document_title: The Handmaid's Tale (TV series)

question_text: how many episodes of season two of the handmaids tale are there

text: The Handmaid's Tale (TV series)

text: Plot[edit]

text: In the near future, fertility rates collapse as a result of sexually transmitted diseases and environmental pollution.[5] With this chaos, the totalitarian, theonomic government of "Gilead" establishes rule in the former United States in the aftermath of a civil war.[6][7][8] Society is organized by power-hungry leaders along with a new, militarized, hierarchical regime of fanaticism and newly created social classes, in which women are brutally subjugated, and by law are not allowed to work, own property, handle money, or read.[8]

text: Worldwide infertility has resulted in the conscription of the few remaining fertile women in Gilead, called "Handmaids", according to an extremist interpretation of the Biblical account of Bilhah.[8] They are assigned to the homes of the ruling elite, where they must submit to ritualized rape by their male masters in order to become pregnant and bear children for those men and their wives.

text: Alongside the Handmaids, much of society is now grouped into classes that dictate their freedoms and duties. Women are divided into a small range of social categories, each one signified by a plain dress in a specific color: Handmaids wear red, Marthas (who are housekeepers and cooks, named after the biblical figure) wear green, and Wives (who are expected to run their households) wear blue and turquoise.

text: Econowives, the lower-class women who still have minimal agency, are a sort of mixture of all these categories, and they wear gray (a departure from the book in which Econowives wear clothing striped with the aforementioned colors). Women prisoners are called Unwomen and are worked to death clearing toxic waste in the Colonies.

text: Another class of women, Aunts (who train and oversee the Handmaids), wear brown. Additionally, the Eyes are a secret police watching over the general populace for signs of rebellion, Hunters track down people attempting to flee the country, and Jezebels are prostitutes in secret brothels catering to the elite ruling class.

text: June Osborne, renamed Offred (Elisabeth Moss), is the Handmaid assigned to the home of the Gileadan Commander Fred Waterford (Joseph Fiennes) and his wife Serena Joy (Yvonne Strahovski). Offred is subject to strict rules and constant scrutiny; an improper word or deed on her part can lead to brutal punishment.

text: Offred, who is named after her male master ("Of Fred") like all Handmaids, was married and had a daughter, a job, a bank account, and her own name and identity in the "time before", but all she can safely do now is follow the rules of Gilead in hopes that she can someday live free again and be reunited with her daughter. The Waterfords, key players in the rise of Gilead, have their own conflicts with the realities of the society they have helped create.

text: Cast and characters[edit]

text: Main[edit]

text:
Elisabeth Moss as June Osborne / Offred, a woman who was captured while attempting to escape to Canada with her husband, Luke, and daughter, Hannah. Due to her fertility, she is made a Handmaid to Commander Fred Waterford and his wife, Serena Joy, and is named "Offred".
Joseph Fiennes as Commander Fred Waterford, a high-ranking government official and June's master. Both he and his wife played an instrumental role in Gilead's founding. He wishes to have more contact with June outside of what is lawful between a Handmaid and her master, and starts inviting her to play nightly games of Scrabble.
Yvonne Strahovski as Serena Joy Waterford, Fred's wife and a former conservative cultural activist. She appears to have accepted her new role in a society that she helped create. She is poised and deeply religious, but capable of great cruelty and is often callous to June. She is desperate to become a mother.
Alexis Bledel as Emily / Ofglen / Ofsteven, June's shopping partner. Although June is initially wary of her, it is revealed Ofglen is not as pious as she seems, and the two become friends. Ofglen had a wife and son, and was a university lecturer in cellular biology. Being homosexual is punishable by death in Gilead, and most university professors are sent to labour camps, but Ofglen was spared and made a Handmaid, due to her fertility. She is later captured and cruelly punished for her relationship with a Martha, and is sent to another household where she becomes "Ofsteven". She is involved with a resistance movement called "Mayday".
Madeline Brewer as Janine / Ofwarren / Ofdaniel, a Handmaid who entered the Red Center for training at the same time as June and considers June a friend due to her kind treatment. Initially non-compliant, Janine's right eye is removed as a punishment. She becomes mentally unstable due to her treatment and often behaves in temperamental or childlike ways. She gives birth to a child for Warren and Naomi Putnam, whom they name "Angela", but Janine insists the baby's name is "Charlotte". Janine is later reassigned and becomes "Ofdaniel".  She was temporarily assigned to the Colonies until a bombing at the new Rachel and Leah Center.
Ann Dowd as Aunt Lydia, a woman in charge of overseeing the Handmaids in their sexual reeducation and duties. She is brutal and subjects insubordinate Handmaids to harsh physical punishment, but she also cares for her charges and believes deeply in the Gileadean mission and doctrine. She appears to have a soft spot for Janine, and even goes so far as to address her by her given name on occasion.
O. T. Fagbenle as Lucas "Luke" Bankole, June's husband from before Gilead. Because he and June began their relationship before his divorce from his first wife, their union is considered invalid in the new society. June is considered an adulteress and their daughter, Hannah, is considered illegitimate. Initially, June believes he has been killed, but it is later revealed Luke managed to escape to Canada.
Max Minghella as Nick Blaine, Commander Waterford's driver and a former drifter from Michigan who has feelings for June. June and Nick develop an intimate relationship and she eventually discovers that he is an Eye, a spy for Gilead.
Samira Wiley as Moira / Ruby, June's best friend since college. She is already at the Red Center when June enters Handmaid training but escapes before being assigned to a home. She is recaptured and becomes "Ruby", a Jezebel. She seems to have given up hope of ever being free, but on meeting June again regains the conviction to escape.
Amanda Brugel as Rita, a Martha at the Waterford home. She had a son who died fighting in the civil war when he was 19 years old.[9]

text: Recurring[edit]

text:
Ever Carradine as Naomi Putnam, Commander Warren Putnam's wife.
Tattiawna Jones as Lillie Fuller / Ofglen No. 2, who replaces Emily in the position after Emily is captured by the Eyes. She initially follows the rules and does not wish to upset the status quo, but this is because she believes her life as a Handmaid is better than the difficult, impoverished life she led prior to Gilead, rather than out of religious piety.
Nina Kiri as Alma / Ofrobert, another Handmaid who trained at the Red Center with June, Moira, and Janine. She is frank and chatty, and often trades gossip and news with June. She is also involved with Mayday and becomes June's first contact with the resistance group.
Jenessa Grant as Dolores / Ofsamuel, a local Handmaid with a friendly and talkative nature.
Bahia Watson as Brianna / Oferic, another local Handmaid who is friends with June.
Jordana Blake as Hannah Bankole, June and Luke's daughter. She is later renamed Agnes.
Erin Way as Erin, a young, apparently mute, woman who was being trained to become a Handmaid but managed to escape to Canada.[10]
Sydney Sweeney as Eden Spencer (season 2), a pious and obedient girl who was Nick's wife.[11]
Bradley Whitford as Commander Joseph Lawrence (season 2), the founder of the Colonies.[12]
Greg Bryk as Commander Ray Cushing (season 2)
Rohan Mead as Isaac (season 2), a Guardian assigned to the Waterford home.
Julie Dretzin as Eleanor Lawrence (season 2), Joseph's wife.

text: Guest[edit]

text:
Kristen Gutoskie as Beth (season 1), a Martha at Jezebel's. She has an arrangement with Nick whereby she trades illegal alcohol and other contraband for drugs, which the Jezebels use. She has a casual sexual relationship with him and is aware that he is an Eye.
Marisa Tomei as Mrs. O'Conner (season 2), a Commander's wife who is sent to the colonies as punishment for having sex with another man.[13]
Cherry Jones as Holly Maddox (season 2), June's mother, an outspoken feminist.[14]
Clea DuVall as Sylvia (season 2), Emily's wife.[15]
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Omar (season 2) a man who helps June attempt to escape.
John Carroll Lynch as Dan (season 2), Emily's boss at the university where she worked.
Kelly Jenrette as Annie (season 2), Luke's ex-wife.
Rebecca Rittenhouse as Odette (season 2), a Doctor and Moira's fiancée.
Sam Jaeger as Mark Tuello (season 2), a mysterious stranger who Serena encounters in Canada.
Oprah Winfrey (uncredited) as Newsreader (season 2) on a car radio.[16]

text: Episodes[edit]

text: Series overview[edit]

text: SeasonEpisodesOriginally releasedFirst releasedLast released110April 26, 2017 (2017-04-26)June 14, 2017 (2017-06-14)213April 25, 2018 (2018-04-25)July 11, 2018 (2018-07-11)

text: Season 1 (2017)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byTeleplay byOriginal release date11"Offred"Reed MoranoBruce MillerApril 26, 2017 (2017-04-26)
A family is pursued by a group of armed men. The woman is caught, and separated from her young daughter and husband as shots are fired in the distance. She is now known as Offred, the Handmaid to Commander Fred Waterford. While walking with another Handmaid, Ofglen, they pass by a wall on which men have been hanged for crimes such as being gay, working in an abortion clinic, and being a Catholic priest.[17] In a flashback, various women are indoctrinated into their Handmaid roles by Aunt Lydia, and Offred notices Moira, a woman she knew in college. Handmaid Janine taunts Aunt Lydia and is shocked with a cattle prod, later her right eye is removed as punishment. In the present, Commander Waterford tries to impregnate Offred during "the Ceremony" as she lies in the lap of his wife, Serena Joy. The next day, the Handmaids are encouraged to beat a man to death after Lydia announces he raped a pregnant Handmaid. Janine tells Offred that her friend Moira is dead. On the way home, Ofglen tells Offred that she had a wife and son, and warns her there is an Eye in the Waterford house. Offred affirms to herself that her true name is June and that she intends to survive to find her daughter.
22"Birth Day"Reed MoranoBruce MillerApril 26, 2017 (2017-04-26)
Offred and Ofglen go shopping, and they reveal more personal information about themselves to each other. While they are walking, they see St. Paul Catholic Church, their local church, being destroyed by the new régime.[18][17] Ofglen tells Offred that the régime also bulldozed St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan to try to "erase" the fact that it ever existed. When Offred asks how Ofglen knows this information, she reveals that she is part of a resistance movement against the government, but Offred declines to join.[19] Commander Waterford's driver, Nick, tells Offred that the Commander wants to see her alone later that night, which is forbidden, and warns her that Ofglen is dangerous. Offred and other Handmaids visit a home to witness the birth of Ofwarren (Janine)'s child, named Angela by the Puttnams, but Charlotte by Ofwarren. In flashbacks, June (Offred) remembers the birth of her and Luke's daughter, Hannah. At that time healthy births were already rare, and a woman who tried to kidnap baby Hannah was arrested. Warily, Offred goes to the Commander's office, but he just wants to play Scrabble, to her relief. The next day, when Offred prepares to tell Ofglen what happened that night, a different woman introduces herself as Ofglen.
33"Late"Reed MoranoBruce MillerApril 26, 2017 (2017-04-26)
In flashbacks, the rise of Gilead is detailed. June and all the other women at her office were fired, and the government froze women's bank accounts and ruled they could no longer own property. In the present, Serena takes Offred to see Ofwarren and the baby, and Offred fears Ofwarren is delusional. Back home, Offred is interrogated by an Eye and Aunt Lydia about her knowledge of Ofglen. Offred eventually reveals she knew Ofglen was gay and for this, Aunt Lydia shocks Offred with a cattle prod. Before she can leave the room, Offred quotes one of the Beatitudes from the Bible, which would have earned her a much more serious beating, but Serena intervenes, believing that Offred is pregnant. When Offred later tells Serena that she's not pregnant, Serena angrily locks her in her room. In a flashback, June and Moira attend a protest against the new laws amidst automatic gunfire and explosives. In the present, Ofglen and the Martha she's in a relationship with are charged with "gender treachery". The fertile Ofglen receives a lesser sentence, but the Martha is executed by hanging as Ofglen watches, sobbing and horrified. Later, Ofglen (now referred to by her "old" name, Emily), to her grief and anger, undergoes female genital mutilation surgery as explained by Aunt Lydia.
44"Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum"Mike BarkerLeila GersteinMay 3, 2017 (2017-05-03)
Banished to her room, Offred retreats to her closet where she finds what appears to be a Latin phrase, Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum, scratched discreetly into the wall. When Rita, the Commander's housekeeper, finds Offred lying on the closet floor, Offred tells her that she fainted. Serena then has Offred sent to the hospital for a check-up. During the examination the physician remarks that the Commander is most likely sterile, as is common. He offers to personally impregnate her but she declines. In flashbacks, Aunt Lydia teaches the Handmaids about The Ceremony in which a Commander endeavours to fertilize a Handmaid. Later, June and Moira assault Aunt Elizabeth, and Moira takes Elizabeth's outfit. June and Moira plan to escape via train to Boston, which has safe houses. Moira manages to catch the train without June, who lets Moira know it's okay. June is later caught and punished by having her feet whipped. Commander Waterford has an unsuccessful Ceremony night with Offred, but later that night, they have another game of Scrabble. She asks him about the Latin phrase, and he tells her it means, Don't let the bastards grind you down. When she inquires about the previous Offred, he tells her that she committed suicide because life was unbearable. He then releases Offred from her solitary confinement.
55"Faithful"Mike BarkerDorothy FortenberryMay 10, 2017 (2017-05-10)
Serena suggests to Offred that she have sex with Nick in case Commander Waterford is sterile. Later that day, Serena leads Offred up to Nick's room and waits by the door while Offred and Nick have detached sex. Flashbacks detail Luke and June's first meeting and courtship. At the grocery store, Offred talks to the original Ofglen, now called Ofsteven, but Ofsteven is not as responsive as she used to be. During a Ceremony night, the Commander touches Offred's thigh, which she later tells him never to do again. In their ensuing conversation, the Commander admits that while they thought they were building a better world, they knew that "better never means better for everyone." Nick reveals to Offred that he is indeed an Eye. At an open-air market, Offred questions Ofsteven about the resistance group called Mayday. Ofsteven jumps behind the steering wheel of a security car and drives erratically around the plaza. She hits a guard, and is caught and put into a black van. Offred returns to Nick's coach house alone, and they have passionate sex.
66"A Woman's Place"Floria SigismondiWendy Straker HauserMay 17, 2017 (2017-05-17)
Mexican trade delegates visit the Commander's home to evaluate the effects of the Gilead cultural movement. The female head of the delegation questions Offred about her experience, but she lies, saying that she is happy. Offred visits the Commander's office later, but there is tension. She reluctantly obeys his demand to kiss him, but ferociously brushes her teeth afterward. The Handmaids and children are then taken to a function to demonstrate Gilead's success. Offred's friend remarks that the delegates are only interested in fertile women. The next day, as the delegates are leaving, Offred tells them the brutal truth about Gilead. She pleads for their help, but in response, the Mexican ambassador explains her own country's dire situation. However, the ambassador's assistant quietly claims June's husband is alive and that he can deliver a message to Luke. A flashback details Serena and Fred's life at the beginnings of the Gilead movement when Serena was a conservative cultural activist with passion and intelligence equal to her husband's. Serena Joy wrote a book about her beliefs, titled A Woman's Place. However, after the takeover, she is completely shut out of the new government planning and accepts her new limited role in the society she helped create. A copy of her book is seen being thrown out with the trash.
77"The Other Side"Floria SigismondiLynn Renee MaxcyMay 24, 2017 (2017-05-24)
A flashback chronicles Luke's story after he becomes separated from his wife and daughter. Luke is shot by Gileadan guards, but he escapes when the ambulance crashes, and he takes some medical supplies. He reaches a small abandoned town and, after passing out from his wounds, is rescued by a resistance group traveling to Canada. These survivors included a Roman Catholic nun, a seemingly mute escaped Handmaid, a homosexual man, and a daughter of a US Army soldier.[20] Initially reluctant, Luke joins them after one of the survivors, Zoe, shows him that Gileadan authorities hanged townspeople from the rafters of their church for resisting.[21][22] As they board a boat, Gileadan guards open fire, killing several members of the group, but Luke and Erin, the escaped Handmaid, survive. A further flashback shows Luke, June, and their daughter Hannah before they were separated. June and Luke are helped by Mr. Whitford, a man who knew June's mother. He leaves them at a secluded cabin in the woods while he arranges documentation for them to escape to Canada. Later, a local hunter tells them Whitford has been caught and hanged, but the hunter helps them cross the border. Three years later, in the present, Luke and Erin live safely in "Little America", based in Toronto, Ontario. While in the main administrative office, Luke receives the letter from June, which reads "I love you so much. Save Hannah."
88"Jezebels"Kate DennisKira SnyderMay 31, 2017 (2017-05-31)
Commander Waterford gifts Offred with makeup and a dress as he is taking her out for the night. Nick drives them to Boston to an underground brothel, where prostitutes (known as "Jezebels") work. Offred spots Moira working in the club, and they briefly reunite. Nick trades drugs and pregnancy tests for alcohol with one of the brothel's Marthas. Offred goes to see Moira again, and she explains to Offred how Quakers tried to help her escape but were caught.[23][24] Moira had the choice of being sent either to the colonies or one of the brothels.[24] Moira tells Offred, "Forget about escaping. This is Gilead. No one gets out." Offred reveals to Moira that she knows Luke is alive. Flashbacks detail how Nick got involved with the Gilead movement and how he became an Eye after reporting a Commander for breaking protocol with his Handmaids. There are other flashbacks to the suicide of the previous Offred, with Serena pointedly saying to her husband, "What did you think was going to happen?" In the present, after Nick drives Waterford and Offred home, he ends his relationship with Offred, which upsets and angers her. Offred receives a gift from Serena, a music box. The episode closes with Offred etching "You are not alone" into the closet wall.
99"The Bridge"Kate DennisEric TuchmanJune 7, 2017 (2017-06-07)
Ofwarren's daughter is handed over to Commander Putnam and his wife, and Ofwarren is transferred to another couple and renamed Ofdaniel. However, Offred is worried about Ofwarren/Ofdaniel's mental state. During the first Ceremony night with her new Commander, Ofdaniel forcefully stops it. At the market, Alma pulls Offred aside, tells her that she is involved with the resistance group Mayday, and requests that Offred retrieve a package from the bar at Jezebel's. Offred convinces Waterford to take her to Jezebel's again that night. After Offred and Waterford have sex in their room, Waterford presents Moira, as he believes they have a sexual attraction. Offred asks Moira to retrieve the package, but she refuses, seemingly resigned to her fate. The next day Offred is taken to a bridge where Ofdaniel is standing on the edge with baby Charlotte, while Gileadan guards, the Putnams, the Waterfords, and Aunt Lydia stand fearfully by. Ofdaniel shouts that Commander Putnam promised to leave his wife for her. Offred convinces Ofdaniel to give her the child, and Ofdaniel then jumps into the icy water below. Later, while Ofdaniel lies comatose in hospital, Commander Putnam is led away by guards. When Serena Joy tries to offer comfort to Mrs. Putnam, she reminds Serena of the first Offred's fate, causing Serena to doubt her husband's loyalty. At the market, Offred is given a package by the butcher, sent by Moira from Jezebel's. At the brothel, Moira kills a client and takes his clothes, then jubilantly drives off in his car.
1010"Night"Kari SkoglandBruce MillerJune 14, 2017 (2017-06-14)
A flashback shows June's capture and indoctrination by Aunt Lydia at the Red Center.  After Serena discovers Fred's trips to Jezebel's, she slaps Offred hard and forces her to take a pregnancy test. It is positive. Serena then angrily accuses her husband, telling him the child is not his. Upon learning the news, Nick shares a brief, tender moment with Offred. Serena takes Offred to where Hannah now lives, but Offred is kept in the car, and unable to attract her daughter's attention. Serena warns Offred that Hannah will be cared for as long as the unborn child is safe. Fred participates in Commander Putnam's trial advocating leniency, but Mrs. Putnam wants the harshest punishment possible, and ultimately Putnam's left arm is amputated at the elbow. The package from Jezebel's contains letters from women who have lost family members and been enslaved in the Gilead takeover. Later, an emotional Aunt Lydia gathers the Handmaids for the execution of Janine/Ofdaniel. The Handmaids hesitate, and Ofglen No. 2 is brutally beaten when she voices her angry refusal. Offred, then the other Handmaids, drop their stones. One of the guards threatens to kill Offred, but Aunt Lydia saves her, although assuring the handmaids that there will be consequences. Not long afterward, a black van comes for Offred. Nick urges her to trust him and go with them.  Offred's transfer is unusual, as neither of the Waterfords have any idea this would be happening.  As Offred leaves, she whispers to Rita where to find the hidden letters. In a side story, Moira reaches Canada and is reunited with Luke.

text: Season 2 (2018)[edit]

text:
No.overallNo. inseasonTitleDirected byTeleplay byOriginal release date111"June"Mike BarkerBruce MillerApril 25, 2018 (2018-04-25)
Offred and other handmaids are taken to Fenway Park, where they are made to believe they will be hanged, but it turns out to be a ruse to frighten them. During another punishment, Offred is freed after Aunt Lydia is told of her pregnancy. When she rejects a meal Aunt Lydia gives her, she is shown a pregnant handmaid, Ofwyatt, chained in a prison room due to her attempt to kill herself by drinking drain cleaner. Offred agrees to eat, and during her meal Aunt Lydia, who had told her that her friends would be punished for their disobedience, but her pregnancy would mean that she would be exempted, brings the other handmaids into the room. One by one they are burned with a gas flame.  Later, Offred is at a pregnancy check-up, where she is visited by Fred and Serena, but afterwards finds a key in one of her boots, which she uses to escape to a van parked underneath the hospital. The van drops her off to a safe house in Back Bay, where she meets Nick, while Fred authorizes a highly resourced search for her. He tells her to change out of her handmaid outfit, and to cut her hair. After stripping off her handmaid's dress, she burns it before cutting the red cattle tag out of her ear. In flashbacks throughout the episode, Hannah is admitted to the hospital for having a fever while in school; June is questioned by one of the hospital workers about giving Hannah medication to bypass the school's fever policy, as well as about June and Luke's fitness as parents. Later, they arrive home to a news story about the Capitol Building and the White House being attacked.
122"Unwomen"Mike BarkerBruce MillerApril 25, 2018 (2018-04-25)
June has been transported to the former headquarters of The Boston Globe, another safe place arranged by Mayday.[25] Emily has been taken to the Colonies, where disobedient and lower-class infertile women ("unwomen") are forced to dig on highly toxic land.[26] Many of the unwomen are becoming sick, and Emily is doing what she can to help them. A commander's wife arrives at the Colonies and is not welcomed by the unwomen: Emily befriends her and finds that she was taken to the colonies for committing a "sin of the flesh." Emily gives her tablets that turn out to be poison, which leads to her death. Emily blames her for "holding a woman down while her husband rapes her".[25]  The unwomen are warned that there will be consequences for this death. Janine arrives at the Colonies, where she is briefly greeted by Emily. Nick visits June and she gets upset when he tells her she needs to wait for several weeks before she can leave because everyone is looking for her. Nick ends up giving her the keys to a car and a gun but she decides to stay, and they have sex. In a flashback, after the attack on the Capitol Building and the White House, Emily is told by her boss, Professor Dan, that she will not be teaching the following semester at the university, giving her a lower profile to avoid attracting criticism for her sexual orientation. Professor Dan is later seen hanged at the university with the word "faggot" spray painted underneath him. While Emily, along with her wife Sylvia and son Oliver, attempt to emigrate to Canada, she is unable to leave the country because their same-sex marriage is no longer recognized, and it becomes known that she is the biological mother of Oliver. June makes a memorial for The Boston Globe employees who were executed at the newspaper's former headquarters and prays to God to send an angel to watch over it.[25]
133"Baggage"Kari SkoglandDorothy FortenberryMay 2, 2018 (2018-05-02)
Having spent two months at The Boston Globe offices, June has found evidence in their archives of the early emergence of the Gilead movement. Nick visits occasionally. She is abruptly moved to a place where she meets Omar, who tells her he is bringing her to another safe house near an airstrip to fly to Canada. He receives a message that the safe house has been compromised, and tries to leave without her, but she stands in front of his van to make him take her. He takes her to his apartment, where she meets his wife, Heather, and their son, Adam. Left alone when his family goes to church, June finds a hidden Qur'an and prayer rug under the bedsprings; Omar and his family do not return. She dons Heather's Econowife outfit and gets out of the apartment, blending in with other Econowives. After a train ride, June runs into the woods. She realizes she has no way of rescuing Hannah and advances to the airstrip that Omar had told her of; however, the plane is intercepted before take-off, the pilot is executed, and June and another fugitive are apprehended by the Guardians. Meanwhile, Moira, now living with Luke and Erin (who is no longer mute) in Canada, gives a tour to a new co-worker but he has a breakdown, traumatized by what he did as a Guardian. In a flashback, June as a child is taken to a Take Back the Night rally by her mother, Holly. When she grew up, Holly was disappointed at June's career choices and plan to marry Luke, hoping that she would have been an activist.  Moira and June learned  during their training at the Red Center that Holly had been declared an Unwoman and was sent to the Colonies to be worked to death.
144"Other Women"Kari SkoglandYahlin ChangMay 9, 2018 (2018-05-09)
June is taken back and chained in a room where Aunt Lydia explains that she must choose between this imprisonment, followed by execution after the birth of her child, or return as a handmaid to the Waterfords.  She chooses the latter and is under close supervision from Lydia. The Waterfords, who still employ Nick, publicly treat Offred's disappearance as a kidnapping, but privately Serena is furious and grabs Offred by the throat. Rita returns the letters she found and tells Offred that she will no longer be involved.  A baby shower is held for Serena, incorporating prayer and a ritual binding of Offred to Serena. Offred learns from Alma that Ofglen's tongue was removed for speaking up to save Ofwarren (Janine) as she was about to be stoned and that Mayday has now gone silent. Aunt Lydia takes Offred out to show her what is presumed to be Omar's hanging corpse. She tells June that Omar's wife, Heather, is now a handmaid and that their child, Adam, was given away to another family. Aunt Lydia tells Offred that this was her fault, and Offred accepts the blame. Aunt Lydia encourages June to distinguish between Offred's identity and June's, saying June is to blame not Offred. In a flashback, June sees Luke's first wife Annie, who tells her that they made wedding vows before God, but Luke rejects her attempts to come between him and June. A few years later, Annie sees Luke and June in a restaurant with their child, Hannah. Offred has collapsed emotionally under the knowledge of Omar's family's fate. June prays that Hannah forget her. Ignoring Nick the following day, Offred appears to be conforming to the expectations of a handmaid.
155"Seeds"Mike BarkerKira SnyderMay 16, 2018 (2018-05-16)
Offred is very subdued, and starts to burn the letters she had been keeping for Mayday.  She notices vaginal bleeding, which continues and gets worse but does not inform anyone, although Rita notices her unsteadiness. Nick notices Offred's apparent depression and lets Mrs. Waterford know about it. Mrs. Waterford becomes alarmed at Nick's interest in Offred and informs Commander Waterford, who arranges for him to be married at a Prayvaganza where loyal Guardians are issued a wife as a reward for their work. Nick's new bride, Eden, moves into his room. Nick later finds Offred unconscious and drenched in the bushes outside the Waterfords' house and she is taken to the hospital. Offred, still pregnant, promises to her baby that they both will escape Gilead. Meanwhile, in the Colonies, Janine assures Emily that God is protecting them through their struggles in Gilead, and helps to arrange a small wedding for a dying worker, officiated by another Unwoman who is a rabbi. Emily, who has begun to lose her teeth, argues with her for attempting to bring brightness to a place that otherwise seems so bleak. When the newlywed Unwoman dies, the rabbi officiates at the burial as she is lowered into her grave in a cemetery adorned with crosses.
166"First Blood"Mike BarkerEric TuchmanMay 23, 2018 (2018-05-23)
Advised by a doctor that a harmonious household would be good for the child, Serena shows increased care for Offred, giving her the sitting room as a bedroom and inviting some handmaids to have brunch with her. When Serena shows Offred the nursery for the baby, Offred asks to see Hannah, upon which Serena moves her back to her previous room, and sets about humiliating her.  Eden reveals to Offred that she fears Nick may be a "gender traitor" due to his reluctance to have sex with her, so Offred warns him and he has sex with Eden to avoid suspicion, but only after he tells Offred that he loves her. Fred visits Offred in secret and gives her a photograph of Hannah, and wants to have sex with her, but Offred refuses. At the opening of the Rachel and Leah Center, a construction and ceremony overseen by Waterford, Nick asks Commander Pryce to be reassigned, and that Offred be protected, to which he agrees. Ofglen runs toward the stage, and detonates a bomb: only Handmaids are seen to have escaped. Flashbacks show Serena being verbally attacked while promoting her book A Woman's Place, and being shot by a protester, and Fred's punishment of those he believes to have been involved.
177"After"Kari SkoglandLynn Renee MaxcyMay 30, 2018 (2018-05-30)
31 handmaids and 26 commanders, and an unspecified number of civilians, have been killed in Ofglen's attack on the Rachel and Leah Center, including Commander Pryce, while others, such as Commander Waterford, were seriously injured. Following the attack, Commander Cushing takes Commander Pryce's role, instituting an increased number of checkpoints and having numerous people summarily executed. He questions Offred, asking who aided her when she tried to flee the country. Offred responds that she was kidnapped, an answer that Commander Cushing does not believe. Mrs. Waterford is alarmed at the possibility of her household being targeted, and is angry at his heavy-handed response to the bombing. She forges orders from her husband to have Commander Cushing arrested for treason and apostasy. Because so many handmaids were killed, some fertile women are taken back from the Colonies and are made to serve as handmaids once again, including Janine and Emily. Both reunite with Offred in the grocery store, with Janine happily telling her that it was God's plan that she be rescued. Offred, who had been sad to discover that none of the handmaids had known Ofglen's name, tells her real name, June, to Emily and another handmaid and following this, several of the handmaids whisper their real names to one another, which Eden overhears. Later, Mrs. Waterford enlists Offred's help in illicitly performing the Commander's work for him while he is in the hospital. At the refugee center, Moira looks through records to try to confirm whether her fiancée, Odette, has died. Through flashbacks Moira is revealed to have been a surrogate for a couple before the war. She met Odette, an obstetrician, during this process. In the present, Moira eventually finds photographs showing Odette was killed.
188"Women's Work"Kari SkoglandNina Fiore & John HerreraJune 6, 2018 (2018-06-06)
June has been helping Serena to complete Fred's work for some months while he is too ill from his bomb injuries to do so himself, but as soon as he returns home he excludes Serena from his office. Serena tells June that the Putnams' child, Angela, (called Charlotte by Janine, who is her biological mother) is sick. June advocates for Janine to be able to see the baby, and Serena agrees to ask about it for the baby's sake. Naomi Putnam dislikes the idea, but she is overruled by her husband, Warren. Serena petitions Fred to allow the sick child to be seen by a Martha who, prior to the Sons of Jacob coup, was one of the nation's top neonatologists. Fred denies the request, saying that whatever happens to the child must now be left to God's will. A dismayed Serena forges Fred's signature to a written order that transfers the Martha to the hospital for a day. Aunt Lydia tells June that she will hold her personally responsible if anything goes wrong with Janine's visit to the hospital. The neonatologist can find no physical explanation for the child's deterioration and can recommend no further treatment. She advises them to unplug the baby from all of the machines and help her to feel safe and warm. When Fred discovers that Serena forged his signature on an order to temporarily transfer the physician/Martha, he beats Serena with his belt as June is forced to watch. Serena later tearfully rejects June's offer of sympathy.  Meanwhile, Eden is working hard to please Nick, but after she rearranges his garret and uncovers the bundle of handmaids' letters he recovered from June, he becomes angry, demanding that she never touch his belongings. The episode ends in the hospital with Janine, partly undressed, singing "I Only Want to Be with You" to her child and bouncing her as her baby gurgles happily.

This is the first episode in this series that does not have scenes from before the formation of Gilead.
199"Smart Power"Jeremy PodeswaDorothy FortenberryJune 13, 2018 (2018-06-13)
Fred and Serena travel to Canada on a diplomatic mission accompanied by Nick, while a Guardian, Isaac, is to be left responsible for the household. Much to Offred's distress, Serena tells her that she will be transferred as soon as the baby is born. In Toronto, Serena is reminded of the time before Gilead, and the Waterfords are ambivalently greeted by Canadian officials. Later, Serena is approached by Mark Tuello, who works for the remnant of the US government in Hawaii, and offers to help her defect from Gilead, but Serena declines. At the Waterford's residence, June tells Rita that when Hannah was baptized, she and Luke chose godparents for her and wishes for Rita to be the godparent of her expected child as soon as it is born.[27] Rita states that she will try her best, though the government of Gilead has prohibited baptisms and severely restricts Marthas. June makes a similar request to Aunt Lydia, prompting her to reveal she was previously godparent to her sister's baby, who died in infancy.[27] At a protest, Luke confronts Commander Waterford. Afterwards, Nick finds Luke and tells him June is pregnant by Waterford, but safe, and gives him the bundle of letters from women enslaved in Gilead. Luke, Moira, and Erin make the letters public, causing an outcry that prompts the Canadians to cancel the rest of the summit. Moira holds a sign up to the Waterfords' car that says "My name is Moira" and Fred recognises her from Jezebel's. Serena burns the Hawaiian matches Mark left her. Meanwhile, Nick gives June news of Luke and Moira, and tells her that the letters were instrumental in getting the talks curtailed. June reveals that Moira is Hannah's godmother and is happy that she escaped to Canada.[28] Nick tells June that he loves her, and tries to kiss her, but she does not allow him to.
2010"The Last Ceremony"Jeremy PodeswaYahlin ChangJune 20, 2018 (2018-06-20)
The commander to whom Emily is newly assigned as handmaid collapses and dies during the Ceremony. June suffers contractions while shopping, forcing her home and to endure a "birthing ceremony" as everyone awaits the birth of the child. However, it turns out to be a false alarm and everyone is dismissed. Following the false alarm, June pleads to Fred to be positioned closer to her daughter Hannah after the eventual birth. After Fred denies this request, June implies that the child she is carrying is not his and that he will never have a biological child of his own. Later, Fred rapes June with Serena holding her down, under the guise of inducing the labor. Eden finds herself attracted to Isaac, a guard, and meets with him late at night. They kiss, but she breaks off once she sees Nick watching. She begs his forgiveness, which he readily gives with a detachment that infuriates her. She accuses Nick of liking Offred. Fred then arranges Nick to take June to an empty and remote house for a short visit with Hannah, who is now named Agnes. After they are once again separated, Guardians take Nick captive, and June is left behind, having hidden in the house.
2111"Holly"Daina ReidBruce Miller & Kira SnyderJune 27, 2018 (2018-06-27)
After Nick is taken away from the house, June finds a car in the garage and car keys and is able to start the car, but she returns to the house and gets a man's coat. Flashbacks throughout the episode show her first pregnancy, and  Hannah's birth and childhood. Fred and Serena arrive at the house in a panic, looking for Offred. They are arguing with each other, with Serena telling Fred she gave up everything for him and the cause, and only ever wanted a child. June finds a gun, and prepares to shoot them, but desists.  They are unable to find Offred and decide to leave, feeling both angry and concerned. After she's certain they're gone, June, having contractions, gets back into the car, but cannot get it out of the garage, which is frozen shut. June is exhausted and in pain, and lays down in front of the fire, finally going into labor and passing out. When she wakes, she's covered in blood, but the baby still hasn't come. She crawls outside and discharges the gun to attract attention, then she ends up delivering the baby by herself. She whispers that her name is Holly, after her mother. Light comes in through the windows, indicating that a car has arrived at the house.
2212"Postpartum"Daina ReidEric TuchmanJuly 4, 2018 (2018-07-04)
Some weeks after the birth, the baby, now named Nichole, is cared for by Serena, while Offred is providing milk through a breast pump. She is unable to pump enough milk and is brought to see her baby in order to induce lactation. Offred requests to nurse her herself, but Fred rejects the idea. Given that Offred's lactation increases during the meeting, Aunt Lydia convinces Fred to allow Offred back in the house for the baby's health. Serena becomes enraged and demands that Offred stay away from the baby. Nick, who is back in the Waterford household and presented as having been key to the rescue of Offred and the baby, suggests lightheartedly that he, Offred and the baby should flee, and Fred attempts to renew the illicit elements of their relationship. Emily is reassigned to a new household as a handmaid after being rejected by four couples. Commander Lawrence, the "architect of Gilead's economy", seems suspicious. His wife, Eleanor, reveals to Emily that Lawrence was the creator of the Colonies. Lawrence interrogates Emily, revealing that he knows much about her past. Meanwhile, Eden and Isaac elope but are soon caught. Eden and Nick admit their faults and ask forgiveness of each other.  Eden and Isaac are brought to a diving board above a swimming pool with chains and weights attached to each of them.  Both refuse to ask for forgiveness, and Eden instead begins to recite a biblical paean to love.  Both are pushed off the diving board and die by drowning in front of a crowd.[29] Distraught by the events, Serena and Offred get to an understanding and Serena allows Offred to nurse the baby herself.
2313"The Word"Mike BarkerBruce MillerJuly 11, 2018 (2018-07-11)
It is revealed that Eden's father was the one who turned Eden and Isaac in, leading to their execution. While searching through Eden's belongings, June discovers a Bible that Eden read from and annotated, despite it being illegal for women and girls to read in Gilead.[30] June argues with Serena about her daughter's future in Gilead, stating that baby Nichole (Holly) won't be able to know God unless she is eventually able to read his word.[30] Serena and a number of wives propose an amendment to the council that girls be taught to read the Bible and Serena reads from the Bible to make her point, resulting in one of her fingers being cut off.[30] Emily reluctantly prepares for her first ceremony with Lawrence, but he dismisses Emily without going through with it. The next day, Emily is visited by Aunt Lydia and, as she is leaving, Emily brutally attacks Lydia by stabbing her in the back with a kitchen knife. Emily continues to kick Aunt Lydia down the stairs, leaving her gasping for breath. Lawrence's Martha, Cora, finds Aunt Lydia and throws Emily into a room and locks the door. Fred suggests to June that he could arrange for her to remain as his handmaid, and when she rejects the proposal, he suggests that future meetings with Hannah could be arranged. As a fire consumes a house across the street, Rita tells June that she and her daughter, Holly, have this chance to get out and need to leave immediately. Fred tries to arrange their capture, but is prevented by Nick, who threatens him with a gun.  Serena catches her mid-escape, but after a tearful goodbye to the baby, allows June to take the baby and flee, assisted by several Marthas. June is reunited with Emily, who is dropped off at the escape van by Lawrence, who says he is getting himself "in deep shit" when asked why he's allowing them to leave. At the last second, June decides to stay behind and gives the baby to Emily. She tells Emily to call her Nichole, and to tell her she loves her.

text: Production[edit]

text: A straight-to-series order by Hulu of The Handmaid's Tale was announced in April 2016, with Elisabeth Moss set to star.[31] Based on the 1985 novel of the same name by Margaret Atwood, the series was created by Bruce Miller, who is also an executive producer with Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, and Warren Littlefield.[31] Atwood serves as consulting producer, giving feedback on some of the areas where the series expands upon or modernizes the book.[31][32] She also played a small cameo role in the first episode.[33] Moss is also a producer.[34] In June 2016, Reed Morano was announced as director of the series.[35] Samira Wiley, Max Minghella, and Ann Dowd joined the cast in July 2016.[36][37][38] Joseph Fiennes, Madeline Brewer, and Yvonne Strahovski were cast in August 2016,[39][40][41] followed by O. T. Fagbenle and Amanda Brugel in September 2016.[42][43] In October 2016, Ever Carradine joined the cast,[44] and Alexis Bledel was added in January 2017.[45]

text: Filming on the series took place in Toronto, Mississauga, Hamilton, Oakville, and Cambridge, Ontario, from September 2016 to February 2017.[46][47] The first full trailer of the TV series was released by Hulu on YouTube on March 23, 2017.[48] The series premiered on April 26, 2017.[49]

text: On May 3, 2017, The Handmaid's Tale was renewed for a second season to premiere in 2018.[50] Moss told the news media that the subsequent episodes would cover further developments in the story, filling in some of the unanswered questions and continuing the narrative already "finished" in the book.[51] The second season consists of 13 episodes and began filming in fall 2017. Alexis Bledel returned as a series regular.[52] Showrunner Bruce Miller stated that he envisioned 10 seasons of the show, stating, "Well, you know, honestly, when I started, I tried to game out in my head what would ten seasons be like? If you hit a home run, you want energy to go around the bases, you want enough story to keep going, if you can hook the audience to care about these people enough that they're actually crying at the finale."[53]

text: Broadcast and release[edit]

text: The first three episodes of the series premiered on April 26, 2017; the subsequent seven episodes were released on a weekly basis.[49][54] In Canada, the series is broadcast by Bravo; the first two episodes premiered on April 30, 2017.[55] In Scandinavia, the series is available on HBO Nordic.[56] In the United Kingdom, the series premiered on May 28, 2017, on Channel 4.[57] In Ireland, the series premiered on February 5, 2018 on RTÉ2, with a showing of the first two episodes.[58] RTÉ also became the first broadcaster in Europe to debut Season 2 following its broadcast in the US and Canada.[59] In the Brazil, the series premiered on March 7, 2018, on Paramount Channel.[60]

text: In New Zealand, the series was released on the subscription video on demand service Lightbox on June 8, 2017.[61] In Australia, the series premiered on the TV channel SBS's video streaming service SBS on Demand, on July 6, 2017.[62]

text: The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on March 13, 2018.[63]

text: Reception[edit]

text: Critical response[edit]

text:
Season

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes

Metacritic

1

95% (107 reviews)

92 (41 reviews)

2

92% (73 reviews)

86 (28 reviews)

text: Season 1[edit]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has an approval rating of 95% based on 107 reviews, with an average rating of 8.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Haunting and vivid, The Handmaid's Tale is an endlessly engrossing adaptation of Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel that's anchored by a terrific central performance from Elisabeth Moss."[64] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 92 out of 100 based on 41 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[65]

text: Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter called it "probably the spring's best new show".[66] Jen Chaney of Vulture gave it a highly positive review, and wrote that it is "A faithful adaptation of the book that also brings new layers to Atwood's totalitarian, sexist world of forced surrogate motherhood" and that "this series is meticulously paced, brutal, visually stunning, and so suspenseful from moment to moment that only at the end of each hour will you feel fully at liberty to exhale".[67]

text: There was much debate on whether parallels could be drawn between the series (and by extension, the book it is based on) and American society during the Presidency of Donald Trump.[68][69] A comparison has also been made to the Salafi/Wahabbi extremism of ISIL, under which enslaved women of religious minorities are passed around and utilized as sex objects and vessels to bear new jihadis.[70][71][72]

text: Season 2[edit]

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has an approval rating of 91% based on 74 reviews, with an average rating of 8.31/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Beautifully shot but dishearteningly relevant, The Handmaid's Tale centers its sophomore season tightly around its compelling cast of characters, making room for broader social commentary through more intimate lenses."[73] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[74]

text: However, the second season of the show received criticism for being excessive in its depictions of violence with critics questioning whether it was merely "torture porn" and going too far. The Atlantic's Sophie Gilbert wrote: "There came a point during the first episode where, for me, it became too much."[75] Lisa Miller of The Cut wrote: "I have pressed mute and fast forward so often this season, I am forced to wonder: 'Why am I watching this'? It all feels so gratuitous, like a beating that never ends."[76] And The Daily Telegraph's Rebecca Reid admitted she had an anxiety attack watching an episode of the show.[77]

text: Awards[edit]

text:
Year

Award

Category

Nominee(s)

Result

Ref.

Season 1

2017

Primetime Emmy Awards

Outstanding Drama Series

Bruce Miller, Warren Littlefield, Daniel Wilson, Fran Sears, Ilene Chaiken, Sheila Hockin, Eric Tuchman, Frank Siracusa, John Weber, Kira Snyder, Elisabeth Moss, Joseph Boccia, and Leila Gerstein

Won

[78]

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Elisabeth Moss (for "Night")

Won

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Ann Dowd (for "Offred")

Won

Samira Wiley (for "Night")

Nominated

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

Reed Morano (for "Offred")

Won

Kate Dennis (for "The Bridge")

Nominated

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

Bruce Miller (for "Offred")

Won

Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Alexis Bledel (for "Late")

Won

Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series

Russell Scott, Sharon Bialy, and Sherry Thomas

Nominated

Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour)

Colin Watkinson (for "Offred")

Won

Outstanding Period/Fantasy Costumes for a Series, Limited Series, or Movie

Ane Crabtree and Sheena Wichary (for "Offred")

Nominated

Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary or Fantasy Program (One Hour or More)

Julie Berghoff, Evan Webber, and Sophie Neudorfer (for "Offred")

Won

Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role

Brendan Taylor, Stephen Lebed, Leo Bovell, Martin O'Brien, Winston Lee, Kelly Knauff, Zach Dembinski, Mike Suta, and Cameron Kerr (for "Birth Day")

Nominated

Peabody Award

Entertainment, children's and youth honoree

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

[79]

Gold Derby TV Awards

Drama Series

The Handmaid's Tale

Nominated

[80]

Drama Actress

Elisabeth Moss

Won

Drama Guest Actress

Alexis Bledel

Won

Television Critics Association Awards

Program of the Year

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

[81]

Outstanding Achievement in Drama

Won

Outstanding New Program

Nominated

Individual Achievement in Drama

Elisabeth Moss

Nominated

American Film Institute Awards

Top 10 TV Programs of the Year

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

[82]

2018

American Cinema Editors Awards

Best Edited Drama Series for Non-Commercial Television

Julian Clarke and Wendy Hallam Martin (for "Offred")

Won

[83]

Art Directors Guild Awards

One-Hour Contemporary Single-Camera Television Series

Julie Berghoff (for "Offred", "Birth Day", "Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum")

Won

[84]

Andrew Stearn (for "The Bridge")

Nominated

Casting Society of America

Television Pilot and First Season – Drama

Sharon Bialy, Sherry Thomas, Russell Scott, Robin D. Cook, and Jonathan Oliveira

Won

[85]

Cinema Audio Society Awards

Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing for Television Series – One Hour

John J. Thomson, Lou Solakofski, Joe Morrow, and Don White (for "Offred")

Nominated

[86]

Costume Designers Guild Awards

Excellence in Contemporary Television Series

Ane Crabtree

Won

[87]

Critics' Choice Television Awards

Best Drama Series

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

[88]

Best Actress in a Drama Series

Elisabeth Moss

Won

Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Ann Dowd

Won

Directors Guild of America Awards

Outstanding Directorial Achievement for a Drama Series

Reed Morano (for "Offred")

Won

[89]

Golden Globe Awards

Best Television Series – Drama

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

[90]

Best Actress – Television Series Drama

Elisabeth Moss

Won

Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film

Ann Dowd

Nominated

Location Managers Guild Awards

Outstanding Locations in Contemporary Television

John Musikka and Geoffrey Smither

Nominated

[91]

Producers Guild of America Awards

Outstanding Producer of Episodic Television, Drama

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

[92]

Satellite Awards

Best Drama Series

The Handmaid's Tale

Nominated

[93]

Best Actress in a Drama / Genre Series

Elisabeth Moss

Won

Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or TV Film

Ann Dowd

Won

Saturn Awards

Best New Media Television Series

The Handmaid's Tale

Nominated

[94]

Screen Actors Guild Awards

Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series

Madeline Brewer, Amanda Brugel, Ann Dowd, O. T. Fagbenle, Joseph Fiennes, Tattiawna Jones, Max Minghella, Elisabeth Moss, Yvonne Strahovski, and Samira Wiley

Nominated

[95]

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Elisabeth Moss

Nominated

USC Scripter Awards

Best Adapted TV Screenplay

Bruce Miller and Margaret Atwood (for "Offred")

Won

[96]

Writers Guild of America Awards

Dramatic Series

Ilene Chaiken, Nina Fiore, Dorothy Fortenberry, Leila Gerstein, John Herrera, Lynn Maxcy, Bruce Miller, Kira Snyder, Wendy Straker Hauser, and Eric Tuchman

Won

[97]

New Series

Won

BAFTA Television Awards

Best International Programme

The Handmaid's Tale

Won

Season 2

2018

Primetime Emmy Awards

Outstanding Drama Series

The Handmaid's Tale

Pending

[98]

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Elisabeth Moss (for "The Last Ceremony")

Pending

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Joseph Fiennes (for "First Blood")

Pending

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Alexis Bledel (for "Unwomen")

Pending

Ann Dowd (for "June")

Pending

Yvonne Strahovski (for "Women's Work")

Pending

Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series

Kari Skogland (for "After")

Pending

Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series

Bruce Miller (for "June")

Pending

Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards

Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series

Kelly Jenrette (for "Other Women")

Pending

Cherry Jones (for "Baggage")

Pending

Samira Wiley (for "After")

Pending

Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series

Sharon Bialy, Sherry Thomas, Russell Scott and Robin D. Cook

Pending

Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Series (One Hour)

Colin Watkinson (for "June")

Pending

Outstanding Fantasy/Sci-Fi Costumes

Ane Crabtree and Natalie Bronfman (for "Seeds")

Pending

Outstanding Makeup for a Single-Camera Series (Non-Prosthetic)

Burton LeBlanc, Talia Reingold and Erika Caceres (for "Unwomen")

Pending

Outstanding Production Design for a Narrative Contemporary Program (One Hour or More)

Mark White, Elisabeth Williams, Martha Sparrow, and Caroline Gee (for "June")

Pending

Elisabeth Williams, Martha Sparrow, and Rob Hepburn (for "Seeds", "First Blood", "After")

Pending

Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series

Wendy Hallam Martin (for "June")

Pending

Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour)

Joe Morrow, Lou Solakofski, and Sylvain Arseneault (for "June")

Pending

Outstanding Special Visual Effects in a Supporting Role

Stephen Lebed, Brendan Taylor, Kelly Knauff, Kelly Weisz, Kevin McGeagh, Anderson Leo Bovell, Winston Lee, Xi Luo, and Cameron Kerr (for "June")

Pending


document_title: Dragon Ball Z

question_text: when did dragon ball z end in america

question_tokens: when did dragon ball z end in america

root

text: Dragon Ball Z

text: Plot summary[edit]

text: Dragon Ball Z picks up five years after the end of the Dragon Ball anime, with Goku as a young adult and father to his son, Gohan. A humanoid alien named Raditz arrives on Earth in a spacecraft and tracks down Goku, revealing to him that he is his long-lost big brother and that they are members of a nearly extinct extraterrestrial race called the Saiyans (サイヤ人, Saiya-jin). The Saiyans had sent Goku (originally named "Kakarot") to Earth as an infant to conquer the planet for them, but he suffered a traumatic brain injury soon after his arrival and lost all memory of his mission, as well as his blood-thirsty Saiyan nature. Goku refuses to help Raditz continue the mission, which results in Raditz kidnapping Gohan. Goku decides to team up with his former enemy Piccolo in order to defeat Raditz and save his son, while sacrificing his own life in the process. In the afterlife, Goku trains under the ruler of the North Galaxy, King Kai, and is taught the Kaio-ken (界王拳) and Spirit Bomb (also known as the Genki Dama|元気玉) techniques, before being revived by the Dragon Balls a year later in order to save the Earth from Raditz' comrades; Nappa and the Saiyan prince Vegeta. During the battle Piccolo is killed, along with Goku's allies Yamcha, Tien Shinhan and Chiaotzu (with Chiaotzu sacrificing himself to save Tien), and the Dragon Balls cease to exist because of Piccolo's death. Goku arrives at the battlefield late, but avenges his fallen friends by defeating Nappa with his new level of power. Vegeta himself enters into the battle with Goku, but is ultimately also defeated thanks to the efforts of Gohan and Goku's other surviving allies Krillin and Yajirobe. At Goku's request, they spare Vegeta's life and allow him to escape Earth. During the battle, Krillin overhears Vegeta mentioning the original set of Dragon Balls from Piccolo's home planet Namek (ナメック星, Namekku-sei). While Goku recovers from his injuries at the hospital, Gohan, Krillin and Goku's oldest friend Bulma depart for Namek in order to use these Dragon Balls to revive their dead friends. However, they discover that Vegeta's superior, the galactic tyrant Lord Frieza, is already there, seeking the Dragon Balls to be granted eternal life. A fully healed Vegeta arrives on Namek as well, seeking the Dragon Balls for himself, which leads to several battles between him and Frieza's henchmen. Realizing he is overpowered, Vegeta teams up with Gohan and Krillin to fight the Ginyu Force, a team of mercenaries summoned by Frieza. After Goku finally arrives on Namek, the epic battle with Frieza himself comes to a close when Goku transforms into a fabled Super Saiyan (超サイヤ人, Sūpā Saiya-jin) and defeats him.

tag: p

text: Upon his return to Earth a year later, Goku encounters a time traveler named Trunks, the future son of Bulma and Vegeta, who warns Goku that two Androids (人造人間, Jinzōningen, lit. "Artificial Humans") will appear three years later, seeking revenge against Goku for destroying the Red Ribbon Army when he was a child. During this time, an evil life form called Cell emerges and after absorbing two of the Artificial Humans to achieve his "perfect form," holds his own fighting tournament to decide the fate of the Earth, called the Cell Games. After Goku sacrifices his own life a second time, to no avail, Gohan avenges his father by defeating Cell after ascending to the second level of Super Saiyan. Seven years later, Goku is revived for one day to reunite with his loved ones and meet his second son Goten. Soon after, Goku and his allies are drawn into a fight by the Supreme Kai against a magical being named Majin Buu. After numerous battles resulting in the destruction and recreation of the Earth, Goku (whose life is fully restored by the Elder Supreme Kai) destroys Majin Buu with a Spirit Bomb attack containing the energy of everyone on Earth. Goku makes a wish for Buu to be reincarnated as a good person and ten years later, at another martial arts tournament, Goku meets Buu's human reincarnation, Uub. Leaving the match between them unfinished, Goku departs with Uub to train him to become Earth's new defender.

text: Production and broadcasting[edit]

text: Kazuhiko Torishima, Akira Toriyama's editor for Dr. Slump and the first half of Dragon Ball, felt that the Dragon Ball anime's ratings were gradually declining because it had the same producer that worked on Dr. Slump. Torishima said this producer had this "cute and funny" image connected to Toriyama's work and was missing the more serious tone in the newer series, and therefore asked the studio to change the producer. Impressed with their work on Saint Seiya, he asked its director Kōzō Morishita and writer Takao Koyama to help "reboot" Dragon Ball, which coincided with Goku growing up. The new producer explained that ending the first anime and creating a new one would result in more promotional money, and the result was the start of Dragon Ball Z.[3] The title was suggested by Toriyama because Z is the last letter of the alphabet and he wanted to finish the series because he was running out of ideas for it (though ironically enough, the sequel series would end up lasting much longer in episode count than the first series).[4]

text: Dragon Ball Z is adapted from the final 325 chapters of the manga series which were published in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1988 to 1995. It premiered in Japan on Fuji Television on April 26, 1989, taking over its predecessor's time slot, and ran for 291 episodes until its conclusion on January 31, 1996.[5] Because Toriyama was writing the manga during the production of the anime,[6] Dragon Ball Z added original material not adapted from the manga, including lengthening scenes or adding new ones, and adding new attacks and characters not present in the manga. For example, Toriyama was asked to create an additional character for Goku's training with King Kai, resulting in the cricket Gregory.[7]

text: Throughout the production, the voice actors were tasked with playing different characters and performing their lines on cue, switching between roles as necessary.[8] The voice actors were unable to record the lines separately because of the close dialogue timing. When asked if juggling the different voices of Goku, Gohan and Goten was difficult, Masako Nozawa said that it was not, and that she was able to switch roles simply upon seeing the character's picture.[8] She did admit that when they were producing two films a year and television specials in addition to the regular series, there were times when they had only line art to look at while recording, which made giving finer nuanced details in her performance difficult.[9]

text: Series Director Daisuke Nishio left the series after personally directing Episode #202. Nishio left the series to become series director of Aoki Densetsu Shoot!. The role of series director was not officially filled for Episodes #200-291, despite Nishio's directing of Episode #202.[citation needed]

text: English dub production and broadcasting[edit]

text: In 1996, Funimation Productions licensed Dragon Ball Z for an English-language release in North America. They contracted Saban Entertainment to help distribute the series to television, and Pioneer Entertainment to handle home video distribution.[10] The Vancouver-based Ocean Studios were hired by Funimation to dub the anime (Funimation had previously used a similar Vancouver-based voice cast in their short-lived 1995 dub of Dragon Ball).[11] Saban musicians Ron Wasserman[12] and Jeremy Sweet,[11] known for their work on the Power Rangers franchise, composed a new background score and theme song (nicknamed "Rock the Dragon").[Note 1] Funimation's initial English dub of Dragon Ball Z had mandated cuts to content and length, which reduced the first 67 episodes into 53.[13][14] It premiered in the United States on September 13, 1996 in first-run syndication, but halted production in 1998 after two seasons.[13] This was due to Saban scaling down its syndication operations, in order to focus on producing original material for the Fox Kids block.[15] Pioneer also ceased its home video release of the series at volume 17 (the end of the dub) and retained the rights to produce an uncut subtitled version,[13] but did not do so.

text: On August 31, 1998, reruns of this cancelled dub began airing on Cartoon Network as part of the channel's weekday afternoon programming block Toonami. Due to the success of these re-runs on Toonami, Funimation resumed production on the series' English dub without Saban's assistance, but could no longer afford the services of the Ocean voice cast due to financial constraints. This led to Funimation forming its own in-house voice cast at their Texas-based studio. The Saban-produced soundtrack from the first two seasons was replaced with a new background score composed by Bruce Faulconer and his team of musicians, which was used throughout the rest of Funimation's Dragon Ball Z dub.[12] This renewed dub featured less censorship (due to fewer restrictions on cable programming) and aired on Cartoon Network's Toonami block from September 13, 1999 to April 7, 2003; continuing in re-runs through 2008. Kids' WB briefly ran Dragon Ball Z in 2001 on its short-lived Toonami block.[16]

text: In 2004, Pioneer lost its distribution rights to the first 53/67 episodes of Dragon Ball Z, allowing Funimation to re-dub them with their in-house voice cast and restore the removed content.[17] This dub's background score was composed by Nathan M. Johnson. Funimation's new uncut dub of these episodes aired on Cartoon Network during the summer of 2005 (in late night, due to the unedited content).[18][19][20] Funimation's later remastered DVDs of the series saw minor changes made to their in-house dub for quality and consistency, mostly after the episode 67 gap, and had the option to play the entire series' dub with both the American and Japanese background music.

text: In January 2011, Funimation and Toei announced that they would stream Dragon Ball Z within 30 minutes before their simulcast of One Piece.[21] As of 2017, Dragon Ball Z is no longer being streamed on Hulu.

text:
The Funimation dubbed episodes also aired in Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and New Zealand. However, beginning with episode 108 (123 uncut), AB Groupe and Westwood Media (in association with Ocean Studios) produced an alternate English dub. The alternate dub was created for broadcast in the UK, the Netherlands and Ireland, although it later aired in Canada. Funimation's in-house dub continued to air in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. The Westwood Media production used the same voices from the original short-lived dub syndicated in the USA (which later aired on Toonami), it featured an alternate soundtrack by Tom Keenlyside and John Mitchell,[22] and it used the same scripts and edits as the TV edit of Funimation's in-house dub (although the UK and Europe's version was slightly edited down from this). In Australia, Dragon Ball Z was broadcast by the free-to-air commercial network, Network Ten during morning children's programming, Cheez TV, originally using the censored Funimation/Saban dub before switching to Funimation's in-house dub.
Dragon Ball Z originally aired on the British Comedy Network in Fall 1998.[23]

text: Dragon Ball Z Kai[edit]

text: In February 2009, Toei Animation announced that it would begin broadcasting a revised version of Dragon Ball Z as part of the series' 20th-anniversary celebrations. The series premiered on Fuji TV in Japan on April 5, 2009, under the name Dragon Ball Kai. The ending suffix Kai (改「かい」) in the name means "updated" or "altered" and reflects the improvements and corrections of the original work.[24] The original footage was remastered for HDTV, featuring updated opening and ending sequences, new music, and a rerecording of the vocal tracks.[24][25] The original material and any damaged frames were removed to more closely follow the manga, resulting in a faster-moving story.[26] Torishima later explained the origins of Kai; Bandai was having a hard time increasing their sales and asked if a new Dragon Ball anime could be made. But Toriyama refused to create a new story. Realizing that the anime-exclusive scenes that were added to increase the distance between the original anime and the manga hurt the pacing of the series, Torishima thought of cutting them so that it faithfully followed the manga. He said the reception to Kai was positive and Bandai had a hit with a card game, so it all worked out.[27]

text: The series initially concluded with the finale of the Cell arc, as opposed to including the Majin Buu arc. It was originally planned to run 98 episodes, however, due to the Tōhoku offshore earthquake and tsunami, the final episode of Dragon Ball Kai was not aired and the series ended on its 97th episode in Japan on March 27, 2011. The 98th episode was later released direct-to-video in Japan on August 2, 2011.[28]

text: In November 2012, Mayumi Tanaka, the Japanese voice of Krillin, announced that she and the rest of the cast were recording more episodes of Dragon Ball Kai.[29] In February 2014, the Kai adaptation of the Majin Buu arc was officially confirmed. The new run of the series, which is titled Dragon Ball Z Kai: The Final Chapters internationally, began airing in Japan on Fuji TV on April 6, 2014 and ended its run on June 28, 2015.[30] The final arc of Kai was originally produced to last 69 episodes (as most of the international versions run),[31] but the Japanese broadcast cut it down to 61 episodes.

text: Funimation licensed Dragon Ball Kai for an English-language release in North America, under the title Dragon Ball Z Kai. The series was broadcast on Nicktoons from May 24, 2010 to January 1, 2012 (continuing in re-runs until April 2013).[32][33] In addition to Nicktoons, the series also began airing on the 4Kids-owned Saturday morning programming block Toonzai on The CW in August 2010,[34] then on its successor, the Saban-owned Vortexx, beginning in August 2012 until the block ended in September 2014.[30] Both the Nicktoons and Toonzai/Vortexx airings were edited for content, though the Toonzai/Vortexx version was censored even more so than Nicktoons, most likely due to The CW being a broadcast network; although it's possible that 4Kids and Saban were both at least partially involved considering their notoriety for heavy censorship of this sort (including Saban's previous edits to the original Dragon Ball Z in the 1990s). Kai began airing uncut on Adult Swim's Toonami block on November 8, 2014,[35] and re-runs of the previous week's episodes aired at the beginning of Adult Swim proper from February 2015 to June 2016.[36] CSC Media Group acquired the broadcast rights to Dragon Ball Z Kai in the United Kingdom and began airing it on Kix! in early 2013.[37][38][39]

text: Despite Kai's continuation not being officially confirmed at the time even in Japan, Funimation voice actors Sean Schemmel (Goku) and Kyle Hebert (Gohan), announced in April 2013 that they had started recording an English dub for new episodes.[40] In November 2013, Kai's Australasian distributor Madman Entertainment revealed that the Majin Buu arc of Kai would be released in 2014 and that they were waiting on dubs to be finished.[41] However, in February 2014, Funimation officially stated that they did not record for the final arc of Kai.[42] On December 6, 2016, Funimation announced the continuation of Kai to begin airing on Adult Swim's Toonami block; airing from January 7, 2017 to June 23, 2018.[43]

text: Editing[edit]

text: Dragon Ball Z's original North American release was the subject of heavy editing which resulted in a large amount of removed content and alterations that greatly changed the original work. Funimation CEO Gen Fukunaga is often criticized for his role in the editing; but it was the distributor Saban which required such changes or they would not air the work, as was the case with the episode dealing with orphans.[44][Note 2] These changes included altering every aspect of the show from character names, clothing, scenes and dialogue of the show. The character Mr. Satan was renamed Hercule and this change has been retained in other English media such as Viz's Dragon Ball Z manga and video games.[45] The dialogue changes would sometimes contradict the scenes itself; after the apparent fatal explosion of a helicopter, one of the characters (most likely Tien) said, "I can see their parachutes; they're okay!"[44] Funimation's redub for the 2005 release would address many of the issues raised by Saban, with the uncut releases preserving the integrity of the original Japanese release.

text: During the original Japanese TV airing of Dragon Ball Kai, scenes involving blood and brief nudity were removed. Nicktoons would also alter Kai for its broadcast; it released a preview showcasing these changes which included removing the blood and cheek scar from the character Bardock and altering the color of Master Roshi's alcohol.[46] The show was further edited for its broadcast on The CW (perhaps most notoriously, the character Mr. Popo was tinted blue), but the show's DVD and Blu-ray releases only contained the edits present in the original Japanese version. A rumor that Cartoon Network would be airing Kai uncut was met with an official statement to debunk the rumor in June 2010;[47] though it would later air uncut on the channel as part of its Adult Swim line-up beginning November 2014.

text: Steven Simmons, who did the subtitling for Funimation's home video releases, offered commentary on the subtitling from a project and technical standpoint, addressing several concerns.[48][Note 3] Simmons said that Gen Fukunaga did not want any swearing on the discs, but because there was no taboo word list Simmons would substitute a variation in the strength of the words by situation with the changes starting in episode 21.[49] The typographical errors in the script were caused by dashes (—) and double-quotes (") failing to appear, which resulted in confusing dialogue.[49]

text: Music[edit]

text:
"Cha-La Head-Cha-La"

Sample of "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" performed by Hironobu Kageyama, the opening theme song for the majority of the show.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

tag: table

text: Shunsuke Kikuchi composed the score for Dragon Ball Z. The opening theme for the first 199 episodes is "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" performed by Hironobu Kageyama. The second opening theme used up until the series finale at episode 291 is "We Gotta Power" also performed by Kageyama. The ending theme used for the first 199 episodes is "Detekoi Tobikiri Zenkai Power!" (でてこいとびきりZENKAIパワー!, "Come Out, Incredible Full Power!") performed by MANNA. The second ending theme used for the remaining episodes is "Bokutachi wa Tenshi Datta" (僕達は天使だった, "We Were Angels") performed by Kageyama.

text:
Kenji Yamamoto composed the score for Dragon Ball Kai. The opening theme, "Dragon Soul", and the first ending theme used for the first 54 episodes, "Yeah! Break! Care! Break!", are both performed by Takayoshi Tanimoto.[50] The second ending theme, used from episodes 55–98, is "Kokoro no Hane" (心の羽根, "Wings of the Heart") performed by Team Dragon, a unit of the idol girl group AKB48.[51] On March 9, 2011, Toei announced that due to Yamamoto's score infringing on the rights of an unknown third party or parties, the music for remaining episodes and reruns of previous episodes would be replaced.[52] Later reports from Toei stated that with the exception of the series' opening and closing songs, as well as eyecatch music, Yamamoto's score was replaced with Shunsuke Kikuchi's original from Dragon Ball Z. The music for the Majin Buu Saga of Kai is composed by Norihito Sumitomo.[53] The opening theme is "Kuu•Zen•Zetsu•Go" (空•前•絶•後) by Dragon Soul, while the first ending song is "Haikei, Tsuratsusutora" (拝啓、ツラツストラ, "Dear Zarathustra") by Japanese rock band Good Morning America,[54] and the second "Junjō" (純情, "Pure Heart") by Leo Ieiri from episode 112 to 123.[55] The third ending song is "Oh Yeah!!!!!!!" by Czecho No Republic from episode 124 to 136,[56] the fourth "Galaxy" by Kyūso Nekokami from 137 to 146, and the fifth is "Don't Let Me Down" by Gacharic Spin from 147 to 159.[57] The international broadcast features two pieces of theme music. The opening theme, titled "Fight It Out", is performed by rock singer Masatoshi Ono, while the ending theme is "Never Give Up!!!", performed by rhythm and blues vocalist Junear.
A second OST was created for the English Funimation release composed by Bruce Faulconer. It was used in the 2001-2005 broadcast of the show and was later released as a secondary to the Japanese OST.[58]

text: Related media[edit]

text: Home releases[edit]

text: In Japan, Dragon Ball Z did not receive a home video release until 2003, seven years after its broadcast. This was a remastering of the series in two 26-disc DVD box sets, that were made-to-order only, released on March 19 and September 18 and referred to as "Dragon Boxes." The content of these sets began being released on mass-produced individual 6-episode DVDs on November 2, 2005 and finished with the 49th volume released on February 7, 2007.[59][60]

text: The international home release structure of Dragon Ball Z is complicated by the licensing and release of the companies involved in producing and distributing the work. Releases of the media occurred on both VHS and DVD with separate edited and uncut versions being released simultaneously. Both versions of the edited and uncut material are treated as different entries and would frequently make Billboard rankings as separate entries. Home release sales were featured prominently on the Nielsen VideoScan charts.[17] Further complicating the release of the material was Funimation itself; which was known to release "DVDs out of sequence in order to get them out as fast as possible"; as in the case of their third season.[61] Pioneer Entertainment distributed the Funimation/Saban edited-only dub of 53 episodes on seventeen VHS between 1997 and 1999,[62][63] and seventeen DVDs throughout 1999.[64][65] Two box sets separating them into the Saiyan and Namek arcs were also released on VHS in 1999,[66][67] and on DVD in 2001.[68][69] Funimation's own distribution of their initial in-house dub, which began with episode 54, in edited or uncut VHS ran between 2000 and 2003.[70][71][72] A DVD version was produced alongside these, although they were only produced uncut and contained the option to watch the original Japanese with subtitles.[73][74]

text: In 2005, Funimation began releasing their in-house dub of the beginning of Dragon Ball Z on DVD, marking the first time the episodes were seen uncut in North America.[75] However, only nine volumes were released, leaving it incomplete.[76] Instead, Funimation remastered and cropped the entire series into 16:9 widescreen format and began re-releasing it to DVD in nine individual "season" box sets; the first set released on February 6, 2007 and the final on May 19, 2009.[77][78] In July 2009, Funimation announced that they would be releasing the Japanese frame-by-frame "Dragon Box" restoration of Dragon Ball Z in North America. These seven limited edition DVD box sets were released uncut in the show's original 4:3 fullscreen format between November 10, 2009 and October 11, 2011.[79]

text: In July 2011, Funimation announced plans to release Dragon Ball Z in Blu-ray format, with the first set released on November 8, 2011.[80][81][82] However, production of these 4:3 sets was suspended after the second volume, citing technical concerns over restoring the original film material frame by frame.[83] Only a year later, the company began producing a cropped 16:9 remastered Blu-ray release in 2013, with nine sets released in total.[84] On August 13, 2013, Funimation released all 53 episodes and the three movies from their first Dragon Ball Z dub created with Saban and Ocean Studios in a collector's DVD box set, titled the Rock the Dragon Edition.[85]

text: Kai[edit]

text: In Japan, Dragon Ball Kai was released in wide-screen on 33 DVDs and in fullscreen on a single Blu-ray and eight four-disc Blu-ray sets from September 18, 2009, to August 2, 2011.

text: Funimation released eight DVD and Blu-ray box sets of Dragon Ball Z Kai from May 18, 2010 to June 5, 2012.[86][87] These sets contain the original Japanese audio track with English subtitles, as well as the uncut version of the English dub, which does not contain any of the edits made for the TV airings. Before the final volume was even published, Funimation began re-releasing the series in four DVD and Blu-ray "season" sets between May 22, 2012 and March 12, 2013.[88][89] Funimation released The Final Chapters in three DVD and Blu-ray volumes from April 25 to June 20, 2017.[90][91][92]

text: Manga[edit]

text: While the manga was all titled Dragon Ball in Japan, due to the popularity of the Dragon Ball Z anime in the west, Viz Media initially changed the title of the last 26 volumes of the manga to "Dragon Ball Z" to avoid confusion. The volumes were originally published in Japan between 1988 and 1995. It began serialization in the American Shonen Jump, beginning in the middle of the series with the appearance of Trunks; the tankōbon volumes of both Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball were released simultaneously by Viz Media in the United States.[93][94] In March 2001, Viz continued this separation by re-shipping the Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z titles starting with the first volumes of each work.[95] Viz's marketing for the manga made distinct the differences between Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z tone. Viz billed Dragon Ball Z: "More action-packed than the stories of Goku's youth, Dragon Ball Z is pure adrenaline, with battles of truly Earth-shaking proportions!"[96] Between 2008 and 2010, Viz re-released the two series in a format called "Viz Big Edition," which collects three individual volumes into a single large volume.[97] However, in 2013 Viz began publishing new 3-in-1 volumes collecting the entire manga series, including what they previously released as Dragon Ball Z, under the Dragon Ball name.[98]

text: Films[edit]

text: The Dragon Ball Z films comprise a total of 15 entries as of 2015. The first 13 films were typically released every March and July during the series' original run in accordance with the spring and summer vacations of Japanese schools. They were typically double features paired up with other anime films, and were thus, usually an hour or less in length. These films themselves offer contradictions in both chronology and design that make them incompatible with a single continuity. All 15 films were licensed in North America by Funimation, and all have received in-house dubs by the company. Prior to Funimation, the third film was a part of the short-lived Saban syndication, being split into three episodes, and the first three films received uncut English dubs in 1998 produced by Funimation with Ocean Studios and released by Pioneer. Several of the films have been broadcast on Cartoon Network and Nicktoons in the United States, Toonami UK in the United Kingdom (these featured an alternate English dub produced by an unknown cast by AB Groupe), and Cartoon Network in Australia.

text: Television specials and original video animations[edit]

text: Three TV specials based on Dragon Ball Z were produced and broadcast on Fuji TV. The first two were Dragon Ball Z: Bardock – The Father of Goku in 1990 and Dragon Ball Z: The History of Trunks in 1993, the latter being based on a special chapter of the original manga. Both were licensed by Funimation in North America and AB Groupe in Europe. In 2013, a two-part hour-long crossover with One Piece and Toriko, titled Dream 9 Toriko & One Piece & Dragon Ball Z Chō Collaboration Special!!, was created and aired.

text: Additionally, two original video animations (OVAs) bearing the Dragon Ball Z title have been made. The first is Dragon Ball Z Side Story: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans, which was originally released in 1993 in two parts as "Official Visual Guides" for the video game of the same title. Dragon Ball: Plan to Eradicate the Super Saiyans was a 2010 remake of this OVA. None of the OVAs have been dubbed into English, and the only one to see a release in North America is the 2010 remake, which was subtitled and included as a bonus feature in Dragon Ball: Raging Blast 2.

text: Video games[edit]

text: There are over 57 video games bearing the Dragon Ball Z name across a range of platforms from the Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom to the current generation consoles. Also included are arcade games like Super Dragon Ball Z, which would eventually be ported to consoles.

text: In North America, licensing rights had been given to both Namco Bandai and Atari. In 1999, Atari acquired exclusive rights to the video games through Funimation, a deal which was extended for five more years in 2005.[99] A 2007 dispute would end with Atari paying Funimation $3.5 million.[100] In July 2009, Namco Bandai was reported to have obtained exclusive rights to release the games for a period of five years.[101] This presumably would have taken effect after Atari's licensing rights expired at the end of January 2010.[100]

text: Soundtracks[edit]

text: Dragon Ball Z has been host to numerous soundtrack releases with works like "Cha-La Head-Cha-La" and a series of 21 soundtracks released as part of the Dragon Ball Z Hit Song Collection Series. In total, dozens of releases exist for Dragon Ball Z which includes Japanese and foreign adapted releases of the anime themes and video game soundtracks.

text: Reception[edit]

text: In Asia, the Dragon Ball Z franchise, including the anime and merchandising, earned a profit of $3 billion by 1999.[102] In the United States, the series sold over 25 million DVDs as of January 2012.[103]

text: Cultural impact and legacy[edit]

text: Dragon Ball Z was listed as the 78th best animated show in IGN's "Top 100 Animated Series",[104] and was also listed as the 50th greatest animated show in Wizard magazine's  "Top 100 Greatest Animated shows" list.[105] The series ranked #6 on Wizard's Anime Magazine on their "Top 50 Anime released in North America".[106]

text: Dragon Ball Z's popularity is reflected through a variety of data through online interactions which show the popularity of the media. In 2001, it was reported that the official website of Dragon Ball Z recorded 4.7 million hits per day and included 500,000+ registered fans.[107] The term "Dragonball Z" ranked 4th in 1999 and 2nd in 2000 by Lycos' web search engine.[108][109] For 2001, "Dragonball" was the most popular search on Lycos and "Dragonball Z" was fifth on Yahoo!.[110]

text: In 2005, media historian Hal Erickson wrote that "Dragon Ball may be the closest thing on American television to an animated soap opera — though this particular genre is an old, established and venerated one in Japan, the series' country of origin."[111] In 2015, Ford Motor Company released two commercials featuring characters from the series, the first advertising the Ford Fusion and the second for the Ford Focus.[112]

text: Ratings[edit]

text: Dragon Ball Z's Japanese run was very popular with an average viewer ratings of 20.5% across the series. Dragon Ball Z also proved to be a rating success in the United States, as the premiere of Season Three of Dragon Ball Z in 1999, done by Funimation's in-house dub, was the highest-rated program ever at the time on Cartoon Network.[113] In 2002, in the week ending September 22, Dragon Ball Z was the #1 program of the week on all of television with tweens 9-14, boys 9-14 and men 12-24, with the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday telecasts of Dragon Ball Z ranked as the top three programs in all of television, broadcast or cable, for delivery of boys 9-14.[114] In 2001, Cartoon Network obtained licensing to run 96 more episodes and air the original Dragon Ball anime and was the top rated show in the Toonami block of Cartoon network.[115]  Beginning March 26, 2001, Cartoon Network ran a 12-week special promotion "Toonami Reactor" which included a focus on Dragon Ball Z, which would stream episodes online to high-speed internet users.[116] Many home video releases were met with both the edited and unedited versions placing on in the top 10 video charts of Billboard. For example, "The Dark Prince Returns" (containing episodes 226-228) and "Rivals" (containing episodes 229-231) edited and unedited, made the Billboard magazine top video list for October 20, 2001.[117][Note 4]

text: The first episode of Dragon Ball Kai earned a viewer ratings percentage of 11.3, ahead of One Piece and behind Crayon Shin-chan.[118] Although following episodes had lower ratings, Kai was among the top 10 anime in viewer ratings every week in Japan for most of its run.[119][120] Towards the end of the original run the ratings hovered around 9%-10%.[121][122] Dragon Ball Z Kai premiered on Nicktoons in May 2010 and set the record for the highest-rated premiere in total viewers, and in tweens and boys ages 9–14.[123] Nielsen Mega Manila viewer ratings ranked Dragon Ball Kai with a viewer ratings with a high of 18.4% for October 30 – November 4 in 2012.[124] At the end of April 2013, Dragon Ball Kai would trail just behind One Piece at 14.2%.[125] Broadcasters' Audience Research Board ranked Dragon Ball Z Kai as the second most viewed show in the week it debuted on Kix.[126] On its debut on Vortexx, Dragon Ball Z Kai was the third highest rated show on the Saturday morning block with 841,000 viewers and a 0.5 household rating.[127]

text: Merchandising[edit]

text: Dragon Ball Z merchandise was a success prior to its peak American interest, with more than $3 billion in sales from 1996–2000.[128] In 1996, Dragon Ball Z grossed $2.95 billion in merchandise sales worldwide.[129] As of January 2012, Dragon Ball Z grossed $5 billion in merchandise sales worldwide.[103]

text: In 1998, Animage-ine Entertainment, a division of Simitar, announced the sale of Chroma-Cels, mock animation cels to capitalize on the popularity of Dragon Ball Z.[130] The original sale was forecasted for late 1998, but were pushed back to  January 12, 1999.[131]

text: In 2000, MGA Entertainment released more than twenty toys, consisting of table-top games and walkie-talkies.[132] Irwin Toy released more than 72 figures consisting of 2-inch and 5 inch action figures, which became top-selling toys in a market dominated by the Pokémon Trading Card Game.[133] Irwin Toys would release other unique Dragon Ball Z toys including a battery powered Flying Nimbus Cloud which hovered without touching the ground and a die-cast line of vehicles with collector capsules.[134] In June 2000, Burger King had a toy promotion which would see 20 million figurines; Burger King bore the cost of the promotion which provided free marketing for Funimation.[128] The Halloween Association found Dragon Ball Z costumes to be the fourth most popular costumes in their nationwide survey.[135]

text: In December 2002, Jakks Pacific signed a three-year deal for licensing Dragon Ball Z toys, which was possible because of the bankruptcy of Irwin Toy.[136] Jakks Pacific's Dragon Ball Z 5-inch figures were cited as impressive for their painting and articulation.[137]

text: In 2010, Toei closed deals in Central and South American countries which included Algazarra, Richtex, Pil Andina, DTM, Doobalo and Bondy Fiesta.[138] In 2012, Brazil's Abr-Art Bag Rio Comercio Importacao e Exportacao closed a deal with Toei.[139]

text: Notes[edit]

text:
Jump up ^ Shuki Levy and Kussa Mahehi (Haim Saban) were credited as composers for contractual reasons. This was standard practice at Saban Entertainment during the 1990s.

Jump up ^ The original interview was conducted by Steve Harmon with Funimation CEO Gen Fukunaga in 1999 and was hosted on Harmon's personal website "The Vault". A record of the website exists on Archive.org, but the original interview itself was lost. The record was kept by Chris Psaros who provided a copy for the website "The Dragon Ball Z Otaku Alliance" which republished the original interview for this source.

Jump up ^ Steven Simmons, who uses the nickname "Daimao" in websites like Toriyama.org, wrote the original scripts for the Funimation subtitles and was involved in the localization process. His comments are included as a primary source, but also definitively illustrate concerns with the subtitles, from its creator. This connection and background is noted at the accompanying Anime News Network reference.

Jump up ^ The releases for both The Dark Prince Returns and Babidi: Showdown were released on September 25, 2001. The title "Showdown" was replaced with "Rivals" and contains episodes 229–231, titled "Vegeta's Pride", "The Long Awaited Flight", and "Magic Ball of Buu". Prior to the release, Billboard and news outlets including the Anime News Network and Anime Nation were using the title "Showdown"; but the UPC codes match, indicating a re-titling for this release, "Rivals", also has a September 25, 2001, release date for the uncut material.

tag: ol

text: Jump up ^ Dragon Ball Kai (ドラゴンボール改 (カイ), Doragon Bōru Kai, lit. Dragon Ball Revised), retitled Dragon Ball Z Kai in most international releases


document_title: List of countries by military expenditures

question_text: what percentage of gdp does america spend on defense

text: List[edit]

text:
List by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
2018 Fact Sheet (for 2017)[1]
SIPRI Military Expenditure Database[3]
List by the International Institute for Strategic Studies
Top 15 Defence Budgets 2017[4]

Rank
Country
Spending
($ Bn.)
% of GDP
% of World share

World total
1,739
2.2

01
 United States
610
3.1
35.0

02
 People's Republic of China[a]
228
1.9
13.0

03
 Saudi Arabia[a][b]
69.4
10
4.0

04
 Russia
66.3
4.3
3.8

05
 India
63.9
2.5
3.7

06
 France
57.8
2.3
3.3

07
 United Kingdom
47.2
1.8
2.7

08
 Japan
45.4
0.9
2.6

09
 Germany
44.3
1.2
2.5

10
 South Korea
39.2
2.6
2.3

11
 Brazil
29.3
1.4
1.7

12
 Italy
29.2
1.7
1.7

13
 Australia
27.5
2.0
1.6

14
 Canada
20.6
1.3
1.2

15
 Turkey
18.2
2.2
1.0

Rank
Country
Spending
($ Bn.)

01
 United States
602.8

02
 People's Republic of China
150.5

03
 Saudi Arabia
76.7

04
 Russia
61.2

05
 India
52.5

06
 United Kingdom
50.7

07
 France
48.6

08
 Japan
46.0

09
 Germany
41.7

10
 South Korea
35.7

11
 Brazil
29.4

12
 Australia
25.0

13
 Italy
22.9

14
Israel
21.6

15
 Iraq
19.4

text: Notes[edit]

text:
^ Jump up to: a b SIPRI estimate.
Jump up ^ The figures for Saudi Arabia include expenditure for public order and safety and might be slightly overestimated.