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Batman Forever

Batman Forever is a 1995 American superhero film directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Tim Burton, based on the DC Comics character Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger. The third installment of Warner Bros.' initial Batman film series, it is a sequel to Batman Returns starring Val Kilmer, replacing Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne / Batman, alongside Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee Jones, Nicole Kidman, and Chris O'Donnell, while Michael Gough, and Pat Hingle reprise their roles. The film's story focuses on Batman trying to stop Two-Face and the Riddler in their scheme to extract information from all the minds in Gotham City while adopting an orphaned acrobat named Dick Grayson—who becomes his sidekick, Robin—and developing feelings for psychologist Dr. Chase Meridian.

Schumacher mostly eschewed the dark, dystopian atmosphere of Burton's films by drawing inspiration from the Batman comic books of the Dick Sprang era, as well as the 1960s television series. After Keaton chose not to reprise his role, William Baldwin and Ethan Hawke were considered as a replacement, before Val Kilmer joined the cast.

Batman Forever was released on June 16, 1995, to mixed reviews from critics, who praised the visuals, action sequences, soundtrack, and performances of Carrey and Jones, but criticized the screenplay and tonal departure from previous films, while others were divided by Kilmer's performance. The film was a box office success, grossing over $336 million worldwide and becoming the sixth-highest-grossing film of 1995. It was followed by Batman & Robin in 1997, with Schumacher returning as the director, O'Donnell returning as Robin, and George Clooney replacing Kilmer as Batman.

Plot
In Gotham City, Batman defuses a hostage situation orchestrated by the criminal Two-Face, formerly district attorney Harvey Dent, although Two-Face escapes. Flashbacks reveal that Two-Face was disfigured with acid by mobster Sal Maroni, which Batman failed to prevent, causing Dent to develop a split personality. Dent blames Batman for his failure to save him and has sworn revenge against him as a result.

Edward Nygma, an eccentric and egotistical researcher at Wayne Enterprises, approaches his employer Bruce Wayne, Batman's civilian identity, whom he idealizes due to Bruce's fame. Nygma presents an invention that can beam television signals directly into a person's brain, demanding immediate approval directly from Bruce. Bruce rejects the device, as he is irritated by Nygma's obnoxious demands and is concerned the technology could manipulate minds. After killing his abusive supervisor and staging it as a suicide, Nygma resigns and plots revenge against Bruce, sending him riddles. Criminal psychologist Chase Meridian diagnoses Nygma as psychotic.

That night, Bruce attends a Haly's Circus event with Chase. Two-Face hijacks the event and threatens to detonate a bomb unless Batman reveals his identity. Acrobat Richard “Dick” Grayson, the youngest member of the Flying Graysons, manages to throw the bomb into a river, but Two-Face kills his family in the process. Bruce convinces the now-orphaned Dick to live at Wayne Manor as his ward, where he discovers that Bruce is Batman. Seeking to avenge the death of his family, Dick demands to join Batman in crime-fighting, hoping to kill Two-Face, but Bruce declines.

Meanwhile, Nygma adopts a criminal persona, the Riddler, and teams up with Two-Face, having seen and been inspired by the live circus event. They commit a series of robberies to finance Nygma's new company and mass-produce his brainwave device dubbed the "Box", which steals information from users' minds and transfers it to Nygma's, making him smarter in the process, but also slowly causing him to lose his grip on reality. At a party hosted by Nygma, Batman pursues Two-Face and is almost killed until Dick saves him.

Batman visits Chase, who explains that she has fallen in love with Bruce and reveals to her his secret identity. On Halloween night, The Riddler and Two-Face, having discovered Bruce's secret through the Box, destroy the Batcave, shoot Bruce and abduct Chase. As Bruce recovers, he and his butler, Alfred, deduce that Nygma is the Riddler. Bruce finally accepts Dick as Batman's partner, Robin.

At the Riddler's lair, Robin almost kills Two-Face, but spares him, allowing the latter to hold the former at gunpoint. The Riddler reveals that Chase and Robin are trapped in tubes above a deadly drop, giving Batman the chance to save only one. Batman distracts the Riddler with a riddle, before destroying the Riddler's brainwave receiver with a Batarang, damaging the Riddler's mind, and enabling Batman to rescue both. Two-Face corners them and determines their fate by flipping a coin, but Batman throws a handful of identical coins in the air, much to Two-Face’s confusion. He attempts to grab the coins, only to stumble and fall to his death.

Committed to Arkham Asylum, Nygma now exclaims that he is Batman, flapping the arms of his straitjacket, now completely delusional due to his scrambled memories. Bruce resumes his crusade as Batman, with Robin as his partner.

Cast

 * Val Kilmer as Bruce Wayne / Batman: After coming across the journal of his father, Bruce Wayne starts questioning his act of vengeance. He struggles with his dual identity as a crime fighter, becoming romantically involved with Dr. Chase Meridian.
 * Jim Carrey as Edward Nygma / The Riddler: A former Wayne Enterprises employee, Edward resigns after his newest invention is personally rejected by Bruce. He becomes the villainous Riddler, leaving riddles and puzzles at scenes of crime.
 * Tommy Lee Jones as Harvey Dent / Two-Face: Formerly the good district attorney of Gotham City. Half of Harvey's face is scarred and his brain is also damaged with acid during the conviction of a crime boss. Driven insane, he becomes the criminal Two-Face and desires to kill Batman, who he blames for failing to save him.
 * Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian: A psychologist and love interest of Bruce. Chase is fascinated by the dual nature of Batman, while her insight into Batman's nature drives Bruce to question his decision to become Batman. She is held as a damsel in distress in the climax.
 * Chris O'Donnell as Richard "Dick" Grayson / Robin: Once a circus acrobat, Dick is taken in by Bruce after Two-Face murders his parents and brother at a circus event. Bruce is reminded when his parents were murdered when he sees the same vengeance in Dick, and decides to take him in as his ward. Dick eventually discovers the Batcave and learns Bruce's secret identity. Against Bruce's wishes, Dick becomes his crime fighting partner, Robin.
 * Michael Gough as Alfred Pennyworth: The Wayne family's faithful butler and Bruce's confidant. Alfred also befriends the young Dick Grayson.
 * Pat Hingle as James Gordon: The police commissioner of Gotham City.
 * George Wallace as The Mayor: The unnamed mayor of Gotham City and the successor of Roscoe Jenkins.
 * Drew Barrymore as Sugar: Two-Face's "good" angelic-like assistant. Has short curly blonde hair. She wears a white corset bodysuit with stockings and a fluffy white robe. She shows more of a sweet attitude and tone than a sinister one.
 * Debi Mazar as Spice: Two-Face's "bad" gothic-like assistant/girlfriend. She is clad in a black leather corset with fishnet stockings on her legs with shiny black latex heels and long black leather gloves and appears as of a dominatrix. She wears most of her brunette hair up with red highlights. She speaks in a seductive malevolent tone. Spice has a twisted sense of humor and vile nature.
 * Ed Begley Jr. as Fred Stickley: Edward Nygma's ill-tempered supervisor at Wayne Enterprises. After Stickley discovers the true nature of Nygma's invention, Nygma kills him and makes it look like suicide. Begley was uncredited for this role.
 * Ofer Samra as Harvey's Thug
 * Elizabeth Sanders as Gossip Gerty: Gotham's top gossip columnist.
 * René Auberjonois as Dr. Burton: Head Doctor of Arkham Asylum.
 * Larry A. Lee as John Grayson: Dick Grayson's father and leader of the Flying Graysons
 * Glory Fioramonti as Mary Grayson: Dick Grayson's mother
 * En Vogue as girls on the corner who are hoping to see Batman.
 * Joe Grifasi as Hawkins: A bank guard and Two-Face's hostage during the opening scene.
 * Michael Paul Chan as Assistant #1
 * Jon Favreau as Assistant #2

Additionally, President pro tempore of the United States Senate and Batman fan Patrick Leahy makes an uncredited appearance as himself.

Development
Batman Returns was released in 1992 with financial success and generally favorable reviews from critics, but Warner Bros. was disappointed with its box office run, having made $150 million less than the first film. After Batman Returns was deemed too dark and inappropriate for children, with McDonald's even recalling their Happy Meal tie-in, Warner Bros. decided that this was the primary cause of the film's financial results. After the film's release, Warner Bros. was not interested in Tim Burton's return as director. Burton noted he was unsure about returning to direct, writing: "I don't think Warner Bros. wanted me to direct a third Batman. I even said that to them." Burton and Warner Bros. mutually agreed to part ways, though Burton would stay on as producer. John McTiernan turned down an offer to direct. In June 1993, Joel Schumacher was selected by Warner Bros. while he was filming The Client, and with Burton's approval.

Husband-and-wife screenwriting duo Lee and Janet Scott-Batchler were hired to write the script. Warner Bros. had lost a bidding war for their spec script for an earlier project titled Smoke and Mirrors to Disney's Hollywood Pictures. The project ultimately fell through, and Warner Bros. offered the Batchlers several of their film properties to write. Being familiar with the Batman comics from their childhood, the Batchlers chose to work on the next Batman film as their next project. In a meeting with Burton, they agreed that "the key element to Batman is his duality. And it's not just that Batman is Bruce Wayne."

Their original script introduced a psychotic Riddler, real name Lyle Heckendorf, with a pet rat accompanying him. A scene cut from the final film included Heckendorf obtaining his costume from a fortune-telling leprechaun at the circus. Instead of NygmaTech, the company would have been named HeckTech. The story elements and much of the dialogue still remained in the finished film, though Schumacher felt it could be "lighte[ne]d down". Keaton initially approved the selection of Schumacher as director and planned on reprising his role as Batman from the first two films. Schumacher claims he originally had in mind an adaptation of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One and Keaton claimed that he was enthusiastic about the idea. Warner Bros. rejected the idea as they wanted a sequel, not a prequel, though Schumacher was able to include very brief events in Bruce Wayne's childhood with some events of the comic The Dark Knight Returns. Akiva Goldsman, who worked with Schumacher on The Client, was brought in to rewrite the script, deleting the initial idea of bringing in the Scarecrow as a villain with Riddler, and the return of Catwoman. Burton, who now was more interested in directing Ed Wood, later reflected he was taken aback by some of the focus group meetings for Batman Forever, a title he hated. Producer Peter MacGregor-Scott represented the studio's aim in making a film for the MTV Generation, with full merchandising appeal.

Casting
Production went on fast track with Rene Russo cast as Chase Meridian, but Keaton decided not to reprise Batman because he did not like the direction the series was headed in, and rejected the script. Keaton also wanted to pursue "more interesting roles", turning down $15 million. A decision was made to go with a younger actor for Bruce Wayne, and an offer was made to Ethan Hawke, who turned it down, but eventually regretted the decision; he would eventually voice the character in the preschool animated series Batwheels in 2022. Schumacher had seen Val Kilmer in Tombstone, but was also interested in Keanu Reeves (who would later voice Bruce Wayne / Batman in DC League of Super-Pets in 2022), Alec and William Baldwin, Dean Cain, Tom Hanks, Kurt Russell, Ralph Fiennes (who would later voice Alfred Pennyworth in The Lego Batman Movie in 2017), Daniel Day-Lewis and Johnny Depp. Cain was scrapped as he was well known for starring in the TV series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Burton pushed for Depp to get the role. Kilmer, who as a child visited the studios where the 1960s series was recorded, and shortly before had visited a bat cave in Africa, was contacted by his agent for the role. Kilmer signed on without reading the script or knowing who the director was.

With Kilmer's casting, Warner Bros. dropped Russo, considering her too old to be paired with Kilmer. Sandra Bullock, Robin Wright, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Linda Hamilton were all considered for the role, which was eventually recast with Nicole Kidman. Billy Dee Williams took the role of Harvey Dent in Batman on the possibility of portraying Two-Face in a sequel, but Schumacher cast Tommy Lee Jones in the role, although Al Pacino, Clint Eastwood, Martin Sheen and Robert De Niro were considered, after working with him on The Client. Jones was reluctant to accept the role, but did so at his son's insistence.

Robin Williams was in discussions to be the Riddler at one point, and was reportedly in competition for the role with John Malkovich. In June 1994, the role was given to Jim Carrey after Williams had reportedly turned it down. In a 2003 interview, Schumacher stated Michael Jackson had lobbied hard for the role, but was turned down before Carrey was cast. Brad Dourif (who was Burton's original choice to portray the Joker and Scarecrow after), Kelsey Grammer, Micky Dolenz, Matthew Broderick, Phil Hartman and Steve Martin were said to have been considered.

Robin had appeared in the shooting script for Batman Returns but was deleted due to having too many characters. Marlon Wayans had been cast in the role and signed on for a potential sequel, but when Schumacher took over, he decided to open up casting to other actors. Leonardo DiCaprio was considered, but decided not to pursue the role after a meeting with Schumacher. Matt Damon, Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Worth, Danny Dyer, Toby Stephens Ewan McGregor, Jude Law, Alan Cumming and Scott Speedman were considered. Chris O'Donnell was cast and Mitch Gaylord served as his stunt double, and also portrayed Mitch Grayson, Dick's older brother, created for the film. Schumacher attempted to create a cameo role for Bono as his MacPhisto character, but both came to agree it was not suitable for the film.

Filming
Principal photography began on September 24, 1994, and wrapped on March 5, 1995. Schumacher hired Barbara Ling for production design, claiming that the film needed a "force" and good design. Ling could "advance on it". Schumacher wanted a design in no way connected to the previous films, and instead inspired by the images from the Batman comic books seen in the 1940s/early 1950s and New York City architecture in the 1930s, with a combination of modern Tokyo. He also wanted a "city with personality," with more statues, as well as various amounts of neon.

Difficulties and clashes
Schumacher and Kilmer clashed during the making of the film; Schumacher described Kilmer as "childish and impossible," reporting that he fought with various crewmen, and refused to speak to Schumacher for two weeks after the director told him to stop being rude. Schumacher also mentioned Tommy Lee Jones as a source of trouble: "Jim Carrey was a gentleman, and Tommy Lee was threatened by him. I'm tired of defending overpaid, overprivileged actors. I pray I don't work with them again." In a 2014 interview, Carrey acknowledged that Jones was not friendly to him, and recounted an incident wherein Jones found him off-set during the production, and told him: "I hate you. I really don't like you ... I cannot sanction your buffoonery."

Design and visual effects
Rick Baker designed the prosthetic makeup. John Dykstra, Andrew Adamson and Jim Rygiel served as visual effects supervisors, with Pacific Data Images also contributing to visual effects work. PDI provided a computer-generated Batman for complicated stunts. For the costume design, producer Peter MacGregor-Scott claimed that 146 workers were at one point working together. Batman's costume was redesigned along the lines of a more "MTV organic, and edgier feel" to the suit. Sound editing and mixing was supervised by Bruce Stambler and John Levesque, which included trips to caves to record bat sounds. A new Batmobile was designed for Batman Forever, with two cars being constructed, one for stunt purposes and one for close-ups. Chris O'Donnell had the area around his eyes painted black and then the Robin mask glued on him. Swiss surrealist painter H. R. Giger provided his version for the Batmobile but it was considered too sinister for the film. Nygma's brainwave device and lair resemble rejected concept artwork of Columbus Lighthouse by Russian avant-garde architect Konstantin Melnikov from 1929.

The film used some motion capture for certain visual effects. Warner Bros. had acquired motion capture technology from arcade video game company Acclaim Entertainment for use in the film's production.

Music
Elliot Goldenthal was hired by Schumacher to compose the film score before the screenplay was written. In discussions with Schumacher, the director wanted Goldenthal to avoid taking inspiration from Danny Elfman, and requested an original composition. The film's promotional teaser trailer however used the main title theme from Elfman's score of 1989's Batman.

The soundtrack was commercially successful, selling almost as many copies as Prince's soundtrack to the 1989 Batman film. Only five of the songs on the soundtrack are actually featured in the movie. Hit singles from the soundtrack include "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" by U2 and "Kiss from a Rose" by Seal, both of which were nominated for MTV Movie Awards. "Kiss from a Rose" (whose music video was also directed by Joel Schumacher) reached No. 1 in the U.S. charts as well. The soundtrack itself, featuring additional songs by The Flaming Lips, Brandy (both songs also included in the film), Method Man, Nick Cave, Michael Hutchence (of INXS), PJ Harvey and Massive Attack, was an attempt to (in producer Peter MacGregor-Scott's words) make the film more "pop".

Marketing
In addition to a large line of toys, video games and action figures from Kenner, the McDonald's food chain released several collectibles and mugs to coincide with the release of the film. Peter David and Alan Grant wrote separate novelizations of the film. Dennis O'Neil authored a comic book adaptation, with art by Michal Dutkiewicz.

Six Flags Great Adventure theme park re-themed their "Axis Chemical" arena, home of the Batman stunt show, to resemble Batman Forever, and the new show featured props from the film. Six Flags Over Texas featured a one-time fireworks show to promote the movie, and replica busts of Batman, Robin, Two-Face, and the Riddler could be found in the Justice League store in the Looney Tunes U.S.A. section until they were removed in 2023. Batman: The Ride opened at Six Flags St. Louis to promote the movie. At Six Flags Over Georgia, The Mind Bender roller coaster was redesigned to look as though it were the creation of The Riddler and some images and props were used in the design of the roller coaster and its queue.

Video games
Video games based on the film were released. A video game of the same name, was released in 1995 for Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Sega Genesis, Game Gear, R-Zone and MS-DOS, it was followed by Batman & Robin for the PlayStation, to promote the release of the film. Two arcade versions, Batman Forever: The Arcade Game, was released in 1996 and was ported to the three consoles, and a pinball machine based on the film was released in 1995 by Sega Pinball.

Home media
Batman Forever was released on VHS and LaserDisc on October 31, 1995. Over 3 million VHS copies were sold during the first week of release. The film was then released on DVD on May 20, 1997. This release was a double sided disc containing both widescreen (1.85:1) and full screen (1.33:1) versions of the film. Batman Forever made its Blu-ray debut on April 20, 2010. This was followed by an Ultra HD Blu-ray release on June 4, 2019.

Deleted scenes
Batman Forever went through a few major edits before its release. Originally darker than the final product, the film's original length was closer to two hours and forty minutes, according to Schumacher. There was talk of an extended cut being released to DVD for the film's tenth anniversary in 2005. While all four previous Batman films were given special-edition DVD releases on the same day as the Batman Begins DVD release, none of them were given extended cuts, although some scenes were in a deleted scenes section in the special features.

Box office
Batman Forever opened in a record 2,842 theaters and 4,300 screens in the United States and Canada on June 16, 1995, grossing $52.8 million in its opening weekend, taking Jurassic Parks record for having the highest opening-weekend gross of all time (it was surpassed two years later by The Lost World: Jurassic Parks $72.1 million). For six years, it had the largest opening weekend for a Warner Bros. film until 2001, when it was surpassed by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. The film also achieved the highest June opening weekend, holding that record until it was beaten by Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me in 1999, which would then be overtaken by Hulk in 2003. It was the first film to gross $20 million in one day, on its opening day on Friday. The film also beat out Congo to reach the number one spot. It grossed $77.4 million in its first week, which was below the record $81.7 million set by Jurassic Park.

Additionally, the film held the record for having the highest opening weekend for a superhero film until it was taken by X-Men in 2000. That year, How the Grinch Stole Christmas broke Batman Forever's record for scoring the biggest opening weekend for any film starring Jim Carrey. While the film was overtaken by Pocahontas during its second weekend, it still made $29.2 million. It then became the first film of 1995 to reach $100 million domestically. The film started its international roll out in Japan on June 17, 1995, and grossed $2.2 million in 5 days from 167 screens, which was only 80% of the gross of its predecessor Batman Returns.

The film went on to gross $184 million in the United States and Canada, and $152.5 million in other countries, totaling $336.53 million. The film grossed more than Batman Returns, and is the second-highest-grossing film from 1995 in the United States, behind Toy Story, as well as the sixth-highest-grossing film of that year worldwide.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, Batman Forever has an approval rating of based on  reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Loud, excessively busy, and often boring, Batman Forever nonetheless has the charisma of Jim Carrey and Tommy Lee Jones to offer mild relief." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 51 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote: "Batman Forever still gets in its licks. There's no fun machine this summer that packs more surprises." Travers criticized the film's excessive commercialism and felt that "the script misses the pain Tim Burton caught in a man tormented by the long-ago murder of his parents", but praised Kilmer's performance as having a "deftly understated [...] comic edge". James Berardinelli of ReelViews enjoyed the film, writing: "It's lighter, brighter, funnier, faster-paced, and a whole lot more colorful than before."

On the television program Siskel & Ebert, Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times both gave the film mixed reviews, but with the former giving it a thumbs up and the latter a thumbs down. In his written review, Ebert wrote: "Is the movie better entertainment? Well, it's great bubblegum for the eyes. Younger children will be able to process it more easily; some kids were led bawling from Batman Returns where the PG-13 rating was a joke."

Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle had a mixed reaction, concluding: "a shot of Kilmer's rubber buns at one point is guaranteed to bring squeals from the audience." Brian Lowry of Variety believed: "One does have to question the logic behind adding nipples to the hard-rubber batsuit. Whose idea was that supposed to be anyway, Alfred's? Some of the computer-generated Gotham cityscapes appear too obviously fake. Elliot Goldenthal's score, while serviceable, also isn't as stirring as Danny Elfman's work in the first two films."

Some observers thought Schumacher, a gay man, added possible homoerotic innuendo in the storyline. Regarding the costume design, Schumacher stated: "I had no idea that putting nipples on the Batsuit and Robin suit were going to spark international headlines. The bodies of the suits come from Ancient Greek statues, which display perfect bodies. They are anatomically correct." O'Donnell felt: "it wasn't so much the nipples that bothered me. It was the codpiece. The press obviously played it up and made it a big deal, especially with Joel directing. I didn't think twice about the controversy, but going back and looking and seeing some of the pictures, it was very unusual."

Accolades
At the 68th Academy Awards, Batman Forever was nominated for Cinematography (lost to Braveheart), Sound (Donald O. Mitchell, Frank A. Montaño, Michael Herbick and Petur Hliddal; lost to Apollo 13) and Sound Effects Editing (John Leveque and Bruce Stambler) (also lost to Braveheart).

"Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me" by U2 was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song (lost to "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas), but was also nominated for the Worst Original Song Golden Raspberry Award (lost to "Walk into the Wind" from Showgirls).

At the Saturn Awards, the film was nominated for Best Fantasy Film (lost to Babe), Make-up (lost to Seven), Special Effects (lost to Jumanji) and Costume Design (lost to 12 Monkeys).

Composer Elliot Goldenthal was given a Grammy Award nomination.

Batman Forever received six nominations at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards, four of which were divided between two categories (Carrey and Lee Jones for Best Villain; and Seal's "Kiss from a Rose" and U2's "Hold Me" in Best Song from a Movie). However, it won in just one category: Best Song from a Movie for Seal's "Kiss from a Rose".

Potential director's cut
Cuts were made to the film based on audience reactions during test screenings, like the rest of the Batman films. Photographs from these scenes have always been available since the film's release, shown in magazines such as Starlog. Some excerpts from these scenes appear in the music video for Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me. In 2005, Batman Forever was the only film in the franchise to include a dedicated deleted scenes selection among its bonus content on the special edition DVD.

After Joel Schumacher died on June 22, 2020, media outlets started reporting the possible existence of an extended cut, with the first rumors being thrown in by American journalist Marc Bernardin. Bernardin claimed it to be darker and contain less camp than the theatrical cut. Some of the differences include Bruce having a vision of a human-sized bat, less of an emphasis on Dick Grayson, and a focus on Bruce's psychological issues with Chase. The cut uses about 50 minutes of additional footage. Warner Bros. confirmed that alternative test screening cuts existed after an interview with Variety, although they have no plans to release it and are unsure about what, if any, footage remains. Later that year on August 7, Kilmer's appearance at DC FanDome fueled fan speculation about the release of a so-called "Schumacher Cut". Batman Forever screenwriter Akiva Goldsman revealed in a YouTube interview in April 2021 that he had recently seen the original cut of the film (dubbed "Preview Cut: One") and that he expects a rebirth coming up, suggesting all the footage needed to make the Schumacher cut still exists and that the release of a director's cut might be possible.

In July 2023, following a private screening of a workprint version by director Kevin Smith, Goldsman confirmed that the original cut does exist and even though Warner Bros. currently has no plans to release it, he said he was hopeful for a possible distribution in the future. Some of the aforementioned deleted scenes make up a portion of this footage.

Batman '89
An alternate six-issue comic book continuation of Batman Returns titled Batman '89, which ignores the events of Batman Forever and Batman & Robin and brings back Keaton's Batman along with Burton's dark setting seen in his first two Batman films, along with elements of his failed third Batman film (particularly, the return of Billy Dee Williams' Harvey Dent and transformation into Two-Face, the introductions of new versions of Robin and Barbara Gordon, and the return of Catwoman), was launched on August 10, 2021, with its issues releasing monthly before ending in January 2022.

In response to a question as to whether Schumacher's Batman films are canon to the world of Batman '89, the first two films' screenwriter Sam Hamm, who also serves as the comics' writer, confirmed that the latter two films take place in a diverging timeline and they are not building toward that fate.

title: Batman Forever


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Batman: Year One

Batman: Year One is an American comic book story arc written by Frank Miller and illustrated by David Mazzucchelli. Year One was originally published by DC Comics in Batman #404–407 in 1987. There have been several reprints of the story: a hardcover, multiple trade paperbacks, several deluxe editions in hardcover and paperback format, and an Absolute Edition. Year One was also adapted into an animated feature in 2011, after efforts to adapt it into a live-action film were cancelled following the failure of 1997's Batman & Robin.

The story recounts Batman's first year as a crime-fighter as well as exploring the life of recently transferred Gotham police detective Jim Gordon – eventually building towards their first encounter and their eventual alliance against Gotham's criminal underworld.

Development
In an effort to resolve continuity errors in the DC Universe, Marv Wolfman and George Pérez produced the 12-issue limited series Crisis on Infinite Earths. Wolfman's plans for the DC Universe after Crisis on Infinite Earths included relaunching every DC comic with a new first issue.

During the production of Crisis on Infinite Earths, Frank Miller was the writer of Marvel Comics' Daredevil. He collaborated with artist David Mazzucchelli to produce Daredevil: Born Again together which was critically acclaimed. Miller also worked for DC and produced the influential four-issue limited series Batman: The Dark Knight Returns (1986). By 1986, editor Dennis O'Neil moved on from Marvel to work for DC again.

The contract Miller signed to produce Dark Knight Returns also required him to write a revamped Batman origin story. Miller's past projects overwhelmed him since he had to handle both writing and illustration duties simultaneously. For Year One, he simply wrote the story and the script, with Mazzucchelli signed on to illustrate the artwork. The team also consisted of Mazzucchelli's wife Richmond Lewis who was in charge of coloring, Todd Klein as the story's letterer, and O'Neil editing the overall story. According to O'Neil, the contract Miller and Mazzucchelli signed to produce Year One in the ongoing Batman series guaranteed publication within 6 months.

Year One was originally conceived as a graphic novel. O'Neil, who had been asked to edit several issues of Batman, was friends with Miller and was able to learn of the story. Reflecting on poor sales of Batman, O'Neil caught Miller one day while on a walk in Los Angeles and convinced him and Mazzucchelli to serialize the story in the ongoing series. Miller was initially reluctant; he felt this would be hard because he had to ensure the story stayed canonical to the DC Universe, something he did not have to worry about when writing Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. In addition, Miller's pacing would have to be altered because of ongoing series' relatively small page counts. O'Neil reasoned that Crisis on Infinite Earths had completely remade the DC Universe, so Miller would be able to have the same creative freedom that Dark Knight Returns provided. He also reassured Miller that he and Mazzucchelli "weren't going to lose anything" by serializing it.

Miller has said he kept Bob Kane and Bill Finger's basic story for Year One but expanded it. In writing the story, Miller looked for parts of Batman's origin that were never explored. He left the core elements, such as the murder of Bruce's parents, intact, but reduced them to brief flashbacks. Bruce's globe-trotting adventures were removed, as Miller found them uninteresting. Rather than portraying Batman as a larger-than-life icon as he had in The Dark Knight Returns, Miller chose to characterize Batman in Year One as an average, inexperienced man trying to make a change in society because Miller believed a superhero is least interesting when most effective. Examples of this include Batman underestimating his opponents, getting shot by police, and his costume being too big. The story's violence was kept street-level and gritty, emphasizing noir and realism.

In illustrating, Mazzucchelli sought to make Year One look grimy, dark, and muted. His interpretation of Gotham City was designed to symbolize corruption, featuring muddy colors that gave the impression of the city being dirty and needing a hero. The newsprint paper used in Batman was unable to reproduce the bright coloring and visual effects of Dark Knight Returns, so Mazzucchelli took on Year One with a more grounded and darker approach.

Publication
In accordance with Wolfman's plans, O'Neil initially saw "Year One" as the start of the second volume of Batman and expected the first part to be its first issue. However, Miller rejected this idea. He explained: "I don't need to slash through continuity with a sharp blade as I thought. Doing The Dark Knight Returns has shown me there's been enough good material... I didn't feel that fleshing out an unknown part of Batman's history justified wiping out 50 years of [adventures]." Thus, the four "Year One" issues bear no continuity to past issues of Batman.

Collected editions
In 1988, DC finally gave the approval to publish Year One as collected edition in trade paperback (ISBN 0930289331) and hardcover (ISBN 0930289323). The Year One monthly issues were originally printed on newsprint paper. Starting with the collected edition, Mazzucchelli specifically opted to change the paper stock used for printing since he had always felt this is the format that offers a better reading experience than the monthly issues. The original artworks were slightly tweaked with Lewis utilizing a new set of color palettes to recolor the entire story in order to accommodate the visual changes. Both Warner Books (ISBN 0446389234) and Titan Books (ISBN 1852860774) also published trade paperbacks in 1988 for other regions across the world.

In 1989, Longmeadow Press published The Complete Frank Miller Batman (ISBN 068140969X), collecting Year One, Wanted: Santa Claus - Dead or Alive!, and The Dark Knight Returns.

In April 2005, DC released the "Deluxe Edition" of Year One in hardcover (ISBN 1401206905) and trade paperback (ISBN 1401207529) to coincide with the release of Batman Begins. This edition reuses the story pages from the 1988 collected edition with Mazzucchelli supplying the promotional and unseen Batman art, Lewis' color samples, some of the original penciled artwork, and some pages of the original script as bonus materials. The cover was designed by Mazzucchelli and Chip Kidd.

The hardcover deluxe edition was re-released in 2012 (ISBN 1401233422). Mazzucchelli clarified that he was not contacted by DC to get involved with this edition. Having been sent a copy of the book by DC, Mazzucchelli was unhappy with the quality and opined that "Anybody who's already paid for [the book] should send it back to DC and demand a refund.". He described the re-release as having "thrown all [his] work [on the 2005 release] in the garbage", citing the redesigned cover, recolored artwork, the "shiny paper" used, and the printing of the color "from corrupted, out-of-focus digital files" as points of contention.

In November 2014, to celebrate Batman's 75th anniversary, DC released a sample of Year One as a part of its DC Comics Essentials line of promotional comics.

In 2015, DC released a hardcover of Year One (ISBN 1401260047) which included its 2011 animated film adaptation on both DVD and Blu-ray.

In November 2016, DC released a 288-page Absolute Edition of Year One (ISBN 1401243797). This edition comes in a slipcase with two hardcover books. Book One features a whole new scanning from the original artworks by Mazzucchelli and remastered coloring by Lewis, while Book Two features scanning pages directly from the physical copies of the Year One monthly issues. Over 60 pages of bonus materials are also included, including Miller's complete scripts in Book Two.

In 2017, the hardcover deluxe edition was re-released again (ISBN 1401272940), this time with the same paper quality and coloring as Book One of the 2016 Absolute Edition.

In March 2022, to coincide with the release of The Batman, DC released The Batman Box Set (ISBN 1779514298), collecting trade paperbacks of Year One, The Long Halloween, and Ego and Other Tails in a slipcase with art by Jim Lee. Director Matt Reeves cited the three graphic novels as the major influences for the film.

In May 2023, IDW Publishing announced that Year One will be getting the Artist's Edition (ISBN 9798887240039) treatment, the publishing date will be in August 2024. Mazzucchelli personally supplies the artworks for scanning with Chip Kidd serving as the designer of the book.

Plot
Billionaire Bruce Wayne returns home to Gotham City after twelve years abroad, training for his eventual one-man war against crime. James "Jim" Gordon moves to Gotham with his wife, Barbara, after a transfer from Chicago. Both are swiftly acquainted with the corrupt and violent atmosphere of the city. Gordon tries to focus on purging corruption from the Gotham City Police Department after witnessing his partner, Detective Arnold Flass, abuse his power as a cop. Unfortunately, several officers led by Flass beat him on orders from his superior, Commissioner Gillian Loeb. In revenge, Gordon tracks Flass down, beats him, and leaves him naked and handcuffed in the snow.

Bruce believes he is still unprepared to fight against crime despite having the skills he learned abroad. He goes in disguise on a surveillance mission in Gotham's red-light district, but is reluctantly drawn into a brawl with several prostitutes, Holly Robinson and Selina Kyle. Two police officers shoot Bruce on sight and take him away in their patrol car. Bruce breaks free, flees from the scene, and returns to Wayne Manor barely alive. He sits before his father's bust, requesting guidance in his war against crime. A bat suddenly crashes through a window and settles on the bust, inspiring him to save Gotham as Batman.

Crimes significantly decline after weeks of Bruce striking as Batman. He even goes after Flass, who is in the middle of accepting a bribe from Jefferson Skeevers, a drug dealer of Carmine Falcone. Batman interrupts a dinner party held at the mansion of Gotham's mayor and announces that everyone in the party will be brought to justice for their crimes. Infuriated by Batman's threats, Loeb orders Gordon and GCPD Sergeant Sarah Essen to arrest him. The two cops later come across a runaway truck that nearly hits an old lady. Batman manages to save the lady's life while Gordon stops the truck. Batman then flees into an abandoned building which Loeb orders a bomb dropped on. He also sends in a SWAT team led by a trigger-happy commander, Branden, to kill any survivors left in the building. Batman uses a signal device to attract a swarm of bats from the Batcave as his only route to escape. After witnessing Batman in action, Selina is inspired to don a costume of her own and begin a life of crime.

Gordon and Essen have a brief affair and spend two months dating. Essen, however, chooses to leave Gotham upon learning he is going to be the father of Barbara's child. Gordon is left alone to investigate Bruce's connection to Batman. He travels to Wayne Manor with Barbara to interrogate Bruce, who uses his playboy charms to divert suspicion. While leaving the manor, Gordon confesses his affair with Essen to Barbara. Skeevers gets bailed with the help of a hired lawyer but is attacked by Batman shortly after, who convinces him to testify against Flass. Skeevers is drugged with rat poison in an assassination attempt so that he remains silent about the ties between the GCPD and the mafia, although Skeevers ultimately survives.

Bruce sneaks into Falcone's manor as Batman and overhears the private conversation between Falcone and his nephew, Johnny Viti. He surmises their intent to target Gordon's family, so he disguises himself as a motorcyclist to help Gordon. Gordon leaves home on Loeb's orders but becomes suspicious and turns back, only to discover Viti and his men already holding his family hostage. Viti flees the scene with Gordon's infant son. Gordon chases after him on Bruce's motorcycle. The two men end up fighting on a bridge until the baby falls. Bruce catches up in time and leaps over the bridge's railing to save the baby. Gordon thanks Bruce for saving his infant son's life and lets him go. Flass supplies Assistant District Attorney Harvey Dent with the evidence and testimony needed to implicate Loeb, who resigns in disgrace. Gordon is promoted to captain and prepares to meet with Batman to investigate a potential plot orchestrated by a criminal calling himself the Joker.

Popularity
DC's post-Crisis on Infinite Earths revamp was a major success, raising sales 22% in the first year, and DC beat Marvel in direct market sales for the first time in August and September 1987. The four "Year One" issues were no exception to this. Two years before the relaunch, Batman had all-time low sales of 75,000 copies per month; "Year One" sold an average of 193,000 copies an issue, numbers not seen since the early 1970s. Despite this, it did not outsell other books like Uncanny X-Men, and the collected edition sold well but never matched the sales of The Dark Knight Returns. The story, with the noir-inspired narrative and ultra-violent tone, quickly caught the attention of readers. The Los Angeles Times wrote that "Year One" offered an interesting and entertaining update to the origin of Batman.

Critical response
Year One's characterization of Batman and Gordon, has been praised. Hilary Goldstein (IGN) compared their journey to friendship to the plot of the film Serpico; they found that the two characters' respective story arcs—with Gordon's "illustrat[ing] the corruption in Gotham" and Batman's detailing "the transformation from man to myth"—offered an exploration of Batman's world like no other. Glenn Matchett (ComicsVerse) wrote that, unlike The Dark Knight Returns, Batman in Year One is more vulnerable and inexperienced, which made the story more memorable. Nick Roberts (Geek Syndicate) thought the characters seemed believable, and comics historian Matthew K. Manning called the characterization realistic and grounded.

The story's depiction of Gotham and darker, realistic, mature and more grittier tone and direction, compared to other contemporary Batman comics at the time, has also been acclaimed. Journalist James Lovegrove described "Year One" as a "noir-inflected pulp tale of vigilantism and integrity, focused on a good man doing the right thing in a dirty world" and noted the brutality of the fight sequences. Jason Serafino (Complex) wrote that by ignoring many of Batman's trademark gadgets and villains and focusing in the core essentials of the titular character, Miller managed to present Batman in a relatable and thrilling way, which felt both fresh, unique and reinvigorating, while still being faithful to the spirit of the character. Goldstein found every moment memorable, writing "Miller does not waste a single panel" in presenting a gritty and dark story. Matchett agreed; he offered particular praise for the scenes depicting Batman clashing with the police, calling them the moment Batman began to become a legend.

Mazzucchelli's art was noted as a standout by many, praising the minimalistic, noir-influenced and realistic art-work.

Continuity
Before The New 52 in 2011, Batman: Year One existed in the mainstream DC continuity, and in the same continuity as the other storylines in Miller's "Dark Knight Universe", consisting of The Dark Knight Returns, its sequel The Dark Knight Strikes Again, The Dark Knight III: The Master Race, The Dark Knight Returns: The Last Crusade, Spawn/Batman, and All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder. Following The New 52 reboot, Batman: Zero Year replaced Year One as the official origin for Batman and Year One was relegated to the continuity of the other Frank Miller storylines. However, following the DC Rebirth initiative, elements of "Year One" were gradually returned to the mainstream DC continuity.

After Crisis on Infinite Earths, DC rebooted many of its titles. Year One was followed by Batman: Year Two, but the 1994 Zero Hour: Crisis in Time crossover erased Year Two from continuity. In another continuity re-arrangement, Catwoman: Year One (Catwoman Annual #2, 1995) posited that Selina Kyle had not actually been a prostitute, but, rather, a thief posing as one in order to commit crimes.

Launched in 1989, following the success of the film Batman, the title Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight examines crime-fighting exploits primarily, not exclusively, from the first four to five years of Batman's career. This title rotated in creative teams and time placement, but several stories directly relate to the events of Year One, especially the first arc "Batman: Shaman". In 1996 and 1999, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale created Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory, two 13-issue maxiseries that recount Batman's early years as a crime-fighter following the events of Miller's original story and retold the origins of Two-Face and Dick Grayson. The Year One story was continued in the 2005 graphic novel Batman: The Man Who Laughs, following up on Gordon informing Batman about the Joker, and thus recounting their first official encounter. Two other stories, Batman and the Monster Men and Batman and the Mad Monk tie into the same time period of Batman's career, filling in the gap between Year One and the Man Who Laughs. The comics Robin: Year One and Batgirl: Year One describe his sidekicks' origin stories.

Sequels
Two sequels, titled Batman: Year Two and Batman: Year Three, were released in 1987 and 1989.

Adaptations
Joel Schumacher's Batman Forever, although set during another timespan, adopts some elements directly from the graphic novel. Schumacher claims he originally had in mind an adaptation of Frank Miller's Batman: Year One. The studio rejected the idea as they wanted a sequel, not a prequel, though Schumacher was able to include very brief events in Batman's past.

The DC Animated Universe film, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, adopted elements of the storyline, depicting flashbacks of how Bruce Wayne became Batman and also combines it with elements of Batman: Year Two and shows Batman's personal connection with original character Phantasm inspired by the Reaper, another character in the comics with a connection to Batman.

After the critical failure of Batman & Robin, several attempts were made to reboot the Batman film franchise with an adaptation of Year One. Joss Whedon and Joel Schumacher both pitched their own takes. In 2000, Warner Bros. hired Darren Aronofsky to write and direct Batman: Year One. The film was to be written by Miller, who finished an early draft of the script. The script, however, was a loose adaptation, as it kept most of the themes and elements from the graphic novel but shunned other conventions that were otherwise integral to the character. It was shelved by the studio in 2001, after an individual who claimed to have read Miller's script published a negative review on Ain't It Cool News. In 2016, Miller explained that the film was canceled because of creative differences between him, Aronofsky, and Warner Bros:

"It was the first time I worked on a Batman project with somebody whose vision of Batman was darker than mine. My Batman was too nice for him. We would argue about it, and I'd say, 'Batman wouldn't do that, he wouldn't torture anybody' and so on. We hashed out a screenplay, and we were wonderfully compensated, but then Warner Bros. read it and said, 'We don't want to make this movie.' The executive wanted to do a Batman he could take his kids to."

In 2005, Christopher Nolan began his series with the reboot film Batman Begins, which draws inspiration from "Year One" and other stories. Batman Begins and its sequel The Dark Knight are set during the same timespan and adopt several elements directly from the graphic novel. Major characters like Commissioner Loeb, Detective Flass and Carmine 'The Roman' Falcone are featured prominently in Batman Begins. Film critic Michael Dodd argued that with each major motion picture focused on the Dark Knight's origins, the odes and references to the Year One comic increased. Comparing Mask of the Phantasm with Batman Begins he noted that "...Phantasm was a Batman story with Year One elements, while Batman Begins was a Year One story with added features". The film's end scene, with Gordon revealing the Joker's arrival in Gotham, mirrors the end of Year One.

In 2011, an animated adaptation was released as a DC Universe Animated Original Movie. It was produced by Bruce Timm, co-directed by Lauren Montgomery and Sam Liu. It features the voices of Benjamin McKenzie as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Bryan Cranston as James "Jim" Gordon, Eliza Dushku as Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Katee Sackhoff as Sarah Essen, Grey DeLisle as Barbara Gordon, Jon Polito as Commissioner Loeb, Alex Rocco as Carmine 'The Roman' Falcone, and Jeff Bennett as Alfred Pennyworth. The movie premiered at Comic-Con, with a Catwoman short shown in October.

While not a direct adaptation, the video game Batman: Arkham Origins takes some inspiration from Batman: Year One and features a younger, less-experienced Batman in his second year of crimefighting. Set eight years before Batman: Arkham Asylum, the prequel follows Batman encountering eight of the world's greatest assassins as they attempt to claim Black Mask's $50-million bounty on his head, all while being hunted by the Gotham City Police Department for his vigilantism.

The second half of the fourth season of the Batman-based television series Gotham is inspired by Batman: Year One.

Director Matt Reeves cited Year One as one of the inspirations for The Batman, with Robert Pattinson portraying a younger Bruce Wayne who is in his second year as a crime-fighter.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Batman: Year One


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Talk:Batman

Splitting proposal
Given the article's length, I propose dividing both sections, "Other versions" and "Cultural impact and legacy," into separate articles. Lililolol (talk) 01:13, 5 June 2024 (UTC)

 * Opposed: I propose the article stays as it is, as many people went to great lengths to source a cultural icon, only for a reduction of information. Who is complaining that the article is too long? WhistlersDog (talk) 13:52, 26 June 2024 (UTC)

Merge proposal
I propose merging Batman (Jace Fox) into Batman as he is, in my opinion, not old enough or notable enough to warrant his own article and as most of that article deals with in-universe information. Year2006 (talk) 12:32, 17 June 2024 (UTC)

 * Opposed: I believe the Batman article is too lengthy. It's better to either keep Batman (Jace Fox) as a separate article or merge it with the list of other versions of Batman, deleting the collection section if you choose to merge it with the latter. Lililolol (talk) 22:01, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
 * The other versions section and article deal with non-comic and Elseworlds versions of Batman; Batman (Jace Fox) goes in the "Others" sub-section of the "Characterization" section.
 * I also think that content from the Batman (Jace Fox) article doesn't needs to be transferred, as the vast majority of it is in-universe information, and that the sentence that deals with him in this article is sufficient. Year2006 (talk) 05:45, 18 June 2024 (UTC)
 * @Year2006 If it doesn't to be transferred then it should be a redirect instead of merge. Lililolol (talk) 18:48, 23 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Opposed: There's precedent for articles of Batman characters with even less appearances such as the original Batwoman, Kathy Kane, or Bluebird (Harper Row), to keep their individual status. As well as characters like Batman (Terry McGinnis) having their own page. Batman (Jace Fox) is in the primary canon with more appearances to come, thus it would make little sense to relegate him to lesser than those. The Above All Others (talk) 12:17, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Kathy Kane is a decades-old character and Terry McGinnis was made to be a protagonist of a tv show. The Harper Row article should not have been made when it was made but I do think that its existence is appropriate now considering her usage in Gotham Knights Year2006 (talk) 14:30, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Is it a policy that a character must be old enough to merit its own article like Kathy? And Terry McGinnis was created as the protagonist of a TV show, but does that mean he is notable enough to have his own article? The same question applies to Harper Row. Lililolol (talk) 16:01, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
 * This doesn't translate to Wikipedia policy but it is indisputable that those characters are more notable than Jace Fox. In terms of the Wikipedia notability policy, both Terry McGinnis and Kathy Kane clearly qualify to have their own article but Harper Row probably does not. Year2006 (talk) 18:06, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Jace Fox was created in 1979, he is decades-old as well. Kathy Kane has only about 20 more appearances than Jace and an equal amount of adaptations, really. I do not see the difference. The Above All Others (talk) 21:45, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
 * I mistook Kathy Kane with Kate Kane but they are fundamentally the same character and the former's article is backed up by a scholarly source. Also, there is a clearly a difference between them; Kathy Kane was created to be a love interest and a deuteragonist while Timothy Fox was created to be a side character. Year2006 (talk) 04:39, 20 June 2024 (UTC)
 * They're not the same character, as Kathy Kane is a former love interest of Bruce's, and Kate Kane is his cousin. With characters like Yara Flor and Jo Mullein having pages, it wouldn't make sense to relegate Jace to your proposal. The Above All Others (talk) 16:16, 29 June 2024 (UTC)

 * Opposed: Like others said, If Terry can have his own page as well as the originally Kathy Kane, there's no reason why Jace Fox's Batman, who at least stars his own solo and is a notably different version of Batman enough, can have his own.JayAaerow (talk)
 * Oppose: Your opinion is of poor rationale, not particularly relevant to how Wikipedia handles articles, and you have not provided enough (if any) justification for merging this article about a separate character with this mantle. Trailblazer101 (talk) 06:06, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

Batman's birthday
Batman's birthday is November 5th 1983 2601:1C1:4202:5270:E3CD:45C1:7EB4:41FD (talk) 23:46, 6 July 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Batman


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Bidirectional text

A bidirectional text contains two text directionalities, right-to-left (RTL) and left-to-right (LTR). It generally involves text containing different types of alphabets, but may also refer to boustrophedon, which is changing text direction in each row.

An example is the RTL Hebrew name Sarah: שרה, spelled sin (ש) on the right, resh (ר) in the middle, and heh (ה) on the left. Many computer program failed to display this correctly, because they were designed to display text in one direction only.

Some so-called right-to-left scripts such as the Persian script and Arabic are mostly, but not exclusively, right-to-left—mathematical expressions, numeric dates and numbers bearing units are embedded from left to right. That also happens if text from a left-to-right language such as English is embedded in them; or vice versa, if Arabic is embedded in a left-to-right script such as English.

Bidirectional script support
Bidirectional script support is the capability of a computer system to correctly display bidirectional text. The term is often shortened to "BiDi" or "bidi".

Early computer installations were designed only to support a single writing system, typically for left-to-right scripts based on the Latin alphabet only. Adding new character sets and character encodings enabled a number of other left-to-right scripts to be supported, but did not easily support right-to-left scripts such as Arabic or Hebrew, and mixing the two was not practical. Right-to-left scripts were introduced through encodings like ISO/IEC 8859-6 and ISO/IEC 8859-8, storing the letters (usually) in writing and reading order. It is possible to simply flip the left-to-right display order to a right-to-left display order, but doing this sacrifices the ability to correctly display left-to-right scripts. With bidirectional script support, it is possible to mix characters from different scripts on the same page, regardless of writing direction.

In particular, the Unicode standard provides foundations for complete BiDi support, with detailed rules as to how mixtures of left-to-right and right-to-left scripts are to be encoded and displayed.

Unicode bidi support
The Unicode standard calls for characters to be ordered 'logically', i.e. in the sequence they are intended to be interpreted, as opposed to 'visually', the sequence they appear. This distinction is relevant for bidi support because at any bidi transition, the visual presentation ceases to be the 'logical' one. Thus, in order to offer bidi support, Unicode prescribes an algorithm for how to convert the logical sequence of characters into the correct visual presentation. For this purpose, the Unicode encoding standard divides all its characters into one of four types: 'strong', 'weak', 'neutral', and 'explicit formatting'.

Strong characters
Strong characters are those with a definite direction. Examples of this type of character include most alphabetic characters, syllabic characters, Han ideographs, non-European or non-Arabic digits, and punctuation characters that are specific to only those scripts.

Weak characters
Weak characters are those with vague direction. Examples of this type of character include European digits, Eastern Arabic-Indic digits, arithmetic symbols, and currency symbols.

Neutral characters
Neutral characters have direction indeterminable without context. Examples include paragraph separators, tabs, and most other whitespace characters. Punctuation symbols that are common to many scripts, such as the colon, comma, full-stop, and the no-break-space also fall within this category.

Explicit formatting
Explicit formatting characters, also referred to as "directional formatting characters", are special Unicode sequences that direct the algorithm to modify its default behavior. These characters are subdivided into "marks", "embeddings", "isolates", and "overrides". Their effects continue until the occurrence of either a paragraph separator, or a "pop" character.

Marks
If a "weak" character is followed by another "weak" character, the algorithm will look at the first neighbouring "strong" character. Sometimes this leads to unintentional display errors. These errors are corrected or prevented with "pseudo-strong" characters. Such Unicode control characters are called marks. The mark ( or ) is to be inserted into a location to make an enclosed weak character inherit its writing direction.

For example, to correctly display the for an English name brand (LTR) in an Arabic (RTL) passage, an LRM mark is inserted after the trademark symbol if the symbol is not followed by LTR text (e.g. "قرأ Wikipedia™ طوال اليوم."). If the LRM mark is not added, the weak character ™ will be neighbored by a strong LTR character and a strong RTL character. Hence, in an RTL context, it will be considered to be RTL, and displayed in an incorrect order (e.g. "قرأ Wikipedia™ طوال اليوم.").

Embeddings
The "embedding" directional formatting characters are the classical Unicode method of explicit formatting, and as of Unicode 6.3, are being discouraged in favor of "isolates". An "embedding" signals that a piece of text is to be treated as directionally distinct. The text within the scope of the embedding formatting characters is not independent of the surrounding text. Also, characters within an embedding can affect the ordering of characters outside. Unicode 6.3 recognized that directional embeddings usually have too strong an effect on their surroundings and are thus unnecessarily difficult to use.

Isolates
The "isolate" directional formatting characters signal that a piece of text is to be treated as directionally isolated from its surroundings. As of Unicode 6.3, these are the formatting characters that are being encouraged in new documents – once target platforms are known to support them. These formatting characters were introduced after it became apparent that directional embeddings usually have too strong an effect on their surroundings and are thus unnecessarily difficult to use. Unlike the legacy 'embedding' directional formatting characters, 'isolate' characters have no effect on the ordering of the text outside their scope. Isolates can be nested, and may be placed within embeddings and overrides.

Overrides
The "override" directional formatting characters allow for special cases, such as for part numbers (e.g. to force a part number made of mixed English, digits and Hebrew letters to be written from right to left), and are recommended to be avoided wherever possible. As is true of the other directional formatting characters, "overrides" can be nested one inside another, and in embeddings and isolates.

Pops
The "pop" directional formatting characters terminate the scope of the most recent "embedding", "override", or "isolate".

Runs
In the algorithm, each sequence of concatenated strong characters is called a "run". A "weak" character that is located between two "strong" characters with the same orientation will inherit their orientation. A "weak" character that is located between two "strong" characters with a different writing direction will inherit the main context's writing direction (in an LTR document the character will become LTR, in an RTL document, it will become RTL).

Security
Unicode bidirectional characters are used in the Trojan Source vulnerability.

Visual Studio Code highlights BiDi control characters since version 1.62 released in October 2021.

Visual Studio highlights BiDi control characters since version 17.0.3 released on December 14, 2021.

Egyptian hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs were written bidirectionally, where the signs that had a distinct "head" or "tail" faced the beginning of the line.

Chinese characters and other CJK scripts
Chinese characters can be written in either direction as well as vertically (top to bottom then right to left), especially in signs (such as plaques), but the orientation of the individual characters does not change. This can often be seen on tour buses in China, where the company name customarily runs from the front of the vehicle to its rear — that is, from right to left on the right side of the bus, and from left to right on the left side of the bus. English texts on the right side of the vehicle are also quite commonly written in reverse order. (See pictures of tour bus and post vehicle below.)

Likewise, other CJK scripts made up of the same square characters, such as the Japanese writing system and Korean writing system, can also be written in any direction, although horizontally left-to-right, top-to-bottom and vertically top-to-bottom right-to-left are the two most common forms.

Boustrophedon
Boustrophedon is a writing style found in ancient Greek inscriptions, in Old Sabaic (an Old South Arabian language) and in Hungarian runes. This method of writing alternates direction, and usually reverses the individual characters, on each successive line.

Moon type
Moon type is an embossed adaptation of the Latin alphabet invented as a tactile alphabet for the blind. Initially the text changed direction (but not character orientation) at the end of the lines. Special embossed lines connected the end of a line and the beginning of the next. Around 1990, it changed to a left-to-right orientation.

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Bernoulli's inequality

In mathematics, Bernoulli's inequality (named after Jacob Bernoulli) is an inequality that approximates exponentiations of $$1+x$$. It is often employed in real analysis. It has several useful variants:

Integer exponent

 * Case 1: $$(1 + x)^r \geq 1 + rx$$ for every integer $$r\geq 1$$ and real number $$x\geq-1$$. The inequality is strict if $$x\neq 0$$ and $$r\geq 2$$.
 * Case 2: $$(1 + x)^r \geq 1 + rx$$ for every integer $$r\geq 0$$ and every real number $$x\geq -2$$.
 * Case 3: $$(1 + x)^r \geq 1 + rx$$ for every even integer $$r\geq 0$$ and every real number $$x$$.

Real exponent

 * $$(1 + x)^r \geq 1 + rx$$ for every real number $$r\geq 1$$ and $$x\geq -1$$. The inequality is strict if $$x\neq 0$$ and $$r\neq 1$$.
 * $$(1 + x)^r \leq 1 + rx$$ for every real number $$0\leq r\leq 1$$ and $$x\geq -1$$.

History
Jacob Bernoulli first published the inequality in his treatise "Positiones Arithmeticae de Seriebus Infinitis" (Basel, 1689), where he used the inequality often.

According to Joseph E. Hofmann, Über die Exercitatio Geometrica des M. A. Ricci (1963), p. 177, the inequality is actually due to Sluse in his Mesolabum (1668 edition), Chapter IV "De maximis & minimis".

Proof for integer exponent
The first case has a simple inductive proof:

Suppose the statement is true for $$r=k$$:

 * $$(1+x)^k \ge 1+kx. $$

Then it follows that

\begin{align} (1+x)^{k+1} &= (1+x)^k(1+x) \\ &\ge (1+kx)(1+x) \\ &=1+kx+x+kx^2 \\ &=1+x(k+1)+kx^2 \\ &\ge 1+(k+1)x \end{align} $$

Bernoulli's inequality can be proved for case 2, in which $$r$$ is a non-negative integer and $$x\ge-2$$, using mathematical induction in the following form:
 * we prove the inequality for $$r\in\{0,1\}$$,
 * from validity for some r we deduce validity for $$r+2$$.

For $$r=0$$,

 * $$(1+x)^0 \ge 1+0x$$

is equivalent to $$1\geq 1$$ which is true.

Similarly, for $$r=1$$ we have

 * $$(1+x)^r=1+x \ge 1+rx. $$

Now suppose the statement is true for $$r=k$$:

 * $$(1+x)^k \ge 1+kx. $$

Then it follows that

\begin{align} (1+x)^{k+2} &= (1+x)^k(1+x)^2 \\ &\ge (1+kx)\left(1+2x+x^2\right) \qquad\qquad\qquad\text{ by hypothesis and }(1+x)^2\ge 0 \\ &=1+2x+x^2+kx+2kx^2+kx^3 \\ &=1+(k+2)x+kx^2(x+2)+x^2 \\ &\ge 1+(k+2)x \end{align} $$

since $$x^2\ge 0$$ as well as $$x+2\ge0$$. By the modified induction we conclude the statement is true for every non-negative integer $$r$$.

By noting that if $$x<-2$$, then $$1+rx$$ is negative gives case 3.

Generalization of exponent
The exponent $$r$$ can be generalized to an arbitrary real number as follows: if $$x>-1$$, then

 * $$(1 + x)^r \geq 1 + rx$$

for $$r\leq 0$$ or $$\geq 1$$, and

 * $$(1 + x)^r \leq 1 + rx$$

for $$0\leq r\leq 1$$.

This generalization can be proved by comparing derivatives. The strict versions of these inequalities require $$x\neq 0$$ and $$r\neq 0, 1$$.

Generalization of base
Instead of $$(1+x)^n$$ the inequality holds also in the form $$(1+x_1)(1+x_2)\dots(1+x_r) \geq 1+x_1+x_2 + \dots + x_r$$ where $$x_1, x_2, \dots, x_r$$ are real numbers, all greater than $$-1$$, all with the same sign. Bernoulli's inequality is a special case when $$x_1 = x_2 = \dots = x_r = x$$. This generalized inequality can be proved by mathematical induction.

In the first step we take $$n=1$$. In this case the inequality $$1+x_1 \geq 1 + x_1$$ is obviously true.

In the second step we assume validity of the inequality for $$r$$ numbers and deduce validity for $$r+1$$ numbers.

We assume that$$(1+x_1)(1+x_2)\dots(1+x_r) \geq 1+x_1+x_2 + \dots + x_r$$is valid. After multiplying both sides with a positive number $$(x_{r+1} + 1)$$ we get:

$$\begin{alignat}{2} (1+x_1)(1+x_2)\dots(1+x_r)(1+x_{r+1}) \geq & (1+x_1+x_2 + \dots + x_r)(1+x_{r+1}) \\ \geq & (1+x_1+x_2+ \dots + x_r) \cdot 1 + (1+x_1+x_2+ \dots + x_r) \cdot x_{r+1} \\ \geq & (1+x_1+x_2+ \dots + x_r) + x_{r+1} + x_1 x_{r+1} + x_2 x_{r+1} + \dots + x_r x_{r+1} \\ \end{alignat}$$

As $$x_1, x_2, \dots x_r, x_{r+1}$$ all have the same sign, the products $$x_1 x_{r+1}, x_2 x_{r+1}, \dots x_r x_{r+1}$$ are all positive numbers. So the quantity on the right-hand side can be bounded as follows:$$(1+x_1+x_2+ \dots + x_r) + x_{r+1} + x_1 x_{r+1} + x_2 x_{r+1} + \dots + x_r x_{r+1} \geq 1+x_1+x_2+ \dots + x_r + x_{r+1},$$what was to be shown.

Related inequalities
The following inequality estimates the $$r$$-th power of $$1+x$$ from the other side. For any real numbers $$x$$ and $$r$$ with $$r >0$$, one has

 * $$(1 + x)^r \le e^{rx},$$

where $$e =$$ 2.718.... This may be proved using the inequality

 * $$ \left(1 + \frac{1}{k}\right)^k < e.$$

Alternative form
An alternative form of Bernoulli's inequality for $$ t\geq 1 $$ and  $$ 0\le x\le 1 $$  is:

 * $$(1-x)^t \ge 1-xt.$$

This can be proved (for any integer $$t$$) by using the formula for geometric series: (using $$y=1-x$$)

 * $$t=1+1+\dots+1 \ge 1+y+y^2+\ldots+y^{t-1} = \frac{1-y^t}{1-y},$$

or equivalently $$xt \ge 1-(1-x)^t.$$

Arithmetic and geometric means
An elementary proof for $$0\le r\le 1$$ and $$x \ge -1$$ can be given using weighted AM-GM.

Let $$\lambda_1, \lambda_2$$ be two non-negative real constants. By weighted AM-GM on $$1,1+x$$ with weights $$\lambda_1, \lambda_2$$ respectively, we get

 * $$\dfrac{\lambda_1\cdot 1 + \lambda_2\cdot (1+x)}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}\ge \sqrt[\lambda_1+\lambda_2]{(1+x)^{\lambda_2}}.$$

Note that

 * $$\dfrac{\lambda_1\cdot 1 + \lambda_2\cdot (1+x)}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}=\dfrac{\lambda_1+\lambda_2+\lambda_2x}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}=1+\dfrac{\lambda_2}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}x$$

and

 * $$\sqrt[\lambda_1+\lambda_2]{(1+x)^{\lambda_2}} = (1+x)^{\frac{\lambda_2}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}},$$

so our inequality is equivalent to

 * $$1 + \dfrac{\lambda_2}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}x \ge (1+x)^{\frac{\lambda_2}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}}.$$

After substituting $$r = \dfrac{\lambda_2}{\lambda_1+\lambda_2}$$ (bearing in mind that this implies $$0\le r\le 1$$) our inequality turns into

 * $$1+rx \ge (1+x)^r$$

which is Bernoulli's inequality.

Geometric series
Bernoulli's inequality

is equivalent to

and by the formula for geometric series (using y = 1 + x) we get which leads to

Now if $$x \ge 0$$ then by monotony of the powers each summand $$(1+x)^k - 1 = (1+x)^k - 1^k \ge 0$$, and therefore their sum is greater $$0$$ and hence the product on the LHS of ($$).

If $$ 0 \ge x\ge -2 $$ then by the same arguments $$1\ge(1+x)^k$$ and thus all addends $$(1+x)^k-1$$ are non-positive and hence so is their sum. Since the product of two non-positive numbers is non-negative, we get again ($$).

Binomial theorem
One can prove Bernoulli's inequality for x ≥ 0 using the binomial theorem. It is true trivially for r = 0, so suppose r is a positive integer. Then $$(1+x)^r = 1 + rx + \tbinom r2 x^2 + ... + \tbinom rr x^r.$$ Clearly $$\tbinom r2 x^2 + ... + \tbinom rr x^r \ge 0,$$ and hence $$(1+x)^r \ge 1+rx$$ as required.

Using convexity
For $$0\neq x\ge -1$$ the function $$h(\alpha)=(1+x)^\alpha$$ is strictly convex. Therefore for $$0<\alpha<1$$ holds $$(1+x)^\alpha=h(\alpha)=h((1-\alpha)\cdot 0+\alpha\cdot 1)<(1-\alpha) h(0)+\alpha h(1)=1+\alpha x$$ and the reversed inequality is valid for $$\alpha<0$$ and $$\alpha>1$$.

title: Bernoulli's inequality


text:
Benjamin Franklin-class submarine

The Benjamin Franklin class of US ballistic missile submarines were in Navy service from the 1960s–2000s. The class was an evolutionary development from the earlier James Madison-class submarine of fleet ballistic missile submarine. Having quieter machinery and other improvements, it is considered a separate class. A subset of this class is the re-engineered 640 class starting with USS George C. Marshall (SSBN-654). The primary difference was that they were built under the new SUBSAFE rules after the loss of USS Thresher (SSN-593), earlier boats of the class had to be retrofitted to meet SUBSAFE requirements. The Benjamin Franklin class, together with the George Washington-class submarine, Ethan Allen-class submarine, Lafayette-class submarine, and James Madison-class submarine classes, comprised the "41 for Freedom" that was the Navy's primary contribution to the nuclear deterrent force through the late 1980s. This class and the James Madison class are combined with the Lafayettes in some references.

Design
The Benjamin Franklin-class submarines were built with the Polaris A-3 ballistic missile, and in the early 1970s were converted to carry the Poseidon C-3 missile. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, six boats were further modified to carry the Trident I (C-4) missile, along with six James Madison-class boats. These were Benjamin Franklin, Simon Bolivar, George Bancroft, Henry L. Stimson, Francis Scott Key, and Mariano G. Vallejo.

Due to the loss of USS Thresher (SSN-593) in April 1963, this class was designed to SUBSAFE standards and its equipment was similar to the Sturgeon-class submarine fast attack submarines (SSNs). Previous US SSBNs except the George Washington class had equipment similar to the Thresher-class submarine SSNs.

This class can be distinguished by the fairwater planes' location halfway up the sail; the Lafayettes and James Madisons had the fairwater planes in the upper front portion of the sail.

Two submarines of this class were converted for delivery of up to 66 SEALs or other Special Operations Forces each. In the early 1990s, to make room for the Ohio-class submarine ballistic missile submarines within the limits set by the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty, the ballistic missile tubes of USS Kamehameha (SSBN-642) and USS James K. Polk (SSBN-645) were disabled. Those boats were redesignated special operations attack submarines and given attack submarine (SSN) hull classification symbols. They were equipped with dry deck shelters to accommodate SEAL Delivery Vehicles or other equipment.

Fate
The Benjamin Franklins were decommissioned between 1992 and 2002 due to a combination of SALT II treaty limitations as the Ohio-class submarine SSBNs entered service, age, and the collapse of the Soviet Union. USS Kamehameha was decommissioned on 2 April 2002, the last ship of the Benjamin Franklin class to be decommissioned.

The sail of George Bancroft is preserved at the Naval Submarine Base King's Bay, Georgia. James K. Polk's sail is on display at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Mariano G. Vallejo's sail is preserved at Mare Island, California, where she was built. The sail of Lewis and Clark is on display at the Patriot's Point Maritime Museum in Charleston, South Carolina.

Boats in class
Submarines of the Benjamin Franklin class: (Submarines marked with * indicate Trident C-4 ballistic missile conversions.)

title: Benjamin Franklin-class submarine


text:
Bastard Operator From Hell

The Bastard Operator From Hell (BOFH) is a fictional rogue computer operator created by Simon Travaglia, who takes out his anger on users (who are "lusers" to him) and others who pester him with their computer problems, uses his expertise against his enemies and manipulates his employer.

Several people have written stories about BOFHs, but only those by Simon Travaglia are considered canonical. The BOFH stories were originally posted in 1992 to Usenet by Travaglia, with some being reprinted in Datamation. Since 2000 they have been published regularly in The Register (UK). Several collections of the stories have been published as books.

By extension, the term is also used to refer to any system administrator who displays the qualities of the original.

The early accounts of the BOFH took place in a university; later the scenes were set in an office workplace. In 2000 (BOFH 2k), the BOFH and his pimply-faced youth (PFY) assistant moved to a new company.

Other characters

 * The PFY (Pimply-Faced Youth, the assistant to the BOFH. Real name is Stephen ) Possesses a temperament similar to the BOFH, and often either teams up with or plots against him.
 * The Boss (often portrayed as having no IT knowledge but believing otherwise; identity changes as successive bosses are sacked, leave, are committed, or have nasty "accidents")
 * CEO of the company – The PFY's uncle Brian from 1996 until 2000, when the BOFH and PFY moved to a new company.
 * The help desk operators, referred to as the "Helldesk" and often scolded for giving out the BOFH's personal number.
 * The Boss's secretary, Sharon.
 * The security department
 * George, the cleaner (an invaluable source of information to the BOFH and PFY)

Influence
The protagonist in Charles Stross's The Laundry Files series of novels named himself Bob Oliver Francis Howard in reference to the BOFH. As Bob Howard is a self-chosen pseudonym, and Bob is a network manager when not working as a computational demonologist, the name is all too appropriate. In the novella Pimpf, he acquires a pimply-faced young assistant by the name of Peter-Fred Young.

BOFH is a text adventure game written by Howard A. Sherman, which took part in the 2002 Interactive Fiction Competition and was placed 26th out of 38.

Simon Travaglia
Simon Travaglia (born 1964 ) graduated from the University of Waikato, New Zealand in 1985. He worked as the IT infrastructure manager (2004–2008) and computer operator (1985–1992) at the University of Waikato and the infrastructure manager at the Waikato Innovation Park, Hamilton, New Zealand (since 2008). Since 1999 he is a freelance writer for The Register. He lives in Hautapu, New Zealand.

title: Bastard Operator From Hell


text:
Brownie McGhee

Walter Brown "Brownie" McGhee (November 30, 1915 – February 16, 1996) was an American folk and Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry.

Life and career
McGhee was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, and grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee. At about the age of four he contracted polio, which incapacitated his right leg. His brother Granville "Stick" McGhee, who also later became a musician and composed the famous song "Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-o-Dee," was nicknamed for pushing young Brownie around in a cart. Their father, George McGhee, was a factory worker, known around University Avenue for playing guitar and singing. Brownie's uncle made him a guitar from a tin marshmallow box and a piece of board.

McGhee spent much of his youth immersed in music, singing with a local harmony group, the Golden Voices Gospel Quartet, and teaching himself to play guitar. He also played the five-string banjo and ukulele and studied piano. Surgery funded by the March of Dimes enabled McGhee to walk.

At the age of 22, McGhee became a traveling musician, working in the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and befriending Blind Boy Fuller, whose guitar playing influenced him greatly. After Fuller's death in 1941, J. B. Long of Columbia Records promoted McGhee as "Blind Boy Fuller No. 2". By that time, McGhee was recording for Columbia's subsidiary Okeh Records in Chicago, but his real success came after he moved to New York in 1942, when he teamed up with Sonny Terry, whom he had known since 1939, when Terry was Fuller's harmonica player. The pairing was an overnight success. They recorded and toured together until around 1980. As a duo, Terry and McGhee did most of their work from 1958 until 1980, spending 11 months of each year touring and recording dozens of albums.

Despite their later fame as "pure" folk artists playing for white audiences, in the 1940s Terry and McGhee had attempted to be successful recording artists, fronting a jump blues combo with honking saxophone and rolling piano, variously calling themselves "Brownie McGhee and his Jook House Rockers" or "Sonny Terry and his Buckshot Five", often with Champion Jack Dupree and Big Chief Ellis. They also appeared in the original Broadway productions of Finian's Rainbow and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

During the blues revival of the 1960s, Terry and McGhee were popular on the concert and music festival circuits, occasionally adding new material but usually remaining faithful to their roots and playing to the tastes of their audiences.

Late in his life, McGhee appeared in small roles in films and on television. He and Terry appeared in the 1979 Steve Martin comedy The Jerk. In 1987, McGhee gave a small but memorable performance as the ill-fated blues singer Toots Sweet in the supernatural thriller movie Angel Heart. In his review of Angel Heart, the critic Roger Ebert singled out McGhee for praise, declaring that he delivered a "performance that proves [saxophonist] Dexter Gordon isn't the only old musician who can act." McGhee appeared in the television series Family Ties, in a 1988 episode entitled "The Blues, Brother", in which he played the fictional blues musician Eddie Dupre. He also appeared in the television series Matlock, in a 1989 episode entitled "The Blues Singer", playing a friend of an old blues musician (Joe Seneca) who is accused of murder. In the episode, McGhee, Seneca and star Andy Griffith perform a duet of "The Midnight Special".

Happy Traum, a former guitar student of McGhee's, edited a blues guitar instruction guide and songbook, Guitar Styles of Brownie McGhee, published in 1971, in which McGhee, between lessons, talked about his life and the blues. The autobiographical section features McGhee talking about growing up, his musical beginnings, and a history of the blues from the 1930s onward.

McGhee and Terry were both recipients of a 1982 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. That year's fellowships were the first bestowed by the NEA.

One of McGhee's last concert appearances was at the 1995 Chicago Blues Festival.

He died of stomach cancer on February 16, 1996, in Oakland, California, at the age of 80.

Solo albums

 * Traditional Blues, Vol. 1 (Folkways Records, 1951)
 * Brownie McGhee Blues (Folkways, 1955)
 * Brownie McGhee Sings the Blues (Folkways, 1959)
 * Traditional Blues, Vol. 2 (Folkways, 1960)
 * Brownie's Blues (Bluesville, 1962)
 * Blues Is Truth (Blues Alliance, 1976)
 * Facts of Life (Blues Rock'It, 1985) with the Ford Blues Band

Compilation

 * The Folkways Years, 1945–1959 (Smithsonian Folkways, 1991)

With Sonny Terry

 * Brownie McGhee Blues (Folkways, 1955)
 * Washboard Band: Country Dance Music (Folkways, 1956)
 * Folk Songs of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee (Roulette, 1958)
 * Blues with Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee (Folkways, 1959)
 * Down South Summit Meetin' (World Pacific, 1960), with Lightnin' Hopkins and Big Joe Williams
 * Down Home Blues (Bluesville, 1960)
 * Blues Hoot (Horizon, 1961 [1963]), with Lightnin' Hopkins and Big Joe Williams
 * Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry at the 2nd Fret (Prestige, 1962)
 * Sonny Is King (Bluesville, 1963)
 * A Long Way from Home (BluesWay, 1969)
 * I Couldn't Believe My Eyes (BluesWay, 1969 [1973])
 * Sonny & Brownie (A&M Records, 1973)
 * Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry Sing (Smithsonian Folkways, 1990)
 * Back Country Blues (Southern Routes, 2016)

Other

 * Songs for Victory: Music for Political Action, with the Union Boys (1944)

title: Brownie McGhee


text:
International Bureau of Weights and Measures

The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (Bureau international des poids et mesures, BIPM) is an intergovernmental organisation, through which its 59 member-states act on measurement standards in areas including chemistry, ionising radiation, physical metrology, as well as the International System of Units (SI) and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). It is based in Saint-Cloud, near Paris, France. The organisation has been referred to as IBWM (from its name in English) in older literature.

Structure
The BIPM is overseen by the International Committee for Weights and Measures (Comité international des poids et mesures, CIPM), a committee of eighteen members that meet normally in two sessions per year, which is in turn overseen by the General Conference on Weights and Measures (Conférence générale des poids et mesures, CGPM) that meets in Paris usually once every four years, consisting of delegates of the governments of the Member States and observers from the Associates of the CGPM. These organs are also commonly referred to by their French initialisms.

History
The BIPM was created on 20 May 1875, following the signing of the Metre Convention, a treaty among 17 Member States ( there are now 59 members).

It is based at the Pavillon de Breteuil in Saint-Cloud, France, a 4.35 ha site (originally 2.52 ha) granted to the Bureau by the French Government in 1876. Since 1969 the site has been considered international territory, and the BIPM has all the rights and privileges accorded an intergovernmental organisation. This status was further clarified by the French decree No 70-820 of 9 September 1970.

Function
The BIPM has the mandate to provide the basis for a single, coherent system of measurements throughout the world, traceable to the International System of Units (SI). This task takes many forms, from direct dissemination of units to coordination through international comparisons of national measurement standards (as in electricity and ionising radiation).

Following consultation, a draft version of the BIPM Work Programme is presented at each meeting of the General Conference for consideration with the BIPM budget. The final programme of work is determined by the CIPM in accordance with the budget agreed to by the CGPM.

Currently, the BIPM's main work includes:

 * Scientific and technical activities carried out in its four departments: chemistry, ionising radiation, physical metrology, and time
 * Liaison and coordination work, including providing the secretariat for the CIPM Consultative Committees and some of their Working Groups and for the CIPM MRA, and providing institutional liaison with the other bodies supporting the international quality infrastructure and other international bodies
 * Capacity building and knowledge transfer programs to increase the effectiveness within the worldwide metrology community of those Member State and Associates with emerging metrology systems
 * A resource centre providing a database and publications for international metrology

The BIPM is one of the twelve member organisations of the International Network on Quality Infrastructure (INetQI), which promotes and implements QI activities in metrology, accreditation, standardisation and conformity assessment.

The BIPM has an important role in maintaining accurate worldwide time of day. It combines, analyses, and averages the official atomic time standards of member nations around the world to create a single, official Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).

Directors
Since its establishment, the directors of the BIPM have been: