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Talk:Elfquest

Series
If time ever permits I'd like to do a listing of maor Elfquest series and graphic novel collections.

Given the length and complexity of the series it might also be useful to include separate J. R. R. Tolkien-style articles for people, places and things. That could end up being a big project. Anyone game? Lee M 03:21, 20 Mar 2004 (UTC)

OK, I've added a list of character names. There are lots of them and they all have fascinating histories, why not. Anyone care to start writing the articles? Lee M 02:18, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)
 * Character names are now at List of characters in Elfquest.

That is quite an extensive list! I changed the place where we have included the link for your list. It is now listed in section 2.1 instead of at the bottom of the page. to the underlaying unity of all life so that the voice of intuition may guide us closer to our common keeper (talk) 06:06, 20 May 2012 (UTC)

copyright
I found that Warp Graphics take their IP seriously, a bit more seriously than most other companies. As an example, there was mention that they could not licence out Elfquest for computer games, so don't even bother asking. Why is this? How can so many other companies use their own property, and licence others to do so without any trouble, and without losing their rights, while Elfquest / Warp Graphics only seem to be able to keep it all in the family? Just curious... sheridan 23:54, 2005 Mar 24 (UTC)

 * EQ was one of the first independent, creator-owned titles back in the late '70s, and it was very much a mom-and-pop operation as opposed to the majority of comic titles which were corporate-owned. I'm assuming that's why Warp, or specifically Richard Pini, wants to keep such a tight rein on any merchandising or adaptations. Lee M 03:41, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

 * Richard Pini may have said said they "could not", but what he meant was "_would_ not". If his previous claims about diluting and/or losing their IP rights by doing so were valid, than every other copyright holder who has authorized computer game adaptations is screwed. Chaotic nipple 23:02, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

The truth is a lot simpler. As long as Elfquest has existed, it's been our dream to license a film adaptation of some sort. It's pretty much a given in the entertainment business that any major entity that options/produces a movie based on a property, will want all ancillary rights in that property as well - merchandise, games, publishing, etc. Were we to grant the rights for, say, a computer game, to a small company and then get a nibble from a major studio, we'd have to tell the big guys we could not offer them the complete package of rights. And that could very well bollix the deal. We've never been worried about losing our IP rights, but dilution - in the eyes of a prospective licensee - has been a valid concern. Richardpini 00:26, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

incest
I would object to the incest claim. Although I haven't kept up with the comics in recent years....I don't ever remember Leetah bedding Suntop or the like.

I do recall some incest, perhaps it should be clarified that it is not a huge part of the "current" culture of the comics as far as the first two tribes are concerned.

 * Given that the Sun Folk had an initial population of 5 individuals, one of whom was Savah's mother, another of whom was her uncle, I think we can safely infer that there was a lot of inbreeding going on. Come to think of it, I think Savah and her uncle were recognized. Chaotic nipple 21:30, 6 November 2006 (UTC)

 * I think the distinction has to be made between inbreeding and incest. Incest implies sexual contact between parent-child, siblings, and the like. Many cultures have allowed first cousins to marry and most allow second cousins to. Elfquest is very much a story of different cultures--different from human and different from elf tribe to elf tribe. There's also the matter of Recognition-that the elves are only fertile in that mental/telepathic state, which they cannot control, and which makes sure their children get the best that the parents have to offer. Simply saying the story features elements of incest (which is does) ignores the fact that the elves aren't human and that that--a portrayal of an alien species that is truely alien in some ways--is one of the appeals of the series.

Perhaps the title of the section should be changed, to perhaps INBREEDING or Elfquest genetics, or something less harsh. The word Incest has negative ramifications in society today. Inbreeding is closer to the truth, especially after the first couple of generations. After all, until recently, the royal families of Europe are the product of excessive INBREEDING, with rare birth defects and deseases popping up. The Royals are human, and evles are, well, elves. More flexible DNA perhaps? Trekkiexb5 21:32, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

 * I've reworked the sexuality part to read:
 * "The attitude of the elves towards sex differs greatly from that of human cultures because of their biological differences. Intercourse for the elves isn't an act of reproduction--that only occurs in a magical state called 'Recognition', which guarantees the best genetic combination of what’s available and is beyond the elves’ conscious control. Some elves take more than one lifemate or lovemate, and having sex with someone besides your lifemate or lovemate is acceptable, though not something that would happen all the time. Sexuality and nudity among the elves are seen as natural. To survive and multiply despite their low numbers, both the elves and the trolls have had to sometimes breed with close relatives. The troll Picknose and his mate Oddbit founded their own endogamous kingdom by themselves, causing their children to breed with each other and result in a new society of trolls. According to the creators of Elfquest, Wendy and Richard Pini, all the Elfquest elves are omnisexual and a lack well-defined concept of inbreeding, because of their very long lifespans and because Recognition makes it irrelivant to them. While the story has elements of implied incest, it, and the elves overall attitudes toward sex, is used to illustrate the fact that the elves aren't human and that--a portrayal of an alien species that is truely alien in some ways--is one of the appeals of the series."

Most human societies allow first cousins to marry each other. The Tuaregs allows women to marry a maternal uncle and men a paternal aunt. I think it is because they don't understand that bloodlines are independent of gender. Personally I would not consider sex between first cousins to be incest unless they are double first cousins or children of identical twins. Humans may well suffer the effects of inbreeding more easily than other mammals. In that case it would be because we already have some degree of inbreeding. The whole present-day humanity descend from only a few thousands of people which lived at the beginning of the last Ice Age. It would also explain why we have a weaker immune system than most other mammals.

The sexuality and reproduction of the elves does not really function like that of humans. Recognition virtually always lead to a child (or children) provided it is consummated. The elves are able to reproduce outside Recognition as well but then their reproduction rate is very low. The fact that all elves are bisexual probably contributes to this. The Wolfriders and Sun People appear to reproduce mainly trough Recognition. The Gliders did not manage to reproduce at all for very long – probably several millennia. A visiting Wolfrider named Skywise eventually finds out why: if their number had grown any further they would had outstripped their resources. Since pure-blood elves does not age no-one of them had died during all this time. Consequentially, there where no new births either. The first Glider who manage to reproduce again is Tyldak who acquires Recognition with the Wolfrider Dewshine. The Go-Backs reproduce mainly outside Recognition. No-one of them has experienced Recognition for so long that when Rayek mentions it to their leader Khavi it takes a moment until she remembers what the expression means. The tradition of orgies before battles – when all the adults have sexual intercourse – was probably started in an effort to maximise their birth rate. Apparently, it worked, when the Wolfriders first met them they where at least 49 people (43 adults and at least six children). This includes the two immigrants Rayek and Ekuar. For comparison, the Wolfriders that reached Sorrow's End where only 17 people (13 adults and four children). If the Wolfrider wolves are sentient and telepathic (I don't know if this is canon) they should be considered people as well. Two of them died from hardship during the way though the desert while 13 or 14 survived to reach Sorrow's End.

About incest, it would not surprise me if the elves avoided sexual intercourse with close relatives unless it is their only chance to reproduce. In that case they have no clear definition of who is a “close relative”. Anyway, they only allows consensual sex. The existence of healers probably also contributes to avoiding the effects of inbreeding. These can cure almost all diseases, save the mortally wounded, and even reshape living bodies. However, such changes are not hereditary. Tyldak’s body has been heavily modified to make him look like a mix of a bat and pterosaur trough still with an elf-like face and a roomy enough braincase. Yet his son with Dewshine is a normal-locking elf. He instead bears some resemblance to his father as he looked before modification. Your ideas of incest may be tainted by some highlighted trials in the 1990ies when parents where accused for having sex with their underage children. These children where more likely victims of a degenerate species of psychoanalysis that “explains” all mental problems as the result of sexual abuse. The therapists in question may have sworn on their “scientific honour” but I don’t consider theirs more valuable than that of Trofim Lysenko.

The elves may have more flexible genes or at least a higher mutation rate than humans. There are significant differences in physical appearance between the different elf tribes despite the relatively few generations since the time of divergence. The Gliders have no skin pigmentation comparable to that of humans. If they have any skin pigmentation at all it is probably white since they appear pale even when they are healthy. The Go-Backs and Wolfriders are as light-skinned as North Europeans (pink and beige skin). At least the Wolfriders are able to tan at lower latitudes. Yet their skin remains significantly lighter than that of the Sun People. They in turn have medium brown skin which does not become lighter at higher latitudes. (Dark-skinned humans gets noticeably lighter skin after a few months at high latitudes.) The different tribes also differ in height and build. The original High Ones where the size of tall humans but significantly more curvy. The Gliders are of roughly human height but with “narrower” bodies. What I mean is that their bodies seem squeezed together from the sides compared to those of humans. The other elf tribes still have the curvy build of the High Ones. However, the Go-Backs and Wolfriders are very much shorter. For example the Wolfrider Treestump has about 60% of his ancestor Timmain’s height. All adult Wolfriders and Go-Backs are close to him in height. So are all adult members of the Sun People except for their oldest woman who is significantly taller. Wolfrider men are also considerably more muscular than those of the other tribes. In fact, all Wolfriders are stronger than other elves but this is not so easily visible in the women. This is because they are all descendants of Timmorn Yelloweyes who was probably best described as being half elf and half wolf. This also explains the fact that the Wolfrider men develop patches of facial hair at an age of several centuries. Otherwise the elves seems to have no noticeable hair in the areas where humans would naturally grew androgenic hair. If anyone don’t understand please let me know.

2009-05-23 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

I now think elf women can get pregnant without Recognition if they want to. (Elf women don’t menstruate which suggests no recurrent ovulation.) However, this only works if the society has a need for children. Similarly, Recognition only occurs if there is a need to reproduce. All in all, elves can only reproduce when they need to.

I think the Sun People reproduce only through Recognition. Except for Winnowill giving birth to the half-troll Two-Edge the Gliders did not reproduce for many millenia. I don’t know how they did before they stopped to reproduce. But my educated guess is they relied mainly on Recognition. The Go-Backs reproduce mostly without Recognition. The Wolfriders reproduce mainly through Recognition and have done so for a long time. Out of the current Wolfriders born within the tribe only Sust, Pike and possibly Moonshade were born outside Recognition. Krim and Yun were both born outside Recognition. However, these two were born among the Go-Backs and later joined the Wolfriders. Teir’s origin is a bit unclear. In Hidden Years 23 Alpha and Omega he does his best to explain. He says the he was born without Recognition happening before. His parents, grandfather and brother were the only people he ever knew. I would say he was born in a family group rather than a tribe. In - Recognition - 1 and 2_page=1#_1 Recognition he turns out to have met Kahvi as a child. However, I don’t think he is the son of her.

2013-08-16 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

Sexuality
" The attitude of the elves towards sex differs greatly from that of human cultures because of their biological differences. Intercourse for the elves isn't an act of reproduction, which only happens as the result of Recognition." --This statement is incorrect not only by a reading of the comic but by a reading of the article itself. Children are regularly born outside of recognition to all three "healthy" elf tribes. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.125.84.185 (talk) 09:19, 28 December 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Elfquest 1979 cover art by Wendy Pini.jpg
Image:Elfquest 1979 cover art by Wendy Pini.jpg is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

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— Save_Us _ 229  19:16, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Movie is coming.
There is a movie coming. It is unknown if this is live action or animation movie. This must be added in article. --SkyWalker (talk) 14:21, 9 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Except that they've been claiming this for at least 12 years now, without anything solid turning up. Two words, rhyme with "Pevelopement Bell". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 116.125.84.164 (talk) 11:07, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

Sounds like the project has been shouted down to me.

2009-02-11 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.229.19.183 (talk) 20:00, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject Comics B-Class Assesment required
This article needs the B-Class checklist filled in to remain a B-Class article for the Comics WikiProject. If the checklist is not filled in by 7th August this article will be re-assessed as C-Class. The checklist should be filled out referencing the guidance given at Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Assessment/B-Class criteria. For further details please contact the Comics WikiProject. Comics-awb (talk) 16:26, 31 July 2008 (UTC)

Starship of the High Ones
Is it known if the High Ones' starship travelled slower or faster than light? For a species that does not age after reaching adulthood slower-than-light interstellar travel should not be any problem.

2008-10-05 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

C-Class rated for Comics Project
As this B-Class article has yet to receive a review, it has been rated as C-Class. If you disagree and would like to request an assesment, please visit WikiProject_Comics/Assessment and list the article. Hiding T 14:01, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Oversimplification of origins
In part 20 of the original series the High One Timmain – channelled through her descendant Suntop – says:

“'''I... am Timmain!''' I will speak trough the mind and heart of this child – – in words you can understand!” [...] “Look upon the Scroll of Colors! As it turns you will learn the history of the High Ones. Read it, and I will explain what you see. The High Ones come here from... elsewhere. Their world, lifeless now, lived long as worlds go and bore many young as worlds do. The early High Ones depended on their land for survival, until they tamed it, and made it depend on them. The gift you call magic slept in their bodies, but their tools and weapons gave them so much power that they did not look inside themselves – – for other sources. In time all their lands and waters where not enough to sustain their numbers. So some found other worlds to dwell on, and a star’s lifetime passed before descendants of those travelers went back to see the High Ones’ birthplace. The returned ones chose to stay and aid the used-up world they found. In doing so these caretakers awakened their inner magic. It took the place of tools as they eased the aging land through the last of its life. But purpose changes with time. The High Ones become absorbed in exploring the limits of their powers. Death and birth happened to them less and less often and even shape and substance lost meaning for them – – for both, they learned could be changed at will. Then come the choice – the choice which, once made, defined the nature of the High Ones for all time!” [...] “We, for I existed by then, learned to send our spirits ‘out.’ These little deaths tempted us to abandon our bodies altogether, for it is very peaceful without flesh and the senses. But we choose form and all the pleasures and pains that go with it! We choose an immortality seasoned with chance rather than tranquility. There was no new growth or knowledge to be had on our finished world, and once again we looked for the stars – and a new goal – – experience! As humbling reminders of the beings who had but one shape and a limited life span, we took small, ground-digging apes and winged insects – the last animals left on our world – and we bonded into many groups. Each group raised and sealed about itself, like a folded blossom, a shell made from our dying soil. Then, one by one, the shells floated toward the little twinkling points in the sky. It is far from dead, the vast sea where all stars swim. Anything we needed, from air to breath, to food to eat, we made from the matter we collected from the blackness between suns. And those suns gave warmth to different worlds – some teeming with life. We visited many, always in secret, shaping ourselves to look like and mingle with the creatures we met. The Scroll of Colors will tell you all of these adventures someday, but now you must learn why my bound group come to this World of Two Moons and how we become exiles in the wrong place – and time!” [...] “Our travels carried us so far and so long that we saw many generations of our little pets come and go. Our shell, suffused with shape-changing magic, could not help but affect them. Eventually, they become as long lived as we! The burrowers and winged ones evolved, gained thought and speech. But while the Preservers were willing helpers, the ones you call trolls were willful and independent. For their own sakes, not for ours, the trolls kept our floating shell in perfect order. But when they saw their chance, finally, to be free of us, they thought nothing of the consequences of their actions. In all our travels we had yet to meet with another shell. We yearned to share our gained knowledge, to touch and be touched by others of our unique kind. Where were our fellow wanderers? One answer seemed to be cloaked within the shared legends of humans who inhabited a small, double-mooned world. No matter their outward differences, these humans depicted, trough their art and craft, magical beings – immortals – with traits and powers like ours. We wondered if other High Ones had visited and stayed on that world, becoming the source of such vivid human lore. Of so, could we do the same, and perhaps reunite with our long lost kind? Choosing a place to appear where the folk seemed, by all their stories and art, to be especially fond of wood spirits, elves and trolls, we took shapes to match those images and transformed our shell into a palace. We hoped that humans would dare to approach their legends-come-to-life, and that from them we’d obtain clues to the where-abouts of others of our race. Our stay would be brief, for even from afar we sensed the two-mooned word’s draining effect on our powers. Although we never intended to remain, the mischievous trolls wished to! At the moment of our descent, one of the trolls slashed open the Guiders’ cocoons! In the shock of sudden exposure, the Guiders lost control! Their linked minds surged with misdirected power, hurling us off course – – and into chaos! We crashed, then recovered, only to find – – it was the same world, but much, younger, harsh and unfriendly. The bestial humans seemed to have no thoughts – save for survival. Those of us who escaped were driven into the woods, while the trolls burrowed underground. The humans claimed our palace and prevented our return to it. The constant use of magic had, which served us poorly here, had left us weak and unfit. Learning to live of the cold land was hard and painful. We longed for the stars...”

“...and still do!” Skywise replies.

“Strange...” thinks Cutter. “One quest for elves led to another.”

Timmain – still channelled through Suntop – continues:

“The rest, you know. You are the scattered children of the High Ones and the trolls. You are the sturdy result of generations of change. But the Wolfriders are more! They alone share blood with beasts born of this world. It was my gift to my son! He was the first of us to have the right to call the land his own! If you choose, Wolfriders, you too have that right – – and none can... take it from you...”

Each new paragraph represents a new speech bubble. The signs “[...]” replace intervening comments which I consider less important. Cutter is Suntop’s father and Skywise is Cutter’s best friend. My point is that the description of the origins of the elves, trolls and preservers is oversimplified and sometimes even incorrect. These are the discrepancies I have found:

¤ The original home-world of the High Ones become overpopulated at least a thousand million years before they discovered their psychic powers. Some of anthropomorphic inhabitants then left the world to find and colonise others. ¤ When the descendants of those space-farers returned to their species original home-world it had already reached the end of the time when it could support life. In the effort to keep the planet habitable these discovered that they had magic-like powers. Their psychic powers grew until they become ageless shape-shifters with the ability to shape their environment as well. ¤ The ancestors of the trolls and Preservers were the only animals left on the planet at the time of the High Ones departure. ¤ The pets of the High Ones evolved into trolls and Preservers during the journey to the World of Two Moons. The trolls evolved further after the landing to become more muscular. They become a little taller as well. The Preservers could not have done so since they where no longer able to reproduce.

My source is Elfquest Archives Part Four. The excerpts can be found on pages 167 – 173 in DC Comics’ 2007 edition. If you want I can explain what Timmain meant with her “gift” to her son as well.

2009-05-17 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

Fantasy weapon?
In the original series there is a weapon that seem to be a cross between a bow and an atlatl. It looks like stick with a twine fastened in one end. The other end of the twin is a loop to fit an arrow in. Does this weapon exist in the real world or was it made up by Wendy and Richard Pini?

2009-05-23 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

Publication history
Maybe early spin-off works like story Homespun, first printed in Marvelæs Epic Illustrated Vol 1 #1, could be included? That's where we first meet the Petalwing and the rest of the preservers in the Forbidden Grove, where they encounters Selah and Malak. 84.210.63.90 (talk) 23:42, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Suggest merge of Gliders (Elfquest) to here
The article Gliders (Elfquest) is unreferenced and appears to be primarily in-universe in content. Web searches for "Elfquest Gliders -wikipedia" appear to bring up only references to the series itself and to fansites, which do nothing to establish notability. Elfquest itself is likely to be notable although this article does not establish it unequivocally. It seems appropriate to merge the content to here. --MegaSloth (talk) 01:06, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Support - The Gliders fail Wikipedia's notability guidelines for elements of fiction. Neelix (talk) 02:39, 30 June 2010 (UTC)
 * Support definitely in-universe. Blackash   have a chat 13:45, 17 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Support I think some of the character information here can also be incorporated into List of Elfquest characters. Colincbn (talk) 16:43, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I've started the merge by moving the character info from over to Gliders (Elfquest)List of Elfquest characters. Once I've done that I'll merge the rest of the page here. Blackash  have a chat 16:22, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

Done I've merged the Gliders (Elfquest) into both this article and the List of Elfquest characters. Blackash  have a chat 14:41, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

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Wolf Riders and animals other than wolves
In the Xanth book Isle of View, we're introduced to an Elfquest Wolf Rider named Jenny, who shows up with her real-world cat, Sammy. Jenny and Sammy are clearly friends. Additionally, Sammy has a special ability to find items on request, such as a feather (which is how they end up in Xanth in the first place), the child of a centaur who Jenny was talking to, and help. This brings up 2 question: 109.186.192.1 (talk) 13:50, 8 May 2019 (UTC)
 * 1) Do Wolf Riders tend to have relationships with animals other than wolves?
 * 2) Do animals such as cats have special abilities?

Art of Elfquest
I've been thinking about adding a few sentences about the style of the art in Elfquest, but I'm not sure where best to do it or if it deserves its own section.

In interviews, Wendy Pini has talked about how the style of the comic art was inspired by manga artists, particularly Osamu Tezuka. . This combination of western and manga art styles was very new for the time.

There was also a book published showcasing the art of the series, called The Art of Elfquest. This is not yet mentioned in the article.

Worth adding a section on Art? Where should I put it? Classicintense (talk) 05:10, 5 December 2019 (UTC)

Title: Elfquest or ElfQuest
Wendy Pini and Richard Pini write the title as ElfQuest on their website: https://elfquest.com/eq-faq/

Has there been a discussion whether to capitalize q in the title when referring to the comic on Wikipedia? Mason Clegg (talk) 00:50, 30 March 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Elfquest


text:
Stargazy pie

Stargazy pie (Cornish: Hogen Ster-Lagatta; sometimes called starrey gazey pie, stargazey pie and other variants) is a Cornish dish made of baked pilchards (sardines), along with eggs and potatoes, covered with a pastry crust. Although there are a few variations using other types of fish, the unique feature of stargazy pie is fish heads (and sometimes tails) protruding through the crust, so that they appear to be gazing to the stars.

The dish traditionally originates from the village of Mousehole in Cornwall and is traditionally eaten during the festival of Tom Bawcock's Eve to celebrate his heroic catch during a very stormy winter. According to the modern festival, which is combined with the Mousehole village illuminations, the entire catch was baked into a huge stargazy pie, encompassing seven types of fish and saving the village from starvation. The story of Bawcock was popularised by Antonia Barber's children's book The Mousehole Cat, which featured the stargazy pie. In 2007 contestant Mark Hix won the BBC's Great British Menu with a variant of the dish.

Description
Stargazy pie is a pastry-based fish pie which, by tradition, is filled with whole pilchards. It is critical that the pilchards retain their heads, so they poke through the pastry top. The appearance of the fish heads makes them look like they are "gazing at the stars", hence the name. The position of the fish allows the oil that is released during cooking to drain into the pie, adding a fuller flavour and ensuring the pie is moist. The celebrity chef Rick Stein suggested also poking the pilchards' tails through the pie crust to give the effect of leaping through water.

In spite of the fact that the British Food Trust describes the dish as being fun as well as amusing to children, it has been listed in "Yuck! Disgusting things people eat", a lifestyle feature by the New York Daily News based upon the book by an American author, Neil Setchfield. On Tom Bawcock's Eve it is served in The Ship Inn, the only pub in Mousehole, sometimes after a re-enactment of the legend.

Origins
The pie originates from the fishing village of Mousehole in Cornwall. As with many parts of Cornish heritage, a legend has appeared about its origins. In this case, the pie is served to celebrate the bravery of Tom Bawcock, a local fisherman in the 16th century. The legend explains that one winter had been particularly stormy, meaning that none of the fishing boats had been able to leave the harbour. As Christmas approached, the villagers, who relied on fish as their primary source of food, were facing starvation.

On 23 December, Tom Bawcock decided to brave the storms and went out in his fishing boat. Despite the stormy weather and the difficult seas, he managed to catch enough fish to feed the entire village. The entire catch (including seven types of fish) was baked into a pie, which had the fish heads poking through to prove that there were fish inside. Ever since then, the Tom Bawcock's Eve festival is held on 23 December in Mousehole. The celebration and memorial to the efforts of Tom Bawcock sees the villagers parading a huge stargazy pie during the evening with a procession of handmade lanterns, before eating the pie itself.

An older feast, held by the fishermen towards the end of December, included a pie cooked with different fish to represent the variety of catches the men hoped to achieve in the coming year. There is a possibility that Tom Bawcock's Eve is an evolution of this festival. Since 1963, the festival has been run against the backdrop of the Mousehole village illuminations, where the entire harbour is lit up, along with many other displays. One set of lights even represents the pie itself, showing fish heads and tails protruding from a pie dish underneath six stars.

There was a rumour that the entire festival was a fabrication by the landlord of The Ship Inn in the 1950s. However, festivities had been recorded by Morton Nance, an author on the Cornish language, in 1927 in the magazine Old Cornwall. His description was regarding the festivities prior to 1900, though he doubted the reality of Tom Bawcock, suggesting it was in fact "Beau Coc". He also went on to confirm that the origins of the festival dated back to pre-Christian times, though it is unclear at what time the stargazy pie became part of the festivities. Morton Nance went on to restore the traditional song sung on Tom Bawcock's Eve, played to the local tune "wedding March".

A legend surrounding stargazy pie, along with the other unusual pies of Cornwall, is that they were the reason that the Devil never came to Cornwall. In his book Popular Romances of the West of England; or, The drolls, traditions, and superstitions of old Cornwall, a collection of Cornish traditions, Robert Hunt explains that the Devil crossed the River Tamar to Torpoint. The chapter, entitled "The Devil's Coits, etc", reasons that the Devil discovered the Cornish would put anything in a pie and decided to leave before they took a fancy to a "devilly" pie, returning to Devon.

Recipes
The original pie in the legend included sand eels, horse mackerel, pilchards, herring, dogfish and ling along with a seventh fish. In a traditional pie, the primary ingredient is the pilchard (sardine), although mackerel or herring is used as a substitute. Richard Stevenson, chef at The Ship Inn in Mousehole, suggests that any white fish will work for the filling, while pilchards or herring can be added for the presentation. Prior to putting it in the pie the fish should be skinned and boned (except the head and tail) to make it easier to eat. Along with the fish, the other traditional ingredients are thickened milk, eggs and boiled potatoes.

There are many recipe variations around the traditional ingredients, some of which include hard-boiled eggs, bacon, onion, mustard or white wine. Other alternatives to the main fish can be crayfish and rabbit or mutton. The stargazy pie is always topped with a pastry lid, generally shortcrust but sometimes puff pastry, through which the fish heads and sometimes tails protrude.

For presentation, one suggestion is that the pilchards be arranged with their tails toward the centre of the pie and their heads poking up through the crust around the edge. As it includes potatoes and pastry, the pie can be served on its own or with crusty bread, sometimes with vegetables. Other suggested accompaniments are Cornish Yarg cheese, rhubarb chutney, poached eggs or a slice of lemon.

In music
Nancy Kerr and James Fagan recorded an album and track Starry Gazy Pie in 1997.

Jim Causley references "starry-gazey pie" on the track "My Young Man's a Cornishman" on his 2013 album Cyprus Well. The song comes from a poem by his distant relative Charles Causley (1917–2003).

Cornish singer Brenda Wootton recorded an album Starry-Gazey Pie with Rob Bartlett in 1975 for Sentinel Records.

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

title: Stargazy pie


text:
User:IMSoP/parse t t.pl

This is a perl script I made to eliminate formatting inconsistencies, and fill in missing information, in Twin towns. Specifically, it parses every listing to make sure that there are entries for both ends of the twinning (until I made it, more than 50% of the entries were under UK, which is of course impossible; they are all twinned with somewhere, which is therefore twinned back with them).

title: User:IMSoP/parse t t.pl


text:
Emanuel Kayser

Friedrich Heinrich Emanuel Kayser (March 26, 1845 – November 29, 1927) was a German geologist and palaeontologist, born in Königsberg.

He was educated at the universities of Halle, Heidelberg and Berlin, where in 1871 he qualified as a lecturer in geology. From 1873 he worked as a state geologist for the Preußischen Geologischen Landesanstalt (Prussian Geological Survey), and in 1881 became a professor at the Berlin Mining Academy. In 1885 he succeeded Wilhelm Dunker as professor of geology and paleontology at the University of Marburg.

He is known for his work involving the stratigraphy, tectonics and paleontology of Paleozoic formations in Germany; especially the Harz and the Rhenish Massif. With Wilhelm Dames, he was co-editor of the journal Paläontologischen Abhandlungen.

Among his separate works are Lehrbuch der Geologie (2 vols.): ii. Geologische Formationskunde (1891; 2nd ed., 1902), and i. Allgemeine Geologie (1893); vol. ii. (the volume first issued) was translated and edited by Philip Lake, under the title Textbook of Comparative Geology (1893). Another work is Beiträge zur Kenntniss der Fauna der Siegenschen Grauwacke (1892).

Posthumous honours
Kayser Bjerg, a mountain in Greenland, was named after him.

title: Emanuel Kayser


text:
Lombard language

The Lombard language (native name: lombard, lumbard, lumbart or lombart, depending on the orthography; pronunciation: ) belongs to the Gallo-Italic group within the Romance languages and is characterized by a Celtic linguistic substratum and a Lombardic linguistic superstratum and is a cluster of homogeneous dialects that are spoken by millions of speakers in Northern Italy and southern Switzerland, including most of Lombardy and some areas of the neighbouring regions, notably the far eastern side of Piedmont and the extreme western side of Trentino, and in Switzerland in the cantons of Ticino and Graubünden. The language is also spoken in Santa Catarina in Brazil by Lombard immigrants from the Province of Bergamo, in Italy.

Origins
The most ancient linguistic substratum that has left a mark on the Lombard language is that of the ancient Ligures. However, available information about the ancient language and its influence on modern Lombard is extremely vague and limited. That is in sharp contrast to the influence left by the Celts, who settled in Northern Italy and brought their Celtic languages and culturally and linguistically Celticised the Ligures. The Celtic substratum of modern Lombard and the neighbouring languages of Northern Italy is self-evident and so the Lombard language is classified as a Gallo-Italic language (from the ancient Roman name for the Celts, Gauls).

Roman domination shaped the dialects spoken in the area, which was called Cisalpine Gaul ("Gaul, this side of the mountains") by the Romans, and much of the lexicon and grammar of the Lombard language have their origin in Latin. However, that influence was not homogeneous since idioms of different areas were influenced by previous linguistic substrata, and each area was marked by a stronger or weaker Latinisation or the preservation of ancient Celtic characteristics.

The Germanic Lombardic language also left strong traces in modern Lombard, as it was the variety of Germanic that was spoken by the Germanic Lombards (or Longobards), who settled in Northern Italy, which is called Greater Lombardy after them, and in other parts of the Italian Peninsula after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Lombardic acted as a linguistic superstratum on Lombard and neighboring Gallo-Italic languages since the Germanic Lombards did not impose their language by law on the Gallo-Roman population, but they rather acquired the Gallo-Italic language from the local population. Lombardic left traces, mostly in lexicon and phonetics, without Germanicising the local language in its structure and so Lombard preserved its Romance structure.

Status
Lombard is considered a minority language that is structurally separate from Italian by both Ethnologue and the UNESCO Red Book on Endangered Languages. However, Italy and Switzerland do not recognize Lombard-speakers as a linguistic minority. In Italy, that is the same as for most other minority languages, which have been for a long time incorrectly classed as corrupted regional dialects of Italian. However, Lombard and Italian belong to different subgroups of the Romance language family, and Lombard's historical development is not related to Standard Italian, which is derived from Tuscan.

Speakers
Historically, the vast majority of Lombards spoke only Lombard, as "Italian" was merely a literary language, and most Italians were not able to read or write. After the Italian economic miracle, Standard Italian arose throughout Italy and Lombard-speaking Switzerland, wholly-monolingual Lombard-speakers became a rarity as time went by, but a small minority may still be uncomfortable speaking Standard Italian. Surveys in Italy find that all Lombard-speakers also speak Italian, and their command of both two languages varies according to their geographical position as well as their socio-economic situation. The most reliable predictor was found to be the speaker's age. Studies have found that young people are much less likely to speak Lombard as proficiently as their grandparents. In some areas, elderly people are more used to speaking Lombard than Italian even though they know both.

Classification
Lombard belongs to the Gallo-Italic (Cisalpine) group of Gallo-Romance languages, which belongs to the Western Romance subdivision.

Varieties
Traditionally, the Lombard dialects have been classified into the Eastern, Western, Alpine and Southern Lombard dialects.

The varieties of the Italian provinces of Milan, Varese, Como, Lecco, Lodi, Monza and Brianza, Pavia and Mantua belong to Western Lombard, and the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Cremona are dialects of Eastern Lombard. All varieties spoken in the Swiss areas (both in the Canton of Ticino and the Canton of Graubünden) are Western, and both Western and Eastern varieties are found in the Italian areas.

The varieties of the Alpine valleys of Valchiavenna and Valtellina (Sondrio) and upper-Valcamonica (Brescia) and the four Lombard valleys of the Swiss canton of Graubünden have some peculiarities of their own and some traits in common with Eastern Lombard but should be considered Western. Also, dialects from the Piedmontese provinces of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Novara, the Valsesia valley (province of Vercelli), and the city of Tortona are closer to Western Lombard than to Piedmontese. Alternatively, following the traditional classification, the varieties spoken in parts of Sondrio, Trentino, Ticino and Grigioni can be considered as Alpine Lombard, and those spoken in southern Lombardy such as in Pavia, Lodi, Cremona and Mantova can be classified as Southern Lombard.

Literature
Lacking a standard language, authors in the 13th and 14th language created Franco-Lombard, a mixed language including Old French, for their literary works. The Lombard variety with the oldest literary tradition (from the 13th century) is that of Milan, but Milanese, the native Lombard variety of the area, has now almost completely been superseded by Italian from the heavy influx of migrants from other parts of Italy (especially from Apulia, Sicily and Campania) during the rapid industrialization after the Second World War.

Ticinese is a comprehensive denomination for the Lombard varieties that are spoken in Swiss canton Ticino (Tessin), and the Ticinese koiné is the Western Lombard koiné used by speakers of local dialects (particularly those diverging from the koiné itself) when they communicate with speakers of other Lombard dialects of Ticino, Grigioni or Italian Lombardy. The koiné is similar to Milanese and the varieties of the neighbouring provinces on the Italian side of the border.

There is extant literature in other varieties of Lombard like La masséra da bé, a theatrical work in early Eastern Lombard, written by Galeazzo dagli Orzi (1492–?) presumably in 1554.

Usage
[[File:Mappa Dialetti lombardi.svg|thumb|Detailed geographic distribution of Lombard dialects

Legend: L01 – Western Lombard; L02 – Eastern Lombard; L03 – Southern Lombard; L04 – Alpine Lombard]] Standard Italian is widely used in Lombard-speaking areas. However, the status of Lombard is quite different in the Swiss and Italian areas and so the Swiss areas have now become the real strongholds of Lombard.

In Switzerland
In the Swiss areas, the local Lombard varieties are generally better preserved and more vital than in Italy. No negative feelings are associated with the use of Lombard in everyday life, even with complete strangers. Some radio and television programmes, particularly comedies, are occasionally broadcast by the Swiss Italian-speaking broadcasting company in Lombard. Moreover, it is common for people to answer in Lombard in spontaneous interviews. Even some television advertisements have been broadcast in Lombard. The major research institution working on Lombard dialects is in Bellinzona, Switzerland (CDE – Centro di dialettologia e di etnografia, a governmental (cantonal) institution); there is no comparable institution in Italy. In December 2004, it released a dictionary in five volumes, covering all Lombard varieties spoken in the Swiss areas.

In Italy
Today, in most urban areas of Italian Lombardy, people under 40 years old speak almost exclusively Italian in their daily lives because of schooling and television broadcasts in Italian. However, in rural areas, Lombard is still vital and used alongside Italian.

Lombard is spoken in Campione d'Italia, an exclave of Italy that is surrounded by Swiss territory on Lake Lugano.

Phonology
The following tables show the sounds that are used in all Lombard dialects.

Consonants
In Eastern Lombard and Pavese dialect, and  merge to  and ,  and  merge to. In Eastern Lombard, the last sound is often further debuccalized to.

Vowels
In Western varieties, vowel length is contrastive (Milanese andà "to go" and andaa "gone"), but Eastern varieties normally use only short allophones.

Two repeating orthographic vowels are separated by a dash to prevent them from being confused with a long vowel: a-a in ca-àl "horse".

Western long and short  tend to be back  and lower, respectively, and  and  may merge to.

title: Lombard language


text:
Arctotis

Arctotis is a genus of annual and perennial plants in the family Asteraceae.

Arctotis is native to dry stony slopes in southern Africa. Some of the plants are alternatively placed in the genus Venidium. The common name is "African daisy", or "Gousblom" in Afrikaans. These plants have daisy-like composite flowers which tend to close in the late afternoon or in dull weather, but numerous cultivars have been developed for garden use which stay open for longer, and are available in a wide range of colours. Tender perennials are often grown in temperate regions as half-hardy annuals.

The garden hybrid A. × hybrida hort. 'Flame' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Vigorous Arctotis hybrids like 'Pink Sugar' and 'Large Marge' are popular choices for garden design for the diverse colors of their blooms.

Species
• Arctotis acaulis L.

• Arctotis acuminata K.Lewin

• Arctotis adpressa DC.

• Arctotis aenea J.Jacq.

• Arctotis amplexicans Less.

• Arctotis amplexicaulis Less.

• Arctotis angustifolia L.

• Arctotis arctotoides (L.f.) O.Hoffm.

• Arctotis argentea Thunb.

• Arctotis aspera L.

• Arctotis auriculata Jacq.

• Arctotis bellidiastrum (S.Moore) Lewin

• Arctotis bellidifolia P.J.Bergius

• Arctotis bolusii (S.Moore) Lewin

• Arctotis campanulata DC.

• Arctotis candida Thunb.

• Arctotis caudata K.Lewin

• Arctotis crispata Hutch.

• Arctotis cuneata DC.

• Arctotis cuprea Jacq.

• Arctotis debensis R.J.Mckenzie

• Arctotis decurrens Jacq.

• Arctotis diffusa Thunb.

• Arctotis discolor (Less.) Beauverd

• Arctotis dregei Turcz.

• Arctotis elongata Thunb.

• Arctotis erosa (Harv.) Beauverd

• Arctotis fastuosa Jacq

• Arctotis flaccida Jacq.

• Arctotis fosteri N.E.Br.

• Arctotis frutescens Norl.

• Arctotis gigantea A.Rich.

• Arctotis gowerae E.Phillips

• Arctotis graminea K.Lewin

• Arctotis gumbletonii Hook.f.

• Arctotis hirsuta (Harv.) Beauverd

• Arctotis hispidula (Less.) Beauverd

• Arctotis incisa Thunb.

• Arctotis laciniata Lam.

• Arctotis laevis Thunb.

• Arctotis lanceolata Harv.

• Arctotis leiocarpa Harv.

• Arctotis leptorhiza DC.

• Arctotis leucanthemoides Jacq.

• Arctotis linearis Thunb.

• Arctotis macrosperma (DC.) Beauverd

• Arctotis microcephala (DC.) Beauverd

• Arctotis perfoliata (Less.) Beauverd

• Arctotis petiolata Thunb.

• Arctotis pinnatifida Thunb.

• Arctotis pusilla DC.

• Arctotis reptans Jacq.

• Arctotis revoluta Jacq.

• Arctotis rotundifolia K.Lewin

• Arctotis schlechteri K.Lewin

• Arctotis schraderi (DC.) Beauverd

• Arctotis semipapposa (DC.) Beauverd

• Arctotis serpens (S.Moore) Lewin

• Arctotis sessilifolia K.Lewin

• Arctotis setosa K.Lewin

• Arctotis stoechadifolia P.J.Bergius

• Arctotis suffruticosa K.Lewin

• Arctotis sulcocarpa K.Lewin

• Arctotis tricolor Jacq.

• Arctotis undulata Jacq.

• Arctotis venidioides DC.

• Arctotis venusta Norl.

• Arctotis virgata Jacq.

title: Arctotis


text:
User:Jerzy/Temp

Toast (disambiguation) Prix de Rome (disambiguation) Tin (disambiguation) Electrode (disambiguation) North (disambiguation) Prop (disambiguation) Frankfurt (disambiguation) James Bradley (disambiguation) Captain Jack (disambiguation) Benjamin Constant (disambiguation)

title: User:Jerzy/Temp


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Risdon Cove

Risdon Cove is a cove located on the east bank of the Derwent River, approximately 7 km north of Hobart, Tasmania. It was the site of the first British settlement in Van Diemen's Land, now Tasmania, the island state of Australia. The cove was named by John Hayes, who mapped the river in the ship Duke of Clarence in 1794, after his second officer William Bellamy Risdon.

In 1803 Lieutenant John Bowen was sent to establish a settlement in Van Diemen's Land. On the advice of the explorer George Bass he had chosen Risdon Cove. While the site was a good one from a defensive point of view, the soil was poor and water scarce. HMS Lady Nelson (1798) anchored at Risdon on the eastern shore of the Derwent River on Wednesday 8 September 1803, five days before the whaler Albion arrived with Lt. Bowen on board. The 49 people aboard the Lady Nelson and Albion made a curious party of soldiers, sailors, settlers and convicts.

In 1804 Lieutenant Colonel David Collins arrived in the Derwent from Port Phillip on Ocean. Within a few days he rejected Risdon Cove as a suitable settlement site, for its inadequate source of fresh water, and moved his party across the river to Sullivans Cove. The military and convicts disembarked from Ocean near Hunter Island on 20–21 February 1804 and thus beginning what is now Hobart. Lady Nelson landed the free settlers at New Town Bay on 22 February.

One of the first land grants at Risdon Cove was made to Dr William F A I'Anson, the chief surgeon who arrived with Lieutenant-Governor Collins in 1804.

19th century
On 3 May 1804 a number of aboriginal Tasmanians were killed by guards of the fledgling British settlement. The events occurred in mysterious circumstances, perhaps as the result of a misunderstanding. The original records show that a large group of Aboriginals walked into the fledgling settlement. The settlement's guards mistakenly thought they were under attack and killed some of the intruders.

20th century
The site at Risdon Cove was farmed until 1946. By the 150th anniversary celebrations (September 1954) land had been acquired by the State Government to add to the reserve. Angela McGowan excavated the site in 1978-80.

The hand-over of the Risdon Cove site, which includes the Bowen Memorial, was part of the Aboriginal Lands Act 1995. The transfer occurred on 11 December 1995, and since then Aboriginal Tasmanians have maintained and developed the site as a cultural and an educational facility.

title: Risdon Cove


text:
Everwood

Everwood is an American drama television series created by Greg Berlanti. Berlanti, Mickey Liddell, Rina Mimoun, Andrew A. Ackerman and Michael Green served as executive producers. The series aired on The WB from September 16, 2002, to June 5, 2006, with a total of 89 episodes spanning four seasons. It was co-produced by Berlanti-Liddell Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television.

The series begins with Dr. Andy Brown, played by Treat Williams, who moves his family to the fictional small town of Everwood, Colorado after the death of his wife. The series also stars Gregory Smith, Vivien Cardone, Emily VanCamp, Chris Pratt, Debra Mooney, Stephanie Niznik, John Beasley and Tom Amandes. The pilot was filmed in Calgary and Canmore, Alberta, as well as Denver, Colorado; after that, series filming took place in Ogden, South Salt Lake, Draper, and Park City, Utah.

The series concluded on June 5, 2006. It was canceled by The WB on May 17, 2006, after four seasons, following the merger with UPN to form The CW.

Season 1
The series begins with the arrival of Dr. Andrew "Andy" Brown (Treat Williams), a widower who leaves his successful job as a top Manhattan neurosurgeon to live in a small Colorado town, bringing his nine-year-old daughter Delia (Vivien Cardone) and 15-year-old son Ephram (Gregory Smith) with him. He chooses the town of Everwood because his late wife had told him of her emotional attachment to the town. Many of the story lines revolve around settling into a new town, dealing with the death of the mother and wife of the family, and the growing relationship between Andy and his son, who did not interact much in New York, due to the demands of Andy's job. Andy at first finds some conflict with Dr. Harold Abbott (Tom Amandes), with whom his professional opinions differ. However, Harold's cranky demeanor and Andy's passive, cheerful attitude prove to mesh well, and the two begin a friendly rivalry. Ephram continually struggles with his emerging adolescence, his studies as a classical pianist, and his crush on Amy (Emily VanCamp), Harold's daughter.

The first season revolves around the main storyline involving Colin Hart (Mike Erwin), Amy's boyfriend and older brother Bright's (Chris Pratt) best friend. Amy sees the arrival of Andy as an opportunity: Colin has been in a coma since July 4 of the previous summer, after Bright and he were in a car accident. Amy befriends Ephram in an effort to convince Andy to revive his neurosurgeon skills to save Colin. Andy reluctantly agrees. Amy is elated, but Bright is sullen and distant about the situation. Later, he tearfully confesses to his father that—contrary to what he had claimed all summer—he does in fact remember the accident: He was the one driving Colin's father's truck and the two boys were drunk at the time. His anguish is relieved when Andy is successful, and soon Colin is awake.

In the meantime, Ephram's maternal grandparents come to visit their new home in the fall and Ephram decides he wants to move back to New York City to live with them. Ephram's grandfather—also a surgeon—berates Andy into letting Ephram go. Delia and her grandmother befriend Edna Harper (Debra Mooney), a semi-retired Army nurse and Harold's estranged mother. They decide to throw her a surprise birthday party at the Browns' home. During the party, in front of all the guests, Ephram and Andy have a loud fight about his moving to New York City. The two stalk to different parts of the house with no decision resolved. Andy and his father-in-law also begin to fight about the situation but are interrupted because Bright has collapsed. He needs his appendix removed, but the snow has prevented travel to the nearest hospital, so they do emergency surgery on him in Andy's office. Andy sees how concerned and loving Harold is toward his son and resolves to try and patch things up with Ephram. He confesses that he will be "half a person" if Ephram leaves, and as a result Ephram decides to stay.

Andy meets his next-door neighbor Nina Feeney (Stephanie Niznik) after a loud fight with Ephram in the front yard. She is friendly but outspoken and honest. Nina eventually explains that she is serving as a surrogate mother for a woman who was unable to conceive. A scandal erupts when Nina has the baby and it is revealed that the mother is well over fifty, but Andy supports Nina's decision.

All is not well for Colin. He returns home and re-enrolls in school, but he has lost most of his memory, including his memory of Amy. Under pressure to step back into his old life, Colin befriends Ephram since the latter is the only person who does not have a preconceived notion of him. Amy, meanwhile, struggles with emerging feelings for Ephram as he has an unsuccessful relationship with Colin's sister, Laynie. His lingering attachment to Amy flares up at inopportune moments, causing Laynie to break it off.

Soon Colin begins lashing out violently and acting out emotionally and loses his friendship with Ephram. Ephram tries to let his friends know that Colin is not acting normally, but Amy believes he is just jealous of her relationship with Colin and that Colin is "under a lot of stress". Bright, frustrated at Colin's friendship with Ephram in the first place, refuses to listen as well, until Colin accosts Ephram outside the local diner, proceeding to uncharacteristically punch Bright in the face when he objects to Colin's roughness. Andy believes Ephram (also following a grievous, self-inflicted hand injury during a homecoming ceremony) and brings the subject up with Colin's parents. They are unwilling to believe that Colin is anything but fully recovered and fire Andy from Colin's care. Physical symptoms begin to manifest as well, and eventually Colin collapses. It is learned there are complications from the first surgery. Colin's parents ask Andrew to operate again, but then he experiences complications during the surgery.

Season 2
The beginning of Season 2 reveals Colin's fate. The entire town blames Andy for "killing" Colin. They stop going to his practice and shun his children. Andy stands by his decision and eventually admits to Ephram that he could have saved Colin's life, but he would have been mentally and physically disabled and, at Colin's insistence, promised that he would not let him live that way.

Amy struggles with Colin's death and falls into a deep depression, eventually going on medication and meeting Tommy Callahan, a drug-dealing loner who becomes more than a friend. She considers sleeping with Tommy but backs out of it every time he brings it up. Harold buys her a new car to try and cheer her up, but Amy continues to act out and fail in school. Rose (Merrilyn Gann), Harold's wife and the town mayor, tells her husband that he is babying her and she is unwelcome in her house until she follows the rules, which forces Amy to move in with Edna. Amy's downward spiral continues until Tommy takes her to a wild party. He gives her a bottle of water laced with GHB. Already intoxicated, Amy drinks it, then has a hallucination of Colin, who tells her to let him go and to get on with her life. The vision shocks her back to reality, and she realizes that Tommy has drunk most of the water himself and subsequently overdosed. Amy does the only thing she can think of and calls her father for help. Tommy recovers, but Amy is scared straight. She dumps him, moves back in with her parents, and begins to improve her behavior and mood.

Ephram, meanwhile, has found love with Madison, a 20-year-old college student whom Andy has hired to babysit Delia. She is a girl whom Ephram initially despises for her condescending attitude toward him. After a few false starts, he eventually loses his virginity to her.

The second season has several other important plot developments. Andy finds a new love interest in Linda Abbott, Harold's globe-trotting sister, also a doctor but practicing in Africa. A scandal at Harold and Linda's office occurs when it is revealed to the populace of Everwood that Linda had contracted HIV from a victim of an African civil war incident. As a result, Harold loses his liability insurance coverage, and Linda quits her holistic health practice and leaves town, also ending her romance with Andy. Harold tries to open a new bagel shop but meets with failure. Andy then invites him as a partner, since Andy's insurance would cover Harold's practice. Harold reluctantly agrees.

Nina goes through a divorce with her recently outed husband Carl and has to go to court over custody of her son Sam, a case which she eventually wins with Andy's support.

A lonely Bright grows more tolerant of Ephram, and the two eventually become good friends.

Ephram continues his on-and-off relationship with Madison. In an effort to prove how mature he is, he sneaks into bars to see her band and produces many awkward moments by showing up when she is out with her college friends. Finally she decides that the timing of their relationship is off and breaks up with Ephram. She tries to continue working with the Browns, but Delia fires her, saying that she likes Madison but that Madison's presence makes Ephram sad. She later confesses to Andy that she is pregnant with Ephram's child. Andy tells her he will pay for all her expenses if she agrees to keep the pregnancy from Ephram. He believes that Ephram was forced to grow up very quickly by the death of his mother and that—if he learns of the pregnancy—his sense of decency will compel him to stay with Madison, something for which Andy believes he is not ready.

Amy asks Ephram to stay in Everwood, so that they can figure out if a romantic relationship would work between them. However, he is accepted to a summer program at the Juilliard School of Music. He is torn between going to New York and staying with Amy. When he leaves to study music at Juilliard, Amy accompanies him for ten days in Manhattan and, after she returns to Everwood, they continue their relationship long-distance.

Season 3
The third season opens with Andy receiving a letter from Madison telling him that she is in Denver, and is not going to tell him her decision regarding the pregnancy and she wants no further contact. Andy contemplates telling Ephram, but Harold convinces him not to do so, for the sake of Ephram and Amy.

Ephram returns from his summer classes at Juilliard with the disappointing news that he did not receive high marks and begins to intensify his piano studies, which places a strain on his relationship with Amy. The two, now in their senior year of high school, befriend an extremely shy girl, named Hannah (Sarah Drew), who is staying with Nina. Hannah is a junior and tells Amy that her parents are travelling in Hong Kong, but later reveals that her father, with whom she was extremely close, suffers from late-stage Huntington's Disease and she was in fact sent to Everwood so she wouldn't have to watch his suffering. With the support of Amy, Ephram, Harold, and Bright, Hannah decides to get tested and discovers that she didn't inherit the Huntington's gene from her father.

After much discussion with Hannah, Amy decides to sleep with Ephram and they sneak away to the Abbotts' lake cabin, but Amy gets cold feet and backs out. Ephram is understanding and in the morning she has a change of heart and loses her virginity to Ephram. Around Christmas, Bright tells Ephram where Madison's band is playing and he goes to see her and lies to Amy about it. Ephram misses seeing Madison, but feeling guilty confesses where he went to Amy. Amy is extremely upset telling Ephram that he is devoting all his time to the piano, while she has had to give up her hobbies and school activities to make time for their relationship and resents this. Ephram agrees to set aside more time for them and they make up.

Bright gets a job at the County Clerk's office with his mother Rose. His promiscuity catches up to him when one young intern accuses him of sexual harassment. Bright maintains that she misunderstood his actions, does not admit guilt and is cleared by an investigation. Rose, embarrassed and hurt, realizes that Bright has long treated women badly, and fires him anyway to teach him a lesson. Bright resolves to do better.

The third season also sees the arrival of a new, younger doctor named Jake Hartman, whom neither Harold nor Andy like very much, due to his over-zealous attitude. He takes up residence in Harold's former office. Nina, despite her feelings for Andy, believes that she has a future with Jake and begins dating him.

Andy treats a patient, John Hayes, who has serious incapacitation caused by a stroke. Andy finds himself drawn to John's wife Amanda, which they at first resist but eventually succumb to temptation. Andy's guilt leads to an ulcer. Andy gets John admitted into a cutting-edge treatment program out of town and they resume the affair. John's recovery is miraculous and Amanda returns to her husband.

Ephram is granted an interview with The Juilliard School in New York City, where he runs into Madison. Andy, who accompanied Ephram, tries to patch things up with Madison and encourages her to tell Ephram about the pregnancy. She invites Ephram for coffee and tells him about the pregnancy and that the baby has been adopted by a couple in Marin, California. She conceals Andy's role in her keeping it secret and leaving, but when Andy learns what Madison has said, he confesses to Ephram. Ephram is livid and bails on his audition to punish Andy for prioritizing his piano playing over his relationship with Madison. Back in Everwood, Ephram tells Amy, who reluctantly agrees to help Ephram locate the baby and the adoptive parents, but the two soon argue about it and break up.

Rose is diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on her spine and must undergo chemotherapy, which proves to be initially unsuccessful. With some reluctance, Andy agrees to do the surgery to remove the tumor. Harold is incensed until the operation appears to be a success, and Rose slowly recovers.

Ephram, still angry with his father, skips graduation and sells his piano to buy a ticket to London and go backpacking around Europe. Amy graduates from high school and gets into Princeton University.

Jake agrees to give up his LA lifestyle, and settle down with Nina. They start a restaurant together, in the diner where Nina used to waitress.

Hannah gets a boyfriend for the first time, but breaks up with him because she is still attracted to Bright, who decides to commit to a romantic relationship with her. Amy decides to defer her first semester at Princeton, so that she can help take care of her mother while she convalesces. With Ephram in Europe and Nina living with Jake, Andy considers accepting a job offer in Chicago and moving on, but Harold and others persuade him to stay in Everwood. He tells Nina that he still loves her.

Season 4
The fourth season opens with Edna and her husband Irv planning a vow-renewal ceremony. Rose is recovering well, and Jake has moved in with Nina. Amy lives at home while attending Colorado A&M, instead of Princeton, to help Rose during her convalescence. Bright starts his second year at Everwood Community College and has moved into an apartment. A medical student, Reid, has caught Amy's eye, and Amy convinces Bright to let Reid be his roommate. At the request of Delia, who desperately misses him, Ephram returns from Europe in time to attend the end of Irv and Edna's ceremony.

When Ephram returns Andy tells him that he is welcome at home, but he will not pay Ephram's living expenses anywhere else. Andy doesn't want to damage Ephram and Delia's relationship, so he tells Ephram that he will pay him $50 for every dinner they eat together as a family. After Amy tells Ephram that it was her idea to get a job, not her father's, Ephram refuses Andy's money, becomes a piano teacher, and starts his first semester at Everwood Community College with Bright, who asks him to be a third roommate. Reid and Amy date casually. Ephram begins giving piano lessons to a high-school freshman, Kyle Hunter. Although talented, Kyle is sullen and difficult. By helping out Kyle, Ephram gains a new appreciation for what he put his own father through. Also, Andy has a patient who is estranged from his daughter because he kept a secret from her for her whole life. Andy asks Ephram to talk to the daughter about forgiveness, and in the process, Ephram begins to let go of some of the resentment he felt towards Andy and their relationship continues to improve.

On a father/son camping trip with the Abbotts, Ephram reveals that he came back to Everwood because he is still in love with Amy, and Bright reveals that he might break up with Hannah because she doesn't believe in premarital sex. Back in town Ephram asks Reid not to date Amy at all and he backs off. Amy and Ephram repair their friendship. Studying together late one night, they wind up sleeping together. Afterward Ephram, wanting to repair their romantic relationship as well, gives Amy a Christmas present and reveals that he wrote her postcards while in Europe but never sent them to her. She asks to take them home and read them but later explains that she does not want to become romantically involved with Ephram again because she is trying to figure out her own identity.

Harold and Rose struggle to get past her illness. Despite her recovery she loses her re-bid for mayor of Everwood and feels lost and useless. After a vacation on an African safari, Rose tells Harold that she wants to adopt a child.

Nina and Jake's restaurant is doing well. Jake begins acting erratic and distant. When one of his visiting Los Angeles buddies has a serious biking accident, Jake is lost and stressed out. It is revealed that he is a recovering narcotics addict and he has "fallen off the wagon". When he finally tells Nina the truth, she kicks him out of the house and cries in Andy's arms.

Meanwhile, Irv has written a fictional book loosely based on his experiences in Everwood. The book, entitled A Mountain Town, goes on to be a thundering success.

Although they seem quite mismatched, Bright and Hannah continue to date. Her father finally passes away and Hannah's mother lets her choose to move home or stay in Everwood. Hannah decides to stay. Bright is elated, but he is also frustrated at Hannah's low self-esteem and forces her to see that she is beautiful by locking her in the bathroom and refusing to let her out until she looks at herself in the mirror. Hannah takes it one step further and invites Bright into the shower with her.

Ephram learns that his old piano teacher, Will Cleveland, has died and attends his wake. Instead of a sad and somber event, it is a celebration of his life, and Ephram is introduced to Will's family as his star pupil. They coax him to play a piece, and it rekindles his love of the instrument. He re-buys a piano, and he helps Kyle prepare for a Juilliard audition. Kyle is still moody, and Ephram often returns to the Brown home to talk to Andy about his struggles and practice his own playing. When he convinces Kyle to meet his absentee father and Kyle is stood up, Ephram confesses to Andy that he thinks about his own child all the time and was using his experience with Kyle to work through his feelings of guilt and irresponsibility. Ephram also tries to help develop Kyle's social skills, since he is always alone and awkward around his classmates. When Reid suggests Kyle might be gay, Ephram says he's too young, attempting to shield him from adversity. Kyle initially denies it as well but eventually decides to come out. With their difficulties behind them, Ephram coaches Kyle successfully into Juilliard. After meeting a concert pianist, Ephram decides to transfer to Colorado A&M and major in music education. In addition Ephram leaves Madison a voicemail, apologizing for his explosive reaction to their situation.

Bright breaks his hand trying to karate chop a piece of wood and wears a sling for several weeks. Hannah babies him incessantly, and they have a minor spat. Hannah obsesses over their relationship, and Bright runs into an old acquaintance, Ada (Kelly Carlson), an attractive blonde who once sold Bright and Ephram fake IDs. After a few beers together, he has a moment of weakness in judgment and lust and winds up sleeping with Ada. Ephram finds out, but Bright, although regretful, decides he isn't going to tell Hannah. Ephram disagrees, and they stop speaking. Amy wheedles the truth out of Ephram and declares that, if Bright doesn't tell Hannah, she will. Under pressure Bright admits the truth, and Hannah breaks up with him. She tells him she doesn't want him in her life at all, even as just a friend.

Reid begins to fail medical school and, as a last-ditch effort, cheats on a test. He is caught and expelled but pretends that everything is fine. Ephram finds Reid one morning on the bathroom floor unconscious after having taken an entire bottle of sleeping pills. Ephram feels immense guilt for not realizing that Reid was depressed. Upon recovery Reid again tries to pretend that everything is just fine and asks Amy out on a date. It is predictably a disaster, and Amy tells Reid that she learned from Colin's death that he has to deal with the things that made him try to commit suicide in the first place. Reid decides to move back home with his mother until he is fully recovered.

Harold and Rose's adoption is in the final stages when it is revealed that Harold lied about Rose's cancer on the admission forms. They lose their opportunity and are heartbroken. Rose develops a bruise on her back and convinces herself that her cancer is active. At the same time, Bright drinks excessively at his 21st birthday party—still hurt by his breakup with Hannah—and stands on a chair at a bar. With his arm in a sling, he loses his balance and falls through a plate glass window. He is rushed to the hospital with a head injury. At the hospital, Rose shares her fears, and Harold tells her that she is fine—the doctor called right before Bright's accident. Subsequently, both Bright and Rose make successful recoveries. A schizophrenic patient of Harold's is overwhelmed with her new baby and the sudden death of her husband. She panics and leaves the baby girl on the Abbotts' doorstep. After a half-hearted search for her, Harold and Rose apply for custody of the baby.

After returning from his book tour, Irv and Edna decide to buy an RV and travel the country. Just after purchasing it, Irv collapses from a second heart attack and dies. Edna maintains her usual, tough persona until Harold confronts her on her erratic behavior. She confesses that she is overwhelmed with grief. Harold and Rose fix up a guest bedroom in their house and invite Edna to live with them, thus ending a years-long battle between mother and son.

Nina agrees to forgive Jake and to take him back, and he begins a variety of recovery programs but is unsurprised when none of them work since they didn't in the past. He decides to start a recovery group in Everwood, and then begins to design a program on his own. His old friends in Los Angeles are receptive to the idea, but they want him to move back. Jake asks Nina to come with him, and she sells her house and agrees. Andy—faced with the loss of Nina—impulsively buys her an engagement ring and shows it to Ephram, saying he simply needed to act on his feelings, even if he had no intention of asking her. At Irv's funeral Ephram tells Nina about the ring, who tells Hannah, who convinces Nina to sneak in and look at it. Hannah ends up with the ring in her room, and Jake finds it while packing. He confronts Andy and Nina, and the latter insists that it means nothing. They make it to the airport when Jake realizes that he doesn't want to be with someone who is so unsure and boards the plane alone. Nina shows up back at the Browns—a sleeping Sam in tow—as her house has already been sold. Andy takes a cathartic trip to New York to say goodbye to his late wife Julia one last time before flying back to Everwood to propose to Nina on the very spot they met. She happily agrees.

After his accident, Bright and Hannah decide to be friends again but do not rekindle their relationship. When Bright tells Hannah that he is transferring to Colorado A&M, Hannah passes up a full scholarship to Notre Dame and applies to Colorado A&M to stay in Everwood. The fate of Hannah and Bright's romantic relationship was left open.

Ephram meets Stephanie while she is hanging ads for a new roommate. She is feisty and fun without drama; Ephram likes how refreshingly easy she is to be around. Delia invites her to her bat mitzvah, and while there a slightly tipsy Amy realizes she is still in love with Ephram. She struggles with this realization until she thinks of the exact best way to tell Ephram how she feels. Recreating a moment they shared during a festival soon after he first moved there, she enlists Rose's help in ordering a Ferris wheel, stationing it outside his apartment. With this as her backdrop, she confesses that all their problems are her fault and asks him to give her another chance at a relationship, without the drama. Ephram, having loved Amy since the day he met her, easily agrees to be with her again, and the season and series end with Ephram and Amy embarking on a mature, adult relationship.

Series finale
Everwood's series finale, which aired on Monday, June 5, 2006, was seen by 4.07 million viewers.

The final episode, "Foreverwood", was written as both a season and a series finale. Because of the impending WB/UPN merger into the CW Television Network, the future of the series was uncertain, and the producers wrote two endings. Originally, the producers had scripted a montage for the "series-finale cut" that went forty years into the future to show a majority of the gang at Andy's funeral—showing the series coming full circle; this was never filmed due to budgetary reasons as well as the producers' hopes that they would receive a fifth season.

Everwood was canceled in favor of a new show, Runaway, which Dawn Ostroff then canceled after only three episodes had been shown, and for a new season of 7th Heaven, which had just had its series finale. The finale of 7th Heaven had 7 million viewers. Everwood had an average of 4 million viewers (which, if it was sustained, would have put it in the top 5 CW ratings for the following year).

Home media
Warner Home Video has released all four seasons of Everwood on DVD in Region 1. While the entire series was shot in 16:9 widescreen, the first season DVD is presented in a cropped 4:3 aspect ratio. The final three season releases retain the original 16:9 aspect ratio; they also feature extensive music substitutions. In Region 2, Warner Home Video has also released all four seasons on DVD in Germany and in the Netherlands, and the first two seasons in Hungary. In Region 4, Warner Home Video has released the first season on DVD in Australia.

Critical response
Robert Bianco for USA Today was not enthusiastic about the show's premiere and gave it a two-star rating out of four. He found that Everwood's main problem was that it "never knows when the corn syrup is thick enough" due to its clichés. On the more positive side, he wrote, "Clearly, WB's goal here is to find an acceptable time-period companion for 7th Heaven, and it's entirely possible the network has. The scenery is pretty, Smith has the earmarks of a star in the making, and Williams actually is quite appealing—when the script isn't forcing him to behave as if he were insane." TV Guide was critical of the pilot episode and accused it of being a "bit excessive and sentimental" and self-consciously quirky, but that "it's beautifully acted, crisply written and has first-rate production values."

Advocacy group the Parents Television Council ranked Everwood as the group's No. 1 "worst network TV show for family viewing" on their list of the 2003–04 season. The PTC criticized "the careless and irresponsible treatment of sexual issues—especially when the teenaged characters are involved" and stated "Everwood's reckless messages about sex without consequences are expressly targeted to impressionable teens." Entertainment Weekly reviewed positively the show's third season in 2005 giving it an A− and commented, "Everwood's soap tropes—unexpected pregnancy, adultery—handles these stories artfully."

In 2003, TV Guide named Everwood one of "The Best Shows You May Not Be Watching".

Ratings
Seasonal rankings (based on average total viewers per episode) of Everwood on The WB.

Accolades
Everwood received two Emmy nominations: Outstanding Main Title Theme Music (2003) written by Blake Neely, and Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series (2004) for James Earl Jones's turn as Will Cleveland.

Treat Williams has also received two Screen Actors Guild award nominations in 2003 and 2004 for his role as Dr. Andy Brown.

Soundtrack

 * 1) "Lonely People" – Jars of Clay (popularized by America)
 * 2) "Trouble" – Kristin Hersh (popularized by Cat Stevens)
 * 3) "These Days" – Griffin House (popularized by Nico and Jackson Browne)
 * 4) "The Only Living Boy in New York" – David Mead (popularized by Simon and Garfunkel)
 * 5) "Summer Breeze" – Jason Mraz (popularized by Seals and Crofts)
 * 6) "Father and Son" – Leigh Nash (popularized by Cat Stevens)
 * 7) "The Harder They Come" – Guster (popularized by Jimmy Cliff)
 * 8) "Don't Be Shy" – Travis (popularized by Cat Stevens)
 * 9) "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" – Toby Lightman (popularized by Jim Croce)
 * 10) "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" – Stereophonics (popularized by Roberta Flack)
 * 11) "Cathedrals" – Jump Little Children
 * 12) "Main Title Theme for Everwood" – Blake Neely
 * 13) "A Love Song" – Treat Williams (bonus track; popularized by Anne Murray)

title: Everwood