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The novel begins when the construction of a golf course is announced, the site being the destroyed remnants of what used to be the Bottom. The Bottom is a black neighborhood on the hill above the fictional town of Medallion, Ohio. In the first section of the novel, the origin story of the Bottom is revealed as well as how it got its name: a white farmer promised freedom and a piece of Bottom land to his slave if he would perform some difficult chores for him. Upon completion, the farmer regrets his end of the bargain. Freedom was easy, the farmer had no objection to that, but he did not want to give up the land. He tells the slave he was very sorry that he had to give him valley land, for he had hoped to give him a piece of the bottom land. The slave said he thought valley land was bottom land, to which the master said land on the hill, not the valley, was bottom land, rich and fertile" (Morrison 5). This is an obviously untrue, and slavery was never practiced in Ohio, but it is the story that black people told to illuminate the fact that white people's racism and lies have created this topsy turvy world in which up is down and down is up. "The white people lived on the rich valley floor... and the blacks populated the hills above it, taking small consolation in the fact that every day they could literally look down on the white folks" (5). The story is organized by chronological chapters labeled with years. In "1919," the first named character, handsome Shadrack, a previous resident of the Bottom, returns from World War I a shattered man, suffering from shell shock or PTSD and unable to accept the world he used to belong in. Living in the outskirts of town and attempting to create order in his life, he develops methods such as keeping his shack in hospital-grade neatness. Another method is the invention of National Suicide Day, which exists on January 3rd to counter and compartmentalize the constant death he saw at war, and is essentially invitation for anyone that plans to die within the next year, to die on that day. Never assimilating, he curses even at children and whites, has regular acts of indecency, but also does odd jobs and sells fish to the townspeople and is begrudgingly woven into the urban fabric, which is this town's version of acceptance. In "1920" and "1921," the narrator contrasts the families of the children Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who both grow up with no father figure. Nel, the product of a mother knee deep in social conventions, grows up in a stable home. Nel is initially torn between the rigid conventionality of her mother Helene Wright, who dislikes Sula's family instantly, and her inherent curiosity with the world, which she discovers on a trip. Her vow to venture out when she is older is juxtaposed by the reader being informed that not once did she leave the Bottom after that trip. This experience ultimately prompts Nel to begin a friendship with Sula. The Peace family is the opposite: she lives with her grandmother Eva and her mother Hannah, both of whom are seen by the town as eccentric, loose, yet Hannah was genuinely loved by all men, and Eva was very respected by all women. Their house serves as a home for three informally adopted boys and a steady stream of boarders. The extremely strained relationship between Hannah and Eva is revealed. Despite their differences, Sula and Nel become fiercely attached to each other in adolescent friendship. They share every part of their lives. This includes a memory of an accidental traumatic event; One day, they playfully swing a neighborhood boy, Chicken Little, around by his hands. Sula loses her grip and he falls into a nearby river and drowns. They do not tell anyone of the event, and though Sula grieves with guilt, Nel feels a light happiness, which is implicitly revealed to be unspoken pride, because she has secretly decided that the event is Sula's fault and that she does not share the blame at all. What complicates things is Shadrack's shack, which has a direct view of the incident. To find out if he saw, Sula visits it alone and is surprised at its orderliness, but she is unable to ask the question through her tears. He comforts her and she runs away, accidentally leaving her belt, which Shadrack hangs on his wall as a sole ornament and memorandum of his only visitor. One day, Hannah tries to light a fire outside and her dress catches fire. Eva sees this happening from upstairs and jumps out the window in an attempt to smother the flames to save her daughter's life. An ambulance comes, but Hannah dies en route to the hospital, and her mother is injured as well. The incident proves Eva's fierce love for her daughter despite previous tension. Sula, however, had stood on the porch and watched her mother burn. Other residents of the Bottom suggest perhaps Sula was stunned by the incident, but Eva believes she stood and watched because she was "interested". Nel chooses to marry, which implicitly breaks the bond of the girls who promised to share everything. Sula follows a wildly divergent path and lives a life of ardent independence and total disregard for social conventions. Shortly after Nel's wedding, Sula leaves the Bottom for a period of 10 years. She has many affairs and attends college. When she returns to the Bottom and to Nel, now a conventional wife and mother, they reconcile briefly. The rest of the town, however, regard Sula as the very personification of evil for her blatant disregard of social conventions. Their hatred in part rests upon Sula's affairs with the husbands of townspeople, though Hannah, did this very thing with much less criticism. The hate is crystallized when the husbands start a rumor that Sula slept with white men, successfully turning the whole town against her, though it is implied at the end that Sula was not hurt by anyone's opinions except Nel's. Ironically, the community's labeling of Sula as evil actually improves their own lives, as her presence in the community gives them the impetus to live harmoniously with one another, as well as treat each other better. For instance, Sula's affairs give the wives a reason to soothe the bruisen egos of their husbands, while Sula's lack of family at her age is scorned by all the women and causes them to be better mothers. What confuses the town even more is how Shadrack, who treats everyone poorly, always treats Sula with chivalry. The final nail in the coffin of their friendship is an affair Sula has with Nel's husband, Jude, who subsequently abandons Nel. Just before Sula dies in 1940, they reconcile half- heartedly. With Sula's death, the harmony that had reigned in the town quickly dissolves, as the couples begin bickering again and the women complain about motherhood again. Sula dies alone, and the community doesn't even attend her funeral. Shadrack, whose PTSD has faded enough for loneliness to crawl back in, is the only one saddened by her death. Nel never remarries and instead smothers her children, repeating every one of her mother's mistakes. The Bottom slowly dissolves after Sula's death, becoming a different place. Nel visits Eva out of cordiality in 1965 in a home for old people, where Eva tells her that she knew about her and Sula drowning Chicken Little. Nel replies that the blame was just on Sula, but later realizes that the girl's shared everything back then. Nel says goodbye to Sula at her gravestone, finally realizing that all this time she thought she was missing Jude, when really it was Sula, and cries in grief as she recalls the years spent without her. 

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Beloved begins in 1873 in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the protagonist Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman, has been living with her eighteen-year-old daughter Denver at 124 Bluestone Road. The book explores the lives of Sethe and her daughter after their escape from slavery, opening in 1873 after the Civil War. Their Cincinnati home has been haunted for years by an abusive revenant, whom they believe to be the ghost of Sethe's eldest daughter. Because of the haunting—which often involves objects being thrown around the room—Sethe's youngest daughter Denver is shy, friendless, and housebound. Sethe's sons, Howard and Buglar, ran away from home by the age of 13. Sethe believes they fled because of the malevolent ghost. Baby Suggs, the mother of Sethe's husband Halle, lived with the family but died in her bed soon after the boys fled, eight years before the start of the novel. Paul D, one of the enslaved men from Sweet Home, the plantation where Sethe, Halle, Baby Suggs, and several others were once enslaved, arrives at Sethe's home. He tries to dismiss what he thinks are superstitions. He tries to help the family forget the bitter past and forces out the spirit. He seems successful at first: he persuades Denver to leave the house for the first time in years. But when they return home, Sethe, Denver, and Paul D encounter a young woman sitting in front of the house, calling herself Beloved. Paul D is suspicious and warns Sethe, but she is charmed by the young woman and ignores him. Paul D begins to feel increasingly uncomfortable in Sethe's bedroom and begins sleeping in different places on the property, attempting to find a place that feels right. One night, while sleeping in the woodshed, Paul D is cornered by Beloved. While they have sex, his mind is filled with horrific memories from his past. Overwhelmed with guilt, Paul D tries to tell Sethe about it but cannot. Instead, he says that he wants her pregnant. Sethe is apprehensive but eager for the prospect of their relationship. Paul D resists Beloved and her influence over him. But when he tells friends at work about his plans to start a new family, they react fearfully. One, Stamp Paid, reveals the reason for the community's rejection of Sethe. When Paul D asks Sethe about it, she tells him what happened. After escaping from Sweet Home and joining her children at her mother-in-law's home, four horsemen came to the house at 124 Bluestone Road. Schoolteacher, one of his nephews, a slave catcher, and the sheriff wanted to return her and her children to a life of slavery at the Sweet Home plantation in Kentucky. Sethe grabbed her children, ran to the woodshed, and tried to kill them all. She succeeded only in killing her eldest daughter, then two years old and "crawlin already." Sethe said that she was "trying to put [her] babies where they would be safe." Paul D leaves after this revelation. Sethe comes to believe that Beloved is the daughter she had killed, as "BELOVED" was all she could afford to have engraved on her daughter's tombstone. Sethe begins to spend all of her time and money on Beloved, carelessly spoiling Beloved out of guilt, to the point that Sethe loses her job. Beloved becomes angry and more demanding, throwing tantrums when she does not get her way. Beloved's presence consumes Sethe's life to the point where she becomes depleted. She hardly eats, while Beloved grows bigger and bigger, eventually taking the form of a pregnant woman. In the novel's climax, Denver reaches out to the Black community for help. Some of the local women come to the house to exorcise Beloved. At the same time, a white man, Mr. Bodwin, arrives at the house on a horse. When Baby Suggs arrived in Ohio after Halle bought her freedom from their owner, Mr. Bodwin had offered her the Cincinnati house as a place to stay in exchange for laundry and mending tasks. He has come for Denver, who asked him for a job. Denver had not told her mother, and not understanding why he was here, Sethe attacks the white man with an ice pick, thinking it was Schoolteacher trying to take her daughter. While Sethe is confused and has a "re-memory" of her master coming again, the village women take her over and Beloved disappears. Denver becomes a working member of the community, and Paul D returns to a bed-ridden Sethe, who, depleted of life at Beloved's disappearance, remorsefully tells him that Beloved was her "best thing." He replies that Sethe is her own "best thing", leaving her questioning "Me? Me?" 

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Miyuki-chan in Wonderland consists of seven, independent chapters linked together by the eponymous protagonist. *: While rushing to high school, Miyuki sees a skateboarding playboy bunny, and falls down a rabbit hole. There she meets various women who find her attractive, and panicking, awakens from her dream. However, as she runs to school, the woman skateboards past her again. *: While combing her hair in front of a mirror, Miyuki finds herself kissed by her reflection and pulled into the mirror, where she meets women who find her attractive. Fleeing from them, she eventually returns to her bedroom. *: Miyuki awakens to find that she has overslept and missed the television broadcast of the film Barbarella (1968). She is then pulled into the television by a pair of legs. Fleeing from the women who consider her attractive, Miyuki wakes up to see a pair of legs emerging from the television. *: Rushing to her part-time work at a diner, Miyuki finds a boxing ring, in which she is pitted against other restaurant's employees. She attempts to escape, only to be caught and blasted. She awakens, having bumped her head on the staff room door, and enters to find the boxing ring. *: Miyuki reads a comic about mah-jongg, when three mah-jongg players appear to play strip mah-jongg with her. One reveals herself to be "Mah-Jongg Girl", a superheroine, and with her defeat, Miyuki takes her place. She eventually awakens. *: After failing to complete a video game, Miyuki accepts the video game's offer to take over as the heroine and is transported inside the game, where she meets women who find her attractive. Miyuki, however, dies inside the game, and the same game menu appears. *: While watching X in the film theater, Miyuki is swooped into the film, where its characters find her attractive. She awakens in the theater to find that she has now replaced its protagonist, to her shock. 

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In the Southeast Asian nation of Shadaloo, civil war has erupted between the forces of drug lord-turned General M. Bison and the Allied Nations led by Colonel William F. Guile. Bison has captured several A.N. relief workers, and via a live two-way radio broadcast, demands Guile secure a US$20 billion ransom in three days. Guile refuses and vows to track Bison down and place him on trial for his crimes, but his assistant, Sergeant Cammy, is only partially able to pinpoint Bison's location to the river-delta region outside the city. One hostage is Guile's friend Sergeant Carlos "Charlie" Blanka, who Bison orders taken to his lab for his captive doctor and scientist, Dhalsim, to turn into the first of his supersoldiers. Though Charlie is severely disfigured by the procedure, Dhalsim secretly alters his cerebral programming to maintain Charlie's humanity. American con artists Ryu Hoshi and Ken Masters attempt to swindle arms dealer Viktor Sagat by providing him with fake weaponry. Sagat sees through the ruse and has Ryu fight his cage champion, Vega, but Guile bursts in and arrests everyone present for violating a curfew. In the prison grounds, Guile witnesses Ryu and Ken fighting Sagat's men, and recruits them to help him find Bison in exchange for their freedom, since Sagat is Bison's arms supplier. They are given a homing device and win Sagat's trust by staging a prison escape and faking Guile's death. However, news reporter Chun-Li, whose father was killed by Bison, and her crew, former sumo wrestler E. Honda and boxer Balrog, who are out for revenge against Sagat for ruining their careers, stumble across the plan, and over Guile's objections, attempt to assassinate the two warlords at a party. To maintain Bison's trust, Ryu and Ken stop the assassination and reveal the conspirators to Bison. Returning to his base, Bison inducts Ryu and Ken into his organization and orders Honda and Balrog imprisoned and Chun-Li taken to his quarters. Ryu and Ken break Balrog and Honda out of confinement and rush to confront Bison, who is fighting Chun- Li, but Bison escapes and releases sleeping gas, sedating them all. Guile plans his assault on Bison's base. He is impeded by the Deputy Secretary of the A.N., who informs Guile that the decision has been made to pay Bison the ransom, but Guile and his loyal troops nevertheless proceed with the mission. At the base, Dhalsim is found out by a security guard; during the ensuing fight, Charlie is released, and he kills the guard to protect Dhalsim. Guile arrives and sneaks into the lab, where he encounters Charlie. Guile prepares to shoot Charlie to end his suffering, but Dhalsim stops him. Bison prepares to kill the hostages by unleashing Charlie on them, but Guile emerges and engages Bison's guards until the remaining A.N. forces arrive. After Bison makes it clear that he will not surrender peacefully, Guile orders his allies to rescue the hostages and engages Bison in a personal duel. As Guile and Bison fight, Ryu and Ken defeat Sagat and Vega. Bison's computer expert Dee Jay flees through a secret passage, joined by Sagat, while Bison's bodyguard, Zangief, engages Honda in a fight until learning from Dee Jay that Bison was the true enemy, and sides with Ryu and Ken to save the hostages. Guile gains the upper hand against Bison and kicks him into a bank of hard drives, electrocuting him. A revival system restores Bison and he reveals that his suit is powered by electromagnetism, enabling him to fly and fire electricity. Bison takes control of the fight, beating Guile viciously, and moves to deal the death blow, but Guile counters by kicking Bison into his monitor wall, finishing him off and overloading the base's energy field. The hostages are rescued, but Guile stays behind to convince Dhalsim and Charlie to return with him. They refuse, with Dhalsim wishing to atone for his part in mutating Charlie. Guile flees the exploding base and reunites with his comrades. In a post-credits scene, Bison is revived once again amidst his ruined command center to try his hand at world conquest one more time. 

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In the introduction, the Marquis de Sade exhorts his readers to indulge in the various activities in the play. He says that the work is dedicated to "voluptuaries of all ages, of every sex" and urges readers to emulate the characters. "Lewd women", he writes, "let the voluptuous Saint-Ange be your model; after her example, be heedless of all that contradicts pleasure's divine laws, by which all her life she was enchained." He then urges "young maidens" to copy Eugénie; "be as quick as she to destroy, to spurn all those ridiculous precepts inculcated in you by imbecile parents". Finally, he urges male readers to "study the cynical Dolmancé" and follow his example of selfishness and consideration for nothing but his own enjoyment. Dolmancé is the most dominant of the characters in the dialogue. He explains to Eugénie that morality, compassion, religion, and modesty are all absurd notions that stand in the way of the sole aim of human existence: pleasure. Like most of Sade's work, Philosophy in the Bedroom features a great deal of sex as well as libertine philosophies. Although there is some torture, the dialogue contains no actual murder, unlike many of Sade's works. Dolmancé and Madame de Saint-Ange start off by giving Eugénie their own brand of sex education, explaining the biological facts and declaring that physical pleasure is a far more important motive for sex than that of reproduction. Both characters explain that she will not be able to feel "true pleasure" without pain. Then they eagerly get down to the practical lessons, with Le Chevalier joining them in the fourth act and swiftly helping to take away Eugénie's virginity. Eugénie is instructed on the pleasures of various sexual practices and she proves to be a fast learner. As is usually the case in Sade's work, the characters are all bisexual, and sodomy is the preferred activity of all concerned, especially Dolmancé, who prefers male sexual partners and will not have anything other than anal intercourse with females. Madame de Saint-Ange and her younger brother, the Chevalier, also have sex with one another, and boast of doing so on a regular basis. Their incest — and all manner of other sexual activity and taboos, such as sodomy, adultery and homosexuality — is justified by Dolmancé in a series of energetic arguments that ultimately boil down to "if it feels good, do it". The Marquis de Sade believed this was his ultimate argument: if a crime (even murder) took place during one's desire for pleasure, then it could not be punished by law. He was backed in this thought through his belief that Hobbes was wrong about mankind, that mankind is neither good or evil, it is his will that is ultimately evil. (Sodomy was illegal and punishable by death in France at the time the dialogue was written, and Sade himself was convicted of sodomy in 1772.) The corruption of Eugénie is actually at the request of her father, who has sent her to Madame de Saint-Ange for the very purpose of having his daughter stripped of the morality her virtuous mother taught her. The dialogue is split into seven parts, or "dialogues", and was originally illustrated by Sade himself. There is a lengthy section within the fifth dialogue titled "Yet Another Effort, Frenchmen, If You Would Become Republicans", in which the Marquis de Sade argued that, having done away with the monarchy in the French Revolution, the people of France should take the final step towards liberty by abolishing religion too. "Frenchmen, I repeat it to you: Europe awaits her deliverance from specter and censer alike. Know well that you cannot possibly liberate her from royal tyranny without at the same time breaking for her the fetters of religious superstition; the shackles of the one are too intimately linked to those of the other; let one of the two survive, and you cannot avoid falling subject to the other you have left intact. It is no longer before the knees of either an imaginary being or a vile impostor a republican must prostrate himself; his only gods must now be courage and liberty. Rome disappeared immediately Christianity was preached there, and France is doomed if she continues to revere it". In the final act, Eugénie's mother, Madame de Mistival, arrives to rescue her daughter from the "monsters" who have corrupted her. Eugénie's father, however, warns his daughter and friends in advance and urges them to punish his wife, whose person and virtue he clearly loathes. Madame de Mistival is horrified to find that not only did her husband arrange for their daughter's corruption, but Eugénie has already lost any moral standards she previously possessed, along with any respect or obedience towards her mother. Eugénie refuses to leave and Madame de Mistival is soon stripped, beaten, whipped and raped, her daughter taking an active part in this brutality and even declaring her wish to kill her mother. Dolmancé eventually calls in for a servant who has syphilis to rape Eugénie's mother. Eugénie sews up her vagina and Dolmancé her anus to keep the polluted seed inside and she is then sent home in tears, knowing her daughter has been lost to the corrupt, libertine mentality of Dolmancé and his accomplices. 

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This film tells the story of Irish explorer Robert O'Hara Burke (Thompson) and British scientist William John Wills (Havers), both of whom set out to make the first maps of the interior region of the Australian continent in 1860. During their journey, they and their compatriots run low on food and suffer from heat exhaustion until there is only one survivor. 

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The movie (told from the point of view of the two main characters), opens with Otto (Fele Martinez) hanging from a tree by a parachute after surviving a fateful plane crash. In voiceover he reflects on how he met Ana (Najwa Nimri), his stepsister and secret lover. 17 years before, when Ana and Otto were 8, Otto first sees Ana while rushing to retrieve a soccer ball in the forest outside their school, and is smitten immediately. Ana's voiceover reveals that she was also immediately enamored, but nothing is spoken. She had run into the forest in grief over her father's death and at first she thinks Otto might be her father's reincarnation, but she dismisses the idea after studying her father's photo in an album and finding absolutely no resemblance between them. The next morning Otto writes a question about love on dozens of paper airplanes and sends them flying over the schoolyard. They're read by everyone, including Ana's mother Olga and Otto's father Álvaro, who meet for the first time while commenting on this question. After exchanging a few words, Álvaro offers Olga and her daughter a ride. Otto hears his father yelling his name, and runs to the car. When he opens the car door, he's shocked to see Ana in the back seat. She greets him warmly and openly; through her point of view we learn that she knows his name from his father's yelling and that she's surprised and delighted to see him again. They ride in the back seat. While their parents talk, Otto's voiceover reveals that he's hopelessly in love with Ana and wonders how she feels about him. Neither child has siblings; Olga is a widow, and Otto's parents are divorced. His mother Yolanda isn't taking that too well. Otto feels sorry for her, but he is thrilled when his father marries Ana's mother: he will be close to his one true love. The story moves forward several years. The two children are now in their middle teens, their unprofessed love fanatically hidden from their parents. Otto's mother has never gotten over her divorce and Otto is a comfort to her. He's concerned about her welfare and feels responsible for keeping her happy, but his longing for Ana overpowers him. Desire finally eclipses responsibility, and Otto moves in with his father, desperate for Ana's love. One night they're doing homework together and they discuss Finland, the Arctic Circle, and the Midnight Sun. They fall silent and Ana rests her head on Otto's chest and listens to his heartbeat. They make out. Soon after, during a family barbecue, Ana passes Otto a note inviting him to her bedroom. That night he goes to her. At last they confront their feelings and become lovers. Several more years pass and we see that they've succeeded in keeping their affair a secret, in spite of the fact that they're conducting it right under their parents' noses. However, Yolanda has sunk deeper into depression since Otto's departure. Finally, feeling abandoned by both husband and son, she commits suicide. Otto, guilt-ridden and bereaved, leaves his father's house one morning without saying a word, and essentially disappears. In utter despair, Ana locks herself in her room and cries, refusing to answer when her mother asks her what's wrong. She leaves home. Becomes a schoolteacher. Time passes. Otto falls into a series of fatuous affairs. During one of them, the subject of his mother comes up. He tells the girl "She died of love" and when the girl asks "How does one die of love?" he answers, "She died abandoned." Ana and Otto almost meet again in a park. They arrive separately and sit with their backs to each other, each unaware of the other's presence. Otto sits alone; Ana is approached by a man who wants to talk to her. All they would need to do is turn around to see the other sitting there, but this never happens and it's clear that something karmic has been shattered. Ana begins a relationship with the man in the park. Meanwhile, her mother Olga is seduced away from Álvaro by another man, also named Álvaro, and ends their marriage. Otto returns home to find Ana and Olga gone and his father distraught over Olga leaving him. Running through the story like a thread is the subplot of how Otto got his name: There was a German fighter pilot during WWII named Otto and related to Yolanda, whose plane crashed in Finland. He fell in love with a woman. The other Otto understands that because he has left Ana, he has been left without a destiny. He becomes a pilot like his namesake and flies to Finland, a face which Olga cheerfully communicates to Ana via a video. Soon after, Ana's affair with the man in the park turns dangerously sour and she's forced to get away from him. Olga's lover knows someone who has a cabin in Finland: it's none other than the man for whom Otto was named, the German pilot whose plane crashed during WWII. Olga's lover makes clear that the cabin is just sitting there empty and that the German pilot would willingly let Ana use it until the crisis with her lover blows over. Ana accepts, and writes a letter to her stepbrother: She wants them to meet in Finland. The time has come to reclaim their love. Flying to the cabin, Ana looks out and sees Otto's cargo plane, but doesn't even think that it might be his. Almost simultaneously, Otto looks out the window of his cargo plane and sees the 747 Ana is on, but is equally oblivious. Ana arrives at the cabin, and sits outside in a straight back chair, waiting for Otto to arrive. When he doesn't, she panics. Meanwhile, Otto is hanging from a tree, having survived a plane crash just like his namesake, and getting his parachute caught in the branches. Otto, meanwhile, hangs from a tree, having survived the plane crash just like his namesake. His parachute is caught in the branches...Bringing us to the beginning of the film. Hearing that a cargo plane has crashed, Ana frantically tries to find out if it was Otto's. Tearing through the local newspaper looking for clues, gets hit by a truck on her way across the street. By this time Otto has been rescued and hitched a ride with his rescuers. There's a final, two-part epilogue: In the first part, Ana crosses the street instead of getting hit by the truck. She runs up the stairs of an apartment building and is greeted by the German pilot who tells her that someone inside the apartment is waiting for her. She goes inside and sees Otto who's smiling warmly. They exchange soft words, and she embraces him, making it the perfect reunion. Until it's seen that Ana's eyes are wide open and dilated and that Otto's face is reflected in the lenses. In the second part, Otto and his rescuers have stopped at an intersection. Otto, seeing Ana sprawled on the pavement, gets out of the car and runs to her. It then cuts to their reunion (which is only a dream), and it's revealed that Otto's face in Ana's eyes is the reflection of him leaning over her as she sees him one last time before dying. We see a shot of Otto's destroyed cargo plane in the snow. 

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Yukinari Sasaki is an average high school student who is frequently ridiculed by girls to the point that he developed an allergic reaction to them. As a result, he breaks out in hives whenever he comes into contact with a female. One day, when he returns home from school, he is kicked into his bathtub by his neighbor Kirie Kojima, but is transported to , a mysterious world with a mostly female population. He befriends Miharu Sena Kanaka, who ends up following him to Earth. Other Seiren girls with various motives soon visit and join the household. They are taken on many adventures as Miharu discovers the wonders of Earth. 

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The story takes place in 2048, 51 years after scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory develop "the ultimate weapon", a force field generating device they term a Bobbler. The bureaucracy running the Laboratory use it to enforce an end to conventional warfare (triggering a brief war in the process), calling themselves the Peace Authority. The Bobbler creates a perfectly spherical, impenetrable, and persistent shield around or through anything, and is used to contain nuclear weapons, people, and occasionally entire cities or governments, separating them from the rest of the world (and presumably killing everyone inside by eventual suffocation and lack of sunlight). In an effort to retain their monopoly on this weapon, they make technological progress illegal, and their power and fear of rebellion corrupts them. In this world, governments are weak, where they are permitted at all; the Peace Authority is the true bearer of power and becomes a worldwide government. A group of rebels, the Tinkers, develop technology clandestinely far beyond what the Authority has (while limited to riding horseback and other Authority-mandated anachronisms), but still has no defense against the bobble. One of the original inventors of the bobble is part of the resistance, and he develops a more advanced version of the bobbler which does not require the huge electrical power sources available only to the Peace Authority. It is discovered by the Tinkers (and much later by the Peace Authority) that the bobbles are actually not force fields, but stasis fields; within which time has stopped. So not only are the contents perfectly preserved, but they open spontaneously after a certain time period. The Tinkers use their knowledge and the Peacers' ignorance of this effect to their advantage (bobbling themselves for short time periods, for instance), and with the help of a young thief (and mathematical genius), they lead a rebellion to try to bobble the power generators of the Peace Authority and thus neutralize its primary weapon. 

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New York City businessman James C. Pidgeon (Eugene Pallette) is on the verge of bankruptcy. His only hope is rich uncle Henry, who is on his deathbed. J. C.'s daughter Therese (Ruth Terry) persuades the rest of the family to take in a charity case for the holidays, not out of the goodness of her heart but to impress her upper-class boyfriend Stephen Bates (Robert Livingston) and his mother. From a newspaper list, they pick Anthony Marchaund (Joseph Schildkraut), an actor injured in a car accident at the height of his career 10 years before, who is now a broken-down drunk. J. C.'s son Reggie (David Holt) returns with bad news: uncle Henry left his $5 million estate to Florie Watson (Ona Munson), a showgirl he had once seen perform as a child actress 30 years before in Uncle Tom's Cabin. The will stipulates if Florie cannot be found within a reasonable amount of time, the estate goes to the Pidgeons. After bribing the sole executor, J. C. conspires to limit the search to just placing newspapers ads for a week without mentioning the inheritance. Furthermore, the executor believes the woman is in New York City, not Denver, where uncle Henry died. J. C. decides to look for Florie (Ona Monsun) himself, so he can better keep the news from her. Marchaund (awakening from an alcoholic binge) overhears the whole scheme and suggests he can probably find her easily through Actors' Equity. Reggie worries about a blackmail attempt, but Marchaund makes a seemingly heartfelt speech about honor and his gratitude to the Pidgeons. He then eavesdrops and walks away without his customary limp, but is spotted by Angela (Anne Gillis), J. C.'s younger daughter. She lets him know that she is amused by his deception and he regains the limp. Marchaund and Willie Crawford (Raymond Walburn), J. C.'s freeloading brother-in-law, have little trouble locating Florie. Willie tells her that they are cousins and that the family wants her to spend the holidays with them. Florie recognizes Marchaund's name and confides to him, one trouper to another, that she knows she is not related to the Pidgeons, but as she is broke and behind on her rent, she is eager to play along. After the search ends up on the front page of the newspaper, the Pidgeons hastily relocate to an isolated house in the country to keep Florie in the dark. When they arrive, they discover that all of their servants have quit. J. C., having been raised there, refuses to hire new ones, fearing that they may be people he grew up with. The family, with the exception of Angela, pitch in. Soon, even Angela is helping out. Meanwhile, two private detectives are closing in. When they show up at the house, they are lied to, but the detectives are not fooled and set about getting a search warrant. That night Marchaund alludes to the situation, implicitly comparing the family's deception to Jacob Marley's misdeeds in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol before passing out from too much drink. All of the Pidgeons are ashamed of themselves and finally confess everything to Florie. Later, Marchaund wakes up and departs, leaving a note explaining his divided loyalties. Florie tracks him down at a bar in the nearest town and tells him she is going to give half the money to the Pidgeons. 

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Inspired by true events, Stingers chronicled the cases of a deep undercover unit of the Victoria police. The series also followed their personal lives, which sometimes became intertwined with their jobs. The original unit was composed of Senior Detective Peter Church (whose real name was Mike Fischer) played by Peter Phelps, Senior Detective Angie Piper (Kate Kendall), Constable Oscar Stone (whose real name was Cameron Pierce) played by Ian Stenlake, Det-Sgt. Ellen 'Mac' Mackenzie (Anita Hegh) and Det-Sen Sgt. Bernie Rocca (Joe Petruzzi), who led the unit. Rocca was shot and left the unit in season two, and Mac became the new head. Constable Danni Mayo (Roxane Wilson) joined the unit in season three, while season five saw two casualties: Stone was killed while Mac ran away with a diamond robber. Detective Inspector Luke Harris (Gary Sweet) took over as head of the unit until the end of the series, and Danni quit the force after being enraged by him. Constable Christina Dichiera (Jacinta Stapleton) joined the unit in season six. Her real name is Felicity Matthews, but this was not known to the force, as she had a criminal history under that name. Senior Detective Leo Flynn (Daniel Frederiksen) joined in season seven. Season eight saw the arrival of Detective Katherine Marks, who was revealed as Harris' daughter from his first marriage. The revelation also ended Harris and Angie's already shaky relationship, which had produced a son. 

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In New York City, 1953, at the height of the anti-Communist investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), television screenwriter Alfred Miller is blacklisted and cannot get work. He asks his friend Howard Prince, a restaurant cashier and small-time bookie, to sign his name to Miller's television scripts in exchange for ten percent of the money Miller makes from them, i.e. to serve as a "front" for Miller. Howard agrees out of friendship and because he needs the money. The scripts are submitted to network producer Phil Sussman, who is pleased to have a writer not on the television blacklist. Howard's script also offers a plum role for Hecky Brown, one of Sussman's top actors. Howard becomes such a success that Miller's two fellow screenwriter friends hire him to be their front too. The quality of the scripts and Howard's ability to write so many impresses Florence Barrett, Susser's idealistic script editor, who mistakes him for a principled artist. Howard begins dating her but changes the subject whenever she wants to discuss his work. As investigators expose and blacklist Communists in the entertainment industry, Hecky Brown is fired from the show because six years earlier he marched in a May Day parade and subscribed to The Daily Worker, although he tells the investigators he did it merely to impress a woman he wanted to lay. In order to clear his name from the blacklist, Hecky is instructed to find out more about Howard Prince's involvement with the Communist Party, so he invites him to the Catskills, where Hecky is booked to perform on stage. The club owner short-changes Hecky on his promised salary, and when Hecky confronts him, the club owner fires him, denouncing him as a "communist son of a bitch". The professional humiliation and the inability to provide for his wife and children take their toll on Hecky and he kills himself by jumping out of a hotel window. Howard witnesses other harsh results of the investigative actions of the communist-hunting "Freedom Information Services" on the network's programming. Suspicion is cast his way, and he is called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He privately tells Florence that he is not a writer, just a humble cashier. Howard decides that he will respond to the Committee's questions evasively, enabling him to neither admit nor deny anything. After briefly enduring the HUAC questioning – including being asked to speak ill of the dead Hecky Brown, and being threatened with legal consequences for his admission of having placed bets in his capacity as a bookie (which is illegal), Howard takes a stand, telling the Committee that he does not recognize their authority to ask him such questions, and telling them to "go fuck yourselves" before leaving the interrogation room. The film ends as Howard is taken away in handcuffs, with Florence kissing him good-bye and many protesters cheering him on. 

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The show centered on two brothers named Johnny and Scott Stuart. While playing on the beach near Dead Man's Point, the two of them discover a friendly young sea monster named Sigmund who had been thrown out by his comically dysfunctional undersea family for refusing to frighten people. The boys hide Sigmund in their clubhouse. Sigmund, Scott and Johnny in the program's 1973 premiere episode, 1973. Plotlines were very simple and straightforward, usually some variation on the idea of Sigmund doing something silly to arouse attention, and the boys working to prevent him from being found by Sigmund's brothers Blurp and Slurp who want Sigmund to scare people in order to impress their parents Sweet Mama Ooze and Big Daddy Ooze. The brothers also worked to hide Sigmund from their overbearing housekeeper Zelda, elderly neighbor Mrs. Eldels, and Sheriff Chuck Bevans. Strangely, the parents were never seen on the show, nor did they return home by the end of the series. The episodes included songs as part of the plot development. The character(s), generally Johnny, would sing a song about what he was thinking or feeling about something going on in his life, from things that made him happy to anxiety about girls. While videotaping the first episode of Season Two, a hot light fell and started a fire. No one was injured, but the fire destroyed all of the sets and much of the costumes and other props. Most of Season Two was taped with minimal sets. 

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Claude Rains in Phantom of the Opera Violinist Erique Claudin is dismissed from the Paris Opera House after revealing that he is losing the use of the fingers of his left hand. Unbeknownst to the conductor, who assumes Claudin can support himself, the musician has used all his money to help anonymously fund voice lessons for Christine Dubois, a young soprano with whom he is devoted to. Meanwhile, Christine is pressured by Inspector Raoul Dubert to quit the Opera and marry him. But famed opera baritone Anatole Garron hopes to win Christine's heart. Christine considers them both good friends but doesn't openly express if she loves them. In a desperate attempt to earn money, Claudin submits a piano concerto he has written for publication. After weeks of not hearing a response about his concerto, he becomes worried and returns to the publisher, Maurice Pleyel, to ask about it. Pleyel rudely tells him to leave. Claudin hears his concerto being played in the office and is convinced that Pleyel is trying to steal it; unbeknownst to him, a visiting Franz Liszt had been playing and endorsing the concerto. Enraged, Claudin strangles Pleyel. Georgette, the publisher's assistant, throws etching acid in Claudin’s face, horribly scarring him. Now wanted for murder, Claudin flees into the sewers of the Opera and covers his disfigurement with a prop mask stolen from the Opera house becoming the Phantom. During a performance of the opera Amore et Gloire, The Phantom drugs a glass of wine which prima donna Mme. Biancarolli drinks, knocking her unconscious. The director puts Christine in her place, and she dazzles the audience with her singing. Biancarolli, who suspects that Garron and Christine are responsible for drugging her, orders Raoul to arrest them, but he says he cannot because there is no evidence. Biancarolli says she will forget the affair only if Christine's performance is not mentioned in the papers. The following night, the Phantom kills Biancarolli and her maid, and the opera is subsequently closed. After some time, the opera's owners receive a note demanding that Christine replace Biancarolli. To catch the Phantom, Raoul comes up with a plan: not let Christine sing during a performance of the (fictional) Russian opera Le prince masqué du Caucase (“The Masked Prince of the Caucasus”) to lure the Phantom out into the open. Garron plans to have Liszt play Claudin’s concerto after the performance, but the Phantom strangles one of Raoul's men and heads to the auditorium's domed ceiling. He then brings down the large chandelier on the audience, causing chaos. As the audience and the crew flee, The Phantom takes Christine down underground. He tells Christine that he loves her and will now sing all she wants, but only for him. Raoul, Anatole, and the police begin pursuing them underground. Just as the Phantom and Christine arrive in his lair, they hear Liszt and the orchestra playing Claudin's concerto. The Phantom plays along with it on his piano. Christine watches, realizing the concerto was written around the melody of a lullaby she has known since childhood. Raoul and Anatole hear the Phantom playing and follow the sound. Overjoyed, the Phantom urges Christine to sing, which she does. While the Phantom, is distracted by the music, Christine sneaks up and pulls off his mask, revealing his disfigured face. At that same moment, Raoul and Anatole break-in. Claudin grabs a sword to fight them with. Raoul fires his gun at Claudin, but Anatole knocks Raoul's arm, and the shot hits the ceiling, causing a cave-in. Anatole and Raoul escape with Christine, while Claudin is seemingly crushed to death by the falling rocks. Later, Anatole and Raoul demand that Christine choose one of them. She surprises them by choosing to marry neither one of them, instead choosing to pursue her singing career, inspired by Claudin’s devotion to her future. The film ends with Anatole and Raoul going to dinner together. 

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Dance- hall girl Rosie Velez (Divine), lost in the desert, is helped to safety by gunman Abel Wood (Tab Hunter). In the town of Chili Verde, at the saloon of Marguerita Ventura (Lainie Kazan), word of a treasure in gold brings Abel into conflict with outlaw Hard Case Williams (Geoffrey Lewis) and his gang. 

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250px Bugs Bunny is vacationing in the Ozarks and stumbles into the territory of two hillbilly brothers, Curt and Punkinhead Martin. The brothers figure Bugs as being a member of the clan they are feuding with and make several attempts to shoot him. Bugs foils them each time. Curt and Punkinhead are determined to get revenge on Bugs for their humiliation. Bugs easily outsmarts them and eventually, dressed as an attractive hillbilly girl, tricks them into doing a square dance. The dance tune starts as a straightforward version of "Skip to My Lou" played and called by the jukebox band, "The Sour Belly Trio". Shortly into it, Bugs deliberately unplugs the jukebox, removes the dress and takes over fiddling and square dance calling, still to the melody and rhythm of the song, but manipulating the Martins through a series of slapstick comedy gags. Bugs proceeds to assign the Martins increasingly bizarre and violent directives, which the brothers unquestioningly follow with hilarious results. Finally, with the Martins having promenaded off a cliff, Bugs finishes the dance by having the Martins groggily bow to each other (before collapsing due to exhaustion from the whole "dance") and saying, "And THAT is all!" and playing six final notes on the fiddle, before the cartoon ends. 

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A severe drought has ruined the carrot crop in Bugs Bunny's northern home. Upon learning of a boom crop in Alabama, Bugs decides to happily make the trip to the fertile soils. After a lot of walking, he finds himself near the Mason–Dixon line that separates the drought-ravaged north from the fertile south; but as soon as he crosses the line, he is shot at by "Colonel" Sam, who chases Bugs back over the line. Bugs asks Sam what the deal is, only to hear Sam somehow believes that he is a soldier of the Confederate States of America and has received orders from General Lee to guard the borders between the Confederate States and the United States. When Bugs points out that "the war between the states ended almost 90 years ago" (the cartoon itself was animated in 1953), Sam says "I ain't no clock watcher!", and that he will stay there unless he hears the orders to do otherwise from Lee, that, obviously, will never come. He shoots at Bugs and forces him to run away, prompting the rabbit to make several attempts to shake his antagonist. First, Bugs disguises himself as a banjo-playing slave (see "Availability" below), singing "My Old Kentucky Home." When Sam asks for something "more peppy", Bugs promptly sings "Yankee Doodle", leading Sam to call Bugs a traitor. Bugs then begs Sam not to beat him, and forces a whip into Sam's hands. Then, after fleeing from Sam, Bugs immediately comes back in disguised as Abraham Lincoln, scolds Sam for "whipping slaves", and hands him a card to "look [him] up at [his] Gettysburg Address". Bugs' cover is blown, however, when Sam sees his cotton tail sticking out of Abe's trenchcoat. Infuriated, Sam chases Bugs into a tree. Bugs blows out Sam's match when he tries to light a bomb, and when Sam tries it again away from the tree, he blows it out with an extended pipe. Sam goes even further away in the third attempt, but with more ground to cover, the fuse runs out as Sam runs back, and the bomb detonates in his hands. Bugs then disguises himself as Stonewall Jackson (here as "General Brickwall Jackson"), fooling Sam into marching into a well. Afterwards, Bugs flees from Sam into a mansion, where he disguises himself as Scarlett O'Hara (from Gone with the Wind), and when Sam attempts to search the mansion, he takes a cannon blast while looking inside a closet and is dissuaded from searching any further. Bugs at last succeeds in getting Sam when, disguised as an injured Confederate soldier, he informs him that the Yankees are in Chattanooga. Sam heads to Chattanooga, and the finale has him threatening the New York Yankees, preventing them from competing in an exhibition baseball game against the Chattanooga Lookouts. 

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Darkseid makes a wager with the mysterious Phantom Stranger that he can turn humanity against its heroes. To win the bet, Darkseid sends his minion Glorious Godfrey to Earth, where Godfrey uses the sound of his voice to control people's minds and turn them against Earth's heroes. To further his scheme, Darkseid sends a fire elemental called Brimstone to Earth to defeat the Detroit-based Justice League along with Firestorm and a time-traveling Cosmic Boy. Darkseid also arranges for the cyborg villain Macro-Man to be killed by the mystic lightning that Captain Marvel uses to change into Billy Batson, and Captain Marvel is blamed by the media for Macro-Man's death. Batman suffers his own loss when Robin (Jason Todd) is trampled by a crazed mob. Fearing widespread panic, President Ronald Reagan (the U.S. Commander-in-Chief at the time of publication) declares martial law and bans all superheroic activities in America. This angers several members of Reagan's department of defense, who - at the behest of Amanda Waller - activate "Project: Task Force X", a.k.a. the Suicide Squad. Recruiting a team of expendable imprisoned supervillains, Amanda Waller has the Suicide Squad destroy Brimstone. Doctor Fate is forced to intervene when Glorious Godfrey uses his army of followers to invade Washington, DC. Dr. Fate organizes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Guy Gardner, Black Canary, Changeling, The Flash, and the Blue Beetle to oppose Glorious Godfrey. They are joined by the Martian Manhunter, who responds to a JLA distress call from the President. They defeat the forces of Glorious Godfrey, including Darkseid's cyborg Hounds of War. The masses are freed from Godfrey's power when Robin gathers an army of children untouched by Godfrey's powers to serve as a human shield between the heroes and Godfrey. Godfrey strikes one of the children, and the shock frees the mob from his power. Godfrey is defeated when he steals Dr. Fate's helmet and puts it on, rendering him mindless. In the aftermath, the Martian Manhunter, Batman, Blue Beetle, Guy Gardner, Black Canary, Captain Marvel and Dr. Fate form a new Justice League. Superman and the Flash decline membership, stating that they will assist if needed, Wonder Woman quietly exits and Changeling opts to remain with the Teen Titans. 

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Housewife Francine Fishpaw (Divine) watches her upper-middle-class family's life crumble in their suburban Baltimore home. Her husband Elmer (David Samson) is a polyester-clad lout who owns an adult movie theater, causing anti-pornography protesters to picket the Fishpaws' house. Francine's Christian beliefs are also offended by the behavior of her children--Lu-Lu (Mary Garlington), her spoiled, promiscuous daughter, and Dexter (Ken King), her delinquent, glue-sniffing son who secretly derives pleasure from stomping on women's feet. Francine's troubles are compounded by her cocaine-snorting mother La Rue (Joni Ruth White), a class-conscious snob who robs her daughter blind and constantly derides her obese appearance. La Rue berates Francine for befriending her former housecleaner, Cuddles Kovinsky (Edith Massey), a simple-minded woman who tries to console Francine with "seize-the-day" bromides. Cuddles inherits a large sum of money from a former employer, further infuriating La Rue. After Francine discovers her husband is having an affair with his secretary, Sandra Sullivan (Mink Stole), she confronts them during a motel tryst and demands a divorce. Francine then falls into alcoholism and depression, exacerbated by her children's behavior: Lu-Lu becomes pregnant by her delinquent boyfriend Bo-Bo Belsinger (Stiv Bators) and announces she is getting an abortion; and after Dexter is arrested at a supermarket for stomping on a woman's foot, the media reveal that he is the Baltimore Foot Stomper who is terrorizing local women with his serial attacks. Lu-Lu goes to a family planning clinic for an abortion, but is harassed by anti-abortion picketers. She returns home and tries to induce a miscarriage, causing Francine to call an unwed mothers' home. Two nuns arrive, force Lu-Lu into the trunk of their car, and take her to a Catholic home for unwed mothers. La Rue is shot by Bo-Bo and his friend, who have come to trash the Fishpaw house on Halloween night. La Rue manages to retrieve the gun and shoots Bo-Bo, killing him. After Lu-Lu flees the unwed mothers' home, she returns home to discover her boyfriend's dead body and is so distraught that she attempts suicide. Francine comes home and faints after witnessing her daughter's suicide attempt--and the apparent suicide by hanging of the family dog, Bonkers, based on a suicide note left near the dog's dangling body. However, Francine's life soon begins to change. Dexter is released from jail, having been rehabilitated. Lu-Lu suffers a miscarriage from her suicide attempt and is contrite about her past, becoming an artistic flower child who embraces macramé. Francine finally summons the strength to quit drinking, confronts and rebukes her mother, and finds new romance with Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter). Todd proposes marriage to an elated Francine, who accepts. However, Francine soon discovers that Todd and La Rue are romantically involved and conspiring to embezzle her divorce settlement and drive her insane. Elmer and Sandra break into the house to murder Francine, but are killed by Dexter and Lu-Lu: Dexter steps on Sandra's foot, causing her to accidentally shoot Elmer, and Lu-Lu uses her macramé to strangle Sandra. When Cuddles and her German chauffeur and fiancé Heintz (Hans Kramm) arrive, their car runs over La Rue and Todd, killing them. The film concludes with a happy ending for Francine, her children, and newlyweds Cuddles and Heintz. 

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While traveling by airplane, Robert Wilson, thinking he sees a gremlin on the wing, tries to alert his wife and the flight crew, but every time someone else looks out of the window the gremlin hides itself near the engine so Robert's claim seems crazy. Robert admits the oddness of the gremlin avoiding everyone else's sight but not his. His credibility is further undermined by this being his first flight since suffering a nervous breakdown six months earlier, which also occurred on an aircraft. Robert realizes that his wife is starting to think he needs to go back to the sanitarium, but his more immediate concern is the gremlin tinkering with the wiring under one of the engine cowlings which could cause the aircraft to crash. In response to his repeated attempts to raise an alarm about the gremlin, the crew gives Robert a sedative to stop him from alarming other passengers. Robert downs it with water, but does not swallow and secretly spits it out. He then steals a sleeping police officer's revolver, straps himself in to avoid being blown out of the aircraft, and opens the emergency exit door to shoot the gremlin. Once the airplane has landed, everyone believes that Robert has gone insane. In a straitjacket as he is whisked away on a gurney, Robert tells his wife that he is alone in his knowledge of what happened during the flight. However, the final scene reveals conspicuous damage to the exterior of one of the aircraft's engines, confirming that Robert was right all along about the gremlin. 

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Justin Sanderson is a magazine journalist suffering from PTSD, who is boarding Golden Airways Flight 1015 for a flight to Tel Aviv. While awaiting his flight, he befriends Joe Beaumont, a former pilot for the company and alcoholic who suffered some unspecified failure in the past. At his seat, Sanderson discovers an MP3 player that has a podcast playing called Enigmatique, which describes a "Flight 1015" which was lost without explanation. Sanderson begins to panic and tries to make sense of the situation, but is told to calm down. He listens further and hears speculation about passengers who might have been involved somehow in the plane's disappearance; his attempts to investigate only annoy the other passengers and crew. He learns that the last words heard from the pilot were "Good night, New York", and desperately tries to warn the pilot not to say that, but is restrained by an air marshal. Beaumont approaches and confided that he believes him. Guessing that the flight number – and coincidental departure time – is the code to the cockpit, Sanderson gets Beaumont access, who overpowers the crew and takes control of the flight. As Beaumont subdues the passengers and crew with oxygen deprivation, Beaumont reveals his plan to crash the plane to atone for his past failures. As Beaumont signs off with "Good night, New York", it dawns on Sanderson that he indirectly causes the crash. He awakens on an island and learns from the MP3 player that all the passengers actually survived, except for Sanderson who disappeared. The other passengers reveal themselves as they attack and kill Sanderson, whom they blame for the crash. 

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Killer Instinct 2 follows on where the first installment left off. Eyedol's death at the hands of Black Orchid accidentally sets off a time warp, transporting some of the combatants back in time and allowing the Demon Lord Gargos (Eyedol's opponent) to escape from Limbo. Now, trapped 2000 years in the past, the warriors that survived Killer Instinct, along with several new faces, fight for the right to face Gargos in combat. Each character that survived the journey from the first game have corresponding backstories, while new characters in this installment are native inhabitants of this past time period. Some fighters, like returning fighter T.J. Combo, just want to get home. Others, like new character Tusk, want to bring an end to Gargos and his reign of evil. This time there is no tournament or prize money, just a fight to the finish with the fate of the future hanging in the balance. 

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At the beginning of the story, protagonist Haroun Khalifa lives with his father Rashid, a famous storyteller and doctor, and his mother Soraya, until the latter is seduced by their neighbor 'Mr. Sengupta' to leave home. Thereafter Rashid is hired to speak on behalf of local politicians but fails his initial assignment. The two are thence conveyed to the 'Valley of K' by courier 'Mr. Butt', to speak for 'Snooty Buttoo', another politician. Attempting to sleep aboard Buttoo's yacht, Haroun discovers 'Iff the Water Genie', assigned to detach Rashid's imagination, and demands conversation against this decision with Iff's supervisor, the Walrus. They are then carried to the eponymous 'Sea of Stories' by an artificial intelligence in the form of a hoopoe, nicknamed 'Butt' after the courier. Of the Sea of Stories, Haroun learns it is endangered by antagonist 'Khattam-Shud,' who represents "the end". In the Kingdom of Gup, King Chattergy, Prince Bolo, General Kitab, and the Walrus announce their plans for war against the neighbouring kingdom of Chup, to recapture Bolo's betrothed Princess Batcheat. Rashid joins them here, having witnessed Batcheat's kidnapping. Thereafter Haroun and his companions join the Guppee army of 'Pages' toward Chup, where they befriend Mudra, Khattam-Shud's former second-in-command. Haroun, Iff, Butt the Hoopoe, and Mali the stories' gardener, investigating the Sea's 'Old Zone', are captured by Khattam-Shud's animated shadow, who plans to plug the Story Source at the bottom of the Sea. Before he can do so, Mali destroys the machines used by him to poison the Sea, and Haroun restores the Sea's long-annulled alternation of night and day– thus destroying the antagonist's shadow and those assisting him, and diverting the giant 'Plug' meant to seal the Source. In Chup, the Guppee army destroy the Chupwalas' army and release Princess Batcheat; whereupon Khattam-Shud himself is crushed beneath a collapsing statue commissioned by himself. Thereafter the Walrus promises Haroun a happy ending of his own story. On return to the human world, Rashid reveals Haroun's adventures to local citizens, who expel Snooty Buttoo. When Rashid and Haroun return home, the people of their city have become joyous to replace their customary misery, and Soraya has returned to her son and husband. The novel concludes with an appendix explaining the meaning of each major character's name. 

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Just before Christmas, wealthy advertising executive Drew Latham surprises his girlfriend Missy with first class tickets to Fiji, but she is horrified that he would want to spend Christmas away from his family. Citing the fact that Drew has never even introduced her to his family, she concludes that he will never get serious about their relationship and dumps him. Drew has his assistant send her a Cartier bracelet to apologize. Desperate not to spend Christmas alone, Drew calls all of his contacts to find a place to stay on Christmas, but he is not close enough to anyone to be invited. Drew tracks down Missy's therapist Dr. Freeman at the airport, hoping to squeeze in a therapy session. The hurried doctor tells him to list all of his grievances and then burn them at his childhood home, which is now occupied by the Valcos, who are suspicious of Drew. When he sets his grievances on fire, Tom Valco sneaks up behind him and knocks him out with a shovel. Thrilled to see his old room, Drew impetuously offers Tom $250,000 to let him spend Christmas with the Valcos. Tom accepts, and Drew's lawyer draws up a contract that requires the Valcos to pose as his family. The next day, Drew forces the family to go out and buy a tree together, requiring Tom to wear a Santa cap in public. While they are trimming the tree, the eldest child Alicia arrives for the holidays and is stunned by Drew's presence. He suggests that she could portray the maid, since she was an unexpected addition to the scenario. At dinner, Drew writes a script for the family to read at the table. He hires a local actor to play the part of his grandfather, whom he calls Doo-Dah. Drew takes Alicia and her brother Brian sledding the next day. After crashing at the bottom of a hill, he moves in to kiss Alicia, who sneezes instead. Recovering back home from their growing colds, Alicia shares a childhood memory with Drew about an old tree that was coated in ice during a storm. Tom asks Drew to leave because he was planning on divorcing his wife Christine, but Drew encourages the couple to indulge themselves. Tom buys a Chevelle SS, which he had when he was in high school, and Christine goes to a photographer for some glamour shots. Drew takes Alicia to the old tree of her childhood, which he has had covered in ice again. She is touched by the gesture, but Drew overdoes it, bringing in a full pageant production to surround the tree. Disgusted by his lack of restraint, Alicia demands that he leave. Meanwhile, Missy was won over by the bracelet, and when Drew's assistant informed her that he was spending Christmas with his family, Missy visits the Valcos' house with her parents. Drew promises the Valcos an extra $75,000 if they will play along for the evening, and they agree to pretend to be his family. The visit between the two families steadily descends into chaos, culminating with everyone seeing Christine's glamour shots manipulated into pornography on Brian's computer. Missy's parents storm out, and Drew informs her that their relationship is over. Alicia finally draws out of Drew the truth about his family: his father left them when he was just four, and his mother, who would give him an adult stack of pancakes until he was 18, died when he was in college. Drew returns to his apartment to spend Christmas alone. Tom visits him to collect his money, and the two decide to go watch the actor who played Doo-Dah perform in the local production of A Christmas Carol. At the play, Tom and Christine decide not to divorce. Drew and Alicia make up outside the theater, while everyone eats in the diner where Drew's mother worked a double shift to make extra money. 

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In March 1917, Captain Hardt (Conrad Veidt), a World War I German U-boat commander, is ordered to lead a mission to attack the British Fleet at Scapa Flow, rendezvousing at the Old Man of Hoy. He sneaks ashore on the Orkney Islands to meet his contact, Fräulein Tiel (Valerie Hobson). Tiel has taken over the identity of a new local schoolteacher, Miss Anne Burnett (June Duprez), who German agents had intercepted en route to the island. Hardt finds himself attracted to her, but Tiel shows no interest. The Germans are aided by a disgraced Royal Navy officer, the former Commander Ashington (Sebastian Shaw) who, according to Tiel, has agreed to aid the Germans after losing his command due to drunkenness, and Tiel implies that she has slept with Ashington to obtain his cooperation. The plan is almost disrupted when Burnett's fiancé, Rev. Harris, arrives unexpectedly, but the spies take him captive. Then the local minister, Matthews, and his wife (who had already met Harris) come to the house, but Tiel manages to get them to leave. Now equipped with the crucial information he needs about the British fleet movements, Hardt rendezvous with his submarine to arrange for a fleet of U-Boats to attack. Returning to the house, and confident that all is going to plan, Hardt makes advances to Tiel, but she rebuffs him. She leaves the house, believing she has locked Hardt in his room, but he gets out and secretly follows her, discovering that she has gone out to meet Ashington. Hardt overhears them talking and learns the truth: the British are fully aware of his presence, and have turned his mission into a trap for the U-Boats. Hardt's "contacts" are really British double agents – Ashington is in fact RN Commander Blacklock, and "Fräulein Tiel" is Blacklock's wife, Jill. As Jill prepares to leave the island, Blacklock returns to the house to arrest Hardt, only to find he has eluded them. Disguised in Rev. Harris's clothes, Hardt manages to board the island ferry, which is also carrying Jill, a number of civilian passengers, and eight German POWs. Blacklock reports Hardt's escape to the base commander, who explains that the British had learned of the Germans' plan because the real Anne Burnett luckily survived the German agents' attempt to kill her by throwing her into the sea. At sea, Hardt manages to free the German prisoners and they seize the ferry. The Royal Navy pursue them, but before they can catch up, the ferry is intercepted by Hardt's submarine, and Hardt's first officer, Lieutenant Schuster (Marius Goring) decides to sink it. As the U-boat surfaces and prepares to fire, Hardt realises it is his own submarine. He frantically attempts to signal them, but too late – the U-boat shells the ferry, which begins to sink. By this time the British ships have arrived, and they drop depth charges, destroying the fleeing U-boat. As Jill, the other passengers and the crew abandon the sinking ferry, Hardt realises all is lost, and chooses to go down with the ship. 

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It is November 1939: the Phoney War-stage of the World War II. Denmark is still neutral, but (Danish) Captain Andersen (Conrad Veidt) and his freighter Helvig are stopped in the English Channel by Lt. Commanders Ashton (Joss Ambler) and Ellis (Harold Warrender) for a cargo inspection in a British Contraband Control Port. He receives two shore passes for himself and his First Officer Axel Skold (Hay Petrie) to dine with Ashton and Ellis, but the passes (and Helvigs motorboat) are stolen by passengers Mrs. Sorensen (Valerie Hobson) and talent scout Mr. Pidgeon (Esmond Knight). From a cut-out newspaper train schedule, Andersen is able to figure out they are taking a train to London and catches up with them; but, when the train arrives in the blacked-out metropolis, he is only able to hold on to Sorensen. He invites her to dine at the restaurant of Skold's brother Erik (also Hay Petrie). Then she takes him to the home of her aunt, where they are captured by a Nazi spy ring led by Van Dyne (Raymond Lovell), a man Sorensen has already had unpleasant dealings with in Düsseldorf, Germany. Van Dyne knows Sorensen and Pidgeon are British agents. Van Dyne finds a message hidden on one of Sorensen's cigarette papers, identifying her as "M47" and listing the names of neutral ships under which two German vessels are traveling. He decides to replace one of the names with that of an American ship to cause trouble, the United States being neutral at this time. Sorensen and Andersen are tied up, but the captain manages to escape. He brings back reinforcements in the form of Erik Skold's staff and is able to free Sorensen and knock out Van Dyne. With everything cleared up, Andersen and Sorensen resume their sea voyage. 

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A narrator explains how the 49th parallel forms "the only undefended frontier in the world" between Canada and the United States. In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, U-37, a German U-boat, has just sunk a Canadian freighter. It evades the RCN and RCAF patrols by moving to Hudson Bay. A raiding party of six is put ashore to obtain food and fuel at a Hudson's Bay Company trading post, but the U-boat is soon sunk by RCAF bombers. The six travel across Canada to reach the neutral United States and return to Germany. Led by Lieutenants Hirth (Eric Portman) and Kuhnecke (Raymond Lovell), the small band encounters and often brutalises a wide range of people. One by one they are captured or killed — sometimes by their own. Initial victims include the InuitReplaced the term Eskimo. Although used in the film, it is a racial slur and has been proscribed by the Canadian government. The proper procedure would be to correctly identify the character's ethnicity. The actor, Ley On, was born in China. Nick (Ley On) and a French-Canadian trapper (Laurence Olivier), at the trading post. When a floatplane is dispatched to investigate reports of the sinking, the Germans open fire, killing the pilot and some of the local Inuit. They steal the aircraft and head south, but cannot achieve take-off because they are overloaded. One sailor steps out onto a float to throw out the guns and is shot and killed by an Inuk (a member of the Inuit), thereby lightening the load for take-off. The floatplane runs out of fuel and crashes in a lake in Manitoba, killing Kuhnecke. The Germans are welcomed to a nearby Hutterite farming community by Anna (Glynis Johns), who is about to turn sixteen. The fugitives assume that the Hutterites are sympathetic to the Nazi cause, but some of them are refugees from Hitler's Germany, and Hirth's fanatical speech is eloquently refuted by Peter (Anton Walbrook), the community's leader. One of the sailors, Vogel (Niall MacGinnis), would rather join the community and ply his trade of baker, but he is tried by Hirth and summarily executed for desertion and treachery. Hirth, Lohrmann and Kranz arrive in Winnipeg. Hirth decides they will walk to Vancouver and catch a steamship for neutral Japan. They club (and probably kill) a motorist for his car and take a train that stops in Banff, Alberta, during Banff Indian Days. A Canadian Mountie addresses the crowd and Kranz is arrested when he panics. Fleeing across the Rocky Mountains, the two remaining men are welcomed to his lakeside camp by a writer named Philip Armstrong Scott (Leslie Howard), who takes them for lost tourists. They turn on him, burning his manuscript and his precious paintings. Scott and his men pursue them. Lohrmann finally rebels against Hirth's leadership, knocks him out and takes off by himself. Lohrmann is cornered in a cave. Scott is wounded, but enters the cave and beats him up. One of his men comments, "The boss has knocked him clear out!" Hirth, the last fugitive, is given the Iron Cross first class in absentia. Nazi radio praises him; the rest of the world wonders where he is. He meets Andy Brock (Raymond Massey), a Canadian soldier who is absent without leave, in the baggage car of a Canadian National Railways train near the Canadian-US border. Hirth knocks Brock cold with the butt of his gun and steals his uniform and dog tags, planning to impersonate him. Brock regains consciousness wearing only his shirt, and Hirth holds him at gunpoint, hiding, while customs inspect the car. Brock is horrified and Hirth is pleased to learn that the car is crossing into the United States at Niagara Falls. Hirth surrenders his gun to a U.S. Customs official and demands to be taken to the German embassy. Brock explains that Hirth, now world famous, is wanted in Canada for murder. The U.S. border guards cannot find any official reason to send Hirth back, until Brock points out that neither of them is listed on the freight manifest. The Americans happily use this pretext to send the car, along with Hirth and Brock, back to Canada for "improperly manifested cargo". The penultimate shot shows Brock donning his uniform cap and telling Hirth to put his hands up. "I'm not asking for those pants, I'm just takin' 'em!" Dissolve, to the sound of a solid punch, to the train backing over the bridge, and the credits roll. 

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The crew of an RAF Vickers Wellington bomber are forced to bail out over the Netherlands near the Zuider Zee after one of their engines is damaged during a nighttime raid on Stuttgart. Five of the six airmen find each other; the sixth goes missing. The first Dutch citizens they encounter, led by English-speaking school teacher Else Meertens (Pamela Brown), are suspicious at first as no aircraft is reported to have crashed in the Netherlands (the abandoned bomber actually reaches England before hitting a pylon). After much debate and some questioning, the Dutch agree to help, despite their fear of German reprisals. Accompanied by many of the Dutch, the disguised airmen, led by the pilots (Hugh Burden and Eric Portman), bicycle through the countryside to a football match where they are passed along to the local burgomaster (Burgemeester in Dutch, Hay Petrie). To their astonishment, they discover their missing crewman playing for one of the teams. Reunited, they hide in a truck carrying supplies to Jo de Vries (Googie Withers). De Vries pretends to be pro-German, blaming the British for killing her husband in a bombing raid (whereas he is actually in England working as a radio announcer). She hides them in her mansion, despite the Germans being garrisoned there. Under cover of an air raid, she leads them to a rowing boat. The men row undetected to the sea, but a bridge sentry finally spots them and a shot seriously wounds the oldest man, Sir George Corbett (Godfrey Tearle). Nevertheless, they reach the North Sea. They take shelter in a German rescue buoy, where they take two shot-down enemy aviators prisoner, but not before one sends a radio message. By chance, two British boats arrive first. Because Corbett cannot be moved, they simply tow the buoy back to England. Three months later, he is fully recovered, and the crew board their new four-engine heavy bomber, a Short Stirling. 

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Sammy Rice (David Farrar) is a British scientist working with a specialist "back room" team in London as a bomb disposal expert during the Second World War. Rice is embittered because he feels military scientific research is being incompetently managed. He is also enduring unremitting pain from his artificial foot. The painkillers he has been prescribed are ineffective, and his use of alcohol as an analgesic has led to his alcoholism. His girlfriend Susan (Kathleen Byron) puts up with his self- pitying, self-destructive behaviour as long as she can, but finally breaks up with him, telling him that he lacks the ambition to better himself. Rice is brought in by Captain Stuart (Michael Gough) to help solve the problem of small booby-trapped explosive devices (mines) being dropped by Nazi bombers, which have killed four people, including three children. They receive some useful information from a critically wounded young soldier (Bryan Forbes in his debut). Two further mines are found at Chesil Beach: they look like common thermos flasks. Stuart is first on the scene but has difficulty getting Rice on the telephone in his flat because Rice is alone following his break-up with Susan, angry, drunk and destructive. Rice quickly sobers up and travels to Chesil Beach, only to find that Stuart tried to defuse one of the mines and has been blown up. Rice sets to work on the second mine after listening to the notes Stuart dictated to an ATS corporal (Renée Asherson) during his attempt earlier in the day. He discovers that the mine has in fact two booby traps, not one, and manages to defuse them both. When Rice returns to London, his self-esteem somewhat restored by his success, he is offered an officer commission as head of the Army's new scientific research unit. He accepts. Susan returns to him and they go back to his flat to find she has repaired and reinstated everything he damaged while drunk. 

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During the French Revolution, the Scarlet Pimpernel (David Niven), who is really Sir Percy Blakeney in disguise, risks his life to rescue French noblemen from the guillotine and take them across the English Channel to safety. As cover, Sir Percy poses as a fop at Court, and curries favour with the Prince of Wales (Jack Hawkins) by providing advice about fashion, but secretly he leads The League, a group of noblemen with similar views. Chauvelin, French Ambassador of the Revolution to England (Cyril Cusack) wants to find out who the Pimpernel is and bring him in to meet his fate under French justice. When evidence points to Sir Percy, Chauvelin blackmails Blakeney's wife, Marguerite (Margaret Leighton) by threatening to expose her criminal brother Armand (Edmond Audran), but Marguerite doesn't believe her husband is capable of being the daring Pimpernel. 

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Hazel Woodus (Jennifer Jones) is a child of nature in the Shropshire countryside in 1897. She loves and understands all the wild animals more than the people around her. Whenever she has problems, she turns to the book of spells and charms left to her by her gypsy mother. Local squire Jack Reddin (David Farrar) sees Hazel and wants her, but she has already promised herself to the Baptist minister, Edward Marston (Cyril Cusack). A struggle for her body and soul ensues. 

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*In the prologue, Hoffmann is in the audience at a performance by Stella, a prima ballerina, of "The Ballet of the Enchanted Dragonfly". Stella sends Hoffmann a note asking him to meet her after the performance, but the note is intercepted by his rival, Councillor Lindorf. Not having received her note, Hoffmann goes to the tavern in the interval, where he tells the story of a clown, Kleinzach, and three stories of his past loves — Olympia, Giulietta and Antonia, and gets drunk. *In the first story, Olympia is an automaton created by scientist Spalanzani and magic spectacle maker Coppelius. Hoffmann falls for the doll, ignorant of her artifice and is mocked when he finally discovers she is 'automatic'. *In the second story, Hoffmann in Venice falls for Giulietta, a courtesan, but she seduces him to steal his reflection for the magician Dapertutto. *In the third story, Antonia is a soprano suffering from an incurable illness and must not sing, but the evil Dr Miracle makes her sing and she dies, breaking the hearts of Hoffmann and her father, Crespel. *Finally, in the epilogue, Hoffmann explains that all three women are all aspects of his love, Stella, who then appears in the tavern and, seeing Hoffmann drunk and incapable, is led away by Councillor Lindorf. 

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In 1955 Vienna, during its post-war occupation, the black-market dealer Dr. Falke (Anton Walbrook) moves freely through the French, British, American and Russian sectors, dealing in champagne and caviar amongst the highest echelons of the allied powers. After a costume party, French Colonel Gabriel Eisenstein (Michael Redgrave) plays a practical joke on a drunken Falke, depositing him, asleep and dressed as a bat, in the lap of a patriotic Russian statue, to be discovered the following morning by irate Russian soldiers. Falke is nearly arrested until his friend General Orlofsky (Anthony Quayle) of the USSR intervenes. A vengeful Falke plans an elaborate practical joke on his friend, involving Orlofsky, a British major (Dennis Price) who is sent to escort the French colonel to jail for his misdemeanor, Eisenstein's beautiful wife Rosalinda (Ludmilla Tchérina), her maid (Anneliese Rothenberger) and a masked ball where no one is what they seem. Complicating matters is American Captain Alfred Westerman (Mel Ferrer), an old flame of Rosalinda's who is determined to take advantage of her husband's absence deliberately taking the room next to hers. When Frank arrives to arrest Eisenstein he takes Alfred for her husband. At the party, Adele, wearing one of her mistress's gowns is spotted by Eisenstein, who is unable to do anything about it, and catches the eye of both Orlofsky and Frank. When the masked Rosalinda arrives Eisenstein pursues her but she flees with his watch – which Falke slyly tells him will reappear again at his home. At midnight Eisenstein presents himself at the jail but realizes that the man wearing his robe was courting Rosalinda, so he rushes home to confront her. She retorts by showing his the watch he had at the ball and he begs forgiveness. All this is overhead by the rest of Orlovsky's party guests in the gardens below and Falke admits that he was behind the charade. As all sing and dance, Alfred allows his American guards to arrest him instead of Einsenstein. 

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During World War II, the Greek island of Crete was occupied by the Nazis. British officers Major Patrick Leigh Fermor DSO (Dirk Bogarde) and Captain Bill Stanley Moss MC (David Oxley) of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) land on the island. With the help of the local Cretan resistance in April 1944, they kidnap General Kreipe (Marius Goring), the commander of the island. They take Kreipe across rough country to a secluded cove on the far side of the island, where they are picked up and taken to Cairo, the Middle East headquarters of British forces. 

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The game begins in the Arabian Desert, where the player's camel has gone lame, and they are out of food and water. Throughout the game, the player must avoid starvation, dehydration, poison traps, and other dangers. The game ends when the player either finds the crown, or dies. Certain elements of the game are randomized. Although text-based, the screen is split into a map, area description, and inventory of items. At the bottom of the screen are statistics such as hunger, thirst, number of treasures found, total moves, and score. 

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In 1957, the Soviet Union attacks the United States with nuclear weapons, rendering most of the nation uninhabitable. The American government has collapsed with the exception of the haven known as Lost Vegas, ruled by King Elvis. The Red Army has been besieging Lost Vegas, but the lack of supplies over the years has relegated them to a gang of thugs. Forty years later King Elvis dies and radio disc jockey Keith Mortimer announces a call for all musicians to come to Lost Vegas to try to become the new King of Rock 'n' Roll. The ending of His message, "Vegas needs a new King!" Buddy, a lone guitarist and swordsman, saves an unnamed boy he simply calls "Kid" from a group of bandits; consequently, as the Kid's mother was killed by the bandits he tags along with Buddy much to the latter's annoyance. As the duo travel through the desert wasteland, the heavy metal-playing Death stages several attempts to prevent Buddy from reaching Lost Vegas alive and claim the throne for himself. After enduring an attack by a bounty-hunting bowling team, Buddy and the Kid steal a car from another musician to continue their journey. They are later attacked on the road by bandits but escape. When their car breaks down, Buddy and the Kid attempt to borrow a wrench from a suburban family, unaware that they are cannibals. Buddy leaves the Kid with them and takes off on foot. The Kid is about to be eaten but is spared after a group of Windmill People invade the home and the family flees with Buddy and the Kid's abandoned car after revealing they had a socket wrench needed to fix it. Buddy returns to defeat the Windmill People, the two reunite and continue their journey on an abandoned motorcycle. Meanwhile, Death has been killing off all other musicians coming across his path and taking their guitar picks as trophies. Buddy and the Kid arrive in the town of Fallout, where he leaves the Kid with some locals and enters a bar to drink and spend time with a cheerleader. Death arrives but the Kid warns Buddy in time for them to flee. Before they do Buddy is approached by a young guitarist, whom he then humiliates. Continuing their travel, Buddy is attacked by the guitarist. Buddy unintentionally kills him in self defense, feeling guilty he lays his sword down and walks away but the Kid brings it back to him still believing in Buddy and helping regain his confidence, eventually the two begin to bond closer. Later, after they collapse in the desert, they are ambushed by Death and his bandmates, a trio of archers. Buddy slides the Kid and his guitar to safety while he battles the archers, but when the Kid is captured by a group of underground mutants, Buddy pursues the mutants to their lair. Death decides not to follow him as there are other musicians left to kill saving Buddy for last. Buddy manages to save the Kid, after returning to the surface, they find their road to Vegas blocked by the Red Army. After a grueling battle, Buddy is injured with the Kid dragging him to continue. Death finally catches up to them and engages Buddy in a guitar duel clashing their styles of music against one another; Buddy, Rock 'n' Roll and Death, Heavy Metal. When Buddy proves the better guitarist, an angry Death orders his bandmates to shoot him and the Kid with their bows. Buddy shields the Kid, getting shot in the back, but rises up and battles Death in a sword fight. Death mortally wounds Buddy in the end but the Kid discovers water is Death's weakness after spitting at him. The Kid then melts Death away with his water canteen. With his defeat, Death's bandmates are in shock that the Kid bested him. They give him a card and tell him with admiration that if he ever needs them to call them and they take their leave. The Kid saddened by Buddy disappearing after dying bravely accepts to finish Buddy's journey, he puts on his clothes, glasses, carries his sword and guitar. With Lost Vegas now in sight the Kid has completed Buddy's dream and ends with him turning into Buddy symbolizing he's inherited His spirit and a crowd cheering him from Lost Vegas. 

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After Twinsen defeated FunFrock at the end of Little Big Adventure, Twinsun was peaceful, until a sudden storm covered Citadel Island. The Dino-Fly, a creature encountered in LBA 1 is struck by lightning and crashes in Twinsen and Zoe's garden. Twinsen seeks help from Ker'aooc, a healing wizard, who lives on Desert Island. But ferry crossings are cancelled. He aids Bersimon, the island's weather wizard, resulting in the clouds disappearing. After the storm, alien creatures, who call themselves Esmers, land on the planet, under a false diplomatic guise and Twinsen begins training under the Wizard's School after hearing of missing children on the planet. The Esmers use their army to secretly capture Twinsun's Children and openly invite the Wizards to their planet (which is revealed later to be a trap to capture them). After graduating as a wizard, Twinsen is informed by his master of the possible plot of the Esmers and is sent to investigate their planet by accepting their invitation to all Wizards. Once Twinsen lands in Zeelich (the Esmers' two-layered, Jupiter-like gas home planet), the invitation proves to be a trap and he is arrested on the landing port. After tricking one of the guards with the help of another prisoner, Twinsen manages to escape imprisonment and escapes the planet in one of the ships. He eventually crashes in the mountains of Citadel Island, where he is attacked by an Esmerian soldier, after defeating him and making his way into the city he finds out that the Esmers have taken over the planet and have imposed martial law. After going home to check on Zoe he finds out that Baldino has left him a protopack (Prototype Jetpack; it can hover, not fly) in the warehouse, he retrieves it and sets out to find his friend. Once making it to Desert Island he finds out that Baldino has disappeared, he proceeds to investigate his house and discovers that Baldino has built a spacecraft and for some reason went to Emerald Moon (Twinsun's moon). He visits the Wizard's School and learns from his master that in order to proceed in his journey and face the Esmers, who prove to be more than he can handle, he must obtain a powerful artifact from beneath Citadel Island. Home to several different species, Zeelich is a two-layered planet, the upper layer located above the sea of toxic gas that plagues the planet. The lower layer is located beneath the gas. Its inhabitants await the day when a certain prophecy will be fulfilled, and the Dark Monk, the shadow god, will emerge and restore Zeelich. Twinsen eventually gathers together four fragments making up a key which must be placed inside a little temple on Celebration Island. He unmasks Dark Monk, who is really FunFrock, the villain from the first game. He kills FunFrock, and returns to stop the moon of Twinsun crashing into the planet. 

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When Licence Renewed begins, M reminds Bond that the "00" section has in fact been abolished; however, M retains Bond as a troubleshooter (pun intended), telling him, "You'll always be 007 to me". Bond is assigned to investigate Dr. Anton Murik, a brilliant nuclear physicist who is thought to have been having meetings with a terrorist named Franco. Franco is identified and tracked by MI5 to a village in Scotland called Murcaldy. Since Murcaldy is outside of MI5's jurisdiction, the Director-General of MI5, Richard Duggan, requests that M send Bond to surveil Murik. Relying on information that MI5 did not have, M orders Bond to instead infiltrate Murik's castle and gain his confidence. Bond makes contact with Murik at Ascot Racecourse, where he feigns a coincidental meeting, mentioning to Murik that he is a mercenary looking for work. Later, Bond joins Murik in Scotland at Murik's behest and is hired to kill Franco, for reasons at the time unknown. Franco in turn has been tasked by Murik to kill his young ward, Lavender Peacock, because she is the true heir to the Murik fortune, which could only be proved by secret documents Murik keeps hidden in a safe within his castle. Murik's plan is to hijack six nuclear power plants around the world simultaneously with the aid of bands of terrorists supplied by Franco. To ensure that Murik can never be associated with this deal, he attempts to use Bond to assassinate Franco. Ultimately terrorists do take over six nuclear power plants, but are prevented from starting a meltdown when they are given an abort code by Bond, who they believe to be Murik. Murik is eventually defeated by Bond and Lavender before his demands can be met. 

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Grégory Francœur, a brilliant professor from Quebec, leaves his family and political career behind to become the assistant to a distinguished academic in San Francisco."Quebecois in California joins Godbout's symbolic heroes". Ottawa Citizen, September 27, 1986. Because of a misunderstanding, typical of the ambiguity that has been Francœur's lot in life, he becomes involved in a dangerous case of illegal immigration."Godbout courts Paris via California". Montreal Gazette, November 1, 1986. 

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Cristina Moreno (Shelbie Bruce) is applying to Princeton University. For her application essay, she tells the story of a year from her childhood, and how it shaped the person she has become today (narrated by Aimee Garcia). Flor Moreno (Paz Vega) is a poor Mexican single mother who moved to America undocumented years earlier seeking a better life for her and her daughter, Cristina. She takes on two jobs, but soon cannot maintain them, so Flor's cousin helps her find work as a nanny and housekeeper for the Clasky family, consisting of John (Adam Sandler) and Deborah (Téa Leoni), their children Bernice (Sarah Steele) and Georgie (Ian Hyland), and Deborah's mother Evelyn Wright (Cloris Leachman). John is a successful chef and an easygoing man who enjoys cooking and spending time with his children, while Deborah is a former businesswoman turned stay-at-home mother, and Evelyn is quietly alcoholic. Deborah is uptight and her neurotic behavior often upsets the family - Deborah psychologically abuses her daughter, body-shaming Bernice by forcing her to exercise, buying her smaller-sized clothes and putting her down for certain behaviors; she frustrates John by expecting him to be submissive and accepting of her parenting style with Georgie. John is more laid back and supports the mental well-being of his children, but feels he cannot stand up to Deborah. Soon, Flor is needed to work and live at the Claskys' summer rental home on the beach. Desperate to keep Flor employed with them, Deborah invites Cristina to stay with them. Deborah becomes attached to the beautiful and personable Cristina, who informally translates for Flor, and begins to treat her more like a daughter than she does Bernice. The attention Deborah pays Cristina does not go unnoticed by Flor, who does not approve. Needing to get materials for a project that he is working on, John gives the children a small task, in which they will receive money in exchange for pieces of glass they collect from the beach. Cristina takes the task seriously and ends up receiving $640 for her collection. When Flor learns of this, she is overwhelmed and angry at the large sum of money given to her daughter. Flor and John argue, with Cristina as the interpreter, and Flor wants to leave because of the awkward family dynamic. John coaxes her into staying, much to Cristina's delight, and Flor begins to learn English so she can better communicate with the Claskys. When John’s restaurant receives a highly laudatory, star-making review, John falls into a temporary depression because of the related stress, while Deborah begins an affair. Deborah enrolls Cristina in a private school with Bernice, upsetting Flor, who wants Cristina to keep in touch with her Mexican roots and working-class values. Flor feels that her employer is overstepping her bounds and voices her objection to John, who tells her he is also frustrated with Deborah because Bernice has no support system from her own mother. Flor tries to encourage Bernice and build her self-confidence, by showing her small acts of kindness, especially after Deborah has been hard on her. Summer ends and Cristina and Bernice attend their first day of school together. That afternoon, Cristina is allowed to bring her school friends back to the Claskys' house; however, Bernice is not. Flor, who had not given permission for this, is upset at the situation and Deborah tries to cover for Cristina. The now-sober Evelyn realizes that her daughter is having an affair and that her marriage is in trouble. She pleads with Deborah to end the affair, telling her she will never get another man as good as John. Deborah confesses to John that she cheated on him and begs him to stay so that they can work things out; however, a dejected John walks out and bumps into Flor. He gives her a ride to the bus stop, during which she informs him she is quitting, and the pair go to his restaurant, where he cooks for Flor. They kiss and have a genuine and deep conversation, realize they cannot have a relationship. A desperate Deborah continuously tries to contact John and confides in Evelyn, telling her mother that Evelyn’s failings as a parent caused Deborah to become the person that she is. The two have a frank conversation during which they become closer as mother and daughter. The next day, Flor comes to take her daughter home and informs her that she quit her job, which angers Cristina, who got along well with the Claskys. As they are about to leave, John tells Flor he envies whoever will get to be with her in the future. On their way home, Flor tells Cristina that she cannot attend the private school anymore, upsetting Cristina even more. She screams in the street, accusing Flor of ruining her life. Flor loses patience with Cristina after she asks her mother for "space", and explains to her daughter it is time she answers an important question: "Is what you want for yourself to become someone very different than me?" Cristina considers this on their bus ride home, and they make up and embrace. 

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Bond teams up with CIA agent Cedar Leiter, daughter of his old friend, Felix Leiter, to investigate one Markus Bismaquer, who is suspected of reviving the criminal organisation SPECTRE, which was believed to have been disbanded years earlier following the death of its leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, at the hands of Bond (in You Only Live Twice). The British Secret Service learns that Bismaquer is an obsessive collector of rare prints, so Bond and Cedar visit the man's huge ranch in Amarillo, Texas posing as art dealers. Their true identities are soon revealed, but not until Bond holds his own both in an impromptu (and fixed) car race arranged by Bismaquer, and in the bed of Bismaquer's frustrated wife, Nena. Nena, who has only one breast, quickly wins Bond's heart and his sympathy and Bond is convinced that Bismaquer is the one now being referred to as the new Blofeld. Bond discovers that the revitalised SPECTRE plans to take over control of NORAD headquarters in order to gain control of America's military space satellite network. His true identity revealed, Bond is captured and brainwashed into believing he is an American general assigned to inspect NORAD. Although he has been set up to be killed in the ensuing attack by SPECTRE forces on the base, Bond regains his personality and his memory. Apparently Bismaquer, who is bisexual, has taken a liking to Bond and sabotaged the hypnosis. When Bond returns to Bismaquer's ranch, he witnesses Bismaquer being killed by Nena, who is in fact the mind behind the operation and the daughter of Blofeld, a fact she confesses to Bond just before falling into the crushing grip of her pet pythons. She is later put out of her misery by Felix Leiter, who arrives on the scene to help rescue his daughter. 

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Anthony "Man" Stoner, a jobless, marijuana- smoking drummer, is told to either get a job by sundown or be sent off to military school by his parents. Anthony leaves the house in a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle convertible, a car which is subsequently left smoking on the side of the road. Anthony is picked up while hitchhiking by the equally enthusiastic smoker Pedro de Pacas. They share a large joint. Police find their car parked on a traffic median with them in it, discover that they are clearly stoned and arrest them. At trial, the pair are released on a technicality after Anthony discovers that the judge is drinking vodka. In an attempt to procure marijuana, they visit Pedro's cousin Strawberry, a Vietnam War veteran. Strawberry's nickname is derived from the large birthmark on his face and neck. Pedro tells Man not to look at the birthmark, but of course Man does and makes a remark. They narrowly escape a police raid on Strawberry's house while Strawberry has a flashback and thinks the police are the Viet Cong, but are soon deported to Tijuana, by the INS, along with Pedro's relatives, who actually called the INS on themselves, so they could get a free ride to a wedding in Tijuana. In order to get back to the United States they arrange to pick up a vehicle from Pedro's uncle's upholstery shop, but arrive at the wrong address, a disguised marijuana processing plant. They end up unknowingly involved in a plot to smuggle a van constructed completely out of "fiberweed" (hardened THC resin derived from marijuana - a play on the word fiberglass) from Mexico to Los Angeles, with an inept police narcotics unit, led by the overly zealous Sgt. Stedenko hot on their heels. At the Mexican–American border, they almost get arrested but attention is diverted to a group of nuns (into whose car Man had thrown his joint). The duo then narrowly cross the border into America and pass Stedenko as he is giving an interview to a newswoman. Stedenko then finds out from his unit that they apprehended the wrong group and they begin to chase after Pedro and Man. They don't get far, however, after one of Stedenko's men accidentally shoots one of the tires to the car they were in. Along the way, Pedro and Man pick up two women, who convince them to perform at a Battle of the Bands contest at the Roxy Theatre. Pedro and Man tell the women they need marijuana; the women convince them to see Gloria—a police dispatcher who sells drugs being held as evidence. Gloria informs the women she can't sell them any drugs as the police destroyed the evidence they were holding, but there should be some in stock soon as the police were searching all over town for a huge stash—which the police do not realize is currently sitting in the police station parking lot. They narrowly avoid another arrest, at one point, after being pulled over by a police motorcyclist, but the officer gets high from the burning "fiberweed" emanating from the van's exhaust, and lets them go after asking for a hot dog one of them was eating. When they arrive at the venue, most of the bands that are performing are negatively received by the audience. One of the women gives Man what she believes is an "upper", but mistakenly gives him the wrong drugs. The duo's band, Alice Bowie, win over the audience, including the cops, who get stoned due to a large amount of marijuana smoke from the burning van being funneled into the venue. The pair win the contest and a recording contract. The film concludes with Pedro and Man driving in the former's car and dreaming how their future career will pay off. Man then lights a small portion of hash and gives some to Pedro. However, it falls into his lap, causing him to panic and swerve the car while trying to put it out; Man attempts to put the hash out with his beer. During the scuffle, the car swerves down the road and smoke billows out the windows. 

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Springfield is in the midst of a massive heat wave. Every building in the town has installed a large air conditioning device. However, this draws a lot of power from the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Despite the safety measures Mr. Burns has taken (cutting power to the orphanage), the plant is at full power. At home, without an air conditioning device, the Simpsons have to follow an old-fashioned fan. Homer decides to give them a taste of winter by plugging in his dancing Santa Claus. This overloads the plant and causes a town-wide blackout. After Lenny and Carl accidentally crash their cars into a store with no active alarm and decide to loot it, widespread rioting and looting occur. The police try to intervene, but are powerless to stop the massive crime wave. The next day, Springfield has been devastated by the crime wave. Mayor Quimby decides to take action by forming a Blue Ribbon Committee. At the Simpsons' house, someone steals Lisa's Malibu Stacy collection. Homer decides to take action by looking for it. He finds the culprit, Jimbo Jones, and later foils a robbery by Snake Jailbird at the Kwik-E-Mart. He goes through a very long list of his previous jobs (during which Marge puts curlers in her hair offscreen) and decides that he likes the idea of combining his love of helping and hurting people. Homer forms his own security company called "SpringShield". Although it only has Homer, Lenny, and Carl, it is more efficient and more successful than the Springfield Police Department. When Quimby sees Chief Wiggum trying to shoot a Piñata with a shotgun while blindfolded, he dismisses Wiggum and (in a fit of rage) makes Homer the chief of police. After stopping one of Fat Tony's operations, Homer practically rids Springfield of crime. However, Fat Tony escapes and vows to kill Homer unless he leaves town. Homer is unable to get protection from the citizens he protects (only Ned Flanders volunteers, but Homer ignores his offer) and Lenny and Carl lock themselves in a jail cell. When Homer does not leave, Fat Tony arrives with a few of his own henchmen (including Johnny Tightlips), as well as mafia muscle—the characters of the Sopranos series. Just before they are about to kill Homer, an unseen sniper shoots the mobsters; injuring them and causing them to flee. Safe again, Homer resigns as police chief and offers the job to the first person who comes along, which is Wiggum (who notes that an identical situation is how he became chief in the first place). When Marge thanks him for saving Homer, Wiggum says that he did not shoot anyone, having lost his gun, badge and nearly his squad car. Unbeknownst to them, the person who saved Homer was Maggie, who fires at the mobsters from her window with a scoped sporting rifle. 

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Bond reluctantly finds himself recruited into a dangerous mission involving an equally dangerous and treacherous alliance of agents from the United States (CIA), the Soviet Union (KGB) and Israel (Mossad). The team, dubbed "Icebreaker", waste no time double-crossing each other. Ostensibly their job is to root out the leader of the murderous National Socialist Action Army (NSAA), Count Konrad von Glöda. The Count used to be known as Arne Tudeer, a one-time Nazi SS officer who now perceives himself as the new Adolf Hitler. The National Socialist Action Army is essentially a new wave of fascism as a means to wipe out communist leaders and supporters around the world. The novel is full of double-crosses and even triple-crosses, where the agents and agencies go without sharing their true loyalties with one another. The American agent, for instance, first appears to be a good guy then later is in cahoots with Glöda, and then still even later is a good guy once again. Things become even more complicated when the Israeli agent, Rivke, is revealed to be the daughter of Glöda/Tudeer and her allegiance, although appearing to be legitimate, is doubtful. The Russian agent also double-crosses Bond in the hope of capturing him for KGB interrogation. Bond gets several weeks of driving training from Erik Carlsson as preparation for this Arctic assignment. 

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After receiving a large inheritance, James Bond 007 is accused of improprieties and drummed out of the British Secret Service. Disgusted with his former employers, Bond places his services on the open market, where he later attracts the attention of representatives of SPECTRE who are quite willing to put their one-time enemy on their payroll. But the whole thing was a hoax, just a plan to get Bond inside the enemy's organization. Prior to joining up, Bond spends a month in Monte Carlo with Miss 'Percy' Proud, a CIA agent who teaches him everything she knows about programming languages and computers in general. This background allows Bond to attract Jay Autem Holy, an agent of SPECTRE who left the Pentagon, faked his death, and later started a computer game company that creates simulations based on real-life battles and wars. Bond's allegiance to SPECTRE is periodically questioned throughout the novel, even at one point going so far as to send Bond to a terrorist training camp (known as "Erewhon") to see if he has 'the right stuff'. Proving his worth, Bond becomes involved in a plot to destabilise the Soviet Union and the United States, by forcing them to rid the world of their nuclear weapons. What SPECTRE leaders Tamil Rahani and Dr. Jay Autem Holy suspect, but never fully realise is that Bond's resignation is false. Along with Bond, the Secret Service plays a vital role in foiling SPECTRE; however, Rahani, the current leader of SPECTRE is able to escape Bond's clutches by parachuting out of an airship over Switzerland. 

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Most of the scenes are set in the corporate boardroom and surrounding offices of Ramsey & Co., a Manhattan industrial empire headed by the ruthless Walter Ramsey. He brings youthful industrial engineer Fred Staples, whose performance at a company Ramsey has recently acquired has impressed him, to do a top executive job at the head office. Ramsey is grooming Staples to replace the aging Bill Briggs as the second in command at the company. Briggs has been with the firm for decades, having worked for and admired the company's founder, Ramsey's father. His concern for the employees clashes repeatedly with Ramsey's ruthless methods. Ramsey will not fire Briggs outright but does everything in his power to sabotage and humiliate him into resigning. The old man stubbornly refuses to give in. Staples has mixed feelings about the messy situation, his ambition conflicting with his sympathy for Briggs. The stress gets to Briggs, who collapses after a confrontation with Ramsey and later dies. This causes a heated showdown between Ramsey and Staples, in which Staples announces he is quitting and Ramsey says that only high performers have any right to leading posts. In the end, Ramsey persuades him to stay, telling him that he is the only one who can function at Briggs's level and that he would not be able to reach his full potential anywhere else. Staples accepts a promotion with double his salary and stock options but warns Ramsey that he will actively work to replace him in the company. Staples also tells Ramsey of Briggs' "one pitiful little dream" of someday walking in and breaking Ramsey's jaw. He now reserves that dream for himself. Ramsey says he'll have it written into the contract agreement and will attach a special rider giving him the same privilege. Ramsey notes that Briggs' son will be "taken care of" and Staples asks if that will let him sleep better tonight. Ramsey smiles and says "It begins." While the film's initial goal was to seemingly deconstruct and examine the world of corporate America, and those at the top of the ladder, it ends endorsing it. That is to say, as long as money and power are at stake, how people are treated in the workplace matters little. 

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En route to retrieve his faithful housekeeper, May, from a European health clinic where she is recovering from an illness, Bond is warned by the British Secret Service that Tamil Rahani, the current leader of SPECTRE, now dying from wounds suffered due to his last encounter with Bond (as described in Role of Honour), has put a price on Bond's head. "Trust no one," Bond is warned. Soon after, May and Miss Moneypenny, who had been visiting his housekeeper are reported missing, and Bond finds himself dodging would-be assassins while searching for his friends, assisted by a young débutante and her capable, yet mysterious, female bodyguard. The price on Bond's head is a competition orchestrated by Rahani and SPECTRE known as 'The Head Hunt', and is an open contest to anyone willing to capture, kill, or present Bond to Rahani, where he would be subsequently decapitated by guillotine. Along Bond's journey of attempting to rescue Moneypenny and May, Bond is betrayed and chased by a number of people and organisations, including his own British Secret Service ally, Steve Quinn who has defected to the KGB, corrupted police officers, and agents of SPECTRE in disguise. 

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No Deals, Mr. Bond begins with a mission in the Baltic Sea dubbed "Seahawk", which involves James Bond stealthily extracting two women that have completed an assignment in East Germany. After accomplishing his mission, the book continues five years later with Bond being called in by M to learn more background into what those women were doing there before being extracted. Their mission, dubbed Cream Cake, was a honey trap that involved getting close to top Soviet personnel as a means to not only spy for the British Secret Service, but to secure the defection of two high ranking Soviet officers, an act that the Soviets occasionally performed against countries of the West. Involving four women and a man, the operation was considered a complete debacle that ended with the members being found out. After being extracted and given new identities, however, two of the women were discovered to have been gruesomely murdered. Bond is subsequently sent by M, "off the record", to find the remaining members of Cream Cake before they suffer the same fate. During the adventure, Bond believes that Colonel Maxim Smolin, the primary target during operation Cream Cake, is systematically killing off the former members of the Cream Cake operation and leaving a signature of having their tongues removed. This, however, is not the case, and, in actuality, Smolin is a turncoat now working with the British Secret Service. Instead, the former members, in addition to Smolin and another Soviet turncoat, Captain Dietrich, are being targeted by General Chernov, an agent of a department formerly known as SMERSH. The situation is further complicated after M gets a message to Bond warning him that one of the surviving Cream Cake members is a double and that he wants Chernov brought in alive. 

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Cheech & Chong are on a mission to siphon gasoline for their next door neighbor's car, which they apparently "borrowed," and continue with their day; Cheech goes to work at a movie studio and Chong searches for something to smoke (a roach), followed by him revving up an indoor motorcycle and playing extremely loud rock music with an electric guitar that disturbs the entire neighborhood. Cheech gets fired from his job and they go to see Donna, a welfare officer and Cheech's girlfriend. Cheech successfully seduces Donna, under her objections, and gets her in trouble with her boss. The doped-up duo are expelled from the building and, in an attempt to find alternative means of income start writing songs like, "Mexican Americans" and "Beaners." Cheech answers the phone call from Donna, sets up a date, and goes to tell Chong to get lost so he can clean the house and get ready for Donna. The phone rings again with Cheech thinking it's Donna and turns out to be Red, Cheech's "kinda" cousin, with money problems and a plea for help. Cheech asks Chong to pick up his cousin and hang out with him as Cheech informs him they have similar interests like "go to clubs," "get plenty of chicks," and "likes to get high." Chong heads off to the hotel where Red is staying and arrives to find him in a dispute with the receptionist over how much the room is costing ("$37.50 a week, not a goddamned day!"). The receptionist is holding his luggage, consisting of a boom-box, a suitcase, and a 20-pound canvas bag full of high-grade marijuana, hostage and Red can't afford the bill. They break into the room around the back and Red retrieves his luggage and the receptionist is falsely arrested after calling the cops to arrest Chong and Red but accidentally assaults them and is taken away to jail. Later, on the corner, a roller-skater invites them to a "party," which is in fact a brothel. They are kicked out of the place for causing too much commotion, sharing weed with the girls, and peeing in the Jacuzzi. They then play a recording from Red's boombox that Red recorded earlier when the police arrived at the hotel he was staying at over the dispute with his luggage, which scares everyone off. One of the girls from the brothel accompanies them and they all go onto Sunset Boulevard in search of adventure and more highness. After visiting the house of a girl's parents, whom they found at a music store on Ventura Boulevard, they all get into the parents' Rolls Royce, light up a spliff, and drive to a stand-up comedy club where they tell jokes and encounter the angry hotel receptionist who was falsely arrested earlier that day and begin a commotion with him and a large female bouncer leading to a rally fight. Later that night, they are chased by the cops as they check out Red's weed fields out in the countryside. They set off fireworks and are suddenly abducted by a UFO along with several of the cannabis plants. Cheech meanwhile gets so pumped and excited about the date that he wears himself out and ends up sleeping through it, while dreaming about what might have happened. He wakes up in the morning to find Chong (who was abducted by Aliens alongside Red) bursting in, dressed in what appears to be a cross between Genghis Khan and a Viking, holding a jar of "space coke", which Chong says, "It'll blow your head off." The "space coke" causes Cheech to go berserk and starts trashing their next door neighbor's house with a surprised Chong following after. The film ends with the duo bursting through their neighbor's roof into outer space, achieving the ultimate high and Chong dropping the "space coke" back to Earth for others to try which leads to an animated sequence with Cheech and Chong ascending into a blunt which then takes off displaying the caption "That's It Man!" 

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Declan Desmond, an opinionated British documentary film producer, films a documentary at Springfield Elementary School on the students' lives. He interviews Bart as he gets hit by a ball of dirt thrown by Nelson and breaks down in tears. Later, Declan belittles Lisa as she talks about the multiplicity of her interests, insinuating that she could neither be happy nor successful juggling too many hobbies or passions. Hurt by his criticism, Lisa resolves to find a single passion to which she can devote herself; astronomy. She convinces Homer to buy her a telescope, but discovers that light pollution from the city is blocking her view of the sky. After a discussion with Professor Frink, Lisa starts a petition to reduce the city's light pollution. After gaining enough signatures, Mayor Quimby agrees to turn off the streetlights, leading to a clear view of the stars, at which many people from Springfield marvel. Meanwhile, Bart is looking for a way to regain his popularity after being humiliated. After seeing Nelson parading around with stolen car hood ornaments, he decides to steal one off Fat Tony's car. Milhouse and Bart are foiled on their first attempt because Quimby is pressured to switch the lights back on due to rising crime. Yet the light level is set too high which means that no one can sleep so Lisa, still wanting to see the light pollution reduced, and Bart, still wanting to steal Fat Tony's hood ornament, take a now sleep-deprived Homer to the power plant and overload the generators causing a power outage, which ends the light pollution, but before the angry citizens can attack, Lisa points out a meteor shower and the town looks on in wonderment while Bart sneaks off and steals Fat Tony's hood ornament, with Don McLean's song Vincent playing in the background . The show ends with a montage of clips from Declan's documentary. 

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Lee Majors plays Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stunt man who moonlights as a bounty hunter. He uses his physical skills and knowledge of stunt effects (especially stunts involving cars or his large GMC pickup truck) to capture fugitives and criminals. He is accompanied by his cousin and stuntman-in-training Howie Munson (Barr), who studied in Nashville - whom Colt frequently calls "Kid", and occasionally by fellow stunt performer Jody Banks (Thomas). 

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Based on historic events, this dramatic film concerns the 1939 voyage of , which departed from Hamburg carrying 937 Jews from Germany, ostensibly bound for Havana, Cuba. The passengers, having seen and suffered rising anti-Semitism in Germany, realised this might be their only chance to escape. The film details the emotional journey of the passengers, who gradually become aware that their passage was planned as an exercise in propaganda, and that it had never been intended that they disembark in Cuba. Rather, they were to be set up as pariahs, to set an example before the world. As a Nazi official states in the film, when the whole world has refused to accept the Jews as refugees, no country can blame Germany for their fate. The Cuban government refuses entry to the passengers, and the liner heads to the United States. As it waits off the Florida coast, the passengers learn that the United States also has rejected them, leaving the captain no choice but to return to Europe. The captain tells a confidante that he has received a letter signed by 200 passengers saying they will join hands and jump into the sea rather than return to Germany. He states his intention to run the liner aground on a reef off the southern coast of England, to allow the passengers to be rescued and reach safety there. Shortly before the film's end, it is revealed that the governments of Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have each agreed to accept a share of the passengers as refugees. As they cheer and clap at the news, footnotes disclose the fates of some of the main characters, suggesting that more than 600 of the 937 passengers, who did not resettle in the United Kingdom but in the other European nations, ultimately were deported and were murdered in Nazi concentration camps. 

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The premise of the show is fairly simple: long, long ago, the race of Nisser lived happily in Denmark getting up to mischief with the humans, drinking, and making merry. Then the "Nå-såere" came - evil, vampire-esque creatures with an unhealthy obsession for money and counting - and almost eradicated the Nisser. A few Nisser survived and escaped to America, among them good old Gammelnok (literally, "old enough", the one character not to be played by a member of De Nattergale), who is now on the brink of death, as the music box that plays his life tune needs to be wound up. Gammelnok gathers three of the remaining Nisser (Hansi, Günther, and Fritz (all distinctly German-sounding names)) and sends them off to Denmark, to find the old Nisse cave where the key to wind up the music box is. He gives them The Big Book to take with them, an ancient tome that contains the answer to any and all questions, warning them to take great care that it does not fall into the hands of a Nå-såer. If this were to happen, all would be lost. They are also warned to take care, as the Nå-såere nowadays have taken the appearance of normal humans, but when they consume alcohol, they regain their original appearance, with fangs, and thick-rimmed glasses. The three merrily set off, and this is where the first episode begins. One of the quirks of the series, and one which made up a good share of its appeal, is the strange language that the Nisser speak. They themselves call it English, but it is an odd mixture of both Danish and English vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure, leading to some very humorous phrases and structures (at least, to anyone who speaks both English and Danish). This was likely a good-natured jest at the heavy Danish accent that many Danes speak with, and the (back then) fairly low level of English proficiency of Danes, especially outside of large cities. Examples of particularly interesting, odd, or funny phrases are listed here (without an understanding of Danish, the humour will likely be lost): *"He who first gets to the mill is he who first gets painted" *"Think you da lige a little about" *"Let us straks try to smake it!" *"That is der simpelthen overhead not noget to do with" Additionally, key characters, events, or items are also called by odd hybrid names: the music box, for example, is a play dåse, Father Christmas is the Christmas man and the act of wood-carving is called "snitting". Since De Nattergale are actually musicians (albeit comedy musicians), the Nisser often burst into song, or find excuses to work music into each episode. Another large part of the appeal are the highly stereotypical Danes that the same three actors also play: Oluf and Gertrud Sand, a country bumpkin couple that live and work on a potato farm in Jutland, and Benny Jensen, a travelling salesman (or so he claims) from Copenhagen (who turns out to be a Nå-såer). Oluf and Gertrud speak with a broad country dialect, often leading to Benny misunderstanding what they say. There is also a large clash between the two different ways of life (as Benny comes to move in with Oluf and Gertrud in an early episode, as his car runs out of petrol, punctures, breaks down completely, and then gets stolen, supposedly by the "Polish Mafia"). Benny also thinks Oluf's father's name, Anders Sand, is funny, because it closely resembles Anders And, the Danish name for Donald Duck. 

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Janosch (Sascha Backhaus) has problems at school and despises the lifestyle of his bourgeois mother. He runs away from home, to his friend Koma (Simon Goerts), who he had met at a holiday camp. Koma is an Oi! skinhead (also known as a punk-skinhead). He is a particular sort of skinhead who has little political motivations, preferring a lifestyle of partying and binge drinking, and whose musical tastes are a synthesis of skinhead and punk rock music. Koma's girlfriend is pregnant, and wants him to change his ways. She blows up his secret hideaway with dynamite, but this only infuriates Koma, who blames this on the punks he had gotten into a fight with previously. Meanwhile, Janosch meets Zottel (Jens Veith), a punk who earns a living with small circus acts at wealthy people's parties. The two fall in love, but their happiness is cut short when Koma attacks Zottel and kills him. In a fit of fury, Janosch grabs a brick and slays Koma. 

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Gordon Miller (Groucho Marx), a flat-broke theatrical producer, whose staff includes Harry Binelli (Chico) and Faker Englund (Harpo), is told by his brother-in-law Joseph Gribble (Cliff Dunstan), manager of the White Way Hotel, that he and his cast of twenty-two actors, who have run up an enormous bill of $1,200, have to leave the hotel immediately or face the wrath of supervising director Gregory Wagner (Donald MacBride). Miller has assembled the cast and crew of his play, Hail and Farewell, in the hotel ballroom. Miller is planning on skipping out on the hotel without paying the bill when he receives word that one of his actresses, Christine Marlowe (Lucille Ball), has arranged for a backer. Miller must keep his room and hide the cast and crew until the meeting with the backer can take place. At the same time, Wagner discovers the debt. Assured by Gribble that Miller had skipped, Wagner is surprised to find Miller still in his room, now joined by the play's author, Leo Davis (Frank Albertson), who has arrived in town and checked into Miller's room. When Wagner threatens to evict Miller before the backer can arrive, Miller and Binelli convince Davis to pretend to be sick. To obtain food, Miller promises waiter Sasha Smirnoff (Alexander Asro) a part in the play. When Davis leaves to meet with girlfriend Hilda Manney (Ann Miller), Englund takes over as the sick patient examined by a doctor brought in by Mr. Wagner. Wagner leaves to confront the crowd in the ballroom, while the doctor examines the patient. To delay the doctor giving his report to Wagner, Binelli and Miller tie him up, gag him, and lock him in the bathroom. The agent for Mr. Fisk arrives to sign over the cheque, the doctor breaks free in the bathroom, and the agent is hit on the head accidentally as Englund chases a flying turkey around with a baseball bat. The agent just wants to escape the madness, but reluctantly signs over the cheque, and leaves. Davis returns and says he heard the agent saying he'll cancel the check, and just signed it to get out of the room. Wagner is fooled into believing all is okay, and upgrades the boys to a fancier room. Later, as the play is about to open, the cheque from Fisk bounces, Miller, Binelli, and Englund manipulate Wagner into believing he's driven the play's author to take poison. They pretend to give Davis large quantities of Ipecac (which is actually drunk by Englund), and he eventually pretends to die. Then Englund disappears and reappears pretending to have committed suicide. Wagner is bluffed into believing it's all his fault and helps take the "body" down to the alley. As Miller and Wagner prop Englund on a crate, a passing policeman asks what's going on. Miller bluffs their way out of the situation, so he and Wagner make an escape, leaving Englund "asleep". They go to watch the end of the play, which is a scene where the miners are bringing a body from out of the mine. The body on the stretcher is Englund's. Wagner realizes he's been duped as the play is greeted with thunderous applause and a revived Davis appears next to Wagner, causing him to faint. 

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Department Store owner Hiram Phelps has died, leaving half-ownership in the Phelps Department Store to his nephew, singer Tommy Rogers. The other half is left to Hiram's sister and Tommy's aunt, Martha Phelps (Margaret Dumont). Rogers has no interest in running a department store, so he plans to sell his interest in the store and use the money to build a music conservatory. Store manager Grover (Douglass Dumbrille) plots to kill Rogers before he can sell his half of the business, marry the wealthy Martha, then likely kill her too, becoming sole owner of the Phelps Department Store. Martha is highly suspicious, worried about Tommy's safety lest anyone suspect her of foul play to take over the store. Against Grover's wishes, she hires private detective Wolf J. Flywheel (Groucho) as a floorwalker and Tommy's bodyguard. Between Tommy's romance with store employee Joan Sutton (Virginia Grey) and Flywheel romancing Martha, Flywheel, Ravelli (Chico) and Wacky (Harpo) eventually expose Grover and save Tommy. 

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Medical student Paula Henning wins a place in a summer course at the University of Heidelberg, where her grandfather had been a noted professor. During one of her classes on anatomy, the body of David, a young man whom Paula encountered on her train to Heidelberg, turns up on her dissection table. Paula's instructor, Professor Grombek, humiliates her by daring her to dissect the heart. Paula finds that David's body presents strange cuts, and decides to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death. When she goes to cut a sample for an independent test, she is amazed to find a triple "A" mark near David's ankle. She is then startled by the school's mortuary attendant, who wants to know if Professor Grombek is aware of her acts. Paula finds clues pointing to an ancient secret society, the Anti- Hippocratic Society, which performs gruesome experiments on living people deemed undesirable. Paula also comes across research about the rituals that they perform on transgressors of their rules, or those who inquire too much. One night, Paula sits on her bed and realizes it has been soaked in blood, with candles left under it, as a sign of warning from the Society. She then attacks a figure that enters her room, who turns out to be her friend Hein, who wants someone to talk to over his recent breakup from his girlfriend Gretchen. Casper, Paula's romantic interest, also enters the room and becomes furious that she is not alone. Hein leaves, apparently more at peace. As Gretchen and her new boyfriend prepare to have sex in one of the morgue halls, Hein murders the other man in a jealous rage. He then injects Gretchen with poison, telling her that he will preserve her body. Hein hides it in the morgue and removes the head to prevent identification. He is so absorbed in the labor that he falls asleep without having dispatched the other body. When Paula tries to share her findings about the Society with Hein the next day, he menacingly tells her it's dangerous to know too much. Grombek reveals that her grandfather was a member, and that the drug he became famous for developing was the result of his experiments in Nazi concentration camps. She flees to the hospital to confront her grandfather, but is told that he has died. At the assembly of the Society, Hein expresses no remorse for the murders and defiantly accepts their punishment, slashing himself three times in the face. Grombek takes responsibility for the killings and leaves to call the authorities to arrest Hein. Later, while Paula destroys the diplomas granted to her grandfather, a crazed Hein kills Grombek in his house. Paula gets back to the school but is trapped by Hein and his accomplice, Phil. While they are preparing her for preservation, her bindings are partially cut by Casper. Paula gets loose, poisons Phil, and runs away until Hein strikes a high voltage cable and dies. Casper and Paula then escape together. Halfway through the end credits, a sequence shows two of Paula's classmates praising Hein's abilities in dissection and preservation, discuss Grombek's imminent replacement, and how in their respective practices they will keep a low profile while experimenting for the Anti-Hippocratic Society. 

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M receives word that a terrorist organisation known as BAST (Brotherhood of Anarchy and Secret Terrorism) is planning to infiltrate and destroy a top-secret Royal Navy aircraft carrier-based summit, the "Stewards' Meeting", scheduled a year hence, comprising American President George H. W. Bush, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. James Bond is returned to active duty in the Royal Navy and promoted from Commander to Captain, in order to infiltrate the aircraft carrier HMS Invincible and identify potential sleeper agents. In the months leading to the top-secret summit, Bond spends his time training at Yeovilton learning to fly a Navy Sea Harrier jet. Learning of Bond's mission, BAST decides that he is a hindrance to their plans and attempts to kill him by attempting to shoot him down during a Sea Harrier training exercise. Later, when Bond goes on holiday in Italy, another attempt is made on his life. Bond escapes, but is apparently unable to save his then- current girlfriend, Beatrice Maria da Ricci. Returning from holiday Bond boards HMS Invincible and is tasked with security for the "Stewards' Meeting", all while a massive war game is being carried out among the American, British, and Soviet Navies, known as Landsea '89. Before long Bond is at the centre of a murder investigation of an American Naval Intelligence officer, and he leaves to report the incident, BAST executes its plans to capture the ship and hold the world's three most powerful leaders for a $600 billion ransom. 

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After expressing frustration over a lack of action after his year-long mission with the Royal Navy (as detailed in Win, Lose or Die), Bond threatens to resign. Instead, M orders Bond to take a vacation. Bond travels to Victoria, British Columbia where he is intrigued by Lee Fu- Chu, a half-Blackfoot, half-Chinese philanthropist who is known as "Brokenclaw" because of a deformed hand. Later, Bond is ordered to San Francisco where he is tasked to investigate the kidnapping of several scientists who have been working on a new submarine detection system and an "antidote" known as LORDS and LORDS DAY. Bond and CIA agent Chi-Chi Sue go undercover using the codenames Peter Abelard and Héloïse that were assigned to two agents from the People's Republic of China that are sent to evaluate the submarine technology before purchasing it. Ultimately, Bond discovers that Brokenclaw is involved in this scheme on behalf of China, and also has plans of his own which involve sparking a worldwide economic disaster by bringing about the collapse of the dollar by tapping into the New York Stock Exchange, which would in turn bring down other major currencies worldwide. The plan, dubbed Operation Jericho was a long-term plan initially started by the Japanese, but now believed to have been worked on simultaneously by the Chinese before being acquired by Brokenclaw. Brokenclaw's hideout in California is raided by Special Forces after he is located by Naval Intelligence officer Ed Rushia who was searching and attempting to help Bond and Chi-Chi while on their mission. Brokenclaw escapes the raid only to be tracked down by Bond and Rushia, off the books, to the Chelan Mountains of Washington where Bond is challenged to a torture ritual known as o-kee-pa. In the end, the competition comes down to a fight between the two using bow and arrows; Brokenclaw barely misses Bond and in turn is shot through the neck by Bond's arrow. 

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The Man from Barbarossa begins with a prelude that includes some background information on the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union codenamed Operation Barbarossa, the massacre at Babi Yar that occurred not long after, and information on Josif Voronstov, a fictional character said to be a deputy of real-life Paul Blobel who was primarily responsible for the massacre. When the story begins, an elderly American living in New Jersey is kidnapped by a Russian terrorist group called the "Scales of Justice". The man, Joel Penderek, was captured under the belief that he is Josif Voronstov, the war criminal partially responsible for the massacre at Babi Yar. The group demands the Soviet government put the man on trial for his crimes, and begins murdering government officials when leaders refuse and are slow to react. The situation is slightly more complicated as the CIA and the Mossad believe Voronstov to be a man located in Florida who they had under surveillance. Captain James Bond is partnered with an Israeli Mossad agent, Pete Natkowitz, and two agents from the French Secret Service, Henri Rampart and Stephanie Adoré. They are assigned to work with Bory Stepakov and his assistant Nina Bibikova from the KGB to infiltrate the Scales of Justice posing as a TV crew so as to discover their real motive. Accomplishing this, they learn that the group plans to sabotage perestroika and supply Iraq with nuclear weapons before the United Nations-led coalition invades. The man behind the Scales of Justice, General Yevgeny Yuskovich, is a cousin of Josif Voronstov who is identified as Joel Penderek. The trial was staged in order to shift focus away from Yuskovich's other plans. 

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The aftermath of the Cold War provides the setting for the plot of Death Is Forever. After the deaths of a British Intelligence agent and an American agent with the CIA working in Germany under mysterious and surprisingly old-fashioned circumstances, James Bond and CIA agent Elizabeth Zara ("Easy") St. John are assigned to track down the surviving members of "Cabal", a Cold War-era intelligence network that received a mysterious and unauthorised signal to disband. Soon, Bond finds himself playing a life-or-death game of "Who do You Trust?" as he and Easy track down Wolfgang Weisen, the power responsible for killing off Cabal's members one by one. Bond uncovers Weisen's plot to kill off the heads of each European country during the inaugural run of the Eurostar from London to Paris in an effort to create havoc in the west and usher in a second era of Communism. More than most other Gardner novels, Death Is Forever is grounded in contemporary events, with the fallout from the end of the Cold War and the failed 1991 Russian coup being important backdrops to the story. The Eurotunnel connecting England and France, which was still under construction at the time the book was written, also serves as a major setting. 

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A murder in Switzerland of Laura March with MI5 connections follows assassinations in Rome, London, Paris & Washington. Left at each scene is a rose with marks of drops of blood on the petal. Bond is sent to investigate where he meets the lovely Swiss agent Fredericka von Grüsse whom he later calls Flicka when on better terms. Trails lead to a former international stage actor, David Dragonpol, a friend of March who lives in a castle on the Rhine called Schloss Drache which he is turning into a theatre museum. They also meet a widow and flower grower, Maeve Horton. 

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With the help of his latest girlfriend Flicka von Grüsse, James goes after billionaire Sir Maxwell Tarn, who thinks he's the next Hitler. Captain Bond now works for MicroGlobe One rather than an ill M whom he visits to cheer up and keep informed of the plot. The global trail takes 007 to Puerto Rico via Spain, Israel and Germany. During the story, Bond proposes to Flicka. An old friend reappears to aid James and split up this spy twosome. 

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The novel is split into two books, one called "Cold Front" and the second entitled "Cold Conspiracy". The time between each book appears to be the time period allotted to Gardner's previous Bond outings, Never Send Flowers and SeaFire. The story opens with the crash of a Boeing 747-400 at Dulles International Airport in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., and the apparent death of Bond's friend and lover, the Principessa Sukie Tempesta. Bond is then sent by M to the airport with an investigation team which leads to meetings with FBI agent Eddie Rhabb. The main action takes place in Italy at the home of the Tempesta brothers, Luigi and Angelo, where Bond gets caught in the act with one of the brothers' wives. As James later explains to M, the lady made the advances. The enemy of the story is provided by a terrorist army called COLD, which stands for Children Of the Last Days. 

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The Facts of Death starts off with several deaths from mysterious diseases. We first find Bond in Cyprus, where a number of British troops have been discovered murdered under mysterious circumstances. Bond gets too close for comfort to the group behind the murders and is attacked, but rescued by a fiery Greek agent, Niki Mirakos, who becomes Bond's love interest. Bond then returns to Britain, where he is invited to attend a dinner party being held by Sir Miles Messervy, the former M. The current M and her boyfriend are also in attendance, and the latter is murdered after the party. M then tells Bond that all of the killings are connected--near all the bodies were statues of Greek deities and numbers, keeping a running count of the victims. Bond is sent to Greece and partnered with Niki. They are both suspicious of an internationally-known mathematic cult called the Decada. The head of the group is a Greek mathematician, Konstantine Romanos. Bond goes to a casino about two hours away from Athens and beats Romanos in a game of bacaraat, catching the attention of an attractive woman named Hera Volopoulos, also a member of the Decada. After she and Bond make love, she drugs Bond and takes him to Konstantine. Konstantine orders Hera to kill Bond, but he manages to escape. Bond realizes that Konstantine plans to start a major war between Greece and Turkey, and locates his hideout just in time to witness Hera murder Konstantine. She leaves Bond to stop a nuclear missile that will be fired from Greece into Turkey. Hera's plan is to profit the chaos ensuing after she releases a new virus worldwide. Bond, with assistance from the Greek military, kills her and stops the missile. 

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Bond faces off against a ruthless terrorist organization called "The Union", whose trademark assassination technique is throat-slitting. Bond and his girlfriend Helena are attending a dinner party thrown by a former Governor of the Bahamas. The Governor, who owes a gambling debt to a member of The Union, has refused to pay up since he believes he was cheated. Accordingly, there is a heightened security presence at the event. However, an assassin disguises himself as one of the guards and kills the Governor, just as Bond realizes the danger. Bond almost catches the assassin, who commits suicide before he can be interrogated. A top secret British formula hidden in microfilm, codenamed "Skin 17", is stolen by two traitors, scientist Steven Harding and RAF officer Roland Marquis. The microdot is surgically implanted in the pacemaker of an unhealthy old man, a former Chinese intelligence agent. Bond is sent to recover it before the Union can sell the microfilm to a foreign power. Bond tracks Harding and the Chinese ex-agent to Belgium, but they slip away while Bond kills Harding's bodyguard Basil. MI6 tracks the Chinese man to Nepal. It turns out, however, that Harding plans to double-cross the Union by having the plane of the pacemaker's host hijacked. Le Gerrant, the blind leader of The Union, immediately deduces Harding's double-cross and has him executed; Harding's body later washes up on the beach at Gibraltar. The plane containing the pacemaker's host crashed in the Himalayas, so a deadly race commences to recover Skin 17. Bond, sexy mountaineer Hope Kendal, and Roland Marquis, also Bond's rival from schoolboy days, lead one of the expeditions. Early on, they destroy the Chinese base camp, forcing that team to withdraw. Not long after, however, everyone on the British expedition has been killed, save for Bond, Hope, and Marquis. It turns out that Marquis is in on the theft with Harding, though they don't plan to sell it to The Union. The race climaxes with Bond battling Marquis atop the peak of Kangchenjunga. After a physical high- elevation fight, Bond trades oxygen from a mortally wounded Marquis for Skin 17. Bond and Hope return to base camp to find Paul Baack, a team member believed to have died with the rest, who reveals his affiliation with the Union and demands Skin 17. Bond and Hope manage to kill Baack and Skin 17 is returned to the British. Bond's now-estranged girlfriend Helena reveals herself to be in the employ of The Union due to blackmail and threats of violence to her family. However, she is killed just before Bond can reach her. 

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DoubleShot, the second novel in Raymond Benson's Union trilogy, again sets James Bond, 007 against the evil terrorist organization called the Union. Still smarting from their last encounter with 007 when he foiled their plans to get Skin 17 in High Time to Kill, the Union has decided that Britain and James Bond are their new number one priority, and targets. Coming up with an elaborate plan to plunge Britain into war and destroy Bond's reputation in the process, the Union sets up their scheme. Domingo Espada, a Spanish Nationalist/Gangster/Ex-Matador who wishes to see Gibraltar returned to Spain from Britain, is approached by Nadir Yassasin, the Union's master strategist, as the centrepiece to their plan. They plan to help Espada forcefully take control of Gibraltar, killing the British Prime Minister and the Governor of Gibraltar, and having a Bond-Double do it, thus ruining Bond's career and life. But first, through an elaborate series of events, they convince Bond he is losing his mind, and force him to investigate these happenings on his own, without approval from M or SIS. Since Bond's return from the Himalayas, he begins experiencing terrible headaches, hallucinations, and black-outs. This leads him to Dr. Kimberly Feare. She diagnoses a lesion on the back of Bond's skull that is causing these symptoms. After getting Dr. Feare in bed, Bond wakes up to find her murdered, her throat slit ear-to-ear, the Union's mark. This causes Bond to leave England. Bond's trek takes him from England to Tangier, where he encounters the Taunt twins, Heidi and Hedy, CIA agents asked by M to bring him back to London. Here Bond finds the connection between the Union and Espada, and that he has some part in the Union's plan. Convincing M and the Taunts to play out his hand, Bond goes to Spain. On arrival in Spain, he encounters Margareta Piel, Espada's female assassin and a member of the Union. Followed closely by the climax of Bond vs. his double in Espada's practice bullfighting ring, and the culmination of the Union's plot at the Gibraltar peace conference, Bond takes his double's place and along with the Taunt twins, prevent the assassinations, kills Espada, Piel, Jimmy Powers (a high-ranking American in the Union, and their number one expert in stealth and tailing), and captures Yassasin, foiling the Union's plans once again. 

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It begins when a police raid goes horribly wrong, killing innocent men, women, and even children. Bond knows the Union is behind the carnage, and vows to take them down once and for all. His hunt takes him to Paris, into a deadly game of predator and prey, and a fateful meeting with the seductive Tylyn Mignonne, a movie star with a sordid past, who may lead Bond to his final target—or his own violent end. Eventually it leads him to the Union's latest attack on society, which involves Tylyn's husband, Leon Essinger, and his new movie, Pirate Island, which stars Tylyn. (US Paperback) The conclusion to Benson’s Union Trilogy. Locations are Nice, Paris, Cannes, Monte Carlo, Corsica (also Los Angeles, Japan, and Chicago briefly). 

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On a flight from Japan to the United Kingdom, a young Japanese woman dies of a mysterious illness. The illness is a mutated version of the West Nile virus. James Bond finds out that not only was she the daughter of an important Japanese businessman, her entire family is also dead. James Bond travels to Japan in search of the killer. Here Bond reunites with his longtime friend Tiger Tanaka, who introduces him to a female Japanese agent who is later killed by the mutant virus. 

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Charlie Bucket and his family live in poverty near the Wonka Factory. The company's owner, Willy Wonka, has long closed his factory due to problems concerning industrial espionage committed by Wonka's jealous rivals (Arthur Slugworth, Fickelgruber and Prodnose), that led him to fire all of his employees, including Charlie's Grandpa Joe. Charlie's father, Mr. Bucket, meanwhile, has recently been made redundant at work, after a robot took over his job at a toothpaste factory. One day, Wonka announces a contest in which Golden Tickets have been placed in five random Wonka Bars worldwide, including Tokyo in Japan, Marrakesh in Morocco and New York City, and the winners will receive a full tour of the factory as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate, while one will receive an additional special prize at the end of the tour. Wonka's sales subsequently skyrocket, and the first four tickets are found fairly quickly. The recipients are Augustus Gloop, a gluttonous German boy from Düsseldorf, Germany; Veruca Salt, a spoiled wealthy English girl from Buckinghamshire, England; Violet Beauregarde, an arrogant gum chewer from Atlanta, Georgia; and Mike Teavee, an ill-tempered television and video game addict from Denver, Colorado. Charlie tries twice to find a ticket, but both bars come up empty. After overhearing that the final ticket was found in Russia, Charlie finds a ten-dollar note and purchases a Wonka Bar at a news shop. At the exact moment it is revealed that the Russian ticket was forged, Charlie discovers the real ticket inside the wrapper. Charlie receives monetary offers for the ticket, but the cashier tells him to not trade it at any cost, and Charlie runs back home. At home, Charlie says that he wants to trade it for money for his family's betterment, but after a pep talk from Grandpa George (who tells Charlie that "only a dummy" would give up an extremely rare Golden Ticket "for something as common as money"), he decides to keep it and brings Grandpa Joe to accompany him on the factory tour. Charlie and the other ticket holders are greeted outside the factory by Wonka, who then leads them into the facility. Individual character flaws cause the other four children to give into temptation, resulting in their elimination from the tour; while the Oompa-Loompas (inhabitants of Loompaland) sing a song of morality after each elimination. During the tour, flashbacks reveal Wonka's troubled past; his father, a prominent dentist named Wilbur, strictly forbade Wonka from consuming candy due to the potential risks to his teeth, and also made Wonka wear uncomfortable braces. After sneaking a piece of candy, Wonka instantly became hooked, and ran away from home to follow his dreams. When he returned later on, both his father and their house were gone. After the tour, the four eliminated children leave the factory with an exaggerated characteristic or deformity related to their elimination; while Charlie learns that Wonka, now approaching retirement, intended to find a worthy heir to his factory. Since Charlie was the "least rotten" of the five, Wonka invites Charlie to come live and work in the factory with him, on the condition that Charlie leave his family behind, just as Wonka did. Charlie declines, as his family is the most important thing in his life. But Grandma Georgina states that things will get better. Charlie and his family live contently a while later; however, Wonka is too depressed to make candy the way he used to, causing his candy to sell poorly and his company to decline. He turns to Charlie for advice. Charlie decides to help Wonka reconcile with his estranged father; Wonka finally realizes the value of family, while his father learns to accept his son for who he is, and not what he does. Afterwards, Wonka allows Charlie and his family to move into the factory together. 

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Officer Frank Williams (Steven Vidler) and his partner Blaine investigate an abandoned house, where they find a young woman with her eyes ripped out. A large figure with an axe then murders Blaine and Frank has his arm chopped off before he is able to shoot the attacker in the head. Afterwards, detectives find seven bodies in the house, all of which have had their eyes ripped out. Four years later, Frank and his partner Hannah take a group of delinquents - Christine (Christina Vidal), Kira (Samantha Noble), Michael (Luke Pegler), Tyson (Michael J. Pagan), Zoe (Rachel Taylor), Melissa (Penny McNamee), Richie (Craig Horner), and Russell (Mikhael Wilder) to clean up the abandoned Blackwell Hotel in order to turn it into a homeless shelter, as explained by the owner Margaret (Cecily Polson). That night, while Michael, Zoe, Russell, and Melissa go upstairs to the penthouse, Tyson and Richie decide to look for the previous owner's safe, and find what appears to be the body of a recently deceased man. Richie panics and runs off, only to be dragged into an elevator with a hook by Jacob Goodnight (Kane). When Margaret mentions the elevator is being used, Hannah goes to check on the group, but is killed in the elevator. Christine tries to help Kira escape the hotel, but Jacob attacks Kira with his hook and drags her into a dumbwaiter. Christine and Frank go upstairs to find the others, and run into Tyson who tells them what happened to Richie. Frank realizes it must be Jacob and is then pulled into the ceiling by the hook and killed. Kira is held hostage by Jacob because of her religious tattoos, and is kept captive in a cage where she witnesses Richie having his eyes torn out. Melissa and Russell go off into a room on their own, but are chased by Jacob. Russell tries to lower Melissa out of a window, but he is killed by Jacob. Then, Jacob drops Melissa out the window. She survives her fall, but then she is killed by a pack of stray dogs. Jacob then attacks Michael and Zoe. Zoe nearly escapes from Jacob but her cell phone rings, alerting Jacob to her location. He subsequently kills her by forcing the cell phone down her throat. Michael finds Christine and Tyson as they try to rescue Kira, but they are attacked again by Jacob, who knocks out Michael while the other two escape up the elevator shaft. The pair find Kira but are interrupted by Jacob before they can release her. Tyson creates a distraction but is electrocuted with his own taser and crushed with the bank vault. Margaret then shows up, and reveals herself as Jacob's mother, who lured Frank back to the hotel to get revenge on him for shooting her son, and explains the prisoners are merely a "bonus". Margaret attempts to shoot Kira, but Jacob intervenes and throws her headfirst into a nail on the wall. Michael reappears to help the girls battle Jacob, and the trio is eventually able to stab him through the eye with a pipe and throw him out of a window, where his heart is impaled by a shard of glass, apparently killing him. 

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In Iraq, John Triton, a U.S. Marine arrives at an al-Qaeda hideout, where a group of terrorists are preparing to behead several hostages. Disregarding direct orders to wait for reinforcements, Triton attacks the extremists and rescues the hostages. The next morning, his colonel informs Triton that he is being honorably discharged for disobeying direct orders. Now retired, Triton finds it hard to settle back into normal life. He is fired from his job as a security guard for using excessive force on an employee's ex-boyfriend and his bodyguards. Triton's wife Kate decides the two need a vacation to help Triton adjust to his new life. Meanwhile, criminal Rome robs a jewelry store with his gang: girlfriend Angela, Morgan, Vescera, and Bennett. Rome is in collusion with an anonymous partner, with whom he is planning on sharing the profits from the diamonds. On the run, the gang stops at a gas station where Triton and Kate have stopped. When two policemen arrive to buy gas, Morgan shoots and kills one of the officers, causing Rome to shoot the other officer while Angela kills the gas station attendant. When Triton reacts to Kate being kidnapped, Bennett knocks him out. Triton regains consciousness and gives chase in the policemen's car. The chase leads to a lake, where Triton falls out of the patrol car and into the lake, seemingly to his death. Rome and his gang walk through a swamp to avoid the police. Kate tries to escape several times. Triton emerges from the lake to find Detective Van Buren, who is pursuing the gang. Van Buren denies Triton permission to pursue the gang, but Triton heads into the swamp anyway. After an altercation between Morgan and Vescera, Rome decides to kill Vescera. Rome gets a call from his anonymous partner, and Rome tells him that he intends to cut the partner out of the deal. The gang arrives at a lodge and decide to rest there for the time being. Meanwhile, Triton is kidnapped by two fugitives who believe he is a police officer looking for them. He subdues them and tracks the gang to the lodge. He kills Morgan and Bennett then drags the bodies under the lodge, where he again meets Detective Van Buren. Kate rushes out of the lodge, but Angela attacks and recaptures her. Meanwhile, Triton enters the lodge and finds himself face- to-face with Rome and his gun. Van Buren enters the room but points his gun at Triton, revealing himself to be the anonymous partner. Rome opens fire on Triton, who uses Van Buren as a human shield, killing him. Rome makes his escape and joins up with Angela and Kate before firing at a gasoline tank and blowing up the lodge. Triton makes a narrow escape, having been blown into the swamp. Rome escapes in Van Buren's car, but abandons it due to a police tracking device. Angela seduces then kills a truck driver for his truck. Triton is arrested by a marine patrol officer, but steals the officer's vessel after handcuffing him. He races to the marina that is Rome's destination, jumping on Rome's truck, throwing Angela into the windshield of an oncoming bus, killing her and spilling the diamonds. Rome scrapes Triton off the truck by driving into the side of a building, careening through a warehouse, then leaps out just before the truck crashes into a lake. Triton then stumbles out, leaving Rome in the fiery warehouse, then rescues Kate, who is drowning in the truck. A badly-burned Rome returns and tries to choke Triton with a chain. Triton kills Rome by breaking his neck with the chain. The final scene depicts Triton and Kate kissing as the police arrive. 

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When a female agent in Mexico is killed before Helm can complete his mission to extract her, he finds himself teamed up with the woman's sister as he fights to save the lives of a number of scientists and Congressmen. 

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Matt Helm conducts a by-the-book assassination in the (fictional) Central American nation of Costa Verde. Afterwards, he finds himself pursuing an ex-Nazi named von Sachs, who has obtained one of the nuclear missiles that had been bound for Cuba during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and who is threatening the United States with the weapon. Along the way he finds himself working with a Russian agent named Vadya (who would return in later Helm adventures). 

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Rudolf "Dolf" Wega is a fifteen-year- old who volunteers for an experiment with a time machine. The experiment goes well, but accidentally Dolf is stranded in the 13th century. He saves the life of Leonardo Fibonacci da Pisa, without realizing who he is, and teaches him Arabic numerals. Together they join the German Children's Crusade, and through his modern-day knowledge, Rudolf manages to save a lot of children from horrible fates. However, his knowledge also leads to accusations of witchcraft. In the book, two slavers delude a group of children into coming with them with stories of how the innocent shall liberate Jerusalem. Their actual intent is to sell them as slaves for profit. With the aid of his twentieth-century knowledge and skepticism, and the aid of a "magical" device or two (such as a box of matches), the boy manages to keep most of the children alive and eventually gets them to safety. 

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Pocahontas by Simon van de Passe 1616 In 1607, Pocahontas, the adventurous daughter of Chief Powhatan, and others from her tribe witness the arrival of three ships sent by English royal charter to found a colony in the New World. Aboard one ship is Captain John Smith, sentenced to death for mutinous remarks, but once ashore pardoned by Captain Christopher Newport, leader of the expedition. While the settlement's prospects are initially bright, disease, poor discipline, supply shortages, and tensions with local Native Americans, whom Newport calls "the naturals", jeopardize the expedition. Taking a small group upriver to seek trade while Newport returns to England for supplies, Smith is captured by Native Americans and brought before Chief Powhatan. After being questioned, the captain is nearly executed but spared when Pocahontas intervenes. Living as the Native Americans’ prisoner, Smith is treated well, earning the tribe's friendship and respect. Coming to admire this new way of life, he falls deeply in love with Pocahontas, who is intrigued by the Englishman and his ways. The chief returns Smith to Jamestown with the understanding that the English are to leave the following spring, once their boats return. Smith discovers the settlement in turmoil and is pressed into accepting the governorship, finding the peace he had with the Natives replaced by privation, death, and the difficulties of his new position. Smith wishes to return to Pocahontas but dismisses the idea, thinking of his time among the Native Americans as "a dream". The settlers dwindle throughout the brutal winter, and are saved only when Pocahontas and a rescue party arrive with food, clothing, and supplies. As spring arrives, Powhatan realizes that the English do not intend to leave. Discovering his daughter's actions, he orders an attack on Jamestown and exiles Pocahontas. Repulsing the attack, the settlers learn of Pocahontas's banishment. The English sea captain Samuel Argall convinces them on a trading expedition up the Potomac River to abduct Pocahontas from the Patawomecks as a prisoner in order to negotiate with her father in exchange for captive settlers, but not their stolen weapons and tools. Opposing this plan, Smith is removed as governor, but renews his love affair after Pocahontas is brought to Jamestown. Captain Newport returns, telling Smith of an offer from the king to lead his own expedition to find passage to the East Indies. Torn between his love and his career, Smith decides to return to England. Before departing, he leaves instructions with another settler, who later tells Pocahontas that Smith died in the crossing. Devastated, Pocahontas sinks into depression. Living in Jamestown, she is eventually comforted by a new settler, John Rolfe, who helps her adapt to the English way of life. She is baptized, educated, and eventually married to Rolfe and gives birth to a son, Thomas. She later learns Captain Smith is still alive, news to which she has a violent reaction; she finds herself rejecting Rolfe and retreats to her loyalty to Smith, thinking fate spared his life and they are to be reunited. Rolfe and his family are given a chance to travel to England. Arriving in London and sharing an audience with the king and queen, Pocahontas is overwhelmed by the wonders of this "New World." She meets privately with Smith, who admits he may have made a mistake in choosing his career over Pocahontas. He says that what they experienced in Virginia was not a dream but instead "the only truth." Asked if he ever found his Indies, he replies, "I may have sailed past them." They part, never to meet again. Realizing Rolfe is the man she thought he was and more, Pocahontas finally accepts him as her husband and love. The couple make arrangements to return to Virginia, but Pocahontas falls ill from pneumonia and dies. Rolfe still decides to return to Virginia with Thomas. The film ends with images of the young adult Pocahontas and her young son happily playing in the gardens of their English estate. Rolfe, in a voice-over, reads a letter addressed to their only son about his deceased Native American mother, who is heard to say, "Mother, now I know where you live," with concluding images of nature in the New World. 

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The episode begins with Michael Chambers locked alone in a spartan room with a cot. A voice offers him a meal, delivered through a small aperture in the wall, which he grimly refuses. The setting changes to several months earlier, on Earth. The Kanamits, a race of aliens, land on Earth as the planet is beset by international crises. As the Secretary-General announces the landing of aliens on Earth to the worldwide public at a United Nations news conference, one of the aliens arrives and addresses the assembled delegates and journalists via telepathy. He announces that his race's motive in coming to Earth is to provide humanitarian aid by sharing their advanced technology, including an atomic generator that can provide electric power for a few dollars, a nitrate fertilizer that can end famine, and a force field that can be deployed to prevent international warfare. After answering questions, the Kanamit departs without comment and leaves a book in the Kanamit language, which leads to Michael Chambers, a US government cryptographer, being pressed into service. Initially wary of an alien race who came "quite uninvited", international leaders begin to be persuaded of the Kanamits' benevolence when their advanced technology puts an end to hunger, energy shortages, and the arms race. Trust in the Kanamits seems to be justified when Patty, a member of the cryptography staff led by Chambers, decodes the title of the Kanamit book: To Serve Man. The Kanamits submit to interrogation and polygraph, at the request of the UN delegates. When declaring their benevolent intentions, the polygraph indicates that the Kanamit is speaking the truth. Soon, humans are volunteering for trips to the Kanamits' home planet, which they describe as a paradise. Kanamits now have embassies in every major city on Earth. With the U.S. Armed Forces having been disbanded and world peace having been achieved, the code-breaking staff has no real work to do, but Patty is still trying to work out the meaning of the text of To Serve Man. The day arrives for Chambers's excursion to the Kanamits' planet. Just as he mounts the spaceship's boarding stairs, Patty runs toward him in great agitation. While being held back by a Kanamit guard, Patty cries: "Mr. Chambers, don't get on that ship! The rest of the book To Serve Man, it's... it's a cookbook!" Chambers tries to run back down the stairs, but a Kanamit blocks him, the stairs retract, and the ship lifts off. Chambers is in the shipboard room now, and is again offered a meal. He throws it to the floor, but a Kanamit retrieves it and encourages him to eat, to keep Chambers from "losing weight". At last Chambers, in one of the few instances of the series where a character breaks the fourth wall, says to the audience: "How about you? You still on Earth, or on the ship with me? Really doesn't make very much difference, because sooner or later, all of us will be on the menu... all of us." The episode closes as Chambers gives in and breaks his hunger strike. 

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The American Tom Ripley (Alain Delon) has been sent to Italy to persuade the wealthy Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet) to return to San Francisco and take over his father's business. Philippe intends to do no such thing and the impoverished Tom enjoys living a life of luxury, so the two men essentially spend money all day and carouse all night. Tom is fixated on Philippe and his girlfriend, Marge (Marie Laforêt), and covets the other man's life. Philippe eventually grows bored with Ripley's fawning and becomes cruel and abusive to him. The final straw is when, during a yachting trip, Philippe strands Tom in the dinghy and leaves him to lie in the sun for hours. Back on board, Tom hatches a plan to kill Philippe and steal his identity. First, he leaves evidence of Philippe's philandering for an outraged Marge to find. After Marge goes ashore, Philippe confronts Tom, who admits his plan quite casually. Philippe, believing it to be a joke, plays along and asks Tom for the plan's details. Suddenly frightened, Philippe offers Tom a substantial sum to leave him and Marge alone, but Tom states that he can obtain this sum anyway and far more. At last, pretending to accept his offer, Tom stabs Philippe as the latter screams Marge's name. He casts the body overboard and returns to port. Upon returning to shore, Tom informs Marge that Philippe has decided to stay behind. He then goes travelling around Italy using Philippe's name and bank account, flawlessly mimicking his voice and mannerisms; in effect, Tom has become Philippe, even affixing his own photo, with seal, in Philippe's passport. He rents a large suite in a Rome hotel. When Philippe's friend, Freddie Miles (Billy Kearns), comes to the hotel to see Philippe and begins to suspect the truth, Tom murders him as well. Freddie's body is soon found and the Italian police become involved. Tom continues his charade, switching between his identity and Philippe's, depending on what the situation demands. After carrying out an elaborate scheme to implicate Philippe in Freddie's murder, Tom forges a suicide note and a will, leaving the Greenleaf fortune to Marge. Tom survives a long string of close shaves, throwing the Italian police off his trail and seemingly having outwitted everyone. He even succeeds in seducing Marge, with whom he begins openly cohabiting. When Philippe's yacht is being pulled out of the water for inspection by a buyer, his canvas-wrapped body is found attached to the boat because the anchor cable it was wrapped in had become tangled around the propellor. The film ends with Tom being unknowingly called toward the police. 

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The novel begins with the death of a nun, Sister Miriam, who apparently starved herself to death in a ruined tower, known as the 'Tower of Ivory', which adjoins the grounds of the Convent of the Blessed Eleanor, a nunnery and a girls' school. The tower has specific significance to the Order, as it was the original convent building. The tower and the ancient history of the Order are recorded in the Treasury of the Blessed Eleanor, a manuscript that is referenced throughout the story. Though it is never stated explicitly, Blessed Eleanor is presumed to be Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was once Queen of England. Television reporter Jemima Shore is a former schoolfriend of Sister Miriam, who was also known as Rosabelle Powerstock and was heiress to "the Powers fortune", one of the largest fortunes in Britain. Jemima is invited back to the convent by Reverend Mother Ancilla, where she uncovers a number of mysteries, including the suggestion that Miriam, whose family owned the convent lands, may have written a second will bequeathing them away from the Order, and into the hands of another charity. The tension builds when the girls at the convent school tell Jemima that the Black Nun, a malevolent faceless spectre reputed to appear whenever a death is about to take place within the grounds, was seen just prior to Sister Miriam's death, and has been sighted again. 

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The central conflict in this film is whether African-American businessman Ernie Jones (played by Frederick O'Neal) raped Swedish immigrant and civil rights Freedom Rider Greta Mae Hansen (played by Annalena Lund). Jones was the proprietor of the hotel at which Hansen decided to stay during her time in Dallas. The movie is primarily a courtroom drama, with many of the key events portrayed in flashback sequences as Jones and Hansen testify. 

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Dr. Watson is called to tend Holmes, who is apparently dying of a rare tropical disease, Tapanuli fever, contracted while he was on a case. Watson is shocked, not having heard about his friend's illness. Mrs. Hudson says that Holmes has neither eaten nor drunk anything in three days. Holmes instructs Watson not to come near him, because the illness is highly infectious. In fact, he scorns to be treated by Watson and insults his abilities, astonishing and hurting the doctor. Although Watson wishes to examine Holmes himself or call in a specialist, Holmes demands that Watson wait several hours before seeking help. While Watson waits, he examines several objects in Holmes's room. Holmes grows angry when Watson touches items explaining that he does not like his things touched. At six o'clock, Holmes tells Watson to turn the gaslight on, but only half-full. He then instructs Watson to bring Mr Culverton Smith of 13 Lower Burke Street to see Holmes, but to make sure that Watson returns to Baker Street before Smith arrives. Watson goes to Smith's address. Although Smith refuses to see anyone, Watson forces his way in. Once Watson explains his errand on behalf of Sherlock Holmes, Smith's attitude changes drastically. Smith agrees to come to Baker Street within a half hour. Watson excuses himself, saying that he has another appointment, and returns to Baker Street before Smith's arrival. Believing that they are alone, Smith is frank with Holmes. It emerges, to the hiding Watson's horror, that Holmes has been sickened by the same illness that killed Smith's nephew Victor Savage. Smith then sees the little ivory box, which he had sent to Holmes by post, and which contains a sharp spring infected with the illness. Smith pockets it, removing the evidence of his crime. He then resolves to stay there and watch Holmes die. Holmes asks Smith to turn the gas up full, which Smith does. Smith then asks Holmes if he would like anything else, to which Holmes replies - no longer in the voice of a man near death - "a match and a cigarette." Inspector Morton then enters - the full gaslight was the signal to move in. Holmes tells Morton to arrest Culverton Smith for the murder of his nephew, and perhaps also for the attempted murder of Sherlock Holmes. Smith points out that his word is as good as Holmes' in court, but Holmes then calls for Watson to emerge from behind the screen, to present himself as another witness to the conversation. Holmes explains his illness was feigned as a ruse to induce Smith to confess to his nephew's murder. Holmes was not infected by the little box; he has enough enemies to know that he must always examine his mail carefully before he opens it. Starving himself for three days and the claim of the "disease's" infectious nature was to keep Watson from examining him and discovering the ruse, since, as he clarifies, he has every respect for his friend's medical skills. 

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On New Year's Eve, Trotty, a poor elderly "ticket-porter" or casual messenger, is filled with gloom at the reports of crime and immorality in the newspapers, and wonders whether the working classes are simply wicked by nature. His daughter Meg and her long-time fiancé Richard arrive and announce their decision to marry next day. Trotty hides his misgivings, but their happiness is dispelled by an encounter with the pompous Alderman Cute, plus a political economist and a young gentleman with a nostalgia, all of whom make Trotty, Meg and Richard feel they hardly have a right to exist, let alone marry. Trotty carries a note for Cute to Sir Joseph Bowley MP, who dispenses charity to the poor in the manner of a paternal dictator. Bowley is ostentatiously settling his debts to ensure a clean start to the new year, and berates Trotty because he owes a little rent and ten or twelve shillings to his local shop which he cannot pay off. Returning home, convinced that he and his fellow poor are naturally ungrateful and have no place in society, Trotty encounters Will Fern, a poor countryman, and his orphaned niece, Lilian. Fern has been accused of vagrancy and wants to visit Cute to set matters straight, but from a conversation overheard at Bowley's house, Trotty is able to warn him that Cute plans to have him arrested and imprisoned. He takes the pair home with him and he and Meg share their meagre food and poor lodging with the visitors. Meg tries to hide her distress, but it seems she has been dissuaded from marrying Richard by her encounter with Cute and the others. In the night, the bells seem to call Trotty. Going to the church, he finds the tower door unlocked and climbs to the bellchamber, where he discovers the spirits of the bells and their goblin attendants who reprimand him for losing faith in man's destiny to improve. He is told that he fell from the tower during his climb and is now dead, and Meg's subsequent life must now be an object lesson for him. There follows a series of visions which he is forced to watch, helpless to interfere with the troubled lives of Meg, Richard, Will and Lilian over the subsequent years. Richard descends into alcoholism; Meg eventually marries him in an effort to save him, but he dies ruined, leaving her with a baby. Will is driven in and out of prison by petty laws and restrictions; Lilian turns to prostitution. In the end, destitute, Meg is driven to contemplate drowning herself and her child, thus committing the mortal sins of murder and suicide. The chimes' intention is to teach Trotty that, far from being naturally wicked, mankind is formed to strive for nobler things, and will fall only when crushed and repressed beyond bearing. Trotty breaks down when he sees Meg poised to jump into the river, cries that he has learned his lesson and begs the Chimes to save her, whereupon he finds himself able to touch her and prevent her from jumping. At the end of the book, Trotty finds himself awakening at home as if from a dream as the bells ring in the New Year of the day Trotty originally climbed the tower. Meg and Richard have chosen to wed, and all of her friends have spontaneously chosen to provide a wedding feast and celebration. The author explicitly invites the reader to decide if this "awakening" is a dream-within-a-dream. The reader must choose between the harsh consequences of the behaviour of the upper classes in Trotty's vision, or the happiness of the wedding. Trotty Veck by Kyd (Joseph Clayton Clarke) 

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John Peerybingle, a carrier, lives with his young wife Dot, their baby boy and their nanny Tilly Slowboy. A cricket chirps on the hearth and acts as a guardian angel to the family. One day a mysterious elderly stranger comes to visit and takes up lodging at Peerybingle's house for a few days. The life of the Peerybingles intersects with that of Caleb Plummer, a poor toymaker employed by the miser Mr. Tackleton. Caleb has a blind daughter Bertha, and a son Edward, who travelled to South America and is thought to be dead. The miser Tackleton is now on the eve of marrying Edward's sweetheart, May, but she does not love Tackleton. Tackleton tells John Peerybingle that his wife Dot has cheated on him, and shows him a clandestine scene in which Dot embraces the mysterious lodger; the latter, who is in disguise, is actually a much younger man than he seems. John is cut to the heart over this as he loves his wife dearly, but decides after some deliberations to relieve his wife of their marriage contract. In the end, the mysterious lodger is revealed to be none other than Edward who has returned home in disguise. Dot shows that she has indeed been faithful to John. Edward marries May hours before she is scheduled to marry Tackleton. However, Tackleton's heart is melted by the festive cheer (in a manner reminiscent of Ebenezer Scrooge), and he surrenders May to her true love . 

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It is spring. Randy Dean is a 17-year- old student in her final year with poor grades, only one friend - Frank, a gay Latino - secret cigarette and marijuana habits and a cashier's job at a gas station with fellow worker Regina. Shunned by other students for her tomboyish personality and appearance, she spends most of her free time either by herself or in illicit meetings with her romantic partner Wendy, a married woman who drops by the gas station when it pleases her, even though Randy knows they are in a dead-end relationship. Randy lives with her lesbian aunt Rebecca and her girlfriend Vicky in their trailer, as well as Rebecca's ex-girlfriend Lena, who has no place to stay and is living with them until she finds somewhere else she can go to. One day Evie Roy stops in a pristine Range Rover, unsure if her tires need air. Randy recognizes her from school and talks to her for the first time. Evie is an only child living with her well-off, cultured mother, Evelyn, who has a difficult relationship with her remarried husband. Randy and Evie start passing notes in school and hanging out with each other, although Evie does not reveal this to her cliquish friends. During this time, Randy is approached by Wendy's jealous husband Ali at the gas station, who grabs Randy and warns her to stay away from his wife. Randy spends much of her time with Evie hanging out in meadows, trading music (opera and Mozart from Evie, punk rock from Randy) and talking. When Wendy next visits her, Randy rejects her, telling her she has a new girlfriend, Evie. Evie breaks up with her boyfriend Hayjay after he complains of her distant attitude towards him. Later, apparently on a spur of the moment, she lends Randy a copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, which Randy starts to devour. Inviting Evie to her family’s small house for dinner one evening, Randy reveals to her that she has lived with Rebecca and Vicky since Randy's devoutly religious mother abandoned her to devote all her time to an Operation Rescue-like group. On the front steps of Rebecca's house, they kiss for the first time. Evie records it in her diary later, apparently wondering what it all means. Randy and Evie experiment with how "out" they can be as lesbians, nervously holding hands at a local diner. Remembering Randy’s warning of how intolerant the town can be, Evie nevertheless breaks the news to her three closest friends. One girl is supportive (if confused), but the other two are hostile to the idea: one of them says, “God, Evie, if you were gonna turn gay you think you could at least choose someone who’s pretty.” Meanwhile, Randy's grades continue to plummet and the school warns her she will not graduate; Randy hides this information from Rebecca. When Evie's mother leaves on a business trip, the girls take the opportunity to cook a huge meal, indulging in wine and marijuana. That night, they make love, then fall asleep in Evie's mother's bed. The next morning, it is Evie's 18th birthday; Evelyn returns prematurely with presents for her, but is shocked by the mess in the kitchen and the rest of the house. Furiously searching the upstairs, she discovers Evie and Randy, but only realizes Randy is a girl when she runs past her on her way out. Rebecca, who has learned that Randy will not be graduating high school, goes over to go to Frank's house with Vicky and Lena, where Randy had told them she would be staying the night. Rebecca threatens Frank until, panicked, he turns over Evie's phone number. She calls, but Evie and Randy have already absconded and she is left talking to a furious Evelyn. Evie and Randy, crying, scared and accusatory, take refuge in a motel. Randy finally calls Wendy, who comes out, pays for the room and tries to comfort the girls. Ali sees her car in the parking lot, however, and comes bursting in, eventually attracting Evelyn, Rebecca, Vicky, Lena, Frank, and Evie's three friends, who were driving past reading aloud from Rita Mae Brown’s Rubyfruit Jungle (apparently still processing Evie’s news). The movie ends with Randy and Evie kissing and hugging in the open motel room doorway while everyone else argues in the background at top volume. 

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The film starts In 1973 in New York, and ends in 1992, with Gotti's imprisonment. Gotti's association with three mobsters is also highlighted in the film: a father-son like relationship with family underboss Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce, his deep but rocky friendship with Gotti crew member and longtime friend Angelo Ruggiero, and the respect and ultimate frustration that he felt for the man who became his underboss, Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano. The film details Gotti's rise within the Gambino crime family and his ranks from soldier, then captain (or capo), and finally, boss. The final title was achieved through the dramatic murder in public of Gambino family boss Paul Castellano in 1985. Following the murder of Castellano, the film concentrates on the legal trials of John Gotti: one for assault and two for racketeering under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes. Gotti's famous personality, trial acquittals, and media attention are all dramatized. The film ends with Gotti's conviction and sentencing to life imprisonment at Marion Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, because Gravano turns state's evidence and agrees to testify against Gotti. The film is primarily based on the columns of reporter Jerry Capeci, who also wrote the novel that documented Gotti's rise and fall inside the Gambino crime family, and served as executive producer of the film which was based on his novel. 

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Kinsey Millhone, 32, private detective investigates the death of prominent divorce lawyer Laurence Fife. His murder eight years earlier was blamed on his wife, Nikki Fife. Upon being released from prison, Nikki hires Kinsey to find the real murderer. In the course of the investigation, Kinsey becomes involved with Charlie Scorsoni, the late Mr. Fife's former law partner. She discovers Fife's death has been linked to that of a woman in Los Angeles, his law firm's accountant; both died after taking poisonous oleander capsules, which had been substituted for allergy pills. Kinsey tracks down the accountant's parents and former boyfriend. She then goes to Las Vegas to interview Fife's former secretary, Sharon Napier, who is killed minutes before Kinsey arrives. Back in California, Kinsey is mystified that Nikki's son, Colin, recognizes Laurence's first wife, Gwen, in a photograph. Kinsey surmises that Gwen was having an affair with her ex-husband at the time of his death. She accuses Gwen, who confesses. Shortly afterwards, she too is dead, killed in a hit-and-run crash. Kinsey has solved the case she was hired to investigate; but in a plot twist, she discovers that her previous notions about the accountant's death were entirely wrong: in fact, it was Scorsoni who killed her when she discovered he was skimming dividend money from estate accounts under his management. Scorsoni used the same method that Gwen used to kill Fife, so it would be assumed the same person committed both murders. In a final confrontation, he chases Kinsey across the beach, armed with a knife. Kinsey hides in the shore line, and she is forced to remove her shoes and pants. Before Scorsoni can kill her, she shoots him dead. A secondary storyline involves Millhone's surveillance of Marcia Threadgill, suspected of insurance fraud in a trip-and-fall case. Although Millhone believes she has successfully documented Threadgill's deception, the insurance firm that contracted Millhone to investigate Threadgill moves to pay her claim anyway, citing potential legal costs and complications, including the risk of reprisal. 

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Porky Pig purchases a new home from a real estate agent, which turns out to be an old Gothic-style house: the sort featured in murder mysteries and ghost stories. His cat Sylvester is frightened of the creepy- looking place, but Porky finds it "quaint" and "peaceful", and looks forward to his first night there. Sylvester is already holding onto the bottom of Porky's coat, unwilling to let go, when he is spooked by a bat and jumps inside the coat. Porky chastises him for being afraid of the bat and says he is going upstairs to bed, Sylvester can go sleep in the kitchen. Unknown to Porky, Sylvester clings to him all the way to the bedroom and into bed. When Porky discovers him in the bed, he kicks him down the stairs, telling him to stay in the kitchen. Before long, Sylvester sees that the house is overrun with mice; killer mice, in fact (one wearing an executioner's hood and carrying an axe, the rest looking like the Chuck Jones-created characters Hubie and Bertie), who are just in the process of carting off the previous owners' cat (resembling a grey-furred version of Sylvester) to the chopping block. Already shaking with terror, Sylvester's eyes go pin-point with fear and his heart visibly pounds in his chest. He races upstairs and into Porky's nightshirt. Porky begins scolding Sylvester, who interrupts this by demonstrating (in mime) what occurred downstairs. Porky criticizes the "ridiculous acting" and orders Sylvester back to the kitchen. Too frightened to comply, Sylvester pulls a gun from a dresser drawer and prepares to shoot himself in the head rather than face whatever fate the mice have in store for the pair. Porky disarms him and cannot believe how desperate his cat is. Realizing he has no choice, Porky allows Sylvester to share the bed. Four mice push the bed out of the window, and it sticks on a pole. Porky, half-asleep and thinking it is cold in the room, asks Sylvester to close the window "like a good kitty". Sylvester proceeds to do so, himself barely awake and walking on thin air, as the pole springs the bed back into the room. Sylvester closes a tiny curtain on a birdhouse, gets back into the bed that isn't there and falls to the ground. He comes through the bedroom door with a big lump on his head. At that moment, he sees that the mice are about to drop an anvil on Porky from a crawlspace above the bed. Sylvester grabs the anvil at the last moment. Porky awakes and sees Sylvester poised above him with it in his hands. Porky questions Sylvester's intentions before dropping it on the cat's head and leading the way back down the stairs, heading for the kitchen. Sylvester sees the hooded mouse roll a bowling ball down the banister, targeted directly at Porky, who has reached the bottom. Sylvester races and shoves Porky out of the way - so hard he ends up in the kitchen headfirst in the cat basket - and is knocked unconscious by the ball. Porky storms back from the kitchen (not noticing the basket being lowered below the floor) demanding to know why Sylvester pushed him like that. Seeing the cat knocked out, Porky suggests it is just a ploy to gain sympathy. Over the next few scenes, as he lifts Sylvester, carries him to the kitchen and puts him in the basket, a completely oblivious Porky barely escapes many attempts, via several tools and weapons, by the mice to kill him. Sylvester, out cold in the basket, is lowered below the floor just after 1 a.m. and is raised up again just before 4 a.m., without the basket and having turned completely light gray. Clearly traumatized, he makes his way to Porky's room where he wakes him up with pathetic mews. Porky is so startled he leaps into the ceiling light, then is angry, demanding Sylvester remove the "make-up", saying, "This is no time for comedy". Porky, sick and tired of Sylvester's 'foolishness', decides to go into the kitchen by himself to show Sylvester there is nothing to fear. After a few seconds of silence, Sylvester takes a look in the kitchen, and witnesses the mice parading as they did the cat, only now it is Porky, bound and gagged and on his way to be decapitated. As the mice take him away, Porky holds up a sign which reads "YOU WERE RIGHT, SYLVESTER". Out of fear, Sylvester scrambles out of the house. As he rests to catch his breath, his Conscience (a miniature Sylvester, wearing a wizard's robe and carrying a star-tipped wand) appears. He magically produces an easel on which the word 'coward' is written; then, with diagrams and charts, he reminds Sylvester how Porky raised him from a kitten, shows him the "comparative sizes" of a cat to a mouse, and demands that he gets back in there and "FIGHT!". Suddenly bursting with courage after all this, Sylvester grabs a tree branch for use as a weapon, then decides to use the whole tree instead and races back into the mouse-infested house to fight. He sends the hundreds of murderous rodents running for their lives, much to his conscience's delight. With the mice now all supposedly gone for good, Porky graciously apologizes to Sylvester and thanks him for saving his life. One leftover mouse (the executioner) pops out of the longcase clock behind Sylvester, wielding a mallet. Seeing this, Porky yells at Sylvester to look out, but the mouse clobbers Sylvester on the head, knocking him unconscious, much to Porky's shock. The mouse then yanks off his hood, revealing a Lew Lehr caricature with a Napoleon army hat, and declares, "Pussycats is the cwaziest peoples!" and chuckles. 

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The cartoon opens with a circus featuring "Gracie, the Fightin' Kangaroo!". When Gracie goes off to perform, she leaves her young son, Hippety Hopper, alone in her dressing room. Hippety slips on a pair of his mother's boxing gloves, and wanders off (along the way, treading in wet cement, much to the anger of the workman who is paving the new sidewalk, falling into a pink dress and causing several cars to crash). Meanwhile, Sylvester is bragging to his son about how he took on a mouse about his own size. Unfortunately, Hippety shows up behind him, leading Sylvester into a panic. Junior urges Sylvester to fight Hippety, as they both think he's a giant mouse, and says that if he doesn't, he'll "disillusion a child's faith in his father." The result is a fight between Hippety and Sylvester. Hippety wins at first, but then Sylvester chases him off with an axe. Along the way, they pass the workman, who treads in his own cement as if daring the participants in the chase to do the same – but when they do not, he stands in the center of the sidewalk and plays "Taps" on a trumpet as he sinks. Sylvester is led to the circus, and right when Junior enters his sight, he starts gloating again ("... and if I ever catch ya again, I'll give ya the same thing! Only THIS time, I'll break BOTH your legs, you giant mouse, you!"). After gloating, Sylvester says he wished Hippety was twice as big, with 4 arms and 2 heads. Ironically, Gracie comes out with Hippety in her pouch, causing both the cats to run off. Hippety gives them a friendly wave good-bye, and the cartoon closes. 

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Ten years after the events of the first film, Dante (Brian O'Halloran) opens the Quick Stop convenience store to find that it is on fire; Randal (Jeff Anderson) had left the coffee pot on after closing the night before. As a result of the destruction of Quick Stop and the adjacent RST Video, Dante and Randal begin working at a Mooby's fast food restaurant along with Elias (Trevor Fehrman) and their manager Becky Scott (Rosario Dawson). A year later, Dante is planning to leave his minimum wage lifestyle in favor of a family life in Florida with his fiancée Emma Bunting (Jennifer Schwalbach), whose father will provide them with a home and a business to run. Fearing the loss of his best friend, Randal becomes resentful towards Dante and Emma. Jay and Silent Bob (Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith) have followed Dante and Randal, and now loiter outside of Mooby's. Although they continue to sell drugs, Jay and Silent Bob have become sober after they were arrested for possession and were sent to rehab; they become devout Christians after their release. Dante tells Becky that he is worried about dancing at his wedding, so she takes him up to the roof of the restaurant to teach him some moves. Dante soon lets go of his inhibitions and begins dancing. When the song ends, Dante, caught up in the moment, confesses his love for Becky, and she reveals that she's pregnant; Dante and Becky had a one night stand at work a few weeks before. Becky tells Dante not to tell anyone about the baby; however he tells Randal, and an angered Becky leaves when she finds out. Randal encourages Dante to leave Mooby's in search for Becky, so he can set up a surprise going away party for him. Randal hires "Kinky Kelly and the Sexy Stud," a donkey show, with a fog machine for the party. When Dante comes back, he mistakes the fog for a fire and calls the fire department, but upon discovering that it's not a fire, proceeds to watch with Randal, Jay, Silent Bob, and Elias. The group discovers that "Kinky Kelly" is, in fact, the donkey, while the man (Zak Knutson), whom Randal thought to be the pimp, is "The Sexy Stud". When Becky returns she admits that she too is in love with Dante. As they kiss, Emma arrives. She throws her engagement ring at Becky, dumps a cake she'd made for Dante over his head, and angrily walks off. The fire and police departments arrive, and Dante, Randal, Elias, Jay, Silent Bob, and The Sexy Stud are arrested. Although they are informed they will soon be released, Dante blames Randal for ruining his life and expresses his eagerness to start a new life without him, while Randal condemns Dante for his willingness to live his life under the standards of others and for walking out of their friendship. During the argument, Randal proposes that they buy the Quick Stop and re-open it themselves, although Dante says that neither have the money to reopen the store. Jay and Silent Bob offer to lend them the money (from the royalties they collected following the events of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back) on the condition that they can hang out outside of the Quick Stop anytime they want without the police being called. Randal accepts their offer, but Dante is uncertain, prompting Randal to emotionally confess his fear of losing Dante. Moved by Randal's confession, Dante agrees to the proposition, and after he is released, proposes to Becky, who happily accepts. After the Quick Stop and RST Video are rebuilt, Elias applies for a job and is hired at RST Video. In the very last scene, with the store open, Dante tells Randal, "Can you feel it? Today is the first day of the rest of our lives." 

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At the end of "Cold Station 12", Doctor Arik Soong and the Augments he secretly raised depart the space station, taking with them 1,800 frozen Augment embryos preserved from the time of the Eugenics Wars. Before leaving, Malik steals several pathogen samples from the station and sets the containment fields to fail. In "The Augments", Captain Archer restores stasis around the central compound, and is beamed from space to safety, with the Enterprise in pursuit of Soong, Malik, and the Augments on their stolen Bird of Prey. Soong and the Augments arrive in Klingon space where he shares his plan: Soong intends to hide out in a region (the Briar Patch) where Starfleet would have trouble tracking them down. Malik objects to Soong's plan, noting that Khan Noonien Singh also ran away on the SS Botany Bay. In pursuit of the Augments, Enterprise arrives in Klingon space having faked a Klingon warp signature. Soong releases a hostage on a Denobulan shuttle into a gas giant, forcing the Enterprise to abandon their pursuit and mount a rescue operation. Escaping, Malik proposes a new plan: trigger a war between Starfleet and the Klingons as a distraction by firing a pathogen-filled torpedo at a Klingon colony. He reasons that Starfleet will be too busy fighting the Klingons to hunt down the Augments. Soong will have nothing to do with Malik's genocidal proposal. On the Enterprise, Commander T'Pol asks Commander Tucker about the distance between them after her recent arranged marriage ("Home"), and he tells her he has come to terms with their new relationship. Back on the Bird of Prey, Soong works on a way to remove aggressive behavior from the unborn Augment embryos. Malik, concerned by Soong's plan to hide from Starfleet and his tampering with the embryos, leads a mutiny which confines Soong to his quarters. With the help of Persis, Soong leaves the ship in an escape pod. Enterprise, once again in pursuit, detects the pod and brings Soong on board. Heading towards the Klingon colony in high warp in an attempt to stop Malik's plan, the Klingons detect their ship. Enterprise is forced to disable a Klingon cruiser when it tries to board. Malik kills Persis for her betrayal, and continues with his plan to attack the Klingons. Scans of the Qu'vat colony reveal three main population centers; the torpedo is armed with pathogens and prepared for deployment. The Enterprise arrives late, just after Malik fires the torpedo, but Enterprise destroys it, saving the Klingon colony. Soong helps disable the Klingon ship, hoping to save some of the Augments. However, Malik scuttles the Klingon ship, killing the remaining Augments and the embryos, and transports himself onto Enterprise in an attempt to kill Soong in revenge, but Archer manages to kill Malik first. The Klingons call off their retaliation against Earth, and Soong returns to the Starfleet Detention Center. In custody, he begins to doubt the feasibility of genetically engineering humans and wonders if perfecting artificial life has better prospects for the future. 

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Movie special effects expert Roland "Rollie" Tyler is hired by the Justice Department to stage the murder of mob informant Nicholas DeFranco. DeFranco is set to testify against his former Mafia bosses and go into witness protection, but the Justice Department is afraid he will be killed before the trial. Tyler rigs a gun with blanks and fixes DeFranco up with radio transmitters and fake blood packs to simulate bullet hits. The Justice Department supervisor on the case, Edward Mason, asks Tyler to be the "assassin" wearing a disguise. He is paid $30,000 and assured by Mason that he is "100% protected". During the preparation, Lipton, the Justice agent in charge, handles Rollie's gun. DeFranco wears Tyler's rig to an Italian restaurant and the public "assassination" goes flawlessly. When Tyler is picked up by Lipton, the agent tries to shoot him. In the struggle for Lipton's gun, the driver is killed and the car crashes, allowing Tyler to escape. He contacts Mason, who is shocked by Lipton's actions and instructs him to wait for other agents to take him to a safe location. Another man thought to be Tyler is killed by the agents, proving that Mason is trying to kill him too. Rollie is worried that Lipton may have switched the blanks in the assassination gun with real bullets, meaning that Rollie really did kill DeFranco. Rollie retreats to his girlfriend Ellen's apartment. In the morning, Ellen is shot and killed by a sniper aiming for Tyler. Tyler kills the sniper after a fight when he enters the apartment to finish the job. Manhattan homicide detective Leo McCarthy investigates the death of Ellen and the sniper and realizes it is connected to DeFranco, whom Leo has been pursuing for years. He discovers that the assassination was faked and that Mason planned it. When he is suspended by his captain for his reckless methods, McCarthy manages to steal his boss's badge and gun. Using an elaborate phone prank, Tyler lures Lipton out in the open and kidnaps him in his official car. He stuffs Lipton into the trunk and takes him on a rough ride to get Mason's address out of him. Tyler steals back his impounded van with the help of his assistant and escapes following a chase through Lower Manhattan with McCarthy's partner. Tyler goes to Mason's mansion where, using his special effects expertise, he incapacitates Mason's guards (and tricks some of them into killing each other). McCarthy arrives and seeing two unconscious guards at the gate, he alerts the State Police. Mason and DeFranco figure out that Tyler has found them. DeFranco shoots out several windows in Mason's study and Tyler falls through one of the windows, appearing to be dead. Mason and DeFranco try to leave the house when a helicopter arrives, but DeFranco receives an electric shock when he touches the metal screen on an outside door, rigged by Tyler. The shock disrupts DeFranco's pacemaker. Before he dies of heart failure, Mason coerces and takes from him a key to a Swiss safe deposit box containing the funds DeFranco stole from the Mafia. Mason prepares to escape, but is surprised by the appearance of Tyler, who points an Uzi submachine gun at him. Mason tries to bribe Tyler by giving him the key, proposing that they split the money, but urging immediate departure. Tyler places the gun on a table and tells Mason that the plan won't work. Mason picks up the gun and demands the key back. Tyler shows Mason the bullets for the gun and a tube of Krazy Glue. With the gun glued to Mason's hands, Tyler shoves him out the front door. Misinterpreting his action of walking towards them with a gun in his hands, yet making pleas that "It's a mistake", he is shot by the police. Tyler's body is found and taken to the morgue. He then gets out of the body bag, removes the makeup simulating his death and exits out a window to escape. He is confronted by McCarthy. The film ends with Tyler impersonating DeFranco at the bank in Geneva and retrieving the $15 million in Mafia funds, after which he and McCarthy make a getaway with the cash. 

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Sir Lionel is one of the knights of the Round Table. His daughter Kayley dreams of becoming a knight like her father. At Camelot, one of the knights, Lord Ruber - wanting to usurp King Arthur - attempts to kill him, but Lionel sacrifices himself to save him and is killed. Lord Ruber flees Camelot in exile after being repelled by Arthur's sword Excalibur. During Lionel's funeral, Arthur tells Kayley and her mother, Juliana, that they will be welcomed should they come to Camelot. A decade later, a griffin attacks Camelot, stealing Excalibur. Merlin's pet falcon Ayden attacks the griffin and the sword falls into the Forbidden Forest. Meanwhile, Ruber invades Kayley's home, holds everyone hostage and uses a potion he purchased from witches to create steel warriors from his human henchmen and a rooster, who becomes known as Bladebeak. He plans to use Juliana to gain entrance into Camelot. After escaping and eavesdropping on Ruber and the griffin's conversation, Kayley enters the Forbidden Forest where she encounters Garrett; a blind hermit, and Ayden. Kayley convinces him to help her find Excalibur and learns that Garrett was once a stable boy in Camelot, and was blinded by one of the horses that he was rescuing from a stable fire. Lionel stood by Garrett, and taught him to adapt to his conditions. They enter Dragon Country and meet a two-headed dragon named Devon and Cornwall who hate each other, cannot breathe fire or fly, and want to be two individual dragons. Devon and Cornwall decide to join to the group; Garrett reluctantly agrees after Kayley convinces him. Later, they find the belt of Excalibur in a giant footprint. Kayley's insistence of distracting Garrett causes him to miss Ayden's signal, and he is injured by one of Ruber's men. Kayley uses the thorn bushed creatures to hold Ruber and his men captive, and escorts Garrett into a remote cave where the magic of the forest heals Garrett's wounds. Whilst in the cave, Kayley and Garrett begin to fall in love. The group goes into a giant cave where a rock-like ogre holds Excalibur, using it as a toothpick. Kayley succeeds in retrieving Excalibur and they escape before Ruber can get to it. Exiting the forest with Excalibur, Garrett chooses to stay in the forest, feeling uncomfortable in Camelot. After he leaves, Ruber captures Kayley and takes Excalibur. Devon and Cornwall, who witness this, rush to Garrett and convince him to save Kayley. By working together for the first time, Devon and Cornwall are able to fly and breathe fire, and they hold off the griffin. Meanwhile, Kayley is captured in one of the wagons; Bladebeak frees Kayley from her ropes as Garrett comes to her aid and they enter the castle. Inside, they find Ruber attempting to kill Arthur with Excalibur, now bonded to his arm with his magic potion. Kayley and Garrett intervene and trick Ruber into returning Excalibur to its stone, causing its magic to disintegrate Ruber and revert the mechanical men, including Bladebeak, back to normal. Later, with Camelot restored to its former glory, Kayley and Garrett marry and become knights of the round table. 

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After attacking Lisa with spitballs, Bart finds out his last baby tooth is loose. After some failed attempts in pulling it, Bart's tooth comes out when Marge forces a drawer open. Bart puts his tooth under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy and in the morning, he finds a note saying the Tooth Fairy made a donation in his name to the United Way of America. He soon begins to realize that he is not a child anymore. After deciding that his childhood is over, Bart puts his toys into a small boat and sets it on fire, a proper "Viking funeral". Lisa tells Bart that she writes things when she feels depressed. Bart does so and begins writing things on his T-shirts with marker pens. They become popular around town, and when Milhouse wants one, Bart uses this as a business opportunity and draws on more of his shirts with pens, which he charges people to buy at a stand outside his house. The shirts are a success until the police confiscate them because he has no license. Bart takes his shirts to a retailer's show in order to get a license, but his display is destroyed by Krusty the Clown's massive stand, which sells Itchy & Scratchy T-shirts. While leaving, Bart is run over by Goose Gladwell, a Willy Wonka-type salesman who sells weird items. He looks at Bart's shirts and decides to sell them in most of his 20 stores which are in 30 states. The shirts are fast sellers and Goose gives Bart enough money to supplement the Simpson family income. The family structure is soon reversed when Homer gets fired by Mr. Burns (thanks to wearing one of Bart's T-shirts) and asks Bart for $200 to pay the $100 bill for their dinner in a restaurant and for breaking some bathroom fixtures there. While watching a documentary about lions by British film producer Declan Desmond, Homer decides to nurture Lisa after thinking Bart has replaced him. They quickly bond as Homer plays Malibu Stacey with her (while simultaneously managing to attack Ned Flanders). In Lisa's room, Homer sees her entry for the science fair, which is a history of nuclear physics and a scale model of the first nuclear reactor. However, Martin shows them his project, a childlike robot named CHUM. With Lisa sure to lose, Homer decides to help her by stealing some plutonium from the power plant and building a small working Class II plutonium fission reactor. After showing it to Lisa, she is horrified and alerts Marge to the danger, who tells Homer to get rid of the "irradiating whatsit". At Goose's store, Bart learns that Goose sold the rights to The Walt Disney Company to make his shirts into movies, but Bart will get nothing. He runs into Homer after leaving Goose and this angers Homer. In Goose's shop, Homer threatens to detonate his nuclear reactor and destroy the whole tri-city area if Goose does not give Bart what he deserves. Goose does so and Homer uses his leverage to get himself some novelty items as well. Bart thanks Homer for straightening things out. 

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The cartoon opens with people filing in to see The Barber of Seville in an amphitheatre. Unnoticed from up on the hills in back of the theatre, gunfire flashes are seen and shots are heard. Bugs Bunny and a hunter chasing him, who is soon revealed to be Elmer Fudd, run down from the hills to the theater's open backstage door. Bugs runs through the door and slams it shut to hide himself behind it as Elmer enters, and looking for Bugs, stalks unknowingly onstage behind the curtain. His back to the curtain, Elmer does not notice it rise nor hears the resulting applause from the audience when Bugs, using a carrot to do so, flicks the switch to raise it. The conductor, after a brief, confused glance at his watch, shrugs and starts the orchestra, making Elmer flinch and turn, wide-eyed, toward the audience. Bugs, dressed as a barber, steps out into the doorway of a staged barber shop set before a scenic town backdrop and starts singing as he speaks. He grabs Elmer, trying to sneak offstage, and gives him a shave, fiercely slashing the razor and rendering him "nice and clean, although your face looks like it might have gone through a machine." Elmer retrieves his hunter's hat and rifle and starts the chase again, singing his only line "Oh, wait till I get that wabbit!", but is stopped by Bugs, dressed as a temptress, singing, "What would you want with a wabbit? Can't you see that I'm much sweeter? I'm your little señoriter. You are my type of guy, let me straighten your tie, and I shall dance for you." (no dialogue is heard again from this point on until the end). While Bugs sings to him, Elmer becomes smitten with Bugs' temptress disguise, and Bugs ties up the rifle into a bow (when he 'straightens' Elmer's supposed tie); now, dancing and using scissors like castanets, he snips off Elmer's pants' suspender buttons, and Elmer is thoroughly embarrassed when he realizes his pants have fallen down; he sees through Bugs' disguise and shoots the tied-up rifle, resulting in him being blown back into the barber's chair. Bugs has another go on Elmer's scalp, beginning by giving his head a massage using both hands and feet, and then turning his head into a fruit salad bowl (complete with whipped cream and a cherry on top). Angered, Elmer chases after Bugs with a razor, but Bugs becomes a snake charmer, actually charming an electric shaver to chase Elmer. Elmer eventually disables the shaver with a shotgun blast and chases Bugs back to the barber's chairs. Bugs and Elmer each get on a chair that they raise to dizzying heights, Elmer shooting at Bugs all the way. Bugs cuts loose a stage sandbag which stuns Elmer as it lands in his lap, causing the chair to spin back down into the barbershop. Spirally sliding one-handed down the pole of the other chair, Bugs receives the traditional barber's gratuity from the dazed Elmer, then throws him in a revolving door to further daze him and, as Elmer staggers back out, waltzes him back into the barber's chair. Before Bugs' third go-round with the scalp, he opens one of Elmer's boots with a can opener and does a pedicure using hedge clippers, file, and red paint. That is followed by pouring hair restorer on Elmer's face, then shaving off the resulting beard with a miniature mower and, finally, a masque for the face using 'beauty clay', which Bugs handles like cement. Then it's back to the scalp as Bugs thoroughly massages it with his hands and ears after adding hair tonic, then "Figaro Fertilizer", causing hair to grow which sprouts into flowers. As a result, a short chase occurs during which Bugs and Elmer take turns pursuing each other back and forth across the stage, with increasingly bigger weapons (axes, guns, cannons). Finally, Bugs ends the chase by offering flowers, chocolates, and a ring to Elmer, who absentmindedly ducks offstage and returns as a blushing bride. Bugs dresses as a groom, and the tune briefly switches to the final part of the "Wedding March" by Mendelssohn as the two are "wed" by a priest; the performance concludes with Bugs racing his "bride" up a very long flight of stairs and, when they reach a false house front door at the top, Bugs picks Elmer up as if to carry him over the threshold. Instead he drops him head-first into a large wedding cake below, labeled, "The Marriage of Figaro". Bugs then looks at the camera, smirks, and breaking the fourth wall, says as he eats a carrot, in the same manner in which he delivers his catchphrase, "Eh, next?" 

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Thérèse Raquin is the daughter of a French sea-captain and an Algerian mother. After her mother's death, her father takes her to live with her aunt, Madame Raquin, and Camille, her valetudinarian son. Because her son is "so ill", Madame Raquin dotes on him to the point of spoiling him, and he is very selfish. Camille and Thérèse grow up side-by-side and Madame Raquin marries them to each other when Thérèse turns 21. Shortly thereafter, Camille decides that the family should move to Paris so he can pursue a career. Thérèse and Madame Raquin set up shop in the Passage du Pont Neuf to support Camille while he searches for a job. He eventually starts working for the Orléans Railway Company, where he runs into a childhood friend, Laurent. Laurent visits the Raquins and, while painting a portrait of Camille, contemplates an affair with the lonely Thérèse, mostly because he cannot afford prostitutes anymore. It soon becomes a torrid love affair. They meet regularly and secretly in Thérèse's room. After some time, Laurent's boss no longer allows him to leave early, so the lovers must think of something new. Thérèse comes up with the idea of killing Camille, and they become infatuated with the idea of being able to be together permanently while being married. It seems Camille is the only obstacle in this. They eventually drown him during a boat trip, though in defending himself Camille succeeds in biting Laurent on the neck. Madame Raquin is in shock after hearing of her son's disappearance. Everybody believes that the drowning was an accident and that the couple actually tried to save Camille. Laurent is still uncertain about whether Camille is truly dead and frequently visits the mortuary, which he persists in although it disturbs him, until he finally finds the dead body there. Thérèse becomes far more nervous and has nightmares; the previously calm and centered Laurent also becomes nervous. Their feelings toward each other are greatly changing, but they still plot to marry without raising suspicion and therefore reap the rewards of their actions. Thérèse acts very subdued around family and acquaintances and Laurent publicly shows great concern and care for her, so Michaud, one of the family's regular visitors, decides that Thérèse should remarry and her ideal husband should be Laurent. They finally marry but they're haunted by the memory of the murder; Laurent's bite scar serves as a constant reminder for them both. They have hallucinations of the dead Camille in their bed every night, preventing them from touching each other and quickly driving them even more insane. They vacillate between trying desperately to rekindle their passion to get rid of the corpse hallucinations (and trying to 'heal' the bite scar), and despising each other. Laurent, previously an untalented artist, is suddenly struck with surprising talent and skill, but he can no longer paint a picture (even a landscape) which does not in some way resemble the dead man. Sickened by this, he gives up art. They must also tend Madame Raquin, who suffered a stroke after Camille's death. She suffers a second stroke and becomes completely paralyzed (except for her eyes), after which Thérèse and Laurent accidentally reveal the murder in her presence during one of their many arguments. Madame Raquin, previously blissfully happy, is now filled with rage, disgust and horror. During an evening game of dominoes with friends, Madame Raquin manages to move her finger with an extreme effort of will to trace words on the table: " ...". The complete sentence was intended to be "" (Thérèse and Laurent killed Camille). At this point her strength gives out and the words are interpreted as "Thérèse and Laurent look after me very well". Thérèse and Laurent find life together intolerable. Laurent has started beating Thérèse, something she deliberately provokes in order to distract her from her life. Thérèse has convinced herself that Madame Raquin has forgiven her and spends hours kissing her and praying at the disabled woman's feet. The couple argue almost constantly about Camille and who was responsible for his death, so they exist in an endless waking nightmare. They are being driven to rashly plot to murder each other. At the novel's climax, they're about to kill each other when each realizes the other's plan. They break down sobbing in silent agreement of what they should do next, and reflect on their miserable lives. After a final embrace, they commit suicide by taking poison supplied by Laurent, all in front of the hate- filled, watchful gaze of Madame Raquin. 

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Set in the 14th century during the reigns of the last five kings of the direct Capetian dynasty and the first two kings of the House of Valois, the series begins as the French King Philip the Fair, already surrounded by scandal and intrigue, brings a curse upon his family when he persecutes the Knights Templar. The succession of monarchs that follows leads France and England to the Hundred Years' War. 

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The novels describe the experiences of a young married couple, Harriet and Guy Pringle, early in World War II. A lecturer and passionate Communist, Guy is attached to a British Council educational establishment in Bucharest (Romania) when war breaks out, and the couple are forced to leave the country, passing through Athens and Palestine and ending up in Cairo, Egypt. Harriet is persuaded to return home by ship, but changes her mind at the last minute and goes to Damascus with friends. Guy, hearing that the ship has been torpedoed, believes her to be dead, but they are reunited in the end. The cycle also chronicles the pre-war and wartime experiences of the surrounding group of English expatriates who also find themselves on the move and the changes in Romanian society as the corrupt regime of King Carol II fails to keep Romania out of the war. 

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A routine physical exam at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant reveals that Homer is sterile after being exposed to radiation. Fearing a lawsuit, Mr. Burns awards Homer the Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence and a US$2,000 prize in exchange for signing a legal waiver freeing the plant of all liability. To trick Homer into thinking he is receiving an actual award, Burns stages an extravagant ceremony hosted by Joe Frazier. Homer plans to buy a vibrating chair as a replacement for the living room couch, but when his half-brother Herb arrives unexpectedly, he loans him the prize money instead. Herb was once a successful car manufacturer before Homer ruined him and his company ("Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?"); Herb is now homeless and destitute. After hearing a baby cry, Herb devises a plan to regain his wealth: he invents a machine that translates baby talk into language adults can understand to respond to their infants' needs. Herb's invention is an instant success which makes him rich again. Herb repays Homer's loan and buys several gifts for the Simpsons, including a new washer and dryer for Marge, a NRA membership for Bart, and a Greater Books of Western Civilization subscription for Lisa. Herb forgives Homer for ruining him earlier and they cement their brotherly relationship. Herb gives Homer a vibrating chair to reward him for his faith and generosity. 

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The narrator Joshua—at first appearing to be just over 60 years old, wakes up May 27, 2109 in an apartment on human-settled Mars. With no memory of his past, he goes to his werp, a voice-activated laptop computer, and learns that his name is Joshua Ali Quare and that he was born in 1968. From this frame story and a box containing several objects from his past, Quare pieces together what he believes is true about his life leading to the early 22nd century. It is soon clear that he is unburdened by any form of morality. Joshua ran away from home early in his teens to escape his abusive father, and stayed in an upstairs apartment at Gwenny's Diner. Joshua's mother, a Communist party member, surreptitiously helped him. He entered the US Army at the behest of some Party organizers, and he was put in contact with a KGB operative who provided him with an injection to keep him from receiving or transmitting AIDS (which mutates and spreads soon after, wiping out a large percentage of the population of Earth). The injection also enhanced his memory, and periodically regenerates his body, so that he becomes 10 years younger with each 15-year life period. This makes him a longtimer, and gives him the side-effect of having his memory wiped after every life period. Joshua's US Army career is spent in Operation Desert Storm (the First Oil War in the novel) and the "Second Oil War" which culminated in a march on Tehran. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the KGB diversified and became "the Organization," a counter-insurgency group that supplied technical and logistic support to every side in the Eurowar, a NATO-Central European Union- Russian conflict in the early 21st century. Among the innovations of the Eurowar were Simulation Modeling Optimizing Targeters (SMOTs) a jump from smart weapons to "brilliant weapons" that attacked an enemy country's natural resources and means of production. These weapons cause massive environmental damage to the earth, and are the predecessors of the memes. Joshua, as an agent for The Organization, begins his violent operative career with a gang rape involving US soldiers, and then sets out a series of terrorist-like missions to intensify the war. During the Eurowar, Joshua raped a woman and killed her and her family (perhaps the only disturbing memory he regrets), murdered many soldiers and civilians, suppressed science and research through rape and torture, and essentially caused mayhem along with other Organization longtimers, for great sums of pay. After the Eurowar ended, Joshua took in "Alice", a war orphan from Prague in an incident where he got the dog tag – and inspiration for future alias – "John Childs". In the 2010s, the Organization abandoned Joshua, who then joined the Reconstruction after the Eurowar and worked in Quito, Ecuador on the GeoSync Cable and saw with Alice the beginning of the development of memes that would unify all countries and religions, leading to the War of the Memes (referred to in some of Barnes' other books) that culminated in the takeover of Earth by One True. Alice runs away, and the Organization finds and rehires Joshua to fight in the War of the Memes, for One True. By the time One True consolidated its hold on the people of Earth, Mars, the Jupiter and Saturn systems had been colonized for decades. Joshua steals another person's ID and becomes an ecoprospector on Mars. The best scientists and engineers of free humanity had developed the technology to unleash a singularity at the edge of the solar system that would provide a return point in time and space for the descendants of five transfer ships sent to colonize other nearby star systems. When Joshua finally ventures forth to meet his Organization contact in Red Sands City, he's confronted by a tremendous hustle and bustle of people preparing for the transfer ship descendants to arrive from the 25th century and either destroy One True (and the population on Earth under its control) or confine it there. A fellow Organization agent named Sadi has been in Joshua's life one way or another since the inception of the Organization. On Mars, Sadi, who's also a longtimer, meets Joshua as a woman, Sadi's original gender, and now gender of choice. This is possible due to the Organization perfecting the regeneration process, now called 'revival', which also gave Sadi complete memory recovery and a permanent 20-year-old body. From Sadi, whom Joshua had met as a woman after the Eurowar and was partnered with when Sadi was male during the War of the Memes, Joshua learns that it's possible to go through the singularity to 1988, when the technology to construct it was first built and put into orbit by the Soviets. By the time of the novel's frame story, Sadi has done this thirty times, each time changing history to his/her benefit. After Joshua's revival and a time as Sadi's lover, Joshua, who's repeatedly refused to accompany Sadi on these excursions through the singularity, (also known as a closed timelike curve), is sent by her via force on a preset course through the singularity once more. Sadi claims to have brought Joshua back in time with her before, without being revived, so she could 'help' Joshua love her as obsessively as Sadi loves him. Now she wants him to experience the freedom she's had, in hopes of having him come back to her for good. Joshua makes plans when he comes back to the late 20th century to change history himself, many times over, alone. 

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Bugs and Elmer are in the midst of their usual hunting-chasing scenario. After Bugs tricks Elmer into running through a hollow log and off a cliff three times (a comic triple of sorts originally used in Avery's All this and Rabbit Stew. In fact, the same animation sequence was recycled for "The Big Snooze", with the stereotypical black hunter being redrawn into Elmer Fudd), Elmer becomes enraged and frustrated that the writers never let him catch the rabbit in the pictures from which they both appear. He tears up his Warner Bros. cartoon contract and walks off the set to devote his life to fishing, stunning Bugs, who piteously protests and unabashedly, ultimately fruitlessly, begs him to reconsider. During a relaxing fishing trip, Elmer falls asleep. Bugs observes Elmer's nap, sings a little of Beautiful Dreamer and remarks that the dream he notices Elmer is having — that of a classic log and saw, representing snoring — is "a heavenly dream". Then, Bugs decides he had "better look into this", and downs a sleeping pill. He dreams he is inside Elmer's dream, in a boat crooning Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat. He decides to use Nightmare Paint to disrupt the "serene scene". Within Elmer's dreamland, Bugs creates incidences designed to unsettle: Elmer appears nearly nude, wearing only his derby hat and a strategically placed "loincloth" consisting of a laurel wreath. Next, in a musical parody of "The Campbells Are Coming", and a visual parody of the Pink Elephants on Parade sequence from the 1941 Disney film Dumbo, Bugs creates a situation where "Ziwwions and twiwwions of wabbits" are dancing over Elmer while Bugs' voice is heard singing, "The rabbits are coming. Hooray! Hooray!" When Elmer asks where they are all coming from, Bugs replies, "From me, Doc." Then we see him literally multiplying them from an adding machine. Looking for another way to torment Elmer, Bugs consults the book A Thousand and One Arabian Nightmares, exclaiming, "Oh, no! It's too gruesome!" before peeking over the book to cheerfully tell the audience, "But I'll do it!" Elmer realizes what Bugs has in mind, pleading, "No, no! No, not that! Not that, pwease!" as Bugs ties him to railroad tracks, just as "the Super Chief" (Bugs in an Indian chief's war bonnet, leading a conga line of baby rabbits) crosses over Elmer's head. Elmer talks to the audience in The Big Snooze Elmer's anger about a failed pursuit through the surreal landscape — which he demonstrates by shaking his head and making a sound similar to "brrrrr" — is promptly used against him by Bugs who inquires, "What's the matter doc, ya cold? Here, I'll fix dat." Before Elmer can protest, Bugs dresses him like a woman, wrapping his body with green material which transforms into a gown, slapping a wig on him, and applying lipstick. Bugs inspects his handiwork, then lifts the backdrop to reveal a trio of literal wolves in Zoot suits, lounging by the sign at Hollywood and Vine. When the trio notice Elmer, one wolf howls, "Hooooow old is she?" while another begins flirting with Elmer. Bugs enjoys watching the male wolves hit on Elmer, who yells, "Gwacious!" before grabbing the hem of his gown and fleeing from the pursuing wolves; he briefly stops to ask the audience, "Have any of you giwls evew had an expewience wike this?" Bugs intercepts Elmer and proceeds to engage in the old "run 'this way'!" gag, putting Elmer through a bizarre series of steps which include flipping upside down to run on his hair, hopping on all fours, and dancing a hopak. As Bugs and Elmer fall off a cliff, Bugs drinks some "Hare Tonic (Stops Falling Hare)" and screeches to a halt in mid-air, while the dream Elmer continues to careen toward earth, finally crash-landing into the real Elmer's snoozing body. He wakes up with a start, exclaiming, "Ooh, what a howwible nightmare!". Elmer dashes back to the cartoon's original background, pieces his Warner contract back together, and agrees to continue. The chase through the log begins anew. Bugs faces the audience in a closeup, finishing with the catchphrase from the "Beulah" character on the radio show Fibber McGee and Molly, "Ah love dat man!" 

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The cartoon opens in outer space, and moves in slowly on the Earth, the United States, and a fictional state called "Mouseachewsetts." The camera continues to move closer, to an overhead view of Fluger's Delicatessen, wedged in between two skyscrapers. The camera pans the interior of the deli, finally coming to Catstello waiting patiently at the entrance of a mouse hole. He addresses the camera and audience: "I thought you'd never get here." He alerts Babbit that the people/audience are here, but Babbit is angry. Catstello failed to gather food as directed because he fears the cat. After much resistance, Babbit hypnotizes Catstello and turns him, in turn, into Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Rochester (which is removed from Cartoon Network in the United States) and a chicken. Satisfied that his hypnotic powers work, Babbit then hypnotizes Catstello into believing he is a dog. He sends Catstello out to chase the cat away. At first Catstello's barking frighten the cat, who hides under a trash bin. But Catstello picks up the bin, and the cat is shocked to see Catstello, not a dog. Catstello comes out of his trance and flees back into the mouse hole, where Babbit hypnotizes him again. Catstello runs out barking to confront the cat, but the cat, with a hypnosis book, undoes Babbit's spell and Catstello flees back to Babbit. Then a battle begins between Babbit and the cat for control of Catstello. Like a ball in a tennis match, Catstello bounces back and forth several times between the hypnotic powers of Babbit and the cat. Finally Catstello produces two hand mirrors to that reflect the hypnotic beams back at Babbit and the cat. Then Catstello, hypnosis book in hand, turns the cat into a bronco and Babbit into a cowboy. They ride off together out of the deli, leaving Catstello happily eating cheese, reading the book "Live Alone and Like It," and remarking "Oh — I'm a baaaaad boy!" (The book was written by Marjorie Hillis, the editor of Vogue, around 1936 for bachelor women.) 

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Juanita "J.J." Sachs is a model who does softcore pornography photo shoots for her friend Ernie "Violens" Schultz, a former Vietnam War photojournalist. After her friend is viciously murdered in a snuff photo shoot, the two of them track down the people responsible and, in the process, become lovers and uncover an underworld of depravity, ending in a violent showdown in Mardi Gras. Sachs and Violens appeared as supporting characters in Peter David's other creator-owned title, Fallen Angel. They first appeared in the second volume of the series, which was published by IDW Publishing, in which they arrive in the series' setting of Bete Noire, a mysterious city of Biblical origin inhabited by various characters of dubious character and motives. They become allies of the series' titular heroine, Liandra, and continue to appear in the series' third volume, by the same publisher, which debuted in August 2009. 

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Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank), a waitress from a Missouri town in the Ozarks, shows up at the Hit Pit, a run-down Los Angeles gym owned and operated by Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood), an old cantankerous Irish-American boxing trainer. Maggie asks Frankie to train her, but he initially refuses. Maggie works out tirelessly each day in his gym, even after Frankie tells her she's "too old" to begin a boxing career at her age. Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris (Morgan Freeman), Frankie's friend and employee—and the film's narrator—encourages and helps her. Frankie's prize prospect, "Big Willie" Little, signs with successful manager Mickey Mack after becoming impatient with Frankie rejecting offers for a championship bout. With prodding from Scrap and impressed with her persistence, Frankie reluctantly agrees to train Maggie. He warns her that he will teach her only the basics and then find her a manager. Other than Maggie and his employees, the only person Frankie has contact with is a local priest, with whom he spars verbally at daily Mass. Before her first fight, Frankie leaves Maggie with a random manager in his gym, much to her dismay; upon being told by Scrap that said manager deliberately put her up against his best girl (coaching the novice to lose) to give her an easy win, Frankie rejoins Maggie in the middle of the bout and coaches her instead to an unforeseen victory. A natural, she fights her way up in the women's amateur boxing division with Frankie's coaching, winning many of her lightweight bouts with first-round knockouts. Since Maggie has earned a reputation for her KOs, Frankie must resort to bribery to get other managers to put their trainee fighters up against her. Eventually, Frankie takes a risk by putting her in the junior welterweight class, where her nose is broken in her first match. Frankie comes to establish a paternal bond with Maggie, who substitutes for his estranged daughter. Scrap, concerned when Frankie rejects several offers for big fights, arranges a meeting for her with Mickey Mack at a diner on her 33rd birthday. Out of loyalty, she declines. Frankie begrudgingly accepts a fight for her against a top-ranked opponent in the UK, where he bestows a Gaelic nickname on her. The two travel to Europe as she continues to win; Maggie eventually saves up enough of her winnings to buy her mother a house, but her mother berates Maggie for endangering her government aid, claiming that everyone back home is laughing at her. Frankie is finally willing to arrange a title fight. He secures Maggie a $1 million match in Las Vegas, Nevada, against the WBA women's welterweight champion, Billie "The Blue Bear" Osterman, a German ex-prostitute who has a reputation as an unpunished dirty fighter. Overcoming a shaky start, Maggie begins to dominate the fight, but Billie knocks her out with an illegal sucker punch from behind after the bell rings to end the round. Before Frankie can pull the corner stool out of the way (which was inappropriately placed on its side by Frankie's assistant), Maggie lands hard on it, breaking her neck and leaving her a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic. Frankie is shown experiencing the first three of the five stages of grief: first seeking multiple doctors' opinions in denial, then blaming Scrap in anger, and later trying to bargain with God through prayer. In a medical rehabilitation facility, Maggie looks forward to a visit from her family, but they arrive days later only after touring Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood, accompanied by an attorney; their only concern is to get Maggie's assets transferred to them. She orders them to leave, threatening to sell the house and inform the IRS of her mother's and sister's welfare frauds if they ever try to contact her again. As the days pass, Maggie develops bedsores and undergoes an amputation for an infected leg. She asks a favor of Frankie: to help her die, declaring that she got everything she wanted out of life. A horrified Frankie refuses, and Maggie later bites her tongue repeatedly in an attempt to bleed to death, but the medical staff saves her and takes measures to prevent further suicide attempts. The priest Frankie has harassed for 23 years, Father Horvak, warns him that he would never find himself again if he were to go through with Maggie's wishes. Frankie sneaks into the hospital one night, unaware that Scrap is watching from the shadows. Just before administering a fatal injection of adrenaline, he finally tells Maggie the meaning of a nickname he gave her, Mo Chuisle (misspelled in the film as "mo cuishle"): Irish for "my darling, and my blood" (literally, "my pulse"). He never returns to the gym. Scrap's narration is revealed to be a letter to Frankie's daughter, informing her of her father's true character. The last shot of the film shows Frankie sitting at the counter of a diner where Maggie once took him, and after having a homemade lemon meringue pie with her, said: "Now I can die and go to heaven." 

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In 1711 Usbek leaves his seraglio in Isfahan to take the long journey to France, accompanied by his young friend Rica. He leaves behind five wives (Zashi, Zéphis, Fatmé, Zélis, and Roxane) in the care of a number of black eunuchs, one of whom is the head or first eunuch. During the trip and their long stay in Paris (1712–1720), they comment, in letters exchanged with friends and mullahs, on numerous aspects of Western, Christian society, particularly French politics and Moors, ending with a biting satire of the System of John Law. Over time, various disorders surface back in the seraglio, and, beginning in 1717 (Letter 139 [147]), the situation there rapidly unravels. Usbek orders his head eunuch to crack down, but his message does not arrive in time, and a revolt brings about the death of his wives, including the vengeful suicide of his favorite, Roxane, and, it appears, most of the eunuchs. The Chronology can be broken down as follows: *Letters 1–21 [1–23]: The journey from Isfahan to France, which lasts almost 14 months (from 19 March 1711 to 4 May 1712). *Letters 22–89 [24–92]: Paris in the reign of Louis XIV, 3 years in all (from May 1712 to September 1715). *Letters 90–137 [93–143] or [supplementary Letter 8 =145]: the Regency of Philippe d’Orléans, covering five years (from September 1715 to November 1720). *Letters 138–150 [146–161]: the collapse of the seraglio in Isfahan, approximately 3 years (1717–1720). The first edition of the novel, which consists of 150 letters, appeared in May 1721 under the rubric Cologne: Pierre Marteau, a front for the Amsterdam publisher Jacques Desbordes whose business is now run by his widow, Susanne de Caux. Called edition A, this is the text utilized in the recent critical edition of Lettres persanes (2004) for the ongoing complete works of Montesquieu published in Oxford and Lyon/Paris beginning in 1998. A second edition (B) by the same publisher later in the same year, for which there is so far no entirely satisfactory explanation, curiously included three new letters but omitted thirteen of the original ones. All subsequent editions in the author's lifetime (i.e., until 1755) derive from A or B. A new edition in 1758, prepared by Montesquieu's son, included eight new letters – bringing the total at that point to 161 – and a short piece by the author entitled "Quelques réflexions sur les Lettres persanes". This latter edition has been used for all subsequent editions until the Œuvres complètes of 2004, which reverts to the original edition but includes the added letters marked as "supplementary" and, in parentheses, the numbering scheme of 1758. 

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Kyle, Sonia, and Michael are inmates at a rehabilitation facility. Bob, the administrator, tasks them with apologizing to those they have hurt with their addiction. When Kyle attempts to apologize to his teenage sister Charlotte, she angrily blows him off, and the principal kicks him off school grounds. Sonia goes to the hospital where her dying father is a patient, but she is unable to bring herself to face him. Michael visits his father in jail, but the conversation is cut short by his father's abusive threats. When Bob asks them to discuss their day in group therapy, they refuse, and Michael storms off. While discussing the pointlessness of Bob's therapy, Sonia learns that her father has died. As the trio try to deal with their emotional pain, a storm rolls in, and each of them is shocked and knocked unconscious. When they wake up in the morning, they find that it is the same day, and all the same events repeat. Kyle, Sonia, and Michael stumble through the day and repeat their actions in a daze. When they discuss the situation, Michael is intrigued by the consequence-free possibilities open to them, but Kyle convinces them to act on a news report that he recalls. They go to a dam but are too late to stop a jumper. Michael suggests that they take advantage of the situation, and they commit petty crimes that result in a stay at jail. Eventually, as the day repeats endlessly, they embark on a drug bender and crime spree, robbing a store and culminating in the violent kidnapping of Tiko, a drug dealer who has been selling to Charlotte and her friend Michelle. On another loop, Kyle slices Tiko’s throat. At the dam, Michael carelessly risks his life walking on top of the railing and dares Sonia to do the same. When she slips, Michael merely laughs and refuses to try to help Kyle save her. Sonia falls to her death, then wakes up with a gasp on the next repeat. Sonia claims to remember nothing of her death, and the trio become emboldened by their apparent immortality. On one repeat, Kyle and Sonia save the jumper at the dam, then discover that Michael has raped Michelle. When Kyle and Sonia confront Michael, Michael accuses them of hypocrisy and says that all their bad actions are excusable because everything gets reset. Michael's behavior becomes more violent and antisocial as the days repeat. Shaken by Michael's behavior, Kyle ambushes him in the morning and ties him to a chair. Kyle and Sonia fall in love and work toward redemption, but Michael laughs at Kyle; he claims that Sonia's story of childhood sexual abuse is just an act, quoting a story he says she uses to seduce men. Kyle and Sonia form a deeper relationship during the loops and make peace with their families. This causes the time loop to abruptly end, but they do not realize it until the next day in the middle of a violent rampage by Michael that ends with the senseless murders of two people. Freaked out, Michael takes Charlotte hostage, but he commits suicide after Kyle attempts to reason with him. Michael is surprised to wake up again, stuck in his own time loop, unsure if he can arrange peace with his own family to break the loop. 

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Millions tells the story of Damian (Alex Etel), a 9 year old Catholic school boy, whose family moves to the suburbs of Widnes after the death of his mother. Soon after the move, Damian's "hermitage" in a cardboard box (which is by the train tracks) is disturbed by a bag of money flung from a passing train. Damian immediately shows the money to his brother, 12 year old Anthony (Lewis Owen McGibbon), and the two begin thinking of what to do with it. Anthony wants the money all to himself. Damian, kind-hearted and religious, had recently overheard three Latter-day Saint missionaries lecture other members of the community on building foundations of rock rather than foundations of sand, an old Christian principle which dictates that self-worth should be based on the teachings of Jesus Christ rather than any other object of worship such as wealth or power. The lecture inspires Damian, who looks for ways to give his share of the money to the poor; at one point he even stuffs a bundle of cash through the missionaries' letter box, having heard about their modest lifestyle and deciding that they too must be poor. Throughout the story, Damian commits small acts of kindness like buying birds from pet stores and setting them free and taking beggars to Pizza Hut, while Anthony bribes other kids at school into being his transportation and bodyguards, and looks into investing the money in real estate. The story takes place in the weeks leading up to The Bank of England's (fictional) change from the pound (£) to the euro (€)—an event publicised as '€ Day'. An assembly is held at Damian's school to inform the children about the change, as well as to educate the children about helping the poor. Realizing that the money, which is in pounds, will be no good after a few days, Damian decides that the best thing to do would be to give it away before the conversion. He drops £1,000 into the donation can at the assembly. The woman collecting the money, Dorothy (Daisy Donovan), is forced to report Damian; when questioned by the principal, Anthony lies that he and Damian stole the money from the missionaries. Damian and Anthony are grounded that night. When their father collects them from school he chats with Dorothy, and there is an obvious attraction between them. After the donation, Anthony's friend informs them that a train carrying notes which were to be destroyed after the conversion had been robbed. One bag was stolen in a diversion, while the robber remained on the train disguised as one of the emergency staff, and the money had been dispersed by throwing it off of the train at various locations throughout the country to be collected by the robbers. The boys logically conclude that their money was stolen, and Damian, who thought the money was from God, feels terrible. Around this time, a mysterious man comes snooping around the train tracks and asks Damian if he has any money. Damian thinks that the man is a beggar and tells him he has 'loads of money'. However, Anthony realizes he is one of the robbers, and gives the man a jar full of coins to cover Damian's tracks. The robber eventually finds out where Damian lives and ransacks his house. Damian had informed his father about the money just before they came home to their destroyed house. The robbery is then explained. The robbers boarded the train. They then escaped the police by dressing as football fans and joining a crowd of similarly dressed fans leaving a game. However, one man remained on the train. He began to throw the money off, to be collected later. The robber who came sneaking around hid in Damian's room after ransacking it, much in the way the train robbery was carried out. Damian's father, who had resolved to give the money back, decided that if the robbers were going to steal his family's Christmas, then he would steal the robbers' money. The family, as well as Dorothy, go on a massive shopping spree on Christmas Eve. That night, after they are asleep, their house is bombarded by beggars and charities begging for contributions, and seeing the confusion that ensues, Damian runs off to the train tracks to burn the money, deciding that it was doing more harm than good. Meanwhile, the robber sneaks through the backdoor where he had been lured and arrested by the police. While Damian was burning the money, he is visited by his dead mother, who tells him not to worry about her. In the final scene, the audience sees Damian's dream of the family flying a rocket ship to Africa and helping develop water wells, while Damian narrates over the scene that each family member but him had hidden a little bit of the money beforehand. Damian convinced them to spend this money on the wells he is dreaming about. Earlier in the movie this was shown to be the most crucial and cheapest way to drastically improve the quality of life for many African communities. 

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The Federation starship Enterprise responds to a distress call from a human colony, but on arrival finds no signs of any type of inhabited settlement. A landing party, including Captain Kirk and Ensign Chekov, beams down to investigate further. A few moments later, they are found and surrounded by Klingons who have transported to the surface from their own orbiting vessel. Commander Kang accuses the Enterprise crew of firing upon their vessel and demands that they surrender immediately. Suddenly, Chekov makes a move to attack the Klingons, claiming they had killed his brother. Kang's men subdue him and use an agonizer device to torture him, forcing Kirk to agree to surrender. However, upon contacting the ship and asking to be beamed up, Kirk secretly warns First Officer Spock about the Klingons. Spock uses the transporter to materialize the Enterprise crewmen first, followed by the Klingons, who are overpowered by Enterprise security personnel. Kang surrenders and he and the other Klingons, including his wife Mara, a science officer, are escorted to secure quarters on the ship. Meanwhile, a glowing entity composed of pure energy, which had initially emerged on the planet below, enters the Enterprise undetected and interfaces with its controls. The ship lurches into warp at maximum speed headed for the edge of the galaxy. With the crew panicked, the entity then traps 392 members of the Enterprise's crew belowdecks by closing bulkheads and making them impenetrable. The 38 remaining members of the crew are equal in numbers to the Klingons. With tempers high – and spurred on by the sudden materialization of swords and other antique hand weapons – they begin to fight. Spock soon detects the entity, apparently feeding off the violence. When informed by Lt. Sulu that Chekov never had a brother and is an only child, Kirk realizes that the entity is capable of implanting false memories in order to trigger aggression. Kirk and Spock try to calm the crew's escalating furor to no avail. Kirk believes that if he can get to Kang, the Klingon commander can help stop his crew from fighting and help return the ship to a normal state. Kirk and Spock work their way through the animosity aboard the ship and happen upon Chekov sexually assaulting Mara. Kirk pulls Chekov from her and knocks him unconscious, relenting only when Spock reminds him that Chekov was not in control of himself. Bringing Mara along, they take Chekov to Sickbay, where Dr. McCoy reports that crewmen gravely wounded in the fighting are healing at a much faster than normal rate; the entity wants everyone alive and fighting. Mara is initially skeptical that the entity exists, but is persuaded after realizing Kirk is completely unwilling to kill her. She agrees to lead Kirk to Kang in Engineering. They travel by the risky technique of intra-ship beaming – using the transporter between two points within the ship. In Engineering, Kang distrusts Kirk's explanation of the entity despite Mara's assurance, and believing she was assaulted, challenges Kirk to a sword duel. As they clash, and with the entity hovering and pulsating a bright red nearby, Kirk implores Kang to stop, telling him that they may become its puppets for a thousand lifetimes if they continue to fight. Kang acknowledges Kirk's warning and the fact that their fighting is pointless. Kirk and Kang order their respective crews to lay down their arms. To starve the entity, Kirk and Kang encourage their crews to act jovially and to laugh with one another loudly. The entity fades and leaves the ship. 

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In answer to a distress call, the Federation starship Enterprise arrives at the planet Scalos. Captain Kirk beams down with a landing party to a city with no evidence of life, except for an intermittent insect-like buzzing. Crewman Compton disappears before Dr. McCoy's eyes, and Kirk orders the away team back to the Enterprise. Upon their return, the ship begins to experience strange malfunctions, and Engineering reports the sudden appearance of an unknown device attached to the ship's life support systems. Kirk and Spock attempt to disconnect the device but are prevented from doing so by an unseen force. Back on the bridge, Kirk decides to allow the unseen enemy to take the next step, and asks for coffee. As he sips it, the bridge crew appear to slow down. A woman appears, who introduces herself as Deela, "the enemy". She explains that Kirk has been placed in a state of hyperacceleration, rendering him invisible to the rest of his crew, but allowing him to see and hear the Scalosians. Kirk returns to Life Support and discovers that Compton is still alive, having also been accelerated, and is willingly working with the Scalosians. After a confrontation with Deela's chief scientist Rael, Kirk surmises that the unknown device is intended to turn the Enterprise into a cryogenic storage unit. He records a message to Spock explaining what he has learned; Deela, confident in her people's success, allows this. Their plan, she explains, is to use the Enterprise crew to help propagate their species, whose men have been rendered sterile by the same natural disaster that caused their accelerated state. After a heated debate on the ethics of this plan, Kirk rushes away and disables the transporter. Deela, finding it inoperative, pretends to believe Kirk's claim to be ignorant of the problem. Kirk begins to exhibit the sort of docility seen with Compton; however, this is a ruse that allows him to seize Deela's weapon. On his way to Life Support, Kirk meets newly accelerated Spock, who has heard Kirk's message and determined the cause of his hyperacceleration was a dose of the polluted Scalosian water. The two arrive at Life Support, where Kirk uses the Scalosian weapon to stun Rael and destroy the cryogenic device. After transporting Deela and her party back to the planet, Spock reveals that he has brought a possible antidote to the Scalosian water. Kirk takes a dose immediately, while Spock takes advantage of his accelerated state to effect repairs on the Enterprise. 

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During an orchestrated drug bust at a marine loading dock, Los Angeles Police Detective Stan Zedkov kills Triad lieutenant Peter Wei. Looking to exact revenge for his son's death, Peter's crime boss father Terence Wei sends for professional assassin John Lee. Paying off an old debt, Lee has already killed two targets for Wei, and the crime boss tells him that this third and final job will settle the obligation. However, Lee's conscience prevents him from completing his final assignment: to murder Zedkov's seven-year-old son Stevie before the detective's eyes. Realizing that his actions will result in retaliation against his mother and sister, Lee prepares to return to China, enlisting the help of old friend Alan Chan, a monk in a local Buddhist temple, to make arrangements to have his family moved to a secure location. Infuriated by Lee's disobedience, Wei orders his head lieutenant, Michael Kogan, to lead the hunt for Lee, and has his people in China begin the search for Lee's family. No longer able to use the Triad network to get out of the country, Lee searches for alternative means outside Wei's sphere of influence, and looks to skilled forger Meg Coburn for a new passport. Before she can finish the job, Wei's men storm her office, destroying the computerized tools of her trade in the ensuing shootout. Lee escapes; Coburn is picked up by the police, unsuccessfully interrogated by Zedkov, and released as bait so the detective can see who comes after her. Meanwhile, Wei hires skilled out-of-town replacement killers to take over the hunt for Lee and the Zedkov contract. Lee finds Coburn when she returns to her destroyed office. Having been made aware that the Triads are involved, Coburn wants out, but Lee forces her to finish her original task of creating a forged passport. Traveling with Coburn, with the two replacement killers, Ryker and Collins, in pursuit, Lee gets pictures from a photo booth and phones Alan, who offers the use of his passport. When Lee arrives at the temple, he discovers that Alan has been tortured to the point of death. Alan tells Lee that his family was moved to Canton—but he told his torturers they were in Shanghai. Lee has little more than 24 hours before his family is found. The monk gives Lee his passport before dying in his arms. Holed up in a hotel, Coburn finishes altering Allan's passport for Lee. The two exchange stories, and Coburn becomes sympathetic to Lee. Feeling compelled to stop the killing of Zedkov's son before leaving the country, Lee forces one of Wei's men to reveal the plan, which is to kill Stevie while he and his father are at a cartoon festival in a movie theater. Lee and Coburn, who insists on helping, arrive barely in time to prevent Ryker and Collins from killing the boy, and Ryker is killed in the subsequent gunfight. Concerned that Lee and Coburn will make their way back to Wei's base of operations, the crime boss makes plans to flee the country and hunt down Lee's mother and sister himself. However, when two guards open the main gate for Wei and his entourage to leave in a limo, Lee is just outside and launches a two-handed handgun assault. Coburn surfaces moments later, driving a truck through the melee, incapacitating Wei's Kogan, and later killing him. When Collins fires from a high perch on Lee and Coburn, Lee soon outflanks him, killing him from behind. Finally, Lee corners Wei on a fire escape platform. Though both men have emptied their guns, Lee is first to reload. Wei promises Lee that the boy and Lee's family will still die, but Lee replies, "Not in your lifetime," and kills him. Though Zedkov arrives before Lee and Coburn can get away, he lets them go, taking only their guns. Coburn reluctantly bids goodbye to Lee at the airport, presenting him with one last gift, passports for his mother and sister. 

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17-year-old Cécile spends her summer in a villa on the French Riviera with her father Raymond and his current mistress, the young, superficial, fashionable Elsa, who gets on well with Cécile. Raymond is an attractive, worldly, amoral man who excuses his serial philandering with an Oscar Wilde quote about sin: "Sin is the only note of vivid colour that persists in the modern world." Cécile says, "I believed that I could base my life on it",[2] and accepts their languorous lifestyle as the ideal of privileged status. One of its advantages for Cécile is that her father, who has no intellectual interests, does not care if she studies or not. Another is that he gives her leeway to pursue her own interests, with the assumption that she will be an amusing addition to the superficial social gatherings he favors. In the next villa to theirs is a young man in his 20s, Cyril, with whom Cécile has her first sexual romance. Their peaceful holiday is shattered by the arrival of Anne, whom Raymond had vaguely invited. A cultured, principled, intelligent, hard-working woman of Raymond's age who was a friend of his late wife, Anne regards herself as a sort of godmother to Cécile. The three women all have claims on Raymond's attention; the remote, enigmatic Anne soon becomes Raymond's lover, and the next morning she announces their engagement. Elsa moves out, then Anne tries to take Cécile under her wing. She tells Cécile to stop seeing Cyril and get back to her schoolbooks. Horrified at this threat to her lazy life as her father's darling, especially when contrasted with the romance between Raymond and Anne, Cécile devises a plan to prevent the marriage, while nevertheless feeling ambiguous about her machinations. With the idea of making Raymond jealous, Cécile arranges for Elsa and Cyril to pretend to be a couple and appear together at specific moments. When Raymond predictably becomes jealous of the younger Cyril as the result of Cécile's scheming, he eventually pursues Elsa once again. But Cécile has misjudged Anne's sensitivity, with tragic results. After seeing Raymond and Elsa together in the woods, with Raymond brushing pine needles off of his suit, Anne tearfully drives away, and her car plunges from a cliff in a suspected suicide. Cécile and her father return to the empty, desultory life they were living before Anne interrupted their summer, though eventually reminiscing about Anne and the impact she had on their lives. Cécile lives with the regret of knowing that her manipulations led to Anne's death. 

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Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) is a psychic who has been using his talents solely for personal gain, which mainly consists of gambling and womanizing. When he was 19 years old, Alex had been the prime subject of a scientific research project documenting his psychic ability, but in the midst of the study, he disappeared. After running afoul of a local gangster/extortionist named Snead (Redmond Gleeson), Alex evades two of Snead's thugs by allowing himself to be taken by two men: Finch (Chris Mulkey) and Babcock (Peter Jason), who identify themselves as being from an academic institution. At the institution, Alex is reunited with his former mentor Dr. Paul Novotny (Max von Sydow) who is now involved in government-funded psychic research. Novotny, aided by fellow scientist Dr. Jane DeVries (Kate Capshaw), has developed a technique that allows psychics to voluntarily link with the minds of others by projecting themselves into the subconscious during REM sleep. Novotny equates the original idea for the dreamscape project to the practice of the Senoi natives of Malaysia, who believe the dream world is just as real as reality. The project was intended for clinical use to diagnose and treat sleep disorders, particularly nightmares, but it has been hijacked by Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer), a powerful government agent. Novotny convinces Alex to join the program in order to investigate Blair's intentions. Alex gains experience with the technique by helping a man who is worried about his wife's infidelity and by treating a young boy named Buddy (Cory Yothers), who is plagued with nightmares so terrible that a previous psychic lost his sanity trying to help him. Buddy's nightmare involves a large sinister "snake- man.” A subplot involving Alex and Jane's growing infatuation culminates with him sneaking into Jane's dream to have sex with her. He does this without technological aid—something no one else has been able to achieve. With the help of novelist Charlie Prince (George Wendt), who has been covertly investigating the project for a new book, Alex learns that Blair intends to use the dream-linking technique for assassination. Blair murders Prince and Novotny to silence them. The president of the United States (Eddie Albert) is admitted as a patient due to recurring nightmares. Blair assigns Tommy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly), a mentally unstable psychic who murdered his own father, to enter the president's nightmare and assassinate him—people who die in their dreams also die in the real world. Blair considers the president's nightmares about nuclear holocaust as a sign of political weakness, which he deems a liability in the upcoming negotiations for nuclear disarmament. Alex projects himself into the president's dream—a nightmare of a post nuclear war wasteland—to try and protect him. After a fight in which Tommy rips out a police officer's heart, Tommy attempts to incite a mutant-mob against the president, and battles Alex in the form of the snake-man from Buddy's dream. Alex assumes the appearance of Tommy's murdered father (Eric Gold) in order to distract him, allowing the president to impale him with a spear. The president is grateful to Alex but reluctant to confront Blair, who wields considerable political power. To protect himself and Jane, Alex enters Blair's dream and kills him before Blair can retaliate. The film ends with Jane and Alex boarding a train to Louisville, Kentucky, intent on making their previous dream encounter a reality. They are surprised to meet the ticket collector from Jane's dream, but they decide to ignore it and keep on. 

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Benoît is a young teenage boy living in rural Quebec. He works at the town general store belonging to his aunt Cécile and his uncle, Antoine, who is also the town undertaker. On December 24 he begins work, setting up the store display much to the delight of the town and flirting with Carmen, the young girl whom his uncle and aunt employ, and treat as an adopted child. Madame Jos Poulin's eldest son, Marcel, dies that day and she places a call to the store asking if Antoine can come to take care of the body. For the first time Benoît is allowed to go with him. After they load the body into a coffin they prepare to take it home. However, on the way home Benoît encourages the horse to run as quickly as possible causing the coffin to fall off the sleigh. He tries to get Antoine to help put the coffin back on the sleigh; however, Antoine who has been steadily drinking throughout the day is unable to lift the coffin. He confesses to Benoît that he hates dealing with the dead bodies and that he is miserable in his life, wishing that he had achieved his dream of owning a hotel in the U.S. as he had wanted to. He further confesses that though he treats Benoît and Carmen like his own, he regrets that his wife was unable to give him children. Angry with Antoine, Benoît manages to get him back in the sleigh and returns home. He runs up the stairs to get help from his aunt and discovers her embracing Fernand, the help, in her nightgown. Realizing what has happened Fernand takes Benoît out in the sleigh to look for the body. Traumatized by seeing his aunt and Fernand together, Benoît is no help in remembering where the coffin fell off the sleigh. Eventually they make it back to the Poulin household where they find the entire Poulin family, including Jos, the father, who had been away working, around the coffin mourning the loss of Marcel. 

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After the phenomenal success of her first novel, Metalious hastily penned a sequel centering on the life and loves of bestselling author Allison MacKenzie, who follows in the footsteps of her mother by having an affair with a married man, her publisher Lewis Jackman. The similarity of their situations bond Allison and her mother. When she returns to her hometown following the publication of her first novel, Samuel's Castle, she is forced to face the wrath of most of its residents, who are incensed by their barely disguised counterparts and the revelation of town secrets in the book. Despite that, certain members of the community stood by the MacKenzies, most notably, Seth Buswell, the newspaper editor; and his oldest friend, Dr. Matthew Swain. In fact, whenever anyone came into Dr. Swain's office and complained about Allison's book, he would roar them down and after a harsh tongue-lashing from him about some of the things that person had done, he or she wouldn't ever complain about Allison's novel after that. However, Roberta Carter, a member of the school board (working in concert with the town attorney's wife Marion Partridge), makes it her mission to ban the book from the high school library. She punishes Allison by firing her stepfather, Michael Rossi (a decision which she eventually reverses, to the anger of Marion); while at the same time trying to dissolve her son Ted's marriage to his snobbish bride, a Boston blue-blood named Jennifer Burbank. Another union in trouble is that of Allison's mother Constance, who is shocked by her daughter's exposé, but nonetheless stands by her, and stepfather Michael Rossi, the school principal and one of the novel's defenders. Betty Anderson returns from New York, after giving birth to Roddy, the child she had by Rodney Harrington and, along with her cohort and Roddy's babysitter, Agnes Carlisle, moves to Peyton Place, so she can allow Leslie, Roddy's grandfather to know him. Selena Cross, who had been acquitted of murder in the previous novel, was trying to make a life for herself and her brother, Joey. She is manager of the Thrifty Corner Apparel Shoppe, and is a success. In this book, Selena and Allison had rebonded as friends, and Allison's New York roommate, Stephanie Wallace, was also part of their circle. 

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The blue-collar working world of 1950s Indiana, with period- style footage and clips from Fritz Lang's Metropolis, is accompanied by Shepherd's voiceover narration as the adult Ralph. The fourteen-year-old Ralph and friends, Flick and Schwartz, endure bureaucratic "terminal official boredom," to get their "working papers," to be able to apply for their first summer jobs. The next day at breakfast, Ralph announces that he, Flick, and Schwartz have job interviews, and Mom notices that the family dog, Fuzzhead, (Shepherd's dog Daphne) seems to be missing. Adult Ralph describes this as the beginning of the "Scary Fuzzhead Saga, which traumatized our family for years." The three friends interview at Scott's Used Furniture Palace, where adult Ralph describes the owner as "a cross between Rasputin and The Wolfman" (played in the film by Shepherd himself!). They are hired, in "a truly historic moment." They fantasize about what they'll do with all the money they'll make. Clocking in on the job, they proceed to their first assignment - depicted in stock footage as enslaved workers descending to a dark basement. Mom calls the police to report Fuzzhead's disappearance and announces to the Old Man, as he leaves for work, that she's "not going on any vacation" until she is found. She posts hand-drawn "reward" posters for her return and places an ad in the newspaper. The Old Man, at the Bluebird, the neighborhood bar, laments the likely delay of his vacation. The first day of Ralph's moving job is difficult and exhausting, as they struggle to move a mammoth refrigerator up five flights of stairs. At dinner Ralph is so sore and stiff his joints creak and pop. The next day, back on the job, they move an identical refrigerator up another seven flights of stairs. Over the next two weeks, Ralph "toils ceaselessly" at Scott's, while Mom relentlessly "like Ahab" searches for Fuzzhead, with visits to dog pounds and repeatedly dragging the Old Man out to drive around looking for her. At night, Ralph has eerie nightmares, including a towering, laughing refrigerator. The next day, having seen Mom's badly-sketched reward posters, "people from three counties arrived with their mutts, trying for the big reward." Ralph's summer job ends abruptly when they are fired. Then "a miracle" happens - the Old Man, driving around again with Mom, spots Fuzzhead in the rear window of a black Rolls Royce, and gives chase, all the way to the home of the rich dowager at whose doorstep she appeared. She returns to the family home, left with "only her memories", a montage of meals on crystal and pampered treatment. At dinner, Ralph fibs, saying he quit his job to spend time with the family. As a result, they are free to pack and, as adult Ralph describes, begin their "epic" road trip. The trip includes drastic overpacking of the brown Chevy sedan, a reluctant starter motor, an endlessly carsick and complaining Randy, side trips to shop for unnecessary "slob art", a flat tire, running out of gas as the Old Man insists on only "Texas Royal Supreme Blue" gasoline, a misadventure at a gas station with an unseen enormous growling "meers hound," a boiled-over radiator as an occasion for a roadside picnic, and a missed detour sign and resulting circular detour due to squabbling among the kids. In the middle of a pasture, as cows surround the car, adult Ralph describes the scene: "beset on all sides by strange creatures, the lost mariner searches and searches, in the Sargasso sea of life." Rounding out the road trip, more unnecessary shopping, a Dutch lawn windmill being bought and put on top of the car, Ralph's confession of forgetting the fishing tackle, being stuck behind a live poultry truck, and panic over another "magically appearing" carbound bee. When they finally arrive at Clear Lake, the Old Man learns that the fish have stopped biting. Ralph discovers the Old Man had packed the fishing tackle after all, and they walk out onto the boat ramp to take in the view, as a few drops of rain fall. A torrential downpour develops, and in the cabin, leaks from the roof drip into every available pot and basin, as adult Ralph describes, all day, everyday of their vacation. At bedtime, Mom reassures him that the Old Man loves him, even though he never calls him by his real name (just "watermelon", "radish-top", "cookie cutter", etc.). A lightning strike knocks out power to the rain-drenched lakeside camp's welcome sign, and the credits roll. 

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The film takes place in the summer of 1941, after the events of A Christmas Story, which took place in December 1940. It has several plot lines, one each for Ralphie, his father, and his mother, followed by a recurring subplot involving him and his dad on a fishing trip, that proves frequently fruitless until a single night when all fishes are caught. This also feeds a needless obsession in Ralphie's brother Randy, much to Mrs. Parker's nerve. 

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In 1802 United Kingdom, Becky Sharp, the orphaned daughter of an impoverished painter, has just finished her studies at Miss Pinkerton's School for Girls and has been offered a position as governess to the daughters of Sir Pitt Crawley. Before she begins her position she travels to London with her close friend Amelia Sedley to stay with the Sedley family. While there she begins a campaign to charm Amelia's awkward and overweight brother "Jos" Sedley, a wealthy trader living in India. Jos becomes smitten with Becky and comes close to proposing marriage to her, but is dissuaded by Amelia's snobbish fiancé George Osborne, who reminds him that Becky has no dowry and comes from a poor family. Having failed in her efforts to find a rich husband, Becky travels to take up her post. She is horrified by the dilapidated house and her lecherous new employer Sir Pitt, but applies herself diligently to teaching his two young daughters and improving the house in preparation for the visit of Sir Pitt's half-sister Miss Crawley. Accompanying her is Sir Pitt's youngest son, Rawdon Crawley, a roguish army captain, who immediately takes a fancy to Becky. Becky manages to ingratiate herself with the crotchety Miss Crawley, so much so that the old lady invites Becky to come and live with her as a companion in London. Meanwhile, Amelia's prospective father-in-law, Mr. Osborne, is trying to arrange a more advantageous marriage for his son George. When George refuses to countenance marrying his father's candidate, Mr. Osborne calls in the debts which Mr. Sedley owes to him, bankrupting the family and obliging George to break the engagement to Amelia. Amelia, now living in squalor with her family, remains hopeful that George will come for her, deluding herself when she receives the gift of a piano from George's loyal friend Dobbin into thinking that it is from George himself. Rawdon Crawley seduces Becky and the two marry secretly, though they are soon exposed to Miss Crawley, who expels Becky from her house in anger and disinherits Rawdon. George Osborne marries Amelia in rebellion against his father, and is soon after deployed with Dobbin and Rawdon to Belgium as part of the Duke of Wellington's army, because Napoleon has escaped Elba and invaded France. Becky and Amelia decide to accompany their husbands. The newly-wedded Osborne has already grown tired of Amelia, and he begins to make romantic assignations to Becky. The lavish ball the group are attending is interrupted by an announcement that Napoleon has attacked, and the army will march in three hours. Before he leaves, Rawdon gives Becky all the money he's won at cards and the next day Becky tries to flee the city. However, when she sees Amelia in the fleeing mob, she leaves her carriage to take Amelia back to Brussels, where they wait out the battle. In the ensuing Battle of Waterloo, George is killed and Rawdon survives. Amelia bears him a posthumous son, who is also named George. Mr. Osborne refuses to acknowledge his grandson. So Amelia returns to live in genteel poverty with her parents. Now-Major William Dobbin, who is young George's godfather, begins to express his love for the widowed Amelia by small kindnesses. Amelia is too much in love with George's memory to return Dobbin's affections. Saddened, he transfers to an army post in India. Meanwhile, Becky also has a son, also named after his father. Several years pass. Rawdon has been passed over for inheritance by both his aunt and father, and the couple are sinking deep into debt. Amelia herself struggles to raise her son and reluctantly gives him up to be raised by his grandfather Mr. Osborne, because of the fine education and lifestyle he can provide. When bailiffs arrive to repossess the Crawley's household furniture, Becky is saved by her neighbor Lord Steyne, a man she remembers from the past as a keen buyer of her father's paintings. Lord Steyne becomes her patron, giving her money and introducing her into the exclusive world of London high society. On the night of her triumphant presentation to the King George IV, Becky receives word that Rawdon has been arrested and thrown into debtors' prison. Lord Steyne insists that she spend the night with him in return for all the services he has rendered her, and Rawdon, after being bailed out by his sister-in-law, walks in on Steyne forcing himself upon Becky. He throws Steyne out and realizes that Becky has been taking money for months in secret without sharing with him. He leaves Becky and entrusts the care of his son to his older brother, the new Sir Pitt and his wife. Twelve years later, Becky is working as a card dealer at a casino in Baden-Baden, Germany. It is revealed that Rawdon died from malaria soon after leaving Becky, when he was posted to a tropical island under the malign influence of Lord Steyne. By chance Becky encounters the now grown son of Amelia, George Jr., who invites her to meet his mother for tea. Mr. Osborne finally accepted Amelia at the end of his life, and left her and George Jr. a large inheritance. Becky confronts Amelia over her obsession with the late George, showing her a love note given to her many years earlier by him. She urges Amelia to love Dobbin, who has remained her loyal friend for many years. Although at first angered, Amelia realizes her mistake and declares her love to Dobbin. Alone again in the casino, Becky meets Jos Sedley, who has come to Germany after being informed by Amelia that Becky was there. He invites her to come and live in India with him, and she delightedly accepts. The two depart to make a new life for themselves. 

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When Porky Pig and Gabby Goat realize that they overslept to 10:00 after their alarm goes off at 06:00, they end up rushing to work at Peter Piper Pickled Peppers and sneaking in. When clocking in, Gabby tries to pull the lever, but ends up struggling and the clock goes crazy. Their boss catches them and states that if they weren't going to make it, he would've sent their work to them. The boss warns them that if they are late one more time, they are fired. The boss then orders them to get to work. At 08:00 that night, Porky sets the alarm clock as Gabby complains about having to go to bed early. Porky reminds Gabby that if they are late again, they will be fired. Porky climbs into bed, and they both fall asleep until a bunch of cats next door wake them up; and later a fly bugs them, literally. Later that night, the moon comes out and its light wakes up Porky. One of Porky's attempts to close the window ends up wrecking his bed. As the night progresses, a thunderstorm occurs while Porky is sleeping in Gabby's bed. A leak in the roof disturbs Gabby, who then opens an umbrella in the house with Porky telling him that it's bad luck. Gabby ignores Porky's statement until lightning destroys the umbrella. When Gabby quips that he should try sleeping under Niagara Falls, a lot of water comes through the roof and down on them. The next morning, Porky and Gabby are shown sleeping in the drawers when the alarm clock goes off at 06:00. They get themselves ready and drive off to work. When Porky and Gabby arrive at Peter Piper Pickled Peppers, they see a sign on the door that says "Closed Sunday." Porky and Gabby drive home, and when they climb back into the drawers to sleep, the alarm clock goes off again at 06:15 and Porky hits it with a mallet, leaving the clock dazed. 

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Booty Call is about a tender-hearted, upwardly-mobile man named Rushon who has been dating his girlfriend Nikki for seven weeks. They really like each other, but their relationship has not yet been consummated; Nikki is not so sure if their relationship is ready for the next stage. Rushon asks Nikki out to dinner, but Nikki wants it to be a double date. She brings her opinionated friend Lysterine "Lysti", and Rushon comes with his "bad boy" buddy Bunz. Lysti and Bunz hit it off very quickly, and to Rushon's surprise, Nikki decides it is time for their relationship to move to the next level. However, they have one small problem: this is the 1990s, and everyone wants to practice "safe sex." Therefore, Rushon and Bunz must go on wild adventures trying to find "protection" before the evening's mood evaporates. 

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It is the year 411 BC and the Peloponnesian War between Sparta (among others) and Athens has been raging for some 20 years. The women who want to see the conflict finally ended use a trick to make their husbands comply: led by the Feminist Lisístrata (Maribel Verdú), they barricade themselves on the Acropolis, where the Athenian treasure is kept, and refuse to have sex with their husbands until peace is restored. The men soon sport gigantic erections, which as in Aristophanes' play are depicted by huge prosthetics that protrude from under the actors' clothes. This unfortunate state of "blue balls" hinders them in their capacity to fight. Luckily, the Spartans have the same problem. To the rescue comes Hepatitos (Juan Luis Galiardo), the local homosexual and transvestite, who disguises himself as a medical doctor and advises the generals to order circumstantial homosexuality as a way to relieve the pressure in their men. At first, the soldiers refuse, but quickly warm up to the idea -- and soon everyone lives rather happily in male-male relationships. The women are not amused by this, as their plan has been foiled. However, as the soldiers begin to fall in love with enemy soldiers instead of fighting them, peace is finally established. The women end their strike (not to the delight of all men) and it is hinted that in the future, homosexual and heterosexual relationships will be regarded as relatively exchangeable. While the film is primarily a bawdy comedy (even more so than the Greek play), it also contains interesting tidbits of historic truth, such as a relatively accurate life-size replica of the Pallas Athene statue by Phidias in the Parthenon. The scene in which one soldier is about to kill an enemy fighter, but is moved by his beauty so much that he spares him and arranges a tête-à- tête with him after the battle, can be seen as being based on the legend of Achilles and Troilus, son of Priam. 

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The following is taken directly from the NES instruction manual: On a fateful day in 20XX, the Earth's moon exploded into four large fragments and a multitude of meteors. Aliens from afar had succeeded in destroying the West's moon base. One after another, mankind's other military industrial space complexes were being lost. What mankind dreaded had come to pass. Scores of unidentified fighters were in the area. In addition, the moon's main computer, still intact after the explosion, had a strange vegetation coiled around it. Their trademark evil exploits being a dead giveaway, invaders from the Boondoggle Galaxy had arrived to take over the Earth. To counter these evil forces, leading scientists from all over the globe created the "OF-1" Fightership. Combat pilots depart the Earth to fend off the invaders and earn everlasting glory. 

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The novel takes place in a world where online "tribes" form, where all members set their circadian rhythms to the same time zone even though members may be physically located throughout the world. The protagonist, Art Berry, has been sent to an insane asylum as a result of a complex conspiracy. Told mostly in flashbacks, Art explains that he works in London as a consultant for the Greenwich 0 tribe. In reality, though, both he and his associate Fede are in fact double- agents for the Eastern Standard Tribe. Despite his talents as a human experience engineer, Art delivers subtly flawed proposals to the GMT tribe in order to undermine them and enable his own tribe to get a coveted contract. He meets a girl, Linda, after he hits her with his car at 3am. Art has an idea for peer-to-peer music sharing between automobiles, and plans to give it to the EST (taking a cut to himself.) However, his girlfriend meets his coworker, Fede, and they plan to double cross the EST and sell the idea to another tribe. Knowing Art won't approve of the plan, they do it behind his back. Fede later claims he would have cut Art in on the deal afterwards. However, Art figures out what is going on, and as a result they have him committed to an insane asylum to protect their plot. The book alternates between two points of view: Art meeting Linda in London, and Art in the asylum. The London plot culminates in his attack on Fede when he discovers his betrayal. The asylum plot takes place after his attack on Fede, and culminates in his escape from the asylum and founding of a new company to market health care products using his inside knowledge of psychiatric institutions. 

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On the day before the summer holiday, Ichika Tachibana discovers that the charm attached to her cell phone has somehow wound up inside a mirror in the old school building. A girl named Manatsu Kuroki, inside the mirror, offers to return the charm and phone in exchange for a favor. When Ichika accepts, Manatsu emerges from the mirror, but Ichika finds to her chagrin that the charm's stones' have taken on different colors. Her indignation soon turns to delight as she is transformed by the charm and given an incredibly moving experience in the skies above Kamakura. After returning to the old classroom, Manatsu asks that Ichika use all the colored stones in the charm and record her experiences and thoughts. Starting with the facade of Manatsu as her text-message pal, Ichika begins to entangle herself in a web of small lies and deceptions. When Ichika faces dangers during the summer holiday, she at first uses the Djinn's power in the stones to resolve them supernaturally. But as the summer draws on, she begins to use the power even though there is no imminent danger. Through each experience with the Djinn she learns about her willfulness and that of others. Slowly, the power of the Djinn erodes her emotional, physical, and mental strength, and she abuses the power to the point of attempting murder. Meanwhile, Ichika's tutors, Sei and Kai, are tormented by Ichika's ordeal — Sei went through the very same thing six years ago. They very much want to prevent Ichika from experiencing the same trials but are bound to the rules of the ritual. When Sei tried to interfere, he was turned into stone as a penalty. Although Ichika tries to abandon using the Djinn's power altogether, she finds herself losing control over her actions. Faced with fear, sadness, or anger, she finds that the Djinn grant her power against her will. Not only this, she finds that she cannot discard the charm, as it will fly back to her. Ichika had been subjected to a ritual judgment determined from the time she was conceived. Saya, the final Djinn, would take a person of fourteen years — the age between the innocence of childhood and the hardness of adulthood — and show him or her the world through the eyes of the Djinn. The individual would experience seven trials that contrasted seven virtues and sins: affection and resentment, temperance and hubris, devotion and rebellion, honesty and treachery, reason and envy, passion and lust, wisdom and machination. When Ichika is thus led to despair in humanity and disgust of herself, Saya binds her to the mirror and asks her to decide whether to destroy humanity or herself. In response, Ichika refuses to choose either. Saya declares that as a violation of the rules and drives her scythe toward Ichika's body. Sei shatters his stone skin and tries to stop the scythe, but Ichika decides that it is better that she die rather than see him hurt. Manatsu, in defiance, drives herself into the scythe, saving Ichika's life. Kai returns the life energy that kept him in human form to Sei, and he and Manatsu revert to their original forms: shards of the old mirror. When school resumed in the fall, Ichika decided to remain at Kamakura rather than join her parents in Italy. Elsewhere, Saya determined to move on and judge the next teenager. 

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The special opens with Lucy again enticing Charlie Brown to kick a football she is holding - which again ends up with Charlie Brown missing the ball and landing flat on his back once again. Later, Charlie Brown and Sally are preparing to go to their grandmother's for Thanksgiving dinner when Charlie Brown gets a phone call from Peppermint Patty, who invites herself over to Charlie Brown's house for the holiday dinner. Two quick subsequent phone calls from Peppermint Patty add Marcie and Franklin to the guest list, but since Charlie Brown cannot get a word in edgewise with Patty, he quickly finds himself in a quandary with no easy solution, at least not until Linus shows up. Linus suggests to Charlie Brown that he could have two Thanksgiving dinners. It's revealed that the first one can be for himself, Peppermint Patty, and her friends, while the second one can be at his grandmother's house for his family. Charlie Brown says he cannot make a Thanksgiving dinner. He says that all he knows how to make is "cold cereal and maybe toast". Regardless, Linus recruits Snoopy and Woodstock to help. The guests arrive and make their way to the backyard for the Thanksgiving feast. Linus leads the group in prayer that details the First Thanksgiving in 1621, and then Snoopy serves up the feast which includes buttered toast, pretzel sticks, popcorn, jelly beans, and an ice cream sundae. Patty's initial shock at the unconventional Thanksgiving feast quickly turns to outrage, and when she loudly berates Charlie Brown he timidly leaves the table. Patty's tirade continues until Marcie quietly reminds her that she had invited herself along with Marcie and Franklin. Coming to her senses, Patty asks Marcie to apologize to Charlie Brown on her behalf; Marcie reluctantly agrees, but Patty soon follows and apologizes to him herself. Following this, Charlie Brown is reminded that he and Sally are due at their grandmother's house for dinner, so he calls her and explains his situation. When he mentions his friends are there, and that they have not yet eaten, his grandmother invites them all to Thanksgiving dinner, which is welcomed with cheers from everyone. After the kids leave singing, Snoopy and Woodstock go to the doghouse and cook up their own traditional Thanksgiving meal. They then pull the wishbone which Woodstock wins. Over the end credits, the two friends each devour a large piece of pumpkin pie then sit back with contented smiles as Woodstock pats his full stomach. 

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Colonel Archie Taylor, a gruff aristocrat, has difficulty enjoying his men's club because of the constant chatter of fellow member Jamie Tennyson. In an effort to shut Tennyson up, Taylor proposes a wager: he bets $500,000 that Tennyson cannot remain silent for one year. If Tennyson accepts the wager, a small glass-walled apartment will be erected in the club's game room to house him. There, he will be monitored by microphones so that he cannot speak without detection. He may only write notes to communicate or make requests, and the other members may observe him through the glass at their leisure. Tennyson is offended but agrees, telling fellow club member George Alfred that he deeply loves his wife and needs the money to pay the debts incurred by her exorbitant spending. He requests that Taylor put a check on deposit in his name. This measure is refused by all in the club as the Colonel has a strong standing of honor and credit. "My courage against your credit" is then accepted by both, and the challenge begins at 10:00 the following night. Though he had assumed Tennyson would be successful for only a few weeks, after nine months Tennyson remains silent. Taylor gets nervous and offers Tennyson first $1,000, then $5,000, and finally $6,000 to call off the bet. He begins suggesting that Tennyson's wife is planning to leave him for another man rather than wait out his year of silence. Though Tennyson has sent several notes requesting that she visit, his wife has never responded, giving weight to Taylor's insinuations. Tennyson seems gripped by despair at the thought of losing his wife, but nonetheless refuses to call off the bet. On the last evening of the year, Alfred tells Taylor his behavior over the past few months, particularly using Tennyson's wife as a threat, has severely damaged the club members' esteem for him. As the clock chimes to officially signal one year has passed since the start of the bet, Tennyson emerges to the congratulations of his fellow club members before he approaches Taylor and silently puts his hand out for the money. The embarrassed Taylor admits that he had lost his fortune several years earlier. He praises Tennyson's resolve and character and then announces his decision to resign from the club. The distraught Tennyson scribbles furiously on a sheet of paper, perplexing the other men who wonder why he does not speak aloud. Taylor reads the note aloud: "I knew that I would not be able to keep my part of the bargain, so one year ago I had the nerves to my vocal cords severed!" Tennyson, with tears in his eyes, displays the scar on his throat from the operation, which he has concealed for the past twelve months under scarves and turtlenecks. 

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Yoon-hee and her elder sister Tae-hee were born into a one-parent family; their mother having died giving birth to Yoon-hee. Their devoted father vowed not to marry again and struggled to raise them but was killed in a car accident while already suffering from leukemia. The girls were left to fend for themselves but a series of events caused by gangsters separated the sisters for fifteen years. Yoon-hee grew up as Sun-woo and was abused by the Lee family (Seung-hee especially), who had been forced to adopt her because she was knocked down by their truck. Meanwhile, Tae-hee spent fifteen years with her grandfather and became a successful entrepreneur. Another male character, Chul-woong, frequently stood up for Sun-woo, and once ransacked the Lee household when Sun-woo was being abused. Seung-hee later pretended to be Yoon-hee when a letter from Tae-hee enquiring after her sister arrived. At this point, Sun-woo took refuge at Chul-woong's house. Internal strife develops when a man called Jae-hyuk decides to take revenge on the sister's grandfather, who had indirectly caused his grandfather's death as a child. Shortly before the sisters are reunited, their grandfather is killed in a car accident. Chul-woong is then stabbed to death by gangsters after a reunion with Yoon-hee, who is herself kidnapped by gangsters on their wedding day. At the beginning of the drama, both sisters harbor feelings for Jae-hyuk, while he and Chul-woong both have desires on Yoon-hee, even though Jae-hyuk is engaged to Tae-hee. Seung-hee meanwhile, is keen on Chul-woong, which makes her jealous of Yoon-hee. She becomes even more jealous and spiteful when she realizes that Yoon-hee is the sister Tae-hee was looking for as she grew up in what she believed was a poor household. In the end, Yoon-hee agrees to marry Chul-woong before realizing how great his affection was for her in sacrificing his life to protect her. 

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The TARDIS materialises on an aged space station. Sarah is overcome by lack of oxygen. While Harry and the Fourth Doctor explore, Sarah is transported away and placed into cryonic suspension by the station computer. Harry and the Doctor explore and realise the station is a kind of ark. Discovering Sarah, Harry searches for a resuscitation unit but discovers a mummified alien insect instead. A woman called Vira revives from suspended animation. Vira revives both Sarah and Noah, Space Station Nerva's leader. The Doctor tells Vira that Nerva's inhabitants have overslept by several millennia, thanks to the insect visitor that sabotaged the control systems. Noah and the visitors clash, and Noah accuses them of murdering a missing crewmate. Noah investigates the power room and is infected by an alien creature. The Doctor realises the alien insect laid eggs inside the missing crewman, who became an alien now inhabiting Nerva. Noah kills a crewmate, but recovers enough to order Vira to revive the remaining crew and evacuate, but the Doctor realises the alien pupae will mature too quickly for this. He proposes that they destroy the Wirrn while they are in their dormant, pupal stage. Dissection of the Wirrn corpse reveals the Wirrn are vulnerable to electricity. As he tries to reactivate the station power, the fully transformed Noah attacks him. Noah reveals that the Wirrn were driven from their home by human settlers and now intend to absorb all human knowledge. The Doctor plans to electrify the cryogenic chamber to prevent the Wirrn from attacking more of the human crew. Because the Wirrn have disabled the station's power supply, the crew decide to use the generators on board a transport ship docked at the space station. Sarah volunteers to crawl through a narrow conduit carrying the power cable from the ship, and the Doctor succeeds in electrifying the cryogenic chamber. Set back, Noah, as the Swarm Leader, offers the others safe passage from Nerva if they leave the sleeping crew for the Wirrn, but the crew declines. Noah leads the entire swarm in an assault on the transport ship. Vira and the rest of the crew escape the transport ship after setting the autopilot. The transport blasts off carrying the entire swarm away from the station. The Doctor wonders whether this was Noah's plan all along, to save Nerva, and that there was some spark of humanity left in him. Noah transmits one final good-bye to Vira before the transport explodes with the entire Wirrn swarm on board. In the closing sequence, the TARDIS party teleport down to Earth to repair the receiver terminal and allow the ark colonists to repopulate the Earth. 

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Set at Woodrow Wilson High School in Seattle, Washington, Life as We Know It's lead was Dino Whitman (Sean Faris), a star ice hockey player. He had an uneasy relationship with his girlfriend, Jackie Bradford (Missy Peregrym), a soccer player. Jackie's best friend was Sue Miller (Jessica Lucas), a very competitive academic star. His best friends were Ben Connor (Jon Foster), who was carrying on an affair with a teacher, Monica Young (Marguerite Moreau); and Jonathan Fields (Chris Lowell), a nervous soul, especially about his girlfriend, Deborah Tynan (Kelly Osbourne). Jonathan was made even more nervous by Deborah's mother Mia (Sarah Strange), a nurse, sitting him down for a frank and graphic discussion about sex and its consequences. Dino's parents' marriage fell apart after his mother had an affair with his hockey coach. His father, Michael, was played by D. B. Sweeney and his mother, Annie, was played by Lisa Darr. Coach Dave Scott was played by Martin Cummins. 

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Into the West is a film about two young boys, Tito (Conroy) and Ossie (Fitzgerald), whose father "Papa" Reilly (Byrne) was "King of Irish Travellers" until his wife, Mary, died during the birth of their second son, Ossie. The boys' grandfather (David Kelly) is an old story-telling Traveller, who regales the children with Irish folk-tales and legends. When he is followed by a beautiful white horse called Tír na nÓg (meaning "Land of Eternal Youth" in Irish), from the sea to Dublin, where the boys and their father have now settled down in a grim tower block in Ballymun, the boys are overwhelmed with joy and dreams of becoming cowboys. The horse is stolen from them and they begin their adventure to get their mystical horse back. They escape the poverty of a north Dublin council estate, and ride "Into the West" where they find that Tír na nÓg is not just a horse. 

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On Christmas Eve, the Mason family (played by a cast of all Jewish celebrities in bit roles) is bickering about their wealth and material possessions while eating Christmas dinner when Santa Claus (Bill Goldberg, coincidentally also Jewish) comes down the chimney and kills them all in various graphic displays of Christmas-themed violence, such as drowning the matriarch Virginia (Fran Drescher) in eggnog, using the star atop a Christmas tree as a ninja star and stabbing the patriarch's hands to the table with silverware and suffocating him by stuffing a leg of turkey in his mouth. Riding on his sleigh driven by his "hell-deer" the Buffalo-like Beast, Santa arrives at Hell Township and decimates the locals in various holiday-themed ways. In one of his kills, Santa slaughters the occupants of a local strip club, frequented by Pastor Timmons (Dave Thomas), a crooked minister, who manages to survive the massacre. Later, Santa murders the local Jewish delicatessen owner Mr. Green, (Saul Rubinek), using his own menorah. Meanwhile, teenager Nicholas Yuleson (Douglas Smith) is living with his crazy grandfather (Robert Culp), a crackpot inventor who has built a bunker in their basement to survive Christmas. When Nicholas asks Grandpa why he hates Christmas, he is shown "The Book of Klaus", which reveals the origins of Santa Claus. Apparently, Santa was the result of a virgin birth produced by Satan (just as Jesus was the result of a virgin birth produced by God—meaning that Santa is somewhat of an Antichrist). Christmas was "The Day of Slaying" for Santa until A.D. 1005, when an angel defeated him in a curling match and sentenced him to deliver presents on Christmas for 1,000 years. This means that Santa is free to kill again in 2005. Upon arriving at the delicatessen, Nicholas is taken to the police station for questioning about Mr. Green's murder. He is bailed out by his girlfriend, Mary "Mac" Mackenzie (Emilie de Ravin), just before Santa arrives and kills all of the officers. Santa pursues Nicholas and Mac in a police car, but they are able to escape, thanks to a shotgun left in Mac's truck by her gun-crazed father (Jeff Hanna). They flee to Mr. Yuleson's bunker, with Santa still in pursuit. Nicholas and Mac manage to escape using Grandpa's snowmobile; but Grandpa is run over by Santa's "hell-deer" and killed. The two teens hide in a local high school, hoping that Santa's powers will end once Christmas ends; but they are eventually forced to confront him in the gym. They are almost killed by Santa on a Zamboni but are saved by Grandpa, who is actually the angel who originally defeated and sentenced Santa. With Christmas over and his powers gone, Santa flees in his sleigh; but his "hell-deer" are shot down by Mac's father with a bazooka. Pastor Timmons is found dead in a Santa suit and is presumed to be the killer, while, in fact, the real killer Santa Claus is boarding a flight from Winnipeg to the North Pole. After the credits, Santa is seen looking over his Naughty List, when he looks into the camera and says "Who's Next?" 

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Junior wants a chicken for dinner, saying that he is a chicken hawk. His mother insists he eat a worm, or he will get no supper. Junior refuses, much to the worm's relief. Junior's mother puts him to bed and tells him to "go right to sleep". Henery sneaks out his house at bedtime, then goes to the chickenhouse and soon finds a rooster and his hen, Hazel, who has a panic reaction at the sound of the words "chicken hawk". The rooster chases him until his mother spots him and sends him home. He is again told to eat a worm and again refuses and says he wants a "chicken", at which point the worm gives him a big kiss on the beak. 

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The novel intertwines the discovery of the chemical structure of DNA with the musicality of Johann Sebastian Bach's harpsichord composition the Goldberg Variations. A similar theme is explored by Douglas Hofstadter in his 1979 book Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid. The title also alludes to Edgar Allan Poe's 1843 short story "The Gold- Bug", which is also incorporated in the plot of the novel. The plot hinges on two love affairs: the first set in the 1950s, between two scientists intent on discovering the mysteries of DNA; the second in the 1980s, between two lovers who befriend the scientist featured in the novel's flashbacks. 

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17-year-old Eugene Martone has a fascination for blues music while studying classical guitar at the Juilliard School for Performing Arts in New York City. Researching blues and guitar music brings famed Robert Johnson's mythically creative acclaim to his attention; especially intriguing are the legends surrounding exactly how Johnson became so talented – most notably the one claiming he "sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads", as well as a famed "missing song" that was lost, supposedly evermore, to the world. In his quest to find this song, he researches old archived newspaper clippings, learning that Johnson's longtime friend, musician Willie Brown, is alive and incarcerated for murder or attempted murder in a nearby minimum security hospital. Eugene goes to see the elderly man, who denies several times that he is _that_ Willie Brown. He finally admits his identity after hearing Eugene play some blues (but notes that Eugene "plays with no soul"). Willie then says he knows the missing Robert Johnson tune in question but refuses to give it to Eugene unless the boy breaks him out of the facility and gets him to Mississippi, where he has unfinished business to settle. Eugene agrees and they head south. The boy soon realizes, however, that Willie is constantly running minor scams such as claiming that he has more money than he actually has to cover their bus tickets. With only $40 on them, they end up "hoboing" from Memphis to rural Mississippi. During their quest, Eugene and Willie experience the blues legacy of Robert Johnson first-hand, taking part in an impromptu jam session at a "jook joint" (as Willie calls it), where Eugene is given the nickname "Lightning Boy" by Willie because of his musical skill. When Eugene jokingly suggests to Willie that he himself ought to "sell his soul to the Devil at the crossroads", Willie slaps him, angrily telling him he should never joke like that. The pair meet 17-year-old Frances who hitchhikes with them and is fleeing her abusive step-father. She and Eugene start a physical relationship. Before long, she abandons him and Willie to continue her own journey, leaving Eugene heartbroken but with a deeper feeling for the blues. Heartbroken, he plays on an old Fender Telecaster guitar using a Pignose amplifier that Willie helped him buy. Willie confesses that there is no missing Johnson song, but tells the boy that he has proven himself far beyond what learning any blues song could ever teach him. Some days earlier, Willie also confides that the secret of playing the blues is using a slide — a short piece of pipe that fits over the third finger. When they reach a rural crossroads in the middle of nowhere in Mississippi, Willie reveals the ultimate secret; his ability on the harmonica came about because of a deal with the devil made at this very location. The Devil, "Scratch", formerly known as "Legba", shows up and says that the contract for Willie's soul is still valid, even if Willie is ultimately dissatisfied with how his life turned out. Eugene, believing the other two are joking around, steps into the conversation. The Devil offers a challenge: If Eugene can come to a special concert and win a guitar battle against his ringer guitarist, then Willie gets his soul back. If Eugene loses, then Eugene also forfeits his soul. Despite Willie's protests, Eugene agrees to the deal. Willie and Eugene are transported to a music hall, where metal- blues guitar master Jack Butler, who also sold his soul for musical ability, is wowing the crowd with his prowess. Eugene, now understanding the situation, receives a mojo bag from Willie to hold in his pocket. He also slips his slide on, giving him a perceived advantage over his opponent. Eugene matches Butler throughout their guitar duel, and is eventually able to win the battle by falling back on his classical training playing a Paganini arrangement (based on an obscure mythos regarding the Devil) and performing music that his opponent cannot match. The Devil tears up Willie's contract, freeing the bluesman's soul. Willie and Eugene are transported back to Mississippi, where they start walking again, talking of cities they plan to visit. 

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In contrast to the original series, there is little plot continuity between episodes and most of them can stand alone, needing very little recap, if any. The only break from this pattern is a handful of two-part stories which are told over two episodes. Most of the stories in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu are adaptations of plots from the original Full Metal Panic! short stories written by Shoji Gatoh and published in the Dragon Magazine. The creators of Full Metal Panic! planned to give the new series title Full Metal Panic? - with the exclamation mark exchanged for a question mark. However, they quickly realized that such a minor alternation was insufficient to properly differentiate between the new series and the original. For that reason, it was decided that the fictional word "Fumoffu" would be used. "Fumoffu" is the sound made by Bonta-kun, the series' fictional mascot, which resembles a human-sized, yellow teddy bear, seemingly parodying Gonta-kun from the educational show Dekirukana. It is a personal armor suit, designed by Sousuke for the purpose of providing aid in tactical situations. Even though only capable of moving with human running speed and limited by its size, the suit is essentially a miniature Arm Slave. However, due to the suit's main computer's malfunction, all syllables uttered by the pilot are changed to either Fu, Mo, Ffu, or Ru. The suit's Operating System immediately crashes if the pilot tries to deactivate the voice changer. For that reason, Kaname has to translate what Sousuke wants to say using a headset radio, which is a frequent cause of humor in the series. 

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There is a mouse invading Porky Pig's house, but so far Porky's attempts to rid the mouse have failed. Porky gets a cat to catch the mouse, only for the cat to get bound and launched out of the house. Next Porky borrows a mountain lion, but the mouse has petrified, stuffed and mounted the lion. Next Porky hires a gangster cat, but he leaves straight after a bonk on the head with a bowling ball. Without any success so far, Porky constructs a robotic cat. The mouse retaliates at the robot cat, which flawless being unaffected by a bowling ball, a flamethrowing boiler, dynamite and a pistol shot. The robot cat then blocks the mouse's ways into the mouse holes. The robot cat further resists the mouse's tricks from electrocution, more flamethrowing, decapitation and battering. Finally the mouse blows up the robot cat with a dynamite laced clockwork mouse, destroying Porky's house. Despite this, Porky Pig is relieved to be rid of the mouse, who then emerges to say "Shall I tell him?" 

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Two cats, Babbit and Catstello, are looking for food to alleviate their hunger. Babbit gets a ladder when they see a bird. Catstello is at first reluctant, but manages to go up the ladder. After several failed attempts, Babbit and Catstello construct a makeshift glider and try to swoop down and catch the bird, but the bird reports an air raid, followed by a blackout, and Catstello is shut down. The bird walks by, and just as Babbit and Catstello are about to catch him, the bird screams at the cats to "TURN OUT THOSE LIGHTS!" 

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A lovebird decides to commit suicide after his wife kicks him out of their nest and gets a cat named Sylvester to eat him, but he thinks the bird is poisonous and refuses to eat him. For the rest of the cartoon, the lovebird attempts to get Sylvester to eat him many times. The cartoon ends with the lovebird getting a telegram saying his wife is moving out, so he escapes from Sylvester in order to keep himself from being eaten. When he gets home, he finds out she has decided to stay, and he starts looking for the Sylvester again in order to get himself eaten. 

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Sylvester (called Thomas in this animation) captures Tweety, whom he finds outside in the snow, getting warm by a cigar. Thomas' mean unseen owner, Young Emma sees him and saves Tweety from being eaten by Sylvester, whom she promptly reprimands when he tries to eat him again. Tweety is brought inside, and Emma warns Thomas not to bother Tweety. Ignoring this command, Thomas initiates a series of failed attempts to get Tweety from his cage, each ending in a noisy crash bringing Emma of the house to whack Thomas with a broom, calling him names and then finally, throw him out. Thomas tries to get back into the house through the chimney. Tweety puts wood in the fireplace, pours gasoline on it and lights it. The phoom sends Thomas flying right back up the chimney and into a bucket of frozen water. However, Thomas gets back in the house via a window in the basement (or study) and creates a Rube Goldberg-esque trap (virtually identical to one in Charles M Jones' 1945 Porky Pig short Trap Happy Porky) to capture Tweety: After following a trail of birdseed to a whole box of some, Tweety gets into the full box, which is attached to a string that when Tweety gets in, pulls down on the lever of a toaster which launches a piece of toast into the air to knock down a knife which makes the iron it is holding in place fall down a ladder with a trash can at the bottom, and the iron lands on the pedal pressed to open the trash can, which has a string attached to the lid that when the trash can is opened, pulls open a closet, which releases a board to fall on a bellows, which makes a pinwheel spin that is tied to a string that is tied to the switch on a stove that turns on and makes a kettle with the spout plugged by a cork boil, and the heat launches the cork into the air and the cork hits a refrigerator door which has one end of a string tied to a handle and the other end attached to the hand of a cuckoo clock, and when being hit by a cork, the refrigerator door opens, pulling on the hand of the cuckoo clock, which causes the clock to strike the hour, opening the door out of which the cuckoo bird comes, releasing a bowling ball, and of course, the trap backfires and injures Thomas instead. Thomas tries to capture Tweety by running up to the attic and sawing a hole around Tweety's cage, but he ends up causing the entire inner ceiling to collapse (sans Tweety's cage, which is being held in place by a beam). The faux pas creates such a racket that Thomas is sure the owner will come downstairs and wallop him, and so, he takes her broom, breaks it in half, and tosses the pieces into the fire. This proves to be meaningless, as he finds himself being walloped on the head repeatedly with a shovel...by Tweety. 

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Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton) is devoted to her family, looking after her husband and children, her elderly mother, and a sick neighbour. Her shy daughter, Ethel (Alex Kelly), works in a lightbulb factory, and her son, Sid (Daniel Mays), tailors men's suits. Her husband, Stanley (Phil Davis), is a car mechanic. Although Vera and her family are poor, their strong family bonds hold them together. During her working day as a house cleaner, Vera performs constant small acts of kindness for the many people she encounters. She is a kindly person who is eager to help others. Unknown to her family, she also works secretly, providing young women abortions. She receives no money for providing this service because she believes that her help is an act of charity to women in trouble. However, her partner Lily (Ruth Sheen), who also carries on a black-market trade in scarce postwar foodstuffs, charges two guineas (two pounds and two shillings: ) for arranging the abortions, without Vera's knowledge. The film also contains a subplot about an upper-class young woman, Susan (Sally Hawkins), the daughter of one of Vera's employers. Susan is raped by a suitor, becomes pregnant, and asks a friend to put her in contact with a doctor, through whom she can obtain an abortion. The doctor refers her to a psychiatrist, who prompts her to answer questions in a certain way, so that he can legally recommend an abortion on therapeutic psychiatric grounds: that she has a family history of mental illness and that she may commit suicide if not allowed to terminate the pregnancy. The abortion costs her a hundred guineas. After one of her patients nearly dies, Vera is arrested by the police and taken into custody for questioning. She is held overnight and appears before a magistrate the next morning. Sid is shocked by his mother's secret activities and tells his father that he does not think that he can forgive her. However, in a later conversation with Vera, he expresses fear for what could happen to her in prison, before finally telling Vera that he loves her. Vera is bailed to appear at the Old Bailey. None of Vera's employers will give her a character reference. Her solicitor thinks she will receive the minimum sentence of 18 months in jail; the judge sentences her to two and a half years imprisonment "as a deterrent to others." This affects all the people who previously depended on Vera's kindness. While in prison, Vera meets others who have been convicted of performing illegal abortions. They discuss their sentences, explaining that it's not their first time in prison for performing illegal abortions, and that she'll likely only serve half her sentence. Vera tearfully leaves to go to her cell. 

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Storm of Steel begins with Jünger as a private entering the line with the 73rd Hanoverian Regiment in Champagne. His first taste of combat came at Les Éparges in April 1915 where he was first wounded. After recuperating, he took an officer's course and achieved the rank of Leutnant. He rejoined his regiment on the Arras sector. In 1916, with the Battle of the Somme underway, Jünger's regiment moved to Combles in August for the defence of the village of Guillemont. Here Jünger was wounded again, and absent shortly before the final British assault which captured the village -- his platoon was annihilated. In 1917 Jünger saw action during the Battle of Arras in April, the Third Battle of Ypres in July and October, and the German counter-attack during the Battle of Cambrai in November. Jünger led a company of assault troops during the final German Spring Offensive, 21 March 1918 when he was wounded again. On 23 August he suffered his most severe wound when he was shot through the chest. In total, Jünger was wounded 14 times during the war, including five bullet wounds and earned Golden Wound Badge. He was awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, House Order of Hohenzollern and was the youngest ever recipient of the Pour le Mérite.Helmuth Kiesel, Ernst Jünger: Die Biographie , Siedler Verlag, 2009. 

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On Christmas Eve in 19th-century London, Fred is sliding on ice on a sidewalk. He meets Peter and Tim Cratchit, sons of his uncle Ebenezer's clerk, Bob Cratchit. When Fred reveals who he is, the boys take off in terror. Fred soon arrives at the counting-house of his miserly maternal uncle, Ebenezer Scrooge. After declining an invitation from his nephew to dine with him on Christmas, Scrooge rejects two gentlemen collecting money for charity. That night, Scrooge reluctantly allows his employee Bob Cratchit to have Christmas off with pay but orders him back all the earlier the day after. Later Bob accidentally knocks off Scrooge's hat with a snowball. Scrooge dismisses Bob and withholds a week's pay to compensate for his ruined hat, also demanding a shilling to make up the difference. Scrooge fires Bob for damaging his hat. Bob spends the last of his wages on food for his family's Christmas dinner. In his house, Scrooge is confronted by the ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns Scrooge to repent his wicked ways or he will be condemned in the afterlife as Marley was. He tells Scrooge he will be haunted by three spirits. At one o'clock, Scrooge is visited by the youthful Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him back in time to his early life. Scrooge is shown his unhappiness when he was left to spend the holidays alone at school, and his joy when his sister, Fran, came to take him home for Christmas. The spirit reminds Scrooge that Fran, dead for some years, is the mother of his nephew. Scrooge is shown his early career in business and money lending as an employee under Fezziwig. At two o'clock, Scrooge meets the merry Ghost of Christmas Present, who shows Scrooge how others keep Christmas. At a church service, Fred and his fiancée, Bess, are seen as happy and in love. The couple must wait to marry because of Fred's financial circumstances, and the spirit observes that perhaps they will not marry at all and their love may end, just as Scrooge lost his fiancée in his youth. Scrooge is then shown the Cratchit home. Despite wearing a cheery manner for his family's sake, Bob is deeply troubled by the loss of his job, though he confides in no one except his daughter Martha. The spirit hints that Bob's youngest son, Tim, will die of a crippling illness by the same time next year if things do not change. At three o'clock, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives, appearing as a silent, cloaked figure. The spirit shows Scrooge what will happen if he does not change. Scrooge discovers Tiny Tim is dead and his family mourns for him. Scrooge also discovers that his own death will not be mourned. Scrooge promises to repent and returns home. Awakening in his own bed on Christmas Day, Scrooge is a changed man. He orders a boy in the street to buy a turkey for him, meaning to take it to the Cratchits. Running into the two men who petitioned him for charity the evening before, Scrooge gives a large donation. He visits Fred and makes him his new partner, then goes to the Cratchit house where he rehires Bob and increases his wages. 

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In Corazon, Dan Baker and his wife are lost and driving through the Northern Arizona desert when they come across a man in his seventies who looks like a priest. They pull over to help him, then take him to a hospital in Gallup, New Mexico. They learn that the man works at ITC and has unexplainable growth abnormalities in his blood vessels. The man dies twenty-four hours later. In the Dordogne (southwest) portion of France, Archeology Professor Edward Johnston leads a group of relatively young archaeologists-Chris Hughes, Kate Erickson, and André Marek- as they study the fourteenth-century towns of Castelgard and La Roque. Professor Johnston travels to New Mexico because he has reason to believe ITC, their funds provider, is guilty of foul play. During his absence, his students discover several disturbing sights, including the lens to Professor Johnston’s glasses and an inexplicable message from him. Chris, Kate, André, and a computer specialist named David Stern are whisked away to ITC Headquarters in New Mexico by the company's vice president John Gordon. Once there, ITC CEO Robert Doniger informs them that Professor Johnston has traveled to 1357 using their undisclosed quantum technology. The students decide to venture into the past to rescue the professor. Stern chooses to stay behind, realizing that time travel is probably terrible for one’s biology. Immediately when they arrive in 1357, they are attacked by knights. Their ITC guards are murdered, and one activates a grenade before he is fatally wounded, and inadvertently initiates his return, causing the return pad in the present to be severely damaged. Stern and the ITC employees then struggle to repair it so the students can return home. Kate and André find Professor Johnston; Lord Oliver of Castelgard is keeping him under arrest as he is convinced Professor Johnston knows the secret passageway to the famous castle of La Roque, which is commanded by Arnaut de Cervole, Lord Oliver’s arch-nemesis, who plans to attack Lord Oliver’s domain. Meanwhile, Chris inadvertently tells a boy-in- disguise that he is a nobleman, and the boy is revealed to be a woman named Lady Claire in disguise. She takes Chris to Sir Guy de Malegant, her fiancé. Chris and André (who has since found Chris) meet Guy, who challenges them to a joust: Chris’s proclamation of nobility and his flirtations with certain women have turned him into the enemy of several men. The two escape thanks to André’s intelligence and knowledge of the area. Oliver orders the students’ deaths. They flee and are pursued by Guy and his knight, Robert de Kere. To keep Lord Oliver’s men from pursuing them, the students look for the secret passage to La Roque. Chris and Kate focus on the secret passage while André gains entry into Castelgard by posing as Professor Johnston’s assistant. André learns that the professor is helping Lord Oliver build a weapon to defeat Arnaut’s incoming forces, believing that Oliver will lose the siege as he is supposed to. Simultaneously, Chris learns that another future-person is helping De Cervole’s forces. The man is revealed to be de Kere, who is really Robert Deckard, an ITC worker who has undergone so many quantum leaps that his DNA is tampered and weakened, much like the seventy-year-old man the couple in Arizona found at the beginning of the novel. Deckard plans to take the next trip to the future for himself. Arnaut begins the siege of Castelgard, and eventually emerges victorious. During the battle, Kate runs away from Guy and sends him falling to his death. André and Chris free Professor Johnston from a dungeon. They see Arnaut battling Oliver, which ends with the latter being trapped in a deep pit. As the time travelers flee, Chris is attacked by Deckard, but kills him by setting him on fire with gunpowder supplied by Professor Johnston. Stern and the ITC employees repair the machine just in time for the students' return. André realizes that he has longed for this life, and convinces the others to return to the present without him. Back in the present, the team is confronted by Doniger, who, having had little concern for their safety, intends to exploit the quantum technology for his own monetary gain. Fed up with his boss, Gordon knocks him out and uses the machine to trap him in 1348 Europe, during the Black Plague. The novel concludes with an epilogue. Chris and Kate are now married and expecting their first child. While digging through a site one day, they come across the grave of André and Lady Claire. They are pleased to know the two led a happy life together, and that André never forgot them. 

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The Earth is visited by large, enigmatic alien spheres, who take up residence in colonies on several prairies and deserts across the world. They make visits to cities, factories and other areas of human activity, seemingly to merely float and observe. All attempts at communication are unsuccessful and despite the best efforts of mankind, no one is able to decipher their intentions. Some, however, have come in to close encounter with the aliens, and emerged dramatically altered beings. These people, called humanity-prime, and dubbed 'primeys', are highly intelligent, can bend matter to their will, but are also, by human standards, quite, quite mad. Algernon Hebster is a highly successful businessman, owing mostly to his dealings with primeys, who supply him with the knowledge for advanced technologies which he puts to use in commerce. The problem is that primeys are so dangerous that dealing with them is highly illegal and every attempt is made to confine them to the reservations around their perceived alien masters. 

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In the far future a law is passed enabling citizens to serve out sentences for crimes they intend to commit, serving the full term, but with a 50% pre- criminal discount. Post-criminals and pre-criminals alike are sent to carry out hard-labour on hellishly perilous, far-flung Convict Planets. Few return. Those pre-criminals who are not killed, drop out before their terms are up, with nothing but scars and nightmares to show for their troubles. Two pre- criminals however, 'Blotto' Otto Henck and Nicholas Crandall, manage against all the odds to serve out two full terms for murder, and return to Earth as minor celebrities, with the right to kill one person each. Things, however, do not go quite as planned. Blotto Otto has his scheming wife in mind, only to find out she died the previous year in an unfortunate accident. For Crandall, whose life has been a perpetual series of failures, things go even worse. He intends to kill Frederick Stephenson, a man who stole his great invention. However, on his return, he receives a call from his terrified beloved ex-wife, who thinks she is his intended victim for her series of infidelities whilst they were married. Next he receives a call from his ex-business partner, pleading for his life because he thinks he is the intended victim for secretly cheating him out of vast sums of money. Crandall was previously unaware of either of these things. Still reeling, he meets his own brother, who thinks he is the intended victim, and reveals it was he with whom his wife was cheating. Finally, he calls his intended victim, Stephenson, the only one who fails to twist and squirm, but instead offers Crandall fair settlement for his invention. Shattered by the day's events, Crandall succumbs to the fact that he is one of life's born losers, and sets out with Otto to have some fun."Time in Advance" at the Internet Archive 

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The Earth finds itself on the brink of catastrophic nuclear war between Russia and the United States. As a last-ditch symbolic gesture of peace and cooperation, the two nations, presided over by India, launch a joint manned venture to Mars. On their arrival to the red planet, Nicolai Belov, a Russian member of the crew, discovers a vast and amazing city once populated by human-like beings. However, once he returns to the ship he quickly develops a strange fever and is quarantined. This raises tensions in the already fraught atmosphere on board, and threatens to throw power amongst the crew out of balance. Equilibrium is restored, however, when American crew member Smathers also comes down with what is now dubbed Belov's disease. One by one the crew succumb, falling through several stages of fever and delirium, leaving prospects of return ever slimmer, and prospects of war on Earth ever greater: Mutual suspicion over the loss of the mission would trigger the final conflict. Soon just one man remains healthy, American astronaut O'Brien. Just when he thinks all is over, Belov and Smathers awake from their fevers, only they aren't quite the same. They have acquired super- human powers and intelligence, able to shape matter at will and communicate telepathically. O'Brien discovers that Belov's isn't a disease at all, but a fantastic symbiotic bacilli. Just when he realises that the problems of the Earth are over and a new era has dawned, Smathers reveals one final thing: Some people, like him, are naturally immune... Front cover of a Russian edition of "Winthrop Was Stubborn". 

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The unstated present has been contacted by the future, when time travel is possible and hedonism is the norm. Five present individuals have been selected to travel to the future, while five compatible individuals have been selected to travel to the past. The compatibility of each time traveler to one traveling in the opposite directions is described as vital to the method, without a perfect balance of travelers it is impossible. The story opens when the present day travelers find themselves stranded in the future. The problem is the oldest of them, Winthrop, refuses to return to the past thus leaving all of them trapped. In the present he was merely a bum, but in the future he's a curio and encouraged to indulge his tastes to the point of gluttony. Each of them is forced to confront the part of the future they find the most distasteful. The first, an elderly lady, has to meet with Winthrop and plead with him to release them by returning. The scientist has to attend the great computer to seek advice on the situation, which he finds morally objectionable. In any case, the computer tells him to simply return to the others, as the story concludes with a twist."Time Waits for Winthrop" at the Internet Archive 

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The story is told in a series of vignettes and musical numbers that serve to show events in flashback. Our narrative link is New York radio star Jed Potter, who once was a renowned Broadway hoofer. The conceit is that he is on the air, telling his life story, which does not yet have an ending. The tale starts just after World War I and centers on two men who became friends in the Army: rising dancer Potter and business-minded Johnny Adams. While hardworking Potter dreams of stardom, the more laid-back and less disciplined Adams has hopes of becoming a successful nightclub owner. In time, dancer Potter falls in love with a band singer, Mary O'Hara. He takes Mary to Adams' nightclub, where she takes a shine to Adams. Potter warns Mary that his old buddy is not the marrying kind, but she marries Adams. The union is not a happy one, despite the birth of a child. Adams' nightclub business is anything but a resounding success, and it turns out Potter was right: Adams is self- centered and unable to commit to his nightclubs, his marriage, or his daughter. The couple divorces, and Mary tries again with Potter. The two even become engaged, but Mary can't go through with the wedding and takes off. A devastated Potter turns to booze and subsequently suffers an accident that puts an end to his dancing career. He winds up behind a radio microphone, sharing his story with his audience, hoping that wherever Mary is, she can hear him. 

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