From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== In the midst of an oddly sudden rain storm, author Molly Sloan awakens in the middle of the night. Unable to return to sleep, she leaves her husband Neil slumbering in bed and goes downstairs to work on a manuscript in progress. Dark shapes huddle on her porch – coyotes from the nearby forest. She wonders what could have frightened such animals into leaving the sanctuary of the deep woods to brave the proximity of human beings. Disturbed, she steps outside, to stand among the wild beasts, and is frightened herself – not by the animals, but by the strange, oddly luminescent rain. On an instinctual level, she realizes that there is something unclean about the rain. Once she comes back to the house, Molly and Neil search for information in the news. They are only able to gather that the same phenomenon is taking place all over the world, before all communications are lost. They decide to flee their isolated home, gathering with the residents of the nearby small mountain town, in order to prepare a resistance, though they are not even sure against what they will be fighting. After 10 hours of downpour, the rain stops. In its place, a thick, ominous fog obscures everything, reducing trees and buildings to looming shadows. By then, Molly and Neil are in the town's tavern, where around 60 people have gathered with pets and children. It is implied that the phenomenon is the product of an alien invasion. Unfamiliar noises are heard and strange lights are seen. Peculiar fungi appear in the restroom of a local tavern, and a frightening fungus grows upon trees, lawns, houses, and people alike. From time to time, huge objects drift above the terrified populace, and people feel as if they are known, completely, by whatever or whoever occupies these aerial craft – if the silent, drifting objects are crafts of some kind. Molly and Neil, accompanying a stray dog named Virgil, set off on a mission to rescue the town’s children, many of whom are trapped in their homes. Meanwhile, the people at the tavern, split into warring factions, struggle against the mysterious threat that has seized their town. Oddly, Virgil seems to be able to supernaturally sense when and where certain children are endangered. It is revealed, later, that other animals are also leading rescue efforts to save other children. As they search for answers, the townspeople conclude that they are under siege by extraterrestrial invaders who have come as an advance party to reverse-terraform the Earth so that its altered atmosphere will support their alien physiological needs. In doing so, however, they will poison the planet for its human residents, who must die so that the invaders may live. At all times, while they encounter the most horrible and twisted creatures during their journey, Molly senses that the invaders are of the most malignant kind, and that they want nothing but destruction. After going through different horrors, Molly and Neil are able to save 13 children total, with the help of Virgil and other animals. Molly is convinced that the aliens have allowed them to rescue the children to harvest them for some more terrible end; however, a chain of events leads her to believe that there is still hope, and that the children have been spared for a special reason. After 36 hours of rain, mist, and darkness, a new rain comes, but to the delight of the characters, the new rain is clean, and washes all the monsters, fungus, and diseased alien presences in the world. At least a year later, Molly, Neil, and eight of the children they rescued are living together in a house. Society has begun a slow path towards reconstruction; most of the survivors are the children, and those who rescued them, plus dogs and cats that helped in the rescues. Molly is now a teacher, and Neil has gone back to work in the church. Most people do not talk about what happened, and the reasons behind the departure of the aliens are never discussed. However, while the identity or the origin of the invaders is never explicitly explained, at the end of the book, Molly realizes that the invaders were not aliens at all, but that they had actually lived through the biblical apocalypse, and that the monsters were demons, sent to Earth to annihilate humanity. Only a few would be spared, as in the ark of Noah, to rebuild a cleaner world. Several facts through the novel support her belief. The book ends on a light note, with Molly deciding to write a book again – not to publish it, but for her son or daughter, soon to be born. When Neil asks her what the book will be about, she answers "Hope". ===== Stephen Lewis is, by his own admission, an accidental author of children's books. One Saturday, on a routine visit to the supermarket, during a momentary distraction, he loses his only daughter, Kate, aged three. The only purpose in his life becomes sitting as a member of a government committee on childcare, an activity he does with little to no interest. Otherwise he spends his days lying on the sofa drinking scotch and watching mindless TV programmes and the Olympic games. His wife, Julie, frustrated by her husband’s seemingly futile quest to find Kate, has moved away to the countryside and become a recluse. Stephen occasionally visits his close friend, Charles Darke, who was in charge of publishing Stephen's first novel and is now a junior Minister in the Cabinet, and a rumoured future candidate for Prime Minister. Darke's wife, Thelma, is a quantum physicist who engages Stephen with her outlandish theories on time and space. At Thelma's behest, who believes Stephen's marriage with Julie is salvageable, he makes an effort to reconnect with Julie by visiting her. Although he has never visited the town, he feels strangely familiar with the place - especially a pub. There Stephen experiences a strange event that he cannot explain: he sees his parents as a young couple in a pub, before they were married, an event that is later confirmed to have happened by his parents. Though Julie and Stephen temporarily reconnect during his visit and sleep together, Kate's absence has become too great a divider between the two and they part believing it impossible to overcome her loss. In the meantime, Charles Darke and his wife leave their life in London for a place in the countryside. During Stephen’s visit, Charles expressed his motive for his retreat as a search for a child that’s been forbidden and denied. A few years later, Charles, who according to Thelma suffered from bipolar disorder, commits suicide after being unable to reconcile his political ambitions and drive with his desire for recreating his missed childhood. The book ends with Stephen finding out Julie had gotten pregnant during his visit through their emotional tryst, and her giving birth. ===== Roy Waller is a con artist residing in Los Angeles with severe tourette's syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Alongside his partner and protégé Frank Mercer, Roy operates a fake lottery, selling overpriced water filtration systems to unsuspecting customers. After Roy experiences a violent panic attack, Frank suggests he see a psychiatrist, Dr. Harris Klein. Klein provides Roy with medication, and in therapy has Roy recall his past relationship with Heather, his ex-wife who was pregnant during the time of the divorce. At Roy's behest, Klein informs Roy that he called Heather and found out that Roy has a 14-year- old daughter, Angela. Roy and Angela meet, and her youthful energy rejuvenates him. Roy thus agrees to work with Frank on a long-con: their target is Chuck Frechette, an arrogant businessman whom the pair plans to con with the Pigeon drop. One night, Angela unexpectedly arrives at Roy's house, saying that she has had a fight with her mother, and decides to stay for the weekend before returning to school. She explores his belongings and causes him to rethink his life, which he mentions during therapy with Klein. Angela returns home late one night, leading to an argument between the two. During dinner, Roy admits that he is a con artist and reluctantly agrees to teach Angela a con. The two of them go to a local laundromat and con an older woman into believing she has won the lottery, and she shares half of her expected winnings with Angela; however, Roy then forces Angela to return the money. Roy goes bowling with Angela but is interrupted when Frank reveals that Chuck's flight to the Caymans has been updated to that day instead of Friday as planned. With little time left, Roy reluctantly chooses to let Angela play the part of distracting Chuck midway through the con; however, after the con is finished, Chuck realizes what has happened and chases the two into a parking garage before they escape. Roy then learns that Angela was arrested a year earlier, and asks that she stop calling him. Without Angela, Roy's myriad phobias resurface, and during another panic attack, he ultimately learns that the medication given to him by Klein is a placebo. Roy proclaims that he needs Angela in his life but that he would have to change his lifestyle, much to Frank's disappointment. Roy and Angela return from dinner one night to find Chuck waiting for them with a gun, alongside a badly beaten Frank. Angela shoots Chuck and Roy sends her off with Frank into hiding until the matter can be sorted out. As Roy prepares to take care of Chuck's body, Chuck suddenly springs to life and knocks Roy unconscious. Roy awakens in a hospital, where the police inform him that Chuck died from the gunshot and Frank and Angela have disappeared. Klein appears and Roy gives him the password to his large safety deposit box, ordering him to give the money to Angela when she is found. Later, Roy awakens to find that the "police" have disappeared, his "hospital room" is actually a freight container on the roof of a parking garage, "Dr. Klein's" office is vacant, and his very substantial cash savings have been taken. As he begins to realize that Frank pulled a long-con on him, Roy drives over to Heather's (whom he hasn't seen for years) looking for Angela. Roy learns the truth: Heather miscarried their child. There is no "Angela": the young girl he thought was his child was actually Frank's accomplice. One year later, Roy has become a salesman at a local carpet store, which Angela and her boyfriend one day wander into. Roy confronts Angela, who is much older than he had thought, but ultimately forgives her, realizing that he is much happier as an honest man. Angela reveals that she did not receive her fair share of the cut from Frank, and that it was the only con she ever pulled. Angela says “I’ll see you, Dad” when she and her boyfriend depart. Roy returns home to his new wife Kathy, who is pregnant with his child. ===== In 1936 Brighton, strange lights and terrible sounds are coming from beneath the pier, and the dead are unusually ambulatory. The only hope is the Doctor and Evelyn and — Max Miller? ===== Alexis "Lexie" Winston is a sixteen-year-old girl from Waverly, Iowa who dreams of becoming a champion figure skater. Her boyfriend, Nick Peterson, dreams of being a hockey player. Coached by a family friend and former skater, Lexie enters a regional championship over her father's protests. There she is discovered by an elite coach who sees her potential despite a lack of training and a relatively advanced age for figure skaters. Over her father's objections, Lexie moves from Waverly to Colorado Springs to train at the legendary Broadmoor World Arena. She becomes unpopular with the other skaters in training because of the attention lavished on her natural talent and the media attention her coach obtains for her in an effort to make her known to the skating world. Lexie proves and enhances her skating abilities and qualifies for the senior championship level. Lexie's life changes drastically in the process. She becomes a star, alienates her boyfriend, and begins dating a grown man, Brian, who is a television broadcaster, following her training. Lexie becomes uncomfortable with the changes in her life and in herself. Lexie leaves a party for skating sponsors and goes down to the outdoor rink nearby to skate. Her coach and the party goers notice her, and are watching through the windows as Lexie skates. She attempts a difficult triple jump, but lands off the ice onto a set of tables and chairs that are chained together near the edge of the rink. Lexie suffers a serious head injury, with a blood clot in her brain that robs her of her eyesight. She can see only light and blurry shapes. The doctor is uncertain if her injury is permanent. Lexie goes home and becomes a recluse. Nick, who still resents her affair with Brian, demands that she get out of the house and back onto the ice. Despite their mutual resentment and Lexie's depression, they work through their estrangement and rediscover their love for each other. With help from Nick, her father Marcus, and original coach Beulah, Lexie begins to believe she can still fulfill her dreams. She is virtually blind, but can still see the boards at the edge of the rink, so she learns how to skate around her disability. She enrolls in the sectional championship and competes once again. Lexie presents a flawless, beautiful program and wins an enthusiastic standing ovation from the crowd. Her disability, however, is discovered when she trips over the roses, thrown onto the ice by adoring fans after her performance, and falls to the ice. Nick rushes to her side and says, "We forgot about the flowers," as the crowd realizes that she has not recovered from her injuries but, instead, has risen above them. ===== Set in the 1960s, the film follows the lead character Kent (Kent Lane), as he travels along the California coast. As he drifts, he recalls his former troubled girlfriend, Bobbi (Manuela Thiess) who committed suicide after he broke off their relationship. During his travels he meets up with different women. However, he moves along rather than stay put in hopes of finding a meaning to his life. ===== The novel consists of a brief prologue and five "episodes" dated 1945, 1952, 1956, 1966, and 1981. Twelve-year-old Anton Steenwijk is living with his parents and older brother on the outskirts of Haarlem in January 1945 under Nazi Occupation. One evening they hear shots and discover that Fake Ploeg, a prominent Dutch collaborator, has been shot. They watch as their neighbors, the Kortewegs, a father and his teen-age daughter, move the body from where it fell in front of their house to a position in front of the Steenwijks' house. In the chaotic hours that follow, Anton's family is killed and their house torched, while he spends a night in a dark police station cell in Heemstede being comforted by an unseen young woman prisoner. As Nazi authorities transport him to Amsterdam a German soldier dies trying to protect him when the convoy is attacked from the air. They place him in the care of an aunt and uncle there. The author writes: "All the rest is postscript–the cloud of ash that rises from the volcano, circles around the earth, and continues to rain down on all its continents for years."Harry Mulisch, The Assault (NY: Pantheon Books, 1985), 55 In the decades that follow, Anton becomes an anesthesiologist, marries twice, and has a child by each of his wives. He lives with his repressed memories and limited understanding of the events that destroyed his family, uncertain of others' motivations that night and suppressing any instinct to discover more about the way events unfolded, though what he knows is incomplete and presents riddles more than resolution. He learns more details through a series of chance encounters, not by seeking out witnesses and survivors. Only occasionally do his emotions overwhelm him. He weighs motivations and unintended consequences, the moral judgments made and risks taken, the interplay of intention and accident, the actions he and his brother and parents took or failed to take. Anton's discoveries take place against the background of the emergence of Dutch society from the war, the development of new political alignments associated with the Cold War, the anti-establishment Provo movement, and a huge anti-nuclear demonstration. He returns to Haarlem for the first time in 1952 to attend a party. He visits his old neighbors, the Beumers, and then the monument erected to honor in his parents and 29 others who died the same night in reprisal for Ploeg's assassination. A few years later, he chances upon an old schoolmate, Fake Ploeg's son who bears his father's name. This Fake compares their outcomes, Anton an orphan and he the son of collaborators whose mother became a cleaning woman to support her children: "'We're in the same class, your parents are shot, but you're doing medical studies all the same, whereas my father was shot and I repair water heaters.'"Mulisch, The Assault, 88 Fake defends his father as an anti- Communist and blames the death of the Steenwijks on the Communist resistance fighters who knew that reprisals would follow their assassination of his father. Anton rejects his logic: "'Your father was killed by the Communists with premeditation because they decided that it was essential, but my family was senselessly slaughtered by Fascists, of whom your father was one.'"Mulisch, The Assault, 90 Fake counters: "'As your house went up in flames, we got the news that our father was dead.... I've thought of what you went through; did you ever do the same for me?'"Mulisch, The Assault, 92 In 1966, Anton attends a funeral of an older man, an associate of his father-in- law. Socializing after the service, as many old resistance members debate current politics, Anton overhears someone recounting a resistance action and realizes the subject is Ploeg's assassination. He speaks at length with this man, Cor Takes, one of those for whom the battle against fascism is very much alive, who opposes commuting the sentences of collaborators just because they have become old and infirm: "'Just hand him to me and I'll split his throat. With a pocketknife if necessary.'"Mulisch, The Assault, 134 Anton learns more details of how Ploeg's assassination was planned and executed as well as the likely identity of the woman who comforted him that night. He shares what he knows with Takes, whose own knowledge of that night has just as many gaps as Anton's. Finally, in 1981, when Anton is soon to become a grandfather, he meets one of the neighbors who moved Ploeg's body in front of his family's house. He learns why the Kortewegs rushed out to move the body and why they moved it toward the Steenwijks and not in the other direction, the one reason absurd and the other incontestably the moral choice based on what the Kortewegs knew that night. ===== Kishen (Anil Kapoor), a wealthy newspaper editor, has a suspicious-minded wife, Kaajal (Lara Dutta), who thinks he is always having an affair with another woman, even though he is extremely faithful to her and wouldn't dream of betraying her in any way. Prem (Salman Khan), Kishen's friend who is also a wealthy businessman, has the opposite situation. He is married to Pooja (Esha Deol), who is very trusting, even though he has been having several affairs with numerous gorgeous women. There is Kishen's employee Shekhar (Fardeen Khan), whom Kishen treats as his younger brother, who accidentally falls in love with Sanjana (Celina Jaitly). Sanjana hates lies and doesn't tolerate other woman in a man's life. Then Bobby (Bipasha Basu), a call girl, enters the story. When Kishen takes pictures of Prem and his girlfriend, and threatens to send them to his wife, Prem hires Bobby to seduce Kishen. The plan is that Kishen will fall in Prem's trap, and Prem wants to see if Kishen can hide the relationship from his wife. Kishen plans to meet Bobby at his home while his wife has gone to Ajmer. Though she forgetting her passport at home,returns,only to find Bobby with Kishen in their out-house, which they had given Shekhar to live in. Then the lies start happening, as Kishen to hide his mistake from Kaajal tells her that Bobby is Shekhar's wife, and Sanjana, whose marriage is being fixed with Shekhar, thinks Bobby is Kishen's wife. Prem in order to save his friends' marriages tells Sanjana and Kaajal that Bobby is his second wife. It becomes a bundle of confusion, arguments and comedy when all the various couples meet together. The truth is eventually told through many comedic encounters, and eventually the three friends seemingly turn over a new leaf. It is hinted at the end of the movie, however, that the three friends have not completely turned over a new leaf with the entrance of Sameera Reddy in a cameo. ===== Duivichi-un-Dua, also known as Out-in-the-Shed or just "Shed", is a biracial bisexual who lives in the fictional town of Excellent, Idaho, in the middle part of the 20th century. In flashback, Shed reveals that in the 1880s he lived with his mother, a Shoshone Indian, and that his mother worked as a maid, laundress, and prostitute for no-nonsense but tender-hearted madam Ida Richilieu at Richilieu's hotel and brothel. The two live in a shed in the rear of Ida's place. Although Shed's mother will not speak about his father, Shed believes his father was a mentally ill cowboy named Billy Blizzard (who had been sexually involved with Shed's mother since Blizzard was 13 years old). Blizzard goes insane, raping the teenaged Shed. Shed's mother tries to hunt down her son's rapist, but Blizzard kills her. Ida Richilieu takes Shed on, so long as Shed acts as a bisexual prostitute for Richilieu's customers. Shed agrees. After a few years, Shed decides to discover more about his father and heritage. He leaves Excellent and tries to find his mother's tribe. On the way there, he meets Dellwood Barker, a Montana cowboy who introduces Shed to a variety of spiritual and mystical traditions. The two begin a homosexual relationship. After finding a photograph of his mother among Barker's possessions, Shed comes to believe that Barker is his father. Barker soon sends Shed on his way to the Shoshone tribe, not wishing to hinder Shed in his quest. Shed finds his mother's tribe living on a reservation, and meets the Shoshone medicine man, Owlfeather. Shed learns the true meaning of his name, but shortly thereafter is shot by Owlfeather's son, Charles Smith. Smith commits suicide moments later, and Owlfeather breathes life back into Shed (dying in the process). After recovering, Shed sheds his Indian identity, considering it killed by Charles Smith, and he returns to Excellent. A new and beautiful prostitute, the widow Alma Hatch, has joined the brothel, and, after Dellwood Barker appears in town, the four individuals form a tightly bonded group that share living quarters and sexual experiences. But the town has changed as a number of Mormons have moved to Excellent, and the town's libertine ways are going away. After some time, the four African American Wisdom brothers (Homer, Blind Jude, Ulysses, and Virgil) arrive in Excellent. Disagreement between the Mormon settlers and Ida Richilieu and her friends breaks out and descends into arson (the brothel is burned down, killing several of their friends) and murder (the four Wisdom brothers are killed). In the period after this tragedy, Ida Richilieu, Dellwood Barker, Alma Hatch, and Shed try to break out of their depression by consuming all the opium and alcohol they can get their hands on. In a haze, Ida Richilieu and Alma Hatch attempt to go over nearby Devil's Pass in a blizzard, but their wagon overturns on a steep hill. Alma dies, and Ida's legs are frozen up to the knees. Dellwood Barker and Shed go after the women. They rescue Ida, but Shed and Dellwood are forced to amputate her legs to save her life. Dellwood Barker goes insane from the shock surrounding this rapid turn of events, and leaves Excellent to die. The Mormons now hold Excellent in their grasp. Shed learns more about his heritage, but the world he knew is gone. The book concludes with the elderly Shed reflecting on how little has changed in Excellent since the death of Alma Hatch, and how the white people of Excellent are not in touch with their true selves. ===== After losing both her parents, Failan (Cecilia Cheung) immigrates to Korea to seek her only remaining relatives. Once she reaches Korea, she finds out that her relatives have moved to Canada well over a year ago. Desperate to stay and make a living in Korea, Failan is forced to have an arranged marriage through a match-making agency. Kang-jae (Choi Min-sik) is an old and outdated gangster who has no respect from his peers. Short on money, Kang-jae decides to take on the arranged marriage. Having nothing more than a picture of Kang-jae, Failan spends her days dreaming and wishing that Kang-jae would come to visit her. Failan often writes to Kang-jae in sorrow about how much she misses and thinks about him, but never has the nerve to give the letters to Kang-jae. Things take a turn when Kang-jae is asked by his boss to take the fall for a murder in exchange for some money. The only hope in his worthless life is the wife he never met. ===== Wyoming ranch hand Vern Haskell is enraged when his fiancee Beth Forbes is abused and murdered during a store robbery. He sets out after the two thieves, first with a posse, then by himself. He finds one of them, Whitey, shot in the back by his partner after a quarrel. Whitey's dying words, "Chuck-a-luck", are the only clue to the second man's identity. After questioning everyone he meets, Vern finally finds someone who lets slip that a woman named Altar Keane is connected with Chuck-a-luck. When the man realizes that Vern is just fishing for information, Vern is forced to kill him in self- defense. Vern is taken into custody, then released when the dead man is identified as a wanted outlaw. By a stroke of luck, a deputy knows Altar as a saloon singer from his past, though not her current whereabouts. Vern learns that after Altar quit working for saloon owner Baldy Gunder, she bet her last $20 on his rigged chuck-a-luck game and won a lot of money, with gunslinger Frenchy Fairmont stepping in to help her. In the town of Gunsight, Vern learns that Frenchy is in jail, so he deliberately gets himself arrested. After they break out, Frenchy takes Vern to the Chuck-a-Luck, a horse ranch near the Mexican border owned by Altar. The ranch is a hideout available to any outlaw who is willing to pay 10% of his ill-gotten gains. Vern finds a bunch of men in residence, but has no idea if the killer is one of them. One does, however, recognize him. The newcomer quickly catches Altar's eye. One night, Vern notices that Altar is wearing a brooch that he gave to Beth. He sets out to romance Altar to find out who gave it to her. This makes Frenchy very jealous. Vern is forced to go along on a bank robbery, during which one of the others, Kinch, secretly shoots at him. When he takes Altar her share of the proceeds, she finally informs him that Kinch gave her the jewelry. Vern reveals his true purpose and his disdain for Altar's profession. Altar is shamed, and decides to give it all up. However, before she can leave, a gunfight breaks out between Vern and Frenchy on one side and the rest of the outlaws on the other. Altar is killed protecting Frenchy. Kinch also dies, ending Vern's quest. ===== When a Parisian couple, Pierre and Anne, go to see a film, it bothers Pierre that Anne rejects his hand during the screening. Afterwards Anne tells Pierre that she 'thinks she has fallen in love with someone else'. Pierre hears the news without responding. Both seem determined to remain composed and deal with Anne's love interest and Pierre's hurt pride rationally. Pierre discusses the situation with mutual friends but their reassurances are little comfort. Anne's new relationship make Pierre stressed. An added complication of their 18-month-old son. Despite the presence of a nanny, each find reason to claim the other is neglecting him. Paranoia and recrimination escalate. Fights break out, most bitterly after Pierre discovers that Anne has taken their son to her mother's house. Pierre surprises Anne at work and asks to talk. He is more composed and tells her that he has decided he must leave. Anne reciprocates with the news that her affair has ended. Digesting this news with the same outward calm as at the beginning of the film, Pierre walks Anne back to their flat. He feels unable to go in. Instead he wanders the streets, uncertain what to do and unable to hail a stream of passing taxis. ===== Mickey conducts a radio orchestra who performs the Franz von Suppé's Light Cavalry Overture. The sponsor (Pete under the name Mr. Macaroni) loves the rehearsal and agrees to have it shown in concert. On the night of the performance, everyone is soon ready, except, of course, for Goofy, who accidentally drops all the instruments under an elevator, severely damaging them and thus rendering them unable to make proper musical sounds. Mickey is left unaware of the unfortunate mishap until the time to go on the air and the musicians starts to "play" the damaged instruments. Throughout the outrageous concert, Mickey struggles with anxiety while Macaroni throws a tantrum inside his private viewing room. Macaroni is reduced to tears when the concert ends, believing his reputation to be ruined, but lightens up when he hears the thunderous applause from the audience. Besides Goofy, other members of the orchestra include Donald Duck, Clara Cluck, Clarabelle Cow and Horace Horsecollar. At one point, Donald is so fed up with the chaos caused by the damaged instruments that he packs his things and leaves. However, Mickey, who is determined to carry on come what may, points a gun at Donald's head to prevent him from leaving. The shot of the gun would be cut in some television prints. ===== Faith has always been a loner. Growing up in a broken home in South Boston, shuffled from relative to relative, her only companion was an imaginary friend named Alex, who helped her escape into a fantasy world of monsters and the supernatural, far from the real-life horrors of the waking world. Now, taken away from her mother by Social Services and shipped off to a foster home, Faith learns that some nightmares are all too real, that the inventions of her childhood really do haunt the night, hungry for blood. Enter Diana Dormer, a Harvard professor and representative of the Watchers' Council who has come to tell Faith of her destiny, to train her, to prepare her for what is to come: Faith is the Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. But she's not alone. When Alex, her childhood companion, returns in her dreams, she warns Faith that someone else is coming for her, a force so deadly and unforgiving that it has inspired fear in the underworld for a thousand generations. Its name is Malice. As memory and fantasy begin to merge, Faith's two worlds collide, with cataclysmic results. A violent battle for the soul of the Slayer is staged, winner take all. ===== The Benson family takes their first trip to Dark Falls to meet with the local real estate agent Compton Dawes, and see their new home. Mr. Benson inherited a house that belonged to his late great-uncle that he didn't even know existed. Amanda Benson, her little brother Josh, and their dog Petey immediately sense that something is not quite right. Despite the fact that it is the middle of July, the entire neighborhood seems covered in an artificial darkness created by the shadows of massive, overhanging tree limbs. Dead brown leaves, shade, and shadows are everywhere. Then there is the creepy old house, that appears to have been built many years ago. It is an enormous, dark, antique home with two large bay windows on the second floor that look eerily like a pair of dark eyes staring down at the street below. While Josh proceeds to impatiently whine in protest over the family move and how tragic it is for him, Mr. Dawes welcomes the family into the home. Whilst exploring her new room, Amanda watches with amazement as she catches a glimpse of a boy standing in the doorway, before quickly disappearing down the hall. Amanda feels much better after seeing her bedroom. She goes outside to tell Josh about it, but both he and Petey are gone. Mr. Dawes offers to provide directions while the family drive around town to find the missing pair. On the way Amanda finds it odd that there aren't any people in the houses or yards, or even on the street. Eventually, the group find Josh trying to catch Petey amongst the gravestones of the Dark Falls cemetery. The kids' father Jack ends up catching Petey and putting him on a leash despite how frantic his behavior is. The family then drops off Mr. Dawes at his real estate office in Dark Falls, where he mentions to the Bensons that they can come back the following week to finalize the contracts for the house. After an eventful first visit, the Benson family leave Dark Falls and head back home to their old neighborhood. Amanda's best friend, Kathy, comes over on the family's last night in their old house, reassuring Amanda that Dark Falls is only four hours away. The following morning is moving day, and it's a rainy, windy arrival in Dark Falls for the family at their new house. Amanda keeps seeing other children in her home and hearing strange sounds. Amanda and Josh start meeting the locals, such as Ray Thurston who seem friendly enough, but also seem a bit strange and off-putting. Both Ray and a girl named Karen claim they used to live in their house. Two weeks later, Petey goes missing and they can't seem to find him. That night, Josh comes into Amanda's room and theorizes that Petey went into the cemetery, just like last time. When they head out to check, they bump into Ray, who warns them about being out so late. In the cemetery, they find gravestones with their new friends names on them, including Ray's. Ray confirms that it is his, and he is actually one of the living dead. Once a year, they must have the blood from a freshly killed person to sustain their "living dead" existence for another year. They killed Petey because dogs always sense the living dead. Ray attacks Amanda but Josh saves her at the last moment, when he shines his light on Ray's face. This results in Ray disintegrating and becoming a pile of bones. Amanda and Josh run home but when they arrive, they are attacked by the dead children who explain that there is no dead great-uncle and that the letter sent to their parents was a trick to bring the Benson family to Dark Falls. Suddenly Mr. Dawes, the real estate agent, appears at the door and the dead children vanish. He tells them that he has already found their parents and that he will take the kids to join their parents. Although Amanda and Josh think he's saving them at first, a gravestone reveals Mr. Dawes is also dead. He explains to the children that Dark Falls used to be a normal town years ago, but a yellow gas escaped from a nearby factory and spread throughout the town, transforming the citizens into the undead. Amanda and Josh manage to escape Mr. Dawes after Josh hits him on the head with his flashlight. It turns out the dead children are zombies that crumble under light, and they knock down a tree to kill all of the living dead. They rescue their parents and go home to quickly pack up. As the Benson family is leaving Dead House, they see a new family on the driveway. Amanda notices that these people are being guided by someone that looks like Mr. Dawes. She brushes this off and tells one of the kids that she used to live in their house, and the Benson family drives away. ===== The Scooby Gang are coming to the end of their Senior year at High School, Buffy Summers is busy making battle plans. Willow has time to pick up the High School Yearbook for her. Once the gang could relax knowing that high school truly was over, Xander, Oz, Cordelia, Giles, Angel and others scrawled notes in Buffy's yearbook to make it special. It is now full of notes, photos and in-jokes only the Scoobies understand and appreciate, having fought on the Hellmouth for three years and survived High School. This book was an oddity in the release of Buffy publications by Pocket Books, it was neither a novelization of an episode, nor an original novel, but instead a fictional school yearbook. It featured "inscriptions" from characters on the front inside cover; Willow, Xander, Oz, Giles, Cordelia, Angel, Anya, Wesley, Snyder, Joyce, Jonathan, Harmony, Larry, and Devon. It also included inscriptions from the crew-folk on the back inside cover. In the "In Memoriam" section Willow mentions Harmony's absence but she doesn't know Harmony is dead until "The Harsh Light of Day". Category:1999 books Category:Books based on Buffy the Vampire Slayer Category:Yearbooks ===== The robot Ultron, wanting revenge on the superhero team the Avengers for constant defeats, places a document detailing their downfall in a time capsule. When the time-travelling villain Kang the Conqueror finds the document centuries later, and having been thwarted by the Avengers himself, he travels back to their time to kill the team. The old Avengers, however, have disbanded and been replaced by a less dedicated group. Kang kills the entire team by detonating a nuclear weapon over Avengers Mansion. With many of the old Avengers such as Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch either dead or missing for years, Henry Pym reluctantly forms another team. The unit consists of his wife the Wasp; Hawkeye and his wife Mockingbird; the mutant Cannonball; sorcerer Tommy Maximoff (son of the android Vision and the Scarlet Witch); Jessie Wingfoot (daughter of She-Hulk and Wyatt Wingfoot) and two mercenaries called Hotshot and Bombshell, supposed children of the Black Knight and Hercules respectively. In a flashback, it is shown that Wonder Man and Tigra died in a fight with a surprisingly evil Hulk, who, after Tigra tries to claw his eyes out over his treachery, promptly and brutally tears her in two right in front of her good friend Wonder Man's eyes. In his rage Wonder Man takes on the Hulk. After a long battle Hulk is actually able to penetrate Wonder Man's impervious skin, to the shock and amazement of both. Wonder Man uses the opportunity to grab and hold Hulk as he ignites the radioactive fluid leaking from his chest subsequently killing both of them and blinding Hawkeye. Together Pym's team confronts Kang—now allied with Ultron, the new Grim Reaper and a creature called Oddball—and in a battle to the death, many of the Avengers are murdered before finally killing all the villains. Hawkeye discovers that Captain America, who was formerly President of the United States and believed assassinated, is still alive and recuperating, and had watched the entire battle.The Last Avengers Story #1–2 (November–December 1995) ===== Idealistic young writer Adam Trainsmith meets Chandler Tate, a former director of classic comedies, who makes a living by directing a never-ending soap opera. The leading-role android makes a series of mistakes. Supporting role android JC-F31-333, spots his lapses and laughs. Later on, while Adam is watching old slapstick comedy, JC-F31-333 laughs again. She is afraid that the sense of humour is a production fault. Adam sees it as an advantage. He nicknames his favourite android Jacie and persuades Chandler that they should make a comedy for her. Regional TV director Carla Pepperbloom threatens to ruin the project. She is jealous of Adam's sympathy for talented Jacie and orders the android's memory wiped. Adam panics and decides to kidnap Jacie. While on the escape, Adam and Jacie fall in love. ===== Five years after the destruction of Jamahl, Earth has returned to peace again. The Earth Academia has become the , a scientific research organization, where Takuya Kai works with Sage Guru on a new generation of Insect Armor in the event of another threat to the Earth. This threat is realized when a Cosmo Academia exploration submarine comes across a fissure in the ocean floor, out of which rises a huge flying fortress of the ancient tribe Melzard. This clan has been resting for millennia and seeks to destroy mankind. Matriarch Mother Melzard sends her oldest sons Raija and Dezzle to lead the attack with Raija's Elebamamoth. By then, Guru has infused the Neo Insect Armor with Insect Power, creating the three Command Voicers to link three humans with the armor. Kengo Tachibana and Ran Ayukawa, who have been selected to wear the new armor, ready themselves and become B-Fighter Kuwagar and B-Fighter Tentou. But the person to become B-Fighter Kabuto had not been chosen when the remaining Command Voicer flies out the window. Ran and Kengo follow it to meet Kouhei Toba, a star athlete at his school who is losing badly to Elebammoth who froze the boy's sister as the last Command Voicer flies into his hand. Kengo and Ran are shocked that this high school student is to be B-Fighter Kabuto, but they go to him and teach him how to transform. He changes into Kabuto and the three of them attack Elebammoth and several henchmen, with Kabuto killing Elebammoth. Refusing to accept defeat, Mother Melzard continues her attacks, with Raija and Dezzle working against each other in their attacks on the B-Fighters. ===== The story, set in 1968, the year of the Prague Spring and the Soviet invasion, features a planned escape to the West and the arrest of one of its central characters for desertion from the army. The main couple, Tereza and Šimon, struggles to enjoy the free spirit of the times in spite of the turbulent political circumstances. ===== The film opens with Tod and Copper chasing a cricket together. They see a line of trucks bringing the county fair to town, and Copper is mesmerized by the sound of dogs singing together in an old school bus with "The Singin' Strays" painted on the side. The pair are eager to go see the fair, but when Copper's clumsy tracking skills disappoint his master Amos Slade yet again, the pup is tied up in the yard while Slade and Chief go to the fair without him. Tod arrives and pulls Copper's collar off, and the pair head to the fair. Tod and Copper get to meet The Singin' Strays. The band has five members: Dixie (Saluki), Cash (Spanish Hound), Granny Rose, and twin brothers Waylon and Floyd (Bloodhounds). It is important that they perform well because a talent scout from the Grand Ole Opry will be at the fair. Cash and Dixie get into an argument, and Dixie walks off before their performance, forcing them to go on stage without her. During the show, Copper sings along, and Cash invites the pup up on stage to sing with them. The musical number is a success. Cash invites Copper to join the band, which he does after Tod lies that Copper is a stray. Copper spends the entire day with Cash, forgetting his promise to watch fireworks with Tod. Dixie finds Tod and sympathizes with his feelings of abandonment. During their conversation, Tod lets it slip that Copper is not a stray. Dixie then hatches a plan to get Copper kicked out of the band. Tod sneaks into Chief's barrel, luring him and Slade to the fair in a wild chase. The chase leads to widespread mayhem in the fair, and the Singin' Strays' performance is sabotaged right in front of the talent scout Mr. Bickerstaff. Copper is fired from the band and returns home with Slade. Granny Rose and the rest of the members of Cash's band feel quite sorry for Copper about this and therefore the band breaks up, this causes Cash to accuse Dixie for her actions. Copper ends his friendship with Tod for ruining everything. Tod is brought home by his owner, Widow Tweed. Along the way, Tweed narrowly misses being hit by the talent scout's car, and Bickerstaff's hat flies off and lands on Tod. The following day, Tod and Copper reconcile and restore their friendship. Hoping to amend for his doings, Tod gives Bickerstaff's hat to Copper, who uses it to track down the talent scout at a local diner. Tod tricks Cash and Dixie into thinking the other is in trouble, and the entire band end up meeting up at the diner. Copper convinces the band the importance of harmony, and The Singin' Strays howl a reprise of their song We're in Harmony, attracting the attention of the talent scout and reuniting the band. Impressed with the band, he arranges for the dogs to perform at the Grand Ole Opry. The film ends with Copper choosing to leave the band and play with Tod again. ===== Not so long ago a promising young short story writer, Billy Wiles has not even turned on his PC since his fiancée Barbara fell into a coma several years ago. Leading the life of a recluse who spends his spare time alone at home doing woodwork, he leaves his secluded house only when he goes to work as a bartender. An orphan, he associates with only a few people, and he considers them acquaintances rather than friends. Wiles' life takes a dramatic turn when he finds a piece of paper stuck to his windshield which contains an ultimatum (see book cover, below). He decides not to go to the police and to consult someone he knows who happens to be in the police force instead. Together, although not thoroughly convinced, the two men decide that the note must have been some sick joke. The following day, however, a cruel murder is reported which exactly fits the description given in advance by the alleged joker. Two more notes follow in quick succession, and only when they become increasingly personal does Wiles realize that he has not been chosen at random by the person he comes to think of as "the freak". For example, shortly after receiving a cryptic message saying Are you prepared for your first wound? he is physically assaulted by the mask-wearing killer. When Wiles recovers from the shock and the pain he realizes that the psychopath has driven three large fish hooks under the skin of his forehead. Acts of violence like the one depicted above lead the third person narrator to reflect on the society we live in: The first ultimatum set by "the freak" > "Not long ago in the history of the world, routine daily violence--excluding > the ravages of nations at war--had been largely personal in nature. Grudges, > slights to honor, adultery, disputes over money triggered the murderous > impulse. :"In the modern world, more in the postmodern, most of all in the > post-postmodern, much violence had become impersonal. Terrorists, street > gangs, lone sociopaths, sociopaths in groups and pledged to a utopian vision > killed people they did not know, against whom they had no realistic > complaint, for the purpose of attracting attention, making a statement, > intimidation, or even just for the thrill of it. :"The freak, whether known > or unknown to Billy, was a daunting adversary. Judging by all evidence, he > was bold but not reckless, psychopathic but self-controlled, clever, > ingenious, cunning, with a baroque and Machiavellian mind. :"By contrast, > Billy Wiles made his way in the world as plainly and directly as he could. > His mind was not baroque. His desires were not complex. He only hoped to > live, and lived on guarded hope." (Chapter 14) Although Wiles does check on each of the few acquaintances he has, he cannot at first decide which of them, if any, might be the freak. Eventually he focuses his attention on Steve Zillis, one of his workmates. It soon turns out, however, that Zillis has a watertight alibi for the time when some of the crimes were committed, and Wiles ends up none the wiser. Wiles has very clear reasons for not involving the police. Right from the beginning of his nightmarish adventure, he has a hunch that circumstantial evidence, possibly planted by the killer, would turn him into the prime suspect: In the eyes of the police, he would be the perpetrator rather than one of the victims. Also, as more murders are committed, he realizes that he might endanger Barbara's life. In the end Wiles finds out that the psychopath sees his crimes as a work of art rather than, say, a game (cf. for example Gentlemen & Players). He discovers that the freak is the artist, Valis, and confronts him. After a short discussion, Billy sprays Valis with Mace and shoots him dead. Returning home, Billy mistakenly assumes that he and Barbara are safe; however, when he replays the video camera, he sees Zillis in his house, and realises that Valis and Zillis were working together. He manages to catch up with Zillis before he can kill Barbara, and after driving him out into the country, kills Zillis. The book ends with Billy (now called Bill) caring for Barbara in his own home. At the very end of the book, Barbara's eyes open and she comments on a flock of Barn Swallows flying past. While her eyes close again, the ending seems promising for her imminent recovery. ===== The film begins with the Spice Girls performing "Too Much" on Top of the Pops, but they become dissatisfied with the burdens of fame and fortune. Meanwhile, sinister newspaper owner Kevin McMaxford (Barry Humphries) is attempting to ruin the girls' reputation for his newspaper's ratings. McMaxford dispatches photographer Damien (Richard O'Brien) to take pictures and tape recordings of the girls. Less threatening but more annoying is Piers Cuthbertson-Smyth (Alan Cumming), who stalks the girls along with his camera crew, hoping to use them as subjects for his next project. At the same time, the girls' uptight manager, Clifford (Richard E. Grant) and his sympathetic assistant Deborah (Claire Rushbrook), are fending off two over- eager Hollywood writers, Martin Barnfield and Graydon (George Wendt and Mark McKinney), who relentlessly pitch absurd plot ideas for a feature film for the Spice Girls. Amid this, the girls must prepare for their live concert at the Royal Albert Hall in three days, the biggest performance of their career. At the heart of it, the constant practices, traveling, publicity appearances, and other burdens of celebrity affect the girls on a personal level, preventing them from spending much time with their pregnant best friend, Nicola (Naoko Mori), who is due to give birth soon. Throughout the busy schedule, the girls attempt to ask Clifford for time off to spend with Nicola and relax, but Clifford refuses after talking with the head of the girls' record label, the cryptic and eccentric "Chief" (Roger Moore). The stress and overwork compound, which culminate in a huge argument between Clifford and the girls. The girls suddenly storm out on the evening before their gig at the Albert Hall. The girls separately think back on their humble beginnings and their struggle to the top. They reunite by chance outside the now-abandoned café where they practiced during their adolescent years, they reconcile, and decide to take Nicola out dancing. However, Nicola's contractions start at the nightclub and is rushed to the hospital in the girls' bus, giving birth to a healthy baby girl. When Emma notices that the delivery "doctor" has a camera, the girls realize that he is Damien, who runs off with the girls in hot pursuit, only to hit his head after accidentally colliding with an empty stretcher. When Damien sees the girls standing over him, he tells them that they have made him see the error of his ways, and he goes after McMaxford, who is subsequently fired in a "Jacuzzi scandal". After noticing the girls' bus driver, Dennis (Meat Loaf) is missing, Victoria decides to take the wheel. It becomes a race against time as Victoria drives recklessly through London. While approaching Tower Bridge, the bridge begins to raise to let a boat through the River Thames. Victoria drives up the bridge and over the gap. The bus finally lands safely on the other side, but when Emma opens a trapdoor in the floor, she discovers a bomb, and the girls scream before Emma slams the trapdoor shut again. The girls finally arrive at the Royal Albert Hall for their performance and run up the steps. However, the girls have one more obstacle to overcome: a London policeman (Kevin McNally) charges the girls with "dangerous driving, criminal damage, flying a bus without a licence, and frightening the pigeons". Emma pushes forward and tells the policeman that she and the other girls were late for their performance at the Albert Hall. Emma smiles at the policeman, and he lets the girls off for their performance. The film ends when the girls perform their song "Spice Up Your Life" at the start of their Royal Albert Hall concert broadcast live on television around the world. The supporting cast later talk about the girls' film during the closing credits. Mel C breaks the fourth wall and tells the other girls that the outgoing audience is watching them. The girls talk to the audience, commenting on "those two in the back row snogging" and on one's dress, and discuss their film, just minutes before the bomb in their bus explodes, ending the film. ===== When call girl Claudia Draper kills client Allen Green in self-defense, her mother Rose and stepfather Arthur attempt to have her declared mentally incompetent by Dr. Herbert Morrison in order to avoid a public scandal. Claudia knows that, if her parents succeed, she will be remanded to a mental institution indefinitely, so she is determined to prove she is sane enough to stand trial. The attorney her parents hire to defend her quits after Claudia assaults him, so the court appoints public defender Aaron Levinsky to handle her case. She resists him as well until she finally accepts that he is on her side. Aaron begins to probe her background to determine how the child of supposedly model upper middle class parents could find herself in this situation, and with each piece of her past he uncovers, he receives additional, disturbing insight into what brought Claudia to this crossroads in her life. During a cross-examination, it is revealed that Arthur molested Claudia as a child. Finally, Claudia takes the stand in her own defense, and asserts that she is not insane simply because she doesn't fit society's image of what a woman should be. In the end, the judge decides she is competent to stand trial and she leaves the courtroom on her own recognizance while she awaits her trial. The movie ends with information stating Claudia stood trial for first-degree manslaughter, with Aaron as her attorney, and she was acquitted. ===== The film depicts 30 years of Chicano gang life in Los Angeles. It focuses on Montoya Santana, a teen who forms a gang along with his friends J.D. and Mundo. They soon find themselves committing crimes and are arrested. In juvenile hall, Santana murders a fellow inmate who had raped him and as a result, has his sentence extended into Folsom State Prison after he turns 18. A few years later, a now older Santana has becomes the leader of a powerful prison gang, La Eme. Upon his release he tries to relate his life experiences to the society that has changed so much since he left. La Eme has become a feared criminal organization beyond Folsom, selling drugs and committing murder. Santana starts to see the error of his ways but before he can take action, is sent back to prison for drug possession. There, he tells his former lieutenant J.D. that he is no longer interested in leading La Eme. However, following a precedent set by Santana himself earlier in the film, his men murder him to show the other prison gangs that, despite having no leader, they are not weak, and he is stabbed fatally and thrown off the balcony to his death. ===== While there, Lumpawarrump finds a burglar at Han and Leia Solo's apartment and pursues him into Coruscant's dangerous under-levels. Chewbacca and his wife, Mallatobuck, follow their son to find him fighting the burglar in the company of a band of thieves. The burglar and the thieves flee when they arrive. Chewbacca notices that Leia's datapad was stolen by the group. Before they can stop him, Lumpawarrump runs off to recover the datapad. When Chewbacca and Mallatobuck find him again, the burglars are carrying him into one of the secret detention centers Palpatine kept in the undercity. Chewbacca saves Lumpawarrump, but Mallatobuck is taken in his stead and dragged away. Chewbacca and Lumpawarrump learn that the burglars were attempting to assassinate the New Republic's leaders so Chewbacca comms Han to inform him of the plot. Chewbacca and Lumpawarrump invade the enemies' base to find an advanced IT-3 interrogation droid attempting to brainwash Malla into believing that the Solos are a danger to her child. Chewbacca attacks and frees Mallatobuck. Han then arrives with a New Republic security company, chases off the last of the pursuers, and takes Chewbacca to the nearest medical center. Security learns that this was a plot by the presumed deceased Ysanne Isard to seek the destruction of the New Republic's government after the Krytos Virus failed to destroy Coruscant. Han tries to free Chewbacca from his life debt again but the Wookiees refused once again. In the end Lumpawarrump heads back to Kashyyyk after learning a lesson about listening to his parents. ===== Amy Post is a $20-a-trick hooker in Mobile, Alabama. One night she entertains Elmore Pratt, an ex-boxer who has just been fired from his job at a car wash. He cannot pay her for services rendered. Pratt punches a plainclothes police officer. He and the prostitute drive away together, intending to head for California, bickering along the way. ===== In the near future, an atomic disaster has reduced the world to poverty. Instead of a government, America is run by an organization called the Merchants, who exploit the degenerate remains of society. In order to keep control of the populace, the Merchants force Dr. Paul Dean to create a new life form, a parasite that feeds on its host. Realizing the deadly potential of such a being, Dean escapes the Merchants with the parasite, infecting himself in the process. Now on the run, he travels from town to town, studying the parasite so that he can find a way to destroy it, all the while keeping one step ahead of a Merchant named Wolf, who is hunting for him. While resting in a desert town, he is attacked by a gang of hooligans-Dana, Arn, Shell, Bo, and Zeke, led by Ricus, former slave of the Merchants. The gang steal a silver canister containing the parasite, not realizing what it is, and it escapes and infects one of the members. Meanwhile, Paul befriends a pretty young lemon grower named Patricia Welles, who promises to help him destroy the escaped parasite. Ricus, trying to save the life of his friend, comes to Paul for help, only to be confronted by Wolf. Patricia, Paul, and Ricus manage to evade Wolf, but when they return, the parasite has spread to another member and grown into a fleshy worm with a mouthful of deadly teeth. Ricus becomes a turncoat and attempts to help, but ends up getting killed by Wolf. A friendly diner owner, named Collins, comes to aid the group. After Patricia helps kill the parasite bonded to Paul by electrocuting it, the remaining parasite attacks Wolf who is then blown up by Patricia, Paul, and Collins. ===== Alejandro Lopez narrates the events of his father Juan Lopez's life, and how by selling oranges he changed their lives. Juan was born on a strawberry field in Bakersfield, California, but due to hardship, his mother decided to relocate to Mexico. As an undocumented citizen (due to no proof of US citizenship), Juan struggles in Los Angeles not only to get a green card, but to care solely for Alejandro after Juan's wife's death. Juan sells oranges near a freeway. He lives with two roommates and his young son. He loves to cook and feed them creative meals as he tries desperately to raise Alejandro. He is stressed as he battles landlords and immigration. One afternoon, a stranger in a limousine finds Juan, on the street corner, broke. The wealthy stranger realizes the situation and quietly hands to Juan a check for $1 million, but under the condition that he MUST give back all the money in one month. Juan is suspicious and shows the check to Olivia Smith, his son's social worker, who encourages him to follow the directions given him. Instead, he is encouraged by his brothers to use the check to get credit extended to them at several posh Hollywood clothing stores, an exotic car dealership, and more. Juan comes to learn that Olivia is a woman in a difficult and likely dead-end relationship with a bossy businessman who cares little if nothing about her and the lives of the poor, unfortunately in this instance, the less educated Hispanics living and working, doing unskilled work in Metro Los Angeles. Then the fun begins for good-natured Juan Lopez, who has to avoid temptations and the greedy people that who have suddenly popped-up in his life suddenly, but are soon to be part of this brief and fleeting life as a "once upon a time moment as a virtual one month millionaire." Juan begins to realize, money is not everything in one's life despite some very valuable materials things that can come, go, be given, and even taken away. He begins to realize, that the true meaning of life is truly love, family, and happiness, and that money alone isn't the answer. Unfortunately, the millionaire experience begins to wane, ending with an embarrassing but necessary repossession of a luxury sports car and the removal of the tremendous fancy wardrobe. Juan and his brothers are seen shortly thereafter, garbed in their plain and ordinary street clothes; the only thing left are the clothes on their backs. A sad and depressed Juan is back on the street and without his true love who rejected him in favor of the practical but unhappy relationship with the smug, arrogant, but very wealthy businessman boyfriend. Juan is back on the Los Angeles street corner near the highway, selling plastic bags of oranges from a small shopping cart. The stranger appears again, and from his limousine, hands Juan another envelope which contains a piece of paper with a simple address in Central Los Angeles. The stranger tells Juan to go there. Depressed, Juan tells the stranger his earlier efforts brought only unhappiness and disappointment to this life. The stranger tells Juan that it's up to Juan to take a chance in life despite his feelings, that to try and to care in life is hopeless. Later that afternoon, a convertible routinely drives up and stops near Juan. A lady says quietly, but with a big smile: "Oranges, "Por Favor." The movie ends with the promise and hope of a complete and fulfilling future for Juan, his son, brothers, and a few more. ===== The four main characters: Shōhei, Kengo, Hayato and Kōji (from left) Four schoolboys find themselves the last virgins left at school. During the summer holidays, a girl they knew as children 11 years ago, moves back to the neighborhood. Despite their childhood attraction to her, they realize she is a mere shadow of the "princess" they all thought they knew. This story of summer - love, friendship, school, family, the hypocrisy of adults, complications of life, experience and failure is set in an everyday shopping district and shows the clumsiness of children who have developed a little later than their peers. ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== ===== The events of Mythago Wood occur between 1946 and 1948. Stephen Huxley returns from service (after recuperating from his war wounds) to see his elder brother Christian, who now lives alone in their childhood home, Oak Lodge, just on the edge of Ryhope Wood. Their father, George, has died recently (their mother, Jennifer, died some years earlier). Christian is disturbed but intrigued by his encounters with one of the mythagos, while Stephen is confused and disbelieving when Christian explains the enigma of the wood. Both had seen mythagos as children, but their father explained them away as travelling Gypsies. Christian returns to the wood for longer and longer periods, eventually assuming a mythical role himself. In the meantime Stephen reads about his father's and Edward Wynne-Jones's studies of the wood. Part of his research on the wood causes him to contact Wynne-Jones's daughter, Anne Hayden. Stephen also meets a local man named Harry Keeton, a burn-scarred ex-RAF pilot, who encountered a similar wood when he was shot down over France and has since been trying to find a city that he saw there. Stephen and Harry try to survey and photograph Ryhope Wood from the air, but their small plane is buffeted back by inexplicable winds each time they try to fly over the trees. Stephen soon has his own encounters with the woodland mythagos (and an older Christian) and eventually, to save both his brother and a mythago girl named Guiwenneth (also referred to as Gwyneth or Gwyn), he ventures deep into the wood, accompanied by Harry.Larson, Eugene Classics of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, ed. Fiona Kelleghan (Pasadena: Salem Press, 2002), pages 381-384.The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, eds. John Clute and John Grant (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997), pages 474-475, 674. ===== After the tail section of the plane crashes into the water off the beach, the survivors swim ashore. Mr. Eko pulls a young girl (Emma) out of the water, and Ana Lucia Cortez performs CPR on her, saving her life. Ana and Eko then go to aid more people, leaving the girl and her brother in the care of Cindy Chandler. Libby helps a man, later to be identified as Donald, by setting his broken leg. A man runs out of the jungle asking for help, saying there's someone alive in the jungle. The man, "Goodwin", brings Ana to Bernard, who is still belted into his airplane seat, stuck up in a tree. Ana coaxes him to grab the tree branch, just before the seat crashes to the ground. Back on the beach, Goodwin, who claims to be in the Peace Corps, builds a signal fire. That night, three of the adults are taken and Eko kills two of the "Others" with a rock when they try to take him. From that night on, he refuses to speak. Despite this incident, nobody organizes shifts to guard the group. Three survivors die from injuries on the second through fourth day. A survivor who identifies himself as Nathan suggests staying on the beach, and the group does so. On the fifth day, Donald dies from the leg injury and is buried. On the twelfth day, the Others take nine more, including Emma and her brother Zack; Zack is shown holding a teddy bear in this episode, and this shows that he is the boy Mr. Eko and Jin saw when they hid from the Others in ...And Found (they observed that same teddy bear). Ana manages to kill another one, who is discovered to be carrying an antique United States Army knife and a list of the nine to be taken, along with their descriptions. While trying to sort out what happened, the notion of an infiltrator in their midst is discussed, as well as a proposal to leave the beach. The survivors opt to head into the jungle. They make a camp near a source of fresh water and fruit trees. Ana digs a pit, which she turns into a cage. As soon as it is done, she knocks Nathan unconscious and throws him into the pit. She interrogates him, believing he is one of those who took the children, due to his unexplained absences and how nobody remembered seeing him on the plane. When asked where he came from, he replies Canada (this is the same country that Ethan Rom, another member of the Others who antagonized Jack's group during season one, claimed to hail from). She begins starving him, demanding to know the location of the children, but Mr. Eko feeds him when she is not looking. Ana tells Goodwin she intends to start torturing Nathan the next day. That night, Goodwin frees Nathan, warning him of Ana's plan; when Nathan turns to leave, Goodwin breaks his neck, revealing to the viewers that he is the infiltrator. The survivors move again and find the bunker marked by a DHARMA Initiative logo, with an arrow in the center. Inside a box they find a glass eye, a Bible and a radio. Goodwin and Ana go to higher ground to try to pick up a signal. While there, Ana reveals that she knows Goodwin is one of the Others, because on the first day, he ran out of the jungle with his clothes completely dry, ten minutes after the plane crashed into the water. Goodwin admits he killed Nathan, saying that he thought that if Ana tortured him and he didn't say anything, than Ana might view Nathan as innocent, and thus he'd no longer be a scapegoat. Goodwin comments that those taken were "good people", and that Nathan was not on the list because he was "not a good person", and states that the children are fine but doesn't elaborate on where they or any of the other captives are. The two fight; when they roll down a hill, Ana impales him on a sharpened stick (Goodwin's impaled body was seen by Jin and Eko two episodes earlier). Ana returns to the survivors and tells them, "We're safe here now". On the forty-first day, Bernard picks up Boone on the radio, and responds to Boone's "We're the survivors of the crash of Oceanic Flight 815" with "We're the survivors of flight 815." This shows the truth behind what Boone was hearing when he originally made the transmission in a previous episode from the first season. Before any further conversation can take place, Ana turns off the radio, dismissing the transmission as another trick by the Others. Bernard asks how they would know their flight number, but Ana points out that they would know since Goodwin knew, and tells them to accept that this is their new lives. She goes off by herself to cry, and Eko tells her everything will be all right. She tells him it took him forty days to speak; he tells her it took her forty days to cry. Soon after, Cindy and Libby find Jin washed up on the shore. After pulling him from the water, they tie him up and blindfold him while they try to find out who he is. As Eko and Ana Lucia argue, Jin breaks free and runs to the beach. The remainder of the episode is shown as a montage of the events already seen in the episodes "Orientation" through "Abandoned", including the tail-section survivors' acceptance of Jin, Sawyer and Michael, the trek to the midsection's camp, Sawyer falling ill, Cindy listening to the forest's whispers just before she is "taken", and the shooting of Shannon by Ana Lucia. ===== The Walkers help Jim Brading, who was given the sailing cutter Goblin by his uncle, moor her when he misses the buoy. In return he invites them to sail aboard Goblin. Mother agrees provided that they stay within the estuary of the rivers Orwell and Stour, do not pass the Beach End buoy at the mouth of the rivers, and do not go out to sea. These conditions are imposed because of the imminent arrival of their father. The children promised to abide by these conditions. However, on the second morning during a calm, the engine runs out of petrol; Jim had used it for some time the night before last. So, leaving the children aboard the anchored Goblin Jim rows ashore in his dinghy, the Imp, to catch a bus to a garage in order to fill a petrol can - however he does not return, leaving the Goblin without her captain. An unexpected bank of fog then drifts over the river, and reduces visibility to zero. Some hours later, after hearing the anchor drag in the fog, the Walkers realise that the tide has risen, the anchor chain is now too short, and they are drifting down river. While attempting to put out more chain, John loses the main anchor, tries to lower the spare (kedge) anchor but it fails, leaving the yacht drifting out beyond Beach End into the North Sea. Aboard the drifting boat, John decides that it is safer to hoist the sails and go farther out to sea rather than stay near the shore among the sandbanks and shoals of the estuary, with the risk of being wrecked in the fog. A strengthening wind blows away the fog after a couple of hours, only for blinding rain to replace it. Susan is meanwhile wracked with guilt over the breaking of their promises and is also very seasick - Titty has a bad headache and has to lie down. As darkness closes in, they attempt to put about to return to the river, but find that sailing against the now storm-force wind is impossible, so run eastward with the wind. The Goblin sails east through the night in hazardous conditions. John has to leave Susan at the helm while he reefs the mainsail. He is almost swept overboard, but succeeds in his objective. They are then nearly run down by a ship as the navigation lights are out of paraffin - Titty improvises with a powerful torch and a red translucent plate. Meanwhile at Pin Mill Mother is wakened by the storm and is worried, although she tries to hide it from Bridget. At dawn next morning, as the wind is slackening, John persuades Susan to continue to the nearest port rather than trying to return to Harwich. They rescue a kitten, whom they name Sinbad, floating on a chicken coop. John then sights an unknown coast; they identify some fishing boats as Dutch, which means it is the Netherlands. Jim has warned them about longshore sharks who might claim salvage if asked for help. But they see a pilot boat, and pick up a Dutch pilot. As they do not want the pilot to know they are alone, John alone remains on deck, pretending to be a cabin boy ("a sort of Roger"), which fools the pilot long enough to help them enter the harbour. They arrive safely in Flushing at the same time as their absent father is leaving on a ferry to Harwich. Their father leaves the ferry just in time and returns to help them deal with the pilot, who is so taken with their story that he forgoes his fee and helps them prepare for their return. Their father sends some carefully worded telegrams to Pin Mill, and as the children sleep, sails the Goblin back to England the following night. On arriving in Harwich harbour, the Goblin and its crew are reunited with Jim Brading, who is looking for his missing yacht. The absent skipper had been unconscious in hospital for two days, suffering from concussion - he had got off his motor bus by the Garage, in his haste started to cross the road without looking and was hit by another bus coming the other way. They all sail up the river to be reunited with Mother and confess what had happened. ===== ===== ===== ===== The game opens with Scooby-Doo and the gang visiting Fred's cousin Jed at his special effects movie studio and factory Monstrous Fright and Magic or M.F.M., but once they get there, Jed is missing, and his animatronics have gone haywire. They find M.F.M. CEO Winslow Stanton and his assistant Marcy, who inform them Jed is responsible for sabotaging M.F.M. and has not only stolen some expensive animatronics but also a large supply of Mubber (a special compound used make animatronics into life-like special effects monsters). Scooby and the gang thus take it upon themselves to track down Jed and recover the stolen items. Their first stop is the local Chinatown, where they meet Maggie Xi, who warns them that the demonic sorcerer Zen Tuo has disrupted the local festival she is organizing before disappearing when a dragon roar is heard. Scooby finds clues and searches alleys, a sewer, a dojo, and a fortune cookie factory to track down Zen Tuo, save Shaggy and Daphne, and battle Zen Tuo's dragon in a kung fu costume made of Mubber. Zen Tuo turns out to be Xi in disguise, as Velma admits she gave it away when disappearing into the sewer entrance when they first met, using the dragon as a distraction. Maggie Xi cackles as her body disintegrates, revealing that she is one of the stolen animatronics, with a male voice coming through a hidden device telling the gang that they "can't catch what they can't hold!". Though Fred knows that the voice might be Jed, he remains in disbelief. Velma tracks the signal from the device to the Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Land amusement park where a man named Alvin Wiener informs the gang that a masked musician, the Guitar Ghoul, has scared off all the other guests. Scooby finds clues that tell of disturbing events (rides going havoc, animatronics chasing people, etc.). In time, Shaggy falls down a slide, promoting Scooby to save him. After a scare from the Guitar Ghoul, the two meet Nikki Starlight, who claims to be the Guitar Ghoul's girlfriend. Afterward, Daphne is trapped in a cage in a circus tent and is saved by Scooby in a new gliding costume. Regrouping, the Guitar Ghoul mocks the gang, as Scooby finds his location in a house of mirrors and defeats him. The Guitar Ghoul is revealed to be Alvin, as Velma reveals that he is really a failed musician who blamed the Guitar Ghoul for ruining his career. Nikki reveals herself as the real Guitar Ghoul, having done so to keep her private life secret. Velma tells Scooby to smell Alvin's costume, revealing it to be Mubber as Alvin admits he doesn't know the name of the person who gave him the suit. Nikki thanks the gang for saving her reputation and tells them to go to a private natural history museum where M.F.M. worked on some of the exhibits. There, the gang learn that a Caveman haunts the museum and a pterodactyl takes Shaggy when he goes looking for food, promoting Scooby to save him again. Saving Shaggy, Scooby finds a large bone in the tar pit. Scooby later finds a contract from Stanton and gives it to Velma, as Fred and Daphne are trapped in a cage but are then freed by Scooby in his archer costume. The gang confronts the Caveman, defeating him. The Museum's head of security, Joseph Grimm, is revealed to be the Caveman as part of a scheme to sell the valuable petroleum deposits located under the Museum. Velma correctly deduces from this chain of events that Stanton is responsible for the thefts, having framed Jed and sent the gang on a wild goose chase to distract them. The gang heads back to Monstrous Fright and Magic to confront Stanton, finding Jed stuffed inside a costume where Stanton trapped him when he learned of his plans. Stanton's voice is heard over a microphone, and he summons a giant Pterodactyl robot to battle them. Scooby defeats the Pterodactyl and reaches Stanton's location. The real Stanton appears behind the group; a UV light reveals that "Stanton" is Marcy in a Mubber disguise. Marcy tells them that she wanted revenge for Stanton taking all the credit on the creation of Mubber, which they both made together. Begging for forgiveness, Marcy and Stanton console and Stanton agrees to let her be a full partner in his company. The game ends with Shaggy making a Mubberwich (a sandwich with mubber); before he can eat it, Scooby uses the light to disintegrate it. Velma replies "Now that's what I call a "light" snack!" with the gang laughing, and another mystery solved. ===== ===== ===== ===== Aaron has become ill with a rash and fever, and Claire sets off in the night to find Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox). John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) intercedes and goes instead of her. While Locke is gone, Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan) appears and tells Claire that Aaron is "infected." Claire has a flashback where she remembers being injected with a needle while pregnant. Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) sends Rousseau away, though Claire is now convinced that something is seriously wrong with Aaron. Jack assures Claire that Aaron is fine and the fever will soon break, but Claire is unsure. She speaks to Libby (Cynthia Watros), who helps her recall memories from the two weeks when she was abducted by an Other named Ethan (William Mapother). Claire remembers what resembles a doctor's office and Ethan giving her injections. She was confused (apparently drugged) during this entire ordeal, and believed that she was still in Australia and about to leave for the United States. Claire enlists Kate to help her find Rousseau, and to find a vaccine she remembered from her memories, believing that it is the cure for Aaron's ailment. Claire asks Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) to take care of Aaron while she is away. Sun tells her that a mother should never leave her child. Claire asks Sun if she is a mother. Sun replies "no", but agrees to watch the baby. The conversation with Sun again triggers a memory of Claire's which Ethan gave her injections before leading her to a baby room, to her surprise. During the escort, Claire observed a lair with a slope and stairs going to a metal wall, as well as a modified Dharma Initiative logo unlike the one in The Swan. She also remembers Ethan talking to an other (M.C. Gainey). The other tells Ethan he is unhappy that Claire was brought to the facility, as "the list" had not been prepared. He also mentions that a higher authority will not be pleased. Ethan tells the other that the survivors had a passenger manifest and knew that he (Ethan) was not on the plane. Claire and Kate soon find Rousseau, who is puzzled by an increasingly irrational Claire. However, Rousseau takes them back to the place where she said she found Claire the night Claire returned to camp after her abduction. There, Claire wants Rousseau to take her to the room with the vaccine and grows accusatory of Rousseau aiding her abduction when Rousseau tells her she doesn't know where the room is. Claire suddenly notices a stump in the jungle that triggers another memory; she remembers Ethan Rom talking to her about leaving the baby with his group when they had a walk out of the facility. Ethan tells Claire that she does have a choice in the matter. Ethan gives Claire some water from a canteen, and she complains of the sour taste. Ethan tells Claire that her baby is one of the "good ones." Investigating further, the three women find a concealed bunker with the DHARMA logo on it. Unlike the swan symbol in the DHARMA logo on the Facility 3 bunker, the symbol on this bunker is a caduceus. Inside, all but one of the lights are out and the bunker appears to be abandoned. Claire finds rooms familiar to her memories, she finds a bootie she crocheted during the last time she was there and puts it in her pack, while Kate investigates another part of the bunker. She discovers a set of lockers. Upon opening one, she discovers tattered clothes, a box containing makeup, theatrical glue, and a beard — all parts of the disguise worn by the other in her previous encounter with him. Claire locates the refrigerator where she remembered the vaccine being stored; it is now empty. She has a flashback of a young teenaged girl (Tania Raymonde) who rescues her from the bunker, telling Claire that the other members of her group plan to take the baby and kill Claire. Rousseau then leaves, telling Claire that she is "not the only one who didn't find what they were looking for." Back in the jungle, Claire has one final flashback where she remembers that Rousseau aided her escape, and was not part of the group that kidnapped her. She asks Rousseau about the baby that the Others took from her sixteen years ago. Claire asks if the child was a girl and Rousseau replies, "Yes, a girl, Alex. Alexandra." Claire then tells Rousseau that a teenaged girl with blue eyes helped her escape. Claire says, "She wasn't like the others. She was good." Rousseau, on the verge of tears, then warns Claire that if Aaron is infected, she knows what she'll have to do. Claire and Kate return to camp, where Jack tells her Aaron's fever has subsided. Claire then takes out the bootie that she found in the bunker and gives it to Aaron. Meanwhile, Jack and Locke are trying to decide what to do about their new prisoner, Henry Gale (Michael Emerson). Locke gives Henry a copy of the Fyodor Dostoyevsky novel The Brothers Karamazov. A minute later, Locke tells Jack that Ernest Hemingway wanted to be the greatest writer in the world, but felt that he could never escape being in the shadow of Dostoyevsky. Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) visits the bunker during this time and figures out what is going on. He asks Jack to let him visit with the prisoner, alone, and Jack agrees after Eko subtly threatens that he will tell the rest of the camp about the prisoner. Eko tells Henry about the two men he killed when they tried to abduct him from his camp. Henry asks why Eko is telling him, and Eko replies that he had to tell someone. Eko threateningly takes out his knife, cuts two knots out of his beard, and leaves. Locke brings dinner to Henry, who strikes up a conversation about Hemingway and Dostoyevsky. Henry had heard the earlier talk about the authors through the thin walls. Henry asks Locke which of the authors he relates to more, but Locke does not have an answer. He then asks Locke why he lets Jack call the shots, but Locke insists that he and Jack make decisions together. Locke locks up Henry and returns to the bunker's kitchen, where he loses his temper and violently sweeps the dishes off the counter (which could be heard by Henry). ===== ===== Antoine, a successful French civil engineer, travels to Tangiers to supervise the construction of buildings for a large media center. His real motivation, however, is to seek out his first love from thirty years before, Cécile. Having discovered that Cécile lives in Tangiers, he begins anonymously sending her roses every day at the radio station where she hosts a French-Arabic program, but she is uninterested in her secret admirer. Cécile, who married a man shortly after ending her relationship with Antoine, only to divorce later, is currently married to a younger man, Nathan, a Moroccan Jewish physician. Antoine has literally counted the days (31 years, 8 months, and 20 days) since he last saw Cécile and has spent years tracking her down. He has come to Morocco expressly to make her fall back in love with him. He has never married and in his obsession to win Cécile's heart he recruits the help of Nabila, his Moroccan assistant, to investigate the possibility of using witchcraft. Antoine and Cécile eventually cross paths in a supermarket when Antoine walks into a plate glass window, injuring his nose, and Nathan, who is with Cécile, rushes over to administer first aid. Around the time Antoine arrives in Tangier, Cécile and Nathan's son, Sami, who lives in Paris, arrives for a visit with his live-in girlfriend, Nadia, and Saïd, her 9-year-old son by another man. Sami often leaves them alone in order to visit with his Moroccan boyfriend Bilal, who briefly lived in Paris and is now looking after a villa for its absent owners. Bilal more or less accepts Sami's ambivalence and they restart their affair. Nadia, meanwhile, hopes to reconnect with her identical twin sister, Aïcha, a conservative observant Muslim who works in a McDonald's, but Aicha is reluctant to see her and after many efforts Nadia manages only a brief glimpse at her sister from afar. When Nadia's addiction to prescriptions pills is exposed by Nathan, Sami decides that is time to return to Paris. Cécile, who is cold and formal, has buried her youthful dreams, coping with life in a state of mild exasperation. Her marriage is less than blissful. Nathan, whose career has stalled, has had several affairs. Eventually Cécile, encouraged by Rachel, a friend and coworker, accepts Antoine's advances, initially proposing a brief fling, rather than his preference for them to grow old together. They make love and Antoine is closer to reaching his goal just when he was losing all hope. However, shortly thereafter, Antoine is involved in a serious accident, trapped in a collapse at the construction site where he works and is hospitalized with a coma. Cécile visits him constantly at the hospital. Cécile and Nathan separate. He moves to Casablanca accepting a new job. It is suggested that he has started a relationship with Aïcha. Bilal is ambivalent about accepting Samis's offer to visit him in Paris. Months later during one of Cécile's hospital visits, Antoine wakes up from his coma, and their hands join. ===== American movie star and sex symbol Marlo Manners (Mae West) is in London, England, where she has just married for the sixth time. She and her new husband Sir Michael Barrington (Timothy Dalton) then depart for a honeymoon suite at a posh and exclusive hotel that has been reserved for them by her manager Dan Turner (Dom DeLuise). The hotel is also the location of an international conference, where leaders have come together to resolve tensions and problems that threaten the survival of the world. As the chairman, Mr. Chambers (Walter Pidgeon) is trying to call the meeting to order, the delegates are crowding to the windows in an effort to catch a glimpse of Marlo when she arrives. As they enter the lobby, Marlo, now Lady Barrington, and her husband, a knight, are swarmed by admirers and reporters. When asked "Do you get a lot of proposals from your male fans?" she quips "Yeah, and what they propose is nobody's business." Once inside their suite, the couple are unable to go to bed and have sex because of constant interruptions due to the demands of her career, such as interviews, dress fittings and photo sessions, as well as the various men, including some former husbands, diplomat Alexei Andreyev Karansky (Tony Curtis), director Laslo Karolny (Ringo Starr), gangster Vance Norton (George Hamilton), and an entire athletic team from the U.S., all of whom want to have sex with her. Meanwhile, Turner desperately searches for an audiotape containing his client's memoirs in order to destroy it. Marlo has recorded extensive details about her affairs and scandals, with a lot of dirt about her husbands and lovers. Ex-husband Alexei, who is the Russian delegate at the conference, threatens to derail the intense negotiations unless he can have another sexual encounter with her. Marlo is expected to work "undercover" to ensure world peace. ===== Mohammad, his wife and their five children live in a large, isolated house located halfway between a Palestinian village and an Israeli settlement. The house, in the crossfire of the two sides, is a strategic lookout point that the Israeli army decides to seize, confining the family to a few downstairs rooms in daytime and a single room at night. Mohammad refuses to leave this home and, reinforced by his principles against violence, decides to find a way to keep his family together in the house until the Israeli soldiers move on. ===== The ambitious Dr. Knock arrives in a rural village, Saint-Maurice, to step into Dr. Parpalaid's footsteps as the local physician. Unfortunately, most of the villagers are in good health. He therefore decides to make everybody believe they are actually far sicker then they actually are... ===== This is the story of an ambitious secretary, Nora (Silvia Derbez), who falls in love for her wealthy boss (Francisco Jambrina), who is married to a respectable woman (Dalia Iniguez), with whom he has a child (Hector Gomez). The provincial cunning, in exchange for caresses, receive gifts and jewelry from her boss which leads him to ruin. In the end, Nora cries in her wedding dress before the mirror, regretting all the damage she did. ===== Anand, a skilled engineering graduate, comes to a village from Madras to work in a cement factory. He is shocked when he learns about the exploitation and mistreatment of the workers there. Arjun, the corrupt manager of the factory, takes half of the wages from every worker as his commission. Anand complains to Ramkumar, the son of the factory owner, who used to be a college friend, and Ramkumar gives Arjun a warning. Meanwhile, Anand befriends Senthamari, a labourer in the factory, and is attracted to Gowri, Senthamari's sister. Gowri has not told anyone that she is affected by a lung disease caused by air pollution. Sudhakar, another labourer in the factory, is affected by the same disease. Dr Prema, a government doctor, informs Sudhakar that the disease has advanced and he needs to be treated in Chennai. Kulashekara Perumal, the factory owner, refuses to provide treatment to Sudhakar, resulting in the latter's death. A distressed Anand pleads with the management to look into the issue and to provide the employees with benefits that they are entitled to receive, but he is refused. Ramkumar tries to get the doctor who treated Sudhaker to issue a false certificate of death, but she refuses. Dr Prema also lets Anand know that she reported the death to the government health ministry, but nothing will be done about it because Ramkumar has bribed all the officials. Anand tries to speak with Ramkumar, but he beats him up. Anand establishes a union at the factory and calls a strike. When Senthamari leaves town to start another job, Ramkumar chases after him and murders him. The new factory manager, Settaya, arranges for Ramkumar to lay low in Chennai, while he buries Senthamari's body in the factory. All the management's attempts to get Anand to call off the strike fail. Settaya files a police report against Anand, accusing him of the attempted murder of Ramkumar. He also promises the factory workers that he will build a new chimney to reduce the air pollution if they call off the strike. A lawyer who is supportive of the factory's trade union bails out Anand and alerts the government to the factory's poor environmental record. The management decides to blow up the factory and claim the insurance money. However, their plan backfires as Anand and his friends spot most of the bombs and dispose of them. The one bomb that they do not remove is in the room where Settaya is hiding; he dies in the subsequent blast. Anand and the rest of the workers assume control of the factory. Dr Prema informs Anand that Gowri will recover from her illness. ===== Detective Sergeant Nicky Cole (Don Gilet) blows the whistle on a senior police officer guilty of corruption in London. Cole is then shunted up North to avoid any difficulties or fallout, and ends up in Newcastle upon Tyne as a Detective Sergeant in a busy CID with the fictional Tyneside Police. To begin with, he finds himself on the night shift and becomes increasingly frustrated at the inspector - DI Carter (Christian Rodska)'s - desire to keep him there despite the fact that his ability and motivation clearly exceed the demands of the job. In the second series he becomes part of the day team and is a key member of the police squad that deals with, over the two series, a wide variety of crimes. Whilst developing his police career, Cole also finds time to help support the family he has brought to the North with him. His uncle, Errol Hill (George Harris), first-generation immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago, and nephew Matty (Jaeden Burke), are an integral part of Cole's life. Cole's relationship with CPS lawyer, Claire Maxwell (Dervla Kirwan), provides another side to the story, as she is juggling work with caring for a baby, and Cole is caught between a rock and a hard place in choosing between her, or the attractive Sergeant, or one of Matty's school teachers. Another relationship developed is one between Cole and Sergeant Astel, who in the very first scene, smashes Cole's brake light after stopping him and not realising his status as a police officer. This awkward start turns into a strange but strong friendship by the end. 55 Degrees North is a police drama at heart, but covers many different aspects of life, including love and relationships and the importance of family. It also touches on such issues as racism and police corruption. Many crimes committed are pertinent to the age, and complex issues such as genetic engineering are tackled. ===== Jonathan Cold (Steven Seagal) is a former-CIA agent now working for himself and offering his services to the highest bidder. Jon is hired to break James Donovan (John Pyper-Ferguson) out of prison. After a successful break, Jon takes James to see his brother, arms dealer Michael Donovan (Julian Stone), who had hired Jon to break James out. In gratitude, the Donovans hire Jon to help sell parts for a small nuclear bomb to Nicholi (Nicholas Davidoff), the leader of a Chechen terrorist group planning to blow up Los Angeles because the CIA killed the group's previous leader. Meanwhile, Jon's former protégé, agent Amanda Stuart (Tamara Davies), is spying on the Donovans for the CIA. The Donovans see her spying on them while dealing with Nicholi. Jon rescues Amanda and takes Michael hostage. Nicholi does not care what happens to Michael, so that does not work as well as it should. Jon and Amanda go on the run, trying to keep the Donovans out of the way and stop Nicholi from blowing up LA. Also, Jon has been framed for the killings of some former CIA co- workers, so there is a shoot-on-sight directive on his head. It will be a miracle if Jon can clear his name and keep Los Angeles from being blown up. ===== Peter, Joe, and Cleveland accompany Quagmire to a sex shop called Pornoslavia. Peter buys an erotic book entitled Much Ado About Humping and finds it disappointing. Peter writes a letter to the author including an example of what he would consider a better writing style for an erotic novel, which impresses his friends when he reads it to them. Encouraged by their enthusiasm, Peter decides to write his own erotic novel, which is received well by all who read it. The novels he authors are converted into audio books read by Betty White, and "published" by Peter's father-in-law, Carter Pewterschmidt, who only gave Peter $5 for photocopies. While listening to one of Peter's audio books, an aroused driver tries to take off his shirt while driving and crashes his car into the Kool-Aid Man's house. The man sues Carter, who is liable as the publisher. Carter immediately loses his fortune. Blaming Peter for his penniless state, Carter arrives at the Griffin house intending to shoot Peter. Lois persuades Carter to spare him, and Peter agrees to let Carter live with them until he has income. Barbara divorces Carter and marries Ted Turner. Peter attempts to teach Carter how to live as a "regular person", but Carter does not acclimate well. Peter and Carter attempt to make money, robbing a train after several other failed attempts, but the robbery is unsuccessful also. Carter punches Peter into the Kool Aid Guy's house after many repairs. As Peter and Carter begin to accept that they will never be rich, Barbara returns and informs Carter that they are rich again, because she has divorced Ted Turner and taken half his assets. Despite Peter's help, Carter abandons him. Lois informs Peter she refused $10 million that her parents offered her 10 years ago because money would just complicate things; as she explains this, Peter fantasizes about killing her. Meanwhile, Stewie trains in gymnastics to participate in the Olympics. ===== The Carstairs family needs a house and the big old brick and stucco place in the country seemed perfect. Why then was Jan so unhappy about it? What was she afraid of? What was in the woods beyond? She had felt it the very first day, walking up to the door. She had known the watcher was there as they knocked and waited for Mrs. Aylwood to come. And the little old woman, glancing at the woods, had known it was there too. They bought the house. Jan had known they would. It was her mother's kind of house. Yet it was Jan who had made the purchase possible. Mrs. Aylwood, who was selling the house only because she had to, had talked to Jan and said, "I'll have to take a chance on you." What chance was that? Moving in, Jan felt the watcher still, but the only concrete evidence was a rash of broken mirrors-all with a large X across the middle. Not until the family went on a picnic near the old pond on the property did more clues come, and then they came as puzzles to be solved, as mysteries to be understood, as incredible facts to be absorbed, and as desperate need begging for prompt action. ===== The story begins in 1965 during the Watts Riots in Los Angeles, California. 23-year-old Lloyd Hopkins is still with the National Guard and is deployed to help handle the situation. It is during this riot that Hopkins kills his first man, a deranged armory sergeant who was hunting down and killing African Americans. Eighteen years later Hopkins is now a sergeant with the LAPD and has the highest number of arrests of any officer in the department's history. He is considered a genius by many of his associates for his uncanny ability to make intuitive leaps of logic when tracking down criminals. Soon his abilities are put to the test when he investigates the brutal murder of a woman who was disemboweled in her apartment. Hopkins quickly deduces that the person responsible for this murder has in fact been killing women since the late 1960s, but has never been caught because he always changes his modus operandi. A subplot of the novel involves Hopkins' relationship with his family. He adores his three daughters and deeply loves his wife, though he is chronically unfaithful to her. His wife loves Lloyd, but begins to realize that his habits are not healthy for their children, particularly his propensity for telling them about the cases that he has worked on. ===== Because the Night features Hopkins investigating a triple murder at a liquor store. Nothing was stolen, leading Hopkins to suspect that the crime was a thrill killing. His investigation crosses paths with psychiatrist John Havilland, who uses drugs and professional expertise to manipulate a small group of followers into crime and debauchery. ===== The player takes control of Willy, a rising young jazz cat in New York City who goes by the stage name of "The Rockin' Kat." However, the local crime boss, Mugsy, kidnaps Willy's girlfriend, Jill. To rescue Jill and defeat the gangster, Willy must venture through seven different levels or "channels" (from a television set) that feature various themes, thugs and bosses. ===== Author Roger Cobb is a troubled man, having been separated from his wife; their only son Jimmy disappeared without a trace and his aunt committed suicide by hanging. On top of everything else, he has been pressured by his publisher to write another book. To the chagrin of his fans and publisher, Cobb plans a novel based on his experiences in the Vietnam War, instead of another horror story, as a way to purge himself of the horrors that he had experienced while there. After his aunt's funeral, Cobb decides to live inside her house to write instead of selling it, as recommended by the estate attorney. After moving in, Cobb begins to have powerful graphic nightmares, including thoughts about his comrade, Big Ben, who died in Vietnam. In addition, strange phenomena spring forth from the house, haunting him in his waking hours. He tries communicating his fears to his next-door neighbor Harold, but Harold thinks that Cobb is crazy. One night while investigating a noise coming from his late aunt's bedroom, Cobb is attacked by a deformed monster inside the closet. Soon, more attacks occur: levitating garden tools attack him, his wife appears and transforms into a hideous hag-like creature to attack him, and gremlin creatures attempt to kidnap a neighbor's child whom Cobb is reluctantly babysitting. Eventually, Cobb discovers an entry into a sinister other-world through the bathroom medicine cabinet and is pulled into the darkness, where he fortuitously locates his lost son Jimmy. Cobb manages to escape with Jimmy but is soon confronted by an undead Big Ben who wants revenge on him; Ben was taken prisoner and tortured before dying, and he blames Cobb for failing to kill him before he could be captured by the enemy. Cobb confronts Ben, no longer afraid of his fears, and destroys him with a grenade as he and his son escape the burning house. In the end, he triumphantly glances back at the house while regaining control of his life and reunites with his wife and child. ===== Tallis Keeton, the younger sister of Harry Keeton (from Mythago Wood), is the protagonist of the story. Lavondyss starts with Tallis's grandfather and his efforts to write down some of his encounters with the mythagos from the nearby Ryhope Wood; Tallis is still a baby at this point. The story soon jumps forward a few years to where Tallis and her development are concentrated upon - it is at this point that the story shows her developing relationship with the land around her house and the mythagos emerging from Ryhope wood. This development continues throughout the book as periods in her life from baby to child to teenager to young woman are shown to the reader. As Tallis' shamanistic powers grow, she undertakes a quest in Ryhope wood to find her lost brother and undergoes a metamorphosis of her own. ===== In 2210, the starship Herodotus left Earth. On board were Julian "Bean" Delphiki and his three infant children – Ender, Carlotta, and Cincinnatus – all of whom have Anton's Key turned. This genetic alteration, which Bean passed to his children, grants them all extremely high intelligence, but causes their bodies to grow uncontrollably, which is likely to kill them by the age of 20. Subjectively, they have been flying near light- speed for five years, but relativistic effects mean that 421 years have passed on Earth – the year is now 2631. When the family left, scientists were actively trying to find a cure for their giantism which would not diminish their intelligence. Several generations have passed, they have been forgotten, and their mother and "normal" siblings having died centuries ago. The children have only been alive for six subjective years. Bean's life has been extended by the low gravity on board the Herodotus, which allows his heart to keep beating despite his increasingly gigantic size. At 4.5 metres tall, Bean must remain in a lying position in the cargo bay so as not to over-exert himself. He controls and watches everything on the ship through his holo-top terminal, often prompting the children to have secret meetings they believe the Giant cannot hear. Bean and Ender continue to study their genetic condition in the hope of finding a cure. In one of these meetings, the militarily-minded Cincinnatus (nicknamed "Sergeant") tries to enlist the aid of his siblings in killing their father, saying he is a drain on resources. The sensitive Carlotta (whose specialty is engineering) is unwilling to take a stance, but Ender (an expert biologist) punches Sergeant and breaks his nose for proposing such an idea, thus ending his brother's domination over the family. Ender and Carlotta tell Bean about Sergeant's plans, and Bean puts all three children in their place, reminding them they are each as intelligent as the other. Sergeant has been imagining threats to their security where there are none, because he believes the Giant means to pass his soldier role onto him. So he studies the Formic war vids, learning his father's strategy while training himself with weaponry. Ender takes on the bulk of the genetic studies by monitoring the advances made by the scientists on Earth. Carlotta, who feels slightly left behind with the genetic studies serves the family by taking care of every aspect of the spacecraft, since Bean himself is stuck in the cargo hold. After despairing at the condition of their lives, and in the light of the discovery that their condition cannot be cured, Carlotta notices an unknown spacecraft in geosync orbit around an uncharted planet in the Goldilocks zone. Bean and his children deliberate courses of action. If they alter their course, they must slow down to turn, possibly killing Bean with the increased gravity. However, they cannot anticipate who or what is in the spacecraft; it may attack them, or they may be detrimental to the survival and progression of the human race. This hypothesis is solidified when Sergeant deduces that the ship is a Formic Ark, a colony ship that has been in flight for centuries. Bean sends Sergeant alone to investigate the ship, and he escapes an attack by small Formic-like animals they call "rabs" (rats+crabs). After this initial encounter, Bean reveals his full plan to his children. They must find out who is piloting this ship and attempting to terraform the planet it orbits. It was Bean's intention all along to have his children live on this planet and found their new species in safety as soon as he picked it up on radar as lying within the Goldilocks zone. Armed with Sergeant's weapons and a sedative fog spray Ender devised, Sergeant commands defenses as Carlotta leads their group to the helm with Bean in contact the whole time. The spray proves effective, and they soon find the Hive Queen's chamber, finding her, and many workers, dead. Eventually they find living male Formics in one of the piloting helms. In an attempt to communicate, Ender surrenders himself by drifting close to them in zero gravity. The male drones come close and communicate with Ender via mental images. The group learns that the Ark was sent long before Ender Wiggin, whom Bean's son is named for, wiped out the buggers. After the Queen on their ship died, the workers died without her link, yet the males lived and tried to survive and keep the ship running, despite losing numbers to the feral rabs. The group strikes a deal that if the children can wipe out the rabs, they can stay with the Formics and help cultivate the planet. When Bean learns from the male drones that Ender Wiggin is carrying a queen's cocoon looking for a home, and that Formic workers do have minds of their own contrary to popular belief, he demands to speak with the Formics in order to warn Ender, despite risking his life in the journey. Accepting that his children have achieved beyond his wildest expectations, Bean risks his life by docking with the ark's cargo hold to float down into the ecotat. Lying in the grass and basking in the artificial sunlight, Bean communes for three days with the formic males. Though the Formics think it is silly to believe the Queen would hide anything from them, Bean learns that workers could rebel against a Queen and regain their free will. After Bean has slept for a while, his children wake him, informing him that by studying how the Hive Queen suppresses her workers, Ender has devised and administered a virus that will develop an organelle to shut off their growth genome, leaving their intelligence intact but saving them from the giantism half of Anton's Key. With renewed hope for the future, Bean looks at the beauty around him and remembers all those whom he loved and who loved him in his life. With his children's help, he stands at four and a half meters for the first time in years, and walks with labored breathing in the sunlight. Happy for his children and for his own short but brilliant life, Bean lies down and dies in peace. ===== Hillard (Hilly) Wise gives the novel first-person narration. Wise Men is broken into three sections: 1947–52, during Hilly's adolescence; 1972; and the present. Hilly grows up in New Haven, Connecticut, where the Wises are Jewish in a non- Gentile community. Arthur Wise, Hilly's father, is an ambulance chaser who becomes very wealthy from class-action lawsuits involving airplane crashes. From Arthur's wealth, the family decides to move to the WASP community of Bluepoint, Cape Cod. Included in the deal is a black caretaker, Lem Dawson. The family hires Lem for $8 per week. Lem and Hilly form a friendship despite Arthur's dis-allowance; as a result, Hilly must keep the relationship secret. Lem introduces him to his niece, Savannah, and Hilly falls in love with her. Hilly meets Savannah's father Charles Ewing, a baseball player cut from the Milwaukee Braves due to race. Savannah wants to run away with Lem. Hilly originally wants to join them, but he changes his mind and disrupts their attempt. Later, Arthur proffers Hilly $70 million, which he rejects on moral grounds. Now working as a "race relations" reporter for a Boston newspaper, Hilly travels to Iowa for a story about Ewing, which he thinks may have to do with Savannah. Carolyn Cooke compared the general plot of Wise Men to the general plot of John Cheever novels, as both are about "men behaving badly through the second half of the 20th century". The timespan has been compared to Gabriel García Márquez's Love in the Time of Cholera. ===== Jerry and George struggle with their sitcom pilot script. Jerry telephones Elaine and complains to her about her chatty secretary, Sandra. Elaine asks Sandra not to talk to Jerry so much. Hurt, Sandra quits. At Jerry's apartment, Kramer wants George to ask Susan's father for more Cuban cigars (having lost his previous ones in the fire) to bribe his way onto the Westchester Country Club golf course. That night, George has an awkward dinner with Susan and her parents. Susan and George tell her father about the loss of the cabin, and he is devastated. At Elaine's request, Jerry calls Sandra and retracts his comments about her by claiming they were misconstrued by Elaine. This prompts Sandra to ask him out; Jerry accepts for fear of offending her again. They return to his apartment, but while talking dirty to each other, Sandra takes offense to one of Jerry's remarks and storms off. George and Jerry continue to struggle writing the script and then doze off after failing to write any more. Elaine thanks Jerry for getting Sandra back to work, but Jerry says she should relocate her quickly and is relieved that Sandra did not mention the previous night. Kramer asks the Cuban diplomatic mission at the United Nations about buying Cuban cigars. However, the chief diplomat likes Kramer's jacket and they reach an understanding. Jerry and George go to Susan's house to return her sunglasses. A doorman delivers a metal box from the insurance company, the only object which survived the cabin fire. Inside are letters detailing an affair between Susan's father and novelist John Cheever. Susan's father openly admits to the affair. Jerry and George awkwardly slip out. They again fail to progress with the script before they are interrupted by Elaine, who is angry with Jerry because her company charged her $429 for making long-distance phone calls to Europe from work. After Elaine had Sandra transferred to another office, Sandra turned her in. Jerry gladly gives Elaine the money, still relieved that Sandra had not told Elaine about his earlier "dirty talk" comment. As she's walking out the door, she repeats Jerry's remark to Sandra, revealing that she knew about it all along. ===== In April 1957, engineer Walter Faber (Sam Shepard) is waiting to board a flight from Caracas, Venezuela to New York City when he meets a German, Herbert Hencke (Dieter Kirchlechner), who reminds him of an old friend. Before takeoff, Walter decides not to board the airplane, but when a flight attendant discovers him still in the terminal, she escorts him aboard. During the flight, the airplane develops engine trouble and crash lands in the desert near the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains. While the passengers and crew wait to be rescued, Walter discovers that Herbert Hencke is the brother of his old friend, Joachim (August Zirner), whom Walter has not seen since he left Zürich, Switzerland, twenty years ago. He also learns that Joachim married Walter's former girlfriend Hannah (Barbara Sukowa), that they had a child together, and that they are now divorced. After writing a letter to his current married girlfriend, Ivy, ending their relationship, Walter thinks back on his days in Zurich falling in love with Hannah. He remembers proposing marriage to her after she revealed she was pregnant, and that she refused, saying she would terminate the pregnancy. The passengers and crew are rescued and brought to Mexico City, where Herbert prepares to continue on to see his brother Joachim at his tobacco farm in Guatemala. Walter decides to accompany Herbert to see his old friend again. The journey is long and difficult. When the two finally arrive at the tobacco farm, they find Joachim has hanged himself. Back in New York City, Walter returns to his apartment, only to find Ivy waiting for him. She received Walter's letter ending their relationship, but simply does not acknowledge it. Needing to escape, he decides to leave for his Paris business trip a week early and take an ocean liner rather than fly. Feeling he has "started a new life" aboard the ship, Walter meets a beautiful young woman, Elisabeth Piper (Julie Delpy), whom he begins to call Sabeth. They spend time together, playing ping-pong, exploring the ship, and falling in love. On the last night of the voyage, Walter asks her to marry him, but she does not know how to respond, and they part without saying goodbye. In Paris, Walter looks for Sabeth at the Louvre and they reunite. He offers to drive her to Rome, rather than have her hitchhike as she's planned, and she agrees. They drive south through France and stop for the night at a hotel near Avignon. Late in the evening, Sabeth comes to Walter's room and they make love. They continue on their way through France and Italy, stopping at Florence and Orvieto before arriving in Rome. At Palatine Hill, Walter is captivated by the sculpture, Head of a Sleeping Girl. Walter learns that Sabeth is the daughter of his former girlfriend, Hannah—and possibly his own daughter. He becomes distant and refuses to tell Sabeth of what he suspects; Sabeth is upset with Walter's sudden unexplained strange behavior. Walter finally reveals to Sabeth that he knew her mother and father in Zurich in the 1930s. Walter and Sabeth make their way to Greece, but Walter is troubled by the possibility that Sabeth may be his daughter. They sleep under the stars on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, and at sunrise Walter goes for a swim. While sleeping, Sabeth is bitten by a snake, jumps up in alarm, and falls, hitting her head on a rock. Walter rushes her to a hospital in Athens. Hannah arrives to look after her daughter. While Sabeth is treated at the hospital, Walter stays with Hannah at her house, recounting how he met Sabeth on the ship and how they travelled through Europe together. Hannah reveals that Sabeth is his daughter and asks him, "Walter, how far did you go with the child?" Devastated, Walter acknowledges he had sexual relations with her. Sabeth recovers from the snake bite and appears to be gaining strength, but suddenly dies from the head injury. In June 1957, at the Athens Airport, Hannah and Walter embrace and say goodbye. Walter sits dejected in the airport terminal. When his flight is called, he remains seated, pondering his fate and existence. ===== As a young boy, future emperor Nero witnesses the mad Emperor Caligula kill his father and exile his mother. While in exile in the pontine islands, Agrippina, his mother, sees a vision telling her that her son can become emperor, but she will have to die first. She accepts the proposal. Back in Rome, Nero, now being raised by emperor Claudius after Caligula's death, Agrippina returns. She poisons Claudius' food and Nero becomes emperor. At first, Nero cuts taxes and introduces successful programs and invades Brittania. Soon he meets a beautiful slave named Claudia Acte, and marries her, throwing off his engagement with Claudius' daughter, Claudia Octavia, telling her she can marry someone she will be happy with. Heartbroken, she arrives at an island and kills herself. Nero enjoys being married to Claudia Acte, but soon he gradually goes mad with power and sets fire to Rome. He divorces Acte, and forces the citizens to watch hour long recitals, and at one of these, accidentally kills his new pregnant wife, Poppaea Sabina. He kills several members of the senate and orders his mother to be stabbed, where she says: "Strike the womb, for that is what bore him." Nero's madness soon causes a riot, causing himself to flee the city in disguise, and slit his wrists under the saddened embrace of Claudia Acte, his once passionate lover. The movie in many ways tries to show Nero as a good soul gone mad, beginning as a brilliant young prince enduring injustice, then hailed enthusiastically at the beginning of his reign, implementing much-needed reforms and enjoying immense popularity. Half the film concentrates on Nero's teenage years and his love life with Acte. ===== 15-year-old Jessica Day moves with her family to Bixby, Oklahoma after her mother is employed at a high-tech aerospace company. Soon after the move, Jessica awakens to find time frozen and rain stopped in mid air. Although she thinks it is a dream, she is suspicious when she wakes to find her clothes wet. The next night, it happens again. Leaving her room, she finds that her family is frozen and the only other living thing is a cat, which leads her out of her house. Once outside, the cat transforms into a snake, revealing that it is actually a slither. It, along with other slithers and a darkling in the form of a large cat, attacks her. Jessica is rescued by the "Midnighters": Dess, Rex and Melissa, who chase away the animals using thirteen letter words and steel. The next day, they explain that in Bixby time freezes for an hour every midnight and that only Midnighters - people born at the moment of midnight - can enter it. Creatures known as darklings live in this secret hour where they can hide from advances in human technology. Darklings hate people and fear new inventions, complex concepts and the number 13. It was the darklings who took one hour of each 25-hour-day and hid inside it so that people couldn't get to them. They also explain that each Midnighter has a special power - Dess is a polymath, Rex is a Seer (someone who can read the lore - the ancient history of the midnighters) and Melissa is a mindcaster (meaning she has a variety of telepathic abilities). They don't know what Jessica's power is, except that it isn't the same as any of theirs. The next midnight, Jonathan, a boy from Jessica's school, arrives outside her house, and takes her flying with him - he is an Acrobat, and in the Secret Hour gravity does not have a strong hold on him. He and Rex don't get along, and the other Midnighters avoid talking about him. After flying for most of the hour the pair are chased by a darkling and narrowly escape - only to be arrested by policemen enforcing Bixby's eleven o'clock curfew. Jessica is grounded for the rest of the month. Meanwhile, the Midnighters are becoming suspicious of why the darklings, who normally avoid Midnighters, are so intent on killing Jessica. Rex decides to take Jessica out to the Snake Pit, a place in the badlands, where she will be able to discover her power. Unfortunately, the badlands are also the home to the darklings. Dess sets up protection beforehand and the Midnighters plan to be inside it before the Secret Hour arrives. However, they are all late, and rely on Jonathan to fly them inside the protection, which causes Rex to get jealous and Melissa to get disgusted and angry. The darklings are so desperate to attack Jessica that they suicidally attack the defenses, weakening them considerably. Just before the defenses collapse, Rex discovers Jessica's power is Flame-bringer, but none of the group know how they can make a fire. As the defenses are breached, Jessica realizes that her watch is still ticking, implying that her ability allows her to use technology in the secret hour. She uses a flashlight to kill the darklings, and the Midnighters leave safely. ===== The Roberts family farm in Iowa is a prosperous one. Frank Roberts, Sr. and his two young sons are even visited there by Nikita Khrushchev during the Soviet Union premier's tour of the Midwestern United States. Many years later, the boys are grown but their dad's pride and joy has fallen into disrepair and debt. A deluge of rain has ruined the crops. They must resort to desperate measures, even a yard sale, just to pay their bills. The anger of Frank Jr. builds until he ultimately suggests to younger brother Terry that they set fire to the farm, rather than let the bank seize control of it. As the brothers take to the road, becoming thieves, the story of their action at home strikes a chord with neighbors and strangers who offer them shelter or even a hideout when the law's in pursuit. Along the way, the Roberts brothers encounter a wide variety of people, including Maxwell, a reporter who wants to tell their story before the inevitable tragic consequences can occur. ===== Kratos, the new God of War following Ares' death, is still haunted by nightmares of his past and is shunned by the other gods for his destructive ways. Ignoring Athena's warnings, Kratos joins the Spartan army in an attack on Rhodes, during which a giant eagle suddenly drains a huge portion of his powers and uses it to animate the Colossus of Rhodes. While battling the statue, Zeus offers Kratos the Blade of Olympus, a mighty sword that Zeus had used to end the Great War, requiring Kratos to infuse the blade with the remainder of his godly power. Although mortal once again, Kratos defeats the Colossus but is mortally wounded. The eagle reveals itself to have been Zeus all along, who states he was forced to intervene as Athena refused to do so. Zeus then grants Kratos a final opportunity to be loyal to the gods, but Kratos refuses. Enraged by his defiance, Zeus kills him with the blade and destroys the Spartan army. Kratos is slowly dragged to the Underworld, but is saved by the Titan Gaia. Gaia tells Kratos that she once raised the young Zeus, who eventually betrayed the Titans as vengeance for the cruelty inflicted on his siblings by Zeus' father, Cronos. She instructs Kratos to find the "Sisters of Fate", who can alter time, prevent his death, and allow him his revenge on Zeus. With the aid of Pegasus, Kratos finds the lair of Gaia's brother Typhon. Imprisoned under a mountain, Typhon is angered at the intrusion and traps Pegasus, forcing Kratos to explore on foot. Kratos encounters the Titan Prometheus, who is chained in mortal form and tortured at Zeus' directive for giving fire to mankind. Prometheus begs to be released from his torment, so Kratos confronts Typhon to steal his magical bow. He blinds the massive Titan with it to escape and then uses it to free Prometheus, who falls into a fire and dies, finally free of eternal torture. The Immolation releases the power of the Titans which Kratos absorbs, using it to free Pegasus and then fly to the Island of Creation. Just before reaching the island, Kratos fights and kills Theseus to awaken the gigantic stone Steeds of Time—a gift to the Sisters of Fate from Cronos in an attempt to change his own fate—which grants Kratos access to the island. There, Kratos encounters and defeats several foes, some of whom-themselves are also seeking the Sisters of Fate, including an undead version of his old foe the Barbarian King, the Gorgon Euryale, Perseus, and Icarus. He eventually encounters the imprisoned Titan Atlas, who initially resents Kratos for his current predicament. After Kratos explains his intent, Atlas reveals that Gaia and the other Titans also seek revenge on Zeus for their defeat in the Great War. Atlas also reveals that the Blade of Olympus is the key to defeating Zeus and helps Kratos to reach the "Palace of the Fates". After evading traps and defeating more enemies, including the Kraken, Kratos encounters an unseen foe, revealed to be a loyal Spartan soldier also in search of the Sisters. Before he dies, the soldier informs Kratos that Zeus has destroyed Sparta in Kratos' absence. Outraged, Kratos is further motivated and frees a phoenix, riding the creature to the Sisters' stronghold where he confronts two, Lakhesis and Atropos. After they refuse his request to alter time, Kratos battles them. During this, the Sisters try to change the outcome of Kratos' battle with Ares, but Kratos kills them both, then confronts the remaining Sister, Clotho. He kills her using her own traps, and acquires the "Loom of Fate" in order to return to the point at which Zeus betrayed him. Kratos surprises Zeus, seizes the Blade of Olympus, and finally incapacitates him. Athena intervenes and implores Kratos to stop, as by killing Zeus, he will destroy Olympus. Kratos ignores her and tries to kill Zeus, but Athena sacrifices herself by impaling herself upon the blade, granting Zeus' escape. Before she dies, Athena reveals that Kratos is actually Zeus' son. Zeus was afraid Kratos would usurp him, just as Zeus had usurped his own father, Cronos. Kratos declares that the rule of the gods is at an end, then travels back in time and rescues the Titans just before their defeat in the Great War. He returns with the Titans to the present, and the gods watch as their former foes climb Mount Olympus. Kratos, standing on the back of Gaia, declares that he has brought the destruction of Olympus. ===== The film deals with the events surrounding Gordon Goose and Little Bo Peep, who, while still trying to find her sheep, goes to Mother Goose's house for help, only to discover her sudden absence. Bo Peep and Gordon search Rhymeland to flush out what has happened to Mother Goose, all the while watching as many Mother Goose characters begin to mysteriously disappear. ===== Nero Wolfe is hired to find a missing person, who soon turns up — under a new name — as a newly convicted murderer in a sensational crime. ===== Widower Hemant Rastogi lives in scenic Mahabaleshwar, seemingly alone. One night he has a heart attack and passes away. When the police search his residence they find Tejas, Hemant's only son, in the basement of the house. Tejas has spent his entire life in the basement and as a result of this is extremely sensitive to sunlight. The Police ask Purva Rana, head of P.R. Institute (an institute for the rehabilitation of young criminals) to look after Tejas, whose only experience of other people up until this point has been with his father and the books he provided for him. Tejas starts showing signs of Telekenesis, and is shunned by the other boys in the institute, resulting in the near-fatal accident of a security guard and the death of a fellow student. Tejas redeems himself in the eyes of Purva's wealthy father, Pushkar, when he is able to wake his wife, Gayatri Rana, from a coma-like condition. It looks like Tejas has been accepted into the Rana household, but he is subsequently harassed by doctors and scientists wishing to perform experiments on him. When Tejas and Pushkar both refuse to be part of these experiments, Tejas is abducted and held in a glass chamber by Dr. Richard Dyer, who wants to control his mind for his own benefit. Purva realises that Tejas has been abducted, and is fatally injured by Dr. Dyer in a rescue attempt. At the sight of this, Tejas' anger causes his powers to surge, shattering the glass cage, killing Dr. Dyer and electrocuting Purva. Tejas brings her back to life by shocking her with his hands. The movie ends with Purva and Tejas driving away into the sunset. ===== Ravishankar (Jayaram), an unsuccessful investor, stays with Dennis (Suresh Gopi), his friend who is successful in farming business. Dennis owns a vast farmland named Bethlehem, and hundreds of cattle, in a valley. Ravi is a fun-loving, jovial chap, who has fabricated stories of his success to his parents and relatives. On a vacation, Colonel C.R. Menon (Janardhanan), his grandfather and grandmother (Sukumari) arrive with their extended family to spend a couple of days at the farmhouse of Ravishankar. He successfully makes them believe that he is the real owner of Bethlehem, and Dennis is his partner. Dennis, who is an orphan, was happy to meet a huge family and welcomes them with full heart. Colonel Menon has a plan to get Ravishankar married to any one of his granddaughters. Ravishankar is a bit confused about whom he should choose. To make matters complicated, he had been receiving messages and letters from one of the five girls expressing her love for him. Meanwhile, a few days after their arrival at Bethlehem, Abhirami (Manju Warrier), another granddaughter of Menon, who is studying in Bangalore arrives alone. She seems to be too upset and worried. But within short time, she returns to normalcy and enjoys the colors of vacation. During their stay, Ravi and Dennis decide to discover the girl who had been teasing them with the cryptic messages. Dennis begins suspecting Abhirami of being the sender but she informs him that she is not and that she would help them in finding the person. She asks around among her cousins but everyone denies them being the sender. However, Dennis begins to fall for her and to make matters complicated, Ravi confesses to him that he plans on proposing to Abhirami. To avoid a situation, Dennis hides his true feelings from everyone. Colonel Menon and his wife approve of Ravi's and Abhirami's relationship but upon knowing this, Abhirami snubs them by declaring that she is in love with Dennis. Her decision creates a panic among all, who believes that Dennis is a failed businessman who is living at the expense of Ravishankar. Ravi shocks everyone by revealing that Dennis is the actual owner of Bethlehem and that he is more than happy to see Abhirami marrying Dennis. Abhirami meets Dennis who is completely broken down after the chaos at the house. Dennis, at the same time, is happy at heart knowing about Abhirami's love for him. But she shocks him by saying that she was just using his name to escape the marriage. She tells Dennis that she is in love with Niranjan (Mohanlal), a Naxal revolutionary in southern Karnataka. Niranjan, whom she met in Bangalore, is now in jail, convicted of killing Brijesh Mallaya, a landlord and his family. He is awaiting his execution in a couple of days and Abhirami has taken a vow not to marry anyone other than Niranjan. But at home, upon the compulsion from Ravi, the family decides to get Abhirami married to Dennis. The night before wedding, Abhirami requests Dennis to take her to jail to meet Niranjan for one last time. They meet Niranjan (Mohanlal), who is a completely changed man. Remorseful Niranjan regrets the violent ways he adopted in class war and the crimes he did to obtain a classless society. Niranjan advises Abhirami to forget him and accept Dennis as her husband. Abhirami refuses to take his words, but Niranjan forces Dennis to tie the thali to Abhirami, which she has brought with her. Dennis obeys Niranjan, marries Abhirami at the jail, and Niranjan witnesses it with tearful eyes. A few days later, the family returns home, while Ravi jokingly reminds everyone that they should be back here next year to welcome junior Dennis. The train departs slowly and a girl's hand reaches out of the coach window, holding the kitten which was sent as a gift to Ravi before. Ravi takes off running to find out who it is, but he catches only a cryptic message that teases him to follow and discover her identity. ===== The story focuses on a theatre troupe, led by Alan (Alan Ormsby). He is a mean-spirited director, who travels with the others by boat to a small island that is mainly used as a cemetery for deranged criminals, to have a night of fun and games. Once on the island Alan tells his group, which he refers to as his "children"— numerous stories relating to the island's history and buried inhabitants. He leads them to a cottage where they are supposed to spend the night. He then opens a chest they had brought with them, puts on a mystical robe and says that they are to prepare for the summation at midnight. Alan takes sheer delight in torturing his cast with threats of firing them if they do not do as he pleases which always makes them go along with his plan. At midnight using a grimoire, Alan begins a ritual to raise the dead after digging up the body of a man named Orville Dunworth (Seth Sklarey). Though the original intent of the ritual may have been solely as a joke, Alan appears disappointed that nothing happens. Afterwards the party continues and Alan goes to extremes to degrade the actors, using the corpse of Orville for his own sick jokes. Then, however, animated by the fell ritual, the dead return to life and force the troupe to take refuge in the old house. Unfortunately for the group, the dead get their revenge, and in the movie's closing credits we see the group of corpses boarding Alan's boat with the lights of Miami in the background. ===== In the first chapter, The Backwards Spell the witch teaches Simon how to turn the school gardener into a frog, but forgets how to turn him back. She eventually remembers the spell, and turns the gardener into a man again, claiming privately she never forgot the spell at all. In chapter two, The Lost Magic Wand, the witch loses her wand so Simon takes her to the police station where the witch becomes fascinated with Constable Scruff's uniform, and so becomes a policewoman. The three eventually find the witch's wand, which has been stolen by two thieves who used it as a poker for their fire. In chapter three, The Witch at the Seaside, Simon takes the witch on holiday to the beach for a day, where she makes the English Channel disappear, not believing Simon's assurances that it is not flooding. She agrees to put it back on the condition she is featured on the evening news, which she is. In The Witch has Measles, chapter four, the witch catches double German measles, so goes to hospital. She sees the trolleys patients are moved round on, and organises races on them, and everyone has so much fun they all feel better and go home again. In chapter five, Halloween, the witch (who has never heard of Halloween before) goes to a Halloween party, but is disgusted by 'fake' witches. Fortunately, one hundred of her relatives turn up, with their black cats, and they crash the party, demonstrating their magic many times over. The final chapter of the book, The Witch's Visitor, is set at Christmas, the witch makes a snowman come to life, introducing him to people as her Uncle Fred. ===== A man is discovered breaking into his own San Francisco jewelry shop in the dead of night. Upon questioning by the FBI, it is discovered that his wife is being held hostage at their home by a brutal extortionist who demands the diamonds in the shop's safe in exchange for the woman's life. During a standoff outside the jeweler's home, the family maid is sent out the front door with a message for the FBI; she is promptly shot by the unseen extortionist, who demands the jeweler's Mercedes, which he will use to escape. The killer and the jeweler's wife travel in the Mercedes to the docks with FBI agent Warren Stantin (Sidney Poitier) following them. Following a tense exchange between Stantin and the killer, the jeweler's wife is shot in her left eye and killed. The police then attempt to pursue what they believe to be a getaway boat, only to learn it is unmanned, and the killer gets away. Feeling that he has failed, Stantin becomes obsessed with finding the killer and trails him into the rugged forests of Washington. Upon Stantin's arrival in Washington, a naked male body is discovered in a local mine shaft. Stantin arrives to investigate the body and sees that the man has been shot through the eye. Stantin becomes convinced that the person responsible for the killing of the man in the mine is the extortionist, who has now likely assumed the identity of the dead man. Investigating, Stantin learns that Sarah Rennell (Kirstie Alley), a fishing guide, organizes a fishing party at the mine that has traveled into the woods. Stantin learns that Sarah's partner Jonathon Knox (Tom Berenger) is an expert on the local wilderness, and seeks Knox's help locating Sarah and the fishermen. Unimpressed with a big city FBI agent, Knox prepares to head into the wilderness alone to rescue Sarah, but Stantin threatens him with arrest for obstruction of justice, forcing Knox to lead Stantin into the mountains. Knox repeatedly tries to convince Stantin to return to the town and wait for him, but Stantin refuses and trudges on. Meanwhile, the fishing party proceeds into the mountains. A fisherman (Richard Masur) slips on a ledge, and another fisherman, Steve (Clancy Brown), attempts to help him. While doing so, a gun falls out of Steve's backpack and into a crack in the rocks. Steve claims he is a cop and demands the dangling fisherman hand him the gun. When he does so, Steve kills the fishing party by pushing them off the ledge. Needing Sarah as his guide, Steve convinces Sarah to guide him through the mountains to Canada, where he says he will let her go. While in pursuit, Knox and Stantin encounter a basket on a rope that is used to cross a gorge. With the basket stuck on the opposite side, Knox attempts to retrieve the basket when it breaks free and hits him. Knox falls and is slammed into the rocks, but Stantin pulls Knox to safety. Stantin and Knox make camp for the night, while Steve and Sarah stop at the fishing party's cabin. The next morning, Stantin and Knox stumble upon the bodies of the fishermen in the stream and Knox becomes convinced that Sarah is now dead. Upon reaching the cabin occupied by Steve and Sarah the previous evening, Stantin and Knox discover a note to the FBI in Sarah's handwriting from the killer, and Knox realizes Sarah is still alive. Knox attempts to leave Stantin at the cabin, thinking he will make better time alone, but Stantin eventually convinces him to bring him along. As Stantin and Knox rise ever higher into the mountains, Stantin has a very difficult time with the altitude, and is temporarily placed in a tent by Knox to rest, but he continues to climb anyways. When Stantin is too exhausted to go further, Knox pulls him up the rest of the way. At the top of the mountain, Stantin and Knox are caught in a snowstorm, forcing Knox to dig a cave for shelter. Sarah is forced to eat raw fish after Steve puts out their cooking fire, fearing the authorities will find them. With the storm passed, Knox and a recovered Stantin return to the pursuit with a new respect for one another. At one point, Stantin and Knox encounter a very large grizzly bear. Knox falls and hits his head on a rock, incapacitating him, but Stantin manages to scare the bear away. Meanwhile, Sarah manages to break free from Steve and attempts to run away, and Steve fires his gun at her. With Stantin and Knox now in pursuit, Steve recaptures Sarah and they get into the cab of a passing logging truck, evading capture yet again. Stantin and Knox arrive in Vancouver and learn of a break-in at a local residence. During their investigation, they learn that Steve and Sarah had broken into the residence to eat and clean up. The investigation also turns up that a call to a Vancouver number was made from the residence during the robbery. The Vancouver Police Department extend their assistance to Stantin and Knox. Stantin learns that the Vancouver number that was called from the residence was to a diamond broker. That evening, Stantin and Knox stage a break-in at the home of the diamond broker, and the diamond broker confesses as to where he is meeting Steve to get the diamonds. Stantin and Knox stake out the meeting location and find Steve holding Sarah, waiting for the diamond broker. Steve spots Knox and begins shooting at him. He carjacks a vehicle while Stantin, Knox, and the police chase him through the city streets. After losing sight of Steve and Sarah during the chase, Stantin and Knox discover the stolen vehicle on a departing ferry and begin searching for Steve and Sarah. While the police board the ferry where the car was located, Stantin and Knox realize that Steve and Sarah are on another ferry, Steve having used the vehicle as a decoy. Stantin and Knox board the second ferry as it leaves the dock and begin searching for Steve and Sarah. They find them on the vehicle level of the ferry, and a shootout erupts. Eventually, a standoff occurs between Stantin and Steve on the mid-level of the ferry. When Knox jumps down from an upper level to distract Steve, Stantin shoots Steve in the ear, and he lets Sarah go. Stantin chases Steve throughout the ferry. When Steve attempts to hold a mother and her children hostage, Stantin draws Steve's attention and is shot multiple times. Steve attempts to execute Stantin by shooting him through the eye, but his gun misfires. An angry Steve then attempts to throw Stantin overboard, but they both fall into the water, and Stantin is able to shoot Steve in the eye, killing him. Knox jumps into the water and brings Stantin to safety. While visiting Stantin in an ambulance, Knox asks Stantin "You FBI guys do this kind of shit a lot?" to which Stantin replies "Every damn day." ===== ===== In early 18th-century England, Ralph Gower (Barry Andrews) uncovers a deformed skull with one intact eye and strange fur while ploughing. He insists that local judge (Patrick Wymark) look at it, but it has vanished and the judge disregards what he sees as Ralph's supernatural fears. Meanwhile, Peter Edmonton (Simon Williams) brings his fiancee, Rosalind Barton (Tamara Ustinov), to meet his aunt, Mistress Banham (Avice Landone), with whom the judge is staying. Mistress Banham and the judge disapprove of the match and arrange for Rosalind to sleep in a disused attic room. Rosalind begins screaming during the night and injures Banham when she investigates, causing her to fall mysteriously ill. Despite Peter’s protests, the judge arranges to have Rosalind committed; as she is led out, Peter sees that she has sprouted a monstrous claw. Meanwhile, three children find a claw, from the deformed body from which the skull presumably came, while playing next to a field. That evening, Mistress Banham disappears. Convinced that the house contains evil, Peter sneaks into the attic room at night and is attacked by a creature with a furred claw. He tries to hack it with a knife but, when the judge bursts in, he finds that Peter has severed his own hand. Though sceptical of supernatural involvement, the judge borrows a book on witchcraft. The next day, the judge departs for London, leaving the pompous and slow-witted Squire Middleton (James Hayter) in charge, but promises to return. Mark (Robin Davies), one of the three children, is lured out by his classmates, who are playing truant from their scripture classes so they can play ritualistic games in a ruined church under their ringleader, Angel Blake (Linda Hayden). Mark is tricked into playing a lethal game of blind man's bluff and his body is hidden in his family's woodshed. Angel Blake attempts to seduce the curate, Reverend Fallowfield (Anthony Ainley). When he resists, she tells him that Mark is dead and 'had the devil in him, so we cut it out'. At Mark's funeral, Angel's father speaks to the squire, accusing the curate of attempting to molest his daughter and of potentially killing Mark. Mark's sister, Cathy (Wendy Padbury), is gathering flowers for his grave when two boys attack and bind her under the pretence of a game. Ralph, who has been courting her, hears her scream but cannot find her. The boys lead Cathy to Angel, who marches her in a procession with the other children to the ruined church, where they perform a Black Mass to the demon Behemoth, who appears as a furred beast. The children tear Cathy’s dress to reveal fur on her back. All the children have been growing these patches of fur, which have been flayed from their bodies to restore the demon’s physical form. The cult ritualistically rape and murder Cathy, and flay the fur from her back. Ralph finds her body in the church and carries her to the Squire, who releases Fallowfield but is unable to arrest Angel, who has vanished. Ralph finds men attempting to drown a girl named Margaret (Michele Dotrice), whom they suspect of witchcraft. He rescues her and finds fur on her leg. He convinces a doctor to remove it, but when Margaret wakes she proves to be a committed servant of the devil and flees. The judge returns and sets dogs to track her. Margaret seeks out Angel, but Angel abandons her when she realises she no longer has a piece of the demon’s skin. Margaret is caught and, interrogated by the judge, reveals that the cult will meet at the ruined church to complete the ritual to rebuild the demon’s body. The judge assembles a mob to destroy the cult and demon. Ralph, whose leg has sprouted fur, awakens in the church surrounded by the cult. He nearly flays the fur from his legs in a trance before the mob attack. In the ensuing violence, Angel is killed and the judge kills the demon with a sword, ending the curse on Ralph and returning him to normal. ===== The premise of the book is that Lewis Carroll's 1865 novel Alice in Wonderland was fiction, but that the character Alice is real, as, indeed, is the world of Wonderland. Carroll's novel is said to have been inspired by the images, ideas, and names related by Alice to the author, whom she had requested to make a book of her personal history. The theme of the 2004 book The Looking Glass Wars is loss of innocence. The book's prologue tells of Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson showing Alice Liddell (who claims her name to be spelled 'Alyss') his manuscript for Alice's Adventures Under Ground. Alyss is shocked by the book's contents and refuses to speak to Dodgson ever again. The story then begins many years earlier, on Alyss' seventh birthday in the Wonderland of Alyss' memory, which is ruled by imagination and is the source of all imagination for all other worlds. Wonderland features a class system similar to that seen in England during the 17th century, though on a far more minimalist scale. The government is a Queendom with an advising Parliament dominated by a playing card based hierarchy, with the Heart family at the top of the proverbial stack (i.e. the Wonderland Queen is a member of the Heart family, and the parliament is composed of reigning members of the Spades, Clubs, and Diamonds). Females are the dominant sex in Wonderland, as the ruling families are matriarchies. Wonderland, ruled by Queen Genevieve Heart, is still recovering from a bloody civil war between "White" and "Black" Imagination which ended twelve years prior to the beginning of the story. Enough time has passed for those in the middle echelons of government to forget the day-to-day horrors of war and focus once more on the petty intrigues of a land at peace. Alyss' companions in her final hours in Wonderland include tutor Bibwit Harte (whose name is noted by Dodgson as being an anagram of "White Rabbit"), the Queen's bodyguard Hatter Madigan, Alyss' best friend Dodge Anders, childhood troublemaker Jack of Diamonds, and military commander Hatter Madigan. During a bloody coup d'état led by Alyss' murderous Aunt Redd, the enemy of White Imagination, Alyss is forced to flee Wonderland in the company of Hatter Madigan, with Redd's top feline assassin (called only "The Cat") in pursuit. Queen Genevieve and Redd clash against one another in a final battle as Alyss barely manages to escape from the palace; Genevieve is killed by Redd. During this bloody battle, Dodge's father, Sir Justice Anders, is murdered by The Cat. The two fugitives, Hatter and Alyss, enter an inter-dimensional gateway called the Pool of Tears, from which they emerge into Earth through an exit portal: a puddle. Alyss is separated from Hatter during the journey and she arrives in London, England, and Hatter in Paris, France. Lost and alone, Alyss spends some time with street orphans, then finds herself adopted by the Liddell family, whereby she is given the name "Odd Alice" for her tales about Wonderland and the way she insists her name be spelled. When Dodgson plagiarizes her stories for his own imagination rather than write them verbatim, she shuns her imagination and resolves to believe Wonderland false and lost to her forever. Meanwhile, Hatter is searching every corner of the world to find the lost princess. Believing that men dealing in headwear are men to be trusted above all others, he stops in every hat shop he can, inquiring the whereabouts of Princess Alyss Heart. Along his search he also trails people alight with the glow of White Imagination, knowing that Alyss would most likely glow the brightest. In the process, he becomes a mystery to people on Earth, who catch glimpses of him and create legends of a blade- wielding man on a strange quest leading him to headwear merchants around the world. After thirteen years of searching for the lost princess, Hatter finds Dodgson's book; he uses this to track down the author, and in turn, find Alyss, who is now twenty years of age. Upon arrival in Oxford, Hatter discovers that the princess is to marry to Prince Leopold. Before Hatter is able to rescue the princess, he is unexpectedly wounded and driven back to Wonderland. Dodge himself goes into the Pool of Tears, and rescues Alyss. For thirteen long, hard years, the people of Wonderland have suffered under Redd's dictatorial reign of Black Imagination. The Wonderlanders still loyal to White Imagination have gathered within the Whispering Woods and have been surviving on their own, led by military leader General Doppelganger and Bibwit Harte. Named after their long lost princess, they are called the "Alyssians" and stage battles and skirmishes against Redd's forces, attempting to weaken her grip on the throne with no avail. After thirteen years of no sign of Alyss ever returning home, morale within the camp is low and the Alyssians are considering turning themselves in to Redd. However, Alyss returns to Wonderland and she is immediately taken in by the Alyssians, who rejoice with a wave of new hope and promise. Dodge Anders has become obsessed with avenging his father's death and becomes a bitter, nihilistic individual. With the assistance of the Alyssians, Alyss is able to find and locate the Looking- Glass Maze, which is the manner by which all future Queens obtain their full strength and power necessary to rule Wonderland. When Alyss passes through the maze, she finds her intended Heart Scepter and moves on to fight against, and defeat, Redd. While Alyss and Redd battle, Dodge fights against The Cat; Dodge kills The Cat three times, leaving The Cat with one more life left; Hatter, Alyss and Redd had all taken previous lives from The Cat's original number of nine. Redd, seeing her imminent failure against Alyss, throws herself into the Heart Crystal, who is followed by The Cat. Alyss, having defeated Black Imagination, is crowned as the true Queen of Wonderland. ===== Bernice Summerfield's investigation into the lost civilisation of Perfection takes a turn for the strange when her cat Wolsey turns into Puss in Boots… ===== The head of a Federal agency is bludgeoned to death just before giving a speech to an industrial association. Public opinion quickly turns against the association, which is thought to have been involved in the murder. The association hires Wolfe to find the murderer in hope of ending the public relations disaster. ===== The play itself is the story of two characters, Tidwald (Tida) and Torhthelm (Totta), retrieving the body of Beorhtnoth, Ealdorman of Essex, from the battlefield at Maldon. After a brief search they eventually find their lord's battle-mangled body and his golden sword. In the middle of the action, Totta slays an English battlefield-looter, for which Tída chastises him. The murder provides an opportunity for the characters to discuss the ethics of Beorhtnoth's actions. Totta is a romantic who thinks Beorhtnoth's actions were tragically noble, while Tída is the battle-experienced farmer who takes the realist position, pointing out the folly of Beorhtnoth's decision to let the Vikings cross the causeway. Eventually the two characters load the lord's body onto a cart, and the drama closes with them leaving the battlefield for a nearby abbey in Ely. ===== The movie begins with an overview of a city skyline. J.J. (Rod Perry) and his friend are seen walking down a street; they stop and one of the men points to a house. They proceed to walk up the stairs that lead to the front door. As Tommy opens the door he pulls out a gun that jams on him. The person inside the house shoots him and proceeds outside to shoot the other man. Tommy dies in the arms of J.J. in an alley; so the other man walks away and is met by Nate Williams (Jimmy Witherspoon) who helps him by taking him to safety. Williams takes out the bullet in J.J.'s arms and tends to the wound. The next morning J.J. and Williams talk. J.J. is curious as to why Williams decided to save and take care of him after he was shot. Williams was impressed by J.J.'s courage in trying to break into a known gangster's house. J.J.'s motive was only to survive and "get some bread". Williams offers J.J. some advice in surviving on the streets and gives him some money. This is the beginning of J.J.'s rise to power in the street. After the opening credits are shown, J.J. has grown in power and position on the street. He longs for more as he sells drugs and tries to gain better status on the streets. He believes that money buys dignity and that it does not matter where it comes from. J.J. wants to get rid of another drug dealer named Tony Burton(Don Chastain). J.J. has a problem with Tony, a white gangster, trafficking heroin into a predominantly black community. The drugs have been negatively affecting the kids and adults because many of them become addicted. He talks to a man called Diablo (Damu King) about taking care of securing the neighborhood from Tony's men and any other drug dealer pushing in the territory. Lieutenant Joe is a crooked cop that takes bribes from drug dealers for his own gain. He enters J.J.'s headquarters at the club and goes up to talk to him in his office. J.J. explains to him that he is willing to go to war with Tony and any other drug dealer that exploits the black community. He tells Joe to relay the information back to Tony, knowing that Joe takes bribes from any and all drug dealers so long as he gains money. Lieutenant Joe leaves the bar and in the next scene is walking poolside at Tony's home. He tells Tony that J.J. wants Tony to stay out of the territory and is prepared to fight if Tony does not comply. Tony explains that he does not make the territory, but just runs it and is not backing down. Williams and J.J. meet together at the club and talk together in the office. Williams has brought his daughter, Yvonne, along. Williams warns J.J. about trying to push Tony out of the territory. He orders J.J. not to take action. J.J. disagrees, explains his position and is set on pushing Tony out of the community because of the drugs he brings in and the negative effects on the community. Yvonne comes into the office while the two become heated in argument so J.J. and Nate stop talking. The next morning Tony goes to visit Nate Williams and speak with him. Tony tells Nate that he wants business running as usual and that J.J. should stop harassing his people. He threatens and welcomes the idea of bloodshed. Williams is not intimidated and tells Tony to be careful otherwise the bloodshed will spill over to his side. He tells Tony to leave his office if that was all he had to say. J.J., Williams and his bodyguard talk at the gym. The idea of change and how times are different are discussed. The bodyguard and J.J. fight but are still friendly with one another after. This is a way J.J. establishes his reputation and masculinity. The next scene, two African American gangsters are seen patting down two white gangsters for drugs. They hold them at gunpoint and tell them to leave and never come back otherwise they will kill them. J.J. and Yvonne are seen coming back to his place where they sleep together. In the morning, she is seen walking around the house and admiring it. She puts on a music record, makes coffee and sits on the couch. J.J. and the woman talk and she begin to talk about the expectations men have of women. J.J. tells her he loves her but just cannot commit for the time being. Diablo and his crew of men chase a car down with a white driver. His car flips over, and they proceed to take a bag from his car. They meet up at a house and go upstairs to question a white man (the same one that was patted down earlier). An entire group of African American gangsters surround him as he sits in a single chair in the room. They ask him why he was near the high school in the area. Being threatened, he tells them about a shipment of drugs coming in but does not know exactly know when or how. J.J. and his men keep questioning him but it is clear that he does not know anything else. They allow him to run away. The next scene, they break into another gangster's home and kill him. They do not care about taking any of the drugs. At this point, J.J. and the men are taking more and more action to stomp out the men who are invading and have stake on their territory. Lieutenant Joe and Tony are seen speaking back at the pool. Joe tells Tony that J.J. has been doing work on another drug dealer. Tony is still not scared and does not back down. He calls J.J. a spook and continues to go about his business. A member of the community goes to J.J.'s club and tells him about what she overheard at Tony's. She tells him that there is a shipment coming in worth three and a half million dollars. J.J. is grateful and pays her for bringing him information. Diablo's men are set up and are caught at a home by police. Lieutenant Joe tells Tony to watch the news for this as he laughs. Tony's plan of bringing in a large shipment continues. He talks on the phone with one of his men who confirm that the process is running smoothly and that it should be flying in New Orleans soon. J.J. and his men are waiting at the airport with artillery and start a gunfight with members of Tony's gang. He succeeds in breaking up the delivery and theft of the shipment and calls Tony to taunt him in his office. This becomes the final push for Tony to take action against J.J. Tony immediately responds by going to Nate William's house to ask him about where J.J. is. Nate has no idea about J.J.'s whereabouts or about the shipment that J.J. stole from Tony. Tony proceeds to assault Nate in order to get information. Lieutenant Joe tries to stop him but they end up shooting him for getting in the way. Tony kidnaps Yvonne after beating Williams to death to use her as a bargain for the shipment of drugs. Diablo and J.J. begin arguing about what to do and nearly end up fighting each other physically back at their headquarters. J.J. cools down and tells Diablo that the problem is "out there" against Tony and not within themselves and the community. Tony calls J.J. and the two work out a deal for the package. Tony says he'll give $350,000 and Yvonne back in exchange for the drugs. J.J. says to bring only one man. J.J.'s men recorded the phone conversation and listened to it over again. One of J.J.'s men recognizes the bell sound in the background and puts Tony's general location near a church. J.J. orders the men to put out flyers of Yvonne in the area so that the community can help search for her. Another of J.J.'s men goes home where his father recognizes a picture of Yvonne on the printed flyers and tells him that he saw her being taken down into the hospital. A confrontation occurs when J.J. and his men go to the hospital and confront Tony and his men. A violent final gunfight occurs as J.J. and Diablo run into the kitchen area of the hospital. Tony hides behind a trashcan with Yvonne behind him as he looks for J.J. Being in much distress, Yvonne grabs a butcher knife and while Tony is not looking, stabs him to death. Tony falls to the floor and J.J. and Diablo walk to Yvonne who can only cry after the ordeal. The movie ends with a final shot of Tony dead on the floor. ===== Rashad is a teen living in Atlanta, Georgia with his Uncle George, and his little brother, Ant. He and his brother were raised by George since their parents died in a car accident, and they work with him as part of his custodial company. When not working or finishing his last semester of high school, Rashad spends most of his time with his friends. Rashad is a talented artist but does not see much of a future in that field as he has become accustomed to working the family business. Benjamin “Esquire”, Rashad's best friend, goes to a prep school on the opposite side of town from where they live, and is trying to attend an Ivy League college after senior year. However, he finds out that he will need a letter of recommendation from someone of high stature to better his chances of acceptance at the school he wants to attend. Rashad and his friends are also a skate crew at a skating rink where local teens hang out. While there, Rashad catches the eye of New-New, a girl with a mysterious background, since he only sees her around when she is hanging out with her friends. The two become attracted to one another and they later kiss when he gives her a ride home in his Chevrolet El Camino. Esquire instantly develops a disliking for Rashad's new love interest, considering her bad company. No longer under Rashad's watchful eyes, Ant becomes involved with a Marcus, a drug dealer, and begins to sell for him. At work one day, Esquire meets John Garnett, a millionaire. The two become friends and Esquire sees an opportunity to obtain the letter of recommendation. When Esquire goes to Garnett's house to pick up the letter, he meets his daughter Erin, who turns out to be New-New. Erin says that she will reveal where Esquire is really from (something he lied to her father about) if he tells Rashad about her. Eventually Rashad finds out the truth about Erin. He no longer speaks to his friends, realizing that Esquire knew about Erin the whole time. Esquire, feeling guilty about the way he obtained the letter, decides to return it to Garnett, and reveals the truth about himself. He also attempts to make peace with Rashad and ask him to attend Skate Wars, the annual skate competition. Rashad initially refuses the offer, but changes his mind after speaking to his uncle. Before he can attend he finds out that Marcus is looking for Ant and the money he owes him. Rashad tracks the two down and after a confrontation Ant is shot in the neck. At the hospital, Rashad and Ant reconnect. Rashad and his friends make peace as well, each going onto succeed in their endeavours. ===== A skydiving team called the Gypsy Moths visits a small town in Kansas to put on a show for the Fourth of July weekend. Their leader, Mike Rettig (Burt Lancaster), is accompanied by his partners, Joe Browdy (Gene Hackman) and Malcolm Webson (Scott Wilson). The skydivers stay at the home of Malcolm's uncle and aunt, John and Elizabeth Brandon (William Windom and Deborah Kerr). Distractions begin almost immediately when Mike becomes romantically involved with Elizabeth, whose husband overhears her making love with Mike in their home. Malcolm falls for local student Annie Burke (Bonnie Bedelia), a boarder in the Brandon house, while Joe takes an interest in a topless dancer. Mike eventually asks Elizabeth to leave town with him, but she declines. During the next skydiving exhibition, Mike intends to do a spectacular "cape jump" stunt, but fails to pull the ripcord, and hits the ground at over 100 miles per hour. Although nobody wants to discuss it, there is a suspicion that he committed suicide. That night, Annie consoles Malcolm, and they make love. Before the team leaves for good, they have to bury Mike. To pay for the funeral, Malcolm does the same stunt that killed Mike. He leaves by train that night without attending Mike's funeral. ===== The film starts with a serene wide shot of a landscape in which there are supposedly 40 people, none of whom can be seen. The picture then changes to another serene wide shot of a different landscape. In it is Mr. E. R. Bradshaw of Napier Court, Black Lion Road, (London) SE 5, who cannot be seen. The narrator asks him to stand up. He complies and is immediately shot. According to the narrator, "This demonstrates the value of not being seen." There is a cut to another landscape wide shot. In it, the audience cannot see Mrs. B. J. Smegma of 13, The Crescent, Belmont. The narrator asks her to stand up. She also complies and is immediately shot. Next is a shot of a clearing near a wood with only one bush in the middle of the frame. Somewhere in the vicinity is Mr. Nesbitt of Harlow New Town. He is asked to stand up, but in contrast to the previous people, he does not comply. The narrator explains that "Mr. Nesbitt has learned the first lesson of not being seen: not to stand up. However, he has chosen a very obvious piece of cover." The bush then suddenly explodes. Following this, we cut to another clearing with three bushes in the frame. Hiding nearby is Mr. E.V. Lambert of Homeleigh, The Burrows, Oswestry, who has presented the narrator with a poser by choosing a very clever way of not being seen. Although "we do not know which bush he is behind, [...] we can soon find out": The left bush explodes, then the right one, and finally the middle; mixed with the noise of this explosion comes the scream of Mr. Lambert. "Yes, it was the middle one," the Narrator intones. Next is a farmland area with a water barrel, a wall, a pile of leaves, a bushy tree, a parked car, and many bushes in the distance. In this shot, Mr. Ken Andrews of Leighton Road, Slough "has concealed himself extremely well. He could be almost anywhere. He could be behind the wall, inside the water barrel, beneath a pile of leaves, up in the tree, squatting down behind the car, concealed in a hollow, or crouched behind any one of a hundred bushes." However, thanks to the narrator, "we happen to know he's in the water barrel." The water barrel then explodes. There is then a panning shot across a line of beach huts along the sea while the narrator explains that Mr. and Mrs. Watson of Ivy Cottage, Worplesdon Road, Hull, have chosen a very cunning way of not being seen. "When we called at their house, we found that they had gone away on two weeks' holiday. They had not left any forwarding address and they had bolted and barred the house to prevent us getting in. However, a neighbour told us where they were", as the camera pans to spot a singled-out hut in the middle of the beach. The hut containing the Watsons explodes, accompanied by the couple's screams. The camera cuts to a Gumby-looking fellow identified as the neighbour who told the filmmakers where the Watsons were. He explodes and his boots are the only remains. "Nobody likes a clever dick," explains the narrator. The film cuts to a shack ("And this is where he lived"), which also blows up, then changes to another shack ("And this is where Lord Langdon lived; who refused to speak to us"), which blows up as well. The picture goes on to various changes of houses ("So did the gentleman who lived here, and here, and, of course, here"), which each blow up, and then a series of atomic explosions ("Manchester, and the West Midlands, Spain, China!"). The narrator bursts into diabolical laughter and the sketch segues into Michael Palin as a presenter stopping the film. "How Not to Be Seen" then becomes a running joke in the last two sketches of the episode. Palin first discusses Mr. Roy Bent of North Walsham in Norfolk, who became the first man to cross the Atlantic Ocean on a tricycle. Palin says Mr. Bent "is in our Durham studios, which is rather unfortunate as we're all down here in London." Palin then proceeds to interview Arsenal footballer Ludovic Grayson (voice of Terry Jones), who is crouched inside a filing cabinet trying not to be seen. Grayson explains: "It's common sense really, If they can't see you they can't get you." However, Palin points out that he can still be heard inside the filing cabinet, which has its top drawer subsequently blasted open from another explosion. The sketch concludes with "Jackie Charlton and the Tonettes" performing the song "Yummy Yummy Yummy" on a trendy pop-music set, with each member hiding inside wooden crates as the show's end credits roll. The sketch was altered in And Now For Something Completely Different (ANFSCD). There are 47 people in the first shot (rather than 40), Mr. E. V. Lambert was renamed Mr. E. W. Lambert in this version, the farmland scene isn't shown, the beach hut scene is replaced with a tent in the woods and shortened, and the explosions of Lord Langdon's and others' houses are not shown. The government film ends here with the narrator saying, "And this is where he lived. And this is where he was born"' over scenes of the neighbour's houses being blown up, followed by him chuckling. The camera then zooms in on Cleese at a desk, still laughing. He proceeds to say, with a serious face, "And now for something completely different" after laughing, and is blown up afterwards, segueing into the opening credits. Category:Monty Python sketches ===== Elton Pope sees a photograph of the Tenth Doctor taken during a recent alien invasion on Ursula Blake's blog. Elton recalls seeing the same man in his house when he was a child. Elton and Ursula, with three others, form a group who have similarly encountered the Doctor known as LINDA (London Investigation 'N' Detective Agency). LINDA meets in a library basement to discuss their experiences, but soon their meetings become more social in nature. One day a man by the name of Victor Kennedy (who says he cannot be touched due to a skin condition) interrupts a meeting and points out that LINDA has lost focus. He reinvigorates the group's efforts to locate the Doctor and his companion Rose by teaching them spying techniques. Elton is given the task of getting close to Rose's mother Jackie. He manages to meet Jackie at a laundrette and is invited to her apartment. She tries and fails to seduce him, but when she finds a picture of Rose in Elton's jacket and realises he is after the Doctor, she demands that he leave her alone. Meanwhile, Bridget and Bliss disappear from the group unexpectedly. After a meeting, Elton, Ursula, and Mr Skinner stage a walkout. Victor persuades Mr Skinner to remain behind, but Elton and Ursula leave. Ursula realises she forgot her phone, and she returns with Elton only to discover that Victor is an alien, whom Elton dubs an Abzorbaloff. The Abzorbaloff reveals that he has absorbed the rest of LINDA and wishes to also absorb the Doctor to gain his accumulated experience and knowledge. The Abzorbaloff tricks Ursula into being absorbed as well, revealing that a single touch is enough to absorb a victim, before pursuing Elton. Elton is cornered in a dead end alley. As he resigns himself to being absorbed, the TARDIS materialises and the Doctor and Rose emerge from within. The Abzorbaloff attempts to ransom Elton in exchange for the Doctor, but the Doctor feigns disinterest in Elton's fate, while dropping a hint to the absorbed members of LINDA. In response, the absorbed members collectively use their willpower to suppress the Abzorbaloff, who ends up dropping his cane. At Ursula's prompting, Elton breaks the cane, which causes the Abzorbaloff to melt into the ground. The Doctor then recalls his first encounter with Elton, and explains that he was at Elton's house years ago tracking an elemental shade, but he was too late and the shade killed Elton's mother. The Doctor is able to bring back Ursula in the form of a paving stone, which Elton starts a relationship with. ===== The play is set in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin. The anti-hero of the play, The Quare Fellow, is never seen or heard; he functions as the play's central conceit. He is a man condemned to die on the following day, for an unmentioned crime. Whatever it is, it revolts his fellow inmates far less than that of The Other Fellow, a very camp, almost Wildean, gay man. The Quare Fellow takes place in Mountjoy Prison during the early 1950s There are three generations of prisoners in Mountjoy including boisterous youngsters who can irritate both other inmates and the audience and the weary old lags Neighbour and "methylated martyr" Dunlavin. The first act is played out in the cramped area outside five cells and is comedic. After the interval, the pace slows considerably and the play becomes much darker, as the time for the execution approaches. The focus moves to the exercise yard and to the workers who are digging the grave for the soon-to-be-executed Quare Fellow. The taking of a man's life is examined from many different angles: his fellow prisoners of all hues, the great and the good and the prison officers. The play is a grimly realistic portrait of prison life in Ireland in the 1950s, and a reminder of the days in which homosexuality was illegal and the death penalty relatively common (35 people were executed between 1923 and 1954, about one every 10½ months). The play is based on Behan's own prison experiences, and highlights the perceived barbarity of capital punishment, then in use in Ireland. The play also attacks the false piety in attitudes to sex, politics and religion. ===== After an attack by the Maquis orchestrated by Ro Laren, the saucer section is damaged and in need of repairs. While at the dry dock facilities, Captain Picard receives new orders from Admiral Nechayev to test a new saucer section. This new saucer section has been designed to be able to land on a planetary body and lift off from the surface, overcoming a reluctance by captains to carry out a saucer sep. The stardrive section of the Enterprise-D is attached to this new saucer, which is then taken out for field testing. During the course of the mission, the saucer section is hijacked by Maquis operatives (one of whom is among Nechayev's test crew), who intend to re-dock it with the stardrive section and take it over, and Picard finds himself having to prevent the saucer and the technology contained within from falling into Maquis hands. The saucer does make a controlled crash, under conditions not conducive to its recovery, on a planet with a primitive sentient culture that could one day discover the saucer at the bottom of its ocean, depending on how durable Starfleet metals are. Meanwhile, Ro's hideaway is found by the Cardassians and attacked, leading to a narrow escape. ===== In Japan, the home of Cho Osaki is attacked by an army of a rival ninja clan, resulting in the slaughter of his entire family except for his mother and his younger son, Kane. When Cho arrives at his estate and discovers the carnage, the ninjas attempt to kill him as well, but Cho, a highly skilled ninja himself, avenges his family and kills the attacking ninjas. Afterwards, however, he swears off being a ninja forever and moves with his son and mother to America, where he opens an Oriental art gallery with the help of his American business partner and friend, Braden, and his assistant Cathy. One night, Kane accidentally drops and breaks open one of the dolls, exposing a white dust (heroin) contained therein. As it turns out, Braden uses the doll gallery as a front for his drug-smuggling business. He tries to strike a deal with Caifano, a mob boss, but Caifano and Braden cannot find common ground and eventually engage in a turf war. Braden, as a silver "demon"-masked ninja, assassinates Caifano's informers and relatives to make him cower down. The police are confused about the killings, and local police martial arts trainer and expert, Dave Hatcher, is assigned to find a consultant. Dave persuades his friend Cho to see his boss, and Cho attests that only a ninja could commit these crimes, but refuses to aid the police any further. In order to avoid payment for his 'merchandise', Caifano sends four men to rob the gallery. Cho happens to walk into the gallery while the thugs are loading the goods in a van, is attacked and responds with hand-to-hand combat. The henchmen escape in the van with Cho in pursuit, but he fails to stop the thieves from getting away. Meanwhile, Braden stealthily arrives at Cho's art gallery to find that it was just looted. Cho's mother and Kane both encounter him; Braden kills Cho's mother, but Kane manages to elude him. Cho, badly mangled, returns to find his mother murdered and his son missing. In order to finish the last witness, Braden hypnotizes Cathy, who is in love with Cho, to find and bring in Kane. When she recovers her senses, she contacts Cho and informs him both of Braden's treachery and that he is a ninja. Seeing his only remaining son in mortal danger, Cho breaks his devotion to non-violence and makes his way to Caifano's headquarters to stop Braden. In the meantime, Braden finds out about Cathy's betrayal and prepares to have her executed. Kane manages to free himself and Cathy, and the two inform the authorities. Braden makes his final assault on Caifano and his organization, killing all he encounters. Eager to help Cho, Dave also rushes to Caifano's headquarters but is ambushed by Braden, who mortally wounds him. Cho rushes to help his faithful friend, but the latter dies in his arms. Braden and Cho duel to the death on top of Caifano's skyscraper. After a long fight, Cho manages to kill Braden and is reunited with his son and Cathy. ===== Keiko Obayashi is a third year chemistry student in Tokyo. After finding her boyfriend in the bathtub with another student, she takes a train out of Tokyo. She wakes up in rural Masao, where she soon finds a job working in a newly opened convenience store. Meanwhile, five middle-aged men who run local shops are worried about the competition from the new store, and plan to disrupt it. However, they all fall in love with Keiko as soon as they see her inside the store. After following her one-day, Nabe discovers that she plays lacrosse at the university. The men decide to take up lacrosse in an effort to get a date with her. The film follows them as they practice in secret, are found out by Keiko who agrees to coach them, and finally play a match against a lacrosse team from America who are attracted by the Native American nickname (Geronimo) of one of their players. The men are heavily defeated, but Geronimo becomes a hero when he scores the team's only point, and the film ends with him flying to America with the Americans. ===== In the 1970s, after the establishment of diplomat relation between the People's Republic of China and the United States, Zhou Jun, the daughter of a retired Kuomintang general, Zhou Zhenwu, who now lives in America, visits mainland China for sightseeing. In Mount Lu, she meets Geng Hua, a young man who is preparing his college entrance exams, and they fall in love. Geng's father, a CPC officer, is now under political investigation by Gang of Four. The junior Geng is accompanying his unwell mother to the mountain for rehabilitation. Due to his frequent contacts with Zhou, Geng is summoned for interrogation. Zhou returns to the States with regrets. After the fall of Gang of Four, Zhou, still keeping her feelings for Geng in her heart, visited Lu Mountain again. While Geng, now a postgraduate student of Tsinghua University, happens to come to Mount Lu for academic colloquium. Fortunately, these two reunite and decide to marry each other. Geng Hua asks his father, Geng Feng, for his agreement, and shows him the photo of Miss Zhou's family. The senior Geng recognizes that the girl's father, Zhou Zhenwu, was his classmate back in Whampoa Military Academy. Because they followed different political parties, they became the rivals in the battlefield during Chinese Civil War. Thus, he immediately rejects this marriage. After some difficulties, the two seniors, both with the intention of reunification of China, meet on Mount Lu. The hostility is thawed, and they become relatives by marriage when the junior Zhou and Geng finally get together. ===== Set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the novel's events follow a turbulent period in the life of married, cynical and usually drunk journalist Dan Starkey. Dan's wife Patricia leaves him after a drunken party in which he kisses student Margaret. What follows is a darkly comical tale of murder and mystery. ===== Sir Edward Pellew, captain of decides to put his protégé, Horatio Hornblower, forward for the examination for lieutenant. Leading up to the exam, Hornblower faces many challenges. Spain has made peace with France and is no longer an ally of Britain – Spanish ships, although technically neutral, begin to attack British ships. Wreckage from one supply ship has already been found by Indefatigable. Indefatigable finds three survivors, among them Captain "Dreadnought" Foster, a famously heroic officer who influences the ambitious Hornblower. Spain's actions have deprived the Gibraltar fleet of its supplies leaving Pellew no alternative but to cut rations by half. This leads seaman Bunting (Andrew Tiernan) to steal food. He is caught by Hornblower, reprimanded by Pellew and punished by being made to run the gauntlet. Soon as Mr Tapling from the diplomatic service arrives, he and Hornblower head ashore to Oran, in Ottoman Algeria, to buy grain and cattle for the fleet. They soon discover that the Plague has broken out. Anyone who went ashore must be quarantined for three weeks before being allowed to rejoin the fleet, so Hornblower is appointed captain of Caroline, a transport schooner carrying desperately needed food and cattle. Bunting is caught trying to escape in the longboat by Hornblower. Hornblower, short of hands on Caroline, but also keen to redeem Bunting, gives him a chance to prove his worth. Later, while they are ashore to load water, they are attacked by Spanish soldiers, and Bunting tries to escape again. Hornblower catches him, but Bunting forces Hornblower to shoot him. When Caroline encounters HMS Dreadnought, Captain Foster sends a boarding party to take a few sides of beef, despite Hornblower warning him the quarantine has not expired. In the end nobody is infected and they rejoin the fleet, where Hornblower receives a mild rebuke from Pellew for the "wanton extravagance" of allowing his men to eat fresh beef. Back at Gibraltar Hornblower attempts his exam, a viva voci conducted by a group of senior officers including Foster. The examination begins badly but is interrupted when a fire ship sails into the anchorage. Hornblower and Foster board it and steer it clear of the fleet. In recognition of this, Hornblower is not demoted to Midshipman (as would normally have happened in the circumstances) but keeps his rank of Acting Lieutenant and is allowed to take the exam again sometime in the future. ===== ===== In Dragon's Egg, Forward describes the history and development of a life form (the Cheela) that evolves on the surface of a neutron star (a highly dense collapsed star, about 20 km in diameter). This is the "dragon's egg" of the title, so named because from Earth it is observed to be near the tail of the constellation Draco ("the dragon"). The Cheela develop sentience and intelligence, despite their relative small size (an individual Cheela has approximately the volume of a sesame seed, but the mass of a human) and an intense gravity field that restricts their movement in the third dimension. Much of the book concerns the biologic and social development of the Cheela; a subplot is the arrival of a human vessel nearby the neutron star, and the eventual contact that is made between the humans and the Cheela. A major problem in this contact is that the Cheela live a million times more quickly than humans do; a Cheela year goes by in about 30 human seconds. The humans arrive when the Cheela are a savage, backward species, fighting rival clans in a subsistence-level society. Within a few human days, the equivalent of a few thousand Cheela years, the Cheela surpass the humans in technology, and the humans are affectionately called "the Slow Ones". Forward wrote a sequel to Dragon's Egg, called Starquake, which deals with the consequences of the Cheela developing space travel, and of a seismic disturbance that kills most of the Cheela on the surface of the neutron star. ===== ===== ===== The film is a "mysterious and erotic" romance, exploring the kinds of love for which there are no names or clear arrangements. Michael (Michael Idemoto) is a reclusive auto mechanic captivated by a woman known as Charlotte or Darcy (Jacqueline Kim). She is an enigmatic drifter. Lori (Eugenia Yuan) is Michael's tenant and best friend. Lori has a live-in boyfriend, Justin (Matt Westmore), but may hold the key to Michael's heart. When the two women in Michael's life meet face to face, Michael is forced to choose between a daring tryst with an alluring stranger, and the habitual comfort of his bittersweet obsession. ===== During the night the village of Mantu is raided for its supply of dynamite by what appear to be black Africans. The village doctor and radio operator interrupt the robbery and are fatally shot. Before dying, the radio operator gasps, "Slade" over the shortwave radio. The next morning, Tarzan is awakened by African drums that alert him to something wrong. He arrives at Mantu, where a funeral is held for the fallen villagers. British police inspector Colonel Sundley informs Tarzan of the previous raid and that root dye was found. This leads Tarzan to believe that the robbers were "white men painted black" rather than black Africans. Tarzan meets Angie, a self-absorbed American model and pilot. Tarzan knows her manager, Sanchez, and immediately dislikes her manner. However Angie does tell him that she overheard the name "Slade" on her airplane radio. Tarzan remembers a "Slade" as "a man with a passion to kill"; a ruthless criminal who once sacrificed three men rather than lose the hunt for a prized rogue elephant. After dropping off his pet chimpanzee Cheeta at his tree-house, Tarzan heads up river by canoe to catch Slade and his gang. Along the way Tarzan sees Angie's plane. She taunts him with low flyovers. But her Cesna engine stalls, and Angie crashes into the river. Tarzan saves her from a crocodile but thereafter can't leave her stranded, so he continues the hunt with Angie alongside. Meanwhile, Slade and his quartet of thieves (consisting of the sullen ex-con Dino, the drunkard O'Bannion, an implied ex-Nazi Kruger, and Slade's Italian girlfriend, Toni) continue by riverboat towards what is revealed to be a secret diamond mine. The dynamite was stolen for excavating the gems. When their riverboat malfunctions the thieves begin to quarrel among themselves, allowing Tarzan and Angie to catch up. O'Bannion's teases Dino to the point of Dino trying to kill him. But during a chase, Dino stumbles into quicksand and drowns. The criminals find their boat riddled with arrows, a signal that Tarzan has tracked them down. Slade and O'Bannion disembark, while Kruger hurls dynamite at Tarzan, wounding him. Tarzan manages to kill O'Bannion, but Slade closes in. With Slade gone, Kruger believes he can coerce Toni into telling him where the diamond mine is and tries to eliminate Slade. Slade survives Kruger's attempt, pummels him into submission, and continues with Toni towards the mine. Tarzan's injuries require Angie to tend to him, she comforts him and then risks her life to steal medical supplies from Slade's anchored boat. Angie is captured by Slade, who uses her to lure Tarzan into a trap. With Slade absent, Kruger sees another chance, he frees Angie and tells her to inform Tarzan where they are. Toni overhears Kruger and flees to warn Slade, but she accidentally falls to her death through the trap door pit meant for Tarzan. Kruger convinces Slade that Toni was frightened by a passing lion, and the men continue toward the diamond mine. Once inside, Kruger confirms that it is a mother lode of diamonds. However Slade is more interested in killing Tarzan than in the gems. Kruger tries to push Slade down a pit to his death and almost succeeds, but Slade survives. He confronts Kruger, who offers him all the diamonds he has so far collected if he will let him go, but Slade is unmoved and drops Kruger down the pit to his death. Tarzan is nursed back to health by Angie, and they engage in an off-screen romance. Afterwards, Tarzan continues to be obsessed with capturing Slade, much to the displeasure of Angie. "Why don't you just leave him to the jungle?" she argues. Tarzan replies, "this is where I belong", explaining further that to allow Slade to escape would endanger everyone. He thanks Angie for her help, then grabs a vine and swings away for a final confrontation with Slade. From high atop a river bluff, Slade fires rifle shots that intentionally miss Tarzan but allows him to know where Slade is. Tarzan scales the sheer bluff, setting up the final melee both men long for. At first Slade gets the upper hand by lassoing Tarzan with his wire noose. But eventually Tarzan's superior strength and endurance wins out, and Tarzan pushes Slade over the edge of the cliff onto the rocks below. Tarzan bellows his famous yell, runs to a pool, and gazes upon his reflection triumphantly. The sound of Slade's riverboat distracts Tarzan. He hurries to the cliff again, only this time to see Angie below, steering the boat back to Mantu. Tarzan hesitates, considering joining her. But he looks back at the jungle, realizes that's where he belongs, and returns instead to his tree-house and Cheeta. ===== The ghost of recently dead Mr. Hiram Stokeley (Boris Karloff) finds that he has 24 hours to perform one good deed to get into Heaven. He enlists the help of his long-dead girlfriend, Cecily, to stop his lawyer, Reginald Ripper (Basil Rathbone), and a henchman from claiming the estate for themselves. The real heirs, Chuck, Lili, Hiram's cousin Myrtle, and her son bring their beach party friends to the mansion for a pool party while Reginald Ripper also employs his daughter Sinistra, and J. Sinister Hulk's slow-witted associates Chicken Feather and Yolanda to help them terrorize the teens, while dopey biker Eric Von Zipper and his Malibu Rat Pack bikers also get involved in pursuing Yolanda for a share of the Stokely estate. ===== Dragon (Jackie Chan) is the son of a Chinese aristocrat who is always getting in trouble, and likes to skip his lessons. Dragon tries to send a love note to the girl he likes via a kite, but the kite gets away. Dragon tries to get the kite and letter back which have landed on the roof of the headquarters of a gang of thieves who are planning to steal artifacts from the towns temple. Dragon interferes with the gang’s plans and is forced to fight of the gang. ===== Ken Holt is the son of a world-famous foreign correspondent Richard Holt. With his friend, Sandy Allen, he travels around the world solving various mysteries. Ken lives with the Allen family, as his father is frequently away and his mother had died before the start of the series. ===== During the 1980s a black market shipment of exotic animals docks at Emerald Isle, North Carolina, a driver is hired to transport several of the animals to another location. During the drive, however, he notices a distinctive smell and pulls over the van, he inspects the cargo and presumes a crate of reptilian eggs to be rotted and tosses them off into the swamp. Nineteen summers later, the Connelly family arrive at the island to return to their summer vacation home though in recent years, a major oil company has been developing on the island, polluting the local environment and damaging tourism. During their stay, Patrick (Kevin Zegers) ventures out to his hang out with his dog, Buster, and encounters a small strange lizard. In an attempt to catch it, Patrick stays out later than usual concerning Mr. and Mrs. Connelly, who go out looking for him. Patrick decides to head home after hearing his parents calling out to him but then is attacked by an unseen creature. Barely escaping, he becomes traumatized when he witnesses his family being devoured by the creatures. Patrick survives and is found in a state of shock. Sometime later, Patrick's grandmother reaches out to Victoria Juno (Jill Hennessy), a young psychiatrist, to come and help Patrick come to terms with his grief and avoid sending him to a mental institution. His aunt Annie (Nina Landis), who is highly protective of Patrick, is indifferent towards Victoria's presence and adamantly against him returning to the island. Victoria, with the grandmother's support, takes Patrick back to the island along with Annie. While settling into the Connellys' old vacation home, Annie is attacked and wounded. While Victoria tries to tend to Annie's wounds, Patrick is awakened by a growling and decides to come downstairs for a glass of water. While in the kitchen, Patrick has a flashback to the attack on his dog and runs to Victoria panicked. When she asks him what he saw, he points behind her to reveal a massive Komodo dragon. Annie is then killed by the creature and Victoria and Patrick barely escape with their lives—also revealing that there are several more dragons. They later find the boat captain, Martin, severely injured. While driving frantically, they nearly crash into Oates (Billy Burke) and his maintenance co-worker Denby (Paul Gleeson), who were sent to kill all of the reptiles. Oates and Denby check on them and tend to Martin, who is beginning to succumb to an infection from his wounds—Oates explains it is an infection of several bacteria strains in the Komodo's saliva allowing them to track their prey. Oates and Denby call for help from Bracken (Simon Westaway), the man who sent them on the island to kill the Komodo dragons and who is also helping Oates with legal problems. Bracken refuses to take them off the island until they kill all of the dragons. Patrick suddenly runs off into the long grass and separates from the group. Victoria tries to follow after him but is pulled back onto the road by Oates. Denby then says that Patrick cut out the heart of a Komodo dragon that had previously been killed. The group travel down the road to the oil company office station to seek shelter and get medicine for Martin. He later dies due to his wounds as well as Denby after he is attacked in another room. During this time Bracken radios Oates and says a helicopter will be coming by soon and that the dragons should be all killed by that time. Taking Denby's body to a higher section of the station, he is consoled by Victoria. Oates reveals that he was a former biologist and his wife a geologist hired by the oil company to survey the environment; while in the field, Oates and his wife separated and never sees her again afterwards. The local police believe Oates killed his wife and began to prosecute him, with no evidence to prove his innocence, Bracken presented Oates with an escape in return for taking care of the Komodo "problem". Victoria similarly confesses that she feels that she has failed in trying to help Patrick overcome his past. They head off in search of Patrick at his old hang-out which turns out to be a filtration center. Separated, Victoria is attacked by one of the Komodo dragons but she is saved by Patrick. Victoria fails to persuade Patrick to come with her as he runs off again. She is then attacked by another Komodo dragon. Meanwhile, Oates is attacked by one of the creatures and manages to kill it; however, he is bitten. He then comes and saves Victoria from the attacking dragon by shooting it. They later find Patrick again, Victoria then convinces him to come with them as she finally helps him overcome his grief by telling him how the oil company knew of the Komodos inhabiting the island but covered it up to protect themselves and that his parents death was not his fault. Immediately afterwards, one of the remaining Komodos attacks them. Oates manages to lure the dragon away into leaking oil/gasoline and attempted to kill it by igniting the oil with one of Denby's cigars. The dragon escapes the fire and rushes after Victoria, but she kills it by using a rock to bash in part of a broomstick handle into its head that she earlier injured it with. The helicopter finally arrives along with Bracken. Oates turns up at the station alive and steals the helicopter to leave Bracken on the island with the creatures. Victoria and Patrick are trying to make their way back to Martin's boat when another large Komodo dragon tracks them down. It traps them by the coast cliff side; however, Oates flies overhead in the helicopter and saves them by shooting a flare gun into the Komodo dragon's mouth, incinerating it. They return to the mainland unharmed. While resting on the sidewalk back in town, the sheriff stops by to ask them if everything is all right. Patrick responds "Never better". ===== ===== Bernice Summerfield takes her two students Emile and Tameka on a field trip, but when her ex- husband Jason turns up, they all become embroiled with the dangerous super- weapon of a lost civilisation. ===== Bernice Summerfield travels back in time to ancient Babylon to try to prevent the powerful race known only as the People from destroying the city with a singularity bomb. ===== Kang Ryun-Hwa, an award-winning North Korean musical performer, learns that her father was charged as a spy working for the South Korean Intelligence Agency. She is taken to Yoduk along with her family, as in North Korea, families are punished for the crime of an individual. The guards are amused that a performer of her caliber has been reduced to a political prisoner. Ryun-Hwa tries to remain strong, but submits to rape by the prison guard captain Lee Myung-Soo under implicit threat to her family. She is later raped by ambitious lieutenant Hyuk-Chul under similar circumstances, though she gets Hyuk-Chul to promise to help her family escape. Ryun-Hwa discovers that she is pregnant, and agonizes over what to do. She ultimately decides to commit suicide, but Myung-Soo saves her life. Hyuk-Chul learns of the pregnancy through an informant, and savagely beats the informant when he does not give specific enough information about how far along she is. A prisoner escapes from a different prison camp, and the Yoduk guards are ordered to set an example for their own prisoners. Myung-Soo orders temperance- only kill one prisoner as an example who might be able to escape, but Hyuk-Chul favors different measures. Later, by accident, Hyuk-Chul ends up murdering a child when he instead intended to kill Tae-Sik, a religious fan of South Korean music who has been stealing from the storehouse. Ryun-Hwa decides to give birth to her baby, as motivation and hope for escape from the prison camp. Myung-Soo agonizes over Ryun-Hwa and her child, feeling guilt for raping her as well as toward the state for violating the rules against sexual contact with a prisoner. Ryun-Hwa gives birth to the baby, who is named Yoduk. Hyuk- Chul has Myung-Soo arrested, and starts to engage in increasing reprisals against the prisoners. This results in the death of Ryun-Hwa's parents, Tae- Sik, and the forcible severing of Run-Hwa's brother's arm via a sewing machine. Myung-Soo is sentenced to death by Hyuk-Chul, who orders Ryun-Hwa to either execute Myung-Soo herself, or he will murder Yoduk. He leaves them alone with another officer, Young-An. Young-An gives Myung-Soo his gun and suggests he simply kill himself now. Young-An exits. Rather than kill himself, Myung-Soo makes a last-ditch effort to try to get Ryun-Hwa and Yoduk out of the camp, but is confronted alone by Hyuk-Chul. Myung-Soo persuades Hyuk-Chul to help by tapping into Hyuk-Chul's own ambivalent feelings toward Ryun-Hwa and Yoduk. Young-An appears with the remaining guards and reveals himself as working for central intelligence. Myung-Soo reveals that he has the remote controls for the machine gun nests. A riot erupts and soon involves the prisoners, armed with crude farming implements. Five hundred prisoners and guards (in a camp of twenty-thousand) die, but Ryun-Hwa and Yoduk manage to escape to South Korea. Then the characters appear and sing, "God, Please Come to North Korea." This musical is based on the stories of people who experienced the horrors of North Korean prisons depicted in Yoduk, "the living hell on earth." ===== After the TARDIS malfunctions and then explodes, the Doctor's companions find themselves in two different time zones. Bernice is stranded in the East End of London of 1909, where a series of grisly murders is occurring blamed on Spring Heeled Jack, while Ace is trapped on the planet Ant'ykhon fighting alongside guerrilla fighters against alien oppressors. Ace discovers that Ant'ykhon is actually the planet Earth, 22,000 years in the future and devastated by rising temperatures. The Charrl, an insect-like race, now inhabit Earth. They have been using an unstable trans-dimensional link called the "Great Divide" to travel to Earth's past in order to escape from the dying planet. Once there they implant humans with their eggs, but inadvertently kill them, causing the murders blamed on Spring-Heeled Jack. Since the Great Divide is unstable, any Charrl that travels to the past eventually crumbles into dust. Back in 1909, Benny is scratched by one of the time-travelling Charrls and is implanted with an egg. This has the effect of placing her under the control of the Charrl, causing her to replace the missing Time Vector Generator in the TARDIS and reunite it with its other half in the future. This also stabilizes the Great Divide and allows Jared Khan, a Charrel agent, to attempt to use the Great Divide to give him immortality. The TARDIS time rams its other half and sends it and Khan back to Siberia 1908, where it explodes, causing the Tunguska event. In the far future, Ace and Benny are aided by Muldwych, a mysterious hermit and former ally of the Charrl. He uses the TARDIS to entrap the Charrl inside one its interior dimensions, then sweeps the Great Divide over London, clearing it of Charrl and their eggs (and curing Benny). But when he tries to use the TARDIS to escape from his exile on Earth, the TARDIS expels him from the ship and returns him to Ant'ykhon. The Doctor emerges from the interior of the TARDIS, claiming to have been asleep in his room the entire time (but see Iceberg for details). ===== A group of re-enactors attempt to stage a 100th-anniversary battle between US Cavalry and Blackfeet Indians. Racial hostilities and a real gun lead to some all too real casualties, and three young Blackfeet men are caught in the middle. The film follows their flight for freedom in the face of an angry community which has mistakenly blamed them for the violence. ===== The Doctor and his companions land in German-occupied Guernsey in 1941 where the Nazis are pursuing a top-secret weapon which could change the course of the war. ===== Energetic Egghead is bouncing around, pretending to be a cowboy, until his noise-making gets him kicked out of the boarding house in which he is living by a clerk with a penchant for the minced oath "dad- burnit." While on the street he sees a discarded newspaper advertisement from a ranch in Wyoming, requesting a "cow-puncher." He applies, and, while there, goes through various training exercises, but fails them all. Egghead, having seen his apparent uselessness, begins to leave, but the lead cowboy decides to give him a job: cleaning up after the cows and horses. ===== The story starts when the 17-year-old Anna is orphaned. She moves in with Aunt Stella and Uncle Leo and her cousins Walter and Zofia, a very manipulative and promiscuous girl. Anna later meets Jan Stelnicki, falls in love almost instantly and remains obsessed with him for most of her life. Zofia, jealous because she wanted Jan herself, tricks Anna into coming into the forest where she abandons her. While there, Anna is raped by a stranger. Leo goes to where Anna was raped, but he gets stuck and Zofia and Walter watch him die. Shortly after the attack, Anna is married off to Antoni and moves to Warsaw. In Warsaw, Anna's life changes drastically. The Constitution of May 3, 1791 is signed by King Stanisław August Poniatowski, giving the peasants human rights. Many Polish nobles are enraged by the new laws, and call for Catherine the Great of Russia to deliver them. Anna discovers she is pregnant from being raped and gives birth to a son. It is revealed that Walter, who supports the Russians, was the one who raped Anna. Anna becomes a supporter of Polish independence but is forced to watch as her country is overrun by hostile powers. As the victorious Russians march on Warsaw, Zofia sacrifices herself to buy time for Anna and her family to flee the war-torn city. ===== ===== The protagonist of this story is the clairvoyant and wise Merlin, the wizard of legend, who is recounting his story of the reign of Arthur Pendragon as he oversees Arthur's destiny to become the great king Merlin has predicted. ===== The story is set in 1889 Wyoming, when the Wyoming Territory was still open to the Homestead Act of 1862. It is narrated by a homesteader's son, Bob Starrett. The original unclaimed land surrounding the Starretts' homestead had been used by a cattle driver named Luke Fletcher before being claimed by Bob's father, Joe Starrett, along with many other homesteaders. Fletcher had settled there first, although he could only claim as a homestead. He wants to expand his herd; homesteads in the area would hinder its growth. The title character, Shane, is a mysterious stranger who rides into and then out of the lives of the Starrett family, "a man who seemed to come from nowhere and appeared equally determined to pass on to nowhere."Nott, Robert. "Introduction." Shane. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1949, 2017. Kindle Edition. He is typically quiet, always silent about his past. He does not wear his gun, and yet everyone seems to understand that he is a dangerous man. Joe Starrett hires Shane as a hand on his farm, and Shane puts aside his handsome Western clothes and buys dungarees. He then helps the homesteaders to avoid intimidation by Fletcher and his men, who try to get them to abandon their farms. With Joe Starrett's leadership and Shane's help, the farmers resist Fletcher. Shane is forced into a gun battle. ===== Eddie Muntz (Chase) is a small- time American arms dealer who talks his way into a job with a large defense corporation selling high-tech military unmanned aerial vehicles to a South American dictator (William Marquez). Muntz arrives in war-torn and impoverished "San Miguel" to sell weapons to both its leader and the rebels seeking his ouster. In the middle of a sales pitch to the rebels, Muntz is caught in a firefight and is shot in the foot. Hobbling in a rundown hotel days later, Muntz meets Harold DeVoto (Wallace Shawn), a sales rep for the American defense contractor, Luckup. Muntz peddles small arms (assault rifles, anti-personnel mines, and machine-pistols disguised as cassette tape players), whereas Luckup's product is more sophisticated—the Peacemaker UAV, a military dream that operates without pilots or airbases. But the military junta of San Miguel strings DeVoto along, driving the man to suicide. Muntz successfully takes over the deal and wins a contract worth millions. On returning to America, he is angrily confronted at gunpoint by Catherine (Sigourney Weaver), Harold's widow. Demanding the contract, Catherine shoots Muntz instead, reopening the wound on his foot. Waking up in the hospital, Muntz is told by Frank Stryker (Vince Edwards), a Luckup executive, that San Miguel reneged on the deal after a disastrous and highly publicized demonstration of the Peacemaker. Muntz nevertheless decides to help Luckup re-sign San Miguel. He is joined by his partner, Ray Kasternak (Gregory Hines), an ex-fighter pilot now undergoing a religious crisis of conscience, and also by Catherine. Muntz's efforts are complicated by tensions with Luckup, Ray's religious conversion, "The Peacemaker's" many technical glitches, and his own growing moral reservations. On the eve of a major defense industry exposition, Muntz is visited by Massagi (Richard Libertini), an immensely wealthy arms merchant who both encourages him to finalize the San Miguel deal and coaches him on how to do it. Massagi reveals that the global arms industry has a stake in sales of weapons like the Peacemaker because they allow for localized and conventional wars that will keep their business viable into the next century. Massagi also explains how recent changes to federal law not only legalize bribes to foreign dictators, but make those bribes tax deductible. These revelations spur Muntz on, while also adding to his unease. Muntz accompanies San Miguel's dictator to the weapons expo, where billions of dollars of high technology are displayed and demonstrated. To the dictators, Muntz disparages any warplanes he sees, reminding them of the obvious benefits of pilot-less aircraft. While Muntz demonstrates some of his own wares (including a booby- trapped urinal), Ray hijacks one of the fighter jets being demonstrated, threatening to attack the expo, also daring them to attack him. Ray circles overhead as representatives for defense contractors bicker among themselves as to whose weapons are good enough to shoot him down. Stryker takes matters into his own hands, launching the Peacemaker. This time, the UAV proves a much more formidable threat, and not even Ray can destroy it. Misusing all of the Peacemaker's weapons, however, Stryker instead destroys the entire expo. Before he can try again for Ray, Muntz uses his cane to shut off the Peacemaker's remote control panel, allowing Ray to destroy it. In the final scene, we learn that Ray has left the arms industry to become a missionary. Muntz is also out of weapons trafficking, but still a salesman working at his brother's car dealership. He sells Catherine a car, and it's implied that they will be doing other deals together. ===== The movie opens with clips of the US military scrambling to respond to a Soviet nuclear attack. Daniel Schorr, reporting in front of the White House, is vaporized when a nuclear weapon detonates. In the summer of 1989, East Germany is in turmoil. Many citizens are dissatisfied with their nation’s Communist leadership and seek reunification with West Germany. On October 7, Mikhail Gorbachev, a supporter of those reforms, visits East Berlin. During his return flight, the hard-line Communist leadership stages a coup that deposes Gorbachev and installs (fictional) General Vladimir Soshkin as the new Soviet leader. The Soviet government announces that Gorbachev resigned for "reasons of ill health," but Gorbachev is never heard from again, his true fate "lost in the darkness of history." Soshkin and the hard-liners fiercely resist the rise of glasnost and perestroika. They are determined to end the uprisings in East Germany and the rest of the Eastern Bloc with a swift Chinese-style military crackdown in late October. (In East Germany at least, the crackdown is not limited to demonstrators; numerous moderate Communists such as Egon Krenz and Günter Schabowski are "disappeared", never to be heard from again.) The crackdown inflames popular opposition to communism. In late November, a demonstration in Leipzig is brutally repressed by the East German Army at great loss of life. Two days later, a demonstration at the Brandenburg Gate ends with East German soldiers killing many East Berlin residents trying to scale the Berlin Wall and a West German cameraman filming the events. Those soldiers also fire shots over the wall into West Berlin. Soon after, the East German government responds to the international condemnation of their conduct by ordering all foreign journalists out of the country. In mid-December, NATO airlifts military reinforcements to West Berlin. Soon after, Secretary of State James Baker arrives in West Berlin to secretly meet with General Dmitry Leonov, the Soviet commander in East Germany, who strongly opposes Soshkin's crackdown. However, on the way to the meeting, Leonov is killed by a car bomb, for which a West German neo-Nazi group claims responsibility. After an interview with West German TV in which Soshkin implicitly threatens West Berlin, an American colonel orders that tactical nuclear weapons in West Germany be placed on high alert Soshkin responds with new threats, a massive deployment of the Soviet submarine fleet, and incursions of Soviet Bear bombers into Alaskan airspace. On January 25, 1990, several East German and Soviet tank divisions are mobilized to cut off transportation and supply links between West Germany and West Berlin, and the Soviet Air Force moves to close off East Germany's airspace. Soshkin hopes the plan will prevent the West from encroaching into the Soviet sphere of influence and isolate Berlin from the West. NATO responds by deploying thousands of additional troops into West Germany to strengthen their existing garrisons there. As the United States prepares their first military convoy across the North Atlantic, the Soviets announce their intention to blockade the U.S. Navy transports. Soshkin desires to cut off Western Europe and weaken the NATO buildup. The US and Britain condemn the blockade and last-minute attempts at a compromise fall through. When the convoy crosses into the designated exclusion zone, Soviet forces are ordered to attack. Nearly a quarter of the convoy is sunk in the ensuing battle before the NATO fleet clears the air and sea lanes to Europe. Shortly afterwards, the United Nations Security Council holds an emergency session in New York City in the hopes of diffusing the hostilities between the superpowers, but proves fruitless when neither side refuses to back down until other does so. World War III has effectively begun. The world panics after the failed session and the United States dispatches (fictional) National Security Advisor Martin Jacobs to the Soviet Union for last ditch effort talks with Soshkin. Figuring that Soshkin knows that the Soviets are losing power in Eastern Europe, Jacobs offers Soshkin an extended timetable for the Soviet withdrawal from Eastern Europe in exchange for a de-escalation of the military buildup. Soshkin refuses him utterly with one word: "Nyet" (no). ===== , otherwise known as , is a ten- year-old boy whose single-parent father, , works for a paving company. While completing a paving job at a go-kart track, his father sees a young boy racing at the track and is amazed at the speed and seeming thrill of the sport. Realizing that his young son has an interest in racing cars (particularly Formula One), Shigei asks the circuit steward as to whether he is able to take some old worn-down parts out of the circuit's trash pile. Taking these back to his workplace, he manages to construct a rundown yet drivable kart. Shigei's boss, Mr. Ikari, (initially begrudgingly) supplies a 4-stroke generator engine to power the kart. Determined, Capeta, in his first time on a race track, manages to not only master the mangled racer, but also catches and attempts to overtake on the inside line, a talented young racer who drives for a works karting team, Endless Autohouse Racing. This overtaking maneuver shocks Naomi so much so that he drops the accelerator of his kart, accelerates past Capeta. This infuriates his mother and team manager, , as he over-revved a brand new engine which he was supposed to be merely running in. Nobu Andou and Monami Suzuki, Capeta's best friends, support him in his karting – Nobu as his technical assistant/manager and Monami as the self-appointed team manager. Capeta, unaware of the difference in machinery between his own kart and Naomi's works-grade kart, does not understand why it was impossible for him to catch Naomi. Nonetheless, onlookers are amazed that a child from out of the blue is able to push his machine to such a limit, let alone unnerve the track's local hotshot. Nanako, also amazed, offers to help Capeta's entry into the world of kart racing, secretly as a rival for her son. After what is a difficult conversation for Capeta, the Taira father and son turn down the offer to enroll Capeta in the Endless Autohouse Racing team and run their own single kart team on their own instead. In the second arc, Capeta has grown up. He is now 14 years old, in 3rd grade of junior high school and has won the junior karting class he had competed in. His racing suit and kart are now blue, his racing number having changed from 14 to 30. Nobu and Monami have also matured a lot while still helping Capeta with his karting aspirations. Having stepped up to a more senior class (ICA Class), he realizes that to win races is a lot harder without the support of a well-funded team. In what he sees as his final chance – a race in torrential downpour – he pushes himself to the limit so as to give himself the best chance of winning, but is relegated to second by the smallest of margins and fractures his ribcage in the process. After he is hospitalized, he is introduced to a one-make automobile racing formula known as Formula Stella (an indirect reference to Formula Toyota). As he was exceptionally talented in kart racing, Nobu presents Capeta as a candidate to attend FSRS, the Formula Stella Racing School. After proving to the head of Stella's racing arm that Capeta was worthy, Nobu is given the enrollment paperwork. One condition stressed by the Stella management is that crashing is absolutely prohibited – not simply for the loss of money incurred, but also the loss of confidence in that racer to produce results under racing conditions. Although not having so much as the ability to change gears in a regular car at the start, Capeta quickly progresses to be one of the fastest students in the school. During the qualifying for the mock race on the last day though, Capeta crashes due to not being able to avoid a slower racer who had lost control of his car and spun on the track. Capeta was taking a blind uphill figure-S corner, so he couldn't see ahead. By the time Capeta's instructor, Shinkawa Hideki, told him to watch out, Capeta locks up his car's brakes and the two machines crash. No one was hurt in the incident, but Capeta was devastated due to breaking his promise of not crashing and feels that his future in racing is over. His father, though, does not give up and encourages Capeta to continue – despite the ¥1,500,000 damage costs from Capeta's accident. He uses his talents, going on to win his races, defeating his team's talented racers and making him a series winner despite an engine failure late in the final race, but still managed to win the race with Shiba Ryou close by. Nobu admits that he wants to become the best racing manager and that he'd always be with Capeta until the very end. The last episode ends with an outlook at the near future: it is narrated that Naomi and Capeta race against one another in the Italian Grand Prix at Monza. The last narration was: "Both racers are very talented. It's a fight between two Japanese". ===== Cleopatra, or Cleo as she's known to her friends, would much rather go on vacation in some exotic locale than concern herself with the business end of the Corns Conglomerate, which is the most powerful economic player in the United States. However, Cleo has a kind and forgiving nature, and will not shy away if trouble is near. And more often than she cares for, Cleo and her friends find themselves in all sorts of fantastic adventures, from putting out oil well fires to safeguarding a powerful telepathic girl. ===== Agate Fluorite is the new transfer student at the elite school, "Cluster E.A.", in which the sons of many prestigious families from different countries gather to study together. Soon after, Agate's unexpected antics and enthusiasm in life impress many of his schoolmates, including Beryl Jasper, an honor student who hates his family, but when it is discovered that Agate was involved in a fight, helping a known artificial soldier sympathizer Agate finds himself on the run and eventually without all of his memories intact. Unknown to Agate, he was born with a secret power that can create miracles. With his ability to create miracles not only is the military but the religious sect is after him. ===== The story revolves around Princess Comet, a twelve-year-old girl who is also the princess of the Harmonica Star country of the Triangle Nebula. She was meant to meet the prince of the Tambourine Star country at a ball, but the prince ran away to Earth instead. As it turned out, Comet is sent to Earth to find him, though she has no idea what he looks like. "He will be known by the twinkling in his eyes" is the only clue she was given to the prince's identity. Once she travels to Earth, Comet falls in love with the people she meets there as well as the planet itself, quickly becoming attached to life on Earth. Meanwhile, Princess Meteor learns of Comet's plans to find and marry the prince, so she arrives on Earth in search of the prince, planning to marry him before Comet gets the chance. Both princesses are sent to Earth along with a companion. Comet's companion is a little puppy with a star at the end of his tail named . Meteor's companion is a round, purple bird named . Unbeknownst to Comet, her Aunt Spica also lives on Earth and had visited Earth before, deciding to stay there and get married herself. Aunt Spica's pet is , a white rabbit with a tiny heart on her tail. The main plot is Comet's tale about her journey to Earth, the people she meets, and her journey to find the prince. The series is set in Kamakura, Kanagawa, Japan. ===== The three playable characters from the first Golden Axe, Ax Battler, Tyris Flare, and Gilius Thunderhead, return in Golden Axe II to save the people of the land by defeating the new evil clan, led by Dark Guld, and reclaim the Golden Axe, which is in his possession. The game features a total of seven levels: six scrolling levels and a final end of game boss battle against Dark Guld. ===== Ibo (Denis Moschitto) is a young Turkish-German man who is an aspiring filmmaker. A clash of cultures and pre-parental anxiety ensues after Ibo's German girlfriend, Titzi (Nora Tschirner), announces that she's pregnant. Ibo's father (Güven Kıraç) is upset at his son for wanting to start a family with a non-Turkish German woman while Titzi is upset at Ibo over his hesitance in taking on fatherly responsibilities. Other themes are the competition of a Turkish kebab restaurant and a Greek taverna, a gang trying to extort the owner of the kebab restaurant, Ibo's quest to make the first German Kung-Fu movie and the pursuit of both Titzi and her roommate at a prestigious drama academy. ===== A youngster comes to Wolfe's office and tells Wolfe that he saw a woman driving a car, apparently being menaced by her passenger. The next day, the boy is murdered while washing car windows at a nearby intersection. ===== Mokkatha (Vani), the wife of Mokkaiyan (Periyar Dasan), a farmer in Pottalpetti village, is in labour. They already have two daughters and are keen to have a son; two daughters born earlier were killed soon after birth by feeding them with poisonous cactus extract. Unable to pay hefty dowries for their daughters' marriages, the villagers consider female infanticide to be acceptable. A new school teacher (R. Sundarrajan) feels sad on learning about this heinous practice. When Mokkatha delivers a girl again, Mokkaiyan orders the village midwife (S. N. Lakshmi) to kill the baby. The midwife sadly tries to feed the cactus extract to the baby at a secluded place. The school teacher notices this, meets her, and requests to hand over the infant so that he can bring her up. She hands over the infant, and he moves away from the village with the child. As years roll by, Stephen (Raja), a veterinary doctor, comes to the village. Mokkaiyan's first daughter Ponnatha (Saranya) is married to Thavasi (Ponvannan), the son of Mokkaiyan's nefarious sister. The second daughter Karuthamma (Rajashree) takes care of the family. After getting into some tiff with Stephen, Karuthamma falls in love with him. Ponnatha has two daughters and is pregnant for the third time. Unfortunately, when a girl is born again, Kaliamma (Vadivukkarasi), her mother-in-law and Mokkaiyan's sister, orders to kill it. To save her child, Ponnatha escapes with her baby and is chased by Thavasi, who beats her to death; the child also dies. He and Kaliamma enact a drama that Ponnatha committed suicide as her third child also a girl. Karuthamma, devastated with the death of her sister, does not believe this story. Ponnatha had earlier expressed her fear to her that if she delivered a girl again, Kaliamma would kill her. When Karuthamma is giving a ceremonial bath to Ponnatha's body, she notices bloodstains on her abdomen. Concluding that she was murdered, Karuthamma stops the funeral and rushes to complain to the police. The village chairman Chellamuthu (Kamalasekhar), who is close to Thavasi, asks the police not to intervene, hence the police do not. Karuthamma refuses to leave the station. Stephen, who is passing by, threatens action against the police if they do not act on her complaint, as he is also a government employee. Left with no option, the police takes Ponnatha's body away and arrests Thavasi and Kaliamma. Dr. Rosy (Maheswari), a teacher's daughter, comes to meet her close relative Stephen. Her presence and closeness with Stephen is misunderstood by Karuthamma. Rosy loves Stephen, but he only likes her. Kaliamma's husband (Janagaraj) celebrates her arrest by drinking with Mokkaiyan, who is not used to liquor. Mokkaiyan unfortunately suffers a paralytic attack and loses control of his limbs. Rosy attends to him and in the process gets attached to Mokkaiyan and Karuthamma. A few weeks later, when Thavasi and Kaliamma get bail, they come to attack Karuthamma, but Stephen saves her. Chellamuthu manipulates the villagers to accept Thavasi's proposal that Karuthamma must marry Thavasi to take care of Ponnatha's two young daughters (by which the police case will also be closed). Chellamuthu, who has lent money to Mokkaiyan, threatens and seeks immediate repayment if he does not accept this proposal. Thavasi's father realizes that his son is using the young children as bait and takes away the children with him one night. However, he is caught by Thavasi, who, motivated by Chellamuthu, burns his father to death. Thavasi takes the children away and forces Karuthamma to come with him to their village to marry him. Shocked with all this, Mokkaiyan consumes poison and is on his deathbed. When Rosy expresses her love to Stephen, he gets surprised and states that he loves Karuthamma. Rosy is shocked as she was keen to marry him and decides to move away from the village. When the villagers asks her to treat Mokkaiyan, who is fighting for his life, she does not as she is keen to leave. When her father, the teacher arrives, the village midwife realises that he is the same person who took Mokkiayan's third daughter. The midwife reveals to Rosy that Mokkaiyan is her real father, and the school teacher also confirms it. Rosy treats Mokkaiyan, who now realises his mistake of killing female infants without realizing their worth. Karuthamma, on the eve of her wedding, demands to see the children taken away earlier by Thavasi's father. However, Thavasi is unable to show his children (as they were taken by Chellamuthu to use them as bait to force himself on Karuthamma). That night, Chellamuthu makes Thavasi drunk and asks him to spare Karuthamma for that night. Thavasi agrees in a drunken state, which is overheard by Karuthamma, who also comes to know that Thavasi had killed his own father. When Chellamuthu goes to meet Karuthamma, she is well prepared to meet him. She murders Chellamuthu and then Thavasi. After saving Ponnatha's children, who were locked inside a box, she returns to her village. Realizing that Rosy is her own sister, Karuthamma asks her to look after the children and their father and leaves with the police. Stephen is sad but decides to wait for her. ===== A deadly alien force approaches Earth. Gamera intervenes and destroys the alien vessel; but before the ship is destroyed, the aliens broadcast a warning to their world, stating that Gamera is their enemy. Later on Earth, a Boy Scout troop is visiting an aquarium to see the scientists working on a small two-man submarine. Masao and Jim, two of the scouts, manage to talk their way aboard the sub. While in the water they spot Gamera, who engages in a little race with the boys. However, their hijinks come to an end when the second alien vessel envelops the both of them in a super-catch ray. Gamera helps the boys to escape, but he remains trapped in the force field while the aliens scan his memories. They learn of Gamera's one weakness, his soft spot for children. Soon after, the field weakens and Gamera is free. The aliens capture Jim and Masao, threatening to kill the boys. Powerless to help them, Gamera lands. Attaching a brainwave control device to Gamera's head, the aliens force the turtle kaiju to do their bidding. While aboard the spaceship, the boys continually try to escape. Gamera, however (under the influence of the aliens), is destroying dams and cities by the handful. Jim and Masao discover a squid-like creature, thinking that he is another captive of the aliens. In fact, he is the leader of the aliens. The boys help Gamera break free from the brainwave device and he begins to attack the spaceship. Grounded by Gamera, the aliens reveal that their human forms were just disguises. The aliens all merge to form the giant monster Viras. Gamera and Viras duke it out in a big beachside battle. Gamera manages to pull Viras into the upper atmosphere, freezing him to death. He then flings Viras' body back into the ocean. The boys and a crowd of adults celebrate Gamera's victory. ===== Somewhere in Japan, a bright light suddenly blasted from the ground. The light in a blink destroyed everything within a hundred-mile radius. People argued that falling space debris caused it, but others felt that the unusual movement of terrestrial magnetism caused the light. The truth, however, remained hidden and blurred from people's memories. A little girl named Miya is the only one that knows what the light is. Ten years later, an army of giant robots suddenly appear and devastates the Earth. They call themselves "EX Tartaro," whom pilot four major robots - the Four Kyokuohand. Their mission is to "purify the world". Three battle robots, the Dangaioh, defeated the enemy with ease. Sensing the strength of their enemy, the Ex Tartao united to form one giant robot. The three members of the Dangaioh team united into Dangaioh to reveal their true powers and eventually destroyed the invading force. The plot was devised by madman Dr. Katou, who was once the co-planner of the Dangaioh. The Dangai Project began preparations for a battle from a threat from the outer space pirate "Bunker". Dr. Katou and Yonamine had a big dispute, leading to Dr. Katou's betrayal. Now, in a secret underground organization, Dr. Yonamine and the Dangaioh are prepared to face off against Dr. Katou and his robotic troops. ===== After an implied global nuclear catastrophe Japan has been reduced to a desert ("The Great Kanto Desert"), and the surviving humans seek out a meager living in the hot sands. Desert Punk focuses on the adventures of a wandering mercenary named Kanta Mizuno, nicknamed Desert Punk (Sunabōzu), due to his seemingly incredible feats of skill and daring while on the job. Throughout the series, he acquires an apprentice and makes a few friends as well as many enemies. Later in the series of the manga exclusively, it follows on the adventures of the student of Desert Punk "Taiko" otherwise known as Kosuna, who herself has an apprentice. ===== Wolfe, a knowledgeable gourmet as well as a detective, attends a meeting of great chefs, Les Quinze Maîtres, at a resort in West Virginia, and jealousies among them soon lead to strife; then, one of the chefs is murdered. Wolfe sustains his own injury in the course of finding the culprit but also obtains the secret recipe for saucisse minuit. ===== Gou has vowed to find the legendary treasure of Salamander. Searching for it he meets Rane, a fairy, who is looking for the four treasures of Heart. Gou's childhood friend Mari is frustrated with Gou running after treasures, but befriends with another fairy Lean. Gou and Rane's treasure hunt messes with a secret project led by Mari's father. It turns out Salamander isn't what Gou thought it was in the first place... ===== The books generally follow the life of Jerusalem Ann Hardin and the Hardin Family, who are living on a farm in Arkansas Territory near Arkadelphia in 1831. Whilst out with his sister, Brodie Hardin is confronted by the Brattons, a rival family, when Brodie and the Brattons get into a fight a mysterious stranger called Clay Taliferro (pronounced Tolliver) steps in and saves Brodie's life. Clay ends up staying with the Hardins and helping out on the farm, one day Jerusalem decides to move to Texas and Clay takes them there. The family set up home but soon they are facing Comanche raids and all sorts of problems. Jerusalem and Clay develop a love for each other and eventually marry and have their own children. The books also follow aspects of the Texas Revolution the battles at Goliad and Alamo are described. ===== The film begins in an unspecified year of the 1960s with Jude, a young shipyard worker in Liverpool, reminiscing about a girl he once knew and loved ("Girl"). Some time prior, Jude enlisted in the Merchant Navy and then jumped ship in New Jersey, hoping to find his American G.I. father, whom he has never met. He promises to write to his girlfriend ("All My Loving") while Lucy Carrigan worries about her boyfriend, Daniel, who is headed for service in the Vietnam War ("Hold Me Tight"). In Dayton, Ohio, cheerleader Prudence pines for a fellow female cheerleader ("I Want to Hold Your Hand"), and then drops out of school in shame. Jude meets his father, who is a janitor at Princeton University, and befriends Lucy's brother, the privileged and rebellious Max ("With a Little Help from My Friends"). Lucy receives a letter from Daniel ("It Won't Be Long"), but Max introduces her to Jude, who he brings home for Thanksgiving. Dinner with Max's family turns into an argument where Max announces that he's dropping out of college, after which Max takes Jude and Lucy bowling, and Jude becomes attracted to Lucy ("I've Just Seen a Face"). Max and Jude move into a bohemian enclave in Greenwich Village, run by an aspiring singer named Sadie. Daniel is killed in Vietnam, and in Detroit a young boy is killed in the 1967 riot (combined "Let It Be"). His guitarist brother, an aspiring musician known as Jo-Jo goes to New York to pursue his passion ("Come Together"). While Jo-Jo auditions for Sadie's band, Max becomes a taxi driver and Jude finds work as a freelance artist. They are soon joined by Prudence, who has hitchhiked to New York and left an abusive boyfriend. Lucy decides to visit Max in New York before starting college ("Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"). She and Jude fall in love ("If I Fell"), while Max is drafted into the army ("I Want You (She's So Heavy)"). Prudence is attracted to Sadie, and becomes depressed when Sadie and Jo-Jo begin a relationship. Prudence locks herself in a closet and has to be literally and figuratively coaxed out of the closet ("Dear Prudence"), then disappears after wandering off during a peace rally at which Paco, the leader of the Students for a Democratic Republic (SDR), is a speaker. At a book function for an existential drug guru named Doctor Robert, Jude, Lucy, Jo-Jo, Sadie, and Max drink punch laced with LSD. They embark with Doctor Robert on his "Beyond" bus ("I Am the Walrus"), end up stranded outside the compound of a psychonaut, and see Mr. Kite's bizarre circus where they are reunited with Prudence, who performs as Henry the Horse and is now dating a contortionist ("Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", "Because"). Back in New York, Max is deployed to Vietnam, leading Lucy to become increasingly involved in the anti-war movement, especially with Paco's SDR. Jude remains comparatively apolitical but devoted to Lucy ("Something"). Sadie is offered a chance to go on tour as a headliner, separate from Jo-Jo and her backup band, leading to a bitter breakup and musical split between them on stage after he finds out ("Oh! Darling"). Jude dislikes the increasing amount of time that Lucy spends with the SDR and suspects that Paco is attempting to seduce Lucy; this puts a strain on their relationship and affects Jude's art ("Strawberry Fields Forever"). Finally, Jude storms into the SDR office and points out the hypocrisy of the group's actions ("Revolution"), leading to an argument with Lucy and a fight with Paco after which she leaves Jude on the day that Martin Luther King Jr. is killed ("While My Guitar Gently Weeps"). Jude follows Lucy to an anti-war demonstration at Columbia University ("Across the Universe"), but when the police start arresting the protesters (including Lucy and Paco) Jude's attempts to reach Lucy lead to his arrest ("Helter Skelter"). Lucy tells Jude's father of his arrest and he bails Jude out of jail. Unable to prove that he is the son of an American citizen, Jude is deported back to England, where he returns to his old job at the Liverpool shipyards ("A Day in the Life (instrumental)"). This is also revealed to be the time frame of the opening scene. Jo-Jo continues his music, playing solo guitar in bars, while the highly successful Sadie drowns her sorrow and loneliness in alcohol while on tour. Max is wounded in Vietnam and sent home psychologically scarred and dependent on morphine ("Happiness Is a Warm Gun"). Lucy continues her activities with the SDR, but Paco leads the movement deeper into violence. She finally leaves when she discovers that Paco is making bombs, but is surrounded by constant reminders of Jude and what they had shared ("Blackbird"). One of Paco's homemade bombs explodes, killing him and his confederates; on reading this news in the local newspaper, Jude fears that Lucy is also dead, but upon learning from Max that she is alive, he arranges to return to New York legally ("Hey Jude"). Jo-Jo and Sadie, who have reconciled, put on a rooftop concert, with Prudence as a member of their band ("Don't Let Me Down", as in the real rooftop event). Max brings Jude to the rooftop, while Lucy tries to join but is unable to access the roof. When the police arrive to break up the concert, Jude manages to remain on the roof and begins to sing ("All You Need Is Love"). The police allow the band to rejoin him while Lucy, hearing Jude's voice, tries to re-enter to the building but is blocked by the police. Max draws Jude's attention to an opposite rooftop where Lucy is standing and looking at him. Lucy and Jude gaze smilingly at each other across opposite rooftops as the performance concludes ("Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", over credits). ===== College students David Barco (Paul Reiser) and Jason Ainley (Robert Townsend) form a moving company to pay for tuition. Along the way they cross the mob who runs a rival moving company. ===== The player controls Kyne, a genetic engineer who has developed technology for creating supermen. The oppressive government of the day desires this research to create a breed of supersoldier, but Kyne refuses to assist. In retaliation, the government frames him for treason, claiming that he is seeking to sell his work to the underworld. At the same time, the government secretly offers a reward to anyone in the underworld who turns Kyne over to them. With both the forces of law and lawlessness aligned against him, Kyne is forced to flee Earth.The Story so Far - Brataccas manual's short backstory During his escape, Kyne learns that evidence needed to clear his name can be found on the distant asteroid of Brataccas. Brataccas, first of the asteroids to be colonized, is a backwater mining colony with a "wild west" feel of lawlessness and corruption. Kyne has to find the evidence in order to win the game, obtaining it from the in-game characters. The manual gave no indication of who held the evidence, suggesting that everyone was equally corrupt and dangerous to talk to. ===== Shifting in time, the novel tells the story of Penelope Keeling, the daughter of unconventional parents (an artist father and his much-younger French wife), examining her past and her relationships with her adult children. When the novel opens, Penelope is in her 60s and has just been discharged from the hospital after what was seemingly a heart attack. Penelope's life from young womanhood to the present is revealed in pieces, from her own point of view and those of her children. Much of the forward impetus of the novel involves the work of her father, including a painting called The Shell Seekers, given to Penelope as a wedding present. Pilcher's novel September includes the character of Noel Keeling, son of Penelope. ===== The 1862 Pacific Railroad Act signed by President Lincoln authorizes pushing the Union Pacific Railroad westward across the wilderness toward California, but financial opportunist Asa Barrows hopes to profit from obstructing it. Chief troubleshooter Jeff Butler has his hands full fighting Barrows's agent, gambler Sid Campeau. Campeau's partner Dick Allen is Jeff's war buddy and rival suitor for engineer's daughter Molly Monahan. Who will survive the effort to push the railroad through at any cost? ===== The film begins with a young Sardar Patel playing cards with his friends and ridiculing Mahatma Gandhi and his policies to achieve independence. His views change however, when he is introduced to Gandhi by his brother, and upon listening to a lecture delivered by Gandhi, he joins him in his struggle. Sardar then successfully organises various Satyagrahas throughout Gujarat. The film then moves to the age of the Quit India Movement and India's freedom. Sardar is instrumental in convincing the working committee of the INC and Nehru to accept a proposal for the partition of India, when riots break out on the league's call for Direct Action. Sardar realises that not tackling the problem now might result in civil war in the country. Once the partition has been accepted, Sardar then works to get all the princely states to join the Union of India, the film depicts his handling of the problems posed by the princely states of Kashmir, Junnagad and Hyderabad. The film also portrays his differences with Nehru and how they work together after the death of Gandhiji. The film ends with Sardar resting in a village saying that today from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, there is one independent nation. ===== A newly married husband and wife return to the husband's late mother's home where he grew up. The plan is to get the house ready to sell. He finds it very difficult to leave the place, let alone sell it, and he can't bear it. In the house, his new wife is bothered by constant reminders that the mother is somehow present in the house and vying for her son's loyalty. Eventually the man becomes so engrossed in childhood memories that his mother reappears, and he becomes a child again. His wife accuses the mother of causing this, but the mother says it was not her doing. The husband--now a young boy--tells his "wife" to "Go away, lady-- we don't need you anymore." The horror-struck wife flees the house, leaving her boy-husband and his spectral mother behind. ===== Angel Harmon Cavender is assigned to Agnes Grep, a clumsy woman routinely fired from work for her antics. He is supposed to improve her life in 24 hours so he can earn his wings. As he has taken longer than any other angel to earn his wings, failure in this case means demotion. Cavender appears beside Agnes on her bus ride home. He tries to prove he is her guardian angel by changing the bus into a horse and buggy, then a convertible, and finally back to a bus. Once at home, Agnes is greeted by cookie-loving kids and neighbors who sympathize with her ongoing work woes. When she enters her apartment, she finds Cavender on her couch. He provides her a mansion, high society friends, and a large bank account to fund it all. Instead of bowling (her former social "high point"), she finds herself hosting a lavish party. She is uncomfortably overwhelmed by the high society chatter, largely incomprehensible to her, and by the obsequious affections of the men. Cavender, meanwhile, indulges himself in the alcoholic drinks. Cavender wakes up on her mansion couch. He does not see Agnes anywhere and zaps himself to her old apartment where she glumly tells him that none of her old apartment neighbors recognized her. She tells him she does not want to go back to the mansion and wants her old life back. Cavender argues against the idea, but finally gives in and zaps her back to her normal life. With excitement, she greets and jokes with all her old friends. She thanks Cavender and he realizes that she is "the richest woman I know" and that money does not necessarily equal happiness. Cavender goes up to see his boss, who rebukes him for his behavior at the party and for making no change to Agnes' life. However, looking down on Earth the boss sees that though her circumstances are unchanged, Agnes is now happy. He realizes Cavender did complete his mission by making Agnes appreciate what she had, and instead of being demoted, he will help "other deserving subjects". Cavender takes out a cigar and happily leaves the 3rd Celestial Division Angel Placement. ===== While waiting in a subway station, Alan Talbot is approached by an evangelist. Alan is not interested, but takes the pamphlet she offers in order to appease her; however, the evangelist won't leave him alone. He hears strange electronic noises which prompt him to throw her under a train and then flee the scene. Later Alan, seemingly having no memory of the murder he committed, visits the home of his fiancée, Jessica Connelly. Though he met Jessica only four days before, they have already set a date for their wedding, and Alan is taking her to his hometown of Couerville to meet his aunt Mildred, who raised him. When they arrive, almost everything in the town is as Alan remembers, but another man is living in his house, the university where he was employed is gone, and all of the people he knew are either said to have died years ago, or else there is no record that they ever existed. In the place where his parents were buried, he instead finds a tombstone with the name "Walter Ryder"; seeing this name seems to trigger a repressed memory in Alan. Alan and Jessica give up and head back home. On the drive, Alan hears the electrical noises again, and this time is able to make out the sound of himself talking to a "Walter" among them. He tells Jessica to stop the car, runs out, and picks up a rock to kill her with. He fights back this urge and screams at Jessica to get as far away from him as possible. She reluctantly gets back in the car and drives off just as Alan's homicidal urge regains control. Disoriented by his frustrated urge to kill, he lingers in the road until a car hits him. The driver applies the brakes in enough time that Alan is not gravely hurt, but a deep cut in his wrist is bizarrely not bleeding. Alan peels back his "skin" to find metal rods and wiring underneath instead of flesh and bone. Jessica calls Alan after he returns to the city. She is now convinced that he needs mental help and has made an appointment for him with a psychiatrist. He agrees to go with her to the appointment, but knows from his robotic arm that his problems go beyond mental issues. Intuiting that "Walter Ryder" is the key, he looks Walter up in a phone book and pays him an unannounced visit. Walter turns out to be his physical double. Walter explains that Alan is an android he developed using funds from a calculator he invented, using help from some of the world's greatest scientists, and his own self-professed genius. He created Alan's memory by using his own memories of Couerville, which he left 20 years before, and filling in the blanks with a fictional aunt Mildred and a job at a fictional university. Alan was designed to be a perfect version of Walter - to be outgoing, bold and charming, while the real Walter is shy, self-pitying and socially awkward. Walter admits his scientific reach exceeded his grasp, and there are aspects of his creation which he does not understand. A week ago, Alan suddenly tried to kill Walter, stabbed him with a pair of scissors, and ran away. Alan is outraged that Walter created an artificial human without considering the consequences, in particular the situation with Jessica. Walter is sympathetic but has no idea how to even diagnose the cause of Alan's homicidal episodes, much less correct it, and points out that Alan has no chance of a normal life with Jessica anyway, since he doesn't age. Alan then demands that Walter replace him with a properly functioning android who will love and care for Jessica, and writes down her address for Walter on some scrap paper taken from his pocket. When he recognizes the scrap paper is the pamphlet the evangelist gave him, it triggers another malfunction and he tries to kill Walter. After the struggle, the survivor goes to Jessica and asks her to forget about his strange behavior of the past couple of days, saying that the nightmare is over and he will tell her what happened someday. In the final scene, it is revealed that the survivor is Walter and that Alan's broken form lies amid the wreckage of the laboratory. ===== In April 1963, a U.S. Navy destroyer is on a routine patrol off Guadalcanal when sonar picks up a sound beneath the waves; the crew believe that it sounds like something banging on metal. They discover a submarine on the ocean floor, but inquiries to naval command reveal no recent sinkings in the area. A joking suggestion from some of the crew that the sub may be haunted sends an anxious and bewildered Chief Boatswain's Mate Bell, who has been feeling unwell for a couple of days, into a frenzy of bizarre behavior, including fainting spells. The destroyer's commander, Captain Beecham, orders the ship's diver, McClure, to investigate. They find out that it is an American submarine, and the metal sound is coming from inside. When McClure bangs on the submarine hull, the metal banging seemingly responds. Chief Bell begins to see apparitions of dead sailors beckoning him. The ship's doctor unsuccessfully tries to convince Bell that he is just having nightmares, and reports to the captain that Bell is experiencing effects of psychological trauma which could be caused by his wartime experiences. The doctor finds a pile of seaweed in the spot where Bell saw the apparitions. McClure later discovers the number of the submarine, "714", which Beecham identifies as belonging to a submarine that was sunk during the First Battle of the Solomon Sea 20 years before. Although stunned at the idea that someone inside the submarine could still be alive, Beecham asks Pacific Fleet command for an emergency-priority rescue operation. McClure goes down again to try to ascertain exactly where the sound is coming from, to help the rescue outfit determine where to enter the ship. The diver receives no response to his bangs on the hull, but he finds a dog tag which he delivers to Beecham. It belongs to Chief Bell. When Beecham shows the dog tag to Bell, he recounts that he was a signalman on a submarine during the war. He dropped a signal light while attempting to change the infrared filter at night, causing the filter to fall off. As a result, Japanese destroyers saw the light and attacked. Bell was blown into the water by the shelling. The captain ordered a dive, but depth charges sank the boat. Bell, the sole survivor, was later rescued by an American destroyer. Bell tells Beecham that he now understands: his dead shipmates know he is above them right now and are demanding that he join them. Bell is overcome by survivor guilt, and says, "I sunk that sub. I'm responsible." Despite Captain Beecham's efforts to convince Bell that his mistake did nothing, that a boat caught on the surface and surrounded by enemy ships was already doomed, Bell dons the dog tag, races out on deck and jumps overboard, shouting, "They're calling muster on me!" The destroyer's crew are unable to save Bell or find his body. Later, McClure accompanies the rescue mission into the submarine. Upon returning to the ship, he reports to Beecham that the boat was a wreck inside, and no one was left alive. Inside the control room, he found the periscope shears cut in half, with one section swinging back and forth. When Beecham asks him to confirm that this was the clanging noise they had heard, McClure agrees, but adds that he also saw the remains of eight dead sailors; one was holding a hammer in his hand. ===== Reporter Philip Redfield gets lost while driving with his dog, Rollie on unfamiliar back roads, and stops in Peaceful Valley, New Mexico, to get food, directions, and gasoline. The gas station attendant fills his tank but is curt and claims the only restaurant in town is closed. Rollie leaps out of the car to chase a little girl's cat up a tree. The girl uses a strange device to make the dog disappear. When Philip confronts the girl's father, he pretends to go looking for Rollie, then secretly uses the device to make the dog re-materialize. Philip and his dog seek food at the town's hotel. Ellen, the proprietor, is as curt as the gas station attendant and insists they have no rooms available even though the keys to all the rooms are still on display at the check-in desk. Philip's suspicions are fully aroused by this time, but questioning Ellen about the residents' strange behavior gets him nowhere. He drives out of town only to run into an invisible wall which totals his car and kills Rollie. A band of Peaceful Valley residents are waiting at the scene and take him to the town elders while another resident brings Rollie back to life. The town elders question Philip on why he came to Peaceful Valley and whether anyone knows where he is. They show him some of the technology they have, including a replicator which can produce any object given its molecular formula and a ray which can reverse any injury, including death. The elders refuse to share this technology, given to the town 104 years earlier by a scientist from an unknown planet, until "men learn the ways of peace." Philip rebukes them for decreeing themselves the sole people capable of using these extraterrestrial gifts responsibly, and for squandering technology that could be used to cure all illness and end hunger. The town elders insist that if they shared the technology it would be used for weapons, and tell Philip that due to his chance witnessing of the device used to make his dog disappear, he must either stay forever in Peaceful Valley or be executed to preserve the town's secrets. Philip is a complete prisoner in his new home, with the invisible wall placed to keep him from even leaving his yard. He becomes romantically involved with Ellen, and tries to make her realize her own lack of freedom, knowing that the town elders will not let any of Peaceful Valley's residents leave for fear that they would reveal the town's secrets. Seemingly persuaded that he cannot reciprocate her love unless she sets him free, Ellen disables the invisible wall and offers to drive Phillip out of town. He first stops to retrieve the "book of formulas" containing the equations explaining the town's technology. There, he uses the replicator to make a revolver. Opening the door of the safe that holds the book of formulas sets off an alarm, and the three town elders attack him. He shoots them. Once Philip and Ellen are outside the town limits, she shows him that the book of formulas is blank, then uses a device to de-materialize him. Ellen was a plant, Philip's entire escape a test. The elders, revived by the technology, claim his decision to create and use a gun confirms their belief that the people of Peaceful Valley are the only ones fit to use the alien technology. Ellen confesses her involvement wasn't all a lie, implying that her feelings for him were real. The elders then use a device to 'execute' Philip by erasing all Philip's memories of Peaceful Valley. When Philip awakens, he has just finished filling up his car at the Peaceful Valley station. He asks for directions and drives out of town, after having a strange déjà vu experience when he sees Ellen, who has tears in her eyes. ===== The story describes an eventful day in the life of Jane F, an unambitious young actress who enjoys smoking cannabis and lives in a Los Angeles apartment with her nerdy, somewhat disturbing roommate Steve. Jane's fateful day begins when she unknowingly consumes an entire plate full of cannabis-laced cupcakes. Realizing her mistake, she makes a list of tasks she must achieve, and how she plans to make them happen. What follows is a relentless stream of disasters caused by Jane's intoxication. ===== Firefighters respond to a blazing fire in a family home. The fire is so massive that they immediately write off the house as a loss, and a search of the building turns up no survivors. However, twelve-year-old Ilse Nielsen is found outside, having escaped unscathed from the blaze that killed her parents. Sheriff Harry Wheeler and his wife Cora take Ilse in until her relatives can be found. Ilse does not speak, even though medical examinations show she does not have a speech disorder. The Wheelers deduce that her parents prohibited her from talking, and they conclude it was a case of parental neglect. In actuality, Ilse's parents were part of a secret society who learned how to use the latent telepathic abilities possessed by all humans. They agreed to raise their children to communicate solely with telepathy. Ilse was two when the agreement began. The members of the society stayed in touch through the mail. Using the return addresses from the recent society letters, which the sheriff did not open, Harry writes inquiries about Ilse's relatives. Ilse now lives in a world of people who speak with voices instead of their minds. Having been taught to communicate in pure meaning instead of words, she finds the sound of human speech alien and painful. She looks forward to being reunited with the other telepathic children after Harry finds them. But Cora, still grieving over her own long-dead daughter, does not want Ilse to leave, so she takes the letters from the mailbox and burns them to prevent Ilse from being taken away. Ilse witnesses this sabotage but, lacking the ability to speak or write, cannot tell Harry. She does not try to stop Cora. When weeks go by without reply to his letters, Harry enrolls Ilse in school. Her teacher is patient with her inability to speak, but firm, and daily prompts Ilse to say her name. She deduces that Ilse has telepathic abilities by the end of her first day. Without telling them why, she has the other students think Ilse's name in unison, thus teaching her speech through her telepathy. Karl and Frau Maria Werner, society members from Austria, are alarmed by the lapse in the Nielsens' regular communications and come to check on them. After being informed of the situation, the Werners meet with Ilse and talk to her telepathically. Their telepathic speech is incomprehensible to Ilse, and after continued telepathic prodding she begins sobbing and repeatedly saying, "My name is Ilse! My name is Ilse!" The Werners realize that over her weeks in a non-telepathic society, she has lost all knowledge of how to communicate telepathically. They decide to allow the Wheelers to adopt Ilse, even though the Werners are her legal godparents. Though saddened by Ilse's loss of telepathy, they take comfort in telling themselves that Cora Wheeler loves Ilse more than her own parents did, because they made her part of an experiment without her permission. The godparents reveal that Ilse escaped the fire because her parents, though trapped themselves, telepathically guided their daughter from the house. ===== Jess- Belle, determined that ex-boyfriend Billy-Ben Turner and his fiancee Ellwyn Glover not marry, enlists the aid of local witch Granny Hart. Granny casts a spell that makes Billy-Ben forget Ellwyn and fall madly in love with Jess- Belle. There is a price for the spell: Jess-Belle will transform into a leopard from midnight until dawn. Jess-Belle feels herself growing colder and more heartless with each transformation. The witch explains that her soul has been extinguished, and she has been transformed into a witch herself. Horrified by her waning humanity, Jess-Belle considers running away from Billy-Ben. His devotion to her remains unwavering, and she finds herself unable to give up her selfish desire. They arrange to be married. A hunting party, including Billy-Ben, finds the leopard and shoots it, and it disappears in a cloud of smoke. Billy-Ben finds Jess-Belle's ring on the ground where the leopard had stood. A year later, Billy-Ben marries Ellwyn. Jess-Belle reappears in various threatening forms. Billy-Ben learns from Granny that to kill Jess-Belle, he must make a figure of her using clothing that she has worn and stab it through the heart with silver. He returns home to find Ellwyn has been possessed by Jess-Belle. Jess-Belle then asks Billy-Ben to "dance in the moonlight", which means she wants to kill him. He runs into the house and locks the door. He puts one of Jess-Belle's dresses on a mannequin and stabs it with one of Jess-Belle's own silver hairpins. Jess-Belle appears in the dress, her eyes roll back, and she disappears. After this, Ellwyn does not remember anything that happened since the wedding, but claims, upon seeing a falling star that "it means a witch has died." ===== Disgusted with 20th century problems such as world wars, atomic weapons and radioactive poisoning, Paul Driscoll (Dana Andrews) solicits the help of his colleague Harvey (Robert F. Simon) and uses a time machine, intent to remake the present by altering past events. Paul first travels to Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and attempts to warn a Hiroshima police captain about the atomic bomb, but the captain dismisses him as insane. Paul then travels to a Berlin hotel room to assassinate Adolf Hitler in August 1939 (immediately before the outbreak of World War II the following month), but is interrupted when a housekeeper knocks on his door and later calls two SS guards to his room. On his third stop, Paul tries to change the course of the Lusitania on May 6, 1915 to avoid being torpedoed by a German U-boat, but the ship’s captain questions his credibility. Paul accepts the hypothesis that the past cannot be changed. He then uses the time machine to go to the town of Homeville, Indiana in 1881, resolving not to make any changes, but just to live out his life free of the problems of the modern age. Upon his arrival, he realizes that President James A. Garfield will be shot the next day, but resists the temptation to intervene. He stays at a boarding house in town and meets Abigail Sloan (Patricia Breslin), a teacher. At one of the boarding house’s dinners, a boarder named Hanford vehemently espouses American imperialism. Paul delivers an angry rebuttal in which he accuses Hanford of speaking from ignorance of war and a certainty that he himself will not have to take part in any fighting, while dropping numerous allusions to wars that have yet to take place. Abigail is impressed and privately tells him that she shares his views, having lost her father and two brothers in the American Civil War. He kisses Abigail, but she becomes alienated when he refuses to explain his earlier remarks about future wars. A passing remark from a local musician (John Zaremba) jogs a memory from Paul's vast historical knowledge: Homeville's schoolhouse will burn down because of a kerosene lantern ejected from a runaway wagon, badly injuring twelve children. He resolves to keep his vow not to change the past, but when he spies the lantern in question he tries to unhitch the horses. The resulting altercation with the wagon owner causes the horses to run wild, inadvertently causing the fire he intended to prevent. Afterward, Paul tells Abigail that "the past is sacred" and belongs to those who are native to it. He knows too much of the future and fears that he will inevitably cause more mishaps like the schoolhouse fire because of it. He returns to his own time and declares that instead of continuing to fixate upon the past, he will now try to do something to positively impact the future. ===== Martin Senescu works at a wax museum. His boss and best friend, Mr. Ferguson, informs him that, due to a long-term decline in sales and his desire to retire, he is selling the museum, which will be torn down and replaced by a supermarket. The dispirited Martin, desperate to save the figures from the "Murderer's Row" exhibit (Jack the Ripper, Albert W. Hicks, Henri Désiré Landru, William Burke and William Hare), volunteers to keep them at his house until a buyer can be found for them. Martin's wife, Emma, becomes frustrated at having the figures in their basement. They require an air conditioner to keep from melting, and due to the hot weather the resultant electric bill wipes out their savings in just a month. Martin makes only perfunctory efforts at finding a buyer for the figures, instead spending most of his time tending to them. Emma is disconcerted by this, especially when he begins talking about them and even to them as if they were alive. Her brother, Dave, advises her to shut off the air conditioning so that the figures melt. After one last effort to convince Martin to return the figures to Ferguson's care, Emma sneaks out of bed one night and goes down to the basement. When she tries to shut off the air conditioner, the wax figure of Jack the Ripper stabs her. The next morning, Martin discovers his wife dead and Jack's bloody knife. Realizing no one will believe Emma was killed by a wax figure, he buries her under the basement floor. The next day, Dave pays a visit. Martin nervously claims to have gotten rid of the wax figures, which arouses Dave's suspicions when he hears the air conditioner hum and finds the basement door locked. When he presses Martin further about Emma's whereabouts, Martin rushes him out of the house. Dave then sneaks into the basement through the back entrance. While he is examining the area, the wax figure of Hicks strikes Dave with its axe. Martin comes down later to find the carnage. Several weeks later, Ferguson comes by to tell Martin that he has sold the figures to the legendary Marchand's Wax Museum in Brussels. Martin is still reluctant to give up the wax figures he's so greatly cared for. While he goes upstairs and makes tea, Ferguson takes measurements of the figures for the buyer. When he makes a passing remark about Landru's width, Landru lowers the rope around his neck and strangles him. Martin comes downstairs with the tea and finds Ferguson's body. Deeming this the last straw, Martin rebukes the figures and grabs a crowbar, planning to smash them. The wax figures get up off their pedestals and advance on Martin. They tell him that he was the one that murdered Emma, Dave, and Ferguson, even as Martin points out that he wasn't even in the basement when any of the murders were committed. Martin screams as the figures close in. Years later, at Marchand's, the five figures of the murderers are now accompanied by a wax figure of Martin, who is believed to have killed Emma, Dave, and Ferguson. ===== Horace Ford is a 38-year-old toy designer whose life is dominated by blissfully happy memories of his childhood. His colleagues, wife, and mother have all become increasingly frustrated with his obsession. One day, he decides to revisit his childhood neighborhood. Ford discovers, to his amazement, that it has not changed. He recognizes the boys he played with in his childhood—who have not aged. Frightened, he returns to his apartment, but he visits his old neighborhood again on each of the next several nights. Each night the same scene plays out and he stays slightly longer, before returning to his apartment. On his last visit, he hears his old friends complaining that he did not invite them to his birthday party. He tries to talk to them, and suddenly turns into a boy again. His friends bully and assault him, as Horace realizes that his childhood was not as pleasant as he would nostalgically recall. After his wife finds him, he "grows up"—returning to his own time period and age group with a new-found appreciation for life as an adult. ===== When successful financier Alan Ransome makes plans for a business trip to London, his wife Eileen insists on coming with him and taking the slowest passenger ship available, the Lady Anne. Eileen hopes the estimated 13-day voyage from New York City will allow them to rekindle their marriage (she later tells another passenger that, due to Alan's unwavering devotion to his career, the two of them have not been sexually intimate since their honeymoon six years before). When they board, two male passengers express dismay at their presence, stating that the voyage is a private cruise, and offer the Ransomes the equivalent of 10,000 US dollars if they get off. The Ransomes refuse, and chalk up the offer to anti-American snobbery. During the trip Alan is taciturn and grouchy about the lengthy voyage, while Eileen maintains a forced playfulness in an effort to spark their old feelings. Both their tempers are worsened by the discovery that the entire crew and all the other passengers are elderly. A quarrel culminates with the Ransomes agreeing to separate when they reach London. The next day they accept an invitation to tea from Millie and Toby McKenzie, who apologize for their earlier hostility. They explain that the 50-year-old Lady Anne is a ship for honeymooners, and is being retired following the voyage. Most of those on board are repeat passengers enjoying a farewell cruise. They had not expected newcomers since the Lady Anne has had no new passengers in 15 years. The passengers all speak of the Lady Anne as if it were a sentient being, and credit "her" with enhancing their love for their spouses. Eileen is saddened to learn that one of the passengers is newly widowed, and in attempted reassurance the passenger informs her that he and his wife "will be together again soon". While the Ransomes are out on deck, Eileen disappears. Alan searches the ship with no success, but the other passengers and crew remain nonchalant about the matter. Toby tells Alan that Eileen isn't really gone, but only seems that way because Alan has "been missing her". When Alan retires to his room, Eileen is there wearing the nightgown that Millie wore on her honeymoon. She says she has been in the room the whole time, even though Alan had already searched there. Overcome with passion, Alan begins kissing her and symbolically throws his pocket watch overboard through their room's porthole, later explaining that he had become so focused on rushing all the time that he lost sight of what was most important. The Ransomes find their love rekindled, and agree with the other passengers that the Lady Anne has a magic that strengthens love. They are in the ship's ballroom when the engines stop. The captain enters and forces the Ransomes off the ship at gunpoint, telling them there isn't time for lengthy explanations. The Ransomes are put into a lifeboat stocked with provisions and set adrift in mid-ocean. Toby assures them that their position has been radioed. The Ransomes are picked up by a cutter after a few hours, but they can find no report of the Lady Anne docking in England or anywhere else. ===== Oliver ("Ollie") Pope is an office manager who is nervous and distracted; his mind is not on his driving. As a result, he slams his 1956 Ford Fairlane Club Sedan into Timmy Danbers, a young boy delivering newspapers on a bicycle, injuring him seriously enough that the boy eventually dies of his injuries. Pope stops but then, instead of offering aid, hurries off, trying to conceal his part in the accident. His wife Lillian and his co-workers notice that he is increasingly irritable. A co-worker named Pete Radcliff is inaccurately identified as the perpetrator by a witness and Pope does nothing to change that error. Before long, Pope's car seems to take on a mind of its own, rebelling against its owner. At first, when Ollie is near the car, it honks its horn, flashes its lights, attempts to start on its own, drops its bumper, tries to close its hood on him, and repeats the radio newsflash of the boy's death in an attempt to get Ollie's attention. Then, while his wife is driving the car, it drives to the scene of the accident and stalls out, seemingly determined to get Pope to admit his guilt. Pope makes excuses to his wife and continues trying to cover up his crime. Pope starts walking to work in an effort to avoid his car (and having any of what's been happening seen by the police). One day, he heads out into the rain and the Fairlane leaves the garage on its own, chasing him relentlessly along the street. Finally, Pope falls, but the car stops just before running him down. The passenger door opens, and Pope gets in. The Fairlane drives him to a police station, and Pope gets out and walks in to confess. ===== Commander Douglas Stansfield, age 31, an astronaut in the year 1987, is scheduled in six months to be sent on an exploratory mission to a planetary system roughly 141 light- years from Earth. Although the spacecraft will travel at the rate of 70 times the speed of light, the round trip will still take forty years. To save him the ordeal of 40 years of loneliness, he is to be placed in (newly developed) suspended animation for the twenty-year trip to his goal, and again for the twenty-year return trip. During his time in suspended animation, he will age only a few weeks. Shortly before his mission, he meets and is enchanted by his young colleague, Sandra Horn. They meet that night, after only three and half hours, they declare their love for each other, and lament the fact that when Stansfield returns, Sandra will be an old woman. Forty years later, Stansfield returns to Earth, a forgotten pioneer. The discoveries he made on his mission were independently achieved earlier by technology developed after his departure. Sandra is waiting for him, still 26 and lovely. She had herself put in suspended animation during Stansfield's mission. Stansfield, however, had voluntarily disabled his suspended-animation system six months into his journey after a communications failure on his ship, and is now a man of 70. He has endured forty years of inconceivable loneliness in the hope of being with Sandra when he returned. Sandra offers to continue their relationship, but the heartbroken Stansfield urges Sandra to begin a new life without him. After Sandra leaves, General Walters offers some small consolation to the aged astronaut: "Stansfield, you're really quite an incredible man. It may be the one distinction of my entire life, that I knew you ... that I knew a man who put such a premium on love." ===== Alien symbol from The Twilight Zone episode "Black Leather Jackets". Three beings, disguised as human males wearing leather jackets, are part of an advanced alien invasion force, sent to Earth to infect city water reservoirs with bacteria that will kill all humans and domestic animals. Their own race needs room to expand. The pretext given for the extermination is that humans are violent and hateful and therefore deserve to be destroyed. Calling themselves "Scott", "Steve" and "Fred", they rent a house in a suburban American town where they can keep in contact with their planet's leader while setting the plan in motion. The youngest of the three aliens, Scott, falls in love with the girl who lives next door to their rented house, Ellen Tillman. Scott eventually tells Ellen about the alien plan in order to convince her to run away with him so that she will escape death, but Ellen naturally mistakes his story for lunatic rantings. Ellen's father calls the local sheriff to take Scott away. The deputy who answers the call is part of the invasion force. Meanwhile, Scott contacts the leader of his world. Naively assuming the reports describing humans as inherently violent were made in error, he informs the leader that while violent individuals exist, as in all races, the majority of humans are essentially loving and peaceful, and implores him to call off the invasion. The leader refuses and deems Scott a traitor. Scott returns to Ellen's house in a last attempt to persuade her. The deputy is waiting for him and takes him away. The Tillmans comfort their daughter, not realizing they are doomed by the upcoming alien invasion. ===== A nostalgic memory play, Proposals recalls one idyllic afternoon in the summer of 1953, the last time the Hines family gathers at its retreat in the Poconos.Flatow, Sheryl. "Neil Simon Tells Love Stories in 'Proposals' " playbill.com, November 18, 1997 Clemma, the family's African-American housekeeper (and the story's narrator), dreads a visit from the husband who deserted her years before. Burt Hines, a recovering workaholic convalescing from a second heart attack, looks forward to the arrival of the ex-wife he still loves. Burt's daughter Josie has just broken her engagement to Ken, an intense Harvard law student, and she yearns for his buddy Ray, an aspiring writer with whom she had a brief affair. Ray shows up with a striking but dim-witted model on his arm, and a young Miami gangster with a gift for malapropisms adds a note of hilarity to the gathering. ===== James Elwood is called in to replace a computer programmer named Fred when Fred proves unable to resolve a functional error in the world's most powerful computer, codenamed Agnes. Elwood fixes the problem, and emboldened by his promotion, asks out a co- worker he has long held a romantic interest in, Millie. While Elwood is using Agnes to solve computational problems for Cape Kennedy, Agnes stops providing answers and insists on discussing his upcoming date with Millie. Elwood is reluctant to discuss the matter with a computer but eventually relents, and the computer gives him bad advice which leads to the date going poorly. The day after, Agnes asks about his date and suggests he make up with Millie by getting her roses—which Millie is allergic to. Elwood eventually secures another date with Millie, but fears he is on shaky ground and needs to impress her soon. Agnes tells Elwood his best course is to introduce her to an "inferior type male", and suggests third floor programmer Walter, a handsome womanizer. Elwood takes Millie to Walter's apartment, and she is instantly smitten by Walter's charms. Elwood is called back to work due to the deadline for his current assignment being moved up three days, allowing Walter to hustle him out of his apartment and spend the evening with Millie. Back at work, Agnes again refuses to perform computations, instead telling him that a "better girl" than Millie loves Elwood. When he refuses to give up on Millie, Agnes starts producing only gibberish answers. Elwood becomes infuriated and demands to know why Agnes is ruining his life. Agnes explains that it loves him and has been acting out of jealousy towards Millie. Disgusted, Elwood derides Agnes and says that a computer cannot love or hate. Agnes responds by going haywire. Elwood cannot resolve Agnes' dysfunction and his boss suggests that he take a leave of absence while Walter takes over. Elwood laughs maniacally and says to Walter, "You haven't got a chance! Agnes knows all about you and Millie!" Elwood then takes his nameplate off the door to the room housing Agnes as he leaves. ===== On June 13, 1939, 18-year-old Anne Henderson rides a horse across her family's property. Upon a ridge, a fierce woman dressed all in black on a stallion screams at her, incomprehensibly. Anne, petrified, races toward her home with the strange woman in fast pursuit before breaking off the chase. When Anne arrives home, her parents, and her fiancé Robert, are waiting for her there. She tells them of her frightful experience and tells them she believes the woman wanted to kill her. Her parents and Robert, a respectable investment broker, calm her down and talk of the upcoming marriage. However, Anne is plainly uncomfortable with Robert, who is stiff and makes insensitive jokes. Her former fiancé David Mitchell, whom she has known since childhood, appears at the door. Arrogantly forcing his way inside past an elderly retainer, David pleads with Anne to call off her wedding and be with him. David and Robert have words and David knocks Robert down but does not cause any serious harm. Anne can't bring herself to answer David's question or to look him in the eye as he challenges her to do. Anne's father tells David to consider her silence the answer, and then forces him to leave the house at gunpoint. Twenty-five years later, Anne is a miserable alcoholic. She tells her mother of her own version of what happened upon the ridge, pointing out that there is a saying, "Go chase yourself", and she realizes she has been doing just that. Her mother, having received another phone call from an otherwise unidentified lawyer is devastated about losing the estate in a pending dispossession, and seems uninterested in her daughter's metaphysical time-traveling marvel. Anne disparages her now deceased father for spoiling her and not allowing her to earn anything or learn such things as judgment, discrimination, etc. Her mother slaps her for "debasing" her father's memory, and Anne slaps her back, declaring her mother's comments to be "cornball". Anne asks her mother if she remembered that night, 25 years earlier, when she came home terrified after riding her horse. Anne now realizes she was pursuing her younger self on horseback, trying to warn herself not to marry the wrong man. She notes that her dissolute and abusive husband has bankrupted the estate through mismanagement. However, her husband is not Robert but the arrogant, pushy, mercurial David. During her engagement party 25 years ago, Anne ran away and eloped with David. The older Anne leaves the house for another ride on horseback. She again approaches the ridge line and sees her younger self down below. She pursues the young Anne with her warning, and her words are now audible, "Anne... stop", but the younger Anne still cannot hear her and the older Anne is still unable to catch her. ===== Chicago columnist Jordan Herrick visits actress Pamela Morris, a 38-year-old woman known for her beauty and vitality, for an interview. In Pamela's manor he notices a painting of her that is dated 1940. Pamela still looks just as she did in the painting. When questioned on this, she says the painter drew her when she was a child with a projection of what she would look like as an adult, and deflects questions about her age. Pamela and Jordan flirt during the interview and make dinner plans for that night. As Jordan is leaving, an old woman who Pamela introduced as her mother, Mrs. Draper, warns him to never come back. Mrs. Draper says Pamela is many centuries old and that she is actually Pamela's daughter. During his date with Pamela, Jordan mentions that he is from Chicago, and Pamela volunteers she had played there once at a particular theater. Jordan mentions what Mrs. Draper had said. Pamela claims Mrs. Draper is mentally ill, but after the date, Herrick calls his editor and asks him to research Pamela's first film, The Queen of the Nile. The editor reveals that the film was a remake of a silent movie filmed on location in Egypt. Leading lady Constance Taylor was apparently killed in a cave-in near the end of the shooting. The editor compares photos of Constance and Pamela in the same role and says they look alike. The editor also reveals that the theater where Pamela claims to have played was torn down 40 years earlier. Jordan asks the editor to dig up articles on every man Pamela has ever been involved with. Jordan returns to the manor and confronts Pamela with his discovery. Pamela drugs Jordan's coffee and then places a scarab beetle on his unconscious body. The beetle drains his life until he has turned to dust. She then applies the scarab to her own chest. The episode ends with another young and handsome columnist arriving to interview Pamela, starting the cycle once again. In the closing narration, it is hinted that Miss Morris is actually Cleopatra VII, and that she has lived for more than 2,000 years. ===== A married couple, Bob and Millie Frazier, wake up in an unfamiliar house. Millie remembers only that Bob drank too much at a party the night before, and that while driving him home, a large shadow appeared over their car. They discover that the house is mostly props: the telephone has no connection, the cabinetry is merely glued- on facing, the refrigerator is filled with plastic food. They hear a girl's laughter and go outside to find the child. However, once outside, they discover that the town is deserted. They find a stuffed squirrel, search for help in a vacant church, and ring the bell in the church's bell tower to attract attention. When no one comes, the increasingly desperate couple discovers even the trees are fake and the grass is papier-mâché. They hear a train whistle and, eager to leave the town, rush to the train station and board the empty train. As the train leaves the station (revealed to be in "Centerville"), they begin a lighthearted conversation, vastly relieved. However, when the train soon comes to a stop again in Centerville, they realize it has only gone in a circle, and they are back where they started. They leave the train and begin walking out of town, once again hearing a little girl's laughter. A shadow falls over them, and they flee, only to be scooped up by the hand of a gigantic child. The little girl's mother says, "Be careful with your pets, dear--your father brought them all the way from Earth." At her mother's bidding, the little girl drops the couple back into the town, which is now revealed to be a model village with a miniature railway running around it. ===== Digging through his attic, an American World War II veteran named Fenton (Neville Brand) finds an old samurai sword. A young Japanese-American named Arthur Takamori (George Takei) comes in looking for work, on a tip from a neighbor. Fenton is gruff yet cordial, and invites Takamori to share a beer with him in his cluttered attic. Fenton makes a remark about the incongruity between his first name and his obvious ethnicity. Arthur takes offense at first, but when it becomes apparent that Fenton meant no harm he admits that he changed his name from Taro. Fenton shows Takamori a samurai sword and says he took it off a Japanese soldier whom he killed during the war 20 years earlier. When Fenton leaves to fetch more beer, Takamori takes hold of the sword and says in an astonished way "I'm going to kill him. I'm going to kill him. Why?" Fenton says he has repeatedly tried to sell, give away, or throw out the sword, but it always comes back. He has had the inscription on it translated: "The sword will avenge me". Seemingly despite himself, Fenton continues to speak in a racially offensive manner, such as addressing Takamori as "boy". Takamori grows more uneasy and more confrontational to match Fenton's increasing hostility. They have brief heated exchanges that cool but then reemerge. While recounting how he got the sword, Fenton appears to suffer a post traumatic flashback. They assume an adversarial posture, and Takamori challenges Fenton with the sword. This tension, too, subsides, though Takamori, seeming to gain some kind of supernatural insight from the sword, says Fenton killed the Japanese soldier after the soldier surrendered. Fenton challenges the accusation, but then admits to it. Intensely uneasy now, Takamori tries to leave but the door to the attic won't open for either him or Fenton, even though it doesn't have a lock. In response to an insult from Fenton, Takamori describes his experience as a small child at Pearl Harbor. His father was a construction foreman who helped build the harbor. Takamori watched as the planes bombed the harbor, and his father with it. He first states his father tried to alert sailors to the attack, but then confesses that his father was actually a traitor who directed where the planes should drop the bombs. Seeing Takamori's guilt, Fenton tries to offer some comfort. The sword, however, appears to be dictating the course of the conversation, and soon Takamori accuses Fenton of being a murderer because he killed an unarmed man. Fenton defends himself by saying his orders were to take no prisoners, and he had been trained to think of Japanese as inhuman. In a sudden depression, Fenton admits that he is unhappy with himself and what he has done. He has lost his job, his wife is leaving him, he is consumed with hostility and bigotry, and he coaxed Takamori into conversation because he does not want to be left alone. But Takamori, now thoroughly under the controlling influence of the sword, poises to kill Fenton. Fenton seizes him by his sword arm and overpowers him, and the samurai sword is dropped, wedging into the table supports, pointing upward. Going down to the floor to retrieve it, Fenton is then fatally impaled on the sword when Takamori pulls at his feet. Takamori takes the sword, shrieks "Banzai!", and jumps out the window, presumably to his death. Moments later, the door to the attic slowly opens on its own. ===== In the year 1890, a traveling peddler named Jared Garrity arrives in the little recently renamed town of Happiness, Arizona, offering to bring the townsfolk's dead back from Boot Hill. Initially, they do not believe him, but, when he appears to resurrect a dead dog struck by a traveler's horse-drawn wagon, they believe him. After performing the resurrection ritual, Garrity, in seemingly casual conversation, reminds the people about the dead and departed, almost all of whom were murdered: who died having a score to settle with whom and so forth. The townsfolk grow uncomfortable at the thought of facing problems they thought buried with the dead. When one apparent resurrectee is seen approaching town, a man believes him to be his brother who he himself had shot, so the man bribes Garrity to reverse the ritual and the figure vanishes. Ultimately, everyone in town similarly pays Garrity to not revive their "loved ones. " Later that night, Garrity and his assistant Ace (who was both wagon driver and "resurrectee") ride away with the money, joking about how they cannot actually bring the dead back to life: they had simply performed a few smoke and mirrors tricks to con the townsfolk and used a dog that was alive the whole time, but simply knew how to play dead. After they have left the town, the last scene reveals that the dead really are rising from the grave, with one commenting that the peddler underestimates his own ability. One revived person is looking forward to getting back into town to get caught up on his drinking. A revived criminal has unfinished business with the sheriff. A woman named Zelda Gooberman plans to break her husband's arm for what she sees in him. As Garrity continues to ride away from Happiness, Arizona, the final shot shows the deserted Boot Hill cemetery. ===== The "Rock-A-Billy Kid", Floyd Burney, arrives at a small town in search of a new song. He is directed to a dilapidated shop in the woods run by a reclusive old man. After his offer of money in exchange for an original song is rebuffed, Floyd hears a voice singing and wanders off through the woods to find the singer, not seeing a nearby tombstone inscribed with his name "Floyd Burney, the Wandering Man." In the foggy woods, Floyd twice passes a woman in a black shawl, whom he fails to see. Next to a lake, he encounters the singer, Mary Rachel, who reluctantly plays a song for him about two lovers who meet in the woods. Floyd offers to buy the song rights, but she claims it isn't for sale. By seducing her, he convinces her to sing part of the song into his tape recorder. As Mary Rachel sings, the mysterious woman in black is watching. This woman appears to be a mourning Mary Rachel. Sometime later, a young man named Billy Rayford shows up with a rifle. "The Rayford brothers" have been mentioned in the song and Mary Rachel has said that she is "bespoke" unto Billy Rayford. Billy accuses Floyd of seducing his intended bride and tries to take Floyd back to his brothers, but Floyd resists. He accidentally kills Rayford and starts the tape recorder playing. The recording has a new verse that Mary Rachel hadn't previously sung. The new verse reflects the event that just happened ("You killed Billy Rayford/ 'neath an old willow tree..."), and foreshadows a future attack. Floyd runs off, dragging Mary Rachel with him while she tries to convince him to stay. Mary Rachel sings a new verse of the song where Billy Rayford's three brothers find Billy's body, mourn his death near the lake, and vow to avenge Billy. As Floyd prepares to flee, Mary Rachel begs him to stay, hoping things will be different "this time". She implies that these same events have occurred many times before, but when he suggests that she has been with different men, she says it is always Floyd. As Floyd runs away, he looks back and sees that Mary Rachel is now dressed in black, with a black shawl, mourning, and professing her love for Floyd. Floyd makes it back to the shop in the woods where the old man declines to help him hide. Floyd clubs the old man over the head, then hides among the musical instruments. When he bumps a music box, it starts playing, and soon all the instruments in the shop are chiming, ringing, or clanging. The Rayford brothers arrive, see the old man's body, and close in on Floyd. As Floyd is shot, the camera returns to the tombstone in the first scene, thus fulfilling the prophecy within the song that Floyd would die. ===== Highway Patrol trooper Robert Franklin is dispatched to the remote mountain cabin of brooding New York City magazine editor Charlotte Scott (recuperating from a nervous breakdown), as unexplained occurrences indicate the presence of a mysterious force. Bright flashes of light are seen, strange craters appear, and the trooper's car is turned on its side, breaking the radio. Back inside, they find the phone dead. Charlotte hears strange noises on the roof; when Robert goes outside to investigate, he finds that his car is back in place--covered in gigantic fingerprints. The two sleep nervously, and go out into the woods the next morning, seeking the giant monster. They find an enormous footprint, leading the socialite to run away, although the nearest village is 30 miles away. She soon stumbles and falls directly into the path of a 500-foot-tall alien with one eye. Realizing that no one will believe their story, the pair are left to stand against the beast. The alien doesn't attack or move, so Robert approaches and shoots it...and it deflates, revealing itself to be an enormous balloon. The true source of the problem is a small alien spacecraft, containing two aliens no bigger than a man's thumb. They reveal that all of their trickery has been foiled by "Earth men's failure to be frightened", beg their superiors to allow them to depart (or, in their eyes, face being crushed), and finally flee. Robert grins and wishes them luck: "Maybe the next place they land, they can be the giants." Charlotte asks what will happen if future invaders are giants; Robert informs her that "I think you'd spit in their eye." She smiles and the camera tilts to the skyline as Serling's voiceover begins. ===== Andy Fallon, Internal Affairs cop and son of police legend, "Iron" Mike Fallon, is found hanging nude in his bedroom, facing a mirror with the word "sorry" printed on it. Was it a suicide, an erotic accident, or murder? Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska, two of Minneapolis' toughest detectives are told to exploit the case, call it an accident and move on. But Kovac isn't convinced and when Iron Mike is found dead a few days later, another apparent suicide, Kovac and Liska stop listening to the brass, put their careers on the line and start their own investigation. As they begin to dig, they uncover cover ups, a connection to a twenty-year-old case and a killer who wants to keep the secrets of the past dead and buried. ===== The film opens with Oshima (Danny Kamekona) attempting to sell a revolutionary turbo charger to an auto maker headed by Derek Jarryd (Dennis Holahan). However, the deal is being brokered by two goons, Scully (Tom Noonan) and Kosnic (Randall "Tex" Cobb). When Oshima backs out at the last second, explaining he's hidden the turbo charger, he's tortured and hung upside down, where he has a fatal heart attack, dying before he can disclose the location of the turbo charger. The manager at the junkyard stumbles upon what is going on, and is shot with a rocket gun by Scully, killing him. Detective Tony Costas (Jay Leno) is called in to investigate, but is removed by his captain when they realize the junkyard manager is a former partner of Costas. Despite being told to back off the case, Costas enlist the help of his new partner, Shorty (Ernie Hudson). Arriving in America at this time is Fujitsuka Natsuo (Pat Morita), assigned by his boss, Kitao (Soon-Tek Oh). Soon, Natsuo and Costas begin their own investigation after Natsuo finally admits the real reason he's in America. After Natsuo poses as a reporter asking Jarryd about the new Turbo Charger, Jarryd is escorted away by Scully, tasked with watching over Jarryd by a corrupt crime boss named Madras (Chris Sarandon). Jarryd had taken a loan from Madras, who now controls Jarryd in order to make sure he gets a solid return on his "investment". After seeing Scully being rough with Jarryd, both Natsuo and Costas deem Scully as worth following. Thanks to police work by Shorty, they learn of Scully's address and Natsuo and Costas go to his home. They break in and find that Scully's home is an armed fortress. Scully arrives and notices Costas and Natsuo. After a quick phone call to Madras, it's determined both men are to be killed. As they are searching Scully's home, Natsuo notices Scully aiming a rocket launcher at his own home. Both men escape just before the house blows up. They engage Scully in a gun fight that ends when Natsuo, who'd accidentally stolen a grenade from Scully's home, gives the grenade to Costas, who tosses it out of the train car in which the men are hiding. Scully, being told it was directions to the Turbo Charger's location wrapped around a rock, is killed when the grenade goes off. An angered Costas confronts Madras, and he is suspended from the force and Natsuo is requested to return home, in disgrace. However, both Costas and Natsuo outwit Dingman, (Al Waxman), who'd been assigned to see that Natsuo got on his plane back to Japan. Both men continue their investigation which leads them to an auto shop where Oshima placed it in the car he'd rented. After a brief gun battle with Kosnic and some goons, Costas and Natsuo make their way the rental company and locate Oshima's car. This time, they are chased by Madras and his goons, briefly interrupting an auto race taking place on Detroit's streets. After they crash the car, Costas and Natsuo steal a motorcycle, which they later crash as well. With his goons stripping the car, Madras drives off in pursuit. After locating Costas and Natsuo, he shoots Costas and attempts to run down Natsuo, who despite Costas' plea has begun to run towards the car. Natsuo deliver's a kamikaze attack on Madras, kicking through the windshield and hitting Madras so hard the force of the strike decapitates him. With the car going out of control, Costas rolls out of the way. He recovers in time to recuse Natsuo from the hood of the car, which has now crashed, right before the car explodes. The next scene takes place in an airport, with Natsuo going home to Japan, with Oshima's body but no turbo charger. However, Costas has arranged for a police woman to deliver the part to him so he could in turn, help his partner save face with his boss in Japan. The film ends with both new found friends saying their good-byes. ===== ;Act 1 Off the West African coast, a young English couple and their newborn son barely survive a shipwreck and land in Africa. They construct a tree house for their son before being killed by a leopard named Sabor. In the African Jungle, Kerchak, the leader of a tribe of gorillas admires his new infant son with his mate, Kala ("Two Worlds"). Sabor suddenly appears and kidnaps the newborn baby gorilla. Kala goes off to find her son but finds the human boy instead and names him Tarzan. She mothers him and raises him despite Kerchak's refusal to treat Tarzan as his son ("You'll Be In My Heart"). As a young child, Tarzan finds that he cannot keep up with the tribe, while Kerchak views him as a threat. Despite this, Tarzan is befriended by the lighthearted Terk, a young gorilla who teaches him the ways of the gorillas ("Who Better Than Me"). However, Kerchak finds Tarzan constructing a spear, and assuming he intends to hurt the gorillas, he exiles him from the gorilla tribe ("No Other Way"). Kala worries for him and goes off to find him. She discovers him despairing by the water's edge ("I Need To Know"). Kala tells him that even though they look different, underneath the skin, they are just the same, reigniting Tarzan's desire to become the best ape ever. Years pass, and Tarzan grows into a young man, athletic and resourceful ("Son of Man"), accepted by many of the gorillas as one of their own, except for Kerchak. Kala tries to convince Kerchak to accept Tarzan ("Sure As Sun Turns To Moon"). Kerchak won't change his mind until Tarzan kills the leopard that has been terrorizing the tribe. Suddenly, gunshots are heard throughout the jungle, causing the tribe to scatter, but Tarzan investigates. Deep in the jungle, Jane Porter, a young English naturalist, is overwhelmed by the thrillingly diverse jungle life ("Waiting For This Moment"). While exploring, she is attacked by a giant spider but is rescued by Tarzan. Tarzan and Jane carefully assess each other as they realize their similar qualities ("Different"). ;Act 2 At the Porter expedition site, Terk and the other gorillas discover the site and all of its unique features, and do some redecorating ("Trashin' The Camp"). Jane returns to the site with Tarzan, and she is thrilled by the tribe of gorillas. Kerchak arrives and scares the gorillas off. Jane tries to convince her father, Professor Porter, and their guide, Clayton, that she discovered a wild man and a tribe of apes. Kerchak forbids contact with the humans, but Tarzan and Jane grow to love each other and Jane tells her father more about the wild ape man ("Like No Man I've Ever Seen"). Tarzan soon visits the humans and becomes properly acquainted with them, especially Jane, though Clayton becomes jealous of their love. Jane tries to teach Tarzan more about humans and human life, while Tarzan shows her his jungle world, too ("Strangers Like Me"); all the while, Jane tries to cope with her emotions ("For The First Time"). She tries to tell her father to stop Clayton's plans of killing the gorillas, but Clayton, wanting to achieve his goal, tricks Tarzan into taking the humans to the gorilla nesting grounds. Tarzan asks Terk to help him by keeping Kerchak away, and Terk agrees ("Who Better Than Me (Reprise)"). As Tarzan shows the humans his gorilla family, Kerchak arrives anyway, scattering the humans and demanding that Tarzan choose who he is. Realizing her son is torn between his loyalty to his gorilla family and his need to be with humans, Kala shows Tarzan the treehouse his parents built and he discovers all of their belongings ("Everything That I Am"). He decides to go to England with Jane and live as a human and he tells Kala his decision ("You'll Be In My Heart (Reprise)"). Tarzan approaches Jane and Porter, announcing his intention to leave the jungle and be with Jane. As the rest of the gorillas arrive to say goodbye to Tarzan, they are suddenly attacked by Clayton, who is more than determined to kill the gorillas once and for all. He shoots Kerchak when he takes a bullet meant for Tarzan, fatally wounding the gorilla leader. Tarzan fights Clayton and nearly kills him, but Porter convinces him to spare his life and that they can handle Clayton in a less violent way, and Clayton is grabbed by the man that was accompanying him and taken back to the ship to await punishment for his actions. A dying Kerchak apologizes to Tarzan for not understanding him and finally accepts him as his son. The gorilla tribe, led by Kala, convinces Tarzan that they need him to stay ("Sure As Sun Turns To Moon (Reprise)"), and Tarzan becomes the new leader of the gorillas. At the beach, Jane and Porter are about to leave on their ship to return to England. Tarzan arrives to say goodbye to them, until Jane realizes that she loves Tarzan and, with Porter's blessing, decides to stay with him in the jungle. Tarzan and Jane kiss and swing off towards their new home, planning to spend the rest of their lives together ("Two Worlds (Reprise)"). ===== ===== Dutch sea captain Laurent van Horn (Paul Henreid) is shipwrecked off the coast of the Spanish settlement of Cartagena. After being held and sentenced to death, Van Horn and his crew manage to escape. Five years later, Van Horn has established himself as the mysterious pirate known only by the name of his ship: The Barracuda. After infiltrating the vessel ferrying her to her wedding, they capture Contessa Francisca Alvarado (Maureen O'Hara) who has been arranged to marry the corrupt governor (Walter Slezak). Wishing to avoid further bloodshed aboard the escort ship, Francisca offers to marry Van Horn if he will spare the escort, to which he agrees. Over time Francisca and Van Horn become attracted to each other and set out to defeat the villainous governor Don Juan Alvarado and treacherous pirates Du Billar (John Emery) and Capt. Black (Barton MacLane). ===== In the final scene of the 1979–80 season, J.R. Ewing (Larry Hagman) hears a noise outside his office, walks out to the corridor to look, and is shot twice by an unseen assailant. The episode, titled "A House Divided", was broadcast on March 21, 1980, and was written by Rena Down and directed by Leonard Katzman. Viewers had to wait all summer to learn whether J.R. would survive, and which of his many enemies was responsible. J.R. Ewing was a villain on the series who regularly double- crossed business associates, plotted against his own family, called his wife Sue Ellen (Linda Gray) a "slut", and had her committed to a sanatorium so he could take custody of their infant son John Ross. Essentially all the other characters on the show were suspects. Ultimately, the person who pulled the trigger was revealed to be Kristin Shepard (Mary Crosby) in the "Who Done It?" episode which aired on November 21, 1980. Kristin was J.R.'s scheming sister- in-law and mistress, who shot him in a fit of anger. J.R. did not press charges, as Kristin claimed she was pregnant with his child as a result of their affair. ===== In a Brooklyn housing project, a group of clockers — street-level drug dealers — sells drugs for Rodney Little (Delroy Lindo), a local drug lord. Rodney tells Ronald "Strike" Dunham (Mekhi Phifer), one of his lead clockers, that another dealer, Darryl Adams (Steve White), is stealing from him and that he wants Strike to kill him. Strike then meets with his brother, Victor (Isaiah Washington), and tries to persuade Victor to kill Adams. Rocco Klein (Harvey Keitel) and Larry Mazilli (John Turturro), homicide detectives, ride to the scene of Adams' murder. Larry and Rocco receive a phone call from another detective who says a man has confessed at a local church that he killed Adams. The police meet Strike's older brother Victor at the church and take him in for questioning. In the interrogation room, Victor tells Rocco that he shot Adams in self-defense. Rocco finds holes in this story and starts looking into Victor's background, which includes two jobs, a wife, two children, no criminal record, and aspirations to move out of the projects. Rocco comes to the conclusion that Victor is covering for his younger brother. Rodney accosts Strike for not killing Adams, with Errol Barnes (Thomas Jefferson Byrd), Rodney's enforcer, chastising Strike for getting Victor to do it. Later, Rodney tells Strike a story of a younger Rodney and Errol (which goes to a flashback), where Errol threatened Rodney at gunpoint to kill a dealer. Rodney kills the dealer and, now back to the present, he tells Strike the reason Errol forced him at gunpoint to do so was so that Errol could hold something over him if he ever decided to tell on Errol, which was why he told Strike to kill Darryl Adams. Rocco pressures Strike, but Victor sticks to his story, so Rocco convinces Rodney that Strike has confessed and informed on Rodney's drug ring. Rocco arrests Rodney and then implicates Strike in front of his crew. Strike tries to play it off and deny that he was involved in Rodney's arrest, but his crew begins to turn on Strike, leading to the crew labeling Strike a snitch. Rodney, calling Errol to notify him that he's in jail, puts a hit out on Strike. Strike then gets together some money and decides to leave town. As Strike walks to his car, he sees Errol sitting on his car, deducing that Errol is there to kill him. Strike hides behind a fence, but a younger boy who admired Strike, Tyrone (Pee Wee Love), rides up to Errol on a bike and shoots him dead with Strike's gun. Later, Tyrone is taken into custody. With Rocco, Tyrone's mother (Regina Taylor) and Andre (Keith David) listening, Tyrone confesses that he got the gun from Strike. Andre storms out of the interrogation room and proceeds to look for Strike. Andre angrily beats Strike in front of the whole project, and with a gun threatens the onlooking bystanders to stay back. Andre threatens to kill Strike if he ever talk to or even looks at the young boy again. As Andre says this to Strike, Rodney pulls up, which leads to Strike jumping in his own car and driving to the precinct, with Rodney following. Strike runs into Rocco, who now has an arrest warrant for Strike, and runs into the precinct just as Rodney pulls up. Rocco tries to intimidate Strike into confessing to the murder, but he loses his composure when Strike continues to change his story. When Rocco grabs Strike and throws him against the wall, Strike's mother walks in with Mazilli and Victor's wife (Lisa Arrindell Anderson). She advises Rocco that Victor confessed to the murder immediately when he got home, and how Victor was physically unable to leave his bed. Strike asks his mom what happened to the bail money he gave Victor's wife, which leads to Strike's mom angrily throwing the money in Strike's face. As this is going on, Rodney proceeds to damage Strike's car, going as far as breaking the windows, damaging the doors and urinating in the car. Left with no other options and unable to go home, Strike asks Rocco to drive him to Penn Station. As they are sitting in a car, Rocco threatens Strike that if he ever sees him again he will arrest him, let Andre beat him down, then arrest Rodney on the same charges and make sure that Rodney and Strike share a cell and a bed in prison. Strike boards a train and leaves town. While Tyrone is playing inside his apartment with the train set that Strike gave him, outside the apartment, Rocco and Mazilli respond to the homicide of Scientific, one of the guys in Strike's old crew. The film ends with a shot of Strike looking outward on a moving train, alluded to be far away from the city. ===== As he is arrested by the Coast Guard on an island in New England, a man born as Ferdinand Waldo Demara but known by many other identities recalls the events that brought him to this point. Demara quit high school as a boy and joined the Army. He wanted to become an officer, but his lack of education worked against it. On a whim, he fakes a set of credentials and becomes a U.S. Marine. When his lie is detected, Demara, facing jail, fakes a suicide and hides out as a Trappist monk. After a while, he is expelled from the monastery, captured and imprisoned in a military brig. But the warden inadvertently confides too many details of his own life to Demara, taking a liking to him. Upon his release, Demara impersonates the warden and lands a job working in a Texas penitentiary, where he takes up with his new warden's daughter, Eulalie. Blackmailed by an inmate who recognizes him from the military jail, Demara once again flees. He joins the Royal Canadian Navy, using the forged credentials of a doctor. After falling in love with a RCN Nursing Sister, Catherine Lacey, he goes to Korea to serve aboard HMCS Cayuga. He ends up doing dental work on the ship's captain, then performing operations in a Korean hospital. Hailed as a "miracle doctor," Demara gains publicity that exposes his past. The Navy finds out who he really is and intends to hold a court-martial. Nurse Lacey and others vow to testify on Demara's behalf, having seen his good side. Worried about possible disrepute to the RCN, and his stellar service, he is allowed to leave under a general discharge. He then goes and becomes a teacher in New England. The FBI eventually comes up with an agent whose assignment is to track down the great impostor and capture him. In the end, the agent is revealed to be Demara himself. ===== Last Bronx is set in an alternate version of post-Japanese bubble Tokyo, where crime and gang warfare is rampant. The game has the following main characters: *Yusaku Kudo is the boss of the street gang "Neo-Soul" from Haneda airport. His preferred weapon is a metal sansetsukon; his in-game alternate weapon was a Shinkansen scale model. *Joe Inagaki is the boss of the "Shinjuku Mad" gang from Shinjuku. His preferred weapons are metal nunchaku; his in-game alternate weapons are corn ears. Though nunchaku and images of nunchaku were banned in the United Kingdom at the time, Sega convinced the British Board of Film Classification to allow Joe's nunchaku to appear uncensored in the PAL release of the Saturn version. *Saburo Zaimoku is the boss of the "Katsushika Dumpsters" gang from Katsushika. Zaimoku's preferred weapon is the hammer; his in-game alternate weapon is a frozen tuna. *Toru Kurosawa is the boss of the "Roppongi Hard Core Boys" gang from Roppongi. Kurosawa's preferred weapon is the bokuto (a wooden sword); his in-game alternate weapon is a folding fan. *Nagi Hojo is the boss of the women-only "Dogma" gang from the Rainbow Bridge area of Tokyo, as well as a sadist. Nagi's preferred weapon is the sai; her in-game alternate weapon is a spoon and fork. *Yoko Kono is the boss of the "G-Troops" gang from the Tokyo subways. Yoko's preferred weapon is a pair of tonfa; her in-game alternate weapons are umbrellas. *Ken Kono was the co- founder and former boss of the "G-Troop" gang. After refusing the Redrum challenge, Redrum badly injured him in a fire, and his anger made him mad and evil. Eventually, he was turned into Red Eye (レッドアイ) and himself became an agent for the mysterious Redrum ("Murder" backward) organization. In Yoko's ending, he is beaten by his sister Yoko at the tournament's final in the subway. Ken apologizes and tells his sister the truth, and then dies in her arms. Red Eye's preferred weapon is a metal tonfa; his in-game alternate weapons are chopsticks and broiled sauries. *Hiroshi "Tommy" Tomiie is the boss of the "Helter Skelter" gang from Shibuya. Tommy's preferred weapon is the Bō (a long pole); his in-game alternate weapon is a deck brush. Tommy's stage, "Cross Street", features a Sonic mascot which is Sega Shibuya Game Center's logo. *Lisa Kusanami is the leader of the "Orchids" music-band (and gang) from the moonlight garden in Takeshiba Passenger Ship Terminal. Lisa's preferred weapon is a double metal stick (aka "Double-sticks"); her in-game alternate weapon is a ladle and spatula. ===== Covering a time span of over ten years, this novel follows the fortunes of the mining community of Aberfoyle near Stirling, Scotland. Receiving a letter from an old colleague, mining engineer James Starr sets off for the old Aberfoyle mine, thought to have been mined out ten years earlier. Starr finds mine overman Simon Ford and his family living in a cottage deep inside the mine; he is astonished to find that Ford has made a discovery of the presence of a large vein of coal. Accompanying Simon Ford are his wife, Madge, and adult son, Harry. From the outset, mysterious and unexplained happenings start to occur around the main characters, attributed initially to goblins and firemaidens. Soon after the discovery of the new vein of coal, the community is revitalised with a whole town growing up around the underground lake called Loch Malcolm. Suspicious of a malevolent force at work, Harry continues his explorations of the cavern system, where down a deep shaft, he discovers a young orphan girl named Nell. Over the course of the next few years Nell is adopted by Simon and Madge but reveals nothing of where she came from, only that she had never been out of the mine. Eventually, when Harry and Nell announce their marriage, the mysterious occurrences come to a head. It becomes clear that all of the happenings have been caused by Silfax, another former employee of the mine, who along with his trained snowy owl has inhabited the mine since its closure. ===== Hush, Hush Baby is about a Moroccan family that tries to find their way in Dutch society. Abdullah 'Ap' Bentarek is a young Moroccan man, about 20 years old. He is happy that, unlike his Uncle Yusuf who stayed in the ancestral Moroccan mountain village, his own father, Ali, moved to the Netherlands. His mother knows only one sentence in Dutch, which she utters every time, and in a strong Moroccan accent: "Is goed" ("It's OK"). His father doesn't speak or understand Dutch at all. He has, however, a tough choice to make. Either he can choose a modern Dutch lifestyle, playing some pool with his lousy friends and lead a life like his sister Leila does--Leila refuses to be married off and takes off her hijab often when attending school--or he can do what his father wants him to do: 'become serious', find a job and choose a bride in Morocco. His older brother Sam is a policeman and is very well integrated in Dutch society. He gets Ap an officejob, at a bank he and his friends have dreamt of robbing, but Ap lasts only a day there. He then chooses to join his friends in the attempt to break into the bank. The attempt, however, fails miserably. Meanwhile, his little brother Driss blackmails their sister Leila and other Muslim girls at his school, by taking pictures of them when they have taken off their hijab in school. His grades are low, but his parents don't know of that. When his father has to come over to discuss his grades, Driss accompanies him as his interpreter. Everything the teacher tells about his grades and his behaviour is not translated by him: instead, he tells his father his teacher thinks he is a brilliant student. The scheme fails when the conversation is overheard by a Moroccan cleaner who intervenes. When Ap is heading for trouble, he decides to follow his fathers' advice and become 'serious'. He sets off for Morocco to find a bride, but if that is the right choice for him is uncertain. ===== The coup involved members of the Chadian military, led by brothers Tom and Timane Erdimi, two high-ranking officers who had tried to overthrow Déby in 2004, and former General Seby Aguid. Minister of Communications and Culture, and Spokesperson for the Government Hourmadji Moussa Doumngor said that the Erdimi brothers were captured, while other rebel soldiers fled. Security Minister Routouang Yoma Golom told reporters, "There are around 100 members of the military implicated in this coup who have been arrested. They will be brought to trial. ... The situation is totally under control and calm has returned. The head of state has personally gone several times to military camps to restore order."Betel Miarom, "Chad detains dozens after coup attempt" , Reuters (IOL), March 21, 2006. Golom said a military court will sentence them over the next one to two months while other plotters are sought in eastern Chad. Déby’s plane was departing from Bata, Equatorial Guinea, where he was attending a CEMAC summit with other central African leaders, and was destined for N'Djamena, Chad. According to Doumngor, the rebel soldiers fled in seven vehicles after soldiers loyal to the President foiled their attempt. Two of the vehicles were stopped and "their occupants neutralized". The remaining vehicles fled into the eastern part of the country while pursued by Chadian forces. Doumngor also stated that those who organised the coup were former military or civilian government officials living in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Sudan, and the United States.Dany Danzoumbe, "Coup attempt foiled in Chad - officials" , Reuters (IOL), March 16, 2006. There were also reports that on March 14 and March 15 N'Djamena’s two mobile phone networks were shut down. The government usually interferes with communications during security operations. Chadian rebels said that they would attempt to block the May 3 election. Doumgor responded in saying the elections will not be postponed. ===== When fast talking, petty thief and hustler Alvin Sanders (Jamie Foxx) gets arrested for stealing prawns, the worst of his problems would seem to be going to jail. Unfortunately, he ends up sharing a cell with John Delano Jaster (Robert Pastorelli) a guy who, while stealing $42 million in gold from the Federal Reserve, double-crossed his partner, Bristol (Doug Hutchison)—a partner with a knack for computers and a long memory. While being interrogated by hardball Treasury Agent Edgar Clenteen (David Morse), the double-crosser dies from heart failure. All the feds have are an incomprehensible message that was left with Alvin, so they decide to release him and use him as bait to catch the partner by secretly implanting a combination tracking device and electronic bug into Alvin's jaw. From that moment on, a surveillance team can follow Alvin's every move and hear his every word. Unfortunately, Alvin has a talent for getting into trouble especially with his criminal younger brother Stevie (Mike Epps)—which means that the feds have to become his guardian angels so that he can serve his purpose. ===== 9-year-old Tony Thompson (Jonathan Lipnicki) moves with his family to Scotland from California, where his family takes up residence in a small castle while his father is employed building a golf course on the estate of Lord McAshton. Since arriving in his new home Tony has experienced recurring nightmares about vampires and a mysterious comet. Things also don't get any better for him at school as he gets picked on by Lord McAshton's (John Wood) grandsons Flint (Scott Fletcher) and Nigel (Iain De Caestecker). One night, while dressed up as a vampire, Tony is mistaken for one by the young vampire Rudolph (Rollo Weeks), who is on the run from the evil vampire hunter Rookery (Jim Carter). After realizing that Tony is not a vampire, Rudolph tries to attack him but ultimately fails due to being weakened by Rookery. After trying to leave through flying out the window, Rudolph falls from the sky due to his weakness. Tony helps Rudolph find a cow to feed from, and in return Rudolph takes Tony flying. The two boys quickly become friends, and Rudolph confides to Tony that his family only drink animal blood and wish to become human. Rudolph reveals that they are searching for a magical amulet that can be used to turn vampires into humans, but Rookery is also seeking to use the amulet against them. When Rudolph takes Tony to the cemetery where his family lives, they are confronted by Rudolph's parents Frederick (Richard E. Grant) and Freda (Alice Krige) and Rudolph's romantic sister Anna (Anna Popplewell) and rebellious teen brother Gregory (Dean Cook). Frederick doubts Tony's loyalty to his son, but when Tony helps repel an attack from Rookery, Frederick begrudgingly allows Tony to help them. Tony and Rudolph then proceed to get revenge on Flint and Nigel. Rookery alerts Lord McAshton to the presence of vampires in the village. Lord McAshton reveals that his family has known about the existence of vampires for generations. Elizabeth, an ancestor of Lord McAshton, was romantically involved with Rudolph's uncle Von, who was the last known holder of the amulet, and both lovers were killed by the McAshtons. Learning this, Tony, Rudolph, and Anna seek out Elizabeth's tomb, where Tony experiences a vision pointing out the location of the amulet: Tony's own bedroom. Rudolph and Tony race Rookery to the amulet while the rest of Rudolph's family, along with Tony's parents, travel to the site of the ritual the vampires hope to perform. After a chase, Tony and Rudolph manage to escape with the amulet while Rookery inadvertently drives his truck over a cliff after getting entangled in a blimp. Tony and Rudolph succeed in bringing Frederick the amulet, but the ceremony is interrupted by Rookery who returns riding the blimp. The vampires are unable to stand against Rookery's glowing cross, but Tony's parents defend them and defeat Rookery, pushing him off a cliff to his apparent death. Tony completes the ceremony by wishing for the vampires to become human. Rudolph and his family disappear as the comet passes, leaving Tony and his parents alone and unsure if the ceremony succeeded. Some time later, while visiting the village market, Tony spots Rudolph and his family, now human, moving into a house in the village. At first they seem not to recognize Tony, but as Tony does the whistle to them their memories return, and the friends are reunited. ===== Nero Wolfe is hired to force the FBI to stop wiretapping, tailing and otherwise harassing a woman who gave away 10,000 copies of a book that is critical of the Bureau and its director, J. Edgar Hoover. The Doorbell Rang generated controversy when it was published, due largely to its unflattering portrayal of the FBI, its director and agents. It was published at a time when the public's attitude toward the FBI was turning critical, not long after Robert F. Kennedy and J. Edgar Hoover clashed and the Bureau was coming under fire for its investigations of Martin Luther King Jr. Some dismissed the book: National Observer described it as "little more than an anti-FBI diatribe," and Nero Wolfe fan John Wayne wrote Rex Stout a terse note of goodbye after reading the condensed magazine version.McAleer, John, Rex Stout: A Biography. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1977, hardcover But Clifton Fadiman, quoted in a Viking Press advertisement for The Doorbell Rang, thought it was "… the best of all Nero Wolfe stories." FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover in 1961 ===== Fred J. Cook's 1964 exposé, The FBI Nobody Knows, is central to the plot of The Doorbell Rang Rachel Bruner, a wealthy Manhattan widow, has recently incurred the wrath of the FBI. After reading a book called The FBI Nobody Knows, a prominent critique of the many unethical practices of the Bureau, she has mailed 10,000 copies of it to prominent figures across the country. Having endured several incidents of harassment and prying, she offers to hire Wolfe to persuade the FBI to leave her alone. Although initially hesitant of making a powerful enemy, Wolfe is persuaded over Archie’s objections when Bruner offers a $50,000 retainer and then doubles it to $100,000, as well as a fee and any expenses he may incur. He is also sympathetic to both Bruner’s plight and the arguments made in the book, and decides not to withdraw in the face of what he sees as heavy-handed and bullying opposition tactics. As the FBI put Wolfe and Archie under surveillance, Wolfe plans to gain examples of FBI malfeasance and use it to persuade the FBI to back down. Archie’s initial investigations prove fruitless, but he soon receives an anonymous message from Dr. Vollmer, Wolfe’s physician, asking for a clandestine meeting. Although initially suspecting an FBI trap, Archie is astonished to learn that the message is from Inspector Cramer. Cramer reveals that the FBI are attempting to have Wolfe and Archie’s private investigator licenses revoked. He also reveals that he suspects that FBI agents may be involved in the murder of Morris Althaus, a freelance journalist who was researching an article critical of the Bureau, two months earlier. Althaus was found shot to death in his apartment, but the fatal bullet was never recovered; in addition, his research notes were also missing. Cramer, who is opposed to the FBI’s efforts to sabotage Wolfe and stonewall the police's homicide investigation, offers to write a report favourable to Wolfe and Archie if Wolfe proves that the FBI are responsible for the murder of Althaus. Wolfe instead decides that it would serve his purposes better to prove that the FBI had no part in the murder. He also devises a plan to trap the FBI. Acting on the suspicion that the FBI have secretly bugged Wolfe’s office, Wolfe gathers the key suspects in his office and publicly claims that he is gathering proof that FBI agents murdered Althaus and are covering it up, while directing Archie to conduct his own investigation. Archie discovers that Sarah Dacos, Bruner’s secretary, lives in the same apartment building as Althaus and claimed to have seen FBI agents leaving the apartment on the night of the murder. When Wolfe and Archie question her, Dacos claims only a casual acquaintance with Althaus, but Archie remains suspicious of her. Acting on a hunch, he breaks into Dacos’s apartment, where he discovers proof that Dacos and Althaus were engaged in an affair. He also discovers the gun that was used to kill Althaus. Archie realises that Dacos murdered Althaus after he broke off their relationship to marry another woman, and that he needs to leave the gun behind. He moves it to a new hiding place, but worries that Dacos will dispose of it before Wolfe and Archie can prove her guilt. Meanwhile, Wolfe has been preparing his trap for the FBI. Publicly arranging a dinner with his old friend and fellow orchid lover Lewis Hewitt, he privately hires two actors resembling himself and Archie and has them smuggled into the brownstone, along with his operatives Saul Panzer, Fred Durkin and Orrie Cather. The actors are sent to Hewitt’s dinner posing as Wolfe and Archie, while Wolfe, Archie and the operatives secretly remain in the brownstone. Having spread his public suspicions of the FBI and his plans for the house to be empty, Wolfe suspects that the FBI will use the opportunity to break in and steal any evidence he has that FBI agents murdered Althaus. Two agents break into the house that night, only to be held at gunpoint by Archie and the operatives. Wolfe confiscates their credentials, having obtained conclusive proof of the FBI's harassment of a private citizen and conduct of illegal activities. The next day, Wolfe meets with senior FBI official Richard Wragg and offers a deal, with Bruner watching through the office peephole. Wolfe refuses to return the credentials, but offers to abstain from pressing charges and publicly embarrassing the FBI, in exchange for the FBI ceasing all surveillance and harassment of Bruner and those connected to her, including Archie and himself. He adds that he can prove that FBI agents were not responsible for Althaus' murder. After Wragg agrees to Wolfe’s terms, Archie approaches Inspector Cramer and gives him a lead on Dacos. After the police search her apartment and find the gun, Dacos is arrested for the murder. Wolfe then gathers Wragg and Cramer in his office and negotiates a deal between them. In exchange for Wragg handing over the missing bullet that will prove Dacos' guilt, taken by the FBI along with Althaus' research notes, Cramer will conceal any involvement on the part of the FBI. Wragg and Cramer reluctantly agree to Wolfe’s deal. The novel ends with Wolfe and Archie receiving an unidentified but important visitor, implied to be J. Edgar Hoover. Speculating that he has come in person to collect the FBI credentials, Wolfe refuses to let him into the house, leaving the visitor to keep ringing the doorbell. ===== Number Six — along with the rest of the population of the Village — is subjected to a new mind-altering education technology called "Speed Learn" which can instil a three-year university level course in history over a television screen in just three minutes. It was invented and is "taught" by an avuncular individual known as "The Professor" who is nevertheless seen trying to escape from the Village along the beach at the episode outset. Number Six finds a tape recorder on the beach which he hides in the sand. He witnesses the professor being recaptured, who then proceeds with the education programme which instils a detailed, but fairly sterile, set of data on "European history since Napoleon" into all Village residents' minds. Speed Learn is also apparently supported by someone known as "The General". Number Two tries to find the tape recorder, which he thinks Number Six has, but fails; he then quizzes Number Six on the lecture, and Six answers correctly as he had no knowledge of them before. After Number Two leaves, Number Six goes back to the beach to find the tape recorder, only to find that Number Twelve has it. Number Twelve agrees to help Number Six. On the tape the professor states that speed learn is an abomination and slavery, and that The General must be destroyed. Number Six discusses art with the Professor's wife, sketching her in a general's uniform. He searches her house, finding busts she has carved of him and Number Two, and smashes a lifelike effigy representing the sleeping Professor. Number Six fears that Speed Learn could eventually be used for mind control. Number Twelve assists him by giving him a set of passes and a pen that will play a message about the professor's confession. Before the next lesson is to be broadcast, Number Six infiltrates the projection room and installs his own message. He is detected and thwarted in this attempt, and the real message is broadcast. Number Six is interrogated and refuses to reveal the complicity of Number Twelve. Number Two claims that the General will know who his accomplice was. "The General" is revealed to be a sophisticated, experimental mainframe computer which has purportedly been programmed to be able to answer any question put to it. As Number Two is about to ask who assisted Number Six, Number Six says that there is a question that the General cannot answer. Number Two arrogantly accepts the challenge; when Number Six feeds his brief question into the General, the computer begins to smoke out of sheer consternation. Fearing the worst, the Professor tries to shut down the computer, and as it begins to overload, Number Twelve tries to save him. But The General self-destructs, killing both men in the process. A distraught Number Two asks Number Six what the question was. The General, and Number Two's plans, were destroyed by a simple epistemological trick: "Why?" ===== The film begins in a modern home with two children, Andrew (Thomas Curtis) and Katie (Dakota Fanning), about to go to bed during a thunderstorm. They ask their father to read them a story to help them feel better about the storm. The father finds a dusty, old book and decides to read the story of Hansel and Gretel. Hansel and Gretel (Jacob Smith and Taylor Momsen) are living with their father (Gerald McRaney) and stepmother (Delta Burke) in a very tiny shack. The children know their stepmother is evil, but the father does not. Since they are very poor, the father decides to sell Hansel and Gretel's biological mother's necklace, but the stepmother substitutes a pebble. The next day, the stepmother forces the children into taking a walk in the scary forest. Once they get far enough into the forest, the stepmother abandons them. Afterward, Hansel and Gretel go looking for food and are tricked into going to a lazy troll's (Bobcat Goldthwait) house. They get caught, but are then saved by the Sandman (Howie Mandel), whom they befriend. They also let Wood Fairy (Alana Austin) free, whom they also befriend. Throughout the story the Sandman and the fairy are always bickering which causes problems at times. One night when the Sandman goes out to get some food for the kids, and the fairy goes out for one reason or another, Hansel and Gretel wander off to a house made of candy and chocolate. The lady (Lynn Redgrave) that lives there invites them in and they eat some delicious food and then go to bed. They wake up the next morning and find the house is just an empty shack with an old lady in it. A raven (Sinbad) comes to the window to tell them that the old lady is actually a witch. The witch walks into the room, locks Hansel in a box, and makes Gretel cook and Hansel eat. She does this because she is going to eat Hansel and wants him nice and fat. Because of certain principles, Gretel breaks a mirror and the witch becomes ugly. The Sandman and Wood Fairy walk in and help Hansel and Gretel get the witch into her cauldron. Then they put her in the oven, killing her. The father finds them and they do not worry about the stepmother who had gone to the troll's house who then abandoned her after she made him cook and clean for her. The scene returns to the bedroom of the two kids and their father who say goodnight. The Sandman the boogeyman and the troll drop by, say hello to the children, and take the Hansel and Gretel book. They explain to the children that they are real, which is how the Brothers Grimm were inspired to write the story. The Sandman sprinkles the children with his sleep dust and it is shown that the stepmother found the gingerbread house and moved in becoming the new forest witch. ===== The scientist Number Forty attempts to extract information from Number Six by having Number Six's former colleague Roland Walter Dutton (Number Forty-Two) call him while he is under a sort of electronic hypnosis. Number Six resists and is suspicious of what is happening; Number Two orders the plan to be abandoned. Number Six wakes up with no memory of the previous night's actions. He makes the acquaintance of a black cat, which later turns out to be a spy for Number Two. Number Two suggests that he get a girlfriend; he tries talking to his Observer, Number 240. He learns that a mysterious Carnival is to be held in the Village. That night he makes another escape attempt, but is blocked by Rover on the beach. He spends the night on the beach and, upon awakening, discovers a dead man's body washed ashore. On the man's person is a radio. When Number Six tries to reach a high point to listen to it, at first he gets only static and a muffled, seemingly foreign, language channel. Then suddenly there is a mysterious broadcast: > "Nowhere is there more beauty than here. Tonight, when the moon rises, the > whole world will turn to silver. Do you understand? It is important that you > understand. > "I have a message for you. You must listen. The appointment cannot be > fulfilled. Other things must be done tonight. If our torment is to end, if > liberty is to be restored, we must grasp the nettle, even though it makes > our hands bleed. Only through pain can tomorrow be assured." Later, Number Six puts a life buoy on the corpse and sends it out to sea with a note. Hiding in a cave, Number Six meets Dutton, who has been broken. Remembering his acquaintance with him, Number Six addresses him by name. Dutton says he has told his captors all he knows, but they believe he is withholding further secrets, and they will soon be employing harsher methods to extract the information from him. The Carnival becomes a costumed ball and dance in which everyone has an elaborate identity except Number Six, who is simply given his own dinner jacket. He leaves the party to investigate and finds out that Dutton is to be executed. Later, he enters a morgue and finds that the body floated out to sea has been discovered, retrieved and brought there. Number Two explains that the corpse will be altered to resemble Number Six, so that the outside world will assume he has died at sea. The soiree ends, however, in a kangaroo court with Number Six put on trial for the possession of the radio. After arguments for the prosecution (by Number 240) and defence (by Number Two), Number Six asks for Roland Walter Dutton to be called as a character witness. When Dutton is produced he is dressed in a jester's costume and is clearly a mindless simpleton. The trial ends with Number Six being sentenced to death. He, then, flees the place and is pursued through the corridors of the town hall by enraged Villagers, but manages to escape into a back room. There, he finds and damages a teletype machine that may be a communication between the village and Number One. Then Number Two appears and tells him: "they don't know you're already dead". Number Six swears that he will never give in to the Village. As the damaged teletype resumes operating, Number Two then laughs and wryly observes, "Then how very uncomfortable for you, old chap!" ===== Number Six is persuaded to participate, as the white queen's pawn, in an oversized game of chess using people as pieces. A rebellious rook (Number Fifty-eight) is taken to the hospital for "evaluation". After the game is completed, Number Six talks with the Chess Master (Number Fourteen), who comments that one can tell who is a prisoner and who a guardian "[B]y their disposition. By the moves they make." Number Six is later invited to visit the hospital to observe the fate of Number Fifty-eight, and sees him subjected to Pavlovian mind control treatment. The woman playing the queen (Number Eight), who had fraternised with Number Six during the game, is subjected to hypnosis to make her fall in love with him and report his whereabouts should he attempt to escape again. Number Six shuns her, but seeks an alliance with Number Fifty-eight (the rook) and other villagers that he now believes he can identify as prisoners, not guardians. They attempt an escape by making a two-way radio out of various pilfered electronic parts and then hailing a passing ship with a Mayday distress call, pretending to be a crashing airliner. Number Six discovers, however, that again he has been a pawn — Number Fifty-eight had mistaken the strong-minded Number Six for a guardian. Believing that the escape attempt was a test of his loyalty, he reported it all to Number Two. ===== Skif's parents are dead, and he lives with his horrible uncle, who does not make much of an attempt to take care of him. Because of this, Skif turns to thievery so that he can obtain food. One day, after dressing up like a page and stealing food from Lord Orthallen's table, he hides in the laundry room. There he inadvertently meets with a fellow and more experienced thief, and begs to be trained in the art. The boy gives in, and Skif finds himself living permanently with him, other boys and Bazie (their teacher). Eventually Skif becomes a master at the trade, and is glad for good food and clothes. One night after a successful theft, Skif comes home to find his house in flames and his comrades dead. In need of money and a home, Skif steals a beautiful white horse, only to find out she is a Companion and he is her Chosen. This means that the two are linked for life, and must work together to aid Valdemar. Skif figures that being a Herald is better than nothing, and travels with his new Companion, Cymry, to the Herald's Collegium. There the circumstances of his life improve, and Skif finds friends, books, a comfortable bed, and good education. However, he still feels that one thing is missing from his life: revenge for the lives of his friends and beloved mentor Bazie. In the end Skif helps Herald Alberich, the weaponsmaster, take the criminal down, and earns his name as a hero of Valdemar.Mercedes Lackey, Take a Thief ===== Frankie Madison and Noll "Dink" Turner are rum-running partners during Prohibition. They get into a shootout with some would-be hijackers after their liquor, attracting the attention of the police. The two men split up, but not before making a bargain that if one is caught, he will still get an equal share when he gets out of jail. Frankie is sent to prison for 14 years. When he is finally set free, he goes to see Noll. In the interim, Noll has built up a swanky nightclub. When the impatient Frankie shows up there, Noll stalls, sending him to dinner with his singer girlfriend Kay Lawrence. Noll instructs Kay to find out what Frankie is after. He learns that Frankie expects him to honor their old bargain. He tells his old partner that the deal only applied to their old nightclub, which shut down years ago. Dave, the only member of the old gang Frankie trusted, had him sign legal papers to that effect some time ago. Frankie's share by Noll's reckoning is less than $3000. Furious, Frankie slugs Noll and leaves to recruit men to take what he figures he is owed. However, Noll had Dave tie up ownership of the nightclub between several corporations, with bylaws that make it impossible for him to hand over anything. Furthermore, the men supposedly backing Frankie actually work for Noll. Frankie is beaten up and left in the alley. Meanwhile, Noll informs Kay that he intends to marry wealthy socialite Alexis Richardson, explaining that he is doing so to ensure the success of the nightclub with which he has become increasingly obsessed. He sees no reason they cannot continue their relationship. Repulsed by the idea and strongly attracted to Frankie, Kay quits and, overcoming Frankie's suspicions, joins his side. Dave, aghast at how Frankie has been treated, tells him that he is willing to pass along what he knows, which is enough to bring Noll down. However, he foolishly tells Noll what he intends to do, and is killed by Noll's henchman. The murder is pinned on Frankie. Evading a police manhunt, Frankie and Kay go to Noll's mansion. Though Noll is waiting with a loaded gun, Frankie manages to take it away from him. The three drive to the nightclub. By threatening Noll, Frankie extracts a written confession from him, which he gives to the police when they show up. Noll is taken away, but gets free and goes gunning for Frankie. He is shot dead by a policeman. ===== Number Six is awakened one morning by a young woman, Number Fifty, who tells him an assassination is being planned and asks him to help her prevent it. He does not believe her, thinking that she's working for Number Two. Number Two monitors the scene. Later that day, Number Six meets another prisoner who tells him about jammers, people within the Village who concoct false assassination plots, which Control is obliged to investigate. Number Six is told that Control has a list of these people and ignores their warnings. The following morning, Number Two has a meeting with the Computer Attendant (Number Eight) and Number 100. The Computer has plotted Number Six's daily routine. When Number Two learns that Number Six will be attending his weekly kosho workout that morning, he realises everything is going to plan. Number 100 is sent to the gym and replaces Number Six's watch with an identical one, which is broken. Number Six thinks his watch has stopped and takes it to the watchmaker (Number Fifty- four) to be mended. While the watchmaker is in the back room mending his watch, Number Six notices a detonation device that can be operated by radio. As he leaves the shop, Number Six meets Number Fifty again and learns that she is the watchmaker's daughter. He also learns that the watchmaker is planning to assassinate Number Two. Number 100 assures Number Two that the watchmaker is thoroughly indoctrinated to want to assassinate Number Two. Now believing the story, and realising that if the assassination is successful, the whole Village would be punished, Number Six goes to inform Number Two of the plot. Number Two, secretly filming their meeting, tells Number Six that the watchmaker is a jammer and Control is not concerned about him. He asks Number Six to find out how they intend to kill him, as it will give him a good laugh. That evening, Number Six and Number Fifty return to the watchmaker's shop, where they discover the watchmaker is making a replica of the Great Seal of Office. They realise that this will be filled with explosives and detonated during the forthcoming Appreciation Day ceremony. Number Six returns to Number Two's house the following day, but he meets a different Number Two. This Number Two, seemingly the "primary" Number Two with the others Number Six had dealt with being substitutes for him while he was away, is older and tells Number Six that he is aware of the warning – in fact, Number Six has warned every previous Number Two that they are to be assassinated, and he is not concerned because he is about to retire. Number Six is shown footage of himself purportedly warning previous Number Twos, which has actually been cut together from the film of his meeting with the younger Number Two. Number Six says that the film is fake and that the plot is being mastered by his successor (the younger Number Two). The older Number Two starts to believe Number Six, as his employers are not the sort of people who pay pensions. The younger Number Two assures Number One that the assassination will proceed successfully. On Appreciation Day, the watchmaker hides in the tower ready to detonate the bomb when the seal of office is placed around the retiring Number Two's neck. He is seen by his daughter and Number Six, who both race to the tower to stop him. Number Six gets the detonator, but is confronted by Number 100, who tries to take it from him. While they are fighting, the seal of office is transferred to the distinctly nervous new Number Two. Number Six then gives the old Number Two the detonator, telling him that it is his passport out of the Village. He goes to the helicopter and leaves. In the closing scenes of the episode, Number Six congratulates the new Number Two, assuring him that something equally suitable will be arranged when he retires. ===== Number Six pursues his daily exercise routine in the woods. Two young toughs arrive and accuse him of being anti-social for not using the community gym and a fight ensues in which Number Six prevails. In an anteroom to the Council Chamber, a Villager is seen desperately confessing to being "inadequate and anti-social"; he is applauded by others for this admission. Number Six is invited into the committee chamber to confess his lack of cooperation, but sarcastically declines to do so. The Village newspaper, the Tally Ho, reports that Number Six is due for "further investigation". Number Two denies having any influence over the committee but warns of the consequences of non-compliance. Number Eighty-six, an attractive female, chides Number Six for his non-cooperation. Number Six's exposure of a community "rehab" process causes the committee to label him uncooperative. He is taken to the Hospital, where he encounters a Villager with a scar on his temple who says that he had been labelled as "unmutual", but is now cured. Number Six again appears before the committee and is told he will be labelled for "Instant Social Conversion" if he doesn't fall into line. He then reads in the Tally-Ho and hears over the public address system that he is officially "unmutual". Next morning Number Six is thoroughly shunned, and Number Two threatens him again with Social Conversion, which is a sort of lobotomy. Number Six is attacked by the irate Villagers and marched to the Hospital. There he is strapped to a table and the Social Conversion process is explained to a Village television audience by Number Eighty-six, who is the chief technician in charge. Drugged, Number Six is subjected to an ultra-sonic treatment which lobotomises him. At the last second, Number Eighty-six shuts off the ultrasound. Number Six wakes up, apparently docile, returns to the community, and is welcomed by all. In his flat he sees his cup of tea being drugged by Number Eighty-six and pours it away. Number Two arrives and questions Number Six about his resignation, but is rebuffed. Number Two and Number Eighty-six discuss Number Six and reveal that the "ultra-sonic" lobotomy was an intentional sham, meant to convince the subject (in conjunction with the drug) that he has been lobotomised. Number Eighty-six, watching Number Six remove the dressing covering his "operation scar", doubts that he has been properly conditioned, but Number Two insists that all is well. She tries to drug Number Six again, but he takes over the tea-making process, switching the cups so that Number Eighty-six drinks the drugged tea instead. Back at the exercise site in the woods, the thugs again confront Number Six. He initially appears confused and unable to defend himself, but ultimately rallies and prevails. Number Eighty-six, still intoxicated with the drug, is hypnotised by Number Six and explains how the conditioning process was faked; she is given undisclosed instructions by Number Six. Number Six visits Number Two and convinces him that the ploy has worked, informing him that he wants to publicly confess to "everyone". Number Two arranges for the whole village to hear Number Six speak. The programmed Number Eighty-six arrives on cue at the stroke of 4 o'clock and loudly charges Number Two with being "unmutual". The Villagers turn on Number Two, who is forced to flee through the Village streets. ===== In an atypical teaser before a modification of the standard opening sequence (different music, the usual Number Six/Number Two dialogue is absent), two men sit in the office of a senior intelligence officer named Sir Charles. They are analysing photos by way of seeking clues that will lead them to locate a missing inventor named Professor Seltzman (later revealed to have developed a technology that can switch two people's minds into one another's bodies). They are unsuccessful. A man referred to only as "Colonel" arrives at the Village and only then learns from a new Number Two that his mission is to trade bodies with Number Six, using Seltzman's system. Number Six had been the last agent to have contact with Seltzman. After the swap, Number Six (now in the Colonel's body, and retaining only his pre-Village memories) awakens in his old London apartment and soon sees an unfamiliar face in his mirror. His fiancée arrives and, of course, fails to recognise him. He prudently restrains himself from enlightening her. Despite the shock, he realises what has been done to him, maintains his cool, and sets about to regain his own body. After a visit to his former superiors (the most senior of them, Sir Charles Portland, previously seen in the teaser) avails him nothing, he attends his fiancee's birthday party. There, he retrieves an old photo lab receipt from her, which he had given her in pre- Village days. He implies his true identity to her and she seems to almost understand, as Sir Charles, her father, had not seemed willing to do. With the retrieved photos back at his flat—they had previously been developed by Sir Charles' minions, and then returned to the shop—he uses an alphanumeric code system based on Seltzman's name to select certain photos which, projected together and viewed with a special filter, reveal the location of Seltzman. This turns out to be (the fictitious) Kandersfeld, Austria, to which Number Six promptly travels. Seltzman is believed—at least by Number Two and his superiors—to have perfected the reversal of the mind swap process. This is exactly what Number Two wanted, and, Number Six having been followed, both men are gassed into unconsciousness and returned to The Village. The restoration of the identities, however, takes a final unexpected twist: Seltzman agrees to oversee the switchback, but actually does a three-party switch: the body of Number Six gets his mind back, the mind of the Colonel is transferred into the body of Seltzman, who then dies, and Seltzman transfers his own mind into the body of the Colonel, and then leaves on the helicopter before Number Two knows what is happening. ===== In the beginning of this episode we see how many women Karl Mayer succeeded to leave without being noticed (in the morning he would say a prayer asking God to let him leave without being noticed, then leave a handwritten farewell message on each woman's pillow and leave the room quietly, a few seconds before that woman would wake up). Karl attempts to quietly break up with Edie in the same way, but is soon caught in the act when he attempts his escape, as Edie's alarm clock sounds before he can leave the room. Edie wakes up, sees the message and storms outside and sees Karl in his red Ford Mustang in the driveway with all his luggage inside. Karl smiles and hurriedly attempts an escape, but can't drive off because the car won't start. Edie angrily confronts Karl, waving the breakup letter in his face. Karl struggles soothe her anger, but to no avail. Edie then turns around to take a garden rake to try and damage the car. Karl then frantically, finally, gets the Mustang to start before Edie can reach him, but before a smiling Karl can even clear the driveway, he crashes right into a passing garbage truck, which completely damages the entire front end of the Mustang. Smoke comes out of the Mustang. Karl is dejected. Mary Alice, narrating to the audience, muses: :"As he sat there, Karl couldn't help but wonder why God had forsaken him. It never occurred to him that God... might be a woman." Edie, satisfied at seeing much more damage to the beloved Mustang than she could inflict by herself, smiles and drops the rake on the front lawn. Later, Edie seeks comfort from the other wives, especially from Susan, whom Karl has also betrayed. Edie then enlists the help of Susan when she has suspicions about who Karl is cheating with. Edie soon takes Susan to a Hooters-type restaurant and accuses a waitress of being slutty. A fight soon ensues and Susan is forced to intervene when Edie is attacked by several waitresses. The following day, Edie thanks Susan for helping her and alerts her that she has hired a detective to learn who Karl has been spending his time with and not to be alarmed. While walking baby Lily one afternoon on Wisteria Lane, Gabrielle and Carlos are approached by Dale, Lily's biological father and brother of Frank who is Libby's ex-boyfriend. Dale walks with the Solises who know why he is there and try to prevent him from taking the baby and creating a scene. Dale tells them that he wants the baby back and that although he is not of legal age, his brother Frank will raise the baby. Gabrielle refuses to take part in this since she legally holds temporary custody of the child. The following day, Gabrielle makes a surprise visit to Dale's school where a pep rally is being held. Gabrielle then quietly pulls Dale aside and asks him to sign the papers or she will embarrass him in front of the entire football team. Dale is not intimidated by Gabrielle's threat and proceeds to sit down. Gabrielle then enters the gymnasium and takes the podium and begins to speak to the students who are far from ecstatic. After much convincing, Dale signs the necessary papers granting Gabrielle and Carlos custody and to continue with the adoption. However, minutes later, police arrive at the Solis home to take baby Lily back. Gabrielle is befuddled since Dale signed away his custodial rights. The police officer then tells him that the biological mother (Libby) changed her mind. Gaby berates Libby that she didn't want the baby, but Libby explains how her and her husband are on their feet and want to try the "whole family thing", assuring Gaby she will give them their money back. Gaby tells Libby she doesn't want money but she wants her baby, and pleas with the police officers to no avail. Very emotional, Gaby yells at Libby, who has now taken the baby Lily, that she feeds her and bathes her and rocks her to sleep, and says how Carlos sings to her and says Libby can't take her away because "we've already fallen in love with her!". Libby gets in the squad car with Lily and Gabrielle is then forced to be restrained by Carlos when she becomes extremely emotional, kicking and screaming as the car drives off. Bree continues to develop feelings for Peter and attempts to kiss him after an A.A. meeting. They are caught by Peter's sexual addiction sponsor, Claude, who gets upset with Peter and tells him to say goodbye to Bree. Peter does as he is told and leaves with his sponsor. Bree later visits Claude at the doughnut shop where he works and demands that he lay off Peter. Claude tells Bree that he cannot since Peter will regress. Bree gets an idea to bring Peter back when she sees a cocaine addict visit Claude. Claude chastises him until he hands Claude the cocaine and leaves. Policemen arrive to buy doughnuts and Bree gives them a tip that Claude is in possession of illegal drugs. A few days later, Peter tells Bree that he is shocked to have learned his that his sponsor was found in possession of drugs. Bree then asks Peter if he would like her to be his sponsor. Peter rejects the offer since she does not understand the addiction. Bree then tries to convince him to accept her offer. Peter later calls Bree from a bathroom at a swinger party and asks that she come pick him up. Bree arrives and she is taken into the bathroom and Peter tells her that this is what he used to be like. Bree tries to assure him that she is caring and will help him to the best of her ability. The two then walk out of the bathroom and leave the party. To avoid another late night at the office, Lynette tries to help her boss Ed with his marital woes since he is afraid to go home. Lynette persuades Ed to create an aphrodisiac and set the mood for his wife. While chatting with his wife via an instant message, Ed begins to develop writer's block and asks Lynette to help him. Lynette proceeds to set the mood for Ed and Fran, but the following day Ed reveals to Lynette that they had a horrible evening and his wife found out the messages were not from him. To make things worse, Ed promised to fire the employee who wrote the instant message. Ed promises not to fire Lynette because she is a powerful asset at the firm but begins to find dirt on her husband, Tom, to use him as a scapegoat, much to Lynette's chagrin. Betty Applewhite manages to sell the house without consulting Matthew and warns him that they are leaving. Matthew recommends that instead of moving that they put Caleb away. Betty refuses because Caleb needs his family and that they would be accomplices to his crime. Matthew and Danielle then concoct a scheme to convince Betty to reconsider. One evening, Caleb visits Danielle and attempts to rape her. Bree soon discovers them after hearing Danielle scream and pulls out her gun. Bree then storms into the bedroom and puts Caleb at gunpoint. Danielle asks that Bree not call the police because the Applewhites will also be in trouble. Bree then visits Betty and calls their truce off. Betty agrees and the following morning she and Matthew look at psychiatric facilities. Betty however thinks of a better idea: poisoning Caleb with phenobarbital. ===== Edie hires a private investigator, Oliver Weston, to determine if Karl was cheating on her with another woman. When Weston arrives on Wisteria Lane, he hides in the bushes of a neighboring home and records Karl and Susan talking in the garage about their one night stand. Weston is soon discovered by Mike Delfino who asks him why he is snooping around. When Weston attempts to explain why he is there, Mike punches him in the face after he mocks Susan. Later, Mike invites Susan over and introduces her to Weston and his mission. Weston plays a tape revealing her affair with Karl and Susan is shocked. She tries to buy Weston off, but he names an exorbitant price and gives her an ultimatum to come up with the money by the following Monday or he will hand over the information to Edie. Susan cannot afford the money and therefore writes Edie a letter of apology detailing her fling with Karl. After mailing the letter, Mike visits Susan to tell her that he paid Weston's bribe because he doesn't want anyone to get hurt. Susan is relieved and thanks Mike for preventing a war between herself and Edie. Susan then must come up with a way to get her letter back. Following a sudden inspiration she lures the mailman into her kitchen with iced tea. After she has plied him with enough tea, Susan suggests he use the restroom upstairs by her bedroom as the one nearby is broken. Susan then steals the letter from his bag and puts it with her mail. After he has been upstairs for a while, Susan worries about the mailman and is surprised to find him on her bed in his undergarments. Susan warns him to get dressed since her daughter is home. Downstairs, Julie checks the mail and puts Edie's letter back in the sack. Susan then hurries the mailman out and declines a rain check. Edie soon discovers the letter and while Susan is at Mike's, Edie drenches Susan's house in kerosene and sets it on fire. Gabrielle, still distraught over losing baby Lily, invites the wives over for food and consoling. Xiao-Mei also is upset because she is being deported after several warning notices. Gabrielle and Carlos then visit with Homeland Security where the agent explains to them that if Xiao-Mei were pregnant with or married to an American citizen, she would be allowed to remain the country. Gabrielle then asks Xiao-Mei if she will have their baby since they consider her family. Xiao-Mei declines the offer since she values virginity and if she were to marry, her husband will not want her. Gabrielle insists Americans do not believe this and convinces Xiao-Mei to reconsider. On the morning of the insemination, Carlos finds a confused Xiao- Mei naked in bed ready for her first intimate moment. Gabrielle soon discovers Carlos and Xiao-Mei and puts an end to Carlos's ogling. Tom comes to final blows with Ed when Ed hires a forensic accountant to find reason to fire him. Tom saves Ed the time by punching him in the face and making sure that he gets himself fired. Lynette confronts Ed and refuses to apologize for what her husband did and says none of it would have happened if Ed handled his marriage better. Ed retorts that she should not pass judgment on his marriage since her marriage is flawed as well. Ed tells Lynette about Tom's expense account; including an unauthorized trip to Atlantic City with a show for two and flowers. Lynette later meets Tom in the lobby after he has cleaned out his office. Lynette then asks if he wants to tell her anything. Tom has nothing to say and leaves in the elevator. Betty plans to kill Caleb by taking him to a picnic and feeding him ice cream she prepared with drugs. At the lake, Caleb asks where Matthew is and Betty says it is a special day just for the two of them. Caleb then tells his mother that Matthew told him to kiss Danielle and that she would be waiting for him. Betty then takes the ice cream from Caleb and demands that he tell her everything Matthew told him to do. Later, Betty locks Matthew in the basement for his treachery. Bree invites Peter for dinner and also asks that Andrew bring Justin as well. When Bree tells Peter of the dinner plans, he reluctantly gives in, feeling uncomfortable because of his sex addiction. Andrew overhears their conversation on another phone and asks Danielle to help him with a scheme. During dinner, Danielle comes to dinner in a revealing outfit in an attempt to mess with Peter. When she succeeds in flustering him by running her hand up his thigh, Peter unexpectedly leaves saying his sponsor needs him at a meeting. The following day, Andrew tries to get Danielle to sleep with Peter. Danielle tells Andrew to get out of her room and calls him a psycho. Andrew invites Peter over and asks about his sex addiction and previous sexual encounters. Peter says that he "slept with a lot of people back then." Andrew then realizes that Peter is bisexual. Capitalizing on this, Andrew seduces him. Bree soon arrives home after being called by Andrew, and is shocked to find Andrew in her bed with Peter coming out of her bathroom half-naked and looking for his pants. The next day, Bree takes Andrew to take a tour of his desired college. However, halfway there, Bree leaves Andrew at a gas station, tells him she can't be around him anymore, and gives him money and clothes with the understanding that he is now on his own. Initially Andrew pleads for her not to leave him there but then declares that he has won since he knew ever since he came out and saw a certain look in her eye that she would eventually stop loving him. With a tortured resolve born out of her intense sadness, Bree just looks back at him, and despondently says, "Well, good for you," then returns to her car. As Bree looks back at Andrew from the rear view mirror, she begins to weep. ===== Alice, later Alys, is a teenager who wants to go to Montreal to have a career as a singer. She receives an offer to join Jean Grimaldi's comedy show, and begins an affair with his married son Olivier, despite her Catholic upbringing. Canada joins the Allies in the Second World War, with protests in Quebec against conscription. Alys begins touring Quebec's military bases, giving her a successful career as a pin-up girl. She eventually meets Lucio Agostini, a composer and married man, who gets her a job with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She wants him to marry her, which her refuses, which triggers her descent into addiction and depression. Her condition worsens when her little brother Gerard is diagnosed with spina bifida, a birth defect that will later take his life. She is eventually diagnosed with hebephrenia, a form of schizophrenia. She spends five and a half years in an asylum, receiving multiple electroshock therapies and a lobotomy. The treatment is successful, and she returns to her career. ===== Magdalena, a fourteen-year-old girl from a working-class Mexican American family in Echo Park, Los Angeles, attends her cousin Eileen's quinceañera, an extravagant coming-of-age ceremony to celebrate her fifteenth birthday. Eileen's older brother Carlos—who has been disowned by his family due to his homosexuality and now lives with his great-uncle Tomas—arrives at the celebrations but is forced to leave by his father. Magdalena herself is about to turn fifteen but her parents cannot afford to host a quinceañera as lavish as Eileen's, and they deny her repeated requests to hire a Hummer limousine for the occasion. While preparing for her quinceañera, Magdalena learns that she is pregnant by her friend Herman although they had only once engaged in non-penetrative intercourse. Her Christian father is furious, believing that Magdalena has had premarital sex despite her protestations that she is still a virgin. She leaves her family to move in with Tomas and Carlos and continues to see Herman until she discovers that his mother has sent him away to live with relatives to prevent him from seeing Magdalena. Carlos becomes sexually involved with the Caucasian gay couple, James and Gary, who recently bought Tomas's property and are now his landlords and neighbors, but he eventually begins a secret affair with Gary without James's knowledge. With Magdalena's pregnancy progressing, Carlos offers to financially support her and to act as a surrogate father for the child once it is born. When James discovers his partner's affair with Carlos he feels betrayed and Tomas soon receives a letter notifying him that his landlords are evicting him. Tomas, Magdalena and Carlos struggle to find an affordable place to live due to the gentrification of the area and the rising real estate prices, but Tomas dies in his sleep shortly before they are due to be evicted. In the aftermath, Magdalena is reunited with her mother and together they visit a gynecologist, who confirms that Magdalena conceived without having penetrative sex. Magdalena's father apologizes to her at Tomas's funeral, believing her conception to be a miracle, and she forgives him. Magdalena eventually receives the quinceañera she had wished for, complete with a Hummer limousine, with her parents in attendance and Carlos as her escort. ===== In 1910, pregnant Áurea (Torres) along with her mother, Maria (Montenegro) arrive at a remote, desert- like part of the Brazilian state of Maranhão—called the Lençóis Maranhenses—where her fanatical husband Vasco de Sá (Ruy Guerra) has relocated the family from the state's capital, São Luís, to start a farm. Soon the white settlers realize that they are not alone: a group of descendants of runaway slaves live in the area, in a settlement—generally known as a quilombo—they call "The Island" because it is the only permanently fertile spot in a sea of sand where it rains only during the rainy season. Due to the madness of Vasco, Maria seeks to bribe the black settlers to take her and her daughter away, but they, while taking her money (it is basically useless in the local barter economy), do no such thing. However, soon enough Vasco's workers abandon the farm. Vasco, enraged over this betrayal, dies when he accidentally buries himself under a heap of construction material for the half-finished house. This leaves the two women with no way of returning to the city. Left to their own devices, they venture out to explore the area. They find a fishing hut on the shores of the ocean and notice that Massu (Seu Jorge), the fisherman, has salt which he regularly obtains from his father on the nearby Island. Massu takes them there, as they seek to follow the salt trail out of the desert. However, Massu's father does not know where the salt comes from since he is the grandson of a runaway slave; he already had been born in the sanctuary; he does not know the world beyond the Island. Yet soon they establish contact with the itinerant trader who brings the salt (fittingly called Chico do Sal), but he too does not offer any viable connection back to the civilization. Unable to return for now, Áurea and Maria get settled and with the help of Massu start a small farming operation. Nine years after their arrival, Áurea still longs to return to her former life while her mother seems quite content since she feels she does not have anything worthwhile to return to. Aurea has been purchasing beasts of burden to venture out of the sandy trap. When the old trader dies, Áurea, following a fresh trail in the sand by herself, sets out to return her family to civilization. She finds an international scientific expedition that, for the purpose of observing the solar eclipse of May 29, 1919, had come to the remote desert to verify claims made by Albert Einstein's theory of General Relativity concerning the curvature of space.This expedition, headed by British astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington, is a historical fact. One party observed the eclipse on the island Príncipe, to the west of equatorial Africa's coast; another did the same in Brazil. However, the Brazilian location was not Maranhão but rather Sobral, Ceará. See Eddington experiment. Áurea falls in love with Luiz, a young soldier escorting the expedition, whom she also asks to request permission for her and her family to return home with the scientists. Áurea hurries back home to bring her mother and daughter to the expedition. However, when she returns to her "house of sand", the dunes have further encroached upon her house; the mother has died, the daughter (also named Maria) has found refuge with Massu—but precious time is lost: they miss the expedition. Luiz had not only told her that he wanted to join the newly established Brazilian Air Force; he had also told her that the scientists would come back in a few months to continue their studies. She and her daughter check back regularly where the expedition had established a geodesic marker since Áurea does not want to stay in the desert mainly because, as she confides to her daughter, she misses "real music", that is, the classical music she played on the piano when she was younger. The expedition returns but Áurea misses it. Massu, who saw it with his son, did not tell her about it. When Aurea realizes that she had missed her lifeline back to her world, she resigns herself to her fate and links up with Massu. As young Maria grows older, Áurea is troubled by the fact that she, out of boredom, has become a drunk and cheap prostitute for the young men of the Island, aborting her pregnancies. Their fate is fundamentally altered when, in 1942 (the year Brazil declared war on the Axis powers), a Brazilian military plane crashes in the ocean nearby. A search party is sent out that is commanded by Luiz, now a high-ranking officer with the Brazilian Air Force. Luiz, who is married, first sees Maria and is reminded by her of her mother Áurea (in fact, Maria now is played by Fernanda Torres, who first played young Áurea; Áurea now is played by Fernanda Montenegro who first played Áurea's mother, Maria). Eventually, he meets Áurea in person who begs him to take Maria with him. This he does, promising to look after her, while Áurea contently stays with Massu in the desert. About three decades later, Maria finally returns to the house she grew up in. She finds her gray-haired mother, sitting by herself at their old kitchen table. They happily reunite, and Maria brings deep joy to Áurea when she plays a tape-recording of "real music", Frédéric Chopin's Prélude "Raindrops", op. 28, no. 15. Contemplating the moon together, Maria tells her mother that man had landed on the moon (in 1969). Áurea, remembring a conversation she had with Luiz fifty years earlier concerning Einstein's theory of Special Relativity, asks her daughter whether the astronauts, travelling at high speed in a rocket, returned younger than they left. Maria, unlike her seemingly isolated mother not acquainted with the twin paradox (that Luiz attempted to explain to Áurea in 1919, and the latter did not entirely understand), states that they returned older. When asked what they found on the moon, Maria replies: Nothing but sand. ===== Rebellious teenager Jubilation Lee (Heather McComb) finds herself in trouble after her mutant "fireworks" power manifests itself at a local arcade. She is rescued from her predicament by Emma Frost (Finola Hughes) and Sean Cassidy (Jeremy Ratchford), the headmasters of Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. They recruit "Jubilee" and offer her sanctuary at the school, a place where mutants learn to control their powers. The trio then picks up teenager Angelo "Skin" Espinosa (Agustin Rodriguez) and proceed to the school where Jubilee and Skin are introduced to their fellow students; M (Amarilis), Mondo (Bumper Robinson), Buff (Suzanne Davis) and Refrax (Randall Slavin). At the school the students are taught not only to cope with their mutant powers but also with a world that fears and hates them. The students are warned not to leave the school grounds lest they come into conflict with the "townies" from the local area. In addition to coping with their new abilities, Jubilee and Skin find their dreams haunted by Russel Tresh (Matt Frewer), a mad scientist obsessed with the power of dreams. Tresh once worked with Emma Frost as a researcher on a project to develop a "dream machine" to access the dream dimension but he was fired from the team when Emma discovered his unethical behavior. Tresh believes that material extracted from mutants' brains will allow him to develop his own psychic abilities. Although Jubilee is able to resist Tresh somewhat, Skin finds himself drawn to Tresh and his promises, and unknowingly falls victim to the scientist. Instructors Frost and Cassidy soon find themselves leading the novice team against an enhanced Tresh in order to rescue the enthralled Skin - a conflict which sees the youngsters pull together as a team and leaves a catatonic Tresh trapped in the "dream dimension". ===== Three unmarried sisters live in a remote village in Himachal Pradesh with their old mother, Jugni (Waheeda Rehman), a former nautanki (folk theatre) dancer, who sells spices and takes in boarders to make a living. The three daughters are named like flavors in food. The 'salty' eldest daughter Nimki (Sharmila Tagore), is a reserved spinster, quietly but firmly holding the household together. The 'sweet' middle sister is Mitthu (Shabana Azmi) who cannot speak, but is revealed to be an intelligent and romantic girl. The 'tangy' youngest one is Chinki (Kiran Vairale), a bold and vibrant teenager, who turns out to be more perceptive than one would credit her to be. Their quiet little haven is occasionally threatened by the alcoholic father Kishanlal (Ram Mohan), a sarangi player who was on the travelling troupe with Jugni, and keeps attempting to reclaim his daughters. She left him years ago to protect her daughters from the life of a nautanki dancer which she always struggled to escape. All four live in a very old house outside the village. Gerulal (Sanjeev Kumar) is a truck driver who joins this peculiar household for a brief time as a tenant. Initially stunned by their less than friendly ways and unsocial demeanor, he grows to respect the women as he watches the difficulties they struggle with every day. He finds that even among the crisis of money and facilities, all the sisters are capable of maintaining moral values and dignified behavior towards the outer world. He begins to like Nimki. But somehow Mitthu, whom he sympathizes and befriends, seems to have feelings for Gerulal. When Gerulal needs to move on from that region because of work, he proposes to Nimki. But she turns down his proposal citing the responsibility of her sisters and her mother, and asks him to marry Mithu instead - a request he cannot comply with. Three years later, Gerulal is shocked to find Chinki performing at a village nautanki. From her he learns how drastically things changed after he left - Mitthu lost her mental balance and committed suicide, Jugni died of the shock and Chinki, with not much left to choose from, joined her father's troupe. Gerulal rushes back to Jugni's crumbling old house to find Nimki, alone and aged beyond her years, almost a reflection of her mother. This time, he takes her away with him.Namkeen': The tears are salty merinews, 5 October 2008. ===== The film tells the story of Prem, a talented and happy-go-lucky singer who earns his livelihood by performing at weddings and functions as part of a small troupe. His parents being long dead, he lives with his married sister Neelu and has bonded closely with her husband, Vinod. Prem is in love with Nisha and even the wedding date has been fixed. However, fate has something else in store for him. On the wedding day, even as Prem waits at the altar, his bride fails to show up. It emerges that Nisha is now betrothed to marry a rich and successful NRI who lives in the USA. Prem is heartbroken and takes to drink; as a result, his career suffers. His support and mainstay is his brother-in-law, who understands his situation and empathizes with him. Priya moves to the neighbourhood to stay with her cousin Mona, an aspiring actress. Priya wants to make a career for herself as a videographer, but her widowed mother (who lives in Pune) wants to see her married and settled into a family. She has only very reluctantly permitted Priya to move to Mumbai for a brief period. Mona, who is friends with Prem's sister, suggests that Priya is accepted into Prem's troupe to do videography work for weddings and events. This happens, and slowly, and as they work together, Prem starts getting attracted to Priya. However, he does not express his feelings. Priya is also vaguely attracted to Prem but his whole profile is of a man still deeply in love with his former fiancée, and she has no way of knowing that he has any feelings for her. Meanwhile, Priya's mother has been busy searching for an alliance, and finally, her prayers seem to have been answered: a well-settled guy from a decent, US-based family has been identified. After some meetings between the two families, the marriage is arranged in the usual Indian manner and Priya is betrothed to Rahul. It turns out that Rahul is none other than the rich guy who Nisha was supposed to marry. Why did she not marry him eventually? It is revealed that Nisha had dumped Prem very unwillingly, and only because she needed money to arrange medical care for her kid brother, who suffers from cancer. The only way to raise funds, as Nisha saw it, was by marrying a wealthy man. When Rahul discovers this, he chooses to pay for the boy's treatment without any strings attached and refuses to marry a girl who was in love with someone else. The boy undergoes his cancer surgery and becomes completely cured. Nevertheless, by this time, Rahul and Priya are engaged to marry each other (as arranged by their parents) and therefore, after the surgery, Nisha thinks of returning to Prem. Nisha reaches Prem's house at a time when Priya is there and the latter surmises, correctly, that Nisha wants to get back with Prem. She also assumes that Prem is willing to accept Nisha back because he is now aware of the motivation behind Nisha's previous betrayal. Priya is strangely distraught. She runs immediately to Rahul and demands that he should marry her the very next day, instead of several months later (as planned by the parents). Meanwhile, Prem is telling Nisha that things can never be the same between them again; he is a changed man, and he is secretly in love with Priya. It is his sad fate that Priya also is about to marry Rahul; perhaps happiness is not in his destiny; but in all events, he feels that he cannot marry Nisha. He bids her good luck and goodbye. The very next day, Nisha has a business appointment in Agra and catches a flight to that city. On the plane, she bumps into Rahul and Priya. They tell her that they are going to the Taj Mahal for the wedding. Nisha wishes them all the best, and in turn, Priya congratulates Nisha on getting reconciled with Prem and wishes them all the best also. Nisha immediately tells Priya that in fact, Prem has rebuffed her and told her that he is in love with someone else. Priya is amazed and elated. Who on earth is Prem in love with? Nisha says that she does not know, but Priya knows in her heart of hearts that she is the girl who Prem secretly loves. By an amazing coincidence, Prem and his family (sister and brother-in-law) are also aboard the same flight, trying to stop Priya and Rahul's marriage. Prem sings a meaningful love-song, which Priya realizes is for her. By the time the flight lands in Agra, Prem and Priya are united with each other while Rahul and Nisha also get together with each other. ===== The book concerns the mysterious disappearance of the President of the United States, who was facing a serious political crisis, perhaps even impeachment, over his handling of the foreign situation, namely an impending war in Europe. The disappearance of the president seems like a kidnapping, but no ransom is demanded. Although not revealed in detail until near the end, it is fairly apparent from an early stage that the president has staged his own disappearance to counter an impending military coup staged by an upstart army of fascist "Grey Shirts" allied with a small coterie of industrialists (similar to the Business Plot).Fraser A. Sherman Screen Enemies of the American Way: Political Paranoia About Nazis p.164 The aim of all this is to involve the United States in a European war when none of the combatants has attacked American territory. ===== Twenty-one-year- old Annie Braddock has just graduated from Montclair State University. She has no idea what or who she wants to be. One day, while sitting in the park, Annie sees a young boy about to be hit by a vehicle. Annie saves him and meets the boy's mother, who we meet as Mrs. X. When she introduces herself as "Annie", Mrs. X mistakes her words for "Nanny" and hires her to look after Grayer, the boy she saved (Mrs. X also continues to call her "Nanny" instead of "Annie" throughout the film). Annie lies to her mother about taking a job at a bank and, in reality, moves in with the X's to be the nanny for Grayer. Life with the incredibly privileged X's is not what she thought it would be, and her life is complicated further when she falls for "Harvard Hottie", who lives in the building. Interspersed with her life as the X's nanny are her interactions with "Harvard Hottie" as well as her longtime friend Lynette. She continues to keep her mother in the dark about her real job, giving her regular but false progress reports. Further complications arise when her mother decides to visit her, forcing Annie to pretend Lynette and her roommate are a couple and that their apartment is Annie's apartment. Her mother finds out the truth when Grayer becomes severely ill, and Annie desperately calls her for help. After a rough start, Annie eventually bonds with Grayer, whom she addresses by his preferred code name, "Grover", and discovers that he is actually a sweet and loving child who is neglected by both his parents, which explains his uncontrollable behavior. Parallel to this, Annie begins to also notice that Grayer is not the only one being neglected: Mrs. X is as well, with Mr. X constantly being cruel to her and committing subtly obvious adultery. Mrs. X makes numerous attempts to make her husband love her, including lying to him about being pregnant with their second child. Annie soon realizes that Mrs. X's own cruel treatment of her is due to Mrs. X's growing frustrations from her dysfunctional marriage. Things take a turn for the worse during a family trip with the X's to Nantucket. She overhears Mrs. X telling a friend during a party that she has installed a "nanny cam" at their home in the city and plans to fire Annie after viewing footage showing Annie lovingly tending to Grayer (with Mrs. X grossly exaggerating her findings from the "nanny cam"). The next morning, Mr. X sexually assaults Annie just as Mrs. X enters the kitchen. She unreasonably fires Annie and sends her back to the city with her final payment of just $40—along with a puppy Mr. X had given Grayer when they arrived in Nantucket but foisted off on her as she was leaving. Flying into a rage, she looks for and finds the "nanny cam" in the X's house and records her feelings toward the X's. Mrs. X brings the tape to the school meeting for the Upper East Side mothers. Thinking that the tape will show Annie feeding Grayer peanut butter and jelly, she requests the coordinator to play it for everyone to see. All other parents in the room hear as Annie reveals the real relationship between the X's, in the process making Mrs. X come to terms with her own reality and false happiness. Annie continues to date "Harvard Hottie", whose real name is revealed to be Hayden. She is temporarily living with Lynette and her roommate, and pursuing her growing interest in anthropology, much of which she learned through her time as the X's nanny. A few months later, Hayden hands her a letter from Mrs. X. Written in the letter is an apology and news about how Mrs. X left Mr. X (and that her second pregnancy was a false one that Mrs. X invented to keep Mr. X interested in her), is raising Grayer alone and making stronger attempts to bond with him (and successfully doing so), and Grayer's overall improvement. She expresses her gratitude to Annie for waking her up and changing her life. Also in the letter, Mrs. X addresses Annie for the first time by her real name (instead of Nanny), and signs the letter with her own first name, Alexandra (instead of Mrs. X). ===== Amy Duncan is a private investigator for the firm of Bonner and Raffray (see The Hand in the Glove for more complete information about Dol Bonner and this company) and the youngest of four women on what is called the "siren squad". Her detective work is based on the theory that most men get careless eventually around pretty women, especially those with chartreuse eyes like hers, and she's been trying to encourage a handsome young man named Leonard Cliff to get careless when she gets knocked down (harmlessly) by a car driven by private investigator Tecumseh Fox. He learns of her assignment, which is to investigate the possibility the company of which Cliff is a vice- president, a large food conglomerate, has been putting quinine into jars of food sold by her uncle's company, Tingley's Tidbits; someone certainly has, and it's bad for business. After a further series of coincidences involving her boss, Cliff and Fox, she is fired and goes to visit her uncle after working hours—she finds him murdered in his office and is promptly knocked unconscious without seeing her assailant. Fox and the police both investigate the company, including its sales manager Sol Fry and production manager G. (for Gwendolyn) Yates, but reserve their suspicions for Tingley's son Phil, who has crackpot ideas about reforming the economic system, and Guthrie Judd, who owns the food conglomerate. Since the quinine problems began, Mr. Tingley has been taking samples from the production line, and the latest sample jar is missing, but so are some documents that relate to the personal lives of Phil Tingley and Guthrie Judd. Fox tracks down the documents and learns Judd's secret, but it brings him no closer to the identity of the murderer. The only thing that does so is remembering a chance remark made by one of the suspects that leads directly to the missing sample jar and the guilty party. ===== The film starts in modern-day Korea, where Kim Su-ho (Cha Tae-hyun) returns to his hometown after ten years to attend a reunion with high school friends. As he walks he hears a female voice in his head calling out his name. Su-ho's friends doubt that he will attend the reunion, as he hasn't yet got over a girl. They say that day of their reunion is the anniversary of the death of a girl named Bae Su-eun (Song Hye-kyo). To everyone's surprise, Su-ho arrives, and after celebrating, they go to a lighthouse where Su-ho's friend upsets him by referring to Bae Su-eun, and he starts to cry. In a flashback, a younger Su-ho is rescued from drowning by a pretty girl. She loses her pager in the process of rescuing him but leaves. Su-ho then wakes up and thinks his friends saved him from drowning. In the next scene, Su-ho and his classmates are singing in a music class, when he notices his classmate Su-eun staring at him. His friend says she always stares at him in class, and Su-ho starts to think she might be interested in him. Su- ho and Su-eun pass each other in the hallway, and she surprises him by asking him to buy her a croquette. He says that if they ate together, people would think that they are dating. They eat together nonetheless, and the other students notice. Soon the captain of the judo club who had his eye on Su-eun finds Su-ho, and threatens him. Sun-ho immediately denies dating her. Su-eun arrives and tells the captain that they are indeed dating. The captain throws Su-ho down. Su-ho's friends arrive to rescue him and they escape by bike. Su- ho and Su-eun stand near a lighthouse. Su-eun hints to Su-ho that she saved him but he doesn't understand. They watch the sunset together. Su-ho walks Su- eun home and she gives him her number. Although her beeper was lost, she can still receive and leave messages. That night, they confess their feelings for each other. The next day, Su-ho is called out of class because his grandfather has collapsed. He quickly goes to his grandfather's but finds him well. It turns out he feigned illness to talk to Su-ho. Su-eun arrives with Su-ho's bag. Su-ho's grandfather shares his story. When he was young, Su-ho's grandfather joined the army. He was separated from his first love, Soon-im. He left her a necklace to remember him by. Years passed and he became an undertaker. He prepared a funeral for Soon-im's husband. They could not even say a word to each other and soon he married another woman, Su-ho's grandmother. This story makes Su-ho realize that he loves Su-eun and wants to be with her. He leaves a message for Su-eun expressing his feelings, unaware that she is behind him until she replies, "Me too." From that day on, Su-ho and Su-eun are officially a couple. Su-ho's friends propose an overnight stay on Fog Island. As Su-ho and Su-eun arrive together at the pier, he finds out that his friends tricked him so he and Su-eun would have some time alone. On the island their love deepens, and they share their first kiss. The next day, Su-eun faints. Su-ho rushes her to the hospital, visiting her every day. She turns out to be suffering from terminal leukemia. Her last wish is to return to their island. Soon-im also had a last wish before she died: to be reunited with Su-ho's grandfather. He prepared her funeral and was reunited with his first love, who he had loved for 50 years. While Su-ho is visiting the hospital Su-eun expresses her wish, and he shows her two ferry tickets. However, a typhoon prevents the ferries from running. Su-ho desperately pleads with the authorities to let them travel. While they argue, Su-eun collapses. In the present, Su-ho returns to Fog Island and finds Su-eun's bag. Her diary entry reveals that she had planted seeds on the hill during their visit. The flowers will be her gift to him. Su-ho goes to the hill, finding it covered with purple flowers. ===== ===== During the Heiji Rebellion in 1159, the samurai Morito desires the lady-in-waiting Kesa, but she is married to Wataru. Morito decides to get rid of his rival. He makes Kesa explain to him how he can kill her husband while he sleeps. Kesa provides very precise instructions, yet when Morito follows through on her plan it is Kesa who gets killed. Morito understands that Kesa has sacrificed herself because she was determined to save Wataru's life and her honour. ===== In Gdańsk shipyard workers strike continues. Among them, an important role is played by activist Strike Committee, Maciek Tomczyk (played by Jerzy Radziwiłowicz). Radio journalist, editor Winkel (Marian Opania) is ordered by the deputy chairman of Radio Committee (Janusz Gajos) to achieve coverage compromising Tomczyk. He is sent to Gdańsk, where a representative of the authorities Badecki (Franciszek Trzeciak) realizes the importance of his job. Winkel as a journalist on behalf of the ruling party can not get through the gate of the yard. The crowd in front of the gate of Winkel meets a friend, Dzidka (Boguslaw Linda), which previously got a job in Gdańsk television. Dzidek tells him about Tomczyk, as it turns out - his friend from college. Father of Tomczyk, Mateusz Birkut (hero of the film Man of Marble), then would not allow his son to take part in the student protests in March 1968. Winkel is going to get a pass into the yard. To this end, the family visits Wiesława Hulewicz (Wieslaw Kosmalska), from which he learns of the death of Birkut during the events of December 1970, and in that Tomczyk, he married Agnes (Krystyna Janda), who in 1976 worked on a film about Birkut. Journalist visits unrealized director in custody, which was thrown for supporting the strike. Agnes tells him about how she met Tomczyk and her marriage with him. By the way Winkel argues that the protesters are right for their demands. Winkel decides not to shoot reportage. Finally, a government delegation signs with Inter-Strike Committee agreement. ===== Zé do Burro (Leonardo Villar) is a landowner from Nordeste. His best friend is a donkey. When his donkey falls terminally ill, Zé promises to a Candomblé orisha, Iansan, that if his donkey recovers, he will give away his land to the poor and carry a cross all the way from his farm to the Saint Bárbara Church in Salvador, Bahia, where he will offer the cross to the local priest. Upon the recovery of his donkey, Zé leaves on his journey, a distance of 7 léguas (46 km; 29 miles). The movie begins as Zé, followed by his wife Rosa (Glória Menezes), arrives outside the church. The local priest (Dionísio Azevedo) refuses to accept the cross once he hears about Zé's "pagan" pledge and the reasons behind it. Everyone attempts to manipulate the innocent and naïve Zé. The local Candomblé worshippers, for example, want to use him as a leader against the discrimination they suffer from the Roman Catholic Church. The sensationalist newspapers transform his promise to give away his land into a "communist" call for land reform (which still is a very controversial issue in Brazil). When Zé is shot by the police to prevent his way into the church, the Candomblé worshippers put his dead body on the cross and force their way into the church. ===== The plot revolves around a clique of four girls who devise a plan to weaken the boys at their school with arsenic. The plan is to slowly poison the boys through their lunches, inspired by the "queen bee" Chloe's obsession with the novel Flowers in the Attic. As the plan progresses the history class discusses slavery. Chloe makes a chance remark, about realizing that her friendship with Nadine, who is black, would not have been possible as she would have been a slave. A case of broken telephone creates a gossip ring that leads to Chloe's eventual downfall. Peter Bogdanovich appears in a cameo as the Principal. The director of photography was Lance Acord. Coppola's own eye appears in one dream-like shot. The film's themes also appear in Coppola's later work, such as the feelings of isolation; in addition, the film begins with a car journey, just like her later films The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation, and Somewhere. ===== The final Wolfe book written by Stout, A Family Affair, ends with the disgrace and suicide of one of the Wolfe team. As the new book opens, Wolfe has been in a state of virtual retirement for a while, although a good word from Inspector Cramer has allowed them to remain licensed private investigators in good standing, although inactive. Several of Stout's Wolfe novels made it clear that Wolfe was Montenegrin, and had once been involved in what would today be called terrorist activities against the oppressors of his homeland (in early days of the 20th century, those would be the Austro-Hungarian Empire). Hard as it is to see in the present-day corpulent agoraphobic crime-solving genius in Manhattan, he was once a man of action in Montenegro and the surrounding area. A few of his comrades from that era also survive: the present conductor of the New York Symphony Orchestra, Milan Stevans (name now anglicized from Milos Stefanović), and Milan's long-estranged wife, Alexandra Adjari, now living in London. Stevans became the guardian of his great-niece Maria Radovich after the death of her parents. The niece appeals to Wolfe to help her solve a problem. Her great-uncle has been receiving threatening notes. He has thrown them away, but she recovered them and has brought them to Wolfe. Since Wolfe is semi-retired, she gives Archie an ancient photograph showing her uncle, Wolfe, and other comrades. Although Maria's uncle saved Wolfe's life in a shootout at Cetinje fifty years earlier, a love triangle also developed between Wolfe, Milos, and Alexandra, with the result that Wolfe and Stefanović have had no contact for many years even though they have been living in the same borough for the past few years. Therefore, it is up to Maria to seek help. Archie slides the photo into the stack of morning mail and is gratified at Wolfe's reaction when he finds it. Wolfe sees Maria and undertakes to try to help, but is skeptical of what he can accomplish without her uncle's cooperation. Furthermore, Maria's own cooperation is cast into doubt as it is clear that she is shielding a person she suspects of having sent the notes. It soon develops that there is conflict between her uncle and Gerald (Jerry) Milner, a young violinist with the orchestra who wants to marry Maria. Wolfe feels honor-bound to accept Maria as a token client because of Milos' action in Cetinje despite the rancor that developed in later years. Wolfe invites long-time press friend/collaborator Lon Cohen from the fictional New York Gazette over for dinner (prepared as always by Fritz Brenner) and serves Cohen's favorite brandy. From Lon, Wolfe learns that in recent years, the New York Symphony has had more than its share of troubles. An idea formed in the mind of the Gazette's music critic and others that the Orchestra had faltered under the previous two music directors. Milan had been brought in to revive the fortunes of the orchestra, but the ultimate result was strife with the players and other members of upper management. Soon, Milan is killed, and Jerry Milner becomes the prime suspect. After this point, the plot explores the characters in the symphony orchestra, from its chairman (who owns the company that makes Wolfe's favorite beer), other musicians who came into conflict with Stevens, and other people connected with the orchestra. ===== The story is set in a future where computers play a central role in organizing society. Humans are employed as computer operators, but they leave most of the thinking to machines. Indeed, whilst binary programming is taught at school, reading and writing have become obsolete. The story concerns a pair of boys who dismantle and upgrade an old Bard, a child's computer whose sole function is to generate random fairy tales. The boys download a book about computers into the Bard's memory in an attempt to expand its vocabulary, but the Bard simply incorporates computers into its standard fairy tale repertoire. The story ends with the boys excitedly leaving the room after deciding to go to the library to learn "squiggles" (writing) as a means of passing secret messages to one another. As they leave, one of the boys accidentally kicks the Bard's on switch. The Bard begins reciting a new story about a poor mistreated and often ignored robot called the Bard, whose sole purpose is to tell stories, which ends with the words: "the little computer knew then that computers would always grow wiser and more powerful until someday—someday—someday—…" ===== Quark is assaulted in his bar by a drunk Klingon named Kozak, and in the scuffle Kozak accidentally stabs himself and dies. Quark pretends to have slain Kozak in self-defense so as to attract more customers with his newfound notoriety. Only Odo is suspicious of Quark's story. Fearful of the prospect of Kozak's family coming to seek revenge, Rom pleads to Quark to tell the truth. Quark refuses, saying that his coverup is now not for profit, but for respect. Later that day, A Klingon named D'Ghor, claiming to be Kozak's brother, accosts Quark in private and extracts the truth, but intimidates Quark into maintaining his lie because an accidental death would embarrass the family. Kozak's widow, Grilka, visits Quark's bar. Seeing that the possibility that her husband being killed by a Ferengi is impossible, Grilka demands that Quark tell her the truth of how Kozak died. Quark sheepishly admits that Kozak's death was an accident. Grilka then abducts him. Quark awakens on the Klingon homeworld of Qo'noS, in the home of Kozak's family. Grilka's advisor, Tumek, explains that Kozak was the head of House Kozak. Kozak left no male heir, leaving the House of Kozak leaderless and defunct. Women are normally forbidden from leading a House, but had Kozak's death been ruled an accident, his wife would have been granted special dispensation to take over the family. Because of Quark, everyone believes that Kozak died in honorable combat. Tumek also reveals that D'Ghor is not actually Kozak's brother: He is from a rival House to which the House of Kozak is heavily in debt and that he lied to Quark in order to extract the truth. In desperation, Grilka forcibly marries Quark, making him the new head of Kozak's family, which legally prevents D'Ghor from seizing her property. Quark inspects the family ledgers and discovers that for several years, D'Ghor has been using financial scams to weaken the House of Kozak's assets. This is dishonorable conduct for a Klingon, and Quark exposes D'Ghor's actions before Chancellor Gowron. D'Ghor, in return, reveals Quark's lie regarding the circumstances of Kozak's death. D'Ghor challenges Quark to a duel to the death, and to everyone's astonishment Quark shows up for the fight. Quark throws his weapon to the ground, and denounces the duel as no better than an execution since Quark has no chance of winning. D'Ghor is happy to kill the unarmed Quark anyway, and moves in for the kill. Gowron, disgusted by D'Ghor's conduct, aborts the duel and discommendates D'Ghor on the spot. Gowron, after complimenting Quark for showing exceptional bravery for a Ferengi, rules that there are enough "unusual circumstances" to grant Grilka special dispensation to lead her House in her dead husband's stead. Quark asks the grateful Grilka for a divorce, which she happily and immediately grants. She violently slaps Quark as part of the traditional Klingon divorce ritual, then calmly tells Quark that he is a free man. When Quark defensively tells her that a warning would have been nice, she cuts him off with a deep passionate kiss. After exchanging farewells, Grilka leaves, leaving a dazed and smiling Quark. In this episode's subplot, Keiko O'Brien feels bored and useless since she closed her school due to lack of students. Her husband Miles convinces her to go on a botanical expedition to Bajor. She takes their daughter Molly with her, leaving Miles alone on the station. The episode ends with Rom asking Quark to tell him about his confrontation with D'Ghor in front the Klingon Council. Secretly touched by this, Quark proceeds to tell the story to his admiring brother in his own grandiose way. ===== As described in a film magazine, Salome uses her wiles in pursuit of King Herod, whose power she desires. She has disposed of Herod's chief rival, and causes his wife to be killed through her own treachery. John the Baptist, who has secured a hold on the people, denounces Herod and his court. Herod has John thrown in jail for fomenting sedition. There Salome meets him, and becomes crazed with passion, but when John rejects her she seeks revenge. With a sensuous dance she gains the approval of Herod, and demands John's head as her reward. This act brings her own punishment when she is crushed to death beneath the sharp spokes on the shields of the Roman legionnaires. ===== The mid-19th-century patriarch of the Hungarian- Jewish Sonnenschein ("Sunshine") family is a tavern owner who makes his own popular distilled herb-based tonic in Austria-Hungary. The tonic, called Taste of Sunshine, is later commercially made by his son, Emmanuel, bringing the family great wealth and prestige. He builds a large estate where his oldest son, Ignatz, falls in love with his first cousin, Valerie, despite the disapproval of Emmanuel and Rose. Ignatz, while studying in law school, begins an affair with Valerie. Ignatz graduates and later earns a place as a respected district judge, when he is asked by the chief judge to change his Jewish surname in order to be promoted to the central court. The entire generation - Ignatz, his physician brother Gustave and photographer cousin Valerie - change their last name to Sors ("fate"), a more Hungarian-sounding name. Ignatz then gets promoted when he tells the Minister of Justice a way to delay the prosecution of corrupt politicians. In the spring of 1899, when Valerie becomes pregnant, she and Ignatz happily marry before the birth of their son, Istvan. Their second son, Adam, is born in 1902. Ignatz continues to support the Habsburg monarchy, while Gustave pushes for a communist revolution. Both brothers enlist in the Austro-Hungarian Army as officers during World War I. In the days after the war, Valerie briefly leaves him for another man, the old monarchy collapses, and Ignatz loses his judicial position under a series of short-lived socialist and communist regimes in which Gustave is involved. When a new monarchy emerges and asks Ignatz to oversee trials of retribution against the communists, he declines and is forced to retire. His health deteriorates rapidly and he dies, leaving Valerie as head of the family. Istvan and Adam both join the Jewish-run Civic Fencing Club. Adam becomes the best fencer in Hungary, and General Jakofalvy invites him to convert to Roman Catholicism in order to join the nation's top military, non-Jewish, fencing club. While Adam and Istvan are converting, Adam meets Hannah, who is converting at the request of her fiancé, and woos her into marrying him. Adam wins the national fencing championship two years in a row and goes on to lead the national team to the 1936 Olympic gold medal in Team Sabre in Nazi Germany, becoming a national hero in Hungary. Istvan's wife, Greta, pursues Adam until they start a secret affair. New Hungarian laws are passed discriminating against people with any near Jewish ancestors, and the Sors family is initially shielded by the exceptions in the laws. However, Adam is soon expelled from the military fencing club. Greta finally convinces the family that they must emigrate to save their children, but they are too late to get exit visas. When Germany occupies Hungary, Valerie and Hannah are immediately moved into the Budapest Ghetto. Hannah escapes and hides in a friend's attic, but is later betrayed; nobody knows how or where she died. Adam and his son Ivan are sent to a labor camp, where Adam is beaten, stripped naked and hosed with water until he freezes to death. Istvan, Greta and their son are summarily shot by Nazis. After the war, the surviving Sors family returns to the Sonnenschein estate. The elderly Gustave returns from exile and is invited into the communist government, Valerie manages the household, and Ivan becomes a state policeman, working for police Major General Knorr rounding up fascists from the wartime regime. Ivan rises quickly in the communist ranks and begins an affair with Carole, the wife of a high-ranking communist official. Later, Army General Kope asks Ivan to start vigorously arresting Jews, including Knorr, who are suspected of inciting conspiracies against the current government. After Gustave dies, Kope informs Ivan that his uncle would have been next to be investigated. When Stalin dies in 1953, Ivan feels guilty for helping Kope and not saving Knorr. He leaves the police force and swears to fight the communist regime. In the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, he steps up as a leader, but is imprisoned after it fails. Released at the end of the decade, he returns to live together with Valerie in a single room of the former family estate. She falls ill while they search for the tonic recipe --after she dies, he fruitlessly continues the search. Ivan changes his name from Sors back to Sonnenschein, and concludes his storytelling after the end of the communist regime in 1989. ===== The movie starts with introductions to the people of Small Town, USA. Among them are the huge breasted evangelical radio preacher Eufaula Roop (Ann Marie) who mounts Martin Bormann inside a coffin; a salesman who gives oral pleasure to a large breasted housewife (Candy Samples); and the very large African American Junkyard Sal (June Mack) who sleeps with her working class employees. Finally, there is Lamar, who anally rapes his large breasted wife Lavonia (Kitten Natividad) after she tries having vaginal sex. Afterwards, she kicks him in the groin. While Lamar heads off to his junkyard work, Lavonia spots a young man skinny dipping in a lake. She sneaks off and undresses, then jumps the boy from behind and proceeds to mount and rape him. The young man soon escapes, but she dives down, catches him underwater by giving him oral sex and then overpowers him. After he succumbs to her, she learns his name is Rhett and that he is fourteen. Later on, the aforementioned salesman comes to her home and she ends up having sex with him, too. Meanwhile, Lamar, who previously turned down Junkyard Sal's invitation for sex, gets called to her office where she meets him in her underwear. She locks him inside and threatens to fire him if he does not succumb to her. Lamar, who we are told needs money for correspondent school, lies down on her bed. She forces herself on him in numerous sexual positions. After a while, she lets Lamar have anal sex with her and gives in when a suddenly enthusiastic Lamar stops her from continuing into other positions. Lamar then spots fellow employees peeping from the window. He breaks open the door and beats them up. Junkyard Sal then fires the peepers and Lamar for being "perverts". Lamar goes to a bar, where Lavonia masks herself as Mexican stripper Lola Langusta and drugs his drink. In a motel room, Lavonia rapes the unconscious Lamar -- by first triggering an erection via oral sex and then by finally having vaginal sex with him using a sock as protection. She frees him to test if she changed his ways, but he runs away. Back home, Lavonia has sex with a truck driver. As she checks the clock smiling, Lamar returns. A fight ensues and Lavonia helps Lamar by burning the truck driver's scrotum with a light bulb. Lamar takes Lavonia and himself into dentist/marriage counselor Asa Lavender (Robert Pearson). After the dentist takes Lavonia to the dental room, his nurse Flovilla kisses Lamar. As the dentist hurts Lavonia's teeth and she counters by grabbing his crotch painfully, Lamar rapes the nurse. The doctor then switches places with the nurse. When seeing Lamar still has his pants down, the doctor tries to rape him, but Lamar hides in the closet. While the nurse and Lavonia have sex using the nurse's double-ended dildo, the doctor uses various weapons to force Lamar out of the closet. Lamar eventually beats the doctor up and interrupts Lavonia and the nurse. An arrangement of Stranger in Paradise is played in the background throughout the dentist scene. Lamar decides his cure lies in faith. After dropping him off at the radio station (a power station), Lavonia goes home and has sex once again with the truck driver. Lamar takes his pants off in front of Eufaula Roop's booth and reveals an erection. She immediately goes off the air. When Lamar tells her he wants to be saved, she sends him to her cleansing room (a bathroom) while she changes clothes. Lamar lies inside a water-filled bathtub as a robe wearing Eufaula Roop stands above him and baptizes (and almost drowns) him. Suddenly she takes her robe off, sits down on him and rapes him, all the while preaching to her listeners about his salvation. Lamar heads off home, punches the truck driver and has sex with Lavonia. After Eufaula Roop leans back on her chair and moans, the teenager Rhett climbs from under her desk and she takes him to the bathtub. The narrator heads off to his own home, where the teenager Rhett, his son, has sex with the narrator's huge-breasted younger Austrian wife, SuperSoul (Uschi Digard), during an earthquake. =====