The Skeksis are a fictional species that serves as the main antagonists in the 1982 film The Dark Crystal and its related franchise. The word "Skeksis" serves as both singular and plural form for this species, with the singular being pronounced  and the plural . They are described by concept artist Brian Froud as, "part reptile, part predatory bird, part dragon". The Skeksis are represented by puppets engineered under the direction of Jim Henson. Jim Henson said that in the development of the Skeksis, the creators drew inspiration from the seven deadly sins.

Concept and creation
Jim Henson was inspired to design the Skeksis by an illustrated edition of a Lewis Carroll poem showing two elegantly dressed crocodiles in a bathroom. He became intrigued with the idea of a reptilian race assuming control over a formerly splendid past society, and developed the Skeksis with the concept that they represented the darker side of human nature. Numerous names were proposed for the species, including Skekses, Reptus, Karackt and Skek-sis.

Henson himself commented on the difficulty of performing as a Skeksis:

Conceptual designer Brian Froud designed the Skeksis as looking like "part reptile, part predatory bird, [and] part dragon," with a "penetrating stare."

The design of the Skeksis' robes was supervised by British artist and painter Sarah Bradpiece. The robes were fabricated with expensive materials (silks, furs, velvet, etc.) and exotic feathers, and decorated in jewels made from melted toy soldiers; skekTek the Scientist's bionic eye was made from a dye-cast TIE fighter model's cockpit. To give the Skeksis their grubby appearance, the robes were then ripped and stained with fake dirt and paint. According to Froud, the robes were meant to reflect the Skeksis' unique personalities and functions within the castle.

Performance
Each Skeksis puppet was controlled in the original film by as many as six puppeteers. The main puppeteer, wearing a heavy, robe-covered costume with a puppet head, would be assisted by a second performer operating the creature's right hand from inside the costume, and a team of four technicians in charge of its facial features. For wide shots of the Skeksis walking or running, actors of short stature were sometimes used as doubles. skekSil the Chamberlain's puppet, operated primarily by Frank Oz, was built with over 20 mechanical components.

Similar to Big Bird of Sesame Street, the lead puppeteer inside the Skeksis costume would wear a television monitor around their waist to gain a better sense of vision. The Skeksis hands were operated using a handheld trigger device that controlled the flexible rods serving as its fingers.

For Age of Resistance, the technical crew devised simpler ways to puppeteer the creatures, including the Skeksis. For wide shots of the Chamberlain, for example, his head was placed on a mechanical neck. This reduced the need for several performers and allowed the numerous animatronics in his head to be controlled from offscreen.

Characteristics

Appearance
The Skeksis are tall bipeds combining avian and reptilian features, wearing elaborate but threadbare robes of lace, velvet, and brocade to apparently conceal their aged and constantly decomposing bodies while appearing large and more intimidating. Their heads are beaked like a vulture's, while simultaneously sporting curved fangs. They have enlarged bellies and long reptilian tails, as well as curved quills on their backs. While having four arms like their urRu counterparts, the Skeksis have only one functional pair as the other were initially wing-like before they eventually withered and atrophied. Though skekMal is one of a few Skeksis to make use of his extra arms in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Despite their frail appearance, Skeksis are physically powerful as skekUng mustered his strength to cut through solid stone during the 'Trial by Stone' duel while a provoked skekSil single-handedly slammed pilaster rock onto protagonist Jen.

Society
The Skeksis are the corrupt rulers of the planet Thra, having inherited it from their benevolent urSkek predecessors, and embody the knowledgeable, yet unrestrained aspects of the urSkeks' behavior. The Skeksis culture favors repetitive flamboyance, emotional pettiness, and a wasteful attitude toward life. Though they are capable of alliances, each acts only of self-preservation to the point of immediate betrayals to benefit their personal agenda. Despite their few numbers, the Skeksis form shifting political parties that stabilize the Skeksis society despite some causing friction among them, especially if the Emperor greatly favours one party over the others.

Before the events of Age of Resistance, the Skeksis were divided into the Imperial Allegiance (skekSo, skekSil, skekTek) which oversee their race's continuation, the Tithing Allegiance (skekLach, skekOk, skekEkt) who collect tributes from the Gelfling clans, and the Security Allegiance (skekVar, skekAyuk, skekZok) who command the Gelfling castle guards. But following the Garthim War and before events of the movie, the Skeksis reorganized themselves into the Diplomatic Allegiance (skekSil, skekOk, skekEkt) who maintain the castle to the Emperor's liking, The Religious Allegiance (skekZok, skekShod, skekAyuk) who oversee daily routines, and Military Allegiance (skekUng, skekTek, skekNa) who oversee the Garthim soldiers.

Due to the accelerated decomposition of their bodies, the Skeksis constantly attempt to prolong their lives by using the properties of the Dark Crystal itself. Their primary method is absorbing sunlight channeled through the Dark Crystal, its potency dependent on Thra's three suns. Another method is a form of acupuncture, in which power lines laid on their castle channels the planet's energy to them and feeds back noxious pulses, resulting in their kingdom's wasteland appearance. A third method is extracting the vitality from other life forms by exposing them to reflected beams from the Dark Crystal, a process that originally destroys the victims before it was refined enough to reduce them into nearly mindless drones which the Skeksis keep as slaves. The life force is collected in a liquid form that restores a Skeksis' youth and vitality, the Emperor eventually making law that only he can partake of it. Gelfling were originally used for this purpose until their near extinction forced the Skeksis to use Podlings instead, with the youth-inducing effects of the resulting elixir created from their life force lasting for a few seconds.

The Skeksis created the Garthim through grafting corpses of Arathim and Gruenak which are then animated by the Dark Crystal. Upon the discovery of a Gelfling prophecy which foretold the end of their power, the Skeksis used the Garthim to exterminate almost every single Gelfling on Thra, until only two, Jen and Kira, survived, to be raised by urSu the Mystic Master and the Podlings, respectively. They also bred the sentinel Crystal Bats, which were used as "eyes in the sky", scavenging above the landscape, and working closely with the Garthim, to locate potential targets.

Language
Originally, Jim Henson thought of having the Skeksis communicate through noises, though he later shot the film showing the Skeksis speaking a constructed language, based on Ancient Greek and Egyptian, devised by the author Alan Garner. The dialogue was later redubbed in English, as the original version proved unsuccessful in impressing test audiences. The original language is present in The World of the Dark Crystal and The Dark Crystal novelization, wherein (according to the former) it is "restricted to nouns, adjectives, and expletives", and has an object–verb–subject word order.

History

The products of a botched attempt by the urSkeks to purge themselves of their imperfections while returning to their homeworld during a Great Conjunction, an event where the three suns of Thra produce a pure light that hits the Crystal, the Skeksis are the embodiments of their original selves' worst inhibitions compared to their urRu counterparts. Moments after coming into being, two of their own were accidentally killed, and infighting among the surviving Skeksis resulted in a Shard of the Crystal being broken off and lost. The urRu then left the Castle to the Skeksis, who began to modify the urSkeks' architecture with their own grotesque designs while attempting to create their own Crystal. The black rocks they created were reused as targets for the "Haakskeekah" rite, translated as "Trial by Stone", in which the loser is stripped of his position. The Skeksis have other means of punishment among their kin that include being maimed by an eye-gouging Peeper beetle.

According to The World of The Dark Crystal and The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance series, possessing urSkeks' knowledge but lacking their restraint, the Skeksis were initially a vibrant and jovial race as they tricked Aughra into a deep sleep to metaphysically observe the universe. Unopposed, they ruled Thra over a thousand years and kept the Gelfling tribes divided while presenting themselves as their lords and protectors. But the dynamic changed as the Skeksis aged into haggard shells of their former selves as the Dark Crystal is unable to properly prolong their lives due to its connection to Thra, causing an epidemic called the Darkening that affects the planet's lifeforms. skekTek, with skekSil's help, developed a means to polarize the Dark Crystal's life-giving properties to extract life essence from Thra and its life forms to prolong their own lives. When the Gelfling learned of this and rebelled, they devised a prophecy revealing that one of them would end the rule of the Skeksis by restoring the broken Shard to the Crystal with the restoration of the urSkeks as consequence. When the Skeksis learned of this, they attempted to deter the Gelflings with Shard fabrications before using the newly created Garthim to wipe out the entire Gelfling race.

At the start of the film, skekUng succeeded skekSo as Emperor with only nine Skeksis remaining before skekTek was killed. Toward the end, protagonists Jen and Kira reunite them with the urRu to recreate the urSkeks who depart Thra.

List of Skeksis

skekSo
Also known as the Emperor and the counterpart to the urRu urSu the Master, skekSo is described in The World of The Dark Crystal as originally being an energetic ruler who enjoyed lavish festivity and winning at sporting events but age made him paranoid and spiteful to even his fellow Skeksis, elevating individuals to high positions only to depose them afterward. SkekSo appears as the main antagonist of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, which chronologically precedes the 1982 film, where he attempts to harness and control the energy of the Darkening, which causes his body to corrode at a quicker pace compared to the other Skeksis, leading to his eventual death shown in the original film's beginning. Once skekSo died, due to urSu willing himself to death to disrupt the Skeksis' hierarchy to give Jen a fighting chance against them, skekUng succeeded him as Emperor. In the film's deleted scenes, skekSo's decayed remains are cremated. He also has an appearance in Legends of the Dark Crystal.

In the film, he is performed by Jim Henson and voiced by Jerry Nelson. In The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, skekSo is performed by Dave Chapman and voiced by Jason Isaacs.

skekSil

Also known as the Chamberlain, the counterpart to the urRu urSol the Chanter. SkekSil is the Skeksis's chief secretary of state and next in line as Emperor of the Skeksis, being part of skekSo's Diplomatic Allegiance which also consisted of skekEkt and skekOk. However, skekSil is despised by the other Skeksis for his wheedling voice and underhanded nature, most notably by skekUng. During the events of Legends of the Dark Crystal, skekSil attempted to trick the Gelfling into distrusting the urRu while protecting his right of succession when it was being threatened by skekLach. In the first season of Age of Resistance, skekSil is revealed to have influenced skekTek in developing essence extraction and the creation of the Garthim. He also is the driving force behind the events of the show, from turning most of the Gelflings against Rian and each other, to securing the downfall and death of skekVar after he is replaced as the Emperor's closest advisor. In the film, skekSil's confrontation with skekUng over succession resulted in his exile, the removal of his robes, and he attempts to regain his position by capturing a Gelfling. Of all the Skeksis, skekSil's intentions are never fully revealed and seem contradictory, most notably when he forcibly brought Kira to the other Skeksis and refused to allow them to kill her. When Kira was brought to the Skeksis, skekUng had skekSil reinstated and his robes returned to him. When the Crystal was restored, skekSil was absorbed by urSol as they reverted into their original urSkek form SilSol.

In the comic book sequel The Power of the Dark Crystal taking place a century after the events of the movie, skekSil and the other Skeksis were reconstituted due to Thurma removing the Shard from the Crystal. Immediately ostracized by his comrades for causing their previous defeat, skekSil pursues Thurma and Kensho and use the Shard to force the other Skeksis to submit to him. But he ends up being destroyed by the restored Crystal as it reformed itself into the Prism, housing his spirit and urSol within it.

In the film, he is performed by Frank Oz and voiced by Barry Dennen. In The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, he is performed by Warrick Brownlow-Pike and voiced by Simon Pegg.

skekUng
Also known as the Garthim-Master or the second General, the counterpart to the urRu urIm the Healer. SkekUng serves as the main antagonist of the original 1982 film, where he succeeds skekSo as Skeksis Emperor after his death. His activities in the years leading up to the Garthim War are unclear, but he is absent from the events of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, mentioned only in passing as the Skeksis consider recalling the rest of their number in their duel against the Gelfling (an idea that skekSil the Chamberlain seems to object to, as he believes more Skeksis in the castle would just lead to louder squabbling among them), being identified as a "strong warrior" by skekZok the Ritual Master. Being the second strongest of the Skeksis, he was previously leader of the military allegiance after replacing skekVar upon his death. He had a bitter rivalry with skekSil, which culminated in a duel for supremacy. Though the other Skeksis admire his ferocity, his constant failure to capture the surviving Gelfling fails to evoke the respect of his subjects. He is suspicious of skekZok's loyalty, and is constantly fearing a challenge to his authority. In the novel, after the Chamberlain returns to the castle with a kidnapped Kira to be drained of her essence, and subsequently returns to his position of power, skekUng begins to spiral further into paranoia, plotting to murder skekTek and unleash his Garthim soldiers on every single form of life on Thra, to prevent the regeneration of the Gelfling population. When the Crystal was restored, skekUng was absorbed by urIm as they reverted into their original urSkek form UngIm, who leads the urSkeks back to their world.

In the film, he is performed by Dave Goelz and voiced by Michael Kilgarriff.

skekZok
Also known as the Ritual-Master and the counterpart to the urRu urZah the Ritual-Guardian, skekZok is the high priest who oversees the Skeksis' rituals and leader of the Religious Allegiance. Until the story of the film, skekZok "fancied himself skekSo's closest adviser, and sought to control the other Skeksis through false prophecies and apparitions, although they distrusted his divinations and practised their own." Though a contender for the throne after skekSo's death, skekZok sides with skekUng. Though he assists in the search for the surviving Gelfling with his Crystal bats, he is nonetheless distrusted and feared by skekUng. When skekSil arrived with Kira, he was annoyed at skekUng's commands to drain Kira of essence before killing her, as he insisted she must be killed immediately. Ironically, skekZok's impulse to kill Kira the moment she threw the Shard to Jen led to the Skeksis' downfall with skekZok absorbed by urZah back into their original urSkek form ZokZah.

In the film, he is performed by Jim Henson and voiced by Jerry Nelson. In The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, he is performed by Victor Yerrid and voiced by Keegan-Michael Key.

skekTek
Also known as the Scientist and the counterpart to the urRu urTih the Alchemist, his obsession depraved to the point of amputating his two right limbs and replacing them with prosthetics and replacing his jugular vein with a transparent tube, skekTek is the Skeksis who conducts his research and experiments in the Castle's Chamber of Life. Through both skekSo's abuse and skekSil's influence, skekTek learned to harness the Dark Crystal's ability to extract essence and created the Garthim soldiers to quell the growing threat of Gelfling rebellion, and eventually, as an extermination force against the entire race. He was once considered a friend of Aughra, having mentored her when he and urTih were originally the urSkek TekTih. During the events of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, skekTek outfitted himself with a visual prosthesis after his right eye was ripped out by a Peeper Beetle as punishment for failing to prevent the Gelfling Rian from escaping with a vial of essence. By the time of the film, he had replaced his jugular vein with a transparent external tube to monitor his own circulation and his right arm and right leg with mechanical prosthetics and can be seen leaning on a cane. Because of his maltreatment by the other Skeksis, skekTek outright called himself "the most abused creature in all of Thra". skekSil provided skekTek with Gruenak helpers before later killing them when they tried to rebel, using one of them for parts in creating the Garthim. During the film, skekTek sided with skekUng after he became the new Emperor and convinced him to let him drain Kira of her essence, but Kira persuaded all the laboratory animals skekTek experimented on to attack him, resulting in him losing his footing and falling down the Crystal Shaft into the magma below with urTih incinerated as a result. skekTek has appearances in Legends of the Dark Crystal.

He is performed and voiced by Steve Whitmire in the film. In The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, he is performed by Olly Taylor and voiced by Mark Hamill. Whitmire based skekTek's voice loosely on that of Peter Lorre. Hamill's voice for skekTek is noticeably raspier and gives him an added stertor.

skekAyuk
Also known as the Gourmand and the counterpart to the urRu urAmaj the Cook, skekAyuk is a gluttonous Skeksis who uses his status as the court's gourmet expert to devise menus for the feasts, preferring strong flavors and living prey. He is occasionally seen alongside both skekEkt and skekShod, being hypocritical in belittling his fellow Skeksis. In Age of Resistance, he is the only Skeksis besides skekTek to understand that the Crystal's failures in giving energy for the Skeksis to take was due to their constant abuse. In the novel, both he and skekEkt are part of skekSo's faction and support skekSil before turning on him once he loses. In the film, he and skekShod ultimately support skekZok. When the Crystal was restored, skekAyuk was absorbed by urAmaj as they reverted into their original urSkek form AyukAmaj.

In the film, he is performed by Louise Gold and voiced by Thick Wilson. In The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, he is performed again by Gold and voiced by Harvey Fierstein.

skekEkt
Also known as the Ornamentalist and the counterpart to the urRu urUtt the Weaver, skekEkt is the more effeminate of the Skeksis and wears elaborate clothing that reflects his vanity. Despite possessing a genuine gift as a fashion designer, skekEkt is nonetheless described in The World of the Dark Crystal as an extremely vain and callous character who would gladly cause the death of countless animals for the sake of fabricating one cloak. According to skekSil's thoughts in The Dark Crystal novelization, skekEkt's uncharismatic depravity was considered excessive, even by the standards of the Skeksis, to the point where it would never command their obedience. He has the responsibility of giving the final say in the selection of experimental Podling slaves modified by skekTek for ritual choruses. He is occasionally seen alongside both skekOk and skekAyuk. Interestingly, skekOk and skekAyuk are loyal to skekSil like skekEkt (depending on the film and novel versions) before turning on him once he loses. When the Crystal was restored, skekEkt was absorbed by urUtt as they reverted into their original urSkek form EktUtt.

In the film, he is performed and voiced by Brian Muehl. In The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, he is performed and voiced by Alice Dinnean.

skekNa
Also known as the Slave-Master and the counterpart to the urRu urNol the Herbalist, skekNa is the supervisor and disciplinarian of the Skeksis' slaves. He is described in The World of the Dark Crystal as "purely and openly evil from the beginning" and in The Dark Crystal novelization as having "no imagination and no nobility at all." He has a hook for a left hand and an eye patch to hide his missing right eye. He dubiously claims to have an ear for music, and takes it upon himself to select specific slaves for skekTek to experiment upon. Along with skekTek, he is a strong supporter of skekUng, and at one point was considered for promotion to the rank of Patriarch for his loyalty. When the Crystal was restored, skekNa was absorbed by urNol as they reverted into their original urSkek form NaNol. He was mentioned by skekZok in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, as skekOk considers calling the rest of the Skeksis back to the Castle during their battle against the Gelflings, noting that he, like skekSa the Mariner, would be "useful in a fight."

In the film, he is performed by Mike Quinn and voiced by David Buck.

skekShod
Also known as the Treasurer, the counterpart to the urRu urYod the Numerologist, and administratively skekSil's subordinate, skekShod is incapable of acknowledging anyone's presence unless offered some gift. Due to his limited vocabulary and excessive material desires, he frequently bribes the other Skeksis into loaning him their personal possessions. While not appearing or even mentioned in Age of Resistance, skekShod appears in the comic book sidestory which reveals him to oversee the Spritons' tithes and caused Hup's exile from Sami Thicket when he provoked the Podling to hit him. Along with skekAyuk and skekOk, he is a supporter of skekZok following skekSo's death. When the Crystal was restored, skekShod was absorbed by urYod as they reverted into their original urSkek form ShodYod.

In the film, he is performed by Tim Rose and voiced by Charles Collingwood.

skekOk
Also known as the Scroll-Keeper and the counterpart to the urRu urAc the Scribe, skekOk is the smallest and most deceptive of the Skeksis who prides himself in his writing skills and owns a private library in the castle depicting numerous secrets. skekOk uses his talents as a historian to alter the documentation of his kind's history to reflect his ever-shifting political allegiance, until all truth was lost. He was also prone to mood swings and could often be found mumbling to himself. He was always late for the Skeksis' meetings and very often fell asleep during them. In Age of Resistance skekOk is also shown to have diplomatic talents that rival skekSil's, being in charge of recording (and occasionally extorting) the tributes given to the Skeksis by the Gelfling. He also "befriends" Brea for a while, and suggests summoning the rest of the Skeksis back to the castle after skekMal turns up nearing death. In the film, his loyalty is ultimately to skekSil. In the novel, his loyalty is to skekZok. When the Crystal was restored, skekOk was absorbed by urAc as they reverted into their original urSkek form OkAc.

In the film, he is performed by Bob Payne and voiced by John Baddeley. In The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, he is performed and voiced by Neil Sterenberg.

Expanded universe
Through the years various comics and novels were made which serve as prequels to the events of the film, introducing various Skeksis. Over the time their living number, names, positions and even counterparts were changed. This is evident since current canon claims there were 18 Skeksis to begin with yet throughout all forms of The Dark Crystal media there are around 20 individual Skeksis names.

skekVar

Also known as the General and the counterpart to the urRu urMa the Peacemaker, skekVar is a loyal but violent and short-tempered military leader who killed All-Maudra Mayrin when she learned of her people being used by the Skeksis to prolong their lives. When skekVar was named the Emperor's new council in place of skekSil, he ended up being secretly murdered by skekSil in a scheme to regain their Emperor's trust while destroying skekVar's reputation. Before his death, he along with the Chamberlain, brought forth to the Emperor and Scientist the idea of Soldiers that would be soulless yet loyal: these would later become the Garthim. However, with skekVar gone, all the Skeksis, in particular the Scientist, would later lay claim to their creation.

skekVar first appeared in the two volume manga Legends of the Dark Crystal by Tokyopop, the three volume series The Dark Crytal: Creation Myths by Archaia Comics, and other media created by the Jim Henson Company, though his role in the story was slightly altered.

His first on camera appearance was in the Netflix prequel series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, performed by Kevin Clash and voiced by Benedict Wong.

skekLach

Also known as the Collector and the counterpart to the urRu urSen the Monk, skekLach is a sickly and jaded Skeksis who is also known for his role in overseeing the Gelfling's tribute. Appearing in the first season of Age of Resistance, skekLach is killed by exploding in a pile of pus when Deet uses her powers to redirect the Darkening's energy back at the Skeksis. His design and personality has differed in his various appearances: in the comics depicted with a mechanised arm, elaborate coat, and a scarred face, been more cunning in a battle of wits with the Chamberlain, while secretly withholding Gelfling essence for himself and using skekVar as a scapegoat.

He appeared in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, performed by Helena Smee and voiced by Awkwafina.

skekMal
Known as the Hunter and the counterpart to the urRu urVa the Archer, skekMal is a Skeksis introduced in the J.M. Lee novel Shadows of the Dark Crystal. He also appears in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, wearing a spirit-like skull mask that conceals his scarred face and sports an extra pair of retractable arms. Considering himself a sportsman who relentlessly hunts his quarry down, skekMal is a brutal killer so feared even by his own kind that they tend to summon his services as a last resort. Thus few Gelfling knew of his existence as he eats his prey and keeps their skulls as his trophies. He is skilled in trapping and combat, being one of the few Skeksis to use his extra arms in a fight, with animalistic movement. Hired by skekSil to acquire Rian, skekMal's hunt brings him in conflict with urVa. When skekMal was badly wounded by urVa, he brought Brea back to the Skeksis' castle before collapsing. As the Skeksis worked to keep him alive, Aughra offered her lifeforce in order for skekMal to be saved. During the battle in Stone-In-The-Wood, urVa commits suicide by jumping to his doom in order to stop his counterpart for good. This enables Aughra to be reconstituted. In episode 8 of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Aughra expresses some fondness for him, declaring that skekMal was "the most beautiful of the lot" despite his scent of death.

In The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, skekMal is performed by Kevin Clash, in-suit performed by Nick Kellington, and voiced by Ralph Ineson. Two additional puppeteers in blue screen suits operated skekMal's retractable arms.

skekGra
Previously known as the Conqueror, eccentric in personality, skekGra originally served as a militant leader in the Skeksis until he and his urRu counterpart urGoh the Wanderer both received a vision of the eventual reunion of their races into their original selves. Both desired to merge back into the urSkek GraGoh, but skekGra was cast out by the Skeksis as "The Heretic" for his attempts to convince them to rejoin their urRu counterparts. skekGra and urGoh were forced to live together in self-imposed exile in the Crystal Desert where they waited for the Gelfling Rian, Brea, and Deet so they could give them the Crystal Shard that was concealed in the Dual Glaive sword they forged. skekGra eventually became rather boisterous and eccentric, describing himself as a fun Skeksis. He and urGoh became skilled at the art of puppetry.

In Age of Resistance, skekGra is performed by Damian Farrell and voiced by Andy Samberg.

skekEer
Introduced only in Legends of the Dark Crystal: Volume 2: Trial by Fire, he was an ally of skekVar the General. skekEer was the Spy-Master, but neither his urRu counterpart nor urSkek name has never been depicted or identified. Since the new books and the prequel show, skekEer has been removed from canon with skekNa revealed to be the Skeksis in charge of spies before becoming the slave-master.

skekSa and skekCru
The Skeksis Mariner skekCru was first introduced in volume 2 of Tokyopop's Legends of the Dark Crystal and was a political ally of skekVar the General, along with the Spy-Master, skekEer, and had little to say in the manga. The Mariner would be revamped as a female Skeksis called skekSa (also known as the Captain) and was as a major character in the J.M. Lee novel Tides of the Dark Crystal, making her a canon Skeksis. Her urRu counterpart was urSan the Swimmer; they made the urSkek SaSan. skekZok mentions skekSa in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance while considering recruiting more Skeksis to help battle the Gelfling, noting that she, like skekNa the Slave Master, would be "useful in a fight."

skekLi
skekLi was the Skeksis Satirist who wrote stories for the enjoyment of the Skeksis. His urRu counterpart was urLii the Storyteller, making the urSkek LiLii. He was the main antagonist in the J.M. Lee novel Song of the Dark Crystal,, making him a canon Skeksis. skekOk mentions him in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, when he considers recalling the other Skeksis to help fight against the Gelfling.

skekHak and skekYi
These were two Skeksis seen at the end of Volume 2 of The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths from Archaia Comics, and who died immediately after the botched division of the urSkeks when a rogue Skeksis killed their urRu counterparts: one was strangled while the other was thrown into the fire shaft under the Crystal. In the J.M.Lee novel Flames of the Dark Crystal their back story is changed with only one of them dying when their urRu counterpart is killed by another Skeksis who attacks it with a crystal staff. It is currently unknown how the canon events play out. skekHak's urRu counterpart was urHom and the two formed HakHom the urSkek Architect, while skekYi's counterpart was urYa, making YiYa the urSkek Conservator. Their deaths established the knowledge of the Skeksis and urRu still being connected, with the former race leaving their counterparts alone out of self-preservation. Either both or one of them are indirectly mentioned in Age of Resistance by skekZok when he mentions that no Skeksis died between the skirmish that took place after their creation and the Gelfing's rebellion after the news of skekMal's first death. If, in the canon story, skekHak survived, it is implied he was the one who remodelled the Crystal Castle to better resemble the Skeksis themselves, while if he died, other sources claim skekShod and skekNa remodelled the Crystal Castle, as punishment for defying skekSo's position as Emperor.

Confirmed canon Skeksis
These Skeksis appear in the original film, the Netflix prequel series, and J.M. Lee novels (Shadows of the Dark Crystal, Song of the Dark Crystal, Tides of the Dark Crystal, and Flames of the Dark Crystal).

 skekSo the Emperor
 skekSil the Chamberlain
 skekVar the General (originally called the Ambassador)
 skekUng (originally called the Executioner, then the Garthim-Master, then the Second General, finally the Second Emperor)
 skekZok the Ritual-Master (also known as the High Priest)
 skekEkt the Ornamentalist
 skekTek the Scientist
 skekShod the Treasurer
 skekOk the Scroll-Keeper (also known as the Historian)
 skekNa (originally called the Spy-Master, then the Slave-Master, would have been given the title of Patriarch)
 skekAyuk the Gourmand
 skekLach the Collector (originally called the Census-Taker)
 skekMal the Hunter
 skekGra the Heretic (formerly the Conqueror)
 skekLi the Satirist (also known as the Jester)
 skekSa the Mariner (also known as the Captain and the Sailor)
 skekYi the Steward
 skekHak the Machinist (also known as the Merchant)

Other appearances
 The Skeksis frames were modified and reused in the second season episode of Farscape – "Out of Their Minds", 18 years after the release of The Dark Crystal.
 Canadian extreme metal group Strapping Young Lad named a track after the Skeksis on their 2005 album Alien.
 In the second episode of the 2014 television series Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge, the contest's theme revolved around the Skeksis.
 In the Scissor Sisters self-titled debut album, released in 2004, the Skeksis are referenced in the last track "Return to Oz".
 In the 2019 video game Borderlands 3, the Skeksis are referenced with a weapon in the game named "SkekSil", after the Chamberlain. The weapon's special ability is called "Get back, spithead!", a reference to a phrase uttered by the same Skeksis in the film.
 In The Areas of My Expertise by John Hodgman the satirical almanac of fake facts, the Skeksis titles are listed among the 700 hobo names as hobo #291 to #300.
 In the South Park episode "Tsst", a character named Nanny Skexis appears during a parody of Nanny 911. The character bears a striking resemblance to the Chamberlain.

References

The Dark Crystal
Fictional characters with slowed ageing
Fictional dictators
Fictional dragons
Fictional extraterrestrial life forms
Fictional mass murderers
Fictional monsters
Fictional birds of prey
Fictional warlords
Extraterrestrial supervillains
Film characters introduced in 1982
Seven deadly sins in popular culture

Skeksis


Tetri () is a fractional currency used in the country of Georgia. It was put into circulation in 1995.

The name tetri ("white") was adopted from the term describing golden, silver or copper coins known in ancient and medieval Georgia.

The plural of the term "tetri" is "tetrebi." However, the Georgian language uses the singular form when the quantity is specified, so in practice the plural of "tetri" is just "tetri."

In some instances tetri is informally referred to as "kapiki", derived from the Russian fractional currency kopek from the Soviet era.

100 tetri = 1 lari.

Image gallery
Modern coins minted in the Republic of Georgia (should be displayed approximately at the effective coin size, if the images are rendered at 3.78 pixels per millimeter, or 96 pixels per inch).

Economy of Georgia (country)
Coins
Georgian words and phrases

Tetri


Kadal  (; ) is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language drama film  co-written, co-produced and directed by Mani Ratnam. The film stars debutantes Gautham Karthik, and Thulasi Nair, with Arjun Sarja, Aravind Swamy and Lakshmi Manchu in supporting roles. The music was composed by A. R. Rahman. The film revolves around life of fishermen who instill the fact that faith can sometimes lead to the triumph of humanity.

The film was dubbed into Telugu as Kadali. The film was released worldwide on 1 February 2013 to mostly positive reviews, in both the versions. Coincidentally, the leading pair of this movie had their parents- the hero's father Karthik & heroine's mother Radha as established actors, by appearing together in their debut film Alaigal Oivathillai (1981).

Plot
Bergmans (Arjun), a brilliant but unruly student, is thrown out of his seminary for committing the sin of the flesh after being caught red-handed by fellow student Sam Fernando (Arvind Swamy). Blaming the good-hearted Sam for his ouster, Bergmans vows revenge and challenges to prove that evil does reign supreme in this world. Sam finishes his education and training and arrives at a village as the new Father of the local church. A local boy named Thomas of this village who is the illegitimate son of a local fisherman named Chetty Barnabodas (Ponvannan) has grown up in a rough neighborhood, following his mother's death and thus being forced to fend for himself.

Sam takes the rundown church and skeptical villagers in his stride and starts bringing about changes. Through a series of incidents, he also manages to get the unruly Thomas under his control and gets him to learn the tricks of the fishing trade from the villagers. The film fast forwards a few years when Thomas (Gautham Karthik) is grown up and very close to Sam, who is now a well-respected person in the village. Thomas comes across Beatrice (Thulasi Nair) when she is running away from her convent school group who had gotten her admitted to the hospital. They keep running into each other a few times, and Thomas comes to like her presence.

Meanwhile, as Sam is meditating on the remote beach, he hears a few gunshots on the sands. On investigation, he finds an unconscious Bergmans in the waters. On seeing that the shooters are still lurking around trying to finish their job of killing Bergmans, he pulls him to safety into an abandoned ship and takes care of his bullet injuries with the help of a local village woman as well as a woman named Celina (Lakshmi Manchu) from a distant village that Bergmans asks him to get. A few villagers, including Chetty, who see Sam running around in the dark with the two women, get suspicious and accuse the three of sleeping together. They call the Bishop, upon whose interrogation, Celina admits to the sin, and Sam gets unfairly implicated. One of the villagers is also killed in the ensuing mêlée, and Sam is sentenced to four years of rigorous imprisonment.

Bergmans visits Sam in prison and admits that he got the woman to implicate him falsely, to prove that evil will always triumph. When Sam returns from prison, he discovers that Thomas has fallen in cahoots with Bergmans in his smuggling trade and has committed many sins in his desire to make the village people bow before him. Thomas and Bea have also fallen in love with each other and come to seek Sam's blessings. Thomas subsequently gets to know that Bea is Bergmans's daughter. Thomas takes Bea to Bergmans's house to trigger some long-lost memories when she recalls all the previous horrific incidents of her father, including the one of killing her mother. Bergmans gets angry, abducts Sam and Bea in his boat, and goes out to sea with an intent to kill them. However, even after a few feeble attempts, the self-professed son of Satan who disavows all family attachment is unable to get himself to kill his daughter. Thomas comes chasing them, and after a long drawn-fight amongst the three, he and Sam manage to subdue Bergmans.

The film ends on a note that good finally triumphs over evil, whether it be Sam and Thomas's triumph over Bergmans, Thomas's own suppressing of his bad inclination and rejoining forces with Sam, or Bergmans's good nature coming out in his inability to kill Bea.

Cast

 Gautham Karthik as Thomas
 Arjun Sarja as Bergmans (Meesakaran)
 Arvind Swamy as Father Sam Fernando
 Thulasi Nair as Beatrice, Bergmans's daughter and Thomas's lover (voice-over by Krithika Nelson)
 Lakshmi Manchu as Celina
 Ponvannan as Chetty Barnabodas, Thomas's father
 Singampuli as Clarence
 Kalairani as Mother Superior
 Vinodhini Vaidyanathan as Chandi Mary
 Guru Somasundaram as Kovil Kutty
 Ramdoss as Masilamani
 Anand Verma as Church Father
 Senthi Kumari as Chetty's wife, Thomas's stepmother

Cameo appearances
 Devi as Sahaya Mary, Thomas's late mother
 Eka Lakhani as Bergmans's late wife (uncredited)
 Saran Shakthi as Young Thomas
 Baby Rakshana as Young Bea

Production

Development
During a press meet in December 2009, actor Karthik revealed that his son, Gautham Karthik would make his debut in Mani Ratnam's next venture post completion of Ratnam's bilingual films Raavan and Raavanan. In July 2010, reports emerged that the film was titled as Pookkadai. Mani Ratnam stopped pre-production work on the film in late 2010 and moved on to plan a big-budget historical project titled Ponniyin Selvan, but months later was forced to shelve it due to financial issues. Later, owing to the speculated title of the former project, the team was unable to name the film Pookkadai as an aspiring director had already registered the name in 2007. Finally the working project was renamed as Kadal in February 2012.
When Mani Ratnam had finished Raavanan (2010), Jeyamohan started writing a 200-page novel for Kadal, which was later transformed by Mani Ratnam into a screenplay. Jeyamohan was signed to be a part of the script-writing team for the film in August 2011, while Rajiv Menon was also confirmed as cinematographer for the film, reuniting with Mani Ratnam after the successes of Bombay and Guru. As the film portrays Christianity, Rajiv Menon explored the way artistes capture biblical themes. For this he and Ratnam went through Simon Schama's documentary called Power of Art on Caravaggio. For the outdoor shootings they stuck to the contemporary way. Mani Ratnam's reconnaissance for the film, the process of designing the look was done when his assistants brought back hundreds of pictures after jaunting through the entire coastline of the state Tamil Nadu, including Rameswaram.

Casting
Akshara Haasan, daughter of actor Kamal Haasan and actress Sarika were heavily linked to play the female lead role in August 2011 but was not signed. In December 2011, reports emerged that Hindi film actress Sonam Kapoor was signed on to play the role after being convinced by her father but the news was untrue. Jhanvi, daughter of producer Boney Kapoor and actress Sridevi, was also considered to play the role. Finally in January 2012, it was revealed that Samantha was confirmed to portray the lead female role, making film Kadal her most high-profile project till date. After production had begun, Samantha was forced to opt out of the film in June 2012 due to her PMLE ailments. The ace director replaced the lead female by signing Thulasi Nair, the second daughter of actress Radha. Though Thulasi was auditioned for the role during the casting process, she was not selected as Ratnam opined that she was too young for the role. Post Samantha's exit, she was roped in. The child actress in Mani Ratnam's 2002 film Kannathil Muthamittal, Keerthana was approached for a role but she chose to join the film's team as an assistant director, instead.

In November 2011, actor Arjun was signed to play a pivotal role in the film, denying reports that he would play the villain, though this was later revealed to be misdirection. Lakshmi Manchu would be playing a village belle in a negative shade, making her debut in Tamil films. Actors Pasupathy and Lal were opted for supporting roles in the film, but Lal dropped the film due to his commitments to Malayalam film Ozhimuri. Arvind Swamy who returned to films post twelve years, was signed to play a full-fledged role. Thambi Ramiah was also confirmed to be a part of the cast. Child artiste Saran, earlier seen in films such as Mudhal Idam and Mye, would be seen playing Gautham Karthik's childhood role. Theater artiste Devi would be playing the role actor Gautham's mother. Baby Rakshana would be playing the role of childhood Thulasi. Mani Ratnam roped in Nayantara for a special role in the film which was confirmed in early July 2012. However, the actress opted out claiming unavailability of dates and meager scope of her character in the film. Malayalam comedian Baiju was selected to play a supporting role.

Filming

Keeping principal photography under wraps, the director made the leading duo to undertake a 20-day acting workshop that was conducted by his crew. Later, a two-month acting workshop under the mentorship of actress Kalairani was also attended by them. The shooting of the film started on 1 March 2012 at Manapad, a sea village in Thoothukudi district. Scenes involving Arvind Swamy and Lakshmi Manchu were shot first. In March 2012, in a schedule of five days, certain scenes were shot at Kottayam, Muhamma, backwaters and forts of Kochi in Kerala. The filming continued in Kerala throughout April 2012. A scene featuring the lead actors was shot at a church, created as a set in Tuticorin. Scenes were also canned in longest Indian lake Vembanad, Alappuzha. In the scenic interiors of Andaman & Nicobar Islands, twenty days filming schedule was completed by end of July 2012. In an interview with Times of India in October 2012, Suhasini Mani Ratnam revealed that filming was in its final stages. On 31 October 2012, the crew shot the climax of the film in coastal suburbs of Chennai under the weather contrived by Cyclone Nilam. On 5 November 2012, the shooting of the film was completed except for a song to be canned in Alappuzha. This song schedule and patchwork for the film kicked off on 13 January 2013. By second last week of the same month the patch work and re-recording of the background score was completed. Post release of theatrical trailer, it was revealed that the filming of ten second osculating scene between lead actors took four hours to complete after several re-takes. The director had devoided the technicians and crew from the location to ease the situation for the actors. Post filming completions, the cinematographer stated that the film was set in a hard landscape. For initial portions of the film the crew created the barren look by emphasising sand colours and muffling vibrancy of costumes. Apparently, this was achieved to create an hostile environment in which the lead male character grows. Writer Jeyamohan told The Hindu, that the script was "deeply philosophical and spiritual", "but it has been narrated in an entertaining way, complete with songs and captivating frames. It is a grand saga..", he added.

Music

Director Mani Ratnam's usual associate music composer, A. R. Rahman composed the songs as well as the background score for the film. The lyrics of three songs were penned by Vairamuthu, other three by his son Madhan Karky and remaining one by rapper Aaryan Dinesh Kanagaratnam, making the album feature seven tracks in the soundtrack album. The original Tamil version of the album was released on 28 November 2012, by the record label Sony Music. It topped the Indian music charts, especially iTunes India. The Telugu version of the soundtrack album was released direct to stores on 19 December 2012 and was also launched in a grand event at H.I.C.C. Novotel, Hyderabad on 2 January 2013.

Release
Gemini Film Circuit bought the theatrical rights of the film for  250 million. The film was given a U certificate by the Censor Board after five minor cuts. The advanced booking opened two days prior to the release. However, the distributors in Tamil Nadu faced arduousness for screen occupancies due to controversial release status of film Vishwaroopam.

ATMUS Entertainment secured the distribution rights of the film in USA. The original (Tamil) version was released in 54 screens and dubbed (Telugu) version in 20 screens. The film was premiered in most of the locations of the same country a day prior to the actual release.

Marketing
In February 2012, after the official announcement of the project with title several forged posters were released over the internet citing wrong credits and the film plot. On 19 November 2012 the film's official page was launched on social networking website Facebook. After two days the poster of the male lead concealing his visage was released through the same. In order to guard the facial identities of the debutantes, Mani Ratnam requested their respective parents to not let Thulasi or Gautham Karthik be snapped by anyone. Additionally they had to refrain from public appearances. The actress refused to appear at an interview for the same reason. The main theatrical trailer was released on 11 January 2013 through Madras Talkies' YouTube channel. The trailer was also attached to the theatre prints of film Alex Pandian that released on the same day. In a frenzy, the trailer crossed 1 million views within a day of its release on YouTube.

Home media
The satellite rights of the film were sold to STAR Vijay.

Reception

Critical response
Kadal received mixed reviews from critics. At DNA India, critic Mahalakshmi Prabhakaran quoted, "A poignant film", further adding, "The only drawback of the movie might be the fact that it drags towards the end. Else, go and watch Kadal. It is a beautifully made film.". On the contrary, Indiaglitz stated, "Too obvious to be an entertainer, too downplayed to be a classic" and added (that the film was) "overly commercial and no real Mani Ratnam effect". However, the Telugu version was reviewed contrary by the same source stating, "With a beautiful story and an imaginative screenplay, Kadal is a breathtaking film topped with fine performances which convey a range of emotions; the film weaves a number of immensely watchable scenes." Radhika Rajamani of Rediff quoted, "Kadal has all the elements of a regular entertainer but has nothing new in terms of a story" thereby summarising, "Kadal has nothing new to offer". Shekhar of OneIndia said, "Kadali is a beautiful romance drama with some commercial ingredients like action and punch dialogues." T.S. Sudhir at Firstpost stated, "Mani Ratnam's Kadal leaves viewers at sea". Nandini Ramnath at Livemint noted, "Kadal is not a perfect storm, but it's far from a sinking proposition. It floats comfortably midstream, coasting along on the strength of attractive actors and visuals." However, she added more by stating, "A predictable story layered with strong performances" At Deccan Chronicle, Khalid Mohamed wrote, "Well, Mani still matters".

Simon Foster of Special Broadcasting Service noted: "Though lovingly cinematic in parts, it's a dramatically shallow exploration of exploitable themes; a visual feast that will leave audiences intellectually under-nourished." M. Suganth of The Times of India noted, "Kadal's flaws are even more glaring. It is a failure for Mani Ratnam the storyteller, saved only to a certain extent by his visual flair." The critical review board at Behindwoods quoted, "Technically brilliant, but wanting in Mani Ratnam's magic". Sify reviewed, "Straight off the bat, Mani Ratnam's Kadal is nowhere in the league of his earlier films." However, applauded other aspects stating, "Rajiv Menon's striking camerawork, AR Rahman's music is one of the major plus of the film". Sahara Samay attributed the film title stating, "Confusion lasts like a sea. At the end the, movies seems like a tussle between fishing net and church." However, they added, "The music by A.R. Rahman is good and cinematography is at its best." Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu who reviewed the Telugu version said, "Kadali is a visual and musical treat but content wise, the sailing isn't smooth." Vivek Ramz of In noted, "Kadal is a tiring watch and recommended only for die-hard Mani Ratnam fans."

Box office
The film began receding occupancy post 20 days of its release and was declared as disaster by Box Office India.

Domestic

The film had a poor opening in Chennai. During the weekend of release, the number of shows in Chennai were 303 where as the average theatre occupancy was 60% and the filmed grossed . However, certain section of media reported incorrect box office collection leading to contradiction to the actual verdicts.

International

In the US the film grossed  on the opening day. In UK and Ireland box office, the film collected £1,189 on 4 screens, with the per screen average working out to £297 summing up to £35,737. The film collected  in Britain and  in United States in first weekend.

Awards and nominations
Positive nominations and awards' ceremonies held during 2013–14.

Controversies
After the release of first trailer of the film, the kissing scene between the leading debutantes was brought into discussions by media and audience. Later, Ratnam clarified that the scene has its own importance, justified in the story line of the film. Thulasi Nair in 2012 was fifteen years of age and scenes portraying such with minors, this fact added more to the same controversy. However, actress Radha, mother of Thulasi, defended stating "As I did Bharathiraja's film Alaigal Oivathillai, I was aged sixteen. There is a unique style and limitations directors have. They give proper directions to artistes. There is no mistake in doing intimate scenes if it is required for the movie." To avoid further repercussions, the osculating scene was chopped off the theatrical prints of the film thereby reducing the running length of the film to 150 minutes.

On 5 February 2013, Indian Christian Democratic Party put allegations that Kadal had objectionable scenes referring to Christianity. They claimed that the film depicted their community in a cloddish manner. The members of the party proposed the deletion those scenes and warned of intensifying their protests. A memorandum in this regard was also submitted by them to police on the same day.

The film distributors suffered financial losses due to performance of the film at the box office and hence, on 9 February 2013, around fifty members, who had taken the theatrical rights of the film for various regions, protested in front of Madras Talkies' office and demanded the compensation. Defending the situation the production house claimed, "Madras Talkies had sold their film 'Kadal' (both Tamil and dubbed Telugu version) to Gemini Industries and Imaging Ltd in March 2012 itself on MG (Minimum Guarantee) basis" They added, "Madras Talkies has had no other dealing with anyone else for the distribution of their film, nor has been party to any contracts Gemini might have entered into in this regard".

Lingusamy's own production company Thirupathi Brothers had purchased the distribution rights of Mani Ratnam's Kadal for Chennai, Madurai and Coimbatore prior to the release of the movie. To the controversies over film, in a press release dated 2 March 2013, the distributor, on a positive note stated that he would never demand compensation for the losses incurred over acquiring Kadal'''s distribution rights. He assured that neither he nor anyone from his office would press Mani Ratnam for compensation of monetary losses incurred over Kadal'' at any point of time.

As per the proceedings of Madras High Court it was learnt that Mannan, one of the distributors for the film and his men issued false statements to let down the reputations of the director. With no basis and intentions to extort money from his clients, the distributor and some miscreants trespassed into Ratnam's office and abused the staff. On 14 March 2013, the judge was passed interim orders on an application arising out of a civil suit from the director and his wife. The suit claimed for a direction to Mannan to pay  50 million towards the damages.

See also
 List of films directed by Mani Ratnam featuring A. R. Rahman

References

External links

2013 films
Indian drama films
Films directed by Mani Ratnam
Films shot in Tamil Nadu
2010s Tamil-language films
Films scored by A. R. Rahman
Films shot in Alappuzha
Films shot in Kochi
Filicide in fiction
Films about father–daughter relationships
Film controversies in India
Works subject to a lawsuit
Obscenity controversies in film
Christianity in popular culture controversies
Films shot in Thoothukudi
Films shot in Kottayam

Kadal (2013 film)


Breamore House is an Elizabethan manor house noted for its fine collection of paintings and furniture and situated NW of Breamore village, north of Fordingbridge, Hampshire, England. Though it remains in private hands, it is open to visitors from April to October.

Breamore House was completed in 1583 by the Dodington family, and was built on the site of Breamore Priory. The building underwent minor changes in the 18th century and underwent considerable restoration after a major fire in 1856.

Purchased in the 18th century by Sir Edward Hulse,  M.D., Baronet, and physician to Queen Anne and Kings George I  and George II, the home is still inhabited by the Hulse family (see Hulse baronets).

After marriage with Dame Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Richard Levett, Lord Mayor of London and owner of Kew Palace, the Hulse family acquired many heirlooms of the Sussex Levetts, an ancient Norman family, which are on display in the house.

Levett's other daughter, Frances, married Thomas Lewis Esq. of St. Pierre, Monmouthshire, Wales; his daughter Mary married Abraham Blackborne, a London merchant who lived at Clapham, whose son, also named Abraham, vicar of Dagenham, married Frances Fanshawe, daughter of Thomas Fanshawe of Parsloes Manor.

Sir Edward Hulse's only daughter, Elizabeth, married John Calvert of Albury Hall, Hertfordshire in 1757. John Calvert was member of Parliament for Wendover in 1754 and later for Hertford. The wedding was performed by Abraham Blackborne, vicar of Dagenham, Essex. The brothers Thomas, Edward and Richard, sons of Sir Edward Hulse and his wife Elizabeth, all attended the University of Cambridge. A fourth son, Levett, died as an infant.

Film Locations

Breamore House was used as one of the locations for the 2005 film Pride & Prejudice.

Breamore was also a filming location for HBO's 2009 special on Winston Churchill entitled Into the Storm, where the house stood in for Chequers, the home of the Prime Minister.

References

External links

Breamore House
An alternative site created by the Butler
Hulse of Hampshire, John Burke, A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire
Monumental inscriptions, Wilmington church graveyard, Kent Archaeological Society, kentarchaeology.co.uk

Country houses in Hampshire
Grade II* listed buildings in Hampshire
Grade II* listed houses
Open-air museums in England
Historic house museums in Hampshire
New Forest District
New Forest folklore
1583 establishments in England

Breamore House


Fettuccine Alfredo is a pasta dish made from fettuccine pasta tossed with Parmesan cheese and butter.

This is an old and simple recipe, in Italy it is simply called Fettuccine al burro ().  The Italian restaurateur Alfredo Di Lelio doubled the amount of butter used.  Alfredo invented his recipe in 1908 in the "trattoria" run by his mother Angelina in Rome, Piazza Rosa. This made it easier for his pregnant wife Ines to eat.  He then in 1914 started selling his variation at his restaurant Alfredo" in via della scrofa in Rome.
Alfredo Di Lelio's family since 1950 continue to serve the fettuccine Alfredo in the restaurant "Il Vero Alfredo" in Piazza Augusto Imperatore in Rome.

Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks ate in 1927 at Alfredo alla Scrofa on their honeymoon, and this helped make the restaurant, and Fettuccine alfredo, popular with tourists.

American version
In U.S. cuisine, cream is used as a sauce base. it may be mixed with other ingredients such as broccoli, parsley, garlic, shrimp, or chicken. Fettuccine Alfredo has now become ubiquitous in Italian-style restaurants in the United States and internationally, although in Italy this dish is not popular at all, as wrongly believed, and it is better known if called "Fettuccine al burro" instead of "Fettuccine Alfredo".

History
Fettuccine Alfredo is named for Alfredo di Lelio, an Italian restaurant owner. He ran a restaurant in Rome in the first half of the 20th century.

In 1914, his wife, who was pregnant, was having difficulty eating so he adapted a meal of pasta and butter, pasta al burro, for her. Later, he put the dish on the menu at his restaurant, the Alfredo alla Scrofa, and called his version Fettuccine Alfredo.  Hollywood celebrities Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks visited his restaurant on their honeymoon and eat the dish. When they returned home, they talked often about the dish. This caused the restaurant and the dish to become popular with American tourists.

In 1943, Di Lelio sold the restaurant but kept the right to the name and menu. In 1950, Alfredo Di Lelio reopened a new  restaurant "Il Vero Alfredo" in Rome, Piazza Augusto Imperatore 30. He worked there until his death in 1959. "Il Vero Alfredo" is now managed by his nephews Alfredo and Ines, with the famous "gold cutlery"" (fork and spoon gold) donated in 1927 by two well-known American actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks (in gratitude for the hospitality).

References

Dishes named after people
Pasta

Fettuccine Alfredo


John Albert Niehoff (May 13, 1884 – September 8, 1974) was a second baseman in Major League Baseball who played for four clubs from the 1913 to 1918 seasons. He batted and threw right-handed.

Playing career
A native of Louisville, Colorado, Niehoff entered the majors in 1913 with the Cincinnati Reds, playing for them two years before joining the Philadelphia Phillies (1915–1917), St. Louis Cardinals (1918) and New York Giants (1918). He was a classic line-drive hitter and steady double play partner for shortstops Buck Herzog (Reds) and Dave Bancroft (Phillies). His most productive season came in 1916 with Philadelphia, when he posted career-highs in runs (65) and runs batted in (61), while leading the National League hitters with 42 doubles. He also was a member of the Phillies team that lost the 1915 World Series to the Boston Red Sox.

In a six-season career, Niehoff was a .240 hitter (489-for-2037) with 12 home runs and 207 RBI in 581 games, including 210 runs, 104 doubles, 19 triples and 71 stolen bases.

Post-playing career
Following his playing days, Niehoff enhanced his baseball career as a manager, coach, scout and general manager. He was one of the first managers selected by the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, along with fellow former big leaguers Johnny Gottselig and Josh Billings and minor leaguer Eddie Stumpf. From 1943 to 1944 Niehoff managed the South Bend Blue Sox, a team that included talented players as Bonnie Baker, Doris Barr and Dottie Schroeder (the only woman who played every season of the AAGPBL).

Additionally, Niehoff coached for the 1929 New York Giants; scouted both for the New York Yankees (1948–1949) and California Angels (1961–1968), and spent 1952 as the Mobile Bears general manager.

As a minor league manager, Niehoff compiled an 1824–1713 record in 24 seasons between 1922 and 1954, including 15 years in the Southern Association and three league championship titles for the Mobile Bears (1922), Atlanta Crackers (1925) and Oklahoma City Indians (1935).

Niehoff died in Inglewood, California, at the age of 90.

See also
 List of Major League Baseball annual doubles leaders

Sources

 1943 South Bend Blue Sox
 AAGPBL History
 Baseball Historian

1884 births
1974 deaths
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League managers
Atlanta Crackers managers
Atlanta Crackers players
Baseball players from Colorado
California Angels scouts
Chattanooga Lookouts managers
Cincinnati Reds players
Des Moines Boosters players
Indianapolis Indians players
Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players
Los Angeles Angels scouts
Louisville Colonels (minor league) managers
Louisville Colonels (minor league) players
Major League Baseball second basemen
Mobile Bears players
New York Giants (NL) coaches
New York Giants (NL) players
New York Yankees scouts
Omaha Rourkes players
People from Louisville, Colorado
Philadelphia Phillies players
St. Louis Cardinals players
Salt Lake City Bees players
Seattle Rainiers players

Bert Niehoff


ELLA is a hardware description language and support toolset, developed in the United Kingdom by the Royal Signals and Radar Establishment (RSRE) during the 1980s and 1990s, which also developed the compiler for the programming language, ALGOL 68RS, used to write ELLA.

ELLA has tools to perform:
 Design transformation
 Symbolic simulations
 Formal verification

ELLA is a winner of the 1989 Queen's Award for Technological Achievement.

Sample
Sample originally from ftp://ftp.dra.hmg.gb/pub/ella, public release.

Code for matrix multiplication hardware design verification:
MAC ZIP = ([INT n]TYPE t: vector1 vector2) -> [n][2]t:
  [INT k = 1..n](vector1[k], vector2[k]).

MAC TRANSPOSE = ([INT n][INT m]TYPE t: matrix) -> [m][n]t:
  [INT i = 1..m] [INT j = 1..n] matrix[j][i].

MAC INNER_PRODUCT{FN * = [2]TYPE t -> TYPE s, FN + = [2]s -> s}
                 = ([INT n][2]t: vector) -> s:
  IF n = 1 THEN *vector[1]
  ELSE *vector[1] + INNER_PRODUCT {*,+} vector[2..n]
  FI.

MAC MATRIX_MULT {FN * = [2]TYPE t->TYPE s, FN + = [2]s->s} =
([INT n][INT m]t: matrix1, [m][INT p]t: matrix2) -> [n][p]s:
BEGIN
  LET transposed_matrix2 = TRANSPOSE matrix2.
OUTPUT [INT i = 1..n][INT j = 1..p]
       INNER_PRODUCT{*,+}ZIP(matrix1[i],transposed_matrix2[j])
END.

TYPE element = NEW elt/(1..20),
     product = NEW prd/(1..1200).

FN PLUS = (product: integer1 integer2) -> product:
  ARITH integer1 + integer2.

FN MULT = (element: integer1 integer2) -> product:
  ARITH integer1 * integer2.

FN MULT_234 = ([2][3]element:matrix1, [3][4]element:matrix2) ->
             [2][4]product:
  MATRIX_MULT{MULT,PLUS}(matrix1, matrix2).

FN TEST = () -> [2][4]product:
( LET m1 = ((elt/2, elt/1, elt/1),
            (elt/3, elt/6, elt/9)),
      m2 = ((elt/6, elt/1, elt/3, elt/4),
            (elt/9, elt/2, elt/8, elt/3),
            (elt/6, elt/4, elt/1, elt/2)).
  OUTPUT
    MULT_234 (m1, m2)
).

COM test: just displaysignal MOC

References

External links
 ELLA source code including the ALGOL 68RS translator

Hardware description languages
History of computing in the United Kingdom

ELLA (programming language)


Culturcide was an American, Houston-based experimental punk band, active from 1980 to 1990 and from 1993 to the present day. They were notorious for their 1986 album Tacky Souvenirs of Pre-Revolutionary America, which earned the band a cult following, but also several legal threats.

History
Culturcide's first single "Another Miracle"/"Consider Museums as Concentration Camps", was released in 1980, unsupported by any live appearances. However demand grew for the band to perform, and this they did, relying on banks of portable cassette recorders to provide their samples. This was enough of a success for their debut LP Year One (1982) to be composed entirely of live material.
However, Craine left the band after the album's release. A remastered version of the album that also includes the first single was rereleased in 2007 as "Year One (Again)" by Hotbox Review

Another Miracle/Consider Museums 45
The single was recorded at MRS Studio in Houston at the beginning of 1980, with Bobby Ginsburg doing the engineering on an 8-track board. Craine's earlier band, AK47, had recorded 'The Badge Means You Suck' there and Legionnaire's Disease had recorded their 'I'd Rather See You Dead' single in the studio, both using Ginsburg. Webb came equipped with lyrics for both songs while Craine had pre-worked the drum machine sounds and some synth sounds. Webb provided tape loops (the 'Don' and 'Adele' yells and screams denoted on the record sleeve) and Craine has said in previous interviews that he taped the climactic scene of the movie 'Attica' to provide the gunshots used at the end of 'Concentration Camps'. The tape loops were then 'treated' by running them through Craine's synth and the resulting output was duly recorded (Craine is alleged to have been a major Eno enthusiast). Webb and Craine enlisted guitarists Al Trazz (Plastic Idols) and Dan Workman To flesh out the initial sparse sound. While the Trazz parts were worked out and rehearsed in the studio, Workman's guitar tracks were improvised and done in one take in keeping with the band's initial Throbbing Gristle philosophy. Recording and mixing was done over two or three nights with no overdubbing or studio effects other than studio reverb supplied by Ginsburg. The cover illustration was done by Webb and the first pressing also included a self-addressed postcard showing the Houston Museum of Fine Art. Reviews were generally strong, including one that likened the band's sound to that of a 'stalking metronome'. Breaking their initial vow to never play live, Webb and Craine added Workman to the line-up and began to gig. After one such show, Bill Loner (Plastic Idols) declared the trio needed a bass player and he too was added to the band's ranks.

Tacky Souvenirs of Pre-Revolutionary America
In 1986 the band released their most famous work. Tacky Souvenirs of Pre-Revolutionary America comprised 14 tracks of the band's satirical lyrics overdubbed onto popular songs by the original artists. For example, the Beach Boys' "California Girls" was turned into "They Wish They All Could Be California Punks", a sideswipe at unoriginality in Punk Rock. There were also overdubs of tape loops and other sound effects. The lyric sheet carried the message "Home-taping is killing the record industry, so keep doing it." The backing tracks were used without permission and the band soon faced legal threats from some of the original copyright holders.

The album was listed in the British New Musical Express year list for 1987.

1990s
Despite the band's new-found cult status (which led to tours of the US West Coast and even Europe), financial and intra-band problems led to a split in 1990. One problem was that most record labels shied away from releasing their material after Tacky Souvenirs.

However, in 1993 the band reconvened to work on a new album, Short CD (1995). Home Made Authority followed in 1998.

Notes on gear
A Korg Minipops drum machine was used in the early work. Factory presets could be overridden by forcing down two of the rhythm selections simultaneously to provide a hybrid version, a tactic often used by Webb and Craine. Dan Workman favored a Les Paul through a Roland amp. He also shouted into the guitar pickups for additional vocal effects. Bill Loner usually played a Gibson EB3 and also provided the saxophone tracks. Loner also played an Arp Axxe on occasion, notably on the Year One Bongoloid tracks. Jim Craine played an EMS Synthi AKS. This particular version was equipped with an audio-in which allowed Craine to run outside sound sources through the synth for treatment, usually sampled cassette tapes assembled by Webb. Craine occasionally played a Hagstrom 8-string bass and a modified Arp Pro Soloist and provided flute tracks on at least one Year One song. Extra electronic percussion was provided by using very early Boss drum pad triggers. In addition to providing the vocals, Perry Webb assembled tape loops that were then amplified and played through the house PA system. Webb also played a Telecaster copy on selected songs during live performances.

Discography
 1980: "Another Miracle"/"Consider Museums as Concentration Camps" (7" single)
 1981: Reset split LP with Hiroshima Chair; most of Culturcide's material later appeared on Year One.(Dogfood Production System)
 1982: Year One (LP)(CIA Records)
 1986: Tacky Souvenirs of Pre-Revolutionary America (LP)(no label)
 1991: "A Day at My Job"/"Mommy and I Are One" (7" single)(Nuf Sed)
 1995: Short CD (CD)(Double Naught)
 1998: Home Made Authority (CD)(Delayed)
 Undated: "Santa Claus Was My Lover"/"Depressed Christmas" (7" single)
 Undated: split single with Caroliner Rainbow; two untitled tracks. (7" single) (cover states - "Collector's item! First 250,000 pressed on black vinyl")
2007: "Year One (Again) CD (HotBox Review), remastered version plus "Another Miracle" 45
2008:  Gigs For An Imaginary Audience (CD) remastered versions of demos, previously unreleased tracks, and selected live tracks from 1980 to 1986

Compilation appearances
1982: "Disco" on cassette Endzeit (Datenverarbeitung)
1984: "Bestiality and Sex" on 4-cassette compilation of the same name (Bain Total).
1988: "Industrial Band" on the cassette Songs I Like to Sing (Statutory Tape).
2002: "They Aren't the World" on Illegal Art Exhibit CD (Illegal Art)
2005: "A Day at My Job (unreleased studio version)" on God Came Between Us CD (777 was 666)
Undated: "Atomic Bomb" appeared on cassette compilation The Dog That Wouldn't Die.

See also
Negativland
1987 (What the Fuck Is Going On?)
Sampling (music)

External links
Some more tacky stuff
an interview from 1998
"we're an industrial band": fan website
review of Year One Again
review of Year One Again
Culturcide fan site

Sources
 Band biography by Hobart Rowland
 Discography with more details
 Downloads and updated biography

Punk rock groups from Texas
Musical groups from Houston
Sampling controversies

Culturcide


In computability theory, course-of-values recursion is a technique for defining number-theoretic functions by recursion. In a definition of a function f by course-of-values recursion, the value of f(n) is computed from the sequence .

The fact that such definitions can be converted into definitions using a simpler form of recursion is often used to prove that functions defined by course-of-values recursion are primitive recursive. Contrary to course-of-values recursion, in primitive recursion the computation of a value of a function requires only the previous value; for example, for a 1-ary primitive recursive function g the value of g(n+1) is computed only from g(n) and n.

Definition and examples
The factorial function n! is recursively defined by the rules

This recursion is a primitive recursion because it computes the next value (n+1)! of the function based on the value of n and the previous value n! of the function.  On the other hand, the function Fib(n), which returns the nth Fibonacci number, is defined with the recursion equations

In order to compute Fib(n+2), the last two values of the Fib function are required. Finally, consider the function g defined with the recursion equations

To compute g(n+1) using these equations, all the previous values of g must be computed; no fixed finite number of previous values is sufficient in general for the computation of g.  The functions Fib and g are examples of functions defined by course-of-values recursion.

In general, a function f is defined by course-of-values recursion if there is a fixed primitive recursive function h such that for all n,

where  is a Gödel number encoding the indicated sequence.
In particular

provides the initial value of the recursion. The function h might test its first argument to provide explicit initial values, for instance for Fib one could use the function defined by

where s[i] denotes extraction of the element i from an encoded sequence s; this is easily seen to be a primitive recursive function (assuming an appropriate Gödel numbering is used).

Equivalence to primitive recursion

In order to convert a definition by course-of-values recursion into a primitive recursion, an auxiliary (helper) function is used. Suppose that one wants to have
.
To define  using primitive recursion, first define the auxiliary course-of-values function that should satisfy

where the right hand side is taken to be a Gödel numbering for sequences.

Thus  encodes the first  values of . The function  can be defined by primitive recursion because  is obtained by appending to  the new element :
,

where  computes, whenever  encodes a sequence of length , a new sequence  of length  such that  and  for all . This is a primitive recursive function, under the assumption of an appropriate Gödel numbering; h is assumed primitive recursive to begin with. Thus the recursion relation can be written as primitive recursion:

where g is itself primitive recursive, being the composition of two such functions:

Given , the original function  can be defined by , which shows that it is also a primitive recursive function.

Application to primitive recursive functions
In the context of primitive recursive functions, it is convenient to have a means to represent finite sequences of natural numbers as single natural numbers.  One such method, Gödel's encoding, represents a sequence of positive integers  as
,
where pi represent the ith prime.  It can be shown that, with this representation, the ordinary operations on sequences are all primitive recursive.  These operations include
Determining the length of a sequence,
Extracting an element from a sequence given its index,
Concatenating two sequences.
Using this representation of sequences, it can be seen that if h(m) is primitive recursive then the function
.
is also primitive recursive.

When the sequence  is allowed to include zeros, it is instead represented as
,
which makes it possible to distinguish the codes for the sequences  and .

Limitations
Not every recursive definition can be transformed into a primitive recursive definition. One known example is Ackermann's function, which is of the form A(m,n) and is provably not primitive recursive.

Indeed, every new value A(m+1, n) depends on the sequence of previously defined values A(i, j), but the i-s and j-s for which values should be included in this sequence depend themselves on previously computed values of the function; namely (i, j) =  (m, A(m+1, n)). Thus one cannot encode the previously computed sequence of values in a primitive recursive way in the manner suggested above (or at all, as it turns out this function is not primitive recursive).

References

 Hinman, P.G., 2006, Fundamentals of Mathematical Logic, A K Peters.
 Odifreddi, P.G., 1989, Classical Recursion Theory, North Holland; second edition, 1999.

Computability theory
Recursion

Course-of-values recursion


The Bergisch-Markisch Railway Company (, BME), also referred to as the Berg-Mark Railway Company or, more rarely, as the Bergisch-Markische Railway Company, was a German railway company that together with the Cologne-Minden Railway (Cöln-Mindener Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, CME) and the Rhenish Railway Company (Rheinische Eisenbahn-Gesellschaft, RhE) was one of the three (nominally) private railway companies that in the mid-19th century built the first railways in the Ruhr and large parts of today's North Rhine-Westphalia. Its name refers to Bergisches Land and the County of Mark.

History

Foundation
The Bergisch-Markisch Railway Company was founded on 18 October 1843 in Elberfeld (Today Wuppertal). Since the Cologne-Minden Railway Company had decided to build its route via Duisburg rather than through the valley of the Wupper river, the Bergisch-Markisch Railway Company  (, BME) determined to build its own line through the Wupper valley, to create a link between the highly industrialised area of the Bergisches Land with the east, particularly to connect with the Märkische coal fields, near Dortmund. The required concession for the railway was Granted by the Prussian government on 12 July 1844. A link to the Rhine in the west had already been completed in 1841 by the Düsseldorf-Elberfeld Railway Company, which had been founded in 1837.

Trunk routes

Its original, 56 km long main line ran from Elberfeld to Dortmund via Barmen (since 1929 part of Wuppertal), Schwelm, Hagen, Wetter and Witten and was completed in 1849. In the following years the company built other main and branch lines in the Ruhr along the Hellweg an ancient highway and the Ruhr and Rhine rivers. In 1862 it opened a profitable east-west trunk line between Dortmund and Witten through Bochum-Langendreer, Essen, Mülheim an der Ruhr to Duisburg. The development of the Ruhr valley was largely a result of the opening of the BME's trunk line.

The company's development was characterised by the acquisitions of many smaller railway companies to round out its network. However, its energetic board of directors and its chairman Daniel von der Heydt (1802–1874, later a member of the Prussian House of Lords), despite years of effort, were not able to take over the Prussian government-owned Royal Westphalian Railway Company. Such a takeover would have allowed the BME to develop a connection via  Hamm to a German seaport via Rheine.

Expansion
Major expansion began in 1859 with the construction of the 106 km long Ruhr–Sieg from Hagen to Siegen and its mines. The line opened on 6 August 1861 and cost 12.9 million thalers.
In 1858 it started to build its Witten–Duisburg trunk line through the Ruhr. The first section was opened between Duisburg and Hochfeld for freight trains only on 19 August 1859. The 52 km line from Bochum-Langendreer to Steele, Essen and Mülheim an der Ruhr, with connections to various coal mines, was completed on 1 May 1862. At Steele it also connected with the northern end of the Steele–Vohwinkel railway, which had been rebuilt in 1847 from the Prince William Railway (opened as the first horse-powered railway in Germany in 1831) and acquired by the BME in 1854 for 1.3 million thalers.

Logically, then its next step in 1866 was to cross the Rhine via the Ruhrort–Homberg train ferry with the goal of connecting with Belgium and Netherlands through the purchase of the Aachen-Düsseldorf-Ruhrort Railway Company's lines for seven million thalers. In 1870, it completed the Hamm railway bridge across the Rhine in Düsseldorf-Hamm and opened the line from Dusseldorf to Neuss. This created a second connection between its networks on the east and west banks of the Rhine.

In addition the construction of several smaller routes followed up to 1876, an extension in an easterly direction, the Upper Ruhr Valley Railway to Arnsberg, Bestwig, Brilon-Wald and Warburg and Holzminden on the Weser river. Here it connected with the line to Kassel of the Frederick William Northern Railway Company, which it took over on 17 April 1868, with its 130-kilometer line from Gerstungen via Bebra and Kassel to Bad Karlshafen for eight million thalers.  After 1870 the network was extended on the west bank of the Rhine with the 66 km long line from Rheydt-Odenkirchen to Aue and Düren. During the nationalisation of the company in 1880 the company took over the 78 km railway network of the Dutch-Westphalian Railway Company from Gelsenkirchen-Bismarck to Dorsten, Borken to Winterswijk in the Netherlands, with a branch from Borken to Bocholt.

Opening and acquisition of lines

Nationalisation

The act for the nationalisation of the Bergisch-Markisch Railway Company was promulgated on 28 March 1882. At that time, the Prussian government held 64 percent of the share capital of the Company. The Prussian state railways's Royal directorate of railways at Elberfeld (German: Königliche Eisenbahn-Direction zu Elberfeld) took over its management with effect from 1 January 1882.

At its nationalisation the company had 768 locomotives and 21,607 wagons. Its rail network was 1,336 km long, including 720 km of double track railway. The purchase price was financed by government bonds worth 633,847,500 marks. The company was dissolved on 1 January 1886.

References

(in German) Annual Reports of the Bergisch-Markisch Railway Company

Defunct railway companies of Germany
Bergisches Land
Railway companies established in 1843
Railway companies disestablished in 1882
1843 establishments in Prussia
German companies established in 1843
1882 disestablishments in Germany

Bergisch-Markisch Railway Company


Guadalupe Victoria Municipality is one of the 39 municipalities of Durango, in north-western Mexico. The municipal seat lies at Ciudad Guadalupe Victoria. The municipality covers an area of 767.10 km².

As of 2010, the municipality had a total population of 36,695.

As of 2010, the city of Guadalupe Victoria had a population of 16,506. Other than the city of Guadalupe Victoria, the municipality had 92 localities, the largest of which (with 2010 populations in parentheses) were: Antonio Amaro (Saucillo) (3,526), Ignacio Allende (2,588), Ignacio Ramírez (2,432), classified as urban, and General Calixto Contreras (Colorada) (2,213), Felipe Carrillo Puerto (Tarabillas) (2,019), and José Guadalupe Rodríguez (Peñuelas) (1,374), classified as rural.

References

Municipalities of Durango

Guadalupe Victoria Municipality, Durango