

question_tokens: who does the voice of zeus in hercules

text: Hercules (1997 film)

text: Plot

text: In Ancient Greece, after imprisoning the Titans beneath the ocean, the rulers of the Greek gods, Zeus and his wife Hera, have a son named Hercules on Mount Olympus. While the other gods are joyful, Zeus' jealous brother Hades plots to overthrow Zeus and rule Olympus. Turning to the Fates for help, Hades learns that in eighteen years, a planetary alignment will allow him to locate and free the Titans to conquer Olympus, but only if Hercules does not interfere. Hades sends his minions Pain and Panic to dispose of Hercules. The two succeed at kidnapping the infant and feeding him a formula that turns him mortal, but fail to remove his superhuman strength before Hercules is found and adopted by the farmers Amphitryon and Alcmene.

text: Years later, the teenage Hercules becomes an outcast due to his strength, and wonders where he came from. After his foster parents reveal the necklace they found him with, Hercules decides to visit the temple of Zeus for answers. The temple's statue of Zeus comes to life and reveals all to Hercules, telling him that he can regain his godhood by becoming a true hero. Zeus sends Hercules and his forgotten infant friend Pegasus to find the satyr Philoctetes—"Phil" for short—who is known for training heroes. They meet Phil, who has retired due to numerous disappointments, but Hercules inspires him to follow his dream to train a true hero that will be recognized by the gods. Phil trains Hercules into a potential hero, and then head towards Thebes. On the way, they meet Megara—"Meg" for short—a sarcastic damsel whom Hercules saves from the centaur Nessus. After Hercules and the others leave, Meg is revealed to be Hades' minion, who sold her soul to him to save an unfaithful lover.

text: Arriving in Thebes, Hercules is turned down by the downtrodden citizens until Meg appears, saying that two boys have become trapped in a gorge. Hercules saves them, unaware that they are Pain and Panic in disguise, allowing Hades to summon the Hydra. Hercules defeats it and becomes a celebrated hero, but despite Hercules' growing fame and defeating every subsequent monster Hades unleashes, Zeus tells him he is not yet a "true" hero. Saddened and frustrated, Hercules turns to Meg, who is falling in love with him. Hades learns of this and on the eve of his takeover, he holds Meg hostage and offers her in exchange for Hercules surrendering his powers for a day. Hercules accepts on the condition that Meg will be unharmed and, after losing his strength, is heartbroken when Hades reveals that Meg was working for him.

text: Hades unleashes the Titans, who climb Olympus and capture the gods, while a Cyclops goes to Thebes to kill Hercules. Hercules defeats the cyclops; Meg then saves him from a falling pillar and is mortally injured. This breaks Hades' promise that Meg would not be harmed, and allows Hercules to regain his strength. Hercules and Pegasus fly to Olympus where they free the gods and vanquish the Titans, though Meg dies before he returns to her.

text: With Meg's soul now Hades' property, Hercules breaks into the Underworld and offers to free Meg from the Styx in exchange for his own life. His willingness to sacrifice himself restores his godhood and immortality before the life-draining river can kill him; he rescues Meg and punches Hades into the Styx, where irate souls pull him under. After reviving Meg, she and Hercules are summoned to Olympus, where Zeus and Hera welcome their son home. However, Hercules chooses to remain on Earth with Meg in lieu of living on Olympus. Hercules and his friends return to Thebes, where they watch Zeus etch Hercules' image into the stars to commemorate his heroism.

text: Voice cast

text:
Tate Donovan as Hercules, based on the mythological deity Heracles. Supervising animator Andreas Deja described Hercules as "...not a smart aleck, not streetwise, he's just a naive kid trapped in a big body", and that Donovan "had a charming yet innocent quality in his readings". Donovan had not done any voice-over work prior to Hercules. Deja integrated Donovan's "charming yet innocent quality" into Hercules' expressions.[4] Ricky Martin provided both the voice and singing voice for the Latin American Spanish-language dub edition.
Josh Keaton provided the speaking voice of Hercules as a teenager, while Roger Bart provided his singing voice. Originally, Keaton provided also his singing voice, but his singing was re-recorded by Bart.[5] Randy Haycock served as the supervising animator for Hercules as an infant and teenager.
Danny DeVito as Philoctetes/Phil. Eric Goldberg, the supervising animator for Philoctetes, cited Grumpy in Snow White and Bacchus in Fantasia as the inspirations for the character's design. Goldberg mentioned that they discovered that Danny DeVito "has really different mouth shapes" when they videotaped his recordings and that they used these shapes in animating Phil.[4]
James Woods as Hades. Producer Alice Dewey mentioned that Hades "was supposed to talk in a slow and be menacing in a quiet, spooky way", but thought that James Woods' manner of speaking "a mile a minute" would be a "great take" for a villain.[4] Woods did a lot of ad-libbing in his recordings, especially in Hades' dialogues with Megara. Nik Ranieri, the supervising animator for Hades, mentioned that the character was "based on a Hollywood agent, a car salesman type", and that a lot came from James Woods' ad-libbed dialogue. He went on to say that the hardest part in animating Hades was that he talks too much and too fast, so much so that "it took [him] two weeks to animate a one-second scene". Ranieri watched James Woods' other films and used what he saw as the basis for Hades' sneer.[4]
Susan Egan as Megara. Supervising animator Ken Duncan stated that she was "based on a '40s screwball comedienne" and that he used Greek shapes for her hair ("Her head is in sort of a vase shape and she's got a Greek curl in the back.").[4]
Frank Welker as Pegasus. Ellen Woodbury served as the supervising animator for Pegasus.
Rip Torn and Samantha Eggar as Zeus and Hera, Hercules' birth-parents. Anthony DeRosa served as the supervising animator for both characters. In the Swedish dub Max von Sydow provided the voice for Zeus.
Lillias White, Cheryl Freeman, LaChanze, Roz Ryan and Vanéese Y. Thomas as the Muses (Calliope, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Thalia and Clio respectively), the narrators of the film's story. Michael Show served as the supervising animator for the Muses.
Bobcat Goldthwait and Matt Frewer as Pain and Panic, Hades' henchmen. James Lopez and Brian Ferguson respectively served as the supervising animators for Pain and Panic.
Patrick Pinney as the Cyclops. Dominique Monfrey served as the supervising animator for the Cyclops.
Hal Holbrook and Barbara Barrie as Amphitryon and Alcmene, Hercules' adoptive parents. Richard Bazley served as the supervising animator for both characters.
Amanda Plummer, Carole Shelley and Paddi Edwards as Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos, the three Fates who predict Hades' failed attempt to conquer Olympus. Nancy Beiman served as the supervising animator for the three characters.
Paul Shaffer as Hermes. Michael Swofford served as the animator for Hermes.
Jim Cummings as Nessus. Chris Bailey served as the animator for Nessus.
Wayne Knight as Demetrius
Keith David as Apollo
Charlton Heston has a cameo role as the opening narrator.

text: Production

text: Development

text: In early 1992, thirty artists, writers, and animators pitched their ideas for potential animated features, each given a limited time of two minutes. The first pitch was for an adaptation of The Odyssey, which entered into production in the following summer.[6] However, production on the film was abandoned when it was deemed too long and lacked central characters,[7] and failed to translate into animation comedy.[8] Animator Joe Haidar also suggested pitching a story from Greek mythology, but thought his chances plummeted when work on The Odyssey was discontinued. Nervously, he produced a pitch sketch of Hercules, and delivered a brief outline set during the Trojan War where both sides seek the title character for their secret weapon. Hercules makes a choice, without considering the consequences, though in the end, he learns humility and realizes that strength is not always the answer.[7] With the pitching session concluded, Hercules was approved for development in which Haidar presented a page-and-a-half outline, but his involvement with the project succeeded no further.[7]

text: In November 1992, fresh off of their critical and commercial success of Aladdin, directors Ron Clements and John Musker re-developed Treasure Planet up until fall 1993,[9] with Aladdin co-screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio taking Clements and Musker's ideas and writing a treatment and script.[10] Jeffrey Katzenberg, who was the chairman of Walt Disney Studios, disapproved of the project, but struck a deal with the directors to produce another commercially viable film before he would green-light Treasure Planet.[9][11] Turning down adaptation proposals for Don Quixote, The Odyssey, and Around the World in Eighty Days, the directors were notified of Haidar's pitch for a Hercules feature.[9] "We thought it would be our opportunity to do a "superhero" movie," Musker said, so "Ron and I being comic book fans. The studio liked us moving onto that project and so we did [Hercules]."[11]

text: Writing

text: With Hercules in production, Clements and Musker conducted research and wrote extensive notes for the film. On excerpts detailed in November 1993, the similarities between their outlines included the naive title character caught between two worlds, a Danny DeVito-type sidekick, a world-wise heroine, and a powerful villain in a battle of idealism versus cynicism.[7][12] The directors also sought inspiration from classic screwball comedy films directed by Preston Sturges and Frank Capra with "Hercules as the young Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," Musker explained, and "Meg is modeled on Barbara Stanwyck, especially the characters she played in The Lady Eve and Meet John Doe."[13]

text: While preparing the script, Clements and Musker consulted the works of Thomas Bullfinch, Edith Hamilton, Robert Graves, and other interpreters of Greek mythology until they reached the conclusion to not portray the traditional story of Hercules.[14] Because Zeus sired Hercules outside of his marriage with Hera, Clements remarked "that illegitimacy would be difficult subject matter for a Disney movie. So we thought of different ways he could be half-man and half-god. We moved more toward making Hades the villain instead of Hera. The Underworld seemed like such a fascinating, dark images; the contrast with Olympus seemed to have all kinds of visual possibilities."[14] Additionally during their research, the directors were inspired by the correlation of the popularity of Hercules in comparison to that of sport athletes and celebrities in the contemporary era with both directors stating Hercules was the Michael Jordan of his era.[15][16]

text: After multiple meetings and story conferences, Clements and Musker wrote several story treatments before proceeding to their first script draft. Comedy writers Don McEnery and Bob Shaw were recruited by creative executive Jane Healey to work on Hercules where their contribution was "important structural things like putting capital letters at the beginnings of sentences and adding periods and commas." Meanwhile, their draft was concurrently rewritten by Irene Mecchi,[17] which altogether brought additional humor and definition to the script.[18]

text: Casting

text: Donny Osmond originally auditioned as the speaking voice of the title character, but he was turned down because his voice was considered too deep.[19] Writing the role of Philoctetes, Musker and Clements envisioned Danny DeVito in the role. However, DeVito declined to audition so Ed Asner, Ernest Borgnine, and Dick Latessa were brought in to read for the part. After Red Buttons had auditioned, he left stating "I know what you're gonna do. You're gonna give this part to Danny Devito!" Shortly after, the directors and producer Alice Dewey approached DeVito at a pasta lunch during the filming of Matilda, where DeVito signed on to the role.[11]

text: For every Disney animated feature since Beauty and the Beast, Susan Egan auditioned for a role, and then landed the role of Belle in the Broadway production.[20] Upon learning about Hercules, Egan actively pursued the role of Megara, though she revealed that "Alan Menken initially blocked me from going after that part. He said that the female lead in Hercules was supposed to be this cynical smart-ass, sounding nothing at all like sweet, innocent Belle." Menken eventually relented and allowed Egan to audition for the role.[21] Egan read for the part in front of a microphone while being videotaped as Menken, Beauty and the Beast musical director Michael Kosarin, and the filmmakers sat at a table with their eyes closed. Nine months following the results of the test animation synced with Egan's audition, Egan won the role.[22] During production, Meg was originally given a ballad titled "I Can't Believe My Heart", but Ken Duncan, the supervising animator of Meg, pointed out the song was out of character for Meg. Menken and Zippel would later compose "I Won't Say I'm In Love" instead.[21]

text: The casting of Hades proved to be very problematic for Musker and Clements. When DeVito asked the directors who had in mind to play Hades, Musker and Clements responded by saying they hadn't selected an appropriate actor. In response, DeVito blurted, "Why don't you ask Jack [Nicholson]?"[23] After DeVito notified Nicholson of the project, the next week, the studio was willing to pay Nicholson $500,000 for the role, but Nicholson demanded roughly a paycheck of $10–15 million, plus a 50% cut of all the proceeds from Hades merchandise.[23] Unwilling to share merchandising proceeds with the actor, Disney came back with a counter offer that was significantly less than what Nicholson had asked for. Therefore, Nicholson decided to pass on the project.[23] Disappointed by Nicholson's refusal, Clements and Musker eventually selected John Lithgow as Hades in fall 1994. After nine months of trying to make Lithgow's portrayal of Hades work, Lithgow was released from the role in August 1995.[24] According to John Musker, Ron Silver, James Coburn, Kevin Spacey, Phil Hartman, and Rod Steiger arrived to the Disney studios to read as Hades.[11] Additionally, animator Nik Ranieri claimed Michael Ironside, Terrence Mann, and Martin Landau also auditioned for the role.[25] When the directors invited James Woods to read for the part, they were surprised by Woods's interpretation, and Woods was hired by October 1995.[24] Hades's co-henchman Pain was written with Bobcat Goldthwait in mind, although the actor confessed he still had to audition for the role despite playing himself.[26]

text: Animation and design

text: In 1993, Ron Clements and John Musker fondly remembered a Time magazine cover of the Beatles, illustrated by English cartoonist Gerald Scarfe.[27] While working as the production designer on a production of The Magic Flute, Gerald Scarfe was invited to tour the Disney studios where Clements and Musker noticed a direct correlation between Gerald's style and the Greek vase painting style, and with permission from the Disney studios, Scarfe was hired as production designer to produce a dozen drawings.[28] Scarfe conducted minimal research, not wanting to be influenced by other interpretations where he sent thirty-two sketches via fax machine or courier,[29][28] and ended up producing more than 700 drawings throughout production.[30] By July 1995, Scarfe and fifteen animators and designers began developing working prototypes for every character in the movie. That same year, the filmmakers embarked on a research trip to Greece and Turkey to research classic Greek mythology.[31] Since Scarfe's style proved to be too fluid and chaotic for the animators, production stylist Sue Nichols created reference charts for the animators on which elements of Scarfe's style, as well as classical Greek illustration, to adapt into their work.[32]

text: Animation began in early 1995 with a team of nearly 700 artists, animators, and technicians in Burbank, California while Walt Disney Animation France contributed nearly ten minutes of animation, including the finale with the Titans and Hercules' descent into the Underworld.[33] Andreas Deja, the supervising animator for Hercules, commented that the animation crew he worked with to animate Hercules was the "largest [he] ever worked with". He previously worked on other characters (like Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, Jafar in Aladdin, and Scar in The Lion King) with about four animators on his crew, but he had a team of twelve or thirteen for Hercules.[4] Given Deja had worked with three villains before, he was first offered Hades, but asked to animate Hercules instead – "I knew if would be more difficult and more challenging, but I just needed that experience to have that in your repertoire."[34] Following the release of Pocahontas, Eric Goldberg was initially assigned to animate Hades when Jack Nicholson was thought to play the character, but when Nicholson decided to pass on the project, Goldberg wasn't interested in animating the character anymore. At around the same time, Chris Buck was assigned to animate Philoctetes, but after he left the production of Hercules, this left the character of Philoctetes without a supervising animator.[35] Goldberg then decided to instead animate Philoctetes when DeVito signed onto the role noting his similarities with DeVito in their short stature, baldness, and admittedly a little "soft around the middle". Throughout production, there were twenty-seven designs for the character,[36] with Goldberg doing a literal caricature of DeVito with horns before being vetoed by the directors. While maintaining DeVito's features, Goldberg then took inspiration from Grumpy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Bacchus in Fantasia in terms of their curmudgeonly personality and facial structure.[37]

text: For the Hydra, Scarfe provided preliminary drawings to give the mythical beast its requisite fangs and serpentine necks before work was transferred over to the computer animation team headed by Roger Gould. The Hydra was sculpted into a clay model where the dimensions was digitized into the computers into a wire-frame model by which the monster was animated.[38] Early into production, the filmmakers decided the Hydra would ultimately have thirty heads by which the animators created one master head, and the computer could multiply the heads to their desired scale. Overall, thirteen animators and technical directors spent nearly a year-and-a-half creating the four-minute battle sequence.[39] Additionally, because the directors envisioned Olympus as a city composed of clouds, painted backgrounds of clouds and cloud-like imagery were blended with drawn effects animation to create a morphing technique that were used for baby Hercules's cradle and Zeus's reclining chair.[18]

text: Music

text:
Hercules: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack
Soundtrack album by Various artistsReleased
May 27, 1997Genre
Pop, gospel, soul, R&B, musical theatre, film scoreLength
47:56Label
Walt DisneyProducer
Alan Menken, David ZippelWalt Disney Animation Studios chronology

The Hunchback of Notre Dame(1996)

Hercules: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack(1997)

Mulan(1998)

Singles from Hercules: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack

"Go the Distance"Released: 1997

text: Hercules: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack is the soundtrack for Hercules. It consists of music written by composer Alan Menken and lyricist David Zippel, orchestrated by Daniel Troob and Michael Starobin,[40] with vocals performed by Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Roger Bart, Danny DeVito, and Susan Egan among others. The album also includes the single version of "Go the Distance" by Michael Bolton. For the Spanish version of the film, "Go the Distance" was redone by Ricky Martin and released as a single under the title "No Importa La Distancia" and was also very successful, both inside and outside the United States. In the Turkish version of the film, "Go the Distance" was sung by Tarkan, who also performed the vocals for the adult Hercules.

text: In March 1994, Zippel was attached to compose the lyrics for the songs for the film, teaming up with Alan Menken.[41] Zippel had previously collaborated with Menken on the cabaret revue titled It's Better With a Band, and the musical Diamonds, directed by Harold Prince.[42] Distinctively for the film, the idea to incorporate gospel music for the songs was suggested by co-screenwriter and co-director John Musker, although Menken preferred "something very classic and Greek—a Candide approach".[43] Musker explained, "Gospel is a storytelling kind of music. It can be exhilarating, especially when it gets everybody on their feet. We were looking for a modern equivalent for the Greek references and this style of music seemed to be entertaining and a real departure at the same time."[44] The Spice Girls were originally approached to portray the Muses following an invitation to sing one of the songs, but declined the offer due to scheduling conflicts.[45]

text: For the pop version of "Go the Distance", Michael Bolton was personally chosen by Menken to record the single,[46] in which Columbia Records paid an undisclosed figure to Walt Disney Records for the rights to the soundtrack.[47] "Go the Distance" was nominated for both the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, but ultimately lost both to Celine Dion's hit "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic.

text: Belinda Carlisle recorded two versions of "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)" as well as a music video for promotional purposes. Though the English version eventually opted not to use it, several foreign dubs have it in place of the reprise of "A Star Is Born" in the ending credits. These dubs include, but are not limited to, the Swedish one, the Finnish one, the Icelandic one and the Russian one. Curiously enough, the DVD release of the Swedish dub has replaced it with the reprise of "A Star Is Born".

text: Track listing

text: All lyrics written by David Zippel; all music composed by Alan Menken.

text: No.TitlePerformer(s)Length1."Long Ago..."Charlton Heston0:302."The Gospel Truth/Main Title"Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas2:253."The Gospel Truth II"Roz Ryan0:594."The Gospel Truth III"Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas1:055."Go the Distance"Roger Bart3:146."Oh Mighty Zeus" 0:467."Go the Distance (Reprise)"Roger Bart0:578."One Last Hope"Danny DeVito3:009."Zero to Hero"Tawatha Agee, Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas2:2010."I Won't Say (I'm in Love)"Susan Egan, Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas2:2011."A Star Is Born"Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas2:0412."Go the Distance (Single)"Michael Bolton4:4213."The Big Olive" 1:0714."The Prophecy" 0:5315."Destruction of the Agora" 2:0716."Phil's Island" 2:2517."Rodeo" 0:3918."Speak of the Devil" 1:3019."The Hydra Battle" 3:2820."Meg's Garden" 1:1421."Hercules' Villa" 0:3722."All Time Chump" 0:3823."Cutting the Thread" 3:2324."A True Hero/A Star Is Born (End Title)"Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas5:33Total length:47:56

text: Release

text: Marketing

text: On February 4, 1997, Disney began its marketing campaign by starting a five-month promotional traveling tour, called Disney's Hercules Mega Mall Tour Sponsored by Chevy Venture, throughout 20 cities starting first in Atlanta, Georgia. Previously used for the marketing campaigns for Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the tour featured eleven attractions including a multimedia stage show, a miniature carousel themed to Baby Pegasus, a carnival with Hercules-themed game booths, and a ten-minute animation workshop hosted by animator Andreas Deja where visitors would try their hand at drawing Hercules.[48][49][50]

text: On June 14, the premiere of the film was accompanied with an electric light parade held in Times Square. The parade of electrified floats traveled from 42nd Street to Fifth Avenue and 66th Street with included attendees such as Lauren Hutton, Harvey Keitel, Andy Garcia, Barbara Walters, Michael Bolton, and Marilu Henner, as well as Olympic athletes who later rode on thirty floats in the parade.[51] The media event was not without controversy as former New York mayor Ed Koch objected to surrendering the city over Disney, and critics raising questions about what politicians are willing to give a private firm in return for investment.[52] Also, nearly 100 members of National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians used the occasion to strike for a new contract from Disney/ABC,[53] with local union president Tony Capitano who complained that "I think the Mayor gave away the city to Disneyland", and 5,000 businesses and residents who felt unusually eerie upon being asked to dim their lights as the parade passed.[54] Following the parade, a private party was held at the Chelsea Piers complex, where dinner guests was served to a performance of Susan Egan singing songs from the movie along the Hudson River, and ten minutes of fireworks display.[51]

text: Additionally, the film was accompanied with a marketing campaign with promotional tie-ins with 85 licensees including McDonald's, Mattel, Nestlé, Hallmark,[55][56][57] and various merchandise.[58] Hercules was also received the first Disney on Ice adaptation before the film was theatrically released.[59]

text: Home media

text: Hercules was first released on VHS and widescreen laserdisc in the United States on February 3, 1998, included as an installment of the Walt Disney Masterpiece Collection series. By the summer of 1998, sales and rentals of the VHS release had accumulated to $165 million.[60] Released on November 9, 1999, Hercules was released in a "Limited Issue" DVD for a limited sixty-day time period before going into moratorium.[61] Launching in January 2000, Walt Disney Home Video began the Gold Classic Collection, with Hercules re-issued on VHS and DVD on August 1, 2000.[62] The DVD contained the film in its 1.66:1 aspect ratio and THX-certified, and was accompanied with special features including "The Making of Hercules" documentary video and the "Go The Distance" music video sung by Ricky Martin, as well as an "Animals of the Outback" activity booklet.[63] The film was released on a Special Edition Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD on June 10, 2014.[64]

text: On September 1, 2017, Hercules became available on Netflix.[65]

text: Video game

text: A tie-in video game, titled Hercules Action Game, was developed by Eurocom and released in July 1997 for the PC and PlayStation. Another tie-in game was developed by Tiertex Design Studios and was released for the Game Boy by THQ the same month.

text: Reception

text: Box office

text: Wall Street analysts estimated that Hercules could bring in between $150 million in the United States, based on the extensive marketing campaign and having a lighter, humorous tone similar to Aladdin.[66] Hercules began its limited release in North America on June 13, 1997, playing in one selected theater. The film earned $249,567 in box office receipts during the weekend of June 13–15, standing at the thirteenth place in the box office ranking.[67] On the following weekend, the film grossed $1.45 million in two weeks when it expanded into two selected theaters.[68] The general release followed on June 27, 1997, in 2,621 screens. During the weekend of June 27–29, box office analysts estimated that Hercules earned $21.5 million ranking second behind Face/Off which grossed $22.7 million.[69][70]

text: In its first two weeks of general release, Hercules amounted $58 million in box office grosses, compared to Pocahontas, which took in $80 million and The Lion King which grossed $119 million in their respective two weeks. Considered a disappointment among Disney shareholders, Disney's stock price slipped 9.7 percent by which executives blamed the film's box office performance on "more competition".[71] By its third weekend, Buena Vista Pictures Distribution president Dick Cook confessed that competing family films such as Men in Black and Batman and Robin played a role in the downward box office performance, but projected the film would receive a worldwide gross of $300 million.[72] Likewise, entertainment analysts also targeted Hercules's lack of appeal for adults and teenagers compared to Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King which served as date movies and family outings.[73] By spring 1998, Hercules grossed $99 million,[74] and the international totals for Hercules raised its gross to $253 million.[2]

text: Critical response

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported the film has an approval rating of 83% based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 7/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Fast-paced and packed with dozens of pop culture references, Hercules might not measure up with the true classics of the Disney pantheon, but it's still plenty of fun."[3] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[75]

text: James Woods received universal acclaim from film reviewers for his vocal performance as Hades. Reviewing for Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman graded the film an A- acclaiming that it was Woods' most exciting performance since Salvador publishing that "Woods' performance is an inspired piece of deadpan vaudeville. His dry jocularity is hilariously incongruous — he's like a hostile, wisecracking salesman trapped in the body of the Antichrist."[76] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote a positive review of the film, enjoying the story as well as the animation. Ebert also praised Woods' portrayal of Hades, stating that Woods brings "something of the same verbal inventiveness that Robin Williams brought to Aladdin".[77] Similarly, Chicago Tribune film reviewer Gene Siskel, while awarding the film 2 out of 4 stars, complimented that "the only memorable character in the film is the nicely drawn villain Hades (voice by James Woods), who seeks to turn Hercules to the dark side. Hades supplies the genie-like patter that Robin Williams provided in Aladdin."[78]  Janet Maslin of The New York Times also praised Woods's performance remarking "Woods shows off the full verve of an edgy Scarfe villain", and added "On any level, earthly or otherwise, the ingenious new animated Hercules is pretty divine."[79] James Berardinelli, film critic for ReelViews, awarded the film 3 out of 4 stars writing, "the real star of the show is James Woods, whose Hades is the most vibrant Disney creation since Robin Williams' Genie. Hades is a lively villain with a great repertoire of one-liners. And, although Woods isn't as much of a vocal chameleon as Williams, he's close enough that it hardly matters."[80]

text: The Scarfe-inspired animation style received mixed reviews with Berardinelli labeling it as the film's most disappointing aspect noting "this approach makes the film look rushed and, at times, incomplete. It is never a visual marvel – even the computer-generated scenes fail to impress. The sequences intended to offer the biggest spectacle – Olympus and the Underworld – provoke little more than a yawn."[80] Likewise, Siskel noted his surprise of "how soft and cheap the animation looks."[78] Writing for The Washington Post, Desson Howe criticized the animation as being "some of the worst I've ever cringed through, including the corner-cutting junk of Don Bluth movies and every trashy cartoon that passes for entertainment on Saturday morning television. In Hercules, ancient Thebes looks like a hastily sketched field-trip location from public TV's The Magic School Bus; and no self-respecting immortal would be seen dead in this simplistic rendition of Mount Olympus.[81] Nevertheless, Kenneth Turan of Los Angeles Times noted the animation "has just enough of a different look to it to make things interesting" and praised the Hydra as a technological marvel.[82] Likewise, the music received a mixed response with Rita Kempley of Washington Post writing "Like the other songs by Disney veteran Alan Menken and his new lyricist, David Zippel (City of Angels), the number gets the job done, but it doesn't topple the temple. The score is influenced by gospel, Broadway musicals, processional music and R&B, but its only spice is its variety."[83] Variety film critic Leonard Klady noted the lack of distinctiveness of the music writing Menken "is hitting too many tired notes in his sixth animated score" and "there's simply not a song in the piece that has you humming as you exit the theater, and ballads such as "Go the Distance" will require aggressive repetition to register as playlist material."[84]

text: Controversy

text: Disney intended for the film to have an open-air premiere at Pnyx hill, but the Greek government declined after the Greek media and public panned the film. A Greek newspaper entitled Adsmevtos Typos called it "another case of foreigners distorting our history and culture just to suit their commercial interests".[85]

text: Accolades

text:
Ceremony

Recipient

Category

Result

Academy Awards[86]

"Go the Distance"(Alan Menken, Composer; David Zippel, Lyricist)

Best Original Song

Nominated

Golden Globes[87]

"Go the Distance"

Best Original Song

Nominated

Saturn Award[88]

Best Fantasy Film

Nominated

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards[89]

Favorite Animated Family Movie

Nominated

Favorite Song from a Movie

"Go the Distance"

Nominated

Young Artist Award[90]

Best Performance in a Voice Over Role  Young Actor

Josh Keaton for Young Hercules's voice

Nominated

Annie Awards

Animated Theatrical Feature

Nominated

Alice Dewey, John Musker, Ron Clements (Producers)

Individual Achievement in Producing

Won

John Musker and Ron Clements (Directors)

Individual Achievement in Directing

Nominated

Ken Duncan (Supervising Animator for "Meg")

Individual Achievement for Animation

Nominated

Nik Ranieri (Supervising Animator for "Hades")

Won

Mauro Maressa (Effects Supervisor)

Individual Achievement in Effects Animation

Won


document_title: The Orville

question_text: who plays the blue alien on the orville

question_tokens: who plays the blue alien on the orville

root

text: The Orville

text: Premise[edit]

text: The Orville is set on the titular U.S.S. Orville (ECV-197), a mid-level exploratory space vessel in the Planetary Union, a 25th-century interstellar alliance of Earth and many other planets.

tag: p

text: Cast and characters[edit]

text: Main[edit]

text:
Seth MacFarlane as Ed Mercer, the captain of the Orville.[9][10][11] Mercer was an up-and-coming officer, believed to be on the fast track to commanding his own heavy cruiser by age 40. However, he caught his wife Kelly in bed with an alien. Over the course of the following year, he is cited for becoming lax in his duties, including six instances of reporting to duty while hung over, but is informed that due to the size of the fleet and the retirement of the former captain, the Orville, a mid-level exploratory ship, was in need of a new commanding officer.[10]
Adrianne Palicki as Commander Kelly Grayson, the first officer of the Orville and Ed Mercer's ex-wife.[9][11] The two divorced when Mercer caught Grayson in bed with an alien. Unbeknownst to Mercer, Grayson personally went to Admiral Halsey to plead her case to give her ex-husband a command, stating that despite some personal setbacks, he deserved his own command. She asked Halsey to keep that from him when assigned the Orville. Mercer and Grayson decide to put their differences aside, to work together as a team and stay as friends.[10]
Penny Johnson Jerald[11] as Doctor Claire Finn, the Chief Medical Officer on the Orville, holding the rank of Lieutenant Commander. A physician of exceptional credentials, she has expertise in molecular surgery, DNA engineering and psychiatry, which could have afforded her the privilege of serving on the heavy cruiser of her choice. She instead chose the mid-level exploratory vessel because, as she explains to Mercer in the pilot, she prefers to request her transfers based on where she feels she is needed, as she feels more stimulated by such assignments. When she tells Mercer she felt he could use her help on his first command, he interprets this as lack of confidence on her part in his competence, though she denies this.[10] Having never found the ideal opportunity to marry, she chose to become a single mother, and her two sons, Marcus and Ty, travel aboard the Orville with her.[12] She repeatedly rebuffs Lt. Yaphit's advances,[13][14] though they become physically intimate in "Cupid's Dagger" after falling victim to a Retepsian sex pheromone.[15]
Scott Grimes as Lieutenant Gordon Malloy, the helmsman of the Orville and Mercer's best friend.[9][11] Considered the best helmsman in the fleet, he was relegated to desk duty after an attempt to impress a girl resulted in him shearing the door off a cargo bay during a precarious shuttle docking, losing cargo in the process. He was specifically requested by Mercer despite some hesitation by Admiral Halsey, who harbors concern over Malloy's history of crude and juvenile pranks.[10]
Peter Macon[11] as Lieutenant Commander Bortus, the second officer aboard the U.S.S. Orville. Bortus is from Moclus, a planet whose primary industry is weapons manufacturing,[13] and whose inhabitants, the Moclans, are a single-gender species. Among the peculiarities of the Moclans are that they only urinate once a year.[10][11]
Halston Sage[11] as Lieutenant Alara Kitan, the Orville's young Chief of Security. She is a member of the Xelayan race, which inhabits a high-gravity planet, giving her greater-than-human strength, allowing her to knock down doors and walls by charging against them,[10] or crush a handheld cube of solid titanium and reshape it into a sphere with her bare hands.[13]
J. Lee as Lieutenant Commander John LaMarr.[11] He is navigator of the Orville for most of the first season. He and Malloy strike up an immediate friendship in the first episode.[10] Though intellectually gifted, he learned to hide his intelligence and settle for modest ambitions growing up. When Grayson discovers his high aptitude in "New Dimensions", she encourages him to fulfill his potential. As a result, he acquits himself so well during that episode's crisis that he replaces the outgoing Lt. Commander Newton as the Orville's Chief Engineer.[16]
Mark Jackson[11][17] as Isaac, the Orville's Science and Engineering Officer. Isaac is a member of the artificial, non-biological race from Kaylon-1 that views biological lifeforms, including humans, as inferior. Isaac explains to Mercer in the pilot that the Union's Admiralty offered a posting to any Kaylon willing to accept it, as an attempt to initiate relations between the two powers. Isaac accepted the offer because he saw it as a way to study human behavior. During the course of his time with the crew, he comes to observe and understand aspects of human behavior, such as sarcasm, slang,[7][10] and practical jokes. Isaac perceives his surroundings with his body's internal sensors, and not with the two glowing blue "eyes" on his face, which are purely aesthetic.[18]

tag: ul

text: Recurring[edit]

text:
Victor Garber as Admiral Halsey, Mercer's superior and an old friend of Grayson's father[10][15]
Chad Coleman as Klyden, Bortus' mate and father of their child[19]
Norm Macdonald as the voice of Lt. Yaphit, an amorphous, gelatinous, shapeshifting engineer on the Orville,[20] who repeatedly attempts to obtain a date with Dr. Finn,[13][14] and frequently flirts with other females on the ship.[18] Despite telling her in "Cupid's Dagger" that he is in love with her, she does not reciprocate his attraction, but they become physically intimate in that episode after falling victim to a Retepsian sex pheromone.[15]
Larry Joe Campbell as Lieutenant Commander[19] Steve Newton, Chief Engineer of the Orville[18] until episode 1.11, when he leaves take a new job designing space stations, and is replaced by LaMarr[16]
Gavin Lee as Nurse Park[15]
Rachael MacFarlane as the voice of the Orville computer[21][22]

text: Guest stars[edit]

text:
Brian George as Doctor Aronov, the leader of the Epsilon II science station[10]
Ron Canada as Admiral Tucker[19][23]
Jeffrey Tambor as Ben, Captain Mercer's father (appears as hologram)[19]
Holland Taylor as Jeannie, Captain Mercer's mother (appears as hologram)[19]
Jonathan Adams as the Moclan Arbitrator[13]
Rena Owen as Heveena[13]
Robert Knepper as Hamelac[14]
Liam Neeson as Jahavus Dorahl, Captain of the derelict multi-generation ship[14]
Charlize Theron as Pria Lavesque[18]
James Horan as Sazeron, the Krill high priest on the Krill destroyer Yakar[24]
Kelly Hu as Admiral Ozawa[24]
Michaela McManus as Teleya, a Krill teacher serving on Krill destroyer Yakar[24]
Steven Culp as Wilks[23]
Brian Thompson as Drogen, a survivalist on a planet on which Finn, Isaac and Finn's children crash in "Into the Fold"[25]
Rob Lowe as Darulio, the Retepsian archeologist whose affair with Kelly ended her marriage with Mercer[10][15]
Ralph Garman as Kanoot, a Karaoke announcer on The Orville.[15]
Mike Henry as Dann, a member of the Engineering staff[15]
Robert Picardo as Ildis Kitan, father of Alara Kitan[26]
Molly Hagan as Drenala Kitan, mother of Alara Kitan[26]

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
No.
Title
Directed by
Written by
Original air date
Prod.
code
U.S. viewers
(millions)

1
"Old Wounds"
Jon Favreau
Seth MacFarlane
September 10, 2017 (2017-09-10)
1LAB01
8.56[27]

25th-century Union command officer Ed Mercer divorces his wife, Kelly Grayson, after catching her cheating on him. A year later, he accepts a position as Captain of the U.S.S. Orville, a mid-level research vessel, and learns to his dismay that his ex-wife has been assigned as his First Officer. During the Orville's first mission, the hostile alien Krill captain (Joel Swetow) attempts to steal a device that accelerates time, which has both beneficial and dangerous applications. Mercer and Grayson rig the device to destroy itself and the Krill vessel.

2
"Command Performance"
Robert Duncan McNeill
Seth MacFarlane
September 17, 2017 (2017-09-17)
1LAB03
6.63[28]

The technologically advanced Calivon imprison Mercer and Grayson in a replica of their former home as a zoo exhibit. Alara is left in command of the Orville, as Bortus has laid an egg and must incubate it. Alara is unsure of herself, but gains confidence with the help of Claire's mentorship. Mercer and Grayson wonder if they could have made their relationship work, but finally conclude that they were never compatible for a long-term romantic relationship, despite their strong camaraderie. Admiral Tucker orders Alara to return to Earth instead of approaching the powerful Calivon; Alara violates these orders and rescues Mercer and Grayson, along with an alien child, by trading an archive of Earth's reality television for them. Mercer presents Alara with a medal of honor and believes he and Grayson can prevent her from being punished for insubordination. A female offspring hatches from Bortus' egg, stunning him and Klyden, as Moclan females are extremely rare.

3
"About a Girl"
Brannon Braga
Seth MacFarlane
September 21, 2017 (2017-09-21)
1LAB04
4.05[29]

When Doctor Finn refuses Bortus and Klyden's request to have their daughter undergo sex reassignment surgery, which is standard practice for Moclans on the very rare occasions when a female is born, the parents petition Mercer to order the procedure. Mercer refuses, as he (and the rest of the crew) object to performing such a procedure on a healthy infant, so Bortus and Klyden arrange to have the procedure performed on a Moclan vessel. Gordon and John change Bortus' mind by showing him Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but Klyden still wants to proceed, revealing that he was born female. The case is arbitrated on the Moclan planet, Moclus, where Grayson represents Bortus; she casts doubt on the idea of male superiority by demonstrating that Alara is physically strong and Gordon is stupid. Mercer locates a female Moclan of advanced years, Heveena, who testifies that she lived a happy and fulfilling life in seclusion, and reveals that under the pseudonym "Gondus Elden," she has become an esteemed novelist on Moclus. But Klyden and the tribunal are unconvinced, and the baby undergoes the surgery. Despite their disagreement, Bortus and Klyden are committed to one another and to giving their son, Topa, a good life.

4
"If the Stars Should Appear"
James L. Conway
Seth MacFarlane
September 28, 2017 (2017-09-28)
1LAB02
3.70[30]

The Orville encounters an immense, 2000-year-old derelict ship drifting into a star. Mercer, Grayson, Kitan, Finn, and Isaac enter, discovering an artificial biosphere and a civilization of 3 million who worship an entity called Dorahl, and do not know they are on a ship. Grayson is held prisoner by their theocratic dictator Hamelac, who imposes a death penalty on "Reformers" who believe anything exists beyond the known world. While Bortus takes the Orville to save a colony ship from a Krill attack, Grayson's crewmates rescue her and lead a group of Reformers to the alien ship's bridge. An ancient recording from Captain Jahavus Dorahl (played by Liam Neeson) reveals that it was a generation ship disabled by an ion storm. Isaac initiates repairs and opens the hull's window, enabling the populace to see stars for the first time, moving even Hamelac. Mercer makes arrangements for the Union to train the people to operate their ship. Meanwhile, Klyden is frustrated that Bortus' duties leave him little time for family.

5
"Pria"
Jonathan Frakes
Seth MacFarlane
October 5, 2017 (2017-10-05)
1LAB05
3.43[31]

The Orville comes to the rescue of a mining ship. Grayson is suspicious of their new guest, Pria Lavesque (Charlize Theron), to whom Mercer is clearly attracted. Grayson's concerns are shown to have merit when Pria is discovered to be a time-traveling artifact dealer from the 29th Century. Pria claims to have rescued the Orville from a dark matter storm that would have killed them all, mainly so she could sell the ship to an artifact buyer in her own time. Meanwhile, Malloy's attempt to teach Isaac the concept of practical jokes backfires when Isaac anesthetizes Malloy and amputates his leg.

6
"Krill"
Jon Cassar
David A. Goodman
October 12, 2017 (2017-10-12)
1LAB06
3.37[32]

After recovering a Krill shuttle intact, Mercer and Malloy are ordered to pose as Krill soldiers in order to board one of their vessels and get a copy of the Ankhana, a sacred religious text. They are forced to change priorities when they learn that the Krill plan to detonate a powerful bomb over a remote Union colony. Rather than destroy the bomb, and therefore the ship, they exploit the Krill's natural weakness to sunlight to eliminate all the crew members, with the exception of a classroom full of children and their teacher Teleya, who warns Mercer that his actions will only reinforce the Krill's hatred for the Union.

7
"Majority Rule"
Tucker Gates
Seth MacFarlane
October 26, 2017 (2017-10-26)
1LAB07
4.18[33]

An undercover team led by Grayson lands on Sargas 4, an Earth-like planet with a culture similar to that of 21st-century human civilization, to locate two missing anthropologists. There, LaMarr is arrested after a video of him dancing with a beloved statue receives more than a million "down" votes, and must convince the public to pardon him or be subjected to "treatment" for his actions. Alara and Claire locate one of the missing, but find him in an irreversible lobotomized state. With LaMarr facing a final vote to determine his guilt, Mercer brings one of the planet's inhabitants, Lysella, aboard the Orville and learns about the "Master Feed", which Isaac is able to hack and upload doctored images of John, narrowly swinging the vote in his favor. Now free, John and the others return to the ship and depart. The next day, Lysella decides against taking part in a public vote.

8
"Into the Fold"
Brannon Braga
Brannon Braga & André Bormanis
November 2, 2017 (2017-11-02)
1LAB08
3.83[34]

While traveling to a recreational planet in a shuttle, Isaac, Finn, and her sons Marcus and Ty fall into a spatial fold, and crash on a planet devastated by famine and disease, and populated by cannibals. Finn is separated from the other three and captured by a survivalist named Drogen. While she works to escape, Isaac, who is unfamiliar with the care of human children, is forced to protect her sons while he tries to fix the shuttle's communication systems in order to send a distress signal. Ty becomes ill with the planet's indigenous disease. After Finn kills Drogen and reunites with the others, Isaac and Marcus hold off a large attack by the cannibals long enough for the Orville to rescue them. After Finn cures Ty's infection, Isaac tells her that, for all the faults he sees in the children, he still thinks of them fondly.

9
"Cupid's Dagger"
Jamie Babbit
Liz Heldens
November 9, 2017 (2017-11-09)
1LAB09
3.69[35]

The Orville is dispatched to mediate talks between two alien species, the Navarians and the Bruidians, who have been at a centuries-old stalemate over which race lays proper claim over the planet Lapovius. Also assigned to the matter is Darulio (Rob Lowe), the Retepsian whose affair with Grayson a year prior ended her marriage to Mercer, to scan an ancient artifact from the planet for DNA to reveal which species was the original inhabitant. Unbeknownst to the crew, Darulio secretes a sex pheromone as part of his mating cycle, which affects the crew resulting in trysts between Darulio and Grayson, Darulio and Mercer, and Finn and Yaphit. This incapacitates the affected officers, resulting in the Navarian and Bruidian delegates canceling the mediation, and a full-scale battle in orbit around the planet. The crisis is resolved when Darulio and Alara expose the ambassadors to a modified version of the pheromone, resulting in a temporary infatuation that prompts a ceasefire. DNA test results from the artifact reveal that the planet's inhabitants were common ancestors to both species, legitimizing a mutual claim to the planet. When Grayson asks Darulio if he was in heat a year ago, he only answers "maybe".

10
"Firestorm"
Brannon Braga
Cherry Chevapravatdumrong
November 16, 2017 (2017-11-16)
1LAB10
3.32[36]

When Lt. Payne is trapped beneath debris during a plasma storm, Alara's pyrophobia causes her to hesitate, and after he dies, she blames herself. Mercer declines her resignation and suggests she discover the cause of her pyrophobia. She learns from her parents (Robert Picardo and Molly Hagan) that, as an infant, her mother fell asleep cradling her when a fire broke out in the kitchen. Alara's cries woke her up just in time to save them both. Soon, the Orville encounters strange phenomena, including a scary clown, a giant spider that eats Malloy, and murderous versions of Finn and Isaac. It is revealed that Alara is in the holographic simulator, in a program she ordered Isaac to create to simulate any other potential fears she may have, and having Finn erase her short-term memory of having made the request to ensure an authentic reaction to the program. She completes the program, after which Mercer threatens to court martial her for invoking Directive 38 (allowing the Chief of Security to override the captain's clearance) so that no one could abort the simulation early, but decides to let Alara off easy, saying he was impressed by her ability to overcome every obstacle.

11
"New Dimensions"
Kelly Cronin
Seth MacFarlane
November 30, 2017 (2017-11-30)
1LAB11
3.63[37]

With Lt. Newton leaving the Orville, Mercer must find a new Chief Engineer. Although Yaphit is next in line for the position, Cmdr. Grayson discovers that LaMarr has been hiding intellectual gifts, stemming from wanting to be better accepted as a child growing up in his community. Grayson convinces Mercer to assign LaMarr to lead an engineering team assignment, in order to evaluate him as a candidate, but when Mercer learns that Grayson similarly pushed for Admiral Halsey to consider him for the Orville's captaincy, he becomes wracked with doubt and resentment, despite Grayson's insistence that he was granted his position on merit, and Halsey's confirmation that Mercer's performance on the ship has borne this out. Meanwhile, the Orville encounters a thief with a cache of plasma rifles stolen from the Krill, who is killed when he passes into a region of two-dimensional space. To elude the thief's Krill pursuers, the Orville takes refuge in that region. When the protective quantum bubble around the ship begins to fail, LaMarr, initially daunted by being placed in a leadership position, rises to the occasion, and works with Yaphit to help the ship escape the realm, for which LaMarr is made Chief Engineer and promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

12
"Mad Idolatry"
Brannon Braga
Seth MacFarlane
December 7, 2017 (2017-12-07)[38]
1LAB13
3.54[39]

In uncharted space, Grayson leads a shuttle team that crashes on a suddenly appearing planet with a Bronze Age society. Before the team returns to the Orville, Grayson interacts with a young native girl which results in a cultural contamination. The crew discovers the planet phases in to our universe for a short time every 11 days as 700 years passes in the planet's main universe. When the planet reappears they discover the contamination has led to a religion that worships Grayson and has grown into a theocracy that practices torture and execution of heretics. Admiral Ozawa reprimands Mercer for omitting mention of the contamination, and orders no further contact with the planet. Mercer and Grayson defy this order by returning to the planet to inform the society's religious leader, the Valondis, of the truth, but a subordinate conspires to continue the lie. As a result, by the time of its next visit to our universe, the planet's society is comparable to that of early 21st century Earth complete with religious bickering and strife. Resolving to finish their mission of removing the false religion, Isaac stays on the planet till its next visit, spending what for the planet is 700 years. When the planet emerges again, it has progressed to its age of interstellar space travel, and two of its representatives return Isaac to the Orville where they inform the crew that despite the tumultuous effect of his arrival on the planet, its society evolved away from religion naturally and suggested that when they progress millennia ahead of the Orville's universe, they may come to study its people.

tag: table

text: Production[edit]

text: Development[edit]

text: MacFarlane originally wrote The Orville as a spec script, which was given a 13-episode order by Fox on May 4, 2016, making it the first live-action television series created by MacFarlane, as well as his first live-action starring role on television.[40]

text: Following the project's greenlight, MacFarlane stated, “I've wanted to do something like this show ever since I was a kid, and the timing finally feels right. [...] I think this is gonna be something special.”[5]

text: According to MacFarlane, The Orville was inspired by The Twilight Zone and Star Trek.[41] He was also encouraged to sell the series due to the success of Guardians of the Galaxy and Deadpool.[42]

text: Casting[edit]

text: On July 29, 2016, MacFarlane's role was revealed to be Ed Mercer, the captain of the Orville, while Adrianne Palicki had been cast as Kelly Grayson, Ed's ex-wife and the newly appointed first officer of the Orville, and Scott Grimes, who voices Steve Smith on American Dad! (another show created by MacFarlane), was cast as Gordon Malloy, Ed's best friend whom he hires to pilot the Orville.[9] On August 19, Peter Macon and J Lee were cast as series regulars.[43][44] On October 31, Halston Sage and Penny Johnson Jerald joined the cast.[45] On December 8, Mark Jackson was cast.[17] On April 3, 2017, Chad L. Coleman was added as a series regular and Larry Joe Campbell was cast in a recurring role.[46]

text: At San Diego Comic Con, MacFarlane said that Charlize Theron would guest-star in an episode.[47] The two had previously co-starred in A Million Ways to Die in the West.

text: Filming[edit]

text: On August 24, 2016, Jon Favreau signed on to direct the pilot.[48] Production on the pilot episode began in late 2016, and the rest of the episodes began filming on March 27, 2017.[40] Production wrapped on August 23, 2017.[49]

text: Star Trek veterans Jonathan Frakes and Robert Duncan McNeill have each directed an episode of The Orville, having directed episodes of the Star Trek franchise.[50]

text: On November 15, 2017, it was reported that episode thirteen of season one would be held back and instead air during the second season due to a gap in broadcast dates caused by the broadcaster's lengthy Christmas programming.[51] Filming for the second begins in February 2018.[52]

text: Music[edit]

text: The show uses a 75-piece orchestra for the music in each episode, alongside several different composers. MacFarlane said "We score it like a movie" and "We really put as much into that as we do into the effects."[53]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Critical response[edit]

text: The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 21% approval rating, with an average rating of 4.61/10 based on 39 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "An odd jumble of campiness and sincerity, homage and satire, The Orville never quite achieves liftoff."[54] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 36 out of 100, based on 21 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[55]

text: Liz Miller writing for IndieWire compared the series to Star Trek, calling it a rip-off and "Creatively, Morally, and Ethically Bankrupt". She criticized the lack of creativity, the blatant imitation, and was surprised that the show is "uninterested in being a comedy".[50]

text: Erik Kain of Forbes gave a positive review of the show with the observation that "All the optimism and sincerity and lightheartedness of Star Trek is here, and in many ways it's kind of wonderful. I'm honestly surprised something like this exists." He says the critics were wrong and suggests their opinions are based on disliking MacFarlane and his type of humor.[56]

text: Audience response[edit]

text: In the October 15, 2017 "The Orville Mid-Season Angry Review" episode of The Angry Joe Show, host Joe Vargas noted the gulf between the response to the series among critics and viewers, contrasting the Rotten Tomatoes' 19% approval rating from professional critics to the 91% viewer approval rating. Vargas compared this to Star Trek: Discovery, which received an 83% rating from critics, and stated "Star Trek fans—at least the ones that watch my show—like The Orville way more than they like Star Trek: Discovery".[57] Tim Surette of TV Guide also wrote about the critic-to-viewer Rotten Tomatoes rating, noting the balance had shifted to 21/93, and that its Metacritic score was 36% approval from critics, and 82% from viewers. As a critic himself, Surette notes that as a throwback, The Orville is an anomaly in modern television, and found showrunner David A. Goodman's admission that MacFarlane wants to vary between dramatic and comedic episodes a potentially dangerous strategy, but concedes that the show's viewers appear to like it for that reason.[58]

text: Ratings[edit]

text: The Orville has performed well in ratings. After its premiere on Sunday, September 10, 2017, the show moved to Thursday nights at 9 p.m. In its first broadcast in the new time slot, The Orville became Fox's highest rated Thursday 9 p.m. broadcast in two years.[59]

text: After taking into account DVR and VOD, The Orville was Fox's most-viewed drama debut since the premiere of Empire in 2015.

text:
No.
Title
Air date
Rating/share
(18–49)
Viewers
(millions)
DVR
(18–49)
DVR viewers
(millions)
Total
(18–49)
Total viewers
(millions)

1
"Old Wounds"
September 10, 2017
2.7/9
8.56[27]
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A

2
"Command Performance"
September 17, 2017
2.2/8
6.63[28]
0.9
2.42
3.1
9.05[60]

3
"About a Girl"
September 21, 2017
1.1/4
4.05[29]
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A

4
"If the Stars Should Appear"
September 28, 2017
1.1/4
3.70[30]
1.0
3.11
2.1
6.81[61]

5
"Pria"
October 5, 2017
0.9/3
3.43[31]
1.2
3.35
2.1
6.79[62]

6
"Krill"
October 12, 2017
1.0/4
3.37[32]
1.1
3.32
2.1
6.69[63]

7
"Majority Rule"
October 26, 2017
1.2/5
4.18[33]
1.1
3.11
2.3
7.29[64]

8
"Into the Fold"
November 2, 2017
1.0/4
3.83[34]
1.0
2.89
2.0
6.72[65]

9
"Cupid's Dagger"
November 9, 2017
1.0/4
3.69[35]
1.1
3.01
2.1
6.70[66]

10
"Firestorm"
November 16, 2017
0.9/3
3.32[36]
1.0
2.83
1.9
6.13[67]

11
"New Dimensions"
November 30, 2017
0.9/3
3.63[37]
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD

12
"Mad Idolatry"
December 7, 2017
0.9/4
3.54[39]
TBD
TBD
TBD
TBD


document_title: Dorsal root of spinal nerve

question_text: what happens when the dorsal root of a spinal nerve is cut

text: Dorsal root of spinal nerve

text: Structure[edit]

text: The root emerges from the posterior part of the spinal cord and travels to the dorsal root ganglion. This contains the cell bodies of the nerve fibres contained in the root.

text: The lateral division of the dorsal root contains lightly myelinated and unmyelinated fibres of small diameter. These carry pain and temperature sensation. These fibers cross through the anterior white commissure to form the anterolateral system in the lateral funiculus.

text:
The medial division of the dorsal root contains myelinated fibres of larger diameter. These transmit information of discriminative touch, pressure, vibration, and conscious proprioception originating from spinal levels C2 through S5. These fibers are pushed in towards the posterior median sulcus to form the gracile fasciculus and the cuneate fasciculus of the posterior column–medial lemniscus pathway.
If the dorsal root of a spinal nerve were severed it would lead to numbness in certain areas of the body.

text: Additional images[edit]

text:
Cervical vertebra

Medulla spinalis

A spinal nerve with its anterior and posterior roots.

The sensory tract.

Diagrammatic transverse section of the medulla spinalis and its membranes.

A portion of the spinal cord, showing its right lateral surface. The dura is opened and arranged to show the nerve roots.

Scheme showing structure of a typical spinal nerve.


document_title: Storming of the Bastille

question_text: what did the revolutionaries find in the bastille prison

text: Storming of the Bastille

text: Background[edit]

text: During the reign of Louis XVI, France faced a major economic crisis, caused in part by the cost of intervening in the American Revolution, and exacerbated by a regressive system of taxation.[2] On 5 May 1789, the Estates General of 1789 convened to deal with this issue, but were held back by archaic protocols and the conservatism of the second estate, consisting of the nobility and amounting to only 2% of France's population.[3] On 17 June 1789, the third estate, with its representatives drawn from the commoners, reconstituted themselves as the National Assembly, a body whose purpose was the creation of a French constitution. The king initially opposed this development, but was forced to acknowledge the authority of the assembly, which renamed itself the National Constituent Assembly on 9 July.[4] France was under major changes during this time.

text: The commoners had formed the National Guard, sporting tricolour cockades (cocardes) of blue, white and red, formed by combining the red and blue cockade of Paris and the white cockade of the king. These cockades, and soon simply their colour scheme, became the symbol of the revolution and, later, of France itself.[5]

text: Paris, close to insurrection and, in François Mignet's words, "intoxicated with liberty and enthusiasm",[6] showed wide support for the Assembly. The press published the Assembly's debates; political debate spread beyond the Assembly itself into the public squares and halls of the capital. The Palais-Royal and its grounds became the site of an ongoing meeting.[7] The crowd, on the authority of the meeting at the Palais-Royal, broke open the prisons of the Abbaye to release some grenadiers of the French guards, reportedly imprisoned for refusing to fire on the people.[8] The Assembly recommended the imprisoned guardsmen to the clemency of the king; they returned to prison, and received pardon. The rank and file of the regiment, previously considered reliable, now leaned toward the popular cause.[9]

text: Necker's dismissal[edit]

text: On 11 July 1789, Louis XVI –acting under the influence of the conservative nobles of his privy council— dismissed and banished his finance minister, Jacques Necker (who had been sympathetic to the Third Estate) and completely reconstructed the ministry.[10] The marshals Victor-François, duc de Broglie, la Galissonnière, the duc de la Vauguyon, the Baron Louis de Breteuil, and the intendant Foulon, took over the posts of Puységur, Armand Marc, comte de Montmorin, La Luzerne, Saint-Priest, and Necker.

text: News of Necker's dismissal reached Paris on the afternoon of Sunday, 12 July. The Parisians generally presumed that the dismissal marked the start of a coup by conservative elements.[11]  Liberal Parisians were further enraged by the fear that a concentration of Royal troops—brought in from frontier garrisons to Versailles, Sèvres, the Champ de Mars, and Saint-Denis—would attempt to shut down the National Constituent Assembly, which was meeting in Versailles. Crowds gathered throughout Paris, including more than ten thousand at the Palais-Royal. Camille Desmoulins successfully rallied the crowd by "mounting a table, pistol in hand, exclaiming: 'Citizens, there is no time to lose; the dismissal of Necker is the knell of a Saint Bartholomew for patriots! This very night all the Swiss and German battalions will leave the Champ de Mars to massacre us all; one resource is left; to take arms!'"[6]

text: The Swiss and German regiments referred to were among the foreign mercenary troops who made up a significant portion of the pre-revolutionary Royal Army, and were seen as being less likely to be sympathetic to the popular cause than ordinary French soldiers.[12] By early July, approximately half of the 25,000 regular troops in Paris and Versailles were drawn from these foreign regiments. The French regiments included in the concentration appear to have been selected either because of the proximity of their garrisons to Paris or because their colonels were supporters of the reactionary "court party" opposed to reform.[4]

text: During the public demonstrations that started on 12 July, the multitude displayed busts of Necker and of Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, then marched from the Palais Royal through the theater district before continuing westward along the boulevards. The crowd clashed with the Royal German Cavalry Regiment ("Royal-Allemand") between the  Place Vendôme and the Tuileries Palace. From atop the Champs-Élysées, the Prince de Lambesc unleashed a cavalry charge that dispersed the remaining protesters at Place Louis XV—now Place de la Concorde.[13] The Royal commander, Baron de Besenval, fearing the results of a blood bath amongst the poorly armed crowds or defections among his own men, then withdrew the cavalry towards Sèvres.[14] Meanwhile, unrest was growing among the people of Paris who expressed their hostility against state authorities by attacking customs posts blamed for causing increased food and wine prices.[15] The people of Paris started to plunder any place where food, guns and supplies could be hoarded. That night, rumors spread that supplies were being hoarded at Saint-Lazare, a huge property of the clergy, which functioned as convent, hospital, school and even as a jail. An angry mob broke in and plundered the property,[16] seizing 52 wagons of wheat, which were taken to the public market. That same day multitudes of people plundered many other places including weapon arsenals. The Royal troops did nothing to stop the spreading of social chaos in Paris during those days.[17]

text: Armed conflict[edit]

text: The regiment of Gardes Françaises (French Guards) formed the permanent garrison of Paris and, with many local ties, was favourably disposed towards the popular cause.[18]  This regiment had remained confined to its barracks during the initial stages of the mid-July disturbances. With Paris becoming the scene of a general riot, Charles Eugene, Prince of Lambesc (Marshal of the Camp, Proprietor of the Royal Allemand-Dragoons), not trusting the regiment to obey his order, posted sixty dragoons to station themselves before its dépôt in the Chaussée d'Antin. The officers of the French Guards made ineffectual attempts to rally their men. The rebellious citizenry had now acquired a trained military contingent. As word of this spread, the commanders of the royal forces encamped on the Champ de Mars became doubtful of the dependability of even the foreign regiments.[19] The future "Citizen King", Louis-Philippe, duc d'Orléans, witnessed these events as a young officer and was of the opinion that the soldiers would have obeyed orders if put to the test. He also commented in retrospect that the officers of the French Guards had neglected their responsibilities in the period before the uprising, leaving the regiment too much to the control of its non-commissioned officers.[20] However, the uncertain leadership of Besenval led to a virtual abdication of royal authority in central Paris. On the morning of 13 July the electors of Paris met and agreed to the recruitment of a "bourgeois militia" of 48,000 men[16] from the sixty voting districts of Paris, to restore order.[21]

text: Storming the Bastille (14 July 1789)[edit]

text: On the morning of 14 July  1789, the city of Paris was in a state of alarm. The partisans of the Third Estate in France, now under the control of the Bourgeois Militia of Paris (soon to become Revolutionary France's National Guard), had earlier stormed the Hôtel des Invalides without meeting significant opposition.[22] Their intention had been to gather the weapons held there (29,000 to 32,000 muskets, but without powder or shot). The commandant at the Invalides had in the previous few days taken the precaution of transferring 250 barrels of gunpowder to the Bastille for safer storage.[23]

text: At this point, the Bastille was nearly empty, housing only seven prisoners:[24] four forgers, two "lunatics" and one "deviant" aristocrat, the Comte de Solages (the Marquis de Sade had been transferred out ten days earlier).[23]

text: The high cost of maintaining a garrisoned medieval fortress, for what was seen as having a limited purpose, had led to a decision being made shortly before the disturbances began to replace it with an open public space.[25] Amid the tensions of July 1789, the building remained as a symbol of royal tyranny.

text: The regular garrison consisted of 82 invalides (veteran soldiers no longer suitable for service in the field).[26]  It had however been reinforced on 7 July by 32 grenadiers of the Swiss Salis-Samade Regiment from the regular troops on the Champ de Mars.[27] The walls mounted 18 eight-pound guns and 12 smaller pieces. The governor was Bernard-René de Launay, son of the previous governor and actually born within the Bastille.[23]

text: The official list of vainqueurs de la Bastille  (conquerors of the Bastille) subsequently compiled has 954 names,[29] and the total of the crowd was probably fewer than one thousand. A breakdown of occupations included in the list indicates that the majority were local artisans, together with some regular army deserters and a few distinctive categories such as 21 wine merchants.[30]

text: The crowd gathered outside around mid-morning, calling for the surrender of the prison, the removal of the cannon and the release of the arms and gunpowder.[23] Two representatives of the crowd outside were invited into the fortress and negotiations began, and another was admitted around noon with definite demands. The negotiations dragged on while the crowd grew and became impatient.[31] Around 1:30, the crowd surged into the undefended outer courtyard. A small party climbed onto the roof of a building next to the gate to the inner courtyard and broke the chains on the drawbridge, crushing one vainqueur as it fell. Soldiers of the garrison called to the people to withdraw but in the noise and confusion these shouts were misinterpreted as encouragement to enter.[3] Gunfire began, apparently spontaneously, turning the crowd into a mob. The crowd seems to have felt that they had been intentionally drawn into a trap and the fighting became more violent and intense, while attempts by deputies to organise a cease-fire were ignored by the attackers.[3]

text: The firing continued, and after 3:00 pm, the attackers were reinforced by mutinous gardes françaises, along with two cannons. A substantial force of Royal Army troops encamped on the Champ de Mars did not intervene.[32] With the possibility of mutual carnage suddenly apparent, Governor de Launay ordered a cease-fire at 5:00 pm. A letter offering his terms was handed out to the besiegers through a gap in the inner gate. His demands were refused, but de Launay nonetheless capitulated, as he realised that with limited food stocks and no water supply[30] his troops could not hold out much longer. He accordingly opened the gates to the inner courtyard, and the vainqueurs swept in to liberate the fortress at 5:30.[33]

text: Ninety-eight attackers and one defender had died in the actual fighting, a disparity accounted for by the protection provided to the garrison by the fortress walls.[34] De Launay was seized and dragged towards the Hôtel de Ville in a storm of abuse. Outside the Hôtel, a discussion as to his fate began.[35]  The badly beaten de Launay shouted "Enough! Let me die!"[36] and kicked a pastry cook named Dulait in the groin. De Launay was then stabbed repeatedly and died. An English traveller, Doctor Edward Rigby, reported what he saw, "[We] perceived two bloody heads raised on pikes, which were said to be the heads of the Marquis de Launay, Governor of the Bastille, and of Monsieur Flesselles, Prévôt des Marchands. It was a chilling and a horrid sight! ... Shocked and disgusted at this scene, [we] retired immediately from the streets."[37]

text: The three officers of the permanent Bastille garrison were also killed by the crowd; surviving police reports detail their wounds and clothing.[38]

text: Two of the invalides of the garrison were lynched, but all but two of the Swiss regulars of the Salis-Samade Regiment were protected by the French Guards and eventually released to return to their regiment. Their officer, Lieutenant Louis de Flue, wrote a detailed report on the defense of the Bastille, which was incorporated in the logbook of the Salis-Samade and has survived.[39] It is (perhaps unfairly) critical of the dead Marquis de Launay, whom de Flue accuses of weak and indecisive leadership.[39] The blame for the fall of the Bastille would rather appear to lie with the inertia of the commanders of the 5,000[40] Royal Army troops encamped on the Champ de Mars, who did not act when either the nearby Hôtel des Invalides or the Bastille were attacked.

text: Returning to the Hôtel de Ville, the mob accused the prévôt dès marchands (roughly, mayor) Jacques de Flesselles of treachery, and he was assassinated en route to an ostensible trial at the Palais-Royal.[41]

text: The king first learned of the storming only the next morning through the Duke of La Rochefoucauld. "Is it a revolt?" asked Louis XVI. The duke replied: "No sire, it's not a revolt; it's a revolution."[42]

text: At Versailles, the Assembly remained ignorant of most of the Paris events, but eminently aware that Marshal de Broglie stood on the brink of unleashing a pro-Royalist coup to force the Assembly to adopt the order of 23 June[43] and then to dissolve. The vicomte de Noailles apparently first brought reasonably accurate news of the Paris events to Versailles. M. Ganilh and Bancal-des-Issarts, dispatched to the Hôtel de Ville, confirmed his report.[44]

text: By the morning of 15 July, the outcome appeared clear to the king as well, and he and his military commanders backed down.[45] The Royal troops concentrated around Paris dispersed to their frontier garrisons. The Marquis de la Fayette took up command of the National Guard at Paris;[46] Jean-Sylvain Bailly – leader of the Third Estate and instigator of the Tennis Court Oath – became the city's mayor under a new governmental structure known as the Commune de Paris.[47] The king announced that he would recall Necker and return from Versailles to Paris; on 17 July, in Paris, he accepted a tricolour cockade from Bailly and entered the Hôtel de Ville to cries of "Long live the King" and "Long live the Nation".[48]

text: Aftermath[edit]

text: Nonetheless, after this violence, nobles – little assured by the apparent and, as it was to prove, temporary reconciliation of king and people – started to flee the country as émigrés.[49] Among the first to leave were the comte d'Artois (the future Charles X of France) and his two sons, the prince de Condé, the prince de Conti, the Polignac family, and (slightly later) Charles Alexandre de Calonne, the former finance minister. They settled at Turin, where Calonne, as agent for the count d'Artois and the prince de Condé, began plotting civil war within the kingdom and agitating for a European coalition against France.[50]

text: The news of the successful insurrection at Paris spread throughout France. In accord with principles of popular sovereignty and with complete disregard for claims of royal authority, the people established parallel structures of municipalities for civic government and militias for civic protection.[21] In rural areas, many went beyond this: some burned title-deeds and no small number of châteaux, as the "Great Fear" spread across the countryside during the weeks of 20 July to 5 August, with attacks on wealthy landlords impelled by the belief that the aristocracy was trying to put down the revolution.[51][52]

text: On 22 July 1789 the populace lynched Joseph Foullon de Doué and his son-in-law[53] Louis Bénigne François Bertier de Sauvigny. Both held official positions under the monarchy.

text: Although there were arguments that the Bastille should be preserved as a monument to liberation or as a depot for the new National Guard, the Permanent Committee of Municipal Electors at the Paris Town Hall gave the construction entrepreneur Pierre-François Palloy the commission of disassembling the building.[54] Palloy commenced work immediately. The demolition of the fortress itself, the melting down of its clock portraying chained prisoners, and the breaking up of four statues were all carried out within five months.[55]

text: On 16 July 1789, two days after the Storming of the Bastille, John Frederick Sackville, serving as ambassador to France,  reported to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Francis Osborne, 5th Duke of Leeds,  "Thus, my Lord, the greatest revolution that we know anything of has been effected with, comparatively speaking—if the magnitude of the event is considered—the loss of very few lives. From this moment we may consider France as a free country, the King a very limited monarch, and the nobility as reduced to a level with the rest of the nation."[56]

text: In 1790, Lafayette gave the cast-iron, one-pound and three-ounce key to the Bastille to U.S. President George Washington. Washington displayed it prominently at government facilities and events in New York and in Philadelphia until shortly before his retirement in 1797. The key remains on display at Washington's residence of Mount Vernon.[57]

text: Palloy also took bricks from the Bastille and had them carved into replicas of the fortress, which he sold, along with medals allegedly made from the chains of prisoners.  Pieces of stone from the structure were sent to every district in France, and some have been located.  Various other pieces of the Bastille also survive, including stones used to build the Pont de la Concorde bridge over the Seine, and one of the towers, which was found buried in 1899 and is now at Square Henri-Galli in Paris, as well as the clock bells and pulley system, which are now in the Musée d’Art Campanaire.[58]  About 900 people who claimed to have stormed the Bastille received certificates (Brevet de vainqueur de la Bastille) from the National Assembly in 1790, and a number of these still exist.[59]  The building itself is outlined in brick on the location where it once stood, as is the moat in the Paris Metro stop below it, where a piece of the foundation is also on display.

text: In popular culture[edit]

text: This section appears to contain trivial, minor, or unrelated references to popular culture. Please reorganize this content to explain the subject's impact on popular culture, using references to reliable sources, rather than simply listing appearances. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2018)

text:
An annual reenactment of the Storming of the Bastille was held at the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, hosted by the Bearded Ladies (a cabaret troupe). Traditionally a Marie Antoinette reenactor declares "Let them eat Tastykake" and is promptly beheaded by the mob. The 24 year tradition was ended in 2018. [60][61]
Austrian composer Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf wrote his Symphony in C Major as a tribute to the event. The first movement of the piece is known as La Prise De La Bastille.[citation needed]
In Book 2 of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, the Defarges help lead the assault on the Bastille.
1789: Les Amants de la Bastille, stage musical whose main characters are split up during the early stages, then reunited during the storming of the Bastille.
The protagonist of Assassin's Creed Unity, Arno Dorian, is depicted as being one of the prisoners in the Bastille when it gets stormed, and manages to escape in the confusion.
Bastille Day was a song written in 1975 by the progressive rock band Rush about the siege, and was included on their album Caress of Steel.


document_title: Coming to America

question_text: who played the white man in coming to america

text: Coming to America

text: Plot

text: This section's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (August 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text: In the fictional African nation of Zamunda, crown prince Akeem lives a pampered life, but he wishes to do more for himself. The final straw comes when his parents, King Jaffe and Queen Aeoleon, present him with an arranged bride-to-be named Imani Izzi, whom he has never met and who has been trained to obey Akeem's every command. Akeem seeks an independent woman who loves him for himself, not his social status, and believes the best place to look is the United States. Akeem and his best friend/personal aide, Semmi, flip a coin to decide between going to either Los Angeles or New York City and end up going to New York City. They end up in the borough of Queens and rent a squalid tenement in the neighborhood of Long Island City under the guise of poor foreign students. They begin working at a local fast food restaurant called McDowell's—an obvious ripoff of McDonald's—owned by widower Cleo McDowell and his two daughters, Lisa and Patrice.

text: Akeem soon falls in love with Lisa, who possesses all the qualities that the prince is looking for in a woman, as first seen by Akeem at a rally where she makes a strong plea to renovate a playground. The rest of the film centers on Akeem's attempts to win Lisa's hand in marriage, which is complicated by Lisa's lazy and obnoxious boyfriend, Darryl Jenks (Eriq La Salle), whose father owns Soul Glo (a Jheri curl–like hairstyling aid). Lisa eventually breaks up with Darryl after he announces their engagement (without Lisa's consent) to their families and starts dating Akeem. Although Akeem thrives on hard work and learning how commoners live, Semmi is not comfortable with living the life of a poor man. After a dinner date with Lisa is thwarted since Semmi has furnished their apartment with a jacuzzi and other luxuries, Akeem confiscates their travel money and donates it to two homeless men. Semmi wires a telegraph to King Jaffe for more money. This causes Akeem's parents to travel to Queens and expose Akeem's identity as a prince to the McDowells.

text: Mr. McDowell, initially disapproving of the match since he did not want to see his daughter with a man of poor means, is ecstatic that she has in fact attracted the interest of an extremely wealthy prince. Lisa, however, becomes angry and confused as to why Akeem lied to her about his identity since he earlier claimed he was a goat herder. Akeem wanted her to like for who he is and not what he can offer. Still hurt and angry that Akeem lied to her, she refuses to marry him, even after he offers to renounce his throne. Resigned to the arrange marriage, he returns to Zaumnda despondent. On the way to the airport, King Jaffe remarks that Akeem can't marry Lisa anyway because of "tradition" and tries defending himself by saying "Who am I to change it?" with Queen Aeoleon curtly responding, "I thought you were the King".

text: At the final scene's wedding procession, a still heartbroken Akeem waits dejectedly at the altar as his soon-to-be consort makes her way down the aisle. However, when Akeem lifts the veil to kiss her, he finds Lisa instead of Imani. Akeem and Lisa are married, and they ride happily in a carriage after the ceremony to the cheers of Zamundans. Witnessing such splendor, Lisa is both surprised and touched by the fact that Akeem would have given it up just for her. Akeem offers to formally abdicate if she doesn't want a life like this, but Lisa playfully declines and decides to become royalty instead. Akeem respected her wishes.

text: Cast

text:
Eddie Murphy as Prince Akeem Joffer, the prince of Zamunda; Randy Watson, a soul singer with the fictional band Sexual Chocolate.[3] Eddie Murphy also plays Saul, the Jewish barbershop customer, as well as Clarence, the owner of the barber shop.[4][5]
Arsenio Hall as Semmi, Akeem's friend; Reverend Brown;[6] Morris the barber; and an unattractive clubgoer.[7][8]
James Earl Jones as King Jaffe Joffer, Akeem's father and King of Zamunda.[9]
John Amos as Cleo McDowell, Akeem's employer and Lisa's father.
Madge Sinclair as Queen Aeoleon, Akeem's mother and the Queen of Zamunda.
Shari Headley as Lisa McDowell, Cleo's oldest daughter and Akeem's love interest.
Paul Bates as Oha, a royal servant.
Eriq La Salle as Darryl Jenks, Lisa's boyfriend whom she eventually breaks up with.

text: The cast also includes: Frankie Faison[10] as Mr. Townsend, Akeem and Semmi's landlord in Queens; Vanessa Bell as Imani Izzi, Akeem's arranged wife, and Calvin Lockhart as Colonel Izzi, her father; Louie Anderson as Maurice, a McDowell's employee; Allison Dean as Patrice McDowell, Cleo's youngest daughter and Lisa's sister; Samuel L. Jackson as a robber; Vondie Curtis-Hall as the Basketball game vendor; Garcelle Beauvais as a rose bearer; Victoria Dillard as one of Akeem's Zamundan attendants, and Clint Smith as Sweets. Cuba Gooding Jr. made his film debut as a barber shop customer (he was credited as Boy Getting Haircut). Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy reprise their roles as, respectively, Mortimer and Randolph Duke from Landis' 1983 Murphy-starring comedy film Trading Places.[11] A segment of the Trading Places score can be heard during their scene. The Dukes' limo driver from that film also cameos as the driver of Akeem and Semmi's limo.[citation needed]

text: Coming to America features Murphy and Hall in several different roles, which, following the success of this film, became a Murphy staple.[12] Hall plays Reverend Brown, who introduces Randy Watson (Murphy).[13] Murphy and Hall play elderly barbers Clarence and Morris respectively, who engage in debate with Saul, the old Jewish man (Murphy). Hall also plays a woman (credited as Extremely Ugly Girl) who flirts with Akeem and Semmi.

text: Production

text: Coming to America reunited star Eddie Murphy with director John Landis. The two had previously worked together on the comedy hit Trading Places (1983); however, Landis later recalled the differences in working with Murphy on the two movies: "The guy on Trading Places was young and full of energy and curious and funny and fresh and great. The guy on Coming to America was the pig of the world... But I still think he's wonderful in the movie."[14]

text: "We had a tussling confrontation… We didn't come to blows. Personalities didn't mesh. I grabbed him, and he thought I was playing. So he tried to grab my balls and I pushed him away. But I wasn't kidding. He was doing some silly shit that made me mad. He directed me in Trading Places when I was just starting out as a kid, but he was still treating me like a kid five years later during Coming to America. And I hired him to direct the movie! I was gonna direct Coming to America myself, but I knew that Landis had just done three fucked-up pictures in a row and that his career was hanging by a thread after the Twilight Zone trial. I figured the guy was nice to me when I did Trading Places, so I'd give him a shot… I was going out of my way to help this guy, and he fucked me over. Now he's got a hit picture on his resumé, a movie that made over $200 million, as opposed to him coming off a couple of fucked-up movies – which is where I'd rather see him be right now (laughs)." – Eddie Murphy[15]

text: Despite the experience, Landis and Murphy collaborated again six years later on Beverly Hills Cop III.

text: South African chorus Ladysmith Black Mambazo sings Mbube during the opening sequence (the song also known as The Lion Sleeps Tonight). The group has gone on to record several different versions of Mbube; however, the version heard in Coming to America had not been released on its soundtrack or on CD as of 2006.

text: Landis' calling card/easter egg, "See You Next Wednesday", appears on a science-fiction movie poster in the subway station after Lisa storms off the train.

text: A promotional song for the film, also titled "Coming to America", was written and performed by The System.

text: Release

text: Paramount cancelled press screenings of the film, after initial negative reactions to a press screening in New York.[16]

text: Box office

text: Released on June 29, 1988, by Paramount Pictures in the United States, it was a commercial box-office success, both domestically and worldwide.[17][18] The film debuted at number one with $21,404,420 from 2,064 screens, for a five-day total of $28,409,497. The film made $128,152,301 in the United States and ended up with a worldwide total of $288,752,301.[19] It was the highest earning film that year for the studio and the third-highest-grossing film at the United States box office.[20]

text: It opened a month later in the UK and earned $7,712,622 during its seven-week run. It opened on September 2 in West Germany, where it debuted at number one with $3,715,791 from 297 screens. It ended its run after 13 weeks with $15,743,447.

text: Reception

text: Review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 68%, based on reviews from 37 critics.[21]

text: Sheila Benson in the Los Angeles Times called it a "hollow and wearying Eddie Murphy fairy tale" and bemoans, "That an Eddie Murphy movie would come to this."[22] Vincent Canby in The New York Times was also critical of the writing, calling it a "possibly funny idea" but suggesting the screenplay had escaped before it was ready. Canby viewed the film as essentially a romantic comedy but said the romantic elements fell flat, and the film instead goes for broad slapstick.[23] Siskel & Ebert had mixed opinions on the film. Siskel enjoyed the acting from Murphy and Hall but Ebert was disappointed that Murphy did not bring his usual more lively performance, and Ebert was also critical of the unoriginal script.[24]

text: Awards

text: The film was nominated for two Oscars: Best Costume Design by Deborah Nadoolman Landis and Best Makeup by Rick Baker, who designed the makeup effects for both Murphy's and Arsenio Hall's multiple supporting characters.[citation needed]

text: Lawsuit

text: The film was the subject of the Buchwald v. Paramount civil suit, which the humorist Art Buchwald filed in 1990 against the film's producers on the grounds that the film's idea was stolen from his 1982 script treatment about a rich, despotic African potentate who comes to America for a state visit. Paramount had optioned the treatment from Buchwald, and John Landis was attached as director and Eddie Murphy as the lead, but after two years of development hell Paramount abandoned the project in March 1985. In 1987, Paramount began working on Coming to America based on a story by Eddie Murphy.[25][26] Buchwald won the breach of contract action and the court ordered monetary damages. The parties later settled the case out-of-court prior to an appeal going to trial.[27]

text: Soundtrack

text:
Coming to America: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Soundtrack album by Various artists

Released
July 1988

Genre
Pop

Length
40:16

Label
Atco Records

Singles from Coming to America

"Coming to America"
"Come into My Life"
"That's the Way It Is"
"Better Late Than Never"

text: The soundtrack to the film was released on LP, cassette and CD. The songs "Coming to America" by The System, "Better Late Than Never" by The Cover Girls and "Come into My Life" by Laura Branigan and Joe Esposito were released as singles from the album. "That's The Way It Is" by Mel & Kim had been released as a single in the UK, prior to the film's release, in February 1988, and became a top ten hit. It was released as a single in the USA at the time of the film's release.

text:
"Coming to America" — The System (3:49)
"Better Late Than Never" — The Cover Girls (4:02)
"All Dressed Up (Ready to Hit the Town)" — Chico DeBarge (4:50)
"I Like It Like That" — Michael Rodgers (4:01)
"That's the Way It Is" — Mel and Kim (3:25)

tag: ol

text:
"Addicted to You" — LeVert (3:54)
"Comin' Correct" — J.J. Fad (3:56)
"Livin' the Good Life" — Sister Sledge (3:46)
"Transparent" — Nona Hendryx (3:50)
"Come into My Life" — Laura Branigan and Joe Esposito (4:39)

text: Legacy

text: Television pilot

text: A television pilot of a weekly sitcom version of the film was produced for CBS, following the film's success, starring Tommy Davidson as Prince Tariq, and Paul Bates reprising his role as Oha. The pilot went unsold, but was televised on July 4, 1989 as part of the CBS Summer Playhouse pilot anthology series.[28][2]

text: Movie remakes

text: A Tamil movie, My Dear Marthandan, was produced based on the plot of Coming to America. A Hong Kong movie, The Fun, the Luck & the Tycoon, also has the same plot.

text: Influences in music

text: The melody heard in the bathroom scene, where Prince Akeem is being washed by female servants, was sampled in Snoop Dogg's 2006 song "That's That" featuring R. Kelly; a remix of the song featuring rapper Nas includes a woman's voice saying "the royal penis is clean your highness", a line taken from the same scene. Also, the music videos for Busta Rhymes' 1997 single "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See" and Action Bronson's 2015 single "Baby Blue" are loosely based on the film.

text: Planned sequel

text: In early 2017, an announcement was publicized which addressed the impending production of a sequel to the film. Kevin Misher was named as producer, and Sheffield and Blaustein, the original screenwriters, were also attached to the project. However, a possible participation of lead actors Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall was left undefined.[29][30] According to several public accounts, Murphy himself apparently posted an announcement regarding the film project a month prior on Facebook, but later claimed that his account had been hacked and completely deleted it.[29]