Chrissy and Jo live in a London flat together and work for the same firm. The women find a stranger, student chef Robin Tripp, asleep in their bath the morning after the farewell party for their departed flatmate Eleanor. When he meets the two girls, Robin has been in London two days, having moved from Southampton to attend University. The girls are unimpressed with Gabrielle (Helen Fraser) as a potential replacement for Eleanor, but they are impressed by Robin's culinary skills, as they cannot cook at all. Learning that Robin has been staying at the YMCA, they convince him to move in, on the understanding that it will be a platonic relationship.
Chrissy tells landlord George Roper that Robin is gay to eliminate George's objections to the mixed-sex living arrangement. George, in truth a subletting landlord placed by the council, is a miserly, spiteful and unkempt man under the thumb of his domineering and sexually frustrated wife Mildred.
In the second episode, Robin's true sexuality becomes known to Mildred. She takes out her frustrations with George's lack of class and sexual inadequacy by making suggestive remarks to Robin and frequently siding with the tenants against George. Mildred openly flirts with Robin, and Robin frequently flirts with Chrissy and Jo. The girls, adhering to their pledge to maintain a platonic relationship with Robin, spurn his mild advances and adapt to his presence in the flat. Chrissy occasionally shows attraction to Robin, but the two never pursue any romantic interaction.
Robin's friend Larry, a lovable rogue, appears on a recurring basis throughout the series. In the third series, he moves into the loft apartment above the trio's apartment and is a frequent source of trouble. Another occasional cast member is George's friend, the dodgy builder Jerry (Roy Kinnear). Jerry is the only supporting character to reappear in the spin-off ''George and Mildred''.
Robin's brother Norman Tripp (Norman Eshley) appears in the final three episodes of the sixth and final series, and starts a romance with Chrissy. Eshley had a previous guest role in the episode "In Praise of Older Men" (Series 2, Episode 3).
The McCallister family is preparing to spend Christmas in Miami, and gathers at Peter and Kate's Chicago home. Their youngest son, Kevin, views Florida as contradictory to Christmas, due to its tropical climate and lack of Christmas trees. At a school pageant, during Kevin's solo, his brother, Buzz, pulls a prank on him and Kevin retaliates by pushing him, ruining the pageant in the process. Buzz makes a false apology, which the family accepts, berating Kevin when he says he retaliated for Buzz humiliating him. Kevin insults his family for believing his brother's lies and for spending Christmas in a tropical climate, and storms off to the attic, wishing to have his own vacation alone. The next day, the family accidentally oversleeps, and rushes to make their flight.
At the airport, Kevin loses sight of his family and inadvertently boards a flight bound for New York City with Peter's belongings. Upon arriving, Kevin decides to tour the city and in Central Park, Kevin is frightened by a stern-looking homeless woman tending to the pigeons. He then goes to the Plaza Hotel and uses Peter's credit card to check in. Meanwhile, the Wet Bandits, Harry and Marv have also traveled to New York after recently escaping from prison in Chicago. They immediately begin seeking a new target to rob.
On Christmas Eve, Kevin visits a toy store where he meets its philanthropic owner, Mr. Duncan. Kevin learns that the proceeds from the store's Christmas sales will be donated to a children's hospital, and provides a donation. As a token of appreciation, Mr. Duncan offers Kevin a pair of ceramic turtledoves as a gift, instructing him to give one to another person as a gesture of eternal friendship. After encountering Harry and Marv outside the store, Kevin runs back to the Plaza. The concierge and hotel staff confronts Kevin about the credit card, which has been reported stolen. Kevin flees the hotel via an emergency exit, but is ambushed by Harry and Marv. They brag about their plan to kill him and break into the toy store at midnight, just before Kevin escapes amid their encounter with a passerby.
Earlier, upon landing in Miami, the McCallister family discover that Kevin is missing and file a police report. After the police trace the "stolen" credit card, the family flies immediately to New York. Meanwhile, Kevin goes to his uncle's townhouse, only to find it vacant and undergoing renovations. In Central Park, Kevin encounters and eventually befriends the pigeon lady. They go to Carnegie Hall, where she explains how her life collapsed when her lover left her; Kevin encourages her to trust people again. After considering her advice that he perform a good deed to make up for his misdeeds, he decides to prevent Harry and Marv from robbing the toy store.
Having rigged the townhouse with booby traps, Kevin visits the toy store during Harry and Marv's robbery, takes their picture, and breaks the store's window to set off the alarm. He then lures them to the townhouse, where they spring the traps and suffer various injuries. While the duo searches for Kevin outside of the townhouse, he calls the police, and leads Harry and Marv into Central Park, where they capture him. As Harry holds Kevin at gunpoint, the pigeon lady intervenes, tossing a bucket of birdseed onto Harry and Marv, attracting a massive flock of pigeons that incapacitate them. Kevin then sets off fireworks to signal the police, who scare off the pigeons with a gunshot and arrest Harry and Marv. At the toy store, Mr. Duncan finds a note from Kevin, explaining the robbery. The family arrives in New York, and Kate, remembering Kevin's fondness for Christmas trees, finds him making a wish at the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.
On Christmas Day, a truckload of free gifts arrives at the McCallisters' hotel room, sent from a grateful Mr. Duncan for foiling the robbery. Kevin reconciles with his family, and goes to Central Park to give the pigeon lady the second turtledove, cementing their friendship.
''Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog'' is a comical, light-hearted and gag-driven adventure series based on the titular character Sonic the Hedgehog, a sometimes arrogant yet kind-hearted and mischievous teenage hedgehog with the power to move at supersonic speeds. Sonic, along with his idolizing young friend Tails, regularly oppose the main antagonist Dr. Robotnik, his robot henchmen Scratch, Grounder, and Coconuts, and thwart their plans to conquer their home planet of Mobius.
The series features a short PSA segment titled "Sonic Says" at the end of each episode excluding "Sonic Christmas Blast"; these segments were written by Phil Harnage.
Guts is a lone mercenary warrior who wanders looking for battles, driven solely by his will to survive. After being defeated by Griffith, the ambitious and charismatic leader of a mercenary group called the Band of the Hawk, Guts becomes a full member of the group. Guts quickly rises through the ranks, becoming Griffith's best warrior. One day, Griffith shows Guts his Behelit, a mysterious demonic relic, revealing him as well his dream to rule a kingdom of his own. Three years later, the Band of the Hawk have grown in power and numbers, with Guts serving as a commander of the group. Guts encounters Immortal Zodd, a fearsome giant warrior, who after nearly killing him and Griffith, spares their lives upon seeing Griffith's Behelit, warning Guts of an inescapable death should Griffith's dream die. While recovering, Griffith starts getting closer to the king of Midland's daughter, Charlotte. At one point, Guts overhears a talk between Griffith and Charlotte, where Griffith says that he only considers a true friend someone who has their own dream. The Band of the Hawk is eventually hired by the kingdom of Midland, helping to win the Hundred Year War against the Tudor empire. In the meantime, Guts develops a closest relationship with Casca, the Hawks' unit commander and only female member. Some time later after the Hawks' victory, Guts decides to leave the group to stop living for Griffith's dream. Guts and Griffith have a duel; after an overwhelming defeat for the latter, Guts reaffirms his decision and walks away. Psychologically devastated by Guts' departure, Griffith, in a lapse of judgement, has sexual intercourse with Princess Charlotte. Griffith is imprisoned and tortured, while the Hawks are marked for death.
Guts, who spent a year training to become a better swordsman, eventually learns that the Hawks are now outlaws and that Casca has taken the leadership. Guts goes to their aid, arriving in time as they battle a group of mercenaries. Casca has a plan to rescue Griffith from the Tower of Rebirth, where he is being held. Later on, they go into a dungeon under the Tower of Rebirth, finding Griffith mutilated, disfigured and rendered mute. Back from the escape, the Hawks feel helpless due to Griffith's condition. Casca tells Guts that she must take care of Griffith and that Guts should continue his own path. Overhearing them and desperate at what he has been reduced to, Griffith takes off in a wagon, accidentally crashing into the river. In his desolation, following a failed attempt to commit suicide by stabbing his throat into a sharp tree root, Griffith finds his Behelit, lost during his time imprisoned, and unintentionally activates it with the blood leaking from his neck, thus initiating an event called "the Eclipse", taking everyone present to another plane. The God Hand, a group of archdemons, inform Griffith that he has been chosen as their final member and he must offer his comrades as sacrifices to the "apostles", humans like Zodd who became powerful demons by sacrificing their loved ones and their own humanity. The entire Band of the Hawk are branded as sacrificial offerings; almost all of the group, except Guts and Casca, are slaughtered by the apostles. Griffith, reborn as the fifth God Hand member, Femto, rapes Casca in front of Guts. Guts, restrained by the apostles, cuts off his own left forearm and loses his right eye, in a vain attempt to stop his former friend. Guts ultimately survives the Eclipse and time later he becomes known as the Black Swordsman, starting a quest for revenge against the God Hand and the apostles.
''The Lazarus Effect'' continues the story of the planet Pandora that began in ''The Jesus Incident''. The sentient kelp is almost extinct, Ship is gone, there is no more dry land, the majority of humanity is heavily mutated from the genetic experiments performed by Jesus Lewis, and a power-hungry mad man is attempting to control the planet. But the kelp is returning and this time Avata does not remain passive while people refuse to worship.
''Dinosaurs'' is initially set in 60,000,000 BC in Pangaea. The show centers on the Sinclair family: Earl Sneed Sinclair (the father), Fran Sinclair (née Phillips – the mother), their three children (son, Robbie; daughter, Charlene; and infant, Baby Sinclair) and Fran's mother, Ethyl.
Earl's job is to push over trees for the Wesayso Corporation with his friend and coworker Roy Hess, where they work under the supervision of their boss, Bradley P. Richfield.
The story is a prequel to the events in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' and has the young Zaphod Beeblebrox working as a salvage ship operator. He guides some bureaucrats to a crashed and sunken spaceship on an unnamed planet that may be leaking some dangerous materials, radioactive, toxic and otherwise hazardous by-products which were destined to be thrown into a black hole. The bureaucrats swear that it is "perfectly safe." When asked why they want to see it if that is true, they claim that they "like looking at things that are perfectly safe." The ship crashed and sank because its captain had become obsessed with catching and eating lobsters from the planet's oceans. Only one crew member is found alive, having taken shelter in a life-support tank.
Throughout the story, it is emphasised that there is something particularly dangerous on board that ought to have been utterly destroyed, but is feared to have escaped.
Ultimately, it is revealed that the dangerous cargo was actually a trio of identical "Designer People". Their personalities seem totally benign, which is what makes them so dangerous. The ship is filled with substances so hazardous that they are safe because no real person willing to use them would be allowed anywhere near them. However, the Designer People, products of a Sirius Cybernetics Corporation project, have custom-made personalities that cannot naturally exist. There is "nothing they will not do if allowed, and there is nothing they will not be allowed to do." Since no one will recognise that they are capable of causing mass destruction, no one will stop them from doing the unspeakable.
The story culminates with the revelation that one of the Designer People has escaped and is traveling to Galactic Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, which is where the Earth was located in the original ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''. The bureaucrats issue orders for that sector to be made "perfectly safe."
Since this story takes place before Zaphod decides to block off sections of his own brains and run for President of the Galaxy, readers are able to glimpse what his original personality was like. His general speech patterns and goof-off personality are the same, but he seems to have moral views and is more likely to go off on life-threatening and exciting quests for the greater good.
In Champion City, the amateur superhero team of Mr. Furious, the Shoveler and the Blue Raja attempt to make a name for themselves, but their inexperience, infighting, and dubious abilities generally result in defeat and frustration. While trying to stop a robbery in progress, they are upstaged by the city's powerful and arrogant superhero, Captain Amazing. However, Amazing's crime fighting prowess has practically made his job obsolete. Without any worthy adversaries (most are either dead, in exile, or in jail), his corporate sponsors are beginning to withdraw support.
To create a need for his services, Amazing uses his alter ego, billionaire lawyer Lance Hunt, to argue for the release of his nemesis, supervillain Casanova Frankenstein, from an insane asylum. However, the plan backfires; once released and reunited with his henchman Tony P and his Disco Boys, Casanova Frankenstein blows up the asylum, easily outwits and captures Amazing, and prepares to unleash the "Psycho-frakulator", which lethally bends reality, on the city.
On a stakeout of Casanova Frankenstein's mansion, Mr. Furious observes Amazing's capture and informs his team. After an unsuccessful rescue attempt, the three realize that they need more allies. Through word-of-mouth and auditions they recruit Invisible Boy, the Spleen, and the Bowler. The emboldened team ambush Casanova's limousine, but merely succeed in annoying him. While drunk from celebrating their “victory,” the team is nearly killed in retaliation by Tony P and the Disco Boys. They are saved by the Sphinx, an enigmatic superhero who agrees to train them. The Sphinx's unconventional team-building exercises and antimetabole rhetoric annoy Mr. Furious, who quits the group, but the others flourish under his tutelage. Knowing that they will still be outgunned, the group seek out Doc Heller, who specializes in non-lethal weaponry, to equip them for their battle. Furious, encouraged by his new girlfriend, Monica, rejoins the team.
The team break into Casanova's mansion during a summit of several of the city's gangs; but, while attempting to free Captain Amazing, they inadvertently set off the Psycho-frakulator and kill him. Without Amazing, the team despairs of saving the city, but the Shoveler delivers a pep talk that succeeds in uniting and inspiring them. This pep talk alludes to the St Crispin’s Day Speech from Henry V by Shakespeare. With new resolve, the team assaults the mansion again. This time, through a mix of surprise, teamwork, maximizing their quasi-superpowers, and Heller's quirky weapons, they subdue Casanova Frankenstein's henchmen. But Casanova Frankenstein holds Monica hostage and activates the Psycho-frakulator, which begins to wreak havoc upon the city. While the team works to disable the device, Mr. Furious takes on Casanova Frankenstein, unleashes his inner rage and fights effectively for the first time. Casanova Frankenstein is thrown into the core of the Psycho-frakulator and killed by its reality-bending powers. The rest of the team helps The Bowler to destroy the device and escape the mansion as it implodes.
The team is swarmed by reporters who want to know the group's name. As they argue possible names among themselves, one reporter states, "Well, whatever you may call them, Champion City will forever owe a debt of gratitude to these 'Mystery Men'," but the others are too busy arguing to hear it.
With memories revolving around the family's cottage near Lake Simcoe, Glenn Gould recalls how in his childhood, he had ostensibly made the decision to become a concert pianist at age five. In fact, he believes his mother had already chosen that career for him. He recalls being able to read music before he could read books, and learned the music of Johann Sebastian Bach from his mother. Gould later imagines interviewing himself, in which he confronts himself about why he chose to quit giving concerts at the age of 32, preferring to communicate to his audience through media instead. Gould reminds himself that the musician is inescapably an autocrat, no matter how benign.
In crafting radio documentaries, Gould works on a piece called ''The Idea of North'', which touches on the effects the environment has on the solitude and isolation of the people of Northern Canada. In a media interview, Gould reveals that ''The Idea of North'' is one of only five of his documentaries about isolation, and that he intends to make a comedy next because he is tired of serious expression. Interviewers also push him to explain how he could achieve his level of musical perfection without interest in being overly technical in his piano playing. They ask why he insists on being interviewed only over the telephone. Others question if Gould's supposed obsession in technology is merely a smokescreen to keep his distance from real people.
As the markets plummet, Gould picks up word from the bodyguard of the visiting Sheik Yamani to invest in an obscure company called Sotex Resources, which is set to benefit from an exploration contract. Gould becomes the only client to profit in the wake of financial meltdown. However, Margaret Pacsu, a friend, notices Gould's bathroom is stocked heavily with various pills, including Valium, Trifluoperazine and Librax. Gould laughs off the idea that he is taking all of the pills simultaneously, and Pacsu does not notice any effects on his personality. As his birthday approaches, Gould becomes concerned that no one will attend his funeral, despite being aware of strong record sales in Central Europe and Japan. Gould dies at age 50 of a stroke. His cousin, Jessie Greig, says Gould was wrong and his funeral was heavily attended. He had noted Voyager I and Voyager II, space probes launched for possible contact with extraterrestrial intelligence, contains Bach's music as played by Gould.
Eve Gill is an aspiring actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. She is interrupted in rehearsal by her friend (and crush), actor Jonathan Cooper, the secret lover of flamboyant stage actress/singer Charlotte Inwood. Via a flashback, he says Charlotte visited him after killing her husband; she was wearing a bloodstained dress. Jonathan claims he went back to her house for another dress but was seen by Nellie Goode, Charlotte's cockney maid/dresser. He escaped the police and needs help.
Eve takes him to her father's house on the coast to hide. Commodore Gill, (whose name is twice misspelled in the credits), notices that the blood on Charlotte's dress has been smeared on deliberately; he and Eve think that Charlotte framed Jonathan. Jonathan angrily destroys the dress and, thus, the most useful piece of evidence.
Eve starts to investigate. She hears Charlotte's dresser Nellie Goode boasting about her newfound notoriety in a bar. While she is there, Eve meets Detective Inspector Wilfred O. Smith, and they become friendly. Eve then poses as a reporter; she bribes Nellie to tell Charlotte she is ill and introduce her cousin "Doris Tinsdale" as a replacement. Using her acting skills, Eve becomes "Doris" and starts working for Charlotte. Eve discovers Charlotte is having an affair with her manager Freddie Williams (Hector MacGregor).
Eve and "Ordinary" Smith become more friendly. When Smith visits Charlotte, Eve has to disguise the fact that she is also "Doris," the maid. Smith makes a courtship visit to Eve and her mother at home, where the Commodore drops subtle hints that Jonathan has left the seaside house.
Despite her widowed status, Charlotte continues to perform her West End musical show. Jonathan comes to her dressing room, asking her to accompany him abroad. She casually tells him no, but he says he still has the bloodstained dress. The police search for Jonathan and Eve again helps him escape. He hides at the Gills' London residence. He is grateful to Eve, but she is starting to fall in love with Detective Smith.
Smith and Eve kiss in a taxi on the way to the RADA garden party, where Nellie Goode confronts Eve, demanding more blackmail money. Eve does not have enough, so Eve's father comes to give Nellie more cash. Freddie Williams spots Eve (thinking she is "Doris") and orders her to help Charlotte, who is to sing onstage in a tent. During the performance, Commodore Gill gets a small boy to carry a doll wearing a bloodstained dress onto the stage as Charlotte sings "La Vie en Rose." Charlotte collapses, and "Doris" has to help.
Seeing this, Smith confronts Eve and the Commodore, but Eve proclaims her true affection for Smith as well as Jonathan's innocence. They persuade Smith to set Charlotte up. Once the theatre has closed, they use a hidden microphone, and "Doris" tells Charlotte she has the bloodstained dress. Smith and his men listen using the theatre loudspeakers. Charlotte admits planning her husband's death but says that Jonathan actually committed the murder. Charlotte offers Eve 10,000 pounds to keep quiet.
Eve sees that Jonathan has been brought to the theatre by the police, but he escapes. Charlotte realizes her conversation with Eve was broadcast to the detectives and that she will be charged as an accessory to murder. Detective Smith tells the Commodore that Jonathan really did kill Mr. Inwood and that Jonathan killed before, though he got off on a plea of self-defense.
Hiding below the stage, Jonathan confesses to Eve that Charlotte goaded him into killing her husband. His flashback story was all lies, and he was the one who smeared more blood onto the dress. He alludes to killing Eve to justify a plea for insanity in court. Eve pretends to help Jonathan escape but locks him onto the stage and alerts the police about his presence. As Jonathan is pursued from all directions and cornered, he is killed by the stage's falling safety curtain.
This game sees the titular thief Carmen Sandiego and her VILE gang steal jewels from museums around the world and to try to find out the famous confession of Leonardo da Vinci's brother Ruperta. The player's goal is to stop Carmen and capture her thieves. Starting as an inexperienced rookie, the player's first quest is to retrieve the Napoleon bowl that was stolen from the Louvre museum in Paris and apprehend the thief. It is then revealed that the bowl has spaces for 8 jewels, and it is the players' task to find these treasures.
The novel focuses on the life of the main character, Ilya Ilyich Oblomov. Oblomov is a member of the upper middle class and the son of a member of Russia's nineteenth-century landed gentry. Oblomov's distinguishing characteristic is his slothful attitude towards life. Oblomov raises this trait to an art form, conducting his little daily business from his bed.
The first part of the book finds Oblomov in bed one morning. He receives a letter from the manager of his country estate, Oblomovka, explaining that the financial situation is deteriorating and that he must visit to make some major decisions. But Oblomov can barely leave his bedroom, much less journey a thousand miles into the country.
As he sleeps, a dream reveals Oblomov's upbringing in Oblomovka. He is never required to work or perform household duties, and his parents constantly pull him from school for vacations and trips or for trivial reasons. In contrast, his friend Andrey Stoltz, born to a German father and a Russian mother, is raised in a strict, disciplined environment, and he is dedicated and hard-working.
Stoltz visits at the end of Part 1, finally rousing Oblomov from sleep. As the story develops, Stoltz introduces Oblomov to a young woman, Olga, and the two fall in love. However, his apathy and fear of moving forward are too great, and she calls off their engagement when it is clear that he will keep delaying their wedding and avoiding putting his affairs in order.
Oblomov is swindled repeatedly by his "friends" Taranteyev and Ivan Matveyevich, his landlady's brother, and Stoltz has to undo the damage each time. The last time, Oblomov ends up living in penury because Taranteyev and Ivan Matveyevich are blackmailing him out of all of his income from the country estate, which lasts for over a year before Stoltz discovers the situation and reports Ivan Matveyevich to his supervisor. Meanwhile, Olga leaves Russia and visits Paris, where she bumps into Stoltz on the street. The two strike up a romance and end up marrying.
However, not even Oblomov could go through life without at least one moment of self-possession and purpose. When Taranteyev's behavior at last reaches insufferable lows, Oblomov confronts him, slaps him, and finally kicks him out of the house. Sometime before his death he is visited by Stoltz, who had promised to his wife a last attempt at bringing Oblomov back to the world. During this visit Stoltz discovers that Oblomov has married his widowed landlady, Agafia Pshenitsina, and had a child – named Andrey, after Stoltz. Stoltz realizes that he can no longer hope to reform Oblomov, and leaves. Oblomov spends the rest of his life in a second Oblomovka, continuing to be taken care of by Agafia Pshenitsina as he used to be taken care of as a child. She can prepare the food he likes, cares for the household, and makes sure that Oblomov does not have a single worrisome thought.
By then Oblomov had already accepted his fate, and during the conversation he mentions "Oblomovitis" as the real cause of his demise. Oblomov dies in his sleep, finally fulfilling his wish to sleep forever. Stoltz adopts his son upon his death.
''Vagrant Story'' is set in the fictitious city of Leá Monde, while the kingdom of Valendia is engulfed in civil war. Leá Monde is an old town with a history spanning more than two millennia. Located on an island surrounded by reefs, the walls have been the "witness of many battles" and are "stronger than the mightiest forts of Valendia". In its golden years, Leá Monde was a thriving community until an earthquake struck the town 25 years before the game, destroying the city and leaving the ground unstable.
The Grand Cathedral and the Temple of Kiltia are at the center of the city. This area is surrounded by the west and east districts, both in fairly good shape, as well as the massive, fortress-like City Walls. Beneath the ground are an abandoned mineshaft and limestone quarry, the shadowy labyrinths of an "Undercity", and the dark Iron Maiden dungeon. The maze-like Snowfly Forest, named for the so-called snowflies that can be found within, covers part of the city. Other locations include the Graylands, the setting for the prologue event; and Valnain, the city where the Valendia Knights of Peace's Headquarters is located. While Valendia and Leá Monde are fictitious, the game's scenery is inspired by real-life landscapes of the southwest of France, including the city of Saint-Émilion.
The protagonist is Ashley Riot, a male member of the Valendia Knights of the Peace (VKP) in pursuit of a cult leader named Sydney Losstarot. Sydney, leader of the religious cult Müllenkamp, laid siege to Duke Bardorba's manor in search of a key and kidnapped Bardorba's son, Joshua. Ashley's partner is Callo Merlose, an agent of the VKP Inquisitors. Also attempting to capture Sydney is Romeo Guildenstern of the Crimson Blades, whose mission was undertaken without the approval of the VKP.'''VKP Officer''': Furthermore, we must find out why the Cardinal sent his blades to deal with this incident without our approval.
Ashley is a Riskbreaker, a militant division of the VKP responsible for upholding state security and law. Although Callo accompanies him, Ashley does not accept her as a combat partner due to her lack of combat experience. Callo ends up being Sydney's hostage and discovers the truth of Müllenkamp's activities. Another Riskbreaker, Rosencrantz, appears during Ashley's battles in Leá Monde, briefing him on the plans of the VKP, Sydney and the Cardinal, and subsequently his take on Ashley's past. This casts suspicion on Ashley's behalf, as Riskbreakers always work alone.
The Crimson Blades, under direct orders of Cardinal Batistum, are a group that is part of the Cardinal's Knights of the Cross, in charge of seeking heretics and quelling cults. Romeo Guildenstern, their leader, is a pious man, deeply faithful to his belief and consequently immune to the Dark's powers. Under orders of the Cardinal, he pursues Sydney with a small army in his command and his captains: Samantha, Duane, Grissom, Tieger and Neesa.
Müllenkamp is a cult based in Leá Monde. The city suffered a catastrophe when the population was killed in an earthquake. The city, filled with corpses controlled by Darkness, is the cult's stronghold. Sydney and his accomplice, Hardin, survive the pursuit of the Crimson Blade, though Hardin sometimes doubts Sydney's intentions.
The plot of ''Vagrant Story'', titled "The Phantom Pain", is presented as the prelude to the "story of the wanderer". Beginning in the Graylands, Ashley and Callo are sent by the VKP to Duke Bardorba's manor to investigate the Duke's involvement with Müllenkamp and the Cardinal's interest in Sydney Losstarot. Ashley infiltrates the manor and encounters Sydney, witnessing his powers first hand. Sydney escapes with his accomplice Hardin and the Duke's son Joshua, leaving Ashley with a clue to his whereabouts. This event was dubbed the "Graylands Incident".
Ashley and Callo arrive in Leá Monde and a lone Ashley infiltrates the city through the underground wine cellars. Along the way, he learns of objects holding magical power known as Grimoires and the city's power to spawn the undead and mythological creatures. He encounters Guildenstern and his lover Samantha, and learns of the condition known as incomplete death and the Cardinal's true intention for his pursuit of Sydney: immortality. The Crimson Blades confront Ashley and reveals his presence to Guildenstern.
Escaping unharmed, Ashley encounters Rosencrantz who intends to join him, though Ashley declines. Rosencrantz tells him of the VKP and the Parliaments' knowledge of the dark powers of Leá Monde, and that the hidden powers deep within a person can be unleashed with the help of the Dark. In his encounters with Sydney, Ashley is shown visions of his past, where his wife Tia and his son Marco are killed by rogues. Meeting Rosencrantz again, Ashley is told that they were not his family, but mistaken targets he killed during a mission of theirs. Ashley's guilt over their deaths was manipulated by the VKP to turn Ashley into a loyal Riskbreaker. Ashley recalls his hidden battle skills and experiences "clairvoyance", seeing the progress of the Crimson Blades, which leads him to the Great Cathedral.
Sydney had captured Callo earlier and brought her with them. Callo learned that Hardin was skeptical of Sydney's plans. She begins to develop the powers of "heart-seeing", a form of telepathy, as they continue their escape deeper into Leá Monde. With her powers, she learned of Sydney's intentions and Hardin's reason to join Müllenkamp and his closeness to Joshua. Sydney left them to stop the others from advancing; taunting Guildenstern and Samantha, and provoking Ashley to follow him as he intends to bestow his powers upon Ashley. Ashley was not interested in inheriting the powers of Darkness; seeing that Callo had been captured, his only intention is to rescue her.
While discussing the Gran Grimoire, a powerful source of magic, Guildenstern and Samantha discover ancient Kildean letterings carved throughout the city walls. Rosencrantz reveals that the city is the Gran Grimoire and its power lies at the city center: the Grand Cathedral. As Guildenstern leaves for the Grand Cathedral, Rosencrantz searches for Ashley and Sydney. Finding them, Rosencrantz, confident in his immunity against Darkness, tries to force Sydney to surrender his powers. Rosencrantz also assaults Ashley to prove that he is not a suitable candidate for the powers of Darkness. Sydney refuses to listen and kills Rosencrantz by using a possessed statue, leaving Ashley to once again prove himself as his chosen successor.
Guildenstern continues on to the Great Cathedral in the center of the city, leading him to Callo, Hardin and Joshua. Interrogating Hardin about a certain "key" known as the Blood-Sin, Guildenstern reveals his intentions in acquiring the Dark's powers. Sydney arrives to teleport Hardin and the rest away, leaving him to Guildenstern. Guildenstern acquires the "key" from him and murders Samantha as his sacrifice for the powers of darkness. Ashley arrives later and listens as Sydney reveals his true intentions. Ashley then confronts Guildenstern and manages to defeat him.
Upon Guildenstern's defeat, Ashley, now bearing the "key", carries Sydney out of the collapsing city. The creatures spawned within the city begin to disappear. Callo, Hardin and Joshua escape the city, though Hardin dies and the fate of Callo and Joshua remains unknown. In the epilogue, Ashley goes to visit the ailing Duke Bardorba in his manor, although once they were alone, it was Sydney who was in the room. Sydney tells the duke that he had found a suitable heir to the Darkness in Ashley, and that their plan to inherit the powers of Darkness was successful. The duke then proceeds to kill Sydney, and he himself died soon after of unknown causes. In a report received by the VKP a week after the Graylands Incident, the duke was believed to be murdered, and Ashley became the prime suspect, though he was never found again.
In the near-future, biotechnological virtual reality game consoles known as "game pods" have replaced electronic ones. The pods present "UmbyCords" that attach to "bio-ports", connectors surgically inserted into players' spines. Two game companies, Antenna Research and Cortical Systematics, compete against each other. In addition, a group of fanatics called Realists fight both companies to prevent the "deforming" of reality.
Antenna Research's Allegra Geller, a world renowned game designer, is demonstrating her latest virtual reality game, eXistenZ, to a focus group. A Realist named Noel Dichter shoots Allegra in the shoulder with an organic pistol he smuggled past security. As the security team guns down Dichter, security guard and publicist Ted Pikul rushes to Geller and escorts her outside.
Geller discovers that her pod, which contains the only copy of eXistenZ, may have been damaged. Pikul reluctantly agrees to have a bio-port installed in his spine so they can jointly test the game's integrity. Allegra takes him to a gas station run by a black-marketeer named Gas, who deliberately installs a faulty bio-port. He reveals his intention to kill Geller for the bounty on her head. Pikul kills Gas, and the two escape to a former ski lodge used by Kiri Vinokur, Geller's mentor. Vinokur and his assistant repair the damaged pod and give Pikul a new bio-port.
Geller and Pikul enter the game, and meet with D'Arcy Nader, a video game shop owner, who provides them with new "micro pods". They activate the new pods and enter a deeper layer of virtual reality.
They assume new identities as workers in a game pod factory. Another worker in the factory, Yevgeny Nourish, claims to be their Realist contact. At a Chinese restaurant near the factory, Nourish recommends that they order the special for lunch. Pikul eats the unappetizing special, and constructs a pistol from the inedible parts. He sarcastically threatens Geller, then shoots the Chinese waiter. When the pair return to the game store, Hugo Carlaw informs them that Nourish is actually a double agent for Cortical Systematics, and the waiter Pikul murdered was the actual contact.
At the factory, they find a diseased pod. Geller connects it to her bio-port, planning to infect the other pods and sabotage the factory. When Geller quickly becomes ill, Pikul cuts the UmbyCord, but she begins to bleed to death. Nourish appears with a flamethrower and blasts the diseased pod, which bursts into deadly spores.
Geller and Pikul awaken back at the ski lodge, where they discover Geller's game pod is also diseased. Geller surmises that Vinokur must have infected Pikul's new bio-port to destroy her game, and she inserts a disinfecting device into Pikul's bioport. Unexpectedly, Carlaw reappears as a Realist resistance fighter and escorts Geller and Pikul outside to witness the death of eXistenZ. Before Carlaw can kill Geller, Vinokur, who is a double agent for Cortical Systematics, shoots him in the back and informs her that he copied her game data while fixing her pod; she then vengefully kills Vinokur. Pikul then reveals that he himself is a Realist sent to kill her. Geller tells Pikul she had known his intentions since he pointed the gun at her in the Chinese restaurant, and she remotely detonates the disinfecting device in his bioport, killing him.
Suddenly, Pikul and Geller are seated in chairs in a small abandoned church, seeing rows of pews as they come to, together with all of the other members of the cast, all wearing blue electronic virtual reality devices. Nourish explains that the story was all part of a virtual reality game he designed called transCendenZ. He tells his assistant Merle that he feels uneasy, because the anti-game plot elements may have originated from the thoughts of one of the testers. Pikul and Geller approach Nourish and accuse him of distorting reality, before shooting him and Merle to death. As Pikul and Geller leave, they aim their guns at the person who played the Chinese waiter, who first pleads for his life, then asks if they are still in the game. Pikul and Geller stand together silently, not answering.
A young, aspiring American musician and singer named Johnny has been notified by a British law firm that his mother, an aging rock star whom Johnny hasn't seen or heard from since he was 3 years old, has died in a helicopter accident. Johnny has been willed her castle and all of her property and money, but he must visit the actual estate, located in England, to claim these things. As he drives up to the castle, a lightning bolt hits a grave on the castle grounds, and a glowing sphere emerges.
As Johnny enters the building, he walks through a hall with several suits of armor. The suits come alive and begin attacking him when suddenly a demonic entity speeds in, destroys the suits and beckons Johnny further into the castle. Johnny stumbles on a room of instruments levitating and playing on themselves, and then walks into a great hall with an orb embedded into the ground that begins projecting the image of Johnny's mother. (This segues into a rather lengthy musical number in which this holographic image (Baertsoen) sings an operatic number while the cameras circle around her. The song is named 'Lane Navachi' from Lunascape's album 'Reflecting Seylence').
Suddenly, a demonic face appears in the fire. It is the devil (referred to as "Mr. D"), who explains to Johnny that his mother sold her soul for her fame. Part of the agreement was that the devil could "not touch" Johnny, but now that she has died, Mr. D offers Johnny a similar agreement. Johnny declines, but is enticed to explore the castle further. He enters a cathedral-like room, whose floor begins to descend. Soon, Johnny is in Hell proper. At this point, the film begins to take a very dark and gothic turn, as Johnny's tour guide, Mr. D's chief lieutenant Mephisto, guides him through the sections of Hell, where musicians, who have sold their souls, are violently tortured. Mephisto reveals that there was a time when luring people to Hell with fame in music was unsuccessful - until the invention of Rock and Roll.
Johnny is taken on a roller coaster ride through Hell, but as he proceeds, the glowing sphere - revealed to be the spirit of his mother - appears before him every now and then, warning him of the danger awaiting him should he give in to the Devil's offer. Eventually, Johnny is sidetracked into a decrepit opera hall, where the worst of tortures are taking place. Mephisto reveals to Johnny that Mr. D once had a romance with an opera singer, who broke his heart, and now Mr. D has a particularly violent aversion for opera music.
Johnny eventually ends up back in front of Mr. D, who once again entices him to sign. Mephisto gives Johnny a guitar, and he considers the offer, then throws the guitar into the flames, and begins to sing ''La Donna è Mobile'' at the top of his lungs, sending the Devil into a frenzied tantrum which collapses the entire castle. As this occurs, the soul of Johnny's mother returns to its resting place once more.
The film jumps ahead six months later, and we see that Johnny is now a famous rock and roll star through his own talent. The last five minutes of the film features a performance by Arid, as the credits float by them in little bubbles burst by a floating demon.
Milan (Hallyday) arrives in a small town by train at the start of the week. The hotel is closed, but he finds accommodation via a chance meeting with a retired French teacher, Manesquier (Rochefort). The film tells the story of the developing relationship between these apparent opposites, though looming in the background are two unavoidable events that each is expecting to take place on the Saturday – Manesquier is to undergo a triple heart bypass, and Milan (though he keeps this secret at first) is to take part in a bank robbery. Manesquier soon realises Milan's intentions, but this does not prevent a growing mutual respect, with each envying the other's lifestyle.
''Diaspora'' begins with a description of "orphanogenesis", the birthing of a citizen without any ancestors (the majority of citizens descend from fleshers uploaded at some point), and the subsequent upbringing of the newborn Yatima within Konishi polis. Yatima matures within a few real-time days, because citizens' subjective time runs about 800 times as rapidly as flesher and gleisner time. Early on, Yatima and a friend, Inoshiro, use abandoned gleisner bodies to visit a Bridger colony near the ruins of Atlanta on Earth.
Years later, the gleisner Karpal, using a gravitational-wave detector, determines that a binary neutron star system in the constellation of Lacerta has collapsed, releasing a huge burst of energy. Previous predictions portrayed the system's stable orbit as likely to last for another seven million years. By analysing irregularities in the orbit, Karpal discovers that the devastating burst of energy will reach Earth within the next four days. Yatima and Inoshiro return to Earth to urge the fleshers—gathered in a conference—either to migrate to the polises or at least to shelter themselves. Many fleshers reject this advice, or fail fully to appreciate its urgency quickly enough. Stirred up by a paranoid Static diplomat, many fleshers suspect that Yatima and Inoshiro have come to trick or coerce them into "Introdus", or mass-migration into the polises, involving masses of virus-sized nanomachines that dismantle a human body and record the brain's information states as it is chemically converted into a crystalline computer. The gamma ray burst reaches Earth shortly after the conference, destroying the atmosphere and causing a mass extinction. The gleisners and the Coalition of Polises survive the burst, thanks to cosmic radiation hardening. Over the next few years, Yatima and other citizens and gleisners attempt to rescue any surviving fleshers from slow suffocation, starvation, or poisoning by offering to upload them into the polises.
The novel's title itself refers to a quest undertaken by most of the inhabitants of Carter-Zimmerman ("C-Z"), a polis devoted to physics and understanding the cosmos, along with volunteers from throughout the Coalition of Polises. The Diaspora consists of a collection of one thousand clones (physical copies of the polis hardware) of C-Z polis, deployed toward stars in all directions in the hope of gathering as much data as possible in order to revise the long-held classical understanding of Kozuch Theory, which had failed to predict the Lacerta event. The bulk of the novel follows this expedition, rotating back and forth between different cloned instances of the same cast of main characters as different C-Z clones make discoveries along the way, relaying information to one another over hundreds of light years—and finally between several universes.
Twenty-thousand years in the future, Cass, a humanoid physicist from Earth, travels to an orbital station in the vicinity of the star Mimosa, and begins a series of experiments to test the extremities of the fictitious ''Sarumpaet rules'' – a set of fundamental equations in "Quantum Graph Theory", which holds that physical existence is a manifestation of complex constructions of mathematical graphs. However, the experiments unexpectedly create a bubble of something more stable than ordinary vacuum, dubbed "novo-vacuum", that expands outward at half the speed of light as ordinary vacuum collapses to this new state at the border, hinting at more general laws beyond the Sarumpaet rules. The local population is forced to flee to ever more distant star systems to escape the steadily approaching border, but since the expansion never slows, it is just a matter of time before the novo-vacuum encompasses any given region within the Local Group (and ultimately the whole universe).
Two factions develop as the expanding bubble swallows star after star: the Preservationists, who wish to stop the expansion and preserve the Milky Way at any cost; and the Yielders, who consider the novo-vacuum to be too important a discovery to destroy without understanding.
Six hundred years after the initial experiment, a vessel called the ''Rindler'' has matched velocities with an ever-expanding novo-vacuum region at the border, powered by multispectral light emitted as the ordinary vacuum collapses into its lower energy-state. A variety of refugees are probing the novo-vacuum in order to understand the physics that makes it possible. The novo-vacuum turns out to be more complicated than anyone suspects, however, and Egan's usual topics of simulation and quantum ontology are taken to the extreme when we learn that a whole ordered universe exists within this zone of apparent chaos, existing as direct elaborations of the quantum graph's lattice structure, of which elementary particles, fundamental interactions, and our spacetime itself are only special cases.
It is ultimately revealed that the novo-vacuum's exotic geometry contains living organisms and even civilizations. This ecosystem is based on "vendeks," microbe-like complexes of quantum graph structures only 10−33 meters across. Agglomerations of vendeks form "xennobes," analogous to multicellular organisms but only 10−27 meters across. This discovery greatly increases the importance of the Yielders' mission, since destroying the novo-vacuum would be tantamount to genocide.
Hercule Poirot and Captain Hastings travel to Merlinville-sur-Mer, France, to meet Paul Renauld, who has requested their help. When they arrive, local police greet them with the news that Renauld was found dead that morning, stabbed in the back with a knife and left in a newly dug grave adjacent to a local golf course. His wife, Eloise Renauld, claims masked men broke into the villa at 2 am, tied her up, and took her husband away with them. Upon inspecting his body, Eloise collapses with grief at seeing her dead husband. Monsieur Giraud of the Sûreté leads the police investigation, and resents Poirot's involvement.
Poirot notes four key facts about the case: a piece of lead piping is found near the body; only three female servants were in the villa as both Renauld's son Jack and his chauffeur had been sent away; an unknown person visited the day before; Renauld's immediate neighbour, Madame Daubreuil, had placed 200,000 francs into her bank account over recent weeks.
When Renauld's secretary, Gabriel Stonor, returns from England, he suggests blackmail, as his employer's past is a complete mystery prior to his career in South America. Meanwhile, Hastings unexpectedly encounters a young woman he had met on the train, known only as "Cinderella." She asks to see the crime scene and then disappears with the murder weapon.
Poirot discovers that the case is nearly identical to one from 22 years ago, in which a man called Georges Conneau and his lover, Madame Beroldy, conspired to kill Madame Beroldy's husband. Poirot travels to Paris to discover more about the Conneau murder. On returning, Poirot learns that the body of a tramp has been found, stabbed through the heart with the murder weapon. An examination shows that he died before Renauld's murder from an epileptic seizure and stabbed later.
Giraud arrests Jack on the basis that he wanted his father's money. Poirot reveals Renauld changed his will two weeks before his murder, disinheriting Jack. Jack is released from prison after Bella Duveen, an English stage performer he loves, confesses to the murder. Both had come across the body on the night of the murder, and each assumed the other had killed Renauld. Poirot reveals neither did, as the real killer was Marthe Daubreuil.
Poirot elaborates on his theory: Paul Renauld was really Georges Conneau, who returned to France after fleeing years ago. By misfortune, he found that his immediate neighbour would be Mme Beroldy; like him, she changed her identity to become Mme Daubreuil. Blackmailed by her over his past, Renauld's situation worsens when Jack becomes attracted to her daughter. When a tramp died on his grounds, he saw an opportunity to stage his own death and escape Mme Daubreuil. He would disfigure the tramp's face with the pipe, and then bury the tramp and the pipe beside the golf course, before fleeing the area by train. Anyone who would recognise that the body was not his would be sent away. However, the plan was discovered by Marthe, who followed Renauld and stabbed him after he dug the grave for the tramp's body. To expose Marthe as the killer, Poirot asked Eloise to openly disinherit Jack.
Marthe's mother disappears again. Jack and his mother plan to go to South America, joined by Hastings and his Cinderella, who is revealed as Bella Duveen's twin sister Dulcie.
The show is about two unnamed dogs—neither of whom, as the title states, is very intelligent—and their everyday misadventures. The Big Dog tends to talk much less than the Little Dog. When the Big Dog talks, he usually talks about food. The animation style in the first season is unusual for the time: a very flat and simplistic style similar to the early Hanna-Barbera cartoons of the 1950s and 1960s, but with early 1990s humor and sensibility. The wilder, more absurd second season has more fluid and exaggerated character animation.
The King of Navarre has vowed to avoid romantic entanglements to spend three years in study and contemplation. His chief courtiers agree to follow him in this vow, though one (Berowne) argues that they will not be able to fulfill this plan.
Berowne's claim is proven correct almost instantly. The Princess of France comes to Navarre to discuss the status of the province of Aquitaine. Though the King does not grant them access to his palace (they are forced to camp outside), each of the courtiers falls in love with one of her handmaidens, and the King falls in love with the Princess herself.
The men attempt to hide their own loves and expose those of their fellows. After a masked ball in which the pairs of lovers are comically mismatched, all the amours are revealed. Costard leads a musical number with the King's court, which eventually includes the entire cast. But as the song closes, a messenger arrives with news of the King of France's death. As the year of mourning that will proceed for the princess and her ladies means further courtship is impossible, and the women had until this point treated the men's courtship as nothing but a mocking merriment to entertain their guests, they request demonstrations of humility and constancy from the men, with a promise to marry them at the end of the 12 months if they carry out these acts.
Newsreel footage shows the character's lives over the course of that year, which takes place in the context of World War II. The montage ends with all those who survived the war (Boyett we specifically see die in some covert military action) reuniting in celebration on what appears to be VE Day.
The comic underplot of the original play, in which Costard and others attempt to stage a play (rather like that of the rude mechanicals in ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', though with more pretensions to learning) is severely curtailed, as is the boasting of the Spaniard, Don Armado.
Eleven episodes of eleven different directors on the tragedy of September 11, 2001, each lasting 11 minutes, 9 seconds, and 1 frame: 11'09"01.
While he is on the cliff in front of the house, the ghost of a young American soldier appears to him, who died in the attack on multinational forces in Lebanon in 1983. The soldier reveals to Shahin that he is the only one who can see him, because he is the only one who can hear and understand what is going on around. The two face a "journey" that leads them to analyze the roots of the clash between the United States and the Arab world, starting from the house of the young Arab who was the executor material of the attack. After observing his preparation, Shahin discusses with his parents, who say they are proud of what he has done and go on to complain of the constant violence suffered by the Palestinians by Israel.
The soldier reacts by saying that, although he understands the attacks against the soldiers, it is still not right to shoot in the pile. The director counters by showing the list of victims of US military interventions and wars after the Second World War, not justifying the violence but complaining about the United States' inability to understand that the legitimate defense of their principles often goes through the destruction of other countries. Their path ends at Arlington National Cemetery, where Shahin finds his girlfriend and the young soldier's father, who turns out to be the policeman who drove him away from the Twin Towers and with whom he reconciles. Shortly thereafter, the phantom of the attacker appears, who resolutely reproaches the director for appearing too good with that soldier. Shahin replies that both are victims of human stupidity, but the attacker responds by reiterating his position once again and showing he does not want to understand, leaving the director stunned by his uncompromising words.
The boys steal the camera of one of their parents and start to follow "Osama bin Laden" to a clearing where, every day, he goes to pray. The five therefore devise a plan to capture him in that clearing, but "bin Laden" does not show up that day. The boys try to capture him at the hotel, but they discover that the man is now going to the airport, where they are stopped by the policeman before they could enter. In the end, the boys decide to sell the camera and give Adamà the money, so he can look after his mother and go back to school.
While the woman does not resign herself to the disappearance of her son, the media begin to report the news of her involvement in the attack, which does nothing but exacerbate the isolation in which the woman and the family have fallen. Only after six months, the boy's remains are identified among those found among the rubble and the truth is re-established: it turns out that the young man died while he was helping at the site of the attacks. During the funeral, the mother denounces the climate of suspicion that has been created against her family and against the Muslim community in the United States.
An elder spends his life alone in an apartment overshadowed by the Twin Towers. The widowed man vents his loneliness by talking to his late wife as if she were still alive and cultivating her flower pot, withered by the lack of light. The collapse of the Towers finally allows the light to flood the apartment and suddenly revitalizes the flowers. The elder, happy for what happened, tries to show the vase to his wife, but the light "reveals" the illusion in which he lived until then. Between tears, he regrets that his wife is not there to finally see the vase bloom again.
While the wife and her lover talk about the traumatic experiences that the soldier must have suffered, of the new type of bomb used in the bombing of Hiroshima and the forthcoming end of the war, the situation worsens: Yoichi swallows a mouse under the horrified eyes of his mother, who decides to chase him away. In the following days, the villagers suffer the loss of various animals and everyone blames the mad soldier. It is thus decided to organize a search operation to find it, but without success. Meanwhile, a flashback clarifies the reason for the soldier's behavior: hiding behind a boulder after a violent battle, Yoichi is beaten by a fellow soldier who asks him why he does not take part in this "holy war".
During the hunt, Yoichi's wife accidentally finds her husband drinking water from a river and asks him "do you dislike being a man so much?" Yoichi, in response, crawls away ignoring his wife. Finally, a snake is shown above a river stone, while the inscription in Japanese "Holy wars do not exist" appears.
Eight gangsters eat breakfast at a Los Angeles diner. All but the boss Joe Cabot and his son, the underboss "Nice Guy" Eddie Cabot, use aliases: Mr. Brown, Mr. White, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Blue, Mr. Orange and Mr. Pink. After Mr. Brown finishes rambling about the Madonna song "Like a Virgin", the group argues about Pink's policy of not tipping.
The gangsters carry out a diamond heist. White flees with Orange, who was shot during the escape and is bleeding severely in the back of White's car. At one of Joe's warehouses, White and Orange rendezvous with Pink, who believes that the job was a setup, and that the police were waiting for them. White informs him that Brown is dead, Blue and Blonde are missing, and Blonde murdered several civilians during the heist. White is furious that Joe, his old friend, would employ Blonde, whom he describes as a psychopath. Pink has hidden the diamonds nearby. He argues with White over whether to get medical attention for Orange, and the pair draw guns at each other. They stand down when Blonde arrives with a kidnapped policeman, Marvin Nash.
Some time earlier, Blonde meets with the Cabots, having completed a four-year jail sentence. To reward him for not having given Joe's name to the authorities for a lighter sentence, they offer him a no-show job. Blonde insists that he wants to get back to "real work", and they recruit him for the heist.
In the present, White and Pink beat Nash for information. Eddie arrives and orders them to retrieve the diamonds and ditch the getaway vehicles, leaving Blonde in charge of Nash and Orange. Nash denies knowledge, but Blonde ignores him and resumes the torture, cutting off Nash's ear with a straight razor. He prepares to set him on fire, but Orange shoots him dead. Orange reveals to Nash that he is an undercover police officer, and that the police will arrive soon.
When Eddie, Pink, and White return, Orange tries to convince them that Blonde planned to kill them all and steal the diamonds for himself. Eddie impulsively kills Nash and accuses Orange of lying, since Blonde was loyal to his father. Joe arrives with news that the police have killed Blue. He is about to execute Orange, whom he suspects is the traitor behind the setup, but White intervenes and holds Joe at gunpoint, insisting that Orange is not an undercover cop. Eddie aims at White, creating a Mexican standoff. All three fire; both Cabots are killed, and White and Orange are hit.
Pink, the only uninjured person, takes the diamonds and flees. As White cradles the dying Orange in his arms, Orange confesses that he is an undercover officer. White presses his gun to Orange's head. The police storm the warehouse and order White to drop his gun. Gunshots sound and White collapses.
Seven years before the first episode, Sydney Bristow was an undergraduate student. She was approached by someone who claimed to work for the Central Intelligence Agency and offered her a job as an agent. Having accepted, she was assigned to a unit called SD-6, which she was told was a secret "Black Ops" section of the CIA. She became a field agent. In the pilot, she tells her fiancé Danny Hecht (played by Edward Atterton) that she is a spy and as a result of her revealing SD-6's existence to him, Danny is murdered by SD-6. She discovers that her father Jack Bristow is also an SD-6 agent and that SD-6 is not part of the CIA; instead, it is part of the Alliance of Twelve, an organization that is an enemy to the United States. Sydney decides to offer her services to the ''real'' CIA as a double agent. Having learned that her father is also a double agent for the CIA, she begins the long and arduous task of destroying SD-6 from the inside.
Major plotlines from season 1 include Sydney hiding her triple identity from her friends, both in her personal life and in her SD-6 job, Will Tippin's investigation into Danny's death, and the past activities of Sydney's mother. Sub-plots include Sydney's friendship with Francie, Francie's romantic relationship with Charlie, and Sydney's developing relationship with her CIA handler Michael Vaughn, of whom she is skeptical at first but grows to trust as her life becomes increasingly stressful. Season One focuses on the development of Sydney's character, and allows the audience to become familiar with her.
The second season begins with the introduction of Irina Derevko, Sydney's mother, who soon becomes a key character in the series. Midway through the second season, the series underwent a "reboot" of sorts with Sydney successfully destroying SD-6 and becoming a regular agent for the CIA, still in pursuit of former SD-6 leader Arvin Sloane, his associate Julian Sark, and the Rambaldi artifacts. Sydney's friends at SD-6, Marcus Dixon and Marshall Flinkman, are finally made aware of her dual identity and recruited into the CIA. Sydney also begins a romantic relationship with Vaughn, now that their relationship will not endanger them.
In the second half of the season, it is revealed that Francie Calfo, Sydney's best friend, was murdered and replaced by Allison Doren, a woman who was transfigured to look exactly like her. Allison was then in a position to spy on Sydney and Will. The end of the season saw Will possibly murdered and Sydney killing Allison and then falling unconscious. Sydney awakens two years later in Hong Kong, unable to remember the two years that have passed. She soon learns that her friends and the CIA believed her to be dead, and Vaughn found a new love and is now married.
The third season takes place two years after the events of season 2, with Sydney having been missing and presumed dead. DNA evidence in a badly burned body confirmed her death to her family and friends. The truth, however, is that Sydney was kidnapped by a terrorist organization called The Covenant, who tried to brainwash her into believing she was an assassin named Julia Thorne. Eventually Sydney voluntarily had her memories of the two years erased in an attempt to forget some of the deeds she was forced to undertake as Julia and to ensure that one of Rambaldi's most dangerous artifacts would never be found.
As Sydney recovers, she begins investigating her absence while reintegrating into the CIA. There she deals with the facts that Arvin Sloane had become a world-renowned humanitarian after being pardoned, and that Michael Vaughn had married NSC agent Lauren Reed. Reed is later revealed to be a member of the Covenant and a lover of Julian Sark. The National Security Council plays a role as a government organization that holds massive unsupervised power, with a Guantanamo-like detention facility, considerable influence over the CIA, and driven by questionable motives. Sydney later discovers that her mother and Arvin Sloane had a child together, the result of an affair between the two years before Sydney's birth. She locates her half-sister, Nadia, and rescues her from being killed by the Covenant. At the end of the season, Sydney goes on a mission and encounters Lauren. After they battle, Lauren begins to taunt Sydney by saying she has information about her past. When Vaughn shows up, Sydney goes to him, leaving Lauren a chance to attack again. Vaughn shoots Lauren, and she dies, but before she does she gives Sydney the number of a security deposit box where she can find information about her past.
Season 4 begins where season three ended: with Sydney uncovering a shocking, classified document called "S.A.B. 47 Project." It is explained that the document authorizes Jack Bristow to execute Sydney's mother, who mysteriously placed a contract on Sydney's life (this was apparently something of a retcon to cover for actress Lena Olin presumably not returning to the series). The first page refers to Sydney as the "active" subject of a "project" that began on April 17, 1975, a possible reference to Project Christmas, and also setting up Jack as either the real head of (or somehow involved with) the Covenant and/or being a descendant of Rambaldi or Rambaldi himself. Sydney joins a black ops division of the CIA, patterned after SD-6 and run by her one-time nemesis Arvin Sloane. The new division is dubbed "APO": ''Authorized Personnel Only''. Members of APO (all hand-picked by Sloane) include almost all of the recurring characters from previous seasons, including Jack, Vaughn, Sydney's former partner (and third-season CIA director) Marcus Dixon, the computer and technical genius, Marshall Flinkman, and Vaughn's best friend Eric Weiss (brought in after having to be rescued by Sydney and Vaughn, who he previously believed to have left the CIA). Sloane's daughter and Sydney's half-sister Nadia Santos also eventually returns to join APO.
During the season, an Arvin Sloane impostor, jokingly identified as "Arvin Clone", acquired the technology to implement a Rambaldi-predicted apocalypse. Using Omnifam, the real Sloane had polluted the world's drinking water with chemicals that caused feelings of peace and tranquility. However, these feelings can be reversed with the Mueller device. The third Derevko sister, Elena, had built a giant Mueller device in Sovogda, Russia, which drove the residents to insanity. Sydney, Jack, Irina, Nadia, and Vaughn parachute in, destroy the device and kill Elena. But Nadia is injected with the tainted water and driven insane. She battles Sydney until Sloane is forced to shoot his own daughter. Nadia is later put into a coma while a cure is sought and Irina is allowed to escape. The season concludes with Sydney and Vaughn becoming engaged. On a trip to Santa Barbara, Vaughn confides a shocking secret: his name isn't really Michael Vaughn; their initial meeting wasn't coincidental; and that his allegiance may not be to the CIA. Before he can divulge any more information, another car crashes into theirs and the season ends.
As season five begins, Vaughn is abducted. Sydney learns that Vaughn is under suspicion of being a double agent and that the crash may have been a cover for his extraction. Vaughn later escapes and explains to Sydney that his real name is André Michaux. He reveals that he is investigating a secret operation known as Prophet Five, which at one point involved his father. During a mission in recovering a Prophet Five book, Sydney receives a phone call from her doctor with some untimely news – she's pregnant. (This development was created to deal with the actress' real-life pregnancy.Gary Susman.[http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1059103,00.html Morning Sickness Becomes Elektra: Is Jennifer Garner pregnant? E! says sources confirm she's expecting a little Affleck,"] ''Entertainment Weekly'', May 9, 2005.[http://www.etonline.com/tv/35330/index.html Jennifer Garner & Sydney Bristow Will Both Be Pregnant] , ''Entertainment Tonight'', July 27, 2005.) Vaughn is later shot, and apparently killed, on orders of Prophet Five operative Gordon Dean. Four months later, as Sydney continues to investigate Vaughn's murder, she works with an assassin and associate of his, Renée Rienne, in order to unearth the inner workings of Prophet Five, while at the same time trailing Dean and his criminal organization "The Shed", disguised as a black ops CIA division, very much like SD-6.
Two new members are added to APO to replace Weiss, who moved to Washington, D.C. for a new job, and Nadia, who is still in a coma. Thomas Grace is a brash young agent with unorthodox methods who often butts heads with Sydney. Rachel Gibson is a computer specialist who, like Sydney, was deceived into thinking she was working for the real CIA and briefly works as a mole within The Shed, as did Sydney within SD-6, before The Shed's destruction by Dean. Sydney's mom and dad help her deliver her baby girl while under attack in a high-rise in Vancouver, Canada, on a mission in season 5, episode 11: "Maternal Instinct." In an ongoing subplot, Arvin Sloane follows his own personal obsession, finding a cure for Nadia. Sloane is jailed for his actions during Season 4; however, he is released after the sentencing committee is manipulated by Dean. In exchange for his freedom, Sloane is now working for Dean as a mole within APO. Unaware of Sloane's new allegiance, Jack agrees to let Sloane rejoin APO and use its resources to seek a cure for his daughter.
With the series' end, it emerges that Sloane's ultimate goal is that of immortality, for which he sacrifices his daughter Nadia's life. However, he is trapped in Rambaldi's tomb by a critically wounded Jack, who sacrifices himself via a bomb to avenge all the pain Sloane caused Sydney over the years. Thus moments after Sloane achieves immortality he is trapped for all of eternity in a cave, where even Nadia's ghost deserts him. Sydney tracks Sark and the Horizon to Hong Kong, finding Irina. After a final battle between them, Irina plunges to her death. The series ends with a flash forward to several years in the future. Sydney and Vaughn are semi-retired and married, with a second child named Jack in honour of Sydney's father. Daughter Isabelle exhibits the same ability to complete the CIA test that marked Sydney's inborn skills to be an ideal agent at that age. After Isabelle completes the puzzle, Sydney calls to her from outside, asking what she is doing. She responds by saying, "Nothing", as she casually knocks it over before running outside to join everyone.
Julián Estaban, who is impersonating the Mayan god Kukulcán, fights and escapes from a powerful gold hungry conquistador, Hernán Cortés. Kukulcán's followers captured Rodrigo Perdoza, a bishop carrying a message to Cortés to detain Julián. Julián wants to be a priest and asks the bishop many times to make him one, but in the end he lets the Mayan priest sacrifice him, and Julián takes the bishop's amethyst ring. Cortés attacks and captures Kukulcán's city, the City of the Seven Serpents, but Julián escapes to a friendly large village and helps them harvest and trade pearls. He then goes to a smaller trading town and partners with Tzom Zambac and they have a successful feathered cloak business. Fearing betrayal from Tzom, he leaves and eventually finds Francisco Pizarro, a conquistador who is taking a band of Spaniards to get gold from the Inca. They capture the Incan king Atahualpa, who has a room filled with gold to pay his ransom. The Spaniards try and kill him anyway. Julián leaves the group because of his disagreements with the trial. He searches for Chima, a daughter of Atahualpa, whom he has fallen in love with. He finds her and she rejects him because he is a Spaniard. Julián then uses all of his gold to sail back to Seville. There he meets Cantú the Dwarf, who is now very wealthy from gold. Cantú gives Julián a lot of gold, but he joins the Brothers of the Poor and gives it all to them.
Category:Historical novels Category:1983 novels Category:Houghton Mifflin books
In the 1970s, several years in the future, the Cold War remains a major security and political problem. U.S. President Jordan Lyman recently signed a nuclear disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union, and the subsequent ratification by the U.S. Senate has produced a wave of dissatisfaction, especially among Lyman's political opposition and the military, who believe that the Russians cannot be trusted. His popularity has reached an all-time low of 29%, there is rioting about the treaty right outside the White House and he is warned of a dangerous cardiac condition by the presidential physician, which he blithely disregards, too busy and beleaguered to take a prescribed two-week vacation.
United States Marine Corps colonel "Jiggs" Casey is the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He serves its chairman, four-star United States Air Force general James Mattoon Scott, a former air ace who earned six Purple Hearts, two Distinguished Service Crosses and the Medal of Honor.
Casey stumbles upon evidence that Scott is leading the Joint Chiefs to stage a ''coup d'etat'' to remove Lyman in seven days. Under the plan, disguised as a training exercise, a secret army unit known as ECOMCON, training at a secret Texas base, will take control of the country's telephone, radio and television networks while the president, participating in a staged "alert," is seized. Scott, who is busy advancing his charismatic public persona through nationally televised anti-treaty rallies, is planned to head a military junta. Although personally opposed to Lyman's policies, Casey is appalled by the plot and alerts Lyman.
Still somewhat skeptical, Lyman gathers a circle of trusted advisors to investigate: Secret Service White House detail chief Art Corwin, Treasury Secretary Christopher Todd, longtime advisor Paul Girard and Raymond Clark, the senior U.S. senator from Georgia and a close friend of 21 years.
Casey has deduced that the heads of all branches of the U.S. military but the Navy support Scott's coup scheme, with Vice Admiral Barnswell, then aboard an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean, apparently the only invited officer to decline. Lyman cancels a previous commitment to participate in Scott's alert, offering the ruse that he will be away for a fishing weekend. He then dispatches Girard to Gibraltar to obtain Barnswell's confession, sends the alcoholic Clark to Texas to locate the secret base and tasks Casey to gather dirt on the general's private life. Meanwhile, the Secret Service surreptitiously films evidence of an attempt to kidnap the president during the phony fishing trip, removing all doubts about the existence of a plot.
Girard successfully secures Barnswell's confession in writing, but it disappears during a plane crash in Spain. Clark is taken captive when he reaches the secret base and held incommunicado for a day and a half before the Sunday coup. Exploiting Casey's longtime friendship with the base's deputy commander Colonel Henderson, Clark convinces Henderson of the actual intent of the impending "alert." Henderson frees Clark and leads an escape back to Washington but is abducted and confined in a military stockade there. In a video conference with the president, Barnswell denies knowledge of any conspiracy.
Knowing that he cannot prove Scott's guilt, Lyman nevertheless calls Scott to the White House to demand that he and the other conspirators resign. Scott refuses and denies the existence of any plot. Lyman argues that a coup would prompt the Soviets to launch a preemptive nuclear strike. Scott maintains that the American people are behind him. Lyman challenges him to resign and run for office in order to seek power legitimately, but Scott is unmoved. Lyman restrains himself from confronting Scott with the damning letters that Casey had obtained.
Scott meets the other three Joint Chiefs and reasserts his intention to execute the coup. He plans a nighttime network broadcast, but Lyman holds an afternoon press conference to announce that he has fired the four men. As he is speaking, Barnswell's confession, recovered from the plane crash, is handed to him and he delays the conference. In the interim, copies of the confession are delivered to Scott and the other plotters. As the press conference resumes, Scott abandons the plan when Lyman announces that the other three conspirators have resigned.
Lyman delivers a speech on the state of the nation and its values, declaring that the nation gains strength through peace rather than by conflict.
Five years after the 28th (10 years in the Funimation dub), Goku is accidentally turned back into a child by , a much more powerful version of Shenron created by the Nameless Namekian (before he split into Kami and King Piccolo) who can grant any single wish, regardless of any restrictions placed on the other dragons, summoned from the by his old enemy Emperor Pilaf. He is then forced to travel across the universe to retrieve them, accompanied by his granddaughter Pan and Trunks as if he does not retrieve them within a year the Earth will explode. The trio goes through various adventures in their journey to find the Black Star Dragon Balls, until they encounter the artificial Tuffle parasite, Baby, who intends to destroy the Saiyan race as his revenge for their extermination of the Tuffles many years ago.
A year after Baby's defeat, Dr. Myuu (Baby's creator) and Dr. Gero (creator of the Red Ribbon Army androids) create an evil replica of in Hell, and have it control the original Android 17 so that a portal from Hell to Earth opens up, leading to a mass invasion of the planet by revived villains. The original Android 17 attempts to mentally manipulate Android 18 as well, but Krillin intervenes. Enraged, 17 murders Krillin by shooting an energy beam through his heart. The two Android 17s then fuse into , who vows to destroy all of humanity and avenge the Red Ribbon Army's defeat at the hands of Goku. Super 17 seems impervious to Goku's attacks, but when 18 attacks him to avenge Krillin's death, Goku takes advantage of the distraction to penetrate through Super 17 with his technique, then unleashes a that completely eradicates him.
The Dragon Balls are collected to revive those killed by Super 17, including Krillin. However, an evil black dragon emerges and then splits into seven Shadow Dragons, who set out to punish humanity for their constant misuse of the Dragon Balls by destroying the Earth. All but the most powerful, Syn Shenron, are defeated by Goku and Pan. Syn Shenron appears to be losing until he absorbs the Dragon Balls and gains tremendous power, transforming into Omega Shenron and surpassing even Super Saiyan 4 Goku's power. Goku is about to sacrifice himself to destroy the evil dragon, but Vegeta intervenes and gains the Super Saiyan 4 transformation with help from Bulma's newest invention, the Blutz Wave Generator. Goku and Vegeta merge using the Fusion Dance technique to create Gogeta, who uses his immense power to beat Omega Shenron to a pulp. However, after being too confident in his ability to defeat Omega Shenron, he uses up too much time in an attempt to embarrass him. Gogeta then defuses and Goku and Vegeta revert to their base forms. Eventually, using the energy of every living being in the universe, Goku creates the incredibly powerful and uses it to destroy Omega Shenron once and for all.
Afterward, the real Shenron appears from the restored Dragon Balls to grant Goku and his friends one last wish, which they use to revive everyone killed by Super 17 and the Shadow Dragons, and then proceeds to disappear – along with Goku and the Dragon Balls. Several decades later, Goku's great-great-grandson, Goku Jr., competes in the 64th World Martial Arts Tournament against Vegeta's descendant, Vegeta Jr., as the now-elderly Pan cheers him on. Pan then sees a rejuvenated adult Goku and tries to approach him, but he quickly disappears into the crowd. Goku then leaves the World Martial Arts Tournament with a flashback covering all the events of his timeline. After the flashback ends, Goku then catches his Power Pole and rides off on his Flying Nimbus cloud, bringing the story of ''Dragon Ball'' to an end.
The story takes place in Tokyo where much of the manual labor is done by robots called Boomers, which are run by mega-corporation Genom. Linna Yamazaki, a new office worker, observes a Boomer that has “gone rogue”, causing destruction and attacking people. Although the AD Police are called in to stop the rogue Boomers, a renegade group called the Knight Sabers dressed in cybernetic, armored Hardsuits appear and save the day. Yamazaki joins the group which consists of: Priss, a rock star; Sylia, a boutique store owner and the group's leader; and Nene, a computer whiz who also works within the AD Police as a dispatch operator.
Over the course of the series, the Knight Sabers go after the rogue boomers, which frustrates the AD Police officers Leon McNichol and his partner Daley Wong. Genom is not happy with the development. its leader Quincy Rosenkreutz and advisor Brian J. Mason seek to unlock more boomer technology. Meanwhile, the girls must deal with Sylia's younger brother Mackie. Leon pursues Priss with romantic intentions, but does not know of her connection to the Knight Sabers.
Mason uncovers and reactivates Galatea, a humanoid based on Sylia's DNA who is able to control all boomers. Genom cuts AD Police's funding, resulting in a strike, however, Galatea's influence causes boomers everywhere to go rogue, trapping the Knight Sabers and the AD Police folks inside their own building. The Knight Sabers follow and defeat Galatea at a satellite orbiting Earth.
The story surrounds an aspiring singer, Shuichi Shindou, and his band, Bad Luck (formed with his best friend Hiroshi Nakano, who is on guitar). Shuichi wants to become Japan's next big star, and follow in the footsteps of the famous idol Ryuichi Sakuma, lead singer of the now-disbanded legendary group Nittle Grasper. One evening, Shuichi is looking over lyrics for a song he was writing when his paper is blown away by the wind and picked up by a tall, blond haired (light brown in the manga) stranger. The man dismisses Shuichi's hard work as garbage, which hurts Shuichi deeply. Despite his anger, he is intrigued by the stranger. This will be their first encounter as Shuichi becomes fascinated by the stranger, who soon turns out to be the famous romance novelist, Eiri Yuki (real name: Uesugi). Both the manga and the anime follow this plot.
The story picks up directly after volume 12; Shuichi and Eiri find and agree to momentarily take care of Yuki Kitazawa's son, Riku. Shuichi kisses and conducts a short affair with Ryuichi Sakuma, who announces that he is always been in love with Shuichi. Eiri is in a car accident that causes him to temporarily lose his eyesight, and Reiji announces that she's making all that has happened into a movie. Shuichi believes that this movie is the reason Ryuichi "pretended" to go after him, although Ryuichi's true motives remain unknown.
When Betty and Jughead see Archie acting all lovesick they think Veronica got to him, but when she arrives she denies even seeing him today. They decide to investigate and discover that some girl has written a letter to him. They try to find out who it is, but the letter is blown away by the wind and after running all over Riverdale it is burned in a fire. The girls then demand Archie to tell them who wrote the letter, but he has his father take him away by telling him to clean out the garage to keep them in suspense. Later, Reggie tricks both girls that the other one wrote the letter to Archie and before he can tell them who really wrote the letter they stop him. They then end their friendship and both decide to get Archie for herself.
Betty decides to get rid of all the pictures she has of her and Veronica and gives back all the clothes she borrowed. Seeing her upset, Mr. Cooper gives her two tickets to the Lodge's Foundation Summer Charity Dance next week and advises her to invite Archie. Betty calls Archie to invite him to the dance, and he accepts. She even decides to help fix his car to prove she is more handy to have around then Veronica. While working on the car, Veronica shows up for her date with Archie for the Lodge's Foundation Summer Charity Dance, and tells Betty she got tickets with the wrong date. After finishing fixing Archie's car, Betty goes to Pop Tate's and thanks to Jughead she learns that Veronica purposely had the false tickets made. Upon realizing this, Betty decides to crash the dance.
While dancing with Archie, Veronica learns that Betty has come to the dance and is getting a lot of attention thanks to her dress. After Betty upstages Veronica due to her dance moves, Veronica decides she has to find new ways to get Archie's attention. She tries to make muffins for him, but they are so hard they break one of his teeth. Upon losing Archie to Betty again, Veronica begins to lose confidence in herself. Then, Reggie appears and she accepts his offers to help her get her edge back.
While working with Reggie, Veronica gets so mad at him she throws a book at him. Reggie then tells her that she has gotten her edge back because he pushed her too far and then tells her to watch a video to learn new dance moves to dance circles around Betty. After memorizing all the moves on the tape, goes to Pop Tate's Veronica tells Betty that Mrs. Johnson's cat is stuck up in a tree to get her away from Archie. When Betty leaves, Veronica dances with Archie until he couldn't dance anymore. After Betty returns, the girls decide to have a super soakers duel at Pickens Park tomorrow and the winner gets Archie to herself. During the duel, right after they fired their water guns at each other they accidentally hit Archie and Cheryl Blossom. Archie tells them that her family moved back to town and discover that she was the one who sent the letter to Archie. Upon having enough of Betty and Veronica's immature behavior, Archie chooses Cheryl over them.
Desperate to get Archie back from Cheryl, the girls convince Ethel to disguise herself as a Pembrooke Academy student to convince her to stop seeing Archie. The plan backfires as it only convinces her that to be with him she has to attend Riverdale High with him. The girls then come up with another plan to break them up by making Archie jealous. Betty and Veronica invite Archie and Cheryl to go to Lodge's ski resort with them and plan to get him jealous by having him see them with Jughead and Reggie, respectively. However, Jughead asks Jason, Cheryl's twin brother, to be Betty's date and this causes Archie to become jealous. After Archie makes of fool of himself, Cheryl dumps him and Betty and Veronica go to comfort Jason after he gives him a black eye. Then after having a nightmare depicting Jason and Betty so in love with each other, Archie decides that Betty is the only girl for him and vows to tell her before it is too late. Upon finding her at Riverdale High he learns that Jason got on her nerves so much she almost gave him another black eye. Before he can tell her how he feels he gets distracted by a new girl, Savannah Smythe from Mississippi. Archie then gives her a tour of Riverdale High and tells Betty he will talk to her later.
Jimmy Kudo (Japanese name: Shinichi Kudo) is a high school detective who sometimes works with the police to solve cases. During an investigation, he is ambushed and incapacitated by a member of a crime syndicate known as the Black Organization. In an attempt to murder the young detective, they force-fed him a dangerous experimental drug. However, instead of killing him, it turns him into a kid. Adopting the pseudonym Conan Edogawa and keeping his true identity a secret, Kudo lives with his childhood friend Rachel Moore (Ran Mori) and her father Richard (Kogoro Mori), who is a private detective. Throughout the series, he tags along on Richard's cases. Nonetheless, after Kudo solves one, he will use Dr. Agasa's hidden tranquilizer to sedate Richard and then uses a voice changer to simulate his voice to reveal the solution. He also enrolls in Teitan Elementary School where he makes friends with a group of classmates who form their own Junior Detective Club (Detective Boys). While he continues to dig deeper into the Black Organization, he frequently interacts with other characters, including his neighbor, Dr. Agasa, Ran's friend Serena Sebastian (Sonoko Suzuki), a fellow teenage detective Harley Hartwell (Heiji Hattori), assorted police detectives from different regions, and a phantom thief called the Kaito Kid.
Kudo later encounters an elementary school transfer student, Anita Hailey (Ai Haibara), who reveals herself to be a former member of the Black Organization under the code name "Sherry" and the creator of the experimental drug that shrunk him. She too had ingested it to evade the pursuit of the organization. She soon joins the Junior Detectives. During a rare encounter with the Black Organization, Conan helps the FBI plant a CIA agent, Kir, inside the Black Organization as a spy.
Lawyer Philip Gault (Carleton G. Young), due to a college football injury, lost his voice and can only speak in an eerie whisper. Gault infiltrates "the syndicate" in his native Central City to bring down organized crime from within; to the underworld, he becomes known as the Whisperer. Later, his voice is restored through surgery, but he continues to lead a double life as the Whisperer, relaying instructions by telephone from the syndicate bosses in New York (who don't know he's a mole) to their lackeys in Central City, whom Gault is actually setting up.
In the prologue to the final episode from September 30, 1951 titled "Strange Bed Fellows", Philip Gault explains his history as follows: "It all began ten years ago when I was kicked in the throat while playing college football. After the bandages were removed I opened my mouth to speak and all that came out was this rattling hiss. After a bakers dozen of women fainted when I spoke to them and countless babies went into paraclisms of crying, I disappeared from my usual haunts and went to work for a group which I later discovered were known as the crime syndicate. I decided to stay with them and collect sufficient evidence to help destroy them. Then one day I met Dr. Lee and through a miracle of surgery he restored my voice enabling me to resume my real identity as Philip Gault, Lawyer. This dual identity makes life very interesting. For if the syndicate ever finds out that the Whisperer, who passes on their orders, is really Philip Gault, the man who has wrecked so many of their plans, there'll be slow walking and low moaning. But I won't be around to comment on it."
Betty Moran portrayed Gault's girlfriend, Ellen Norris, the only person who knows Gault's double identity, other than Dr. Lee. Paul Frees occasionally appeared as Gault's "friend on the force", Lt. Charles Denvers. William Conrad frequently appeared in different supporting roles under his alias, "Julius Krelboyne", as he was under exclusive contract to CBS radio at the time.
Bill Karn was the producer-director (and occasional writer), and organist Johnny Duffy supplied the background music.
The radio actor Carleton G. Young is sometimes confused with the film actor Carleton Scott Young.
An impoverished ten-year-old named Tetsuro Hoshino desperately wants an indestructible machine body, giving him the ability to live forever and have the freedom that the unmechanized don't have. While machine bodies are impossibly expensive, they are supposedly given away for free in the Andromeda Galaxy, the end of the line for the ''Galaxy Express 999'', a space train that only comes to Earth once a year.
The series begins with Tetsuro and his mother making their way to Megalopolis where they hope to get jobs to pay for passes for the ''999''. Along the way, however, Count Mecha and a gang of "human hunters" kill Tetsuro's mother. Before she dies, she tells him to continue the journey they started, and to get a machine body to live the eternal life she couldn't. Tetsuro tries to forge on toward the city alone, but is quickly overcome by the brutal cold and wind. As he succumbs, he cries out an apology to his mother for failing to fulfill her wish, and hopes that in his next life he will be born as a robot to begin with.
Tetsuro is surprised to awaken by the fireplace in the home of a beautiful woman, Maetel, who is the spitting image of his dead mother. Maetel tells him she had heard the entire incident with a long-range directional microphone she had been idly scanning around the area with. Maetel offers him an unlimited use pass for the ''999'' if he will be her traveling companion, to which Tetsuro agrees. She provides him with a gun and directs him to the Count's residence, telling him that the Count and his henchmen will be too distracted with their revelries to defend themselves against a surprise attack. Tetsuro bursts in on them in their meeting hall and cuts them down with a spray of gunfire. With the Earth police in hot pursuit, Tetsuro and Maetel flee the planet aboard the ''999''.
Along the way, Tetsuro has many adventures on many different and exotic planets and meets many kinds of people, both human and alien, living and machine. Increasingly, Tetsuro realizes that a machine body won't fix all of his problems. In fact, most of the machine people he meets regret the decision to give up their humanity.
Eventually, Tetsuro and Maetel reach the Planet Prometheum, the final stop for the ''999''. He is shocked by the cruelty and indolence of the machine people there, and witnesses a mechanized human committing suicide, an event to which the others react with scoffs and derision. He asks the dying man why he wished to end his life, and is told that eternal life on Prometheum is utterly empty of joy or purpose. When Tetsuro mentions the name of his traveling companion, the man is horrified and tells him that Maetel is in fact the daughter of Queen Prometheum, the supreme ruler of the Machine Empire, and that she is thoroughly untrustworthy. Tetsuro is outraged at having been kept in the dark and rushes off to confront Maetel. Maetel is at a loss for words, but a government spokeswoman inserts herself into their conversation and begins giving answers on Maetel's behalf. Tetsuro is not impressed and he storms off in a blind fury.
Tetsuro doesn't understand why he has been betrayed by Maetel, but Maetel has plans of her own, and seeks to destroy the mechanized civilization. With the help of her father, Dr. Ban (only named in the film), whose consciousness resides in a pendant she wears around her neck, Maetel destroys her mother and the planet. Afterwards, Maetel and Tetsuro return to the penultimate station on the Planet of Bats where Tetsuro tells Maetel his intention to return to Earth and lead it toward a new future.
Maetel, proud of Tetsuro for his decision to reject mechanization, tells him she has something to take care of and that he should board first. However, Tetsuro finds a letter from Maetel telling him that it was time for them to part ways. Maetel had secretly boarded the ''777'' (three-seven), a nearby train, with the intention of "leading another boy to his future". However, it is unclear as to whether or not this means that the Mechanization Empire still exists elsewhere, or if Maetel will lead the boy to some other "future". The series ends as the trains both depart the Planet of Bats.
The film version of ''Galaxy Express 999'', released in 1979. Maetel and Tetsuro again set out for the home planet of the Mechanized Empire, visiting four planets. Planet Maetel is a mechanized world where machine bodies are made.
Godiego performed the film's theme song "The Galaxy Express 999".
''Adieu Galaxy Express 999'' is a 1981 sequel to the film adaptation. ''Adieu'' presents an entirely new storyline which takes place three years after the destruction of Planet Maetel. The Machine Empire now has even more of a stranglehold over the Galaxy. Rumors are afoot of Maetel becoming its new Queen. Tetsuro, now a fifteen-year-old freedom fighter, is shocked when a messenger brings him news that the ''999'' is returning, and that Maetel wants him to board it. Tetsuro narrowly makes his way to the ''999'' and departs Earth, now a battlefield.
Although Tetsuro finds that Maetel isn't present on the ''999'', he does meet Metalmena, a machine woman who has replaced the waitress Claire. Also, a mysterious Ghost Train has been traveling the universe and nearly crashes into the ''999''. The ''999'' then pouts about the humiliation of being overtaken by the Ghost Train. The ''999'' heads to the planet La Metal, portrayed here as the birthplace of Prometheum and Maetel. Here Tetsuro helps in the resistance, befriending a cat-like teenaged-boy named Meowdar. While exploring the ruins of an old castle, Tetsuro discovers a portrait of a beautiful, blonde queen who looks very much like Maetel. He learns that it is, in fact, La Metal's Queen Prometheum, even though she looks nothing like she did at their last confrontation. As the ''999'' departs, Maetel finally makes her appearance.
Shortly after leaving La Metal, the ''999'' is forced to dock at a station where Tetsuro meets a mysterious machine-man named Faust. When Tetsuro attacks him, Faust causes Tetsuro to drop into a flashback where he must relive his mother's death. The ''999'' continues on to the planet Mosaic, the last stop before Great Andromeda, capital of the mechanized empire. Here Tetsuro finds the Ghost Train and is nearly killed.
The ''999'' finally makes its way to Great Andromeda where Faust greets Tetsuro once more. Meanwhile, Maetel travels down to the center of the planet where Prometheum's consciousness still exists. Maetel is put in charge of the mechanized empire, just as the rumors said. But, again, she intends to put an end to the operations, and attempts to shut Prometheum's machinery down. She reveals the horrible truth to Tetsuro that the energy the machine people use is actually drained from living human beings, and that they were transported there by the Ghost Train. Tetsuro is shocked to find his old friend Meowdar among a pile of dead, drained bodies. Metalmena shows indifference to Meowdar's death, until Tetsuro reveals the source of the energy she has been existing on. As a patrol of guards comes to arrest the group, Metalmena, disgusted and enraged by what she has learned, attacks and destroys them, apparently at the cost of her own life.
Prometheum proves that she cannot be killed with just the flip of a switch, and all seems hopeless. At about the same time, a space anomaly called ''Siren the Witch'' approaches Great Andromeda, attracted to its abundant energy and absorbing all machine energy. With Great Andromeda collapsing, the ''999'' is set to depart, but Tetsuro must face Faust one last time. After dealing Faust a fatal blow, it is revealed to Tetsuro that Faust is actually Tetsuro's father (In the manga and television series, it is never made clear what became of Tetsuro's father). The ''999'' heads back to La Metal where Maetel and Tetsuro separate for the last time, and "the boy [Tetsuro] becomes a man".
Two songs written and performed by Mary MacGregor, 'Love Light' and the ending theme "Sayonara" were used for the film. Kumiko Kaori recorded a Japanese version of the ending song.
Helen McCarthy in ''500 Essential Anime Movies'' called it a "dense, fascinating story".
In 1996, Matsumoto began a new ''GE999'' series, set a year after the original, in which the Earth is destroyed and Tetsuro sets out to discover the source of the "darkness" that threatens all life in the universe.
The film ''Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Fantasy'' was released in 1998. This film takes place a few years after the events of Adieu Galaxy Express 999 (2nd anime) and is the third film in the anime series, where Maetel and Tetsuro reunite to save the universe again from another evil. It also serves as a link between this film and ''The Galaxy Railways''.
The Alfee performed the theme song "Brave Love: Galaxy Express 999 / Beyond the Win".
Also, Space Battleship ''Yamato'', from the Japanese show of the same name and the English version ''Star Blazers'', which are both Matsumoto creations, makes a cameo appearance
The manga has been partially published in English by Viz. The film was released by Discotek Media on DVD on October 16, 2012 and Blu-ray in 2020. The latter will include a newly produced English dub by Sound Cadence Studios in Dallas, Texas with a new cast.
This two-part OVA from 2000 serves as a prelude for ''Galaxy Express 999'' and explains the series' backstory. Maetel, the protagonist, is the daughter of Queen Prometheum of the Planet La Metal (both from ''Queen Millennia''), a wandering planet, and one of the first civilizations to have mechanized their bodies. As Queen Promethium becomes fearful of the natural decline of her people's lifespan on their freezing world, which has fallen out of orbit, she decides to mechanize them all, in order to enable her people to survive the harsh climate. The complete series was released on DVD by Central Park Media.
Following on from ''Maetel Legend'', this 13-part OVA from 2004 reveals that the newly created machine people of La Metal began to mechanise galaxy after galaxy against the will of many humans, and ended up creating rebellions and revolutions. Maetel is asked to return to La Metal to succeed her mother, only to discover the many hardships her mother has inflicted on the humans.
In this series, Captain Harlock and Emeraldas (Maetel's sister) also appear, and work together to assassinate Prometheum, along with Maetel. Parallels with ''Galaxy Express 999'' are prevalent. Instead of a boy who wants a mechanized body meeting her, she met a boy who has a grudge against Prometheum and detests being mechanized.
The final lines of dialog reveal that this is a prequel to the 1979 film Galaxy Express 999.
This OVA series was released from December 30, 2006 to January 5, 2007 (on SKY PerfectTV!) in Japan. The story takes place between Seasons 1 and 2 of ''Galaxy Railways: Crossroad to Eternity'', and presumably after the events of ''Galaxy Express 999: Eternal Fantasy'', where the Earth has since been destroyed. The OVAs featured Maetel, Tetsuro, and the Conductor, with their original voice actors from the ''Galaxy Express 999'' television series.
For unknown reasons, this series started production earlier than ''Galaxy Railways: Crossroad to Eternity'', but was aired much later.
A manga re-telling of the original manga illustrated by Yuzuru Shimazaki began serialization in Akita Shoten's ''Champion Red'' magazine on March 19, 2018. The manga was part of a project celebrating Matsumoto's 80th birthday.
Mima Kirigoe, member of a J-pop idol group named "CHAM!", decides to leave the group to become a full-time actress. She gets stalked by an obsessive fan named Me-Mania, who is upset by her change from a clean-cut image. Following directions from a fan letter, Mima discovers a website called "Mima's Room" containing public diary entries written from her perspective, and which has her daily life and thoughts recorded in great detail. During her acting career, she is joined by manager and former pop-idol Rumi Hidaka, and her agent Tadokoro. Mima confides in Rumi about "Mima's Room", but is advised to ignore it.
Mima's first job is a minor role in a television detective drama called ''Double Bind'', however, Tadokoro lobbies the producers of ''Double Bind'', and succeeds in securing Mima a larger part that involves a rape scene. Despite Rumi's objections, Mima accepts the role, although this leaves her severely affected. On her way home, she sees her reflection dressed in her former idol outfit. She would claim she's "the real Mima". Between the ongoing stresses of filming ''Double Bind'', her lingering regret over leaving ''CHAM!'', her paranoia of being stalked, and her increasing obsession with "Mima's Room", Mima begins to suffer from psychosis: in particular, struggling to distinguish real life from her work in show business, and having repeated apparently unreal sightings of her former self.
Several people who had been involved in her acting are murdered. Mima finds evidence which makes her appear to be the prime suspect, and her mental instability makes her doubt her own memories and innocence, as she recalls brutally murdering photographer Murano. Mima manages to finish shooting ''Double Bind'', the final scene of which reveals that her character killed and assumed the identity of her sister due to trauma-induced dissociative identity disorder. After the rest of the filming staff have left the studio, Me-Mania attempts to rape and kill her, acting on e-mailed instructions from "the real Mima" to "eliminate the impostor", but Mima knocks him unconscious with a hammer.
Mima is found backstage by Rumi and taken back to Rumi's home, where she wakes up in a room modelled on Mima's own room, only to discover that Rumi was the culprit behind "Mima's Room", the serial murders, and the folie à deux that manipulated and scapegoated Me-Mania. Rumi previously developed a second personality who believed herself to be the "real Mima", using information from Mima's confiding in her as the basis for "Mima's Room". She also reveals her motives: she is displeased by Mima retiring from the idol industry and hence, seeks to destroy and replace her, in order to 'redeem' her image. At wit's end, Rumi's "Mima" personality chases Mima through the city to murder her. Mima incapacitates Rumi in self-defense but saves her from being killed by an oncoming truck. The truck driver who nearly ran over Mima and Rumi, told a man who's been sitting beside him to call an ambulance for them. With that, Mima's hallucinations seem to be over.
Some time later, Mima is now a well-known actress and visits Rumi, who has been living in a mental facility for some time. The doctor in charge says that Rumi still believes she is a pop idol most of the time. Mima says she's learned a lot from her experience thanks to Rumi. As Mima leaves the hospital, she overhears two nurses talking about her, a famous actress, before they think she is a Mima lookalike, as the real Mima Kirigoe would supposedly have no reason to visit a mental institution. As Mima enters her car, she smiles at herself in the rear-view mirror before declaring, "No, I'm the real thing."
At the beginning of the album, in Act 1, we are introduced to "The Central Scrutinizer", the album's narrator, who brings us a "special presentation" on music's bad influences on man. We are introduced to Joe, the main character in the presentation. Joe used to be the lead singer in a garage band, which eventually broke up ("Joe's Garage"). Joe continues playing his music until a neighbor calls the police, who tell Joe to "stick closer to church-oriented social activities." Joe starts going to the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) at the Catholic Church, held by Father Riley, and falls in love with a girl named Mary ("Catholic Girls").
One day, Mary skips the church club and goes to the Armory. She becomes a groupie for a band called Toad-O ("Crew Slut"). Eventually, Mary, unable to keep up with the band's laundry, is dumped in Miami. With no money to get home, she signs up for the local Wet T-Shirt Contest at the Brasserie, hosted by Father Riley (who has since changed his name to Buddy Jones) ("Wet T-Shirt Nite"). Mary wins first place in the contest and wins fifty bucks, enough money to go home. However, Warren, a former member of Joe's Garage Band, finds out about Mary's "naughty exploits" and sends a letter to Joe telling him about it ("Toad-O Line"). Joe, heartbroken, "falls in with a fast crowd" and gets seduced by Lucille, a girl who works at the Jack in the Box, and has sex with her, only to catch gonorrhea ("Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?"). Discouraged, he sings about Lucille and his feelings for her ("Lucille Has Messed My Mind Up").
In Act 2, Joe is in "a quandary, being devoured by the swirling cesspool of his own steaming desires" and seeks redemption; he decides to "pay a lot of money" to the First Church of Appliantology, owned by L. Ron Hoover, an amount of fifty bucks ("A Token of My Extreme"). He learns from Hoover that he is a "Latent Appliance Fetishist", learns German, dresses like a housewife and goes to a club called the "Closet", filled with sexual appliances. Joe meets Sy Borg, a "Model XQJ-37 Nuclear Powered Pansexual Roto-Plooker", who looks like a "Chrome-Plated Piggy Bank with marital aids stuck all over it", and falls in love with him ("Stick It Out"). They go back to Sy's apartment and have sex, only for Joe to accidentally kill him when a "golden shower" causes his master circuit to short out ("Sy Borg").
Having given all his money to Hoover, Joe cannot pay to fix Sy and is arrested and sent to a special prison filled with people arrested due to music, who spend all day "snorting detergent and plooking each other". At the prison, he meets Bald-Headed John, "King of the Plookers" ("Dong Work for Yuda"). Joe is eventually "plooked" by the executives at the prison ("Keep It Greasey"). Having "a long time to go before [he's] paid [his] debt to society", he decides to be "sullen and withdrawn" and sits around dreaming up imaginary guitar notes ("Outside Now"), until he is released from prison (a bit of art imitating life, as Zappa himself did just that during his own prison sentence in 1965).
In Act 3, Joe is released from prison into a dystopian society where music has been made illegal and "[walks] through the parking lot in a semi-catatonic state", dreaming guitar notes. Eventually, he hears the voice of his neighbor Mrs. Borg taunting him in his head ("He Used to Cut the Grass"). Joe becomes scared of rock journalists and sings about them. He sees a vision of Mary appear and deliver a lecture ("Packard Goose"). Joe goes back to his house and dreams his last imaginary guitar notes ("Watermelon in Easter Hay"). Afterward, he "[hocks his] imaginary guitar and [gets] a good job" at the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen, where he squeezes icing rosettes onto muffins. As an epilogue, the Central Scrutinizer turns off his plastic megaphone and sings the final song on the album, "A Little Green Rosetta", with all the people who worked with Frank Zappa around 1979, with the song growing more chaotic as it goes as "proof" that music is dangerous.
Virgil Starkwell's (Woody Allen) story is told in documentary style, using fake stock footage and 'interviews' with people who knew him. He begins a life of crime at a young age. As a child, Virgil is a frequent target of bullies, who take his glasses and stamp on them on the floor. As an adult, Virgil is clumsy and socially awkward, and both police and judges discipline him by stamping on Virgil's glasses.
Virgil falls in love with a young lady, Louise (Janet Margolin), a laundry worker. They marry and later have a baby.
Virgil attempts to rob a bank, but is arrested when he is embroiled in an argument about the handwriting on a demand note he hands to a cashier. He is sent to prison, but attempts an escape using a bar of soap carved to resemble a gun. Unfortunately for him, it is raining outside and his gun dissolves. He ''does'' escape, but by accident. Joining a mass breakout plan, Virgil is the only inmate not warned that the scheme had been called off.
Outside but unemployed, Virgil finds no way to support himself and his family. Eventually, he is rearrested and sent to a chain gang, where he is undernourished (the single meal of the day is a bowl of steam) and brutally tortured (consigned to a steam box with an insurance salesman).
Virgil again escapes but is eventually captured when attempting to rob a former friend who reveals he is now a cop. He is sentenced to 800 years, but remains optimistic knowing that "with good behavior, I can get that cut in half". In the last scene, he is shown carving a bar of soap and asking the interviewer if it is raining outside.
A musician named Dixie Dwyer begins working with mobsters to advance his career but falls in love with Vera Cicero, the girlfriend of Jewish-American organized crime kingpin Dutch Schultz.
A dancer from Dixie's neighborhood, Sandman Williams, is hired with his brother by The Cotton Club, a jazz club where most of the performers are black and the customers are white. Owney Madden, the boss of the Hell's Kitchen Irish mob, owns the club and runs it with his right-hand man, Frenchy DeMange.
Dixie becomes a Hollywood film star, thanks to the help of Madden and the mob but angering Schultz. He also continues to see Schultz's gun moll, Vera Cicero, whose new nightclub has been financed by the jealous gangster.
In the meantime, Dixie's ambitious younger brother Vincent becomes an enforcer for Schultz's crew and eventually a public enemy, holding Frenchy as a hostage.
Sandman alienates his brother Clay at The Cotton Club by agreeing to perform a solo number there. While the club's management interferes with Sandman's romantic interest in Lila, a singer, its cruel treatment of the performers leads to an intervention by Harlem criminal 'Bumpy' Rhodes on their behalf.
Dutch Schultz is violently dealt with by Madden's men while Dixie and Sandman perform on The Cotton Club's stage.
The story is divided into ten parts.
Book One, ''Awake to Emptiness'', begins with Bold and Psin, scouts in Timur's army, discovering a Magyar city where all the inhabitants have died from a plague. Timur turns his army around and orders the scouting party executed to avoid the plague, but Bold escapes and wanders through the dead lands of Eastern Europe, encountering only one lone native. Upon reaching the sea he is captured by Turkish Muslim slave-traders and sold into Zheng He's Chinese treasure fleet. Bold befriends a young African slave, named Kyu, whom he cares for after the Chinese castrate him. In China, they are kept as kitchen slaves until escaping and eventually making their way north to Beijing where they find work at the palace of Zhu Gaozhi, heir to the Yongle Emperor. The vengeful Kyu hates the Chinese for what they have done to him and he incites violence between the eunuchs and the Confucian administrative officials.
Book Two, ''The Haj in the Heart'', begins in Mughal India where a Hindu girl named Kokila poisons her husband's father and brother after discovering their plot to defraud the village. She is executed for her crime, but is reborn as a tiger that befriends a man named Bistami, a Sufi mystic of Persian origin. Bistami goes on to become a judge for Mughal Emperor Akbar, but later falls into his disfavour, being exiled to Mecca. Bistami spends one year in Mecca before travelling overland to the Maghreb and Iberia (Al-Andalus). Bistami then joins a caravan led by Sultan Mawji and his wife, Katima, who seek to leave Al-Andalus and found a new city on the other side of the Pyrenees, beyond the control of the Caliph of Al-Andalus. They build the city of Baraka on the abandoned former site of Bayonne, France, and create a model society in which Sultana Katima is highly influential. Katima seeks to change the Islamic religion to create equality between men and women, by rejecting the Hadiths and relying only on her interpretation of the Quran. She rules the community after her husband dies (something not allowed in normal Islamic practice), but the Caliph of Al-Andalus eventually hears of their "heresy" and sends an army against them. The community flees further to the north, where they build a new city named Nsara (near Nantes, France) and are able to defend it from further aggression in later years.
In Book Three, ''Ocean Continents'', the Wanli Emperor launches an invasion against Nippon (Japan) but the huge fleet is swept out to sea by the Kuroshio Current and they are set adrift on the unexplored Pacific Ocean. The fleet hopes to be brought back to China eventually by the great circular currents of the Pacific, but they accidentally discover the New World. The sailors make landfall on the West coast of North America and make contact with the indigenous population (the peaceful Miwok people), but quickly leave once Admiral Kheim discovers they have inadvertently infected the indigenous people with devastating diseases. They take a small girl with them (whom they have taught Chinese and named ''"Butterfly"'') and sail south where they meet another civilization rich in gold. There they narrowly escape being ritually sacrificed by using their flintlock firearms, something the natives have never seen before. They eventually return to China and tell the Emperor that he could easily conquer this new land and gain its great wealth.
Book Four, ''The Alchemist'', takes place in Samarkand, in the 17th century. An alchemist named Khalid attempts to fool the Khan into believing that he has discovered the Philosopher's stone, but his fraud is uncovered and his hand is chopped off as punishment. Khalid becomes depressed and disenchanted with alchemy and decides to destroy all his Alchemical books. His friend Iwang (a Tibetan Buddhist mathematician) and son-in-law Bahram (a Sufi blacksmith) instead convince him to test the veracity of the claims in the books and thus see if there is any true wisdom to be gained. They devote themselves to practical demonstrations and experiments that greatly improve knowledge of various aspects of physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology, and weaponry, and in the process create the scientific method. Their discoveries create interest (and alarm) amongst the religious madrasahs of the city, many of whom also go along with the new fashion of building and testing scientific apparatuses. But most of all, they catch the eye of the Khan's powerful advisor, who sees in their inventions the possibility of great military technology, to fight the rising Chinese threat to the East.
Book Five, ''Warp and Weft'', describes how a former samurai, fleeing from Japan (which was conquered by China along with most of the rest of East Asia) to the New World, travels all the way across the continent to meet the Iroquois people. They name him "Fromwest" and make him a chief of their confederacy. He helps organize their society into a larger defensive alliance of all the North American tribes (the Hodenosaunee League) and shows them how to make their own guns with which to resist the Chinese coming from the West and the Muslims coming from the East.
Book Six, ''Widow Kang'', follows the life of Chinese widow Kang Tongbi during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. She takes in a poor Buddhist monk, Bao Ssu, and his son whom she finds scavenging, but the monk is wrongly implicated in a series of queue cuttings and is killed by Qing magistrates. Later, Kang meets a Hui Muslim scholar named Ibrahim ibn Hasam and together they discover it is possible to remember their past lives. They marry and move to Lanzhou in western China, where they undertake work to try to reconcile Islamic and Confucian beliefs. Kang creates and collects works of proto-feminist poetry and becomes a known writer. There is a Muslim rebellion in the region due to the Qing intolerance of new Islamic sects coming from the west, but the revolt is crushed with massive force.
Book Seven, ''The Age of Great Progress'', is set during the 19th century and begins during a war between the Ottoman Empire and the Indian state of Travancore. The Indians have previously defeated the Mughals and the Safavids and have developed more modern forms of warfare, emphasising surprise and mobility, they have also invented steam engines and ironclad warships that they sail straight to the city of Konstantiniyye and capture it with the aid of military balloons. The Ottomans are defeated easily. A Muslim Armenian doctor named Ismail ibn Mani al-Dir, who had served the Ottoman Sultan, is captured and sent to Travancore where he learns of the amazing advancements that have been made on the sub-continent such as railways and factories. He happily joins the hospital of Travancore and begins work in anatomy and physiology. Ismail eventually meets their ruler, the Kerala of Travancore, who pursues scientific and philosophical advancement (a kind of Enlightened Despot). The Kerala's aim is to drive the Muslim invaders away and peacefully unify India into a kind of democratic confederation. Later, during the Xianfeng Emperor's reign, in the Chinese colony known as Gold Mountain, major flooding in the Central Valley of California forces the evacuation of Chinese colonial towns and Japanese settlers alike. The Japanese had originally fled to the new world to escape Chinese oppression in their homeland, but find themselves once again under the Chinese yoke. A displaced Japanese slave, Kiyoaki, and a pregnant Chinese refugee, Peng-ti, manage to flee to the great coastal city of Fangzhang. There Kiyoaki joins a secret Japanese freedom movement that is being aided by Travancore, with Ismail acting as a go-between agent.
Book Eight, ''War of the Asuras'', is set in the 20th century, during the "Long War". The world has become divided into three large alliances, the Chinese Empire and its colonies, the fractured Muslim world (Dar al-Islam), and the democratic Indian and Hodenosaunee Leagues. At the outbreak of war the Muslim states put aside their differences and unite to fight the larger threat of China (whom they fear will soon achieve global hegemony). The Indian and Hodenosaunee Leagues stay neutral at first, but eventually ally with China, as they see the Muslims as their greater enemy, however the Muslims invade northern India all the way down to Burma to stop the Indians and Chinese from linking up. The war drags on for decades causing major changes in the societies involved, with rapid industrialisation, mass conscription and mass casualties (both sides are forced to use women in the fighting to make up for manpower losses). Being the first industrial war, new devastating weapons and methods are employed, such as trench warfare, poison gas and aerial bombing. The story follows Chinese officers, Kuo, Bai and Iwa as they desperately fight in the trenches of the Gansu Corridor, where the ground has been blasted down to bedrock by sixty years of bombardments. The new Chinese government, the "Fourth Assemblage of Military Talent", orders a new offensive against the Muslim lines in Gansu. Kuo, Bai and Iwa are told to use poison gas and then frontally assault the enemy trenches. They do this successfully, but are beaten back by the second line of Muslim defences, losing tens of thousands of soldiers and gaining nothing. They are then told that their attack was merely a diversion for the real offensive, which is being conducted by the Japanese (who have recently been freed by China in exchange for alliance in the war) through Siberia. The Muslims are in retreat but the Japanese get bogged down at the Ural Mountains. In the meantime, Kuo is killed by a shell that penetrates their bunker. Bai and Iwa are ordered to move with their company south through Tibet to support their Indian allies. At a pass in the Himalayas they witness the Muslim artillery blasting the top of Mount Everest down so that the tallest mountain in the world will be in Muslim lands. After extreme difficulties they manage to breach the Muslim defences at the pass and the Chinese army pours through to meet up with the Indians, turning the course of the war in their favour. Bai is plagued by visions of his dead friend Kuo, who tells him that none of this is happening and that he is already dead, killed by the shell earlier. Bai does not know whether he is indeed living real life or is already in the afterlife.
Book Nine, ''Nsara'', follows the life of a young Muslim woman named Budur and her aunt Idelba in Europe, in the aftermath of the Long War. Budur's family is highly traditional and as there are not enough men left after the war for marriage prospects, she is forced to live in seclusion with her female cousins in the family's compound in Turi, a city in one of the Alpine Emirates. Idelba is an educated woman and was involved in physics research in Firanja before her husband's death, she is just as unhappy in Turi as Budur and wishes to return to her former work. One night, Idelba escapes and Budur follows her. Together they leave the life of captivity in the Alps and move to the more liberal and cosmopolitan city of Nsara (Saint-Nazaire in France). There they stay at a zawiyya, a refuge for women, Idelba restarts her work in physics and Budur enrolls in university where she studies history. The history class is presided over by Kirana, a radical feminist lecturer who questions everything about Muslim society. Budur becomes close to Kirana who opens her eyes to the injustices that women face and how they can seek emancipation and liberation (the two have a brief affair). Life at the university allows for open debate about all issues and Kirana focuses on the nature of history and contemporary events, such as the Muslim defeat in the Long War, which she blames on the failure of the Islamic countries to properly mobilize women for the war effort (something that the Chinese did almost totally). There is also a newfound interest in ancient history as the field of archaeology is taking off (theories about how and why the plague killed off the Europeans centuries before are a popular topic).
Life in Nsara (and all the Muslim nations) becomes increasingly difficult as they face the effects of defeat in the war. Since casualties were so massive, there is a great shortage of men over women and many men who survived the fighting returned as disabled veterans (Budur volunteers to help veterans blinded by gas at a hospital by reading to them). The Muslims were forced to pay reparations to the victorious countries and to make various humiliating concessions such as allowing Buddhist monasteries to open in their cities. There is a general depression and malaise in post-war Muslim society, made worse by the economic difficulties; hyperinflation, food shortages and strikes. In many counties this leads to governments being overthrown in coups of various kinds. In Nsara itself, order begins to break down as people are near starvation and the military attempts to overthrow the government and impose a police state. However many liberals, including Budur and Kirana start mass street protests against this reactionary dictatorship. Eventually the Hodenosaunee League (who have become very powerful after their victory in the war) intervene by sending a fleet (from their naval base at Orkney) to Nsara, insisting that the military relinquish power, which they do. After this, things slowly start to improve, but most of the Muslim states continue to suffer grave problems. Even in China, a victorious country, there is unrest that turns into civil war.
Throughout this, Idelba has been secretly working on atomic physics and she and her fellow researchers have made some disturbing discoveries. They conclude that it would be possible to make a devastating weapon from nuclear chain reactions and fear that the military will try to create such bombs and restart the war. In order to prevent this, Idelba tries desperately to hide all evidence about her research and contacts concerned scientists in other parts of the world. The government learns of her work however and raids the Zawiyya to get hold of her papers, but Budur manages to hide them. Idelba eventually dies of radiation poisoning from the materials she was working with and leaves all her research to Budur, who keeps her secret and eventually manages to organize an international conference of scientists to discuss the nuclear issue. The meeting is held in Isfahan in Iran (one of the few Islamic nations that has prospered since the war) and scientists from all over the world attend. They agree that none of them will work on the creation of nuclear weapons for their respective countries, no matter what pressure they are put under by their governments and also start a new international scientific movement to break down barriers between cultures in a spirit of reconciliation and friendship (they even create a new scientific calendar to be used by the whole world, with its year zero set from the time of the conference).
Book Ten, ''The First Years'', follows Bao Xinhua. Bao is a revolutionary in China, who works under the leadership of his friend, Kung Jianguo. Bao and Kung successfully overthrow the oppressive Chinese government, but Kung is killed on the cusp of their victory. Deeply depressed and disillusioned, Bao leaves China and begins a voyage around the world. Bao marries and raises two children before accepting a diplomatic post in Myanmar. Eventually, Bao's wife dies, and he begins to wander once again. Bao spends time studying with a comrade from his revolutionary years named Isao Zhu, who poses many macrohistorical questions about the world in which they live. In his later years, Bao moves to Fangzhang to teach history and the philosophy of history, and at the end of the novel, he meets a new student named Kali.
During a night in Paris, emergency personnel respond to an altercation at the Rectum, a gay BDSM club. Two men are taken outside the club: Marcus, who is on a stretcher, and Pierre, who is arrested by the police. The following scene shows a volatile Marcus and a reluctant Pierre enter the Rectum in search of an individual known as Le Tenia. Marcus gets into a fight with a man he suspects of being Le Tenia, who breaks his arm and attempts to anally rape him. Pierre retaliates by beating the man to death with a fire extinguisher as the man's companion watches in amusement.
As the film progresses, it is revealed the two men are attempting to avenge a brutal attack on Alex, Marcus' girlfriend and Pierre's former lover. In the film's chronology, Alex leaves a party attended by the two men due to Marcus' behavior. She walks home alone through a pedestrian underpass and witnesses a transgender prostitute being beaten by Le Tenia, who is revealed as the companion of the man killed at the Rectum. Le Tenia turns his attention to Alex, raping her and beating her into unconsciousness. After Marcus and Pierre discover Alex being taken away by paramedics, they encounter street criminals Mourad and Layde, who offer to help them find the culprit. The group tracks down Concha, the prostitute, through ID she dropped at the scene. Concha identifies Le Tenia as Alex's rapist, setting up the events at the Rectum.
The later scenes of the film depict Alex, Marcus, and Pierre earlier in the day. It is implied Alex left the more reserved Pierre for the uninhibited Marcus because he could not satisfy her sexually, which Pierre holds frustration over. The film also reveals Alex received a positive result on a pregnancy test she took at the start of the day. In the final scene, Alex is shown reading in a park before the film transitions to a strobe effect that ends with the message "Le Temps Detruit Tout" ("Time destroys everything").
On New Year's Eve 1986, professional thief James Rawlings breaks into the apartment of a senior civil servant and inadvertently discovers stolen top secret documents. While a notorious and infamous criminal, he is patriotic enough to anonymously send the documents to MI5 so that they might locate the traitor.
In Moscow, British defector Kim Philby drafts a memorandum for the Soviet General Secretary stating that, should the Labour Party win the next general election in the United Kingdom (scheduled for sometime in the subsequent eighteen months), the "hard left" of the party will oust the moderate populist Neil Kinnock in favour of a radical new leader who will adopt a true Marxist-Leninist manifesto, including the expulsion of all American forces from the United Kingdom and the country's withdrawal from (and repudiation of) NATO. In conjunction with a GRU general, an academic named Krilov, and a master strategist, they devise "Plan Aurora" to secure a Labour victory by exploiting the party's support for unilateral disarmament.
John Preston, an ex-Parachute Regiment soldier-turned-MI5 officer, who was exploring hard-left infiltration of the Labour Party, is tasked to investigate the stolen documents and discovers they were leaked by George Berenson, a passionate anti-communist and staunch supporter of apartheid South Africa. Berenson passed on the documents to Jan Marais, who he believes is a South African diplomat, but is in fact a Soviet false flag operative. SIS chief Sir Nigel Irvine eventually confronts Berenson with the truth and "turns" him, using him to pass disinformation to the KGB.
As part of Plan Aurora, Soviet agent Valeri Petrofsky arrives under deep cover in the United Kingdom and establishes a base using a house in Ipswich. From there, he travels around the country collecting packages from various couriers who have smuggled them into the country either hidden or disguised as seemingly harmless artefacts.
One of the couriers, masquerading as a sailor, is assaulted by Neds in Glasgow and hospitalised, where he commits suicide rather than submit to interrogation. Preston investigates and finds three out-of-place looking metal discs in a tobacco tin in his gunny sack. He shows the discs to a metallurgist who identifies the outer two as aluminium but the third as polonium, a key element in the initiator of an atomic bomb. Preston reports his findings to his antagonistic MI5 superior, the acting Director-General Brian Harcourt-Smith, who ignores them, has Preston taken off the politically embarrassing case and requests the human resource department to arrange that Preston take leave. Irvine, however, suspects that a major intelligence operation is underway, and has Preston work unofficially for him to search for other Soviet couriers (his absence from the office being explained by the coincidental order to take leave). Simultaneously, he uses Berenson to pass a deliberate piece of disinformation to the KGB.
In Moscow, the director of foreign operations for the KGB, General Karpov, discovers Aurora's existence. He determines that the general secretary is responsible, and blackmails Krilov into revealing the plan: in contravention of the Fourth Protocol, the component parts of a small atomic device are to be smuggled into the United Kingdom, to be assembled and exploded near RAF Bentwaters a week before the general election. Irrefutable evidence will be left that the explosion was an accidental detonation of an American tactical nuclear weapon, leading to a general wave of anti-Americanism, support for unilateral nuclear disarmament and for the only major party committed to disarmament, the Labour Party. The day after they win the election, the hard left will take over and begin to dismantle the Western alliance in Europe.
Preston attempts, albeit fruitlessly, to uncover other couriers connected to the operation. A month into the investigation, a bumbling Czechoslovakian operative, originally believed to be an Austrian, under the name 'Franz Winkler' arrives at Heathrow with a forged visa in his passport and is shadowed to a house in Chesterfield. Preston's patience is rewarded when Petrofsky shows up to use the radio transmitter that is located there. He trails Petrofsky to his rented house, where the bomb has been assembled. An SAS team is called in to storm the house, and wounds Petrofsky before he can detonate the bomb. Despite Preston's express wishes, the commanding officer kills the Spetsnaz soldier during the raid. Before dying Petrofsky manages to say one last word: "Philby".
Preston confronts Irvine with his theory that Philby deliberately blew the operation; the latter did not know Petrofsky's location but instead sent Franz Winkler, with an obviously fake identity document, to the transmitter's location and ultimately, to Petrofsky. Irvine admits to sabotaging the KGB's British operation by leaking disinformation through Berenson to General Karpov that they were closing in on their suspect. In turn, Karpov (and ''not'' Philby) sent Winkler, sabotaging Plan Aurora. By sending Winkler, Karpov has thwarted a British publicity victory as Irvine understood the implication that Petrofsky must not be caught alive or exposed in the media. Preston, however, is disappointed that Petrofsky was killed outright rather than arrested. Irvine also admits that Philby ''has'' indeed been passing intelligence to the British embassy in Moscow (via carrier pigeons), hoping to earn repatriation back to the United Kingdom, but he did not expose Plan Aurora, and even if he had, as far as Irvine is concerned, ''"he can rot in hell."''
At the novel's end, Harcourt-Smith is turned down for the position of Director-General of MI5, owing to his poor judgment in the case, and subsequently resigns from MI5 altogether. Preston also resigns but, through Irvine, finds lucrative private-sector employment that enables him to obtain full custody of his son. Marais is taken into custody by South African intelligence and Berenson's efforts are rendered unusable to the KGB, as Irvine intends to use his own spy network and plant the suspicion that Berenson was, in fact, a double agent, so that his information will be considered suspect.
In an attempt to steal the six Chaos Emeralds and harness their power, the evil Dr. Ivo Robotnik has trapped the animal inhabitants of South Island inside aggressive robots and stationary metal capsules. The player controls Sonic, who aims to halt Robotnik's plans by freeing his animal friends and collecting the emeralds himself. If the player collects all the Chaos Emeralds and completes the game, an ending sequence is shown. If all the emeralds are not collected, Robotnik taunts the player while juggling any of the Chaos Emeralds not collected by the player.
Artemis Fowl II, the 13-year-old criminal mastermind, has created a supercomputer which he calls the "C Cube", from the stolen fairy LEPrecon helmets confiscated by Butler in the siege of Fowl Manor. It far surpasses any human technology made so far. Fowl meets Chicago businessman Jon Spiro in London to show him the Cube, in an attempt to buy a considerable amount of gold in exchange for keeping the technology off the market. However, Spiro ambushes and outwits Artemis and steals the Cube. In the process, Butler, Artemis' bodyguard, is shot by one of Spiro's staff, Arno Blunt.
Artemis' demonstration of the Cube inadvertently detects Fairy technology below ground, causing a shutdown of all equipment in Haven city. In response, Commander Root sends Captain Holly Short to London to find what the disturbance was caused by. She locates Artemis, who persuades her to revive Butler with fairy magic and the aid of cryogenics. The procedure saves Butler's life, but ages him approximately 15 years. Artemis reveals the Cube's existence to Holly and the LEPrecon's technical expert Foaly the centaur.
Jon Spiro, meanwhile, has commissioned a mob family from Chicago to capture Artemis to break the Cube's Eternity Code which prevents Spiro from accessing its software. One of its employees is the dwarf Mulch Diggums, who is sent along with the thug Loafers to Fowl Manor to do the job. Although Mulch is rumbled, Loafers is incapacitated by Juliet, Butler's little sister, who has just returned from a failed final test at Madame Ko's Academy, where Butler trained to be a bodyguard. After a discussion with Root, who gives them 48 hours before he sends in a full Retrieval team, Artemis comes up with an elaborate plan to retrieve the Cube from Spiro's office in Chicago, involving the use of Holly, Mulch and Juliet. Root demands a mind-wipe of the three humans after the job is done, so Artemis leaves Butler in Ireland to ensure their memories survive.
The heist is ultimately successful, with Artemis retrieving the Cube after tricking Spiro into entering a rival company's headquarters to steal their new products. The Chicago police immediately arrive to arrest Spiro and his associates, and Foaly wipes Artemis' movements from the CCTV. Holly and Juliet remove Artemis from the crime, and return with Mulch to Ireland. Although Arno Blunt escapes and tries to enter Ireland to kill Artemis, Butler has him detained and frightens him into confessing his crimes. Root then has the three humans mind-wiped, after Holly mesmerizes Artemis to see if there were any traces left to trigger his memories. Unbeknownst to all, Artemis has had Butler commission three sets of contact lenses to stop the process. Artemis' plan to retrieve his memories involves Mulch Diggums: Artemis has the date of the search warrant of Mulch's cave changed to the day after his first arrest, rendering all subsequent convictions null and void. Artemis then hands Mulch a gold medallion before his mind-wipe, which is actually a computer disc containing all of Artemis' memories. Although Mulch is incarcerated, he takes comfort in the knowledge that "together they will be unstoppable."
Mr. Garrison's job is on the line because he does not teach anything relevant, so in an effort to save his job, he makes the class do oral presentations on a current event for the town committee. Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny are grouped together with Tweek, a jittery child. Tweek suggests that the presentation be about the "Underpants Gnomes", tiny gnomes that sneak into his house and steal his underpants. The boys agree to stay at Tweek's house to work on Mr. Garrison's homework assignment and to see if Underpants Gnomes exist.
Tweek's parents, who own a coffee shop, give the boys coffee to help them stay up. The boys drink too much coffee, and end up wired, bouncing off the walls of Tweek's bedroom rather than writing their report. Tweek claims the gnomes arrive at 3:30 a.m.; as the time approaches, the boys realize they have nothing to present. Tweek's father enters the room, offering the boys a propagandist speech against Harbucks, a national chain of coffee houses that is threatening his business. As he does this, the gnomes steal underpants from Tweek's dresser, but only Tweek notices them.
The boys' presentation is a hit, much to Mr. Garrison's surprise; the town committee is so moved that they lobby Mayor McDaniels to pass a law against Harbucks. The mayor agrees to a so-called prop 10, allowing the townspeople to vote on whether Harbucks may remain in South Park. Mr. Garrison, knowing that the boys did not write the first presentation, piles the pressure on, telling them they better follow through, or else Mr. Hat will do "horrible things" to them. After Cartman effortlessly turns the townspeople against Harbucks, it is revealed that the mayor expects the boys to do yet another presentation just before the vote. The boys, however, know nothing on the subject. As they are at their wits' end, they finally see Tweek's gnomes and ply them for information. At the gnomes' lair, the gnomes claim to be business experts and explain their three-phase business plan:
: Phase 1: Collect underpants : Phase 2: ? : Phase 3: Profit
When the boys give their presentation for the vote, they do a report that is completely different from their previous piece. They now say, having spoken to the gnomes, that corporations are good, and are only big because of their great contributions to the world. While speaking, they admit that they did not write the previous paper, which causes Mr. Garrison to be carried away as he lashes out at the boys, telling them they have ruined his life for the last time. Mrs. Tweek applauds their honesty and admits to the same facts herself. She convinces the whole town to try Harbucks Coffee. When everybody does try it, they all agree that Harbucks coffee is better than Tweek's coffee, including Mr. Tweek, who accepts an offer to run the Harbucks shop. Meanwhile, the gnomes continue to steal underpants from the oblivious townspeople.
During the First World War, two American soldiers become trapped in no man's land. Expecting to die, W. Dangerfield Phelps III (William Boyd) decides to fulfill his fondest desire: to beat up his sergeant since training camp, Peter O'Gaffney (Louis Wolheim). While they are brawling, the Germans sneak up and capture them.
In a German prison camp, the two become friends when Phelps takes responsibility for an unflattering caricature he drew of a guard, rather than let O'Gaffney take the blame. The two escape, stealing the white robes of Arab prisoners to blend in with the snow. However, they encounter (and are forced to join) a group of similarly garbed Arab prisoners being sent by train to Constantinople.
Near the end of their journey, Phelps creates a distraction, and the two men jump off, landing in a hay wagon. When the hay is loaded onto a ship bound for Arabia, so are they. The stowaways are discovered, but the skipper (Michael Visaroff) is satisfied when Phelps pays him their fare.
When a small boat founders nearby, Phelps jumps in to try to rescue an Arabian woman, Mirza (Mary Astor). Both he and the woman have to be saved by O'Gaffney. The two soldiers and the skipper vie for the veiled woman's affections. Phelps eventually coaxes her into removing her veil, and is entranced by her beauty. Meanwhile, the woman's escort observes this development with disapproval. The skipper insists on being paid for Mirza's fare, but none of the three have any money left. They hold him off as best they can.
When they reach their destination, the skipper refuses to let Mirza debark without paying, so O'Gaffney robs the purser (Boris Karloff) to get the money. Mirza is met by Shevket Ben Ali (Ian Keith); Mirza informs Phelps that her father has arranged for her to marry Shevket. They depart. The Americans jump overboard when the skipper discovers what happened to his purser.
The two men head for the American consul, but leave hastily without speaking to him when they find the skipper already there lodging a complaint. They decide to seek the assistance of Mirza's father the Emir, who turns out to be the governor of the region. However, Mirza's escort has told him and Shevket that Phelps has seen her without her veil. Outraged, the Emir sends his men to bring the Americans back to be executed. Unaware of this, the two soldiers saunter into the Emir's palace. Phelps reads Mirza's warning note in time, and the two escape.
When Phelps sets out to rescue Mirza, O'Gaffney shows true friendship and accompanies him. They are trapped by Shevket and his men, but when Mirza threatens to kill herself, Shevket proposes they settle this with a duel in which only one of the pistols is loaded. Phelps agrees and fires first; his gun is unloaded. Mirza is made to leave the room. Then Shevket reveals that both guns are empty; he did not wish to wager his life with a "dog". He exits, leaving his men to dispose of Phelps. The two men overcome their captors, relieve Shevket of Mirza, and ride away.
British ex-criminal Gary "Gal" Dove is happily retired in Spain with his beloved wife DeeDee, best friend Aitch, and Aitch's wife Jackie. An old criminal associate, the feared sociopath Don Logan, arrives at Gal's villa, intent on enlisting Gal for a bank robbery in London planned by crimelord Teddy Bass. Teddy has learned about the bank vault from Harry, the bank's chairman, whom he met at an orgy. Gal politely declines, but Don continues to pressure Gal, growing increasingly aggressive and violent.
After Gal suggests Don's real reason for visiting is his infatuation with Jackie, with whom he had a brief affair, Don grows furious and leaves for England. On the plane, Don refuses to extinguish his cigarette prior to takeoff, is aggressive to staff and other passengers, and is ejected. He returns to the villa screaming obscenities and attacks Gal with a bottle; DeeDee aims Gal's shotgun at Don, and the group shoot and beat him to death.
In London, Gal prepares for the heist. Teddy questions Gal about Don's whereabouts; Gal claims Don returned to London and called him from Heathrow Airport. The heist involves using diving gear to drill into the bank vault from a pool in a neighbouring bath house. The pool water floods the vault and shorts its security system. As Teddy's crew empties the vault's safe deposit boxes, Gal secretly pockets a pair of ruby earrings encrusted with diamonds.
After the job, Teddy insists on driving Gal to the airport. He stops at Harry's home, where he kills Harry and demands again that Gal tell him where Don is. Gal responds that he is "not into this any more". In the car, Teddy suggests he might visit Gal in Spain sometime, humiliates him by paying him only £10 for the job, and implies more serious threats.
Gal returns to his friends and family in Spain, where DeeDee wears the earrings and life has returned to normal. Gal still hears Don's voice in his head; he responds that Don is dead now and can shut up.
Malcolm Little is raised in a poor household in rural Michigan by his Caribbean mother and African-American father. When Malcolm is a young boy, their house is burnt down and his father, an activist for black rights, is killed by a chapter of the Black Legion. His death is registered as a suicide and the family receives no compensation. Malcolm's mother's mental state deteriorates and she is admitted to a mental institution. Malcolm and his siblings are put into protective care. Malcolm performs well in school and dreams of being a lawyer, but his teacher discourages it due to his skin color.
In 1944, Malcolm, now a teenager, lives in Boston. One night, he catches the attention of the white Sophia, and the two begin dating. Malcolm travels to Harlem with Sophia, where he meets "West Indian" Archie, a gangster who runs a local numbers game, at a bar. The two become friends and start co-operating an illegal numbers racket. One night at a club, Malcolm claims to have bet on a winning number; Archie disputes this, denying him a large sum of money. A conflict ensues between the two and Malcolm returns to Boston after an attempt on his life. Malcolm, Sophia, Malcolm's friend Shorty, and a woman named Peg decide to perform robberies to earn money.
By 1946, the group has accrued a large amount of money from thievery. However, they are later arrested. The two girls are sentenced to two years as first offenders in connection with the robberies, while Malcolm and Shorty are sentenced to 8–10 years in jail. While incarcerated, Malcolm meets Baines, a member of the Nation of Islam, who directs him to the teachings of the group's leader Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm grows interested in the Muslim religion and lifestyle promoted by the group, and begins to resent white people for mistreating his race. Malcolm is paroled from prison in 1952 after serving six years, and travels to the Nation of Islam's headquarters in Chicago. There, he meets Muhammad, who instructs Malcolm to replace his surname "Little" with "X", which symbolizes his lost African surname that was taken from him by white people; he is rechristened as "Malcolm X".
Malcolm returns to Harlem and begins to preach the Nation's message; over time, his speeches gather large crowds of onlookers. Malcolm proposes ideas such as African-American separation from white Americans. In 1958, Malcolm meets nurse Betty Sanders. The two begin dating, quickly marry and become the parents of four daughters. Several years later, Malcolm is now in a high position as the spokesperson of the Nation of Islam. During this time, Malcolm learns that Muhammad had fathered numerous children out of wedlock, contradicting his teachings and Islam.
After President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in November 1963, Malcolm comments that the assassination was the product of the white violence that has been prevalent in America since its founding, comparing the killing to "the chickens coming home to roost." This statement damages Malcolm's reputation and Muhammad suspends him from speaking to the press or at temples for 90 days. In early 1964, Malcolm goes on a pilgrimage to Mecca where he meets Muslims from all races, including white. Malcolm, having lost his faith in the Nation of Islam, publicly announces that is founding the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which teaches tolerance instead of racial separation. He is exiled from the Nation of Islam, and his house is firebombed in early 1965.
On February 21, 1965, Malcolm prepares to speak before a crowd at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem, but tragically, disciples of the Nation of Islam shoot him several times. One of Malcolm's bodyguards shoots one of the shooters, Thomas Hagan, in the leg before a furious crowd beats Hagan. Malcolm is transported to a hospital, but is pronounced dead on arrival.
The film concludes with a series of clips showing the aftermath of Malcolm's death. Martin Luther King Jr. delivers a eulogy to Malcolm, and Ossie Davis recites a speech at Malcolm's funeral. Nelson Mandela delivers a speech to a school, quoting an excerpt from one of Malcolm's speeches.
The Little Mermaid lives in an underwater kingdom with her widowed father (Mer-King), her dowager grandmother, and her five older sisters, each of whom had been born one year apart. When a mermaid turns fifteen, she is permitted to swim to the surface for the first time to catch a glimpse of the world above, and when the sisters become old enough, each of them visits the upper world one at a time every 365 days. As each returns, the Little Mermaid listens longingly to their various descriptions of the world inhabited by human beings.
When the Little Mermaid's turn comes, she rises up to the surface, watches a birthday celebration being held on a ship in honor of a handsome prince, and falls in love with him from a safe distance. Then a violent storm hits, sinking the ship, and the Little Mermaid saves the prince from drowning. She delivers him unconscious to the shore near a temple. Here, the Little Mermaid waits until a young woman from the temple and her ladies in waiting find him. To her dismay, the prince never sees the Little Mermaid or even realizes that it was she who had originally saved his life.
The Little Mermaid becomes melancholy and asks her grandmother if humans can live forever. The grandmother explains that humans have a much shorter lifespan than a mermaid's 300 years but that they have an eternal soul that lives on in heaven, while mermaids turn to sea foam at death and cease to exist. The Little Mermaid, longing for the prince and an eternal soul, visits the Sea Witch who lives in a dangerous part of the ocean. The witch willingly helps her by selling her a potion that gives her legs in exchange for her beautiful voice, as the Little Mermaid has the most enchanting voice in the entire world. The witch warns the Little Mermaid that once she becomes a human, she will never be able to return to the sea. Consuming the potion will make her feel as if a sword is being passed through her body, yet when she recovers, she will have two human legs and will be able to dance like no human has ever danced before. However, she will constantly feel as if she is walking on sharp knives. In addition, she will obtain a soul only if she wins the love of the prince and marries him, for then a part of his soul will flow into her. Otherwise, at dawn on the first day after he marries someone else, the Little Mermaid will die with a broken heart and dissolve into sea foam upon the waves.
After she agrees to the arrangement, the Little Mermaid swims up to the surface near the prince's castle and drinks the potion. The liquid feels like a sword piercing through her body and she passes out on the shore, naked. She is found by the prince, who is mesmerized by her beauty and grace, even though she is mute. Most of all, he likes to see her dance, and she dances for him despite suffering excruciating pain with every step. Soon, the Little Mermaid becomes the prince's favorite companion and accompanies him on many of his outings but he does not fall in love with her at all. When the prince's parents encouraged their son to marry the neighboring princess in an arranged marriage, the prince tells the Little Mermaid he will not because he does not love the princess. He goes on to say he can only love the young woman from the temple, whom he believes rescued him. It turns out that the princess from the neighboring kingdom was the temple woman, as she was sent to the temple for her education. The prince declares his love for her, and the royal wedding is announced at once.
The prince and princess celebrate their new marriage aboard a wedding ship, and the Little Mermaid's heart breaks. She thinks of all that she has sacrificed and of all the pain she has endured for the prince. She despairs, thinking of the death that awaits her, but before dawn, her sisters rise out of the water and bring her a dagger that the Sea Witch has given them in exchange for their long, beautiful hair. If the Little Mermaid kills the prince and lets his blood drip on her feet, she will become a mermaid once more, all her suffering will end, and she will live out her full life in the ocean with her family. However, the Little Mermaid cannot bring herself to kill the sleeping prince lying with his new wife, and she throws the dagger and herself off the ship into the water just as dawn breaks. Her body dissolves into foam, but instead of ceasing to exist, she feels the warm sun and discovers that she has turned into a luminous and ethereal earthbound spirit, a daughter of the air. As the Little Mermaid ascends into the atmosphere, she is greeted by other daughters, who tell her she has become like them because she strove with all her heart to obtain an immortal soul. Because of her selflessness, she is given the chance to earn her own soul by doing good deeds for mankind for 300 years, and will one day rise up into Heaven.
In 1999, a pregnant woman in a wedding dress, the Bride, lies wounded in a chapel in El Paso, Texas. She tells her attacker, Bill, that the baby is his just as he shoots her in the head.
Four years later, the Bride, having survived the attack, goes to the home of Vernita Green, planning to kill her. Both women were members of the Deadly Vipers, which has since disbanded; Vernita now leads a normal suburban family life. They engage in a knife fight, which is interrupted when Vernita's young daughter Nikki arrives home from school. The Bride agrees to meet Vernita at night to settle the matter, but when Vernita tries to shoot the Bride with a pistol hidden in a box of cereal, the Bride throws a knife into Vernita's chest, killing her. Nikki witnesses the killing, and the Bride offers her a chance to avenge her mother's death when she grows up, should she choose to do so.
Four years earlier, police investigate the massacre at the wedding chapel. The sheriff discovers that the Bride is alive but comatose. In the hospital, Deadly Viper Elle Driver prepares to assassinate the Bride via lethal injection, but Bill aborts the mission at the last moment, considering it dishonorable to kill the defenseless Bride. Awakening from her four-year coma, the Bride is horrified to find that she is no longer pregnant. She kills a man who intends to rape her and a hospital worker who has been selling her body while she was comatose. She takes the hospital worker's truck and teaches herself to walk again.
Resolving to kill Bill and the other Deadly Vipers, the Bride picks her first target: O-Ren Ishii, now the leader of the Tokyo yakuza. After witnessing the yakuza murder her parents when she was a child, O-Ren took vengeance on the yakuza boss and replaced him after training as an elite assassin. The Bride travels to Okinawa, Japan, to obtain a sword from legendary swordsmith Hattori Hanzō, who has sworn never to forge a sword again. After learning that her target is Bill, his former student, he relents and crafts his finest sword for her, taking a month to finish the job.
The Bride tracks O-Ren to the House of Blue Leaves, a Tokyo restaurant, and amputates the arm of her assistant, Sofie Fatale. She defeats the Crazy 88, O-Ren's squad of elite fighters, and kills her bodyguard, schoolgirl Gogo Yubari. O-Ren and the Bride duel in the restaurant's Japanese garden; the Bride kills O-Ren by slicing off the top of her head. After torturing Sofie for information about Bill and the other Deadly Vipers, the Bride leaves her alive as a threat while going to kill Vernita. Bill finds Sofie and asks her if the Bride knows that her daughter is alive.
Tom Wolfe chronicles the adventures of Ken Kesey and his group of followers. Throughout the work, Kesey is portrayed as desiring the creation of a new religion. Kesey forms a group of followers based on the allure of transcendence achievable through drugs and his ability to preach and captivate listeners. The group was labelled as the "Merry Pranksters" and participated in a drug-fuelled lifestyle. The beginnings of Acid Tests started at Kesey's house in the woods of La Honda, California. The Acid Tests were carried out with lights and noise in order to enhance the psychedelic experience.
The Pranksters eventually leave the confines of Kesey's estate and travel across the country on the ''Furthur''. The bus is driven by Neal Cassady, who was the inspiration for the character Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's 1957 novel ''On the Road''. Throughout the journey, the individuals take acid. As the Pranksters grow in popularity, Kesey's reputation develops as well. Towards the middle of the book, Kesey is idolized as the hero of a growing counterculture. Alongside this, Kesey forms friendships with groups like the Hells Angels and crosses paths with icons of the Beat Generation. The growing popularity of Kesey provides the opportunity for the Pranksters to meet other significant members of the growing counterculture: the Pranksters encounter the Grateful Dead, Allen Ginsberg and attempt to meet with Timothy Leary. The failed meeting with Leary marks a greater failure to unite the counterculture from East to West coasts. This becomes one of the turning points in the book, indicating that the new generation of “hippies” had officially outpaced the old Beat Generation in style and philosophy.
In an effort to broadcast their lifestyle, the Pranksters publicize their acid experiences giving rise to the term ''Acid Test''. The Acid Tests are parties at which everyone takes LSD (often added into Kool-Aid) in the pursuit of "intersubjectivity," a state beyond an individual's ego. Just as the Acid Tests are catching on, Kesey is arrested for possession of marijuana. In an effort to avoid jail, he flees to Mexico and is joined by the Pranksters. The Pranksters struggle in Mexico and are unable to obtain the same results from their acid trips.
Kesey and some of the Pranksters return to the United States. At this point, Kesey becomes a full blown pop culture icon as he appears on TV and radio shows, even as he is wanted by the FBI. Eventually, he is located and arrested. Kesey is conditionally released as he convinces the judge that the next step of his movement is an "Acid Test Graduation", an event in which the Pranksters and other followers will attempt to achieve intersubjectivity without the use of mind-altering drugs. The graduation is not effective enough to clear the charges from Kesey's name. He is given two sentences for two separate offenses. He is designated to a work camp to fulfill his sentence. He moves his wife and children to Oregon and begins serving his time in the forests of California.
Sixteen year old mermaid princess Ariel is dissatisfied with underwater life in the kingdom of Atlantica, a fantasy kingdom in the Atlantic Ocean. She is fascinated by the human world. With her best friend Flounder, Ariel collects human artifacts in her grotto. She ignores the warnings of her father King Triton, the ruler of Atlantica, that contact between merpeople and humans is forbidden. One night, Ariel, Flounder, and Sebastian, a crab who serves as Triton's adviser and court composer, travel to the ocean surface to watch a birthday celebration for Prince Eric. Ariel falls in love with Eric after watching him for a while. Suddenly a violent storm arrives, wrecking the ship, and knocking Eric overboard. Ariel rescues Eric and brings him to shore. She sings to him but leaves just as he regains consciousness to avoid being discovered. Fascinated by the memory of her voice, Eric vows to find the girl who saved and sang to him, and Ariel vows to find a way to join him in his world. Discovering a change in Ariel's behavior, Triton questions Sebastian about her behavior and learns of her love for Eric. An outraged Triton travels to Ariel's grotto and destroys her collection of artifacts in a misguided attempt to protect her. After a remorseful Triton leaves, two eels named Flotsam and Jetsam convince Ariel to visit Ursula the sea witch.
Ursula makes a deal with Ariel to transform her into a human for three days in exchange for Ariel's voice, which Ursula puts in a nautilus shell. Within these three days, Ariel must receive the "kiss of true love" from Eric. If Ariel gets Eric to kiss her, she will remain a human permanently. Otherwise, she will transform back into a mermaid and belong to Ursula. Ariel accepts and is then given human legs and taken to the surface by Flounder and Sebastian. Eric finds Ariel on the beach and takes her to his castle, unaware that she is the one who had rescued him earlier. Ariel spends time with Eric, and at the end of the second day, they almost kiss but are thwarted by Flotsam and Jetsam. Furious at Ariel's close success, Ursula disguises herself as a beautiful young woman named Vanessa and appears onshore singing with Ariel's voice. Eric recognizes the song and, in her disguise, Ursula, transformed in Vanessa, casts a hypnotic enchantment on Eric to make him forget about Ariel.
The next day, Ariel discovers that Eric will be married to Vanessa. Scuttle, a seagull who Ariel used to visit for inaccurate knowledge of human culture when she was a mermaid, discovers Vanessa's true identity and informs Ariel, who immediately pursues the wedding barge. Sebastian informs Triton, and Scuttle disrupts the wedding with the help of various sea animals. In the chaos, the nautilus shell around Ursula's neck is destroyed, restoring Ariel's voice and breaking Ursula's enchantment over Eric. Realizing that Ariel is the girl who saved his life, Eric rushes to kiss her, but the sun sets and Ariel transforms back into a mermaid and Vanessa transforms back into her true form of Ursula. Ursula then kidnaps Ariel. Triton confronts Ursula and demands Ariel's release, but the deal is inviolable. At Ursula's urging, Triton agrees to take Ariel's place as Ursula's prisoner, giving up his trident. Ariel is released as Triton transforms into a polyp and loses his authority over Atlantica. Ursula declares herself the Queen of the Seven Seas, but before she can use the trident, Eric intervenes with a harpoon. Ursula attempts to kill Eric, but Ariel intervenes, causing Ursula to inadvertently kill Flotsam and Jetsam. Enraged, Ursula uses the trident to grow to a monstrous size.
Ariel and Eric reunite on the surface just before Ursula grows past and towers over them. She then gains full control of the entire ocean, creating a storm and bringing sunken ships to the surface. Just as Ursula is about to kill Ariel, Eric commandeers a wrecked ship and kills Ursula by impaling her with its splintered bowsprit. With Ursula dead, Triton and the other polyps in Ursula's garden revert to their original forms. Realizing that Ariel truly loves Eric, Triton willingly changes her from a mermaid into a human permanently and approves her marriage to Eric. Ariel and Eric marry on a ship and depart with all of Ariel's friends and family watching them as well.
The first part takes place on Earth, almost a century after the "Great Crisis", where ecological and economic collapse reduced the world's population from six billion to two billion. Radiochemist Frederick Hallam discovers that a container's contents have been altered. He finds out that the sample, originally tungsten, has been transformed into plutonium 186—an isotope that cannot occur naturally in our universe. As this is investigated, Hallam gets the credit for suggesting that the matter has been exchanged by beings in a parallel universe; this leads to the development of a cheap, clean, and apparently endless source of energy: the "Pump", which transfers matter between our universe (where plutonium 186 decays into tungsten 186) and a parallel one governed by different physical laws (where tungsten 186 turns into plutonium 186), yielding a nuclear reaction in the process. The development process grants Hallam high position in public opinion; winning him power, position, and a Nobel Prize.
Physicist Peter Lamont, while writing a history of the Pump about 30 years later, comes to believe that the impetus of the Pump was the effort of the extraterrestrial "para-men". Lamont enlists the help of Myron "Mike" Bronowski, an archeologist and linguist known for translating ancient writings in the Etruscan language, to prove his claim by communicating with the parallel world. They inscribe symbols on strips of tungsten to establish a common written language as the strips are exchanged for ones made of plutonium-186. As Bronowski works, Lamont discovers that the Pump increases the strong nuclear force inside the sun, and thus threatens both universes by the explosion of Earth's Sun and the cooling of that in the parallel universe. Bronowski receives an acknowledgment from the parallel universe that the Pump may be dangerous. Lamont attempts to demonstrate this to a politician and several members of the scientific community, but they refuse his request. Lamont decides to tell the para-men to stop the use of the Pump, but Bronowski reveals that they have been in contact not with the other side's authorities, but with dissidents unable to stop the Pump on their side. The last message was them begging ''Earth'' to stop.
The second part is set in the parallel universe where, because the nuclear force is stronger, stars are smaller and burn out faster than in our universe. It takes place on a world orbiting a sun that is dying. Because atoms behave differently in this universe, substances can move through each other and appear to occupy the same space. This gives the intelligent beings unique abilities. Time itself appears to flow differently in this universe: the events take place in an apparently short space of time in the lives of the inhabitants, while more than 20 years pass in our universe, and a long feeding break of one of the characters translates into a two-week gap on Lamont's side.
Like the first part of the novel, this section has an unusual chapter numbering. Each chapter except the last is in three parts, named "1a", "1b", and "1c". Each reflects the viewpoint of one of the three members of the "triad" central to the story's theme.
The inhabitants are divided into dominant "hard ones" and subject "soft ones". The latter have three sexes with fixed roles for each sex: * Rationals (or "lefts") are the logical and scientific sex; identified with masculine pronouns and producing a form of sperm. They have limited ability to pass through other bodies. * Emotionals (or "mids") are the intuitive sex; identified with the feminine pronouns and provide the energy needed for reproduction. Emotionals can pass freely in and out of solid material, including rock. * Parentals (or "rights") bear and raise the offspring, and are identified with masculine pronouns. Parentals have almost no ability to blend their bodies with others, except when helped by one or both of the other sexes.
All three 'genders' are embedded in sexual and social norms of expected and acceptable behavior. All three live by photosynthesis; whereas sexual intercourse is accomplished by bodily collapse into a single pool (known as 'melting'). Rationals and Parentals can do this independently, but in the presence of an Emotional, the "melt" becomes total, which causes orgasm and also results in a period of unconsciousness and memory loss. Only during such a total "melt" can the Rational "impregnate" the Parental, with the Emotional providing the energy. Normally, the triad produces three children; a Rational, a Parental and Emotional (in that order), after which they "pass on" and disappear forever. In the past, some triads have repeated the cycle of births (thus ensuring population growth), but the declining amount of solar radiation no longer allows that. "Stone-rubbing" is a practice of partially melting with solid objects like rocks, possible for Emotionals, but the other genders are only capable of it in a very limited form. It is an analogue of human masturbation and generally frowned upon. Dua, the Emotional who functions as protagonist of this section of the book, appears to be the only one who practices it while married.
The hard ones regulate much of soft one society, allocating one of each sex to a mating group called a "triad," and acting as mentors to the Rationals. Little is shown of "hard one" society; whereas Dua suspects that the "hard ones" are a dying race, retaining the "soft ones" as a replacement for their absent children. This is dismissed by Odeen, the Rational of Dua's triad. Having the most contact with the "hard ones," Odeen has heard them speak of a new "hard one" called Estwald, accounted of exceptional intelligence and the creator of the Pump.
Dua is an oddball Emotional who exhibits traits normally associated with Rationals, resulting in the nickname "left-em." While being taught by Odeen, she also discovers the supernova problem that Lamont uncovered in the first section. Outraged that the Pump is allowed to operate, she attempts to halt it but cannot persuade her own species to abandon the Pump. Given that their own sun and all the other stars in their universe can no longer provide the energy necessary for reproduction, they consider the possible destruction of Earth's Sun worthwhile if it might provide a more reliable source of energy.
Driven by an innate desire to procreate, Tritt, the "Parental" of the triad, at first asks Odeen to persuade Dua to facilitate the production of their third child. When this fails, Tritt steals an energy-battery from the Pump and rigs it to feed Dua, which stimulates the triad into a total melt, resulting in conception. Dua discovers this betrayal and escapes to the caves of the hard ones, where she transmits the warning messages received by Lamont. This effort nearly exhausts her mortally before she is found by her triad. Here it is revealed that the hard ones are not a separate species, but the fully mature form that the triads eventually coalesce into permanently. Each melt briefly allows the triad to shift into its hard form during the period they can't later remember. Odeen convinces Dua that the hard one they will become will have influence with the others to stop the Pump; but as their final metamorphosis (the true meaning of "passing on") begins, Dua realizes (too late to prevent irreversible union) that her own triad's "hard" form is the scientist Estwald.
The third part of the novel takes place on the Moon. Lunar society is diverging radically from that of Earth. The lower gravity has produced people with a very different physique. Their food supply is manufactured from algae and distasteful to inhabitants of Earth. They enjoy low-gravity sports that would be impossible on Earth, such as an acrobatic game like "tag" performed in a huge cylinder (these sports are vital to them, since their metabolism is still that of Earthmen, and proper strenuous exercise must be maintained for it to function properly). Some Lunarites want to further adapt their bodies to life on the Moon, but Earth has outlawed genetic engineering decades ago. Lunarites are beginning to see themselves as a separate race, although procreation between them and Earth people is quite common. Sex, however, is problematic, since an Earthborn person is likely to injure his or her partner due to loss of control. Sexual morals are loose, and nudity is not taboo.
The plot centers on a cynical middle-aged ex-physicist named Denison, briefly introduced in Part 1 as the colleague and rival of Hallam whose snide remark drove Hallam to investigate the change in his sample of tungsten and, eventually, develop the Pump. Finding his career blocked by Hallam, Denison leaves science and enters the business world, becoming a success.
Denison, independently of Lamont, deduced the danger in the Electron Pump. He visits the Moon colony hoping to work outside of Hallam's influence using technology that the Lunarites have developed. He is helped by a Lunarite tourist guide named Selene Lindstrom. She is secretly an Intuitionist (a genetically engineered human with superhuman intuition), who is working with her lover, Barron Neville. They are both part of a group of political agitators who want independence from Earth. The group particularly wants to be allowed to research ways to use the Electron Pump on the Moon. Although solar energy is plentiful enough to power their underground habitats, Neville wants to live entirely underground and never have to venture out on the surface. With the scientists' help, Denison gets access to the technology and proves that the strong force is indeed increasing, and will cause the Sun to explode.
Denison continues his work, tapping into a third parallel universe that is in a pre-Big Bang state (called "cosmic egg" or "cosmeg"), where physical laws are totally opposite to those of Dua's universe. Matter from the cosmeg starts with very weak nuclear force, and then spontaneously fuses as our universe's physical laws take over. The exchange with the second parallel universe both produces more energy at little or no cost, and balances the changes from the Electron Pump, resulting in a return to equilibrium. However, Selene clandestinely conducts another test showing that momentum can also be exchanged with the cosmeg. Denison catches her and forces her to admit her secret purpose: Neville thinks the momentum exchange can be used to move anything without using rockets, including the Moon itself; he wants to break away from Earth in the most complete way possible. Denison is appalled, although he sees the potential of the technology to make travel within the Solar System easier, and to the stars possible.
When Selene discusses Neville's plan with the rest of the group, most of them agree that moving the entire Moon will be meaningless, and building self-sufficient sublight starships will be better. A later public vote goes against Neville as well. Hallam is ruined by Denison's revelations. Selene and Denison become a couple. Having received permission to conceive a second child, Selene requests Denison to become its father. The novel ends with them deciding to try working around the sexual incompatibility problem.
A psychopathic sniper, later referred to as "Scorpio", shoots a woman while she swims in a rooftop pool. He leaves behind a threatening letter demanding he be paid $100,000 or he will kill more people. The note is found by SFPD Inspector Harry Callahan.
The mayor teams up with the police to track down the killer, although to stall for time, he agrees to Scorpio's demand over Callahan's objections. During his lunch break, Harry foils a bank robbery. He shoots one robber dead, and holds another at gunpoint with his Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver, bluffing him to surrender with an ultimatum:
I know what you're thinking: 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do you, punk?
Harry is assigned a rookie partner, Chico Gonzalez, against his opposition to working with another inexperienced police officer. Meanwhile, Scorpio is spotted by a police helicopter near Saints Peter and Paul Church as he is staking out potential victims, but escapes. Harry and Gonzalez are unsuccessful in finding him, and Harry is beaten after being mistaken for a peeping tom.
After assisting in preventing a suicide, Harry and Gonzalez learn that Scorpio has murdered a 10-year-old African-American boy. Based on his letter, the police think that Scorpio's next victim will be a Catholic priest, and set a trap for him. Scorpio eventually arrives, kills a police officer in the shootout that follows, and flees.
The next day, the police receive another letter in which Scorpio claims to have kidnapped a teenager named Ann Mary Deacon. He threatens to kill her if he is not given a ransom of $200,000. Harry is assigned to deliver the money, wearing a radio earpiece so Gonzalez can secretly follow him. Scorpio instructs Harry via payphones to run around the city. They meet at the Mount Davidson cross, where Scorpio beats Harry and admits he intends to kill him and let Ann Mary die.
Gonzalez intervenes, and gets shot in the chest. Harry uses a concealed knife to stab Scorpio in the leg, but he escapes. Gonzalez tells Harry he's not cut out for police work and plans to become a teacher instead. Harry learns of Scorpio's hospital visit and a doctor reveals to him that the killer lives in a room at Kezar Stadium. Harry finds him there and chases Scorpio, shooting him in the leg.
Harry tortures Scorpio into confessing where Ann Mary is being held, but the police only find her corpse. The district attorney reprimands Harry for his conduct, explaining that because Harry obtained his evidence against Scorpio (namely a sniper rifle in Scorpio's possession) illegally, all of it is inadmissible in court and Scorpio is to be released as a free man. An outraged Harry continues to shadow Scorpio on his own time. Scorpio pays a man $200 to beat him severely and frames Harry for it, forcing Harry to stop following him.
Scorpio steals a Walther P38 pistol from a liquor store owner and hijacks a school bus. He contacts the police with another ransom demand that includes a flight out of the Santa Rosa airport. Harry waits for him, then jumps onto the roof of the bus from an overpass. Scorpio crashes the bus into a dirt mound and flees to a nearby quarry, where he takes a hostage before Harry wounds him with a fast-draw.
Harry aims his revolver and reprises his ultimatum about losing count of his shots. Scorpio reaches for his gun, but Harry shoots and kills him with his last bullet and removes his police badge, throws it in the nearby water, and walks away.
The game is set in a fictional city on the Atlantic coast in the United States named Metro City (analogous with New York City). According to the game's intro, in the 1990s (or 1989 in the Japanese version), the city's crime rate reached alarming levels, but since the election of pro wrestler turned politician Mike Haggar as the new Mayor, Metro City was changed and cleaned up drastically. Under his term, Haggar managed to suppress the crime rate of the city to its lowest points. While the citizens of Metro City were thankful for Haggar's hard work in curbing crime, the Mad Gear Gang, who had served as the dominant criminal organization of Metro City, would not go down so easily. Under the leadership of the crooked businessman Belger, the group attempted to bribe Haggar with a large payoff to keep him from going after them, to which Haggar refused. Still determined to bring Haggar under their rule like the last mayor before him, Mad Gear proceeded to kidnap his daughter Jessica and create further unrest among the citizens. When Haggar finds out about his daughter's abduction, he becomes furious and decides to take his fight against Mad Gear to a personal level. Seeking additional manpower, Haggar recruits Cody Travers: an expert fighter and Jessica's boyfriend, as well as Guy: a ninja in training and Cody's good friend/rival. The three dedicate themselves to the complete eradication of the Mad Gear Gang, and to rescue Jessica from their clutches.
The game gained notoriety for its morbid continue screen, where the player character is shown tied to a chair with a bundle of dynamite on the table in front of him; the character struggles to escape as the 10-second time limit counts down. If the player activates the continue option, a knife falls from the ceiling, disconnecting the fuse from the bomb.
After a little girl named Fern Arable pleads for the life of the runt of a litter of piglets, her father gives her the pig to nurture, and she names him Wilbur. She treats him as a pet, but a month later, Wilbur is no longer small, and is sold to Fern's uncle, Homer Zuckerman. In Zuckerman's barnyard, Wilbur yearns for companionship, but is snubbed by the other animals. He is befriended by a barn spider named Charlotte, whose web sits in a doorway overlooking Wilbur's enclosure. When Wilbur discovers that he is being raised for slaughter, she promises to hatch a plan guaranteed to spare his life. Fern often sits on a stool, listening to the animals' conversation, but over the course of the story, as she starts to mature, she begins to find other interests.
As the summer passes, Charlotte ponders the question of how to save Wilbur. At last, she comes up with a plan, which she proceeds to implement. Reasoning that Zuckerman would not kill a famous pig, Charlotte weaves words and short phrases in praise of Wilbur into her web. This makes Wilbur, and the barn as a whole, into tourist attractions, as many people believe the webs to be miracles. Wilbur is eventually entered into the county fair, and Charlotte, as well as the barn rat Templeton, accompany him. He fails to win the blue ribbon, but is awarded a special prize by the judges. Charlotte hears the presentation of the award over the public address system and realizes that the prize means Zuckerman will cherish Wilbur for as long as the pig lives, and will never slaughter him for his meat. However, Charlotte, being a barn spider with a naturally short lifespan, is already dying of natural causes by the time the award is announced. Knowing that she has saved Wilbur, and satisfied with the outcome of her life, she does not return to the barn with Wilbur and Templeton, and instead remains at the fairgrounds to die. However, she allows Wilbur to take with him her egg sac, from which her children will hatch in the spring. Meanwhile, Fern, who has matured significantly since the beginning of the novel, loses interest in Wilbur and starts paying more attention to boys her age. She misses most of the fair's events in order to go on the Ferris wheel with Henry Fussy, one of her classmates.
Wilbur waits out the winter, a winter he would not have survived but for Charlotte. He is initially delighted when Charlotte's children hatch, but is later devastated when most leave the barn. Only three remain to take up residence in Charlotte's old doorway. Pleased at finding new friends, Wilbur names one of them Nellie, while the remaining two name themselves Joy and Aranea. Further generations of spiders keep Wilbur company in subsequent years.
In 1951, in the midst of the Second Red Scare, Peter Appleton is an up-and-coming young screenwriter in Hollywood. He learns from studio lawyer Leo Kubelsky and his own attorney Kevin Bannerman that he has been accused of being a communist, because he attended an antiwar meeting in his college years, a meeting he claims he only attended to impress a girl.
In an instant, Peter's new film, ''Ashes to Ashes'', is pushed back for a few months, the credit is given to someone else, his movie star girlfriend Sandra Sinclair leaves him, and his contract with the studio is dropped. Peter gets drunk and goes for a drive up the coast, where he accidentally drives his car off a bridge to avoid an opossum.
He comes to on an ocean beach, experiencing amnesia. Peter is found by Stan Keller, who helps him to the nearby town of Lawson, California, and the local doctor, Doc Stanton, tends to his wounds. As the town welcomes him, Harry Trimble arrives and believes Peter to be his son Luke, who went MIA during World War II nine years ago. Due to his amnesia, Peter accepts himself being treated as Luke by the rest of the town, led by Mayor Ernie Cole. Peter warms up to the town, including getting to know Harry and also Luke's girlfriend Adele, who is the Doc's daughter.
Peter adjusts to the new life and helps to renovate The Majestic, a movie theater that had become derelict due to hard times. Bob Leffert, a veteran of the war who knew Luke, does not believe Peter is Luke, and fears Peter may be setting the town up for heartbreak, given they had lost sixty other young men during the war. Despite this, Peter helps to restore the theater, invigorate the town, and encourages Mayor Cole to display a memorial, commissioned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt after the war, that the town did not previously have the heart to display.
Meanwhile, Peter's disappearance leads Congressional committee member Elvin Clyde to believe Peter is a communist, and he sends two federal agents Ellerby and Saunders to California to search for him, where they follow a lead on his car showing up on a beach.
Peter recovers from his amnesia when The Majestic shows his first movie ''Sand Pirates of the Sahara'', and his screenwriting credit jolts him. Harry suffers from a fatal heart attack before the reel change. After examining him, Doc reports that Harry's time is short. Peter cannot come to admit the truth, allowing Harry to die believing he is Luke.
After the funeral, Peter admits the truth to Adele, who had already suspected it and supports his decision to tell the rest of the town. Before he can do so, federal agents Ellery and Saunders, as well as Leo and some police officers, arrive. When Sheriff Coleman asks if they need any help with anything, the federal agents reveal Peter's true identity to the whole town and give him a summons to appear before a congressional committee in Los Angeles. During their meeting, Leo advises Peter to agree to reveal a list of other named "communists" in order to clear his own name. Later that night, the Majestic's usher Emmett admits that he knew Peter wasn't Luke after hearing Peter play a roadhouse boogie at the town festival, since Luke was more inclined to classical music.
The next day, Peter has an argument with Adele over this decision, and she gives him a letter she had gotten from the real Luke, as he boards the train. On the train, Peter reads the letter, where Luke states his awareness that he might die in the war for a real cause, as well as a pocket-sized version of the U.S. Constitution and Luke's Medal of Honor.
Peter changes his mind at the session, which is watched by all of Lawson on television, and confronts Congressman Doyle during the session. Peter gives an impassioned speech about American ideals, which sways the crowd, especially when he holds up Luke's Medal of Honor, and forces the lawmakers to let him go free. As Peter discusses the result with Kevin, he learns that the girl he met in college was the one that had named him to the committee.
Peter attempts to return to his former career, but finds he cannot deal with the ridiculousness of the studio executives' ideas, and leaves Hollywood.
After sending Adele a telegram, Peter instead returns to Lawson, fearing an unwelcome reception. Instead, he receives a hero's welcome from the town's citizens, who have come to respect him as an individual. Peter then resumes ownership and management of The Majestic, marries Adele, and they have a son together.
In Texas, Kelly Taylor (Clarkson) works as a waitress and singer at a bar, where many of the cowboy clientele, including Greg (Gorence), flirt with her. She is invited by her college classmates Alexa (Bailess) and Kaya (Rose) to vacation in Miami, Florida for spring break. Although she generally finds the usual spring break partying and sexual activities demeaning, she accepts the offer to escape from her miserable job. Meanwhile, Pennsylvanian college student Justin Bell (Guarini) is also in Miami with his friends Brandon (Siff) and Eddie (Dietzen) running the BR&J party promoter business. Brandon is just interested in one-night stands, while Eddie is a geek who is trying to meet up with his internet girlfriend Lizzie.
When Kelly, Alexa, and Kaya arrive they dance at a beach concert ("The Bounce (The Luv)"), where Kelly first encounters Justin. Kelly and her friends watch as Justin and Brandon give Eddie dating advice ("Brandon's Rap"), but leave when Brandon moons them and Brandon is given a ticket by police officer Cutler (San-Nicholas).
Later, Justin and Kelly look for each other at a party ("Forever Part of Me"). They meet in a bathroom, where Kelly draws her phone number on a napkin and tosses it to him, but it misses and it falls in a puddle. Justin asks Alexa for Kelly's number, but she gives him her own number instead and says it's Kelly's. Later that night she texts Justin, pretending to be Kelly, and says she's not interested in him. Meanwhile, Kaya starts seeing a busboy, Carlos, and they visit a Salsa club together ("It's Meant to Be").
The next day, Alexa signs Kelly up for BR&J's whipped cream bikini contest so that she can see what kind of person Justin really is. Kelly is initially angry at Justin for participating in such a degrading contest, but they run into each other at a food truck and she agrees to go on a boat ride with him. They bond on the boat ("Timeless") and agree to meet at the beach the next night. Meanwhile, Brandon gets a ticket from Cutler for hosting the contest without a permit, and Kaya complains to Carlos' boss about how he's treating him, which results in Carlos being fired.
Alexa texts Justin, pretending to be Kelly and tells him to meet at a bar instead of the beach. Alexa sings about how she is wishing for love ("Wish Upon a Star"), and when Justin shows up she tells him that Kelly has a boyfriend back home, and calls Greg and asks him to come to Florida. Eddie continues to look for his online date, but gets beat up by a jock and misses their rendezvous.
Later, Kelly is upset at Justin for not showing up at the beach ("Madness"), and Greg shows up and claims Kelly is his girlfriend. Greg and Justin start to fight but agree to settle things with a hovercraft race. Luke is injured, and Brandon gets a ticket from Cutler for gambling on the race. Justin asks Alexa for advice on how to win Kelly back, but Alexa kisses him, which Kelly sees. Carlos gets angry at Kaya for interfering with his life but later realizes that he should've stood up to his boss sooner, and apologizes to Kaya by arranging a romantic dinner for the two of them in a pool.
At a bar that night, Kelly picks up Alexa's phone and sees the messages between her and Justin, and Alexa confesses that she was jealous of all the attention Kelly gets from guys. Alexa admits to Justin that she's been trying to keep him and Kelly apart, and arranges for the two to reunite ("Anytime"). The next day Justin and Kelly, Kaya and Carlos, Brandon and Cutler, and Eddie and Lizzie dance at a pool party ("That's the Way (I Like It)").
Chuck Clarke and Lyle Rogers are inept songwriters who are down on their luck, but dream of becoming a popular singing duo in the mould of Simon and Garfunkel. Though they are poorly received at a local open-microphone night, agent Marty Freed offers to book them as lounge singers in a hotel in Marrakesh, Morocco, explaining that the last act quit due to political unrest in the area. Nearly broke, both single, and without any better options, Lyle and Chuck decide to take the gig.
When they arrive in the fictional neighboring country of Ishtar, Chuck agrees to give his passport to a mysterious woman who claims her life is in danger. She promises to meet him in Marrakesh. Unfortunately, Chuck learns at the U.S. Embassy that it will take longer than expected to get a new passport. Lyle goes to Morocco in a bid to save their booking while Chuck stays behind.
Alone in Ishtar, Chuck meets CIA agent Jim Harrison. Chuck agrees to be a mole for the CIA and, in return, Harrison gets Chuck to Morocco by the next evening.
Now together again, Chuck and Lyle unwittingly become involved in a plot to overthrow the Emir of Ishtar. The mysterious woman, Shirra Assel, sneaks into Lyle's room and tries to steal his luggage, mistaking it for Chuck's. At the airport, she had stuck some of her items into Chuck's luggage, since that was her only way of smuggling them out of Ishtar. She later breaks into their room and goes through Chuck's luggage, but she fails to find an ancient, prophetic map that her archaeologist brother Omar had found. Shirra needs this map in order to command the loyalties of the left-wing guerrillas who oppose the government of Ishtar.
Shirra later confronts Chuck and accuses him of working with the CIA, and Chuck accuses her of being a communist. Meanwhile, Lyle attempts to find a camel salesman named Mohamad and gives him the secret code of "I want to buy a blind camel," as per Shirra's instructions, but Lyle finds the wrong Mohamad and ends up actually buying a blind camel. Chuck and Lyle receive instructions from both the CIA and the leftist guerillas to go into the desert, and both parties actually intend for them to die there.
In the desert, Chuck pulls his jacket over his head to shield himself from the sun, and Lyle sees that the legendary map is sewn inside of the jacket. The jacket was originally Omar's, but Shirra took it, and then Chuck and Shirra traded jackets. The CIA sends helicopters to finish off Chuck and Lyle, but Shirra and a cab driver arrive in the desert and defend them.
Chuck and Lyle mail the map to their agent Marty Freed, who blackmails the CIA with the map. The CIA ends up having to support Shirra leading social reforms in the country, and back an album written by ''Rogers and Clarke'' with a tour starting in Morocco. At the show, Shirra is in the audience. Meanwhile, a military officer orders the rest of the men in uniform that make up the audience to "APPLAUD!" when the songs are finished.
Jewish-American Fran Fine turns up on the doorstep of British Broadway producer Maxwell Sheffield (Charles Shaughnessy) to sell cosmetics after having been dumped, and subsequently fired by, her bridal-shop-owner boyfriend. Maxwell reluctantly hires her to be the nanny of his three children: Maggie, Brighton, and Grace. In spite of Mr. Sheffield's misgivings, Fran turns out to be just what he and his family needed.
While Fran Fine manages the children, butler Niles (Daniel Davis) manages the household and watches all the events that unfold with Fran as the new nanny. Niles, recognizing Fran's gift for bringing warmth back to the family (as Maxwell is a widower), does his best to undermine Maxwell's business partner C.C. Babcock (Lauren Lane) who has her eyes on the very available Maxwell Sheffield. Niles is often seen making witty comments directed towards C.C., with C.C. often replying with a comment of her own in their ongoing game of one-upmanship.
As the series progresses, it becomes increasingly obvious that Maxwell is smitten with Fran even though he won't admit it, and Fran is smitten with him. The show teases the viewers with their closeness and "near misses" as well as with an engagement. Towards the later seasons, they finally marry and expand their family by having fraternal twins. By the end of the series, it's also clear that Niles and C.C.'s constant sharp barbs are their own bizarre form of flirtation; after a few false starts (including multiple impulsive and failed proposals from Niles), the pair marry in the series finale and subsequently discover they are expecting a child.
One evening, an elderly woman tells her granddaughter the bedtime story of a young man named Edward who has scissor blades for hands. The creation of an old inventor, Edward is a humanoid who was almost completed; the inventor homeschooled Edward, but suffered a heart attack and died before giving Edward real hands, leaving him permanently unfinished.
Many years later, Peg Boggs, a local door-to-door Avon saleswoman, tries to sell at the decrepit Gothic mansion where Edward lives. She finds him alone and offers to take him to her home after discovering he is virtually harmless. Peg introduces Edward to her husband Bill, their young son Kevin and their teenage daughter Kim. Edward falls in love with Kim, despite her initial fear of him. As their neighbors are curious about the new houseguest, the Boggs throw a neighborhood barbecue welcoming him. Most of the neighbors are fascinated by Edward and befriend him, except for the eccentric religious fanatic Esmeralda, and Kim's boyfriend, Jim.
Edward repays the neighborhood for their kindness by trimming their hedges into topiaries, progressing to grooming dogs and later styling the hair of the neighborhood women. One of the neighbors, Joyce, offers to help Edward open a hair salon. While scouting a location, Joyce attempts to seduce him, but scares him away. Joyce lies to the neighborhood women about it, reducing their trust in him. The bank denies Edward a loan as he does not have a background or financial history.
Jealous of Kim's attraction to Edward, Jim suggests Edward pick the lock on his parents' home to obtain a van for Jim and Kim. Edward agrees, but when he picks the lock, a burglar alarm is triggered. Jim flees and Edward is arrested. The police determine that a lifetime of isolation has left Edward without any sense of reality or common sense. Edward takes responsibility for the robbery, telling Kim he did it because she asked him to. Consequently, he is shunned by the entire neighborhood, except for the Boggs family.
At Christmas, Edward carves an angelic ice sculpture modeled after Kim; the ice shavings are thrown into the air and fall like snow, something that never happened before. Kim dances in the snowfall. Jim arrives suddenly, calling out to Edward, surprising him and causing him to accidentally cut Kim's hand. Jim accuses Edward of intentionally harming her, but Kim, disgusted and fed up with Jim's jealous behavior towards Edward, breaks up with him. Meanwhile, Edward flees in a rage, destroying his works and scaring Esmeralda until he is calmed by a wandering dog.
Kim's parents go out to find Edward while she stays behind in case he returns. Edward returns, finding Kim there. She asks him to hold her, but Edward hesitates, afraid of hurting her. Jim's drunken friend drives him to Kim's house and nearly runs over Kevin, but Edward pushes Kevin to safety, inadvertently cutting him. Witnesses accuse Edward of attacking Kevin; when Jim assaults him, Edward defends himself, cutting Jim's arm before fleeing to his mansion.
Kim races after Edward, while Jim obtains a handgun and follows Kim. In the mansion, Jim ambushes Edward and fights with him; Edward refuses to fight back until he sees Jim slap Kim as she attempts to intervene. Enraged, Edward stabs Jim in the chest and pushes him from a window of the mansion, killing him. Kim confesses her love to Edward and kisses him before she departs, leaving Edward alone. As the neighbors gather, Kim convinces them that Jim and Edward killed each other.
The elderly woman, revealed to be Kim, finishes telling her granddaughter the story and says that she never saw Edward again, so that Edward would remember her as she was in her youth. She believes he is still alive because it would not be snowing without him. Edward is then seen carving ice sculptures of his experiences with Kim, with the bits of ice floating as snow in the wind.
18-year-old Sophie Hatter is the eldest of three sisters living in Market Chipping, a town in the magical kingdom of Ingary, where fairytale tropes are accepted ways of life, including that the eldest of three will never be successful. As the eldest, Sophie is resigned to a dull future running the family hat shop. Unbeknownst to her, she is able to talk life into objects. When the powerful Witch of the Waste considers her a threat and turns her into an old crone, Sophie leaves the shop and finds work as a cleaning lady for the notorious wizard Howl. She strikes a bargain with Howl's fire demon, Calcifer: if she can break the contract between Howl and Calcifer, then Calcifer will return her to her original youthful form. Part of the contract, however, stipulates that neither Howl nor Calcifer can disclose the main clause, leaving Sophie to figure it out on her own.
Sophie learns that Howl, a rather self-absorbed and fickle but ultimately good-natured person, spreads malicious rumours about himself to avoid work and responsibility. The door to his castle is actually a portal that opens onto four places: Market Chipping, the seaside city of Porthaven, the royal capital of Kingsbury, and Howl's boyhood home in Wales where he was named Howell Jenkins. Howl's apprentice Michael Fisher runs most of the day-to-day affairs of Howl's business, while Howl chases his ever-changing paramours.
When Prince Justin, the King's younger brother, goes missing while searching for Wizard Suliman, the King orders Howl to find them both and kill the Witch of the Waste. Howl, however, has his own reasons to avoid the Witch; the Witch, a jilted former lover, has laid a dark curse on him. He successfully continues to avoid her until she lures Sophie into a trap. Believing the Witch has taken Howl's current love interest, Miss Angorian, Sophie goes to save her and is captured by the Witch. Howl spends hours in the bathroom every day primping himself to look handsome for girls; Michael had said that the day he does not do this is the day Michael will believe that Howl is truly in love. So when Howl comes to save Sophie, unshaven and a mess, it demonstrates his love for her. He kills the Witch and reveals that Miss Angorian was actually the Witch's fire demon in disguise; the fire demon had taken control of the Witch and was attempting to create a "perfect human" by fusing Wizard Suliman and Prince Justin. It was to be completed by the addition of Howl's head.
At the castle, Miss Angorian takes hold of Calcifer to capture Howl's heart. Howl had given his heart to Calcifer. This was the contract between them; the heart kept Calcifer alive, and in return Calcifer put his magic at Howl's disposal. Sophie uses her ability of bringing things to life to free Calcifer, thus breaking the contract between him and Howl. With his heart restored, Howl destroys the witch's fire demon, freeing Suliman and Justin. Calcifer, as promised, breaks Sophie's spell and she returns to her proper age. Howl had realized early on that Sophie was under a spell and secretly attempted to remove the curse; when he had met with failure, he'd figured Sophie simply enjoyed "being in disguise".
Calcifer returns, preferring to stay with Howl. Sophie and Howl admit they love each other when Howl suggests they live happily ever after.
Blake Thorn (Hulk Hogan) is a conceited self-made millionaire who sells bodybuilding supplements and equipment that have his picture on them. One day, while recklessly playing paintball, he is targeted by police. He is chased to a shopping mall, where he hides by putting on a Santa costume. He slides down a garbage chute to escape the police and bangs his head, resulting in amnesia. Mistaken by Lenny (Don Stark) as the mall Santa, Blake begins to think he really is Santa Claus. Meanwhile, the evil scientist Ebner Frost (Ed Begley Jr.) tries to take over an orphanage in order to gain access to the magical crystals underneath it and dispatches his henchmen to destroy it. However, Blake after discovering that being Santa has made him a better person and that Frost wants to destroy the very same orphanage he grew up in, manages to rescue the children. Frost and his henchmen are arrested, but the orphanage is destroyed due to the overload of the crystals, so Blake opens his mansion as a new home for the orphans.
The first person narrator of the novel is Palatine Ross, a 70-year-old cleaning woman originally from New Orleans, whose childhood is dominated by poverty and loss.
Shutting her eyes to all the evil in the world and firmly relying on God and the words of the Bible as guidance, Palatine tries to raise Joy and her sisters to be educated, honest and religious members of society. The fact that, growing up in a rough neighbourhood, the not-yet-teenaged girls are very early in their lives confronted with sex willingly escapes her notice. It troubles Palatine a great deal when Dagwood, her neighbour's new boyfriend, starts spending the night with the girls' mother. One morning during the summer vacation, while his girlfriend is at work and Palatine is taking care of the children, Dagwood stays on in the apartment.
Right from the start, Palatine tries to take the three girls along to church, seeing that their blaspheming mother will never do so. Time and again, in the course of more than twenty years, Palatine tries to convince Joy that finding herself a nice coloured boyfriend whom she could marry and have children with would be the right thing to do. However, "Chocolate Chip" remains a one-hit wonder after an interview given by Brenda to some gay magazine in which she announces her coming out as a lesbian.
However, rather than being able to mourn Joy's death, she for the first time learns things about Joy which finally force her to abandon her blinkered view of her "God-sent child" and admit that she was a sinner rather than a saint.
Category:1990 American novels Category:African-American novels Category:Novels set in New Orleans Category:Novels set in San Francisco Category:Novels set in New York City Category:Literature by African-American women Category:Century (imprint) books
''Breakfast of Champions'' tells the story of the events that lead up to the meeting of Kilgore Trout and Dwayne Hoover, the meeting itself, and the immediate aftermath. Trout is a struggling science fiction writer who, after their fateful meeting, becomes successful and wins a Nobel Prize; Hoover is a wealthy businessman who is going insane, sent over the brink by his encounter with Trout.
Trout, who believes himself to be completely unknown as a writer, answers an invitation to appear at the Midland City arts festival. First he goes to New York City, where he is abducted and beaten up by a group of anonymous, faceless characters who through the media gain the moniker "The Pluto Gang." Trout hitches a ride first with a truck driver, with whom he discusses everything from politics to sex to the destruction of the planet. Then he hops a ride with the only clearly happy character in the book, the driver of a Ford Galaxie who works for himself as a traveling salesman.
Hoover gradually becomes insane as the book progresses. He terrifies his employee at the Pontiac dealership, Harry LeSabre, by criticizing his clothes. LeSabre is afraid Hoover has discovered that he is a closeted transvestite. A recent prison parolee named Wayne Hoobler attempts to find work with Hoover, but is rebuffed. With nowhere else to go, Hoobler hangs around the car lot. Hoover then gets into a fight with his mistress and secretary, Francine Pefko, because he accuses her of asking him to buy her a Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise.
Trout and Hoover meet in the cocktail lounge of the new Holiday Inn, where Hoover's homosexual and estranged son, Bunny, plays the piano. When the bartender turns on the black lights and Trout's white shirt glows brilliantly, Hoover is entranced by it. He accosts Trout and speed-reads his novel, ''Now It Can Be Told''. The premise of the novel is that there is only one creature with free will in the universe (the reader of the novel) and everyone else is a robot. Hoover interprets its message as addressed to him from the Creator of the Universe and goes on a violent rampage, injuring many people around in the belief they are unfeeling robots, including Bunny, Pefko, and Trout. Hoover is eventually institutionalized and winds up a homeless derelict.
In the epilogue, Trout is released from the hospital after Hoover partly bit off his finger in the rampage, and is wandering back to the arts festival, which unbeknownst to him has been canceled. The narrator, who has become an interactive character in the universe of his own creation, watches Trout and then chases him down. He proves that he is the Creator of the Universe by sending Trout all around the world, through time and back. Then he returns to his own universe, presumably, through the "void," while Trout yells after him, "Make me young!"
The novel is framed as the memoir of Howard W. Campbell, Jr. He is writing it while imprisoned and waiting for his war crimes trial for his actions as a Nazi propagandist. Campbell, an American who moved to Germany with his parents at age 11, recounts his childhood as the Nazi Party is consolidating its power. Instead of leaving the country with his parents, Campbell continues his career as a playwright, his only social contacts being Nazis. Being of sufficiently ″Aryan″ heritage, Campbell becomes a member of the party in name only. He is politically apathetic, caring only for his art and his wife Helga, who is also the starring actress in all of his plays.
Campbell encounters Frank Wirtanen, an agent of the U.S. War Department. Wirtanen wants Campbell to spy as a double agent for the United States in the impending world war. Campbell rejects the offer, but Wirtanen quickly adds that he wants Campbell to think about it. Once the war starts, Campbell begins to make his way up through Joseph Goebbels' propaganda organization, eventually becoming the "voice" of broadcasts aimed at converting Americans to the Nazi cause (a parallel to the real broadcaster, Dr. Edward Vieth Sittler). Unbeknownst to the Nazis, all of the idiosyncrasies of Campbell's speeches – deliberate pauses, coughing, etc. – are part of the coded information he is passing to the American Office of Strategic Services. Campbell never discovers, nor is he ever told, the information that he is sending.
About halfway through the war, Helga goes to the Eastern Front to entertain German troops. Campbell is extremely distraught when he hears that the camp Helga visited in Crimea has been overrun by Soviet troops and she is presumed dead. In early 1945, just before the Red Army invades Berlin, Campbell visits his in-laws one last time. During the visit, he has a conversation with Helga's younger sister, Resi, that resonates with him for years afterward. After Campbell is captured by American forces, Wirtanen works out a deal in which he is set free and given passage to New York City.
Fifteen years later, Campbell lives an anonymous life, sustained only by memories of his wife and an indifferent curiosity about his eventual fate. His only friend is George Kraft, a likewise lonely neighbor—who, through an extraordinary coincidence, also happens to be a Soviet intelligence agent. He tries to trick Campbell into fleeing to Moscow by publicizing his identity and location. A white supremacist organization makes Campbell a ''cause célèbre'', inviting him to speak to new recruits. The group's leader, a dentist named Lionel Jones, shows up at Campbell's apartment with a surprise: a woman claiming to be Helga, alive and well and professing her undying love. Campbell's will to live returns, and remains even after he finds out that she is not Helga, but rather Resi. They plan to escape to Mexico City after attending one of Jones' fascist meetings.
There, Wirtanen makes an appearance to warn Campbell of Kraft's plot and Resi's complicity. Heartbroken, Campbell decides to go along with the charade. He confronts Kraft and Resi, the latter swearing her feelings for him are genuine. The FBI then raids the meeting and takes Campbell into custody, while Resi commits suicide by taking a cyanide capsule. As before, Wirtanen uses his influence to have Campbell set free. Once Campbell returns to his apartment, however, he realizes that he has no real reason to continue living, and decides to turn himself in to the Israelis to stand trial.
While imprisoned in Israel, Campbell meets Adolf Eichmann and gives him advice on how to write an autobiography. At the very end of the book, he inserts a letter that he has just received from Wirtanen. The corroborating evidence that he was indeed an American spy has finally arrived, and Wirtanen writes that he will testify to Campbell's true loyalties in court. Rather than being relieved, Campbell feels disgusted by the idea that he will be saved from death and granted freedom only when he is no longer able to enjoy anything that life has to offer (too old and physically worn out). In the last lines, Campbell tells the reader that he will hang himself not for crimes against humanity, but rather for "crimes against himself." Campbell then realizes that he is alone in the world.
''Seasons'' begins as the Triforce calls out to Link from within Hyrule Castle. Link approaches it, and is transported to a dark forest where he encounters a traveling group led by a dancer named Din. After Din welcomes Link to Holodrum, the sky becomes covered in black clouds. A voice from the clouds calls Din the Oracle of Seasons and refers to himself as Onox, General of Darkness. A funnel cloud drops from the sky, taking Din into its dark heights. As the tornado dissipates, the seasons of Holodrum fall into disarray and change rapidly.
Din's attendant, Impa, tells Link that they were headed for Hyrule; she instructs him to see the Maku Tree in Horon Village, the capital of Holodrum. Link finds a sword in a cave and makes his way to the tree. The Maku Tree tells Link he will need the eight Essences of Nature and gives him the Gnarled Key, which unlocks the dungeon holding the first Essence. Link retrieves the eight Essences from eight dungeons throughout Holodrum and Subrosia and brings them to the Maku Tree, who uses them to create a Huge Maku Seed, a sacred evil-cleansing seed that allows Link to enter Onox's castle.Tremende (Seasons), p. 12. Link enters the castle, defeats Onox, and rescues Din, who tells him that he is now a true hero and must face a new trial soon. Twinrova, watching the scene remotely, states that the Flame of Destruction has been powered by the havoc Onox has wrought.
As with ''Seasons'', the Triforce calls out to Link. Link is transported to a forest in the land of Labrynna, where he hears screaming. In a clearing, Link finds Impa, surrounded by monsters, but the monsters flee when they see Link. Impa then asks Link to help her find a singer in the forest.The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages instruction booklet, pp. 4–5. The two find Nayru, a young blue-haired woman singing on a tree stump surrounded by forest creatures. A shadow emerges from Impa and reveals itself as Veran, the Sorceress of Shadows. Veran possesses Nayru, the Oracle of Ages; this disrupts the flow of time.
Link receives a sword from Impa and makes his way to the Maku Tree in Lynna City, the capital of Labrynna. Veran orders that the Maku Tree be killed; Link uses a time portal to travel to the past to prevent this. The Maku Tree tells Link he will need the eight Essences of Time to defeat Veran. Link sets out to retrieve the eight Essences, hidden in eight dungeons throughout Labrynna's past and present. After getting the sixth Essence, Link is told he can save Nayru. He invades Queen Ambi's castle and removes Veran's spirit from Nayru, but Veran then possesses Queen Ambi. Link gathers the remaining Essences and brings them to the Maku Tree, who uses them to create a Huge Maku Seed that allows Link to enter Veran's Black Tower.Tremende (Ages), p. 12. Link ascends the tower and defeats Veran, rescues Queen Ambi, and Nayru tells him that all has returned to normal. Twinrova, watching the scene remotely, states that Veran has lit the Flame of Sorrow.
If one game is played as a sequel to the other by a linked password, Twinrova captures Princess Zelda, lighting the Flame of Despair. Link enters a warp point by the Maku Tree and faces Twinrova, who is attempting to use the three Flames to revive Ganon. Link defeats Twinrova and a mindless, poorly resurrected Ganon.''The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons''/''Oracle of Ages''. '''Zelda:''' Since they could not sacrifice me in their final rite, the powers of darkness could only revive a mindless, raging Ganon. He frees Zelda and together, they exit the crumbling castle. After the credits, Link is seen waving to a crowd from a sailboat off the shore of a land with a castle in the background.
Giles De'Ath (John Hurt) is a British writer who doesn't use or understand anything modern. One day, he forgets his keys and locks himself out of his flat. It begins to rain, so he goes to see an E. M. Forster movie but, instead, accidentally enters the wrong theatre and sees the teen film ''Hotpants College II'' starring Ronnie Bostock (Jason Priestley). He becomes instantly infatuated with Ronnie's beauty and becomes obsessed with the young actor. He goes to his movies in the cinema, buys teen magazines and cuts out pictures of him, and buys a VCR and TV in order to play rented video tapes of his movies. He lets his housekeeper come into his office less and less, so that he can do these things undisturbed.
As his infatuation grows, it becomes obvious to those around him that Giles is becoming increasingly disturbed, though they don't know why. His friend and agent suggests that he take a holiday.
Giles sets out to meet Ronnie on Long Island. He flies to Long Island and takes a train to Ronnie's home town where he takes a motel room for several weeks. He searches the town for Ronnie - unsuccessfully at first - but finally spots Ronnie's girlfriend and follows her to the supermarket. Giles rams his shopping cart into her to force an introduction and invents a story about his god-daughter, Abigail, being in love with Ronnie. The girlfriend, Audrey (Fiona Loewi), is seemingly glad to have found a fan-base for Ronnie in England, and spends the day talking to Giles. She then tells him that she and Ronnie will invite him over at another time, and they can talk about Ronnie's career.
Eventually Giles becomes a regular visitor at Ronnie and Audrey's house. Ronnie is flattered by Giles, and Giles is able to stay longer in his presence by claiming that he will write a new script for Ronnie, one that better suits his acting abilities. Audrey becomes suspicious of Giles's motives regarding Ronnie, and she tells Giles that she is taking Ronnie to see her parents for an extended visit. Giles is very upset, and in a last-ditch effort confronts Ronnie and tells him how he feels about him. He says that many artists have had younger male lovers, and that Ronnie should split up with Audrey because it is obvious to him (Giles) that it won't last. Ronnie rejects Giles but seems genuinely concerned for him. The film ends with a screening of Ronnie's next film: another ''Hotpants College'' movie where he quotes Walt Whitman at his mother's funeral as written by Giles. What happens to Giles in the end is not shown.
During the events of the preceding film ''Beneath the Planet of the Apes'', occurring off-screen, Cornelius and Zira escaped Earth prior to its destruction when they accompanied their fellow chimpanzee Dr. Milo in salvaging and repairing the spaceship originally used by Taylor. The shock wave of Earth's destruction sends the ship through a time warp that brings the apes to 1973 Earth, splashing down off the Pacific coast of the United States.
The apes are transported to a secluded ward of the Los Angeles Zoo, under the observation of scientists Dr. Stephanie Branton and Dr. Lewis Dixon. With Dr. Milo explaining their situation in private, the apes decide not to let the humans know that they can speak while agreeing not to reveal Earth's destruction from the Ape War. However Zira's impatience exposes the apes' power of speech during an experiment and Dr. Milo is killed moments later by a zoo gorilla who became agitated by the chimpanzees' argument. Lewis tries to communicate with the apes that he is peaceful and he wishes to treat them as equals, winning their friendship as a result.
A Presidential Commission is formed to investigate the return of Taylor's spaceship and determine how atypically intelligent apes came to be aboard it. The apes are brought before the Commission, where they publicly reveal their ability to speak. The council asks them about Taylor, but Cornelius and Zira tell them that they know nothing about him. They reveal that they came from the future and escaped Earth when war broke out. They are welcomed as guests of the government. Cornelius and Zira secretly tell Stephanie and Lewis that they did know about Taylor, explain how humans are treated in the ape-dominated future, and about the Earth's destruction. Stephanie and Lewis are shocked but still sympathetic, the latter advising the couple to keep this information secret until they can gauge the potential reaction of their hosts.
The apes become celebrities, and are lavished with gifts and media attention. They come to the attention of the President's Science Advisor Dr. Otto Hasslein, who discovers Zira is pregnant. Fearing for the future of the human race, he offers her champagne (for which she has developed a taste) to loosen her inhibitions and questions her further while recording it. Her candid responses enable him to convince the Commission that Cornelius and Zira must be subjected to more rigorous questioning.
Hasslein insists that he simply wants to know how apes became dominant over men. Cornelius reveals that the human race will cause its own downfall and become dominated by simians, and that simian aggression against humans will lead to Earth's destruction by a weapon made by humans. Zira explains that the gorillas started the war, and the orangutans supported the gorillas, but the chimpanzees had nothing to do with it. Hasslein suspects that the apes are not speaking the whole truth.
During the original hearing, Zira accidentally reveals that she dissected humans in the course of her work. Hasslein orders Lewis to administer a truth serum to her while Cornelius is confined elsewhere. Lewis assures Zira that the serum will have the same effect as champagne. As a result of the serum, Hasslein learns details about Zira's examination and experimentation on humans along with her knowledge of Taylor.
Zira joins Cornelius in confinement while Hasslein takes his findings to the President, who reluctantly must abide by the council's ruling to have Zira's pregnancy be terminated and that both apes be sterilized. In their chambers, Cornelius labels Hasslein and the others savages for Zira's treatment as she reminds Cornelius that she did the same thing to humans and Taylor called them savages. Zira is relieved to have revealed the truth because she was tired of lying. Cornelius fears that the truth will get them killed. When an orderly arrives to offer the apes food, his playful reference to their unborn child as a "little monkey" makes Cornelius lose his temper and he knocks the orderly to the floor, before escaping with Zira. Cornelius assumes he merely knocked out the orderly, but he is actually dead. Hasslein uses the tragedy in support of his claim that the apes are a threat and calls for their execution, but is ordered by the President to bring them in alive as he will not endorse punishment for the orderly's death until due process has been served.
Branton and Dixon help the apes to escape, taking them to a circus run by Señor Armando, where an ape named Heloise has just given birth. Zira gives birth to a son, whom she names Milo in honor of their deceased friend. When Hasslein, knowing that Zira's labor was imminent, orders a search of all circuses and zoos, Armando insists the apes leave for their safety. Lewis arranges for the apes to hide out in the shipyard in the Los Angeles harbor until the coast is clear to return to the circus as it heads to Florida, giving Cornelius a pistol as the couple does not want to be taken alive.
Hasslein tracks the apes to the shipping yard and mortally wounds Zira when she refuses to hand over the infant, firing several shots into the infant before being killed by Cornelius. Cornelius is shot by a sniper and falls. Zira tosses the dead baby over the side and crawls to die with her husband, witnessed by a grieving Lewis and Stephanie.
As Armando's circus prepares to leave for Florida, it is revealed that Zira switched babies with Heloise prior to leaving the circus and that Armando is aware. Milo then begins to talk.
On a rural Oklahoma farm in 1969, young Jo Thornton and her family take shelter from a massive F5 tornado that closes in on their home; Jo's watches her father die as he tries to hold down the shelter door, but gets sucked into the twister, and their farmhouse is completely destroyed. Twenty-seven years later, Jo is a meteorologist obsessed with tornadoes and leader of a rag-tag team of storm chasers. She is on the brink of divorce from retired storm chaser-turned-anchorman Bill "The Extreme" Harding. Bill travels to rural Oklahoma to get Jo to sign their divorce papers, also introducing his new fiancé, reproductive therapist Dr. Melissa Reeves. Though Bill has no intention of staying, he discovers that Jo has created "Dorothy", a capsule-like device filled with weather sensors that he conceptualized but never saw realized. Dorothy would be revolutionary for tornado research, but has to be dangerously deployed in the damage path of a tornado. Jo's team rushes off to chase a developing storm, while Bill and Melissa are forced to pursue them when Jo packs the unsigned papers.
While getting a damaged tire replaced at a repair shop, he encounters Jonas Miller, a rival storm chaser, who has stolen his idea for a Dorothy-like device and plans to deploy his corporate-sponsored version first to receive sole credit. Enraged, Bill agrees to give Jo one day for her team to successfully deploy Dorothy. As the team pursues a developing F1 tornado, Bill accidentally gets Jo's vehicle stuck in a ditch, eventually crashing it into a small bridge. They seek shelter under the bridge as the tornado destroys the truck, along with one of the four Dorothy prototypes. With more storms developing, Bill uses his own truck, a Dodge Ram, and leads the team to pursue an intensifying F2 tornado. Once again they encounter Jonas's team, but Bill uses his instinct to accurately predict a sudden change in the tornado's path. While driving across a bridge, they encounter two waterspouts that ambush their truck and thrash it about violently before dissipating. Bill and Jo are unscathed, though Melissa is traumatized.
The team talks Jo into visiting her aunt Meg's house in the nearby town of Wakita. Over steak and eggs, Bill explains Jo's childhood story to Melissa, while Meg infers Jo is still in love with Bill and advises her to stay with him. The team learns of a developing twister and they scramble to pursue it. Jo and Bill intercept the tornado, but it turns out to be a violent F3 with highly unpredictable movements, knocking over powerlines that crush Dorothy II. With the truck damaged, Bill forces them to retreat, but Jo has a mental breakdown over the failure and argues about her motivations, her past, and her father. Bill admits he still has feelings for her, not realizing that their entire conversation is overheard by Melissa through the CB radio.
That night, the crew repair their vehicles in a shop next to a drive-in screening of ''The Shining'', where Jo finally signs the divorce papers to assuage Bill's conflicted feelings. However, the surprise appearance of an F4 tornado forces the team to seek shelter under the garage. The tornado obliterates the theater, destroys two of the team's vehicles, and injures several people, including one of the team members before proceeding directly towards Wakita. The team realizes that Meg is in grave danger and scramble to rescue her. Before they leave, Melissa gently breaks up with Bill and assures him that Jo still needs him.
Wakita, having no warning of the oncoming tornado due to its tornado sirens, is left in ruins. Though her home is flattened, Meg is rescued with minor injuries and encourages Jo to continue with her work so that future warnings will be more effective. With a record-breaking F5 tornado forecasted by the National Severe Storms Laboratory to form the next day, Bill and Jo are inspired by Meg's wind vanes to add aluminum "wings" to the last two Dorothy prototype sensors, making them more aerodynamic. The next day, the team pursue the correctly predicted, mile-wide F5 tornado. Their first attempt to deploy the unanchored Dorothy fails when it is destroyed by an airborne tree. Meanwhile, Jonas attempts to deploy his device, ignoring Bill and Jo's warnings to stay away from the tornado. As a result, his driver Eddie is impaled by a transmitter tower and their vehicle is swept away, killing them both in a fiery explosion. With the last remaining Dorothy affixed to the truck's bed, the two sacrifice Bill's truck by driving it directly at the tornado, setting the cruise control, and jumping out. Dorothy is successfully deployed with immediate results. However, Jo and Bill are forced to outrun the tornado on foot after it shifts toward them. They hide in a nearby plumbing facility and, strapping themselves to deep pipes, they ride out the tornado, getting an incredible view of its core. After the tornado dissipates, they celebrate their success with the rest of the crew and rekindle their love.
The play begins with two middle-aged men stumbling across a hillside wilderness, guided by a pet crow and a pet jackdaw. One of them advises the audience that they are fed up with life in Athens, where people do nothing all day but argue over laws, and they are looking for Tereus, a king who was once metamorphosed into the Hoopoe, for they believe he might help them find a better life somewhere else. Just then, a very large and fearsome bird emerges from a camouflaged bower, demanding to know what they are up to and accusing them of being bird-catchers. He turns out to be the Hoopoe's servant. They appease him and he returns indoors to fetch his master. Moments later the Hoopoe himself appears—a not very convincing bird who attributes his lack of feathers to a severe case of moulting. He is happy to discuss their plight with them, and meanwhile one of them has a brilliant idea: the birds, he says, should stop flying about like idiots and instead should build themselves a great city in the sky, since this would both allow them to lord it over men and enable them to blockade the Olympian gods in the same way that the Athenians had recently starved the island of Melos into submission. The Hoopoe likes the idea, and he agrees to help implement it, provided, of course, that the two Athenians can first convince all the other birds. He calls to his wife, the Nightingale, and bids her to begin her celestial music. The notes of an unseen flute swell through the theatre, and meanwhile the Hoopoe provides the lyrics, summoning the birds of the world from their different habitats—birds of the fields, mountain birds and birds of the trees, birds of the waterways, marshes and seas. These soon begin to appear, and each of them is identified by name on arrival. Four of them dance together while the rest form into a Chorus.
On discovering the presence of men, the newly arrived birds fly into a fit of alarm and outrage, for mankind has long been their enemy. A skirmish follows, during which the Athenians defend themselves with kitchen utensils that they find outside the Hoopoe's bower, until the Hoopoe at last manages to persuade the Chorus to give his human guests a fair hearing. The cleverer of the two Athenians, the author of the brilliant idea, then delivers a formal speech, advising the birds that they were the original gods and urging them to regain their lost powers and privileges from the johnny-come-lately Olympians. The birds are completely won over and urge the Athenians to lead them in their war against the usurping gods. The clever one then introduces himself as Pisthetaerus (Trustyfriend), and his companion is introduced as Euelpides (Goodhope). They retire to the Hoopoe's bower to chew on a magical root that will transform them into birds. Meanwhile, the Nightingale emerges from her hiding place and reveals herself as an enchantingly feminine figure. She presides over the Chorus of birds while they address the audience in a conventional parabasis:
::''Hear us, you who are no more than leaves always falling, you mortals benighted by nature,'' ::''You enfeebled and powerless creatures of earth always haunting a world of mere shadows,'' ::''Entities without wings, insubstantial as dreams, you ephemeral things, you human beings:'' ::''Turn your minds to our words, our etherial words, for the words of the birds last forever!''
The Chorus delivers a brief account of the genealogy of the gods, claiming that the birds are children of Eros and grandchildren of Night and Erebus, thus establishing their claim to divinity ahead of the Olympians. It cites some of the benefits the audience derives from birds (such as early warnings of a change in seasons), and it invites the audience to join them since birds easily manage to do things that mere men are afraid to do (such as beating up their fathers and committing adultery).
Pisthetaerus and Euelpides emerge from the Hoopoe's bower laughing at each other's unconvincing resemblance to a bird. After discussion, they name the city-in-the-sky Nephelokokkygia'','' or literally "cloud-cuckoo-land" (Νεφελοκοκκυγία), and then Pisthetaerus begins to take charge of things, ordering his friend to oversee the building of the city walls while he organizes and leads a religious service in honour of birds as the new gods. During this service, he is pestered by a variety of unwelcome visitors, including a young versifier out to hire himself to the new city as its official poet, an oracle-monger with prophecies for sale, a famous geometer, Meton, offering a set of town-plans, an imperial inspector from Athens with an eye for a quick profit, and a statute-seller trying to peddle a set of laws originally written for a remote, barely-heard-of town called Olophyx. Pisthetaerus chases off all these intruders and then retires indoors to finish the religious service. The birds of the Chorus step forward for another parabasis. They promulgate laws forbidding crimes against their kind (such as catching, caging, stuffing, or eating them), and they end by advising the festival judges to award them first place or risk getting defecated on.
Pisthetaerus returns to the stage moments before a messenger arrives with a report on the construction of the new walls: they are already finished thanks to the collaborative efforts of numerous kinds of birds. A second messenger then arrives with news that one of the Olympian gods has snuck through the defenses. A hunt is organized. The goddess Iris is detected and cornered, and soon she wafts down under guard. After being interrogated and insulted by Pisthetaerus, she is allowed to fly off to her father Zeus to complain about her treatment. Hardly has she gone when a third messenger arrives, declaring that men in their multitudes are now flocking to join the new city-in-the-sky.
Another set of unwelcome visitors arrives as advertised, singing due to the inspiration of the new city. One is a rebellious youth who exults in the notion that here at last he has permission to beat up his father. The famous poet, Cinesias, is next, waxing incoherently lyrical as the poetic mood takes hold of him. Third is a sycophant in raptures at the thought of prosecuting victims on the wing. All of them are sent packing by the Pisthetaerus. Prometheus arrives next, sheltering under a parasol because he is an enemy of Zeus and he is trying not to be seen from the heavens. He has come with advice for Pisthetaerus: the Olympians are starving because men's offerings no longer reach them; they are desperate for a peace treaty, but Pisthetaerus shouldn't negotiate with them until Zeus surrenders both his sceptre and his girlfriend, Sovereignty—she is the real power in Zeus's household. His mission accomplished, Prometheus departs just moments before a delegation from Zeus arrives. There are only three delegates: the brother of Zeus, Poseidon, the oafish Heracles, and some even more oafish god worshipped by barbarians called Triballians. Pisthetaerus easily outwits Heracles, who in turn bullies the barbarian god into submission, and Poseidon is thus outvoted – the delegation accepts Pisthetaerus's terms. He is proclaimed king by a heavenly herald, and he is presented with Zeus's sceptre by Sovereignty, a vision of loveliness. The festive gathering departs amid the strains of the wedding march: ''Hymen O Hymenai'O! Hymen O Hymenai'O!''
Stefan Viziru lives in Bucharest and works for the Romanian state. He lives with his wife Ioana and also has a mistress, Ileana, whom he met at a Midsummer celebration. Stefan is torn between his affection for both women and is at the same time on a spiritual quest. He wishes to discover a sacred time which stands independently from the historical time and the destructive developments in contemporary Europe. Stefan befriends several people who influence him. A philosophy teacher argues that Stefan is searching for the paradise of his childhood. When Stefan tries to provide refuge for a member of the Iron Guard, he is put in a prison camp and temporarily loses his job. Ileana becomes engaged to an officer who dies in a car accident, after which she leaves Bucharest.
Stefan's wife Ioana and their son die in the bombings of Bucharest in 1944. Stefan realises that he loves Ileana and sets out to find her. He travels around Europe and goes through a lot of searching. Eventually he finds her, on Midsummer's eve of 1948 in a forest in France. As they leave the forest together they are killed in a car accident.
There are many continuations from ''The 400 Blows''; discharged from the army as unfit, Antoine Doinel seeks out his sweetheart, violinist Christine Darbon. He has written to her voluminously (but, she says, not always nicely) while in the military. Their relationship is tentative and unresolved. Christine is away skiing with friends when Antoine arrives, and her parents must entertain him themselves, though glad to see him. After she learns that Antoine has returned from military service, Christine goes to greet him at his new job as a hotel night clerk. It is a promising sign that perhaps this time, the romance will turn out happily for Antoine. He is, however, quickly fired from the hotel job. Counting the army, Antoine loses three jobs in the film, and is clearly destined to lose a fourth, all symbolic of his general difficulty with finding his identity and "fitting in".
Later, Christine attempts to guess Antoine's third job, amusingly tossing out guesses like sheriff or water taster. Finally, his job as a private detective is revealed. Throughout the film, Antoine works to maintain the job, working a case that requires him to pose as a shoe store stock boy. The job separates Antoine from his relationship with Christine. Soon, he falls for his employer's attractive (and older) wife, who willingly seduces him. He quarrels with Christine, saying he has never "admired" her. Fired from the detective agency, by the film's end, Antoine has become a TV repairman. He still avoids Christine, but she wins him back by deliberately (and simply) disabling her TV, then calling his company for repairs while her parents are away. The company sends Antoine, who is once again bumbling and inept, trying for hours to fix a TV with just one missing tube. Morning finds the two of them in bed together.
The film's final scene shows the newly engaged Antoine and Christine, strolling in the park. A strange man who has trailed Christine for days approaches the couple and declares his love for Christine. He describes his love as "permanent" and unlike the "temporary" love of "temporary people". When he walks away, Christine explains that the man must be mad. Antoine, recognising similarities in much of his own previous behaviour, admits, "He must be".
In the early 1960s, at a San Francisco pet store, socialite Melanie Daniels meets lawyer Mitch Brenner who is looking to buy lovebirds for his sister Cathy's 11th birthday. Recognizing Melanie from her court appearance regarding a practical joke gone awry, Mitch pretends to mistake her for a shop employee. Mitch tests Melanie's knowledge of birds, which she fails. He discloses his prior knowledge of her and that his ruse was intended to make her appreciate being on the other end of a joke. Mitch leaves without buying anything. Finding him attractive, Melanie buys the lovebirds to make amends and drives to Bodega Bay after she learns Mitch has gone to his family's farm for the weekend. Melanie is directed to the local teacher, Annie Hayworth, to learn Cathy's name. Annie previously dated Mitch but ended it due to Mitch's cold, overbearing mother, Lydia, who dislikes any woman in Mitch's life.
Melanie rents a boat in town and crosses the bay to leave the lovebirds at the Brenner farm discreetly. Mitch spots Melanie during her retreat and drives into town to meet her at the dock. As Melanie approaches the wharf, a gull attacks her. Mitch tends her head wound inside the cafe. Lydia arrives, meets Melanie, and Mitch announces to Lydia that he is inviting Melanie to dinner. Melanie returns to Annie's house and asks to spend the night. At the farm, Lydia's hens are suddenly refusing to eat. Lydia expresses her disapproval of Melanie to Mitch due to her exaggerated reputation, as reported in gossip columns. Mitch calls Melanie and invites her to Cathy's birthday party being held the next day. Shortly after, there is a violent thud at Annie's front door. A dead gull is found at the threshold.
At Cathy's party, Melanie privately tells Mitch about her troubled past and her mother running off with another man when Melanie was Cathy's age. During a game, the children are attacked and some injured by gulls. Later that evening, as Melanie dines with the Brenners, sparrows swarm the house through the chimney. After, Mitch insists she delay driving back to San Francisco and stay the night. The next morning, Lydia visits her neighbor to discuss why their chickens will not eat. She discovers his eyeless corpse, pecked lifeless by birds, and flees in horror. As Lydia recovers at home, she fears for Cathy's safety, and Melanie offers to pick her up at school. As Melanie waits outside the schoolhouse, a large flock of crows slowly engulfs the jungle gym behind her. Anticipating an attack, she warns Annie. As they evacuate the children, the crows attack, injuring several children. Mitch finds Melanie at the restaurant. When gulls attack a gas station attendant, Mitch and several other men assist him outside. Spilled gasoline ignites, causing an explosion. During the escalating fire, Melanie and others rush out. More gulls attack, and Melanie takes refuge in a telephone booth. Mitch rescues her, and they get back inside the restaurant. A distraught woman blames Melanie for the attacks, claiming they began with her arrival.
Mitch and Melanie go to Annie's house to fetch Cathy. They find Annie's body outside, killed by the crows while protecting Cathy. That night, Melanie and the Brenners barricade themselves in the family home, which is attacked by waves of birds that nearly breach the boarded-up doors and windows. During a lull, Melanie investigates a fluttering sound in the attic bedroom. After discovering that the birds have pecked their way in through the roof, Melanie is violently attacked, trapping her until Mitch pulls her out. Melanie is badly injured and traumatized; Mitch insists they all drive to San Francisco to get Melanie to a hospital. As Mitch readies Melanie's car for their escape, a menacing sea of birds has quietly gathered around the Brenner house. The car radio reports bird attacks on nearby communities such as Santa Rosa, and the military may intervene. Cathy retrieves her lovebirds (the only birds who do not attack) from the house and joins Mitch and Lydia as they carefully escort Melanie past a mass of birds and into the car. The car slowly drives away as thousands of birds are ominously perching.
In the near-future, following a major recession, the Japanese government has passed the "BR ACT" to curb the nation's juvenile delinquency. Middle school student Shuya Nanahara copes with life after his father committed suicide. Their teacher, Kitano, resigns after being wounded by Yoshitoki Kuninobu, Shuya's best friend.
One year later, Shuya's class takes a field trip, but they are gassed and taken to a remote island. Kitano reappears surrounded by JSDF soldiers, explaining that the class was chosen to participate in the annual Battle Royale as a result of the Act: they have three days to fight to the death until a victor emerges; explosive collars will kill uncooperative students or those within "danger zones". Each student is provided rations, a map, supplies, and a random weapon. Kitano kills two of the students for disobedience, one of them being Kuninobu.
The first six hours see twelve deaths, four by suicide. The psychotic Mitsuko Souma and psychopathic Kazuo Kiriyama become the most dangerous players to others in the game. Transfer student Shogo Kawada lets Shuya go after killing one student, while Shuya accidentally kills another student. Basketball player Shinji Mimura plots to hack into the computer system to disrupt the program.
Amid shifting loyalties and violent confrontations, Shuya promises to keep Noriko Nakagawa safe, feeling it a duty to his fallen friend, as Kuninobu secretly loved her. Kawada reveals to the pair that he won a previous Battle Royale at the cost of his girlfriend, whose death he seeks to avenge. Kiriyama attacks and Shuya is wounded by his Uzi. He is saved by Hiroki Sugimura, who had his best friend die in his arms.
Shuya awakens in the island's lighthouse, bandaged by Yukie Utsumi, who has a crush on him. Five other girls are also hiding in the building. One of them, Yuko, attempts to poison him out of fear of him killing them. However, Yuka accidentally eats the food, leading to a shootout between the girls. Yuko is the only survivor; horrified, she commits suicide. Shuya, Noriko and Kawada set out to find Mimura.
Kiriyama kills Mitsuko, making Noriko the last surviving girl. Mimura, with two others, infiltrates the JSDF's computer system. Kiriyama kills them, but not before Mimura uses his homemade bomb to blow up the base to hide all evidence. When the trio arrives at the burning base, Kawada kills Kiriyama, who had his eyes burned out by the explosion, but in turn is injured by his Uzi.
On the final day, Kawada, aware of the collars' internal microphones, seemingly kills Shuya and Noriko by shooting them. Suspicious, Kitano ends the game, intent on personally killing the victor. He realizes that Kawada hacked the system months beforehand, and disabled Shuya and Noriko's tracking devices. The trio confronts Kitano in the control room, and he unveils a homemade painting of the massacred class depicting Noriko as the sole survivor. He reveals that he was unable to bear the hatred between him and his students, having been rejected by his own daughter, and confesses that he always thought of Noriko as a daughter. He asks her to kill him, but Shuya shoots him after he threatens her. Kitano's daughter calls him; after an argument, he dies of his wounds.
The trio leaves the island on a boat, but Kawada dies from his injuries, happy that he found friendship. Shuya and Noriko are declared fugitives, last seen on the run toward Shibuya Station. Noriko gives Shuya the Seto Dragon Claw butterfly knife Kuninobu used to injure Kitano at the beginning as they flee together.
Ben Healy is a kind man working for his father, "Big Ben" Healy, a successful but tyrannical sporting goods dealer running for mayor. Although Ben has worked for his father for ten years with nothing in return, his father plans on selling the company to the Japanese rather than giving it to his son, considering him "too nice" to be his heir. Meanwhile, Ben and his wife, Flo, cannot conceive and visit a fertility doctor who states that Flo is infertile. Wanting a child, Ben seeks help from adoption agent Igor Peabody, who presents him and Flo with a cute 7-year-old boy named Junior. Unbeknownst to them, he is a mischievous and incorrigible child who often causes chaos but also feels put upon. After seeing a news report of Martin "the Bow Tie Killer" Beck, being arrested while yelling that he is misunderstood, Junior thinks there is someone else like him. Junior becomes pen pals with Beck, and the film is interspersed with scenes of an imprisoned Martin looking to escape and meet Junior, whom he misidentifies as J.R. due to Junior's signature.
Shortly after Ben and Flo bring Junior home, Big Ben visits them and is shocked that they have adopted. Junior's bedroom catches fire when he shorts out the clown lights, and Big Ben calls him "The Devil". Junior throws Flo's cat at Big Ben and they both fall down the stairs and are injured. Next, Junior ruins a camping trip with Ben and Flo’s neighbor Roy and his family by urinating on the campfire and luring in a bear to scare his children. He then sabotages Lucy Henderson's 6th birthday party, after she snobbily bans him from her magic show. Ben, who witnessed the exclusion, confides in Junior it is tough to be left out and gives Junior his lucky prune. Ben explains his grandfather gave him the prune before he died, and makes Junior promise he will take care of it to show the father-son bond. Junior later wins a Little League game by belting rival players with a bat for bullying him. Horrified, Ben decides to return Junior; however, after hearing from Mr. Peabody that Junior was returned 30 times, Ben says that part of the problem is that people have taken the easy way out and that he and Flo will love him, which no family tried before. Junior, mistakenly thinking he is going to be returned, commandeers the car. Ben is impressed that Junior quickly learned how to drive until Junior fails to brake and ends up crashing into Big Ben's store. Ben then gets notified that his father cleaned out his individual retirement account to pay for damages.
Martin escapes from prison and arrives at the house, with Junior asserting Martin is his uncle. Martin is shocked to see "J.R." is a child and not a fellow criminal. Under the impression Martin is a blood relative, Flo sees this as her chance to be rid of Junior, but then falls for him when he comes on to her. The following morning, Martin kidnaps Flo and Junior by pretending to take her on their honeymoon, and him on a family outing, leaving a ransom note for Ben. Ben first sees this as good riddance to both Flo and Junior, but he starts to realize Junior isn't as bad as he initially seemed; a series of Junior's drawings depict children and adults who mistreated him as deformed monsters with hostile surroundings but depict Ben as a happy man in a pleasant background, revealing that Junior truly valued him as a father and that Junior's behavior was simply a reaction to the mistreatment he had received most of his life.
Also finding the prune intact, Ben undertakes a mission to rescue Junior. Ben goes to his father to borrow the ransom money but Big Ben says he should forget about his wife and kid. Before leaving, Ben challenges his father to say what he thinks about the town and activates the camera. Big Ben is shown on TV making disparaging remarks about people and ends by mooning the camera. Ben then commandeers Roy’s SUV and drives tracks in his yard. Ben catches up with Martin and Junior at the circus. Junior is rescued after escaping from Martin through a trapeze act, and he calls Ben "Dad" for the first time. Junior can drive to catch up to Martin while Ben uses a shotgun to disable Martin's car. Flo, locked in a suitcase, tells Ben she wants a divorce. Eventually, the suitcase flies over the wall, and lands in the back of a pig farmer's truck heading to Mexico, causing Ben to remark to himself how Flo always wanted to travel. Martin is arrested but manages to shoot Ben in the chest before being fully restrained. Thinking Ben has died, Junior apologizes for everything he has done, promises not to be naughty again, and says he loves Ben; however, Ben wakes up and says he loves Junior too, much to Junior's joy. Ben then reveals he survived because the bullet hit the prune.
Junior asks if Ben will hold him to all he said about being nice. Ben denies it and advises Junior to just be himself, and the two hug and proceed back home. Junior thinks to himself how he never thought he would meet a grownup who understood. Junior does change in one way, however: by disposing of his bow tie.
UAC board member Elliott Swann, his bodyguard Jack Campbell, and a recently transferred Marine arrive at Mars City, the main access to the UAC's Mars base. Sent to investigate multiple incidents involving the Delta Complex, Swann has a tense meeting with facility director Dr. Malcolm Betruger while the Marine reports to Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly for orders. Kelly orders the Marine to find a scientist from the Delta Labs who has gone missing. The marine finds the scientist in a decommissioned communications facility, where he is frantically trying to send a warning to the UAC on Earth about Betruger's teleportation experiments. However, as he tries to explain the situation to the marine, another teleportation test takes place but loses containment, at which point the entire Mars base is swept with a shockwave. The forces of Hell invade through the teleporter's portal and transform most of the base's personnel into zombies.
Much of ''Doom 3'', such as this section in the Delta Labs, was planned using storyboards.
Now forced to fend off attacks from zombified base personnel and demons from Hell, the Marine returns to Mars City, where Kelly gives him orders to link up with another squad of marines and get a transmission card containing a distress call to the main communications facility to call for reinforcements. As the Marine progresses through the base, he learns that Swann and Campbell have survived, and are also en route to the communications facility to prevent any messages being sent in order to contain the situation on Mars. The marine squad is ambushed by demons and slaughtered in the EnPro Plant, and although the Marine recovers the transmission card, he is too late to prevent the bulk of equipment at the communications facility being destroyed by Campbell. However, Kelly directs the Marine to a backup system, where the Marine is given the choice of whether to obey Kelly's orders to send for reinforcements, or accept Swann's argument to keep Mars isolated until the nature of the invasion is understood, so as not to endanger Earth. The Marine is told to go to the Delta Labs by Kelly or Swann, depending on whether the transmission is sent or not.
On the way to the Delta Labs, the Marine is contacted by Betruger, who is now shown to be working in cooperation with Hell in order to invade Earth. If the Marine did not send the distress call to Earth, Betruger does so himself, hoping to use the ships bringing reinforcements to transport the demons to Earth. Betruger then unsuccessfully attempts to kill the Marine using the toxic gases in the base's recycling facilities. Upon arriving at the Delta Labs, the Marine learns of the details behind the teleportation experiments, expeditions into Hell to retrieve specimens and Betruger's increasing obsession with the tests, as well as of a xenoarchaeological dig under the surface of Mars. The dig is excavating the ruins of an ancient civilization discovered on Mars, and has produced a relic known as the Soul Cube. According to a scientist the Marine finds in the labs, the Soul Cube is a weapon created by the ancient civilization to defend against the forces of Hell. The scientist also reveals that the invasion began when Betruger took the Soul Cube into the portal at the beginning of the game, depositing it in Hell. The Marine pursues Betruger through the labs, but is pulled into the main teleportation portal after being lured into a trap by Betruger.
The portal takes the Marine directly into Hell, where he proceeds to fight his way through a large number of demons to the Soul Cube, defeating its demonic guardian. The Marine is then able to reinitialize the teleportation equipment left by previous research expeditions and return to the Delta Labs. Betruger, however, tells the Marine that although the main UAC teleporter has been destroyed, Hell is opening a Hellmouth on Mars, capable of bringing millions of demons to Mars. The Marine encounters the injured Swann, who informs him that Kelly has been working with Hell for possibly the whole time, and has been transformed by the demons. Telling the Marine that Campbell has gone after Kelly, Swann gives the marine his PDA containing information on the location on the Hellmouth under the surface of Mars and says that he will try to make his way out of the base alone.
However, when the Marine catches up with Campbell in the central computer processing sector of the base, Campbell is mortally wounded; before expiring, he says that Kelly has taken Campbell's BFG 9000 weapon. Kelly then begins to taunt the marine in a demonic voice. The Marine eventually faces off with Kelly in the central computer core, revealing Kelly as a cybernetic human grafted onto a tank-like base. The Marine is able to kill Kelly and takes the BFG 9000 before proceeding deeper under the Martian surface to Site 3, the archaeological dig site where the Soul Cube was unearthed. At the primary excavation site, the Marine discovers the Hellmouth, defended by Hell's mightiest warrior, the Cyberdemon. Using the Soul Cube, the Marine defeats the Cyberdemon, and the Soul Cube then seals the Hellmouth. The ending cut scene shows the reinforcements from Earth arriving at the base to discover the carnage. They find the Marine alive, but discover that Swann has died from his injuries. They are unable to locate Betruger, who in the final scene is shown in Hell, reincarnated as a dragon-like demon.
The series is set in Universal Century 0079 in the jungles of Southeast Asia. The Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon are fighting a brutal guerrilla war for control of the area and its resources. Zeon's best hope for victory in the region rests with an experimental mobile armor and its pilot, Aina Sahalin. Meanwhile, the Earth Federation Army receive reinforcements in the form of Ensign Shiro Amada, newly named commander of the 08th MS Team. Aina and Shiro know each other from a mutual rescue in space, but when Shiro discovers that Aina is in fact the pilot of the Zeon mobile armor he is arrested for treason.
The Federation offers Shiro one chance at redemption: he must take the 08th MS Team deep into Zeon held territory to find Zeon's hidden base. With the Zeon backed into a corner, and the Federation dependent on Shiro and his team for victory, the star crossed lovers must decide where their true allegiances lie: with each other, or with their respective sides.
''Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket'' is a side story to the main ''Gundam'' franchise continuity. The ''Gundam'' series is set in a fictional calendar era known as "Universal Century" and it establishes that there is a so-called "One Year War" between the Earth Federation and Principality of Zeon—the setting for the original series—, and ''War in the Pocket'' is set in the last days of the war.
In Universal Century 0079, Zeon intelligence has identified a prototype Federation Gundam under development in a Federation base in the Arctic. Elite Zeon MS commandos are dispatched to destroy the prototype, but before they can accomplish their mission the Gundam is launched into space. When the Gundam turns up in a Federation R&D base inside the neutral space colony Side 6, the Principality launches a covert operation to destroy the Gundam utilizing the commando team originally dispatched to assault the Arctic base, including young rookie Bernard "Bernie" Wiseman. However, the raid fails and the entire team is killed except for Bernie.
After crashing his mobile suit, Bernie manages to befriend Alfred "Al" Izuruha, an elementary school boy enamored with a romantic vision of warfare and excited by Bernie's status as a mobile suit pilot regardless of his allegiance, and Al's neighbor Christina "Chris" Mackenzie, secretly the Gundam test pilot. As Bernie tries to repair his damaged mobile suit while hiding out within the station, he develops a close friendship with Al and slowly becomes infatuated with Chris, both pilots remaining unaware of each other's true natures.
As time passes, Bernie discovers that Zeon will destroy Side 6 with a nuclear weapon if he cannot destroy the prototype Gundam. Feeling that he has no choice if the station is to be saved, Bernie takes his mobile suit and goes to engage the Gundam. Believing Side 6 to be under Zeon attack, Chris is ordered to pilot the Gundam in the station's defense, and she and Bernie engage in a destructive battle within the station. Al discovers that the Zeon ship carrying the nuclear weapons was captured, meaning Bernie has no more reason to fight. Alfred goes to try and stop Bernard, only to see Bernie's mobile suit destroyed and an injured Christina pulled from the heavily damaged Gundam, which leaves Al horrified.
Afterwards, Chris tells Al that she will be leaving Side 6, and asks Alfred to say goodbye to Bernard for her, still unaware that she had actually killed him. Al does not have the heart to tell her the truth and agrees to her request. The series closes with Al's school holding an assembly in which the principal talks about the effects of war. Al, remembering his time with Bernie, begins to weep uncontrollably during the speech. Al's friends, misunderstanding his grief, try to reassure him that another "cool" war is bound to happen soon.
The film is set 30 years after the events of ''Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack'' and none of the characters that had previously appeared in the series were present in the film.
In the year U.C. 0123, the military arm of Cosmo Babylonia, the Crossbone Vanguard, attacks the Earth Federation colony Frontier IV. Student mechanic Seabook Arno and his friend Cecily Fairchild are caught in the middle of the fighting as the Federation garrison is quickly overwhelmed. Seabook and Cecily lead a group of refugees into the lower levels of the colony, where they meet up with Seabook's father, Leslie. As the group boards a lifeboat, Seabook catches sight of Cecily's father, Theo, attempting to abduct her and tries to intervene. However, the Crossbone Vanguard arrives and takes Cecily, who is actually Berah Ronah, part of the Ronah family who are the leaders behind Cosmo Babylonia. Seabook is forced to retreat to the lifeboat while Leslie stays behind to help a lost child.
Cecily is taken to meet her real father Carozzo and grandfather Meitzer, who both dream of overthrowing the corrupt Earth Federation and replacing it with a more just aristocracy. Cecily is reluctant to join them, but feels she has no choice. Meanwhile, the lifeboat manages to reach the neighboring colony Frontier I, but it is also under attack by the Crossbone Vanguard. Seabook's group then comes across the ''Space Ark'', a Federation training ship carrying the inoperative Gundam F91. Due to the confusion caused by the Crossbone Vanguard's surprise attack, the ''Space Ark'' is run by a barely experienced skeleton crew with no available pilots. Pressed into Federation service, Seabook works on repairing the F91 and discovers it was developed by his mother, Monica. The crew is able to repair the F91 just in time to repel an assault by the Crossbone Vanguard, forcing them to retreat.
Seabook then uses the F91 to return to Frontier IV, where Cosmo Babylonia has already repaired most of the damage to the colony and has fully occupied it. He infiltrates the Ronah estate and makes contact with Cecily. However, he is forced to flee without her when the guards pursue him. Leslie helps Seabook escape Frontier IV, but he suffers a mortal head injury in the process and dies on the return trip to Frontier I. Cecily joins the Crossbone Vanguard under Zabine Chareux's command. He helps train Cecily to be a mobile suit pilot and warns her that there are several factions within Cosmo Babylonia working against each others' interests, with one faction working on a secret superweapon codenamed "Bug". Seabook returns to Frontier I, where he is again forced by the Federation to help defend the colony against an impending attack by the Crossbone Vanguard. Instead, Seabook and the crew of the ''Space Ark'' secretly decide to desert and flee to the Moon.
Cecily is assigned the advanced Vigna Ghina mobile suit and accompanies the Crossbone Vanguard as they break into Frontier I. After a brief but intense skirmish, the Crossbone Vanguard are once again forced to withdraw. Seabook encounters Cecily in battle and she decides to defect upon discovering her friends are still alive. Carozzo then arrives at Frontier I and deploys the Bugs, automated war machines designed to specifically hunt down humans. He believes that Earth's population must be purged to preserve its environment, and intends to use Frontier I as a testing ground for the Bugs. Seabook and Cecily work together to destroy the Bugs, with Cecily destroying their mothership. Angered, Carozzo deploys in his own mobile armor, the Rafflesia, and battles Seabook and Cecily. The Vigna Ghina is destroyed, ejecting Cecily into space and Seabook destroys the Rafflesia in response. Zabine arrives on the scene, but decides to spare Seabook and the ''Space Ark'' due to his disagreement over Carozzo's use of the Bugs and Rafflesia. After a desperate search, Seabook is able to find and rescue Cecily as the ''Space Ark'' arrives to pick them up.
The setting and plot of ''Overman King Gainer'' are a loose adaptation of the novel series ''La Compagnie des glaces'' by the French writer Georges-Jean Arnaud. After an environmental cataclysm, much of the world's population retreated into domed cities called ''Domepolis'', which are run by an organization known as "London IMA" (International Management Authority) and its police arm, "Saint Regan". However, the Domepoli are maintained and supplied by privatized firms such as the "Siberian Railroad Company". Many years have passed since the cataclysm, and many have begun to believe that the world environment has recovered sufficiently enough for humans to begin living outside Domepoli. As such, some inhabitants begin planning Exoduses to leave these cities and to resettle their ancestral homelands. However, this does not sit well with the London IMA or the private firms that monopolize trade between the Domepoli, as the loss of people would not only lead to a loss in tax and trade revenue, but if the Exodus were to be successful, it would show the people that it was no longer necessary to rely on the London IMA or the private firms for survival. They fiercely oppose any Exoduses, spreading propaganda on the evils effects of Exoduses on the Earth's environment, and using military force to prevent any attempted Exodus.
The story begins in a Domepolis in Siberia, where championship video game player Gainer Sanga is arrested by Siberian Railroad policewoman Adette Kistler on suspicion of being an Exodus member. Ironically he isn't, but his friends Sara Kodama and Bello Korissha along with his schoolteacher Mamado Azaf are members of the Gauli team, a militia unit of the local Exodus group. At the same time, Exodus expert and coordinator Gain Bijou lets himself be arrested by the Siberian Railroad police as part of his plan to infiltrate the city and steal an "Overman", which is a biomechanical giant robot, for use in defending the Exodus.
Gain is placed in the same prison cell as Gainer, and when Gain initiates his escape, only Gainer is willing to escape as well. They infiltrate the castle of Duke Medaiyu and steal an Overman in the Duke's secret museum collection, which Gainer logs into as his video game handle: "King Gainer". As Gainer gets the hang of piloting a real Overman, he and Gain encounter shut-in Princess Anna, the Duke's daughter, who supports the Exodus and wants to see the world and people other than her tutor, Lioubov Smettana. Using an annual festival presented by idol singer and co–Exodus leader, Meeya Laujin, as cover, the Exodus executes their plan: take much of the Domepolis, block by block, using heavy hauler machines called Silhouette Mammoths and move them over 3000 km across the Siberian tundra to their ancestral homeland, "Yapan". As the Exodus moves out, the Siberian Railroad police chief, Yassaba Jin, mobilizes his forces to stop them. Other obstacles to the Exodus are Kistler's and Jin's subordinates Jaboli Mariela, Kejinan Datto, and Enge Gam, Siberian Railroad president Kizz Munt, Saint Regan policemen Asuham Boone and Zakki Bronco, and Overman aces Cynthia Lane and Kashmir Valle.
CIA operative John Clark forms a secret multi-national counterterrorist unit known as Rainbow. Based in Hereford, England, the unit consists of two operational teams composed of elite soldiers from NATO countries, and is supplemented by intelligence and technological experts from MI6, Mossad, and FBI. Clark serves as the commanding officer, his son-in-law Domingo Chavez leads one of the two teams, and their second in command is Special Air Service (SAS) officer Alistair Stanley.
For their first deployment, Chavez's team rescues hostages during a bank robbery in Bern, Switzerland. Several weeks later, they are deployed to Austria, where a group of left-wing German terrorists have taken over the schloss of a wealthy Austrian businessman to obtain (nonexistent) "special access codes" to the international trading markets. They are then deployed to the Worldpark amusement park in Spain, where a group of Basque revolutionaries have taken a group of children hostage and demand that various prisoners, including Carlos the Jackal, be released.
Clark and his colleagues become suspicious about the sudden rise in terrorist attacks. Unbeknownst to them, the first two attacks are part of an intricate plan to wipe out nearly all of humanity, codenamed "the Project". Dr. John Brightling, a staunch radical environmentalist who heads a biotechnology firm called the Horizon Corporation, ordered the attacks through ex-KGB officer Dmitriy Popov to raise global concern over terrorism, which would then allow co-conspirator Bill Henriksen's security firm Global Security to land a key contract for the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Henriksen plans to release "Shiva", a deadly strain of the Ebola virus developed by Horizon and tested on kidnapped human test subjects, through the fog-cooling system of Stadium Australia, infecting everyone present. Since the Olympics attracts people from virtually every country in the world, infecting them would ensure the swift worldwide spread of Shiva. The resulting epidemic would kill millions, and Horizon would distribute a "vaccine" (actually a slow-acting version of the virus itself) which would then kill the rest of the world's population. The "chosen few", having been provided with the real vaccine, would then inherit the emptied world, justifying their genocidal actions as "saving the world" from the environmentally-destructive nature of humanity.
Popov, unaware of the Project, discovers the existence of Rainbow as he reviews the "police tactical teams" (actually Rainbow in disguise) that responded to his attacks, and brings it to Brightling's attention. Brightling and Henriksen task Popov with orchestrating an attack on Rainbow to prevent them from being deployed to the Sydney Olympics. He persuades breakaway members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army to attack a hospital near Rainbow's base and take Clark and Chavez's wives (who work there as a nurse and a doctor, respectively) hostage. When Rainbow arrives, a team of IRA militants ambush them, killing two Rainbow troopers and injuring several others, including Stanley. Despite this, the two Rainbow teams manage to repel the ambush, retake the hospital without civilian casualties, and capture some of the terrorists. Interrogation of their leader, Sean Grady, reveals Popov's involvement, and Brightling evacuates him to Horizon's secret OLYMPUS base in Kansas.
However, this action turns out to have been a fatal miscalculation by the conspirators; Popov was unaware of the genocidal plans of his employers, but the people at OLYMPUS talk openly about them. Upon learning about the Project, Popov, appalled by what he has assisted, escapes and reveals his knowledge to Clark and the FBI, who have been investigating the kidnappings of the Shiva test subjects. Popov's warning comes just in time for Chavez and his team, who were deployed to the Olympics to oversee venue security, to thwart Shiva's release at the last minute.
Their plans in shambles, Brightling and key co-conspirators escape to another, smaller Horizon base in the Amazon rainforest near Manaus, Brazil. Clark personally leads a team there, and they dispatch the guards and destroy the facility. Knowing that there is not enough evidence to convict them, Clark instead has the survivors stripped naked and left to fend for themselves in the jungle, taunting them to "reconnect with nature".
''Jasmine,'' which was based on an earlier short story in ''The Middleman and Other Stories,'' tells the story of a seventeen-year-old girl widowed after her husband's murder in a bomb attack. She and her husband originally planned to move to Florida, but as a result of his death Jasmine continues with the trip on her own. In her path she faces many obstacles as she travels from Florida to New York City to Iowa.
The novel begins with Jasmine retelling a story from her childhood about an astrologer who predicts her future as a widower living in exile. She fast forwards to life in Baden, Iowa where Jasmine (known as Jane in Iowa) is 24 years old, pregnant and living with 53-year-old banker Bud Ripplemayer, and his adopted son Du. Bud insists on marrying Jane, who refuses for unknown reasons. Bud is also in a wheelchair because he was shot in the back two years ago. Jane and Bud have a neighbor named Darrel Lutz, a recent college grad who inherited his family's farm. He is contemplating whether or not to sell his farm. Bud refuses to loan Darrel money to expand his herd and grow his crops because Bud doesn't trust Darrel's character as a farmer and a manager. Darrel also shows some romantic interest in Jane.
Jane walks us through her life with Du and Bud before flashing back to her life in Hasnapur, Jullundhar district, Punjab, India (page 39). Here in India, she is known as Jyoti. She has a teacher named Masterji, who teaches her English. Masterji urges Jyoti to continue with her education instead of getting married. Soon after Jyoti's father passes away, she meets Prakash. They marry and move in together. He begins to call her Jasmine. Prakash works two jobs and studies for his diploma exams while Jasmine runs a Ladies' Group raffle and sells detergent to make money. Prakash receives a letter from Professor Vadhera who encourages Prakash to study in America. He makes plans to move the two of them to Florida, when while out shopping for saris, Prakash is killed by a bomb, set off by a man named Sukhwinder. He yells "Prostitutes! Whores!" at Jasmine before the bomb goes off.
As "a matter of duty and honor," Jasmine continues with Prakash's plans to move to Florida, travelling by plane, train, and ship. Half-Face, the captain of the ship drives Jasmine to a motel when they arrive to land. He then sexually assaults her. Jasmine contemplates killing herself but instead kills Half-Face. She burns Prakash's suit that she carried with her and leaves the motel.
Jasmine meets Lillian Gordon, who takes her in. Mrs. Gordon is also housing three Kanjobal women. She calls Jasmine "Jazzy," and helps Jazzy get to New York to meet with Professor Vadhera. Lillian also has a daughter named Kate Gordon-Feldstein who works as a photographer in the city. Lillian is later sent to jail for "exploiting" undocumenteds for free cooking, cleaning and yard work. For five months, Jasmine lives with Professor Vadhera, whom she calls Professorji. She becomes depressed because she fears to leave the house without a green card. Professorji agrees to get her a green card, for fifty thousand rupees, or three thousand dollars.
Jasmine begins working for Wylie and Taylor Hayes, friends of Kate Gordon-Feldstein. She moves in with them in Manhattan to take care of their adopted daughter, Duff. Taylor calls her "Jase." Wylie falls out of love with Taylor and falls for Stuart. Wylie leaves Taylor, but Jase continues to take care of Duff. She falls in love with Taylor, but one day while the three of them are at the park, Jase spots Sukhwinder, the man that killed Prakash. She flees New York for Iowa. She chooses Iowa because Duff's birth mother lives in Iowa.
Back in present-day Iowa, Jane recalls the night two years ago when Harlan Kroener shot Bud. They were walking to Harlan's car when he shot Bud. He then proceeded to kill himself. Harlan was angry at Bud because of money issues with the bank. Before Bud met Jane, he was married to Karin. Karin initially hates Jane for taking her husband from her, but they maintain a platonic relationship.
Jane receives a letter from Taylor, letting her know he and Duff are on their way to find Jane. Du figures out Jane is in love with another man besides Bud. Jane goes to visit Darrel because he says he feels crazy, but she leaves soon when he starts insulting her and Bud's relationship. She suspects he might shoot himself that night. When she returns home, Du announces that he is going to Los Angeles to live with his sister and he leaves with his friend John. Karin visits, and the two of them drive to see how Darrel is faring. He is fixing up his hog house.
Back at the house, Jane tells Bud that Du went to visit his sister but he will be back before school starts. Bud later approves of Darrel's loan application, and the two of them drive over to let him know the news. But when they arrive, they discover him hanging from a rafter.
Bud begs for Jane to tell him she loves him, but she doesn't respond. Du has decided to stay in California. While Jane is working in the kitchen, she sees a car pull up the driveway and Taylor and Duff get out of the car. Taylor tries to convince Jase to come with him to California. She is conflicted, thinking of Bud who will lose everything if she leaves. She calls Karin and tells her she's "going somewhere," to see Du. Jasmine stops thinking of herself as Jane and follows Taylor and Duff to the car, whispering "Watch me re-position the stars," to the astrologer who foretold her widowhood and exile.
The game's start-up credits give a summary of the game's narrative:
What began as a conflict over the transfer of consciousness from flesh to machines escalated into a war which has decimated a million worlds. The ''Core'' and the ''Arm'' have all but exhausted the resources of a galaxy in their struggle for domination. Both sides now crippled beyond repair, the remnants of their armies continue to battle on ravaged planets, their hatred fueled by over four thousand years of total war. This is a fight to the death. For each side, the only acceptable outcome is the complete elimination of the other.
In the far future the galaxy is ruled by a benevolent central government of humans and artificially intelligent machines called the Core. The Core's technological and economic triumphs have allowed humanity to colonize most of the Milky Way and enjoy a golden age of peace and prosperity. However, the peace is shattered by a technological breakthrough dubbed ''patterning'', which allows the consciousness of a living human being to be reliably transferred into a machine, thereby granting a theoretically indefinite lifespan safe from disease, aging, and pain.
Following a mandate imposed by the Core requiring every human undergo patterning as a public health measure, a rebellion ensued among those who refused to leave their natural bodies to join the Core's machines. Fleeing the built-up Core worlds, the rebels established themselves in the remote rimward regions of the galaxy, coming to be known as the Arm. With the Core duplicating their greatest military minds to mass-produce sentient war machines, the Arm countered this buildup with a campaign of cloning bioengineered pilots for theirs, and a war that would last four thousand years began.
The game's two campaigns focus on their respective sides' last remaining military leaders, their Commanders. Each Commander pilots a towering, bipedal battlesuit bearing an arsenal of weapons, a powerful antimatter reactor, and enough advanced nanotechnology to enable a single Commander to fabricate an entire planetary invasion force on-site. The story of either the Core or the Arm campaign starts with an effort to defend the faction's homeworld from a decisive sneak-attack and initiate a turning point in the overall war. The player then fights a series of battles on a number of planets and moons, linked through a series of faster-than-light Galactic Gates. These Gates are complex to engineer and require extravagant energy resources to operate, so FTL invasions typically consist of a sole Commander who proceeds alone and bootstraps all military-industrial infrastructure on the far end. However, the element of surprise gained by the rapidity of these invasions has been sufficient to turn the tide of the war.
As the player progresses, more units become available for construction, either through the course of the story or upon completion of a mission centered on the unit in question. Mission objectives include protecting a vital structure or area, eliminating all enemy units, capturing a pivotal enemy unit, or seizing a Galactic Gate. The worlds upon which the player wages warfare force the player to adapt to different strategies; for example, deployment on a world whose surface is entirely composed of archipelagos necessitates the construction of an effective navy. Some have salient meteorological conditions, such as low variable elevation and high wind speeds, making wind power extremely economical; while others lack an atmosphere, rendering certain forms of aeronautics unusable; dangerous electromagnetic storms or meteor showers occur on others. Once highly urbanised planets lack major crustal metal deposits, these having been long-ago mined out, and instead mass must be actively reclaimed from the ruins of destroyed cities. Both campaigns include 25 missions, the final mission ending the war with a final strike on the enemy's homeworld either the Arm's bucolic Empyrrean or the Core's artificial Jupiter Brain world of Core Prime.
The terrain is "the London side of Essex", "theoretical Romford" according to Leigh. Beverly Moss invites her new neighbours, Angela and Tony, who moved into the road just two weeks ago, over for drinks. She has also invited her neighbour Susan (Sue), divorced for three years, whose fifteen-year-old daughter Abigail is holding a party at home. Beverly's husband Laurence comes home late from work, just before the guests arrive. The gathering starts off in a stiff, insensitive, British middle-class way as the virtual strangers tentatively gather, until Beverly and Laurence start sniping at each other. As Beverly serves more drinks and the alcohol takes effect, Beverly flirts more and more overtly with Tony, as Laurence sits impotently by. After a tirade when Beverly insists on showing off her kitsch print ''Wings of Love'', Laurence suffers a fatal heart attack.
In New York City, male model Derek Zoolander is at a low point; he is ousted as the top male fashion model by the rising star Hansel, his roommates and colleagues are killed in a "freak gasoline-fight accident", and an attempt to reconnect with his southern New Jersey working class relatives ends with the family rejecting him. Meanwhile, fashion mogul Jacobim Mugatu and Derek's agent Maury Ballstein are charged by the fashion industry with finding a model who can be brainwashed into assassinating the new progressive-leaning Prime Minister of Malaysia, whose policies will prohibit them from retaining cheap child labor in the country. Mugatu hires Derek, whom he normally doesn't work with, to star in the next runway show for his brainwashing plan. It involves Derek being conditioned to attempt the assassination when the song "Relax" by Frankie Goes to Hollywood is played.
Matilda Jeffries, feeling responsible for Derek's downfall as she wrote a critical ''Time'' article about him, becomes suspicious of Mugatu's offer. She tells her concerns to Derek, but he ignores her. After receiving info through calls from former hand model J.P. Prewett, Matilda and Derek meet him in a cemetery. Prewett reveals that the fashion industry has been behind several of history's political assassinations, including Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy and the brainwashed models are soon killed after they have completed their task. Mugatu's cronies attack the group, forcing Derek and Matilda to flee. They go to Hansel's home, the last place they believe Mugatu will think to look. Derek, Hansel, and Matilda bond, the two male models resolving their differences while partaking of Hansel's collection of narcotics and participating in group sex with Matilda and others. Derek and Hansel break into Maury's office to find evidence of the assassination plot, but they cannot operate his computer to find them.
Derek goes to the runway, and Mugatu's disc jockey plays a remix version of "Relax". This activates Derek's mental programming, only for it to stop after Hansel breaks into the DJ booth and shuts off the turntable. Despite Hansel bringing the computer with him and smashing the computer on the floor (which he does out of taking Matilda's words of the files being in the computer literally), Maury admits to the conspiracy. Mugatu then attempts to kill the Prime Minister himself by throwing a shuriken, but Derek stops it by unleashing his ultimate model look, "Magnum". In Derek's rural hometown, his father Larry watches the event on television, and proudly acknowledges Derek as his son. A few years later, Derek, Hansel, and Maury start ''"The Derek Zoolander Center for Kids Who Can't Read Good and Who Wanna Learn to Do Other Stuff Good Too"''. Derek and Matilda have a son named Derek Zoolander Jr., who has already developed his first modeling look.
After six years behind bars, Gilly (Dempsey) wants to settle down and live a quiet life. But it is not to be. He is released from prison only to find that his crime partner J (Howard) has invested all their money in a massive array of submachine guns, forcing Gilly back into a life of crime. Their last deal goes down in seven days, but the way things are going, Gilly is not sure he can hold out that long.
Taking place over the course of one day, the play begins with the discovery of Hester Collyer in her flat by her neighbours, after Hester has failed in an attempt to take her own life by gassing herself. In flashback, some time before, Hester left her husband, Sir William Collyer, a respectable High Court judge, for a semi-alcoholic former RAF pilot, Freddie Page. Their relationship was physical and passionate, but his ardour eventually cooled, leaving her emotionally stranded and desperate. Initially unemployed, Freddie eventually takes a post in South America. The aftershocks of her attempted suicide unravel even the remnants of this relationship. By the end of the day, Hester is brought to a hard decision to live, partly through the intercession of another resident of the tenement house, Mr. Miller, an ex-doctor struck off the register for an undisclosed reason. These two outcasts find a curious kinship.
The story is set in California, United States, in 1984, the year of Ronald Reagan's reelection. After a scene in which former hippie Zoyd Wheeler dives through a window, something he is required to do yearly to keep receiving mental disability checks, the action of the novel opens with the resurfacing of federal agent Brock Vond, who (through a platoon of agents) forces Zoyd and his 14-year-old daughter Prairie out of their house. They hide from Brock, and from Hector Zuñiga (a drug-enforcement ''federale'' from Zoyd's past, who Zoyd suspects is in cahoots with Brock) with old friends of Zoyd's, who recount to the mystified Prairie the story of Brock's motivation for what he has done.
This hinges heavily on Frenesi Gates, Prairie's mother, whom she has never met. In the '60s, during the height of the hippie era, the fictive College of the Surf (located in equally fictive Trasero County, said to be located between Orange County and San Diego County in Southern California) seceded from the United States and became its own nation of hippies and dope smokers, called the People's Republic of Rock and Roll (PR³). Brock Vond, a federal prosecutor, intends to bring down PR³, and finds a willing accomplice in Frenesi. She is a member of 24fps, a militant film collective (other members of which are the people telling Prairie their story in the present), that seeks to document the "fascists'" transgressions against freedom and hippie ideals. Frenesi is uncontrollably attracted to Brock and the sex he provides, and ends up working as a double agent to bring about the killing of the de facto leader of PR³, Weed Atman (a mathematics professor who accidentally became the subject of a cult of personality).
Her betrayal caused Frenesi to flee, and she has been living in witness protection with Brock's help up until the present day. Now she has disappeared. The membership of 24fps, Brock Vond, and Hector Zuñiga are all searching for her, for their various motives. The book's theme of the ubiquity of television (or the Tube) comes to a head when Hector, a Tube addict who has actually not been working with Brock, finds funding to create his pet project of a movie telling the story of the depraved sixties, with Frenesi Gates as the director, and the pomp and circumstance surrounding this big-money deal create a net of safety that allows Frenesi to come out of hiding. 24fps finds her and achieves their goal of allowing Prairie to meet her, at an enormous reunion of Frenesi's family. Weed Atman is also present at the reunion as one of many Thanatoids in the book—people who are in a state that is "like death, but different."
Brock, nearly omnipotent with D.E.A. funds, finds Prairie with a surveillance helicopter, and tries to snatch her up to get to Frenesi, but while he is hovering above her on a ladder, the government abruptly cuts all his funding due to a loss of interest in funding the war on drugs because people have begun playing along willingly with the antidrug ideal, and his helicopter pilot flies him away. Later he tries to come after Prairie and Frenesi again, but is killed when he crashes his helicopter. The family reunion allows everyone to tie up all their loose ends, and the book ends with Prairie looking into the beginning of a life no longer controlled by the fall-out of the past.
United States Under Secretary of Defense Michael Bergstrom commits suicide after being informed that he has tested positive for HIV.
Angela Bennett is a systems analyst and remote worker in Venice, California for Cathedral Software in San Francisco. Her interpersonal relationships are almost completely online and on the phone, with the exception of forgettable interactions with her neighbors and visits to her mother, who is institutionalized with Alzheimer's disease and often forgets who Bennett is. Bennett's co-worker Dale sends her a floppy disk of the game "Mozart's Ghost" with a backdoor labeled "π" that permits access to a commonly used computer security system called "Gatekeeper" sold by Gregg Microsystems, a software company led by CEO Jeff Gregg. Dale and Bennett agree to meet, but the navigation system in Dale's private aircraft malfunctions and it crashes into a tower, killing him.
Bennett travels to Cozumel on vacation, where she meets Jack Devlin. After seducing Bennett, Devlin pays a mugger to steal her purse as they walk along the beach. He chases the mugger into the foliage, catches the mugger, and roots through the purse to find the disk before shooting the mugger. He takes Bennett out on his speedboat to kill her as well, but she finds his gun and confronts him. While fleeing with the disk and Devlin's wallet, Bennett's dinghy collides with rocks. She is unconscious in the hospital for three days.
When Bennett wakes up, she finds that the disk was ruined by the sun and all records of her life have been deleted: She was checked out of her hotel room in Cancun, her car is no longer at the airport parking lot, and her credit cards are invalid. Bennett's home is now empty and listed for sale. Moreover, because none of the neighbors remember her, they cannot confirm her identity. Bennett's Social Security number is now assigned to a "Ruth Marx", for whom Devlin has entered an arrest record by using the Gatekeeper backdoor to hack the police computer system. When Bennett calls her own desk at Cathedral Software, an imposter answers and offers Bennett her old life back in exchange for the disk. She contacts the only other person who knows her by sight, psychiatrist and former lover Alan Champion. He checks her into a hotel, offers to contact a friend at the FBI, and arranges to have her mother moved for her safety.
Using her knowledge of the backdoor and a password found in Devlin's wallet, Bennett logs into the Bethesda Naval Hospital's computers and learns that Under Secretary of Defense Bergstrom, who had opposed Gatekeeper's use by the federal government, was murdered by altering the results of his HIV test leading to a misdiagnosis. Fellow hacker "Cyberbob" connects π with the "Praetorians", a notorious group of cyberterrorists linked to recent computer failures around the country. Bennett and Cyberbob plan to meet, but the Praetorians intercept their online chat. Bennett escapes from Devlin—a contract killer for the cyberterrorists, but the Praetorians kill Champion by tampering with pharmacy and hospital computer records. After Bennett is arrested by the California Highway Patrol, a man identifying himself as Champion's FBI friend frees her from jail. She realizes he is an imposter and escapes again.
Now wanted for murder and thought to be Ruth Marx, Bennett hitchhikes to Cathedral's office where, using her imposter's computer, she connects the cyberterrorists to Gregg Microsystems and uncovers their scheme: once the Praetorians sabotage an organization's computer system, Gregg sells Gatekeeper to it and gains unlimited access through the backdoor. Bennett emails evidence of the backdoor and Gregg's involvement with the Praetorians to the FBI from the Moscone Center and tricks Devlin into releasing a virus into Gregg's mainframe, destroying Gatekeeper and undoing the erasure of her identity. During a battle on the catwalks of the convention center, in which Devlin accidentally kills the Bennett imposter from Cathedral Software (the real Ruth Marx), Bennett ambushes Devlin with a fire extinguisher, causing him to fall to his death. Bennett regains her identity, home, and life. She then reunites with her mother, and the conspiracy is exposed, with Jeff Gregg being arrested by the FBI, live on television.
At a Hallowe'en party held at Rowena Drake's home in Woodleigh Common, thirteen-year-old Joyce Reynolds tells everyone attending she had once seen a murder, but had not realised it was one until later. When the party ends, Joyce is found dead, having been drowned in an apple-bobbing tub. Ariadne Oliver, attending the party while visiting her friend Judith Butler, calls on Hercule Poirot to investigate the murder and Joyce's claim. With help from retired Superintendent Spence, Poirot makes a list of deaths and disappearances for the last few years in Woodleigh Common: Rowena's aunt, Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe, died suddenly; her au pair Olga Seminoff disappeared, when a codicil that favoured her in her employer's will was found to be a forgery; Leslie Ferrier, a lawyer's clerk, was stabbed in the back by an unknown assailant; Charlotte Benfield, a sixteen-year-old shop assistant, was found dead with multiple head injuries; and Janet White, a teacher at Elms School, was strangled to death.
Poirot learns a few interesting facts: Judith's daughter Miranda was Joyce's closest friend, and the pair shared secrets between them; Joyce was known to be a teller of tales to gain attention; Elizabeth Whittaker, a mathematics teacher attending the party, witnessed Rowena become startled and drop a glass vase of water outside the door of the library, while the party-goers were playing snapdragon; Ferrier had previous convictions for forgery, and many suspected that he and Olga were working together to steal Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe's fortune; a one-time cleaner of Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe had been witness to her employer making the codicil; a beautiful garden built within an abandoned quarry for Mrs Llewellyn-Smythe, was designed by Michael Garfield, a man with narcissistic behaviour; the victim's brother, Leopold Reynolds, has become flush with money of late.
Leopold is later found dead, having been drowned in a small brook. Rowena, unusually upset about the death, informs Poirot she had seen him in the library the night of the party, and believes he witnessed his sister's killer. Poirot soon has a theory, and advises the police to search the woods near the quarry. The search turns up Olga's body in an abandoned well, having been stabbed in the same manner as Ferrier. Fearing another murder, Poirot sends a telegram to Mrs Oliver, instructing her to take Judith and her daughter to London as quickly as possible. However, Miranda disappears when the group stops for lunch, and meets up with Garfield, who takes her to a pagan sacrificial altar with the intention of poisoning her. However, he commits suicide when two men, recruited by Poirot to trail Miranda, thwart him and save her life. Once in safety, Miranda reveals that she had witnessed the murder Joyce claimed she had seen; more precisely, she saw Garfield and Rowena drag Olga's body through the quarry garden and only later realized she had witnessed a murder.
Poirot tells Mrs Oliver what he has learned. While her husband was alive, Rowena began an affair with Garfield. Her aunt discovered this, and as a punishment, she wrote a codicil that left her fortune to Olga. When the pair learnt of this, they plotted to discredit Olga's claim, hiring Ferrier to replace the real codicil with a clumsy forgery that could be easily spotted, ensuring Rowena inherited everything as stipulated in earlier wills; the real codicil was not destroyed and later found. Both Olga and Ferrier were murdered to conceal the deceit, though Rowena suspected someone had witnessed the disposal of Olga's body. She killed Joyce when she claimed she had witnessed a murder, unaware that she had appropriated Miranda's story as her own. The dropping of the vase of water, which Mrs Whittaker witnessed, was to disguise the fact Rowena was already wet from drowning Joyce. Leopold was murdered because he had witnessed Rowena murdering his sister and subsequently blackmailed her.
With his theory, Poirot muses that Rowena would likely have shared a similar fate to Olga, as Garfield's motivation for the murder was his narcissistic desire to construct another perfect garden with Rowena's money; he would have had no further need of her, as she had already provided him with a Greek island she had secretly purchased. Poirot reveals further that Garfield was Miranda's father; Judith is not a widow, but a single mother. She had met Garfield years before, and encountered him by accident when settling in the area with Miranda. While Garfield knew Miranda was his daughter, he was willing to kill his own child to ensure he could create another garden. Satisfied with his help, Judith thanks Poirot and leaves, though the story ends with a few questions unanswered, including whether Mr Drake's death was an accident, and if the police took Mrs Drake to trial.
The story takes place in a high fantasy world, which contains an ethereal energy source named "mana". An ancient, technologically advanced civilization exploited mana to construct the "Mana Fortress", a flying warship. This angered the world's gods, who sent giant beasts to war with the civilization. The conflict was globally destructive and nearly exhausted all signs of mana in the world, until a hero used the power of the Mana Sword to destroy the fortress and the civilization. The world began to recover in peace. As the game opens, an empire seeks eight Mana Seeds, which when "unsealed" will restore mana to the world and allow the empire to restore the Mana Fortress.
The three main characters do not have names in the original SNES release, though their names appear in the manual of the Japanese release; their names were added into the game in the iOS port worldwide. In all versions, the player can choose to name the characters whatever they wish. The , a young boy, is adopted by the Elder of Potos before the start of the game, after the boy's mother disappears. The is in love with a warrior named Dyluck, who was ordered by the king to attack Elinee's Castle. Angered by the king's actions and by her father's attempt to arrange her marriage to a local nobleman, she leaves the castle to save Dyluck and to accompany the hero as well. The hero meets a at the Dwarf Village. The sprite lives with a dwarf and goes with the characters to learn more about their family. It does not remember anything about its past, so it joins the team to try to recover its memories.
The game begins as three boys from the small Potos village disobey their Elder's instructions and trespass into a local waterfall, where a treasure is said to be kept. One of the boys stumbles and falls into the lake, where he finds a rusty sword embedded in a stone. Guided by a disembodied voice, he pulls the sword free, inadvertently unleashing monsters in the surrounding countryside of the village. The villagers interpret the sword's removal as a bad omen and banish the boy from Potos forever. A traveling knight named Jema recognizes the blade as the legendary Mana Sword and encourages the hero to re-energize it by visiting the eight Mana Temples.
During his journey, the hero is joined by the girl and the sprite. Throughout their travels, the trio is pursued by the Empire. The Emperor and his subordinates are being manipulated by Thanatos, an ancient sorcerer who hopes to create a "new, peaceful world". Due to his own body's deterioration, Thanatos is in need of a suitable body to possess. After placing the entire kingdom of Pandora under a trance, he abducts two candidates: Dyluck, now enslaved, and a young Pandoran girl named Phanna; he eventually chooses to possess Dyluck.
The Empire succeeds in unsealing all eight Mana Seeds. However, Thanatos betrays the Emperor and his henchmen, killing them and seizing control of the Mana Fortress for himself. The hero and his party journey to locate the Mana Tree, the focal point of the world's life energy. Anticipating their arrival, Thanatos positions the Mana Fortress over the Tree and destroys it. The charred remains of the Tree speak to the heroes, explaining that a giant dragon called the Mana Beast will soon be summoned to combat the Fortress. The Beast has little control over its rage and will likely destroy the world as well. The Mana Tree also reveals that it was once the human wife of Serin, the original Mana Knight and the hero's father. The voice heard at Potos' waterfall was that of Serin's ghost.
The trio flies to the Mana Fortress and confronts Thanatos, who is preparing to transfer his mind into Dyluck. With the last of his strength, Dyluck warns that Thanatos has sold his soul to the underworld and must not be allowed to have the Fortress. Dyluck kills himself, forcing Thanatos to revert to a skeletal lich form, which the party defeats. The Mana Beast finally flies in and attacks the Fortress. The hero expresses reluctance to kill the Beast, fearing that with the dispersal of Mana from the world, the sprite will vanish. With the sprite's encouragement, he uses the fully energized Mana Sword to slay the Beast, causing it to explode and transform into snow. At the conclusion of the game, the sprite child vanishes into an astral plane, the girl is returned home and the hero is seen welcomed back in Potos, returning the Mana Sword to its place beneath the waterfall.
The novel recounts the story of a young British boy, Jamie (“Jim”) Graham (named after Ballard's two first names, "James Graham"), who lives with his parents in Shanghai. After the Pearl Harbor attack, Japan occupies the Shanghai International Settlement, and in the following chaos Jim becomes separated from his parents.
He spends some time in abandoned mansions, living on remnants of packaged food. Having exhausted the food supplies, he decides to try to surrender to the Imperial Japanese Army. After many attempts, he finally succeeds and is interned in the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Centre.
Although the Japanese are "officially" the enemies, Jim identifies partly with them, both because he adores the pilots with their splendid machines and because he feels that Lunghua is still a comparatively safer place for him.
Towards the end of the war, with the Japanese army collapsing, the food supply runs short. Jim barely survives, with people around him starving to death. The camp prisoners are forced upon a march to Nantao, with many dying along the route. Jim then leaves the march and is saved from starvation by air drops from American bombers. Jim returns to Lunghua camp, soon returning to his pre-war residence with his parents.
In London in June 1897, a young mouse named Olivia Flaversham is celebrating her birthday with her widowed toymaker father, Hiram. Suddenly, a bat with a crippled wing and a peg leg burst into Flaversham's workshop, kidnapping Mr. Flaversham. Olivia searches to find the famed Great Mouse Detective named Basil of Baker Street but gets lost. A surgeon named Dr. David Q. Dawson, who has just returned from a lengthy service of the Mouse Queen's 66th Regiment in Afghanistan, meets Olivia and escorts her to Basil's residence. Upon their arrival, Basil is initially indifferent, but when Olivia mentions the bat that abducted her father, Basil realizes that Olivia saw Fidget, the assistant of Professor Ratigan, a villain that Basil has attempted to arrest for years. It is then revealed that Ratigan kidnapped Hiram to create a clockwork robot, which mimics the Queen of the Mice so that Ratigan can rule England. Flaversham initially refuses to participate in the scheme but capitulates when Ratigan threatens to harm Olivia. Ratigan plans to usurp the Queen and become "supreme ruler of all mousedom."
Meanwhile, Fidget appears through the window, and they attempt to chase him. Basil, along with Dawson and Olivia, take Toby, Sherlock Holmes' pet Basset Hound, to track down Fidget's scent, where they locate him in a toyshop stealing clockwork mechanisms and toy soldiers' uniforms. Fidget ambushes Olivia and captures her. Basil and Dawson pursue Fidget but are easily outsmarted. While searching the shop, Dawson discovers Fidget's checklist, to which Basil does some chemical tests to discover the list came from a riverfront near the Thames. Basil and Dawson disguise themselves as sailors and head to a tavern called the "Rat Trap." They find Fidget and follow him to Ratigan's headquarters but are caught in an ambush by Ratigan. Ratigan has them tied to a spring-loaded mousetrap connected with a Rube Goldberg machine laid out to kill them both. Ratigan sets out for Buckingham Palace, where his henchmen hijack the royal guards' roles and kidnap the Queen. Basil deduces the trap's weakness and escapes along with Dawson and Olivia just in time.
At Buckingham Palace, Ratigan forces Flaversham to operate the toy Queen, while the real one is taken to be fed to Felicia, Ratigan's pet cat. The toy Queen declares Ratigan the ruler of all Mousedom, and he announces his dictatorial plans for his new "subjects." After Basil, Dawson, and Olivia save Flaversham and the real Queen, they restrain Fidget and Ratigan's other henchmen, while Toby chases Felicia, leading to Felicia, thinking she escaped Toby by jumping onto a high stone fence, to be mauled by the royal guard dogs waiting on the other side. Basil seizes control of the mechanical queen, making it denounce Ratigan as a fraud while breaking it into pieces. The crowd, enraged by Ratigan's treason, turns on him, and he escapes on his dirigible with Fidget, holding Olivia hostage. Basil, Dawson, and Flaversham create their craft with a matchbox and some small helium-filled balloons, held together by the Union Jack. Ratigan tosses Fidget overboard to lighten the load, and he attempts to drive the dirigible himself. Basil jumps onto the dirigible to confront Ratigan, causing it to crash straight into the Big Ben clocktower.
Inside the clocktower, where Ratigan still holds Olivia hostage, Basil manages to get Ratigan's cape stuck on some gears. He rescues Olivia and safely delivers her to Flaversham. Ratigan breaks free and attacks Basil, eventually knocking him to the dirigible. When the clock strikes 10:00, the bell hits for the loudest sound, causing Ratigan to fall to his death, taking Basil with him. However, Basil grabs a part of Ratigan's dirigible and saves himself. Back at Baker Street, Basil and Dawson recount their adventures. After the Flavershams leave the house, a distraught new client arrives and solicits Basil and Dawson's help, with Basil noting that Dawson is his trusted associate, prompting Dawson to remain and assist Basil.
Anne Marie (Kate Bosworth) and her fourteen-year-old sister, Penny (Mika Boorem), along with good friends Eden (Michelle Rodriguez) and Lena (Sanoe Lake), live in a small house on the North Shore. They all have been helping raise Penny, since her mother moved to Las Vegas with her boyfriend.
While Penny is at school, Anne Marie, Eden, and Lena work as maids in a super-luxury resort hotel, but more important than that, they are surfers. Anne Marie rises every morning before dawn to train for a possible surfing comeback. As a child, she had been a rising star in women's surfing, until she suffered a near-fatal wipeout. This has temporarily halted her progress; now when she is in really big powerful surf, she has deep-seated fears of dying. Her friends, especially Eden, are encouraging her to try once again to become a professional surfer.
Anne Marie is invited to join the surfing competition at the famed North Shore surf spot, the very challenging Banzai Pipeline. If she can do well enough to gain the attention of a sponsor, it would lift her and her friends out of the near-poverty in which they live. As the Pipeline competition gets closer, Anne Marie struggles to keep her young sister Penny from running wild and tries to deal with her own personal issues.
Anne Marie meets Matt Tollman (Matthew Davis), a National Football League quarterback who is in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl (it is hinted that he plays for the Minnesota Vikings). Matt is instantly attracted to the surfer. After a few encounters, Matt says he wants to learn to surf, and Anne Marie agrees to teach him, and several of his rowdy teammates, to surf for $150 per hour, with Lena, Eden and Penny acting as coaches. When Anne Marie goes to the hotel room to get the money, she sees Matt, but a call comes in. Anne Marie asks if it is Matt's wife, but he explains it is his niece. Later, they sleep together.
Anne Marie's acceptance of a non-Hawaiian as her boyfriend causes friction between her and some of the young male surfers on the North Shore. Eden points out to Anne Marie that her current interest in Matt has weakened her commitment to training for the Pipeline contest. Anne Marie overhears very demeaning comments about herself from some of the other football players' wives and girlfriends, who are staying at the hotel.
Anne Marie confronts Matt about their situation. She soon resolves to step up her game, as she finally commits herself to the Pipeline Masters. On the day of Pipeline, Anne Marie wipes out during her first heat, but she advances to the next heat after narrowly beating pro surfer Kate Skarratt. She is shaken, but Matt tells her how he failed in his first game as an NFL quarterback, and this helps her get control of her wavering confidence.
Determined, although still apprehensive, Anne Marie returns to the water. Competing in the same heat is Keala Kennelly, one of the first professional female surfers. While Keala surfs the first few sets of waves well, Anne Marie is still reluctant to try one, visions of her near-drowning incident holding her back. Keala finishes her turn, then paddles back out to take Anne Marie under her wing. Keala encourages her to ride the best wave of the day, and Anne Marie rides it perfectly, managing to score a perfect ten. Although Anne Marie cannot advance to the next heat, she has regained her lost confidence and attracted the attention of sponsors, one of whom immediately offers to have her join the Billabong women's surf team.
During the Summer of 1957 in Northern California, Richard "Richie" Steven Valenzuela is a 16-year old Mexican-American boy who lives with his mother, Concepcion “Connie” Valenzuela and his younger brothers and sisters. His family is poor, and he works as a farmworker after school. He loves music, especially rock and roll, and dreams of becoming a famous musician. Richie suffers from aviophobia due to recurring nightmares about the mid-air collision that occurred directly over his school, in which his best friend was crushed to death by the fallen aircraft, an event he did not witness due to attending his grandfather's funeral. One day, Richie's troubled half-brother Bob Morales arrives after being released from jail, surprising him and his mother. They all decide to leave the farm and move to a house in Southern California, along with Bob's girlfriend, Rosie.
Months later, Richie attends San Fernando High School where he falls in love with fellow student Donna Ludwig, and joins his friend Chino's band, The Silhouettes. Bob becomes an alcoholic and starts to abuse Rosie, shouting at her and raping her. When he learns that Rosie is pregnant, he refuses to take responsibility. Richie invites Donna to a garage party where he and the Silhouettes are performing. At the party, Richie performs on his guitar, but he doesn't get his turn to sing and Donna does not attend.
Richie decides to host another party and becomes The Silhouettes’ new leader after they vote out their original leader. However, a drunken Bob crashes the party and starts a brawl among the attendees. The next day, Bob Keane, the owner and president of Del-Fi Records in Hollywood, auditions Richie after seeing him perform at the party and signs him to his label; Keane becomes his record producer and manager. Richie and Donna become a couple, despite Donna's father disapproving of his daughter dating a Hispanic boy, and Richie starts recording songs like "We Belong Together" and "Come On, Let's Go" at Gold Star Studios. Keane gives Richie his professional name of "Ritchie Valens", which Richie dislikes at first, but eventually accepts it. Ritchie starts releasing his songs on the radio and becomes an overnight sensation.
Despite his increasing fame, Ritchie's relationship with Donna suffers with her father refusing to let Ritchie see her. He then gets the inspiration to write the song "Donna", as a tribute to her. One night, Bob meets up with Ritchie, and they go to Tijuana, Mexico. At a brothel, Ritchie sees a band performing the Mexican folk song "La Bamba". He awakens the next day in a small village and is given a talisman by an old man called El Curandero to protect him from his fear of flying. Ritchie and Bob return home to discover that Rosie gave birth to a girl in their absence. Ritchie soon decides to make a rock and roll rendition of "La Bamba" as a single to go along with "Donna" and convinces Keane to release it.
At first, Ritchie avoids flying to his concerts and appearances, but eventually conquers his fear when invited to perform his song "Donna" on ''American Bandstand'' in Philadelphia. Keane helps him by giving him a little vodka to calm his nerves during the flight. Bob soon becomes jealous of Ritchie's success and drinks excessively while screaming and shouting at his family, wanting to see his daughter. Ritchie buys his family a brand new house and goes to New York City to perform at Alan Freed's 1st Anniversary Rock 'n' Roll Show in Brooklyn, meeting Eddie Cochran and Jackie Wilson backstage. He then goes onstage to perform "La Bamba" to the crowd's adoration. Arriving home for Christmas, he is given a welcoming party by his family and friends, but Bob is resentful and later starts a fight with Ritchie, breaking his talisman in the process. Ritchie promises Donna that he will always love her and hopes that one day they will get married.
Ritchie later joins the Winter Dance Party tour with Buddy Holly (Marshall Crenshaw) and The Big Bopper after "La Bamba" and "Donna" reach the top of the ''Billboard'' charts. While performing in Clear Lake, Iowa, at the Surf Ballroom, the tour bus' heating system breaks down, so Holly charters an airplane to fly to their next stop in Moorhead, Minnesota. Valens, Holly, and the Big Bopper take off in the airplane during a snowstorm on February 2, 1959. Before the flight, Ritchie makes a call to his brother, wherein they resolve their differences. He invites Bob to fly out to Chicago to join the tour for family support, which Bob accepts.
The next day, as Bob is fixing his mother's car, he hears on the radio that his brother's airplane crashed, killing everyone on board. Bob darts out of his driveway in an attempt to get to his mother before she hears the news, but is too late. The news hits the Valenzuela family, Bob Keane, and Donna very hard. After Ritchie's funeral procession at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Bob walks across a bridge and screams out Ritchie's name, remembering all the good times they had together.
During the prohibition era, a mobster named Roxy Robinson is "splurged" by members of a rival gang, using rapid-fire cream-shooting "splurge guns". Once splurged, a gangster is "all washed up... finished". Mob boss Fat Sam Staccetto introduces himself in the opening narration, as well as introducing Bugsy Malone, a penniless boxing promoter who is 'a little too popular with the broads... but a nice guy' ("Bugsy Malone").
At Fat Sam's Grand Slam Speakeasy, there is much dancing and singing ("Fat Sam's Grand Slam"). Fat Sam rants about the loss of Roxy, who was one of his best men, laying the blame on up-and-coming rival mob boss Dandy Dan and worried that Dan is trying to take control of his criminal empire. Blousey Brown, an aspiring singer and actress, has come for an audition at the speakeasy, but Sam is too distracted to see her. Bugsy meets Blousey when he trips over her luggage; he is instantly smitten and attempts to flirt with her. Just then, Fat Sam's is raided by Dandy Dan's men who shoot up the place. Over the next few weeks Dan's men continue to attack Fat Sam's empire, eventually taking over all of Sam's moneymaking rackets and splurging members of Fat Sam's gang until only the speakeasy remains. Sam sends all his available men except his personal enforcer Knuckles, to see if they can track down the guns but they are ambushed at a laundry and splurged by Dandy Dan's gang ("Bad Guys").
Bugsy returns to Fat Sam's to arrange a new audition for Blousey. Fat Sam's girlfriend, the chanteuse Tallulah, makes a pass at him and, although Bugsy rejects her flirtation, Tallulah plants a big kiss on Bugsy's forehead just as Blousey enters. Blousey is jealous but performs anyway, using her personal feelings to boost her performance ("I'm Feelin' Fine"). Fat Sam hires Blousey after her audition and she leaves quickly, refusing to speak to Bugsy.
Since most of his gang have been splurged, Sam hires Bugsy as a driver to accompany him to a truce meeting with Dandy Dan. He also takes along "Looney" Bergonzi, a top Chicago mob enforcer. The meeting is a trap, but Bugsy helps Fat Sam escape and is paid $200 by a grateful Sam. Bugsy and Blousey reconcile and have a romantic outing on a lake where Bugsy promises to take her to Hollywood. When he returns Sam's car to the garage he is attacked and his money is stolen. Bugsy is saved by Leroy Smith, who assaults the attackers and drives them away. Bugsy realizes that Leroy has the potential to be a great boxer and introduces him to boxing coach Cagey Joe ("So You Wanna Be a Boxer?"). Fat Sam again seeks Bugsy's aid after Knuckles is accidentally splurged by a malfunctioning splurge gun knockoff. Bugsy resists but Fat Sam offers him $400, enough money to keep his promise to Blousey, although she is disappointed when she learns that Bugsy hasn't bought the tickets to California yet ("Ordinary Fool"). Bugsy and Leroy follow Dandy Dan's men to a warehouse where the guns are being stashed. They realize the two of them can't take the place alone, so Bugsy recruits a large group of down-and-out workers at a soup kitchen ("Down and Out"). They successfully assault the warehouse and take the crates of guns.
Taking refuge at Fat Sam's Speakeasy, Bugsy and his army disguise themselves as waiters and patrons and await Dan's arrival. Chaos ensues as a massive splurge gun fight erupts and unarmed patrons throw cream pies, covering everyone (except Bugsy and Blousey). Razamataz the piano player is hit from behind and falls onto the keys, striking a single bass note. The tone silences the room, and the cream-covered crowd realize they can all be friends. They perform the final number ("Bad Guys Reprise" / "You Give a Little Love") as Bugsy and Blousey leave for Hollywood.
In a region called Spiral Mountain, a foul-tempered witch named Gruntilda learns from her cauldron, Dingpot, that Tooty, a brown honey bear living nearby, is more beautiful than her. Jealous, Gruntilda creates a machine to transfer an entity's beauty to another, which she intends to use with Tooty. Gruntilda kidnaps Tooty while her older brother, Banjo, is sleeping. Banjo's friend Kazooie, a female red-crested "Breegull," wakes him up and the two resolve to rescue Tooty. While Banjo and Kazooie collect musical notes and Jiggies to traverse through Gruntilda's Lair, they are aided by Bottles, a mole and Tooty's friend, and Mumbo Jumbo, a shaman who used to be Gruntilda's teacher; they also rescue Jinjos, small creatures that Gruntilda imprisoned in each world.
Having gathered most of the musical notes and Jiggies, Banjo and Kazooie participate in a trivia game show hosted by Gruntilda, where they answer questions and complete challenges related to certain aspects of the game. Once they win the game, Banjo and Kazooie retrieve Tooty and celebrate with their friends and a barbecue. Shortly after the barbecue begins, however, Tooty, unsatisfied with her kidnapper's passive defeat, command the heroes to pursue the escaped Gruntilda. Banjo and Kazooie enter the top of the lair, where they confront the witch. A fierce battle ensues, but with the help of the Jinjos they rescued, the duo send Gruntilda falling towards Spiral Mountain, where she is trapped beneath a falling boulder. Banjo and Kazooie go on vacation at a beach with their friends and celebrate their victory. Gruntilda swears revenge against Banjo and Kazooie, calling for her henchman, Klungo, to move the boulder.
Two years after Gruntilda's defeat, Banjo and Kazooie are playing poker with Mumbo Jumbo and Bottles. Outside, two of Gruntilda's sisters, Mingella and Blobbelda, use their large ''HAG 1'' digging machine to enter Spiral Mountain. They destroy the boulder trapping Gruntilda, finding that she has rotted into a living skeleton while underground. Seeking revenge, Gruntilda destroys Banjo's house with a spell before fleeing with her sisters. Mumbo witnesses Gruntilda's return and escapes with Banjo and Kazooie, but Bottles does not heed their warnings and is killed by the blast. The three remaining friends resolve to defeat Gruntilda.
Following the witches' trail, Banjo and Kazooie arrive at Jinjo Village. There, King Jingaling, king of the Jinjos, explains that his subjects were frightened away by the ''HAG 1'' and scattered throughout the Isle O' Hags, the game's overworld. He gives the two their first Jiggy as a reward for rescuing his subjects in advance. Meanwhile, Gruntilda's sisters introduce her to a device called the "Big-O-Blaster" (B.O.B.), capable of extracting "life force" from any given target. They test B.O.B. on King Jingaling, transforming him into a zombie. Gruntilda plans to charge B.O.B. long enough to blast the entire island and use the stolen life force to restore her body. The witch's most loyal henchman, Klungo, is sent out to hinder Banjo and Kazooie's progress, but after losing to them several times, resulting in beatings from Gruntilda, Klungo abandons her and sides with the protagonists. Banjo and Kazooie continue their journey, meeting new allies along the way such as Bottles' drill sergeant brother Jamjars, who teaches them new moves more advanced than those his brother taught them, and the Native American shaman Humba Wumba, a bitter rival of Mumbo who aids the duo with new magical transformations more advanced than those of Mumbo.
Within Gruntilda's fortress, Cauldron Keep, Banjo and Kazooie compete with Mingella and Blobbelda in a trivia game show hosted by Gruntilda similar to that of the first game, in which losing competitors are flattened under one-ton weights. The two sisters are crushed after losing to Banjo and Kazooie, but Gruntilda escapes. Banjo and Kazooie then reverse the effects of B.O.B., resurrecting both King Jingaling and Bottles, who celebrate at Bottles' house along with Klungo. Banjo and Kazooie fight Gruntilda and the ''HAG 1'' atop her fortress, but she is finally defeated when she drops her most powerful magic spell inside the ''HAG 1'' cockpit, causing the entire machine to explode, reducing Gruntilda to nothing more than her head. The two return to Bottles' house with Jamjars, Mumbo, and Humba Wumba, to find that, much to their disappointment, the celebration has ended without them. They then head to the top of Cauldron Keep and play a game of hacky sack with Gruntilda's head, who swears revenge against Banjo and Kazooie once again.
Maurice Hall, age fourteen, discusses sex and women with his prep-school teacher Ben Ducie just before Maurice progresses to his public school. Maurice feels removed from the depiction of marriage with a woman as the goal of life.
Some years later, while studying at Cambridge, Maurice befriends a fellow student Clive Durham. Durham introduces him to ancient Greek writings about same-sex love, including Plato's ''Symposium'', and after a short time the two begin a romantic relationship, which continues until they have left university.
After visiting Rome, Durham falls ill; on recovery, he ends his relationship with Maurice, professing he is heterosexual and marrying a woman. Maurice is devastated, but he becomes a stockbroker, in his spare time helping to operate a Christian mission's boxing gym for working-class boys in the East End, although under Clive's influence he has long since abandoned his Christian beliefs.
He makes an appointment with a hypnotist, Mr. Lasker Jones, in an attempt to "cure" himself. Lasker Jones refers to his condition as "congenital homosexuality" and claims a 50 per cent success rate in curing this "condition". After the first appointment, it is clear that the hypnotism has failed.
Maurice is invited to stay with the Durhams. There, at first unnoticed by him, is the young under-gamekeeper Alec Scudder (called Scudder for large passages of the book), who has noticed Maurice. One night, a heartbroken Maurice calls for Clive to join him. Believing that Maurice is calling for him, Alec climbs to his window with a ladder and the two spend the night together.
After their first night together, Maurice panics, fearing he will be exposed as a homosexual. Alec is wounded by Maurice's refusal to answer his letters, and threatens to expose him. Maurice goes to Lasker Jones one more time. Knowing that the therapy is failing, he tells Maurice to consider relocating to a country where same-sex relationships are legal, such as France or Italy. Maurice wonders if same-sex relationships will ever be acceptable in England, to which Lasker Jones replies "I doubt it. England has always been disinclined to accept human nature."
Maurice and Alec meet at the British Museum in London to discuss the blackmail. It becomes clear that they are in love with each other, and Maurice calls him Alec for the first time.
After another night together, Alec tells Maurice that he is emigrating to Argentina and will not return. Maurice asks Alec to stay with him, and indicates that he is willing to give up his social and financial position, as well as his job. Alec does not accept the offer. After initial resentment, Maurice decides to bid Alec farewell. He is taken aback when Alec is not at the harbour. In a hurry, he makes for the Durhams' estate, where the two lovers were supposed to have met before at a boathouse. He finds Alec, who assumes Maurice had received the telegram Alec had sent to his residence. Alec had changed his mind, and intends to stay with Maurice, telling him that they "shan't be parted no more".
Maurice visits Clive and outlines what has happened with Alec. Clive is left speechless and unable to comprehend. Maurice leaves to be with Alec, and Clive never sees him again.
In the original manuscripts, Forster wrote an epilogue concerning the post-novel fate of Maurice and Alec that he later discarded, because it was unpopular among those to whom he showed it. This epilogue can still be found in the Abinger edition of the novel. This edition also contains a summary of the differences between various versions of the novel.
The Abinger reprint of the Epilogue retains Maurice's original surname of Hill. (Although this surname had been chosen for the character before Maurice Hill (geophysicist) was even born, it certainly could not be retained once the latter had become a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge, Forster's own College. It might, of course, have been changed before that time.)
The epilogue contains a meeting between Maurice and his sister Kitty some years later. Alec and Maurice have by now become woodcutters. It dawns upon Kitty why her brother disappeared. This portion of the novel underlines the extreme dislike that Kitty feels for her brother. The epilogue ends with Maurice and Alec in each other's arms at the end of the day discussing seeing Kitty and resolving that they must move on to avoid detection or a further meeting.
The setting of the game takes place in the 24th century when humanity has discovered interstellar travel through the use of interstellar subspace jump nodes that function in the same manner as wormholes, allowing it to spread out across the stars and colonise new worlds. Prior to the game beginning, humanity (referred to as Terrans) formed the Galactic Terran Alliance (GTA) as the central power of all of their systems' governments and military, and became engaged in a war over systems and resources against the Vasudans of the Parliamentary Vasudan Empire (PVE). By the time the story begins, this war has entered its fourteenth year, as a third species, dubbed Shivans, makes an unprovoked attack on the Terran system of Ross 128. The player, acting as a new Terran pilot in the GTA, is initially involved in the conflict with the PVE before the fights focus on the new species' arrival and subsequent assaults.
Vasudans are represented as carbon-based biped, who are taller than humans, and have a durable biological system and a skeletal-looking physical appearance, while Shivans appear insect-like in appearance, with multiple legs and eyes and the capability of walking on walls and ceilings. A fourth race, dubbed "The Ancients", is not shown in the game but referenced during the single-player story as having lived thousands of years ago and having once held an empire in the systems controlled by the Vasudans and Terrans, before they were driven to extinction by the Shivans. In the game, each race's ships bear distinctive appearances and are named after notable aspects of Earth's history, religious text, and mythologies: Terran craft have a plain but practical design that is easy to mass-produce, with military ships named after figures in Greek, Norse and religious mythology, and science craft named after noted figures of science; Vasudan craft are artistic with sleek lines and curves, and are named after ancient Egyptian myths and locations; Shivan ships are pointy and asymmetrical in insidious black and red colours, and are named after fictional, reptilian species, demons and figures in various religious text.
In 2335, on the fourteenth year of the Terran–Vasudan war, a lone GTA pilot scrambles to warn of an impending new threat, after forces from the GTA and PVE are destroyed by an unknown race, but is killed shortly after arriving in the Ross 128 system along with all GTA assets within the system. Unable to find evidence of a new race in the aftermath of the attack, GTA command covers up the incident as best as possible, disclosing it as an unsubstantiated rumour, as GTA forces co-ordinate an offensive manoeuvre on contested system held by the PVE. During one such engagement in the Antares system, GTA forces are forced to recover prototypes of a new weapon system stolen by one of its officers, Lt. Alexander McCarthy, who had gone rogue; during his capture, he proclaims that there is a far greater threat to both sides. Shortly after the PVE begins to lose control of Antares, the unknown race strikes both GTA and PVE forces, devastating both sides. In the aftermath of the attack, both sides call a ceasefire to contend with the new race, dubbed as "Shivans".
Finding that the Shivans have two distinct advantages – their ships cannot be tracked by current sensor systems, while their smaller craft withstand current weapon system through the use of a shielding system – the GTA and PVE launch an ambitious raid on Shivan cargo depots to rectify this, acquiring components and data that allow them to even the odds. Despite the ceasefire coming into effect after the operation, a Vasudan death cult called "The Hammer of Light" (HoL), who worship the Shivans, launches attacks against both GTA and PVE forces. Contending with HoL forces, combined GTA-PVE forces soon begin making use of shielding technology in their fighters and bombers, and strike back at Shivan targets, eventually leading to the successful capture of a Shivan cruiser - the ''Taranis''. However, celebrations on its capture are short-lived when a Shivan super-destroyer, dubbed the ''Lucifier'', tracks down the ship, destroying it and many other allied ships. To the shock of the new alliance, the ''Lucifer'' is found to possess a powerful shield system that makes it immune to all conventional weaponry, thus allowing the Shivans to spearhead its invasion towards the homeworlds of the Vasudans and Terran.
Realising that the Vasudan's homeworld will be hit first, GTA-PVE forces prepare to counter the invasion, despite interference by HoL forces. To prepare for this, the alliance makes use of a captured Shivan fighter to scan incoming Shivan ships preparing an assault on the Vasuda system. Despite managing to destroy a Shivan destroyer during the eventual invasion, the GTA loses one of its own destroyers, the ''Galatea'', to the ''Lucifer's'' weaponry. Having obliterated all opposition, the ''Lucifer'' subsequently bombards the Vasudans' home-planet, causing several billion casualties in the process. In the aftermath of the incident, GTA-PVE forces launch a rescue mission to recover surviving refugees from Shivan forces.
With the Shivans now beginning to encroach on the Terrans' homeworld in the Sol system, the alliance receives unexpected news of a discovery that had been made in the Altair system, by a refugee fleet that had been forced to land on an uncharted planet within the system. Investigating this, the alliance uncover remnants of a long-extinct alien civilisation on the planet, dubbed "the Ancients", who had amassed a vast galactic empire several thousands of years ago, before the Shivans wiped them out. Uncovering data within the remains of this civilisation, the Alliance discovers that, prior to their destruction, the Ancients had developed the technology to track ships in subspace, and had discovered that the Shivans shield technology doesn't work in subspace, a flaw that also exists within the ''Lucifer'' s own shields.
Armed with this knowledge, the alliance launches a desperate assault to stop the super-destroyer as it prepares to enter the jump node to Sol from the Delta Serpentis system. A small task-force of fighter and bomber squadrons follows the ''Lucifer'' into subspace and destroys the vessel as it emerges into the Sol system. Its destruction causes the Sol jump node to collapse, cutting off Earth from the rest of the galaxy. The GTA and PVE celebrate a pyrrhic victory, as the "Great War" finally comes to an end, with the Vasudan homeworld devastated and the Terran homeworld isolated.
In an epilogue, a narrator speculates the Shivans were not necessarily evil, stating that they were "great destroyers but also the great preservers", and that their role was to exterminate other species who advanced beyond their ordained place in the cosmic order; the Ancients were targeted as they subdued or annihilated countless other species in building their vast empire. The narrator postulates that had it not been for the Shivan's intervention, the Ancients would have likely grown too powerful for the Terrans and Vasudans to survive against, and thus theorises that the Terrans' expansion would have made them a threat to any other fledgling species.
The setting of the expansion takes place after the events of the "Great War", with both the GTA and PVE working together to rebuild their systems and deal with the remnants of the Shivan Armada. In the story, players assume the role of a pilot from the GTA, who has recently joined one of the fleets for Galactic Terran Intelligence (GTI), the GTA's intelligence service, which consists of three branches - Research & Development (R&D), Intelligence, and Special Operations. The player's character is assigned as a pilot for Special Operations during the storyline.
Following the end of the "Great War", both the GTA and the PVE attempt to focus on the rebuilding of their systems and dealing with the remnants of the Shivan forces, although the alliance between them is in a fragile state. In order to ensure the alliance does not collapse, GTA command assigns the GTI to the task of preserving it, while assisting in protecting valuable research projects and dealing with the remaining Shivan forces. During engagements, a science vessel that had been recorded as being officially destroyed during the war with the Shivans, the ''Einstein'', turns up during an operation to protect Vasudan craft. Although the crew escape before the vessel is destroyed, suspicions surrounding the science vessel's appearance are aroused, when recovery of the ship's escapes pods is compounded by confusion in communications that lead to two of the GTI's destroyers, the ''Krios'' and the ''Repulse'', arriving and claiming to be there to recover the pods; the latter later proves they were assigned to this responsibility.
As the GTA and PVE launch further attacks on the Shivans, it is quickly discovered that what is left is unorganised, leading the alliance to co-ordinate a full invasion of their main strongholds, as other systems they occupied slowly return under Terran and Vasudan control. But as the last remaining threat from the Shivans is crushed, officers in the highest echelons of the GTI effect an attempt to cover-up plans for a coup against the GTA by going after the ''Krios'', the only ship aware of the plot and thus a threat to their plans. The pilots sent out by the ''Krios'' during the final fight with the Shivans, return early, arriving in time to discover the treason and alert GTA command. Realising that much of the GTI has gone rogue and are fighting against the alliance, remnants of the GTI still loyal to the GTA is merged with its battle-groups and begins conducting operations to bring down the ringleaders, including the capture of the ''Repulse''.
Shortly after destroying the GTI's headquarters, the alliance discovers that a crippling attack against a Vasudan destroyer, the ''Hope'', which had been maintaining a blockade against GTI forces, was conducted by a super-destroyer created by the GTI's R&D branch, designated the ''Hades''. Investigations into its origins reveals that the GTI had known about the Shivans much earlier than the GTA and PVE during the "Great War", and that the ''Einstein'' was officially declared as destroyed in order to observe the species without interference. The ''Hades'' was planned for the war against the Vasudans until the ceasefire was put into effect by the GTA and the PVE; thus the GTI assisted in the war, only to eliminate the Shivan threat while utilising the race's technology that it had uncovered to further enhance the super-destroyer. Their rebellion was designed in order to overthrow the GTA government and dissolve the treaty with the Vasudans; the ''Krios'' destruction was because the head of Special Operations had unearthed the plot after managing to get details from some of the crew of the ''Einstein''. Seeking to destroy it, GTA-PVE forces launch a massive assault on the ''Hades'', and manage against the odds to destroy the vessel, ending the rebellion, and further cementing the alliance between the two species, as they resume their work to rebuilding their systems.
In 2335, on the fourteenth year of the Terran–Vasudan war, a lone GTA pilot scrambles to warn of an impending new threat, after forces from the GTA and PVE are destroyed by an unknown race, but is killed shortly after arriving in the Ross 128 system along with all GTA assets within the system. Unable to find evidence of a new race in the aftermath of the attack, GTA command covers up the incident as best as possible, disclosing it as an unsubstantiated rumour, as GTA forces co-ordinate an offensive manoeuvre on contested system held by the PVE. During one such engagement in the Antares system, GTA forces are forced to recover prototypes of a new weapon system stolen by one of its officers, Lt. Alexander McCarthy, who had gone rogue; during his capture, he proclaims that there is a far greater threat to both sides. Shortly after the PVE begins to lose control of Antares, the unknown race strikes both GTA and PVE forces, devastating both sides. In the aftermath of the attack, both sides call a ceasefire to contend with the new race, dubbed as "Shivans".
Finding that the Shivans have two distinct advantages – their ships cannot be tracked by current sensor systems, while their smaller craft withstand current weapon system through the use of a shielding system – the GTA and PVE launch an ambitious raid on Shivan cargo depots to rectify this, acquiring components and data that allow them to even the odds. Despite the ceasefire coming into effect after the operation, a Vasudan death cult called "The Hammer of Light" (HoL), who worship the Shivans, launches attacks against both GTA and PVE forces. Contending with HoL forces, combined GTA-PVE forces soon begin making use of shielding technology in their fighters and bombers, and strike back at Shivan targets, eventually leading to the successful capture of a Shivan cruiser - the ''Taranis''. However, celebrations on its capture are short-lived when a Shivan super-destroyer, dubbed the ''Lucifier'', tracks down the ship, destroying it and many other allied ships. To the shock of the new alliance, the ''Lucifer'' is found to possess a powerful shield system that makes it immune to all conventional weaponry, thus allowing the Shivans to spearhead its invasion towards the homeworlds of the Vasudans and Terran.
Realising that the Vasudan's homeworld will be hit first, GTA-PVE forces prepare to counter the invasion, despite interference by HoL forces. To prepare for this, the alliance makes use of a captured Shivan fighter to scan incoming Shivan ships preparing an assault on the Vasuda system. Despite managing to destroy a Shivan destroyer during the eventual invasion, the GTA loses one of its own destroyers, the ''Galatea'', to the ''Lucifer's'' weaponry. Having obliterated all opposition, the ''Lucifer'' subsequently bombards the Vasudans' home-planet, causing several billion casualties in the process. In the aftermath of the incident, GTA-PVE forces launch a rescue mission to recover surviving refugees from Shivan forces.
With the Shivans now beginning to encroach on the Terrans' homeworld in the Sol system, the alliance receives unexpected news of a discovery that had been made in the Altair system, by a refugee fleet that had been forced to land on an uncharted planet within the system. Investigating this, the alliance uncover remnants of a long-extinct alien civilisation on the planet, dubbed "the Ancients", who had amassed a vast galactic empire several thousands of years ago, before the Shivans wiped them out. Uncovering data within the remains of this civilisation, the Alliance discovers that, prior to their destruction, the Ancients had developed the technology to track ships in subspace, and had discovered that the Shivans shield technology doesn't work in subspace, a flaw that also exists within the ''Lucifer'' s own shields.
Armed with this knowledge, the alliance launches a desperate assault to stop the super-destroyer as it prepares to enter the jump node to Sol from the Delta Serpentis system. A small task-force of fighter and bomber squadrons follows the ''Lucifer'' into subspace and destroys the vessel as it emerges into the Sol system. Its destruction causes the Sol jump node to collapse, cutting off Earth from the rest of the galaxy. The GTA and PVE celebrate a pyrrhic victory, as the "Great War" finally comes to an end, with the Vasudan homeworld devastated and the Terran homeworld isolated.
In an epilogue, a narrator speculates the Shivans were not necessarily evil, stating that they were "great destroyers but also the great preservers", and that their role was to exterminate other species who advanced beyond their ordained place in the cosmic order; the Ancients were targeted as they subdued or annihilated countless other species in building their vast empire. The narrator postulates that had it not been for the Shivan's intervention, the Ancients would have likely grown too powerful for the Terrans and Vasudans to survive against, and thus theorises that the Terrans' expansion would have made them a threat to any other fledgling species.
Following the end of the "Great War", both the GTA and the PVE attempt to focus on the rebuilding of their systems and dealing with the remnants of the Shivan forces, although the alliance between them is in a fragile state. In order to ensure the alliance does not collapse, GTA command assigns the GTI to the task of preserving it, while assisting in protecting valuable research projects and dealing with the remaining Shivan forces. During engagements, a science vessel that had been recorded as being officially destroyed during the war with the Shivans, the ''Einstein'', turns up during an operation to protect Vasudan craft. Although the crew escape before the vessel is destroyed, suspicions surrounding the science vessel's appearance are aroused, when recovery of the ship's escapes pods is compounded by confusion in communications that lead to two of the GTI's destroyers, the ''Krios'' and the ''Repulse'', arriving and claiming to be there to recover the pods; the latter later proves they were assigned to this responsibility.
As the GTA and PVE launch further attacks on the Shivans, it is quickly discovered that what is left is unorganised, leading the alliance to co-ordinate a full invasion of their main strongholds, as other systems they occupied slowly return under Terran and Vasudan control. But as the last remaining threat from the Shivans is crushed, officers in the highest echelons of the GTI effect an attempt to cover-up plans for a coup against the GTA by going after the ''Krios'', the only ship aware of the plot and thus a threat to their plans. The pilots sent out by the ''Krios'' during the final fight with the Shivans, return early, arriving in time to discover the treason and alert GTA command. Realising that much of the GTI has gone rogue and are fighting against the alliance, remnants of the GTI still loyal to the GTA is merged with its battle-groups and begins conducting operations to bring down the ringleaders, including the capture of the ''Repulse''.
Shortly after destroying the GTI's headquarters, the alliance discovers that a crippling attack against a Vasudan destroyer, the ''Hope'', which had been maintaining a blockade against GTI forces, was conducted by a super-destroyer created by the GTI's R&D branch, designated the ''Hades''. Investigations into its origins reveals that the GTI had known about the Shivans much earlier than the GTA and PVE during the "Great War", and that the ''Einstein'' was officially declared as destroyed in order to observe the species without interference. The ''Hades'' was planned for the war against the Vasudans until the ceasefire was put into effect by the GTA and the PVE; thus the GTI assisted in the war, only to eliminate the Shivan threat while utilising the race's technology that it had uncovered to further enhance the super-destroyer. Their rebellion was designed in order to overthrow the GTA government and dissolve the treaty with the Vasudans; the ''Krios'' destruction was because the head of Special Operations had unearthed the plot after managing to get details from some of the crew of the ''Einstein''. Seeking to destroy it, GTA-PVE forces launch a massive assault on the ''Hades'', and manage against the odds to destroy the vessel, ending the rebellion, and further cementing the alliance between the two species, as they resume their work to rebuilding their systems.
In the Pride Lands of Africa, King Simba and Queen Nala's daughter, Kiara, becomes annoyed with her father's overprotective parenting. Simba assigns his childhood friends, meerkat Timon and warthog Pumbaa, to follow her. After entering the forbidden "Outlands", Kiara meets a young cub, Kovu, and they are attacked by crocodiles. They escape using teamwork, and Kiara even saves Kovu at one point. When Kovu starts warming up to Kiara, Simba confronts the young cub just as he is confronted by Zira, Kovu's mother and the Outsiders' leader. Simba reminds Zira of how he exiled her and the other outsiders, and she reveals that Kovu was to be the successor of Simba's deceased uncle and nemesis, Scar.
After returning to the Pride Lands, Nala and the rest of the pride head back to Pride Rock while Simba lectures Kiara about the danger posed by the outsiders. He then tells her that they are a part of each other. In the Outlands, Zira reminds Kovu that Simba killed Scar and exiled everyone who respected him. Kovu explains that he does not think it is so bad to have Kiara as a friend, and Zira realizes that she can use Kovu's friendship with Kiara as leverage to seek revenge on Simba.
Several years later, Kiara, now a young adult, begins her first solo hunt. Simba has Timon and Pumbaa follow her in secret, causing her to hunt away from the Pride Lands. As part of Zira's plan, Kovu's siblings, Nuka and Vitani, trap Kiara in a fire, allowing Kovu to rescue her. Simba is forced to accept Kovu into his pride since he rescued Kiara, but remains distrustful of Kovu and fears he is just like Scar. The next morning, Kovu prepares his first attempt to attack Simba, but is interrupted by Kiara for her hunting lesson.
Kovu and Kiara start spending more time together and soon begin to develop romantic feelings for each other, causing Kovu to become conflicted about his mission until Rafiki appears and leads them to the jungle, where he introduces them to "upendi" (an erroneous form of upendo, which means "love" in Swahili), helping the two lions realize they are in love. That night, Simba allows Kovu to sleep inside Pride Rock with the rest of the pride after being encouraged by Nala to give Kovu a chance. Upon learning of Kovu's failure to kill Simba, Zira sets a trap for them.
The next day, Kovu once again attempts to explain his mission to Kiara, but Simba takes him around the Pride Lands and tells him Scar's story. The Outsiders then attack Simba, resulting in Nuka's death after losing his balance and getting crushed by logs. In the aftermath, Zira blames Kovu and scratches him across the face causing him to turn on her. Returning to Pride Rock, Kovu pleads with Simba for forgiveness but is exiled. After a failed attempt to convince her father to reconsider, Kiara flees to find Kovu. The two lions are eventually reunited and profess their love. Realizing that they must reunite the two prides, Kiara and Kovu return to the Pride Lands and convince them to stop fighting. Zira, however, attempts to kill Simba, but Kiara intervenes, and Zira falls to her death after a nearby dam bursts and washes her away.
With Zira gone, Simba accepts the Outsiders back into the Pride Lands, apologizes to Kovu for his mistake, then appoints Kovu and Kiara as his successors.
Bill Rago is a divorced advertising executive down on his luck. When he loses his job in Detroit, the unemployment agency finds him a temporary job: teaching basic literacy classes at a nearby U.S. Army training base, Fort McClane.
Initially unenthusiastic, Rago finds that he has only six weeks to teach a group of undereducated soldiers the basics of comprehension and use of English language. Most of the soldiers are only semi-literate and equally unenthusiastic.
Unable to connect with his pupils and desperate to spark their interest, Rago quotes from his favorite play, ''Hamlet'' by William Shakespeare. They are unfamiliar with it (or even the concept of a "play") and a small initial spark of interest is generated. He casts each student as a character in a classroom reading, then takes everyone on a field trip across the Blue Water Bridge to Stratford, Ontario Canada, to a live performance by Shakespearean actors. He introduces them to Shakespeare's ''Henry V'' as well.
In the meantime he takes steps to mend bridges with his daughter by buying her an airline ticket to Mexico – as well as buying her a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope – so that she can start on the path to becoming a professional astronomer.
Despite the disapproval of their hard-as-nails Drill Sergeant Cass, and the loss of one of the trainees, Pvt. Hobbs, who is revealed as a drug dealer hiding under an assumed identity, Rago sets an end-of-term oral examination. Even the friendly Capt. Murdoch, who is in charge of the project doesn't expect the soldiers to pass Rago's class, adding that if they fail they will be discharged from the Army.
Hobbs writes a letter to Rago and Murdoch, whose letters to the prison warden may result in him getting an early parole. Hobbs says he read ''Othello'' in the prison library (the librarian said he was the first inmate in 16 years to request Shakespeare) and was thinking about taking college classes once he's released.
While on duty, on a dare from Cass in front of other men, Pvt. Benitez recites the St. Crispin's Day Speech by King Henry V while in full combat gear in the middle of a rainstorm during a night exercise; the speech moves even the hardened Sgt. Cass. The students then all pass Rago's class with flying colors.
Rago meets and dates Marie, a soldier in the records department who helps him do some investigation before the base's graduation ceremony. It results in Pvt. Davis being presented with the Silver Star medal his father was to have been awarded posthumously, after he was killed in Vietnam.
As the proud soldiers march at their graduation parade, Rago is saluted by his "graduates". He signs on to continue teaching soldiers-in-training.
In 1953, Exterminator William Lee finds that his wife Joan is stealing his supply of insecticide to use as a recreational drug. Lee is arrested by the police, and he begins hallucinating due to being exposed to the insecticide. Lee comes to believe that he is a secret agent, and his boss, a giant talking beetle, assigns him the mission of killing Joan, who is allegedly an agent of an organization called Interzone Incorporated. Lee dismisses the beetle's instructions and kills it. Lee returns home to find Joan having sex with Hank, one of his writer friends. Shortly afterwards, he accidentally kills her while attempting to shoot a drinking glass off her head to emulate William Tell.
Having inadvertently accomplished his mission, Lee flees to Interzone, located in a city somewhere in North Africa. He spends his time writing reports concerning his mission; these documents, at the insistence of his visiting literary colleagues, are eventually compiled into the titular book. While Lee is addicted to assorted mind-altering substances, his replacement typewriter, a Clark Nova, becomes a talking insect which tells him to find Dr. Benway by seducing Joan Frost, a doppelgänger of his dead wife. There is a row at gunpoint with Joan's husband Tom, after Lee steals his typewriter, which is then destroyed by the Clark Nova insect. Lee also encounters Yves Cloquet, who is apparently an attractive young gay Swiss gentleman. However, Lee later discovers that Yves is merely disguised as a human, and that his true form is a huge monstrous shapeshifting centipede.
After concluding that Dr. Benway is actually secretly masterminding a narcotics operation for a drug called "black meat" which is supposedly derived from the guts of giant Brazilian centipedes, Lee encounters Tom's housekeeper Fadela, previously observed to be an agent of the narcotics operation. Fadela reveals herself as Dr. Benway in disguise. After being recruited as a double agent for the black meat operation, Lee completes his report and flees Interzone to Annexia with Joan Frost. Stopped by the Annexian border patrol and instructed to prove that he is a writer as he claims, Lee produces a pen. When this proves insufficient for passage, Lee, now having realized that accidentally murdering his wife has driven him to become a writer, demonstrates his William Tell routine using a glass atop Joan Frost's head. He again misses, and thus re-enacts the earlier killing of his wife. The border guards cheerfully bid him welcome to Annexia, and his new life as a writer. Lee is shown shedding a tear at this bittersweet accomplishment.
On October 30, 1977, amateur criminals Killer Karl and Richard Wick attempt an armed robbery at a gas station/horror museum, but are killed by the owner, Captain Spaulding, and his assistant, Ravelli. Later that night, Jerry Goldsmith, Bill Hudley, Mary Knowles, and Denise Willis are on the road in hopes of writing a book on offbeat roadside attractions. When the four meet Spaulding, who is also the owner of "The Museum of Monsters & Madmen", they learn of the local legend of Dr. Satan. As they take off in search of the tree from which Dr. Satan was hanged, they pick up a young free-spirited hitchhiker named Baby, who claims to live only a few miles away. Shortly after, a mysterious figure appears hidden in some overgrowth and shoots out their vehicle's tire with a shotgun. The group thinks it is just a blown out tire and so Baby takes Bill to her family's house to get a tow truck. Moments later, Baby's half-brother, Rufus, picks up the stranded passengers and takes them to the family home.
There they meet Baby's family: her adopted brother Otis Driftwood, her deformed giant half-brother Tiny, Mother Firefly, and Grandpa Hugo. While being treated to dinner, Mother Firefly explains that her ex-husband, Earl, had previously tried to burn Tiny alive, along with the Firefly house, after he suffered a psychotic breakdown. After dinner, the family puts on a Halloween show for their guests and Baby offends Mary by flirting with Bill. After Mary threatens Baby, Rufus tells them their car is repaired. As the couples leave, Otis and Tiny, disguised as scarecrows, attack them in the driveway and take them captive. The next day, Otis kills Bill and mutilates his body for art. Mary is tied up in a room and tormented by Otis, Denise is tied to a bed while dressed up as a doll for Halloween, and Jerry is partially scalped for failing to guess Baby's favorite movie star.
When Denise doesn't come home, her father Don calls the police to report her missing. Two deputies, George Wydell and Steve Naish, find the couples' abandoned car in a field with a dead, mutilated cheerleader in the trunk (one of five cheerleaders who went missing over a week ago, as explained in a news broadcast; an earlier scene established that the cheerleaders were being tortured, raped and killed by the Firefly family). Don, a former policeman, is called to the scene to help the deputies search. They arrive at the Firefly house and Wydell questions Mother Firefly about the missing teens. Mother Firefly shoots Wydell in the head and kills him; Don and Steve are then killed by Otis when they find more bodies of missing cheerleaders in the barn, along with a barely conscious Mary.
Later that night, the three remaining teenagers are dressed as rabbits and taken out to an abandoned well. Otis torments Denise using the skin of her dead father's face as a mask. Mary attempts to run away, but is tracked down and stabbed to death by Baby moments later. Otis and the family burn the bodies on a pyre.
Meanwhile, Jerry and Denise are placed in a coffin and lowered into a well, where a group of Dr. Satan's failed experiments break open the coffin and pull Jerry away, leaving Denise to find her way through an underground lair. As she wanders through tunnels filled with mutilated corpses, she encounters Dr. Satan and a number of mental patients; Jerry is on Dr. Satan's operating table being vivisected, and dies as Denise screams. Dr. Satan orders his mutated gargantuan assistant, who turns out to be Mother Firefly's ex-husband Earl, to capture Denise, but Denise outwits him and escapes by crawling to the surface as Earl is crushed by falling debris in the collapsing tunnel.
She makes her way to the main road, where she encounters Captain Spaulding, who gives her a ride in his car. She passes out from exhaustion in the front seat, and Otis suddenly appears in the back seat with a knife. Denise later wakes up to find herself strapped to an operating table, surrounded by Dr. Satan and Earl, who survived the cave-in. The movie ends with Denise screaming in horror and the words "The End?" displayed before the end credits.
The game is set in the alternate universe of Strangereal where Earth has different landmasses and history. Four years prior to the events of the game, a massive asteroid enters and breaks up in Earth's atmosphere. The impact events cause over 500,000 deaths in the first two weeks as well as an international financial crisis and refugee crisis. Just before the game starts, the Federal Republic of Erusea invades and occupies the neutral country of San Salvacion. Erusea also captures an array of anti-asteroid railguns codenamed Stonehenge which was developed to destroy the asteroid's fragments. Stonehenge is repurposed as a long-range anti-air weapon. Erusea is opposed by the Independent State Allied Forces (ISAF), but ISAF is forced to retreat outside Stonehenge's range to the island of North Point. Erusea gains control of most of Usea's mainland. The player controls the game's silent protagonist, an ISAF pilot known by the callsign Mobius 1, while interludes are narrated by a man from San Salvacion writing a letter to Mobius 1 after the war recalling his childhood memories of wartime.
Mobius 1 and ISAF repel Erusean bombers from destroying ISAF headquarters and enable ISAF troops to evacuate to North Point. Mobius 1 takes part in a series of air raids to disable Erusea's "invincible" Aegir Fleet, halting Erusea's attempts to invade North Point by sea. Bolstered by their victories, ISAF planes strike deeper into the continent but take heavy losses to fire from Stonehenge. ISAF then launches a ground invasion of the Usean mainland, establishing a foothold on the continent. Mobius 1 gains a reputation as a promising ace.
Meanwhile, a boy witnesses the death of his immediate family when an Erusean fighter with a yellow-painted 13 tail number shoots down an ISAF aircraft which crashes into the boy's home. The boy is taken in by his uncle, an unemployed alcoholic who lives above a bar in San Salvacion's capitol city. The boy describes his experience of the Erusean occupation. He earns income by playing music for Erusean soldiers in the bar. There he meets the Erusean ace pilot with the callsign Yellow 13, who captains the elite Yellow Squadron. Although the boy resents Yellow 13 at first, the captain and the rest of the squadron befriend and adopt the boy as one of their own. The boy speaks of Yellow 13's desire to face a worthy opponent and praise for Mobius 1's growing skill.
The ISAF invasion marks a turning point in the war against Erusea. This causes logistical problems for Yellow Squadron. The boy discovers that the barkeep and his daughter are agents of the resistance, though the daughter is fond of Yellow 13. The daughter bombs Yellow Squadron's airfield, damaging the aircraft flown by Yellow 13's wingman and close friend Yellow 4. ISAF launches an attack on Stonehenge in which Mobius 1 disables the railgun array. Yellow Squadron scrambles to defend Stonehenge. In the resulting dogfight, Yellow 4 is shot down by Mobius 1 and fails to eject. Yellow 13 quietly mourns the death of his wingman.
As ISAF forces approach San Salvacion, Yellow 13 catches the barkeep's daughter after she attempts to plant explosive detonators. The boy intervenes, calling Yellow 13 a "fascist pig." Yellow 13 is upset by the boy's words, but allows them to go free. ISAF liberates San Salvacion's capitol. The boy and the barkeep's daughter follow the retreating Erusean forces. ISAF forces push through Erusea's final defensive line to the Erusean capitol. As ISAF sieges the city, Mobius 1 engages and defeats Yellow 13 and the remainder of Yellow Squadron. The boy and the barkeep's daughter find and bury Yellow 13's handkerchief.
The Erusean leadership surrenders to ISAF. However, a rogue group of young Erusean officers take control of Megalith, a superweapon that uses rockets to shoot down asteroid fragments in orbit. Mobius 1 leads the newly formed Mobius Squadron into battle against the rogue officers while a special forces unit infiltrates the Megalith facility. Mobius 1 flies into the missile ports to destroy Megalith's generators. The special forces unit opens Mobius 1's escape route at the last moment and the squadron celebrates Mobius 1's heroism.
Many years after the war, the boy (now grown) reflects on Yellow 13's life and death. He writes to Mobius 1 that "it must have brought him an unexpected joy to have an opponent like you, at the end of that meaningless war."
One evening at Herrington High School in Ohio, teachers and Principal Drake leave after discussing the school's budget. When Drake returns to retrieve her keys, she is attacked by the school's football coach, Joe Willis. Drama teacher Mrs. Olson emotionlessly stabs Drake with scissors as she flees the school.
The following morning, the students arrive, including Casey Connor, the dedicated but perpetually harassed photographer for the school newspaper. Casey is the unappreciated assistant to spiteful Delilah Profitt, the paper's editor-in-chief and head cheerleader. Delilah's mistreated boyfriend Stan Rosado is contemplating quitting the football team to pursue academics. Zeke Tyler is an intelligent yet rebellious student repeating his senior year. Zeke sells, among other illegal items, a powdery ecstasy-like drug he manufactures and distributes; he is confronted by teacher Elizabeth Burke, who expresses concern for him over his illegal activities. Naive transfer student Marybeth Louise Hutchinson befriends self-styled outcast Stokely Mitchell, who has deliberately spread rumors that she is a lesbian though she has a crush on Stan. Marybeth develops a crush on Zeke which is reciprocated.
Casey finds a strange creature on the football field and takes it to science teacher Mr. Furlong, who believes it is a new species of cephalopod-specific parasite called a mesozoan. Delilah and Casey hide in the teachers' lounge to find a story. They witness Coach Willis and Ms. Olson forcing one of the parasites into the ear of the school nurse. They also find the body of another teacher, Mrs. Brummel. Casey and Delilah flee, and Casey calls the police, but his claims are dismissed.
The next day, Casey tells Delilah, Stan and Stokely he believes the teachers are being controlled by aliens. After Zeke and Marybeth tease them about their theory, Mr. Furlong attempts to infect them. Zeke injects his homemade drugs into Furlong's eye, killing him. Zeke takes the five to his house, where he experiments on a specimen retrieved by Casey. He discovers it needs water to survive and can be killed by his drugs. Zeke makes everyone take his drug to prove they are uninfected. Delilah is revealed as infected and she destroys Zeke's lab and most of his drug supply before escaping.
Acting on Stokely's speculation that killing the alien queen will revert everyone to normal, the group returns to the school, where their football team is playing and infecting opposing players. Believing Principal Drake to be the queen, they isolate her in the gym and fatally shoot her. Stan confronts the coach and team to see if the plan worked, but becomes infected himself. Zeke and Casey retrieve more of Zeke's drugs from his car. Casey leads infected students away from Zeke, who encounters Miss Burke in the parking lot and incapacitates her.
At the gym, Marybeth reveals herself to be the alien queen; earlier on, she faked taking the drug. Casey and Stokely flee to the swimming pool, where Stokely is injured and becomes infected. Zeke and Casey hide in the locker room, where Marybeth reverts to her human disguise. She explains she is taking over Earth because her own planet is dying. Marybeth transforms back into her true form and hurls Zeke across the room into the lockers, knocking him out. Casey seizes the drug and traps the queen behind retracting bleachers. He stabs the drug into the queen's eye. Casey returns to the locker room and finds Stokely and Zeke alive.
One month later, everyone has returned to normal. Stan and Stokely, who has shed her Goth girl image, are now dating. Zeke has taken Stan's place on the football team, while Miss Burke affectionately watches him practice. Delilah, no longer vindictive, is now dating Casey, who is considered a local hero as various news media reveal the attempted alien invasion is now public knowledge, even as the FBI denies it.
The novel takes place over Thanksgiving weekend 1973, during a dangerous ice storm, and centers on two neighboring families, the Hoods and the Williamses, and their difficulties in dealing with the tumultuous political and social climate of the day. The setting is an affluent Connecticut suburb during the height of the sexual revolution. The novel is narrated by four members of the two families, each promoting his or her view of complications that arise throughout the novel.
The Hood family members are Ben, Elena, Paul and Wendy, and the Williamses are Jim, Janey, Mikey, and Sandy. The Hood family is overridden with lies. Ben is currently having an affair with his married neighbor Janey. His wife Elena is alienated. Her daughter ventures into sexual liaisons with both females and males, including her neighbors Mikey and Sandy. The story focuses on the 24 hours in which a major ice storm strikes the town of New Canaan, Connecticut, just as both families are melting down from the parents' alcoholism, escapism and adultery, and their children's drug use and sexual experimentation.
Athena was the young, headstrong princess of the heavenly Kingdom of Victory. She was bored of the monotonous daily life in the palace and desired exciting adventures. One day, she opened the "Door Which Shouldn't Be Opened" in the basement of Castle Victory, said to lead to a savage and deadly place. As she dared cross the doorway, it caused her to fall from the skies and to another realm called Fantasy World, which was dominated by the evil Emperor Dante. After her flowing dress was lost while catching the wind for her fall, the perilous adventures of Princess Athena began as she landed in a wilderness overrun by beast-like warriors and more dangers than she could ever wish for. She readied to fight for her life and arm herself, with no other choice than to face the ruthless Dante and every obstacle on her way, to free this kingdom and make it back alive to her own.
After Athena defeats Dante, it all begins anew in the sequel, ''Athena: Full Throttle'', in which the princess, again bored, opens the "Door Which Shouldn't Be Opened '''B'''", disregarding her loyal maid Helene's advice, and they both fall to Elysium World, where they face off against other villains.
Many of the game's elements are inspired by Greek mythology or ancient Roman culture such as weapons, equipment, items and enemy designs, while Princess Athena herself is named after the Greek goddess Athena.
The city, which never is referred to by name (however, it is likely Berlin), is crowded by a growing number of jobless and marked by increasing violence between left and right. The novel starts in the seedy milieu of bars where prostitutes mingle with the hopeless flotsam that the war left behind. While Robert and his friends manage to make a living dealing cars and driving an old taxi, economic survival in the city is getting harder by the day. It is in this setting that Robert meets Patrice Hollmann, a mysterious, beautiful, young woman with an upper-middle-class background. Their love affair intensifies as he introduces her to his life of bars and races and Robert's nihilistic attitude slowly begins to change as he realizes how much he needs Pat.
The story takes an abrupt turn as Pat suffers a near-fatal lung hemorrhage during a summer holiday at the sea. Upon their return, Robert and Pat move in with each other, but she is scheduled to leave for a Swiss mountain sanatorium come winter. It is this temporal limitation of their happiness which makes their remaining time together so precious.
After Pat has left for Switzerland, the political situation in the city becomes heated, and Lenz, one of the comrades, is killed by a militant, not mentioned in the book by the actual name but supposed to be a Nazi. On top of this, Otto and Robert face bankruptcy and have to sell their workshop. In the midst of this misfortune, a telegram arrives informing them of Pat's worsening state of health. The two remaining comrades don't hesitate and drive the thousand kilometers to the sanatorium in the Alps to see her.
Reunited, Robert and an increasingly moribund Pat celebrate their remaining weeks before her inevitable death amid the snow-covered summits of Switzerland. It is in the last part of the book that this love story finds closure and leaves the main character, a nihilist who has found love, forever changed.
Three damned souls, Joseph Garcin, Inèz Serrano, and Estelle Rigault, are brought to the same room in Hell and locked inside by a mysterious valet. They had all expected torture devices to punish them for eternity, but instead, find a plain room furnished in the style of the French 'Second Empire'. At first, none of them will admit the reason for their damnation: Garcin says that he was executed for being an outspoken pacifist, while Estelle insists that a mistake has been made; Inèz, however, is the only one to demand that they all stop lying to themselves and confess to their moral crimes. She refuses to believe that they have all ended up in the room by accident and soon realizes that they have been placed together to make each other miserable. She deduces that they are to be one another's torturers.
Garcin suggests that they try to leave each other alone and to be silent, but Inèz starts to sing about execution and Estelle vainly wants to find a mirror to check on her appearance. Inèz tries to seduce Estelle by offering to be her "mirror" by telling her everything she sees but ends up frightening her instead. It is soon clear that Inèz is attracted to Estelle, Estelle is attracted to Garcin, and Garcin is not attracted to either of the two women.
After arguing, they decide to confess to their crimes so they know what to expect from each other. Garcin cheated on and mistreated his wife, and was executed by firing squad for desertion; Inèz is a manipulative sadist who seduced her cousin's wife, Florence, while living with them and convinced her to leave her husband—the cousin was later hit and killed by a tram and Florence asphyxiated herself and Inèz by flooding the room with gas while they slept—and Estelle had an affair and then killed the resulting child, prompting the child's father to commit suicide. Despite their revelations, they continue to get on each other's nerves. Garcin finally begins giving in to the lascivious Estelle's escalating attempts to seduce him, which drives Inèz crazy. Garcin is constantly interrupted by his own guilt, however, and begs Estelle to tell him that he is not a coward for attempting to flee his country during wartime. While she complies, Inèz mockingly tells him that Estelle is just feigning attraction to him so that she can be with a man—any man.
This causes Garcin to abruptly attempt an escape. After his trying to open the door repeatedly, it inexplicably and suddenly opens, but he is unable to bring himself to leave, and the others remain as well. He says that he will not be saved until he can convince Inèz that he is not cowardly. She refuses, saying that he is obviously a coward, and promising to make him miserable forever. Garcin concludes that rather than torture devices or physical punishment, "hell is other people." Estelle tries to persevere in her seduction of Garcin, but he says that he cannot make love while Inèz is watching. Estelle, infuriated, picks up a paper knife and repeatedly stabs Inèz. Inèz chides Estelle, saying that they are all already dead, and even furiously stabs herself to prove that point. As Estelle begins to laugh hysterically at the idea of them being dead and trapped together forever, the others join in a prolonged fit of laughter before Garcin finally concludes, "''Eh bien, continuons...''" ("Well then, let's get on with it...").
In 1919, in Paris, a public auction is held to clear a dilapidated opera house's vaults. The elderly Viscount Raoul de Chagny bids against Madame Giry, the retired ballet instructor of the theatre, for a papier-mâché music box shaped like a barrel organ with the figure of a cymbal-playing monkey attached to it. The auctioneer presents a repaired chandelier, relating it to "the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera". As it is hoisted up to the roof, the story moves back to 1870.
The theatre prepares for the performance of the grand opera, ''Hannibal'', headed by soprano Carlotta Giudicelli. Theatre manager Monsieur Lefèvre plans to retire, leaving the theatre under the ownership of Richard Firmin and Gilles André, who introduce their patron, the young Raoul. One of the dancers, Christine Daaé, recognizes Raoul as a childhood sweetheart, and wonders if he will also recognize her, but he leaves without seeing her.
Carlotta refuses to perform after being tormented for three years by the theatre's resident "Opera Ghost", a mysterious figure said to live in the catacombs below. Facing the performance's cancellation, Madame Giry suggests that Christine stands in as the lead actress. Christine displays her singing talent and is a huge success on opening night.
Christine tells her best friend Meg, Giry's daughter, that she is being coached by a tutor she calls the "Angel of Music". Christine reunites with Raoul, in whom she confides that she has been visited by the Angel of Music her deceased father promised he would send her after his death. Raoul, however, dismisses Christine's story. That night, the masked Opera Ghost, known as the "Phantom", appears before Christine from her dressing room mirror, spiriting her away to his underground lair. After the Phantom shows Christine a mannequin of her dressed in a wedding dress he made for her, Christine faints and sleeps in the Phantom's lair. It is presumed by this point that Christine has been missing.
Once Christine awakes and sees the Phantom, she removes his mask out of curiosity. The Phantom reacts violently and covers his face with his hand. After the duo have a moment of understanding, Christine returns the mask to the Phantom and the latter then returns her to the theatre unharmed but orders the managers to make her the lead in ''Il Muto''. However, the managers choose Carlotta instead. During the performance, the Phantom switches Carlotta's throat spray, causing her to sing out of tune, and she is replaced by Christine. The Phantom encounters stagehand Joseph Buquet and hangs him above the stage. Christine and Raoul flee to the roof, where they declare their love for each other. The Phantom, now heartbroken after witnessing the whole scene, vows revenge.
Three months later, in 1871, at a New Year masquerade ball, Christine and Raoul announce their engagement. The Phantom crashes the ball and orders his own opera, ''Don Juan Triumphant'', to be performed. Upon seeing Christine's engagement ring, the Phantom steals it and flees, pursued by Raoul, but Giry stops him. Giry explains that when she was younger, she met the Phantom, a deformed young boy, billed in a freak show and abused by the owner. When the Phantom rebelled and strangled the owner to death, Giry helped him evade the resulting mob and hid him within the opera house. The next day, Christine pays a visit to her father's tomb with the Phantom posing as his spirit to win her back, but Raoul intervenes. The Phantom and Raoul engage in a duel with each other before Raoul eventually knocks the Phantom down and flees with Christine.
Raoul and the managers formulate a plan to capture the Phantom during his opera. The Phantom murders the lead tenor, Ubaldo Piangi, and takes his place to sing with Christine. During their passionate duet, Christine unmasks the Phantom, revealing his deformity to the horrified audience. The Phantom then abducts Christine and retreats as he causes the chandelier to crash and set the opera house on fire to cover his tracks, but a mob forms to hunt him down. Giry leads Raoul down to the Phantom's lair to rescue Christine, while Meg leads the mob there as well.
The Phantom has Christine wear the wedding dress and proposes marriage. Christine tries to reason with him by admitting that she only fears his malicious acts, not his appearance. When Raoul arrives, the Phantom threatens to kill him unless Christine weds him. Pitying the Phantom, Christine kisses him. Moved by her kindness, the Phantom allows the lovers to leave. Comforted by the music box, the Phantom weeps alone and Christine lets him keep her engagement ring as a memento. He then escapes before the mob arrives, with Meg finding only his discarded mask.
Back in the present, Raoul visits the recently deceased Christine's grave and places the Phantom's music box before it. Before leaving, he notices a freshly laid rose with Christine's ring attached to its stem, implying that the Phantom is still alive and will always love her.
London-based gangster George Thomason plans a jewel heist with his right-hand man, Ken Pile, an animal lover with a stutter. They bring in two Americans: con artist Wanda Gershwitz and weapons expert Otto West, an ignorant and mean-spirited anglophobe. Wanda and Otto are lovers, but they hide this from George and Ken, pretending to be siblings, so Wanda can work her charms on them. The heist is successful and the gang escapes with a large sum in diamonds, which they hide in an old safe. Soon afterwards, Wanda and Otto betray George to the police and he is arrested. They return to collect the diamonds, with Wanda planning to double-cross Otto as well, but find that the safe is empty. In Ken's fish tank, Wanda discovers the key to a safe deposit box where George has moved the diamonds and hides it in her locket.
Wanda decides to seduce George's barrister, Archie Leach, in hopes of learning the location of the diamonds. Archie is in a loveless marriage and quickly falls for Wanda. Otto becomes jealous, and his interference causes Wanda and Archie's liaisons to go disastrously wrong. Wanda accidentally leaves her pendant at Archie's house, and his wife, Wendy, mistakes it for a gift for her, assuming that the ''W'' on it stands for Wendy. Wanda demands that Archie retrieve the pendant, and after failing to convince Wendy to give it up, he ends up faking a robbery at his own home in order to explain its disappearance. Otto arrives at the house to apologize to Archie for earlier insults and interrupts the robbery, knocking the presumed burglar unconscious before he realises that it is Archie who is robbing his own home. Archie returns the pendant to Wanda at their next romantic meeting, but it is interrupted and he subsequently telephones her to call off their affair. Otto arrives at the house again to apologise. Wendy overhears their subsequent conversation and finds out that Archie is cheating on her.
George asks Ken to kill the Crown's only eyewitness to the robbery, the elderly Eileen Coady, who owns three small dogs. Ken repeatedly tries to kill her, but each time accidentally kills one of the dogs instead, causing him great distress. The last dog's death gives the woman a fatal heart attack, making Ken successful at last. With no witness, George seems poised to be released. He gives instructions to Ken, revealing the location of the diamonds. When Otto learns that Ken knows the location, he tries to force Ken to reveal it by eating Ken's various pet fish, leaving Ken's favorite, named Wanda, until last. Ken reveals that the diamonds are at the Cathcart Towers Hotel near Heathrow Airport, but doesn't know Wanda already took the key until she informs Otto.
With Otto's knowledge and Wanda's key, the two want George to remain in jail. At his trial, Wanda, as a defense witness, unexpectedly gives evidence against him. Archie is stunned by her statements and flubs his questioning, inadvertently calling her "darling". Wendy, watching from the public gallery, declares their marriage over.
With his career and marriage ruined, Archie resolves to cut his losses, steal the loot himself and flee to South America. Promising less jail time, Archie asks George about the diamonds and learns of Otto and Wanda's complicity and that Ken knows their location. Archie sees Wanda fleeing the court and they race to Ken's flat together. As they arrive, Otto steals Archie's car, taking Wanda with him. While Ken stutters uncontrollably, Archie painstakingly gets him to reveal the location of the safety deposit box. Ken is never able to fully say the name of the location, but he ultimately writes the location out for a frustrated Archie. They then set out for Heathrow on Ken's moped.
Otto and Wanda recover the diamonds, but Wanda double-crosses Otto and leaves him unconscious in a broom cupboard at Heathrow. She reluctantly boards her flight to Rio de Janeiro without Archie. Otto recovers, steals a boarding pass, and makes his way to the tarmac, where he is confronted by Archie. Otto is about to kill Archie, but Archie stalls him by taunting Otto about America's defeat in Vietnam. Ken arrives, driving a steamroller, seeking vengeance for his fish. Otto finds he has stepped in wet concrete and cannot move; he is run over, but survives. Archie and Wanda board the plane while Otto, clinging to the window outside, curses them until he is blown off during takeoff.
:''Based on the general release version of 1925, which has additional scenes and sequences in different order than the existing reissue print.''
The film opens with the debut of the new season at the Paris Opera House, with a production of Gounod's ''Faust''. Comte Philippe de Chagny and his brother, the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny are in attendance. Raoul is there only in the hope of hearing his sweetheart Christine Daaé sing. Christine has made a sudden rise from the chorus to understudy of Mme. Carlotta, the prima donna. Raoul visits her in her dressing room during an interval in the performance, and makes his intentions known that he wishes for Christine to resign and marry him. Christine refuses to let their relationship get in the way of her career.
At the height of the most prosperous season in the Opera's history, the management suddenly resign. As they leave, they tell the new managers of the Opera Ghost, a phantom who is "the occupant of box No. 5," among other things. The new managers laugh it off as a joke, but the old management leaves troubled.
After the performance, the ballerinas are disturbed by the sight of a mysterious man in a fez prowling down in the cellars, and they wonder if he could be the Phantom. Meanwhile, Mme. Carlotta, the prima donna, has received a letter from "The Phantom," demanding that Christine sing the role of Marguerite the following night, threatening dire consequences if his demands are not met. In Christine's dressing room, an unseen voice warns Christine that she must take Carlotta's place on Wednesday and that she is to think only of her career and her master.
The following day, in a garden near the Opera House, Raoul meets Christine and asks her to reconsider his offer. Christine admits that she has been tutored by a divine voice, the "Spirit of Music," and that it is now impossible to stop her career. Raoul tells her that he thinks someone is playing a joke on her, and she storms off in anger.
Wednesday evening, Christine takes Carlotta's place in the opera. During the performance, the managers enter Box 5 and are startled to see a shadowy figure seated there, who soon disappears when they are not looking. Later, Simon Buquet finds the body of his brother, stagehand Joseph Buquet, hanging by a noose and vows vengeance. Carlotta receives another peremptory note from the Phantom. Once again, he demands that she say she is ill and let Christine take on her role. The managers get a similar note, reiterating that if Christine does not sing, they will present ''Faust'' in a house with a curse on it.
The following evening, despite the Phantom's warnings, a defiant Carlotta appears as Marguerite. During the performance, the large crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling is dropped onto the audience, crushing some people to death. Christine enters a secret door behind the mirror in her dressing room, descending into the lower depths of the Opera. She meets the Phantom, who introduces himself as Erik and declares his love; Christine faints, and Erik carries her to an underground suite fabricated for her comfort. The next day, she finds a note from Erik telling her that she is free to come and go as she pleases, but that she must never look behind his mask. As the Phantom is preoccupied playing his organ, Christine sneaks up behind him and playfully tears off his mask, revealing his deformed skull-like face. Enraged, the Phantom declares that she is now his prisoner. She pleads with him to let her sing again, and he relents, allowing her to visit the surface one last time if she promises not to see Raoul again.
Released from the underground, Christine makes a rendezvous with Raoul at the annual masked-ball, at which the Phantom appears in the guise of Poe's "Red-Death". Raoul and Christine flee to the roof of the Opera House, where she tells him about her experiences beneath the Opera House. Unbeknownst to them, the Phantom is listening nearby atop a statue. Raoul swears to whisk Christine safely away to London with him following her next performance. As they leave the roof, the mysterious man with the fez approaches them. Aware that the Phantom is waiting downstairs, he leads Christine and Raoul to another exit.
The following evening, during her performance, Christine is kidnapped by the Phantom. Raoul rushes to her dressing room, and meets the man in the fez, who reveals himself to be Inspector Ledoux, a secret policeman who has been tracking Erik since he escaped as a prisoner from Devil's Island. Ledoux reveals the secret door in Christine's room and the two men enter the catacombs of the Opera House in an attempt to rescue Christine. They fall into the Phantom's dungeon, a torture chamber of his design. Philippe has also found his way into the catacombs looking for his brother. Philippe is drowned by Erik, who returns to his lair to find the two men trapped in the torture chamber.
The Phantom subjects the two prisoners to intense heat; they manage to escape the chamber by opening a trap door in the floor. In the chamber below, the Phantom shuts a gate, locking them in with barrels full of gunpowder. He causes the room to flood. Christine begs the Phantom to save Raoul, promising him anything in return, even becoming his wife. At the last second, the Phantom opens a trapdoor in his floor through which Raoul and Ledoux are saved.
A mob led by Simon Buquet infiltrates the Phantom's lair. As the mob approaches, the Phantom attempts to flee with Christine in the carriage that was waiting outside for Raoul and Christine. While Raoul saves Christine, the Phantom is beaten to death by the mob and thrown into the River Seine. In a brief epilogue, Raoul and Christine are shown on their honeymoon in Viroflay.
In March 1944, OSS officer Major John Reisman is ordered by the commander of ADSEC in Britain, Major General Sam Worden, to undertake Project Amnesty, a top-secret mission to train some of the Army's worst prisoners and turn them into commandos to be sent on a virtual suicide mission just before D-Day. The target is a château near Rennes where dozens of high-ranking German officers will be eliminated in order to disrupt the chain of command of the Wehrmacht in Northern France before the Allied invasion. The prisoners who survive the mission will receive pardons for their crimes.
Five prisoners are condemned to death while the others face lengthy sentences which include hard labor. With a detachment of MPs led by Sgt. Bowren acting as guards, the prisoners gradually learn how to operate together when they are forced to build their own training camp. However, when an act of insubordination is instigated by the rebellious Franko, all shaving and wash kits are withheld as punishment which leads to their nickname "The Dirty Dozen." During their training the prisoners are psychoanalyzed by Capt. Kinder who warns Reisman that they would all quite likely kill him if given the chance; and rapist/killer Maggott is by far the most dangerous.
With their commando training almost complete, the "Dirty Dozen" are sent for parachute training at a facility commanded by Reisman's nemesis Colonel Everett Dasher Breed of the 101st Airborne Division. When Reisman's men run afoul of Breed, especially after Pinkley – under Reisman's orders – poses as a general to inspect Breed's best troops, the Airborne colonel attempts to discover Reisman's mission by having two of his men beat a confession out of one of the prisoners. The convicts blame Reisman for the attack but realize their mistake after Breed and his men arrive at their camp looking for answers. Reisman infiltrates his own camp and the convicts disarm Breed's paratroops forcing the colonel to leave in humiliation.
Upon the men's completion of their training, Reisman rewards them with prostitutes, which raises the ire of General Worden and his chief of staff, Brigadier General Denton. Termination of the project is considered, which would result in sending the men back to prison for execution of their sentences. However, Reisman ferociously defends the prisoners saying each one is worth ten of Breed's best troops. Reisman's friend, Major Max Armbruster, suggests a test. During upcoming military maneuvers in southwest England, the "Dirty Dozen" will attempt to capture Colonel Breed's headquarters. The unit successfully infiltrates and captures Breed's war games headquarters using various unorthodox tactics. An impressed General Worden green-lights Reisman's mission.
The men parachute into northern France but Jimenez breaks his neck during the jump. With a man down, the mission proceeds with German-speaking Wladislaw and Reisman infiltrating the chateau disguised as German officers. However, all surprise is lost when the psychopathic Maggott breaks cover before he is eventually killed by Jefferson to protect the mission. The sound of gunfire makes the Wehrmacht officers and their companions retreat to a locked underground bomb shelter, but after gasoline has been poured down ventilation shafts, they are all killed by grenades.
After a fire fight, only Reisman, Sgt Bowren, and Wladislaw escape alive. Back in England, a voiceover from Armbruster confirms that General Worden exonerated the sole surviving member of the Dirty Dozen and communicated to the next of kin of the rest that "they lost their lives in the line of duty".
William Mandella is a physics student conscripted for an elite task force in the United Nations Exploratory Force being assembled for a war against the Taurans, an alien species discovered when they apparently attacked human colonists' ships. The UNEF ground troops are sent out for reconnaissance and revenge. The elite recruits have IQs of 150 and above, are highly educated, healthy, and fit. Training is grueling first on Earth and later on a planet called "Charon" beyond Pluto (written before the discovery of the actual planetoid). Several of the recruits die during training due to the extreme environments and the use of live weapons. The new soldiers complete training and immediately depart for action via interconnected "collapsars" that allow ships to cover thousands of light-years in a split second. However, crucially, traveling to and from the collapsars at near-lightspeed has enormous relativistic time effects.
Their first encounter with Taurans, on a planet orbiting Epsilon Aurigae, triggers their post-hypnotic training, which causes them to massacre the Taurans despite their lack of resistance. This first expedition, beginning in 1997, lasts only two years from the soldiers' point of view, but due to time dilation, they return to Earth in 2024. During the expedition's second battle, the soldiers experience future shock first-hand, as the Taurans have much more advanced weaponry. Mandella, with fellow soldier and lover Marygay Potter, returns to civilian life, only to find humanity drastically changed. He and the other discharged soldiers have difficulty fitting into a society that has altered almost beyond their comprehension. The veterans learn that, to curb overpopulation, which led to class wars around the world caused by inequitable rationing, homosexuality has become officially encouraged by many of the world's nations. The world has become a very dangerous place due to mass unemployment and the easy availability of weapons. Alienated, Mandella and many other veterans re-enlist, despite the extremely high casualty rate and their recognition that the military is a soulless construct. Mandella and Potter receive promised postings as instructors on Luna, but upon arrival are immediately reassigned to a combat command.
Almost entirely through luck, Mandella survives four years of military service, while several centuries elapse in real time. He soon becomes the objectively oldest surviving soldier in the war, attaining high rank through seniority rather than ambition. He and Potter (who has remained his last link with the Earth of his youth) are eventually given different assignments, meaning that even if they both survive the war they will likely never meet again due to time dilation. After briefly contemplating suicide, Mandella assumes the post of commanding officer of a "strike force", commanding soldiers who speak a language largely unrecognizable to him, whose ethnicity is now nearly uniform ('vaguely Polynesian' in appearance) and who are exclusively homosexual. He is disliked by his soldiers and he assumes this is because they had to learn 21st century English to communicate with him and other senior staff and because he is heterosexual.
Engaging in combat thousands of light years away from Earth, Mandella and his soldiers need to resort to medieval weapons to fight inside a stasis field which neutralizes all electromagnetic radiation in anything not covered with a protective coating. Upon return, the strike force learns this is the last battle of the war. Humanity has begun to clone itself, resulting in a new, collective species calling itself simply ''Man''. ''Man'' is able to communicate with the Taurans, who are also clones. It is discovered that the war started due to a misunderstanding; the colony ships were lost to accidents and those on Earth with a vested interest in a new war used these disappearances as an excuse to begin the conflict. The futile, meaningless war, which had lasted for more than a thousand years, ends.
''Man'' has established several colonies of old-style, heterosexual humans, just in case the evolutionary change proves to be a mistake. Mandella travels to one of these colonies (named "Middle Finger" in the definitive version of the novel) where he is reunited with Potter, who had been discharged much earlier and had taken trips in space to use time dilation to age at a much slower rate, hoping for Mandella's return. The epilogue is a news item from the year 3143 announcing the birth of a "fine baby boy" to Marygay Potter-Mandella.
''Teheran 43'' starts in 1980 in Paris. The memories of hero Andrei take the story back to 1943. The Germans planned to assassinate the three men 37 years later, and the German agent Max lives with Françoise, a young Parisian woman, who hides him. But another Nazi, Scherner, is hunting down Max who failed to carry out the planned assassinations. Max trusts Françoise but he does not know that she works for Scherner. Another plot in the movie is the romance between Andrei and the French woman Marie in 1943, followed in 1980.
Max Richard (Armen Dzhigarkhanyan), an assassin of the Nazis, who was 37 years ago hired to assassinate Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Tehran Conference, is holed up in today's Paris at the young French woman Françoise (Claude Jade). In flashbacks, he describes Françoise who claims to be a neighbor in his apartment because she mistook the door, the assassination attempts. Max was brought in 1943 to Tehran as a funeral director of a previously murdered Persian. Max also kills the lawyer of the dead, Gérard Simon (Gleb Strizhenov). But Simon's interpreter Marie (Natalya Belokhvostikova) and the young Russian Secret agent Andrei (Igor Kostolevsky) get him on the loose. The two have no time for romance but thwart the assassination. They can arrest a fake photographer (Georges Géret). The man who posed as a photographer and cinematographer "Dennis Pew" had a gun in his movie camera. Andrei, who cares for the safety of the young woman, sends Marie, who is in love with him, to France. They do not see each other again.
When Max wants to publish his memoirs and documents in Paris today with the help of the lawyer Legraine (Curd Jürgens), Andrei travels to Paris. At an auction of Max's documents in London, Andrej sees a young woman who is very similar to Marie. She is Marie's daughter Nathalie. Françoise, meanwhile Max's mistress, also pursues her own goals. She claims to work for his former client Scherner (Albert Filozov) and to have spared Max only out of pity.
In Paris, the paths of Marie and Andreiand of Marie's daughter Nathalie and police inspector Foche (Alain Delon), who chases the former masterminds around Scherner, intersect. During a plane hijacking initiated by Scherner, Andrei meets Nathalie again. Foche, who wants to protect Nathalie's mother, is assassinated in the back. Max gets scared when Marie is killed as a former witness after a short reunion with Andrei. Then, Françoise takes him to a new hiding place.
Andrei visits Nathalie and learns from her that Marie loved him all those years. She told her daughter about swimming together and told her about the dolphins, but those were just her dreams. In his new hideout, Max is shot by Scherner's men. Legraine interrogates Scherner and Françoise; possibly, he will negotiate with them about the manuscript. Andrei travels back to Moscow.
This plot summary is based on a text published c. 1760 by John Cotton and Joshua Eddowes, which in its turn was based on a chapbook c. 1711, and reprinted in ''The Classic Fairy Tales'' by Iona and Peter Opie in 1974.
The tale is set during the reign of King Arthur and tells of a young Cornish farmer's son named Jack who is not only strong but so clever he easily confounds the learned with his penetrating wit. Jack encounters a livestock-eating giant called Cormoran (Cornish: 'The Giant of the Sea' SWF:''Kowr-Mor-An'') and lures him to his death in a pit trap. Jack is dubbed 'Jack the Giant-Killer' for this feat and receives not only the giant's wealth, but a sword and belt to commemorate the event.
A man-eating giant named Blunderbore vows vengeance for Cormoran's death and carries Jack off to an enchanted castle. Jack manages to slay Blunderbore and his brother Rebecks by hanging and stabbing them. He frees three ladies held captive in the giant's castle.
On a trip into Wales, Jack tricks a two-headed Welsh giant into slashing his own belly open. King Arthur's son now enters the story and Jack becomes his servant.
They spend the night with a three-headed giant and rob him in the morning. In gratitude for having spared his castle, the three-headed giant gives Jack a magic sword, a cap of knowledge, a cloak of invisibility, and shoes of swiftness.
On the road, Jack and the Prince meet an enchanted Lady serving Lucifer. Jack breaks the spell with his magic accessories, beheads Lucifer, and the Lady marries the Prince. Jack is rewarded with membership in the Round Table.
Jack ventures forth alone with his magic shoes, sword, cloak, and cap to rid the realm of troublesome giants. He encounters a giant terrorizing a knight and his lady. He cuts off the giant's legs, then puts him to death. He discovers the giant's companion in a cave. Invisible in his cloak, Jack cuts off the giant's nose then slays him by plunging his sword into the monster's back. He frees the giant's captives and returns to the house of the knight and lady he earlier had rescued.
A banquet is prepared, but it is interrupted by the two-headed giant Thunderdel chanting "Fee, fau, fum". Jack defeats and beheads the giant with a trick involving the house's moat and drawbridge.
Growing weary of the festivities, Jack sallies forth for more adventures and meets an elderly man who directs him to an enchanted castle belonging to the giant Galligantus (Galligantua, in the Joseph Jacobs version). The giant holds captive many knights and ladies and a Duke's daughter who has been transformed into a white doe through the power of a sorcerer. Jack beheads the giant, the sorcerer flees, the Duke's daughter is restored to her true shape, and the captives are freed.
At the court of King Arthur, Jack marries the Duke's daughter and the two are given an estate where they live happily ever after.
Sláine is a wanderer who is banished from his tribe, the Sessair. He explores the Land of the Young (Irish: ''Tír na nÓg'') with an unscrupulous dwarf called Ukko, fighting monsters and mercenaries. In one early adventure he rescues a maiden, Medb, from being sacrificed in a wicker man, only to earn her enmity – she was a devotee of Crom Cruach, the god to whom she was to be sacrificed, and was looking forward to the experience. Her master and mentor, the ancient, rotting and insane Lord Weird Slough Feg, becomes the series' main villain.
Sláine encounters sky chariots (flying longships), dragons and prehistoric alien gods.
Sláine returns to his tribe and becomes king, leading them against the Fomorians, a race of sea demons who were oppressing them. In ''The Horned God'', Sláine unites the tribes of the earth goddess against Slough Feg and his allies, while his personal devotion to the goddess leads to him becoming a new incarnation of the Horned God Carnun (based on the Gaulish deity Cernunnos). By the end of the story the Land of the Young is no more, and Sláine is the first High King of Ireland. Sláine in Simon Bisley's version.
In subsequent stories, Sláine is sent through time by Danu to fight alongside other heroes and heroines such as Boudica (with whom he fought against the Romans, Elfric, and William Wallace), and returns to Ireland to defend his people against new enemies alongside his wife Niamh.
These new enemies turn out to be a full Fomorian invasion led by Balor and Moloch, murdering, raping, and eating their way through Sláine's tribe until he is able to defeat Balor. The tribal council forces Sláine to let Moloch go, hoping he would fulfill his promise of keeping the Fomorians out of Ireland; instead, he returns to rape and murder Niamh. Wanting vengeance, Sláine abdicates the throne, and goes to Albion, killing Moloch. In his absence, his son Kai leaves the tribe to search for his father (eventually becoming a performer in an Albion carnival) and Ireland faces a second invasion – "the dread of Europe", Atlanteans whose ancestors had lived in Ireland before the tribes of Danu, and who had been forcibly turned into hosts – ''Golamhs'' – for the symbiotic Sea Demons under Lord Odacon (an offshoot of the Fomorians). When Sláine returns, he finds the new High King Sethor, former member of the council who had granted Moloch freedom, was willing to surrender half of Ireland to Odacon in return for the gifts of science and civilisation.
Sláine convinces the tribal council that the demons could be killed and war is once more declared on the invaders, but it was clear that Ireland would be constantly attacked by wave after wave of Fomorian invasion. Sláine suggests having the Tribe of Danu escape to the Otherworld that their Sky Chariots had been sent to in order to free them from the demons, and allow the Atlanteans to settle peacefully in Ireland. Both armies unite against Odacon and his Sea Demons. Sláine is able to free the Atlantean leader Gael from being Odacon's ''Golamh'' by handing over Sethor to take Gael's place, and they lead their armies to bolster the city of Tara. While the tribes fight a defensive battle, Sláine is sent to the Otherworld to secure Danu's blessings for the Tribes of the Earth Goddess to settle there. He returns with her power behind him and leads a charge that decimates Odacon's forces. The Tribe is cast into the Otherworld in the aftermath, and Sláine assists Gael in finally destroying Odacon and the parasitic spawn with which he had infested the outer-lying villages.
With Gael as High King of Ireland and founder of the eventual Gaelic race, Sláine leaves to track down his son. He finds Kai at a travelling funfair, and later embarks on a quest to track down Crom Dubh.
Bambi is a roe deer fawn born in a thicket in late spring one year. Over the course of the summer, his mother teaches him about the various inhabitants of the forest and the ways deer live. When she feels he is old enough, she takes him to the meadow, which he learns is both a wonderful but also dangerous place as it leaves the deer exposed and in the open. After some initial fear over his mother's caution, Bambi enjoys the experience. On a subsequent trip Bambi meets his Aunt Ena and her twin fawns Faline and Gobo. They quickly become friends and share what they have learned about the forest. While they are playing, they encounter princes, male deer, for the first time. After the stags leave, the fawns learn that those were their fathers, but that the fathers rarely stay with or speak to the females and young.
As Bambi grows older, his mother begins to leave him alone. While searching for her one day, Bambi has his first encounter with "He" the animals' term for humans – which terrifies him. The man raises a firearm and aims at him; Bambi flees at top speed, joined by his mother. After he is scolded by a stag for crying for his mother, Bambi gets used to being alone at times. He later learns the stag is called the "Old Prince", the oldest and largest stag in the forest, who is known for his cunning and aloof nature. During the winter, Bambi meets Marena, a young doe, Nettla, an old doe who no longer bears young, and two princes, Ronno and Karus. Mid-winter, hunters enter the forest, killing many animals including Bambi's mother. Gobo also disappears and is presumed dead.
After this, the novel skips ahead a year, noting that Bambi, now a young adult, was cared for by Nettla and that when he got his first set of antlers he was abused and harassed by the other males. It is summer and Bambi is now sporting his second set of antlers. He is reunited with his cousin Faline. After he battles and defeats first Karus then Ronno, Bambi and Faline fall in love with each other. They spend a great deal of time together. During this time, the Old Prince saves Bambi's life when he nearly runs towards a hunter imitating a doe's call. This teaches the young buck to be cautious about blindly rushing toward any deer's call. During the summer, Gobo returns to the forest, having been raised by a man who found him collapsed in the snow during the hunt where Bambi's mother was killed. While his mother and Marena welcome him and celebrate him as a "friend" of man, the Old Prince and Bambi pity him. Marena becomes his mate, but several weeks later Gobo is killed when he approaches a hunter in the meadow, falsely believing the halter he wore would keep him safe from all men.
As Bambi continues to age, he begins spending most of his time alone, including avoiding Faline though he still loves her in a melancholic way. Several times he meets with the Old Prince, who teaches him about snares, shows him how to free another animal from one, and encourages him not to use trails, to avoid the traps of men. When Bambi is later shot by a hunter, the Prince shows him how to walk in circles to confuse the man and his dogs until the bleeding stops, then takes him to a safe place to recover. They remain together until Bambi is strong enough to leave the safe haven again. When Bambi has grown gray and is "old", the Old Prince shows him that man is not all-powerful by showing him the dead body of a man who was shot and killed by another man. When Bambi confirms that he now understands that "He" is not all-powerful, and that there is "Another" over all creatures, the stag tells him that he has always loved him and calls him "my son" before leaving.
At the end of the novel, Bambi meets with twin fawns who are calling for their mother and he scolds them for not being able to stay alone. After leaving them, he thinks to himself that the girl fawn reminded him of Faline, and that the male was promising and that Bambi hoped to meet him again when he was grown.
The Earthman Elijah Baley (the detective hero of the previous ''Robot'' books) has died nearly two centuries earlier. During these two centuries, Earth-people have overcome their agoraphobia and resumed space colonization, using faster-than-light drive to reach distant planets beyond the earlier "Spacer" worlds. Their inhabitants, calling themselves "Settlers" rather than "Spacers", revere Earth as their mother-world.
Baley's memory remains in the mind of his former lover, Gladia Delmarre, a long-lived "Spacer" who uncharacteristically relocated from the spacer world of Solaria to Aurora. Gladia's homeworld and the 50th-established of the Spacer planets, Solaria, has become empty of all human inhabitants, although millions of robot servants remain. A seventh-generation descendant of Baley's, Daneel Giskard ('D.G.') Baley, gains Gladia's help in visiting Solaria, to investigate the destruction of several "Settler" spaceships that made landings there and to capture the presumably unsupervised robots. Gladia is accompanied by the positronic robots R. Daneel Olivaw and R. Giskard Reventlov, both the former property of their creator, Dr. Han Fastolfe, who bequeathed them to Gladia in his will. R. Giskard has secret telepathic powers of which only R. Daneel knows.
At the same time, Daneel and Giskard are engaged in a struggle of wits with Fastolfe's rivals: The roboticists Kelden Amadiro and Vasilia Aliena, Fastolfe's estranged daughter. Frustrated by his series of failures, Amadiro accepts an ambitious and unscrupulous apprentice, Levular Mandamus, who plans to destroy the population of the Earth by a newly developed weapon, the "nuclear intensifier", with which to accelerate the natural radioactive decay in the upper crust of the Earth, thereby making the surface of the Earth radioactive. R. Daneel and R. Giskard discover the roboticists' plan and attempt to stop Amadiro; but are hampered by the First Law of Robotics,
which prevents them from a direct attack on Amadiro. Daneel and Giskard, meanwhile, have inferred an additional Zeroth Law of Robotics:
It might enable them to overcome Amadiro, if they can use their telepathic perception of humanity to quell the inhibitions of the first law. When Vasilia accuses Giskard of telepathy (earlier created by herself) Giskard is compelled to manipulate her mind to make her forget about his telepathic powers. The two robots locate Amadiro and Mandamus on Earth, at the site of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station in Pennsylvania. After Amadiro admits their plans, Giskard alters Amadiro's brain (using the newly created Zeroth Law); but in so doing, threatens his own.
Now alone with the robots, Mandamus claims that his intentions were to draw out the radioactive catastrophe over many decades, rather than the mere years that Amadiro wanted, and Giskard, believing it best for humanity to abandon the Earth, allows Mandamus to do this (resulting in the situation depicted in ''Pebble in the Sky''), and deprives Mandamus of the memory of doing so. Giskard predicts, correctly, that by forcing humanity into leaving the Earth, vigor will be reintroduced into mankind and the new Settlers will populate space until all the governments of the interstellar colonies form a "Galactic Empire". Under the stress of having violated the First Law (in accordance with the Zeroth Law, but with the predicted benefit to humanity being uncertain), R. Giskard himself suffers a soon-fatal malfunction of his positronic brain but manages to confer his telepathic ability upon R. Daneel.
This part is original to the 1951 book version. It takes place in 12,067 G.E. ("Galactic Era"). The story begins on Trantor, the capital of the 12,000-year-old Galactic Empire, powerful but slowly decaying. Hari Seldon, a mathematician and psychologist, has developed psychohistory, a new field of science and psychology that treats all possibilities in large societies by mathematics, allowing for the probabilistic prediction of future events.
By means of psychohistory, Seldon has discovered the decline and eventual fall of the Empire, angering the aristocratic members of the Commission of Public Safety, the ''de facto'' rulers of the Empire. The Commission considers Seldon's views and statements treasonous, and he is arrested along with the young mathematician Gaal Dornick, who has arrived on Trantor to join Seldon's group. Seldon is tried by the Commission; he defends his beliefs, explaining his theories and predictions, including his belief that the Empire will collapse in 300 years and while a Second Empire will eventually rise it will only be after a 30,000-year dark age. He informs the Commission that an alternative to this future is attainable and explains to them that creating a compendium of all human knowledge, the ''Encyclopedia Galactica'', may not avert the inevitable fall of the Empire but would reduce the dark age to one millennium.
The skeptical Commission, not wanting to make Seldon a martyr, offers him exile to a remote world, Terminus, with others who could help him create the ''Encyclopedia''. He accepts their offer, prepares for the departure of the "Encyclopedists" and receives an imperial decree officially acknowledging his actions. Seldon informs Dornick that, despite the Empire's belief it won by exiling Seldon, the outcome was exactly what he had intended and hoped for. Terminus would be the home of the first Foundation while a second would be established "at Star's End." Seldon then reveals that he is dying, and implores Dornick to become a leader in the new Foundation.
"The Encyclopedists" was originally published in the May 1942 issue of ''Astounding Science-Fiction'' under the title of "Foundation". The story begins in 50 F.E. ("Foundation Era") on Terminus, which has almost no mineral resources. There is one region suitable for the development of a large city, named Terminus City. The colony of professionals, devoted to the creation of the ''Encyclopedia Galactica'', is managed by the Board of Trustees of the Encyclopedia Galactica Foundation, composed solely of scientists, called the Encyclopedists. The affairs of Terminus City itself are handled by the city's first Mayor, Salvor Hardin, who is a political figurehead and virtually powerless due to the influence of the Board of Trustees. However, Hardin refuses to accept the ''status quo,'' which he believes puts Terminus in danger of political exploitation by the four neighboring prefectures of the Empire, which have declared independence and severed contact with its capital, Trantor, and are now calling themselves "The Four Kingdoms." Hardin manages to avoid an attempt by the Kingdom of Anacreon to establish military bases on Terminus and to take advantage of their nuclear power, which Terminus retains but which the Four Kingdoms do not. Hardin succeeds in diverting Anacreon from its initial goal and furthers his goal of the establishment of a stable political system on Terminus.
Hardin's efforts are still resisted by the Board of Trustees and its chairman, Dr. Lewis Pirenne, who erroneously believe they are protected by imperial decree. To remove this obstacle, Hardin and his chief advisor, Yohan Lee, plan a "coup d'état" designed to remove the Board of Trustees from its politically powerful position on the same day that, in the city's Time Vault, a holographic recording of Hari Seldon is programmed to play. The recording will contain psychohistoric proof of Hardin's success or failure; Hardin realizes that his coup is a great gamble due to the possible case that his beliefs are incompatible with Seldon's original goals.
The next day in the Time Vault the holographic recording of Hari Seldon appears. He reveals that the ''Encyclopedia Galactica'' is actually a distraction intended to make the colony's creation possible. The true purpose of the Foundation is to form one nucleus of a Second Galactic Empire and shorten the predicted period of chaos to a mere thousand years, rather than thirty thousand years.
After the recording ends, the Encyclopedists admit to Hardin that they had been wrong, and Pirenne schedules a meeting to discuss their next action. Hardin knew that this victory would give him the leverage he needed to gain significant power and thus "assume actual government" by removing the "figurehead" status from his Mayoral office. He also knew that Anacreon's forces would be arriving soon to forcibly take the Foundation. Salvor Hardin had guessed the solution, and as Hari Seldon said, "it was obvious."
"The Mayors" was originally published in the June 1942 issue of ''Astounding Science-Fiction'' as "Bridle and Saddle" (referring to Aesop's fable "The Horse that Lost its Liberty", a variant of which is recited by Hardin during the climax of the story). Following Seldon's first holographic recording, Salvor Hardin visits the other three kingdoms and convinces them not to allow Anacreon to gain sole possession of the Foundation's scientific advances, thereby driving off Anacreon from the planet Terminus. By 80 F.E., the Foundation's scientific understanding has given it significant leverage over the Four Kingdoms, though it is still isolated from the Galactic Empire. Exercising its control over the region through an artificial religion – Scientism – the Foundation shares its technology with the Four Kingdoms while referring to it as religious truth. Maintenance technicians comprise Scientism's priesthood, trained on Terminus. A majority of the priests themselves are unaware of the true importance of their "religion," referring to advanced technology as "holy" artifacts and tools. The religion is not suppressed by the secular elite of the Four Kingdoms, reminiscent of Western European rulers of the early medieval period, who use it to consolidate their power over the zealous populaces.
Hardin, as Mayor of Terminus City, is the effective ruler of the Foundation, and has been reelected as mayor continuously since his political victory over the ''Encyclopedia Galactica'' Board of Trustees. However, his influence is suddenly checked by a new political movement led by city councillor Sef Sermak, which encourages direct action against the Four Kingdoms and a cessation of the scientific proselytizing encouraged by Hardin's administration. The movement, which calls itself "The Actionist Party" and whose followers refer to themselves as Actionists, is wildly popular, and Sermak and his fellow Actionist leaders refuse to respond to Hardin's efforts to appease them.
The kingdom that is most concerning to the Actionists is that of Anacreon, ruled by Prince Regent Wienis and his nephew, the teenaged King Lepold I. Wienis plans to overthrow the Foundation's power by launching a direct military assault against Terminus, making use of an abandoned Imperial battlecruiser redesigned by Foundation experts to fit the needs of the elite Anacreonian navy. However, Hardin orders a few minor modifications to be incorporated into the ship's design prior to its completion.
Wienis plans to launch his offensive on the night of his nephew's coronation as king and sole ruler of Anacreon. Hardin attends the coronation ceremony and is arrested, but he has already arranged with Anacreonian High Priest Poly Verisof, who is aware of the true nature of Scientism and is also Terminus's Ambassador to Anacreon, to foster a popular uprising against Wienis. Convincing the Anacreonian populace that an assault against the Foundation and Terminus is blasphemous, Verisof leads an infuriated mob to the royal palace and surrounds it, demanding Hardin's release. Meanwhile, one of Hardin's modifications to the battlecruiser shows itself; an ultrawave relay, a remote kill-switch to the ship's systems. The priest-attendant of the ship, Theo Aporat, presents the relay's activation as a divine curse, and the crew, convinced of the Foundation's god's power, mutinies against its commander, Admiral Prince Lefkin, Wienis's son. Lefkin confronts the mutineers and, captured, is forced to broadcast a message to Anacreon. The message demands Wienis's arrest and trial before an ecclesiastical court, and threatens a bombardment of the royal palace if that and other demands are not met. Wienis, maddened by his failure, orders Hardin's execution, but his royal guardsmen refuse to obey him. Attempting and failing, due to a protective energy field, to kill Hardin personally, Wienis dies by suicide.
Hardin is proven correct again upon his return to Terminus City by another Seldon recording, set to play at this date. Though Actionists continue to hold a significant amount of power, enough now to control the City Council, an attempt to impeach the Mayor has already failed, and his popularity is renewed among the city's residents. It is also confirmed by Hari Seldon that the Foundation's immediate neighbors, the Four Kingdoms, will now be virtually powerless and incapable of resisting Scientism's advance. However, the growing nationalism of the fractured Periphery makes it hard for religion to make further conquests.
"The Traders" was originally published in the October 1944 issue of ''Astounding Science-Fiction'' as "The Wedge". Circa 135 F.E., the Foundation has expanded and has sent out officially sanctioned Traders to exchange technology with neighboring planets for what amounts to greater political and economic power. Master Trader Eskel Gorov, also an agent of the Foundation government, has travelled to the worlds of Askone, where he hopes to trade atomics. Gorov, however, is met with resistance by Askone's governing Elders due to traditional taboos that effectively ban advanced technology. Gorov is imprisoned and sentenced to death; the Elders refuse Foundation requests for clemency.
Trader Limmar Ponyets is ordered by the Foundation to try to negotiate with the Elders, and travels to the central Askonian planet. Ponyets meets with the Elders' Grand Master and deduces that, though he is determined to have Gorov executed, he may be willing to exchange the captive for a suitable bribe, which Ponyets realizes would be a sum of gold. Ponyets clumsily fashions a transmuter that will convert iron into gold. The Grand Master informs Ponyets that others who have attempted this have failed and have been punished with execution for both their attempt and for their failure; Ponyets succeeds and convinces the Grand Master that the gold is appropriate for Askonian religious decoration, which pleases the Elders.
Councilor Pherl, the Grand Master's protégé, appears to be wary of Ponyets. Meeting with the Councilor, Ponyets discovers that Pherl is instead quite willing to work with him, if only due to the chance of eventually attaining the Grand Mastership himself. Pherl, from a different ethnic background than traditional Grand Masters and a young man, believes that a stable supply of gold will be able to dramatically increase his power, and Ponyets sells him the transmuter. He also plants a video recorder inside and blackmails him with a recording of the transmuter's use.
Gorov is released quickly. According to a new agreement, he and Ponyets can take as much tin from Pherl's mines as they can carry. Ponyets discusses his success with Gorov, explaining that now Pherl will become the new Grand Master - and one very much interested in selling Foundation goods, since Ponyets left all his cargo with him, and making people buy it is the only way for Pherl to salvage some of his pride. Gorov criticizes his technique due to what he perceives as Ponyets's lack of morality. Ponyets replies by reminding Gorov of a statement attributed to Salvor Hardin: "Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right!"
"The Merchant Princes" was first published in the August 1944 issue of ''Astounding Science-Fiction'' as "The Big and the Little".
Circa 155 F.E., the Foundation has subjugated the neighboring Four Kingdoms and tries expanding its religious empire. However, due to rumors of the subjugation of the Four Kingdoms and, later, Askone, further expansion faces heavy resistance. Recently, three Foundation vessels have vanished near the Republic of Korell, which is thus suspected of either independent technological development or buying smuggled Foundation goods. Master Trader Hober Mallow is assigned to deal with Korell and also to investigate their technological development and find the missing ships. Those who have assigned this mission to Mallow, Foreign Secretary Publis Manlio and Mayoral Secretary Jorane Sutt, believe that a Seldon Crisis is underway; they fear a nuclear conflict involving the Foundation.
Sutt and Manlio, wanting to weaken the strong Trader faction and suspecting Mallow of being connected to the smugglers, plant an agent, Jaim Twer, aboard Mallow's ship, the ''Far Star.'' After the ''Far Star'' lands in a remote location on Korell, the crew allows a Foundation missionary aboard, in violation of orders Mallow has given that no one board or leave without his permission.
Korellian law forbids Foundation missionaries to be on the planet under penalty of death. The crew determines that the Reverend Jord Parma of Anacreon (as he calls himself) had been captured by the Korellians but escaped before being killed. Rev. Parma is injured and apparently confused. Shortly after he has been let aboard the ship, an angry mob appears, demanding that the missionary be turned over to them as an escaped criminal. This rapid response by the Korellians in such a remote location arouses Mallow's suspicion: Where did Parma escape from? Why was there a mob seemingly already gathered in the middle of nowhere? Suspecting a set-up, rather than fight the mob, Mallow decides to turn the missionary over to them (and to certain death). Very soon after, Mallow is invited to meet Korell's authoritarian ruler, Commdor ("First Citizen Of The State") Asper Argo, which indicates that Mallow had passed a test. Argo appears friendly and welcomes Foundation technological gifts; however, he refuses to allow Foundation missionaries on Korell, which coincides with Mallow's own intentions.
Mallow offers the Commdor tools for heavy industry, believing that will allow him to visit a factory, where the advanced technology would be found if Korell has it. He sees no sign of it, but catches a glimpse of the ruler's guards' weapons - atomic handguns bearing the markings of the Galactic Empire. Mallow's discoveries lead him to believe that the Empire may be attempting to expand into the Periphery again and has been providing weapons to client states such as Korell. Leaving the Republic and his ship, he journeys alone to the planet Siwenna, which he believes may be the capital of an Imperial province. He finds Siwenna a desolate and sad place. He meets the impoverished patrician Onum Barr in the latter's crumbling mansion. Barr helps Mallow to understand the political situation. He had served in the Imperial government on Siwenna decades earlier, before a series of ambitious viceroys who each dreamt of becoming Emperor. After the previous viceroy rebelled against the Emperor, Barr participated in a revolution that overthrew the viceroy. However, the Imperial fleet sent to remove the viceroy wanted to conquer a rebellious province even if it was no longer in rebellion, and began a massacre that claimed the lives of all but one of Barr's children. The new viceroy also plans a rebellion, but keeps a backup plan: fleeing into the Periphery and carving out a sizable realm there. He had secured a political alliance with Korell by marrying his daughter to Asper.
Mallow manages to tour a Siwennian power plant. He observes that the technicians can only maintain the plants, but cannot repair them, and that the nuclear generators are much bigger than those of Terminus. Both mean that the Empire cannot replace the goods Mallow sells to the Commdor. He also realizes that religion cannot make further conquests for the Foundation, but a commercial empire can.
A year after his return to Terminus, Mallow is tried for murder because he gave the Foundation missionary to the mob. However, he produces a recording revealing that the "missionary" was in fact a Korellian secret policeman. Acquitted, Mallow is received with delight by the population of Terminus, which (along with the wealth obtained by trading with Korell) all but ensures him the Mayor's seat in the elections scheduled to take place in the following year. Mallow has Sutt and Manlio arrested, suspecting them (rightly) of planning a coup with the aid of the Four Kingdoms' religious elements. As Mayor, Mallow soon faces tension with Korell, which declares war on the Foundation, using its Imperial flotilla to attack Foundation ships. But instead of counterattacking Mallow takes no action but for imposing an embargo on Korell, which collapses its economy due to its dependency on Foundation technology, thus forcing its surrender.
Mallow's ally Ankor Jael points out that Mallow's actions have placed the Foundation on the path to plutocracy and wonders about the future. Mallow responds that the future is none of his concern, as Seldon has undoubtedly foreseen and prepared for it already, leaving the resolution of future crises to his successors.
Part I is about The Mule's search for the elusive Second Foundation, with the intent of destroying it. The executive council of the Second Foundation is aware of The Mule's intent and, in the words of the First Speaker, allows him to find it—"in a sense". The Mule sends two of his men on a search for the Second Foundation: Han Pritcher, who had once been a captain and a member of the underground opposition prior to being Converted to the Mule's service, and Bail Channis, an "Unconverted" man (one that hasn't been mind-manipulated by the Mule to join him) who has quickly risen through the ranks and impressed The Mule.
Channis reveals his suspicions about the Second Foundation being located on the planet Tazenda, and takes the ship there. They first land on Rossem, a barren planet controlled by Tazenda, and meet with its governor, who appears ordinary. Once they return to the ship, Pritcher confronts Channis and believes him to have been too successful with the search. The Mule, who had placed a hyper-relay on their ship in order to trace them through hyper-space, appears, and reveals that Channis is a Second Foundationer. Pritcher's emotional bonds to the Mule are broken in the ensuing exchange between Channis and the Mule, and he is made to fall into deep sleep. With only the two of them left, the Mule reveals that he has brought his ships to Tazenda and has already destroyed the planet, and yet senses that Channis's dismay is only pretense. He forces Channis to reveal that Rossem is actually the Second Foundation, and that Tazenda is only a figurehead.
The First Speaker for the Second Foundation appears and reveals to the Mule that his rule is over; neither Tazenda nor Rossem is the Second Foundation, and Channis's knowledge had been falsely implanted to mislead the Mule. Second Foundation agents are headed to Kalgan and the Foundation worlds to undo the Conversions of the Mule, and his fleet is too far away to prevent it. When the Mule experiences a moment of despair, the First Speaker is able to seize control of and change his mind; he will return to Kalgan and live out the rest of his short life as a benevolent despot.
Part II takes place 60 years after the first part, 55 years after the Mule's death by natural causes. With the Mule gone his former empire falls apart and the Foundation resumes its independence. Because of their enslavement at the hands of the Mule and their wariness of the Second Foundation (who possess similar abilities to the Mule) the Foundation began studying the mental sciences.
A secret cabal is formed within the Foundation to root out the Second Foundation after evidence of the latter's manipulation is found through mental analysis of the former society's key figures. They send one of their own, Homir Munn, to Kalgan to search for clues to the Second Foundation's location. Munn is followed to Kalgan by Arkady, Dr. Darrel's daughter.
Since the death of the Mule the Second Foundation has worked to restore the Seldon Plan into its proper course. In the organization's secret location the First Speaker discusses the state of the galaxy with one of their students. The Student is concerned that the Foundation's now tangible knowledge of the Second Foundation's existence would have negative effects upon the former which would then further destabilize the Seldon Plan. The First Speaker reassures the Student that a plan has been put in place by their organization in order to address his very concerns.
In Kalgan, a man named Stettin has usurped the Mule's former title as First Citizen. He believes that the Mule's actions have made the Seldon Plan irrelevant and declares war upon the Foundation, intending to usurp their role in the formation of the Second Empire. He's unconcerned with the possible intervention of the Second Foundation.
Arkady escapes Kalgan and into Trantor with the help of a Trantorian named Preem Palver. With his help she passes information to her father regarding the location of the Second Foundation.
Kalgan eventually loses the war against the Foundation as the specter of the Seldon Plan adversely affects the performance of the Kalganians every bit as much as it bolsters the morale of the Foundationers.
The Foundation cabal reconvenes to discuss what they've learned about the Second Foundation. Munn believes that the Second Foundation never existed while Pelleas Anthor believes they're in Kalgan. Dr. Darrel states that the Second Foundation is in Terminus itself based on information supplied by Arkady. He also reveals he has created a device capable of emitting mind static, which is harmful to individuals with mental abilities similar to that of the Mule and the Second Foundation. After activating the device within the presence of the cabal it reveals Anthor to be a Second Foundationer, and further interrogation leads to the discovery of the rest of his comrades who are subsequently detained indefinitely.
Unsatisfied with the ease by which the Second Foundation has been defeated and suspecting Arkady's information to be planted through mental tampering, Dr. Darrel runs tests on his daughter to determine if she has been compromised and both are relieved when the tests' results are negative. Dr. Darrell basks in the realization that with the Second Foundation gone, the Foundation are the sole inheritors of the Seldon Plan and the Second Empire.
It is then revealed that the Second Foundation are not only very much intact but also the mastermind behind the recent major events. The Foundation's conflict with Kalgan and their subsequent victory was meant to restore the former's self-esteem after the Mule enslaved them. Anthor and his comrades were in fact martyrs meant to mislead the Foundation into believing they have eliminated the Second Foundation, thereby shrouding the Second Foundation in secrecy once more and restoring the Seldon Plan to its proper course. Arkady was unknowingly working for the Second Foundation, being modified shortly after her birth to mislead any inspection. The Second Foundation is actually located at the planet Trantor, the seat of the previous Galactic Empire.
The story closes with the final reveal that the First Speaker of the Second Foundation is in fact Preem Palver, who is satisfied that the galaxy is now forever secure.
On holiday at her uncle's farm in New Zealand, Gretchen befriends Ronny, a Māori boy with a troubled city past, and Bevis, the birdwatching son of a loathed developer. Tension is already high as the developer wants to buy and drain a local swamp for a housing estate, but Ronny's uncle is the guardian of a traditional Māori tapu (taboo/curse) upon the swamp. The swamp must not be touched—something sleeps there that must not be awakened. Something unnatural.
In the story, twelve-year-old Gretchen has a passion for science and a talent for all things mechanical, which is why the strange old brass "weathervane" (referred to as the "daisy rod") on her uncle's farm fascinates her. But the brass daisy rod has a complex and terrifying significance, and Gretchen and her new friend Ronny discover its links with the far distant Sirius, the Dog Star.
Gradually, the children discover the pieces of an ancient alien space probe named ''Kolob''. During the series they assemble the missing parts and strange things start to happen. The probe was one of three sent to earth to educate the human race in science. In the end a communication link is set up with the star Sirius B, from where the probe came, and the aliens tell them they (the aliens) should not have interfered.
The main points of the story coincide with the Daft Punk tracks on their ''Discovery'' album. On an alien planet, a band is playing to a packed audience; keyboardist Octave, guitarist Arpegius, drummer Baryl, and bass player Stella ("One More Time"). A military force invades the planet and kidnaps the band ("Aerodynamic").
A space pilot called Shep is seen working outside his guitar-shaped ship, then goes inside. He is interrupted from his daydream about Stella by a distress call about the kidnapping, and pursues the kidnappers through a wormhole, where he crashes on Earth ("Digital Love").
The band is taken to an underground facility, where their memories are removed to disks and their blue skin changed to make them resemble humans. They are fitted with mind-control devices hidden inside sunglasses ("Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger"). Their captor, Earl de Darkwood, poses as their manager and presents them as a new band called The Crescendolls, who take the world by storm ("Crescendolls"). The fame has its disadvantages as the exhausted members of the band are forced to sign large amounts of marketing material. Meanwhile, Shep finds his way to the city and discovers what has happened to the band ("Nightvision").
During a stadium concert, Shep flies in with a jet pack and fires a beam at each band member, freeing all of them from the mind control except Stella. In the escape, Shep is mortally wounded, and Darkwood's bodyguards are revealed to be androids ("Superheroes").
Still under Darkwood's control, Stella finds a card with the address of Darkwood's home, Darkwood Manor, which she hides in her dress. She is taken to a "Gold Record Award" ceremony, where the Crescendolls win the Gold Record. Baryl is concealed in the audience and frees Stella with the beam, and they make their escape with Octave's help ("High Life"). The band returns to Shep, who reveals their true identities before he dies ("Something About Us"). They bury Shep and his spirit rises into space. While driving away, they use the card Stella took earlier to find their way to Darkwood Manor, and decide to investigate ("Voyager").
While exploring Darkwood's mansion, the band finds their way into a secret room, in which they find a journal revealing Darkwood's plans. He has been kidnapping musicians from various worlds to acquire 5,555 gold records, with which he can rule the universe. Darkwood captures them and attempts to sacrifice Stella to complete the ritual, but Arpegius manages to throw the final gold record into a chasm, and Darkwood follows it into the abyss, which is revealed to be filled with lava, apparently killing him. His foot soldiers follow after him, killing them as well ("Veridis Quo"). The band travels back to the record company to retrieve the memory disks. Octave sneaks in to steal them, but while escaping from the building, he is tased by a guard, and his skin reverts to its blue state ("Short Circuit").
The authorities find Shep's ship and mount an operation to return the Crescendolls to normal, and get the quartet back to their home planet ("Face to Face"). On the way back to the wormhole, Darkwood's spirit appears and attacks the ship. Shep's spirit also appears and fights Darkwood, which frees them. The band returns to their home planet to great acclaim, and a statue of Shep is erected ("Too Long"). At the end, it is implied that the whole story was the dream of a young boy, inspired by the ''Discovery'' album and toys in his room.
According to an old legend, when the end of the world comes, a place known as Paradise will appear. However, only wolves will know how to find it. Although wolves are believed to have been hunted to extinction nearly two hundred years ago, they still exist, surviving by casting illusions over themselves to make them appear human. Freeze City is a northern human city in a world where the majority of people live in poverty and hardship.
Kiba, an injured lone white wolf, goes to Freeze City following the scent of the Lunar Flower, which is the key to opening Paradise. There he encounters Tsume, Hige and Toboe, three other wolves who were drawn to Freeze City by the scent of the Lunar Flower and are now living in the city. The wolves encounter Quent Yaiden, a former Sheriff of Kyrios who is obsessed with hunting down wolves, and his dog Blue. Cheza, the Flower Maiden who is destined to lead the wolves to Paradise, is being studied at a laboratory under the care of Cher Degré. She is awakened by the smell of wolf's blood. As Kiba and Hige approach the lab to find her, she is stolen away by Lord Darcia the Third, whose people created Cheza.
With the Flower Maiden gone, the wolves have no reason to stay in the city. Despite some initial misgivings and suspicions, they decide to stay together and follow Kiba in his search for the Flower Maiden and Paradise. As they pursue Cheza, the wolves travel through various cities and the remnants of former habitations. Cher joins the city's army to try to recover Cheza, while Cher's ex-husband Hubb Lebowski searches desperately for Cher, and Quent continues his relentless pursuit of the wolves. When Blue eventually encounters Cheza, it awakens her wolf blood from dormancy and causes her to leave Quent and take on her own human form. She joins the wolves and travels with them for a while, developing an intense and close romantic relationship with Hige, and meanwhile Hubb finds himself traveling with Quent, who is now searching for Blue as well as the wolves. Hubb eventually finds Cher and from there they continue their pursuit of the wolves to find Cheza.
Together the wolves reach Darcia's keep after Kiba goes off on his own. Hubb, Cher and Quent arrive in the keep, and Tsume, Toboe, and Hige find Kiba, Cheza and Darcia during a sword fight between Darcia and Kiba. The reunion is short-lived however because Jaguara's troops attack, destroying the keep in the process. The Noble's troops capture Cheza, Hubb, Cher and Blue during the raid, and the wolves get separated from Kiba. After finding Kiba, the wolves continue their journey to rescue Cheza from Jaguara, while Cher rescues Blue and manages to find Cheza with help from Hubb, but Jaguara's troops instantly recapture Cheza, taking Hubb with them and forcing Cher and Blue to find Cheza on their own.
The wolves and the humans eventually come together in Jaguara's city, where the captured Cheza is being held. In attempting to rescue the abducted Cheza, Kiba, Tsume and Toboe are captured. Tsume and Toboe are thrown into a dungeon with Hubb while Jaguara attempts to use Kiba's blood to force Paradise to open. Meanwhile, Hige and Blue are reunited outside the Keep, where Hige remembers that he had once worked for Jaguara and decides to go rescue his friends, but not before telling Blue to stay outside and promising her that he will return to her no matter what. While waiting for Hige, Blue is reunited with her master Quent and meanwhile Darcia, having survived the attack on his keep, interrupts Jaguara's ceremony as Kiba and the other wolves break free and rush to free the Flower Maiden. Hige is wounded during the fight against Jaguara and Kiba arrives after Darcia is poisoned by the Noble. Darcia battles Jaguara along with Kiba and finally slays her as the keep begins to collapse, ending the anime's original 26-episode run.
As the original video animation (OVA) episodes begin, the wolves and the humans escape Jaguara's city, which has fallen into chaos. Quent is gravely wounded saving Blue from an oncoming vehicle, but he and Blue are found by Hubb and Cher, and subsequently by the wolves and Cheza. Together, they all continue making their way to Paradise, pursued by the now insane Darcia. As the Earth begins to fall into destruction, Cher dies when the car falls off a cliff. And soon after, Toboe is accidentally shot by Quent when he tries to shoot Darcia who in turn kills Quent. Hubb tries to keep up with the remaining wolves climbing up a mountain, but falls to his death. Darcia attacks the remaining wolves killing Hige, Blue, and Tsume, leaving only Kiba, Cheza and Darcia alive at the place where Paradise can be opened. Darcia and Kiba battle over who will open Paradise, in which Kiba is fatally wounded. Darcia dies when he attempts to enter Paradise due to not being a true wolf. Kiba finds Cheza as she dies and disintegrates into seeds. Dying, Kiba concludes that his quest has failed, but rain begins to fall and Cheza's seeds grow into thousands of lunar flowers. As he dies, Kiba falls into the water's depths but sees the blood red moon turning back to its normal color. Cheza's death causes Paradise, as well as the world, to be reborn. However, Darcia's corruption can be seen taking root in this new Paradise. The final scenes take place in what appears to be a 21st-century Japanese city. Kiba, apparently reincarnated as a human, passes other humans who resemble Tsume, Hige and Toboe; a lunar flower is seen blooming in an alleyway.
The two-volume manga adaptation includes some of the core events of the anime series with few changes, but as a whole the manga veers greatly from its anime inspiration. Many events from the anime do not occur in the manga, and some of the events from the anime that are presented in the manga are completely different in terms of dialogue, chronological sequence, and final outcomes. In particular, the second volume tells an almost completely different story, with Darcia recruiting Blue to help him open the door to Paradise with her blood. The wolves must go to Darcia's keep, rather than Jaguara's, in order to free Cheza, with Kiba missing but appearing at the end to make the final rescue effort. At the end of the manga, the four wolves and Cheza are sitting on a rock as the clouds break and sunlight streams through for the first time. The world rejoices the end of the Ice Age and rumors that Paradise has been found abound.
In the manga most of the characters are similar in appearance and personality to their anime counterparts, but some characters seen in the anime do not appear in the manga, including the Noble Lord Orkham.
The play opens at night, when the citizens of Llareggub are asleep. The narrator (First Voice/Second Voice) informs the audience that they are witnessing the townspeople's dreams.
Captain Cat, the blind sea captain, is tormented in his dreams by his drowned shipmates, who long to live again and enjoy the pleasures of the world. Mog Edwards and Myfanwy Price dream of each other; Mr. Waldo dreams of his childhood and his failed marriages; Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard dreams of her deceased husbands. Almost all of the characters in the play are introduced as the audience witnesses a moment of their dreams.
Morning begins. The voice of a guide introduces the town, discussing the facts of Llareggub. The Reverend Eli Jenkins delivers a morning sermon on his love for the village. Lily Smalls wakes and bemoans her pitiful existence. Mr. and Mrs. Pugh observe their neighbours; the characters introduce themselves as they act in their morning. Mrs. Cherry Owen merrily rehashes her husband's drunken antics. Butcher Beynon teases his wife during breakfast. Captain Cat watches as Willy Nilly the postman goes about his morning rounds, delivering to Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard, Mrs. Pugh, Mog Edwards and Mr. Waldo.
At Mrs. Organ-Morgan's general shop, women gossip about the townspeople. Willy Nilly and his wife steam open a love letter from Mog Edwards to Myfanwy Price; he expresses fear that he may be in the poor house if his business does not improve. Mrs. Dai Bread Two swindles Mrs. Dai Bread One with a bogus fortune in her crystal ball. Polly Garter scrubs floors and sings about her past paramours. Children play in the schoolyard; Gwennie urges the boys to "kiss her where she says or give her a penny." Gossamer Beynon and Sinbad Sailors privately desire each other.
During dinner, Mr. Pugh imagines poisoning Mrs. Pugh. Mrs. Organ-Morgan shares the day's gossip with her husband, but his only interest is the organ. The audience sees a glimpse of Lord Cut-Glass's insanity in his "kitchen full of time". Captain Cat dreams of his lost lover, Rosie Probert, but weeps as he remembers that she will not be with him again. Nogood Boyo fishes in the bay, dreaming of Mrs. Dai Bread Two and geishas.
On Llareggub Hill, Mae Rose Cottage spends a lazy afternoon wishing for love. Reverend Jenkins works on the White Book of Llareggub, which is a history of the entire town and its citizens. On the farm, Utah Watkins struggles with his cattle, aided by Bessie Bighead. As Mrs. Ogmore-Pritchard falls asleep, her husbands return to her. Mae Rose Cottage swears that she will sin until she explodes.
As night begins, Reverend Jenkins recites another poem. Cherry Owen heads to the Sailor's Arms, where Sinbad still longs for Gossamer Beynon. The town prepares for the evening, to sleep or otherwise. Mr. Waldo sings drunkenly at the Sailors Arms. Captain Cat sees his drowned shipmates—and Rosie—as he begins to sleep. Organ-Morgan mistakes Cherry Owen for Johann Sebastian Bach on his way to the chapel. Mog and Myfanwy write to each other before sleeping. Mr. Waldo meets Polly Garter in a forest. Night begins and the citizens of Llareggub return to their dreams again.
The principal heroes of the novel are the musketeers. The novel's length finds it frequently broken into smaller parts. The narrative is set between 1660 and 1673 against the background of the transformation of Louis XIV from child monarch to Sun King.
After 35 years of loyal service, d'Artagnan resigns as lieutenant of the Musketeers as he perceives the young king Louis XIV as weak-willed. He resolves to aid the exiled Charles II to retake the throne of England, unaware that Athos is attempting the same. With their assistance Charles II is restored to the throne and d'Artagnan is rewarded richly.
In France, Cardinal Mazarin has died, leaving Louis to assume power with Jean-Baptiste Colbert as his finance minister. Colbert has an intense hatred for his superior the king's Superintendent of Finances, Nicolas Fouquet, and tries to bring about his fall. He brings to the king's attention that Fouquet is fortifying his fief of Belle Île secretly. Louis persuades d'Artagnan to re-enter his service, and tasks him to investigate Belle Île, promising him a substantial salary and promotion to Captain of the King's Musketeers on his return. Louis, finally growing into a decisive ruler, also accepts an offer relayed by Athos from Charles II to marry Louis' brother Philippe I, Duke of Orléans to Charles' sister Henrietta Anne Stuart.
D'Artagnan confirms that Belle Île is being fortified and the architect ostensibly in charge is Porthos, though the drawings show the handwriting of Aramis, who is now the bishop of Vannes. Aramis, suspicious of d'Artagnan, sends Porthos back to Paris to warn Fouquet, whilst tricking d'Artagnan into searching for Porthos around Vannes. Porthos warns Fouquet in the nick of time, and he cedes Belle Île to the king, humiliating Colbert. On returning from the mission, d'Artagnan is made Captain of the King's Musketeers anyway.
Meanwhile, Princess Henrietta arrives in France escorted by the second Duke of Buckingham, to be met by an embassy consisting of Raoul de Bragelonne, his close friend Armand de Gramont, Comte de Guiche, and the Comte de Wardes, son of the previous Comte de Wardes from ''The Three Musketeers''. The erratic Buckingham is madly in love with the princess and can scarcely conceal it, while Guiche soon finds himself equally smitten. Philippe, though little attracted to women, becomes horribly jealous of Buckingham and has him exiled after the wedding.
This part mostly concerns romantic events at the court of Louis XIV. Raoul de Bragelonne finds his childhood sweetheart, Louise de La Vallière, is maid of honour to the Princess. Fearing a tarnishing of Louise's reputation by affairs at court, Raoul seeks to marry her. His father, Athos, the Comte de la Fère, disapproves, but eventually, out of love for his son, reluctantly agrees. The king, however, refuses to sanction the marriage because Louise is of inferior social status, and so marriage is delayed.
Meanwhile, the struggle for power begins between Fouquet and Colbert. Louis attempts to impoverish Fouquet by asking for money to pay for a grand fête at Fontainebleau. Meanwhile, Aramis meets the governor of the Bastille M. de Baisemeaux, and learns of a secret prisoner who bears a striking resemblance to Louis XIV. Aramis uses this secret to persuade the dying general of the Jesuits to name him his successor.
After Buckingham leaves France, the Comte de Guiche grows besotted with Henrietta, as soon does Louis XIV. To avoid her new husband being jealous Henrietta suggests that the king choose a young lady at court to act as a smokescreen for their flirtation. They select Louise de la Vallière for this part, but during the fête, the king overhears Louise confess her attraction for him to friends, and promptly forgets his affection for Henrietta. That same night Henrietta hears de Guiche confess his love for her to Raoul. The two pursue their own love affair. Aware of Louise's attachment, the king sends Raoul to England indefinitely as a diplomatic envoy.
Rumours of the king's love affair cause friction with de Wardes, who has inherited from his father a hatred of d'Artagnan and all those associated with him. De Guiche is forced to fight a duel with him and is defeated and seriously wounded. The incident is the last straw for Madame Henrietta who resolves to dismiss Louise from her service as Maid of Honour. The king dissuades Henrietta, but she prevents the king from seeing Louise. The king circumvents Henrietta, and so she contacts her brother King Charles II, imploring him to eject Raoul from England. On his return to France, Raoul is heartbroken to discover Louise in the arms of the king.
Athos finds out everything and spits his contempt at Louis XIV. The young King orders Athos's imprisonment, but D'Artagnan convinces him to release him.
Dumas constructs the plot around the notion that the Man in the Iron Mask is the twin brother of Louis XIV, Philippe, who had been concealed and imprisoned from birth by his father, Louis XIII, and his mother, Anne of Austria, "for the good of France". Only a very few people living at the start of the novel know of Philippe's existence; these include his mother, Anne, and her former confidante, the Duchesse de Chevreuse. Chevreuse has let the secret slip to Aramis when they had an affair.
Aramis plots to replace Louis with Philippe as a puppet ruler for himself and Fouquet, and even intends to become in turn the next Pope.
Through an elaborate subterfuge mounted by Aramis, Philippe replaces a prisoner due for release from the Bastille and escapes to Vaux. Meanwhile, Fouquet is throwing a lavish party for Louis at Vaux. Colbert poisons the king further against Fouquet.
While the king is still visiting Fouquet at Vaux, Aramis initiates the second half of his plan and abducts Louis, imprisoning Louis in the Bastille in Philippe's place. He then substitutes Philippe for the King. Porthos is an uncomprehending accomplice in all this, believing that he is removing an impostor instead of the real king. Aramis conspiratorially informs Fouquet of his acts, but Fouquet wants no part in such treachery and rushes to the Bastille, rescues Louis, and brings him back to Vaux to confront Philippe. Realising that his plot has unravelled, Aramis flees for Belle Île to escape the king's impending wrath, taking Porthos with him. Louis regains the throne with d'Artagnan's help, ending Philippe's brief reign. Louis banishes Philippe, ordering that "he will cover his face with an iron visor" which he "cannot raise without peril of his life."
Athos and Raoul meet Aramis and Porthos who relate their predicament before receiving horses to aid their journey to Belle Île. They next meet the Duc de Beaufort, on his way to Algiers for an expedition against the Barbary corsairs. Raoul, devastated by the king's love affair with Louise, volunteers to join the Duc in his expedition. Soon Raoul is off to war in North Africa, and Athos is retired.
Despite Fouquet's refusal to go along with Aramis's plot, Louis orders d'Artagnan to arrest him, which he manages following an epic chase. Louis then orders d'Artagnan to arrest Porthos and Aramis. D'Artagnan feigns compliance whilst secretly giving his friends time to escape. However, Colbert discerns d'Artagnan's sympathies and undermines him. D'Artagnan resigns on learning that prisoners are to be executed immediately once arrested.
Attempting an escape from Belle Île, Porthos is killed, while Aramis escapes to sea, remorseful for the first time in his life. Meanwhile, Athos returns to his estates and lapses into decline. On hearing that Raoul has died in action at Gigelli, Athos succumbs to grief and dies. Meanwhile, the detained d'Artagnan is freed by King Louis and reinstated. He learns of Porthos' death and Aramis' escape.
Thanks to the secret power of the Jesuits, which he now commands, Aramis reaches Spain and becomes her ambassador to France. Louise de la Vallière is eventually supplanted in the king's affections by her erstwhile friend Madame de Montespan. Louis grows in power and stature and embarks on a military campaign against the Dutch Republic, with d'Artagnan commanding the offensive. D'Artagnan is wounded in battle at the Siege of Maastricht moments after reading he is to be made Marshal of France. His final words: "Athos, Porthos, au revoir! Aramis, adieu forever!" While these final words are fictional, the historical Charles de Batz de Castelmore d'Artagnan on whom Dumas' character is based was indeed killed at Maastricht.
The introduction to the book says:
In the world of 2116, a person's maximum age is strictly legislated: 21 years, to the day. When people reach this ''Lastday'' they report to a ''Sleepshop'' in which they are willingly executed via a pleasure-inducing toxic gas. A person's age is revealed by their ''palm flower'' crystal embedded in the palm of their right hand that changes color every seven years; yellow (age 0–6), then blue (age 7–13), then red (age 14–20), then blinks red and black on Lastday, and finally turns black at 21.
''Runners'' are those who refuse to report to a Sleepshop and attempt to avoid their fate by escaping to Sanctuary—a place where they can live freely in defiance of society's dictates. Logan 3 is a ''Deep Sleep Operative'' (also called a ''Sandman'') whose job is to terminate Runners using a special weapon called simply 'the gun', a handgun with selectable ordnance keyed to self-destruct if touched by an individual who is not the proper owner. Runners are most terrified of a weapon called the 'Homer', which homes in on body heat and ignites every pain nerve in the body, killing the target.
Sandmen practice Omnite, a hybrid type of martial arts. On his own Lastday, Logan becomes a Runner himself in an attempt to infiltrate an apparent underground railroad for runners seeking Sanctuary.
For most of the book, Logan is an antihero; however, his character develops a sympathy towards Runners, and he becomes more of a traditional hero figure.
Despite her initial distrust of him, he is aided by Jessica 6, a contact that Logan made after he chased her Runner brother, Doyle 10, into Cathedral, where he was killed by the vicious pre-teens known as "Cubs".
Francis, another Sandman, and friend of Logan, catches up with Logan and Jessica after they have managed to make it to the final-staging area before Sanctuary. Francis reveals that his true identity is that of the legendary Ballard, who has been helping arrange their escape. Francis tells them he is actually aged 42, but due to his faulty palm flower, which does not change color, and through use of plastic-surgery shops, he has been able to disguise his true age and appearance. He is working from within the system, as he believes the computer controlling the global infrastructure, buried beneath Crazy Horse Mountain, is beginning to malfunction, and that society will die with it.
Sanctuary turns out to be Argos, a previously abandoned space colony near Mars.
Logan and Jessica escape to the colony on a rocket, which departs from a former space program launch site in Florida, while Ballard remains to help others escape.
The story begins on the planet Arth, a haven for the survivors of the Old Empire. Due to heavy radiation, the inhabitants have been forced to live beneath the planet's crust for centuries. In recent times, the radiation has finally dissipated from the surface, allowing the population to unearth long-lost technology belonging to Arth's original settlers. The inhabitants of Arth have recently discovered two things: first, that they were once a colony world of Earth; and second, Endurium, a crystalline mineral that fuels interstellar flight.
An independent company called Interstel is dispatching ships to mine for resources, particularly Endurium. In addition, Interstel employees are instructed to seek information about Arth's history, alien artifacts, and planets with optimum environments for colonization. Early in the game, Arth scientists discover that stars throughout the local region of the galaxy are flaring, and the home planet of Arth is in danger.
By following clues given in Interstel announcements and through contact with alien races in space, the crew discovers an Old Empire starship adrift in space. An endlessly repeating distress call has been transmitting from the ship for over a thousand years. Before the fall of the Old Empire, a scientific expedition known as the ''Noah 9'' left Earth in search of Heaven, a paradise world to which humans could immigrate. The expedition never arrived, leaving a fleet of Mechan ships forever waiting for their arrival. Once their coded questions are answered correctly, the Mechans assume that the crew is, in fact, the long-awaited ''Noah 9''. Further investigation leads the crew to Earth, the home world of the Old Empire. The planet lies in ruins and is devoid of all life, but contains information about the history of Old Empire and its fate.
Additional clues are found in the Four Seedlings, a quadrilaterally symmetrical system made up of four suns. Centuries ago, the leaders of the Old Empire realized something was causing hostile aliens to flee from the center of the galaxy. The greatest minds from each of the races gathered at this location, where they discovered that the Crystal Planet was slowly eradicating all life. In a last act, they sent a human named Commander McConnell to end it, but he failed. At the start of the game, the Crystal Planet is slowly moving through the galaxy. The planet causes nearby stars to flare up and destroy all life in the system.
The player must explore solar systems, gather clues, and find special artifacts that grant access to the Crystal Planet, ultimately destroying it before the player's home system flares. Commander McConnell's last journal entry can be found on the surface of the Crystal Planet; in it, he shares his discovery that Endurium is actually a race of living, sentient beings who are being burned up as fuel for interstellar travel. Because their metabolism is extremely slow due to their crystalline makeup, they are not even aware of outside life and have come to view other races as a virus. The game is won after the player successfully plants an artifact on the Crystal Planet's surface and retreats back into space, causing the planet to explode, though the game can still be played after the Crystal Planet is destroyed.
Ichi is on a balcony, masturbating while spying on a pimp raping and assaulting a prostitute. When the pimp discovers him, he flees.
A sadistic ''yakuza'' boss named Anjo has been massacred. A cleaning crew run by Jijii removes all traces of Anjo's blood and entrails, and credits Ichi for the slaughter. Later, Kakihara, Anjo's sadomasochistic high-ranking enforcer, and other crime lords visit the spotless apartment, concluding that Anjo fled town with the prostitute and ¥3 million of the gang's money. Kakihara visits an underworld night club with other gang members. He tells Anjo's girlfriend, an English-speaking Chinese prostitute named Karen, that Anjo must still be alive, perhaps kidnapped by a rival gang. Jijii feeds Kakihara rumors that Suzuki, a member of the rival Funaki clan, has kidnapped Anjo. Kakihara captures Suzuki and tortures him, but when Suzuki turns out to be innocent, Kakihara slices off the end of his own tongue and offers it to Suzuki's boss as penance.
Kakihara and other gang members capture Kano, a drug-addled member of the cleaning crew. He reveals that although he helped clean up the murder scene, it was Ichi who killed Anjo, and that Kakihara has now been targeted. Later, Ichi returns to the pimp's balcony to again watch him brutalize Sailor, a prostitute whom Ichi is a regular patron of. A crying Ichi intervenes, killing the pimp and telling Sailor that he will now be the one to assault her. When Sailor tries to defend herself, Ichi reflexively kills her.
At Suzuki's prompting, Kakihara is kicked out of the syndicate, but the entire Anjo gang defects with him. Suzuki then promises Jijii a million yen to "squash" Kakihara. Jijii, it is revealed, is secretly orchestrating events in order to pit ''yakuza'' clans against one another, with the help of Ichi. Though normally unassuming and cowardly, Ichi becomes homicidal and sexually aroused when enraged. Jijii is able to manipulate Ichi by implanting several false memories—a high school rape in particular—and uses Ichi as a killing machine.
One evening, Ichi kicks one of three bullies attacking a boy named Takeshi. Takeshi is the son of Kaneko, one of Kakihara's henchmen. Jijii incites Ichi to enter an apartment containing several members of the old Anjo gang, and slaughter them all. Afterward, Ichi sees Takeshi, who thanks him for the earlier protection. Kaneko finds a brothel-keeper assaulting Ichi in an alley and, remembering his own long-ago rescue by a member of the Anjo gang, helps Ichi out.
Kakihara enlists the help of corrupt twin police detectives, Jirō and Saburō, to find Myu-Myu, a prostitute connected with Ryu Long, a member of Jijii's gang. When Jirō fails to get information from her through torture, Saburō tracks Long down. Though Long outruns the brothers, Kakihara captures him so the twins can torture him for leads to Jijii. Meanwhile, Jijii has Karen seduce Ichi by pretending to be the raped woman from his false memory. When Ichi becomes confused by Karen's claims that she desired for him to rape and assault her, he kills her. Jijii informs Kakihara that Ichi is coming to kill him but is spotted by Takayama, one of Kakihara's men. After a pursuit, Jijii, who is surprisingly muscular, disarms Takayama and kills him. Ichi then arrives at Kakihara's base, where he kills Jirō and Saburō.
Kaneko, Kakihara and Ichi chase each other to a rooftop. Due to Jijii's psychological manipulation, Ichi believes that Kaneko is his brother and confronts him. Kaneko shoots Ichi's leg, and Ichi slits Kaneko's throat in front of Takeshi. Takeshi attacks Ichi as he lies on the roof crying. Believing Ichi to be too unstable to hurt him, Kakihara inserts his skewers into his ears to drown out Ichi's cries. He suddenly sees that Ichi has decapitated Takeshi. Ichi charges Kakihara, embedding a bladed boot into his forehead. Kakihara falls from the roof to his death. However, when Jijii finds him, Kakihara has no wound in his head; he hallucinated both Takeshi's murder and Ichi's attack as he jumped to his death while Ichi cried.
Years later, Jijii's corpse hangs from a tree in a park. A young man resembling an older Takeshi leaves the park with a group of schoolchildren.
Two hit-men, Ben and Gus, are waiting in a basement room for their assignment. As the play begins, Ben, the senior member of the team, is reading a newspaper, and Gus, the junior member, is tying his shoes. Gus asks Ben many questions as he gets ready for their job and tries to make tea. They argue over the semantics of "light the kettle" and "put on the kettle". Ben continues reading his paper for most of the time, occasionally reading excerpts of it to Gus. Ben gets increasingly animated, and Gus's questions become more pointed, at times nearly nonsensical.
In the back of the room is a dumbwaiter, which delivers occasional food orders. This is mysterious and both characters seem to be puzzled why these orders keep coming; the basement is clearly not outfitted as a restaurant kitchen. At one point they send up some snack food that Gus had brought along. Ben has to explain to the people above via the dumbwaiter's "speaking tube" that there is no food.
Gus leaves the room to get a drink of water in the bathroom, and the dumbwaiter's speaking tube whistles (a sign that there is a person on the other end who wishes to communicate). Ben listens carefully—we gather from his replies that their victim has arrived and is on his way to the room. Ben shouts for Gus, who is still out of the room. The door that the target is supposed to enter from flies open, Ben rounds on it with his gun, and Gus enters, stripped of his jacket, waistcoat, tie and gun. There is a long silence as the two stare at each other before the curtain falls.
A Catholic priest invites quantum physicist Professor Howard Birack and his students to join him in the basement of a Los Angeles monastery belonging to "The Brotherhood of Sleep", an old order who communicate through dreams. The priest requires their assistance in investigating a mysterious cylinder containing a swirling green liquid. Among the thirteen academics present are wise-cracking Walter, demure Kelly, the high strung Susan, and lovers Brian and Catherine.
They decipher text found next to the cylinder which describes the liquid as the corporeal embodiment of Satan. The team also learns Jesus Christ was in fact a space traveler who was executed for heresy after trying to warn the people of Earth about the vessel in which Satan was trapped. The liquid is then discovered to be sentient. The academics use a computer to analyze the books surrounding it, and find that they included differential equations. Over a period of two days, small jets of liquid escape from the cylinder. Members of the group exposed to the liquid become possessed by the entity and attack the others. The first victim is Susan, who begins killing off the others one by one, after which they too become possessed. Anyone who attempts to flee the monastery is killed by the growing mass of enthralled schizophrenic homeless people who have surrounded the building.
Professor Birack and the priest theorize that Satan is actually the offspring of the "Anti-God", an even more powerful force of evil bound to the realm of anti-matter. The survivors find themselves sharing a recurring dream (a tachyon transmission sent as a warning from the future year "one-nine-nine-nine" also known as 1999) showing a shadowy figure emerging from the front of the church. The hazy transmission changes slightly with each occurrence of the dream, revealing progressively more detail. The narration of the transmission each time instructs the dreamer that they are witnessing an actual broadcast from the future, and that they must prevent this possible outcome.
Walter, trapped in a closet, witnesses the possessed bring the cylinder to a sleeping Kelly. It opens itself and the remaining liquid absorbs into Kelly, transforming her into the physical vessel of Satan: a gruesomely disfigured being, with powers of telekinesis and regeneration. Kelly attempts to summon the Anti-God through a dimensional portal using a mirror, but the mirror is too small and the effort fails.
While the rest of the team is occupied fighting the possessed, Kelly finds a larger wall mirror and draws the Anti-God's hand through it. Catherine, the only one free to act, tackles Kelly, causing both of them to fall through the portal. The priest then shatters the mirror with an axe, trapping Kelly, the Anti-God, and Catherine in the other realm. Catherine is seen briefly on the other side of the mirror reaching out to the portal before it closes. Immediately, the possessed die, the street people wander away, and the survivors (Brian, Walter, Professor Birack, and the priest) are rescued.
Brian has the recurring dream again, except now Catherine (apparently possessed) is the figure emerging from the church. Brian awakens and finds Kelly, seemingly Satan's vessel, lying in bed with him. This is shown to be another dream, and he awakens screaming. Rising, he approaches his bedroom mirror, hand outstretched, the final scene going black just before he touches the mirror.
The first part of the book covers the 17 years in the lives of this group of friends after Karen's lapse into a coma. Richard has to cope with losing Karen but gaining a daughter, Megan, as fatherhood is thrust upon him: the outcome of their mutual loss of virginity just hours before Karen fell into her coma. Wendy throws herself into work and Linus loses himself, looking for that which is lost. Pamela becomes a supermodel and Hamilton a demolition expert, but none of the friends' lives turn out how they imagined. Broken and lacking, they return to the suburbs of their youth to try to pull themselves together until one day, almost two decades after she fell asleep, Karen regains consciousness.
The book is divided into three parts. The first chapter of the book is narrated by Jared, the ghost of a friend of the characters who died of leukemia at a young age. The rest of Part 1 is narrated by Richard, in the first person, as he tells the story of what happened in the 17 years.
The second part of the book, with no narrator, deals with Karen's return to the world. It also begins to explain where she had been all those years and the reality she had hoped to escape. Then, suddenly, the world ends. This section is narrated in the third person, with insight into all the characters' minds.
The final part of the book details life after everyone except these seven people have fallen asleep and not reawakened. This section is again narrated by Jared. The characters have to deal with the end of the world as predicted by Karen in her coma.
''Hovertank 3D'' is set during a nuclear war. In ''Hovertank 3D'', the player controls Brick Sledge, a mercenary hired by an unknown organization (referred to by the game as the "UFA") to rescue people from cities under the threat of nuclear attack (largely political activists or scientists), both by the government and by large corporations. However, the cities are also full of mutated humans, strange creatures and enemy hovertanks.
A young Bruce Wayne meets Andrea Beaumont while visiting his parents' grave. They begin a relationship while Bruce makes his first attempts at crime-fighting; despite his success at foiling robberies, he is discouraged to find that the criminals do not fear him. Bruce becomes conflicted about whether to commit to his relationship with Andrea or defend Gotham City to avenge his parents, but eventually proposes marriage. Andrea accepts, only to mysteriously leave Gotham with her father, businessman Carl Beaumont, ending the engagement in a Dear John letter. Heartbroken, Bruce assumes the mantle of Batman.
Ten years later, Batman breaks up a meeting of Gotham crime bosses led by Chuckie Sol. When Sol tries to escape in his car, he is killed by a cloaked figure, the "Phantasm", who causes him to speed out of control and fatally crash into a building. Batman is witnessed at the scene and it is believed he killed Sol, with city councilman Arthur Reeves, who is corrupt and on the mob's payroll, vowing to have him arrested. him.
The Phantasm murders another gangster, Buzz Bronski, in the same cemetery Bruce met Andrea. Bronski's bodyguards see the Phantasm flee the scene and mistake the mysterious figure for Batman. Batman investigates the scene of Bronski's death and encounters Andrea, inadvertently revealing his identity to her. Batman finds evidence linking Carl Beaumont with Sol, Bronski and a third gangster, Salvatore Valestra, later finding a photograph of the four together in Valestra's home. Paranoid that Batman will come for him next, the now-elderly Valestra asks Reeves for help, but is refused. In desperation, he turns to the Joker.
The Phantasm goes to kill Valestra at his mansion, only to find him dead from exposure to Joker's venom. Seeing Phantasm through a camera, Joker realizes Batman is not the murderer and detonates a bomb he planted in the mansion. Phantasm escapes the blast and is pursued by Batman before disappearing. Batman is ambushed by the police, with Andrea saving him just before he can be arrested. She explains to Bruce her father embezzled money from Valestra and was forced to repay it; a greedy Valestra then demanded he pay more and put a hit on Carl, prompting him to go into hiding with Andrea. Together once again, the two consider resuming their relationship. Bruce believes Carl Beaumont to be the Phantasm until he takes another look at the photo with him, Valestra, and Valestra's men; one of them has the exact same face as the Joker.
Believing him to be behind the Phantasm in order to erase his mob connections, Joker presses Reeves for information before poisoning him with venom. Driven insane, Reeves is taken to the hospital, where Batman interrogates him. Reeves, who worked as Carl's accountant before going into politics, confesses he helped the Beaumonts escape but told Valestra their location in exchange for the funding needed to launch his first campaign. Both Batman and Joker deduce that the Phantasm is Andrea, who intends to wipe out the Valestra mob for killing her father and ruining her chance to marry Bruce.
Andrea tracks down Joker, her father's killer, to his hideout in Gotham's abandoned World's Fair. They fight but are interrupted by Batman, who begs Andrea to stop, to no avail. Joker prepares to blow up the fair but is seized by Andrea, who bids Batman goodbye; having barely survived the blast, Batman finds no trace of either Andrea or the Joker. Bruce is later consoled by Alfred in the Batcave, who assures him Andrea could not have been helped, before finding Andrea's locket containing a picture of them together. A sorrowful Andrea departs Gotham and a saddened Batman, cleared of the accusations against him, resumes his crimefighting.
Some time after his first adventure, ''Sonic CD'' opens with Sonic rushing to Never Lake, where an extraterrestrial body, Little Planet, appears in the last month of every year. His nemesis, Dr. Robotnik, has chained the planet to a mountain and begun transforming it into a giant fortress with his robot army. To execute his plan, Robotnik uses the Time Stones, seven jewels that control the flow of time, hidden in the different zones. Sonic ventures into the planet, followed by the besotted Amy Rose, his self-proclaimed girlfriend. Robotnik dispatches his newest invention, Metal Sonic, to kidnap Amy at Collision Chaos, luring Sonic into danger.
After outrunning Metal Sonic in Stardust Speedway and saving Amy, Sonic fights and defeats Robotnik in his lair, Metallic Madness. Two endings exist, depending on whether or not the player collected the Time Stones or achieved a good future in each level. In one ending, Little Planet thanks Sonic with a shower of flowers and leaves Never Lake; in the other, Little Planet still leaves, but Robotnik uses the Time Stones to bring it back and the player is urged to replay the game to achieve the good ending.
Twelve-year-old Mark Evans has recently experienced the death of his mother, Janice. Before leaving on a business trip to Tokyo, Mark's father Jack transports him from Arizona to his Uncle Wallace and Aunt Susan's house in Maine, where he will stay during winter break. Mark is reintroduced after 10 years to his extended family, including his cousins Connie and Henry. Mark and Henry get along at first and Henry seems to be nice and well-mannered. However, Henry displays an abnormal fascination with death, making Mark feel uneasy.
Henry begins to display psychopathic behavior, which Mark is unable to tell Wallace and Susan about due to Henry's threats. One of his violent actions is throwing a dummy off a bridge onto the highway, causing a massive vehicle pileup. He then plans to kill Connie. Afraid something might happen to her, Mark spends the night in her room. The next morning, Mark awakens to find Henry has taken Connie ice skating. At the pond, Henry purposely throws her toward thin ice, which collapses. Connie is rescued, but ends up in a coma. Despite not believing Mark initially, Susan becomes suspicious and interrupts Henry's attempt to suffocate Connie in her hospital bed. Susan then finds a rubber duck Henry has hidden in his shed. It had once belonged to Henry's younger brother Richard and had been with him in the bathtub the night he drowned; the duck went missing after. When Susan confronts Henry, he coldly reminds her that the toy had belonged to him first. He then flips and kindly asks for the rubber duck back. After a violent tug-of-war, he takes the toy and throws it down the well.
As Susan and Mark grow closer, Henry insinuates he will kill Susan rather than let Mark continue to develop a relationship with her. When a fight breaks out between the two boys, Wallace locks Mark in the den. Henry asks a suspicious Susan to go for a walk with him, while Mark escapes and chases after them. Susan confronts Henry, asking him if he killed Richard, to which Henry sarcastically replies, "What if I did?" Realizing that Mark was right about her son's true nature, Susan tells Henry that he needs help, but he refuses and flees. Susan gives chase and upon arriving at a cliff, Henry shoves her over the edge. As Susan dangles, Henry picks up a large rock to drop on her, but Mark tackles him. Susan manages to pull herself up just in time to grab hold of the boys as they roll over the edge, one in each hand. Henry holds on with both hands but Mark's one-handed grip begins to slip. With only enough strength to save one of them, Susan reluctantly releases Henry and he falls to his death. Susan pulls Mark up and they look down as Henry's corpse is washed away into the ocean.
When Mark returns home to Arizona, he reflects upon Susan's choice to save him instead of Henry. He wonders if she would make the same choice again but knows it is something he will never ask her.
In their high-school cafeteria, Peter, also known as "Play", announces to his friends Christopher aka "Kid" Robinson, Jr. and Bilal that he will be having a party at his house that night, as his parents are on vacation. The reluctant Bilal is to be the DJ. Kid is then involved in an altercation with school bully Stab and his two brothers Pee-Wee and Zilla. When Kid comes home, he tries to convince his father, "Pop" to let him go to the party. Pop relents at first, but when a note from school informs him of the fight, he punishes Kid from going to the party. Rather than miss the party of the year, Kid sneaks out while Pop is sleeping in front of ''Dolemite'' – but the door closing behind Kid awakens Pop. On his way to the party Kid runs into Stab and his brothers, jumps over a fence where a fat man named Roughouse is having sex with his lady, and is shot at by Roughouse. Kid ducks into a nearby Alpha Delta Sigma reunion to escape them.
Crashing the reunion, Kid has the DJ scratch and mix a few of his old doo wop records so that he can liven the party with a rap, until Stab and the others arrive. Trying to escape from Stab, Kid accidentally knocks down an older man. Kid and the bullies are caught by the neighborhood police, who humiliate the four teenagers before letting them go. Kid's father is stopped and harassed by the police while walking trying to find him.
The party is in full swing when Kid finally arrives. Kid and Play soon get into a dance contest with attractive girls Sydney and Sharane, then have a quick freestyle battle. Stab and his friends attempt to break up the party, but are arrested a second time by the policemen, who take delight in the prospect of beating them up. Kid's father eventually makes his way to the party, demanding to know where Kid is (upstairs helping Sharane get her coat) and, not finding him, Pop vows to wait for him at home.
Play stops the party because his bathroom toilet was broken by party members. Although Kid and Sydney have eyes for each other, Sharane decides to flirt with Kid openly, much to Sydney's disgust. The three soon leave the party, but when Kid tries to make advances on Sharane, she rebuffs him. Kid then walks Sydney back home, and after some argument the pair finally calm down and talk quietly.
Sydney allows Kid to sneak into her house, and the two are about to have sex in Sydney's room when she stops him, wanting to know if she is simply his second choice. Kid admits that Sydney was his first choice all along, but they do not do anything when they see that the only condom Kid has is too old to be used. When Sydney's parents come home – now revealed as one of the couples at the high-school reunion, including the man Kid ran into – Sydney hastily helps Kid sneak out of the house.
He manages to get out of yet another scrape with Stab and his brothers, and they all end up in a jail cell. The men tell Kid what they're in jail for and Kid entertains the rest of the men in the cell by rapping, distracting them long enough for Play, Sharane, Bilal, and Sydney to arrive with enough cash to bail him out. Later, the five friends say their goodnights. Kid and Sydney share a long passionate kiss goodnight. After Play and Bilal drops him off, Kid sneaks in the house and gets undressed. As he is about to get into bed, he looks up to find Pop holding a belt. Pop tells him "I wouldn't do that just yet", snaps his belt, and says "cause your ass is mine". As the credits roll, we can hear Pop hitting Kid with the belt. (Kid yelping with each hit) during the credits.
At the very beginning of the movie, kids are seen dancing inside of a house with the noise being so loud that it literally blows the roof off of the house. During the credit roll, the same roof flies and lands on top of the policemen in a parking lot.
In 1860, during the final years of the Edo period, a ''rōnin'' wanders through a desolate Japanese countryside. While stopping at a farmhouse for water, he overhears an elderly couple lamenting that their only son, not wanting to waste his life as a farmer, has run off to join the "gamblers" who have descended on a nearby town overrun with criminals and divided between two rival bosses. The stranger heads to the town where he meets Gonji, the owner of a small ''izakaya'' who advises him to leave. He tells the rōnin that the two warring bosses, Ushitora and Seibei, are fighting over the lucrative gambling trade run by Seibei; Ushitora had been Seibei's right-hand man, but rebelled when Seibei decided that his successor would be his son Yoichiro, a useless youth. The town's mayor, a silk merchant named Tazaemon, had long been in Seibei's pocket, so Ushitora aligned himself with the local sake brewer, Tokuemon, proclaiming him the new mayor. After sizing up the situation and recognizing that no one in town cares about ending the violence, the stranger says he intends to stay, as the town would be better off with both sides dead.
He first convinces the weaker Seibei to hire his services by effortlessly killing three of Ushitora's men. When asked his name, he sees a mulberry field and states his name is Kuwabatake Sanjuro ( ), where Kuwabatake = "mulberry field" and where Sanjuro ("thirty-years-old").
Seibei decides that with the ronin's swordsmanship, the time is right to deal with Ushitora. However, Sanjuro eavesdrops on Seibei's wife, who orders Yoichiro to prove himself by killing the ronin after the upcoming raid, saving them from having to pay him. Sanjuro leads the attack on the other faction, but then "resigns" over Seibei's treachery, expecting both sides to massacre each other. His plan is foiled due to the unexpected arrival of a ''bugyō'' (a government official), which gives both Seibei and Ushitora the opportunity to make a bloodless retreat and cease their war.
The ''bugyō'' leaves soon after to investigate the murder of a fellow official in another town. Sanjuro soon realizes that Ushitora sent two men to commit the murder when he overhears them discussing it in Gonji's tavern. With this knowledge, Sanjuro captures the killers and sells them to Seibei, but then tells Ushitora that it was Seibei's men who caught them. An alarmed Ushitora rewards him generously for his help and orders the kidnapping of Yoichiro, whom he offers in exchange for the two prisoners. However, Ushitora double-crosses Seibei at the swap when his brother, Unosuke, shoots the assassins with a pistol; anticipating this, Seibei reveals he had ordered the kidnapping of Tokuemon’s mistress. The next morning, she is exchanged for Yoichiro.
Sanjuro learns that the woman, Nui, is the wife of a local farmer who lost her to Ushitora over a gambling debt; Ushitora then gave her away as chattel to Tokuemon in order to gain his support. Sanjuro tricks Ushitora into revealing the safe house where Nui is hidden, then kills the guards posted there and reunites the woman with her husband and son, ordering them to leave town immediately. Pretending to be on Ushitora's side, Sanjuro is able to convince Ushitora that Seibei is responsible for killing his men. The gang war escalates, with Ushitora burning down Tazaemon's silk warehouse and Seibei retaliating by trashing Tokuemon's brewery. After some time, Unosuke becomes suspicious of Sanjuro and the circumstances surrounding Nui's escape, eventually uncovering evidence of the ronin's betrayal. Sanjuro is severely beaten and imprisoned by Ushitora's thugs, who torture him to find out Nui's whereabouts.
Sanjuro manages to escape when Ushitora decides to eliminate Seibei once and for all. As he is being smuggled out of town in a coffin by Gonji, he witnesses the brutal end of Seibei and his family as their home is set on fire and they are all cut down while trying to surrender. Sanjuro recuperates in a small temple near a cemetery. However, when he learns that Gonji has been captured by Ushitora, he returns to town. Sanjuro confronts Ushitora, Unosuke, and their gang, taking on all of them by himself in a duel and killing them easily. He spares only one terrified young man, who turns out to be the youth he met on the way into town, and sends him back to his parents. As Sanjuro surveys the damage, Tazaemon comes out of his home, in a samurai outfit and beating a prayer drum. Driven mad, he circles around town and then goes after Tokuemon, stabbing him to death. Sanjuro frees Gonji, proclaims that the town will be quiet from then on, and departs.
This novel tells the story of Oskar Schindler, self-made entrepreneur and ''bon viveur'' who finds himself saving Polish Jews from the Nazi death machine. Based on numerous eyewitness accounts, Keneally's story takes place within Hitler's attempts to make Europe ''judenfrei'' (free of Jews). Schindler is presented as a flawed hero - a drinker, a womaniser and, at first, a profiteer. After the war, he was commemorated as Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, but was never seen as a conventionally virtuous character. The story is not only Schindler's, it is the story of Kraków's Ghetto and the forced labour camp outside town, Płaszów, and of Amon Göth, Płaszów's commandant.
His wife Emilie Schindler later remarked in a German TV interview that Schindler did nothing remarkable before the war and nothing after it. "He was fortunate therefore that in the short fierce era between 1939 and 1945 he had met people who had summoned forth his deeper talents." After the war, his business ventures failed and he separated from his wife. He ended up living a sparse life in a small flat in Frankfurt. Eventually he arranged to live part of the year in Israel, supported by his Jewish friends, and part of the year in Frankfurt, where he was often hissed at in the streets as a traitor to his "race". After 29 unexceptional postwar years, he died in 1974. He was buried in Jerusalem, as he wished, with the help of his old friend Pfefferberg.
Kevin Flynn is a leading software engineer, formerly employed by the computer corporation ENCOM, who now runs a video game arcade and attempts to hack into ENCOM's mainframe system. However, ENCOM's Master Control Program (MCP) halts his progress. Within ENCOM, programmer Alan Bradley and his girlfriend, engineer Lora Baines, discover that the MCP has closed off their access to projects. When Alan confronts the senior executive vice president, Ed Dillinger, Dillinger claims that the security measures are an effort to stop outside hacking attempts. However, when Dillinger privately questions the MCP through his computerized desk, he realizes the MCP has expanded into a powerful virtual intelligence and has become power-hungry, illegally appropriating personal, business, and government programs to increase its own capabilities. Dillinger rose to the top of ENCOM by presenting Flynn's games as his own. The MCP blackmails Dillinger with information about his plagiarizing Flynn's games if he does not comply with its directives.
Lora deduces that Flynn is the hacker, and she and Alan go to his arcade to warn him. Flynn reveals that he has been trying to locate evidence proving Dillinger's plagiarism, which launched Dillinger's rise in the company. Together, the three form a plan to break into ENCOM and unlock Alan's "Tron" program, a self-governing security measure designed to protect the system and counter the functions of the MCP. Once inside ENCOM, the three split up and Flynn comes into direct conflict with the MCP, communicating with his terminal. Before Flynn can get the information he needs to reveal Dillinger's acts, the MCP uses an experimental laser to digitize and upload Flynn into the ENCOM mainframe cyberspace, where programs are living entities appearing in the likeness of the human "Users" (programmers) who created them.
Flynn learns that the MCP and its second-in-command, Sark, rule and coerce programs to renounce their belief in the Users. The MCP forces programs that resist to play in deadly games and begins putting Flynn in duels. Flynn meets other captured programs, Ram and Tron, between matches. Partnered, the three escape into the mainframe during a light cycle match (an arcade game Flynn wrote the program for and is skilled at), but Flynn and Ram become separated from Tron by an MCP pursuit party. While attempting to help Ram, who was wounded in the pursuit, Flynn learns that he can manipulate portions of the mainframe by accessing his programmer knowledge. Ram recognizes Flynn as a User and encourages him to find Tron and free the system before "derezzing" (dying). Using his new ability, Flynn partially rebuilds a Recognizer vehicle (a construct taken from another one of Flynn's games) and later disguises himself as one of Sark's soldiers.
Tron enlists help from Yori, a sympathetic program, and at an I/O tower receives information from Alan necessary to destroy the MCP. Flynn rejoins them, and the three board a hijacked solar sailer to reach the MCP's core. However, Sark's command ship destroys the sailer, capturing Flynn and Yori and presumably killing Tron. Sark leaves the command ship and orders its deresolution, but Flynn keeps it intact by again manipulating the mainframe, while Sark reaches the MCP's core on a shuttle carrying captured programs. While the MCP attempts to absorb captive programs, Tron, who turns out to have survived, confronts Sark and critically injures him, prompting the MCP to give him all its functions. Realizing that his ability to manipulate the mainframe might give Tron an opening, Flynn leaps into the beam of the MCP, distracting it. Seeing the break in the MCP's shield, Tron attacks through the gap and destroys the MCP and Sark, ending the MCP's control over the mainframe and allowing the captured programs to communicate with users again.
Flynn reappears in the real world, rematerialized at his terminal. Tron's victory in the mainframe has released all lockouts on computer access, and a nearby printer produces the evidence that Dillinger had plagiarized Flynn's creations. The next morning, Dillinger enters his office to find the MCP deactivated and the proof of his theft publicized. Flynn is subsequently promoted to CEO of ENCOM and is happily greeted by Alan and Lora as their new boss.
A female unicorn learns from two hunters and a butterfly that she is the last of her kind since a malevolent entity called the Red Bull has herded unicorns to the ends of the earth. The Unicorn journeys to find them.
The Unicorn is captured by the witch Mommy Fortuna and displayed in her Midnight Carnival. Most of the attractions are normal animals enhanced by illusions to appear as mythical beasts. Fortuna uses a spell to create another horn on the unicorn's head, as the carnival visitors cannot see her real form. Fortuna keeps the immortal harpy Celaeno captive as well, deeming the risk secondary to the deed's prestige. The unicorn is befriended by Schmendrick, an incompetent magician in the service of Mommy Fortuna. With the help of Schmendrick, the Unicorn escapes, in the process freeing Celaeno, who kills Fortuna. The Unicorn and Schmendrick gain a second traveling companion with Molly Grue, the careworn lover of Captain Cully (the disappointing reality behind the myth of ''Robin Hood'').
When the Unicorn nears the seaside castle of King Haggard, keeper of the Red Bull, she encounters the beast, a monstrous fire elemental. Before she can be captured, Schmendrick uses his unpredictable magic, transforming her into a woman. The Red Bull loses interest in her and departs, but the Unicorn is shocked by the sensation of mortality. Schmendrick promises to return her to normal after the quest is complete.
Schmendrick, Molly Grue, and the now-human Unicorn proceed to the castle. Haggard is at first unwelcoming. Schmendrick introduces the Unicorn as Lady Amalthea, and requests that they become members of Haggard's court, only to be told that the only occupants of the castle are Haggard, his adopted son Prince Lír and four ancient men-at-arms. Haggard consents to lodge the trio, replacing his more competent wizard, Mabruk, with Schmendrick, and setting Molly Grue to work in his scullery. Mabruk leaves after recognizing "Amalthea" for what she truly is, jeering that by allowing her into his castle Haggard has invited his doom. Due to her new human emotions, Amalthea begins forgetting her true self and falls in love with Prince Lír, and considers abandoning her quest in favor of mortal love. Haggard confronts Amalthea, hinting at the location of the unicorns, yet from the waning magic in her eyes, has doubts regarding his suspicions that she is more than she seems.
Molly finally learns the location of the Red Bull's lair from the castle's cat. Molly, Schmendrick, and Amalthea are joined by Lír as they enter the bull's den, and are trapped there by Haggard. Schmendrick explains to Lír what they are looking for and reveals Amalthea's true identity. Lír declares that he loves her anyway. This makes Amalthea want to abandon the quest and marry Lír, but Lír dissuades her. The Red Bull appears, no longer deceived by Amalthea's human form, and chases after her. Schmendrick turns Amalthea back into the Unicorn, but she is unwilling to leave Lír's side. The Bull begins driving her toward the ocean just as he had driven the other unicorns. Lír tries defending her, but is killed by the Bull. Enraged, the Unicorn turns on the Bull and forces him into the sea. Carried on the incoming tides, the missing hundreds of unicorns emerge from the raging sea. With their release, Haggard's castle collapses into the sea, and Haggard, watching all from the battlements, falls to his death.
On the beach, the Unicorn magically revives Lír before she leaves him. Schmendrick assures Lír he gained much by winning the love of a unicorn, even if he is now alone. The Unicorn later says goodbye to Schmendrick, who laments he wronged her by burdening her with regret and the taint of mortality, which could make her unable to properly rejoin her kind. She disagrees about the importance of his actions, as they had helped restore unicorns to the world and made her experience regret and love. Schmendrick and Molly watch the Unicorn depart for her forest home.
In the year 2019, the SETI program at Arecibo Observatory discovers radio broadcasts of music from the vicinity of Alpha Centauri. The first expedition to Rakhat, the world that is sending the music, is organized by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), known for its missionary, linguistic and scientific activities since the time of its founder, Ignatius of Loyola. In the year 2060, only one of the crew, the Jesuit priest Emilio Sandoz, survives to return to Earth, and he is damaged physically and psychologically. The story is told with parallel plot lines, interspersing the journey of Sandoz and his friends to Rakhat with Sandoz's experiences upon his return to Earth.
Father Sandoz is a talented Puerto Rican linguist. He is described as of mixed Taíno and Conquistador heritage and character. Sandoz grew up in La Perla, a poor neighborhood in San Juan. He joined the Jesuits as a teenager. After several stints at Jesuit missionaries around the world, he returns to Puerto Rico. Several of his close friends and co-workers, people with a variety of unique skills and talents, have seemingly coincidental connections to Arecibo. One of them, a gifted young technician, was the first to hear the transmissions; another, Sofia Mendes, a Turkish Jewish artificial intelligence specialist, has the connections and aptitude to obtain a spacecraft and help pilot the mission. Sandoz, who has often struggled with his faith, becomes convinced that only God's will could bring this group of people with the perfect combination of knowledge and experience together at the moment when the alien signal was detected. Sandoz and his friends, along with three other Jesuit priests, are chosen by the Society of Jesus to travel in secret to the planet, using an interstellar vessel made with a small asteroid.
Upon reaching Rakhat, the crew tries to acclimatize themselves to the new world, experimenting with eating local flora and fauna, then making contact with a rural village, inhabited by a peaceful tribe of herbivore gatherers, the Runa. Though the Runa are clearly not the singers of the radio broadcasts, the Earthlings settle among them and begin to learn their language Ruanja and culture. Although Sandoz struggles with his attraction to Sofia, he finds greater spiritual meaning in his interactions with the Runa. The crew transmits all their findings via computer uplink to the asteroid-ship in orbit. One day, in an attempt to retrieve supplies from their landing vehicle for a sick crew member, the landing vehicle runs short of the fuel needed to safely return to the asteroid ship, and the crew must face the reality that they may never return to Earth.
When the Earthlings finally meet a member of the culture which produced the radio transmissions, he proves to be of an entirely different species from the rural natives, a Jana'ata who is an ambitious merchant named Supaari VaGayjur. Supaari VaGayjur sees in the visitors a possibility to improve his status, while the crew hopes to find an alternative source of fuel in Supaari's city, Gayjur. Meanwhile, the crew begins to grow their own food, introducing the concept of agriculture to the villagers. These seemingly innocent actions and accompanying cultural misunderstandings precipitate an outbreak of violence. Though not closely related genetically, the Jana'ata have evolved by aggressive mimicry to physically resemble the Runa, who are in fact their prey species. The human introduction of agriculture leads to a Runa baby boom which is harvested by the predatory Jana'ata. The humans are riven with guilt over their misguided action, and most, including Sofia, are killed when defending against the Jana'ata attack. Only Sandoz and one other human survive, and Sandoz endures capture, degradation, and a crisis of faith. Eventually found by Supaari, Sandoz's hands are disfigured and rendered useless in a Jana'ata practice meant to convey the honor and privilege of being dependent on another, a mutilation analogous to the practice of foot binding. The mutilation kills the other surviving crew member; Sandoz survives, though he is physically and spiritually traumatized, believing himself at fault for the death of his friends. Later, Supaari gives Sandoz to the Reshtar of Galatna, a poet and musician, in exchange for the right to have a wife and start his own lineage. Held captive by the Reshtar, Sandoz realizes the Reshtar is the source of the music that brought the humans to Rakhat and momentarily regains his faith; however, the Reshtar is only interested in Sandoz as a pet who is forced to sexually satisfy the musician, along with his friends and colleagues. It is later revealed that the Reshtar broadcasts songs about his sexual exploits, songs which may have been heard on Earth.
When Sandoz returns to Earth in 2060, his friends are dead, and his faith, once considered worthy of canonization by his superiors, has turned into bitter anger with the God who inspired him to go to Rakhat. Due to relativistic space-time effects, decades had passed while he has been gone, during which popular outrage at the United Nation's initial and highly out-of-context report on the mission, especially Sandoz's role in the tragedy, had left the Society of Jesus shattered, nearly extinct. The Jesuits shelter Sandoz from the media and help him recover physically, while the Father Superior selects a panel of Jesuit priests from around the world to help Sandoz come out of his shell and explain what really happened. Initially bent on discovering the truth, the other priests eventually recognize the great personal cost at which the journey came, and accept Sandoz's epic struggle with his faith. Over the course of several months, Sandoz painfully explains his story and begins his personal healing.
''Zool 2'' takes place several months after the events occurred in ''Zool''. Krool, the main antagonist of the original game has sent his forces and Mental Block, his shapeshifting henchman to invade the Nth dimension and seize power in order to stifle the imagination of the world, causing rampant boredom in the process. Zool, the main protagonist of the first game, alongside his companion Zooz and their two-headed mascot Zoon, are entrusted with the mission of restoring order to the dimension and defeat Mental Block. After traversing through multiple locations, the trio reaches the main area where Mental Block resides and they defeat him, saving the dimension as a result, with a hint at a possible further sequel.
Three married men, George, Doug, and Howie, and divorcé Fred are friends who commute to work from Greenwich, Connecticut, to New York City on the same train. Seeing Fred's philandering boss, Mr. Bingham, with his mistress sets the men to fantasizing about sharing the expense of an apartment in the city as a love nest. As a gag, they give Fred the task of finding an unrealistically inexpensive apartment and a blonde "companion" to go with it.
Fred rents a luxurious suite from Peter Bowers, who is desperate to find a tenant because the previous occupant was a highly publicized murder victim. By chance, Cathy, a beautiful blonde, also answers the advertisement for the apartment. Fred explains that the place has already been taken, but that he is also looking for a beautiful young "housekeeper" for his friends. To his surprise, she accepts the job. The boys are delighted; each tells his wife that he is taking a course one night a week to improve his mind so he can stay in New York overnight.
Unbeknownst to the men, Cathy is actually a sociology graduate student writing her thesis on the "adolescent fantasies of the adult suburban male." Her skeptical advisor, Dr. Prokosch, objects, saying, "Can you look like 'yes' and act like 'no?' ... This a nice girl hasn't learned." Cathy responds, "No? This is what a nice girl has learned ''best''." When they start calling on her individually in the evenings, she encourages them to talk, all the while secretly recording their conversations.
Cathy deftly avoids being seduced by the married men, although each lets the others think he has slept with her. She supplies what each one really wants: Howie is starved for more substantial food than his dieting wife will provide; Doug likes to repair things that are conveniently broken each week (his status-conscious wife does not want their neighbors to see him tinkering about the house); George enjoys talking about himself, but his spouse keeps finishing his sentences. Fred, however, is a different story: he is very attracted to Cathy and, disgusted by his friends' fabricated stories, refuses to use his night.
In the end, the wives become suspicious, and on the advice of Fred's mother, Ethel, hire private investigator Ernest Bohannon to find out what is going on. Based on his report, they assume the worst and confront their husbands. All three married men confess that nothing happened, and Cathy reveals that she is just doing research.
After getting over the shock, Fred and Cathy become a couple, and the boys' night out is no more; instead, the four couples go out together.
Players assume the role of Jack the WorldRunner, a wild "space cowboy" on a mission to save various planets overrun by serpentine beasts. The game takes place in Solar System #517, which is being overrun by a race of aliens known as Serpentbeasts, who are led by the evil Grax. As WorldRunner, the player must battle through eight planets to find and destroy Grax with fireballs.
Johnny Van Owen is a rapper who drifts from city to city. Johnny is performing at a nightclub, rapping and dancing with his crew and a club background songstress playing "Cool as Ice (Everybody Get Loose)".
While the group passes through a small town, Johnny falls for honor student Kathy Winslow. The crew is stranded in the town after a member's motorcycle breaks down and has to be left at a local repair shop. While waiting for repairs, Johnny uses the opportunity to see Kathy. She already has a boyfriend named Nick, whom he advises Kathy to dump.
Johnny shows up with his crew at a local club frequented by Kathy and her friends. Noticing that no one was enjoying the live music playing at the club, Johnny and the crew decide to perform a musical number, "People's Choice", by unplugging the other band's instruments and taking control, shocking the audience and ending with Johnny sweeping Kathy off her feet, humiliating Nick.
He offers to forgive Kathy and take her home, but she refuses and walks home by herself. Unbeknownst to Kathy, she is stalked by two strange men in a car. She is saved by Johnny, who takes her home. At the club's parking lot, a jealous Nick and his friends smash up motorcycles belonging to Johnny's friends. Nick's friends attack the rapping biker who fights back, leaving Nick and his buddies unconscious and Nick himself in the hospital with a broken nose.
Kathy's father, Gordon, becomes suspicious of Johnny, and warns Kathy to stay away from him because they can't trust strangers. The next day, Kathy goes for a ride with Johnny against her father's wishes. They ride all over town, including a construction site. When they finally return home, they are greeted by an angry Gordon, who coldly warns Johnny to stay away from his daughter.
Gordon, under pressure from his wife Grace, reveals to Kathy the secret of his past—he was once a police officer. They were on the run from two corrupt cops and were able to escape using fabricated documents, explaining why he kept his life a secret from Kathy all these years. Kathy criticizes her father, saying it was not fair that he lied to her in order to protect her, yet refuse to permit her to see a total stranger.
The next day, Johnny agrees to give Tommy, Kathy's younger brother, a ride on his bike. They cruise through the streets, and finally back to the Winslow home, where Tommy is later kidnapped. At the repair shop, the crew prepares to leave town since the bike has been repaired, but they tell Johnny to say goodbye to Kathy. When Johnny arrives at the Winslow house, he finds an envelope meant for the family. It turns out to be a message from the crooked cops with Tommy recording it. Fearing the worst, Gordon accuses Johnny of criminal involvement, much to Kathy's dismay.
When Kathy asks Johnny to play the tape left behind by the kidnappers, he hears a loud clanging noise from a construction vehicle, revealing the message was recorded at the construction site. The gang ambushes the kidnappers and rescue Tommy. When the police arrive, the gang return Tommy to the Winslows, and Gordon apologizes to Johnny. The rapper tells Kathy he has to move on, but she decides to follow him. Nick arrives in his car, telling Kathy to get used to being a biker chick because she will never see him again. Kathy holds on as Johnny uses the car as a ramp and the two new lovers ride off into the big city.
The film ends with Johnny reaching his destination, rapping "Get Wit It" and dancing with his crew to an audience at a night club. Kathy joins him on stage after the show is over, dancing alone in the spotlight.
In 1982, Pope John Paul II privately issues a letter to the communist Polish government, stating that he will resign from the papacy and return to his hometown unless they cease their repression of counterrevolutionary movements in Poland, particularly the Solidarity trade union. Called the Warsaw Letter, it was later forwarded to Moscow, enraging Committee for State Security (KGB) director Yuri Andropov. He decides to plan for the pope’s assassination, which he believes would reinvigorate Communism in Eastern Europe, perceived by many to be in a state of decline. Known only by its designated number 15-8-82-666 for security reasons, the assassin is then selected as a Turk Muslim (understood to be Mehmet Ali Ağca), who would then be eliminated by Bulgarian KDS officer Boris Strokov afterwards for deniability. The operation was later unanimously approved by the Politburo.
Meanwhile, Oleg Zaitzev, a communications officer in the KGB tasked with sending and receiving encrypted dispatches to and from KGB stations across Europe, pieces together the plot to kill the pope, and becomes deeply troubled with the prospect of murdering an innocent person for political purposes. He later decides to make contact with the local CIA station chief Edward Foley as well as his wife and agent Mary Pat, intending to defect and then be extracted out of the Soviet Union with his family, in exchange for providing information on the assassination plot as well as the names of KGB deep-penetration agents in the American and British governments.
The Foleys instruct Zaitzev to bring his family to Budapest, Hungary under the guise of taking a vacation. They are then to be assisted by British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) officers stationed in the city, because the CIA station there was compromised; as a result, Jack Ryan, former Marine and the CIA liaison to SIS back in London, was sent there to represent the agency. One early morning, the Zaitzevs were spirited out of the hotel they were staying. Accompanied by Ryan, they are then smuggled to Yugoslavia, where they immediately fly to the United Kingdom. By then, SIS agents had planted dead bodies that are physically identical to the family into their hotel room, which was then set on fire, thus deceiving the KGB.
After settling down in a safehouse outside Manchester, Zaitzev reveals what he knows about the assassination plot, which alarms the SIS and the CIA. Ryan was later sent to St. Peter's Square in Vatican City to accompany the British SIS officers on the ground to ascertain how the hit on the pope will play out, as well as to try capturing the shooter. At the pope's weekly audience, Ryan manages to capture Strokov; however, the Pope gets shot anyway by the real shooter Ağca. Nevertheless, the pontiff recovers from his wounds. It was then revealed that Strokov was executed by the British as retaliation for murdering Soviet defector Georgi Markov on British soil four years ago.
The first seven series starred Dennis Waterman as Terry McCann, a Fulham fan, an honest and likeable bodyguard (''minder'' in London slang) and George Cole as Arthur Daley, a socially ambitious, but highly unscrupulous importer/exporter, wholesaler, used-car salesman and purveyor of anything else from which there was money to be made, legally or not.
The series is principally set in inner west London (specifically Shepherd's Bush, Ladbroke Grove, Fulham and Acton), and was largely responsible for introducing the word minder, meaning personal bodyguard, into the UK popular lexicon. The characters often drank at the local members-only Winchester Club, where owner and barman Dave Harris (Glynn Edwards) acted, often unwillingly, as a messenger for Arthur, and turned a blind eye to his shady deals.
Like many British sitcoms, the show is set within a certain social class, in this case working class west London. It shares strong similarities with ''Only Fools and Horses'' and ''Steptoe and Son'' in the sense that much of the storyline revolves around a dysfunctional, co-dependent relationship between the two protagonists.
Although initially developed to focus on Terry's character, as the series progressed, the focus shifted to feature Terry and Arthur more evenly, with more screen time allotted to Arthur and his dealings. Barman Dave Harris at first made only occasional appearances, but the rapport between Arthur, Terry and Dave also become popular and by the second series he too was given more screen time. In Series 7, the final series to feature Dennis Waterman as Terry and thus the last to feature the original opening credits, the sequence was modified very slightly to include shots of Terry, Arthur and Dave at the Winchester, giving Edwards his own billing rather than among the guest cast.
In 1989, after filming the seventh series, Waterman announced he had left the programme, feeling that the character had run its course and that it was becoming harder for the writers to come up with plots as sharp as had been customary in the earlier series. This seemed to signify the end, but the series made another return in 1991, with another character replacing Terry. Waterman's final broadcast episode, Series 7's coincidentally titled "The Wrong Goodbye", had closed as a standard episode, filmed before Waterman announced his departure and so with no clue as to Terry's forthcoming departure. In the opening episode of series 8, "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Entrepreneur", Arthur finds Terry had married and emigrated to Australia (despite his criminal background making the likelihood of emigration almost impossible) to finally escape Arthur's influence. At the same time, he is stuck with looking after his nephew Ray Daley (Gary Webster), at the request of Arthur's brother, to give him employment and keep him out of trouble.
With Terry off the scene, local undesirables start to muscle in on Arthur, but it soon emerges that Ray is able to handle himself in a fight, and indeed in a tight situation, and Arthur appoints him his new "minder". Ray was portrayed as smarter, having a well-expressed intelligence and basic education (O Level French and woodwork) as well as being able to fight (instances of which, by this stage, were far less frequent and far less graphic than seen in the show's early episodes). He was also a snappy dresser, typically seen in designer suits, and not a heavy drinker, usually seen sipping mineral water or a soft drink. Ray did not have a regular car and was usually lumbered with the beaten up old blue Ford Transit van from Arthur's lockup.
The original theme tune was replaced by a rock-style instrumental version, credited to "Kenny" (Gerard Kenny). By this stage, the grittier elements of the early series had been toned down, concentrating instead on the comedic aspects of Arthur's dodgy dealings. Waterman praised Gary Webster for fitting into the series, but remained vocal in his comments that the series was no longer about a "minder", and that the revamped version should go under a different title, reflecting its orientation almost solely around Arthur.
Other new characters in this revamped version were Sidney Livingstone (who had previously appeared as casino bouncer in the episode, "You Lose Some, You Win Some") as Bert Daley, Arthur's gullible, over-trusting brother (and Ray's father), who views Arthur as a successful businessman rather than a con man, and entrusts Ray into his care; Bert's wife and Ray's mum, Doreen (Lill Roughley); and Ray's recurring girlfriend Gloria (Emma Cunningham), who is frustrated with Ray being torn between her and Arthur. The new police nemeses were Detective Sergeant Michael Morley (Nick Day), and D.C. Park (Stephen Tompkinson) in series 8, who in turn, was replaced by D.C. Field (Jonty Stephens) in series 9.
The end of the final episode of Series 10, "The Long Good Thursday", saw Arthur, along with Ray, Dave and crazy prisoner, Frankie (Matthew Scurfield), finally being caught and driven away in a police convoy. In a final monologue over closing credits, Arthur was bemused, citing himself as a hardworking, upstanding citizen. The following week, a repeat showing of the first episode, "Gunfight at the O.K. Laundrette" (slightly edited for its pre-watershed start) was broadcast. Cole made an opening introduction, saying he had been asked to choose his favourite episode, but "all were of such quality that he could not". He closed with "Goodbye... for now", hinting that he or the show may return.
In 2009, ''Minder'' resumed on Channel 5 after a 15-year break. The first episode of the six-part series was broadcast on 4 February. The makers emphasised that it was a revival rather than a remake.
The show focused on Arthur's nephew Archie, played by Shane Richie, and a new minder, Jamie Cartwright, played by Lex Shrapnel. Channel 5 stated that there were no plans for Cole, Waterman or Webster to reprise their roles. The series was produced by Talkback Thames.
In the weeks leading up to the new series, Channel 5 launched a national advertising campaign to promote the show's return. These featured a series of adverts on television and billboards. Other promotions included advertisements on taxi receipts, a social networking campaign and branded beer mats, all designed to attract the young male audience Channel 5 was targeting. Although a Christmas episode was initially planned and announced ahead of the intended second series, due to poor ratings Channel 5 did not commission either.
Teresa, the pregnant teenage daughter of a powerful Mexican crime lord known only as ( ), is summoned before her father and interrogated as to the identity of her unborn child's father. Under torture, she identifies the father as Alfredo Garcia, whom El Jefe had been grooming to be his successor. Infuriated, El Jefe offers a $1 million bounty to whoever will "bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia".
The search progresses for two months. In Mexico City, a pair of business suit-clad, dispassionate hit men, Sappensly and Quill, enter a saloon and encounter Bennie, a retired U.S. Army officer who makes a meagre living as a piano player and bar manager. The men ask about Garcia, believing they will have more luck getting answers out of a fellow American. Bennie plays dumb, saying the name is familiar but he doesn't know who Garcia is.
It turns out that everyone in the bar knows who Garcia is; they simply don't know where he is. Bennie goes to meet his girlfriend, Elita, a maid at a ghetto motel. Elita admits to having cheated on Bennie with Garcia, who had professed his love for her, something Bennie refuses to do. Elita tells him that Garcia died in a drunk-driving accident the previous week.
Bennie goes to Sappensly and Quill in the hotel room of the man who hired them, El Jefe's business associate Max, and makes a deal for $10,000 for Garcia's head, plus a $200 advance for expenses. Bennie convinces Elita to go on a road trip with him to visit Garcia's grave, claiming that he only wants proof that Garcia is in fact dead and no longer a threat to their relationship.
Bennie proposes to Elita, promising that their future will soon change and she can retire from her cleaning job. Elita warns Bennie against trying to upset their status quo. While having a picnic, Bennie and Elita are accosted by two bikers who pull guns on the couple. Elita agrees to have sex with the bikers if they spare Bennie's life, then goes off with one of them. He rips off her shirt, lets her slap him twice, slaps her back, then walks away; she follows. Bennie knocks the second biker unconscious and takes his gun. Finding Elita about to have sex with the first biker, Bennie shoots him dead and then kills the second biker as well.
Bennie confesses to Elita his plan to decapitate Garcia's corpse and sell the head for money. A disgusted Elita, still shaken from what has just happened, begs Bennie to give up this quest and return to Mexico City. Bennie again refuses, although he agrees to marry Elita in the church of the town where Garcia is buried. They find Garcia's grave, but when he opens the coffin, Bennie is struck from behind by an unseen assailant and knocked unconscious. He wakes up to find himself half-buried in the grave, and Elita is dead. Garcia's corpse has been decapitated.
Bennie learns from villagers that his assailants are driving a station wagon. He catches up with the men after they blow out a tire. Bennie shoots them, searches their car, and claims Garcia's head. Stopping at a roadside restaurant, he packs the sack containing the head with ice to preserve it for the journey home. Bennie talks to the head as if Garcia were still alive, first blaming Alfredo for Elita's death and then conceding that both of them probably loved her equally.
Bennie is ambushed by members of Garcia's family. They reclaim the head and are about to kill Bennie when they are interrupted by the arrival of Sappensly and Quill. The hit men pretend to ask for directions. Quill produces a sub-machine gun and murders most of the family, but is fatally shot by one of them. As Sappensly sorrowfully looks at Quill's corpse, Bennie asks: "Do I get paid?" Sappensly turns to shoot, but Bennie kills him. Bennie returns to Mexico City, "arguing" with Garcia's head all the while.
At his apartment Bennie gives Garcia's head a shower and then brings it to Max's hotel room. Feigning willingness to surrender the head for his $10,000, Bennie reveals he is no longer motivated by money; he says Alfredo was a friend of his and demands to know why Max and the others want his head so badly. He also blames Elita's death on the bounty. Several men pull guns but Bennie evades their fire and kills them all. He takes a business card from the desk with El Jefe's address on it.
After attending the baptism for his new grandchild, El Jefe greets Bennie as a hero in his hacienda, and gives him a briefcase containing the million-dollar bounty. Bennie calmly relates how many people died for Garcia's head, including his beloved. El Jefe tells Bennie to take his money and throw the head to the pigs on the way out. Infuriated that the object responsible for Elita's death is viewed as nothing more than garbage, Bennie guns down all of El Jefe's bodyguards.
Teresa enters with her newborn son, causing Bennie to hesitate shooting El Jefe. She urges Bennie to kill her father. Bennie obliges and leaves El Jefe's hacienda with Teresa, taking along Garcia's head. They approach the entrance gate and Bennie says goodbye to Teresa, departing the scene with the words: "You take care of the boy. And I'll take care of the father". Bennie drives away, only to be killed by El Jefe's men, their machine guns tearing him to pieces.
Much like other games from the same timeframe, the game's story varied between the Japanese language release and its English language counterpart. In all versions of the game, the events take place in a far off galaxy, where an evil space pirate, Kaiser Greedy, has used mind control to make the planets' leaders obey him. In the Japanese version, the inhabitants of Planet Neer (Flora in the international version) pray for a hero before Greedy's mind control minion, Riho, snatches the planet elder. The desperate prayers reach the mother of shooting stars, Oruto. She awakens one of her children, Ristar, with the sole purpose of granting the wishes of the innocent people. He must stop Greedy and the brainwashed leaders of each world to restore peace to the Valdi System.
In the international version, Oruto is omitted altogether. Instead, Ristar has a father, the legendary hero, who is a shooting star that protects the constellation of Valjee. Rather than Oruto awakening Ristar, the legendary hero was kidnapped by Greedy, and it is up to Ristar to rescue his father as well. The Japanese version of the game ends with Greedy and two of his underlings, Inonis and Uranim, stranded on a deserted planet, with a picture of Ristar appearing in the space, while Greedy simply stares at it. The ending scene in the international version shows Ristar being reunited with his father once again.
In 1938, the Dutch mystery writer Cornelius Leyden (Peter Lorre) is visiting Istanbul. A fan, Colonel Haki (Kurt Katch) of the Turkish police, believes that Leyden would be interested in the story of Dimitrios Makropoulos (Zachary Scott), whose body was just washed up on the beach. Leyden is so fascinated by what Haki tells of the dead criminal that he becomes determined to learn more.
He seeks out Dimitrios' associates all over Europe, none of whom has a kind word for the deceased. They reveal more of the man's sordid life. His ex-lover, Irana Preveza (Faye Emerson), tells of his failed assassination attempt. Afterwards, he borrowed money from her and never returned.
On his travels, Leyden meets Mr. Peters (Sydney Greenstreet). Later, he catches Peters ransacking his hotel room. Peters reveals that he too had dealings with Dimitrios (he had done prison time when Dimitrios betrayed their smuggling ring to the police), and he is not convinced that the man is really dead. If he is alive, Peters plans to blackmail him for keeping his secret. He generously offers Leyden a share, but the Dutchman is interested only in learning the truth.
Wladislaw Grodek (Victor Francen) is the next link in the trail. He had hired Dimitrios to obtain some state secrets. Dimitrios manipulated Karel Bulic (Steven Geray), a meek minor Yugoslav government official, into gambling and losing a huge sum so that he could be pressured into stealing charts of some minefields. Bulic later confessed to the authorities and committed suicide. Meanwhile, Dimitrios double-crossed Grodek by selling the charts himself to the Italian government.
Eventually, the two men track Dimitrios down in Paris. Fearful of being exposed to the authorities, he pays Peters one million francs for his silence, but true to his nature, goes to Peters' home shortly thereafter and shoots him. Leyden, with his rage over Peters being shot overcoming his fear, grapples with Dimitrios and allows the wounded Peters to grab the gun. Peters sends Leyden away to spare him from witnessing the violence to come, and shots are then heard.
When the police show up, Peters admits to shooting Dimitrios and does not resist arrest, and is satisfied with what he has accomplished. As he is taken away, he asks for Leyden to write a book about the affair and kindly to send him a copy.
Jack Elliot is an aging American baseball player unsuspectingly put on the trading block during Spring Training in 1992 by the New York Yankees in favor of "rookie phenom" first baseman Ricky Davis (played by future Hall of Famer Frank Thomas), and there's only one taker: the Nagoya Chunichi Dragons of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball.
Upon arrival in Japan, Elliot clashes with the Japanese culture and the team's manager, and before long he alienates his new teammates. He believes the rules and management style of his new skipper, Uchiyama (Ken Takakura), are ludicrous, and continues to do things his way, which leads his already dwindling performance to suffer even more. His only ally on the team is another American ballplayer, Max "The Hammer" Dubois (Dennis Haysbert), with whom he commiserates about his frustrations. However, Max is a team player on the Dragons, and warns Elliot to be one too. At the same time, Elliot develops a relationship with the beautiful Hiroko (Aya Takanashi), who he later learns is Uchiyama's daughter.
After one too many outbursts, including knocking out his interpreter during a brawl, Elliot is suspended from play. After meeting Hiroko's family, including Uchiyama, Uchiyama admits to Jack that he hired him over the objections of management and now his own career, not just Jack's, is in jeopardy. Dragons management wanted Pete Clifton from Boston, but Uchiyama pulled some strings with management to pick Jack because he was the right choice to turn this team around. After hearing this, Elliot swallows his pride and admits his deficiencies. Uchiyama becomes his mentor. In a rare show of humility, he apologizes to the team in Japanese, erroneously saying he wants to build a rather than a of friendship (the words are homophones but stressed differently) and the team rallies around him and teaches him the value of sportsmanship and respect for hard work. Uchiyama lifts his suspension and begins to work with Elliot on improving his play. The reinvigorated Elliot's enthusiasm for team play is contagious and the mediocre Dragons become contenders for the Central League pennant. In the process, he also utilizes a Japanese tradition of being able to tell off Uchiyama while intoxicated to convince him to encourage his players to be more aggressive and "have a little fun."
Eventually, Elliot gets the opportunity to break Uchiyama's record of seven consecutive games with a home run, but not before his positive response to a call from his American agent complicates his relationship with Hiroko. His newfound respect for team play becomes apparent in a crucial game against the Yomiuri Giants. With the bases loaded, two outs and his team down 6–5, the team brass expects Uchiyama to signal for a bunt to try to tie the game, even though it would deny Elliot the chance to break the home run record. Elliot goes to Uchiyama and asks if he read the sign correctly. Uchiyama nods and tells him to swing away, knowing that a home run would break his record. Elliot takes a called strike one with a questionable call on the first pitch. Elliot fouls the second pitch back. Faced with a no-ball, two-strike count, Elliot sees the Giants' infield is playing deep and bunts. The Giants are caught off-guard and the bunt is successful in allowing the tying run to cross home plate. As the Giants struggle to field the ball, Elliot, approaching first base, veers slightly inside the baseline and knocks over the Giants' pitcher covering first on the play, which allows the winning run to score from second base.
With the Dragons winning the pennant, Uchiyama can keep his job and Max ends his five-year career in NPB by signing with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Elliot, who marries Hiroko, becomes a coach and mentor with the Detroit Tigers. The movie ends with one of the players calling him Chief, which is the same as he called Uchiyama in Japan.
In 1935 Connecticut, widow Alexandra Perry lives with her identical twin sons, Holland and Niles, on their family farm, overseen by Uncle George and his wife Vee, along with their bratty son Russell. Residing nearby is their Russian emigrant grandmother Ada, with whom Niles shares a close relationship. Ada has taught Niles to astrally project his mind into the bodies of other living creatures, an ability that runs in the Perry family; they refer to this as "the game". Unfortunately, it's no innocent game, considering it leads to the freak "accidental" death of Cousin Russell, the paralysis of Alexandra, and a fatal heart attack suffered by a neighbor, Mrs. Rowe. Ada now realizes the game is evil, and advises Niles never to play it again. Further, she forces Niles to admit Holland has been dead since their birthday the previous March when he fell down a well, but Niles is unable to accept the truth. Ada realizes that Niles has been using the game to keep his brother alive in his mind, and that it is in fact Niles who is responsible for the summer's tragedies.
Later, Niles' older sister gives birth to a baby girl. Niles adores the child, but "Holland", who is fascinated with the recent kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby, steals the infant. A posse is formed to find the child. But Ada, suspecting the worst, searches the barn for Niles. She discovers him prowling the storage cellar and, speaking to "Holland", demands the whereabouts of the baby. Meantime, the posse finds the baby drowned in a wine cask, and an alcoholic immigrant farmhand is accused of the murder. Informed of the discovery and realizing what has happened, Ada pours kerosene into the cellar and throws herself onto it with a kerosene lamp, causing an inferno that burns the barn down. Months later, the charred remains of the barn are cleared away. It is revealed that Niles escaped the fire due to "Holland" previously cutting the padlock from the cellar door. With Ada dead and his mother a catatonic, paralyzed invalid, no one suspects Niles' secret. In the film's final shot, Niles peers out from his bedroom window while being called downstairs for lunch.
In the first novel, she is a University of Mississippi student who is kidnapped and raped by a criminal, Popeye. Corrupted by her experience in a house of prostitution, she lies in a court, resulting in an innocent man being lynched for a murder. In the second novel, she plans on leaving her family and going back to a criminal lifestyle until her maid kills her child to return her mind to clarity. In the first film, Temple instead tells the truth on the witness stand and reveals her sordid past. The second film uses elements of both novels, though she does not attend a court hearing in that one.
''The Smart Set'' s review of the novel stated, "There is no plot whatever... Babbitt simply grows two years older as the tale unfolds."Mencken, H. L., "Portrait of an American Citizen," ''The Smart Set'' 69 (October 1922) pp. 138–139
The first seven chapters follow Babbitt's life over the course of a single day. Over breakfast, Babbitt dotes on his ten-year-old daughter Tinka, tries to dissuade his 22-year-old daughter Verona from her newfound socialist leanings, and encourages his 17-year-old son Ted to try harder in school. At the office he dictates letters and discusses real estate advertising with his employees. Gradually, Babbitt realizes his dissatisfaction with "The American Dream", and attempts to quell these feelings by going camping in Maine with his close friend and old college roommate Paul Riesling. Although the trip has its ups and downs, the two men consider it an overall success and leave feeling optimistic about the year ahead.
On the day Babbitt gets elected vice-president of the Booster's club, he finds out that Paul shot his wife Zilla. Babbitt immediately drives to the jail where Paul is being held, trying to think of ways to help Paul out. Shortly after Paul's arrest, Babbitt's wife and daughter go to visit relatives, leaving Babbitt more or less on his own. Babbitt begins to ask himself what it was he really wanted in life. In time, Babbitt begins to rebel against all of the standards he formerly held: he jumps into liberal politics with famous socialist/"single tax" litigator Seneca Doane, conducts an extramarital affair, goes on various vacations, and cavorts around Zenith with bohemians and flappers. He slowly becomes aware that his forays into nonconformity are not only futile but also destructive of the life and the friends he once loved.
When Babbitt's wife falls ill with acute appendicitis, Babbitt rushes home and relinquishes all rebellion. During her long recovery, they rekindle their intimacy and Babbitt reverts to dispassionate conformity. In the final scene, Babbitt discovers that his son Ted has secretly married Eunice, the daughter of his neighbor. He offers his approval of the marriage, stating that though he does not agree, he admires Ted for living his life on his own terms.
:''The first chapter of this novel is a short story titled "The Stoker".
The story describes the bizarre wanderings of sixteen-year-old European immigrant Karl Roßmann, who was forced to go to New York City to escape the scandal of his seduction by a housemaid. As the ship arrives in the United States, he becomes friends with a stoker who is about to be dismissed from his job. Karl identifies with the stoker and decides to help him; together they go to see the captain of the ship. In a surreal turn of events, Karl's uncle, Senator Jacob, is in a meeting with the captain. Karl does not know that Senator Jacob is his uncle, but Mr. Jacob recognizes him and takes him away from the stoker.
Karl stays with his uncle for some time but is later abandoned by him after making a visit to his uncle's friend without his uncle's full approval. Wandering aimlessly, he becomes friends with two drifters named Robinson and Delamarche. They promise to find him a job, but they sell his suit without permission, eat his food in front of him without offering him any, and ransack his belongings. Finally, Karl departs from them on bad terms after he's offered a job by a manager at Hotel Occidental. He works there as a lift-boy. One day Robinson shows up drunk at his work asking him for money. Afraid of losing his job if seen talking with a friend, which is forbidden for lift-boys, Karl agrees to lend him money, then commits the far worse offence of bunking a drunk-sick Robinson in the lift-boy dorm.
Being dismissed for leaving his post, Karl agrees not only to pay for Robinson's taxi, but also joins him. They travel to Delamarche's place. Delamarche is now staying with a wealthy and obese lady named Brunelda. She wants to take in Karl as her servant. Karl refuses, but Delamarche physically forces him to stay and he is imprisoned in her apartment. He tries to break out, but is beaten by Delamarche and Robinson. On the balcony, he chats with a student who tells him he should stay, because it is hard to find a job elsewhere. He decides to stay.
One day he sees an advertisement for the Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, which is looking for employees. The theatre promises to find employment for everyone. Karl applies for a job and gets engaged as a "technical worker." He is then sent to Oklahoma by train and is welcomed by the vastness of the valleys and adopts the name "Negro" as his own.
The Plot focuses on a teenage looking boy discovering a Blob who needs help freeing his planet Blobolonia from the clutches of the evil emperor, on their way, the teenage boy discovered that the Blob can shape shift thanks to the likes of Jellybeans. Him and the Blob partner up to stop the evil Emperor.
A strange, inexplicable malaise is spreading throughout Earthsea. Magic is losing its power; songs are being forgotten; people and animals are sickening or going mad. Accompanied by Arren, the young Prince of Enlad, the Archmage Ged leaves Roke Island to find the cause on his boat ''Lookfar''. They head south to Hort Town, chief port of the island of Wathort where they encounter a drug addled wizard called Hare. They realize that Hare and many others are under the malign influence of a powerful wizard who is promising life after death. They head further south to the island of Lorbanery, which was once famous for its dyed silk. All knowledge of dyeing has been lost however, and the local people are apathetic and hostile to the visitors.
Fleeing the sense of sickness and evil they encounter there, Ged and Arren again head west and south, out to the furthest parts of the Reaches. Increasingly they are coming under the influence of the dark wizard themselves. Ged is injured by a spear thrown from an island where they attempt to land, and Arren does little to help him. He can feel his life and energy ebbing from him and they both drift away on ''Lookfar'' out into the open ocean. Their lives are saved by the Raft People, who live on great wooden rafts in the open ocean, only coming to land once a year to repair them. The Raft People are so far unaffected by the spreading evil and Ged and Arren recover their wits and strength there. However, the sickness does reach the Raft People on the shortest night of the year, when the traditional singers are struck dumb, unable to remember the songs.
The dragon Orm Embar flies over the rafts and tells Ged to sail to Selidor, the westernmost isle of all Earthsea, and the home of the dragons. Orm Embar tells Ged that the dark wizard is there and the dragons are powerless to defeat him without Ged's help. Ged and Arren set out on the long journey to Selidor in ''Lookfar''. After traveling over the open ocean Ged and Arren come to the Dragons' Run, a series of many small islands south of Selidor. There they encounter dragons flying about them in a state of madness. The dragons have lost the power of speech and are attacking each other. They manage to survive the Dragons' Run, and land at last in Selidor. Orm Embar is waiting for them, but he too has lost the power of speech. After a search they find the wizard in a house he has made of dragon bones at the extreme western end of Selidor – the end of the world.
Ged recognises the wizard as Cob, a dark mage whom he defeated many years before. After his defeat Cob became an expert in the dark arts of how to cheat death and live forever. In doing so he has opened a breach between the worlds which is sucking all the life out of the world of the living. Cob and Ged confront each other and Cob starts to gain the upper hand. With the last of his wits Orm Embar launches himself at Cob and destroys his physical body, but is killed in the process. The remains of Cob's body, which cannot be killed, crawls into the Dry Land of the dead, and Ged and Arren follow. In the Dry Land Ged manages to defeat Cob, robbing him of life and closing the breach in the world. However, Ged pays a high price for this as it means that he sacrifices all his magic power in the process.
When they emerge back into the world of the living, after a dreadful journey over the Mountains of Pain, the dragon Kalessin carries them back to Roke island, many miles away. Kalessin leaves Arren on Roke and flies on with Ged to Gont, Ged's home island. Arren realizes that he has become the fulfilment of the prediction of the last King of Earthsea many centuries before: "He shall inherit my throne who has crossed the dark land living and come to the far shores of the day." In the intervening time, the realm had broken up into smaller principalities and domains, with little peace between them. Now that Arren will be crowned as King Lebannen (his true name) they can be reunited.
Le Guin originally offered two endings to the story. In one, after Lebannen's coronation, Ged sails alone out into the ocean and is never heard from again. In the other, Ged returns to the forest of his home island of Gont. In 1990, seventeen years after the publication of ''The Farthest Shore'', Le Guin opted for the second ending when she continued the story in ''Tehanu''.
After nearly being caught during a burglary, master safe-cracker Nick Wells (De Niro) considers retiring to live with his girlfriend Diane and run his Montréal jazz club as a legitimate businessman. He declines another job from his fence Max (Brando), and is approached by the job's mastermind Jack Teller, an ambitious fellow thief. Nick sends his associate Burt to intimidate Jack into leaving town, but Jack gains the upper hand and arrives at Nick's home to change his mind. Nick agrees to join the heist in exchange for total control of the operation, and negotiates a $6 million cut from Max.
Their target is a royal sceptre smuggled into Canada but discovered by customs, now stored in the ultra-secure basement of the Montréal Customs House. Jack has infiltrated the Customs House by posing as a mentally-challenged janitor, and Nick finds access to the basement through the sewers beneath. Diane, disappointed that Nick has taken on this final score, reconsiders their future together.
Nick recruits Steven, a hacker associate, who breaks into the Customs House security company's system to obtain bypass codes, but is caught by a systems administrator who demands $50,000 for the information. The administrator arranges to meet in a public park, bringing his cousin for protection; tensions arise when the cousin and Jack each reveal they have brought a gun, to Nick's displeasure, but the exchange is made.
After seeing a pressurized beer keg burst open in the street, Nick concocts a plan to defeat the Customs House's impregnable safe. He frustrates Jack by urging patience and refusing to let him be part of the handoff with Max, despite Jack's insistence. Advised by Burt that the job may be too risky, Nick confronts Max, who confesses that he is deeply in debt to a mob boss but is secretly selling the sceptre for $30 million. Max implores him to finish the job, and Nick reluctantly agrees.
The Customs House adds additional closed-circuit television cameras and infrared detectors to the basement after realizing the sceptre's true value as a French national treasure, forcing the thieves to move up their timetable. Jack arrives for his graveyard shift — with his gun hidden inside a portable radio — while Nick breaks into the basement through the sewer tunnels. Burt, posing as a garbage truck driver, delivers computer components that Jack uses to bypass the security system. Jack shuts off the cameras as Nick enters the storage room, but a fellow janitor stumbles upon Jack, who locks him in a closet at gunpoint.
Bypassing the infrared sensors, Nick fills the safe with water from the basement sprinkler system and inserts a depth charge, blowing off the door. He packs the sceptre in a carrying case but is held at gunpoint by Jack, who forces him to hand over the case. As rigged by Jack, the cameras and alarms turn back on, alerting security and forcing Nick to escape back through the sewers; Jack returns upstairs, hiding the case inside his uniform and slipping past the police as they arrive.
Arriving at a bus station to flee the city, Jack calls Nick to gloat, but Nick reveals that he anticipated his betrayal: he had already planned a route through the sewers to evade pursuit, and Jack opens the case to discover a scrap metal decoy; Nick still has the real sceptre. Brushing off Jack's threats of vengeance, Nick advises him to flee as "every cop in the city" will now be looking for him. Later, Max smiles as he watches a news broadcast reporting a massive manhunt to find Jack, the prime suspect, whose accomplice has "vanished without a trace," while Nick reunites with Diane at Montréal-Mirabel International Airport.
Three decades after the great war between the humans and the Zentradi, in January 2040, the U.N. government is developing new technologies to use in their transforming fighter aircraft by running tests on the colony planet ''Eden''. Military test pilots and former childhood friends, loose cannon Isamu Alva Dyson and the Zentradi mixed race Guld Goa Bowman, are selected to each pilot a new aircraft (Shinsei Industries' YF-19 & General Galaxy's YF-21) for Project Super Nova, to choose the newest successor to the VF-11 Thunderbolt variable fighter which is currently still in use by the U.N. Spacy military forces. Their own personal grudges end up disrupting the tests, and begin to wreak havoc on the program.
Their rivalry heats up when a mutual friend, Myung Fang Lone, shows up. Myung was a childhood friend of both pilots, but the three of them had a falling out, and quickly grew apart. This is alluded to throughout the story, and evidence of the strained relationship between Myung and either of the two men is apparent, while their distaste for one another is obvious. When they meet again, they discover that Myung is now the producer of Sharon Apple, the hottest entertainer in the galaxy, who just happens to be an AI hologram. Unbeknownst to the public, the Sharon AI is incomplete and requires Myung to provide emotions during concerts.
During a testing session, Guld and Isamu finally face off against each other – and an all-out fight begins as each tries to best the other. Despite being in the middle of a testing area, they quickly proceed to tear the surrounding area to shreds in their fight to gain superiority over the other. Having turned off their communications equipment, both pilots fight using the test aircraft in a series of stunning dog-fight maneuvers before going into battroid form and finishing the fight on the ground. In the process, an "accidental" gun pod discharge injures Isamu and he is taken to the hospital, where he awakens to Myung standing watch over him. After returning to duty, a military tribunal questions Guld about their fight in the test area, but ultimately the decision is left up to the Admiral in charge of the project. Chief Millard, the station commander of New Edwards Test Flight Facility, reluctantly tells both pilots that their mission and the project has been scrubbed by the U.N. Spacy High Command – due to the completion of a newer, and previously unknown aircraft, the Ghost X-9 (ゴースト X-9), an advanced stealth UCAV prototype which was secretly being produced on Earth while two other prototypes (YF-19 and YF-21) were simultaneously being tested for Project Super Nova in planet Eden. With the Ghost X-9 completed, testing on the YF-19 and YF-21 was halted indefinitely, since the higher-ups believe that the new unmanned fighter is superior in every way.
Meanwhile, the AI Sharon Apple has developed a malevolent consciousness, due to an illegal bio-chip having been installed by lead scientist on the project, Marge Gueldoa. During her concert in the Atlantis Dome inside Earth's Macross City, Sharon quickly takes over both the Ghost X-9 and the SDF-1 Macross Fortress and hypnotizes her audience and the Macross' staff, while trapping Myung in the Macross itself.
Wanting to prove that man-made fighter units are a necessity and to prove his worth, Isamu and Yang (the YF-19's engineer) take the fighter jet and space-fold to Earth to beat the X-9 at its own game, while Guld gives chase in the YF-21. Sharon hacks into Earth's outer space defences, but both Isamu and Guld make it through. They then proceed to attack each other again, as they argue about childhood grudges. At the climax of the fight Guld, finally achieving a target lock, releases a large fury of missiles seemingly destroying the YF-19. As this happens, Guld is flooded by repressed memories. Now realizing it was truly his own jealous rage that had torn the friendship apart. Having saved himself and Yang by cutting engine throttle and gliding, the YF-19 then appears in the skies above Guld and the two old friends reconcile.
When discovering that Myung's life is in danger, Isamu and Guld quickly go to her aid. While Isamu goes after Sharon, Guld fights the X-9 and ultimately destroys it by removing the gravitational safety limiters on his aircraft, and matching the X-9's velocity/maneuverability, which is much higher than normally possible due to it being computer-controlled and having no pilot, until he achieves a target lock and shoots the X-9 down. However, removing the limiters allows Guld to achieve accelerations exceeding human (even Zentradi-Human) limitations, which ultimately leads to his death, the g-forces generated by his piloting literally crushing him even as he crashes the YF-21 into the X-9, destroying it.
While fighting the SDF-1 Macross, Sharon hypnotises Yang who shoots at Isamu but only hits his helmet. Isamu ejected Yang but then is hypnotized by Sharon's voice, and is left to crash to his death. At the last second, Myung's voice reaches him and brings him out back to consciousness. Dodging the Macross' fire, Isamu is able to destroy the central computer, effectively eliminating Sharon.
The story ends as the sun rises over the Macross Fortress, with Myung waving to Isamu, who has survived the destruction of Sharon's computer.
Eventually, the U.N. government banned all AI technology developments after the incident, and allowed the continuation of Project Super Nova.
Thomas Fowler is a British journalist in his fifties who has covered the French war in Vietnam for more than two years. He meets a young American idealist named Alden Pyle, a CIA agent working undercover. Pyle lives his life and forms his opinions based on foreign policy books written by York Harding with no real experience in Southeast Asia matters. Harding's theory is that neither communism nor colonialism are proper in foreign lands like Vietnam, but rather a "Third Force"—usually a combination of traditions—works best. When they first meet, the earnest Pyle asks Fowler to help him understand more about the country, but the older man's cynical realism does not sink in. Pyle is certain that American power can put the Third Force in charge, but he knows little about Indochina and is recasting it into theoretical categories.
Fowler has a live-in lover, Phuong, who is only 20 years old and was previously a dancer at The Arc-en-Ciel (Rainbow) on Jaccareo Road, in Cholon. Her sister's intent is to arrange a marriage for Phuong that will benefit herself and her family. The sister disapproves of their relationship, as Fowler is already married and an atheist. So, at a dinner with Fowler and Phuong, Pyle meets her sister, who immediately starts questioning Pyle about his viability for marriage with Phuong. Towards the end of the dinner, Pyle dances with Phuong, and Fowler notes how poorly the upstart dances.
Fowler goes to Phat Diem to witness a battle there. Pyle travels there to tell him that he has been in love with Phuong since the first night he saw her, and that he wants to marry her. They make a toast to nothing and Pyle leaves the next day. Fowler gets a letter from Pyle thanking him for being so nice. The letter annoys Fowler because of Pyle's arrogant confidence that Phuong will leave Fowler to marry him. Meanwhile, Fowler's editor wants him to transfer back to England.
Pyle comes to Fowler's residence and they ask Phuong to choose between them. She chooses Fowler, unaware that he is pending a transfer. Fowler writes to his wife to ask for a divorce in front of Phuong.
Fowler and Pyle meet again in a war zone. They end up in a guard tower where they discuss topics ranging from sexual experiences to religion. Their presence endangers the local guards by attracting an attack by the Viet Minh. These indigenous auxiliaries simply want to live their lives, but they are doomed by their contact with foreign intrigue. Pyle saves Fowler's life as they escape. Fowler goes back to Saigon, where he lies to Phuong that his wife will divorce him. Pyle exposes the lie and Phuong must choose between him and Fowler. Like a small country caught between imperial rivals, Phuong considers her own interests realistically and without sentiment. She moves in with Pyle. After receiving a letter from Fowler, his editor decides that he can stay in Indo-China for another year. Fowler goes into the midst of the battlefield to witness events.
When Fowler returns to Saigon, he goes to Pyle's office to confront him, but Pyle is out. Pyle comes over later for drinks and they talk about his pending marriage to Phuong. Later that week, a car bomb is detonated and many innocent civilians are killed. Fowler realizes that Pyle was involved. Pyle had allied himself with General Thé, a renegade commander he was grooming to lead the "Third Force" described in Harding's book. Pyle thus brings disaster upon innocents, all the while certain he is bringing a third way to Vietnam. Fowler is emotionally conflicted about this discovery, but ultimately decides to aid in the assassination of Pyle. Though the police suspect that Fowler is involved, they cannot prove anything. Phuong goes back to Fowler as if nothing had ever happened. In the last chapter, Fowler receives a telegram from his wife in which she states that she has changed her mind and will begin divorce proceedings. The novel ends with Fowler thinking about his first meeting with, and the death of, Pyle.
A shoemaker, Henry Hobson, has three daughters: Maggie, Alice and Vickey. The daughters work in the shop unpaid. Hobson spends his time drinking with the fellow members of the masons at the Moonrakers pub.
One day, Mrs Hepworth, a rich customer of Hobson, demands to know who made her boots: it is Hobson's underpaid bootmaker, Will Mossop. She insists that all her and her daughters' boots must from now on be made by Will, and tells him to inform her if ever he should leave Hobson's. Maggie, who is a talented businesswoman and considered too old and plain to marry, proposes marriage to Will. Will reluctantly agrees. When Hobson comes back, she tells him that she intends to marry Will, but he laughs at her, and threatens to beat Will for courting her. At this, Will leaves the shop, and Maggie goes with him. They borrow £100 from Mrs Hepworth, set up a shop on their own, and marry as soon as the banns of marriage have been called.
A month later, Hobson falls into the warehouse belonging to the father of Fred Beenstock, Vickey's love. Maggie comes back to tell her sisters that she is going to marry them off herself. Hobson has refused to settle any money on them, without which they are unlikely to find decent husbands. With the help of lawyer Albert Prosser, Alice's love, they issue a writ claiming damages from Hobson for trespass, damage to corn sacks and spying on trade secrets. Hobson eventually agrees to pay, the money is settled on the girls and they can now get married.
Thanks to Will's skill as a bootmaker and Maggie's business acumen, their shop is very successful and, within a year, they have taken nearly all of Hobson's trade. Hobson is almost bankrupt and drinking himself to death. After an attack of delirium tremens, he asks each of his daughters to look after him. They all refuse, but eventually Maggie agrees to do so provided that Will takes over his business, with Hobson remaining as a sleeping partner only.
Crisóstomo Ibarra, the ''mestizo'' son of the recently deceased Don Rafael Ibarra, is returning to San Diego town in Laguna after seven years of study in Europe. Kapitán Tiago, a family friend, invites him to a reunion party in Manila. At the party Crisóstomo meets Padre Dámaso, who was San Diego's parish priest when Crisóstomo left for Europe. Dámaso treats Crisóstomo with hostility, surprising the young man who regarded the priest as a friend of his father. Later as Crisóstomo was walking back to his hotel, Lieutenant Guevarra, another friend of his father, informs him that Don Rafael may have been killed for political reasons and Dámaso may have been involved. Guevarra warns him to be careful.
The following day, Crisóstomo returns to Tiago's home to meet with his childhood sweetheart, Tiago's daughter María Clara. As the two flirt and reminisce, María reads back to him his farewell letter where he quoted a discussion he had with his father regarding the state of the country. Deeply moved, Ibarra excuses himself saying that he had to prepare for his trip to San Diego.
Arriving at the town, Crisóstomo goes to the cemetery to visit his father's grave. The undertaker tells him that the parish priest had ordered Rafael's remains be transferred to the Chinese cemetery, but that he threw the corpse into the lake instead. As Padre Bernardo Salví, the new parish priest, walks by, an enraged Crisóstomo pushes him to the ground, demanding an explanation. Salví fearfully says that the transfer was ordered by Padre Dámaso, not him.
Crisóstomo decides to forgive and commits to improvements in his town. He plans to build a private school, believing that his paisanos would benefit from a more modern education than what is offered in the government schools, which were under the influence of the friars. Enjoying widespread support from the locals and Spanish authorities, Crisóstomo's project advances quickly. He receives counsel from Don Anastacio, a local philosopher, and recruits a progressive schoolmaster. Construction was set to begin shortly with the cornerstone to be laid during San Diego's town fiesta.
One day, Crisóstomo, María and their friends go on a picnic along the shores of the Laguna de Baý. They discover that a crocodile had been lurking in the Ibarras' fish pens. Elías, the boatman, jumps into the water with a knife drawn. Sensing Elías is in danger, Crisóstomo jumps in and the two subdue the animal together. Elías proclaims himself indebted to Crisóstomo.
On the day of the fiesta, Elías warns Crisóstomo of a plot to kill him at the cornerstone ceremony. Sure enough, Crisóstomo evades injury and the would-be assassin is killed. During the luncheon, an uninvited Padre Dámaso further berates Crisóstomo. The other guests hiss for discretion, but Dámaso carries on and insults the memory of Don Rafael. Crisóstomo then loses control, strikes the friar unconscious and holds a knife to his neck. Crisóstomo tells the guests about Dámaso's schemes that resulted in his father's death. However, he releases Dámaso when María Clara pleads for mercy. Crisóstomo is excommunicated from the Church but has it lifted in Manila through the intercession of the sympathetic captain-general. Returning to San Diego, he finds María ill and refusing to see him.
Meanwhile, Elías senses Crisóstomo's influence with the government and takes him for a sail so they can talk in private. Elías tells him about a revolutionary group trying to recruit him, but that he stalled in order to get Crisóstomo's views first. The conversation shifts to Elías' family history. It turns out that Elías' grandfather in his youth worked as a bookkeeper in a Manila office. He was falsely accused by the Spanish owner of arson when the office burned down. He was prosecuted and jailed; upon release he was shunned by the community as a dangerous lawbreaker. His wife turned to prostitution to support the family. Their lives were destroyed.
Crisóstomo says that he cannot help and his school project is his focus. Rebuffed, Elías advises Crisóstomo to avoid him in the future, for his own safety. However, Elías returns a few days later to tell him of a rogue uprising planned for that same night. The instigators had used Crisóstomo's name in vain to recruit malcontents. The authorities know of the uprising and are prepared to spring a trap on the rebels. Realizing the scheme's repercussions, Crisóstomo abandons his school project and enlists Elías in sorting out and destroying documents that may implicate him. Elías obliges, but comes across a name familiar to him: Don Pedro Eibarramendia. Crisóstomo says Pedro was his great-grandfather, and that they had to shorten his long family name. Elías responds that Eibarramendia was the same Spaniard who accused his grandfather of arson, and thus condemned Elías and his family to misfortune. Frenzied, he raises his bolo to smite Crisóstomo, but regains his senses and leaves.
The uprising takes place, and many of the rebels are captured or killed. They point to Crisóstomo as instructed and he is arrested. The following morning, the instigators are found dead -- Padre Salví, the mastermind of the uprising, ordered his senior sexton to kill them in order to silence them. Elías, meanwhile, sneaks back into the Ibarra mansion and sorts through documents and valuables, then burns down the house. Crisóstomo and his co-accused are loaded into horse carts and taken to prison, with their townmates shouting in anger and casting stones as they passed.
Kapitán Tiago later on hosts a dinner at his riverside house in Manila to celebrate María Clara's engagement with Alfonso Linares, a Peninsular who was presented as her new suitor following Crisóstomo's excommunication. Present at the party were Dámaso, Salví, Lieutenant Guevarra, and other acquaintances. They spoke of the events in San Diego and Crisóstomo's fate. Salví, who lusted after María Clara all along and staged the uprising in order to frame Crisóstomo, says he requested to be moved to the Convent of the Poor Clares in Manila under the pretense of the San Diego uprising being too much for him. Guevarra outlines how the court came to condemn Crisóstomo. In a signed letter he wrote before leaving for Europe, Crisóstomo spoke of his father, an alleged rebel who died in prison. Somehow this letter fell into the hands of an enemy, and Crisóstomo's handwriting was copied to create recruitment letters for the uprising. The signature on the letters was similar to Crisóstomo's seven years before, but not at present day. Crisóstomo only had to deny ownership of the signature on the original letter and the case built on the bogus letters would be dismissed. But upon seeing the letter, which was of course his farewell letter to María Clara, Crisóstomo lost the will to fight the charges. Guevarra then approaches María, who had been listening. Privately but sorrowfully, he congratulates her for her common sense in yielding the letter. Now, she can live a life of peace. María is devastated.
Later that evening Crisóstomo, having escaped prison with the help of Elías, confronts María in secret. María admits giving up his letter, but only because Salví found Dámaso's old letters in the San Diego parsonage, letters from María's mother who was then pregnant with her and begging Dámaso for an abortion. It turns out that Dámaso was María's biological father. Salví promised not to divulge Dámaso's letters in exchange for Crisóstomo's farewell letter. Crisóstomo forgives her, María swears her undying love, and they part with a kiss.
Crisóstomo and Elías slip unnoticed through the Estero de Binondo and into the Pasig River. Elías tells Crisóstomo that his family's treasures are buried in the Ibarra forest in San Diego. Wishing to make restitution, Crisóstomo tells Elías to escape with him to a foreign country, where they will live as brothers. Elías declines, stating that his fate lies with the country he wishes to reform. Crisóstomo then tells him of his own desire for revolution, to lengths that even Elías was unwilling to go. Just then, sentries catch up with their boat at the mouth of the Pasig River and pursue them across Laguna de Bay. Elías orders Crisóstomo to lie down and to meet him at the Ibarra mausoleum in the forest. He jumps into the water to distract the pursuers and is shot several times.
The following day, newspapers report that Crisóstomo Ibarra, the fugitive, had been killed by sentries in pursuit. María remorsefully demands of Dámaso that her wedding with Linares be called off and that she be entered into the cloister, or the grave. Seeing her resolution, Dámaso admits he ruined the Ibarra family and her relationship with Crisóstomo because he was a mere ''mestizo'' and Dámaso wanted María to be happy and secure, and that was possible only if she married a peninsular Spaniard. Knowing why Salví had earlier requested to be assigned as chaplain in the Convent of the Poor Clares, Dámaso pleads with María to reconsider, but to no avail. Weeping, Dámaso consents, knowing the horrible fate that awaits his daughter within the convent but finding it more tolerable than her suicide.
A few nights later in the Ibarra forest, a boy pursues his mother through the darkness. The woman went insane with the constant beating of her husband, the death of her younger son in the hands of Padre Salví, and the loss of her elder son to the Guardia Civil. Basilio, the boy, catches up with Sisa, his mother, inside the Ibarra mausoleum, but the strain had already been too great for Sisa. She dies in Basilio's embrace. Elías then stumbles into the mausoleum, himself dying from his wounds. He instructs Basilio to burn their bodies and if no one comes, to dig inside the mausoleum. He will find treasure, which he is to use for his own education.
As Basilio leaves to fetch the wood, Elías sinks to the ground and whispers that he will die without seeing the dawn of freedom for his people and that those who see it must welcome it and not forget them that died in the darkness.
Afterwards, it is revealed that Dámaso is transferred to a remote town; distraught, he is found dead a day later. Tiago fell into depression and became addicted to opium and faded to obscurity. Salví, while waiting for his consecration as a bishop, serves as chaplain of the Convent of the Poor Clares. Meanwhile, during a stormy evening in September, two patrolmen reported seeing a specter on the roof of the convent weeping in despair. The next day, a government representative visited the convent to try to investigate the previous night's events. One of the nuns had a wet and torn gown and with tears told the representative of "tales of horror" and begged for "protection against the outrages of hypocrisy" (strongly suggesting that Padre Salví regularly rapes her when he is in the convent). The abbess, however, said that she was mad. A general also attempted to investigate the nun's case, but by then the abbess prohibited visits to the convent. Nothing more was said about this nun, or for that matter, María Clara.
Beginning in Japan in 1999, ''Angel Sanctuary'' focuses on Setsuna Mudo, a 16-year-old troubled high-school student in love with his 15-year-old sister Sara. While struggling with his incestuous feelings, he learns that he is the reincarnation of Organic Angel Alexiel, who led a rebellion against her fellow angels after witnessing their slaughter of the Evils, a group of demons, after God's disappearance. At the conclusion of the revolt, she sealed away her younger twin brother, Inorganic Angel Rosiel, within the Earth, emotionally unable to fulfill his request to be killed before he became insane and destructive. Captured and branded a fallen angel, Alexiel was punished by having her body frozen and her soul endlessly reincarnated as a human whose life is full of misery.
While Rosiel is freed by his subordinate Katan, Setsuna finds his life and Sara's endangered by various attempts to awaken Alexiel's dormant soul within him. Realizing they cannot bear to be separated, Setsuna and Sara run away together and consummate their love, hoping to start a new life together. Sara eventually dies protecting him from one of Rosiel's subordinates, and devastated, Setsuna awakens Alexiel's soul, causing widespread damage. Adam Kadamon, the angel closest to God, intervenes by turning back time to just after Alexiel's awakening and freezing time on Earth; she then tasks him with freeing her from her imprisonment. To search for Sara's soul, sent to Hell for incest, Setsuna's body enters a near-death state. While in Hell, his soul searches for hers, eventually learning that it has been taken to Heaven instead. Sara, meanwhile, awakens in the body of Jibriel, the archangel of water held prisoner by the angels; revealed to be Jibriel's reincarnation, Sara is eventually returned to her original body but finds herself impregnated by the malicious angel Sandolphon, who hopes that she will bear him a body. After Rosiel absorbs Sandolphon to gain his power, an act which speeds up Rosiel's physical and mental decay, Sandolphon's remnants possess her, causing her to see Setsuna as a monster.
Assisted by Lucifer, the ruler of the demons who is in love with Alexiel, Rosiel unseals the Tower of Etenamenki, where God rests, with Alexiel's body. Intent on restoring the Earth, Setsuna follows him, with Kurai and the archangels of fire and earth; along the way, he aids an injured Katan, who hopes to save Rosiel before he loses his free will to do so. At the tower, Rosiel kills Katan, only to realize that he had killed the one he loved and tried to protect from himself; he then goes into a state of destructive despair. Awakening in her own body with Setsuna's help, Alexiel reveals to him that she had always loved him: because he had been born the opposite of his healthy sister, she bargained with God to save his life in exchange for her imprisonment, from which she later escaped with Lucifer, and an agreement to never show him any compassion. She then kills him and absorbs him into her womb so that they will never be apart again. Before dying, Rosiel passes along his power to Setsuna.
Setsuna and his group find Adam Kadamon's head, used to nourish the unborn angels, and learn that she attempted to prevent God's plan of destroying humanity by hiding him and the tower from the angels and freezing time in hopes that Alexiel's reincarnation could save them. Because God draws power through Adam Kadamon, the archangels and Kurai seal her up, while Setsuna confronts God and encounters Sara and Lucifer there. Sara overcomes her possession to cast out Sandolphon, and Setsuna defeats God with Lucifer's help. Time returns to normal on Earth, where Setsuna and Sara joyfully reunite at last.
The Fourth Doctor and Leela arrive in the TARDIS inside "Storm Mine 4", a large sand-crawling mining vehicle used to gather valuable minerals that are brought to the surface of a desert planet by powerful sandstorms. They find the vehicle has a minimal human crew that oversee the menial work done by numerous robots, which are divided into three classes: black-coloured "Dum" robots that cannot speak, gold-green-coloured "Voc" robots that can interact with the human crew, and a silver-coloured "Super Voc" robot, SV7, who manages the other robots.
The Doctor and Leela arrived shortly after the discovery of the corpse of one of the human crew, meteorologist Chub, recently murdered. The Doctor offers to help to find the murderer and prove their innocence. During the search, Leela comes across D84, a Dum who is secretly a Super Voc who is able to speak. The investigation is cut short when two more of the crew, Kerrill and Cass, are found killed, and the Doctor and Leela are secured in the robot repair section. However, crew member Poul is doubtful of the Doctor's or Leela's involvement, and when Poul finds Commander Uvanov standing over the corpse of yet another victim, he allows them to go free, convinced that Uvanov was guilty.
The vehicle's engines go out of control, threatening the crew, and they find the ship's engineer Borg appears to be another murder victim. The Doctor helps to regulate the engines to get them out of danger, while an engineer called Dask stays behind to repair the damage to the controls. The Doctor and Leela continue to investigate the murders, with the Doctor convinced one of the robots is behind it. Leela takes him to meet D84, and D84 explains that he and Poul were planted on the vehicle as a precautionary measure against a robot revolution that may be initiated by Taren Capel, a scientist that had been raised by robots and with delusions of power. D84 joins them to search the vehicle, and they discover a secret laboratory where the other robots have been reprogrammed to kill humans. Suspecting that Taren is aboard, the Doctor requests all the humans to meet them on the bridge. Poul, however, having discovered a damaged robot in the repair shop with a bloody left hand, realizes that the robots are responsible for the murders, goes mad, and shelters in the shop.
However, Dask refuses, and reveals himself as Taren; he shuts down all of the robots except those he had reprogrammed (excluding D84), and orders SV7 to start hunting down the remaining humans. As D84 retrieves Poul, the Doctor and Leela return to the robot repair section, and find the damaged robot with Borg's blood on it; the Doctor surmises that Borg had been strong enough to put up a struggle against his robot assassin, and that this discovery had driven Poul insane. The Doctor uses the spare parts to construct a deactivator that will shut down all robots in close range, and then instructs Leela to hide with a canister of helium gas to use when Taren returns.
Taren is lured to the laboratory by the Doctor and D84, and D84 sacrifices himself to use the deactivator to shut down the Voc guard in the laboratory and itself. When SV7 arrives to kill the remaining humans, Taren begins to give SV7 orders to kill the Doctor, but the helium released by Leela causes Taren's voice to become high-pitched and unrecognisable by SV7. The Super Voc then kills him. The Doctor helps to shut down SV7 and revert Taren's programming. After ensuring that Poul and the others are safe and help is on the way, the Doctor and Leela take their leave.
MI6 sends James Bond into the field to reconnoiter a terrorist arms bazaar on the Russian border. Despite M's insistence on letting 007 finish his reconnaissance, Royal Navy Admiral Roebuck orders the frigate HMS ''Chester'' to fire a Harpoon missile at the bazaar. Bond then discovers two nuclear torpedoes mounted on an L-39 Albatros, and is forced to pilot the L-39 away seconds before the bazaar is destroyed by the missile because the missile is out of range to be aborted.
Media baron Elliot Carver starts his plans to use an encoder obtained at the bazaar by his henchman, cyberterrorist Henry Gupta, to provoke war between China and the UK. Meaconing the GPS signal using the encoder, Gupta sends the frigate HMS ''Devonshire'' off-course into Chinese-occupied waters in the South China Sea, where Carver's stealth ship, commanded by Mr. Stamper, ambushes and sinks it with a "sea drill" torpedo. Carver's henchmen steal one of the ''Devonshire''
M sends Bond to investigate Carver and his company, CMGN, after he released news articles about the crisis hours before MI6 had learned of it. Bond travels to Hamburg to seduce Carver's wife, Paris (an ex-girlfriend of Bond's), to get information that would help him enter CMGN headquarters. He defeats three of Stamper's men and cuts Carver off the air during the inaugural broadcast of his satellite network. Carver discovers the truth about Paris and Bond and orders both of them killed. At Bond's hotel room, he and Paris reconcile, and she provides him with information to infiltrate Carver's newspaper factory. Bond steals the GPS encoder from Gupta's office at the factory; meanwhile, Carver's assassin Dr. Kaufman kills Paris. After Bond returns to find Paris' body, Kaufman attempts to shoot him. Bond is able to kill Kaufman and escape his henchmen through a multistory car park in his Q-branch vehicle, a BMW 750iL with remote control.
At a U.S. Air Force base in Okinawa, Bond learns that the encoder had been tampered with, and goes to the South China Sea to investigate the wreck. He and Wai Lin, a Chinese Ministry of State Security agent on the same case, explore the sunken ship and discover one of its cruise missiles missing, but after reaching the surface they are captured by Stamper and taken to the CMGN tower in Saigon. They soon escape and contact the Royal Navy and the People's Liberation Army Air Force to explain Carver's scheme. Carver plans to destroy most of the Chinese government with the stolen missile, allowing a corrupt Chinese general to negotiate a truce between Britain and China, both of which will have begun a naval war. Once the conflict is over, Carver will be given exclusive broadcasting rights in China for the next century.
Finding Carver's stealth ship, they board it to prevent him from firing the missile at Beijing; Wai Lin is captured, forcing Bond to devise a second plan. Bond captures Gupta to use as his own hostage, but Carver kills Gupta, claiming he has "outlived his contract." Bond detonates an explosive, damaging the ship and rendering it visible to radar, and vulnerable to a subsequent Royal Navy attack. While Wai Lin disables the engines, she is recaptured by Stamper. Bond kills Carver with his own sea drill and attempts to destroy the warhead with detonators, but Stamper attacks him, and sends a chained Wai Lin into the water. Bond traps Stamper in the missile firing mechanism and saves Wai Lin as the missile explodes, destroying the ship and killing Stamper. Bond and Wai Lin share a romantic moment amidst the wreckage as HMS ''Bedford'' searches for them.
Georgette Thomas (Lee Remick) and her six-year-old daughter Margaret Rose (Kimberly Block) travel from the East Texas town of Tyler to (unknown to him) meet her husband Henry Thomas (Steve McQueen) in his small coastal prairie southeastern Texas hometown of Columbus, Texas. Henry is a somewhat irresponsible rockabilly singer/guitarist, he has recently been released from prison after serving time for stabbing a man during a drunken brawl, and wasn't thinking of Georgette at all.
Henry tries to make a home for his family (he seemed to be practically unaware of his daughter), but Kate Dawson (Georgia Simmons), the aging spinster who raised him after his parents died, remains a formidable presence in his life and tries to sabotage his efforts. She threatens repeatedly to have him returned to prison if he fails to acquiesce to her demands to give up singing, go to night school, and get a real job. He resists this, and convinces Georgette he will be a star someday, as he continues playing and working a part-time job with the Tillmans. When Kate Dawson finally dies, the evening after the funeral Henry drunkenly destroys her possessions (several shots show the belt she beat him with, untouched, hanging on a door near her bedroom), leaves with the silver willed to Catherine, then wrecks his car on the cemetery gate and repeatedly stabs her grave with a knife in hysteria while, unbeknownst to him, his wife is nearby watching this in horror.
Henry is destined for prison again, and Georgette and Margaret Rose leaves Columbus in a car driven by Henry's childhood friend, the local sheriff's deputy, Slim (Don Murray). Slim had tried to help straighten Henry out, since before the arrival of Georgette and Margaret Rose to Columbus at the beginning of the film, and failed. Georgette had done her best to love and gently comfort her self-tortured and cold husband Henry, unsuccessfully.
In the final scene, after an indeterminate time has passed and they have loaded their vehicle and driven away from the rented house, Georgette sees Henry (as does Slim) in the barred back of a sheriff's vehicle at a road crossing stop and turns Margaret Rose away before she sees him, bound on his way back to "the pen".
As they drive out of town and enter the open highway, Georgette answers Margaret Rose's question of where they're going; that they are driving away, to the warm Rio Grande Valley, to begin a new life together. Georgette tells Margaret Rose that they have traveled a long way, from Lovelady to Tyler, from Tyler to Columbus, and now to the distant Valley (Lovelady is Georgette's hometown, and where she and Henry met and married), and notes to the child that nobody could say they don't get around.
Twelve of the city golems, clay creatures forced to obey the written instructions placed inside their heads, decide to create a "king" golem. They fashion a golem from their own clay and place in his head instructions that would fulfill their hopes: "Bring peace to the world", "Treat everyone fairly" and so on. They enroll the help of a priest and dwarf bread baker to write the sacred instructions and bake the clay, respectively; Meshugah, the "king" golem, is initially sent to work in a candle factory.
Around the same time, a cabal of Ankh-Morpork's nobles and guild leaders seeks to gradually depose the Patrician, replace him with Nobby Nobbs, revealed as the heir to the Earldom of Ankh, as the new king and rule the city through him.
To implement this, the cabal orders the golems' newly made king, Meshugah, to make poisoned candles and have them delivered to the palace. Vetinari is successfully poisoned, making him severely ill. Meshugah, however, is "overloaded" by all the different instructions his creators gave him, and goes "mad": he starts overworking and, when he exhausts raw materials, he rampages through the city, and goes on to murder the priest and baker who took part in his creation. The golems that made him are horrified as murder violates their most base instructions and Meshugah was baked from some of their parts and is therefore “clay of their clay.”
At this point the City Watch steps in trying to solve the murders and the poisoning of Lord Vetinari. With the assistance of their new forensics expert dwarf Cheery Littlebottom, Commander Vimes and Captain Carrot slowly unravel the mystery. The golems send one of their number, Dorfl, to falsely confess to the murders and the remaining eleven commit suicide.
Carrot and Dorfl, having been given a receipt for himself and thus owning himself and having no master, fight and defeat the golem king at the candle factory. Despite having his instructions removed, Dorfl is able to reveal that “words in the heart can not be taken” before dying, and is rebaked with a voice. Afterwards, Vimes confronts the city's chief heraldry expert, a vampire, who instigated the whole affair to ensure that the rightful heir to the Ankh-Morpork throne, Carrot, would not produce a part-werewolf line with Angua. Dorfl arrests him despite tenuous evidence and Vimes burns down all the heraldic record as retribution against the "elite" and "noble" plotters, who had happily and self-righteously sacrificed the lives of several "commoners" in the pursuit of their scheme (namely an elderly woman and a baby who lived in Cockbill Street, Vimes's childhood neighbourhood).
In the end, Vetinari has recovered completely, Dorfl is sworn in as a Watchman (much to the chagrin of Ankh-Morpork's theological establishment), Vimes gets a pay raise, and the Watch House gets a new dartboard. Vetinari reveals to his assistant, Drumknott, that he had known of the plot for some time already. Vimes' rash actions in the pursuit of truth had considerably scared the city elite, which is precisely why Vetinari had let him continue: so that the plotters would know just how much worse off they'd be if Vetinari died.
The film opens with a short fragment outside the plot. Grainy, black-and-white, and silent, a title "Once Upon a Time" leads to Latino labourers picking coffee beans while armed foremen push rudely between them. One worker (McDowell with black hair and moustache) pockets a few beans ("Coffee for the Breakfast Table") but is seen by a foreman. He is next seen before a fat Caucasian magistrate who slobbers as he removes his cigar only to say "Guilty." The foreman draws his machete and lays it across the unfortunate labourer's wrists, bound to a wooden block, revealing that he is to lose his hands for the theft of a few beans. The machete rises, falls, and we see McDowell draw back in a silent scream. The scene blacks out, the word NOW appears onscreen and expands quickly to fill it.
During his journey, Travis learns the lesson, reinforced by numerous songs in the soundtrack by Alan Price, that he must abandon his principles in order to succeed, but unlike the other characters he meets he must retain a detached idealism that will allow him to distance himself from the evils of the world. Initially Travis is motivated by money and material wealth. He progresses from coffee salesman (working for Imperial Coffee in the North East of England and Scotland) to a victim of torture in a government installation and a medical research subject, under the supervision of Dr. Millar.
In parallel with Travis's experiences, the film shows 1960s Britain retreating from its imperial past, but managing to retain some influence in the world by means of corrupt dealings with foreign dictators. After finding out his girlfriend is the daughter of Sir James Burgess, an evil industrialist, he is appointed Burgess' personal assistant. With Dr. Munda, the dictator of Zingara, a brutal police state which nevertheless manages to be a playground for wealthy people from the developed world, Burgess sells the regime a chemical called PL45 'Honey' for spraying on rebel areas (the effects resemble those of napalm). Burgess connives at having Travis found guilty of fraud, and he is imprisoned for five years.
The film then cuts to five years on, when Travis has finished his sentence, become a model prisoner, and converted to humanism. He is quickly faced with a bewildering series of assaults upon his new-found idealism, culminating in a scene in which he is attacked by down-and-outs whom he has been trying to help.
The final scene of the film shows him becoming involved in a casting call for a film, with Lindsay Anderson himself playing the director of the film. He is given various props to handle, including a stack of schoolbooks and a machine gun. When asked to smile Mick continually asks why. The director slaps Travis with his script book after he fails to understand what is being asked of him. After a cut to black (a device used throughout the film) a slow look of understanding crosses Mick's face. The scene then cuts to a party with dancing which includes all of the cast celebrating.
Sonny Malone is a struggling artist in Los Angeles attempting to make a living by freelancing. He rips up one of his failed sketches and throws it into the wind. It hits a mural of nine sisters and brings them to life. The sisters fly across Earth, but one of them roller skates through town and collides with Sonny. She kisses him before skating away, leaving him confused.
Having returned to his old job of painting album cover reproductions at AirFlo Records, Sonny is tasked with painting an album cover reproduction for a group called the 9 Sisters. The cover shows the mysterious woman Sonny encountered earlier roller skating in front of an abandoned art deco auditorium. The photographer notes that the woman was not supposed to be on the cover, but suddenly appeared in a few of the shots. Sonny eventually traces her across town to the aforementioned auditorium, where she introduces herself as Kira. The two of them fall in love, though Kira refuses to tell Sonny anything about herself.
Sonny also meets and befriends Danny McGuire, a former big band orchestra leader turned construction mogul. He was once romantically involved with a singer in the 1940s who resembled Kira; her departure resulted in his own loss of creative passion. Kira encourages Sonny and Danny to open a nightclub at the auditorium called Xanadu, and the two begin working on the project as partners. All the while, Sonny and Kira begin to develop romantic feelings for each other. The night before the club's opening, however, Kira confesses to Sonny that she is actually Terpsichore, one of the Nine Muses of Olympus. She was sent to inspire the creation of Xanadu, but she cannot stay despite their mutual feelings. Sonny gets upset at the revelation, and Kira departs Earth having fulfilled her duty.
Danny tells Sonny to keep pursuing Kira, encouraging Sonny not to give up on his ambitions like he did after his own muse left him. Sonny manages to enter Kira's home by roller skating into the Muses' mural. Inside the realm of the gods, Kira's father Zeus denies Sonny's plea to let Kira come back to Earth, and despite Kira's mother Mnemosyne interceding for Sonny and Kira, Zeus sends Sonny back to Earth. Kira professes her feelings for Sonny, and Zeus ultimately relents, allowing her to be with Sonny for "a moment, or maybe forever." Kira and the Muses perform at the Xanadu grand opening before returning to their realm. Sonny is initially saddened by their departure, but upon seeing a waitress who looks exactly like Kira, he stops her and asks to talk.
The story's narrator, Montresor, tells an unspecified person, who knows him very well, of the day he took his revenge on Fortunato (Italian for "the fortunate one"), a fellow nobleman. Angry over numerous injuries and some unspecified insult, Montresor plots to murder his "friend" during Carnival, while the man is drunk, dizzy, and wearing a jester's motley.
Montresor lures Fortunato into a private wine-tasting excursion by telling him he has obtained a pipe (about 130 gallons, or 492 litres) of what he believes to be a rare vintage of amontillado. He proposes obtaining confirmation of the pipe's contents by inviting a fellow wine aficionado, Luchesi, for a private tasting. Montresor knows Fortunato will not be able to resist demonstrating his discerning palate for wine and will insist that he taste the amontillado rather than Luchesi who, as he claims, "cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry". Fortunato goes with Montresor to the wine cellars of the latter's palazzo, where they wander in the catacombs. Montresor offers wine (first Médoc, then De Grave) to Fortunato in order to keep him inebriated. Montresor warns Fortunato, who has a bad cough, of the dampness, and suggests they go back, but Fortunato insists on continuing, claiming that he "shall not die of a cough". During their walk, Montresor mentions his family coat of arms: a golden foot in a blue background crushing a snake whose fangs are embedded in the foot's heel, with the motto Nemo me impune lacessit ("No one provokes me with impunity").
At one point, Fortunato makes an elaborate, grotesque gesture with an upraised wine bottle. When Montresor appears not to recognize the gesture, Fortunato asks, "You are not of the masons?" Montresor says he is, and when Fortunato, disbelieving, requests a sign, Montresor displays a trowel he had been hiding. When they come to a niche, Montresor tells his victim that the Amontillado is within. Fortunato enters drunk and unsuspecting and therefore, does not resist as Montresor quickly chains him to the wall. Montresor then declares that, since Fortunato won't go back, Montresor must "positively leave" him there.
Montresor reveals brick and mortar, previously hidden among the bones nearby, and proceeds to wall up the niche using his trowel, entombing his friend alive. At first, Fortunato, who sobers up faster than Montresor anticipated, shakes the chains, trying to escape. Fortunato then screams for help, but Montresor mocks his cries, knowing nobody can hear them. Fortunato laughs weakly and tries to pretend that he is the subject of a joke and that people will be waiting for him (including the Lady Fortunato). As Montresor finishes the topmost row of stones, Fortunato wails, "For the love of God, Montresor!" to which Montresor replies, "Yes, for the love of God!" He listens for a reply but hears only the jester's bells ringing. Before placing the last stone, he drops a burning torch through the gap. He claims that he feels sick at heart, but dismisses this reaction as an effect of the dampness of the catacombs.
In the last few sentences, Montresor reveals that 50 years later, Fortunato's body still hangs from its chains in the niche where he left it. The murderer concludes: In pace requiescat! ("May he rest in peace!").
Set both in the 18th century and the present day, the novel centres on the mystery of an inscription on an extant engraved wayside stone tablet about a death from exposure.
Tom Ripley continues enjoying his wealthy lifestyle in Villeperce, France, with his wife, Heloïse. He spends his days living comfortably in his house, Belle Ombre, until an associate, the American criminal Reeves Minot, asks him to commit murder for him. Ripley—who "detest[s] murder, unless absolutely necessary"—turns down the offer of $96,000 for two hits, and Minot goes back to Hamburg.
The previous month, Ripley had gone to a party in Fontainebleau, where he was insulted by the host, Jonathan Trevanny, a poor British picture framer suffering from myeloid leukemia. As revenge, Ripley suggests to Minot that he might try to convince Trevanny to commit the murders. To ensure that the plan will work, Ripley starts a rumor that Trevanny has only months to live, and suggests that Minot fabricate evidence that Trevanny's leukemia has worsened, though Minot does not. Trevanny, who fears his death will leave his wife and son destitute, accepts Minot's offer of a visit to a medical specialist in Hamburg. There, he is persuaded to commit a murder in exchange for money.
After carrying out the contract—a shooting in a crowded U-Bahn station—Trevanny insists that he is through as a hired gun. Minot invites him to Munich, where he visits another doctor. Minot persuades Trevanny to kill a Mafia boss, this time on a train using either a garrotte or a gun. Trevanny reluctantly gives in and gets on the train. He resolves to shoot the ''mafioso'' and commit suicide before he can be caught, asking Minot to ensure that his wife gets the money. But before Trevanny can go through with it, Ripley, feeling guilty about getting Trevanny into the situation, shows up and executes the ''mafioso'' himself. He asks Trevanny not to tell Minot that he has "assisted" with the assassination.
Trevanny's wife Simone discovers a Swiss bank book with a large sum in his name and starts to suspect that he is hiding something from her. She links the rumor about her husband's condition to Ripley and asks Trevanny to tell her how he has been making so much money. Trevanny is unable to explain it to her and asks Ripley to help concoct a credible story. Ripley acknowledges his role in Trevanny's dilemma and promises to shepherd him through the ordeal. The Mafia become suspicious of Minot's involvement with the murders and bomb his house, prompting him to flee. Ripley begins to fear Mafia revenge when he receives a couple of suspicious phone calls. After sending Heloise and their housekeeper away, Ripley asks Trevanny to help him deal with any Mafia reprisals at Belle Ombre.
When two Mafia hitmen turn up at Belle Ombre, Ripley kills one and forces the other to phone his boss in Milan and say that Ripley is not the man they are after before being executed. Simone then shows up at the house demanding answers, discovers the corpses, and is sent away in a taxi. Ripley and Trevanny drive to a remote village to burn the corpses in their own car. A few days later, Ripley visits Trevanny's house, where a quartet of Mafia gunmen appear. One of them opens fire on Ripley, but Trevanny steps in front of him and is mortally wounded; he dies in Ripley's car on the way to hospital. Ripley is unsure whether Trevanny's action was by accident or design.
A few months later, Ripley encounters Simone in Fontainebleau, and she spits at him. He realizes that Simone has accepted her husband's blood money, and in doing so has remained silent about her suspicions of Ripley's instigation of the entire affair.
Tom Ripley (Dennis Hopper) is a wealthy American living in Hamburg, Germany. He is involved in an artwork forgery scheme, in which he appears at auctions to bid on forged paintings produced by an accomplice to drive up the price. At one of these auctions, he is introduced to Jonathan Zimmermann (Bruno Ganz), a picture framer who is dying of leukemia. Zimmermann refuses to shake Ripley's hand when introduced, coldly saying "I've heard of you" before walking away.
A French criminal, Raoul Minot (Gérard Blain), asks Ripley to murder a rival gangster. Ripley declines, but in order to get even for Zimmermann's slight, suggests Minot use Zimmermann for the job. Ripley spreads rumors that Zimmerman's illness has suddenly worsened. Minot offers Zimmerman a great deal of money to kill the gangster. Zimmermann initially turns Minot down, but becomes greatly distressed by the thought that he may not have long to live and wants to provide for his wife and son. He agrees to go to France with Minot for a second medical opinion. Minot arranges to have the results falsified to make Zimmermann expect the worst. Zimmermann agrees to shoot the gangster in a Paris Métro station. Ripley visits Zimmermann in his shop before and after the shooting to get a picture framed. Zimmermann is unaware of Ripley's involvement in the murder plot, and the two begin to form a bond.
Minot visits Ripley again to report his satisfaction with Zimmermann's performance. Ripley, who has grown to like Zimmerman, is appalled when Minot says he plans to have him murder another rival gangster, this time on a speeding train using a garrote. Before Zimmermann can complete the murder, the target's bodyguard catches him. Ripley appears on the train and overpowers him. Zimmermann and Ripley execute the target and the bodyguard. They meet outside and Ripley confesses to suggesting him to Minot, and declines Zimmermann's suggestion to keep half the money for the second hit. Ripley asks Zimmermann to tell Minot that he did the job on the train alone. Back home, Zimmermann argues with his wife, Marianne, who does not believe his stories of being paid to undergo experimental treatments.
Zimmermann has been receiving mysterious phone calls and suspects the Mafia is trying to find him. His fears grow worse when Minot tells him that his own flat was recently bombed. Ripley picks up Zimmermann and they drive to his mansion to wait for the assassins Ripley expects to appear. Ripley and Zimmermann ambush and kill the assassins. Ripley piles their bodies into the ambulance in which they arrived. Before he and Zimmermann can leave to dispose of the bodies, Marianne arrives and tells Zimmermann that the French medical reports are fake. Ripley explains that she and her husband can settle matters later, but now they need to dispose of the bodies. They drive to the sea, Ripley in the ambulance and Marianne driving her husband in their car. On an isolated beach, Ripley douses the ambulance with gasoline and sets fire to it. Zimmermann drives away with Marianne, abandoning Ripley. Moments later, he dies at the wheel; Marianne pulls the emergency brake and survives. At the beach, Ripley says to himself, "We made it anyway, Jonathan. Be careful."
Guido Anselmi, a famous Italian film director, is suffering from "director's block". Stalled on his new science fiction film that includes thinly veiled autobiographical references, he has lost interest amidst artistic and marital difficulties. While attempting to recover from his anxieties at a luxurious spa, Guido hires a well-known critic to review his ideas for his film, but the critic blasts them. Guido has recurring visions of an Ideal Woman, which he sees as key to his story. His mistress Carla comes to visit him, but Guido puts her in a separate hotel. The film production crew relocates to Guido's hotel in an unsuccessful attempt to get him to work on the film.
Guido admits to a Cardinal that he is not happy. The Cardinal offers little insight. Guido invites his estranged wife Luisa and her friends to join him. They dance, but Guido abandons her for his production crew. Guido confesses to his wife's best friend Rosella that he wanted to make a film that was pure and honest, but he is struggling with something honest to say. Carla surprises Guido, Luisa, and Rosella outside the hotel, and Guido claims that he and Carla ended their affair years ago. Luisa and Rosella call him on the lie, and Guido slips into a fantasy world where he lords over a harem of women from his life, but a rejected showgirl starts a rebellion. The fantasy women attack Guido with harsh truths about himself and his sex life.
When Luisa sees how bitterly Guido represents her in the film, she declares that their marriage is over. Guido's Ideal Woman arrives in the form of an actress named Claudia. Guido explains that his film is about a burned-out man who finds salvation in this Ideal Woman. Claudia concludes that the protagonist is unsympathetic because he is incapable of love. Broken, Guido calls off the film, but the producer and the film's staff announce a press conference. Guido attempts to escape from the journalists and eventually imagines shooting himself in the head. Guido realizes he was attempting to solve his personal confusion by creating a film to help others, when instead he needs to accept his life for what it is. He asks Luisa for her assistance in doing so. Carla tells him that she figured out what he was trying to say: that Guido can't do without the people in his life. The men and women hold hands and run around the circle, Guido and Luisa joining them last.
Clyde Griffiths is raised by poor and devoutly religious parents to help in their street missionary work. As a young man, Clyde must, to help support his family, take menial jobs as a soda jerk, then a bellhop at a prestigious Kansas City hotel. There, his more sophisticated colleagues introduce him to bouts of social drinking and sex with prostitutes.
Enjoying his new lifestyle, Clyde becomes infatuated with manipulative Hortense Briggs, who manipulates him into buying her expensive gifts. When Clyde learns Hortense goes out with other men, he becomes jealous. Nevertheless, he would rather spend money on her than to help his sister, who had eloped, only to end up pregnant and abandoned by her lover.
Clyde's life changes dramatically when his friend Sparser, driving Clyde, Hortense, and other friends back from a secluded rendezvous in the country in his boss's car, used without permission, hits a little girl and kills her. Fleeing from the police at high speed, Sparser crashes the car. Everyone but Sparser and his partner flee the scene of the crime. Clyde leaves Kansas City, fearing prosecution as an accessory to Sparser's crimes.
While working as a bellboy at an exclusive club in Chicago, he meets his wealthy uncle Samuel Griffiths, the owner of a shirt-collar factory in the fictional city of Lycurgus, New York. Samuel, feeling guilt for neglecting his poor relations, offers Clyde a menial job at the factory. After that, he promotes Clyde to a minor supervisory role.
Samuel Griffiths's son Gilbert, Clyde's immediate supervisor, warns Clyde that as a manager, he should not consort with women working under his supervision. At the same time the Griffithses pay Clyde little attention socially. As Clyde has no close friends in Lycurgus, he becomes lonely. Emotionally vulnerable, Clyde is drawn to Roberta Alden, a poor and innocent farm girl working in his shop, who falls in love with him. Clyde secretly courts Roberta, ultimately getting her pregnant.
At the same time, elegant young socialite Sondra Finchley, daughter of another Lycurgus factory owner, takes an interest in Clyde despite his cousin Gilbert's efforts to keep them apart. Clyde's engaging manner makes him popular among the young smart set of Lycurgus; he and Sondra become close, and he courts her while neglecting Roberta. Roberta expects Clyde to marry her to avert the shame of an unwed pregnancy, but Clyde now dreams instead of marrying Sondra.
Having failed to procure an abortion for Roberta, Clyde gives her no more than desultory help with living expenses while his relationship with Sondra matures. When Roberta threatens to reveal her relationship with Clyde unless he marries her, he plans to murder her by drowning while they go boating. He had read a local newspaper report of a boating accident.
Clyde takes Roberta out in a canoe on the fictional Big Bittern Lake (modeled on Big Moose Lake, New York) in the Adirondacks, and rows to a secluded bay. He freezes. Sensing something wrong, Roberta moves toward him, and he unintentionally strikes her in the face with a camera, stunning her and accidentally capsizing the boat. Roberta, unable to swim, drowns, while Clyde, unwilling to save her, swims to shore. The narrative implies that the blow was accidental, but the trail of circumstantial evidence left by the panicky and guilt-ridden Clyde points to murder.
The local authorities are eager to convict Clyde, to the point of manufacturing additional evidence against him, and he repeatedly incriminates himself with his confused and contradictory testimony. Despite a vigorous (and untruthful) defense by two lawyers hired by his uncle, Clyde is convicted, sentenced to death, and after an appeal is denied, he is executed by electric chair.
Bootsie and Snudge are de-mobbed from their national service and are employed as handyman and hall porter respectively at the Imperial, a Pall Mall gentleman's club run by hot-headed secretary Hesketh Pendleton. One of their colleagues, the bumbling Henry Beerbohm Johnson, has worked at the Imperial for 40 years and to begin with believes Snudge is Lord Kitchener. Storylines revolve around the club's members and guests and the relationships between the four members of staff. Hesketh Pendleton has no time for anyone who disagrees with him, and will drown out their attempts to talk by saying "Tup! Tup!" louder and louder until they give up. Bootsie naturally refers to him as "Ol' Tup-tup".
Ten years later, and the positions have reversed as Bootsie wins £1 million on the Football pools and Snudge – an employee of Permapools – becomes his self-appointed financial adviser.
While there is an ongoing plot about Slocum preparing for a promotion at work, most of the book focuses on detailing various events from his life, ranging from early childhood to his predictions for the future, often in non-chronological order and with little if anything to connect one anecdote to the next. Near the end of the book, Slocum starts worrying about the state of his own sanity as he finds himself hallucinating or remembering events incorrectly, suggesting that some or all of the novel might be the product of his imagination, making him an unreliable narrator.
''Something Happened'' has failed to achieve the renown of ''Catch-22'' but has a cult following, with some considering it one of Heller's finest works.
In the world of Orelus, continents called "lagoons" float in the sky, and war is threatened when the kingdom of Kahna is invaded by the Granbelos Empire. This leads Captain Byuu of the Dragon Squad to fight to repel this invasion, but after the initial victory, Kahna is overrun, and Byuu, the game's silent protagonist, leads a continued campaign against the Granbelos Empire. In dialogue, players can choose between earnest and sarcastic responses when speaking as Byuu.
Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith) returns to his native Mayberry to see his son Opie (Ron Howard) become a first-time father. He also intends to run in the soon-to-be held sheriff's election. When Andy learns that his old deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts), now back in Mayberry himself serving as acting sheriff, announced his own candidacy, Andy tells Opie that he won't run against Barney.
Barney tells Andy that he decided to run for sheriff because nobody else would. Andy mentions that Barney's old girlfriend Thelma Lou, now divorced, is back in Mayberry. As Barney leaves to teach a safety class at school, they encounter Ernest T. Bass who gives them a cryptic rhyme: "Your hair was brown but now it's gray; make that monster go away." The "monster" is an elaborate publicity stunt orchestrated by businessman Wally Butler (Richard Lineback), who bought a restaurant outside of town and added a hotel.
Andy goes to the cemetery to visit Aunt Bee's grave, and finds Thelma Lou there visiting her uncle's gravesite. They go to the school where Barney is teaching. While Barney and Thelma Lou get reacquainted, Andy drives over to Opie and his wife Eunice's house just as she is about to go into labor. They are unable to get to the hospital in time, and Andy delivers his grandson in the back of the car.
The next day, Gomer and Goober are out fishing at Myers Lake when Gomer sees a monster stick its head up out of the water. Andy and Barney arrive shortly afterward, but Barney doesn't believe Gomer's story until he sees what looks like monster tracks in the mud. When Gomer later shows Barney a picture he took of Goober with something unidentifiable in the background, Barney becomes convinced there is a monster in the lake.
With Barney's opponent Woods now running an aggressive campaign to discredit Barney, Howard and Opie try to convince Andy to re-enter the race. Meanwhile, former town drunk Otis Campbell (Hal Smith), now long sober and driving an ice cream truck, is serving customers near Myers Lake when he sees the "monster" pop out of the lake. Otis races to the courthouse to tell Barney. Despite Andy's pleading with Barney to end his quest because people were laughing at him, Otis' report convinces Barney to resume the hunt for the monster.
At Butler's Inn, Andy notices a picture with a dragon's head in it and remembering Ernest T.'s rhyme, Andy drives up to the Darlings' homestead, where Ernest T. now hangs out. Briscoe Darling (Denver Pyle) and his daughter Charlene (Maggie Peterson) are delighted to see Andy. Andy manipulates Ernest T. into telling him when the monster will show up in Myers Lake again.
At the lake, while Barney baits a trap, Andy spots Ernest T. going into a nearby stone quarry shed. Butler arrives at the shed to futilely get Ernest T. to reel the monster back in, but Andy catches both of them in the act. Barney and Howard follow Andy to the shed, and Andy makes it look like Barney plotted to make Butler overconfident and force his hand. Butler had found some old dragon artifacts, presumably left by the restaurant's former owners, and hired Ernest T. to instigate a hoax at Myers Lake to attract customers.
Howard takes pictures of Barney with the dragon's head for the newspaper, and Andy tells Butler about the legal consequences of his actions.
Later, at a campaign rally for Acting Sheriff Fife, Barney learns that Andy opted out of the sheriff's race to give Barney a better chance to win, he humbly asks the crowd to vote for Andy as a write-in candidate because "That's exactly what I'm gonna do." Andy is eventually elected sheriff, Opie accepts a newspaper job in Binghamton, and Barney and Thelma Lou finally get married, with Ernest T. and the Darlings joining in the celebration.
The final shot (seen behind the end credits) is of Sheriff Taylor and Deputy Fife folding up an American flag at the end of the day on Mayberry's Main Street.
The boys are playing football at recess when Bebe tells Stan that his girlfriend Wendy has decided to break up with him. Stan tells Bebe that he hasn't spoken to Wendy for weeks and also asks if he has done something wrong and Bebe replies that Wendy doesn't want to be with Stan anymore, much to Stan's shock. Stan's friends are unconcerned and make fun of Bebe, but Stan falls into a deep depression and decides not to play football with them.
His friends take him to the restaurant Raisins—where all of the employees are young preteen girls wearing heavy make-up—hoping to cheer him up. Later, Stan asks Bebe for help to get Wendy back. Bebe tells Stan to blast a Peter Gabriel song at her house. However, when doing this, he discovers Wendy has already begun a relationship with Token. Nothing will change Stan's fortunes, and at Kyle's suggestion, when Stan refuses to go to P.E., he decides to socialize with the South Park Elementary's group of Goth kids. He begins wearing dark clothes, consuming large amounts of coffee, and delving deeper into his sadness.
Meanwhile, Butters falls in love with a waitress at Raisins named Lexus, failing to see the insincerity of her interest in him. He obsesses over her and begins to spend all of his parents' money at the restaurant. Butters' parents, delighted that their son did not turn out gay, decide to come with Butters to meet his "girlfriend", but discover she has been using him for money. Though they explain this to him, Butters tells his parents off. He reveals he has plans to move in with Lexus, who bluntly tells him that she was never his girlfriend. Butters becomes depressed, and the Goth kids invite him to join their clique. He refuses, noting that though he is upset, he is happy he can feel sadness, as it makes him feel more alive. Stan adopts Butters' point of view and emerges from his own depression. The next day, he rejoins his friends for football and tells Kyle he will handle his future problems in "the right way": by insulting his ex and her boyfriend.
The original comic's story begins as a mysterious deadly snowfall suddenly covers Buenos Aires and the surrounding metropolitan area, wiping out most life in a few hours. Juan Salvo, along with a couple of friends (Favalli, Lucas and Polski who were playing truco at his house), his wife and daughter remain safe from the lethal snowflakes thanks to the protection of Juan Salvo's home and the cleverness of Favalli. They organize to survive the ordeal, making special suits to be able to leave the house to gather supplies. During these trips they find Pablo, a twelve-year-old boy, and realize that crazed or needy survivors may be as much of a threat as the deadly snow.
A few days into the snowfall, they learn that the phenomenon was caused by an extraterrestrial invasion to Earth. They are recruited by the army to fight the invaders. During this time, Salvo meets and befriends a few of his fellow soldiers, namely Franco, a lathe operator, and Mosca, a journalist. As the insurgents march towards the country's capital city, they fight on different occasions against giant insects (''cascarudos'', "beetles"); a humanoid species with many more fingers than humans, especially on their right hands (''Manos'', "Hands"); giant armored elephantine beasts capable of knocking buildings down ("Gurbos"); and fellow men who were captured and altered (''hombres-robot'', "robot-men"). All of these beings are pawns, remotely controlled through implants or fear devices by the real invaders, ''los Ellos'' ("Them"), unseen creatures who remain hidden, controlling everything from the distance.
After managing a few victories, their forces suffer defeats and get reduced to a few men. Juan Salvo decides to return to his wife and daughter to go into hiding with them. A passing nuclear missile convinces Favalli and Franco that a larger global war has begun and that they cannot return empty-handed. Salvo reluctantly agrees to join them. After the trio attacks the aliens' HQ in Buenos Aires, they flee just before the city is destroyed by a nuclear attack.
Gradually, the aliens lure the pockets of survivors throughout the country to "snow-free zones" as part of an elaborate ruse. Salvo's group splits, and he tries to escape with his wife and daughter using one of the alien spaceships. He accidentally triggers a time travel apparatus in the craft. As a result, the three are lost in separate time dimensions known as "continuums". Juan Salvo begins to travel through time seeking them, eventually being named ''Eternauta'', a voyager of eternity.
In 1941, up-and-coming Broadway playwright Barton Fink accepts a contract from Capitol Pictures in Hollywood to write film scripts for a thousand dollars per week. Upon moving to Los Angeles, Fink settles into the cheap Hotel Earle. His room's only decoration is a small painting of a woman on the beach, arm raised to block the sun. Fink is assigned to a wrestling film by his new boss Jack Lipnick, but he finds difficulty in writing for the unfamiliar subject. He is distracted by sounds coming from the room next door, and he phones the front desk to complain. His neighbor Charlie Meadows, the source of the noise, visits Fink to apologize. During their conversation, Fink proclaims his affection for "the common man", and Meadows describes his life as an insurance salesman.
Still unable to proceed beyond the first lines of his script, Fink consults producer Ben Geisler for advice. Irritated, the frenetic Geisler takes him to lunch and orders him to consult another writer for assistance. Fink accidentally meets the novelist W. P. Mayhew in the bathroom. They briefly discuss movie-writing and arrange a second meeting later in the day. Fink later learns from Mayhew's secretary, Audrey Taylor, that Mayhew suffers from alcoholism and that Taylor ghostwrote most of his scripts. With one day left before his meeting with Lipnick to discuss the film, Fink phones Taylor and begs her for assistance. Taylor visits him at the Earle and they have sex. Fink awakens the next morning to find that Taylor had been violently murdered. Horrified, he summons Meadows and asks for help. Meadows is repulsed but disposes of the body and orders Fink to avoid contacting the police.
After Fink has a meeting with an unusually supportive Lipnick, Meadows announces to Fink that he is going to New York for several days, and asks him to watch over a package he is leaving behind. Soon afterwards, Fink is visited by two police detectives, who inform him that Meadows's real name is Karl "Madman" Mundt. Mundt is a serial killer whose ''modus operandi'' is beheading his victims. Stunned, Fink places the box on his desk without opening it and he begins writing feverishly. Fink produces the entire script in one sitting and he goes out for a night of celebratory dancing. Fink returns to find the detectives in his room, who inform him of Mayhew's murder and accuse Fink of complicity with Mundt.
As the hotel is suddenly engulfed in flames, Mundt appears and kills the detectives with a shotgun, after which he mentions that he had paid a visit to Fink's parents and uncle in New York. Fink leaves the still-burning hotel, carrying the box and his script. Shortly thereafter he attempts to telephone his family, but there is no answer. In a final meeting with Lipnick, Fink's script is lambasted as "a fruity movie about suffering", and he is informed that he is to remain in Los Angeles; although Fink will remain under contract, Capitol Pictures will not produce anything he writes until he "grows up a little". Dazed, Fink wanders onto a beach, still carrying the package. He meets a woman who looks just like the one in the picture on his wall at the Earle, and she asks about the box. He tells her he does not know what it contains nor who owns it. She then assumes the pose from the picture.
Willie T. Soke and his dwarf assistant Marcus Skidmore are professional thieves. Every year, Willie gets a job as a department store Santa Claus and Marcus as an elf to rob shopping malls at night, with Marcus' wife Lois as their getaway driver. Marcus takes his job seriously, but Willie, a sex-addicted alcoholic, is steadily falling apart. When they are hired at the Saguaro Square Mall in Phoenix, Willie's vulgarity shocks the prudish mall manager Bob Chipeska, who brings them to the attention of security chief Gin Slagel.
At the mall, Willie is visited by Thurman Merman, a friendly but exceedingly gullible, dimwitted overweight young boy who assumes Willie is Santa and is constantly bullied by a teenage gang of skateboarders. At a bar, Willie meets Sue, a woman with a Santa Claus fetish, and they begin a sexual relationship. After some casual sex with Sue in Willie's beaten-up Impala, Willie is harassed and attacked by a man he had encountered earlier at the bar, but Thurman intervenes. Willie gives Thurman a ride home, where he lives with his senile grandmother. Thurman reveals that his mother died and his father, Roger, is "exploring mountains"—actually in jail for embezzlement. Willie tricks Thurman into letting him rob the house safe and steal Roger's BMW 740iL (E38).
Bob informs Gin that he overheard Willie having sex in a dressing room and Gin starts to investigate. Willie sees his motel room being raided, and moves into Thurman's house, much to Thurman's delight. Marcus is angry at Willie for taking advantage of Thurman and states his disapproval of Willie's sex addiction when Willie makes a rude remark about Thurman's grandmother.
Gin visits Roger, who indirectly reveals that Willie is staying with Thurman illegally. Gin confronts Willie and Marcus at the mall, and takes them to a bar. There, he reveals that he has figured out their plan, and blackmails them for half the score to keep silent. Willie and Marcus’ partnership begins to falter, further exacerbated when Willie shows up to work drunk and destroys the Santa attraction, to Marcus' and Gin's shock.
Willie attempts suicide by inhaling vehicle exhaust fumes. He gives Thurman a letter to give to the police, confessing his misdeeds and the heist planned for Christmas Eve. Willie notices Thurman's black eye, and abandons the suicide attempt to confront the skateboarders; he assaults their leader, intimidating them to leave Thurman alone.
Furious at Gin's blackmail, Marcus and Lois set a trap for him. Feigning the need to jump-start their vehicle, Lois hits Gin with the car, Marcus incapacitates him via electrocution and then kills him by running him over with their car. Willie and Thurman prepare for the approaching holiday with help from Sue. On Christmas Eve, Willie, Marcus, and Lois burglarize the mall. Although some technical difficulties arise, Willie is successfully able to crack the safe. Meanwhile, he also gets a pink stuffed elephant that Thurman had wanted for Christmas. However, Marcus reveals to Willie that he intends to kill him, fed up with his increasing carelessness. As Marcus is about to execute Willie, the police unexpectedly swarm in, tipped off by the letter Willie gave Thurman. A firefight ensues between Marcus and the cops while Willie flees. Determined to give Thurman his present, he leads the police on a chase to Thurman's house, ignoring their orders to freeze. He is shot repeatedly on Thurman's porch but survives.
The epilogue is told through a letter from Willie, recovering in the hospital. He expresses his gratitude to Thurman and reveals that he was cleared of the robbery—the shooting of an unarmed Santa embarrassed the police—and will be working for the police as a sensitivity counselor. Sue is granted guardianship over Thurman and his house until his father's release. Marcus and Lois are in prison; Willie ends the letter by hoping that Roger will avoid them and telling Thurman that he should be out of the hospital soon and to be ready for his return. When the lead skateboard bully harasses Thurman again, Thurman finally stands up to him by kicking him hard in the crotch and riding away on his bike giving the finger to the downed bully.
Oscar Grubman (Aaron Stanford) is a 15-year-old boy, portrayed as mature beyond his years, traveling home from school for Thanksgiving. He speaks fluent French, quotes Voltaire and finds girls of his own age to be too shallow and superficial, as well as too immature and inexperienced in life. When an attractive girl from his school, Miranda Spear (Kate Mara), who is obviously interested in him, approaches Oscar, he politely brushes her off. Oscar confides in his friend Charlie (Robert Iler) that he is in love with a mature woman and plans to win her heart during Thanksgiving break.
Oscar arrives at his family’s apartment, Columbia University history professor and author, Stanley Grubman (John Ritter), and stepmother, the passionate cardiologist, Eve (Sigourney Weaver). That evening, the Grubmans hold a party where Stanley introduces him to a girl of his age, but Oscar rebuffs her as well while staring at the object of his affection: his stepmother.
Oscar tries to open up to her, but the unsuspecting Eve doesn't pick up on any of his advances. Stanley tells him to walk the girl home, but he hails her a cab. Depressed from his failure with the older woman, Oscar goes to a bar with a fake id and gets drunk. He bumps into Eve's best friend, chiropractor Diane Lodder (Bebe Neuwirth), who offers to take him to her own apartment seeing his current condition. Once there, Diane begins to massage him and they end up having sex. Oscar wakes the next morning and has an awkward encounter with Diane's boyfriend, Phil (Adam LeFevre).
Back at home, Oscar plans a surprise lunch for Eve but first Stanley inquires about where Oscar spent the night. Oscar makes up a story about meeting Miranda Spear from school. He brings lunch to Eve at her lab, where he opens up to her once more, pondering the use of the heart as a symbol for affection. Together they decide that the liver should be the new symbol for love.
Their conversation is interrupted by a phone call from Stanley, who mentions that Diane will be joining them for dinner. Worried that Diane will tell Eve about their tryst, Oscar finds Diane at a tea room with several of her friends. All act as though they know about the previous evening, and most of the women twice his age flirt with him. Oscar makes Diane promise to keep last night a secret from Stanley and especially Eve.
At dinner, Diane drinks and behaves coyly. She plays footsie with Oscar and flirts with him in French. After she excuses herself from the table, Oscar follows to confront her. She kisses him while not being totally out of Stanley's view, after which Diane admits to Stanley and Eve that she and Oscar are lovers.
The next day, Diane explains to Eve that she found Oscar a charming young man. Eve condemns her for seducing a mere 15-year-old, but Diane says many women would have done the same, including perhaps Eve. Later that day, Eve and Oscar play a tense round of tennis, lobbing insults at each other, ending up with Oscar getting hit in the head with a ball. Oscar explains to Eve that he only did what he did with Diane because he was drunk and she was wearing Eve's scarf. Eve immediately understands that he is in love with her. They share a passionate kiss but Eve eventually breaks away.
At the end of Thanksgiving break, Eve and Stanley take Oscar to the train. Eve asks Oscar how his liver feels and he replies that it hurts, but is not broken. She also tells him how much she loves his father. On the train, Oscar meets up with Charlie, and runs into Miranda. Miranda quotes Voltaire, "If we do not find something pleasant at least we will find something new," and looks longingly at Oscar. Charlie notices this and Oscar tells Charlie that Miranda smells nice. Charlie asks about Eve and Oscar states that his obsession with Eve was not as important as it seemed. Charlie doesn't understand his friend, but Oscar smiles as the train rolls on.
Alex lives a double life: he is married with a day job, and is a professional hitman. Trained by his father Michael from youth, Alex is dissatisfied with his work and wishes to leave the business behind. He goes into psychotherapy with Dr. Josh Parks, disclosing that he is a hit man, and that he is attracted to a young woman he met in the waiting room. She is Sarah, 23, who is attracted to him as well, but does not want to get involved with a married man.
In flashbacks we see that Alex gets his start as a killer in the family business, at his father's prompting, from his killing of a squirrel as a young boy, to his first human victim as a teenager. Worried that Alex is informing on him, Michael gives Alex his next assignment: to kill Dr. Parks. Alex delays, while Dr. Parks, fearing for his own safety, contacts a police detective, Larson.
Alex keeps returning to Sarah, calling her, stopping by her apartment, as he decides what to do about the hit, his father, his marriage and his malaise. Eventually, he has an affair with Sarah. His wife soon discovers the affair and leaves him, not before he discovers that his father had been grooming his son, Sammy, as a future assassin. Determined not to let Michael ruin Sammy, too, he drives up to Michael's home and shoots him dead, only to be killed himself by Larson, who had been secretly following him.
The frame features John Ritter as real-estate agent Bob Carter who tries to sell a variety of homes to a young couple, the Doyles. Each home comes with a horror story associated with it. As the film progresses with each new home, Carter becomes more desperate to close a deal but keeps failing because of his commitment to have "full disclosure" about all the grisly occurrences that happened within each home, causing the Doyles to reject his deal offers.
A businessman named Louis discovers his wife, Sarah, cheating on him with another man, Frank. Louis catches them in the act and plans to shoot Frank and hang Sarah to make it appear like a murder-suicide crime scene. However, a fight ensues and Frank manages to kill Louis before dumping his body into a nearby lake. Sarah begins having recurring dreams about Louis as a water-drenched corpse coming home and strangling her. Frank and Sarah start getting paranoid when one of Louis's drinking buddies, Clay, who also happens to be cop, starts coming around and asking questions. The couple finds Louis's car on the street without the keys, realizing they were left in Louis's pants pocket at the bottom of the lake. Frank goes to the lake and jumps in to retrieve the keys so they can dispose of the car. When Sarah sees wet footprints in front of the house and hears the soggy steps nearing her bedroom door, much like in her recurring nightmares, she shoots through the door with the shotgun (the same one Louis used and was eventually killed with) only to discover it was Frank at her door returning from the lake with the retrieved keys. The next morning, when the police arrive with Clay in tow, they find Frank shot to death and Sarah hanging from the ceiling, just as Louis had intended in the beginning. The police notice something odd at the murder-suicide crime scene: Sarah's body is drenched in water.
The Gatleys are the perfect family. The father, Ron, and his daughter, Jennifer, have a close bond. One day, Jennifer finds a small monkey wearing organ grinder attire in their tree, names it Bobo, and persuades her father to allow her to keep him until they can find his owner. Jennifer and Bobo begin forming a close bond while her bond with her father begins to weaken. Ron notices this and begins to grow suspicious of Bobo. The Gatleys' pet dog, Max, chases Bobo through the house before Bobo throws an object at Max's head, injuring the dog. Ron becomes livid and demands the monkey be put outside. When Jennifer defies her father, and Ron's wife, Carol, asks that he compromise, Ron agrees as long as Bobo gets a cage. When Ron attempts to put Bobo in the cage, Bobo bites his hand which leads to Ron demanding the monkey to be removed completely. He eventually gets Bobo in the cage and taunts the monkey, alongside Max who growls at the monkey, and promises to euthanize Bobo. The next morning, Ron discovers Max stabbed to death, the cage door open, and Bobo missing. Ron hides Max's body in the garage. Ron asks his wife and daughter to leave the home immediately, which they do. Now left alone at home, Ron calls the police but they refer him to the local pound dispatcher. Ron bribes the pound dispatcher to get the monkey out of his house. After burying Max in the back yard, Ron goes inside the house to find the pound dispatcher stabbed to death as well. He hides the pound dispatcher's body in the garage. When they return home and see Ron shooting at the monkey, both Carol and Jennifer now doubt Ron's sanity. While the family sleeps, Ron sets up a bear trap only for Bobo to trick him into thinking he had been trapped. While Ron investigates the bear trap, Bobo kills Carol by cutting her throat in bed. Now off the deep end, Ron goes after Bobo with the shotgun in Jennifer's room. As Bobo and Ron struggle in a fight, Ron loses the gun and Jennifer retrieves it. Ron pins Bobo to the ground and tells his daughter to give him the gun so he can end it. Jennifer shoots Ron instead. Back in the present time, Bob Carter tells the Doyles that the police believe Ron was responsible for the killings, and Jennifer shot him in self-defense, never saying another word after that since she became catatonic. As for Bobo, he simply disappeared.
Sean, a troubled teenager with psychic abilities, visits Dr. Corey, a therapist, in her office after hours to tell her of his visions in which he sees The Granny Killer killing his victims shortly before they happen. When he has these visions, he has debilitating fits that cause him to lose control. One vision caused him to fall in the shower and vomit. Another vision caused him to nearly drown his girlfriend while they swam in his family's pool. The third vision caused him to nearly collide head-on with a truck while driving, but it also prompted him to call the police since the vision was of his girlfriend getting murdered by The Granny Killer. Hoping to get there in time, he races to his girlfriend's house only to find her dismembered body parts strewn through the house. Sean reveals to Dr. Corey that she is The Granny Killer's next victim based on his most recent vision. Sean begins to reach for inside his jacket. Dr. Corey, now believing that Sean is The Granny Killer himself, drives Sean down onto a receipt letter spike on her desk and runs out of the office, heading for the elevators. As she anxiously waits for the elevator to reach her floor, Sean begins slowly coming towards her, badly wounded by the receipt letter spike jutting out of his chest. As both he and the elevator reach their destinations, Sean pulls the receipt letter spike from his chest, pulls out a gun to hand to Dr. Corey, but loses consciousness, and both he and the gun fall to the floor. At the same time, the elevator doors open, revealing The Granny Killer standing inside with a meat cleaver. Dr. Corey screams as the meat cleaver swings towards her.
The Doyles refuse to buy any of the houses Bob Carter offers them because of the horror stories involved with each one. Carter realizes he failed to meet the deadline when his cell phone rings and the voice on the other side tells him Carter's wife and son are there on the other end of the phone. Carter's son gets on the phone and begs his father to close a deal now. Driven insane, Carter stabs Mr. Doyle in the neck, and as Mr. Doyle collapses to the floor with blood spurting from his neck, Carter begins stabbing him in the back. A horrified Mrs. Doyle runs out of the house to see a neighbor mowing over a cat buried neck-deep into the lawn. As she gets in the car to drive off, Carter appears at the driver's side window with bloody papers in his hand begging her to close the deal. As Mrs. Doyle drives off while screaming, Bobo the murderous monkey appears on her windshield, a woman shoots her husband in a driveway, an old woman smiles at her while a human leg sticks out of her trash can, and other murderous chaos occurs as Mrs. Doyle drives away from the hellish neighborhood.
The notorious criminal Divine lives under the pseudonym "Babs Johnson" with her mentally-ill mother Edie, delinquent son Crackers, and traveling companion Cotton. They share a trailer on the outskirts of Phoenix, Maryland, next to a gazing ball and a pair of plastic pink flamingos. After learning that Divine has been named "the filthiest person alive" by a tabloid paper, jealous rivals Connie and Raymond Marble attempt to usurp her title.
The Marbles run a black market baby ring: they kidnap young women, have them impregnated by their manservant Channing, and sell the babies to lesbian couples. The proceeds are used to finance pornography shops and a network of dealers selling heroin in inner-city elementary schools. Raymond also earns money by exposing himself with a large kielbasa sausage or turkey neck tied to his penis to women and stealing their purses when they flee. One of Raymond's would-be targets, a transgender woman who has not completed gender reassignment surgery, thwarts his scheme by exposing her breast, penis, and scrotum, causing Raymond to flee in shock.
The Marbles enlist a spy, Cookie, to gather information about Divine by dating Crackers. In one of the film's most infamous scenes, Cookie gets raped by Crackers while crushing a live chicken between them as Cotton looks on through a window. Cookie then informs the Marbles about Babs' real identity, her whereabouts, and her family as well as her upcoming birthday party.
The Marbles send a box of human feces to Divine as a birthday present with a card addressing her as "Fatso" and proclaiming themselves "the filthiest people alive". Worried that her title has been seized, Divine declares that whoever sent the package must die. While the Marbles are gone, Channing dresses in Connie's clothes and imitates his employers' overheard conversations. When the Marbles return home, they are outraged to find Channing mocking them, so they fire him and lock him in a closet.
The Marbles arrive at the trailer to spy on Divine's birthday party. Her birthday gifts include poppers, fake vomit, lice shampoo, a pig's head, and a meat cleaver. Entertainers include a topless woman with a snake act and a contortionist who flexes his prolapsed anus in rhythm to the song "Surfin' Bird". The Egg Man, who delivers eggs to Edie daily, confesses his love for her and proposes marriage. She accepts his proposal and he carts her off in a wheelbarrow. Disgusted by the outrageous party, the Marbles call the police, but this backfires when Divine and her guests ambush the officers, hack up their bodies with the meat cleaver, and eat them.
Divine and Crackers head to the Marbles' house, where they lick and rub the furniture, which excites them so much that Divine fellates Crackers. They find Channing and discover two pregnant women held captive in the basement. After Divine and Crackers free the women with a large knife, the women use the knife to emasculate Channing.
The Marbles burn Divine's beloved trailer to the ground; when they return home, their furniture cursed by being licked by Divine and Crackers "rejects" them: when they try to sit down, the cushions fly up and throw them to the floor. They also find that Channing has bled to death from his emasculation and the two girls have escaped.
After finding the remains of their burned-out trailer, Divine and Crackers return to the Marbles' home, kidnap them at gunpoint, and bring them to the arson site. Divine calls the local tabloid media to witness the Marbles' trial and execution. Divine holds a kangaroo court and convicts the bound-and-gagged Marbles of "first-degree stupidity" and "assholism". Cotton and Crackers recommend a sentence of execution, so the Marbles are tied to a tree, coated in tar and feathers, and shot in the head by Divine.
Divine, Crackers, and Cotton enthusiastically decide to move to Boise, Idaho. Spotting a small dog defecating on the sidewalk, Divine scoops up the feces with her hand and puts them in her mouth proving, as the voice-over narration by Waters states, that Divine is "not only the filthiest person in the world, but she is also the filthiest actress in the world".
The Chalet School is founded in 1925 by Madge Bettany when her brother has to return to his job in the Forestry Commission in India. She comes to the conclusion that starting a school would be a convenient way to generate some much-needed income, while also looking after her infirm younger sister Joey. Finding that suitable locations in England would be too expensive for her plans, she decides to look abroad, and finally settles on a large chalet in the Austrian Tyrol, conveniently providing a helpful climate for Joey's recuperation. Within a few years a sanatorium is built not far from the school, where tuberculosis patients convalesce. The founder, Dr Jem Russell, along with Dr Jack Maynard, provides assistance to members of the school and the two Doctors eventually marry Madge and Joey respectively. Robin Humphries is also a main character, until she leaves the Chalet school to go to Oxford and later becomes a nun. The books then follow a variety of characters, including Daisy Venables, Bride Bettany and Gay Lambert, until Mary-Lou Trelawney comes to the school, and becomes the main character for several books. After she leaves school, in the later books, Joey's triplets become main characters.
Throughout the series, various girls arrive at the school with personal problems, bad attitudes or behavioural issues. As a result of the ministrations of better-behaved classmates and the school mistresses, they tend to discover the error of their ways and become model pupils. This formula of a troublesome new girl who reforms and conforms is most common in the later books.
A former astronaut is hired by a detective agency to help in an investigation of a case of mysterious deaths. Several victims became mad and committed suicide during their vacation in various Naples spas, apparently without reason. Due to certain similarities in the circumstances of the deaths and the profiles of the victims the case is assumed to be a serial murder by poisoning, although it is never certain what (if any) real connection exists between the victims.
During the investigation, it becomes apparent that certain innocent chemicals can be combined into a strong depressor, a kind of chemical weapon. The hero experiences its effects, but his training helps him to survive and solve the case. He discovers the industrial sources of the chemicals, and demonstrates how random chance chemical reactions led to the string of deaths.
At a base on Saturn's moon Titan, a young spaceship pilot Parvis sets out in a strider (a mecha-like machine) to find several missing people, among them Pirx (the spaceman appearing in Lem's ''Tales of Pirx the Pilot''). Parvis ventures to the dangerous geyser region, where the others were lost. Unfortunately, he suffers an accident. Seeing no way to get out of the machine and return to safety, he triggers a built-in cryogenic device.
An expedition is sent to a distant star in order to make first contact with a civilization that may have been detected. It is set more than a century after the prologue, when a starship is built in Titan's orbit. This future society is described as globally unified and peaceful with high regard for success. During starship preparations, the geyser region is cleared, and the frozen bodies are discovered. They are exhumed and taken aboard, to be awakened, if possible, during the voyage. However, only one of them can be revived (or more precisely, pieced together from the organs of several of them) with a high likelihood of success. The identity of the man is unclear; it has been narrowed to two men (whose last names begin with 'P'). It is never revealed whether he is in fact Pirx or Parvis (and he seems to have amnesia). In his new life, he adopts the name Tempe.
The explorer spaceship ''Eurydika'' (Eurydice) first travels to a black hole near the Beta Harpiae to perform maneuvers to minimize the effects of time dilation. Before closing on the event horizon, the ''Eurydice'' launches the ''Hermes'', a smaller explorer ship, which continues to Beta Harpiae.
Approaching the planet Quinta, which exhibits signs of harboring intelligent life, the crew of the ''Hermes'' attempts to establish contact with the denizens of the planet, who, contrary to the expectations of the mission's crewmen, are strangely unwilling to communicate. The crew reaches the conclusion that there is a Cold War-like state on the planet's surface and throughout the planetary system, halting the locals' industrial development.
The crew of the ''Hermes'' assumes that the Quintan civilisation is inevitably doomed to collapse in mutual assured destruction. They try to force the aliens to engage contact by means of an event impossible to hide by the aliens' governments: staging the implosion of their moon. Surprisingly, just before impact, several of the deployed rockets are destroyed by missiles of the Quintans, undermining the symmetry of the implosion which causes fragments of the moon to be thrown clear, some impacting the planet's surface.
However, even this cataclysm does not drive the locals to engage with their alien visitors, so the crewmen deploy a device working as a giant lens or laser, capable of displaying images (but also concentrating beams to the point of being a powerful weapon). Following a suggestion by Tempe, they show the Quintans a "fairy tale" by projecting a cartoon onto Quinta's clouds. At last, the Quintans contact the ''Hermes'' and make arrangements for a meeting. The humans do not trust the Quintans, so to gauge the Quintans' intentions, they send a smaller replica of the ''Hermes'' which is destroyed shortly before landing. The humans retaliate by firing their laser on the ice ring around the planet, shattering it and sending chunks falling on the planet.
Finally, the Quintans are forced to receive an 'ambassador', who is Tempe; the Quintans are warned that the projecting device will be used to destroy the planet if the man should fail to report back his continued safety. After landing, Tempe discovers that there is no trace of anyone at the landing site. After investigating a peculiar structure nearby, he finds a strange-looking mound, which he opens with a small shovel. To his horror, he notices that in his distracted state he has allowed the allotted time to expire without signaling his crewmates. As the planet is engulfed by fiery destruction at the hands of those who were sent to establish contact with its denizens, Tempe finally realizes what the Quintans are: the mounds. However, he has no time to share his discovery with the others.
In 1720, while sailing to Port Royal, Jamaica, aboard ''HMS Dauntless'', Governor Weatherby Swann, his daughter Elizabeth and crew encounter a shipwreck and recover a boy, Will Turner. Elizabeth discovers a golden pirate medallion around his neck and takes it. Eight years later, Captain James Norrington is promoted to commodore and proposes to Elizabeth. Her corset makes her faint and fall into the sea, causing the medallion to emit a pulse. Captain Jack Sparrow, having just arrived in Port Royal to commandeer a ship, rescues Elizabeth. Norrington identifies Jack as a pirate, and a chase ensues. Jack encounters Will, now a blacksmith. They duel, and Jack is imprisoned. That night, the ''Black Pearl'' attacks Port Royal, searching for the medallion. The crew of the ''Pearl'' captures Elizabeth, taking her to meet Captain Barbossa. Elizabeth claims her last name is Turner to conceal her identity as the governor's daughter. Barbossa explains that the medallion is one of 882 gold pieces that his crew took from a treasure of Hernán Cortés on Isla de Muerta as a payment to stop the massacre against the Aztecs but Cortes, being too greedy, rejected it, and the Aztec gods put a curse on the treasure. This cursed Barbossa and his crew, turning them into immortals who appear skeletal in moonlight. Barbossa and his crew have returned all but one of the pieces, with Elizabeth's medallion being the final piece. Barbossa takes her prisoner, believing she is the daughter of William "Bootstrap Bill" Turner, Will's father and a previous crewmate of the ''Pearl,'' whose blood is needed to lift the curse.
Will frees Jack to rescue Elizabeth, whom Will loves. Jack, the previous captain of the ''Black Pearl'' before Barbossa staged a mutiny, makes a deal with Will to reclaim his ship. The two commandeer HMS ''Interceptor'', a small sloop-of-war, and head for Tortuga. There, Jack enlists Gibbs to help them assemble a crew. Chasing the ''Pearl'' to the Isla de Muerta, Will and Jack witness Barbossa sacrificing Elizabeth's blood and returning the final gold piece. The curse is not lifted. Will rescues Elizabeth and brings her to the ''Interceptor'', while Jack is captured by Barbossa and locked in the brig of the ''Pearl''. The ''Pearl'' pursues the ''Interceptor'', destroying the ship and taking Jack's crew hostage. Will makes a deal with Barbossa to release Elizabeth in exchange for his blood, but Barbossa exploits a loophole in the agreement, marooning Jack and Elizabeth on an island. Elizabeth makes a smoke signal, and Norrington brings the ''Dauntless'' to rescue Elizabeth and arrest Jack. Elizabeth asks Norrington to pursue the ''Pearl'' and save Will, persuading him by accepting Norrington's marriage proposal.
That night, the ''Dauntless'' arrives at Isla de Muerta. Jack tells Norrington he will lure the pirates out to be ambushed by the crew of the ''Dauntless'', but instead persuades Barbossa's crew to attack the ''Dauntless'' before they lift the curse and lose their immortality. Elizabeth escapes the ''Dauntless'' and frees Jack's crew from the brig of the ''Pearl''. They refuse to rescue Jack and Will, so Elizabeth sets out on her own while Jack's crew depart aboard the ''Pearl''. Jack again switches sides, freeing Will and dueling Barbossa, while Elizabeth and Will fight off Barbossa's crewmen. When Barbossa stabs Jack, it is revealed that Jack took a piece of gold from the chest and is likewise cursed and unable to die. Jack shoots Barbossa, and Will returns both coins to the chest with his and Jack's blood on them. The curse is lifted; Barbossa dies from Jack's gunshot, and the rest of Barbossa's crew, no longer immortal, are arrested.
At Port Royal, Jack is to be hanged for piracy. Elizabeth diverts Norrington's attention while Will attempts a rescue, but Jack and Will are surrounded. Elizabeth intercedes and declares her love for Will. Governor Swann pardons Will and gives his blessing for Elizabeth to marry him. Jack dives into the sea and escapes aboard the nearby ''Pearl'', reclaiming the ship and his new crew. Norrington permits Jack and the ''Pearl'' "one day's head start" before initiating pursuit.
The book is narrated by 15 different characters over 59 chapters. It is the story of the death of Addie Bundren and her poor, rural family's quest and motivations—noble or selfish—to honor her wish to be buried in her hometown of Jefferson, Mississippi.
In the novel's first chapters, Addie is alive but in ill health. She expects to die soon and sits at a window watching as her firstborn child, Cash, builds her coffin. Anse, Addie's husband, waits on the porch, while their daughter, Dewey Dell, fans her mother in the July heat. The night after Addie dies a heavy rainstorm sets in; rivers rise and wash out bridges that the family will need to cross to get to Jefferson.
The family's trek by wagon begins, with Addie's non-embalmed body in the coffin. Along the way, Anse and the five children encounter various difficulties. Stubborn Anse frequently rejects any offers of assistance, including meals or lodging, so at times the family goes hungry and sleeps in barns. At other times he refuses to accept loans from people, claiming he wishes to "be beholden to no man," thus manipulating the would-be lender into giving him charity as a gift not to be repaid.
Jewel, Addie's middle child, tries to leave his dysfunctional family after Anse sells Jewel's most prized possession, his horse, yet Jewel cannot turn his back on them through the tribulations of the journey to Jefferson. Cash breaks a leg and winds up riding atop the coffin. He stoically refuses to admit to any discomfort, but the family eventually puts a makeshift cast of concrete on his leg. Twice, the family almost loses Addie's coffin—first, while crossing a river on a washed-out bridge (two mules are lost), and second, when a fire of suspicious origin starts in the barn where the coffin is being stored for a night.
After nine days, the family finally arrives in Jefferson, where the stench from the coffin is quickly smelled by the townspeople. In town, family members have different items of business to take care of. Cash's broken leg needs attention. Dewey Dell, for the second time in the novel, goes to a pharmacy, in an effort to obtain an abortion that she does not know how to ask for; clerk Skeet MacGowan coerces her into sex in the cellar in exchange for "abortion pills" which are just talcum powder. First, though, Anse wants to borrow some shovels to bury Addie, because that was the purpose of the trip and the family should be together for that. Before that happens, Darl, the second eldest and thoughtful, poetic observer of the family, is seized for the arson of the barn and sent to the Mississippi State Insane Asylum in Jackson. With Addie only just buried, Anse forces Dewey Dell to give up her money given to her by Lafe (the man who got her pregnant) for an abortion, which he spends on getting "new teeth," and quickly marries the woman from whom he borrowed the shovels.
As are many of Faulkner's works, the story is set in Yoknapatawpha County, Mississippi, which Faulkner referred to as "my apocryphal county," a fictional rendition of the writer's home of Lafayette County in the same state.
The first season introduces the core characters and lays the foundations for future story lines. Professor X, Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm and Jean Grey make up the original X-Men. As the season develops, the ranks of the X-Men are bolstered by the appearance of Nightcrawler in the first episode,Evan Levine [https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=y94vAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tTsDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4190,2099465 Ten years tough for X-Men] ''Rome News-Tribune'' – November 21, 2000. Retrieved June 8, 2011 Shadowcat in the second, Spyke in the fifth, and Rogue (who originally joins the Brotherhood in the fourth episode) in the seventh. In the later episodes of this season, Nightcrawler discovers the identity of his birth mother, Wolverine finds answers to his past, and Xavier's half-brother, Juggernaut, is released from his prison.
Confrontations are typically with the Brotherhood, who vie for new recruits with the X-Men over the course of the season. Toad is the first to be introduced, followed by Avalanche, Blob and Quicksilver. The Brotherhood, led by Mystique, are in fact being directed by a higher power, the identity of whom was "revealed" in the two-part season finale as being Magneto. After Cyclops discovers that his brother Alex actually survived the plane crash that killed their parents, they are both taken by Magneto into his "sanctuary" on Asteroid M. Magneto captures several X-Men and Brotherhood members in an attempt to amplify their mutant abilities and remove their emotions. The Brotherhood and X-Men show up leaving Magneto, Sabretooth and Mystique trapped on the asteroid. Asteroid M is destroyed by Scott and Alex Summers, but not before two metal spheres fly from the exploding asteroid.
The second season sees the addition of several new mutants, including Beast, who becomes a teacher at the Xavier Institute and an X-Man, as well as a version of the New Mutants: Boom Boom, Sunspot, Iceman, Wolfsbane, Magma, Multiple, Jubilee, Berzerker, and Cannonball. During the course of the season, it is revealed that the villains who supposedly perished on Asteroid M are actually alive. Sabretooth continues his pursuit of Wolverine, while Magneto continues to work his own agenda. Mystique poses as Risty Wilde, a high school student at Bayville High who befriends Rogue and breaks into the mansion to steal Xavier's Cerebro files. Using the files, she recovers Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, Magneto's daughter and Quicksilver's sister. The mentally unstable mutant joins the Brotherhood upon Mystique's return, allowing them to defeat the X-Men in a battle at the Bayville Mall. Before the finale, a pivotal episode aired featuring the telepath Mesmero opening one of three doors that a mutant known as Apocalypse.
In the season finale, Xavier rigorously trains his X-Men to face Magneto, pairing them with the Brotherhood. Cyclops, furious with having to work with his former adversaries, leaves the team. The mansion is later set to self-destruct with Cyclops and several students still inside. Magneto, meanwhile, recruits Sabretooth, Gambit, Pyro and Colossus as his Acolytes to fight the X-Men/Brotherhood team. At the same time, Wolverine is captured by Bolivar Trask to use as a test subject for the anti-mutant weapon, the Sentinel. Magneto continues to manipulate events by unleashing the Sentinel onto the city, forcing the X-Men to use their powers in public. Wanda tracks down Magneto and attacks him while he is trying to deal with the Sentinel that is targeting him. The Sentinel is damaged and apparently crushes Magneto as it falls. When the mutants who have not been captured by the Sentinel return to the remains of the mansion, Cyclops and the students emerge from the explosion with minor injuries. Scott throws Xavier from his wheelchair and blames him for blowing up the mansion. Everyone is shocked as Xavier calmly stands up, transforming into Mystique.
In the third season, the show notably begins to take a much more serious tone. After the battle with the Sentinel, the mutants are no longer a secret and public reaction is one of hostility. The show is brought into more traditional X-Men lore, dealing with themes of prejudice, public misconception, and larger threats. As the season progresses, the real Xavier is found, Mystique is defeated, the mansion is rebuilt, and the X-Men are allowed back into Bayville High. Scott and Jean develop a stronger and closer romantic relationship (particularly after Mystique kidnaps Scott and brings him to Mexico), Spyke leaves the X-Men when his mutant ability becomes uncontrollable, deciding to live with the sewer-dwelling mutants known as the Morlocks, and Wanda continues to search for Magneto, who she discovers was saved by Quicksilver at the last second, until Magneto uses the telepathic mutant Mastermind to change her childhood memories.
As part of the series arc, Rogue loses control of her powers, leading to her hospitalization. During this time, she learns that she is in fact Mystique's adoptive daughter. Mystique, through the visions of the mutant Destiny, foresaw that the fate of Rogue and herself lay in the hands of an ancient mutant that would be resurrected. Apocalypse emerges in the season's final episodes. Mesmero manipulates Magneto into opening the second door, and uses Mystique and a hypnotized Rogue to open the last, turning Mystique to stone in the process. Now released, Apocalypse easily defeats the combined strength of the X-Men, Magneto, the Acolytes, and the Brotherhood before escaping.
The final season contained only nine episodes. In the season premiere, Apocalypse apparently kills Magneto while Rogue murders Mystique by pushing her petrified figure off a cliff, leaving Nightcrawler without closure. The Brotherhood become temporary do-gooders, Wolverine's teenage girl clone X-23 returns, Xavier travels to Scotland in order to confront his son David, Spyke and the Morlocks rise to the surface, Rogue is kidnapped and taken by Gambit to Louisiana to help free his father, and Shadowcat discovers a mutant girl who is found in a cave. The character Leech is also introduced as a young boy named "Dorian Leach".
In the finale, Apocalypse defeats Xavier and Storm, transforming them, along with Magneto and Mystique, into his Four Horsemen. Apocalypse instructs his Horsemen to protect his three domes and his 'base of operations', which will turn the majority of the world population into mutants. In the final battle, the X-Men and the Brotherhood defeat the Horsemen who are returned to normal and trap Apocalypse by sending him through time. Rogue and Nightcrawler refuse the excuses of their mother, Shadowcat and Avalanche find love once again, Magneto is reunited with Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, Storm and Spyke are also reunited, and Xavier sees his students reunited as the X-Men.
The series ends with a speech by Charles Xavier, who had caught a glimpse of the not-too-distant future while being controlled by Apocalypse. The following future scenarios were foreseen: * Continued anti-mutant sentiment. * A reformed Magneto teaching the New Mutants, including a returned Jubilee and Wolfsbane. * Jean Grey eventually being taken over by the all-powerful cosmic entity, known as Dark Phoenix within her and becoming one of the X-Men's most terrible of enemies. Had the series continued, the fifth season would have focused on the ''Dark Phoenix'' saga. * The future X-Men team, consisting of Cyclops, Nightcrawler, X-23, Iceman, Beast, Shadowcat, Colossus, Rogue (able to fly and not wearing gloves, implying she permanently absorbed Captain Marvel's powers and has full control over her absorbing powers), and Storm. The uniforms these future X-Men wear look very much like the dark uniforms seen in the ''Ultimate X-Men'' comic, as well as that of the live-action feature films. * The Brotherhood, including the Scarlet Witch and Pyro, standing in front of a S.H.I.E.L.D sign (foreshadowing the Freedom Force) * A fleet of Sentinels led by Nimrod. * The last scene shows the X-Men, the New Mutants, Gambit and Colossus (former Acolytes), Boom Boom, Havok, Angel, X-23, and a returning Spyke.
The Third Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith arrive in a deserted London, where they discover that dinosaurs are inexplicably appearing all over the city, causing havoc, but no one can account for their sudden appearances and disappearances.
The Doctor suspects that someone is deliberately tampering with time and with the help of his colleagues at UNIT, he starts to formulate a plan. They are introduced to Sir Charles Grover MP, and General Finch. In a hidden laboratory, Professor Whitaker is operating secret Timescoop technology. The dinosaurs are being used to compel the authorities to evacuate the city. It turns out that Whitaker is being aided by a disillusioned Captain Yates.
Sarah conducts her own investigations, but is captured by Grover, who is in league with Whitaker. She awakens and is astounded to find herself on a vast spaceship. The crew explain that they are en route to a distant Earth-like planet, explaining that Mankind can begin again on "New Earth", closer to nature and without the overpopulation and pollution of Earth. When Sarah tries to explain that they're still on Earth, they condemn Sarah to be re-educated into thinking the way they do.
Operation Golden Age is revealed to be a broad conspiracy including Mike Yates of UNIT, with Whitaker, Grover and Finch as its coordinators. They have emptied London, so that the chosen people on the "spacecraft" (a dummy ship hidden in a bunker under London) will be the only people within range of the Timescoop when it's activated. Whitaker has discovered how to reverse time, so that only the chosen elite will ever have existed.
Meanwhile, Sarah escapes from the bunker, but is apprehended by Finch. Her escape alerts some of the passengers to the deception. Yates reveals their plans to the Doctor, Benton and the Brigadier. Yates is overpowered, and when Finch tries to stop the Doctor and the Brigadier's efforts, Benton incapacitates him in a struggle.
The Doctor and the Brigadier confront Grover and Whitaker, just as the duped environmentalists from the fake ship arrive and demand an explanation. The Timescoop is activated, but, as the Doctor is a Time Lord, the machine's effect on him is limited, allowing him to switch the device off. Finch is arrested and court martialled, and Grover tries to use it again, but, as the Doctor has reversed the machine's polarity, it sends only itself, Whitaker and Grover into the past.
After the events of ''Full Circle'', the Fourth Doctor, Romana, K9, and TARDIS stowaway Adric arrive on a planet with a feudal society whose inhabitants live under the thrall of three lords—Zargo, Camilla, and Aukon—who dwell in a shadowy Tower. The Doctor and Romana discover evidence of advanced technology and wonder what happened to cause the planet to devolve to its current "state of decay". After being taken prisoner by the three lords, The Doctor and Romana discover that the great Tower in which the Lords dwell is a spaceship called ''Hydrax'', originally from Earth. The three lords are members of the original crew, mutated into vampires, while the subjects beneath them are the descendants of the other colonists, made dull and primitive by generations of breeding and oppression.
A rebel called Tarak infiltrates the Tower, freeing the Doctor and Romana. The Doctor returns to the TARDIS, while Romana stays with Tarak to search for Adric. They find Adric in a state of trance. Zargo and Camilla attack them, but Aukon compels them to stop. He wants Adric as a Chosen One and Romana, a Time Lord, for sacrifice at the Arising, the first taste of revenge for their master, the "Great One."
In the TARDIS the Doctor discovers that the Great Vampires could only be defeated using specially designed ships which fired steel bolts that speared the monsters through the heart. Deep within the tower, he finds the last Great Vampire, about to be revived. The Doctor rigs one of the spaceship's old scout ships to launch and fall back toward the ground, driving itself into the heart of the subterranean Great One. With the Great One dispatched, the three vampire Lords crumble to dust.
The Doctor finds Romana and Adric and they leave the planet, hoping it will develop once again toward its former advanced state.
When the Sixth Doctor and Peri arrive in the 19th Century mining town of Killingworth, they encounter a group of rampaging miners attacking people and destroying machinery. The attacks are the work of two rogue Time Lords, The Master and the Rani. The Rani's experiments on her home planet of Miasimia Goria have left its inhabitants unable to sleep. In an attempt to fix the problem, she has begun harvesting brain fluid from the Killingworth miners and synthesising it back on Miasimia Goria. The Master wants to use the finest brains of the Industrial Revolution to help speed up Earth's development and use the planet as a powerbase.
The Doctor sneaks into the Rani's TARDIS, whose control room contains jars of preserved dinosaur embryos, and overhears Rani confessing to have laid landmines in nearby Redfern Dell. Simultaneously, Peri is using her botanical knowledge to make a sleeping draught for the afflicted miners, but her quest for herbs leads her to Redfern Dell. The Doctor then surprises the Master and the Rani, who are lurking at the edge of the Dell, and takes them prisoner with the Master's own Tissue Compression Eliminator. They attempt to flee in The Rani's TARDIS, but the Doctor has sabotaged the navigational system and velocity regulator, and the ship starts heading out of control. In the destabilised condition, one of the jars containing an embryo ''Tyrannosaurus Rex'' falls to the floor and the creature begins to grow. The Master and the Rani are "stuck" against one of the walls of the Rani's TARDIS due to the speed at which they are travelling and are helplessly at the mercy of the rapidly aging immature Tyrannosaurus.
The Doctor and Peri return the stolen brain fluid to prominent local citizens Lord Ravensworth and George Stephenson with instructions to administer it to the affected miners.