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Avatar: The Last Airbender From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search For the live action film based on the series, see The Last Airbender. Avatar: The Last Airbender Avatar-TLAlogo.jpg Logo Also known as 	Avatar: The Legend of Aang Genre 	Adventure, Fantasy Created by 	Michael Dante DiMartino Bryan Konietzko Written by 	Michael Dante DiMartino Bryan Konietzko Aaron Ehasz Tim Hedrick Directed by 	Lauren MacMullan Dave Filoni Giancarlo Volpe Ethan Spaulding Joaquim Dos Santos Voices of 	Zach Tyler Eisen Mae Whitman Jack DeSena Jessie Flower Dante Basco Mako (Season 1-2) Greg Baldwin (Season 3) Grey DeLisle Composer(s) 	Jeremy Zuckerman Country of origin 	United States Language(s) 	English No. of seasons 	3 No. of episodes 	61 (List of episodes) Production Executive producer(s) 	Michael Dante DiMartino Bryan Konietzko Aaron Ehasz Running time 	24 minutes Broadcast Original channel 	Nickelodeon Nicktoons Network Picture format 	NTSC 4:3 (480i) Original run 	February 21, 2005 (2005-02-21) – July 19, 2008 (2008-07-19) Status 	Ended

Avatar: The Last Airbender (also known as Avatar: The Legend of Aang)[1] is an American animated children's television series that aired for three seasons on Nickelodeon and the Nicktoons Network. The series was created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, who served as executive producers along with Aaron Ehasz. Avatar is set in an Asian-influenced world[2] of Chinese martial arts and elemental manipulation. The show drew on elements from East Asian (especially Chinese and Japanese) culture, blending the styles of anime and US domestic cartoons.

The series follows the adventures of the main protagonist Aang and his friends, who must save the world by defeating the evil Fire Lord and ending the destructive war with the Fire Nation.[3] The pilot episode first aired on February 21, 2005[4] and the series concluded with a widely-lauded two-hour television movie on July 19, 2008.[5] The show is available from the following sources: on DVD, the iTunes Store, the Zune Marketplace, the Xbox Live Marketplace, the PlayStation Store, and its home on Nickelodeon.[6]

Avatar: The Last Airbender was popular with both audiences and critics,[7] garnering 5.6 million viewers on its best-rated showing and receiving high ratings in the Nicktoons lineup, even outside its 6–11-year-old demographic.[3][8] Avatar has been nominated for and won awards from the Annual Annie Awards, the Genesis Awards, the primetime Emmy awards and a Peabody Award among others. The first season's success prompted Nickelodeon to order second[9] and third[10] seasons. The first part of a movie trilogy titled The Last Airbender is expected to be released on July 2, 2010.

Merchandise based on the series includes scaled action figures,[11] a trading card game,[12][13] three video games based on the first,[14] second,[15][16] and third seasons, stuffed animals distributed by Paramount Parks, and two LEGO sets.[17] An art book is slated for release in mid-2010.[18] Contents [hide]

* 1 Series synopsis o 1.1 Setting o 1.2 Season One (Book One: Water) o 1.3 Season Two (Book Two: Earth) o 1.4 Season Three (Book Three: Fire) * 2 Production o 2.1 Premise * 3 Cultural influences o 3.1 Avatar o 3.2 Elements o 3.3 Fighting styles * 4 Characters * 5 Response o 5.1 Ratings o 5.2 Awards and nominations * 6 Other media o 6.1 Promotion and merchandising o 6.2 Feature film o 6.3 Video games o 6.4 Music o 6.5 Books * 7 References * 8 External links

[edit] Series synopsis Main article: List of Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes [edit] Setting

One hundred years before the start of the series, a 12-year-old airbender named Aang learns he is the new Avatar. Fearful of the heavy responsibilities of being the Avatar, coupled with the coming separation from his beloved mentor Monk Gyatso (to complete his training), Aang flees from home on his animal guide, a flying bison called Appa. Caught by a fierce storm, they crash into the ocean, and Aang's protective Avatar State freezes them in a state of suspended animation inside an iceberg. Right after his disappearance, the Fire Nation launches a genocidal campaign on the Air Nomads. The current Fire Lord Sozin did this because after killing the Avatar Roku who was native to the Fire Nation, he realized the next one would come from the Air Nomads according to the Avatar cycle. This way he could ensure that the next Avatar would not try to foil his plots for world domination just as the last one had. [edit] Season One (Book One: Water) Main article: Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 1)

After being frozen in an iceberg, Aang and Appa are awoken a hundred years later by two siblings of the Southern Water Tribe, Katara and Sokka. Aang learns that the Fire Nation started a war a hundred years ago, just after his disappearance. The Fire Nation launched a genocidal attack on the Air Nomads, starting the war and driving Aang's entire nation to extinction making him "The Last Airbender". He realizes that he must fulfill his destiny of becoming the Avatar and return the balance to the world by defeating the Fire Nation army. Aang sets out to master the other three elements: Water, Earth, and Fire. With Katara and Sokka, Aang decides to head to the North Pole to find a Waterbending master for himself and Katara, the only Waterbender in the South Pole. The journey is long, made longer by Aang's lack of focus and desire for fun and discovery. During the journey however, the group manages to save the lives of many people, several of whom will become future allies, and Aang and Katara gain strength in waterbending.

During one brief stop over, Aang finds his way to the spirit world where he encounters Avatar Roku's dragon animal guide, who instructs him to travel on the day of Winter Solstice to the Fire-Temple on Crescent Island and speak with Roku. Roku tells Aang that he must master all four elements and end the war before the next summer, as Sozin's Comet will be closest to the world then in its hundred year orbit. Fire Lord Ozai will end the war using this comet, an additional power source that will make the fire benders even stronger. The comet was named after Ozai's Grandfather, Sozin, who also used the coming of the comet to start the war, and deal a deadly first strike to the other nations.

For most of their journey to the North Pole, the group is pursued by Zuko, a banished Fire Nation prince and son of Fire Lord Ozai, and by Commander Zhao, an ambitious naval officer who also wants to capture the Avatar to further his own ambitions. Zuko is obsessed with capturing Aang to restore his honor and his place in line for the Fire Nation throne; he was banished for speaking out of turn in a war meeting and refusing to fight his father in an agni kai (literally a 'fire duel'). Zuko was accompanied by his uncle,General Iroh, a wise and kindly general who was supposed to be the successor to the Fire Nation throne before it was usurped by his younger brother Ozai. Fire Lord Azulon, the father of Iroh and Ozai and the son of Sozin approved of this because Iroh's only son, Liuten, was killed in battle, leaving no one as a possible successor. Ozai's children, Azula (named after Azulon) and Zuko were alive and well. Zuko and Iroh were the first to discover that the Avatar is still alive, but Zhao, after capturing Zuko's ship and questioning its crew, also learns of the Avatars reappearance. Zhao prevents Zuko and Iroh from pursuing the Avatar while starting a search of his own. The Fire Lord, seeing Zhao's zeal in the pursuit, promotes the commander to Admiral status, making him in charge of the operation to capture the Avatar.

When the Avatar reaches the Northern Water Tribe along with Sokka and Katara, he and Katara are trained in the art of waterbending by Master Pakku. When the Fire Nation attacks the North Pole, Aang enters the Avatar state and destroys their fleets of ships after restoring balance to the stolen Moon Goddess. The Season ends with the group having destroyed Zhao's attempts at conquering the North Pole. [edit] Season Two (Book Two: Earth) Main article: Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 2)

After leaving the North Pole, Aang finishes mastering Waterbending under the instruction of Katara, who has mastered the element faster than he has. Aang and friends travel to the Earth Kingdom to master Earthbending. Their initial plan was to learn under Bumi, king of the Earth Kingdom city of Omashu, but discover that he and Omashu have been captured by the Fire Nation and Bumi is waiting for the right time to strike. Searching for a new Earthbending teacher, the group meets Toph, a blind Earthbending prodigy who becomes Aang's second teacher and teaches him, amongst other things, her unique ability to use earthbending to "see" with her feet. After discovering a hidden ancient library, the heroes discover information about an upcoming solar eclipse which would leave the Fire Nation powerless and open to invasion. They struggle to reach the Earth King with this vital information, but are detoured by Appa's kidnapping. Azula, Zuko's sister, and her two friends Mai and Ty Lee chase the group as they struggle to reach Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom capital. By capturing and then impersonating the Kyoshi Warriors, Azula engineers a plan that allows the Fire Nation to take complete control over Ba Sing Se and the rest of the Earth Kingdom, and destroys any hope of a large-scale invasion of the Fire Nation. Azula is believed to have killed the Avatar using lightning while Aang was in the Avatar state, and there is no hope left. In reality she disaligned his seventh chakra, thus blocking the Avatar state seemingly for good.

Zuko deals with internal conflict as he and Iroh defect from the Fire Nation, settle in the Earth Kingdom, and disguise themselves as refugees and open a successful tea shop called "The Jasmine Dragon." After a brief period of reformation, Zuko helps Azula defeat Aang and is allowed to return back to the Fire nation as a re-instated prince.

In the season finale, while captured by bounty hunters sent by the Bei Fong family to return Toph to her home, the "Blind Bandit" uses her earthbending skills to "see" the particles of refined earth that make metal and becomes the world's first "metal bender," a feat previously thought to be impossible. [edit] Season Three (Book Three: Fire) Main articles: Avatar: The Last Airbender (season 3) and Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle

Ba Sing Se has fallen, and Aang is critically injured. He awakes to find his group on a Fire Nation ship disguised in similar regalia.

Sokka has planned a small-scale invasion of the Fire Nation to claim the palace and ultimately defeat Lord Ozai, making use of a soon-approaching solar eclipse which will render Firebending impossible for eight minutes. They travel to the rendezvous point to meet with various warriors that the group encountered in Book One and Two.

The invasion proceeds as planned with the group defeating much of the land forces and watch towers, but Aang finds the palace empty; the royal company has taken refuge in a nearby volcanic temple and prepared an air fleet in a surprise counter-maneuver. Aang never finds Firelord Ozai, but Zuko does and uses the eclipse as his chance to confront his father and proclaim his decision to join the Avatar. The eclipse is over, and the air fleet destroys the protagonist party's ships. Only Aang's sky bison Appa can provide a means of escape, and Aang retreats with the children aboard Appa while the adults are taken captive.

Zuko catches up with Aang at the Western Air Temple and offers to teach Aang the art of firebending. After some conflict, he is allowed to join the group. The two travel to unlock the firebending secrets of the "Sun Warriors". He and Sokka also plan an infiltration of Boiling Rock, the prison where high ranking prisoners of war are kept. They find Sokka's father and Suki, the leader of the Kyoshi Warriors and Sokka's former love interest, but Zuko is quickly discovered and Azula comes to question him, accompanied by Mai and Ty Lee. Both girls eventually aid Zuko and Sokka in escaping the prison, betraying Azula in the process. Enraged, Azula demands their imprisonment and begins to slip into paranoia and insanity at the loss of her most trusted confidants.

After regrouping, Sokka tries to create a battle plan, but peace-loving Aang refuses to kill any living being, including Lord Ozai. He is drawn to a mysterious island and meditates on other ways to defeat Ozai by calling on the spirits of other past Avatars for advice. Each Avatar advises him to destroy Ozai, and Aang is reluctantly resigned to killing him until he discovers that the island is really an ancient, giant, wise "lion-turtle." Aang asks it for advice, and the Lion-Turtle teaches him the ancient art of Energybending as a way to avoid killing Ozai.

On the day of Sozin's Comet, Firelord Ozai, now the self-proclaimed "Phoenix King" harnesses the comet's power to start a genocidal campaign to destroy the rest of the world. Aang's friends (Aang still missing from his trip to the mysterious island) set off to face him, Azula (soon to be crowned the new Fire Lord), and the entire Fire Nation army. Zuko and Katara go to face Azula just moments before her coronation, so that he can usurp the throne in her stead; Sokka, Suki and Toph fight the air fleet; and the Order of the White Lotus fights to reclaim Ba Sing Se from the Fire Nation. Aang returns just in time to take on Firelord Ozai. Finally reclaiming his ability to enter the Avatar State, Aang almost kills Ozai before restraining himself and instead calls upon the lost art of Energybending to remove Ozai's bending abilities altogether. The war over, Zuko is crowned Fire Lord, and alongside Aang, he promises to bring harmony to the entire world. [edit] Production Michael DiMartino, one of the co-creators of the show, at the 2008 New York Comic Con.

Avatar: The Last Airbender was co-created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko at Nickelodeon Animation Studios in Burbank, California. According to Bryan Konietzko, the program was conceived in the spring of 2001 when he took an old sketch of a balding, middle-aged man and re-imagined the character as a child.[2] Konietzko drew the character herding bison in the sky, and showed the sketch to Mike DiMartino. At the time, DiMartino was studying a documentary about explorers trapped in the South Pole.

Konietzko described their early development of the concept: “ 	We thought, "There's an air guy along with these water people trapped in a snowy wasteland... and maybe some fire people are pressing down on them..." ”

The co-creators successfully pitched the idea to Nickelodeon VP and executive producer Eric Coleman just two weeks later.[19]

The show was first revealed to the public in a teaser reel at Comic-Con 2004,[20] and aired February 21, 2005. In the United States, the first two episodes of the series were shown together in a one-hour premiere event. A second twenty-episode season ran from March 17, 2006 through December 1.[9] A third and final season, beginning September 21, 2007, featured twenty-one episodes rather than the usual twenty.[10] The final four episodes were packaged as a two-hour movie. [edit] Premise A map of the four nations. The characters at the top, 群雄四分, mean "the heroes divide [the world or the country or the land] in four." The characters of the four lands are 水善 (Water Peaceful), 土強 (Earth Strong), 火烈 (Fire Fierce), and 气和 (Air Harmony). The phrase at the bottom, 天下一匡, reads "correct all things under heaven".

Avatar: The Last Airbender takes place in a world that is home to humans, fantastic animals, and spirits. Human civilization is divided into four nations: the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom, the Air Nomads, and the Fire Nation. Each nation has its own natural element, on which it bases its society. Within each nation exists an order called "Benders" who have the ability to manipulate the eponymous element of their nation. The show’s creators based each Bending art on a style of martial arts. The Bending types are Waterbending, Earthbending, Firebending, and Airbending.[21]

Autumn for the Air Nomads, winter for the Water Tribe, spring for the Earth Kingdom and summer for the Fire Nation.[22] Legend holds the Avatar must master each bending art in order, starting with his native element. This can sometimes be compromised when the

situation requires it, as Aang demonstrates in the show. For the Avatar, learning to bend the element opposite his native element can be extremely difficult. This is because opposing Bending arts are based on opposing fighting styles and disciplines. Firebending and Waterbending are opposites, as are Earthbending and Airbending.[23] The Avatar possesses a unique power called the Avatar State, which endows the Avatar with the knowledge and abilities of all past Avatars and acts as a self-triggering defense mechanism, although it can be made subject to the will of the user through various methods, such as extensive trial and training (such as Avatar Roku), or if he/she opens his/her bodily Chakras.[24] If an Avatar is killed in the Avatar State, the reincarnation cycle will be broken, and the Avatar will cease to exist.[25] Through the ages, countless incarnations of Avatar have served to keep the four nations in harmony, and maintain world order.[21] The Avatar serves as the bridge between the physical world and the Spirit World, allowing him or her to solve problems that normal benders cannot.[26] [edit] Cultural influences

Avatar is notable for borrowing extensively from Asian art and mythology to create its universe. The show's character designs are heavily influenced by anime; the show, however, is not generally considered to be "anime" because of its origination in the United States. Explicitly stated influences include Chinese art and history, Japanese anime, Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism,[27] and Yoga.[28] The production staff employs a cultural consultant, Edwin Zane, to review scripts.[29]

Traditional East Asian calligraphy styles are used for nearly all the writing in the show. For each instance of calligraphy, an appropriate style is used, ranging from seal script (more archaic) to clerical script.[30] The show employed calligrapher Siu-Leung Lee as a consultant and translator.[28]

The choreographed martial art bending moves were profoundly affected by Asian cinema.[2] In an interview, Bryan revealed that, "Mike and I were really interested in other epic 'Legends & Lore' properties, like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, but we knew that we wanted to take a different approach to that type of genre. Our love for Japanese anime, Hong Kong action and kung fu cinema, yoga, and Eastern philosophies led us to the initial inspiration for Avatar."[31] [edit] Avatar

The term "Avatar" comes from the Indian language of Sanskrit. The word Avatāra, (Sanskrit: अवतार), which means "descent"; its roots are ava, "down," and tri, "to pass." In the Hindu scriptures, avatara signifies the descent of Divinity into flesh. One who attains union with Spirit and then returns to earth to help humanity is called an avatar. The Chinese characters that appear at the top of the show's title card mean "the divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world."[30]

When Aang was young, he unknowingly revealed that he was the Avatar when he chose four toys out of thousands, each of which were the childhood toys of the previous Avatars. In Tibetan Buddhism, there is a similar test for reincarnations of a Tulku Lama. In Magic and Mystery in Tibet, Alexandra David-Neel writes that "a number of objects such as rosaries, ritualistic implements, books, tea-cups, etc., are placed together, and the child must pick out those which belonged to the late tulku, thus showing that he recognizes the things which were theirs in their previous life."[32] Each successor is expected to show signs of continuity with the previous Avatar, such as being born within a week of the death.[21] [edit] Elements

Avatar draws on the four classical elements common to most ancient philosophies (rather than the five classical Chinese elements) for its bending arts: Water, Earth, Fire and Air. Although each has its own variation, most ancient philosophies incorporate these four elements in some way: examples include the classical Hindu, Buddhist, and Greek elemental traditions.

In the show’s opening, each element is accompanied by two Chinese characters: an ancient Chinese seal script character on the left, and a modern Chinese character on the right:

* Water (Chinese: 水; pinyin: shui) is associated with benevolence and adaptivity (Chinese: 善; pinyin: shan). * Earth (Chinese: 土; pinyin: tu) is associated with strength and stability (Chinese: 强; pinyin: qiang). * Fire (Chinese: 火; pinyin: huo) is associated with intensity and passion (Chinese: 烈; pinyin: lie) * Air (Chinese: 气; pinyin: qi) is associated with peace and harmony (Chinese: 和; pinyin: he).[33]

[edit] Fighting styles

The fighting choreography of the show draws from martial arts; the fighting styles and weaponry are based on Chinese martial arts, with each bending art corresponding to a certain real-world style. The creators referred to Ba Gua for Airbending, Hung Gar for Earthbending, Northern Shaolin for Firebending, and Tai Chi for Waterbending.[21] The only exception to this is Toph, who employs a Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis style.[34] The series employed Sifu Kisu of the Harmonious Fist Chinese Athletic Association as a martial arts consultant.[35]

Each fighting style was chosen to represent the element it projected:

* Tai Chi focuses on alignment, body structure, breath, and visualization. This technique is the foundation of "Waterbending" in the series.[21] * Hung Gar was chosen for its firmly rooted stances and powerful strikes to present the solid nature of earth. This martial art is the basis of "Earthbending" in the series.[21] * Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis has distinguishing movements and unique footwork that are employed by Toph Bei Fong to complement her blindness, giving her a unique style of Earthbending.[34] * Northern Shaolin Kung Fu uses strong arm and leg movements. This technique is the foundation of "Firebending" in the series.[21] * Ba Gua uses dynamic circular movements and quick directional changes.[21] This technique uses centripetal force to generate power, and uses nearly constant circular movement to create angles between the combatants. This martial art is the basis of "Airbending" in the series.[36][37]

[edit] Characters Main article: List of Avatar: The Last Airbender characters

* Aang (Zach Tyler Eisen) is the fun-loving, 112-year-old protagonist of the series, but was frozen in an iceberg with his flying bison, Appa, for 100 years. He is the current incarnation of the Avatar, the spirit of the planet in human form. Aang is a reluctant hero, who would prefer adventure over his job as the Avatar and making friends over fighting the Fire Nation. * Katara (Mae Whitman) is a 14-year-old Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe. Katara and her brother, Sokka, discover and free Aang from the iceberg in which he had been trapped. With her brother Sokka, she accompanies Aang on his quest to defeat the Fire Lord, and eventually becomes his Waterbending teacher. In the original unaired pilot episode, Katara's name was Kya; this later is stated to be her mother's name. * Sokka (Jack DeSena) is a 15-year-old warrior of the Southern Water Tribe. With his sister, Katara, he accompanies Aang on his quest to defeat the Fire Lord. The joker of the group, Sokka describes himself as "meat-loving" and "sarcastic".[23] Unlike his companions, Sokka does not have any bending ability, but the series, though it often makes him the victim of comedy at his expense, frequently grants him opportunities to use his ingenuity and weapons, including his trusty boomerang and a sword he forged from a meteorite. * Toph Bei Fong (Jessie Flower) is a 12-year-old [21] blind tomboyish Earthbender that appears in the second season of the show. Not long after meeting Aang and his friends, she leaves her wealthy family and comfortable home to join Aang on his quest, with a plan to teach him Earthbending. Though blind, Toph "sees" by feeling the vibrations in the ground through her feet. She is the only Earthbender seen in the show to learn to bend metal and is considered one of the most powerful Earthbenders. * Zuko (Dante Basco) is the 16-year-old exiled prince of the Fire Nation and original antagonist of the series. Due to events in Zuko's past, his father, Fire Lord Ozai, deems him a complete failure, and Zuko feels he must capture the Avatar to regain his honor. Over time, Zuko struggles to deal with his anger, self-pity, and familial relationships; meanwhile, he grows sympathetic to the peoples his nation has terrorized. In season three, he defects from the Fire Nation, and joins Aang and the team in order to teach Aang Firebending. At the end of the series, he is crowned ruler of the Fire Nation. * Azula (Grey DeLisle) is the manipulative 15-year-old [21] princess of the Fire Nation. She is Zuko's younger sister and one of the major antagonists of the series. Azula is a Firebending prodigy and is one of the few living Firebenders capable of casting lightning. She has no qualms about bullying and threatening her relatives or friends, reserving any familial loyalty for her father. * Iroh (Mako in season one and until episode 15 in season 2. Greg Baldwin in season three) is a retired Fire Nation general, known as the Dragon of the West, and Prince Zuko's uncle and mentor. Iroh was the original heir to the Fire Nation throne until his brother usurped the throne after Fire Lord Azulon's death.[38] On the surface, Iroh is a cheerful, kind, and optimistically eccentric old man, but he still remains a powerful warrior and a devoted surrogate parent to Zuko. Iroh is a Grand Master of the Order of the White Lotus, a secret society of men from all nations and helps retake Ba Sing Se during the series finale. Unlike most Firebenders, Iroh does not use fury as the source of his strength; instead he uses the original Firebending skills learned from the Dragons. He is the only shown character to both have the abilities of casting lightning and redirecting lightning attacks.

[edit] Response [edit] Ratings

When the show debuted, it was rated the best animated television series in its demographic;[39] new episodes averaged 3.1 million viewers each.[39] A one-hour special showing of "The Secret of the Fire Nation" which aired on September 15, 2006, consisting of "The Serpent's Pass" and "The Drill", gathered an audience of 5.1 million viewers. According to the Nielsen Media Research, the special was the best performing cable television show airing in that week.[40] In 2007, Avatar was syndicated to more than 105 countries worldwide, and was one of Nickelodeon's top rated programs. The series was ranked first on Nickelodeon in Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, Belgium, and Colombia.[41]

The series finale, Sozin's Comet: The Final Battle, received the highest ratings of the series. Its July 19, 2008 premiere averaged 5.6 million viewers, 95% more viewers than Nickelodeon had received in mid-July 2007.[42] During the week of July 14, it ranked as the most-viewed program for the under-14 demographic.[43][44] Sozin's Comet also appeared on iTunes' top ten list of best-selling television episodes during that same week.[45] Sozin's Comet's popularity affected online media as well; "Rise of the Phoenix King", a Nick.com online game based on Sozin's Comet, generated almost 815,000 game plays within three days.[46] [edit] Awards and nominations Awards 	Outcome 2005 Pulcinella Awards:[47] Best Action/Adventure TV Series 	Won Best TV Series 	Won 33rd Annie Awards:[48] Best Animated Television Production 	Won Storyboarding in an Animated Television Production (The Deserter) 	Won Writing for an Animated Television Production (The Fortuneteller) 	Nominated 34th Annie Awards:[49] Character Animation in a Television Production (The Blind Bandit) 	Won Directing in an Animated Television Production (The Drill) 	Won 36th Annie Awards:[50] Best Animated Television Production for Children 	Won Directing in an Animated Television Production (Joaquim Dos Santos for Into the Inferno) 	Won 2007 Genesis Awards: Outstanding Children's Programming (Appa's Lost Days) 	Won Primetime Emmy Awards: Outstanding Animated Program (City of Walls and Secrets) 	Nominated Individual Achievement Award (Sang-Jin Kim for Lake Laogai) 	Won Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards 2008: Favorite Cartoon[51] 	Won Annecy 2008: TV series (Joaquim Dos Santos for The Day of Black Sun Part 2: The Eclipse)[52] 	Nominated 56th Golden Reel Awards: Best Sound Editing in a Television Animation (Avatar Aang)[53] 	Nominated 2008 Peabody Awards: "Unusually complex characters and healthy respect for the consequences of warfare"[54] 	Won [edit] Other media [edit] Promotion and merchandising The "Avatar Airbender" roller coaster at Mall of America's Nickelodeon Universe.

Avatar's success has led to some promotional advertising with third-party companies, such as Burger King and Upper Deck Entertainment. Avatar-themed roller coasters at Kings Island and at Nickelodeon Universe in the Mall of America also appeared. During the show's runtime, Nickelodeon published two special issues of Nick Mag Presents dedicated entirely to the show. Various members of the Avatar staff and cast appeared at the 2006 San Diego Comic-Con International convention, while Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko appeared with Martial Arts Consultant Sifu Kisu at the Pacific Media Expo on October 28, 2006. Avatar also has its own line of t-shirts, LEGO playsets, toys, a trading card game,[55] a cine-manga, and three video games, as well as an MMO.[56]

The Mattel-produced action figure toy line generated some controversy with its exclusion of any female characters.[57] Mattel came to release information stating that they have taken account of Katara's increased role within the program, and that she would be included in the figure assortment for a mid 2007 release.[58] The figure ultimately went unreleased, however, as the entire line was canceled before she could be produced.

Nickelodeon executives have since released optimistic plans for upcoming marketing strategies in regards to Avatar. Nickelodeon President Cyma Zarghami openly stated his belief that the franchise "could become their Harry Potter".[59] They expect consumers to spend about $121 million in 2007, rising to $254 million by 2009.[59] The marketing plans are to be coincided with the release of the first live-action film based on the series in 2010, which will be the first film in a trilogy.[59] [edit] Feature film Main article: The Last Airbender

The Last Airbender is an upcoming live action film directed by M. Night Shyamalan that is based on the animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender. The film originally shared the title of the television series, but it was changed to The Last Airbender because the producers were worried it would be confused with the James Cameron film Avatar. The Last Airbender will star Noah Ringer as Aang, Dev Patel as Zuko, Jackson Rathbone as Sokka, and Nicola Peltz as Katara. Iroh will be played by Shaun Toub and Firelord Ozai by Cliff Curtis. [edit] Video games

A video game trilogy about Avatar has been created. Avatar: The Last Airbender, the video game, was released on October 10, 2006. Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth was released on October 16, 2007. Avatar: The Last Airbender – Into the Inferno was released on October 13, 2008. The three games were loosely based on seasons one, two and three, respectively. Players can select characters and complete quests to gain experience and advance the storyline. Despite lackluster critical reviews, the games did extremely well commercially; for example, Avatar: The Last Airbender was THQ's top selling Nickelodeon game in 2006 and even reached Sony CEA's "Greatest Hits" status.[60]

Avatar: Legends of the Arena, a video game for Microsoft Windows launched on September 25, 2008 by Nickelodeon.[61] Each user is able to create their own character, choose a nation, and to interact with others across the globe.[61][62][63] [edit] Music

All music and sound used in the series was done by Jeremy Zuckerman and Benjamin Wynn, who form The Track Team. They made use of a wide range of different ethnic instruments (like a guzheng or a pipa or a duduk) to compose a background music that fits into this fictional world.[64] [edit] Books

On January 8, 2010, Nickelodeon announced that an art book entitled Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Art of the Animated Series, is to be released in the Spring or Summer of 2010, and will contain 184 pages of the art and creation behind the Avatar animated series.[65] [edit] References

1. ^ "Nick.co.uk : Avatar: The Legend of Aang". Nickelodeon. http://www.nick.co.uk/avatar. Retrieved 2009-01-07. 2. ^ a b c d DiMartino, Michael Dante; Konietzko, Bryan (2006). "In Their Elements". Nickelodeon Magazine (Winter 2006): 6. 3. ^ a b "Element of Shyamalan in "Airbender"". The Hollywood Reporter. Nielsen Business Media, Inc.. 2007-01-09. http://www.mnightfans.com/element-of-shyamalan-in-airbender/. Retrieved 2008-05-03. 4. ^ "The Boy in the Iceberg". Avatar: The Last Airbender. IGN. 2005-02-21. http://tv.ign.com/objects/142/14228011.html. Retrieved 2008-07-21. 5. ^ "Sozin's Comet". Avatar: The Last Airbender. TV Guide. http://www.tvguide.com/detail/tv-show.aspx?tvobjectid=194673&more=ucepisodelist&episodeid=8082181. Retrieved 2008-07-21. 6. ^ "BitTorrent Launches Download Platform". worldscreen. 2007-02-26. Archived from the original on 2008-01-20. http://web.archive.org/web/20080120150858/http://www.worldscreen.com/newscurrent.php?filename=bit022607.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-19. 7. ^ Tony (2005-06-10). "Aang the Avatar, our kids' newest hero". TV.com Tracking. Media Life. http://www.tv.com/tracking/viewer.html?tid=8866&ref_id=28841&ref_type=101&tag=story_list;title;2. Retrieved 2006-12-10. 8. ^ "In Brief: Avatar's Big Finish". TVGuide: 12. December 18 – 24, 2006. 9. ^ a b Carlsbad (2006-01-24). "Article on Launch of Avatar Card Game". PR Newswire. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-24-2006/0004266998&EDATE=. Retrieved 2006-12-03. 10. ^ a b A third season consisting of twenty-one episodes began airing on September 21, 2007 11. ^ "Avatar: Toys & Games". The Nickelodeon Shop. Nickelodeon, Inc.. http://shop.nickjr.com/category/index.jsp?categoryId=2426272&cp=2060004. Retrieved 2008-05-03. 12. ^ "Avatar Trading Card Game". Nickelodeon. http://entertainment.upperdeck.com/avatar/en/interface.aspx. Retrieved 2008-03-24. 13. ^ "Avatar: The Last Airbender Trading Card Game". BoardGameGeek. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/22469. Retrieved 2008-03-24. 14. ^ "Avatar: The Last Airbender Video Game". Nick.com. Nickelodeon. http://www.nick.com/games/nick_video_games/avatar/lastAirBender/. Retrieved 2008-03-22. 15. ^ "Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Burning Earth" (Flash). Nickelodeon. http://www.avatartheburningearth.com/. Retrieved 2008-03-13. 16. ^ "IGN.com: Avatar: The Burning Earth". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/objects/905/905219.html. Retrieved 2008-03-13. 17. ^ Jim Cordeira (2006-08-21). "THQ Announces Games Convention". Gaming Age. http://www.gaming-age.com/news/2006/8/21-44. Retrieved 2006-12-03. 18. ^ "AvatarSpirit.net : Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Art of the Animated Series". Nickelodeon. http://forums.avatarspirit.net/index.php?topic=18063.0. Retrieved 2010-01-18. 19. ^ Clark, Craig J. (2007-10-17). "It's Elementary -- Avatar: The Last Airbender". Animation World Magazine, Inc.. http://mag.awn.com/index.php?ltype=pageone&article_no=3428. Retrieved 2008-05-03. 20. ^ "Avatar: The Last Airbender Sneak Peak". Nickelodeon. http://www.nick.com/all_nick/tv_supersites/video.jhtml?show_id=ava&clip=16. Retrieved 2006-12-10. 21. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Nickelodeon's Official Avatar: The Last Airbender Flash Site". Nick.com. Archived from the original on 2007-10-23. http://web.archive.org/web/20071023195043/http://www.nick.com/shows/avatar/index.jhtml. Retrieved 2006-12-02. 22. ^ "The Southern Air Temple". Director: Lauren MacMullan; Writer: Michael Dante DiMartino. Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelode The world yields one person who is capable of bending all four elements, the Avatar, the spirit of the planet manifested in human form. When an Avatar dies, he or she is reincarnated into the next nation in the Avatar Cycle. The Avatar parallels the seasonson. 2005-02-25. No. 3, season 1. 23. ^ a b "Bitter Work". Director: Ethan Spaulding; Writer: Aaron Ehasz. Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. 2006-06-02. No. 9, season 2. 24. ^ "The Avatar State". Director: Giancarlo Volpe; Writers: Aaron Ehasz, Elizabeth Welch Ehasz, Tim Hedrick, John O'Bryan. Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. 2006-03-17. No. 1, season 2. 25. ^ "The Library". Director: Giancarlo Volpe; Writer: John O'Bryan. Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. 2006-06-14. No. 10, season 2. 26. ^ "The Spirit World (Winter Solstice, Part 1)". Director: Lauren MacMullan; Writer: Aaron Ehasz. Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. 2005-04-08. No. 7, season 1. 27. ^ "Interview With The Creators". NickSplat.com. 2005-10-12. Archived from the original on 2007-12-17. http://web.archive.org/web/20071217111256/http://www.nicksplat.com/Whatsup/200510/12000135.html. Retrieved 2006-12-02. 28. ^ a b Mark Lasswell (2005-08-25). "Kung Fu Fightin' Anime Stars, Bo". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/28/arts/television/28lass.html?ei=5090&en=2d9845c5b0133bb9&ex=1282881600&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 2006-12-02. 29. ^ "Edwin Zane - Filmography". New York Times. http://movies.nytimes.com/person/537590/Edwin-Zane/filmography. Retrieved 2009-02-14. 30. ^ a b KTChong. "Calligraphy Writing In Avatar". Distant Horizon. http://www.musogato.com/avatar/calligraphy.html. Retrieved 2006-12-02. 31. ^ "IGN: Interview: Avatar's Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino". IGN. 2007-09-06. http://tv.ign.com/articles/818/818284p1.html. Retrieved 2007-09-24. 32. ^ David-Neel, Alexandra. Magic and Mystery in Tibet. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1971 (ISBN 0-486-22682-4), p. 124 33. ^ "Distant Horizon: Avatar Calligraphy". http://www.musogato.com/avatar/calligraphy.html. Retrieved 2006-12-09. 34. ^ a b "Audience Questions and Answer Part 2 at the San Diego Comi-con 2006". Flaming June. http://flaming-june.org/videos/Audience%20Question%20&%20Answer%20Pt.%202.wmv. Retrieved 2008-05-07. 35. ^ "The National Shaolin Information Resource". The Harmonious Fist Chinese Athletic Association. http://www.harmoniousfist.com/. Retrieved 2006-12-02. 36. ^ Miller, Dan (1994). "Advanced Circle Walking: Training to Fight". Pa Kua Chang Journal. The Ba Gua Zhang (Pa Kua Chang) Website of Sifu Park Bok-Nam. http://www.pa-kua.com/fyi27/fyib27.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-07. 37. ^ Cartmell, Tim. "An Introduction to Ba Gua Zhang". Shen Wu Martial Arts. http://www.shenwu.com/bagua.htm. Retrieved 2008-05-07. 38. ^ "Zuko Alone". Avatar: The Last Airbender. Nickelodeon. 2006-05-12. No. 7, season 2. 39. ^ a b Bynum, Aaron H. (2006-06-30). "Avatar: Season 3". Animation Insider. http://www.animationinsider.net/article.php?articleID=1066. Retrieved 2006-12-16. 40. ^ Bynum, Aaron H. (2006-09-20). "Secret of the Fire Nation Ratings". Animation Insider. http://www.animationinsider.net/article.php?articleID=1153. Retrieved 2006-12-16. 41. ^ "Aang Is Ready to Strike Down the Fire Nation on the Darkest Day of the Year in Avatar's "Day of Black Sun" Premiering Friday, Nov. 30 on Nickelodeon". Viaco. 2007-11-14. Archived from the original on 2008-01-05. http://web.archive.org/web/20080105074603/http://www.viacom.com/NEWS/NewsText.aspx?RID=1077954. Retrieved 2008-05-06. 42. ^ "Nickelodeon's Avatar: The Last Airbender Hits All-Time Series High". News Blaze. 2008-07-22. http://newsblaze.com/story/2008072213330300005.pnw/topstory.html. Retrieved 2009-03-13. 43. ^ Diaz, Glenn L.. "19 Million Tuned in for Special "Avatar" Week". Buddytv.com. http://www.buddytv.com/articles/avatar-the-last-airbender/nineteen-million-tuned-in-for-21563.aspx. Retrieved 2008-11-30. 44. ^ Luna, Kyle. "Nick's "AVATAR" Animation Series Finale Scores Big Ratings". Animationinsider.net. http://www.animationinsider.net/article.php?articleID=1794. Retrieved 2008-11-30. 45. ^ "iTunes — Sozin's Comet". Apple Inc.. http://ax.itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/browserRedirect?url=itms%253A%252F%252Fax.itunes.apple.com%252FWebObjects%252FMZStore.woa%252Fwa%252FviewTVSeason%253Fi%253D285923116%2526id%253D264270811%2526s%253D143441%2526v0%253DWWW-NAUS-ITUHOME-TOPTV. Retrieved 2008-07-24. 46. ^ Ball, Ryan (2008-07-23). "Nick's Avatar Hits Ratings High". Animation Magazine. http://www.animationmagazine.net/article/8636. Retrieved 2008-07-24. 47. ^ Ball, Ryan (2005-05-03). "Cartoons on the Bay Picks Winners". Animation Insider. http://www.animationmagazine.net/article.php?article_id=3902. Retrieved 2007-12-08. 48. ^ "Annie Awards: Legacy - 33rd Annual Annie Awards". International Animated Film Society. 2005-02-09. http://annieawards.org/33rdwinners.html. Retrieved 2008-04-26. 49. ^ "Annie Awards: Legacy - 34th Annual Annie Awards". International Animated Film Society. 2006-02-09. http://annieawards.org/34thwinners.html. Retrieved 2008-04-26. 50. ^ "2008 Annie Awards: For Your Consideration". Annie Awards. http://annieawards.org/foryourconsideration.html. Retrieved 2008-12-02. 51. ^ "2008 Nickelodeon "Kids Choice Awards" Winners". BumpShack. 2008-03-29. http://bumpshack.com/2008/03/29/2008-nickelodeon-kids-choice-awards-winners/. Retrieved 2008-05-07. 52. ^ "Annecy 2008 - Official Selection". Annecy 2008. 2009-03-14. Archived from the original on 2009-03-14. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.annecy.org%2Fhome%2Findex.php%3FPage_ID%3D1875%26code_categfilm%3DC8%26titre%3D%26realisateur%3D&. Retrieved 2008-05-07. 53. ^ "56th Golden Reel Awards Television Nominees". Motion Picture Sound Editors. 2009. http://www.mpse.org/goldenreels/2009awards/2009tvnominees.html. Retrieved 2009-01-31. 54. ^ Peabody "2008 Peabody". Peabody Awards. http://www.peabody.uga.edu/news/event.php?id=59 Peabody. Retrieved 2009-06-20. 55. ^ Avatar Trading Card Game 56. ^ "Nickelodeon Unveils New Avatar Multiplayer Online Global Game in September". Press Release. Viacom. 2008-07-25. http://www.viacom.com/news/Pages/newstext.aspx?RID=1179537. Retrieved 2008-08-01. 57. ^ "Points of Articulation: An Open Letter to Mattel". OAFE. 2007-07-28. http://www.oafe.net/articulation/0707.php. Retrieved 2008-09-13. 58. ^ "Live Journal". http://community.livejournal.com/avatar_fans/1658088.html. 59. ^ a b c "Nick pins hopes on Avatar". USA Today. 2007-09-20. http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2007-09-20-avatar_N.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-16. 60. ^ Jose Liz (2007-07-19). "THQ's Avatar Now Available for $20". http://www.pgnx.net/news.php?page=full&id=14399. Retrieved 2007-10-18. 61. ^ a b "Nickelodeon Announces Avatar: The Legend of Aang". Avatarspirit.net. http://www.avatarspiritmedia.net/index.php#541. Retrieved 2008-09-09. 62. ^ "Nickelodeon Launching Avatar MMORPG Worldwide In September". Worlds in Motion. http://www.worldsinmotion.biz/2008/07/nickelodeon_launching_avatar_m.php. Retrieved 2008-09-09. 63. ^ "The Official LotA site on Nick.com". Nickelodeon. http://www.nick.com/avatarlegends/. Retrieved 2008-09-14. 64. ^ "Interview with The Track Team". SoundtrackNet. http://www.soundtrack.net/features/article/?id=252. Retrieved 2009-08-20. 65. ^ "AvatarSpirit.net : Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Art of the Animated Series". Nickelodeon. http://forums.avatarspirit.net/index.php?topic=18063.0. Retrieved 2010-01-18.

[edit] External links Search Wikimedia Commons 	Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Avatar: The Last Airbender This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters. Search Wikiquote 	Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Avatar: The Last Airbender

* Official website * Avatar: The Last Airbender at the Internet Movie Database * Avatar Wiki, an external wiki

[show] v • d • e Avatar: The Last Airbender Episodes Season 1 · Season 2 · Season 3 · Sozin's Comet Characters Aang · Katara · Sokka · Toph · Appa · Zuko · Iroh · Azula Feature film The Last Airbender Franchise/Games Avatar: The Last Airbender (video game) · The Burning Earth · Into the Inferno · Nicktoons Nitro · Avatar: Legends of the Arena [show] v • d • e Nicktoons 1991-1995 	Doug · Rugrats · The Ren and Stimpy Show · Rocko's Modern Life · Aaahh!!! Real Monsters 1996-2000 	KaBlam! · Hey Arnold! · The Angry Beavers · Oh Yeah! Cartoons · The Wild Thornberrys · CatDog · SpongeBob SquarePants · Rocket Power · Pelswick · As Told by Ginger 2001-2005 	The Fairly OddParents · Invader Zim · Action League Now! · ChalkZone · The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius · All Grown Up! · My Life as a Teenage Robot · Danny Phantom · Avatar: The Last Airbender · Catscratch · The X's 2006-2010 Mr. Meaty · El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera · Wayside · Tak and the Power of Juju · Back at the Barnyard · The Mighty B! · Angelica and Susie's Pre-School Daze · The Penguins of Madagascar · Fanboy and Chum Chum Nicktoons channel Nicktoons Film Festival · Kappa Mikey · Shorts in a Bunch · Edgar & Ellen · Three Delivery · Making Fiends · Random! Cartoons Future Planet Sheen Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar:_The_Last_Airbender" Categories: 2000s American animated television series | 2000s American television series | 2005 American television series debuts | 2008 American television series endings | American children's television series | Anime-influenced animation | Avatar: The Last Airbender | Fantasy television series | Martial arts television series | Nicktoons | Television shows with named seasons | YTV shows

Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Lightsaber Duels) Jump to: navigation, search Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels Star Wars The Clone Wars- Lightsaber Duels cover.jpg Developer(s) 	Krome Studios Publisher(s) 	LucasArts Platform(s) 	Wii Release date(s) 	November 11, 2008[1] Genre(s) 	Adventure[2] Rating(s) 	ESRB: T[3] Media 	Wii Optical Disc Input methods 	Wii Remote and Nunchuk

Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels is a Wii video game based on Star Wars: The Clone Wars.[4] The game was released on November 11, 2008.[5] Contents [hide]

* 1 Plot * 2 Gameplay * 3 Playable characters * 4 External links * 5 Reviews * 6 References

[edit] Plot

The events of the game's "Campaign Mode" take place during the film and select episodes from the first season of the television series, specifically "Duel of the Droids", "Cloak of Darkness", "Shadow of Malevolence", and "Destroy Malevolence" (in that order), finishing with a scenario original to the game. [edit] Gameplay

Lightsaber Duels makes use of the Wii Remote to simulate lightsaber combat. Players also use the Nunchuk to utilize Force powers to enhance their strength and manipulate objects on the field if applicable to the character.

In "campaign Mode", the player can only fight as Anakin, Obi-Wan and Ahsoka. They battle the dark assassin Asajj Ventress, Sith Lord Count Dooku, and Supreme Commander of the droid army, General Grievous, plus a "Jedi hunter", a droid that is programmed to use a lightsaber.

In "Challenge Mode", you are given the choice to play as any character in the game, and battle a different character, or the same one. Some challenges are more difficult than others, but they unlock powerful new characters like Kit Fisto, Mace Windu and Plo Koon. Some battlefields can be unlocked as well like the Sarlacc Pit and Mustafar. [edit] Playable characters

The game allows players to control ten heroes or villains from the series:

* Anakin Skywalker * Obi-Wan Kenobi * Ahsoka Tano * Mace Windu * Count Dooku * Asajj Ventress * General Grievous * Kit Fisto * Plo Koon * EG-5 Jedi Hunter Droid

[edit] External links

* Official Website

[edit] Reviews

* EuroGamer * AceGamez * Gameplayer * IT Reviews

[edit] References

1. ^ [1]  2. ^ "Star Wars: Clone Wars - Lightsaber Duels Page". GamePro. http://www.gamepro.com/nintendo/wii/59095/info.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-19. 3. ^ http://www.esrb.org/ratings/search.jsp 4. ^ Siegel, Lucas (2008-06-19). "LucasArts Reveals Rumored Wii 'Lightsaber Duel'". Newsarama. http://www.newsarama.com/games/080619-wii-lightsaber.html. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 5. ^ Vuckovic, Daniel (2008-06-23). "Trailer: Star Wars The Clone Wars for Wii and DS". http://www.vooks.net/modules.php?module=article&id=13012. Retrieved 2008-06-24.

[hide] v • d • e Star Wars: The Clone Wars Main media Attack of the Clones · Revenge of the Sith · Clone Wars (first animated series) · The Clone Wars (animated film) · The Clone Wars (second animated series) · Republic (comic book series) Books Attack of the Clones · Republic Commando: Hard Contact · Boba Fett: The Fight to Survive · Boba Fett: Crossfire · Boba Fett: Maze Of Deception · Boba Fett: Hunted · Shatterpoint · The Cestus Deception · The Hive · Republic Commando: Triple Zero · Republic Commando: True Colors · MedStar I: Battle Surgeons · MedStar II: Jedi Healer · Jedi Trial · Yoda: Dark Rendezvous · Boba Fett: A New Threat · Boba Fett: Pursuit · Republic Commando: Order 66 · Labyrinth of Evil · Revenge of the Sith Video games The Clone Wars · Jedi Starfighter · Battlefront series (I · II · III · Renegade Squadron · Elite Squadron) · Lego Star Wars · Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga · Republic Commando · The New Droid Army · Galactic Battlegrounds · Attack of the Clones · Revenge of the Sith · The Clone Wars - Lightsaber Duels · The Clone Wars - Jedi Alliance · The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes

Star Wars: The Clone Wars is an American 3D CGI animated television series created by Lucasfilm Animation, Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and CGCG Inc.[3] The series debuted on the US-version of Cartoon Network on October 3, 2008.[2] It is set in the fictional Star Wars galaxy, during the same time period as the previous 2003 Star Wars: Clone Wars series. The show itself takes place from 22 BBY to 20 BBY. Each episode will have a running time of 22 minutes, to fill a half-hour time slot. Star Wars creator George Lucas says "there will be at least 100 episodes produced.[about five Seasons]"[4] Dave Filoni is the supervising director of the series.[5] Genndy Tartakovsky, director of the first Clone Wars series, is not involved with the production,[6] but character designer Kilian Plunkett referred to the character designs from the 2D series when designing the characters for the 3D series.[7] There is also an online comic,[8] depicting story-snippets between the single episodes.

The first trailer for the series was released on the official Star Wars website on May 8, 2007.[9] The series was launched with a feature film, which was released in theaters on August 15, 2008. It is one of only four series (along with Stoked, Total Drama Action and 6teen) to be broadcast on the main Cartoon Network (i.e., outside of Toonami or Adult Swim) with a TV-PG rating. An all new season of the show premiered October 2, 2009, while the complete first season was released on DVD and Blu-ray November 3, 2009 in the U.S.[10] Contents [hide]

* 1 Production * 2 Reception * 3 Episodes o 3.1 Feature film o 3.2 TV series * 4 DVD releases * 5 Cast and characters o 5.1 Main characters o 5.2 Recurring characters + 5.2.1 Galactic Republic # 5.2.1.1 Jedi Masters # 5.2.1.2 Other + 5.2.2 Separatists + 5.2.3 Special guest voices * 6 Broadcast history o 6.1 International release * 7 References * 8 External links

[edit] Production

At April 2005's Star Wars Celebration III, Lucas stated that "we are working on a 3-D continuation of the pilot series that was on the Cartoon Network; we probably won't start that project for another year."[6] In July 2005, pre-production had begun on the series, according to Steve Sansweet, head of Lucasfilm fan relations.[11] Sansweet referred to the series as "the next generation of the Star Wars saga, a cutting edge 30-minute, 3-D computer-animation series based on the Clone Wars that take place between Episode II ... and Episode III." Sansweet described the look of the new series as "a melding of Asian anime with unique 3-D animation styling." Primary production will take place at the Lucasfilm Animation facility in Singapore.[12]

According to another statement by Sansweet, "Lucasfilm Animation will be hiring a total of about 300 digital artists and others in both California and Singapore locations to produce not only the series, but animated feature films in the years ahead." He said about the series, "to get the series underway, Lucasfilm Animation has hired key production and creative talent to lead the development of its first animation project." Sansweet has said that "a large component of the future of Star Wars and Lucasfilm is CGI animation."

Lucasfilm Ltd. and Lucasfilm Animation used Autodesk software to animate both the film and the series. The Maya 3D modeling program was used to create the highly detailed worlds, characters and creatures.[13] Animators also reviewed designs from the original 2003 Clone Wars series when creating the animation style for the film and the new series.[14]

Anthony Daniels, who portrayed C-3PO in all six films as well as the Star Wars Holiday Special, Star Wars: Droids and Star Wars: Clone Wars, confirmed in June 2006 that he had been contracted for the series.[15]

In a video interview with Rob Coleman from Imagina 2007 divulged that there were 15 episodes in production, one episode was complete, he was going to direct 5 of the first 22 episodes, reaction from licensees was very positive, and that final assembly of shows is done at Skywalker Ranch.[16]

At Lucas' March 3, 2007 appearance at the 2007 William S. Paley Television Festival,[17] Lucas revealed the series is episodic, and as such will not focus on Anakin Skywalker's story; with episodes dedicated to clone troopers and other characters. Lucas revealed further information in a fan interview,[4] a new character named Ahsoka Tano, over 100 episodes and a possible appearance by Boba Fett. In an interview in the September 24, 2007 issue of TV Guide, Lucas confirmed that 39 episodes of the series have been completed.[18]

On April 8, 2007, Ain't It Cool News reported that musician Eric Rigler had recorded music for the series.[19] Rigler disclosed that each planet in the Star Wars galaxy would have its own theme music, based on Bulgarian music and played on Irish pipes.

Stuart Snyder, who oversees Cartoon Network and other Turner Broadcasting System cable networks, said he became interested in the new Clone Wars series immediately upon starting the job in May 2007. Snyder flew out to San Francisco, California to screen several episodes, and told Lucas the only place he wanted to see the show was on Cartoon Network.[20]

Along with weekly airings of Star Wars: The Clone Wars on the Cartoon Network, rebroadcasts started airing on TNT, February 14, 2009. With this, it would be the first time animation aired on that channel in over a decade.[21] [edit] Reception

On July 11, television critics were shown a completed episode of the series. The Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed blog called the footage "likely the most photo-realistic animated TV series ever produced."[22] On August 31, 2008, a sneak peek of the new series was shown on Cartoon Network. IGN named it the 89th best animated series. They specifically praised the episodes "Rookies", "Cloak of Darkness", and "Lair of Grievous" saying that their storylines stood out as some of the best in the Star Wars George Lucas Universe.[23]

Star Wars: The Clone Wars became most-watched series premiere in Cartoon Network history. The computer-animated series, from Lucasfilm Animation, averaged 4 million total viewers in its debut, according to Nielsen Media Research. Cartoon Network said the Star Wars spin off ranked as the number one channel among all major animated networks in the time slot among total viewers (the largest in the demographic for any premiere telecast of an original Cartoon series).[24] [edit] Episodes [edit] Feature film Main article: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (film)

After viewing some of the completed footage of the early episodes on a big screen, the production team decided to weave the first few planned episodes together to form a theatrical release.[25][26] Christopher Lee and Samuel L. Jackson reprised their roles as Count Dooku and Mace Windu, respectively, from the live action films. [edit] TV series

Each season consists of 22 episodes. Season 2 was ordered by Cartoon Network in February 2009. George Lucas has said he would like to make at least 100 episodes, regardless of the ratings. Episode 100 would be in the middle of Season 5, so the series is likely to go up to 110 episodes, whether the ratings continue to be good or not. Also, the series season one has aired "decoded" episodes which tells more detailed information about the characters and events in each episode during its airing in Season 1.[27] Main article: List of Star Wars: The Clone Wars episodes Season 	Episodes 	First air date 	Last air date Season 1 	22 	October 3, 2008 	March 20, 2009 Season 2 	22 	October 2, 2009 	Early 2010 [edit] DVD releases DVD Name 	Region 1 	Region 2 	Region 4 Season 1 	November 3, 2009 	November 16, 2009 	November 18, 2009 A Galaxy Divided 	March 24, 2009 	March 24, 2009 	July 1, 2009 Clone Commandos 	September 15, 2009 	September 15, 2009 	September 23, 2009 Season 2 	Late 2010 	Late 2010 	Late 2010 [edit] Cast and characters

It should be noted that characters generally fall into one of two categories:

* Part of the Galactic Republic, including Jedi and Senators * Separatists or their allies, notably the Dark Side of the force.

[edit] Main characters

* Anakin Skywalker - Matt Lanter * Ahsoka Tano - Ashley Eckstein * Obi-Wan Kenobi - James Arnold Taylor

* Clone Troopers (All variations) - Dee Bradley Baker * Battle Droids (All) - Matthew Wood

Tom Kane is the narrator of the show, who introduces and sets up every episode. [edit] Recurring characters [edit] Galactic Republic [edit] Jedi Masters

* Yoda - Tom Kane * Mace Windu - Terrence C. Carson * Kit Fisto - Phil LaMarr * Aayla Secura - Jennifer Hale * Plo Koon - James Arnold Taylor * Luminara Unduli - Olivia d'Abo * Ki-Adi-Mundi - Brian George * Eeth Koth - Chris Edgerly * Adi Gallia - Angelique Perrin * Barriss Offee - Meredith Salenger

[edit] Other

* R2-D2 * C-3PO - Anthony Daniels * Wullf Yularen - Tom Kane * Padmé Amidala - Catherine Taber * Gregar Typho - James C. Mathis III * Jar Jar Binks - BJ Hughes (Ahmed Best in one episode)

[edit] Separatists

* Palpatine/Darth Sidious - Ian Abercrombie * Count Dooku/Darth Tyranus - Corey Burton * Asajj Ventress - Nika Futterman * General Grievous - Matthew Wood * Nute Gunray - Tom Kenny * Wat Tambor - Matthew Wood * Cad Bane - Corey Burton

[edit] Special guest voices

* David Kaufman as Jaybo * Greg Proops as Tal Merrick * Ron Perlman as Gha Nachkt * Michael York as Dr. Nuvo Vindi * Seth Green as Todo 360 * Jim Cummings as Hondo Ohnaka * James Marsters as Captain Argyus * George Takei as Lok Durd * Jon Favreau as Pre Vizsla * Julian Holloway as Almec * Anna Graves as Duchess Satine Kryze

[edit] Broadcast history

The Clone Wars premiered on October 3, 2008 at 9 p.m. on the Cartoon Network. It has been programmed by Stuart Snyder to create an action/adventure block of shows on Friday night in an attempt to rejuvenate Cartoon Network. Snyder expressed confidence that the shows would help boost ratings: “You catch me at a time where I have a smile on my face because of our internal results,” Snyder said. “I can say there’s a little bit of bragging on the third quarter for us.”[20] The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network is shown in a 16:9 (1.78:1) aspect ratio, cropped from its original aspect ratio (OAR) of 2.35:1 (as seen in the UK Sky Premiere screenings). The show began airing on Adult Swim as of March 14, 2009, making the series the first Cartoon Network series to simultaneously air on both Cartoon Network and Adult Swim. [edit] International release Country 	Network(s) 	Series premiere Australia Australia 	Network Ten 	November 22, 2008[28] Cartoon Network 	February 13, 2009[29] Brazil Brazil 	Cartoon Network 	February 13, 2009 (Subtitled) WBTV 	May 2009 (Subtitled) TNT 	July 2009 (Dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese) Rede Globo HD 	April 2009 (Dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese) Belgium Belgium 	VT4 	March 1, 2009 March 1, 2009 (Dubbed in Dutch) Bulgaria Bulgaria 	Cartoon Network 	February 13, 2009 bTV 	February 22, 2009 (Dubbed in Bulgarian) Canada Canada 	CTV 	October 5, 2008 Space 	October 10, 2008[30] Teletoon 	September 8, 2009 Croatia Croatia 	Cartoon Network 	January 17, 2009 Denmark Denmark 	Cartoon Network 	January 17, 2009 Finland Finland 	MTV3 	January 17, 2009 Germany Germany 	ProSieben 	November 23, 2008 Cartoon Network 	February 14, 2009 Hong Kong Hong Kong 	TVB Pearl 	February 1, 2009 (Season 1)(Dubbed in Cantonese) January 24, 2010 (Season 2)(Dubbed in Cantonese) India India 	Cartoon Network 	February 13, 2009 Italy Italy 	Cartoon Network 	February 13, 2009 Japan Japan 	NHK 	March 31, 2009 Mexico Mexico 	Canal 5 	November 3, 2008 Cartoon Network 	February 13, 2009 Netherlands Netherlands 	RTL 5 	February 14, 2009 (Subbed in Dutch) Jetix 	Fall 2009 (Dubbed in Dutch) Norway Norway 	NRK Super 	December 27, 2008 (Subtitles) Pakistan Pakistan 	Cartoon Network 	February 13, 2009 Philippines Philippines 	Cartoon Network 	February 13, 2009 Super 40 	August 10, 2009 (Subtitled in Tagalog) Poland Poland 	TVP1 	January 4, 2009 Cartoon Network 	February 13, 2009 Portugal Portugal 	SIC 	December 21, 2008 (Dubbed in Portuguese) Romania Romania 	Cartoon Network 	February 13, 2009 Singapore Singapore 	MediaCorp Channel 5 	December 6, 2008 South Africa South Africa 	Cartoon Network 	February 13, 2009 South Korea South Korea 	Cartoon Network 	February 13, 2009 (Dubbed in Korean) July 20, 2009 (Subtitles) EBS HD 	August 24, 2009 (Dubbed in Korean) Spain Spain 	Antena.Neox Premiere 	November 28, 2008 (Dubbed in Spanish) Antena 3 	December 6, 2008 (Dubbed in Spanish)[31] Sweden Sweden 	TV400 	January 4, 2009[32] Turkey Turkey 	Cartoon Network 	February 14, 2009 CNBC-e 	2010 (Subtitled) United Kingdom United Kingdom 	Sky Movies Premiere Sky Movies Premiere HD Family Cartoon Network UK 	October 25, 2008 [edit] References

1. ^ IGN: Star Wars: The Clone Wars to Cartoon Network and Theaters 2. ^ a b Cartoon Network's official page 3. ^ index 4. ^ a b "IESB Video Portal". IESB.net. Archived from the original on 2007-03-24. http://web.archive.org/web/20070324124811/http://iesb.net/index.php?option=com_xevidmegafx&Itemid=139&func=detail&id=259. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 5. ^ Star Wars: Community | Meet the Producer and Director Of The Clone Wars at Celebration IV  6. ^ a b IESB.net - Movie News, Reviews, Interviews and More! - NEW Animated Star Wars: Clone Wars Series Fully in Production! 7. ^ Vilmur, Pete (2007-10-05). "Clone Wars Character Designer Kilian Plunkett". StarWars.com. http://www.starwars.com/theclonewars/blogs/f20071005/indexp2.html. Retrieved 2007-10-06. [dead link] 8. ^ "Clone Wars Comic on www.starwars.com". http://www.starwars.com/clonewars/comic/. Retrieved 2008-10-10. 9. ^ Star Wars: Video 10. ^ DVD and Blu-ray Press Release 11. ^ [1][dead link] 12. ^ ComingSoon.net 13. ^ "Autodesk Maya software serves as animation platform for new Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated feature film and TV series." TradingMarkets.com, August 26, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-09-03. 14. ^ Martinez, Kiko. "Hispanic animator helps create new Star Wars universe." Extra, August 27, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-09-03. 15. ^ TheForce.Net - Latest News - Anthony Daniels Radio Interview 16. ^ MintInBox.net - Imagina 2007 : Interview de Rob Coleman 17. ^ "Paley Fest: George Lucas Gives Details on the Star Wars TV Shows". http://tv.ign.com/articles/770/770160p1.html. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 18. ^ George Lucas on his two Star Wars TV series, Heroes and HBO's Rome - Celebrity and Entertainment News | TVGuide.com[dead link] 19. ^ A Teeny Tidbit About One Of Those Nutty Little STAR WARS TV Series We Keep Hearing About!! - Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news 20. ^ a b Swartz, Kristi E. "Cartoon Network is eager to use the force." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 2, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-09-03. 21. ^ "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" Hits Theaters, TV - Animated Saga Will Air on Cartoon Network, TNT, Zap2It.com, February 12, 2008 22. ^ First look: 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars' TV series | thrfeed.com<! 23. ^ "89, Star Wars: The Clone Wars". IGN. 2009-01-23. http://tv.ign.com/top-100-animated-tv-series/89.html. Retrieved 2009-01-24. 24. ^ ""Clone Wars" a new star for Cartoon Network". http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSTRE4960SF20081007. Retrieved 2008-10-07. 25. ^ "George Lucas Talks 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars'". http://www.starwars.com/theclonewars/news/news20080317.html. 26. ^ "Force-Cast Clone Wars Roundtable, interview with Dave Filoni and Henry Gilroy". http://www.theforce.net/podcast/story/ForceCast_Clone_Wars_Roundtable_118278.asp. Retrieved 2008-10-03. 27. ^ StarWars.com | The Clone Wars: Decoded on May 1 on Cartoon Network 28. ^ Knox, David (1 November 2008). "Airdate: The Clone Wars". tvtonight.com.au. http://www.tvtonight.com.au/2008/11/airdate-the-clone-wars.html. Retrieved 2 November 2008. 29. ^ Johnson, Matt (February 2009). "Send in the clones". Foxtel magazine (ACP Magazines) (February 2009): 46. 30. ^ 'Clone Wars' premieres Oct. 5 on CTV|url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/show/CTVShows/20080918/clone_release_080918 31. ^ Star Wars: The clone wars se estrena en Antena 3 el 6 de diciembre - Series Adictos 32. ^ StarWars.se -> The Clone Wars pĂĽ svensk TV

[edit] External links Search Wikiquote 	Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008 TV series)

* Star Wars: The Clone Wars Video Game Confirmed * Official Star Wars: The Clone Wars website * Preview Special * Official announcement * CGCG Inc. co collaboration with Lucasfilm * The Clone Wars (Series) at the Big Cartoon DataBase * Star Wars: The Clone Wars at the Internet Movie Database * Star Wars: The Clone Wars at TV.com * Official teaser trailer * Official Star Wars Celebration IV blog with information on the series

[show] v • d • e Star Wars: The Clone Wars Main media Attack of the Clones · Revenge of the Sith · Clone Wars (first animated series) · The Clone Wars (animated film) · The Clone Wars (second animated series) · Republic (comic book series) Books Attack of the Clones · Republic Commando: Hard Contact · Boba Fett: The Fight to Survive · Boba Fett: Crossfire · Boba Fett: Maze Of Deception · Boba Fett: Hunted · Shatterpoint · The Cestus Deception · The Hive · Republic Commando: Triple Zero · Republic Commando: True Colors · MedStar I: Battle Surgeons · MedStar II: Jedi Healer · Jedi Trial · Yoda: Dark Rendezvous · Boba Fett: A New Threat · Boba Fett: Pursuit · Republic Commando: Order 66 · Labyrinth of Evil · Revenge of the Sith Video games The Clone Wars · Jedi Starfighter · Battlefront series (I · II · III · Renegade Squadron · Elite Squadron) · Lego Star Wars · Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga · Republic Commando · The New Droid Army · Galactic Battlegrounds · Attack of the Clones · Revenge of the Sith · The Clone Wars - Lightsaber Duels · The Clone Wars - Jedi Alliance · The Clone Wars - Republic Heroes [show] v • d • e Star Wars Main films Original trilogy: IV: A New Hope · V: The Empire Strikes Back · VI: Return of the Jedi Prequel trilogy: I: The Phantom Menace · II: Attack of the Clones · III: Revenge of the Sith Sequel trilogy Spin-off films Holiday Special · Caravan of Courage · The Battle for Endor · The Great Heep · The Clone Wars · The Quest for R2-D2 Television series Droids · Ewoks · Clone Wars · The Clone Wars · Live-action TV series Other media Books · Comics · Radio · Video games · Music · Expanded Universe · Shadows of the Empire · The Force Unleashed · Star Tours Universe Characters · Locations · Creatures · Vehicles · Conflicts · Dates [show] v • d • e Cartoon Network Regions

United States · Australia · Europe · India · Italy · Japan · Latin America · Nordic (Scandinavia) · Pakistan · Philippines · Southeast Asia · Turkey · United Kingdom and Ireland Original Series Cartoon Cartoons

Codename: Kids Next Door · Courage the Cowardly Dog · Cow and Chicken · Dexter's Laboratory · Ed, Edd n Eddy · Evil Con Carne · The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy · Grim & Evil · I Am Weasel · Johnny Bravo · Mike, Lu & Og · The Powerpuff Girls · Sheep in the Big City · Time Squad · What a Cartoon! · Whatever Happened to Robot Jones? Cartoon Network Studios Originals

Ben 10 · Ben 10: Alien Force · Camp Lazlo · The Cartoonstitute · Chowder · Class of 3000 · Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends · The Life and Times of Juniper Lee · The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack · Megas XLR · My Gym Partner's a Monkey · Samurai Jack · The Secret Saturdays · Squirrel Boy · Transformers Animated CN Real Live-Action Series

The Othersiders · BrainRush · Destroy Build Destroy · Dude, What Would Happen · Bobb'e Says Upcoming series

Adventure Time with Finn and Jake · Ben 10: Ultimate Alien · Generator Rex Co-Productions European co-productions

The Cramp Twins · Fat Dog Mendoza · Robotboy · Skatoony · Spaced Out North American co-productions

George of the Jungle · Out of Jimmy's Head · Storm Hawks · Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi · Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003 · 2008) Made-for-TV films

Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip (1999) · The Flintstones: On the Rocks (2001) · Party Wagon (2004) · Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: House of Bloo's (2004) · Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O. (2006) · Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo (2006) · Class of 3000: Home (2006) · Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Good Wilt Hunting (2006) · Re-Animated (2006) · My Gym Partner's a Monkey: The Big Field Trip (2007) · Camp Lazlo: Where's Lazlo? (2007) · The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure (2007) · The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen (2007) · Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix (2007) · Ben 10: Race Against Time (2007) · Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S. (2008) · My Gym Partner's a Monkey: Animal School Musical (2008) · Underfist: Halloween Bash (2008) · Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Destination Imagination (2008) · Scooby-Doo 3: The Mystery Begins (2009) · Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show (2009) · Ben 10: Alien Swarm (2009) Games

Cartoon Network: Block Party · Cartoon Network Racing · Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall · Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am · Samurai Jack: The Shadow of Aku · Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends · Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Imagination Invaders · George of the Jungle and the Search for the Secret · Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law · Ben 10: Alien Force · Ben 10: Protector of Earth · The Powerpuff Girls: Bad Mojo Jojo · The Powerpuff Girls: Paint the Townsville Green · The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-traction · The Powerpuff Girls: Relish Rampage See also

Cartoon Network Video · Cartoon Network Invaded · Williams Street · Boomerang · Cartoon Network Too · Cartoonito · Toonami (Toonami Jetstream) · Adult Swim · Cartoon Cartoons [show] v • d • e George Lucas filmography Tencent QQ From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from QQ) Jump to: navigation, search "QQ" redirects here. For other uses, see QQ (disambiguation). Tencent QQ QQ Icon Screenshot [show] QQ 2007 Standard.PNG QQ2008 Main User Interface Developer(s) 	Tencent Holdings Limited Stable release 	QQ2009 Simplified Chinese SP6 (Windows) (June 11, 2010 (2010-06-11)) QQ2009 Traditional Chinese SP1 (Windows) (October 20, 2009 (2009-10-20)) Preview release 	QQ2009 International Beta3 (Windows) (February 2, 2010 (2010-02-02)) QQ for Mac 1.0 Beta1 (January 19, 2009 (2009-01-19)) QQ for Linux 1.0 Beta1 (January 4, 2009 (2009-01-04)) Operating system 	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iPhone/iPad Available in 	Chinese, English, French, Japanese Type 	Instant Messaging Website 	Simplified Chinese Traditional Chinese International

Tencent QQ, generally referred to as QQ, is the most popular free instant messaging computer program in Mainland China, and the number of simultaneous online QQ users exceeded 80 million.[1] In April 2010, QQ.com ranked 10th overall in Alexa's internet rankings.[2] The program is maintained by Tencent Holdings Limited (HKEX: 0700), owned in part by Naspers.[3] Since its entrance into Chinese households QQ quickly emerged as a modern cultural phenomenon, now being portrayed in popular culture. Aside from the chat program, QQ has also developed many subfeatures including games, virtual pets, ringtone downloads, etc. Contents [hide]

* 1 Naming * 2 History * 3 Development o 3.1 Membership * 4 Merchandise * 5 Controversies and criticisms o 5.1 Adware classification o 5.2 Keyword filtering o 5.3 QQ real group name scheme o 5.4 Resource usage * 6 Q coin * 7 Modifications * 8 QQ Internationally * 9 Open source and cross-platform clients * 10 See also * 11 References * 12 External links

[edit] Naming

The original name of QQ was OICQ ("Open ICQ"). The name was based on an already existing IMS (Internet Message Service), "ICQ".

ICQ is one of the first modern IMS programs. The acronym "ICQ" came from the fact that the letters sound like "I seek you". [edit] History

Tencent was founded in Shenzhen (深圳市), China, in 11 November 1998. Tencent's instant messaging service platform "QQ" was formally launched in February 1999. After years of strong business growth, on July 16, 2004, Tencent Holdings Limited (SEHK 700) went public. [edit] Development

QQ was initially developed by Tencent Inc. in February 1999. It was first released as a "Network Paging" real time communications service. Then other features were successively added such as chatrooms, games, personal avatars (similar to "Meego" in MSN), internet storage, and internet dating services. Most of these features were free. Its variety of features and easy-to-use interface made it very popular, especially among teenage users. In a few short years it was the most popular real time communications service in China.

The current version of QQ is QQ2010 beta2.[4] Tencent periodically releases special versions of QQ to coincide with events such as the Olympics or Chinese New Year.

The official client runs on Microsoft Windows and a beta public version was launched for Mac OS X version 10.4.9 or newer.[5] The web versions, WebQQ (full version) and WebQQ Mini (Lite version), which makes use of Ajax, are currently available.[6][7] On July 31, 2008 Tencent released an official client for Linux,[8] but this has not since been kept in step with the Windows version. User Interface of Tencent Messenger

In response to competition with Windows Live Messenger, Tencent released Tencent Messenger, which is targeted to business people. It also provides, in limited form, features that are only available to premium members in normal QQ.

A beta version of QQ is currently available for Symbian S60 3rd Edition.[9] [edit] Membership

QQ currently allows free registration for membership. In 2002, Tencent stopped its free membership registration, requiring all new members to pay a fee. However, free registration was reopened in 2003 due to pressure from other instant messaging services such as Windows Live Messenger and Sina UC. Tencent currently offers a premium membership scheme, which offers features such as QQ mobile, ringtone downloads, and SMS sending/receiving. In addition, Tencent offers "Diamond" level memberships. Currently, there are seven diamond services available:

* Red, for the QQ Show service which features the ability to make an avatar for yourself. * Yellow, for the Qzone service which is similar to a blog. * Blue, which is for QQ games. * Purple, which is shared between three Tencent games, QQNana, a Korean dancing game, QQTang, an action game, extremely similar to crazy arcade, and QQSpeed, a race game. * Pink, for QQ pet, a small desktop game about raising a pet. So far there are 3 generations of pets. Penguin, Pig, and Bear (Beta testing). * Green, for QQ music, which is a software for listening to music directly from the Tencent server. Requiring no pre-download, though sometimes consuming a lot of disk space due to caching. * VIP, for chatting, beta testing, removing advertising, and several additional features * Black (recently introduced) DNF (地下城与勇士), a Tencent PVP game[10]

[edit] Merchandise

Tencent taken advantage of the popularity of the QQ brand, and have set up many Q-Gen stores selling QQ branded merchandise such as bags, watches, clothing as well as toy penguins. [edit] Controversies and criticisms

QQ has faced many criticisms and controversies. Many users complain QQ provides fewer and fewer free services and an annoying number of ads. [edit] Adware classification

Because of QQ's extensive use of advertisements and processes related to ads, it has been branded as malicious adware by many anti-virus and anti-spyware vendors.[11][12][13] [edit] Keyword filtering

On August 2004, QQ Games began filtering keywords such as "钓鱼岛" (Diaoyu Islands) and "保钓" (Movement to protect the Diaoyu Islands). This act caused much controversy and Tencent has since lifted the filter.[14] [edit] QQ real group name scheme

On July 21, 2005, Tencent announced its intention to follow orders set by Shenzhen Police and enforce the requirement of real names for all the administrators and founders of QQ Groups. This caused much controversy on whether it can prevent the spread of pornographic and other indecent messages, or whether it intrudes on one's privacy. However, the difficulty of enforcement made the real name registration optional.[15] [edit] Resource usage

The resources required to run QQ have increased substantially since it was first released, which has caused some people to turn to third party "lite" versions. [edit] Q coin A stats display window with all services (icons) turned on and leveling info included.

The Q coin is a virtual currency used by QQ users to "purchase" QQ related items for their avatar and blog. Q coins are obtained either by purchase, one coin for one RMB, or for using the mobile phone service. Due to the popularity of QQ among young Chinese, Q coins are now accepted by gradually more and more online stores and gaming sites in exchange for "real" merchandise such as small gifts, and raised the concern of replacing (and thus "inflating") real currency in these transactions. The People's Bank of China, China's central bank, says it is investigating the possibility of cracking down on Q coin, due to people using Q coins in exchange for real world goods.[16] Tencent claims the Q coin was merely a regular commodity, and thus not a currency.[17] [edit] Modifications

Coral QQ, a modification of Tencent QQ, is a popular add on. While Tencent charges for some services and displays advertisement, Coral QQ, provides free access to some of the services and blocks Tencent's advertisements. In 2006, Tencent filed a copyright lawsuit against Chen Shoufu (aka Soff), the author of Coral QQ, whose redistributing modified Tencent QQ was ruled illegal. Chen then published his modification as a separate add on. On August 16, 2007, Chen was detained again for allegedly making profits off his ad-blocking add on.[18] His case is pending at Shenzhen Nanshan district court. [edit] QQ Internationally

In addition to its release QQ messenger internationally through its IMQQ[19] portal, in 2008, QQ began to expand its services internationally, working with partners throughout Asia and the USA.

In India, Tencent has partnered with ibibo[20] to bring such services as chat, mail and game to the developing Indian Internet sphere.

In Vietnam, Tencent has struck a deal with VinaGame[21] to bring the QQ Casual Gaming portal as well as the QQ Messenger as an addition to the already thriving Vietnamese gaming communities.

In the USA, Tencent has partnered with AOL to bring QQ Games as a contender in the US social gaming market. Launched in 2007,[22] QQ Games comes bundled with the AIM installer, and competes with AOL's own games.com to provide a gaming experience for the AIM user base.

In Italy QQ has released an Italian language version, QQITALY[23] translated by Sonky. [edit] Open source and cross-platform clients

Using reverse engineering, open source communities have come to understand the QQ protocol better and have implemented client core libraries user-friendly clients, free of advertisements. Most of these clients are cross-platform, so they are usable on operating systems which the official client does not support. However, these implementations have only a subset of the functions of the official client and therefore are more limited in features.

* Adium, an open source multiprotocol client for Mac OS X   * Pidgin, an open source cross-platform multiprotocol client * Empathy, an open source multiprotocol client for GNOME * Kopete, an open source multiprotocol client for KDE * Carrier, an open source cross-platform multiprotocol client based on Pidgin. * Miranda IM, an open source multiprotocol client, designed for Microsoft Windows, with MirandaQQ2[24] plugin. * Eva[1]

[edit] See also

* Tencent * Comparison of instant messaging clients

[edit] References

1. ^ 腾讯QQ同时在线用户数突破8000万 2. ^ "Alexa Web Search - QQ traffic details". http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details/qq.com. Retrieved 2010-04-15. 3. ^ Naspers Company Profile / Company History 4. ^ QQ Official Software Center 5. ^ im.qq.com/qq/mac/ 6. ^ WebQQ - webqq.qq.com 7. ^ WebQQ Mini - w.qq.com 8. ^ QQ for Linux | im.qq.com 9. ^ 手机QQ2008beta2发布 10. ^ dnf.qq.com/vip/info.htm 11. ^ Tenebril - Spyware Research Center - Tencent QQ 12. ^ www.ca.com/us/securityadvisor/pest/pest.aspx?id=453083549 13. ^ Remove Tencent QQ - Spyware / Adware Uninstall Instruction 14. ^ AsiaMedia :: CHINA: Web users get their ten cents worth despite the censors 15. ^ 信产部酝酿博客实名制 16. ^ People's Daily Online - Central Bank alert on "virtual money" 17. ^ Virtual currency requires tough new regulations 18. ^ Ye, Juliet (November 29, 2007). "Debate Over IM Add-Ons in China". The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119629787148507282.html. 19. ^ www.imqq.com 20. ^ www.livemint.com/2008/06/25234912/Ibibo-will-sell-50-to-Tencent.html 21. ^ harryd844.wordpress.com/2007/10/29/zing-chat-prepares-to-sword-yahoo-chat/ 22. ^ news.digitaltrends.com/news-article/14367/aol-rolls-out-aim-6-5 23. ^ http://www.sonky.com/qqitaly 24. ^ http://addons.miranda-im.org/details.php?action=viewfile&id=3348

[edit] External links

* (Chinese) QQ Portal * (Chinese) Official Site * (English) Official Site * (English) "Inside QQ" research report by +8* Plus Eight Star * (English) South African QQ.co.za site * (English) Learning Chinese Using QQ   * (English) English beta for QQ    * (English) Tencent's first offering in the United States * (English) Overview of Tencent QQ Services * (Thai) Thai localization of QQ   * (Italian) QQITALY

[hide] v • d • e