59-465: Flushed Away is a 2006 animated adventure comedy film directed by Sam Fell and David Bowers (in their feature directorial debuts ), produced by Cecil Kramer, David Sproxton , and Peter Lord , and written by Dick Clement , Ian La Frenais , Chris Lloyd , Joe Keenan and Will Davies . It was the third and final DreamWorks Animation film co-produced with Aardman Features following Chicken Run (2000) and Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of
118-451: A hardness of 9.0 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness . Among the natural gems, only moissanite and diamond are harder, with diamond having a Mohs hardness of 10.0 and moissanite falling somewhere in between corundum (ruby) and diamond in hardness. Sapphire, ruby, and pure corundum are α-alumina, the most stable form of Al 2 O 3 , in which 3 electrons leave each aluminium ion to join
177-596: A budget of $ 149 million, poor box office reception resulted in a $ 109-million write-down for DreamWorks Animation, and in turn a termination of the partnership with Aardman Animations. Coinciding with the film's release, a video game adaptation was released for the PlayStation 2 , GameCube , Game Boy Advance , and Nintendo DS . Although it received heavily negative reviews from critics, the game received an Annie Award for Best Animated Video Game . Adventure film Too Many Requests If you report this error to
236-485: A clear stone will command a premium, but a ruby without any needle-like rutile inclusions may indicate that the stone has been treated. Ruby is the traditional birthstone for July and is usually pinker than garnet , although some rhodolite garnets have a similar pinkish hue to most rubies. The world's most valuable ruby to be sold at auction is the Sunrise Ruby , which sold for US$ 34.8 million. Rubies have
295-493: A film about rats that fall in love in sewers was proposed by animator Sam Fell during the production of Aardman Animation's Chicken Run (2000). At the time, Aardman encouraged everyone at the company to come up with ideas for features for the DreamWorks partnership. In 2001, Fell, development executive Mike Cooper, and producer Peter Lord then developed the concept into a story before pitching it to DreamWorks. The film
354-523: A large Kensington apartment. One night, while his owners are away on holiday, a sewer rat named Sid spews out of the sink's drain and decides to stay and watch the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final . Roddy attempts to get rid of Sid by flushing him down the Jacuzzi brand toilet , falsely claiming it to be an actual jacuzzi, but Sid is not fooled and flushes Roddy instead. Roddy finds himself in Ratropolis,
413-545: A little chromium at red heat . In 1903, Verneuil announced he could produce synthetic rubies on a commercial scale using this flame fusion process, later also known as the Verneuil process . By 1910, Verneuil's laboratory had expanded into a 30 furnace production facility, with annual gemstone production having reached 1,000 kilograms (2,000 lb) in 1907. Other processes in which synthetic rubies can be produced are through Czochralski's pulling process , flux process, and
472-581: A sewer city made out of various bits of junk that resembles London . He is told to seek out Rita Malone, an enterprising scavenger who works the drains in her faithful boat, the Jammy Dodger , who can possibly help him get home. Roddy and Rita are abducted by rats Spike and Whitey and brought before their boss, the Toad, as Rita stole back a prized ruby originally scavenged by her father. The Toad plans to have Roddy and Rita frozen with liquid nitrogen , but
531-400: A successful entry into digitally animated features for Aardman Animations." Metacritic , which assigns a weighted average score to reviews from mainstream critics, gives the film a score of 74 out of 100 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale. Todd McCarthy of Variety gave
590-492: A visual disconnect in Flushed Away . They will certainly, however, be delighted by the unrelenting whimsy and fast-paced gags of a story that never slows down to think about where it's going next." Ty Burr of The Boston Globe gave the film two and a half stars out of five, saying "Kids will probably be in stinky-sewage heaven with the new computer-animated critter comedy Flushed Away , but even they may realize they're up
649-553: Is lead glass filling. Filling the fractures inside the ruby with lead glass (or a similar material) dramatically improves the transparency of the stone, making previously unsuitable rubies fit for applications in jewelry. The process is done in four steps: If a color needs to be added, the glass powder can be "enhanced" with copper or other metal oxides as well as elements such as sodium, calcium, potassium etc. The second heating process can be repeated three to four times, even applying different mixtures. When jewelry containing rubies
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#1732773336252708-469: Is a pet and alone. Rita tries to persuade Roddy to come with her, but he is too proud to admit his loneliness and rebuffs her. Rita leaves the apartment via the toilet only for her to be kidnapped, with the Toad taking back the master cable. Roddy joins Sid to watch the game. When Sid mentions half-time, Roddy pieces together the Toad's plan: to open the floodgates during half-time of the World Cup, when all
767-413: Is defined to be red. All other hues of the gem species corundum are called sapphire. Ruby may exhibit a range of secondary hues, including orange, purple, violet, and pink. Because rubies host many inclusions, their clarity is evaluated by the inclusions’ size, number, location, and visibility. Rubies with the highest clarity grades are known as “eye-clean,” because their inclusions are the least visible to
826-710: Is heated (for repairs) it should not be coated with boracic acid or any other substance, as this can etch the surface; it does not have to be "protected" like a diamond. The treatment can be identified by noting bubbles in cavities and fractures using a 10× loupe. In 1837, Gaudin made the first synthetic rubies by fusing potash alum at a high temperature with a little chromium as a pigment. In 1847, Ebelmen made white sapphire by fusing alumina in boric acid. In 1877, Edmond Frémy and industrial glass-maker Charles Feil made crystal corundum from which small stones could be cut. In 1887, Fremy and Auguste Verneuil manufactured artificial ruby by fusing BaF 2 and Al 2 O 3 with
885-465: Is selling him out to the Toad, so he reneges on the deal and steals the Jammy Dodger . When Rita catches up to him, she is able to clear up the misunderstanding. The pair evade pursuit from Spike, Whitey, and their accomplices. Incensed at his minions' repeated failures, the Toad sends for his French cousin, Le Frog. It is revealed that the Toad was Prince Charles ' favorite childhood pet until he
944-399: Is the most important factor. Color divides into three components: hue , saturation and tone . Hue refers to color as we normally use the term. Transparent gemstones occur in the pure spectral hues of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet. In nature, there are rarely pure hues, so when speaking of the hue of a gemstone, we speak of primary and secondary and sometimes tertiary hues. Ruby
1003-485: Is the only country in mainland Europe to have naturally occurring rubies. They can mainly be found around the city of Prilep . Macedonian rubies have a unique raspberry color. A few rubies have been found in the U.S. states of Montana , North Carolina , South Carolina and Wyoming . Spinel , another red gemstone, is sometimes found along with rubies in the same gem gravel or marble. Red spinels may be mistaken for rubies by those lacking experience with gems. However,
1062-460: Is very durable. Other varieties of gem-quality corundum are called sapphires . Ruby is one of the traditional cardinal gems , alongside amethyst , sapphire , emerald , and diamond . The word ruby comes from ruber , Latin for red. The color of a ruby is due to the element chromium . Some gemstones that are popularly or historically called rubies, such as the Black Prince's Ruby in
1121-671: The Tokyo International Film Festival on October 22, 2006, followed by the wide release in United States by Paramount Pictures on 3 November 2006, and in the United Kingdom by UIP on 1 December. Despite receiving positive reviews from critics, Flushed Away underperformed at the box office , grossing over $ 178 million worldwide against its production budget of $ 149 million and prompting Aardman to end its partnership deal with DreamWorks with
1180-760: The hydrothermal process . Most synthetic rubies originate from flame fusion, due to the low costs involved. Synthetic rubies may have no imperfections visible to the naked eye but magnification may reveal curved striae and gas bubbles. The fewer the number and the less obvious the imperfections, the more valuable the ruby is; unless there are no imperfections (i.e., a perfect ruby), in which case it will be suspected of being artificial. Dopants are added to some manufactured rubies so they can be identified as synthetic, but most need gemological testing to determine their origin. Synthetic rubies have technological uses as well as gemological ones. Rods of synthetic ruby are used to make ruby lasers and masers . The first working laser
1239-536: The Aappaluttoq mine in Greenland began running. The rubies in Greenland are said to be among the oldest in the world at approximately 3 billion years old. The Aappaluttoq mine in Greenland is located 160 kilometers south of Nuuk, the capital of Greenland. The rubies are traceable from mine to market. The Montepuez ruby mine in northeastern Mozambique is situated on one of the most significant ruby deposits in
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#17327733362521298-517: The Al 2 O 3 crystal. However, the Cr ions are larger and have electron orbitals in different directions than aluminium. The octahedral arrangement of the O ions is distorted, and the energy levels of the different orbitals of those Cr ions are slightly altered because of the directions to the O ions. Those energy differences correspond to absorption in the ultraviolet, violet, and yellow-green regions of
1357-498: The British Imperial State Crown , are actually spinels . These were once known as "Balas rubies". The quality of a ruby is determined by its color, cut, and clarity, which, along with carat weight, affect its value. The brightest and most valuable shade of red, called blood-red or pigeon blood, commands a large premium over other rubies of similar quality. After color follows clarity: similar to diamonds,
1416-937: The International Colored Gemstone Association (ICGA) have adopted the broader definition for ruby which encompasses its lighter shades, including pink. Historically, rubies have been mined in Thailand, in the Pailin and Samlout District of Cambodia , as well as in Afghanistan , Australia , Brazil , Colombia , India , Namibia , Japan , and Scotland. After the Second World War , ruby deposits were found in Madagascar , Mozambique , Nepal, Pakistan, Tajikistan , Tanzania , and Vietnam . The Republic of North Macedonia
1475-440: The United States, a minimum color saturation must be met to be called a ruby; otherwise, the stone will be called a pink sapphire . Drawing a distinction between rubies and pink sapphires is relatively new, having arisen sometime in the 20th century. Often, the distinction between ruby and pink sapphire is not clear and can be debated. As a result of the difficulty and subjectiveness of such distinctions, trade organizations such as
1534-431: The United States, which was below the average of other CGI films from DreamWorks Animation, and $ 113.6 million from international markets for a worldwide total of $ 178.2 million, making it the 24th highest grossing film of 2006, and the sixth Highest-Grossing Animated film of 2006. The film opened to number three in its first weekend, with $ 18,814,323, behind Borat and The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause . Produced on
1593-521: The Were-Rabbit (2005), and was the first Aardman project mostly made in CGI animation as opposed to starting with their usual stop-motion – this was because using water on plasticine models could damage them, and it was complex to render the effect in another way. The film stars the voices of Hugh Jackman , Kate Winslet , Ian McKellen , Shane Richie , Bill Nighy , Andy Serkis and Jean Reno . In
1652-519: The Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.151 via cp1112 cp1112, Varnish XID 921163782 Upstream caches: cp1112 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 05:55:36 GMT Ruby Ruby is a pinkish red to blood-red colored gemstone , a variety of the mineral corundum ( aluminium oxide ). Ruby is one of the most popular traditional jewelry gems and
1711-536: The clay but leaves the craft and emotion intact, resulting in a film that earns its place among the Aardman classics." Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film three out of four stars, saying "The short attention spans of directors David Bowers and Sam Fell are mostly forgivable because the movie is filled with so many entertaining characters." Richard Corliss of Time gave
1770-598: The crystal during that time, they can stimulate more fluorescent photons to be emitted in-phase with them, thus strengthening the intensity of that red light. By arranging mirrors or other means to pass emitted light repeatedly through the crystal, a ruby laser in this way produces a very high intensity of coherent red light. All natural rubies have imperfections in them, including color impurities and inclusions of rutile needles known as "silk". Gemologists use these needle inclusions found in natural rubies to distinguish them from synthetics, simulants, or substitutes. Usually,
1829-458: The crystal growth process) to be ten to twenty times less than in the natural gemstones. Theodore Maiman says that "because of the low chromium level in these crystals they display a lighter red color than gemstone ruby and are referred to as pink ruby ." After absorbing short-wavelength light, there is a short interval of time when the crystal lattice of ruby is in an excited state before fluorescence occurs. If 694-nanometer photons pass through
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1888-466: The estimated loss of $ 109 million after write-down. The film received nominations for the BAFTA Award and Critics' Choice Award for Best Animated Feature. It received a further eight nominations at the 34th Annie Awards , winning a leading five, including Writing in a Feature Production and, for McKellen, Voice Acting in a Feature Production . Roddy St. James is a pampered pet rat who lives in
1947-401: The film a B+, saying " Flushed Away lacks the action-contraption dottiness of a Wallace and Gromit adventure, but it hits its own sweet spot of demented delight." James Berardinelli of ReelViews gave the film three out of four stars, saying "It's better than 90% of the animated fare of the last few years. It's refreshing not to have to qualify the movie's appeal by appending the words, 'for
2006-450: The film a negative review, saying "As directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell, first-time feature helmers with long-term Aardman affiliations, the film boasts undeniably smart and eye-catching qualities that are significantly diluted by the relentlessly frantic and overbearing behavior of most characters; someone is always loudly imposing himself upon another, to diminishing returns of enjoyment." Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave
2065-475: The film a negative review, saying "Deficient in the comedy of reticence discouragement that is Aardman's (or maybe just Nick Park's) unique strength. I don't want to say the Englishmen were corrupted, but I think they allowed their strongest, quirkiest instincts to be tethered." Ted Fry of The Seattle Times gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "Fans of Wallace and Gromit may be puzzled by
2124-516: The film with Fell. Other writers were also later brought in to help write the script, including Frasier writers Christopher Lloyd and Joe Keenan , and Twins and Johnny English writer William Davies . Traditionally, Aardman had used stop-motion for their animated features, but it was complex to render water with this technique, and using real water could damage plasticine models. It would have also been expensive to composite CGI into shots that include water, of which there are many in
2183-417: The film's distribution rights were purchased by DreamWorks Animation from Paramount Pictures and transferred to 20th Century Fox before reverting to Universal Studios in 2018. Flushed Away has an approval rating of 73% on Rotten Tomatoes , and an average rating of 6.7/10, based on 139 reviews. The site's critical consensus reads "Clever and appealing for both children and adults, Flushed Away marks
2242-400: The film, a pampered fancy rat named Roddy St. James (Jackman) is flushed down the toilet in his Kensington apartment by a sewer rat named Sid (Richie), and befriends a scavenger named Rita Malone (Winslet) in order to get back home while evading a sinister toad (McKellen) and his hench-rats (Nighy and Serkis). The idea about rats that fall in love in sewers was created by animator Fell during
2301-480: The finest red spinels, now heavily sought, can have values approaching all but the finest examples of ruby. The Mogok Valley in Upper Myanmar (Burma) was for centuries the world's main source for rubies. That region has produced some exceptional rubies; however, in recent years few good rubies have been found. In central Myanmar, the area of Mong Hsu began producing rubies during the 1990s and rapidly became
2360-446: The humans will most likely be using their toilets, allowing the ensuing, enormous wave of drainage to destroy Ratropolis, allowing the Toad to use the depopulated city as a home for his tadpole children. Roddy entrusts Sid with his home and cushy position, and has Sid flushes him back down the sewers again. He frees Rita, and together they defeat the Toad and his henchman by getting Toad and Le Frog's tongues stuck to moving gears and freeze
2419-444: The kids'." Jan Stuart of Newsday gave the film two out of four stars, saying "Despite the efforts of five writers and Aardman's trademark puppets, with their malleable eyebrows and cheeks bulging like those of a mumps sufferer, none of these characters are particularly endearing." Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post gave the film a positive review, saying " Flushed Away , Aardman's first computer-generated cartoon, does away with
Flushed Away - Misplaced Pages Continue
2478-408: The late 1990s, a large supply of low-cost materials caused a sudden surge in supply of heat-treated rubies, leading to a downward pressure on ruby prices. Improvements used include color alteration, improving transparency by dissolving rutile inclusions, healing of fractures (cracks) or even completely filling them. The most common treatment is the application of heat. Most rubies at the lower end of
2537-472: The market are heat treated to improve color, remove purple tinge , blue patches, and silk. These heat treatments typically occur around temperatures of 1800 °C (3300 °F). Some rubies undergo a process of low tube heat, when the stone is heated over charcoal of a temperature of about 1300 °C (2400 °F) for 20 to 30 minutes. The silk is partially broken, and the color is improved. Another treatment, which has become more frequent in recent years,
2596-556: The movie, so the company chose to make Flushed Away their first all-CGI production. This is the third and final of three Aardman-produced films released by DreamWorks. Aardman's turbulent experience with DreamWorks during the making of this film and The Curse of the Were-Rabbit led to the split between the two studios. On Halloween (31 October) 2006, the Flushed Away: Music from the Motion Picture soundtrack
2655-445: The naked human eye. Rubies may also have thin, intersecting inclusions called silk. Silk can scatter light, brightening the gem's appearance, and the presence of silk can also show whether a ruby has been previously heat treated, since intense heat will degrade a ruby's silk. Improving the quality of gemstones by treating them is common practice. Some treatments are used in almost all cases and are therefore considered acceptable. During
2714-434: The pair escape. Rita takes the ruby, and a unique electric master cable required to control Ratropolis' sewer floodgates. Roddy deduces that the ruby is a fake and easily shatters it, enraging Rita. Roddy offers Rita a real ruby if she takes him back to Kensington, to which she agrees. The pair first stop to visit her family before setting off. During Roddy's stay, he overhears a conversation that causes him to assume that Rita
2773-627: The production of Chicken Run . In 2001, Fell developed the concept into a story before pitching it to DreamWorks. The project was first announced in July 2002, followed with comic writing duo Clement and La Frenais contracted to write the script, which had the working title Ratropolis . In 2003, Bowers joined in to direct the film with Fell. The film's world premiere was held at the Toho Cinemas Theatre in Roppongi Hills during
2832-490: The proverbial creek in a boat with a faulty motor." Jack Mathews of the New York Daily News gave the film two and a half stars out of four, saying "Though Flushed Away duplicates the stop-motion, clay animation look of Aardman's earlier Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit , it was made using computer software and its liberated action sequences are truly dazzling." Flushed Away collected $ 64.6 million in
2891-412: The regular octahedral group of six nearby O ions; in pure corundum this leaves all of the aluminium ions with a very stable configuration of no unpaired electrons or unfilled energy levels, and the crystal is perfectly colorless, and transparent except for flaws. When a chromium atom replaces an occasional aluminium atom, it too loses 3 electrons to become a chromium ion to maintain the charge balance of
2950-415: The rough stone is heated before cutting. These days, almost all rubies are treated in some form, with heat treatment being the most common practice. Untreated rubies of high quality command a large premium. Some rubies show a three-point or six-point asterism or "star". These rubies are cut into cabochons to display the effect properly. Asterisms are best visible with a single-light source and move across
3009-403: The spectrum. If one percent of the aluminium ions are replaced by chromium in ruby, the yellow-green absorption results in a red color for the gem. Additionally, absorption at any of the above wavelengths stimulates fluorescent emission of 694-nanometer-wavelength red light, which adds to its red color and perceived luster . The chromium concentration in artificial rubies can be adjusted (in
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#17327733362523068-491: The stone as the light moves or the stone is rotated. Such effects occur when light is reflected off the "silk" (the structurally oriented rutile needle inclusions) in a certain way. This is one example where inclusions increase the value of a gemstone. Furthermore, rubies can show color changes—though this occurs very rarely—as well as chatoyancy or the "cat's eye" effect. Generally, gemstone-quality corundum in all shades of red, including pink, are called rubies. However, in
3127-545: The wave of drainage with liquid nitrogen. Hailed as a hero, Roddy agrees to stay in Ratropolis with Rita. Soon after, the two, as well as Rita's family, set off on the Jammy Dodger II . In a mid-credits scene, Sid continues to relax at his new home in Kensington. However, when Roddy's owners return, the daughter, Tabitha, finds Sid on the couch and introduces him to their new cat, much to his horror. The idea for
3186-520: The world's main ruby mining area. The most recently found ruby deposit in Myanmar is in Namya (Namyazeik) located in the northern state of Kachin . In Pakistani Kashmir there are vast proven reserves of millions of rubies, worth up to half a billion dollars. However, as of 2017 there was only one mine (at Chitta Katha) due to lack of investment. In Afghanistan , rubies are mined at Jegdalek. In 2017
3245-429: The world, although, rubies were only discovered here for the first time in 2009. In less than a decade, Mozambique has become the world's most productive source for gem-quality ruby. Rubies, as with other gemstones, are graded using criteria known as the four Cs, namely color, cut, clarity and carat weight. Rubies are also evaluated on the basis of their geographic origin. In the evaluation of colored gemstones, color
3304-457: Was abruptly replaced by a rat and flushed down a toilet, resulting in his hatred of rodents. Le Frog and his subordinates intercept Roddy and Rita to retrieve the cable, but the duo manages to escape out of the sewer drain and back to Roddy's apartment, though the Jammy Dodger is destroyed. Roddy pays Rita the promised ruby and an emerald, then shows her around his apartment. She at first believes he has family, but notices his cage and realizes he
3363-429: Was first announced in July 2002, and in what was then a surprise move, it was revealed as being Aardman's very first CGI feature project. Lord described the pitch as " The African Queen with the gender roles reversed". After the film was announced, Comic writing duo Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais were contracted to write the script, which had the working title Ratropolis . In 2003, David Bowers joined in to direct
3422-563: Was made by Theodore H. Maiman in 1960. Maiman used a solid-state light-pumped synthetic ruby to produce red laser light at a wavelength of 694 nanometers (nm). Ruby lasers are still in use. Rubies are also used in applications where high hardness is required such as at wear-exposed locations in mechanical clockworks, or as scanning probe tips in a coordinate measuring machine . Imitation rubies are also marketed. Red spinels , red garnets , and colored glass have been falsely claimed to be rubies. Imitations go back to Roman times and already in
3481-491: Was released by Astralwerks . Flushed Away was released on DVD on 20 February 2007. It includes behind the scenes, deleted info, Jammy Dodger videos and all-new slug songs. It was released in the UK on 2 April 2007, where it was also packaged with a plasticine 'Slug Farm' kit. The film was released on Blu-ray by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment on 4 June 2019. As of October 2010, 4.9 million units were sold. In July 2014,
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