From Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License ===== New Orleans big band clarinetist Stan Grayson (Kevin McCarthy) has a nightmare in which he sees himself in a mirrored room, killing a man, while in the background, haunting dirge-like music plays. He awakens to find blood on himself, bruises on his neck, and a key from the dream in his hand. Grayson goes to his brother-in- law, police detective Rene Bressard (Edward G. Robinson), about the problem but is dismissed. Later, the two men go on a picnic in the country with Grayson's girlfriend and sister. Grayson leads them to an empty house, the house of his dream, when it begins to rain. They find a record player, switch it on, and a catchy jazzy tune begins to play. While dancing, Grayson's girlfriend bumps into the record player, changing the speed. Slowed down, the dance music becomes the tune from the nightmare. They are then shocked to see that the house has a mirrored room just like in Grayson's dream. After it is found out that a murder did indeed take place, Grayson becomes Bressard's number one suspect. Grayson, stressed out and suicidal, protests his innocence, which makes Bressard dig deeper. That leads to them finding out about a hypnotist living in Grayson's building who apparently set up the musician for murder. Bressard now has to prove that although Grayson committed the murder, he was acting against his will. ===== Nikhil "Nick" Arora (Saif Ali Khan) and Ambar "Amby" Malhotra (Preity Zinta) are two progressive, young Indians who have left India to live in Melbourne, Australia. Nick was originally sent abroad to become an architect, but his real passion is cooking. After graduating, he designs a restaurant, which he ultimately takes over and becomes the head chef. His job allows him to have a laid-back lifestyle and get up late in the morning, both aspects that he values very much. While living at home in Bangalore, Ambar had rejected more than a dozen marriage proposals. Her parents suspected that she did not want to get married, but she denied this. She arrived in Australia for a one-year foreign exchange program and decided to stay and become a surgeon. After hearing this, her parents disowned her. To pay for her education, she works as an R.J. at a local radio station, 'Salaam Namaste'. Nick is scheduled to do an interview for Salaam Namaste, but he oversleeps and irritated Ambar insults him on the air. Another interview is arranged but Nick oversleeps again and he is, once again, insulted by Ambar for being late. Nick is the caterer for a wedding attended by Ambar. His best friend Ranjan (Ron) (Arshad Warsi) falls in love with Ambar's best friend Cathy (Tania Zaetta) at the wedding. Nick also feels a connection with Ambar, although they have no idea who the other really is. Nick tells Ambar he is an architect and Amber tells him that she is a Student of Medicine. Ron and Cathy hastily marry the next day and Nick and Ambar discover each other's true identities. Nick gives the interview on Salaam Namaste, where he states, publicly, that he loves Ambar. Nick and Ambar become friends and eventually move in together and fall in love. A few months later, Ambar discovers she is pregnant, and they decide to end the pregnancy. Nick takes her to get an abortion, but she cannot go through with it. The pair fight and then they break up. Over the next five months, they have several comical disagreements. Nick finds a restaurant to buy, but the loan is disapproved as he cannot afford the down payment since he spent all his money on the house he shares with Ambar. This results in another argument during which the baby kicks for the first time and Nick realises he still loves Ambar. Ambar asks Nick to take a blood test because she has thalassemia minor, and if he has the disease too then there will be complications. Nick takes the blood test and discovers that Ambar is carrying twins. On the way home, Nick realises that he had left Ambar alone through the whole pregnancy when she needed him the most. He decides to commit to Ambar and his unborn children and goes to buy an engagement ring. At the store, he sees Ambar trying on rings with her friend, Jignesh (Jugal Hansraj). Nick believes that Ambar is marrying Jignesh and is devastated. In a drunken haze, he takes home a drunk girl from the bar named Stella. The next morning, an annoyed Stella tells Nick that all he did the previous night was cry over Ambar. Nick is greatly relieved, but Ambar sees Stella in the bedroom and assumes that they have slept together, and she leaves in a rage. Nick discovers that Ambar was trying on rings for Jignesh's girlfriend, Tina. He searches for Ambar with the help of many devoted Salaam Namaste listeners. He finds her and apologises, but Ambar's water breaks and they rush to the hospital. At the hospital, Ron is there with Cathy, who's giving birth as well, and the nurse turns out to be Stella. She tells Ambar that Nick didn't do anything the previous night and is in love with Ambar, who finally realises Nick's love for her. They then meet the obstetrician Dr. Vijay (Abhishek Bachchan), who turns out to be a very comical and incompetent doctor but manages to deliver the children. Ambar gives birth to twins and Nick proposes to her to which she joyously agrees. ===== The President of the United States, former Astronaut James Norcross (voiced by Paul Frees) is given superpowers as the result of a cosmic storm during a space mission. The future President gains increased strength and the Metamorpho-like ability to change his molecular composition at will to any form required (like granite, steel, ozone, water and even electricity). A hidden panel in the Oval Office allows him access to his secret base, a hidden cave beneath the "Presidential Mansion" (a somewhat modified White House). Super President travels either by using a futuristic automobile/aircraft/submarine called the Omnicar, or by using jets built into his belt. Despite the fact that the character's name is "Super President," for some reason only Norcross' chubby, pipe-smoking advisor Jerry Sales knows that the leader of the Free World is also a red and white- costumed superhero in his off-hours. A total of thirty episodes of Super President were produced. Two episodes appeared in each show. Each episode also included an episode of Spy Shadow starring secret agent Richard Vance (voiced by Ted Cassidy) who had learned in Tibet how to command his shadow (also voiced by Ted Cassidy) to act independently of himself, an ability he put to good use as an Interspy operative battling a variety of villains, including the evil forces of S.P.I.D.E.R. ("Society for Plunder, International Disorder, Espionage and Racketeering"). Spy Shadow had the power to slip through small openings, hide himself in another person's shadow, and was invulnerable to harm thanks to his insubstantial nature, but his fists remained decidedly solid. Spy Shadow's only weakness is the inability to appear in total darkness for "there can be no shadow without light". ===== This novel is the first in a series about "The Company" and its servants, human and otherwise. The series continues with Sky Coyote, Mendoza in Hollywood, The Graveyard Game, and The Life of the World to Come. The collection Black Projects, White Knights consists of Company stories, and there are allusions in the collection Mother Ægypt and Other Stories. The story is told by Mendoza, a cyborg botanist. In the introduction, she describes a 24th-century organization called Dr. Zeus Inc., or simply "The Company". The Company has the secrets of immortality and time travel. Unfortunately the immortality treatment can only be used on young children; and time travel is difficult, expensive, and only possible when going into the past and returning to your own time. History cannot be changed. Dr. Zeus uses the technology simply to get rich. By travelling far into prehistory, the company creates its own immortal cyborg agents, who then have the mission of preserving cultural artifacts and other valuable items for sale in the 24th century. Usually these items are hidden in safe places, but in the case of extinct species, for instance, they are kept in secret Company caches run by the cyborgs. In the 24th century the Company then 'finds' the long-lost objects and sells them. The cyborgs are expected to arrive in the 24th century the old-fashioned way, by living through the intervening millennia. On the way, they can create more cyborgs from those who would otherwise die as children. ===== Mendoza tells how she is snatched as a child from the Inquisition in Spain, having first been sold by her real parents to some 'noble Christians' who want her for pagan rites, but are instead arrested. In prison she is called Mendoza, after the name used by the pagans. She does not remember ever having a name of her own before that, her parents simply calling her "daughter" (hija in Spanish). She does not even know her family name, or the name of her village. One of the Inquisitors is Joseph, a cyborg, who is able to deliver her to his fellow agents for 'augmentation'. Fifteen years later she returns to Spain for her first mission. Although she trained as a botanist and wants to go the New World, she has to spend time in Europe on an expedition to England. She finds that the expedition leader is Joseph, the cyborg who saved her. He is about 20,000 years old, having been recruited from the Basque region as a child when his village was massacred. Joseph is a Facilitator, a 'fixer', a top agent. He is also world-weary, cynical and irreverent. His passion is his work, like all the cyborgs, but he also has a deep-seated hatred of religious fanaticism, partly because his parents were killed by a cult, partly because of what he has seen in his long life. The group also includes Nefer, whose specialty is farm animals, and Flavius, a technician. The mission is to travel to England as part of the entourage of Prince Philip of Spain, who is going to marry Queen Mary. Then they will go to the estate in Kent of Sir Walter Iden, who has been persuaded to let them sample rare plants from his garden. Mendoza is not pleased by all this. She is already deathly afraid of all 'mortals' as she calls them, and is further dismayed by the prospect of going to cold, wet, violent, disease-ridden England. When they arrive, without Flavius who stays in London, two things quickly change her mind. One is a hedge of Ilex tormentosum, or Julius Caesar's Holly, a plant with tremendous medicinal properties. It is already rare and, in the future, it is extinct. The other is Nicholas Harpole, Sir Walter's secretary. Nicholas is "tall even for an Englishman" and has a horse-like face but is very intelligent and well-educated. She is immediately attracted to him, and Joseph, always on the lookout for an advantage, encourages her to seduce Nicholas. This she does, and settles in for a long stay, having decided that the Garden is full of unusual plants that will take years to catalogue. Nicholas, it turns out, has a dark past, having been a member of an ecstatic Christian cult that practised sexual freedom. Deciding that the cult leader was simply exploiting his fellows, he broke away and began preaching radical ideas, for which he was arrested and put in chains. Although Nicholas is illegitimate, he had well-connected friends and was freed with the warning to sin no more. Mendoza also has problems. As she matures, she finds she emits "Crome radiation", a psychic field which can have unpredictable effects on time and space. This is not supposed to be possible for cyborgs, who are screened for such abilities when recruited. (In a later Company story, we learn that Joseph caused the tests to be fudged because otherwise Mendoza would be tortured to death by the Inquisition.) As the novel progresses, she is increasingly torn by love for Nicholas and the need to lie to him, to play her assigned part. Nicholas himself is suspicious of Mendoza and her companions. Old Sir Walter Iden, having been given rejuvenating treatments by Joseph as payment for their stay, decides to sell the estate and move to London. The entire household is already amazed by his transformation from doddering old man to virile middle-age. Joseph is furious but can do nothing. Then, while the household is being inventoried for the sale, Joseph is damaged in an accident which would have killed a normal human. Though he talks his way out of the immediate situation with his usual skill, he is eventually found out by Nicholas, who sees him doing self-repairs to his internal machinery. Nicholas, having been prepared to elope with Mendoza, confronts her, believing her to be a devil in human form. She admits that, even in her own eyes, she is no longer human. Nicholas flees the estate. Later she learns he has returned to preaching in Rochester, and has been condemned to burn by the new Catholic authorities. She runs away herself to Rochester, but is unable to convince him to recant. At this point Joseph appears, having followed Mendoza. His only purpose now is to prevent her becoming a Company renegade. He denounces Nicholas as just another fake messiah who can only lead others to destruction along with himself. He reveals to Nicholas that he has lived many thousands of years and has yet to see anything resembling the Truth that Nicholas and his like preach. Telling Nicholas that "of all the burnings I've witnessed, this is one I will actually enjoy" he takes Mendoza away. The next morning, they witness Nicholas' death. Returning to the Iden estate, Joseph promises to pull strings and get Mendoza sent to the New World, as she originally wanted. In the final chapter, Mendoza arrives at New World One in the South American jungle. It is a secret Company base run like a luxury hotel, where the servants are Mayans rescued from sacrifices. She settles into her new air- conditioned existence, with an unknowable future. ===== Eureka is a drama set mainly in rural Kyushu, Japan, and is almost entirely shot in sepia tone. It tells the story of the lasting effects of a violent experience on three people, a teenage brother and sister, Naoki and Kozue Tamura and a bus driver, Makoto Sawai. These three are the sole survivors after the bus is hijacked by a gunman. The actual violent events which traumatise them are not shown in detail. The extent to which the three have been affected slowly becomes apparent. Naoki and Kozue do not return to school, do not speak and become dissociated from their parents. Some time after the hijack, their mother abandons the family. Later their father is killed in a car crash. It is not clear whether his death is suicide. The two children continue to live alone in the family home. Meanwhile, Makoto is finding it impossible to carry on normal life and takes to the road, leaving his estranged wife living in the family home with his elderly father, elder brother, his wife and their daughter. After some time, Makoto returns home to find that his wife has left him. He cannot return to driving a bus and takes a job as a day-labourer with an old school-friend. Relationships between Makoto and his brother begin to deteriorate and Makoto moves in with Naoki and Kozue. He takes over the housekeeping and makes sure they eat properly. Kozue now begins to communicate a little but Naoki remains mute. The detective who dealt with the hijacking begins to harass Makoto about the murder of a woman in the neighbourhood, apparently without any evidence. While Makoto is out at work one day, the children's older student cousin Akihiko arrives and states he intends to stay to look after the children. He and Makoto are uneasy with each other but the four people settle down into a kind of family arrangement. A further murder takes place and this time the victim is a friend of Makoto's. He is arrested and questioned by the detective but is finally released. He talks to his friend and co-worker about his wish to return to driving and forms a plan to get all of them, Naoki, Kozue, Akihiko and himself away from their troubles. He buys an old bus which they convert for living accommodation and they all set off on an extended tour of the island. Kozue becomes more relaxed as they travel around but Naoki appears more disturbed. It eventually becomes clear that it is Naoki who is the murderer. Makoto confronts him and persuades him to give himself up. The remaining three carry on with the journey until Makoto finally loses his temper with Akihiko's cynical and shallow outlook and throws him off the bus. Makoto and Kozue continue on their journey until, finally, when they reach the peak of the highest mountain in Kyushu, both realise they are able to face ordinary life again. As they reach this understanding the film briefly turns to colour. ===== While hunting in the Mesoamerican rainforest, Jaguar Paw, his father Flint Sky, and their fellow tribesmen encounter a procession of refugees fleeing warfare. The group's leader explains that their lands were ravaged and they seek a new beginning. He asks for permission to pass through the jungle. Flint Sky comments to his son that the visitors were sick with fear and urges him to never allow fear to infect him. At sunrise the next morning, the tribe's village suffers a devastating raid by a party led by Zero Wolf. Huts are set on fire, many villagers are killed, and the surviving adults are taken prisoner. During the attack, Jaguar Paw lowers his very pregnant wife Seven and their young son Turtles Run into a natural pit cave that also serves as a water reservoir in order to hide them. Returning to the fight, Jaguar Paw nearly kills the sadistic raider Middle Eye but is himself captured. When Middle Eye realizes that Flint Sky is Jaguar Paw's father, he kills Flint Sky and re-names Jaguar Paw "Almost". The raiders tie the captives together and set out on a long forced march through the jungle, leaving the children behind to fend for themselves. Seven and Turtles Run remain trapped in the pit after having successfully hidden from the raiders. On the journey, Cocoa Leaf, a badly wounded captive, almost falls off a cliff with the other captives dragged after him. He is thus killed by Middle Eye, eliciting anger from Zero Wolf, who threatens his fellow raider with death if he kills another captive without permission. As the party approaches the Mayan city of the raiders' origin, they encounter razed forests and vast fields of failed maize crops, alongside villages decimated by an unknown disease. A little girl infected with the plague prophesies Zero Wolf's death and the end of the Mayan world. Once the raiders and captives reach the city, the females are sold into slavery while the males are escorted to the top of a step pyramid to be sacrificed before the Mayan King and Queen. Two members of the party are sacrificed, but as Jaguar Paw is lain out on the altar with the knife poised above him, a solar eclipse gives the executioner pause. The Mayans take the event as an omen that the gods are satisfied with the blood spilt, and so Jaguar Paw and the remaining captives are spared from sacrifice. Instead, they are taken to be used as target practice by Zero Wolf and his men, and offered their freedom if they can run to safety while getting pelted with arrows and thrown spears. Jaguar Paw suffers an arrow wound from Zero Wolf, but kills Wolf's son Cut Rock, and escapes into the jungle. Zero Wolf and eight of his comrades chase after him in vengeance. Back in his native jungle, Jaguar Paw now has the advantage and taunts his pursuers. The pack of hunters - including Zero Wolf and Middle Eye - gradually die one by one via natural hazards and traps masterfully laid out by Jaguar Paw, until there are only two left. The drought breaks and heavy rain begins to fall, threatening to drown Jaguar Paw's family, who are still trapped in the pit cave despite their attempts to escape. Seven gives birth to another son, who is born under the surface of the dangerously rising water. Meanwhile, the two remaining raiders chase Jaguar Paw out of the undergrowth towards the coast. As they reach the beach, all three are stopped in their tracks by the sight of conquistador ships anchored off the coast and Spaniards making their way ashore, complete with a monastic mission holding up a cross. Jaguar Paw flees while the two raiders remain, overcome with curiosity at the conquerors' presence. Jaguar Paw returns just in time to save his family from the flooded pit, overjoyed at the sight of his newborn son. Sometime later, as the reunited family looks out over the water at the Spanish ships, Jaguar Paw decides not to risk approaching the conquerors, insisting his family head back into the jungle. They depart in search of a new home and a new beginning. ===== The series is set in Los Angeles in the 1980s and opens with Dagmar Laine, a transsexual prostitute and lover to former 1950s film star Beverly Grove, searching for a reel of film taken from the Vatican's collection of pornography. The reel has been sent to Father Frank Murtaugh by his brother who is a Cardinal in the Vatican. Laine tries to grab the reel from Father Murtaugh but the reel is stolen by a nun. Laine and Grove then get Cass Pollack, a jazz musician and ex-heroin addict who is on the run from the Mafia, to steal the reel in return for them providing Pollack with an alibi. Pollack is also on the run from the police, due to the Mafia killing Pollack's wife and daughter and Pollack being the only suspect. Laine and Grove (who look virtually identical) provide Pollack with a lead as to where the reel is after the death of Father Murtaugh. This takes Pollack first of all to an occult bookshop called "The Oath of Incannabulata" where he steals a copy of a book about the mysterious "Order of Bonniface". After the bookshop he ends up in a funeral home called "Tanas" where he finds a number of celebrities indulging in bizarre rituals. Going through Murtaugh's possessions, Pollack finds an invitation to the next meeting of the "Order of Bonniface". He attends this and discovers the Order was formed at the beginning of Hollywood's movie era and that they worship Charles 'Bubba' Kenton, a 1920s film star who was also married to Beverly Grove. He discovers that Kenton forced Grove to give their daughter Sophie up shortly before Kenton became a vampire. After becoming a vampire Kenton forms The Order of Bonniface and turns many of his followers into vampires, including Beverly Grove. This gives Grove the chance of revenge over the loss of her daughter and she switches Kenton's alarm clock so that he wakes during the day and dies in the sunlight. However The Order want the reel of film as it shows Beverly Grove and Bubba Kenton together in a pornographic film which shows that Grove is much older than she claims to be to the world. They hope she can turn them into vampires and therefore give them eternal youth. However one of The Order, a young woman called Magda, wants Grove to only make her a vampire. This is because she is Grove's granddaughter, in addition to the nun who stole the reel from Father Murtaugh earlier in the story. Pollack becomes caught in the middle as everyone around him attempts to win, leaving Pollack in a position where he seems unable to survive. ===== After surviving a Nazi POW camp where comrades were murdered by guards during an escape attempt, Frank Enley (Van Heflin), returns home from World War II. He is respected for his fine character and good works in the California town of Santa Lisa, where he, his young wife and baby had settled after moving from the East. What his wife does not know is that Frank moved them in an attempt to escape his past. His nemesis is Joe Parkson (Robert Ryan), once his best friend, who lived through the ordeal, but was left with a crippled leg. In exchange for food, Frank had alerted the Nazi camp commander to the prisoners' escape plans, thinking wrongly that the men would not be punished. Joe is now determined to exact justice on Frank, whose location he has learned from a newspaper story commending Enley for his civic endeavors. Frank's wife Edith (Janet Leigh) is completely in the dark about his past, and Joe's girlfriend Ann Sturgess (Phyllis Thaxter) knows everything about her man, but cannot dissuade him from his passion to set past wrongs right by seeing Frank dead. Frank must confront the truth about his actions Doggedly pursued by Joe, who stalks Frank's family at their house, Frank goes to a trade convention at a Los Angeles hotel, where Joe finds him, and they scuffle. Frank runs through downtown Los Angeles, ending up on Skid Row, where he is picked up by Pat (Mary Astor), who introduces him to a shady lawyer, Gavery (Taylor Holmes) and a hitman, Johnny (Berry Kroeger). A drunken Frank gives Johnny the information he needs to lure Joe into an evening meeting at Santa Lisa to kill Joe, the gunshot to be muffled by the noise of a train. After waking from his drunken binge, Frank regrets the deal and tries to warn Joe at the station. Johnny is waiting with a gun, but before he can shoot, Frank jumps between the gun and Joe. Although wounded, Frank manages to grab Johnny as he speeds off in his car, causing it to crash into a lamppost. Both Johnny and Frank are killed. Joe, realizing what Frank has done, kneels by his old captain and tells the surrounding crowd that he will be the one to tell Frank's wife about her husband's death. ===== Andy "Brink" Brinker and his in-line skating crew—Peter, Jordy, and Gabriella—who call themselves "Soul-Skaters" (they skate for the fun of it, not for the money), clash with a group of sponsored skaters, Team X-Bladz—led by Val—with whom they attend high school in southern California. On the first day of school, the Soul-Skaters and Team X-Bladz race on school grounds. Boomer, a skater for Team X-Bladz, is seriously injured during the race, causing Brink to stop mid-race to help him. Brink and the other racers are caught and suspended. Brink learns that his family is in financial trouble; his father, Ralph, has been on disability for six months and is unsure if he will get his job back when he’s well. Brink secretly goes against what he believes and joins Team X-Bladz for $200 a week, as a replacement for Boomer. Ralph didn’t want Brink to spend even more time skating so he forbade Brink from taking the job. However, Brink disobeys him. Ralph being unaware that Brink took the job and since Brink had said he wanted to work, Ralph gets him a part-time job at Pup-N-Suds, a dog grooming business. This, however, is a job which Jordy, Gabriella, and Peter are aware of because Brink had told them that he's working there. For a while, Brink manages to keep his other job in Team X-Bladz a secret from his family and friends by juggling school, both jobs, and practice with the Soul-Skaters. However, Jordy, Gabriella, and Peter discover the truth when they catch him skating for Team X-Bladz to at an invitational prior to an upcoming local competition. Brink's friends feel he betrayed them and choose to ignore him upon discovering his alignment with Team X-Bladz. Brink tries to rejoin the Soul Skaters, but is rebuffed. Val offers Brink a chance to re-join X-Bladz by noting the team won't hold him leaving against him. While scouting the route for the downhill leg of the upcoming competition, The Soul-Skaters and Team X-Bladz agree to a downhill race, with Gabriella against Brink. During the race, Val sabotages the course by tossing gravel onto the road - but tells Brink to take a different route. Gabriella wipes out big and sustains cuts and bruises. Brink realizes what Val did. Brink visits Gabriella at her house and she calls him a sell-out. Ralph learns about the accident from Gabriella's mother and Brink confesses that he took the job with X-Bladz even though he was told not to. Ralph has a heart-to-heart with Brink and asks him why he didn't tell the family about it. Brink finally confesses his true reasons for joining Team X-Bladz and wanting to be a somebody from it. He admits that though he got what he wanted, it has gotten him into a mess. Brink mentions he has lost his friends and doesn't have fun skating with X-Bladz. Ralph reveals that although the family is in financial trouble, Brink should not be skating for the money and would rather skate for fun. Inspired by his father, Brink confronts Val at the local boardwalk, quits Team X-Bladz, and returns the team gear (skates / helmet). Val tells Brink to not renege on his contractual obligations with Team X-Bladz. This leads to a heated argument between both boys and Brink to toss a milkshake in Val's face. In the days before the competition, Brink meets his friends at the skate yard. After giving them new skates, Brink tells them of his plan to sponsor the team under the name "Team Pup 'N Suds". When questioned, Brink admits he got an advance from PupNSuds from his wages to pay for the skates. They forgive Brink and accept him as their friend again. As friends once again, they compete in the competition with their families' support. In the end, it comes down to Brink and Val in the championship race. Throughout the downhill championship, Val continually attempts to shove Brink off the course. When Val crashes off the course, Brink returns to help him up. Val yanks Brink to the ground to try to get a head start, while ESPN cameras stream the interaction to onlookers. After getting up, with Val in the lead, Brink takes a shortcut to win the race. Immediately after the race, while Val storms off, Team X-Bladz manager, Jimmy, who saw Val's cheating and kicked him off the team, offers Brink a spot on Team X-Bladz. However, Brink declines. He happily re-joins the Soul Skaters and receives the trophy. ===== As the year 2000 is approaching, Cartman realizes blood is coming out of his anus, leading him to believe he is experiencing his first period and thus commencing puberty. He makes fun of the other boys for not hitting puberty yet, unaware that his bleeding is caused by a minor stomach infection that has spread across South Park, and that it can be cured with antibiotics. Kenny later contracts the same ailment, and Kyle, not wanting to be left out, pretends he is also afflicted. The boys consequently abandon Stan and leave him out of their next mission, believing he is less mature for not having had his period. Meanwhile, the people of the world flock around Jesus' house, excited about the new millennium and saying that, at the year 2000, Jesus' father should make an appearance. Jesus contacts his father and tells him about his potential resurgence in popularity, but God (unseen in their conversation) refuses to show up because mankind is not ready. Jesus, wanting to still satisfy the people, books Rod Stewart to play a New Year's Eve concert in Las Vegas; everybody decides to go, because a rumor persists that God will show up. Stan, meanwhile, prays for his period, but doesn't get it, so he visits Dr. Mephesto and gets a bottle of hormone pills. Using them causes Stan to grow a beard, have a deeper voice, and develop a pair of breasts, but still no "period." Afterwards, Kenny suddenly bursts from inside out and dies. At the hospital, they discover the reason: Kenny had shoved a tampon up his rectum. The doctor expresses concern that "the children are all shoving tampons up their ass because they've seen the Backstreet Boys doing it on TV or something." The crowd in Las Vegas for the New Year's concert is enraged upon seeing Rod Stewart (portrayed here as very old and incontinent) and they turn against Jesus. With them preparing to crucify him again, Stan asks Jesus why God does not answer his prayers, and Jesus explains that, if God does everything for you, then your existence has no real purpose. Jesus realizes that this was God's message: Jesus had to figure his own way to get people to follow him. And just as he realizes this, God arrives. After the crowd's initial shock over God's appearance (distinctly unlike traditional depictions of God), God offers the people the chance to ask one question. The crowd plans to ask the meaning of life or existence, but before anyone else can ask, Stan comes up and asks why he hasn't gotten his period. God explains that boys don't get periods, and tells the truth: that Cartman and Kenny are affected by the colon infection and Kyle was lying to fit in with them. God explains to Stan that he will never get a period (because he is male), but he will hit puberty when the time is right. He then returns to Heaven, saying he will answer another question in the year 4000. Stan is satisfied by this, and joyfully starts singing "Auld Lang Syne", but the angry crowd attacks him for wasting their chance to ask God a profoundly important question, as the credits roll. ===== The Super Robot Monkey Team is set in Shuggazoom City, a city that takes up a good portion of its planet, named Shuggazoom. The rest of the planet is divided into sparsely or entirely uninhabited zones. The largest of these making up the majority of the visible surface outside of Shuggazoom city is "The Zone of Wasted Years" which is a barren wasteland. The main character is a boy named Chiro. When he was exploring the outskirts of the city, he stumbled upon a giant abandoned robot partially overgrown with plants but still accessible. Once inside, his curiosity got the better of him and he pulls an old power switch among a series of stasis tanks. In doing so, he awakened the five robotic monkeys that form the Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce. In the process Chiro also fused himself with the mysterious supernatural energy of the Power Primate, allowing him to transform into a stronger, braver fighter and the leader of the team. With the aid of the five Robot Monkeys: Sparx, Antauri, Gibson, Otto and Nova, their mission is to save Shuggazoom City from the Skeleton King, the main villain of the series, as well as any other evil forces that may threaten it. Since Chiro was not born a superhero, or with any enhanced abilities, the five Robot Monkeys take up training him to hone his abilities which results in him leading the team. With each member possessing a different set of skills Chiro acts as a unifying force keeping them on point where they otherwise might fall to differing opinions, in addition to being familiar with the current culture of Shuggazoom. With the monkeys continuing to train Chiro he grows into the leader they need with the potential to fulfill his greater destiny as protector of the universe. When fighting with larger enemies the Hyperforce uses the Super Robot, which can operate as a single entity or split into six separate vehicles for versatility. Its main attack, when combined as the whole robot, is Lasertron Fury. This powerful energy beam that is fired from its chest is capable of destroying large objects or hostile entities while an array of smaller weaponry is used to handle other lesser threats. The Super Robot also serves as Chiro and the Monkeys' headquarters and home while parked on its landing pad in Shuggazoom City. Over the course of the series the history of both Shuggazoom and the Robot Monkeys is expanded upon revealing they were created long ago specifically to combat the evil Skeleton King by a brilliant inventor known only as the Alchemist. Having unintentionally released a great evil into the world with his experiments the Hyperforce was his attempt to prepare for an uncertain future where defenses would be needed. The hyperforce itself also expanded as the series ran to include various allies and a rogues gallery of enemies as recurring characters. ===== The story takes place in 1827 on an isolated farm at the fictional locality of Curlow Creek in the mountains of the colony of New South Wales. The two main characters are Michael Adair, an Irish-born officer in the colonial mounted troopers, and Daniel Carney, an Irish escapee and bushranger. Adair had been dispatched from Sydney to oversee Carney's hanging and he arrives at Carney's temporary prison—a stockman's hut—on the night before he is due to be executed. The narrative details conversations held by Adair and Carney throughout the cold night as they explore their shared Irish heritage. The novel is also peppered with Adair's reminiscences of his aristocratic childhood in County Galway. As the plot progresses, Adair develops sympathy for Carney despite his criminal past and impoverished background. The novel ends with Adair presumed to have let Carney escape into the bush—though as with many of David Malouf's novels, the ending is ambiguous and the reader does not know for sure the fate of the hero. ===== When a dorm toilet explodes on the first day back to school, a group of misfit girls are forced to leave their housing and search for a new home. They ultimately decide on pledging a sorority. However, not many sororities are normal at South Beach University. The girls decide to pledge the most popular and exclusive sorority at the university, Gamma Gamma, which is led by president Victoria English. While pledging the sorority, Victoria sends the girls to do a task: collect used condoms. While searching the park, the leader of the group, Gloria, bumps into Victoria's boyfriend Derek, and they become close. The only reason Victoria plans to let the freshmen pledge is to display diversity, which is a requirement for the "FHM Hottest Sorority in the Country" contest. From then on, Victoria declares war on the girls during "Hell Week" but ultimately lets them join, only to kick them out once they have won the contest. This angers the leader of the misfit freshmen, Gloria. Gloria decides to quit the sorority as do her friends. Derek and Gloria realize their feelings towards each other and seal it with a kiss. Gloria's ex-best friend, Kristen, convinces Gloria to come back. Gloria and her friends come back but only to declare war on Victoria by sneaking into the Gamma Gamma house and stealing embarrassing photos and video footage of her to show to everyone at the Gamma Gamma victory party. The video also showed her badmouthing her sorority sisters, and her past dorky self. She also reveals to Victoria that she and Derek love each other. Victoria becomes embarrassed and eventually realizes how reinventing herself made her into a bad person, so she makes a public apology to the freshmen. The movie ends with a giant food fight at the Gamma Gamma party, and Victoria saying that she loved her cover of FHM so much she bought the magazine. Gloria becomes the president of Gamma Gamma the following year. ===== Actress Yvonne Orlac (Frances Drake) rests after her final performance at the 'Théâtre des Horreurs' (styled after the Grand Guignol) in Paris, France. As she listens to her husband Stephen Orlac (Colin Clive) play the piano on the radio, she is greeted by Dr. Gogol (Peter Lorre), who has seen every show featuring Yvonne, and unaware of her marriage, is aghast to learn that she is moving to England with her husband. Gogol leaves the theater heartbroken, buys the wax figure of Yvonne's character, refers to it as Galatea (from the Greek myth), and arranges that it be delivered to his home the following day. Stephen Orlac is on a train journey from Fontainebleau to Paris, where he sees murderer Rollo the Knife-Thrower (Edward Brophy), who is on the way to his execution by guillotine. (Gogol later witnesses the execution, along with the American reporter Reagan (Ted Healy). Orlac's train crashes later that night, and Yvonne finds her husband with mutilated hands. She takes Stephen to Gogol in an attempt to reconstruct his hands, and Gogol agrees to do so. Gogol uses Rollo's hands for the transplant, and the operation is a success. The Orlac couple are forced to sell many of their possessions to pay for the surgery, while Stephen finds he is unable to play the piano with his new hands. When a creditor comes to claim the Orlacs' piano, Stephen throws a fountain pen that barely misses his head. Stephen seeks help from his stepfather, Henry Orlac (Ian Wolfe). Henry denies the request, upset that Stephen did not follow in his line of business as a jeweler. A knife thrown in anger by Stephen misses Henry, but breaks the shop front's window. Gogol meanwhile asks Yvonne for her love, but she refuses. Stephen goes to Gogol's home and demands to know about his hands, and why they throw knives. Gogol suggests that Stephen's problem comes from childhood trauma, but later confirms to his assistant Dr. Wong (Keye Luke) that Stephen's hands had been Rollo's. Gogol then suggests to Yvonne that she get away from Stephen, as the shock has affected his mind and she may be in danger. She angrily rejects Gogol, whose obsession grows. Henry Orlac is murdered, and Stephen receives a note that promises that he will learn the truth about his hands if he goes to a specific address that night. There, a man with metallic hands and dark glasses claims to be Rollo, brought back to life by Gogol. Rollo explains that Stephen's hands were his, and that Stephen used them to murder Henry. He also claims that Gogol transplanted his (Rollo's) head on to a new body...flashing a leather-and-metal neck brace as "proof!" Stephen returns to Yvonne and explains that his hands are those of Rollo, and that he must turn himself in to the police. A panic-stricken Yvonne goes to Gogol's home, and finds him completely mad (after he has come home and shed his elaborate disguise). Gogol assumes that his statue has come to life, embraces her, and begins to strangle her. Reagan, Stephen and the police arrive, but are only able to open the observation window. Stephen produces a knife and throws it at Gogol, then finds his way in. Gogol dies as Stephen and Yvonne embrace. ===== The superhero team the Specials has never achieved great popularity or prestige, partially because unlike other super teams it is not corporation-friendly and has been unable to secure merchandising deals. Without the corporate or private financial resources of more well-established teams, the Specials often get underrated villains, small disasters, and the occasional alien invasion to repel — all of which are deemed too low-priority for other superhero teams. Even the members with formidable powers have shortcomings that prevented a transition for the team as a whole. Because team-members such as the Strobe, Ms. Indestructible, The Weevil, Deadly Girl, Power Chick, Amok, Alien Orphan, and Eight all possess various social dysfunctions, they've never quite broken through the superhero glass ceiling. The team welcomes Nightbird (Jordan Ladd), the group's newest member, a teenage girl with "bird powers." Nightbird, who idolizes the Specials, soon realizes that her heroes do not function as a harmonious team but like a dysfunctional family. One of the two greatest points of stress in the team is the slowly fracturing relationship between the Strobe (Thomas Haden Church) and Ms. Indestructible (Paget Brewster), a married couple at the core of the team. Also problematic is that the Weevil is trying to negotiate an exit into a more high-profile superhero team, playing both on his own popularity and his legacy status from following in his father's footsteps. The cracks begin to show as they prepare to attend a dinner in their honor thrown by Kosgrov Toys, which is releasing a line of action figures based upon the group. The event is a travesty. It becomes quickly apparent that Kosgrov did little research on the Specials, and low-balled the production by utilizing cheap accessories and recycled parts. Worse yet, the leader of the Specials, the Strobe, discovers that his wife, Ms. Indestructible, is cheating on him with the most popular member of the group, The Weevil (Rob Lowe). In a fit of anger, the Strobe disbands the group, and the members go their own ways. The Strobe goes to Zip Boy's (Barry Del Sherman) house and asks for a job at New Standards Inc., a plastics company in Detroit, denying there's a problem by saying that he's great, now that he has "a great new job as a welding asshole." Ms. Indestructible spends the night watching her old wedding video and crying over a glass of wine. The Strobe's brother, Minute Man (James Gunn), who had had a crush on the new girl, Nightbird, ultimately falls into the arms of Deadly Girl (Judy Greer), who, because of her loyalty to the Strobe as leader, was hurt to learn about Weevil and Ms. Indestructible. Meanwhile, Amok (Jamie Kennedy), Power Chick (Kelly Coffield), Alien Orphan (Sean Gunn), and Mr. Smart (Jim Zulevic) indulge in a night of drinking and dancing. During the disbandment, the Weevil finalizes his transfer to another superhero team, only to find that his negative press from the Specials still follows him. Reporters focus more on his controversy than his ability to apprehend villains, and the Weevil finds he has gone from being the top dog in a small team to the team runt in the larger one. The Strobe and Ms. Indestructible reconcile, and the Strobe renews his passion for justice instead of image. The team is immediately called back into action and the heroes resolve to do the right thing not because it will bring popularity or glory, but because as misfits, they've become the champions of society's underdogs. They exit to face down another crisis, giant ants attacking the White House; as they assemble, they actively demonstrate their powers for the first time in the entire film. ===== In preparation for a spelling bee, Cartman's mother buys him a "Hooked on Monkey Fonics" system that features an actual live monkey playing the drums to keep with the beat of spelling and sounding out the words. After spelling a couple of words, Cartman believes he will have a chance to win the spelling bee. While at the spelling bee, the children face stiff competition from two homeschooled children, Rebecca and Mark Cotswalds. Cartman asks the monkey to help him spell his word, chair, but Phonics Monkey is masturbating, and Cartman misspells it as "C-H-A-R-E"; angered, he runs off to chase the monkey. In the final round, Kyle is unable to spell his word, "Kroxldyphivc" (which in reality isn't an actual word), correctly and Rebecca and Mark are declared the champions. Although Kyle is annoyed at having been beaten, he ends up developing a crush on Rebecca. Mark becomes intrigued by the interactions he sees between Cartman, Kyle, and Stan, and begs his father to be allowed to attend public school. His father objects due to how dangerous public schools can be, but reluctantly relents. At the school, Mark, placed in a largely protective hamster ball by his overprotective and agoraphobic father, is tormented for his haughty attitude and superior knowledge, and ends up duct taped to a bench by the other boys. This prompts Mark's father to speak with the adults in Skeeter's Bar and Cocktails about the incident and the fact that Kyle has become smitten with Rebecca and should stop pursuing her. The adults are quick to dislike him as much as the kids dislike Mark; after learning that he does not drink beer but prefers wine coolers, they proceed to duct tape Mark's father to one of the bar's benches. After questioning Mark about why he has never been seen before and why he does not attend school like the other children, Cartman is introduced to the concept of home schooling. The idea of never having to go to school appeals to him greatly, and, using Mr. Garrison's condescending remarks towards him as an excuse, demands to be home schooled himself. To him, this involves a regimen of sleeping in and sitting in bed while snacking and watching television, while his mother unsuccessfully attempts to get him to study. When Stan and Kenny come to visit to tell him about the Bay of Pigs Memorial Dance, Phonics Monkey kills Kenny. Meanwhile, Kyle makes many efforts to make his feelings known to Rebecca, although several end up humorously unsuccessful. Ultimately he convinces her to explore the world of public schooling, and she agrees to go to the South Park dance with him. He also explains what love is to her and, out of curiosity, she asks Kyle if she can experiment a kiss with him, to which he agrees. After kissing him, Rebecca immediately changes when she agrees to Kyle's dance proposal ("You bet your sweet ass I'll go.") At the dance, the band Dio plays their song "Holy Diver". The boys of the school hatch a plan to duct tape Mark to the flagpole while the adults also hatch a similar plan for Mark's father. When Rebecca enters the dance dressed up promiscuously and kissing every boy in sight, Mark is outraged and attacks Kyle for turning his sister "into a slut." The other boys perceive his beating up Kyle as cool and finally accept him; Randy Marsh breaks up the fight, with Mark warning Kyle he's not through with him. Mr. and Mrs. Cotswald arrive and interrupt the dance, looking for their children so they could leave. Mark gets onstage and makes a speech to his parents (particularly to his father) about the benefits of public schools - "...it's the main place where children learn all of their social skills. You can't teach a child social skills. They have to learn them themselves." Mr. Cotswald, affected by his son's speech, agrees to let Rebecca and Mark regularly attend public school; Rebecca and Kyle then share a kiss. Mark's father, however, is then duct taped to the flagpole in front of the school by the adults, regardless of his change in attitude and opinion. Dio restarts and plays "Holy Diver" over the end credits, with Phonics Monkey joining in on drums. ===== ===== Business partners Paul Wagner and Nigel Griffith open the Hong Kong Victoria Harbour tunnel. Paul attends with his wife and their twin infant sons, Chad and Alex. After the celebration, the family is followed home by their bodyguard, Frank Avery, whom they dismiss. Once he leaves, a Triad hit squad follows them. A shootout ensues, in which Paul is killed. Paul's wife begs the Triads to spare the twins but is killed by Moon, the top henchman. Their maid is able to escape with Alex and Frank eventually saves Chad; the maid leaves Alex at a Hong Kong orphanage and Frank raises Chad in France. 25 years later, Chad and Frank are running a successful martial arts dojo in Los Angeles when Frank reveals a new "business" for the two of them in Hong Kong. The two go to a mahjong parlor and a woman, mistaking Chad for Alex, takes him back to Alex's room. When Alex arrives, he knocks out Chad for being with his girlfriend, Danielle Wilde. Frank tells them they are brothers and they need to join together to take down Griffith and get their part of the royalties from the tunnel, but Chad and Alex initially do not get along with each other. Alex takes them out on his boat to sell smuggled Mercedes and cigarettes to some Chinese buyers, but the Hong Kong Police arrive and Chad dumps the cars to escape the cops faster. Back in Hong Kong, some thugs kidnap and beat up Chad (mistaking him for Alex) when he refuses to work for their leader, Raymong Zhang. Danielle, who works for Griffith, begins checking his private files for information, but she is being watched closely by Griffith's bodyguard, Kara. Alex takes Chad and Frank to an abandoned hotel on an island to conduct their operations. With intelligence from Danielle, they attack a drug operation and blow it up. Next, they attack a club frequented by Zhang by pretending to bring him Cognac smuggled from France, which is actually just crates of bombs, although they fail to kill Zhang. Danielle continues to search for information but is caught and sexually molested by Kara. Danielle later calls the hideout revealing she has found something, but her phone is tapped by Griffith. Unable to find Alex and Frank who are out gathering firewood, Chad takes the boat to rescue Danielle by himself. However, Alex becomes paranoid and begins drinking heavily while imagining Chad and Danielle having sex. Chad brings Danielle home, but Kara follows them in a helicopter and discovers their hideout. When they return, Alex attacks Chad in a drunken rage before the brothers angrily part ways for the night. The next morning Chad and Alex awaken to see Triads landing on the beach and, although they kill several, Frank and Danielle are captured. They capture one Triad who reveals that Frank and Danielle have been taken to Zhang's boat at a pier. Chad and Alex board and fight their way through the ship; Chad kills Moon (who beat him when he was kidnapped earlier) and he and Alex rescue Frank and Danielle. Afterwards, the brothers split up: Chad pursues Griffith and Alex chases Zhang. Alex eventually kills Zhang when he falls to his death from atop a crane. Chad and Danielle are chased through a maze of shipping containers until Griffith threatens to crush Chad with a forklift holding a container. Chad jumps into the water, sneaks around into the forklift, and drops the container on Griffith, killing him. Alex, Chad, Danielle and Frank reunite after the ordeal and appear to set aside their differences. ===== A scene from the film representing the Mossad team from 1972. From left to right: Avner Kaufman, Robert, Carl, Hans and Steve. At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the Palestinian terrorist group Black September kills 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team. Avner Kaufman, a Mossad agent of German-Jewish descent, is chosen to lead a mission to assassinate 11 Palestinians allegedly involved in the massacre. At the direction of his handler Ephraim, to give the Israeli government plausible deniability, Avner resigns from Mossad and operates with no official ties to Israel. His team includes four Jewish volunteers from around the world: South African driver Steve, Belgian toy-maker and explosives expert Robert, former Israeli soldier and "cleaner" Carl, and Danish document forger Hans. They are given information by a French informant, Louis. In Rome, the team shoots and kills Wael Zwaiter, who is living as a poet. In Paris, they detonate a bomb in the home of Mahmoud Hamshari; in Cyprus, they bomb the hotel room of Hussein Abd Al Chir. With IDF commandos, they pursue three Palestinian militants—Muhammad Youssef al-Najjar, Kamal Adwan, and Kamal Nasser—to Beirut, penetrate the Palestinians' guarded compound and kill all three. Between hits, the assassins argue about the morality and logistics of their mission, expressing fear about their individual lack of experience, as well as ambivalence about accidentally killing innocent bystanders. Avner makes a brief visit to his wife, who has given birth to their first baby. In Athens, when they track down Zaiad Muchasi, the team finds out that Louis arranged for them to share a safe house with their rival PLO members and the Mossad agents escape trouble by pretending to be members of foreign militant groups like ETA, IRA, ANC, and the Red Army Faction. Avner has a heartfelt conversation with PLO member Ali over their homelands and who deserves to rule over the lands; Ali is later shot by Carl while the team escapes from the hit on Muchasi. The squad moves to London to track down Ali Hassan Salameh, who orchestrated the Munich Massacre, but the assassination attempt is interrupted by several drunken Americans. It is implied that these are agents of the CIA, which, according to Louis, protects and funds Salameh in exchange for his promise not to attack US diplomats. Meanwhile, attempts are made on the assassins themselves. Carl is killed by an independent Dutch contract killer. In revenge, the team tracks her down and executes her at a houseboat in Hoorn, Netherlands. Hans is found stabbed to death on a park bench, and Robert is killed by an explosion in his workshop. Avner and Steve finally locate Salameh in Spain, but again their assassination attempt is thwarted, this time by Salameh's armed guards. It is implied that Louis has sold information on the team to the PLO. A disillusioned Avner flies to Israel, where he is unhappy to be hailed as a hero by two young soldiers and then to his new home in Brooklyn, where he suffers post-traumatic stress and paranoia. Concerns continue to grow when he speaks to Louis's father by phone and it is revealed he knows his real name and promises no violence will come to him from his family. He is thrown out of the Israeli consulate after storming in to demand that Mossad leave his wife and child alone. Ephraim comes to ask Avner to return to Israel and Mossad, but Avner refuses. Avner then asks Ephraim to come to dinner with family, to break bread as an allegory to make peace, but Ephraim refuses, perhaps as a sign that neither side will reconcile. ===== Lt. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) returns from the Gamma Quadrant in her runabout with a woman that Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) recognizes as Vash (Jennifer Hetrick) from his time on board the Enterprise. Although the crew is unaware of his presence, Q (John de Lancie) -- a nearly omnipotent prankster -- has also stowed away on the runabout. Vash explains that she has spent the past two years in the Gamma Quadrant, but she describes her method of getting there as a "private matter". During their trip back to Deep Space Nine, the vessel undergoes a series of unusual power drains. Soon after Vash's arrival, the station begins to experience similar power failures. In the meantime, Q appears to Vash, apparently infatuated with her. Q was the one who transported Vash to the Gamma Quadrant two years earlier, but now she wants nothing to do with him, much to Q's annoyance. When Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) asks Vash out for dinner, a jealous Q uses his powers to send Bashir off to sleep. Meanwhile, Quark (Armin Shimerman) arranges to auction off various items Vash has found in the Gamma Quadrant, including an unusual crystal that might fetch a high price. Remembering Q from the Enterprise, O'Brien spots Q on the station and warns Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks), speculating that Q may be responsible for the power drains. When confronted, Q denies any wrongdoing, although he offers no alternative explanation. As the power drains become more severe, an unknown gravimetric field begins pulling the station toward the nearby wormhole. Q challenges Sisko to a boxing match on the Promenade, and suddenly, they are both wearing antique-style boxing costumes. A few punches are thrown, and Q is shocked when Sisko knocks him down ("You hit me! Picard never hit me!"). Vash and Quark auction the artifacts and the crystal receives bids in excess of one thousand bars of gold-pressed latinum. Casually joining the bid process, Q ups the ante on Vash's crystal to 2501 bars before bidding one million. Soon after, however, the source of the gravimetric field and power losses is traced to the crystal itself. The crystal is quickly beamed into space before it can destroy the station. Once outside, it transforms into an alien life form and travels into the wormhole. After the incident, Bashir finally awakens from his slumber. Unaware of what has just transpired, he yawns and tells Dax that he feels like he has been asleep for days. A bemused Dax gives him a strange look to which Bashir replies "What--did I miss something?" ===== In the library, Giles shows Buffy a variety of crystals, ostensibly to teach her how to identify them. Later, on patrol, Buffy's strength suddenly deserts her and she is nearly killed by a vampire. Buffy reports the problem to Giles and demonstrates her poor performance when throwing knives at a target. At home, Buffy is disappointed to find that her father is too busy to take her to the ice show for her 18th birthday; she suggests to Giles that he could take her instead. Giles has Buffy stare at a crystal until she falls into a trance, then injects her with a mysterious substance. Meanwhile, Quentin Travers, the head watcher, sets up an extreme test for the slayer, assisted by two men named Hobson and Blair. Buffy tries to intervene when Cordelia's argument with an aggressive suitor becomes physical, but she is casually knocked aside. Buffy enlists the help of her friends to figure out what is wrong. She visits Angel who gives her a book for her birthday. He tells her about how he saw her before she was the slayer and how he loved her from the second he first saw her. Kralik, the captive vampire intended for Buffy's test, breaks out of his straitjacket while Blair is giving him his pills. He turns Blair into a vampire. Giles goes to find Quentin at the Sunnydale Arms building, but discovers that Kralik is missing and Hobson dead. Buffy, walking home alone, is confronted by Kralik. Blair chases her until Giles drives by and picks her up. At the Summers' home, Joyce hears a noise out front where she finds Kralik wrapped up in Buffy's jacket. Giles tells Buffy that she has lost her strength due to the injections of muscle relaxant and adrenaline suppressors he had given her, and about the test. Furious, Buffy returns home where she finds a picture of her mother bound to a chair and gagged by Kralik. Buffy goes to the Sunnydale Arms building, beats Blair unconscious and then is chased by Kralik until his need for pills becomes unbearable. Buffy steals them away, and slides down a laundry chute where she finds her mother. Kralik breaks through the door and grabs his pills back, washing them down with a nearby glass of water. Buffy had filled the glass with holy water, causing Kralik to burn from within. Buffy frees her mother as Giles arrives and stakes Blair. Back at the library, Quentin congratulates Buffy on her accomplishment, but Buffy is also angry with him. Quentin tells Giles that he is fired because his relationship with the slayer is more that of a father than a watcher. He tells Buffy that a new watcher will be assigned to her and warns Giles not to interfere before leaving. Buffy allows Giles to tend her wounds. Giles is still the school librarian and willing to help Buffy as a freelancer. At home, Buffy has not yet recovered her strength and fails to open a jar in her kitchen. Xander tries unsuccessfully to open it then asks Willow to help him out. ===== Xander helps out the gang with another demon vanquishing, but Buffy worries about his safety and asks him to stay out of the fighting, upsetting him. When a student throws him a football, Xander drops it onto Jack O'Toole's lunch, resulting in Jack threatening to beat him up. Cordelia, having witnessed the event, tells Xander he is useless and extraneous, since all of his friends are slayers, werewolves, witches, and watchers, while he is nothing. Meanwhile, Giles informs Buffy that the end of the world is near. The Sisterhood of Jhe, a group of fierce demons, is planning to reopen the Hellmouth. Xander gets himself a car in the hope it will make him useful and cool, but accidentally rear-ends Jack, who is sitting in a parked car. Jack threatens Xander with a knife, but when a cop shows up, Xander covers for Jack and gains his respect. They go to get the rest of Jack's friends who, being dead, need to be raised from their graves. Buffy, Willow and Giles are researching in the library. Giles leaves to contact some spirits and hopefully get their help with stopping the sisterhood. Xander takes Jack and his group of friends to get supplies. He spots Willow leaving the magic shop and tries to talk to her; she tells him that she loves him before hurrying off to help Buffy. When Jack and friends try to initiate Xander into their group, he flees. He rescues Faith from a member of the sisterhood by hitting it with his car; they go to her motel room where she seduces him. Afterwards, she kicks him out, clothes in hand. Meanwhile, back at the library, Willow and Giles struggle to get Oz (in werewolf form) away from the Hellmouth. They sedate him and lock him in the basement. Xander realizes that Jack and his group have built a bomb. He seeks help from Buffy, but she is too busy having an emotional encounter with Angel. On his way to see Giles to warn him, Xander sees the Jack's zombie group and drags one of them with his car until he confesses the location of the bomb. Xander finds the bomb in the school basement and vanquishes three of Jack's zombie minions, but Jack shows up and they fight. Xander positions himself between Jack and the exit door so that Jack has no hope of escaping before the bomb explodes. Jack defuses the bomb with seconds to spare and turns to leave, swearing revenge. He opens the door, releasing Oz, who immediately attacks and eat him. Meanwhile, at the library, Buffy, Angel, Faith, Giles and Willow fight off a giant multi-headed monster and the members of the Sisterhood of Jhe before successfully closing the Hellmouth. The next day, the bruised Buffy, Willow, Giles, and Oz sit at a table discussing how they saved the world from destruction. Oz finds himself oddly disgusted by his appetite after waking up. Xander, not knowing anything of their battle and vice versa, comes by to chat with them. After a few seconds of talk, Xander decides to keep his harrowing night-long adventure to himself (aware that his friends will never believe such a story, no matter how he tells it). As he walks away, Cordelia once again taunts him over being left out of the group, but Xander merely smiles and walks by... quietly secure and confident in his place in the world and realizing that with or without Buffy, he can survive on his own. ===== While out patrolling, Buffy and Faith kill a vampire that was armed with swords, one short and one long. The next day in the school library, Buffy's supercilious new watcher, Wesley, identifies the swords as belonging to a cult of swordsman vampires, who were once led by a demon named Balthazar. Wesley instructs Buffy to retrieve an amulet that belonged to Balthazar, who he believes to be dead. That night, Buffy finds the amulet but a group of Balthazar's vampires arrive before she can take it. Faith impulsively jumps into the vampire nest and is joined in the fight by Buffy, who finds the amulet. After handing it over to Wesley, Buffy leaves to take a school test. She repeatedly tries to tell Willow and Xander about the previous night and notices Xander twitch whenever she mentions Faith's name. Faith shows up at the window and she and Buffy leave to destroy another vampire nest. Exhilarated, the two go dancing at the Bronze where Buffy meets up with Angel. He tells her that Balthazar is alive and looking for his amulet. When Wesley arrives she takes the amulet from him and gives it to Angel for safekeeping. Buffy and Faith find Balthazar surrounded by his vampires, so they break into a sports equipment store to steal weapons. The police arrive and arrest them, but the two slayers break out of the car, causing it to crash and injure the police officers. The following morning, the Mayor is attacked by one of Balthazar's vampires, who is foiled by Mr. Trick. Balthazar demands his minions bring him the watchers, kill the slayers, and bring him his amulet. The enemy who crippled him is about to gain ultimate power and he refuses to let this come to pass. Willow presents Buffy with a protection spell and is ready to go slaying that night, but Buffy tells her that it is too dangerous and that she is going with Faith instead. The two run into several vampires and stake them, then Allan, the mayor's human deputy, grabs Buffy so Faith stakes him too. He dies before anything can be done and the slayers scatter. Buffy runs into Angel who tells her about Balthazar capturing Giles, while Faith returns to Allan's body. Balthazar questions the two watchers as to who has his amulet. Wesley is willing to tell him, but does not know Angel's name. Angel shows up with Buffy, frees Giles and a fight breaks out. When Balthazar captures Angel, Buffy tosses live wires into his tub of water, electrocuting him. With his dying breath, Balthazar warns them of his enemy. In his office that night, the Mayor performs a ritual that makes him unable to be killed. Buffy tries to talk to Faith about Allan's death, but Faith has disposed of the body and says she does not care. ===== Buffy dreams that she is being pulled underwater by the corpse of Deputy Mayor Allan Finch; when she manages to reach the surface, her fellow vampire slayer, Faith, pushes her back down. Faith's plan to cover up her accidental killing of the deputy mayor fails when Allan's body is recovered from the water. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce orders the slayers to investigate the death to see if anything supernatural was involved. Privately, Faith asks if Buffy is going to turn her in, and Buffy is not sure. Buffy and Faith sneak into City Hall to try to find out what Allan was doing in the alleyway in the first place. They find that all of his papers have been shredded, and that the mayor is in league with Mr. Trick. After much thought and discussion with Willow, Buffy decides to tell Giles what happened, only to discover that Faith has already told him that Buffy was the killer. Giles easily sees through the lie, though he lets Faith think he believes her so the gang can keep closer tabs on her and get her off the slippery slope she is on. Giles tells Buffy that accidental human deaths do occur in the fight against vampires, and that Faith is in denial about the killing. Wesley overhears the conversation and calls the Watcher Council. While offering to help, Xander reveals to the gang that he slept with Faith. Willow tries to play down her reaction but ends up crying alone in the bathroom. Buffy expresses her worry about Faith and the need to deal with the problem now. Xander tries to reason with Faith, but she throws him on the bed, teasing she could do anything she wanted to him, and proceeds to strangle him. Angel bursts in and clobbers her with a bat. Angel then tries his own brand of reasoning and seems to be making progress. The mayor and Mr. Trick watch Buffy and Faith's City Hall break-in on CCTV. The mayor says that the slayers both have to be taken care of and quickly as there is not enough evidence to put them in jail. Helped by others with crosses and nets, Wesley attacks Angel and shackles Faith for transport to the Watcher Council in England. She quickly escapes, and plans to hop a boat out of Sunnydale. On his return to the library, a bruised Wesley receives a very hostile reception from the gang. Buffy finds Faith and tries to reason with her but Faith challenges Buffy to join her side instead, eventually inciting Buffy to hit her. Their confrontation is interrupted by several vampires led by Mr. Trick. As he is about to bite Buffy, Faith stakes him. Buffy returns to the library, convinced that there is still good in Faith. In the final scene Faith approaches the mayor and offers to replace Mr. Trick as his assistant. ===== In this episode Walker's ex-wife has a new boyfriend, who she cannot find. She employs Amos Walker in the search, but the new "beau" has a secret life as a government assassin, and that is it what he has got involved in, and the events of the book unfold from there, at whatever pace it continues to be read at. ===== An exotic dancer, Ann Maringer's life is in danger, she is scared and sure someone is out to get her. Ann turns to Amos Walker the irascible private-eye from Detroit but then disappears and Walker is out to find out what happened and where she is. ===== Porter Wren is a columnist and crime reporter for a New York City newspaper. He is a popular journalist and his stories are widely read. Wren knows how to listen to people and there are people who just need to talk, especially to him. He attends an after-work party hosted by the publishing magnate, where he meets Caroline Crowley. Mrs. Crowley was recently widowed by the mysterious murder of her husband Simon Crowley. Crowley was a brilliant movie director who would often just disappear at night to videotape stuff. Crowley's body was discovered in a sealed-off building that was about to be demolished. No one could figure out how the body got there. Caroline invites him to her apartment where she shows him confidential police reports related to the death of her husband. She wants Porter to investigate the murder and as an incentive seduces him even though he is married with children. What follows is a twisted tale of sex, murder and blackmail. ===== The story is narrated by a Cherokee man in the late 16th century. An English immigrant called the Spear- Shaker has been captured by the narrator's tribe, and is essentially adopted by them. The Spear-Shaker tries to introduce the concept of stage play to the tribe by producing a version of Hamlet for them, but mutual cultural misunderstandings make this very difficult. ===== In September 1942, Captain Yamagami (Susumu Kurobe) is ordered to rendezvous the Yamato with the Combined Fleet that is gathering at the Truk Islands (aka Chuuk Islands) in Micronesia, a key strategic point in the South Pacific. With beautiful clear blue skies above and surrounded by coral reefs below, this South Seas paradise became a strong base for the Combined Fleet and the front lines of the naval war; a place where many fierce battles were fought. Decades later, the sea bed surrounding the Truk Islands is still littered with the remains of more than 60 warships and airplanes. Among Yamagami’s crew are the cantankerous Divisional Officer Noboru Osako (Yukijiro Hotaru) and the young Ensign Takeshi Kaido (Taiyo Sugiura). Unsure of what the future may bring, Kaido went off to war without declaring his intentions for his childhood sweetheart, Chie Kojima (Mai Nanami). He always carries her photo in his coat pocket, while Chie longs for his return to their seaside hometown. When the Yamato arrives at Truk, the married Osako decides to ease his worries over leaving behind a pregnant wife by sneaking an island woman named Momoka (Yumika Hayashi) aboard ship for some private recreation. But to Osako’s annoyance, Momoka brings along her elderly grandfather (Mickey Curtis) who insists on telling him a local tale about monsters that has been passed down for generations. The disbelieving naval officer is told that the surrounding waters are home to man-sized, carnivorous Bonefishes…and, as dangerous as the fish are, they are nothing more than an “opening act” for an even greater menace; the legendary Hell King of the Seas called Reigo. The next night, a lookout spots a massive shape half-submerged in the distance. Believing it to be an enemy submarine, the Yamato fires on it and scores a direct hit. Osako is shocked when the object emits a strange cry as it sinks beneath the waves. He reports the incident and the story of Reigo to his commander and shipmates. Unbeknownst to the crew, they have killed the offspring of Reigo. Not long after that first encounter, a school of luminous Bonefish launch themselves from the water like flying fish and attack a group of soldiers standing watch on the Yamato’s deck. Kaido hears their screams and rushes to the rescue, but finds the men already torn to pieces. Just as the old man predicted, the Bonefish herald the arrival of Reigo, a beast 80 meters-long and resembling a cross between Godzilla and a shark. Seething with rage at the murder of its cub, the monster attacks the Combined Fleet with incredible ferocity and awesome destructive power. The naval forces are caught off guard, and Reigo is able to destroy escort ships and damage the Yamato before returning to the ocean depths. The crew quickly regroups and plans a counterattack, but when Reigo returns it manages to stay one step ahead of the Japanese forces. Almost as if it is aware that the Yamato’s main guns are long range weapons which are ineffective up close, the monster attacks at close range or blasts the ships from underwater with blue bursts of electricity. Thoughts of family and lovers back home… fear at being confronted by an unknown enemy…conflict and confrontation explode among the officers and crew over the best battle strategy to use against the threat of Reigo. Over Osako’s loud objections, Kaido suggests a last-ditch plan of attack that will either stop Reigo or sink the Yamato. Now the stage is set for a final battle to unfold between the world’s largest battleship and the mysterious dragon-like monster that glides through the seas at will. ===== During the late 18th century, Mr. and Mrs. Bennet and their daughters — Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia — live at Longbourn, their estate in rural England. Mrs. Bennet, eager to secure her daughters' futures through suitable marriages, is delighted when wealthy bachelor Charles Bingley moves into nearby Netherfield. Bingley is introduced to local society at an assembly ball with his sister, Caroline, and his friend, Mr. Darcy. Bingley and Jane are taken with each other, while Elizabeth instantly dislikes the aloof Darcy and overhears his demeaning remarks about her. Later visiting the Bingleys, Jane falls ill and must stay to recuperate. At Netherfield to see Jane, Elizabeth verbally spars with the haughty Caroline and Darcy. The Bennets are visited by Mr. Bennet's cousin, Mr. Collins, a pompous clergyman; as the Bennets have no sons, Collins will inherit Longbourn. Mr. Collins intends to propose to Jane, but Mrs. Bennet suggests Elizabeth instead. The Bennet sisters meet the charming Lieutenant Wickham, who is connected to the Darcy family and wins Elizabeth's sympathy by claiming Mr. Darcy denied him his rightful inheritance. At a ball held at Netherfield, Elizabeth is pursued by Collins, and accepts Darcy's request for a dance, trading witty taunts with him. The next day, Collins proposes to Elizabeth, who declines; despite her mother's anger, her father supports her decision. When the Bingley party unexpectedly return to London, Elizabeth sends Jane to the city to stay with their aunt and uncle, the Gardiners, hoping to reconnect her with Bingley. Elizabeth is astonished that her friend Charlotte, fearing spinsterhood, has accepted Mr. Collins' proposal. Months later, Elizabeth visits the newly-married Mr. and Mrs. Collins, who reside on the manor estate of his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh. Invited to dine there, Elizabeth is surprised to see Darcy, who is Lady Catherine's nephew, visiting with his friend, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Unaware Jane is Elizabeth's sister, Fitzwilliam mentions that Darcy recently separated Bingley from a woman with an "undesirable" family. Distraught, Elizabeth is confronted by Darcy, who proposes marriage and declares he loves her "most ardently" despite her inferior rank. She refuses, and he defends his interference with Jane and Bingley, and criticizes the Bennet family. Elizabeth cites his treatment of Wickham, leaving Darcy angry and heartbroken. He leaves her a letter describing Wickham's true character: Wickham squandered the bequest Darcy's father left him, then attempted to seduce Darcy's 15-year- old sister, Georgiana, into eloping to gain her fortune. Elizabeth returns home, as does Jane, having moved on from Bingley. Accompanying the Gardiners on a trip to the Peak District, Elizabeth reluctantly tours Pemberley, the grand Darcy estate. She runs into Darcy, who invites her and the Gardiners to dine at Pemberley. Darcy's manner has softened considerably, and Georgiana shares her brother's flattering reports about Elizabeth. An urgent letter from Jane reveals that Lydia has run off with Wickham. Darcy leaves abruptly, and Elizabeth returns home, where her mother fears Lydia's disgrace will ruin her sisters' chances for good marriages. Mr. Gardiner sends news that Lydia and Wickham are now married, and the newlyweds return to Longbourn. Lydia lets slip to Elizabeth that it was Darcy who found them, and paid for their wedding and Wickham's military commission. Bingley and Darcy return to Netherfield and visit Longbourn; Bingley proposes to Jane, who accepts. Late that night, Lady Catherine arrives to see Elizabeth, and demands she never become engaged to Darcy; deeply insulted, Elizabeth refuses. Walking the moor early the next morning, Elizabeth encounters Darcy, who apologizes for his aunt's intrusion. He professes his continued love, and Elizabeth, her feelings radically altered, accepts his proposal. She tells her father the truth of Darcy's actions, and Mr. Bennet gives Elizabeth his consent to marry, overjoyed she has found love. ===== The main story is set in a British Military Intelligence Office in Whitehall during 1956, where a small group of foreign affairs analysts find their quiet existence disrupted by the Suez Crisis. Mick Hopper (Ewan McGregor) is completing his national service as an interpreter of Russian documents. Bored with his job, Hopper spends his days creating fantasy daydreams that involve his colleagues breaking into contemporary hit songs. Sylvia Berry (Louise Germaine) is married to the violent Corporal Pete Berry (Douglas Henshall). Sylvia is an object of desire for Mick's fellow clerk Private Francis Francis (Giles Thomas) and a middle-aged theatre organist named Harold Atterbow (Roy Hudd). In contrast to the street-wise Hopper, Francis is a clumsy Welsh intellectual whose academic career has been interrupted by his army call up. The appearance of the bookish niece of a seconded American officer enables the two conscripts to pair off with suitable partners, after initial mismatching. The main theme of the series is conflict between the old order, as represented by the middle- aged officers in Whitehall plus Francis' prudish Uncle Fred and Aunt Vickie, and the new 'rock n roll' generation represented by Hopper and Sylvia. Though chronologically the series is set in the late summer and autumn of 1956 culminating in the invasion of Suez, many of the songs used, including the title song, were not released until later in the 1950s. Some of the side themes include the influence of American rock and roll on British society, the gulf between the senior analysts, who are regular army officers, and the conscripted other ranks, the work of Russian playwright Chekhov, and an appreciation of opulent theatre organs. The unusual context – a military culture transplanted into a civil service style office environment – reflects Potter's own national service during the 1950s. ===== A thirty-year-old housewife, Mi-heun, is visited by a woman in a red sweater. She smirks and tells Mi-heun that her husband is her lover. These few words take away and shatter Mi-heun's life as she knew it, a true terror on an unforgettable Christmas evening. Swept away by the peaceful, silent town of Butterfly Ville, Mi-heun and her family begin a new life as if nothing had happened. However, the aftermath of that night still haunts Mi-heun with headaches as she vexatiously tries to vent out her heartache, alone. But nothing seems to change. In-kyu is a not-so-busy country town doctor who enjoys fishing in the nearby lake. The rest of his time is spent on fishing girls out for sex. As the doctor is beginning to enjoy and is getting comfortable with his small town life, he meets her. As Mi-heun sits blankly under the blazing sun at a rest stop, a sharp voice comes to her like an alarm and awakes her. She refuses him with all her body and might, but at the same time, falls into him with her entire body and soul. In-kyu gives Mi-heun an overwhelming answer to her question. When she felt like she was at the end of her ropes, she falls into a dangerous game of sex that would never allow for love. Unaware to herself, she starts to enjoy the lover's game more and more. Mi-heun's husband wants to make a pond outside their new house. Hyo-Kyung hopes to make the pond to raise some fish and live happily there, together, as a family. However, the one person who should be there sharing his small dream is not there. The lonely pond remains as Mi-heun is walking through the heavy woods that are found outside the only motel in town. What will become of the husband who waits for his wife, and the two star-crossed who choose the path of no return? Is there an end to their never-ending desires? ===== The book is narrated by a school senior ("sixth former" in prep-school vernacular) at an unnamed elite boarding school in the northeastern United States in 1960–61. The unnamed protagonist is a scholarship student who comes from a middle-class family. He aspires to be a writer, and the school he attends is an embodiment of a certain kind of academic fantasy, where non-English masters (teachers are "masters" here) "floated at the fringe of [the English masters'] circle, as if warming themselves at a fire," and literature is still believed to hold the key to the soul. Robert Frost, Ayn Rand, and Ernest Hemingway, with each of whom the narrator crosses paths, appear in the story, dispensing wisdom, pseudo-wisdom, vitriol. These literary appearances amount to creative satires of these authors, especially Ayn Rand. The novel revolves around themes of adolescence, class, and the role of literature. The Penguin Random House publisher's blurb describes the book thus: In his review for the New York Times, critic A.O. Scott writes that Old School is "about nothing if not the making of a writer — though it is also, just as plainly, about a writer's failure." ===== Nigel Dennis (Dennis Price) is a blackmailer who threatens to publish embarrassing secrets in his magazine The Naked Truth. After attempting to blackmail a famous scientist (who commits suicide), and an MP (who suffers a heart attack in parliament, and probably succumbs), his latest targets are Lord Henry Mayley (Terry-Thomas), television host Sonny MacGregor (Peter Sellers), writer Flora Ransom (Peggy Mount), and model Melissa Right (Shirley Eaton). Several of them decide independently that murder would be a better solution than paying. However, it is Mayley who by sheer bad luck nearly ends up the victim of both MacGregor and Ransom's schemes. The four eventually join forces and try again. That attempt also fails, but Dennis is then arrested for an earlier crime. When Dennis threatens to reveal all at his trial, Mayley comes up with a scheme to break him out of prison and send him to South America, with the help of hundreds of his other victims. They phone in numerous fake calls for help, distracting the London police, while Mayley, MacGregor, and MacGregor's reluctant assistant Porter (Kenneth Griffith), disguised as policemen, whisk Dennis away. Knocking Dennis unconscious periodically, they finally end up in the cabin of a blimp on the way to a rendezvous with an outbound ship. To their dismay, when he comes to, Dennis refuses to go along with their plan, as he in fact never wanted to reveal any of their secrets in court. He was, in fact, optimistic about the trial anyway, and reveals that the evidence was his copies of "The Naked Truth" which had been destroyed by the plotters earlier. Happy to have outsmarted his opponents again, but unaware of where he is, Dennis then steps out for some air and plummets to the ocean below. When MacGregor celebrates by shooting his pistol, it punctures the blimp, which shoots away into the distance. ===== The player, taking on the role of the unnamed astronaut protagonist, returns from a failed 100-year voyage to 61 Cygni to find the Earth devoid of humans. Cars are rusted and covered with moss, the streets are completely barren, and everything appears as though the entire human race had just vanished suddenly. The player happens upon a barely functioning computer terminal that is tied into a storytelling mainframe, Homer. Through this interface, the player, assisted by Homer who attempts to weave the information into a coherent narrative, discovers information in order to piece together the occurrences leading to the disappearance of the human race. For instance, spending some time in the Medical Records section may unlock a piece of data in the Science section, and through these links the player can finish the game. ===== In 1996, Jack Wilson is producing a crime docuseries segment on The Manson Family murders. Narrated via contemporaneous interviews and flashbacks, several former members of Charles "Charlie" Mansons "family" recount their time spent leading up to the August 1969 murder spree. Tex Watson is brought to Spahn Ranch, a former movie set-turned-commune where Manson is housing his followers. Tex ingratiates himself with the group, who spend their time taking copious amounts of LSD, smoking marijuana, and engaging in group sex; meanwhile, Charlie unsuccessfully attempts to get a record deal with his folk music. Several of the male members, including Tex and Bobby Beausoleil, attempt to recruit Simi, a young woman, into the family. They convince her to take LSD before the entire family gang rapes her at Charlie's command. The group begin breaking into random homes in Los Angeles, stealing items and rearranging furniture while the occupants sleep. Later, during a dispute over a drug transaction, Charlie shoots and kills Lotsapoppa, an African American drug dealer whom he suspects is part of the Black Panthers. The whole family engage in a mass ritualistic orgy in which they sacrifice a puppy. After, Tex informs follower Patricia Krenwinkel and several others that he is afraid of Charlie and wants to leave. Meanwhile, Bobby and Susan Atkins confront an acquaintance, music teacher Gary Hinman, at his home, planning to raid his house of money, as they believe him to be wealthy. When the plan goes unsuccessfully, Gary is held hostage for two days before Charlie arrives and slices his ear off. After Charlie leaves, Susan attempts to nurse Gary back to health, but she and Bobby find themselves unsure how to carry out the robbery, as Gary does not have money. As a last resort, Bobby stabs him in the chest, after which he and Susan smother him with a cushion. Susan writes the phrase "political piggy" on the wall in Gary's blood before they depart. Bobby is arrested days later while trying to flee town. Under Charlie's instruction, Tex, Susan, and Patricia Krenwinkel, and Linda Kasabian depart on the evening of August 8 to break into houses in Los Angeles, and are told to "bring knives." They arrive at a home on Cielo Drive, where Tex shoots Steven Parent, a man sitting in his parked car, near the gate. They enter the home and bind its residents, including Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, and Voytek Frykowski. Tex shoots Jay before stabbing him to death. Tex shoots Voytek as he tries to flee before bludgeoning him with the pistol while the sheepish Linda watches in horror. Susan proceeds to attack Abigail in the kitchen, stabbing her before Tex slashes her throat. Abigail, clinging to life, stumbles outside before collapsing in the lawn. Meanwhile, the pregnant Sharon is brutally stabbed to death in the living room. The next night, the four members, in addition to Leslie Van Houten and Steve Grogan, viciously murder Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their home. Two weeks later, several members murder Donald Shea at Charlie's instruction, as he fears Donald knows too much and could provide authorities information in the Tate-LaBianca murders. Later, the family members, including Charlie, are arrested and indicted on the murders. From jail, Manson accrues a cult following of young people who speak out in his support to the media. In 1996, while Jack Wilson is working on the documentary, a group of heroin-addled countercultural goths inspired by the Manson family break into the office and shoot him to death before taking turns stabbing him. After, they brutally murder a young punk wearing a Manson t-shirt. ===== In 1984, in Kiev, schoolteacher Andrej Romanovich Evilenko is dismissed from his position after attempting to rape a pupil. Driven by his psychopathic urges and embittered by the collapse of the Soviet Union, Evilenko begins to rape, kill, and cannibalise women and children. It is hinted throughout the movie that Evilenko somehow gained the power to hypnotise his victims, which accounts for their lack of resistance and his continuous evasion of the authorities. Vadim Timurouvic Lesiev, a magistrate and family man, is assigned to catch the serial killer. For years, Evilenko eludes Lesiev and psychiatrist Aron Richter, who is assigned to profile the killer. Richter eventually finds Evilenko with a little girl and manages to break Evilenko's hypnotic hold on her, but is killed by Evilenko in retaliation; although it appears to Evilenko that she is run over by a train, the girl escapes alive. Almost two years later, Lesiev finally captures Evilenko, who by now has killed 55 people, mostly children and young women. On 22 May 1992, Evilenko goes to court, and on 14 February 1994, he is finally executed. Before his execution, two governments expressed interest in Evilenko's psychic abilities and asked for extradition of Evilenko but were denied. ===== Evan Kendrick is a U.S. Congressman from a remote Western Colorado district. As a former building contractor in the Middle East, he is close friends with the Sultan of Oman. He returns to Oman under deep cover when the U.S. Embassy in Masqat is taken by terrorists. During his time undercover he unmasks a far- reaching terror network aimed at controlling the economies and governments of the Middle East. ===== Among a group of fox priests who worship the Inari Daimyojin (Fox Deity), one evil fox named Madfox Daimyōjin infiltrated his way to the highest ranks and took over the shrine. After seizing power, Madfox corrupted the land and created hordes of creatures. One young fox (who would earn the name Psycho Fox) has been chosen by his fellow people to rid the land of this evil deity. ===== Ten people travel by aerial tramway to a snowbound mansion, invited there by a Mr. U.N. Owen (Unknown) to spend the weekend. They discover that none of them has actually ever met Owen, including his secretary as well as a married housekeeper and cook, all hired through an agency. Framed copies of the children's nursery rhyme "Ten Little Indians" are hung on the walls of each guest's bedroom. Dinner is served by the butler Grohmann on a tray adorned with ten little Indian figurines, as well. At exactly 9 p.m., as instructed, Grohmann switches on a hidden tape recording. A man identifying himself as Owen reveals that each of the 10 guests has a scandalous secret, their involvement in various innocent people's deaths. One by one, the guests begin dying off. Mike Raven chokes after taking a drink and dies, and a small Indian figurine from the centerpiece tray is broken away. In the morning, the cable tram is cut, killing the cook, Mrs. Grohmann, who attempted to escape. General Mandrake conducts a search of the chalet's catacombs, splitting everyone into pairs, ultimately leading to his demise, stabbed after being led to a planted distraction (a cat). It becomes clear that their unseen killer is following the nursery rhyme. Ann Clyde, the secretary, enters into a romantic relationship with engineer Hugh Lombard as they and the others begin a deadly cat-and-mouse game, ultimately deducing that Owen is not their host but, in reality, one of them. After falling under suspicion from the others, Grohmann attempts to make his escape down the mountain peak, Devil's Leap, ending in his death after his lifeline is severed with an axe. Ilona bitterly confesses to having driven her husband to suicide, and is later found dead in her bedroom, killed with a syringe. By now, the five remaining guests fall under distrust of one another, and alliances are formed as the generator shuts down, casting the mansion into total darkness. At dinner, each person reveals the nature of their accusations, but before Ann can attest to her crime, she separates from the group to her room, where she screams upon discovering an Indian decoy hung from the ceiling. In the confusion, Judge Cannon is found with a gunshot wound to his head. Dr. Armstrong intimates his suspicions of Ann, which Lombard angrily rebuffs. Lombard later comes to Ann's room and confides that his real name is Charles Morley, and that the real Lombard had committed suicide and he took his place for the weekend. Morley gives Ann his revolver for her protection. In the morning, Blore discovers that Armstrong has vanished and the three conduct a search for him. Blore separates and goes outside, where he is crushed by a large statue of a bear. Ann and Morley discover the body of Dr. Armstrong in the snow and conclude that the killer can only be either of them. Ann pulls the revolver on Morley and shoots at him, before returning to the mansion. She goes upstairs and discovers Judge Cannon very much alive, who explains how he persuaded Dr. Armstrong to help him fake his death. He adds that he intends to poison himself, leaving Ann as the last remaining survivor, who must hang herself and fulfill the rhyme, or be punished by the law instead. As Judge Cannon is explaining his plan, having taken a fatal dose of poison, Morley reappears, alive. Ann and Morley had faked his death, as they had figured out that neither one of them was the killer. As he dies, Judge Cannon realizes his plan has failed, and Ann and Morley kiss in relief. They see the cat sitting among the fruit tray with only two Indians attached. ===== The seemingly random murder of their adoptive mother, Evelyn Mercer (Fionnula Flanagan), at a Highland Park, Michigan convenience store, brings four brothers back home to Detroit, Michigan to find out what happened. Originally under the impression the crime was a simple robbery-gone-wrong, the brothers soon discover that the robbery was merely a cover for a hit put out on Evelyn. After this revelation, oldest brother and criminal Bobby (Mark Wahlberg), Marine and third oldest Angel (Tyrese Gibson), second oldest and family man Jeremiah (André Benjamin) and the youngest, rock musician Jack Mercer (Garrett Hedlund) track down the hired guns who killed Evelyn. Refusing to say anything, they are unceremoniously executed by Bobby and Angel. The next day, Detroit Police Lieutenant Green (Terrence Howard) and Detective Fowler (Josh Charles) confront the brothers about the murders. Lieutenant Green warns them that their interference with Evelyn's case is ill-advised, and that it will eventually put them in over their heads. After confronting Jeremiah about the revelation of his failing business and benefiting from Evelyn's life insurance, the brothers are treated to a somewhat different version of events. Jeremiah informs them that his construction company was failing precisely because he was not getting involved with gang lord Victor Sweet (Chiwetel Ejiofor), and that for a project to succeed he had to pay off the right people, which he initially failed to do. In his effort to restore his business and relieve pressure from himself, he tried to pay off Sweet's henchmen. As for the life insurance, Jeremiah explains that the money went directly to him for his daughters, because he paid all of Evelyn's bills while his other brothers were not around. Back at their home, during a confrontation with Jeremiah, Sweet's men attack the brothers. Jack is shot and killed during the attack. Bobby finds one of the gunmen still alive and questions him about who sent them. He almost spares the gunman but is offended when the gunman mumbles "Thank God" and kills him anyway. When Lieutenant Green arrives, he tells them not to worry about any legal ramifications, assuring them that it will go down as self-defense. He also informs them that Evelyn filed a police report regarding Victor Sweet and his involvement in Jeremiah's affairs, and his partner, Detective Fowler, passed that report on to Sweet. Green warns the brothers to stay out of the matter and let him handle Fowler and then they will work together on Sweet. Later at a bar Green confronts Fowler, hitting him and ordering Fowler to hand in his badge. They walk out of the bar, and Fowler kills Green and calls it into dispatch claiming two assailants had fired upon Green. The remaining brothers devise a plan to buy Victor Sweet off with the $400,000 from their mother's life insurance. When Sweet accepts, Angel sets off for Fowler's. Arriving at Fowler's, he subdues him. Jeremiah then goes to meet Sweet, while Angel's girlfriend, Sofi, heads to the police station, where she tells the police that Angel is planning to kill a police officer. Hearing the sirens in the distance, Fowler thinks they are coming for Angel, until Angel opens his jacket showing a wire. Angel claims the whole conversation was taped, including Fowler's admission that he killed Green. The police arrive at Fowler's in full force, and Fowler gets the upper hand on Angel. With a gun pointed to Angel's head, Fowler tells the police to back off, despite their pleadings that they are actually there to rescue Fowler. Fowler opens fire on the officers outside anyway, who return fire and kill him. Meanwhile, at frozen over Lake St. Clair, Jeremiah meets with Sweet and reveals that the $400,000 is to buy off Sweet's henchmen, who are already embittered towards him due to his blatant mistreatment of them, and kill Sweet in exchange. Sweet angrily demands to know who will be the one to kill him just as Bobby shows up. Bobby and Sweet brawl, at the end, Bobby uses his hockey playing skills to get the upper hand and knocks Sweet unconscious. His former henchmen seal his fate after he is dropped in a hole carved into the ice, drowning him. The three brothers, taken into police custody, are beaten in an attempt to make them confess to the murder of Victor Sweet, which they do not. Back home, they set about repairing their mother's house, and continuing their lives together. ===== Set in a post-apocalyptic future during the aftermath of a nuclear war, the player takes control of a warrior who is hired to defeat the gang of an evil dictator. The hero is armed with a sword and shield, but has also been trained in the martial arts. ===== The novel begins with Francis, a tomcat, moving to a new neighborhood with his owner. Francis soon finds the corpse of another local cat, Sascha. Bluebeard (Blaubart in the original print), a deformed local cat, is convinced that humans (cat slang: "can-openers") are responsible for the death and other recent murders. Francis disagrees with this assessment, convinced that the slash on Sascha's neck was caused by teeth. The discovery of the body marks the start of terrible nightmares that afflict Francis and intertwine him with the murders. Another tomcat, "Deep Purple", is the next victim; while visiting the body, Francis notices that he, like Sascha, most probably was killed by another animal, in exactly the same way as Sascha. That night, Francis hears loud yowls that are coming from the uninhabited upper floors of his house. He finds a strange religious meeting taking place, in which a cat named Joker preaches about a cat known as Claudandus, a Jesus Christ-like figure, who allegedly sacrificed himself and ascended to Heaven. Meanwhile, cats jump into frayed wires and electrocute themselves. Francis accidentally alerts Joker to his presence, and is chased by the cult members. He escapes and falls through a skylight. He then meets Felicity (Felicitas in the original print), a blind Russian Blue who has heard the murderer and his victims shortly before their death. Additionally, Felicity says that she sees images in her mind alongside feelings of fear and pain. Francis believes that the images are actually memories retained from childhood. After leaving Felicity's home, Bluebeard takes Francis to Pascal, an intelligent Havana Brown who has learned to use his owner's computer. With it, he has compiled a list of the local cats. Francis learns from Pascal that Felicity has just been reportedly murdered. Francis experiences another nightmare that night, inspired by Pascal's words that Felidae deserve admiration, and the large portrait of Gregor Mendel in Pascal's house. Unnerved, Francis hunts for rats and finds the journal of a "Professor Julius Preterius", a scientist who used the house as a laboratory years prior. Francis learns that Preterius was attempting to create a flesh- binding glue with assistants Ziebold and Gray, using living cats to test it. The glue is unsuccessful, and, desperate, Preterius uses the glue on a stray cat. Due to a genetic abnormality, the glue seals the wounds on the cat instantly. Preterius names the cat Claudandus ("one who must or should be sealed"), and plans to breed him and replicate the mutation. Preterius descends into madness, but continues with his project long after funding ceases and his assistants have left. The journal's last entry reveals that Preterius had heard Claudandus speak to him, and was planning to free the cats. Francis later encounters the strange Persian Jesaja, who alludes to escaping from Preterius' lab and proclaims to be the Guardian of the Dead. He lives within ancient catacombs, keeping a tomb housing hundreds of cat skeletons. Jesaja says that he serves "the Prophet" (Claudandus), who delivers corpses for him to guard. That night, Francis experiences another dream, this time involving a white cat who states he is Felidae. He is surrounded by hundreds of others, many of whom Francis recognizes. The white cat invites Francis to join them on a journey to Africa. Francis awakes, and answers the call of a female in heat. He inquires about her breed. However, she simply states that her breed has no name, but is both old and new. He later learns from Bluebeard that her race is different, and more wild than standard cats. Francis, Pascal, and Bluebeard continue to research the murders. Their new data suggests that the murderer has been active since the demise of Preterius, and has killed approximately 450 cats. Joker has gone missing, and cannot be located. The three present this information to the local cats, and Pascal presents a logical explanation that places the blame on Joker. The crowd is placated, but Francis is not; he visits Joker's home. He finds Joker dead among porcelain statues. Unlike previous murders, there appears to have been no struggle. Joker had allowed the murderer to kill him in order to protect the secret of the Claudandus sect. Francis returns home, and reads an encyclopedia entry on genetics, which mentions Mendel as the founder of modern genetics through his experiments on plant hybridization. He realizes that the new-old cats are being specifically bred to bear attributes of their ancient Egyptian ancestors. Francis immediately begins to connect his dreams to the murders, and makes sense of Felicity's past comments: a cat had been attempting to keep standard males from breeding with the special females, and killed them after they failed to comply. He also recalls that Pascal's owner idolizes Mendel, that Pascal offhandedly mentioned his owner's name being Ziebold, and that Pascal spoke of Felidae with yearning. Francis concludes that the murderer is Pascal, who really is Claudandus, and goes to confront him. He finds a program on the computer that catalogs the new breed's genetics and breeding, as well as the cats killed to keep from contaminating the lines. Claudandus reveals himself, explaining that he harbors a deep hatred towards humanity due to the suffering inflicted upon him by Preterius. He had killed Preterius and set the other cats free before being rescued by Ziebold. Claudandus had wanted Francis to take over the program, hoping that the cats would eventually evolve into something capable of overthrowing the human race and all other species which he saw as inferior. Francis and Claudandus begin to battle, with Claudandus accidentally destroying the computer and setting the house afire in the process. Claudandus dies after Francis slits his throat. In the epilogue, Francis states that he never told any others the true identity of the murderer, and that Joker's name was eventually cleared. Jesaja was coaxed out of the catacombs, and has found a home with a bartender. Francis muses that Claudandus had succumbed to hatred, lost his innocence, and in the process, became human. He states that all animals have the ability to lose their innocence and humans, who descended from animals, still carry a hint of innocence. The novel ends with Francis urging the reader to never cease believing in a world where all animals and humans coexist, including those "more sublime and intelligent than the latter--for example, Felidae." ===== In the far future, on an Earth devastated by millennia of war, the Caroline Republic is hostile towards its neighbors despite sharing their dire economic straits. Outside the declining remains of civilization lie ruins and wastelands populated by mutants and monsters. It is generally felt that humanity lost its vitality long ago. To a leading politician of the Caroline the aged veteran General Toriman proposes a centuries-long scheme to build the nation by taking control of an ancient shipyard hundreds of miles away which was apparently designed to build spacecraft. Ostensibly, the purpose of the project will be the construction of a spaceship seven miles long called the "Victory" to carry the population of the despairing world to a paradise planet called "Home". In fact, the ship will never be completed, but the effort will revitalize the nation's economy and perhaps restore mankind's missing quality. General Toriman dies and the cynical politicians of the Republic rouse the population to begin the project. The River Road from the Caroline homeland to the Yards is forced with a bloody battle between a Caroline military force and mutants, during which the ghost of the ancient hero Miolnor IV appears to save the day. Work begins on constructing the ship. Despite their antiquity, the Yards' machinery and buildings seem to have been perfectly preserved and materials for the construction of the ship are discovered. Legends say that the fortifications still standing nearby defended human civilization against Dark Powers over the mountains to the west. The magnificent city of Gateway grows in the hills above the Yards while the Victory slowly takes shape. Much of the population of the Caroline moves to the Yards and its society is formally divided into two classes. The Technos supervise construction and are aware of the motivational "myth of the ship" plan while the People believe that the voyage to the planet Home is the actual goal. Some Technos realize that, although Gateway has become rich and prosperous through the Victory project, the Caroline homeland is still as miserable as its neighbors. Before they can act on this knowledge the People revolt, led by a man named Coral who claims truthfully that the Technos have lied and do not intend to complete the Victory. Most of the Technos are killed although one is allowed to bring the news to the Dresau Islands in the eastern sea. The Dresau Navy has a proud tradition as the last surviving remnant of vital humanity and its leader believes the Victory project has a sinister purpose, possibly directed by heirs of the dark power Salasar, which once ruled most of the earth. After almost two centuries of construction, the Victory is completed and the women and children of the People are placed aboard in suspended animation. Led by the Dresau Navy the gathered enemies of Coral's triumphant People attack with their restored ships and scavenged weapons. The defenses of the Caroline Empire are ineffective, and an apocalyptic battle rages about the Yards, with millions fighting. At the height of the battle the sea turns red with blood and the dead of past wars rise in support of the assault. The legendary fortresses fire missiles toward the west. Before any of the men of the People board the Victory it moves down the ways to the sea. It turns its huge engines toward the shore and they ignite, incinerating the fighting armies, ships, Yards, and Gateway. The Victory then redirects the destruction onto itself and its millions of passengers. Balls of fire arrive over the mountains to complete the destruction. When the wreckage of the Yards has cooled, the man who has been called General Toriman, the ghost of Miolnor IV, and Coral arrives. The Victory project and its opposition have been devised by the heirs of Salasar. He signals the completion of the project; the military powers of the east have been destroyed and invasion by those in the west can begin. ===== ===== The play opens in Cutlers' Grammar School, Sheffield, a fictional boys' grammar school in the north of England. Set in the early 1980s, the play follows a group of history pupils preparing for the Oxford and Cambridge entrance examinations under the guidance of three teachers (Hector, Irwin, and Lintott) with contrasting styles. Hector, an eccentric teacher, delights in knowledge for its own sake but his ambitious headmaster wants the school to move up the academic league table and hires Irwin, a supply teacher, to introduce a rather more cynical and ruthless style of teaching. Hector is discovered sexually fondling a boy and later Irwin's latent homosexual inclinations emerge. The character of Hector was based on the schoolmaster and author Frank McEachran (1900–1975).Geoff Andrews, James Klugmann, a complex communist dated 27 February 2012 at opendemocracy.net, accessed 1 May 2012 ===== María Teresa (Bárbara Gil) is a wealthy young woman who finds herself unmarried and pregnant. She approaches a doctor (Jorge Mistral) to obtain an abortion with the hopes of avoiding a scandal that would affect her family. The doctor, hoping to convince her otherwise, flashes back to an incident of his life to explain his "right to life" stance. ===== The book's main protagonist is Nicholas "Nick" Twisp, a 14-year-old boy of above-average intelligence from Oakland, California. Nick's life continues like a normal teenager's with his best friend Leroy, a.k.a. Lefty, and his divorced parents George and Estelle. His mother is dating a truck driver named Jerry, who sells a group of sailors a Chevy Nova that dies soon after the sailors get it. In response, the sailors go for revenge. After outsmarting them, Jerry strategically decides to take a vacation, so they all go to a religious mobile home camp in the resort town of Clearlake. It is there that Nick meets Sheridan "Sheeni" Saunders and his life is turned completely upside down. Through plots to get Sheeni closer to him he ends up with several crimes on his hands (including arson, grand theft auto, and foul play) and is forced to run from the police. Nick tricks everyone into thinking he went to India, thereby escaping the police. Nick hides out with his sister Joanie and returns with help from his friend in Ukiah, Frank "Fuzzy" DeFalco. He dresses in Fuzzy's late grandmother's clothes, adopting the name Carlotta and a conservative disposition. As Nick does so, he befriends Sheeni and several other people who Nick knew before. While spending the night with Sheeni on Christmas Eve, she reveals to him that she knew from the beginning it was him, not Carlotta. Nick then gets "the best Christmas present a youth could receive," starting a secret relationship with Sheeni. Nick inherits a fortune when an elderly neighbor of Joanie takes a liking to him and decides to put him in her will. When Joanie's neighbor died, Nick is briefly left half a million dollars richer, until his mother's boyfriend, a somewhat corrupt police officer, seizes the money. Faced with homelessness from the loss of the house he had been squatting in, Nick becomes rich beyond belief when an idea of his, a wart watch, makes it big. ===== Donald Poultry is a young, intelligent but somewhat socially stunted middle school boy attending Camp North Pines for the summer along with other middle and high school kids. Riding the bus to the camp, he talks into his tape recorder diary, voicing his concerns. All goes well upon arrival; the kids unpack and are given time to play outside before the introductory camp dinner. Donald is caught by a counselor-in-training and bully, Stanley Runk, whose friends call him Runk The Punk. Runk tells Donald it's time for cabin cleaning, but becomes interested in Donald's tape recorder. Donald fools him into thinking it's a computer that analyzes him in an insulting way, and Donald strikes up an immediate enmity with Runk, only to be saved by another CIT, Chris Wade, who dismisses Runk. At the dinner shortly afterwards, everyone says hello to the returning counselors Ed Heinz and Jack Caldwell, and Ed leads them in a welcoming applause for the new camp director Mr. Warren. Some of the boys recognize him as an old principal from their school and grumble about how strict his ruling of the camp will probably be. Mr. Warren is a middle-aged man with a generally pleasant demeanor, but he is overbearing when it comes to authority, striving to keep things "appropriate" for everyone. He is quite restrained, having limited the rec hall television to only receiving broadcasts from a religious channel, and warning everyone away from a dangerous rope bridge that leads to South Pines, the girls' side of the camp. Mr. Warren invites some of the younger group to a butterfly hunt, revealing that collecting and studying butterflies is his hobby and specialty. Some of the older boys jeer at him behind his back, calling him "fruity", except for Franklin Reilly, the CIT of the younger group, who seems respecting of his presence and protective of the young children like Chris. Some of the older boys sneak off to the bridge after the dinner is over, and Franklin climbs the open-rope loop from start to finish, but they are all caught and reprimanded by Ed. Ed reminds them that summer camp is a place to have fun, not charge headfirst into danger. They all head back to the main camp in time for the evening swim. Chris tries teaching Donald how to swim, but is interrupted and distracted by a visiting female doctor who introduces herself, much to the approval of the campers. Continuing on his own, Donald accidentally floats out too far and begins to drown, but the counselors don't notice. Frank looks up from his reading to see Donald in trouble. Surprised, he glances around to see that nobody else is responding, and jumps in to save Donald himself. When the counselors hear the frantic splashing, they reach the boys as they come out of the water. When Jack asks Franklin what happened, Franklin responds angrily that he's just doing their job for them. Later, Franklin finds a shy boy named Peter in the cabin on his own, and when he asks if Peter's okay, the kid responds that he became scared when Mr. Warren kept lifting him up too high to see some of the butterflies on the hunt. When Runk enters after Franklin, Franklin misleads Runk, implying that Mr. Warren did something inappropriate to Peter, causing Runk to become furious. Franklin convinces Runk to let him take care of the problem on his own. Later, when the boys are bored in the rec hall, Donald and Chris climb up to the roof together to fix the rigging on the satellite dish and unlock the disabled channels. Mr. Warren comes in to see the boys all cheering over a music video featuring half-naked women, and he furiously locks down the rec hall. The next night, during a co-ed talent show in which the girls from South Pines visit, he further angers the boys by ending the event early in response to an inappropriate song contributed by Runk and John Mason, and as punishment, he also cancels the upcoming co-ed dance. Some of the boys meet that night, including all of the CITs with the exception of Chris, who has been sent to the "meditation center" as punishment for making out with one of the girls after the show. Franklin leads the group in a discussion about how Mr. Warren is ruining their summer, and he proposes staging a coup and shutting away the authority to take control of the camp themselves. When some of the boys appear apprehensive, Franklin assures them it'll be like a game, not serious, and Donald helps by relating the "game" to capture the flag. Franklin, impressed with Donald, appoints him the position of captain in the upcoming revolution. Stunned, but easily won over, Donald accepts. Afterwards, the other boys are more easily sold. The next morning, Franklin gets up early and steals a gun the counselors keep locked away for protection. The day begins as an event called Camper-Counselor Turnabout, where the campers and counselors trade places. Everyone is having fun that morning, even counselor Jack, who usually finds it difficult to get along with some of the younger group due to his heavy-duty fitness regimens. At breakfast, camper Shawn poses as Mr. Warren and with his fake authority, he lists several joking changes to the rules that everyone agrees with enthusiastically. However, he is interrupted by a suggestion from Franklin to free Chris from the meditation center, and the suggestion becomes a demanding chant from more than half of the mess hall, startling the counselors. Franklin and his group quickly run out the back door, pursued by the counselors, who chase them to the meditation center. Though Mr. Warren appears to have the upper hand initially, when he tries to lock Franklin in the building, Franklin takes control by revealing the gun he stole. The other boys help him get the counselors into the meditation center, changing its name to the "pen", and they pull a bewildered Chris out. Chris tries to convince Franklin not to go any farther, but Franklin replies that he's simply made a citizen's arrest. He further states that the "game" will only last for twenty-four hours. Paul and Runk stay behind to board up the pen while the other boys run off to begin the revolution. While Franklin and Runk visit the girls' camp to capture the female counselors and take over there as well, the rest of the group take over the main office and disable the phone lines. Donald helps Franklin wire the office's intercom into South Pines, and Franklin announces to the girls what has happened. All the boys and girls gather in front of the rec hall of North Pines, and Franklin explains to everyone that it's time for the campers to have a say in how the camp is run. He appoints some of the boys and girls to ranks and positions, giving them control over certain aspects of the new combined camp. He leads everyone in an oath to the revolution, where the campers all swear not to betray the leaders. That night, a party breaks out in the rec hall, including even the little kids, some of which drink the spiked punch. Chris and his new girlfriend Heather become shocked at how out of control things are, and they carry off the younger kids and put them to bed. Things get worse when John and Runk drag Mr. Warren out of the pen and into the party to see how he will react to it. Everyone laughs to see him with his mouth taped and his hands tied behind his back. He becomes uncomfortable when one of the drunk girls begins dancing sexily in front of him, but Chris runs back in and stops them. He takes the tape off Mr. Warren and tries to free him, but the other boys take charge again and Franklin pulls Chris outside to have a talk. Runk leads Mr. Warren back toward the pen, but Mr. Warren becomes fierce and tries to struggle away. He shows surprising physical strength, twisting away from Runk multiple times and bashing him furiously even with his hands tied. Runk pulls out a knife and threatens Mr. Warren, but Mr. Warren charges Runk and runs right into the knife. Runk becomes shocked as Mr. Warren falls dead to the ground. He runs back over to the main office where Franklin is sitting, and blubbering, he tells Franklin what happened. Franklin almost loses control at the news, but then he pulls himself together and orders Runk to take Mr. Warren out to the caves far behind the camp and leave him in there. He warns Runk to keep the incident a secret and do exactly as he says from now on. The next morning, Franklin announces to the camp that the revolution will continue, and he emphasizes that campers who show courage and dedication to the revolution will be named officers. He also promotes Donald to Minister of Propaganda and appoints him to the Supreme Revolutionary Committee. He goes on to name Chris Wayne and Heather Long as traitors, and orders everyone to shun them. He warns that anyone seen associating with them will also be named traitors. When Chris and Heather venture out into the main cap that morning, they are stunned to see everyone running away from them. When Donald nervously refuses interaction with them, Chris realizes the situation is worse than he thought, and he and Heather run off. A girl named Laurie then asks Donald out to the re-opened dance that will be held that night, and he accepts, but tells her he doesn't know how to dance. She offers to teach him, and they happily feed the camp animals together. That night before the dance, some of the campers start a bonfire with Mr. Warren's wooden butterfly collection post outside the rec hall. People laugh at it on their way in. Laurie stands with some of her friends, telling them enthusiastically about Donald, and the girls gush when he arrives to dance with her. John leaves the dance with Debbie to go on a walk with her, but he becomes grabby and she tries to leave him. He angrily pushes her to the ground and sexually assaults her, drawing the attention of Donald and Laurie, who are also out walking, and they run to help. They report John to Franklin, and Franklin holds a meeting the next morning with the members of the Supreme Revolutionary Committee, John's friends, and Debbie's. Donald and Laurie attend as well to support her. Treating the matter like a judge in a court case, Franklin demands John tell him the truth, and John claims Debbie went along with the whole thing and is just a dirty little tease. Franklin asks Debbie what she thinks John's punishment should be, and she claims she wants him dead. The meeting erupts into a confused discussion, but Franklin controls everyone and says he will consider this while John sits out in the pen. Later, Franklin decides to force John to traverse the rope bridge in a "trial by ordeal" arrangement, mimicking older societies who punished criminals by making them perform dangerous tasks that could kill them. When John successfully loops the whole bridge, the girls become angry at him. They wait for the other guys to leave, and then they carry him off and hang him from a tree. Donald finds John's body and becomes very upset, deciding things have gone far enough. He jerry rigs the disabled phone lines into the satellite over the main office, using a stolen receiver as a radio. He tries to call through to someone, but only hears static, and he is captured by officer Blackridge and locked inside the office. Chris visits him and they talk about how the camp has gone nuts, but Blackridge finds Chris in there and throws him out. The next morning, the camp becomes shocked to learn that Donald will be forced to loop the bridge as well, and some of them begin to realize how dangerous Franklin is. They begin to rally support amongst themselves as the crowd gathers by the bridge in time for Donald's punishment. At first it looks like he might make it, but then Franklin orders Runk to cut one of the ropes on the bridge. The campers realize Franklin wants Donald dead, and they all snap and turn against the Supreme Revolutionary Committee, fighting them off to save Donald. The police arrive suddenly, breaking up the fight, revealing they received Donald's broadcast the previous night. They take Donald's tape recorded diary for evidence, and Donald and Chris are dismissed as unwilling participants. Heather and Laurie wait together by the bus for home, and are both relieved to see Chris and Donald arrive. They all board together, and the bus roars off, leaving the camp deserted. ===== The episode begins with a substitute teacher coming in to teach the 3rd grade class. The boys mess around with the teacher at roll call, with Stan pretending that he is Cartman, Kenny pretending he is Stan, and Cartman pretending he is Kenny. Cartman laughs so hard that milk squirts out of his nose (despite the fact that he was not drinking any); this gag continues through the episode whenever he laughs. The teacher gives them all an assignment to make a get-well-soon card for Kyle, and Butters literally ends up being the card. Stan visits his sick friend, who is, according to his mother, suffering from kidney failure due to diabetes and needs a transplant. Since they are unable to find a donor and Sheila is worried about the risks of having Kyle undergo surgery, Sharon suggests to Sheila that she try New Age healing to cure Kyle. They visit the holistic medicine store of a newly arrived shopkeeper named Miss Information, who tells them that mysterious "toxins" are the cause of Kyle's ailments and prescribes a series of herbs to help him; they do not help, but she convinces the people of South Park that they are healing him even though it is not visible. The whole town becomes enamored with her remedies and buys such nostrums as "Cherokee hair tampons" from two supposed Native Americans (played by Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong) who share her store. Before long, everyone is so hooked on "holistic medicine" that Miss Information can get away with selling coat hangers as "dream catchers" for very high prices. Meanwhile, Mr. Garrison is fired for his incompetence as a third grade teacher and for charges of soliciting sex from a minor. He decides to fulfill his dream of publishing a book and begins to write a romance novel, in which he manages to use the word "penis" 6,083 times. Stan goes to ask Dr. Doctor for help, and the doctor says that Kyle will die unless he gets a kidney transplant from the only other person in town with a compatible blood type: Cartman. Stan tries to convince everyone that the New Age so-called "healing" is not working and that only a kidney transplant can cure Kyle, but Miss Information insists that the doctor is only interested in making money from the procedure, even as she herself charges exorbitant prices for her holistic healing items. Stan tries to convince Cartman to donate his organ, and Cartman refuses to do it unless he gets $10 million in exchange. Upset at Cartman's callousness, Stan tries to get his other friends to help him take Cartman's kidney by force. However, only Kenny, Butters, and Timmy show up; when Stan expresses disappointment, Butters mentions Clyde would have come too, had there not been tacos for dinner. An attempt to sneak into Cartman's house and cut his kidney out while he sleeps proves fruitless, as he wears a "Kidney Blocker 2000". Resigned, Stan laments to Kenny over Kyle's imminent death at the hands of holistic medicine, but Kenny, furious at Stan for disregarding the fact that Kenny had died in almost every episode up until then, says one of Cartman's catchphrases, "Screw you guys, I'm going home." then walks off, only to be crushed by a falling piano; Stan does not notice as he was busy crying. Mrs. Broflovski brings a very weak and gravely ill Kyle in for a "spiritual healing" by Miss Information's "Native Americans". To the shock of the citizens, the "Native Americans" take one look at Kyle and declare that he is in need of a doctor and they are actually Mexicans. The two "Native Americans" explain to the townsfolk that Miss Information is a fraud who convinced everyone that they were Native Americans and that they had simply neglected to set the record straight. Angered about being scammed, the townsfolk attack and beat Miss Information to death, and Stan declares that he has a plan to get Kyle a kidney. Cartman awakens the next day to find the Kidney Blocker 2000 destroyed and blood all over his bed. Infuriated, he marches to Stan's house and recovers his kidney, then goes to the doctor and arranges to have it put back in, but not before signing a release form. However, it was all a ruse—part of Stan's plan. Cartman's mom had opened the Blocker and spread ketchup on his bed to fool him. The form he signed was fraud in the factum and actually allowed Kyle to take his kidney; the kidney that Stan had given him was fake. Cartman is angered, Kyle is better, and Mr. Garrison - now a best- selling author - comes to give him a signed copy of his book, In the Valley of Penises. Cartman is still enraged as Kyle and Stan laugh at him until milk comes out of Kyle's nose. Cartman expresses relief that Kyle got his "crappy kidney". ===== In a sleepy New Mexico town, nightclub owner Jerry Manning hires a black leopard as a publicity stunt for his girlfriend, Kiki Walker, a performer there. Kiki uses the opportunity to interrupt the act of her rival, Clo-Clo, by storming into the restaurant with the leopard on a leash. Angered, Clo-Clo frightens the leopard with her castanets, and it escapes, fleeing into the night. Charlie, the Native American owner of the leopard who leased it to Jerry, begins pestering him for money to replace the cat. That night, a young local woman, Teresa, goes to purchase corn meal for her family's dinner. Under a bridge in an arroyo, she encounters the leopard, and flees to her house. She is killed at the door just before her family is able to let her back in the house. The medical examiner rules Teresa's death an accident, presuming she was mauled by the leopard. Shortly after, Consuela, another local, goes to visit her father's grave in the cemetery on her birthday. Lost in thought, Consuela fails to leave before the gatekeeper locks the gate, and finds herself trapped with the cemetery's stone walls. When help arrives, Consuela is found, another apparent victim of the leopard. After learning of the second murder, Jerry inquires to the police as to why the leopard has remained within the city, as he was informed it would naturally flee to wilderness. Charlie also questions whether the leopard killed Consuela, but is gaslit by the local historian and museum curator Galbraith, into believing he may be responsible, committing the murders during his nightly alcohol binges in which he blacks out. At his request, Charlie is kept in a jail cell overnight. Clo-Clo spends the night with an elderly wealthy man at the nightclub, who gifts her a hundred-dollar bill. After, she visits Maria, a fortune teller, who warns her that "something black" is coming to claim her. En route home, Maria loses the hundred-dollar bill. When she goes back out to find it, she is attacked at murdered. Kiki and Jerry prepare to leave on a trip to Chicago, coinciding with an annual procession that occurs in the town, commemorating the mass murder of the Natives by the conquistadors. As they depart for their train, Kiki and Jerry are gifted a bouquet of flowers from Galbraith, which Kiki wishes to place on Consuela's grave before they leave town. At the cemetery, they are met by Charlie, who notifies them his leopard has been found shot dead in the arroyo, and its fur taken; he presumes the cat has been dead for at least a week, suggesting a human may be responsible for the murders. Charlie recalls having seen Galbraith in the area, and suspects he killed the leopard. Jerry attempts to turn Galbraith into police, but they do not believe him. During the procession that night, Galbraith hears a woman's scream at the cemetery. He subsequently enters the museum, where he hears the sound of the castanets echoing. Shortly after, Kiki arrives at the museum, where she offers to accompany Galbraith in viewing the procession. She convinces Galbraith to turn off the lights, remarking they will better be able to watching the procession. Galbraith agrees, and, once the lights are off, Kiki droops a pair of castanets. Galbraith attacks her, but she is saved by Jerry. Galbraith flees into the street, where he is eventually stopped amongst the procession marchers. Confronted by Jerry and Raoul, Consuela's fiancé, Galbraith confesses to having murdered both Consuelo and Clo-Clo. He admits to having been inspired to do so after witnessing the leopard maul Teresa to death. Seeking vengeance, Raoul shoots Galbraith to death. Later, while at the funeral parlor, Jerry and Kiki reaffirm their love for one another. ===== Following the events of the night before, a badly injured and unmasked Jason Voorhees goes to a lakefront store for a change of clothes. While there, he murders the store owner Harold and his wife Edna. Meanwhile, Chris Higgins and her friends travel to Higgins Haven, her old home on Crystal Lake, to spend the weekend. The gang includes pregnant Debbie, her boyfriend Andy, prankster Shelly, his blind date Vera (who does not reciprocate his feelings), and stoners Chuck and Chili. After running into a man named Abel who warns them to turn back, the gang meets Chris' boyfriend Rick at their destination. At a convenience store, Shelly and Vera get into a confrontation with bikers Ali, Fox, and Loco. Shelly gets in the car and knocks down their motorcycles, impressing Vera. Later, the bikers show up at Higgins Haven, where they take the gas out of the van and attempt to burn the barn down to get even. Jason, who has been hiding in the barn, murders Fox and Loco with a pitchfork before beating Ali unconscious. That night, Chris and Rick head out into the woods, where Chris reveals that she was attacked by a deformed man two years prior, which prompted her to leave Crystal Lake in the first place; the main reason that she returned was to confront her fears and escape the trauma. Back at Higgins Haven, Shelly scares Vera with a hockey mask and then wanders into the barn, where Jason slashes his throat. Taking his mask to conceal his face, Jason proceeds to murder the rest of the group. Vera retrieves Shelly's wallet from under the dock and is shot in the eye with a speargun. Jason enters the house and bisects a hand-standing Andy with a machete. Debbie finishes her shower and rests on a hammock, where Jason thrusts a knife through her chest from beneath, killing her. When the power goes out in the house, Chuck goes downstairs to the basement only for Jason to hurl him into the fuse box, electrocuting him. Chili finds that everyone else is dead and is then impaled with a hot fire poker. When Rick's car dies, Chris and Rick are forced to walk back to the house to find it in disarray. Rick steps outside to search the grounds, but Jason grabs him and crushes his skull with his bare hands, making one of his eyes pop out of its socket. Jason then attacks Chris, who narrowly escapes the house and tries to flee in her van. The van runs out of gas and Chris makes her way to the barn to hide, but Jason attacks her again. Inside the barn, Chris strikes Jason over the head with a shovel, and hangs him. He regains consciousness and removes his mask in order to get free from the noose, which causes Chris to recognize him as the same man who attacked her two years prior. A still-living Ali tries to attack Jason, but he quickly finishes him off. The distraction allows Chris to strike Jason in the head with an axe. He staggers momentarily towards her before finally collapsing. Exhausted, Chris pushes a canoe out into the lake and falls asleep. Chris has a nightmare of an unmasked Jason running towards her from the house before disappearing, which then turns into the decomposing body of Pamela Voorhees, with her head attached, emerging from the lake to pull her in. The following morning, the police arrive and escort a traumatized Chris away from Higgins Haven. Jason's body is shown to still be lying in the barn as the lake is shown at peace. ===== Barry 'Bazza' McKenzie (Barry Crocker) travels to England with his aunt Edna Everage (Barry Humphries) to advance his cultural education. Bazza is a young Aussie fond of beer, Bondi and beautiful 'sheilas'. He settles in Earls Court, where his old friend Curly (Paul Bertram) has a flat. He gets drunk, is ripped off, insulted by pretentious Englishmen and exploited by record producers, religious charlatans and a BBC television producer (Peter Cook). He reluctantly leaves England under the orders of his aunt, after exposing himself on television. His final words on the plane home are, "I was just starting to like the Poms!" ===== In 1944, American forces were closing in on the Japanese-occupied Philippines. The Japanese held around 500 American prisoners who had survived the Bataan Death March in a notorious POW camp at Cabanatuan and subjected them to brutal treatment and summary execution, as the Japanese code of bushido viewed surrender as a disgrace. Many prisoners were also stricken with malaria. The film opens with the massacre of prisoners of war on Palawan by the Kempeitai, the Imperial Japanese military's secret police (though factually, it was committed by the Japanese Fourteenth Area Army). Meanwhile, at Lingayen Gulf, the 6th Ranger Battalion under Lt. Col Mucci is ordered by Lt. Gen. Walter Krueger to liberate all of the POWs at Cabanatuan prison camp before they are killed by the Japanese. The film chronicles the efforts of the Rangers, Alamo Scouts from the Sixth Army and Filipino guerrillas as they undertake the Raid at Cabanatuan. Throughout the film, the viewpoint switches between the POWs at Cabanatuan, the Rangers, the Filipino resistance and the Japanese. In particular, the film covers the resistance work undertaken by nurse Margaret Utinsky, who smuggled medicine into the POW camps. The Kempeitai arrested her and sent her to Fort Santiago prison. She was eventually released, but spent six weeks recovering from gangrene as a result of injuries sustained from beatings. The movie ends with the camp being liberated and the war ending with the atomic bomb just weeks later. ===== Former medical student Melvin has dropped out and now works (after a fashion) in a planning office of an unnamed city. The office supervisor is his big sister, who "mothers" him instead of making him perform well. Melvin accidentally makes telephone contact with an old friend, and they decide to meet for dinner that evening. The friend arrives early for drinks with a lady friend; by the appointed time, four people are involved, each connected somehow to at least one of the others. The evening passes in a leisurely dinner with much conversation, sometimes intimate; the connections among the parties are revealed throughout the evening. The movie includes several flashbacks, which are not immediately explained but become understandable by the end. ===== In the far future, an office worker named Johnson leads a dull and mundane life. One Sunday morning, his robotic servant Ben suggests that he go to the Trip Movie Corporationa company that enables its customers to experience a dream as though it were a reality. Johnson asks to be a king of a harem and to command a battlestar. In his dream, however, Johnson instead becomes "Cobra", an adventurer who explores space with his android partner Lady Armaroid. Cobra wields the Psychogun, a cybernetic arm-laser gun, to fight monsters and the Pirate Guild, an organized crime syndicate of pirates. After a battle with the Guild, Cobra allows its leader Captain Vaiken to escape. Vaiken distributes Cobra's picture to other pirates, making him a wanted man. After the dream ends, Johnson describes the fantasy to an attendant, who is surprised because Johnson's dream should not have any reference to pirates or to Cobra. On his way back home, Johnson crashes into a speeding car whose driver looks like Captain Vaiken. When Johnson mentions the resemblance, the driver reveals himself as Vaiken. He asks Johnson about "Cobra" and threatens to kill Johnson if he does not answer. Johnson unconsciously lifts his arm and a ray shoots out of his hand, killing Vaiken. The shot explodes Johnson's arm, revealing the Psychogun embedded in it. Johnson rushes home, where Ben notices the weapon on his arm. Johnson then realizes that he remembers nothing from before the last three years. After looking into a mirror, he finds a knob and turns it to reveal a secret room. There, he finds the revolver which he used in his dream. At that moment, armed intruders break into the house and address him as "Cobra". A battle ensues, and Ben's robot shell breaks to reveal Lady Armaroid, with whom Johnson kills the intruders. Johnson starts to remember his previous existence as Cobra. Hunted by the Pirate Guild for meddling in their criminal enterprises and tired of life on the run, Cobra surgically altered his face and had his memories erased. Lady Armaroid tells Cobra that the Trip Movie has triggered his subconscious to regain access to the memories of his former life. Cobra and Lady Armadroid resume their adventurous life together. ===== Blonde B-girl Vivian (played by Jan Sterling) is pregnant and tries to contact the father to seek financial help. He refuses to meet and stops taking her calls. She goes to "The Grass Skirt" bar in Boston where she works and picks up a drunk (Marshall Thompson) so she can use his car to drive to Cape Cod, where she can confront the father face to face. Vivian drives with the car's owner drunk by her side. When the man realizes he's in Cape Cod miles from Boston, he demands to be taken back. Instead, she ditches him and steals the car. But the father of the child kills Vivian rather than pay up or risk exposure of the affair to his wife and family. He buries Vivian's body in the dunes and sinks the car in a pond. A day later, the man reports his car stolen to his insurance but neglects to mention the blonde, not wanting to get in trouble with his wife (Sally Forrest), who had been hospitalized suffering from the loss of a pregnancy. Months later, the B-girl's skeleton is found half-buried on the beach. State Police Lt. Peter Moralas (Montalban), an overzealous and heartless police officer new to homicide division assigned to the District Attorney's Office in Barnstable, teams up with Boston police and uses forensics with the help of Dr. McAdoo, a Harvard doctor (Bennett), to figure out who the woman is. Moralas wants to know how she died. Mrs. Smerrling (Lanchester), a vile woman who is the owner of the boarding house where Vivian lived, visits James Harkley, the man Vivian had been calling from her boarding house, going so far as to steal the wealthy married man's gun during her visit. Moralas tracks down the stolen car from police records and questions Henry Shanway, the man Vivian was with the night she disappeared. Moralas eventually finds Shanway's car in the pond and he's identified in a police lineup. The innocent man is arrested and charged with the murder. Dr. McAdoo discovers a bullet stuck in the car. Smerrling shows Harkley's gun to Jackie Elcott (Betsy Blair), a tenant in her building, who is familiar with firearms. Elcott removes the magazine, keeps the magazine, ensures the gun is unloaded and gives the gun back to Smerrling. Morales learns Smerrling has the gun. However, before he can question her, she attempts to blackmail Harkley for $20,000. She is knocked over the head and dies. Moralas chases but loses the killer. Moralas gets a phone call telling him Shanway has escaped. He comes across a hidden baggage check in the landlady's birdcage, which sends Moralas racing to catch the killer before the murder weapon can be disposed of. At the train station, he apprehends Harkley and takes him into custody. Morales tells the police to stop looking for Shanway and tells Shanway's wife over the phone that her husband is free. Mrs. Shanway answers Moralas with silence. ===== Single mother Jean relocates every time she gets her heart broken by another guy, much to the dismay of her teenage daughter, Holly. Holly devises a plan to invent a secret admirer for her mother, so she will be happy and not have to relocate anymore. Holly overhears her friend Amy's uncle Ben ordering flowers for a woman, and decides to use his advice on women (which she acquires by telling him she needs help for a school project on romance). Following Ben's advice, she sends her mother orchids and other gifts and love notes, and is soon communicating with her mother as this fictitious admirer (who Holly names Ben) via the Internet. As her mother becomes more interested, Holly has to find a photo of this admirer. She sends one of the real Ben, and then devises a reason why they cannot meet in person, claiming he is working in China. While she is developing the online romance between her mother and fake Ben, and preventing her mother and the real Ben from meeting in person, she finds herself drawn to a cute, artistic boy in her class, Adam, but is unwilling to get close to anyone due to her history of being uprooted and having to say goodbye so often. As the charade continues, and as Holly spends more time with Ben while picking his brain for romance tips, she slowly begins to see qualities in Ben which make her believe he is her mother's "perfect man". Holly asks for Adam's help to disguise himself as Ben on the telephone and break up with Jean. But he fails, as he is revealed to be harboring feelings for Holly as well, in effect telling Holly's mother the opposite of what is planned. The following day at school, Holly confronts Adam angrily because of his failed attempt to break up with her mother over the phone disguised as Ben. Adam apologizes and tells Holly that he just got distracted. Holly demands to know what he could have possibly been distracted by, and Adam admits his feelings for Holly by kissing her. That night, Lenny, a man who is infatuated with Jean, proposes to her and she replies with a "maybe". Holly, in an act of desperation, then disguises herself as Ben's secretary and arranges a meeting between Ben and her mother. The next day, when Holly mistakenly thinks Ben is marrying someone else, she disrupts the wedding to tell Ben he should be with her mother, not knowing he was there because the bride is his dear friend, and he was catering the wedding. A disappointed Ben follows Holly out and she admits the full story. Holly then goes to the meeting place and admits the whole ruse to Jean, who seems to take it terribly. Days pass, and Holly and her mother maintain a cold relationship, and Holly is offended by her interpretation of Adam's drawing of "Princess Holly". Holly begs Jean for them to move again. Her mother is humiliated and wants to stay, but Holly tells her to leave just this once for herself, as she always has to move for her mother. Her mother cannot argue with that so they start to pack. Adam, for what he thinks is the last time, goes to Holly's home and gives Holly's mother his drawing, commenting that the drawing has another side that Holly did not see before she left, which turns out to be Adam telling Holly that he will always be there for her. Touched, Jean logs onto the Internet using Holly's screen name and talks to Adam. Adam, thinking it is Holly, says that her mom is setting a bad example, getting up and leaving when things get bad and that, in return, is making a bad role model for her own daughters. Jean is deeply moved by this and decides to stay, finding a new job and trying to rebuild her life without running away. She also apologizes to her daughter and tells her to look at the other side of the drawing, making Holly happy. Meanwhile, Ben is inspired by what Holly told him about her mother, and with Holly's help, Jean and Ben finally meet and Jean finds her "perfect man" at last. Holly is on the road to her perfect man as well since she has some stability in her life and finally opens up and admits her feelings for Adam. At the end, Adam and Holly go to their first school dance together. ===== Leon and Bobby are brothers and members of the Deuces, a Brooklyn street gang. Ever since the death of their other brother Alphonse "Allie Boy" from a drug overdose at the hands of Marco, they keep drugs off their block. This puts them in opposition to the Vipers, another local gang headed by Marco, who want to sell drugs in the neighborhood. On the eve of Marco's return from a three- year stint in prison, a gang war seems imminent. Marco plans revenge against Leon, whom he believes ratted him out to the police. Bobby falls for a new girl who moves in across the street, Annie, the younger sister of Jimmy "Pockets", a Vipers member and heroin dealer. Their attraction for each other complicates the gang rivalry. Marco attacks the block and Bobby before beating and raping Betsy (Leon's girlfriend) in order to push him over the edge. After a series of skirmishes between the Vipers and Deuces, neighborhood Mafioso Fritzy orders Leon and Marco to make amends hours before the climactic rumble (he previously declined Marco's request to kill Leon). Leon disobeys this order in a fight at the docks where Marco is killed along with Jimmy Pockets, leaving Bobby and Annie free to take her mother to Los Angeles. Leon is shot and killed by one of Fritzy's men in retaliation for ignoring his orders. Before leaving, Bobby drops a wheelbarrow full of cinder blocks on Fritzy's car, presumably killing him. ===== Buffy and Faith meet a demon who offers to sell them "the Books of Ascension" for $5000. When Faith reports this to the Mayor, he asks her to kill the demon and take the books. After doing so, she goes to Angel and tries to seduce him, but he remains loyal to Buffy. The Mayor hires a mysterious cloaked sorcerer to take Angel's soul. Faith approaches Angel at his mansion, on the pretext of apologizing for her behavior the night before. She pours blood onto his shirt as the sorcerer steps out of the shadows. He chants a spell, lights flash and Angel yells as he appears to lose his soul. Angel pulls Faith to him and they kiss before he starts beating her up. The two fight and Faith ends up on top, holding a stake to his heart. A truce is sealed with a kiss after Angel agrees to meet the Mayor. Willow reports to the Scooby Gang that the Mayor's computer files were emptied before she was able to access them. Buffy leaves to find out what is going on with the Mayor while Wesley takes a flirtatious Cordelia, and the rest of the group, to the Hall of Records to find information on the Mayor. Faith takes Angel to meet with the Mayor, and he learns that the Mayor is impervious to harm. He tells the Mayor of his plans to torture and kill Buffy. Angel and Faith walk to Buffy's house; on the way they meet Xander, whom Angel knocks to the ground with a punch. Angel and Faith lure Buffy to the mansion, where they say that they are fighting for the other side now. Angel knocks Buffy out cold. Buffy wakes up chained to a wall as Angel and Faith get ready to torture her. Faith talks about her painful childhood with a mother who drank too much, and her life as a slayer living in Buffy's shadow. She reveals what she knows about the Mayor's plan, which will culminate in his Ascension on graduation day. Having learned all that Faith knows, Angel then reveals that his loss of soul was a sham and that he only pretended to be evil. The rest of the Scooby Gang arrive as Buffy and Faith fight and end up with knives at each other's throats. After telling Buffy that she can not kill her without becoming like her, Faith gives Buffy a kiss on the forehead, and runs off. At the library, Giles thanks and bids goodbye to the cloaked sorcerer, who faked the spell to repay an old favor. Wesley is angry that Giles arranged this behind his back, and plans to tell the Watchers' Council about it. Buffy and Angel are both shaken by what they had to do and Buffy says she needs a break from him. But as she leaves Angel's mansion, he asks, "You still my girl?" and Buffy responds "Always". ===== On patrol, Buffy runs into two mouthless demons and succeeds in killing one, but some of its blood is absorbed through her skin. When her hand starts itching, Giles explains that she may be infected with an aspect of the demon. Buffy worries about what aspect she will be getting and is horrified when Willow wonders if the demon was male. The next day, as she is walking through the halls, Buffy finds that she can hear the thoughts of others. In class, she answers the teacher's questions by listening to the thoughts of her classmates. She also hears the thoughts of Freddy Iverson, who writes editorials for the school newspaper and who has a negative opinion about everything at Sunnydale. Later that day, Buffy goes to the mansion to use her mind-reading abilities to check up on Angel and find out the truth about what happened between him and Faith. He informs her that she can no more read his mind than see his image in a mirror. He tells her that what happened with Faith meant nothing and that in 243 years, he has loved only Buffy. At the library, Buffy tells her friends about her ability to read minds. She learns that Xander constantly thinks about sex, Cordelia says almost exactly what she thinks, Oz thinks extremely deep thoughts, Willow thinks about how she is left out of things, and Wesley thinks about Cordelia romantically but reprimands himself for having amorous feelings for an underage girl. In the lunchroom, Buffy hears that someone is planning to kill all the students. She tells everyone to get organized and find out who the potential killer is. Buffy goes home to rest while Willow and the others go around interviewing students and faculty. Angel hunts down the surviving demon and brings its heart in a glass mixed with other ingredients, after Buffy finds the effects of mind-reading to be stressful and distracting. He forces Buffy to drink it and she goes into convulsions. When she wakes up, she is no longer able to hear thoughts. Willow and the rest of the Scooby Gang locate all the students on the list except Freddy Iverson, so they all go looking for him. They finally corner Freddy in his office and learn that he is not the potential killer. They find a letter from Jonathan apologizing for his upcoming actions. The gang finds Jonathan in the clock tower, assembling a rifle. Buffy takes it from him, and then discovers that he was planning to kill only himself. Xander checks the kitchen and stumbles upon a lunch lady putting rat poison into the food. She tries to kill him with a cleaver, but Buffy knocks her unconscious. Giles and Buffy recap what happened as they walk in the school grounds. Buffy tells Giles that she now knows he had sex with her mother; Giles walks into a tree. ===== The Box of Gavrok is due to arrive by courier at the airport; the Mayor offers Faith a knife in return for intercepting it. Buffy tells Wesley and Giles that she wants out of Sunnydale. She offers a deal: if she takes the offensive against the Mayor, defeats him, and stops the ascension, they could afford to be Slayerless for long enough for her to go away to college. That night, Faith kills the courier, and separates him from the box by taking off his hand. Watching from the bushes, Buffy sees Faith deliver the box to the Mayor. After the coast is clear, Buffy forces the driver to disclose information about the box before staking him. The gang plan an attack on City Hall to steal the Box of Gavrok. First, Willow will remove the magic protecting the box so Buffy and Angel can take it. Then, Xander and Oz will prepare the ritual Willow will use to destroy the box. Wesley and Giles drop off Buffy, Willow and Angel at City Hall. Everything goes fine until Buffy's guy rope sticks and an alarm goes off. As two vampires enter, Angel drops to Buffy's rescue. After a fight, they escape with the box. The Mayor's anger and the gang's relief reverse when it is discovered that Faith has captured Willow. A library discussion ensues: is Willow's life worth those of the many thousands who would be saved if the box is destroyed? Oz settles the matter by smashing the pot containing the potion needed for the ritual. Buffy tells Giles to set up a meeting to exchange Willow for the Box of Gavrok. At City Hall, Willow escapes from the room she is imprisoned in and examines the Mayor's office. She is reading the Books of Ascension when Faith finds her. Giles's call comes in time to stop Faith from killing her. The meeting is in the school cafeteria where the Mayor tells Buffy and Angel that they have no future together. They make the trade, but are disrupted by Principal Snyder and his security guards, bent on drug- busting. One of the guards opens the box and a large beetle-like creature jumps out and kills him. Another beetle breaks free and the two attack the Mayor and Buffy. Buffy squashes one and Faith kills the other by throwing her knife and pinning the creature to the wall. Back at the library, Willow presents Giles with a few important pages she tore from the Books of Ascension. Wesley counts the cost of her rescue: the gang are now back exactly where they started, with no way to stop the Ascension. At school the next day, Buffy and Willow talk again about their future. Buffy knows she can not leave Sunnydale; Willow now knows she does not want to leave because fighting evil and studying Wicca are what she wants to do. Both will attend UC Sunnydale. Cordelia is shown working in a dress store and enviously holding one particular dress. ===== At school, Anya asks Xander to the Prom. Later, Buffy, Willow, Oz, and Xander discuss prom plans, and dresses. Buffy's mother Joyce visits Angel at the mansion and tells him that he cannot get in the way of Buffy's future, and that he will have to do something about it. While patrolling, Buffy and Angel have an argument. Angel tells Buffy that it is unfair for her to be in a relationship with him because of all the things he can't give her, and breaks up with her. He also reveals that he will be leaving Sunnydale after the ascension in hopes that Buffy will have a normal life. In a small house, someone plays a video for a caged beast that makes it go wild. At the store where Cordelia secretly works, Xander spots her through the window and goes in to tease her for what he thinks is her spending a long time trying to pick a dress. She reveals that she is working there to save up for a prom dress, because her family lost all of their money. The argument is cut short as a beast breaks through the window and kills a boy dressed in a tuxedo. At the library, the gang study the video of the attack, and identify Tucker Wells, who used to have a chemistry class with Oz. Tucker has plans to ruin prom night by sending a hellhound to attack the students in formal wear, because he was turned down for a prom date. Buffy vows not to let the hellhound ruin the big night and issues orders for everyone to split up and search for clues. As Cordelia leaves work, she finds that her prom dress has been paid for. Buffy returns from her searching and orders everyone else to attend the prom while she takes care of Tucker. She finds him in his basement and ties him up before he can release the hellhound, but three more she did not know about are already on their way to the school. After killing all of them, Buffy changes into her prom dress and shows up for the dance. Cordelia thanks Xander for paying for her dress and dances with Wesley while Anya tells Xander of her past cursing unfaithful men as a vengeance demon, and Willow and Oz just enjoy the evening. When Class awards are given out, Buffy is given an ornately decorated parasol bearing a small engraving saying 'Buffy Summers — Class Protector'. Angel surprises her by showing up in a tux and they dance. He tells her he understands that it's an important night for her, but it doesn't change anything between them, which she understands. ===== The Oumi Kingdom, ruled peacefully by Lord Ogata (Shinichiro Hayashi), was raided by his corrupt general Daijo Yuki (Bin Amatsu), who was assisted by an evil ninja named Orochimaru (Ryūtarō Ōtomo), who slew the lord and his wife, who in turn trusted their young son Ikazuchi-Maru to their soldiers, who escaped the kingdom in a small boat. Orochimaru goes after them, transforming into a giant serpent. He sank the boat and almost succeeded in killing Ikazuchi-Maru, until a giant eagle flew in, injured Orochimaru, and saved the young boy. Years later, Ikazuchi-Maru (Matsukata Hiroki), now a young man, has mastered the art of ninjutsu and toad magic, thanks to an old hermit named Dojin Hiki (Nobuo Kaneko). When a band of ninja sent by Daijo Yuki try to attack Ikazuchi-Maru, the young ninja puts his skills to the test. Along the way, he meets a beautiful young girl named Tsunade (Tomoko Ogawa), whom he becomes friends with. Meanwhile, Hiki is confronted by Orochimaru, who turns out to be an old apprentice of his! Hiki also turned out to be the giant eagle that saved the young Ikazuchi-Maru and gave his former pupil a scar on his head (when he was in serpent form). Orochimaru then attacks the old master with ninja magic and poisons him. Ikazuchi-Maru and Tsunade return almost too late, as the dying Hiki tells him all he needs to know about Orochimaru, telling his pupil to avenge his death. And just before he dies, he reacts to Tsunade in shock, as though he realized something about her. Before setting out on his mission to avenge his master, Ikazuchi-Maru says farewell to Tsunade, who is taken care of by an old "spider" woman (Sen Hara), who tells her to follow the young man. She gives the young woman a spider hairpin, with which she can summon a giant spider, but she can do so only once, lest the giant spider will turn on her if used more than once. The course of Ikazuchi- Maru's journey has him befriending a girl named Saki (Yumi Suzumura) and her little brother Shirota (Takao Iwamura), whose village was oppressed by Daijo Yuki's men. Yuki himself tries to execute Saki and Shirota for treason, only to be attacked by Ikazuchi-Maru, who proclaims himself to be the invincible ninja "Jiraiya"! Demanding revenge against Yuki for the murder of his parents and the overthrow of his kingdom, Jiraiya is then confronted by Orochimaru, whom he duels with spectacular ninja magic. We also learn of a shocking secret about Tsunade; She is the daughter of Orochimaru! Her father urges her to kill Jiraiya with poison (after a hired assassin failed to kill him also). After these failed attempts on his life, Jiraiya sets out to rescue Saki and Shirota from Yuki (who was in the midst of celebrating with his kingdom). He transforms into a giant toad, rampaging Yuki's stronghold. Orochimaru confronts Jiraiya in his powerful giant serpent form, and a spectacular showdown between two giant magical forces ensues. ===== Angel drunkenly slumps at the bar of a dive in downtown Los Angeles, growing maudlin about a lost love, when he notices three guys leave the bar with two women, Janice and Laura. His drunken facade fading, Angel unobtrusively follows them out. In the dark alley, Angel kills the three men, who are revealed to be vampires. One of the frightened girls, Janice, bleeding from a minor head wound, tries to thank him, but Angel, fixated on the blood, warns them harshly to get away from him, and strides down the dark alley. Angel makes his way to his new home, a basement apartment beneath a ground floor office, where he finds Doyle waiting for him. Doyle introduces himself, explaining he's half human, half demon, then recaps the story of Angel's life, ending with his recent, painful breakup with the Slayer and his subsequent move to L.A.. Doyle explains that Angel's isolation, combined with the fact that he recently drank human blood, puts him at serious risk of relapse. Doyle gets visions from The Powers That Be (accompanied by debilitating headaches) regarding people whose lives Angel must touch; true redemption lies not just in saving lives, but in saving souls as well. Doyle concludes by handing over a scrap of paper on which he's jotted information about a young woman named Tina. When Angel asks why Tina needs him, Doyle replies that getting involved in her life enough to figure that out is Angel's first order of business. Angel finds Tina during her shift and manages to persuade her to meet him after work. Waiting by his car, Angel is surprised to see her in elegant evening dress, and even more surprised when she pulls pepper spray from her purse. Tina accuses Angel of being employed by someone named Russell, but he slowly convinces her to accept his offer of a lift to the "fabulous Hollywood party" she plans to attend. When they arrive, Angel runs into Cordelia Chase, whom he last saw at her graduation ceremony at Sunnydale High some months earlier. After a short chat during which she brags about how successful she is, Cordelia leaves, saying that she needs to be talking to "people that are somebody". Angel, slightly offended, walks away saying that "It's nice to see that she's grown as a person." Angel sees a man harassing Tina and asks about him. She tells him that he's Stacy, a creep, and says that she would like to leave. On their way into the parking garage, Angel fights off Stacy and his goons. Meanwhile, in her dingy apartment, Cordelia hangs up her one dress and nibbles snacks she stole from the party because she couldn't afford food, while listening to her talent agent's discouraging phone message. After Tina falls asleep, Angel spends the night on the public library's computers, searching for information about Tina's friend Denise, who disappeared after becoming involved with Russell. The next morning, Angel tells Tina he believes her friend Denise was murdered. As she listens, Tina suddenly spots Doyle's note listing her name and workplace, and, convinced afresh that Angel has been running some scam for Russell, panics and runs. Angel tries to grab her at the building's entrance, but sunlight burns his hand, causing him to turn vampirish reflexively. In stark terror, Tina flees. Russell Winters, a well-dressed, middle-aged, multi- millionaire businessman, appears and finds Tina when she returns to her apartment to pack. She allows herself to be drawn into his arms; however Russell is actually a vampire and bites her. Angel races to the rescue, only to find Tina dead, marks of vampire predation livid on her throat. Later that day at his heavily guarded mansion residence, Russell Winters meets with a young lawyer from Wolfram & Hart to discuss his airtight (fictitious) alibi in the matter of Tina's unfortunate demise. Then, Russell orders the lawyer to bring him Cordelia, whom he has selected as his next victim after seeing her in a video clip image taken during the Hollywood party. Angel tracks down Stacy and interrogates him until he reveals Winters' location, then persuades a reluctant Doyle to help him avenge Tina's death. Excited by her limo ride to meet the Russell Winters, Cordelia is impressed by his ornate mansion. After a servant ushers her into Russell's den, Cordelia promptly spills the story of her life to her seemingly sympathetic host - until she notices the unusually heavy drapes and lack of mirrors, and concludes aloud that Winters is a vampire. Winters vamps and reaches for Cordelia, who flees. Angel has arrived just in time, though, and rescues her (Although, Doyle stupidly crashed the convertible into the front gate while trying to help after hearing gunshots). The next day, Angel stalks into a top floor conference room at the heavily guarded Russell Winters Enterprises building, where Winters is conducting a meeting with his business associates and the young lawyer from the evil law firm of Wolfram & Hart. Not impressed by Winters' claim that he can do whatever he wants in L.A. and get away with anything, Angel asks the CEO if he can fly... then forcefully kicks his executive chair through the floor-to- ceiling windows. Exposed to direct sunlight, a screaming Winters bursts into flame and disintegrates to dust in mid-air. The chair, scorched and empty, smashes to the sidewalk below. As Angel calmly departs, the young Wolfram & Hart lawyer uses his cell phone to report to his firm that, although the "Senior Partners" needn't be disturbed by the news of the death of their client just yet, there seems to be a "new player in town." Back at home, Angel despondently calls Buffy, but when he hears her voice, hangs up without speaking. Later, Cordelia proposes that they put a sign out front and go into the business of saving souls as a team--at least until her "inevitable stardom" materializes. Doyle observes many people in L.A. need help and asks Angel if he's game. Angel stands alone atop a skyscraper, looking out over the bustling L.A. nightscape, and responds, "I'm game." ===== At the office, Angel sits in the dark, alone. He blinks when the lights come on and Doyle arrives, with a Friday-night plan for the three of them to go out together. He wants Angel to get out but also wants him to put in a good word for him with Cordelia without letting her know he's half- demon. Shortly after Cordelia arrives with a box of the calling cards she had printed up for Angel Investigations. Doyle is seized by a vision of a night club, and they all go to the club. Meanwhile at D'Oblique, the club in Doyle's vision, the lonely and desperate Sharon and Kevin meet and leave the club together, just after the Angel Investigations team arrives. Cordelia immediately begins to pass around Angel's business cards until Doyle stops her, cautioning her to stay "under the radar". Angel makes no progress with people near the bar or the bartender until a woman named Kate asks if he's all right. They awkwardly strike up a conversation, and despite a slow start, Angel and Kate find they have some things in common. Across the room, a guy mockingly speculates that the AI calling cards give Cordelia's number for services of a more personal kind. Cordelia is indignant and Doyle tries to stand up for her, but the guy is backed up by his friend, so Doyle stops negotiating and wades in. Having just declined Kate's invitation to go someplace quieter (making Kate suddenly very frosty), Angel charges into the fight and thrashes both guys, before the bartender kicks the guys out. The next morning after spending the night with Kevin, Sharon calmly gets dressed, unperturbed by the bloody sheets and Kevin's dead body on the bed. At the office, the team spends the day researching any past incidents connected to D'Oblique. Their search turns up a badly mutilated woman and an eviscerated man. While Doyle and Cordelia look for more links, Angel goes back to D'Oblique to see if he can spot the killer. On his way in, Angel bumps into Kate, who takes umbrage when he tries to warn her of a suspiciously non- specific danger. Inside, Angel finds out that Kevin disappeared after going home with Sharon. He finds her in the phone book and runs straight to her place to try to prevent the next murder. Angel arrives at the apartment just in time to see that Sharon is dead while Neil, the geeky guy she took home, is alive and hosting a parasitic demon. Angel and the demon fight, but it gets away just as Kate arrives and finds Angel at the crime scene. Pulling a gun on Angel, Kate reveals she's a detective with the LAPD, and tries to arrest him. Knowing Kate won't be convinced he's not the killer, Angel breaks away and dives out the third floor window. Meanwhile, the demon goes back to D'Oblique. As dawn approaches, Angel makes his way to Cordelia's dingy apartment, not knowing that Kate has gone to illegally search his own place. Waking Cordelia and Doyle, Angel asks them to research eviscerating burrowers--demons that move from body to body, endlessly seeking the perfect one to live in forever. They discover their burrower is vulnerable to fire. Seeking help to destroy the powerful demon, Angel calls Kate and requests a meeting to prove that he isn't the killer. That night at the club, Kate asks the bartender to notify her when Angel arrives. A few minutes later the bartender tells Kate he thinks Angel is out back but, when they get there, the bartender smashes a wine bottle into the back of Kate's head. Angel arrives just in time to keep the burrower demon from transferring to Kate's body, forcing it back inside the bartender. Though weakening, the bartender host is still strong enough to fight Angel until Kate recovers. Then, not wanting to deal with them both at once, the demon tosses Kate and Angel down into the basement and locks them in. While the demon cruises for a fresh, undamaged body, Kate and Angel escape the basement and split up to search. Angel locates the bartender first and again battles the demon in its bartender host, which is still strong enough to injure Angel. Angel barely manages to throw the demon into a nearby burn barrel before collapsing to the pavement. Engulfed in flames and howling, the demon lurches purposefully toward Angel, who is on the ground and unable to move. Circling back, Kate arrives just in time to shoot the bartender, knocking him to the ground and halting the attack on Angel. After more police and emergency services arrive on scene, Kate gets a moment alone with Angel. She admits that she never would have guessed the bartender was the killer and thanks Angel for saving her life earlier. Agreeing that the bartender had ample opportunity, Angel makes no mention of a body-hopping, parasitic demon being the real killer. After Angel thanks Kate for saving his life as well, she apologizes for searching his apartment. She wants the two of them to start over from the beginning with no secrets between them; Angel pauses almost imperceptibly, then agrees. He offers her his new business card and invites her to call if she has future problems, then characteristically disappears when her back is turned. At the office, Angel generously and very awkwardly suggests that the three of them go out together, but is deeply relieved and gratified when Cordelia and Doyle instead take pity on him and leave him to brood in the dark, alone. ===== In Providence, Rhode Island, Robert Blake, a young writer with an interest in the occult, becomes fascinated by a large disused church on Federal Hill which he can see from his lodgings on the city's Upper East side. His researches reveal that the church has a sinister history involving a cult called the Church of Starry Wisdom and is dreaded by the local migrant inhabitants as being haunted by a primeval evil. Blake enters the church and ascends the tower, where he discovers the skeleton of Edwin M. Lillibridge, a reporter who disappeared in 1893. Blake also discovers an ancient stone artifact known as the "Shining Trapezohedron" which has the property of being able to summon a terrible being from the depths of time and space. The trapezohedron rests in a metal box with a hinged lid; the box is incised with designs representing living but distinctly alien creatures. The whole sits atop a column which is also incised with alien designs or characters. Blake's interference inadvertently summons the malign being of the title, and he leaves the church aware that he has caused some mischief. The being can only go abroad in darkness, and is hence constrained to the tower at night by the presence of the lights of the city. However, when the city's electrical power is weakened during a thunderstorm, the local people are terrified by the sounds coming from the church and call on their Catholic priests to lead prayers against the demon. Blake, aware of what he has let loose, is also terrified and prays for the power to remain on. However, a power outage occurs and the being flies towards Blake's quarters. He is subsequently found dead, staring out of his window at the church with a look of horror on his face. His last words refer to his perception of the approaching being. "I see it-- coming here-- hell-wind-- titan-blur-- black wings-- Yog-Sothoth save me-- the three-lobed burning eye..." ===== Patricia Porker (Misty Mundae) is a shy New Jersey high school girl whose life is changed forever when she is bitten by a genetically-engineered spider and turns into a wall-climbing beauty with superhuman strength. Calling herself SpiderBabe, she uses her newfound powers to enter a wrestling contest and win enough money to move out of her Uncle Flem and Aunt Maybe's home and into her own apartment with best friend Lisa Knoxx (Darian Caine). However, a robber murders Uncle Flem and inspires Patricia to use her newfound powers to battle crime in New York City, while she also tries to tell her best friend Mark Wetson that she wants to be his girlfriend and has copious amounts of lesbian sex. Meanwhile, Lisa's ambitious sister, Lucinda Knoxx (Julian Wells), uses the same genetic engineering techniques that Patricia's science teacher, Dr. Dowell (Michael R. Thomas), had used on a spider on herself, and gains a villainous alter-ego, the sexy and evil genius Femtilian. Femtilian sets out on a quest for world domination that can only be resolved in a head-to-head showdown with SpiderBabe. ===== It is Bugs Bunny's 50th birthday anniversary. However, his friends, who were not invited, feel envious and decide to prevent Bugs from getting to his birthday party. By the time Bugs reaches his house, it turns out that his friends were playing tricks on him to stall him until they got his party ready. ===== Nina Williams, world-renowned assassin, has been hired by the CIA and MI6 to join a team that is attempting to infiltrate "Kometa," a notorious criminal organization. The team's strategy involves gaining access to the target through a fighting tournament being held on the "Amphitrite," a luxury cruise ship owned and operated by Kometa. A leaked video on the Internet showed a Kometa ship exploding within the Bermuda Triangle, and it is feared that they are working on some kind of superweapon in the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union. Nina's official cover involves infiltration as a competitor in the tournament. However, Nina is also the team's "sweeper"; should her partners fail, she must finish the job. Nina enters the competition but is quickly discovered and captured. She soon receives a communication informing her of the team's failure and the death of one of the agents named John Doe (killed by Kometa executive Edgar Grant), and that she must now conduct the operation herself. Nina must fight her way through Kometa's forces and expose the truth behind its criminal activities. As she progresses in her mission, Nina fights the Kometa's top executives, starting with the personal bodyguard and lover of Lana Lei, Bryce Adams. She then moves on to photograph a meeting of the directors, with the help of MI6 agent Alan Smithee. Nina barely escapes the cruise ship with her life and is taken to a Kometa Island research facility. Here, she encounters Lukas Hayes, a scientist who informs her about Kometa's plan to use satellites to heat and activate methane hydrate on the ocean floor. The result is bubbling, which causes ships to lose their buoyancy. The weapon thus has the power to destroy naval vehicles from afar, sinking them to the bottom of the sea. Hayes' plan was to find a new energy source and alternative to fossil fuels, but his research was twisted into a form of warfare. The project is Salacia, the mysterious operation CIA and MI6 have heard rumors of. Nina realizes that she must stop the project, and takes on the second Kometa executive, Enrique Ortega. However, he is joined by Anna Williams (Nina's sister), hired along with the Tekken Force as bodyguards. After briefly engaging in combat with Anna, Nina continues on her mission and after Enrique's conversation on video link with the head of the Mishima Zaibatsu, Heihachi Mishima, Nina manages to kill Enrique. Lukas Hayes, however, is also killed as Lana Lei arrives and recovers a case which houses the electronics to operate Salacia's satellites. With Alan's help, Nina escapes the base by helicopter, chasing Lana Lei back to the luxury cruise ship. For a second time, Nina must fight her way through the Kometa boat, only this time against advanced cyborg soldiers, another of Lei's weapons projects. After recovering the keys to her quarters, Nina finds Salacia and engages with Lana. After her defeat, they are interrupted by Alan, who is revealed as Kometa executive Edgar Grant. Shooting Lana, he acknowledges that he is also a sweeper, there to destroy all evidence of his part in the atrocities. Before he can kill Nina, however, Lana shoots him dead and escapes to a secret room. There, Nina witnesses her powering Salacia, targeting methane hydrate pockets all around the United States coastline. Nina finishes Lana off before she can continue with her insane plan, and makes her way to an escape pod as a self- destruct mode is activated on the boat. Her pod, however, explodes, and Nina lands on the ship's edge. As a rescue helicopter comes for her, she is knocked down by none other than Anna Williams. The two sisters face off as the ship nears destruction and almost both fall to their deaths. However, the two grudgingly work together to escape and grab the helicopter rope line, with Nina having a flashback to the events before her father's death, in particular, the moments following when the two sisters comforted one another. Anna drops Nina into the ocean after saying that they are now even. Nina watches on as rescue boats approach from behind her, the Kometa ship exploding and sinking, as Anna leaves on the helicopter. ===== François Pignon, an unassuming divorced man with a teenage son who ignores him, lives a quiet and unremarkable life. When he learns he will be fired from his job as an accountant in a rubber factory, he contemplates suicide, but his new neighbor Jean-Pierre Belone, a former industrial psychologist, dissuades him from jumping from his balcony and suggests a way to keep his position. Belone proposes that Pignon start a rumor he is homosexual by inserting his image in sexually provocative snapshots of a gay couple in a bar and anonymously mailing them to his boss, Mr. Kopel. The factory's primary product is condoms, so the gay community's support is essential, and Kopel will have to keep Pignon on the payroll to avoid charges of anti-homosexual bigotry. Pignon does not change his usual mild and self-effacing behavior and mannerisms in any way as part of his masquerade. But his supervisors and co-workers begin to regard him in a new light, seeing him as exotic rather than dull, and his life becomes unexpectedly and dramatically better. Félix Santini, a homophobic co- worker who used to harass him, is warned he could be fired for discrimination if he continues to belittle Pignon, so he begins to make friendly overtures. The company enters a float in a local gay pride parade, and Pignon is coerced into riding on it; his estranged son sees him in the televised broadcast of the parade and tells his mother. The son is thrilled to learn his father, whom he has always considered bland and boring, has a wilder side, and expresses an interest in spending more time with him. His suspicious ex-wife invites Pignon to dinner and demands an explanation. He has by this point gained enough self- confidence to tell her exactly what he thinks of her. Meanwhile, Santini's charade of friendship has developed into an obsessive attraction; his wife suspects him of having an affair when she finds a receipt for an expensive pink cashmere sweater, and leaves him when he buys Pignon chocolates. After this, Santini invites Pignon to move in with him. When Pignon turns him down, Santini snaps, a fight ensues, and Santini is institutionalized to recover from his emotional breakdown. Eventually, Pignon's ruse is discovered when Kopel catches him making love in the office to his co-worker, Mlle Bertrand. However, he has become so assertive that he keeps his job, relates to his son, patches up his relationship with Santini, cheers up Belone, and lives happily ever after. ===== A violent con, Vincent Canelli (Robinson), escapes prison on the night of his execution. With the help of a phony newspaper reporter and Canelli's girlfriend, the con takes along five hostages, including a priest. Another inmate, Peter Manning, is taken along because Canelli wants the money Manning hid before going to jail. Manning is injured badly in the escape and leaves a bloody trail. The gang ends up at a hideout where they're surrounded by police. Canelli threatens to kill hostages if he's not given safe passage and murders a kidnapped prison guard to make his point. Manning is horrified and ends up killing Canelli, then giving up himself and the others to police. ===== One morning, while pondering the stress of his latest assignment at his uninspiring job, the narrator of Kangaroo Notebook feels an itching on his leg that seems to indicate an unusual hair loss. The next morning he wakes to discover that he has daikon radish sprouts emerging from his shins. After battling to be seen in his local medical clinic, he enters a hospital, where a physician prescribes hot-spring therapy in Hell Valley. Hooked to a penile catheter and an IV bottle, the narrator begins a harrowing journey on his hospital bed through the underworld that seems to lie beneath the city streets. Here he seeks, not so much health, as simple explanations for what is happening to him and the strange people he meets: abusive ferrymen, waiflike child demons, vampire nurses, and a chiropractor who runs a karate school and has a side job carrying out euthanasia procedures. ===== Plot elements include submersion of the world caused by melting polar ice, genetic creation of gilled children for the coming underwater age, and a fortune-telling computer predicting the future and advising humans how to deal with it. Because a similar computer in Moscow is being used to make political forecasts, the institute of a Tokyo professor decides to avoid politics and try to foresee the future of an individual. A man is picked, apparently at random, only to be murdered before he can be programmed, but the computer can still read his mind. The resulting involvements are complicated by a climatic shift – Inter Ice Age 4 – that puts Earth underwater. ===== Captain Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) notifies Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) that a group of Trill scientists will be arriving soon at Deep Space Nine to perform experiments related to wormhole physics. The Trill are a species of humanoids, some of whom host a sluglike symbiont implanted into them. The symbionts live far longer than the hosts, and are moved into a new host when the old one dies. Jadzia is the eighth host of the Dax symbiont. Sisko tells Dax that the head scientist is Lenara Kahn (Susanna Thompson), and offers to grant Dax a leave of absence while the Trill scientists are aboard, but she turns it down. Upon Dax and Kahn's first meeting, Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) notices that they are very familiar with each other; Dax tells her that Kahn used to be her wife. Dr. Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) later explains to Kira that previous hosts of the Dax and Kahn symbionts were married to each other, but Trill are forbidden from reassociating with partners and lovers of past hosts. At the welcome party for the visiting scientists, Dax and Kahn warm to one another's company once more. Afterward, they begin to socialize as they work together on Kahn's wormhole experiment aboard USS Defiant. They agree to have dinner, but to also bring Bashir along as a chaperone. At dinner, Bashir is effectively ignored by the two Trills as they reminisce about their past hosts. Later, back on the Defiant, Kahn successfully creates an artificial wormhole and Dax hugs her in celebration. Kahn's brother Bejal (Tim Ryan), who is on the science team, speaks to her separately and highlights his concerns regarding her contact with Dax. Despite this, Kahn goes to Dax's quarters and a discussion between the two leads to a kiss; Kahn leaves before it goes any further. Dax confides in Sisko that she knows she is in love with her former wife. He reminds her that Trill customs mean that if they resumed their relationship, then they would be exiled from their homeworld and their symbionts would never be joined with a new host, but says that she will have his support either way. Kahn and Dax continue to work on the experiment, but it goes wrong and Defiant is severely damaged. Kahn is injured in the explosion, but Dax rigs a force field across a plasma fire that allows her to reach Kahn, coming to the realization that the relationship is worth exile. After returning to the station, Kahn recuperates from her injuries. She decides against resuming her relationship with Dax, and—with the experiments complete—departs with the science team, leaving Dax heartbroken. ===== A corporation called RX Tech excavates the crash site of a meteorite that impacted on Antarctica millions of years ago and finds strange Rapa Nui-like statues alongside the grave of one of HMS Beagle's sailors. Meanwhile, archaeologist-adventurer Lara Croft is searching for an artefact known as the Infada Stone in the ruins of an ancient Indian Hindu temple once inhabited by the Infada tribe. After taking the artefact from a researcher working for RX Tech, Lara is approached by RX Tech scientist Dr. Willard, who explains that Polynesians came across a meteorite crater in Antarctica thousands of years ago and found that it held incredible power. Using rock from the meteorite, they crafted four crystalline artefacts, one of which is the Infada Stone. They fled Antarctica for unknown reasons, but in the 19th century, a group of sailors travelling with Charles Darwin came to Antarctica and rediscovered the artefacts. The four artefacts were distributed across the globe. Dr. Willard has been able to track the artefacts by using the diary of one of the sailors. Lara agrees to help him find the other three. Travelling to a South Pacific island, Lara encounters a wounded soldier who gives her hints about the existence of a powerful deity. While pursuing the deity, Lara learns that one of Darwin's sailors brought one of the artefacts to the island. She infiltrates a temple and defeats the deity, who has immense power granted by the second artefact, the Ora Dagger. In London, Lara searches for the third artefact, the Eye of Isis, now in the possession of Sophia Leigh, the head of a cosmetics corporation. Lara learns that the corporation has performed experiments on humans in order to achieve immortality and eternal youth for Sophia's personal gain. Lara confronts Sophia in her office and ultimately obtains the artefact. In Nevada, Lara makes her way through a desert canyon and tries to enter Area 51, where the fourth artefact, Element 115, is located in an alien spacecraft guarded by the US government. She is taken prisoner after her attempted break-in fails. Freeing herself, she escapes the security compound and stows away in a truck to Area 51, where she obtains the artefact. After collecting all four artefacts, Lara travels to Antarctica and discovers that Dr. Willard had been using the knowledge gained from the meteorite to perform experiments on his own men, turning them into horrible mutations. Angered by this revelation, she confronts Dr. Willard, who reveals that he is planning to encourage the mutations, only on a global scale, using the combined power of the artefacts and the meteorite from which they were carved. As Lara voices her opposition to his operation, Willard betrays her, steals the artefacts, and disappears into the excavation site. After fighting more mutants and navigating the treacherous ruins of the ancient city built atop the meteorite crater, Lara faces Willard, who has now used the power of the four artefacts to greatly speed up the evolutionary processes of the human body and thereby turned himself into a spider-like creature. Lara deactivates the meteorite by recovering the artefacts, kills the mutated Willard, and escapes by helicopter. ===== Kimberly Joyce is a precocious, narcissistic, sociopathic high school student at Roxbury Academy, an elite preparatory school in Beverly Hills. She and her best friend Brittany take Randa, a new Muslim student who recently emigrated from the Middle East, under their wing. Kimberly's home life is troubled; her bigoted and disaffected father Hank, an electronics executive, shows little interest in her life, while her vapid stepmother, Kathy, constantly attempts to reprimand her for her coarse language and attitude. Kimberly dreams of becoming an actress, and obtains a coveted role as Anne Frank in the school play. The school drama teacher, Percy Anderson, orders Kimberly and Randa to after-school detention one day for disrupting class, and forces Kimberly to write an essay reflecting on her transgression. Percy takes the essay home that evening and has his wife, Grace, read it aloud provocatively as a role play before the two engage in sex. After Brittany is publicly humiliated by Percy during an acting exercise, Kimberly devises a plan to accuse him of sexually harassing each of them. Unable to afford an attorney, Percy agrees to his friend Roger - a clueless high school law teacher who passed the bar - acting as his attorney. In court, Roger proposes that the accusations are in retaliation to Kimberly having been replaced in the school play after referring to her Jewish classmate Josh's lawyer father as a "money-grubbing shyster." The case becomes a media sensation covered extensively by Emily Klein, a local lesbian reporter. Shortly after the trial begins, Kimberly has a sexual encounter with Emily. She manipulates Josh with oral sex into convincing his father Larry, a renowned defense attorney, to defend Percy pro bono. When Larry cross examines Brittany, she confesses on the stand that she, Kimberly, and Randa fabricated the accusations. When Emily confronts her outside the courthouse, Kimberly reveals she filmed their sexual encounter, and uses it as blackmail to receive favorable press coverage. Overwhelmed with the shame brought on her family by the false accusations, Randa shoots herself to death at school. Grace, now aware the essay Percy had her read was written by Kimberly, leaves him. In the storm of media coverage, Emily extolls Kimberly as a mere "victim" of society, and the ensuing press incites Hollywood producers to give Kimberly a bit part on a daytime soap opera. When Brittany visits Kimberly at her house, Kimberly reveals she manipulated Josh into having his father defend Percy as she knew it would cause Brittany to buckle under pressure in court. When Brittany asks why, Kimberly explains that she devised the calculated plot to garner publicity for herself, as well as exact revenge against Brittany for having stolen her ex-boyfriend, Troy. Brittany lambasts her and leaves, vowing never to speak to her again. Kimberly turns on the television and sees herself on the episode of the soap opera. As she watches herself onscreen, tears begin streaming down her face. ===== Homer and Marge go Christmas shopping at a Try-N-Save megastore, where frenzied shoppers are snatching the holiday season's most popular toys. Homer, posing as a store cashier, buys toys that customers tried to buy from him. At bedtime on Christmas Eve, the family makes last-minute preparations at home, Marge tells everyone that no one can open their presents until 7 AM the next morning and confiscates all of the alarm clocks. However, Bart drinks 12 glasses of water to wake up early and unwrap his gifts, one of which is a remote-controlled fire truck. He plays with it until it sprays water on an overloaded electrical socket, causing a fire that engulfs and melts the plastic Christmas tree and all of the presents beneath it. Bart hides the evidence beneath the snow in the front yard. When the family comes downstairs to find the tree and presents gone, Bart makes up a story about how he caught a burglar taking off with their tree and presents. The police investigate and Kent Brockman does a human interest story on the case. As a result of the report, everyone in Springfield gives them a new Christmas tree and $15,000. With the donations, Homer buys a new car. Driving it home, Homer gets stuck behind The Plow King and impatiently passes it. He drives the car onto a frozen lake, forcing everyone to jump out. The ice cracks, causing the car to sink and blow up. The next morning, a guilt-ridden Bart admits the truth to his family. Though furious, they go along with the lie when Brockman and his news crew arrive to do a follow-up story. When a cameraman, with help from Santa's Little Helper, finds the tree's remains, the family is forced to explain the truth; Springfield's citizens, feeling scammed, shun them in public and mail them angry letters demanding they pay back the $15,000. After a failed attempt by Marge to win the money on the game show Jeopardy!, the Simpsons arrive home to find everyone in Springfield gathered on their lawn and Marge thinks they have forgiven them. However, while that is the case, they steal all of their belongings, including Santa's Little Helper and Snowball ll, to cover the $15,000 debt. The family playfully fight over a tattered washcloth, the only thing they have left. ===== In the distant future, the gargantuan blue humanoid Draags have brought human beings (who are called Oms as a play on the French word for "man", homme) from Earth to the planet Ygam, where they maintain a technologically and spiritually advanced society. The Draags consider Oms animals, and while they keep some as pets, others live in the wilderness and are periodically slaughtered by the Draags, who wish to control their population. Draags have much longer lifespans than Oms, but reproduce much less. When an Om mother is teased to death by three Draag children, her orphaned infant is found by Master Sinh, a key Draag leader, and his daughter Tiwa, who keeps the boy as a pet and names him Terr. Tiwa loves Terr and is careful not to hurt him, but, in accordance with her parents' instructions, keeps him under control, giving him a collar with which she can pull him in any direction. She brings Terr to sessions in which she receives her education using a headset that transmits knowledge into her mind, and a defect in his collar allows him to receive the knowledge too. Around the time that Tiwa grows into her teens and first performs Draag meditation, which allows the species to travel with their minds, she loses some interest in Terr, who has become a young man and acquired much Draag knowledge. He escapes into the wilderness, stealing Tiwa's headset. There he runs into a wild female Om, who cuts off his collar and introduces him to her tribe, which lives in an abandoned Draag park full of strange creatures and landscapes. Terr shows them how to use the headset to acquire Draag knowledge and literacy, winning the right to do so in a duel. The literacy they gain allows them to read a Draag announcement that the park will be purged of Oms, and, when the purge comes, some are slaughtered by Draag technology while others escape, joining forces with another tribe. They are attacked by two Draag passers-by and manage to kill one of them before escaping to an abandoned Draag rocket depot, much to the outrage of Draag leaders. They live there for years, joined by many other Oms, and, due to the knowledge acquired from Terr's headset, manage to replicate Draag technology, including two rockets; they hope to leave Ygam for its moon, the Wild Planet, and live there safe from Draags. When a large-scale Draag purge hits the depot and many Oms are slaughtered, a group led by Terr uses the rockets to flee to the Wild Planet, where they discover large statues that Draags travel to during meditation and use to meet beings from other galaxies in a strange ritual that maintains their species. The Oms destroy some of the statues, threatening the Draags' existence; the genocide is halted on Ygam, and, facing a crisis, the Draags sue for peace. The Oms agree to leave the Wild Planet to the Draags for their meditations, and in return, an artificial satellite is put into orbit around Ygam and is given to the Oms as a new home. This leads to an era of peaceful coexistence between the two species, who now benefit from each other's way of thinking. ===== A petty con man named Arky Lochner fumbles and stumbles down a dark alley with something following him. A demonic creature in the shape of a cloud claims in rather colorful language that Arky is a fool and shouldn't have tried to outwit him. Arky claims he has two days before the demon has the right to do anything to him. In the demon's moment of indecision, Arky runs off and into Nino's Toys and Imports. He runs into the office of Mr. Nino Lancaster and begs Nino for help from the demon, even though he owes Nino a great deal of money. Arky tries to explain that the money lent to him by Nino was spent to make a deal with a demon named Volkerps to pick horse winners in exchange for his soul. The only problem is the horses all died as they crossed the finish line, either packed full of dope or due to other maladies which caused Arky to lose despite the horses' win. Nino, oddly enough, doesn't appear surprised and decides to help Arky. First, Nino wants to know how Arky found this demon and Arky claims beauty shop owner Cassandra Fishbein located the demon for him. When she refuses to help, Nino finds a way to persuade her and demands a meeting with Volkerps immediately. Cassandra calls on Volkerps but he kills her and then turns his eyes to Nino. Arky runs out of the shop with one of Nino's goons, and they go back to the toy and import building, thinking that Nino is dead. But Nino arrives and adjusts himself - smoke rising from his suit. Apparently, Nino managed to get away but just barely, and he sends his goons to get a hundred gallons of lead paint to cover every inch of the office - ten times over. Nino then leaves to procure an item that will defeat the demon. Nino returns with a small stone box and waits for Volkerps to arrive around midnight. As the clock strikes midnight, Volkerps appears in the office in a flash of light, and Nino tells him to cancel the contract with Arky to avoid a severe punishment. Volkerps laughs at this, but Nino has Arky and his secretary close the door. Then Nino pulls something out of the stone box and uses it to strike Volkerps with bolts of energy which hurts the demon. Then Nino uses the bolts of energy to drive Volkerps into confinement within the stone box. Apparently, Nino had dealt with Volkerps' father and trapped him within the box too. Now, all Arky has to do is make a deal with Nino, whose eyes begin glowing, revealing to Arky that Nino is also a supernatural being. ===== Two scientists, Dr. Elena Kinder (Kathleen Turner) and Dr. Heep (Christopher Lloyd), use genius-baby studies to fund BabyCo's theme park "Joyworld". According to Dr. Kinder's research on toddlers/babies, babies are born possessing vast, universal knowledge and speak a secret yet impossible-to-translate baby pre-language called Babymantalk. However, at age 2–3, the knowledge and language are lost as the babies cross over by learning how to speak human languages. Most of the babies raised in Dr. Kinder's underground research facility were adopted from the Pasadena City orphanage, transformed into little geniuses through use of the Kinder Method, and then used in experiments to decipher this secret yet impossible-to-translate language used by the seven baby geniuses. One mischievous toddler, Sylvester (the only one of her toddlers raised via use of the superior version of the Kinder Method), nicknamed "Sly", makes repeated attempts to escape Dr. Kinder's research facility. One night, Sylvester goes into a diaper truck and succeeds. The next morning, he is surprised to run into his long-lost normal twin brother, Whit, in a Joyworld playground. Although Sylvester and Whit share a telepathic bond, each has no idea of the other's existence. The guards from Dr. Kinder's research facility capture Whit, mistaking him for Sylvester, and take him back to Dr. Kinder's research facility. Sylvester is taken home by Whit's adopted mother, Robin (Kim Cattrall), who is Dr. Kinder's niece. Dr. Kinder and the six other baby- geniuses are shocked that Whit and Sylvester switched places at the mall, but Dr. Kinder becomes excited and begins to see this as an opportunity to do a cross evaluation on the twins. However, when she comes to Dan Bobbin's (Peter MacNicol) place, she realizes that Dan can understand babies. After the attempts to retrieve Sylvester fail, Dr. Kinder decides to move the research facility to Liechtenstein, and they have no choice but to make Whit be the only normal baby to be raised in this research facility until they can find a possible way to get Sylvester back to her research facility. The babies at Bobbin's place hypnotize Lenny (Dom DeLuise), the bus driver to drive to Dr. Kinder's research facility. Once at the research facility, Sylvester goes to the control room to set the robots from the theme park on the lab scientists. When the Bobbins return home, their natural daughter Carrie tells her father that the children are in Dr. Kinder's research facility. At the end of the fight, Dr. Kinder captures Whit and takes him to the helicopter pad on the roof. Robin and Dan chase them to the roof, where Dr. Kinder reveals that she and Robin are not related and that Robin was adopted at age two. After Dr. Kinder is arrested by the police, Sylvester and Whit come together on the roof to cross over. Dan and Robin adopt Sylvester. And Dr. Heep is now in charge of Dr. Kinder's Research facility. Dan is still curious of the secrets of life; but, as the twins have crossed over, they no longer know those secrets. Carrie, their sister, doesn't reveal anything (just giving her dad a sly smile) because adults aren't meant to know their secrets. ===== In the near future (the year 1999), a man named Simon Foster comes home to find a message from the unemployment agency: no more unemployment money for him. He then decides to pawn what little valuables he owns, but the broker offers very little for what he has. The broker asks if he might have something else to offer, and Simon looks puzzled but is intrigued. The broker says that perhaps there is something else Simon has that he might want. He questions Simon about what he knows about "memory- dipping" which involves renting people's copied memories. A champion skier can copy the memory of his best race and one can feel what he felt—the exhilaration, the snow under the skis, etc. But copied memories aren't quite as intense as real ones, and it would be similar to watching a video that's been dubbed too many times. Now, for a select few, the demand for actual memories cut from a person's mind is enticing. The unfortunate side effect is the person loses those memories; however, he is reimbursed financially. Simon is hesitant and decides to think about it, but after a threat to be evicted he returns to the pawn shop and lets the broker take his high school graduation. Simon gets enough to pay his rent but discovers he needs even more, as his landlord threatens to evict him anyway if he doesn't pay him next month in advance. Later, Simon is looking at a picture of his graduation; he closes his eyes and is disturbed that he can no longer remember it at all. He soon runs out of money and returns to the pawn shop. This time he gives up his fifth birthday. This snowball effect continues as Simon gives up his first steps, his first time at the circus, and numerous others. The unemployment agency eventually gives him a call to inform him that they have a job for him, but they just need to ask a few questions. He soon realizes that much of his college years have been taken, and he can't remember what he needs to get the job. He returns to the pawn shop and gives up the first time he made love. After the procedure, Simon demands his life back and pulls the broker's gun on him, demanding to have all the memories that he had sold restored to him, not caring which other person's life they may come from. The broker tries to comply, but he says it won't be easy. Simon has another appointment with the unemployment agency, and when he is questioned about his typing experience, the counselor wonders how a man graduated from what was a women's college at the time. Simon goes on to speak about his many and varied experiences, which seem to contradict each other. ===== On the way home from work, Buffy is attacked by a vampire, but the smell of Doublemeat Palace makes him lose his appetite; Buffy stakes him all the same. At home, Buffy finds Spike waiting in front of her house. She knows what he's there for, but with Dawn waiting inside, she refuses to let him follow her into the house. He persuades her to stay outside with him instead. The next day, Buffy learns that her application to re-enroll in UC Sunnydale has been rejected because she missed the deadline. At work, Buffy tends to the grill like a depressed robot, and so is sent up to the counter. Her first customer is unexpected: Riley. Buffy leaves her job to help Riley. They fight a Suvolte demon on the streets of Sunnydale, but it escapes. Riley and Buffy pursue in his car. A brief interlude shows Xander and Anya having a spat while sitting in traffic. At a dam, Riley and Buffy fight the demon again. Riley's wife, Sam, arrives and quickly jumps into the fight. Buffy recovers from the shock of Riley being married and Riley catches her up on his life since he left. The demon strikes Sam and Riley rushes to help her as Buffy approaches the demon from behind and snaps its neck. Riley is shocked and Buffy soon finds out from Sam that they weren't trying to kill it. Improvising, Sam takes a knife from Riley and cuts into the demon's gut as Buffy watches on, still confused. Sam observes that they're too late and the three head for Buffy's home where it should be safe. Riley mentions that Sam's cutting skills are good because she's a doctor and promises Buffy that he'll take the time to fill her in on everything. At the house, almost everyone greets Riley with open arms; Dawn is still angry over his sudden departure a year ago. Sam and Riley begin to describe the gory details of the demon and the mission; although Riley is concerned about letting Dawn hear about it, Sam sticks up for the teen and she gets to stay with the "grownups". Sam explains that the Suvolte demon, which multiplies quickly and can destroy towns full of people in no time, has come to the Hellmouth to lay a nest full of its offspring. A demonic dealer in Sunnydale by the name of "The Doctor" is suspected of holding the eggs for a fee. Buffy suggests they split up and as Sam heads off to find Riley, Buffy aims directly for Spike's crypt. Upon arrival, she questions him about "The Doctor," but when he has no immediate answers, she changes the subject to his feelings for her and eventually pulls him to her for some physical comfort. Later that evening, Buffy and Spike sleep under a blanket together and Spike wakes to find Riley has walked in on them. Riley then accuses Spike of being "The Doctor" and demands to know where the eggs are. Spike tries to explain that he's holding the eggs for a friend (which explains Spike's ignorance about how dangerous the eggs are without refrigeration.) When they hatch, Buffy destroys them using Riley's grenades. The whole gang gathers to say goodbye to Sam and Riley. While Riley describes to Xander where and how his wedding took place, Sam and Willow confirm that they have each other's e-mail addresses for future contact. A helicopter arrives and carries the couple off into the night. The next day, Buffy finds Spike at his crypt. She tells Spike that she is not going to go into the wrongness of dealing with the Suvolte eggs because, as he said, that's just who he is. Instead she has come to tell him that although she wants him, she can never love him so it would be wrong to keep using him the way she has been, so it is over. Spike thinks that this is her usual routine of playing hard to get, but Buffy is serious and walks out with a final goodbye. ===== The story begins with Vitalstatistix receiving a missive from his brother Doublehelix in Lutetia (Paris), to ask for the education of Doublehelix's teenage son, Justforkix. Justforkix then arrives in a sports car-like chariot. The village holds a dance in honour of his arrival; but he is unimpressed by the traditional way of dancing, snatches Cacofonix's lyre, and sings and plays in the manner of Elvix Preslix (the Rolling Menhirs in the English version). Some of the younger villagers dance to this new form; but Cacofonix tries to show off his own skills, and is struck down by Fulliautomatix. Justforkix thereupon suggests that Cacofonix's talents would be better appreciated in Lutetia. Meanwhile, a Norman crew arrive in Gaul to discover "the meaning of fear", on grounds that they are fearless to the point of not understanding the concept, but have heard of people "flying in fear", and believe that being afraid will grant them the ability to fly. Most of the Gauls welcome the chance of a fight; but Justforkix is horrified and decides to return home. Viewing Justforkix as an expert in fear, the Normans kidnap him to teach them; but this fails, and he remains their prisoner until Asterix and Obelix come to the rescue. A small Roman patrol is also involved in the resulting fight. At length, Norman chief Timandahaf orders an end to the battle and explains his mission to the Gauls. To teach the Normans fear, Asterix sends Obelix to fetch Cacofonix, while himself remaining as a hostage. When Obelix reaches the village, he finds Cacofonix gone to perform in Lutetia, and pursues him through a series of tell-tale clues. Meanwhile, Timandahaf becomes impatient and tries to force Justforkix to teach the secret of flight by tossing him off a cliff. Just before this can be carried out, Asterix challenges the Norman warriors; and seeing him surrounded, Justforkix gains the courage to fight as well — albeit to no visible effect. Obelix and Cacofonix stop the fight, and Cacofonix's discordant songs are exhibited to the Normans, which provokes their first real fear, and an immediate retreat to their homeland. When Asterix questions the Normans' interest in fear, Getafix replies that courage is achieved only by having first been afraid, and superseding the fear to the desired effect. Thereafter Justforkix is claimed to have gained courage himself, and the story ends with the customary banquet, but with Cacofonix as guest of honour and Fulliautomatix tied up, with his ears filled with parsley. ===== Billy Weaver is a seventeen-year-old youth who has travelled by train from London to Bath to start a new job. Looking for lodgings, he comes across a boarding-house and feels strangely compelled by its sign saying "Bed and Breakfast". Through the window, he notices a parrot in a cage and a sleeping dachshund on the floor. When he rings the doorbell, it is instantly answered by a middle-aged landlady. Billy discovers that her boarding-house is extremely cheap, and finds the woman somewhat eccentric and absent-minded, but very kind. When Billy signs her guest-book, he finds only two names, both dated more than two years ago: Christopher Mulholland and Gregory W. Temple – names which seem curiously familiar to Billy. The landlady invites Billy for some tea, and Billy tries to remember where he has previously heard the names in the guest-book. He seems to recall that Mulholland was an Eton schoolboy whose disappearance was reported in the newspapers. The landlady assures Billy that her Mulholland was a Cambridge undergraduate, and that Mulholland and Temple are still staying upstairs in her boarding-house. She says that Billy is a handsome young man, as were the two other guests. Billy is surprised to find that the parrot and dachshund he had seen through the window are both stuffed. The landlady says that she stuffs all her pets when they die. Billy finds that his tea tastes faintly of bitter almonds. He asks the landlady whether she has had any other guests since the two young men. The landlady replies, "No, my dear. Only you." (The implication is that the landlady has poisoned Billy's tea with cyanide and intends to stuff his corpse, as she has already done to Mulholland and Temple.) ===== The arcade game begins with the following introduction: 4.5 billion years have passed since Earth's creation. Many dominators have ruled in all their glory, but time was their greatest enemy and it defeated their reign. And now a new dominator's reign begins... Information gleaned from console manuals reveals that the evil being Ligar has taken over the land of Argool, and Rygar, a dead warrior who has risen from his grave, must use his Diskarmor to stop him. In console versions clues and limited dialogue are given in the form of large, sage-like men encountered in green stone temples throughout the game. In the Japanese original, references to "Ligar" and "Rygar" are one and the same because the Roman syllables "Li" and "Ry" come from the same Japanese character. In this version, the hero is only referred to as "The Legendary Warrior", while both "Rygar" and "Ligar" refer to the main villain. ===== The series is supposedly a modern updating and sequel of the mythology of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, although the similarities are mainly superficial. Set in present-day New Orleans, the series follows the activities of Victor Frankenstein, now known as Victor Helios, as he continues to create new life forms for his own purposes. Opposed to his activities are a pair of homicide detectives and Frankenstein's original monster, now known as Deucalion. While the original Monster was made with parts from dead humans, Victor Frankenstein is now using modern technology to create more creatures, particularly synthetic biology. The new race he is making is constructed and designed from the bottom-up, and can be seen as bio androids, artificial humans made of flesh. Their knowledge and behavior is even based on programs downloaded directly into their brain, which appears to be an advanced wetware computer. ===== Mary Pearl receives a note from her recently deceased husband, William. The letter tells how Landy, a doctor, approaches William, a well- regarded philosopher, about his cancer, six weeks before William's death. He suggests William undertake a procedure, which he explains in great detail, that would mean his brain being transplanted from his body after death, and attached to an artificial heart. The brain would be bathing in a Ringer's solution. One of his eyes could also be hooked up. Although the doctor is uncertain whether the brain would regain consciousness, he remains hopeful. William initially reacts violently to this suggestion, but by the end of their discussion has lightened up to the idea more. He is initially concerned with the idea of phantom limb, believing that as a brain alone he may be in terrible trauma, wishing for the use of his body. However, he writes, he eventually embraced the idea, being very fond of his brain and liking the suggestion that it could live on. He had attempted to discuss this earlier with Mary, but she had pushed him aside. He adds that by the time she reads the letter, the procedure should have been undertaken a week earlier, and suggests she contact Landy. She does so and immediately begins to take care of him. The procedure had gone as well as could be expected, and William had regained consciousness within two days. His connected eye also appears to be functioning properly. Mary finds the previously dominating William to be attractive in his helplessness and wishes to take him back home. Landy, not at all expecting such a reaction, tells her she should stick to being a widow, and the story ends with William's future uncertain. Mary has been depicted as rebelling against her husband's restrictions after his death: she has bought a television and is openly smoking, for instance, both actions condemned by William in his letter. As the story closes, William appears to see Mary smoke, and is infuriated by it, his eye clearly registering a look of fury. Mary blows the smoke of her cigarette in the eye. ===== The advertising designer Lo Ka-yiu is sentenced to three years of imprisonment in a Hong Kong prison for manslaughter. He was convicted for pushing a man who had robbed the grocery store of his father onto a street under a passing bus. He is assigned for work at the prison ward where he meets Chung Tin-ching. The men befriend each over and Yiu asks to be transferred to the laundry where Ching is working. Yiu observes how a member of the gang of triad boss Micky steals scissors from Ching (to use them as a weapon). Yiu notifies Ching who manages to get the scissors back, but as a consequence Yiu gets bullied by the triad members. During a cell inspection forbidden items (playing cards and improvised weapons) are found and several men from the cell (among them Yiu, Micky and Bill, the boss of another triad) are brought to ranking warden officer Hung for questioning. Hung is nicknamed "scarface" by the prisoners due to a characteristic scar. He tries to recruit Yiu as an informant, which he refuses. Following that Hung questions Micky, asking him to let his henchmen search for tools which went missing in the prison work shops (serving as makeshift weapons). In return Hung would transfer one of Micky's rivals to a different prison. Since someone needs to be held responsible for the improvised weapons, Micky proposes to claim that Yiu blamed one of Bill's men. Hung accepts the deal and transfers several triad members to another prison as "punishment". The following night Yiu is dragged into the cell's lavatory by Micky's men and beaten up. Ching attempts to stop them to no avail. When one of the guards hears the noise and intervenes, Yiu tells him he just slipped and is left alone for the time being. Yiu's girlfriend visits him in prison and announces to study in England for nine months. Yiu is agitated and asks her to stay in Hong Kong, but is ultimately unable to convince her. Later the day Micky approaches Yiu in the laundry and demands a compensation for the punishment of his triad men. Yiu publicly accuses him of calumny and punches him, which results in a brawl. Yiu keeps his opponents on distance with a sharp piece of broken glass until the guards arrive, but also accidentally hurts Ching with it. Yiu and Ching are summoned to the prison warden. When asked what started the fight Ching accuses Officer Hung (who's also present) of having tricked Yiu. The warden promises to have the case investigated and moves both into temporary solitary confinement as punishment. Micky is ultimately moved to a different prison and the situation calms down. A year later on New Year's Eve, Ching tells Yiu why he's imprisoned: four years ago he caught his wife prostituting herself, for which he killed her before finally attempting suicide. Their son now lives with the grandmother and regularly visits him in prison. The following summer Micky is transferred back to the prison. He's still seeking revenge since being a triad boss he was never assaulted before. Yiu asks Officer Hung to move him and Ching to a different prison, but Hung brushes him off. During the next prison inspection, Yiu approaches the inspector and demands a transfer to protect them from the triads. Hung - who's also present during the inspection - denies the presence of triads among the prisoners and claims the two were having problems due to gambling debts. The warden requests a report, but ultimately Yiu and Ching have to remain in the prison. Some time later, the members of Bill's triad initiate a hunger strike to protest against a price surge for cigarettes. Micky's men and the other prisoners join the strike. Hung approaches Micky and demands him to stop the strike, otherwise he'd put all triad leaders in solitary confinement while telling them Micky had accused them of initiating the strike. Micky doesn't want to rat them out and instead defames Yiu as the instigator. In addition Hung whispers to Ching in the presence of the others, alluding Ching would rat on them. When the prison warden enters the room he demands everyone to resume their meals. While Micky obeys, Hung threatens Ching to also resume eating, which enrages him to the point that he and Yiu assault Hung. They are restrained and Hung has them moved back to the cell (where they are at the mercy of the triads). Back in the cell Micky's men start beating up Yiu and Ching as soon as the guards leave the cell. The other prisoners however demand that Micky fights against Ching man to man. Without the support of his henchmen he doesn't stand a chance. When Micky goes to the ground, his men intervene nonetheless and support him. In the meantime the guards are alarmed by the noise of the fight, but are unable to take action since the absent Hung locked up the cell. Ching wins the upper hand against Micky and almost strangles him to death with a bed pole. When the guards manage to get a hold of Hung and storm the cell, Ching needs to let go of Micky who he had almost killed. A huge brawl arises and Ching knocks Hung down with a drop-kick from a bunk bed. Laughing madly he jumps on Hung and bites his ear off. A few months later Yiu is released from prison and being welcomed from his family and his girlfriend. When leaving the prison they see how Ching (who had been moved to a hospital after the fight) is moved back to the prison in a bus. ===== Deep Space Nine has the distinction of making first contact with a Gamma Quadrant species known as the Wadi. However, the Wadi show no interest in formalities and head straight to Quark's. The Ferengi initially sees the Wadi as a potential source of great profit, but when the Wadi master Dabo and go on a winning streak, Quark has one of his waiters rig the game. The Wadi catch him and force Quark to play "an honest game" called Chula. Meanwhile, Commander Sisko, Dr. Bashir, Major Kira, and Lt. Dax find themselves in an abstract, dream-like world. One of the Wadi appears and cheerfully yells, "Move along, move along home!" As Quark continues to play the game, Odo finds the four senior officers missing; both Odo and Quark come to realize that missing officers are part of the game he is playing. In regard to the "players" they are faced with several puzzles, which become more Bizarre and deadly; starting on the second level they find a young girl singing a rhyme and playing a alien version of the human game Hopscotch; Kira and Bashir are shocked by a force field until Dax realizes that to get through the force field they must sing the song and copy her hand gestures. On the third level they find themselves in a Wadi party in a room filling up with a deadly gas; only by drinking the Wadi drink can they survive. Later on in the game at the 4th level, Bashir's piece is removed from the game, and he disappears from the maze. Quark is then faced with a choice between a shorter, more difficult path or a longer, easier one for his remaining players. He chooses the shortcut, and when Constable Odo objects, he explains that with risks to his players involved in every move, advancing them home as soon as possible is the wiser choice. Ultimately, Quark chooses the shorter path for the officers. However, the results of his next roll force him to sacrifice one of his players. Quark begs the Wadi not to make him choose, so they make the game choose at random. Skipping a level down to the last level six, Sisko, Kira, and Dax are faced with scaling a mountain during a violent earthquake, and Dax's leg becomes stuck between two rocks. Although she tells Sisko to leave her behind, he and Kira help her walk across a ledge on the rock face. They slip, however, and the three of them fall into the abyss--only to re- materialize in Quark's, along with Bashir. Quark is elated and begins to collect his winnings, but the Wadi explains that all his players were lost; the crew was never in any real danger. "It's only a game!" he laughs. As Sisko is about to angrily confront the Wadi over what they have experienced, Odo interrupts and tells him that he would do better to talk with Quark first about certain confessions that were made while the game was in progress. Sisko turns his attention to Quark-who tries to "license" the game from the Wadi who depart. ===== As a crime wave rises in New York City, reporter April O'Neil correctly theorizes that the mysterious ninja Foot Clan is behind the rising chaos. The Shredder, the Foot leader, orders April silenced. She is attacked by the Foot in a subway and knocked unconscious. Raphael, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, emerges from the shadows, defeats the Foot, and carries her to the turtles' hideout, unaware that one of the Foot is following him. Splinter, their rat master, explains to April that he and the turtles were once ordinary animals, but were mutated into intelligent creatures by toxic waste, and trained by Splinter in the art of ninjutsu. After the turtles escort April home, they find their hideout ransacked and Splinter kidnapped. They return to April's apartment and spend the night there. Danny Pennington, the delinquent son of April's supervisor Charles Pennington, works for the Foot. After bailing Danny out of jail for robbery and truancy, Charles stops at April's apartment where Danny glimpses one of the turtles hiding. He reports this to Shredder. After an argument with Leonardo, Raphael goes to the roof of April's apartment building, where the Foot ambush him. He is knocked unconscious and the turtles scramble to defend themselves, assisted by the vigilante Casey Jones, who had recently met Raphael. The building catches fire during the fight and the turtles retreat to a farm belonging to April's family. Raphael recovers and the turtles train while April and Casey fall in love. Leo contacts Splinter through astral projection, and the turtles return to New York to rescue him. Danny has secretly been taking counsel from Splinter, who tells him the story of his master Hamato Yoshi's murder by a rival ninja, Oroku Saki, over the love of a woman, while Splinter was an ordinary rat. During the struggle, Splinter's cage was broken and he lunged at Saki's face, clawing and biting him. Saki threw Splinter to the floor and took one swipe with his katana, slicing Splinter's ear. When Danny learns the Shredder intends to have Splinter killed, he and Casey set him free. Splinter reveals to the other teens who have been recruited by the Foot that the Shredder has been brainwashing them to do his dirty work. Realizing this, they all resign from the Foot. The turtles engage the Foot in battle, easily defeating every Foot Clan ninja, but upon facing the Shredder, he defeats them singlehandedly. As the Shredder prepares to kill Leonardo, Splinter appears and challenges him to a fight. Splinter names Shredder as Oroku Saki; Saki removes his mask and touches his scar, remembering how Splinter gave it to him. He charges Splinter to spear him, who ensnares the Shredder's yari with Michelangelo's nunchaku, leaving him dangling over the roof's edge. In a final attempt to kill Splinter, Shredder throws a tanto at Splinter, but when Splinter reaches to catch it, his grip is released and Saki falls into a garbage truck. Casey pulls the lever "accidentally" to activate the compactor, crushing the Shredder. As the police and media arrive and arrest the Foot soldiers, the teens tell them the location of the Foot hideout. Charles is reunited with his son Danny and gives April her job back. Reunited with Splinter, the turtles watch as April and Casey kiss. ===== The plot follows James Bond Junior while he tries to uncover what is going on at Hazeley Hall. He and Sheelagh Smith, his "girlfriend," follow the clues of this mystery, but the information is given to the commander of the police, Sir Cuthbert Conningtower, when James is injured. Conningtower ultimately gets the credit for solving the case and threatens James if he says anything. ===== The film tells the tale of a man called George Taylor (John Hodiak), who returns home to the U.S. from fighting in World War II. He is suffering from amnesia, having been badly injured by a grenade. He tries to find his old identity, following a trail left behind by the mysterious Mr. Larry Cravat. He ends up stumbling into a murder mystery involving Nazi loot. ===== Arthur Jamison (Anthony Hopkins), a wealthy criminal defence attorney, is facing a costly divorce from his wife, Louise (Blythe Danner). Arthur deals with the predicament by imagining numerous schemes in which he kills her. As a defense attorney, Arthur is familiar with both the courts and the minds of criminals, and he spends much of the film consulting an officious imaginary version of himself (a double played by Donegan Smith) for the perfect scheme to rid himself of Lousie. Arthur runs each murder, or the subsequent trial, through in his mind, searching for problems, loopholes, and the elusive watertight alibi. Arthur's mistress Jackie Willis (Swoosie Kurtz) meets up with Louise in secret. The two concoct a scheme to kill Arthur. They confront Arthur at gunpoint, planning to stage his murder as a suicide. Unfazed, Arthur takes control of the situation, pointing out the flaws and poking holes in what was supposed to be a foolproof scheme. For one thing, Arthur has been cheating on both his wife and his mistress, he was about to go out on a date with a third woman, and thus was not of a mindset to commit suicide. Worse, Arthur reveals that he had been recording the entire confrontation with Louise and Jackie. He uses the tape to attempt to blackmail Louise, but, enraged by the implosion of her plan, she chases her husband with a gun. A brief struggle ensues, and Louise is shot dead. Now, however, Louise's accidental death implicates Arthur for having murdered her. Arthur had only been bluffing about the tape, there is no evidence that the shooting was an accident other than the word of Jackie, his mistress, who may not be willing to testify to exonerate him. Arthur imagines himself in court, his imaginary self now his own prosecutor, and how the case will unfold. At this point the film shows Arthur back at home, again poking holes in the scheme. It is revealed to be yet another of his unrealized, purely imaginary plans. Louise arrives home, shoots him dead, and phones Jackie to inform the deed is done. The film ends with Louise rearranging the living room to cover up evidence of the murder. ===== Chris Cahill is a young track-and-field athlete who competes unsuccessfully in the 1976 U.S. Olympic trials. She meets a more experienced competitor, Tory Skinner, and their friendship evolves into a romantic relationship. The two are part of a group of women trying to qualify for the American track-and-field team bound for the 1980 Olympic Games. Despite their commitment to their training regimen, their dreams are thwarted when the United States announces its boycott of the Games for political reasons, leaving them with only the informal "personal best" marks they achieved during training to connote their achievements. ===== Insurance investigator Joe Peters (McGraw) and his partner Harry Miller (Louis Jean Heydt) solve a case and prepare to fly home. Joe meets Diane (Dixon) at an airport. She pretends to be his wife without his knowledge in order to get a large discount on the airfare. They wind up sharing a hotel room after a storm forces an unscheduled stop. Joe is attracted to Diane, despite his dislike for "chiselers". She makes it quite clear she loves the finer things in life, which "Honest Joe" (as Diane calls him) cannot possibly afford on his small salary of $350 a month, so they part when they reach Los Angeles. By coincidence, when Joe and Harry are assigned to check out Kendall Webb (Lowell Gilmore), the prime suspect in a fur robbery, Joe runs into Diane, who is now Webb's girlfriend. Their mutual attraction flares up and Joe, in order to finance a dream life with Diane, decides to use his own inside knowledge of a $1,250.000 cash shipment to set up a robbery for Webb. Joe wants one-third of the money. Ironically, Diane decides that her love for Joe is greater than her love of money. When she tells Joe she wants to get married, he tries to back out of his deal with Webb. However, Webb convinces him that Diane might not feel the same after a few months living on his paltry pay. The robbery coincides with Joe and Diane's honeymoon, giving him an alibi. Eventually, Joe confesses to Diane what he has done. The railway mail car robbery is successful, but a railroad employee is injured and later dies. Things go downhill from there. One of the robbers is identified and arrested. Desperate, Joe arranges to meet Webb on a desolate stretch of highway by telling him he has a plan to get them out of their mess. However, after a struggle, he knocks Webb out and stages a car accident in which Webb is killed and his share of the money partially burned. Harry figures out that his partner is involved and pleads with him to turn himself in. Instead, Joe tries to flee to Mexico with Diane, but is tracked down and shot. He dies in Diane's arms. ===== In 1973, Major Charles Rane returns home to San Antonio with Sergeant Johnny Vohden, and two other soldiers, after spending seven years as a POW in Hanoi. He finds a home very different from the one he left when he meets his wife Janet, his son Mark, and local policeman Cliff, waiting to drive him home. Rane soon realizes that his son does not remember him, and that Cliff seems overly familiar with Janet and Mark. Janet admits that she has become engaged to Cliff and has no plans to break it off, despite still having feelings for Rane. Rane stoically accepts this, but privately reacts by self-imposing the same institutionalized daily regime he had in captivity. The town is intent on giving Rane a hero's homecoming, and at a grand celebration, he is presented with a red Cadillac and 2,555 silver dollars – one for every day he was a captive plus one for luck – by the 'Texas belle' Linda Forchet (Linda Haynes), who has worn his ID bracelet since he left. Shortly after, Cliff attempts to make peace with Rane; the latter, however, seems resigned to losing his wife, but he is determined not to lose his son and makes efforts to build a relationship. Linda spots Rane in his new Cadillac at a gas station and invites him to have a drink at the bar where she works. She makes advances toward him, but Rane is emotionally distant and perhaps even unable to connect with anyone. When Rane next returns home, four border outlaws are waiting for him: "The Texan", "Automatic Slim", "T Bird" and "Melio". They demand the silver dollars and torture Rane to get them. Rane is totally unresponsive, having flashbacks to his torture in Hanoi as they beat him. The gang resorts to drastic measures and shoves Rane's hand down a garbage disposal, mangling it. At this point Janet and Mark return, and are immediately taken hostage. Rane lies with a mangled arm on the kitchen floor while his son finds and hands over the silver dollars. The gang shoots all three of them, leaving them for dead. Rane survives but his wife and son do not. Several weeks later, Rane is convalescing in a hospital where Linda and Vohden visit him separately. Vohden has signed on for another ten years in the Airborne Division, due to his uncertainty as to what else to do with his life. Although he gives no details to the police, Rane has ideas regarding the identities of his attackers and prepares to take vengeance. His first move upon discharge is to saw down a double-barreled shotgun and sharpen the prosthetic hook which has replaced his right hand. Before leaving for Mexico, Rane visits the bar where Linda works and invites her to go with him. She leaves with him, having no idea she is accompanying him on a vendetta. He sends her into a seedy Mexican bar to look for "Fat Ed." She is taken into a backroom where a sleazy lowlife named Lopez immediately begins to harass her. Rane comes to her rescue while also extracting some information. Linda now realizes Rane's intention and though she is alarmed, continues to help. Linda is sent into another seedy bar in a nearby town, as before. Rane locates Automatic Slim and a vicious bar fight ensues; Rane only escapes by wounding Automatic Slim in the crotch with his hook hand. Conducting his own investigation back in Texas, Cliff finds the sawn-off barrel of Rane's shotgun and realizes Rane's plan. Using his police contacts to trace Rane's car, Cliff finds his way to the Mexican border town in which Rane encountered Lopez. Cliff is led to Lopez, and they scuffle. After Lopez leads Cliff on a foot- chase through a stockyard into an abandoned house, a gunfight follows. Cliff shoots and kills Lopez and two other attackers before Automatic Slim sneaks in behind him, calls to him and shoots him as he turns to respond. As a wounded Cliff crawls toward his dropped weapon, Automatic Slim mercilessly shoots him again, killing him. Linda and Rane begin to connect further while on the road, with Linda talking about her tomboy past, and Rane talking about things he liked before the war. In a motel room in El Paso, she tries to talk Rane out of revenge one last time. Despite his experiences in Hanoi and of losing his son and wife, Rane may not be as emotionally dead as he seems. Rane leaves a sleeping Linda behind in the motel (with a sizable sum of money), and despite her earlier insistence that she would call the police, she cannot bring herself to follow through, as she hangs up the phone when the police answer her call. Rane, dressed in full uniform, goes to Vohden's house. Vohden, emotionally distanced from his family, asks no questions and is dressed in his Army uniform and ready to go in an instant. Rane plans to attack the remaining members of the gang in a whorehouse. Vohden goes in first and picks up a prostitute named Candy. Once they are upstairs, Rane takes out a guard in the rear yard and goes in the back entrance. Rane signals to Vohden and kicks off a bloody, violent shootout. After surprising The Texan with a hooker, Rane declares "It's your time, boy" before shooting him. T-Bird, Melio and several other men are dealt with likewise before the final standoff between Rane and Automatic Slim. Rane kills him, emotionlessly shooting him several times. Bloodied and wounded, Rane and Vohden, supporting each other, walk out of the brothel. ===== James J. Kelly, a former soldier in the American military, finds out that the American and Soviet governments are about to conduct tests of a new kind of neutron bomb called the model b or the nC, which will kill every living thing on the planet, leaving it uninhabitable for centuries. The American generals know the cataclysmic effects of conducting these tests but they acquiesce to the tests anyway, ignoring a report provided to the National Security Council which predicts the end of the world if six or more nCs are simultaneously exploded. Mistakenly assured that the Soviets would not explode reciprocating nCs, the generals are unwittingly about to destroy the whole world. Kelly decides to save the human race through an elaborate religious hoax, declaring himself to be Kalki and announcing the end of the world. His secret plan is to kill off everyone in the world except for himself and his wife Lakshmi. These two would then be the last living human couple on the planet. They would be the Adam and Eve to a new human race, giving birth to three sons and six daughters over the next twelve years, who would then intermarry and in about two centuries, the world would be fairly well populated again. In addition to himself and his wife, Kalki decides to bring along three more people to his new world, teachers called Perfect Masters, chosen for their knowledge and the fact that they are all sterile. These three people will teach various fields of science to the new race. Teddy Ottinger will teach engineering, Geraldine O'Connor biology and genetics, and Dr. Giles Lowell medicine. Kalki's wife Lakshmi is herself a physicist, and Kalki is a chemical engineer. Kalki succeeds in carrying out his plan and the entire world dies, leaving behind only Kalki, his wife Lakshmi and the three other Perfect Masters. However, Kalki's plans go awry when Lakshmi miscarries the first baby girl and it is learnt that Lakshmi is incapable of having children with Kalki. At this point, the only other male in the group, Dr. Lowell, announces that he never had a vasectomy and is the only one now with whom Lakshmi can conceive a child. It had been his plan all along to be the one to father the new human race with Lakshmi, whom he claims to be in love with. When Dr. Lowell admits his treachery, Kalki kills him. The story ends with a bleak postscript from Kelly/Kalki, 43 years after the apocalyptic plague. In the interim period, Teddy died 27 years after the plague and Geraldine (Teddy's lover and Kalki's second consort) died, as has Lakshmi. Kalki has become the last human alive, and with his death, the human species will become extinct. It is implied that simians will inherit the post- apocalyptic world. ===== Bill Whitney lives with his parents and sister in a mansion in Beverly Hills, California. Despite their wealth, Bill tells his therapist Dr. Cleveland that he does not trust his high-society family. When his sister's ex-boyfriend David Blanchard gives him a surreptitiously recorded tape of what sounds like his family engaged in a murderous orgy, Bill begins to suspect that his feelings are justified. Bill gives the tape to Dr. Cleveland, but when he later plays it back, the audio has changed to his sister's coming out party. When Bill attempts to meet Blanchard to obtain another copy, he finds an ambulance and police officers gathered around Blanchard's crashed van. A body is placed into the back of the ambulance, but Bill is prevented from seeing its face. Bill attends a party hosted by his upper-class classmate Ted Ferguson, who confirms that the first tape was real. Angry and confused, Bill leaves the party with Clarissa, a beautiful girl he had been admiring. The next day, Bill confronts his parents and sister. At Blanchard's funeral, Bill and his friend Milo discover that Blanchard's corpse may be fake. Bill is contacted by Martin Petrie, his rival for the high school presidency. At their arranged meeting, Bill discovers Petrie with his throat cut. When he returns with the police, the body is gone. The next day at school, Petrie shows up, alive and well. When Bill arrives at home, he confronts his family again, but with Dr. Cleveland's help, they drug Bill. As Milo trails him, Bill is taken to a hospital. Bill awakens in a hospital bed and thinks he hears Blanchard crying out, but discovers that nothing is there. Milo tries to warn him, but he drives back to his house. At home, Bill finds a large, formal party. Dr. Cleveland reveals that Bill's family and their high-society friends are actually a different species from Bill. To demonstrate, they bring in a still- living Blanchard. The wealthy party guests strip to their underwear and begin "shunting" - physically deforming and melding with each other - as they suck the nutrients out of Blanchard's body. Their intention is to do the same to Bill, but he escapes and runs around the house, finding his family engaged in similarly disgusting activities as he does. He confronts Ferguson, killing him by reaching inside him mid-shunt and pulling him inside-out. Bill escapes with the help of Milo and Clarissa, who is also of the alternate species but has fallen in love with Bill. ===== In a rural village west of Bangkok, Mak (Winai Kraibutr) is conscripted and sent to fight in the Siamese-Vietnamese War (1831–1834). He has to leave behind his pregnant teenage wife, Nak (Intira Jaroenpura). Mak is wounded and barely survives. He eventually returns home to his beloved wife and their child. A friend visits and sees Mak living with Nak. The villagers, knowing she had died months earlier, realize Mak is spellbound by her ghost. But those who attempt to tell him are killed in the night by Nak's ghost, who is desperate to stay with her husband. When Mak confronts Nak about the rumors, she lies and says the villagers disliked her after he left for the war. She claims they are also telling lies about their son not being Mak's. Mak believes her and lashes out at anyone who tells him she is dead. Mak eventually discovers the truth. Crawling under their house one night to retrieve an item, he trips on something sticking up from the dirt. Curious, he digs it up and finds a corpse making him wonder why Nak would always prevent him from going down there. Looking up through the creaks of the wood floor, he sees Nak sitting and brushing her hair. Dropping the comb through a crack, her arm eerily extends all the way to the ground to retrieve it. Mak covers his mouth to stifle a scream and continues observing Nak. Nak picks up her crying baby, who Mak realises is a corpse as well. A series of flashbacks reveal that Nak had a difficult childbirth and both mother and child died from complications. Mak flees in terror to the local temple to hide. Nak follows him and attempts to win him back, but he is too frightened of her. The villagers attempt to drive out Nak, burning down her house and at last summoning an exorcist. Nak refuses to leave unless Mak returns to her. Mak pleads with her to leave to the netherworld. He loves her, but they can't be together since she is dead. He tells her that he is going to cut his hair and become a monk in order to pray for her sins and allow her spirit to find peace. She still refuses. The kingdom's most respected Buddhist monk, Somdej Toh, intervenes and, in a tearful farewell, Nak repents, leaving her husband for this life. The monk has the centre of her forehead cut out, thus releasing her spirit, and makes a girdle brooch of it. The epilogue states it later came into the possession of Prince Chumbhorn Ketudomsak. It was thereafter handed down for generations, with its current owner unknown. ===== In 1943 in the South-West Pacific, some Australian and American airmen discuss the story of "Smithy", Charles Kingsford Smith. The Americans are told the story by an old officer of Smithy, along with a waiter, Stringer, who knew him. The story starts in 1917 with his recovering from a wound incurred in fighting over the Western Front. Kingsford Smith is rewarded with the Military Cross and is determined to make a career out of flying. After the war Kingsford Smith visits America and has a brief romance with Kay Sutton (Joy Nichols) but later falls in love with and marries Mary Powell (Muriel Steinbeck). He attempts to enter the England to Australia Air Race in 1919 but is stopped by Prime Minister Billy Hughes. Kingsford Smith then decides to become the first person to fly from the United States to Australia across the Pacific. He does the trip with Charles Ulm (John Tate) in an aircraft called the Southern Cross and becomes world-famous. Kingsford Smith attempts to set up his own airline but is not successful and is forced to take people on joy flights to make a living. He breaks another record, crossing the Pacific from the Australia to the United States in a single engine aircraft with P.G. Taylor (Captain P.G. Taylor). Kingsford Smith almost dies flying to New Zealand with Bill Taylor and John Stannage (John Stannage as himself), and subsequently, retires the Southern Cross. In 1935 Kingsford Smith attempts to fly from Australia to England but disappears over the Indian Ocean. ===== The story is set in high school. Pia (Angel Locsin) is beautiful and wealthy. She is the campus sweetheart that every guy is dreaming of. However, she is unhappy because her father (Tonton Gutierrez) constantly blames her for her brother's death, and makes all the decisions with regards to her future. Eric (Richard Gutierrez), Pia's high school classmate, is intelligent and has a good heart, but lives in poverty. Both of his parents have already died. He is left with his kind and loving grandmother who continues to encourage him to pursue his dreams and his love for Pia, no matter what obstacles get in his way. Eric works as the school's janitor during the day to support his studies, and to provide for him and his grandmother's needs. He has always admired Pia but never really had the courage or the chance to even talk to her. Although they belong to the extremes of social classes, Pia and Eric's paths cross when they share the same seat in class - Eric during the night (as part of his scholarship program) and Pia during the day. Eric becomes Pia's anonymous 'savior' as he answered Pia's school-related questions, and promised to always be there whenever she needed him. Are they destined to be with each other because of this sign? Or is fate playing a trick on them? Meanwhile, in the background, one of Eric's best friends, Luigi(Mark Herras) is the typical playboy, and often changes his girlfriend. This has gone on since they were in highschool. Luigi best friend is Eric, but on the sidelines, Alex(Jennelyn Mercado). Alex is a tomboy who has a crush on Luigi. After five years, she changed and blossomed into a beautiful girl, with Luigi falling in love with her. ===== The Sixth Doctor investigates the mysterious bar known only as "Bianca's". Getting in his way is his old friend Iris Wildthyme, but this time she has a rival for the Doctor's affections — Bianca herself. With Iris getting drunk on Tequila, the Doctor must uncover Bianca's true identity and find out just who the voices are he and Iris keep hearing… ===== Set 130 years after the events of the Heritage of Shannara series, the Free-born and the Federation are still at war. The story follows a quest organized by Walker Boh, the last surviving Shannara Druid. Thirty years before the story begins, the Elven prince Kael Elessedil led an expedition in search of a legendary magic which was said to be the most ancient and powerful in the world. At the beginning of the narrative, Kael is found floating in the sea of the Blue Divide; a map is found with him, covered with mysterious symbols. Walker is the only man who can read them. But there is another: the Ilse Witch, a beautiful but twisted young woman who is as practiced in magic as Walker himself. She will stop at nothing to possess the map and the magic it leads to. To stop her, Walker must find the magic first. Thus begins the voyage of the sleek, swift airship, the Jerle Shannara. The company chosen by Walker must fly into the face of unknown terrors while the Ilse Witch and her dark allies pursue. ===== A bear settles down for his hibernation, and while he sleeps the progress of man continues. He wakes up to find himself in the middle of an industrial complex. He then gets mistaken by the foreman for a worker and is told to get to work. To this he responds, "But I'm not a man, I'm a bear". He is then taken to each of his successive bosses (general manager and a trio of vice-presidents), all of whom tell him their own version of him being a "silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat","The Bear That Wasn’t", New York Review Books reaching all the way up to an elderly president (who in the animated version is depicted as a dwarf whose face is never seen) of the factory who concludes he cannot be a bear because "bears are only in a zoo or a circus; they're never inside a factory". "You are not a bear; you are a silly man who needs a shave and wears a fur coat." The bear is, by the president and his employees, taken to the zoo and hopes to gain support from his own species, but even the zoo bears claim that he is not a bear, because if he were "he would be inside the cage here with us" (in the animated version, a bear cub also repeats exactly the same claim of the bear being a "silly man"). Eventually he concludes that he must indeed be a "silly man", and buckles down to work hard at the factory – much to the satisfaction of the foreman and the other bosses, all of whom shake hands as the bear works. Months later, the factory closes for the winter and the bear finds himself turned out of doors in the cold snow, wishing that he were a bear. Finally he realises that he is indeed a bear and, discarding the trappings of his human existence seeks out a cave in which to hibernate, which he enters, feeling comfortable and bear-like once more. As the bear is sleeping, the narrator reflects on the events of the year and concludes that even though neither the human bosses nor the zoo bears would believe that he was a bear, "that didn't make it so; no indeed, he wasn't a silly man...and he wasn't a silly bear, either". ===== The voyage to find the lost magic takes the companions to the continent of Parkasia. Here, they are split up, and Walker, despite all his plans and his enormous power, finds himself caught and trapped by an unseen force, a supercomputer built by the ancient humans. Antrax was created to store data and information from its time and it is given a duty, an order to protect the information that it holds. However, when the Great War broke out, the last of its creators returned, and gave Antrax its final task: protect the information at all costs, no matter what the price. Antrax then began to build its own arsenal of defence mechanisms: lasers and Creepers. Above Castledown, the crew of the Jerle Shannara find themselves besieged by evil forces, and the Ilse Witch confronts the Druid's protégé, Bek Ohmsford, who claims that she is actually Grianne Ohmsford, and that he is the brother she last saw as an infant - now a young man who carries the Sword of Shannara and wields the magic of the wishsong. Truls Rohk keeps protecting Bek buying him time till the Ilse Witch finally takes up the Sword of Shannara to realize the truth of her life. In parallel plot Ahren Elessedil works his way in retrieving the lost elf stones, also Quentin Leah with the help of locals finally are able to kill the minion created by Antrax. Meanwhile, Walker realises that the 'magic' they have been searching for is actually the science of the Old World, stored on Antrax, which could be used to rebuild society with new technology. But there is no practical way to access this information, so Walker chooses to destroy the power-hungry computer, which is quickly becoming a danger to the whole world. However, he is mortally wounded in the process. In the end a fleet of airships reach Parkasia under leadership of Morgawr willing to kill all left of the company and take the magic for himself. It is believed that Antrax was in fact initially known as Oronyx Experimental and appears in The Elves of Cintra. ===== The Morgawr is a centuries-old sorcerer of unimaginable might, who feeds upon the souls of his enemies. With a fleet of airships and a crew of walking dead men at his command, he is in relentless pursuit of the Jerle Shannara. His goal is twofold: to find and control the fabled 'magic' of Parkasia, and to destroy the Ilse Witch (his disciple) to keep her from using the magic to destroy him. He gets more annoyed when Ahren Elessedil escapes his imprisonment and the seer, Ryer Ord Star is able to lead him astray as directed by Walker even at his death. When Walker Boh persuades the witch to use the Sword of Shannara, she is exposed to its awesome power and forced to confront the truth of her horrifying deeds as the Ilse Witch, causing her to flee deep into her own mind. She has only one protector: her brother Bek, who is determined to redeem her. In the last stand taken by crew of Jerle Shannara, Redden Alt Mer alone destroys all of Morgawr's fleet after stealing the lead ship and using it against them. Bek and Rue kills the company of mwellret led by Cree Bega, while Cree Bega is killed by Ahren Elessedil. Bek finally reaches the confrontation of Grianne and Morgawr to find his sister already in trouble and triggers a feeble magic of his wish-song just enough to raise the spirit of castle, hence destroys the Morgawr. They go home to the Four Lands. But rather than going home with Bek, Grianne Ohmsford will be going now to Paranor, for Walker charged her with a very important task before he died: she is to foster a new Druid order. ===== Tony Carpenter is a self-made millionaire who turned his South London minicab firm into a successful chauffeur-driven car service. He lives in a large detached mansion in Esher, surrounded by Rolls Royces and BMWs, with a domestic staff who respect him, and whom he adores; Witty and insolent butler/driver Sam (who is also a childhood friend of Tony), acerbic secretary Maggie and cook Mrs Wembley (responsible for the series' catch- phrase of "Just the one", used to respond to the offer of a sherry even if it was her third or fourth). Despite all these advantages, Tony's life is full of conflict: * His working-class background and sensibilities make him uncomfortable with the idea of having domestic staff, and in dealing with local snobs. * Nothing he does seems to please his snooty wife Ruth, who hates his downmarket behaviour, constantly suspects him of infidelity with either his secretary Maggie or friend & model Dawn (both of whom are significantly younger than herself), and cannot abide the "chummy" relationship he has with "servants". * Then there is daughter Stephanie, away from home at a Public School and thus being inculcated with upper / middle class sensibilities, who is embarrassed by both her father's differing outlook, and by the unsettled relationship between her parents. * Finally there is his mother, who is still living in a South London terrace, and never seems impressed with his achievements, finding herself unable to understand why he lives "all the way over there" (in reality about 14 miles away) in his big house. The third series ended with Tony looking set to enter a happy relationship with new love interest Jane Webster, a single mother from Stephanie's school, as well as romantic interests for all three staff, but also closes on a slight cliffhanger as it is displayed that Tony and Ruth still share feelings for each other. A fourth series was initially planned, and was mentioned in in- house BBC literature for the Autumn 1993 season on BBC One, but never came to fruition. ===== A socially awkward clerk falls in love with a supermodel, unaware that she is a psychotic murderer. They get married at the end. In a post- credit scene set 2 years later, Hexina is seen holding two babies. ===== The story revolves around an attempt by Micky O'Neill (Dunbar) to revive the fortunes of his Liverpool nightclub by promising his patrons that he will produce Josef Locke. After a series of unfortunate bookings (including, most notably, Franc Cinatra, a Sinatra impersonator), Micky books the mysterious Mr. X, a man who insists that he cannot be booked as Joe Locke due to the legal issues that would invariably ensue. The elusive Locke left England during the 1950s to avoid paying taxes, leaving behind "a beauty queen, a Jaguar sportscar, and a pedigree dalmatian, all of them pining." O'Neill's personal and professional life are left in ruin after the beauty queen, Kathleen Doyle, exposes his Mr. X as a fraud. O'Neill returns to Ireland to find the one true Josef Locke and bring him back. ===== Similar to both Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! and Josie and the Pussycats on CBS, the show depicted the adventures of a teen pop group of the series title. The band consisted of heartthrob Butch Cassidy (lead vocals, lead guitar and lead singing), blonde beauty Merilee (tambourine), sensible Stephanie (usually referred to by her nickname Steffy) (bass guitar), and curly-topped Wally (drums). With Wally's dog, Elvis, the kids led double lives as popular rock stars and a secret crime fighting team working for the government. The teens were advised by a supercomputer named Mr. Socrates who is allergic to dogs. When the group met with Mr. Socrates in his lair for their latest assignment, Elvis was always told to stay outside. In each episode, however, Elvis would somehow end up inside the lair, either by his own ingenuity or by Wally's forgetfulness; either way, Elvis' mere presence would cause Mr. Socrates to sneeze and go haywire. Mr. Socrates would then send the group out of the lair and off to their assignment. Butch, designated as "Sundance 1", wore a special ring with a hidden communicator in it to keep in contact with Mr. Socrates from afar. ===== An unnamed Italian aristocrat falls off his horse while playing the role of Henry IV during carnevale festivities, which take place annually before Lent. After he comes to, he believes himself to be Henry. For the next twenty years, his family, including his sister and now his nephew, Marchese Carlo Di Nolli, maintain an elaborate charade in a remote Umbrian villa, decorated to resemble Henry's imperial palace at Goslar and staffed with servants hired to play the roles of Henry's privy councillors and simulate the eleventh-century court. De Nolli's dying mother requests that he bring a doctor, Dionisio Genoni, who is referred to as the latest in a succession to try to cure Henry. All the action of the play occurs on the day of the doctor's visit. Accompanying de Nolli and the doctor are: * Lady Matilda Spina, (whom Henry loved, unrequited, before the accident), a widow. A portrait of the young Matilda in costume from the pageant, dressed as Matilda of Tuscany hangs on the wall of the throne room. * Frida, her daughter, de Nolli's fiancée. Frida is now the spitting image of her mother as she was then. * Baron Tito Belcredi, Matilda's lover * Two valets in costume * Giovanni, an old servant * Four so-called Privy Counselors: Landolph (Lolo) , Harold (Franco), Ordulph (Momo), Berthold (Fino) In the first two acts the visitors play parts from the period whilst interacting with Henry. The play begins with the induction of Berthold into the band of privy councillors. He has prepared for the part in Henry IV's court. The visitors then arrive and are later introduced to Henry. Henry mistakes the disguised Belcredi for the monk Peter Damian and reacts angrily, but is later calmed. Act two begins with speculation among the visitors about Henry, as well as what he sees in Matilda, who argues constantly with Belcredi. Henry enters once more and his behaviour is increasingly erratic. Once the visitors arrive Henry declares to his councillors that he is not truly mad, but has been aware of the nature of his existence for some time. However he has preferred to stay as he was than to live in the 20th century (the play is set around 1900Pirandello, 2016, p. xi.). His behaviour and speech remain abnormal. Upon learning of this revelation the visitors confront Henry, who acts angrily to them, particularly Belcredi. At the end of the act he grabs Frida, who is dressed as in the portrait in preparation for the Doctor's plan to shock Henry out of his madness. In the ensuing altercation Henry stabs Belcredi. The visitors flee, and Henry resumes his regal persona as the curtain falls. ===== The film, set in 1948, opens in an officers' mess of an unnamed Highland Regiment. Acting Lieutenant Colonel Jock Sinclair (Alec Guinness) announces this will be his last day as commanding officer. The hard-drinking Sinclair, who is still gazetted as a major despite being in command since the battalion's last full colonel was killed in action during the North African campaign of the Second World War, is to be replaced by the teetotal lieutenant colonel, Basil Barrow (John Mills). Although Sinclair led the battalion through the remainder of the war, winning a DSO and MM during El Alamein, Monte Cassino, and "from Dover to Berlin", Brigade HQ considers Barrow a more appropriate peacetime commanding officer. A drunken Sinclair reveals his frustrations at his lowly rank versus Barrow: "I've acted Colonel, I should be Colonel, and by God... I will be Colonel!" Colonel Barrow arrives early and observes the battalion's officers dancing rowdily, including Major Sinclair. Barrow and Sinclair icily swap their military backgrounds. Sinclair joined the regiment as an enlisted bandsman in Glasgow and rose through the ranks, winning the Military Medal and Distinguished Service Order during the war. Barrow by contrast came to the regiment from Eton then Oxford University, both in England, and that his ancestors were colonels of the regiment before him – although Barrow served only a year with the regiment back in 1933 before being posted to "special duties", including lecturing at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He has been fifteen years away from the battalion. When Sinclair humorously recounts he was briefly in Barlinnie Prison for being drunk and disorderly (also in 1933), Barrow reticently mentions his experience as a prisoner in a Japanese POW camp. Sinclair dismissively assumes Barrow received preferential treatment as an officer ("officers' privileges and amateur dramatics") but in fact Barrow is deeply psychologically scarred after being tortured by the Japanese, which he does not tell Sinclair who not-so-privately resents his replacement by a "stupid wee man". Meanwhile, Morag (Susannah York), Sinclair's daughter, is observed illicitly meeting an enlisted piper (John Fraser). Barrow immediately passes several orders designed to instil discipline in the battalion that Sinclair had allowed to slip. Particularly controversial is an order that all officers take lessons in Highland dancing in an effort to make their customary rowdy style more formal and suitable for mixed company. However the unchanged energetic dancing of the officers, led by a drunken Sinclair at Barrow's first cocktail party with the townspeople, incites his anger. An outburst by Barrow only further damages his own authority. Tensions come to a head when Major Sinclair publicly assaults the uniformed piper he discovers with his daughter in a pub - "bashing a corporal" as he put it. Barrow decides an official report to the Brigade must be made, meaning an imminent court-martial, even though he is aware the action will further erode his popularity and authority within the battalion. Barrow is eventually persuaded to back down by Sinclair, who promises Barrow that he will support him in the future ("We'd make a good team."). The decision further undermines his authority, as Sinclair's promised support never materializes, and the other officers, notably Captain Alec Rattray (Richard Leech), treat him with a renewed lack of respect. The second in command, Major Charlie Scott, with glacial cruelty, implies that it is Sinclair who is really running the battalion, because he forced Barrow to dismiss the charges against him. Alienated now from both Sinclair's clique and the officers who formerly supported him, from the officers recreation area a shot is heard and investigation confirms that Barrow has shot himself dead (the actual event is unseen). With the colonel's death, Sinclair realises he is to blame. He calls the officers to a meeting and announces plans for a grandiose funeral fit for a field marshal, complete with a march through the town in which all the "tunes of glory" will be played by the pipers. He lists the tunes he wishes to be played: "Scotland the Brave", "The Nut Brown Maiden" and "The Bonnets of Bonnie Dundee". When it is pointed out how out disproportionate the plans are to the circumstances, especially given the manner of the colonel's death, Sinclair insists that it was not suicide but murder. He tells everyone he himself was the murderer and the other senior officers were his accomplices with the exception of the colonel's adjutant. Sinclair suffers a nervous breakdown and is escorted from the barracks while the officers and men salute as he passes during the closing scene. ===== King of Hell, Takes place in the past in the Land of Korea and its corresponding realms of afterlife, commonly referred to as the next world or hell in the manga . The story primarily revolves around Majeh, the envoy to the next world, and his existence as a servant to the King of "Hell". In the beginning the King of Hell focuses on Majeh's work as the envoy for spirits to the next world and his various other roles as the servant for the King of Hell. As the storyline develops, we learn of Majeh's past life in which he was a legendary swordsman and martial artist. Because of his past life, Majeh, upon his death, was sent to a special realm in the next world. This realm, known as "Moorim of the next world," is reserved for great warriors who past lives were deemed to be either evil or to be a great threat to other and possibly a threat to the Kingdom of Hell. Upon His arrival to Moorim, Majeh was challenged by over 50 warrior at once and he easily defeated them without any struggle. Because of this incident, Majeh was considered to be one of the most dangerous people in Moorim and was removed by the King and made envoy to the next world. ===== In 1937, in a small mining town on the Nevada- Arizona border, Jess Tyler is the caretaker of an unused silver mine. His wife, Belle Morgan, deserted him 10 years earlier, and took their daughters, Janey and Kady, with her when she ran off with another man, Moke Blue. A 17-year old Kady shows up at Jess's place, telling him her mother is running a brothel, and one of the clients got her pregnant with a son, Danny. Danny's father, Wash Gillespie, is the son of the wealthy mine owner who refused to marry her. Kady is money hungry and has returned home to steal silver from the mine. Jess, initially opposed to stealing silver from the mine, relents and says they can take small scraps after she seduces him. They work in the mine together; afterwards, while Kady takes a bath, Jess ends up giving her a massage, but stops short of having sex. Soon after, Wash arrives in town and proposes to Kady, and she accepts. Suffering from severe tuberculosis, Belle arrives with Blue and a mutual friend, Ed Lamey, ostensibly to celebrate Wash's engagement. Blue insinuates that he knows about the theft, and while the others are out of the house, Belle stabs him with a hat pin. Jess realizes that Ed must have witnessed the theft and told Blue. Jess rushes to the mine, where Blue is frantically pillaging for silver and taunts him. Jess sees a birthmark near his navel that is similar to one on baby Danny, and thinks that Blue is Danny's father. Enraged, Jess shoots him. Before Jess leaves him to die, Blue reveals that Kady is his daughter. Returning to the Gillespies, Jess lies and tells them that Danny is Blue's son. Wash decides to break off the engagement, but Jess stops him from talking to Kady about it himself. When Wash fails to arrive on the day of the wedding, she despondently resorts to her original plan to steal the silver. She goes to the mine with Jess, where the two have sex while Ed looks on. The police come out with warrants for the arrests of Jess and Kady, and they are charged with incest. At a hearing, Judge Rauch calls it "a crime against nature, shocking and repulsive to every basic sense of propriety, decency, and good citizenship." Jess pleads guilty, saying he forced her, so that Kady will not be punished. Jess is sentenced to 10 years in prison, and Kady objects, saying she was never forced, and the judge threatens her with reform school and 10 years in prison, as well as Danny being a ward of the state. Jess reveals that Moke Blue is her real father and the proof is the "butterfly" birth mark. Ed reveals he is Moke Blue's half-brother and has the same birth mark and did not tell her because of the silver. The case is dismissed. Wash is waiting outside the courthouse for Kady, who realizes what Jess did, and is angry, but quickly forgives him. She says she loves him, but differently from how she loves Wash. She chooses Wash because of the life he can provide for Danny. ===== Around midnight during a ball the narrator is sitting at a window, out of sight, admiring the garden. He overhears the conversations of passers-by regarding the origins of the wealth of the mansion's owner, Monsieur de Lanty. There is also the presence of an unknown old man around the house, whom the family was oddly devoted to, and who frightened and intrigued the partygoers. When the man sits next to the narrator's guest, Beatrix Rochefide, she touches him, and the narrator rushes her out of the room. The narrator says he knows who the man is and says he will tell her his story the next evening. The next evening, the narrator tells Mme de Rochefide about Ernest-Jean Sarrasine, a passionate, artistic boy, who after having trouble in school became a protégé of the sculptor Bouchardon. After one of Sarrasine's sculptures wins a competition, he heads to Rome where he sees a theatre performance featuring Zambinella. He falls in love with her, going to all of her performances and creating a clay mold of her. After spending time together at a party, Sarrasine attempts to seduce Zambinella. She is reticent, suggesting some hidden secret or danger of their partnership. Sarrasine becomes increasingly convinced that Zambinella is the ideal woman. Sarrasine develops a plan to abduct her from a party at the French embassy. When Sarrasine arrives, Zambinella is dressed as a man. Sarrasine speaks to a cardinal, who is Zambinella's patron, and is told that Zambinella is a castrato. Sarrasine refuses to believe it and leaves the party, seizing Zambinella. Once they are at his studio, Zambinella confirms that she is a castrato. Sarrasine is about to kill him as a group of the cardinal's men barge in and stab Sarrasine. The narrator then reveals that the old man around the household is Zambinella, Marianina's maternal great uncle. The story ends with Mme de Rochefide's expressing her distress about the story she has just been told. ===== The episode begins in an abortion clinic with a woman giving her permission for doctors to use her aborted fetus for stem cell research. However, the truck transporting the fetuses to a medical research facility is destroyed in an accident. Its cargo is noticed and subsequently stolen by Cartman (riding his bike and singing Sheena Easton's "Morning Train"), who intends to resell the fetuses for a tremendous profit. This goal leads him to call various institutions in the style of a fast-talking agent, with the famous recurring line "you're breaking my balls here", finally landing a deal with a government organization. To his dismay, the government puts a ban on stem cell research immediately afterward. Meanwhile, Kenny is diagnosed with what is presumably muscular dystrophy, and his friends and family are told that he will probably die. The boys are shocked and saddened by the news, but do everything they can to support him and keep him company during his stay in the hospital – all but Stan, who cannot bear to see Kenny dying and refuses to visit him. This marks one of the few episodes in which Kenny's friends mourn his death. Cartman, in the meantime, has a doctor explain to him how stem cells actually work, and learns that they might be used to help Kenny. Cartman also mentions using stem cells to duplicate a Shakey's Pizza restaurant, although the researcher advises him that lumber would be better suited for that task. Cartman gives a speech to the House of Representatives on behalf of stem cell research. He ultimately succeeds in getting the ban lifted by singing "Heat of the Moment" by Asia, and begins visiting laboratories around the area to collect more fetuses. Stan, with the supporting words of Chef, finally gets up the courage to come visit Kenny in the hospital. Unfortunately, Kenny has died from the disease. On hearing that Kenny's last words were "Where's Stan?" he accuses himself of being Kenny's worst friend. During the funeral, Cartman bursts in and exclaims that a miracle has occurred. He drags Stan and Kyle away to show them how he has manipulated the stem cells from his aborted fetuses into building his very own Shakey's Pizza. Kyle realizes that Cartman had pretended to take Kenny's illness seriously in order to get the ban on stem cells lifted just so he could make a profit off them, therefore allowing him to make his own Shakey's Pizza. Kyle proceeds to beat Cartman up, while Stan is relieved that Cartman was Kenny's worst friend instead of him. ===== Cartman has Kyle's cousin perform a tally of his naughty and nice deeds. He informs Cartman that he has been too naughty to earn his coveted Christmas gift, a Haibo robot dog. In order to reverse his past misdeeds, he sets out to spread Christmas cheer to the people of Iraq. Meanwhile, at a tree lighting ceremony, Jimmy is given the honor of lighting, but first decides to sing "The Twelve Days of Christmas". Due to his stutter, it takes most of the episode for him to reach the end of the twelve verses. With the use of Mr. Hankey's Poo-Choo train, Cartman and the other boys travel to the North Pole to convince Santa Claus to bring Christmas to Iraq. With the assistance of the Underpants Gnomes, Santa prepares his sleigh and travels to Iraq, only to be promptly shot down, brought in, and tortured. The boys realize that Cartman's little ploy may have ended Christmas for everyone and set out to make things right. Taking a backup sled, they seek out Jesus. Upon hearing the news, Jesus promptly arms himself with an array of automatic weapons and travels with the boys to Iraq, brutally gunning down everyone who impedes him. The group breaks into the interrogation room and frees Santa. As they make their way back to the sleigh, Jesus is shot dead by one Iraqi captor. Outraged, Santa kills the soldier, and proceeds to blast his way out. Back on the sleigh, Santa flies the children back to South Park, but not before covering Iraq in Christmas decorations. Much to the town's delight, Jimmy finally finishes his song and switches on the Christmas tree, only for the lights to then blow a fuse. At that moment though, Santa flies past the tree and magically restores them. Santa returns the boys home, hoping that people will always remember Jesus on this day. He gives the children all Haibo dogs as thanks, but Cartman is disgusted, as he wanted to be the only kid owning one and have his friends envy him. Kenny then shows up out of nowhere (his first appearance since "Kenny Dies"), though the three seem unfazed by this. ===== Mr and Mrs Foster are a mature, wealthy married couple living in New York. Mrs Foster has recently begun to suspect her husband of purposely exacerbating her pathological fear of missing a train or plane. She is continuously badgered by her husband, Eugene, who makes a habit of waiting to leave the house until after the proverbial last second has already passed. Mrs Foster is preparing for a six-week trip to Paris (after weeks of persuading her husband to let her go), where their daughter and her family (including three grandchildren that she has never yet met) reside. After letting his wife wait anxiously for some time, Mr Foster finally gets into the car with her. As they are driven to the airport, Mrs Foster finds that despite being far behind schedule, her flight is temporarily postponed until the next day due to a thick fog. Mrs Foster decides to get a room near the airport for the night, but her husband insists that she come home. The next day while attempting to leave for the airport without her husband, things finally come to a head. After the usual rounds of teasing his wife's delicate psyche, and demanding that he be driven to his club (which is in the opposite direction of the airport and therefore complicating the journey to the airport even more), Mr Foster tries to foil his wife for the last time by claiming he has mistakenly left a present for their daughter in the house. Mr Foster insists on looking for the gift himself and goes back inside. While her husband pretends to search their six-story home, Mrs Foster finds the present down the side of one of the car seats and can't help but notice "it was wedged down firm and deep, as though with the help of a pushing hand". Mrs Foster rushes to retrieve her husband as quickly as possible, but hears a series of unspecified noises from inside their home and has a sudden change of heart. Mrs Foster gets back in the car and much to the surprise of the driver, demands to be driven to the airport immediately, stating that her husband will understand and will get a cab to the club instead. Mrs Foster enjoys her time in Paris, meets and gets to know her grandchildren and writes her husband weekly, as promised. The visit concludes, and Mrs Foster flies back to New York. Upon her arrival at the airport, Mrs Foster notes that her husband has not sent a car to meet her. After arriving at home, she enters and notices a large pile of mail under the letterbox, as well as a strange smell. She does a quick lap around the first floor and, seemingly satisfied, calls the elevator company to report the home's apparently broken lift. The story closes with Mrs Foster waiting for the arrival of the lift repair man. ===== The story is told in flashback as Diane (Joan Collins) explains to American Intelligence how transmissions from passengers picked up from a missile to the moon are by Americans rather than Russians. Harry Turner (Crosby) and Chester Babcock (Hope) are defrauding people in Calcutta by selling a "Do-it-yourself interplanetary flight kit" that ends up injuring Chester, giving him amnesia. An Indian doctor (Peter Sellers) says the only way for Chester's amnesia to be cured is through help from monks in a lamasery in Tibet. At the airport, Chester mistakenly picks up a suitcase with a marking designed to be a point of contact between agents of a SPECTRE-type spy organization called "The Third Echelon." Diane (Collins), a Third Echelon secret agent, is supposed to give plans of a Russian rocket fuel stolen by the Third Echelon to the man with the suitcase, who will be taking them to headquarters in British Hong Kong. She mistakenly thinks Chester is the contact. In Tibet, the two make their way to the lamasery in Lost Horizon fashion. Not only do the lamas cure Chester, but they have a Tibetan tea leaf that gives super memory powers to those who consume it. Chester and Harry observe as great works of Western literature in the manner of Fahrenheit 451 are committed to memory, one giggling lama (David Niven) memorizes Lady Chatterley's Lover. The scheming Harry decides to steal a bottle to give Chester the power of photographic memory for lucrative nefarious purposes. Returning to Calcutta, followed by Diane, Harry has Chester test the results of the memory herb by memorizing the rocket formula that Diane placed in Chester's coat. Not knowing what it is, Harry destroys it after Chester has successfully memorized it. Diane arrives too late, but after seeing Chester recite the formula, she offers them $25,000 to meet her in Hong Kong. On the way to Hong Kong, an agent of the High Lama replaces the stolen Tibetan herbs with a similar bottle containing ordinary tea leaves. The Third Echelon is seeking the fuel for its own spacecraft with an underwater launching pad in Hong Kong. The goal is to be the first on the moon, where a base is to be established to launch nuclear weapons against Earth and to bring survivors under the agency's control. With a Russian launch to the moon carrying two apes imminent, the Third Echelon, which was going to emulate the Soviet achievement, decides to gain respect at the United Nations by launching two human astronauts, Chester and Harry, instead of apes. The two are used as guinea pigs (and fed with bananas) to test the capabilities of the spacecraft and the effects of spaceflight upon humans. The mission is successful, with moonlight bringing back Chester's photographic memory. Diane decides to leave the Third Echelon when she discovers that once her colleagues have extracted the final formula from Chester, they plan to dissect Chester and Harry to see the effects of space travel on their bodies. Diane helps the boys escape. They are pursued through Hong Kong, eventually leading Diane to the authorities. Chester and Harry happen to meet Dorothy Lamour at a nightclub where they are recaptured by the Third Echelon. Chester, Harry and Diane all end up in a rocket bound for another planet. They think they're alone after landing, but they're not—Chester calls out, "The Italians!" as they are joined by Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. ===== The story revolves around a Bostonian painter named Richard Upton Pickman who creates horrifying images. His works are brilliantly executed, but so graphic that they result in the revocation of his membership in the Boston Art Club and he is shunned by his fellow artists. The narrator is a friend of Pickman, who, after the artist's mysterious disappearance, relates to another acquaintance how he was taken on a tour of Pickman's personal gallery, hidden away in a run-down backwater slum of the city. As the two delved deeper into Pickman's mind and art, the rooms seemed to grow ever more evil and the paintings ever more horrific, ending with a final enormous painting of an unearthly, red-eyed and vaguely canine humanoid balefully chewing on a human victim. A noise sent Pickman running outside the room with a gun while the narrator reached out to unfold what looked like a small piece of rolled paper attached to the monstrous painting. The narrator heard some shots and Pickman walked back in with the smoking gun, telling a story of shooting some rats, and the two men departed. Afterwards the narrator realized that he had nervously grabbed and put the rolled paper in his pocket when the shots were fired. He unrolled the paper to reveal that it is a photograph not of the background of the painting, but of the subject. Pickman drew his inspirations not from a diseased imagination, but from monsters that were very much real. ===== Roddy St. James is an upper class pet rat who makes his home in a posh Kensington flat. While his owners are away on holiday, a common sewer rat named Sid comes spewing out of the sink and decides to stay, especially as England are playing against Germany in the World Cup Final. Roddy schemes to get rid of Sid by luring him into the toilet, but Sid is not fooled, instead throwing Roddy in and flushing him away into the sewer. Roddy discovers a city resembling London, Ratropolis, made out of various bits of junk, and meets Rita Malone, an enterprising scavenger rat who works the drains in her faithful boat, the Jammy Dodger. Rita is irritated by Roddy initially, but ends up taking him along. Her archenemy the Toad sends his rat henchmen, Spike and Whitey, after her for stealing back her father's prized ruby. The Toad loathes all rodents, and plans to have Roddy and Rita frozen with liquid nitrogen inside an icemaker. The pair escape, and Rita takes a unique electrical cable that is required to control Ratropolis' floodgates. Roddy discovers that the ruby is a fake and breaks it in front of Rita. Outraged, Rita tries to attack Roddy, but eventually calms down and explains that she is only angry because her father (quite literally) broke every bone in his body trying to obtain it just for her to find that it was just a worthless fake. Roddy offers Rita a real ruby if she takes him back to Kensington, to which she agrees, and the pair first stop to visit her family before setting off. During Roddy's stay, he overhears a conversation that causes him to think that Rita is selling him to the Toad, so he reneges on the deal and steals the Jammy Dodger. When Rita catches up to him, she is able to clear up the misunderstanding. The pair evade a pursuit from Spike, Whitey, and their accomplices, and incensed at his minions' repeated failures, the Toad sends for his French cousin, known as Le Frog. It is revealed that the Toad was Prince Charles' favorite childhood pet until he was abruptly replaced by a pet rat and subsequently flushed down a toilet, resulting in his hatred of rodents. Le Frog and his subordinates intercept Roddy and Rita and retrieve the cable, sinking the Jammy Dodger in the process, but the duo use a plastic bag to lift themselves out of the sewer and back to Roddy's home. Roddy pays Rita the promised ruby and an emerald, then shows her around his house. She at first believes he has family in the home, but notices his cage and realizes he is a pet. Rita tries to persuade Roddy to come with her, but he is too proud to admit that he is lonely. She departs, but is soon captured by the Toad. Talking to Sid about half-time, Roddy pieces together the Toad's plan: to open the gates during halftime of the World Cup, when all the humans will most likely be using their toilets. As a result, a great sewage flood will form and drown Ratropolis in sewage, allowing the Toad to use the city as a home for his tadpole offspring. Roddy gives Sid his cushy position and has Sid flush him back to the sewers. He frees Rita, and together they defeat the Toad and his henchmen and freeze the wave of sewage with his liquid nitrogen. Roddy later joins Rita as a first mate on her new boat. As they set off in the Jammy Dodger II, Le frog and his hench-frogs are seen hitchhiking back to france. In a mid-credits scene, Roddy's original owner Tabitha brings a new pet cat to surprise him, much to Sid's horror, who is now enjoying the luxuries in Roddy's place. ===== Dr. Hibbert introduces a frail Ben Matlock to a crowd of excited seniors at the grand opening of a geriatric medical center. After seeing Matlock mobbed to the ground by fans, Grampa becomes aware of his mortality and gives the family their inheritance early. He leaves them a box of old silver dollars which they decide to spend right away. During the entire trip to the mall and back home, Grampa tells far- fetched stories and spouts useless advice, making the family shun him. At the mall, Lisa buys the new talking Malibu Stacy doll. She is anxious to hear what the new doll says, but is disappointed when the doll utters sexist phrases such as "Thinking too much gives you wrinkles" and "Don't ask me, I'm just a girl." After Lisa and Grampa bemoan how they are treated because of their age, they decide to change: Grampa will get a job and Lisa will find Malibu Stacy's creator, Stacy Lovell. Lisa visits Waylon Smithers, owner of the world's largest Malibu Stacy collection. She asks his help in finding Lovell, who was ousted from the Malibu Stacy company in 1974 (due to her ideas not being considered cost-effective -- and for funneling profits to the Viet Cong). Lisa bikes to Lovell's house and plays one of the doll's phrases over the intercom. The gate immediately opens. Lisa and Lovell decide to create a new talking doll, Lisa Lionheart, voiced by Lisa herself. The doll, designed to look more realistic than Malibu Stacy, says inspirational and encouraging phrases for girls. The executives of Malibu Stacy learn of its development and worry that Lisa's doll poses a real threat to their sales. Grampa struggles with his new job at Krusty Burger, suffering a war flashback at the drive-thru and losing his false teeth when a coworker accidentally puts them in a customer's bag of burgers. He soon becomes angry at the way seniors are treated and quits. After a slow initial release, Lisa Lionheart suddenly gains popularity among Malibu Stacy fans after being featured in Kent Brockman's news show. As kids and Smithers rush to the mall to buy Lisa Lionheart, a cart of Malibu Stacy dolls with new hats is wheeled into their path. Lisa tells them the new Malibu Stacy is only the same doll with a cheap hat, but they ransack the Malibu Stacy cart after Smithers gushes over the new model. When one little girl selects a Lisa Lionheart doll, Lisa says the trouble of designing and marketing the doll was worth it. Stacy Lovell agrees, especially if that one little girl pays $46,000 to cover Lisa Lionheart's costs. ===== Having completed his medical residency in a Washington, D.C. hospital, Dr. Benjamin "Ben" Stone drives to Beverly Hills for a job interview with noted plastic surgeon Dr. Halberstrom. While passing through Grady, South Carolina, Ben smashes into a fence to avoid hitting a cow. The fence belongs to Judge Evans, who then sentences him to 32 hours of community service at the town's medical clinic. Mayor Nick Nicholson and a reception committee greet Ben, hoping to hire him to replace Dr. Aurelius Hogue, who is eager to retire. While his 1956 Porsche Speedster is being repaired, Ben tends to patients and flirts with ambulance driver Vialula (better known as "Lou"), a single mother of a four-year-old daughter. Local insurance agent Hank Gordon also courts Lou, while Nancy Lee, the mayor's daughter, pursues Ben. The town's residents begin integrating Ben into their small-town life. Hogue initially dismisses Ben as too young and inexperienced until Ben saves his life from a heart attack. Grateful, Hogue privately calls Halberstrom explaining Ben's delay due to his enforced community service (which he explains as being "volunteer work"), while Judge Evans releases Ben from his remaining sentence. On the eve of Ben's departure, he shares an intimate evening with Lou. Unwilling to exploit the situation or incite Hank's jealousy, Ben secretly leaves town at night. Near the town's reservoir, Ben happens upon a local man whose wife is in labor inside their car. After a short hesitation, the doctor stops to help. During the delivery, Ben's Porsche is once again damaged when a fatigued carnival truck driver rams into it. Ben prepares to leave the next day. The community has chipped in and bought him a plane ticket to Los Angeles. Lou, not wanting Ben to waste his talents in a small town, suppresses her feelings and tells him she is marrying Hank. Dr. Halberstrom hires Ben based on Hogue's recommendation. Beverly Hills' superficiality soon leaves Ben, who grew up in a small town, feeling empty and lonely. A few weeks later, Hank and Nancy Lee arrive in Los Angeles, bringing Ben's repaired car with them. After Hank tells Ben that he and Lou broke off their engagement, Ben returns to Grady and reunites with her. ===== A group of ten people, strangers to one another, have all travelled to a hotel located deep in the deserts of Iran. Upon arrival, they discover that their host is mysteriously absent. At dinner, they notice a display of figurines: the Ten Little Indians, as represented in the doggerel in each of their suites. They are accused via a tape recording by the host, U.N. Owen ("unknown"), someone none of them has ever met, of having committed various crimes in the past, each of which went unpunished by the law. One by one, the guests start to die: first is Michel Raven, whose drink was poisoned. During the night, the housekeeper/cook, Elsa Martino, makes a mad dash to escape, only to be strangled against a pillar, an ancient Persian method of execution, as noted by Hugh Lombard. A search of the hotel is initiated by General Salve, who splits everyone into pairs. Not long after everyone separates from each other, Salve is stabbed to death in the hotel's catacombs. Their search reveals there is no one in the desert except the seven of them, and that the killer is one of them. The next morning, Elsa's husband, the butler, attempts to escape into the desert and expires from heat exhaustion, his survival kit having been sabotaged. Ilona reveals her tragic past to the others, exposing the cause of her husband's suicide. Later she is found dead, bitten by a venomous snake. The lights soon go out, leaving the five remaining guests in the dark. At dinner, they reveal the nature of the crimes of which they stand accused. Before Vera can offer her explanation, she leaves the others to return to her room. She screams, and the others run to her room. In the confusion, Judge Cannon is found dead in his bedroom, shot in the head. Dr. Armstrong poses his suspicions of Vera and has her locked in her room. Hugh comes to Vera during the night to give her his gun, and reveals that he is in fact Charles Morley; the real Lombard had committed suicide, and he took his place instead. In return, Vera confesses that she never committed murder, and was taking the blame for her mentally ill sister. The next morning, Dr. Armstrong is nowhere to be found. A search of the ruins leads to Blore being pushed off a ledge to his death. Vera and Morley find the body of Dr. Armstrong in the ruins and realise they are the only two remaining. Vera shoots at Morley and returns to the hotel, where she finds all the furniture covered in sheets again, except for a chair with a noose above. She finds Judge Cannon alive, who reveals how he tricked Dr. Armstrong into helping him fake his "murder", and his desire to seek perfect justice and perform his duty as an executioner of the guilty. He tries to convince Vera to hang herself to avoid public execution as the obvious murderer, being the only remaining guest alive. He drinks poison and prepares to die, right before Morley appears, alive. Cannon chokes on the poison and realises his scheme has been foiled before he dies. With Cannon dead, Vera and Morley are picked up by a helicopter as the tape recording is replayed. ===== As the Federation starship Enterprise, under the command of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, passes through the Coalition of Madena, it detects a small cargo ship, under manual control by its single occupant. The crew makes contact with the pilot, Captain Thadiun Okona (William O. Campbell), who requests help to repair a part on his ship. Captain Picard agrees, and the Enterprise tows Okona's ship while Okona is brought on board. The crew soon finds that Okona has taken a keen interest in the women on the ship, beginning with Transporter Chief Robinson (Teri Hatcher in an uncredited role) and is in no rush to effect repairs. Continuing through the sector, the Enterprise is set upon by ships from two different planets, each of which locks its weapons upon the Enterprise, though both are vastly outclassed, and pose no actual threat. Debin (Douglas Rowe), from the planet Atlec, accuses Okona of impregnating his daughter Yanar (Rosalind Ingledew), while Kushell (Albert Stratton) from the planet Straleb asserts that Okona has stolen a state treasure, the Jewel of Thesia. The two leaders clearly know each other, and both demand that their own claim on Okona take priority. Okona denies both accusations but offers nothing to defend himself with. Picard offers to arbitrate the dispute, and brings Debin, Yanar, Kushell and Benzan (Kieran Mulroney), Kushell's son, aboard the Enterprise. Okona sits and quietly listens to both Debin and Kushell's arguments but does not offer any evidence to defend himself from both allegations. After much more arguing amongst the two leaders, Okona then declares that he is the father of Yanar's child, and offers to marry her. Benzan then declares that the Jewel of Thesia hasn't been stolen: it is revealed that Okona has been acting as a go-between for Yanar and Benzan, who are in love with each other, and that Yanar is pregnant with Benzan's child; Benzan has offered to marry Yanar, intending to present the Jewel of Thesia, which he asserts is rightly his, as a courting gift. Okona was carrying the jewel between the two planets when he got engine trouble, and he only falsely claimed to be the father to force the two lovers to reveal the truth. Embarressed and frustrated with how her relationship with Benzan has caused such a crisis and the quarreling of their parents, especially her father's pressuring her to marry in order to instill her family's honor, an exasperated Yanar declares that she is not marrying Benzan or Okona. Okona has a heart-to- heart conversation with Yanar about how she cannot throw away her relationship simply because their parents cannot "behave themselves". Yanar takes heed to Okona's advice, she and Benzan profess their love to each other in front of Debin and Kushell, who finally realize how happy their children are with each other. Picard cannot get involved in the internal political disputes between the two planets and allows Okona to go on his way once his ship is repaired, and Debin and Kushell are left to argue (in a friendly manner) about wedding details. Meanwhile, Lt. Commander Data is motivated to explore the concept of humor after meeting Okona. Prompted by Guinan, Data uses the holodeck to generate a comedy club setting and stand-up comic (played by Joe Piscopo) as his adviser, but when he performs in front of the holographic audience, he is dismayed to find that they are predisposed to laugh at anything he says or does. Guinan cheers Data up by explaining that being able to laugh or make people laugh is not the final result to become human. As the Enterprise parts with Okona, Data is able to unintentionally make the crew laugh, but does not at first understand the joke himself. ===== College students Paxton and Josh are travelling across Europe with their Icelandic friend Óli. In the Netherlands, they visit an Amsterdam nightclub, followed by a brothel. Unable to get back into their hostel because of a curfew, they accept the offer of a man named Alexei to stay at his apartment. He convinces them that, instead of going to Barcelona, they should visit a hostel in Slovakia which is filled with beautiful and desperate women. The three board a train to Slovakia, where they encounter a Dutch Businessman, who touches Josh's leg. Josh yells at him, causing him to leave. Arriving in Slovakia, they find that their roommates in the hostel are two women, Natalya and Svetlana. The women invite them to a spa, and later to a disco. Outside the disco, Josh has a run in with a gang of local criminal kids who are Gypsies. The Dutch Businessman intervenes to defend him. Josh buys him a beer and apologizes for his reaction on the train. Paxton and Josh have sex with Natalya and Svetlana, while Óli leaves with the desk girl, Vala. The next morning, Óli doesn't return. The desk clerk tells them Óli checked out. The two are then approached by a Japanese woman named Kana, who shows them a photo of Óli and her friend Yuki, who is also missing. Later the group receive a message from Óli with a supposed selfie claiming he has gone home. Elsewhere, Óli has been decapitated, while Yuki is being tortured. Josh is anxious to leave, but Paxton convinces him to stay one more night with Natalya and Svetlana. Both women later slip both men tranquilizer. Josh feels sick, goes back to the hostel and faints on his bed. Also feeling sick, Paxton goes to the bathroom and ends up locked in the pantry. Josh wakes up in a dungeon- like room, where the Dutch Businessman begins maiming him with a drill. Musing over his dream of becoming a surgeon, the Dutch Businessman drills holes into Josh's body, slices his achilles tendons, then slits his throat with a scalpel. Paxton wakes up in the disco and returns to the hostel and learns that he had supposedly checked out. Paxton is given a new room, where he is greeted by two women who invite him to the spa. Suspicious, he locates Natalya and Svetlana, who tell him that Josh went to an "art exhibit". Natalya takes Paxton to an old factory, where he sees Josh's mutilated corpse being stitched together by the Dutch Businessman. Two men drag Paxton down a hallway, passing by several rooms where other people are being tortured. Paxton is restrained in a chair and prepped to be tortured by a German client named Johann. Paxton attempts to plead with Johann by speaking German, but Johann places a ball-gag in his mouth, which he removes after Paxton vomits in fear. While cutting off Paxton's fingers with a chainsaw, Johann unintentionally severs his restraints. Johann slips on the ball-gag and falls over, severing his own leg with the chainsaw. Paxton reaches for a gun and shoots Johann in the head. He then kills a guard before leaving the room. He finds the elevator to the top floor, where he changes into business clothes and finds a business card for the Elite Hunting Club, an organization that allows rich people pay to kill and mutilate tourists. On the way out, Paxton discovers Kana, who is being disfigured with a blow torch. Paxton rescues Kana and they flee in a stolen car, pursued by guards. While driving, Paxton runs over Natalya, Svetlana, and Alexei, killing them. While driving Paxton encounters the Gypsy delinquents and gives them candies and gum. The Gypsies attack and kill the men pursuing Paxton with concrete blocks. The two make it to the train station. Kana, seeing her disfigured face, kills herself by leaping in front of an oncoming train. Paxton boards another train unnoticed. Aboard, Paxton hears the voice of the Dutch Businessman. When the train stops in Vienna, Austria, Paxton follows the Dutch Businessman into a public restroom and kills him before boarding another train. ===== Nineteen-year-old Margaret Hale has lived for almost 10 years in London with her cousin Edith and her wealthy Aunt Shaw, but when Edith marries Captain Lennox, Margaret happily returns home to the southern village of Helstone. Margaret has refused an offer of marriage from the captain's brother Henry, an up-and-coming barrister. Her life is turned upside down when her father, the local pastor, leaves the Church of England and the rectory of Helstone as a matter of conscience; his intellectual honesty has made him a dissenter. At the suggestion of Mr. Bell, his old friend from Oxford, he settles with his wife and daughter in Milton-Northern (where Mr. Bell was born and owns the property). The industrial town in Darkshire (a textile-producing region) manufactures cotton and is in the middle of the Industrial Revolution; masters and workers are clashing in the first organized strikes. Margaret initially finds the bustling, smoky town of Milton harsh and strange, and she is upset by its poverty. Mr. Hale (in reduced financial circumstances) works as a tutor; one of his pupils is the wealthy and influential manufacturer John Thornton, master of Marlborough Mills. From the outset, Margaret and Thornton are at odds with each other; she sees him as coarse and unfeeling, and he sees her as haughty. He is attracted to her beauty and self-assurance, however, and she begins to admire how he has risen from poverty. During the 18 months she spends in Milton, Margaret gradually learns to appreciate the city and its hard-working people, especially Nicholas Higgins (a union representative) and his daughter Bessy, whom she befriends. Bessy is ill with byssinosis from inhaling cotton dust, which eventually kills her. A workers' strike ensues. An outraged mob of workers breaks into Thornton's compound, where he has his home and his factory, after he imports Irish workers as replacements. Thornton sends for soldiers, but before they arrive, Margaret begs him to talk to the mob to try to avoid bloodshed. When he appears to be in danger, Margaret rushes out and shields him; she is struck by a stone. The mob disperses, and Thornton carries the unconscious Margaret indoors. Thornton proposes; Margaret declines, unprepared for his unexpected declaration of love and offended by assumptions that her action in front of the mob meant that she cares for him. Thornton's mother, wary of Margaret's haughty ways, is galled by Margaret's rejection of her son. Margaret's brother Frederick (who lives in exile as he is wanted for his part in a naval mutiny) secretly visits their dying mother. Thornton sees Margaret and Frederick together and assumes that he is her lover. Leonards, Frederick's shipmate, later recognizes Frederick at the train station. They argue; Frederick pushes Leonards away, and Leonards dies shortly afterward. When the police question Margaret about the scuffle she lies and says she was not present. Thornton knows that Margaret lied, but in his capacity as magistrate declares the case closed to save her from possible perjury. Margaret is humbled by his deed on her behalf; she no longer only looks down on Thornton as a hard master and begins to recognize the depth of his character. Nicholas, at Margaret's prodding, approaches Thornton for a job and eventually obtains one. Thornton and Higgins learn to appreciate and understand each other. Mr. Hale visits his oldest friend, Mr. Bell, in Oxford. He dies there, and Margaret returns to live in London with Aunt Shaw. She visits Helstone with Mr. Bell and asks him to tell Thornton about Frederick, but Mr. Bell dies before he can do so. He leaves Margaret a legacy which includes Marlborough Mills and the Thornton house. Thornton faces bankruptcy due to market fluctuations and the strike. He learns the truth about Margaret's brother from Nicholas Higgins and comes to London to settle his business affairs with Margaret, his new landlord. When Margaret offers Thornton the loan of her money, he realizes that her feelings toward him have changed, and he again proposes marriage. Since she has learned to love him, she accepts. ===== The film deals with the mid-life crises of its two main protagonists, Mark (Eric McCormack) and Robert (Rafer Weigel), fictionalized versions of the film's director and producer/writer. The two friends struggle with adult career and relationship problems, all the while defiantly clinging to the geeky science fiction popular culture of their youth and seeking advice from their greatest hero, William Shatner. Shatner plays a campy caricature of himself as he works on a one-man musical version of Julius Caesar in hopes of finally being taken seriously as a dramatist and musical performer. Hip-hop artist "The Rated R", joined by Shatner, provides the concluding musical number "No Tears for Caesar", a pastiche of famous lines from the play set to a rap rhythm. The film's score was produced by Scott Spock. ===== On a rainy night in 1928 in a Pennsylvania factory town called Iverstown, thirteen-year-old Martha Ivers tries to run away from the guardianship of her wealthy, domineering aunt, Mrs. Ivers, with her friend, the street-smart, poor Sam Masterson. She is caught and brought home where Martha's tutor, Walter O'Neil Sr., presents his timid son, Walter Jr., as the one responsible for Martha's recovery. Scolded by her aunt, Martha defiantly states her name is not Ivers, but Smith, her father's name. During a power failure, Sam comes for her, but Martha's aunt hears her calling to him from downstairs. While Sam slips out unnoticed, Mrs. Ivers starts beating Martha's kitten with her cane. Martha wrestles it away from her and strikes her across the head with an iron poker, causing her to die. When the power comes back on, Martha lies about the incident to Walter Sr. Even though Walter Jr. saw everything, he backs her up. The greedy Walter Sr. makes it clear to both Walter Jr. and Martha that he knows what happened, but that as long as he and his son stand to benefit, he will play along. Sam leaves town. Seventeen years later, in 1946, Walter Sr. is now dead and Walter Jr. is now Iverstown's district attorney and is married to Martha, who has used her inheritance to expand the Ivers milling empire. Their marriage is one-sided; he loves her, but Walter knows that she does not love him. Sam, a former soldier and itinerant gambler, drives into the small town by chance and, after an accident, leaves his car to be repaired. While waiting, he goes to look at his old home, now a boarding house. He meets Antonia "Toni" Marachek, who has just been released from jail. She misses her train and they spend the night in adjoining rooms in a hotel. She is later picked up for violating her probation by not returning to her hometown. Sam asks Walter to use his influence to get Toni released. Walter is convinced Sam has blackmail in mind. Sam then learns that Walter Sr. had presented Martha's version of the 1928 accidental murder to the police: that an intruder murdered Martha's aunt. With his leverage, Walter Sr. had made Martha marry his son. When the police identified a former employee of the aunt as the murderer, the two Walters and Martha had helped convict him, and he was hanged. When Martha reacts with joy at seeing Sam, a jealous Walter forces Toni to set him up. Sam is beaten up and driven out of town, but he is too tough to be intimidated. When all else fails, Walter makes a halfhearted attempt to kill Sam himself, but is easily disarmed. Walter then inadvertently blurts out his fears of blackmail, only to learn that Sam did not witness the death. Martha breaks down and laments that he left without her all those years ago, taking with him her only chance for love and freedom. Sam is torn between his old love and his new one with Toni. Although he eventually forgives Toni for betraying him, he and Martha spend an idyllic day together, rekindling his feelings for her. Walter arranges to meet Sam to finally settle matters. Before Sam arrives, Walter gets drunk and Martha finds out about the meeting. When Walter falls down the stairs, Martha urges Sam to kill her unconscious husband. Sam instead brings Walter around. Martha pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot Sam in "self defense" as an intruder. Sam tells her it would work if she can get Walter to corroborate her story. Sam turns his back on her and leaves. Walter embraces and kisses Martha, then points the gun at her midriff. Oddly relieved, she puts her hand over his hand on the trigger and presses. As she is dying, she defiantly states her name is not Martha Ivers, but Martha Smith. Outside, Sam hears the shot. He runs back toward the mansion, but sees Walter, holding Martha's body, shoot himself. Sam and Toni drive away together. ===== The five members are Véronique (Anne Wiazemsky), Guillaume (Jean-Pierre Léaud), Yvonne (Juliet Berto), Henri (Michel Semeniako) and Kirilov (Lex de Bruijin). A black student named Omar (Omar Blondin Diop), "Comrade X", also makes a brief appearance. The two main characters, Véronique and Guillaume Meister (the latter named after the titular hero of Goethe's famous 1795 bildungsroman Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship), discuss the issue of revolutionary violence and the necessity of political assassination to achieve revolutionary goals. As an advocate of terrorism as a means of bringing about the revolution, Veronique roughly corresponds to the character of Pyotr Stepanovich Verkhovensky in The Possessed. Véronique and Guillaume are engaged in a personal relationship, with Véronique as the more committed, dominant partner. Yvonne is a girl from the country who occasionally works as a prostitute for extra money to purchase consumer goods (much like Juliette Janson, the principal character in Godard's previous film, Two or Three Things I Know About Her). Yvonne does most of the housecleaning in the apartment and, together with Guillaume, she acts out satirical political skits protesting American imperialism in general, and U.S. President Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policy in particular. Henri is eventually expelled from the group for his apparent backsliding Soviet revisionism, comically suggested by his defense of the 1954 Nicholas Ray movie Johnny Guitar. In this sense he loosely corresponds to the character of Ivan Shatov in The Possessed, a student who is marked for assassination because he has abandoned the tenets of leftist radicalism. Kirilov is the only character in the film who actually takes his name from a character in Dostoyevsky's novel; in The Possessed, Kirillov is a suicidal Russian engineer who has been driven to nihilism and insanity by the failure of his philosophical quest. True to his literary namesake, Godard's Kirilov also descends into madness and ultimately commits suicide. Eventually, Véronique's once tender feelings toward Guillaume sour, and she uses a declaration of "unlove" to teach him (and the audience) the Maoist lesson of "struggle on two fronts". Véronique then leaves the apartment alone and sets off for what will prove to be a botched attempt to kill the Minister of Culture of the Soviet Union during his official diplomatic visit to France. On the train ride en route to the planned assassination, Véronique is engaged in a discussion with the political philosopher, Francis Jeanson (Jeanson was actually Anne Wiazemsky's philosophy professor at the Paris X University Nanterre during 1966–67; a few years earlier, he had once been a communist and the head of a network which supported the Algerian national liberation movement. This led to his highly publicized arrest and trial by the French government in September 1960.) In the scene on the train, Jeanson argues against the use of violence as a means to shut down the French universities. However this does not dissuade Véronique (for her dialogue in this scene, Godard fed Anne Wiazemsky her lines through an earpiece). The appearance of Francis Jeanson in the film seems to correspond with the character of Stepan Trofimovich Verkhovensky (Pyotr's father and Stavrogin's surrogate father) in The Possessed. Indeed, much like Stepan Trofimovich, Jeanson is an intellectual and philosopher who serves as a kind of father-figure/mentor to Véronique — and his early example as a supporter of terrorism makes him responsible for influencing much of the destruction which is to follow. Eventually the train arrives at its destination, and Véronique sets off to the hotel where the Soviet Minister of Culture is staying. She mistakenly reverses the digits of the room number and ends up killing the wrong man. As in The Possessed, the revolutionary activities of the Aden Arabie cell have proved unsuccessful. ===== Charlotte is a woman in her twenties, married to Pierre, an affluent man in his later thirties or forties. Pierre's passion is flying, and he flies his own private plane, after previously having been an air force pilot. Pierre has a young son, Nicolas, from his first marriage, which dissolved when his wife left him for another man. Pierre, Charlotte, and Nicolas live together in a modern apartment outside Paris. Charlotte spends her days going to cafes, shopping, swimming, at the cinema, reading women's fashion magazines, or with her lover, Robert, an actor. Pierre believes that Charlotte's affair is over, having previously confronted her with evidence from a private investigator. As the film opens, Charlotte and Robert are in a Paris love nest that Robert has rented. They make love, and he repeats an earlier request that Charlotte divorce Pierre to marry him. Leaving the apartment, Robert drives Charlotte to the department store Printemps, where she says she is going buy new bras. (Indeed, the film is permeated by shots of advertisements for bras and Charlotte's monologues or dialogues about breast size and body image.) However, instead of shopping, she cuts through the store and Charlotte takes a series of taxis to avoid a private investigator who she thinks is still following her, and she goes to collect her stepson from school. They go to an airport to collect Pierre and his colleague, the filmmaker Roger Leenhardt, who have returned from Germany in Pierre's private plane. While in Germany, Pierre and Roger attended sessions of the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trials, and both men have an interest in the Holocaust. They go back to the couple's apartment for dinner. After dinner they discuss the Holocaust and move to the question of memory and one's relationship to the past and present. After Roger's departure, Charlotte and Pierre play-fight and make love. The next morning, the maid tells Charlotte a story of a ribald love-making session with her own husband. For this narrative, Godard borrowed from Louis-Ferdinand Céline's Death on Credit, which he acknowledges indirectly in the film. Charlotte then attends a fashion photo-shoot at a swimming pool and eavesdrops at a nearby café as two teenage girls discuss their love lives and first sexual encounters. Charlotte goes to the doctor and learns that she is pregnant. She does not know which man is the father and asks the doctor about contraception, leading to a discussion of the relationship between love, sexual pleasure, and conception. Charlotte then goes to Orly Airport for an assignation with Robert, as previously arranged, before he has to fly to Marseille to act in a production of Racine's Bérénice. They meet in the back of the airport's cinema, during a screening of Night and Fog, Alain Resnais's documentary about the Holocaust. Partway through the film, they leave the theater separately and rendezvous at the airport hotel to make love. During their time together, Charlotte questions Robert about love. They hold hands on the mattress of the bed, echoing the opening shots of the movie. As Robert prepares to leave, they both say - one after the other - C'est fini ("It's over."). ===== Les Carabiniers (1963) that the tells the story of two poor men called to serve in battle, lured by promises of the world's riches. Ulysses (Marino Mase) and Michelangelo (Albert Juross) receive letters from the king of their fictional country that allow them to have complete freedom from consequence while fighting in the war, in return for anything they desire—swimming pools, Maseratis, women—at the enemy's expense. Their wives, Venus and Cleopatra (Catherine Ribeiro and Genevieve Galea) encourage them to fight when they hear about the riches. They leave and cross the battlefields and villages, destroying and pillaging as they wish. The pair's exploits are recounted through postcards sent to their wives, telling tales of the horrors of battle. The previously idealistic idea that the men have of war disintegrates, as they are still poor and now wounded. They return home with a suitcase full of postcards of the splendors of the world that they have fought for, and are told by army officials that they must wait until the war ends to receive their pay. One day, the sky explodes with sparks, and the couples race into town, believing that the war has ended. Ulysses and Michelangelo are informed by their superiors that their king has lost the war, and that all of the war criminals must be punished. The two men are then shot for their crimes. ===== Set and filmed in Brunswick, a Melbourne suburb, it deals with a humble chef, Carl (Neill) who gets a job at a sleazy nightclub owned by Yanni Voulgaris (Nicholas Papademetriou). He begins a relationship with the Greek-Australian barmaid, Sophie (Zoe Carides), which soon brings him into trouble with his employers and her strict father. His drug dealing Turkish-Australian co-worker, Mustafa (Nick Lathouris), is beaten up by the Greek-Australian owners. Thinking Carl told them, Mustafa attacks Carl. Carl accidentally stabs and kills him. He calls his friend, Dave (Clarke), a grave digger, and they bury Mustafa. This leads to one of the most famous scenes in the film—Dave's idea that they bury the body in the opened grave of someone else whose husband will be buried above her the following day. Dave expects the coffin of the deceased to be comparatively empty, given how long it has been since she died. When he finds that the rate of decomposition is not what he expects, he begins to stomp and crush her body to make some room. Later, Mustafa's wife and son come to the restaurant and ask Carl if they know what happened to Mustafa. Carl denies having any knowledge and is wracked with guilt. He gives Mustafa's pay to his wife, even though Dave tells him that it might make him suspect. Later Mustafa's son sees him at a pool with Sophie. Knowing that Sophie is also having a relationship with one of the Greek owners, Mustafa's Turkish friends confront Carl. Believing the Greek owners to be responsible, they get their revenge on them, ironically killing the one who was originally responsible for beating Mustafa in the first place. Carl leaves his job and is later comforted when he sees Mustafa in the church (albeit, in a dream) who offers him a friendly handshake. After his domineering mother suffers a stroke and is left a quadriplegic, Carl marries Sophie, despite her father's protests and the final scene from their wedding is reminiscent of the Last Supper. ===== During the Algerian War, Bruno Forestier lives in Geneva to escape the enlistment in France. Working for French intelligence, he is ordered to kill Palivoda, who is pro-FLN (National Liberation Front of Algeria), to prove he is not a double agent. Refusal and hesitation keep him from carrying out the assassination. Meanwhile, he meets and falls in love with Véronica Dreyer, who helped the FLN. Bruno plans to leave with her for Brazil, but is captured and tortured by Algerian revolutionaries. He escapes, and agrees to kill Palivoda for the French in exchange for passage to Brazil for himself and Véronica. However, the French discover Véronica's ties to the FLN, and torture her to death. ===== The film is almost documentary in its portrayal of facts. It claims to be based strongly on facts, apart from some adaptations like merging various characters into one. After two hours, the film changes dramatically. The first two hours are about the six years before the fall of Batista's dictatorship. The last hour is about the 40 years after that. In the first two hours, Castro regularly distances himself from Communism and Communists, but after the take-over, the film suggests that Castro had always aspired a Marxist-Leninist State. ===== The uncouth Sir Les Patterson teams up with Dame Edna Everage (both played by Barry Humphries) to save the world from a virulent bioterror attack ordered by Colonel Richard Godowni (Thaao Penghlis) of the Gulf State of Abu Niveah. ===== An easy-going garage mechanic, Ed Walters (Tim Robbins), meets Catherine Boyd (Meg Ryan), a successful Princeton University mathematics doctoral candidate, as she comes into the garage, accompanied by her resistant and critical English fiancé, acerbic experimental psychology professor James Moreland (Stephen Fry). There is an immediate "electric" connection which Ed recognizes as he falls in love with her at first sight, but she does not reciprocate. Ed sees his future, briefly, and Catherine is a major part of it; they are married, and have children together. "How long will all of this take?" asks Catherine, referring to the car repair, and Ed, thinking about their future life together, replies, "That's up to you". His life purpose has suddenly been decided by a force of nature greater than himself. Finding a watch she left at the garage, Ed travels to her address and finds himself face to face with Albert Einstein (Walter Matthau), who is Catherine's uncle. Albert—portrayed as a fun-loving genius—and his mischievous friends, fellow scientists Nathan Liebknecht (Joseph Maher), Kurt Gödel (Lou Jacobi), and Boris Podolsky (Gene Saks), quickly accept Ed as a friend and see Ed as someone who would be better suited for Catherine. The four of them bring their communal vehicle to Ed's garage to have it modified as a convertible, and chat with Ed about how to attract Catherine's interest. An amused suggestion by Ed to "borrow their brains" inspires them to try to help Ed look and sound like a scientist (i.e., a "wunderkind" in physics) temporarily, in order to garner Catherine's attention for Ed, while at the same time trying to convince Catherine that life is not all about the mind, but is also about the heart. James's heart is virtually non-existent (as seen in his casual cruelty in his treatment of test subjects and limited awareness of humanity), while Ed's heart is adventurous and virtually limitless. Einstein sees bringing Ed and Catherine together as his most enduring legacy to his niece, because she was of the mistaken opinion that her only contribution to the world was to be through her children, and that she therefore must marry a total intellectual because then she will produce genius children, like himself. Einstein realizes that Ed loves Catherine for herself, and will help her blossom into her full potential as a person full of life and spirit; a fellow world traveler with mutual interests as varied as the Boyd's Comet and the Seven Sacred Pools on Maui, which James belittled. Catherine eventually sees through the "intellectual Ed" ruse Einstein and his cohorts had temporarily created in order to get her to give Ed some attention, but falls for Ed anyway, just as Einstein had hoped. A smiling Albert Einstein uses a small telescope to spy happily on the two young moonstruck lovers as they take delight in the return of Boyd's Comet and in each other's company. The film ends with both Catherine and Albert saying "Wahoo!", just as Einstein had earlier in the film while riding on Ed's motorcycle. ===== 12-year-old David has lived in a concentration camp for as long as he can remember. While the people who run the camp are only referred to as them, later in the book it is stated that they came to power in 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution. David was a strong, brave and intelligent boy who had been ripped away from his mother and put into a dreadful camp. His only friend in the camp, Johannes, died some time before from a heart attack, as is revealed in a flashback in Chapter 1. One of the commandants has been keeping an eye on David , making sure he is fed properly and taking his vitamins. This guard sets up the escape, gives him some soap, and leaves a sack outside the camp fence with bread, a bottle of water, and a compass in it. David must go south to Salonika, find a boat to Italy, then travel north to a free country that has a king. David finds a truck headed for Salonika, and without realizing it, climbs on board. He eats some of the food inside and when the truck stops, he jumps out. He finds a boat labelled "Italy" and sneaks in. After hiding for a few days and getting quite drunk (accidentally), he is found. Thankfully, the Italian sailor decides to help David escape by lowering him down the side of the ship with a lifebelt on. He floats to land and, after climbing for a little way, promptly falls asleep. After having a bath, David finds a cave to spend the day in. Then he decides to go to the town nearby to learn about life outside of a prison camp. He is given, much to his surprise, a loaf of bread. He also finds a piece of newspaper that he uses to practise reading with. Later, after visiting the town every day for a while, David uses the excuse that he works for a circus to explain why he is a polyglot and why he is traveling. Then he overhears people talking about him. He flees the town and travels north. On his way, he helps people, and sometimes they give him money. Along his journey, David discovers the beauty of the world and slowly he changes his behavior and the way he interacts with people. He saves a girl named Maria from a fire in a shed where she was trapped. David spends some time in Maria's family's house, where he sees a globe and learns about different countries. However, his knowledge of suffering and death, as well as his enmity with their eldest son and his deepening, overtly exclusive relationship with Maria worries the parents. David overhears them talking about him and, after writing them a letter, leaves the house to travel north again. Some time later he sees a personal advertisement in a newspaper placed by Maria's family, offering him a home and saying they understand his reticence. David has also been praying to the "God of green pastures and still waters", and a priest explains that while some people say there are many gods, there really is only one. When he meets Sophie, a middle-aged lady who lives in Switzerland and likes to paint as a hobby, she asks David if she might paint him; later she invites David to have lunch with her in her house, and while he is there, David sees a picture of a woman in Denmark. Sophie tells him that the woman's husband and her child, a boy named David, were killed, but that a guard who was attracted to the woman allowed her to escape. He realizes he needs to travel to Denmark and find that woman, who is his mother. He also realizes that the guard, who became the commandant, has saved him because he was in love with David's mother. However, because she did not love him back, and he felt a need for revenge, he did not tell her that David was still alive. When winter hits, David is traveling through the mountains, and he is held prisoner by a farmer who uses him for work. It is a hard season, but he is grateful to shelter at night in the farmer's stable until the snow melts. The farmer's dog, King, keeps him company through the winter. David knows that as the snow melts, he must escape from the bolted stable, as the farmer will soon hand him to the police. He makes a hole in the stable, digs a tunnel, and is free again. King catches up with him. Later, the dog gives his life to distract some guards in East Germany so that David can sneak over the border. David travels on through Denmark to Copenhagen where he looks up his mother's address in a telephone book. Virtually at the end of his strength he knocks on the door and introduces himself to his mother whom he recognizes from the picture he saw of her in Switzerland. His mother instantly recognizes him as her son David. ===== In a neglected box in her Tokyo apartment, Ritsuko finds a teenage girl's audio diary on an old cassette. Ritsuko's fiancée Saku spots her in a television report at Takamatsu Airport about an approaching typhoon. He realizes she has gone to their hometown in Shikoku and goes after her. There, at his family home, he discovers a box of audio cassettes. He listens to them while retracting his steps from his school life. In 1986, the teenage Saku attends the funeral of his school principal. The eulogy reader, popular school athlete Aki, catches his eye and they begin seeing each other. Saku's uncle Shigezou, a photographer, tells him he was once the principal's lover. At his request, Aki and Saku steal the principal's remains from the cemetery and give them to Shigezou. Hoping to win a Walkman, Saku and Aki write to a local radio station that reads out listeners' stories of tragic romance. When Saku wins by concocting a story about a girl with leukemia, Aki records a tape chastising him, saying it is wrong to lie about such things. He apologizes and they begin exchanging long messages on tape. After they visit an uninhabited island and find an old camera with undeveloped film inside, Aki collapses and is admitted to hospital. In the present, Ritsuko finds Saku in the school, engrossed in Aki's tapes, but does not disturb him. As the typhoon approaches, she takes shelter in Shigezou's shop and sees a photo of the young Saku and Aki in wedding clothes. Shigezou tells her he took the photo shortly before Aki's death. In the past, Aki tells Saku she has leukemia. The young Ritsuko delivers Aki's tapes to Saku's school pigeonhole. Shigezou develops the old film from the island, revealing photos of Uluru in Australia. Ritsuko delivers the photos to Aki in the hospital, who is captivated by them. Saku promises her they will visit Uluru. Aki sneaks away from the hospital with Saku to have passport photos taken at Shigezou’s shop. Inspired by Shigezou's wedding photography, she asks him to take a photo that people can remember her by and they stage a wedding photo. When Aki returns to the hospital, she learns her friend, another leukemia patient, has died suddenly. Aki's condition worsens. She loses her hair and is moved to a sterile ward. Though they can no longer have physical contact, Saku proposes to her. He meets her at midnight to take her to Uluru, but at the airport, all flights are canceled because of a typhoon and Aki collapses. In the hospital, the dying Aki records a goodbye tape for Saku. Ritsuko is hit by a car and fails to deliver the tape. In the present, Ritsuko calls Saku from Shigezou's photo shop and apologizes for not delivering Aki's final tape. He goes to the shop but finds her gone, having left Aki's tape with Shigezou for him. Saku tells Shigezou he has never gotten over Aki's death and Shigezou comforts him. Saku reunites with Ritsuko at the airport, where the flights have been canceled because of the typhoon. Saku and Ritsuko visit Uluru and Saku listens to Aki's final tape. Together they fulfil Aki's last wish: to have her ashes scattered at Uluru. ===== Set in eighteenth- century Italy, Cry to Heaven focuses on two characters, peasant-born Guido Maffeo, who is castrated at the age of six to preserve his soprano voice, and fifteen-year-old Tonio Treschi, the last son of a noble family from the Republic of Venice, whose father, Andrea, is a member of the Council of Three of La Serenissima. Although Guido becomes a star of the opera as a teenager, he loses his voice at eighteen, as many castrati did. After a suicide attempt, he becomes a music teacher in the Naples conservatorio. Tonio, on the other hand, learns that his older brother Carlo was exiled for embarrassing the family. Although Andrea attempts to cut Carlo out of the family, Carlo returns after Andrea's death, and plots to regain his original position. Revealing that Tonio is actually his illegitimate son, he has Tonio castrated, and sends him off with Guido to study in Naples. Although everyone in Venice is inclined to believe that Carlo was behind his castration, Tonio cannot accuse him of the crime because doing so would result in the extinction of the Treschi family. After some soul-searching, he decides to remain in Naples and study under Guido, holding off on revenge until after Carlo and his mother (also Carlo's lover and later wife) have children to ensure the family line. By the power of Tonio's almost inhuman soprano voice, Guido is roused from his depression, and takes him as a star student. Tonio progresses in his lessons extremely quickly. Guido also has Tonio perform some of his original compositions, which begin to impress audiences at the conservatorio. Tonio, for his part, struggles to come to terms with his castrato status; in his own mind, he is "less than a man". At first, he finds it difficult even to associate with his fellow castrati. As time goes on, he has a love affair with another castrato boy, Domenico, and after Domenico leaves, with Guido himself. He comes to dominate the conservatorio—in addition to being a star student, he soon befriends all the boys his age, and becomes something of a leader and confidant. Tonio also continues his studies in fencing and firearms, which, in Guido's words, make him into a "hero" to his fellow students, especially after, in self-defense, he kills a student who vowed to kill him. As he was raised to be a gentleman, and because he was castrated relatively late in life, he continues to act like a man, unlike the more effeminate poses of castrati boys. Despite the fact he is a castrato, even local noblemen come to respect him both as a sparring partner and as a friend. However, Guido and others need to scheme to get Tonio, finally, out of the conservatorio and onto the stage. After his debut, Guido and Tonio travel to Rome for his operatic premiere. There he gains the patronage of a powerful cardinal, Calvino, and befriends a powerful count from Florence, di Stefano. Although he is almost booed off the stage for upstaging the operatic star Bettichino, he proves a great success, and both he and Guido have a bright futures in front of themselves. Tonio even becomes lovers with an English noblewoman and widow, Christina, seemingly restoring him to his former status. Nonetheless, Tonio is unable to break free of the desire for revenge against Carlo. After having two children by Carlo, Tonio's mother, Marianna, dies. Soon afterwards—and before his Mardi Gras opera performance—hitmen sent by Carlo try to kill him. Against the wishes of all his friends, Tonio vows to return in time for an Easter opera, then disappears. In Venice, Carlo has become a pathetic, alcoholic wreck. Disguised as a woman (a trick he learned for the opera), Tonio succeeds in "seducing" his father and capturing him. Intoxicated, Carlo not only curses ever coming back to Venice, but also wants to take Tonio's place, finding the city decadent and confining. Although he promises never to try and hurt Tonio again, he attempts to kill him the second he has the opportunity. In response, Tonio finally kills Carlo. He then returns to his friends, at last able to fully pursue his life. ===== Dylan Moran starred as boy next door Ian Lyons, who recently eloped with country girl Lisa Yardley (Charlotte Coleman). At the show's start, after a year living in London they move to the village of Snowle, where her intimidating father (Frank Finlay) breeds turkeys. He and most of Lisa's family (which included Emma Chambers as her sister and Peter Serafinowicz as her thuggish brother) take a dislike to Ian, and much of the comedy comes from how Ian copes with life with her family and village life in general. The situation is also complicated by Lisa's ex-boyfriend Derek (Mark Heap), who still loves her. The series' title is a reference to the trade Ian takes up within the village, buying the business of the local photographer despite having no formal training in photography (he had previously managed a comedy club in London). Photography plays an important part within the stories; the beginning of series one shows Ian and Lisa outside a country church having wedding photos taken; this is then shown to be a staged event arranged by Lisa's family due to their unhappiness at them eloping and marrying abroad prior to the series starting. Ian first realises the extent of the family's hatred for him when he witnesses Lisa's mother cutting him out of the wedding pictures at the end of the first episode. Further episodes also have photography playing a key role, including an episode where nude photos of Lisa get circulated around the village after her brother and his friends discover them. Another episode sees Lisa's sister approach Ian for a photo shoot, and her disappointment when he is unable to photograph her looking glamorous and beautiful. There is a running joke throughout the series of Ian wanting to make a book of photographs of country fire stations in Britain. Series 2 ends with Ian and Lisa sitting in their car debating whether to leave the village; Ian cannot bear to live there any more due to the aggression shown by Lisa's family to him but Lisa does not want to live in London. ===== Alice White plays the part of a working class girl who dreams about living a life of luxury. Her father, Richard Carlyle, runs a cigar store while White works as a stenographer. William Bakewell, a soda jerker, is madly in love with White and has even asked her father for his consent to their marriage. Although Carlyle likes Bakewell and would like to see her daughter marry him, White refuses to consider marrying him on the wage he currently earns. One day, White convinces Bakewell to take her to a fancy exclusive nightclub. Once they arrive and are seated, Bakewell is shocked at the prices and suggests that they go elsewhere. This leads to an argument with White. As the couple is about to leave, an announcement is made for a leg contest and White decides to enter. She wins first place and is awarded her prize by Chester Morris, a gangster. Dazzled by his fancy clothes and car, White accepts his attentions and give Bakewell the air. Eventually Morris asks White to go away with him. White naively thinks that he intends to marry her. Before they make their trip, Morris, who is low on cash, robs a cigar store and in the process shoots the man behind the counter. Without knowing it, he has shot White's father. As White and Morris are about to leave on their trip, they stop at her father's cigar store to say goodbye. As they approach they see police stationed around and Morris realizes what he has done. He convinces White to stay in the car while he checks out what happened. He talks a bit to the police and then tells White that her father is ok and that he now at the police station to help the police identify a thief. In reality, however White's father is at the hospital suffering from a gunshot wound that Morris gave him. Morris convinces White to continue on the trip with him and they drive to the train station. Bakewell, who suspects that Morris was behind the robbery, asks the police to help him entrap Morris. They manage to get Morris to unwittingly to confess to the crime before he has a chance to board the train. Morris is arrested and White's father recovers. White, chastened by the experience, agrees to marry Bakewell. ===== The story is set, like many Zelazny pure science fiction novels, a few centuries in the future. The narrator, a Mafia assassin named Angelo di Negri, has been revived from suspended animation by the mostly legitimate successors of the criminal organization, and given a mission to assassinate a scientist on a fortified facility on an otherwise uninhabited planet. ===== Philadelphia, Here I Come! centres around Gareth (Gar) O'Donnell's move to America, specifically Philadelphia. The play takes place on the night before and morning of Gar's departure to America. Gar is portrayed by two characters, Gar Public ("the Gar that people see, talk to, talk about") and Gar Private ("the unseen man, the man within, the conscience"). Gareth lives with his father, S. B. O'Donnell ("a responsible, respectable citizen") with whom he has never connected. Gar works for his father in his shop and their relationship is no different from that of Boss and Employee. Private often makes fun of S.B. calling him "Screwballs" and parodying his nightly routine as a fashion show. Essentially, this play is a tragicomedy. It contains many comical scenes, especially the scene with Lizzy Sweeney, Gar's aunt, in which Gar decides to go to America. Despite the fact that Gar seems to have a relationship with his father no different from that of Boss and Employee, there are indications that there is love between them. In episode 1, Madge says "It must have been near daybreak when he (SB O'Donnell) got to sleep last night. I could hear the bed creaking." Other indications that SB is secretly devastated by his son's imminent departure, include his remembrance of Gar in a sailor suit proudly declaring he need not go to school, he'll work in his father's shop – a memory of an event that may not have happened, and the scene when he pretends to read the paper, but fails to notice that it has been upside-down. Gar's reasons for going to America (he wanted to prove to Aunt Lizzie that he was not "cold like the O'Donnells"), along with his secret love for his uncommunicative father, and their desperate final, pathetic attempts to communicate make this play quite tragic. All of the action in this play takes place within a period of a few hours on the evening of Gar's departure, but it also includes flashbacks to Gar's relationship with local girl Kate Doogan, and the visit from his Aunt Lizzie. ===== ===== Act I In the apartment used by the terrorists The 'justes' are a group of revolutionaries plotting to assassinate the Grand Duke with a bomb. The first attempt is meticulously set up, with Kaliayev selected to throw the bomb. Act II as before After a period of uncertainty as to the outcome of the first attempt, Kaliayev returns, saying he could not throw the bomb at the carriage, as it contained the Grand Duke's nephew and niece. Stepan is disgusted by this, pointing out that thousands of Russian children have died as a result of Tsarist oppression, but the others take Kaliayev's side, as killing children would harm their cause. Act III as before Kaliayev prepares for the second attempt and tries again, two days after the first try. He successfully kills the duke. Voinov leaves the group to join the Party's propaganda division. Act IV in a prison Kaliayev is in prison. He has a brief discussion with Foka before Skouratov enters. Skouratov discusses Kaliayev's actions with him before the Grand Duchess enters. She shows Kaliayev the human side of his crime (the actual death of the Grand Duke) and asks him to agree to being a murderer, not a revolutionary, in exchange for his life. Kaliayev is moved by her talk of her husband but stays firm. He says, "Let me prepare myself to die. If I did not die-- it's then I'd be a murderer."Camus, Albert. Caligula and 3 Other Plays. The Just Assassins. New York: Vintage Books, 1985. Print. Skouratov reenters and makes Kaliayev an offer: either Kaliayev confesses and reveals the whereabouts of his fellows, or Skouratov will publish an article saying he repented his acts to the Grand Duchess, thereby making his fellows believe he betrayed them and their cause. Act V At the apartment It is the night of Kaliayev's execution. Annenkov, Dora and Stepan await news of him. Voinov returns for the same reason. Some suggest that Kaliayev may have betrayed them to save his own life, but Dora knows this is not true. This is confirmed shortly afterwards by news of Kaliayev's death. Dora, normally the most gentle of the group, takes on a Stepan-like attitude. She vows to throw herself into terrorism and either to destroy tyranny single- handed to avenge Kaliayev, or be caught, executed and thereby united with him. ===== High school student Paula Crisostomo, is tired of being treated unequally. She meets a group of student activists from around East Los Angeles and they decide to try to change the way students are treated. They are punished for speaking Spanish in school, their bathrooms are locked during lunch, they are forced to do janitorial work as a punishment and many in the high school administrations actively dissuade the less promising students from attending college. Inspired by her Chicano teacher Sal Castro and despite opposition from her father, Paula joins in and helps hand out surveys to students to suggest improvements to the schools. Each East LA high school has two or three students who are in the group; Paula particularly becomes interested in Robert. However the school board refuses to consider the suggestions so Paula urges the students to walk out of school. The police find out and the principal threatens to expel Paula if she walks out. Paula's father urges against her plan of "walking out." He believes that the group is a bunch of "agitators." Five East LA schools successfully walk out and the school board says they might consider their demands, but Paula's father throws her out of the house for her role in the walkout. The students decide to walk out in only half of the schools the next day, but the police arrest and beat the protesters. None of the footage appears on the news and the students are painted as violent agitators with Communist ties. Paula decides to invite the students' families to the protests, hoping their presence will deter police brutality. When the students walk out again their families come to support them and it appears that they have won because the school board agrees to hear their complaints. Paula invites Robert to prom, but while she is getting ready, the police suddenly arrest 12 of the leaders of the student movement. When Paula goes to Sal for advice she discovers that Robert (who is an undercover LAPD officer) has arrested him. The students are charged with conspiracy to disrupt a school with a maximum penalty of 66 years. Paula is defeated, but her father urges her not to give up and she helps to stage a massive protest outside the jail. Robert is on duty there and tries to stop her, but she continues leading the crowd until all 12 students and Sal are released. ===== In the year 2008, global warming and heavy rainfall has left large areas of London flooded. Rookie police officer Dick Durkin (Neil Duncan) is assigned to partner with Harley Stone (Rutger Hauer), a burnt-out and highly cynical veteran homicide detective who, according to his commanding officer, survives on "anxiety, coffee, and chocolate" after being unable to prevent the death of his partner Foster by a serial killer 3 years previously. Now, the murders have begun again and Stone is obsessed with the case. An Oxford- educated psychologist, Durkin is ordered to stick with Stone at all times and report any unstable behavior. After investigating the scenes of several killings, they appear no closer in identifying the killer, although Stone seems to share some sort of psychic connection with him. Their only clues are that the murders seem to be linked with the lunar cycle, and that the killer takes an organ from each victim, apparently to eat them. Lab analysis of blood left during one encounter shows that the killer possesses multiple recombinant DNA strands, somehow having absorbed the DNA of its victims. Complicating matters is the return of Michelle (Kim Cattrall), Foster's wife who Stone had an affair with. While attempting to figure out the killer's motives and pattern, Stone and Durkin begin to bond as Durkin loosens up and starts to understand Stone. Durkin hypothesizes that the killer is taunting Stone personally, following him and then killing someone at each location. The killer then attacks a woman in Stone's apartment building, afterwards kidnapping Michelle while the two detectives are downstairs. They track the killer deep into the flooded tunnels of the London Underground subway system and discover the truth: the killer is not human. It's actually a large, horrific and possibly demonic creature that is fast, savage, and bloodthirsty. Durkin figures out that Stone escaped from it ten years ago, and it is now fixated upon killing Stone just as it previously killed Foster. In fact, as the movie progresses, each killing and "appearance" of the monster is an attempt to lure Stone closer and closer. The massive chest wound that Stone sustained all those years ago is what created the psychic link between Stone and the creature. Finally learning where the creature makes its lair, Stone and Durkin head to the area, armed to the teeth and relying on Stone to find the monster just as it always finds him. They emerge into an abandoned underground train station to find Michelle suspended over the water as obvious bait, but Stone frees her anyway, prompting the creature to show up. During the fight, Durkin wounds the creature's chest—allowing Stone to pull the monster's heart out and kill it. However, as the three of them leave the station, bubbles of air are seen breaking the surface of the water, suggesting that there may be more than one monster. ===== The book is a work of historical fiction set in the late pre-Columbian age in Mexico City and depicts the daily life of the ancient Aztec people, both the commoners (servants, traders and warriors) and the upper classes (priests, nobles, and government officials). The "Mexican" section contains a great deal of Mexican symbolism, geographical, political and religious references and historical data took from various authors like Bernal Díaz del Castillo and his book Verdadera Historia de la Conquista de la Nueva España (in English, "True History of the Conquest of New Spain"). The novel also recounts the history and development of the Manriques, a family of Spanish nobles, and details aspects of life in 15th century Spain. The Manrique family lives through major historical events, such as the reconquest of Spain by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, the reception of Christopher Columbus twice at Torremala (the Family Settlement), news of the discovery of the Americas and the relationship between the family of Hernán Cortés and the Manriques. The two stories eventually merge with the meeting of the two main characters, Alonso Manrique and Xuchitl (the daughter of King Nezahualpilli of Texcoco, one of the three allied kingdoms that Cortés found at the time of his arrival). As Cortés approaches the great city of Tenochtitlan, the Mexican natives line the city's main causeway. Xuchitl is among the gathered crowds, and sees Alonso Manrique there for the first time. The Mexican set of characters struggles with love, pain, pride and hate with the Spanish group of characters during the conquest of Mexico (1519-1521) by Hernán Cortés, the fall and complete destruction of Tenochtitlan and its satellite kingdoms, and the emergence of a new nation, New Spain (now modern Mexico) out of the meeting of two great cultures: the Spanish heritage (with old Visigoth, Jewish, Moorish and Catholic roots) and the ancient native Mexican traditions (like the Olmecs, Mayans, and Toltecs). The novel deals with the "conflict between two worlds": Christian Europe and Aztec America. Both civilizations are represented by equally-committed proponents: Alonso Manrique (Europe) and Itzcauatzin (America). Both characters are soldiers and priests (symbolizing nationalism and faith). Alonso started as a priest and later became a warrior; Itzcauatzin entered an academy (Calmecac) that prepared him for both. Caught in between is Xuchitl, the Aztec princess. Whoever wins her wins the future of the Aztec civilization. Xuchitl identifies the winner by giving him the Aztec talisman known as "el corazon de piedra verde" ("the green stone heart"). This talisman was worn by her father and represents the mystic powers of the Aztec religion. Alonso won, signifying the beginning of the Christianization of Mexico. Itzcauatzin gives his life as a human sacrifice vainly trying to add enough power to the traditional religion to overcome the Europeans. In the end, Alonso and Xuchitl have a son and return to Mexico from Spain. They bring the jade heart with them, but with the Virgin Mary etched on it to counteract the stone's original powers. The novel was the first of an intended five novels —each covering a century (16th to 20th)— tracking the creation of modern Mexico through the descendants of Alonso and Xuchitl. However, only four novels were finished before Salvador de Madariaga died. Category:1942 novels Category:Spanish novels Category:Historical novels Category:Aztecs in fiction Category:Novels set in Spain Category:Novels set in the 15th century Category:Novels set during the Conquest of the Americas Category:Novels set in pre-Columbian America Category:Mesoamerica in fiction Category:Novels set in Mexico City ===== At a racetrack, aging drag racing star Lonnie "Lucky Man" Johnson (Smith) makes engine refinements to his car, which is sponsored by the international oil company Fast Company. On its first test run it blows up, but Lonnie escapes unhurt. Fast Co. team boss Phil Adamson (Saxon) is not impressed, telling the head mechanic, Elder (Don Francks), that the team can't afford to win if it breaks the budget. The real business is that the car remains competitive and helps sell Fast Company oil products. In the "Funny Car class", Lonnie's protégé Billy "The Kid" Brooker (Campbell) gives top dog Gary "The Blacksmith" Black (Cedric Smith) a close run. On the road to Big Sky, Montana, Lonnie phones his girlfriend Sammy (Jennings), who is living in Spokane, saying he misses her. When the Fast Co. rig blows a tire, Black, jealous of Fiasco's money and Lonnie's popularity, refuses to help change the tire. Adamson flies in his private plane with Candy Ellison (Judy Foster) the pretty new Fast Co. ad girl. At the Big Sky meet, Adamson takes a backhander from the organizer. He says that the fans come to see Lonnie, so while the dragster is being repaired he will replace Billy in the Funny Car. Lonnie doesn't like the idea. Billy likes it less, blaming Lonnie's ego. Lonnie's first ever Funny Car run is against Black, who is angry at the driver switch, especially when he loses the race. Billy finds some compensation in the attractive presence of Candy. En route to a next race in Spokane, Lonnie calls the dragster mechanic with a few ideas, but is told that Adamson cancelled the repair work. At the meet, Lonnie is less than complimentary on his Fast Co. TV spot. Adamson is incensed and calls the company to say he's bringing in Gary Black. Candy overhears the phone call, and when she refuses to have sex with the TV interviewer as damage control, Adamson fires her. He offers Black the Fast Co ride. At the same time, Candy and Billy go and "get it on" inside Lonnie's trailer. Sammy shows up and interrupts them. She furiously assumes that it's Lonnie in the bed, until he appears in the doorway. Reunited, Lonnie and Sammy kick out Billy and Candy, and they resume making love and he talks about quitting racing. Adamson walks in without knocking, causing Lonnie to punch him to the floor. He says they're finished, but Lonnie assures him the car will race. Outside the trailer, Adamson gives Black and the surly mechanic, named Meatball, a job. While on another test run, the Funny Car's engine blows, but Lonnie controls the situation using the cockpit safety gear. Billy angrily accuses Black of sabotage, but Lonnie intervenes on Black's behalf. In the pit, Adamson announces that Black is the new Fast Co driver and the whole team is fired. Lonnie goes for him but is slugged with a tire iron by Meatball. Billy is despondent, but Lonnie insists they'll still race at Edmonton next weekend (they will steal back the car). Billy and P.J. (Robert Haley) visit the local motor show and are amazed that Adamson has the car on display. That night, Billy and Candy create an amorous diversion for the security guard while Lonnie drives the car away. Working overtime, Lonnie, Billy, P.J. get it in shape for the race. At the Edmonton racetrack, there is a night meet. Lonnie's surprise independent entry is announced. Adamson is worried that Black will be beaten, but Meatball says he will win as long as he is in the left lane. Lonnie gives an ecstatic Billy the ride. At the toss up for the lane choice, Billy wins and chooses left. Adamson ensures a last minute change, and Billy's complaint is ignored. As the driver's wait on the starting line, Black watches Meatball slope away, carrying two large cans of oil. At the green light, Billy gets a fast start, but Black surges alongside and then swerves, seemingly trying to run him off the road. Black takes the lead, then cuts into Billy's lane and hits the oil that Meatball has poured on the track. His car explodes in a huge fireball. Billy goes for Meatball at the side of the track and in the struggle, Meatball's overalls catch fire. Billy uses his cockpit extinguisher to save his life. The team arrives on the scene. Adamson panics and takes to his plane. As it taxis down the runway strip, Lonnie jumps in the Funny Car and hits the throttle. He catches up just as the plane takes off, clipping the end off a wing. Adamson fights for control but the plane dives into a parked Fast Co oil truck, producing the second inferno of the night. The next morning, the team members discuss the future. Lonnie promises he'll have new funding in place soon, but first he and Sammy are going to share some quality time. Billy and Candy like the sound of that and go off somewhere to have sex too, but Elder and P.J. are left by themselves with a car to prepare. ===== In 1984, Captain Ray Quick (Stallone) and Colonel Ned Trent (Woods), explosives experts working for the CIA, are on a mission to blow up a car transporting a South American drug dealer. But when the car appears, a little girl is inside with the dealer. Ray insists they abort the mission, but Ned intends to see it through and allows the explosion to happen, resulting in the deaths of both the drug dealer and the child. Furious by the girl's wrongful death, Ray savagely beats Ned and flees, effectively resigning from the CIA. Years later, in Miami, Ray works as a freelance hit man. He lives a solitary existence with his cat, named "Timer". Desperate people contact him via an Internet bulletin board and he takes the cases that interest him. Ray specializes in "shaping" his explosions, building and planting bombs that blow up only the intended target while leaving innocent bystanders unharmed. He answers ads placed by a woman named May Munro (Stone) and speaks to her often to decide if he should take the job or not. During the talks he becomes intrigued by her story, coupled with the fact that he sees how attractive she is while following her. She is the only child of parents who were killed by Tomas Leon (Roberts) and his men. Against his better judgment, and pushed by her insistence that she will infiltrate the gang with or without him, Ray is persuaded to accept the job. Even though he has agreed, May ingratiates herself into Tomas' world as Adrian Hastings. Ned now works for Joe Leon (Steiger), Tomas' father and director of their organized crime syndicate. Once the hits on their lower level guys begin, they contact the chief of police to place Ned in their bomb squad. May tolerates Tomas and plays along as his girlfriend so she can watch the hits one by one. It is revealed after the second target is killed that May has actually been forced into a partnership with Ned, whose goal was to coax Ray out of hiding. After the job in South America went wrong, Ned was dismissed from the CIA and is intent on revenge. When the trap for Tomas is set, May is in the room; the resulting explosion appears to kill them both. When Ned goes to Joe to pay his respects, he is left alive only so he can find Ray and bring him to Joe before Tomas is buried. Both Ray and Ned believe that May is dead, yet Ray discovers that bulletin board messages are still being posted. He responds to one, quickly realizing that it is a trap set by Ned and the bomb squad, and baits Ned into an explosive tirade. When he goes to the funeral of Adrian Hastings, Ray finds that May is alive. She went to the funeral to see if Ray would attend.Then they go to the Fontainebleau Hotel. They undress and make love in bed and in the shower. After this she leaves. Meanwhile, Ned has gone to the cathedral and learns that the person in the casket is not May. She runs into Ned in the hotel lobby and makes an excuse as to why she did not tell him that she was alive. A henchman is ordered to take her to the car and on the way she asks to use the restroom. Once there, she uses a cell phone to warn Ray. He rigs the hotel room to explode, and when Ned's henchmen enter the room it detonates, breaking the entire room off into the ocean. May is taken to Joe Leon but Ned insists on keeping her alive to lure Ray out. Ned listens in as Ray calls May, he refuses to meet with her and be "set up" again but she convinces him that she truly does care about him. He arranges a meeting at a seafood restaurant and May uses secret coding to tell him it's a trap before hanging up. When Ned sends May inside, the restaurant explodes. Ray and May escape on a speed boat to his warehouse. Ned listens to the recording of Ray's call and tracks down his location. The next morning, May is preparing to leave to kill Joe Leon herself but Ray tells her to let go of the past. Ned arrives with an army of police that surround the booby-trapped warehouse. In a final showdown, Ray and May are cornered. Ned pursues them, but is done in by his own hubris when he steps on a bomb. After the entire warehouse goes up due to the chain of bombs exploding, it appears that all inside have been killed, but Ray and May escape unseen through a tunnel. The next day Joe reads about the incident at the warehouse. He thanks God for bringing his revenge on Ray and May. He then opens the mail brought to him and finds a necklace. It contains a picture of May's parents, seeing that it's rigged with a bomb he curses God just before the necklace explodes. After hearing the blast and knowing all responsible for her parents' death are dead, Ray asks how she feels, to which she responds, "Better". They drive off to start their life together. ===== Lindsey McDonald wakes up and goes about his daily routine of getting washed, affixing his prosthetic hand and getting ready for work. As he removes a shirt with a pre-knotted tie from his wardrobe he cannot help but look at his guitar, now lonely and unplayed. Meanwhile a man and his family go about their morning business before the wife and kids rush off to their destinations. The man follows moments later, picks up a large kitchen knife and jolts about violently. Cordelia gets a nasty vision about the man that sends her flying about the hotel, landing on the floor in tears. After she recovers, she says she saw a man who stabbed himself in the eye. The team splits up to call hospitals, check out morgues and the streets for any information on the guy from Cordy's vision. Lindsey and Lilah speak with their boss, Nathan Reed, about their upcoming reevaluation. Later, Nathan privately tells Lindsey that he made a surprise doctor's appointment for him. At the Fairfield Clinic, Lindsey learns from the doctor that Wolfram & Hart has arranged for him to get a new, live hand. During the procedure, a Pockla demon is brought in to perform a brief ritual and complete the attachment of the hand to Lindsey, leaving only a little scar. The next day, Lindsey wakes up, enjoying his new hand. While getting ready, he notices his guitar again, but this time picks it up and plays. Later at the office, Lilah notices Lindsey's new hand and grows very nervous about her job since Wolfram & Hart spent so much money on her "partner." At the office, Angel has a wide assortment of food delivered as he wanted to get food for Cordelia but didn't want to bother her by asking what she wanted. She appreciates it and as she leaves, she remembers from her vision that the man was happy about his eye before he stabbed it. Wesley and Gunn discover the man, Joseph Kramer, was transferred overseas. Having reached a dead end, the gang is forced to go to Caritas. On stage, they are shocked and impressed to find Lindsey singing and playing guitar with the audience completely mesmerized by his musical ability. The Host informs them that Lindsey and Angel need to work together to solve the case, but Angel and Lindsey are completely opposed to the idea. Based on the fact that Lindsey got a new hand and Kramer a new eye, it's concluded that somewhere body part transplants are being done. At Wolfram & Hart, Lindsey sneaks into Nathan's office to look up information on Fairfield Clinic, where he got the transplant. He later spots Lilah stealing files. Angel discovers information on Lindsey's hand, finding that it belonged to a Bradley Scott, an employee of Wolfram & Hart. Lindsey visits a parole officer for information about the clinic, but the man gets violent when Lindsey doesn't know the code. Before the man can shoot Lindsey in the head, Angel arrives and saves him. Holding the officer by a rope around his neck, Angel demands information. Wesley and Gunn worry about Cordelia as she seems to be suffering from the visions for as long as the problem remains. Angel and Lindsey head for a building as Angel confirms their location with the parole officer tied up in the trunk. Angel and Lindsey take care of the security guards inside then they head downstairs through a trap door to the place where the body parts are harvested. Lindsey spots Bradley Scott (the former owner of Lindsey's new hand) muttering 'kill'. Lindsey asks who he wants him to kill, and Bradley responds with a simple "kill me". It's decided to save those still fully intact and kill the rest before the building is blown up. At Wolfram & Hart, Lindsey takes full advantage of his new "evil" hand. He knows he was the one chosen to take over, but he suggests Lilah take the job as he's got other issues to deal with. Lindsey encounters Angel outside by his truck and reluctantly talks to him, telling Angel he's leaving Los Angeles. ===== The Roller Blade Seven unfolds in an abstract, dreamlike structure, utilizing minimal dialogue and repetition of footage in key scenes. Several sequences occur repeatedly, such as a scene in which the protagonist is seen to get on his motorcycle and ride out of a car-park eight times in a row, leaving from a different parking bay each time. The film follows Hawk Goodman (Scott Shaw) who is sent on a mission by Father Donaldo (Donald G. Jackson) to rescue his sister, Sister Sparrow Goodman, from the clutches of the evil overlord Pharaoh (William Smith) in the apocalyptic world of the future. The film takes place in a region known as the Wheelzone whose populace travels solely by the means of roller skates or skateboards. Hawk, however, arrives riding a Harley Davidson motorcycle. Sister Sparrow has been abducted from the Master of Light Institute by the evil Saint Offender (Joe Estevez). Before Hawk can complete his task, he must take psychedelic mushrooms with cult movie actress Karen Black and learn to rollerblade. Armed only with his samurai sword, Hawk does battle with the Black Knight (Frank Stallone), rollerblading ninjas and other gangs that inhabit the Wheelzone. Joining him on this mission are a Kabuki mime with a wiffle bat, a rollerblading banjo player entirely swathed in bandages and a pacifist named Stella Speed. Pharoh's minions have been abducting women to make them his slaves. He explains that he uses a wheelchair due to an old skateboarding accident, and he longs for the days when he used to be able to ride a skateboard. "Hawk's quest sees him chewing magic mushrooms with Karen Black, confronts murderous William Smith, wheel- chair bound Pharaoh and team up with blonde sake-enforcer Stella Speed. There's a lot of lame faux-fights with skate freaks in metal demon/ninja horns/bondage gear and/or kabuki makeup."Showgirls, Teen Wolves, and Astro Zombies: A Film Critic's Year-Long Quest to Find the Worst Movie Ever Made, Michael Adams page 263 ===== The story involves two U.S. Treasury ("T-men") agents who go undercover in Detroit and then Los Angeles in an attempt to break a U.S. currency counterfeiting ring. The agents try to join the gang by posing as counterfeiters from out of town. They eventually join the gang but the stakes are set even higher when one of the agents is killed by the gang while the other undercover T-man watches in horror. ===== Rio de Janeiro, 1886. Actress Sarah Bernhardt performs at the city's Municipal Theater, captivating the local audience enthralled by French culture. The city is at her feet, and even the Emperor Pedro II comes to pay his respects. He confides a secret to her: the disappearance of a precious Stradivarius violin presented by him to the charming widow Baroness Maria Luiza. The actress suggests to the monarch to hire her friend, the legendary British detective Sherlock Holmes, to solve the case. Subsequently, a brutal murder shocks the city, and leaves the police superintendent Mello Pimenta: a prostitute had been killed and mutilated, her ears cut off and a violin string strategically placed on her body by the perpetrator. Later, under the heat of the tropical sun, the lives of Holmes and Doctor Watson are changed forever, as they find themselves neck-deep in a cultural milieu that portrays all standard Brazilian stereotypes. ===== Alice Bowman (Meg Ryan) moves to the (fictional) South American country of Tecala because her engineer husband, Peter Bowman (David Morse), has been hired to help build a new dam for oil company Quad Carbon. While driving one morning through the city, Peter is caught in traffic and then ambushed and abducted by guerrilla rebels of the Liberation Army of Tecala (ELT). Believing that Peter is working on Quad Carbon's oil pipeline, ELT soldiers lead him through the jungle. Terry Thorne (Russell Crowe), a former member of the British Special Air Service, arrives in Tecala fresh from a successful hostage rescue in Chechnya. As an expert negotiator in kidnapping-and-ransom cases, he is assigned by his company, Luthan Risk, to bargain for Peter's safe return. Unfortunately, it is learned that Quad Carbon is on the verge of bankruptcy and takeover, and therefore has no insurance coverage for kidnapping, so they cannot afford Thorne's services. Despite Alice's pleas to stay, Thorne leaves the country. Alice is then assigned a corrupt local hostage negotiator, who immediately urges her to pay the ELT's first ransom demand: a $50,000 "good faith" payment. Not knowing what to do, Alice agrees, but the transaction is stopped by Thorne who (due to his conscience) has returned to help. He is aided by Dino (David Caruso), a competing negotiator and ex–Green Beret. Over the next few months, Thorne uses a radio to speak with an ELT contact, and the two argue over terms for Peter's release—including a ransom payment that Alice can afford. Thorne and Alice bond through the ordeal, and become intimate. They eventually negotiate a sum of $650,000. Meanwhile, Peter has become a prisoner at the ELT's jungle base camp. There, he befriends another hostage named Kessler (Gottfried John)—a missionary and former member of the French Foreign Legion—who has lived in the camp for nineteen months. The two concoct an escape plan, but during their attempt they are quickly tracked by the ELT. Kessler falls into a river after being shot in the shoulder and manages to escape, but Peter steps on a trap and is recaptured. Kessler is found and hospitalized. Thorne's ELT contact subsequently refuses to respond to his calls. Luckily, one of Alice's young maids recognized his voice over the radio and reveals he is a government official. Thorne goes to a parade ceremony and confronts the contact; he confirms that Peter is alive, but because of the ELT's escalating war with the government and Peter's knowledge of the terrain, the ELT will no longer negotiate. At Thorne's urging, Alice and Kessler convince the Tecala government that the ELT is mounting an attack on the pipeline being built through their territory. This forces the government army to mobilize, thus forcing a bulk of the camp's ELT troops to mobilize for a counter-attack. Thorne, Dino, and several associates are then inserted by helicopter and raid the weakened ELT base. They overcome the camp's soldiers, free Peter and another hostage, and then fly back to the city, where Alice happily reunites with her husband. Thorne and Alice share a final intimate moment before the latter departs with Peter on an immediate flight to the U.S. ===== Three young men (Jacques, Pierre and Michel) share an apartment in Paris, and have many girlfriends and parties (During the movie, we even learn that they have signed a contract never to allow a girl to spend more than one night at their place). Once, during a party, a friend of Jacques' tells him he has a quite compromising package (which turned out to be heroin) to deliver, and asks him if he can leave it discreetly at their place. Jacques agrees and, as he works as a steward, flies away for a one-month trip in Japan, telling Pierre and Michel about the package. Then, one of Jacques' former girlfriends drops a baby before their door, making Pierre and Michel believing it is the package they are waiting for. Their lives are then completely changed. This movie follows the bachelors as they deal with angry gangsters, suspicious cops, and the overwhelming responsibility of fatherhood. ===== A teenage girl, Su-mi (Im Soo-jung), is being treated for shock and psychosis in a mental institution. She is released and returns home to her family's secluded estate in the countryside with her father (Kim Kap-soo) and younger sister Su-yeon (Moon Geun-young), whom she is protective over. The sisters have a cold reunion with their stepmother, Eun-joo (Yum Jung-ah). Su-mi has a nightmare of her late mother's ghost. The next day, she finds family photos which reveal that Eun-joo was formerly an in-home nurse for her then- terminally ill mother. She discovers bruises on her sister's arms and angrily confronts Eun-joo about the abuse. That night, their uncle and his wife arrive for dinner and Eun-joo tells bizarre stories that bewilder them. The uncle's wife suffers a violent seizure and tells her husband that she saw the ghost of a young girl beneath the kitchen sink. When Eun-joo is in the kitchen alone, a ghost girl is seen watching her in the background. After finding her pet bird dead and seeing defaced photos of herself, Eun-joo locks Su-yeon in the closet. Su-mi releases her hysterical sister and is confronted by their father, who begs her to stop acting out. She retorts that he is blind to Eun- joo's abuse against Su-yeon. Her father tells her that Su-yeon is dead but Su- mi refuses to believe it. The next morning, Eun-joo drags a bloodied sack through the house, whipping it. Su-mi believes that Su-yeon is inside the sack and she and Eun-joo and Su-mi get into a violent physical altercation. Su-mi's father arrives to find an injured Su-mi unconscious. It is ultimately revealed that Su-mi and her father were alone in the house the entire time. Su-yeon and Eun-joo were merely hallucinatory manifestations of Su-mi's dissociative identity disorder. Throughout the film, Su-mi simultaneously switched personalities, acting as herself and Eun-joo. She hallucinated Su-yeon as a result of not being able to accept her death. In her "Eun-joo" mode, Su-mi imagined scenarios where she impersonates Eun-joo "abusing Su-yeon" but in reality injures herself to act out these situations. The bloodied sack simply contains a porcelain doll. The father and the real Eun-joo, a much different woman from the imaginary version, send Su-mi back to the mental institution. Eun-joo tries to reconcile with Su-mi, by promising to visit her as often as she can, but Su-mi completely rebuffs her. That night, Eun-joo hears footsteps in Su-yeon's old bedroom. Simultaneously, Su-mi hears a mysterious whistling and recognizes it as Su-yeon - this contrasts her delusion of Su-yeon, who was unable to whistle, thereby confirming that the one who whistled is the real ghost of Su-yeon. Su-yeon's real ghost crawls out of the closet and kills Eun- joo, finally getting her revenge. Su-mi smiles, appearing to have finally found peace. Flashbacks reveal the day that led Su-mi to be institutionalized. Her father and Eun-joo, who was still the nurse of their mother at the time, arrive home, announcing their engagement. This upsets the sisters and Su-yeon discovers that their mother hanged herself in Su-yeon's closet, depressed by the news. She attempts to revive her mother, causing the closet to collapse on top of her and slowly crush her to death. Eun-joo walks in and is about to save Su-yeon but encounters Su-mi, who engages in a heated confrontation with her. Angry at Su-mi's insults, Eun-joo decides to leave Su-yeon to die and tells Su-mi that she'll "regret this moment." Su-mi leaves the house, unaware of both her sister and her mother's conditions. ===== On a Los Angeles street, Officer Rawlins, a patrolman on his way home from work, stops a man he suspects of being a burglar and is shot and mortally wounded. The minor clues lead nowhere. Two police detectives, Sergeants Marty Brennan (Scott Brady) and Chuck Jones (James Cardwell), are assigned to catch the killer, Roy Morgan (Richard Basehart), a brilliant mystery man with no known criminal past who is hiding in a Hollywood bungalow and listening to police calls on his custom radio in an attempt to avoid capture. His only relationship is with his little dog. Roy consigns burgled electronic equipment to Paul Reeves (Whit Bissell) and, on his fifth sale, is nearly caught when he shows up to collect on his property. Reeves tells police that the suspect is a mystery man named Roy Martin. The case crosses the paths of Brennan and Jones, who stake out Reeves's office to arrest and question Roy. He suspects a trap, however, and in a brief shootout, he shoots and paralyzes Jones. Jones wounds Roy, who performs surgery on himself to remove the bullet and to avoid going to a hospital, where his gunshot wound would be reported to the police. With his knowledge of police procedures, Roy changes his modus operandi and becomes an armed robber. During one robbery he fires his semi-automatic pistol, and the police recover the ejected casing. Lee (Jack Webb), a forensics specialist, matches the ejector marks on the casing to those recovered in the killing of Officer Rawlins and the wounding of Jones, connecting all three shootings to one suspect. Captain Breen (Roy Roberts) uses that break to gather all of the witnesses to the robberies. They assist Lee in building a composite photo of the killer. Reeves then identifies Roy from the composite. However, Roy hides in Reeves's car and attempts to intimidate him into revealing details of the police investigation. He barely eludes a stakeout of Reeves's house. Because the police do not realize that Roy has inside knowledge of their work, the case goes nowhere. Breen takes Brennan off the case in an attempt to shake him up. Jones convinces his partner to stop viewing the case personally and to use his head. Plodding, methodical followup by Brennan, who uses the composite photograph, results in information that Roy, whose actual name is Roy Morgan, worked for a local police department as a civilian radio technician before he was drafted into the Army. Brennan tracks him down through post office mail carriers and disguises himself as a milkman to get a close look at Morgan and his apartment. The police surround and raid the apartment that night, but Morgan, alerted by his dog's barking, flees through the attic and uses the Los Angeles storm drainage tunnel system as a means of escape. The film continues with a dragnet and chase through the drainage tunnels. Roy is finally cornered by the police in a passage when his exit is blocked by the wheel of a police car atop a manhole cover. As police tear gas affects Roy, he staggers and fires one last time at them. He is then shot down and killed. The final scene is notable for its resemblance to the final scene in The Third Man in which Orson Welles' character is chased through the sewers of Vienna. No known connection between the films has been established; He Walked by Night, which was first shown in the US in November 1948, predates The Third Man by about a year. The film being shown at a Chicago theater ===== Gelsomina (Giulietta Masina), a young woman, learns that her sister Rosa has died after going on the road with the strongman Zampanò (Anthony Quinn). Now the man has returned a year later to ask her mother if Gelsomina will take Rosa's place. The mother accepts 10,000 lire, and her daughter departs the same day. Zampanò makes his living as an itinerant street performer, entertaining crowds by breaking an iron chain bound tightly across his chest, then passing the hat for tips. In short order, Gelsomina's naïve and antic nature emerges, with Zampanò's brutish methods presenting a callous foil. He teaches her to play the snare drum and trumpet, dance a bit, and clown for the audience. Despite her willingness to please, he intimidates her and treats her cruelly at times. Finally, she rebels and leaves, making her way into town. There she watches the act of another street entertainer, Il Matto ("The Fool"), a talented high wire artist and clown (Richard Basehart). When Zampanò finds her there, he forcibly takes her back. They join a ragtag travelling circus where Il Matto already works. Il Matto teases the strongman at every opportunity, though he cannot explain what motivates him to do so. After Il Matto drenches Zampanò with a pail of water, Zampanò chases after his tormentor with his knife drawn. As a result, he is briefly jailed, and both men are fired from the travelling circus. Before Zampanò's release from prison, Il Matto proposes that there are alternatives to Gelsomina's servitude, and imparts his philosophy that everything and everyone has a purpose – even a pebble, even she. A nun suggests that Gelsomina's purpose in life is comparable to her own. But when Gelsomina offers Zampanò marriage, he brushes her off. On an empty stretch of road, Zampanò comes upon Il Matto fixing a flat tire. As Gelsomina watches in horror, the strongman strikes the clown on the head several times. Il Matto complains that his watch is broken, then collapses and dies. Zampanò hides the body and pushes the car off the road, where it bursts into flames. The killing breaks Gelsomina's spirit and she becomes apathetic. Finally Zampanò abandons her while she is taking a nap, leaving some clothes, money, and his trumpet. Some years later, he overhears a woman singing a tune Gelsomina often played. He learns that the woman's father had found Gelsomina on the beach and kindly taken her in. However, she had wasted away and died. Zampanò gets drunk and wanders to the beach, where he breaks down in tears. ===== Oma says "I love you" to Tully after their second meeting. Billy Tully, a boxer past his prime, goes to a gym in Stockton, California to get back into shape and spars with Ernie Munger, an 18-year-old he meets there. Seeing potential in the youngster, Tully suggests that Munger look up his former manager and trainer Ruben. Tully later tells combative barfly Oma and her easygoing boyfriend Earl how impressed he is with the kid. Newly inspired, Tully decides to get back into boxing himself. Tully's life has been a mess since his wife left him. He drinks too much, cannot hold a job, and picks fruit and vegetables with migrant workers to make ends meet. He still blames Ruben for mishandling his last fight. Tully tries moving in with Oma after Earl is sent to prison for a few months, but their relationship is rocky. Munger loses his first fight, his nose broken, and he is knocked out in his next bout as well. He gets pressured into marriage by Faye because a baby's on the way, so he picks fruit in the fields for a few dollars. For his first bout back, Tully is matched against a tough Mexican boxer named Lucero, who is of an advanced age and in considerable pain. They knock each other down before Tully is declared the winner. His celebration is brief when Tully discovers that he will be paid only $100, which causes him to end his business relationship with Ruben. He then returns to Oma's apartment and finds Earl there. Earl, still paying the rent, assures him that the alcoholic Oma wants nothing more to do with Tully. Munger is returning home from a fight one night when he sees Tully drunk in the street. Munger tries to ignore him, but when Tully asks to have a drink, he reluctantly agrees to coffee. The two men sit and drink, and Tully looks around at all the people immediately around him, all of whom now seem at an impassable distance. Munger says he needs to leave, but Tully asks him to stay to talk a while. Munger agrees, and the two men sit drinking their coffee together in silence. ===== Scott and Kate are happily married, despite their 30-year age difference. After Scott suffers a heart attack and is unable to have sexual intercourse, he commits suicide and becomes a ghost that only Kate can see and speak with. To make it possible for Scott to return as a human, they conjure up a plan to have a young man drown, so that Scott can take his body.Inside Donald Trump's 'Atrocious', Razzie- Winning Ghost Sex Rom-Com - The Daily Beast ===== Ultraman Tiga facing against his final opponent in the series, Gatanothor. Set in an alternate universe in the year 2007-2010 (2049 in the U.S. dub), giant monsters and conquering aliens start to appear, as was foretold by an apocalyptic prophecy about an uncontrollable chaos over the Earth. Facing the threat, the TPC (Terrestrial Peaceable Consortium) is created along with its branch, GUTS (Global Unlimited Task Squad). Through a holographic message in a capsule found by researchers, the GUTS gets knowledge about a golden pyramid built by an ancient civilization. At the site, three statues of a race of giants who defended early human civilization on Earth about 30,000,000 years ago have been unearthed. GUTS finds the three ancient statues, but two of them are destroyed by the monsters Golza and Melba. The third one gains life from the spiritual energy of officer Daigo, descendant of the ancient race. Daigo and the remaining statue merge into a single being, made of light. Shortly after defeating the two monsters, Daigo is revealed by the hologram of the prophecy that 30 million years in the past, a great evil that not even the giants could stop, destroyed the ancient civilization. The same evil reappears in the finale of the series, the Ruler of Darkness Gatanothor, and his servants, Gijera and Zoiger. Gatanothor defeats Ultraman Tiga with ease, withstanding the Delcalium Light Stream and a modified version of the Zeperion Ray, both Tiga's finishes, and turns him back into a stone statue, but the light of humanity is able to turn him into Glitter Tiga, giving him the power to defeat Gatanothor and save the Earth. However, Tiga's victory came at a cost. Daigo was no longer able to become Tiga after the Spark Lens disintegrated into dust after his final battle. It is revealed that Tiga, although no longer bound to Daigo, and its energy now remain in the hearts of all those who believe in Tiga, inner-strength and justice. Given the right conditions such as times of despair, the sparks will gather and the Tiga statue will be revitalized. ===== From another dimension, Yapool orchestrated attacks on Earth using biological weapons called that surpassed ordinary monsters. The first Terrible-Monster Verokron managed to destroy a city and the that was dispatched to fight it. A pair of youths Seiji Hokuto and Yuko Minami lost their lives in protecting nearby civilians as the fifth Ultra from M78, Ultraman Ace fused with them. The pair were given each per person and transforms into Ace whenever they perform the . Ever since Ultraman Ace fought on Earth, Seiji and Yuko were enlisted into TAC (Terrible-monster Attacking Crew) with the Ultra Brothers and Father of Ultra occasionally appeared to help them. Yapool on the other hand would send more Terrible-Monsters, including external help from various forces and occasionally went face-to-face with TAC and Ace themselves. In the middle of the series, Yuko was revealed to be one of the last natives from the moon and gave her Ultra Ring to Hokuto, leaving the Earth in episode 28 as Hokuto was on his own in succeeding episodes. In the final episode, Yapool masqueraded as the child of Alien Simon and combined his past Terrible-Monsters into Jumbo King. When Yapool allowed himself to be killed as the children lost their faith in Seiji, the latter exposed his identity to them and fought the combined Terrible-Monsters. Ace departed from Earth afterwards, but not before giving a handful of advise to the children. ===== In the year 2017 (7 years after the final episode of Ultraman Tiga), TPC has advanced beyond Earth, and has created a new team, "Super GUTS". Humans have begun terraforming Mars and other planets in what is known as the "Age of the Neo Frontier". One day, the Neo Frontier is attacked by an alien race known as the Spheres. Shin Asuka has just joined Super GUTS and is in the middle of training maneuvers above Earth's atmosphere when he and his comrades are attacked. He proves himself in battle, and can hold his own against ace pilot Ryo. However, his ship is damaged and he ejects, after which he encounters a shining light. It is then that a new giant of light merges with the bewildered Asuka, saving his life. When the Spheres enter Mars' atmosphere and merge with the Martian rocks to form monsters, Asuka again participates in the battle, now equipped with a mysterious device known as the "Reflasher". Upon the Sphere's new attack, Asuka suddenly transforms into a colossal giant, and manages to protect Mars from a group of monsters sent by the Spheres. The members of Super GUTS quickly catch on that this giant being is not Ultraman Tiga, but a new giant of light, "Ultraman Dyna". The final story arc is rather somber, in contrast to the rest of the series. Dyna/Asuka apparently sacrifice themselves to save the Earth from Gransphia, the planet-sized mother form of the Spheres. He was last seen reuniting with his disappeared father and the two decided to continue traveling in-between dimensions. Eleven years after the end of the television series, the movie Mega Monster Battle: Ultra Galaxy establishes Asuka's survival and the Ultraman Saga had him briefly reunited with the rest of the Super GUTS before vanishing. ===== Following the end of the 1979-80 anime The Ultraman, Ultraman 80 returns to the setting of the main Showa continuity, taking place after 5 years of peace since the end of Ultraman Leo. A new middle school teacher Takeshi Yamato is actually the disguised Ultra from the Land of Light, Ultraman 80, whose mission is to fight a new wave of monsters resulted from Minus Energy while stabilizing his life as a teacher and UGM member. Although the initial episodes focuses on Takeshi trying to solve the daily problems of his students, starting from episode 13 onward he left the school to join UGM as a full time officer as more members keep appearing one after another in the series progress. Episode 31 returned to the setting of Takeshi interacting with the guest characters of children every week while dealing with appearing monsters and their relation to it. When the princess from the Land of Light Yullian went to Earth as a result of King Galtan's attack, she joined UGM to replace the deceased member Emi Jōno while operating with fellow Ultra Takeshi/80 in dealing against monster attacks. In the season finale, their identities were exposed by Captain Ōyama, who prevented them from participating in the fight against Margodon to prove mankind's reliability in defending the Earth. With their true nature exposed, 80 and Yullian spent their final days on Earth before departing toward the Land of Light, leaving Earth in a 25 year period of peace. ===== Kotaro Higashi is a wanderer who joined ZAT during his return to Japan, but his aircraft crashed and died from severe burns while fighting Astromons. The Five Ultra Brothers brought Kotaro's body to their home world of Nebula M-78 as Mother of Ultra warped him with the Brothers' own light, turning Kōtarō into Ultraman Taro, who would now form the Six Ultra Brothers. Kotaro was taken back to Earth and defeated the aforementioned monster as his first opponent. Many foes were found that would threaten the Earth, but Taro and ZAT defeated them time and time again with occasional help from the other five Ultra Brothers and from the weaklings of monsters only Taro could defeat. During Taro's era, Birdon killed him and Zoffy but Taro was revived and killed the bird monster. After Samekujira's death, Kotaro declared his intention to continue as a human and returned the Ultra Badge back to the Mother of Ultra. Valky would return to hunt the now-human Kotaro but the latter used his own skills and quick thinking to kill the alien by luring him to an oil refinery. The series ended with ZAT bidding farewell to Kotaro as he left for parts unknown. In the original series, Ultraman Taro was meant to be Kotaro's transformed form (while the Ultra Brothers and Mother and Father of Ultra were regarded as his non-blood family members), which explained his absence in Ultraman Leo. The Ultraman Story movie in 1984 would retcon this into providing a story of Taro being raised on the Land of Light, with Mother and Father of Ultra being his biological parents and his training was shown before he left for Earth. ===== Ultraman Leo comes from Nebula L77 (Leo constellation), and takes the human form of Gen Ootori. Ultraseven appears to fight a new foe, Alien Magma and his two "pets", the Red and Black Giras. Ultimately, Ultraseven is greatly overpowered and his leg is graphically broken by Black Giras. Ultraman Leo drives off the foes, but Ultraseven is confined to his human form because of his injuries and due to the Ultra Eye being damaged when he attempted to transform. Dan then maintains his role as Captain of MAC (Monster Attack Crew). Gen is a gymnastics teacher on the side and joins MAC to defend the Earth. Gen and Dan regularly train together, allowing Ultraman Leo to learn many moves in human form. In episode 34, Dan asks Ultraman Jack to take the Ultra Eye back to M78 to be restored while he heals on Earth. However, in Episode 40 MAC is destroyed by Silver Bloome, a saucer monster that belongs to Commander Black. During the attack Dan asks Leo to keep defending the Earth and disappears in the conflagration. It is later shown that he was taken back to M78 to be fully healed and restored as Ultraseven. Gen is now unemployed and spends most of his time training the kids to defend themselves as well as defending the Earth as Ultraman Leo. Commander Black and Alien Bunyo capture Gen when he cannot transform completely. Gen as Leo is then dismembered, only to be brought back to life by Ultraman King. Leo would then face Black's final monster, Black End, with the kids he trained, the latter of whom kill Black, and hand the sphere used to control Black End to Leo. Finishing his mission, Gen removes his Leo Ring and sets off to tour Earth, his "second home". ===== Bran Mak Morn, King of the Picts, vows vengeance on Titus Sulla, a Roman governor, after witnessing the crucifixion of a fellow Pict. He seeks forbidden aid from the Worms of the Earth, a race of creatures who Bran Mak Morn's ancestors banished from their kingdom centuries ago. They were once men, but millennia of living underground caused them to become monstrous and semi-reptilian. Searching for a contact with these creatures, Bran Mak Morn encounters a witch who lives in a secluded hut, shunned by her neighbors, who was born from a sexual encounter between one of the "Worms" and a human woman. The witch's price for helping him is "one night of love" which her human-half craves - as men in general are repelled by her reptilian traits. Bran Mak Morn, though also himself repelled, agrees to pay the price. In exchange, she tells him of a barrow where "The Black Stone", a religious artifact of great importance to the "Worms", is hidden. Stealing the Black Stone is a highly risky enterprise - if caught by the "Worms", Bran Mak Morn would die in torment "as no man had died for a thousand years". Fortunately, the barrow is unguarded and he manages to carry out his theft by hiding the Stone at the bottom of a lake. To get it back, the "Worms" agree on delivering Sulla to him. This they proceed with, undermining and destroying a Roman fortress known as "Trajan's Tower" before snatching the Roman governor into their tunnels. Mak Morn intended, once Sulla was delivered, on challenging him to a duel to the death. However, Sulla's mind is damaged from his encounter with the horrific Worms of the Earth. Instead, Bran Mak Morn slays him in mercy rather than vengeance, realizing how some weapons are too foul to use, even against Rome. ===== The story starts in 1983. Instead of attending the opening festivities of the 17th store, Shin Tanokura (Oshin) decides to go on a train trip. Her family is in a frenzy, not knowing where she disappeared to. Oshin's grandson, Kei, remembers the story of the kokeshi doll she once told him. Based on a hunch thinking about the story, he goes on a trip of his own and finds Oshin. From there, the two of them begin a journey back in time, traveling through various parts of Japan including where she once lived years earlier, and starts remembering the difficult times that she faced in her life. ===== Sean Stein is a successful novelist, but after two divorces and a palimony suit, he now believes women only have loved him for his money. At a charity ball where armed thieves order guests to strip, he is bound nude to Daisy Morgan, a commercial artist. He is immediately attracted to her. Daisy is in a rather rocky relationship with Marty, a whiny, unstable lawyer who is afraid to make a commitment. Sean does not know she already has a well-off boyfriend, but he decides to play a little trick to win her. With the help of his lawyer, Jay Bass, he pretends to be a poor failure to see if Daisy will love him for himself. As their relationship develops, Sean ultimately decides to reveal his true self. But on that very day, Marty persuades Daisy that he is a changed man and that they should live together in his home. Sean is heartbroken. On moving day, Daisy accidentally sees a newspaper clipping that reveals Sean's true identity. She demands an explanation, which she accepts, telling him she realized that he is who she truly loves. However, he wonders if she only decided this after reading the article about his success and seeing his Beverly Hills home. She lies. They elope to Lake Tahoe to be married. On the way, Sean urges her to sign a prenuptial agreement. She thinks it "unromantic" but concedes. In a casino in Nevada, gambling by herself, Daisy then miraculously hits a jackpot on a slot machine, winning two million dollars. Sean returns to say he has had a change of heart and requires no prenup. Now it is Daisy who wants to know when exactly he decided this. She admits lying to him before. Marty shows up and begs her to return to him. Sean says: "You can have her." Back in Los Angeles, realizing she has made a mistake, Daisy rejects a proposal of marriage and pays off Marty for his trouble with some of her casino winnings. A disturbed Sean spots a prostitute who robbed him. He decides to avenge himself against women in general by bringing the streetwalker to his home and robbing her. She turns out to be a transvestite. Daisy suddenly bursts in and wants to marry him again, throwing all of her remaining cash at him. The prostitute picks up his gun and sees the pile of cash, but generously says: "I'll only take cab fare." ===== After being disappointed by a new episode of Itchy & Scratchy, Bart and Lisa decide that they can write a better one themselves. Inspired by the sight of Homer accidentally slicing Marge's hair off with hedge shears, they write a script titled "Little Barbershop of Horrors", but their episode is rejected by Roger Meyers Jr., head of Itchy & Scratchy International. Correctly guessing that Meyers did not take them seriously because they were children, they resubmit the manuscript under Grampa's name, leading Meyers to hire Grampa as a staff writer. Bart and Lisa inform Grampa of their scheme, and the trio conspire to continue passing off Bart and Lisa's scripts as Grampa's, splitting the money three ways. For his work on Itchy & Scratchy, Grampa is nominated for an award for Outstanding Writing in a Cartoon Series. When Grampa sees Itchy & Scratchy for the first time in a clip show introducing the award, he is appalled at the violent humor, and turns his acceptance speech into an assault on both the cartoon and the audience amused by it. He storms off the stage amidst boos and thrown vegetables. Grampa gives the award to Bart and Lisa, and Bart swears never to watch an award show again, unless Billy Crystal is featured. In the subplot, Homer and Marge attend their "Class of 1974" high school reunion, where they have a great time and Homer wins a variety of humorous awards. However, Principal Dondelinger interrupts the ceremony to announce that Homer technically never graduated from high school due to failing a remedial science course and revokes all of Homer's awards. Determined to win back the accolades, Homer retakes the course and passes the final exam, finally graduating. The episode concludes with a self-contained segment, complete with its own theme song, titled The Adventures of Ned Flanders. In the sketch, itself titled "Love That God", Ned is upset with his sons for not wanting to go to church, until they inform him that it is Saturday and he laughs at his mistake. ===== Josh Jarman is a playwright who cant find anyone to produce his dramatic play. The only producer to show some interest would like to turn it into a musical. This leaves Josh with a dilemma, does he sell out for fame and fortune or does he insist on his artistic integrity, but if he does that he will remain a struggling playwright? ===== The six missions that the G.I. Joe team members must progress through each take place in a different part of the world: the Amazon, Antarctica, New York City, the Black Hills, and the Sahara. The game's final mission takes place in Cobra Headquarters. ===== The Buddha of Suburbia is said to be very autobiographical. It is about Karim, a mixed-race teenager, who is desperate to escape suburban South London and to have new experiences in London in the 1970s. He eagerly seizes an unlikely opportunity when a life in the theatre presents itself as a possibility. When there is nothing left for him to do in London, he goes to New York for ten months. Returning to London, he takes on a part in a TV soap opera and the book leaves its reader on the brink of the 1979 general election (the defeat of Jim Callaghan's government on a motion of no confidence is specifically mentioned later in the novel). Through his work with two theatre companies, Karim gets to know new people from completely different backgrounds, like the working-class Welshman Terry, who is an active Trotskyist and wants him to join the party, or Karim's lover Eleanor who is upper middle-class but pretends to be working-class. Mixing with the people surrounding Eleanor and Pyke (a strange theatre director), he realises that they are speaking a different language, because they received a good education, which was not valued in the suburbs. In The Buddha other characters and their struggles to make it in London are described, too. Kureishi portrays Eva as a social climber at war with the city: "Eva was planning her assault on London. […] she was not ignored by London once she started her assault. She was climbing ever higher, day by day. […] As Eva started to take London, moving forward over the foreign fields of Islington, Chiswick and Wandsworth inch by inch, party by party, contact by contact". Later in the novel the main character's father (an Indian immigrant, a boring bureaucrat living with his family in a grey London suburb) is suddenly discovered by London's high society, which is hungry for exotic distractions, and so he becomes their Buddha-like guru, though he himself does not believe in this role. His son does not believe in him either and, at the same time, has his first erotic experiences. ===== In Yorkshire, Tamsin (Emily Blunt) rides her horse and chances upon Mona (Natalie Press). Tamsin is from an upper-middle-class family and says she has been suspended from boarding school. Mona comes from a family of criminals with only her brother Phil (Paddy Considine) alive. Both of the girls seem to regard their lives as mundane. Mona finds Phil destroying all the booze in their late mother's former pub. He has undergone a religious transformation in prison, and now plans a Christian rally. Mona meets her lover, Ricky(Dean Andrews), for sex in his car, but he breaks up with her. The next day, the girls begin to bond as they spend the day drinking, smoking and talking about their problems. The next day, Tamsin takes Mona to the house where Tamsin claims that her father is cheating on her mother. Mona smashes a window of Tamsin's father's car. Tamsin purchases an engine for Mona's scooter, and they drive to a small river to swim. Under a waterfall, the girls share a kiss. At Tamsin's house Mona tries on her dresses. Tamsin tearfully recounts the death from anorexia of her sister Sadie. In the garden, Tamsin plays the cello while Mona dances. Tamsin kisses Mona passionately. Later they have sex. Phil invites the girls to his rally. They join the born-again Christians to erect a cross on a hill. Tamsin acts attracted to Phil. Later, Mona and Tamsin find a bag of magic mushrooms in Sadie's room. They eat the mushrooms and go to a dancehall where they disturb the patrons. They return to the river and declare their eternal love to each other, swearing a death oath. Tamsin pretends to seduce Phil, but he reacts angrily. He locks Mona in her room. Mona fakes suicide and then mocks Phil's religious beliefs. Phil kicks out the born-again Christians, while Mona packs a suitcase and leaves for Tamsin. Mona discovers that Tamsin is returning to boarding school. Mona also finds out that Tamsin lied about her parents and sister. Dejected, Mona goes to the river. Tamsin tells Mona she should have known Tamsin was lying. Seemingly forgiving her, Mona slips into the water, enticing Tamsin to join her, and the two girls kiss again. Mona grabs Tamsin by the throat and pushes her under the water, as if to kill her. Instead, Mona releases Tamsin and walks away. ===== Best friends Claire and Hailey are enjoying their last few days of summer together in their small beach town near Tampa, Florida, before Hailey relocates to Australia because of her mother's work as a marine biologist. Claire, sensible and slightly naive, looks up to Hailey as a mother figure, after her parents drowned in a boat accident years before, and now lives with her grandparents by the beach. Hailey, who is more daring and adventurous, lives with her single mother after her father left them. They have a slumber party and Hailey prays to the ocean god for a miracle that will make her mother change her mind about moving, and minutes later, a violent storm occurs. The following morning, Claire accidentally falls into the beach club swimming pool and sees something strange, with blue hair and a tail, in the water. The girls go back and explore it later that night, and find a mermaid named Aquamarine. They instantly become friends. Aquamarine tells the girls that she needs to prove to her father that true love exists or she will be forced to marry a man she does not know when she returns home. Aquamarine (who is able to change her tail into legs during the day as long as she does not get wet) has set her eyes on Raymond, the lifeguard whom Hailey and Claire have had a crush on for years. They are reluctant at first, but when Aquamarine explains that you get a wish if you help a mermaid, they agree to try, in hope that they can prevent Hailey from leaving. Because Aquamarine is not human, she does not understand how love works and is rejected immediately by Raymond when they first meet. Still, the girls promise to make Raymond fall in love with Aquamarine over the next three days, using strategies found in teen magazines. However, a group of popular girls headed by Cecilia Banks, who also has a crush on Raymond, are always getting in the way. At the street fair, Raymond spends the day with Aquamarine and mentions that he wants to see her at a party, The Last Splash, the following night. She flees without giving him an answer, knowing a sunset can cause her legs to transform back into a tail. Claire and Hailey find Aquamarine a water tower for her to spend the night in. The following day, Cecilia tells Raymond that Aquamarine has a boyfriend back home, so Raymond invites Cecilia to the party instead. Claire then finds him to tell him Cecilia made the whole thing up, and he and Aquamarine reconcile. At the party, Aquamarine and Raymond bond more but then she flees again due to sunset. Before she does, she kisses him and asks him to meet her on the pier in the morning. When the three girls leave the party, Cecilia follows them to the water tower and discovers Aquamarine's secret. She unhooks the ladder to prevent Aquamarine from getting down and calls the news so they can expose her on national television. However, during the night, the town's mysterious handyman Leonard helps her out and promises not to tell anyone what he knows. Aquamarine grants him a wish for helping her out. The next morning, Aquamarine asks Raymond if he loves her. Raymond admits that he likes her a lot but has not fallen in love with Aquamarine. Aquamarine is disappointed until Cecilia interrupts and pushes Aquamarine into the ocean but she screams in horror and runs away right after realizing what she has done when she notices that Aquamarine is actually a real mermaid. Aquamarine's father calls her back home in a giant storm, but Hailey and Claire swim after her as Aquamarine tries to defy her father again and holds on to a buoy. They discover the meaning of platonic love and Aquamarine's father is satisfied knowing love is real, and the girls receive their wish. They decide to not use it to keep Hailey from moving away since her mother worked hard for this, and instead, they part ways with Aquamarine, with promises of Aquamarine visiting them both and loving each other forever. Raymond swims up to Aquamarine and he asks her to visit him as well. She agrees and they kiss. ===== The game takes place in the fictional town of Hillsfar. There are guilds for each race; Fighter, Cleric, Mage, and Thief. Depending on the class chosen by the player during their character's creation, the player must go to the appropriate guildmaster, who assigns them several missions. Upon completing all missions issued by the guildmaster, they will increase the player's gold and experience points, and the character then retires. ===== After World War II, immigrants in Cuba who are refused visas for various reasons try to sneak into the U.S. illegally with the help of a human smuggling ring run by Palinov (George Macready), a Levantine café owner. Following the death of one immigrant, U.S. Immigration operative Pete Karczag (John Hodiak) is sent to Havana, where he poses as a Hungarian in need of Palinov's services. During his dangerous undercover investigation, Pete meets Marianne Lorress (Hedy Lamarr), a penniless Austrian refugee of the Buchenwald concentration camp who is waiting to be smuggled into the United States by Palinov. He decides to use her to obtain the place and time of Palinov's next operation. However Pete falls in love with Marianne, and deducing that she must give herself to Palinov in trade for the trip, talks her into staying in Cuba. Palinov discovers Karczag's true purpose and decides to use his own services. He exposes Pete to Marianne, who angrily decides to go ahead with the smuggling trip. Palinov tries to have Pete killed but the agent overcomes his would-be killer, gets the information from him, and reports it to his superior, Frank Westlake (James Craig). Palinov flies to the United States with Marianne and the other smuggled passengers. However, the airplane is being tracked by U.S. Immigration and is unable to refuel in Florida. Palinov and his pilot crash-land in the Florida Everglades in one last desperate attempt to elude capture. Palinov forces Marianne to accompany him and his pilot, seeking a boat hidden on a river. He kills one of the passengers trying to board their small raft; the rest flee into the glades. Pete and Westlake take up pursuit but split up when Westlake decides that saving the lives of the remaining immigrants takes priority over arresting Palinov. Pete continues after the fugitives and Marianne. The pilot is bitten by a poisonous snake and is left behind. Pete finds the hidden boat and gives it to Palinov in exchange for Marianne, although Palinov treacherously tries but fails to shoot them during his escape. Pete reassures her that Palinov won't get far—Pete emptied the boat's fuel tank before giving it up. ===== Alundra, the silent protagonist and player character, is an elf from the clan of Elna, the Dreamwalkers. He set out for a place called Inoa because of a recurring dream in which a mysterious figure who calls Alundra "Releaser" tells him that he must save the villagers from the evil of Melzas. The ship carrying Alundra is caught in a storm and is broken in half, leaving most of the crew dead and Alundra drifting unconscious. Alundra is next seen washed ashore to an unknown beach, where a man named Jess finds and rescues him. Jess carries Alundra to his house at the village of Inoa and lets him sleep in his guest room. In the village, Alundra discovers he is a Dreamwalker, which means he has an ability to enter other peoples' dreams, and helps the villagers get rid of the nightmares that have been possessing them. Since Alundra's arrival, bad things begin to happen in the village, with various villagers being murdered in their dreams, which leaves them dead outside of their dreams as well. Some of the villagers eventually start blaming Alundra for what is happening. Another dreamwalker, Meia, from the clan Elna arrives to the city and helps Alundra fight off the nightmares of the villagers. Later in the game, it is revealed that the demon, Melzas, has disguised himself as a god, and he is the source of all the nightmares of the village. His goal is to make the villagers pray for their god, and thus make Melzas himself gain power from their prayers. Ronan, the priest of the village, was also on the side of Melzas and helped him to deceive the villagers, and keep them praying for Melzas, the false god. Once Alundra discovers the truth, he gathers the information and items needed to access Melzas' palace to defeat the demon. After Melzas is destroyed, Alundra and Meia bid farewell to the villagers and depart together, before going their separate ways. ===== Gameplay is very similar to Origin's Strike Commander. Unlike it or the Wing Commander series, Pacific Strike immerses the player into a real historical context as an American pilot during the months following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, flying aircraft from a carrier and performing missions like reconnaissance, intercepting enemy planes or attacking enemy vessels. If the player does well it is possible to defeat the Empire of Japan without recourse to the atomic bomb. Extremely poor performance could result in the defeat of the United States Navy and the ceding of Hawaii to the Empire. ===== Two mercenary soldiers employed by InGen land on Isla Sorna by parachute, with orders by Alan Grant to rescue survivors that crashed on the island earlier on in the story (not shown). The Rangers soon see a pack of Compsognathus attacking one survivor. The player(s) now has to fight Compsognathus, Dilophosaurus, and Velociraptor until the survivor is found. Then a cinematic cuts to a nearby pond, revealing a sleeping Spinosaurus underwater, which suddenly opens its eye. It then bursts from the pond and charges at the player(s) who must repeatedly escape it while fighting more Compsognathus, Dilophosaurus, and Velociraptor. This is the first boss. Weak points on boss enemies are indicated by red crosshairs on certain body parts. After several attacks on the dinosaur, the player(s) reaches the landing area where the game started. However, the Spinosaurus follows them into the clearing, resulting in the second boss battle. The player(s) must repeatedly dodge it by hiding behind crates and shooting. Eventually the Spinosaurus gives up then the player and their teammates escape in an armored jeep. Another cinematic shows the Spinosaurus fighting a Tyrannosaurus, but the player(s) drive(s) away before a winner is revealed. The next level begins when the rangers find that there are more survivors in the hatchery. The player(s) stay(s) in the car at this time, fighting an Ankylosaurus, but the dinosaur quickly topples and destroys the car. This is the third boss. After it is killed, the player(s) reaches the hatchery, where several more survivors are rescued from a pack of raptors. The player(s) then exit(s) the building, only to find one last survivor being menaced by a Tyrannosaurus. The player(s) must fight it while avoiding to be eaten. This is the fourth boss. Once the Tyrannosaurus is killed, the player(s) begins heading for the coast. On the way to the coast, the player(s) must pass through the Pteranodon aviary. After defeating a group of the flying creatures, as well as some more raptors, the player(s) must fight the fifth boss, a giant (alpha) mutant Pteranodon. After defeating it, the group heads to a boat, fighting more Velociraptor along the way. As the group moves across the river, they are assaulted by more Velociraptor, Compsognathus, Dilophosaurus, and Pteranodon. After surviving these attacks, the player(s) faces off against the Spinosaurus which attacks while taking cover underwater. This is the sixth boss. When the group reaches shore, they make their way through a wooded forest and fight off another pack of Velociraptors, until night falls in and they reach their goal, the Marina. There, the Spinosaurus appears and attacks the group in a flaming background. This is the seventh and final boss. After defeating and killing the Spinosaurus, the group gets on the boat and they leave the island. =====