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A boy nicknamed Gold-Eye, a fifteen-year-old, was born near the time of the Change. He was physically affected by the Change radiation and his eyes, including his pupils, are a bright golden color. He has a very special talent known as being able to see in the "soon to be now." He is also unusual in that he managed to escape and elude the Trackers and Myrmidons for a time. Yet as the story begins, he is finally trapped by the Myrmidons, and prepares to kill himself to prevent his organs from being harvested. This turns out to be unnecessary as he is saved by a team of strangers who stun the Myrmidons with a flashbang grenade and lift him to safety. These strangers are a team of Shade's Children, and after the group eludes some Ferrets by hiding in a tall building, he accompanies them back to the Submarine, Shade's Children's hideout. Cover of the paperback edition Gold-Eye joins Shade's Children, and is soon sent off on his first mission with the team that saved him: Ella, Ninde, and Drum. Each team member is unique, and has Change abilities that correspond somewhat to their personality. This mission is a critical one: to retrieve the equipment and data from Shade's abandoned laboratory on the University campus in the Department of Abstract Computing, including a device that measures Change radiation. It is also one of the most dangerous missions: All of the teams who have previously attempted this retrieval have been killed or captured in the process. Ella's team is successful, even when the Overlord Black Banner surrounds and invades the building, alerted by Leamington, a pre-Change artificial intelligence who calls the police on detection of the intruders. Leamington is notably different from Shade in that he is an artificial intelligence as opposed to an uploaded consciousness. After resting at the Sub, Shade unveils the reward created with the recovered data: metal crowns called Deceptors which scramble the sensory input of the Overlords' creatures, effectively making a human wearer invisible and non-olfactive to them as long as the power supply is maintained. It also is later revealed that scent trails are equally scrambled, although footprints are not. With this sudden new advantage and information, Shade is more curious about the method of distribution of Change radiation and sends Ella's team on a newer, even more dangerous mission: to steal a Change Projector from Fort Robertson, the stronghold of the Overlord named Red Diamond. This mission is not successful: on entry, the team discovers that the stronghold stretches underground, allowing for the unforeseen presence of creatures. The team's Deceptors run out prematurely as they discover a Myrmidon barracks, and they escape with a conch-shaped Overlord device called a Thinker, but without Drum who, having been winded, stays behind to fight. It is presumed by the rest of the team that he is killed. On return to the Sub, however, Gold-Eye has a vision in which he sees Drum being stored temporarily in the Meat Factory, indicating that Drum is still alive. The group presents the device to Shade, who appreciates the Overlord device Ninde took from Fort Robertson but refuses a request to rescue Drum, as the Meat Factory is one of the most heavily guarded Overlord facilities. The team, led by Ella, defies Shade's orders and infiltrates the Meat Factory, successfully rescuing Drum. They then leave cautiously, using the Deceptors to mask their trail. While resting among the branches of a large tree, Ninde telepathically detects an Overlord. The detection proves not only to be hard mentally on her since the Overlord is of human or greater intelligence, but also emotionally hard: Ninde discovers that the Overlords are essentially human. Despite the difficulty, she discovers that the Overlord may know something about "a mind in a machine" -a dangerous thing for them, since Shade - a machine intelligence- is their leader and benefactor. They continue, to discover on reaching the Submarine that it has been invaded by an Overlord, Red Diamond, and that all of the people inside have been killed or captured. Fortunately, Shade had realized long before that the Sub was not a permanent base, and established multiple supply caches throughout the city in case a team was stranded in the field or the Sub was taken. True to their training, the team heads immediately to the nearest cache - to discover Shade, who escaped, apparently by chance, while testing a mobile robotic body for himself based around the Thinker. Shade's escape is doubly fortuitous in that the Overlord used an electromagnetic pulse weapon to disable the Submarine; had he been within range of the weapon, he would have been incapacitated. Despite the loss of all of Shade's Children except for Ella's team, the meeting is a good one: Shade has discovered how to defeat the Overlords. Examining and measuring Change radiation, he had discovered that all known Change Projectors were actually redistributors of Change radiation from a single source, a so-called Grand Projector. Were this projector destroyed, all creatures would cease to function, and the Overlords would likely be removed whence they came. Having discovered the source of the Change Radiation - at Mount Silverstone - they set out with Deceptors to find and destroy the source, which would hopefully bring reality back to normal. But soon the team is betrayed by Shade, who had made a deal with the Overlords. Desiring a body with which to survive the Overlords' destruction (since the Thinker is also a product of the Change), he betrayed the children, bartering them and the knowledge of their Change talents in exchange for Overlord body technology (his Thinker is destroyed by an Overlord later). Gold-Eye and Ninde are taken prisoner. Ella and Drum, managing to escape, climb to the top of Mount Silverstone, meet a hologram of Shade, who though having been physically destroyed, is spread through the Overlords' computer systems. His original personality had been attempting to manifest itself, such as when Shade was speaking to Gold-Eye and Ninde about their fate at the hands of the Overlords, or when Shade was inwardly arguing with himself. However, it only managed to when the Thinker was destroyed. He guides them to the Grand Projector, when, about to disable it, they hear an Overlord approaching. Ella, desperate, destroys the Thinker which regulates the Grand Projector, causing it to overload. This has the positive effect of disabling all Overlord creatures and removing the Overlords, but exposes Ella and Drum to lethal amounts of Change radiation, killing them. The burst of Change radiation, while not lethal where Ninde and Gold-Eye are (they are being executed by an Overlord), enables them to respectively read the minds of thousands of newly freed children, and see a distant future, at which time he and Ninde are the parents of two children named for Ella and Drum. Ninde sends this "soon to be now" to Ella and Drum through her Change Talent, and those thoughts are the last things that they see. 

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Plot structure refers to the configuration of a plot in terms of its exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution/denouement. For example, Dickens' novel Great Expectations is noted for having only a single page of exposition before the rising action begins, while The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien has an unusually lengthy falling action. The plot can also be structured by the use of devices such as flashbacks, framing, and epistolary elements. 

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In the mid-1950s, Richard Dadier, is a new teacher at North Manual Trades High School, an inner-city school of diverse ethnic backgrounds. Led by student Gregory Miller, most engage in anti-social behavior. School principal, Mr. Warneke, denies there are discipline issues, but the school faculty, particularly Mr. Murdock, warn Dadier otherwise. Dadier befriends two other new teachers, Joshua Edwards and Lois Hammond. Dadier's class includes not only Miller but Artie West, a rebellious bully and gang leader. The class shows no respect for Dadier. Dadier encourages Miller to lead the class in the right direction. After Dadier subdues a student who attacks Miss Hammond, the class gives Dadier the silent treatment and are even more uncooperative. Dadier and Edwards are mugged by a gang that includes West. Reluctant to quit, Dadier seeks advice from his former teacher, Professor Kraal, who is now the principal of an academically superior school with disciplined students. Kraal offers Dadier a job, but he declines. After chiding his class for calling each other racially divisive names, Dadier is himself falsely accused by Mr. Warneke of using racial epithets in the classroom. West encounters Dadier during his gang's robbery of a newspaper truck. West tells Dadier his classroom is the streets and to leave him alone. Several students, led by West, assault Edwards in his classroom and destroy his record collection. Dadier's wife, Anne, who is pregnant, begins receiving anonymous letters and phone calls telling her Dadier and Miss Hammonds are having an affair. Dadier discovers Miller can play piano and sing, and wonders why Miller can show such talent but also be so rebellious. Dadier shows his class an animated film about "Jack and the Beanstalk" which sparks discussion about moral choices. Anne goes into premature labor caused by the stress of the phone calls about Dadier's alleged affair. When a neighbor shows Dadier the anonymous letters, he angrily decides to quit. Mr. Murdock encourages him to stay telling Dadier he is making progress and has inspired him too. Anne apologizes for doubting Dadier's loyalty in their marriage and says she was wrong for telling him to quit. When Dadier observes West openly copying from another student, he demands that West bring his paper to the front to have it docked five points. West rebuffs his repeated request, but Dadier is unrelenting. The conflict quickly escalates, and West pulls out a switchblade. Dadier does not back down. Miller stops another of the gang from jumping Dadier from behind. The rest of West's gang fails to assist. Dadier accuses West of the false allegations made to both Mr. Warneke and Anne. Dadier subdues West and the other students join in to subdue classmate Belazi who has picked up the knife in an effort to escape. Miller then leads the class in helping Dadier take West and Belazi to the principal's office. In the final scene, Miller and Dadier each ask if the other is quitting at the end of the school year. Miller said no, because the two of them had a deal that neither would quit if the other stayed, and Dadier's expression makes clear he has no intention of breaking the agreement. 

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Illustration by Johnny Gruelle A lonely couple, who long for a child, live next to a walled garden belonging to a sorceress.In the version of the story given by J. Achim Christoph Friedrich Schulz in his Kleine Romane (1790), which was the Grimms' direct source, the owner of the garden is a fairy ("Fee"), and also appears as such in the Grimms' first edition of Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812); by the final edition of 1857 the Grimms had deliberately Germanized the story by changing her to the more Teutonic "sorceress" ("Zauberin"), just as they had changed the original "prince" ("Prinz") to the Germanic "son of a king" ("Königssohn"). At no point, however, do they refer to her as a "witch" (), despite the common modern impression. The wife, experiencing the cravings associated with pregnancy, notices some rapunzel (meaning, either a Campanula rapunculus (an edible salad green and root vegetable) or a Valerianella locusta (a salad green)) growing in the nearby garden and longs for it. She refuses to eat anything else and begins to waste away. Her husband fears for her life and one night he breaks into the garden to get some for her. When he returns, she makes a salad out of it and eats it, but she longs for more so her husband returns to the garden to retrieve more. As he scales the wall to return home, the sorceress catches him and accuses him of theft. He begs for mercy and she agrees to be lenient, allowing him to take all the rapunzel he wants on condition that the baby be given to her when it's born.In some variants of the story, the request takes a more riddling form, e. g., the foster mother demands "that which is under your belt." In other variants, the mother, worn out by the squalling of the child, wishes for someone to take it away, whereupon the figure of the foster-mother appears to claim it. Cf. the Grimms' annotations to Rapunzel (Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1856), Vol. III, p. 22.) Desperate, he agrees. When his wife has a baby girl, the sorceress takes her to raise as her own and names her "Rapunzel" after the plant her mother craved. She grows up to be a beautiful child with long golden hair.In Schulz, this is caused by the fairy herself, who sprinkles the child with a "precious liquid/perfume/ointment" (). Her hair according to Schulz is thirty ells long (112 1/2 feet or 34.29 meters), but not at all uncomfortable for her to wear (Kleine Romane, p. 277); in the Grimms, it hangs twenty ells (75 feet/22.86 meters) from the window-hook to the ground. (Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1857) Vol. I., p. 66.). When she turns twelve, the sorceress locks her up inside a tower in the middle of the woods, with neither stairs nor a door, and only one room and one window.In Schulz's 1790 version of the story, the purpose of the fairy in doing so is to protect Rapunzel from an "unlucky star" which threatens her (Kleine Romane, p. 275); the Grimms (deliberately seeking to return to a more archaic form of the story and perhaps influenced by Basile's Italian variant) make the fairy/sorceress a much more threatening figure. In order to visit Rapunzel, the sorceress stands beneath the tower and calls out: :Rapunzel! :Rapunzel! :Let down your hair :That I may climb thy golden stair!Schulz, "Rapunzel, laß deine Haare 'runter, daß ich 'rauf kann." () (Kleine Romane, p. 278); Grimms, "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, laß dein Haar herunter! () (Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1857) Vol. I., p. 66.) Jacob Grimm believed that the strong alliteration of the rhyme indicated that it was a survival of the ancient form of Germanic poetry known as "Stabreim." One day, a prince rides through the forest and hears Rapunzel singing from the tower. Entranced by her ethereal voice, he searches for her and discovers the tower, but is unable to enter it. He returns often, listening to her beautiful singing, and one day sees the sorceress visit and learns how to gain access. When the sorceress leaves, he bids Rapunzel let her hair down. When she does so, he climbs up and they fall in love. He eventually asks her to marry him, which she agrees to. Together they plan a means of escape, wherein he will come each night (thus avoiding the sorceress who visits her by day) and bring Rapunzel a piece of silk that she will gradually weave into a ladder. Before the plan can come to fruition, however, she foolishly gives him away. In the first edition (1812) of Kinder- und Hausmärchen (, most commonly known in English as Grimm's Fairy Tales), she innocently says that her dress is growing tighter around her waist, hinting at pregnancy.This detail is also found in Schulz, Kleine Romane, p. 281. In later editions, she asks "Dame Gothel". Rapunzel refers to the previously unnamed sorceress by this title only at this point in the Grimms' story. The use of Frau in early modern German was more restricted, and referred only to a woman of noble birth, rather than to any woman as in modern German. "Gothel" (or Göthel, Göthle, Göthe, etc.) was originally not a personal name, but an occupational one meaning "midwife, wet nurse, foster mother, Godparent" (). Cf. Ernst Ludwig Rochholz's Deutsche Arbeits-Entwürfe, Vol. II, p. 150. The Grimms' use of this archaic term was another example of their attempt to return the story to a primitive Teutonic form., in a moment of forgetfulness, why it is easier for her to draw up the prince than her.Maria Tatar (1987) The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales, Princeton University Press, p. 18, In anger, the sorceress cuts off Rapunzel's hair and casts her out into the wilderness to fend for herself. When the prince calls that night, the sorceress lets the severed hair down to haul him up. To his horror, he finds himself meeting her instead of Rapunzel, who is nowhere to be found. After she tells him in a rage that he will never see Rapunzel again, he leaps or falls from the tower, landing in a thorn bush. Although the thorn bush breaks his fall and saves his life, it scratches his eyes and blinds him. For years, he wanders through the wastelands of the country and eventually comes to the wilderness where Rapunzel now lives with the twins to whom she has given birth, a boy and a girl. One day, as she sings, he hears her voice again, and they are reunited. When they fall into each other's arms her tears immediately restore his sight. He leads her and their twins to his kingdom where they live happily ever after.In Schulz, the fairy, relenting from her anger, transports the whole family to his father's palace in her flying carriage. Kleine Romane, pp. 287-288. Another version of the story ends with the revelation that her foster mother had untied Rapunzel's hair after the prince leapt from the tower, and it slipped from her hands and landed far below, leaving her trapped in the tower.Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (1884) Household Tales (English translation by Margaretmm Hunt), "Rapunzel" 

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The film is a mockumentary about a memorial concert for fictional folk music producer Irving Steinbloom. Upon his death, his children organize a concert, which they hope to feature his three most famous acts: The Folksmen, The New Main Street Singers, and Mitch & Mickey. The Folksmen trio — Mark Shubb (Harry Shearer), Alan Barrows (Christopher Guest), and Jerry Palter (Michael McKean) — were once the most popular of the acts but have not appeared together in decades. They had several minor hits, and their most famous song was "Old Joe's Place." Despite not playing or seeing each other for many years, their reunion (a cookout) is a very positive affair as the Folksmen give each other big hugs and are happy to see one another. The New Main Street Singers are the second generation of the original Main Street Singers, formed by George Menschell (Paul Dooley), the only living member of the original group. Menschell sings and holds a guitar he cannot play. Performers include Terry Bohner (John Michael Higgins) and his wife Laurie Bohner (Jane Lynch). Laurie, a former adult film star, and her husband are founders of Witches in Nature's Colors (WINC), a coven of modern-day witches that worships the power of color. Another member is Sissy Knox (Parker Posey), a former juvenile delinquent and daughter of one of the original Main Street Singers. They are managed by Mike LaFontaine (Fred Willard), whose fifteen minutes of fame came by way of a failed 1970s sitcom, Wha' Happened? The show lasted for less than one season and has largely been forgotten, but LaFontaine is constantly quoting the titular tagline to the puzzlement of others. The group is known for their complex harmonies, forming what original member George Menschell terms a "neuftet." Mitch Cohen (Eugene Levy) and Mickey Crabbe (Catherine O'Hara) appeared as Mitch & Mickey, a former couple that released seven albums until their dramatic break-up years before the setting of the film. Mickey seemingly moved on and has married a medical supply salesman, but Mitch had an emotional breakdown and has never fully recovered. Their most famous song was "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow," at the end of which the pair would kiss on stage. The three groups, which had sunk to various levels of musical irrelevance since their respective heyday, agree to the reunion performance, to be held at The Town Hall in New York and televised live on PBN (a reference to PBS). The film features rehearsals for the show along with interviews with the performers discussing their activities over the previous years and their feelings about performing again. The Folksmen are very enthusiastic, and work hard to relearn their songs, and hope to wow the audience. Mitch and Mickey (particularly Mitch) are very apprehensive about how it will go. The show itself goes off with only two hitches: The song that The Folksmen intend to open their set with is played first by the New Main Street Singers (a song called "Never Did No Wanderin'", which the Folksmen sing in a rugged, emotional manner consistent with the spirit of the song, while the New Main Street Singers perform it in their usual peppy, upbeat way), and Mitch temporarily disappears minutes before he and Mickey are to perform. It turns out that Mitch had gone to buy a rose for Mickey, which she accepts with gratitude as they go on stage. Mitch and Mickey perform "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow", and after a suspenseful pause, they do the much-anticipated kiss at the end. In the finale, all three acts join together to sing "A Mighty Wind." The film then jumps to interviews with many of the performers six months after the concert in which they detail subsequent events. Mickey is performing "The Sure-Flo Song" (about a medical device used for bladder control) at her husband's trade show booth. Mitch is writing poetry again, claiming to be in a "prolific phase." Mickey claims that Mitch overreacted to their onstage kiss, while Mitch insists that he no longer has feelings for Mickey, but had worried that Mickey's feelings for him might have returned. LaFontaine is trying to drum up interest for a sitcom starring the New Main Street Singers. He wants to call it "Supreme Folk" and have each play Supreme Court judges by day, folk singers sharing a house by night. The Folksmen have reunited, but Mark Shubb is now a transgender woman, though she continues to sing in her deep bass voice, followed now by a girlish giggle. 

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Fresh out of high school, sisters Kat and Daisy Araújo and their best friend Jojo Barbosa are three Portuguese-American girls working as waitresses at Mystic Pizza, a pizza parlor owned by Leona (Conchata Ferrell) in the fishing town of Mystic, Connecticut. Kat and Daisy are total opposites. Kat, the younger sibling, is an aspiring astronomer working at the planetarium in the Whaling Museum of the Mystic Seaport, and has been accepted to Yale University on a partial scholarship, so she works at the restaurant at night and as a babysitter by day in order to raise the rest of the money for school. Daisy's sole goal is to leave Mystic, and to have as much fun as possible while she is still stuck there. Their Portuguese mother clearly favors Kat for her goals and drive, while often questioning Daisy's life choices. Daisy meets a wealthy, handsome young man named Charles at a bar. The two are immediately attracted to each other and begin a relationship, much to her mother's dismay. However, at a family dinner, his relatives unintentionally make insensitive comments about her ethnicity, and Charles overreacts. Daisy breaks up with him, believing that his family's remarks were harmless and accusing him of using her to rebel against his parents. Kat finds herself infatuated with her employer Tim, an architect and Yale graduate who has hired her to look after his four-year-old daughter Phoebe, while his wife is working in England. A relationship ultimately develops between them that she believes is love, and they have sex. However, when the wife returns, Kat's illusions are shattered. Daisy consoles her devastated baby sister and they bond. Jojo wants to have sex with her boyfriend Bill, whom she previously attempted to marry, but fainted at their wedding after suffering from cold feet. However, Bill refuses to have sex with her until they are married, which is something she still is not ready for. Bill eventually breaks up with Jojo, believing that she does not truly love him and is only after him for sex. Later, a famous television food critic nicknamed "The Fireside Gourmet" unexpectedly visits Mystic Pizza. As Kat, Daisy, Jojo, and Leona watch from the counter, he takes a few bites of one slice, jots notes in his notebook, and leaves after paying the check. His approval can do wonders for a restaurant, but they are not optimistic. However, a few days later, the critic gives the pizzeria his highest rating, calling it "superb". The restaurant phone immediately starts ringing, with Leona laughing as she informs the caller that no reservations are needed. In the end, Tim brings Phoebe to Mystic Pizza because she wants to say goodbye to Kat. Tim gives her a check to help cover her tuition expenses, but she tears it up; she later accepts a check from Leona. Jojo finally agrees to marry Bill, and Daisy and Charles reconcile at their wedding. The film ends with the three girls together overlooking the water from the balcony of the restaurant, reminiscing about their time together. 

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Osic is a morphogenic pharmacologist who tended in a booth in a feria in Gatun city, Panama. He is approached by a stranger, the woman Tamara Marian de la Garza, who requires him to regrow her right hand. The bloody stump on the end of her arm, signifying a traumatic amputation. It transpires that she is on the run from powerful political forces, the assassins of which attempt to kill her and Osic. He flees from the Earth with Tamara who is in an incapacitated state. On board the orbital shuttle, he attempts to get employment with a Japanese company, Motoki Corporation, as a Pharmacologist, but his application is rejected. Instead he is offered to fight as a mercenary for Motoki, who are attempting to gain control of the planet Baker, a satellite of the Delta Pavonis system. The story describes Osic's reaction to the intense battle training that takes place on board the starship Chaeron and his interaction with the mostly South American refugiados, and chimeras, genetically upgraded humans, who are also escaping their uncertain future on Earth. Their arrival on Baker highlights the vast cultural differences between the mercenaries and their Japanese employers, who have trained them to fight a rival Japanese company of settlers, the Yabajin. These differences culminate in rebellion, with the mercenaries (now self described as Conquistadors) seizing the Motoki city, after a bloody battle and then setting out to attack the Yabajin settlement which lay 3000 kilometers away. across forbidding deserts, encountering the wildlife of Baker. 

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In New York City, Sonny Koufax is a slacker who refuses to take the bar exam (despite having earned his law degree), works one day a week as a toll booth attendant, and lives off a large compensation payout from a minor accident. His girlfriend Vanessa threatens to break up with him unless he grows up. His roommate Kevin Gerrity proposes to his podiatrist girlfriend Corinne Maloney before he leaves for China to work on a case for his law firm, and she accepts. Sonny constantly sexually harasses Corinne (who strongly dislikes Sonny), mostly about her former job at Hooters. The next day, Sonny wakes up to find a five-year-old boy named Julian McGrath abandoned at their apartment. A written explanation states that Julian's mother is no longer able to care for him and that Kevin is his biological father. Sonny contacts Kevin, who is puzzled by the news, but Sonny assures him that he will look after Julian until Kevin returns from China. In order to win Vanessa back, Sonny introduces her to Julian. However, he discovers that she is now dating Sid, an elderly man whom she reveres as more motivated, intelligent, and has a "five-year plan". Posing as Kevin, Sonny takes Julian to his social worker Arthur Brooks, telling him that Julian should return to his mother. However, Brooks informs Sonny that Julian's mother died of cancer. Sonny then decides to raise Julian his own way. The two develop a strong fatherly-son bond. As such, the boy renames himself "Frankenstein" and also helps Sonny find a new girlfriend in Corinne's lawyer sister Layla. Brooks finds a foster home for Julian and leaves messages for Sonny, but is suspicious when Sonny does not answer. At a meeting at Julian's school, the teacher is shocked by the terrible habits Sonny has allowed Julian to develop, causing Sonny to rethink his parenting methods. He turns Julian's behavior around, but then Brooks arrives to find out Sonny impersonated Kevin, and threatens to arrest him if he doesn't hand over Julian. Sonny complies, but contacts Layla to help take legal action. In court, numerous people including Corinne testify on Sonny's behalf and tell the judge he is a suitable father. Julian also testifies and provides information regarding his heritage. Sonny then calls himself to the stand and asks his Florida lawyer father Lenny to question him. Despite Lenny's fervent belief that Sonny is not father material, Sonny convinces Lenny that he will try his best at being a father. Impressed by Sonny's sincerity, Lenny vouches for him. Nonetheless, the unconvinced judge orders Sonny's arrest. Kevin, having pieced the necessary information together, confesses to being Julian's biological father and insists they drop the charges. Sonny remains friends with Julian and hands him off to Kevin, watching them bond. One year later, Sonny has turned his life around: he is a successful lawyer, is married to Layla, and they have a child of their own. At Sonny's surprise birthday party at a Hooters restaurant, attended by Kevin, Corinne, Julian and others, Sonny sees Vanessa working as a waitress with Sid working as a cook, revealing his "five-year- plan" has gone awry. Everyone but Vanessa celebrates Sonny's birthday. 

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Conker's Bad Fur Day follows the story of Conker the Squirrel, a red squirrel who embarks on a quest to return home to his girlfriend, Berri, after a night of binge drinking with his friends. Meanwhile, the Panther King, ruler of the land that Conker is lost in, finds that his throne's side table is missing one of its legs and orders his servant, Professor Von Kriplespac, to solve the problem. When Von Kriplespac suggests the use of a red squirrel as the fourth leg of his table, the Panther King sends his minions to capture one. During his quest to return home, Conker finds wads of cash scattered throughout the land and becomes sidetracked from his goal. This leads him to embroil himself in a series of increasingly absurd and often dangerous situations, including having to recover a bee hive from enormous wasps, confronting a giant opera-singing pile of feces, and getting drafted into a war between grey squirrels and a Nazi- like group of teddy bears known as the Tediz, which Conker ultimately destroys. When Conker finds Berri, Don Weaso, head of the Weasel Mafia, enlists their help in robbing a bank. After entering the vault, Conker and Berri find that the bank scene was an elaborate trap set by the Panther King to capture Conker. While confronting the Panther King and Von Kriplespac, Berri is shot and killed by Weaso. Afterwards, a Xenomorph-like creature creature bursts out of the Panther King's chest, killing him instantly. Von Kriplespac explains that the creature is one of his creations and that he had planned to use this opportunity to kill the Panther King and escape his captivity. He then reveals that they are inside a spaceship, which he activates and takes into low orbit. From there, he instructs the creature to attack and kill Conker as revenge for destroying the Tediz, which were also his creations. Conker opens an airlock, expelling Kriplespac and the Panther King and Berri's corpses into space, and then battles the alien with the aid of a robotic suit. The game then suddenly freezes, and Conker expresses disbelief that Rare did not test the game properly. Asking for the programmers' assistance, the programmers give Conker a katana and teleport him to the Panther King's throne room, where he decapitates the alien. Conker is then crowned the new king of the land. As the King, Conker realises that he should have brought Berri back to life when he was negotiating with the programmers. He then calls out to bring her back to life, only to realise that the programmers have already left. Conker gives a closing monologue, in which he discusses appreciating what one already has instead of always wanting more, stating that "the grass is always greener, and you don't really know what it is you have until it's gone." After the credits roll, Conker is seen back at the same pub he was seen in at the start of the game. As it begins to storm outside, he drunkenly exits the bar, leaving in the opposite direction he took previously. 

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Drift ice Station Zebra, a British meteorological station built on an ice floe in the Arctic Sea, suffers a catastrophic oil fire; several of its men die, and their shelter and supplies are destroyed. The survivors hole up in one hut with little food and heat. The (fictional) American nuclear-powered submarine USS Dolphin is dispatched on a rescue mission. Just before it departs, Dr. Carpenter, the narrator, is sent to accompany it. Carpenter's background is unknown, but he claims that he is an expert in dealing with frostbite and other deep-cold medical conditions, and he carries orders from the Chief of Naval Operations of the United States Navy. Commander Swanson, the Dolphin submarine captain, is suspicious of Carpenter, and calls in his superior Admiral Garvie. Garvie refuses to allow Carpenter on board without knowing his mission. Under duress, Carpenter finally reveals that the ice station is actually a highly equipped listening post, keeping watch for nuclear missile launches from the Soviet Union, a statement which convinces the commander and the admiral. The Dolphin reaches the Arctic ice-pack, and dives under it. It surfaces in a break in the ice and succeeds in making tenuous radio contact with Ice Station Zebra. Carpenter confides to the Captain that the commander of the station is his brother. Having obtained a bearing on the station, the Dolphin dives again, and succeeds in finding a lead five miles from the station and breaks through a crack in the ice above. Carpenter, Executive Officer Hansen, and two crewmen are put above on the icepack and make the journey to the station through an Arctic storm on foot, taking with them as many supplies as they can. They reach Zebra after a near-impossible trek, and find that eight of the men on the station are dead, while the 11 others are barely alive. Investigating the corpses, Carpenter finds that one of them has been shot. They find that their radio has been damaged, and so Carpenter and Hansen return to the Dolphin. The US submarine moves close to the station, and finding no open water, blows a hole in the ice using a torpedo. The sick men are cared for by the Dolphin. Carpenter does some more investigating, and finds that the fire was no accident; it was a cover to hide that three of the dead men, one of whom was his brother, were murdered. He also discovers several unburned supplies hidden in the bottom of a hut, while Swanson finds a gun hidden in a petrol tank. The surviving members of Zebra are brought on board the Dolphin, and the station is abandoned. While still under the ice, a fire breaks out in the engine room and the sub is forced to shut down its nuclear reactor. The crew succeeds in saving the ship, after several hours of hard labour, and thanks to Swanson's ingenuity. Carpenter calls a meeting of the survivors, and announces that the fire was no accident. He reveals that he is an MI6 (British Intelligence) officer, and that his real mission was to retrieve photographic film from a reconnaissance satellite (see Corona) that has photographed every missile base in the US. The film had been ejected from the satellite so that Soviet agents operating under cover at Zebra could retrieve it; Carpenter's brother had been sent to the station to prevent this. Carpenter reveals the identity of the Russian agents, and arrests him/them. The film of the US bases is recovered, but Carpenter has switched the film on the Russians. The film they successfully sent to the Russian surface ships is actually photographs of cartoon characters on the walls of the submarine's sick bay. 

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Voyslava and her father Mstivoy, the Prince of Retra, have poisoned Mlada, the betrothed of Yaromir, Prince of Arkona. Voyslava sells her soul to Morena, an evil goddess, to obtain her aid in making Yaromir forget Mlada so she may have him to herself. In act 3, the shade (ghost) of Mlada leads Yaromir up the slopes of Mount Triglav to a pine wood in a gorge on top of the mountain. Mlada's shade joins a gathering of the spirits of the dead. She expresses in mime to Yaromir the wish to be reunited with him in the kingdom of dead souls. He is eager to join her. However, there is a rumbling sound announcing the appearance, apparently from underground, of the following fantastic characters (many of whom also appear in Dream Vision of the Peasant Lad from The Fair at Sorochyntsi, described below): {| class="wikitable" ! Russian ! Transliteration ! Description |- |Злые духи |Zlyye dukhi |Evil spirits |- |Ведьмы |Ved′my |Witches |- |Кикиморы |Kikimory |Female hobgoblins |- |Чёрнобог |Chyornobog |Cherno (black) + bog (god), an infernal Slavic deity, in the form of a goat |- |Морена |Morena |An infernal Slavic deity |- |Кащей |Kashchey |An ogre familiar from Russian folktales; plays a gusli |- |Червь |Cherv′ |Worm, god of famine |- |Чума |Chuma |Plague, god of pestilence |- |Топелец |Topelets |'Drowner', god of floods |} The evil spirits sing in a strange demonic language, in the manner of the "demons and the damned" of Hector Berlioz's La damnation de Faust. Morena calls on Chernobog to help make Yaromir forsake Mlada. Kashchey determines that Morena and Chernobog will be successful if Yaromir is seduced by another. Chernobog commands Yaromir's soul to separate from his body, and for Queen Cleopatra to appear. Instantly the scene changes to a hall in Egypt, where the shade of Cleopatra attempts to entice Yaromir's soul to her side with a seductive dance. She almost succeeds in doing so when a cock crow announcing the break of day causes the entire infernal host to vanish. Yaromir awakens and ponders the mysterious events he has witnessed. 

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The peasant Solopiy Cherevik, his domineering wife Khivrya, and pretty daughter Parasya are visiting the Sorochyntsi Fair. Parasya is wooed by Gritsko Golopupenko, the "peasant lad" of the title. Gritsko desires Cherevik's consent to marry his daughter. Although Cherevik is not against the match, his wife objects because Gritsko had thrown mud in her face on the way to the fair. Gritsko strikes a bargain with a gypsy to assist him in winning Parasya. They exploit the superstitious fears of the fairgoers, who believe that the location of the fair this year is ill-chosen, it being the haunt of a devil who was thrown out of hell, took to drinking, went broke, pawned his jacket, and has returned to claim it. After various pranks and comic circumstances, Gritsko achieves his goal and all ends happily. At the end of act 1, Gritsko falls asleep some distance from the fair, and, because there has been talk of devilry, has a dream of a witches' sabbath. The following remarks are taken from the score (page numbers supplied): > Act 1, scene 2 – "Dream Vision of the Peasant Lad" (Intermezzo) :p. 1) A > hilly desolate area. An approaching subterranean choir of infernal forces. > The curtain rises. The peasant lad sleeps at the foot of a hill. :p. 3) > Witches and devils surround the sleeping peasant lad. :p. 5) On a hill > appear fiery serpents. The approach of Chernobog. Chernobog rises from > underground. Following him are Kashchey, Cherv, Chuma, Topelets, Smert, and > the rest of his retinue. :p. 7) Worship of Chernobog. :p. 10) Sabbath. :p. > 11) Ballet. :p. 16) Stroke of a matins bell. :p. 17) Satan and his retinue > vanish. The scene is covered by clouds. :p. 21) The peasant lad awakens and > stands up, stretching and looking around wildly. The clouds disperse. The > scene is illuminated by the rising sun. Первое действие, вторая картина: > «Сонное видение паробка» (Intermezzo) :л. 1: Холмистая глухая местность. > Подземный приближающийся хор адских сил. Занавес поднимается. У подножия > холма спит Паробок. :л. 3: Ведьмы и бесы окружают спящего паробка. :л. 5: На > холме показываются огненные змеи; приближение Чернобога. Из под земли > поднимается Чернобог; за ним Кащей, Червь, Топелец, Чума, Смерть и прочая > свита. :л. 7: Служба Чернобогу. :л. 10: Шабаш. :л. 11: Балет. :л. 16: Удар > утреннего колокола. :л. 17: Сатана и его свита исчезают. Сцена покрывается > облаками. :л. 21: Паробок просыпается и встает, потягиваясь и дико > оглядываясь. Облака разбегаются. Сцена освещается восходящим солнцем. Surviving the transfer from Glorification of Chernobog are the same supernatural characters, although Morena has been replaced by Death (, Smert'). Chernobog and his accomplices form a kind of Six Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The demon language the characters sing, of which Mussorgsky was contemptuous in a letter, is preserved. Mussorgsky sent the following program to Vladimir Stasov about three months after its composition in 1880: > The peasant lad sleeps at the foot of a hillock at some distance from the > hut where he should have been. In his sleep appear to him: #Subterranean > roar of non-human voices, uttering non-human words. #The subterranean > kingdom of darkness comes into its own—mocking the sleeping peasant lad. > #Foreshadowing of the appearance of Chernobog (Satan). #The peasant lad left > by the spirits of darkness. Appearance of Chernobog. #Worship of Chernobog > and the black mass. #Sabbath. #At the wildest moment of the sabbath the > sound of a Christian church bell. Chernobog suddenly disappears. #Suffering > of the demons. #Voices of the clergy in church. #Disappearance of the demons > and the peasant lad's awakening. Паробок спит у подножия пригорка, далеко, > вдали от хаты, куда бы должен попасть. Во сне ему мерещатся: #Подземный гул > нечеловеческих голосов, произносящих нечеловеческие слова. #Подземное > царство тьмы входит в свои права – трунит над спящим Паробком. #Предзнамение > появления Чернобога (Сатаны). #Паробок оставлен духами тьмы. Появление > Чернобога. #Величание Чернобога и Черная служба. #Шабаш. #В самом разгаре > шабаша удар колокола христианской церкви. Чернобог исчезает мгновенно. > #Страдания бесов. #Голоса церковного клира. #Исчезновение бесов и > пробуждение Паробка. 

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Born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1932, Plath developed a precocious talent as a writer, publishing her first poem when she was only eight years old. That same year, tragedy introduced itself into her life as Plath was forced to confront the unexpected death of her father. In 1950, she began studying at Smith College on a literary scholarship, and while she was an outstanding student, she also began suffering from bouts of extreme depression. Following her junior year, she attempted suicide for the first time. Plath survived, and, in 1955, she was granted a Fulbright Scholarship to study in England at the University of Cambridge. The film begins with a shot of Plath sleeping, then opening her eyes. As a student at Cambridge she rides along on her red bicycle and wearing an academic gown. She hears of a party to celebrate the publishing of a magazine called St. Botolph's, where she meets the young poet Ted Hughes. The two fall in love and marry in 1956, then go off to Massachusetts where her mother lives (Aurelia Plath, played by Paltrow's mother Blythe Danner). While they both are teaching at Smith College. Sylvia quickly learns that others are also enthralled with her husband, for a combination of his good looks, charisma, fame and success. They return to England, first to London and then to Devon, where Sylvia raises their two children and lives in her husband's professional shadow as she tries to eke out her own writing career, which doesn't come as naturally to her as it does to Ted. After a visit by David and Assia Wevill, who had rented their London flat, Sylvia rightly accuses Ted of infidelity. She kicks him out and then begins to write the poems that would be published posthumously in her collection titled Ariel. Sylvia then moves back to London with her children. Ted visits at Christmas and they make love again but he says he cannot leave Assia, who is pregnant. Shortly thereafter she prepares for her suicide, sealing off the children's room from the gas from her gas oven. A nurse comes to take out the children and Ted sees Plath's manuscript on her desk. A closing title informs us that her book made her much beloved and that Ted wrote his response in 1998 (just before his death), in a collection titled Birthday Letters. 

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Otaru Mamiya is an 18-year-old day laborer living on his own in the fictional city state of Japoness. Employed as a fish peddler and running a morning's catch, he is hit by a car driven by Mitsurugi Hanagata, an acquaintance, spoiling his merchandise and sparking a fight the two agree to take elsewhere. Traveling to a gully outside of the town, the boys continue their quarrel on a bridge where a skilled Otaru makes quick work of his opponent. In an unfortunate turn of events however, Otaru, balancing himself on a fence post which breaks off, is dumped into the river below where he is helplessly washed away. Moments later, having drifted ashore in a small pond, Otaru finds himself at a rural athenaeum, the Japoness Pioneer Museum. He curiously explores the decrepit building, falling through a trapdoor and into a secret underground basement where he finds and awakens an encapsulated marionette. She introduces herself as Lime, embracing the dumbfounded boy with a laugh and revealing an unprecedented ability to express emotion. 

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Slacker follows a single day in the life of an ensemble of mostly under-30 bohemians and misfits in Austin, Texas. The film follows various characters and scenes, never staying with one character or conversation for more than a few minutes before picking up someone else in the scene and following them. The characters include Linklater as a talkative taxi passenger, a UFO buff who insists the U.S. has been on the moon since the 1950s, a JFK conspiracy theorist, an elderly anarchist who befriends a man trying to rob his house, a television set collector, and a hipster woman trying to sell a Madonna pap smear. The woman selling the pap smear appears on the film poster, and was played by Butthole Surfers drummer Teresa Taylor. Most of the characters grapple with feelings of social exclusion or political marginalization, which are recurring themes in their conversations. They discuss social class, terrorism, joblessness, and government control of the media. 

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It's May 28, 1976, the last day of school at Lee High School in Austin, Texas. The next year's group of seniors are preparing for the annual hazing of incoming freshmen. Randall "Pink" Floyd, the school's star football player, is asked to sign a pledge promising not to take drugs during the summer or do anything that would "jeopardize the goal of a championship season". When classes end, the incoming freshman boys are hunted down by the seniors and paddled. The incoming freshman girls are also hazed; they are rounded up in the school parking lot by senior girls, covered in mustard, ketchup, flour and raw eggs and forced to propose to senior boys. As day fades to night, freshman Mitch Kramer escapes the initial hazing with his best friend Carl Burnett but is later cornered after a baseball game and violently paddled. Fred O'Bannion, a senior participating in the hazing tradition for a second year after failing to graduate, delights in punishing Mitch. Pink gives the injured Mitch a ride home and offers to take him cruising with friends that night. Plans for the evening are ruined when Kevin Pickford's parents discover his intention to host a keg party. Elsewhere, the intellectual trio of Cynthia Dunn, Tony Olson and Mike Newhouse decide to participate in the evening's festivities. Pink and his friend David Wooderson, a man in his early 20s who still socializes with high school students, pick up Mitch and head for the Emporium, a pool hall frequented by teenagers. As the night progresses, students loiter around the Emporium, listen to rock music, cruise the neighborhood and stop at the hamburger drive-in. Mitch is introduced to sophomore Julie Simms, with whom he shares a mutual attraction. While cruising again with Pink, Pickford and Don Dawson, Mitch drinks beer and smokes marijuana for the first time. After a game of mailbox baseball, a neighborhood resident brandishing a gun threatens to call the police. They barely escape after the resident fires at their car. After returning to the Emporium, Mitch runs into his middle school friends. They hatch a plan to get revenge on O'Bannion. It culminates with them dumping paint on O'Bannion, who leaves in a fit of rage. After the Emporium closes, an impromptu keg party is planned in a field under a moonlight tower. Cynthia, Tony and Mike arrive at their first keg party, where Mike is threatened by tough guy Clint Bruno. Tony runs into freshman Sabrina Davis, whom he met earlier during the hazing and they begin hanging out together. Cynthia likes Wooderson and exchanges phone numbers with him. Mike, suffering from the humiliation of his confrontation with Clint, decides to make a stand, punches him and gets tackled. The fight is broken up by Pink and Wooderson. Football player Benny O'Donnell confronts Pink about his refusal to sign the pledge. Pink, the only player not to have signed, believes it violates his individuality and beliefs. Mitch leaves the keg party with Julie. They drive to a nearby hill overlooking town to make out. Tony gives Sabrina a ride home and they kiss goodnight. As night turns to dawn, Pink, Wooderson, Don, Ron Slater and several other friends decide to smoke marijuana on the 50-yard line of the football field. The police arrive so they ditch the drugs. Recognizing Pink, the police call Coach Conrad, his football coach. Conrad lectures Pink about hanging out with "losers" and insists that he sign the pledge. Pink says that he might play football but he is not going to sign it. Pink leaves with his friends to get tickets to an Aerosmith concert. Mitch arrives home after sunrise to find his mother has waited up for him. She decides against punishment but warns him about coming home late again. Mitch goes to his bedroom, puts on headphones and listens to "Slow Ride" by Foghat as Pink, Wooderson, Slater and Simone Kerr travel down a highway to purchase their tickets. 

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In the 26th century, humanity has colonized a new solar system. The central planets formed the Alliance and won a war against the outer planet Independents who resisted joining the Alliance. River Tam is conditioned by Alliance scientists into becoming a psychic and an assassin but is soon rescued by her brother Dr. Simon Tam. During her training, River inadvertently read the minds of several top government officials and learned their secrets. Consequently, an Alliance agent known only as the Operative is tasked with recapturing her. The siblings have found refuge aboard the transport spaceship Serenity with Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds, first mate Zoe Washburne, pilot Hoban "Wash" Washburne, mercenary Jayne Cobb, and mechanic Kaylee Frye. Despite Simon's objections, Mal brings River on a bank robbery. River warns them that savage and cannibalistic Reavers are coming. They escape, but Simon decides he and River will leave Serenity at the next port. Once there, however, a subliminal message in a television commercial causes River to attack numerous bar patrons, and Mal takes the siblings back aboard the ship. The crew contacts reclusive hacker Mr. Universe, who discovers the message designed to trigger River's mental conditioning. He notes River whispered "Miranda" before attacking and warns that someone else has viewed the footage. Mal receives an invitation from Inara Serra. Realising it is a trap, Mal goes to confront the Operative who promises to let him go free if he hands over River. Mal barely escapes. Miranda is discovered to be a planet located beyond a region of space swarming with Reavers. The crew flies to the planet Haven but find it devastated and their friend Shepherd Book mortally wounded. The Operative promises to kill anyone who assists them until he gets River. Mal has the crew disguise Serenity as a Reaver ship and they travel to Miranda undetected. They find all its colonists dead, and a recording that explains an experimental chemical to suppress aggression had been added into Miranda's atmosphere. The population became so docile they stopped performing all activities of daily living and placidly died. A small proportion of them had the opposite reaction and became insanely aggressive and violent. The Alliance had created the Reavers and this was the secret in River's subconscious. Mr. Universe agrees to broadcast the recording, however the Operative kills him and prepares an ambush. Knowing this, the crew provoke the Reaver fleet to chase them into the Alliance armada. The Reavers and Alliance battle while Wash pilots Serenity through the crossfire. He crash lands near the broadcast tower before being impaled by a Reaver spear, dying as a result. The crew make a last stand against the Reavers to buy Mal time to broadcast the recording. The crew retreats behind a set of blast doors that fail to properly close. Simon is shot, and River dives through the doors to throw back Simon's medical kit and close the doors before the Reavers drag her away. At the transmitter Mal fights the Operative, finally subduing him, and forces him to watch as the recording is broadcast. Mal returns to the crew and the blast doors open to reveal that River has killed all the Reavers. The Operative orders the Alliance troops to stand down. The Operative provides medical aid and resources to repair Serenity. He tells Mal the broadcast has weakened the Alliance government, but while he will try to convince the Parliament that River and Simon are no longer threats, he warns that they may continue their pursuit in retribution for getting the word out. Serenity takes off with River as Mal's new pilot. 

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The novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is split into two unequal parts: the bulk of the book, Saturday Night, and the much smaller second part, Sunday Morning. Saturday Night Saturday Night begins in a working man's club in Nottingham. Arthur Seaton is 21 years old, and enjoying a night out with Brenda, the wife of a colleague at work. Challenged to a drinking contest, Arthur defeats "Loudmouth" before falling down the stairs drunk. Brenda takes him home with her and they spend the night together. Arthur enjoys breakfast with Brenda before her husband Jack gets home from a weekend at the races. Arthur works at a lathe at a bicycle factory with his friend Jack. Arthur keeps his mind occupied during the mundane and repetitive work through a mental collage of imagined fantasies, and memories of the past. He earns a good wage of 14 pounds a week, and Robboe, his superior, fears he may get in trouble for letting Arthur earn so much. Soon Arthur hears the news that Jack has been switched to nights, which pleases Arthur as he can now spend more time with Jack's wife. At the same time, Arthur carries on with Brenda's sister Winnie. During another night out at the pub, Arthur meets Doreen, a young unmarried girl with whom he begins a relatively innocent courtship — all the while keeping Brenda and Winnie a secret. However, although Jack is oblivious to his wife's infidelity, Winnie's husband Bill catches on — and Arthur's actions catch up with him when Bill and an accomplice jump Arthur one night, leaving him beaten and bed-ridden for days. Sunday Morning Sunday Morning follows the course of events after Arthur's assault. When Doreen comes to check up on him, Arthur finally comes clean about his affairs with Brenda and Winnie. Doreen stays in a relationship with Arthur despite his dishonesty; Brenda and Winnie disappear from the story. By the end of the novel, Arthur and Doreen have made plans to marry. 

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The story revolves around the case of Miss Mary Sutherland, a woman with a substantial income from the interest on a fund set up for her. She is engaged to a quiet Londoner who has recently disappeared. Sherlock Holmes' detective powers are barely challenged as this turns out to be quite an elementary case for him, much as it puzzles Watson. The fiancé, Mr. Hosmer Angel, is a peculiar character, rather quiet, and rather secretive about his life. Miss Sutherland only knows that he works in an office in Leadenhall Street, but nothing more specific than that. All his letters to her are typewritten, even the signature, and he insists that she write back to him through the local Post Office. The climax of the sad liaison comes when Mr. Angel abandons Miss Sutherland at the altar on their wedding day. Holmes, noting all these things, Hosmer Angel's description, and the fact that he only seems to meet with Miss Sutherland while her disapproving youngish stepfather, James Windibank, is out of the country on business, reaches a conclusion quite quickly. A typewritten letter confirms his belief beyond doubt. Only one person could have gained by this: Mr. James Windibank. Holmes deduces "Angel" had "disappeared" by simply going out the other side of a four-wheeler cab. After solving the mystery, Holmes chooses not to tell his client the solution, since "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much knowledge of the world." Holmes had earlier advised his client to forget "Mr. Angel", but Miss Sutherland refused to take Holmes' advice and vowed to remain faithful to "Angel" until he reappears – for at least ten years. Holmes predicts Windibank will continue a career in crime and end up on the gallows. 

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The Darkstalkers games take place on the planet Earth that is in the process of merging with a realm known as Makai. The reason for this merger varies depending on the continuity, but a continuing theme is that the union of realms brings the arrival of the Darkstalkers to the human world, the term being a catch-all for the various creatures of legend. The greatest of these supernatural creatures, and the greatest among those who hunt them, meet in battle to determine who will rule the night. In the original game and the sequel, Vampire Hunter (Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge), an alien overlord named Pyron returns to Earth after being away for many years. His quest to conquer the world using an army of robots brings the Darkstalkers out of hiding to oppose his rule over humanity and the supernatural. A second sequel, Vampire Savior (Darkstalkers 3), saw the debut of Jedah, previously one of the nobles of Makai, who decides that the only way to save the realm is to take control of it by force. Accordingly, he lures the Darkstalkers into a trap to use their collective souls to remake the realm and control both humanity and the supernatural. 

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Zach and Randy are two kids who run a YouTube channel dedicated to exploring their town somewhere in Missouri. However, they don't get as much views as they expect to, due to the fact that their town has nothing interesting. Zach is in love with a girl named Kayla, who is a lacrosse player over at the local high school, but she only regards him as a friend. During the day, Zach and Randy meet a neighbor, Ms Bisette, who's concerned about a strange bug thats moving almost in sync on her apples, and bust the local bully, who's buying alcohol even though he's underage, which the Sheriff doesn't care about. One night, Zach and Randy hear screaming from Ms Bisette's house, and when they go in, she screams that something bit her. However, the next day, Deputy Josh Haywood comes by, but Ms Bisette claims that nothing happened that night. Zach and Randy began to see disturbing events unfold the next day, with the pastor and sheriff acting emotionless. However, Haywood dismisses the claims, telling the two to not cause any more trouble. Outside, they run into Kayla, who's worried about the erratic behavior of her parents. Their suspicions are confirmed when Zach witnesses a bug running around the attic, with Kayla's mom's body in a hamper. But when Haywood comes around the next day, he finds nothing. Around that time, Kayla's mom comes, but also displays the same emotionless behavior. With no other choice, Zach, Randy, and Kayla leave, leaving behind Kayla's younger brother Kyle. The three go to Zach's farmhouse, where they see Zach's dad, a amputee, but he oddly gets up from his wheelchair, having been replaced by a copycat. The townspeople surround Zach and Randy and lock them in the farmhouse, putting two ice coolers in front of them. Zach then witnesses his mom being killed and "assimilated" by the bug. Luckily, Zach and Randy escape and with Kayla's help, run to Haywood's RV. By now, Haywood has begun to believe Zach and Randy, having killed his double. The four plan to radio the National Guard and send someone in, but the townspeople swarm the RV, Zach, Randy, Haywood, Kayla, and Kyle now being the last remaining townspeople not assimilated. In the ensuing chaos, Haywood is dragged out of the window and killed, and Randy leads the assimilated away, using himself as a distraction while Zach and Kayla run. Kayla explains that there is a flower shop van that can possibly get them out of there. To do that, they display the same emotions as the copies, the copies unable to attack them due to this. They pass by the burned corpses of the townspeople, and Zach manages to get the keys. However, Kayla witnesses a horrifying process in which the kids are coerced by their parents to get bitten and copied. Kayla finds Kyle, but a single tear is seen by a copy, but Zach is able to grab Kayla, but Kyle runs off to a family cabin in the woods (Kayla having instructed him to). In the forest, Zach finds Randy, but it's revealed that Randy never made it out, and Kayla and Zach are forced to drown the copy. Zach makes a plan to upload another one of his vlogs to YouTube, hoping to tell the world what is happening. However, both Zach and Kayla are bit by the bugs, and their copies come to kill them. Luckily, Zach and Kayla fend off their clones with cyanide gas, which kills them, and they are able to upload the vlog onto YouTube. The two run into the woods into the cabin, where they find Kyle staring at the TV screen, having made it out alive. But Zach and Kayla watch in horror, as the TV displays cams from China, India, Paris and New York City, where copies are burning the corpses of the dead, and walking in the same emotionless state as the copies. Seeing that their town was the last town to be hit by the copies, Zach, Kayla, and Kyle watch the monitors The final scene shows the YouTube video comment section, where it's revealed that other people are still alive in different areas of the country. But the state of the Earth is unknown, now due to the fact that the copies outnumber the humans. 

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A career bank robber, Jack Foley, and a U.S. Marshal, Karen Sisco, are forced to share a car trunk during Foley's escape from a Florida prison. After he completes his getaway, Foley is chased by Sisco while he and his friends—right-hand man Buddy and unreliable associate Glenn—work their way north to Bloomfield Hills, a wealthy northern suburb of Detroit. There they plan to pay a visit to shady businessman Ripley, who foolishly bragged to them in prison years before about a cache of uncut diamonds hidden in his home. Glenn spills the diamond plot to a vicious criminal named Maurice Miller, who also spent time in jail with Jack and Ripley. Maurice then plans to rob Ripley's mansion with his own crew, including Kenneth and White Boy Bob. Maurice and Foley agree to team up on the job and split the earnings, while Glenn gets cold feet and ducks out after Maurice forces him to help kill a drug dealer, with Sisco allowing him to escape. Before the robbery, a romantic interlude between Foley and Sisco takes place in a Detroit hotel, but the question of whether she is really pursuing Foley to arrest him or for love ends in a showdown during the robbery at Ripley's home and adds to "the fun" Foley claims they are having. In the course of the heist, White Boy Bob accidentally shoots and kills himself after tripping on the stairs, while Foley shoots and kills Kenneth as he attempts to sexually assault Ripley's housekeeper/lover, Midge. Sisco, having followed the team to Ripley's home, shoots Maurice, and arrests Foley after he implores her to kill him, telling her to “pretend [he’s] someone else.” Buddy is able to slip away with Ripley's diamonds. The next morning, Foley is loaded aboard a van to be returned to prison in Florida. Another detainee, Hejira Henry, boards the van and mentions to Foley that he has escaped from prison nine previous times, and was deliberately placed by Sisco in the same van as Foley. Sisco smiles as the van leaves for Florida. 

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;Act one The soldier Spurius Titus Mamma arrives at Romulus's run- down country residence, bleeding and exhausted, having ridden day and night to inform the Emperor of the fall of Pavia. Romulus is eventually to be found bartering over the sale of the busts of some of Rome's greatest historical figures. Romulus refuses to receive the news brought to him, instead insisting that Spurius Titus Mamma go to sleep whilst he himself breakfasts. Meanwhile, the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire Zeno arrives, whose Byzantine Empire has been flooded with German ranks. His initiative is that both sides of Rome unite to fight, yet on seeing Romulus's complacence soon decides he would rather set his resistance campaign in motion from Alexandria, whence he resolves to sail the following day. At this point the rich German trouser manufacturer Caesar Rupf arrives, offering to pay the Germanic forces 10 Million sestertii in return for a retreat, yet only if he can take the Princess Rea as his bride. Romulus refuses this, stating he would readily sell the Empire for a handful of sestertii, but he will not sell his daughter. ;Act two The remaining secretaries of the Empire gather in the Villa's Park, musing on the impending destruction of the Empire and contemplate begging Romulus to resume reigning and defeat the Germanic people. Meanwhile, tortured, scalped, thin and pale, Emilian, fiancé of Rea, arrives after spending three years in German captivity. Patriotic to the core, he is disgusted at the Emperor's "dirty henhouse". On meeting, the Princess does not recognise him. He eventually reveals his identity, but speaks only of his former self, as if he were now a ghost. Rea, of course, still loves the man to whom she was engaged three years ago, which Emilian sees and takes advantage of, demanding her to "take a knife" and herself struggle against the Germans. Hearing of Caesar Rupf's offer, Emilian tells Rea that she must marry the trouser manufacturer; it is because she loves him that he is able to demand this of her. The assembled, thinking the Empire has been rescued, break out into joy. However, Romulus will not grant permission for the marriage to take place. The first signs of Romulus's darker purpose emerge here: "My daughter will comply with the will of the Emperor. The Emperor knows what he does when he throws his realm into the fire, when he lets fall what must be destroyed, and grinds with his foot what belongs to the earth." ;Act three The night of the Ides of March. Romulus is visited in his bedchamber by the Empress Julia, who informs him of her plan to flee to Sicily. Romulus refuses to accompany her or to reconsider his decision to forbid Rea's marriage to Rupf. It becomes clear here that Julia and Romulus never loved one another, instead, each used the marriage for his own purpose. Julia wished to attain the status of Empress, and so married the well-descended Romulus. Romulus, however, married into the ruling bloodline with the sole purpose of liquidating a nation whose nature had become too bloody and violent to justify defence. Later that night, Rea also visits her father, whom he persuades to pursue her engagement to Emilian, for "it is much greater and harder to be faithful to a person than to the State." Meanwhile, a cloaked figure slips in through the window and lies in wait in the darkness. Romulus sees this in the reflection on his wineglass and once Rea has gone, calls out to the figure, Emilian, to reveal himself. From here, further conspirators are discovered concealed in absurd places in Romulus's bedchamber: the Home Secretary under the divan, Zeno in the cupboard, Spurius Titus Mamma in the wardrobe, all cloaked in black and bearing daggers. Yet even this last try for revolution against Romulus goes awry. Romulus is unmoved; he is only surprised to learn that his Cook is one amongst the sworn traitors. The group flees as soon as news is shouted at them that a Germanic army has arrived, abandoning their plot and leaving Romulus to await his death at the hands of the German Prince Odoacer. ;Act four Romulus awakes on the morning following the Ides of March. News is brought to him that his two butlers have been offered positions serving Caesar Rupf, with excellent pay, and that the raft carrying Rea, Julia, Emilian, the Home Secretary, the War Minister and the Cook capsized, drowning all those aboard except Zeno. Romulus receives this news stoically, declining to mourn, in anticipation of his own impending death. As Odoacer enters the Villa, Romulus has to see he is tragically mistaken - his adversary is as world-weary as himself, having been forced into a bloody streak of conquest by his people and especially his bloodthirsty nephew Theoderic. Instead of coming to kill Romulus, Odoacer begs him for help. Each tries to surrender to the other. Both eventually conclude that they have been trying to preside over the world, when in fact the only control they truly have is over the present. Odoacer admits that if he continued to rule, Theoderic will one day depose him. Nonetheless he yields to the title "King of Italy", bestowing upon Romulus a pension of 6,000 gold coins per year and a countryside villa, in which he must live with his folly for the rest of his life. 

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Lestrade summons Holmes to a community in Herefordshire, where a local landowner has been murdered outdoors. The deceased's estranged son is strongly implicated. Holmes quickly determines that a mysterious third man may be responsible for the crime, unraveling a thread involving a secret criminal past, thwarted love, and blackmail. Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson take a train to Boscombe Valley, in Herefordshire. En route, Holmes reads the news and briefs Watson on their new case. John Turner, a widower and a major landowner who has a daughter named Alice, lives there with a fellow expatriate from Australia, Charles McCarthy, a widower who has a son named James. Charles has been found dead near Boscombe Pool; it was reported that he was there to meet someone. Two witnesses testify that they saw Charles walking into the woods followed by James, who was carrying a gun. Patience Moran, daughter of a lodgekeeper, says that she saw Charles and James arguing and that, when James raised his hand as if to hit his father, she ran to her mother, and while she was telling her mother what she saw James rushed to their house seeking help. The Morans followed James back to the Pool, where they found his father dead. James was arrested and charged with murder. Alice Turner believes that James is innocent and has contacted Lestrade, a Scotland Yard detective who in turn has asked Holmes' help. James confirms the testimonies of the witnesses, but explains that he was going into the woods to hunt, not to follow his father. He later heard his father calling "Cooee" and found his father standing by the pool, surprised to see him. They argued heatedly, and James decided to return to Hatherley Farm. Shortly after that he heard his father cry out, and returned to find his father lying on the ground. James insists that he tried to help him, but his father died in his arms. James refuses to give the cause of their argument, despite the coroner's warning that it could be damaging to his case if he does not reveal it. James also remembers that his father's last words were something about "a rat", but James is uncertain of their meaning in the situation. He also thinks he saw a cloak on the ground, which vanished while he was helping his father. Alice meets Holmes, Watson and Lestrade in the hotel, and she hopes that Holmes has found a way to prove James's innocence. She also believes that she was the subject of the argument between the McCarthys - Charles wanted his son to marry her, but James had refused. Alice had taken James's side out of respect for him, and her father was also against the union. Holmes asks Alice if he could meet her father, but she says his health worsened after the death of Charles, whom he had known since they were in Victoria. Holmes decides to see James. Holmes mistakenly surmises that James knows who killed his father and is protecting someone. It emerges that Alice is right about the cause of the argument between James and Charles. What she does not know is that James actually loves her, but could not follow his father's demand because he had married a barmaid before Alice had returned from boarding school. This burdened him, but he could not tell his father about his marriage because he would have been kicked out of the house and left unable to support himself. When his wife heard of his troubles, however, she confessed that she was already married before they met, and therefore their marriage is invalid. Holmes, Watson and Lestrade go to Hatherley Farm, and examine Charles's and James's boots. They then head to Boscombe Pool, following the track from the courtyard. After examining the ground, Holmes finds evidence of the presence of another man, besides Charles and James, whom he believes to be the murderer. Holmes deduces that the killer is left-handed (because Charles was struck neatly on the left side of his head from behind, where a right-handed man would have struck him on the other side), and that the stranger is tall, has a limp, and smokes cigars. Lestrade is not convinced. At the hotel Holmes explains to Watson that "Cooee" is an Australian cry and that the apparent reference to "a rat", overheard by James, in fact comprised the last syllables of "Ballarat", a place in Australia. The person Charles was meeting was, therefore, someone he knew from Australia. John Turner, Alice's father, then comes to their room, entering with a limp, and, realizing that Holmes has deduced the crime, confesses. In his confession, John explains that he was a member of the Ballarat Gang, a group of bushrangers in Australia. They robbed a gold convoy in which Charles was the wagon driver, and John spared his life, despite knowing that Charles could later identify him. The loot made the gang rich, and they moved to England. Resolved to change, John parted ways with his friends. He bought land and got married, and then Alice was born. Some time later, Charles tracked down John and threatened to blackmail him unless he and his son were provided for. In response, John gave Charles Hatherley Farm and money, hoping this would satisfy him. However, this was not enough, and Charles eventually demanded the marriage of James and Alice. Although he liked James, John did not want Charles' "cursed blood" mixed with his family's, so he resisted the union. After much pressure, John agreed to meet Charles secretly at the Pool to resolve the matter. Seeing Charles and James there arguing, John hid, intending to wait until James left. However, he became angry when he heard the nature of the argument, and killed Charles to preserve his freedom and spare his daughter. James heard his father's death cry and returned, but John was able to hide in the woods. He had to return later to retrieve the cloak that he had dropped in his haste. John signs his statement, and Holmes vows to keep it secret unless it is needed to free James. In the end, Holmes's objections are sufficient enough to acquit James, and John dies seven months after the meeting with Holmes and Watson. Meanwhile, Watson surmises that James and Alice will likely marry and live in happiness without ever discovering the true history of their fathers. 

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Inferno is based upon the hell described in Dante's Inferno. However, it adds a modern twist to the story. The story is told in the first person by Allen Carpentier (né Carpenter), an agnostic science fiction writer who died in a failed attempt to entertain his fans at a science fiction convention party. He is only released, after many decades, from a Djinn-bottle in the Vestibule on the outer edge to Hell when he finally calls upon God for mercy. Upon release he is met by Benito, or Benny, a Virgil-like figure whose full identity is not immediately apparent. Benito offers to take him out of Hell by bringing him to the center. At first, as Allen and Benito travel through Hell, Allen tries to scientifically rationalize everything he sees, renaming his surroundings as 'Infernoland', a high-tech amusement park some thousand years in the future. It isn't until he sees a man recover from incineration and his own leg heal from a compound fracture that he starts to actually believe that he is in Hell. From this point on, as Allen travels through the inner circles of Hell, he sees how he is guilty of each of the sins in some fashion, commenting to himself that he is in no danger from ditch 3 of circle 8 (simony) only because he has never had any holy offices to sell. At first Allen views the punishments for these sins as far surpassing the crime, repeatedly thinking, "We're in the hands of infinite power and infinite sadism", although he comes more and more to accept the justice of the situation as he realizes that it is their continuing denial of their sins that keeps many of the condemned in hell. Eventually Allen takes over Benito's role in helping reformed souls proceed onto Paradise via Purgatory, allowing Benito to move on towards Purgatory himself. It is revealed that Benito is actually Benito Mussolini, the former dictator of Italy. Along the way Allen meets a number of his Californian acquaintances and notable people from history (e.g. Epictetus, Billy the Kid, Jesse James, Bob Ford, L Ron Hubbard, Henry VIII of England, Vlad Tepes, Aimee Semple McPherson, William M. Tweed, Al Capone) and from classical mythology (e.g. Hector, Aeneas, Charon, Minos, Phlegyas, Geryon). Due to the long time he spent bottled up in the outer vestibule he also meets some people from the future of 1976, such as a space shuttle pilot. 

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Set in the early 1970s, the plot centres on a serial killer terrorizing London by raping and then strangling women with a necktie. Bob Rusk (Barry Foster), a Covent Garden wholesale produce merchant, is the murderer. However, circumstantial evidence, partially engineered by Rusk, will implicate Rusk's friend Richard Blaney (Jon Finch), who becomes a fugitive attempting to prove his innocence. Blaney, recently fired from his pub job, visits his ex-wife, Brenda (Barbara Leigh-Hunt), at her matchmaking business. They briefly argue, but she invites him out to dinner. Broke, Blaney ends up spending the night at a Salvation Army shelter; while there he discovers that Brenda had slipped money into his coat pocket. Soon afterward, Rusk arrives at Brenda's office. She had previously refused him as a client due to his sexual peculiarities. When she spurns his advances, he rapes and strangles her with his tie. After Rusk leaves, Blaney arrives to see Brenda, only to find the office locked. Suspicion falls on Blaney after Brenda's secretary tells police that she saw Blaney leaving the building just as she was returning from lunch. Blaney meets up with Barbara "Babs" Milligan (Anna Massey), his girlfriend and former pub co-worker. They spend the afternoon making love in a hotel that Blaney can now afford with Brenda's gift. They soon learn about Brenda's murder and that Blaney is the suspect when the afternoon paper is slipped under the door. They manage to leave the hotel by the back stairs in time to avoid the summoned police. Blaney and Babs sit in the park across the street from the hotel and try to decide what to do. There they meet Johnny Porter (Clive Swift), a friend of Blaney. He invites them up to his apartment nearby and offers to let them hide out there. Johnny's wife Hetty (Billie Whitelaw) is angry at her husband for hiding Blaney, being convinced of his guilt, but Johnny also offers the couple jobs in Paris. Babs returns to the pub to fetch her and Blaney's belongings, intending to meet him the next morning to go to Paris. There, Babs runs into Rusk, who claims he is leaving town and offers her his flat for the night; after leading her there, he rapes and murders her (off- screen). Rusk hides Babs's body in a sack and stows it in the back of a lorry hauling potatoes. Back in his room, he discovers his distinctive jewelled tie pin (with the initial R) is missing, and realizes that Babs must have torn it off. Knowing the tie pin will incriminate him, Rusk goes to retrieve it, but the lorry starts off on its northern journey while he is still inside. Rigor mortis has set in, forcing Rusk to break Babs's fingers to get the pin. Dishevelled and dirty, he gets out when the lorry stops at a roadside cafe. Babs's body is discovered when her leg is spotted sticking out of the back of the truck as it passes by a police car. Blaney, now the prime suspect in Babs's murder as well as the others, seeks out Rusk's help. Although the police are actively searching Covent Garden, Rusk offers to hide Blaney at his flat. Rusk goes there first with Blaney's bag and plants Babs's belongings inside it. He then tips off the police, who arrest Blaney and find the clothing. Blaney is convicted, but he so strongly protests his innocence and accuses Rusk that Chief Inspector Oxford (Alec McCowen) reconsiders the evidence and secretly investigates Rusk. Oxford discusses the case with his wife (Vivien Merchant) in several comic relief scenes that concern her pretensions as a gourmet cook. Blaney, now in prison, deliberately injures himself and is taken to the hospital, where his fellow inmates help him escape the locked ward. He intends to murder Rusk in revenge. Oxford, learning of Blaney's escape, suspects he is heading to Rusk's flat and immediately goes there. Blaney arrives first and finds the door unlocked. He strikes what he assumes is the sleeping Rusk with a tyre iron. However, the person in the bed is not Rusk but the corpse of his latest female victim. Oxford arrives as Blaney is standing next to the body, holding the tyre iron. He begins to proclaim his innocence, but a large banging noise coming up the staircase interrupts them. Rusk enters, dragging a large trunk into the flat. The film ends with Oxford's urbane but pointed comment, "Mr. Rusk, you're not wearing your tie." Rusk drops the trunk in defeat. The credits roll in front of the trunk, with its cross motif. 

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Roger and Alison are stepbrother and sister. Alison's father died and her mother Margaret has married Clive, a businessman and former RAF officer. Clive's former wife was notoriously unfaithful, bringing shame to the family and a particular kind of pain to his son, Roger. To bond the new family together they are spending a few weeks of the summer in an isolated valley in Wales, a few hours' drive from Aberystwyth. They occupy a fine house formerly owned by Alison's father, subsequently transferred to her to avoid death duty. He in turn inherited it from a cousin, Bertram, who died there in mysterious circumstances around the time Alison was born. With the house comes Huw Halfbacon, also known as Huw the Flitch, a handyman and gardener. He is the last of the original domestic staff to remain at the house. The former cook, Nancy, had left to live in Aberystwyth but is offered a substantial amount to come and resume her duties. With her comes her son Gwyn. He has never seen the valley before but knows everything about it, courtesy of his mother's stories. Someone else who knows a lot about the place is Huw, but he is very mysterious about it. Oddly, Nancy has told Gwyn nothing about Huw. Alison hears scratching noises in the attic above her bed and persuades Gwyn to investigate. He finds stacks of dinner plates with a floral pattern. When he picks one up, something odd happens. He almost falls through the ceiling while simultaneously Roger, lounging by a large flat stone near the river, hears a scream and seems to see something flying through the air toward him. The stone is known as the Stone of Gronw. It has a hole neatly bored through it, and legend says that Lleu killed Gronw by throwing his spear clear through the stone that Gronw was holding to shield himself. Alison begins behaving peculiarly. She traces the pattern on the plate onto paper and folds the result to make an owl. Finding out that Gwyn has been in the attic, Nancy demands that Alison give up the plate. Alison asserts she has no right to it, and eventually produces a blank white plate. She maintains that the pattern disappeared from the plate. Alison becomes obsessed by the plates. One by one she traces them and makes the owls, and one by one the plates become blank. The owls themselves disappear, though no one cares at first about some folded paper models. In the house's billiard room part of the wall has been covered with pebble-dash. Bit by bit this begins to crack and fall away, exposing first a pair of painted eyes, and then an entire portrait of a woman made of flowers. Tensions between the occupants of the house began to rise. Gwyn is intelligent and wants to further his education, but Clive expresses a stereotypical clannish closed-ranks attitudes of the upper middle-class towards him. Roger begins to feel hostile despite his initial friendliness. Eventually he takes to ridiculing Gwyn's efforts to improve himself with elocution lessons on gramophone records, calling them "improve-a-prole." Alison seems friendly to Gwyn and the two go on long walks together. She has visions where she sees herself next to him, even though he is some distance away. Margaret, her mother, never appears but the need to keep her happy affects everyone else. As the holiday slides into disaster, the British attitude of "seeing it through to the end" prevails, even though Clive could pay off all the staff and leave at any time. Nancy repeatedly threatens to quit, and is repeatedly mollified with crisp banknotes. She constantly warns Gwyn to stay away from the others, lest he be taken out of school and forced to work in a shop to earn some money. Nancy gradually reveals her resentment of Margaret and Alison, as she once expected to marry Bertram and should have been mistress of the very house she toils in. Competition between the boys for Alison is, at most, a subtext here, although Garner's television script is much more overt about Gwyn's attraction to her, despite his poverty. Alison, notwithstanding any attraction to him, would rather keep her privileges, such as her tennis club membership, than cross her mother. This is something she eventually admits to Gwyn. The mysterious Huw presides over this like some ringmaster at a circus, making strange pronouncements. There is a background of odd comments from the villagers, noises of motorcycles in the distance, sounds of birds, and mysterious noises from locked buildings. Gwyn follows Alison on one of her inexplicable midnight walks. She is completing her tracing of the plates somewhere in the woods. Gwyn is harassed by columns of flame, which he tries to convince himself are merely marsh gas. He finds Alison when she has made the final owl, then escorts her back to the house. Huw is waiting, and greets them with the remark "She's come." By this time the connection between the legend and the events is becoming clear. Gwyn tries to see things rationally. He attempts to run away, walking up the sides of the valley as the weather worsens, but is chased back by a pack of sheepdogs. Stealing Roger's hiking gear, he tries the other side of the valley, only to find Huw waiting for him. Huw tells him of the power that exists in the valley, how those of the blood have to re-enact the legend each time, and how Blodeuwedd always comes as owls instead of flowers because of the hatred. Huw, of course, is Gwyn's real father, so Gwyn is the next generation. Huw was responsible for Bertram's death, sabotaging the old motorcycle Bertram liked to ride around the garden, not realising he would take it out on the dangerous hill road. The dinner plates and the wall painting were done by Huw's ancestors, trying to lock up the magic in their creations, but Alison has let it loose again. Huw directs Gwyn to a crack in an ancient tree where he finds various things, including a spear head. All the men of Huw's line come to this tree, where they leave something and take something. Gwyn removes a carved stone, leaving a cheap owl-decorated trinket. He tells Huw to give the stone to Alison. Gwyn is going to return to the house and leave with his mother, who has finally and irrevocably quit. In a locked room, Roger discovers a stuffed owl, which Bertram shot in his own attempt to lay the ghost of Blodeuwedd, along with all the paper owls that have traced intricate patterns in the dust of a storeroom. He also finds the sabotaged motorcycle. Nancy charges in and wrecks the place, destroying the owl and then attempting to knock the very feathers out of the air. Alison, having been given the stone by Huw, collapses and is brought into the kitchen, where she writhes in the grip of some force that makes claw marks on her skin. Huw begs Gwyn to comfort her, but Gwyn by now feels totally betrayed by Alison and can say nothing. A storm rages outside, branches smashing through the windows and skylight, a sound of owls and eagles pressing in on them. Feathers swirl in the room and trace owl patterns on the walls and ceiling. Roger is desperate, abasing himself before Gwyn, but to no avail. "It is always owls, over and over and over," says Huw. Then Roger shouts that it's not true, that she is flowers. He yells this at Alison until abruptly all is peaceful, and the room is filled not with feathers but with petals. 

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The lives of two unhappily married couples intertwine in Montreal, Canada. The marriage between Lucky Mann, a contractor and his beautiful British wife, former actress Phyllis Hart, has been in a poor state for years. Their relationship fell apart when Phyllis revealed to Lucky that their daughter Cassie was not his biological child. She had her with an actor while Lucky was in the Navy. Cassie ran away to Montreal and they have not spoken in years. The Manns moved from California to Montreal to find Cassie, but without success. Phyllis is depressed after learning that her daughter's father, actor Jack Dana, recently died. She begins to question her own mortality and goes to see a doctor for a checkup. She also spends her time watching her old films that she starred in with Dana. Phyllis knows Lucky cheats on her with his construction clients, and therefore they have a silent agreement that they will not have sex. Lucky is shown cheating on her with Gloria Marino. Meanwhile, corporate executive Jeffrey Byron and his wife Marianne are also unhappily married. Marianne desires children and is starved of affection by Jeffrey, who seems only to be in love with himself. Jeffrey is depressed and seems to be contemplating his sexuality and, perhaps, suicide. One day after work, Marianne tries to get Jeffrey to have sex with her because she is ovulating, but he denies her. She decides to start preparing a room for a baby in their condo anyway and hires a contractor, who happens to be Lucky Mann, referred to her by her friend Isabel's mother Gloria. She is instantly attracted to him and they begin an affair. Jeffrey meets Phyllis in a bar where Phyllis had just witnessed Marianne and Lucky on a date. Jeffrey is instantly attracted to Phyllis, and seems to have a need to be with an older woman after having shown a sudden attraction to his older secretary, Helene. Marianne is attracted to the older and rugged Lucky. Jeffrey invites Phyllis away for a weekend at a resort. She initially says no and goes home to Lucky. Phyllis tries to sleep with Lucky and he brushes her off, so she tells him that she knows about Marianne. She ends up meeting Jeffrey and going away with him. Once they are at the resort, they meet up with Jeffrey's big cheese client, Bernard Ornay and his mistress Monica Bloom. Ornay also becomes attracted to Phyllis which causes a rift with Jeffrey. Jeffrey and Phyllis look likely to sleep together in her room, but Jeffrey terminates contact after Phyllis responds flirtatiously when Ornay knocks on her door. They leave the resort the next morning. The two couples end up in the same hotel bar, and Jeffrey and Lucky have a physical fight. Marianne and Phyllis leave together and go back to the Byrons' apartment, where Marianne reveals she is pregnant with Lucky's baby. Marianne does not know yet that Phyllis is his wife. Phyllis becomes upset and leaves. Jeffrey and Marianne have sex and reconcile. Lucky finds Cassie and they reconcile. At the end of the story, the same thing that had happened to Phyllis has happened to Marianne. They will both have raised a child with another man that is not the father. Marianne tells her friend Isabel the baby's father is Jeffrey, which reveals she does not plan on telling Lucky that it is his, just as Phyllis had done with Jack Dana. The final scene shows Phyllis in bed crying, knowing that Marianne will have Lucky's baby, and emotional over Cassie coming home. 

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The story revolves around Ikuro, whose wife Yuri has been poisoned by Hexaae, an evil lord of black magic. Ikuro uses magic to transform into a deadly bee and vows to find an antidote for Yuri and wreak revenge on Hexaae. 

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The film is narrated by a mother who tells her daughter a bedtime story from a large book: In the city of Basra, the evil vizier Jaffar has clouded the caliph's mind and imprisoned his daughter, Princess Alina in order to marry her. Jaffar has four of the town's five sacred gems sent to dangerous and evil places where they will be carefully guarded by magical forces. Sinbad and his crew arrive at the caliph's palace, only to be captured by the hypnotised soldiers. Jaffar sentences Sinbad's crew to the torture chamber while the mighty sailor is to be locked in a pit full of snakes. Sinbad gets out of the snake pit using some snakes tied together into a rope and later rescues his companions from the torture chamber. As they flee the controlled Basra, Jaffar grants power from evil forces to help him kill Sinbad, this summons an evil cloud over Sinbad's ship and the Legions of Darkness, undead warriors. Together with the help of his friends, Sinbad manages to defeat the undead and the leader. Sinbad then heads to a mysterious island to seek the help of a wise Oracle, who tells them the location of the four sacred gems of Basra. Then, he sails to an island and finds the gem by himself, he destroys a towering rock monster and retrieves the gem. Jaffar is joined by another ally, Soukra, a sorceress, and they prepare Jaffar's scheming plan. The second gem is on the island of the Amazons, the Amazons hypnotise Sinbad's crew and their leader, Queen Farida takes Sinbad with her. The Bald Cook and Poochie the dwarf save Sinbad, and he retrieves the second gem, the Queen's necklace. Next, Sinbad and his team head to the Isle of the Dead, where they battle Ghost Knights who have risen from the dead to fulfill their destiny. Sinbad goes for the Ghost King while his companions battle the Knights. Jaffar casts Sinbad's ship and his crew in the middle of the sea, leaving the sailor alone on the Isle of the Dead. Jaffar gives life to the Ghost King using his evil powers, and it weakens Sinbad, but he resists and destroys the Ghost King with his own sword and takes the third sacred gem. Later, Sinbad meets Kira, and her father, Nadir the wizard, two survivors on the Isle of the Dead who came there on a flying balloon. Sinbad agrees to help them get rid of the vicious monsters of the island and is aided by Kira, they encounter a group of ghouls, Sinbad fights them but Kira is captured by them. Sinbad rescues Kira but has to face a terrible monster known as the Lord of Darkness, which is able to fire bolts of energy from its wrists guarding the last sacred gem of Basra, Sinbad defeats the evil creature with the gems he has and retrieves the last one and they, along with Nadir, escape the island on a balloon. Sinbad meets up with his companions and they go off to face Jaffar, Sinbad's men face off the soldiers while Sinbad battles Jaffar. The wizard creates an exact Sinbad clone to battle the sailor, but he manages to defeat it. Eventually, Jaffar is captured by Sinbad and Princess Alina is rescued. Peace has been restored to the world with the sacred gems. 

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During the American Civil War, Captain Robert Shaw, injured at Antietam, is sent home to Boston on medical leave. Shaw accepts a promotion to colonel commanding the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment, one of the first all-black regiments in the Union Army. He asks his friend Cabot Forbes to serve as his second in command, with the rank of major. Their first volunteer is another friend, Thomas Searles, a bookish, free African-American. Other recruits include John Rawlins, Jupiter Sharts, Silas Trip, and a mute teenage drummer boy. The men learn that, in response to the Emancipation Proclamation, the Confederacy has issued an order that all black soldiers will be returned to slavery. Black soldiers found in a Union uniform will be executed as well as their white officers. They are offered but turn down a chance to take an honorable discharge. They undergo rigorous training from Sergeant-Major Mulcahy, who is particularly hard on Searles. Despite Mulcahy's treatment of his friend, Shaw reluctantly realizes the tough discipline is needed to prepare them for the coming challenges the regiment must face. Trip goes AWOL and is caught; Shaw orders him flogged in front of the regiment. He then learns that Trip left to find shoes because his men are being denied these supplies. Shaw confronts the base's racist quartermaster on their behalf. Shaw also supports his men in a pay dispute; the Federal government decrees that black soldiers will only be paid $10, not the $13 per month all white soldiers receive. When the men, led by Trip, begin tearing up their pay vouchers in protest of this unequal treatment, Shaw tears up his own voucher in support of his men. In recognition of his regimental leadership, Rawlins is promoted by Shaw to the rank of sergeant major. Once the 54th completes its training, they are transferred under the command of Brigadier General Charles Harker. On the way to South Carolina they are ordered by Colonel James Montgomery to sack and burn Darien, Georgia. Shaw initially refuses to obey an unlawful order but reluctantly agrees under threat of having his command taken away. He continues to lobby his superiors to allow his regiment to join the fight, as their duties to date have involved mostly manual labor. Shaw finally gets the 54th a combat assignment after he blackmails Harker by threatening to report the illegal activities he has discovered. In their first battle at James Island, South Carolina, the 54th successfully defeats a Confederate attack that had routed other units. During the battle, Searles is wounded but saves Trip. Shaw offers Trip the honor of bearing the regimental flag in battle. He declines, not sure that the war will result in a better life for ex-slaves like himself. General George Strong informs Shaw of a major campaign to secure a foothold at Charleston Harbor. This involves assaulting Morris Island and capturing Fort Wagner, whose only landward approach is a strip of open beach; a charge is certain to result in heavy casualties. Shaw volunteers the 54th to lead the attack. The night before the battle, the black soldiers conduct a religious service. Several make emotional speeches to inspire others, including Trip, who finally embraces his fellow soldiers. On their way to the battlefield, the 54th is cheered by the same Union troops who had scorned them earlier. The 54th leads the charge on the fort, suffering serious losses. As night falls, the regiment is pinned down against the walls of the fort. Attempting to encourage his men forward, Shaw is killed by numerous gunshots. Trip, despite his previous assertion that he would not do it, lifts the flag to rally the soldiers to continue, but he too is soon shot dead. Forbes and Rawlins take charge, and the soldiers break through the fort's defenses. Seemingly on the brink of victory, Forbes, Rawlins, Searles, Sharts, and the two color sergeants are fired upon by Confederate artillery. The morning after the battle, the beach is littered with the bodies of black and white Union soldiers; the Confederate flag is raised over the fort. The dead Union soldiers are buried in a mass communal grave, with Shaw and Trip's bodies next to each other. Closing text reveals (incorrectly) that Fort Wagner never fell to the Union Army. However, the courage demonstrated by the 54th resulted in the United States accepting thousands of black men for combat, and President Abraham Lincoln credited them with helping to turn the tide of the war. 

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Bonsels' original book contains fewer than 200 pages. The storyline is centered on the relation of Maya and her many adventures. Maya is a bee born in a bee hive during internal unrest: the hive is dividing itself into two new colonies. Maya is raised by her teacher, Mrs. Cassandra. Despite Mrs. Cassandra's warnings, Maya wants to explore the wide world and commits the unforgivable crime of leaving the hive. During her adventures, Maya, now in exile, befriends other insects and braves dangers with them. In the climax of the book, Maya is taken prisoner by hornets, the bees' sworn enemies. Prisoner of the hornets, Maya learns of a hornet plan to attack her native hive. Maya is faced with the decision to either return to hive and suffer her due punishment, saving the hive, or leaving the plan unannounced, saving herself but destroying the hive. After severe pondering, she makes the decision to return. In the hive, she announces the coming attack and is, totally unexpectedly, pardoned. The forewarned bees triumph over the hornet attack force. Maya, now a heroine of the hive, becomes a teacher like Mrs. Cassandra and shares her experiences and wisdom with the future generation. 

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Frida begins just before the traumatic accident Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) suffered at the age of 18 when the wooden-bodied bus she was riding in collided with a streetcar. She is impaled by a metal pole and the injuries she sustains plague her for the rest of her life. To help her through convalescence, her father brings her a canvas upon which to start painting. Throughout the film, a scene starts as a painting, then slowly dissolves into a live action scene with actors. Frida also details the artist's dysfunctional relationship with the muralist Diego Rivera (Alfred Molina). When Rivera proposes to Kahlo, she tells him she expects from him loyalty if not fidelity. Diego's appraisal of her painting ability is one of the reasons that she continues to paint. Throughout the marriage, Rivera has affairs with a wide array of women, while the bisexual Kahlo takes on male and female lovers, including in one case having an affair with the same woman as Rivera. The two travel to New York City so that he may paint the mural Man at the Crossroads at the Rockefeller Center. While in the United States, Kahlo suffers a miscarriage, and her mother dies in Mexico. Rivera refuses to compromise his communist vision of the work to the needs of the patron, Nelson Rockefeller (Edward Norton); as a result, the mural is destroyed. The pair return to Mexico, with Rivera the more reluctant of the two. Kahlo's sister Cristina moves in with the two at their San Ángel studio home to work as Rivera's assistant. Soon afterward, Kahlo discovers that Rivera and Cristina are having an affair. She leaves him, and subsequently sinks into alcoholism. The couple reunite when he asks her to welcome and house Leon Trotsky (Geoffrey Rush), who has been granted political asylum in Mexico. She and Trotsky begin an affair, which forces the married Trotsky to leave the safety of his Coyoacán home. Kahlo leaves for Paris after Diego realizes she was unfaithful to him with Trotsky; although Rivera had little problem with Kahlo's other affairs, Trotsky was too important to Rivera to be intimately involved with his wife. When she returns to Mexico, he asks for a divorce. Soon afterwards, Trotsky is murdered in Mexico City. Rivera is temporarily a suspect, and Kahlo is incarcerated in his place when he is not found. Rivera helps get her released. Kahlo has her toes removed when they become gangrenous. Rivera asks her to remarry him, and she agrees. Her health continues to worsen, including the amputation of a leg, and she ultimately dies after finally having a solo exhibition of her paintings in Mexico. 

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In the wealthy Virani family of Gujarat, its three daughters-in-law Savita, Daksha and Gayatri control other family members, especially their sons, creating trouble for their wise and kind-hearted mother-in-law Amba. Savita arranges her son Mihir's marriage to Payal, a rich and arrogant girl, but Mihir falls in love with the family priest's daughter Tulsi. Payal's attitude irritates Mihir, who leaves her and marries Tulsi. Tulsi is accepted by Viranis but Savita is determined to make her life hell. Eventually, she manages to win over Savita and later gives birth to her son Gautam Virani. Mihir meets with an accident and is declared dead. Mihir survives but loses his memory. His caretaker Dr. Mandira falls in love with him. Her brother Anupam who also supervises Mihir's project proposes marriage to Tulsi after falling for her. Reluctantly, Tulsi agrees but cancels the wedding when Mihir appears there alive. Gradually, he regains his memory. Mandira drugs him and they spend a night together, leading to her pregnancy. Tulsi is pregnant again. Payal conspires against Viranis and wants their wealth and properties, but is exposed. It is revealed that Mandira is faking her pregnancy. Tulsi gives Gautam to Mihir's sister-in-law Aarti who doesn't have a child. She also delivers a daughter Shobha. Aarti's fondness of Gautam grows into obsession and she leaves India with him and her husband Kiran. 

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The film is set in Turin, Italy. It opens with a prologue sequence showing the young Italian Carabinieri clerk Filippo (Ribisi) learning to fly a helicopter using a flight simulator. When he accidentally crashes the virtual helicopter by ascending too dramatically, his instructor tells him, "In a real helicopter, you can't just keep going up and up", prompting Filippo to ask, "How high can I fly?" The film then cuts to Phillipa (Blanchett), who is preparing to plant a bomb in the downtown office of a high-ranking businessman. Although everything goes according to her plan, the garbage bin in which she places the bomb is emptied by a cleaner immediately after she leaves and later explodes in an elevator, killing four people. Philippa is tracked down by the Carabinieri, arrested, and brought to the station where Filippo works. When she is questioned, she reveals that she is an English teacher at a local school where several students have recently died of drug-related causes. Discovering that they had all been supplied by the same local cartel, she had contacted the Carabinieri with the names of the drug ring leaders, begging them to intervene, but was repeatedly ignored. At her wits' end, she decided to kill the leader of the cartel, the businessman whose office she targeted. In the process of her interrogation, Filippo (who is translating her confession for his superiors) falls in love with Philippa and helps her escape from Carabinieri custody. After she kills the drug lord who was her original target, the pair become fugitives from the law and flee to the countryside, where they eventually find refuge with one of Philippa's friends and finally consummate their relationship. When the authorities raid the house where they are hiding, the fugitives steal a Carabinieri helicopter parked on the front lawn and escape by air. The officers on the ground fire repeatedly at them, to no avail, as the craft climbs higher and higher and finally disappears. 

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The episodes of the series generally revolved around the "cases" of Monica (played by Roma Downey), an angel recently promoted from the "search and rescue" division, who works under the guidance of Tess (played by Della Reese), a sarcastic boss who is sometimes hard on her young colleague, but is more of a surrogate mother than a mentor. Monica in one episode outlines that she started in the choir, then annunciations, followed by search and rescue and then case work. Most cases involve a single person or a group of people who are at a crossroads in their lives and facing a large problem or tough decision. Monica and Tess bring them messages of hope from God and give them guidance to help make decisions. During their first episode, the pair receive a red 1972 Cadillac Eldorado convertible as a gift; they use it for transportation throughout the rest of the series while in the human world, with Tess doing the driving. As the series progresses, Monica continues gaining experience as a case worker and, during some cases must learn lessons of her own. During the series pilot, an angel of death named Adam is introduced. In the season two premiere, "Interview with an Angel", the Angel of Death is introduced as Henry. In the season two episode entitled "The One That Got Away", Andrew (played by John Dye) is introduced as the Angel of Death. (Initially a recurring character, he becomes a main character in season three, making him the permanent Angel of Death for the remainder of the series.) During season seven, a new angel, Gloria (Valerie Bertinelli), is sent by God during one of Monica's assignments. She becomes a regular character for seasons eight and nine, as a trainee under Monica and Tess's guidance. In the series finale, Monica is up for promotion to supervisor, pending the outcome of a difficult case in which she must defend Zach (Scott Bairstow), an innocent drifter accused of causing a boiler explosion at a school two years ago in the small town of Ascension, Colorado. The explosion killed most of the children, leaving the citizens devastated. During the case, Monica sees many familiar faces, including Joey Machulis (Paul Wittenburg), one of Monica's previous assignments who is a witness to the events, his brother Wayne (Randy Travis), who is now sheriff, Sophie (Marion Ross), a formerly homeless acquaintance, and Mike (Patrick Duffy), a lawyer Monica saved during her search and rescue days who is now the Mayor. An out of town developer claims Zach is the perpetrator and despite the lack of evidence, Zach is put on trial. Monica does all she can to help him, including asking Mike to represent him, but the prosecutor in the case, Jones, is really Satan in disguise, and Zach is eventually convicted. After the trial, Monica is able to help the citizens realize their mistake and to see that Zach's return to the town had helped them finally start living again. They begin going back to church, welcomed by the pastor they had once abandoned. Their change of heart, however, cannot free Zach, so Monica visits him in jail and reveals that she is an angel. She then promises him that she will become his guardian angel, forgoing all future assignments and the coveted promotion, to protect him from harm in prison. When she returns in the morning, however, the cell is empty. The citizens decide not to search for him, and it is revealed that Joey inadvertently caused the explosion after the devil tricked him into turning the boiler too high to warm some kittens he'd found. The perplexed Monica returns to the desert to find Tess and Zach. There, she learns that Zach was actually Jesus,The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946-Present (pg.1414) and that her defending him was a test, which she passed by being willing to sacrifice herself for him. Monica is promoted to supervisor. As she leaves, she says her goodbyes to Gloria, and to Andrew, who gives her a pocket watch to remember their friendship by. Before parting, Tess gives Monica the keys to the Cadillac, as she is leaving her job to sit at God's feet. Monica is last shown driving away as the camera pans out over the desert. 

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In the year of 1204, Baudolino of Alessandria enters Constantinople, unaware of the Fourth Crusade that has thrown the city into chaos. In the confusion, he meets Niketas Choniates and saves his life. Niketas is amazed by his language genius, speaking many languages he has never heard, and on the question: if he is not part of the crusade, who is he? Baudolino begins to recount his life story to Niketas. His story begins in 1155, when Baudolino – a highly talented Italian peasant boy – is sold to and adopted by the emperor Frederick I. At court and on the battlefield, he is educated in reading and writing Latin and learns about the power struggles and battles of northern Italy at the time. He is sent to Paris to become a scholar. In Paris, he gains friends (such as the Archpoet, Abdul, Robert de Boron and Kyot, the purported source of Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival) and learns about the legendary kingdom of Prester John. From this event onward, Baudolino dreams of reaching this fabled land. The earlier parts of the story follow the general historical and geographical outlines of 12th-century Europe, with special emphasis on the Emperor Frederick's futile efforts to subdue the increasingly independent and assertive city states of Northern Italy. Baudolino, being both a beloved adopted son to the Emperor and a loyal native of the newly founded and highly rebellious town of Alessandria, plays a key role in effecting reconciliation between the Emperor and the Alessandria townspeople, who are led by Baudolino's biological father; a way is found for the Emperor to recognize Alessandria's independence without losing face. (It is no accident that Alessandria is Umberto Eco's own hometown.) During the siege, Baudolino works on the side of Frederick Barbarossa, but concocts a plan to help win the Alessandrian townspeople some independence. He attempts to convince the emperor's forces that Alessandria is more prepared for a siege than them through stuffing a cow with the last of Alessandria's wheat and sends the cow out to the Emperor's forces. When the cow is cut open, it reveals a full belly of wheat. The emperor's forces are convinced that Alessandria is not worth besieging, and thus leave. The incident of the death of Emperor Frederick, while on the Third Crusade, is a key element of the plot. This part involves an element of secret history – the book asserts that Emperor Frederick had not drowned in a river, as history records, but died mysteriously at night while hosted at the castle of a sinister Armenian noble. This part also constitutes a historical detective mystery – specifically, a historical locked room mystery – with various suspects suggested, each of whom had a clever means of killing the Emperor, and with Baudolino acting as the detective. After the Emperor's death, Baudolino and his friends set off on a long journey, encompassing 15 years, to find the Kingdom of Prester John. From the moment when they depart eastwards, the book becomes pure fantasy – the lands which the band travels bearing no resemblance to the continent of Asia at that or any other historical time, being rather derived from the various myths which Europeans had about Asia – including the aforementioned Christian myth of the Kingdom of Prester John, as well as the Jewish myth of the Ten Lost Tribes and the River Sambation, and some earlier accounts provided by Herodotos. Baudolino meets eunuchs, unicorns, Blemmyes, skiapods and pygmies. At one point, he falls in love with a female satyr-like creature who recounts to him the full Gnostic creation myth; Gnosticism is a pervasive presence in another of Eco's novels, Foucault's Pendulum. Philosophical debates are mixed with comedy, epic adventure and creatures drawn from the strangest medieval bestiaries. After many disastrous adventures, the destruction of Prester John's Kingdom by the White Huns followed by a long stint of slavery at the hands of the Old Man of the Mountain, Baudolino and surviving members of his band of friends return to Constantinople undergoing the agony of the Fourth Crusade – the book's starting point. The wise and rather cynical Niketas Choniates helps Baudolino to at last discover the truth about how the Emperor Frederick died – with shattering results for Baudolino and his friends. 

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Born with two stomachs, Patrick Smash (Bruce Cook) is uncontrollably and devastatingly flatulent. No more than thirty seconds after his birth, he first breaks wind, horrifying his parents (Bronagh Gallagher, and Victor McGuire) and doctor (Robert Hardy). As he grows up, Patrick's farts become so uncontrollable and destructive that his father has to flee their home, as he is often injured by his son's gaseous emissions, whose force is so strong that it can blow people over. Patrick is bullied at school as a result of his condition, but eventually finds strength in his disorder, ultimately gaining revenge on the school bully Damon (Joshua Herdman) by passing gas in his face, leaving him scarred for life. Patrick's only friend is child prodigy Alan A. Allen (Rupert Grint), who has anosmia, and, therefore, lacks the ability to smell. Alan and Patrick team up to make Thunderpants, reinforced short trousers strong enough to contain Patrick's emissions. Eventually, Patrick learns that Alan went to the US to assist astronauts who are trapped in outer space, and Patrick finds that his condition may be of use to the spacemen in peril. 

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Clark Griswold, wanting to spend more time with his wife Ellen and children Rusty and Audrey, decides to lead the family on a cross-country expedition from the Chicago suburbs to the southern California amusement park Walley World, billed as "America's Favorite Family Fun Park." Ellen wants to fly, but Clark insists on driving, so he can bond with his family. He has ordered a new car in preparation for the trip, but the dealer claims that it will not be ready for six weeks. During the family's travels, they experience numerous mishaps, such as being tagged by vandals in St. Louis, Missouri, while Clark yells at a bartender in Dodge City, Kansas and tantalized on numerous occasions by a beautiful young woman driving a flashy red Ferrari 308 GTS. They stop in Coolidge, Kansas to visit Ellen's cousin Catherine and her husband Eddie, who foist cranky Aunt Edna and her mean dog Dinky on the Griswolds, asking them to drop her off at her son Norman's home in Phoenix. After stopping at a decrepit and dirty campground in South Fork, Colorado for the night, Clark forgets to untie Dinky's leash from the bumper before driving off the next morning, killing the dog. A motorcycle cop pulls the Griswolds over and angrily lectures Clark over animal cruelty, but accepts Clark's apology. Edna learns of her dog's death and becomes more irate with Clark. Exiting Colorado, Ellen loses her bag which had her credit cards, forcing Clark to cash a check for future spending. While Ellen and Clark argue during a drive between Utah and Arizona, they crash and become stranded in the desert near Monument Valley. Clark and Rusty have a bonding experience explaining why he wants to take this vacation. After setting off alone in the desert to look for help, Clark eventually reunites with his family, who have been rescued and taken to a local mechanic. The mechanic extorts Clark's remaining cash only to render the car barely operational. Frustrated, they stop at the Grand Canyon. When Clark is unable to convince a hotel clerk to cash a personal check because his credit card was reported stolen, he takes cash from the cash register behind the clerk's back and leaves the check. Leaving, they find that Aunt Edna has died in her sleep. They tie her corpse to the roof of the car, wrapped in a tarpaulin. When they reach Norman's home, they discover he is out of town so they leave Edna's body by the back door with a note. The family has a small memorial for her. Having enough of the road-trip and of the mishaps they encountered, Ellen and the children want to go back home, but Clark has become obsessed with reaching Walley World and they continue on. After an argument with Ellen, Clark eventually meets the Ferrari-driving blonde beauty at a hotel and goes skinny-dipping with her in its pool, but they are discovered by the family before anything intimate happens. Ellen forgives Clark and the couple goes skinny-dipping themselves. Despite the family's misfortunes, they finally arrive at Walley World the next day only to discover the park closed for the next two weeks for repairs. Finally slipping into madness and realizing that all his efforts have been for nothing, Clark buys a realistic-looking BB gun and demands that park security guard Russ Lasky take them through Walley World. Ellen and the kids follow, attempting to placate Clark. Eventually, an LAPD SWAT team arrives, along with park owner Roy Walley. Roy understands Clark's impassioned longing to achieve the perfect vacation, bringing back memories of his own family vacation headaches. He decides not to file criminal charges against the Griswolds and lets the family – along with the SWAT team – enjoy the park as his guests. The final shot shows that the family flew back to Chicago with souvenir hats. 

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The film features three primary sets of characters, each within their own distinct story: * A young man (Matsumoto, played by Hidetoshi Nishijima) who rejects his engagement to his fiancée (Sawako, played by Miho Kanno) to marry the daughter of his company's president. When his former fiancée attempts suicide and ends up in a semi-vegetative state, he takes her out of the hospital and they run away. * Another young man (Nukui, played by Tsutomu Takeshige) is obsessed with the pop-star Haruna (played by Kyoko Fukada); he blinds himself when she is involved in a disfiguring car accident. * An aged yakuza (Hiro, played by Tatsuya Mihashi), who tries to meet a girlfriend from his youth (played by Chieko Matsubara). These stories do have some incidental visual cross-over with each other in the film, but are mostly separate. The first story is the one on which the film centers. The film leads into it by opening with a performance of Bunraku theatre, and closes with a shot of dolls from the same. The performance is that of "The Courier for Hell" by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, and it alludes to themes that reappear later in the film. Because the rest of the film itself (as Kitano himself has said) can be treated as Bunraku in film form, the film is quite symbolic. In some cases, it is not clear whether a particular scene is meant to be taken literally. The film is also not in strict chronological order, but there is a strong visual emphasis on the changing of the seasons and the bonds of love over the progression of time (Matsumoto and Sawako spend most of the film physically connected by a red rope). 

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Original car used during filming of Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo The film stars Dean Jones as returning champion race car driver Jim Douglas, joined by his somewhat cynical and eccentric riding mechanic Wheely Applegate (Don Knotts). Together with Herbie, the "Love Bug", a 1963 Volkswagen Beetle, they are participating in the fictional Trans-France Race, from Paris, France, to Monte Carlo, Monaco. According to dialogue, they hope to stage a racing comeback in the event. For the Trans-France Race, Douglas and Herbie have three major opponents. The first is Bruno Von Stickle. (Eric Braeden), a German driver with experience in the "European Racing Circuit". He is deemed to be a formidable contender prior to and during the race. The second is Claude Gilbert (Mike Kulcsar), a French driver. His dominance in the race seemed similar to that of von Stickle, until he crashed in the later stages. The third is Diane Darcy (Julie Sommars), a very beautiful, if somewhat icy and feminist-minded, young American woman and the only female driver in the Trans-France Race. She initially hates Jim for apparently his, but what was actually Herbie's, knee-jerk behavior that ruined her chances of succeeding during the first qualifying rounds. This was because of Herbie sighting and falling in love at first sight with Giselle, her Lancia Scorpion. As being a car with whom Herbie falls in love during the film (much as Jim seems to be attracted to Diane herself), Herbie's infatuation with Giselle results in his compromising his full original plan of winning the Trans-France Race, and turning against that same will of his partners, Jim and Wheely. However, the strong-willed Diane does not appear to believe in any cars that can be alive and have a mind of their own. Diane and Giselle unfortunately crash into a lake towards the end of the race, and with victory in sight. But Herbie and Jim manage to save both car and woman from drowning. Because of this, she soon changes her attitude toward Jim after he saves her life and she witnesses Herbie towing Giselle out of the lake. All three watch as Herbie crawls next to Giselle and the two cars hold doors like holding hands. When Herbie seems to have trouble restarting because of being determined to stay with Giselle, Diane is now fully convinced that cars can have minds of their own because she now knows her own car is alive as well. She encourages the little car not to relent in the quest for victory in the Trans-France Race. With Diane now out of the race (followed shortly thereafter by Claude Gilbert in the aforementioned crash), Jim pursues Von Stickle through the streets of Monte Carlo, combatants in a thrilling duel for the win. In the end, though, Bruno von Stickle is overtaken by the little car in the famous tunnel of the Formula One race track, Herbie outracing him by outsmarting him through driving upside down on the tunnel roof. Jim drives Herbie to victory for (also according to dialogue) the 20th time in their careers. As the film progresses, two thieves, Max (Bernard Fox) and Quincey (Roy Kinnear), steal the famous Étoile de Joie (French for "Star of Joy") diamond and cleverly hide it in Herbie's fuel tank (Herbie was fitted with an external fuel filler cap for this film - a 1963 Beetle's cap actually being inside the front luggage compartment) in order to avoid being captured by a swarm of searching policemen. But little did they know that they picked the wrong car to hide it in, because of one car that was alive and had a mind of its own. That causes them to blow every chance they get in getting back the diamond they hid in him. Because of this, and on a count of an attempt where they at one point tried to threaten Jim and Wheely at gunpoint to relinquish the car to them, an encounter from which Herbie managed to escape, and thanks to a misunderstood conclusion thereafter that Diane would have tried to mastermind the whole event. Subsequently, Herbie is placed under the protection of the French police. It is also revealed not too far in that Inspector Bouchet (Jacques Marin), also known as "Double X" especially as a code name to the thieves, is the mastermind behind the museum robbery, though the fact of his scheme is revealed near the end of the movie. It is the eager, and somewhat knee-jerk and unpunctual young detective Fontenoy (Xavier Saint-Macary), of whom the Inspector is the superior officer, who unravels the mystery of L'Étoile de Joie, and has Bouchet clapped in handcuffs. In the end, Jim and Diane begin to fall in love, as do Wheely and the Monte Carlo trophy girl (Katia Tchenko); even breaking a pact they made in the beginning. Most of all, Herbie and Giselle(which Diane names her car) fall in love again as well. 

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Despite their time-wasting detours of recent days ("Harbinger" and "Hatchery") Enterprise reaches Azati Prime before the Xindi finish construction of their superweapon. Captain Archer sends Commander Tucker and Ensign Mayweather on board a Xindi shuttle they had previously captured to investigate the planet. Working their way past security, they approach the weapon, which is being built underwater. Meanwhile, Archer orders Enterprise to destroy a Xindi detection facility on the planet's moon to prevent it from signalling the ship's presence. The shuttle returns with scans of the weapon, confirming it is just days from being finished, so Archer designates himself to pilot a suicide mission to destroy it. The crew try to talk him out of it but he is resolute. Archer then suddenly finds himself 400 years in the future on board the USS Enterprise-J, alongside Temporal Agent Daniels. They are at the battle where the Sphere Builders (the alien species first seen in episode "Harbinger") are defeated, and Daniels gives Archer an initiation medal from a Xindi who had joined Starfleet as temporal evidence. Back on his Enterprise, Archer rejects the notion of a Human-Xindi détente, and leaves on the shuttle. He arrives at the superweapon construction site but finds it gone, and is rapidly captured by the Xindi Commander Dolim. The Reptilians begin to interrogate Archer, who then asks to speak to Degra, the Primate scientist from episode Stratagem. Using Daniels' medal, Archer tries to convince Degra that the Reptilians cannot be trusted, but Dolim arrives with armed colleagues and takes the Primates away. Meanwhile, Sub-Commander T'Pol, now in command of Enterprise, displays signs of an emotional breakdown. She also decides to go on a mission, to negotiate a peace, and reacts angrily when Tucker tries to stop her. An attack from four Xindi ships follows, and as the episode concludes, Enterprise is left severely damaged. 

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A Neanderthal child is brought to the present day as a result of time travel experiments by Stasis Inc, a research organization. He cannot be removed from his immediate area because of the vast energy loss and time paradoxes that would result, and is kept in the present by way of a Stasis module. In order to care for the boy the organization hires Edith Fellowes, a children's nurse. Initially repelled by the boy's appearance, Edith soon begins to regard him as her own child, learning to love him and realizing that he is far more intelligent than she first imagined. She dubs him 'Timmie' and attempts to ensure that he has the best possible childhood despite his circumstance. She is enraged when the newspapers refer to him as an "ape-boy." Edith's love for Timmie brings her into conflict with her employer, for whom he is more of an experimental animal than a human being. Eventually, her employer comes to the conclusion that his organization has exacted all the knowledge and publicity it can from Timmie and that the time has come to move on to the next project. This involves bringing a Medieval peasant into the present, which necessitates the return of Timmie to his own time. Edith fights the decision, knowing the boy cannot survive if returned to his own time due to his acquisition of modern dependencies and speech. She attempts to smuggle the boy out of the facility, but when that plan fails she disrupts the integrity of the Stasis module and returns to the ancient past with Timmie. 

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In 1939 New Orleans, Charlie B. Barkin and his best friend Itchy Itchiford escape from the dog pound and return to their casino riverboat on the bayou, formerly run by Charlie himself and his business partner, Carface Caruthers. Refusing to share the profits with Charlie, Carface had been responsible for Charlie and Itchy getting committed to the pound and persuades Charlie to leave town with half of the casino's earnings. Charlie agrees, but is later intoxicated and killed by a car pushed downhill by Carface and his assistant, Killer. Charlie is sent to Heaven by default despite not having done any good deeds in his life; a whippet angel explains to him that because dogs are inherently good and loyal, all dogs go to Heaven and are entitled to paradise. Charlie cheats death by stealing a gold pocket watch representing his life and winding it back. As Charlie descends back to Earth, the whippet angel tells him that he can never return to Heaven; when the watch stops again, he will be sent to Hell instead. However, as long as the watch continues to run, Charlie will be immortal. After Charlie reunites with Itchy and plots revenge in the form of a rivaling business, they discover that Carface has kidnapped a young orphaned girl named Anne-Marie for her ability to talk to animals, which proves advantageous when betting on races. Charlie rescues her and promises to feed the poor and help her find a family. The next day at the race track, Charlie steals a wallet from a couple as they talk to Anne-Marie and become alarmed by her ragged appearance. Charlie and Itchy use their winnings to build a successful casino in the junkyard where they live. Anne-Marie, upon realizing that she has been used, threatens to leave. To persuade her to stay, Charlie brings pizza to a family of poor puppies and their mother, Flo, at the old abandoned church. While there, Anne-Marie becomes angry at Charlie for stealing the wallet. As Charlie has a nightmare in which he is condemned to Hell, Anne-Marie returns the wallet to the couple, Kate and Harold. While they privately discuss adopting her, Charlie arrives and tricks her into leaving with him. Charlie and Anne-Marie narrowly escape an ambush by Carface and Killer and hide in an abandoned building, but the ground breaks and they fall into the lair of King Gator, a giant effeminate alligator. He and Charlie bond over a love of music and he lets them go, but Anne-Marie contracts pneumonia. Carface and his thugs destroy Charlie's casino and attack Itchy. An injured Itchy limps back to the church and confronts Charlie about his relationship with Anne-Marie, who Itchy thinks matters more than him. In his exasperation, Charlie loudly proclaims that he is using her and will eventually "dump her in an orphanage". Anne- Marie overhears the conversation and tearfully runs away before she is kidnapped by Carface. Charlie follows them to Carface's casino, where he is ambushed by Carface and his thugs. They fight with Charlie, inadvertently setting an oil fire that soon engulfs the whole structure. Charlie's pained howls from their bites summon King Gator, who chases down and devours Carface. In the chaos, both Anne-Marie and the watch fall into the water. Unable to rescue both at the same time, Charlie rescues Anne-Marie and places her onto some driftwood and pushes her toward safety; however, the watch stops before he can reach it, ending his life, so Killer finishes pushing her to shore, where Kate and Harold are waiting with police and medical personnel. Sometime later, Kate and Harold adopt Anne-Marie, who has also adopted Itchy. Charlie, having sacrificed himself to save Anne-Marie, has earned back his place in Heaven, and is allowed to return in ghost form to reconcile with Anne-Marie. Leaving Itchy in her care, Charlie returns to Heaven, where Carface finally arrives and takes his own clock, vowing revenge against King Gator. As the whippet angel chases him and warns against using it, Charlie assures the audience that "he'll be back" before winking and retrieving his halo. 

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An American film crew disappears in the Amazon rainforest while filming a documentary about indigenous cannibal tribes. The team consists of Alan Yates, the director; Faye Daniels, his girlfriend and script girl; and two cameramen, Jack Anders and Mark Tomaso. Harold Monroe, an anthropologist at New York University, agrees to lead a rescue mission in hopes of finding the missing filmmakers. In anticipation of his arrival, military personnel stationed in the rainforest conduct a raid on the local Yacumo tribe and take a young male hostage in order to negotiate with the natives. Monroe flies in via floatplane and is introduced to his guides, Chaco and his assistant, Miguel. After several days of trekking through the jungle, the rescue team encounters the Yacumo tribe. They arrange the release of their hostage in exchange for being taken to the Yacumo village. Once there, the group is initially greeted with hostility and learns that the filmmakers caused great unrest among the people. The next day, Monroe and his guides head deeper into the rainforest to locate two warring cannibal tribes, the Ya̧nomamö and the Shamatari. They encounter a group of Shamatari warriors and follow them to a riverbank, where Monroe's team saves a smaller group of Ya̧nomamö from death. The Ya̧nomamö invite the team back to their village in gratitude, but they are still suspicious of the foreigners. To gain their trust, Monroe bathes naked in a river, where he is joined by a group of Ya̧nomamö women. The women lead Monroe from the river to a shrine, where he discovers the skeletal remains of the filmmakers with their film reels nearby. Shocked by what he sees, he confronts the Ya̧nomamö in the village, during which time he plays music from a tape recorder. The intrigued natives agree to trade it for the filmmakers' surviving reels of film. Back in New York, executives of the Pan American Broadcasting System invite Monroe to host a broadcast of the documentary to be made from the recovered film, but Monroe insists on viewing the raw footage before making a decision. The executives first introduce him to Alan's work by showing an excerpt from his previous documentary, The Last Road to Hell. One of the executives tells Monroe that Alan staged dramatic scenes to get more exciting footage. Monroe then begins to view the recovered footage, which first follows the group's trek through the rainforest. After walking for days, their guide, Felipe, is bitten by a venomous snake. The group amputates Felipe's leg with a machete to save his life, but he dies and is left behind. Upon locating the Yacumo in a clearing, Jack shoots one in the leg so they can easily follow him to the village. Once they arrive, the crew proceeds to intimidate the tribe before herding the natives into a hut, which they burn down in order to stage a massacre for their film. Monroe expresses apprehension about the staged footage and the treatment of the natives, but his concerns are ignored. After he finishes viewing the remaining footage, Monroe expresses his disgust toward the station's decision to air the documentary. To convince the executives otherwise, he shows them the unedited footage that only he has seen. The final two reels begin with the filmmakers locating a Ya̧nomamö girl, whom the men take turns raping against Faye's protests. They later encounter the same girl impaled on a wooden pole by a riverbank, where they claim that the natives killed her for loss of virginity. Shortly afterwards, they are attacked by the Ya̧nomamö tribe as revenge for the girl's rape and death. Jack is hit by a spear, and Alan shoots him to prevent his escape. After filming the natives mutilate Jack's corpse, the group is cornered, and Faye is captured by the Ya̧nomamö. Alan insists that they attempt to rescue her. Mark continues to film as she is stripped naked, gang-raped, beaten, and beheaded. The Ya̧nomamö then locate and kill the last two team members as the camera drops to the ground. Disturbed by what they have seen, the executives order the footage destroyed. 

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