From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== Kathie Rauch from Milwaukee, Wisconsin sends a letter to the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. claiming the Hindenburg zeppelin will explode after flying over New York. In the meantime, Luftwaffe Colonel Franz Ritter boards with the intention of protecting the Hindenburg as various threats have been made to down the airship, which some see as a symbol of Nazi Germany. Ritter is assisted by a Nazi government official, SS/Gestapo Hauptsturmführer Martin Vogel, who poses as an "official photographer" of the Hindenburg. However, both operate independently in investigating the background of all passengers and crew on the voyage. Ritter has reason to suspect everyone, even his old friend, Countess Ursula von Reugen, whose Baltic estate in Peenemunde had been taken over by the Nazis and appears to be escaping Germany to visit her daughter in Boston. Other prime suspects include card sharps Emilio Pajetta and Major Napier, Edward Douglas, a suspicious German-American ad executive, as well as several crew members and even the Hindenburg captains Pruss and Lehmann. Many possible clues turn out to be red herrings, such as Joe Spah sketching the ship's interior as an idea for a Vaudeville show and mysterious names which later turned out to be the name of race horses on board the Queen Mary (where Douglas' competitor is travelling). As the Hindenburg makes its way to Lakehurst Naval Air Station, events conspire against Ritter and Vogel. They soon suspect the rigger Karl Boerth, a former Hitler Youth leader who has become disillusioned with the Nazis. Ritter attempts to arrest him but he resists and requests help from Ritter, who sympathizes with him because Ritter's son was killed in an accident a year before while in the Hitler Youth. Ritter later receives news that Boerth's girlfriend, Freda Halle, was killed while trying to escape arrest as the Hindenburg crossed the Atlantic. Boerth, upon hearing the news of Halle's death, plans to commit suicide by staying aboard the airship as the bomb goes off, to show that there is a resistance against the Nazi party. Ritter reluctantly agrees with Boerth to set the bomb to 7:30, when the airship should have landed and passengers disembarked, saying an explosion in flight is the "last thing he wants". While setting up the bomb, Boerth drops the knife part which is recovered by a crew member. To cover up the loss of his knife, Boerth steals a knife from fellow rigger Ludwig Knorr. Vogel starts to work behind Ritter's back, arresting Boerth and confiscating the Countess's passport. As the airship approaches Lakehurst Naval Air Station at 7:00, Ritter now realizes the landing has been delayed and searches for Boerth to ask where the bomb is. Vogel is caught by Ritter in the cargo bay torturing Boerth and gets into a fight with Ritter and is knocked unconscious. An injured Boerth tells Ritter the bomb is in the repair patch of gas cell 4. Ritter attempts to defuse the bomb, but is distracted by a now-awakened Vogel and is unable to do so in time. The bomb explodes, killing Ritter instantly and sending Vogel flying down the walkway. Vogel survives, being carried by ground crewmen. Boerth was injured from being tortured by Vogel and dies of his burns, but manages to set the Channing's dog free before the ship crashes to the ground. Passengers and crew struggle to survive the fire. The following day, with the fire cleared, a short list of some of the passengers and crew who died or survived is described briefly, while the wreckage is examined for the inquiry before being cleaned up. As Herbert Morrison's memorable radio commentary is heard, the Hindenburg is seen flying once again, only to disappear again in the clouds. ===== The series adapts the mythology that Baum had created in the original children's books and updates it with the intention of appealing to a more adult audience. Oz Squad 's first issue featured Tik-Tok's becoming insane and violent after his "internal clockwork morality spring" runs down during a visit to Earth (it would run down more rarely in Oz, where decisions are more "black and white"). Later issues featured an assault on the hideout of Rebecca Eastwitch (the Wicked Witch of the East) at Castle Munchausen, and a series of time travel adventures in which the Scarecrow met Leonardo da Vinci and Joan of Arc, Dorothy found herself in the American Old West, and Nick met himself while still a human. The series ended with Dorothy Gale revealing that she is pregnant to Princess Ozma. In the 2011 Oz Squad: March of the Tin Soldiers, the Squad is in conflict with Rebecca Eastwitch and introduces Ozzy, Dorothy and Ozma's son. ===== Sambo is a South Indian boy who lives with his father and mother, named Black Jumbo and Black Mumbo respectively. While out walking, Sambo encounters four hungry tigers, and surrenders his colourful new clothes, shoes and umbrella so that they will not eat him. The tigers are vain and each thinks that he is better dressed than the others. They have a massive argument and chase each other around a tree until they are reduced to a pool of ghee (clarified butter). Sambo then recovers his clothes and collects the ghee, which his mother uses to make pancakes.The Story of Little Black Sambo .sterlingtimes.co.uk ===== Mongol chief Temujin (later to be known as Genghis Khan) falls for Bortai, the daughter of the Tartar leader, and steals her away, precipitating war. Bortai spurns Temujin and is taken back in a raid. Temujin is later captured. Bortai falls in love with him and helps him escape. Temujin suspects he was betrayed by a fellow Mongol and sets out to find the traitor and to overcome the Tartars. ===== The Island of Doctor Moreau is the account of Edward Prendick, an Englishman with a scientific education who survives a shipwreck in the southern Pacific Ocean. A passing ship called Ipecacuanha takes him aboard, and a man named Montgomery revives him. Prendick also meets a grotesque bestial native named M'ling, who appears to be Montgomery's manservant. The ship is transporting a number of animals which belong to Montgomery. As they approach the island, Montgomery's destination, the captain demands Prendick leave the ship with Montgomery. Montgomery explains that he will not be able to host Prendick on the island. Despite this, the captain leaves Prendick in a dinghy and sails away. Seeing that the captain has abandoned Prendick, Montgomery takes pity and rescues him. As ships rarely pass the island, Prendick will be housed in an outer room of an enclosed compound. The island belongs to Dr. Moreau. Prendick remembers that he has heard of Moreau, formerly an eminent physiologist in London whose gruesome experiments in vivisection had been publicly exposed, and who fled England as a result of his exposure. The next day, Moreau begins working on a puma. Prendick gathers that Moreau is performing a painful experiment on the animal, and its anguished cries drive Prendick out into the jungle. While he wanders, he comes upon a group of people who seem human but have an unmistakable resemblance to swine. As he walks back to the enclosure, he suddenly realises that he is being followed by a figure in the jungle. He panics and flees, and the figure gives chase. As his pursuer bears down on him, Prendick manages to stun him with a stone and observes that the pursuer is a monstrous hybrid of animal and man. When Prendrick returns to the enclosure and questions Montgomery, Montgomery refuses to be open with him. After failing to get an explanation, Prendick finally gives in and takes a sleeping draught. Prendick awakes the next morning with the previous night's activities fresh in his mind. Seeing that the door to Moreau's operating room has been left unlocked, he walks in to find a humanoid form lying in bandages on the table before he is ejected by a shocked and angry Moreau. He believes that Moreau has been vivisecting humans and that he is the next test subject. He flees into the jungle where he meets an Ape-Man who takes him to a colony of similarly half-human/half-animal creatures. Their leader is a large grey unspecified creature named the Sayer of the Law who has him recite a strange litany called the Law that involves prohibitions against bestial behavior and praise for Moreau. > {|align=left style="margin-left:60px" |Not to go on all-fours; that is the > Law. Are we not men? |- |Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not > men? |- |Not to eat Fish or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not men? |- |Not > to claw the Bark of Trees; that is the Law. Are we not men? |- |Not to chase > other Men; that is the Law. Are we not men? |} Suddenly, Dr. Moreau bursts into the colony looking for Prendick, but Prendick escapes to the jungle. He makes for the ocean, where he plans to drown himself rather than allow Moreau to experiment on him. Moreau explains that the creatures called the Beast Folk were not formerly men, but rather animals. Prendick returns to the enclosure, where Moreau explains that he has been on the island for eleven years and has been striving to make a complete transformation of an animal to a human. He explains that while he is getting closer to perfection, his subjects have a habit of reverting to their animal form and behaviour. Moreau regards the pain he inflicts as insignificant and an unavoidable side effect in the name of his scientific experiments. He also states that pain is an animalistic instinct that one who is truly human cannot have, cutting his thigh with a penknife with no apparent reaction, to further prove his point. One day, Prendick and Montgomery encounter a half-eaten rabbit. Since eating flesh and tasting blood are strong prohibitions, Dr. Moreau calls an assembly of the Beast Folk and identifies the Leopard-Man (the same one that chased Prendick the first time he wandered into the jungle) as the transgressor. Knowing that he will be sent back to Dr. Moreau's compound for more painful sessions of vivisection, the Leopard-Man flees. Eventually, the group corners him in some undergrowth, but Prendick takes pity and shoots him to spare him from further suffering. Prendick also believes that although the Leopard-Man was seen breaking several laws, such as drinking water bent down like an animal, chasing men (Prendick), and running on all fours, the Leopard-Man was not solely responsible for the deaths of the rabbits. It was also the Hyena-Swine, the next most dangerous Beast Man on the island. Dr. Moreau is furious that Prendick killed the Leopard-Man but can do nothing about the situation. As time passes, Prendick becomes inured to the grotesqueness of the Beast Folk. However one day, the half-finished puma woman rips free of her restraints and escapes from the lab. Dr. Moreau pursues her, but the two end up fighting each other, leading to their mutual deaths. Montgomery breaks down and decides to share his alcohol with the Beast Folk. Prendick resolves to leave the island, but later hears a commotion outside in which Montgomery, his servant M'ling, and the Sayer of the Law die after a scuffle with the Beast Folk. At the same time, the compound burns down because Prendick has knocked over a lamp. With no chance of saving any of the provisions stored in the enclosure, Prendick realizes that during the night Montgomery has also destroyed the only boats on the island. Prendick lives with the Beast Folk on the island for months after the deaths of Moreau and Montgomery. As the time goes by, the Beast Folk increasingly revert to their original animal instincts, beginning to hunt the island's rabbits, returning to walking on all fours, and leaving their shared living areas for the wild. They cease to follow Prendick's instructions. Eventually the Hyena-Swine kills Prendick's faithful companion, the Dog-Man created from a St. Bernard. With help from the Sloth Creature, Prendick shoots the Hyena-Swine in self-defence. Prendick's efforts to build a raft have been unsuccessful. Luckily for him, a lifeboat that carries two corpses drifts onto the beach (perhaps the captain of the ship that picked Prendick up and a sailor). Prendick uses the boat to leave the island and is picked up three days later. When he tells his story he is thought to be mad, so he feigns amnesia. Upon his return to England, Prendick is no longer comfortable in the presence of humans, all of whom seem to him to be about to revert to an animal state. He leaves London and lives in near-solitude in the countryside, devoting himself to chemistry as well as astronomy in the studies of which he finds some peace. ===== In 1996, following the death of SpaceGodzilla, Miki Saegusa of the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (UNGCC) travels to Birth Island to check on Godzilla and his adopted son Little Godzilla, only to find the entire island destroyed and both monsters missing. Not long afterwards, Godzilla reappears in Hong Kong, his body covered in glowing lava-like rashes. The JSDF hires college student Kenkichi Yamane, the grandson of Dr. Kyohei Yamane, to work at the center in an attempt to unravel the mystery of Godzilla's condition. Yamane suspects that Godzilla's heart, which acts as a nuclear reactor, is undergoing a nuclear meltdown as a result of Godzilla absorbing the energy released from a uranium deposit on Birth Island that had been triggered by a volcanic eruption. Yamane theorizes that when Godzilla's temperature reaches 1,200 °C, he will explode with a force approximately "1,000 times greater than all nuclear weapons put together, a burst of power unseen since time began," which will be hot enough to ignite Earth's atmosphere and reduce the planet's surface to ash. The JSDF deploys a flying combat vehicle outfitted with anti-nuclear cold weapons, the Super X III, in an effort to reverse Godzilla's self-destruction; while Godzilla’s meltdown is not stopped, it is halted long enough to temporarily render him unconscious. Meanwhile, scientists discover that Dr. Serizawa's Oxygen Destroyer, which was used against the original Godzilla in 1954, has awoken and mutated a colony of Precambrian organisms lying dormant in Tokyo Bay. The creatures combine into several man-sized crab-like creatures and begin wreaking havoc after killing all the fish in an aquarium. After several deadly skirmishes with the JSDF, the creatures, dubbed "Destoroyah", merge into a single Aggregate form, which then transforms again into its Flying form and leaves the scene. Meanwhile, Godzilla awakens from his encounter with the Super X III only instead of exploding, his condition has worsened to the point that he will suffer a bodily meltdown which could potentially destroy the planet through a China syndrome-like incident. Miki locates Little Godzilla - now named Godzilla Junior - who has grown significantly as a result of the destruction of Birth Island and resembles his father very closely. Miki is instructed to telepathically lure Godzilla Junior to Tokyo, hoping that Godzilla will follow and be killed by Destoroyah. Junior arrives and battles Destoroyah's Aggregate, which severely injures Junior by sending micro oxygen into his wound, and Flying form, who is seemingly defeated after being blown into an electrical plant. Godzilla arrives at Haneda Airport and reunites with his son, only for the electrical plant Destoroyah was defeated at to suddenly explode, revealing Destoroyah’s final, Perfect form, which was created after the aggregate absorbed Junior's DNA during the previous fight. Before Godzilla can fight Destoroyah, Destoroyah kills Junior by dropping him from a great height onto Ariake Coliseum and blasting him with his Micro-Oxygen beam leaving Miki and Godzilla devastated over Junior's death. After being dragged away from the location of his son by Destoroyah, Godzilla manages to subdue his adversary for just long enough to reach the airport for a second time. Godzilla mournfully approaches the body of Junior. Godzilla tries to revive Godzilla Junior. His radiation briefly succeeds in bringing Junior back to life, but only for a few seconds, and Junior dies again, this time at Godzilla's feet. Enraged and bereaved, Godzilla's meltdown begins to accelerate, but Destoroyah returns, brutally attacking Godzilla. In the ensuing battle, which rages across the airport and neighbouring areas of Tokyo, Godzilla's meltdown grants him access to an extremely powerful version of his Spiral Heat Ray, the Infinite Heat Ray. Destoroyah is severely wounded by Godzilla after he fires the beam through his shoulder and head frill. Realizing the odds are against him, Destoroyah tries to retreat, but the JSDF shreds Destoroyah's wings after firing on him with a set of freezer tanks. Destoroyah plummets to the superheated ground, and is killed instantly, dissipating into a white mist. Godzilla, having avenged his son, slowly begins to die from the meltdown, but the JSDF is able to minimize the damage with the freeze weapons. While successful in preventing Earth's destruction, the JSDF is unable to prevent the massive nuclear fallout from rendering Tokyo uninhabitable while Miki tearfully says goodbye to Godzilla. Suddenly, the radiation levels plummet and a familiar roar is heard. Godzilla Junior, having absorbed the energy from his father's death, has not only revived but grown into the new Godzilla. ===== The game opens in the Kingdom of Guardiana, in the land of Rune. The protagonist, Max, is sent on a mission to prevent the evil Kane, who commands the hordes of Runefaust, from opening the Shining Path and resurrecting Dark Dragon. Along the way, Max recruits a number of allies to join the Shining Force. They eventually find that both Kane and King Ramladu are under the control of the manipulative Darksol. Darksol ultimately succeeds in reviving Dark Dragon, but Max seals the creature away using the power of the Chaos Breaker, a sword created by merging a sword of light with Kane's sword of darkness.Complete script for the original translation of Shining Force, Shining Force Central. The storyline is expanded in the Game Boy Advance remake. A second plot line, which follows Narsha, the Princess of Runefaust, has been added to the game in interludes between the first six chapters. Narsha realizes that King Ramladu has been possessed by Darksol and seeks out the Shining Force in order to enlist their aid, joining up with Zuika and Mawlock along the way. The second plot eventually merges with the original plot line when Narsha and her allies are united with the Shining Force. ===== In Los Angeles, California, Elgin and David lead their promising dance crew in street dancing battles at a warehouse owned by Mr. Rad, where they defeat another crew led by Vick. To earn money for the battles, David and Elgin deliver for a drug lord named Emerald. They are challenged by Wade, a rich kid from Orange County, for $5,000; after winning another battle, Wade and his best friend Max goad Elgin into setting their battle for that night. Elgin borrows money from his grandmother for the battle. Due to the amount of money on the line, Mr. Rad announces there will be no fighting during the battle and hires a bodyguard. Nevertheless, a fight breaks out after David and Elgin realize their opponent has stolen their dance set, as their crew member Sonny betrayed them to join Wade's team, and are furious to lose for the first time. Crowing over his success, Wade delivers the titular line, "You're just mad... 'cause tonight you suckaz got served!" Wade's crew takes over Mr. Rad's club as David and Elgin's crew depart. David and Liyah, Elgin's sister, are falling in love. Vick joins David and Elgin after his crew leaves him, and Elgin gets a call from Emerald for a delivery of drugs. Elgin tries to call David, but Liyah turns off David's phone. Left on his own, Elgin is ambushed by local thugs who take Emerald's money, leaving Elgin hospitalized, in trouble with Emerald, and furious at David. The friends split up and form their own crews, but neither is as good as they were together. Elgin forbids Liyah to see David, ignoring her and David's desire to help him. Rico tells David and Elgin about the "Big Bounce," a $50,000 dance competition purportedly sponsored by MTV, which will provide the winning crew the opportunity to perform in a Lil' Kim video. Elgin sees this as a way to pay back Emerald and his grandmother. Attempts to bring Elgin and David together, particularly by Liyah, are fruitless, as they nearly come to blows. Emerald gives Elgin only a couple of weeks to pay him back, warning that Elgin not to cross him or he "will never walk, let alone dance again." Many crews impress the judges in the Big Bounce qualifying rounds, including Wade's crew. Liyah talks with Mr. Rad about David and Elgin's problems, and he reveals that he has taken care of the situation with Emerald. David's crew are eliminated after two slip-ups, while Elgin's crew makes it to the finals. Lamenting his loss, David and Liyah learn that Lil’ Saint, a young boy accepted into the crew through Rico, was killed in a drive-by. The next day, Rico tells Elgin that they should reunite the crew in honor of Lil' Saint. David arrives, asked by Liyah to try to end the feud, but explains that by the rules of the competition, they must complete with their initial crews. David and Elgin still refuse to forgive each other. Elgin's crew, renamed "The Lil' Saints", compete at the Big Bounce finals, hosted by Wade Robson and Lil' Kim. The winner is announced, revealing a tie between "The Lil' Saints" and "Wade's Crew". Both crews refuse a tie, and Lil' Kim is advised by Mr. Rad, who declares a battle competition, "straight hood" with no rules, allowing other people to join the battling crews. David asks to join Elgin's crew, and with their friends’ support, Elgin forgives him and allows on the crew. They battle Wade's crew, dedicating the battle to Lil' Saint, and win after receiving the crowd's loud approval. Elgin gives his blessing for David and Liyah to be together. Wade and Max confront the winners, and David replies, "Y'all just mad, 'cause today, you suckas got served." As the crowd chants 'served', Wade and Max to leave in shame, and David and Elgin celebrate their victory with their friends and family. ===== Aubrey and his crew are shipwrecked on a remote island in the South China Sea after surviving the destruction of HMS Diane in a typhoon. A cricket match is underway between the sailors and marines, which keeps up the crew's spirits as they build the schooner needed for reaching Batavia. Doctor Maturin is killing game for the pot, particularly wild boar and babirussas. Dyaks, Kesegaran and her male assistants, arrive on the island. Speaking in Malay with Maturin, the Dyaks promise to take a message to Batavia in exchange for a note on Shao Yen for twenty "joes" (Portuguese Johannes coins), but instead return in a proa with 300 pirates, twice as many as the 150 Dianes. After beheading the ship's carpenter and some other crew members while stealing tools, they attack the encampment and burn the schooner. They are routed after a bloody conflict and all pirates lost as their proa is sunk by the last remaining ball from the "long nine" gun, well-aimed. On the last day of rum and tobacco supplies, Maturin meets four Chinese children collecting precious birds' nests from the surrounding cliffs. Maturin binds the boy's injured leg. Maturin persuades the children's father, Li Po, to carry the remaining crew of the Diane in the empty holds of his roomy junk back to Batavia. It is intercepted by Wan Da, whom Maturin knows well from Pulo Prabang, and who shares information about the French frigate nearly ready to sail. Upon arriving in Batavia, Aubrey is provided by Governor Raffles with a 20-gun ship which Aubrey renames Nutmeg of Consolation after one of the titles of the Sultan of Pulo Prabang. At sea, Aubrey hears from a Dutch merchantman that the French frigate Cornélie is watering at an island, Nil Desperandum. Aubrey disguises the Nutmeg as a Dutch merchantman and, when the disguise fails, engages in battle with the Cornélie. Aubrey attempts to outwit the Cornélie in the Salibabu Passage but is outmanoeuvred and nearly outgunned until, at the height of the chase, Nutmeg encounters the Surprise, under Thomas Pullings, accompanied by the Triton, a British privateer. The Surprise gives chase, and the Cornélie soon founders. The Surprise takes the survivors, including Lieutenant Dumesnil, on board. Pullings has taken many prizes in the time they were parted, with two American privateers in convoy. The Nutmeg and its convoy sail back to Batavia, via Canton, under Lieutenant Fielding. Resuming command of Surprise, Aubrey continues their interrupted journey to New South Wales. Stopping to collect fresh foods at Sweetings Island, Maturin rescues two young Melanesian girls, the sole survivors of an outbreak of smallpox. Sailing into Sydney Cove, Aubrey, Maturin and Martin are shocked at life in the penal colony under Governor Macquarie, no better than it was after the "Rum Rebellion". Maturin and Tom Pullings attend a formal dinner, hosted by Mrs Macquarie and the Governor's deputy, Colonel McPherson, at Government House. Captain Lowe insults Sir Joseph Banks and Maturin, and again insults Maturin outside the house; Maturin fights and wins a duel against Captain Lowe on the spot. Maturin learns by letter that Sir Joseph Blaine could not transfer Maturin's funds to Smith's failed bank, so his fortune is not lost. Dr Redfern takes Maturin to see Padeen Colman, recovering in the hospital from his severe flogging for absconding from the penal colony. Maturin and Martin journey inland of Sydney to examine the local flora and fauna and collect specimens. On a second trip, they stay with Paulton north of Sydney near Bird Island, and find Padeen in better shape, assigned to work there as Maturin had arranged. The Irishman was convicted for stealing laudanum from an Edinburgh apothecary, meriting the punishment of transportation to this penal colony. Maturin tells Padeen to meet him at Bird Island on the day Surprise is to sail. This plan is checked by Aubrey, who promised to take no escaped prisoners, leaving Maturin in a quandary. Maturin hears from Hastings of the recently arrived Waverley that his wife Diana had a daughter in April, and he is overjoyed, but tells no one else his good news. Maturin and Martin, keen to see the duck-billed platypus, locally named the 'water-mole', are taken on a final expedition in the cutter by Barret Bonden. Maturin and Martin spot two platypuses. Maturin secures one - a male - in his net but his arm is pierced by its two poison- spurs. When the Surprise arrives to pick them up, Padeen is also taken aboard. To everyone's relief Maturin slowly regains consciousness after he is aboard. ===== To reach the rendezvous with Degra in three days, Enterprise approaches a nebula that contains a subspace corridor defended by Kovaalan vessels. The corridor lets them traverse the distance in minutes. Suddenly, an older yet enhanced copy of Enterprise appears, captained by a half-Vulcan man named Lorian, who explains that after the Enterprise enters the corridor, it will destabilize, causing Captain Archer's version to travel 117 years into the past. Confronted with this situation, and not wanting to contaminate Earth's time stream, it then turns itself into a generational ship to await the Xindi crisis. Arriving on board, Lorian reveals that he is the son of Commander Tucker and Sub-Commander T'Pol. Archer also meets his great-granddaughter, Karyn Archer, who is part Ikaaran, as Enterprise will rescue her great-grandmother Esilia from a spatial-anomaly field. Lorian, after considering his knowledge of events, believes that the wormhole must be avoided altogether. Archer and Lorian then disagree over whether to implement an engine modification to Enterprise, since there is a 22% chance that it might destroy the ship. Archer then meets old T'Pol on board old Enterprise, and considers a plan where his ship could pass through safely, due to alternative modifications she suggests. A frustrated Lorian then reveals a secret plan: to steal the newer plasma injectors from Enterprise so they can confront the Xindi in place of their ancestors. Lorian leads a raid and successfully steals the parts, but old Enterprise is disabled as it is about to go to warp and he is put in the brig. Archer is angry at having his own method of stealing engine components (as seen in Damage) used against him. Lorian reveals that he had a chance to stop the Xindi Probe from The Expanse from attacking Earth, but failed because he hesitated, then the two captains finally agree to work towards their shared mission. Meanwhile, T'Pol meets her older self and discuss her addiction to Trelium-D and her relationship with Tucker. The older T'Pol confirms the younger's deepest fears: in Tucker, there is something bringing irrationality into her life which she can not ever control, but which will nurture her and have a positive irreplaceable effect on her life and spirit. The Enterprises then enter the nebula, but Archer's is quickly disabled. Lorian's then tows it into the corridor using a tractor beam, intending, as it turns to attack the Kovaalan ships, to follow shortly. Archer's Enterprise arrives safely, but old Enterprise never emerges and Archer wonders if, by successfully traversing the corridor, they ceased to exist. His thoughts are cut short when Degra arrives for their rendezvous. ===== Auditions In New York City, a group of teenagers audition to study at the High School of Performing Arts, where they are sorted into three different departments: Drama, Music, and Dance. Accepted in the Drama department are Montgomery MacNeil, a closeted homosexual; Doris Finsecker, a shy Jewish girl; and Ralph Garci, who succeeds after failed auditions for Music and Dance. In the Music department, Bruno Martelli is an aspiring keyboardist whose electronic equipment horrifies Mr. Shorofsky, a conservative music teacher. Lisa Monroe is accepted in the Dance department, despite having no interest in the subject. Coco Hernandez is accepted in all three departments because of her all-around talent. Leroy Johnson goes to the school, performing as part of a dance routine for an auditioning friend, but the dance teachers are more impressed by his talents than his friend's. Freshman year The students learn during their first day of classes that academics are weighed equally with performance. In the lunchroom, Doris becomes overwhelmed by the energy and spontaneity of the other students ("Hot Lunch Jam"). She befriends Montgomery, but worries that she is too ordinary against the colorful personalities of the other students. As the year progresses, Coco tries to convince Bruno to book performing gigs with her. Leroy clashes with his English teacher Mrs. Sherwood over his refusal to do homework. It is later revealed that he is illiterate. Bruno and his father argue over Bruno's reluctance to play his electronic music publicly. Miss Berg, the school's Dance teacher, warns Lisa that she is not working hard enough. Michael, a graduating senior, wins a prestigious scholarship and tells Doris that the William Morris Agency wants to send him out for auditions for television pilots. Sophomore year A new student, Hilary van Doren, joins the school's Dance department and becomes romantically involved with Leroy. Bruno and Mr. Shorofsky debate the merits of traditional orchestras versus synthesized instruments. Bruno's father plays his music ("Fame") outside the school, inspiring the student body to dance in the streets. As an acting exercise, the students are asked to divulge a painful memory. Montgomery discusses discovering his homosexuality, while coming out in front of his classmates; Doris relates her humiliation at being forced by her stage mother to sing at a child's birthday party; and Ralph tells of learning about the death of his idol Freddie Prinze. Miss Berg drops Lisa from the Dance program, and after seemingly considering suicide in a New York City Subway station, Lisa drops her dance clothes on the subway tracks and decides to join the Drama department. Junior year Ralph and Doris discover their mutual attraction, but their growing intimacy leaves Montgomery feeling excluded. Hilary brings Leroy home, much to the shock of her father and stepmother. Ralph's young sister is attacked by a junkie and Ralph lashes out at his mother's attempts to comfort the child by taking her to the local Catholic church, instead of to a doctor. Doris begins to question her Jewish upbringing, changing her name to "Dominique DuPont" and straining the relationship with her mother. During a late-night showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show at the 8th Street Playhouse, Ralph encourages Doris to smoke marijuana. Intoxicated, Doris takes part in the stage show during the film's "Time Warp" musical number. The next day, she realizes that as an actress she can put on any personality she wants, but is sobered upon running into Michael, who is struggling as an actor and waiting tables. Senior year Ralph performs stand-up comedy at Catch a Rising Star, where he garners some initial success, but falls into a hard-party lifestyle which upsets Doris. Given a prime spot at another comedy club, he bombs after clashing with both Doris and Montgomery over his new lifestyle. Disgusted with himself, Ralph believes his career is over, but is comforted by Montgomery, who tells him that failure is a part of the entertainment business. Hilary, now pregnant, plans to have an abortion and move to California to take a position with the San Francisco Ballet company. Coco is approached in a diner by a man claiming to be a director; she naïvely goes to his apartment for a screen test, but discovers that he is an amateur pornographic film director. He manipulates her into taking her shirt off, as he films her sobbing. Leroy is offered a position in Alvin Ailey's dance company, but must graduate first in order to be accepted. After receiving a failing grade, he confronts a grieving Mrs. Sherwood outside her husband's hospital room, but upon realizing that she has her own problems, he comforts her. During graduation, the student body showcases their talents by performing an original song ("I Sing the Body Electric"). The opening lines are sung by Lisa, Coco, and Montgomery. Intercut with the performance are scenes of Leroy dancing and Bruno playing with a rock band, finally sharing his music with others. ===== Captain Anson, the officer commanding a British RASC Motor Ambulance Company in Tobruk, is suffering from battle fatigue and alcoholism. With the city about to be besieged by the German Afrika Korps, Anson and most of his unit are ordered to evacuate to Alexandria. During the evacuation, Anson, MSM Tom Pugh and two nurses, Sister Diana Murdoch and Sister Denise Norton, become separated from the others in an Austin K2/Y ambulance nicknamed "Katy". The quartet decide to drive across the desert back to British lines. As they depart, they come across an Afrikaner South African officer, Captain van der Poel, who carries a large pack, to which he seems very attached. After the South African shows Anson two bottles of gin in his backpack, van der Poel persuades Anson to let him join their drive to the safety of the British lines in Alexandria. Publicity poster for the North American release of the film. The ambulance "Katy" has become stuck in the sand. En route, the group meets with various obstacles, including a minefield, a broken suspension spring (during its replacement, van der Poel's great strength saves the group when he supports "Katy" on his back when the jack collapses), and the dangerous terrain of the Qattara Depression. After Sister Denise Norton is killed by a German patrol, for which he blames himself and his drinking, Anson vows not to drink any alcohol until he can have an "ice cold lager in 'Alex'". Twice the group encounters motorised elements of the advancing Afrika Korps; in one encounter they are fired upon, and Norton is fatally wounded. Van der Poel, who claims to have learned German while working in German South West Africa, is able to talk the Germans into allowing them to go on their way. The second time however, the Germans seem reluctant, until Van der Poel shows them the contents of his backpack. This pack becomes the focus of suspicion. Pugh, already troubled by Van der Poel's lack of knowledge of the South African Army's tea-brewing technique, follows him when he heads off into the desert with his pack and a spade (supposedly to dig a latrine). Pugh thinks he sees an antenna. Later, at night, they decide to use the ambulance headlights to see what Van de Poel is really up to. He panics, blunders into some quicksand, and submerges his pack, though not before Anson and Murdoch see that it contains a radio set. They drag him to safety. While he recovers, they realise he is probably a German spy but decide not to confront him about this. During the final leg of the journey Katy must be hand-cranked in reverse up a sand dune escarpment, and Van der Poel's strength is again crucial to achieving this. Continuing their drive, the party discuss their conviction that "Van der Poel" is a spy, and decide that they do not want to see him shot. When they reach Alexandria, Anson delivers everyone's papers except "Van der Poel"'s to the Military Police check point and (off-screen) reports to the MP's senior officer that "Van der Poel" is a regular German soldier that they met lost in the desert and has surrendered to them under his parole (word of honour). Anson secures the MP's agreement to allow the party to enjoy a beer with their "captive" before taking him into custody as a prisoner of war. The party then make their way to a bar and Anson orders a cold beer, which he consumes with relish. But before they have drunk their first round, a Corps of Military Police officer arrives to arrest Van der Poel. Anson orders him to wait. Having become friends with Van der Poel and indebted to him for saving the group's lives, Anson tells him that if he gives his real name, he will be treated as a prisoner of war, rather than as a spy (which would mean execution by firing squad). Van der Poel admits to being Hauptmann Otto Lutz, an engineering officer with the 21st Panzer Division. Pugh notices that Lutz is still wearing fake South African dog tags and rips them off before the police see them. Lutz, after saying his farewells and concluding that they were "all against the desert, the greater enemy", is driven away, with a new respect for the British. ===== At the Tarasco bar in Mexico, an American man named Buscemi tells the story of how he witnessed a massacre in another bar committed by a Mexican with a guitar case full of guns. The bar's patrons are uninterested until Buscemi mentions the name "Bucho". Meanwhile, El Mariachi has a dream of his encounter with Moco, Bucho's underling, who killed his lover dead and shot his left hand. He is awakened by Buscemi, who tells him to continue his search for Bucho at the bar. El Mariachi meets a child, whose father allegedly plays guitar for a living. He gives the boy some pointers. At the Tarasco bar, El Mariachi engages in a tense standoff with Bucho's goons before a massive gunfight erupts. He kills everyone in the bar, but Tavo, who was in a back room conducting illegal business, survives and follows him outside. On the street, Tavo wounds El Mariachi before being killed himself. Carolina, the woman who El Mariachi shields from Tavo's bullets, takes him to her bookstore. Bucho arrives at the bar to survey the carnage. Paranoid, Bucho orders his men to hunt down the man "dressed in black". In the bookstore, Carolina tends to El Mariachi's wounds. While he rests, she discovers the guns in his guitar case and realizes who he is. El Mariachi asks her to help him find Bucho. He goes to the town church and talks to Buscemi. Upset by the massacre at the bar, Buscemi convinces El Mariachi to give up his quest for blood. Outside the church, a man armed with throwing knives ambushes them, kills Buscemi and severely wounds El Mariachi. Bucho's men arrive at the scene, mistake the man (who dresses in black) for El Mariachi and kill him. They take the body back to Bucho, who realizes they have killed the wrong person, a hit-man named Navajas sent by the Colombians to kill El Mariachi. As El Mariachi wanders through the streets, he meets the kid with the guitar. He learns that the kid is being used by his father to mule drugs hidden in his guitar. He angrily confronts the boy, who tells him most people in the town work for Bucho. El Mariachi returns to Carolina and learns that Bucho paid to build her bookstore as another front for his drug-dealing. Unexpectedly, Bucho pays her a visit, and she hastily hides El Mariachi. She feigns ignorance of the commotion in town, and Bucho leaves. Carolina finishes stitching up El Mariachi's wounds. That evening, Carolina gives El Mariachi a new guitar, he plays for her before they make passionate love. Meanwhile, Bucho realizes that Carolina lied to him. In the morning, Bucho's men arrive and attack them while setting the bookstore ablaze. The two fight their way out of the burning building and onto a local rooftop, where El Mariachi gets a clear shot at Bucho but inexplicably chooses not to attempt to kill him. The two take refuge in a hotel room. Bucho gathers his men and tells them to kill anyone they see in town that they don't know. Realizing that Bucho will never stop hunting them, El Mariachi calls his friends Campa and Quino in to help. The trio meet up on the edge of town and encounter Bucho's goons. A massive gun battle ensues, and most of Bucho's goons along with Campa and Quino are killed. El Mariachi sees the kid wounded in the crossfire and rushes him to a hospital. El Mariachi and Carolina head over to Bucho's compound to confront him directly. It is then revealed that Bucho and El Mariachi are brothers. Bucho offers to let El Mariachi go if he lets him kill Carolina. El Mariachi kills his brother, then shoots his remaining henchmen. The two visit the boy in the hospital, and El Mariachi leaves on his own. Carolina catches up to him on the road and picks him up, with El Mariachi initially leaving his weapons on the side of the road. The two drive away together, but shortly return and pick up the guitar case full of guns just in case. ===== In the first part of the Original Series, Ash Ketchum is allowed to start his journey in the world of Pokémon and dreams of becoming a Pokémon master, but on the day he is to receive his first Pokémon, Ash oversleeps and wakes up in a panic, running into Gary Oak, who becomes Ash's rival. Professor Oak, the local Pokémon researcher, has already given away the three Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle) he entrusts to new Pokémon Trainers when Ash finally reaches Oak's Lab. The only Pokémon that he has left is a Pikachu, which he gives to Ash. Determined to make it on his journey, Ash does his best to befriend Pikachu, but it refused to trust him and chooses to stay out of the Poké Ball, even attacking Ash with its electric powers. It is only after Ash protects Pikachu from a group of angry Spearow that Pikachu realizes how much Ash cares. Along the way, Ash makes many human and Pokémon friends as he works his way through the ranks of the world's many Pokémon Leagues. Through the Kanto Region, Ash befriends Water Pokémon trainer and erstwhile Cerulean City Gym Leader Misty and Pewter City Gym Leader and Pokémon Breeder Brock, and all the while thwarting the plans of Jessie, James, and Meowth, low-ranking members of the criminal organization Team Rocket who want to steal Ash's Pikachu and any other rare Pokémon they come across. Giovanni, Team Rocket's Boss introduced three new high-ranking members of Team Rocket; Cassidy, Butch, and Raticate, who want to kidnap Pokémon so they can use their moves. Ash wins eight badges from Gym Leaders in the Kanto region to compete in the Indigo Conference League. Gary loses in the fourth round, placing him in the Top 32. Ash makes it to the Top 16, but loses to Ritchie in the fifth round, placing him in the Top 16. Also, Ritchie loses to Assunta in the sixth round, placing him in the Top 8. When the group travels to the Orange Islands, Ash releases his Pidgeot, and Brock decides to stay with the local professor, Ivy, leaving Ash and Misty to continue traveling together. After a while, they meet and begin traveling with Pokémon Watcher and artist Tracey Sketchit. Ash defeats four Gym Leaders in the Orange Islands, and becomes the champion of the Orange League. Once they reach Pallet Town in Kanto, Tracey decides to stay with Professor Oak and Brock rejoins the group. Ash loses to Gary before leaving the Kanto region. Ash releases Lapras. Following this, the trio continues on their way to the Johto region. In the second part of the Original Series, Ash explores the new adventures in the Johto region with Misty and Brock. Ash gives the GS Ball to the Apricorn Poké Ball maker, Kurt. Ash's quest is to defeat the eight Gym Leaders in the Johto region and participate in the Silver Conference. Team Rocket's Jessie gains a Wobbuffet as a new partner. Ash beats Gary for the first time in the Silver Conference, placing him in the Top 16, but Ash loses to Harrison, in the quarterfinals, placing him in the Top 8. But also, Harrison loses to Jon Dickson, in the semifinals, placing him in the Top 4. Finally, Ash returns to the Kanto region to set sail in the Hoenn region. Misty returns to Cerulean City in Kanto to become the full-time Cerulean City Gym Leader and she got her bike fixed that has been destroyed in the beginning of Ash's quest. Brock follows Ash to Hoenn and Ash gains two new companions, a Pokémon Coordinator May and her younger brother Max, and together they go on an adventure. May collects five ribbons to participate in the Hoenn Grand Festival, and the Kanto Grand Festival. Misty returns and later releases her Togepi, which has evolved to Togetic. Ash defeats all eight Hoenn gym leaders and participates in the Ever Grande Conference, but he loses to Tyson (Tetsuya), in the quarterfinals, placing him in the Top 8. In Pokémon: Battle Frontier (Japanese: ポケットモンスター バトルフロンティア編, Pocket Monsters: Episode Battle Frontier), Ash gets seven frontier symbols in Kanto, and wins the Battle Frontier. However, Ash declines the Battle Frontier Brian title, and decides to continue his Pokémon journey. Afterwards, Ash battles with his rival, Gary. After seeing Electivire, a Pokémon from the Sinnoh region he has never seen before, Ash decides to travel to Sinnoh, and Brock joins him. Upon arrival in Sinnoh, Ash and Brock meet Dawn, another Pokémon Coordinator, who travels with them as they go through the Sinnoh region in an adventure. Dawn earns five ribbons to participate in the Sinnoh Grand Festival. Dawn loses to Zoey, placing her runner-up. Ash defeats all eight Sinnoh gym leaders to participate in the Lily of the Valley Conference, but he loses to Tobias, in the semifinals, placing him in the Top 4. Afterwards, Ash, his mother Delia and Professor Oak take a holiday to the far-off Unova Region, where he meets and travels with would-be Dragon Master Iris and Striaton City Gym Leader, Pokémon Connoisseur, and sometimes detective Cilan. After winning all eight Unova badges and thwarting the sinister Team Plasma, Ash, Iris, and Cilan travel throughout the eastern side of Unova to prepare for the Vertress Conference, but Ash loses to Cameron, in the quarterfinals, placing him in the Top 8. But also, Cameron loses to Virgil in the semifinals, placing him in the Top 4. Afterwards, Ash, Iris, and Cilan travel through the Decolore Islands before Ash makes his way back to Pallet Town and meet the investigative reporter Alexa, who is from the distant Kalos Region. Having arrived back in Kanto, Iris and Cilan travel to Johto whilst Ash and Alexa head to Kalos. Ash and Alexa arrive in the Kalos region and Ash is itching to get started in earning his Gym badges. But after Alexa informs Ash that her sister, a Gym Leader, is currently absent, Ash travels to Lumiose City where he meets boy-genius Clemont and his younger sister Bonnie, unaware that Clemont is, in fact, Lumiose City's Gym Leader; a fact he tries his best to hide. Ash also reunites with Serena, a girl from Vaniville Town whom Ash had met in his childhood. Serena earns three keys to participate in the Pokémon Showcase. Serena loses to Aria, placing her runner-up. After traveling with Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie to prepare for the Lumiose Conference by defeating all eight Kalos gym leaders, Ash competes and advances all the way to the finals, where he loses to Alain, a temporary member of the evil Team Flare due to them misleading him. Once he discovers their true intentions, however, Alain reforms and joins Ash and his friends to stop Team Flare's plans. Bidding farewell to his friends in Kalos, Ash once again returns to Pallet Town. In Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon (Japanese: ポケットモンスター サン＆ムーン Pocket Monsters Sun & Moon), Ash, Delia and her Mr. Mime are on vacation in the Alola region when Ash has an encounter with Tapu Koko, the guardian Pokémon of Melemele Island, who presents him with the Z-Ring, a device that, when paired with a special crystal, allows a Pokémon to unleash a powerful move when synchronized with its trainer. This leads him to stay in Alola and enroll at the local Pokémon school. When he decides to undertake the trials necessary to master the power of the Z-Ring, Ash's new classmates Lana, Mallow, Lillie, Sophocles and Kiawe decide to accompany him. Ash takes part in the island challenges, but Ash loses to Team Rocket members Jessie, James, Meowth, and Wobbuffet in a battle for the first time in his quest. But then later, Ash finally gains his first- ever official league victory at the Manalo Conference. In the new series, Pokémon Journeys: The Series (Japanese: ポケットモンスター Pocket Monsters) focuses on all eight regions, including Galar, the setting of the Pokémon Sword and Shield games. Pikachu's backstory as a Pichu, and Ash's backstory when he was 6 years old missing Professor Oak's camp. Goh's backstory when he was 6 years old and he did attend Professor Oak's camp, and he saw Mew. It sees Ash and Pikachu travel to each of the regions, accompanied by Goh and his Scorbunny, which later evolves into Raboot. Currently, the supporting cast includes a girl named Chloe and her Yamper. As of now, Ash's team consists of Pikachu, Mr. Mime, Gengar, Dragonite, Riolu, and a Galarian Farfetch'd. ===== Screenshot from the start of Comix Zone. Sketch Turner, a "starving artist" and freelance rock musician living in New York City, is working on his newest comic book, Comix Zone. It is the story of the New World Empire's attempt to defend Earth from an invasion of alien renegades, with inspiration coming from Sketch's oddly vivid dreams and nightmares. One night, while Sketch is working on Comix Zone during a thunderstorm, a lightning bolt strikes a panel of his comic. In this instant, its main villain, a powerful mutant named Mortus, escapes the comic book's pages, desiring to kill Sketch so he can become flesh and blood and take over the real world. Because he does not possess any power in reality, Mortus sends Sketch into the world of his own comic, freely drawing in enemies attempting to kill him. Inside the comic book, Sketch meets General Alissa Cyan, who believes he is "the chosen one" who came to save their post-apocalyptic world from the evil of Mortus and the alien invaders. Ignoring Sketch's protests, Alissa sends him on his mission, keeping in touch with instructions and hints via radio. It is up to Sketch to stop Mortus's evil plans and find a way out of this comic world. The game has two possible endings. At the end of the game, Alissa attempts to defuse a nuclear weapon that Mortus and the Mutants plan on using to wipe out the New World Empire and humanity, when Mortus comes back into the comic and throws her into the chamber, which starts to fill up with liquid. Mortus then battles Sketch personally. If the player defeats Mortus and the Kreeps he summons as he takes damage quickly enough to drain the liquid and save Alissa before the nuke self-destructs, an ending occurs where Alissa comes to the real world with Sketch and Roadkill and joins the army, eventually becoming Chief of Security for the United States. Roadkill is given a vast amount of mozzarella cheese, and spends a lot of time exploring the city's new sewer system when not sleeping under a pile of Sketch's dirty socks. Comix Zone becomes an instant sensation, selling out on the first day, making Sketch famous as it becomes the best-selling comic book ever. Defeating Mortus after the chamber fills with liquid, Alissa dies as the nuke self- destructs. Sketch and Roadkill come out, but Sketch's comic is destroyed, leaving him devastated at having saved the New World Empire, but failed to save Alissa. ===== ===== During the Russian Civil War (1918–1922), a female commissar of the Red Army cavalry Klavdia Vavilova (Nonna Mordyukova) finds herself pregnant. Until her child is born, she is forced to stay with the family of a poor Jewish blacksmith Yefim Magazannik (Rolan Bykov), his wife, mother-in-law, and six children. At first, both the Magazannik family and "Madame Vavilova", as they call her, are not enthusiastic about living under one roof, but soon they share their rationed food, make her civilian clothes, and help her with the delivery of her newborn son. Vavilova seemingly embraces motherhood, civilian life, and new friends. Meanwhile, the frontline advances closer to the town and the Jews expect a pogrom by the White Army as the Red Army retreats. Vavilova attempts to console them with a Communist dream: "One day people will work in peace and harmony", but the dream is interrupted with a vision of the fate of the Jews in the coming world war. She rushes to the front to rejoin her army regiment, leaving her newborn behind. ===== In the fourth century AD, Sebastian is a member of the Emperor Diocletian's personal guard. When he tries to intervene to stop one of the Emperor's catamites from being strangled by one of his bodyguards, Sebastian is exiled to a remote coastal garrison and reduced in rank to private. Although thought to be an early Christian, Sebastian is a worshipper of the Roman sun god Phoebus Apollo and sublimates his desire for his male companions into worship of his deity and pacifism. Both incense Severus, the commanding officer of the garrison, who becomes increasingly obsessed with Sebastian, tries to assault him, and ultimately presides over his summary execution for refusing to take up arms in defence of the Roman Empire. Justin, one of his comrades in arms, is also in love with Sebastian, albeit necessarily unrequited, but he forms a friendship with the stubborn celibate pacifist. Adrian and Anthony, two of Sebastian's fellow soldiers, are gay and in obvious love with one another. ===== Teenager Trudy Morton (Sandra Knight), who lives with her uncle Carter Morgan (Felix Maurice Locher), has nightmares in which she dreams that she is a monster running about the streets at night. Trudy believes the dreams are real. Her boyfriend Johnny Bruder (John Ashley) does not, nor do her friends Suzie Lawler (Sally Todd) and Don (Harold Lloyd Jr.). Little does Trudy know, but she actually does turn into a monster at night, thanks to Carter's unpleasant lab assistant Oliver Frank (Donald Murphy). He lives with them, works in Carter's home lab and has been spiking Trudy's fruit punch with the formula that he and Carter are developing. Carter's goal is to eliminate all disease so that people can live forever; Oliver's goal is something quite different. Carter's project stalls and he breaks into Rockwell Labs for Digenerol, the chemical he needs for his experiments. He does not know who Oliver actually is or that, with the help of Elsu the gardener (Wolfe Barzell), Oliver is secretly assembling what he calls a "perfect being", for Oliver Frank is actually Oliver Frankenstein, grandson of the original Dr. Frankenstein. Police Lt. Boyd (John Zaremba) and Det. Bill Dillon (Robert Dix) investigate a report from a frightened woman (Charlotte Portney) that a female monster in a swimsuit attacked her. It is, of course, Trudy. They spot her and fire a few shots but miss. Oliver grabs her and drags her home to recover. The next morning Carter asks Oliver if he has seen the newspaper story about a "Frankenstein monster" on the loose. Oliver scoffs at the story, but when Carter disparages the Frankensteins, Oliver literally jumps to his feet in their defense. Boyd and Dillon are visited by Mr. Rockwell (Voltaire Perkins) of Rockwell Labs. Rockwell says that the stolen Digenerol may be somehow related to the monster issue. Back at the home lab, Elsu mistakenly enters through a secret door while Carter and Oliver are working. Oliver silently shoos him out and to distract Carter knocks the bottle of Digenerol from his hand, spilling every drop. Carter says that he must now steal more Digenerol. Suzie visits Trudy, but they quarrel and as Suzi flounces off she makes a date with Oliver. The date goes badly, with Oliver attempting to force himself on Suzie. Since he needs a brain for his perfect being, he runs Suzie over with his car, killing her. Oliver will create a female perfect being, something the Frankensteins have never tried before. When Elsu asks why, Oliver says that "now we're aware the female mind is conditioned to a man's world. It therefore takes orders, where the other ones didn't." In awe, Elsu exclaims, "Frankenstein's daughter!" after which they always refer to it in the feminine. While Oliver tries to reanimate "her", Boyd and Dillon arrive. As they tell Oliver that they suspect Carter is the Digenerol thief, "she" (Harry Wilson) comes to life, hideously scarred and looking not in the least like pretty, blonde Suzie. After the police leave, "she" escapes and kills a warehouse worker (Bill Coontz). Another worker, Mack (George Barrows), calls the cops. At the house, Trudy and Oliver are talking when someone knocks on the front door. Trudy answers. It is the monster. Trudy screams and faints. Elsu coaxes "her" into the lab. When Johnny arrives and tells him what happened, Oliver convinces Johnny that Trudy has an overactive imagination. Oliver wants the lab for himself and decides to kill Carter. But as he starts strangling him, Boyle and Dillon show up with more questions about the Digenerol. Oliver tells them that Carter stole it; Carter tells them that Oliver tried to kill him. Oliver persuades them that Carter is mentally ill, and they arrest Carter. Oliver then argues with Elsu, who refuses any further assistance, and Oliver has "her" kill Elsu. Afterwards, Oliver tells Trudy and Johnny that Carter has been arrested. When Johnny leaves for the police station, Trudy stays behind. Oliver reveals that his name is actually Frankenstein, not Frank, and shows her his creation again. Trudy faints once more, but awakens and goes to the police station herself. Boyle tells her and Johnny that Carter has died. Boyle and Dillon return to the house to further question Oliver. When Boyle leaves, Dillon stays behind to keep an eye on Oliver. Dillon stumbles across "her" hiding place in the house and Oliver orders "her" to kill Dillon. Trudy and Johnny come home and also find the monster's hideout. Oliver orders "her" to kill them, too. "She" and Johnny fight in the lab. Johnny throws a vial of acid at "her", but hits Oliver instead, melting his face. As Oliver falls screaming to the floor, the monster accidentally sets "herself" alight on a Bunsen burner. Trudy and Johnny flee as "she" is consumed by flames. ===== An expedition led by Professor Fuchs (Keir) locates the unmarked tomb of Tera (Leon) an evil Egyptian queen. A cabal of priests drugged her into a state of suspended animation and buried all of her evil relics with her. Fuchs is obsessed with Tera and takes her mummy and sarcophagus back to England, where he secretly recreates her tomb under his house. For days "before her birthday," his daughter Margaret (also Leon) - who bears an uncanny resemblance to Tera and was born at the instant they recited her name - has recurring nightmares. Fuchs gives her the old queen's ring and tells her to "wear it always." Of course, this only makes matters worse. Queen Tera's evil power begins to tempt Margaret, as she learns how she's feared by her father's former colleagues. Margaret notices a man lurking in the vacant building across the street. He is Corbeck (Villiers), an expedition member who's now her father's rival. Corbeck wants to restore Tera to life and he persuades Margaret to help him gather the missing relics. The problem is, each time one is given up the person who'd held it dies. When they have all the relics, Corbeck, Margaret and Fuchs begin the ancient ritual to reawaken Tera. At the last moment Fuchs learns that the queen's revival will mean Margaret's death. Together Fuchs and Margaret overpower and kill Corbeck, as the house quakes above them. Queen Tera awakens and kills Fuchs, but not before Margaret stabs her. Margaret and Tera are grappling over an ancient dagger when the house finally collapses on them. Later in the hospital, we see a woman whose face is wrapped in bandages. We're told she's the sole survivor, and that all the others in the Professor's basement were "crushed beyond recognition." The bandaged woman slowly opens her eyes and struggles to speak. But who is she, exactly - Margaret Fuchs or Queen Tera? ===== A character named "Sam-I-Am" pesters an unnamed character to eat a dish of green eggs and ham. However he refuses while responding, “I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am.” He continues to repeat similar responses while Sam persistently follows him. Finally, the character accepts Sam’s offer and samples the green eggs and ham. When he finds that he likes them, he ends the story, saying, "I do so like green eggs and ham. Thank you. Thank you, Sam-I-Am." ===== Far away, from the northern sea, the Foxwolf Urgan Nagru and his wife Silvamord arrive in Southsward, bringing two shiploads of rats, and storms the Castle Floret. Nagru, the Foxwolf, captures Gael Squirrelking, his wife Serena, their son Truffen and his nursemaid Muta, a mute badger. Entrance to the castle was gained through Silvamord's deceit in feigning weakness and ill fortune in both herself and Urgan Nagru. She then took Truffen the squirrel babe hostage until the gate was opened to the hordes of awaiting rats. Meanwhile, Dandin and Mariel Gullwhacker have set out from Redwall Abbey but have found themselves stuck in the southern dunes without food. After befriending a hedgehog named Bowly Pintips, they find themselves attempting to save a mole who happened to be under attack by Nagru's rat troops. Just as the trio of would-be rescuers realise their peril, Field Marshal Meldrum Fallowthorn the Magnificent bounds to their aid, accompanied by his four leveret nephews. US cover of The Bellmaker Back in Southsward, Gael's otter allies have begun planning a rescue mission. Led by Rab Streambattle, the otters manage to rescue Serena and Truffen, but Gael and Muta encounter trouble. Unable to escape, Muta and Rab stand their ground against waves of Nagru's rat troops, fighting until they collapse under the innumerable odds, presumed dead. Dandin, Mariel and Meldrum survive long enough to fend off Nagru's last effort, two of his psychotic tracking ermine, called Dirgecallers, who were unleashed to track down the escape prisoners. Mariel and her companions manage to kill the trackers, allowing Serena and Truffen to escape to safety, but they are not able to avoid Nagru's rat troops, as they are captured and led back to Castle Floret. Back at Redwall Abbey, Joseph the Bellmaker, the father of Mariel, has a vision. Inspired by Martin the Warrior, the legendary Champion and protector of Redwall, Joseph recruits a hare (The Honourable Rosemary, or Hon Rosie for short), a hedgehog (Durry Quill), a squirrel (Rufe Brush) and the Foremole, the leader of moles. Accompanied by Log-a-Log and a band of Guosim shrews, the band reaches the coast. Intent on finding the place shown to him in his vision, Joseph and his companions befriend Finnbarr Galedeep, a rusky wild sea otter, who helps them deceive searat brothers Slipp and Strapp, stealing the excellent Pearl Queen in the process. Strapp steals the crew of his brother, Slipp and gives chase aboard his ship, the Shalloo, but they are all lost at sea when the ship sinks into a whirlpool called the 'Green Maelstrom'. As Joseph and company sail towards Castle Floret and Urgan Nagru, Slipp and Blaggut, his good-natured first mate, head into Mossflower Woods. When they awaken, Mariel, Dandin and Meldrum find themselves in the dungeons of Castle Floret, along with the battered Gael Squirrelking. With a bit of luck and the help of Glokkpod, a shrike, they manage to escape, but Mariel becomes separated from her friends. As she attempts to find safety, Mariel meets Egbert the Scholar, an old mole living beneath Castle Floret, who happened to find Rab and Muta and nursed them back to health. Psychologically damaged from their near-death battle, the two warriors are intense, but refuse to speak. With their help, Mariel finds her way inside the castle and lowers the drawbridge. At Redwall Abbey, the two rats have arrived and found refuge in the kind, peaceful Abbey. Slipp, after a failed plan to find treasure with a band of Dibbuns, has had enough; he attacks and kills the local Badger Mother, Mellus, and escapes the Abbey with Blaggut and a chalice. After Blaggut learns the truth, he kills his captain and returns to the Abbey with the chalice, seeking forgiveness, which he eventually receives. On the Pearl Queen, many calamities had befallen the Redwallers and their crew, including whirlpools, sharks, shipwrecked islands, and crazy toads. Hon Rosie was taken for dead for some time, but showed up in fine form later. Three young orphans are acquired as well: the squirrel Benjy, the mousemaid Wincey, and the little ottermaid Figgs. They eventually arrive at Southsward and, with the help of some clans they meet on the way, arrive at Castle Floret, ready for battle. A massive battle ensues in which Mariel, Dandin, Meldrum, the otters, Finnbarr, Joseph, and the rest fight Nagru's horde of grey rats, most of which are slaughtered. However, the shrew Fatch, a good friend of Rufe and Durry, is slain by Silvamord, Urgan Nagru's mate. Rab Streambattle, who had recently reunited with his wife Iris and regained his sanity, kills Silvamord in the moat shortly afterward for although she is a mighty warrior, she is unable to swim. In the final battle, Finnbarr Galedeep engages Urgan Nagru and kills him by smashing the fangs of his wolf skull into the top of his head. However, Finnbarr sadly dies from the wounds inflicted during the fight. With Urgan vanquished and his horde depleted, peace is restored upon Castle Floret and Southsward. Gael is reinstated as Squirrelking of Floret with his family and Muta. While the other Redwallers return to the abbey, Joseph stays in Southsward to help restore order. Mariel, Dandin, and Bowly, their warrior spirits unable to be stilled, take off once more in search of adventure. ===== After watching an Olympic Games documentary on TV, Homer decides to participate in the Springfield marathon to prove to Marge that he is fit. Bart dons a stereotypical Italian disguise and wins the marathon by cheating, but a bird pulls off his fake mustache during the trophy presentation. To escape from the outraged crowd, Bart accepts a ride from a stranger, who introduces himself as music producer L.T. Smash. He offers Bart a chance to join Nelson, Ralph and Milhouse in Party Posse, a boy band he is putting together. Bart accepts the opportunity, and the four boys quickly rise to stardom, secretly using voice-enhancing software developed by NASA to improve their singing abilities. Party Posse releases a single whose accompanying video includes the strange line "YVAN EHT NIOJ" in its chorus. Puzzled, Lisa analyzes the video and finds a subliminal recruiting message for the United States Navy within it; she also realizes that the chorus is simply "JOIN THE NAVY" written backwards. Seeing that the single's hidden message is beginning to affect the Springfield populace, Lisa confronts Smash, who reveals himself as a Navy lieutenant and explains that popular music has long been used as a recruiting tool by the military. Homer and Marge dismiss Lisa's claims as stemming from jealousy of Bart's fame. During a Party Posse concert aboard an aircraft carrier, Smash's superior officer informs him that the boy band project is being shut down because the band is due to be satirized in an upcoming issue of Mad, sabotaging their recruiting power. The officer turns off Party Posse's voice enhancers, exposing the boys' lack of singing talent and destroying their popularity. Smash goes insane and commandeers the carrier, taking it out to sea as the terrified audience jumps overboard and swims back to the docks. He sails to New York City and destroys the Mad headquarters, despite the sudden arrival of boy band 'N Sync in an attempt to stop him. The employees survive unharmed and Smash is arrested; Bart and his friends are disappointed at not having a chance to appear in Mad, but take comfort in reading the planned parody of them. The episode ends with praise for the Navy by 'N Sync, who suggest that viewers enlist. JC Chasez is surprised and dismayed to learn that his bandmates have signed him up without his knowledge, and two military police officers drag him away screaming. ===== A powerful blizzard hits the fictional small island town of Little Tall Island (also the setting of King's novel Dolores Claiborne) off the coast of Maine. The storm is so powerful that all access to the island is cut off and no one is able to leave. As the town prepares for the storm, tragedy strikes when elderly resident Martha Clarendon is brutally murdered by André Linoge (Colm Feore), a menacing stranger with a black cane decorated by a silver wolf's head. Linoge is arrested by supermarket manager and part-time constable Michael "Mike" Anderson (Timothy Daly) and his friend and deputy Alton "Hatch" Hatcher. As he is taken to his cell, Linoge makes passing remarks at nearby townspeople, revealing he knows secrets about all of them. Linoge gives no hint of his origins or motives, only vaguely saying, "Give me what I want, and I'll go away." While imprisoned, Linoge affects the town by inflicting terrifying nightmares, driving people to commit suicide, and possessing a young man to force him to kill his girlfriend. When the man resists, Linoge takes control of the young woman instead, making her commit murder and then sing "I'm a little teapot." Later, Linoge reveals his true form as an ancient man dressed like a sorcerer and wielding a glowing staff. He easily leaves his cell after repeating to Hatch that he will go away when he gets what he wants. While looking for Linoge, Mike realizes the stranger's surname is an anagram for Legion, a collective group of demons exorcised by Jesus according to the Gospel of Mark and Gospel of Luke. The next day, lost resident Angie Carver is discovered. She reveals Linoge kidnapped her and displayed magical abilities while claiming that if he does not get what he wants then he will cause mass suicides as he did at Roanoke Island, Virginia, centuries before. All eight of the town's young children (including Mike's son Ralphie) are then enchanted, singing "I'm a little teapot" at once before falling into a coma-like state. Linoge arrives at the town hall, claiming he will kill all eight children unless one of them is given to him. He reveals he is thousands of years old, but not immortal and is now dying and sick. He desires a protégé to raise and teach who can carry on his "work". He wishes the child to be freely given and promises the child will become like him, long-lived and powerful. He cannot simply take a child by force, but he can punish the town. If they refuse to give him one child, he threatens to force them all to die. He leaves the townspeople half an hour to make their decision. Mike begs the town to refuse the request, arguing the villain is not all-powerful and may soon leave the town as the storm will if they just trust in God and their own power. He appeals to their common decency and points out they may be aiding an evil man who is willing to cause harm to a child. The other townspeople, including Mike's wife Molly, are too frightened of Linoge and think they have no choice. They argue this is not human sacrifice but rather an "adoption" and it is better to lose one child rather than all. Mike wishes to abstain from voting and take Ralphie away, but his friends stop him and Molly insists that being part of the town means they must accept Ralphie may be the child taken. Everyone but Mike votes in favor to give Linoge what he desires, and Hatch says he will see this is the right decision. Linoge arrives and has one parent of each child draw one of eight "weirding stones" that predate the sinking of Atlantis. Molly draws the lone black stone, marking Ralphie as the one who will be taken. Linoge transforms into his true form and thanks the town, suggesting they will be better off if they do not reveal his existence or this arrangement to the outside world. Mike tries to save Ralphie, but is held back by Hatch and other townsfolk who fear reprisal. Now regretting her choice, Molly frantically shouts at Mike to help save Ralphie; but he cannot due to being restrained by the townspeople who also refuse to aid the now remorseful Molly. In anguish, Molly accuses Linoge of tricking them by fixing the result of the stones before attempting to attack him. Linoge knocks Molly aside and remarks that she and the townspeople may have all tricked themselves, adding that Ralphie will eventually call him "father." Carrying the child, Linoge flies off into the night. The following summer, the thoroughly depressed Molly discusses her now failing marriage with a therapist and stresses the departure of Mike, lamenting that she is now losing the last thing she ever loved. She insists Ralphie was "lost in the storm" like others who died and refuses to discuss his death despite the therapist warning that pain will fester if she can't be honest. Molly says she now understands some wounds can't be cleaned out. Mike, unable to condone or accept the townspeople sacrificing his son along with their principles, leaves Little Tall. He promptly resigns as constable (ignoring the town's pleas for him to stay), divorces Molly, and decides to never return (though his narration reveals he does keep in contact with some of the residents). He settles in San Francisco, eventually becoming a US Marshal. As time passes, he hears of several in Little Tall committing suicide over the years. Hatch, now a widower, marries Molly; Mike wishes the best for them. Nine years after the storm, Mike notices an old man and a teenage boy on the sidewalk, both humming "I'm a little teapot." He recognizes the boy as an older Ralphie and both turn to face him, the old man resembling Linoge while the boy briefly hisses with a fanged mouth. Mike follows them, but they vanish in an alley. Mike considers telling Molly what he saw that day, but ultimately decides against it; it is implied he severs contact with Little Tall permanently. He sometimes wonders if this is the wrong decision, then admits in narration "in daylight, I know better." ===== The story revolves around the life of Oskar Matzerath, as narrated by himself when confined in a mental hospital during the years 1952–1954. Born in 1924 in the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland), with an adult's capacity for thought and perception, he decides never to grow up when he hears his father declare that he would become a grocer. Gifted with a piercing shriek that can shatter glass or be used as a weapon, Oskar declares himself to be one of those "clairaudient infants", whose "spiritual development is complete at birth and only needs to affirm itself". He retains the stature of a child while living through the beginning of World War II, several love affairs, and the world of postwar Europe. Through all this, a toy tin drum, the first of which he received as a present on his third birthday, followed by many replacement drums each time he wears one out from over-vigorous drumming, remains his treasured possession; he is willing to commit violence to retain it. Oskar considers himself to have two "presumptive fathers"—his mother's husband Alfred Matzerath, a member of the Nazi Party, and her cousin and lover Jan Bronski, a Danzig Pole who is executed for defending the Polish Post Office in Danzig during the German invasion of Poland. Oskar's mother having died, Alfred marries Maria, a woman who is secretly Oskar's first mistress. After marrying Alfred, Maria gives birth to Kurt, whom Oskar thereafter refers to as his son. But Oskar is disappointed to find that the baby persists in growing up, and will not join him in ceasing to grow at the age of three. During the war, Oskar joins a troupe of performing dwarfs who entertain the German troops at the front line. But when his second love, the diminutive Roswitha, is killed by Allied troops in the invasion of Normandy, Oskar returns to his family in Danzig where he becomes the leader of a criminal youth gang (akin to the Edelweiss Pirates). The Russian army soon captures Danzig, and Alfred is shot by invading troops after he goes into seizures while swallowing his party pin to avoid being revealed as a Nazi. Oskar bears some culpability for both of his presumptive fathers' deaths since he leads Joseph Bronski to the Polish Post Office in an effort to get his drum repaired and since he returns Alfred Matzerath's Nazi party pin while the latter is being interrogated by Soviet soldiers. After the war Oskar, his widowed stepmother, and their son have to leave the now Polish city of Danzig and move to Düsseldorf, where he models in the nude and works engraving tombstones. Mounting tensions compel Oskar to live apart from Maria and Kurt; he decides on a flat owned by the Zeidlers. Upon moving in, he falls in love with Sister Dorothea, a neighbor, but he later fails to seduce her. During an encounter with fellow musician Klepp, Klepp asks Oskar how he has an authority over the judgement of music. Oskar, willing to prove himself once and for all, picks up his drum and sticks despite his vow to never play again after Alfred's death, and plays a measure on his drum. The ensuing events lead Klepp, Oskar, and Scholle, a guitarist, to form the Rhine River Three jazz band. They are discovered by Mr. Schmuh, who invites them to play at the Onion Cellar club. After a virtuoso performance, a record company talent seeker discovers Oskar the jazz drummer and offers a contract. Oskar soon achieves fame and riches. One day while walking through a field he finds a severed finger: the ring finger of Sister Dorothea, who has been murdered. He then meets and befriends Vittlar. Oskar allows himself to be falsely convicted of the murder and is confined to an insane asylum, where he writes his memoirs. ===== Thor, Tigra, Starfox, Quasar, Moondragon, Photon and the Jack of Hearts become the temporary Avengers Infinity squad when they travel into space and encounter a group of cosmic entities called the Infinites. The Infinites planned to rearrange galaxies (destroying all life in those galaxies in the process) in order to improve the flow of their energies. The heroes convinced the Infinites not to destroy the Earth and the other threatened planets. At the end, the unofficial team began to make their way to an intergalactic bar.Avengers Infinity #1-4 (Sept - Dec 2001) Meanwhile, at the Intergalactic Council, the Skrull ambassador files a formal complaint against humans, charging that Professor X and a band of Skrull mutants, known as Cadre K, have been interfering in the extermination of other Skrull mutants. The Council is attacked by Ego the Living Planet, and are rescued by Professor X and Cadre K. A new race, the Ruul, help to miniaturize and imprison Ego. Despite the human assistance, the council sides with the Skrulls and vote to take action against Earth.Maximum Security: Dangerous Planet one-shot (Dec 2000) Earth's solar system is surrounded by a force field, and Earth is turned into a prison for intergalactic criminals, reasoning that the criminals will keep Earth too occupied to do anything about the wider universe. Ronan the Accuser acts as warden from an orbiting space craft. The Avengers learn the miniaturized Ego was among the aliens condemned to Earth, and that he is expanding and becoming one with the Earth. At the rate it grows, it could possibly assimilate the entire planet Earth within a week.Maximum Security #1 (Jan 2001) Iron Man, the Fantastic Four, and the Silver Surfer work to stop Ego from expanding. Meanwhile, Cadre K are trying to convince the Intergalactic Council to reverse its actions, but are resisted by the Skrull Ambassador. On Earth, people are rallying the alien criminals to fight back against Ronan.Maximum Security #2 (Jan 2001) Meanwhile, at a S.H.I.E.L.D. base on the moon, the Ruul release their leader, the Supreme Intelligence.Thunderbolts #45 (Jan 2001) At the same time, Cadre K is imprisoned as a result of their interruption of the council meeting.X-Men #107 (Jan 2001) While the Avengers Infinity group are held by the Shi'ar, the Ruul imprison them under the orders of the Supreme Intelligence. The Supreme Intelligence tells them how he made use of the Destiny Crystal, a device of great power he recently acquired.Avengers Forever #12 (2000) He used the crystal to accelerate the evolution of the Kree, creating the Ruul, who then manipulated the Council in a plan to get revenge on and destroy the Avengers and Earth. He will then use Ego's power as a weapon to expand the Kree empire. U.S. Agent persuades the alien prisoners to fight on the side of Earth. He takes command of the Avengers and all the other heroes they can find, and leads an attack on Ronan's Citadel.Avengers vol 3 #35 (Jan 2001) During the battle, the Avengers Infinity team free themselves and teleport to the Intergalactic Council. Moondragon telepathically explains the true situation to the council members. The Supreme Intelligence appears in front of the council and admits the truth, but claims that it is too late to stop it. Using information obtained by Gambit,Gambit #23 (Jan 2001) Quasar is able to absorb Ego into his Quantum Bands. Ronan is defeated, and the Supreme Intelligence's plan fails. Quasar decides to leave Earth to avoid the risk of unleashing Ego again. The Council removes the alien criminals from Earth, and decide to take no further action against humans for the time being.Maximum Security #3 (Jan 2001) ===== Van Ray and Deaqon Hayes are two mismatched cops teamed together by shady, sexy police lieutenant, Wilhelmina "Billie" Chambers, in a secretive undercover division of the Los Angeles Police Department. Operating with the motto "Everything we seize, we keep. Everything we keep, we use," their base of operations is the "Candy Store"—a warehouse containing a fortune in confiscated cars, clothes, weapons and everything else needed to blend into the seedy criminal underworld of Los Angeles. Given criminal covers, the officers use all of the resources at their disposal to apprehend dangerous criminals while walking the line between cop and criminal. ===== In the Newton family home, George, Alice, Ryce, Ted, Emily, and Beethoven are all well adjusted to living together. Beethoven sneaks out and meets Missy, a female St. Bernard, and her owner Brillo. Regina, Brillo's future ex-wife, arrives with her boyfriend Floyd, takes Missy, and is seeking $50,000 in the settlement as alimony. She has retained full custody of Missy and only plans to transfer her to Brillo once the divorce is finalized. With Beethoven's help, Missy escapes from Regina's condominium, and they fall in love. Meanwhile, Ryce develops strong feelings for her classmate, Taylor Devereaux, after he kisses her. Ted and Emily become aware of Beethoven constantly sneaking out of the house and follow him, where they discover he and Missy had four puppies in the basement of the building. The janitor also finds them and informs Regina. She reclaims Missy and plans to get rid of the puppies, even if it means killing them, but the janitor talks her out of it by pointing out that purebred puppies are worth a lot of money and suggests that she could sell them at a pet store and make a fortune. Thinking Regina plans to drown the puppies, Ted and Emily sneak out of the building with the puppies and take them home. They keep them in the basement so their father will not see them. Realizing they took them, Regina plans revenge. Ryce, Ted, and Emily take it upon themselves to feed and care for them. Eventually, George discovers the puppies and reluctantly agrees to keep them until they are mature. The Newtons are offered a free stay in a lakefront house at the mountains owned by one of George's business associates. There, Taylor invites Ryce to a party with friends where she is exposed to teenage drinking. Beethoven destroys the house's patio deck, removing her from potential danger. Regina and Floyd, are staying in a location unknown to Brillo, coincidentally near the Newtons' vacation house. They go to a county fair with the dogs, and the children persuade George to enter a burger eating contest with Beethoven, which they win. Regina and Floyd were also at the fair but left Missy in their car. Missy escapes from the car with Beethoven's help while Regina snatches the puppies' leashes from Ted and Emily. Beethoven and Missy run into the mountains, followed by Regina and Floyd. The Newtons follow and catch up. After a confrontation between George and Floyd, Floyd threatens to drop the puppies in the river below and pokes George in the stomach with a large stick. Beethoven charges into the stick and rams it into Floyd's groin, causing him to lose his balance and fall over the cliff, pulling Regina down with him. They fall into a pool of mud and are swept away by the river. Five months later, Brillo visits the Newtons with Missy, revealing that the judge in the divorce had granted him full custody of her and denied Regina's claim. The puppies, much older, run downstairs to see Missy. ===== In the post-World War II Val Melaina neighbourhood of Rome, Antonio Ricci (Lamberto Maggiorani) is desperate for work to support his wife Maria (Lianella Carell), his son Bruno (Enzo Staiola) and his small baby. He is offered a job of pasting advertising bills but tells Maria that he cannot accept because the job requires a bicycle. Maria resolutely strips the bed of her dowry bedsheetsprized possessions for a poor familyand takes them to the pawn shop, where they bring enough to redeem Antonio's pawned bicycle. On his first day of work, Antonio is atop a ladder when a young man (Vittorio Antonucci) snatches the bicycle. Antonio gives chase but is thrown off the trail by the thief's confederates. The police warn that there is little they can do. Advised that stolen goods often surface at the Piazza Vittorio market, Antonio goes there with several friends and Bruno. They find a bicycle that might be Antonio's, but the serial numbers do not match. At the Porta Portese market, Antonio and Bruno spot the thief with an old man. The thief eludes them and the old man feigns ignorance. They follow him into a church where he too slips away from them. In a subsequent encounter with the thief, Antonio pursues him into a brothel, whose denizens eject them. In the street, hostile neighbours gather as Antonio accuses the thief, who conveniently falls into a fit for which the crowd blames Antonio. Bruno fetches a policeman, who searches the thief's apartment without result. The policeman tells Antonio the case is weakAntonio has no witnesses and the neighbors are certain to provide the thief with an alibi. Antonio and Bruno leave in despair amid jeers and threats from the crowd. On their way home, they are walking near Stadio Nazionale PNF football stadium. Antonio sees an unattended bicycle near a doorway and after much anguished soul-searching, instructs Bruno to take the tram to a stop nearby and wait. Antonio circles the unattended bicycle and jumps on it. Instantly the hue and cry is raised and Brunowho has missed the tramis stunned to see his father pursued, surrounded and pulled from the bicycle. As Antonio is being muscled toward the police station, the bicycle's owner notices Bruno and in a moment of compassion tells the others to release Antonio. Antonio and Bruno then walk off slowly amid a buffeting crowd. Antonio fights back tears and Bruno takes his hand. The camera watches from behind as they disappear into the crowd. Ladri di biciclette (film).jpg | The bike redeemed, the Ladri di biciclette - immagine .jpg | First day Ladri-biciclette-pioggia.jpg | In search of the Ladri-biciclette folla.jpg | The thief's neighbors Ladri-biciclette.jpg | All seems lost ===== While dying of cancer, Patrick Foley goes to the outback where he was born. He declines medicine and is at peace with his decision to die alone in the woods. On his journey, he notices a family camping. 10-year-old boy Shawn Daley discovers his parents falling from the cliff to their deaths, after losing control of the recreational vehicle. Despite being selfish and having an ethical dilemma, Foley accompanies Shawn. After days of educating about surviving the wilderness, they forgive each other. After Foley dies, Shawn travels alone in order to leave the forest and return home. ===== Tom and Mae Garvey are a hard-working couple living with their two children on the east Tennessee farm owned by Tom's family for generations. They and many of their neighbors have hit hard times as of late. A downturn in the economy has led to dwindling land prices. But their biggest problem has been that their crop land has been prone to flooding as the property is adjacent to a river. Manipulating the powers that be include local senator Neiswinder and the local bank. Joe Wade, who also grew up in the area and nows runs the local milling company that sets the local grain prices, is working behind the scenes to buy up the properties along the river for a song as he wants to build a dam that would flood the Garvey's and other riverfront properties. The dam would generate electricity but more importantly for Joe, it would provide irrigation opportunities for farm properties away from the river, such as his own. Tom already intensely dislikes Joe because he and Mae used to be a couple. Joe's manoeuvrings coupled with the continuation of these and many other farming problems makes it increasingly difficult for Tom and Mae to hold on to their farm, as Tom is determined at any cost to have it stay on the land of his ancestors. ===== Lt. Commander Thomas Dodge is being considered for a third time to captain a submarine. He has been previously passed over because of his unorthodox command methods, a "brushing" incident with a Russian submarine, and a genital tattoo that he acquired afterward while drunk on shore leave. Another denial will result in Dodge being dropped from the Navy's command program. Rear Admiral Yancy Graham, who dislikes Dodge, speaks out against Dodge's promotion. Vice Admiral Dean Winslow, Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic, likes Dodge and his unorthodox methods. He taps the Lt. Commander to participate in a war game to test the Navy's defenses against attack from diesel-powered submarines that Russia has been selling off to America's adversaries. Dodge is given command of the World War II-era diesel-powered submarine, USS Stingray, with orders to "invade" Charleston harbor without being detected, and if successful, to sink a dummy ship in Norfolk harbor using two live torpedoes. Dodge is reluctant to participate, but he offers Winslow a wager: If he successfully completes the given tasks, Winslow will give him a nuclear submarine to command. The admiral agrees to seriously consider it if Dodge succeeds, telling Dodge to "throw out the book" and "think like a pirate" during the exercise. Graham, whilst boasting about how he has never lost a war game, handpicks the "crew from hell" for Stingray: hot-tempered, uptight Lt. Martin Pascal as the executive officer; crusty civilian naval contractor Howard as the chief engineer; rebellious Engineman 1st Class Brad Stepanek; sharp-eared Sonarman 2nd Class E.T. "Sonar" Lovacelli; compulsive gambler Seaman Stanley "Spots" Sylvesterson; former college basketball player Seaman Jefferson "R.J." Jackson; shock-addled Electrician's Mate Nitro; and not-so-Culinary Specialist Second Class Buckman, as Stingrays cook. Lt. Emily Lake is assigned by Graham to serve as the sub's diving officer, part of a "special program" to see if women can successfully serve aboard submarines. Using unorthodox tactics and taking full advantage of an Atlantic storm, Dodge and his crew are able to sneak into Charleston Harbor and set off signal flares. Upset at losing the first part of the war game, Graham reduces the game's containment area by half without Winslow's authorization. Failing to penetrate Norfolk Harbor, Dodge leaves the containment area, heads out to sea, and cuts off all contact with the Navy. Pascal openly accuses Dodge of hijacking his own boat and attempts to relieve him of command. Stingrays crew, fed up with his beratement, refuse to support his action, so Dodge charges Pascal with attempted mutiny. On deck, wearing mock-buccaneer outfits and speaking like pirates, the crew and Lake look on as Dodge sentences the blindfolded Pascal to walk the plank (into the raised net of a waiting fishing trawler that will take him ashore). Graham, hellbent on apprehending Dodge, assumes personal command of submarine USS Orlando, upon which Dodge had previously served as executive officer. Dodge employs an incredibly dangerous maneuver that involves carefully passing the sub through the active baffles of a commercial super tanker to avoid the sonar of the naval ships and aircraft protecting the approach to Norfolk. Orlando eventually locates and chases down Stingray. By the time his boat is "targeted", Dodge has already fired two live torpedoes at into the target ship at Norfolk, winning the war game for Stingray. Returning to port, Graham is chastised for his actions by Admiral Winslow and denied a promotion. Winslow informs Dodge that he will now be given the command of a new , along with a "proper crew" to man her. Dodge respectfully requests that his entire Stingray crew be transferred with him, after which he dismisses his crew to begin a well-earned shore leave. As Dodge and Lake leave the dock, she poses a query now that they know each other: "What is this 'tattoo' I keep hearing about"? ===== Manhattan level: three Kesh Rhan ships surround the Statue of Liberty Chaos Control's protagonist is a pilot named Jessica Darkhill, whose partner was killed earlier in the war against the game's antagonists, the alien Kesh Rhan. Beginning in Manhattan, Darkhill must break through the Kesh Rhan defenses, destroy a computer virus of their making, then mount an attack upon the alien mothership in order to save Earth from the alien invasion. ===== Animated slideshow showing the two worlds of Arcanus and Myrror Master of Magic takes place across two worlds, Arcanus and Myrror. Arcanus is a land much like our Earth, with climatic zones and varied terrain like forests, oceans, grasslands and deserts. Myrror is a parallel world to Arcanus, featuring heavier magic use and fantastic flora, minerals and fauna not found on Arcanus. The two worlds are physically linked to each other by special portals called Towers of Wizardry, allowing units to travel between worlds. Magic nodes - which are valuable sources of magical power - are scattered throughout both worlds. The worlds are populated by traditional fantasy races like elves and halflings, plus races which were introduced early to gaming via Simtex's games, like the insectoid Klackons. ===== A game with a linear plot will typically have a lower replay value due to the limited choices a character can make. Games that offer more choices in regard to what the player can do, such as strategy games, roguelikes or construction and management sims, tend to have higher replay value since the player might be able to make each play through different. As a non-video game example, consider the difference between a "traditional" book and a Choose Your Own Adventure book. For a traditional book the reader will read it from start to finish, and should they choose to re-read it the plot would remain constant, thus offering the same experience the second time around. The plot of a Choose Your Own Adventure book, on the other hand, is more varied and different events would occur, some that the reader might not have seen the last time they read it, prompting the reader to read through the book again even if they have done so just moments before. In the case of role-playing video games, plots can be linear or non-linear. The plots of older RPGs tended to show little to no plot changes with each play through. A good example of an RPG with a non-linear plot is Mass Effect and its sequel, Mass Effect 2. Role playing games released in later years allow for more freedom. For instance, choosing to be ruthless instead of lenient might prevent certain events from taking place (or even cause new ones to occur). Likewise, allowing a particular character into the party could cause the plot to branch off in a new direction, if even for a short time. A good example of this point is the character Juhani in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. The player has the option of killing her or sparing her life. Should the player be merciful, Juhani joins the player's party. Later in the game, the player will then run into an enemy from her past. ===== As children, Sammy and Terry Prescott lose their parents to a car accident. Years later, Sammy, a single mother and lending officer at a bank, still lives in her childhood home in a village in the Catskill Mountains region of New York, while Terry has drifted around the country, scraping by and getting in and out of trouble. After months of no communication with his sister, Terry and his girlfriend, Sheila, are desperate for money, so he comes to visit Sammy and her son, Rudy, who are excited about reuniting with him. Despite the disappointment of learning that he cut off contact because he was in prison for three months, Sammy lends him the money, which he mails back to Sheila. After Sheila attempts suicide, he decides to extend his stay with Sammy, which she welcomes. For a school writing assignment, Rudy imagines his father, who he has no memory of, as a fantastic hero. While Sammy has always given him vague yet negative descriptions of Rudy Sr., Terry is frank with him that Rudy Sr. is not a nice person - though Rudy naively believes his father has changed. Sammy rekindles a sexual relationship with Bob, an old boyfriend, but is surprised when he proposes to her after a short time and says she needs time to consider it. At the bank, the new manager, Brian, tries to make his mark with unusual demands about computer color schemes and daily timesheets. While co-worker Mabel works well with the changes, Sammy is upset when Brian requests that she make arrangements for someone else to pick up Rudy from the school bus rather than Sammy leaving work at random. After some minor arguments, they start having sex, despite Brian's wife being six months pregnant. Terry grows close to Rudy during their time together. Yet he pushes the limits of Sammy's parental control, keeping Rudy out very late as the two play pool at a bar. She turns to Ron, her church minister, to counsel Terry about his outlook on life. While Terry resists his sister's advice, he and Rudy grow steadily closer. Realizing her own questionable decisions, Sammy turns down Bob's marriage proposal and breaks off her relationship with Brian. After a day of fishing, Terry and Rudy decide to visit Rudy Sr. in a shack in a nearby village. Confronted by his past, Rudy Sr. reveals what terrible person he is, denying he is Rudy's father and starting a brawl with Terry. Rudy watches silently as Terry beats Rudy Sr. and gets arrested. Sammy brings her brother and son home. When Rudy insists that Rudy Sr. is not his father, Sammy finally tells him the truth. Sammy asks Terry to move out, but admits how important he is to her and Rudy, suggesting he get his own place in town and get his life back on track. He scoffs at Sammy's idea and plans to go back to Alaska. While at first it appears the separation will be another heartache, they reconcile before Terry leaves, coming to terms with their respective lifestyles. ===== Santa Barbara is notable for having a central plot around which many of the others revolve: the murder of Channing Capwell, Jr. This killing takes place five years before the series actually begins, at which point Joe Perkins, jailed for the murder, is paroled and returns to Santa Barbara determined to prove his innocence and renew his relationship with Kelly Capwell, sister of the victim.Joe leaves prison, Joe released Over the course of the soap, almost every major character would be accused of the murder of Channing Capwell, Jr. or find his or her life involved in the incident in one way or another: from his illegitimate son to his mysterious, presumed-dead mother. ===== Television channel True TV is commencing interviews for a TV show that shows a normal person's life 24/7. This idea was thought up by a TV producer Cynthia (Ellen DeGeneres). They interview Ed Pekurny (Matthew McConaughey) and his brother, Ray (Woody Harrelson). When the producers see the interview Cynthia decides to use Ed and interviews only Ed. The show hits the airwaves under the title "Ed TV." It is a total failure at first, as only boring things happen and the producers want to pull the plug, except for Cynthia. Ed TV gets interesting suddenly on Day 3 when Ed visits Ray. Ed (along with the cameramen) discovers that Ray is cheating on his girlfriend Shari (Jenna Elfman). Ed then visits Shari to apologize to her for Ray's actions. Shari is very drunk and starts insulting Ray, by talking to the camera. She makes everyone laugh and gasp by saying "Ray was a bad lay." Ed tries to comfort Shari, and he reveals he has feelings for her. She then reveals she has feelings for Ed as well. They slowly move their faces closer and finally kiss each other. Ed then locks out the camera crew and proceeds to passionately kiss Shari for a while. Ed TV thus becomes extremely popular. At Cynthia's insistence Ed starts a relationship with Shari which is short lived, as Ed grows more interested in staying on TV and Shari is abused by viewers who find her unappealing. Ed then goes on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and meets beautiful model/actress Jill (Elizabeth Hurley) who takes a liking to Ed. Ed then visits Shari and she tells Ed that she does not want to be with him until "Ed TV" stops airing. She then leaves town. Ed goes to the park with Ray and some friends to play football when Jill comes to talk to him, because Cynthia brought her in to earn more ratings. She invites Ed to dinner at her house. When he arrives at Jill's house, there is a massive crowd. They have a small talk, and then they kiss on top of a table. They are about to have sex, but then Ed falls off the table and squishes Jill's cat. Ed never sees Jill again. Ed's father Hank (Dennis Hopper), who abandoned his family when Ed was 13, unexpectedly visits Ed and informs him that he left because Ed's mother was having an affair with Ed's current stepfather, Al (Martin Landau). Ed is furious with his mother Jeanette, who had previously claimed that she'd only met Al after Hank left, and argues with her. Next, Ed gets a phone call telling him to come to the hospital. The doctor says that his father is dead and that he died making love to his wife. Ed assumes this means Al, but it’s actually Hank, who was having an affair with Jeanette. After the funeral, Ed becomes disheartened by the fact that the producers want him to stay on longer and that he cannot do anything to change their minds or he would be in breach of his contract. Ed is depressed until he catches a glimpse of Shari (in disguise wearing a wig and sunglasses). He chases her for a long time until she stops in the women's bathroom in a movie theater. She says she is staying with her brother as it is his birthday and she just wanted to see Ed. Ed vows to find a way to end the show to be with Shari. When Ed exits, one cameraman stays with Shari saying that it is the producers' new idea. The main cameraman tells him that all his family are being filmed, but they show the most interesting person, thus eliminating his family's right to privacy forever. Ed gets an idea on how to stop the main producer from showing the show: he says that he will give $10,000 to the person who can give him the best amount of "dirt" on the producers and that he will announce it live, with the desired result being they stop airing the show before he can make the announcement. As Cynthia feels sorry for Ed, she tells him a secret of the main producer. Ed announces the secret (that the man has to pump a liquid into his penis to get an erection) but before he can announce who it is they stop airing the show. After the camera crew finally leaves Ed's apartment, he and Shari renew their relationship and celebrate the fact that TV news panelists predict Ed will be forgotten in a short period of time. ===== Nightingales revolved around the jobs of three bored nightwatchmen working in a deserted office block, the location of which is never revealed, although exterior shots are of Beneficial House located on Paradise Circus in Birmingham City Centre. A typical episode involved both very naturalistic dialogue — and the kind of claustrophobic studio-setting that prevailed in shows such as Steptoe and Son — combined with the surreal. Nightingales ran for two series totalling 13 episodes from 27 February 1990 to 10 February 1993. The long delay was prompted by Channel 4 executive Seamus Cassidy who was not happy with the proposed scripts for the second series and it was nearly three years before it was given the go-ahead. The theme tune was a version of the song "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" sung by Lindsay. Writer Paul Makin went on to write more conventional comedies like Goodnight Sweetheart. A US remake (titled "In Security") was piloted but never commissioned. ===== Each episode of Riget and Riget II begins with the same prologue, detailing how the hospital, Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, was built on the site of the "bleaching ponds", which recur in the name of the street of the hospital's official address, Blegdamsvej, although the exact significance of the reference is never explicitly discussed in the series. The show begins with the admission of a spiritualist patient, Sigrid Drusse, who hears the sound of a girl crying in the elevator shaft. Upon investigation, Drusse discovers that the girl had died decades earlier, having been killed by her father to hide her illegitimacy. In order to put the spirit to rest, Drusse searches for the girl's body and ultimately finds it preserved in a specimen jar in the office of the hospital's professor of pathology, Professor Bondo (Baard Owe). Meanwhile, neurosurgeon Stig Helmer, a recent appointee from Sweden to the neurosurgery department, tries to cover up his responsibility for a botched operation which left a young girl in a persistent vegetative state. Pathologist Dr. Bondo attempts to convince the family of a man dying from liver cancer to donate his liver to the hospital for Bondo's research. (In fact, Bondo wants it as a trophy, as it is the second largest hepatosarcoma ever recorded.) When his request is denied, Bondo has the cancerous liver transplanted into his own body (as the patient signed an organ donor form), so that the cancer will become his personal property and can be kept within the hospital. Amongst other plotlines, a young medical student becomes attracted to the nurse in charge of the sleep research laboratory, a ghostly ambulance appears and disappears every night, a junior doctor runs a black market in medical supplies, and a neurosurgeon discovers that she was impregnated by a ghost and that the baby in her womb is developing abnormally rapidly. In every episode, two dishwashers (each with Down syndrome) in the cellar discuss the strange happenings at Riget, and Stig Helmer screams his famous catchphrase: Danskjävlar (subtitled as "Danish scum", but literally "Danish devils"). ===== The crew of a plane gets nervous when the cargo it is carrying starts making noises and shifting. When one of the crew opens the crate, the pilot hears screams from the back. Something attacks him, causing the plane to crash near a town called Ruby. The cargo survives the crash and begins attacking Ruby citizens, starting with a lesbian couple, whose names are Lisa Johnson and Roberta Keeler, camping in the woods. At a swimming hole the next day, John Cooper (Rosanoff), his girlfriend Kristin (Barron), his best friend Tommy (Wheaton), and Tommy's girlfriend Theresa (Mornell) find a pet burmese python belonging to one of the dead women, Lisa. Deputy Greg (Zabka) shows up, mentioning that Lisa is missing and takes the snake. Lisa's body is found, appearing to have been corroded by acids. Greg suspects John, since he works at a plant that uses acids. Complicating things, Greg is also Kristin's ex- fiancé, with her having left him when her first love came back to town. Scientist Anton Rudolph (Englund) is talking with NSA Special Agent Parker (Van Dien), explaining that the cargo is an abnormally large reticulated python that has been genetically engineered in Southeast Asia, blending several species. In the words of Dr. Rudolph, it is "not some garden snake you're going after. We are talking about a perfect killing machine. A 129-foot all-terrain vehicle, capable of speeds exceeding 50 miles an hour, with skin that can deflect an antitank round, enhanced night vision, and a voracious appetite for human flesh." The NSA team plans an assault against the snake, hoping to kill it discreetly before it eats more people. The snake kills a real estate agent (Williamson) and the agent's client (McCarthy). It leaves behind the client and the body of the other lesbian, Roberta Keeler. John enters as the snake leaves, furthering suspicion against him. The sheriff shuts down his brother Brian's plant, furthering the tensions between Brian and him. As John leaves the plant, he runs into Greg's car and his bike is damaged. They end up in a fistfight, mostly over Kristin, though they ultimately reconcile. When the body of the real estate agent is found with the same acid damage, the sheriff orders John arrested. Kristin yells at Greg when they come to arrest John, but he says that he does not think John is the killer. The NSA team and Rudolph arrive, telling the sheriff a story about a psychotic rogue operative imprisoned in a military psychiatric unit who escaped and is committing the murders. He does not believe them, but goes back to the office and frees John. Kristin, Tommy, Theresa, and he plan to go on a trip the next morning. The NSA set up base at a water-treatment center. They use radar to find where the snake is likely to be, then have the police set up a perimeter to keep people out of the zone. Believing the snake to be sleeping, the team wastes most of its ammunition on the snake's shed skin. Agent Parker realizes the snake set them up using its skin as a decoy. The snake arrives and kills the team, the sole survivor being Rudolph who keeps himself standing motionless in front of the creature. Theresa's morning shower is interrupted by the snake. Though she is able to escape, the snake eats Tommy. Theresa drives away, but the snake follows. It gets in front of her and rips the rear axle off, disabling the truck. She gets away again and hides in a crevice. When Tommy and Theresa do not arrive to pick them up, John and Kristin go looking for them, finding the wrecked truck. Theresa tries to warn them as the snake comes to attack, but they cannot hear her. John and Kristin escape using Tommy and Theresa's bikes from the truck. They make it to the water-treatment center, where Theresa later joins them, and find Rudolph in shock. The group realizes that they must do something about the snake or it will get to the town. They call Greg on the radio and fill him in on a plan they have devised. They lure the snake into the water-treatment plant by having it chase John through a shaft, while they set a bomb near the entrance. Kristin drops a line down another shaft for John to escape. The other two escape through the regular door, where Greg is waiting to drive them to the other shaft. They pull John out and the python is unable to climb up the shaft. Trapped in the tunnel, the python returns to the doorway entrance. The group returns to the entrance to trigger the bomb, but it does not detonate. Rudolph says the snake must have torn out the antenna when it crashed into the bunker, so he leaves his pet snake with Kristin and runs back in to reset it. While Rudolph resets the charges, he is confronted by the snake, but is able to succeed in his task. The charges go off, killing Rudolph, and the other four are celebrating their success, but the python emerges unscathed. They flee in Greg's police car, and come up with a new plan to penetrate the snake's hide by luring the snake into a vat of acid at John's plating plant. Once there, John acts as the bait once again, while Kristin uses a winch to push the snake's underbelly into one of the vats, causing the snake to be disemboweled and killed by the acid. Six months later, Greg has been accepted into Quantico to be an FBI agent, the plant has been reopened as a bar/bike shop where the snake's skin is used as a sales tool, and John finds out that Kristin and he are soon to be parents. ===== The story tells of the fictional Kingdom Hospital located in Lewiston, Maine, built on the site of a mill that manufactured military uniforms during the American Civil War. Previously, a hospital known as the "Old Kingdom" had been built on the site, but it burned down. The current hospital is known as the "New Kingdom". The hospital's "turbulent" nature seems to reflect its ominous logo, a crimson stylized dagger, predicting what will come. A psychic named Mrs. Druse has checked into the hospital numerous times and is taken by the staff to be a hypochondriac. She asks for the assistance of the cynical yet compassionate Dr. Hook to uncover the truth about the hospital and the mysterious spirits who haunt it – including a young girl, killed after the original fire, a sinister teenage boy, and a strange animal that follows and protects the young girl, who calls it Antubis (it is similar to a giant anteater, but whose long snout opens up to a set of jagged teeth). Elsewhere, Peter Rickman, a painter who is admitted to the hospital following a road accident (with severe injuries to his skull and spine) begins to discover the ghastly goings-on while he lies comatose in room 426. Other subplots included the initiation of arrogant chief of surgery Dr. Stegman into the secret society known as the 'Keepers', and the challenged-at-every-turn flirtation between young Dr. Elmer Traff and sleep doctor Dr Lona Massingale. ===== Perrin Aybara continues trying to rescue his wife Faile Bashere, kidnapped by the Shaido Aiel, even torturing prisoners for information. In addition, Perrin is approached with the suggestion of alliance with the Seanchan to defeat the Shaido. Mat Cauthon continues trying to escape Seanchan territory while courting Tuon, the heir to the Seanchan leadership. In the process, Mat discovers that Tuon is a sul'dam and can be taught to channel the One Power. Elayne Trakand continues trying to solidify her hold on the Lion Throne of Andor. It is revealed that she is expecting twins; but the identity of the father (Rand) is kept secret from others. Rand al'Thor sends Davram Bashere, Logain Ablar, and Loial to negotiate a truce with the Seanchan. They return at the end of the book to tell him that the Seanchan have accepted the truce, but demand the presence of the Dragon Reborn to meet with the Daughter of the Nine Moons. Egwene leads the siege of Tar Valon; but is kidnapped by agents of the White Tower after successfully blocking its River Port. ===== The film tells the story of a virtual reality game designer, Jimi (Christopher Lambert), who discovers that the main character of his game, Solo (Diego Abatantuono), has achieved sentience due to an attack by a computer virus. Asked by his creation (who feels everything the character in the game feels, including multiple deaths) to eliminate its existence, Jimi sets out to erase the game from the server of his employer, Okasama Star, before it's commercially released on Christmas Day, and thus spare Solo further suffering. Jimi has been depressed since his wife Lisa (Emmanuelle Seigner) left him. He decides to make his search for her a part of his quest to delete Solo and the game. Along the way he recruits Lisa's friend Joystick (Sergio Rubini) and tech wizard Naima (Stefania Rocca) to help him avoid suspicious representatives of Okasama Star, who employ increasingly forceful methods to stop him. By the end, Jimi hacks into one of the company's servers. This hack is in the world of virtual reality interpreted as encounters with persons from Jimi's life; the network defends itself by projecting virtual representations of people such as Jimi's father and Lisa. It tries to keep the hacker's mind in the loop of his own memories as it burns the hacker's brain. Jimi manages to pass through the network defence mechanism by freeing his mind, forgetting about life before or after, about bodily feelings, and entering a state of pure concentration where one focuses only on the target (in this case the server with the company's bank account). It is similar to meditation where one tries to concentrate on breathing; people who are able to do this are referred to as angels (they are invisible to the system, can go anywhere they want, and their possibilities are limitless) in the film. In the end, Jimi feels enlightened and at inner peace with himself. He successfully deletes Solo, comes to terms with Lisa's leaving him, and understands why things happened the way they did. He is in the state of Nirvana. ===== In a Tibetan lamasery, the monks seek to list all of the names of God. They believe the Universe was created for this purpose, and that once this naming is completed, God will bring the Universe to an end. Three centuries ago, the monks created an alphabet in which they calculated they could encode all the possible names of God, numbering about 9,000,000,000 ("nine billion") and each having no more than nine characters. Writing the names out by hand, as they had been doing, even after eliminating various nonsense combinations, would take another 15,000 years; the monks wish to use modern technology to finish this task more quickly. They rent a computer capable of printing all the possible permutations, and they hire two Westerners to install and program the machine. The computer operators are skeptical but play along. After three months, as the job nears completion, they fear that the monks will blame the computer, and by extension its operators, when nothing happens. The Westerners delay the operation of the computer so that it will complete its final print run just after their scheduled departure. After their successful departure on ponies, they pause on the mountain path on their way back to the airfield, where a plane is waiting to take them back to civilization. Under a clear night sky they estimate that it must be just about the time that the monks are pasting the final printed names into their holy books. Then they notice that "overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out." ===== In the ruins of an amphitheatre just outside an unnamed city lives Momo, a little girl of mysterious origin. She came to the ruin, parentless and wearing a long, used coat. She is illiterate and cannot count, and she doesn't know how old she is. When asked, she replies, "As far as I remember, I've always been around." She is remarkable in the neighbourhood because she has the extraordinary ability to listen--really listen. By simply being with people and listening to them, she can help them find answers to their problems, make up with each other, and think of fun games. The advice given to people "go and see Momo!" has become a household phrase and Momo makes many friends, especially an honest, silent street-cleaner, Beppo, and a poetic, extroverted tour guide, Gigi (Guido in some translations). This pleasant atmosphere is spoiled by the arrival of the Men in Grey, eventually revealed as a species of paranormal parasites stealing the time of humans. Appearing in the form of grey-clad, grey-skinned, bald men, these strange individuals present themselves as representing the Timesavings Bank and promote the idea of "timesaving" among the population: supposedly, time can be deposited in the Bank and returned to the client later with interest. After encountering the Men in Grey, people are made to forget all about them, but not about the resolution to save as much time as possible for later use. Gradually, the sinister influence of the Men in Grey affects the whole city: life becomes sterile, devoid of all things considered time-wasting, like social activities, recreation, art, imagination, or sleeping. Buildings and clothing are made exactly the same for everyone, and the rhythms of life become hectic. In reality, the more time people save, the less they have; the time they save is actually lost to them. Instead, it is consumed by the Men in Grey in the form of cigars made from the dried petals of the hour-lilies that represent time. Without these cigars the Men in Grey cannot exist. Momo, however, is a wrench in the plans of the Men in Grey and the Timesavings Bank, thanks to her special personality. The Men in Grey try various plans to deal with her, to derail her from stopping their scheme, but they all fail. When even her closest friends fall under the influence of the Men in Grey in one way or another, Momo's only hope to save the time of mankind are the administrator of Time, Master Secundus Minutus Hora, and Cassiopeia, a tortoise who can communicate through writing on her shell and can see thirty minutes into the future. Momo's adventure takes her from the depths of her heart, which her own time flows from in the form of lovely hour-lilies, to the lair of the Men in Grey themselves, where the time that people believe they are saving is hoarded. After Master Hora stops time, but gives Momo one hour-lily to carry with her, she has exactly one hour to defeat the Men in Grey in a frozen world where only they and she are still moving. She surreptitiously follows them to their underground lair and observes as they decimate their own number in order to stretch their supply of time as far as possible. With the advice of Cassiopeia and by using the hour-lily, Momo is able to shut the door to their vault. Facing extinction as soon as their cigars are consumed, the few remaining Men in Grey pursue Momo, perishing one by one. The very last Man in Grey finally begs her to give him the hour-lily, and when she refuses, he too vanishes remarking that "it is good it is over". Using the very last minute she has before her hour-lily crumbles, Momo opens the vault again, releasing the millions of hour-lilies stored within. The stolen time returns to its proper owners and goes back to their hearts, causing time to start again (without people knowing it had ever halted). Momo is reunited with her friends, and elsewhere Master Hora rejoices together with Cassiopeia. ===== In the middle of a New England winter, identical twin brothers Sandy and Dennys accidentally disturb an experiment in their parents' laboratory and are teleported to a sandy desert. There, they are acquired by water-prospector 'Japheth' and guided to an oasis, but Dennys is separated from the others. Sandy remains with Japheth and his elderly grandfather Lamech; there, Sandy is cured of heatstroke by a variety of improbable beings, including seraphim. Dennys reappears in another tent and is thrown into a refuse heap. He later comes under the care of a friendly family in the center of the oasis, headed by a gruff but kindly patriarch called Noah. It soon becomes apparent that the boys have been interpolated into the story of Noah's Ark, shortly before the Flood. Both Noah and Lamech receive mysterious instructions from God (known as El) concerning the building of the Ark. The twins come to understand that unicorns who can traverse space and time live in the oasis. Sinister supernatural beings known as the nephilim distrust the twins, and their human wives attempt to gather information about them. At several points, the wife of a nephil unsuccessfully attempts to seduce Sandy. Separated for much of the book, the twins become more independent of each other and gain maturity over the course of a year in the desert. Both are in love with Noah's beautiful and virtuous daughter Yalith (and she with them), but neither twin declares his affection until the very end of the novel. Dennys convinces Noah to reconcile with his father, Lamech, and both twins eventually care for Lamech's gardens while he lies ill. After Lamech's death, Sandy is kidnapped, but is eventually found by Japheth. Suspense arises when it becomes clear that there is no place on the Ark reserved for Sandy, Dennys, or Yalith. After both twins assist in the construction of the Ark, Yalith is taken by the seraphim to the presence of El. Sandy and Dennys are then returned to their own time and place by unicorns summoned by the seraphim. ===== In a surreal world where animals and inanimate objects reflect the emotions of humans, Colin is a wealthy young man with a resourceful and stylish valet, Nicholas, and a loyal best friend, Chick. Despite his significant fortune and luxurious lifestyle, Colin is desperate for a lover, even going so far as secretly pining for Chick's girlfriend, Alyssum. Consequently, this overpowering desire compels Colin to instantly fall in love with Chloe, whom he meets at a friend's party. After a whirlwind romance, Colin weds Chloe in a grand ceremony. Generously, Colin bequeaths a quarter of his fortune to Chick and Alyssum so they too may marry despite the former's reluctance to do so. During the honeymoon, Chloe falls ill with a mysterious disease that primarily consists of coughing and chest pain, and she and Colin are forced to end their trip early. Upon returning home, Chloe begins to feel better. However, her recovery is short-lived, and she faints during a shopping trip and her coughing fits return. She is eventually diagnosed with a water lily in the lung, a painful and rare condition that can only be treated by surrounding her with flowers. The expense of the treatment is large and Colin soon exhausts his funds, compelling him to undertake low- paying jobs in an effort to accumulate more money for Chloe's remedy. As Chloe's disease progresses, the apartments of Colin, Chick, and Nicholas all begin to decay, and Nicholas suddenly ages years in a single week. Meanwhile, Chick's obsession with a philosopher Jean-Pulse Heartre causes him to spend all his money, effort and attention on collecting Heartre's literature. Alyssum, who is resentful of Chick's neglect of her in favor of his burgeoning collection, attempts to save him financially and renew his interest in her by persuading Heartre to stop publishing books, whom she kills when he refuses. She then seeks revenge upon the booksellers carrying Heartre's works by murdering them and burning down their stores. Concurrently, Chick receives a surprise visit from the police for tax evasion and contraband tobacco smuggling. His refusal to turn over his Heartre books as payment for his crimes leads to his death from a gunshot fired by one of the policemen at the scene. Ultimately, Colin struggles to provide flowers for Chloe to no avail, and his grief at her death is so strong that his pet mouse commits suicide to escape the gloom. ===== On September 9, 1991, FBI Special Agent Sean Archer survives an assassination attempt by freelance terrorist and homicidal sociopath Castor Troy, but the bullet penetrates Archer's chest and strikes his son Michael, killing the boy. Six years later, Archer's vendetta against Troy culminates in his team's ambush of Troy and his younger brother and accomplice Pollux at the Los Angeles International Airport. Troy goads Archer with knowledge of a bomb located somewhere in the city set to go off in a few days, but he is knocked into a coma before Archer can learn more. Pollux, in custody, affirms that the bomb is real, but does not know its location. At the suggestion of his partner Tito Biondi and Special Ops specialist Dr. Hollis Miller, Archer secretly undergoes a highly experimental face transplant procedure by Dr. Malcolm Walsh to take on Troy's face, voice, and appearance. Archer is taken to the same high-security prison where Pollux is being held, and slowly convinces Pollux that he is Troy, gaining information on the bomb's location. Meanwhile, Troy unexpectedly awakens from his coma and discovers his face missing. He calls his gang, and they force Dr. Walsh to transplant Archer's face onto him. Troy then kills Dr. Walsh, Biondi, and Miller, the only three who knew of the transplant. At the prison, Archer prepares to tell Biondi of the location but is surprised when Troy appears instead, with Archer's face. Troy goads Archer that no one knows of the transplant, and that he will take over Archer's life. Pollux is freed when he willingly tells Troy- as-Archer of the bomb's location, and Troy disarms the bomb in a dramatic fashion. Troy-as-Archer earns admiration from the FBI office and becomes close to Archer's wife Eve and daughter Jamie, whom Archer had been neglecting while chasing down Troy. Meanwhile, Archer-as-Troy escapes after staging a riot and retreats to Troy's headquarters posing as Troy. There, he meets Sasha, the sister of Troy's primary drug kingpin, and her son Adam, who reminds Archer of Michael. Archer discovers that Adam is Troy's son. Troy learns of Archer's escape and hastily assembles a team to raid his headquarters. The raid quickly turns into a bloodbath, killing numerous FBI agents and several members of Troy's gang, including Pollux. During this Archer, Sasha, and Adam are able to escape. Archer's supervisor, Director Victor Lazarro, blames Troy-as-Archer for the numerous slayings. Troy, furious over Pollux's death, kills Lazarro, making it look like a heart attack. Troy-as-Archer is promoted to acting director as plans are made for Lazarro's funeral. Archer finds safety for Sasha and Adam. He then approaches Eve, and convinces her to test Troy-as- Archer's blood to prove his identity. Convinced of her husband's identity, Eve tells Archer that Troy will be vulnerable at Lazarro's funeral. At the ceremony, Archer finds that Troy has anticipated his actions and takes Eve hostage. Sasha arrives, and a gunfight ensues; Sasha manages to save Eve after taking a bullet. Archer promises a dying Sasha to take care of Adam and raise him away from criminal life. Troy flees the church with Archer pursuing him. Before killing two more federal agents, Troy briefly takes Jamie hostage, but she escapes by stabbing him with a butterfly knife that Troy had given her for self-defense. A speedboat chase ensues in which Archer forces Troy to shore by collision, then bests Troy in a melee fight. Troy mutilates his own/Archer's face to taunt and distract him, but Archer instead gains the upper hand and impales Troy with a spear gun, killing him. Backup agents arrive and address Archer by name, having been convinced by Eve of Archer's true identity. After the face transplant surgery is reversed, Archer returns home, adopting Adam into his family and keeping his promise to Sasha. ===== ===== In 1668 Jamaica, Morgan Adams hunts down her uncle and fellow pirate Dawg Brown, who has captured her father, Black Harry. Black Harry has one of three pieces of a map to a huge stash of gold on the remote Cutthroat Island. Dawg has another piece, having stolen it from the corpse of a third brother, Richard, while a fourth brother, Mordechai, has the last piece. Harry refuses to give Dawg his piece and escapes with Morgan's help, but not before being mortally wounded. A dying Harry reveals to his daughter the location of the map piece: on his scalp. After scalping her dead father for the piece, Morgan, now the captain of her father's ship, the Morning Star, sets out for the treasure. Unfortunately, the instructions appear to be in Latin, which no one on board reads. So, they go to nearby Port Royal to find a translator. There, they learn that one of the slaves up for auction, a con man and thief named William Shaw, is fluent in Latin. After threatening a man determined to outbid her, Morgan wins the auction. Unfortunately, she is recognized from her wanted poster and is chased out of town, along with her crew and Shaw. Humiliated, corrupt Governor Ainslee vows to find her, either to arrest her or form a partnership for half her profits. He enlists the help of chronicler John Reed, who often follows pirates to write his books. The crew then goes to Mordechai in Spittlefield Harbor. Before they can learn where the second piece is, Dawg appears. A fight ensues, during which Mordechai is killed and Morgan is shot, while Shaw secretly finds the piece and keeps it to himself. After they escape on the Morning Star, Morgan collapses from her wound, but is saved by Shaw, who is a self-proclaimed doctor. The two start a romance. Morgan figures out that the words on the map, when read backwards, spell out half the coordinates to the island. Dawg's ship, the Reaper, bears down on them. Morgan directs hers toward a coral reef and a gale. Shaw manages to piece together the location of Cutthroat Island with his and Morgan's piece, but is caught and thrown in the brig. During the storm, Reed sends a carrier pigeon revealing their location to Ainslee. Meanwhile, the majority of the crew led by the treacherous Scully mutinies and maroon Morgan and those loyal to her in a boat. The tide takes them straight to Cutthroat Island, which is uncharted land northeast of Cuba. As Morgan goes after the treasure, Shaw, who escaped during the storm, steals the last piece from Dawg, who's on the island. Shaw falls into quicksand and Morgan, realizing he has the piece, frees him. Together, they find the gold, only for it to be stolen by Dawg, forcing them to jump off a cliff into the tide. After regaining consciousness, Shaw finds Reed, who leads him into a trap set by Dawg, Ainslee, and the mutineers, who have joined forces and intend to split the gold between them. As Shaw is captured and they make their way out to sea with the gold, Morgan sneaks aboard the Morning Star and retakes it from Scully and the mutineers. The crew then tries to sneak attack the Reaper, but Dawg counterattacks. A sea fight ensues, during which Shaw escapes and Ainslee, his men and Reed are killed by cannon fire. Morgan boards the Reaper and blows out the ship's bottom to get to the gold. She then duels Dawg while Shaw gets trapped below in rapidly rising water with the treasure. Morgan kills Dawg with a cannon and saves Shaw, forced to abandon the treasure to escape the sinking ship. Morgan attached a marker barrel to the treasure beforehand, allowing them to retrieve it and the newly rich crew sets sail for their next adventure in Madagascar. ===== Life is going along smoothly for Jeff and Mari Thompson but not for any other couple they know, or so it seems. Everyone they know is getting divorced. Their life is disrupted when Mari's old college friend, Barbara, comes into it and begins a fling with Jeff, which causes Mari to contemplate an affair of her own. ===== Mexican War veteran Jeremiah Johnson takes up the life of a mountain man, supporting himself in the Rocky Mountains as a trapper. His first winter in mountain country is difficult, and he has a run-in with Paints-His-Shirt-Red, a chief of the Crow tribe. He starts out with a .30-caliber Hawken percussion rifle, which he uses as his main rifle until he finds the frozen body of mountain man Hatchet Jack clutching a .50-caliber Hawken rifle. Jack's will gives his rifle to the man who finds his corpse. With his new rifle, Johnson inadvertently disrupts the grizzly bear hunt of the elderly and eccentric Chris Lapp, nicknamed “Bear Claw”, who mentors him on living in the high country. After a brush with Crows, including Lapp's friend Paints-His-Shirt-Red, and learning the skills required to survive, Johnson sets off on his own. He comes across a cabin whose inhabitants were apparently attacked by Blackfoot warriors, leaving only a woman and her uncommunicative son alive. The woman, maddened by grief, forces Johnson to adopt her son. He and the boy, whom Johnson dubs "Caleb", come across Del Gue, a mountain man who has been robbed by the Blackfeet, who have buried him to his neck in sand and stuffed feathers up his nose. Gue persuades Johnson to help recover his stolen goods, but Johnson counsels against violence when they find the Blackfoot camp. The men sneak into the camp at night to retrieve Gue's possessions, but Gue opens fire and the mountain men then kill the Blackfeet. Gue takes several Blackfoot horses and scalps. Johnson, disgusted with the needless killing, returns to Caleb. Soon afterward, they are surprised by Christianized Flatheads, who take them in as guests of honor. Johnson unknowingly places the chief in his debt by giving him the stolen horses and scalps of the Blackfoot (their mortal enemies); according to Flathead custom, to maintain his honor the chief must now either kill him or give him a greater gift. The chief gives his daughter Swan to be Johnson's bride. After the wedding, Gue goes off on his own and Johnson, Caleb and Swan journey into the wilderness. Johnson finds a suitable location to build a cabin. They settle into this new home and slowly become a family. Johnson is pressed by a troop of U.S. Army Cavalry to lead a search party to save a stranded wagon train of settlers. According to later dialogue, Johnson has discussed with commanding officer Lt. Mulvey that he is reluctant to help the search party because of his need to hunt buffalo to feed his family. The soldiers ignore Johnson's advice and pressure him into leading them through a sacred Crow burial ground. While returning home by the same route, Johnson notices that the graves are now adorned with Swan's blue trinkets; he rushes back to the cabin, where he finds that his family has been killed. Johnson sets off after the warriors who killed his family and attacks them, killing all but one, a heavy-set man who sings his death song when he realizes he cannot escape. Johnson leaves him alive and the survivor spreads the tale of the mountain man's quest for revenge throughout the region, trapping Johnson in a feud with the Crow. The tribe sends its best warriors to kill Johnson, but he defeats them. His legend grows and the Crow come to respect him. He meets Gue again, and returns to the cabin of Caleb's mother, only to find that she has died and a new settler named Qualen and his family are living there. Nearby the Crow have built a monument to Johnson's bravery, periodically leaving trinkets and talismans as tribute. Johnson and Lapp meet for a final time. It is at this poignant meeting between student and teacher that Lapp realizes the heavy toll that fighting an entire nation alone in a vast and lonesome frontier has taken on Johnson. Lapp's realization occurs when Johnson queries, "You wouldn't happen to know what month of the year it is?" Lapp simply replies, "No, I truly wouldn't. I'm sorry, pilgrim." Johnson later has a wordless encounter with Paints-His-Shirt-Red, presumed to be behind the attacks. While sitting astride their horses far apart, Johnson reaches for his rifle, but Paints-His-Shirt-Red raises his arm, open-palmed, in a gesture of peace that Johnson slowly returns. The film ends with the song lyrics, "And some folks say, 'He's up there still.' " ===== When World War II breaks out, 11-year-old Phillip Enright and his mother board the S.S. Hato to Virginia because his mother feels it is unsafe to stay in Curaçao with the German submarines surrounding the area. The ship is torpedoed, and Phillip is stranded in the sea with an old black man named Timothy and a cat named Stew Cat. Drifting at sea, Phillip is blinded by a blow to the head during the torpedoing of the ship. They soon find an island in Devil's Mouth and build a hut while keeping track of the days by putting pebbles in a can. With few supplies, they live alone together for two months, fishing and collecting rain water. The cay is only one mile long and half a mile in width. Initially, the pair display significant difficulty in being able to tolerate and work with each other, often because of young white Phillip's racial prejudice against the elderly black Timothy. Phillip learns to overcome his disdain for Timothy and develops a strong bond of friendship by the end of the novel, as Timothy takes care of Phillip and teaches him to survive independently, to the point where Phillip no longer needs him. Airplanes fly over the cay, but they do not see Timothy and Phillip, lengthening their time stranded there. After a hurricane hits the cay and Timothy dies from "being tired", Phillip, devastated, digs a small grave for him. He is left with only Stew Cat. Phillip is then rescued by a navy vessel and one year after he and Timothy find the island, he has many surgeries to get his sight back. In the end, Phillip decides he will become a sea explorer and travel to multiple islands and soon hopes to find the Cay he and Timothy had been stranded on, which he is certain he will be able to recognize by closing his eyes. ===== In 1992, the United Nations establishes the United Nations Godzilla Countermeasures Center (UNGCC) to stop Godzilla. The mechanical middle head of Mecha-King Ghidorah is salvaged by the UNGCC's military branch, known as G-Force, following its battle with Godzilla and reverse engineered to create two anti-Godzilla machines, the first being an aerial gunship called Garuda and a mecha modeled after Godzilla called Mechagodzilla. Two years later, in 1994, on a mission to Adona Island in the Bering Sea, a Japanese team comes across what they assume is a large Pteranodon egg. The egg gives off a telepathic signal that attracts Godzilla and Rodan, an adult Pteranodon irradiated by the nuclear waste. Godzilla critically wounds Rodan during the ensuing battle, while the research team escapes with the egg. It is taken to a research center in Kyoto, where it imprints on a young female scientist. When a Baby Godzilla hatches from the egg, the research team concludes that the egg was left in the Pteranodon nest with Rodan in a manner similar to the brood parasitism displayed by European cuckoos. Godzilla appears in Japan, once again responding to the creature's psychic call. The JSDF mobilizes Mechagodzilla, which intercepts Godzilla as it is making his way to Kyoto. The two battle, with Mechagodzilla seeming to have the upper hand until Godzilla disables Mechagodzilla with an energy pulse. Godzilla continues searching for Baby, but the scientists, having discovered the telepathic link between the monsters, shield it from Godzilla. Frustrated, Godzilla destroys most of Kyoto before returning to the ocean. Tests on the baby reveal that it has a second brain in its hips that controls the animal's movement. The UNGCC assumes that this also holds true for Godzilla, and decide to use Baby to bait Godzilla into a fight with Mechagodzilla. The "G-Crusher" is installed in Mechagodzilla's wrists, allowing the robot to penetrate Godzilla's hide and paralyze the monster by destroying his second brain. Miki Saegusa, a young psychic, is ordered to become a part of Mechagodzilla's crew, and to locate Godzilla's spinal brain. She is reluctant to do so, due to her mental connection with Godzilla (established in Godzilla vs. Biollante), but follows her orders. The plan backfires when Rodan, having survived its battle with Godzilla and further mutated by radiation, responds to Baby's call and intercepts the UNGCC transport. The UNGCC is forced to send Mechagodzilla and Garuda after Rodan instead and, in the ensuing battle, Rodan is mortally wounded. Godzilla shows up moments later and attacks Mechagodzilla. When the two appear to be evenly matched, Mechagodzilla combines with Garuda. The upgraded Mechagodzilla, called Super-Mechagodzilla, carries out the G-Crusher plan and succeeds in paralyzing Godzilla. Suddenly, the dying Rodan, once again revived by Baby's call, begins flying towards Baby, but is shot down by Mechagodzilla, crashing atop Godzilla. Rodan's life force regenerates Godzilla's second brain and supercharges it. Now more unstoppable than before, Godzilla attacks and destroys Super-Mechagodzilla with a high-powered red spiral atomic ray. Godzilla finally locates Baby, who is at first afraid of the giant monster. Miki telepathically communicates with Baby, convincing it to go with Godzilla. The two monsters head out to the sea. ===== Elliot Hopper (Bill Cosby) is a workaholic widower who is about to land the deal of a lifetime at work, which he hopes will win him a promotion and a company car. After he forgets his daughter Diane's birthday, he attempts to make it up to her by promising her she can have his car when he secures the deal at work on the coming Thursday. After being persuaded to give the car to his daughter early, Elliot must hail a taxi from work, which is driven by Satanist Curtis Burch (Raynor Scheine), who drives erratically and is out of control. Attempting to get the taxi stopped, Elliot announces that he is Satan and commands him to stop the taxi, and also attempts to give him his wallet. Shocked to see his "Evil Master", Burch drives off a bridge and into the river. Elliot emerges from the accident scene, only to learn that he is a ghost when a police officer fails to notice him and a speeding bus goes straight through him. When he gets home he discovers that his three children can see him, but only in a totally dark room, and they can't hear him at times. He struggles to tell them what happened when he is whisked away to London by paranormal researcher Sir Edith Moser (Ian Bannen), who tells him he is a ghost who has yet to enter the afterlife because "they screwed up"; his soul will not cross over until Thursday. The pressures of work and family life lead to many comedic events, as Elliot attempts to renew his life insurance policy and complete his company's merger, so his family will be provided for once he crosses over. One day, he must choose between staying in an important work meeting and helping his son with a magic trick at school. He eventually decides that his family's happiness is more important and walks out on his furious boss, Mr. Collins (Barry Corbin), who later smugly fires him. Dejected, Elliot reveals himself as a ghost to his love interest, Joan (Denise Nicholas), whose initial shock soon turns to sympathy. Edith arrives from London to announce that Elliot is not dead; his spirit jumped out of his body in fright. They also work out that the only previous known case of this happening was Elliot's father. In the excitement to find Elliot's body to reunite his spirit with it, Diane trips on a pair of skates that her little sister Amanda left on the stairs; she falls and is seriously injured. The family rush her to the hospital where her spirit has also jumped out of her body. As she delightedly flies around, Elliot begs her to re-enter her body; his own has started to "flicker". When he collapses, Diane becomes concerned and races into the intensive-care unit to find her father's body. She helps him into the room and they discover that Burch had swapped wallets with Elliot, meaning Elliot was wrongly identified by the hospital as Burch. Elliot returns to his body and wakes up; Diane does the same and jumps off the operating table to tell the family what has happened. As the reunited family leave the hospital, Elliot spots a yellow taxi parked outside and goes to look inside. He sees Curtis Burch behind the wheel. Delighted to see his "Evil Master", Burch returns Elliot's wallet and tells Elliot he will do whatever Elliot commands. Elliot commands Burch to go to hell and sit on red-hot coals waiting for him "until it snows". Curtis agrees enthusiastically and drives off while Elliot, Joan, Edith and the family leave the hospital. ===== Cole Trickle is a young racer from Eagle Rock, California, with years of experience in open-wheel racing, winning championships with the World of Outlaws (WoO). Originally setting his sights on the Indianapolis 500, Cole realizes that "To win in Indy I'd need a great car, but stock cars are all the same". He is recruited by Chevrolet dealership tycoon Tim Daland to race for his team in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. Daland brings former crew chief and car builder Harry Hogge, who left NASCAR to avoid investigation of the death of Buddy Bretherton, out of retirement to lead Cole's pit crew. After Cole sets a fast time in a private test at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Hogge builds him a new Chevrolet Lumina. In his first few races, Cole has difficulty adjusting to the larger NASCAR stock cars and communicating with his crew, while being intimidated on the track by Winston Cup Champion and dirty driver Rowdy Burns; these obstacles, combined with crashes and blown engines, prevent Cole from finishing the races. Discovering that Cole does not understand common NASCAR terminology, Harry puts him through rigorous training. This pays off at Darlington, when Cole uses a slingshot maneuver from the outside line to overtake Rowdy and win his first race. The rivalry between Cole and Rowdy intensifies throughout the season until the Firecracker 400 at Daytona, where both drivers are seriously injured after being caught in "The Big One". Recovering in Daytona Beach, Cole develops a romantic relationship with Dr. Claire Lewicki, a neurosurgeon at a local hospital. NASCAR President Big John brings Rowdy and Cole together in a meeting and warns them that he and his sport will no longer tolerate any misbehaviour from the two rivals. Persuaded by Big John, Cole and Rowdy have dinner and settle their differences by smashing rental cars in a race on the beach. The bitter rivals soon become close friends. Daland hires hot-shot rookie Russ Wheeler to fill Cole's seat until Cole returns, and then expands his team, with Daland now fielding two teams – the second car driven by Wheeler, of which Harry disapproves. Though Cole shows signs of his old self, he falls into a new rivalry with Russ with no help from the inexperienced Daland, who is defensive of his new driver. At North Wilkesboro, Russ blocks Cole's path during their pit stop, and later forces Cole into the outside wall on the last lap to win the race. In retaliation, Cole crashes into Russ’ car after the race, leading to a fight between Harry, Daland, and both of Cole and Russ's pit crews, with Daland firing both Cole and Harry in the process. Rowdy learns he has to undergo brain surgery to fix a broken blood vessel, and asks Cole to drive his car at the Daytona 500 so his sponsors will pay for the year. Cole reluctantly agrees and convinces Harry to return as his crew chief. Hours prior to the race, Harry discovers metal in the oil pan, a sign of engine failure, and manages to procure a new engine from Daland, who still believes in his former driver's promise. During the race, Cole's car is spun out by Russ and suffers a malfunctioning transmission, but the combined efforts of Harry's and Daland's pit crews manage to fix the problem and get Cole back on the lead lap. On the final lap, Russ predicts that Cole will attempt his signature slingshot maneuver from outside, but Cole tricks him with a crossover, overtaking him from the inside to win his first Daytona 500. Cole drives into Victory Lane, where he and his pit crew celebrate with Claire. He approaches Harry, sitting alone, but Harry is at a loss for words. Cole asks Harry to walk with him and Harry agrees, challenging him to a foot race to Victory Lane. ===== ===== John Van Eyssen and Christopher Lee. In 1885, Jonathan Harker arrives at the castle of Count Dracula near Klausenburg to take up his post as librarian. Inside, he is startled by a young woman who claims that she is a prisoner and begs for his help. Dracula arrives, greets Harker and guides him to his room. Alone, Jonathan writes in his diary, and his true intentions are revealed: he is a vampire hunter and has come to kill Dracula. Sometime later, Harker again is confronted by the desperate woman. She reveals herself to be a vampire and bites his neck. Dracula arrives and pulls her away as Harker passes out. When he awakens in his room in daylight, Harker discovers the bite marks on his neck. He writes a final entry in his journal and hides the book outside the castle. He descends into a crypt, where he finds Dracula and the vampire woman resting in their coffins. He stakes the woman and she withers to old age and dies. When Harker turns to Dracula's coffin, he finds it empty. Dracula, awakened, closes the door to the crypt, trapping Harker. Days pass and Doctor Van Helsing arrives in Klausenburg, looking for Harker. An innkeeper's daughter gives him Harker's journal. When he arrives at the castle, he finds it deserted, though he comes across the portrait that Harker had of his fiancée Lucy Holmwood, with the photos now gone. In the crypt, Van Helsing finds Harker in Dracula's coffin, transformed into a vampire. Van Helsing stakes Harker before leaving for the town of Karlstadt, where he delivers the veiled news of Harker's death to Arthur Holmwood and his wife Mina, brother and sister-in-law of Lucy, who is ill. When night falls, Lucy opens the doors to her terrace and lays bare her neck—already, it bears the mark of a vampire bite. Soon, Dracula arrives and bites her again. Mina seeks out Van Helsing's aid in treating Lucy's ailment, but Lucy begs the maid Gerda to remove his prescribed garlic bouquets, and she is found dead the next day. Van Helsing turns over Harker's journal to Arthur. Three days after Lucy is interred, an undead Lucy lures Gerda's daughter Tania to a graveyard, where Arthur has found Lucy's tomb empty. Van Helsing appears and wards Lucy off with a cross. He explains to Arthur that Lucy was targeted to replace the woman that Harker killed. Van Helsing suggests using her to lead them to Dracula, but Arthur refuses, and Van Helsing stakes her in her coffin. Arthur takes one final look at Lucy's body, and sees her at peace. Van Helsing and Arthur travel to the border crossing at Ingolstadt to track down Dracula's coffin. Meanwhile, Mina is called away from home by a message telling her to go to the address of an undertaker in Karlstadt, where Dracula is waiting for her. The next day, Arthur and Van Helsing visit the undertaker's, but find Dracula's coffin missing. Later, Arthur tries to give Mina a cross to wear, but it burns her, revealing that she is turning into a vampire herself. During the night, Dracula appears inside the house and bites her. Arthur agrees to give her a blood transfusion administered by Van Helsing. When Arthur asks Gerda to fetch some wine, she tells him that Mina had forbidden her to go down to the cellar. Upon hearing this, Van Helsing bolts downstairs and finds Dracula's coffin, but it is empty. Dracula has escaped into the night with Mina, intent on making her his new vampire bride. A chase ensues as Dracula rushes to return to his castle before sunrise. He attempts to bury Mina alive outside the crypt, but is interrupted by the arrival of Van Helsing and Arthur. Pursuing Dracula inside the castle, Van Helsing struggles with the vampire before eventually tearing down the curtains to let in the sunlight. Van Helsing forms a cross with two candlesticks, and Dracula crumbles into dust. Mina recovers, and the cross-shaped scar fades from her hand, while Dracula's ashes blow away in the morning breeze, leaving only his clothes and ring behind. ===== The story takes place in a dystopian future where everything is controlled by a capitalist regime. Despite advertising being illegal ("ad" is, in fact, a dirty word), corporations are still able to persuade and control consumers by the celebrities they create for product placement. The protagonist, a seventeen- year-old Philadelphia Burke, or P. Burke, is enlisted to become one of these celebrities after a suicide attempt fueled by society ostracizing her due to her Pituitary Dystrophy, better known as Cushing's Disease. While recovering in the hospital, she is chosen by a scout to become a "Remote Operator" for the beautiful corporate creation, known as Delphi, who was grown without a functioning brain from a modified embryo in an artificial womb. Though Delphi appears to be a normal fifteen-year-old-girl, she is controlled through a satellite linked to P. Burke's brain, which is still physically located in her original body. ===== Sean Armstrong (Hulk Hogan) is a former wrestler living in Palm Beach, Florida and suffering from wrestler-days' nightmares. Burt Wilson (Sherman Hemsley), Sean's friend and former manager, has a bum leg from saving Sean's life and financial difficulties with his personal security business. With much whining and acting, Burt manages to persuade Sean to take a bodyguard job for Alex Mason Sr. (Austin Pendleton), the head of the prestigious tech firm, Mason Systems, which is developing a new anti-missile system, the Peacefinder Project. The vital information for this project is stored on a microchip. But it is neither the inventor nor the chip Sean has to guard - he is to look after the two Mason kids: Alex Jr. (Robert Gorman) and Kate (Madeline Zima). As it turns out, Alex and Kate are two highly mischievous brats who vie for their often- too-absent father's attention by wreaking havoc in the household via elaborate and rather vicious pranks and booby-traps, with their specialty targets being the nannies he has assigned to take care of them (Alex Sr. is a widower). Sean witnesses the last nanny jumping into the fountain in front of the house to extinguish the fire in her hair. However, their father proves to be either too distracted or too lenient, which causes the children to continue their schemes. Thinking that he is a new (albeit unusual) replacement, they find a new target in Sean. But after one prank too many, which involves a swimming pool full of red dye ("the Pit of Blood"), Sean finally exerts his authority and not only gets to quiet Alex and Kate down, he also manages to open the eyes of their father to his family problems, as well as bonding with the kids and managing to help them sort out problems of their own. However, the real trouble has just started. The unscrupulous and vain Tommy Thanatos (David Johansen) is after Alex Sr.'s chip, and he will not stop at anything to get it. As it turns out, Sean and Burt had been once at the receiving end of one of his schemes: he had ordered them to throw a match, and when they had not complied, he attempted to shoot them. However, Burt threw himself in front of Sean, taking the bullet in his right leg (thus his bum leg); Sean had chased Thanatos to the roof of the stadium, and after a furious fight Thanatos ended up plunging head-first into an empty pool. This accident fractured the top of his skull, forcing the attachment of a steel skullplate and removing part of his afro of which he was so proud. Thanatos kidnaps Alex Sr. with the help of Frank Olsen (Raymond O'Connor), the corrupt security chief of Mason Systems (who is disposed of en route to the hideout), and demands of him to hand over the chip. When Alex Sr. (who stowed the chip in Kate's doll) refuses, Thanatos has Alex and Kate kidnapped in order to force him to comply. Despite a valiant effort, Sean is overpowered and Burt is taken as well, giving Thanatos an unexpected revenge bonus. But Sean manages to track down Thanatos, and with the help of his friends is able to beat the villains. As Thanatos prepares to charge Sean, Alex Sr. and the children activate an improvised electromagnet to launch him into the night sky, leaving only his skullplate. The movie ends with Sean preparing to take a leave of absence from the Masons. But Alex and Kate intend to have him back much sooner - and therefore Sean falls victim to yet another prank. ===== Elayne Trakand, Nynaeve al'Meara, Aviendha, and their coalition of channelers use the ter'angreal called the 'Bowl of the Winds' to reverse the unnatural heat brought by the Dark One's manipulation of the climate, and then escape a Seanchan invasion by Traveling to Andor, where Elayne initiates her claim to the throne. Perrin Aybara moves into Ghealdan to stop Masema Dagar, the self-proclaimed Prophet of the Dragon; but unknowingly rescues the deposed Queen Morgase of Andor from the Prophet's men. He then secures the oath of fealty from Alliandre, Queen of Ghealdan. At the end of the book, Faile Bashere is kidnapped by the Shaido Aiel. Egwene al'Vere, Amyrlin Seat of the rebel Aes Sedai, manipulates her unruly followers into giving her more control, and they Travel to Tar Valon, before their siege of its White Tower. Rand al'Thor, with Asha'man and Illianers, attempts to repel the Seanchan invasion in Altara. Though successful in early skirmishes, Rand loses control while wielding his sa'angreal 'Callandor', forcing a stalemate. Returning to Cairhien, Rand is attacked by traitorous Asha'man led by Corlan Dashiva, who fail to kill him. Mat Cauthon is absent from the book, due to injuries sustained at the end of the previous book, A Crown of Swords. Robert Jordan had earlier done the same for Perrin Aybara, who had been absent from Book 5, The Fires of Heaven. ===== Old hero Wong Samtai, is hosting a banquet for warriors from the four seas. The invitation is received also by the head of the Black Wind fortress Kam Ching, who wants to marry his daughter Lotus to his son Wong Tinbar. But Tinbar does not want this wedding and sees his future with Cheung Kwailan. The afflicted Ching and his daughter steal the jade seal, which belongs to the King of Magical Power. Tinbar is accused of theft. He fails to find a seal and his father is imprisoned. Cheung Kwailan is trapped in the Black Wind Fortress during an overnight search along with Tinbar, but the sudden appearance of the Seven Little Rookies saves her from captivity. Thanks to this, her searches continue and lead to the Dragon Cave with a poisonous python, where the seal is located. Nevertheless, Tinbar is under arrest by the lord. Kwailan and the Seven Rascals force the culprits to surrender - this is part of the Tinbar rescue mission at the lord's residence to settle this problem once and for all. ===== Television journalist Diana (Gabrielle Fitzpatrick) records footage of a cocaine deal gone wrong between the Italian mob and a street gang called The Demons. During the deal, mob boss Giancarlo (Richard Norton) kills the Demons' leader Grank (Peter Lindsay) and a gun fight (with grenades) ensues. Giancarlo spots Diana and her partner Richard and orders his gang to chase them. Richard is captured while Diana flees from the mobsters, bumping into TV chef Jackie (Jackie Chan), who helps her escape. During the chase, she accidentally switches the videotape of the drug trade with one of Jackie's cooking videos. The children of Romeo Baggio (Vince Poletto), Jackie's adoptive brother, end up in possession of the tape. His children watch the video, unaware of what it is and that their father is investigating the mob. The mob, knowing the tape is still out there, force Richard to give them Diana's address. They ambush Diana at her house, but after realizing she has the wrong tape, they force her to come with them after she reveals that Jackie has the tape. While walking outside with the mobsters, Diana instigates a distraction and flees. The mob believes Jackie has the tape and follows him around, while some Demons follow them, hoping for a chance to kill some of the mobsters in retaliation for killing Grank. Jackie is forced to fend them off and run when they attack him at a benefit event he is hosting at the mall. Puzzled at the mobsters' actions, one of the Demons asks a mobster why they're chasing Jackie. Jackie learns why the mob is chasing him after Diana sneaks into his house searching for the tape. She is attacked by Jackie's friend Lakeisha, who thinks her an intruder, but Jackie intervenes. Diana begs for the tape, but Jackie is (correctly) convinced that he doesn't have it. Before Diana can leave Jackie's apartment building, Giancarlo's henchmen show up (unaware that Demon members have been following them). Jackie and the women escape from the roof just as the Demons throw grenades in Jackie's apartment, killing the mobsters and blowing up Jackie's apartment. The Demons realize afterwards that was Jackie's apartment, and how serious Giancarlo is about retrieving the videotape. They decide to exploit the situation in order to extort money from Giancarlo. They call Giancarlo to set up a meeting to trade the tape (and the mob's stolen cocaine) for a large sum of money. Everyone decides to stay at Lakeisha's home for safety, but the Demons track them. They kidnap Jackie's girlfriend Miki (Miki Lee) and give Jackie a cell phone, demanding that he give them the videotape in 12 hours. Jackie turns to Romeo for the police's help. The next day, Jackie goes to meet the Demons to trade in a (decoy) videotape, but no Demon meets Jackie in person. Instead, they frequently call him on his cell phone and make him go to various locations in the city. The police trace each call, but discover the Demons are trying to thwart their presence, so they follow Jackie instead. However, the gang discovers this and they escape with Miki. Jackie, angry at the cops' mishandling, refuses to work with them anymore. However, he is kidnapped by the Demons moments later. Jackie fights off the gang and causes their van to crash. Before the police show up, Jackie forces one of the Demons to tell him where Miki is: at a construction site. Jackie insists to Diana and Lakeisha not to follow him to the construction site, but they go there anyways. While Jackie looks for Miki, Giancarlo and his men show up. A fight ensues between Jackie and the mobsters, which ends in Jackie getting captured. Lakeisha and Miki are also taken, while Diana is injured but escapes. Giancarlo murders the other Demons on site except for Tara, who also escapes but with serious injuries. Meanwhile, Romeo discovers his son watching Diana's tape, the proof he needs to arrest the mob, and visits the hospital where Diana and Tara are being treated. The women inform him about what happened to Jackie and the others. At Giancarlo's home, Giancarlo demands the tape from Jackie one last time. Jackie decides to call Romeo, but he's not home. Afterwards Jackie is forced into an unfair fight with Giancarlo. After taking a beating, Giancarlo orders his men to kill Jackie and the women at "the guesthouse", which is code for a mining site used by Giancarlo where he buries people alive. However, they escape and destroy Giancarlo's home by driving through it in a 120-ton mining vehicle, which also causes incriminating evidence (cocaine) to be spread outside in plain view of the cops. The authorities arrive with Romeo, but they decide to state that they did not witness anything and that it was just another gang battle, so that Jackie can go free while the mobsters are arrested for possession of cocaine. ===== Chien Fu (Jackie Chan), an orphan adopted by a kung fu school, is overworked as their janitor and abused by the kung fu teachers as a walking punching-bag, with the school's cook, Ah-Wu (Tino Wong), being his only sympathizer. Chien befriends an old beggar (Yuen Siu Tien) by offering him a meal and a place to stay. Unknown to Chien, the old beggar is actually Pai Cheng-Tien, one of the last surviving masters of the Snake-style of kung fu. Pai is on the run from the Eagle Claw clan, which is viciously killing off all of the rival Snake-style masters, but is ambushed by Eagle Claw student Su Chen and an assassin masquerading as a Christian missionary (Roy Horan), and is injured. After being abused once more, Chien later finds Pai and helps him recover. Pai agrees to give him more lessons, on the condition that he does not call him "sifu" ("master"), since they are friends. The real reason, however, is to keep Chien's connection with him secret from his pursuers. Chien practices the lessons and learns to avoid being hurt by the school's bumbling teachers. When the school is invaded by the Mantis school, to everyone's amazement Chien easily defeats their master using the snake style. Unfortunately, one of the passing wanderers who witnesses the fight is the high master of the Eagle Clan, Sheng Kuan (Jang Lee Hwang), who recognizes the style at once and decides to tail Chien. Chien meets Shang Kuan, who inquires about the old beggar, claiming that he was a colleague of Pai's. As a show of 'proof', he easily fends off Chien's attacks. Chien realises that his Snake-style fighting is no match for the style practiced by the stranger, and thus creates a new style from watching his pet cat kill a cobra. Later on the Eagle Claw conspirators track down Pai, who manages to kill Su Chen. He returns to Chien for hiding, but it is then shown that Ah-Wu is also an Eagle Claw conspirator as he puts poison into their tea. Chien rushes to fetch Sheng Kuan, but sensing danger, Pai flees, with his enemy in pursuit. As Chien hurries after them, he finally learns the truth behind the conspiracy, and eventually challenges Sheng Kuan to single combat after Pai is brought down. Apparently at a disadvantage in the initial phase, Chien brings his new 'Cat Claw' technique—against which Sheng Kuan knows no defense—to bear, killing him. When Ah-Wu shows up after the fight and reveals his true allegiance, Chien and Pai trick and slay him, as they have by chance avoided ingesting the poison. Afterwards, the two friends wander off to refine Chien's new technique, giving it its titular name. ===== Sergeant Dragon Ma (Jackie Chan) is part of the Hong Kong Marine Police's effort to suppress the pirates, who have been raiding ships for months. Members of the Hong Kong Police Force and the MP, who have strong interservice rivalries, get into a fight in a bar. Shortly after this, Captain Chi (Kwan Hoi-san) releases all of the sailors to their commanding officer, and two of the MP's ships get blown up. Gangsters Chiang and Mr. Chou meet at a VIP Club, and discuss fleeing to Vietnam. As soon as Chiang leaves, he meets one of the pirates and they laugh about sabotaging the Marine Police ships. In the course of the conversation, the pirate tells him that his boss, San-po (Dick Wei), wants 100 police rifles. As they do not have enough ships, Dragon Ma and his squad are forced to become regular police officers. They have to undergo "hard training" with the police, under Captain Chi's nephew, Hong Tin-tsu (Yuen Biao). After the police learn that Chiang is at the VIP Club, and that the guests there are not to be disturbed, Dragon and Tin-tsu go to arrest Chiang, but a big fight breaks out. After tiring of the blatant corruption in the police force, Dragon drags Chiang out and tells Tin-tsu to take the credit. That is his last official act as an officer with the Hong Kong police. Fei (Sammo Hung) finds Dragon in the street. They have a conversation, in which Fei reveals that someone from within the police force is selling rifles. Fei tells Dragon that all he wants are the guns, and Dragon can catch the traitor. At night, Dragon and Fei interrupt a gun deal between the Army and the police Captain. After pushing everyone into the water and making off with the guns, Fei hides the rifles inside a log and marks it with a red flag. He later tries to sell the guns to the gangsters and pirates, but Dragon has intervened by removing the red flag and putting flags on other logs. After thwarting Fei's plan to sell the rifles to the pirates, Dragon has a conversation with the Admiral's daughter, Winnie. He learns that the Captain wasn't smuggling rifles for San-po, he was buying the rifles from the army to arm his men. On overhearing this, Fei gets into an argument with Dragon. The gangsters come after Fei, so he tells them that Dragon is to blame for the missing rifles. Dragon is forced to flee with Winnie. After teaming up with Fei, being tortured for information about the rifles, and falling from the face of a clock tower, the police track Dragon down for a third time, and help him get away as they arrest the gangsters. As the pirates have lost the rifles they held everyone on board a ship hostage, including a Rear Admiral. The Colonel has a conversation with Mr. Chou, which Dragon overhears. Mr. Chou proposes an arms-for-hostages deal. He tells the Colonel that this will "greatly expedite matters," and the Colonel consents. After Mr. Chou leaves, Dragon confronts the Colonel and convinces him that the gangsters and the pirates will never fear the law if the police force are corrupt. After it is agreed that Dragon will assume all responsibility for the mission to save the hostages, the Colonel allows the Marine Police to be brought back into full force. Mr. Chou is brought in by the police and beaten until he tells Dragon and Tin-tsu how to get to San-po. Dragon, posing as Mr. Chou, gets on board a ship that takes him to San-po's hideout, and they are followed by the rest of the squad. Fei sneaks aboard and poses as a pirate. After a lot of tricky undercover work, the cavalry arrives, and there is a final confrontation in the middle of the pirate's lair. Dragon, Tin-tsu, and Fei engage in a hand-to-hand battle with San-po, eventually killing him with a hand grenade when he's rolled into the carpet. ===== Jackie, a.k.a. "Asian Hawk", is a former musician who becomes an adventurer and treasure hunter. After successfully stealing a sword from an African tribe, he has the weapon auctioned before it is won by May Bannon, the beautiful daughter of Count Bannon. He is reunited with his former bandmate Alan, who seeks his help as his girlfriend Lorelei has been kidnapped by an evil religious cult as a means of acquiring Jackie's services. The cult possesses two pieces of a legendary armour called the "Armour of God", and they intend to have Jackie bring them the three remaining armour pieces, including the sword. Jackie and Alan strike a deal with Count Bannon, who is in possession of the three armour pieces: they will borrow the armour pieces for their quest to rescue Lorelei with a promise to complete the armour for the Count, on the condition that May accompanies them. Jackie, Alan and May travel into Yugoslavia to find the cult's monastery. They infiltrate the hideout and secretly rescue Lorelei, unaware that the cult leaders have anticipated their arrival and brainwashed her to do their bidding. At May's rest home, Lorelei drugs Alan and has him steal the three armour pieces. Jackie sneaks back to the monastery and rescues his friends. As Alan and Lorelei make their escape, Jackie fends off against the cult members before discovering the Armour of God in a cave. Before he gets a chance to take the armour, he encounters the Grand Wizard, who unleashes his four female assassins on the adventurer. Exploiting their high-heeled shoes as their weakness, Jackie defeats the assassins in a gruelling fight. Jackie is then surrounded by the rest of the Grand Wizard's men, but he reveals a vest filled with sticks of dynamite under his jacket, threatening to blow himself up with the monastery. After a couple of bluffs, he carelessly lights up the fuse and throws away the sticks of dynamite, running for his life as the monastery quickly begins to cave in, burying the entire cult and the Armour of God. He runs out of a cave and spots a hot-air balloon with Alan, Lorelei, and May aboard. In a daring move, Jackie does a base jump off the cave and lands on top of the balloon, ending the movie. ===== Eddie Yang (Jackie Chan) is a Hong Kong police inspector co- operating with Interpol in the capture of a crime lord named AJ "Snakehead" Staul (Julian Sands). Snakehead procures an ancient book from a Chinese bookstore keeper, which tells the story of a boy being chosen every thousand years to bind the two halves of a legendary medallion. In Hong Kong, Eddie and Interpol agent Arthur Watson (Lee Evans) lead a raid to capture Snakehead and his men, who are about to kidnap the boy, named Jai (Alex Bao). Eddie and the agents fight off Snakehead's men, infiltrating the temple containing Jai. The agents save Jai, but Snakehead eludes them. Two weeks later, Snakehead captures Jai aboard a cargo boat in Hong Kong. Eddie and a team of Hong Kong police engage and defeat several of Snakehead's men, but Snakehead escapes with Jai to Dublin, Ireland. In Ireland, Eddie is assigned to help Interpol with the investigation, much to Watson's annoyance. Eddie also reunites with his girlfriend, a British Interpol agent named Nicole James (Claire Forlani). By chance, Eddie later encounters and apprehends one of Snakehead's top men, who confesses Jai is being held in the harbor. Eddie, Watson, and Nicole move to rescue Jai, defeating several Snakehead agents in the process. Eddie and Jai end up trapped inside a container, which is knocked into the water by one of Snakehead's men before they can be released. Eddie keeps Jai alive by finding an inflatable tent, and securely putting Jai inside, but Eddie dies from drowning. After being rescued, Jai uses his medallion on Eddie's body. In the morgue, Watson grieves over Eddie's body and prepares to say his last words, when Eddie suddenly appears beside him. Eddie realizes Jai used the medallion to resurrect him, and his former body vanishes into nothingness. Jai splits the medallion into its two-halves, giving one of them to Eddie. Snakehead's men appear in the hospital to recapture Jai, and during the fight, Eddie discovers the medallion has also granted him superhuman strength and immortality. Nicole looks after Jai, but he is captured again by Snakehead. At his castle hideout, Snakehead forces Jai to activate the medallion so he can gain its power, but with only one half of it, Snakehead only gains superhuman strength and remains mortal. To steal the other half, Snakehead and his men attack Watson's family. Watson's Chinese wife reveals herself to be a police operative like him, much to Watson's surprise as he kept his job secret from his family. Together they fight off the attack from Snakehead's men. Eddie, Watson, and Nicole learn the location of Snakehead's castle lair and go to finish him once and for all. The operation runs smoothly at first, but Snakehead kills Nicole and becomes immortal. He and Eddie engage in a vicious fight until Eddie uses the medallion to take away the life it gave, which leads to the two dragons from the medallion appearing and taking Snakehead, which traps him in the medallion. Jai allows Eddie to use the medallion to resurrect Nicole, who also gains super-strength and immortality. The two then run at superhuman speed into the distance as Jai enters another dimension through a portal, frightening Watson. ===== Not long after the events of Rush Hour, LAPD Detective James Carter is in Hong Kong on vacation visiting his friend, Hong Kong Police Force Chief Inspector Lee. Their vacation is put on hold when a bomb at the United States Consulate General kills two undercover U.S. Customs agents. Lee is assigned to the case and discovers that his late father's police partner, Ricky Tan, is somehow involved. Lee and Carter attempt to question Ricky, now a leader of the Triads, resulting in a brawl with his bodyguards. The U.S. Secret Service, led by Agent Sterling, and the Hong Kong Police Force fight over jurisdiction of the case. Lee's office is bombed and Lee, unaware Carter has left the building, believes him dead. They cross paths at a party on Ricky's yacht, where Ricky scolds his underling, Hu Li. Lee and Carter confront Ricky, who claims he is being framed by his enemies and asks for protection, but Hu Li shoots him and escapes. Sterling holds Lee responsible for Ricky's death and orders him off the case. Carter is ordered back to Los Angeles, but convinces Lee to return to LA with him. Carter assures Lee that every large criminal operation has a rich white man behind it; in this case, he believes that man is Steven Reign, a billionaire Los Angeles hotelier he saw acting suspiciously at Ricky Tan's party. Staking out Reign Towers, they spot Isabella Molina, whom Carter met on Ricky's yacht, receiving a delivery from Hu Li. Mistaking the package for another bomb, Lee and Carter try to intervene, but Molina reveals she is an undercover U.S. Secret Service agent, looking into Reign's laundering of $100 million in superdollars. Lee and Carter visit Kenny, an ex- con, now Carter’s informant who runs a gambling den in the back of his Chinese restaurant. He tells them about a customer with a suspicious amount of hundred-dollar bills, which Carter confirms are Reign's counterfeits. They trace the money to a bank, where they are captured by Hu Li. Taken to Las Vegas in a Triad truck, Lee and Carter escape, realizing that Reign is laundering the $100 million through his new Red Dragon Casino. At the Red Dragon, Molina points Lee to the engraving plates used to print the counterfeit money, while Carter creates a distraction to help Lee sneak past the security. Hu Li captures Lee, taping an explosive in his mouth before bringing him to Ricky, who faked his death. When Ricky departs, Molina tries to arrest Hu Li but is shot, and Lee removes the explosive before it detonates, evacuating the casino. Carter fights Hu Li, accidentally knocking her out with a spear, while Lee pursues Ricky. In the penthouse, Reign prepares to escape with the plates but Ricky fatally stabs him. Lee and Carter confront Ricky, who admits to killing Lee's father. In the ensuing scuffle, Ricky falls to his death when Lee kicks him out of the window. Hu Li enters with a time bomb, forcing Lee and Carter to escape on a makeshift zip line as Hu Li dies in the explosion. Later at the airport, Molina thanks Lee for his work on the case, and kisses him. Planning to go their separate ways, Lee and Carter change their minds when Carter reveals the large amount of money he won at the casino, and the pair head to New York City to indulge themselves. ===== There are two plots of Front Mission 3, and both revolve around Japanese wanzer test pilots Kazuki Takemura and Ryogo Kusama. Through a decision made early in the game, the player can play either the DHZ scenario or the USN scenario. The DHZ scenario stars Japanese scientist Aliciana "Alisa" Takemura, while the USN scenario revolves around scientist Emir "Emma" Klamsky. Although both scenarios have different characters and story scenarios, they both share a number of events and locations in the game. Due to its storytelling approach, it is not known which of the two scenarios is canonically related to Front Mission 5: Scars of the War. On October 31, Kazuki begins testing a new prototype wanzer at a Kirishima Heavy Industries test site near Okinawa. Upon completing the test, he is informed that some construction wanzers need to be taken to the JDF base in Yokosuka. Ryogo asks Kazuki if he can join him in delivering the wanzers. If the player chooses to go with him, they will play the USN scenario. If the player does not go with him, they will play the DHZ scenario. In either case, Kazuki and Ryogo are eventually tasked to deliver the Kirishima prototypes to the Yokosuka base. As they ready the wanzers for delivery, an explosion leads Kazuki to attempt going inside the base itself. The two test pilots are eventually forced to leave the base. Realizing that his sister Alisa was recently transferred to the base, Kazuki and Ryogo eventually find themselves back inside the complex. The two are then forced to escape the base and their JDF pursuers under different circumstances. On the USN scenario, Kazuki and Ryogo are aided by Emir with help from her USN allies. On the DHZ scenario, DHZ agent Liu Hei Fong saves the two and Alisa from being captured. In either case, Takemura and Kusama are blamed as terrorists behind the Yokosuka base attack. Wondering why they are being chased, Emma or Liu tells the two that the JDF stole a top-secret USN weapon called MIDAS from a base in Alaska, and that the explosion came from a failed attempt to reproduce it. The raid itself, which is in the game's opening cutscene, is viewed in Scars of the War as security camera footage. The group pursues MIDAS to an OCU base hidden inside Taal Volcano in the Philippines, but the OCU uses it against a DHZ- aided rebel force conducting an amphibious landing in Batangas City. With MIDAS apparently gone for good, the group moves to the DHZ where they become involved in the government's battle against the USN-aided Hua Lian Rebels. As the battle escalates, the group encounters the "Imaginary Numbers" and "Real Numbers," the results of a genetic engineering program intended to create the perfect human. Developed in Ravnui, Bal Gorbovsky, the head of the program, had secretly continued his work with the DHZ government masquerading as the Ravnui Ambassador. However, the Imaginary Numbers turn on Bal and reveal that the MIDAS used in the Philippines was a successful duplicate. Their leader, Lukav Minaev, also reveals that Emir and Alisa were also both created by the project, and that two scientists who adopted them as family helped them escape before they were killed. The Imaginary Numbers flee to Japan where they support a coup d'état hatched by Masao Sasaki, the ultra-nationalist JDF Chief of Staff who ordered the Alaska raid. Kazuki's group follows them to Japan, where he is reunited with his estranged father Isao Takemura. They manage to defeat the coup forces, clear their names and pursue the Imaginary Numbers back to Ocean City, a floating island located off Okinawa. Although they finally defeat the Imaginary Numbers and safely detonate the original MIDAS out at sea, the game's ending will either be resolved or left ambiguous depending on the scenario chosen. ===== ===== The protagonist, Sabina, is a firebrand blazing through 1950s New York in the pursuit of her desires. The novel opens with her calling a random strangers' number, who happens to be a lie detector, in the middle of the night from a bar seeking to confess or find solace in the voice of a stranger. This same lie detector proceeds to follow Sabina in her activities throughout the novel. Her life becomes more and more complex the more involved she gets with her various love interests while trying to sustain her relationship with her husband, Alan, whom she feels she cannot live without. The level of deceit which she is forced to maintain with her hedonistic lifestyle leads her to regard herself as "an international spy in the house of love". ===== The Federation starship Enterprise arrives at Starbase 74 for a routine maintenance check. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) and Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) greet Starbase Commander Quinteros (Gene Dynarski) and two pairs of small humanoid aliens known as Bynars; the Bynars heavily rely on their computer technology and work in pairs for best efficiency. Much of the crew take shore leave while Picard, Riker and a skeleton crew remain aboard. Riker is intrigued by the Bynars' claimed upgrades to the holodeck and starts a program in a jazz bar. The program includes a woman named Minuet (Carolyn McCormick), by whom Riker is fascinated, both as a beautiful and charming woman, but also by the level of sophistication in her responses. Riker shortly returns, and Picard walks in on him kissing Minuet, and he too is amazed by the simulation. Meanwhile, the Bynars discreetly create a catastrophic failure in the ship's warp core. Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent Spiner) and Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) are unable to locate Picard or Riker and, assuming them to already be on the Starbase, order an emergency evacuation. They set the ship to leave the Starbase and warp to a safe location before it would explode. However, once they are clear of the dock, the failure disappears and the ship sets course for the Bynar system, the planet Bynaus orbiting Beta Magellan. Data, La Forge, and Quinteros realize that the Bynars are still aboard the ship, but there are currently no other working vessels to follow them. Back on the Enterprise, Riker and Picard leave the simulation to find the ship empty and at warp to the Bynar system, with the ship's controls locked to the bridge. Fearing that the Bynars have taken over the ship for nefarious purposes, they set the ship to self-destruct in 5 minutes and then take the bridge by inter-ship transporter beam and find the Bynars there unconscious. After cancelling the self-destruct, they find the Bynars have uploaded massive amounts of information to the Enterprise computers, but they are unable to decode it. Realizing that Minuet was purposely created by the Bynars as a distraction, Picard and Riker ask the simulation about what is going on as the ship nears the orbit of Bynaus. Minuet explains that a star near the Bynar homeworld had gone supernova, and the EMP it emitted would knock out their computer systems, effectively killing the Bynars. They had used the Enterprise to upload their computer information for safekeeping and then planned to download it back to the Bynar computers after the threat of the EMP had passed. With Data's help, Picard and Riker successfully download the data, and the Bynars recover. They apologize for their actions, having feared that Starfleet would refuse to help, though Picard notes they only had to ask. As the Enterprise returns to Starbase, Riker returns to the holodeck to thank Minuet but finds that without the Bynar data, the simulation has regressed to the expected norm for the holodeck, and while Minuet still exists, she is not the same as before. Riker reports to Picard that Minuet is gone. ===== Sick of betrayals the United States government perpetrated on Native Americans, Colonel William Ludlow leaves the Army, moving to a remote part of Montana. Along with One Stab, a Cree friend, he builds a ranch and raises his family. Accompanying them are hired hand and former outlaw Decker, Decker's Cree wife Pet, and daughter Isabel Two. William has three sons: Alfred, the eldest, is responsible and cautious; Tristan is wild and well- versed in Native American traditions; Samuel, the youngest, is educated but naive and watched over by his brothers. William's wife Isabel does not adapt to the harsh Montana winters and moves to the East Coast; Tristan vows never to speak of her. At age 12, Tristan touches a sleeping grizzly bear. The bear awakens and injures him, but he cuts off a claw. Years later, Samuel returns from Harvard University with his fiancée, Susannah. Susannah finds Tristan captivating but loves Samuel. Before they can marry, Samuel announces his intention to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force and aid Britain in the fight against Germany. Much to their father's displeasure, Alfred also joins. Although Tristan does not want to join, he does so after swearing to Susannah to protect Samuel. During World War I, the brothers find themselves in the 10th Battalion, CEF. Alfred, commissioned as an officer, leads a charge into no man's land. The attack results in heavy casualties and Alfred is wounded. While visiting Alfred in the field hospital, Tristan learns that Samuel volunteered for a dangerous reconnaissance mission. He rushes off to protect his brother but arrives too late. A devastated Tristan holds Samuel until he dies, then cuts out his brother's heart and sends it home to be buried at the ranch. Tristan single-handedly raids the German lines and returns to camp with the scalps of German soldiers hanging around his neck, horrifying his fellow soldiers. He is discharged but does not go home. Alfred returns to Montana and proposes to Susannah, but she declines. Tristan returns home, where Susannah finds him weeping over Samuel's grave. She comforts him, and they become lovers. A jealous Alfred confronts Tristan before leaving to make his name in Helena. Tristan is plagued with guilt over Samuel's death and feels responsible for driving Alfred away; he leaves Montana for several years. Susannah waits for him, but receives a letter telling her to marry someone else. Alfred comforts Susannah and William finds them together, which leads to a falling out between him and Alfred. William later suffers a stroke. He does not speak for years and the ranch deteriorates. Susannah marries Alfred, now a congressman. Alfred's business and politics cause him to get involved with the O'Banion brothers, bootleggers and gangsters. Tristan returns during Prohibition, bringing life back to the ranch and to his father. He falls in love with Isabel Two and they marry and have two children. Tristan becomes involved in small-scale rum-running, finding himself at odds with the O'Banion brothers. Isabel is accidentally killed by a police officer working for the O'Banions. In a fit of grief, Tristan beats the officer nearly to death and is jailed. Susannah visits Tristan, still having feelings for him, but he refuses her advances. After his release, Tristan and Decker kill those responsible for Isabel's death, including one of the O'Banion brothers. Unable to live without Tristan, Susannah commits suicide. The remaining O'Banion brother, along with the sheriff and another police officer, come after Tristan. At the ranch, William and Alfred kill the attackers. Alfred reconciles with his father and brother. The family realizes that Tristan will be blamed for the deaths, which prompts Tristan to ask Alfred to take care of his children. One Stab's narration explains that they buried the bodies and dumped the car in the Missouri River. He reflects that rather than dying young as One Stab expected, Tristan lived to watch his children and grandchildren grow. One Stab observes that it was the people Tristan loved and wanted to protect most that died young. In 1963, Tristan, now an old man living in the North Country, investigates an animal carcass and is confronted by a grizzly bear. He draws his knife and fights it. As they struggle, One Stab narrates, "It was a good death." ===== One Hundred Years of Solitude is the story of seven generations of the Buendía Family in the town of Macondo. The founding patriarch of Macondo, José Arcadio Buendía, and Úrsula Iguarán, his wife (and first cousin), leave Riohacha, Colombia, after José Arcadio kills Prudencio Aguilar after a cockfight for suggesting José Arcadio was impotent. One night of their emigration journey, while camping on a riverbank, José Arcadio dreams of "Macondo", a city of mirrors that reflected the world in and about it. Upon awakening, he decides to establish Macondo at the riverside; after days of wandering the jungle, his founding of Macondo is utopic. José Arcadio Buendía believes Macondo to be surrounded by water, and from that island, he invents the world according to his perceptions. Soon after its foundation, Macondo becomes a town frequented by unusual and extraordinary events that involve the generations of the Buendía family, who are unable or unwilling to escape their periodic (mostly self-inflicted) misfortunes. For years the town is solitary and unconnected to the outside world, with the exception of the annual visit of a band of gypsies, who show the townspeople technology such as magnets, telescopes, and ice. The leader of the gypsies, a man named Melquíades, maintains a close friendship with José Arcadio, who becomes increasingly withdrawn, obsessed with investigating the mysteries of the universe presented to him by the gypsies. Ultimately he is driven insane, speaking only in Latin, and is tied to a chestnut tree by his family for many years until his death. Eventually Macondo becomes exposed to the outside world and the government of newly independent Colombia. A rigged election between the Conservative and Liberal parties is held in town, inspiring Aureliano Buendía to join a civil war against the Conservative government. He becomes an iconic revolutionary leader, fighting for many years and surviving multiple attempts on his life, but ultimately tires of war and signs a peace treaty with the Conservatives. Disillusioned, he returns to Macondo and spends the rest of his life making tiny gold fish in his workshop. The railroad comes to Macondo, bringing in new technology and many foreign settlers. An American fruit company establishes a banana plantation outside the town, and builds its own segregated village across the river. This ushers in a period of prosperity that ends in tragedy as the Colombian army massacres thousands of striking plantation workers, an incident based on the Banana Massacre of 1928. José Arcadio Segundo, the only survivor of the massacre, finds no evidence of the massacre, and the surviving townspeople refuse to believe it happened. By the novel's end, Macondo has fallen into a decrepit and near-abandoned state, with the only remaining Buendías being Amaranta Úrsula and her nephew Aureliano, whose parentage is hidden by his grandmother Fernanda, and he and Amaranta Úrsula unknowingly begin an incestuous relationship. They have a child who bears the tail of a pig, fulfilling the lifelong fear of the long-dead matriarch Úrsula. Amaranta Úrsula dies in childbirth and the child is devoured by ants, leaving Aureliano as the last member of the family. He decodes an encryption Melquíades had left behind in a manuscript generations ago. The secret message informs the recipient of every fortune and misfortune that the Buendía family's generations lived through. As Aureliano reads the manuscript, a wind destroys all traces of Macondo's existence. The Buendia family tree. ===== The novel begins by introducing the two protagonists: Tristram Foxe, a history teacher, and his wife, Beatrice- Joanna, a homemaker. They have recently suffered through their young son's death. Throughout the first portion of the novel, overpopulation is depicted through the limitation and reuse of materials, and extremely cramped living conditions. There is also active discrimination against heterosexuals, homosexuality being encouraged as a measure against overpopulation. Self- sterilization is also encouraged. One of the major conflicts of the novel is between Tristram and his brother, Derek. Very much alike at first, Derek chose a different path from Tristram and pretends to be homosexual while in public, to help his career as a government official. Derek has an affair with Beatrice-Joanna, and when she forgets to take her State-provided contraceptives she becomes illegally pregnant. She has sex with her husband, Tristram, and his brother, Derek, within a 24-hour time span, thus the paternity of her twin boys is uncertain. Life changes as the largely homosexual police ('greyboys') become more repressive, and a mysterious blight spreads across the world threatening food supplies. Tristram is arrested after getting unintentionally mixed up in a protest and spends the next section of the novel in jail. While he is imprisoned, formerly repressed religion begins to bloom, fertility rituals are endorsed, and the structure of society, as well as government, undergoes radical transformation. Cannibalism is openly practised in much of England. Beatrice-Joanna has run away, and is staying with her sister and brother-in-law in the countryside on their farm, where the blight is affecting even their chickens. She stays there until she delivers her twin sons, when members of the Population Police arrives to take her and her children to the city. With the help of his cellmate, Tristram escapes and tries to rejoin his wife. He travels across England to his sister-in-law's farm. He is so desperate for food that he briefly joins "a dining club", a rather chaotic affair which provides food (composed of murdered human beings) and orgiastic behavior for its village membership. His journey eventually takes him to a sort of soup kitchen, where he enlists in the newly recreated army, which has replaced the (largely eaten) greyboys and Population Police. This is the third section of the novel. In the army, Tristram is shipped to an unknown location to fight in the war, though the reader later discovers that he is in Ireland. In his first battle he discovers that there is no real enemy; the purpose of the "war" is population control by winnowing out the socially expendable. Companies, led by junior officers trained to recite patriotic verse, are sent to a made-up Western Front style battlefield to kill each other. Every other member of his unit is shot down as they emerge from their trench, but Tristram slips through the barbed wire surrounding the miniature war zone and begins his journey back to England. Escaping back into general society, Tristram finds a new job. In his absence, Beatrice-Joanna has been moved to live with Derek. She has also brought the twins (it is implied that Derek is their father) and named them after her two brotherly lovers, Derek and Tristram Foxe. At the last scene Tristram meets again his wife at Brighton pier. The book closes with a translation of the final stanza of the French poet Paul Valéry's poem 'Le Cimetière marin'. The quotation clarifies the book's themes: > The wind rises... we must try to live. The immense air opens and closes my > book. The wave, pulverised, dares to gush and spatter from the rocks. Fly > away, dazzled, blinded pages. Break, waves. Break with joyful waters... ===== The film is mainly set at the front during World War II, where the Soviet army is fighting the invading German Wehrmacht. The film features a non-linear plot with frequent flashbacks. After a brief dream sequence, Ivan Bondarev, a 12-year-old Russian boy, wakes up and crosses a war-torn landscape to a swamp, then swims across a river. On the other side, he is seized by Russian soldiers and brought to the young Lieutenant Galtsev, who interrogates him. The boy insists that he call "Number 51 at Headquarters" and report his presence. Galtsev is reluctant, but when he eventually makes the call, he is told by Lieutenant-Colonel Gryaznov to give the boy pencil and paper to make his report, which will be given the highest priority, and to treat him well. Through a series of dream sequences and conversations between different characters, it is revealed that Ivan’s mother and sister (and probably his father, a border guard) have been killed by German soldiers. He got away and joined a group of partisans. When the group was surrounded, they put him on a plane. After the escape, he was sent to a boarding school, but he ran away and joined an army unit under the command of Gryaznov. Burning for revenge, Ivan insists on fighting on the front line. Taking advantage of his small size, he is successful on reconnaissance missions. Gryaznov and the other soldiers grow fond of him and want to send him to a military school. They give up their idea when Ivan tries to run away and rejoin the partisans. He is determined to avenge the death of his family and others, such as those killed at the Maly Trostenets extermination camp (which he mentions that he has seen). A subplot involves Captain Kholin and his aggressive advances towards a pretty army nurse, Masha, and Galtsev's own undeclared and probably shared feelings for her. Much of the film is set in a room where the officers await orders and talk, while Ivan awaits his next mission. On the walls are scratched the last messages of doomed prisoners of the Germans. Finally, Kholin and Galtsev ferry Ivan across the river late at night. He disappears through the swampy forest. The others return to the other shore after cutting down the bodies of two Soviet scouts hanged by the Germans. The final scenes then switch to Berlin under Soviet occupation after the fall of the Third Reich. Captain Kholin has been killed in action. Galtsev finds a document showing that Ivan was caught and hanged by the Germans. As Galtsev enters the execution room, a final flashback of Ivan's childhood shows the young boy running across a beach after a little girl in happier times. The final image is of a dead tree on the beach. ===== An impoverished student with a conflicted idea of himself, Raskolnikov (Rodya as his mother calls him) decides to kill a corrupt pawnbroker, Alyona Ivanovna, with whom he has been dealing, with the idea of using the money to start his life all over, and to help those who are in need of it. It is later revealed that he also commits the murder as justification for his pride, as he wants to prove that he is "exceptional" in the way Napoleon was. He commits the murder, but is so nervous during the crime that he makes a few mistakes, and is afraid that he will be caught. Raskolnikov finds a small purse on Alyona Ivanovna's body, which he hides under a rock without checking its contents. His grand failure is that he lacks the conviction of his beliefs to accomplish greatness, and thus declines into madness. After he confesses to the destitute, pious prostitute Sofya Semyonovna Marmeladova, she guides him towards admitting to the crime, and he confesses to Porfiry Petrovich, a prosecutor with a keen psychological sense (the book implies the policeman suspected him from the start). Raskolnikov is sentenced to exile in Siberia, accompanied by Sofya Semyonovna, where he experiences a mental and spiritual rebirth. The idea of rebirth is not supported in the text. He is clearly unrepentant, still holding to the fancy that he had some right to act as he did, that, had he been made of the right stuff, he would not have failed in his project. Garnett's translation concludes: =====