Whilst in flight, the TARDIS is attacked by the Rani, an amoral scientist and renegade Time Lord. The TARDIS crash-lands on the planet Lakertya. On the floor of the console room, the Sixth Doctor regenerates into the Seventh Doctor. In his post-regenerative confusion the Doctor is separated from Mel and tricked into assisting the Rani in her megalomaniac scheme to construct a giant time manipulator.

Lost on the barren surface of the planet, Mel has to avoid the Rani's ingenious traps and her monstrous, bat-like servants, the Tetraps. She joins forces with a rebel faction among the Lakertyans, desperate to end the Rani's control of their planet. The Doctor must recover his wits in time to avoid becoming a permanent part of the Rani's plan to collect the genius of the greatest scientific minds in the universe, of which she has captured many including Albert Einstein, in order that she can create a time manipulator, which would allow the Rani to control time anywhere in the universe, at the expense of all life on Lakertya.

The Doctor manages to foil her plan and free the Lakertyans of her evil control. The Rani escapes in her TARDIS, but it has been commandeered by the Tetraps, who take her prisoner. The Doctor takes all the captured geniuses on board his TARDIS so that he can return them home.

In Ancient Greece, King Agamemnon of Mycenae finally unites the Greek kingdoms after decades of warfare, forming a loose alliance under his rule. Achilles, a heroic Greek warrior who has given Agamemnon many victories, deeply despises him. Meanwhile, Prince Hector of Troy and his younger brother Paris negotiate a peace treaty with Menelaus, King of Sparta. However, Paris is having an affair with Menelaus' wife, Queen Helen, and smuggles her aboard their home-bound vessel. Upon learning of this, Menelaus meets with Agamemnon, his elder brother, and asks him to help take Troy. Agamemnon agrees, as conquering Troy will give him control of the Aegean Sea. Agamemnon has Odysseus, King of Ithaca, persuade Achilles to join them. Achilles eventually decides to go after his mother Thetis tells him that, though he will die, he will be forever glorified.

In Troy, King Priam welcomes Helen when Hector and Paris return home, and decides to prepare for war. The Greeks eventually invade and take the Trojan beach, thanks largely to Achilles and his Myrmidons. Achilles has the temple of Apollo sacked, and claims Briseis — a priestess and the cousin of Paris and Hector — as a prisoner. He is angered when Agamemnon spitefully takes her from him, and decides that he will not aid Agamemnon in the siege.

The Trojan and Greek armies meet outside the walls of Troy. During a parley, Paris offers to duel Menelaus for Helen's hand in exchange for the city being spared. Agamemnon, intending to take the city regardless of the outcome, accepts. Menelaus wounds Paris and almost kills him, but is himself killed by Hector who breaks the rules of mortal combat to save his brother. An enraged Agamemnon orders the Greeks to crush the Trojan army. In the ensuing battle, thousands of warriors engage in brutal combat. Hector spots and engages Ajax, who is killed by Hector after a fierce duel. Many Greek soldiers fall to the Trojan defenses, forcing Agamemnon to retreat. He gives Briseis to the Greek soldiers for their amusement, but Achilles saves her. Later that night, Briseis sneaks into Achilles' quarters to kill him; instead, she falls for him and they become lovers. Achilles then resolves to leave Troy, much to the dismay of Patroclus, his cousin and protégé.

Despite Hector's objections, Priam orders him to retake the Trojan beach and force the Greeks home, but the attack unifies the Greeks, and the Myrmidons enter the battle. Hector duels a man he believes to be Achilles and kills him, only to discover it was actually Patroclus. Distraught, both armies agree to stop fighting for the day. Achilles is informed of his cousin's death and vows revenge. Wary of Achilles, Hector shows his wife Andromache a secret tunnel beneath Troy. Should he die and the city fall, he instructs her to take their child and any survivors out of the city to Mount Ida.

The next day, Achilles arrives outside Troy and challenges Hector; the two duel until Hector is killed, and Achilles drags his corpse back to the Trojan beach. Priam sneaks into the camp and implores Achilles to return Hector's body for a proper funeral. Ashamed of his actions, Achilles agrees and allows Briseis to return to Troy with Priam, promising a twelve-day truce so that Hector's funeral rites may be held in peace. He also orders his men to return home without him.

Agamemnon declares that he will take Troy regardless of the cost. Concerned, Odysseus concocts a plan to infiltrate the city: he has the Greeks build a gigantic wooden horse as a peace offering and abandon the Trojan beach, hiding their ships in a nearby cove. Priam orders the horse be brought into the city. That night, Greeks hiding inside the horse emerge and open the city gates for the Greek army, commencing the Sack of Troy. While Andromache and Helen guide the Trojans to safety through the tunnel, Paris gives the Sword of Troy to Aeneas, instructing him to protect the Trojans and find them a new home. Agamemnon kills Priam and captures Briseis, who then kills Agamemnon. Achilles fights his way through the city and reunites with Briseis. Paris, seeking to avenge his brother, shoots an arrow through Achilles' heel and then several into his body. Achilles bids farewell to Briseis, and watches her flee with Paris before dying.

In the aftermath, Troy is finally taken by the Greeks and a funeral is held for Achilles, during which Odysseus personally cremates his body.

Driving through Alabama in their metallic mint-green 1964 Buick Skylark convertible, Bill Gambini and Stan Rothenstein, college students from New York who just got scholarships to UCLA, shop at a Sac-O-Suds convenience store and accidentally shoplift a can of tuna. After they leave, the store clerk is robbed and killed, and Bill and Stan are arrested for the murder. Due to circumstantial evidence and a confession to the shoplifting that is misconstrued as one to the shooting, Bill is charged with first-degree murder, and Stan as an accessory. Bill's mother reminds him there is an attorney in the family: his cousin Vinny Gambini. Vinny travels to Alabama, accompanied by his fiancée, Mona Lisa Vito. Although willing to take the case, Vinny is a personal injury lawyer from Brooklyn, newly admitted to the bar and with no trial experience.

Vinny manages to fool the trial judge, Chamberlain Haller, that he is experienced enough for the case. His ignorance of basic courtroom procedures and dress code, and his abrasive attitude, cause the judge to repeatedly hold him in contempt. Much to his clients' consternation, Vinny does not cross-examine any of the witnesses in the preliminary hearing. Except for lack of a murder weapon, it appears that the district attorney, Jim Trotter III, has a strong case. After Vinny's poor showing at the hearing, Stan fires him and uses the public defender, John Gibbons, and nearly convinces Bill to do the same. But in questioning the first witness, the public defender turns out to be extremely nervous, with a severe stutter, and his line of questioning actually assists the prosecution's case.

Despite his missteps, Vinny makes up for his inexperience with an aggressive and perceptive questioning style. When he cross-examines the first witness, he uses his newfound knowledge of the cooking time of grits to force him to admit that his perception of time may have been inaccurate, meaning he cannot corroborate the prosecution's timeline, and Bill and Stan's faith is restored. Stan fires the public defender and rehires Vinny, who proceeds to discredit the next two witnesses by questioning their ability to make a positive identification due to obstructions in their sightline and impaired vision.

On the trial's third day, Trotter produces a surprise witness, FBI analyst George Wilbur. Vinny immediately objects to the witness as Trotter failed to inform him properly ahead of time, but Haller overrules the objection. Wilbur testifies that the pattern and chemical analysis of the tire marks left at the crime scene are identical to the tires on Bill's Buick; in cross-examination Wilbur admits the tires on Bill's car are the most popular tires in America. Haller orders a lunch recess after Wilbur's testimony. Vinny asks for a full day's continuance to properly prepare for cross-examination, but Haller denies the request. With only the lunch recess to prepare and unable to come up with a strong line of questioning, Vinny lashes out at Lisa, but then realizes that one of her photos holds the key to the case: the flat and even tire marks going over the curb reveal that Bill's car could not have been used for the getaway.

After requesting a records search from the local sheriff, Vinny drags an angry Lisa into court to testify as an expert witness, since she comes from a family of auto mechanics and has an encyclopedic knowledge of cars. During Vinny's questioning, Lisa testifies that only a car with an independent rear suspension and Positraction could have made the tire marks, which rules out Bill's 1964 Buick Skylark. One model of car with these features is the similar-looking 1963 Pontiac Tempest, and because both Buick and Pontiac are owned by GM, the Pontiac Tempest was also available in metallic mint-green. Vinny recalls Wilbur, who confirms this information, effectively discrediting his own testimony. He then recalls the local sheriff, who testifies that two men who fit Bill and Stan's descriptions were just arrested in Georgia for driving a stolen metallic mint green Pontiac Tempest equipped with the same tires as Bill's car, and were in possession of a .357 magnum revolver which was the gun of the same caliber used to kill the clerk. After Vinny rests for the defense, Trotter dismisses all charges. The judge congratulates Vinny and, as they drive away, Vinny and Lisa bicker about their wedding plans.

Penny-pinching Gravis Mushnick owns a florist shop staffed by himself and two employees, the sweet Audrey Fulquard and the clumsy Seymour Krelborn. Located on skid row, the rundown shop gets little business. When Seymour fouls up a floral arrangement for sadistic dentist Dr. Farb, Mushnick fires him. Hoping to change his mind, Seymour tells him about a special plant he has grown from seeds he got from a "Japanese gardener over on Central Avenue." Seymour admits that he named the plant "Audrey Jr.", which delights the real Audrey.

Seymour fetches his sickly, odd-looking potted plant, but Mushnick is unimpressed. When it is suggested that Audrey Jr.'s uniqueness might attract people to see it, Mushnick gives Seymour one week to revive it. The usual kinds of plant food do not nourish the plant, but when Seymour accidentally pricks his finger, he discovers that the plant craves blood. Fed on Seymour's blood, Audrey Jr. begins to grow, and the shop's revenues increase when curious customers are lured in to see the plant. Mushnick tells Seymour to refer to him as "Dad" and calls Seymour his son in front of a customer.

The plant develops the ability to speak and demands that Seymour feed it. Now anemic, Seymour walks along the railroad track; when he carelessly throws a rock to vent his frustration, he inadvertently knocks out a drunken man who falls on the track and is run over by a train. He tries to get rid of the body by throwing it away and burying it in a yard but is nearly caught twice. Guilt-ridden but resourceful, Seymour decides to feed the mutilated body parts to Audrey Jr. Meanwhile, Mushnick returns to the shop to get some cash and secretly observes Seymour feeding the plant. Mushnick considers telling the police but procrastinates when he sees the line of people waiting to spend money at his shop the next day.

Seymour arrives the next morning suffering from a toothache; despite not going to the police, Mushnick still confronts Seymour about Audrey Jr.'s eating habits; while not explicitly revealing what he knows about the plant. Seymour grows increasingly distressed as he realizes that his boss is onto him. After finishing his rant, Mushnick sends Seymour to the dentist; soon after, Audrey runs up and declares that the shop needs many more flowers. When Seymour visits Dr. Farb, the doctor tries to get even for his ruined flowers and attempts to kill him. Seymour, defending himself, grabs a sharp tool and stabs and kills Farb. Although horrified, Seymour feeds Farb's body to Audrey Jr. The unexplained disappearances of the two men attract the attention of Sergeant Joe Fink and his assistant Officer Frank Stoolie.

Audrey Jr. has grown several feet tall and is budding, as is the relationship between Seymour and Audrey. A representative of the Society of Silent Flower Observers of Southern California comes to the shop and announces that Seymour will receive a trophy and that she will return when the plant's buds open. While Seymour and Audrey go on a date, Mushnick stays at the shop to see that Audrey Jr. harms no one else.

While tending to his shop, Mushnick finds himself at the mercy of a robber who pretended to be a customer earlier that day and believes that the huge crowds he observed at the shop indicate the presence of a large amount of money. Mushnick tricks the deranged robber into thinking that the money is where the plant is, which crushes and eats him after Mushnick maneuvers him close enough to it. When Seymour is forced to damage his relationship with Audrey to keep her from discovering the plant's nature, he confronts the plant and asserts that he will no longer do its bidding. The plant then hypnotizes Seymour and commands him to bring it more food. He wanders the night streets and (accidentally) knocks out a streetwalker, who he takes to feed Audrey Jr. Lacking clues about the mysterious disappearances of the two men, Fink and Stoolie attend a sunset celebration at the shop during which Seymour is to be presented with the trophy and Audrey Jr.'s buds are expected to open.

As the attendees watch, four buds open; inside each flower is the face of one of the plant's victims. Fink and Stoolie realize that Seymour is the murderer; he flees from the shop with the officers in pursuit. He manages to lose them and make his way back to the now-empty shop, where he blames Audrey Jr. for ruining his life, but the plant instead asks to be fed. Seymour grabs a kitchen knife and climbs into Audrey Jr.'s maw saying, "I'll feed you like you've never been fed before!", apparently attempting to kill the plant. Later that evening, it is discovered that Audrey Jr. has begun to wither and die. One last bud opens to reveal Seymour's face. He pitifully moans, "I didn't mean it," and the flower droops.

Series 1

From episode three, "Abide with Me", Wolfie Smith (Robert Lindsay) lives, with his religious, teetotal friend Ken Mills (Mike Grady), in a flat in the house of his girlfriend's family — Shirley Johnson (Cheryl Hall, at the time Lindsay's wife); her affable but naïve mother, Florence, who mistakenly calls Wolfie "Foxy"; and her strict, right-wing father, Charlie, who disapproves of Smith's lifestyle and refers to him as a "flaming yeti" or "Chairman Mao". Shirley considers herself engaged to Wolfie, on account of a fake crocodile tooth necklace he gave her after she was asked when they would get engaged.

Other regular characters in the series are the other "urban guerrillas": Tucker (married to the ever-pregnant but never-seen June); Speed, the TPF's Warlord, and his girlfriend Desiree; and local gangster publican Harry Fenning (played by Stephen Greif), who refers to Wolfie as "Trotsky". Wolfie and the TPF frequent Harry's pub, The Vigilante, and are at times menaced by Harry's hired muscle Floyd and Cyril (played by Dana Michie and Barry Hayes), who are referred to by Florence as "Mr Fenning's foster children".

The closest Wolfie comes to legitimate political office is contesting the Tooting North constituency as the TPF candidate at a parliamentary by-election, whose election night declaration is televised; however, he gains only six votes, losing to the Conservative candidate David West. He and the gang attempt to kidnap the new MP from a victory celebration, only to mistakenly capture Harry Fenning (who was leaving the Conservative Club during the occasion) instead (Episode 6 - "The Hostage").

Series 2

Series two consists of six episodes; however, owing to industrial action at the BBC on 22 December 1978, one episode ("Spanish Fly") had to be rescheduled as a special in August 1979.

Series 3

"The Glorious Day", which Wolfie had always been plotting, comes at the end of the third series, in an episode of the same name, in which the Tooting Popular Front "liberate" a Scorpion tank and use it to invade the Houses of Parliament, only to find the place empty, owing to a parliamentary recess. During the TPF's "annual manoeuvres" on Salisbury Plain, Wolfie, Ken, Tucker and Speed decide to camp down after an evening of heavy drinking; unbeknownst to them, they are in the middle of a military live firing area. During the night, the British Army hold an exercise, and the Scorpion is "abandoned" by its crew after being declared "knocked out" by a "landmine" during a training exercise. When Wolfie and his comrades discover this, Wolfie comes up with his revolutionary plan. Speed states that he learned to drive a Scorpion during his time in the Territorial Army, at which point the group steal it and drive it back to London.

On returning, they hide it in Charlie Johnson's garage. Charlie comes home from work and opens the garage door to park his car. Curious as to the purpose of the Scorpion parked amongst the garden tools, he climbs down inside and accidentally steps on the machine-gun fire button. The result is that their neat garden is raked with heavy machine-gun fire, narrowly missing his wife Florence who is hanging out the washing, and annihilating their garden gnomes. This episode also includes a new song from John Sullivan and sung by Robert Lindsay — "We are the TPF. We are the People."

Series three consists of seven episodes.

Series 4

The series began with Wolfie and company being paroled, a brief flirtation at being pop stars on the back of their "fame" ended in disaster. While the TPF have been away, a new gangster, Ronnie Lynch, has usurped Fenning's position in Tooting, including his old pub. Wolfie hates him more than he did Fenning, and after various run-ins with Lynch (who constantly refers to Wolfie as "Wally"), the series was concluded in the penultimate episode, with Wolfie fleeing Tooting to escape a £6,000 contract put on his head by Ronnie Lynch after Lynch had caught Wolfie in his wife Mandy's bedroom. Closing with a shot mirroring the opening credits, Wolfie is seen entering Tooting Broadway tube station. Series four consisted of seven episodes and a Christmas special, "Buon Natale", in which Wolfie and Ken ride to Rimini on Wolfie's Lambretta to visit Shirley for the festive period, only to find that she has become romantically involved with an Italian named Paolo. This episode was shown after the series officially ended, but is set before the events of the last episode.

Act I

The young woman '''Charity Hope Valentine''' is a taxi dancer at a dance hall called the Fandango Ballroom in New York City. With a shoulder bag and a heart tattooed on her left shoulder, Charity meets her boyfriend Charlie in Central Park. While Charlie silently preens himself, Charity speaks the pick-up lines she imagines him saying, and tells him how handsome he is ("You Should See Yourself"). Charlie then steals her handbag and pushes her into the lake (usually the orchestra pit) before running off. Passers-by discuss the apparent drowning but do nothing, until a young Spaniard finally rescues her. In the Hostess Room of the Fandango Ballroom, Charity tries to convince both herself and the other skeptical taxi dancers that Charlie tried to save her. Nickie, a fellow dancer, tells Charity that “your big problem is you run your heart like a hotel – you got guys checkin’ in and out all the time”. The manager, Herman, arrives to tell them it is time for work. The hostess dancers proposition the audience in the front room of the Fandango Ballroom ("Big Spender"). Helene and Nickie try to comfort Charity about Charlie's absence ("Charity's Soliloquy").

On the street, after work, Charity gives to every beggar who approaches her until she realizes she has no money. Just then, film star Vittorio Vidal rushes out of the smart Pompeii Club, in pursuit of his beautiful mistress, Ursula. Ursula refuses to go back inside with Vittorio, who promptly takes the only-too-willing Charity instead. Inside the Pompeii Club, the dancers are dancing the latest craze, The Rich Man's Frug. To everyone's astonishment, the famous Vittorio is accompanied by the unknown Charity. She tries to steer him away from the subject of Ursula. Finally, he wants to dance. Not having eaten since breakfast, Charity faints. There is general agreement amongst the dancers that she needs to be "laid down". Vittorio asks "where?", and Charity recovers enough to prompt Vittorio with "your apartment!".

Lying down on Vittorio's bed, Charity claims she is no longer hungry. She admits she is a dance hall hostess, putting it down to "the fickle finger of fate" (a favorite expression of hers). Vittorio is struck by her humor and honesty. Starstruck, Charity asks for a signed photograph to prove to the girls she was really in his apartment. While Vittorio fetches props from his old movies for further evidence, Charity remarks on her good fortune ("If My Friends Could See Me Now"). Ursula arrives to apologize for her jealousy; Charity is swiftly bundled into a closet before Vittorio opens the door to Ursula. ("Too Many Tomorrows") While Charity watches from the closet, Vittorio and Ursula make love inside his four-poster bed. The following morning, Charity is escorted from the room by a mortified Vittorio. In the Hostess Room, the girls are disappointed that Charity failed to get more out of Vittorio. Nickie announces she is not going to remain at this job for the rest of her life, prompting the girls to speculate on alternative careers ("There's Gotta Be Something Better Than This"), but Herman brings them back down to earth. Charity decides to seek some cultural enlightenment at the 92nd Street Y, where she gets stuck in a broken elevator with shy tax accountant Oscar Lindquist. While trying to calm him down, Charity learns that he is not married. She declares, "Oh Oscar... You're gonna be all right." After helping Oscar overcome his claustrophobia ("I'm the Bravest Individual"), the pair are plunged into new panic when the lights stop working.

Act II

After being trapped in a broken elevator, Oscar and Charity are finally rescued when it starts working again. Oscar invites Charity to go to church with him, to which she hesitantly agrees. As they walk under the Manhattan Bridge to the church, the faint cries of the next person to be stuck in the elevator are heard. The Rhythm of Life Church turns out to be a thin veneer on hippie culture ("The Rhythm of Life"). A police raid breaks up the meeting. Traveling home on the subway, Oscar proposes another date and tries to guess Charity's job, deciding that she works in a bank. Charity lies, saying she works for First National City, Williamsburg Branch. As they part, Oscar kisses her hand, and dubs her Sweet Charity ("Sweet Charity").

After two weeks, Oscar and Charity have continued dating, and she still has not confessed what she actually does for a living. At Coney Island Amusement Park they become trapped again when the Parachute Jump ride breaks. This time, Oscar is the calm one while Charity is scared — scared that she is starting to depend on him. Once again, Charity loses her nerve about telling him what her real job is. As the crowd looks on, the couple kisses. On a slow night at the Fandango, Charity loses the opportunity to snare one of the few customers to a new co-worker, Rosie. Disgusted by the whole business, she quits. However, in Times Square, she wonders what the alternative is ("Where Am I Going?"). Sending a telegram to Oscar, she asks to meet him at Barney's Chile Hacienda. She admits that she is a dance hall hostess; he admits he already knows, having followed her one night and watched her dancing. He says he does not care and wants to marry her. Relieved and elated, Charity leaves ("I'm A Brass Band") and packs a suitcase on which is printed 'Almost Married'.

After a farewell party at the Ballroom ("I Love to Cry at Weddings"), Charity and Oscar walk in the park, whereupon Oscar announces that he cannot go through with the wedding, saying he is unable to stop thinking about the "other men". Eventually, believing he’s sparing her an unhappy life with him, he pushes her into the lake and runs off. Emerging from the lake, Charity, speaking directly to the audience, asks "Did you ever have one of ''those'' days?". Realizing that unlike Charlie, Oscar has not stolen her bag, she shrugs and reprises her opening dance.

The stage blacks out onto three neon signs, reading "And so she lived … ''hopefully'' … ever after".

While looking for clues about his missing father Nagi, Negi Springfield becomes the English and homeroom teacher for Mahora Academy Class 2A (later 3A). Negi soon becomes acquainted with most of his new students including his roommates Asuna Kagurazaka and Konoka Konoe. Negi faces his first real challenge in his student Evangeline A.K. McDowell who is an immortal vampiress and one of his father's enemies. To help Negi confront Eva, Asuna agrees to become his temporary partner by performing a "Pactio", a kind of magical contract sealed with a kiss.

After dealing with Evangeline, Negi takes the class on a trip to Kyoto while searching for more information on his father's whereabouts but is forced to fight against Eastern mages aiming to kidnap Konoka with the help of other students who also become his partners including Nodoka Miyazaki, Konoka's childhood friend Setsuna Sakurazaki, and lastly with Konoka herself. The arc also introduces Fate Averruncus, another mage who looks to be around Negi's age but proves himself to be far stronger than him. Seeing his own weakness after the events in Kyoto, Negi begins to train with several students in order to become stronger while Kotaro Inugami, one of the foes he confronted there unexpectedly reappears and finds himself a family with Negi's students Natsumi and Chizuru. Kotaro also joins Negi against Wilheim, an old evil from the past who like Fate Averruncus, seems to be a pawn of an even stronger enemy.

During Mahora's cultural festival, Negi manages to partake in simultaneous events thanks to his student Chao Lingshen's latest invention, the time machine ''Casseopeia''. One of these events is the "Mahora Martial Arts Tournament" where he confronts a series of increasingly stronger enemies including a former member of "Ala Rubra" (Crimson Wing), a legendary brigade led by his father. After the tournament, Negi takes part in more activities at the festival until Chao she reveals herself as a time-traveler who claims she must change the present to avert a great catastrophe in the future. Despite that, Negi and his allies confront Chao and stop her. After giving, Chao bids farewell before returning to her own time.

After the festival, Negi decides to go to the Mundus Magicus (Magic World) to look for his father. His partners decide to accompany him and together they form their own brigade, the Ala Alba (White Wing). They are joined by Negi's childhood friend Anya and accidentally by other students who are oblivious to his secret. As they arrive, the team is ambushed by a group of mysterious enemies led by Fate Averruncus, leaving Negi and his group defeated and scattered across Mundus Magicus. After meeting Jack Rakan, another member of Ala Rubra, Negi decides to train in order to become stronger and specializes in Dark Magic, like Evangeline. Meanwhile, Negi's lost companions start to learn the ropes of their new environment and eventually reunite with him.

During another clash with Fate and his companions, Asuna is captured by the enemy and held captive along with Anya, with a body double posing as the real Asuna. Later Negi has an encounter with Kurt Gödel, a former member of Ala Rubra who reveals to him the story of his parents including how his mother was unjustly tried and sentenced to death before being saved by Nagi at the brink of her execution. He also learns that the Magic World is actually a magically created, inhabitable version of Mars, and just like the world itself, the majority of its inhabitants are created by magic. During another clash with Fate, Negi also learns that the main objective of his group "Cosmo Entelecheia" is to make use of Asuna's secret powers to erase the magically created inhabitants of Mundus Magicus and transfer the rest of its population to Earth before it eventually collapses.

By joining forces with the various armies of the Magic World, the members of Ala Alba storm Cosmo Entelecheia's stronghold where Asuna and Anya are being held captive, to stop their plans. During the confrontation a magic gate is opened to Earth just above Mahora, having Negi's remaining students who stayed behind along with the academy's faculty members joining the fight. After rescuing Asuna and convincing Fate to accept a plan to save the people of the Magic World without the need of any sacrifices, Negi discovers that the true leader of Cosmo Entelecheia is none other than his father Nagi, possessed by the Mage of the Beginning, who vanishes after asking his son to look for him and release him once and for all.

After being celebrated as heroes for stopping Cosmo Entelecheia, Negi and his friends return to the academy, but instead of resuming his duties as a teacher, Negi leaves Fate as his substitute and with the help of some of his students he starts working on his plan to terraform Mars for the people of the decaying Magic World to relocate there. The plan involves sealing Asuna's body for one hundred years, and she bids farewell to Negi and the other students after she graduates from middle school. Waking up 30 years after the estimated time, Asuna finds that Negi's plan was a success and that Negi and all her classmates had happy and bountiful lives, but had long since died, all except for the immortal Evangeline, and Chao who exists in this time and has since invented a device to jump between realities. These two appear before Asuna to take her back to the present so she can live out her days with Negi and the others.

The plot mirrors the disorientation felt by director René Vidal during a troubled production of a film-within-a-film. Maggie Cheung has been cast to play the film's heroine, Irma Vep, a burglar and a spy, who spends most of the film dressed in a tight, black, latex rubber catsuit, defending René's odd choices to hostile crew members and journalists. Irma Vep, it is explained, is an anagram for ''vampire'', but she is not a literal vampire. Rather, she is the inspiration for a criminal gang named The Vampires, as in Feuillade's original serial.

René, the cast and crew view the film's dailies and he angrily declares the footage terrible and soulless. After he storms out, everyone else quickly departs the facility, leaving Maggie stranded. She accepts an invitation from the costume designer, Zoé, to a group dinner with other crew members. There, Zoé confides to another woman that she is romantically interested in Maggie, which the woman then tells Maggie, embarrassing her.

After the dinner with the other crew members, Maggie visits René at a hotel in the aftermath of a violent episode with his wife. René admits that he had mainly wanted to make the film because he desired to see her in it. Later that evening, Maggie, apparently possessed by her character, dons the catsuit and steals jewelry from a hotel suite while a nude woman argues on the phone with her boyfriend. She then throws away the jewelry.

The next morning, Zoé picks an exhausted Maggie up from her hotel room. René is a no-show on the set, and the crew attempt to film without him. At the end of the day, imperious film director José Mirano meets Maggie's costar Laure at a bar and tells her René has had a breakdown and that he has been hired to complete the film. He firmly contends that a Chinese actress should not be playing Irma Vep, who he sees as an icon within French culture. José tells her he intends to replace Maggie with Laure.

Zoé and Maggie take a taxi to a rave, but Maggie declines to go at the last minute and departs in the taxi. Zoé, looking disappointed, walks through the crowd at the rave.

José and the cast and crew gather at the screening facility to view the rushes that René has personally edited. Maggie is not there, however, and it is said that she has left for America to work on a film with Ridley Scott. The film ends with the rushes, which have been cut into a hallucinatory montage with numerous scratches and other modifications being done to the film itself. The future of the production is not revealed.

In the year 2009, Yuji Kaido is an average young adult male diagnosed with a serious disease (the "B-cells") and is put into cryogenic stasis until a cure is found. Twenty-two years later, he is awakened in the midst of a raging battle between armored soldiers and insectoid beings called the "Blue" which have overrun the Earth.

The soldiers are from an orbiting space colony collectively called Second Earth and were ordered to recover "sleepers" around the Earth. Among them is Marlene Angel, who at first appears to be heartless toward others. On the journey to Second Earth, Yuji meets many of the humans that were left behind during the evacuation due to limited resources. Standing orders for Marlene and the other troops are to consider any human survivors on the surface to be already dead, which greatly troubles Yuji.

On their journey, all of the soldiers are killed except for Marlene, causing Yuji to fall into a deep depression as he recognizes the destruction around him and his own inability to save those he cares about. During their travel to Baikonur space base through the mountains, Yuji and Marlene start to develop a bond that softens her sharp edges.

Upon reaching Baikonur, Yuji and Marlene come across another group of soldiers and devise a battle plan to get back to Second Earth. During the operation, Marlene becomes the last surviving pilot and is about to be completely overrun by the Blue. However, just when she is going to self-detonate her Armored Shrike, Yuji, determined not to leave her behind, comes to her rescue with a team of reprogrammed automaton attack sentries. Marlene is overwhelmed by Yuji's efforts to save her. During the shuttle flight to Second Earth, the two expose their emotions for each other, but they are abruptly interrupted when a mutated Blue that had had hid in the shuttle attacks Yuji, critically injuring him.

Yuji and Marlene are separated upon arriving at Second Earth, and Marlene is sent back into training at the education station. Not knowing what happened after he was attacked, Marlene rebels and is bent on finding Yuji. When she does, she finds he has healed and is being trained to use a new specialized "sleeper"-specific Armor Shrike (AS) called the "Double Edge", a battlesuit that is much stronger than the originals used in the war against the Blue. It is revealed that Yuji's illness is the key to destroying the Blue and taking back the planet. He and the other "Sleepers" have "B-cells" which are also the genetic makeup of the Blue.

After intensive training, Yuji and Marlene return to Earth with two other Sleepers named Tony Frost and Alicia Whistle. Tony is an inexperienced AS pilot, but his B-cells give him great AS skills. Alicia is only a young teenager with no combat experience and not much sense of what is going on around her. They and the other forces of Second Earth battle the Blue, successfully destroying a few of the largest nests before they return to Second Earth. However, the battles begin to have a negative effect on Yuji, who has very little regard for human life and is completely obsessed with being better than Tony at killing the Blue. Yuji's actions deeply concern Marlene and she begins to realize something is wrong.

Shortly after returning to Second Earth, the High Council orders the Sleepers on a second offensive against the Blue. Marlene becomes separated from Yuji once again, but in his current state, he does not seem to care. As the Sleepers are carrying out their mission, a battle on Second Earth between two factions is waged. Seno Miyagi, director of Second Earth's science division, leads the "Ark" rebellion and seizes control of the military, lunar resources, and education stations of Second Earth from the High Council, who escape to and retains control of the medical station. Marlene learns about the nature of the illness that put Yuji in stasis, the source of his abilities, and the source of the Blue: they are a defense mechanism enacted by the Earth to purge the existence of humanity, and the B-cells that exist in the Sleepers could become a potential threat to humanity as well.

After the Ark successfully takes over Second Earth from the High Council, Marlene heads down to Earth in search of Yuji. When she finds him, his B-cells are already beginning to activate, and he begins to go berserk as a killing machine. After struggling with him, Marlene is finally able to get through to Yuji and helps him overcome his madness by showing her human emotions and feelings for him. Meanwhile, Tony and an unknowing Alicia have also abandoned the remaining ground forces. The troops fend off waves of Blue before escaping with the few remaining survivors. Tony and a now brainwashed Alicia also eventually return to Second Earth but bring with them several Blue when they board the medical station.

When Yuji and Marlene return to Second Earth, they find that Tony plans to ram the medical station into the military station, which would therefore destroy the heart of Second Earth. He sees this as the "Grand Will of the Earth", in which he will become a "messiah" and cleanse the planet of humanity forever. However, Yuji, Marlene, and a group of other soldiers infiltrate the station and manage to free Alicia's mind after injuring her. Later, Yuji and Marlene confront and eliminate Tony, while Rick, a close friend of theirs, is slaughtered by a Blue. Alicia ventures back to Tony to die with him as the military destroys the medical station.

After the decision by Seno's junta to abandon Earth, Yuji becomes depressed and contemplates his existence, wondering what he has been fighting for, why he was woken, why he cannot save his friends, and what is truly Earth's will. However, Marlene again is able to get through to Yuji; the two realize they need each other, and finally become lovers.

Yuji decides to return to Earth to find out what Earth's will is. After learning from Seno about a new migration pattern of the Blue, Yuji and Marlene take a group of volunteers and head to an area where a massive nest is located. There they find a group of humans surviving in the area. The nest seems impenetrable at first, but they eventually find an entrance with the help of the local people.

The entrance leads to a tunnel where the walls, ceiling, and floor of the cavern are composed of fossil-like Blue. The team finally comes upon a crystal formation in a massive cavern. A huge Blue is birthed from the gel substance sitting atop the formation and kills everyone except for Yuji and Marlene. Yuji kills it and comes to the conclusion that the sphere will hold the answers he seeks. He sends Marlene, who is pregnant with their child, to the surface to wait for him. He then gets a vision and can see what the Earth itself can see. Yuji comes to understand how mankind can live alongside the B-cells and returns to Marlene.

Meanwhile, Second Earth's military station's citizens revolt against Seno. The station's personnel abandon the station for Earth via shuttles. Eventually, a firefight erupts over the last remaining overcrowded shuttle, and the station is destroyed by a massive explosion. All around the world from former Blue Nests, long strings of coalescing energy ascends into Earth's atmosphere and form a ring. Yuji and Marlene watch this, realizing Earth is now safe, and look forward to the rest of their lives together as the sun sets. A final view of the Earth from space is shown with a slightly garbled narration, presumably by the Earth, stating, "Welcome to your next journey".

Several years after the events of ''The Legend of Zelda'', the now-16-year-old Link notices a strange mark on the back of his left hand, exactly like the crest of Hyrule. He seeks out Impa, who takes him to the North Castle, where a door has been magically sealed for generations. Impa places the back of Link's left hand on the door, and it opens, revealing a sleeping maiden. Impa tells Link that the maiden is Zelda (not the Zelda from the first game), the princess of Hyrule from long ago, and the origin of the titular "Legend of Zelda". Zelda's brother tried to force her into telling their recently deceased father's secrets concerning the Triforce. Princess Zelda refused to reveal its location, and the prince's wizard friend, in anger, tried to strike her down with a spell. Zelda fell under a powerful sleeping spell, but the wizard was unable to control the wildly arcing magic and was killed by it. The prince, filled with remorse and unable to reverse the spell, had his sister placed in the castle tower, hoping she would one day be awakened. He decreed that princesses born to the royal family from that point on would be named Zelda, in remembrance of this tragedy.

Impa says that the mark on Link's hand means that he is the hero chosen to awaken Zelda. She gives Link a chest containing six crystals and ancient writings that only a great future king of Hyrule can read. Link finds that he can read the document, even though he has never seen the language before; it indicates that the crystals must be set into statues within six palaces scattered across Hyrule. This will open the way to the Great Palace, which contains the Triforce of Courage. Only the power of the combined Triforces can awaken Zelda. Taking the crystals, Link sets out to restore them to their palaces. Meanwhile, Ganon's followers seek to kill Link, as sprinkling his blood on Ganon's ashes will bring Ganon back to life.

Ultimately, Link restores the crystals to the six palaces and enters the Great Palace. After venturing deep inside, Link battles the last of the guardians, a flying creature known as Thunderbird. Afterwards, his true heart is tested by fighting his own shadow (aka doppelgänger Dark Link). Link then claims the Triforce of Courage and returns to Zelda. The three triangles unite into the Triforce, and Link's wish awakens Zelda.

''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' tells the tale of Yugi Mutou, a timid young boy who loves all sorts of games, but is often bullied around. One day, he solves an ancient puzzle known as the , causing his body to play host to a mysterious spirit with the personality of a gambler. From that moment onwards, whenever Yugi or one of his friends is threatened by those with darkness in their hearts, this other Yugi shows himself and challenges them to dangerous which reveal the true nature of someone's heart, the losers of these contests often being subjected to a dark punishment called a . Whether it be cards, dice, or role-playing board games, he will take on challenges from anyone, anywhere.

As the series progresses, Yugi and his friends learn that this person inside of his puzzle is actually the spirit of a nameless Pharaoh from Ancient Egyptian times, who had lost his memories. As Yugi and his companions attempt to help the Pharaoh regain his memories, they find themselves going through many trials as they wager their lives facing off against gamers that wield the mysterious and the dark power of the Shadow Games.

After breaking out of jail in a small Mexican town, a ruthless criminal, nicknamed Azul, ventures off with a guitar case full of weapons and vows revenge on the local drug lord, Moco, who had him arrested in the first place. Meanwhile, a young musician arrives in town carrying his own guitar case which contains his signature guitar. He hopes to find work in the town in order to pursue his dream of becoming a mariachi like his father.

From the confines of his heavily guarded villa on the outskirts of town, Moco sends a large group of hitmen to kill Azul. They are told to look for a man who is wearing black and carrying a guitar case, but because the Mariachi also matches this description, the hitmen mistake him for Azul and start pursuing him. Only Moco, however, knows Azul's actual face. The Mariachi is then forced to kill four of the attackers in self-defense after being chased through the streets. As the Mariachi seeks refuge in a bar owned by a beautiful woman named Dominó, he quickly falls in love with her. Unfortunately, Moco is not only financing the bar, but also has his own romantic interest in Dominó.

When Azul visits the bar for a beer and information about Moco, he accidentally leaves with the Mariachi's guitar case. Moco's thugs capture Azul on the street but release him when they learn that the case he is carrying contains only a guitar. A short time later, the Mariachi is captured and taken to Moco, who identifies him as the wrong man and sets him free.

Meanwhile, Azul, who has no directions to Moco's home, takes Dominó with him and orders her to take him to Moco's, or Moco will kill the mariachi. Dominó agrees to save the Mariachi's life. When they arrive at Moco's gated compound, Azul pretends to take Dominó hostage in order to gain entry. Moco soon realizes that Dominó has fallen for the Mariachi and, in a fit of rage, shoots both her and Azul. Suddenly, the Mariachi arrives to find the woman he loves gunned down. Moco then shoots the Mariachi's left hand, rendering him useless as a guitar player, and proceeds to taunt and laugh at the Mariachi. Overcome with grief and rage, the Mariachi picks up Azul's gun with his right hand and kills Moco, avenging Dominó's death. Moco's surviving henchmen, seeing their leader dead, walk off carelessly and leave Moco's body and the wounded Mariachi behind.

The Mariachi leaves the town on Dominó's motorbike, taking her pit bull and her letter-opener as mementos of her. His dreams to become a mariachi have been shattered, and his only protection for his future are Azul's former weapons, which he takes along in the guitar case. He rides off into the sunset.

Annie Clarke and Chris Harper live in the village of Knapely, where they spend much time at the local Women's Institute and with each other. When Annie's husband, John, is diagnosed with terminal leukaemia, Chris regularly visits them at the hospital.

Chris complains about the uncomfortable couch in the waiting room. After noticing a "girlie" calendar in a local mechanics shop, she hits upon an idea to raise funds to buy a new sofa. She proposes producing a calendar featuring members of the Knapely branch of the Women's Institute discreetly posing nude while engaged in traditional WI activities, such as baking and knitting.

Chris's proposal initially is met with skepticism, but she eventually convinces nine additional women to participate in the project with her and Annie. They enlist Lawrence, a hospital worker and amateur photographer, to help with the project. The women are all quite shy, but they support each other, overcoming their fears.

The head of the local Women's Institute branch refuses to sanction the calendar, so Chris and Annie plead their case to the national congress of the Women's Institute in London. They are told the final decision rests with the local leader, who grudgingly agrees to the calendar's sale.

The initial printing of 500 quickly sells out and gains national and international media attention. The women are invited, all expenses paid, to appear on ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' in Los Angeles. Initially Chris is convinced to not go, to watch after her troubled teen by Annie, but a scandalous story about her in a gossip rag by a paparazzi-journalist causes her to follow them to L.A.

The publicity surrounding the calendar eventually takes a toll on their personal lives and, during a photo shoot, tension boils over, Chris and Annie angrily clash. Annie accuses Chris of ignoring her husband and son and the demands of the family business in favour of newfound celebrity; Chris believes Annie revels in her Mother Teresa-like status of catering to the ill and bereaved who have bombarded her with fan mail.

All is resolved eventually, and the women resume their normal, pre-calendar lives.

Before the credits, it is shown that they made over half a million pounds with the calendars and with the proceeds built a special leukemia wing on their local hospital.

After an introduction by the wolf, the plot loosely follows the traditional story of the three little pigs. The first pig, using a prefabricated home kit, erects a wire structure, then quickly covers it with straw. The second pig uses hundreds of matches to make up his house, though when he puts the last match in place on the roof, the entire building collapses. The third pig goes through the tedious task of laying bricks for his house.

Satisfied with their homes, the first two pigs dance around, act silly, and laugh with each other; the first pig plays a violin, and the second pig a flute. The wolf arrives dressed as a gypsy, and sets about, through dance, trying to lure the first two pigs into a position to be captured. The pigs are suspicious and, when the wolf thinks he has them, the pigs instead rough him up and emerge each wearing parts of his costume; they briefly dance until the wolf approaches threateningly. He chases them to the straw house, which he incinerates in seconds with a lit match. The pigs flee to the match house. Though it has a front door, it is still in a state of collapse; the pigs speedily pile the matches up to form a house, then the wolf drops one last match onto the roof and it all falls apart. The pigs race to the brick house. The wolf attempts to bash in the front door, then resorts to huffing and puffing to blow the house down (to which the pigs respond by offering Lusterine mouthwash), but he fails. The wolf sets up to run at the front door; the three pigs work together to squelch this effort.

The third pig is not thrilled to have the other two in his house, especially when they again begin dancing around with their instruments, acting silly and laughing. Then, they notice an apparently homeless woman (the wolf) outside the window, playing a violin in the snow. The 'snow' is actually talcum powder held on a stick above the wolf's head. The first two pigs take pity and push the third pig (who realizes it is the wolf) away from the door to let the despondent person in. The wolf continues the deception and continues playing the violin. The third pig, upon peeking under the clothing and seeing that the wolf has a record player on his back, flips the record over. Fast-paced music begins and the wolf dances to it but loses his costume as a result. The wolf then chases the pigs up to the second floor of the house. The pigs make their escape in an elevator, but when the wolf tries to use it he drops into an empty shaft. The wolf is unaware that he is falling, but rather thinks he is riding the elevator down. He politely doffs his hat as gentlemen in an elevator did back in the 1940s and just stands there politely looking up. After a long fall, the doors open and he falls at the feet of the pigs as the cartoon irises out.

Throughout the short, the pigs' motions are synchronized to the music.

''Quicksilver''

The first book is a series of flashbacks from 1713 to the earlier life of Daniel Waterhouse. It begins as Enoch Root arrives in Boston in October 1713 to deliver a letter to Daniel containing a summons from Princess Caroline. She wants Daniel to return to England and attempt to repair the feud between Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz. While following Daniel's decision to return to England and board a Dutch ship (the ''Minerva'') to cross the Atlantic, the book flashes back to when Enoch and Daniel each first met Newton. During the flashbacks, the book refocuses on Daniel's life between 1661 and 1673.

While attending school at Trinity College, Cambridge, Daniel becomes Newton's companion, ensuring that Newton does not harm his health and assisting in his experiments. However, the plague of 1665 forces them apart: Newton returns to his family manor and Daniel to the outskirts of London. Daniel quickly tires of the radical Puritan rhetoric of his father, Drake Waterhouse, and decides to join Reverend John Wilkins and Robert Hooke at John Comstock's Epsom estate.

There Daniel takes part in a number of experiments, including the exploration of the diminishing effects of gravity with changes in elevation, the transfusion of blood between dogs and Wilkins' attempts to create a philosophical language. Daniel soon becomes disgusted with some of the practices of the older natural philosophers (which include vivisection of animals) and visits Newton during his experiments with color and white light. They attempt to return to Cambridge, but again plague expels the students. Daniel returns to his father; however, his arrival on the outskirts of London coincides with the second day of the Fire of London. Drake, taken by religious fervour, dies atop his house as the King blows it up to create a fire break to prevent further spread of the fire. Soon after Drake's death, Newton and Daniel return to Cambridge and begin lecturing.

A flashforward finds Daniel's ship under attack by the fleet of Edward Teach (Blackbeard) in 1713. Then the story returns to the past as Daniel and Newton return to London: Newton is under the patronage of Louis Anglesey, the Earl of Upnor, and Daniel becomes secretary of the Royal Society when Henry Oldenburg is detained by the King for his active foreign correspondence. During his stint in London, Daniel encounters a number of important people from the period. Daniel remains one of the more prominent people in the Royal Society, close to Royal Society members involved in court life and politics. By 1672 both Daniel and Newton become fellows at Trinity College where they build an extensive alchemical laboratory which attracts other significant alchemists including John Locke and Robert Boyle. Daniel convinces Newton to present his work on calculus to the Royal Society.

In 1673, Daniel meets Leibniz in England and acts as his escort, leading him to meetings with important members of British society. Soon, Daniel gains the patronage of Roger Comstock as his architect. While under Roger's patronage, the actress Tess becomes Daniel's mistress both at court and in bed. Finally the book returns to 1713, where Daniel's ship fends off several of Teach's pirate ships. Soon they find out that Teach is after Daniel alone; however, with the application of trigonometry, the ship is able to escape the bay and the pirate band.

The King of the Vagabonds

''The King of Vagabonds'' focuses on the travels of "Half-Cocked" Jack Shaftoe. It begins by recounting Jack's childhood in the slums outside London where he pursued many disreputable jobs, including hanging from the legs of hanged men to speed their demise. The book then jumps to 1683, when Jack travels to the Battle of Vienna to participate in the European expulsion of the Turks. While attacking the camp, Jack encounters Eliza, a European slave in the sultan's harem, about to be killed by janissaries. He kills the janissaries and loots the area, taking ostrich feathers and acquiring a Turkish warhorse which he calls Turk. The two depart from the camp of the victorious European army and travel through Bohemia into the Palatinate. To sell the ostrich feathers at a high price, they decide to wait until the spring fair in Leipzig. Jack and Eliza spend the winter near a cave warmed by a hot water spring. In the springtime, they travel to the fair dressed as a noblewoman and her bodyguard where they meet Doctor Leibniz. They quickly sell their goods with the help of Leibniz, and agree to accompany him to his silver mine in the Harz Mountains.

Once they arrive at the mine, Jack wanders into the local town where he has a brief encounter with Enoch Root in an apothecary's shop. Jack leaves town but gets lost in the woods, encountering pagan worshippers and witch hunters. He successfully escapes them by finding safe passage through a mine connecting to Leibniz's. Eliza and Jack move on to Amsterdam, where Eliza quickly becomes embroiled in the trade of commodities. Jack goes to Paris to sell the ostrich feathers and Turk, leaving Eliza behind. When he arrives in Paris, he meets and befriends St. George, a professional rat-killer and tamer, who helps him find lodging. While there, he becomes a messenger for bankers between Paris and Marseilles. However, during an attempt to sell Turk Jack is captured by nobles. Luckily, the presence of Jack's former employer, John Churchill, ensures that he is not immediately killed. With Churchill's help, Jack escapes from the barn where he has been held prisoner. During the escape, he rides Turk into a masquerade at the ''Hotel d'Arcachon'' in a costume similar to that of King Louis. With the aid of St. George's rats he escapes without injury but destroys the ballroom and removes the hand of Etienne d'Arcachon.

Meanwhile, Eliza becomes heavily involved in the politics of Amsterdam, helping Knott Bolstrood and the Duke of Monmouth manipulate the trade of VOC stock. This causes a panic from which they profit. Afterwards, the French Ambassador in Amsterdam persuades Eliza to go to Versailles and supply him information about the French court. Eliza agrees after a brief encounter and falling-out with Jack. William of Orange learns of Eliza's mission and intercepts her, forcing her to become a double agent for his benefit and to give him oral sex. Meanwhile, Jack, with an injury caused by Eliza, departs on the slaving trip. The ship is captured by Barbary pirates, and the end of the book has Jack as a captured galley-slave.

Odalisque

This book returns to Daniel Waterhouse, who in 1685, has become a courtier to Charles II because of his role as Secretary of the Royal Society. He warns James II, still Duke of York, of his brother Charles' impending death, following which, Daniel quickly becomes an advisor to James II. He continues to be deeply involved with the English court, ensuring the passage of several bills which reduce restrictions on non-conformists despite his detraction from the Francophile court. Meanwhile, Eliza becomes the governess of a widowers' two children in Versailles. She catches the eye of the king and becomes the broker of the French nobility. With her help, the French court, supported by King Louis, creates several market trends from which they profit extensively. Her active involvement in the French court gains her a title of nobility: Countess of Zeur.

Daniel and Eliza finally meet during a visit to the Netherlands where Daniel acts as an intermediary between William of Orange and the detracting English nobility. Daniel realizes Eliza's importance during a meeting at the house of Christiaan Huygens. Eliza woos Daniel and uses this connection to gain entrance into the English court and the Royal Society. Daniel also meets Nicholas Fatio while in Amsterdam. Soon after this meeting, Fatio and Eliza prevent the attempted kidnapping of William of Orange by an ambitious French courtier. Upon his return, Daniel is arrested by the notorious judge George Jeffreys, and later imprisoned in the Tower of London. Daniel escapes with the help of Jack Shaftoe's brother Bob, whose infantry unit is stationed there.

After a brief return to Versailles, Eliza joins Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate at her estate before the invasion of the Palatinate in her name. Eliza informs William of Orange of the troop movements caused by the French invasion which frees his forces along the border of the Spanish Netherlands, a region of stalemate between France and the Dutch Republic. During her flight from the Electorate of the Palatinate, Eliza becomes pregnant by Louis's cryptographer, though popular knowledge suggested it was the French nobleman Etienne D'Arcachon's child. Meanwhile, William takes the free troops from the border on the Spanish Netherlands to England, precipitating the Glorious Revolution, including the expulsion of James II. James flees London and Daniel Waterhouse soon encounters him in a bar. Convinced that the Stuart monarchy has collapsed, Daniel returns to London and takes revenge on Jeffreys by inciting a crowd to capture him for trial and later execution. Though he plans to depart for Massachusetts, Daniel's case of bladder stones increasingly worsens during this period. The Royal Society and other family friends are very aware of this and force Daniel to get the stone removed by Robert Hooke at Bedlam.

The game opens with the young girl dragging an oversized attaché case toward a warehouse with difficulty. "Bloody" Harry Macdowell has just carried out a coup against Big Daddy, the leader of the Millennion organization, and his daughter Mika needs to find someone that can protect her and stop Harry's mad plans. The occupants of this warehouse include a kindly looking old doctor, and a man with a notable scar on his face. Mika arrives, and the man with the scar claims the contents of the case: two massive handguns. That man is revealed to be the game's title character Grave, and now that he is armed he can start his mission.

Gungrave first approaches its stages as a series of missions issued by Dr. T, first to gather information on the current makeup of Millennion from a low-level street gang, and next destroying a research facility that creates Harry's undead soldiers. In the third stage, while attempting to pump information from an informant, Grave comes into contact with the leadership of the Millenion organization—once friends and allies that he now faces as enemies. Each have used the research Harry supported to give themselves inhuman powers. From here on, Grave is hounded by each member as he makes his way to Harry's tower at the heart of the city.

As the player progresses, the game uses anime cutscenes to reflect on the history of young Brandon and Harry, gradually bringing the pair's back story into focus. Close friends, the two had both become lieutenants in the Millennion organization, working directly under Big Daddy, the group's leader. Brandon shared a bond with Big Daddy and some flashbacks show the two sharing more of a father-son relationship. Brandon even let Big Daddy marry the woman he loved so that she could find a better life, but the two remained close. Not content with the power he had been given, Harry asked Brandon to help him kill Big Daddy so that he could take over. When Brandon refused, Harry shot his friend in the left eye, killing him. Fifteen years later, Harry carried out his coup. His actions as leader inspired Dr. T to revive Brandon who was the only person capable of stopping Harry. Dr. T's connection to all of this is not made clear, but he often makes comments that indicate some connection to Brandon's former life.

Grave picks apart the leadership of Millennion to make his way to Harry. At the top of the tower that Harry uses as a headquarters, it is revealed that Big Daddy still lives in the form of a twisted monster. Harry forces Grave to fight his creation, and following the final battle, Harry accepts his defeat graciously and allows his friend to kill him.

With Harry defeated, Mika's protection becomes Grave's only concern, and to keep his promise to Big Daddy of protecting the family, Grave protects Mika while they drive away from this tragedy.

Part I

Three wise men (magi) follow a brightly shining star from Asia to Jerusalem in search of a newborn king. They are summoned by King Herod the Great, whose advisers inform him of a Messiah mentioned in various prophecies. When Herod remembers that the prophecy names nearby Bethlehem as the child's birthplace, he sends the Magi there to confirm the child's existence and secretly sends guards to follow them and "keep [him] informed." In Bethlehem, the Magi find a married couple Mary and Joseph laying their newborn son in a manger. Mary states that his name is Jesus. As the local shepherds watch, the Magi present gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the infant. After observing the distant spies' departure, the magi leave as an angel's voice warns Joseph to "take the child" and "flee".

The spies inform Herod, who decides to kill the child. He orders the death of every newborn boy in Bethlehem, and dies when informed that apparently "not one is alive". However, Joseph and Mary have escaped into Egypt with Jesus; when a messenger informs them and others of Herod's death, they return to their hometown of Nazareth.

A pro-Israel rebellion breaks out in Jerusalem against Herod's son, Herod Antipas, but the conflict is quickly quashed. Herod's kingdom is divided, Judea is placed under a governor, and Herod becomes of tetrarch of Galilee and the Jordan River. Both he and the Romans are convinced that the Messiah the troubled people cry for is "someone who will never come".

Many years later, a prophet named John the Baptist appears and preaches at the Jordan, baptizing many who come to repent. When a grown Jesus appears to him, John baptizes him. Jesus then ascends into the nearby desert mountains, where he finds a cave in which resides a mysterious hermit a personification of Satan. The Dark Hermit tempts Jesus three times, but each temptation is overcome by Jesus, who leaves and continues climbing as John's message echoes in his mind.

He returns to the valley, where he tells the Baptist that he is returning to Galilee. Four men Judas Iscariot and the Galilean fishermen Andrew, Peter, and John ask to go with him; Jesus welcomes them, promising to make them "fishers of men". When they rest under a bridge, he gives parables and other teachings, which attract the attention of a passing young man named James; he asks to join them the next morning, and Jesus welcomes him. The group comes near Jerusalem, and Jesus says that "there will come a time to enter". They rest at a home in Bethany occupied by Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. Lazarus asks Jesus if he could join him, but cannot bring himself to leave all he has; before leaving, Jesus promises Lazarus that he will not forget him.

The group soon arrives at Capernaum, where they meet James's brother Matthew, a tax collector whom Jesus soon asks to join them. After some thought, Matthew does so. In the local synagogue, Jesus teaches again, and miraculously helps a crippled man to walk again. Upon seeing this, many begin to follow Jesus on his journey and gather to listen to his teachings.

Meanwhile, the Jerusalem priests and Pharisees are troubled by the continuing influence and preaching of the Baptist, while the governor Pontius Pilate wishes only to maintain peace. Since the Jordan is ruled by Herod, he allows the priests to inform him. When he hears that the Baptist is speaking of a Messiah, Herod sends soldiers to arrest him. Simon the Zealot informs Jesus and his disciples of the Baptist's arrest; he is welcomed as one.

The fame of Jesus begins to spread across the land and two more men, named Thaddeus and Thomas, join him. In Jerusalem, the priests become suspicious of Jesus and the curing of the cripple, and send a group to Capernaum to investigate—among them the Pharisees Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea. Herod hears rumors about an army due to the multitudes that follow Jesus, and questions John the Baptist about him. Herod begins to consider killing the Baptist, with his wife's encouragement—she herself is the ex-wife of Herod's brother, and has been attacked by John for being adulterous.

Jesus is soon asked to return to Capernaum by another man named James. Crowds gather and celebrate his return, something that is noticed by the Pharisees who are present and the returned Dark Hermit. Jesus then defends a woman caught in the act of adultery, who identifies herself as "Mary of Magdalene". Among the crowd that gathers as he moves away is a sick woman who is cured when she touches his clothes. Both of these instances cause many to have faith in Jesus.

Herod begins to wonder about Jesus, and the Baptist confirms that Jesus has escaped from the massacre ordered by Herod's father. Herod then decides to finally kill the Baptist by beheading, which occurs while Salome, Herod's stepdaughter by his wife's first marriage, dances for him. When the Baptist is dead, Herod sends soldiers to arrest Jesus.

Jesus gives a sermon on a mountain to a great crowd, while Pilate and the Pharisees hear of many of Jesus's miracles: turning water into wine, feeding five thousand people, and walking on water. While resting, Jesus asks his disciples who they and others say that he is: they give many answers, and Peter believes that Jesus is the Messiah, prompting Jesus to anoint him as "the rock on which [he] will build [his] church".

At Nazareth, the people refuse to believe in Jesus and his miracles and demand to see for themselves by bringing a blind man named Aram and demanding that Jesus make him see. When he does not, the people are disgusted when he calls himself the Son of God, and briefly stone him. Jesus reunites with his mother, along with a sick Lazarus and his sisters. Andrew and Nathaniel escort Lazarus home to Bethany, while Jesus and the others flee from Herod's approaching soldiers, but not before Jesus heals Aram's sight. When informed that Lazarus is dying, Jesus does not go immediately to Bethany, but to the Jordan where the group gives a prayer. Andrew and Nathaniel return, informing them that Lazarus has died, and Jesus then goes to Bethany where he brings Lazarus back to life, a miracle that amazes the witnessing Jerusalem citizens, but concerns the Pharisees. An intermission/entr'acte follows Part I.

Part II

Judas questions why Mary Magdalene is anointing Jesus with expensive oil, and Jesus states she is preparing him for his death. Jesus then dons a new garment, and rides on a donkey into Jerusalem. In the courtyard of the Temple, Jesus drives the merchants and money changers away, and the large crowd prevents the Pharisees from arresting Jesus, an action ordered even though it is Passover. He teaches in the Temple courtyard, and leaves when Pilate dispatches soldiers to restore peace and close the gates. Many of the Temple's crowd are killed as a result.

While the disciples gather to prepare and partake in an evening meal, Judas leaves and promises to hand Jesus over to the Pharisees on the condition that no harm comes to him. The Dark Hermit's presence indicates approaching danger. When Judas returns to the meal, Jesus announces to all that one of them will betray him, that by morning Peter will deny three times that he even knows Jesus, and gives a farewell discourse. Jesus then gives bread and wine to the disciples, and tells Judas before he leaves again to "do quickly what [he has] to do".

Jesus then prays at Gethsemane while Judas is paid thirty pieces of silver to lead soldiers to arrest Jesus. When they arrive, Judas kisses Jesus, and Jesus orders Peter to "put back [his] sword". Jesus is put on trial before the Sanhedrin, and Aram appears as one of the questioned witnesses. Most of the members are present, as Nicodemus who refuses to take part notices that many (including Joseph of Arimathea) are absent. Meanwhile, the Hermit is outside and asks the nearby Peter if he knows Jesus. Peter denies it twice and leaves. When Caiaphas asks Jesus if he is the Christ, Jesus's reply causes the members to condemn him.

The Pharisees and Caiaphas bring Jesus to the tired Pilate, who after questioning Jesus and briefly speaking with his wife finds no guilt in Jesus. Since Galilee is under Herod's authority, Jesus is sent to Herod, though he and his soldiers merely ridicule him and send him back to Pilate. As Jesus is escorted back to Pilate, the Hermit continues to observe, and Peter once again denies Jesus, as a remorseful Judas looks on.

In the morning, Pilate presents Jesus before the assembled crowd, and the Hermit begins various cries for Jesus to be crucified. Pilate offers compromises: that Jesus merely be scourged, and then the release of a prisoner of the crowd's choice. They choose the supposed murderer Barabbas instead. Pilate then asks Jesus if he has anything to say; Jesus merely states that his kingdom is "not of this world", something that the Hermit and others claim is a challenge of the authority of Rome and the Roman emperor. With no other choice, Pilate reluctantly orders Jesus to be crucified.

Jesus then carries his cross through Jerusalem while the crowd looks on. When he collapses, a woman wipes his face and he reassures the women of Jerusalem. Soon, the soldiers force a man named Simon of Cyrene to help Jesus carry the cross when no one else will. At Golgotha, Jesus is stripped and nailed to the cross, which is then raised between those of two other men while Judas throws his silver into the Temple and throws himself into the fire of the nearby altar. He asks God to "forgive them, for they know not what they do", and leaves his mother in the care of John. While one of the thieves asks Jesus to save them, the other accepts his punishment and asks for Jesus to remember him, a promise that Jesus gives to him. As the sky darkens, Jesus asks why God has forsaken him, is offered wine in a sponge, and dies before a storm emerges. As an earthquake begins, a centurion states that "truly this man was the Son of God".

Peter mourns Jesus while he is being laid to rest in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. The Pharisees ask for Pilate to place guards around the tomb and seal it, to prevent a possible theft of the corpse that could potentially fulfill a prophecy of resurrection; Pilate agrees, but on the morning of the third day the guards discover the tomb is open and empty. Meanwhile, though Thomas has weakened faith, Mary Magdalene along with Peter and others recall the prophecy and run to see the empty tomb. Word quickly spreads throughout Jerusalem, the miraculous event bewildering the Pharisees. Caiaphas claims that "the whole thing will be forgotten in a week", while an elder scribe doubts this.

Jesus ascends to heaven before his disciples, Mary Magdalene, Nicodemus, Joseph of Arimathea, and others, leaving them with his final commands as clouds engulf him. He then states that he will always be with them, "even unto the end of the world", and his image fades into that of a painting of him on the wall of a church as Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" plays.

Anderson (Duvall) is a successful American hitman whose employer sends him to do a job in Argentina. His contacts inform him that his target is a former general who took part in Argentina's last military dictatorship. Following a phone call with one of the co-conspirators, Anderson learns that his job is delayed due to his target sustaining an injury in a riding accident. Angry and frustrated that he is stuck in Argentina until the target is recovered from his accident, he walks the street and hears music behind a red curtain. He finds that behind the curtain is a beautiful woman gracefully dancing the tango with a man. He is immediately entranced by the dancing and wants to learn more about it, which leads to his meeting with Manuela, a local tango dancer and instructor, and the woman he first saw behind the red curtain.

Things are not as easy as they seem. Although Anderson has immersed himself in the world of Manuela and dancing tango, he continues to prepare for and plan to assassinate the general. A paranoid Anderson simultaneously rents a room in two different hotels. From the safety but close proximity of one hotel room, he witnesses police converge on the other hotel. Anderson will fulfill his obligation to do the job despite the obvious reality that there is a leak. Although Anderson initially plans on shooting the general from the rooftops, he ends up pretending to deliver flowers while the general is in his backyard and shoots him point-blank in the heart. The police investigate, bringing in the prostitute Anderson slept with, but she has no information on him.

Meanwhile, Anderson desperately tries to get a hold of his co-conspirators so that he can leave Argentina. Unknown to Anderson, his Argentinian co-conspirator Miguel (Rubén Blades) has been arrested by Buenos Aires police. Miguel is harshly interrogated, but can breathe a sigh of relief when his conspirator within the Argentinian federal authorities shows up.

Anderson, thinking that he has been abandoned and is stuck in Argentina plus will be found out for the general's murder, hides out in his room until he realizes that the joy he had with the tango was fleeting. He suddenly remembers that he left the special boots he bought for his daughter, in the other rental room and risks his life to retrieve them. He decides to try to go back home before he gets killed in Argentina. Meanwhile, Manuela goes about her life with what appears to be her toddler daughter.

Although Anderson is almost stopped at the Argentinian airport, he eventually makes it out of Argentina safely. On the airplane back to the U.S., Anderson dreams about dancing the tango with Manuela. He makes it home to his family, showing them a few steps of the tango he learned, but right before he goes in the house he scans the area -- just in case.

On an alien planet the genocide of the Chimeron by the merciless Bannermen led by Gavrok is almost complete. The last survivor, Chimeron Queen Delta, escapes clutching her egg. She reaches a space tollport where the Navarinos, a race of shape-changing tourist aliens, are planning a visit to the planet Earth in 1959 in a spaceship disguised as an old holiday bus. She stows aboard, meeting Mel, while the Seventh Doctor follows in the TARDIS. The holiday vehicle collides with an Earth satellite and is diverted off track, landing at a holiday camp in South Wales, led by camp director Burton. Delta's egg hatches into a bright green baby that starts to grow at a startling rate. The Chimeron Queen supports this development with the equivalent of royal jelly given to bees.

Delta captures the heart of Billy, the camp's mechanic, to the chagrin of Ray, who loves Billy herself. Ray confides her situation to the Doctor, and they stumble across a bounty hunter making contact with the Bannermen to tell them of the Chimeron's whereabouts. Gavrok and his troops soon arrive. Delta and Billy head off for a picnic while the Doctor busies himself coordinating things back at the camp. Meanwhile, the Bannermen have destroyed the Navarino bus with all its passengers.

Two American CIA agents, Hawk and Weismuller, appear on the scene, tracking the missing satellite. Gavrok booby-traps the TARDIS in an attempt to kill the Doctor. A battle ensues with Gavrok and his Bannermen against the Doctor and his crew: Ray & Billy, Goronwy, Mr. Burton and the two CIA agents. The Bannermen are foiled by honey, Goronwy's bees and finally by the amplified scream of the Chimeron child Princess—a sound which is painful to Bannermen.

Goronwy explains to Billy the purpose of royal jelly in the lifecycle of the honeybee, provoking the mechanic to consume Delta's equivalent that she has been feeding her daughter, in the hope of metamorphosing into a Chimeron.

As Gavrok and the Bannermen attack Shangri-La, the amplified scream of the Chimeron princess traumatises the attackers, including Gavrok, who becomes so stunned that he falls into the booby-trap he placed on the TARDIS and is killed. Delta and Billy leave together with the child, the two agents watch on with surprise and Goronwy winks knowingly as the Doctor and Mel slip away.

The story begins with the Master gloating over his latest scheme to destroy his nemesis. However, instead of only spying on the Doctor and his companion Emma, he is actually in communication with them, so they hear his plans. The Doctor invites his old foe to meet him at a castle on the planet Tersurus. The planet is in ruins, and was once the home of a now-extinct race of supremely-enlightened beings shunned by all because they used flatulence as their means of communication. They all died when they discovered fire.

The Master appears, gloating that he travelled a century back in time, and persuaded the architect of the castle to put in a secret death trap. The Doctor had anticipated this and travelled further back, persuading the same architect to sabotage the trap. The Master had also anticipated this, and arranged for an additional trap – with identical results because the Doctor had likewise anticipated his move. The Doctor informs the Master, having calculated that he "has saved every planet in the known universe a minimum of 27 times", and having grown tired of battles with aliens and "the endless gravel quarries", that he is retiring, having found a companion – Emma – with whom he has fallen in love. The Master springs yet another trap; a trap door under the Doctor's feet leading to the vast sewers of Tersurus, which he intends to suggest to the architect after going back in time again and buying him an expensive dinner. However, the Doctor had already bought the architect that dinner, so when the Master pulls the lever, a trap door opens beneath him instead.

Seconds later, as the Doctor and Emma start to leave, the Master bursts in. Having taken him 312 years to crawl out, he emerges as an old man covered in sewage. Using his TARDIS to return to the present, he has brought allies – the Daleks (who, lacking noses, are the only race that will have anything to do with him). Additionally, he has been enhanced by superior Dalek technology, a Dalek suction-cup hand. To the Master's dismay, he cannot answer when Emma asks him what the suction-cup is for. The Master throws himself at the Doctor but falls into the sewers again, and immediately bursts in again, another 312 years older. The Daleks give chase to the Doctor, knocking the Master once more into the sewers. Having spent a total of 936 years in the sewers, he returns using a zimmer frame (walker) and is easily outpaced by the slow moving Daleks.

Emma and the Doctor are captured when they run into a room full of Daleks. Rather than being exterminated immediately, they are tied to chairs aboard the Dalek ship, the Daleks promising Emma that they "will explain later" why they even possess chairs. The Master claims he has been enhanced again with Dalek technology – rejuvenating him and adding "Dalek bumps" to his chest, which also act as "etheric beam locators". The Doctor insults the Master, comparing the "bumps" to breasts. In return for his enhancements, the Master agreed to give the Daleks the Zektronic energy beam – a weapon that would "allow the Daleks to conquer the universe in a matter of minutes".

When the Doctor tells the Daleks they will have to share the universe "with the beard and the bosoms over there", they inform the Doctor that they plan to exterminate the Master after he has assisted them. The Doctor uses the Tersuran language (farting) to warn his fellow Time Lord. The Master helps the Doctor and Emma escape, but not before the Doctor is fatally injured by the Daleks. He tells Emma (in Tersuran, which the Master translates) that he loves her, then dies. The Doctor regenerates into a handsome and sexually eager new Doctor (Richard E. Grant). Forced to fix the Dalek weapon, he is also electrocuted and becomes a shy, middle-aged and overweight Doctor (Jim Broadbent). Another accident results in a handsome, smooth-mannered Doctor (Hugh Grant), but this Doctor is also accidentally killed while fixing the weapon. Due to the Zektronic energy beam's ability to disable the regenerative process, the Doctor permanently dies. The Master vows to live a life of heroism in honour of his fallen foe's memory, as do the Daleks.

Seemingly through the will of the universe itself, the Doctor does regenerate yet again, only this time as a woman (Joanna Lumley), who seems confused that her breasts are not etheric beam locators, despite each having an "on switch". Emma is deeply disappointed, pointing out that "You're just not the man I fell in love with." The Master, however, is quite smitten with this new Doctor, who notices the sonic screwdriver (which vibrates) has "''three'' settings!" The story ends with them walking off together, the Master promising to explain later as to why he is called the Master.

In a Venezuelan tepui, entomologist James Atherton captures two members of an aggressive, newly discovered species of spider of prehistoric origin. The spiders lack sex organs, indicating that they are laborers or soldiers, thereby existing as a hive (atypical of spiders). A fertile male of the same species bites bedridden American nature photographer Jerry Manley, who has a severe seizure from the venom and dies. The scientist sends Manley's body back to his hometown of Canaima, California, unaware that the spider has crawled into the coffin.

Manley's desiccated body arrives at the mortuary of mortician Irv Kendall. The spider escapes from the coffin, is picked up by a crow and bites the bird. The crow falls dead outside the barn of Ross Jennings, a family physician who has moved from San Francisco to take over the practice of the retiring town doctor. Ross and his son both suffer from arachnophobia.

He is short of patients after Sam Metcalf, the elderly town doctor, hesitates about retiring. The Venezuelan spider mates with a house spider in the Jennings's barn. The domestic spider produces hundreds of infertile, drone offspring with their father's lethal bite, and they leave the nest after consuming her.

Ross's first patient, Margaret Hollins, dies after being bitten by one of the new spiders, and he doubts Metcalf's diagnosis of a heart attack. Another arachnid kills high school football player Todd Miller just after Ross conducted a routine team checkup, earning him the nickname of "Dr. Death". The next victim is Metcalf himself, who is bitten and dies in front of his wife.

With Metcalf dead, Ross becomes Canaima's town doctor. Knowing that Metcalf was bitten by a spider and an iota of an unknown toxin was detected in his body, he suspects that the town may be infested by deadly arachnids.

Ross calls Atherton and asks him to help his investigation. The skeptical entomologist sends Chris Collins, his assistant. Ross and county coroner Milt Briggs order that Hollins and Miller be exhumed. They perform autopsies, and Chris confirms Ross's suspicion after he identifies bite marks. Ross and Chris catch one of the spiders in Metcalf's house the following day. When Chris mentions the new species discovered by Atherton, Ross realizes that the town's killer spiders and Atherton's discovery are related.

Atherton joins Ross, Chris, Milt, Sheriff Lloyd Parsons, and exterminator Delbert McClintock in Canaima, and they discover the spiders have a short lifespan due to their crossbreeding. Atherton tells them that the spiders are soldiers sent to eliminate potential threats for the male spider leading the colony, which he calls "the general". He learns that the general produced a queen and inbred with her to produce a second nest (guarded by the queen) which could produce fertile offspring, culminating in the species' next stage of evolution and worldwide dispersal.

Ross, Chris, and Delbert discover that one nest is in Ross's barn. When he destroys the nest, Delbert finds Atherton dead attempting to catch the general, he touches a strand of its web and is bitten by the male spider which then escaped. Chris gets the Jennings family out of their infested house, but Ross falls through the floor into his wine cellar: the spiders' second nest, guarded by both the queen ''and'' the general.

After he electrocutes the queen, Ross battles the general while he tries to burn the second egg sac (overcoming his fear of spiders by focusing on his need to stop them). Trapped by fallen debris as the general prepares to bite him, Ross stays perfectly still until the general is in position, then flings the spider into the fire. Despite being badly burnt, the general leaps out from the fire just as the egg sac hatches. Ross shoots it with a nail gun, sending the flaming spider into the egg sac and destroying the nest. Delbert rescues Ross: with the general, the queen and the nests destroyed and the soldiers dying, the spiders' threat is over. Deciding that they missed their old life, the Jennings family returns to San Francisco.

Alder, a minor village sorcerer who is adept at mending, has been tormented by dreams since the death of his beloved wife Lily. Every time he falls asleep, he is brought to the wall of stones, the border between the world of the living and the Dry Land of the dead. The dead, including Lily, beseech him to be set free. He sought guidance from the masters of the school of wizardry on Roke. The Master Patterner advises him to seek out Ged on the island of Gont. Ged, the ex-Archmage, is powerless as a wizard, but knows more of the world of the dead than anyone living. Alder finds Ged, who is alone at the time, as his Kargish wife Tenar and adopted daughter Tehanu have been summoned to Havnor to counsel King Lebannen. Ged listens to Alder's tale and recommends he go to Havnor to speak to both the king and his family.

Alder sails to Havnor and tells his story. Lebannen is concerned, but has other worries. The king of the Kargs, a warlike people from the East who despise sorcery, has sent his daughter to marry Lebannen as the price for peace between them, a demand that angers Lebannen. Furthermore, dragons have been menacing the islands in the West. Soon after Alder arrives, dragons encroach further east than ever before, finally to Havnor itself. The king and his people ride to deal with them. Tehanu goes with him because she appears to have some kinship with dragons, having as a young girl summoned the great dragon Kalessin, who called her ‘daughter’. She speaks to one of the raiding dragons who delivers a cryptic message, to the effect that the dragons are angry that men have stolen part of their land in the furthest west. The dragons do, however, agree to a truce, and to send an emissary.

The dragon Orm Irian arrives shortly after, taking human form as a young woman to address the king and his council. The legends of the dragons, the mages and the Kargs are retold and compared. It is revealed that dragons and men were once one people, but parted ways. Dragons chose a life of freedom and immortality in the furthest west, while men chose a life of mastery, power and rebirth, promising to give up magic. However, men reneged on their bargain, and the first mages cast spells that stole some of the west from the dragons for men to go to after death, but in their quest for eternal life, they had instead created the Dry Land, an unchanging place where their souls languished forever. The party decide to sail to Roke, the center of the world, to seek a resolution.

The King's party debates with the masters of the great school of magic on what course of action to take. The two groups travel together to the wall of stones, which the dead are attempting in vain to tear down. Alder begins to dislodge a stone. He is soon joined by Tehanu, then the others. When the wall is sufficiently breached, the dead rush out to rejoin the cycle of life, death and rebirth. Tehanu takes on the form of an uncrippled dragon, Alder is reunited with his wife and dies, and the Dry Land is returned to the dragons. After the balance of the world is restored, the king marries the Kargish princess, whom he has come to love and admire, and Tenar returns to Gont and to Ged.

Setting

The story takes place on the Discworld, a planet-sized flat disc carried through space on the backs of four gargantuan elephants – Berilia, Tubul, Great T'Phon and Jerakeen – who themselves stand on the shell of Great A'Tuin, a gigantic star turtle. The surface of the disc contains oceans and continents, and with them, civilizations, cities, forests and mountains.

Summary

The story begins in Ankh-Morpork, the biggest city on the Discworld. The main character is an incompetent and cynical wizard named Rincewind, who is hired as a guide to naive Twoflower, an insurance clerk from the Agatean Empire who has come to visit Ankh-Morpork. Thanks to the commonality of gold in his homeland, Twoflower, though only a clerk, is rich compared to inhabitants of Ankh-Morpork. Initially attempting to flee with his advance payment for agreeing to be Twoflower's guide, Rincewind is captured by the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork, who forces him to protect Twoflower, lest the tourist's death provoke the Agatean Emperor into invading Ankh-Morpork. After Twoflower is kidnapped by a gang of thieves and taken to the Broken Drum tavern, Rincewind stages a rescue alongside the Luggage, an indestructible, enchanted and sentient chest belonging to Twoflower. Before this, Twoflower convinces the Broken Drum's landlord to take out a fire insurance policy; the landlord subsequently attempts to burn down the tavern to claim the money, but ends up causing a fire that destroys the whole of Ankh-Morpork. Rincewind and Twoflower escape in the chaos.

Rincewind and Twoflower travel towards the city of Quirm, unaware that their adventures on this journey are actually the subject of a boardgame played by the Gods of the Discworld. The pair are separated when they are attacked by a mountain troll summoned by Offler the Crocodile God. The ignorant Twoflower ends up being led to the Temple of Bel-Shamharoth, a being said to be the opposite of both good and evil, while Rincewind ends up imprisoned in a dryad-inhabited tree in the woods, where he watches the events in Bel Shamharoth's temple through a magical portal. The pair are reunited when Rincewind escapes into the temple through the portal, and they encounter Hrun the Barbarian, a parody of heroes in the Swords and Sorcery genre. The trio are attacked and nearly killed by Bel-Shamharoth, but escape when Rincewind accidentally blinds the creature with Twoflower's magical picture box. Hrun agrees to travel with and protect Twoflower and Rincewind in exchange for heroic pictures of him from the picture box.

The trio visit the Wyrmberg, an upside-down mountain which is home to dragon-riders who summon their dragons by imagining them, and are separated when the riders attack them. Rincewind escapes capture but is forced by Kring, Hrun's sentient magical sword, to attempt to rescue his friends. Twoflower is imprisoned within the Wyrmberg, and because of his fascination with dragons, is able to summon one greater than those of the Wyrmberg riders, who he names Ninereeds, allowing him to escape captivity and save Rincewind from being killed in a duel with one of the three heirs of the Wyrmburg. Twoflower, Rincewind and Ninereeds snatch Hrun, but as they attempt to escape into the skies, Twoflower passes out from the lack of oxygen, causing Ninereeds to disappear. Hrun is saved by Liessa, but Rincewind and Twoflower find themselves falling to their deaths. In desperation, Rincewind manages to use the Wyrmberg's power to temporarily summon a passenger jet from the real world, before he and Twoflower fall into the ocean.

The two of them are taken to the edge of the Discworld by the ocean currents and nearly carried over, but they are caught by the Circumfence, a huge net built by the nation of Krull to catch sea life and flotsam washed in from the rest of the Discworld. They are rescued by Tethis the sea troll, a being composed of water who had fallen off the edge of his own world and onto the Discworld, where he was subsequently enslaved by the Krullians. Rincewind and Twoflower are then taken by the Krullians to their capital, where they learn that the Krullians intend to discover the sex of Great A'Tuin by launching a space capsule over the edge of the Disc, and plan to sacrifice Rincewind and Twoflower to get the god Fate to smile on the voyage, Fate insisting on their sacrifice after they caused him to lose the earlier game. Rincewind and Twoflower attempt to escape, but end up stealing the capsule, which is launched with Twoflower inside, the tourist wishing to see the other worlds of the universe. Rincewind is unable to get into the capsule in time, and falls off the Disc alongside it, the Luggage following them soon after.

The story segues into the beginning of ''The Light Fantastic''.

The book begins shortly after the ending of ''The Colour of Magic'', with wizard Rincewind, Twoflower and the Luggage falling from the Discworld. They are saved when the Octavo, the most powerful book of magic on the Discworld, readjusts reality to prevent the loss of one of its eight spells, which has resided in Rincewind's head since his expulsion from Unseen University: Rincewind, Twoflower and the Luggage end up in the Forest of Skund. Meanwhile, the wizards of Ankh-Morpork use the Rite of Ashk-Ente to summon Death to find an explanation for the Octavo's actions. Death warns them that the Discworld will soon be destroyed by a huge red star unless the eight spells of the Octavo are read.

Several orders of wizards travel to the forest of Skund to try and capture Rincewind, who is currently staying with Twoflower and the Luggage in a gingerbread house in the forest. In the subsequent chaos, Rincewind and Twoflower escape on an old witch's broom, while the Archchancellor of Unseen University is killed when his attempt to obtain the spell accidentally summons the Luggage on top of him, crushing him to death. His apprentice, Ymper Trymon, uses the opportunity to advance his own power, intending to obtain the eight spells for himself.

Rincewind and Twoflower run into a group of druids who have assembled a "computer" formed from large standing stones, and learn of the approaching red star. As Twoflower attempts to stop the druids from sacrificing a young woman named Bethan, Cohen the Barbarian, an octogenarian parody of Conan, attacks the druids. Twoflower is poisoned in the battle, forcing Rincewind to travel to Death's Domain to rescue him. The pair narrowly avoid being killed by Ysabell, Death's adopted daughter, and as they escape Death's Domain, Rincewind learns from the Octavo itself that it had arranged for its eighth spell to escape into his head, to ensure the spells would not be used before the right time.

Rincewind and Twoflower travel with Cohen and Bethan to a nearby town, where the toothless Cohen leaves to have some dentures made for him, having learned of them from Twoflower. While he is gone, Rincewind, Twoflower and Bethan are attacked by a mob of people who believe the star is coming to destroy the Discworld in response to the presence of magic. The trio escape into one of many shops that sell strange and sinister goods and inexplicably vanish the next time a customer tries to find them. The existence of these shops is explained as being a curse by a sorcerer upon the shopkeeper for not having something in stock. They are able to return to Ankh-Morpork via the shop.

As the star comes nearer and the magic on the Discworld becomes weaker, Trymon tries to put the seven spells still in the Octavo into his mind, in an attempt to save the world and gain ultimate power. However, the spells prove too strong for him and his mind becomes a door into the "Dungeon Dimensions", home to all manner of eldritch creatures. Rincewind and Twoflower manage to kill the now-mutated Trymon, and Rincewind reads all eight of the Octavo's spells aloud. This causes eight moons of the red star to crack open and reveal eight tiny world-turtles that follow their parent A'Tuin on a course away from the star. The Octavo then falls and is eaten by the Luggage.

Twoflower and Rincewind part company as Twoflower decides to return home, leaving the Luggage with Rincewind as a parting gift. Cohen and Bethan also leave to get married. Rincewind decides to re-enroll in the university, believing that with the spell out of his head, he will finally be able to learn magic.

In the novel, much of which was originally published as a series of stories in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' magazine, hidden throughout a future America of 1972 are a group of incredibly gifted children — all approximately the same age, all preternaturally intelligent, and all hiding their incredible abilities from a world they know will not understand them.

These children were born to workers caught in an explosion at an atomic weapons facility, and orphaned just a few months after birth when their parents succumbed to delayed effects from the blast.

The children in the novel are mutants, brought together to explore their unique abilities and study in secret at an exclusive school for gifted children, lest they be hated and feared by a world that would not understand them. The ''Oakland Tribune'' described it in 1953 as "the inevitable adjustments and maladjustments of minority genius to majority mediocrity".

In Shiras' book, none of the children are given paranormal super powers such as telekinesis or precognition—their primary difference is simply that of incredible intellect, combined with an energy and inquisitiveness that causes them to figuratively devour every book in their local libraries, to speed through university extension courses, and to publish countless articles and stories all over the world, but all done carefully through pen-names and mail-order, to disguise their youth, and protect them from the prejudicial stereotypes that less intelligent adults continue to try and enforce on children.

The story follows the progress of a group of computer hackers (called "warlocks" in the story) who are early adopters of a new full-immersion virtual reality technology, called the "Other Plane". Warlocks penetrate computers around the world for personal profit or curiosity. Forming a cabal, they must keep their true identities—their "True Names"—secret even to each other and to the "Great Adversary", the United States government, as those who know a warlock's True Name can force him to work on their behalf, or even cause a "True Death" by killing the warlock in real life.

The protagonist is a warlock known as "Mr. Slippery" in the Other Plane. The government learns Mr. Slippery's True Name—Roger Pollack, a holonovelist in Arcata, California—and forces him to investigate the Mailman, a mysterious new warlock which it suspects of conducting a large-scale subversion of databases and networks. The Mailman has been recruiting others, such as the warlock DON.MAC, by promising great power in the real world, and claims to be responsible for a recent revolution in Venezuela. Because he never appears in the Other Plane, and reacts to events only after a significant delay, Mr. Slippery and fellow warlock Erythrina begin to suspect that the Mailman may be an extraterrestrial invader, subverting global databases to gradually conquer the Earth while causing True Deaths of the warlocks he recruits.

Mr. Slippery and Erythrina receive permission from the government to use the old ARPANET to access massive amounts of computational power around the world as they search for the Mailman. As they become the most powerful warlocks in history they realize that DON.MAC is a sophisticated "personality simulator" working for the Mailman. It violently defends itself, and both sides use network connections to military weaponry to attack in the real world. Erythrina is forced to reveal her True Name to Mr. Slippery as the battles, real and virtual, cause global chaos. They succeed in destroying the many copies of the Mailman's AI, and although tempted to keep their power over the world realize that they do not wish to be tyrants.

Ten weeks after the war and resulting worldwide economic depression from the disruption in computer systems, Mr. Slippery returns to the Coven and learns that the Mailman may have survived. Fearing that Erythrina succumbed to temptation for power, Pollack visits her—Debbie Charteris of Providence, Rhode Island—in person. The elderly Charteris, an early military computer programmer, reveals that the Mailman was not an extraterrestrial, but a National Security Agency AI research project to protect government systems. Mistakenly left running, it slowly grew in power and sophistication, and used non real-time communication to disguise its inability to fully emulate the human mind. As Charteris succumbs to senility she transfers more of her personality to the defeated Mailman's kernel, and tells Pollack that "when this body dies, I will still be, and you can still talk to me".

Four intellectually disabled men share a house and are looked after by Jack (Tony Goldwyn), their social worker. The four men try to make sense of a mixed-up world, dealing with everything from runaway rodents to helping Norman (Nathan Lane), who has a new girlfriend (Mare Winningham). Jack's life with his wife is put on hold, and he feels it's time to let them go.

The story is narrated in the first person by Frank Chambers, a young drifter who stops at a rural California diner for a meal and ends up working there. The diner is operated by a beautiful young woman, Cora, and her much older husband, Nick Papadakis, sometimes called "the Greek".

Frank and Cora feel an immediate attraction to each other and begin a passionate affair with sadomasochistic qualities. Cora is tired of her situation, married to a man she does not love and working at a diner that she wants to own and improve. Frank and Cora scheme to murder the Greek in order to start a new life together without Cora losing the diner.

They plan on striking Nick's head and making it seem he fell and drowned in the bathtub. Cora fells Nick with a solid blow, but a sudden power outage and the appearance of a policeman make the scheme fail. Nick recovers and because of retrograde amnesia does not suspect that he narrowly avoided being killed.

Determined to kill Nick, Frank and Cora fake a car accident. They ply Nick with wine, strike him on the head, and crash the car. Frank is also gravely injured in the crash, while Cora simulates minor injuries and bruises. The local prosecutor suspects what has actually occurred but does not have enough evidence to prove it. As a tactic intended to get Cora and Frank to turn on each other, he charges only Cora with the crime of Nick's murder, coercing Frank to sign a complaint against her.

Cora, furious and indignant, insists on offering a full confession detailing both their roles. Her lawyer tricks her into dictating that confession to a member of his own staff. Cora, believing her confession made, returns to prison. Though Cora would be sure to learn of the trickery, a few valuable hours are gained. The lawyer uses the time to manipulate the insurance companies financially interested in the trial to have their private detective recant his testimony, which was the final remaining weapon in the prosecution's arsenal. The state is forced to grant Cora a plea agreement under which she is given a suspended sentence and no jail time.

After the trial, Cora's diner begins to boom, but her relationship with Frank worsens. While Cora is attending her mother's funeral, Frank has an affair with a wild cat tamer. Upon returning home, Cora tells him that she is pregnant. However, she is also angered when she finds out about his affair.

Frank and Cora eventually patch things up, get married and plan a happy future and a family. Then Cora is killed in a car crash while Frank is driving. The book ends with Frank, from death row, summarizing the events that followed, explaining that he was wrongly convicted of murdering Cora. The text, he hopes, will be published after his execution.

The film opens with the elation after the February Revolution and the establishment of the Provisional Government, depicting the throwing down of the Tsar's monument. It moves quickly to point out it's the "same old story" of war and hunger under the Provisional Government, however. The buildup to the October Revolution is dramatized with intertitles marking the dates of events.

'''April 1917''' Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd's Finland railway station packed with supporters.

'''July 1917''' The demonstrations in Nevsky Square are fired upon by the army. The government orders the working class to be cut off from the city center, and in a dramatic sequence the bridges are raised with the bodies of the Bolsheviks still on them as the Bourgeoisie throw copies of the Bolshevik newspaper into the river.

The Bolshevik headquarters also is destroyed by the ruling class, and the Provisional Government orders the arrest of Lenin, who has gone underground but continues to direct the plans for the uprising. Provisional Government leader Alexander Kerensky is mockingly characterized and compared to a mechanical peacock and Napoleon, before satirically being accused of aspiring to the Russian throne.

General Kornilov advances his troops on Petrograd "for God and country." While the government is helpless the Bolsheviks rally to the defense. The Bolsheviks take control of the city's arsenal and General Kornilov is arrested. Leaflets spread the messages of the revolution, and workers are trained to use weapons for the "last and decisive battle."

'''October 1917''' The Bolshevik Committee votes to approve Lenin's proposal to revolt.

'''24 October''' Lenin returns to the Smolny after four months in hiding and takes control of the uprising on the eve of the 25th. A message is sent to the people declaring the Provisional Government is deposed as of 25 October at 10 AM.

'''25 October''' The cruiser Aurora sails in as the workers take control of the bridges. The Minister of War calls troops to the aid of the deposed government, and Cossacks and the Women's Death Battalion arrive at the Winter Palace and lounge on the Tsar's billiard table. The Provisional Government drafts an appeal to the citizens attempting to reassert its legitimacy, but that evening a congress is held including delegates from all parts of the country and the Soviets are voted into power.

With the weapons and preparations by the Military Revolutionary Committee, Bolsheviks march immediately on the Winter Palace and demand its surrender. The Provisional Government, seemingly aloof, gives no reply. The Women's Death Battalion surrenders and kills their superiors. A group of Soviets infiltrate the vast palace through the cellars and locate the government forces inside. The Cossacks surrender and join the Soviets. At the congress, the Mensheviks appeal for a bloodless end to the conflict, depicted as "harping", falls on deaf ears.

The signal is given by a shot from the Aurora and the assault begins in earnest. In an epic climactic sequence, Soviets storm the palace en masse and overwhelm the defending forces. Soldiers in the palace raid the palace for valuables, only to have their pockets turned out by the Soviets once they have surrendered. Finally, the Soviets beat down the door to the Provisional Government's chambers and arrest the government members. Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko drafts a formal statement declaring the Provisional Government deposed. Clocks around the world are shown marking the time of the revolution's success as the Soviets cheer.

'''26 October''' The new government sets about building a new state, passing decrees for peace and land.

''Jedi Academy'' is set in 14 ABY, a decade after ''Return of the Jedi'' and two years after ''Jedi Outcast''. Players take on the role of Jaden Korr (voiced by Philip Tanzini if male and Jennifer Hale if female), a talented Jedi Padawan who, after building their own lightsaber, travels to the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV to learn the ways of the Force. En route to the Academy, Jaden befriends fellow student Rosh Penin (Jason Marsden), but the students' shuttle is suddenly shot down by an unknown enemy. Jaden and Rosh make their way to the Academy, where the former witnesses a woman using a staff to drain energy from the Temple; Jaden subsequently gets knocked out. Jaden is woken by Luke Skywalker (Bob Bergen) and Kyle Katarn (Jeff Bennett), who welcome them to the Academy. Jaden and Rosh are assigned to study under Kyle, but during their first training session, Rosh's over-competitiveness endangers Jaden. After the Jedi students complete their initial training, they are assigned various peace-keeping missions across the galaxy. During this time, Rosh becomes jealous of Jaden and begins to believe Kyle is trying to hold him back.

After several successful missions, Luke calls the students back to the Academy to tell them he has identified the Dark Jedi who attacked the Temple as members of a Sith cult called the Disciples of Ragnos. A member of the cult, the Twi'lek Alora (Grey DeLisle), infiltrated the Academy during the attack and stole Luke's journal, containing the locations of numerous places strong with the Force. Believing the cult is looking to drain their Force energy, Luke sends the students to investigate each location. Jaden travels to Hoth, where they find Imperial presence at the Rebel Alliance's abandoned Echo Base and encounter Alora, who flees after a brief duel. Returning to the Academy, Jaden reports their findings, but is saddened to learn Rosh never returned from his mission to Byss.

After Jaden completes more missions and has several run-ins with the Disciples, they and Kyle travel to Darth Vader's abandoned fortress on Vjun—one of the few places strong with the Force supposedly unvisited by the Disciples—and find it crawling with stormtroopers and Dark Jedi. The pair fight them, but are eventually separated. Jaden encounters Rosh, who has fallen to the dark side and joined the Disciples to avoid being killed after they had captured him. Jaden defeats Rosh as Kyle arrives, but both are incapacitated by Tavion Axmis (Kath Soucie), the Disciples' leader and Rosh's new master. Tavion uses the Scepter of Ragnos, which can absorb and release Force energy, to trap Jaden and Kyle under debris, but the pair manage to escape, though the former's lightsaber is destroyed in the process. At the Academy, Jaden and Kyle inform Luke of their findings, and the former is honored for their actions by being promoted to the rank of Jedi Knight.

After building a new lightsaber, Jaden begins dismantling the Disciples' operations as they complete more missions, while Luke discovers that Tavion plans to use the stolen Force energy to resurrect the ancient Sith Lord Marka Ragnos (Peter Lurie), who is buried on Korriban. While the Jedi prepare to go there, Kyle convinces Jaden to accompany him to a mining facility on Taspir III, from where Rosh has sent a distress signal. The pair split up and Jaden eventually finds Rosh, who claims he wants to redeem himself, but Jaden's feelings of betrayal quickly manifest into anger. Alora tries to goad them into killing Rosh and joining the Disciples, while Kyle senses Jaden's anger and tries to telepathically dissuade them. If the player chooses the light side, Jaden forgives Rosh, but an enraged Alora attacks them and cuts off the latter's arm. If the player chooses the dark side, Jaden kills Rosh, but refuses to join the Disciples, instead seeking the Scepter's power for themselves. Either way, Jaden kills Alora and leaves for Korriban.

Jaden fights their way to Ragnos' tomb, where they confront Tavion and defeat her. If Jaden is light-sided, they spare Tavion, who completes the resurrection process, causing Ragnos' spirit to possess her. Jaden destroys the Scepter and defeats Ragnos, who leaves Tavion's lifeless body and returns to his tomb. At the Academy, Jaden reunites with Rosh, who has been outfitted with a prosthetic arm, and is honored by Luke, Kyle and the other Jedi. If Jaden is dark-sided, they kill Tavion and claim the Scepter as Kyle arrives to confront them, but Jaden defeats him and buries him under debris. They later take command of Tavion's Star Destroyer, while Kyle is rescued by Luke and vows to hunt Jaden down, though Luke assures him that there is still good in their fallen apprentice.

Anna (Lea Massari) meets her friend Claudia (Monica Vitti) at her father's villa on the outskirts of Rome before leaving on a yachting cruise on the Mediterranean. They drive into Rome to Isola Tiberina near the Pons Fabricius to meet Anna's boyfriend, Sandro (Gabriele Ferzetti). While Claudia waits downstairs, Anna and Sandro make love in his house. Afterwards, Sandro drives the two women to the coast where they join two wealthy couples and set sail south along the coast.

The next morning the yacht reaches the Aeolian Islands north of Sicily. After they pass Basiluzzo, Anna impulsively jumps into the water for a swim, and Sandro jumps in after her. When Anna yells that she's seen a shark, Sandro comes to her side protectively. Later onboard Anna confesses to Claudia that the "whole shark thing was a lie," apparently to get Sandro's attention. After noticing Claudia admiring her blouse, she tells her to put it on, that it looks better on her, and that she should keep it. At one of the smaller islands, , the party comes ashore. Anna and Sandro go off alone and talk about their relationship. Anna is unhappy with his long business trips. Sandro dismisses her complaints and takes a nap on the rocks.

Sometime later, Corrado (James Addams) decides to leave the small island, concerned about the weather and rough seas. They hear a boat nearby. Claudia searches for Anna, but she is gone without a trace. Sandro is annoyed, saying this type of behavior is typical. They explore the island and find nothing. Sandro and Corrado decide to continue their search on the island while sending the others off to notify the authorities. Claudia decides to stay as well. Sandro, Corrado, and Claudia continue their search and end up at a shack where they stay the night. As they talk, Sandro takes offense at Claudia's suggestion that Anna's disappearance is somehow due to his neglect.

In the morning, Claudia wakes before the others and watches the sunrise. After finding Anna's blouse in her bag, she meets Sandro out near the cliffs, and they talk about Anna, but Sandro now seems attracted to Claudia. The police arrive and conduct a thorough search, but find nothing. Anna's father, a former diplomat, also arrives in a high-speed hydrofoil. When he sees the books his daughter has been reading—''Tender Is the Night'' by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and ''The Holy Bible''—he feels confident that she hasn't committed suicide. The police announce that smugglers were arrested nearby and are being held in Milazzo. Sandro decides to investigate, but before leaving, he finds Claudia alone on the yacht and kisses her. Claudia rushes off, startled by his actions. She decides to search the other islands on her own. They all agree to meet up at Corrado's Villa Montaldo in Palermo.

At the Milazzo police station, Sandro realizes the smugglers know nothing about Anna's disappearance. When he discovers that Claudia has arrived from the islands, he meets her at the train station where their mutual attraction is evident, but Claudia urges him not to complicate matters and begs him to leave. She boards a train to Palermo, and as the train pulls away, Sandro runs after it and jumps aboard. On the train Claudia is annoyed, saying "I don't want you with me." She says it would be easier if they sacrifice now and deny their attraction, but Sandro sees no sense in sacrificing anything. Still focused on her friend's disappearance, Claudia is troubled by the thought that it "takes so little to change." Sandro relents and gets off the train at Castroreale.

In Messina, Sandro tracks down the journalist Zuria, who wrote an article about Anna's disappearance. Their meeting is interrupted by crowds of excited men following a beautiful 19-year-old "writer" and aspiring actress named Gloria Perkins (Dorothy De Poliolo) who is actually an expensive prostitute. Sandro stops to admire her beauty. Zuria says he heard stories that Anna was spotted by a chemist in Troina. After bribing Zuria to run another story on Anna, Sandro heads to Troina. Meanwhile, Claudia meets her boating companions at Corrado's Villa Montaldo in Palermo. No one seems to take Anna's disappearance seriously except Claudia. Even Corrado's young wife Giulia openly flirts with the young prince in front of her husband. After reading Zuria's follow-up story, Claudia leaves the villa for Troina to continue her search.

In Troina, Sandro questions the chemist who claimed to have sold tranquilizers to Anna. Claudia arrives, and they learn that the woman identified by the chemist left on a bus to Noto in southern Sicily. Sandro and Claudia resume their search together and drive south. Outside Noto, they stop at a deserted village, and then find a hill overlooking the town where they make love while a train goes by. Later in town, they go to the Trinacria Hotel where they believe Anna is staying. Claudia asks Sandro to go in alone. While Claudia waits outside, a crowd of men gather around her. When she thinks she sees Sandro and Anna coming down the stairs she runs into a paint store, but Sandro follows and confirms that Anna is not there. Claudia remains torn between her feelings for Sandro and her friendship with Anna.

At the Chiesa del Collegio, a nun shows them the view from the roof. Sandro talks about his disappointments with his work, far removed from his youthful ambitions as an architect. Suddenly he asks Claudia to marry him, but she says no—things are too complicated. She accidentally tugs on a rope that rings the church bells, which are answered by connected church bells at another church. Claudia is delighted by the sounds. The next morning, she wakes in a joyful mood, dancing and singing in the room while Sandro looks on amused. They both seem passionately in love. Sandro goes for a walk to the Piazza Municipio, where he notices an ink sketch left by one of the students. With his keychain he "accidentally" knocks over the ink onto the sketch. The student notices and confronts Sandro, who denies he did it on purpose. Sandro returns to the hotel and tries to make love to Claudia, but she resists, telling him they should leave.

At Taormina, they check into the San Domenico Palace Hotel where Sandro's employer Ettore and his wife Patrizia are preparing for a party. Claudia decides not to attend because she's tired. At the party, Sandro checks out the women—recognizing Gloria Perkins. Back in the room, Claudia is unable to sleep. Noticing that Sandro has not yet returned, she goes downstairs to Patrizia's room to inquire about Sandro. Claudia confesses that she's afraid Anna has returned and that Sandro will return to her. After searching the hotel, Claudia finally discovers Sandro embracing Gloria on a couch. Claudia runs off, and Sandro follows her onto the hotel terrace where he finds her quietly weeping. Sandro sits on a bench and says nothing; he too begins to cry. Claudia approaches him, and after hesitating, she enigmatically places her hand on his head while looking out at the snow-covered image of Mount Etna on the horizon.

In 1863, Alice Liddell is awoken from a dream of Wonderland by a house fire. Although she is able to save herself, her parents are killed and she is left with serious burns and psychological damage. Alice is brought to Rutledge Asylum in a state of catatonia, where several years of treatment fail to rouse her from her coma. When Alice's toy rabbit seems to call to her for help, she mentally retreats to Wonderland, which appears to have been disfigured by her broken mind. Alice meets the Cheshire Cat, who invites her to follow the White Rabbit. She learns from nearby village inhabitants that the Queen of Hearts has put Wonderland in decline and despondency, and that the White Rabbit has promised a champion in Alice. Alice is directed to an old gnome who can aid her pursuit of the White Rabbit by reducing her size. The gnome and Alice infiltrate the Fortress of Doors and enter the school inside, where they create an elixir that shrinks Alice and allows her passage to the Vale of Tears.

After aiding the Mock Turtle in retrieving his stolen shell from the Duchess, Alice catches up to the White Rabbit, who takes her in the direction of the Caterpillar before he is crushed by the normal-sized Hatter's foot. Alice meets with the Caterpillar, who explains to her that Wonderland's current form is the result of Alice's survivor guilt and advises her to slay the Queen of Hearts to restore Wonderland's integrity. Alice returns to normal size after nibbling from a mushroom guarded by the Voracious Centipede. In the center of a plateau, Alice discovers a piece of the Jabberwock's Eye Staff. The voice of an unseen oracle tells Alice that before the Queen of Hearts can be slain, Alice must first eliminate the Queen's sentinel – the Jabberwock, who can only be killed with the completed Eye Staff. In her search for the remaining pieces of the Eye Staff, Alice defeats the Red King in the chess-themed Looking-Glass Land, as well as the Hatter's minions Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Alice later finds that the Hatter is conducting cruel experiments on the March Hare and Dormouse, and he is keeping the Gryphon captive. After killing the Hatter, Alice frees the Gryphon, who offers to rally forces against the Queen of Hearts and takes Alice to the Land of Fire and Brimstone, the abode of the Jabberwock. Within the remains of Alice's old home, the Jabberwock wracks Alice with guilt over her parents' deaths and overpowers her in a fight until the Gryphon returns and rescues Alice by depriving the Jabberwock of one of his eyes.

With the Jabberwock's Eye Staff fully assembled, the Gryphon directs Alice to Queensland and takes off with the intention of stopping the Jabberwock himself. On her way to the Queen of Hearts's castle, Alice sees the Gryphon and the Jabberwock engaged in an aerial battle, which ends with the Gryphon mortally wounded. Following Alice's victory against the Jabberwock, the dying Gryphon entrusts Alice with the final battle against the Queen of Hearts. At the entrance to the Queen's Hall, the Cheshire Cat attempts to confess to Alice about the nature of the Queen of Hearts, but he is suddenly executed as he states that "You are two parts of the same..." Alice engages in a fight with a figure puppeteered by the real Queen of Hearts, a giant fleshy tentacled creature who warns Alice that destroying her will destroy them both. Upon Alice's final victory over the Queen of Hearts, Wonderland is restored, and many of the characters who had died in the journey are revived. Her mind repaired, Alice leaves Rutledge Asylum.

A character named Andrew Martin requests an unknown operation from a robotic surgeon. However, the robot refuses, as the operation is harmful and violates the First Law of Robotics, which says a robot may never harm a human being. Andrew, however, changes its mind, telling it that he is not a human being.

The story jumps to 200 years in the past, when a robot with a serial number beginning with "NDR" is brought to the home of Gerald Martin (referred to as Sir) as a robot butler. Little Miss (Sir's daughter) names him Andrew. Later, Little Miss asks Andrew to carve a pendant out of wood. She shows it to her father, who initially does not believe a robot could carve so skillfully. Sir has Andrew carve more things, and even read books on woodwork. Andrew uses, for the first time, the word "enjoy" to describe why he carves. Sir takes Andrew to U.S. Robotics and Mechanical Men, Inc. to ask what the source of his creativity is, but they have no good explanation.

Sir helps Andrew to sell his products, taking half the profits and putting the other half in a bank account in the name of Andrew Martin (though there is questionable legality to a robot owning a bank account). Andrew uses the money to pay for bodily upgrades, keeping himself in perfect shape, but never has his positronic brain altered. Sir reveals that U.S. Robots has ended a study on generalized pathways and creative robots, frightened by Andrew's unpredictability.

Little Miss, at this point, is married and has a child, Little Sir. Andrew, feeling Sir now has someone to replace his grown-up children, asks to purchase his own freedom with Little Miss's support. Sir is apprehensive, fearing that freeing Andrew legally would require bringing attention to Andrew's bank account, and might result in the loss of all Andrew's money. However, he agrees to attempt it. Though facing initial resistance, Andrew wins his freedom. Sir refuses to let Andrew pay him. It isn't long afterwards that he falls ill, and dies after asking Andrew to stand by his deathbed.

Andrew begins to wear clothes, and Little Sir (who orders Andrew to call him George) is a lawyer. He insists on dressing like a human, even though most humans refuse to accept him. In a conversation with George, Andrew realizes he must also expand his vocabulary, and decides to go to the library. On his way, he gets lost, and stands in the middle of a field. Two humans begin to walk across the field towards him, and he asks them the way to the library. They instead harass him, and threaten to take him apart when George arrives and scares them off. As he takes Andrew to the library, Andrew explains that he wants to write a book on the history of robots. The incident with the two humans angers Little Miss, and she forces George to go to court for robot rights. George's son, Paul, helps out by fighting the legal battle as George convinces the public. Eventually, the public opinion is turned in favor of robots, and laws are passed banning robot-harming orders. Little Miss, after the court case is won, dies.

Andrew, with Paul's help, gets a meeting with the head of U.S. Robots. He requests that his body be replaced by an android, so that he may better resemble a human. After Paul threatens legal action, U.S. Robots agrees to give Andrew an android body. However, U.S. Robots retaliates by creating central brains for their robots, so that no individual robot may become like Andrew. Meanwhile, Andrew, with his new body, decides to study robobiology – the science of organic robots like himself. Andrew begins to design a system allowing androids to eat food like humans, solely for the purpose of becoming more like a person.

After Paul's death, Andrew comes to U.S. Robots again, meeting with Alvin Magdescu, Director of Research. He offers U.S. Robots the opportunity to market his newly designed prostheses for human use, as well as his own. He successfully has the digestive system installed in his body, and plans to create an excretory system to match. Meanwhile, his products are successfully marketed and he becomes a highly honored inventor. As he reaches 150 years of age, a dinner is held in his honor in which he is labeled the Sesquicentennial Robot. Andrew is not yet satisfied, however.

Andrew decides that he wants to be a man. He obtains the backing of Feingold and Martin (the law firm of George and Paul) and seeks out Li-Hsing, a legislator and chairman of the Science and Technology committee, hoping that the World Legislature will declare him a human being. Li-Hsing advises him that it will be a long legal battle, but he says he is willing to fight for it. Feingold and Martin begins to slowly bring cases to court that generalize what it means to be human, hoping that despite his prosthetics, Andrew can be regarded as essentially human. Most legislators, however, are still hesitant due to his immortality.

The first scene of the story is explained as Andrew seeks out a robotic surgeon to perform an ultimately fatal operation: altering his positronic brain so that it will decay with time. He has the operation arranged so that he will live to be 200. When he goes before the World Legislature, he reveals his sacrifice, moving them to declare him a man. The World President signs the law on Andrew's two-hundredth birthday, declaring him a bicentennial man. As Andrew lies on his deathbed, he tries to hold onto the thought of his humanity, but as his consciousness fades his last thought is of Little Miss. He sees her at the foot of his bed welcoming him to the eternal place where humans go after they die and he understands why he has sought to be human and that he has succeeded in becoming human.

Sue Charlton is a feature writer for her father's newspaper ''Newsday'', and is dating the editor Richard Mason. She travels to Walkabout Creek, a small hamlet in the Northern Territory of Australia, to meet Michael J. "Crocodile" Dundee, a bushman reported to have lost half a leg to a saltwater crocodile before crawling hundreds of miles to safety. On arrival in Walkabout Creek, she cannot locate Dundee, but she is entertained at the local pub by Dundee's business partner Walter "Wally" Reilly. When Dundee arrives that night, Sue finds his leg is not missing, but he has a large scar which he refers to as a "love bite". While Sue dances with Dundee, a group of city kangaroo shooters make fun of Dundee's status as a crocodile hunter, causing him to knock the leader out with one punch.

At first, Sue finds Dundee less "legendary" than she had been led to believe, unimpressed by his pleasant-mannered but uncouth behaviour and clumsy advances towards her. She is later amazed, when in the outback, she witnesses "Mick" (as Dundee is called) subduing a water buffalo, taking part in an Aboriginal (Pitjantjatjara) tribal dance ceremony, killing a snake with his bare hands, and scaring away the kangaroo shooters from the pub from their cruel sport by tricking them into thinking one of the kangaroos is shooting back.

The next morning, offended by Mick's assertion that as a "sheila" she is incapable of surviving the Outback alone, Sue goes out alone to prove him wrong but takes his rifle with her at his request. Mick follows her to make sure she is okay, but when she stops at a billabong to fill her canteen, she is attacked by a large crocodile and is rescued by Mick. Overcome with gratitude, Sue finds herself becoming attracted to him.

Sue invites Mick to return with her to New York City on the pretext of continuing the feature story. At first Wally scoffs at her suggestion, but he changes his mind when she tells him the newspaper would cover all expenses. Once in New York, Mick is perplexed by local behaviour and customs but overcomes problematic situations including two encounters with a pimp and two attempted robberies. After this Sue realises her true feelings for him, and they kiss.

At a society dinner at her father's home in honour of Sue's safe return and of Mick's visit, Richard proposes marriage to Sue, and in a haze of confused emotions, she initially accepts in spite of Richard having recently revealed his self-centered and insensitive "true colours" during a period of intoxication.

Mick, disheartened at Sue's engagement, decides to go "walkabout" around the United States, but Sue has a change of heart and, deciding not to marry Richard, follows Mick to a subway station. There, she cannot reach him through the crowd on the platform, but has members of the crowd relay her message to him, whereupon he climbs up to the rafters and walks to Sue on the heads and raised hands of the onlookers and kisses her, to the delight of the crowd, where they receive a round of applause.

The General

The first half of the book, titled "The General," focuses on General Bel Riose of the Galactic Empire, who governs the planet Siwenna. He comes across myths regarding the Foundation and attempts to confirm them by coercing the aid of a Siwennian named Ducem Barr, whose father Onum met the Foundation trader Hober Mallow decades ago. After further research through visiting Foundation territory Riose determines that they're a threat to the Empire and declares war upon them, both to fulfill his duty to the Empire and satisfy his personal pursuit of glory. Barr is familiar of Hari Seldon's psychohistory and through it is confident of the Foundation's inevitable victory, an assertion Riose repeatedly disputes.

Riose captures and interrogates a Foundation trader named Lathan Devers, who reveals in private to Barr that he allowed himself to be taken in order to disrupt Riose's operation from the inside. Devers is met by Ammel Brodrig, Emperor Cleon II's Privy Secretary who was sent by the Emperor to Riose in order to keep an eye on the general. Devers tries to implicate Riose in an attempt to overthrow Cleon, however Brodrig betrays Devers to Riose. Barr knocks out Riose before he can subject Devers to more effective interrogation and Devers and Barr escape in the latter's ship. Barr confesses to Devers that he cooperated with Riose in order to prevent the discovery of a planned Siwennian uprising in the event of the Foundation's triumph over Riose.

Devers and Barr head to Trantor in a last ditch attempt at turning Cleon II against Riose by implicating the latter in a conspiracy to overthrow the former with the help of Brodrig. However, in their attempt to bribe their way up the chain of bureaucracy, they are caught in the act by a member of the Secret Police, but managed to flee the planet before they are arrested. During their escape, they intercept news of Bel Riose and Brodrig's recall and subsequent arrest for treason (both are later said to have been executed), which leads to Siwenna's rebellion and the end of the threat to the Foundation.

During the festivities celebrating Siwenna joining the Foundation, Barr explains to Devers and the Foundation's top merchant prince Sennet Forell that the social background of the Empire made the Foundation's victory inevitable regardless of what actions they and Bel Riose took, as only a strong Emperor and a strong general could have threatened the Foundation, but an Emperor is only strong by not allowing strong subjects to thrive, and Bel Riose's success made him into a threat that Cleon II needed to eliminate. With the Empire nearing its end and the Second Foundation not expected to be met until centuries later, the Foundation anticipates no further opposition, however an internal conflict between the Foundation's merchant princes and the traders is foreshadowed.

The characters of Emperor Cleon II and Bel Riose in this story are based on those of the historical Roman Emperor Justinian I and his general Belisarius. Their story was familiar to Asimov from his recent reading of Robert Graves's novel ''Count Belisarius'', and of his earlier study of Edward Gibbon's ''History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', on which the entire series is loosely based.

"The General" was first published in the April 1945 issue of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' under the title "Dead Hand."

The Mule

The second half of the book, titled "The Mule," takes place approximately one hundred years after the first half. The Empire, after its final phase of decline and civil war, has ceased to exist, Trantor has suffered "The Great Sack" by a "barbarian fleet," and only a small rump state of 20 agricultural planets remain. Most of galactic civilization has disintegrated into barbaric kingdoms.

The Foundation has become the dominant power in the galaxy, controlling its territory through its trading network. The outline of the Seldon Plan has become widely known, and Foundationists and many others believe that as it has accurately predicted previous events, the Foundation's formation of a Second Empire is inevitable. The leadership of the Foundation has become dictatorial and complacent, and many outer planets belonging to the Traders plan to revolt.

An external threat arises in the form of a mysterious man known only as the Mule. The Mule (whose real name is never revealed) is a mutant, and possesses the ability to sense and manipulate the emotions of others, usually creating fear and/or total devotion within his victims. He uses this ability to take over the independent systems bordering the Foundation, and has them wage a war against it. In face of this new threat, the provincial Traders join with the central Foundation leaders against the Mule, believing him to be the new Seldon crisis.

As the Mule advances, the Foundation's leaders assume that Seldon predicted this attack, and that the scheduled hologram crisis message appearance of Seldon will again tell them how to win. To their surprise, they learn that Seldon predicted a civil war with the Traders, not the rise of the Mule. The tape suddenly stops as Terminus loses all power in a Mule attack, and the Foundation falls.

Foundation citizens Toran and Bayta Darell, along with the psychologist Ebling Mis and "Magnifico Giganticus," a clown fleeing the Mule's service, travel to different worlds of the Foundation, and finally to the Great Library of Trantor. The Darells and Mis seek to contact the Second Foundation, which they believe will be able to defeat the Mule. They also have suspicions that the Mule wishes to know the location of the Second Foundation as well, so that he can use the First Foundation's technology to destroy it.

At the Great Library, Ebling Mis works continuously until his health fatally deteriorates. As Mis lies dying, he tells Toran, Bayta, and Magnifico that he knows where the Second Foundation is. Before he can reveal the Second Foundation's location, however, Bayta kills him. Bayta had realized, shortly before, that Magnifico was actually the Mule, who had used his powers in every planet they had previously visited. In the same way, he had forced Mis to continue working and find what the Mule was looking for. Bayta had killed Mis to prevent him from revealing the Second Foundation's whereabouts to the Mule.

The Darells are left on Trantor. The Mule leaves to reign over the Foundation and the rest of his new empire. The existence of the Second Foundation, as an organization centered on the science of psychology and mentalics, in contrast to the Foundation's focus on physical sciences, is now known to the Darells and the Mule. Now that the Mule has conquered the Foundation, he stands as the most powerful force in the galaxy, and the Second Foundation is the only threat to his eventual reign over the entire galaxy. The Mule promises that he will find the Second Foundation, while Bayta asserts that it has already prepared for him and thus that he will not have enough time before the Second Foundation reacts.

"The Mule" was first published under that title in the November and December 1945 issues of ''Astounding Science Fiction.''

The wizard Drum Billet knows that he will soon die and travels to a place where an eighth son of an eighth son is about to be born. This signifies that the child is destined to become a wizard; on the Discworld, the number eight has many of the magical properties that are sometimes ascribed to seven in other mythologies. Billet wants to pass his wizard's staff on to his successor.

However, the newborn child is actually a girl, Esk (full name Eskarina Smith). Since Billet notices his mistake too late, the staff passes on to her. As Esk grows up, it becomes apparent that she has uncontrollable powers, and the local witch Granny Weatherwax decides to travel with her to Unseen University in Ankh-Morpork to help her gain the knowledge required to properly manage her powers.

But a female wizard is something completely unheard of on the Discworld. Esk is unsuccessful in her first, direct, attempt to gain entry to the University, but Granny Weatherwax finds another way in; as a servant. While there, Esk witnesses the progress of an apprentice wizard named Simon, whom she had met earlier, on her way to Ankh-Morpork. Simon is a natural talent who invents a whole new way of looking at the universe that reduces it to component numbers.

Simon's magic causes a hole to be opened into the Dungeon Dimensions while he is in Esk's presence. The staff, acting to protect Esk, strikes Simon on the head, closing the hole but trapping his mind in the Dungeon Dimensions. Esk throws the staff away, believing that it attacked Simon. While attempting to rescue him, Esk ends up in the Dungeon Dimensions. The extreme cold there causes the staff, now washed out to sea, to create a huge ice sheet, causing a storm that floods the university as well as the surrounding city.

Esk and Simon discover the weakness of the creatures from the Dungeon Dimensions—if you ''can'' use magic, but ''don't'', they become scared and weakened. With the help of Granny Weatherwax and Archchancellor Cutangle, who have retrieved the staff, they both manage to transport themselves back into the Discworld. Esk and Simon go on to develop a new kind of magic, based on the notion that the greatest power is the ability not to use all the others.

Gabriel, an office temp by day and aspiring Broadway composer by night, makes eye contact with Mark, a go-go dancer in a gay bar. The two meet again in the subway the same night, and go back to Gabriel's place to have sex. They are thwarted in the attempt first by Gabriel's aspiring actress friend Katherine, who is obsessed with her role in an adaptation of ''Salomé'' set in a women's prison, and then by Gabriel's roommate Rich, who returns home with his girlfriend Judy and has similar (and conflicting) plans for the apartment.

Gabriel and Rich argue over which of them should get to use the apartment that night, and decide to settle the matter with a coin toss. When Gabriel loses the coin toss and he and Mark have to leave, Gabriel seeks out his friend Perry to request the use of Perry's place. Unfortunately, as Perry escorts Gabriel and Mark there, they run into Perry's ex-boyfriend. Perry and his ex tearfully reconcile and they go back to Perry's, frustrating Gabriel and Mark yet again. The two then decide to hit a gay club for some dancing. There, a malicious drag queen, Miss Coco, corners Gabriel in the restroom. She badmouths Mark to Gabriel, telling him of the time they tricked which sounds very much like how Gabriel and Mark met and how Mark left abruptly after climaxing, leaving her with a fake phone number to boot. Crushed by this news, Gabriel decides to take off.

Mark follows Gabriel back to his and Rich's apartment to talk and also because he has left his house keys there. They go in to look for the keys and try to talk things out while Judy mediates, topless. Mark asserts that while he did indeed trick once with Miss Coco, it was actually the latter who tried to take advantage of ''him'' by secretly videotaping their encounter without Mark's consent. Gabriel accepts this story, but still does not trust Mark, so Mark leaves angrily. Judy then finds Mark's keys, and Gabriel chases after Mark with them down into the subway. Just when it seems that Mark is gone forever, he reappears; he and Gabriel made a connection after all.

Having reconciled, they decide to get something to eat but run into Katherine and some of her theatre friends at a diner, where Katherine proceeds to monopolize the conversation. Gabriel finally blows up at her, and Katherine, humiliated, melts down and leaves in a huff. Gabriel chases after her and apologizes; they smooth things over and Katherine and her friends depart. As the new morning dawns, Mark gives Gabriel his phone number, they kiss, and Mark heads home. Gabriel calls the number on a nearby payphone, and is relieved to learn that it's Mark's actual number. While they never found a spot to trick, Mark and Gabriel instead formed a budding relationship beyond the simple one night stand they'd first been trying for.

The story follows a plot by a secret brotherhood, the Unique and Supreme Lodge of the Elucidated Brethren of the Ebon Night, to overthrow the Patrician of Ankh-Morpork and install a puppet king, under the control of the Supreme Grand Master. Using a stolen magic book, they summon a dragon to strike fear into the people of Ankh-Morpork.

Once a suitable state of terror and panic has been created, the Supreme Grand Master proposes to put forth an "heir" to the throne, who will slay the dragon and rid the city of tyranny. It is the task of the Night Watch – Captain Vimes, Sergeant Colon, Corporal Nobbs, and new volunteer Carrot Ironfoundersson – to stop them, with some help from the Librarian of the Unseen University, an orangutan trying to get the stolen book back.

The Watch is generally regarded as a bunch of incompetents who walk around ringing their bells without accomplishing anything. Carrot's arrival changes this; Whereas the existing officers are either cynical, incompetent, mildly crooked or all three, Carrot is honest, straightforward and idealistic. Additionally, he is 6'6" (1.9812 meters) tall and enormously strong. Having memorized the Laws and Ordinances of the Cities of Ankh and Morpork, on his first day he tries to arrest the head of the Thieves' Guild for theft (the Thieves' Guild is permitted a quota of legally licensed thieving, a concept that the book of ancient Laws does not take into account). Brought up as a dwarf – dwarves are a literal, dutiful people – Carrot has an absolute dedication and conscientiousness that unnerve his colleagues who view them as bordering on the suicidal in the face of the reality of Ankh-Morpork life. Carrot's policing style is reminiscent of traditional idealized portrayals of British police, but astoundingly, it actually seems to work.

Carrot's enthusiasm strikes a chord with Vimes, who decides that the Watch should try to carry out its ostensible duties. Vimes begins investigating the dragon's appearances, which leads to an acquaintance with Sybil Ramkin, a breeder of swamp dragons. Ramkin gives an underdeveloped dragon, Errol, to the Watch as a mascot.

The leader of the Elucidated Brethren is initially successful in controlling the dragon, but he has not accounted for the dragon's own abilities. The banished dragon returns, and makes itself king of Ankh-Morpork (keeping the head of the Elucidated Brethren as its mouthpiece) and demands that the people of Ankh-Morpork bring it gold and regular virgin sacrifices, whilst preparing for an "ambitious and vigorous" foreign policy, aimed at subjugating the neighbours of Ankh Morpork.

Shortly after, Vimes is imprisoned in the same cell as the Patrician, who has been leading a relatively comfortable life with the help of the rats he uses as spies. The Librarian helps Vimes to escape and he runs to the aid of Sybil, who has been chosen as the first maiden to be sacrificed. The Watch's swamp dragon, Errol, reorganises his digestive system to form a supersonic propulsion system and fights the king, eventually knocking it out of the sky with a shock wave. As the assembled crowd closes in on the king for the kill, Sybil tries to plead for the dragon's life. Carrot instead places it under arrest, however Errol lets the dragon escape, revealing that the dragon is in fact female, the battle between the two being a courtship ritual.

Sam Vimes proceeds to arrest the Supreme Grand Master (Lupine Wonse, the Patrician's secretary) but accidentally causes the man's death when he tells Carrot to "throw the book at him." The man was attempting to summon another dragon, and dies from falling off a broken floor after being hit by the ''Laws and Ordinances of Ankh-Morpork''.

The Patrician is reinstated as ruler of Ankh-Morpork, and offers the Watch anything they want as a reward. They ask only for a modest pay raise, a new tea kettle, and a dartboard. However, the Watch House at Treacle Mine Road was destroyed by the dragon. Lady Ramkin donates her childhood home at Pseudopolis Yard as the new Watch House.

The main character of Pyramids is Teppic (short for Pteppicymon XXVIII), the crown prince of the tiny kingdom of Djelibeybi (a pun on the candy Jelly Baby), the Discworld counterpart to Ancient Egypt. The kingdom, founded seven-thousand years ago and formerly a great empire within the continent of Klatch, has been in debt and recession for generations due to the construction of pyramids for the burial of its pharaohs.

Young Teppic has been in training at the Assassins Guild in Ankh-Morpork for the past seven years. The day after passing his final exam by chance he mystically senses that his father has died and that he must return home. Being the first Djelibeybian king raised outside the kingdom leads to some interesting problems, as Dios, the high priest, is a stickler for tradition, and does not actually allow the pharaohs to rule the country.

After numerous adventures and misunderstandings, Teppic (now Pteppicymon XXVIII) is forced to escape from the palace with a handmaiden named Ptraci, who was condemned to death for not wishing to die and serve the last king in the afterlife (despite Teppic wishing to pardon her). Meanwhile, the massive pyramid being built for Teppic's father (or, rather, in reaction to Dios's rejection of the old pharaoh's wish not to be buried in a pyramid) warps space-time so much that it "rotates" Djelibeybi out of alignment with the space/time of the rest of the Disc by ninety degrees. Teppic and Ptraci travel to Ephebe to consult with the philosophers there as to how to get back inside the Kingdom. Meanwhile, pandemonium takes hold in Djelibeybi, as the kingdom's multifarious gods descend upon the populace, and all of Djelibeybi's dead rulers come back to life. Also, the nations of Ephebe and Tsort prepare for war with one another, as Djelibeybi can no longer act as a buffer zone between the two.

Eventually, Teppic re-enters the Kingdom and attempts to destroy the Great Pyramid, with the help of all of his newly resurrected ancestors. They are confronted by Dios, who, it turns out, is as old as the kingdom itself, and has advised every pharaoh in the history of the Kingdom. Dios hates change and thinks Djelibeybi should stay the same. Teppic succeeds in destroying the Pyramid, returning Djelibeybi to the real world and sending Dios back through time (where he meets the original founder of the Kingdom, thereby restarting the cycle). Teppic then abdicates, allowing Ptraci (who turns out to be his half-sister) to rule. Ptraci immediately institutes much-needed changes, Teppic decides to travel the Disc, and Death comes to ferry the former rulers of Djelibeybi to the afterlife.

Several episodes explore the theme that each resurrection creates a new incarnation with little to no memory of its past life, the immediate past incarnation referred to as the current's "father". Thus, every incarnation is free to develop its own personality and pursue its own personal interests. The vampire is able to pose as a "dreadful dynasty, the counts of Duckula". The preceding generations included knights, sorcerers, scientists, artists, Egyptologists and even professional gamblers, all of whom are also secretly "vicious vampire ducks".

As the title sequence puts it, "the latest reincarnation did not run according to plan". The successful conclusion of the ritual, which was to be performed "once a century, when the moon is in the 8th house of Aquarius", requires blood, the source of sustenance for any vampire, but Nanny accidentally substitutes ketchup. Consequently, the newest version is not a blood-sucking vampire, but a vegetarian one. He is more interested in juicy carrots than hunting for victims. Igor is appalled. Even worse, his "new" master is obsessed with pursuing wealth and fame as an entertainer.

The stories often revolve around Duckula's adventures in search of riches and fame, assisted by the castle's ability to teleport around the world. Another regularly occurring theme is the repeated attempt by Igor to turn Duckula into a proper vampire. Some episodes feature Duckula's nemesis Doctor Von Goosewing (based on Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, the nemesis of Dracula), a vampire hunter who blindly refuses to believe the current incarnation of Duckula is harmless. There is also an array of bizarre, often supernatural foes, from zombies to mechanical werewolves. Another feature of the show is a cuckoo clock whose bat-like Borscht Belt comedian styled characters come out and make jokes about the current situation (or corny jokes in general). The clock is also a vital part of the castle's traveling mechanism, and it even has the ability to turn back time.

A series of annuals and monthly comics further detailing the adventures of Count Duckula and associated characters were released throughout the time that the series originally aired and for a short time afterwards.

Sam Simms (Sinbad) is a Secret Service agent assigned by his superior Wilkes (Robert Guillaume) to protect President Paul Davenport's (James Naughton) rebellious 13-year-old son Luke Davenport (Brock Pierce) after Luke's behavior causes another agent Woods (Timothy Busfield) to be replaced for mistreating Luke in front of media cameras. Simms sees this assignment as undesirable, but a possible stepping stone to protecting the President. He fails to connect with the boy at first, and Luke continues to misbehave.

After seeing Luke get beat up by the school bully Rob (Zachery Ty Bryan), his parents punish him for the fight, even though he didn't start it. Because of the re-election, they can't risk Luke going out of public for a month while his parents are on the campaign trail. Simms feels sorry for him - he had felt alone as a teenager, too (losing his father in Vietnam while his mother worked 2-3 jobs to financially support him) - and they become friends. Simms, a former boxer, agrees to sneak Luke out against the wishes of his parents and teach him how to fight.

Meanwhile, Luke agonizes over asking the cutest girl, Katie (Erin Williby), to the school dance, which he finally does successfully with Simms's help. However, while Simms and Luke are practicing some moves for the dance, the chief of security Morton (Art LaFleur) tells them that they can't go to the dance due to an emergency lockdown because of a duffel bag left unattended on the sidewalk outside the main entrance being investigated by the bomb squad. Simms, breaking the rules, takes Luke to the dance. There, Rob tries to attack Luke again while Simms is distracted, but this time, Luke puts him down.

After that, Secret Service agents bust the school dance and retrieve Luke. Simms is fired and not allowed to speak with Luke, who is crushed that his friend has apparently "abandoned" him. Luke, under house arrest and with a homing device attached to him, receives advice from an online friend, Mongoose12, on how to escape the White House and meet him at a local mall. Luke agrees, but it is revealed that Mongoose12 was in fact former agent Woods, who abducts him. When Luke goes missing, Simms is given another chance to protect him. With the help of his friend Harold (a paraplegic who owns a spy shop), he quickly tracks Luke to the mall.

In a standoff, Woods says he was originally planning on returning Luke to the President so he could be a hero and get his job back, but now he wants to kill him instead, blaming Luke for making him lose his job, and even his wife. Woods tries to shoot Simms, but he takes cover and once Woods is out of bullets, Simms brings him down with a right uppercut. As other agents arrive, Woods tries to shoot Luke with a back-up revolver, but Simms jumps in front of Luke, causing him to take the intended bullet in his arm. Woods is also shot, subdued, and arrested by other arriving Secret Service agents for abduction, assault, and attempted murder.

Simms is offered Presidential duty which he declines in order to stay with Luke full time, and so he can also spend more time with Luke's biology teacher, with whom he has formed a romantic relationship.

The short story involves Mr. and Mrs. White and their adult son, Herbert. Sergeant-Major Morris, a friend who served with the British Army in India, comes by for dinner and introduces them to a mummified monkey's paw. An old ''fakir'' placed a spell on the paw, so that it would grant three wishes but only with hellish consequences as punishment for tampering with fate. Morris, having had a horrible experience using the paw, throws it into the fire, but the sceptical Mr. White retrieves it. Before leaving, Morris warns Mr. White of what might happen should he use the paw.

Mr. White hesitates at first, believing that he already has everything he wants. At Herbert's suggestion, Mr. White flippantly wishes for £200, which will enable him to make the final mortgage payment for his house. When he makes his wish, Mr. White suddenly drops the paw in surprise, claiming that it moved and twisted like a snake. The following night, an employee arrives at the Whites' home, telling them that Herbert had been killed in a terrible machine accident that mutilated his body. The company denies any responsibility for the incident, but makes a goodwill payment of £200, the amount that Mr. White had wished for.

A week after the funeral, Mrs. White, mad with grief, insists that her husband use the paw to wish Herbert back to life. Reluctantly, he does so, despite great unease at the thought of summoning his son's mutilated and decomposing body. An hour or so later, there is a knock at the door. As Mrs. White fumbles at the locks in a desperate attempt to open the door, Mr. White becomes terrified and fears that the thing outside is not the son he loved. He makes his third and final wish. The knocking stops, and Mrs. White opens the door to find that no one is there.

Sir Oliver Tressilian lives at the estate of Penarrow with his brother, Lionel. Oliver is betrothed to Rosamund Godolphin, whose hot-headed brother, Peter, detests the Tressilians due to an old feud between their fathers. Peter and Rosamund's guardian, Sir John Killigrew, also has little love for the Tressilians.

Peter's manipulations drive Oliver into a duel with Sir John. The scheme backfires: Sir John is seriously wounded, further stoking Peter's hatred. Peter attempts to bait Oliver into a violent confrontation, but Oliver is mindful of Rosamund's warning never to meet her brother in an affair of honor. One evening, Lionel returns home, bloodied and exhausted. He has killed Peter in a duel, but there were no witnesses. Oliver is widely believed to be Peter's killer, and Lionel does nothing to disprove the accusations. To avoid repercussions for Peter's death, Lionel has Oliver kidnapped and sold into slavery to ensure that he never reveals the truth. En route to the New World, the slave ship is boarded by the Spanish, and her crew are added to the slaves.

For six months Oliver toils at the oars of a Spanish galley. He befriends a Moorish slave, Yusuf-ben-Moktar. Oliver, Yusuf and the other slaves are freed when the galley is boarded by Muslim corsairs. They offer to fight for the Muslims. Oliver's fighting skills and the testimony of Yusuf, the nephew of the Basha of Algiers, grants Oliver special privileges in Muslim society. He becomes a corsair known as ''Sakr-el-Bahr'', "the Hawk of the Sea". In this new role, Oliver rescues English slaves by purchasing them himself and releasing them in Italy.

Oliver captures a Spanish vessel and discovers his one-time kidnapper, Jasper Leigh, as a slave at the oars. He gives Jasper the opportunity to convert to Islam and join his corsairs. With Jasper's navigational skills, Sakr-el-Bahr sets sail for England to take revenge on Lionel.

Lionel has taken possession of Penarrow. He is now betrothed to Rosamund, who believes that Oliver murdered her brother. Sakr-el-Bahr carries them off to Algiers to be sold as slaves. The Basha sees Rosamund in the market and becomes infatuated with her, planning to buy her for himself. However, he does not have enough ready cash to meet the high bid, and Sakr-el-Bahr wins her instead. The Basha threatens to take her by force, but Sakr-el-Bahr marries her, foiling the Basha's efforts. He also buys Lionel and tricks him into revealing to Rosamund the truth about Peter's death. Rosamund is horrified at Lionel's lies and treachery, calls him a coward, and dismisses him from her, before Sakr-el-Bahr condemns him to serve as a rower in his own galley. Sir Oliver realizes how strong his guilt must have appeared to Rosamund, and loses his hatred for her.

Sakr-el-Bahr's refusal to sell Rosamund to the Basha infuriates the Basha, and the Basha threatens to have her carried off in spite of their hasty marriage. Seeing the danger into which he has brought Rosamund by carrying her to Algiers, Oliver regrets having abducted her. He begins to realize that he still loves her, and vows to return her safely to Europe with her honor intact, at the cost of his life, if necessary. To this end, he smuggles her aboard his galley, but is dismayed to find that the Basha, goaded into mistrust of Sakr-el-Bahr by his son and wife, and still consumed with desire for Rosamund, has resolved to accompany him on his next mission: an attempt to capture a Spanish treasure ship rumored to be passing from Spain to Italy.

Less than a day into the voyage, Rosamund's hiding place on the galley is discovered by the Basha's scheming son, Marzak. The Basha again attempts to take her by force, but Sakr-el-Bahr threatens mutiny, and it is clear that the crew would be equally divided between Sakr-el-Bahr and the Basha. Neither leader is willing to risk his goals on the hazard of an open conflict, and an uneasy stalemate results as the galley reaches its ambuscade and waits for the Spanish treasure ship to pass. Sir Oliver's protection of her in the face of what she believes to be certain death begins to reawaken Rosamund's respect and trust of him.

Unexpectedly, the first ship they sight is an English ship bearing a pennant which Oliver and Rosamund recognize as belonging to Sir John Killegrew—Sir John has sworn an oath to rescue Lionel and Rosamund, and to hang Sakr-el-Bahr. Not realizing the proximity of the corsair, Sir John's ship comes to anchor just round the point from the hidden galley. Sir Oliver sees his chance to return Rosamund to safety, and at dusk contrives to have Lionel thrown overboard, ostensibly for insubordination, but in reality giving him secret instructions to swim round the point in the dark with a message for Sir John. Lionel reaches Sir John, and the English attempt to attack the corsairs, but the wind is very light and the Moorish galley, using her oars, is able to travel much faster than the English sailing ship. Oliver sees that they will surely escape the English ship, and hijacks command of the galley by threatening to detonate the open powder magazine with his torch. He compels the galley to allow the English ship to come alongside. The English crew boards the galley, and in an abortive fight, Lionel, who was first to board the galley, receives a pike thrust through the body from one of the Moors. Sakr-el-Bahr compels both sides to cease fighting, and negotiates a truce—he will surrender himself to Sir John, on the condition that the Moors will allow Rosamund to leave with the English, and that the English will allow the Moors to leave without further molesting them. The Basha, caught in a trap, outgunned, and furious at Sakr-el-Bahr's mutinies, is happy to give him to the English, deeming they will hang him. Sir John is content to let the Basha depart as long as Rosamund and Sir Oliver are in his custody, and the truce is agreed upon. The Basha's galley departs; Sakr-el-Bahr is flung into the hold, and told to prepare himself for execution. Rosamund, seeing Sir Oliver about to sacrifice his life to ensure her safety, realizes that she still loves him.

In the cabin of the English ship, Sir John is told that Lionel is mortally wounded and will likely never recover consciousness. Sir John; Lord Henry Goade, Queen's Lieutenant of Cornwall; and the other officers of the ship form a tribunal to pass judgment on Sir Oliver before hanging him. To their surprise and dismay, Rosamund defends him fiercely, telling them the true story of what happened. They at first believe her to be mad, and then later to be deliberately lying to cover up the man who they say has bewitched her, until word comes that Lionel has recovered consciousness and is asking for his brother. Lionel makes a full confession in the presence of the tribunal, and asks Sir Oliver to forgive him. Sir Oliver does, and Lionel passes away in his brother's arms as Sir Oliver mourns his death and remembers the happy years they had spent together. Faced with confirmation of all Rosamund has told them, the tribunal is forced to admit they have no ground for hanging Sir Oliver, and Lord Henry, as the Queen's Lieutenant, personally guarantees that he will ensure Sir Oliver is cleared of all charges when they arrive in England. The book closes with Sir Oliver and Rosamund on the deck of the ship, embracing as they look forward to a happy future.

In 1763, Captain Edward Reynolds is hunting pirates, or at least trying to do so. He does not consider himself a great commander, and neither does most of his crew. Only his first officer Jules believes in him. When they save a young woman named Isabella from drowning, she tells them that her husband's ship has been destroyed by the feared Captain Victor Stagnetti and his crew of cutthroat pirates.

Reynolds and his crew go hunting for Stagnetti, who tries to find a map that leads to a powerful secret on an island somewhere in the Caribbean Sea. Stagnetti finds the secret "staff" unlocked by Isabella's husband Manuel.

After the crew escapes the spawn of darkness summoned by Stagnetti, their ship engages Stagnetti's in battle, ending Stagnetti's reign as a pirate.

While Bart and Lisa are cleaning the garage, they find a commercial where Bart is cast as a baby with bad breath. Bart does not remember being a child actor (stating he doesn't remember being in ''any'' commercial, before eating a Butterfinger candy bar), and Marge reassures him that he earned a lot of money from it. Homer confesses that he had spent Bart's money. When he asks why Homer would be so selfish in doing so since Marge promised to put that in a trust fund for his future, he explains that he needed the money. Homer had to buy back incriminating photos of himself endangering Bart's life from a hotel balcony to avoid a scandal. Furious, Bart decides that he can no longer live with Homer and appeals to be emancipated.

During the trial, Homer's anger issues prove that Bart is not safe living with him, and Homer is no longer his legal guardian. Furious, he tries to attack Judge Harm, but is stopped by the bailiff and dragged away for contempt.

Bart sadly says goodbye to Marge and Lisa, then moves into a loft. Homer struggles to cope with Bart's disappearance and plans to prove that he can be a better father. That night, Bart is scared away by a rat and runs into the elevator, which takes him to the hangout of Tony Hawk and blink-182. He befriends Hawk and decorates his loft with luxuries, and when the rest of the family visit him, Bart prefers his new life and still refuses to come back.

Hawk invites Bart to his Skewed Tour, where Homer, Lisa, and Marge follow him. To win back Bart's respect, Homer beats Hawk in a skateboarding duel. After Homer promises that he will never mistreat him again, Bart accepts his apology and moves back in. Homer starts to earn back Bart's money by acting in an advertisement for an impotency drug and which he's embarrassed of. Bart reassures him that no one will remember it in 50 years. On Homer's death 50 years later, an elderly Nelson Muntz laughs at his grave before passing out from the attempt.

In the Netherlands of the 1920s, Dreverhaven (Decleir), a dreaded bailiff, is found dead, with a knife sticking out of his stomach. The obvious suspect is Jacob Willem Katadreuffe (Van Huêt), an ambitious young lawyer who worked his way up from poverty, always managing to overcome Dreverhaven's personal attacks against him. Katadreuffe was seen leaving Dreverhaven's office on the afternoon of the murder. He is arrested and taken to police headquarters, where he reflects back on the story of his long relationship with Dreverhaven, who, police learn, is also Katadreuffe's father.

The story begins when Katadreuffe's taciturn mother, Joba (played by Schuurman), worked as a housekeeper for Dreverhaven. During that time, they had sex only once (it is implied that the encounter was forced upon Joba). She becomes pregnant and leaves her employer to make a living for herself and her son. Time and again, she rejects Dreverhaven's offers by mail of money and marriage.

Even as a child, Katadreuffe finds that his path crosses with Dreverhaven, often with dire consequences. When he is arrested for becoming involved in a boyish theft and tells the police that Dreverhaven is his father, Dreverhaven refuses to recognize him as his son. When, as a young man, he unwittingly takes a loan from a bank that Dreverhaven owns to purchase a failed cigar store, Dreverhaven sues him to win the money back and force him into bankruptcy. Still, Katadreuffe manages to pay back the debt, finding a clerical position in the law firm retained to pursue him for his cigar-store debt. He manages to secure this job, even though most of his education is derived from reading an incomplete English-language encyclopedia that he finds as a boy in his mother's apartment; studying this set, he manages to teach himself English, which turns out to be a valuable talent in the eyes of his employers.

After paying back the cigar-store debt, Katadreuffe immediately seeks a second loan from Dreverhaven, so that he can finance his education and legal studies and, ultimately, take and pass the bar examination. Dreverhaven agrees, on the condition that he can call back the loan at any time. Despite the bailiff's efforts to hinder his son, Katadreuffe passes his bar examination and qualifies as a lawyer. On the afternoon when his firm holds a celebration of his becoming a lawyer (the day with which the film begins, the day of the murder), Katadreuffe storms into Dreverhaven's office to confront his lifelong tormentor, the bailiff. Katadreuffe reacts with rage to Dreverhaven's congratulations, and his offer of a handshake, and, though he at first turns to leave, he runs toward Dreverhaven and attempts to attack him. After a bloody and angry brawl, Katadreuffe is witnessed leaving the bailiff's office.

However, the police discover that Katadreuffe left Dreverhaven at 5:00 p.m., though an examination of the bailiff's body reveals that Dreverhaven died at 11:00 p.m. The police finally reveal to Katadreuffe that Dreverhaven actually committed suicide. After Katadreuffe is cleared, a police official hands him a document, left by Dreverhaven's lawyer, that turns out to be the bailiff's will, which leaves all of his considerable wealth to Katadreuffe. The will is signed "Vader" (Father).

William Legrand has relocated from New Orleans to Sullivan's Island in South Carolina after losing his family fortune, and has brought his African-American servant Jupiter with him. The story's narrator, a friend of Legrand, visits him one evening to see an unusual scarab-like bug he has found. The bug's weight and lustrous appearance convince Jupiter that it is made of pure gold. Legrand has lent it to an officer stationed at a nearby fort, but he draws a sketch of it for the narrator, with markings on the carapace that resemble a skull. As they discuss the bug, Legrand becomes particularly focused on the sketch and carefully locks it in his desk for safekeeping. Confused, the narrator takes his leave for the night.

One month later, Jupiter visits the narrator on behalf of his master and asks him to come immediately, fearing that Legrand has been bitten by the bug and gone insane. Once they arrive on the island, Legrand insists that the bug will be the key to restoring his lost fortune. He leads them on an expedition to a particular tree and has Jupiter climb it until he finds a skull nailed at the end of one branch. At Legrand's direction, Jupiter drops the bug through one eye socket and Legrand paces out to a spot where the group begins to dig. Finding nothing there, Legrand has Jupiter climb the tree again and drop the bug through the skull's other eye; they choose a different spot to dig, this time finding two skeletons and a chest filled with gold coins and jewelry. They estimate the total value at $1.5 million, but even that figure proves to be below the actual worth when they eventually sell the items.

Legrand explains that on the day he found the bug on the mainland coastline, Jupiter had picked up a scrap piece of parchment to wrap it up. Legrand kept the scrap and used it to sketch the bug for the narrator; in so doing, though, he noticed traces of invisible ink, revealed by the heat of the fire burning on the hearth. The parchment proved to contain a cryptogram, which Legrand deciphered as a set of directions for finding a treasure buried by the infamous pirate Captain Kidd. The final step involved dropping a slug or weight through the left eye of the skull in the tree; their first dig failed because Jupiter mistakenly dropped it through the right eye instead. Legrand muses that the skeletons may be the remains of two members of Kidd's crew, who buried the chest and were then killed to silence them.

The cryptogram

The story involves cryptography with a detailed description of a method for solving a simple substitution cipher using letter frequencies. The encoded message is:

53‡‡†305))6*;4826)4‡.)4‡);80
6*;48†8¶60))85;1‡(;:‡*8†83(88)
5*†;46(;88*96*?;8)*‡(;485);5*†
2:*‡(;4956*2(5*-4)8¶8*;40692
85);)6†8)4‡‡;1(‡9;48081;8:8‡1
;48†85;4)485†528806*81(‡9;48
;(88;4(‡?34;48)4‡;161;:188;‡?;

The key (with letter frequency) is:

a  5  (12)
b  2  (5)
c  -  (1)
d  †  (8)
e  8  (33)
f  1  (8)
g  3  (4)
h  4  (19)
i  6  (11)
j
k
l  0  (6)
m  9  (5)
n  *  (13)
o  ‡  (16)
p  .  (1)
q
r  (  (10)
s  )  (16)
t  ;  (26)
u  ?  (3)
v  ¶  (2)
w 
x
y  :  (4)
z

The decoded message is:

53‡‡†305))6*;4826)4‡.)4‡);80
agoodglassinthebishopshostel

6*;48†8¶60))85;1‡(;:‡*8†83(88)
inthedevilsseatfortyonedegrees

5*†;46(;88*96*?;8)*‡(;485);5*†
andthirteenminutesnortheastand

2:*‡(;4956*2(5*-4)8¶8*;40692
bynorthmainbranchseventhlimb

85);)6†8)4‡‡;1(‡9;48081;8:8‡1
eastsideshootfromthelefteyeof

;48†85;4)485†528806*81(‡9;48
thedeathsheadabeelinefromthe

;(88;4(‡?34;48)4‡;161;:188;‡?;
treethroughtheshotfiftyfeetout

The decoded message with spaces, punctuation, and capitalization is:

Legrand determined that the "bishop's hostel" referred to the site of an ancient manor house, where he found a narrow ledge that roughly resembled a chair (the "devil's seat"). Using a telescope and sighting at the given bearing, he spotted something white among the branches of a large tree; this proved to be the skull through which a weight had to be dropped from the left eye in order to find the treasure.

''Riven'' s story continues where ''Myst'' and its companion novel, ''The Book of Atrus'', left off. The player assumes the role of the Stranger, the protagonist of the first game and friend of Atrus (Rand Miller). Atrus knows the ancient art of creating "linking books", specially written books that serve as portals to other worlds known as "Ages". Atrus needs the Stranger's help to free his wife, Catherine (Sheila Goold; voice by Rengin Altay), who is held hostage in her home Age of Riven, which is slowly collapsing. Her captor is Gehn (John Keston), Atrus' manipulative father and self-declared ruler of Riven. Thirty years earlier, Atrus and Catherine trapped Gehn on Riven by removing all of the linking books that led out of the Age; the last book to be removed, linking to the Age of Myst, was the one they held to escape Riven. In the belief that it would be destroyed, they let the book fall into the Star Fissure, a rift leading out of the damaged Age of Riven into a mysterious, space-like void. Catherine was later tricked into returning to Riven by her sons, Sirrus and Achenar, whereupon she was taken hostage by Gehn. Eventually, the player discovered the unharmed Myst book, leading to the events in ''Myst''.

At the beginning of ''Riven'', Atrus equips the player with a trap book—a snare that functions as a one-man prison, yet looks identical to a linking book—and his personal diary. This diary summarizes the history of events leading to the present situation; Atrus cannot explain in depth as he is engaged in rewriting the descriptive book of Riven, in an attempt to slow its deterioration. The player must enter the Age with no way of leaving, as Atrus cannot risk sending a real linking book to Riven until Gehn is safely imprisoned lest he use it to escape Riven. Instructing the player to capture Gehn in the trap book, find Catherine, and then signal him, Atrus holds out the link book that will transport the player to Riven.

Once there, the player explores the islands of Riven, eventually discovering Catherine's prison. The player also travels to Tay, the Age of the Moiety (rebellious Rivenese under the leadership of Catherine who are attempting to end Gehn's tyrannical rule), and the "233rd Age", Gehn's personal sanctuary, where the player meets Gehn himself. Gehn attempts to convince the player that his intentions to rebuild D'ni (the civilization responsible for originating the art of the link books) were honorable and that he seeks atonement for his past transgressions. Because of the decay of Riven's structure, the only way to clearly signal Atrus is to bring about a massive disturbance in the Age's stability—accomplished by reopening the Star Fissure, which Gehn had closed. When it opens, Atrus immediately links to Riven to investigate and meets the player at the brink of the Fissure. Depending on the player's actions, the ending to ''Riven'' varies. In the best ending, the player tricks Gehn into the prison book and releases Catherine. Atrus and Catherine thank the Stranger before linking back to the Age of Myst. The Stranger then falls into the Star Fissure to be taken on the path back to his world. The worst ending involves neither capturing Gehn nor releasing Catherine, which allows Gehn to kill Atrus (and then the player) and escape from his imprisonment. Other endings include capturing Gehn without saving Catherine, or being trapped in the prison book.

A television announcer reports sightings of a red fireball around the world. Facetiously, he calculates its path will take it to California. Nancy Archer (Allison Hayes), a wealthy but highly troubled woman with a history of emotional instability and immoderate drinking, is driving on a road that night in an American desert. A glowing sphere settles on the deserted highway in front of her, causing her to veer off the road. When she gets out to investigate the object, a huge creature exits and reaches for her.

Nancy escapes and runs back to town, but nobody believes her story due to her known drinking problem and a recent stay in a mental institution. Her philandering husband, Harry Archer (William Hudson), is more interested in his latest girlfriend, town floozy Honey Parker (Yvette Vickers). He pretends to be the good husband in the hope that Nancy will "snap" and return to the "booby hatch," leaving him in control of her $50 million estate.

Nancy bargains with Harry, asking him to search the desert with her for the "flying satellite," agreeing to a voluntary return to the sanatorium if they find nothing. As night falls, they find the spacecraft and the alien creature emerges, revealed as an enormous male human. Harry fires his pistol at the giant, but the gunfire has no effect. Harry flees, leaving Nancy behind.

She is later discovered on the roof of her pool house in a delirious state and must be sedated by her family physician, Dr. Cushing (Roy Gordon). The doctor comments on scratches he finds on Nancy's neck, and theorizes that she was exposed to radiation. Egged on by his mistress Honey, Harry plans to inject Nancy with a lethal dose of her sedative, but when he sneaks up to her room, he discovers that she has grown to giant size. In a scene paralleling Nancy's first alien encounter, only an enormous hand is seen as Harry reacts in horror.

Cushing and Dr. Von Loeb, a specialist brought in by Cushing, are at a loss on how to treat their giant patient. They keep her in a morphine-induced coma and restrain her with chains while waiting for the authorities to arrive. The sheriff and Jess (Ken Terrell), Nancy's faithful butler, track enormous footprints leading away from the estate to the alien sphere. Inside the sphere, they find Nancy's diamond necklace (containing the largest diamond in the world) and other large diamonds, each in a clear orb. They speculate that the jewels are being used as a power source for the alien ship. The huge human reappears, and the sheriff and Jess flee.

Meanwhile, Nancy awakens and breaks free of her restraints. She tears off her mansion's roof and, clothed in a bikini-like arrangement of bed linens, heads to town to avenge herself on her unfaithful husband. Ripping the roof off the local bar, she spots Honey and drops a ceiling beam on her rival, killing her. Harry panics, grabs Deputy Charlie's pistol, and begins shooting, but she picks up Harry and walks away. The gunshots have no apparent effect on her. The sheriff fires a shotgun at her, which causes a nearby power line transformer to blow up, killing her. The doctors find Harry lying dead in her hand.

In the Southside Reef, a lowly Hawaiian cleaner wrasse named Oscar fantasizes about being rich and famous. He owes money to his boss, a pufferfish named Sykes. His best friend, an angelfish named Angie, offers him a pearl that was a gift from her grandmother to pawn and pay his debt. Meanwhile, Don Edward Lino, the boss of a mob gang of sharks, orcas, swordfish and octopuses, dislikes that his son Lenny is a vegetarian. Lino orders his violent eldest son, Frankie, to mentor Lenny.

Oscar brings the money from the pearl to a seahorse race to meet Sykes, but hears that the race is rigged and bets it all on a seahorse named "Lucky Day". A lionfish gold digger named Lola sees this and flagrantly seduces Oscar. Sykes is annoyed that Oscar bet the money, but he hopes that Oscar might win. Lucky Day eventually takes the lead, only to trip and lose short of the finish line. Sykes loses his temper and orders his two Jamaican jellyfish henchmen, Ernie and Bernie, to deal with Oscar. While the two shock a tied-up Oscar, Frankie sees them and urges Lenny to eat Oscar, but Lenny instead frees Oscar and tells him to escape. Furious and fed up with his brother’s tenderness, Frankie charges at Oscar, but suddenly an anchor from above the surface falls on his neck, killing him. Devastated and blaming himself for his brother's demise, Lenny leaves. With no other witnesses, Oscar takes credit for killing Frankie and quickly rises in fame as the "Sharkslayer".

Sykes becomes Oscar's manager and forgives his debt, and Oscar moves to the "top of the reef" to live in luxury. At the same time, Lino has everyone search for Lenny and the "Sharkslayer". Oscar encounters Lenny who, aware of Oscar's lie, begs Oscar to let him stay at his place to avoid returning to his father. Angie soon finds out about Oscar's lie and threatens to tell everyone, but he and Lenny convince her to be quiet. The next day, Oscar and Lenny stage an event in which Lenny pretends to terrorize the town, and Oscar pretends to defeat him in battle, thus cementing Oscar's popularity and making the sharks believe that Lenny has been killed too, infuriating Lino. Lola kisses Oscar on camera, making Angie jealous. That night, as Lenny disguises himself for his new life as a dolphin, Oscar and Angie get into a heated argument, where she reveals that she had feelings for Oscar even before he became the "Sharkslayer". Oscar reflects on his selfishness and dumps Lola, who beats him up in anger.

Oscar buys some gifts for Angie, only to discover that Lino has kidnapped her to stage a meeting, which Lola is also attending in revenge for being dumped. Lino threatens to eat Angie if Oscar does not surrender, but Lenny "eats" Angie to save her. He soon regurgitates her, and Lino realizes that the disguised Lenny is his son. Enraged, Lino chases Oscar through the reef. Oscar flees to the Whale Wash, accidentally trapping Lenny in the machinery before also trapping Lino. Everyone cheers for Oscar, but he finally confesses the truth behind Frankie's death while urging Lino to respect Lenny's lifestyle. Lino reconciles with his son and accepts him, and states that he and his gang bear the city no ill will. Oscar forsakes all the wealth he has acquired, becomes co-manager of the Whale Wash (which is now frequented by the gang members), and begins a relationship with Angie.

Andy Davis is preparing to go to cowboy camp with his favorite toy Woody, but during Andy's playtime, Woody's arm rips, prompting Andy to leave him home. Woody is put on a shelf with Wheezy, a squeeze-toy penguin with a broken squeaker. When Andy's mother puts Wheezy in a yard sale, Woody rescues him, but a greedy toy collector named Al McWiggin spots Woody outside and stealthily steals him. At Al's apartment, Woody meets Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl, Bullseye the Horse, and Stinky Pete the Prospector, and learns that he was based on the main character of ''Woody's Roundup'', a 1950s children's television show. Al has collected an entire room full of ''Roundup'' memorabilia, but lacked a rare "Woody" doll. The Prospector explains that a toy museum abroad will pay for the complete collection, but without Woody, the collection will be returned to storage. Though the toys with him attempt to persuade him into staying, Woody still wishes to return to Andy.

Al accidentally rips Woody's arm off completely while planning a photograph of the ''Roundup'' gang which he will sell to the museum, and decides to call a toy cleaner to come and fix Woody. That night, while Al is asleep, Woody attempts to retrieve his arm, but is foiled when the TV turns on which awakens Al. Woody accuses Jessie when he finds the television remote in front of her, and the two brawl when she denies it before the Prospector stops their bickering. The next morning, the cleaner arrives, and reattaches Woody's arm while cleaning him at the same time. Jessie then explains that she once belonged to a girl named Emily, who eventually outgrew her and donated her to charity in a cardboard box, giving Jessie abandonment issues and claustrophobia. The Prospector tells Woody the same fate awaits him when Andy matures. With no choice, Woody finally decides to stay, much to the ''Roundup'' gang's relief.

Meanwhile, Buzz Lightyear, Hamm, Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, and Rex arrive at the Al's Toy Barn store in search of Woody. While separated from the others, Buzz is imprisoned in a cardboard rocket by a Utility Belt Buzz Lightyear action figure, who believes Buzz is a rogue space ranger. Utility Belt Buzz joins the other toys, who mistake him for Andy's Buzz. After discovering Al's plan, they enter his apartment building through an elevator shaft. Andy's Buzz escapes and pursues them, but accidentally frees an Evil Emperor Zurg action figure. Zurg also follows the group, vowing to destroy Buzz.

Utility Belt Buzz and the toys find Woody just as Andy's Buzz rejoins them, but Woody initially refuses to go home out of fear of Andy outgrowing him if his arm gets ripped again. Buzz reminds Woody that a toy's true purpose is being played with, which he would never experience in a museum. Woody realizes Buzz is right, and invites the ''Roundup'' gang to come along and become Andy's toys. Jessie and Bullseye accept, but the Prospector refuses and stops them from leaving, revealing he turned on the TV during Woody's earlier escape attempt and framed Jessie for it; he has never been played with by children, and sees the museum as his only purpose. Al then returns, puts the ''Roundup'' gang in a suitcase, and departs for the airport.

Andy's toys pursue Al, but Zurg catches them in the elevator shaft, confronts Utility Belt Buzz, and claims himself to be Buzz's father. Rex inadvertently knocks Zurg down the shaft with his tail. Utility Belt Buzz reconciles with and stays with Zurg, while Andy's Buzz and toys, accompanied by three Alien toys, steal a Pizza Planet delivery truck and follow Al to the airport. There, they use a pet carrier to sneak into the baggage handling system and find Al's suitcase. In the ensuing struggle, the Prospector punches Buzz and tears Woody's arm, but Andy's toys subdue the Prospector and place him in a little girl's backpack. They free Bullseye, but Jessie ends up on the plane bound. Aided by Buzz and Bullseye, Woody enters the plane and frees Jessie. They both escape the plane during takeoff, and the toys return home in a baggage carrier.

Andy returns home from camp to find Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Bullseye, and the Aliens among his other toys, and believes his mother bought them for him. He repairs Woody's arm and Wheezy's squeaker, while Al mourns the loss of his potential fortune in Al's Toy Barn after failing to sell the ''Roundup'' gang to the museum. No longer worried about Andy growing up, Woody tells Buzz that no matter what happens, he and Buzz will be friends for "infinity and beyond".

David Lurie is a white South African professor of English who loses everything: his reputation, his job, his peace of mind, his dreams of artistic success, and finally even his ability to protect his own daughter. He is twice-divorced and dissatisfied with his job as a 'communications' lecturer, teaching a class in romantic literature at a technical university in Cape Town in post-apartheid South Africa. Lurie's sexual activities are all inherently risky. Before the sexual affair that will ruin him, he becomes attached to a sex worker and attempts to have a romantic relationship with her (despite her having a family), which she rebuffs. He then seduces a secretary at his university, only to completely ignore her afterwards. His "disgrace" comes when he seduces one of his more vulnerable students, a girl named Melanie Isaacs, plying her with alcohol and other actions that arguably amount to rape. Later, when she stops attending his class as a result, he falsifies her grades. Lurie refuses to stop the affair, even after being threatened by Melanie's erstwhile boyfriend, who knocks the papers off Lurie's desk, and her father, who confronts him but whom David runs from. This affair is thereafter revealed to the school, amidst a climate of condemnation for his allegedly predatory acts, and a committee is convened to pass judgement on his actions. David refuses to read Melanie's statement, defend himself, or apologize in any sincere form and so is forced to resign from his post. Lurie is working on an opera concerning Lord Byron's final phase of life in Italy which mirrors his own life in that Byron is living a life of hedonism and excess and is having an affair with a married woman.

Dismissed from his teaching position, he takes refuge on his lesbian daughter Lucy's farm in the Eastern Cape. For a time, his daughter's influence and natural rhythms of the farm promise to harmonise his discordant life; for example, in attending farmers markets where Lucy sells her wares, and in working with Petrus, a polygamously-married black African whose farm borders Lucy's and who nominally works for Lucy as a "dog-man" (Lucy boards dogs). But the balance of power in the country is shifting. Shortly after becoming comfortable with rural life, he is forced to come to terms with the aftermath of an attack on the farm. Three men, who claim to need Lucy's phone to call for aid for a sick relative, force their way into the farmhouse. The men rape Lucy and attempt to kill David by setting him on fire. In addition, they also shoot the caged dogs which Lucy is boarding, an action which David later muses was done since black people in South Africa are taught to fear dogs as symbols of white power and oppression. The men drive off in David's car: it is never recovered and they are never caught, although police once contact David to come pick up "his" car, which is in fact evidently not his car (different colour and registration number, different sound system). To David's relief, newspapers spell Lurie's name inaccurately ("Lourie"), meaning nothing will tie his disgraced academic persona to the news story describing the attack on his daughter's farm.

Lucy becomes apathetic and agoraphobic after the attack. David presses her to report the full circumstances to the police, but she does not. Lucy does not want to, and in fact does not, discuss the attack with David until much later. The relationship between Lucy and David begins to show strain as the two recover from the attack in different ways. Lurie begins work with Bev Shaw, a friend of Lucy's, who keeps an animal shelter and frequently euthanizes animals, which David then disposes of. Shaw has an affair with Lurie, despite David finding her physically unattractive. Meanwhile, David suspects Petrus being complicit in the attack. This suspicion is strengthened when one of the attackers, a young man named Pollux, attends one of Petrus's parties and is claimed by Petrus as a kinsman. Lucy refuses to take action against Pollux, and she and David simply leave the party. As the relationship between Lucy and David deteriorates, David decides to discontinue living with his daughter and return to Cape Town

Returning home to his house in Cape Town, David finds that his house has been broken into during his long absence. He attempts to attend a theatre performance starring Melanie, but is harassed into leaving by the same boyfriend who had earlier threatened him. He also attempts to apologize to Melanie's father, leading to an awkward meeting with Melanie's younger sister, which rekindles David's internal passion and lust. David finally meets with Melanie's father, who makes him stay for dinner. Melanie's father insists that his forgiveness is irrelevant: Lurie must follow his own path to redemption.

At the novel's end, Lurie returns to Lucy's farm. Lucy has become pregnant by one of the rapists, but ignores advice to terminate the pregnancy. Pollux ultimately comes to live with Petrus, and spies on Lucy bathing. When David catches Pollux doing this, Lucy forces David to desist from any retribution. David surmises that ultimately, Lucy will be forced into marrying Petrus and giving him her land, and it appears that Lucy is resigned to this contingency. Lurie returns to working with Shaw, where Lurie has been keeping a resilient stray from being euthanised. The novel concludes as Lurie "gives him up" to Bev Shaw's euthanasia.

Will McLean, returning to the Carolina Military Institute in Charleston, South Carolina, an unknown number of years after his graduation, tells the story of his life at the Institute. In 1966, Will was an English major on a basketball scholarship, in his fourth and final year at the Institute. Will is not interested in a military career, and had only attended on account of his father, also an alumnus, to whom he made a deathbed promise years ago to attend and eventually wear the Institute's graduate ring. He is generally well-liked and his professors and peers recognize him for his integrity and fairness, although he is also sarcastic and independent. Will struggles to fit into the strict military environment, but finds solace in his three roommates, who have become his closest friends: Tradd St. Croix, the son of an upper-class Charlestonian family, and two brawny Italian-American boys from the North, Dante "Pig" Pignetti and Mark Santoro. They all look forward to graduation, although Will's friends will head off to fight in the Vietnam War, which Will is personally against. However, Will does have some pride in the Institute, representing it in basketball. Though anti-war, he also despises the discrimination the Institute faces from civilian students of other colleges due to its military association, which he sees at away games. For example, when Will plays a game against the Virginia Military Institute, which is considered their biggest rival game, he notes that VMI was the only team all season that did not harass him and his teammates.

Colonel Berrineau, the Commandant of Cadets who is commonly known as The Bear, asks Will to look out for the Institute's first black cadet, Tom Pearce, knowing that Will is the only liberal in the student body. Will also begins a secret relationship with Annie Kate Gervais, a girl from an upper-class Charlestonian family who has become pregnant from a boy who refused to marry her, though their relationship is doomed because Will is Irish-American, Catholic, and not wealthy. Will attempts to help a freshman, Poteete, who is struggling with the plebe system, which is the brutal hazing and abuse experienced by freshmen at the Institute. However, Poteete kills himself.

In an extended flashback, Will then describes his own plebe year three years earlier. Will learns that the only way to survive is to bond closely with the other members of his class against the cadre. Having entered the college on a basketball scholarship, Will is also protected by other members of the basketball team who don't want to see Will physically harmed and, at one point, rescue him from a particularly brutal hazing incident. Many of Will's classmates are not so lucky, and resign from the school due to the unrelenting hazing. However, a recruit named Bobby Bentley who has a problem with urinating on himself due to the stress of hazing but in excellent shape, refuses to quit and can handle all physical hardships. Conventional hazing methods fail to break Bentley, causing Will's freshman class to come together, and making Will's cadre the subject of ridicule of the entire cadet corps. Near the end of the year, Will's freshman class is recognized as cadets, and the hazing ends. Some time before this, Bobby Bentley is taken off campus by an unknown group and withdraws from the Institute the following day for unknown reasons.

Back in Will's senior year, he hears rumors of The Ten, a mysterious Institute secret society that ensures certain cadets, deemed unacceptable to "wear the ring" (that is, to be a graduate of the Institute, denoted by wearing of a class ring), are run out by any means necessary. Will discovers that the Ten are real and are trying to run Pearce out to keep the Institute all white. Meanwhile, Will and the other seniors are given their Institute rings in preparation for graduation, and Will wins the final basketball game of his career.

Annie Kate's baby is stillborn and she rejects Will, wanting to forget all about the time she spent pregnant. Will looks further into the Ten and reunites with Bobby Bentley, who reveals that, during their plebe year, he was spirited away to a house, and was threatened and tortured to the point that he agreed to quit. Bentley says his ultimate decision to quit was not due to the torture, but the realization he no longer wished to be associated with any organization that would have a group like The Ten. Bentley recalls one member of The Ten, whom they piece together as a high-ranking cadet from their plebe year. Will, Mark, and Pig, discovering this Ten member is now a student at a nearby law school, abduct him, then interrogate him on a secluded railroad track until he reveals the location of the house, which is a plantation house owned by General Bentley Durrell, the superintendent of the Institute. When Pearce is kidnapped by the Ten, Will goes to the house but is discovered. He is rescued by Mark and Pig, but their identities are now known by the Ten.

Pearce is intimidated into silence, and the Ten attempt to have Mark, Pig and Will thrown out of the school. Pig is caught on an honor code violation due to the Ten and loses the honor court case, despite the help of his roommates. After he is expelled and drummed out of school, he throws himself in front of a train, killing himself. The Ten then attempt to get Will and Mark kicked out of school for excess demerits. Just as they are about to be thrown out, Will discovers that Tradd's father was a member of the Ten. He and Mark read his journals and discover the names of all current and former members. They also discover that Tradd is a member of the Ten and had been feeding the Ten information the whole time, and that Tradd is the father of Annie Kate's baby. Will confronts Tradd and ends their friendship. Will then attempts to blackmail the General into letting him and Mark graduate, using the information learned about the Ten, but Durrell refuses, claiming their substandard performance and that the graduate they kidnapped wants to press charges against them as justifications for dismissal. The Bear then enters the General's office, informing him that multiple cadets who were run out of the Institute are now considering lawsuits of their own. General Durrell relents when also faced with the threat of exposure to the press, as evidenced by Mark seen outside with letters containing the information ready to be mailed. Will and Mark are allowed to graduate, but the board of governors removes Colonel Berrineau (The Bear) from his position as commandant. Shortly before graduation, Will receives a letter from Annie Kate, thanking him for standing by her and saying he will make a good husband to whatever woman he finds. Reflecting on his graduation, Will notes that eight of his fellow cadets will eventually be killed in action in the Vietnam War, Mark among them. Will also reveals that The Ten member and class "golden boy" John Alexander would fade into obscurity, last seen working as a ROTC instructor at a small university, while Mark Santoro tops the entire class in awards for valor. As Will receives his diploma from the Institute, he is coldly told by General Durrell not to disgrace the ring, but Will simply replies with "Dante Pignetti", honoring his former roommate and showing his contempt for the general by breaking the school's taboo of ever speaking the name of a drummed-out cadet. The Bear appears at their graduation to congratulate Will. Disgusted at seeing General Durrell's signature on his diploma, Will asks Colonel Berrineau to sign it as Will wants the name of a man he can respect on the diploma. The Bear does not sign, remarking, "there already is, Bubba", pointing to Will's name.

Learning of a secret weapon from the diary of his deceased grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik, Eggman infiltrates a high-security G.U.N. facility and revives it using a Chaos Emerald. The weapon – a black hedgehog and self-proclaimed "Ultimate Life Form" named Shadow – offers to help Eggman conquer the world, telling him to rendezvous at an abandoned space colony, ARK, with more Chaos Emeralds. Shadow goes to Central City, encountering G.U.N.'s forces after stealing an Emerald. Shadow has vowed to fulfill a promise to a girl, Maria, which he interprets as one of revenge. Shadow blasts through the military force and meets Sonic. After a brief confrontation, Shadow escapes and G.U.N. captures Sonic, whom they mistake for Shadow.

Meanwhile, Knuckles encounters Rouge and Eggman, who try to steal the Master Emerald. He stops them by shattering the Emerald and searches for the scattered shards. Rouge, spying for the government, heads to Eggman's base and the ARK. There, Shadow shows Eggman the Eclipse Cannon, another superweapon created by Gerald, and discloses his plan: to charge the cannon with Chaos Emeralds and use it to take over the world. Rouge appears, offering them a Chaos Emerald to gain their trust.

Tails and Amy infiltrate G.U.N.'s island base and rescue Sonic, while Eggman, Shadow and Rouge collect three Emeralds on the island. Eggman makes a global broadcast threatening to fire on the Earth in 24 hours if his demands are not met, demonstrating the cannon's power by using it to destroy half the Moon. Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles use a Chaos Emerald in their possession to track down the other six. They infiltrate Eggman's base, boarding his shuttle shortly before it launches into space. Knuckles' Master Emerald shards are spilled along the way, and he leaves to collect them. He fights Rouge again, but when he saves her from falling into a lava pit, she relinquishes her shards and he restores the Master Emerald.

On the ARK, Tails reveals he has made a counterfeit Chaos Emerald to destroy the Eclipse Cannon. As Sonic is about to use it, Eggman tells him that he has captured Tails and Amy, forcing him to return and rescue them. Sonic tries to trick Eggman with the fake Emerald, but Eggman sees through the plan and jettisons him in an escape pod rigged with explosives. Tails, thinking Sonic is dead, defeats Eggman. Sonic uses the power of the fake Emerald to escape; Shadow is sent to intercept him.

Regardless of who wins the fight, Eggman sneaks away from Tails and Amy with the last Emerald and arms the Eclipse Cannon. The entire colony suddenly starts falling and a prerecorded message from Gerald is broadcast globally: he programmed the ARK to collide with Earth if the Emeralds were used, destroying it in revenge for the government condemning his research and killing his colleagues, including his granddaughter Maria. Everyone, but Shadow, works together to access the cannon's core and neutralize the ARK using the Master Emerald.

Amy pleads for Shadow's help, allowing him to remember what Maria really requested of Shadow: for him to help mankind. Shadow catches up with Sonic and Knuckles in the core as they encounter the Biolizard, a prototype Ultimate Life Form. Shadow repels it, allowing Knuckles to deactivate the Chaos Emeralds with the Master Emerald. The Biolizard uses Chaos Control to fuse with the cannon, becoming the Finalhazard and continuing the ARK's collision course.

Sonic and Shadow use the Emeralds to transform into their super forms, defeating the Finalhazard and using Chaos Control to teleport the ARK back into stable orbit. This depletes Shadow's energy and he plummets to Earth, content in fulfilling his promise to Maria. The people on Earth celebrate as the heroes return home and Sonic bids Shadow farewell.

Ace Ventura is an unorthodox Miami-based private detective who specializes in retrieving tame or captive animals. He struggles to pay his rent and is often mocked by the Miami Police Department, led by Lieutenant Lois Einhorn, who finds Ventura insufferable. Two weeks before the Miami Dolphins are to host the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl at Joe Robbie Stadium, their mascot, a bottlenose dolphin named Snowflake, is kidnapped. Melissa Robinson, the Dolphins' chief publicist, hires Ventura to find Snowflake.

Searching Snowflake's tank for clues, Ventura finds a rare triangle-cut orange amber stone, which he recognizes as a part of a 1984 AFC Championship ring. Ace suspects billionaire Ronald Camp may have stolen Snowflake, as he is known for collecting exotic animals through less-than-reputable means and sources. Ventura and Melissa sneak into Camp's party, where Ventura mistakes a shark for Snowflake and is nearly eaten. Camp apologizes and shakes Ventura's hand, revealing on one of his own fingers a ring with an amber stone set identical to the one Ventura found. Ruling out Camp, as his ring was not missing the amber stone, Ventura concludes that a member of the 1984 Miami Dolphins line-up may have kidnapped Snowflake, and attempts to identify the culprit by their rings. However, he discovers all of the team members' rings are intact.

Roger Podacter, the team's head of operations, mysteriously dies after falling from his apartment balcony. Einhorn declares it a suicide, but Ventura proves that it was murder due to the balcony glass doors being soundproof and a neighbor claiming to have heard screaming. He comes across an old photograph of the football team, discovering an unfamiliar player named Ray Finkle who was added as a placekicker in mid-season. Finkle missed a relatively easy field-goal kick at the end of Super Bowl XVII, which cost the Dolphins the championship and ruined his career. Visiting Finkle's parents, Ventura learns that Finkle blamed quarterback Dan Marino for allegedly mishandling the ball before the kick, and became so fixated on this that he was committed to a mental hospital for homicidal tendencies. Marino himself is kidnapped shortly thereafter. Ventura visits Einhorn, pitching his theory that Finkle kidnapped both Marino and Snowflake in an act of revenge, as he was offended that the dolphin has been given Finkle's old team number and a field-goal trick to boot. He also theorizes that Finkle murdered Podacter when the latter discovered him snooping around his apartment. Einhorn compliments Ventura and kisses him before attempting to dissuade him from continuing the case since there is now a suspect, but Ventura refuses since he is still under contract by the Dolphins to locate Snowflake.

Ventura and Melissa go to the mental hospital, where Ventura poses as a potential patient. Ventura uncovers a newspaper article in Finkle's possessions about a missing hiker named Lois Einhorn. Piecing together the evidence, Ventura, to his shock, realizes that Einhorn is Finkle: Finkle took on the identity of the missing Einhorn, and took advantage of her position in the Miami Police Department to get revenge on Marino and the Dolphins. On Super Bowl Sunday, Ventura follows Einhorn to an abandoned yacht storage facility where she has Marino and Snowflake held hostage. Einhorn calls the police, blaming Ventura with no proof. Melissa and Ventura's friend, police officer Emilio, suspecting the deception, stage a hostage situation to get the police to listen to Ventura. To prove Einhorn is Finkle, Ace strips her of her clothes and, with help from Marino, reveals that Einhorn never got the penectomy and vaginoplasty necessary to perfect the disguise; Podacter discovered this during a date with Einhorn and was pushed off the balcony to stop him from revealing this to the public.

Einhorn/Finkle is arrested by the police after attacking Ventura, and his ring is confirmed to have the stone missing. Marino and Snowflake are welcomed back during half-time at the Super Bowl; Ventura is then shown on the stadium's jumbotron and acknowledged as their savior, even as he gets into a scuffle with Eagles' mascot Swoop over a rare pigeon, receiving a large ovation from the crowd.

In the summer of 1958, local boy Danny Zuko and vacationing Australian Sandy Olsson meet at the beach and fall in love. When the summer comes to an end, Sandy frets that they may never meet again, but Danny tells her that their love is "only the beginning". At the start of the seniors' term at Rydell High School, Danny resumes his role as leader of the T-Birds greaser gang consisting of Doody, Sonny, Putzie, and his best friend Kenickie. Greaser girl clique the Pink Ladies arrives, consisting of Frenchy, Marty, Jan and leader Rizzo.

Sandy's parents remain in America and enroll Sandy at Rydell; she befriends Frenchy, who is considering dropping out to become a beautician. Danny and Sandy recount their brief romance to their respective groups, Sandy recalling a romantic summer and Danny implying a more physical experience.

When Sandy finally says Danny's name, Rizzo arranges a surprise reunion at a pep rally where Sandy meets Tom, a jock, and Kenickie unveils his new used car, Greased Lightnin', which he plans on street racing after a restoration. Danny maintains his bad-boy persona in front of his gang and Sandy, who storms off upset. At a Pink Ladies pajama party, Sandy falls ill from drinking, trying a cigarette, and having her ears pierced by Frenchy. Rizzo departs for a tryst in the back seat of Kenickie's car, during which the condom breaks.

Rizzo and Kenickie are disturbed by Leo, leader of rival gang the Scorpions, and his girlfriend Cha-Cha. Danny, with Coach Calhoun's help, becomes a runner to win Sandy back from Tom; it works, but their friends crash the reunion. Kenickie and Rizzo part after an argument. A guardian angel advises Frenchy to return to school after a mishap in beauty class leaves her with candy-pink hair.

The school dance arrives, broadcast live on ''National Bandstand'' and hosted by DJ Vince Fontaine, who flirts with Marty. Rizzo and Kenickie spite one another by bringing Leo and Cha-Cha as their dates. In a chaotic hand jive, Danny and Sandy dance well, but just before the winners are announced, Sonny pulls Sandy away and Cha-Cha cuts in to win with Danny, as Sandy leaves upset and the T-Birds moon America.

Danny tries to make it up to Sandy by taking her to a drive-in theater but she leaves when he makes a clumsy pass. Rizzo fears she is pregnant after missing a period and confides in Marty, who tells Sonny, who inadvertently spreads the rumor to the apparent father Kenickie, though Rizzo denies it to him.

On race day, Kenickie is concussed by his own car door, so Danny takes the wheel, winning the race after Leo spins out. Sandy, watching from afar, concludes she still loves Danny and decides to change her attitude and look to impress him. She asks Frenchy for her help.

On the last day of school, the class celebrates their graduation as Principal Greta McGee and assistant Blanche sob about the class's departure. Rizzo finds she is not pregnant and reunites with Kenickie. Danny and Sandy each find they have changed for each other: Danny has become a letterman, and Sandy a greaser girl. They depart in the Greased Lightnin' car, which takes flight.

Patty Hoperabbit, along with her family, arrives in Maple Town, a small town inhabited by friendly animals. However, in a train heist by the sly – if usually "endearingly unsuccessful" – thief, Wilde Wolf stole the mailbag from her father and escaped into the forest. Soon she followed after him to retrieve the mailbag. In the midst of getting the bag back from the thief, she befriends a boy of her age named Bobby Kumanoff who has the bag. After they escape from Wilde Wolf and outwit him, they deliver the mailbag safely to her father. Soon, the Rabbit Family settles in Maple Town as mail carriers and the bitter, yet sweet friendship of Patty and Bobby begins to blossom. At the same time they try to foil Wilde Wolf's plans.

The series's setting is Canada around the 1920s, while the setting of Palm Town Chapter is based on the West Coast of the United States around the 1980s.

While on a walking tour, the philologist Elwin Ransom is drugged and taken on board a spacecraft bound for a planet called Malacandra. His abductors are Devine, a former college acquaintance, and the scientist Weston. Wonder and excitement relieve his anguish at being kidnapped, but he is put on his guard when he overhears his captors discussing their plans to turn him over to the inhabitants of Malacandra as a sacrifice.

Soon after the three land, Ransom escapes and then runs off in terror upon first seeing the vaguely humanoid but alien ''sorns''. In his wanderings, he finds that all the lakes, streams, and rivers are warm, that gravity is significantly lower than on Earth, and that the plants and mountains are all extremely tall and thin. After meeting a ''hross'' named Hyoi, a civilised native of a different species, Ransom becomes a guest for several weeks in Hyoi's village, where he uses his philological skills to learn the language. Discovering that gold (known as "sun's blood"), is plentiful on Malacandra, he discerns Devine's motive for making the voyage.

While out hunting, Ransom and his ''hrossa'' companions are told by an ''eldil'', an almost invisible, angelic creature, that Ransom must go to meet Oyarsa, who is ruler of the planet, and indeed that he should already have done so. Shortly after, Hyoi is shot dead by Devine and Weston as they track Ransom and Ransom is directed by the ''hrossa'' to comply with the eldil's instructions and cross the mountains to the cave of a ''sorn'' named Augray.

On the way Ransom discovers that he has almost reached the limit of breathable air and has to be revived by Augray with a flask of oxygen. The next day, carrying Ransom on his shoulder, Augray takes him across the bleak tableland and down into another river valley to Meldilorn, the island home of Oyarsa. There Ransom meets another species, a ''pfifltrigg'' who tells him about the beautiful houses and works of art that his people make in their native forests.

Ransom is led to Oyarsa, who explains that there is an Oyarsa for each of the planets in the solar system. However, the Oyarsa of Earth - which is known as Thulcandra, "the silent planet" - has become "bent", or evil, and has been restricted to Earth after "a great war" on the authority of Maleldil, the ruler of the universe. Ransom is ashamed at how little he can tell the Oyarsa of Malacandra about Earth, and how foolish he and other humans seem to Oyarsa.

While the two are talking, Devine and Weston are brought in, guarded by ''hrossa'', because they have killed three members of that species. Weston does not believe that Oyarsa exists and he is incapable of conceiving that the Malacandrians are anything but ignorant natives, exploitable and expendable. This emerges in the course of a long speech in which Weston justifies his proposed invasion of Malacandra on "progressive" and evolutionary grounds. Weston's motives are shown to be more complex than profit: he is bent on expanding humanity through the universe, abandoning each planet and star system as its resources are exhausted and it becomes uninhabitable. In Ransom's attempts at translation, the brutality and crudity of Weston's ambitions are laid bare.

While acknowledging that Weston is acting out of a sense of duty to his species and does not share Devine's greed for gold, Oyarsa tells Weston and Devine that he cannot tolerate their disruptive presence on Malacandra. He directs them to leave the planet immediately, despite very unfavourable orbital conditions. Oyarsa offers Ransom the option of staying on Malacandra, but Ransom decides he does not belong there either. The three men voyage back to Earth in the spaceship, and their 90 days' worth of air and other supplies nearly run out before they arrive.

In the final chapter, Lewis introduces himself as a character into his own novel. He had written to Ransom enquiring whether he had come across the Latin word ''Oyarses'', discovered in a mediaeval Neoplatonist work. This prompts Ransom to share his secret and the two resolve to hinder Weston from doing further evil in view of "the rapid march of [contemporary] events".

The Terran system is growing and expanding all the time. But an old and corrupt Centaurian Empire is holding Terra down, as it encircles the Terran system and will not let the humans grow out of their current empire. For this reason Terra is at war with Proxima Centauri and is trying to find a way of breaking free from the Centaurians' hold upon them.

In the war that results, Terra is continually coming up with new weapons to try to break the Centaurian defenses, but Proxima Centauri is also continually updating its defenses. Using spies and other such tactics, both parties find out about each other's advances, and no actual fighting ever occurs because both sides are too busy trying to beat each other with new technological developments. Terra even calculates their chances to win a war versus Centauri and updates these calculations with each new development, making their decision about a war rely on this calculation. Eventually Terra comes up with a concept for a bomb, called Icarus, that Proxima can not defend against because it travels at faster-than-light speeds, making use of the buildup of mass at near light speeds as a destructive agent when it slows down to below light speed. Then the odds start to side with Terra, and Terra prepares to fight with this new-found technology. There are two problems; the first is that Icarus does not yet work, which prevents Terra from using it against Proxima Centauri, and the second is the existence of a man from the past brought to the present. He is an "unknown variable" that confuses the almost prophetic SRB machines which calculate the probability of winning the war that all war decisions rely on. Hence, the book is titled "The Variable Man".

This is where Thomas Cole, known as ''The Variable Man'', comes in. Cole is a man from the past, from 1913, the time just before the First World War. He is brought into the present (or future depending on perspective) as an accident via a ''Time Bubble'' that was used for research about the past. He escapes from the authority in the future and spends a lot of time running from them afterwards. It is, however, discovered that this man has a certain genius to fix things and make things work. This is because he comes out of a period of time when humans had a natural genius and an ability to invent things and to solve problems. It is at this point that the man working on the FTL (Faster Than Light) bomb realizes that The Variable Man is the only person who can make Icarus work. As a result, the engineer working on Icarus convinces The Variable Man to help them out. Icarus does eventually work, although not in the way that anyone may have wanted. Instead of emerging from FTL speed in the middle of Centarus (the sun around which the Centaurian Empire is built) and blowing it, and the surrounding Centaurian system, out of existence, it turns out that Cole transformed (or fixed) Icarus into a working hyperdrive. However the order for Terra to launch a full-scale attack against the Centaurian Empire (under the assumption that the majority of the enemy ships and planets would have been destroyed in the Icarus explosion) had already been given. The forces of Terra suffered a terrible defeat, losing many of their ships, yet due to the Variable Man having successfully wired Icarus it was now possible for Terra to travel beyond the Centaurian Empire's perimeter. Terra was no longer blocked into their tiny system, and there was no further need for war.

Phineas Bogg (Jon-Erik Hexum) was one of a society of time travelers called Voyagers who, with the help of a young boy named Jeffrey Jones (played by Meeno Peluce) from 1982, used a hand-held device called an Omni (which looked much like a large pocket watch that flashes red when history is wrong and green when the timeline is corrected) to travel in time and ensured that history unfolded as we know it.

Bogg and Jeffrey first met when Bogg's Omni malfunctioned and took him to 1982 (the device was not supposed to reach any later than 1970), landing him in the skyscraper apartment of Jeffrey's aunt and uncle, who were caring for him after his parents' deaths. Bogg's Guidebook, which contained a detailed description of how history was supposed to unfold, was grabbed by Jeffrey's dog Ralph, and in the struggle to retrieve it Jeffrey accidentally fell out his bedroom window and Bogg jumped out to rescue him by activating the Omni. With his Guidebook stuck in 1982, Bogg (who, being more interested in girls than in history, apparently never paid much attention in his Voyager training/history classes) had to rely on Jeffrey, whose father had been a history professor, to help him. Jeffrey's knowledge proved invaluable; for example, in the first episode, Jeffrey ensured that baby Moses' basket traveled down the Nile where it was met by the Pharaoh's daughter.

Phineas was timeless in his machismo and managed to fall for a beautiful woman in almost every episode. Whenever Jeffrey's wisdom was paired up against Bogg's stubbornness, Jeffrey usually won out, to which Bogg would always mutter, "Smart kids give me a pain!" Another catchphrase used by Bogg as an expletive was "Bat's breath!" They developed a strong relationship and became a formidable team. In the course of their adventures together, they sometimes encountered other Voyagers whose missions happened to overlap with theirs.

It was revealed later in the series that despite Jeffrey's age, and the accidental circumstances of his first encounter with Phineas, he was always destined to become a Voyager.

Over the closing credits of each episode, regular cast member Meeno Peluce said in voice-over: "If you want to learn more about [historical element from the episode], take a voyage down to your public library. It's all in books!"

Actress Terry London (played by Mirta Massa) and her producer, Max Marsh, visit an unnamed country in South America. A female biker cult led by a man named Satán ( ) stalks and eventually murders the pregnant London and her circle of friends.

In the first two series, Tarot is assisted by Sam Maxstead (Tony Selby), a reformed convict, and by the orphan Lillian "Lulli" Palmer (Judy Loe). Lulli shares a telepathic link with Tarot, which enables them to communicate over great distances. After having to leave the programme because of prior commitments, in the final series, this pair were replaced by brother and sister Chas (Roy Holder), a photographer, and Mikki (Petra Markham), a journalist, who had similar roles in the series. She also shared a telepathic link with Tarot. A character named Mr Sweet (Donald Layne-Smith) who runs an antiquarian bookshop often has the answer to Tarot's questions. Sweet is based in a university for the last series.

In 1462, Vlad the Impaler returns from a victory in his campaign against the Ottoman Empire to find his wife Elisabeta committed suicide after his enemies falsely reported his death. The priest tells him that his wife's soul is damned to Hell for committing suicide. Enraged, Vlad desecrates the chapel and renounces God, declaring he will rise from the grave to avenge Elisabeta with all the powers of darkness. He then stabs the chapel's stone cross with his sword and drinks blood that pours from it, damning his soul and becoming a vampire.

In 1897, solicitor Jonathan Harker takes the Transylvanian Count Dracula as a client from his colleague Renfield who has gone insane and is now an inmate in Dr. Jack Seward's insane asylum. Jonathan travels to Transylvania to arrange Dracula's real estate acquisitions in London. Jonathan meets Dracula who finds a picture of his fiancée Mina Murray and believes she is the reincarnation of Elisabeta. Dracula leaves Jonathan to be fed upon by his brides, while he sails to England with boxes of Transylvanian soil, taking up residence at Carfax Abbey, with Renfield's ravings foretelling his arrival.

In London, Dracula emerges during a fierce thunderstorm and hypnotically seduces, then bites Lucy Westenra, with whom Mina is staying while Jonathan is in Transylvania. Lucy's deteriorating health and behavioral changes prompt former suitors Quincey Morris and Dr. Seward, along with her fiancé Arthur Holmwood to summon Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, Seward's teacher and mentor, who recognizes Lucy as the victim of a vampire. Dracula, appearing young and handsome during daylight, meets and charms Mina. Mina begins to develop feelings for Dracula, accompanying him on several outings. When Mina finally receives word from Jonathan — who has escaped the castle and recovered at a convent — she travels to Romania to marry him. Upon learning this, a heartbroken Dracula transforms Lucy into a vampire. Van Helsing, Holmwood, Seward and Morris kill and behead the undead Lucy the following night.

After he and Mina return to London, Jonathan and Van Helsing lead the others to Carfax Abbey, where they destroy the Count's boxes of soil. Dracula enters the asylum and kills Renfield for warning Mina of his presence. He visits Mina, who is staying in Seward's quarters, and confesses that he murdered Lucy and has been terrorizing Mina's friends. Though furious at first, Mina admits that she still loves him and remembers Elisabeta's previous life; at her insistence, Dracula begins transforming her into a vampire. The hunters burst into the bedroom, and Dracula claims Mina as his bride before escaping. As Mina changes, Van Helsing hypnotizes her and learns via her connection with Dracula that he is sailing home in his last remaining box. The hunters depart for Varna to intercept him, but Dracula reads Mina's mind and evades them. The hunters split up; Van Helsing and Mina travel to the Borgo Pass and the castle, while the others try to stop the gypsies transporting Dracula.

At night, Van Helsing and Mina are approached by Dracula's brides. Mina succumbs to their chanting and attempts to seduce Van Helsing. Before Mina can feed on his blood, Van Helsing places a communion wafer on her forehead, leaving a mark. He surrounds them with a ring of fire to protect them from the brides, then kills them the following morning. Dracula's carriage arrives at the castle, pursued by the hunters. A fight between the hunters and gypsies ensues. Morris is stabbed in the back and Dracula bursts from his coffin at sunset. Jonathan slits his throat with a kukri knife while Morris stabs him in the heart. As Dracula staggers, Mina rushes to his defense. Van Helsing and Jonathan allow her to retreat with the Count. Morris dies from his wound, surrounded by his friends.

In the chapel where he renounced God, Dracula lies dying in an ancient demonic form; he and Mina share a kiss as the candles adorning the chapel light up and the cross repairs itself. Dracula reverts to his younger self and asks Mina to give him peace. Mina thrusts the knife through his heart and as he dies, the mark on her forehead disappears. She then decapitates him and gazes up at a fresco of Vlad and Elisabeta, finally reunited and ascending to Heaven together.

On a drifted boat, the body of Admiral Penistone is found. Last night, he had dinner with his niece in the house of the vicar. Afterwards he used his own boat to navigate over the river to his home. However, the boat on which the admiral is found is not his property, but is owned by the vicar. The admiral was stabbed by a knife or a dagger, but there is no blood on the floor. Furthermore, the mooring line has been cut.

The story is a parody of the tale of Faust, and follows the events of ''Sourcery'' in which the Wizard Rincewind was trapped in the Dungeon Dimensions. The Discworld version of Hell or Pandemonium exists simply because some people believe that it exists for them. In other Discworld stories, such as ''Small Gods'', the afterlife is different or non-existent according to personal belief.

After magical disturbances occur throughout Ankh-Morpork, the wizards of Unseen University perform the Rite of AshkEnte to ask Death what is behind them; before being asked the question, Death informs them that it is Rincewind. Rincewind wakes in a strange place, having been summoned to a house in Pseudopolis by the thirteen-year-old demonologist, Eric Thursley, who wants the mastery of all kingdoms, to meet the most beautiful woman who ever existed, to live forever, and to be given a chest of gold "to be getting on with". He is disappointed when Rincewind tells him he is unable to deliver any of these things, and embarrassed when Rincewind sees through his disguise. Rincewind is disheartened to learn that the spells to confine the demon summoned are working on him; Eric's parrot tells him that because he was summoned as a demon, he is subject to the same terms.

The arrival of Rincewind's Luggage causes Eric to suspect deceit on Rincewind's part. Eric's demands are renewed; he makes three wishes of Rincewind. Rincewind insists he cannot grant wishes with the snap of his fingers, and discovers to his horror that snapping his fingers really does work.

• '''To be Ruler of the World'''. After briefly floating above the Discworld, Eric and Rincewind find themselves in the rain forests of Klatch, in the Tezumen empire, a parody of the Aztec Empire. The local people come forward to pay tribute to Eric and declare him Ruler of the World. During this tribute, Rincewind and the parrot explore the temple of Quezovercoatl (a parody of Quetzalcoatl), where they find a prisoner, Ponce da Quirm (a parody of Juan Ponce de León), who is to be sacrificed. Da Quirm tells Rincewind about the terrible fate the Tezumen have planned for the Ruler of the World, on whom they blame all of life's misfortunes. Shortly, Rincewind, Eric and da Quirm find themselves tied up at the top of a pyramid, waiting to be sacrificed, when Quezovercoatl makes his appearance. (A junior demon, Quezovercoatl had supplanted the previous Tezumen deity, a stick.) Unfortunately for him, the Luggage also makes an appearance, trampling the six-inch-tall Quezovercoatl in the process. The Tezumen are pleased to see Quezovercoatl destroyed, release the prisoners, and enshrine the Luggage in the place of their god. At the end of the book, the Tezumen are revealed to have abandoned worshipping the Luggage as well (since it never returned) and turned atheist, "which still allowed them to kill anyone they wanted, but they didn't have to get up so early to do it".
• '''To Meet the Most Beautiful Woman in All History'''. Rincewind snaps his fingers again, and they find themselves in a large wooden horse (a parody of the Trojan Horse). Exiting, they are surrounded by Tsortean soldiers, who take them for an Ephebian invasion force. Rincewind manages to talk their way out from the guards and out of the city, only to fall into the hands of the invading army. Rincewind and Eric are taken to Lavaeolus, the man who built the horse—having sent it in as a decoy so that he and his men could sneak in around the back while their enemies waited around the horse for them to come out—who tells them off in ironic fashion, for 'spoiling the war'. They re-enter Tsort through a secret passage, and find Elenor (a parody of Helen of Troy). Both Eric and Lavaeolus are disappointed to find that it has been a long siege, and Elenor is now a plump mother of several children, with the beginnings of a moustache, and that serious artistic licence had been taken in her description. The Ephebians escape the city while Tsort burns, and Lavaeolus and his army set out for home, with Lavaeolus complaining about voyages by sea (further reference to the ''Iliad'' and subsequent ''Odyssey'' ). Eric notes that "Lavaeolus" in Ephebian translates to "Rinser of Winds", hinting that perhaps Lavaeolus is an ancestor of Rincewind.
• '''To Live Forever'''. Rincewind snaps his fingers, bringing Eric and him outside time, just before the beginning of existence. Rincewind meets the Creator, who is just forming the Discworld and is having trouble finishing some of the animals. Out of hunger, Rincewind asks the Creator for an egg and cress sandwich, though Eric agonises over this as said sandwich may be considered a holy relic. Rincewind and Eric are left on the newly formed world, with the realisation that "to live forever" means to live for all time, from start to finish. To escape, Rincewind has Eric reverse his summoning, taking them both to hell. At the end of the book, the Creator was said to have developed a seven-pointed snowflake.

They discover hell steeped in bureaucracy, the Demon King Astfgl having decided that boredom might be the ultimate form of torture. Rincewind uses his university experience to confuse the demons, so he and Eric can try to escape. While crossing through the recently reformed levels of hell (satirical forms of Dante's Inferno) they encounter da Quirm and the parrot, as well as Lavaeolus, who tells them where the exit is.

The source of Rincewind's demonic powers is revealed to be Lord Vassenego, a Demon Lord leading a secret revolt against Astfgl. Using Rincewind to keep Astfgl occupied while gathering support amongst the demons, Vassenego confronts his king just as Astfgl finally catches up to Rincewind and Eric. Vassenego announces the council of demons has made Astfgl "Supreme Life President of Hell", and that he is to plan out the course of action for demons. With Astfgl lost in the bureaucratic prison of his own making, Vassenego takes over as king and lets Rincewind and Eric escape, so that stories about hell can be told. As they escape from hell, Rincewind and Eric notice that the path they are fleeing along has good intentions written on each cobble.

This novel begins with an omniscient comment: "Everyone now knows how to find the meaning of life within himself. But mankind wasn't always so lucky."

Malachi Constant is the richest man in a future North America. He possesses extraordinary luck that he attributes to divine favor which he has used to build upon his father's fortune. He becomes the centerpoint of a journey that takes him from Earth to Mars in preparation for an interplanetary war, to Mercury with another Martian survivor of that war, back to Earth to be pilloried as a sign of Man's displeasure with his arrogance, and finally to Titan where he again meets the man ostensibly responsible for the turn of events that have befallen him, Winston Niles Rumfoord.

Rumfoord comes from a wealthy New England background. His private fortune was large enough to fund the construction of a personal spacecraft, and he became a space explorer. Traveling between Earth and Mars, his ship—carrying Rumfoord and his dog, Kazak—entered a phenomenon known as a ''chrono-synclastic infundibulum'', which is defined in the novel as "those places ... where all the different kinds of truths fit together". When they enter the infundibulum, Rumfoord and Kazak become "wave phenomena", somewhat akin to the probability waves encountered in quantum mechanics. They exist along a spiral stretching from the Sun to the star Betelgeuse. When a planet, such as the Earth, intersects their spiral, Rumfoord and Kazak materialize, temporarily, on that planet.

When he entered the chrono-synclastic infundibulum, Rumfoord became aware of the past and future. Throughout the novel, he predicts events; unless he is deliberately lying, the predictions come true. It is in this state that Rumfoord established the "Church of God the Utterly Indifferent" on Earth to unite the planet after a Martian invasion. It is also in this state that Rumfoord, materializing on different planets, instigated the Martian invasion, which was designed to fail spectacularly. On Titan, the only place where he can exist permanently as a solid human being, Rumfoord befriends a traveller from Tralfamadore (a world that also figures in Vonnegut's ''Slaughterhouse-Five'', among others) who needs a small metal component to repair his damaged spaceship.

Salo, the Tralfamadorian explorer, is a robot built millennia earlier to carry a message to a distant galaxy. His spacecraft is powered by the Universal Will to Become or UWTB, the "prime mover" which makes matter and organization wish to appear out of nothingness. (UWTB, Vonnegut informs the reader, was responsible for the Universe in the first place and is the greatest imaginable power source). A small component on Salo's spacecraft breaks and strands him here in the Solar System for over 200 millennia. He requests help from Tralfamadore, and his fellow Tralfamadorians respond by manipulating human history so that primitive humans evolve and create a civilization in order to produce the replacement part. Rumfoord's encounter with the chrono-synclastic infundibulum, the following war with Mars and Constant's exile to Titan were manipulated via the Tralfamadorians' control of the UWTB. Stonehenge, the Great Wall of China and the Kremlin are all messages in the Tralfamadorian geometrical language, informing Salo of their progress.

As it turns out, the replacement part is a small metal strip, brought to Salo by Constant and his son Chrono (born of Rumfoord's ex-wife). A sunspot disrupts Rumfoord's spiral, sending him and Kazak separately into the vastness of space. An argument between Rumfoord and Salo moments before concerning the contents of Salo's message, left unresolved because of Rumfoord's disappearance, leads the distraught Salo to disassemble himself, thereby stranding the humans on Titan. It is revealed that the message was a single dot, meaning "Greetings" in Tralfamadorian. Chrono chooses to live among the Titanian birds; after thirty-two years, his mother dies and Constant manages to reassemble Salo. Using the part delivered so many years previously by Chrono, Constant repairs the Tralfamadorian saucer. Salo wishes to place the aging Constant at a shuffleboard court, but Constant insists on being dropped off in Indianapolis, where he dies of exposure in wintertime Indianapolis while awaiting an overdue city bus. As he passes away, he experiences a pleasant hallucination secretly implanted in his mind by a compassionate Salo.

A famous author, Abraham Cady, stands trial for libel. In his book ''The Holocaust'', he named eminent surgeon Sir Adam Kelno as one of the Jadwiga concentration camp's most sadistic inmate/doctors. Cady wrote the book after discovering the Jadwiga concentration camp was the site of his family's extermination.

Kelno has denied his involvement in sadistic practices, and asserts he worked hard to save prisoners, at great personal risk. Furious at his depiction by Cady, Kelno brings libel charges against him.

In the end, Kelno wins his case but is awarded one half-penny, the smallest coin of the realm, because his past actions were found to have been so bad that the minor inaccuracies in the book could not have damaged his reputation further.

The series takes place on Mobius, a planet mostly populated by anthropomorphic animals. The Kingdom of Acorn, based within the city of Mobotropolis, was at war with an unseen enemy. King Acorn recruited a human scientist named Julian to build war machines to end the war with a victory. However, during peacetime, Julian and his nephew Snively launched a coup d'état against the kingdom. The King is banished to another dimension called the Void and the citizens are captured and transformed into robot slaves, through a machine called the Roboticizer. Julian renames himself as Dr. Robotnik, now the ruthless dictator of Mobius. Mobotropolis is renamed Robotropolis, a polluted, industrial cityscape.

Robotnik finds himself at odds with a small collective group called the Freedom Fighters, who operate out of the hidden woodland village of Knothole. They are led by Sonic the Hedgehog and Princess Sally Acorn, King Acorn's sole heir. Other members include Sonic's best friend Miles "Tails" Prower, computer genius Rotor the Walrus, French coyote Antoine Depardieu, half-roboticized Bunnie Rabbot, and Dulcy the Dragon. They act as a rebellion against Robotnik's regime. Sonic uses the Power Rings to gain a temporary boost in power. Both the rings and the Roboticizer were designed by Sonic's uncle Chuck, one of the victims of the machine.

Early on in the series, Sonic uses a Power Ring to restore Uncle Chuck's free will in his mechanical body. Chuck decides to act as a spy for the Freedom Fighters, operating from within the city. He is eventually discovered by Robotnik in the second season and escapes to Knothole. Sally searches for her father during the series. He is found alive within the Void, shared with the sorcerer Naugus who was also imprisoned within the dimension by his former associate Robotnik. Naugus attempts to escape the Void, but both he and King Acorn discover their bodies turn to crystal if they leave the Void due to their prolonged exposure to it. Though King Acorn gives his daughter a list of known Freedom Fighters that they can make use of in their fight against Robotnik. The heroes gain other allies including Ari the Ram, and Lupe, leader of the elusive wolf pack.

In the series' sole two-part episode, "Blast to the Past", Sonic and Sally use the Time Stones to travel back in time, in an attempt to prevent Robotnik's planned takeover. They fail, but manage to get their younger selves to the safety of Knothole, with help from Sally's nanny Rosie Woodchuck.

In the series finale, Robotnik builds the Doomsday Project to destroy the population. The Freedom Fighters launch a full scale attack against Robotnik, with Sonic and Sally destroying the Doomsday Project with the power of the Deep Power Stones. Robotnik is caught in the destruction and is utterly destroyed along with Doomsday and the Freedom Fighters declare victory, with Sonic and Sally kissing. In a final scene, Snively becomes the main antagonist, accompanied out of the remains of an elevator by an unseen ally with red eyes. Ben Hurst, one of the series' writers, confirmed the figure was Naugus.

Alex Rogan is a teenager living in a trailer park with his mother and younger brother, Louis. After being rejected for a scholarship, Alex becomes angry at his go-nowhere existence. The only entertainment in the trailer park comes from an arcade game called "Starfighter", in which the player defends "the Frontier" against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada in a space battle. After Alex becomes the game's highest-scoring player, he is approached by the game's inventor, Centauri, who invites him to take a ride in his fancy car as a prize for winning the game. Centauri is actually an alien and his car a spacecraft; Alex is essentially abducted, and a doppelganger android named Beta is used to cover Alex's absence.

Alex learns that the ''Starfighter'' arcade game represents a real-life conflict between the Rylan Star League and the Ko-Dan Empire; the latter is led by Xur, a native Rylan traitor and son of Ambassador Enduran, the Starfighter commander, to whom the Ko-Dan Emperor has promised control of Rylos. The game was designed as a test to find those "with the gift"; Alex, expected to be the gunner for a Starfighter spacecraft called the Gunstar, is partnered with a reptilian pilot named Grig. He also learns that the Frontier is a forcefield protecting Rylos and its surrounding planets from invasion; Xur has given the Ko-Dan the means to breach it.

Xur reveals he has discovered an infiltrator in his ranks and broadcasts the spy's execution to the Star League. He then proclaims that once Rylos' moon is in eclipse, the Ko-Dan Armada will begin their invasion. Unnerved by everything he has seen, Alex asks to be taken home. On Earth, Centauri tells Alex to contact him should he change his mind. Meanwhile, a saboteur eliminates the Starfighter base defenses, causing heavy damage, killing the Starfighters and destroying the Gunstars. Only Grig and an advanced prototype Gunstar survive.

Alex discovers Beta and contacts Centauri to retrieve him. Centauri arrives just as Alex and Beta are attacked by an alien assassin, a Zando-Zan, in Xur's service; Centauri shoots off its right arm. He then explains that more Zando-Zan will be coming and the only way for Alex to protect his family (and Earth) is to embrace his ability as a Starfighter. Before Alex can reply, the assassin attempts to shoot Alex. Centauri jumps in the way, taking the hit and killing the alien. Alex and Centauri fly back to the Starfighter base where Centauri succumbs to his injuries. Alex finds Grig and they prepare the Gunstar to battle the Ko-Dan Armada.

While Grig trains Alex, Beta finds it difficult to maintain his impersonation, particularly with Maggie Gordon, Alex's girlfriend. After discovering that a group of Zando-Zan have set up a communication center from their spaceship outside the trailer park, Beta reveals everything to Maggie. She does not believe him until the Zando-Zan discover the pair and Beta is shot, exposing damaged circuitry. They steal a friend's pickup truck and charge it at the Zando-Zan ship; Beta has Maggie jump out before sacrificing himself by crashing into the ship, destroying it.

Alex and Grig attack the Ko-Dan mothership, crippling its communications. Once Alex's weapons are depleted he desperately activates a secret weapon on the Gunstar, the "Death Blossom", that destroys the remaining Ko-Dan fighters. With the fleet destroyed, Lord Kril orders Xur executed for his arrogance and failure to ensure victory, but Xur escapes the mothership just before Alex cripples its guidance controls, causing it to crash into Rylos' moon.

Alex is proclaimed the savior of Rylos and invited to help rebuild the Star League by Enduran, as it is still vulnerable: the Frontier has collapsed and Xur escaped. An unknown alien approaches, revealing himself as Centauri and explaining he was in a healing stasis. Alex agrees to stay but he returns to Earth, landing his ship in the trailer park. Grig tells Alex's mother and the people of the trailer park of Alex's heroism, and Alex asks Maggie to come with him; she agrees. Louis is inspired to join Alex and begins playing the ''Starfighter'' game.

Incan emperor Kuzco is arrogant, entitled, and pampered, has no patience for the needs of others, especially peasants, and abuses his position of power. For his 18th birthday, Kuzco plans to demolish a local village to build a lavish summer mansion - "Kuzcotopia" - against the objections of the village's leader, Pacha. After he fires Yzma, his conniving advisor, she plots to usurp the throne by poisoning Kuzco. Instead, she and her dimwitted but kindhearted assistant Kronk accidentally give him a potion that transforms him into a llama. Yzma orders Kronk to knock Kuzco unconscious, then dispose of him, but a stroke of conscience prevents Kronk from doing the latter.

Kuzco is inadvertently taken by Pacha to his village, where he orders Pacha to take him back to the palace. Pacha refuses to help Kuzco unless he changes his mind and builds Kuzcotopia elsewhere, and Kuzco instead heads off alone and is attacked in a jungle by a pack of jaguars. Pacha rescues him and Kuzco accepts Pacha's terms to escort him home. While initially at odds the two learn to cooperate and earn one another's good side. Meanwhile, Yzma, now empress, learns that Kronk did not eliminate Kuzco and sets out to find him. The duos arrive at a diner at the same time, completely unaware of the others' presence. Pacha overhears Yzma's plans and Kronk nearly recognizes Pacha. When Pacha tries to warn Kuzco about Yzma, Kuzco brushes him off, causing Pacha to leave, only to then overhear Yzma's machinations about himself.

Alone, lost, and realizing no one in the empire misses him, Kuzco resigns himself to the life of a llama, but comes across Pacha and the two reconcile. Meanwhile, Kronk finally recalls Pacha and his connection to Kuzco. He and Yzma await them at Pacha's home, posing as distant family members. Pacha has his family delay Yzma, giving him and Kuzco a headstart back to the capital. They reach Yzma's secret lab first only for Yzma to have caught up to them, preparing to kill Kuzco. While fleeing Yzma and the palace guards, Kuzco attempts all the potions until there are two left; Yzma accidentally lands on one of the two and turns into a small cat. Despite the transformation, she, Kuzco and Pacha struggle for the final vial, but Yzma is unexpectedly foiled by Kronk, and Kuzco drinks it and returns to his human form.

Now completely changed, Kuzco makes amends with those he offended and regains his throne, while also opting to build his summer home, a modest shack, on an unoccupied hill next to Pacha's house. Elsewhere, Kronk has become a scout leader and trains new recruits how to speak squirrel, including the reluctant Yzma, who still remains in cat form.

A willful, disorganized teenage girl, Annabel Andrews, awakens one Friday morning to find herself in the body of her mother, with whom she had argued the previous night.

Suddenly in charge of taking care of the New York family's affairs and her younger brother Ben (whom Annabel has not-so-affectionately nicknamed "Ape Face" and described as "so neat, it's revolting!"), and growing increasingly worried about the disappearance of "Annabel", who appeared to be herself in the morning but has gone missing after leaving the Andrews' home, she enlists the help of her neighbor and childhood friend, Boris, though without telling him about her identity crisis.

As the day wears on and Annabel has a series of increasingly bizarre and frustrating adventures, she becomes gradually more appreciative of how difficult her mother's life is, and learns, to her surprise, that Ben idolizes her, and Boris is actually named Morris, but has a problem with chronic congestion (at least around Annabel) leading him to nasally pronounce ''m''s and ''n''s as ''b''s and ''d''s. The novel races towards its climax and Ben also disappears, apparently having gone off with a pretty girl whom Boris did not recognize, but Ben appeared to trust without hesitation.

In the climax and dénouement, Annabel becomes overwhelmed by the difficulties of her situation, apparent disappearance of her mother, loss of the children, and the question of how her odd situation came about and when/whether it will be resolved. Finally, it is revealed that Annabel's mother herself caused them to switch bodies through some unspecified means, and the mysterious teen beauty who took Ben was Mrs. Andrews in Annabel's body (to which she is restored) made much more attractive by a makeover Mrs. Andrews gave the body while using it, including the removal of Annabel's braces, an appointment Annabel had forgotten about (and would have missed, had she been the one in her body that day).

A frequent theme of Wells's work, as in his 1901 nonfiction book ''Anticipations'', was the history of humans' mastery of power and energy through technological advance, seen as a determinant of human progress. The novel begins: "The history of mankind is the history of the attainment of external power. Man is the tool-using, fire-making animal. ... Always down a lengthening record, save for a set-back ever and again, he is doing more." (Many of the ideas Wells develops here found a fuller development when he wrote ''The Outline of History'' in 1918–1919.) The novel is dedicated "To Frederick Soddy's [https://archive.org/details/b28137577/page/n7/mode/2up ''Interpretation of Radium'']," a volume published in 1909.

Scientists of the time were well aware that the slow natural radioactive decay of elements like radium continues for thousands of years, and that while the ''rate'' of energy release is negligible, the ''total amount'' released is huge. Wells used this as the basis for his story. In his fiction,

The problem which was already being mooted by such scientific men as Ramsay, Rutherford, and Soddy, in the very beginning of the twentieth century, the problem of inducing radio-activity in the heavier elements and so tapping the internal energy of atoms, was solved by a wonderful combination of induction, intuition, and luck by Holsten so soon as the year 1933.

Wells's knowledge of atomic physics came from reading books by William Ramsay, Ernest Rutherford, and Frederick Soddy; the last discovered the disintegration of uranium. Soddy's book ''Wealth, Virtual Wealth and Debt'' praises ''The World Set Free''. Wells's novel may even have influenced the development of nuclear weapons, as the physicist Leó Szilárd read the book in 1932, the same year the neutron was discovered. In 1933 Szilárd conceived the idea of neutron chain reaction, and filed for patents on it in 1934.

Wells's "atomic bombs" have no more force than ordinary high explosive and are rather primitive devices detonated by a "bomb-thrower" biting off "a little celluloid stud." They consist of "lumps of pure Carolinum" that induce "a blazing continual explosion" whose half-life is seventeen days, so that it is "never entirely exhausted," so that "to this day the battle-fields and bomb fields of that frantic time in human history are sprinkled with radiant matter, and so centres of inconvenient rays."

Never before in the history of warfare had there been a continuing explosive; indeed, up to the middle of the twentieth century the only explosives known were combustibles whose explosiveness was due entirely to their instantaneousness; and these atomic bombs which science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men who used them.

Wells observes:

Certainly it seems now that nothing could have been more obvious to the people of the earlier twentieth century than the rapidity with which war was becoming impossible. And as certainly they did not see it. They did not see it until the atomic bombs burst in their fumbling hands [...] All through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries the amount of energy that men were able to command was continually increasing. Applied to warfare that meant that the power to inflict a blow, the power to destroy, was continually increasing [...]There was no increase whatever in the ability to escape [...]Destruction was becoming so facile that any little body of malcontents could use it [...]Before the last war began it was a matter of common knowledge that a man could carry about in a handbag an amount of latent energy sufficient to wreck half a city.

Wells viewed war as the inevitable result of the Modern State; the introduction of atomic energy in a world divided resulted in the collapse of society. The only possibilities remaining were "either the relapse of mankind to agricultural barbarism from which it had emerged so painfully or the acceptance of achieved science as the basis of a new social order." Wells's theme of world government is presented as a solution to the threat of nuclear weapons.

From the first they had to see the round globe as one problem; it was impossible any longer to deal with it piece by piece. They had to secure it universally from any fresh outbreak of atomic destruction, and they had to ensure a permanent and universal pacification.

The devastation of the war leads the French ambassador at Washington, Leblanc, to summon world leaders to a conference at Brissago, where Britain's "King Egbert" sets an example by abdicating in favor of a world state. Such is the state of the world's exhaustion that the effective coup of this "council" ("Never, of course, had there been so provisional a government. It was of an extravagant illegality.") is resisted only in a few places. The defeat of Serbia's "King Ferdinand Charles" and his attempt to destroy the council and seize control of the world is narrated in some detail.

Brought to its senses, humanity creates a utopian order along Wellsian lines in short order. Atomic energy has solved the problem of work. In the new order "the majority of our population consists of artists."

''The World Set Free'' concludes with a chapter recounting the reflections of one of the new order's sages, Marcus Karenin, during his last days. Karenin argues that knowledge and power, not love, are the essential vocation of humanity, and that "There is no absolute limit to either knowledge or power."

The point of divergence occurs on September 10, 1862, during the American Civil War. In actual history, a C.S. Army messenger lost a copy of General Robert E. Lee's Special Order 191, which detailed Lee's plans for an invasion of the North. The order was soon found by U.S. Army soldiers, and using them, George McClellan fought the Army of Northern Virginia to a draw at the Battle of Antietam and made it return to Virginia.

In ''How Few Remain'', the orders are instead recovered by a trailing C.S. soldier. McClellan is caught by surprise, and Lee thus leads the Army of Northern Virginia towards Philadelphia. Lee forces McClellan into battle on the banks of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania and destroys the Army of the Potomac in the Battle of Camp Hill on October 1. Lee goes on to capture Philadelphia, earning the Confederate States of America diplomatic recognition from both the United Kingdom and France, thus winning the war, which is known as the War of Secession in the alternate timeline, and independence from the United States on November 4, 1862.

Kentucky, having been conquered by C.S. forces shortly after the Battle of Camp Hill as a result of Lincoln diverting key troops there to Pennsylvania, who did not arrive in time to fight at Camp Hill, joins the eleven original C.S. states after the war's conclusion, and the Confederacy is also given the Indian Territory (our timeline's state of Oklahoma, later the State of Sequoyah in the SV timeline). However, as a compromise, the United States retains Missouri (despite proposals to divide it) and West Virginia. The Spanish island of Cuba is purchased by the C.S. in the late 1870s for $3,000,000, thus also becoming a C.S. state.

Abraham Lincoln ends up losing the 1864 presidential election to the Democratic candidate (whose identity is never mentioned in the series) in a landslide.

In the late 1860s, Russia offers to sell Alaska to the United States. However, the $7 million price tag is too much for the U.S.'s eroded postwar economy which collapsed in 1863. Therefore, Alaska remains a Russian territory.

The C.S. makes agreeable treaties with the Indians in its domain, particularly those of the Indian Territory, ensuring their support for the new nation. The U.S. Army, freed up by the war's quick end, lets off steam by accelerating the U.S. settlement of the Great Plains and the West which also accelerated the Indian Wars, crushing all hostile tribes by the early 1870s except for the Comanche and Kiowa, who take full advantage of the new U.S.-C.S. border and manipulate the continuing hostility between the two nations to their own maximum benefit. One result is that the Battle of Little Big Horn (1876 in our timeline) never happens, a divergence that will have consequences resonating throughout the series.

In 1881, Republican James G. Blaine has ridden a hardline platform of anti-Confederatism into the White House, having defeated Democratic incumbent Samuel J. Tilden in the 1880 presidential election. Both American nations have been sanctioning Indian raids into each other's territory. The international tension between the United States and the Confederate States peaks when Confederate President James Longstreet, desiring a Pacific Coast for the Confederacy so that the South can have a transcontinental railroad for itself, purchases the northwestern provinces of Sonora and Chihuahua from the financially-strapped Second Mexican Empire, which is still ruled by Maximilian, for CS $3,000,000. Blaine uses the "coerced" purchase as a ''casus belli'', leading to the commencement of what will later become known as the "Second Mexican War".

Second Mexican War

After the Confederate purchase of Sonora and Chihuahua, which extends the border and gives the Confederates the Pacific port of Guaymas, the United States declares war on the Confederate States. Early on in the war, Confederate troops under Jeb Stuart capture a large quantity of gold and silver ore from a Union mining town after successfully occupying the newly-purchased provinces. Meanwhile, a Union cavalry colonel, George Armstrong Custer, successfully uses Gatling guns against Kiowa Indians and Confederate cavalry in Kansas. Soon, the United Kingdom and France, both Confederate allies, blockade and bombard port cities such as Boston and New York, along with those on the Great Lakes.

During the war, the Mormons in Utah rebel by severing transcontinental communication and transportation around Salt Lake City. John Pope is appointed as the military governor, puts down the revolt, and imposes martial law. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is classified as an illegal political organization, and Mormonism loses all protection under the First Amendment and is banned. The Mormon leaders are then hunted down and executed. The brutal put down of the revolt in Utah will set the stage for the Utah Troubles, which will haunt the United States for the rest of the series.

The U.S. attempt to invade Virginia is easily thrown back by General Stonewall Jackson as the Union struggles to find a general his equal. A key reason for the Confederate success in the war, in addition to fighting a defensive war, is that the Confederates are led by excellent generals like Jackson, but the U.S. military, despite possessing a massive advantage in numbers and resources, suffers from incompetent leadership. William Rosecrans, the commander of the entire U.S. army, casually reveals at one point that there is no overall strategy for winning the war "whatsoever." He envisions a vague idea of the opposing armies making counteroffensives back and forth against each other, which he feels the Union would assuredly win. That lack of planning leaves the German military observer, Alfred von Schlieffen, aghast.

The U.S. next attempts to launch a massive invasion of Louisville to knock the Confederates out of Kentucky, but that soon becomes a bloody stalemate. The decision of Stonewall Jackson to command the defense personally; the incompetence of U.S. commanders; and, most of all, the use of breech-loading artillery and repeating rifles make taking the city very difficult. The Confederate Army refrains from any major invasion of United States territory for two reasons: it does not have the resources to conquer the United States, and Confederate success hinges on the support of the United Kingdom and France, who feel that they are aiding a smaller nation wrongfully attacked by a larger one, and launching offensives into the United States would be seen as an act of aggression and might cost the Confederacy foreign support. Galled by orders to wage a purely defensive war, Jackson takes them to the extreme, pioneering tactics of urban warfare and full-scale trench warfare, which devastates Louisville (in scenes reminiscent of the real World War I). The Louisville campaign quickly bogs down for the United States and results in very heavy losses with little territory gained. The United Kingdom and France continue to blockade the United States; French forces from Mexico also shell Los Angeles, and the British bombard San Francisco and raid the Federal mint there.

The only major U.S. victory in the war occurs by a young volunteer cavalry colonel, Theodore Roosevelt, and George Armstrong Custer routing a British and Canadian division under Charles Gordon invading Montana from Canada. However, the British also invade northern Maine and annex it into the Canadian province of New Brunswick, which nullifies the Webster–Ashburton Treaty, which had solved the dispute.

Finally, facing defeat on almost all fronts, President Blaine is forced to capitulate on April 22, 1882. He declares that the anniversary of the defeat would be commemorated as Remembrance Day. A Republican is never again elected to the US Presidency, with the party splitting into one faction led by Abraham Lincoln, which later becomes the Socialist Party, and another led by Benjamin Butler, which joins the Democrats; the Republicans become an ineffectual centrist third party. The United States, learning the importance of strong allies, seek an alliance with the newly-formed and powerful German Empire, and swear revenge against the Confederacy for the humiliating defeat. The alliance sets up events for the next three series, which cover an alternate World War I, Interwar Period, and World War II.

In 1964, eight-year-old Allen Bauer and his family are taking a boat tour at Cape Cod. Allen is fascinated by something below the surface and jumps overboard. In the ocean, he encounters a young girl and inexplicably finds himself able to breathe underwater. However, Allen is rescued and pulled back to the surface, and the two are separated. Since no one else saw the girl, Allen comes to believe the encounter was a near-death hallucination.

In 1984, Allen is now co-owner of a wholesale fruit and vegetable business in New York City with his womanizing older brother Freddie. Through the years, Allen’s relationships have failed as he subconsciously seeks the connection he felt with the mysterious girl. Depressed after his latest breakup, Allen returns to Cape Cod, where he encounters eccentric scientist Dr. Walter Kornbluth on a diving expedition. When his motorboat malfunctions, Allen falls into the sea and is knocked unconscious; his wallet drops onto the coral below. He wakes up on a beach, in the presence of a beautiful naked woman who is unable to talk. After kissing him, she dives into the sea, where she transforms into a mermaid. While swimming underwater, she is sighted by Kornbluth.

The mermaid finds Allen's wallet, and uses a sunken ship’s charts to locate New York. She comes ashore naked at the Statue of Liberty and is arrested for indecent exposure. Using information from Allen’s wallet, the police contact him and the mysterious girl is released into his care. She learns how to speak English from watching television, and is eager to explore the city. Unable to say her real name in human language, she selects "Madison" from a Madison Avenue sign. She tells Allen that she will be in New York for "six fun-filled days until the moon is full"; unable to return home if she stays any longer. Despite Madison's occasionally outlandish behavior, she and Allen fall in love. Allen proposes to Madison, but she declines and runs away. After some contemplation, Madison returns to Allen and agrees to marry him, with the added promise of telling him the truth about herself after an upcoming dignitary dinner to welcome the President.

Meanwhile, Kornbluth, realizing that the naked woman at Liberty Island was the mermaid he encountered, pursues the couple, trying to expose her as a mermaid by splashing her with water. His first attempts are unsuccessful, and Kornbluth ends up with multiple injuries. Finally, he infiltrates the dignitary dinner, splashing Madison with a hose and successfully unmasking her identity. Madison is seized by government agents and taken to a secret lab, headed by Kornbluth's cold-hearted rival Dr. Ross for examination. As Madison withers away in captivity, Kornbluth learns that the scientists are planning to dissect her; he regrets his actions, as he just wanted to prove that he wasn’t crazy.

Allen is shocked by Madison's secret and rejects her, but when he voices his disillusionment to his brother, Freddie lashes out at him, reminding Allen how happy he was with her. Realizing that he still loves Madison, Allen confronts the guilt-ridden Kornbluth, who having been rejected by his colleagues despite his discovery, agrees to help rescue her.

Impersonating Swedish scientists, Allen, Freddie, and Kornbluth enter the lab and smuggle Madison outside. Freddie decides to be arrested in Allen's place, while Kornbluth unsuccessfully tries to stop United States troops from catching the couple. Despite being pursued, Allen and Madison make it to New York Harbor. Madison tells Allen that he can survive underwater as long as he is with her, causing Allen to realize that she was the girl he had met underwater as a child. Madison warns him that if he comes to live in the sea, he cannot return to land. She jumps in the water when the troops close in on them. When more troops attempt to arrest Allen, he jumps into the water after her, but starts to drown as he cannot swim. Madison kisses him, gifting him the ability to swim and breathe underwater. Frogmen enter the water to recapture Madison and Allen, but the couple fight them off and escape, happily swimming toward what appears to be an underwater kingdom.

The story starts with the philologist Elwin Ransom, some years after his return from Mars at the end of ''Out of the Silent Planet'', receiving a new mission from the Oyarsa (the angelic ruler) of Mars. Ransom summons narrator-Lewis to his country home. Ransom explains to Lewis that he (Ransom) is to travel to Perelandra (Venus), where he is to counter some kind of attack - details not yet specified - to be launched by Earth's Black Archon (Satan).

Ransom is transported in a casket-like vessel seemingly made of ice, which contains only himself. He does not wear any clothes on the journey, as Oyarsa tells him clothes are unnecessary on Venus. He returns to Earth over a year later and is met by Lewis and another friend, then recounts his experiences. The remainder of the story is told from Ransom's point of view, with Lewis acting as interlocutor and occasional commentator.

Ransom arrives in Venus after a quick journey through inter-planetary space. He finds that the surface of the planet is covered in a sweet-water ocean, which is dotted with floating rafts of vegetation. These rafts resemble islands, to the extent of having plant and animal life upon them, including edible plants and plants large enough to provide shelter. As the rafts have no geologic foundations, they are in a constant state of motion. The planet's sole observable geological feature is a stony mountain called the Fixed Land. The planet's thick atmosphere hides the sun and stars, although like Earth, the planet rotates and has days and nights.

Ransom soon meets the Queen of the planet. She is a carefree being who soon accepts him as a friend. Unlike the inhabitants of Mars in ''Out of the Silent Planet'', she resembles a human in physical appearance with the exception of her green skin. She and her husband the King are the first, and so far the only, human inhabitants of their world. The two of them live on the floating raft-islands and are forbidden, by Maleldil's divine command, to sleep on the Fixed Land. Ransom finds that in the spiritually-pure context, the beautiful naked queen arouses no sexual desire or temptation in him, even though the King himself is not present at the time; he is somewhere else on the planet.

Professor Weston arrives in a spaceship and lands in a part of the ocean quite close to the Fixed Land. Instead of the strictly materialist attitude he displayed when first meeting Ransom, he now tells Ransom that he has become aware of the existence of supernatural spiritual beings. He pledges his allegiance to what he calls the "Life-Force", which, he says, has been guiding him in extraordinary ways. After an increasingly disturbing monologue, he succumbs to full demonic possession.

Now under demonic control, the possessed Weston finds the Queen and tries to tempt her into defying Maleldil's law by spending a night on the Fixed Land. Ransom realizes why the Oyarsa has brought him to Perelandra: to counter the tempter by persuading the Queen to obey Maleldil's prohibition, and to prevent the Perelandran counterpart to the Fall of humanity on Earth. In the Queen's presence, he struggles through day after day of exhausting argument against the demonic Weston, who shows super-human brilliance in debate. Weston's possessed body requires no sleep; this enables him to use methods other than explicit arguments while Ransom sleeps: the tempter tells the Queen many stories of heroic defiance, and introduces her to self-gratifying vanities such as clothing, makeup, and mirrors. On occasions when the Queen is sleeping and Ransom is awake, the tempter attacks Ransom's morale by engaging in infantile obscenities and by torturing and mutilating small native animals.

With the demonic Weston on the verge of winning, Ransom senses a divine command to terminate the argument altogether and battle the Tempter physically, hand to hand. The prospect terrifies Ransom, who is a slight, middle-aged man with no recent fighting prowess. He debates for hours with the divine inner voice, until he is suddenly blessed with awareness that he cannot refuse the command to fight: his personal character simply rules out the possibility of refusing. He also perceives that the distinction between personal choice (free will) and personal destiny (pre-destination) is not a real distinction at all; the two are, somehow, exactly the same thing.

Ransom physically attacks his opponent (who is still inhabiting Weston's body). As the fight progresses, he finds himself inspired to greater and greater fury, shouting battle-cries he has never heard and using combat techniques he has never learned. After fierce, punishing resistance, the enemy flees. Ransom chases him over the ocean, both riding on the backs of giant friendly fish. Their struggle continues in water and in a rocky underground tunnel, alternating between verbal argument and physical combat, until Ransom finally throws Weston's possessed body into a pool of fiery lava, terminating the demon's presence on the planet altogether.

Ransom finds his way to the surface, and recuperates from his injuries. Only a bite-wound on his heel refuses to close and continues bleeding for the rest of his life. Ransom carves a memorial inscription for Weston, to commemorate his scientific achievements, while also recording his surrender to the Devil.

Ransom meets the King and Queen together with the Oyéresu of Mars and Venus, the latter of whom transfers dominion of the planet to the King and Queen. All the characters celebrate the prevention of a second biblical "Fall" and the beginning of a utopian paradise in this new world. The story climaxes with Ransom's vision of "The Great Dance": the exchange of higher and lower, as when an advisor gives power to a royal child. Ransom is then returned to Earth, covered in celebratory flower-petals.

''Pathways'' casts the player as a member of a US Army Special Forces team sent on a mission to the Yucatán Peninsula. On May 5, 1994, a diplomat from the alien race known as the Jjaro appeared to the President of the United States and informed him that on May 13, an ancient godlike being sleeping beneath a pyramid would awaken and destroy the Earth. The only way to prevent this catastrophe is to prevent the god from awakening. The eight-man Special Forces team carries a nuclear weapon, with the goal of entering the ancient pyramid, descending to the bottom level where the god sleeps, and activating the bomb to stun the god and bury it under tons of rock.

The player character's parachute fails to open, and they fall unconscious in the landing. Awakening hours later, the player finds almost all their equipment inoperable. Reaching the pyramid on foot hours after the rest of their team, the player must complete the mission before the god awakens in five days. In the pyramid, the player finds bodies of squad-mates, the remains of Spanish-speaking treasure hunters, and fallen members of a Nazi expedition from the 1930s who were looking for a secret weapon. Additional plot elements can be revealed by speaking to these dead, enabled by the yellow crystal.

The game's ending changes depending on whether the player has a radio beacon to call for extraction, and when the nuclear device is set to explode. Forgetting to set the bomb, or setting it to explode at any time past the awakening of the dreaming god, results in Earth's destruction. The device's detonation before the player reaches a minimum safe distance results in a pyrrhic victory. The most favorable endings are achieved by leaving the pyramid with a beacon for evacuation at least twenty game minutes before the device is set to go off, or without a beacon if the game ends with enough time for the player to escape on foot.

The series is set in the years 2119–2121 AD,Dates on the tombstone of Nara Burns' parents. decades after humanity ("Terrans") has expanded beyond Earth, terraforming and colonizing Venus and Mars. These three planets are "the Homeworlds", the core first of the Terran interplanetary state and later of Neosapien Commonwealth. Not all Terrans are affiliated with the Homeworlds, however: there is an independent faction of Pirate Clans, descendants of Terran criminals exiled to the Outer Planets who live off looted Homeworlds' space freighters. The first episode opens with the Earth Congress dispatching the entire Exofleet, humanity's space-based military, to counter the Pirate threat.

With war with the Pirate Clans looming, an uprising begins among the Neosapiens, an artificial humanoid race coexisting with Terrans. In the back-story, the Neosapiens were used primarily as slaves during the colonization of Mars and Venus and therefore have been engineered to be physically stronger and better adapted to hostile environments than humans. Their mistreatment by Terrans led to the First Neosapien Revolt fifty years before the series' begin, which was mercilessly crushed but had brought some positive changes into their lives. Still not content with his fate, the Neosapien Governor of Mars, Phaeton, sets a new insurrection, codenamed "Operation [Neosapien] Destiny", in motion as soon as the Exofleet leaves to chase after the Pirate Clans. The absence of the Exofleet is also a part of Phaeton's plan as it enables the Neosapiens' capture of the Homeworlds without much effort.

The series follows the progress the Able Squad, an elite unit of exoframe pilots composed of J.T. Marsh, Nara Burns, Maggie Weston, Kaz Takagi, Alec DeLeon, Rita Torres, Wolf Bronsky, and Marsala. Their exploits unfold against the backdrop of the ongoing Neosapien War, as the squad participates in events often crucial to turning its tide. The show features a realistic outlook on war: many characters die in combat, military operations are carefully planned and reconnoitered in advance, and psychological effects of warfare are explored. For example, separate episodes detail Exofleet's reconnaissance of Venus prior to its recapture, the actual liberation, and the repulse of the first Neosapien reconquest attempt. Moreover, even after Venus is retaken by Terrans, several episodes deal with the remaining Venusian resistance and Neosapien forces who hid across Venus, refusing to surrender and awaiting reinforcements.

The second season draws to a close with the defeat of the Neosapiens and the liberation of Earth, but it ends with a cliffhanger suggesting that a third season would describe a war against a new alien race, and that the Terrans and the Neosapiens would be forced to ally with each other. Moreover, a clone of Phaeton was discovered in the final episodes by the Terrans, who were at a loss as to what to do about his existence as they didn't want to unleash another Phaeton on society, but also didn't wish to condemn the clone for his predecessor's actions. However, the series was cancelled soon after the end of the second season so a third season was never made.

In March 1975, a Sino-Soviet border conflict escalates into full-scale war in which biological warfare destroys most of the human race. U.S. Army Col. Robert Neville, M.D., is a scientist based in Los Angeles. As he begins to succumb to the plague, he injects himself with an experimental vaccine, rendering him immune.

By August 1977, Neville believes he is the plague's only immune survivor. Struggling to maintain his sanity, he spends his days patrolling the now-desolate Los Angeles, hunting and killing members of "the Family", a cult of plague victims who were turned into nocturnal albino mutants. The Family seeks to destroy all technology and kill Neville, who has become a symbol of the science they blame for humanity's downfall. At night, living atop a fortified apartment building equipped with an arsenal of weaponry, Neville is a prisoner in his own home.

One day, as Neville is in a department store helping himself to new clothing, he spots a woman, who quickly runs away. He pursues her outside, but later decides he is hallucinating and dismisses the sighting.

On another day, the Family finally captures Neville. After a summary trial, he is found guilty of heresy by the Family's leader, Jonathan Matthias, a former news anchorman. Neville is sentenced to death and nearly burned at the stake in Dodger Stadium. He is rescued by Lisa, the woman he had earlier dismissed as a hallucination, and Dutch, a former medical student. Lisa and Dutch are part of a group of survivors, all of whom are children. Although their youth has given them some resistance to the disease, they are still vulnerable to it, and will eventually succumb to mutation. Neville realizes that even if duplicating the original vaccine is possible, salvaging humanity would take years. He believes extending his immunity to others may be possible by creating a serum from his own blood.

Neville and Lisa return to Neville's apartment, where they begin treating Lisa's brother Richie, who is succumbing to the disease. Neville and Lisa are about to have a romantic evening together, just as the generator runs out of fuel and the lights go off. The Family then attacks, sending Matthias' second-in-command, Brother Zachary, to climb up the outside of Neville's building to the open balcony of his apartment. Neville leaves Lisa upstairs as he goes to the basement garage to restart the generator. Neville returns to the apartment to find Zachary right behind an unsuspecting Lisa. Neville shoots him and he falls off the balcony to his death, dropping his spear on the balcony as he goes.

If the serum works, Neville and Lisa plan to leave the ravaged city with the rest of the survivors, and start new lives in the wilderness, leaving the Family behind to die. Neville is successful in creating the serum and administers it to Richie. Once cured, Richie reveals the Family's headquarters to Neville (the Los Angeles Civic Center), but insists that the Family is also human and that Neville's cure should be administered to them, as well. Neville disagrees with him, so Richie goes to the Family by himself to try to convince them to take the serum. Matthias refuses to believe that Neville would try to help them, accuses Richie of being sent to spy on them, and has him executed. After finding a note that Richie left, Neville rushes to rescue him, but instead finds his dead body tied to a judge's chair in a courtroom.

Meanwhile, Lisa quickly and unexpectedly succumbs to the disease and becomes one of the Family. Returning home, Neville tells Lisa about Richie's death, but she already knows and has betrayed Neville by giving Matthias and his followers access to Neville's home. Matthias, who finally has the upper hand, forces Neville to watch as the Family sets his home and equipment on fire. Neville breaks free, and once outside with Lisa, he turns and raises his gun to shoot Matthias, who is looking down from the balcony. The gun jams, giving Matthias enough time to hurl Zachary's spear at Neville, mortally wounding him. The next morning, Dutch and the survivors discover Neville dying in a fountain. He hands Dutch a flask of the blood serum, and then dies. Dutch takes Lisa (weakened and compliant because of the sunlight) away, and the survivors leave the city forever.

A test explosion of the first atomic plutonium bomb is planned at a military site in Desert Rock, Nevada. When it does not detonate as expected, Lt. Colonel Glenn Manning (Glenn Langan) receives orders to keep his men in the protective trench. Moments later, an unidentified small civilian aircraft crash-lands near the bomb site, and Glenn runs into the detonation area to rescue the pilot. Once in the detonation area, the bomb goes off, and Glenn is caught in the radiation.

Surviving the blast, but suffering from third-degree burns over almost all of his body, Glenn is treated by specialist Dr. Paul Linstrom (William Hudson) and military scientist Dr. Eric Coulter (Larry Thor) at the army base hospital. Glenn's fiancée, Carol Forrest (Cathy Downs), anxiously awaits a prognosis, but Linstrom refrains from telling her that the consensus is that Glenn is extremely unlikely to survive. The next morning, however, Linstrom and Coulter are stunned to discover that Glenn's burns have completely healed. That evening, Carol is prohibited from seeing him, and she learns that he has been moved to an army rehabilitation and research center in Summit, Nevada. She drives there and is admitted entry, and upon entering his room, she faints in horror when she sees he has mutated into a giant about 16 feet tall.

The next day Linstrom tells Carol that Glenn's exposure to the plutonium blast has caused his old cells to stop dying, and his new cells to multiply at an accelerated rate, resulting in his growing proportionately 8 to 10 feet in height in one day. Linstrom admits that he and Coulter do not know if they can stop Glenn's growth, and that if they don't, he will continue to grow until he dies. The following day, he is at first frightened, then deeply disturbed. Carol sees him the next morning to comfort him, but he is now more than 22 feet tall, and distant and morose. While the public knows that he survived the explosion, the military has kept the truth of his condition secret.

As Glenn's body continues to increase in size (now at 30 feet tall) Linstrom orders him moved to a tent large enough to provide shelter and recommends that Carol spend time with him. Despite her encouragement, he is angry and bitter. Linstrom eventually reveals that his heart is growing at only half the rate of his body and soon will be unable to support his enormous size and weight. That night, he loses his temper and shouts at Carol to leave him alone.

The following morning, as Coulter reports to Linstrom that he may have found a solution to the phenomenal growth, Glenn disappears. The military, headed by Colonel Hallock (James Seay), conducts a 10-mile-wide search for the now 50-foot-tall Glenn, but with no results. When Carol asks Linstrom if she can help in their search, he cautions her that Glenn's condition may be affecting his mind. Coulter reveals that he has created a special syringe filled with a serum for Glenn's bone marrow that will stop his growth.

Meanwhile, the local news relays that a "giant man" has been spotted approaching Las Vegas. As the military heads there, Glenn, now over 60 feet tall and confused, is drawn to the Vegas Strip. He wreaks havoc on various casinos, and after a policeman fires at him, he hurls a palm tree at the crowd that has formed. When the police become alarmed by his behavior, they begin firing at him, enraging him. He completely destroys the Pioneer Club's Vegas Vic sign, then heads toward Boulder Dam as military helicopters track his movements.

Linstrom, Carol, and Coulter attempt to intercept Hallock's troops. After landing at the dam, Coulter and Linstrom take the enormous syringe and plunge it into Glenn's ankle. He removes it and spears Coulter with it, killing him. Glenn then picks up Carol and starts across the dam. Using a bullhorn to amplify his message, Linstrom pleads with him to spare her, and although he is disoriented, he complies. Once she is free, Hallock orders his men to open fire, causing Glenn to tumble into the Colorado River to his apparent death.

Michel is a youthful, dangerous criminal who models himself on the film persona of Humphrey Bogart. After stealing a car in Marseille, Michel shoots and kills a policeman who has followed him onto a country road. Penniless and on the run from the police, he turns to an American love interest, Patricia, a student and aspiring journalist, who sells the ''New York Herald Tribune'' on the boulevards of Paris. The ambivalent Patricia unwittingly hides him in her apartment as he simultaneously tries to seduce her and call in a loan to fund their escape to Italy. Patricia says she is pregnant, probably with Michel's child. She learns that Michel is on the run when questioned by the police. Eventually she betrays him, but before the police arrive, she tells Michel what she has done. He is somewhat resigned to a life in prison, and does not try to escape at first. The police shoot him in the street, and after running along the block, he dies "à bout de souffle" ("out of breath").

Closing dialogue

The film's final lines of dialogue cause some confusion for English-speaking audiences. The original French is ambiguous; it is unclear whether Michel is condemning Patricia or condemning the world in general; it is unclear if Vital is intentionally twisting Michel's meaning. It is also unclear whether Patricia is questioning Michel's scorn, questioning the meaning of a French word as elsewhere in the film, or unable to understand the concept of what Michel is saying as it is translated to her by Vital when the two catch up with the dying Michel.

MICHEL: ''C'est vraiment dégueulasse.'' PATRICIA: ''Qu'est-ce qu'il a dit?'' VITAL: ''Il a dit que vous êtes vraiment "une dégueulasse".'' PATRICIA: ''Qu'est-ce que c'est "dégueulasse"?''

This translates as:

MICHEL: It's really disgusting. PATRICIA: What did he say? VITAL: He said you are really disgusting. PATRICIA: What is "disgusting"?

In French, "dégueulasse" also has the connotation of "nauseating", or making one want to throw up; in reference to a person, it can be loosely translated as a "disgusting person", i.e. a "louse" or "scumbag".

In the English captioning of the 2001 Fox-Lorber Region One DVD, "''dégueulasse'' is translated as "scumbag", producing the following dialogue:

MICHEL: It's disgusting, really. PATRICIA: What did he say? VITAL: He said "You're a real scumbag". PATRICIA: What's a scumbag?

The 2007 Criterion Collection Region One DVD uses a less literal translation:

MICHEL: Makes me want to puke. PATRICIA: What did he say? VITAL: He said you make him want to puke. PATRICIA: What's that mean, "puke"?

This translation was used in the 2010 restoration.

Another translation is as follows:

MICHEL: You are a real creep PATRICIA: What did he say? VITAL: He said you are a real creep. PATRICIA: What's a creep?

9-year-old Prabir Suresh lives on a small tropical island among the South Moluccas where strange mutations generate unique plants, birds and creatures. His life revolves around the jungle which he calls Teranesia, school and friendships he makes on the internet. Prabir lives on this island with his baby sister, Madhusree and parents who are both research biologists, currently studying the evolution of a species of butterflies that strays from conventional evolution.

Civil war breaks in Indonesia, with heated attacks against the Javanese empire. One day planes fly by and drop mines, falling in Prabir's family garden. While tending to the garden the next day, Prabir's father is gravely injured by a mine. Prabir and his mother attempt to help pull his father out of the garden, but his mother loses her balance and Prabir witnesses them both die after falling on another mine. Shocked from the explosion and sudden death of his parents, Prabir escapes the island with his fifteen-month-old sister. As the civil war expands across the area, they scramble on a boat to the nearest inhabited island, where they are taken to Australia, and seek asylum with their aunt in Canada, far way away from Teranesia and their family's homeland of India.

Prabir dedicates his life to parenting Madhusree over the next 20 years, while navigating his sexuality as a gay man and being separated from his homeland. He starts work at a bank and Madhusree grows to pursue biology, carrying the lineage of their parents' passion for evolutionary research. One day, reports emerge of an abnormal species of plants and animals that have mutated throughout the South Moluccas region that are going out of control, including in the island of Teranesia. Prabir recognises the similarity in these characteristics to the butterflies their parents were studying many years ago. Madhusree decides to go on a scientific expedition to explore these strange mutations in South Moluccas. Prabir's suffers anxiety and apprehension at the thought of revisiting the islands they grew up in, desperately convincing Madurese to stay. However, this only motivates her to go more. Prabir, left essentially childless, broods the meaninglessness of his life and attempts suicide. In the last minute, he decides to chase her to the islands instead, still distressed at the thought of her revisiting Teranesia.

Traveling to back to the islands, Prabir undergoes a traumatic realisation of his past. When Prabir was young, he exchanged messages with a professor in the United States, posing as his father. While trying to reassure her of the growing unrest, he made statements that made him sound like an insurgent. He assumes the messages were intercepted, and believes he's the reason the militia plane flew to their home, ultimately bringing his parents to their death. In discerning his past, Prabir realises his effort to prevent Madhusree from traveling to the islands was more to protect himself than her.

Now invigorated to uncover the mystery of these mutations, Prabir encounters Martha Grant, a biologist who is also studying these mutations. Grant is working under a pharmaceutical company who forbids her to publish her results. They strike a deal – Prabir will guide her to the island Teranesia if she promises to publish her results on the internet. Ruminating the notion of genes, Grant challenges Prabir, asking if he had ever tried to protect Madhusree for another reason than the fact she's his sister. Prabir becomes agitated at the thought that his inclination to take care of Madhusree was genetically determined rather than a choice he made out of his free will.

A research team identifies the gene as the São Paulo protein. A physicist on the team suggests the protein uses quantum superposition to figure out which mutation is most beneficial to the organism. They realise this is how the mutations are propagating at its rapid pace.

Later, Prabir gets scratched by mutant shrubs that are native to the island. After exploring his family's former home, disgusted by his behaviour as a child, he proceeds to the mine-infested garden in a suicide attempt. Grant, having pretended to return to their boat but realizing something is off, uses multiple tranquilizer darts to stop Prabir and convince him that his parents' death wasn't his fault. In a moment Prabir ends up regretting, he and Grant begin to kiss, but she rebuffs him when coming to her senses.

When they return to the island where Madhusree'a expedition is camping, Grant and Prabir encounter Christian militia, who end up testing him for the mutant gene, only to find that he carries the São Paulo protein in his bloodstream. The militia commander starts interrogating Prabir, asking if he had raped Grant. Prabir who is gay, realises his uncharacteristic sexual urges towards Grant were probably due to the high libido associated with the protein. Upon reflection of his behaviour and the speed of propagation of the protein, he discerns the protein must have some consciousness in how to breed most successfully.

The militia groups immediately quarantines Prabir in an offshore boat, only to be rescued by Madhusree, who keeps him in an isolation raft. She continuously monitors his condition as they hurry to the nearest hospital as Prabir's physicality changes in extreme ways. He starts to grow a rigid carapace rendering him immobile. Prabir senses the gene has enabled him to undergo an intense metamorphosis. In the havoc of this change, he realises the gene is going seize all elements of human consciousness - love, intelligence, honesty and reflection. The gene's sole aim is to procreate above everything else, stripping him of his sentience and agency.

He tells Madhusree to tranquilize and burn him, in an attempt to end his life before he is taken over and stop the spread of the São Paulo protein. She begins to follow through, but is unable to knock him out due to the protein adapting to the tranquilizing agent. Madhusree has an epiphany and realizes the protein is somehow sentient and is reacting to their attempts to destroy or stop it. She extracts a sample from Prabir's last remaining spot of human flesh, and makes a promise to give it a new host to propagate in. Prabir rapidly returns to normal, and promises to take Madhusree to a festival in Calcutta, where their parents tested the limits of the human body before they were born.

Episodes were self-contained, although there was continuity within the series, and sometimes a reference to a previous episode might be made. A normal episode consisted of Sub Lt Phillips, scheming Chief Petty Officer Pertwee, and bemused Lt. Murray trying to get out of trouble they created for themselves without their direct superior, Commander (later Captain) "Thunderguts" Povey finding out. Scenes frequently featured a string of eccentric characters, often played by Ronnie Barker or Jon Pertwee. Over the course of the programme Lt Murray marries Admiral Ffont-Bittocks' daughter Rita.

The Republic of Potarneyland, a country situated somewhere on the Indian subcontinent, is featured in several episodes. Over the course of the series, it is revealed that Potarneyland had recently been granted independence from Great Britain, and had joined NATO because the Potanis considered it to be a "free gift scheme". During Series 3 of ''The Navy Lark'', a Potarneyland frigate, the ''Poppadom'', appears in several episodes manned by various Potani officers voiced by Michael Bates and Ronnie Barker.

Robert "Bobby" Boucher Jr. is a socially inept, stuttering, and somewhat mentally challenged 31-year-old man serving as the water boy for the University of Louisiana football program. He lives with his overprotective and extremely religious mother, Helen, and believes his father, Robert Sr., died of dehydration in the Sahara while serving in the Peace Corps back in the 1960s.

As the players constantly bully Bobby, the Cougars' head coach, Red Beaulieu, fires Bobby for being "disruptive" during the 18 years of his employment. Bobby approaches Coach Klein of the South-Central Louisiana State University Mud Dogs and is hired as the team's water boy.

The Mud Dogs have lost 40 consecutive games, their cheerleaders are alcoholics, and players are forced to share equipment due to budget cuts. When the new team teases him, Klein encourages Bobby to stand up for himself. Remembering all the bullying he has put up with over the years, Bobby tackles the team's quarterback, knocking him out. Seeing Boucher's potential, Klein meets with Helen and tries to persuade her to let Bobby play on the team, but she refuses, saying it is too dangerous.

Klein convinces Bobby to play anyway, seeing that Bobby is eager to attend college. Bobby becomes a feared linebacker and the Mud Dogs go on a winning streak. Bobby's newfound fame and confidence also allow him to reconnect with his felonious childhood crush, Vicki Vallencourt. Helen forbids Bobby from seeing her, warning him that girls (along with everything else in pop culture) "is the devil".

The team's success earns it a trip to the annual Bourbon Bowl on New Year's Day to face the Cougars and Coach Beaulieu. However, Beaulieu and his team crash the Mud Dogs' pep rally and reveal that the high school Bobby went to doesn't exist and that he was homeschooled, and his fake high school transcript makes him ineligible for college and football. The team and fans turn against Bobby, believing him to be a liar and cheater.

Coach Klein convinces the NCAA to let Bobby play if he can pass a GED exam. He apologizes to Bobby and admits to submitting the fake transcript because he was desperate to get even with Beaulieu. Twenty years ago, Klein and Beaulieu were assistant coaches at the University of Louisiana. After Beaulieu stole and took credit for Klein’s playbook, he was promoted, and Klein was fired. Klein suffered a mental breakdown and became unable to come up with new plays. The story convinces Bobby to help Klein get revenge on Beaulieu and prove himself to everyone. Bobby finally stands up to Helen while studying for the GED, angrily revealing that he has been playing football, going to college, and seeing Vicki, and intends to continue doing so.

Bobby passes the exam, but Helen feigns a coma. Feeling he drove his mother to illness; Bobby stays in the hospital with her. Meanwhile, Vicki leads a gathering of fans to the hospital to convince him to play. Seeing her son struggling to ignore his calling, Helen ends her fake illness. She tells Bobby the truth about his father, Robert Sr., who abandoned her while she was four months pregnant with Bobby to have an affair with a voodoo priestess in New Orleans. This led to Helen being constantly afraid that Bobby would leave her too. Deciding to put her son's happiness ahead of her own selfishness, she encourages him to play in the Bourbon Bowl.

Arriving at halftime, Bobby finds the Mud Dogs losing by a score of 27–0. Using the same technique of "visualizing and attacking" as Klein taught Bobby, Bobby then turns the lesson back on him; Klein overcomes his fear of Beaulieu and comes up with new plays. The Mud Dogs begin to catch up, unsettling Beaulieu, who resorts to underhanded tactics to save his and the team's honor. The Mud Dogs win the Bourbon Bowl, 30–27, and Bobby is named the game's MVP, all to the devastation of Beaulieu and the Cougars.

Sometime later, Bobby and Vicki get married. Robert Sr., who has since changed his name to Roberto, makes a surprise appearance to convince Bobby to skip school and go to the NFL so he can share in his son's newfound fame. He is tackled to the ground by an enraged Helen to the cheers of the attendants. Bobby and Vicki leave on his lawn mower to consummate their marriage.

The two main characters of the book are the narrator, Sal Paradise, and his friend Dean Moriarty, much admired for his carefree attitude and sense of adventure, a free-spirited maverick eager to explore all kicks and an inspiration and catalyst for Sal's travels. The novel contains five parts, three of them describing road trips with Moriarty. The narrative takes place in the years 1947 to 1950, is full of Americana, and marks a specific era in jazz history, "somewhere between its Charlie Parker ''Ornithology'' period and another period that began with Miles Davis." The novel is largely autobiographical, Sal being the alter ego of the author and Dean standing for Neal Cassady.

Part One

The first section describes Sal's first trip to San Francisco. Disheartened after a divorce, his life changes when he meets Dean Moriarty, who is "tremendously excited with life," and begins to long for the freedom of the road: "Somewhere along the line I knew there would be girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to me." In July 1948, he sets off from his aunt’s house in Paterson with fifty dollars (equivalent to about US$500 in 2021[https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1947?amount=50 $50 in 1947]) in his pocket. After taking several buses and hitchhiking, he arrives in Denver, where he hooks up with Carlo Marx, Dean, and their friends. There are parties—among them an excursion to the ghost town of Central City. Eventually Sal leaves by bus and gets to San Francisco, where he meets Remi Boncoeur and his girlfriend Lee Ann. Remi arranges for Sal to take a job as a night watchman at a boarding camp for merchant sailors waiting for their ship. Not holding this job for long, Sal hits the road again. "Oh, where is the girl I love?" he wonders. Soon he meets Terry, the "cutest little Mexican girl," on the bus to Los Angeles. They stay together, traveling back to Bakersfield, then to Sabinal, "her hometown," where her family works in the fields. He meets Terry's brother Ricky, who teaches him the true meaning of "mañana" ("tomorrow"). Working in the cotton fields, Sal realizes that he is not made for this type of work. Leaving Terry behind, he takes a bus back east to Pittsburgh, and then hitchhikes his way to Times Square in New York City. Once there he bums a quarter off a preacher who looks the other way, and arrives at his aunt's house, just missing Dean, who had come to see him, by two days.

Part Two

In December 1948 Sal is celebrating Christmas with his relatives in Testament, Virginia, when Dean shows up with Marylou (having left his second wife, Camille, and their newborn baby, Amy, in San Francisco) and Ed Dunkel. Sal's Christmas plans are shattered as "now the bug was on me again, and the bug's name was Dean Moriarty." First they drive to New York, where they meet Carlo and party. Dean wants Sal to make love to Marylou, but Sal declines. In Dean's Hudson they take off from New York in January 1949 and make it to New Orleans. In Algiers they stay with the morphine-addicted Old Bull Lee and his wife Jane. Galatea Dunkel joins her husband in New Orleans while Sal, Dean, and Marylou continue their trip. Once in San Francisco, Dean again leaves Marylou to be with Camille. "Dean will leave you out in the cold anytime it is in the interest of him," Marylou tells Sal. Both of them stay briefly in a hotel, but soon she moves out, following a nightclub owner. Sal is alone and on Market Street has visions of past lives, birth, and rebirth. Dean finds him and invites him to stay with his family. Together, they visit nightclubs and listen to Slim Gaillard and other jazz musicians. The stay ends on a sour note: "what I accomplished by coming to Frisco I don't know," and Sal departs, taking the bus back to New York.

Part Three

In the spring of 1949, Sal takes a bus from New York to Denver. He is depressed and lonesome; none of his friends are around. After receiving some money, he leaves Denver for San Francisco to see Dean. Camille is pregnant and unhappy, and Dean has injured his thumb trying to hit Marylou for sleeping with other men. Camille throws them out, and Sal invites Dean to come to New York, planning to travel further to Italy. They meet Galatea, who tells Dean off: "You have absolutely no regard for anybody but yourself and your kicks." Sal realizes she is right—Dean is the "HOLY GOOF"—but also defends him, as "he's got the secret that we're all busting to find out." After a night of jazz and drinking in Little Harlem on Folsom Street, they depart. On the way to Sacramento they meet a "fag", who propositions them. Dean tries to hustle some money out of this but is turned down. During this part of the trip Sal and Dean have ecstatic discussions having found "IT" and "TIME". In Denver a brief argument shows the growing rift between the two, when Dean reminds Sal of his age, Sal being the older of the two. They get a 1947 Cadillac that needs to be taken to Chicago from a travel bureau. Dean drives most of the way, crazy, careless, often speeding at over , delivering the car in a disheveled state. By bus they move on to Detroit and spend a night on Skid Row, Dean hoping to find his homeless father. From Detroit they share a ride to New York and arrive at Sal's aunt's new flat in Long Island. They go on partying in New York, where Dean meets Inez and gets her pregnant while his wife is expecting their second child.

Part Four

In the spring of 1950, Sal gets the itch to travel again while Dean is working as a parking lot attendant in Manhattan, living with his girlfriend Inez. Sal notices that he has been reduced to simple pleasures—listening to basketball games and looking at erotic playing cards. By bus Sal takes to the road again, passing Washington, D.C., Ashland, Cincinnati, and St. Louis, and eventually reaching Denver. There he meets Stan Shephard, and the two plan to go to Mexico City when they learn that Dean has bought a car and is on the way to join them. In a rickety '37 Ford sedan the three set off across Texas to Laredo, where they cross the border. They are ecstatic, having left "everything behind us and entering a new and unknown phase of things." Their money buys more (10 cents for a beer), police are laid back, cannabis is readily available, and people are curious and friendly. The landscape is magnificent. In Gregoria, they meet Victor, a local kid, who leads them to a bordello where they have their last grand party, dancing to mambo, drinking, and having fun with prostitutes. In Mexico City Sal becomes ill from dysentery and is "delirious and unconscious." Dean leaves him, and Sal later reflects: "When I got better I realized what a rat he was, but then I had to understand the impossible complexity of his life, how he had to leave me there, sick, to get on with his wives and woes."

Part Five

Dean, having obtained divorce papers in Mexico, had first returned to New York to marry Inez, only to leave her and go back to Camille. After his recovery from dysentery in Mexico, Sal returns to New York in the fall. He finds a girl, Laura, and plans to move with her to San Francisco. Sal writes to Dean about his plan to move to San Francisco. Dean writes back saying that he's willing to come and accompany Laura and Sal. Dean arrives more than five weeks early, but Sal is out taking a late-night walk alone. Sal returns home, sees a copy of Proust, and knows it is Dean's. Sal realizes his friend has arrived, but at a time when Sal doesn't have the money to relocate to San Francisco. On hearing this Dean makes the decision to head back to Camille, Sal's friend Remi Boncoeur denies Sal's request to give Dean a short lift to 40th Street on their way to a Duke Ellington concert at the Metropolitan Opera House. Sal's girlfriend Laura realizes this is a painful moment for Sal and prompts him for a response as the party drives off without Dean. Sal replies: "He'll be alright". Sal later reflects as he sits on a river pier under a New Jersey night sky about the roads and lands of America that he has travelled and states: "... I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty."

Characters

Kerouac often based his fictional characters on friends and family.Sandison, David. ''Jack Kerouac: An Illustrated Biography.'' Chicago: Chicago Review Press. 1999

The life of Vernon Little, a normal teenager who lives in Martirio, Texas, falls apart when his best friend, Jesus Navarro, murders their classmates in the schoolyard before killing himself, and Vernon is taken in for questioning. He cooperates with Deputy Vaine Gurie, because he had been running an errand for a teacher, Mr Nuckles, and is not involved in the massacre. The perception of Vernon's innocence weakens when his Mom's best friend, the food-obsessed Palmyra (Pam) arrives and, against Vernon's better judgment, whisks him off to Bar-B-Chew Barn, allowing the police to claim he is a flight risk. Eulalio ("Lally") Ledesma, supposedly a CNN reporter, ingratiates himself to Vernon's mother, Doris, and promises to help Vernon "shift the paradigm" of his story. Instead, Lally betrays Vernon, who is returned to jail pending a psychiatric analysis.

When the court-appointed shrink, Dr Goosens, touches him inappropriately, Vernon leaves, knowing it can wreck hopes for bail. Vernon's bail hearing suggests a possible alibi and no grounds for holding him, so Vernon is released as Goosens' outpatient, subject to regular sessions. Vernon, however, is intent on living out the movie ''Against All Odds'', repelled by Lally not only betraying him again with a video interview with Nuckles, but also by insinuating himself into Vernon's family life - including sharing Mom's bedroom.

Learning a posse intends to search Keeter's field, where his rifle is hidden, Vernon races to beat them, but meets a stranger who reveals Lally is a fraud. Vernon confirms it by phoning Lally's blind, neglected mother, and plans how to get her to talk with Mom. Vernon cannot control his temper well enough to make the evidence stick, however, but Lally worries enough to bail out and move in with her friend Leona. To pacify Mom, Vernon lies about finding a job, but when he skips a session with Goosens and word comes that his rifle has been found, he extorts money from an old pervert by photographing him with Ella Bouchard, a local girl and catches a bus to San Antonio. There he phones Taylor, his crush, and meets her in Houston where she attends college. However, their meeting ends when Leona (Vernon's mom's friend) turns out to be Taylor's cousin and turns up to meet her.

Fast talk and money get Vernon into Mexico without identification, and a truck driver, Pelayo, takes him to his dream world on the beach near Acapulco. Vernon awakens on his 16th birthday on top of the world, but plunges when Taylor's wired $600 does not arrive. Instead, against all odds, Taylor comes in person, takes him to a fancy hotel, and uses her wiles to get him to admit he is a murderer. Not suspecting a string of murders across Central Texas are attributed to him or that Lally has recruited Taylor, Vernon gives an out-of-context confession. Lally's people seize Vernon, turn him over to Federal marshals, and he lands in the Harris County lock-up for the summer.

In the fall, Vernon's trial is televised, with court officials, witnesses, and Vernon being made up for the cameras. Vernon trusts the system implicitly. His lawyer exposes Goosens' criminal behavior, discrediting his testimony for the State, and Taylor and Lally are seen entrapping Vernon. Vernon's attempt to tell the whole truth fails, however, when the State produces Pelayo's affidavit, which provides no alibi, because Vernon uses an alias in Mexico. Nuckles alone can clear Vernon when he testifies, but explosively calls him a murderer. Vernon is cleared of the Central Texas rampage but convicted of the schoolyard slayings and is sent to Death Row.

Lally has expanded his multimedia empire to include the ultimate reality show – an execution lottery. An axe murderer turned popular preacher helps Vernon figure out his feelings towards Mom, advises him to watch animal and human behavior and to realize Vernon is God. Vernon struggles to do this as he survives several votes, but eventually his turn comes. He thinks about what presents he can give the various people in his life. He makes kind phone calls to people able to pull together an operation that destroys Lally and proves Vernon's innocence.

A pardon comes seconds before the deadly chemicals are to flow into his arm. The den also yields up Jesus' suicide note, condemning Goosens and Nuckles to prison for pedophilia. Vernon and Ella prepare for a vacation in Mexico, and everything in Martirio returns to normal.

The continuous 30 levels are divided into three episode-like sections, defined by their corresponding sky texture; UAC Underground/Outpost, City, and Hell.

Immediately following the events in ''Doom'', the player once again assumes the role of Doomguy. After defeating the Spider Mastermind, the marine finds a portal to Earth opened by demons. After returning to Earth, the marine finds that it has also been invaded by the demons, who have killed billions of people.

The humans who survived the attack have developed a plan to build massive spaceships which will carry the remaining survivors into space. Unfortunately, Earth's only ground spaceport has been taken over by the demons, who placed a barrier over it, preventing any ships from leaving. The marine battles hordes of demons and is able to deactivate the force field, allowing the remaining humans to escape. Once all the survivors have escaped Earth, the marine is the only human left on the planet.

Just as he sits down to await death, knowing that he saved humanity, the marine then receives an off-planet transmission from the survivors in orbit, who have managed to find out where the armies of Hell are coming from. The message reveals that the demonic base is in the center of the marine's own hometown. He then fights through the city until he reaches the base, but sees there is no way to stop the invasion on that side. He decides to step into the portal to try deactivating it from the other side, entering Hell.

After fighting through the hordes of Hell, the marine reaches the location of the biggest demon he has ever seen, called the Icon of Sin (Baphomet). He kills the Icon of Sin by firing rockets into its exposed brain. Its death causes devastation on Hell, and the portal to Earth is sealed. The marine wonders where evil people will go when they die now that Hell has been destroyed, and reflects that rebuilding the world will be more fun than saving it as he begins his journey back home.

A message, carried by pointless albatross, arrives for Lord Vetinari from the Agatean Empire. The message explains that the Silver Horde (a group of aged barbarians introduced in ''Interesting Times'', wherein they conquered the Empire, and led by Cohen the Barbarian, now the Emperor) have set out on a quest. The first hero of the Discworld, "Fingers" Mazda, stole fire from the gods and gave it to mankind (analogous to Prometheus), and was chained to a rock to be torn open daily by a giant eagle as punishment. As the last heroes remaining on the Disc, the Silver Horde seek to return fire to the gods with interest, in the form of a large sled packed with explosive Agatean Thunder Clay. They plan to blow up the gods at their mountain home, Cori Celesti. With them is a whiny, terrified bard, whom they have kidnapped so that he can write the saga of their quest. Along the way, they are joined by Evil Harry Dread (the last Dark Lord) and Vena the Raven-haired (an elderly heroine who has now gone grey).

The heroes are disillusioned with the way their lives have turned out—having conquered the Empire, they have nothing left to do but die in comfort—and are angry for having been allowed to grow old, rather than dying in battle as most of their friends did. They decided to go out on the quest after one of the Horde members choked to death on a cucumber. Evil Harry is just as angry; despite his efforts to give his opponents the sporting chance that an Evil Overlord should, they will not follow the Code by allowing him to escape in return.

The Wizards of Unseen University explain to Lord Vetinari that blowing up Cori Celesti will destroy the Discworld by temporarily disrupting the Disc's magical field—the only thing holding the Disc together—so Vetinari organises an effort to stop the Horde. Since the Horde is already near the centre of the Discworld and the home of the gods, speed is of the essence. Vetinari recruits Leonard of Quirm, who designs the Discworld's second known spacecraft to slingshot under the Discworld and back around the top, landing on Cori Celesti.

The vessel, named "The Kite" by Leonard, can carry only three people. Leonard of Quirm, Captain Carrot Ironfoundersson, and Rincewind are selected for the trip (although Rincewind volunteered reluctantly in the belief that he would have somehow wound up going on the trip in any case). The Librarian accidentally stumbles aboard as well, having fallen asleep behind some crates of equipment while loading The Kite. After a few mishaps, including landing on the moon (to replenish their oxygen supply after the Librarian's unexpected presence threatened to leave them without enough air to survive the trip) and nearly having their swamp dragon powered spaceship explode on them, they crash in a spectacular fashion at, or rather, into the main gate of Cori Celesti.

Meanwhile, the Horde have already reached Cori Celesti. The gods allow them to sneak in disguised as gods themselves, despite (or perhaps because of) their having been betrayed to the gods by Evil Harry. The Horde suspect that the gods have been manipulating their entire quest. Fate challenges Cohen to roll a 7 on a standard 6-sided die. Cohen cheats Fate by slicing the die in-half in mid-air with his sword; the two halves land with the 6 and 1 both facing up. Cohen also notes that even if he does not succeed in killing the gods, someone will have tried, so someone will eventually try harder.

Captain Carrot attempts to arrest the Horde, at which point the Horde arms the explosives. While initially intending to attack him, the Horde realise that as a single brave man outnumbered by his foes and trying to save the world, Carrot is a Hero (and probably a king in disguise), and so their defeat is certain. After Rincewind explains that the detonation will destroy the entire Discworld, the Horde grab the explosives and throw them—and themselves—off the mountain.

As punishment for creating The Kite (which allowed humans to travel higher than the gods) and for not expressing belief in the gods, Leonard is ordered by the gods to paint the entire ceiling of the Temple of Small Gods with a spectacular mural of the whole world (despite Blind Io saying he would be satisfied with "a nice duck-egg blue with a few stars"). They impose a time limit of 10 years on the task—unassisted, "even with the scaffolding". (Leonard finishes the task in a few weeks.) Carrot asks for a boon to allow for the repairs of The Kite so that they can return to Ankh-Morpork. Rincewind asks for a blue balloon and the Librarian asks for some library supplies (and a red balloon) and manages to refrain from bouncing Blind Io's head on the ground after Io calls him 'a monkey'.

The Horde's end is ambiguous. Valkyries come to take the heroes to the Halls of the Slain, where a feast has been prepared for them. Instead, the Silver Horde, refusing to accept their deaths, steal the valkyries' horses and set off to find other worlds to "''do heroic stuff in''." Death does not appear to them, as he often does when Discworld characters die, although he subsequently appears to Vena, and is evasive about whether he is "''collecting''".

After the Horde leave with the Valkyries' horses, their first stop is to visit Mazda where he is being punished, cut off his chains, give him something to drink, and leave him a sword so that he may deal with his punisher. The bard, changed by his experience, composes a new style of saga, one with musical accompaniment, about it.

Best friends and nerds Lewis Skolnick and Gilbert Lowe enroll in Adams College to study computer science. The Alpha Betas, a fraternity that includes most of the Adams football team, carelessly burn down their own house and, urged by Coach Harris, take over the freshman dorms, literally throwing the freshmen out into the street. Dean Ulich designates temporary living space in the gymnasium and allows the freshmen to rush the fraternities. Lewis, Gilbert, and several other nerds fail to join fraternities, but are able to secure a dilapidated house near campus and repair it as a residence.

The Alpha Betas, led by star quarterback Stan Gable, are irked by the nerds' success, and Stan sets his fellow members to pull pranks against the nerds, which includes throwing a rock through the window saying "Nerds, get out". The nerds try to get campus police to help, but the campus cops are constrained by the Greek Council that adjudicates all such pranks, of which Stan is currently president. The nerds decide to seek membership on the Greek Council by joining a national fraternity. After 29 rejection letters, the only one that considers them is the black fraternity Lambda Lambda Lambda (Tri-Lambs), led by U.N. Jefferson. As only one of the nerds is black, Jefferson is about to disapprove when one of the nerds sees in the fine print that all applicants are given probationary membership. The nerds set up a large party with the Omega Mu sorority, similarly made up of nerds, including Gilbert's girlfriend Judy, and invite Jefferson to attend. The party is dull until Booger provides them with high quality marijuana. The Alpha Betas and the Pi Delta Pis, the sorority to which Stan's girlfriend Betty Childs belongs, then disrupt the party by bringing and releasing pigs. The nerds exact revenge on both groups by pulling similar pranks. Impressed with the nerds' tenacity, Jefferson grants them full membership.

However the harassment intensifies, and Stan Gable stonewalls any attempts by the Greek Council to sanction Alpha Beta. The nerds realize the only way to get the Council to help is to put one of their own in as president, which they can do by winning the Greek Games during homecoming. Partnering with the Omega Mus and using their extensive knowledge, the Tri-Lambs compete strongly with the Alpha Betas/Pi Delta Pis during the athletic events. At the charity fundraiser, the nerds heavily outsell the Alpha Betas by offering pies with naked pictures of Betty and other Pi Delta Pis on the bottom. During this, Lewis, who has fallen in love with Betty, steals Stan's costume and tricks Betty into engaging in sexual intercourse with him. Though surprised when Lewis reveals his identity, she admits he was "wonderful". Finally, the nerds dominate the musical competition with a techno-computer-driven musical production, winning the overall games. Lewis immediately nominates Gilbert as the new Council president.

Coach Harris lambastes the Alpha Betas for losing to the nerds, and Stan leads them in vandalizing the Tri-Lamb house. The nerds become despondent, and Gilbert decides to barge into the middle of the Homecoming Pep Rally to address his complaints. The Alpha Betas try to stop him, but Jefferson and a group of national Tri-Lambs arrive to intimidate the Alpha Betas, giving Gilbert the opportunity to give a rousing speech about standing up to discrimination. Lewis and the other Tri-Lambs, many alumni, and Betty, who announces she is "in love with a nerd", join in cheering Gilbert, soundly shaming the Alpha Betas. An emboldened Dean Ulich instructs Coach Harris that the Tri-Lambs will now live in the Alpha Beta house, while the Alpha Betas will live in the gym until they can repair the Tri-Lamb house.

The spacecraft USS ''Palomino'' has nearly completed its mission exploring deep space. The crew consists of Captain Dan Holland, First Officer Lieutenant Charlie Pizer, journalist Harry Booth, ESP-sensitive scientist Dr. Kate McCrae, the expedition's civilian leader Dr. Alex Durant and the diminutive robot V.I.N.CENT. ("Vital Information Necessary CENTralized").

As it is returning to Earth, the ''Palomino'' discovers a black hole with the apparently abandoned and long-lost USS ''Cygnus'' nearby, the same ship that McCrae's father was aboard when it vanished 20 years ago. The ''Palomino'' decide to investigate and finds that there is a mysterious null gravity field surrounding the ''Cygnus'' that allows it to defy the massive gravitational pull of the black hole. The ''Palomino'' briefly strays outside the field and is damaged by the intense gravity, forcing it to emergency dock with the ''Cygnus'', which no longer appears abandoned.

The cautious ''Palomino'' crew soon encounter Dr. Hans Reinhardt (one of Earth's most brilliant scientists, according to Durant). Reinhardt explains he has been alone on the ''Cygnus'' since it encountered a meteor field and was disabled. He ordered the human crew to return to Earth without him, but Kate's father chose to remain aboard and has since died. To replace the crew, Reinhardt built faceless, black-robed drones, sentry robots and his sinister bodyguard robot, Maximilian. Reinhardt says he intends to fly the ''Cygnus'' through the black hole because 20 years of study has shown that it's possible. Only an enamoured Durant believes him and asks if he can accompany Reinhardt.

However, the rest of the ''Palomino'' crew start to become suspicious of Reinhardt. Booth sees a drone limping, while Holland witnesses an android funeral and discovers personal items in the ''Cygnus'' crew quarters. V.I.N.CENT. meets a battered earlier model of his type named BO.B. ("BiO-sanitation Battalion"). BO.B explains the drones are actually what's left of the human crew, who mutinied when Reinhardt refused to return to Earth after the ''Cygnus'' was damaged. McCrae's father was killed leading the mutiny, and the crew was lobotomized and "reprogrammed" to serve Reinhardt. V.I.N.CENT. uses telepathy to tell Kate. After she informs Durant what really happened, he removes a drone's faceplate, revealing the zombie-like face of a crew member. Durant tries to flee with Kate, but is killed by Maximilian.

Reinhardt orders his robots to lobotomize Kate, but just as the process begins, she is rescued by Holland, V.I.N.CENT. and BO.B. Harry Booth tries to escape alone in the ''Palomino'', but is shot down and fatally crashes into the ''Cygnus''. A subsequent meteor storm and the explosion of the ship's overstressed main power plant cause the anti-gravity generator to fail. Without its null-gravity bubble, the ''Cygnus'' quickly starts to break apart under the black hole's huge gravitational forces.

Reinhardt and the ''Palomino'' survivors separately plan their escape in the probe ship used to study the black hole. Reinhardt orders Maximilian to prepare the ship for launch, but then a large viewscreen falls on Reinhardt, pinning him to the deck, surrounded by his lobotomized crew. Maximilian encounters the ''Palomino'' crew and fatally damages BO.B. before being disabled by V.I.N.CENT and left to drift. Holland, Pizer, McCrae and V.I.N.CENT. launch the probe, which has a pre-programmed flight path that takes them into the black hole.

Within the black hole, Reinhardt and Maximilian merge together above a burning, hellish landscape populated by dark-robed spectres resembling ''Cygnus'' drones. Meanwhile, the probe ship is led through a cathedral-like arched crystal tunnel by a floating, angelic figure. After the ship emerges from a white hole, Holland, Pizer, McCrae and V.I.N.CENT. fly towards a planet near a bright star.

''Ghost'' took place in the fictional universe of the ''StarCraft'' series. The series is set in a distant part of the galaxy called the Koprulu Sector and begins in the year 2499. Terran exiles from Earth are governed by a totalitarian empire, the Terran Dominion, that is opposed by several smaller rebel groups. Two alien races discover humanity: the insectoid Zerg, who begin to invade planets controlled by the Terrans; and the Protoss, an enigmatic race with strong psionic power that attempt to eradicate the Zerg. ''Ghost'' took place four years after the conclusion of ''StarCraft: Brood War'', in which the Zerg become the dominant power in the sector and leave both the Protoss and the Dominion in ruins. The game followed the story of Nova, a young ghost agent—a human espionage operative with psychic abilities—in the employ of the Dominion.

Although the game was canceled, the backstory for Nova was released in the novel ''StarCraft Ghost: Nova'' by Keith R. A. DeCandido. It was meant to accompany the game's release, but was published in 2006 after development halted. In the novel, Nova is a fifteen-year-old girl and daughter to one of the ruling families of the Confederacy of Man, an oppressive government featured in ''StarCraft''. The Confederacy is overthrown by rebels, who go on to form the Dominion. Nova has significant psionic potential, but has been kept out of the Confederate ghost operative training program because of her father's influence. After her family is murdered by rebels, Nova loses control of her mental abilities and accidentally kills 300 people around her home. She flees from her home before she is caught, and is later forced to work for an organized crime boss as an enforcer and executioner. She is rescued by a Confederate agent who is investigating her disappearance during a rebel attack on the Confederate capital that leads to the Confederacy's destruction. Nova is consequently acquired by the newly formed Terran Dominion, who erase her memory and train her as a ghost agent.

Few details have been revealed about ''Ghost'' s plot beyond Nova's backstory. Under emperor Arcturus Mengsk, the Terran Dominion has rebuilt much of its former strength and controls a new military formed to counter the Zerg. To further bolster the effectiveness of his military, Mengsk initiates a secret research operation codenamed Project: Shadow Blade and places it under the command of his right-hand man, General Horace Warfield. In the program, an experimental and potentially lethal gas called terrazine is used to enhance the genetic structure of the Dominion's psychic ghost agents. The process is described as changing the agents into "shadowy superhuman beings bent on executing the will of their true master". It is into the midst of this that Nova finishes her training and is dispatched in operations against the Koprulu Liberation Front, a rebel group that challenges Mengsk's empire. However, Nova's mission leads her to uncover a conspiracy that involves Shadow Blade. This revelation causes her to question her loyalty to the Dominion and could upset the balance of power within the galaxy.

The ''Enterprise'' makes contact with a Tamarian ship in orbit around the planet El-Adrel. The Tamarians had been previously contacted by the Federation, but could not be understood — although the universal translator can translate their words, they communicate by using brief allusions to their history and mythology to convey thoughts and intentions. Likewise, the Tamarians cannot understand Captain Picard's straightforward use of language.

The Tamarian captain, Dathon, has himself and Picard transported to the planet's surface. The Tamarians then cast a scattering field that blocks further transporter use. Dathon utters the phrase "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra" and tosses Picard a dagger. The next morning, Dathon comes running and Picard realizes there is a hostile predator in the area. Picard begins to understand the Tamarians' jargon when he recognizes one allegory as a tactic to fight the beast. The two attempt to battle the beast together, but the ''Enterprise'' s unsuccessful attempt to beam up Picard prevents him from participating at a crucial moment. Dathon is severely wounded.

On the ''Enterprise'', First Officer Riker and the crew struggle to understand the aliens' language. They make several efforts to rescue the Captain, all foiled by the Tamarians. While tending to Dathon's wounds, Picard slowly deduces that Darmok and Jalad were warriors who met on the island of Tanagra and were forced to unite against a dangerous beast there, becoming friends in the process. Dathon tried to recreate this event with Picard, hoping to forge a friendship through shared adversity. Picard recounts for Dathon the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', a story that parallels the allegory of Darmok and Jalad. Dathon seems to understand the story but succumbs to his injuries.

The ''Enterprise'' fires on the Tamarian ship, disabling the scattering field, and beams up Picard. A battle begins, but just when mutual destruction seems certain, Picard enters the bridge and uses his newfound knowledge to communicate with the Tamarians. The Tamarians joyously perceive that Picard's eyes have been opened. Picard offers them Dathon's diary and dagger after telling them of their captain's sacrifice. The Tamarians tell him to keep the dagger in remembrance of Dathon, and record the incident as "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel" — a new phrase in their language.

Picard later reads the Homeric Hymns, explaining to Riker that studying their own mythology may help them relate to the Tamarians. He mourns that Dathon sacrificed himself in the hope of communication, and wonders if he would have done the same.

The episodes follow the adventures of Ickis, Oblina, and Krumm, three young monster friends attending a monster school whose headmaster is The Gromble.

The show is set in New York City, demonstrated throughout the series by the presences of the Empire State Building and the IND Subway System, and in the episode "Monster Make-Over" when Ickis refers to himself as "the ugliest slimiest . . . monster menace ''this side of Newark''!" The dump the monsters inhabit is implied to be Fresh Kills Landfill, but never explicitly named in the series. The monster community includes a working economic system using toenails as currency.

Adam Symes has a novel to finish and, with the proceeds, plans to marry Nina Blount. Returning from France, his manuscript is impounded as obscene by customs officers, while in the next room his friend Agatha Runcible is strip searched as a suspected jewel thief. She rings the newspapers about her fate. Adam rings Nina to say he cannot now marry her, and has to negotiate a penal new contract with his publisher.

Winning 1,000 pounds on a bet, Adam gives it to a drunk major to place on a horse, but the major disappears. After a fancy dress party, where he meets up with Nina and Agatha, the young people go back to the home of a quiet girl who turns out to be the Prime Minister's daughter. Agatha, who is in Hawaiian costume, is kicked out, to the delight of press photographers. The implication of orgies at 10 Downing Street causes the collapse of the government.

Nina suggests that Adam asks her widowed father in the country for money to marry on. The eccentric old man comes up with a cheque for 1,000 pounds and, in celebration, Adam takes Nina to a country hotel to claim her virginity. She claims not to have enjoyed it, pointing out also to Adam that the signature on the cheque says Charlie Chaplin.

The next big party in London is being held by Margot Metroland, whose private business is recruiting girls for Latin American brothels, and will feature an American lady evangelist with her choir of female angels. The party is crashed by Simon Balcairn, a friend of Adam's who is a gossip columnist, but Simon is kicked out and in despair gasses himself.

Simon's job is offered to Adam, who initially devotes much of his column to the exploits of his friends but finds he can only broaden the scope by invention. A dim childhood friend of Nina is transformed in dashing man-about-town Ginger Littlejohn. Still unable to marry, Nina suggests another attempt at her father. Adam finds the old man involved in the shooting of a historical film on his estate and comes away empty-handed.

While he was away, he got Nina and other friends to write his column, for which he is sacked. With friends, Adam goes to some motor races where he sees the drunk major, who says he has got Adam's winnings but then disappears. A drunk Agatha takes off in a racing car and crashes with serious injuries, from which she later dies.

Nina announces that she is engaged to Ginger, to which the jobless and penniless Adam reluctantly agrees if Ginger pays him 100 pounds. The nuptial pair fly off to France for their honeymoon, but Ginger is unable to join Nina for Christmas at the house of her father, who he has not yet met. Adam steps into the breach, sharing a bedroom as Nina's husband and watching her father's maladroit film.

War breaks out, in which Adam finds himself alone on a devastated battlefield in France. He comes across the drunk major, now a general, who still has his winnings and invites him to champagne in his staff car. There they find one of the evangelist's angels, back in Europe after her experiences in the South American entertainment industry. While general and angel flirt, an exhausted Adam falls asleep.

The novel is presented as a series of vignettes over a period of about 1500 years, from to . Most of the story-chapters involve Roman politics, either the competition between the Western and Eastern Empires to dominate the other or the violent creation of the Second Roman Republic in about . Others describe the first Roman circumnavigation of the world and unsuccessful attempts to conquer Nova Roma (Central America).

Many features of our own history are repeated in this history, though under changed circumstances: the equivalent of the 16th and 17th centuries have bold navigators and adventurers, romanticised by later generations but unpleasantly brutal and ruthless when looked at closely; in the late 18th to mid-19th centuries, a decadent old order is overthrown by revolution followed by a reign of terror and the reemergence of Republicanism; though Italy remains a central part of the Roman Empire, the Latin dialect spoken there develops into a kind of Italian, and the name "Marcus" changes into "Marco"; though Vienna is a provincial capital which never had an Emperor of its own, its population dances the Waltz; by the 20th century, people travel by cars rather than carriages and by the second half of the century, space flight is achieved.

It concludes with the first story to be written, when a group of Hebrew citizens in Alexandria prepare to depart Earth in a rocket which explodes shortly after takeoff. But they will try again, still believing God chose them to inherit the Promised Land, just not on Rome-dominated Earth.

A homeless drifter—credited as "Nada"—comes to Los Angeles in search of a job. While out on the street, he sees a street preacher warning that "they" have recruited the rich and powerful to control humanity. Nada finds employment at a construction site and is befriended by coworker Frank, who invites him to live in a shanty town soup kitchen led by a man named Gilbert.

That night, a hacker takes over television broadcasts, claiming that scientists have discovered signals that are enslaving the population and keeping them in a dream-like state, and that the only way to stop it is to shut off the signal at its source. Those watching the broadcast complain of headaches. Nada secretly follows Gilbert and the preacher into a nearby church and discovers them meeting with a group that includes the hacker. He sees scientific equipment and cardboard boxes inside. Nada is discovered by the blind preacher and escapes.

That night, the shantytown and church are destroyed in a police raid, and the hacker and preacher are beaten by riot police. The following day, Nada retrieves one of the boxes from the church and takes a pair of sunglasses from it, hiding the rest in a trash can. Nada discovers that the sunglasses make the world appear monochrome, but also reveal subliminal messages in the media to consume, reproduce, and conform. The glasses also reveal that many people are actually aliens with skull-like faces.

When Nada mocks an alien woman at a supermarket, she alerts other aliens via a wristwatch-like device. Nada leaves but is confronted by two alien police officers. He kills them and steals their weapons. Nada enters a bank, where he sees that several of the employees and customers are aliens. He kills several aliens with a shotgun and escapes by taking Cable 54 employee Holly Thompson hostage. At Holly's home, Nada tries to get her to try on the glasses, but she knocks him out of the window and down a hill and calls the police.

The next day, Nada returns to the alleyway and retrieves the sunglasses from a garbage truck before Frank meets Nada to give him his paycheck. Nada tries to get Frank to put on the glasses, but Frank thinks Nada is a murderer and wants nothing to do with him. Frank and Nada get into a long and violent brawl, after which Frank is too tired to prevent Nada from putting the sunglasses on him. After seeing the aliens and a flying saucer, Frank goes into hiding with Nada.

Frank and Nada run into Gilbert, who leads them to a meeting of the anti-alien movement. At the meeting, they are given contact lenses to replace the sunglasses, and learn that the aliens are using global warming to make Earth more like their own planet, and are depleting the Earth's resources for their own gain. They also learn that the aliens have been bribing humans to become collaborators, promoting them to positions of power. Holly arrives at the meeting, apologizing to Nada. The meeting is raided by police and the vast majority of those present are killed, with the survivors (including Frank, Nada, and Holly) scattering. Nada and Frank are cornered in an alley, but they accidentally activate an alien wristwatch, opening a portal through which they escape.

The portal takes them to the aliens' spaceport, where they discover a meeting of aliens and human collaborators celebrating the elimination of the "terrorists". They are approached by a former drifter they briefly met in the shantytown, now a collaborator, who gives them a tour of the facility. He leads them to the basement of Cable 54, the source of the signal, which is protected by armed guards. Nada and Frank find Holly and fight their way to the transmitter on the roof, but Holly kills Frank, revealing that she too is a human collaborator. Nada kills Holly and destroys the transmitter, and is fatally wounded by aliens in a helicopter. Nada gives the aliens the middle finger as he dies.

With the transmitter destroyed, humans all over the world are free from their dream-like state and discover the aliens hiding amongst them.

The Seventh Doctor and Mel, looking for a swimming pool, land in Paradise Towers, a luxurious 22nd-century high-rise apartment building now fallen into disrepair and chaos. It is divided between the Caretakers who maintain the building and roaming gangs of young girls called Kangs, grouped in colour theme; the Doctor and Mel encounter the Red Kangs.

The Chief sends a squad of Caretakers to arrest the Red Kangs and in the ensuing confusion the Doctor is split from Mel and captured by the Caretakers. Mel meanwhile heads off to an apartment in which two elderly residents (" ") live. Tilda and Tabby explain that all the able-bodied residents left the Towers to fight a war, leaving behind only children and the elderly. The only other man still loose in the Towers is Pex, a would-be hero, who appoints himself Mel's guardian.

At the Caretaker control centre, the Doctor meets the Chief Caretaker, who greets him as the Great Architect Kroagnon, designer of Paradise Towers, and orders him killed. The Doctor cites an imaginary rule from the Caretakers' manual, confusing them enough to make his escape. Mel and Pex meanwhile are captured by a party of Blue Kangs who reveal to Mel that Pex is a coward and only survived by fleeing and hiding.

The Doctor is reunited with the Red Kangs who explain that Kangs and Caretakers have been disappearing in ever greater numbers. Meanwhile, Mel has visited Tilda and Tabby again and soon finds herself under threat when it emerges they are cannibals and plan to eat her. After escaping, both Tabby and Tilda are killed by a mechanical claw from their waste disposal unit.

The Chief Caretaker has been allowing the robotic cleaners to kill anybody they encounter, and after reading a sales brochure for the Towers, the Doctor remembers that Kroagnon also designed "Miracle City" - a cutting-edge development which used its automation to kill its occupants. The Doctor surmises that Kroagnon inhabits Paradise Towers in the basement, and thinks that inhabitants ruin his creations, so kills them off whenever possible.

Mel and Pex finally find the swimming pool. When Mel takes a dip in the pool, she is attacked by a crablike robot. Pex's cowardice prevents him from rescuing Mel, and she has to save herself which embarrasses Pex. Mel leaves him to find the Doctor, and he trails behind her.

The Blue and Red Kangs encounter and fight each other, but the Doctor persuades them that their game is over, and they must work together in order to defeat Kroagnon. As the Cleaners begin killing everybody, the surviving Rezzies and caretakers join forces with the Doctor and the Kangs to defeat Kroagnon. They plan to lure Kroagnon (now inhabiting the body of the Chief Caretaker) into a booby trapped room, but the plan fails. Pex sacrifices himself to drag the Chief into the trap.

After a period of reflection and Pex's funeral, the Doctor and Mel leave, trusting the remaining Kangs, Rezzies, and Caretakers to build a better society. As the TARDIS dematerialises, a new piece of Kang graffiti is revealed – "Pex Lives".

Under the Black Guardian's instructions, Turlough sabotages the TARDIS, causing parts of it to dissolve. As the field of instability threatens to engulf Nyssa's room, a door appears behind her and the Fifth Doctor tells her to go through it. The TARDIS, to save itself, has materialised aboard a spaceship heading for an unknown destination. The Doctor and Nyssa, while exploring the ship, encounter two raiders, Kari and Olvir, who are intent on plundering the ship's cargo.

When the raiders' ship abandons Kari and Olvir, it becomes apparent that the spaceship is actually a transport carrying Lazars, sufferers of a leprosy-like disease, to a space station named Terminus. The station is owned by Terminus, Inc., which claims that a cure exists there, but no-one has returned from it. Nyssa, separated from the Doctor, is infected by the disease and ushered away with the rest of the Lazars. Terminus is manned by the Vanir, guards clad in ornate radiation armor. They are slave labour, kept alive only by regular doses of a drug called "hydromel", which is supplied by the corporation.

The Doctor discovers that Terminus is at the centre of the known universe and finds this information unsettling. Nyssa, meanwhile, is given over to the Garm, a giant dog-like biped, who takes her to a chamber and exposes her to radiation. The Doctor and Kari find the control room of Terminus and he realises that Terminus is also a time ship. In some unspecified past, the fuel that powered it became unstable and the now dead pilot had tried to jettison it while still in the time vortex. The tank exploded, and the outrush of energy started "Event One" – the Big Bang – and hurled Terminus billions of years into the future. There is still one tank of unstable fuel left, and the computer has begun a countdown to jettison that too. However, where the first explosion created the universe, the second will undoubtedly destroy it.

Nyssa awakes to find out that she is no longer infected. The radiation cure works, but it is haphazard, with as many people dying from it as recovering. The Garm knows this, but is unable to refine it as he is controlled by the Vanir. Enlisting the Garm's help, the Doctor staves off the countdown long enough to disable the computer and cut the engine control wires. In return, the Doctor destroys the electronic control box, setting the Garm free.

Nyssa strikes a bargain with the Vanir – in exchange for synthesising hydromel and freeing them from the corporation's influence, they will turn Terminus from a leper colony into a true hospital, and with the Garm's help refine the radiation cure. Deciding that her scientific skills are needed more on Terminus, Nyssa elects to stay behind, bidding her friends a tearful farewell. As Tegan and the Doctor return to the TARDIS, the Black Guardian tells Turlough that this is his last chance to kill the Doctor.

The film begins and ends in 1931 during the Great Depression with a voiceover from Michael Sullivan, Jr., speaking about his father. Michael Sullivan, Sr. was orphaned and then raised by Irish mob boss John Rooney in Rock Island, Illinois; he is now Rooney's most fearsome enforcer, unknown to his own children. Rooney has come to love Sullivan more than his own biological son, the rash and unpredictable Connor.

Speaking at his brother's wake, Rooney's associate Finn McGovern insinuates that Rooney is responsible for his brother's death. Rooney sends Connor and Sullivan to talk with McGovern, while 12-year-old Michael watches through a hole in the wall, after hiding in the back of the family car. McGovern steadfastly denies that his brother stole anything from the mob before implying Connor was responsible, and Connor shoots him on the spot before Sullivan shoots the other witnesses. Michael is detected and sworn to secrecy.

The next day, Rooney visits the house to intimidate the boy, and Michael soon begins acting out at school. At a meeting with his mob associates, Rooney pointedly humiliates Connor after he halfheartedly apologizes for McGovern's murder. Then he sends Sullivan to collect a debt from a speakeasy owner Tony Calvino.

Connor, jealous and afraid, sends a letter with Sullivan for Calvino. Calvino reads it then reaches for his revolver, but Sullivan kills both Calvino and his bodyguard. The letter reads "Kill Sullivan and all debts are paid," and he rushes home. When he arrives he discovers Connor has already murdered his wife, Annie, and their younger son, Peter, but not Michael, who had arrived home late from detention.

Sullivan and Michael flee Rock Island and head to Chicago to meet Frank Nitti. He offers to work for the Chicago Outfit in exchange for permission to kill Connor, but Nitti rejects the offer. Rooney, listening next door with Connor, reluctantly allows Nitti to dispatch freelance killer Harlen Maguire, who doubles as a crime scene photographer, to kill Sullivan. Nitti suggests Michael must be killed as well to prevent him seeking revenge in the future, but Rooney refuses. However, Nitti secretly orders Maguire to kill Michael as well. Maguire tracks Sullivan to a roadside diner. The two meet and have a seemingly casual conversation while Michael hides in the car. Intuiting the danger, Sullivan escapes the diner through the bathroom window and slashes Maguire's tires before driving away.

Sullivan now plots to force the Outfit to give up Connor by robbing the banks that hold its money. He teaches Michael to drive in order to become their getaway driver. Sullivan is impeded when the mob withdraws its money, so he visits Rooney's accountant Alexander Rance. Rance stalls Sullivan until Maguire enters with a shotgun, killing Rance while Sullivan escapes with Rooney's ledgers. However, during the escape, Maguire shoots Sullivan in the arm.

Michael drives them to a farm after Sullivan collapses from his wound, where an elderly childless couple helps him recover. Sullivan's bond with his son grows and Michael comes to realize his father loves him.

The ledgers reveal that Connor has been embezzling from his father for years, using the names of dead men including McGovern. Believing Rooney will call off the hit on him if he knows the truth, Sullivan gifts the couple a chunk of the stolen cash and heads back to Chicago.

Sullivan confronts Rooney at Mass, learning Rooney already knows about Connor and expects he will be killed – if not by Sullivan, then by Nitti's men once Rooney is dead. He still refuses to give up his son and urges Sullivan to flee with Michael and ensure he becomes a better man than either of them.

Later one night, cloaked by darkness and rain, Sullivan ambushes and kills Rooney's bodyguards with a Thompson submachine gun before walking up to Rooney, who looks him in the eye and says, "I'm glad it's you," as Sullivan shoots him at point-blank range. Having no further reasons to protect Connor now that Rooney is dead, Nitti reveals Connor's location after Sullivan promises the feud ends with his death. Sullivan goes to the hotel where Connor is hiding and kills him in the bathtub.

Sullivan takes his son to his Aunt Sarah's beach house in Perdition, on the shore of Lake Michigan, where he is ambushed and shot by Maguire inside the house as Michael stands on the beach. As Maguire photographs the dying Sullivan, Michael appears and points a gun at Maguire but cannot bring himself to pull the trigger. As Maguire beckons to Michael to give him the gun, Sullivan fatally shoots Maguire. Sullivan tells his son he knew he couldn't do it before dying in his arms.

Michael says his father's fear was that he would follow the same road, and that he has not held a gun since his father died. Michael drives the car back to the farm, saying he grew up there, and now when he is asked if his father was a good man, he just tells them, "He was my father."

In an age of medieval fantasy populated by fantastic creatures, the Green Wizard Carolinus, who presides over nature, notices that magic is fading from the world as humanity embraces logic and science instead. Summoning his three magical brothers, he proposes combining their powers to create a "last realm of magic" hidden from the rest of the world. The Blue Wizard Solarius, who commands the heavens and seas, and the Golden Wizard Lo Tae Zhao, whose realm is light and air, agree to the proposal. However, the Red Wizard Ommadon, master of black magic and the forces of evil, resolves instead to infect mankind with fear and greed, causing humans to use their science to destroy themselves.

Since the wizards are forbidden to fight among themselves, Carolinus proposes sending a group of heroes on a quest to steal Ommadon's crown, which is the source of his power. The party includes the knight Sir Orrin Neville-Smythe and Carolinus' young dragon companion Gorbash. Solarius gives them an enchanted shield which can deflect dark magic, and Lo Tae Zhao contributes a magic flute which lulls dragons to sleep. Requiring a leader, Carolinus consults the magical force of Antiquity, which directs him to look 1,000 years into the future to find a man of science descended from a legendary hero. In late 20th century Boston Carolinus locates Peter Dickinson, a former scientist turned board game designer who is obsessed with dragons. Carolinus brings Peter back through time and enlists him in the quest, and Peter becomes enamored of Carolinus' ward, Princess Melisande. Ommadon sends his dragon Bryagh to capture Peter, and an accident with one of Carolinus' spells while rescuing him causes Peter to merge with Gorbash, Peter's mind taking over the dragon's body.

Knowing nothing about being a dragon, Peter is mentored by Carolinus' elder dragon companion and Gorbash's uncle-figure, Smrgol. The dichotomy of magic and science is explored when Smrgol teaches Peter how dragons fly and breathe fire, abilities which Peter is able to explain with scientific principles. As the quest progresses, the heroes survive an attack by all the Sand Murks and are joined by the talking wolf Aragh, the archer Danielle, and the elf Giles o' the Wold. As the party nears Ommadon's realm, Danielle and Sir Orrin are captured by an ogre. Peter is nearly killed attempting to rescue them but is saved by Smrgol, who defeats the ogre at the cost of his own life. In the Red Wizard's realm the party faces the Worm of Sligoff, which Peter destroys by igniting the sulfuric acid it excretes. Ommadon casts a spell to induce hopelessness in the group, which Peter repels using Solarius' shield. Ommadon next sends numerous dragons to kill the heroes, but Giles plays Lo Tae Zhao's enchanted flute, lulling them and Peter to sleep. Bryagh remains awake and kills Giles, Aragh, and Danielle. Sir Orrin slays Bryagh, but dies from his wounds.

When Ommadon appears on the battlefield, Peter manages to separate himself from Gorbash by recalling the principle of impenetrability. He is able to defeat Ommadon by countering the wizard's declarations of magic with explanations of science and logic, and denying the existence of magic. This destroys Ommadon, restores the other heroes to life, and allows the magical realm to take shape. Peter, having denied all magic, is separated forever from this realm, but not before awakening Melisande with a kiss and leaving her Ommadon's crown. Having fallen in love with Peter, Melisande begs Carolinus to allow her to join him. Back in 20th century Boston, Peter is selling the magic flute and shield to a pawnbroker when Melisande enters the shop carrying the crown, and the two embrace.

''Tobal No. 1'' takes place in the year 2048 on a fictional planet called Tobal, which has large deposits of Molmoran, an ore that can be used as an energy source. The planet's 98th tournament is held to determine who has the rights to the ore. A number of humans and aliens compete for the title. The game's plot and character backstories are only explored in the instruction manual. All of the initial eight playable characters receive the same ending.

The game's immediately playable characters include Chuji Wu, Oliems, Epon, Hom, Fei Pusu, Mary Ivonskaya, Ill Goga, and Gren Kutz. Bosses include Nork, Mufu, and the emperor Udan. All bosses are unlockable after defeating them in Dungeon Mode except Nork. Instead, the game allows the player to select Snork (Small Nork), a pint-sized version of the very large character. There is also one secret fighter named Toriyama Robo (named for Akira Toriyama) who is unlockable if the player can complete the 30-floor Udan's Dungeon level in the quest mode. Toriyama Robo is not seen at any point in the game except at the very end of the dungeon.

In September 1969, two unemployed young actors, flamboyant alcoholic Withnail and contemplative Marwood, live in a messy flat in Camden Town, London. Their only regular visitor is their drug dealer, Danny. One morning, the pair squabble about housekeeping and then leave to take a walk. In Regent's Park, they discuss the poor state of their acting careers and the desire for a holiday; Marwood proposes a trip to a rural cottage near Penrith owned by Withnail's wealthy uncle Monty. They visit Monty that evening at his luxurious Chelsea house. Monty is a melodramatic aesthete, who Marwood infers is homosexual. The three briefly drink together as Withnail casually lies to Monty about his acting career. He further deceives Monty by implying that Marwood attended Eton College. Withnail persuades his uncle to lend them the cottage key and they leave.

Withnail and Marwood drive to the cottage the next day but find the weather cold and wet, the cottage without provisions and the locals unwelcoming—in particular a poacher, Jake, whom Withnail offends in the pub. Marwood becomes anxious when he later sees Jake prowling around the cottage and suggests they leave for London the next day. Withnail in turn demands that they share a bed in the interest of safety but Marwood refuses. During the night, Withnail becomes paranoid that the poacher wants to harm them and climbs under the covers with Marwood, who angrily leaves for a different bed. Hearing the sounds of an intruder breaking into the cottage, Withnail again joins Marwood in bed. The intruder turns out to be Monty, who has brought supplies.

The next day, Marwood realises Monty's visit has ulterior motives when he makes aggressive sexual advances upon him; Withnail seems oblivious to this. Monty drives them into town to buy wellington boots but they go to a pub instead. Monty is hurt, though he forgets the offence as the three drink and play poker. Marwood is terrified by the thought of Monty's further sexual overtures and wants to leave immediately, but Withnail insists on staying. Late in the night, Marwood tries to avoid Monty's company but is eventually cornered in the guest bedroom as Monty demands sex. Monty also reveals that Withnail, during the visit in London, lied that Marwood was a closet homosexual. Marwood lies that Withnail is the closeted one and that the two of them are in a committed relationship, which Withnail wishes to keep secret from his family and that this is the first night in 6 years that they have not slept together. Monty, a romantic, believes this explanation and leaves after apologising for coming between them. In private, Marwood furiously confronts Withnail.

The next morning, they find Monty has left for London, leaving a note wishing them happiness together. They continue to argue. A telegram arrives from Marwood's agent with a possible offer of work and he insists they return. As Marwood sleeps in the car, Withnail drunkenly speeds most of the way back until pulled over by the police who arrest him for driving under the influence. The pair return to the flat to find Danny and a friend named Presuming Ed squatting. Marwood calls his agent and discovers he is wanted for the lead part in a play but will need to move to Manchester to take it. The four share a huge cannabis joint but the celebration ends when Marwood learns they have received an eviction notice for unpaid rent, while Withnail is too high to care. Marwood—with new haircut—packs a bag to leave for the railway station, taking a last look at his room. He turns down Withnail's offer of a goodbye drink, stating he hasn't enough time, so Withnail declares he will walk with him to the station. In Regent's Park, Marwood reciprocates Withnail's confession that he will miss him, but insists that they part ways there. Alone with bottle of wine in hand, Withnail impeccably performs "What a piece of work is a man!" from ''Hamlet'', but is seen only by the wolves in a nearby Zoo enclosure. Withnail turns to walk home alone in the rain.

In 1910, mother cat Duchess and her three kittens (Berlioz, Marie, and Toulouse) live in Paris with retired opera diva Madame Adelaide Bonfamille, and her English butler, Edgar. The cats are pampered pets that live a luxurious lifestyle, and are very cultured in art and music like their owner.

One day, while preparing her will with lawyer Georges Hautecourt, Madame declares that her vast fortune will be first left to her cats, then revert to Edgar once they all pass away. Edgar overhears this through a speaking tube and, after erroneously calculating that he will die before he can inherit, plots to eliminate the cats. He sedates them by putting sleeping pills in a dish of cream, then drives them on his motorcycle out to the countryside in a basket. There, he is ambushed by two hounds named Napoleon and Lafayette, losing his hat, sidecar, umbrella, shoes, and the basket before escaping. The cats are left stranded in the countryside, while Madame Adelaide, Roquefort the mouse, and Frou-Frou the horse discover their absence.

In the morning, Duchess meets an alley cat named Thomas O'Malley, who offers to guide her and the kittens to Paris. The group briefly hitchhikes in a milk truck before being chased out by the driver. Later, while crossing a railroad trestle, the cats narrowly avoid an oncoming train, and Marie falls into a river. O'Malley immediately dives in and rescues her, and is himself rescued by Amelia and Abigail Gabble, two British geese on holiday. The geese lead the cats to the outskirts of Paris, then depart to deal with their inebriated Uncle Waldo. Meanwhile, Edgar returns to the countryside to retrieve his possessions - the only evidence that can incriminate him - from Napoleon and Lafayette and, after some difficulty, ultimately succeeds.

Traveling across the rooftops of the city, the cats meet up with O'Malley's friend Scat Cat and his musicians, who perform the song "Ev'rybody Wants to Be a Cat". After the band has departed, O'Malley and Duchess converse on a nearby rooftop while the kittens listen at a windowsill. Duchess' loyalty to Madame prompts her to decline O'Malley's marriage proposal. The next day, Duchess and the kittens return to Madame's mansion. Edgar finds them before Madame does, and places them in a sack, deciding to ship them to Timbuktu.

Roquefort catches up with O'Malley at Duchess’ instruction, and O'Malley returns to the mansion, sending Roquefort to find Scat Cat and his gang. Though he struggles to explain the situation to the alley cats, Roquefort successfully brings them to O'Malley's aid. O'Malley, the alley cats, and Frou-Frou fight Edgar, while Roquefort frees Duchess and the kittens. At the end of the fight, Edgar is locked in his own packing-case and sent to Timbuktu himself, never to be seen again.

The Aristocats return to Madame Adelaide, who, ignorant of the real reason for Edgar's departure, rewrites her will to exclude him. After adopting O'Malley into the family, Madame establishes a charity foundation, housing Paris' stray cats in the mansion. Scat Cat and his gang are the first to move in, and reprise their song so loudly that the two hound dogs can hear it out in the countryside.

A "semi-barbaric" king rules a land sometime in the past. Some of the king's ideas are progressive, but others cause people to suffer. One of the king's innovations is the use of a public trial by ordeal as "an agent of poetic justice", with guilt or innocence decided by the result of chance. A person accused of a crime is brought into a public arena and must choose one of two doors. Behind one door is a lady whom the king has deemed an appropriate match for the accused; behind the other is a fierce, hungry tiger. Both doors are heavily soundproofed to prevent the accused from hearing what is behind each one. If he chooses the door with the lady behind it, he is innocent and must immediately marry her, but if he chooses the door with the tiger behind it, he is deemed guilty and is immediately devoured by the animal.

The king learns that his daughter has a lover, a handsome and brave youth who is of lower status than the princess, and has him imprisoned to await trial. By the time that day comes, the princess has used her influence to learn the positions of the lady and the tiger behind the two doors. She has also discovered that the lady is someone whom she hates, thinking her to be a rival for the affections of the accused. When he looks to the princess for help, she discreetly indicates the door on his right, which he opens.

The outcome of this choice is not revealed. Instead, the narrator departs from the story to summarize the princess's state of mind and her thoughts about directing the accused to one fate or the other, as she will lose him to either death or marriage. She contemplates the pros and cons of each option, though notably considering the lady more. "And so I leave it with all of you: Which came out of the opened door – the lady, or the tiger?"

At the beginning of this story, it is made quite clear that Dorothy Gale (the primary protagonist of many of the previous Oz books), is in the habit of freely speaking of her many adventures in the Land of Oz to her only living relatives, her Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. Neither of them believes a word of her stories, but consider her a dreamer, as her dead mother had been. She is undeterred.

Later, it is revealed that the destruction of their farmhouse by the tornado back in ''The Wonderful Wizard of Oz'' has left Uncle Henry in terrible debt. In order to pay it, he has taken out a mortgage on his farm. If he cannot repay his creditors, they will seize the farm, thus leaving Henry and his family homeless. He is not too afraid for himself, but both he and his wife, Aunt Em, fear very much for their niece's future. Upon learning this, Dorothy quickly arranges with Princess Ozma to let her bring her guardians to Oz where they will be happier and forever safe. Using the Magic Belt (a tool captured from the jealous Nome King Roquat), Ozma transports them to her throne room. They are given rooms to live in and luxuries to enjoy, including a vast and complex wardrobe, and meet with many of Dorothy's old friends, including the Cowardly Lion and Billina the Yellow Hen.

In the underground Nome Kingdom, the Nome King Roquat is plotting to conquer the Land of Oz and recover his magic belt, which Dorothy took from him in ''Ozma of Oz''. General Blug suggested that King Roquat have their forces dig a tunnel under the Deadly Desert. After ordering the expulsion of General Blug (who will not agree to such an attack due to the powers of Princess Ozma) and the death of Colonel (who also refuses) where he was sliced thin in a torture chamber and fed to a bunch of Seven-Headed Dogs, King Roquat holds counsel with a veteran soldier called Guph. Guph believes that against the many magicians of Oz (the reputation of which has grown in the telling), the Nome Army has no chance alone. He therefore sets out personally to recruit allies from other parts of Nonestica.

Dorothy, accompanied by the Wizard of Oz and several other friends, departs the Emerald City in a carriage drawn by the Wooden Sawhorse, intending to give her aunt and uncle a tour of the land. Many of the people encountered have never been seen in other books:

• The living cut-out paper dolls created by an immortal called Miss Cuttenclip.
• The anthropomorphic jigsaw puzzles known as the Fuddles.
• The loquacious Rigmaroles.
• The paranoid Flutterbudgets.
• The living kitchen utensils of Utensia.
• The anthropomorphic pastries of Bunbury.
• The civilized rabbits of Bunnybury.
• A zebra who holds geographical disputes with a soft-shell crab.

Other figures, more familiar to readers of previous books, include the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow, as well as the four tribes of Oz (the Munchkins, the Quadlings, the Gillikins, and the Winkies).

The Nome General Guph visits three nations:

• The Whimsies are a large and hulking race, but possess disproportionately small heads the size of doorknobs. This causes other species to call them stupid, stripping them of any self-esteem. To deny this, the Whimsies wear enormous, luridly designed masks that cover all of their heads. Their Chief agrees to the deal and sends Guph on his way. The Chief of the Whimsies hopes that when the Nome King reclaims his Magic Belt, he can use its magic to make their heads the size of the masks they wear.
• The Growleywogs are muscular giants, possessing no surplus flesh and no mercy. They are arrogant and cruel. Their Grand Gallipoot agrees to the deal in exchange that they grant them 20,000 slaves from the Land of Oz. As such, they are eager not only to help the Nomes conquer Oz, but also to secretly subjugate the Nomes as well. Of the latter plan, they say nothing and send Guph on his way.
• Last of his meetings is that which is with the mysterious, diabolical Phanfasms of Phantastico. To Guph, the Phanfasms resemble hairy men, but having the heads of various carnivorous mammals, birds, and reptiles. Their true forms, number, standard of living, culture, and extent of influence remain unknown to both Guph and the reader, although both receive hints in the narrative. The first Phanfasm that Guph encountered was one with the head of an owl after getting passed the scarlet alligator on the bridge. Their bear-headed leader called the First and Foremost agrees to the deal so that they can make people unhappy. The Phanfasms tell him that they will conquer Oz alongside the other armies, but they have a secret plan to turn traitor and dominate their allies. Of the latter plan, they say nothing and send Guph on his way.

Having learned of this through Ozma's omniscient Magic Picture, the people of Oz become worried. As the Nomes dig a tunnel for the combined armies to get under the Deadly Desert to the heart of the Emerald City, Ozma uses her Magic Belt to wish for a large amount of dust to appear in the tunnel. Upon emerging, the Nome King's allies therefore drink thirstily from the nearby Fountain of Oblivion, whose waters make them forget their evil plans. The Nome King himself avoids the drink, but is thrown into the fountain by the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman, which erases his memory too.

Ozma uses the Magic Belt to send the Nome King and his allies back to their respectful lands. To forestall a future invasion of Oz, Glinda the Good Witch uses a magic charm to render Oz invisible and unreachable to everyone except those within the land itself.

A corporation has discovered oil under the streets of Paris, directly under a bistro. The Countess Aurelia (known as ''The Madwoman of Chaillot'') lives in the bistro's basement, driven mad because of a lost lover and reminiscing about her past. When the corporation decides to blow up the bistro to get the oil, a young executive, Julian, helps to foil the plan because he has fallen in love with Nina, the bistro's waitress. Aurelia lures the corporation executives to the underground in the sewer system.

In the midst of an unspecified disaster, Dr. Wrenn visits John Trent, a patient in a psychiatric hospital, and Trent recounts his story:

Trent, a freelance insurance investigator, has lunch with a colleague, the owner of an insurance company, who asks Trent to work with his largest client investigating a claim by New York-based Arcane Publishing. During their conversation, Trent is attacked by a man with mutated eyes wielding an axe who, after asking him if he reads popular horror novelist Sutter Cane, is shot dead by the police. The man was Cane's agent, who went insane and killed his family after reading one of Cane's books.

Trent meets with Arcane Publishing director Jackson Harglow, who tasks him with investigating the disappearance of Cane and recovering the manuscript for his final novel. He assigns Cane's editor, Linda Styles, to accompany him. Linda explains that Cane's stories have been known to cause disorientation, memory loss and paranoia in "less stable readers." Trent is skeptical, convinced the disappearance is a publicity stunt. Trent notices red lines on the covers of Cane's books, which, when aligned properly, form the outline of New Hampshire and mark a location alluded to be Hobb's End, the fictional setting for many of Cane's works.

They set out to find the town. Linda experiences bizarre phenomena during the late-night drive, and they inexplicably arrive at Hobb's End in daylight. Trent and Linda search the small town, encountering people and landmarks described as fictional in Cane's novels. Trent believes it all to be staged, but Linda disagrees. She admits to Trent that Arcane Publishing's claim was a stunt to promote Cane's book, but the time distortion and exact replica of Hobb's End were not part of the plan.

Linda enters a church to confront Cane, who exposes her to his final novel, ''In the Mouth of Madness,'' which drives her insane; she begins embracing and kissing a mutated Cane passionately. A man who had previously attempted to stop Cane's insidious agenda approaches Trent in a bar and warns him to leave before committing suicide. Outside the bar, a mob of monstrous-looking townspeople descend upon him. Trent drives away from Hobb's End, but is repeatedly teleported back to the center of town. After crashing his car, Trent awakens inside the church with Linda, where Cane explains that the public's belief in his stories freed an ancient race of monstrous beings called "The Old Ones" which will reclaim the Earth. Cane reveals that Trent is merely one of his characters, who must follow Cane's plot and return the manuscript of ''In The Mouth of Madness'' to Arcane Publishing, furthering the end of humanity.

After giving Trent the manuscript, Cane tears a giant photograph of his face open, creating a portal to the dimension of Cane's monstrous masters. Trent sees a long tunnel that Cane said would take him back to his world, and urges Linda to come with him. She tells him she can't, because she has already read the entire book. Trent races down the hall, with Cane's monsters close on his heels. He trips and falls, then suddenly finds himself lying on a country road, apparently back in reality. During his return to New York, Trent destroys the manuscript. Back at Arcane Publishing, Trent relates his experience to Harglow. Harglow claims ignorance of Linda; Trent was sent alone to find Cane, and the manuscript was delivered months earlier. ''In the Mouth of Madness'' has been on sale for weeks, with a film adaptation in post production. Trent encounters a reader of the newly released novel, who is bleeding from his altered eyes, murders him with an axe, is arrested for murder and sent to the asylum.

After Trent finishes telling his story, Dr. Wrenn judges it a meaningless hallucination. Trent wakes the following day to find the asylum abandoned. He departs as a radio announces that the world has been overrun with monstrous creatures, including mutating humans, and that outbreaks of suicide and mass murder are commonplace. Trent goes to see the ''In the Mouth of Madness'' film and discovers that he is the main character. As he watches his previous actions play out on screen - including a scene where he insisted to Linda "This is reality!" - Trent begins laughing hysterically.

The ''Quake 4'' single player mode continues the story of ''Quake II'' by pitting the player against cyborg alien race known as the Strogg. The game follows the story of a Marine Corporal named Matthew Kane who is joining the elite Rhino Squad. Following the success of the protagonist of ''Quake II'' in destroying the Strogg's leader, the Makron, Rhino Squad is tasked with spearheading the mission to secure the aliens' home planet Stroggos. In the course of the invasion, the squad ship is shot down and crashes in the middle of a battle zone, separating Kane from his companions. Kane rejoins his scattered team members and partakes in the assault against the Strogg.

After performing a number of tasks, such as destroying and capturing Strogg aircraft hangars and defense systems, Kane and his remaining squad members make it to the ''USS Hannibal''. There they are given their next mission: infiltrating one of the Strogg's central communication hubs, the Tetranode, with an electromagnetic pulse bomb in the hope that it will put the main Strogg Nexus in disarray. Kane is tasked with defending the mission convoy, which takes heavy casualties. After many setbacks, including the destruction of the EMP device by a Strogg ambush, Kane is left to complete the mission, assisted only by Private Johann Strauss (Peter Stormare) and Lance Corporal Nikolai "Sledge" Slidjonovitch (Dimitri Diatchenko). Strauss figures out a way to destroy the core by shutting down its coolant systems. As Kane reaches the entrance to the Tetranode, however, he is greeted by two rocket-equipped network guardians, as well as the newly constructed Makron, which easily defeats Kane and knocks him unconscious.

When Kane awakens, he finds himself strapped to a conveyor belt in the Strogg "Medical Facilities", a structure used for turning those captured and killed by the aliens either into protein food or additional Strogg units. In a long and gruesome first-person cutscene, Kane is taken through this "stroggification" process which violently replaces much of his anatomy with bio-mechanical parts. Before the final controlling neurochip implanted in his brain can be activated, though, Rhino Squad bursts into the facility and rescues Kane. After escaping through the Strogg medical facility and Waste Disposal plant, fighting off zombie-like half-stroggified humans along the way, Kane is forced to combat his former commander, Lieutenant Voss (Michael Gannon), who has been fully stroggified into a powerful mechanized monster but retains his own consciousness long enough to warn Kane. After defeating this threat, Kane and the remaining marines finally make it back to the ''Hannibal''.

The commanders realize that Kane's Strogg physiology has opened up new possibilities for defeating the Strogg, as he can be used to infiltrate locations and teleportation areas previously impenetrable and/or fatally harmful to human forces. The new plan is to directly target the Strogg Nexus Core, a huge centralized brain-like structure which controls the alien forces. The Marines are tasked with infiltrating the three data towers adjacent to the Nexus: Data Storage, Processing, and Networking. There, they will deactivate the Nexus' shield and power up the teleporter used to access the Nexus and send Kane in. Once inside, Kane will travel to the center of the Nexus to destroy the Core Brain and its guardian.

After infiltrating the facility and realigning the data nodes powering the teleporter, and destroying its fearsome "Guardian" creature, Kane reaches the Nexus core. There he meets the Makron in a final showdown and kills it. This accomplished, he destroys the Core and returns to the ''Hannibal''. Celebrating with Rhino Squad afterward, Kane receives word that he has new orders.

Set in present-day Toronto, Ontario, the novel is about three women and their history with old friend and nemesis, Zenia. Roz, Charis, and Tony meet once a month in a restaurant to share a meal decades after Zenia betrayed them and interfered with their romantic relationships. During one outing they spot Zenia, who they thought to be long-dead since their university days. The plot then travels back in time to explain how Zenia stole, one by one, their respective partners. The novel alternates between the present and the past through flashbacks, in the third person perspective of Tony, Charis and Roz. Zenia gives each woman a different version of her biography, tailor-made to insinuate herself into their lives. No one version of Zenia is the truth, and the reader knows no more than the characters.

Their betrayals by Zenia are what initially bring the three together as friends and bind their lives together irrevocably - their monthly luncheons begin after her funeral.

In the present-day, Roz, Charis and Tony each individually confront Zenia in a Toronto hotel room, where she tells each of them that the men they'd been with got what they deserved. She explains various versions of her earlier staged death, each as implausible as the accounts of her life.

Tod Hackett is the novel's protagonist. He moves from the East coast to Hollywood, California in search of inspiration for his next painting. The novel is set in the 1930s during the Great Depression. Most of the characters exist at the fringes of the Hollywood film industry, but Hollywood is merely the backdrop for Tod Hackett's revelation. Tod is employed by a Hollywood studio "to learn set and costume designing." During his spare time, Tod sketches scenes he observes on large production sets and studio back lots. The novel details Tod's observation of the filming of the Battle of Waterloo. His goal is to find inspiration for the painting he is getting ready to begin, a work titled "The Burning of Los Angeles."

Tod falls in love with Faye Greener, an aspiring starlet who lives nearby but Faye only loves men that are good looking or wealthy. She is beautiful but lacks the acting talent to progress beyond roles as an extra. Tod is simply a "good-hearted man," the kind Faye likes. He imagines that loving her would compare to jumping from a skyscraper and screaming to the ground. Tod wants to "throw himself [at her], no matter what the cost." Throughout the novel, Tod fantasizes about having a sexual encounter with Faye as an act of rape. Every time he imagines raping her, reality interrupts his fantasy before he can complete the act. Scenes are interrupted prior to their climax frequently throughout the novel. A patron jokes that it is "the old teaser routine," when a pornographic film viewing at Mrs. Jenning's parlor ends unexpectedly due to technical difficulties.

Between his work at the studio and his introduction to Faye's friends, Tod interacts with numerous Hollywood hangers-on. Characters like Abe Kusich, the dwarf; Claude Estee, the successful screenwriter; and Earle Shoop, the fake California cowboy, all of whom have difficulty changing their personas from the characters they play to who they are. As a result, there is a clear sense of acting and fakery that spills beyond the confines of Hollywood studios and into the streets of Los Angeles.

Shortly after moving into a neighborhood in the valley, Tod befriends Homer Simpson, a simple-minded bookkeeper from Iowa who moved to California for health reasons. Homer Simpson's "unruly hands" operate independently from his body, and their movements are often mechanical. "They demanded special attention, had always demanded it." When Homer attempts to escape California he is distracted not only by the crowd but his inability to leave the street despite Tod's help and insistent encouragement. A neighbor's son, the child actor Adore Loomis finds Homer and torments him until Homer violently lashes out against the boy. The novel's climactic riot ensues and the chaos surrounding the latest Hollywood premiere turns violent outside Mr. Khan's Pleasure Dome. Tod vividly revises "The Burning of Los Angeles" in his mind, while being pushed around in the human waves of the riot. The final scene plays out, uninterrupted. The conclusion of the novel can be read as a moment of enlightenment and mental clarity for the artist, or a complete "mental breakdown" and Tod's "incorporation into the mechanized, modern world of Los Angeles."

For more than a year, James Bond, British Secret Service operative 007, has been involved in "Operation Bedlam": trailing the private criminal organisation SPECTRE and its leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. The organisation had hijacked two nuclear devices in an attempt to blackmail the western world, as described in ''Thunderball''. Convinced SPECTRE no longer exists, Bond is frustrated by MI6's insistence that he continue the search and his inability to find Blofeld. He composes a letter of resignation for his superior, M.

While composing his letter, Bond encounters a beautiful, suicidal young woman named Contessa Teresa "Tracy" di Vicenzo first on the road and subsequently at the gambling table, where he saves her from a ''coup de deshonneur'' by paying the gambling debt she is unable to cover. The following day Bond follows her and interrupts her attempted suicide, but they are captured by professional henchmen. They are taken to the offices of Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Unione Corse, the biggest European crime syndicate. Tracy is the daughter and only child of Draco who believes the only way to save his daughter from further suicide attempts is for Bond to marry her. To facilitate this, he offers Bond a dowry of £1 million (£ million in pounds ); Bond refuses the offer, but agrees to continue romancing Tracy while her mental health improves.

Afterwards, Draco uses his contacts to inform Bond that Blofeld is somewhere in Switzerland. Bond returns to England to be given another lead: the College of Arms in London has discovered that Blofeld has assumed the title and name of Comte Balthazar de Bleuville, and, wanting formal confirmation of the title, has asked the College to declare him the reigning count.

On a visit to the College of Arms, Bond finds that the family motto of Sir Thomas Bond is "The World Is Not Enough", and that he might be (though unlikely) Bond's ancestor. On the pretext that a genetically-inherited minor physical abnormality (a lack of earlobes) needs a personal confirmation, Bond impersonates a College of Arms representative, Sir Hilary Bray, to visit Blofeld's lair atop Piz Gloria, where he finally meets Blofeld. Blofeld has lost weight and undergone plastic surgery, partly to remove his earlobes, but also to disguise himself from the police and security services who are tracking him down.

Bond learns that Blofeld has apparently been curing a group of young British and Irish women of their livestock and food allergies. In truth, Blofeld and his aide, Irma Bunt, have been brainwashing them into carrying biological warfare agents back to Britain and Ireland in order to destroy the agricultural economy, upon which post-World War II Britain depends. Believing himself discovered, Bond escapes by ski from Piz Gloria, chased by SPECTRE operatives, a number of whom he kills in the process. Afterward, in a state of total exhaustion, he encounters Tracy. She is in the town at the base of the mountain after being told by her father that Bond may be in the vicinity. Bond is too weak to take on Blofeld's henchmen alone and she helps him escape to the airport. Smitten by the resourceful, headstrong woman, he proposes marriage and she accepts. Bond then returns to England and works on the plan to capture Blofeld and thwart his plot.

Helped by Draco's Union Corse, Bond mounts an air assault against the clinic and Blofeld. Whilst the clinic is destroyed, Blofeld escapes down a bobsled run and although Bond gives chase Blofeld escapes. Bond flies to Germany where he marries Tracy. The two of them drive off on honeymoon, but a few hours later, Blofeld and Bunt drive past, machine gunning them: Tracy is killed in the attack.

Mike Peters is a struggling comedian who left New York to find success in Los Angeles, and is still upset over his girlfriend of six years, Michelle, breaking up with him six months prior. To help Mike with his depression, his womanizing friend Trent and some other aspiring actor friends try and get him back into the social scene.

The movie opens with Mike telling his friend Rob about how desperately he misses Michelle and that she has not called him. Rob explains that "somehow" women "know" not to call their ex-boyfriends until they have completely moved on from them.

To help Mike recover, Trent coaxes him into an impromptu trip to Las Vegas. Trent succeeds in picking up two waitresses, but his obsession with Michelle ruins Trent's plans. The women seem interested, but Mike spoils the mood, telling his date about her.

Back in Los Angeles, Mike, Rob and other friends golf, play video games, and go out. All of them trying to make it in the entertainment industry. Then they go bar hopping, stopping at a party, and later an after-hours spot, where Trent demonstrates his prowess in handling the opposite sex. Inspired by this, Mike meets a woman named Nikki and gets her phone number. His friends insist he wait two days minimum before calling.

Back at his apartment, however, he leaves a series of increasingly anxious and desperate messages on Nikki's answering machine in the middle of the night, until she picks up the phone and disgustedly orders him not to call her again. Missing Michelle more than ever, he contemplates moving back to New York until Rob comes over and consoles him.

Out again for swing night at The Derby, Mike spots a woman named Lorraine. He summons all his courage to approach and connect with her. They both recently broke off relationships and moved to LA, and dance well together.

The following morning, Mike receives a call from Michelle, and finds that he no longer misses her. When Lorraine calls him, Mike cuts off his call with Michelle mid sentence saying she loves him, to further things with Lorraine. Like him, she disregarded friends' advice to wait days before calling.

In the year AD 3017, humanity is slowly recovering from an interstellar civil war that tore apart the first Empire of Man. The Second Empire is busy establishing control over the remnants of its predecessor, by force if necessary. After a rebellion on the planet New Chicago is quashed, Captain Bruno Cziller of the Imperial battlecruiser INSS ''MacArthur'' remains behind as Chief of Staff to the new governor, while Commander Roderick Blaine is given temporary command of the ship, along with secret orders to take Horace Hussein Bury, a powerful interstellar merchant suspected of instigating the revolt, to the Imperial capital, Sparta. Another passenger is Lady Sandra Bright "Sally" Fowler, the niece of an Imperial senator and a traumatized former prisoner of the rebels.

New Caledonia is the capital of the Trans-Coalsack sector, on the opposite side of the Coalsack Nebula from Earth. Also in the sector is a red supergiant star known as Murcheson's Eye. Associated with it is a yellow Sun-like star, which from New Caledonia appears in front of the Eye. Since some see the Eye and the Coalsack as the face of God, the yellow star is known as the Mote in God's Eye.

Human ships use the Alderson Drive, which allows them to travel instantaneously between "Alderson points" in specific star systems. Approaching New Caledonia, ''MacArthur'' is ordered to investigate when an alien spacecraft, propelled by a solar sail, is detected. After the spacecraft fires upon ''MacArthur'', Blaine has its main capsule detached from the sail and taken aboard at great risk to his ship and crew. Its sole occupant, a brown and white furred creature, is found dead.

After much debate, ''MacArthur'' and the battleship ''Lenin'' are sent to the star from which the alien ship came, the Mote. ''MacArthur'' carries civilian researchers to make first contact with the aliens, or "Moties" as they are quickly nicknamed. Admiral Kutuzov, aboard ''Lenin'', has strict orders to avoid all contact with the aliens and ensure that human technology does not fall into their hands. The Moties seem friendly and have advanced technology that they are willing to trade, much to Bury's delight. Although they also possess the Alderson Drive, none of their ships have ever returned. This is because, unknown to the Moties, the Mote's only Alderson exit point lies within the outer layers of the star Murcheson's Eye. Human warships can survive there for a limited time because of their protective Langston Fields, which the Moties do not have.

The Moties are an old species, native to a planet that the humans label Mote Prime, that has evolved into many specialized subspecies. The first taken aboard ''MacArthur'' is an "Engineer", possessing amazing technical abilities, but limited speech and free will. It brings along a pair of tiny "Watchmakers" as helpers. Some days later, a delegation of "Mediators" (like the dead pilot of the probe ship) arrive. Their specialty is communication and negotiation. The Mediators invite the humans to send a party to Mote Prime. After some debate, the invitation is accepted. Each person in this group acquires a "Fyunch(click)", a Mediator who studies their human subject and tries to learn how to think like them.

Back on ''MacArthur'', the Watchmakers escape, and although it is assumed they have died, they have actually been breeding furiously out of sight. Undetected by the crew, they modify parts of ''MacArthur'' to suit their needs. When they are discovered, several attempts to rid ''MacArthur'' of the infestation fail, and a battle for control of the ship erupts. The crew is eventually forced to abandon ship after suffering casualties. The party on Mote Prime is quickly recalled without explanation and told to rendezvous with ''Lenin''. Once ''MacArthur'' is evacuated, ''Lenin'' fires on her to prevent the potential capture of human technology. This reveals that the Watchmakers have improved ''MacArthur'' s Langston Field. Nevertheless, ''MacArthur'' is destroyed.

During the evacuation, ''MacArthur'' midshipmen Staley, Whitbread and Potter are cut off and forced to escape in Watchmaker-modified lifeboats. The lifeboats automatically land in a sparsely populated area of Mote Prime. There the midshipmen find a fortified museum. It provides evidence of a very long and violent history, though the Moties had carefully portrayed themselves as completely peaceful. Following this discovery, the midshipmen are tracked down by Whitbread's Mediator Fyunch(click), who reveals that Moties (other than the short-lived, sterile Mediators) must become pregnant periodically or die. This inevitably results in overpopulation ... and civilization-ending wars. The Masters, whom the Mediators obey, have also concealed the existence of one Motie subspecies from the humans: Warriors more deadly than any human, even Sauron supersoldiers.

The museums exist to help restore civilization after a collapse. The "Cycles" of civilization, war, and collapse have gone on for hundreds of thousands of years, leaving the Moties fatalistically resigned to their destiny. Only a mythical character called "Crazy Eddie" believes there is a way to change this, and any Motie who comes to believe a solution is possible is labeled a "Crazy Eddie" and deemed insane.

The current civilization utilizes a type of industrial feudalism, with coalitions of Masters governing the planet. One faction, led by "King Peter", wanted to reveal the truth to the humans, but was overruled. Colonization of other planets would inexorably bring about conflict with humans, as the inevitable Motie population explosion would force them to seek to take over human worlds. Nonetheless, the more powerful coalition sees this temporary solution as preferable to the impending collapse. Both factions send Warriors after the midshipmen, one to capture them, the other to rescue them. The stronger group's Warriors trap the midshipmen, but the trio refuse to surrender and die as a result.

Unaware of the midshipmen's fate, ''Lenin'' leaves the Mote system, taking with it three ambassadors, a sterile Master and two Mediators, whose mission is to open the galaxy to their species while concealing their terrible secrets.

An Imperial Commission is on the verge of granting colonies to the Moties, but ''MacArthur'' Sailing Master/Lieutenant Kevin Renner figures out the truth just in time. It is the passengers on the original probe, deliberately ejected into space, that give the game away. Not only is there a Warrior among the group, but several are visibly pregnant, demolishing any argument about them being statues or religious icons.

The decision is made to gather a battle fleet to either disarm or try to annihilate the Moties. The ambassadors are faced with the extinction of their species, knowing that the Masters would never submit. However, a Mediator comes up with a third option: a blockade of the system's only Alderson exit point. This plan is adopted, over the strenuous opposition of Bury, who views the Moties as the greatest threat humanity has ever faced.

In October 2002, Chief Charles Moose (played by Charles S. Dutton) of the Montgomery County Police Department, heads an effort to track down those responsible for a recent string of murders in Montgomery County, Maryland.

Unable to give anything but small pieces of information at various press conferences held during the 23 dark days, Moose finds himself vilified and derided in many corners as ineffectual and incompetent. Indeed, quite a few newspapers outside the area targeted by snipers came right out and called for Moose's resignation. But the chief's dogged persistence ultimately paid off and — in the sort of twist that a professional writer of thrillers might dismiss as inconceivable — the two men arrested for the carnage turned out to be the archetypal "least likely suspects."

Takumi Fujiwara is a student working as a gas station attendant with his best friend Itsuki. Itsuki is enthusiastically interested in being a street racer. The team he feels closest to and hopes to join is the Akina Speed Stars, whose team leader Koichiro Iketani is also working at the same pump station. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, Takumi helps out his father Bunta as a tofu delivery driver for his father's store before sunrise each morning, passively building an impressive amount of skill of over 5 years behind the wheel of the family car, an aging Toyota Sprinter Trueno (AE86).

Shortly after the story begins, the Red Suns, a highly experienced racing team from Mount Akagi led by Ryosuke Takahashi, challenge the local Speed Stars team to a set of races on Mount Akina. Dispirited after watching the Red Suns' superior performance during a practice run, the Speed Stars expect to lose. Later that night, the Red Suns' #2 driver, Keisuke Takahashi, heading home after the last practice run, is defeated soundly by a mysterious Sprinter Trueno, despite driving a much more powerful Mazda RX-7 (FD3S). An investigation into the identity of the driver leads to Bunta Fujiwara, Takumi's father. While trying to do his best for the team on Mount Akina, Iketani suffers a crash and damages his car and injures himself. He is unable to take part in the race to represent his team. Iketani begs Bunta to help the Speed Stars defeat the Red Suns, and he initially refuses, later relenting to "maybe" show up at the race. At the same time, Takumi asks Bunta if he can borrow the car for a day to take a trip to the beach with a potential girlfriend (Natsuki Mogi), and Bunta seizes the moment by granting permission (plus a full tank of fuel) on the condition that Takumi defeats Keisuke.

On the night of the race, the Trueno does not show up, and the Speed Stars enlist a backup driver (Kenji) for the first run. At the last moment before the race starts, the AE86 arrives. Takumi steps out of the car to the bewilderment of the Speed Stars, who were expecting Bunta. He easily defeats Keisuke by utilizing a dangerous "gutter run" technique (putting both the left/right tires into the gutters to prevent centrifugal force pushing the car outward) on the mountain road's hairpin corners.

The Red Suns' embarrassing defeat sets up the plot for the rest of the series: drivers from neighboring prefectures come to challenge Takumi and the "Legendary Eight-Six of Akina" and thus prove themselves as racers. Meanwhile, Takumi, who was considered spacey and disinterested in the world around him, becomes more passionate about racing with every opponent he faces.

However, soon Takumi faces a threat in the form of Emperors, a team that uses Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions. Takumi's old AE86 is no match and he loses to the team's leader, Sudo Kyoichi (EvoIII), blowing his engine. The Akagi RedSuns come to the rescue and defeat both Seiji and Kyoichi, thus securing the pride of Gunma's racers. Meanwhile, Bunta replaces the AE86's blown engine with a new one. Wataru Akiyama and Koichiro Iketani help Takumi to figure out why he is unable to control his car.

Takumi soon faces graduation, but continues racing. He defeats Kyoichi in a rematch at his home course, the Nikko Irohazaka. He also defeats the son of Bunta's old rival.

Eventually, the plot moves away from Mount Akina as Takumi becomes bored with racing and winning solely on that road. He joins an expedition racing team, Project.D, formed by Ryosuke Takahashi, (also including Keisuke Takahashi) former leader of the disbanded Red Suns and challenges more difficult opponents on their home courses in the pursuit of his dream to be "the fastest driver out there".

At one point, impostors in the form of Takumi and Keisuke try to defame Project D, Wataru comes to help and they dispatch the impostors, revealing them in front of the public. Project D races many teams like Team Seven Star Leaf, Team 246, Team Spiral, and Team Sidewinder.

It ends spectacularly with a race of two evenly matched drivers, where Takumi blows his engine again, but steps on the clutch and wins the race by rolling backwards over the finish line. He decides to get rid of his car but later decides to keep it. Ryosuke disbands Project D and Takumi continues delivering tofu with his father's Impreza.

The ''Initial D'' events would be shown to lead up to the events of another manga by Shuichi Shigeno, ''MF Ghost''.

The plot is predicated on the Vatican being controlled by the Mafia boss Vittorio Corelli (Herbert Lom). The movie opens with the death of the previous Pope followed by a deadlocked conclave that lasts for 25 days. The conclave is ended by the Mafia's tame Cardinal Rocco (Alex Rocco), who successfully persuades the College of Cardinals to elect ''in absentia'' the Mafia's favoured candidate to the papacy, Albini (Janez Vajevec), a priest in the service of the Mafia, whom Rocco passes off as an absent "Cardinal Albini".

Unfortunately for the Mafia, the secretary of the College of Cardinals Fr. Rookie (Adrian Edmondson) is hard of hearing, and while recording the official results of the election, he misheard the pope-elect's name and instead of writing "Cardinal Albini" he writes down "Cardinal ''Albinizi''" and "Albinizi" happens to be the surname of an honest parish priest, C. David "Dave" Albinizi, (Robbie Coltrane). As a result, Fr. Albinizi becomes Pope and takes the name of Pope David I. Father Albinizi is an unorthodox priest, interested in cars, women and Rock and Roll. However, his interests in those are rather benign and not overly carnal. Prior to his ascent to the papacy, Albinizi had been a priest in an Italian orphanage, where he took a genuine interest in the children's welfare and wished them to grow up enjoying the gospel, as opposed to the curmedgeonly nuns who believe misery is deserved. Inside the Vatican, the Pope gets along with Bish (Peter Richardson), a priest in charge of coordinating the pope's security and an unnamed nun (Mirta Zecevic) assigned to bring him his meals. The pope initially considers abdicating due to a failed assassination attempt against him but is convinced by the nun to stay. As the plot develops, one of the journalists at the press conference asks the Pope to explain the corruption inside the Vatican bank. The Pope demands to see the Vatican accounts. Bish had previously received a disk upon the previous pope's death containing information about the financial irregularities and when Pope David looks into the Vatican accounts, Bish gives the disk to the pope. With Bish's help, the Pope discovers the gun-smuggling and stolen merchandise operations, and confronts Cardinal Rocco. Albinizi immediately has Rocco defrocked as punishment and to help put an end to the corruption. In revenge, Rocco persuades his mafia backers to intensify the assassination efforts against Pope David.

Together with the papal chamberlain Monsignor Fitchie (Paul Bartel), Cardinal Rocco decides to find any affair to blackmail the Pope. They find out that before joining the priesthood, Albinizi fathered a son with Veronica Dante (Beverly D'Angelo), an American tourist. Albinizi had joined the priesthood because Veronica did not want to marry him or stay with him. Consequently, Veronica had given birth to their son, but never informed Albinizi of this. Their son is now a rock star, Joe Don Dante (Balthazar Getty), dating Corelli's daughter Luccia (Khedija Sassi). Corelli doesn't approve this relationship and sends thugs to kill Joe. However, the bomb which destroys Joe's trailer kills Luccia and seriously wounds Joe who is then revealed the truth about his father. Albinizi, now Pope David I, learns about his son from Veronica and subsequently visits him before Joe dies.

Pope David learns the Vatican Bank is a tool of the Mafia, and has it dissolved. Soon after that the Pope's affair is revealed and he is forced to resign and Corelli's candidate Albini is elected Pope. Corelli and Fr. Albini move into the papal apartments. Out in the streets, Albinizi gets back with Veronica. He also finds out that the orphanage where he previously worked before becoming pope had closed. Albinizi reads the news about Albini becoming pope and rushes back to the Vatican to ask Bish to help him stop the coronation. On the way to the papal apartments the two encounter a dying Cardinal Rocco who had just been shot by Corelli. While Bish continues to the papal apartments, Rocco confesses to Albinizi who grants him absolution in his dying moments interrupted by a phone call to Rocco from his female partner. Rocco subsequently dies and Albinizi having completed the absolution rite goes to the papal chamber and finds Bish bound. Bish however tells Albinizi that the coronation was about to take place and tells him to get there fast instead of freeing him. Albinizi rushes off to the Sistine Chapel. Mons. Fitchie who had previously overheard Corelli shoot Cardinal Rocco eventually comes and frees Bish. Albinizi manages to get into the Sistine Chapel just before the end of the ceremony and reveals to the public that the man in the chapel called Albini is really Corelli in disguise. Corelli admits that there was no Cardinal Albini, declares himself as "Pope Vittorio I, Emperor of the Vatican" and draws the gun to hold Albinizi at gunpoint. He fires a few shots which hit the ceiling, causing it to collapse and bury Corelli. After Corelli is defeated, a nun (the one who served Albinizi when he was pope) is chosen to become the first female Pope in history. The new Pope (or Popess) announces that she will give the Vatican's gold to the world's poor. She also gives her blessing for Albinizi to take a bride. Albinizi and Veronica marry (with Bish as the priest), adopt the children from the orphanage and have children of their own as well.

An old legend tells of a fortune in gold hidden in the "Cañon del Oro" ("Canyon of Gold"), later called the "Lost Adams", guarded by Apache spirits. A man named Adams is said to have found it when he was young, only to have the Native Americans capture and blind him. Years later, Marshal MacKenna is ambushed by an old Native American shaman named Prairie Dog, and is forced to kill him. MacKenna thereby comes into possession of a map to the treasure. He examines it before burning it.

Mexican outlaw John Colorado and his gang have been tracking Prairie Dog to get the map; they are themselves being tracked by the US Cavalry. They take shelter in the house of an old judge in Hadleyburg, kill the judge, and kidnap his daughter, Inga. Colorado captures MacKenna, intending to force him to lead them to the gold. The gang includes Colorado's right-hand man Sanchez and several Native Americans, among them an Apache warrior named Hachita and a fiery Apache woman, Hesh-ke. Hesh-ke and MacKenna were once lovers, but she rejected him after he arrested her brother, who was tried and hanged.

Ben Baker, a gambler who knows Colorado, arrives with assorted townsmen who have learned about Colorado's plans when one of Colorado's men got drunk in town and said too much. Colorado is forced to allow them to join his party. The townsmen include the blind Adams himself. MacKenna warns them to return home, that they will just get themselves killed searching for gold that does not exist, but Colorado reveals that MacKenna shot Prairie Dog, and they stay.

The cavalry, led by Sergeant Tibbs, ambushes the party at a water hole, and most members of the gang are killed. The remaining gold hunters continue on their way, and as they near the canyon MacKenna and Inga begin to fall in love. A jealous Hesh-Ke now wants MacKenna back.

When the cavalry patrol is whittled down to just Tibbs and two others, Tibbs kills them and joins the gang. After a shoot-out with the Apaches, they reach "Shaking Rock", a feature on the map. MacKenna tells Colorado they will see the canyon the next morning. He warns Inga to be alert for any opportunity to escape. When she protests that she too wants some gold, he tells her there is no gold, that he has been bluffing.

The next morning, when the first sunlight shines down, the shadow of the pinnacle of "Shaking Rock" starts to move. The shadow eventually points to a hidden passageway. On the other side, they see below them a huge vein of gold in the canyon wall opposite. As everyone races to it, Hesh-ke tries to kill Inga, but Inga fights back and Hesh-ke falls to her death. MacKenna, suspecting that Colorado does not intend to leave anybody else alive, tries to escape with Inga up the canyon wall. Tibbs is killed by Hachita with a tomahawk. Colorado then pulls his gun on Hachita, only to find that his weapon is unloaded. Hachita removed the bullets, as the spirits had told him to do, but he turns his back on Colorado, who kills him with a thrown knife.

Colorado pursues MacKenna and Inga, catching up to them at an ancient, abandoned Native American dwelling high up the cliff. They fight, but are interrupted when Apaches enter the canyon, shouting excitedly. The noise and the pounding of their horses triggers a rockfall which causes the valley floor to buckle and quake. The Apaches flee. The three survivors descend the cliff and frantically ride away, barely escaping the collapse of the canyon walls, which buries the gold beyond reach.

Colorado warns MacKenna to stay away from him, but MacKenna tells him to go far away and hide, that he will be coming after him. MacKenna and Inga ride off together, unaware that the saddle bags of the horse MacKenna is riding is stuffed with gold nuggets.

The story is loosely based on ''Ghost in the Shell'' manga chapter "''Robot Rondo''" (with elements of "''Phantom Fund''"). Opening in 2032, Public Security Section 9 cybernetic operative Batou is teamed with Togusa, an agent with very few cybernetic upgrades, following the events of ''Ghost in the Shell''.

After a series of deaths due to malfunctioning gynoids—doll-like sex robots—Section 9 is asked to investigate. As the gynoids all malfunctioned without clear cause, the deaths are believed to be premeditated murders; Batou and Togusa are sent to investigate possible terrorist or political motives. Additionally, the most recent gynoid's remains show they all contained an illegal "ghost". Section 9 concludes human sentience is being artificially duplicated onto the dolls illegally, making the robots more lifelike, and possibly acting as a motive in the murders.

Called to a homicide scene, information warfare/technology specialist Ishikawa explains the victim is Jack Walkson, a consignment officer at gynoid company LOCUS SOLUS, who may have been killed by the Yakuza. A previous Yakuza boss was recently killed by a gynoid, so Ishikawa concludes Walkson was held responsible and killed in an act of revenge. Batou and Togusa enter a Yakuza bar to question the current boss, only to be threatened by the bar occupants. Batou opens fire, killing and wounding numerous gang members, including the cyborg that murdered Walkson. The current boss then admits his predecessor was somehow involved in LOCUS SOLUS, but insists he doesn't know how.

Entering a store on his way home, Batou is then seemingly warned by the Major and shot in the arm by an unseen assailant. Caught in a firefight, Batou nearly kills the store owner in confusion, but is subdued when Ishikawa appears. While having his damaged arm replaced, Batou is informed by Ishikawa that his e-brain was hacked, causing him to shoot himself and attack the store occupants. Ishikawa explains that Batou was hacked in order to cause further scandal following his Yakuza assault in an attempt to stop the Section 9 investigation.

Batou and Togusa then head for the mansion of Kim, a soldier-turned-hacker with an obsession with dolls. Seemingly dead, Kim soon reveals he "lives" inside the shell of a human-sized marionette, and discusses philosophy with his visitors. Kim admits ties to LOCUS SOLUS, divulging that the company has secret headquarters in international waters. Warned again by the Major, Batou realizes that Kim has secretly hacked into his and Togusa's e-brains, and is currently trapping them in a false reality. Resetting Togusa's brain, Batou subdues Kim, stating he knows Kim hacked his brain in the store.

Resolved to gather material evidence, Batou infiltrates the LOCUS SOLUS headquarters ship while Togusa remotely hacks its security systems using an unaware Kim as a proxy. The ship's security becomes aware of the hacking and retaliates with a virus that fries Kim's cyberbrain. Simultaneously, a hidden virus loads a combat program into the production-line gynoids, causing them to attack everyone aboard, easily slaughtering the poorly armed and panicked security force. As Batou fights to the ship's center, the Major then appears by controlling a gynoid remotely, helping Batou fight the gynoids and hack the ship's security.

Taking control of the ship, the Major reveals to Batou the truth about the gynoids. Hiring the Yakuza to traffic young girls, LOCUS SOLUS duplicated their consciousnesses into the gynoids, giving them human "ghosts" to make them more realistic. Batou rescues a young girl from a "ghost dubbing" machine, and she explains that Jack Walkson, having learned the truth about LOCUS SOLUS, promised to save the girls by tampering with the ghosting process. This caused the gynoids to murder their owners, allowing Walkson to attract police attention and indirectly kill the Yakuza boss. Despite Walkson's actions saving the girls, Batou objects that he also victimized the gynoids as well, causing them severe distress by giving them damaged ghosts. Having solved the case, Batou asks the Major if she's happy now. She responds that she'll always be beside him on the network, then disconnects from the gynoid.

MacDonald begins her book with a summary description of her childhood and family. Her father was an engineer, and moved frequently with his family throughout the West. Her mother's theory that a wife must support her husband in his career comes into play when the author marries a friend of her brother ("Bob") who soon admits that his dream is to leave his current office job and start a chicken ranch. Knowing nothing about ranching, but eager to support her husband, the author encourages the dream but is unprepared for the primitive conditions that exist on the ranch he purchases.

From this "set up" the book turns to anecdotal stories that rely upon the proverbial "fish out of water" tales that pit MacDonald against her situation and her surroundings, such as the struggle to keep up with the need for water, which needs to be hand carried from a pond to the house until a tank is installed, or keeping a fire going in "Stove", or the constant care that chicks need. At one point a guest expresses envy of MacDonald and her husband, as she thinks they live a life full of fresh air and beautiful scenery, which is then followed by MacDonald pointing out that while the guest had lounged in bed that morning, she and her husband had been up before sunrise working for several hours, and then again the couple had stayed up long into the night after the guest had gone to bed.

MacDonald chronicles the gradual improvements to the primitive farmhouse, such as the arrival of electricity and running water. The neighbors and townspeople are also described in the book. The "Ma and Pa Kettle" characters are near neighbors to the MacDonalds.

A detective named Fisher, who has become an expatriate living in Cairo, undergoes hypnosis in order to recall his last case. The Europe of his dreamlike recollection is a dystopia, dark and decaying. Fisher remembers pursuing an elusive killer called the "Lotto Murderer", who was strangling and then mutilating young girls who were selling lottery tickets. He attempts to track down the killer using the controversial methods outlined in a book entitled ''The Element of Crime'', written by his disgraced mentor, Osborne. He is joined in his search by a prostitute named Kim, who, it turns out, has had a child by his target. Fisher's search is based on a tailing report written by Osborne when trying to track down a murderer who had been killing in the same way as the "Lotto Murderer", but who, supposedly, has since died in a crash. The Osborne method requires the detective to try to identify with the mind of the killer. This he does, but, in so doing, begins to behave more and more like a serial killer himself.

A bourgeois couple, François and Simone Thévenot, accompany François's colleague Don Rafael Acosta, the ambassador from the South American nation of Miranda, and Simone's sister Florence, to the house of the Sénéchals, the hosts of a dinner party. Once they arrive, Alice Sénéchal is surprised to see them and explains that she expected them the following evening and has no dinner prepared. The would-be guests then invite Alice to join them for dinner at a nearby inn.

Arriving at the inn, the party finds it locked. They knock and are reluctantly invited in by a waitress who mentions that the restaurant is under new management. Inside, there are no diners, and the prices on the menu are disconcertingly low. The party hears wailing from an adjoining room and discovers a vigil for the corpse of the manager, who died a few hours earlier. The party is told that the coroner is coming soon, but they hurriedly depart.

Later, at the Embassy of Miranda, Acosta meets with François and Alice's husband Henri to discuss the proceeds of a large cocaine deal. During the meeting, Acosta sees a young woman selling clockwork-animal toys on the footpath outside the embassy. He shoots one of the toys with a rifle and the woman runs off. He explains that she is part of a Maoist Mirandan terrorist group that's been targeting him for months.

Two days later, the bourgeois friends attempt to have lunch at the Sénéchals', but Henri and his wife escape to the garden to have sex instead of joining them. One of the friends take their unexplained absence this to mean that the Sénéchals know the police are coming and left to avoid arrest for their involvement in drug trafficking. The party again leaves in a panic.

When the Sénéchals return from the garden, their friends are gone, but they meet a bishop who has donned their gardener's clothing. They throw him out, but when he returns wearing his bishop's robes, they embrace him with deference. The bishop asks to work for them as their gardener. He tells them about his childhood — that his parents were murdered by arsenic poisoning and that the culprit was never apprehended. (Later in the film, he goes to visit a dying man who turns out to be his parents' murderer; after blessing the man, the bishop kills him with a shotgun.)

The women visit a teahouse just as it has run out of all beverages – tea, coffee, and milk – although it finally turns out they do have water. While they are waiting, a soldier tells them about his childhood: how after his mother's death his cold-hearted father sent him to military school. The ghost of the soldier's mother informed him that the man was not his real father, but his father's killer; they had dueled over his mother. Following the ghost's request, the soldier killed the culprit with poison.

Simone meets Acosta at his apartment. They are having an affair but are interrupted by a visit from her husband, whereupon she makes a convenient excuse and leaves with him. Acosta is next visited by the same terrorist from earlier, who has come to kill him. He ambushes and chastises her, then tells her to leave when she refuses his sexual advances; his agents capture her and take her away.

Several abortive dinner parties ensue; interruptions include the arrival of a group of army officers and enlisted men who join the dinner only to be called away for alarmingly close military maneuvers, the revelation that a colonel's dining room is a stage set in a theatrical performance for an audience that is angry with the actors for not knowing their lines, the ambassador's shooting of the colonel after he insults the nation of Miranda and slaps the ambassador, the arrest and release of the bourgeois friends, and their summary execution by the terrorists. Most if not all of these scenes turn out to be dream sequences in which ghosts make frequent appearances.

A recurring scene throughout the film, of the six people walking silently and purposefully on a long, isolated country road, is also the final sequence.

Suzy Bannion, a young American ballet student, arrives in Freiburg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany during a torrential downpour to study at the co-ed Tanz Dance Akademie, a prestigious German dance school. She sees another student, Pat Hingle, flee the school in terror. Suzy is refused entry to the school and forced to stay in town overnight. Pat takes refuge at a friend's apartment and tells her that something sinister happened at the school. Pat is ambushed by a shadowy figure who stabs her repeatedly and drags her to the roof of the apartment building before hanging her with a noose by throwing her through the building's skylight. Pat's friend is also killed after being impaled by a falling giant shard of glass while trying to alert other tenants to the murder.

Suzy returns to the school the next morning, where she meets Miss Tanner, the head instructor, and Madame Blanc, the deputy headmistress. Tanner introduces Suzy to Pavlos, one of the school's servants. She also meets classmates Sarah and Olga, her new roommate. Suzy experiences an unsettling encounter with one of the school's matrons and Blanc's nephew, Albert, before passing out during a dance class. When she regains consciousness, Suzy learns that Olga has thrown her out of her apartment, forcing her to live at the school with Sarah in the room next door.

While the students are preparing for supper one night, maggots rain down from the ceilings of their rooms due to a shipment of spoiled food in the attic, forcing them to sleep in one of the dance studios. During the night, a woman enters the room but is obscured by a curtain hung around the room's perimeter. Sarah, frightened by her hoarse and labored breathing, recognizes her as the school's headmistress, who is supposedly out of town. The school's blind pianist, Daniel, is abruptly fired by Miss Tanner when his German Shepherd bites Albert. Daniel is stalked by an unseen force while walking through a plaza that night; his dog turns on him and viciously rips out his throat.

Sarah tells Suzy that she was the one on the intercom who refused her entry the night Pat was murdered. She reveals that Pat was behaving strangely before her death and promises to show Suzy the notes that she left behind. Sarah finds that Pat's notes are missing and is forced to flee when an unseen assailant enters the room. They pursue her through the school before cornering her in the attic. She escapes through a small window before falling into a pit of razor wire, entangling her and allowing her pursuer to kill her by slashing her throat.

Suzy investigates Sarah's disappearance the next morning. Tanner tells her that Sarah has fled the school. Suspicious, Suzy contacts Sarah's friend and former psychiatrist, Frank Mandel. He reveals that the school was established by a Greek émigrée, Helena Markos, who was allegedly a witch. Suzy also consults with Professor Milius, a professor of the occult. He reveals that a coven of witches perishes without their leader, from whom they draw power.

When Suzy returns to the school, she finds that everyone has left to attend the Bolshoi Ballet. After being attacked by a bat and recalling a conversation with Sarah about footsteps, she follows the sound of them carefully, leading her to Madame Blanc's office. Remembering that Pat uttered the words ''secret'' and ''iris'' the night that she was killed, Suzy discovers a hidden door that opens by turning a blue iris on a mural in Blanc's office. Suzy enters the corridor and finds the academy's instructors, led by Madame Blanc, plotting her demise in the form of a human sacrifice. Albert alerts Pavlos to Suzy's presence. Suzy hides in an alcove, where she finds Sarah's disfigured corpse.

Pursued by Pavlos, Suzy retreats to Helena Markos's bedroom. Suzy finds Markos sleeping, recognizing her as the headmistress by her labored breathing. She accidentally wakes her by breaking a decorative peacock with crystal plumage. Markos renders herself invisible and taunts Suzy before reanimating Sarah's mutilated corpse to murder her. When flashes of lightning inadvertently reveal Markos's silhouette, Suzy impales her through the neck with one of the peacock's broken glass quills. Markos's death causes Sarah's corpse to vanish.

Suzy flees as the school starts to implode. Madame Blanc, Miss Tanner, Pavlos and the rest of the coven perish without the power of Markos to sustain them. Suzy escapes into the rainy night as the school is consumed by fire.

In order to appear superior, a miller brags to The people of the kingdom he lives in, and the king, telling him that his daughter can spin straw into gold.Some versions make the miller's daughter blonde and describe the "straw-into-gold" claim as a careless boast the miller makes about the way his daughter's straw-like blond hair takes on a gold-like lustre when sunshine strikes it. The king calls for the girl, locks her up in a tower room filled with straw and a spinning wheel, and demands she spin the straw into gold by morning or he will have her killed.Other versions have the king threatening to lock her up in a dungeon forever, or to punish her father for lying. When she has given up all hope, a little imp-like man appears in the room and spins the straw into gold in return for her necklace. The next morning the king takes the girl to a larger room filled with straw to repeat the feat, the imp once again spins, in return for the girl's ring. On the third day, when the girl has been taken to an even larger room filled with straw and told by the king that he will marry her if she can fill this room with gold or execute her if she cannot, the girl has nothing left with which she can pay the strange creature. He extracts a promise from her that she will give him her firstborn child, and so he spins the straw into gold a final time.In some versions, the imp appears and begins to turn the straw into gold, paying no heed to the girl's protests that she has nothing to pay him with; when he finishes the task, he states that the price is her first child, and the horrified girl objects because she never agreed to this arrangement.

The king keeps his promise to marry the miller's daughter. But when their first child is born, the imp returns to claim his payment. She offers him all the wealth she has to keep the child, but the imp has no interest in her riches. He finally agrees to give up his claim to the child if she can guess his name within three days.Some versions have the imp limiting the number of daily guesses to three and hence the total number of guesses allowed to a maximum of nine.

The queen's many guesses fail. But before the final night, she wanders into the woodsIn some versions, she sends a servant into the woods instead of going herself, in order to keep the king's suspicions at bay. searching for him and comes across his remote mountain cottage and watches, unseen, as he hops about his fire and sings. In his song's lyrics—"tonight tonight, my plans I make, tomorrow tomorrow, the baby I take. The queen will never win the game, for Rumpelstiltskin is my name"—he reveals his name.

When the imp comes to the queen on the third day, after first feigning ignorance, she reveals his name, Rumpelstiltskin, and he loses his temper at the loss of their bargain. Versions vary about whether he accuses the devil or witches of having revealed his name to the queen. In the 1812 edition of the Brothers Grimm tales, Rumpelstiltskin then "ran away angrily, and never came back." The ending was revised in an 1857 edition to a more gruesome ending wherein Rumpelstiltskin "in his rage drove his right foot so far into the ground that it sank in up to his waist; then in a passion he seized the left foot with both hands and tore himself in two." Other versions have Rumpelstiltskin driving his right foot so far into the ground that he creates a chasm and falls into it, never to be seen again. In the oral version originally collected by the Brothers Grimm, Rumpelstiltskin flies out of the window on a cooking ladle.

;Notes

Heather Langenkamp lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Chase and their young son Dylan. She is recognized for her role as Nancy Thompson from the ''A Nightmare on Elm Street'' film series before focusing her career on television. One night she has a nightmare that her family is attacked by a set of animated Freddy Krueger claws from an upcoming ''Nightmare'' film, where two workers are brutally killed on set. Waking up to an earthquake, she spies a cut on Chase's finger exactly like the one he had received in her dream, but she quickly dismisses the notion that it was caused by the claws.

Heather receives a call from an obsessed fan who quotes Freddy Krueger's nursery rhyme in an eerie, Freddy-like voice. This coincides with a meeting she has with New Line Cinema where she is pitched the idea to reprise her role as Nancy in a new ''Nightmare'' film, which, unbeknownst to her, Chase has been working on. She returns home, and sees Dylan watching her original film. Nancy interrupts him, and Dylan has a severely traumatizing episode where he screams at her. The frequent calls and Dylan's strange behavior cause her to call Chase. He agrees to rush home from his workplace at Palm Springs as the two men from the opening dream did not report in for work. Chase falls asleep while driving and is slashed by Freddy's claw and dies. His death seems to affect Dylan even further, which concerns Heather's long-time friend and former co-star John Saxon. He suggests she seek medical attention for Dylan and herself after she has a nightmare at Chase's funeral in which Freddy tries to take Dylan away.

Dylan's health continues to deteriorate. He becomes increasingly paranoid about going to sleep, and fears Freddy Krueger, even though Heather has never shown Dylan her films. She visits ''Nightmare'' creator Wes Craven, who admits to having precognitive nightmares that the films captured an ancient supernatural entity. The entity is freed after the film series ended with the release of ''Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare''. In the guise of Freddy it now focuses its primary foe on Heather—as Nancy—as killing her will allow it into the real world. Robert Englund, who portrayed Freddy in the films, also has a strange knowledge of it, describing the new Freddy to Heather, then disappearing from all contact shortly thereafter.

Following another earthquake, Heather takes a traumatized Dylan to the hospital, where Dr. Heffner, suspecting abuse, suggests he remain under observation. Heather returns home for Dylan's stuffed dinosaur while his babysitter Julie tries unsuccessfully to keep the nurses from sedating the sleep-deprived boy. Dylan falls asleep from the sedative. Freddy brutally kills Julie in Dylan's dream. Capable of sleepwalking, Dylan leaves the hospital of his own accord while Heather chases him home across the interstate as Freddy taunts and dangles him before traffic. Upon returning home, Heather realizes that reality starts to overlap with Freddy's make-believe realm, with Saxon as Nancy's father Don Thompson, and her street, the exterior of her house, and her clothes have all transformed into Nancy's. When Heather embraces Nancy's role, Freddy emerges completely into reality and abducts Dylan to his world. Heather finds a trail of Dylan's sleeping pills and follows him to a hellish construct of Freddy's boiler room. Freddy fights off Heather and chases Dylan into a furnace. Dylan escapes the furnace, doubles back to Heather, and together they push Freddy into the furnace and light it, destroying both the monster and its reality.

Dylan and Heather emerge from under his blankets, and Heather finds a copy of the film's events in a screenplay at the foot of the bed. Inside is written thanks from Wes for defeating Freddy and playing Nancy one last time. Her victory helps imprison the entity of the film franchise's fictitious world once more. Dylan asks if it is a story, and Heather agrees before opening the script and reading from its pages.

An omniscient being known as the Eternal Champion predicts that mankind will soon fade from existence due to the untimely and unjust deaths of key individuals throughout history who were destined for greatness. Seeking to restore balance to the world, the Eternal Champion gathers these souls from time moments before their deaths. The Eternal Champion only has enough power to restore life to one of these individuals, so he organizes and holds a fighting tournament between them, where the victor will be able to regain their life and change their fate while bringing balance to the universe, whilst the losers will be forced to die just as history recorded.

Unlike most fighting games, or video games in general , there are no characters in this game who are "bad" or "evil". Each character has been chosen because he or she is either inherently good or has the potential to do great good and change the course of history for the better. Despite the ability to kill opponents in this game, it is not relevant to the story. Much like games such as ''Mortal Kombat'' (which pioneered finishing moves in fighting games), the game's "Overkills" have no impact on the story and are simply a gameplay element for the enjoyment of the player. It is actually revealed in a few character endings that some of the fighters become allies or friends during the course of the tournament.

Fighters

The game features nine playable characters. Beating arcade mode with any character reveals an epilogue detailing how the winner avoided their original death and then went on to make a positive change in their era.

Blade – Jonathan Blade is a Syrian bounty hunter from 2030 A.D. He was hired by the government to help track down a terrorist that had stolen a lethal virus. Blade was about to apprehend the terrorist when special forces agents opened fire on both of them, accidentally causing the terrorist to drop the vial and release the virus. Jetta – Jetta Maxx is a member of Russian aristocracy from 1899 A.D. She was working undercover as a circus acrobat at the time of her death. A boxer revolutionary tampered with her tightrope equipment ahead of a major show in China. She fell to her death in front of the live crowd. When her true identity was revealed, it heightened tensions between both nations. Larcen – Larcen Tyler is a former cat-burglar from 1920’s Chicago. He used to do jobs for a local crime boss. He was hired to plant evidence in the hospital room of a rival mafia leader. It was only when he got to the location that he discovered that his real target was the Chief of Police, and the “evidence” was actually a bomb. Larcen was killed in the explosion that destroyed most of the hospital. Midknight – Midknight is a vampire-like mutant hiding in Vietnam. In his former life, he was the noted British biochemist Mitchell Middleton Knight. He was hired by U.S. forces to spike water supplies during the Vietnam War in 1967. He became exposed to the chemical, and was mutated like every other victim. He was killed by a vampire hunter hired by the government before he could create a cure. R.A.X. – R.A.X. Coswell is an American cyber-kickboxer from 2345 A.D. His trainer programmed a virus into his R.A.X. exoskeleton software to ensure he lost an important match. Coswell died during the match as a result. Shadow – Shadow Yamato is a ninja assassin from modern-day (1993 A.D.) Japan. She was thrown off the top of her employer’s skyscraper before she could publicly expose the murderous actions of her syndicate. Slash – Slash is a prehistoric hunter from 50,000 B.C. He was sentenced to death by the elders of his tribe who feared that Slash would use his high intelligence to usurp them. Trident – An artificial being created by the Atlanteans from 110 B.C. He was killed by a rival before he could compete in the final match of a gladiator tournament. As a consequence, the Roman Empire banished his race to the sea where they were eventually wiped out. *Xavier – Xavier Pendragon was an alchemy student from 1692 A.D. He was executed under a false charge of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials.

The Eternal Champion appears as a non-playable boss character.

All of the characters returned in the sequel ''Eternal Champions: Challenge From The Darkside''.

Following a series of undead attacks in the smallest provinces of Aramon, the citizens become alarmed when it's discovered that Lokken has achieved the power to form undead armies, and marching them towards the capital of Kaluen, with the clear intent of killing Elsin and conquering the continent. Meanwhile, in Veruna, tensions escalate to open warfare when Zhon drakes sent by Thirsha attack one of the many shipyards, forcing Kirenna to send an expedition to contain the advance, but the expedition never returns. In Aramon, while Elsin and his armies have yet not revealed themselves, allowing the undead to roam freely around the land, the lord commander of Eastern Aramon sends a noble knight named Joreth of Heldain to Zhon in the hopes of reclaiming the Heart of Thesh, an ancient Kandrian artifact believed to be the solution to Lokken's advances, whom also arrives personally to oversee the campaign.

The situation in Aramon is believed to be countered when Elsin finally appears, utilizing Gunpowder-based weaponry to drive off the undead hordes, but betrayal is committed by Lord Buriash (a powerlust driven noble who ruled Aramon prior to Elsin's ascension), who joins forces with Taros in exchange that he'll rule Aramon under Lokken's as a vassal state when Elsin falls. With the combined power of Lokken's necromancy and Buriash's gunpowder mastery, Taros advances undeterred once more across Aramon. In Veruna, Zhon and Taros attempt staging sieges against Lendra, the capital city, but the threat is countered thanks to two interventions: The first coming from Joreth, whom shipwrecks at Veruna and seeks a new transport ship, helping counter an assault at the city of Lothol in the process, and Aramon, whom arrives with the power of gunpowder, quickly adapted to the navy by the efforts of Kirenna's second-in-command, Commodore Solan Rixx. Having driven Zhon and Taros from Veruna, Kirenna presses her advantage by directly assaulting Zhon, but underestimates both the zeal of Zhon's inhabitants, the dense jungles and the appearance of Thirsha, whom rallies the tribes around her and summons Stone Giants and Kraken to deal severe damage to Veruna's forces. Veruna intensifies military presence in Zhon, bringing the conflict to a stalemate.

The turning point in Aramon comes at the moment of Taros' siege of Kaluen, when Elsin dispatches a messenger with a poison dagger to assassinate Lord Buriash. The messenger succeeds, forcing the surrender of the Aramon troops loyal to Buriash, the counter-attack by Elsin's forces and even an open peasant rebellion in Buriash's lands. Still, with the enemy driven back and Lokken forced to return to Taros, the undead presence remains strong across Aramon. Elsin tries to deliver Lokken a lesson in demonstration by dispatching Lordling Dernhest and an expedition to conquer the Taros' merchant town of Shekelesh, but Lokken turns the city into a deathtrap, as the full force of Taros' armies descends upon the town and massacres all of the expedition. Veruna also attempts to contribute, sending a task force to the Taros controlled islands of Zakum to establish a beachhead, provoking a prison break and executing the island's ruler, Baron Leimar, but most of the released prisoners succumb to prolonged disease from the island's precarious conditions.

Joreth arrives at Zhon, namely the temple where the Heart of Thesh is kept, but discovers the artifact has already been taken by Lokken, who was aware of the artifact's magical properties. Joreth travels to Taros, in a suicide mission to recover the Heart from the Temple of Belial in Elam, succeeding and return the artifact to Aramon. In a ritual sacrifice, the Aramon priests use the Heart of Thesh to resurrect an ancient Gold Dragon, whose fearsome firepower starts cleansing the land of Aramon, finally bringing an end to the undead presence. The dragon is then sent to Veruna, where it cleanses the islands of both Taros and Zhon presence. In Zhon, the prolonged conflict takes its toll in the land's ferocious defenders, forcing Thirsha to rely on traps and guerrilla tactics to try and gain an edge, but the appearance of the Gold Dragon crushes the last hope for Zhon, wounding Thirsha and forcing her and all Zhon warriors to retreat on foot to the mountains of Ulassem, the unofficial capital of the continent.

Believing that Zhon's threat is finally contained, Elsin and Kirenna turn their attention to Taros, staging a full-scale campaign towards Elam, Lokken's capital city. Taros' undead armies and mages hold off the enemy fiercely, but still fall to the combined power of gunpowder and the dragons awakened by the Heart of Thesh. However, Taros manages to keep the enemy at bay long enough to transport a mysterious cargo (Revealed in 'The Iron Plague' to be Lokken's essence) to a merchant ship that breaches the Veruna naval blockade. Backed to a corner with no means of escape, Lokken fights to the death in his citadel in Elam, his head being impaled in a stake, as demonstration for Taros' survivors of the fate of their struggle. Veruna and Aramon's armies return to their respective lands, preparing to rebuild, as Zhon remains secluded in their fortress planning their next move.

The story begins seven years after the broken engagement of Anne Elliot to Frederick Wentworth: Having just turned nineteen years old, Anne fell in love and had accepted a proposal of marriage from Wentworth, then a young and undistinguished naval officer. Wentworth was considered clever, confident and ambitious, but his low social status made Anne's friends and family view him as an unsuitable partner. Anne's father, Sir Walter Elliot, and her older sister, Elizabeth, maintained that Wentworth was no match for a woman of Kellynch Hall, the family estate. Furthermore, Lady Russell, a distant relative whom Anne considers to be a second mother to her after her own died, also saw the relationship as imprudent for one so young and persuaded Anne to break off the engagement. Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Lady Russell are the only family members who knew about the short engagement, as Anne's younger sister Mary was away at school.

Several years later, the Elliot family are in financial trouble on account of their lavish spending, so they lease out Kellynch Hall and decide to settle in a cheaper home in Bath until their finances improve. Sir Walter, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's new companion, Mrs Clay, look forward to the move. Anne is less sure she will enjoy Bath, but cannot go against her family. Mary is now married to Charles Musgrove of Uppercross Hall, the heir to a respected local squire. Anne visits Mary and her family, where she is well-loved. As the war against France is over, the new tenants of Kellynch Hall, Admiral Croft and his wife Sophia, (Frederick's sister), have returned home. Captain Wentworth, now wealthy and famous for his service in the war, visits his sister and meets the Uppercross family, where he crosses paths with Anne.

The Musgroves, including Mary, Charles, and Charles' sisters Henrietta and Louisa, welcome the Crofts and Captain Wentworth, who makes it known that he is ready to marry. Henrietta is engaged to her cousin, clergyman Charles Hayter, who is absent when Wentworth is introduced to their social circle. Both the Crofts and Musgroves enjoy speculating about which sister Captain Wentworth might marry. Once Hayter returns, Henrietta turns her affections to him again. Anne still loves Wentworth, so each meeting with him requires preparation for her own strong emotions. She overhears a conversation in which Louisa tells Wentworth that Charles Musgrove first proposed to Anne, who turned him down. This news startles Wentworth, and Anne realises that he has not yet forgiven her for letting herself be persuaded to end their engagement years ago.

Anne and the young adults of the Uppercross family accompany Captain Wentworth on a visit to see two of his fellow officers, Captains Harville and Benwick, in the coastal town of Lyme Regis. Captain Benwick is in mourning over the death of his fiancée, Captain Harville's sister, and he appreciates Anne's sympathy and understanding, helped by their mutual admiration for the Romantic poets. Anne attracts the attention of Mr William Elliot, her cousin and a wealthy widower who is heir to Kellynch Hall despite having broken ties with her father years earlier. On the last morning of the visit, the youthful Louisa sustains a serious concussion at the sea wall while under Captain Wentworth's supervision. Anne coolly organizes the others to summon assistance. Wentworth is impressed with Anne's quick thinking and cool-headedness, but feels guilty about his actions with Louisa, causing him to re-examine his feelings for Anne. Louisa, due to her delicate condition, is forced to recover at the Harvilles' home in Lyme for months. Captain Benwick, who was a guest as well, helps in Louisa's recovery by attending and reading to her.

Following Louisa's accident, Anne joins her father and sister in Bath with Lady Russell while Louisa and her parents stay at the Harvilles' in Lyme Regis for her recovery. Captain Wentworth visits his older brother Edward in Shropshire. Anne finds that her father and sister are flattered by the attentions of their cousin William Elliot, thinking that if he marries Elizabeth, the family fortunes will be restored. William flatters Anne and offhandedly mentions that he was "fascinated" with the name of his future wife already being an "Elliot" who would rightfully take over for her late mother. Although Anne wants to like William, the attention and his manners, she finds his character opaque and difficult to judge.

Admiral Croft and his wife arrive in Bath with the news that Louisa is engaged to Captain Benwick. Wentworth travels to Bath, where his jealousy is piqued by seeing William trying to court Anne. Captain Wentworth and Anne renew their acquaintance. Anne visits Mrs Smith, an old school friend, who is now a widow living in Bath under strained circumstances. From her, Anne discovers that beneath William's charming veneer, he is a cold, calculating opportunist who led Mrs Smith's late husband into debt. As executor to her husband's will, William has done nothing to improve Mrs Smith's situation. Although Mrs Smith believes that William is genuinely attracted to Anne, she feels that his primary aim is to prevent Mrs Clay from marrying Sir Walter, as a new marriage might mean a new son, displacing him as heir to Kellynch Hall.

The Musgroves visit Bath to purchase wedding clothes for Louisa and Henrietta, both soon to marry. Captains Wentworth and Harville encounter them and Anne at the Musgroves' hotel in Bath, where Wentworth overhears Anne and Harville discussing the relative faithfulness of men and women in love. Deeply moved by what Anne says about women not giving up their feelings of love even when all hope is lost, Wentworth writes her a note declaring his feelings for her. Outside the hotel, Anne and Wentworth reconcile, affirm their love for each other, and renew their engagement. William leaves Bath; Mrs Clay soon follows him and becomes his mistress, making it more likely that he will inherit Kellynch Hall. Lady Russell admits she was wrong about Wentworth and befriends the new couple. Once Anne and Wentworth have married, Wentworth helps Mrs Smith recover the remaining assets that William had kept from her. Anne settles into her new life as the wife of a Navy captain.

The story is set in 2010, mostly in the United States. A number of plots and many vignettes are played out in this future world, based on Brunner's extrapolation of social, economic, and technological trends. The key main trends are based on the enormous population and its impact: social stresses, eugenic legislation, widening social divisions, future shock and extremism. Certain of Brunner's guesses are fairly close, others not, and some ideas clearly show their 1960s mindset.

Many futuristic concepts, products and services, and slang are presented. A supercomputer named Shalmaneser is an essential plot element. ''The Hipcrime Vocab'' and other works by the fictional sociologist Chad C. Mulligan are frequent sources of quotations. Some examples of slang include "codder" (man), "shiggy" (woman), "whereinole" (where in hell?), "prowlie" (an armoured police car), "offyourass" (possessing an attitude), "bivving" (bisexuality, from "ambivalent") and "mucker" (a person running amok). A new technology introduced is "eptification" ('''e'''ducation for '''p'''articular '''t'''asks), a form of mental programming. Another is a kind of interactive television that shows the viewer as part of the program ("Mr. & Mrs. Everywhere"). Genetically modified microorganisms are used as terrorist weapons.

The book centres on two New York men, Donald Hogan and Norman Niblock House, who share an apartment. House is a rising executive at General Technics, one of the all-powerful corporations. Using his "Afram" (African American) heritage to advance his position, he has risen to vice-president at age twenty-six.

Hogan is introduced with a single paragraph rising out of nowhere: "Donald Hogan is a spy". Donald shares an apartment with House and is undercover as a student. Hogan's real work is as a "synthesist", although he is a commissioned officer and can be called up for active duty.

The two main plots concern the fictional African state of Beninia (a name reminiscent of the real-life Benin, though that nation in the Bight of Benin was known as the Republic of Dahomey when the book was written) making a deal with General Technics to take over the management of their country, in a bid to speed up development from third world to first world status. A second major plot is a break-through in genetic engineering in the fictional South East Asian nation of Yatakang (an island nation and a former Dutch colony, like Indonesia), to which Hogan is soon sent by the US Government ("State") to investigate. The two plots eventually cross, bringing potential implications for the entire world.

A thousand years ago on the planet Thra, two new races appeared when a Shard was shattered from the Crystal of Truth: the cruel Skeksis, who use continued corruption of the Crystal to extend their lives, and the gentle urRu, more commonly known as Mystics, who make their home in the Valley of Stones to await their destiny. The leader of the Mystics, the Master UrSu, raises a young Gelfling named Jen whose clan were slaughtered by the Skeksis. As the Great Conjunction of Thra's three suns draws near, a dying UrSu instructs Jen to fulfil a prophecy to heal the Crystal by first retrieving the Shard from Aughra. If Jen fails to complete his quest before the three suns meet, the Skeksis will rule forever. As UrSu passes, the Skeksis' Emperor, skekSo, also dies, leaving the position for the leader vacant. The Chamberlain, skekSil, and the Garthim Master, skekUng, challenge each other in a "Trial by Stone" for succession, resulting in skekUng defeating skekSil. SkekSil is stripped of his robes and banished, while skekUng is proclaimed the new emperor. When the Skeksis learn of Jen's existence, they send their army of giant crab-like Garthim to capture him, with the cunning skekSil following.

Jen meets Aughra and enters her orrery, which she uses to predict the heavens, and she explains about the Conjunction before having Jen select the correct Shard. Before Aughra can explain Jen's mission, the Garthim arrive and destroy the orrery, taking Aughra prisoner as Jen flees. Hearing the call of the Crystal, the Mystics leave their valley to return to the Castle of the Crystal. On his journey through a forest swamp, Jen meets Kira, another surviving Gelfling. The two learn more about each other when they accidentally "dreamfast", sharing each other's memories. They stay for a night with the Podlings who raised Kira, only for them and Kira's pet Fizzgig to flee when the Garthim raid the village. They are nearly caught, but skekSil intervenes, keeping the Garthim from pursuing them.

Jen and Kira discover a ruined Gelfling civilization with ancient writing describing the prophecy: "When single shines the triple sun, what was sundered and undone shall be whole, the two made one by Gelfling hand or else by none." They are interrupted by skekSil, who reveals the prophecy was the reason for the Gelfling genocide while trying to trick them into coming with him to the castle. But the Gelflings run off and reach the castle on Landstriders, intercepting the Garthim that attacked Kira's village. While trying to free the captured Podlings, Kira, Jen, and Fizzgig descend to the Castle's dry moat (revealing Kira has wings) and use the catacombs to gain access. But they are intercepted by skekSil, who attempts to drag them to the other Skeksis when they refuse him further. Jen stabs skekSil's hand with the Shard in defiance (which leads to his Mystic counterpart, urSol, to receive a similar wound on his), and skekSil, in a fit of rage, buries Jen in a cave-in and takes Kira. SkekSil is reinstated as Chamberlain and gives Kira to the Scientist, skekTek, to be drained of her life essence for the Skeksis to drink and regain their youth. Aughra, imprisoned in the Scientist's laboratory, tells Kira to call the captive animals for help; they break free in response and free Kira while causing skekTek to fall down the crystal shaft to his death. At that moment, his Mystic counterpart, urTih, vanishes in a burst of flame. Aughra frees herself soon after Kira leaves and before Jen arrives.

The three suns begin to align as the Gelflings reunite at the Crystal Chamber and the Skeksis gather for the ritual that will grant them immortality. When they are discovered and the Garthim attack, Jen leaps onto the Crystal but drops the Shard. Kira takes it after Fizzgig is thrown down the shaft by skekUng, but is saved by Aughra shortly after. Kira throws the Shard back to Jen and is fatally stabbed by the Ritual-Master, skekZok. The heartbroken Jen plunges the Shard into the Dark Crystal, fulfilling the prophecy. The Garthim disintegrate and the Podling slaves regain their essence while the dark stone covering the Castle crumbles away to reveal a crystalline structure. The urRu arrive and use the Crystal to merge themselves and the Skeksis into the beings they once were: the angelic urSkeks. The urSkeks' leader explains to Jen they had mistakenly shattered the Crystal 1,000 years ago, splitting them into two races and decimating Thra, and that Jen's courage and Kira's sacrifice have restored them. The urSkeks revive Kira in gratitude and then ascend to a higher level of existence, leaving the Crystal of Truth to Jen and Kira on the now-rejuvenated Thra.

In Manhattan, paramedic Frank Pierce suffering from depression and occupational burnout having not saved any patients in months and begins to hallucinate the ghosts of those lost. One night, Frank and his partner Larry respond to a call by the family of Mr. Burke who has entered cardiac arrest. There, Frank befriends Burke's distraught daughter Mary, a former junkie, and discovers Mary was friends with Noel, a drug addict and delinquent who is frequently sent to the hospital.

After a few minor calls, Frank and Larry respond to the aftermath of a shooting, where Frank notices two vials of "Red Death" heroin roll out from a surviving victim's sleeve. While in the back of the ambulance with Frank and Noel, the victim attempts to repent for his drug dealing ways but dies before they can reach the hospital.

The next day, Frank is paired with Marcus, an eccentric and religious man, and the two respond to a man reported to be in cardiac arrest in a club. When they arrive, Frank diagnoses that he is, in fact, suffering from an overdose caused by Red Death. As Frank injects the man with Narcan, Marcus starts a prayer circle with the baffled club-goers, and just as his preaching climaxes, the overdosed man regains consciousness.

On the way back to the hospital, Frank visits Mary's apartment to tell her that her father's condition is improving. Frank and Marcus then respond to a call by a young man whose girlfriend is giving birth to twins. Frank and Marcus rush the two infants and mother to the hospital, where Marcus brings the mother and healthy twin to the maternity ward, while Frank attempts to revive the other twin with the hospital staff. The hospital is unable to revive the smaller twin, and a dismayed Frank starts drinking before Marcus joins him and crashes the ambulance into a parked car.

The following morning, Frank sees Mary leaving the hospital and follows her to an apartment block; Mary tells Frank that she is visiting a friend and he escorts her to the room. After waiting a while, Frank barges in and discovers that it is a drug den run by a dealer named Cy Coates. Mary admits that she has turned back to drugs to cope with her father's condition, and as Frank tries to get her to leave, Cy offers him some pills.

In a moment of desperation, Frank takes the drugs and begins to hallucinate, seeing more ghosts of his patients. Once sober, he grabs Mary and carries her out of the building. While visiting a comatose Burke in the hospital, Frank starts hearing Burke's voice in his head, telling Frank to let him die, but he resuscitates Burke instead.

In his third shift, Frank is paired with Tom Wolls, an enthusiastic man with violent tendencies. The pair are then called to Cy's drug den where a shooting has occurred, and find Cy impaled on a railing. Frank holds onto Cy as emergency services cut the railing but both are nearly flung off the edge before being pulled back up. Cy then thanks Frank for saving his life and becomes the first patient Frank has saved in months.

Afterward, Frank agrees to help Tom beat up Noel, and chase him down. Frank starts to hallucinate again, snapping out of it just as he comes upon Tom beating Noel with a baseball bat. As Frank visits Burke again, the voice pleads for death once more, and Frank removes Burke's breathing apparatus, causing him to fatally enter cardiac arrest. Frank then heads to Mary's apartment to inform her that he died. Mary accepts her father's death. Frank is invited in and falls asleep at Mary's side.

The novel focuses on Molly Bolt, the adopted daughter of a poor family, who possesses remarkable beauty and who is aware of her lesbianism from early childhood. Her relationship with her mother is rocky, and at a young age her mother, referred to as "Carrie", informs Molly that she is not her own biological child but a "bastard". Molly has her first same-sex sexual relationship in the sixth grade with her girlfriend Leota B. Bisland, and then again in a Florida high school, where she has another sexual relationship with another friend, the school's head cheerleader Carolyn Simpson, who willingly has sex with Molly but rejects the "lesbian" label. Molly also engages in sex with males, including her cousin Leroy when the two were younger. Her father, Carl, dies when she is in her junior year of high school.

Molly pushes herself to excel in high school, winning a full scholarship to the University of Florida. However, when Molly's relationship with her alcoholic roommate is discovered, she is put into their psychiatric ward and denied a renewal of her scholarship. Possessing little money, she hitchhikes to New York to pursue an education in filmmaking.

In New York, Molly has her first experiences in lesbian communities. She is critical of most of the circles she meets and, as she always has done, continues to define herself and go down her own path.

Molly appears to notice environmental differences between the countryside and the city, and she also notices similarities of American culture-at-large.

At film school, she continues to observe and ignore the heterosexual culture that appears to saturate the world around her.

Molly takes a trip home to have her mother Carrie star in her short documentary that will be her final project for her film degree. After a quiet but successful graduation from film school, Molly runs into all of the roadblocks she expected to in looking for a job in her field. She is offered secretary jobs. She does not take any of the jobs and states that if it takes her until she's 50 years old then so be it.

Upon reaching New York, she realizes that the rubyfruit is possibly not as delicious and varied as she had dreamed within the concrete jungle.

Garfield, a fat, lazy and free-spirited orange cat, lives with his owner Jon Arbuckle in Los Angeles, and passes his time by antagonizing Jon and teasing his aggressive Dobermann neighbor, Luca. Aside from Jon, Garfield maintains an unlikely friendship with a helpful mouse, Louis, by constantly sparing him, and also socializes with his fellow neighborhood cats, Nermal and Arlene.

Jon has begun habitually bringing Garfield to the veterinarian, in order to see vet Dr. Liz Wilson, whom he is in love with. Jon tries to ask Liz out, but due to a misunderstanding, Jon is given custody of a dog named Odie, who is lovable, playful and friendly. Regardless, Jon and Liz begin dating. Garfield, however, begins to dislike Odie and pokes fun at him in any given moment. Odie is brought to a canine talent show, where Liz is a judge. Garfield gets involved in an altercation there with other dogs, which moves Odie to the center of the ring, where he does a successful improvised dance to the Black Eyed Peas' "Hey Mama". A local television host named Happy Chapman, who is also a judge, is impressed with Odie's performance, and offers Jon a television deal for Odie, but Jon declines.

When Garfield returns home, frustrated over Odie's presence in his life, he hits a ball, causing a chain reaction that leaves the house in disarray. When Jon finds out, he forces Garfield to sleep outside for the night. When Odie comes out to comfort Garfield, he gets inside and deliberately locks Odie out. Nermal and Arlene witness this as Odie runs away but is then picked up by an elderly woman named Mrs. Baker. Jon and Liz search for Odie while Garfield's friends angrily ridicule him for locking Odie out and making him run away the night before, although Garfield claims that he didn't mean for it to happen.

Meanwhile, Happy Chapman, revealed to be allergic to cats, is jealous of his news reporter brother, Walter, and wants to be more by performing on "Good Day New York". Chapman and his assistant Wendell find a notice Mrs. Baker created of Odie and, recognizing the lucrative possibilities, claim Odie as Happy's own. When Garfield sees Odie on television and hears Chapman announce he and Odie are going to New York City, Garfield sets out to rescue Odie. Jon discovers Garfield is also missing, so he tells Liz to start searching for him and Odie. Garfield gets into the broadcast tower via the air vents and finds Odie locked in a kennel, but Chapman enters and secures a shock collar to Odie, which, when activated, releases an electric shock that forces Odie to perform tricks.

Chapman heads for the train station with Garfield in close pursuit. However, an animal control officer catches Garfield, mistaking him as a stray. Meanwhile, Mrs. Baker tells Jon that Chapman took Odie, making him believe Garfield was taken by Chapman as well and then learn Chapman is leaving for the train station. Concurrently, Chapman's abandoned feline star Persnikitty, who dubs himself ''Sir Roland'', along with the other animals, releases Garfield from the pound. Chapman boards a New York-bound train, with Odie in the luggage car. After arriving just to see the train depart, Garfield sneaks into the train system control room and switches the tracks, leading to an impending multiple train wreck. Garfield hits an emergency stop button which halts all the trains just in the nick of time, then returns Chapman's train to the station. Garfield frees Odie and they prepare to leave. However, Chapman chases them and eventually corners the duo in a suitcase area. Chapman threatens Odie with the shock collar, but Garfield's friends from the pound, Louis & his entire rat family (whom Garfield had run into earlier), led by Sir Roland, attack Chapman and place the collar on his neck.

Shortly after, Garfield and Odie subdue Chapman by activating the collar. Jon and Liz arrive and find Chapman, whom Jon punches in the face for kidnapping his pets. Garfield, Odie, Jon, and Liz reunite and return home, while Chapman is arrested for his supposed involvement with the trains, as well as kidnapping Odie. Back home, Garfield regains his friends' respect as they hail him as a hero. Liz and Jon form a relationship, and Garfield learns a lesson about friendship.

The setting and story remains largely the same as ''Pokémon Gold'' and ''Silver''. The legendary beast Suicune now has a more prominent role in the game's storyline than in Pokemon Gold and Silver. Awakening the legendary beast trio (Suicune, Entei, Raikou) is now required in order to challenge Ecruteak Gym Leader Morty. Suicune is encountered at various locations throughout Johto. After receiving the Clear Bell (in lieu of the Rainbow Wing in Pokemon Gold or Silver Wing in Pokemon Silver), Suicune will appear stationary at the Tin Tower. Mythicalman Eusine is introduced; his life goal is searching for Suicune and he will battle the player in Cianwood City to gain Suicune's respect.

Daniel Hillard is a freelance voice actor living in San Francisco. Though a devoted father to his three children, 14-year-old Lydia, 12-year-old Chris, and 5-year-old Natalie, his wife Miranda considers him unreliable. One day, Daniel quits his job following a disagreement over a morally questionable script and returns home to throw a chaotic birthday party for Chris, despite Miranda's objections. This infuriates Miranda to the point where she files for divorce. At their first custody hearing, the court grants sole custody of the children to Miranda; shared custody is contingent on whether Daniel finds a steady job and a suitable residence within three months.

As Daniel works to rebuild his life, securing himself an apartment and a new job as a shipping clerk at a TV station, he learns that Miranda is seeking a housekeeper. He secretly alters her classified ad form, then calls Miranda while using his voice acting skills to pose as a series of undesirable applicants. He finally calls Miranda as "Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire", an elderly Scottish nanny with strong credentials, taking his last name from a newspaper headline titled ''"Police '''Doubt Fire''' was Accidental"''. Miranda is impressed and invites Mrs. Doubtfire for an interview. Daniel asks his brother Frank, a makeup artist, and Frank's domestic partner, Jack, to create a Mrs. Doubtfire costume, including a prosthetic mask to make him appear as an older woman.

Miranda hires Mrs. Doubtfire following a successful interview. The children initially struggle under Mrs. Doubtfire's authority but soon come around and thrive and Miranda learns to become closer with her children. Daniel learns several household skills as part of the role, further improving himself. However, this later creates another barrier for him to see his children, as Miranda puts more trust into Mrs. Doubtfire than him and cannot bring herself to dismiss her. Lydia and Chris later discover that Mrs. Doubtfire is actually Daniel, but agree to keep his secret.

One day, the station's CEO Jonathan Lundy sees Daniel playing with toy dinosaurs on the set of a recently cancelled children's show. Impressed by his voice acting and imagination, Lundy invites Daniel to discuss his plans for the show over dinner, which turns out to be at the same place and time as a planned birthday dinner for Miranda by her new boyfriend Stu Dunmeyer, to which Mrs. Doubtfire is invited. Unable to change either appointment, Daniel changes in and out of the Mrs. Doubtfire costume to attend both events. Becoming drunk, Daniel slips up when he accidentally returns to Lundy in his costume, but he quickly claims that Mrs. Doubtfire is his idea for the new show. After overhearing that Stu is allergic to pepper, Daniel sneaks into the kitchen and seasons Stu's order of jambalaya with powdered cayenne pepper. Stu chokes on his dinner, and Daniel, feeling guilty, administers the Heimlich maneuver as Mrs. Doubtfire. The action causes the prosthetic mask to partially peel off Daniel's face, revealing his identity and horrifying Miranda, who storms out of the restaurant with the kids.

At their next custody hearing, Daniel points out that he has met the judge's requirements, then explains his actions. The judge, noting Daniel's acting abilities, dismisses his words as another act and, finding his role as Mrs. Doubtfire unorthodox, grants Miranda full custody of the kids and further restricts Daniel's rights to supervised Saturday visits, which devastates him and Miranda. Without Mrs. Doubtfire, Miranda and her children become miserable, acknowledging how much "she" improved their lives. They are then surprised to discover that Daniel, as Mrs. Doubtfire, is hosting a new children's show called ''Euphegenia's House'', which becomes a nationwide hit.

Miranda visits Daniel on set after filming and admits that things were better when he was involved with the family. She then arranges joint custody, allowing Daniel as himself to take the children after school. As Daniel leaves with the kids, Miranda watches an episode of ''Euphegenia's House'' in which Mrs. Doubtfire answers a letter from a young girl, Katie McCormick, whose parents have separated, saying that no matter what arrangements families have, love will prevail.

On Fifth Avenue, several kittens are left in a box outside a shop. All but one, an orange tabby, are adopted. Wandering the streets by himself in search of someone to adopt him, the kitten meets a laid-back mongrel named Dodger, who agrees to help him steal food from a hot dog vendor. Dodger then reneges on the deal and flees with the hot dogs.

The kitten pursues Dodger all over New York City. Dodger eventually arrives at a barge, where the kitten watches him share the hot dogs with a gang of poverty-stricken dogs (Tito the chihuahua, Einstein the Great Dane, Rita the Saluki, and Francis the bulldog). The kitten accidentally falls into the barge, startling the dogs; however, while they are annoyed, none of them harm him. Fagin, the bargeman and petty thief who owns the dogs, is indebted to Sykes, a nefarious loan shark and criminal. Sykes arrives and gives Fagin an ultimatum; repay the money in three days, or suffer violence, possibly even death. Sykes' two Dobermans, Roscoe and DeSoto, harass Fagin's dogs and threaten to eat the kitten, until he scratches DeSoto's nose, earning Fagin and the dogs' respect. Roscoe warns that they will try to exact revenge.

The next morning, Fagin goes to pawn some of his stolen goods, while the dogs and the kitten try to steal more money for him. Through a theatrical ruse, the animals stop a limousine belonging to the wealthy Foxworth family, but the attempt to rob the limo fails, and the kitten is taken by the child Jenny Foxworth, who is missing her vacationing parents and desires a companion. She names him Oliver, and becomes very attached to him.

Oliver makes himself at home in Jenny's house, much to the disgust of Georgette, the Foxworth family's spoiled, prize-winning poodle. With her help, Dodger and the dogs manage to steal Oliver back from the Foxworth household, returning him to the barge. Fagin recognizes from Oliver's new collar and gold name tag that he had been adopted by a wealthy family, and desperately decides to hold Oliver for ransom. His anonymously written ransom note reaches Jenny, who sets out to get Oliver back at the pier.

Jenny and Georgette meet with Fagin, who is shocked to be dealing with a little girl whose "ransom money" is a piggy bank. Bothered by his conscience and Jenny's tears, Fagin gives Oliver back freely. Sykes, whom Fagin had informed of the deal beforehand, is watching from the shadows and kidnaps Jenny, intending to ransom her while declaring Fagin's debt paid. Dodger rallies Oliver and the other dogs to free Jenny from Sykes, but Sykes and his Dobermans confront them as they attempt to leave. Fagin saves the group with his motor scooter, and a chase ensues throughout the streets and into the subway tunnels. Jenny falls from the scooter onto Syke's car; Oliver and Dodger go after her and battle Roscoe and DeSoto, who fall off the car and are electrocuted on the third rail of the subway. Fagin leaves Tito to drive and saves Jenny, while Dodger and Oliver are thrown from Sykes' car onto the pavement of the Brooklyn Bridge just before an oncoming train strikes and kills Sykes. Tito drives the scooter to safety, and Jenny and Oliver are reunited.

Later, Jenny celebrates her birthday with the animals, Fagin, and the family butler Winston, who receives a phone call from Jenny's parents saying that they will be returning from Rome the next day. Oliver opts to stay with Jenny, but he promises to remain in contact with Dodger and the gang.

A group of puppies are stolen from a pet store by two thieves. A St. Bernard puppy escapes and sneaks into the Newton family's home. The workaholic father, George Newton, does not want the responsibility of owning a dog, but his wife, Alice, and their children, Ryce, Ted, and Emily, convince him. They give him the name “Beethoven” when Emily plays a portion of Ludwig van Beethoven's Fifth Symphony on the piano and the dog barks along to it.

Beethoven grows into a fully grown, adult dog and helps the children overcome their problems: he helps Ryce talk to a boy she likes, scares off bullies for Ted, and saves Emily's life when she falls into an irresponsible babysitter's swimming pool. George, jealous of the affection Beethoven receives, feels neglected as his family fawns over him. The dog's antics ruin a barbecue he is hosting for Brad and Brie, unpleasant venture capitalists looking to invest and swindle him out of his car air freshener firm.

The Newtons take Beethoven to a veterinarian, Dr. Herman Varnick, for a routine medical examination and immunizations. They are unaware that he is involved in unethical and deadly animal experiments. He speaks to George and tells him of a supposed mental instability among St. Bernards making them potentially dangerous to humans and advises him to watch Beethoven closely for any sign of viciousness. He actually requires large-skulled dogs such as St. Bernards for an ammunition test.

Dr. Varnick visits the Newton home under the guise of doing a follow-up exam on Beethoven. He puts fake blood on his arm and hits Beethoven until he leaps on him. He pretends to be in agony, warning George that Beethoven may be turning aggressive and must be euthanized or he will have no choice but to press charges. Emily, who saw Dr. Varnick hit him, protests that the attack was fake, but George, fearing for his family's safety, reluctantly takes him to Dr. Varnick's office. It is on the way there that George discovers his own affections for him: he remembers his father had to take their dog to the vet to be euthanized and he never forgave him for it. He fears that his own family will hate him now for taking Beethoven to be euthanized. When he returns home with the empty leash and collar, his family leaves the dinner table rather than remain with him, proving his fears true.

After seeing his family upset, the Newtons go to Dr. Varnick's office, but he tells them that Beethoven has already been euthanized. However, George remembers that Varnick's receptionist told him that Beethoven would not be euthanized until the next day. George then notices that Dr. Varnick has no bite marks on his arm and assaults him. The Newtons follow him to his warehouse. Beethoven breaks free but is recaptured by Dr. Varnick's two associates, Harvey and Vernon, while Alice calls the police. George crashes through the skylight just as Dr. Varnick prepares to shoot Beethoven. Before he can, however, a captive Jack Russell Terrier bites him in the crotch, causing him to fire a shot in the air. After hearing the gunshot, Ted drives the car through the door and runs it into a cart, launching numerous syringes into Dr. Varnick and sedating him. As the Newtons reunite with Beethoven and free all the captive dogs, they notice Harvey and Vernon trying to escape and send the dogs after them. They escape into a junkyard, only to be attacked by a pack of Dobermans guarding it.

Dr. Varnick, Harvey, and Vernon are arrested for animal abuse. The Newtons are praised as heroes by the news and George takes a new liking to Beethoven. Ryce also gets a phone call from her crush. The Newtons then go to sleep, saying good night to Beethoven and all of the dogs they rescued, who are all sleeping in their bedroom.

In the late 21st century, Spacely Sprockets and Spindles has opened a new mining colony on an asteroid. The proposed project is meant to increase productivity at 1/10 the cost of making the items on Earth. However, the factory continues to be sabotaged by someone or something. As Cosmo Spacely (Mel Blanc) checks up on the "Orbiting-Ore Asteroid" again, he learns from the plant engineer Rudy-2 (Ronnie Schell) that the latest head of the factory Alexander Throttlebottom has run off, making four vice presidents of the new plant that Spacely has lost so far.

Fearing for his company (and profits), Spacely names George Jetson (George O'Hanlon) as Throttlebottom's successor and sends George and his family to the plant. While the family is thoroughly upset at being thrown from their normal lifestyle (and the plans that they had coming up that week), they set up apartments on the adjoining apartment community to the asteroid and its neighboring shopping complex, while it takes the family time to adjust.

Rudy-2 shows George around the plant as they prepare for the grand re-opening of the plant. Meanwhile, Jane (Penny Singleton) and Rosie (Jean Vander Pyl) befriend Rudy-2's wife Lucy-2 (Patti Deutsch). Judy Jetson (Tiffany) is having a hard time adjusting, and accepting the fact that she lost her chance at a date with rock star Cosmic Cosmo (Steve McClintock) which a friend of hers later takes, but soon feels better after meeting a teenaged boy named Apollo Blue (Paul Kreppel). Elroy Jetson (Patric Zimmerman) meets Rudy-2's son Teddy-2 (Dana Hill) with whom he first is at odds, but eventually befriends. George soon figures that he is ready to set the plant running again, and Mr. Spacely is all set to see the plant working full-throttle, and soon to churn out the one millionth Spacely sprocket. However, the opening-day festivities give way to panic as the factory is sabotaged once again. Over the next several days, George and Rudy-2 try to fix things, but the problems persist to the point that, fed up with the problems and thinking George is responsible, Mr. Spacely heads on up to check on things personally. Thinking he has to take charge, George stays overnight hoping to catch the saboteurs in the act, only to fall asleep and be taken off by the mysterious creatures. Elroy, Teddy-2, and their neighbor Fergie Furbelow (Russi Taylor) sneak into the plant and meet Squeep (Frank Welker), a member of a furry alien race known as Grungees (Frank Welker).

Squeep tells them (with Teddy-2 translating) that the factory is actually drilling into his people's community, which is based inside the asteroid. Soon, Jane, Judy, Apollo, Rudy-2, and Astro show up and realize what is happening as well. George is found hog-tied in the Grungees' colony, and although he soon realizes just what the factory is doing, Spacely does not. Seeing his factory at a stand-still, he starts it up (despite that it is the night and after disconnecting Rudy-2, who tries to stop him), nearly burying Elroy and Squeep alive under rubble, and prompting everyone in the asteroid to get top-side, where George manages to shut down the factory and show his boss exactly what he is doing. After some talk, when George finally stands up to his boss, telling him that all he cares about is money, they come to an agreement: the Grungees will run the plant, and create new Spacely sprockets through recycling old ones (thus stopping the further destruction of the Grungees' homes inside the asteroid).

Spacely Sprockets reaches the millionth sprocket at long last, and when George asks about being vice president, Spacely retorts, stating, "he's lucky that he'll be getting his old job back". Only when pressured by everyone else does he reluctantly promote him to vice president (without a raise). However, George knows that with the Grungees now running the plant, he is no longer needed as head of the asteroid. With heavy hearts, the Jetsons then bid their new friends goodbye, including Fergie, who attempted to stow away aboard the Jetsons' car. They then return home to Earth. As the family passes over the factory, the Grungees arrange themselves to form the words "THANKS GEORGE", as a friendly goodbye to him for saving their home.

Santiago, a widowed man visits his wife at the cemetery. Near the location of the filming of a movie, Santiago meets a mysterious woman. She is very pleasant, and talks to him. They exchange gifts, but then upon saying their good-byes, she doesn't tell him her name and he wonders if he'll ever see her again. They bump into each other again and the woman continues to be pleasant and tells him her name is Angelina. Angelina informs him that she has been watching him and saw when he mailed a letter to someone.

Santiago, the widowed man and his daughter often argue, mainly because his daughter is going through a divorce and her father, Santiago prefers she not divorce. Later as the daughter and her husband argue over divorce matters in the presence of their young son, Santiago engages the boy in conversation about snow: that the only time he saw snow was when it was bought to Puerto Rico by plane. Santiago, looks for employment but is interviewed by someone who is obviously not interested in hiring him because of his age.

The third time Santiago and Angelina meet, they listen to traditional guitar music and dance. Following that, they go to a park and row a boat through a waterway. Angelina is always smiling and happy.

Then Santiago's daughter continues to be argumentative. At the airport, she and her father Santiago are talking about her move to New York City for 3 months and that she was planning to leave her son with her husband, Gerard, but her husband has not shown up at the airport. Frustrated, she leaves her son with her father telling the boy to behave and obey his (father). As Santiago is leaving with his sad grandson, the boy's father shows up to take him.

One day while sitting at home, Santiago unexpectedly receives a call on his landline from Angelina. Santiago had never given her his phone number and she explains that she had to call every person in the phone book with his name to find him. They make plans to meet in San Juan. Eddie, Santiago's son, is depressed and tells his father that he has given away his guitar because of his depression. In a pep talk, Santiago tells his son they have to make it, and that they'll travel together because traveling will be therapeutic. Then when Eddie notices the scenic beach painting on his father's wall, the gift from Angelina, and asks him about it, Santiago tells his son that he's very happy because he has met Angelina. However, worried about a lack of information about Angelina, Santiago has secretly hired an investigator to help him learn more about her.

Early the next morning, Santiago and Angelina are at her home, a big, beautiful, Spanish-style home and, upon entering, Santiago finds the home is immaculate, with large majestic windows, and a functioning old phonograph. As the phonograph music plays, Santiago peruses the black-and-white photos around her home. She prepares and they have breakfast while they share more about themselves. She tells him her grandfather fought for Spain in the Spanish-American war, and built the home. In turn, he tells her no one in his family was famous, except maybe his great-aunt who was a bootlegger during prohibition; in summary that he's widowed, and retired after having worked as an accountant for forty years, that he has three children, and is now here with her. They walk through the fields enjoying the day until they get caught in a rainstorm. They change into bathrobes and proceed to her bedroom and she offers him a massage with rubbing alcohol, preferably on the bed. They remove their bathrobes and later, as they lay together, she tells him that he should keep his eyes closed because, were he to open them, he would know that she's a ghost.

They depart after professing their love for each other. Santiago gets lost driving in the rain in the dark while reflecting on the fact that he has seen Angelina's home, and the flowers in her garden before, in his dreams. His car gets stuck in the mud and upon existing his car, he slips down a ravine, but finds the perfect stick to get his car out of the mud. As his son paces back and forth, before a ticking grandfather clock, Santiago finally arrives home and lets him know what happened, explaining that Angelina's house is the most beautiful house on the most spectacular land he's ever seen.

After leaving the hospital for a bout of pneumonia, Santiago is met, at his home, by the investigator who shares surprising information about Angelina's real life. It turns out she had a tragic life and, after hearing it, Santiago says he remembers reading the story in the papers. As a daughter of an important influential family, Lela (Angelina's real name) was forced to give up her baby daughter who'd been born out of wedlock. For this reason, she shot her father, paralyzing him, then she ended up in and out of mental institutions. After hearing the news, Santiago is saddened. In his next visit, he finds her elegantly dressed, as always. Santiago doesn't let Angelina know that he knows the truth about her and they, presumably, continue their relationship.

''The Sea-Wolf'' tells the story of a soft, domesticated protagonist — an intellectual man named Humphrey Van Weyden — forced to become tough and self-reliant by exposure to cruelty and brutality. The story starts with him aboard a San Francisco ferry, called ''Martinez'', which collides with another ship in the fog and sinks. He is set adrift in the Bay, eventually being picked up by Wolf Larsen. Larsen is the captain of a seal-hunting schooner, the ''Ghost''. Brutal and cynical, yet also highly intelligent and intellectual, he rules over his ship and terrorizes the crew with the aid of his exceptionally great physical strength. Van Weyden describes him as individualist, hedonist, and materialist. Larsen does not believe in the immortality of the soul; he finds no meaning in his life save for survival and pleasure, and he has come to despise all human life and deny its value. Being interested in someone capable of intellectual disputes, he somewhat takes care of Van Weyden, whom he calls "Hump", while forcing him to become a cabin boy, do menial work, and learn to fight to protect himself from a brutal crew.

A key event in the story is an attempted mutiny against Wolf Larsen by several members of the crew. The organizers of the mutiny are Leach and Johnson. The two were motivated by previous slights by Wolf Larsen: Johnson had previously been beaten severely by Larsen, and Leach had been punched earlier while being forced to become a boat-puller. The first attempt at mutiny involved sending Larsen overboard; however, he manages to climb back onto the ship. Searching for his assailant, he ventures into the sleeping quarters, located beneath the main deck, the only exit being a ladder. Several, at least seven men, take part in the mutiny and attack Larsen. Larsen however, demonstrating his inhuman endurance and strength, manages to fight his way through the crew, climb the ladder with several men hanging off him, and escape relatively unharmed. Van Weyden is promoted as mate, for the original mate had been murdered. Larsen later gets his vengeance by torturing his crew, and constantly claiming that he is going to murder Leach and Johnson at his earliest convenience. He later allows them to be lost to the sea when they attempt to flee on a hunting boat.

During this section, the ''Ghost'' picks up another set of castaways, including a poet named Maud Brewster. Miss Brewster and van Weyden had known each other previously, but only as writers. Both Wolf Larsen and van Weyden immediately feel attraction to her, due to her intelligence and "female delicacy". Van Weyden sees her as his first true love. He strives to protect her from the crew, the horrors of the sea, and Wolf Larsen. As this happens, Wolf Larsen meets his brother Death Larsen, a bitter opponent of his. Wolf kidnapped several of Death's crew and forced them into servitude to fill his own ranks, lost previously during a storm. During one of Wolf Larsen's intense headaches, which render him near immobile, van Weyden steals a boat and flees with Miss Brewster.

The two eventually land on an uninhabited island, heavily populated with seals. They hunt, build shelter and a fire, and survive for several days, using the strength they gained while on the ''Ghost''. The ''Ghost'' eventually crashes on the island, with Wolf Larsen the only crew member. As a revenge, Death Larsen had tracked his brother, bribed his crew, destroyed the rigging of the sails, and set Larsen adrift at sea. It is purely by chance that van Weyden and Miss Brewster meet Larsen again.

Van Weyden obtains all of the weapons including firearms left on the ship, but he cannot bear to murder Larsen, who does not threaten him. Van Weyden and Miss Brewster decide they can repair the ship, but Larsen, who intends to die on the island and take them with him, sabotages any repairs they make. After a headache, Larsen is rendered blind. He feigns paralysis and attempts to murder van Weyden when he draws within arm's reach but just then has a stroke that leaves him blind and the right side of his body paralyzed. His condition only worsens; he loses usage of his remaining arm, leg, and voice. Miss Brewster and van Weyden, unable to bring themselves to leave him to rot, care for him. Despite this kindness, he continues his resistance even in his ailing state, setting fire to the mattress of the bunk above him.

Van Weyden finishes repairing the ''Ghost'', and he and Miss Brewster set sail. During a violent storm, Wolf Larsen dies. They give Larsen a burial at sea, an act mirroring an incident van Weyden witnessed when he was first rescued. The story ends with the two being rescued by an American revenue cutter.

In August 1949, in the South African village of Ndotsheni (The song "The Hills of Ixopo" is sung at this point.), the black Anglican priest of St. Mark's Church, the Rev. Stephen Kumalo, learns from a letter from his brother (John Kumalo, who lives in Johannesburg) that their sister is in trouble. Stephen decides to travel to Johannesburg to help his sister; he will also seek his son, Absalom, who works in the mines ("Thousands of Miles"). In Johannesburg, Stephen learns that his sister will not leave but she asks him to take care of her young son, Alex.

He finally locates his son Absalom, who had been in jail. Absalom now plans with his friends to steal, so they can get enough money to avoid a life in the gold mines. Absalom's pregnant girlfriend Irina tries to convince him not to take part, but he goes ahead with his plan ("Trouble Man"). During the robbery, Absalom kills Arthur Jarvis, a white friend of his father, Stephen. As Absalom is jailed, Stephen wonders how to tell his wife, Grace, and he realizes he is facing a crisis of faith ("Lost in the Stars").

Stephen knows that his son could either tell a lie and live or tell the truth and die. He prays for guidance ("O Tixo, Tixo, Help Me"). At the trial, Absalom's two friends lie to the court and are freed, but Absalom, truly repentant, tells the truth and is sentenced to hang ("Cry, the Beloved Country"). Stephen performs a wedding between Absalom and Irina in prison and then returns home to Ndotsheni with Irina and Alex. Alex and the child of Arthur Jarvis meet and start to become friends ("Big Mole"). Stephen tells his flock he can no longer be their minister, and their faith is now also shaken ("A Bird of Passage").

On the still-dark morning of the execution, Stephen waits alone for the clock to strike ("Four O'Clock"). Unexpectedly, the father of the murdered man pays him a visit. He tells Stephen that he has realized that they have both lost sons. Out of recognition of their mutual sorrow, and despite their different races, he offers his friendship, and Stephen accepts.

The story begins with Aylward (Ingrid Bergman) being rejected as a potential missionary to China because of her lack of education. Dr. Robinson (Moultrie Kelsall), the senior missionary, feels sorry for her and secures her a position in the home Sir Francis Jamison (Ronald Squire), a veteran explorer with contacts in China. Over the next few months, Aylward saves her money to purchase a ticket on the Trans-Siberian Railway, choosing the more dangerous overland route to the East because it is less expensive. Sir Francis writes to his only surviving friend in China, veteran missionary, Jeannie Lawson (Athene Seyler), who agrees to accept Gladys as a much-needed assistant at her mission in the remote county of Yangcheng. Lawson has set up an inn for muleteers, where the men can get clean food for their animals, communal beds without bugs, a good hot meal and Lawson's free stories (from the Bible). The film follows Aylward's acculturation, until tragedy strikes and Lawson dies when a balcony collapses. Captain Lin (Curt Jürgens), the commander of Yancheng's garrison, advises Aylward to go home and wishes her well as he leaves.

Aylward takes over running the inn, with the help of Yang (Peter Chong), the devoted cook, who tells the stories himself while teaching Aylward Chinese. The local Mandarin (Robert Donat) appoints Aylward as his Foot Inspector, charging her with enforcing the government's command that the ancient practice of foot binding be eradicated. She succeeds in this assignment, winning the esteem of the people and of the Mandarin as she travels regularly through the mountains, earning the nickname “She who loves” and becoming a Chinese citizen. When, Lin, now a Colonel, returns to prepare the region for war with Japan, she has just stopped a prison riot. Lin goes with her on her rounds. Before he leaves, they confess their love.

Japan invades China. An air raid shatters the city, killing Yang. The Mandarin sends the people into countryside, and Li (Bert Kwouk) a former prisoner, comes to help Aylward with her five adopted children.

Later, Lin returns with the news that the war is going badly and the Mandarin must go to a safe haven. Lin wants her to go too, but she says “These are my people and I will live and die for them.” They kiss. At a last meeting with his council, the Mandarin announces that he is converting to Christianity to honour Aylward and the faith that underlies her work. He says farewell: They will not meet again.

War rages. In the virtually deserted city, Aylward has gathered 50 children at the Inn, struggling to find food, facing a bitter winter, and not knowing where to go. Another 50 children arrive from another mission with a letter from the missionary telling her that trucks will evacuate them to a new home in the interior, but they must get to the mission at Seeyan by November 12, in three weeks, or the trucks will leave without them. The trip should take a week by road, but Lin and his men intercept them and warn her that the Japanese control the road ahead. They must go over the mountains. She believes this is why God wanted her to come to China. Li gives her a map. Saying, “I know you'll come back if you can,” he puts a ring on her hand.

After a long, difficult journey, including a perilous river crossing, they all arrive safely (except for Li, who dies to save them from a Japanese patrol) on the day the trucks are to leave. The film culminates with the column of children, led by Aylward, marching through cheering crowds and up to the steps of the mission, singing the song "This Old Man”, which Aylward taught the children to warm themselves after the river crossing. Aylward is greeted by Dr. Robinson. She asks if he remembers her: “My name used to be Gladys Aylward.” He nods gravely and replies, “Yes, I remember. Gladys Aylward, who wasn't qualified to come to China.” He invites her to come to the children's village in the interior, but she declines: “I am going home,” she says, looking back toward the mountains.

As with later Gibson works, there are multiple story-line threads that eventually intertwine:

'''Thread One''': In the southwestern US, Turner, a corporate mercenary soldier, has been hired by former partner Conroy to help Christopher Mitchell, a brilliant researcher and bio-hacker, make an illegal career move from Maas' corporate fortress built into a mesa in the Arizona desert to Hosaka, a rival corporation. The attempt is a disaster, and Turner ends up escaping with the scientist's young daughter, Angie Mitchell, instead. She carries the plans, implanted in her brain by her father, of the secrets of the construction of the extremely valuable "biosoft" that has made Maas so influential and powerful. This "biosoft" is what multibillionaire Josef Virek (see thread three) desires above all else so that he can make an evolutionary jump to something resembling omniscience and immortality. During their flight from both Maas and Hosaka agents, Turner and Angie stay with Rudy, the former's estranged brother, and Sally, his partner and caretaker. Rudy identifies a device implanted in Angie's skull: her father had apparently altered her nervous system to allow her to access the Cyberspace Matrix directly, without a "deck" (a computer with an interface directly into the user's brain), but she is not conscious of this. During their stay, Turner has a one-night stand with Sally and then leaves for the Sprawl with Angie where he meets with Bobby's group in a shopping mall besieged by agents of Maas and Conroy.

'''Thread Two''': In Barrytown, New Jersey a young amateur computer hacker, Bobby Newmark, self-named "Count Zero", is given a piece of black market software by some criminal associates "to test". When he plugs himself into the matrix and runs the program, it almost kills him. The only thing that saves his life is a sudden image of a girl made of light who interferes and unhooks him from the software just before he flatlines. After fleeing his house (which is immediately thereafter destroyed) he meets Lucas, Beauvoir, and Jackie, a group fascinated by and dedicated to the recent appearance of voodoo deities in Cyberspace, who take him into their protection as they are collectively targeted by various corporate agents. It is eventually revealed that Bobby's mysterious savior is Angie (see Thread One); the two only meet physically at the very end of the book.

'''Thread Three''': Marly Krushkova, the former owner of a Paris art gallery whose reputation was destroyed when she was tricked into trying to sell a forgery, is recruited by ultra-rich, reclusive art patron Josef Virek to find the unknown creator of a series of futuristic collage boxes styled after the work of Joseph Cornell. Unbeknownst to her, the reason behind Virek's interest in these boxes is related to indications of biosoft construction in the design of one, which he suspects may be contained in the others.

These plotlines come together at the end of the story. Virek—the hunter of immortality and unlimited power—becomes the hunted. It is hinted that multiple AIs inhabiting cyberspace are the fragmented, compartmentalized remains of two AIs, Neuromancer and Wintermute (introduced in the first book of Gibson's Sprawl series, ''Neuromancer''), having joined together. The AIs were designed by the head of a multi-generational techno-oligarchical family, the Tessier-Ashpools. These AI units now interface with humanity in the form of different Haitian voodoo gods, as they have found these constructs to be the best representations of themselves for communicating. Hackers worldwide are becoming aware that there is something weird loose in the cyberspace matrix, but most are reluctant to talk about (or deal with) "voodoo spooks" supposedly haunting cyberspace. The "voodoo gods" gave Mitchell the information to develop the biosoft, instructing him to insert a biosoft modification in his daughter's brain, and then sent the Cornell boxes into the world to attract and enable the disposal of the malicious Virek.

A pair of epilogue chapters resolve the fates of the protagonists, until ''Mona Lisa Overdrive''. Angie has attained celebrity status as a simstim star, and has entered a relationship with Bobby who is employed as her 'bodyguard'. Marly has returned to Paris and now curates one of the largest art galleries in the city. Turner has returned to his childhood home (the same one occupied by Rudy and Sally earlier in the book) to raise the child conceived during his affair with Sally; Rudy was killed by Conroy's agents when they were trailing Turner and Angie.

The Cyberspace Matrix, a synergistically linked computer network of databases that encompasses all information on Earth, has become home to sentient beings. But most of humanity remains unaware.

Taking place eight years after the events of ''Count Zero'' and fifteen years after ''Neuromancer'', the story is formed from several interconnecting plot threads, and also features characters from Gibson's previous works (such as Molly Millions, the razor-fingered mercenary from ''Neuromancer'').

'''Thread one''': concerns Mona, a teen prostitute who has a more-than-passing resemblance to famed Simstim superstar Angie Mitchell. Mona is hired by shady individuals for a "gig" which later turns out to be part of a plot to abduct Angie.

'''Thread two''': focuses on a young Japanese girl named Kumiko, daughter of a Yakuza boss sent to London to keep her safe while her father engages in a gang war with other top Yakuza leaders. In London, she is cared for by one of her father's retainers, who is also a powerful member of the London Mob. She meets Molly Millions (having altered her appearance and now calling herself "Sally Shears", in order to conceal her identity from hostile parties who are implied to be pursuing her), who takes the girl under her wing.

'''Thread three''': follows a reclusive artist named Slick Henry, who lives in a place named Factory in the Dog Solitude; a large, poisoned expanse of deserted factories and dumps, probably in southern New Jersey. Slick Henry is a convicted car thief whose punishment consisted of having his short-term memory erased every five minutes, leading to continuous confusion and dissociation. Following the end of his sentence, he spends his days creating large robotic sculptures and periodically suffers episodes of time loss, returning to consciousness afterward with no memory of what he did during the blackout. He is hired by an acquaintance to look after the comatose "Count" (Bobby Newmark from the second novel, ''Count Zero'', who has hooked himself into a super-capacity cyber-harddrive called an Aleph). A theoretical "Aleph" would have the RAM capacity to literally contain all of reality, enough that a memory construct of a person would contain the complete personality of the individual and allow it to learn, grow and act independently.

The final plotline follows Angela Mitchell, famous simstim star, and the girl from the second Sprawl novel ''Count Zero''. Angie, thanks to brain manipulations by her father when she was a child, has always had the ability to access cyberspace directly (without a cyberspace deck), but drugs provided by her production company Sense/Net have severely impeded this ability.

The plot culminates when Angie and Bobby "upload" their consciousness into the Aleph, on the verge of visiting an alien artificial intelligence apparently found on a planet orbiting Centauri. Mona takes Angie's place as a simstim star following forced cosmetic surgery to make Mona look identical to Angie.

Craig Schwartz is an unemployed puppeteer in New York City, in a forlorn marriage with his pet-obsessed wife, Lotte. He finds work as a file clerk for the eccentric Dr. Lester in the Mertin-Flemmer building, on a floor between the 7th and 8th, where the ceiling is very low. He develops an attraction to co-worker Maxine Lund, who does not return his affections. While filing, Craig discovers a small hidden door. He crawls through it into a tunnel and finds himself inside the mind of actor John Malkovich. After about 15 minutes, Craig is ejected, landing on the side of the New Jersey Turnpike. He tells Maxine about the door, and she realizes they can sell the experience for profit.

Lotte enters the portal and becomes obsessed, saying that the experience awakens her transgender identity. She and Craig visit Dr. Lester's home, where Lotte finds a room filled with Malkovich memorabilia. Maxine arranges a date with Malkovich while he is inhabited by Lotte, who becomes smitten with Maxine. She reciprocates, but only when Lotte is inside Malkovich; Maxine manipulates him into having sex with her while Lotte is in his mind. Craig, forsaken by both women, locks Lotte in a cage and forces her to set up another tryst with Maxine. He inhabits Malkovich instead and discovers that his puppeteering skills allow him some control over him.

Disturbed by his loss of control, Malkovich confides in his friend Charlie Sheen and becomes suspicious of Maxine. He follows her to the office, where she and Craig charge customers to use the portal. Entering it, Malkovich finds himself in a world where everyone looks like him and says only "Malkovich." After he is ejected, he demands that Craig close the portal, but Craig refuses. Lotte is freed by her pet chimpanzee and warns Maxine that Craig is inhabiting Malkovich, but Maxine is more attracted to Craig's ability to control him.

Lotte confronts Dr. Lester, who reveals that he is, in fact, Captain Mertin; having discovered the portal to a "vessel body" in the late 1800s, he erected the Mertin-Flemmer building to conceal it. He has obtained immortality by moving from one body to the next, which becomes "ripe" on the host's 44th birthday, allowing him to take possession. If he enters the portal past midnight on that day, he will instead be trapped in the next newborn vessel, helpless inside the new host's mind. Lester and a group of friends plan to occupy Malkovich once he turns 44, and Lotte warns them that Craig has taken control.

Craig discovers he can occupy Malkovich indefinitely. Inhabiting him over the next eight months, he makes Malkovich into a world-class puppeteer and marries Maxine, who becomes pregnant. On Malkovich's 44th birthday, Lester and Lotte kidnap Maxine. They call to demand that Craig leave Malkovich, threatening to kill Maxine, but he hangs up. In desperation, Lotte attempts to shoot Maxine, who escapes into the portal. Lotte pursues her through Malkovich's subconscious before they are both ejected. Maxine confesses that she kept her unborn child because it was conceived while Lotte was in Malkovich's mind, and the women cement their love for each other.

Craig, believing Maxine is still in danger, leaves Malkovich's mind, allowing Lester and his friends to enter. Discovering that Maxine has discarded him for Lotte, Craig swears to reenter the portal to take back Malkovich's mind. Seven years later, an elderly Malkovich, now a system, tells Sheen about their plan to extend their lives via the portal, which now leads to the mind of Emily, Maxine's daughter. Craig, who entered the portal too late, is permanently trapped inside Emily, forced to watch Lotte and Maxine live happily together.

In the year 2017, the United States has fragmented into post-apocalyptic wastelands with a few civilized areas. An ongoing economic crisis has led to the recycling of aging 20th-century mechanical and technological equipment. Society has also become averse to intimacy, as well as both increasingly hypersexualized and bureaucratic. Robotic technology has produced Gynoids as substitutes for wives. The declining instances of actual sex among men and women is litigious, with one brothel having lawyers draft up contracts detailing the intended sexual rendezvous.

Business executive Sam Treadwell (David Andrews) owns a Cherry 2000 model as his wife. After she short circuits during sex on a wet kitchen floor, Sam is told by a repairman that she is damaged beyond repair, though her rare and valuable memory disk, which contains her entire personality, can be used in a new body if the same model can be found. A Gynoid dealer tells Sam that the Cherry 2000 model is no longer produced and that the only remaining ones are in a defunct warehouse in "Zone 7," a particularly dangerous, lawless area. With Cherry's memory disk stored in a device that plays back Cherry's voice, Sam hires Edith "E" Johnson (Melanie Griffith), a tough tracker, to guide him to the factory. They set off in Edith's heavily modified 1965 Ford Mustang.

Entering Zone 7, they encounter Lester (Tim Thomerson), a wasteland overlord with deranged subordinates. Edith and Sam take refuge in an underground reservoir occupied by Six-Fingered Jake (Ben Johnson), an elderly tracker who was Edith's mentor. When Lester's men attack, the three attempt to escape, but Sam is knocked unconscious and taken to a 1950s-styled motel/village. Ginger (Cameron Milzer), one of Lester's gang, reveals herself as Sam's ex-girlfriend, previously known as Elaine. Lester decides to induct Sam into the group, and Sam, believing that Edith and Jake are dead, goes along for a while. When he witnesses the group sadistically murdering a tracker, Sam decides to escape and runs into Edith and Jake, still quite alive. Jake, who had earlier led Sam to believe that the Cherry 2000 memory disk had been lost, still has it and gives it to Edith while he stays behind to draw off Lester's gang.

Sam, a veteran of earlier wars, shows that he is a capable fighter, and Edith begins to have feelings for him. Sam's own growing feelings toward Edith, though, are derailed when he hears Cherry's voice accidentally play on the audio device. Continuing to work their way to the Gynoid warehouse, they arrive at a brothel/gas station owned by Snappy Tom (Harry Carey, Jr.), a friend of Jake's, where a dilapidated Aeronca Champion light airplane is stored. Edith repairs the plane using parts from the Mustang. Jake catches up with the group and reminisces with Snappy Tom, but Snappy's live-in girlfriend (Jennifer Mayo) betrays their location to Lester over the radio and shoots Jake in the back. Edith and Sam manage to escape in the plane.

Sam is almost ready to abandon the quest, but Edith is determined to complete her job as a tracker so Jake's death will not become meaningless. As they land, Zone 7 is revealed to be actually the abandoned ruins of Las Vegas and the Gynoid "warehouse" is actually a casino. Sam finally finds a functional Cherry 2000 model (Pamela Gidley) and activates her with the memory disk; however, being programmed only for home life and sex, the robot is incapable of adapting to the current dangerous situation when Lester and his gang attack.

In an extended battle, Sam, Edith, and Cherry climb aboard the airplane, but their combined weight prevents takeoff. Edith jumps out so that Sam and the robot can escape, but Sam realizes that Cherry cannot provide the human interaction that he and Edith have had and turns the plane around. Cherry, programmed to fulfill Sam's wishes, offers to bring him a Pepsi, so he sends her away as he and Edith fight off Lester's gang and take off in the plane. When Lester tries to lasso the plane, he gets caught in the rope and hangs himself from one of the ancient Las Vegas neon casino signs. Edith and Sam kiss as they fly away into the sunset.

Cinderella's stepmother has the village in a frenzy preparing for the arrival of the king and queen, who will be stopping en route to their nearby castle. Cinderella takes the blame for a kitchen boy's accident, prompting her stepmother to berate her as well as her late father. The angered Cinderella snaps back at her, for which she is punished by having to separate lentils and ashes mixed together in a bucket. As she settles down to work, her friends, a flock of white doves, come in to separate the mixture for her. Freed of her punishment, Cinderella visits the stable to see her white horse, which she used to ride in the forest with her father as they hunted with crossbows. A lookout cries that the royal party approaches and everyone gathers to greet them, except Cinderella, who is forbidden to attend as the Stepmother wants to showcase her own less attractive daughter, Dora, since the Prince is expected to marry soon.

Cinderella uses the distraction to slip away with her horse, visit her pet owl and enjoy the wintry forest. Her ride is cut short as she happens upon the Prince and his companions, Vítek and Kamil, hunting in the forest. They spot a doe struggling in the snow, but the Prince's crossbow shot is foiled by a snowball thrown by Cinderella. They give chase and finally catch up with her, laughing at her as an impudent child. She insults the prince, escapes and mounts the prince's horse, Dapples. They chase her with renewed urgency since Dapples has a reputation of being unmanageable. To their surprise, she rides him easily before transferring to her own horse and sending Dapples back to the Prince.

The Stepmother uses the royal visit to wrangle an invitation to the ball from the King, who reluctantly offers it out of politeness. On their way to the castle, they're joined by the Prince's party. The King, annoyed by his son's youthful irresponsibility, says the Prince must get married.

The Stepmother sends Vincek the servant to town to purchase fabrics and supplies to make new dresses for her and Dora. On his way, he sees Cinderella forced to wash laundry in an icy stream. Feeling sympathetic but helpless, he promises to bring her a gift of whatever hits him on the nose. After hearing his father's plans to force him to become engaged at the ball, the Prince heads back to the woods. He sees Vincek asleep in his sled, the horses drawing it home. Using his crossbow, he mischievously shoots a bird's nest from a tree branch, which falls on Vincek's face. Vincek finds a twig with three hazelnuts in the nest and decides that will be Cinderella's gift. Cinderella likes the present although her stepmother derides it as "fit for a squirrel."

The Stepmother and Dora realize they had forgotten to get new jewellery and go to town to choose it themselves. The Stepmother punishes Cinderella for impertinence again by forcing her to separate corn kernels from lentils. Once again, the doves enter to help Cinderella. She visits her owl, wishing she had the same freedom to come and go. She wished she had a disguise so she could venture out. One hazelnut drops from the twig and magically opens to show a complete hunter's outfit within. Suitably clothed, Cinderella goes into the woods, where she sees the Prince and a large hunting party. The lead huntsman shows a large, bejeweled ring that the King promises to the first hunter to shoot down a bird of prey. The hunters, including the Prince, are unable to do so. Cinderella shoots it down, then shoots the arrow from the Prince's hand. He's impressed by the "young huntsman" and puts the ring on Cinderella's gloved hand. He asks her to do better by shooting a pine cone from the top of a tree. She does then slips away as he marvels at her marksmanship. Chasing after her, he finds her high in a tree in her own clothes, refusing to tell where the "young huntsman" went.

The Stepmother and Dora leave for the castle ball. Visiting her owl, Cinderella wishes she could go then wonders if she could get another outfit. A second hazelnut opens to reveal a lavish ball gown. Her horse is mysteriously saddled with an ornate sidesaddle. Riding to the castle, she makes her way to the ballroom, turning heads all along the way. Donning a veil, she greets the Prince, who was tired of being pursued by the female guests. He finds the veiled stranger mysterious and charming. The King and Queen are amazed at his softened manner. She refuses to accept his proposal unless he can solve a riddle, which referenced their earlier meetings. She runs out and the Prince gives chase, following her back to her walled village. The villagers first mock the handsome stranger for seeking a beautiful princess in their midst then realize who he is. He has the women try on the slipper Cinderella had lost. The Stepmother and Dora return. Seeing the Prince, they scheme to snare him, tying up Cinderella and stealing her clothing. When he asks that the disguised Dora try on the slipper, the Stepmother snatches it and they ride away in a sled. The Prince chases until the sled falls into a small pond. Seeing that it's actually Dora, he takes the slipper and returns to the village.

Cinderella visits her owl again. She's ecstatic to find that the final nut contains a wedding dress. Donning it, she rides out on her horse, surprising the village and the Prince. The slipper fits and she wants to return the King-of-the-Hunt ring, but he slips it back on her finger. She offers the riddle again and the Prince remembers his encounters with her alter egos. He proposes to Cinderella, who wordlessly accepts, with the entire village cheering for her.

A young Dutch couple, Rex and Saskia, are on holiday in France. As they drive, Saskia shares a recurring dream in which she is drifting through space in a golden egg. In the most recent dream, another egg containing another person appeared; she feels the collision of the two eggs would signify the end of something.

Their car runs out of petrol and they stop at a rest area, where a man in another car dons a false sling and orthopedic cast. Rex promises to never abandon Saskia and they bury two coins at the base of a tree as a symbol of their romance. Saskia enters the petrol station to buy drinks and does not return. Rex frantically searches for her.

Some time earlier, Raymond, a wealthy family man, secretly plots to abduct a woman. He buys an isolated house, experiments with chloroform, and rehearses methods of enticing women into his car. When his initial attempts at abduction fail, he poses as an injured motorist in need of assistance and goes to the rest area out of town, where he will not be recognised.

Three years after Saskia's disappearance, Rex is still searching for her. He has received several postcards inviting him to meet the kidnapper at a cafe in Nîmes, but the kidnapper never comes. Unknown to Rex, the cafe is directly opposite Raymond's apartment, where he watches Rex wait. Rex's new girlfriend, Lieneke, reluctantly helps him search for Saskia. One day, Rex has a dream similar to Saskia's in which he is trapped in a golden egg. Unable to endure his obsession, Lieneke leaves him.

Rex makes a public appeal on television, saying he only wants to know the truth about what happened to Saskia. Raymond confronts Rex and admits to the kidnapping; he says he will reveal what happened to her if Rex comes with him. As they drive, Raymond says he has known from a young age that he has no conscience, and is therefore capable of anything. After saving a young girl from drowning, he resolved to commit the worst crime he could imagine in order to test if he was worthy of his daughter's admiration; in his view, one can only be a truly good person if one is capable of doing something evil, but chooses not to do it. He describes how he kidnapped Saskia at the rest stop by posing as a traveling salesman and enticing her into his car.

Raymond takes Rex to the rest area. He dismisses Rex's threats of police action, saying there is no evidence connecting him to the crime. Pouring a cup of drugged coffee, Raymond tells Rex the only way to learn what happened to Saskia is to experience it himself. As Raymond waits in the car, Rex rages, unsure of what to do. After digging up the coins he and Saskia buried years earlier, he drinks the coffee and awakens buried in a box underground.

On a sunny day, Raymond relaxes at his country home, surrounded by his wife and children. A newspaper sitting in his car features a headline about the double disappearance of Saskia and Rex.

Edward Jessup, a Columbia University psychopathologist, is studying schizophrenia, and begins to think that "our other states of consciousness are as real as our waking states." He begins experimenting with sensory deprivation using a flotation tank, aided by two like-minded researchers, Arthur Rosenberg and Mason Parrish. At a faculty party, he meets fellow "whiz kid," and his future wife, Emily.

Seven years later, Edward and Emily have two daughters, are on the brink of divorce, and reunite with the couple who first introduced them. When Edward hears of the Hinchi tribe whose members experience shared hallucinatory states, he travels to Mexico to participate in their ceremony. During the climb up into the Hinchi hill country (a plateau covered in spectacular mushroom-shaped ventifacts) Edward is told by his guide, Eduardo Echeverria, that the Hinchi use in their ceremonies a potion containing the sacred mushroom ''Amanita muscaria'' and the shrub ''Sinicuiche'' (''Heimia salicifolia''), which they are collecting for next year's ceremonies. The tribe calls ''Heimia salicifolia'' by a Hinchi name meaning "first/primordial flower" in recognition of the deep memory states which it can evoke. An indigenous elder ("the brujo") is seen with a root (presumably intended to be a Heimia root) in his hand, which he asks Edward to hold, before cutting it in order to add some drops of blood to the mixture he is preparing. Immediately after consuming the mixture, Edward experiences bizarre, intense hallucinations, including one of the petrifaction and subsequent erosion by blown sand of Emily and himself. The following morning, Edward leaves the Hinchi plateau under a cloud, having killed, while in his intoxicated state, a large specimen of the Hinchi's sacred monitor lizard (which a petroglyph shown in the dream sequence shows that they believe to have given them the sacred mushroom in the mythic past). He returns to the U.S. with a sample of the Hinchi potion for analysis by his colleagues and further self-experimentation, and continues taking it in order to take his exploration of altered states of consciousness to a new and higher level.

When toxic concentrations of the substance make increased dosage dangerous, Edward returns to sensory deprivation, believing it will enhance the effects of the substance at his current dose. Repairing a disused tank in a medical school, Edward uses it to experience a series of increasingly drastic visions, including one of early Hominidae. Monitored by his colleagues, Edward insists that his visions have "externalized". Emerging from the tank, his mouth bloody, frantically writing notes because he is unable to speak, Edward insists on being X-rayed before he "reconstitutes." A radiologist inspecting the X-rays says they belong to a gorilla.

In later experiments, Edward experiences actual, physical biological devolution. At one stage he emerges from the isolation tank as a feral and curiously small-statured, light-skinned caveman, going on a rampage through some streets in town before returning to his natural form. Despite his colleagues' concern, Edward stubbornly continues. In the final experiment, Edward experiences a more profound regression, transforming into an amorphous mass of conscious, primordial matter. An energy wave released from the experiment stuns Edward's colleagues and destroys his tank. Emily arrives to find a swirling maelstrom where the tank had been. She searches into the vortex for Edward, finding him as he is on the brink of becoming a non-physical form of proto-consciousness and possibly disappearing from our version of reality altogether.

His friends bring Edward home, hoping that the transformations will end. Watched over by Emily, Edward begins to uncontrollably regress again, the transformations no longer requiring the intake of "first flower" or sensory deprivation. Urging Edward to fight the change, Emily grabs his hand, immediately being enveloped by the primordial energy emanating from Edward. The sight of Emily apparently being consumed by the energy stirs the human consciousness in Edward's devolving form. He fights the transformation and returns to his human form. Edward embraces Emily, as she returns to normal.

''Tehanu'' begins slightly before the conclusion of the previous book in the series, ''The Farthest Shore'', and provides some information about the life of Tenar after the end of ''The Tombs of Atuan''. She had rejected the option of life in aristocratic Havnor, and instead arrived on Gont. For some time she lived with Ged's old master, the mage Ogion – but though fond of him, rejected Ogion's offer to teach her magic. Instead, she married a farmer called Flint with whom she had two children, called Apple and Spark, and became known to the locals as Goha. It is mentioned that Ged was a bit disappointed in – and did not understand – Tenar's choice of a life.

At the book's outset her husband is now dead and her children grown up. Tenar lives on her own at Flint's property – Oak Farm – and is lonely and uncertain of her identity. She is brought a severely injured child, born of wandering vagabonds; the child's natural father had pushed her into a campfire and left her for dead. Tenar helps to save the child's life, but the child is left with one side of her face permanently scarred and the fingers of one hand fused into a claw. Tenar adopts her and gives the child the use name Therru, which means "flame" in Tenar's native Kargish language.

Tenar learns that Ogion is on his deathbed and has asked to see her. She sets out to visit him at his house outside the town of Re Albi, taking Therru with her. On the way, she encounters a group of ruffians, one of whom is Handy, who was involved in the original attempt on Therru's life, and claims to be her uncle. She stays with Ogion, tending to him in his last days. He instructs her to teach Therru, but his instructions are vague, and hint at her being more than she seems. After his death, she stays on at his cottage, assisted by a local witch called Moss and a simple village girl called Heather. A few days after Ogion's death, Ged (also called Sparrowhawk) arrives on the back of the dragon Kalessin, unconscious and near death. Ged – once the Archmage of Roke – has spent all his wizard's powers in sealing the gap between the worlds of the living and the dead created by the evil wizard Cob. She nurses him back to health, but when the new king Lebannen sends envoys to bring him back to Havnor for the coronation, Ged cannot face them. He accepts Tenar's offer to return to Oak Farm to manage things there in her absence and once more takes up life as a goatherd. While at Re Albi, Tenar is confronted by the local lord's wicked mage, Aspen, who attempts to put a curse on her, but is initially thwarted.

Tenar informs the king's men that she cannot reveal Ged's whereabouts, and they accept the situation and depart. Tenar is initially unsure whether to stay or leave Re Albi, but when she is threatened by both Aspen and Handy, she flees with Therru. Her mind confused by Aspen's magic, she is almost overtaken by Handy, but manages to escape to Gont Port, taking refuge in the ship of the king himself. Lebannen takes Tenar and Therru to Valmouth, where Tenar eventually returns to Oak Farm to find that Ged is away tending goats in the mountains for the season. Tenar settles back into life on the farm, until one night when Handy and a group of men attempt to break into the house. They are driven off by Ged, who followed them on their way toward the farm and nearly kills one of them with a pitchfork. Tenar and Ged begin a relationship, acknowledging that they had always loved each other. Ged wants nothing more than to settle down and live an ordinary life, far from the concerns of an Archmage. Together, they teach and care for Therru and manage the farm. The order is upset, however, when Tenar's son Spark returns home suddenly from a life as a sailor and tells her he wishes to run the farm. Under Gontish law Oak Farm belongs to him and Tenar has no claim to it.

Tenar receives word that Moss is dying and wants to see her. She, Ged and Therru leave immediately for Re Albi. However, the message was a trap set by Aspen, who reveals himself to be a follower of the defeated wizard Cob. Tenar and Ged are led to the lord's mansion controlled by Aspen's magic. Therru runs to the cliff behind Ogion's cottage, where she calls to the dragon Kalessin for help, and reveals her true nature: she is in fact "a double being, half human, half-dragon". Aspen and his followers bring both Tenar and Ged up to the clifftop. Under the influence of Aspen's spell, they are both just about to jump to their deaths when the dragon Kalessin arrives, subsequently burning Aspen and his men. Kalessin addresses Therru by her true name Tehanu, calling her its own daughter, and asks her if she would like to leave with it, but she decides for now that she will stay with Tenar and Ged. The novel ends with all three of them settling down to a simple life of farming and goat keeping at Ogion's old cottage.

Four friends, recent college graduates, live together in Houston, Texas. Coffee-house guitarist Troy Dyer and budding filmmaker Lelaina Pierce are attracted to each other, although they have not acted on their feelings except for one brief, drunken encounter years ago.

Troy is floundering, having lost several minimum-wage jobs—the last of which he loses for stealing a candy bar from his employer. Lelaina was valedictorian of her university and has aspirations to become a documentarian, although initially has to settle for a position as production assistant to a rude and obnoxious TV host.

Lelaina meets Michael Grates when throwing a lit cigarette into his convertible causes him to crash into her car. They soon begin to date. He works as an executive at an MTV-like channel called In Your Face, and after seeing a documentary she has been working on, wants to get it aired on his network.

Lelaina's roommate Vickie has a series of one-night stands and short relationships with dozens of men; her promiscuity leads her to face a very real risk of contracting HIV after a former fling tests positive for the virus. Working as a sales associate for The Gap, Vickie is later promoted to manager and is content with her new job. Her friend Sammy Gray is gay; he remains celibate, not due to a fear of AIDS, but because forming a relationship would force him to come out to his conservative parents.

After an impulsive act of retribution, Lelaina loses her job, which causes some tension with her roommates. Eventually, Vickie's HIV test comes back negative and Sammy comes out to his parents (and he even starts dating) and the two manage to resume their lives.

Meanwhile, Lelaina's relationship with Michael dissolves after he helps her sell the documentary to his network, only to let them edit it into a stylized montage that compromises her artistic vision. Lelaina and Troy have a heart-to-heart which leads to them sleeping together and confessing their feelings. The morning after, he avoids her, and after a messy confrontation, leaves town. When Troy's father dies, it forces him to reevaluate his life, deciding to attempt a relationship with Lelaina.

Troy and Lelaina reunite and make amends once he returns from his father's funeral in Chicago. While we do not see what happens to Michael, during the credits there is an abrupt break where two characters, "Elaina" and "Roy", who are obvious parodies of Lelaina and Troy, have an argument about their relationship. As the "show's" credits roll, Michael's name is revealed as the creator, implying that he has turned the relationship between Lelaina and Troy into the subject of a new show on his network.

In Edwardian England, Louis D'Ascoyne Mazzini, 10th Duke of Chalfont, is in prison, awaiting his hanging for murder the following morning. As he writes his memoirs, the events of his life are shown in flashback.

His mother, the youngest daughter of the 7th Duke of Chalfont, eloped with an Italian opera singer named Mazzini and was disowned by her family for marrying beneath her station. The Mazzinis were poor but happy until Mazzini died shortly after Louis, his son, had been born. In the aftermath, Louis's widowed mother raises him on the history of her family and tells him how, unlike most other peerages, the dukedom of Chalfont can descend through female heirs. Louis's only childhood friends are Sibella and her brother, the children of a local doctor.

When Louis leaves school, his mother writes to her kinsman Lord Ascoyne D'Ascoyne, a private banker, for assistance in launching her son in a career, but is rebuffed. Louis is forced to work as an assistant in a draper's shop. When his mother dies, her last request, to be interred in the family burial vault at Chalfont Castle, is denied. Louis proposes marriage to Sibella, but she ridicules his proposal, and instead, marries Lionel Holland, a former school friend of her brother who has a rich father. Soon after this, in the draper's shop Louis quarrels with a customer, Ascoyne D'Ascoyne, the banker's only child, who has him dismissed from his job.

Louis resolves to kill Ascoyne D'Ascoyne and the other seven people ahead of him in succession to the dukedom. After arranging a fatal boating accident for Ascoyne D'Ascoyne and his mistress, Louis writes a letter of condolence to his victim's father, Lord Ascoyne D'Ascoyne, who employs him as a clerk. Upon his later promotion, Louis takes a bachelor flat in St James's, London, for assignations with Sibella.

Louis next targets Henry D'Ascoyne, a keen amateur photographer. He meets Henry and is charmed by his wife, Edith. He substitutes petrol for paraffin in the lamp of Henry's darkroom, with fatal results. Louis decides the widow is fit to be his duchess. The Reverend Lord Henry D'Ascoyne is the next victim. Posing as the Anglican Bishop of Matabeleland, Louis poisons Lord Henry’s after-dinner port. From the window of his flat, Louis then uses a bow and arrow to shoot down the balloon from which the suffragette Lady Agatha D'Ascoyne is dropping leaflets over London. Louis next sends General Lord Rufus D'Ascoyne a jar of caviar which contains a bomb. Admiral Lord Horatio D'Ascoyne presents a challenge, as he rarely sets foot on land. However, by chance he conveniently insists on going down with his ship after causing a collision at sea.

When Edith agrees to marry Louis, they notify Ethelred, the childless, widowed 8th duke. He invites them to spend a few days at Chalfont Castle. When Ethelred casually informs Louis that he intends to remarry in order to produce an heir, Louis arranges a hunting "accident". Before murdering the duke, he reveals his motive. Lord Ascoyne D'Ascoyne dies from the shock of learning that he has become the ninth duke, sparing Louis from having to murder his kindly employer. Louis inherits the dukedom and its estates, but his triumph proves short-lived.

Sibella's husband, Lionel, makes a drunken plea to Louis for financial help to avoid bankruptcy, but is turned down flat. Lionel is then found dead, and a Scotland Yard detective arrests Louis on suspicion of having murdered him. Louis elects to be tried by his peers in the House of Lords. During the trial, Louis and Edith are married. Sibella falsely testifies that Lionel was about to seek a divorce and name Louis as co-respondent. Ironically, Louis is convicted of a murder he had never even contemplated.

Louis is visited by Sibella, who observes that the discovery of Lionel's suicide note and Edith's death would free Louis and enable them to marry, a proposal to which he agrees. Moments before his hanging, the discovery of the note saves him. Louis finds both Edith and Sibella waiting for him outside the prison. When a reporter tells him that ''Tit-Bits'' magazine wishes to publish his memoirs, Louis suddenly remembers that he has left the incriminating document behind in his cell.

This book tells of the escape of two dogs, Rowf and Snitter, from a government research station in the Lake District in England, where they had been horribly mistreated. They live on their own with help from a red fox, or "tod", who speaks to them in a Geordie dialect. After the starving dogs attack some sheep on the fells, they are reported as ferocious man-eating monsters by an opportunistic journalist. A great dog hunt follows, which is later intensified with the fear that the dogs could be carriers of a dangerous bioweapon, such as the bubonic plague.

In Pamplona, Spain, middle-aged friends Mitch Robbins, Ed Furrilo, and Phil Berquist, participate in the running of the bulls. Back home in New York City, Mitch realizes he and his pals use adventure trips as escapism from their mundane lives. Mitch hates his radio advertising sales job. Phil is trapped in a loveless marriage to a shrewish wife while managing his father-in-law's supermarket (who also bullies Phil). Ed is a successful sporting goods salesman who recently married a much younger woman but, unwilling to fully settle down, resists starting a family.

At Mitch's 39th birthday party, Phil and Ed give Mitch a trip for all three to go on a two-week cattle drive from New Mexico to Colorado. Phil's 20-year-old employee unexpectedly arrives at the party and announces she is pregnant with his baby, causing Phil's wife, Arlene, to walk out. Mitch's wife, Barbara, insists he go on the cattle drive to soul search for a new purpose in his life. In New Mexico, the trio meet ranch owner, Clay Stone, and their fellow cattle drivers: entrepreneurial brothers Barry and Ira Shalowitz, young and attractive Bonnie, and father-son dentists, Ben and Steve Jessup. Mitch confronts ranch hands, Jeff and T.R., when they begin sexually harassing Bonnie. Trail boss Curly intervenes, though he inadvertently humiliates Mitch.

During the drive, Mitch accidentally causes a stampede which destroys the camp. While searching for stray cows, Mitch discovers Curly has a kind nature beneath his gruff exterior. Curly encourages Mitch to discover the "one thing" in his life that is most important to him. Along the way, Mitch helps deliver a calf from a dying cow. Mitch names the calf Norman.

Shortly after, Curly suffers a fatal heart attack, leaving the drive under Jeff and T.R.'s control. Camp cook, Cookie, gets drunk and accidentally destroys the food supply, breaking his leg in the process. After the Jessups leave to take Cookie to a nearby town, Jeff and T.R. become intoxicated. A fight ensues when they threaten to kill Norman and assault Mitch. Phil and Ed intervene, and Phil holds Jeff at gunpoint, which unleashes his pent-up emotions. Soon after, Jeff and T.R. abandon the group. Bonnie and the Shalowitzes continue on to the Colorado ranch, while Ed and Phil remain behind to finish the drive. Mitch also leaves but soon returns to rejoin his friends.

After braving a heavy storm, they drive the herd to Colorado. When Norman nearly drowns as the herd crosses a river, Mitch acts to save him. Both are swept down current, but Phil and Ed rescue them. They safely reach the Colorado ranch. When Stone offers to reimburse everyone's fee, the Jessups prefer going on a future cattle drive. However, Clay reveals that he is selling the herd to a meat packing company. Mitch, Phil, and Ed initially believe they saved the cattle for nothing, but decide to use their experience to help re-evaluate their lives.

The men return to New York City. Mitch, a happier man, reunites with Barbara and their two children; he has also brought Norman home as a pet. Phil learned that his employee was never pregnant, and he and Bonnie are in a relationship. Ed intends to start a family with his wife. Mitch is ready to restart his life with a new vision.

The miniseries featured James Brolin as Ronald Reagan and Judy Davis as Nancy Reagan, and covers the period in time from 1949 when Reagan was still in Hollywood, through his governorship of California until Reagan's last day in office as President in 1989.

In 1968, Reagan loses the Republican primary selections to Richard Nixon. At the end of his 8 years of service as the California governor in 1975, Reagan vies for the Republican party nomination in 1976. Then-President Gerald Ford wins the nomination.

Patti Davis, one of the daughters of Ronald Reagan, is portrayed as a drug addict.

After the assassination attempt on Reagan in 1981, American jets are shot down by Libya later that year.

Moll's mother is a convict in Newgate Prison in London who is given a reprieve by "pleading her belly," a reference to the custom of postponing the executions of pregnant criminals. Her mother is eventually transported to Colonial United States, and Moll Flanders (not her birth name, she emphasises, taking care not to reveal it) is raised from the age of three until adolescence by a kindly foster mother. Thereafter she gets attached to a household as a servant where she is loved by both sons, the elder of whom convinces her to "act like they were married" in bed. Unwilling to marry her, he persuades her to marry his younger brother. After five years of marriage, she then is widowed, leaves her children in the care of in-laws, and begins honing the skill of passing herself off as a fortuned widow to attract a man who will marry her and provide her with security.

The first time she does this, her "gentleman-tradesman" spendthrift husband goes bankrupt and flees to mainland Europe, leaving her on her own with his blessing to do the best she can to forget him. (They had one child together, but "it was buried.") The second time, she makes a match that leads her to Virginia Colony with a kindly man who introduces her to his mother. After three children (one dies), Moll learns that her mother-in-law is actually her biological mother, which makes her husband her half-brother. She dissolves their marriage and after continuing to live with her brother for three years, travels back to England, leaving her two children behind, and goes to live in Bath to seek a new husband.

Again she returns to her con skills and develops a relationship with a man in Bath whose wife is elsewhere confined due to insanity. Their relationship is at first platonic, but eventually develops into Moll becoming something of a "kept woman" in Hammersmith, London. They have three children (one lives), but after a severe illness he repents, breaks off the arrangement, and commits to his wife. However, he assures Moll that their son will be well cared for, so she leaves yet another child behind.

Moll, now 42, resorts to another beau, a bank clerk, who while still married to an adulterous wife (a "whore"), proposes to Moll after she entrusts him with her financial holdings. While waiting for the banker to divorce, Moll pretends to have a great fortune to attract another wealthy husband in Lancashire, assisted by a new female acquaintance who attests to Moll's (fictitious) social standing. The ruse is successful and she marries a supposedly rich man who claims to own property in Ireland. They each quickly realise that they were both conned and manipulated by the acquaintance. He discharges her from the marriage, telling her nevertheless that she should inherit any money he might ever get. After enjoying each other's company for about a month, they part ways, but Moll soon discovers that she is pregnant. She gives birth and the midwife gives a tripartite scale of the costs of bearing a child, with one value level per social class. She continues to correspond with the bank clerk, hoping he will still have her.

Moll leaves her newborn in the care of a countrywoman in exchange for the sum of £5 a year. Moll marries the banker, but realises "what an abominable creature I am! and how this innocent gentleman is going to be abused by me!" They live in happiness for five years before he becomes bankrupt and dies of despair, the fate of their two children left unstated.

Truly desperate now, Moll begins a career of artful thievery, which, by employing her wits, beauty, charm, and femininity, as well as hard-heartedness and wickedness, brings her the financial security she has always sought. She becomes well known among those "in the trade," and is given the name Moll Flanders. She is helped throughout her career as a thief by her Governess, who also acts as receiver. (During this time she briefly becomes the mistress of a man she robbed.) Moll is finally caught by two maids whilst trying to steal from a house.

In Newgate she is led to her repentance. At the same time, she reunites with her soulmate, her "Lancashire husband", who is also jailed for his robberies (before and after they first met, he acknowledges). Moll is found guilty of felony, but not burglary, the second charge; still, the sentence is death in any case. Yet Moll convinces a minister of her repentance, and together with her Lancashire husband is transported to the Colonies to avoid hanging, where they live happily together (she even talks the ship's captain into letting them stay in his quarters, apart from the other convicts, who are sold on arrival). Once in the colonies, Moll learns her mother has left her a plantation and that her own son (by her brother) is alive, as is her husband/brother.

Moll carefully introduces herself to her brother and their son, in disguise. With the help of a Quaker, the two found a farm with 50 servants in Maryland. Moll reveals herself now to her son in Virginia and he gives her her mother's inheritance, a farm for which he will now be her steward, providing £100 a year income for her. In turn, she makes him her heir and gives him a (stolen) gold watch.

At last, her life of conniving and desperation seems to be over. After her husband/brother dies, Moll tells her (Lancashire) husband the entire story and he is "perfectly easy on that account... For, said he, it was no fault of yours, nor of his; it was a mistake impossible to be prevented." Aged 69 (in 1683), the two return to England to live "in sincere penitence for the wicked lives we have lived."

A satire of film and television production, the series revolves around fictional Pyramid Productions – a company where greed and backstabbing thrive. Pyramid produces lucrative (but terrible) television and films for the domestic and international markets, with creative decisions made by non-creative people.

Company head Alan Roy is obsessed with appearances and staying ahead of trends, whether this means owning his own cable channel or having the largest yacht at Cannes. His often-idiotic decisions lead to extra work for his employees, who must fulfill his wishes or deal with the consequences. The employees – Richard, Victor, Veronica and Wanda – manipulate each other and sabotage each other's projects to earn more money, gain promotions or work on better projects. None of them appear to have issues with breaking the law, and they seem to have no sense of morality. They generally only cooperate when they have an opportunity to destroy another company or a mutual enemy. Each episode deals with one major problem (or event), which normally does not carry over to the next episode.

Pyramid projects also provide storylines for the series, as the company's staff try to manage the inevitable complications created by the casts and crews of their film and television productions. Its cash cows are two series: ''The Sword of Damacles'' , a parody of mythological adventure series such as ''Xena: Warrior Princess'' and ''Hercules: The Legendary Journeys'', and ''Beaver Creek'', a parody of Canadian period dramas such as ''Anne of Green Gables'' and ''Road to Avonlea''. The staff also face complications with their low-budget, poorly-made films, such as ''Vigilante's Vengeance''. Many of their movies fail; they are not produced, or go direct-to-video in foreign countries.

10-year-old Michael and his family have recently moved into a house. He and his parents are nervous, as his new baby sister was born earlier than expected and may not live because of a heart condition. When Michael goes into the garage, he finds a strange emaciated creature hidden amid all the boxes, debris and dead insects. Michael assumes that he is a homeless person, but decides to look after him and gives him food. The man is crotchety and arthritic, demanding aspirin, Chinese food menu order numbers 27 and 53 and brown ale. Michael hears a story that human shoulder blades are a vestige of angel wings.

Meanwhile, his friends from school become more and more distant as Michael stops attending school and spends less time with them. He meets a girl named Mina from across the road and over the course of the story they become close. Mina is home-schooled and enjoys nature, birds, drawing and the poems of William Blake. Often drawing or sculpting at home, she invites Michael to join in. She takes care of some baby birds who live in her garden and teaches Michael to hear their tiny sounds. Michael decides to introduce her to the strange creature. Michael's friends, Leakey and Coot, become skeptical about Michael and try to find out what he is hiding from them. Michael and Mina try to keep it a secret from them, and have to move "Skellig" to a safer space.

Michael asks about arthritis and how to cure it, talking to doctors and patients in the hospital where his baby sister is being treated. Grace, an old woman, took a run through the hospital and came to see her. The creature whom Michael had moved from the garage—revealing a pair of wings at his shoulders—introduces himself as "Skellig" to Michael and Mina.

Michael's baby sister comes dangerously close to death, necessitating heart surgery. His mother goes to the hospital to stay with the baby and, that night, "dreams" of seeing Skellig come in, pick the baby up, and hold it high in the air, saving her. He subsequently moves from the garage after saying goodbye to Michael and Mina, answering their questions about his nature by saying that he is 'something,' combining aspects of human, owl and angel.

The family struggles with deciding on a name for the baby. After considering calling her Persephone, they settle on Joy.

While a new hotel opens on Amity Island, a great white shark kills two scuba divers photographing the wreckage of the ''Orca'' before heading into Amity waters. Their camera, which took pictures during the attack, is recovered the next day. The shark then kills a female water skier. The driver of the boat attempts self-defense by using a gas tank and flare gun, but the boat explodes, killing her and severely burning the right side of the shark's face.

A killer whale carcass is found on the beach. Police Chief Martin Brody believes that a shark is responsible. Brody explains his concerns to Mayor Larry Vaughn, who expresses doubts that the town has another shark problem. Brody then finds floating debris from the destroyed speedboat and the boat driver's burnt remains. Brody calls Matt Hooper for assistance, but he is in Antarctica on a research expedition. Brody prohibits his 17-year-old son Mike from boating out of concern for his safety and instead lands him a job on the beach as a show of community service.

The following day, Brody watches a beach from an observation tower and causes a panic after mistaking a school of bluefish for a shark, and shooting at it. However, his fears are confirmed when photos from the diver's camera are processed, and one of them shows a close-up of the shark. When he presents it to the Amity Town Council, they refuse to believe it is a shark, and vote Brody out as police chief.

The next morning, Mike disobeys his father's orders by going sailing with his friends, taking his 10-year-old younger brother Sean with him. Marge, another teen, takes Sean with her, and they head out on six separate boats, going past a team of divers led by instructor Tom Andrews. Moments after submerging, Andrews encounters the shark. Panicking, he rushes to the surface, causing an embolism. Soon after, the shark hits the boat of teenage couple, Eddie Marchand and Tina Wilcox, who have strayed from the others; Eddie falls into the water and is mauled to death.

Brody and his wife Ellen witness Tom's evacuation by ambulance and hear that the other divers suspect something scared him. Deputy Jeff Hendricks, who has taken over as Brody's replacement, tells them that Mike went sailing with his friends, so Brody and Ellen commandeer the police boat, aided by a reluctant Hendricks, to rescue them. They come across Tina's boat and find her hiding in the bow; she confirms the shark's presence. Brody hails a passing boat to take Hendricks, Ellen, and Tina to shore, where the truth is revealed, while he goes searching for the kids.

Meanwhile, the shark attacks the group, striking one of their boats and causing most of them to capsize or crash into each other. Mike is knocked unconscious and falls in the water. The only pair whose boat is still seaworthy retrieve Mike and leave the others to take him ashore and get help; Sean and the others remain adrift upon the wreckage of tangled boats. A Coast Guard marine helicopter that Brody contacted arrives to tow them to shore, but the shark latches onto the chopper's pontoons, capsizing it and drowning the pilot. The shark knocks Sean into the water, and Marge is eaten while saving him.

Brody finds Mike, who informs him of the situation before Brody sends him to safety. Brody finds the others at Cable Junction, a small island housing an electrical relay station that supplies power to Amity. The cheering and jumping that greet him attract the shark, which attacks again, causing Brody to maroon the police boat. He tries pulling them in with a winch but instead hooks an underwater power cable. The shark hits the boat wreckage, sending most of the teenagers into the water, and they swim to the edge of Cable Junction; Jackie Peters, Mike's love interest, and Sean remain on the boats. Using an inflatable raft, Brody taps the power cable with an oar to lure the shark toward him. The shark bites the cable and is electrocuted. Brody retrieves Sean and Jackie and they join the others on Cable Junction to await rescue.

"Part I – “Sensei and I"

The narrator has been left on his own in Kamakura after his friend, who invited him to vacation there, is called home by his family. One day, after finishing his usual swim in the sea, he takes notice of a man in the changing house who's there with a foreign guest, preparing to head for the water. He sees the same man each day thereafter, though no longer with his foreign companion. After some days, he finds occasion to make the man's acquaintance. As they grow closer, he comes to refer to the man as “Sensei.”

On parting in Kamakura, as Sensei prepares to return home to Tokyo, the narrator asks if he can call on Sensei at his home sometime. He receives an affirmative, though less enthusiastic than hoped for, response. Several weeks after his own return to Tokyo, he makes an initial visit, only to find Sensei away. On his next visit, when he again finds Sensei away, he learns from Sensei's wife that Sensei makes monthly visits to the gravesite of a friend.

Over subsequent months and years, through periodic visits, the narrator comes to know Sensei and his wife quite well. At the same time, Sensei insists on maintaining a certain distance. He refuses to talk of his deceased friend and is reluctant to explain his own reclusion and lack of occupation. He also cautions the narrator that intimacy and admiration will only lead to future disillusionment and disdain. However, he does promise that one day, when the time is right, he will divulge in full the story of his past.

"Part II – “My Parents and I"

The narrator returns home to the country after graduation. His father, who had been in ill health, is up and about, enjoying a respite from his illness. They set a date for a graduation celebration, only to have their plans put on hold by news of the Meiji Emperor falling ill. As the weeks go by, the narrator's father gradually loses his vigor and becomes bedridden. From his bed, he follows the papers as the Emperor declines and then passes away.

After the Emperor's passing, the narrator is pressured by his mother to secure employment to put his father at ease. At the same time, his father's condition holds him close to home in the country. At his mother's urging, he writes to Sensei to request assistance in finding a position in Tokyo. While not expecting any favorable response on the matter of employment, he does at least expect some reply and is disappointed when none arrives. Summer wears on, and the rest of the family is summoned home in anticipation of the father's final hour. All are moved when news comes of the suicide (''junshi'') of General Nogi Maresuke, who takes his own life to follow his Emperor (the Meiji Emperor) in death.

Shortly thereafter, a telegram from Sensei arrives, summoning the narrator to Tokyo. Unable to leave his father, the narrator refuses Sensei's request, first by telegram and then by a letter detailing his situation. Some days later, a thick letter arrives by registered mail from Sensei. Stealing away from his father's bedside, the narrator opens the letter to find it's the previously-promised accounting of Sensei's past. Leafing through the pages, a line near the end catches his eye. “By the time this letter reaches you, I’ll be gone from this world. I’ll have already passed away.”

Rushing to the station, the narrator boards the first train for Tokyo. Once on board, he takes out Sensei's letter and reads it through from the start.

"Part III – “Sensei’s Testament"

This latter part of the novel is related by Sensei in the form of his long written testament that the narrator is reading aboard the train as he steams toward Tokyo. Sensei begins by explaining his reticence over the summer as he wrestled with the problem of his own continued existence. He then explains the motivation for his current actions. The remainder of the letter is an accounting of Sensei's life.

Sensei grows up in the countryside and loses both of his parents to illness while still in his late teens. As an only child, he inherits the family's considerable wealth, which his uncle steps in to help manage during the years over which, as previously planned, he pursues his education in Tokyo. Each summer Sensei returns home to the country. On each such return, his uncle suggests that Sensei should marry soon and establish himself in the community as the family heir. Uninterested yet in marriage, Sensei declines to commit. As the years go on, pressure from the uncle intensifies. Then finally, the uncle proposes his own daughter, Sensei's cousin, as the bride. After Sensei's continued refusal, it comes to light that the uncle's businesses are struggling, and much of Sensei's wealth has been poured into losing ventures. Sensei, now learning the truth of his situation, salvages what remains, arranges for the sale of his house and possessions, visits his parents’ gravesite one last time, and turns his back on his home town, severing all ties with his relations.

Back at his studies in Tokyo, and now with his own assets in hand, Sensei decides to trade his boisterous student lodgings for calmer quarters. Walking the surrounding hills, he's referred by a local shop owner to the home of a widow looking to take in a boarder. The household is quiet, with just the widow, her daughter, and a maidservant. After a brief interview, the widow accepts Sensei as her boarder. Sensei is smitten with the daughter at first sight, but at the same time the deceit of his uncle has left him generally distrustful. The widow takes to him and treats him as family, helping to sooth his nerves and draw him out. After some time, he thinks to ask the widow for her daughter's hand but still holds back for fear that the widow, or the widow and her daughter in collusion, are playing him just as his uncle had.

Sensei has a friend and classmate, whom he refers to simply as K, who hails from the same home town and with whom he shared a common dormitory during his first years of study in Tokyo. K is the second son of a Buddhist priest but was sent to the family of a prominent local physician as an adoptive son. His adoptive family funds his study of medicine in Tokyo, but contrary to their wishes, K pursues his own passions of religion and philosophy. After his third year in Tokyo, he confesses his deception and is disowned as a result. Sensei feels some obligation to assist his friend, who is struggling to maintain an aggressive course of study while at the same time supporting himself. K views himself as an ascetic and strongly declines any form of financial assistance. Finally, Sensei convinces K to join him in his lodgings, arguing that K's presence there will serve toward his own spiritual betterment. After some persuasion on Sensei's part to win the widow's approval, K joins Sensei in the widow's home as a second boarder. After a while, with Sensei working behind the scenes, K warms to his new surroundings, emerges from his ascetic shell, and grows more sociable. Sensei is pleased with the improvement he's worked in his friend's demeanor but also begins to see K as a rival for the daughter's affection.

In the summer before their final year of studies, Sensei and K set out together on a walking tour of the Boshu peninsula. They follow the shoreline from village to village, trudging under the hot sun and cooling themselves from time to time in the sea. All the while, Sensei is tormented by suspicions. He wonders if K might not have his eye on the daughter, and he fears that the daughter may in fact favor K. He longs to divulge to K his feelings for the daughter, but he lacks the courage to do so. Sensei and K return to Tokyo, blackened by the sun and haggard from days of trekking.

Autumn comes and classes begin again. Sensei returns home at times to find K and the daughter conversing amiably, and he worries they’re growing close. He thinks again to ask the widow for her daughter's hand, but again holds back, this time for fear that K holds the daughter's affection. Finally, during the New Year's holiday, things come to a head when the widow and her daughter leave home for the day to call on a relative. K comes into Sensei's room, joins him at his hibachi, and after a pained silence forces out a confession of his love for the daughter. Sensei, shocked and dismayed, is unable to muster a response.

Sensei kicks himself for not at least having countered K's confession with his own. Through subsequent conversation, though, he finds some solace in learning that K's sentiments are known only to the two of them and not to the ladies. In the days that follow, K either cannot or will not articulate his intentions, and Sensei's anxiety persists. Finally, K seeks out Sensei's counsel, confiding that he's torn between his long-held ideals and his newfound passion. Sensing K's vulnerability, and at the same time seeking to serve his own interest, Sensei berates K, throwing back at him his own words on discipline and servitude to a cause. K asks that Sensei speak no more on the subject and withdraws into reticence. Sensei fears that K is preparing to shift his life's course out of love for the daughter. Resolving to preempt K's actions, he feigns illness, staying home for time alone with the widow. After confirming that K has not yet approached her, Sensei asks the widow for her daughter's hand. She acquiesces, and the matter is easily settled. That same day, the widow talks to her daughter. Within the household, only K remains unaware of what's transpired.

Days pass, with Sensei loathe to disclose to K what he's done. Finally, it comes to light that the widow has spoken to K and been surprised by his reaction. She scolds Sensei for leaving his friend in the dark. Sensei resolves to talk with K the next morning, but he never gets the chance. During the night, K takes his own life. K leaves behind a note, but absent is the rebuke that Sensei dreads. K's feelings for the daughter, along with Sensei's betrayal of his friend's trust, are forever safe from the world.

Sensei notifies K's family and proceeds to settle affairs as requested in K's final note. He suggests that K be interred in the nearby Zoshigaya cemetery, and K's family agrees. Sensei and the ladies relocate shortly thereafter to a new house. Sensei finishes his studies, and half a year later weds the daughter. Sensei makes monthly pilgrimages to K's grave. His betrayal of K, and K's death, continue to cast a shadow over his married life, yet he remains unable to burden his wife with his secret. Having lost faith in humanity in general, and now in his own self, Sensei withdraws from the world to lead an idle life. As the years pass and he reflects further on K, he comes to realize that K's suicide was less about lost love and more about alienation and disappointment in oneself. Sensei feels himself drawn, more and more, to follow K's path. With the ending of the Meiji era and the passing of General Nogi, Sensei decides that he's outlived his time and must part from the world. His final request to the narrator is that his wife never know his story, that it be held private until after she's gone.

From the age of thirteen, on the eve of the Great War, Millicent King keeps her journals in a series of exercise books. The diary records the dramas of everyday life in an ordinary English family touched by war, tragedy, and money troubles in the early decades of the century. She struggles to become a teacher, but wants more out of life. From bohemian literary London to Rome in the twenties, her story moves on to social work and the build-up to another war, in which she drives ambulances through the bombed streets of London. She has proposals of marriage and secret lovers, ambition and optimism, but then her life is turned upside down once more by wartime deaths.

Max Payne (James McCaffrey) is a former NYPD officer-turned-DEA agent whose wife Michelle (Haviland Morris) and newborn daughter Rose were murdered by armed junkies that were high on a new designer drug called Valkyr. In 2001, three years after their deaths, Max works undercover within the Punchinello Mafia family, who control the trafficking of Valkyr. His DEA colleague, B.B. (Adam Grupper), arranges a meeting between Max and his friend and former colleague, Alex Balder (Chris Phillips), in a subway station. While waiting for Alex, Max accidentally gets in a shootout with mobsters working for Punchinello underboss Jack Lupino (Jeff Gurner), who are staging a bank robbery through an abandoned part of the subway. When Alex arrives, he is killed by an unseen assassin, who frames Max for the murder.

Hunted by both the police and his former mob associates, who now know he is a cop, Max searches for Vinnie Gognitti (Joe Dallo), Lupino's right-hand man, in the hopes that he will lead him to Lupino. Along the way, he breaks up a Valkyr drug deal and discovers that Russian mobster Vladimir Lem (Dominic Hawksley) has started a war with the Punchinello family. After catching Gognitti, Max interrogates him and learns Lupino is at his nightclub, the RagnaRock. Max kills Lupino before running into Mona Sax (Julia Murney), a contract assassin and the sister-in-law of Don Angelo Punchinello (Joe Ragno). Mona, seeking revenge against Punchinello for abusing her sister and not wanting Max to get in her way, gives him a drink laced with Valkyr. While experiencing a nightmare of the night his family was killed, Max is found by mobsters and taken away to be tortured, but manages to escape.

Max strikes a partnership with Lem, who gives him a tip about a cargo ship at the Brooklyn waterfront carrying high-powered firearms, which some of Lem's former henchmen intend to sell to Punchinello. After securing the weapons, Max attempts to lure the Don into a trap at his restaurant, only to be ambushed himself. After escaping, Max storms Punchinello's manor and confronts the Don, but discovers that he is only a puppet in a bigger conspiracy. The manor is then overrun by mercenaries who kill Punchinello and leave Max for dead after injecting him with a Valkyr overdose.

After another drug-induced nightmare, Max heads to an old steel foundry where the mercenaries are regrouping. There, he finds a hidden underground military research complex, and discovers that Valkyr is the result of the "Valhalla Project", a Gulf War-era military experiment to improve soldiers' stamina and morale through chemical enhancements. The project was halted after a few years due to poor results, but was later secretly restarted by Nicole Horne (Jane Gennaro) through her pharmaceutical company, Aesir. When Michelle accidentally found out about Aesir's illegal experiments, Horne ordered her and her family's death. Max escapes from the bunker after Aesir initiates a self-destruct protocol to get rid of the evidence and witnesses, including their own men.

Later, Max, having figured out that B.B. is on Horne's payroll and framed him for Alex's murder, agrees to meet him at a parking lot complex, where he kills him and his men. He is then called to meet a secret society called the Inner Circle, who have been observing him. Their leader, Alfred Woden (John Randolph Jones), reveals that Horne was once a member, and asks Max to kill her in exchange for dealing with the charges against him. The meeting is ambushed by Horne's men, but both Max and Woden escape. Max arrives at Aesir's headquarters and fights his way to the top. Along the way, he runs into Mona again, who has been hired by Horne to kill him; she refuses to do so and is seemingly killed for it, but her body vanishes. As Horne attempts to flee in her helicopter, Max severs the guy wires of the building's antenna, causing it to crash into the helicopter and kill Horne. As the NYPD storms the building, Max, his vendetta finally complete, surrenders and is taken into custody. Outside, he notices Woden among the crowd formed at the scene, and smiles, knowing that Woden will ensure his protection.

While Dorothy Gale is at home in Kansas one day, she and her pet dog Toto meet the Shaggy Man who comes walking past the Gale farm. He is a friendly, yet slightly senile hobo with an optimistic, care free mentality. He politely asks Dorothy for directions to Butterfield, which is the nearest town on the prairie. The girl agrees to show him the way, bringing her dog with her. Further on, the road splits into seven paths. They take the seventh one and soon find themselves lost in what appears to be another dimension. The trio meets Button-Bright, a cute and wealthy little boy in a sailor's outfit who is always getting lost. Later, the companions encounter Polychrome, the beautiful and ethereal Daughter of the Rainbow who is stranded on earth. Polychrome explains that she accidentally fell off her father's bow while dancing on it. The bow ascended into the atmosphere and back into the clouds before she was able to climb her way back on it, thus being left behind.

Dorothy, Toto, the Shaggy Man, Button-Bright, and Polychrome eventually come to the peculiar town of Foxville, where anthropomorphic foxes live. With prompting from King Dox of Foxville, Dorothy deduces that she and Toto are obviously on another "fairy adventure" that will ultimately lead them to the magical Land of Oz, just in time for Princess Ozma's royal birthday party (which is now acknowledged as August 21 by Oz fans, even though the book only refers to the 21st of the month, Dorothy having mentioned that the current month is August in another passage). The king takes a particular liking to Button Bright, whom he considers astute and clever due to his tabula rasa-like mind. Believing that the human face does not suit one so clever, Dox gives him a fox's head which he is unable to remove. A similar event subsequently happens to the Shaggy Man, when King Kik-a-Bray of Dunkiton confers a donkey's head upon him — also in reward for cleverness, even though it is implied that Foxville and Dunkiton exist at odds with one another. Though both of them ask Dorothy to procure them invitations to Princess Ozma's birthday party.

After meeting the Musicker, who produces music from his breath, and fighting off the Scoodlers, who fight by removing their own heads and throwing them at the travelers, Dorothy and her companions reach the edge of the fatal Deadly Desert completely surrounding Oz. There, the Shaggy Man's friend Johnny Dooit builds a "sand-boat" by which they may cross. This is necessary, because physical contact with the desert's sands, as of this book and ''Ozma of Oz'' (1907), will turn the travelers to dust.

Upon reaching Oz, Dorothy and her companions are warmly welcomed by the mechanical man Tik-Tok and Billina the Yellow Hen. They proceed in company to come in their travels to the Truth Pond where Button Bright and the Shaggy Man regain their true heads by bathing in its waters. They meet the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow, and Jack Pumpkinhead who journey with them to the imperial capital called Emerald City for Ozma's grand birthday bash. Dorothy meets up with Ozma as her chariot is pulled in by the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger.

As preparations for Ozma's birthday party are made, the guests include Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, Cowardly Lion, the Wizard of Oz, Jack Pumpkinhead, the Sawhorse, Tik-Tok, Billina, Jellia Jamb, Woggle-Bug, Hungry Tiger, the Good Witch of the North, Shaggy Man, Button-Bright, Polychrome, and characters from all over Nonestica (such as Santa Claus, a band of Ryls, and a bunch of Knooks from the Forest of Burzee, Queen Zixi of Ix, the Queen of Merryland, four wooden soldiers, and the Candy Man from Merryland, the Braided Man from Boboland's Pyramid Mountain, the Queen of Ev, King Evoldo, and his nine siblings from the Land of Ev, King Bud and Princess Fluff from Noland, and John Dough, Chick the Cherub, and Para Bruin the Rubber Bear from Hiland and Loland) as well as invitations to King Dox, King Kik-a-Bray, and Johnny Dooit. Though Princess Ozma couldn't procure an invitation to the Musicker due to a chance that his uncontrollable vocal tic might arouse violence against him. The Shaggy Man receives permission to stay in Oz permanently. He is given, in addition to this, a new suit of clothes having bobtails in place of his former costume's ragged edges, so that he may retain his name and identity.

After everyone has presented their gifts and feasted at a lavish banquet in Ozma's honor, the Wizard of Oz demonstrates a method of using bubbles as transportation by which to send everyone home. Polychrome is finally found by her rainbow family and she is magically lifted into the sky when she climbs back onto her bow. Button-Bright goes home with Santa Claus in a soap bubble with the Sawhorse loaned to Santa Claus. Dorothy and Toto are finally wished back home to Kansas again by Ozma's use of the Magic Belt.

In the western regions of Narnia, the clever and greedy ape Shift persuades the naive donkey Puzzle to wear a lion's skin (an echo from Aesop's story of The Ass in the Lion's Skin) and introduces him to the other Narnians as the Great Lion Aslan. Shift, posing as Aslan's spokesman, uses Aslan's name to persuade the Narnians to cut down the trees for lumber. Shift pockets the profits and garners support from the Calormenes – led by Rishda Tarkaan – by claiming that Aslan is another name for Tash, a bloodthirsty deity worshipped by the Calormenes. Those who question Shift's words are invited into a large stable where "Tashlan" is said to reside, only to be stealthily murdered by one of Rishda's men.

King Tirian, a descendant of King Caspian X, is warned by Roonwit the Centaur that strange and evil things are happening to Narnia and that the stars portend ominous developments. Tirian and his friend Jewel the Unicorn hear word of the death of the Dryads and rashly set out to confront the danger, instructing Roonwit to gather a small army to join them. Finding two Calormenes abusing a Narnian Talking Horse, Tirian and Jewel kill them both in a blind rage. Ashamed, they give themselves up to "Aslan".

Awaiting judgment, Tirian recognizes the farce that Shift has fabricated in league with Rishda and the talking cat Ginger. When he accuses Shift of lying, Tirian is tied to a tree for the night to face judgment the following morning. While the woodland creatures are sympathetic to his suffering, they can't bring themselves to go against "Aslan."

Tirian, calling upon Aslan, summons Jill Pole and Eustace Scrubb to Narnia from London. They release Tirian and eventually rescue Jewel. In the stable, Jill finds Puzzle, who comes to understand his folly and joins Tirian's side. A band of Dwarfs are also rescued, but their faith in Aslan has been shattered and they renounce their allegiance, proclaiming "the Dwarfs are for the Dwarfs". Only one Dwarf named Poggin is still faithful to Aslan and joins the group. Tirian learns that Shift and Rishda have inadvertently summoned the actual Tash to Narnia when he and the others see him travelling north towards the stable.

Farsight the Eagle arrives bearing grim news: Roonwit and the Narnian army loyal to Tirian have all been massacred by the Calormenes who have taken Cair Paravel in Tirian's absence. Tirian and his small force advance on the stable to expose the truth of Shift's deception. Ginger, sent in to aid in the deception, runs out in terror, having lost his ability to speak. Emeth, one of Rishda's men and a devout follower of Tash, insists on seeing his god. Rishda tries to dissuade him, but Emeth enters the empty stable. Angry at the deception in the name of Tash, he kills another soldier who was stationed in the stable to murder the rebellious Narnians, but Emeth then disappears.

Outside the stable, Tirian's group engages Shift and the Calormenes, but most of the remaining Narnians on either side are all either killed or captured and sacrificed to Tash, by being thrown into the stable. Tirian throws Shift into the stable and Tash devours Shift. The terrified Rishda offers the remaining Narnians as sacrifices to Tash to avoid his wrath. Tirian, left alone and fighting for his life, drags Rishda into the stable and finds himself in a vast and lush plain. Tash seizes Rishda and advances on Tirian, but is stopped by the "Friends of Narnia": Digory Kirke, Polly Plummer, Peter Pevensie and his siblings Edmund and Lucy. Susan is absent as she has ceased to believe in Narnia. Peter orders Tash to return to his realm and Tash vanishes with Rishda in his clutches.

The real Aslan appears and praises Tirian for his valiant struggle in defense of Narnia. The faithless Dwarfs are present but cannot see they are in Aslan's country; they perceive themselves to be locked in an actual stable. Aslan demonstrates that, without their faith, even he cannot help them. The Friends ask Aslan to heal Narnia, but he admits that even he cannot undo the evil that has been sown and he brings the world to an end: the vegetation is consumed by dragons, salamanders and giant lizards until they grow old, die, and rot into skeletal structures. Father Time is awoken and calls the stars down from the skies into the sea. The inhabitants of Narnia gather outside the barn to be judged by Aslan. The faithful enter Aslan's country while those who have opposed or deserted him become ordinary animals and vanish in his shadow to an unknown fate that not even C.S. Lewis knows where they went. The sea rises to cover Narnia. The land freezes when Father Time puts out the sun after it destroyed the moon. At Aslan's command, King Peter shuts the door on Narnia. Aslan leads the faithful to his country, telling them to go further up and further in. Soon they encounter Emeth; Aslan has accepted his faithful service to Tash because it was good and therefore truly done to Aslan, whereas Tash is served only by evil.

Aslan takes the Friends to a "true" version of Narnia, the previous Narnia having been an imperfect and corruptible shadow. As they advance, the Friends meet and reunite with characters from previous adventures who have been dead for centuries; Aslan reveals that the Friends may also stay as they had died in a train accident on Earth. Aslan sheds his lion form, and the series ends with the revelation that this was only the beginning of the true story, "which goes on for ever, and in which every chapter is better than the one before".

Having first lost his wife, then his job as a tweed tailor, Alex Ponttin (Michel Serrault) has devised a novel way to keep himself in touch with society. He admits himself into people's homes by pretending to be a relative or an official and persuading his victims to give him a night's free board. He finds at first a lunch with the horrible couple Dumont (Jean-Pierre Bisson and Maike Jansen), where a thief follows him for a robbery. Alex spent an evening in front of TV at Marie (Marie-Christine Barrault), mother of seven children. He runs from Marie to find an evening and a new bed at the home of charming but shy lesbian Caroline (Claude Jade) and her funny lover Gloria (Corinne Le Poulain).
To save her inheritance, Caroline - accused for her homosexuality by her horrible sister Catherine (Laurence Vincendon) - tells her aunt Amélie (Monique Darpy) that Gloria is her secretary and Alex her lover. Alex has to present himself nude in Caroline's bed. He saves Caroline's inheritance. The police officers (Jean-Claude Dreyfus) investigating the case are so terminally stupid that Alex has little chance of being arrested.

As in many of Jean-Pierre Mocky's films, there is a strong anti-establishment, almost anarchist subtext. This is manifested in the way that the self-proclaimed moral figures (the police, the clergy, even the President of the Republic) are presented in this film, but also in the elevation of Alex Ponttin to the status of a public hero at the end of the film. Whilst society and state sink into a numbing inertia, bereft of integrity and humanity, it is left to the eccentrics, the outsiders like worried Caroline, who is attacked by her sister and her aunt because the secret of her homosexuality, to build a more cohesive society and a better world. Michel Serrault excels in this off-the-wall satirical comedy which makes a bizarre assessment of modern life. He plays an impish vagrant who uses his new-found freedom to improve the lives of his fellow man, by briefly insinuating himself into their lives. Bonsoir goes much further and suggests that whole of modern society, not only the police, is culpable of mediocrity and moral laxity. It takes an outsider like Alex Ponttin, free from the bonds of modern living, to point the way to a better future.

Following the funeral of Richard Abernethie, his family assemble at Enderby Hall for the reading of the will by his lawyer, Mr Entwhistle. His wealth is to be divided up between his surviving family: his brother Timothy Abernethie and his wife Maud; his sister Cora Lansquenet; his nephew George Crossfield; his first niece Rosamund Shane, and her husband Michael; his second niece Susan Banks, and her husband Gregory; and Helen Abernethie, the wife of his brother Leo before his death during the war. Although Richard died of natural causes and his death was expected, Cora makes a chance remark that he was murdered. The day after the funeral, she is found dead, having been violently murdered in her sleep. No motive is obvious in Inspector Morton's investigations - while Cora's life income reverts to the Abernethie estate, her property goes to Susan, while her companion Miss Gilchrist receives a number of her paintings she made. However, doubts soon arise about Richard's death in the wake of her murder. Seeking help, Entwhistle contacts his friend, Hercule Poirot, to resolve the matter. Poirot contacts his old friend Mr Goby to investigate the family.

Each family member had their own reason for wanting Richard's wealth, and thus become a suspect in the murder. On the day of the inquest, Susan visits Cora's home to clean up her possessions for auction. She learns from Gilchrist that her aunt always painted from life, and that she collected paintings from local sales in the hopes of finding a valuable piece. The day after Cora's funeral, art critic Alexander Guthrie arrives to look through Cora's recent purchases as previously scheduled, but finds nothing of value there. That evening, Gilchrist is poisoned with a slice of arsenic-laced wedding cake sent in the post; she survives, mainly from eating a small portion. Gathering to select items from Richard's estate before its sale, the family are joined by Poirot and Gilchrist. During discussions, Helen comments about believing there was something odd on the day of the funeral, Gilchrist makes a remark about one of the decorations in Enderby, while Susan recalls finding a painting in Cora's possession, which she believed had been copied from a picture postcard and not painted from life, Cora's usual style.

Early the next morning, Helen telephones Entwhistle to inform him what she had realised was odd during Richard's funeral, but is struck savagely on the head before she can say more. Helen suffers a concussion, and is taken away for her safety. As Inspector Morton prepares to ask each family member about their movements on the day of Cora's murder, Poirot startles everyone by revealing to them that her murderer was Miss Gilchrist. She had recognised a Vermeer amongst Cora's recent purchases that her employer had not, and knew it was her chance to rebuild her beloved tea shop that she lost in the war. She painted over the Vermeer painting with a scene of a pier from a postcard, unaware it had been destroyed in the war. Afterwards, she put a sedative in Cora's tea so she would be asleep, while Gilchrist posed as her at the funeral. None of the family had seen Cora for more than two decades, which made her deception easier. After leaving suggestions that Richard had been murdered, Gilchrist killed Cora the following day so that police would believe it was connected to Richard's death. To divert suspicion from herself, Gilchrist faked the attempt on her life.

Gilchrist had to copy Cora's characteristic turn of her head, but failed to realise one of these was wrong when she rehearsed it in front of a mirror. Helen was attacked because she eventually realised this. Furthermore, Poirot knew she had posed as Cora because she made a reference to a piece of decoration, which could only have been seen within Enderby Hall on the day of Richard's funeral. The Vermeer was hidden by Gilchrist so that Guthrie did not find it during his scheduled visit. Her claim that Cora painted the pier scene from life was countered by Susan finding a pre-war postcard of the pier in the cottage, along with Entwhistle recollecting that he smelt oil when he visited Cora's home after her murder when he contacted Poirot for help. Poirot then reveals that two nuns visited Cora's cottage on the day of the funeral, who believed someone was inside. Once accused, Gilchrist breaks down into a flood of complaints about the hardships of her life, but quietly goes with the police. During legal proceedings before her trial, she eventually becomes insane, planning one tea shop after another, though Poirot and Entwhistle have no doubt she was in full possession of her faculties during her crime.

Captain Ivan Danko and Lieutenant Yuri Ogarkov of the Moscow Militia lead a sting operation against Georgian drug kingpin Viktor Rostavili. However, Rostavili manages to evade capture, and in an ensuing firefight, kills Ogarkov and flees to the United States. As Danko is recovering from his injuries, Rostavili is arrested for a minor traffic violation in Chicago, and Danko is subsequently dispatched to America to retrieve the felon, under strict orders not to reveal the true nature of Rostavili's extradition.

Upon arriving in Chicago, Danko is met by Police Detective Sergeant Art Ridzik and Detective Max Gallagher. As he is interrogating Rostavili, Danko confiscates a mysterious key hidden on his person. While he is being transported to the airport, the group is ambushed by his men and Gallagher is shot and killed, allowing the prisoner to escape. Against the wishes of local authorities, Danko resolves to remain in Chicago to apprehend Rostavili, and Ridzik is assigned to be his minder.

Through an informant, Danko and Ridzik learn that Rostavili is working with local street gangs to purchase and smuggle uncut cocaine into the Soviet Union. The duo confront Rostavili's American wife Cat Manzetti, but are led into an ambush where Rostavili demands Danko return his key, forcing the two to flee.

Danko and Ridzik go to a hospital to interrogate one of Rostavili's men, injured during the earlier ambush, but he is killed by another of Rostavili's accomplices disguised as a nurse. Danko subsequently shoots and kills the assassin. Ridzik's superiors confiscate Danko's sidearm, as he isn't licensed to carry one in the United States, and order him to cease the investigation. However Ridzik, who still wants to avenge his partner's murder, secretly gives Ivan his spare gun.

Returning to his hotel, Danko is attacked by Rostavili's men. While Danko fights them off, Rostavili sneaks into his room and steals the key. Ridzik takes Danko to visit a locksmith, where they match the key to ones produced for lockers at a bus terminal. Rostavili uses the key to retrieve his drug shipment, and steals an empty bus just as Danko and Ridzik arrive. Chasing him in another bus, Danko and Ridzik cause Rostavili to crash into an oncoming train. As Rostavili crawls out of the wreckage, Danko kills him. Later, Ridzik takes Danko to the airport. As a token of their new friendship, they exchange wristwatches.

In Western Australia, May 1915, Archy Hamilton, an 18-year-old stockman and prize-winning sprinter, longs to enlist in the Australian Imperial Force. He is trained by his uncle Jack and idolises Harry Lasalles, the world champion over 100 yards. Archy wins a race with a bullying farmhand, Les McCann, Archy running bare-foot and Les riding his horse bareback.

Frank Dunne is an unemployed ex-railway labourer who has run out of money. He's an accomplished sprinter and hopes to win the prize money at the athletics carnival; he also bets a lot of money on himself winning. Archy and Uncle Jack journey to the athletics carnival. Frank is surprised when Archy defeats him, and is bitter at first and feels robbed of his bet. Eventually Frank approaches Archy in a cafe after getting over his loss. Archy gives all the prize money he won at the race to Jack and tells him that he will not be coming home for he has decided to enlist. They both decide to travel to Perth and enlist there.

As Archy and Frank are penniless, they secretly hop on a freight train. However, as they awoke the next morning, they discover the train had stopped at a remote desert station instead of Perth. The station attendant informs them that they could either wait two weeks for the next train or walk 50 miles across the dry lake bed to reach a location with more frequent service. Archy immediately sets off while Frank chases behind in an attempt to persuade him to stay, reminding him that they could die in the desert much as members of the Burke and Wills expedition did. With Archy's navigation skills, the pair eventually reach a cattle station in safety. Upon arriving in Perth, they arrange to stay with Frank's father, an Irish immigrant. Due to Frank's Irish heritage and general cynicism, he has little desire to fight for the British Empire. However, Archy persuades him to try to enlist in the Australian Light Horse. Failing to ride a horse, Frank enlists in the infantry with three co-workers from the railway: Bill, Barney, and Snowy. Many of the motivations for enlistment are revealed: wartime anti-German propaganda, a sense of adventure and the attraction of the uniform. All soldiers embark on a transport ship bound for Cairo. Frank and Archy are separated and embark on different troopships.

Some months later, Frank and his fellow soldiers train near the Pyramids and spend their free time in Cairo, drinking and visiting brothels. During a training exercise, Frank and Archy meet once again; Frank is able to transfer to the Light Horse, as they are now being sent to the Gallipoli peninsula as infantrymen. They arrive at Anzac Cove and endure several days of hardships and boredom in the trenches. Frank's infantry friends fight in the Battle of Lone Pine on 6 August. Afterwards, a traumatized Billy tells Frank what happened to the others: Barney has been shot and killed, and Snowy is in a hospital, but in such bad condition that he is denied food and water. The following morning, Archy and Frank are ordered to take part in the charge at the Nek, a diversion in support of the British landing at Suvla Bay. Archy is ordered by Major Barton to be the message runner. He declines the offer and recommends Frank for the role.

The Light Horse are to attack in three waves across a stretch of ground defended by Turkish machine gunners. The first wave is to go at 4:30 AM, after an artillery bombardment. Unfortunately, the commanders' watches are unsynchronized and the bombardment ends too early. The brigade's commander, Colonel Robinson, insists the ANZAC attack proceed; the first wave is cut down by the Turks within seconds. The second wave goes over, to a similar fate. Major Barton wants to halt the attack to end the carnage, but the Colonel says that somebody told him ANZAC marker flags were seen in the Turkish trenches, indicating that the attack was partially successful. The phone line goes dead. Barton gives Frank a message to carry to Brigade HQ but, when he arrives, the Colonel insists the attack continue.

Lieutenant Gray, Major Barton's second-in-command, admits to Barton that he was the soldier who said that he saw marker flags, though he did not remember who told ''him''. Frank suggests to the Major that he go over the Colonel's head to General Gardner. Frank hurries to Gardner's headquarters down on the beach. The General is informed that, at Suvla, the British landing party is brewing tea on the beach. He tells Frank that he is reconsidering the attack. Frank sprints back to convey this news, but the phone lines are repaired and Colonel Robinson orders the attack to continue. Barton joins his men in the attack, climbs out of the trench pistol in hand, and signals his men to charge. Archy joins the last wave and goes over the top. Frank arrives seconds too late and lets out a scream of anguish and despair. As Archy's companions are cut down by gun fire he drops his rifle and runs as hard as he can. The final frame freezes on Archy being hit by bullets across his chest, head back, as if breaking the tape at the finish of a 100-yard sprint, and falling backwards.

Horace Holly, a young Cambridge University professor, is visited by Vincey, a colleague who, convinced that he will soon die, charges him with the task of raising his young son, Leo. He gives Holly a locked iron box, with instructions that it is not to be opened until Leo's 25th birthday. Holly agrees. Vincey is found dead the next day, and Holly raises the boy as his own. When the box is opened they discover the ancient "Sherd of Amenartas". Holly, Leo and their servant, Job, follow instructions on the Sherd and travel to eastern Africa. After surviving a shipwreck, they and their Arab captain, Mahomed, journey into the African interior where they are captured by the savage Amahagger people. The adventurers learn that the natives are ruled by a fearsome white queen who is worshipped as ''Hiya'' or "''She-who-must-be-obeyed''".

Billali, chief of one of the Amahagger tribes, takes charge of the three men, introducing them to the ways of his people. One of the Amahagger maidens, Ustane, takes a liking to Leo and, by kissing him and embracing him publicly, weds him according to Amahagger custom. Leo, likewise, grows very fond of her.

Billali leaves to report the white men's arrival to the queen. In his absence, some of the Amahagger become restless and seize Mahomed, intending to eat him as part of a ritual "hot pot". Holly shoots and kills several of the Amahagger, accidentally killing Mahomed in the process. Leo is gravely wounded in a struggle, and Ustane saves his life by throwing herself onto his prostrate body. Billali returns and declares that the three men are under the queen's protection. Ustane faithfully attends to Leo, but his condition worsens.

The men are taken to the home of the queen near the ruins of the lost city of Kôr, a once mighty civilisation that predated the Egyptians. In a series of catacombs originally built as tombs, Holly is presented to the queen, a white sorceress named Ayesha whose beauty is so great that it enchants any man who beholds it. Ayesha, veiled and behind a partition, warns Holly that the power of her splendour arouses both desire and fear. When she shows herself, Holly is enraptured and prostrates himself before her. Ayesha reveals that she has learned the secret of immortality and that she possesses other supernatural powers including the ability to read the minds of others, as well as healing wounds and curing illness, but she is unable to see into the future. She tells Holly that she has lived in Kôr for more than two millennia, awaiting the reincarnated return of her lover, Kallikrates (whom she had slain in a fit of jealous rage).

The next evening Ayesha visits Leo, intending to heal him. But upon seeing his face she declares him to be the reincarnation of Kallikrates. Ayesha now orders Ustane to leave and never to set eyes on Leo again. When Ustane refuses, Ayesha strikes her dead with magic. Leo becomes bewitched, and despite the murder of their friend neither Holly nor Leo can free themselves from Ayesha's power. Ayesha shows Leo the perfectly preserved body of Kallikrates, which she has kept with her, and then dissolves the remains with a powerful acid, confident that Leo is indeed the reincarnation of her former lover.

Ayesha takes the men to see the Pillar of Fire, passing through the ruins of Kôr into the heart of an ancient volcano. She is determined that Leo should bathe in the fire to become immortal and remain with her forever. Arriving at great cavern, Leo doubts the safety of entering the fire. To allay his fears, Ayesha herself steps into the flame, but with this second immersion her life-preserving power is lost and she begins to wither and revert to her true age. The sight is so shocking that Job dies in fright. Before dying, Ayesha tells Leo, "Forget me not. I shall come again!"

''Burmese Days'' is set in 1920s British Burma, in the fictional district of Kyauktada, based on Kathar (formerly spelled Katha), a town where Orwell served. Like the fictional town, it is the head of a branch railway line above Mandalay on the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) River. As the story opens, U Po Kyin, a corrupt Burmese magistrate, is planning to destroy the reputation of the Indian, Dr Veraswami. The doctor hopes for help from his friend John Flory who, as a ''pukka sahib'' (European white man), has higher prestige. Dr Veraswami also desires election to the town's European Club, of which Flory is a member, expecting that good standing among the Europeans will protect him from U Po Kyin's intrigues. U Po Kyin begins a campaign to persuade the Europeans that the doctor holds anti-British opinions in the belief that anonymous letters with false stories about the doctor "will work wonders". He even sends a threatening letter to Flory.

John Flory, a jaded 35-year-old teak merchant with a birthmark on his face in the shape of a ragged crescent, spends three weeks of every month acquiring jungle timber. Friendless among his fellow Europeans and unmarried, but with a Burmese mistress, he has become disillusioned with life in an expatriate community centred round the local European Club in a remote provincial town.''Orwell for Beginners'', David Smith and Michael Mosher. At the same time, he has become so embedded in Burma that it is impossible for him to leave and return to England. Flory has one good friend, the Indian, Dr Veraswami, whom he often visits for what the Doctor delightedly calls "cultured conversation". But when Flory dismisses the British as mere moneymakers, living a lie, "the lie that we're here to uplift our poor black brothers instead of to rob them," he provokes consternation in the doctor, who defends the British as the efficient administrators of an unrivalled empire. Toward his mistress, Flory is emotionally ambivalent: "On the one hand, Flory loves Burma and craves a partner who will share his passion, which the other local Europeans find incomprehensible; on the other hand, for essentially racist reasons, Flory feels that only a European woman is acceptable as a partner".

Flory's wish seems to be answered with the arrival of Elizabeth Lackersteen, the orphaned niece of Mr Lackersteen, manager of the local timber firm. Flory rescues her when she believes she is about to be attacked by a small water buffalo. He is immediately taken with her and they spend some time together, culminating in a highly successful shooting expedition. Flory shoots a leopard, promising the skin to Elizabeth as a trophy. Lost in romantic fantasy, Flory imagines Elizabeth to be the sensitive object of his desire, the European woman who will "understand him and give him the companionship he needed". He turns Ma Hla May, his pretty, scheming Burmese mistress, out of his house. However, whereas Flory extols the virtues of the rich culture of the Burmese, the latter frighten and repel Elizabeth, who regards them as "beastly." Worse still is Flory's interest in high art and literature, which reminds Elizabeth of her pretentious mother who died in disgrace in Paris of ptomaine poisoning as a result of living in squalid conditions while masquerading as a Bohemian artist. Despite these reservations, of which Flory is entirely unaware, she is willing to marry him to escape poverty, spinsterhood, and the unwelcome advances of her perpetually inebriated uncle.

Flory is about to ask her to marry him, but they are interrupted first by her aunt and secondly by an earthquake. Mrs Lackersteen's interruption is deliberate because she has discovered that a military police lieutenant named Verrall is arriving in Kyauktada. As he comes from an extremely good family, she sees him as a better prospect as a husband for Elizabeth. Mrs Lackersteen tells Elizabeth that Flory is keeping a Burmese mistress as a deliberate ploy to send her to Verrall. Indeed, Flory had been keeping a mistress, but had dismissed her almost the moment Elizabeth had arrived. Elizabeth is appalled and falls at the first opportunity for Verrall, who is arrogant and ill-mannered to all but her. Flory is devastated and after a period of exile attempts to make amends by delivering to her the leopard skin. A bungled curing process has left the skin mangy and stinking and the gesture merely compounds his status as a poor suitor. When Flory delivers it to Elizabeth she accepts it regardless of the fact that it stinks and he talks of their relationship, telling her he still loves her. She responds by telling him that unfortunately the feelings aren't mutual and leaves the house to go horse riding with Verrall. When Flory and Elizabeth part ways, Mrs Lackersteen orders the servants to burn the reeking leopard skin, representing the deterioration of Flory and Elizabeth's relationship.

U Po Kyin's campaign against Dr Veraswami turns out to be intended simply to further his aim of becoming a member of the European Club in Kyauktada. The club has been put under pressure to elect a native member and Dr Veraswami is the most likely candidate. U Po Kyin arranges the escape of a prisoner and plans a rebellion for which he intends that Dr Veraswami should get the blame. The rebellion begins and is quickly put down, but a native rebel is killed by acting Divisional Forest Officer, Maxwell. Uncharacteristically courageous, Flory speaks up for Dr Veraswami and proposes him as a member of the club. At this moment the body of Maxwell, cut almost to pieces with ''dahs'' by two relatives of the man he had shot, is brought back to the town. This creates tension between the Burmese and the Europeans which is exacerbated by a vicious attack on native children by the spiteful and racist timber merchant, Ellis. A large but ineffectual anti-British riot begins and Flory becomes the hero for bringing it under control with some support by Dr Veraswami. U Po Kyin tries to claim credit but is disbelieved and Dr Veraswami's prestige is restored.

Verrall leaves Kyauktada without saying goodbye to Elizabeth and she falls for Flory again. Flory is happy and plans to marry Elizabeth. However, U Po Kyin has not given up. He hires Flory's former Burmese mistress to create a scene in front of Elizabeth during the sermon at church. Flory is disgraced and Elizabeth refuses to have anything more to do with him. Overcome by the loss and seeing no future for himself, Flory kills first his dog, and then himself.

Dr Veraswami is demoted and sent to a different district and U Po Kyin is elected to the club. U Po Kyin's plans have succeeded and he plans to redeem his life and cleanse his sins by financing the construction of pagodas. He dies of apoplexy before he can start building the first pagoda and his wife envisages him returning to life as a frog or rat. Elizabeth eventually marries Macgregor, the deputy commissioner, and lives happily in contempt of the natives, who in turn live in fear of her, fulfilling her destiny of becoming a "burra memsahib", a respectful term given to white European women.

The story is told in five distinct chapters.

Chapter 1

A day in the life of Dorothy Hare, the weak-willed daughter of a disagreeable widowed clergyman. Her father is Rector of Knype Hill, a small town in East Anglia. She keeps house for him, fends off creditors, visits parishioners and makes costumes for fund-raising events. Throughout she practises mortification of flesh to be true to her faith. In the evening she is invited to dinner by Mr Warburton, Knype Hill's most disreputable resident, a middle-aged bachelor who is an unashamed lecher and atheist. He attempts to seduce Dorothy, having previously tried once to force his attentions on her and using any opportunity to "make casual love to her". As she leaves he forces another embrace on her and they are seen by Mrs Semprill, the village gossip and scandal-monger. Dorothy returns home to her conservatory late at night to work on the costumes.

Chapter 2

Dorothy is transposed to the New Kent Road with amnesia. Eight days of her life are unaccounted for. She joins a group of vagrants, comprising a young man named Nobby and his two friends, who relieve her of her remaining half-crown and take her with them on a hop-picking expedition in Kent.

Meanwhile, the rumour is spread by Mrs Semprill that Dorothy has eloped with Mr Warburton and this story captivates the national press for a while.

After hard work in the hop fields, culminating in Nobby's arrest for theft, Dorothy returns to London with her negligible earnings. As a single girl with no luggage, she is refused admission at "respectable" hotels and ends up in a cheap hotel for "working girls" (prostitutes). Her funds are constantly dwindling, so she is forced to leave the hotel and live on the streets. She takes up residence in Trafalgar Square.

Chapter 3

Dorothy spends the night sleeping rough in Trafalgar Square in a chapter presented entirely as dramatic dialogue between Dorothy and a cast of tramps. The vagrants discuss the difficulties of life on the road, including paying for hot water, finding food, avoiding police, and prostitution. Mr Tallboys, a defrocked minister, performs a mock-religious ritual as Dorothy dreams of "monstrous winged shapes of Demons and Archdemons." After spending ten days on the streets, she is arrested for vagrancy and ends up in a police cell for twelve hours for failure to pay the fine.

Chapter 4

Dorothy believes that her father, distraught at the rumours of her running away with Mr Warburton, has ignored her letters for help. In fact he has contacted his cousin Sir Thomas Hare, whose servant locates her at the police station. Hare's solicitor procures a job for her as a "schoolmistress" in a small "fourth-rate" private girls' "academy" run by the grasping Mrs Creevy. Dorothy's attempts to introduce a more liberal and varied education to her students clash with the expectations of the parents, who want a strictly "practical" focus on handwriting and basic mathematics. The work, which initially she enjoys, quickly becomes drudgery. Mrs Creevy eventually dismisses her, without notice, when she finds another teacher.

Chapter 5

Shortly after Dorothy steps out of the door of the school Mr Warburton turns up in a taxi to say that Mrs Semprill has been charged with slander, and that her malicious gossip has been discredited. He has come, therefore, to take her back to Knype Hill. On the trip home he proposes marriage. Dorothy rejects him, recognising but disregarding his argument that, with her loss of religious faith, her existence as a hard-working clergyman's daughter will be meaningless and dull, and that marriage while she is still young is her only escape. It is suggested (here and earlier in the novel) that another reason for Dorothy's refusal of Warburton's proposal is her sexual repression. The story ends with Dorothy back in her old routine, but without the self-mortification.

After the killing of his father (Count Dracula, the King of the Netherworld), by a mysterious assassin, Count Downe (Harry Nilsson) is summoned from his travels abroad by family advisor Merlin (Ringo Starr) in order to prepare him to take over the throne. Baron Frankenstein (Freddie Jones) is also on hand to help in any way he can. Problem is, Downe wants no part of this responsibility, and instead wishes to become human and mortal − especially after meeting a girl named Amber (Suzanna Leigh), with whom he falls in love. He approaches old family nemesis Dr. Van Helsing (Dennis Price), who agrees to enable the Count's transformation, much to the dismay of the residents of the Netherworld.

Despite the best efforts of a host of monsters, as well as one traitorous figure who is dealt with by the trusted Merlin, Van Helsing performs the operation and removes Downe's fangs. He then informs the Count that he can now live out his days in the sunlight, with Amber at his side.

Keith Moon of The Who and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin both appear in the film, alternating as the drummer in Count Downe's band. Other band members include Klaus Voormann (another old friend of Starr), Peter Frampton, an uncredited Leon Russell, and the regular Rolling Stones horn section of Bobby Keys and Jim Price.

A human narrator from England is transported out of his body via unexplained means. He realizes he is able to explore space and other planets. After exploring a civilization on another planet in our galaxy at a level of development similar to our own that existed millions of years ago thousands of light years from Earth (the "Other Earth") in some detail, his mind merges with that of one of its inhabitants, and as they travel together, they are joined by still more minds or group-minds. This snowballing process is paralleled by the expansion of the book's scale, describing more and more planets in less and less detail.

The disembodied travelers encounter many ideas that are interesting from both science-fictional and philosophical points of view. These include many imaginative descriptions of species, civilizations and methods of warfare, descriptions of the multiverse, and the idea that the stars and pre-galactic nebulae are intelligent beings, operating on vast time scales. A key idea is the formation of collective minds from many telepathically linked individuals, on the level of planets, galaxies, and eventually the cosmos itself.

A symbiotic species, each individual composed of two species, both non-humanoid, is discussed in detail. Normally detached from the galaxy's turmoil, they intervene in a deus ex machina to end the threat of a civilization dedicated to forcing its mentality onto one stellar civilization after another.

The climax of the book is the "supreme moment of the cosmos", when the cosmic mind (which includes the narrator) attains momentary contact with the titular "Star Maker". The Star Maker is the creator of the universe, but stands in the same relation to it as an artist to his work, and calmly assesses its quality without any feeling for the suffering of its inhabitants. This element makes the novel one of Stapledon's efforts to write "an essay in myth making".

After meeting the Star Maker, the traveler is given a "fantastic myth or dream," in which he observes the Star Maker at work. He discovers that his own cosmos is only one of a vast number, and by no means the most significant. He sees the Star Maker's early work, and he learns that the Star Maker was surprised and intensely interested when some of his early "toy" universes — for example a universe composed entirely of music with no spatial dimensions — displayed "modes of behavior that were not in accord with the canon which he had ordained for them." He sees the Star Maker experimenting with more elaborate universes, which include the traveler's own universe, and a triune universe which closely resembles "Christian orthodoxy" (the three universes respectively being hell, heaven, and reality with presence of a savior). The Star Maker goes on to create "mature" universes of extraordinary complexity, culminating in an "ultimate cosmos," through which the Star Maker fulfills his own eternal destiny as "the ground and crown of all things." Finally, the traveler returns to Earth at the place and time he left, to resume his life there.

While most Americans were fighting in the third world war, the nation's managers and engineers responded by developing ingenious automated systems that allowed factories to operate with only a few workers. Ten years after the war, most workers have now been replaced by machines. The polarisation of the population is represented by the division of Ilium, New York into "The Homestead", where every person not a manager or an engineer lives – added to by the growing number of those displaced from that status – and the industrialized north side of the river, inhabited by those who service and develop the machines.

The novel develops two parallel plotlines that converge only briefly at the beginning and the end of the story. The more prominent plot centers on Dr. Paul Proteus, the intelligent, 35-year-old manager of Ilium Works. The secondary plot follows the American tour of the Shah of Bratpuhr, a spiritual leader of six million residents in a distant, underdeveloped nation. These provide contrasting perspectives: that of Paul, as the embodiment of what a man within the American industrial system should strive to be; and the other of a visitor from a contrasting culture, but in which there is also a simple binary social system.

The main story follows Paul's development from an uncritical cog in the system to one of its critics. Paul's father had held a supremo status that had given him almost complete control over the nation's economy. Paul has inherited his father's reputation but harbors an uneasy dissatisfaction with the industrial system and his own contribution to society. His acknowledgement of that feeling is heightened when Ed Finnerty, an old friend whom Paul holds in high regard, informs him that he has quit his important engineering job in Washington, DC.

Paul and Finnerty visit the "Homestead" section of town, where workers who have been displaced by machines live out their meaningless lives in mass-produced houses. There they meet Lasher, an Episcopal minister with a M.A. in anthropology, who helps the two engineers realize the unfairness of the system from which they have profited. Eventually learning that Lasher is the leader of a rebel group known as the "Ghost Shirt Society," Finnerty instantly takes up with him. Paul is not yet bold enough to make a clean break until his superiors ask him to betray Finnerty and Lasher.

Paul purchases a rundown farm with the intention of starting a new life there with his wife, Anita. She, however, is disgusted by the prospect of such a radically different and less privileged lifestyle. "Of all the people on the north side of the river, Anita was the only one whose contempt for those in Homestead was laced with active hatred.... If Paul …hadn't married her, this was where she'd be, what she'd be."Chapter XVIII, pp.150-1 But for the moment she uses her sexual hold on Paul to convince him to stay and compete with two other engineers, Dr. Shepherd and Dr. Garth, for a more prominent position in Pittsburgh.

While Paul takes part in the annual managerial bonding event at "the Meadows", his superiors tell him that he has been chosen to infiltrate the "Ghost Shirt Society," and rumors of his disloyalty to the system are circulated. Then, after arriving in Homestead, he is kidnapped and drugged by Society operatives and later made the organization's public (but largely nominal) figurehead. Paul's name is famous and so the organization intends to use it to their advantage. However, in the first committee meeting that Paul attends, he is captured during a police raid.

Paul is now put on public trial but is freed as the general population begins to riot, destroying the automated factories. The mob, once unleashed, now goes further than the leaders had planned, destroying all means of production regardless of usefulness. Despite the brief and impressive success of the rebellion, the military quickly surrounds the town, while the population begins to use their innate abilities to rebuild the machines of their own volition. Paul, Finnerty, Lasher, and other committee members of the Society acknowledge that at least they have made a stand against the government's oppressive system before surrendering themselves.

In a post-ice age Alaska, the local tribes believe all creatures are created through the Great Spirits, who are said to appear in the form of an aurora. A trio of brothers, Kenai, the youngest; Denahi, the middle; and Sitka, the eldest, return to their tribe in order for Kenai to receive his totem, necklaces in the shapes of different animals. The particular animals they represent symbolize what they must achieve to call themselves men. Unlike Sitka, who gained the eagle of guidance, and Denahi, who gained the wolf of wisdom, Kenai receives the bear of love. He objects to his totem, stating that bears are thieves, and believes his point is made a fact when a brown bear steals their basket of salmon. Kenai and his brothers pursue the bear, but a fight ends on top of a glacier, during which Sitka gives his life to save his brothers by dislodging the glacier, although the bear survives the fall. After Sitka's funeral, an enraged Kenai blames the bear for Sitka's death. He hunts down and chases the bear up onto a rocky cliff, fighting and eventually slaying it. The Spirits, represented by Sitka's spirit in the form of a bald eagle, arrive and transform Kenai into a bear after the dead bear's body evaporates and joins them. Denahi arrives and, falsely believing that Kenai was killed by the bear from earlier, vows to avenge Kenai by hunting it down.

Kenai falls down some rapids, survives, and is healed by Tanana, the shaman of his tribe. She does not speak the bear language, but advises him to return to the mountain to find Sitka and be turned back to a human, but only when he atones for his actions; she vanishes without an explanation. Kenai quickly discovers that the wildlife can now speak to him, meeting a pair of moose brothers named Rutt and Tuke. He gets caught in a trap, but is freed by an outgoing bear cub named Koda. They make a deal: Kenai will escort Koda to an annual salmon run and then the cub will lead Kenai to the mountain. As the two eventually form a brother-like relationship, Koda reveals that his mother is missing. The two are hunted by Denahi, who is still determined to avenge Kenai, unaware that the bear he is pursuing is actually Kenai himself. Eventually, Kenai and Koda reach the salmon run, where a large number of bears live as a family, including the leader Tug. Kenai accepts his new surroundings and is comfortable living with the other bears. During a discussion among the bears, Koda tells a story about his mother recently fighting human hunters on a glacier, reminding Kenai of his and his brothers' fight with the bear that led to Sitka's death, making him realize that the entire time, the bear he killed was Koda's mother.

Horrified of what he has done, Kenai runs away in a fit of guilt, but Koda soon follows him. Downhearted, Kenai confesses the truth to Koda, who runs away, grief-stricken that Kenai was responsible for his mother's death out of avenging Sitka. An apologetic Kenai leaves to reach the mountain. Meanwhile, Rutt and Tuke, having had a falling-out, reconcile in front of Koda, prompting him to forgive Kenai. On the mountain, Kenai is cornered by Denahi, but their battle is interrupted by Koda, who steals Denahi's spear. Kenai sacrifices himself for Koda, out of love, prompting Sitka to appear and turn him back into a human, much to Denahi and Koda's surprise. However, upon realizing that Koda needs him because of his own mistake, Kenai asks Sitka to transform him back into a bear with Denahi's support. Sitka complies, and Kenai is transformed back into a bear. Koda is reunited briefly with the spirit of his mother before she and Sitka return to the spirit world. In the end, Kenai lives with the rest of the bears and gains his title as a man, through being a bear.

Sir Ambrose Abercrombie visits housemates Dennis Barlow and Sir Francis Hinsley to express his concern about Barlow's new job and how it reflects on the British enclave in Hollywood, which is also taken as an announcement of Barlow's impending exclusion from British society. Barlow reports to his job at the Happier Hunting Ground, a pet cemetery and funeral service, and picks up a couple's dead Sealyham Terrier.

Because of the difficulty he is having rebranding actress Juanita del Pablo as an Irish starlet (having previously rebranded Baby Aaronson as del Pablo), Hinsley is sent to work from home. After his secretary stops showing up, he ventures to Megalopolitan Studios and finds a man named Lorenzo Medici in his office. After working his way through the bureaucracy he finds he has been unceremoniously fired. In the next scene, Abercrombie and other British expatriates are discussing Hinsley's suicide and the funeral arrangements.

Barlow, given the task of making Hinsley's funeral arrangements, visits Whispering Glades. There he is transfixed by the cosmetician Aimée Thanatogenos, though he has yet to learn her name.

Barlow continues with the funeral arrangements while Hinsley's body arrives at Whispering Glades and is tended to by Thanatogenos and the senior mortician Mr. Joyboy.

Barlow visits Whispering Glades seeking inspiration for Hinsley's funeral ode. While touring a British-themed section of the cemetery, he meets Thanatogenos and begins his courtship of her when she learns he is a poet.

Six weeks later, Thanatogenos is torn between her very different affections for Barlow and Joyboy. She writes to the advice columnist "The Guru Brahmin" for advice. Joyboy invites her over for dinner and she meets his mother.

The office of the Guru Brahmin consists of "two gloomy men and a bright young secretary". Tasked with responding to Thanatogenos' letters is Mr. Slump, a grim drunk who advises that she marry Joyboy. She instead decides to marry Barlow.

Joyboy learns that the poems which Barlow has been using to woo Thanatogenos are not his own, and arranges that Thanatogenos, who still does not know Barlow works for a pet cemetery, attend the funeral of his mother's parrot at the Happier Hunting Ground.

Sometime after Thanatogenos' discovery of Barlow's deceptions, Barlow reads the announcement of her engagement to Joyboy. Barlow meets her and she is again torn between the two men. She tracks down Mr. Slump to seek the advice of the Guru Brahmin and finds him, via telephone, in a bar after he has been fired. Slump tells her to jump off a building. She commits suicide by injecting herself with embalming fluid in Joyboy's workroom at Whispering Glades.

Joyboy discovers Thanatogenos' body and seeks assistance from Barlow. Then Barlow meets Abercrombie, who, fearing Barlow's plans to become a non-sectarian funeral pastor will further damage the image of the British enclave, pays his return passage to England. Joyboy returns, unaware of Barlow's impending departure, and in exchange for all his savings, Barlow says he will leave town so it will appear that he ran away with Thanatogenos. After cremating the body, Barlow registers Joyboy for the Happier Hunting Ground annual postcard service so every year Joyboy will receive a card reading "Your little Aimée is wagging her tail in heaven tonight, thinking of you."

The story falls broadly into three parts.

In post-World War II London, Jean Paget, a secretary in a leather goods factory, is informed by solicitor Noel Strachan that she has inherited a considerable sum of money from an uncle she never knew. But the solicitor is now her trustee and she only has the use of the income until she inherits absolutely, at the age of thirty-five, several years in the future. In the firm's interest, but increasingly with personal interest, Strachan acts as her guide and advisor. Jean decides that her priority is to build a well in a Malayan village.

The second part of the story flashes back to Jean's experiences during the war, when she was working in Malaya at the time the Japanese invaded and was taken prisoner together with a group of women and children. As she speaks Malay fluently, Jean takes a leading role in the group of prisoners. The Japanese refuse all responsibility for the group and march them from one village to another. Many of them, not used to physical hardship, die.

Jean meets an Australian soldier, Sergeant Joe Harman, also a prisoner, who is driving a lorry for the Japanese and they strike up a friendship. He steals food and medicines to help them. Jean is carrying a toddler, whose mother has died, and this leads Harman to believe that she is married; to avoid complications, Jean does not correct this assumption. On one occasion, Harman steals five chickens from the local Japanese commander. The thefts are investigated and Harman takes the blame to save Jean and the rest of the group. He is beaten, crucified, and left to die by the Japanese soldiers. The women are marched away, believing that he is dead.

When their sole Japanese guard dies, the women become part of a Malayan village community. They live and work there for three years, until the war ends and they are repatriated.

Now a wealthy woman (at least on paper), Jean decides she wants to build a well for the village so that the women will not have to walk so far to collect water: "A gift by women, for women". Strachan arranges for her to travel to Malaya, where she goes back to the village and persuades the headman to allow her to build the well. While it is being built, she discovers that, by a strange chance, Joe Harman survived and returned to Australia. She decides to search for him. On her travels, she visits the town of Alice Springs, where Joe lived before the war, and is much impressed with the quality of life there. She then travels to the (fictional) primitive town of Willstown in the Queensland outback, where Joe has become manager of a cattle station. She soon discovers that the quality of life in "Alice" is an anomaly, and life for a woman in the outback is elsewhere very rugged. Willstown is described as "a fair cow".

Meanwhile, Joe has met a pilot who helped repatriate the women, from whom he learns that Jean survived the war and that she was never married. He travels to London to find her, using money won in the Golden Casket lottery. He finds his way to Strachan's office, but is told that she has gone travelling in the Far East. Disappointed, he gets drunk and is arrested, but is bailed out by Strachan. Without revealing Jean's actual whereabouts, Strachan persuades Joe to return home by ship and intimates that he may well receive a great surprise there.

While staying in Willstown, awaiting Joe's return, Jean learns that most young girls have to leave the town to find work in the bigger cities. Having worked with a firm in Britain that produced crocodile-leather luxury goods, she gets the idea of founding a local workshop to make shoes from the skins of crocodiles hunted in the outback. With the help of Joe and of Noel Strachan, who releases money from her inheritance, she starts the workshop, followed by a string of other businesses; an ice-cream parlour, a public swimming pool and shops.

The third part of the book shows how Jean's entrepreneurship gives a decisive economic impact to develop Willstown into "a town like Alice"; also Jean's help in rescuing an injured stockman, which breaks down many local barriers.

A few years later, an aged Strachan visits Willstown to see the results of Jean's efforts. He reveals that the money which Jean inherited was originally made in an Australian gold rush, and he is satisfied to see the money returning to the site of its making. Jean and Joe name their second son Noel and ask Strachan to be his godfather. They invite Strachan to make his home with them in Australia, but he declines the invitation and returns to Britain.

In the events of the first ''Metroid'', bounty hunter Samus Aran foiled the Space Pirates' plans to use the newly discovered lifeform known as Metroids. Some time later, the Galactic Federation, concerned by the events that transpired, resolved to ensure that the Metroids' power could never again be used by the Pirates, and sent several teams to the Metroid's home planet SR388 to destroy the species once and for all. However, when each of the teams disappear, the Galactic Federation contracts Samus to finish the mission.

While exploring the planet, Samus encounters Metroids and destroys them, slowly decreasing the planet's Metroid population. During her mission, she notices the mutations that each creature exhibits: the Metroids grow from small jellyfish-like creatures into large, hovering, lizard-like beasts. After destroying most of the planet's Metroids, Samus kills the Queen Metroid.

Samus proceeds to return to her gunship through the planet's tunnels. Along the way, she finds a Metroid egg. A Metroid hatchling floats out of the broken shell and imprints onto Samus, thinking that she is its mother. Unable to commit to her mission of extermination, Samus spares its life. She exits the tunnels while the Metroid helps clear the way. Reaching the planet's surface, Samus and the infant Metroid board the gunship together.

Samus Aran brings the last Metroid to the Ceres space colony for scientific study. Investigation of the specimen, a larva, reveals that its energy-producing abilities could actually be harnessed for the good of civilization. Shortly after leaving, Samus receives a distress call alerting her to return to the colony immediately. She finds the scientists dead, and the Metroid larva stolen by Ridley, leader of the Space Pirates. Samus escapes from the colony during a self-destruct sequence and follows Ridley to the planet Zebes. She searches the planet for the Metroid and finds that the Pirates have rebuilt their base there.

After defeating four bosses including Ridley in various regions of Zebes, Samus enters Tourian, the heart of the Pirates' base, and fights several Metroids that have somehow reproduced. A single Metroid that has grown to enormous size attacks and nearly destroys Samus, but relents at the last moment. It is the larva that was stolen from Ceres; because Samus was present at its birth on SR388, the Metroid has imprinted on Samus, recognizing her as its "mother".

Samus fights Mother Brain, a biomechanical creature that controls the Zebes systems. Mother Brain overpowers Samus and again she is nearly killed, but the Metroid larva intervenes, attacking Mother Brain and healing Samus, confirming the scientists' findings. Mother Brain kills the Metroid, but upon death, it gives Samus the Hyper Beam, a powerful weapon strong enough to kill Mother Brain. Samus escapes Zebes as it self-destructs.

Bounty hunter Samus Aran explores the surface of the planet SR388 with a survey crew from Biologic Space Laboratories (BSL). She is attacked by parasitic organisms known as X. On the way back to the BSL station, Samus loses consciousness and her ship crashes. The BSL ship she was escorting recovers her body and transfers it to the Galactic Federation for medical treatment, who discover that the X has infected Samus' central nervous system. They cure her with a vaccine made from cells taken from the infant Metroid that Samus adopted on SR388. The vaccine gives her the ability to absorb the X nuclei for nourishment, but burdens her with the Metroids' vulnerability to cold. Samus's infected Power Suit is sent to the BSL station for examination, although parts of the suit were too integrated with her body to remove during surgery.

When Samus recovers consciousness, she discovers that an explosion has occurred on the BSL station. She is sent to investigate. The mission is overseen by her new gunship's computer, whom Samus nicknames "Adam" after her former commanding officer, Adam Malkovich. Samus learns that the X parasites can replicate their hosts' physical appearances, and that the X have infected the station with the help of the "SA-X", an X parasite mimicking Samus at full power.

Samus avoids the SA-X and explores the space station, defeating larger creatures infected by the X to recover her abilities. She discovers a restricted lab containing Metroids, and the SA-X sets off the labs' auto-destruct sequence while also attacking the released Metroids, who also devour the SA-X. Samus escapes but the lab is destroyed. The computer berates Samus for ignoring orders, and admits that the Federation was secretly using the lab to breed Metroids. It also reveals that the SA-X has asexually reproduced, subsequently cloning itself. The computer advises Samus to leave the station.

On her way to her ship, the computer orders Samus to leave the rest of the investigation to the Federation, which plans to capture SA-X for military purposes. Knowing that the X would only infect the arriving Federation troops and absorb their spacefaring knowledge to conquer the universe, Samus states her intention to destroy the station. Although the computer initially intends to stop Samus, she calls it "Adam", and reveals that Adam died saving her life. The computer suggests that she should alter the station's propulsion to intercept with SR388 and destroy the planet along with all X populations. Samus realizes that the computer is the consciousness of Adam, uploaded after death. En route to initiate the propulsion sequence, Samus confronts an SA-X, defeats it, and sets the BSL station on a collision course with SR388. As Samus prepares to leave, she is attacked by an Omega Metroid. The SA-X appears and attacks it, but is destroyed; Samus absorbs its nucleus and uses her newly restored Ice Beam to destroy the Omega Metroid. Her ship arrives, piloted by creatures Samus rescued from the station's Habitation Deck, and they escape before the station crashes into the planet, destroying it.

The story takes place from 1922 to 1925, in post-revolutionary Russia. Kira Argounova, the protagonist of the story, is the younger daughter of a bourgeois family. An independent spirit with a will to match, she rejects any attempt by her family or the nascent Soviet state to cast her into a mold. At the beginning of the story, Kira returns to Petrograd with her family, after a prolonged exile due to the assault of the Bolshevik revolutionaries. Kira's father had been the owner of a textile factory, which was seized and nationalized. Having given up all hopes of regaining their past possessions after the victories of the Red Army, the family returns to the city in search of livelihood. They find that their home has also been seized and converted to living quarters for several families.

Kira's family eventually manages to find living quarters, and Kira's father gets a license to open a textile shop, an establishment that is but a shadow of his old firm. Life is excruciatingly difficult in these times; living standards are poor, and weary citizens wait in long queues for meager rations of food and fuel. With some effort, Kira manages to obtain her Labor Book, which permits her to study and work. Kira also manages to enroll in the Technological Institute, where she aspires to fulfill her dream of becoming an engineer. At the Institute, Kira meets fellow student Andrei Taganov, an idealistic Communist and an officer in the GPU (the Soviet secret police). The two share a mutual respect and admiration for each other in spite of their differing political beliefs, and become friends.

In a chance encounter, Kira meets Leo Kovalensky, an attractive man with a free spirit. It is love at first sight for Kira, and she throws herself at Leo, who initially takes her to be a prostitute. He is also strongly attracted to her and promises to meet her again. Kira and Leo are shown to be united by their desperate lives and their beliefs that run counter to what is being thrust on them by the state. After a couple of meetings, when they share their deep contempt for the state of their lives, the two plan to escape the country together.

Kira and Leo are caught while attempting to flee the country, but escape imprisonment with the help of a GPU officer who knew Leo's father before the revolution. Kira leaves her parents' apartment and moves into Leo's. She is expelled from the Technological Institute as the result of a purge of all students connected to the bourgeoisie, and she loses her job as well. The relationship between Kira and Leo, intense and passionate in the beginning, begins to deteriorate under the weight of their hardships and their different reactions. Kira keeps her ideas and aspirations alive, but decides to go along with the system until she feels powerful enough to challenge it. Leo, in contrast, sinks slowly into indifference and depression. He contracts tuberculosis and is prescribed treatment in a sanatorium. Kira's efforts to finance his treatment fail, and her appeals to the authorities to get state help fall on deaf ears.

As Kira's relationship with Leo evolves, so does her relationship with Andrei. Despite their political differences, she finds Andrei to be the one person with whom she can discuss her most intimate thoughts and views. Andrei's affection and respect for Kira slowly turns into love. When he confesses his love to Kira, she is dismayed but also desperate, so she feigns love for Andrei and agrees to become his mistress. She uses money from Andrei to fund Leo's treatment.

Leo returns cured of tuberculosis and healthy, but a changed man. He opens a food store that is a front for black market trade, bribing a GPU officer to look the other way. Andrei, who is concerned that corruption is damaging the communist state, starts investigating the store. He arrests Leo and in the process discovers that Kira has secretly been living with Leo. Disillusioned about both his personal relationship and his political ideals, Andrei secures Leo's release and shortly thereafter commits suicide. Kira, perhaps the only genuine mourner at his state funeral, wonders if she has killed him. Having lost any moral sense that he may have left, Leo leaves Kira to begin a new life as a gigolo. After Leo's departure, Kira makes a final attempt to cross the border. Almost in sight of freedom, she is shot by a border guard and dies.

After the events of ''A Link to the Past'', the hero Link travels by ship to other countries to train for further threats. A storm destroys his boat at sea, and he washes ashore on Koholint Island, where he is taken to the house of Tarin by his daughter Marin. She is fascinated by Link and the outside world, and tells Link wishfully that, if she were a seagull, she would leave and travel across the sea. After Link recovers his sword, a mysterious owl tells him that he must wake the Wind Fish, Koholint's guardian, in order to return home. The Wind Fish lies dreaming in a giant egg on top of Mt. Tamaranch, and can only be awakened by the eight Instruments of the Sirens.

Link proceeds to explore a series of dungeons in order to recover the eight instruments. During his search for the sixth instrument, Link goes to the Ancient Ruins. There he finds a mural that details the reality of the island: that it is merely a dream world created by the Wind Fish. After this revelation, the owl tells Link that this is only a rumor, and only the Wind Fish knows for certain whether it is true. Throughout Koholint Island, nightmare creatures attempt to obstruct Link's quest for the instruments, as they wish to rule the Wind Fish's dreamworld.

After collecting all eight instruments from the eight dungeons across Koholint, Link climbs to the top of Mt. Tamaranch and plays the Ballad of the Wind Fish. This breaks open the egg in which the Wind Fish sleeps; Link enters and confronts the last evil being, a Nightmare that takes the form of Ganon and other enemies from Link's past. Its final transformation is "DethI", a cyclopean, dual-tentacled Shadow. After Link defeats DethI, the owl reveals itself to be the Wind Fish's spirit, and the Wind Fish confirms that Koholint is all his dream. When Link plays the Ballad of the Wind Fish again, he and the Wind Fish awaken; Koholint Island and all its inhabitants slowly disappear. Link finds himself lying on his ship's driftwood in the middle of the ocean, with the Wind Fish flying overhead. If the player did not lose any lives during the game, Marin is shown flying after the ending credits finish.

Guybrush Threepwood and Elaine Marley return to Mêlée Island from their honeymoon. They find that Elaine has been declared officially dead, her position as governor has been revoked and her mansion is scheduled to be demolished. The governorship is up for election, and suddenly a person known as Charles L. Charles presents himself as the lead candidate. As Elaine begins her campaign to recover her position, Guybrush hires navigator Ingacius Cheese in a game of insult arm-wrestling, meets again with two of his old "friends", Carla and Otis, and heads out to Lucre Island to recover the Marley family heirlooms and obtain the legal documents to save her mansion. During his trip, Guybrush learns of the Marley family's greatest secret: a voodoo talisman known as the Ultimate Insult, which allows the user to spread insults so heinous, it destroys the spirit and will of those who hear it. He is framed for bank robbery by crook Peg-Nosed Pete at the hiring of the Australian land developer Ozzie Mandrill, but proves his innocence.

After acquiring the legal deeds and returning to the manor, Guybrush and Elaine discover that Charles L. Charles is really the shape-shifting Demon Pirate LeChuck, having been freed from his ice prison and seeking the Ultimate Insult. As Elaine continues her campaign, Guybrush searches the Jambalaya and Knuttin Atoll islands and recovers the pieces of the Ultimate Insult. Upon returning home, he is ambushed by the newly elected governor LeChuck and Ozzie Mandrill, who steal the pieces from him. The two villains are revealed to be working together, with Ozzie to rid of all pirates and turn the Caribbean into a resort and LeChuck out of debt to Ozzie for freeing him from his icy tomb and to use the Ultimate Insult to break Elaine and marry her. Feeling they might need Guybrush as a hostage, the two dump him on Monkey Island.

Despite temporary discouragement, Guybrush sets about making his escape. He learns the art of Monkey Kombat from the "monkey prince of Monkey Island" and, upon restoring the hermit Herman Toothrot's memory, discovers that the old man is actually Elaine's missing grandfather, having contracted amnesia twenty years prior due to being pushed into a whirlpool off the coast of Australia by Ozzie. After constructing an even bigger Ultimate Insult, Guybrush discovers that the colossal monkey head statue of the island hides a giant pilot-able monkey robot. He reactivates the Mecha and powers it and Herman and the island's monkeys join him in piloting it. With the robot, Guybrush manages to disable an Ultimate Insult amplifier made by Ozzie before returning to Mêlée. During this time, Ozzie has managed to capture Elaine and assemble the Ultimate Insult. When it appears to fail due to the lack of the amplifier, LeChuck takes matters into his own hands and possesses a statue of himself he had built shortly after his gubernatorial victory. Ozzie uses the Ultimate Insult to take control of LeChuck's statue form and engages Guybrush's monkey robot in Monkey Kombat. During the duel, Guybrush performs repeated ties, allowing Elaine to escape and causing LeChuck to smack his head in exasperation, crushing Ozzie and destroying the Ultimate Insult. LeChuck explodes. Guybrush and Elaine are reunited and Grandpa Marley resumes being the governor of Mêlée Island, so that the couple can go back to being pirates.

The series centers around Dora Marquez, a seven-year-old Latina girl, with a love of embarking on quests related to an activity that she wants to partake of or a place that she wants to go to, accompanied by her talking purple backpack and anthropomorphic monkey companion named Boots (named for his beloved pair of red boots). Each episode is based around a series of cyclical events that occur along the way during Dora's travels, along with obstacles that she and Boots are forced to overcome or puzzles that they have to solve (with "assistance" from the viewing audience) relating to riddles, the Spanish language, or counting. Common rituals may involve Dora's encounters with Swiper, a bipedal, anthropomorphic masked thieving fox whose theft of the possessions of others must be prevented through fourth wall-breaking interaction with the viewer. To stop Swiper, Dora must say "Swiper no swiping" three times. However, on occasions where Swiper steals the belongings of other people, the viewer is presented with the challenge of helping Boots and Dora locate the stolen items. Another obstacle involves encounters with another one of the program's antagonists; the "Grumpy Old Troll" dwelling beneath a bridge that Dora and Boots must cross, who challenges them with a riddle that needs to be solved with the viewer's help before permitting them to pass. Known for the constant breaking of the fourth-wall depicted in every episode, the audience is usually presented to two primary landmarks that must be passed before Dora can reach her destination, normally being challenged with games or puzzles along the way. The episode always ends with Dora successfully reaching the locale, singing the "We Did It!" song with Boots in triumph.

On numerous occasions, television specials have been aired for the series in which the usual events of regular episodes are altered, threatened, or replaced. Usually said specials will present Dora with a bigger, more whimsical adventure than usual or with a magical task that must be fulfilled, or perhaps even offer a series of different adventures for Boots and Dora to travel through. They might be presented with an unusual, difficult task (such as assisting Swiper in his attempts to be erased from Santa Claus's Naughty List) that normally is not featured in average episodes, or challenge Dora with a goal that must be achieved (such as the emancipation of a trapped mermaid). Sometimes, the specials have involved the debut of new characters, such as the birth of Dora's superpowered twin baby siblings and the introduction of the enchanted anthropomorphic stars that accompany Dora on many of her quests.

In 1184 France, Balian, a blacksmith, is haunted by his wife's recent suicide, after the death of their unborn child. A Crusader passing through the village introduces himself as Balian's father, Baron Godfrey of Ibelin, and asks him to return with him to the Holy Land, but Balian declines. After the town priest (Balian's half-brother) reveals that he ordered Balian's wife's body beheaded before burial, Balian inspects the priest thoroughly, noticing the priest had stolen his wife's necklace and kills him before fleeing the village.

Balian joins his father, hoping to gain forgiveness and redemption for himself and his wife in Jerusalem. Soldiers sent by the bishop arrive to arrest Balian, but Godfrey refuses to surrender him, and in the ensuing attack, Godfrey is struck by an arrow that breaks off in his body.

In Messina, they have a contentious encounter with Guy de Lusignan, prospective future king of Jerusalem. Godfrey knights Balian, names him the new Baron of Ibelin, and orders him to serve the King of Jerusalem and protect the helpless, then succumbs to his arrow wound and dies. During the journey to Jerusalem, Balian's ship runs aground in a storm, leaving him as the only survivor. Balian is confronted by a Muslim cavalier, who attacks in a fight for his horse. Balian is forced to slay the cavalier but spares his servant, who tells him that this mercy will gain him fame and respect among the Saracens.

Balian becomes acquainted with Jerusalem's political arena: the leper King Baldwin IV; Tiberias, the Marshal of Jerusalem; the King's sister, Princess Sibylla, who is Guy's wife and also mother to a little boy from an earlier marriage. Guy supports the anti-Muslim brutalities of the Knights Templar and intends to break the fragile truce between the King and the sultan Saladin to make war on the Muslims. Balian travels to his inherited estate at Ibelin and finds the residents struggling and the land almost barren from lack of water. He quickly gets to work, using his knowledge of engineering to irrigate the dry and dusty lands, while working right alongside the workers. The land quickly turns into lush farmland which both improves the residents' lives and earns Balian the love and respect of his people. During that time Sibylla visits him and watches him as he interacts with his tenants, and they become lovers.

In 1185 Guy and his ally, the cruel Raynald of Châtillon, attack a Saracen caravan, and Saladin advances on Raynald's castle Kerak in retaliation. At the king's request, Balian defends the villagers, despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered. Captured, Balian encounters the servant he had freed, who he learns is actually Saladin's chancellor Imad ad-Din. Imad ad-Din releases Balian in repayment of his earlier mercy. Saladin arrives with a massive army to besiege Kerak, and Baldwin meets them with his own. They negotiate a Muslim retreat, and Baldwin swears to punish Raynald, though the exertion of these events weakens him.

Baldwin asks Balian to marry Sibylla and take control of the army, but Balian refuses because it will require the execution of Guy and the Templars. Baldwin soon dies and is succeeded by his nephew, Sybilla's son, now Baldwin V. Sybilla, as regent, intends to maintain her brother's peace with Saladin. Shortly, her son, like his uncle before him, begins to develop leprosy. Devastated and driven by the common belief of eternal damnation for lepers, Sybilla makes the heartrending decision to end her son's life by pouring poison into his ear while he sleeps in her arms; she then hands the crown to her husband Guy and withdraws in private to mourn.

As King of Jerusalem, Guy releases Raynald, who gives him the war he desires by murdering Saladin's sister. Sending the severed heads of Saladin's emissaries back to him, Guy declares war on the Saracens in 1187 and attempts to assassinate Balian, who barely survives. Guy marches to war with the army, despite Balian's advice to remain near Jerusalem's water sources. The Saracens later annihilate the tired and dehydrated Crusaders in the ensuing desert battle. Saladin takes Guy captive, executes Raynald, and marches on Jerusalem. Tiberias leaves for Cyprus, believing Jerusalem lost, but Balian remains to protect the people in the city, and knights every fighting man to inspire them. After an assault that lasts three days, a frustrated Saladin parleys with Balian. When Balian reaffirms that he will destroy the city if Saladin does not accept his surrender, Saladin agrees to allow the Christians to leave safely. They ponder if it would be better if the city were destroyed, as there would be nothing left to fight over.

In the city, Balian is confronted by the humiliated Guy, and defeats him in a sword fight, though he spares Guy's life, telling him to "rise a knight" as if he never were. In the marching column of citizens, Balian finds Sibylla, who has renounced her claim as queen. After they return to France, English knights en route to Jerusalem ride through the town to enlist Balian, now the famed defender of Jerusalem. Balian tells the crusader that he is merely a blacksmith again, and they depart. Balian is joined by Sibylla, and they pass by the grave of Balian's wife as they ride toward the unknown. An epilogue notes that "nearly a thousand years later, peace in the Kingdom of Heaven still remains elusive".

The Bonwit Teller department store in New York City is destroyed by a bomb during the morning commute. The New York Police Department gets a call from "Simon" claiming responsibility. He threatens to detonate another unless suspended police officer Lt. John McClane is dropped in Harlem, wearing a sandwich board with a racial slur on it. They comply, and McClane is called in.

Zeus Carver, an electrician with a nearby shop, sees McClane wearing the board. McClane explains that he is an officer on a case, but is soon attacked by a group of angry black men. He and Carver manage to escape in a taxi. At NYPD headquarters, they learn that a large quantity of binary liquid explosive has been stolen, part of which was used for the bomb. Simon demands that McClane and Carver both follow his instructions, posing a series of timed challenges that lead them to the Wall Street subway station. McClane boards the Brooklyn-bound 3 train in search of a bomb Simon has placed on it, while Carver hurries to answer Simon's call at a pay phone. McClane finds the bomb and throws it off the train just before it detonates, derailing the train and damaging the station.

McClane and Carver regroup with the police and FBI and CIA agents, learning that Simon is "Peter Krieg", a former colonel in the East German People's Army and a mercenary-for-hire. However, Krieg's real name is Simon Peter Gruber, the brother of Hans Gruber, whom McClane had killed years earlier in Los Angeles.

Simon then calls the group, telling them about a bomb in a New York public school, set to explode once class lets out and equipped with a radio detonator triggered by the use of FBI and police bands. Simon will give McClane and Carver the school location if they follow his riddles, warning that he will detonate the bomb if any evacuation attempts are made. While McClane and Carver do Simon's next task, the police organize a search of the city's schools, using 9-1-1 to coordinate. McClane realizes that Simon is using the bomb threat to distract the police away from Wall Street, which has no public schools. They return there to find that Simon's men have tunneled into the Federal Reserve Bank and stolen $140 billion of gold bullion in dump trucks. They follow the trucks into an aqueduct in Tunnel No. 3. Carver continues Simon's game while McClane follows the trucks.

McClane kills the crew members of one dump truck and commandeers it. Simon blows up a cofferdam, intending to flood the tunnel and drown McClane, but McClane is ejected through an air vent and reunites with Carver. Surviving a car chase with Simon's men who had followed Carver, they find that each driver was carrying enough money to pay for a bridge toll. They sneak aboard a tanker vessel docked in Long Island Sound, but Simon and his crew capture them and place them next to a bomb in the cargo hold. The school bomb, Simon explains, was a fake intended to distract the police. He broadcasts a message proclaiming his intent to destroy the tanker and scatter the stolen bullion across the bottom of the sound, destabilizing the Western world's economy. After he leaves, Carver and McClane free themselves and escape the tanker just before the bomb detonates.

As McClane and Carver are debriefed by the police, McClane reports that none of the bullion was on the tanker, using his knowledge of the Gruber family to deduce that Simon had intended to keep it. While trying to call his estranged wife Holly, McClane glances at a bottle of aspirin given to him by Simon and notes that it was purchased at a truckstop in Quebec on the Canada–U.S. border. McClane, Carver, and the police arrive at a warehouse near the truckstop where Simon and his men are distributing the bullion and planning their escape. The rest of Simon's men are captured, while Simon and his girlfriend Katya attempt to escape via helicopter. McClane shoots an overhead power line that falls onto the helicopter, causing it to crash and explode. After celebrating their triumph, Carver persuades McClane to call Holly again.

'''' Mickey Mouse's concert band is performing a concert in a park. As the film opens, they are being applauded for having just played music from Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold's ''Zampa''. They next begin Gioacchino Rossini's ''William Tell'' overture.

Mickey's performance is first disrupted by Peter Pig's vibrato trumpet and Paddy Pig's tuba playing ''Prelude: Dawn'' from the ''William Tell'' overture. Meanwhile, Donald Duck rolls a vendor cart through the audience selling popcorn, lemonade, peanuts, and ice cream, which further distracts Mickey.

While the band is playing the "Finale" segment, Donald plays ''Turkey in the Straw'' at the same tempo as the band. Overhearing Donald, the entire band absent-mindedly find themselves playing Donald's song. Realizing his mistake, Mickey loses his temper over his performance being disrupted in this manner. Mickey splits Donald's flute in two, only for Donald to get another one out. They play the song again and Mickey splits the flute once more. The band resumes the segment, but when Donald pulls out a third flute and plays "Turkey in the Straw" again, Donald breaks the flute himself before Mickey can stop him. The trombonist grabs Donald by the neck, shakes out several of his flutes and forces him offstage, knocking him back into the vendor cart.

While Donald tries to play the song again a bee harasses him. When the bee lands on Mickey's hat, Donald throws ice cream at the bee, which sends it into Peter Pig's trumpet; he shoots it out, accidentally hitting Mickey with it. The ice cream slides under Mickey's uniform, making him shake around, causing the band to briefly play ''The Streets of Cairo'' until it falls out and he kicks it away. Mickey has the band play ''Ranz des Vaches'' and swats his baton at the bee, temporarily causing the band to briefly play notes drastically different than the song. Percussionist Horace Horsecollar tries to kill the bee by squishing it with his cymbals and with a hammer, but accidentally hits Goofy's head instead, driving his head down into his jacket. He continues playing his clarinet from inside it.

When the band comes to the "Storm" segment of the overture, it summons an actual tornado, prompting the audience and Donald to run away. The benches that the audience members were sitting on come to life (each wearing a hat that fell off an audience member) and also begin running for their lives as well. Donald tries to take shelter in some trees only for the tornado to tie them in knots with Donald in the middle. The tornado sucks up and destroys everything in its path (houses, farms, trees, walls, signs, windmills, fences, power lines, etc.), even the pavilion on which the band is playing, but the band is so used to distractions at this point that they continue to play from inside the tornado (in which Mickey floats through the remains of a wrecked house, Peter Pig gets spanked by a fence, and Clarabelle is hit by a pair of undergarments and an umbrella that turns her flute inside-out). The tornado suddenly freezes when Mickey takes a pause conducting (which seemingly stops time itself briefly) and goes in reverse as the band finishes the last part of the song. As the storm passes, the band (except Horace, Peter Pig, who loses his clothing to tree branches, and Mickey) is thrown into a tree and they finish the overture. By this time, the only remaining audience member is Donald Duck who applauds enthusiastically. Witnessing Donald playing "Turkey in the Straw" as an encore, the offscreen band members furiously throw their instruments at him. Donald's hands appear out of a tuba's blowpiece and plays a final flutter of notes.

Act 1

In 1933 in New York City, eleven-year-old Annie sleeps in an orphanage with several other girls her age. When six-year-old Molly wakes up from a bad dream, Annie comforts her by singing about her own parents; even though they abandoned her at the orphanage as a baby, she holds on to the hope that they will come back for her ("Maybe"). Annie decides to escape to find her parents, but is caught by Miss Hannigan, the cruel keeper of the orphanage. To punish Annie's behavior, she forces all the girls to clean, and they lament the terrible conditions of the orphanage ("It's the Hard Knock Life"). Later on, Bundles the laundry man comes in to pick up the blankets, allowing Annie to escape in his truck. Miss Hannigan realizes she's gone and chases after the truck. The other orphans cheer her on, but await punishment when Hannigan returns ("Hard Knock Life (Reprise)").

Annie escapes, running into a friendly stray dog. She tells him of better days to come ("Tomorrow"). She fools a police officer into believing he is her dog, named Sandy. Later, Annie and Sandy stumble upon a Hooverville, a shanty town full of formerly well-off people suddenly rendered homeless by the Great Depression. They sarcastically toast the former president ("We'd Like to Thank You, Herbert Hoover"). The shanty town is broken up by the cops, who take Annie back to the orphanage.

At the orphanage, Miss Hannigan vents her frustration at being surrounded by children ("Little Girls"). Grace Farrell, the assistant to the billionaire Oliver Warbucks, comes to the orphanage, asking for an orphan to spend Christmas at his mansion. Seeing how poorly Miss Hannigan treats Annie (Which makes her pity the other orphans) , Grace insists on taking her.

At Warbucks's mansion, Grace introduces Annie to the staff and explains that she will have every luxury available ("I Think I'm Gonna Like It Here"). Oliver Warbucks returns, and isn't happy to have Annie in his mansion, having assumed all orphans were boys. Warbucks instructs Grace to take her to a movie while he works, but when he realizes that Annie has never seen New York, he decides to take her there himself, walking the 45 blocks to the Roxy and seeing New York City in all of its glory ("N.Y.C.").

Grace pays Miss Hannigan a visit to tell her that Warbucks wants to officially adopt Annie. Hannigan becomes furiously envious that the orphan she hated so much will suddenly have everything. Her ne'er-do-well brother Rooster and his girlfriend Lily drop by in hopes of a handout. When Miss Hannigan mentions that Annie is going to be adopted by Warbucks, Rooster realizes they can use this situation to their advantage ("Easy Street").

Having noticed a broken locket around Annie's neck, Warbucks buys her a new, more expensive one from Tiffany's. He wonders whether he is ready for such a big change in his life ("Why Should I Change A Thing?"). When he offers Annie the locket and attempts to take off the old one, Annie bursts into tears, as the locket was the only thing left to her by her parents, and she still holds out hope that they will return for her. Warbucks pledges to find her parents no matter what it takes, calling J. Edgar Hoover to get the Federal Bureau of Investigation on the job ("You Won't Be An Orphan For Long").

Act 2

Annie appears on Bert Healy's radio show ("Maybe (Reprise)"), where Warbucks announces that he is offering $50,000 to the couple who can prove they are her parents. Healy then sings a song with the Boylan Sisters ("You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile"). At the orphanage, the girls are listening to the show. They joyously sing along ("You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile (Reprise)").

A couple claiming to be Annie's parents, Ralph and Shirley Mudge, arrive at the orphanage. In fact, they are Rooster and Lily in disguise. They believe they can pass themselves off as Annie's parents with Hannigan's help, for which she demands half of the money ("Easy Street (Reprise)").

Warbucks brings Annie to Washington, D.C., where she meets President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt and his cabinet are inspired by her optimism and decide to make it a cornerstone of their administration ("Tomorrow (Cabinet Reprise)").

Once back home, Warbucks tells Annie how much he loves her ("Something Was Missing"). Because all the people claiming to be her parents were frauds, he offers once again to adopt her, and Annie gleefully accepts. The delighted staff get Annie dressed for the formal adoption proceedings, and tell of how her arrival has changed their lives ("Annie"). As Judge Louis Brandeis shows up to begin the adoption proceedings, Warbucks and Annie dance together ("I Don't Need Anything But You").

They are interrupted by Rooster and Lily in disguise. The two present faked documents, as well as the other half of Annie's locket, seemingly confirming their story. Warbucks requests that she be allowed to stay one more night, and they can take her away on Christmas morning. The next morning, Annie wonders if her life with her parents will really be as good as her life with Warbucks could have been ("Maybe (Second Reprise)"). Warbucks receives a surprise visit from Roosevelt and his Secret Service. The FBI has learned that Annie's parents are actually David and Margaret Bennett, who died some time ago; Annie truly is an orphan. Mr. and Mrs. "Mudge" show up to take Annie and the money, but are quickly exposed. They are arrested by the Secret Service, along with Miss Hannigan. Annie is adopted by Warbucks, who notes that this Christmas is the beginning of a new life for them, for the orphans (all of whom are adopted by wealthy friends of Warbucks), and for the rest of the country, thanks to Roosevelt's New Deal ("A New Deal for Christmas"/"Tomorrow (Second Reprise)").

Season 1

A spin-off of ''Diff'rent Strokes'', the series featured the Drummonds' former housekeeper Edna Garrett (Charlotte Rae) becoming the housemother of a dormitory at Eastland School, a private all-girls school in Peekskill, New York. The girls in her care included spoiled rich girl Blair Warner (Lisa Whelchel); the youngest, gossipy Dorothy "Tootie" Ramsey (Kim Fields) and impressionable Natalie Green (Mindy Cohn).

The pilot for the show was originally aired as the last episode of the first season of ''Diff'rent Strokes'' and was called "The Girls' School (a.k.a. Garrett's Girls)." The plot line for the pilot had Kimberly Drummond (Dana Plato) requesting that Mrs. Garrett help her sew costumes for a student play at East Lake School for Girls, the school Kimberly attended in Upstate New York, as her dorm's housemother had recently quit. Mrs. Garrett agrees to help, puts on a successful play and also solves a problem for the boyfriend-obsessed Nancy Olsen (Felice Schachter) as she also meets Blair, Tootie, the small-town girl from Kansas Sue Ann Weaver (Julie Piekarski), and the budding activist Molly Parker (Molly Ringwald). Mrs. Garrett is asked to stay on as the new housemother but states she would rather remain working for the Drummonds at the end of the pilot. Following the pilot, the name of the school was changed to Eastland and characters were replaced, with Natalie, athletic tomboy Cindy Webster (Julie Anne Haddock), and Mr. Bradley becoming part of the main group featured. Although Kimberly Drummond is featured as a student at East Lake, her character did not cross over to the spinoff series with Mrs. Garrett. In the show's first season, episodes focus on the issues of seven girls, with the action usually set in a large, wood-paneled common room of a girls' dormitory. Also appearing was the school's headmaster, Mr. Steven Bradley (John Lawlor) and Miss Emily Mahoney (Jenny O'Hara), an Eastland teacher who was dropped after the first four episodes. Early episodes of the show typically revolve around a central morality-based or "lesson teaching" theme. The show's pilot episode plot included a story line in which Blair Warner insinuates that her schoolmate Cindy Webster is a lesbian, because she is a tomboy and frequently shows affection for other girls. Other season one episodes deal with issues including drug use, sex, eating disorder, parental relationships and peer pressure.

Seasons 2–8

The producers felt that there were too many characters given the limitations of the half-hour sitcom format and that the plot lines should be more focused to give the remaining girls more room for character development. Four of the original actresses—Julie Anne Haddock (Cindy), Julie Piekarski (Sue Ann), Felice Schachter (Nancy) and Molly Ringwald (Molly)—were written out of the show, although the four did make periodic guest appearances in the second and third seasons, and all but Molly Ringwald appeared in one "reunion" episode in the eighth season. Mr. Bradley's character was also dropped and replaced by Mr. Charles Parker (Roger Perry). Mr. Parker appeared in episodes through the beginning of season 5. In addition to being housemother to the remaining girls, Mrs. Garrett became the school dietitian as the second season began. Jo Polniaczek (Nancy McKeon), a new student originally from the Bronx, arrived at Eastland on scholarship. A run-in with the law forced the four to be separated from the other girls and work in the cafeteria, living together in a spare room next to Mrs. Garrett's bedroom. The season two premiere of the retooled series saw an immediate ratings increase. By its third season (1981–82), ''Facts of Life'' had become NBC's No. 1 comedy and No. 2 overall NBC program, beating its predecessor, ''Diff'rent Strokes'', for the first time.

In 1983, Jo and Blair graduated Eastland Academy in the highly anticipated season four finale "Graduation". To keep the four girls under one roof, the hour-long season five premiere "Brave New World" saw Mrs. Garrett go into business for herself and open a gourmet food venture named Edna's Edibles. The four girls came to live and work with Mrs. Garrett in this new refreshed space. In September 1985, NBC moved the seventh season of the series to its burgeoning Saturday night lineup at 8:30, as a lead-in for the new series ''The Golden Girls'' at 9 pm. In an attempt to refresh the "ratings work horse" and increase ratings, George Clooney was added to the regular cast and Mrs. Garrett's store was gutted by fire in the season seven premiere "Out of the Fire". The follow-up episodes "Into the Frying Pan" and "Grand Opening" had the girls join together to rebuild the store with a pop culture-influenced gift shop, called Over Our Heads. The changes proved successful as all three episodes placed in the top ten ratings each week. By the end of the season, ''TV Guide'' reported, "''Facts'' success has been so unexpected that scions of Hollywood are still taken aback by it ...''Facts'' has in fact been among NBC's top-ranked comedies for the past five years. It finished twenty-seven overall for the 1985–1986 season, handily winning its time slot against its most frequent competitors, ''Airwolf'' and ''Benson''. Lisa Whelchel stated, 'We're easily overlooked because we've never been a huge hit; we just sort of snuck in there.'"

Charlotte Rae initially reduced her role in seasons six and seven and later decided to leave the series altogether, believing she had done all she could do with her character and desired to move on to other projects. In season eight's heavily promoted one-hour premiere, "Out of Peekskill" Mrs. Garrett married the man of her dreams and joined him in Africa while he worked for the Peace Corps. Mrs. Garrett convinces her sister, Beverly Ann Stickle (Cloris Leachman), to take over the shop and look after the girls. The character of Beverly Ann had a similar personality to Leachman's previous Emmy-winning role as Phyllis Lindstrom on two 1970s CBS sitcoms – ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' and ''Phyllis''. Beverly Ann later legally adopted Over Our Heads worker Andy Moffett (Mackenzie Astin) in the episode "A Boy About the House". Describing the new changes to ''The Facts of Life'' Brandon Tartikoff, NBC Entertainment President, said he "was surprised that ''The Facts of Life'' performed well this season, as, with a major cast change and all, I thought it might not perform as it had in the past. ''Facts'' has been renewed for next season."

Final season

In the ninth and final season, the series aired on NBC's Saturday lineup at 8 pm, NBC still had confidence in the series, making it the 8 p.m. anchor, kicking off the network's second-highest rated night (next to Thursdays). For February Nielsen rating sweeps, the writers created a controversial storyline in this season for the episode titled "The First Time", in which Natalie became the first of the girls to lose her virginity. Lisa Whelchel refused this storyline that would have made her character, not Natalie, the first among the four young women in the show to lose her virginity. Having become a Christian when she was 10, Whelchel refused because of her religious convictions. Whelchel appeared in every episode but asked to be written out of "The First Time". The episode ran a parental advisory before starting and placed 22nd in the ratings for the week. With the show still easily winning its timeslot, NBC had made plans to renew ''The Facts of Life'' for a 10th season but two castmates – Mindy Cohn and Nancy McKeon – chose to leave at the conclusion of season nine.

In August 1940, during the Battle of Britain, three children named Charlie, Carrie, and Paul Rawlins are evacuated from London to Pepperinge Eye, near the Dorset coast, where they are placed in the reluctant care of Miss Eglantine Price. The children discover Miss Price is learning witchcraft through a correspondence school with hopes of using her spells in the British war effort against the Nazis, and offers the children a transportation spell in exchange for their silence. She casts the spell on a bedknob.

Miss Price receives a letter from her school announcing its closure, thus preventing her from learning the final spell. She convinces Paul to use the enchanted bed to return the group to London, and locate the headmaster, Professor Emelius Browne. Browne turns out to be a common street magician who created the course from an old book, and is shocked to learn the spells actually work. He reveals his real reason for closing the school: the book is damaged and the final spell, "Substitutiary Locomotion", is missing. The group travels to Portobello Road to locate the rest of the book. After an exchange with an old bookseller, Miss Price learns that the spell is engraved on a magical medallion called the Star of Astaroth. The bookseller explains that Astaroth used the medallion to anthropomorphise a pack of wild animals, who then killed him and took the Star to a remote island called Naboombu.

The group travels to Naboombu. The bed goes underwater, where Mr. Browne and Miss Price enter a dance contest and win first prize. The bed is fished out of the sea by a bear, who brings the group before the island's ruler, King Leonidas the lion, who is wearing the Star of Astaroth. Leonidas invites Mr. Browne to act as a referee in a football match. The chaotic match ends in Leonidas' self-proclaimed victory, while Mr. Browne swaps the medallion with his referee whistle as he leaves.

Back home, Miss Price casts the spell, which imbues inanimate objects with life. When Miss Price is informed that the children can be moved to another home, she decides to let them stay, realizing she has come to love them and vice versa. The children declare they want Mr. Browne to be their father, but Mr. Browne, wary of commitment, bids goodbye to the group and attempts to take a train back to London. A platoon of Nazi German commandos land on the coast via U-boat as part of an exercise and invade Miss Price's house, imprisoning her and the children in the local museum. At the train station, Mr. Browne fends off two Germans cutting phone lines and heads back to Miss Price's house, using a spell that he taught Miss Price to disguise himself and avoid the Germans. He inspires Miss Price to use the spell to enchant the museum's exhibits into an army. The army of knights' armor and military uniforms chases the Germans away, but as they retreat, they destroy Miss Price's workshop, ending her career as a witch. Though disappointed her career is over, she is happy she played a small part in the war effort.

Shortly afterwards, Mr. Browne enlists in the army and departs with the local Home Guard escorting him, promising the children he will return soon. Paul reveals he still has the enchanted bedknob, hinting they can continue with their adventures.

Andy Kasper is a marketer who quits his job in search of something more fulfilling. He gets hired at LaHonda Research Institute, where Francis Benoit assigns him to design the PC99, a $99 PC. He moves into a run-down apartment building where he meets his neighbor Alisa, who's an artist, and puts together a team of unassigned employees. The team includes: Salman Fard, a short, foreign man with an accent who is hacking into CIA files when Andy meets him; Curtis "Tiny" Russell, a massively obese, anthropophobic man; and Darrell, a tall, blond, pierced, scary, germaphobic, deep-voiced man with personal space issues who regularly refers to himself in the third person.

The team finds many non-essential parts but cannot come close to the $99 mark. It is Salman's idea to put all the software on the internet, eliminating the need for a hard drive, RAM, a CD-ROM drive, a floppy drive, and anything that holds information. The computer has been reduced to a microprocessor, a monitor, a mouse, a keyboard, and the internet, but it is still too expensive. Having seen the rest of his team watching a hologram of an attractive lady the day before, in a dream Andy is inspired to eliminate the monitor in favor of the cheaper holographic projector. The last few hundred dollars come off when Darrell suggests using virtual reality gloves in place of a mouse and keyboard. Tiny then writes a "hypnotizer" code to link the gloves, the projector, and the internet, and they're done.

But immediately before he finishes, the whole team (except for Tiny, who is still writing the code) quits LaHonda after being told that there are no more funds for their project, but sign a non-exclusive patent waiver, meaning that LaHonda will share the patent rights to any technology they had developed up to that point. After leaving LaHonda, they pitch their product to numerous companies, but do not get accepted, mainly because the prototype emagi ('''e'''lectronic '''magi'''c) was ugly, and something always seemed to go wrong during the demonstration of their product.

Alisa, whose relationship with Andy has been growing steadily, helps improve the emagi's looks, which helps the team with their callback with executive. They agree to give her 51% of their company in exchange for getting their product manufactured and for getting Andy's Porsche bought back, which he had had to sell in order to raise money to build a new emagi after leaving LaHonda. Unfortunately, she then sells the patent rights to the emagi to Francis Benoit, who plans to sell the emagi at $999 a piece and reap a huge profit.

The team interrupts the meeting in which Benoit is going to introduce the emagi to the world and introduces an even newer computer he and his team developed and manufactured at LaHonda, which was in a state of disaster when they arrived. It was a small silver tube that projected a hologram and lasers which would detect where the hands were, eliminating the need even for virtual reality gloves. Andy then reminds Benoit of the non-exclusive patent waiver, which had been Benoit's idea in the first place.

''D.N.Angel'' follows the adventures of Daisuke Niwa, an average teenage boy. At the story's opening, Daisuke declares love for his crush, a girl named Risa Harada, on his fourteenth birthday. She rejects him, and later that day, the heart-broken Daisuke undergoes a strange mutation that changes him into another person. He is told calmly by his mother Emiko that, because of a strange genetic condition, all the males in Daisuke's family gain the countenance of Dark Mousy, a famous phantom thief. The transformation occurs every time Daisuke has romantic feelings for his crush or whenever he thinks too long about her. Dark changes back into Daisuke the same way. Daisuke is forced to keep his family's secret and control his alter ego, Dark (whom Risa, Daisuke's crush, has fallen for), while dashing his way out of being caught by the commander of the police. Daisuke learns that in order to return to normality, he must have his unrequited love returned.

The aforementioned commander of the police is a classmate of Daisuke's named Satoshi Hiwatari. Hiwatari suffers from his own version of the phantom-thief curse, and a bond forms between Hiwatari and Daisuke because of their similar afflictions. Hiwatari carries the alter-ego named Krad. However, though Dark and Krad hate one another, Hiwatari and Daisuke maintain a strained but genuine friendship, despite Dark's constant moaning. Dark steals certain artistic objects of value, works made by Satoshi's ancestors, because they contain dangerous magical properties. Some of them, such as "The Second Hand of Time" and "Argentine" also have personalities of their own. Some of the objects that he steals are quite dangerous. Dark's method of stealing is based on garnering attention; before stealing, Emiko will send out a warning of what will be stolen.

Upon first arriving at prep school, Jonathan Ogner is mocked for wearing his school uniform. Then, going up to his dorm he meets his roommate, who introduces himself as Squire Franklin Burroughs IV but tells him to call him "Skip". Skip then takes off his bath robe, revealing a red bra and panties, then explains to the shocked Jonathan that it is tradition for seniors to parade around campus wearing only girls' underwear.

Jonathan doesn't have any, so Skip gives him a set from his dresser. They head out of the dorm together until they get to the final door where Skip stays behind and locks the door. The other students begin to laugh and mock Jonathan for wearing girls' underwear. Mortified, Jonathan tries to get back inside. After discovering all the doors are locked, he climbs a trellis leading into his room where he finds Skip rolling on the floor laughing.

Skip tries to tell Jonathan it was just a practical joke and to just laugh it off, but Jonathan is too embarrassed. Later, during lunchtime in the cafeteria, the other students again taunt Jonathan as he tries to eat. When Skip invites him over to his table to sit with him and his friends, Jonathan turns to reveal that he is crying. Skip is now deeply remorseful for pulling the prank on Jonathan as he flees the cafeteria.

When Skip returns to their room to apologize to Jonathan, he finds him hanging with a rope around his neck in an apparent suicide. Going to get help, on his return to the room, Skip and the gathering crowd find not Jonathan but a mannequin with a picture of the dean's face attached to its head. The crowd begins to crack up hysterically at Skip as the dean says he wants to see him and Jonathan in his office. As the crowd disperses, Skip finds Jonathan very much alive and laughing hysterically in the closet. He grudgingly accepts the prank reversal and they become fast friends. Afterwards they share secrets, and Jonathan confesses he cheated on the SAT.

After several failed attempts to find Jonathan a date, Skip vows to help him have a successful sexual encounter. He sends Jonathan to Chicago to gain sexual experience before their reputations are ruined. He is picked up by Ellen, a beautiful older woman, and begins an affair with her. He begins to fall in love with her, although she considers it to be just a fling. Jonathan lied, claiming to be a Ph.D. student. When he proclaims his love to Ellen during one of their sessions, she begins to have second thoughts about continuing. Her decision is finalized when she discovers Jonathan is both much younger than he had claimed, but he also attends the same school as her son.

Over Christmas break, Skip invites Jonathan to spend Christmas with him and his family at the Burroughs estate. Here, Jonathan discovers that Ellen is Skip's mother and is married. He tries to end the affair, but she contacts him several times. Eventually, he agrees to meet to talk. Lying to Skip, he claims to need time alone. When Jonathan and Ellen meet, they end up in bed again. Attempting to cheer up his friend, Skip and friends go to the hotel room. There they discover Jonathan in bed with Skip's mother, upsetting Skip. Later, the friends have a fist fight, but finally reconcile.

Griffin Mill is a Hollywood studio executive dating story editor Bonnie Sherow. He hears story pitches from screenwriters and decides which have the potential to be made into films, green-lighting only 12 out of 50,000 submissions every year. His job is threatened when up-and-coming story executive Larry Levy begins working at the studio. Mill has also been receiving death threat postcards, assumed to be from a screenwriter whose pitch he rejected.

Mill surmises that the disgruntled writer is David Kahane, and Kahane's girlfriend June Gudmundsdottir tells him that Kahane is at the Rialto Theater in Pasadena, at a screening of ''Bicycle Thieves''. Mill pretends to recognize Kahane in the lobby, and offers him a scriptwriting deal, hoping this will stop the threats. The two go to a nearby bar where Kahane gets intoxicated and rebuffs Mill's offer, calling him a liar and continuing to goad him about his job security at the studio. In the bar's parking lot, the two men fight. Mill goes too far and drowns Kahane in a shallow pool of water while screaming, “Keep it to yourself!” Mill then stages the crime to make it look like a botched robbery.

The next day, after Mill is late for and distracted at a meeting, studio chief of security Walter Stuckel confronts him about the murder and says that the police know that he was the last one to see Kahane alive. At the end of their conversation Mill receives a fax from his stalker. Thus, Mill has killed the wrong man, and the stalker apparently knows this. Mill attends Kahane's funeral and gets into conversation with Gudmundsdottir. Detectives Avery and DeLongpre suspect Mill is guilty of murder.

Mill receives a postcard from the stalker suggesting that they meet at a hotel bar. While Mill is waiting, he is cornered by two screenwriters, Tom Oakley and Andy Sivella, who pitch ''Habeas Corpus'', a legal drama featuring no major stars and with a depressing ending. Because Mill is not alone, his stalker does not appear. After leaving the bar, Mill receives a fax in his car, advising him to look under his raincoat. He discovers a live rattlesnake in a box and, terrified, bludgeons it with his umbrella.

Mill tells Gudmundsdottir that his near-death experience made him realize he has feelings for her. Apprehensive that Larry Levy continues encroaching on his job, Mill invites the two writers to pitch ''Habeas Corpus'' to him, convincing Levy that the movie will be an Oscar contender. Mill's plan is to let Levy shepherd the film through production and have it flop. Mill will step in at the last moment, suggesting some changes to salvage the film's box office, letting him reclaim his position at the studio. Having persuaded Sherow to leave for New York on studio business, Mill takes Gudmundsdottir to a Hollywood awards banquet and their relationship blossoms.

After Sherow confronts Mill about his relationship with Gudmundsdottir, Mill coldly severs their relationship in front of two writers. Mill takes Gudmundsdottir to an isolated Desert Hot Springs resort and spa. In the middle of Mill and Gudmundsdottir making love, Mill confesses his role in Kahane's murder, and Gudmundsdottir responds by saying she loves him. Mill's attorney informs him that studio head Joel Levison has been fired, and that the Pasadena police want Mill to participate in a lineup. An eyewitness has come forward, but she fails to identify Mill.

One year later, studio power players are watching the end of ''Habeas Corpus'' with a new, tacked-on, upbeat Hollywood ending and famous actors in the lead roles. Mill's plan to save the movie has worked and he is head of the studio. Gudmundsdottir is now Mill's wife and pregnant with his child. Sherow objects to the film's new ending and is fired by Levy. Mill rebuffs her when she appeals her termination to him. Mill receives a pitch over the phone from Levy and a man who reveals himself as the postcard writer. The man pitches an idea about a studio executive who kills a writer and gets away with murder. Impressed, Mill gives the writer a deal, if he can guarantee a happy ending in which the executive lives happily with the writer's widow. The writer's title for the film is ''The Player''.

The story opens in 1897 with Buck, a powerful 140-pound St. Bernard–Scotch Shepherd mix, happily living in California's Santa Clara Valley as the pampered pet of Judge Miller and his family. One night, assistant gardener Manuel, needing money to pay off gambling debts, steals Buck and sells him to a stranger. Buck is shipped to Seattle, where he is confined in a crate, starved, and ill-treated. When released, Buck attacks his handler, the "man in the red sweater" who teaches Buck the "law of club and fang", sufficiently cowing him. The man shows some kindness after Buck demonstrates obedience.

Shortly after, Buck is sold to two French-Canadian dispatchers from the Canadian government, François and Perrault, who take him to Alaska. Buck is trained as a sled dog for the Klondike region of Canada. In addition to Buck, François and Perrault add ten dogs to their team (Spitz, Dave, Dolly, Pike, Dub, Billie, Joe, Sol-leks, Teek, and Koona). Buck's teammates teach him how to survive cold winter nights and about pack society. Over the next several weeks on the trail, a bitter rivalry develops between Buck and the lead dog, Spitz, a vicious and quarrelsome white husky. Buck eventually kills Spitz in a fight and becomes the new lead dog.

When François and Perrault complete the round-trip of the Yukon Trail in record time, returning to Skagway with their dispatches, they are given new orders from the Canadian government. They sell their sled team to a "Scotch half-breed" man, who works in the mail service. The dogs must make long, tiring trips, carrying heavy loads to the mining areas. While running the trail, Buck seems to have memories of a canine ancestor who has a short-legged "hairy man" companion. Meanwhile, the weary animals become weak from the hard labor, and the wheel dog, Dave, a morose husky, becomes terminally sick and is eventually shot.

With the dogs too exhausted and footsore to be of use, the mail carrier sells them to three stampeders from the American Southland (the present-day contiguous United States)—a vain woman named Mercedes, her sheepish husband Charles, and her arrogant brother Hal. They lack survival skills for the Northern wilderness, struggle to control the sled, and ignore others' helpful advice—particularly warnings about the dangerous spring melt. When told her sled is too heavy, Mercedes dumps out crucial supplies in favor of fashion objects. She and Hal foolishly create a team of 14 dogs, believing they will travel faster. The dogs are overfed and overworked, then starved when food runs low. Most of the dogs die on the trail, leaving only Buck and four other dogs when they pull into the White River.

The group meets John Thornton, an experienced outdoorsman, who notices the dogs' poor, weakened condition. The trio ignores Thornton's warnings about crossing the ice and press onward. Exhausted, starving, and sensing the danger ahead, Buck refuses to continue. After Hal whips Buck mercilessly, a disgusted and angry Thornton hits him and cuts Buck free. The group presses onward with the four remaining dogs, but their weight causes the ice to break and the dogs and humans (along with their sled) to fall into the river and drown.

As Thornton nurses Buck back to health, Buck grows to love him. Buck kills a malicious man named Burton by tearing out his throat because Burton hit Thornton while the latter was defending an innocent "tenderfoot." This gives Buck a reputation all over the North. Buck also saves Thornton when he falls into a river. After Thornton takes him on trips to pan for gold, a bonanza king (someone who struck it rich in the goldfields) named Mr. Matthewson wagers Thornton on Buck's strength and devotion. Buck pulls a sled with a half-ton ( ) load of flour, breaking it free from the frozen ground, dragging it and winning Thornton US$1,600 in gold dust. A "king of the Skookum Benches" offers a large sum (US$700 at first, then $1,200) to buy Buck, but Thornton declines and tells him to go to hell.

Using his winnings, Thornton pays his debts but elects to continue searching for gold with partners Pete and Hans, sledding Buck and six other dogs to search for a fabled Lost Cabin. Once they locate a suitable gold find, the dogs find they have nothing to do. Buck has more ancestor memories of being with the primitive "hairy man." While Thornton and his two friends pan gold, Buck hears the call of the wild, explores the wilderness, and socializes with a northwestern wolf from a local pack. However, Buck does not join the wolves and returns to Thornton. Buck repeatedly goes back and forth between Thornton and the wild, unsure of where he belongs. Returning to the campsite one day, he finds Hans, Pete, and Thornton along with their dogs have been murdered by Native American Yeehats. Enraged, Buck kills several Natives to avenge Thornton, then realizes he no longer has any human ties left. He goes looking for his wild brother and encounters a hostile wolf pack. He fights them and wins, then discovers that the lone wolf he had socialized with is a pack member. Buck follows the pack into the forest and answers the call of the wild.

The legend of Buck spreads among other Native Americans as the "Ghost Dog" of the Northland (Alaska and northwestern Canada). Each year, on the anniversary of his attack on the Yeehats, Buck returns to the former campsite where he was last with Thornton, Hans, and Pete, to mourn their deaths. Every winter, leading the wolf pack, Buck wreaks vengeance on the Yeehats "as he sings a song of the younger world, which is the song of the pack."

In autumn of 1916, Irish immigrant John Lawless (Tommy Steele) has applied for a butler position with eccentric Philadelphia millionaire Anthony J. Drexel Biddle (Fred MacMurray). Even though the family is a bit strange, Lawless soon learns that he fits right in. Mr. Biddle takes a liking to him immediately.

Mr. Biddle busies himself with his Biddle Boxing and Bible School (located in his stable) and with his alligators in the conservatory. He is also anxious to get America into the war in Europe, despite the government's policy of neutrality. His wife, Cordelia (Greer Garson), stands quietly by, accepting his eccentricities with a sense of pride and class. Their two sons, Tony and Livingston (Paul Petersen and Eddie Hodges) are headed off to boarding school, not to be seen again. Their daughter, Cordy (Lesley Ann Warren), is a tomboy with a mean right hook who was educated by private tutors and has had limited contact with conventional society. She is frustrated by her apparent inability to attract suitors and wants to see what is beyond the Biddle manor.

Mr. Biddle reluctantly lets Cordy go to a boarding school as well after some prodding from both Cordy and from his Aunt Mary (Gladys Cooper). Cordy's roommate teaches her how to lure men with feminine wiles, and at a social dance hosted by her aunt and uncle, Cordy meets Angier Buchanan Duke (John Davidson) and they fall in love. He tells Cordy that he is fascinated with the invention of the automobile and wants to head to Detroit, Michigan, to make his fortune there, instead of taking over his family's tobacco business.

That winter, Cordy comes back to her parents' home and tells them that she is engaged. At first, this is a difficult thing for Mr. Biddle to take. He does not want to give up his little girl. But, after meeting Angier and witnessing first-hand his Jiu Jitsu fighting skills, Mr. Biddle takes a liking to him and accepts the engagement. Then Cordy travels with Angier to New York City to meet his mother (Geraldine Page). Soon the Biddles and the Dukes are making arrangements for a very grand wedding.

It is by now the spring of 1917, and constant condescending comments from Angier's mother anger Cordy. To make matters worse, their families' elaborate planning for the "social event of the season," makes both Cordy and Angier feel pushed aside. The tension reaches a climax when Cordy learns that Angier has abandoned his plans for Detroit, and is instead taking his place in the family business, following his mother's wishes. Cordy angrily calls the wedding off, thinking of Angier as a mama's boy, and Angier storms out of the house. Both families are instantly in a tremendous state of upheaval. Mr. Biddle sends John Lawless to look after Angier.

John finds Angier at the local tavern, contemplating what he will do next, and tries to convince Angier to go back to Cordy. However, Angier is stubborn and thinks of other ways to deal with his problems, among other things saying that he wants to join the Foreign Legion. Angier unwittingly starts a bar fight (with a little help from John) and is hauled off to jail.

The next morning, Mr. Biddle comes to bail Angier out. He tells Angier he has to forget about his own dreams and accept his place in the family business. His words have the desired effect, inspiring Angier to defy his mother and elope with Cordy and go to Detroit. Cordy, however, believes her father talked Angier into it, so to prove his sincerity, amid the cheering of the cellmates, Angier throws Cordy over his shoulder and carries her out of the jail house to start their new life together.

Longer version

After Mr. and Mrs. Biddle return home a delegation of Marines arrive to inform him he has been made a "provisional captain" in the Marine Corps; and is wanted immediately to go to Parris Island to continue training the recruits, now that America is finally entering the War. Mr. Biddle accepts with delight, and the hearty congratulations of his suddenly appearing Bible Boxing Class.

A car with two people (presumably Cordie and Angie) drives toward a city skyline (presumably Detroit) dominated by factories clouding the sky at sunset.

In New England in the early 1900s, an orphan named Pete flees the Gogans, an abusive family, with the assistance of an unseen force he calls Elliott. The family calls for Pete to come back and falsely promise that they will treat him better, while contrastingly expressing their true intentions to punish him severely ("The Happiest Home in These Hills"). After they abandon their search, Pete falls asleep in a log. The next morning, Pete awakens and Elliott is revealed to be a large green dragon that can turn invisible at will ("I Love You, Too").

Pete and Elliott visit Passamaquoddy, where the unseen Elliott's clumsiness causes Pete to be labeled a source of bad luck. Lampie, the lighthouse keeper, stumbles out of a tavern and encounters Pete. Elliott makes himself visible and Lampie, terrified, runs to the townsfolk ("I Saw a Dragon"). They dismiss Lampie's claims as another drunken rant. In a seaside cave, Pete scolds Elliott for causing trouble. As they reconcile, Lampie's daughter Nora appears, warning that Pete is not safe staying there because of the incoming tide. When she realizes he is orphaned and not from the area, she offers him food and shelter at the lighthouse, and the two bond (“It’s Not Easy”). He learns the story of her fiancé Paul, whose ship was reported lost at sea the year before. He promises to ask Elliott to try and locate Paul ("Candle on the Water").

Itinerant quack Dr. Terminus and his assistant Hoagy win over the gullible townspeople, who are angered by their return (“Passamaquoddy”). Lampie and Hoagy attempt to prove that Elliott is real, but cannot get anyone to believe he exists. The next day the local fishermen complain about the scarcity of fish, believing it is Pete's fault. Nora tells them the fishing grounds shift from time to time and Pete should be welcomed into town ("There's Room for Everyone"). She takes him to start school, where the teacher, Miss Taylor, punishes him for Elliott's antics. An enraged Elliott smashes into the schoolhouse, leaving his shape in the wall and frightening the townspeople. The incident at the school convinces Terminus that the dragon is real and he and Hoagy conspire to exploit Elliott for medicinal profit ("Every Little Piece"). Pete accepts Nora and Lampie's invitation to live with them ("Brazzle Dazzle Day"). When the Gogans arrive in town and demand Pete be returned, Nora refuses to surrender him. As the Gogans chase them in a small boat, Elliott sinks it, saving Pete ("Bill of Sale"). Dr. Terminus teams up with the Gogans to capture Pete and Elliott, convincing the locals that capturing Elliott will solve their problems.

That evening, a storm blows in. At sea, a ship approaches Passamaquoddy with Paul on board. Dr. Terminus lures Pete to the boathouse while Hoagy does the same to Elliott. Elliott is caught in a net trap, but frees himself, saves Pete, and confronts the Gogans, who flee. Dr. Terminus attempts to harpoon Elliott, but his leg is caught in the rope and he is sent catapulting through the ceiling, ending up dangling upside down near a utility pole.

Elliott saves the Mayor, Miss Taylor, and the members of the Town Board from a falling utility pole, revealing himself to them. At the lighthouse, the lamp has been extinguished by a rogue wave. Elliott returns and lights it with his fire, revealing himself to Nora. The light is ignited and the ship is saved. The next morning, the Mayor and the townsfolk praise Elliott for his help, and Nora is reunited with Paul. Paul explains he was the sole survivor of a shipwreck at Cape Hatteras and suffered amnesia, but something knocked him out of bed and restored his memory. Elliott tells Pete that he must move on to help another child in trouble. Elliott flies away as Pete and his new family wave goodbye, with Pete reminding Elliott that he is supposed to be invisible.

The main plot appears in linear prose in chapter VII, ''The Mayan Caper''. This chapter portrays a secret agent who has the ability to change bodies or metamorphose his own body using "U.T." (undifferentiated tissue). As such an agent he makes a time travel machine and takes on a gang of Mayan priests who use the Mayan calendar to control the minds of slave laborers used for planting maize. The calendar images are written in books and placed on a magnetic tape and transmitted as sounds to control the slaves. The agent manages to infiltrate the slaves and replace the magnetic tape with a totally different message: "burn the books, kill the priests", which causes the downfall of their regime.

Goofy is setting up an animal trap while Donald is in an igloo preparing a meal. Donald explains how sick he is of eating beans all the time, and, while noticing a penguin outside, he hatches a plan while thinking of the penguin as roast chicken. The rest of the cartoon deals with him trying to lure a large group of penguins into his pot while Goofy is stuck trying desperately to catch a walrus.

The name of Donald's and Goofy's trapping business is "Donald & Goofy Trapping Co". Their slogan is "We Bring 'Em Back Alive". This is Donald's first time encountering penguins, but it is not his last. The music played while Donald leads the penguins is the instrumental piece "March of the Toys", from the operetta "Babes in Toyland", also known as ''Parade Of The Tin Soldiers.''

When a baby penguin's tear turned into a snowball, after being kicked out of the march angrily by Donald after the small penguin kept on getting in front of him and the fact that Donald doesn't want to cook the small penguin due to its size, the other penguins notice the snowball coming and quickly dived into the snow for safety, but Donald runs for his life. When he gets into a collision with Goofy, they both run for their lives until they get caught in the snowball, and fall on their workplace, completely destroying it. Donald and Goofy are then seen in the cages they brought for the animals they plan to catch, and a can of beans falls into Donald's mouth, making him grumble in anger when the short ends.

One year has passed since the events of the first film. Aladdin and Abu have settled in the palace of Agrabah with Princess Jasmine and her father, the Sultan. Still yearning for adventures, Aladdin foils a criminal group led by the dimwitted Abis Mal and returns their stolen loot to the people of Agrabah. Meanwhile, in the desert, Iago escapes from Jafar's lamp. Tired of being taken for granted, Iago refuses Jafar's demands to free him. After dropping the lamp into a well, Iago returns to Agrabah, hoping to befriend Aladdin and return to the palace. During a confrontation with Aladdin and Abu, the three are attacked by Abis Mal and his henchmen; Iago inadvertently saves Aladdin's life. In gratitude, Aladdin keeps Iago on the palace grounds, promising to speak with the Sultan on Iago's behalf.

Meanwhile, Abis Mal finds Jafar's lamp in the well. Hindered by his incompetent new master, Jafar manipulates Abis Mal into wasting his first two wishes, then enlists his help in taking revenge on Aladdin. In exchange he will grant him a special third wish. Abis Mal agrees, also desiring revenge on Aladdin. Meanwhile, the Genie returns to the palace after traveling the world for one year, though his powers are diminished now that he is free from the lamp. At the evening banquet, the Sultan announces Aladdin as the new Royal Vizier. Abu and Rajah discover Iago in the garden and chase him into the banquet. Aladdin asks the Sultan to pardon Iago, but Jasmine is dismayed that Aladdin never confided in her. The Sultan remains suspicious, however, but issues Iago a temporary pardon, with the stipulation that Aladdin watch over him. Genie and Iago help persuade Jasmine to forgive Aladdin for keeping Iago a secret and agrees to give Iago a chance. However, Jafar sneaks into the palace and forces Iago to trick Aladdin and the Sultan to travel to a waterfall.

During the trip, the Sultan eventually forgives Aladdin, but Jafar ambushes them, sending Aladdin into the waterfall and capturing the Sultan, with Jasmine, Genie and Abu also caught and locked in the dungeon. Aladdin eventually makes his way back to Agrabah to warn Razoul, but Jafar, posing as Jasmine, frames Aladdin for the Sultan's alleged murder and sentences him to execution. Feeling guilty for his betrayal, Iago frees the Genie, who saves Aladdin. Jafar now controls Agrabah, but Aladdin vows to stop him and Genie reveals Jafar can be killed by destroying his lamp. Iago decides to leave, but not before Aladdin thanks him.

Aladdin and the group confront Jafar in the treasure room just before Abis Mal can wish him free. However, Jafar knocks both Aladdin and Abis Mal out the tower and sends them hurtling through the Palace trees; Abis Mal dropping Jafar's lamp. Aladdin manages to free himself and the group attempt to get the lamp, but Jafar transforms into his Genie form, incapacitates the Genie, and shatters the Carpet. He splits open the Palace gardens, creating a pool of lava and traps Aladdin on a sinking rock. Iago, who has once again had a change of heart, returns and grabs the lamp, but is knocked out by Jafar. Though injured, he kicks the lamp into the lava, to Jafar's horror. Aladdin rescues Iago as Jafar's magic is undone, destroying him forever and restoring the Palace gardens and the Carpet. Everyone forgives Iago and he is officially accepted into the palace. Aladdin ultimately rejects the Sultan's offer to become the Vizier, instead opting to see the world with Jasmine, much to Iago's chagrin.

In a post-credits scene, Abis Mal, still dangling from the tree, realizes he'll never get his third wish.

As Aladdin and Princess Jasmine make ready for their marriage, Aladdin recovers a dagger, his only memento of his lost father, who abandoned his family when Aladdin was a young child. During the ceremony, the couple and the assembled guests find themselves the targets of a raid by the infamous Forty Thieves. Their leader, a man calling himself the King of Thieves, is after a particular piece of treasure: a staff which is the receptacle of a powerful oracle. After driving off the Forty Thieves, Aladdin, Abu, Jasmine and the Genie discover the Oracle, who has the power to answer a single question about absolutely anything to any individual. When Iago unintentionally asks her why the thieves want the staff so badly, she says they were searching for the "ultimate treasure". Learning of the Oracle's power, Aladdin becomes inquisitive about his past. She hints to him that all his questions can be answered by his father, who is alive still, much to Aladdin's surprise. After some encouragement from Jasmine, Aladdin asks the oracle about his father; the oracle reveals that his father is with the Forty Thieves, "trapped within their world".

Aladdin, along with Abu, Iago and Carpet, tracks them down and stows away into their hideout, Mount Sesame, where he discovers, to his surprise, that his father, Cassim, is actually the King of Thieves himself. Though Aladdin shares a brief, heartfelt reunion with Cassim, Cassim's chief subordinate Sa'luk tries to punish Aladdin for entering the hideout. Cassim, however, cleverly suggests that Aladdin instead face "the Challenge" — an initiation ritual where should he defeat another one of the Forty Thieves, he would take their place. Sa'luk fights Aladdin, but the latter just barely manages to prevail by throwing his opponent off a cliff into the sea. He is welcomed into the band, and Cassim reveals to Aladdin why he was leaving his wife and son: to find the Hand of Midas, a powerful artifact that can transform anything it touches into gold. Cassim believed that, with the Hand, he would return to his family and give them the life they deserved instead of one living out in the streets, and was instigating the raid so he would capture the oracle's staff and question the seer as to the precise whereabouts of the artifact. Aladdin convinces Cassim to return with him to Agrabah to live an honest life. Initially hesitant, Cassim finally agrees when Iago inadvertently reveals that Aladdin's wedding can be his last chance to get the Oracle.

For a while, Cassim is glad to spend quality time with his son. Cassim meets with Genie, Jasmine and the Sultan, and they take a liking to him at once. However, Cassim decides to carry on his original scheme with Iago as his new henchman. Meanwhile, Sa'luk makes his way to Agrabah, reveals himself to Razoul and sells out his fellow thieves by telling Razoul the password to their hideout in exchange for immunity from prosecution. After all but seven of the thieves are captured, Sa'luk tells Razoul that Aladdin is one of the forty, and his father Cassim is the King himself. While attempting to steal the Oracle from the palace treasure chamber, Cassim and Iago are captured by the royal guards, and Razoul reveals to the Sultan that Cassim is the King of Thieves. The Sultan has Razoul detain Cassim and Iago in the dungeon for life. Aladdin frees Cassim, but is discovered by Razoul. Despite being a criminal, Aladdin returns to the palace to take responsibility for his actions. The Sultan makes ready to teach Aladdin a lesson, but Genie and Jasmine come to his defense, stating that all he wanted was to give his father a second chance. The Sultan accepts his apology and pardons Aladdin, much to Razoul's disappointment.

With the oracle in hand, Cassim and Iago head back to Mount Sesame, only to be captured by Sa'luk and the remaining seven thieves. Cassim is forced to use the stolen oracle in order to find the location of the Hand of Midas and lead his men there afterwards. The Oracle directs them to the Vanishing Isle, a great marble fortress built on the back of an enormous undersea turtle that periodically dives to the bottom of the ocean, where the Hand is hidden. Iago gets away and goes off to lead Aladdin and Jasmine, Abu and Carpet to his imprisoned father. Aladdin manages to free and reconcile with his father. Working together, they retrieve the Hand just as the turtle is starting to submerge when they are ambushed by Sa'luk. While trying to depart from the flood, Sa'luk takes Aladdin hostage, demanding that Cassim surrender the Hand. Cassim throws the Hand of Midas to Sa'luk. Sa'luk grabs the Hand—but by the gold hand itself instead of the bronze handle—and is transformed into a lifeless gold statue, while Cassim and Aladdin depart. Realizing that his obsession with the Hand has only brought trouble and his son is actually his ultimate treasure, Cassim throws the Hand into the ship with the remaining thieves aboard, turning it into gold and sinking it.

That night, Aladdin and Jasmine finally get married, with Cassim attending in the shadows, since the Sultan has only punished him with an exile and then is still a wanted man before his departure. Also among the guests are several cameos from characters from the TV series. Iago decides to join Cassim as a traveling companion for some time, and Aladdin and Jasmine both go off to see the world one more time, with the Peddler, who was seen at the beginning of the first movie, singing Arabian Nights and send both the newlyweds and Cassim and Iago off on their merry way, to adventures unknown.

''Goin' Quackers'' begins with Donald Duck, Gladstone Gander, and Gyro Gearloose watching television reporter Daisy Duck discovering the mysterious temple of the evil magician Merlock. As she tells the story, she is kidnapped by Merlock. His arch-rival Gladstone sets out to find her before Donald, who decides to use Gyro's new invention, the "Tubal Teleport System", to track down Merlock and Daisy. However, the machine does not have enough power to get there and for it to reach Merlock's lair, Donald must go on a journey to plant an antenna at certain locations in order to boost the machine's power. Along the way, he must compete with Gladstone, reverse the spells that Merlock put on Huey, Dewey, and Louie's toys, and defeat several bosses, including the Beagle Boys and Magica De Spell. In the end, Donald is able to locate Merlock; he defeats him and rescues Daisy. The temple collapses, but Gyro is able to teleport them back to his lab, where Donald receives a kiss from Daisy for saving her.

This game features the returning voice talents of Tony Anselmo, Tress MacNeille, June Foray and Russi Taylor.