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Prader–Willi syndrome

Prader–Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare genetic disorder caused by a loss of function of specific genes on chromosome 15. In newborns, symptoms include weak muscles, poor feeding, and slow development. Beginning in childhood, those affected become constantly hungry, which often leads to obesity and type 2 diabetes. Mild to moderate intellectual impairment and behavioral problems are also typical of the disorder. Often, affected individuals have a narrow forehead, small hands and feet, short height, and light skin and hair. Most are unable to have children.

About 74% of cases occur when part of the father's chromosome 15 is deleted. In another 25% of cases, the affected person has two copies of the maternal chromosome 15 from the mother and lacks the paternal copy. As parts of the chromosome from the mother are turned off through imprinting, they end up with no working copies of certain genes. PWS is not generally inherited, but rather the genetic changes happen during the formation of the egg, sperm, or in early development. No risk factors are known for the disorder. Those who have one child with PWS have less than a 1% chance of the next child being affected. A similar mechanism occurs in Angelman syndrome, except the defective chromosome 15 is from the mother, or two copies are from the father.

Prader–Willi syndrome has no cure. Treatment may improve outcomes, especially if carried out early. In newborns, feeding difficulties may be supported with feeding tubes. Strict food supervision is typically required, starting around the age of three, in combination with an exercise program. Growth hormone therapy also improves outcomes. Counseling and medications may help with some behavioral problems. Group homes are often necessary in adulthood.

PWS affects between 1 in 10,000 to 30,000 people worldwide. The condition is named after Swiss physicians Andrea Prader and Heinrich Willi who, together with Alexis Labhart, described it in detail in 1956. An earlier description was made in 1887 by British physician John Langdon Down.

Signs and symptoms
PWS symptoms can range from poor muscle tone during infancy to behavioral problems in early childhood. Some symptoms often found in infants, besides poor muscle tone, are a lack of eye coordination; almond-shaped eyes; thin upper lip; and, due to poor muscle tone, lack of a strong sucking reflex. Their cries are weak, and they have difficulty waking up.

More aspects seen in a clinical overview include hypotonia and abnormal neurologic function, hypogonadism, developmental and cognitive delays, hyperphagia and obesity, short stature, and behavioral and psychiatric disturbances.

The following features and signs are indicators of PWS, although not all will be present:

In-utero and birth
• Reduced fetal movement

• Frequent abnormal fetal position

• Occasional polyhydramnios (excessive amniotic fluid)

• Often breech or caesarean births

• Lethargy

• Hypotonia

• Feeding difficulties (due to poor muscle tone affecting sucking reflex)

• Difficulties establishing respiration

• Hypogonadism

Childhood
• Delayed milestones/intellectual delay

• Excessive sleeping

• Strabismus (crossed eyes)

• Scoliosis (often not detected at birth)

• Cryptorchidism

• Speech delay

• Poor physical coordination

• Hyperphagia (excessive hunger) begins between the ages of 2 and 8, and continues throughout adulthood.

• Excessive weight gain

• Sleep disorders

• Delayed puberty

• Short stature

• Obesity

• Extreme flexibility

• Narrow forehead at the temples

• Narrow nose bridge

• Thin upper lip

• Downturned mouth

• Unusually fair hair, skin and eyes

• Small hands and feet

• Tooth decay owing to underproduction of saliva

• Constipation or swollen stomachs owing to poor muscle tone in the gut

• Low levels of HGH

Adulthood
• Infertility (males and females)

• Hypogonadism

• Sparse pubic hair

• Obesity

• Hypotonia (low muscle tone)

• Learning disabilities/borderline intellectual functioning (but some cases of average intelligence)

• Prone to type 2 diabetes mellitus

• Extreme flexibility

Physical appearance
• Prominent nasal bridge

• Small hands and feet with tapering of fingers

• Soft skin, which is easily bruised

• Excess fat, especially in the central portion of the body

• High, narrow forehead

• Thin top lip

• Downturned mouth

• Almond-shaped eyes

• Light skin and hair relative to other family members

• Lack of complete sexual development

• Frequent skin picking

• Stretch marks

• Delayed motor development

Neurocognitive
Individuals with PWS are at risk of learning and attention difficulties. Curfs and Fryns (1992) conducted research into the varying degrees of learning disability found in PWS.

Cassidy found that 40% of individuals with PWS have borderline/low average intelligence, a figure higher than the 32% found in Curfs and Fryns' study. However, both studies suggest that most individuals (50–65%) fall within the mild/borderline/low average intelligence range.

Children with PWS show an unusual cognitive profile. They are often strong in visual organization and perception, including reading and vocabulary, but their spoken language (sometimes affected by hypernasality) is generally poorer than their comprehension. A marked skill in completing jigsaw puzzles has been noted, but this may be an effect of increased practice.

Auditory information processing and sequential processing are relatively poor, as are arithmetic and writing skills, visual and auditory short-term memory, and auditory attention span. These sometimes improve with age, but deficits in these areas remain throughout adulthood.

PWS may be associated with psychosis.

Behavioral
PWS is frequently associated with a constant insatiable appetite, which persists no matter how much the patient eats, often resulting in morbid obesity. Caregivers need to strictly limit the patients' access to food, usually by installing locks on refrigerators and on all closets and cabinets where food is stored. It is the most common genetic cause of morbid obesity in children. Currently, no consensus exists as to the cause for this symptom, although genetic abnormalities in chromosome 15 disrupt the normal functioning of the hypothalamus. Given that the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus regulates many basic processes, including appetite, a link may well exist. In the hypothalamus, nerve cells that produce oxytocin, a hormone thought to contribute to satiety, are believed to be abnormal in people with PWS.

People with PWS have high ghrelin levels, which are thought to contribute directly to the increased appetite, hyperphagia and obesity seen in this syndrome. Cassidy states the need for a clear delineation of behavioral expectations, the reinforcement of behavioural limits, and the establishment of regular routines.

The main mental-health difficulties experienced by people with PWS include compulsive behaviour (usually manifested in skin picking) and anxiety. Psychiatric symptoms, for example, hallucinations, paranoia and depression, have been described in some cases and affect about 5–10% of young adults. Patients are also often extremely stubborn and prone to anger. Psychiatric and behavioural problems are the most common cause of hospitalization.

Typically 70–90% of affected individuals develop behavioral patterns in early childhood. Aspects of these patterns can include stubbornness, temper tantrums, controlling and manipulative behavior, difficulty with change in routine and compulsive-like behaviors.

Endocrine
Several aspects of PWS support the concept of a growth hormone deficiency. Specifically, individuals with PWS have short stature, are obese with abnormal body composition, have reduced fat-free mass, have reduced lean body mass and total energy expenditure, and have decreased bone density. PWS is characterized by hypogonadism. This is manifested as undescended testes in males and benign premature adrenarche in females. Testes may descend with time or can be managed with surgery or testosterone replacement. Adrenarche may be treated with hormone replacement therapy.

Ophthalmologic
PWS is commonly associated with development of strabismus. In one study, over 50% of patients had strabismus, mainly esotropia.

Some individuals (often those with deletions) may have hypopigmented fundi due to OCA2 haploinsufficiency.

Genetics
PWS is related to an epigenetic phenomenon known as imprinting. Normally, a fetus inherits an imprinted maternal copy of PW genes and a functional paternal copy of PW genes. Due to imprinting, the maternally inherited copies of these genes are virtually silent, and the fetus therefore relies on the expression of the paternal copies of the genes. In PWS, however, there is mutation/deletion of the paternal copies of PW genes, leaving the fetus with no functioning PW genes. The PW genes are the SNRPN and NDN genes, along with clusters of snoRNAs: SNORD64, SNORD107, SNORD108 and two copies of SNORD109, 29 copies of SNORD116 (HBII-85) and 48 copies of SNORD115 (HBII-52). These genes are located on chromosome 15 located in the region 15q11-13. This so-called PWS/AS region in the paternal chromosome 15 may be lost by one of several genetic mechanisms, which in the majority of instances occurs through chance mutation. Other, less common mechanisms include uniparental disomy, sporadic mutations, chromosome translocations, and gene deletions.

Region 15q11-13 is implicated in both PWS and Angelman syndrome (AS). While PWS results from the loss of PW genes within this region on the paternal chromosome, loss of a different gene (UBE3A) within the same region on the maternal chromosome causes AS. PWS and AS represent the first reported instances of disorders related to imprinting in humans.

The risk to the sibling of an affected child of having PWS depends upon the genetic mechanism which caused the disorder. The risk to siblings is <1% if the affected child has a gene deletion or uniparental disomy, up to 50% if the affected child has a mutation of the imprinting control region, and up to 25% if a parental chromosomal translocation is present. Prenatal testing is possible for any of the known genetic mechanisms.

A microdeletion in one family of the snoRNA HBII-52 has excluded it from playing a major role in the disease.

Studies of human and mouse model systems have shown deletion of the 29 copies of the C/D box snoRNA SNORD116 (HBII-85) to be the primary cause of PWS.

Diagnosis
It is traditionally characterized by hypotonia, short stature, hyperphagia, obesity, behavioral issues (specifically obsessive–compulsive disorder-like behaviors), small hands and feet, hypogonadism, and mild intellectual disability. However, with early diagnosis and early treatment (such as with growth hormone therapy), the prognosis for persons with PWS is beginning to change. Like autism, PWS is a spectrum disorder and symptoms can range from mild to severe and may change throughout the person's lifetime. Various organ systems are affected.

Traditionally, PWS was diagnosed by clinical presentation. Currently, the syndrome is diagnosed through genetic testing; testing is recommended for newborns with pronounced hypotonia. Early diagnosis of PWS allows for early intervention and the early prescription of growth hormone. Daily recombinant growth hormone (GH) injections are indicated for children with PWS. GH supports linear growth and increased muscle mass, and may lessen food preoccupation and weight gain.

The mainstay of diagnosis is genetic testing, specifically DNA-based methylation testing to detect the absence of the paternally contributed PWS/AS region on chromosome 15q11-q13. Such testing detects over 97% of cases. Methylation-specific testing is important to confirm the diagnosis of PWS in all individuals, but especially those who are too young to manifest sufficient features to make the diagnosis on clinical grounds or in those individuals who have atypical findings.

PWS is often misdiagnosed due to its unfamiliarity in the medical community. Sometimes it is misdiagnosed as Down syndrome, simply because of the relative frequency of Down syndrome compared to PWS.

Treatment
While PWS has no cure, several treatments are available to lessen the condition's symptoms. During infancy, subjects should undergo therapies to improve muscle strength. Speech and occupational therapy are also indicated. During the school years, children benefit from a highly structured learning environment and extra help. The largest problem associated with the syndrome is severe obesity. Access to food must be strictly supervised and limited, usually by installing locks on all food-storage places including refrigerators. Physical activity in individuals with PWS for all ages is needed to optimize strength and promote a healthy lifestyle.

Prescription of daily recombinant GH injections are indicated for children with PWS. GH supports linear growth and increased muscle mass, and may lessen food preoccupation and weight gain.

Because of severe obesity, obstructive sleep apnea is a common sequela, and a positive airway pressure machine is often needed. A person who has been diagnosed with PWS may have to undergo surgical procedures. One surgery that has proven to be unsuccessful for treating the obesity is gastric bypass.

Behavior and psychiatric problems should be detected early for the best results. These issues are best when treated with parental education and training. Sometimes medication is introduced, as well. Serotonin agonists have been most effective in lessening temper tantrums and improving compulsivity.

Epidemiology
PWS affects one in 10,000 to one in 25,000 newborns. More than 400,000 people live with PWS.

Society and culture

Despite its rarity, PWS has been often referenced in popular culture, partly due to curiosity surrounding the insatiable appetite and the obesity symptomatic of the syndrome.

Katie Price's son Harvey is one well-known person with PWS.

The syndrome has been depicted and documented several times in television. A fictional individual with PWS featured in the episode "Dog Eat Dog" of the television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which aired in the US on 24 November 2005. In July 2007 Channel 4 aired a 2006 documentary called Can't Stop Eating, surrounding the everyday lives of two people with PWS, Joe and Tamara. In a 2010 episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Sheryl Crow helped Ty Pennington rebuild a home for a family whose youngest son, Ethan Starkweather, was living with the syndrome. In a 2012 episode of Mystery Diagnosis on the Discovery Health channel, Conor Heybach, who has Prader–Willi syndrome, shared how he was diagnosed with it.

title: Prader–Willi syndrome


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Scotia

Scotia is a Latin placename derived from Scoti, a Latin name for the Gaels, first attested in the late 3rd century. The Romans referred to Ireland as "Scotia" around 500 A.D. From the 9th century on, its meaning gradually shifted, so that it came to mean only the part of Britain lying north of the Firth of Forth: the Kingdom of Scotland. By the later Middle Ages it had become the fixed Latin term for what in English is called Scotland.

Etymology and derivations
The name of Scotland is derived from the Latin Scotia. The word Scoti (or Scotti) was first used by the Romans. It is found in Latin texts from the 4th century describing an Irish group that raided Roman Britain. It came to be applied to all Gaels. It is not believed that any Gaelic groups called themselves Scoti in ancient times, except when writing in Latin. Old Irish documents use the term Scot (plural Scuit) going back as far as the 9th century; for example, in the glossary of Cormac mac Cuilennáin.

Oman derived it from Scuit (modern Gaelic scoith), meaning someone cut off. He believed it referred to bands of outcast Gaelic raiders, suggesting that the Scots were to the Gaels what the Vikings were to the Norse.

The 19th-century author Aonghas MacCoinnich of Glasgow proposed that Scoti was derived from a Gaelic ethnonym (proposed by MacCoinnich) Sgaothaich from sgaoth "swarm", plus the derivational suffix -ach (plural -aich). However, this proposal to date has not been met with any response in mainstream place-name studies. Pope Leo X (1513–1521) decreed that the use of the name Scotia be confined to referring to land that is now Scotland.

Virtually all names for Scotland are based on the Scotia root (cf. Dutch Schotland, French Écosse, Czech Skotsko, Zulu IsiKotilandi, Māori Koterana, Hakka Sû-kak-làn, Quechua Iskusya, Turkish İskoçya etc.), either directly or via intermediate languages. The only exceptions are the Celtic languages, where the names are based on the Alba root; e.g., Manx Nalbin, Welsh ''Yr Alban", Irish "Albain."

Medieval usage
Scotia translates to "Land of the Scots". It was a way of saying "Land of the Gaels" (compare Angli and Anglia; Franci and Francia; Romani and Romania; etc). It was initially used as a name for Ireland, originally with ethnic connotations, for example in Adomnán's Life of Columba, or by Isidore of Seville, who wrote in 580 CE that "Scotia and Hibernia are the same country" (Isidore, lib. xii. c. 6). This is how it was used, for instance, by King Robert I of Scotland (Robert the Bruce) and Domhnall Ua Néill during the Scottish Wars of Independence, when Ireland was called Scotia Maior (greater Scotia) and Scotland Scotia Minor (lesser Scotia).

After the 11th century, Scotia was used mostly for the kingdom of Alba, or Scotland, and in this way became the fixed designation. As a translation of Alba, Scotia could mean both the whole kingdom belonging to the King of Scots, or just Scotland north of the Forth.

Pope Leo X of the Roman Catholic Church eventually granted Scotland exclusive right over the word, and this led to Anglo-Scottish takeovers of continental Gaelic monasteries (e.g., the Schottenklöster).

In Irish sources
One of the oldest sources recorded was from medieval Monarchy. In the year 1005, after Brian Boru was crowned king, he adopted the title Imperator Scotorum, "Emperor of the Scoti" suggesting he saw himself as the overlord of all Scotia and Gaels. The title was however adopted and not formally provided.

Within Irish Mythology, Geoffrey Keating's Foras Feasa ar Éirinn, Ireland's "ninth name was Scotia; and it is the sons of Míleadh who gave that name to it, from their mother, whose name was Scota, daughter of Pharao Nectonibus; or it is why they called it Scotia, because that they are themselves the Scottish race from Scythia". According to the Middle Irish language synthetic history Lebor Gabála Érenn, she was the daughter of Pharaoh Necho II of Egypt. Other sources say that Scota was the daughter of Pharaoh Neferhotep I of Egypt and his wife Senebsen, and was the wife of Míl, that is Milesius, and the mother of Éber Donn and Érimón. Míl had given Neferhotep military aid against ancient Ethiopia and was given Scota in marriage as a reward for his services. Writing in 1571, Edmund Campion named the pharaoh Amenophis; Keating named him Cincris.

Other uses
In geography, the term is also used for the following:
 * the Canadian province of Nova Scotia (New Scotland)
 * the village of Scotia in New York State
 * the Scotia-Glenville High School in New York State named after a Scottish settler
 * the Scotia Sea between Antarctica and South America
 * the Scotia Plate, a tectonic plate located to the south of South America

The term also is used/for the following purposes;
 * to describe a piece of wood millwork that is used at the base of columns and in stair construction
 * Scotiabank, a trade name for the Bank of Nova Scotia
 * (rarely) as a feminine first name
 * Pride Scotia, Scotland's national LGBT pride festival, involving a march and a community based festival held in June

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

title: Scotia


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Bunge Global

Bunge Global SA (BUN-ghee) is a global agribusiness and food company, incorporated in Geneva, Switzerland and headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

As well as being an international soybean exporter, it is also involved in food processing, grain trading, and fertilizer. It competes with Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland and Louis Dreyfus. The company has approximately 32,000 employees in 40 countries.

Formation and listing
Bunge was founded in 1818 by Johann Peter Gottlieb Bunge in Amsterdam, it was relocated to Antwerp by Edouard Bunge in 1859. Edouard's brother; Ernest Bunge, took the Bunge name to Argentina in 1884, and in 1905 the business extended to Brazil and later on to the United States. The company was converted into the Bermuda-registered Bunge International in 1994, retaining the Bunge y Born name only in Argentina. Bunge remained a privately held company of 180 shareholders (including the longtime controlling family interests) and divested itself in 1998 of almost all its retail foods interests in favor of a greater role in international agribusiness and commodity markets; by then the company's gross annual turnover had reached US$13 billion. Bunge ultimately went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2001, becoming Bunge Limited.

In 1994, the Bermuda-registered Bunge International was created as the main company in which the families had shares. There were around 180 shareholders—the main families were Hirsch, Bunge, Born, Engels, and De La Tour. This replaced the older structure in which individual shareholders had stakes in all the different Bunge companies. Now only in Argentina does the Bunge y Born name still exist.

In 2001, under the leadership of Alberto Weisser, Bunge was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Through their three businesses—agribusiness, fertilizer, and food products—they have established a leading global presence in the farm-to-consumer food chain. Bunge is the world's largest oilseed processor, the world's number one seller of bottled vegetable oil to consumers and the largest producer and supplier of fertilizers to farmers in South America.

Acquisitions
In 2002, Bunge acquired Cereol, parent of oilseed companies Central Soya and CanAmera Foods. In 2008, Bunge acquired Walter Rau, a margarine company, from Germany. In 2009, Bunge acquired the margarine business from Raisio Group, maker of functional food ingredients. In 2017, Bunge announced intentions to acquire a 70% stake in IOI Loders Croklaan for $946 million from Malaysian palm oil producer IOI Corp Berhad.

Brazilian sourcing protests
In 2012, Bunge came under criticism from NGO Survival International for sourcing its sugarcane from the ancestral land of the Guaraní people in Brazil. It has been reported by the tribe that crop production has brought pesticides and machinery that has damaged their health, as well as restricting them to a small area that has prevented them from hunting and practicing their traditions. Also, in January 2003, opposition from the tribe had led to the killing of their chief Marcus Vernon by ranchers. In 2012, survivors were requesting Bunge follows the example of the company Raízen, which agreed to stop the sourcing of sugarcane from the area.

Recent
In May 2017, Glencore in Switzerland began pursuing the acquisition of Bunge. In early June 2017, Bunge hired advisers to help it fend off Glencore's takeover interest. In January 2017, Archer Daniels Midland agreed to sell its crop risk services (insurance) unit to Validus Holdings for $127.5 million. On January 19, 2018, it was reported that Archer Daniels Midland had approached Bunge Ltd. about a takeover, with details "unclear." At that point, Bunge had a market value of about $9.8 billion, and was still being pursued by Glencore.

In 2019, Bunge relocated its global headquarters from White Plains, New York, to the St Louis metropolitan area in 2020, where the company had its US headquarters.

In April 2020, Bunge announced it agreed to sell 35 U.S interior grain elevators to Zen-Noh Corporation. The completion of the sale was subject to regulatory approval and closed in December 2021.

In 2021, Bunge was ranked 18th on FoodTalks' Global Top 40 Plant Protein Producers list.

A 2023 Bloomberg Businessweek described Bunge's food science pivot.

In 2023, a merger with Viterra was announced.

Products
The company's operations include:
 * originating oilseeds and grains from the world's primary growing regions and transporting them to customers worldwide;
 * crushing oilseeds to make meal for the livestock industry and oil for the food processing, food service and biofuel industries;
 * producing bottled oils, mayonnaise, margarines and other food products for consumers;
 * crushing sugarcane to make sugar, ethanol and electricity;
 * milling wheat and corn for food processors, bakeries, brewers and other commercial customers; and
 * selling fertilizer to farmers.

Environmental record
In 2006, the United States Environmental Protection Agency filed charges against Bunge company regarding pollution emissions. This involved twelve soybean processing plants and corn mills in eight states throughout the US. The lawsuit claimed Bunge violated the Clean Air Act by constructing major modifications that increased emissions. Bunge was required to implement engineering changes and pollution control projects, estimated to cost $12 million, to reduce emissions at the facilities by 2,200 tons a year. The settlement also called for Bunge to pay a cash penalty of $625,000 and to spend $1.25 million to fund community-based environmental projects selected by and to be supervised by the impacted states.

Biofuel production
In November 2005, Bunge created a Europe production joint venture biodiesel with French company KBBV and Diester Industrie. The new company received the name Diester Industrie International. The joint venture will produce biodiesel in Germany, Austria and Italy. The total capacity of the plants will reach 430 thousand tons biodiesel per year.

Corporate governance
As of 05 Feb 2020

 * Gregory Heckman, CEO, Bunge Global SA
 * Aaron Buettner, President, Bunge Loders Croklaan
 * Brian Zachman, President, Global Risk Management
 * Christos Dimopoulos, President, Global Supply Chains
 * Raul Padilla, President, Global Agri Operations, (Retiring effective December 31, 2021)
 * Deborah Borg, EVP & Chief HR and Communications Officer
 * John Neppl, EVP & CFO
 * Josef Podwika, EVP & General Counsel
 * Pierre Mauger, Chief Transformation Officer
 * Robert Coviello, SVP Sustainably & Government Affairs
 * Robert Wagner, Chief Risk Officer

Tax dodging
A noteworthy case of transfer mispricing came to light in 2011 in Argentina involving the world’s four largest grain traders: ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Louis Dreyfus Company. Argentina’s revenue and customs service began an investigation into the four companies when prices for agricultural commodities spiked in 2008 and yet very little profit for the four companies had been reported to the office. As a result of the investigation, it was alleged that the companies had submitted false declarations of sales and routed profits through tax havens or through their headquarters. In some cases, they were said to have used phantom firms to buy grain and had inflated costs in Argentina in order to reduce the recorded profits earned in the country. According to the country’s revenue and customs service, the outstanding taxes amounted to almost USD 1 billion. The companies involved have denied the allegations. To date, the Argentinian tax authorities have not replied to the Swiss NGO Public Eye’s request regarding the current state of the case. In its 2018 annual report to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bunge mentioned provisions which suggest that the case is still ongoing: “[A]s of December 31, 2018, Bunge’s Argentine subsidiary had received income tax assessments relating to 2006 through 2009 of approximately 1,276 million Argentine pesos (approximately $34 million), plus applicable interest on the outstanding amount of approximately 4,246 million Argentine pesos (approximately $113 million]).”

title: Bunge Global


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Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet is a 1956 American science fiction film from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, produced by Nicholas Nayfack, and directed by Fred M. Wilcox from a script by Cyril Hume that was based on an original film story by Allen Adler and Irving Block. It stars Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, and Leslie Nielsen. Shot in Eastmancolor and CinemaScope, it is considered one of the great science fiction films of the 1950s, a precursor of contemporary science fiction cinema. The characters and isolated setting have been compared to those in William Shakespeare's The Tempest, and the plot contains certain happenings analogous to the play, leading many to consider it a loose adaptation.

Forbidden Planet pioneered several aspects of science fiction cinema. It was the first science fiction film to depict humans traveling in a man-made faster-than-light starship. It was also the first to be set entirely on a planet orbiting another star, far away from Earth and the Solar System. The Robby the Robot character is one of the first film robots that was more than just a mechanical "tin can" on legs; Robby displays a distinct personality and is an integral supporting character in the film. Outside science fiction, the film was groundbreaking as the first of any genre to use an entirely electronic musical score, courtesy of Bebe and Louis Barron.

Forbidden Planet's effects team was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects at the 29th Academy Awards. Tony Magistrale describes it as one of the best examples of early techno-horror. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot
In the 23rd century, after more than a year's journey, the United Planets starship C-57D arrives at the distant planet Altair IV to determine the fate of the ship Bellerophon sent there 20 years before. Dr. Edward Morbius, one of the original expedition's scientists, warns the ship not to land for safety reasons, but Commander John J. Adams ignores his warning.

Adams and Lieutenants Jerry Farman and "Doc" Ostrow are met by Robby the Robot, who transports them to Morbius' residence. Morbius describes how all other members of their expedition had been killed, one-by-one, by an unseen "planetary force" and how their ship was vaporized as the last survivors tried to lift off. Only Morbius, his wife (who later died of natural causes), and their daughter Altaira were somehow immune. Morbius offers to help the starship return home, but Adams says he must receive further instructions from Earth.

The next day, Adams finds Farman kissing Altaira. Furious, he rebukes Farman and criticizes Altaira for wearing revealing clothing. That night, an invisible intruder sabotages communications equipment aboard the starship. The next morning, Adams and Ostrow go to Morbius' residence to discuss the intrusion. While waiting, Adams happens upon Altaira swimming. After she dons a new, less revealing dress, Adams apologizes for his behavior toward her, and they kiss. They are suddenly attacked by Altaira's pet tiger, and Adams is forced to disintegrate it with his blaster.

Morbius appears and tells Adams and Ostrow that he has been studying artifacts of the Krell, a highly advanced race that mysteriously perished in a single night 200,000 years before. One such device enhances the intellect, which Morbius had used. He barely survived, but his intellectual capacity had doubled. Another is a vast 8,000 cumi underground machine, still functioning, powered by 9,200 thermonuclear reactors. Adams tells Morbius he must share these discoveries with Earth. Morbius refuses, saying "humanity is not yet ready to receive such limitless power".

Adams erects a force field fence around the starship, but the unseen intruder easily passes through and brutally murders Chief Engineer Quinn, who was repairing the damaged communications equipment. Morbius warns Adams of his premonition of further deadly attacks. That night, the intruder is detected approaching. Its outline and features become visible when it enters the force field and blasters are fired at it, to little effect. The thing kills Farman and two other crewmen. When Morbius is awakened by Altaira's screams, the creature suddenly vanishes.

Adams tries to persuade Altaira to leave. Ostrow sneaks away and uses the Krell intellect enhancer and is fatally injured. Before dying, he informs Adams that the underground machine's purpose was to create anything by mere thought, anywhere on the planet. However, he tells Adams the Krell forgot one thing: "monsters from the id". The machine gave the Krell's own subconscious desires - unaffected by intelligence, ethics, or morality - free rein with unlimited power, causing their own extinction. Adams deduces that Morbius's subconscious created the thing that both killed the original expedition members and attacked his crewmen. Morbius refuses to believe him.

Altaira tells Morbius she is leaving with Adams. Robby detects the creature approaching. Morbius commands Robby to kill it, but the robot knows it is Morbius and shuts down because of his programming to never kill a human. Adams, Altaira, and Morbius hide in the Krell lab, but the creature melts its way through the thick doors. Morbius finally accepts the truth, confronts and disowns his other self, but is fatally injured by the creature, which then vanishes. Before he dies, he has Adams activate a planetary self-destruct system, warning them they must be far away in deep space. At a safe distance, Adams, Altaira, Robby, and the surviving crew witness the obliteration of Altair IV. Adams reassures Altaira that in about a million years, the human race will stand where the Krell did. They embrace as C-57D heads back to Earth.

Production
The screenplay by Irving Block and Allen Adler, written in 1952, was originally titled Fatal Planet. The later screenplay draft by Cyril Hume renamed the film Forbidden Planet, because this was believed to have greater box-office appeal. Block and Adler's drama took place in the year 1976 on the planet Mercury. An Earth expedition headed by John Grant is sent to the planet to retrieve Dr. Adams and his daughter Dorianne, who have been stranded there for twenty years. In this version, there is no Krell or a monster from the ID. The invisible ape-like beast simply appears to be a native of Mercury. Hume's first story outline from November 1952 fleshed out and rewrote much of the original concept.

The film sets for Forbidden Planet were constructed on a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) sound stage at its Culver City film lot and were designed by Cedric Gibbons and Arthur Lonergan. The film was shot entirely indoors, with all the Altair IV exterior scenes simulated using sets, visual effects, and matte paintings. As the art director of the film, Lonergan took the liberty to build sets that were much larger than the budget allowed. The sets were already half done when the budget department found out and it was too late to do anything about it.

A full-size mock-up of roughly three-quarters of the starship was built to suggest its full width of 170 ft (51 m). The starship was surrounded by a huge, painted cyclorama featuring the desert landscape of Altair IV; this one set took up all of the available space in one of the Culver City sound stages. Principal photography took place from April 18 to late May 1955.

At a cost of roughly $125,000, Robby the Robot was very expensive for a film prop at this time; it represented almost 7% of the film's $1.9 million budget and equates to at least $1 million in 2017 dollars. Both the electrically controlled passenger vehicle driven by Robby and the truck/tractor-crane off-loaded from the starship were also constructed especially for this film. Robby later starred in the science fiction film The Invisible Boy (1957) and appeared in many TV series and films.

The animated sequences of Forbidden Planet, especially the attack of the Id Monster, were created by veteran animator Joshua Meador, who was loaned to MGM by Walt Disney Productions. According to a "Behind the Scenes" featurette on the film's DVD, a close look at the creature shows it to have a small goatee beard, suggesting its connection to Dr. Morbius, the only character with this physical feature. Unusually, the scene in which the Id Monster is finally revealed during its attack on the Earth ship was not created using traditional cel animation. Instead, Meador simply sketched each frame of the entire sequence in black pencil on animation stand translucent vellum paper; each page was then photographed in high contrast, so that only the major details remained visible. These images were then photographically reversed into negative and the resulting white line images were then tinted red, creating the effect of the Id Monster's body remaining largely invisible, with only its major outlines illuminated by the energy from the force-field and blaster beams. The monster was considered so scary that in some states its image was edited out of the film so as to not frighten children. Meador was also responsible for the other visual effects, like the ray gun beams and disintegration scenes.

Although workprints of cinema films were normally destroyed, the workprint of Forbidden Planet was not destroyed, and was discovered in 1977. There are differences in characterization, dialogue and scenes between the workprint and the release print.

Reception
Forbidden Planet had its world premiere at the Southeastern Science Fiction Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, on March 3 and 4, 1956. The film opened in more than 100 cities on March 23 in CinemaScope, Eastmancolor, and in some theaters, stereophonic sound, either by the magnetic or Perspecta processes.

At the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 94% based on 51 reviews from critics, averaging 8.20/10. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote that everyone who worked on the film certainly "had a barrel of fun with it. And, if you've got an ounce of taste for crazy humor, you'll have a barrel of fun, too." Variety wrote: "Imaginative gadgets galore, plus plenty of suspense and thrills, make the Nicholas Nayfack production a top offering in the space travel category." Harrison's Reports called the film "weird but fascinating and exciting", with "highly imaginative" production. Philip K. Scheuer of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the film was "more than another science-fiction movie, with the emphasis on fiction; it is a genuinely thought-through concept of the future, and the production MGM has bestowed on it gives new breadth and dimension to that time-worn phrase, 'out of this world.'" John McCarten of The New Yorker called the film "a pleasant spoof of all the moonstruck nonsense the movies have been dishing up about what goes on among our neighbors out there in interstellar space." The Monthly Film Bulletin of Britain praised the film as "an enjoyably thorough-going space fantasy", adding, "In tone the film adroitly combines naivete with sophistication, approaching its inter-planetary heroics with a cheerful consciousness of their absurdity that still allows for one or two genuinely weird and exciting moments, such as the monster's first advance on the spaceship." The Philadelphia film critic Steve Friedman ("Mr. Movie") told interviewers that Forbidden Planet was his favorite film. He watched it 178 times.

According to MGM records, the film initially earned $1,530,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $1,235,000 elsewhere resulting in a profit of $210,000.

Forbidden Planet was re-released to film theaters during 1972 as one of MGM's "Kiddie Matinee" features; it was missing about six minutes of film footage cut to ensure it received a G rating from the Motion Picture Association of America, including a 1950s-style muted scene of Anne Francis, which made it seem she swam without a bathing suit. Later video releases carry a G rating, although they are all the original theatrical version.

The American Film Institute nominated the film as one of its top-10 science fiction films. The score was nominated for AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores.

Home media
Forbidden Planet was first released in the pan and scan format in 1981 on MGM VHS and Betamax videotape and on MGM laser disc and CED Videodisc; years later, in 1996, it was again re-issued by MGM/UA, but this time in widescreen VHS and laserdisc, both for the film's 40th anniversary. The Criterion Collection later re-issued Forbidden Planet in CinemaScope's original 2.55:1 aspect ratio for the first time, on a deluxe laserdisc set with various extra features on a second disc. Warner Bros. next released the film on DVD in 1999 (MGM's catalog of films has since remained under ownership of Turner Entertainment, currently a division of Warner Bros. Discovery). Warner's release offered both cropped and widescreen picture formats on the same disc.

For the film's 50th anniversary, the Ultimate Collector's Edition was released on November 28, 2006, in an oversized red metal box, using the original film poster for its wraparound cover. Both DVD and high definition HD DVD formats were available in this deluxe package. Inside both premium packages were the films Forbidden Planet and The Invisible Boy, The Thin Man episode "Robot Client" ("Robby The Robot", one of the film's co-stars, was also a guest star in both The Thin Man episode and The Invisible Boy) and a documentary Watch the Skies!: Science Fiction, The 1950s and Us. Also included were miniature lobby cards and an 8 cm (3-inch) toy replica of Robby the Robot. This was quickly followed by the release of the Forbidden Planet 50th Anniversary edition in both standard DVD and HD DVD packaging. Both 50th anniversary formats were mastered by Warner Bros.-MGM techs from a fully restored, digital transfer of the film. A Blu-ray edition of Forbidden Planet was released on September 7, 2010.

Novelization
Shortly before the film was released, a novelization appeared in hardcover and then later in mass-market paperback; it was written by W. J. Stuart (the pseudonym of mystery novelist Philip MacDonald), which chapters the novel into separate first person narrations by Dr. Ostrow, Commander Adams, and Dr. Morbius. The novel delves further into the mysteries of the vanished Krell and Morbius' relationship to them. In the novel, he repeatedly exposes himself to the Krell's manifestation machine, which (as suggested in the film) boosts his brain power far beyond normal human intelligence. Unfortunately, Morbius retains enough of his imperfect human nature to be afflicted with hubris and a contempt for humanity. Not recognizing his own base primitive drives and limitations proves to be Morbius' downfall, as it had for the extinct Krell. While not stated explicitly in the film (although the basis for a deleted scene first included as an extra with the Criterion Collection's LaserDisc set and included with both the later 50th anniversary DVD and current Blu-ray releases), the novelization compared Altaira's ability to tame the tiger (until her sexual awakening with Commander Adams) to the medieval myth of a unicorn being tamable only by a virgin.

The novel also includes some elements never included in the film: For one, Adams, Farman, and Ostrow clandestinely observe Morbius' house overnight one evening, but see or hear nothing. When they leave they accidentally kill one of Altaira's pet monkeys. When Dr. Ostrow later on dissects the dead animal he discovers that its internal structure precludes it from ever having been alive in the normal biological sense. The tiger, deer, and monkeys are all conscious creations by Dr. Morbius as companions ("pets") for his daughter and only outwardly resemble their Earth counterparts. The novel also differs somewhat from the film in that it does not directly establish the great machine as the progenitor of the animals or monster; instead only attributes them to Morbius' elevated mental power. The Krell's self-destruction can be interpreted by the reader as a cosmic punishment for misappropriating the life-creating power of God. This is why in the film's ending, Commander Adams says in his speech to Altaira "...we are, after all, not God". The novel ends with a postscript making a similar observation.

Soundtrack
Forbidden Planet's innovative electronic music score (credited as "electronic tonalities" due to disputes with the musicians' union) was composed by Bebe and Louis Barron. Originally they were only going to do about 20 minutes of sound effects and electronic pieces, as also avant-garde composer Harry Partch was involved. When he decided to pull out, they took over the entire soundtrack. MGM producer Dore Schary was approached by them at a beatnik nightclub in Greenwich Village while on a family Christmas visit to New York City, where they asked if he was interested in listening to a demonstration of their electronic music. Schary told them he was returning to California the next morning, but to assuage their disappointment, he promised to give them a chance if they ever came to California. Assuming he had heard the last of them, he was surprised when they showed up in Hollywood a few weeks later. Keeping his promise, he listened to their music, and after a consultation with the head of MGM's music department Johnny Green and the movie's producer Nicholas Nayfack, he agreed to hire them. When they declined to have all their equipment transferred from New York to Hollywood for a three-month job, the studio agreed, and the movie became MGM's first production to have its score produced outside of the studio lot. While the theremin had been used on the soundtracks of Spellbound (1945) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), the Barrons' electronic composition is credited with being the first completely electronic film score, preceding the development of analog synthesizers by Robert Moog and Don Buchla in the early 1960s.

Using ideas and procedures from the book Cybernetics: Or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (1948) by the mathematician and electrical engineer Norbert Wiener, Louis Barron constructed his own electronic circuits that he used to generate the score's "bleeps, blurps, whirs, whines, throbs, hums, and screeches", making heavy use of ring modulation. After recording the basic sounds, the Barrons further manipulated the sounds with reverberation, delay, filters, and tape manipulations (as employed in the piece Williams Mix which they had assisted John Cage in realizing at their Greenwich Village studio).

Since Bebe and Louis Barron did not belong to the Musicians Union, their work could not be considered for an Academy Award in either the "soundtrack" or "sound effects" categories; this also necessitated the "electronic tonalities" credit. MGM declined to publish a soundtrack album at the time that Forbidden Planet was released; however, film composer and conductor David Rose later published a 7-inch (18 cm) single of his original main title theme that he had recorded at the MGM studios in March 1956. Rose was originally hired to compose the musical score in 1955, but his main title theme was discarded when he was discharged from the project by Dore Schary in late December of that year. The film's original theatrical trailer contains snippets of Rose's score, the tapes of which he reportedly later destroyed.

The Barrons finally released their soundtrack in 1976 as an LP album for the film's 20th anniversary; it was on their very own Planet Records label (later changed to Small Planet Records and distributed by GNP Crescendo Records). The LP premiered at MidAmeriCon, the 34th World Science Fiction Convention, held in Kansas City, MO, over the 1976 Labor Day weekend, as part of a 20th Anniversary celebration of Forbidden Planet held at that Worldcon; the Barrons were there promoting their album's first release, signing all the copies sold at the convention. They also introduced the first of three packed-house screenings that showed an MGM 35mm fine-grain vault print in original CinemaScope and stereophonic sound. A decade later, in 1986, their soundtrack was released on a music CD for the film's 30th Anniversary, with a six-page color booklet containing images from Forbidden Planet, plus liner notes from the composers, Bebe and Louis Barron, and Bill Malone.

A tribute to the film's soundtrack was performed live in concert by Jack Dangers, available on disc one of the album Forbidden Planet Explored.

Costumes and props
The costumes worn by Anne Francis were designed by Helen Rose. Her miniskirts resulted in Forbidden Planet being banned in Spain; it was not shown there until 1967. Other costumes were designed by Walter Plunkett.

Robby the Robot was operated at first by diminutive stuntman Frankie Darro. He was fired shortly after an early scene because of his having consumed a five-martini lunch prior to the scene being shot; he nearly fell over while attempting to walk while inside the expensive prop.

Many costume and prop items were reused in several different episodes of the television series The Twilight Zone, most of which were filmed by Rod Serling's Cayuga Productions at the MGM studio in Culver City, including Robby the Robot, the various C-57D models, the full-scale mock-up of the base of the ship (which featured in the episodes "To Serve Man" and "On Thursday We Leave for Home"), the blaster pistols and rifles, crew uniforms, and special effects shots.

In late September 2015, several screen-used items from Forbidden Planet were offered in Profiles in History's Hollywood Auction 74, including Walter Pidgeon's "Morbius" costume, an illuminating blaster rifle, blaster pistol, a force field generator post, and an original Sascha Brastoff steel prehistoric fish sculpture seen outside Morbius' home; also offered were several lobby cards and publicity photos. On November 2, 2017, the original Robby the Robot prop was offered for auction by Bonhams, and it earned US$5.3 million, including the buyer's premium. It set a new record for TCM-Bonhams auctions, surpassing the US$4 million earned for a Maltese Falcon in 2013, making it the most valuable film prop ever sold at auction.

In popular culture
An Australian radio adaptation using the original electronic music and noted local actors was broadcast in June 1959 on The Caltex Radio Theatre.

In Stephen King's The Tommyknockers, Altair-4 is frequently referenced as the home planet of the titular alien presence.

In the authorized biography of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, biographer David Alexander notes that Forbidden Planet was an inspiration for Star Trek and quotes a memo by Roddenberry in which he explicitly avoids copying the mechanics of Forbidden Planets spaceship, but hopes for it to "stimulate our own thinking" in regards to the production of the still-in-development Star Trek TV series. In the opening scene of the movie, the navigator says "We'll reach D.C. point at 1701". The registration number for the USS Enterprise is 1701.

Elements of the Doctor Who serial Planet of Evil were consciously based on Forbidden Planet.

In the novel Strata by Terry Pratchett the main characters get stranded on a disc world which is driven completely by underground machinery. Close to the end, an explicit reference is made: "Didn't you ever see Forbidden Planet? Human movie. They remade it five, six times".

Forbidden Planet and star Anne Francis are named alongside ten other classic science fiction films in the opening song "Science Fiction Double Feature" in the stage musical The Rocky Horror Show and its subsequent film adaptation.

The British musical Return to the Forbidden Planet was inspired by and loosely based on the MGM film, and won the Olivier Award for best musical of 1989/90.

A scene from the science fiction TV series Babylon 5, set on the Epsilon III Great Machine bridge, strongly resembles the Krell's great machine. While this was not the intent of the show's producer, the special effects crew, tasked with creating the imagery, stated that the Krell's machine was a definite influence on their Epsilon III designs. Also, Season 2 episode 5 "The Long Dark" features an invisible creature, that when shot is made visible with very similar effects as the invisible creature from Forbidden Planet.

The Time Tunnel pilot episode featured a matte shot of huge underground buildings and people running across a walkway above a giant power generator, in homage to the scene of the Krell's underground complex.

The Outer Limits episode "The Man with the Power" revisits the premise of a person's subconscious manifesting as a destructive, murderous entity.

For the film's 50th anniversary in 2006, DAW Books released an original mass-market paperback anthology of new science fiction short stories, Forbidden Planets, all of which were inspired by the film.

Fallout: New Vegas DLC Old World Blues uses multiple references, including Doctor Mobius as a reference to Morbius in the film, the protectrons being modeled after Robby the Robot, and The Forbidden Dome being based on the film's title.

In the first Mass Effect game, while examining the planets in the Gagarin system of the Armstrong Nebula, specifically on the planet's Junthor survey feed, a reference is made to "Monsters from the id".

Author George R. R. Martin cites Forbidden Planet as his favorite science fiction film and states that he owns a working, 1:1 (full size) Robby the Robot replica made by robot prop maker Fred Barton Productions.

In the Firefly film Serenity, one of the vehicles they examine on the planet Miranda has "C-57D" stenciled on its side.

In the Columbo (TV series) episode "Mind Over Mayhem" (1974), a robot called "MM7" is featured. Its top half is almost identical to Robby the Robot as he appears in the 1956 film. Differences in the hands, chest panel, and a metal skirting replacing the legs suggest it is not the original film prop.

In the Castle episode "Law & Murder" (2011 ) Forbidden Planet is playing at the Angelika Film Center. Castle, who is a fan of the film, invites his daughter to go with him to see it, but she has made other plans. At the end of the episode, Beckett tells Castle she is going to see it, and by feigning ignorance ("Forbidden Planet? Is...Is that the one with the robot?") Castle succeeds in getting Beckett to treat him to see the film.

Robby the Robot makes many cameo appearances in television and film. Examples include episodes of The Perry Como Show, Hazel, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Twilight Zone, The Banana Splits, Mork and Mindy, Wonder Woman, The Man from UNCLE, Ark II, Lost in Space, Space Academy, Project UFO and The Love Boat. Robby was also featured in the films Cherry 2000, Gremlins, The Invisible Boy, Invasion of the Neptune Men, Hollywood Boulevard, and Dünyayı Kurtaran Adam. He also has appeared on numerous magazine covers, record sleeves, and in some TV commercials.

Cancelled remake
New Line Cinema had developed a remake with James Cameron, Nelson Gidding, and Stirling Silliphant involved at different times. In 2007, DreamWorks set up the project with David Twohy set to direct. Warner Bros. re-acquired the rights the following year and on October 31, 2008, J. Michael Straczynski was announced as writing a remake, Joel Silver was to produce. Straczynski explained that the original had been his favorite science fiction film, and it gave Silver an idea for the new film that makes it "not a remake", "not a re-imagining", and "not exactly a prequel". His vision for the film would not be retro, because when the original was made it was meant to be futuristic. Straczynski met with people working in astrophysics, planetary geology, and artificial intelligence to reinterpret the Krell back-story as a film trilogy. In March 2009, Straczynski reported that the project was abandoned, and that a new script was requested.

title: Forbidden Planet


text:
Quebec Act

The Quebec Act, 1774 (Acte de Québec de 1774) was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which set procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec. One of the principal components of the Act was the expansion of the province's territory to take over part of the Indian Reserve, including much of what is now southern Ontario, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota.

The Act removed the reference to the Protestant faith from the oath of allegiance, and guaranteed free practice of Catholicism and restored the Church's power to impose tithes. Additionally, it restored the use of the French civil law for matters of private law, except for the granting of unlimited freedom of testation in accordance with English common law; which was maintained for matters of public law, including administrative appeals, court procedure, and criminal prosecution.

In Quebec, English-speaking immigrants from the Thirteen Colonies fiercely objected to a variety of its provisions, which they saw as a removal of certain political freedoms. The Act was one of the many catalysts that led to the American Revolution. Meanwhile, French-speaking Canadiens varied in their reaction, although the land-owning seigneurs and ecclesiastics were generally happy with its provisions.

In the Thirteen Colonies, the Act had been passed in the same session of Parliament as a number of other Acts designed as punishment for the Boston Tea Party and other protests, which the American Patriots collectively termed the Intolerable Acts or, in England, the Coercive Acts. Moreover, the Act was seen by the colonists as a new model for administration, which would strip them of their self-elected assemblies, and appeared to void some of the colonies' land claims by granting most of the Ohio Country to the province of Quebec. The Americans also interpreted the Act as an "establishment" of Catholicism in the colony, as many Americans had participated in the French and Indian War, and they now saw the religious freedoms and land given to their former enemy as an affront.

Background
Following the defeat of the Kingdom of France by the Kingdom of Great Britain in the Seven Years' War, the peace was formalized with the Treaty of Paris of 1763. Under the terms of the treaty, France ceded New France, specifically the French colony of Canada, to Britain as it was considered less valuable, since its only significant commercial product at the time was beaver pelts, choosing instead to keep the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique for their valuable sugar production. This territory along the St. Lawrence River, called Canada by the French, was renamed Quebec by the British, after its capital city. Non-military administration of the territories acquired by the British in the war was defined in the Royal Proclamation of 1763.

Under the terms of the peace treaty, Canadiens who chose not to leave became British subjects. In order for them to serve in public offices, they were required to swear an oath to the King that contained specific provisions rejecting the Catholic faith. Given that many of the predominantly Roman Catholic Canadiens were unwilling to take such an oath, this effectively prevented large numbers of Canadiens from participating in the local governments.

With unrest, which was growing into the American Revolution, increasing in the colonies to the south, the British were worried that the Canadiens might also support the growing rebellion. At that time, Canadiens formed the vast majority of the settler population of the province of Quebec (more than 99%) and there was little immigration from Great Britain. To secure the allegiance of the approximately 90,000 Canadiens to the British crown, first Governor James Murray and later Governor Guy Carleton promoted the need for change.

There was also a need to compromise between the conflicting demands of the Canadien subjects and those of newly arrived British subjects. These efforts by the colonial governors eventually resulted in the enactment of the Quebec Act, 1774.

The Act

 * Territory: The boundaries of the province were defined by the Act. In addition to the territory defined by the Royal Proclamation, the borders were expanded to include land that is now southern Ontario, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota. This increased the size of the province threefold, restoring the territory of the French province of Canada.
 * Religion: The Act allowed public office holders to practise the Roman Catholic faith, by replacing the oath sworn by officials from one sworn to Elizabeth I and her heirs, with one sworn to George III that had no reference to the Protestant faith. This enabled, for the first time, Canadiens to legally participate in the affairs of the provincial government without formally renouncing their faith. It also reestablished the collection of tithes, which had been stopped under the previous administrative rules.
 * Structure of government: The Act defined the structure of the provincial government. The governor was to be appointed by the Crown, and he was to govern with the assistance of a legislative council; there were no provisions for an elected legislative assembly.
 * Law: The Royal Proclamation of 1763 had provided that English common law would apply for all purposes in the colony. The act restored the application of the former law of Canada for all matters respecting property and civil rights, while providing that English law would apply in matters of public law, criminal law and freedom of testation.
 * Land use: The seigneurial system as a means of distributing land and managing its use was restored. This was the system by which the French had administered the province; the British had instituted a township system of land management in 1763.
 * Name of the Act: as was the practice at that time, the act initially only had a long title: An Act for making more effectual Provision for the Government of the Province of Quebec in North America.  The act was customarily referred to as the Quebec Act, 1774.  In 1898, the British Parliament authorised the use of a short  title, the British North America (Quebec) Act, 1774, but that short title was "without prejudice to any other mode of citation".  In its collection of constitutional enactments, the federal government has continued to refer to the act as the Quebec Act, 1774.

Participation of the Canadiens
The internal communications of the British colonial government at Quebec suggest a relative failure of the purpose of the Quebec Act. On 4 February 1775, Governor Guy Carleton wrote to General Thomas Gage that he believed the Canadiens to be generally happy with the Act, yet he also added:

"... I must not however conceal from Your Excellency, that the Gentry, well disposed, and heartily desirous as they are, to serve the Crown, and to serve it with Zeal, when formed into regular Corps, do not relish commanding a bare Militia, they never were used to that Service under the French Government, (and perhaps for good Reasons) besides the sudden Dismission of the Canadian Regiment raised in 1764, without Gratuity or Recompence to Officers, who engaged in our Service almost immediately after the Cession of the Country, of taking any Notice of them since, tho' they all expected half pay, is still uppermost in their Thoughts, and not likely to encourage their engaging a second Time in the same Way; as to the Habitants or Peasantry, ever since the Civil Authority has been introduced into the Province, the Government of it has hung so loose, and retained so little Power, they have in a Manner emancipated themselves, and it will require Time, and discreet Management likewise, to recall them to their ancient Habits of Obedience and Discipline; considering all the new Ideas they have been acquiring for these ten years past, can it be thought they will be pleased at being suddenly, and without Preparation embodied into a Militia, and marched from their Families, Lands, and Habitations to remote Provinces, and all the Horrors of War, which they have already experienced; It would give appearance of Truth to the Language of our Sons of Sedition, at this very Moment busily employed instilling into their Minds, that the Act was passed merely to serve the present Purposes of Government, and in the full Intention of ruling over them with all the Despotism of their ancient Masters."

On June 7, after having received word of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, as well as the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and Benedict Arnold's subsequent raid on Fort Saint-Jean, he wrote to Colonial Secretary Dartmouth:

"The little Force we have in the Province was immediately set in Motion, and ordered to assemble at or near St. John's; The Noblesse of this Neighbourhood were called upon to collect their Inhabitants, in order to defend themselves, the Savages of those Parts likewise had the same orders; but tho' the Gentlemen testified great Zeal, neither their Entreaties or their Example could prevail upon the People; a few of the Gentry, consisting principally of the Youth, residing in this Place, and its Neighbourhood, formed a small Corps of Volunteers under the Command of Mr. Samuel Mackay, and took Post at St. John's; the Indians shewed as much Backwardness as the Canadian Peasantry. ..."

Less than a month later, on 28 June 1775, Chief Justice William Hey wrote to the Lord Chancellor from Quebec:

"... What will be your Lordships astonishment when I tell you that an Act passed for the express purpose of gratifying the Canadians & which was supposed to comprehend all that they either wished or wanted is become the first object of their discontent & dislike. English officers to command them in time of war, & English Laws to govern them in time of Peace, is the general wish. The former they know to be impossible (at least at present) & by the latter if I understand them right, they mean no Laws & no Government whatsoever – in the mean time it may be truly said that Gen. Carleton had taken an ill measure of the influence of the seigneurs & Clergy over the lower order of people whose Principle of conduct founded in fear & the sharpness of authority over them now no longer exercised, is unrestrained, & breaks out in every shape of contempt or detestation of those whom they used to behold with terror & who gave them I believe too many occasions to express it. And they on their parts have been and are too much elated with the advantages they supposed they should derive from the restoration of their old Privileges & customs, & indulged themselves in a way of thinking & talking that gave very just offence, as well to their own People as to the English merchants."

On 21 September 1775, Lieutenant-Governor Cramahé, who governed at Quebec while Carleton was in Montreal, wrote to Dartmouth on the failure to rally the people after word arrived of the impending invasion from the colonies to the south:

"My Lord !

I am sorry to transmit to Your Lordship the disagreeable account of a disagreeable Business, some time in the Beginning of this Month, upon news of the Rebel Army approaching, General Carleton set out for Montreal in great Haste; the 7th instant the Rebels landed in the Woods near St. John's, and beat back to their Boats by a Party of Savages incamped at that Place; in this Action the Savages behaved with great Spirit and Resolution, and had they remained firm to our Interests, probably the Province would have been safe for this Year, but finding the Canadians in General averse to the taking up Arms for the Defence of their Country, they withdrew, and made their Peace.

After their Defeat the Rebels retired to the Isle aux Noix, where they continued till lately, sending out some Parties, and many Emissaries, to debauch the Minds of the Canadians and Indians, in which they have proved too successful, and for which they were too well prepared by the Cabals and Intrigues of these two last years; We knew of their being reinforced, and very considerably, I suppose, as they appeared in Numbers near St. John's last Sunday Evening; where or when they landed, or the Particulars since, we have but very imperfect Accounts of, all Communications with the Forts of St. John's and Chambli, being, as far as I can find, entirely cut off.

No Means have been left untried to bring the Canadian Peasantry to a Sense of their Duty, and engage them to take up arms in Defence of the Province, but all to no Purpose. The Justice must be done to the Gentry, Clergy, and most of the Bourgeoisie, that they have shewen the greatest Zeal and Fidelity to the King's Service, and exerted their best endeavours to reclaim their infatuated Countrymen; ..."

Thirteen Colonies
The Quebec Act angered the Americans and was termed one of the Intolerable Acts by the Patriots, and contributed to the coming of the American Revolution.

Frontiersmen from Virginia and other colonies were already entering that area. Land development companies such as the Ohio Company had already been formed to acquire ownership of large tracts and sell land to settlers and trade with the Indians. Americans denounced the Act for promoting the growth of "Papism" (Catholicism) and cutting back on their freedom and traditional rights. In particular, the colonial governments of New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia were angered by the unilateral assignment of the Ohio lands to Quebec, which had each been granted them in their royal charters. The George Rex protest flag was created in New York as a result.

Langston (2005) looked at press reaction in New England. Some colonial editors explained their views on how it reorganized Canadian governance, explaining how they felt it established direct rule by the Crown and limiting the reach of English law to criminal jurisprudence. Isaiah Thomas of the Massachusetts Spy drew links between the Quebec Act and legislation circumscribing American liberties, such as the Tea Act and the Coercive Acts. Editors shaped public opinion by writing editorials and reprinting opposition letters from both sides of the Atlantic. The First Continental Congress, which met from 5 September to 26 October 1774, addressed the inhabitants of Quebec, warning them of the perils of the supposedly arbitrary and tyrannical nature of Parliament.

The Quebec Act's main significance in the Thirteen Colonies was that it angered the Patriots, and dismayed the Loyalists who supported the Crown, and helped to accelerate the confrontation that became the American Revolution. The Act is listed as one of the rebels' 27 colonial grievances in the Declaration of Independence as one of the "Acts of pretended Legislation ...

"For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies."

The First Continental Congress petitioned Parliament to repeal the Intolerable Acts, which Parliament declined to do. Instead, in February 1775 Parliament passed the Conciliatory Resolution in an attempt to curry favour with the angry colonists. This was too little, too late, as the war broke out before news of its passage could reach the colonies. Although the Continental Congress did eventually receive this proposal, they ultimately rejected it.

In Quebec, the 1774 Act was effectively superseded by the Constitutional Act 1791, which partitioned Quebec into two new provinces, Upper and Lower Canada.

The Quebec Act of 1774 is an important predecessor to the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States by establishing religious freedom.

title: Quebec Act