The novel begins with the main character, Jacob Demwa, working at the center for uplift on Earth, while he recovers from a tragedy at the Vanilla Space Needle where he saved the space elevator from destruction but lost his love in the process. An alien friend of Demwa's, Fagin (a Kanten), contacts Demwa and offers him a job. Initially reluctant to return to his previous life as a scientific investigator, Demwa agrees to attend a secret meeting. He learns that there are "ghosts" appearing in the Sun's chromosphere. The ghosts are without precedent in the galactic library.
Demwa agrees to come and investigate the origin and purpose of the sun-ghosts, and travels to Mercury where the sundiver project is based. With him on Mercury are Helene deSilva, an attractive station commander with whom Jacob develops a relationship over the course of the book; Fagin; Pila Bubbacub, the library representative; his assistant Culla (a Pring); Dr. Dwayne Kepler (the head of the Sundiver expedition); Dr. Mildred Martine (a psychiatrist); and the exuberant journalist Peter LaRoque.
Demwa goes to the sun, and observes the sun-ghosts. There are apparently three forms: the "toroids" which appear to be similar to cattle and live off of the magnetic fields in the chromosphere, a relatively fluid, apparently intelligent variety, and a threatening, strangely anthropomorphic figure that avoids the side of the sunship where the instruments are located. When a neo-chimpanzee scientist, Dr. Jeffrey, is killed on a solo mission to the sun, it seems to confirm the sun-ghosts' hostile intent. An investigation seems to implicate the reporter, LaRoque. LaRoque is then tested to determine if he is capable of murder. The test results indicate LaRoque has violent tendencies and he is incarcerated.
A third trip to the sun is undertaken, in hopes that Pila Bubbacub will be able to contact the sun-ghosts. It fails to do so, but claims to have succeeded, saying that the sun-ghosts are offended and have used psi to control LaRoque's actions. He uses a powder that blocks the ship's sensors to pretend he has dispelled the sun-ghosts because he is embarrassed by the Library's lack of data on the ghosts. Back on Mercury, Jacob discovers his trick, and reveals it, resulting in disgrace to Bubbacub and embarrassment for the Pila.
The characters go on yet another mission into the sun, this time with a laser to communicate with the sun-ghosts. They make brief contact with one of the ghosts, but an anthropomorphic ghost appears and warns them against further exploration of the sun. While they are leaving, they discover that one of Culla's dietary supplements is a dye used in tunable lasers. Combining this with an earlier conversation about Culla's eyesight, Demwa concludes that Culla can project laser light from his eyes: he has been faking the anthropomorphic ghosts. When Culla realizes he has been discovered he retreats to the instrument side of the ship and begins disabling the equipment that propels the sunship so that it will fall into the photosphere, taking all evidence of his deception with it. The sun-ghosts use toroids to arrest the ship's fall, but eventually they give out, and the ship plummets. While Demwa and one of the crew attempt to disable Culla, Helene discovers that only the galactic technology has been sabotaged, and uses the refrigerator laser as a thruster to move the ship out of the sun. Culla is killed, and the ship eventually escapes the sun, though all but Fagin temporarily "die" of hypothermia and frostbite from the refrigerator laser. The ship's records are recovered, showing that Culla used his laser sight to discredit Bubbacub, as part of a campaign to free his species from its client status, and then to sabotage the ship when he was discovered to prevent the Pila from finding out.
Although set in the same universe as the rest of the other Uplift books, it is set a considerable amount of time before the other books, and shares none of the same characters, apart from Jacob Demwa, who is mentioned as the mentor of Tom Orley and Gillian Baskin, and Helene Alvarez (née deSilva), who is mentioned in ''Startide Rising'' as Credeiki's former captain aboard the ''James Cook'' and who appears in ''The Uplift War'' to sign a treaty with the Thennanin.
A miscarriage of justice lands Willis Newton in prison, and he learns quickly that as a convict his only way up the social ladder is through having money. With two others, Slim and Glasscock, he carries out a bank robbery in broad daylight. Slim is caught when the three of them try to escape on horseback while the sheriff chases them in a car. Willis and Glasscock later find a bank director who buys the looted war bonds and sells them information on plenty of other banks. Henceforth, Willis and Glasscock rob banks at night and get away by car. Glasscock turns out to be an expert with nitroglycerin. Willis talks his brothers into supporting him, telling them that bankers are the worst crooks of all and thus, robbing them of their money would only mean that little thieves are stealing from big thieves. He also says that all banks are insured anyway and that the insurance companies ought to be thankful because they would not be able to sell any insurance if there were no bank robberies.
The Newton gang is very prolific, and some bankers prove to be the crooks Willis takes them for when they exaggerate their losses. Then, the insurance companies force banks to invest in enhanced safes, which can withstand nitroglycerin. Consequently, the Newton Gang goes to Toronto and ambushes a cash transport in broad daylight. Despite an elaborate plan, many things go awry, and the gang members are scarcely able to escape. Willis decides to become "legal", but the oil well he buys is a huge setback that costs him nearly all his money. In his despair, he goes so far as to tell his wife that God did not want him to be "legit". After that, he is easily lured into another criminal endeavor. He becomes very enthusiastic about a night-time train robbery. Unfortunately, Glasscock is not as good with a gun as he was with nitroglycerin. He confuses Dock Newton with a guard, panics, and shoots him. Willis needs to bring his wounded brother to a doctor, and this undertaking eventually blows their cover.
In the end, all the Newton brothers are finally arrested and sentenced.
Killy, a silent loner possessing an incredibly powerful weapon known as a Gravitational Beam Emitter, wanders a vast technological world known as "The City". He is searching for Net Terminal Genes, a (possibly) extinct genetic marker that allows humans to access the "Netsphere", a sort of computerized control network for The City. The City is an immense volume of artificial structure, separated into massive "floors" by nearly-impenetrable barriers known as "Megastructure". The City is inhabited by scattered human and transhuman tribes as well as hostile cyborgs known as Silicon Life. The Net Terminal Genes appear to be the key to halting the unhindered, chaotic expansion of the Megastructure, as well as a way of stopping the murderous robot horde known as the Safeguard from destroying all of humanity.
Along the way, Killy meets and joins forces with a resourceful engineer named Cibo. Their quest is indirectly supported by the City's Authority, which is unable to stop the Safeguard from opposing them. Together, Killy and Cibo meet a young girl named Sanakan and a tribe of human warriors called the Electro-Fishers. Killy's cybernetic abilities are restored after he is attacked by a high-level Safeguard, which turns out to have been Sanakan in disguise. She transforms into her Safeguard form and attacks the Electro-Fishers' village when discovered. Killy and Cibo defend the Electro-Fishers by bringing them to the cylindrical megastructure of Toha Heavy Industries. Here they meet Mensab, an AI independent from the Administration, and her guardian Seu, a human. The megastructure is ultimately destroyed due to attacks by Silicon Life and Sanakan, but Mensab is able to give Cibo a sample of Seu's DNA.
Killy and Cibo next come to a region of the City ruled by a group of Silicon Life, where they ally with a pair of "provisional Safeguards" named Dhomochevsky and Iko. Seu's DNA is stolen by the Silicon leader, Davine, who uses it to access the Netsphere. Dhomochevsky sacrifices his life to kill Davine, but not before she downloads an extremely powerful Level 9 Safeguard from the Netsphere which manifests in Cibo's body. The Cibo Safeguard destroys the entire region.
14 years later, Killy's body repairs itself from the attack and he continues his journey. He discovers that Cibo, having lost her memory, was eventually rescued by Sanakan, who is now allied with the Authority against the rest of the Safeguard. Cibo's body is incubating a "sphere" which contains her genetic information. Ultimately, Cibo and Sanakan both die in a final confrontation with the Safeguard, but Killy survives and preserves the sphere. An AI he previously met whose body was destroyed is seen in a virtual reality, recalling his quest an unknown amount of time later. Killy finally reaches the edge of the City, where he is shot in the head and incapacitated, but a flood of water carries him to the surface of the City where stars are visible and the sphere begins to hatch. In the final page, Killy is seen fighting in the corridors of the City again, now accompanied by a small child wearing a hazmat suit.
Double page from ''Blame!'' ''Blame!'' is set in what is simply known as "The City", a gigantic megastructure now occupying much of what used to be the Solar System. Its exact size is unknown, but Tsutomu Nihei suggested its diameter to be at least that of Jupiter's orbit, or about 1.6 billion kilometers. In the manga, this is also suggested by Killy crossing an empty, spherical room roughly the size of Jupiter, suggesting that the planet had been there but was disassembled as the City grew.
As revealed in the prequel ''NOiSE'', the City began as a much smaller structure on Earth, created by humans with the aid of the robotic "Builders." Humanity controlled the Builders through the Netsphere, a hyper-developed version of the Internet accessible only to those with an identificatory genetic marker known as the Net Terminal Gene. Any humans without the gene who attempted to access the Netsphere were exterminated by a special task force known as the Safeguards. Eventually however, a terrorist cult known as "the Order" released a virus that made all humans lose their Net Terminal Genes, thus cutting off their access to the Netsphere and their control over the Builders. Without specific instructions, the Builders began to build chaotically and indefinitely, while the Safeguards' programming degraded into killing all humans without the Net Terminal Gene whether they wanted to access the Netsphere or not.
By the time of the events of the manga, the City has basically become a series of layered, concentric Dyson spheres filled with haphazard architecture, largely devoid of life. These layers compose the supporting scaffold of the City, known as the Megastructure. The Megastructure is extremely durable, with only a direct blast from a Gravitational Beam Emitter being able to drill through it. In addition, the underside of each Megastructure layer periodically illuminates the overside of the one below to provide a day–night cycle. Traveling between layers is generally challenging due to the City's chaotic layout and the dangerous Safeguard response such endeavor may cause, with the means to do so being either climbing stairs for days or taking elevators that reach relativistic speeds. The buildings on each layer are largely uninhabited, although scattered human tribes, rogue Builders, and hostile Safeguards and Silicon Life can be found throughout the entire City.
Young Robin Hood, in love with Maid Marian, enters an archery contest with his father at the King's palace. On the way home his father is killed by henchmen of Prince John. Robin takes up the life of an outlaw, gathering together his band of merry men with him in Sherwood Forest, to avenge his father's death and to help the people of the land whom Prince John is over taxing.
The story begins in May 1863, at the home of Professor Otto Lidenbrock in Hamburg, Germany. While leafing through an original runic manuscript of an Icelandic saga, Lidenbrock and his nephew Axel find a coded note written in runic script along with the name of a 16th-century Icelandic alchemist, Arne Saknussemm. When translated into English, the note reads:
Go down into the crater of Snaefells Jökull, which Scartaris's shadow caresses just before the calends of July, O daring traveler, and you'll make it to the center of the earth. I've done so. Arne Saknussemm|sign=|source=
Lidenbrock departs for Iceland immediately, taking the reluctant Axel with him. After a swift trip via Kiel and Copenhagen, they arrive in Reykjavík. There they hire as their guide Icelander Hans Bjelke, a Danish-speaking eiderduck hunter, then travel overland to the base of Snæfellsjökull.
In late June they reach the volcano and set off into the bowels of the earth, encountering many dangers and strange phenomena. After taking a wrong turn, they run short of water and Axel nearly perishes, but Hans saves them all by tapping into a subterranean river, which shoots out a stream of water that Lidenbrock and Axel name the "Hansbach" in the guide's honor. Following the course of the Hansbach, the explorers descend many miles and reach an underground world. The travelers build a raft out of semipetrified wood and set sail. While at sea, they encounter prehistoric fish and giant marine reptiles from the age of dinosaurs. A lightning storm threatens to destroy the raft and its passengers, but instead throws them onto the site of an enormous fossil graveyard, including bones from the pterodactyl, ''Megatherium'', and mastodon, and the preserved body of a man.
Lidenbrock and Axel venture into a forest featuring primitive vegetation from the Tertiary Period; in its depths they are stunned to find a prehistoric humanoid more than twelve feet in height and watching over a herd of mastodons. Fearing it may be hostile, they leave the forest.
Continuing to explore the coastline, the travellers find a passageway marked by Saknussemm as the way ahead, but it has been blocked by a recent cave-in. The adventurers lay plans to blow the rock open with gun cotton, meanwhile paddling their raft out to sea to avoid the blast. On executing this scheme, they find a bottomless pit beyond the impeding rock and are swept into it as the sea rushes down the huge open gap. After spending hours descending at breakneck speed, their raft reverses direction and rises inside a volcanic chimney that ultimately spews them into the open air. When they regain consciousness, they learn that they have been ejected from Stromboli, a volcanic island located off Sicily.
The trio returns to Germany, where they enjoy great acclaim; Professor Lidenbrock is hailed as one of the great scientists of the day, Axel marries his sweetheart Gräuben, and Hans returns to his peaceful, eiderduck-hunting life in Iceland.
The games are set in the distant future; a time when the planet Earth is mostly ocean, leaving some islands left for civilization to prosper on. Based on the in-game dialogue, the series takes place at least in the year 80XX. By this time frame, the original humans have been replaced by artificial lifeforms almost identical to them which can produce offspring with almost no effort.
The player controls Mega Man Volnutt, a teenage digger and archaeologist of sorts who searches underground ruins mainly for Quantum Refractors, which are the civilization's primary source of energy. He was found as a baby on Nino Island at the bottom of the closed-off Nino Ruins and was raised by Professor Barrel Caskett along with his granddaughter Roll Caskett.
Giving them trouble is the Bonnes, a group of pirates consisting of leader Teisel Bonne, his sister (though the booklet says daughter) Tron Bonne (who is also allegedly infatuated with Mega Man), their baby brother Bon Bonne who somehow can drive a large mech suit (known primarily for his repeated line, "Babu!", which has become a catchphrase among the series' fans), and the 41 Servbots (one of which is only in ''The Misadventures of Tron Bonne''). More trouble is given to Mega Man by the Reaverbots, the techno-organic semi-intelligent residents of the underground ruins who serve to protect its contents.
In 2003 in Carcer City, a journalist (Kate Miller) reports about James Earl Cash (Stephen Wilfong), a death row inmate who has been recently executed by lethal injection. However, Cash was only sedated, and awakens to an unknown voice referring to himself as "The Director" (Brian Cox), who gives him instructions through an earpiece. The Director promises Cash his freedom, but only if he murders "Hunters" – gang members sent to hunt him – in special areas around Carcer City filmed by CCTV. Cash's first victims are the Hoods, a gang of dangerous criminals and corrupt police officers patrolling an abandoned area of the city. After eliminating them, he is abducted by the Cerberus, the Director's personal security unit, who take him to another part of Carcer City.
While the Director monitors his actions, Cash is forced to kill more criminals across various abandoned locations, encountering a Nazi skinhead gang called the Skinz, a sadistic paramilitary called the Wardogs (who have kidnapped Cash's family to use as bait), an outlaw gang called the Innocentz (consisting of the Hispanic occultist Skullyz and the psychopathic Babyfaces), and a group of former asylum inmates called the Smileys. Eventually, the Director betrays Cash and, after ordering his family's deaths, tries to murder him as well, as part of his film's climax. However, Cash survives the trap, and escapes after vowing revenge on the Director.
The remaining Wardogs, led by the Director's right-hand man Ramirez (Chris McKinney), are sent to re-capture Cash, and they manage to trap him in a game of cat and mouse. However, Cash prevails and kills Ramirez and his men, before being rescued by the journalist reporting on him, who reveals that the Director is Lionel Starkweather, a former film producer from Los Santos who now produces for a snuff film ring. The journalist has acquired enough evidence against Starkweather to get him convicted, but needs Cash to escort her to her apartment to get it. Meanwhile, Starkweather blackmails corrupt police chief Gary Schaffer into sending his men to kill Cash and the journalist, but the two manage to avoid them. After retrieving the evidence, Cash tells the journalist to leave the city with it while he goes after Starkweather.
Pursued by the police and SWAT throughout the subway and the streets, Cash is eventually cornered in a train yard and almost summarily executed. He is saved by the Cerberus, who kill the police and take Cash to Starkweather's mansion so that they could execute him themselves. The Cerberus are distracted when Piggsy (Hunter Platin), a chainsaw-wielding maniac who wears a pig's head and is normally kept chained up in Starkweather's attic, suddenly breaks free. Cash escapes and confronts Piggsy in the mansion's upper levels. Unable to fight him directly, Cash uses stealth attacks on Piggsy before tricking him into standing on a grate, which collapses under his weight, allowing Cash to take his chainsaw and finish him off with it. After eliminating the remaining Cerberus, Cash finally confronts Starkweather in his office and kills him with the chainsaw.
Later, the media and police arrive at the mansion as the journalist exposes Starkweather's snuff ring and police complicity, leading to Schaffer being criminally prosecuted for corruption. Cash, however, is nowhere to be found.
In ''Slayers'', it was mentioned that the main characters of that series live on a world that is one of the four created by the mother of all creation, called the Lord of Nightmares. This world was known as the Red World. ''Lost Universe'', however, takes place in a different world, known as the Black World. Whereas the demi gods of the various worlds, such as Ruby-Eye Shabranigdo and Dark Star Dugradigdo had physical presence in that world, they appear in the Black World as "Lost Ships", intelligent space ships of unknown origin that have powerful or somewhat divine powers with more advanced technology than any other device in the universe.
Their rarity and superiority has sparked suggestions that they have been made by an advanced ancient alien civilization or by coming from the beginning of the universe itself. Being a central part to the plot the "Lost Ships" are intelligent beings with different loyalties and even their own agenda. Kane Blueriver, a "trouble contractor," inherits a "Lost Ship" from his grandmother and from there, he and his sidekick Milly, together with Canal, the ship's computer, journey to find a source of the evil that threatens the universe.
After finishing a mission in Kiev, Jim Phelps and his latest IMF team are sent to Prague to stop rogue agent Alexander Golitsyn from stealing the CIA NOC list. However, the mission unexpectedly fails after the list is stolen and the team is killed one by one.
Ethan Hunt, the sole survivor, is debriefed by IMF director Eugene Kittridge. During the debrief, Hunt realizes that another IMF team was present during the mission and learns that the operation was a setup to lure out a mole within the IMF. The mole is believed to be working with an arms dealer named "Max" as part of "Job 314". Hunt, realizing Kittridge suspects him of being the mole, escapes by using exploding chewing gum given to him by another agent before the mission.
After returning to the Prague safe house, Hunt realizes "Job 314" actually refers to Bible verse Job , "Job" being the mole's code name. Phelps' wife Claire, thought to have been killed during the mission, arrives at the safe house, explaining that before his death, Phelps contacted her saying that the mission was compromised, which enabled her to avoid getting killed. Hunt arranges a meeting with Max to warn her that the NOC list she has is fake and equipped with a tracking device. After Max realizes that Hunt was telling the truth, they escape together just as Kittridge and the other IMF team, following the tracking device, raid her apartment. Hunt convinces Max that he can obtain the real NOC list in exchange for $10 million and Job's true identity.
Hunt and Claire recruit two disavowed IMF agents: hacker Luther Stickell and helicopter pilot Franz Krieger. They infiltrate CIA headquarters in Langley, steal the authentic list while narrowly avoiding detection, and escape to London. Krieger takes the floppy disk containing the list, but Hunt tricks him into giving the list up. Hunt then gives the list to Stickell. Kittridge has Hunt's mother and uncle falsely arrested for drug trafficking. After learning about their arrests, Hunt contacts Kittridge from a payphone, intentionally allowing the IMF to trace the call. Phelps resurfaces unexpectedly, recounts surviving the shooting, and tells Hunt that Kittridge is the mole. However, Hunt deduces that Phelps is the mole after realizing that the Bible he found in Prague was taken from Chicago's Drake Hotel by Phelps. Hunt pretends to believe Phelps but pieces together how he betrayed and killed his teammates with help from Claire and Krieger. Hunt arranges to exchange the list with Max aboard the TGV train to Paris, secretly inviting Kittridge to the meeting.
On the train, Hunt directs Max to the list, and she sends him to the baggage car where the money and Job are located. Meanwhile, Stickell uses a jamming device to prevent Max from uploading the list to her servers. Claire goes to the car to collect her share of the money from Phelps, only to realize that he is really Ethan in disguise. When the real Phelps arrives and takes the money at gunpoint, Hunt sends a live video of Phelps to Kittridge, exposing him as the mole. Claire tries to talk her husband into surrendering, but Phelps kills her and climbs to the train's roof, where Krieger is waiting with a helicopter. As Phelps attempts to climb onto the helicopter using a tether, Hunt hooks it onto the train, preventing Krieger from flying away and forcing the helicopter into the Channel Tunnel. He uses another piece of exploding chewing gum to blow the chopper up, killing both men. Kittridge takes Max into custody and recovers the NOC list from Stickell. As he and Stickell are reinstated back in the IMF, Hunt is unsure about returning to the team. On the flight home, an attendant approaches him and asks, through a coded phrase, if he is ready to take on a new mission.
(1808–1889) Renzo and Lucia, a couple living in a village in Lombardy, near Lecco, on Lake Como, are planning to wed on 8 November 1628. The parish priest, don Abbondio, is walking home on the eve of the wedding when he is accosted by two "bravi" (thugs) who warn him not to perform the marriage, because the local baron (Don Rodrigo) has forbidden it.
When he presents himself for the wedding ceremony, Renzo is amazed to hear that the marriage is to be postponed (the priest didn't have the courage to tell the truth). An argument ensues and Renzo succeeds in extracting from the priest the name of Don Rodrigo. It turns out that Don Rodrigo has his eye on Lucia and that he had a bet about her with his cousin Count Attilio.
Lucia's mother, Agnese, advises Renzo to ask the advice of "Dr. Azzeccagarbugli" (Dr. Quibbleweaver, in Colquhoun's translation), a lawyer in the town of Lecco. Dr. Azzeccagarbugli is at first sympathetic: thinking Renzo is actually the perpetrator, he shows Renzo a recent edict criminalising the making of threats to procure or prevent marriages, but when he hears the name of Don Rodrigo, he panics and drives Renzo away. Lucia sends a message to "Fra Cristoforo" (Friar Christopher), a respected Capuchin friar at the monastery of Pescarenico, asking him to come as soon as he can.
Fra Cristoforo and Don Rodrigo When Fra Cristoforo comes to Lucia's cottage and hears the story, he immediately goes to Don Rodrigo's mansion, where he finds the baron at a meal with his cousin Count Attilio, along with four guests, including the mayor and Dr. Azzeccagarbugli. When Don Rodrigo is taken aside by the friar, he explodes with anger at his presumption and sends him away, but not before an old servant has a chance to offer his help to Cristoforo.
Meanwhile, Agnese has come up with a plan. In those days, it was possible for two people to marry by declaring themselves married before a priest and in the presence of two amenable witnesses. Renzo runs to his friend Tonio and offers him 25 lire if he agrees to help. When Fra Cristoforo returns with the bad news, they decide to put their plan into action.
The next morning, Lucia and Agnese are visited by beggars, Don Rodrigo's men in disguise. They examine the house in order to plan an assault. Late at night, Agnese distracts Don Abbondio's servant Perpetua while Tonio and his brother Gervaso enter Don Abbondio's study, ostensibly to pay a debt. They are followed indoors secretly by Lucia and Renzo. When they try to carry out their plan, the priest throws the tablecloth in Lucia's face and drops the lamp. They struggle in the darkness.
In the meantime, Don Rodrigo's men invade Lucia's house, but nobody is there. A boy named Menico arrives with a message of warning from Fra Cristoforo and they seize him. When they hear the alarm being raised by the sacristan, who is calling for help on the part of Don Abbondio who raised the alarm of invaders in his home, they assume they have been betrayed and flee in confusion. Menico sees Agnese, Lucia and Renzo in the street and warns them not to return home. They go to the monastery, where Fra Cristoforo gives Renzo a letter of introduction to a certain friar at Milan, and another letter to the two women, to organize a refuge at a convent in the nearby city of Monza.
Lucia is entrusted to the nun Gertrude, a strange and unpredictable noblewoman whose story is told in these chapters.
A child of the most important family of the area, her father decided to send her to the cloisters for no other reason than to simplify his affairs: he wished to keep his properties united for his first-born, heir to the family's title and riches. As she grew up, she sensed that she was being forced by her parents into a life which would comport but little with her personality. However, fear of scandal, as well as manoeuvres and menaces from her father, induced Gertrude to lie to her interviewers in order to enter the convent of Monza, where she was received as ''la Signora'' ("the lady", also known as The Nun of Monza). Later, she fell under the spell of a young man of no scruples, Egidio, associated with the worst baron of that time, the ''Innominato'' (the "Unnamed"). Egidio and Gertrude became lovers and when another nun discovered their relationship they killed her.
The Grand Chancellor Ferrer from chapter 13 Renzo arrives in famine-stricken Milan and goes to the monastery, but the friar he is seeking is absent and so he wanders further into the city. A bakery in the Corsia de' Servi, ''El prestin di scansc'' ("Bakery of the Crutches"), is destroyed by a mob, who then go to the house of the Commissioner of Supply in order to lynch him. He is saved in the nick of time by Ferrer, the Grand Chancellor, who arrives in a coach and announces he is taking the Commissioner to prison. Renzo becomes prominent as he helps Ferrer make his way through the crowd.
After witnessing these scenes, Renzo joins in a lively discussion and reveals views which attract the notice of a police agent in search of a scapegoat. The agent tries to lead Renzo directly to "the best inn" (i.e. prison) but Renzo is tired and stops at one nearby where, after being plied with drink, he reveals his full name and address. The next morning, he is awakened by a notary and two bailiffs, who handcuff him and start to take him away. In the street Renzo announces loudly that he is being punished for his heroism the day before and, with the aid of sympathetic onlookers, he effects his escape. Leaving the city by the same gate through which he entered, he sets off for Bergamo, knowing that his cousin Bortolo lives in a village nearby. Once there, he will be beyond the reach of the authorities of Milan (under Spanish domination), as Bergamo is territory of the Most Serene Republic of Venice.
At an inn in Gorgonzola, he overhears a conversation which makes it clear to him how much trouble he is in and so he walks all night until he reaches the River Adda. After a short sleep in a hut, he crosses the river at dawn in the boat of a fisherman and makes his way to his cousin's house, where he is welcomed as a silk-weaver under the pseudonym of Antonio Rivolta. The same day, orders for Renzo's arrest reach the town of Lecco, to the delight of Don Rodrigo.
Lucia is kidnapped from the convent News of Renzo's disgrace comes to the convent, but later Lucia is informed that Renzo is safe with his cousin. Their reassurance is short-lived: when they receive no word from Fra Cristoforo for a long time, Agnese travels to Pescarenico, where she learns that he has been ordered by a superior to the town of Rimini. In fact, this has been engineered by Don Rodrigo and Count Attilio, who have leaned on a mutual uncle of the Secret Council, who has leaned on the Father Provincial. Meanwhile, Don Rodrigo has organised a plot to kidnap Lucia from the convent. This involves a great robber baron whose name has not been recorded, and who hence is called ''l'Innominato'', the Unnamed.
Gertrude, blackmailed by Egidio, a neighbor (acquaintance of ''l'Innominato'' and Gertrude's lover), persuades Lucia to run an errand which will take her outside the convent for a short while. In the street Lucia is seized and bundled into a coach. After a nightmarish journey, Lucia arrives at the castle of the Unnamed, where she is locked in a chamber.
The Unnamed is troubled by the sight of her, and spends a horrible night in which memories of his past and the uncertainty of his future almost drive him to suicide. Meanwhile, Lucia spends a similarly restless night, during which she vows to renounce Renzo and maintain perpetual virginity if she is delivered from her predicament. Towards the morning, on looking out of his window, the Unnamed sees throngs of people walking past. They are going to listen to the famous Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Federigo Borromeo. On impulse, the Unnamed leaves his castle in order to meet this man. This meeting prompts a miraculous conversion which marks the turning-point of the novel. The Unnamed announces to his men that his reign of terror is over. He decides to take Lucia back to her native land under his own protection, and with the help of the archbishop the deed is done.
The astonishing course of events leads to an atmosphere in which Don Rodrigo can be defied openly and his fortunes take a turn for the worse. Don Abbondio is reprimanded by the archbishop.
Lucia, miserable about her vow to renounce Renzo, still frets about him. He is now the subject of diplomatic conflict between Milan and Bergamo. Her life is not improved when a wealthy busybody, Donna Prassede, insists on taking her into her household and admonishing her for getting mixed up with a good-for-nothing like Renzo.
The government of Milan is unable to keep bread prices down by decree and the city is swamped by beggars. The ''lazzaretto'' is filled with the hungry and sick.
Meanwhile, the Thirty Years' War brings more calamities. The last three dukes of the house of Gonzaga die without legitimate heirs sparking a war for control of northern Italy, with France and the Holy Roman Empire backing rival claimants. In September 1629, German armies under Count Rambaldo di Collalto descend on Italy, looting and destroying. Agnese, Don Abbondio and Perpetua take refuge in the well-defended territory of the Unnamed. In their absence, their village is wrecked by the mercenaries.
These chapters are occupied with an account of the plague of 1630, largely based on Giuseppe Ripamonti's ''De peste quae fuit anno 1630'' (published in 1640). Manzoni's full version of this, ''Storia della Colonna Infame'', was finished in 1829, but was not published until it was included as an appendix to the revised edition of 1842.
The end of August 1630 sees the death in Milan of the original villains of the story. Renzo, troubled by Agnese's letters and recovering from plague, returns to his native village to find that many of the inhabitants are dead and that his house and vineyard have been destroyed. The warrant, and Don Rodrigo, are forgotten. A childhood friend of Renzo's tells him that Lucia is in Milan.
On his arrival in Milan, Renzo is astonished at the state of the city. His highland clothes invite suspicion that he is an "anointer"; that is, a foreign agent deliberately spreading plague in some way. He learns that Lucia is now languishing at the Lazzaretto of Milan, along with 16,000 other victims of the plague.
But in fact, Lucia is already recuperating. Renzo and Lucia are reunited by Fra Cristoforo, but only after Renzo first visits and forgives the dying Don Rodrigo. The friar absolves her of her vow of celibacy. Renzo walks through a rainstorm to see Agnese at the village of Pasturo. When they all return to their native village, Lucia and Renzo are finally married by Don Abbondio and the couple make a fresh start at a silk-mill at the gates of Bergamo.
In the mid-to-late 1960s, three young men leave their small Southern hometown to join the United States Army and fight in the Vietnam War. Upon their return home, they take up the cause of battling the racial injustices prevalent in the town. When the town's Ku Klux Klan members offer a murderously violent reaction to their efforts, the trio uses the lessons they learned in the army, fighting the Vietcong, to conduct an all-out war against the Klan.
Orlova plays an American circus artist who, after giving birth to a black baby (played by James Lloydovich Patterson), immediately becomes a victim of racism and is forced to stay in the circus, but finds refuge, love and happiness in the USSR.
Marion Dixon, a popular American circus artist is forced to flee for her life with her son, to escape a lynch mob in a provincial American town. The fate of the father is not mentioned, but it is implied that he was lynched. Dixon is taken under the wing of Franz von Kneishitz, a sinister German theatrical agent whose mustache and mannerisms resemble those of Adolf Hitler. Kneishitz blackmails Dixon into becoming his lover while exploiting her and in one scene beats her quite savagely.
Dixon is only kept alive by her love for her son Jimmy, and when she plays in Moscow as a guest performer, she is portrayed as spiritually broken. At the Moscow circus, the circus director Ludvig hires the Arctic explorer Ivan Petrovich Martynov to design a new circus act to top Dixon's "Trip to the Moon" act. Ludvig's fiery daughter Rayechka has a tempestuous relationship with her boyfriend Skameikin. Despite his mission to design an act better than her act, Martynov and Dixon fall in love, which attracts Kneishitz's rage. Dixon wants to stay in Moscow with Martynov, saying she has found happiness again. Kneishitz diverts a love letter from Dixon meant for Martynov to Skameikin, which throws the circus into romantic chaos as Rayechka is furious with Skameikin while Martynov is heartbroken. To escape Rayechka, Skameikin accidentally runs into a lion cage and has to calm the lions with a bouquet of flowers. When Martynov does not respond to her love letter, Dixon nearly leaves Moscow with Kneishitz. By this time, Rayechka has learned the truth and she helps Dixon escape Kneishitz. Martynov and Dixon are late to the circus, forcing Ludvig to perform the top act of 1903, the ''chudo tekhniki'' ("miracle of technology"), to amuse the impatient audience. Finally, Martynov and Dixon arrive and perform their "Trip to the Stratosphere" act together.
Kneishitz interrupts the act to tell Dixon to come with him or else he will reveal her secret. When she refuses, Kneishitz delivers a Hitler-like rant about how Dixon has a black son Jimmy, only for the audience to laugh at him. Ludvig tells Kneishitz that the Soviet peoples do not care about racial purity or race at all. Dixon's black son is embraced by friendly Soviet people. Kneishitz tries to seize Jimmy, but the audience unites to save him. Finally, a group of burly Red Army soldiers in the audience block Kneishitz, who cowers in fear and leaves. The movie climaxes with a lullaby being sung to the baby by representatives of various Soviet ethnicities taking turns. The lyrics of the lullaby to Jimmy are sung in Russian, Ukrainian, Yiddish, Uzbek and Georgian. One of the members of the audience is a black American man dressed in a Soviet naval officer's uniform with a Russian wife. The lyrics of ''The International Lullaby'' declare: "''Son prikhodit na porog/Krepko, krepko spi ty/Sto putei, sto dorog/Dlia tebia otkryty''" ("Sleep comes to your doorstep/Sleep very,very soundly/A hundred paths, a hundred doorways/Are open to you"). Dixon and Martynov declare their love for one another while Rayechka and Shameikin become engaged. The film ends with Rayechka and Dixon marching together in the annual May Day parade under banners depicting the faces of Lenin and Stalin. Much of the footage of the May Day parade used in the film was taken from the actual May Day parade of 1935.
The film was digitally colorized in 2011 in Russia.
Bounty hunters Iria and Bob accept a job to apprehend Zeiram on Earth, setting up an alternate dimension called a Zone to help combat and capture him. Iria and Bob's use of stolen electricity results in electric company employees Kamiya and Teppei investigating their base just as Zeiram enters Earth's atmosphere.
Kamiya accidentally flips a switch that transports Teppei into the Zone. While Kamiya unsuccessfully tries to get an explanation from Iria, she transports the two of them to the Zone. Upon arrival, she traps him and leaves to destroy the pod Zeiram arrived in. Teppei finds Zeiram and gets chased by another monster that the creature summoned, eventually stumbling across Kamiya. Iria's first attempt to capture Zeiram fails and she finds he has a shield that makes him immune to bullet fire.
Iria decides to use her special combat suit, despite Bob's protests to not fight him in close-range combat. After Iria finally manages to capture Zeiram, Teppei comes across her. He asks her to free Kamiya, which she reluctantly agrees to. Zeiram causes a distraction while trapped, using one of his monsters to lure Iria back to Earth. The ensuing fight damages the teleportation unit. Teppei saves Kamiya from a sneak attack by the monster Zeiram summoned, but Kamiya accidentally shoots the lock to Zeiram's prison, freeing the creature.
Iria tries teleporting back to the Zone but is set back by a power failure. Teppei and Kamiya hotwire a car, using it to incapacitate Zeiram. The human-like face on Zeiram's "hat" attacks them, biting Kamiya. Teppei and Kamiya escape soon after. Bob speculates that Zeiram is a forbidden biological weapon whose "hat" is used to eat other beings and use what he has consumed to produce his monster subordinates. Zeiram's attempt to make an subordinate copy of Kamiya ends in failure and he kills it in anger.
After a brief break to address Kamiya's wounds, Teppei receives a communicator from Iria. She explains the problems with the transporter and that the Zone itself will not last for much longer. They agree upon Teppei and Kamiya waiting it out as long as they can until Iria can get back to the Zone. Iria and Bob decide to bring a powerful weapon called the Metis Cannon to fight Zeiram, despite the personal risk it causes them to use it without prior approval. Kamiya hijacks construction equipment to save Teppei from Zeiram before Iria returns to shoot Zeiram with a bazooka.
Zeiram soon recovers, shedding his skin to take on a giant skeletal form. Iria defends Teppei and Kamiya as they retrieve the Metis cannon from the spot Bob transported it to. Iria traps the "hat" with eight minutes to spare before the Zone breaks down. Kamiya and Iria are teleported to the base, meeting Bob. Bob asks Teppei to pick up the captured Zeiram, who hovers in his restraints and destroys the transport unit needed to bring Iria back. He escapes from the trap and regenerates his body. Kamiya uses his technician skills to help repair the transport unit while Zeiram ramps up his attack. Kamiya succeeds and Iria returns in time to save the two men and Bob from Zeiram. After a brief respite, Iria complements the two on their resilience and offers them two of her braids as a "thank you" gesture. Bob takes a photo of the trio together as a memento.
In ''Zeiram 2'', the creature's core, which was presumed dead, is recovered by a shadowy organization which installs it as the organic core of a robotic supersoldier. Iria, Bob, Teppei, and Kamiya continue their battle against Zeiram in a Zone created by the monster. The plot plays out similarly to the original ''Zeiram'', with the four getting into cat-and-mouse confrontations with the creature and the monsters that he summons and dealing with complications caused by Iria and Bob's faulty tech. The sequel adds the additional challenge of Fujikuro, a manipulative rival and saboteur who seeks the same ancient teleportation relic called the Kamarite that Iria and Bob returned to Earth to get. Fujikuro also appeared in ''Iria: Zeiram the Animation''.
The story revolves around Althalus, a professional thief with a gift for storytelling and a reputation for uncanny luck. After numerous disasters (Althalus believes that luck has left him for good), the thief decides to return to the savage lands of the north, where he grew up, and decides to rob a fort. After arriving there, and amusing everyone with his stories, Althalus breaks into the storeroom during the night only to find out that all the talk about gold in the fort were lies, and that there are only bags of worthless copper coins and a handful of brass coins. Furious, Althalus steals all the brass coins and leaves – only to become chased by every man in the fort, its owner taking advantage of the situation to claim the theft of a non-existent fortune. He escapes to Hule, where he finds refuge in a camp. A man named Ghend arrives there a short time later and presents Althalus with a proposition.
Ghend hires Althalus to travel to the "House at the End of the World" to steal a book. Although he suspects something is amiss, Althalus accepts the job and heads there. After several days of travel he finds the house and manages to stumble upon the book, only to realize that the House is occupied by a talking cat who has trapped him. After several days of being trapped he finally decides to listen to the cat and thus finds out several astonishing things. The book is called the ''Book of Deiwos'', Deiwos being the God who created the world, and the cat (named Emerald or Emmy by Althalus) teaches him to read it. After two and a half thousand years, Emerald reveals to Althalus that the book can be used to accomplish feats of magic ...
Emerald tells Althalus that he has actually been in the house for many, many years. The intervening two millennia have seen many changes in the world, including the initial stages of an ice age triggered by the evil God Daeva. She also tells Althalus that Ghend is Daeva's agent, and is working to establish Daeva as the ruler of the world. The cat and Althalus set out to gather a party of people who are destined to save the world from Daeva's dominion. They try to find the knife which will guide them to each person. Having arrived at the knife's depository, they are told that the knife has been taken by Eliar, a member of the army. With this new information they travel to Osthos, where Eliar seems to have become a slave. Deciding that they will have to buy off all the slaves, the two travel to Emerald's private gold mine and collect twenty blocks of gold, which Althalus converts into coins. With their purses full, they return and meet Andine, the queen (or "Arya") of Osthos, in her palace, posing as slavers. However, Andine won't sell Eliar to them. Emerald worms her way into Andine's affection in an attempt to persuade her to give up Eliar. Finally, the queen agrees to sell the other slaves along with Eliar. With the deal struck, Althalus leads his troupe out, but overhears Eliar planning on attacking him with the other soldier slaves. To break the soldier's loyalty, he randomly picks a soldier and sends him several thousand feet into the air before bringing him back down and releasing the slaves, except Eliar, whom he keeps chained up. In the morning, Eliar decides that he will follow Althalus.
After buying some horses they head to Awes, where Emerald tells Eliar that he must show the writing on the knife to every priest in Awes and ask if they can read it. While doing this they discover an agent of Daeva, who screams in anguish after seeing the knife. Eliar quickly slays him and they hide the body under a pile of rocks. A young priest finds them, but it turns out that the priest is none other than the fourth member of their party, Bheid. With their new member ready, Emerald "reads" the knife, which leads them back to Osthos, where their fifth member is destined to be none other that the queen of Osthos: Andine.
Returning to Osthos, they camp out behind the walls of the city for the night. Formulating a plan, Althalus and Emerald sneak into Andine's palace unnoticed. In her chambers, Emerald captures Andine in a spell, causing her to be little more than a puppet. Leading their newest member out of the city, they rejoin their group and decide to hastily leave before morning comes and Andine is discovered missing. Andine wants no part in this and focuses on killing Eliar, but the enchantment on the knife forces her to listen to Althalus, and so, with their newest member in tow, the party travels to Hule, to find their sixth member.
While traveling towards Hule, Bheid tries to quell Andine's hatred towards Eliar – with limited success, but it appears to be taking effect when Andine refrains from making any scathing remarks towards Eliar. During the night, Althalus and Eliar hear someone sneaking towards their camp and capture the boy named Gher, who, it turns out, is their sixth member. Emerald finally sorts out the problems with Andine by using Gher as a voice, Andine (having a change of heart) helps clean up the beaten up Gher and they head to Kweron to find their final member; a "witch".
In Kweron, Althalus and Emerald hatch up a scheme that involves Bheid; Bheid will pretend that he has come to collect the "witch" for interrogation, as well as predicting avalanches and lightning strikes (which Althalus will provide). Bheid is, at first, reluctant to lie that blatantly about something, but in the end, he agrees. After a conversation with the priests of the village, he finds out that the "witch" is about to be burned alive. Through the respect he has gathered by his "forecasts", he can convince the priests to give the enigmatic Leitha into his care. Before leaving, Leitha reveals that she can "hear" the thoughts of other people.
The group decides to travel back to the House at the end of the world. Dweia reveals the origins of why they must do what they do: :Deiwos, the Sky God – and Dweia's brother – created the world, and filled the planet with living things, whom Dweia cares for. However, Daeva's only role is to destroy parts of the universe, but only those which Deiwos and Dweia allow him to. Daeva tries to change this, and has Ghend find each member of his "chosen ones" to prepare to take over the world, and to do this he needs Deiwos's book, to copy it and make a book of his own for this purpose.
After learning this, Althalus introduces Emerald, who in reality was Dweia all along, to the "family" and quickly explains the situation to them as well as telling them about Eliar's ability to use the doors of the House to travel through Spacetime.
After getting acquainted with living in the house, they use the doors to return to Arum where they try to win Albron's (the knife keeper's) clan as allies, and show him the House as an act of trust. They know that they will need an army to combat Gelta's archaic forces from the past. Calling a clan meeting they hire all the Arum clans and prepare themselves to fight against Gelta's army. Thanks to the more modern warfare of their time, Gelta's forces are easily crushed and, although Eliar is injured, with the help of Althalus's powers, the remaining part of the enemy forces is defeated.
Ultimately, Ghend and Althalus face off in the House at the end of the world, ending with the destruction of the Book of Daeva, the defeat of Daeva, and the saving of the universe.
Category:2000 novels Category:Novels by David Eddings Category:Del Rey books
Lorenzo "Shakes" Carcaterra, Tommy Marcano, Michael Sullivan, and John Reilly are childhood friends living in Hell's Kitchen in the 1960s. Father "Bobby" Carillo, their parish priest, a youth offender himself in the past, tries to teach them right from wrong. They still play pranks and start running small errands for local gangster King Benny.
In the summer of 1967, the four boys steal a hotdog cart, which they accidentally roll down the subway stairs, severely injuring an elderly man. They are all sentenced to serve time at Wilkinson Home for Boys in Upstate New York; Shakes is given 6 to 12 months, while the others are given 12 to 18 months. During their stay, they are constantly subjected to sexual abuse and torture by head guards Sean Nokes, Henry Addison, Ralph Ferguson and Adam Styler.
While at the facility, they participate in Wilkinson's annual football game between the guards and inmates. Michael convinces black inmate Rizzo Robinson to help win the game. Humiliated, the guards move the boys to solitary confinement for weeks, where they are systematically beaten. Rizzo does not survive and his family is told that he had died of pneumonia.
In the spring of 1968, shortly before Shakes' release from Wilkinson, he suggests the boys publicly report the abuse. The others refuse, with Michael asserting that no one would believe them or care, and they vow never to speak of it again. The night before Shakes is released, Nokes and the other guards arrange a "farewell party" in which the four boys are again brutally abused.
In 1981, John and Tommy, now career criminals, unexpectedly encounter Sean Nokes in a Hell's Kitchen pub. Confronting him, he dismisses the abuse he put them through, and John and Tommy shoot him dead in front of witnesses. Michael, now an assistant district attorney, gets himself assigned to the case; he secretly intends to botch the prosecution and expose what the guards at Wilkinson's did. With Shakes, now a reporter, they form a plan to free John and Tommy and get revenge on the other Wilkinson abusers. With the help of King Benny and Carol, their childhood friend, they carry out their plan using information compiled by Michael on the backgrounds of the guards, helped by Danny Snyder, an alcoholic lawyer, to defend John and Tommy.
Michael secretly drafts scripted questions in advance, so Snyder casts significant doubt on the testimony of a woman who witnessed the murder, and two other witnesses are intimidated into silence. For Michael's plan to fully succeed, however, he must damage Nokes' reputation and convincingly place John and Tommy at another location at the time of the shooting. Ferguson, when called as a witness, admits that Nokes, like the other guards, used to abuse the boys. To clinch the case, however, a key witness was still needed for John and Tommy's alibi. Shakes has a long talk with Father Bobby, who resists at first, but after learning the truth, reluctantly agrees to perjure himself. At trial, Father Bobby testifies John and Tommy were with him at a New York Knicks game at the time of the shooting and shows three ticket stubs to prove it. As a result, John and Tommy are acquitted.
The remaining guards are also punished for their crimes: Henry Addison, now a politician who still molests children, is abducted and killed near the local airport by black gangsters led by Rizzo's older brother, Eddie "Little Caesar" Robinson, who heard the truth about Rizzo's death from King Benny; Adam Styler, now a corrupt police officer, is imprisoned for taking bribes and murdering a drug dealer; and Ralph Fergurson, a social worker, loses his job and family and is left to live alone with his guilt for the rest of his life.
Michael, Shakes, John, Tommy, and Carol meet at a local bar to celebrate. It is the last time the four are together. Shakes remains in Hell's Kitchen as a reporter; Michael quits the DA's office, moves to the English countryside, becomes a carpenter and never marries; John and Tommy both die before age 30 - John succumbs to liver cirrhosis due to excessive alcohol consumption while Tommy is ambushed and murdered by rival criminals. Carol remains in Hell's Kitchen as a social worker; she has a son, naming him John Thomas Michael Martinez, with the nickname "Shakes".
Seven years after the Outer Heaven uprising, a new Metal Gear prototype (codenamed Gander) has been stolen by a separatist guerrilla group in the region of Gindra in Central Africa. The Gindra Liberation Front (or GLF), led by the mercenary Augustine Eguabon, plans on using the prototype as a means of achieving victory in an ongoing civil war. Solid Snake, the FOXHOUND operative responsible for the destruction of the original Metal Gear seven years before, is brought back from his retirement in Alaska. His mission is to infiltrate the group's headquarters Galuade, the fortress that was formerly Outer Heaven.
During the course of his mission, Snake teams up with Sgt. Christine Jenner, a surviving member of the Delta Force that was sent before him to retrieve Gander. The GLF are assisted by four surviving members of Black Chamber, a defunct special forces unit whose members are given animal-themed codenames similar to FOXHOUND. They are led by Black Arts Viper, a boobytrap specialist who wields a prosthetic left arm. Joining him are Slasher Hawk, an Australian Aborigine armed with two giant boomerangs who is accompanied in battle by a hawk; Marionette Owl, a former serial killer endowed with owl-like nocturnal vision and attacks with his two bunraku puppets; and Pyro Bison, a pyromaniac armed with a specially prepared flamethrower and fuel pack. As Snake goes deeper into Galuade and confronts each member of Black Chamber, he uncovers a conspiracy involving the GLF and US Government.
IdeaSpy 2.5 is a bonus 13-part story written by Shuyo Murata featured in the Japanese and European versions of ''Ghost Babel''. The player has access to this story by going to the CODEC screen during the second play-through and onward by contacting frequency 140.07 on each stage. The story is written like a satirical [radio drama|radio play]:
"New York. Here in the city where dreams come true and desires rule, Something is being bought, sold, and thrown away, even as we speak. But behind the scenes of business as usual. the nefarious J.E (Junker Expensive) Corporation lines it already bloated coffers With profits from worthless products. As J.E swindles yet another innocent into purchasing High-priced junk, The FBI mobilizes a top-secret task force to put a stop to the menace. Now, the city's best-kept secret spy is out there, Briefed; and ready to protect the people from J.E., the catalogue of conspiracy... Just call him 2.5 (Two-Point-Five)
In 2006, ''Idea Spy 2.5'' was adapted into an actual radio drama streamed on Hideo Kojima's Japanese podcast, with Kojima himself playing the title role. Shuyo Murata also plays one of the boss characters. The full drama was released on CD in Japan on February 14, 2007.
In northern Iraq, Catholic priest Lankester Merrin participates in an archaeological dig which unearths a medallion of Saint Joseph and an artifact representing Pazuzu, an ancient demon. As Merrin prepares to leave Iraq, he encounters a large statue of Pazuzu and observes two dogs fighting in the desert.
In Georgetown, actress Chris MacNeil works on a film directed by her friend Burke Dennings. A temporary resident, Chris lives in a well-appointed house with servants and her daughter Regan. Georgetown-based priest Damien Karras visits his mother in New York. He confides to a colleague that he feels unfit in his role as counselor to other priests, citing a crisis of faith. Chris hears noises in the attic, and Regan tells her of an imaginary friend named "Captain Howdy". In a local church, a statue of Mary is found desecrated.
Chris hosts a party. Karras' friend Father Dyer explains Karras' role as a counselor, mentioning that his mother died recently. Regan appears and urinates on the carpet. After Chris puts Regan to bed, her bed shakes violently. Dyer consoles Karras, and Karras expresses guilt at not having been with his mother when she died. Karras dreams of his mother, a Saint Joseph medallion and—briefly—a demonic face.
Regan becomes violent. She is subjected to several medical tests which fail to find anything physiologically wrong with her. During a house call, a demon possesses Regan's body; the possessed Regan exhibits abnormal strength. One night, Chris finds the house empty except for a sleeping Regan. Dennings is found dead at the foot of an outdoor staircase beneath Regan's window. Homicide detective William Kinderman questions Karras, confiding that Dennings' body was found with its head turned backward.
Regan's condition worsens, and her body becomes covered with sores. A doctor mentions exorcism as a remote option, suggesting a possible psychological benefit. Kinderman visits Chris, explaining that the only plausible explanation for Dennings' death is that he was pushed from Regan's window. As Kinderman leaves, the possessed Regan stabs her genitals with a crucifix. To Chris' horror, the possessed Regan turns her head backwards and speaks in Dennings' voice. The possessed Regan is confined to her bedroom.
Chris seeks out Karras, who visits Regan. Over two meetings, the possessed Regan claims to be the Devil himself, projectile vomits into Karras' face, speaks in tongues, and reacts violently when tap water is sprinkled on her, which Karras had claimed was holy water—a point against genuine possession. The demon says it will remain in Regan until she is dead. Desperate, Chris confides that the possessed Regan killed Dennings. At night, Regan's nanny calls Karras to the house. They witness the words "help me" materialize on Regan's skin. Still ambivalent, Karras nevertheless concludes that an exorcism is warranted. His superior grants permission on the condition that an experienced priest leads the ritual while Karras assists. Merrin, having performed an exorcism before, is summoned.
Merrin arrives at the house, warning Karras that the demon uses a psychological attack. As the priests read from the Roman Ritual, the demon curses them. It focuses on Karras, verbally attacking his loss of faith and guilt over the circumstances of his mother's death. The priests rest momentarily and Merrin, shaking, takes nitroglycerin. Karras enters the bedroom where the demon appears as his mother. Showing weakness, Karras exclaims that the demon is not his mother. Merrin excuses Karras and continues the exorcism by himself. Karras assures Chris that Regan will not die and re-enters the room, finding Merrin dead. Karras beats the possessed Regan and demands that the demon take him instead. The demon rips a medallion of Saint Joseph from Karras' neck and begins to possess him, freeing Regan. Karras hurls himself out the window, tumbling down the stairs outside. Chris and Kinderman enter the room. Chris embraces the healed Regan, and Kinderman surveys the violence and confusion. Outside, Dyer administers the last rites as Karras dies.
The MacNeils prepare to leave, and Father Dyer says goodbye. Despite having no memory of her ordeal, Regan is moved by the sight of Dyer's clerical collar to kiss him on the cheek. As the MacNeils leave, Chris gives Dyer the medallion found in Regan's room.
In 2000, a version of the film known as the "Version You've Never Seen" or the "Extended Director's Cut" was released. In the ending of this version, when Chris gives Karras' medallion to Dyer, Dyer places it back in her hand and suggests that she keep it. After she and Regan drive away, Dyer pauses at the top of the stone steps before walking away and coming across Kinderman, who narrowly missed Chris and Regan's departure; Kinderman and Dyer begin to develop a friendship.
A group of five renowned detectives, each accompanied by a relative or associate, is invited to "dinner and a murder" by the mysterious Lionel Twain. Having lured his guests to his mansion managed by a blind butler named Jamessir Bensonmum, who is later joined by a deaf, mute, and illiterate cook named Yetta, Twain joins his guests at dinner. He presses a button which seals off the house. Twain announces that he is the greatest criminologist in the world. To prove his claim, he challenges the guests to solve a murder that will occur at midnight; a reward of $1 million will be presented to the winner.
Before midnight, the butler is found dead. Twain disappears, only to re-appear immediately after midnight, stabbed twelve times in the back with a butcher knife. The cook is also discovered to have been an animated mannequin, now packed in a storage crate. The party spends the rest of the night investigating and bickering. They are manipulated by a mysterious behind-the-scenes force, confused by red herrings, and baffled by the "mechanical marvel" that is Twain's house. They ultimately find their own lives threatened. Each sleuth presents his or her theory on the case, pointing out the others' past connections to Twain and their possible motives for murdering him.
When they retire to their guest rooms for the night, the guests are each confronted by things that threaten to kill them: a deadly snake, a venomous scorpion, a descending ceiling, poison gas, and a bomb. They all survive, and in the morning, they gather in the office, where they find the butler waiting, very much alive and not blind. Each detective presents a different piece of evidence with which they each independently solved the mystery, and in each case, they accuse the butler of being one of Twain's former associates.
At first, the butler plays the part of each person with whom he is identified, but then he pulls off a mask to reveal Lionel Twain himself, alive. Twain disparages the detectives—and metafictionally, the authors who created them—for the way their adventures have been handled. He points out such authorial misdeeds as introducing crucial characters at the last minute for the traditional "twist in the tale" (something the assembled detectives had been doing a few minutes earlier) and withholding clues and information to make it impossible for the reader to solve the mystery. Each of the detectives departs the house empty-handed, none of them having won the $1 million. When asked whether there had been a murder, Wang replies, "Yes: killed good weekend."
Alone, Twain pulls off yet another mask to reveal Yetta, who lights a cigarette and laughs maniacally while rings of tobacco smoke fill the screen.
The background of Sergeant Thomas Jefferson "T. J." Hooker is that he, up until recently, was a plainclothes LCPD Detective Sergeant whose partner was killed in the line of duty while he and Hooker were trying to stop a bank robbery. An angry Hooker becomes motivated to rid the streets of criminals like those who murdered his partner. Thus, he decides the only way to do so is return to his former position as a uniformed patrolman. Hooker is a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, serving in U.S. Army Special Forces during the early years of the U.S.'s involvement in the war.
In "The Protectors," the series' pilot/TV movie, Hooker, back in uniform, trains a group of police academy recruits, including those played by Richard Lawson, Brian Patrick Clarke, Kelly Harmon, and Adrian Zmed. Hal Williams plays a senior officer, and Richard Herd makes a brief appearance as Captain Dennis Sheridan, Hooker's tough but understanding superior. During most of the series, Hooker is partnered with brash, sometimes hot-headed young rookie Vince Romano (played by Zmed). Romano is also a combat veteran of the Vietnam War, serving in the Army Infantry towards the end of U.S. ground forces involvement in the war. Hooker acts as his mentor both professionally and socially. The age difference generally being the key hook of the partnership, the pair quickly became fast friends and a good team.
Outside of his work, Hooker is divorced as a result of his work putting a strain on his marriage, but he is friendly with his ex-wife Fran, a nurse. A ladies' man, Hooker is still trying to adjust to being single again. Lee Bryant was the original actress to portray Fran; the part is later played by Leigh Christian.
Hooker's tough, no-nonsense demeanor has him often clashing with station Captain Sheridan (Richard Herd), but he always got the job done and was highly respected as a result. Working behind the desk at the police precinct, Vicki Taylor (April Clough) is a female officer who continually dodges pick-up attempts by Vince Romano. Introduced at the start of the second season was attractive Officer Stacy Sheridan (Heather Locklear), the daughter of Captain Sheridan, who attended the police academy. Initially brought in to replace Vicki, by the end of the season she had progressed to patrolling with Jim Corrigan (James Darren), another veteran cop much in the mold of Hooker.
From the third season onward, Hooker and Romano (Unit 4-Adam-30), and Stacy and Corrigan (Unit 4-Adam-16), usually worked closely together to tackle cases. The addition of Corrigan and Sheridan's partnership added an extra dimension to the show, sometimes with whole plots revolving around one or both of them.
For the final season, the series moved from ABC to a late-night slot on CBS. Along with the move, Adrian Zmed chose to leave the series to pursue other projects, leaving Hooker to patrol alone or to generally work as more of a trio with Stacy and Jim, often on undercover work.
With its blend of humor mixed with "on the streets" grittiness, the show proved popular. The first season ranked 28th in the Nielsen ratings, but subsequent seasons failed to repeat the same level of success. The third season saw a slight revamp (including the theme music being rearranged into a more pop-driven version), with Corrigan set into place as Stacy's partner, and Captain Sheridan being dropped into the background (appearing as 'Special Guest Star' in just a few third and fourth-season episodes). The recurring character of Hooker's new boss, Lieutenant Pete O'Brien, portrayed by Hugh Farrington, was added. Lt. O'Brien was a veteran detective who was wounded in the line of duty. The injuries put him in a wheelchair but he still worked complex investigations and supervised officers. The stories started drifting toward a more straightforward cops-and-robbers fare.
Brazzaville Beach consists of three separative narratives. The first is Hope Clearwater's reflections on her current life whilst living in a beach house on Brazzaville Beach. The second narrative is a description of her former marriage to John Clearwater, a mathematician, who gradually goes mad resulting from failure to make progress in his academic research. The third narrative, and by far the most graphic, is the narrator's account of her work in a national park called Grosso Arvore (Big Tree), where she tracks the movements of a small band of chimpanzees that have split off from a larger group in the north.
John Clearwater, Hope's former husband, is a mathematician thirsty for discovery and fame. This part of the narrative is set in London, where the couple share her flat in South Kensington, and southern England, where Hope works as an ecologist on an intriguing hedgerow mapping project in Dorset. At the beginning of their marriage the two are very much in love with Hope believing that John is the ideal man for her owing to his rather eccentric but empathetic character and strong intelligence. She is uninterested in working after getting her PhD until her former Professor forces her to take on the hedgerow mapping project. After being interviewed by Munro, its leader, Hope discovers she is pleased to be working once more, losing weight because she is outside all day, and enjoying the disciplined approach she has to adopt:
However, whilst Hope's work is going well, her husband's is going badly with John failing to make progress with his mathematical research into chaos theory, and Hope finds herself unable to deal with its consequences. The first signs are when he is caught digging an illegal long trench on the Knap estate in Dorset, work that he feels will help him visualise the mathematical formulae he is trying to come to grips with (having worked before during their stay at a rented cottage in Scotland). He then breaks into hysterics in an Italian restaurant back in London and matters are made worse when Hope discovers he is having an affair with the wife of a Polish university colleague. Their marriage breaks down and irretrievably and tragically, John commits suicide. Hope flees to Africa to recover from the ordeal.
The Grosso Arvore Research Centre, where Hope seeks asylum, is the creation of Eugene Mallabar. After studying wild chimps for the last twenty-five years, Mallabar knows more about them than anyone else on earth. He is the author of "The Peaceful Primate" and "Primate's Progress" and the recipient of million-dollar grants. Mallabar has just finished writing a ''magnum opus'' that will be the last word on the subject of the seemingly gentle beast with which man shares 98 percent of his DNA. Hope Clearwater, however, slowly comes to the realization that the chimps are up to no good as the two groups of chimpanzees she is studying come into lethal conflict. Males from the northern group, led by the alpha male Darius, start patrolling into the southerners' territory and then start to kill, with extreme cruelty, the rival males - one an old chimpanzee called Mr Jeb, and the other Muffin, an adolescent. What she sees brings Hope herself into conflict with Mallabar, and threatens the very existence of Grosso Arvore research project and his lifelong study of primates.
In tandem with the other two narratives are Hope's recollections of her affair with Usman Shoukry, an Egyptian mercenary airforce pilot flying sorties in a MiG-15 against rebel army groups. Hope is able to meet him when she carries out supply runs in the reserve's landrover to Brazzaville, the provincial capital. He surprises her one time when he designs the world's smallest aeroplanes by strapping on wings and landing gears to house flies made from match-sticks and paper. They are both genuinely fond of each other during their time together, with Usman making plans to buy one of the run-down houses on the beach where they go to relax and swim, until he meets an untimely end on one of his missions. Hope herself gets caught up in the civil war when she and Ian Vail are captured by Dr Amilcar and his ''atomique boum'' volleyball team, who commandeer their landrover to return more quickly to the UNAMO stronghold in the Musave River Territories following a failed offensive against the Federal Army.
The story intertwines different narrative strands as the reader is led into the vortex of Hope's complex world. Accompanying this are the author's detailed descriptions of chaos theory, the social and professional wrangling between the different project members working at the Grosso Avore Research Centre (Ian and Roberta Vail, the thoroughly dislikeable Anton Hauser and the Mallabars themselves), along with the human-like behaviour of the chimpanzees as one group sets out to destroy the other. The aggressors' motive is to ensure the return of the alpha female, Rita Lu, to her original group which has become dysfunctional during her absence, and these chimpanzee wars only come to an end as a result of human intervention.
Mowgli resides in the "Man-Village" with the girl Shanti who lured him in, and he ends up being adopted by the village leader, who has a wife named Messua and a son named Ranjan. However, wanting to return to the exciting life of the jungle, he nearly leads the other children in the village into the jungle, and the village leader punishes him for disobeying what he told Mowgli about not leaving the village and putting them in danger.
Meanwhile, in the jungle, Shere Khan has returned to Baloo and Bagheera's part of the jungle, seeking revenge on Mowgli for defeating him. Baloo enters the Man-Village and takes Mowgli back into the jungle; however, unbeknownst to them, Shere Khan had also enter the village, only to be attacked by the villagers. In the ensuing chase, Shanti and Ranjan sneak into the jungle to rescue Mowgli, believing that Baloo is a rabid animal who has kidnapped him.
Bagheera learns of Mowgli's escape from the village when the humans search the jungle for him, and immediately suspects Baloo. Mowgli instructs Baloo to scare off Shanti should she appear, and bemoans about his boring life in the Man-Village. Baloo and Mowgli journey to King Louie's old temple (King Louie is mentioned to have moved out), for a party. However, when the jungle animals mock Shanti and other aspects of Mowgli's life in the Man-Village, Mowgli angrily leaves. He finds Shanti and Ranjan, but Baloo scares Shanti. When the truth comes out that Mowgli ordered Baloo to scare her, Shanti and Ranjan run away, abandoning Mowgli.
Baloo realizes that Mowgli misses his village life, but when Mowgli tries to make amends with his human friends, they are cornered by Shere Khan. The tiger chases Mowgli and Shanti to an abandoned temple built above a lake of lava. Baloo instructs Bagheera to protect Ranjan while he goes to save Mowgli and Shanti. After confusing Shere Khan by banging several different gongs, Shanti's presence is revealed to Shere Khan. Baloo tackles Shere Khan to the ground, allowing Mowgli and Shanti enough time to escape, but the tiger chases them to a statue across a pit of lava. Shere Khan is trapped within the statue's mouth, and it plummets onto a large stone in the lava below.
With Shere Khan finally thwarted, Baloo decides to let Mowgli return to the Man-Village with Shanti and Ranjan, and Bagheera proudly compliments Baloo for making a wise decision. Upon returning to the Man-Village with Shanti and Ranjan, Mowgli reconciles with the village leader, who apologizes to Mowgli for failing to understand that the jungle was part of his identity. The children return daily to visit Baloo and Bagheera in the jungle.
The film is set in Scotland in 1954. Shiftless young drifter Joe Taylor works on a barge which operates from Glasgow, on the River Clyde, along the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals to Edinburgh. He shares the cramped on-board living quarters with its operators, Les and Ella Gault, and their young son Jim. One day Joe and Les pull the body of a young woman, Cathie Dimly, naked except for a petticoat, from the water. Via flashbacks, we learn Joe knew her, and scenes involving his relationship with Cathie are juxtaposed with those set in the present time.
After finding Cathie's body, Joe and Les go to a local pub to play darts. Joe leaves Les behind and returns to the barge, where Ella succumbs to his advances. Not wanting to disturb the sleeping Jim, the two engage in sex on the towpath. It proves to be the first of many such encounters they enjoy whenever they can find a few moments away from Les.
In the past, Joe meets Cathie, an office worker, on a beach and the two soon are living together. He aspires to be a writer and spends his days banging on a battered typewriter while she works to support them. Joe begins to suffer from chronic writer's block and Cathie, unhappy with his lack of productivity, accuses him of taking advantage of her. In violent reply to her words, Joe humiliates Cathie, beats and rapes her. He packs his meager belongings and moves out. After tossing his typewriter in a canal, he meets Les, who offers him a job on the barge.
Les eventually becomes aware of Ella and Joe's affair and moves out of the barge, which belongs to her, and Ella and Joe drift into a more serious relationship. When she receives word her brother-in-law has died, she and Joe visit her sister Gwen and invite her to spend a couple of weeks with them. One evening, on the pretext Gwen would like to see a movie, she and Joe leave the barge and go to a pub. After a few drinks, the two have sex in an alleyway.
Eventually, Ella's desire to settle in the suburbs and her no-nonsense supervision of the barge's daily commercial activities put a dampener on the once-unbridled passion in her relationship with Joe, and he packs and leaves.
In the past, Joe and Cathie reunite on the waterfront and have sex beneath a parked truck. She reveals she is two months pregnant with his child, and when Joe nonchalantly begins to walk away, she runs after him, trips, and falls into the water while dressed only in her petticoat. Joe makes no move to rescue her and, when she fails to surface, he panics and runs away.
Past and present converge. Daniel Gordon, a plumber whom Cathie was casually seeing, is arrested and tried for her murder, and Joe spends a few days in the courtroom listening to testimony. Guilt-stricken, he writes an anonymous note absolving Daniel of the crime and leaves it where a courthouse guard can find it. It has no effect on the proceedings, and Daniel is found guilty and sentenced to hang. Unwilling to risk his life, Joe opts not to confess how Cathie really died and sets off for parts unknown.
In 1938, at an illegal card game, a young street urchin witnesses the massacre of a group of mobsters at the hands of Flattop and Itchy, two of the hoods on the payroll of Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice. Big Boy's crime syndicate is aggressively taking over small businesses in the city. Detective Dick Tracy catches the urchin (who calls himself "Kid") in an act of petty theft. After rescuing him from a ruthless host, Tracy temporarily adopts him with the help of his girlfriend, Tess Trueheart.
Meanwhile, Big Boy coerces club owner Lips Manlis into signing over the deed to Club Ritz. He then kills Lips with a cement overcoat (referred to onscreen as "The Bath") and steals his girlfriend, the seductive and sultry singer Breathless Mahoney. After Lips is reported missing, Tracy interrogates his three hired guns Flattop, Itchy, and Mumbles, then goes to the club to arrest Big Boy for Lips' murder. Breathless is the only witness. Instead of providing testimony, she unsuccessfully attempts to seduce Tracy. Big Boy cannot be indicted, and he is released from jail. Big Boy's next move is to try to bring other criminals, including Spud Spaldoni, Pruneface, Influence, Texie Garcia, Ribs Mocca, and Numbers, together under his leadership. Spaldoni refuses and is killed with a carbomb, leaving Dick Tracy, who discovered the meeting and was attempting to spy on it, wondering what is going on. The next day, Big Boy and his henchmen kidnap Tracy and attempt to bribe him; Tracy rebuffs them, prompting the criminals to attempt to kill him. However, Tracy is saved by Kid, who is then bestowed by the police with an honorary detective certificate, which will remain temporary until he decides on a legitimate name for himself.
Breathless shows up at Tracy's apartment, once again in an attempt to seduce him. Tracy allows her to kiss him. Tess witnesses this scene and eventually leaves town. Tracy leads a seemingly unsuccessful raid on Club Ritz, but it is actually a diversion so that Officer "Bug" Bailey can enter the building to operate a secretly installed listening device so the police can listen in on Big Boy's criminal activities. The resultant raids all but wipe out Big Boy's criminal empire. However, Big Boy discovers Bug, and captures him for a trap planned by Influence and Pruneface to kill Tracy in the warehouse. In the resulting gun battle, a stranger with no face called "The Blank" steps out of the shadows to save Tracy after he is cornered, and kills Pruneface. Influence escapes as Tracy rescues Bug from the fate that befell Lips Manlis, and Big Boy is enraged to hear that The Blank foiled the hit. Tracy again attempts to extract the testimony from Breathless that he needs to put Big Boy away. She agrees to testify only if Tracy agrees to give in to her advances. Tess eventually has a change of heart, but before she can tell Tracy, she is kidnapped by The Blank, with the help of Big Boy's club piano player, 88 Keys. Tracy is drugged and rendered unconscious by The Blank, then framed for murdering the corrupt District Attorney John Fletcher, whereupon he is detained by the police. The Kid, meanwhile, adopts the name "Dick Tracy, Jr."
Big Boy's business thrives until The Blank frames him for Tess' kidnapping. Released by his colleagues on New Year's Eve, Tracy interrogates Mumbles, and arrives at a gun battle outside the Club Ritz where Big Boy's men are killed or captured by Tracy and the police. Abandoning his crew, Big Boy flees to a drawbridge and ties Tess to its gears before he is confronted by Tracy. Their fight is halted when The Blank appears and holds both men at gunpoint, offering to share the city with Tracy after Big Boy is dead. When Junior arrives, Big Boy takes advantage of the distraction and opens fire before Tracy sends him falling to his death in the bridge's gears, while Junior rescues Tess. Mortally wounded, The Blank is unmasked to reveal Breathless Mahoney, who kisses Tracy before dying. All charges against Tracy are dropped.
Later, Tracy proposes to Tess, but is interrupted by the report of a robbery in progress. He leaves her with the ring before he and Dick Tracy, Jr., depart to respond to the robbery.
In 1887, during the British Raj in India, Mowgli is the 5-year-old son of the widowed jungle guide Nathoo, whose wife died in childbirth. On one of Nathoo's tours, he leads Colonel Geoffrey Brydon and his men, as well as Brydon's 5-year-old daughter Katherine nicknamed Kitty. Fellow guide Buldeo and two soldiers kill several animals for sport, which enrages Shere Khan, a tiger who serves as the jungle's keeper, and he begins to pursue the tour group. That night, Kitty gives Mowgli her late mother's bracelet as a gift. Mowgli tells Nathoo of a dream where he faced Shere Khan and showed no fear, becoming a tiger himself. Shere Khan attacks the encampment. He succeeds in killing the two soldiers, but when he tries to kill Buldeo, Nathoo defends him and is subsequently mauled to death by Shere Khan. In the confusion, Mowgli is lost in the jungle with his pet wolf cub, Grey Brother, and Brydon and his men presume him killed. Mowgli is taken by Bagheera, a gentle black panther, to the wolf pack. Mowgli also befriends a bear cub named Baloo.
Years pass and Mowgli grows into a young man. One day, a monkey steals the bracelet and lures Mowgli towards a legendary lost city honoring Hanuman, filled with treasure belonging to King Louie the orangutan, who has the treasure guarded by Kaa, a gigantic python. Forced to fight for his life and the bracelet, Mowgli succeeds in wounding the snake with a bejeweled dagger that he retrieves from the treasure horde. Winning King Louie's respect, Mowgli keeps the dagger as a trophy.
Elsewhere, Kitty and Colonel Brydon are still stationed in India. She and Mowgli meet again, but neither recognize the other. Kitty is also in a relationship with one of Brydon's soldiers, Captain William Boone. Infatuated with her, Mowgli travels to Brydon's fort and enters her room, alerting the guards. Kitty sees that Mowgli is wearing her mother's bracelet and realizes who he is. Boone and his men manage to capture Mowgli with Buldeo's help. They find the jeweled dagger on his possession, which Buldeo recognises as coming from the lost city. Kitty and Dr. Julius Plumford, a good friend of Brydon's, decide that they must reintroduce Mowgli to civilization. In doing so, Mowgli and Kitty fall in love, much to Boone's displeasure. Eventually, Boone convinces Mowgli to tell him of his "Monkey City" and the treasure hoard that it holds, but Mowgli refrains from revealing its location to Boone upon realizing he does not follow the "Jungle Law" and kills for sport rather than survival purposes. Boone later proposes to Kitty, although she is hesitant to concede. Around this time, after Boone and his men publicly humiliate him, Mowgli returns to the jungle as he does not feel at home in the village. After Boone's cruel treatment of Mowgli, Kitty realizes she cannot marry Boone, so Colonel Brydon decides to send her back to England.
Meanwhile, Boone teams up with Buldeo and his friend Tabaqui. The men recruit soldiers Lieutenant Wilkins and Sergeant Harley, and gather some bandits to capture Mowgli in order to find out where the treasure is. Wilkins and Boone shoot Baloo when he comes to Mowgli's defense, much to Mowgli's distress. Buldeo and the bandits then ambush Kitty and Brydon, who is shot and wounded in the process. Even though Mowgli, along with Bagheera, Grey Brother, and the rest of the wolves, attack and fight off the bandits, Buldeo manages to capture Kitty and Brydon and the would-be treasure hunters use them as blackmail: if Mowgli leads them to the treasure, Kitty and her father shall live. That night, the group learn Shere Khan has returned to the Jungle and is hunting them. Because of this, Mowgli decides to escape the group and keep lookout to ensure Kitty's safety.
The next morning, Harley catches Mowgli escaping with the aid of Bagheera and chases him, only to fall into quicksand and drown, despite Wilkins' attempt to save him. Mowgli then has an elephant take the injured Brydon back to the village, after promising him to rescue Kitty. As the journey continues, Tabaqui decides that Mowgli is no longer needed and attempts to murder him, only to be killed himself after toppling off a cliff. Later, Wilkins becomes separated from the group and is mauled to death by Shere Khan. Eventually, the remaining party enters Monkey City, where Buldeo inadvertently entombs himself in a trap while trying to shoot Mowgli. Only Mowgli, Kitty and Boone reach the treasure room, where Mowgli and Boone engage in a fierce fight until Mowgli injures Boone with another dagger. Mowgli then escapes with Kitty, while Boone begins greedily pocketing treasure; until Kaa returns and kills him.
As they escape from the ancient ruins, Mowgli and Kitty are confronted by Shere Khan, who roars at them. However, Mowgli roars back and defiantly stands his ground. Impressed by Mowgli's bravery, Shere Khan acknowledges him as a creature of the jungle and allows him and Kitty to leave peacefully. Mowgli and Kitty reunite with Brydon and Baloo, both of whom have recovered from their injuries under Plumford's care. Having defeated Boone and his men and fulfilled his childhood dream in facing Shere Khan, Mowgli becomes the new lord of the jungle and begins a relationship with Kitty.
The President of the United States is visiting America's most secret military installation, Area 7. Assigned to his protective detail is Shane Schofield and his team of Marines including Gunnery Sergeant Gena 'Mother' Newman, Staff Sergeant Elizabeth 'Fox' Gant and Buck 'Book II' Riley Jr. They are plunged into a race for survival when an Air Force general, Charles "Caesar" Russell, unleashes a plan he has been working on for over 15 years. Despite being 'executed' on the day of the president's inauguration, Caesar is revived, and with a squadron of 50 elite Air Force soldiers (the 7th Squadron), have taken control of Area 7 and initiated a lockdown. A transmitter, attached to the president's heart before he was elected, has been activated; a satellite sends and receives messages to and from this transmitter, which is powered by the kinetic energy of the president's heart beating. If the satellite does not receive the messages from the transmitter, 14 Type-240 Blast Plasma-based nuclear warheads in the airports of the major cities of the United States will explode, destroying these cities, and making way for a new, racist, Confederate America. As long as the President's heart beats, the messages will be sent to the satellite, and the nuclear warheads will not detonate. To prevent the president from trying to escape Area 7, Caesar also overrode the launch codes on the Nuclear Football so that to prevent the detonation of the warheads, the president must place his hand on the fingerprint sensor on the Football (that is being kept in Caesar's possession) every 90 minutes.
While moving through the underground complex Gant and her group, including the president, come to a cell block and find a scientist locked inside one of the cells. After being released and questioned, it is discovered that the prisoners being held at Area 7 are "volunteers" that the scientists use to carry out experiments. It soon comes to light that there are ways of opening exits out of Area 7, and that two have already been opened by another scientist, Dr Gunther Botha. In addition to opening two exits, Botha has also shut down main power to the complex, so that it is now running on auxiliary power. Meanwhile, Schofield and his group, after fleeing from the ground level hangar, make their way into the sublevels where they find a bedroom of a 6-year-old boy named Kevin who lives in a cube. Schofield's group then meets up with Riley's group, and the president reveals that the reason for his visit to Area 7 is to check on the progress of a vaccine being developed for the Sinovirus, a genetically engineered virus that differentiates between the amount of pigmentation in a person's skin, allowing it to target only people of a specific race (however people of Asian descent are immune). The president explains that to develop a vaccine for the Sinovirus (and protect America from biological weapons containing the Sinovirus) the scientists had to create a genetically engineered human, a boy named Kevin, whose blood could be used to produce antibodies, and the prisoners being held at Area 7 are used as guinea pigs to test the vaccine. Botha is killed during a chase on Lake Powell the President and Scarecrow escape to Area 8. When they reach it they realize Echo unit from the 7th squadron are being paid 120 million American dollars by the Chinese government to bring Kevin to them. Schofield and the President follow onto the 747 which has a mounted X-38 in an attempt to rescue Kevin. Schofield hijacks the X-38, escaping with the president and Kevin. Later, Schofield and Gant finally face off with Caesar back in Area 7.
There were 12 members of the Reccondo team when they were first written into the book. Only six were ever accounted for, in the three bipod speedboats on the lake.
Monica finds out that someone has stolen her credit card and has been using it. When she receives the credit card statement she realises that the thief is doing all the things in life that she wishes she could do, for example, take tap dancing lessons. She, Rachel and Phoebe decide to find the thief at the tap dance class and end up becoming her friends. In order to prevent suspicion, real Monica introduces herself as "Monana". The four become good friends and Monica lives her life as recklessly as she wished she did. However, Fake Monica eventually gets caught and the real Monica visits her in jail and tells her that it was her credit card that was stolen. Monica admits that she did not turn her in and thanks her for inspiring her. She also decides to use this experience as a lesson to not just wish she did things, but actually do them.
Ross's capuchin monkey, Marcel, reaches sexual maturity and will not stop trying to mate with objects and his leg. Ross decides that he can no longer take care of Marcel and so he looks for a zoo for him. After some frustrating attempts including an offer where Marcel would be pitted against other animals in combat, Marcel is eventually accepted into the San Diego Zoo and Ross, Chandler, Joey, Rachel and Phoebe say goodbye to him at the airport.
Joey's agent, Estelle, suggests that he create a stage name because "Joey Tribbiani" is too ethnic. Chandler tricks him into using the name "Joseph Stalin", only for him to be rejected at the audition upon finding out and being appalled about the dictator's actions. Later, at the audition, Joey uses the name "Holden McGroin", presumably having been tricked again.
The story, set in the fictional Rhode Island town of Eastwick in the early 1970s, follows the witches Alexandra Spofford, Jane Smart, and Sukie Rougemont, who acquired their powers after their respective marriages end. Their coven is upset by the arrival of Darryl Van Horne, who buys a neglected mansion outside of town. The mysterious Darryl seduces each of the women, encouraging their creative powers and creating a scandal in the town. The power of the three witches grows, so much so that they unknowingly bewitch the townsfolk they come in contact with. This becomes clear when Sukie's lover and boss, Clyde Gabriel, kills his busybody wife Felicia before hanging himself.
The three women share Darryl in relative peace until he unexpectedly marries their young, innocent friend, Jenny, the Gabriels' daughter. The witches resolve to take revenge by giving her cancer through their magic. Although Alexandra feels remorse for their hex, the spell kills Jenny and Darryl flees town with her younger brother, Chris, apparently his lover. In his wake, he leaves their relationships strained and their sense of self in doubt. Eventually, each summons her ideal man and leaves town.
When a drug smuggler known as "Red" becomes a fugitive after agreeing to turn state's evidence to the United States government, the government asks Punisher to locate and return him alive. Red escapes from Punisher in New York City, fleeing to Riverdale, where he adopts a new alias and uses his legitimate business interests to take shelter at the home of wealthy industrialist Hiram Lodge, who is unaware of Red's criminal history. Red draws the attention of Hiram's teenage daughter Veronica because his appearance is very similar to her frequent suitor, Archie Andrews. To get back at Archie for accidentally ruining their date to the school dance that night, Veronica asks Red to take her instead.
Meanwhile, Punisher and his partner Microchip track Red to Riverdale and are cynical about the town's innocent demeanor. They see Archie with his friend Jughead Jones in an ice cream shop and believe him to be Red. While they are observing him, some thugs from New York arrive and make the same mistake. The thugs know about Red's deal with the government and intend to kill him before he can testify. They abduct Archie and Jughead, prompting a car chase as Punisher attempts to rescue "Red". After a car wreck, Punisher quickly realizes his error and lets Archie go. Punisher and Microchip continue to secretly monitor Archie, hoping the remaining thugs will make the same mistake and come into the open.
As Red and Veronica arrive at the school dance, Red is recognized by a stage worker and low-level drug dealer, who, hoping to improve his standing among the cartel, calls them and tells them where to find Red. Punisher and Microchip, who have been monitoring the cartel, also head for the dance. Meanwhile, Archie is told Veronica went to the dance with someone who looks like him, and realizing that she is with a criminal, he too goes to the dance.
Punisher sneaks into the school and realizes Riverdale truly is as innocent as it appears. Determined to prevent it from being corrupted by Red or other forces, he disguises himself as a chaperone and, while looking for Red, identifies the thugs, who have dressed like caterers. As Archie arrives, the thugs mistake him for Red again and move in to kill him. Punisher uses non-lethal methods to disarm and incapacitate them and clears the misunderstanding with Archie, but Red escapes with Veronica as a hostage.
Red forces Veronica to call her father for ransom, but she takes the opportunity to use code words to let Archie know that she's being held in a specific warehouse. Archie and his friends accompany Punisher to rescue her. At the warehouse, Punisher reveals to Red that the informant who called the cartel to the dance has agreed to testify and Red is no longer needed alive. During the subsequent scuffle, Red accidentally triggers the automatic doors that open the warehouse roof and gets his foot tangled in a rope attached to a large parade balloon. As the balloon floats away with Red attached, Punisher considers killing him, but does not. Before leaving Riverdale for Gotham City the next morning, Punisher and Microchip say goodbye to Archie and his friends.
Set in the present day, a young marketing graduate named Scat comes up with an idea for a new product for Coca-Cola called 'Fukk'. This causes him to go to Coca-Cola to sell his idea for $3 million, but he finds that Sneaky Pete has already claimed the trademark in a backstabbing move. This then leads him to leave his apartment with Sneaky Pete and move in with Cindy. Cindy eventually throws him out and he goes to live with 6 and Tina while managing the summer marketing campaign for Coca-Cola. He eventually succeeds with the campaign. After that Scat tries to undermine Sneaky Pete's effort to run a new secret project for Coca-Cola, the first feature length advertising movie.
The story is narrated by retired rock icon and actress Billie Trix (Frances Barber), who otherwise has a fairly small part in the story. The opening number, "My Night", is sung by Billie and the rest of the cast, and is used to introduce the characters.
Shell Christian (Stacey Roca), is going to see her estranged father, Vic Christian (David Burt), for the first time in years. Vic, who is gay, left Shell and her mother during her childhood, and now runs a successful gay club in London. Meanwhile, Straight Dave (Paul Keating), who has just arrived from Ireland, is working as a bartender at Vic's club, although his ambition is to be a dancer at the club. After seeing and speaking to her father, Shell meets Dave, and they immediately fall in love.
Record producer Bob Saunders (Paul Broughton) is a friend of Billie Trix and a regular at Vic's club. He sees Dave dancing and decides he wants to sign him for a boy band he is forming. He makes an offer to Dave, who has no interest in signing; however, Saunders continues to pressure Dave into working for him.
Dave meets and falls in love with drug dealer Mile End Lee (Tom Walker), who deals at Vic's club. Shell is devastated when she discovers that Dave is gay, although part of her has suspected it all along. Meanwhile, Vic discovers Lee dealing drugs in his club and confiscates the drugs. Lee is worried he will be killed for losing the drugs.
At this point, everyone gets high on ketamine – Shell is still upset about Dave; Lee is worried about being killed; Dave is frustrated that Lee has withdrawn from him; and Billie, a habitual user, needs no excuse. Lee has a drug overdose and dies. At Lee's funeral, Dave sings a song, ''For All of Us''.
A few months later, Dave is apparently back on the road to success and sings ''Positive role model'' to end the show on a high (the 2015 and 2019 productions replaced ''Positive Role Model'' by ''Vocal'' as the closing song).
Ambulances arrive at two traffic accidents blocking the only roads into the English village of Midwich, Winshire. Attempting to approach the village, one ambulanceman becomes unconscious. Suspecting gas poisoning, the army is notified. They discover that a caged canary becomes unconscious upon entering the affected region, but regains consciousness when removed. Further experiments reveal the region to be a hemisphere with a diameter of around the village. Aerial photography shows an unidentifiable silvery object on the ground in the centre of the affected zone.
After one day, the effect vanishes, along with the unidentified object, and the villagers wake with no apparent ill effects. Some months later they realise that every woman of child-bearing age is pregnant with all indications that the pregnancies were caused by xenogenesis during the period of unconsciousness that has come to be referred to as the "Dayout".
When the 31 boys and 30 girls are born, they appear normal, except for their unusual golden eyes, light blonde hair, and pale, silvery skin. These children have none of the genetic characteristics of their mothers. As they grow up, it becomes increasingly apparent that they are, at least in some respects, not human. They possess telepathic abilities and can control others' actions. The Children (they are referred to with a capital ''C'') have two distinct group minds: one for the boys and another for the girls. Their physical development is accelerated compared with that of humans; upon reaching the age of nine, they appear to be sixteen-year-olds.
The Children protect themselves as much as possible using a form of mind control. One young man who accidentally hits a Child in the hip while driving a car is made to drive into a wall and kill himself. A bull that chased the Children is forced into a pond to drown. The villagers form a mob and try to burn down the Midwich Grange, where the Children are taught and live, but the Children make the villagers attack each other.
The Military Intelligence department learns that the same phenomenon has occurred in four other parts of the world, including an Inuit settlement in the Canadian Arctic, a small township in Australia's Northern Territory, a Mongolian village, and the town of Gizhinsk in eastern Russia, northeast of Okhotsk. The Inuit killed the newborn Children, sensing they were not their own, and the Mongolians killed the Children and their mothers. The Australian babies had all died within a few weeks, suggesting that something may have gone wrong with the xenogenesis process. The Russian town was recently "accidentally" destroyed by the Soviet government, using an "atomic cannon" from a range of 50–60 miles.
The Children are aware of the threat against them, and use their power to prevent any aeroplanes from flying over the village. During an interview with a Military Intelligence officer, the Children explain that to solve the problem they must be destroyed. They explain it is not possible to kill them unless the entire village is bombed, which would result in civilian deaths. The Children present an ultimatum: they want to migrate to a secure location, where they can live unharmed. They demand aeroplanes from the government.
An elderly, educated, Midwich resident (Gordon Zellaby) realises the Children must be killed as soon as possible. As he has only a few weeks left to live due to a heart condition, he feels an obligation to do something. He has acted as a teacher of and mentor to the Children, and they regard him with as much affection as they can have for any human, permitting him to approach them more closely than they allow others. One evening, he hides a bomb in his projection equipment while showing the Children a film about the Greek islands. Zellaby sets off the bomb, killing himself and all of the Children.
''The Longest Journey'' had established a game world consisting of two parallel "twin" worlds: technology-driven Stark and magic-driven Arcadia, separated and kept apart from each other for over twelve millennia by a succession of godlike Guardians of the Balance. The game was set in 2209 and focused on April Ryan, a Starkian with a rare ability to "Shift" between worlds, who learned that the villainous Vanguard cult had abducted the twelfth Guardian before the thirteenth could take his place, putting the Twin Worlds' existence in peril. In the course of her adventure, she had rescued the old Guardian and learned that she is a daughter of the ancient White Dragon and that the next Guardian is the Vanguard enforcer Gordon Halloway, who had been pursuing her throughout the game. After convincing Gordon to assume the Guardian's duties, April left for Arcadia.
In ''Dreamfall'', many characters refer to the catastrophic "Collapse", which occurred in Stark immediately after the events of ''TLJ''. The Collapse is never described in-game, but supplemental materials and the official website indicate that it saw a complete failure of many advanced technologies, devastating the world's infrastructure. The Collapse coincided with the rise of the theocratic and industrial Empire of Azadi (Persian for "freedom") in Arcadia, which occupied the Arcadian Northlands and the city of Marcuria and began oppressing their non-human residents. This spawned a resistance movement, which April had joined before the events of ''Dreamfall''.
The story of ''Dreamfall'' is presented as a narration of Zoë Castillo, a 20-year-old resident of Casablanca in 2219, who lies in coma and recounts the events that left her in that state. Her account concerns Project Alchera, an international conspiracy led by the Japan-based toy manufacturer WatiCorp, inventors of a lucid dream-inducing technology ("dreamer console") that can be covertly used for mass brainwashing and even murder. One byproduct of their research is a young girl named Faith, whom they used to test the hallucinogenic drug Morpheus as part of their DreamNet technology. After receiving a fatal overdose of Morpheus, Faith managed to transfer her consciousness to the DreamNet mainframe, from where she is able to briefly enter Stark's digital networks, disrupting the worldwide infrastructure with massive amounts of white noise, referred as "static" in the game.
Zoë's story begins when her journalist ex-boyfriend Reza Temiz disappears while investigating Project Alchera. At the same time, Faith starts to haunt her through television screens, urging her to find and to "save" April. Zoë tracks Reza down to Newport, a fictional megapolis on the West Coast where a large part of ''TLJ'' took place. After learning about April from her friends, she is captured by Wati agents and forcibly attached to a dreamer console, which has an unexpected effect: when her body falls asleep in Stark, she gains a physical presence in Arcadia and can interact with people and objects there. In Marcuria, she locates and meets April, who refuses to get involved in her search for answers due to the loss of her Shifting powers and to her own obligations as an anti-Azadi resistance leader. Waking up in Newport, Zoë travels to Japan to meet Reza's contact inside Wati who explains Project Alchera to her.
In Arcadia, April spies on Azadi officials' negotiations with a hooded figure known as "the Prophet", whom she pursues to the caves beneath Marcuria. There, she discovers a vortex of dreams stolen from Stark and leaves the city to seek advice from the White Dragon and Gordon Halloway, who assures her that the current events have nothing to do with her. She returns to discover that Zoë was captured by the Azadi and encounters Kian Alvane, who has just arrived in Marcuria on a mission to assassinate April. Unaware of each other's identities, the two engage in a heated argument over Azadi politics that leads him to reexamine the morality of his task. April then frees Zoë but again refuses to assist in her quest, so Zoë instead teams up with Brian Westhouse, another Starkian trapped in Arcadia, and Crow, a talking bird and April's ex-sidekick. Together, they seek out the White Dragon, who teleports Zoë back to April, only for her to witness the Azadi troops sacking the main resistance camp, killing April, and detaining Kian for treason, after he tries to protect April from them.
Waking up in Stark, Zoë learns from her Wati contact that the static had originated from a testing facility near Saint Petersburg where she discovers a record of Faith's final months. Distressed by the video, Zoë returns to Casablanca and meets Faith's creator, the geneticist Helena Chang, who asks her to persuade Faith to die in order to stop the static, which is in the meantime threatening to cause another Collapse. Zoë uses a dreamer console to reach Faith, who reveals that Zoë is also one of Chang's creations before disappearing. Chang then injects Zoë with an overdose of Morpheus, leaving her body in a coma and her consciousness, trapped in the space between the Twin Worlds. In the final shots before the credits, a short television broadcast announces the release of the dreamer consoles three months after the events of the game.
Pharaoh Akhenaten On the way from Thebes with his father, the scribe Amunhoben points out the ruins of Akhetaten, the city that the "heretic pharaoh" Akhenaten built for his One and Only God. Seeking a balanced perspective on the events of that time, which split Egypt politically and religiously, Meriamun gets a letter of introduction from his father to many members of Akhenaten's court, among them the High Priest of Amun, his chief of security Haremhab, and his queen Nefertiti. Each tale adds a new dimension to the enigma that is Akhenaten and the thoughts of those that were close to him allow Meriamun – and the reader – to judge for themselves whether Akhenaten was a power politician or a true believer.
Phil Hastings and his family have just moved back to his hometown for some much needed peace and quiet from the Hollywood scene. As Phil's twins, Sean and Patrick, soon discover, there is more to their new home than was expected. Gloria, their mother, senses something, but simply dismisses her concern as stress from their recent move. Gabbie, their older half-sister, meets the man of her dreams, but also is tempted by other men.
Deep in the woods, The Bad Thing and his Master are ready to break free of the centuries-old compact made to keep the Faerie world and the Human world at peace. Only through believing the insane and impossible can Sean and Patrick save both worlds from colliding again.
The player character has won a one-way ticket to Gateway, membership as a prospector in the Gateway Corporation and 10 days of provided life support along with a small amount of money. The player begins as a Prospector and follows procedures in order to know Gateway better and afterwards begin exploring Heechee coordinates. The findings are important enough to get him secure 'Green Badge' status; prospectors of that status are sent to explore only known destinations, with considerably higher probabilities of Heechee finds.
Exploration in one such planet brings a Heechee 'computer' which makes him rich; however, after being analyzed by the Gateway Corporation, it reveals that a hostile alien race, dubbed ''the Assassins'' threatens all advanced civilizations in the universe, and the Heechee managed to evade them. Leonard Worden, the deputy chief of the exploration program, informs the player that even after all those years, reactivation of the Heechee technology by humans would only make them detectable to the Assassins. However the same computer provides coordinates to an interplanetary shield device.
The game plot then sends the player to four planets in order to activate a shield device that would 'cloak' the technology signal from the Assassins.
The game's climax occurs on a world of the Assassins, dubbed "Watchtower" where the player is sent to activate the mechanism. There he will meet a Heechee artificial intelligence entity and also an electronic Assassin entity which will trap the player in a VR environment. Following the Heechee AI's guidance, the player is tasked to escape them by creating paradoxes and afterwards upload the Heechee AI.
The game ends with the player's return as a hero and the fear that the threat of the Assassins still exists.
Lirael, the protagonist of the second and third books, is raised as a Clayr, part of a vast family of precognitive women who dwell in a remote glacier within the Old Kingdom. As she lacks the Clayr's precognitive 'Sight', she considers herself not a true Clayr and prefers solitude to company. In young-adulthood, she joins the staff of the Clayr's Library, and acquires the Disreputable Dog; and with the latter's help, vanquishes a series of monsters in the Library itself.
Five years later, in Ancelstierre, Prince Sameth encounters the necromancer Hedge and his undead minions, which injures Sameth both spiritually and physically. His father Touchstone therefore takes him back to the Old Kingdom and the safety of the palace in Belisaere. Here he is expected to succeed his mother Sabriel as the Abhorsen: a future whereof he is mortally afraid. Under Hedge's influence, Sameth's friend Nicholas Sayre (an Ancelstierran aristocrat) crosses the border into the Old Kingdom and travels to the Red Lake, where the royal rule does not extend and the Clayr cannot See. Sameth flees the palace to rescue Nick, and is later joined by Mogget. Lirael, on her nineteenth birthday, is identified as a 'Remembrancer' (a clairvoyant able to accurately perceive the past), and sent (with the Dog) to the Red Lake to rescue Nick, who has by now become the host of a malign, alien intelligence. ''En route'', Lirael joins Sam and Mogget, and they continue to the Red Lake, but are nearly vanquished by Chlorr of the Mask and her followers, and recover at the Abhorsen's House. There, Lirael is identified as Sabriel's half-sister and heir, and Sameth with the long-extinct 'Wallmakers'.
The Abhorsen's House is besieged by Dead Hands led by Chlorr of the Mask under the control of Hedge the Necromancer, who in turn serves Orannis the Destroyer. With the help of their familiars Mogget and the Disreputable Dog, protagonists Lirael and Sameth escape the House and depart for the Red Lake, where the Destroyer is being unearthed, to rescue Sameth's friend Nicholas Sayre from the Destroyer's control, and prevent the Destroyer from consuming the world. Meanwhile, Prince Sameth's parents, the Abhorsen Sabriel and King Touchstone, are in Ancelstierre to stop the slaughter of refugees forced into the Old Kingdom; but themselves become victims of an assassination attempt and barely escape. ''En route'' to the Red Lake, Lirael uses her Rembrancing powers to determine the means of re-imprisoning Orannis, and later defeats Hedge. In the end, all the leading characters re-enact the original binding of the Destroyer, with each member holding a bell to represent its namesake: King Touchstone (Ranna) and Abhorsen Sabriel (Saraneth), Sanar and Ryelle (Mosrael), Ellimere (Dyrim), the Disreputable Dog (Kibeth), Sameth (Belgaer), and Lirael (Astarael). When the re-enactment fails, Sameth frees Mogget, who identifies himself as the spirit 'Yrael', and imprisons the Destroyer. As Lirael prepares to give the necessary final blow, the Disreputable Dog sacrifices herself to complete it, in Lirael's place. In the epilogue, the Dog revives Nicholas, and herself departs along the border of Life and Death.
Sixteen-year-old Subaru Sumeragi is a very powerful Japanese magician, often referred as a modern ''onmyōji''. He is the thirteenth head of the foremost family of ''onmyōji'' in Japan, which has served the Emperor for centuries. As a result, he is called upon to solve various occult mysteries. He sometimes stumbles on people his kind nature compels him to help. He lives in Tokyo with his twin sister Hokuto, an exuberant girl, whose chief occupations are designing eccentric clothing for herself and her brother, and their mutual friend Seishiro Sakurazuka, a kindly, 25-year-old veterinarian, who often declares his love for Subaru.
There are early hints of Seishiro's true nature. Hokuto jokes about him being a member of the family of ''Sakurazukamori'', a clan of assassins who use onmyōjitsu to kill and are said to be the Sumeragis' opposite. Seishiro met Subaru as a kid and was impressed with the child's purity. Rather than killing him, Seishiro made a bet with him instead: He would meet Subaru again, and would spend one year with him, protecting him and trying to love him. If, at the end of that year, he felt something for Subaru which distinguished him from a thing he could easily destroy (as he could not with any other person), then he would not kill him. To recognize him, he marked him with inverted pentagrams on both hands, the sign of the Sakurazukamori's prey.
When Seishiro loses an eye protecting Subaru, the teenager realizes he is in love with him. As the year is over, Seishiro declares himself the winner of the bet. He breaks Subaru's arm and tortures him, but fails to kill him, as Subaru's grandmother breaks his spell - an action which leaves her crippled. Subaru's shock leaves him in a catatonic state. Hokuto feels guilty for promoting Seishiro, whom she knew to be dangerous, but believed to be the only one who might touch Subaru's heart. As a result, Hokuto asks Seishiro to kill her instead to protect her brother. Seeing her in a dream, Subaru is shocked out of his catatonia by her action. He vows to find Seishiro and take revenge for his sister's death, abandoning his present life. The manga ends with an adult and distant Subaru still searching for Seishiro.
A deadly virus has swept the world, killing off everyone over the age of twelve in the span of a month or so. In the town of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, outside of Chicago, ten-year-old Lisa Nelson and her younger brother Todd Nelson are surviving, like all the children in the story, by looting abandoned houses and shops. Although there are abandoned cars in every driveway and lining every street, Lisa is the first child to think of driving one. She is also the first to think of raiding a farm, and the first to look at the dwindling supplies in stores and deduce that groceries come from warehouses. She finds a supermarket warehouse and raids it, enlisting the help of Craig Bergman, a neighbor boy two years older than her, but makes clear to him and all the other children in her neighborhood that the entire warehouse and all its contents are her exclusive property, not to be shared unless she chooses: she assures them all that she will burn the warehouse and everything in it rather than be forced to share against her will.
She considers relocating to the farm, but decides against it because it is difficult to defend (other children are starting to form gangs) and because "planning and getting the world back to the way it was, with schools, and hospitals, and electricity" are much more "exciting" than "hiding away on a farm ... digging in the dirt all day".
Lisa and her friends are approached by the "Chidester Gang", led by Tom Logan. Suspecting that Lisa has a source of supplies, Logan offers a food-for-protection deal, which Lisa declines. Unhesitatingly taking charge, she forms her block-long stretch of Grand Avenue into a militia, armed with guns, Molotov cocktails, and primitive weapons. When the militia proves unsuccessful at defending the "Land of Grandville" against "the fearful and cruel army of Chidester and Elm", and Lisa's house is lost, Lisa comes up with the idea of moving the "child-families"—and the entire contents of the warehouse—into the local high school, and transforming it into a fortress-city. Within the city, Lisa is the only authority, by virtue of the fact that she saw the abandoned high school and thought of moving there: this has earned her sole title to the "City of Glenbard" and everything in it.
A year after completion, things proceed according to plan until Logan and his gang manage to stage a successful attack on Glenbard, during which Lisa is shot in the arm. Todd and Lisa's friend Jill rescue her, and Jill performs basic surgery to remove the bullet from her arm, dosing her with whiskey for pain relief. When Lisa recovers, they retake the city from Logan, who has meanwhile learned that conqueror and leader are two very different things. Glenbard's "citizens" have shown no sign of rebellion, or of preferring Lisa's leadership to Logan's (or vice versa), but Lisa lectures him into relinquishing control of the city to her.
The book ends with a foreshadowing that the citizens of Glenbard will at some time be forced to face far larger armies, led by now extremely powerful dictators, tyrants and warlords. If any semblance of a free society is to exist in the new world, the citizens of Glenbard must make themselves capable of protecting and growing it by gaining in knowledge, power, and organization, and at the same time continuing to incorporate leadership and respect for the individual person into their society.
Alice Green is a school counselor who has a serious drinking problem and is married to Michael, an airline pilot. Though she is lighthearted and loving, Alice is often reckless and, when drunk, even neglects her children: nine-year-old Jess from a previous marriage, and four-year-old Casey, whose father is Michael.
One afternoon, Alice enters their home in a drunken incoherent state. She dismisses the reluctant babysitter Amy, who leaves her alone with her children. Still drinking, Alice is confronted by Jess, who is concerned for her welfare. In return, she slaps Jess, who runs to her room in tears. While in the shower, Alice retches, calls for Jess, and is unable to control her balance, which causes her to fall through the shower door onto the bathroom floor and lose consciousness. Fearing Alice has died, Jess contacts Michael who immediately flies home to be by Alice's side.
In the hospital, Michael and Alice confront the truth about Alice's drinking. They both decide that she must seek professional help for her alcoholism. Upon release from the hospital, a timid Alice enters a rehabilitation clinic.
Michael finds himself now the main caregiver of their home and children, a role he struggles to maintain along with his career as an airline pilot, as well as fighting with Amy and driving her out of the house. Meanwhile, at the clinic, Alice is flourishing; her recovery is painful, but stabilizing, and she is well-liked and respected by both staff and fellow clinic tenants alike. During a family visit day at the clinic, Alice immediately begins to rebuild her shattered bond with the children, leaving Michael alone to wander the grounds uncomfortable and out of place in Alice's new lifestyle.
Alice returns home sober yet guarded – she is vocal, strong, and changed. Michael is having trouble adjusting to Alice's post-treatment aloofness, distant and cold behavior towards him. He has become used to being the stable and responsible one in their relationship and appropriately feels neglected by Alice's newly established and highly prioritized outside friendships. She resents the fact that Michael seems to be out of touch with her ability to cope at home, yet whenever he expresses his love and concern she shuts him out. Coming to terms with their estrangement, a reluctant Michael agrees to Alice's suggestion that the two see a marriage counselor, who rather Michael's behavior as "codependent."
During an argument, Alice confesses that Michael's clearly genuine desire to be a supportive husband "makes her skin crawl." Michael moves out, and Alice stays in their home with the children. Michael is unable to process the change his relationship has undergone and seeks out a support group for spouses of alcoholics. Initially shy, Michael becomes a more vocal member of the group and shares his sorrow over his lack of understanding for the gravity his wife's sobriety would have on him, his children, and his marriage.
Alice and Michael singularly return to the hospital to celebrate the birth of Amy's baby. They spend time together and as they depart, Alice asks Michael if he would attend her 180-day sober speech where she will acknowledge her failings and accomplishments. She also tells him that she has been thinking about asking him to come home with her. Michael tells Alice he has been offered a job in Denver. For the first time since they both agreed Alice should enter rehab, they both agree Michael should take the position.
The penultimate scene is Alice as she stands on a stage and tells her sobriety story; the toll it took on her, her children, and her marriage. Her audience is moved to tears. Her speech ends and she is surrounded by well-wishers. Out of the crowd appears Michael. At ease with himself and Alice, he explains what he missed along the way..."to listen, to really listen." They share an intense, longing, passionate kiss.
Throughout the story arc, the ''Enterprise'' crew attempts to go on shore leave, but are often waylaid by the many missions of the scenarios, as if they were part of a "to be continued" story not often featured in ''Star Trek'', due to the greater story arc. They are not seemingly random missions.
The story follows the Ames family, a prominent clan in the fictional Northeastern United States town of Woodbridge (eventually identified as being located in New York). The Ames family initially consisted of Peter, his wife Ellen, and their three children: Susan, Jerry, and Amy. However, Ellen was killed in the first episode and subsequent stories focused on Peter raising his three children. Lending a hand, however dubiously, was Peter's sister-in-law, as well as his former fiancée Pauline Rysdale (Haila Stoddard).
Despite Susan's and Pauline's efforts to derail any new romances in Peter's life, he eventually remarried twice. His first remarriage was to Myra Lake (June Graham), one of Amy's teachers, but that ended in divorce. His second and more successful remarriage was to divorcee Valerie Hill (Lori March), to whom he was married until his death.
Later, the villainous Belle Clemens (Marla Adams) was the main source of trouble for Woodbridge, taking over from Aunt Pauline, the show's original villain. When Belle's daughter Robin drowned in an accident. Belle blamed Amy for the death.
Amy was allowed to age in real time rather than suddenly aging as many younger soap opera characters did. Jada Rowland played the character with a few breaks for the duration of the program. Other actresses in the role included Beverly Lunsford, June Carter (not the well-known country singer and actress), and Lynne Adams.
Actress/writer Stephanie Braxton and actor Dan Hamilton met while performing on the show, and later married. Lori March, who played Valerie Hill Ames for many years, later played the wife of her real-life husband Alexander Scourby. Actress Diana Muldaur also married her co-star, James Vickery.
Some performers who appeared on ''The Secret Storm'' and later had greater fame include Warren Berlinger, James Broderick, John Colicos, Christina Crawford, Jennifer Darling, Cliff DeYoung, Joan Hotchkis, Barnard Hughes, Don Galloway, Audrey Landers, Ken Kercheval, Ed Kemmer, Terry Kiser, Diane Ladd, Biff McGuire, Kim Milford, Donna Mills, Diana Muldaur, Robert Morse, George Reinholt, Jane Rose, Gary Sandy, Roy Scheider, Robin Strasser, Frank Sutton, and Edward Winter.
Other well-known performers who appeared on the show include Joan Crawford (substituting for her daughter), Troy Donahue, Marjorie Gateson, Margaret Hamilton, Jeffrey Lynn, Alexander Scourby, Madeleine Sherwood, and Frances Sternhagen.
Actress Bethel Leslie was the co-head writer of the show at one time. Other noted head writers included Jane and Ira Avery and its final head writer, Gillian Houghton/Gabrielle Upton.
In 1968, Oscar-winning actress Joan Crawford, at the time over 60 years of age, filled in for her ailing daughter, Christina, who played the role of Joan Borman Kane, a character aged just 24. The episodes were broadcast on October 25, 28, 29 and 30. Although no full shows with Joan Crawford are known to exist, clips from some episodes have appeared on YouTube. The 1981 film ''Mommie Dearest'' portrayed Crawford's appearance without specifying the name of the series.
Bertie returns to London from several weeks in Cannes spent in the company of his Aunt Dahlia Travers and her daughter Angela. In Bertie's absence, Jeeves has been advising Bertie's old school friend, Gussie Fink-Nottle, who is in love with a goofy, sentimental, whimsical, childish girl named Madeline Bassett. Gussie, a shy teetotaler with a passion for newts and a face like a fish, is too timid to speak to her. Bertie is annoyed that his friends consider Jeeves more intelligent than Bertie, and he takes Gussie's case in hand, ordering Jeeves not to offer any more advice.
Madeline, a friend of Bertie's cousin Angela, is staying at Brinkley Court (country seat of Aunt Dahlia and Uncle Tom). Aunt Dahlia demands that Bertie come to Brinkley Court to make a speech and present the school prizes to students at the local grammar school, which he considers a fearsome task. Bertie sends Gussie to Brinkley Court in his place, so that Gussie will have the chance to woo Madeline there, but also so that Gussie will be forced to take on the unpleasant job of distributing the school prizes.
When Angela breaks her engagement to Tuppy Glossop, Bertie feels obliged to go down to Brinkley Court to comfort Aunt Dahlia. In addition to her worry about Angela's broken engagement, Aunt Dahlia is anxious because she has lost 500 pounds gambling at Cannes, and now needs to ask her miserly husband Tom to replace the money in order to keep financing her magazine, ''Milady's Boudoir''. Bertie advises her to arouse Uncle Tom's concern for her by pretending to have lost her appetite through worry. He offers similar advice to Tuppy, to win back Angela. He also offers the same advice to Gussie, to show his love for Madeline. All take his advice, and the resulting return of plates of untasted food upsets Aunt Dahlia's temperamental prized chef Anatole, who gives notice to quit. Not unreasonably, Aunt Dahlia blames Bertie for this disaster.
When Bertie attempts to probe Madeline's feelings about Gussie, she misinterprets his questioning as a marriage proposal on his own behalf. To his relief, she tells Bertie she cannot marry him, as she has fallen in love with Gussie. Bertie relays the good news to Gussie, but even with this encouragement, Gussie remains too timid to propose, and Bertie decides to embolden him by lacing his orange juice with liquor.
Gussie ends up imbibing more liquor than Bertie had intended. Under its influence, Gussie successfully proposes to Madeline. He then delivers a hilarious, abusive, drunken speech to the grammar school while presenting the school prizes. Madeline, disgusted, breaks the engagement and resolves to marry Bertie instead. The prospect of spending his life with the drippy Madeline terrifies Bertie, but his personal code of chivalrous behavior will not allow him to insult her by withdrawing his "proposal" and turning her down. Meanwhile, Gussie, still drunk, retaliates against Madeline by proposing to Angela, who accepts him in order to score off Tuppy. Tuppy's jealousy is aroused and he chases Gussie all around the mansion, vowing to beat him within an inch of his life.
In the face of this chaos, Bertie admits his inability to cope, and appeals to Jeeves for advice. Jeeves arranges for Bertie to be absent for a few hours, and during that time swiftly and ingeniously solves all the problems, assuring that Angela and Tuppy are reconciled, that Gussie and Madeline become engaged again, that Anatole withdraws his resignation, and that Uncle Tom writes Aunt Dahlia a cheque for 500 pounds. Bertie learns his lesson and resolves to let Jeeves have his way in the future.
The corrupt officials of a small Russian town, headed by the Mayor, react with panic to the news that an incognito inspector will soon be arriving in their town to investigate them. The flurry of activity to cover up their considerable misdeeds is interrupted by the report that a suspicious person had arrived two weeks previously from Saint Petersburg and is staying at the inn. That person, however, is not an inspector; it is Khlestakov, a foppish civil servant with a wild imagination.
They learned that Khlestakov has not been paying for the hotel, just charging to the bill. Moreover, his travel destination was Saratov Governorate, but for unknown reason he has been staying in this town for a long time. Therefore Mayor and his crooked cronies are immediately certain that this upper-class twit is the dreaded inspector. For quite some time, however, Khlestakov does not even realize that he has been mistaken for someone else. Meanwhile, he enjoys the officials' terrified deference and moves in as a guest in the Mayor's house. He also demands and receives massive "loans" from the Mayor and all of his associates. He also flirts outrageously with the Mayor's wife and daughter.
Sick and tired of the Mayor's ludicrous demands for bribes, the town's Jewish and Old Believer merchants arrive, begging Khlestakov to have him dismissed from his post. Stunned at the Mayor's rapacious corruption, Khlestakov states that he deserves to be exiled in chains to Siberia. Then, however, he still requests more "loans" from the merchants, promising to comply with their request.
Terrified that he is now undone, the Mayor pleads with Khlestakov not to have him arrested, only to learn that the latter has become engaged to his daughter. Khlestakov then announces that he is returning to Saint Petersburg, having been persuaded by his valet Osip that it is too dangerous to continue the charade any longer.
After Khlestakov and Osip depart on a coach driven by the village's fastest horses, the Mayor's friends all arrive to congratulate him. Certain that he now has the upper hand, he summons the merchants, boasting of his daughter's engagement and vowing to squeeze them for every kopeck they are worth. However, the Postmaster suddenly arrives carrying an intercepted letter which reveals Khlestakov's true identity – and his mocking opinion of them all.
The Mayor, after years of bamboozling banter Governors and shaking down criminals of every description, is enraged to have been this humiliated. He screams at his cronies, stating that they, not himself, are to blame. At this moment, the famous fourth-wall breaking phrase is uttered by the Mayor to the audience: "''What are you laughing about? You are laughing about yourselves!''". While the cronies continue arguing, a message arrives from the real Government Inspector, who is demanding to see the Mayor immediately.
The film is constructed from three distinct stories linked by a car accident that brings the characters briefly together.
Octavio (Gael García Bernal) is in love with his brother's wife Susana (Vanessa Bauche) and dislikes the way she is abused by his brother Ramiro (Marco Pérez). Octavio tries to persuade her to run away with him. Local thug Jarocho, happy after winning in a dog fight, lets his dog loose on some strays and is threatened by a vagrant wielding a machete. Eventually, Jarocho sics his dog on Octavio's rottweiler, Cofi, but his own dog is killed instead. Made aware of this by his friend Jorge and needing money to start his new life with Susana, Octavio decides to become involved in the dogfighting scene. Jarocho keeps entering new dogs into the fights, only for Cofi to kill them. Octavio makes enough money to flee with Susana, and pays Mauricio, the owner of the dogfighting venue, to get Ramiro beaten up. Afraid, Ramiro steals the money and leaves with Susana. Struggling financially, Octavio accepts a challenge by Jarocho to participate in a private dogfight, with no outside bets. Cofi is about to win, but Jarocho shoots him. The infuriated Octavio stabs Jarocho in the stomach. Pursued by Jarocho's thugs, Octavio finds himself in a car chase with Jorge and the wounded Cofi. A collision follows; Jorge dies and Octavio is badly injured.
Magazine publisher Daniel (Álvaro Guerrero) leaves his family to live with his lover Valeria (Goya Toledo), a Spanish supermodel. On the day they move in together, Valeria's leg is severely broken in Octavio's car accident and she is unable to continue working as a model. One day, as Valeria is recuperating in Daniel's apartment, her dog Richie disappears under a broken floorboard and stays there for several days. The missing dog triggers serious tension for the couple, causing numerous fights which lead to doubts about their relationship on both sides. Daniel calls his estranged wife to hear her voice, suggesting that he regrets leaving her for Valeria. Trying to rescue the dog, Valeria again injures her leg; Daniel finds her hours later. Valeria's new leg injury results in severe arterial thrombosis and eventually gangrene. Her leg is amputated, ending Valeria's modeling career for good. While she is in the hospital, Daniel rescues Richie from the floorboards. However, Valeria realizes that her life is now ruined. She quietly drives her wheelchair through the torn-up lovenest and looks out of the window expecting to see a billboard bearing her likeness, only to find it has been removed.
The vagrant occasionally seen in Octavio's story is revealed to be a professional hitman called El Chivo (Emilio Echevarría). Leonardo, a corrupt police commander, recounts that El Chivo is a former private school teacher who was imprisoned after committing terrorist acts for guerrilla movements. When he got out, Leonardo started getting him jobs as a hitman. El Chivo tries to make contact with his daughter, Maru, whom he abandoned when he began his guerrilla involvement. Following El Chivo's wishes, Maru's mother told her that her father is dead. El Chivo is about to perform a hit on a businessman when Octavio's car crash interrupts him. During the chaos at the car crash , El Chivo steals Octavio's money and takes the wounded Cofi to his home to nurse the dog back to health. One day, while El Chivo is away from his warehouse hideout, Cofi kills the other mongrel dogs El Chivo is caring for. Despite initially planning to kill Cofi, El Chivo figures that the dog does not know any better and that its violence is a reflection of his own life as a hitman. Meanwhile, Octavio's brother Ramiro is shot and killed by Leonardo's plain-clothes bodyguard during an attempted bank robbery.
At Ramiro's funeral, a gravely wounded Octavio sees Susana for the first time since she and Ramiro fled with his money. Despite having been wronged, Octavio again attempts to convince Susana to run away with him, but she becomes angry with the fact that Octavio is willing to run away with her after she has just lost a loved one. A few days later, Octavio is shown waiting at the bus station for Susana. She never shows up, and Octavio doesn't board the bus. Still grieving for his other dogs, El Chivo learns that his client and his intended victim are half-brothers. He leaves both men alive and chained to separate walls with a pistol within reach between them, their fate left uncertain. El Chivo then breaks into his daughter Maru's house and leaves her a large bundle of money along with a message on her answering machine explaining what happened to him and why the family split up. When El Chivo is about to tell Maru that he loves her, the answering machine stops recording. He then goes to an autoshop, where he sells the client's SUV. The mechanic asks him the dog's name, and El Chivo calls him "Negro" ("Black"). After El Chivo receives the money for the car, he and Negro walk away, disappearing into the horizon.
The book begins with Totto-chan's mother coming to know of her daughter's expulsion from public school. Her mother realizes that Totto-chan needs a school where more freedom of expression is permitted. Thus, she takes Totto-chan to meet the headmaster of the new school, Mr. Kobayashi, where the two establish a friendly teacher-student relationship.
The book describes the friends Totto-chan makes, the lessons she learns, and the vibrant atmosphere she enjoys at Tomoe Gakuen. Mr. Kobayashi introduces new activities to interest the pupils. Mr. Kobayashi understands children and strives to develop their minds and bodies. He is concerned for the physically disabled and emphasizes how all children are remarkable. "Totto-chan" becomes best friends with a Christian boy who has polio. Another classmate was raised in America for all his life and cannot speak Japanese, and the headmaster tells the children to learn English from him, despite governmental restraints against using the "enemy's" language. The epilogue explains how Headmaster Kobayashi had good connections with leaders in government.
But in this the school, the children lead happy lives, unaware of the things going on in the world. World War II has started, yet in this school, no signs of it are seen. There are hints of something awry when "Totto-chan" cannot buy caramel candies from the vending machine on her way to school, and it becomes harder for her mother to meet the requirements for a balanced lunch. In another scene, there is a boy who is bawling his eyes out at being removed from the school by his parents, with Headmaster Kobayashi helplessly letting the student vent with tears forming in his own eyes.
One day, the school is bombed, and is never rebuilt, even though the headmaster claims that he looked forward to building an even better school the next time round. This ends Totto-chan's years as a pupil at Tomoe Gakuen.
Some time after their adventures in Spooky Island, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo attend the opening of an exhibition at the Coolsonian Criminology Museum, which commemorates their past mysteries with displays of each culprit's monster costume. However, an individual known as the Evil Masked Figure interrupts the event, stealing two costumes using a reanimated version of the Pterodactyl Ghost. Journalist Heather Jasper Howe ridicules the entire gang, starting a smear campaign against them, taking their spoken words out of context. Concluding that an old vengeful enemy is the mastermind, the gang begins revisiting old cases. Dismissing the former Pterodactyl Ghost, Doctor Jonathan Jacobo, due to his presumed death during a failed prison escape three years ago, they suspect Jeremiah Wickles, the Black Knight Ghost and Jacobo's recently-released cellmate. Scooby and Shaggy, after overhearing the others criticizing their tendency to bungle every operation and especially their most recent failure to secure the Pterodactyl Ghost at the museum, resolve to better themselves and act like real detectives.
Going to Wickles' residence, the group falls through a trapdoor and into a cage targeting unwelcome callers, but escape due to Daphne's cosmetics. Inside, the gang find an ancient Celtic text that serves as an instruction manual on how to create monsters by combining magic and science. Scooby and Shaggy find a note inviting Wickles to visit the Faux Ghost nightclub and are attacked by the Black Knight Ghost, but escape after fending it off. Before fleeing, the rest of the gang had previously discovered through the book found in Wickles' mansion that the key ingredient to creating the monsters was a substance called "randomonium", the byproduct of certain silver mines such as Coolsville's old mining town. Daphne, Velma, and Fred go to the museum accompanied by curator Patrick Wisely, but discover that the rest of the costumes have been stolen. Heather Jasper Howe turns the city against them.
Following the lead from Wickles' note, Scooby and Shaggy don disguises and sneak into the Faux Ghost, only to discover it's a hangout for all the villains Mystery Inc. had previously unmasked. After speaking to Wickles, they learn that he has abandoned his criminal ways. The duo are eventually discovered and they escape through a garbage chute. On their way out, they spot Patrick uncharacteristically threatening someone who appears to be a member of his staff, ordering him to find out who vandalized his museum. Escaping an awkward interaction with Patrick, Scooby and Shaggy spot Wickles leaving the club and follow him. Daphne, Velma, and Fred go to the mines, finding Wickles presenting plans to turn it into a summer camp for children to a group of investors. When they confront Wickles, he states that he and Jacobo hated each other for various petty reasons and that he has no connection to the museum robberies.
The gang then finds a secret laboratory where the costumes are vitalized as real supernatural creatures. Shaggy and Scooby play around with the machine's control panel, inadvertently bringing several costumes to life, and the gang flees with the panel as the Evil Masked Figure terrorizes the city. Escaping to their old high school clubhouse, the gang realizes they can reverse the control panel's power by altering its wiring, consequently destroying the monsters. However, Captain Cutler emerges from the nearby lake, forcing the gang to retreat to the mines, encountering the various monsters along the way. When Velma tries to give Scooby and Shaggy the control panel, they refuse to take it, believing that they will once again ruin everything and admit their feelings of inadequacy compared to the rest of the gang. Velma convinces them they are fine as they are and that they have both been heroes in their own way all along. After escaping the Skeleton Men, Velma finds a shrine dedicated to Jacobo built by Patrick. Eventually, Patrick finds her and proves his innocence by helping her after a catwalk gives way underneath her, but he is captured by the Pterodactyl Ghost.
The gang finally confronts the Evil Masked Figure as the Tar Monster captures everyone except Scooby, who uses a fire extinguisher to freeze its body. He reconnects the control panel and activates it, turning the monsters back into their original forms. The gang takes the Evil Masked Figure to the authorities and he is revealed to be Howe. When asked about Howe's reason for committing her crimes, Velma suddenly pulls off Howe's face, revealing her to actually be Jonathan Jacobo, alive and well. Velma explains that she realized Jacobo was still alive after finding a newspaper clipping showing him in front of the museum, the construction of which had begun a year after his apparent death. Having miraculously survived his prison escape, Jacobo sought to get revenge on the gang by discrediting them using his Heather Jasper Howe persona and later ultimately defeat them with his newfound way to create the monsters. Jacobo is soon arrested once again alongside his cameraman accomplice, Ned, and the gang are praised as heroes once more and celebrate their victory at the Faux Ghost with Wickles and the reformed criminals.
In the 1960s, young Celia Marsdon is a rich American heiress who, upon her marriage to English aristocrat Richard Marsdon, goes to live at an ancestral manor in Sussex, England. Shortly afterward, strange things begin to occur — Richard begins acting out of character, and Celia starts to have strange fits and visions. Celia's mother, Lily Taylor, has befriended a Hindu guru, Dr. Akananda, and it is he who discovers what's wrong with the young couple. The troubles of the present time can only be solved by revisiting a tragedy from the past.
The book then moves back in time to the reign of Edward VI, as lovely young Celia de Bohun and her guardian aunt take up residence with the noble Catholic family of Anthony Browne as "poor relations." Celia is a fascinating and believable character, full of contradictions and human failings. She is headstrong and impulsive; innocent but coquettish; and can easily attract male attention. She creates a scandal when she becomes infatuated with the family chaplain, Stephen Marsdon, who in turn desires Celia but does not want to break his vow of chastity. They are forced to part, but never forget each other. Time passes; King Edward dies and his persecution of Catholics ends, only to be followed by his successor Queen Mary I's persecution of Protestants; the Browne family fortunes prosper under the Marian reign; and sympathetic characters harden into detestable ones. When Celia and Stephen finally meet again, nothing can stop the passion between them. It ends tragically. The Tudor story and the narrative returns to the 1960s to find resolution in the present and lay to rest the tormented souls of Stephen and Celia so that Richard and his wife can live together happily without visions of their past lives coming between them.
Celia Marsdon – the 20th century protagonist Richard Marsdon – her husband Dr. Akananda – a Hindu guru Celia de Bohun – the Tudor period protagonist *Stephen Marsdon – the Browne family chaplain
In 1996, as part of a new military training program, a group of orphaned infants are selected at birth and raised as highly disciplined soldiers with no understanding of anything but military routine. They are trained to be ruthless professionals, and anyone considered physically or mentally unworthy is executed. The survivors are turned into ultimate fighting machines, but have no understanding of the outside world.
In 2036, Sgt. Todd 3465 is a hardened veteran and one of the original 1996 infants, but his unit is about to be replaced by a superior one, with the original unit likely to be deactivated. Colonel Mekum, leader of the original project, introduces a new group of genetically engineered soldiers, designed with superior physical attributes and a complete lack of emotion, except complete aggression.
Captain Church, the commander of Todd's unit, insists on testing the new soldiers' abilities against his own. One new soldier, Caine 607, easily defeats three of the original soldiers, but Todd gouges out Caine's eye before falling from a great height; the body of a dead soldier cushions his fall, and he is knocked unconscious. Mekum orders their bodies disposed of like garbage, declaring them obsolete, while the remaining older soldiers are demoted to menial support roles.
Dumped on Arcadia 234, a waste disposal planet, Todd limps toward a colony whose residents crash-landed there years earlier; as they were believed dead, no rescue missions have been attempted. Todd is sheltered by Mace and his wife Sandra. Though they try to make him welcome, Todd has difficulty adapting to the community due to his extreme conditioning and their conflict-free lives. While Todd develops a silent rapport with their mute son, Nathan, who had been traumatized by a snakebite as an infant, he soon begins to experience flashbacks from his time as a soldier and mistakes one of the colonists for an enemy, nearly killing him. To make matters worse, in a later conflict with a coiled snake, Todd forces Nathan to face it down and strike back to protect himself. His parents disapprove of the lesson, unsure of how to deal with Todd.
Fearful, the colonists expel Todd from the community. Apparently experiencing strong emotion for the first time, Todd appears confused when he is overcome by loss and cries. A short time later, Mace and Sandra are almost bitten by a snake while they sleep, but they are saved by Nathan, who uses Todd's technique. Now understanding the value of Todd's lesson, they seek him to reintegrate him into the community, but the others resist.
The new genetically engineered soldiers arrive on the garbage planet, and, since the world is listed as uninhabited, Colonel Mekum decides to use the colonists' community as the target in a training exercise. The soldiers spot Mace and kill him just after he finds Todd. Though out-manned and outgunned, Todd's years of battle experience and superior knowledge of the planet allow him to return to the colony and kill the advance squad. Nervous that an unknown enemy force may be confronting them, Colonel Mekum orders the soldiers to withdraw and return with heavy artillery. Using guerrilla tactics, Todd outmaneuvers and defeats all of the remaining soldiers, including Caine 607, whom he defeats in vicious hand-to-hand combat.
Panicking, Mekum orders the transport ship's crew, composed of Todd's old squad, to set up and activate a portable doomsday device powerful enough to destroy the planet. He orders the ship to lift off, leaving the squad behind. When Captain Church objects, Mekum shoots him in cold blood. Before they can take off as planned, Todd appears, and his old comrades silently side with him over the army that has discarded them, and take over the ship. They leave Mekum and his aides on the planet and evacuate the remaining colonists. In an attempt to disarm the device, Mekum accidentally sets it off, killing him and his aides. Todd pilots the ship from Arcadia just ahead of the shockwave and sets course for the Trinity Moons, the colonists' original destination. He picks up Nathan and points to their new destination, while looking out upon the galaxy.
In Cleveland, at Christmas 1972, Russell Stevens Jr. is the son of a drug-addicted, alcoholic man, who tells his son never to be like him. Stevens then witnesses his father getting shot and killed while robbing a liquor store. He swears that he will never end up like him.
In 1991, Stevens is a police officer. He is recruited by DEA Special Agent Gerald Carver to go undercover in Los Angeles, claiming that his criminal-like character traits will be more of a benefit undercover than they would serve him as a uniformed policeman. Stevens poses as drug dealer "John Hull" in order to infiltrate and work his way up the network of the West Coast's largest drug importer, Anton Gallegos and his uncle Hector Guzmán, a South American politician. Stevens relocates to a cheap hotel in Los Angeles and begins dealing cocaine.
One day, Stevens is arrested by the devoutly religious LAPD Narcotics Detective Taft and his corrupt partner Hernández, as he buys a kilogram in a set-up by Gallegos' low-level street supplier Eddie Dudley. At his arraignment, Stevens discovers that he bought baby laxative instead of cocaine, and his case is dismissed. Stevens' self-appointed attorney David Jason, who is also a drug trafficker in Gallegos' network, rewards Stevens' silence with more cocaine and introduces Stevens to Felix Barbossa, the underboss to Gallegos. Felix kills Eddie when he finds out he's working with the LAPD and enlists Stevens as Eddie's replacement.
Stevens develops a romance with Betty McCutcheon, the manager of an art dealership which is a front to launder Jason's drug money. When one of Stevens' dealers is murdered by a rival dealer, Stevens is informed by Jason that if he doesn't retaliate, other street dealers will view it as a sign of weakness, and in turn murder him. Steven follows the rival dealer to a nightclub, corners him in a bathroom, and kills him. Jason then partners with Stevens in his new business: distribution of a synthetic chemical variant of cocaine.
It is revealed that Barbossa is a confidential informant working with Detective Hernández. After a falling out, in which Stevens correctly deduces that Barbossa wants Jason killed due to his business venture which would threaten Barbossa's, Felix immediately gives up Stevens, Jason, and Betty to Hernandez, and wants Jason killed during the arrest. Carver knows about this, but refuses to interfere, forcing Stevens to violate orders and stop it himself by exposing Felix, which results in a vengeful Jason killing him, while Betty reneges on the drug business because of it with Stevens' protection.
Gallegos comes to meet with Jason and Stevens and informs them that they have inherited Felix's debts to him. Later that day, Stevens meets with Carver to tell him about his meeting with Gallegos. Instead, Carver pulls a gun on Stevens and orders him to surrender his weapon and get in his car. Angrily, Stevens disarms Carver and forces him to admit that the State Department has decided to leave Gallegos alone because Guzmán may some day be useful as a political asset to them and Carver has decided to play along in exchange for career advancement. Stevens' disillusionment reaches its conclusion, and he abandons his undercover status, vowing to take down Gallegos and Guzmán alone.
Stevens and Jason learn that Gallegos is going to kill them anyway, so they kill him first and steal a van storing over $100 million of Gallegos' cash. Jason and Stevens invite Guzmán to a shipyard and offer to return 80% of Gallegos' money if he agrees to invest the remaining 20% in their synthetic cocaine operation. Detective Taft, who has been tailing Stevens, interrupts the deal but is unable to arrest Guzmán because of his diplomatic immunity. Guzmán leaves. Taft orders Stevens to surrender, but is shot and killed by Jason. Stevens reveals himself as a police officer and attempts to arrest Jason, but is forced to kill him in self-defense.
Afterward, Carver coerces Stevens into testifying in favor of him and the DEA in return for not charging Betty with money laundering. Stevens produces a videotape of the incriminating conversation with Guzmán at the shipyard during his testimony to the House Judiciary Subcommittee, ruining the State Department's intentions along with Guzmán and Carver's careers. Later, he contemplates what to do with the $11 million of Gallegos' money he secretly kept.
''Beachworld'' is set at an unspecified time in the distant future. Among the few clues to the date is the passing reference that the last of the Beach Boys had died eight thousand years previously.
The catastrophic crash-landing of a Federation spacecraft on an uncharted planet made up entirely of sand leaves one crewman, Grimes, dead while Rand and Shapiro survive. Rand stares out over the sand dunes as both men associate the endless rolling dunes with a beach. Rand becomes hypnotized by the dunes and refuses to move from the very spot he's standing on or drink water. Shapiro also feels drawn to the dunes but, unlike Rand, finds this hypnosis frightening and is relieved to go inside their ship where the dunes are out of sight. When a trader spacecraft arrives in response to Shapiro's beacon, the crew initially treat Shapiro's account with skepticism. However, they become convinced when they're unable to get Rand away from the dunes.
Rand resists leaving the planet, and the sand reveals itself to be sentient. It prevents Rand's rescue by damaging a sampler android sent from the ship and sending a hand of sand up to stop a tranquilizer dart. The rescue ship escapes just in time, with Shapiro and the trader's captain both narrowly avoiding a giant hand of sand. Rand, left alone, stares up at the ship as it disappears, and then begins to pile handfuls of sand into his mouth.
In 1983, Vislor Turlough, a stranded alien posing as a human student, is given an offer by the Black Guardian for passage off Earth if he should kill the Fifth Doctor.
Meanwhile, the Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa find the TARDIS stuck in the warp ellipse of a starliner trapped in time. Materialising aboard, they find a transmat device, with separate endpoints to Earth in 1977 and 1983, is creating the interference. Turlough arrives from the 1983 transmat, feigning lack of comprehension of the situation. The Doctor instructs Nyssa and Tegan to stay aboard the TARDIS while he returns with Turlough to 1983 to fix that transmat point, hoping it will allow the TARDIS to escape. Instead, the TARDIS materialises in 1977 at Turlough's school. Coincidentally the Doctor's old friend from UNIT, retired Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, is now a maths teacher at the school, and is surprised to learn some trauma in the past has made him lose the memories of the last few years and does not remember the Doctor at all. However, as the Doctor talks about Tegan, about himself and his former companions, the Brigadier starts regaining some memories.
In 1977, Nyssa and Tegan leave the TARDIS and find a horribly disfigured man in the transmat capsule, who claims to be the Doctor in the midst of a regeneration. They seek out help from the younger Brigadier, and the "Doctor" urges all three to return with him to the starliner via the TARDIS. In 1983, the Doctor detects the TARDIS' movement, and he, Turlough, and the older Brigadier also return to the starliner via the transmat. The Doctor regroups with his companions; realising two versions of the Brigadier are aboard, he instructs them all to keep the two separated, as, should they touch, it could release a potentially catastrophic energy discharge due to the Blinovitch limitation effect.
The figure posing as the Doctor is forced to reveal himself as Mawdryn, one of several scientists aboard the liner who were trying to discover the Time Lord secret of regeneration. Their experiments failed, and he and his fellow scientists have become immortal in this painful state and seek to die, but the Doctor determines the only way to do so is to give up his remaining regenerations. He attempts to leave with his companions, but finds that Nyssa and Tegan suffer the same affliction as Mawdryn, ageing and de-ageing rapidly once in the Time Vortex, and quickly returns to the ship. The Doctor agrees to give up his regenerations and prepares to transfer this energy, with the Brigadier at the machine controls. Meanwhile, the Brigadier from 1977, having been left alone, bursts in upon them. The two Brigadiers reach out to touch, and the flash of energy occurs just at the right moment before the Doctor gives up his regenerations, ending Mawdryn's and his colleagues' lives as requested, restoring Nyssa and Tegan, and saving the Doctor. The younger Brigadier passes out from shock, and the Doctor suspects this was the trauma that caused him to lose his memory. The TARDIS crew return the Brigadiers to their proper times, and the Doctor accepts Turlough's request to join his crew, unaware of the Black Guardian's influence.
Sam and Dave, after being fired from a fast food outlet and getting evicted, are magically transported to Sam's uncle's island. Sam and Dave are asked to help save the island. The band Dread Zeppelin perform the film's theme song as credits roll at the end.
''Girl Genius'' tells the story of Agatha Clay, a student and apprentice at Transylvania Polygnostic University whose experiments never work, until she encounters an electromagnetic pulse and is robbed of her locket. This leads her to break free of an attempt to suppress her powers as a Spark, and to hide that she is the long-lost daughter of famous hero Bill Heterodyne and villainess-turned-good Lucrezia Mongfish. Agatha Heterodyne (whose surname is based on a real scientific concept) learns to mix scientific genius, a streak of true heroism and an obsessive possessiveness for what she considers her own in order to claim her monstrous heritage and birthright, even as the eyes of all Europa watch her carefully in case she turns out to be one of the monsters herself.
The game opens in Tajikistan, 2004, where MI6 agent James Bond "007" infiltrates a stronghold where an organization sells a stolen Soviet suitcase bomb. Bond triggers a firefight between the two factions making the exchange, using the confusion to steal the device and escape.
The disappearance of Oxford scientist Dr. Katya Nadanova (Heidi Klum), who oversees a top-secret nanotechnology humanitarian project, leads 007 to a weapons research facility in the Sahara, where he is ordered to rescue Nadanova and prevent the theft of the nanobot prototypes. Destroying the facility, Bond follows the kidnappers onto an armored train where he encounters and dispatches Jaws (using the likeness of Richard Kiel). Bond discovers Nadanova and rescues her before pursuing the terrorist via helicopter through the Valley of the Kings. Bond defeats the terrorist and takes Nadanova to her safehouse, where it is revealed that she is working in conjunction with Nikolai Diavolo (Willem Dafoe), a former KGB agent whose mentor and friend was Max Zorin (the primary antagonist of the 1985 film ''A View to a Kill''). The two intend to re-purpose the nanobots for far sinister purposes than their original intention of repairing nuclear reactors.
Upon returning to MI6, M (Judi Dench) informs Bond of the disappearance of another 00 agent, Jack Mason, alias 003, who was last seen investigating a platinum mine in Peru. Bond is sent there to track down Mason's last known contact Serena St. Germaine (Shannon Elizabeth), an American geologist who may have a clue to his whereabouts. Serena takes Bond to a mining complex where he discovers Mason is being tortured by Diavolo. Before succumbing to his wounds, Mason informs Bond that Diavolo intends to move his operations to New Orleans. Bond learns of Nadanova's ties with Diavolo when she captures Serena and throws her out of a helicopter. Bond dives off a cliff to rescue her through the use of Q's (John Cleese) rappel gadget and the two escape Diavolo's mercenaries via tank.
Searching New Orleans, Bond learns that Diavolo has enlisted a war criminal named Arkady Yayakov to help re-purpose the nanobots. Bond infiltrates a factory owned by Diavolo and uncovers a lead pointing to a local nightclub owned by Yayakov, where he crosses paths with Mya Starling (Mýa), an NSA field operative who is also investigating Diavolo. However, Starling's cover is blown and she is held by Yayakov in a 19th-century graveyard. Bond rescues Starling and dispatches of Yayakov's remaining men.
007 tracks Diavolo's operations to an abandoned plantation in Louisiana, where he discovers he has altered Nadanova's nanobots to eat through all metals but platinum, disintegrating everything they come in contact with. Destroying the laboratory and killing Yayakov, Bond finds a tanker of nanobots which is being driven by Jaws to the levees of New Orleans with the intent of flooding the city. Bond destroys the truck before it can reach the levees, and returns to Peru to further investigate Diavolo's platinum mines.
After winning a rally race hosted by Diavolo, Bond finds he has captured Serena, allowing Diavolo to escape to the mines. After saving Serena, Bond reaches the mines, but is captured by Nadanova. Diavolo explains that he intends to use the nanobots to destroy the Kremlin and use his army of tanks, armored with platinum to make them immune to the nanobots, to control Russia, and then overthrow Europe. Tied in the path of a mining drill, Bond escapes his shackles and flees the mines in a helicopter piloted by Serena.
Following Diavolo to Moscow, Bond steals one of Diavolo's platinum tanks and uses it to prevent the release of the nanobots in Red Square and heads for a missile silo hidden under the Kremlin. Bond kills Jaws and deactivates the nanotech missiles. Diavolo and Nadanova then pursue Bond with a Soviet fighter jet. Bond destroys the jet and Nadanova is killed, although Diavolo ejects just in time. Diavolo reaches a control tower, reactivating one of the missiles and targeting it at London. Bond destroys the control tower, where Diavolo launches the missile before falling to his death into the silo. Destroying the missile as it launches, Bond prevents the catastrophe and reunites with Serena outside the Kremlin.
Barney is a bored young boy staying with his grandparents on the chalk Downs of southern England. One day, he falls over the edge of an old chalk pit close to his grandparents' house, tumbling through the roof of a den. While exploring the den, Barney encounters its owner, Stig, a caveman with shaggy, black hair and bright black eyes. The chalk pit is disused and full of people's dumped rubbish.
Barney and Stig quickly become friends. They learn to communicate with each other without language, as Stig speaks no English. Stig's den is a place built out of discarded rubbish, which motivates Barney to help Stig make it look more attractive. They spend time repairing and improving Stig's den, collecting firewood, going hunting, and at one point catching some burglars who break into Barney's grandparents' house. On another occasion Barney is cornered by the bullying Snarget brothers, who become uncharacteristically docile when Stig appears and are impressed by Barney's friendship with Stig. Although Barney mentions Stig to others, no-one (with the exception of the Snargets) believes that Stig is real.
Barney starts to give thought to where Stig has come from. During a very hot, sultry mid-summer's night, when Barney and his sister Lou are unable to sleep, they find themselves transported back in time and out onto the Downs. To their surprise, they meet Stig, back with his own people, engaged in the construction of four gigantic standing stones. They spend a night camping out with the people of Stig's tribe, and helping to shift the final stone into position before sunrise. As dawn breaks, the tribe disappear and the stones suddenly become ancient and weathered; but Stig is still there. Stig got transported forward in time with the standing stone which led him to the modern day.
Barney and Lou do not share their adventures with anyone, and their parents never realise the truth of Stig's existence, although they jokingly talk about him as a kind of magical being that can fix particularly "odd jobs". It is left unclear whether Barney sees much more of Stig, or even whether Stig stays in the rapidly-filling rubbish dump. A figure that resembles Stig is sighted working with junk in various locations around the area; but the book concludes that "perhaps it was only a relative of his", suggesting that Stig may not be the only caveman alive in the modern world.
The protagonist and their friend, Eric Sparrow, live in suburban New Jersey and dream of becoming famous skateboarders. The protagonist manages to impress professional skater Chad Muska, visiting town for a demo, who gives them a new skateboard and informs them that a good way to start a skating career is to gain a sponsorship from a local skate shop. The protagonist seeks out Stacy Peralta, who agrees to sponsor them on the condition the player does something to set themselves apart from the other local skaters, so the protagonist travels to Manhattan, New York with Eric, who is on the run from drug dealers after setting their car on fire as vengeance for stealing from the skate shop.
There, the pair shoot a skating video that impresses Stacy, who loans them a van and suggests they enter the Tampa AM, an amateur division skate contest held annually at the Skate Park of Tampa in Florida. Upon arrival, Eric is arrested for insulting a police officer, and the protagonist does favors for the local police department to secure his bail. However, when they arrive for the contest, it is revealed that Eric had only completed his own application form and not the protagonist's, forcing a dejected protagonist to try and impress competitors in the pro contest in order to gain admission. After impressing Tony Hawk, the protagonist wins the Best Trick event at Tampa AM and is offered deals by major skateboard sponsors, much to Eric's dismay. The protagonist then heads to San Diego, California to meet Todd, the manager of the team, and completes several photo shoots for a magazine. Following a wild celebration party, it is revealed that Eric has been picked up by the same sponsor.
The team then flies out to Hawaii to film a video, with the protagonist aiming for local spots that skaters have not filmed at before. Finding a tall hotel, the protagonist climbs to the roof and recruits Eric to film a trick video atop it. The police arrive to arrest them for trespassing, but the protagonist uses the opportunity to perform a McTwist over the helicopter and onto the awning of the adjacent Royal Hawaiian Hotel, allowing them and an awestruck Eric to evade the police. The team then travels to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. After doing errands for locals and finishing their part of the team video, the protagonist attends the video premiere at the Slam City Jam. Eric steals the idea and edits the protagonist's part out of the video, allowing only Eric to become a professional. After angrily confronting Eric, the protagonist enters Eric's pro contest and wins, becoming a pro as well.
After designing their own pro skateboard, the protagonist and Eric embark on a team trip to Moscow, Russia, where they reconcile. Eric gets drunk and joyrides in a Russian military tank. The protagonist hops in and attempts to stop the tank, but being unfamiliar with the controls, fails to stop it from crashing. Eric jumps out and runs away, leaving the protagonist, trapped inside, to be arrested by the Russian military. Eric then lies and claims the protagonist stole the tank, stating that he in fact tried to stop them. Unwilling to pay the $700,000 worth of damages, Todd kicks the protagonist off the team, much to Eric's delight. The American Embassy bails out the protagonist, leaving them to do favors for locals in order to return home to New Jersey.
Eric, who now owns his own skate company, reveals that he had been planning to betray the protagonist after having long abandoned the idea of "soul skating" (skating for enjoyment rather than riches); after unsuccessfully trying to exempt them from the Tampa AM, Eric stole the helicopter footage in jealousy before finally getting the protagonist kicked off the skate team by lying back in Moscow. Determined to fight back, the protagonist teams up with Peralta and several professionals to create a soul skating video, creating a new trick in the process. Due to the success of the video, Eric challenges the protagonist to one last skate-off, with the unedited helicopter tape at stake. The protagonist wins the skate-off.
If the story has been completed more than once, an alternate ending occurs, where the protagonist knocks Eric unconscious, taking the tape back instead of holding the skate-off.
During the Bosnian War, United States Navy flight officer Lieutenant Chris Burnett and pilot Lieutenant Jeremy Stackhouse are stationed on the aircraft carrier in the Adriatic Sea. Burnett is preparing to leave the Navy, and clashes with his commanding officer, Admiral Leslie Reigart. On Christmas, Reigart assigns Burnett and Stackhouse to fly an aerial reconnaissance mission, which goes smoothly until they spot unusual activity in the demilitarized zone. Burnett persuades Stackhouse to fly their F/A-18F Super Hornet off-course for a closer look, unaware that they are photographing Serb Volunteer Guard soldiers burying massacred Bosniak civilians in mass graves. The local Bosnian Serb paramilitary commander, General Miroslav Lokar, is conducting a secret genocidal campaign against the Bosniak population, and orders the jet be shot down.
Attempting to outmaneuver Lokar's surface-to-air missiles, Burnett and Stackhouse's jet is hit, forcing them to eject. Lokar and his men find the injured Stackhouse, who is executed by Sasha Ivanic, one of Lokar's right-hand men. Watching nearby, Burnett flees into the wilderness, and Lokar orders his deputy, Colonel Bazda, and Sasha to hunt him down. Burnett radios for help and receives an extraction point from Reigart, who is forced to stand down after Admiral Piquet, the commander of NATO naval forces in the region, warns him that rescuing Burnett in the demilitarized zone risks derailing the peace process. Burnett reaches the extraction point only to be informed that he must continue to another location, miles outside the demilitarized zone, in order to be rescued.
Spotting Bazda's patrol, Burnett falls into a mass grave, and hides under a dead body until the Serbs move on. To ensure Burnett's rescue, Reigart leaks news of the downed jet to Sky News, angering Piquet. Lokar realizes that the American jet's hard drive with the incriminating photographs may still be in the wreckage. Heading to the new extraction point, Burnett escapes Serb soldiers through a minefield. Pursued by Sasha, he encounters Bosniak guerrillas who offer him a ride to the town of Hač, which turns out to be a war zone. After the battle, Serb troops believe they have found Burnett's body, but Sasha realizes Burnett switched uniforms with a dead Serb guerrilla and escaped. The Serbs present the corpse wearing Burnett's uniform to the media, convincing NATO forces that Burnett has been killed, and the mission to rescue him is aborted just as he reaches the extraction point.
Realizing why the Serbs shot him down, Burnett remembers a statue of an angel near where his ejection seat landed, and returns to find it. He activates the seat's rescue beacon, notifying his carrier group that he is still alive, but also alerting the Serbs to his location. Knowing he risks being relieved of command, Reigart prepares a Marine Force Recon task force to rescue Burnett, in defiance of Piquet's orders. On the way to kill Burnett and recover his body, Bazda steps on a landmine; Sasha abandons him to his fate, and the explosion alerts Burnett that someone is approaching. Sasha finds the ejection seat, but is ambushed by Burnett, who, despite taking a shot in the arm, fatally stabs him with the spike of a railroad flare. Lokar arrives with armored vehicles and infantry, but is held off by Reigart's task force. Retrieving the hard drive, Burnett is successfully rescued, much to the dismay of Lokar as his crime is now being exposed.
The photographs of the mass grave lead to Lokar's arrest and conviction for war crimes including genocide. Reigart's actions result in him being relieved of command and retiring from service, and Burnett continues his career in the Navy.
In Poland in 1968, a little girl is shown the stars in the winter sky. In France, a little girl is shown one of the first leaves of spring.
In 1990, a young Polish woman named Weronika (Irène Jacob) is singing at an outdoor concert with her choir when a sudden downpour causes the singers to rush for cover. After Weronika holds the last note alone, she meets her boyfriend, Antek (Jerzy Gudejko), and they go to his apartment to have sex. The next day she asks her father to tell Antek she is leaving to be with her sick aunt in Kraków. Mentioning that lately she feels that she is not alone in the world.
Weronika travels to Kraków by train and meets up with her aunt, she later contacts a local friend meets up at her choir practice. As the choir rehearses, Weronika accompanies them in her soprano voice off-stage. Afterwards, the musical director asks her to audition. Overjoyed, Weronika rushes home with the sheet music. While walking through a square in the midst of a protest, Weronika notices a French tourist taking photos of the protestors—a young woman who looks exactly like her. Weronika smiles as she watches her double board the tourist bus that soon pulls away.
At the audition, Weronika's singing impresses the musical director and conductor, and she is later told that she won the audition. While heading home after the audition, Weronika suffers a mild cardiac arrest but she recovers. The next day, Weronika reunites with Antek. That night during the concert, while singing a solo part, Weronika collapses onstage and dies of a heart attack.
In Clermont-Ferrand, France that same day, Véronique (Irène Jacob), a young French woman and Weronika's double, becomes overwhelmed with grief after having sex with her boyfriend. She later goes to her music teacher, telling him she's quitting the choir. The next day, at the school where she teaches music, Véronique attends a marionette performance with her class about a ballet dancer who breaks her leg and then turns into a butterfly. She then leads her class in a musical piece by an eighteenth-century composer, Van den Budenmayer—the same piece performed by Weronika when she died. That night while driving home, she sees the puppeteer at a traffic light motioning to her not to light the wrong end of her cigarette. Later she is awakened by a phone call with no one speaking, only a choir singing the music of Van den Budenmayer. Véronique visits her father the next day, where she reveals she is in love with someone she doesn't know, and that recently she felt that she lost someone from her life. Back in Clermont Ferrand, she receives a package containing a shoelace, which she compares to her EKG graph, and a stranger shines light on her using a mirror.
Véronique learns that the puppeteer is a children's book author named Alexandre Fabbri (Philippe Volter), who based the marionette on one of his books and has written another about a shoelace. In the coming days, Véronique reads several of Alexandre's books. When Véronique visits her father, he gives her a package addressed to her containing a cassette tape. She listens to the tape, which contains the recordings of a typewriter, footsteps, a door opening, a train station, and a fragment of music by Van den Budenmayer. There are also sounds of a car accident and explosion. The postage stamp on the envelope leads Véronique to the Gare Saint-Lazare train station in Paris. She goes to a cafe in the station where she believes the recordings were made, and sees Alexandre. He tells her he's been waiting for her for two days, that he's working on a new book, and that he sent her the packages as a kind of experiment to see if she would come to him. Angered at being manipulated, Véronique leaves and checks into a nearby hotel. She runs into Alexandre, who asks for her forgiveness, and she brings him up to her room, where they both fall asleep. During the night, they confess their feelings for each other.
The next morning, while talking to Alexandre, Véronique says that she feels that "I was here and somewhere else at the same time" and that someone has been guiding her life. Véronique proceeds to show Alexandre the contents of her handbag, and he comes across a proof sheet of photos taken on Véronique's recent trip to Poland. Alexandre notices what he thinks is a photo of Véronique, but she assures him it is not her. She then sees the picture, realizing that it was Weronika in the picture. Véronique is overwhelmed and breaks down crying as Alexandre comforts her. It becomes clear that Weronika's fate has somehow compelled Véronique to stop singing and avoid the same death.
Some time later at his apartment, Véronique sees Alexandre working on a new marionette with her image. When asked about the purpose of a second identical marionette, Alexandre explains that he needs an additional puppet in case one becomes damaged. He shows her how to work the one marionette while the double lies lifeless on the table. Alexandre reads his new book to Véronique about two women, born the same day in different cities, who have a mysterious connection. Later that day, Véronique arrives at her father's house, stops at the front gate, and reaches out and touches an old tree trunk. Her father, who is inside the house, seems to sense her presence.
Five years after the first film, Mia Thermopolis graduates from Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs at Princeton University, returning to Genovia. There, she awaits her grandmother, Queen Clarisse's, abdication. Dancing with all eligible bachelors at her 21st birthday party to find a husband, she meets a dashing young gentleman named Nicholas, and the two become mutually attracted. During the evening, Mia's tiara falls off, caught by Member of Parliament (MP), Viscount Mabrey, who secretly plans to steal the crown.
During the Parliamentary session the next morning, Mia hears Mabrey revealing his nephew, Lord Devereaux, to be the next male heir to the throne. By law, Mia can only be Queen if she marries within the month. Clarisse invites Lord Devereaux to stay at the palace, and Mia is shocked to discover he is Nicholas. Her best friend, Lilly Moscovitz, surprises her with a visit. Together, they look through potential husbands. Mia eventually chooses Andrew Jacoby, Duke of Kenilworth, and days later, they are engaged. Mabrey plans to have Nicholas seduce Mia so the engagement will fail. Joe tries to persuade Clarisse to publicly pursue their feelings for each other as her reign as queen is coming to an end.
Mia has to ride sidesaddle for a ceremony but is inexperienced, so Queen Clarisse provides an ancestral wooden leg decoy so it seems she's doing so. When Mabrey spooks Mia's horse with a rubber snake, Joe inadvertently tears off the wooden leg. Humiliated, she flees to the stables, where Nicholas fails to comfort her. At a garden party, Mia and Nicholas quarrel about her relationship with Andrew. As they argue, he kisses her. At first, she kisses him back but then backs away. Pursuing her, they fall into a fountain. Queen Clarisse tells Mia that her behavior with Nicholas has to stop.
At the Genovian Independence Day parade, seeing some boys harassing a little girl, Mia abruptly halts the parade to help. Learning the girl, Carolina, and the others are orphans, she has a vendor give them all tiaras and lets them walk with them in the parade. Everyone is impressed, while Mabrey sees it as a political maneuver. Nicholas is also struck by Mia's care for Genovia and begins doubting taking over the throne. Mia later declares the conversion of a royal palace into a temporary children's center.
At Mia's bachelorette slumber party, princesses attend from around the world. They mattress surf and sing karaoke. Meanwhile, Nicholas tries to stop his uncle from pursuing the throne as Mia is doing well as a ruler. Mabrey realizes Nicholas has fallen for her, but believes Mia will never love him. Mabrey encourages him to pursue her, later revealing to his surly and mistreated housekeeper Gretchen he plans to let this ruin Mia's chances of becoming queen. Manipulating Nicholas, he makes him believe it was his late father's wish for him to become king. Nicholas helps Mia succeed at hitting the target as she is practicing for her coronation rites. He tells her he is leaving, but asks to see her once more before he goes. She declines, as she is under close guard.
That night, Nicholas convinces Mia outside her window, to sneak out. By a lake, they share secrets, dance, and eventually fall asleep. They awaken to find a man filming them. Mia thinks Nicholas set her up, while he insists he had no idea. The scandalous footage is already being broadcast before she returns. Disappointed, Andrew kisses Mia to see if there is a romantic spark between them. There isn't, but they do not call off the wedding for the good of Genovia. The wedding is the following day, and Mia's mother, Helen, comes with her new husband and their newborn son. Nicholas decides against attending, until Gretchen tells him Mabrey engineered the televised scandal.
Before the wedding, Joe tells Mia that Nicholas is innocent. Walking down the aisle, she suddenly stops and runs out of the church. Queen Clarisse follows and Mia says she doesn't want to be forced to marry. Clarisse encourages her to follow her heart, something she never did, costing her Joe, the love of her life. Returning into the church, Mia points out to everyone that her unmarried grandmother has ruled Genovia for many years, asking the members of parliament to reconsider the law, asking them if they would force the significant women in their lives to marry without love. Mabrey again suggests his nephew be named King instead, but Nicholas appears, refusing the crown. Mia proposes the law on royal marriages be abolished, and the Parliament unanimously assents. Clarisse proposes to Joe and they are promptly married.
A week later, Mia is preparing for her coronation when Nicholas arrives. Professing his love on bended knee, they kiss. The next day, Queen Clarisse steps down, and Mia is crowned "Her Majesty Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, ''Queen'' of Genovia", with all in attendance in the palace.
An epilogue shows the Genovian Parliament now allows female members, one of whom is Charlotte (Clarisse's lady-in-waiting). In a final scene, Queen Mia officially opens a new children's home with Carolina.
The TARDIS crew arrive in Mexico in the 15th century. With the TARDIS trapped in a tomb, Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) is mistaken for a female reincarnation of the ancient high priest Yetaxa, and assumes her guise and identity. From her new position of power, Barbara sees her chance to bring an end to human sacrifice. She sees the good side of Aztec culture manifested in Autloc (Keith Pyott), the High Priest of Knowledge, and the gruesome side embodied in the High Priest of Sacrifice, Tlotoxl (John Ringham). As a history teacher, she sees how advanced their culture really is and believes that if sacrifice were abolished, they would be spared destruction at the hands of the Spanish. The urgent warnings of the First Doctor (William Hartnell) that Barbara cannot change history fall on deaf ears, much to his fury.
The bloodthirsty Tlotoxl begins to suspect Barbara is not Yetaxa returned, especially because she is trying to ban human sacrifice. He sets a series of elaborate traps for her and her companions. For example, Ian Chesterton (William Russell) has been compelled into the military and fights the strongest warrior, Ixta (Ian Cullen), to prove his ability to command the Aztec forces. Thus Ixta develops a grudge against Ian and is used by Tlotoxl to try to prove that Barbara is not Yetaxa. The Doctor unwittingly tells Ixta how to defeat Ian in combat using a drugging agent, and this battle nearly ends in the Doctor witnessing his friend's death. When this fails to be conclusive, Tlotoxl convinces the subordinate priest Tonila (Walter Randall) to make a poison for Barbara; the death of Barbara following consumption of the poison would prove she is not immortal and therefore not a god. However, Ian silently warns her from his hiding place, and Barbara refuses to drink the poison. She tells Tlotoxl that she is not Yetaxa but warns him not to tell the people.
Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) and the Doctor have meanwhile both become involved in marriage-making scenarios: Susan has transgressed Aztec law by refusing to marry the Perfect Victim (André Boulay), who has been scheduled for sacrifice by Tlotoxl on the day of the next eclipse; while the Doctor, who knows little of Aztec customs, has become accidentally engaged to an Aztec woman named Cameca (Margot Van der Burgh) after they shared a cup of cocoa. Cameca helps the Doctor and Ian find a way to re-enter the tomb by a secret entrance. Ian braves a treacherous tunnel in which he is almost drowned to re-enter the tomb by a secret door and soon tells his friends that they can flee. Despite her efforts, Barbara realises that she cannot change an entire culture, although she does succeed in changing the views of Autloc. Autloc helps Barbara reunite with her friends before exiling himself to the desert to meditate on what remains of his faith. In a pitched battle to gain access to the tomb door, Ian kills Ixta in a fight to the death to protect the TARDIS crew. The Doctor and his companions leave knowing that despite their intervention, history will take its pre-destined course. As they depart, Tlotoxl is very much in control and sacrifices the Perfect Victim to end the naturally-occurring eclipse. The Doctor comforts Barbara by telling her she did help Autloc find a better belief system.
The film opens during Caesar's invasions of Britain, with Mark Antony (Sid James) struggling to lead his armies through miserable weather. At a nearby village, cavemen Horsa (Jim Dale) and Hengist Pod (Kenneth Connor) attempt to alert Boudica to the invasion, but are captured by the Romans.
Once in Rome, Horsa is sold by the slave-trading firm Marcus et Spencius, and Hengist is destined to be thrown to the lions when no-one agrees to buy him. Horsa and Hengist escape and take refuge in the Temple of Vesta. Whilst hiding there, Julius Caesar (Kenneth Williams) arrives to consult the Vestal Virgins, but an attempt is made on his life by his bodyguard, Bilius (David Davenport). In the melee, Horsa kills Bilius and escapes, leaving Hengist to take the credit for saving Caesar's life and to be made Caesar's new bodyguard.
When a power struggle emerges in Egypt, Mark Antony is sent to force Cleopatra (Amanda Barrie) to abdicate in favour of Ptolemy. However, Mark Antony becomes besotted with her, and instead kills Ptolemy off-screen to win her favour. Cleopatra convinces Mark Antony to kill Caesar and become ruler of Rome himself so that they may rule a powerful Roman-Egyptian alliance together. After seducing one another, Mark Antony agrees, and plots to kill Caesar.
Caesar and Hengist travel to Egypt on a galley, along with Agrippa (Francis de Wolff), whom Mark Antony has convinced to kill Caesar. However, Horsa has been re-captured and is now a slave on Caesar's galley. After killing the galley-master (Peter Gilmore), Horsa and the galley slaves kill Agrippa and his fellow assassins and swim to Egypt. Hengist, who had been sent out to fight Agrippa and was unaware of Horsa's presence on board, again takes the credit.
Once at Cleopatra's palace, an Egyptian soothsayer (Jon Pertwee) warns Caesar of the plot to kill him, but Mark Anthony convinces Caesar not to flee. Instead, Caesar convinces Hengist to change places with him, since Cleopatra and Caesar have never met. On meeting, Cleopatra lures Hengist, who accidentally exposes both Cleopatra and Mark Anthony as would-be assassins. He and Caesar then ally with Horsa, and after defeating Cleopatra's bodyguard Sosages (Tom Clegg) in combat, Hengist and the party flee Egypt. Caesar is returned to Rome, only to be assassinated on the Ides of March. Horsa and Hengist return to Britain, and Mark Antony is left in Egypt to live "one long Saturday night" with Cleopatra.
In the small Kansas town of Fair Oaks, diner waitress Betty Sizemore is a fan of the soap opera ''A Reason to Love''. She has no idea that her husband Del, a car salesman, is having a sexual affair with another woman. She also doesn't know that her husband supplements his income by selling drugs. When Betty calls to ask about borrowing a Buick LeSabre for her birthday, Del tells her to take a different car. She manages to sneak the car for herself, anyway, although unbeknownst to her, a large stash of drugs are hidden in the LeSabre's trunk. Two hitmen, Charlie and Wesley, come to Betty and Del's house. Charlie threatens to scalp Del if he doesn't reveal where the drugs are, and Del reveals that he has hidden the drugs in the trunk of the LeSabre; afterwards, Wesley still scalps Del after misunderstanding Charlie's silent communication. Betty witnesses the murder and enters a fugue state, assuming the identity of a character in ''A Reason to Love'' who is a nurse.
That evening, Sheriff Eldon Ballard, local reporter Roy Ostery, and several policemen examine the crime scene while Betty calmly packs a suitcase. She seems oblivious to the murder, even with the investigation going on right in her house. At the police station, a psychiatrist examines her. Betty spends the night at her friend's house, sleeping in a child's bedroom. In the middle of the night, she gets into the LeSabre and drives off. She stops at a bar in Williams, Arizona, where the bartender talks about her vacation in Rome; Betty tells her that she was once engaged to a famous surgeon (describing the lead character from ''A Reason to Love''). Meanwhile, the two hitmen are in pursuit, having realized that Betty has the car with the drugs. As they search, Charlie's heart begins to soften towards Betty, to Wesley's consternation.
In Los Angeles, Betty tries to get a job as a nurse while looking for her long-lost "ex-fiancé". She is turned down because she has no résumé or references, but when she saves a young shooting victim's life with a technique she learned from the show, the hospital offers her a job in the pharmacy but forbids her to touch any more patients. Despite her position, Betty becomes popular with patients and their families. She ends up living with Rosa, the older sister of the young man she helped earlier, in gratitude for saving his life. Rosa is also a legal secretary and offers to help Betty find her surgeon boyfriend. She learns from a colleague that "David" is a soap opera character, and goes to the pharmacy window to confront Betty. Thinking her friend is jealous, Betty is impervious to the revelation.
Betty's lawyer supplies tickets to a charity function where George McCord, the actor portraying David, will be appearing. Betty meets George at the function. George is inclined to dismiss her as an overimaginative fan, but something about her compels him to talk to her. He begins to think that Betty is an actress determined to get a part on ''A Reason to Love'', so he decides to play along. After three hours of her "staying in character", he takes her home. George begins falling in love with Betty, and he and his producer decide to bring her onto the show as a new character: Nurse Betty. When Betty arrives on set, she falls out of her fantasy world back into real life. After two failed takes, she realizes that she is on a set and that the people she thought were real are just characters. George confronts her and Betty walks out.
Back at Rosa's house, Betty is telling her roommate what happened when the two hitmen walk in and take Betty and Rosa hostage at gunpoint. Charlie and Wesley tie up the two women and are subsequently interrupted by Roy and Sheriff Ballard, who have also tracked down Betty. A standoff ensues until Ballard pulls a gun from an ankle holster and shoots Wesley dead, who is revealed to be Charlie's son. Charlie decides not to kill Betty and commits suicide in the bathroom. George offers Betty a job on the show. She appears in 63 episodes and takes a vacation in Rome. Betty later plans to pursue nursing as a career.
In 1898, convicted prisoner Buffalo Soldiers from the U.S. Army's 10th Cavalry Regiment, led by Jesse Lee (Mario Van Peebles), are conscripted to fight in the Spanish–American War in Cuba. As the segregated African-American unit is barely holding its own against constant attacks from enemy troops, Jesse runs back to the command post of the corrupt and racist Colonel Graham (Billy Zane) to request that the 10th Cavalry be allowed to pull back. Colonel Graham orders Jesse to shoot a White prisoner in exchange for allowing the 10th to retreat. Unable to kill a man in cold blood, Jesse demonstrates excellent marksmanship by shooting the man's cigar from his mouth. Colonel Graham then kills the prisoner (under the guise of desertion), and offers Jesse's command of the 10th to Little J (Stephen Baldwin), another White prisoner (the alternative would be to face the firing squad). Graham then orders the 10th to fall back in order to begin another mission, one in which they will be required to wear civilian clothing, as opposed to their Cavalry uniforms. They are ordered to rob a Spanish gold shipment, which is a setup to give the Colonel an excuse to execute the entire 10th Cavalry as deserters. As he meets them with his own cavalry force, his aide Weezie (Charles Lane) causes a distraction, allowing the 10th to shoot the Colonel and his cavalry down.
With Colonel Graham and his troops supposedly dead, the remnants of the 10th—including Jesse, Obobo (Tiny Lister), Angel (Tone-Lōc) and Little J, along with Weezie sneak out of Cuba and Jesse leads them to New Orleans. Soon after their arrival, Little J meets a gambler named Father Time (Big Daddy Kane) and they begin playing poker, at which point Time is caught cheating. Little J helps the gambler escape and they go back to the hotel room where the others are hiding, telling them "We were never here" in fear that the vengeful gamblers might come for them. Doing just as J feared, the gamblers come in search of him and Father Time, only to be shot in the back by Colonel Graham and his troops, who survived the skirmish in Cuba. Angel is killed in the firefight while Little J, Father Time and the others barely escape. They meet up with Jesse who had left earlier to finish some business in a town out West.
The newly formed "posse" heads West with Colonel Graham on their heels every step of the way. They eventually stop in a town where Jesse has ammunition custom-made out of gold in order to kill the demons of his past, using one to kill the man who made the ammunition—as he was one of the men who lynched Jesse's father King David (Robert Hooks) years earlier (Father Time later explains that the voodoo ladies in New Orleans believe that gold is the only way to kill a demon). They make their way to Freemanville, a town founded by King David and composed entirely of African-Americans. Jesse is reunited with several old acquaintances, including his good friend Carver (Blair Underwood), who is now the sheriff of Freemanville. Carver's deputy goes to Cutterstown, not wanting to tip anyone off that Carver is working with Cutterstown's sheriff, Bates (Richard Jordan). He informs Bates that Jesse has returned to Freemanville. The "posse" enjoys the hospitality of Freemanville until Bates tells Carver that the town will burn unless Jesse is turned over to him and his deputies (Sheriff Bates and one of his deputies were men that had lynched King David, and were afraid that Jesse had come back for revenge). Bates and a few of his deputies attack Freemanville that same night looking for Jesse. One of the deputies beats Weezie in order to get answers. Watching in disgust, Little J fights back in defense of Weezie. Outnumbered, Little J is kicked and beaten to death by Bates and his men, and Obobo and Jesse's former mentor Papa Joe (Melvin Van Peebles) are taken to Cutterstown as prisoners. Jesse and Father Time soon rescue them by posing as Ku Klux Klan members and storming into the Cutterstown jail. Jesse kills one of the deputies, who was another one of King David's murderers.
When he returns he convinces the townspeople to fight Sheriff Bates by telling them he wants the land for himself to sell to the railroad when it comes through. The citizens of Freemanville fight Bates the next day when he rides in. As they begin to gain the upper hand, Colonel Graham arrives with his cavalry and a Gatling gun which he uses to cut the people down. Jesse charges the gun with a stick of dynamite destroying the gun and killing some of Graham's troops.
Meanwhile, Carver plans to flee with the deeds to all of the property in Freemanville—all of which are in his name—but is stopped by Papa Joe's daughter Lana (Salli Richardson). Father Time shows up just in time to stop Carver from harming Lana. Time kills one of Carver's deputies, but is killed by Carver. Before Carver can flee, he is stopped by Bates who reveals that they had a deal to split the proceeds from the land 50-50. Jesse arrives just in time to hear about the deal, and watches as Carver is betrayed and murdered by Bates. Jesse kills Bates in a showdown, finally putting his past demons to rest. Colonel Graham captures Lana and orders Jesse into the saloon, where they have a climactic fight resulting in Graham's death and the destruction of the saloon (which Graham had set ablaze). Jesse, Obobo, Weezie and Lana watch as the townspeople fight the fire.
The story ends almost a century later with an old man (Woody Strode) being interviewed by reporters (Reginald Hudlin, Warrington Hudlin) about the black cowboys of the Old West. The man, who was a young boy when he met Jesse in Freemanville, gives the reporters a small book that Jesse had given him.
In the end, a caption goes on to tell that there had been over 8,000 black cowboys in the Old West whose stories had never been told due to omission by Hollywood and others alike.
Montgomery “Monty” Kessler is a senior majoring in Government at Harvard University and sharing a house with friends: art student Courtney, womanizing radio disc jockey Everett, and neurotic medical student Jeff. While Monty is working on his senior thesis, which takes a pessimistic view of citizens on public assistance, a power outage ruins his computer’s hard drive. When he rushes out to print a backup copy of his thesis, he trips on the street, breaking his leg, and drops his thesis down a grating into the boiler room under Widener Library. There Monty finds a homeless man, resembling the writer Walt Whitman, burning his thesis page by page. Monty calls the campus police who arrest the man, but they are unable to recover the thesis.
In court, Monty learns the man’s name is Simon Wilder. Simon gets the worst of the charges against him dismissed, but is held in contempt, for which Monty pays the fine. Despite Simon’s anger over Monty’s having him arrested, they work out a deal: for every service Monty provides, Simon will return one page of his thesis. Monty takes Simon to the house, letting him stay in a broken down van in the backyard.
Over time, Monty and Simon become close friends. Monty confides in Simon about his absent father, and Simon helps Monty see poor people like himself as human beings. Simon also shows Monty his collection of stones, each one representing a significant memory from his life. Monty’s roommates begin to like the arrangement as well, with Courtney appreciating Monty’s newfound open-mindedness and Everett giving Simon wine in exchange for repairing the van. However, Jeff refuses to let Simon stay in the house’s basement on a particularly cold night because of his parents’ visiting. When Monty lies to Simon about why he can’t come in the house, Simon ends their deal and leaves.
While everyone goes home for Christmas vacation, Monty stays to recompose his thesis. Simon sends a friend to deliver the thesis; he reveals where Simon is staying, but says he does not want to see Monty. Monty finds him living on the street, coughing and wheezing as a result of years of exposure to asbestos in the U.S. Merchant Marine. Monty agrees that Simon can live in the house and refuses his offer of a new deal. Simon gets disability benefits to help with the rent while Monty decides to completely rewrite his thesis. Courtney and Everett are supportive of Simon’s moving in, but Jeff is still unwelcoming.
Realizing the seriousness of his illness, Simon writes his obituary, which reveals that he left his wife and child to join the Merchant Marine. Though initially angry, Monty eventually forgives him and takes him as his guest to a campus pajama party. As Monty watches Courtney dance with another man, Simon encourages Monty to confess his love for her. Courtney reciprocates and the two begin a relationship.
Monty agrees to drive Simon to visit the son he abandoned, named Frank, despite the fact that doing so will delay his completion of his thesis. All the roommates, including Jeff, who has come to see Simon's humanity, make the long drive. Frank bitterly berates Simon for leaving him and is dismissive when Simon’s granddaughter asks who he is. Before leaving, Simon adds a stone to his collection.
Simon’s condition deteriorates on the drive back to the house; the roommates stay up all night reading Walt Whitman to him before he dies. At his funeral, Monty tearfully reads Simon’s obituary where he refers to the roommates as his family, and states that Monty ‘’will graduate life with honor and without regret.”
Monty meets with his haughty mentor, Professor Pitkannan, and explains why he changed his thesis to a more optimistic subject. Professor Pitkannan accepts his explanation, but tells Monty his lateness means that he will not graduate with honors. Monty thanks him for his mentorship. He also returns the Walt Whitman book to Widener Library, symbolically leaving Simon’s spirit there.
The roommates graduate and Monty begins his own collection of memory stones.
Luella Delano (Cathy Moriarty), a witness against the Mafia is being hidden until the trial in the desert. A hitman blows up the house using a sewage removal truck to pump gas under it. The violent attempt against her kills her husband, several of her guards and she disappears.
Chris Lecce (Richard Dreyfuss) and Bill Reimers (Emilio Estevez), after an undercover detail goes wrong (the man who's been killing homeless people gets shot with Chris's gun), are called upon to stake out the lakeside home where Luella is believed to be.
Unlike their earlier stakeout, this time they are accompanied by Gina Garrett (Rosie O'Donnell) the assistant DA and her pet rottweiler 'Archie', their cover is husband, wife, and son.
When Chris arrives home, his girlfriend Maria (Madeleine Stowe) is kicking him out, as he won't marry her, although they've been together for seven years. Chris doesn't want to, as his family has the worst track record in marriage, including his own divorce.
However, he, Bill, and Gina must continue with their stakeout of Brian and Pam O'Hara to make sure Luella is safe. The trio are given use of a red convertible and a judge's summer house next to the O'Haras' as cover.
The trio meet the couple upon arrival, as Archie chases a cat onto their property. Bill sends Gina for a run after Brian the next morning. When all three aren't watching, the O'Haras leave the house. Bill sneaks in to bug the place, but has to abort the mission.
Gina invites them to their house that night for a dinner party so Bill can plant several bugs around theirs. She and Chris freak out the couple by acting odd. Then things take a turn for the worse when Bill is knocked unconscious after being mistaken for a hit man.
Luana has subdued Bill, not knowing he's there to protect her. Her friends, the O'Haras find her with the bound, gagged and hooded man, who she insists they must kill. As she's about to shoot him at the end of the pier, he flips off it, freeing himself.
Gina and Chris appear, subduing Luana. In custody, she asks to talk to the O'Haras in person. Chris and Bill are packing up to leave when they spot Tony the hitman. Hurrying to warn them in the other house, there they are initially shot at as Luella insists it is they who are the hitmen.
Tony, kills the corrupt District Attorney for his interference. Then he takes Gina hostage, despite Chris and Bill having their guns drawn. While walking Gina at gunpoint past the pool in pursuit of Luella, Tony is attacked by Archie for threatening Gina and they both fall into the pool. He shoots at Luella but hits Gina in the shoulder instead, then gets shot and killed by Chris and Bill.
Both Chris and Bill are congratulated as heroes by the FBI, Luella and Gina. Chris returns to his apartment to call Maria, but she is already there. He proposes and she accepts, while Bill watches through binoculars from the car.
In 1967, during the Kisangani Mutinies, a virus called Motaba, which causes a deadly fever, is discovered in the African jungle. To keep the virus a secret, U.S. Army officers Donald McClintock and Billy Ford destroy the camp where soldiers were infected.
Twenty-eight years later, Colonel Sam Daniels, a USAMRIID virologist, is sent to investigate an outbreak in Zaire. He and his crew—Lieutenant Colonel Casey Schuler and new recruit Major Salt—gather information and return to the United States. Ford, now a brigadier general and Daniels' superior officer, dismisses the latter's fears that the virus will spread.
A white-headed capuchin monkey that is host to the virus is smuggled into the country. James "Jimbo" Scott, a worker at an animal testing laboratory, is infected when he steals the monkey to sell on the black market. Jimbo fails to sell the monkey to Rudy Alvarez (who also becomes infected), a pet-store owner in the coastal-California village of Cedar Creek. After releasing the monkey into the woods outside of the nearby community of Palisades, he develops symptoms on a flight to Boston and infects his girlfriend, Alice. Their illness is investigated by Dr. Roberta Keough, a CDC scientist and Daniels' ex-wife. Jimbo, Alice, and Rudy die, but Keough determines that no one else in Boston was infected.
A hospital technician in Cedar Creek is infected when he accidentally breaks the vial of Rudy's blood. The virus quickly mutates into a strain capable of spreading like influenza, becoming airborne and causing a number of people to be infected in a movie theater. Daniels flies to Cedar Creek against Ford's orders, joining Keough's team with Schuler and Salt. As they begin a search for the monkey, the Army quarantines the town and imposes martial law. Schuler is infected when his suit tears and Keough accidentally sticks herself with a contaminated needle while treating him.
When Ford provides an experimental serum which cures the original strain, Daniels realizes that his superiors were aware of the virus before the outbreak. Daniels learns about Operation Clean Sweep, a plan for the military to contain the virus by bombing Cedar Creek, incinerating the town and its residents, ostensibly to prevent Motaba's expansion to pandemic proportions. However, McClintock, now a major general, plans to use the operation to conceal the mutated virus' existence so the original strain can be preserved for use as a biological weapon.
To prevent Daniels from finding a cure, McClintock orders him arrested for carrying the virus. Daniels escapes before he and Salt fly a helicopter to the ship at sea which carried the monkey. Daniels obtains a picture of the monkey and releases it to the media; a Palisades resident, Mrs. Jeffries, realizes that her daughter Kate has been playing with the monkey (which she named Betsy) and calls the CDC. Daniels and Salt arrive at the Jeffries' house where Salt tranquilizes Betsy after Kate coaxes her out of hiding in the woods nearby. When he learns from Daniels about Betsy's capture, Ford delays the bombing.
On their return flight, Daniels and Salt are chased by McClintock in another helicopter. Salt fires two rockets into the trees to deceive him into thinking that they crashed. Once back in Cedar Creek, Salt mixes Betsy's antibodies with Ford's serum to create an antiserum; although Schuler has died, they save Keough. McClintock returns to base and resumes Operation Clean Sweep, refusing to listen to Ford. Daniels and Salt fly their helicopter directly into the path of the bomber's approach to its target.
With Ford's help, Daniels persuades the bomber's flight crew to detonate the bomb over water and spare the town. Before McClintock can order another bombing, Ford relieves him of command and orders his arrest. Daniels and Keough reconcile as Cedar Creek's residents are cured.
In 1988, a businessman named Oh Dae-su is arrested for drunkenness, missing his daughter's fourth birthday. After his friend Joo-hwan picks him up from the police station, Dae-su is kidnapped and wakes up in a sealed hotel room, where food is delivered through a trap-door. Watching TV, Dae-su learns that his wife has been murdered and he is the prime suspect. He passes the time shadowboxing, planning revenge and attempting to dig a tunnel to escape.
Fifteen years later, in 2003, Dae-su is suddenly released after being sedated and hypnotized. Dae-su wakes up and after tests his fighting skills on a group of thugs, a mysterious beggar gives him money and a cell phone. Dae-su enters a sushi restaurant where he meets Mi-do, a young chef. He receives a taunting phone call from his captor, collapses and is taken in by Mi-do.
Dae-su attempts to leave the apartment, but a sympathetic and intrigued Mi-do confronts him. Mi-do explains to Dae-su that she is romantically interested in him. They reconcile and begin to form a bond. After he recovers, Dae-su makes an attempt to find his daughter. Discovering that she was adopted, he gives up trying to contact her. Now focused on identifying his captors, Dae-Su locates the Chinese restaurant that made his prison food and finds the prison by following a deliveryman. It is a private prison, where people can pay to have others incarcerated. Dae-su tortures the warden, Mr. Park, who reveals that Dae-su was imprisoned for "talking too much". He is then attacked by guards and is stabbed but manages to defeat them.
Dae-su's captor is revealed to be a wealthy businessman named Lee Woo-jin. Woo-jin gives him an ultimatum: if Dae-su can uncover the motive for his imprisonment within five days, Woo-jin will kill himself. Otherwise, he will kill Mi-do. Dae-su and Mi-do get close and have sex. Meanwhile, Joo-hwan tries to contact Dae-su with important information but is murdered by Woo-jin. Dae-su eventually recalls that he and Woo-jin had gone to the same high school, and he had witnessed Woo-jin committing incest with his own sister. He told Joo-hwan what he had seen, which led to his classmates learning about it. Rumors spread and Woo-jin's sister killed herself, leading a grief-stricken Woo-jin to seek revenge. In present day, Woo-jin cuts off Mr. Park's hand, causing Mr. Park and his gang to join forces with Dae-su. Dae-su leaves Mi-do with Mr. Park and sets out to face Woo-jin.
At Woo-jin's penthouse, Woo-jin reveals that Mi-do is actually Dae-su's daughter. Woo-jin had orchestrated everything by using hypnosis to guide Dae-su to the restaurant, arranging for them to meet and fall in love so that Dae-su will experience the same pain of incest that he did. He reveals that Mr. Park is still working for him and threatens to tell the truth to Mi-do. Dae-su apologizes for his involvement in the death of Woo-jin's sister and humiliates himself by imitating a dog and begging. When Woo-jin is unimpressed, Dae-su cuts out his own tongue as a sign of penance. Woo-jin finally accepts Dae-su's apology and tells Mr. Park to hide the truth from Mi-do. He then drops the device he claimed was the remote to his pacemaker and begins walking away. Dae-su activates the device to kill him, only to find it is actually a remote for loudspeakers, which play an audio recording of Mi-do and Dae-su having sex. As Dae-su collapses in despair, Woo-jin enters the elevator, recalls his sister's suicide, and shoots himself in the head.
Some time later, Dae-su finds the hypnotist to erase his knowledge of Mi-do being his daughter so that they can stay happy together. To persuade her, he repeats the question he heard from the man on the rooftop, and the hypnotist agrees. Afterward, Mi-do finds Dae-su lying in snow, but there are no signs of the hypnotist. Mi-do confesses her love for him and the two embrace. Dae-su breaks into a wide smile, which is then slowly replaced by a more ambiguous look that could be either happiness or sadness.
In West Germany in the late 1960s, Stefan has finished his mathematics studies and decides to experience life. Hitch-hiking to Paris, he is befriended by a petty criminal called Charlie, who takes him to a party where he is fascinated by an American girl called Estelle. Though Charlie warns him that she is a drug user and dangerous, he goes to her hotel room, where she introduces him to marijuana and they make love.
She is leaving for Ibiza and invites Stefan to follow her there. When he arrives, he finds she is involved with a wealthy ex-Nazi called Wolf. Stefan persuades her to join him in an isolated villa and she secretly brings both money and a huge quantity of heroin she has stolen from Wolf. After an idyllic time swimming, sunbathing and making love, she is itching for the heroin and introduces him to it as well.
Soon the two are on a downward spiral of addiction. Wolf demands return of the rest of the heroin and money and, as payment for what they have used, Stefan has to work in his bar while Estelle has to share his bed. Charlie comes looking for Stefan and urges him to return to Paris. Stefan begs two packets of heroin from a dealer and overdoses. As a suicide, he is buried in open country.
Emil Sinclair is a young boy raised in a middle class home, amidst what is described as a ''Scheinwelt'', a play on words meaning "world of light" as well as "world of illusion". Sinclair's entire existence can be summarized as a struggle between two worlds: the show world of illusion (related to the Hindu concept of maya) and the real world, the world of spiritual truth (see Plato's cave and dualism). Accompanied and prompted by his mysterious classmate and friend 'Max Demian', he detaches from and revolts against the superficial ideals of the world of appearances and eventually awakens into a realization of self. The novel's eight chapters are these:
Agent Cody Banks (Frankie Muniz) attends summer camp, actually a secret facility for training CIA teenage agents. When a group of CIA soldiers attempt to abduct head counselor Victor Diaz (Keith Allen), Cody helps him escape, mistaking the CIA operation for a training exercise. The director informs Cody that Diaz stole disks containing plans for a secret mind-control device, and sends Cody to recapture him.
In the United Kingdom, Cody poses as a summer orchestra student at the Kenworth estate to spy on owner Lord Duncan Kenworth (James Faulkner), suspected of working with Diaz, supported by his handler, Derek (Anthony Anderson) and Kumar (Rod Silvers), Derek's right-hand man, who are disguised as a chef hired by Lady Josephine Kenworth (Anna Chancellor) and a taxi driver respectively. Whilst keeping his mission a secret from his fellow students, Cody sneaks around the estate and confirms that Diaz and Duncan are working together and that they have a working prototype of the mind control device, evidenced when Duncan makes a dog serve drinks and play the piano.
The next day, Cody breaks into a lab owned by Duncan, where he sees the finished device: a microchip inserted as a filling into a tooth cavity by dentist Santiago (Santiago Segura). Shortly afterward Cody and Derek chase Diaz, armed with a rocket gun, through London streets, but Cody is captured by the Metropolitan Police Service and taken to Scotland Yard. He is later freed by Emily (Hannah Spearritt), a fellow student who, similar to Cody, is actually a British Scotland Yard undercover operative. While Emily buys coffee and soda, henchmen sneak up on Cody, knocking him unconscious by drugging him with spray. They capture him and implant him with the microchip.
Under Duncan, Santiago, and Diaz's influence, Cody meets the CIA director on a London bus who is then also converted. Unknown to them and Cody this is witnessed by Emily from a bus in front. Emily then explains things to Derek that the director alongside Cody is both converted and that they need to get the microchip out of Cody. After knocking out Cody by elbowing him in the face Derek carefully cuts up one of Cody's gadgets, exploding Mentos mints, into a precisely minuscule amount to safely remove it. The group later realizes Diaz's plan: to implant all of the world leaders, who are all in London for a G7 summit at Buckingham Palace, effectively giving him control of the world. He tries to do something to stop him from controlling the world including London but, constantly fails.
Deducing that with the CIA director under Diaz's control, they may be put on a most wanted list, Cody, Derek, and Emily infiltrate the party before the summit. There, they realize that most of the dignitaries have already been implanted due to bizarre behavior and Duncan being appointed director of the Royal Mint by the British Prime Minister (upon accepting this, Duncan cruelly states to Josephine that he is leaving her). They explain the truth to the other students, who perform for the guests and urge them to keep the world leaders from attending the G7 summit. They later proceeded to do so with an impromptu but rousing performance of War, accompanied by dancing and clapping from the assembled dignitaries and Queen Elizabeth herself, whilst Cody, Emily, and Derek search for the villains. Derek is implanted with the microchip and is set on Cody by Santiago. Before Santiago can kill him through Derek, Emily finds and subdues him, disabling the mind control software and rescuing the U.S. President, who was to be implanted.
Shortly after Cody kicks out Derek's microchip, the two of them remove the CIA director's microchip. Diaz, realizing that his plan has failed attempts to flee, ends up fighting, and being defeated by Cody in the Queen's gift room, destroying numerous priceless artifacts in the process. Duncan also attempts to escape but is tripped by Trivial Jenkins (David Kelly), his apparently senile and blind butler, who turns out to be Emily's handler. Duncan is arrested with Diaz and Santiago.
After the villains are arrested, Cody and Emily kiss each other on the cheek before Cody sets off to return to America. Both promised to keep in contact. Alongside Cody returning to America as a reward, Derek also returned to the camp and replaced Diaz as head counselor. Cody's parents pick him up, none the wiser about his dangerous exploits. Alex (Connor Widdows), Cody's younger brother tries to eat a few of his explosive Mentos, but Cody tosses them into the pond where they explode harmlessly.
Three years after the events of the first film, veterinarian Dr. John Dolittle's (Eddie Murphy) ability to talk to animals has made him famous, and he travels the world performing his skills. Returning home from France, he gives his daughter Maya (Kyla Pratt) a chameleon named Pepito (Jacob Vargas), and punishes his other daughter Charisse (Raven-Symoné) for doing poorly in school, confiscating her phone for a week. Charisse's boyfriend Eric (Lil Zane) joins the family for Charisse's 16th birthday party, where an opossum (Isaac Hayes) and a raccoon named Joey (Michael Rapaport) tell John that their boss, the Godbeaver (Godfather of the rodent mafia), wants to see him. John meets the Godbeaver (Richard C. Sarafian) and agrees to save the forest from being cut down by mating an endangered female Pacific western bear with a male.
At a circus, John persuades Archie (Steve Zahn), the sole surviving Pacific western male, to accompany him to the forest and become a real bear. John takes his family on a month-long vacation to the forest, where he makes a deal with the sole surviving Pacific western female bear named Ava (Lisa Kudrow), who is involved with a male Kodiak bear named Sonny (Mike Epps). She agrees not to make any decisions for a month after John promises to turn Archie into a bear she will love.
Struggling to train Archie, who is used to the pampered lifestyle, John hires the local forest creatures to chaperone Charisse and Eric, and neglects his wife Lisa (Kristen Wilson). After assuring Archie that he will find a way to win Ava's heart, John attempts to win Lisa back by dancing in their cabin, with every animal in the forest watching, but Lucky the dog (Norm Macdonald) accidentally ruins it.
Archie attempts to get Ava's attention by imitating John singing, but falls from a tree branch. Humiliated, he refuses to leave his new-found cave, but becomes frustrated with John's insults and knocks him into a muddy hole, finally listening to his "inner bear". Later, Archie spends the day with Ava, whose relationship with Sonny is declining. Lucky tries to woo a female wolf, successfully urinating around her territory, but is interrupted by one of her packmates before she agrees to go out with him. Meanwhile, Sonny forces Ava to leave Archie.
Logging magnate Joseph Potter (Jeffrey Jones) and his lawyer Jack Riley (Kevin Pollak) attempt to make a deal with John to spare some parts of the forest, until Archie tells John he has prepared his "big finish" to win Ava and goes after a beehive at the edge of a tall hill, ignoring John's warnings and the attacking bees who also attack a nearby Riley. He manages to get the hive, finally winning Ava's heart and the respect of the other forest animals. Ava then dumps Sonny, finally having had enough of his rudeness to Archie.
In a game of hide and seek with Ava, Archie is shot by a tranquilizer dart from Riley. John learns that Archie had somewhat destroyed the back of a restaurant. After getting information from a weasel (Andy Dick), John visits Archie in jail, telling him that he may be too dangerous to go free and will be sold to a Mexican circus, ending John's chance of saving the forest. John realizes that Charisse has developed her father's gift of talking to animals, reigniting his determination to save the forest. He rallies the animals of the forest not to give up without a fight and free Archie. Charisse, Eric, and Maya rebel against the loggers with the aid of wolves, while word of Archie's predicament spreads, leading animals around the world to go on strike.
At Potter Wood Industries, Mr. Potter and Riley are attacked by the animals. While Riley takes the brunt from the birds, wolves, and bees, Mr. Potter is cornered by Ava and Joey, forcing him to finally start negotiating with John and the animals. As the negotiations go on, the strike continues to grow with several animal pros like race horses and Shamu getting in on the act. Finally, a deal is made and the Dolittles and animals accept, freeing Archie and saving the entire forest outside San Francisco.
John and Charisse become closer, talking with and helping animals together, while Archie and Ava mate and have two cubs (Frankie Muniz and Mandy Moore) who try to take after their father.
It is 1345, and in the English town of Ansby (in northeastern Lincolnshire), Sir Roger, Baron de Tourneville, is recruiting a military force to assist king Edward III in the Hundred Years' War against France. Suddenly, an enormous silver spacecraft lands outside the town. It is a scouting craft for the Wersgorix Empire, a brutal dominion light years from our solar system. The Wersgorix attempt to take over Earth by testing the feasibility of its colonization. However, the aliens, having forgotten hand-to-hand combat since it was made obsolete by their advanced technology, are caught off-guard by the angered Englishmen, who mistake the craft for a French trick. The villagers and soldiers in Ansby storm the craft and kill all but one Wersgor, Branithar.
Sir Roger formulates a plan that with the captured ship, he can take the entire village to France to win the war, and then liberate the Holy Land. The townspeople, with all of their belongings, board the ship at the baron's instruction, and prepare to take off. The people of Ansby are mystified at the advanced technology aboard the ship, which they come to call the ''Crusader''. Being unable to pilot the ''Crusader'' Sir Roger directs the surly Branithar to pilot them to France. Instead, the alien wrecks the baron's plan by throwing the ''Crusader'' into autopilot on course to Tharixan, another Wersgor colony.
The ''Crusader'' arrives at Tharixan in days, and Sir Roger learns of this new world: it is sparsely-populated, with only three fortresses, Ganturath, Stularax, and Darova (the chief base). The humans capture Ganturath but destroy the ''Crusader'' in the process. Word spreads of the invaders and a meeting is arranged between Sir Roger and his soldiers and the chief of Tharixan, Huruga.
The humans and Wersgor hold talks that do very little to give either side any advantage, but a truce is agreed to. Sir Roger, in order to intimidate the aliens, makes up tall tales about his estate, "which only took up three planets" and his other accomplishments, including a very successful conquest of Constantinople. Sir Roger demands that the entire Wersgorix state submit to the king of England. During the talks, Baron de Tourneville ignores the truce, and orders the capture of the fortress of Stularax. Unfortunately, the entire base is obliterated by an atomic bomb. In retaliation, Huruga attacks Ganturath again, but loses. He is forced to give up.
Now comes Sir Roger's most outrageous plan; having captured Tharixan, he sets out to overthrow the Wersgorix Empire itself. He enlists the help of three other races oppressed by the Wersgor: the Jairs, the Ashenkoghli, and the Prʔ*tans.
Meanwhile, one of his main soldiers and friend, Sir Owain Montbelle, hatches a plan to return to Earth, something that Sir Roger has lost interest in. With Lady Catherine, Sir Roger's wife, Montbelle corners the baron and demands that he help the people of Ansby get back to Earth. De Tourneville gives in, but attacks Sir Owain in person. At the climax, Lady Catherine betrays Montbelle and kills him herself. Unfortunately, she also destroys the notes that could have helped get the villagers of Ansby back home.
Sir Roger goes on to topple the Wersgor Empire and build one for himself. He manages with the help of not only the species under the Wersgor, but from members of the Wersgor race who rebelled against their government. The religious figures in the story go on to establish a new branch of the Roman Catholic Church.
A millennium after the main events of ''The High Crusade'', the holy galactic empire founded by Sir Roger and his people finally reunites with long lost Earth. A spacecraft from Earth comes across the empire, and is welcomed by the descendants of one of Sir Roger's leading soldiers.
There is, in the epilogue, a reference to events on Earth since 1345. The captain of the Earth ship is described as being a loyal subject of an Israeli empire. It also appears that Huruga wound up as an archbishop.
While walking home from school, "Shu", the main protagonist and a boy who loves kendo, intercedes to protect a girl, Lala-Ru, who is attacked by abductors piloting dragon-like mechas and is accidentally transported to the attackers' world as a result—a wasteland devoid of water and dominated by a red giant star. Lala-Ru possesses a pendant containing a vast reservoir of water, and she has the ability to control it.
Shu is trapped in this new, harsh reality, and he is beaten and interrogated repeatedly inside the warship commanded by the ruthless, manic dictator, Hamdo. While locked in a cell he meets an abducted girl who introduces herself as Sara Ringwalt of America. Sara's reason for her capture was being mistaken for Lala-Ru by Hamdo's minions. Sara is forced into the quarters of exceptional soldiers to be impregnated and is traumatized by her repeated rape. After an assault by an unknown enemy landship, Shu is forced to join an army of child soldiers; children trained for the looting of villages, in which they kidnap female villagers for breeding, and conscript orphaned male children into the ever dwindling ranks of Hamdo's army.
It is a haunting story of a dystopian world, and of Shuu, who has to endure torture, hunger, and the horrors of war in order to save the lonely girl he found sitting atop a smokestack. Much of the series deals with serious moral issues relating to war and famine, the consequences of war, slavery, rape, and the exploitation of children.
A princess runs to her father's room in a castle in a panic. She arrives finds a man standing over her dead father's body. The man disappears in a ball of light.
Elsewhere, a boy called Max from the town of Palm Brinks attends a circus. By coincidence he overhears a conversation where ringmaster Flotsam pressures the town mayor Need; to find a special stone located in the town. Max makes a loud noise and unintentionally gets Flotsam's attention - who notices Max is wearing the special stone as a pendant. Max escapes, and embarks on an adventure by leaving the town via the sewers.
After leaving the town, Max is told that 15 years ago Emperor Griffon destroyed the world but spared Palm Brinks because he wanted a special stone - Max's pendant - and that Flotsam is one of Griffon's henchman. Flotsam again finds Max but is interrupted and defeated by the princess, who we learn is called Monica. Monica lives in the time 100 years after Max's present. Like Max, she has a special stone. Their two stones - called atlamillia - allow them to travel between Max's time and Monica's time.
Max and Monica use their new ability to time travel, as well as the reopening of the railroad by Mayor Need to go on a mission rebuilding areas of the world that Griffon destroyed. In doing so, they fix the future - Monica's time - allowing them to get the help from the future they need to beat Griffon.
During these adventures, they learn that Emperor Griffon possesses a gold atlamillia - the most powerful of the three - but desires the other two to make him all powerful. Upon Paznos's completion, Max and Monica use it to help defeat Griffon's army in Monica's time. During the battle, Max and Monica receive word that Ixion has also been completed at Luna Lab.
Max and Monica use Ixion to head 10,000 years into the past to face Emperor Griffon, a young moon-person who lives in Moon Flower Palace. He tricks them into thinking they had defeated him; stealing their atlamillia and reveals his real form. Griffon plans to summon the Star of Oblivion, which will destroy all life on Earth and allow a new, better world to grow in its place. He starts by moving his palace into the sky of Max's time to destroy the world.
Max and Monica return to Max's time with Ixion, and travel to Kazarov Stonehenge - a place that can act as a time portal - allowing them to bring Paznos to Max's time. They activate it, and Paznos arrives in Max's time and sends the Moon Flower Palace crashing to the ground.
Once again, Max and Monica face Griffon at the Palace. They instead meet a woman named Alexandra, who tells them she owns the Palace and that Griffon was once an orphan child called Sirus, whom Alexandra adopted. Sirus has forgotten his childhood because of the evil inside him. Alexandra asks them to restore the palace's garden to remind Sirus of his old life.
They do so and confront Griffon. These old memories weaken Griffon; and Max and Monica manage to defeat him - turning him back into Sirus, who is mortally wounded. A Dark Element rises from Sirus' body and calls the Star of Oblivion. The Element reveals it was born from Sirus' hatred of humans and plans to rule over the destroyed Earth. Max, Monica and Sirus defeat the Element. Sirus stops the Star of Oblivion, dying in the process.
Doug Kinney (Michael Keaton) works in construction in Los Angeles and his job is constantly getting in the way of his family. Working on a new wing of a scientific facility, Doug meets Dr. Leeds (Harris Yulin), a friendly scientist who has successfully developed a method for cloning humans. He is introduced to Dr. Leeds' clone as proof. Sympathetic to Doug's troubles, he clones him so the clone can take over for Doug at work, while the original tries to spend quality time with his family. The clone, called "Two" (although he calls himself "Lance"), has all of Doug's memories and knowledge, but personality-wise is an exaggeration of Doug's masculine side.
Doug goes to great lengths to keep his clone a secret. While he and his wife Laura (Andie MacDowell) are at a restaurant for dinner, he sees Two on his own date (as he cannot be with Laura). Doug begins to worry about his clone being revealed.
Despite the complications of having a clone, Lance is extremely busy at work so Doug has another made to help out at home. "Three", who calls himself "Rico", is an exaggeration of Doug's feminine side. He is extremely sensitive and thoughtful and loves to cook and take care of the house, much to Lance's chagrin.
Lance and Rico attempt to make another clone, "Four", who is later named Lenny. Unfortunately, since he is a clone-of-a-clone, his intelligence is considerably lower than that of his predecessors, and he refers to Doug as "Steve". (The analogy used refers to how a copy of a copy may not be as 'sharp' as the original). This causes an annoyed Doug to decree that no more clones be created.
Doug decides to take some time off, going on a sailing trip. He doesn't want Laura to know, so he has his clones step in for him while he's away. Although he specifically instructs them that Laura is off limits, while he is gone each of the clones, in turn, run into Laura. Despite their best efforts to follow instructions, she persists and eventually has sex with all three of them, thinking they are Doug.
The next day, Lance has a cold and is unable to go to work, so he sends Rico. During an inspection on site, Rico's lack of knowledge about the current construction site annoys the inspector, which leads to Doug losing his job.
As time passes, Doug's wife becomes increasingly upset with her husband's erratic behavior and how he has no memories of discussions Laura unwittingly had with another clone. Thinking Doug is ignoring her, she reveals her feelings to Lenny, mentioning how Doug has never kept his promise to fix up the house. When she asks him what he wants, an inattentive Lenny replies, "I want pizza". Upset, she takes the children and moves back to her parents' home. When Doug returns, he learns that Laura and the kids have left. He also learns from the clones' confessions that he has lost his job and each one of them has had sex with Laura.
While Doug tries to determine how to get Laura back, Lenny tells him that Laura said he never fixed the house. With the help of the clones, Doug remodels their home and wins back the love of his wife. He also tells her he is planning to start his own contracting business. Realizing Doug can take care of himself now, the three clones move away. As they are driving away and stopped at a stoplight, Laura sees the three clones in the car next to her. Believing that she is hallucinating, Laura tells her children that you can tell you really love someone when everyone you see reminds you of them.
The clones write to Doug that they have set up a successful pizzeria called "Three Guys from Nowhere" in Miami, Florida and are masquerading as triplets. Lance becomes the businessman of the shop and serves customers, enjoying this opportunity to meet many women. Rico is the head chef and is "cooking up a storm and having a ball", and Lenny is the delivery boy as well as taking a second job as a paperboy. Unfortunately, Lenny confuses the two and is seen delivering pizzas by throwing a box onto a lawn as he rides his bike by.
Billy Madison is the dimwitted, childish, and spoiled 27-year-old heir to Madison Hotels, a Fortune 500 chain of 650 hotels founded by his father, retiring tycoon Brian Madison. Billy spends his days drinking with friends and creating disturbances across his father's estate. One evening, Billy ruins an important dinner meeting between his father and his associates by acting obnoxiously. Brian loses confidence in his son and chooses his devious executive vice president Eric Gordon to take over Madison Hotels. When Billy begs his father to reconsider his decision, as he knows how callous and cruel Eric is, Brian reveals that he secretly bribed Billy's school teachers to give him passing grades. The two finally compromise: Billy must complete all 12 grades of school, with two weeks for each grade, to prove he is competent enough to manage the company.
Shortly after enrolling into elementary school, Billy becomes attracted to a third grade teacher named Veronica Vaughn, who initially ignores him. Nevertheless, Billy successfully progresses through his first two grades. He finds himself as one of Veronica's students in third grade and earns her respect by standing up for Ernie, his friend and classmate. Billy becomes popular among the third graders and misses them as he advances through school. Billy's progress alarms Eric. Desperate to take over Madison Hotels, he blackmails Billy's elementary school principal, Max Anderson, into lying that Billy bribed him for passing grades, with a wrestling magazine containing pictures of Max's previous career as the "Revolting Blob", a masked wrestler who accidentally killed a man in the ring.
Angered, Brian calls off his deal with Billy and renames Eric as chairman to the company. Billy grows distraught and reverts to his previous carefree lifestyle. Veronica motivates him to return to school, while his grade school classmates convince Max to retract his false accusations, infuriating Eric. Brian agrees to give Billy another chance but Eric cites that Billy failed the challenge by not finishing ninth grade within two weeks. He then threatens to sue Brian if he does not pass the company onto him. Billy intervenes and challenges Eric to an academic decathlon to finally settle their feud with the winner getting to take over Madison Hotels.
Both men excel in different activities, but Billy manages to take a single-point lead before the contest's final event, a ''Jeopardy!''-style academic test. Billy gives a completely dimwitted answer for the opening question in the event, and Eric is given the chance to win the contest by answering a question regarding business ethics. Eric, being a highly unscrupulous businessman, cannot conceive of an answer and breaks down. He brandishes a revolver, but Max (in his wrestling gear) tackles Eric from backstage before he can harm Billy. Eric recovers from the attack and attempts to shoot Veronica, but he is shot in the buttock by Danny McGrath, a rifle-wielding madman whom Billy apologized to earlier for bullying him years ago.
At his graduation ceremony, Billy, deciding that he is not fit for running a hotel company, announces he will pass Madison Hotels to Carl Alphonse, Brian's polite and loyal operations manager, and reveals he plans to attend college in order to become a teacher. Eric, recently fired by Brian and now walking on crutches due to his wound, watches on and fumes in frustration over Billy's decision.
High school senior Walter Gibson and his best friend Lance are celebrating the fact they are moving on to college, but all Walter can do is lament the fact that he has lost his touch with women. Lance heads to UCLA while Walter moves on to college in New England. The two keep in touch by writing letters, but Walter's luck has not changed. His attempt to get close to Alison Bradbury from his English class by tricking her into tutoring him only results in his angering and alienating her. Eventually, he receives a phone call from Lance telling him to come to California for Christmas break because he has set him up with a beautiful girl, assuring him she is a Sure Thing.
Walter finds a ride from a ride share board to make the trip. He meets Gary Cooper and Mary Ann Webster, the couple providing the ride. Things go from bad to worse when he realizes he will be sitting next to Alison as she heads to UCLA to visit her boyfriend Jason. The tension and bickering between Walter and Alison becomes too much for Cooper, and he abandons them on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere and Alison hitches a ride which turns out to be a big mistake. The driver stops at a deserted little pocket of the road and attempts to rape her, but Walter comes to her rescue just in the nick of time. As they hitch to California, they overcome issues with transportation, weather, lack of food, lack of money, and sleeping arrangements, while at the same time developing genuine feelings for one another. En route to California, Alison discovers the real reason Walter made the trip is to meet his "sure thing" and angrily walks away after they arrive.
That night at a college mixer Lance has arranged for Walter to meet his "sure thing". Meanwhile, Alison is spending a boring night with Jason when she drags him to the same mixer for some fun. Alison and Walter see each other at the party, but jealousy leads to a confrontation between the two. Walter takes the "sure thing" to Lance's room, but cannot stop thinking about Alison.
Back on campus after the break, Alison and Walter are obviously uncomfortable around each other. In their English class, Professor Taub reads an essay composed by Walter as a writing assignment, which is a description of his night with the "sure thing". The girl in the essay asks the protagonist if he loves her, but for the first time he realizes that those are not just words and he cannot sleep with her. Alison realizes what actually happened that night, she tells Walter that she and Jason broke up, and they kiss.
NOVA Laboratory robotics experts Newton Crosby and Ben Jabituya developed several prototype robots called S.A.I.N.T. (Strategic Artificially Intelligent Nuclear Transport) for the U.S. military to use in Cold War operations, though Crosby and Ben would rather seek peaceful applications of the robots. After a live demonstration for the military, one of the units, S.A.I.N.T. Number 5, is struck by lightning arcing through the lab's power grid. This scrambles its programming and makes it sentient. It then escapes the NOVA facility.
The robot finds itself in Astoria, Oregon, and is found by Stephanie Speck, an animal care-giver, who mistakes him for an alien. She takes the robot into her home, where she provides him with "input" in the form of visual and verbal stimuli, allowing the robot to improve its language skills, and eventually names itself "Number 5", being the fifth prototype produced. Stephanie continues to help the curious Number 5 robot learn about the world. She eventually discovers that Number 5 was built by NOVA, and contacts them about the lost robot. Nova's CEO, Dr. Howard Marner, orders Crosby and Ben to recover him, so they can disassemble and rebuild him. While waiting for NOVA to arrive, Number 5 learns about death when he accidentally crushes a grasshopper, and concludes that if NOVA disassembles him, he will die, and escapes in Stephanie's truck. However, NOVA uses a tracking device on Number 5 to corner him and deactivate the robot for return to the facility. During transport, Number 5 is able to reactivate himself and remove the tracking device, and flees back to Stephanie.
Because of these unusual actions, Crosby tries to convince Howard that something has changed with Number 5's programming and that they should take care not to damage it in their recovery efforts so that he can examine them later. Howard instead sends their security chief Captain Skroeder and three other S.A.I.N.T. prototypes to recapture Number 5 by force, ignoring Crosby's concerns. Number 5 is able to outwit the other robots, reprograms them to act like The Three Stooges, and escapes. Number 5 “captures” Crosby, takes him back to Stephanie and is able to convince Crosby of his sentience. They find that Skroeder has called in the United States Army to capture Number 5, and on his orders, restrain Crosby and Stephanie so he can open fire. To protect his friends, Number 5 leads the Army away and appears to be destroyed by a helicopter missile. Stephanie is devastated as Skroeder's men scrounge the remains of Number 5 as trophies, prompting Crosby to resign from NOVA and drive away with Stephanie in the NOVA van. Howard is dismayed over the loss of his research and dismisses Skroeder for insubordination.
Crosby and Stephanie are surprised to discover that Number 5 had hidden himself under the van, having assembled a decoy of himself from spare parts to confuse the warmongers. Crosby decides to take Number 5 to his father's secluded Montana ranch where there will be much "input" for the robot, and Stephanie agrees to come with them. As they drive off, Number 5 asserts that his name should now be "Johnny 5" based on the El DeBarge song "Who's Johnny" which had been playing on the van's radio.
In 1946 American foreign correspondent Mark Parker and American nurse Kitty Fremont reunite as old friends. Kitty is an American volunteer at the Karaolos internment camp on Cyprus, where thousands of Jews—Holocaust survivors—are being held by the British, who will not let them go to Palestine. Separately, another pair of friends, Jewish fighters Ari Ben Canaan and David Ben Ami, also reunite.
Ari obtains a cargo ship, which became the SS Exodus, with the intention to smuggle 302 Jewish children out of the camp for an illegal voyage to Mandate Palestine before being discovered by military authorities. When the British learn the refugees are in a ship in the harbor of Famagusta, they blockade the harbor and prevent it from sailing. The refugees stage a hunger strike, during which the camp's doctor dies. Ari has wired the ship with explosives and threatens to blow up the ship and the refugees if the British try to board. When the British attempt to gain time by trying to negotiate, Ari announces that every day 10 children will commit suicide on deck for the world to see. The British relent and allow the ''Exodus'' safe passage.
A generation previously, Ari's father Jossi and uncle Yakov came to Palestine following the Pogroms in the Russian Empire. They are disappointed because the Jews don't farm and take money from overseas philanthropists. The brothers change their names to Akiva (Yakov) and Barak (Jossi). Jossi tries to understand the Palestinians, using demonstrations of force to gain their respect. The Balfour Declaration is issued during World War I. The two brothers become senior in the Jewish government, and debate using terrorism to fight the British authorities.
The United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine is approved, and the conflict with the Palestinians begins in earnest. The Haganah forces prevail over the three Arab generals who vie for fame. They adopt the tactic of siege warfare. Jewish victory at Safed, incorrectly rumored to be through use of an atom bomb, frightens the Palestinian fighters, who flee to Lebanon. Israel proclaims her independence and gradually defeats the Arab nations.
The main plot of the novel, writes Bonnie Helms, involves a "story of great courage."Helms, Bonnie A. ''150 Great Books'', Walch Publishing (1986) p. 99 Among the characters are "freedom fighters" Ari and Barak Ben Canaan and Dov Landau, whose stories are told in flashbacks. American nurse Kitty Fremont and German refugee Karen Hansen work alongside them to help defeat the British blockade of Palestine. The novel includes several love stories, although they often take place in surroundings of violence and terrorism. "Uris gives the reader a strong sense of the past, present, and the future of the Jewish people," states Helms.
The personal stories in ''Exodus'' inspired its characters to seek their meaning and identity in relation to their social settings. Those settings were composed of their previous personal experiences, which were then grounded in both religion and geography. According to William Darby, "The leading characters in ''Exodus'' only find romantic happiness when they understand that they must conjoin nationalistic, religious and personal aims."
Years after the success of the book, Uris explains why he thinks it received such an enthusiastic reception: ''Exodus'' is the story of the greatest miracle of our times, an event unparalleled in the history of mankind: the rebirth of a nation which had been dispersed 2,000 years before. It tells the story of the Jews coming back after centuries of abuse, indignities, torture, and murder to carve an oasis in the sand with guts and with blood....''Exodus'' is about fighting people, people who do not apologize either for being born Jews or the right to live in human dignity.
In ''Tempest-Tost'' an amateur theatrical group sets about mounting a production of Shakespeare's ''The Tempest''. Romantic young scholar and assistant director Solomon ("Solly") Bridgetower, womanizer Roger Tasset and repressed middle-aged math teacher Hector Mackilwraith vie for the rich, beautiful and indifferent leading lady Griselda Webster. As the production moves forward, each man presses his suit with characteristic blind-spots as small rivalries and ambitions are pursued by Griselda's precocious sister Fredegonde (Freddy), the vain Professor Walter Vambrace, his socially awkward daughter Pearl Vambrace, and the mischievous musician Humphrey Cobbler.
The book starts out with a false, anonymous engagement notice between Pearl Veronica Vambrace and Solomon (Solly) Bridgetower published in the local newspaper, the ''Bellman''. The wedding is to be held on November 31 at the local cathedral. The notice creates a stir in the community. Professor Vambrace, the father of Pearl, is outraged, considering it an insult directed at himself and his family, due to his longtime feud with the Bridgetower family. He threatens the ''Bellman's'' editor, Gloster Ridley, to sue the ''Bellman'' for libel. Mrs. Bridgetower is also outraged, although she confines this to her personal circle. Matters are not helped by the fact that Solly, while having once invited Pearl to a ball, is still besotted with Griselda Webster, a local beauty and heiress, who is definitely not interested in him (cf. ''Tempest-Tost'').
Vambrace consults a lawyer, a relative of his wife, who suggests that he not go through with the case, and that the newspaper is as much a victim of the hoax as he is. The lawyer's partner, Snelgrove, however, says otherwise, and offers to take the case himself.
The case is looked into by both Snelgrove and Ridley's lawyer. Along with several major and minor characters in the novel, they pursue a quest for the person responsible for entering the false wedding notice, who is dubbed 'X'. The climactic scene takes place at the ''Bellman'', where the principal characters gather and the identity of X is revealed.
After all the chaos, Solly proposes to Pearl, who accepts. The ''Bellman'''s editor, however, insists they deliver their engagement announcement to the paper in person.
The novel explores themes of innocence, guilt, and judgement.
The protagonist in Frailties, Monica Gall, is a working-class girl with a beautiful but immature singing voice. But the novel begins before she is introduced, somewhat after ''Leaven of Malice'' ends, with two of its protagonists, Pearl Vambrace and Solly Bridgetower now married but stuck in a difficult situation. When Solly's demanding mother Louisa Bridgetower dies, possessed of a much greater fortune than anyone except her lawyer knew about—over $1 million, more than $9 million today—she leaves instructions in her will to start a trust for the education in the arts of a young woman, in Europe, until such time as her son has a male child. The income from the rest all goes to the student. Until and unless the boy is born, Solly can't touch the money; his only unencumbered inheritance is a measly $100 (and he and Veronica must live in and keep up his late mother's house). This is Solly's mother's revenge on him and his wife for marrying against her wishes, an event that arises directly out of ''Leaven of Malice''.
Monica becomes the beneficiary of the Bridgetower Trust, and goes to England to study with several teachers chosen for her by Sir Benedict Domdaniel, a theatrical knight who works as a conductor. Her experiences form the bulk of the novel. Meanwhile, back in Salterton, Solly deals with maintaining the Bridgetower estate on limited funds, and attempts more and more desperately to have a child with Veronica, so he will come into his conditional inheritance.
Monica is the daughter of a difficult mother also. Her family are Christian fundamentalists who exploit her talent by proselytizing on a local radio music show for which she is the best singer, but deprecate Monica's talent.
Monica grows as an artist under the tutelage of several teachers, including the rakish Giles Revelstoke, a frustrated composer and underground newspaper publisher. They eventually become lovers, with Monica supporting his aspirations. Monica's mother dies, and when she returns for the funeral she finds how little she can now relate to her family and hometown. Returning to England, Revelstoke writes a critically acclaimed opera but embarrasses himself when he attempts to stand in for the conductor. In a fit of anger he insults Monica who writes him a letter breaking things off. When she goes to visit him, she finds that he has committed suicide by turning on the gas as suffocating himself, while clutching her letter. Fearing for her reputation, Monica takes the letter and leaves. She later learns from the coroner's inquest that Revelstoke had still been alive when she found him. The metered gas had shut off after she left and he would have survived had he not aspirated on his vomit; Monica could have saved him if she had called for help, a decision which torments her.
Monica returns to Canada to find that Pearl has had a son and that the trust will be dissolved, which makes Monica happy. At loose ends, she receives a letter from the much older Sir Domdaniel, proposing marriage. The book ends with her cabling him with her answer, but the reader is not told her decision.
The story centers on the redemption of its lead female character, Lady Edwina Esketh. Tom Ransome is an artist who leads a rather dissolute, if socially active life in the fictional town of Ranchipur, India. His routine is shattered with the arrival of his former lover, Lady Edwina Esketh, who has since married the elderly Lord Esketh. Lady Edwina first sets out to seduce, then gradually falls in love with, Major Rama Safti who represents the "new India."
Ranchipur is devastated by an earthquake, which causes a flood, which causes a cholera epidemic. Lord Esketh dies and Lady Esketh renounces her hedonistic life in favor of helping the sick alongside Major Safti. She accidentally drinks from a glass that has just been used by a patient, becomes infected and dies, making it possible for Safti to become the ruler of a kingdom that he will presumably reform. In the course of the story, a missionary's daughter, Fern Simon, and Ransome also fall in love.
Late one night, Donald Strachey is meeting a new client in a dark alley—one Paul Hale. Hale is very nervous, and before Strachey can calm what seems like paranoia, an incoming van approaches. Hale hands the private eye a $5,000 check for a retainer just before the speeding van separates the two. The next night, however, Paul Hale turns up dead. Both the coroner and Detective Bailey rule his death a suicide due to apparent evidence of alcohol and drugs nearby his body and in his bloodstream, but neither Donald nor Paul's mother are convinced of this. Phyllis Hale believes Paul was murdered. Strachey is determined to find out the truth about Paul's death. On the way to work the next morning, Strachey accosts someone who he believes is breaking into his office, but it turns out to be Kenny Kwon, who was fired during a confrontation between Strachey and his boss Nathan Zenck during a prior case. Kenny convinces Donald to hire him as Strachey Investigations' new office manager.
Strachey's lover Timmy Callahan is able to provide the firm a lead on Paul Hale—before he died, he was the spokesman for the Phoenix Foundation, which practices ex-gay conversion therapy. Strachey goes undercover into the Foundation as "Kyle". In his undercover persona, the detective introduces himself to Dr. Trevor Cornell, the Foundation's director. "Kyle" tells Cornell a story about a former soldier who was discharged for being gay—a story Strachey draws upon from his own past in his bid to be believable as an aspiring ex-gay.
Cornell isn't the only one who believes that being gay is a choice determined only by how much willpower a person exerts to "change". Phyllis, in her quest to blame homosexuals for Paul's death, deflects responsibility towards an openly gay friend of his from college, Larry Phelps, whom she suggests might have killed him for his attempts to become straight. Donald attempts to talk to Larry, but he assumes Strachey is dangerous. The P.I. gives chase, but Phelps manages to elude him. Then called to the police station, he is given a copy of the autopsy report by Bailey. It turns out the drugs found in Paul Hale's system were phenelzine, even though the bottles of pills found around his body contained Xanax. Hale didn't have a prescription for either drug, but Bailey won't investigate where Paul got the drugs, as he refuses to believe it was anything other than suicide.
Later, "Kyle" goes to a conversion therapy group, meeting the other participants in the ex-gay program. Among them are Grey, an attractive athletic type that is in a heterosexual marriage with a child, and Katie, who says she's working on being less tomboyish and was even engaged to Paul Hale. The longer "Kyle" spends time with Trevor and the recipients of his therapy, the more details he gets about the estrangement between them and Paul that occurred shortly before his death, but the undercover assignment takes its toll on Strachey's confidence in his openly gay identity, particularly during "Kyle"'s individual sessions with Cornell. Finally, in one session Strachey explodes into a confrontational tone, blowing his cover. Before Donald cuts ties with the ex-gays for good, Grey gives him two things—a DVD that will shed light on Paul's murder and an offer of extramarital sex. Strachey accepts the former, but declines the latter with great difficulty and mixed emotions.
At the office, Donald watches the DVD, which features a recording of Paul describing in vague terms what his experiences with the Phoenix Foundation did to change him—but not in the way he expected. Strachey is able to determine that Larry Phelps was the one who recorded Paul's appearance on the DVD, and knows whatever Paul did. Strachey tracks Larry down and convinces him that he means him no harm, and is not associated with the Phoenix Foundation. Larry informs Strachey that he and Paul secretly taped many of Cornell's individual sessions with his patients, but before he is able to tell Strachey everything he knows, an unknown assailant murders Phelps.
At home, Donald's conversations with Timmy become strained. Even broken away from Cornell's harmful messages, his influences as "Kyle" still weigh heavy in his heart, making him doubtful of what kind of future and possibilities an openly gay person can have in mainstream society, even implying to Timmy that he feels "trapped" in their relationship. Finally, one evening, Donald breaks down and tells Timmy about his past in the army and how he and his fellow soldier and lover of 4 months—Kyle Griffin—were discovered during a moment of intimacy. In the course of the investigation, Strachey caved to the pressure his military superiors were putting on him and told them the truth, something that devastated Kyle and their relationship. Donald confesses that the day they were both discharged, Kyle committed suicide.
The next morning, Cornell is taken into custody and charged with Larry Phelps' murder—because of evidence so convenient for an arrest warrant and open and shut prosecution, that Tim and Don are convinced that Cornell is being framed. With Trevor's reluctant blessing, Strachey convinces his wife Lynn to let him help her clear her husband of the serious charges he's facing. Strachey discovers a hidden camera in Cornell's office that transmitted movie files to a nearby computer in another room, which they uncover and then find out the truth. Katie is not a lesbian and has been sexually involved with Cornell, especially during their individual sessions, and it was she that put a lethal mix of phenelzine in Paul Hale's bourbon the night of his death, murdering both him and Larry Phelps. Katie turns up at the Foundation, holding both Strachey and Lynn Cornell at gunpoint, but he manages to disarm her. Cornell is freed, at the expense of his relationship with not only the now clearly insane Katie, but also his wife, and his program as well. Having nothing else to lose, Cornell tells Strachey why he was hired by Paul. He was hoping that the P.I. could track down Paul's father, who like his son, was gay, having been discovered by Paul's mother with another man, and facing Phyllis' intense disapproval. Strachey makes Phyllis realize how much damage her homophobia has caused her entire family, and he can now declare this case closed.
''Lament of Innocence'' is set in the fictional universe of the ''Castlevania'' series. Set in 1094, it focuses on the origins of the series' premise —the conflict between the vampire-hunting Belmont clan and the vampire Dracula. The protagonist and primary player character of ''Lament of Innocence'' is Leon Belmont (Nobutoshi Canna/Dave Wittenberg), a former baron and member of the Belmont clan. His close friend, Mathias Cronqvist (Nobuhiko Kazama/Crispin Freeman), tells him that Leon's betrothed, Sara (Yumi Tōma/Melissa Fahn), is being held captive by the powerful vampire Walter Bernhard (Yukimasa Kishino/Jamieson Price). During the game, he encounters Rinaldo Gandolfi (Hidekatsu Shibata/Michael McConnohie), an alchemist and resident of the forest outside Walter's castle.
Arriving on the castle grounds, Leon meets Rinaldo, who gives him a whip crafted by alchemy to assist in killing the monsters and enchants his gauntlet so he is able to use magic relics within the castle. Leon learns that he must defeat five monsters to gain access to Walter's throne room. Arriving at the castle, Leon proceeds to defeat the five monsters, including Joachim Armster (Hiroshi Kamiya/Michael Lindsay), a vampire kept prisoner in the castle by Walter. Before dying, Joachim mentions the Ebony and Crimson Stones, both of which are created from alchemy, and explains to Leon that the Ebony Stone can produce darkness. From Rinaldo, Leon learns that the Crimson Stone converts the souls of vampires into power for its holder.
After Leon reaches Walter's quarters, he rescues Sara and attempts to slay him with the whip, to no effect. At Rinaldo's cottage, it is revealed that Sara is slowly becoming a vampire. Rinaldo reveals that Leon must sacrifice Sara to make the whip effective against Walter. Overhearing their conversation, Sara begs him to kill her and use her soul to save others from suffering her fate. Leon reluctantly completes the ritual, creating the Vampire Killer whip.
Devastated by the loss of Sara, Leon returns to the castle to confront Walter and defeats him. Death (Masaharu Satō/Tom Wyner) takes the dying Walter's soul and offers it up to Mathias; Mathias appears and reveals he had orchestrated everything to obtain his soul and convert it into power for himself using the Crimson Stone. Mathias explains that he chose immortality as a vampire so he could curse God for taking away his beloved wife Elisabetha. He offers Leon the same, but a disgusted Leon refuses. Mathias orders Death to kill Leon, but Leon defeats Death and vows that the Belmont clan will hunt down Mathias and destroy him one day. (The game's epilogue reveals that Mathias became Dracula, the series' main antagonist.)
The protagonist (Paddy Considine) is a man tasked with looking after his friend Imogen's house, and is instructed to take her dog Rothko for walks, but not to let him off the leash. After putting Imogen's keys through the mail slot in her door (so they do not get lost), the man ensures that he will not lose Rothko by tying the dog's leash around his own neck. Rothko leads him to a park, where he viciously attacks and kills a duck in front of onlookers. As they shout at the man, Rothko (Chris Morris) begins to speak to him, taunting him.
The pair run away onto a bus, where the dog tells the man that he is his lawyer and is defending everything the man has ever done wrong. The man recalls a time where he was spoken to similarly by a gerbil as a child, telling him his father was cheating on his mother. The man and dog are kicked off the bus after the conductor finds out the man has no money.
The dog, enticed by a little girl's used handkerchief, follows her into a church, dragging the man with him. Inside, a christening is going on, and the dog tells the man he has brought him here for forgiveness for what he is about to do. The baby being christened speaks to the man, telling him to speak up and tell everyone in attendance that the priest is a paedophile and the baby's mother is a prostitute. Urged on by Rothko, the man does so, only for the baby to say, "Only joking!"
In the resulting commotion, the priest is knocked over, the baby is sent flying, and Rothko breaks free. The man catches the baby and chases Rothko out of the church, only to see the dog struck by a vehicle. The dying dog tells the man that he should now seek out legal counsel from the baby before he dies. When the man asks to speak to the baby, the baby's father punches him.
In a closing monologue, the man reveals he left a note to Imogen apologizing for the keys and dog, and imagines her being satisfied with it, but he is sure she is not. He no longer goes to the park, as he hears the ducks tell passers-by that he thought a dog could talk, and they refuse to stop when he tells them to.
''Please Teacher!'' is a story mainly revolving around a tight-knit group of friends in high school and how they cope with several life-changing events that are never too far off from intimate relationships. The main character is a boy named Kei Kusanagi who suffers from a very rare disease which causes a comatose state referred to as a "standstill" whenever he is under severe emotional distress.
Before the beginning of the story, Kei, at 15 years of age, had fallen into a "standstill" lasting three years after witnessing the suicide of his elder sister. After recovering, he quietly moved away from home in order to avoid social difficulty due to his long absence, and began living with his uncle, a medical doctor, and aunt. Due to the strange nature of how he came to live there, Kei wanted to keep the situation a secret from his new friends for fear of being ostracized as being too old to associate with them. After Kei had established himself in his new surroundings and had entered into a close group of mutually supportive friends, a Galactic Federation starship had entered Earth's atmosphere stealthily, approached Honshū Island and landed surreptitiously in Lake Kizaki.
The story begins with Kei suffering a minor 'standstill' while in the vicinity of the lake, witnessing several unexplainable phenomena happening there, and then watching as a beautiful half-human alien named Mizuho Kazami materialize beside the shore. Kazami was sent to observe planet Earth by a seemingly benevolent Galactic Federation in order to prevent humans from making developmental mistakes. Kei, upon observing the materialization, attempts to escape the pursuing Kazami. Kazami is under strict orders to prevent her true identity and mission from being discovered. During his attempt to escape, Kei falls into the lake. Kazami rescues Kei and, using information from his identification, is able to return him home in secret. The next day, Kazami has become Kei's new homeroom teacher and next-door neighbor.
During assisting her in moving in, Kei suffers another standstill, and while in a weakened state explains his predicament to the compassionate Mizuho, who ends up revealing her own origins and purpose on Earth. Several accidental activations of Mizuho's teleport technology (which were inadvertently caused by Kei) eventually place Kei and Mizuho in a couple of compromising situations in front of his uncle and aunt and his school's headmaster, but Kei protects Mizuho from charges for an inappropriate relationship between student and teacher by impulsively stating that they are married, resulting in an actual civil marriage that later blossoms into genuine affection for each other. The headmaster relents, partly because he, too, had married a former student younger than himself and can understand their situation personally. Both are allowed to stay so long as they do not reveal their status to the other students, and do not engage in any public displays of affection.
The remainder of the series concerns the budding intimate relationships between the close friends, one of whom (Koishi Herikawa) is romantically interested in Kei, and another (Ichigo Morino) who has suffered even greater loss of time from the same disease as he has; the problems of having to maintain the secrecy of the marriage; an interfering parent and sibling visiting from the Galaxy Federation; and Kei learning to overcome the ever-present threat of another lengthy 'standstill' stealing more of his life, particularly as he has fallen deeply in love with Mizuho and desperately wants to remain with her.
Eventually Kei falls into another major "standstill" and in order to bring him out of it, Mizuho has to use her technology which is against the law. As a result, her status on Earth is revoked, she is banned from the planet and all memory of her is erased from everyone's, including Kei's, minds. With the help of her mother and sister she sneaks back and is devastated to learn that Kei, who she is deeply in love with, has no memory of her. While helping her move back in, Kei reveals that his memory has returned and the two express their love for each other and get married again.
The first episode introduces the protagonist, Dr. Gus Lloyd, an Antimatter physicist, engineer and video game designer who has created a live-action game in his spare time to exert his indignant feelings about his recent divorce and all the people in his life who have all made his life hell on Earth (his father, his ex-wife's mother, his ex-wife's divorce lawyer, his ex-girlfriend, his former employer, a high school football-Quarterback bully, his old camp counselor, etc.); the villains of the game are modeled after all these people. The master villain is Jackal, who is a combination of the devil and Gus' father. The Jackal wears a vanilla-white ice cream suit and drives a Chrysler convertible to match.
The hero is "The Cold-Steel Kid," a warrior trying to save the dying world, dons commando wear and is naturally modeled after Gus himself, and the sometimes helplessly captive, sometimes active heroine ingenue The Kid is always trying to rescue — "The Girl" — is based on Lauren Ashborne, Gus' ex-wife (wearing the kind of dress of a "Damsel in distress").
In an accident involving an experimental laboratory project, Jackal and the villains step out of the game and into the real world to cause the apocalyptic carnage and domination they were programmed to for the game.
Each week, one of the villains tries to carry out an evil plot according to the rules of the video game, and Gus, Lauren, and Gus' friend Peter Rucker try to defeat and destroy the said villain. Almost indestructible and superhumanly strong, each villain is programmed with specific weapons and weaknesses based on that villain's "theme"; e.g., "Killshot's" Achilles' Heel was being sprayed with water, The Boss would "fire" people with exploding pink slips and his weak link was red ink, The Evil Shirley's was dirt and she would be wiped out by having a house fall on her, The Camp Counselor would get burned by being hit with charcoal and would be killed off by an arrow shot right through the bulls-eye on his T-shirt, The Practical Joker could only be defeated by his master prank being foiled, The Divorce Attorney was a being that sucked up electricity and distributed it in the form of lightning bolts (her weakness was being hit with a foam-rubber arrow), The Motivational Speaker literally ate Bologna sausage and killed people with a gun that ejected audiocassettes and would reduce them to nothing but his audiotape, and he could only be destroyed by eating his own words. He could be slowed down with shots from a paintball gun.
Another weekly bad guy was a corrupted car mechanic that tasered people with a calculator and would be destroyed by seeing his own reflection. And of course, The Garbage Man was damaged by cleaning products and The Orthodontist (as well as his assistant) had an aversion to sugar. All the henchmen were instantly obliterated—going up in smoke and blue light when the Jackal's evil weekly master scheme was foiled. The Jackal's own vice was being hit with a baseball—the very one autographed by Bobby Mercer that Gus got from the only baseball game he ever went to with his own father. Jackal is present in every episode, commanding the other villains and vexing the heroes, usually with a glass of champagne in hand.
Two boys, Ralph (Robert Downey, Jr.) and Scott (Kieffer Sunderland), hitchhike home from college, arriving on Easter morning and shout their greetings across the glen to their families during a lakeside Easter Sunrise service, much to the amusement of Ralph's younger sister, Beth (Winona Ryder), and mother, Ev, and embarrassment of Scott's mother, Jessie, and father, Cliff. Later that day, they drive Scott's older brother, Alden, who is shipping off to Vietnam, to the bus depot; Alden and Scott fight when Scott accuses the Marine of being afraid to go to Vietnam. Their father arrives, wondering what is going on.
A few weeks later, Scott and Ralph again return home from college to attend Beth's high school graduation, where they learn that Ralph has flunked out of college (thus making him eligible to be drafted). The boys decide to spend the summer on the road, living out of their van, experiencing all the freedom that the counterculture has to offer. Eventually, they arrive back at their hometown in the middle of its summer festival, where they learn that Alden has disappeared and is considered MIA. Ralph and Scott hatch a plan to steal their files from the local draft board office, but they are caught, and Ralph is arrested.
Scott is now determined to avoid Ralph's fate, planning to head to Canada to avoid the draft. Scott invites Beth to travel with him on his trip, and to stay away until the end of the war. Admitting their attraction to each other, they make love in the van. Later, they decide to visit Ralph in jail to tell him they are leaving. Ralph reveals in a very sarcastic tone that he actually wants to go to Vietnam. When he learns that his friend and his sister have had sexual relations, he disowns Scott and ignores Beth.
Scott and Beth get to the Canada–US border and are about to cross but have a change of heart and head back to Maryland. When they get home, they learn of Alden's death in the line of duty. Scott leads a huge march downtown in the midst of the funeral, where Ralph is released from jail and the friends are reunited. The film ends with a narration by Scott, announcing that his family and friends later join hundreds of thousands of other Americans towards Washington, D.C. to protest the Vietnam War.
Dinky Bossetti is a 15-year-old girl who was adopted as a baby. Dinky is an unkempt goth kid who is constantly picked on at school, although it is not obvious which came first – her antisocial attitude or her being rejected by her adoptive parents and peers. Dinky finds solace in her "Ark", a small cabin-boat beached on a lake shore. In and around the boat, Dinky has collected a menagerie of abandoned animals.
Dinky's adoptive mother Rochelle is disappointed that the daughter she chose has no interest in "feminine" things, such as makeup and nice clothing. Her adoptive father, Les, passively allows his wife to scold Dinky and send her to various "counselors" who are little more than temporary jailers. Her teachers give her no support when classmates ostracize, taunt, and throw things at her. Dinky enjoys thumbing her nose at her peers and embarrasses Gerald, a cute popular boy, by reading a condescending love poem to him in class.
Dinky is befriended by the new school guidance counselor Elizabeth Zaks, who recognizes her intelligence and spirit. Ms Zaks tries to encourage Dinky to improve her appearance and get along with others more effectively, without compromising her true self. Gerald begins to take an interest in Dinky and tries to get other students to stop harassing her, but Dinky doesn't notice, even though he occasionally spies on her. Dinky becomes convinced that she is the abandoned daughter of Roxy Carmichael, a minor film star who left town for Hollywood 15 years before. Roxy has been invited to return to town to assist in the dedication of a new municipal building, and she has accepted. Dinky becomes fixated on the many similarities she shares with Roxy and questions the town folks for memories of her. The news of her return stirs up old jealousies and insecurities: old schoolmates gossip wildly. Dinky harasses Denton Webb, Roxy's old boyfriend, for information and he lets it slip that Roxy secretly had his baby before she left town, not realizing that Dinky now believes he is her father. Denton becomes so obsessed with Roxy's return that his wife Barbara moves out.
As the date for Roxy's return draws nearer, Dinky becomes more and more desperate to prove that she is Roxy's daughter, visiting the star's childhood home (which is maintained as a cheesy museum), and obsessively questioning Denton about what happened the night she left, believing that Roxy will take her away to a new life. On the day that Roxy is due to arrive, Dinky packs her suitcase and arrives at the welcoming ceremony in a beautiful dress. Rochelle has invited representatives from a boarding school so she can send Dinky away, but Les finally stands up to his spouse and reminds her Dinky is their daughter. A limousine draws up, but a man gets out with a note of explanation: Roxy has not come back. Before the limousine can drive away, Dinky runs after it. Realizing the reason for Dinky's obsession with Roxy, Denton catches up with her and tells her the whole story: although Roxy did have a baby girl, and did leave her with him, the baby died. Roxy is not Dinky's mother, nor is he her father.
Left with nothing, Dinky is rescued by Gerald, who has developed feelings for her. At first, Dinky is suspicious of his interest, but the end of the film shows them together in a relationship where she is really appreciated for who she is, as things return to normal in the town.
Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne, two kind but dimwitted young men, are best friends and roommates living in Providence, Rhode Island. Lloyd, a chip-toothed limousine driver, immediately falls in love when he meets Mary Swanson, a woman he is driving to the airport. Upon arriving and saying goodbye to Lloyd, she leaves a briefcase in the terminal. Lloyd sees this and attempts to return it to her, unaware that it contains ransom money for her kidnapped husband, Bobby, and that she intentionally left it for her husband's captors, Joe "Mental" Mentalino and J. P. Shay. Her Aspen-bound plane has already departed, leading to Lloyd running through and falling out of the jetway.
Fired from his job for leaving the scene of an accident, Lloyd returns to his apartment and learns that Harry has also been fired from his dog-grooming job after delivering dogs late to a show and accidentally getting them dirty. Mental and Shay follow Lloyd home from the airport in pursuit of the briefcase. Mistaking the crooks for debt collectors, the two flee the apartment and return later to find that Mental and Shay have ransacked the apartment and decapitated Harry's parakeet. Lloyd suggests they head to Aspen to find Mary and return the briefcase, hoping she can "plug them into the social pipeline". At first, Harry opposes the idea, but he eventually agrees and the pair leaves the next day.
Mental and Shay catch up to the duo at a motel that night. Posing as a hitchhiker, Mental is picked up by Harry and Lloyd while Shay secretly follows them. During a lunch stop, the duo pranks Mental with chili peppers in his burger, unaware that he has a stomach ulcer. When Mental reacts adversely, they accidentally kill him with rat poison pills (which he planned to use on them) after mistaking it for his medication. Meanwhile, the police are waiting on the road to Colorado for them to show up, after finding out about Mental's death. Nearing Colorado, Lloyd takes a wrong turn after getting distracted and ends up driving all night through Nebraska. Upon waking up and realizing Lloyd's mishap, Harry gives up on the journey and decides to walk home, but Lloyd later persuades him to continue after trading the van for a minibike.
The two arrive in Aspen, but are unable to locate Mary. After a short scuffle over some gloves that night, the briefcase breaks open and they discover the money; they spend it on a hotel suite, clothes, and a car. They learn that Mary and her family are hosting a gala and prepare to attend. At the gala, Harry, attempting to lure Mary over to Lloyd, reluctantly agrees to go skiing with her the next day and lies to Lloyd that he got him a date. The next day, Lloyd finds out Harry lied to him after waiting all day for Mary at the hotel bar.
In retaliation, Lloyd pranks Harry by serving him a coffee laced with a potent dose of laxative, causing Harry to spontaneously defecate in a broken toilet at Mary's house. Lloyd arrives at Mary's house and informs her that he has her briefcase. He takes her to the hotel, shows her the briefcase, and confesses his love after some initial struggle; she rejects him, as she is already married. Nicholas Andre, an old friend of the Swansons and the mastermind behind Bobby's kidnapping, arrives with Shay and, upon learning that Harry and Lloyd had spent all of the ransom money and replaced the money with IOUs, takes Lloyd and Mary hostage, as well as Harry when he returns. An argument leads Nicholas to shoot Harry. Before Nicholas can kill them, an FBI team led by Beth Jordan (whom Harry met earlier at a gas station and Lloyd met earlier at the bar) raids the suite, where Beth tells Harry and Lloyd that the FBI and the police had been following them all the way from Providence. Harry is revealed to be alive thanks to a bulletproof vest that was strapped on him earlier. Nicolas and Shay are arrested, and Mary and Bobby are reunited, much to Lloyd's dejection.
The next day, Harry and Lloyd are seen walking home on foot because all of their purchases were confiscated and their minibike has broken down. The two inadvertently decline the chance to be oil boys for a group of bikini girls, after which Harry tells Lloyd that they will get their "break" one day, then play a friendly game of tag as they walk back to their Rhode Island home.
Andy McDermott is a tourist seeing the sights of Paris with his friends Brad and Chris. When Serafine Pigot (presumably the daughter of the werewolf from the first film) leaps off the Eiffel Tower just before Andy is about to bungee jump, he executes a mid-air rescue. She vanishes into the night, leaving Andy intrigued. That night, Andy, Chris, and Brad attend a nightclub called Club de la Lune hosted by Serafine's friend Claude. Serafine is not present, so Chris volunteers to go back to her house. He frees her from a cell in the basement and is locked in it. He escapes when he finds a legless werewolf confined to a bed. The club's owner, Claude, is actually the leader of a werewolf society that uses the club as a way to lure in people (preferably tourists) to be killed. Serafine arrives, tells Andy to run away, and transforms into a werewolf. The club owners transform into werewolves as well, and butcher all the guests, including Brad and Andy.
The next day, Andy wakes up at Serafine's house. She tells him he is transforming into a werewolf. This revelation is interrupted by the ghost of Serafine's mother. Andy jumps out the window in panic and runs away. Chris tries to get his attention, but Claude kidnaps him. Brad's ghost appears to Andy and explains his werewolf condition. For Andy to become normal again, he must eat the heart of the werewolf that bit him, and for Brad's ghost to be at rest, the werewolf that killed him must be killed. After developing an appetite for raw meat, Andy hooks up with an American tourist named Amy Finch at a cemetery. He transforms and kills her and a cop who tailed him, suspecting Andy was involved in the Club de la Lune massacre. Andy is arrested, but escapes. He begins to see Amy's ghost, and she tries to find ways to get him killed.
Claude and his henchmen capture Andy and pressure him to join their society, but Andy must kill Chris to prove his loyalty. Serafine again saves him, and they return to her home to find her basement ransacked and her stepfather, the confined werewolf, dead. Serafine explains that her stepfather prepared a drug to control werewolf transformations, but the drug had the opposite effect: forced transformation. As a result of testing on Serafine, she killed her mother and savaged her stepfather. Claude had taken these drugs during the ransacking.
Andy and Serafine learn of a Fourth of July party Claude has planned and infiltrate it. They try to help the people escape, but flee once they see that police have entered. Claude and his men inject themselves with the transforming-inducing drug and slaughter almost all the guests. Andy and Serafine flee after killing a werewolf and setting Brad's spirit free. Serafine takes the drug to fight another werewolf when they become separated. Andy encounters them but, not knowing who is who, he accidentally shoots her and leaves her to be found by the police. A werewolf then attacks him, chasing him down to an underground train track. The train stops due to it hitting the werewolf. It gets on the train where it attacks the driver and several passengers. The drug wears off, revealing Claude as the werewolf. Claude tries to inject himself with the last vial, but he is interrupted by Andy and the two fight. When Andy finds that Claude is the culprit behind his infection, the two struggle to obtain the last vial of the drug, and Andy is accidentally injected. After transforming, Andy kills and eats Claude's heart, thus ending his own werewolf curse and presumably Serafine's (this point is not clarified since earlier in the movie Serafine implied that Claude had stolen ''her'' blood to become a werewolf. In an alternate ending, after Andy eats Claude's heart, Serafine has a vision of her stepfather in the back of an ambulance, explaining how he found a cure before his death). An ambulance transports her to the hospital.
Serafine and Andy celebrate their wedding atop the Statue of Liberty with Andy's pal Chris, who survived. They bungee jump off when Chris accidentally drops the wedding ring from the statue.
''Noble House'' is set in 1963. The tai-pan, Ian Dunross, struggles to rescue Struan's from the precarious financial position left by his predecessor. To this end, he seeks partnership with an American millionaire, while trying to ward off his arch-rival Quillan Gornt, who seeks to destroy Struan's once and for all. Meanwhile, Chinese communists, Taiwanese nationalists, and Soviet spies illegally vie for influence in Hong Kong while the British government seeks to prevent their actions. Anyone seeking to stop them cannot do so without enlisting the aid of Hong Kong's criminal underworld. Other obstacles include water shortages, landslides, bank runs and stock market crashes.
In ''Noble House'', Dunross finds his company the target of a hostile takeover at a time when Struan's is desperately overextended. He is also embroiled in international espionage when he finds himself in possession of secret documents desperately desired by both the KGB and MI6. The novel follows Dunross' attempts to extricate himself from all this and to save Struan's, the Noble House.
Ronnie Winslow, a fourteen-year-old cadet at the Royal Naval College, is accused of the theft of a five-shilling postal order. An internal enquiry, conducted without notice to his family and without the benefit of representation, finds him guilty, and his father, Arthur Winslow, is "requested to withdraw" his son from the college (the formula of the day for expulsion). Arthur Winslow believes Ronnie's claim of innocence and, with the help of his suffragette daughter Catherine and his friend and family solicitor Desmond Curry, launches a concerted effort to clear Ronnie's name. This is no small matter, as, under English law, Admiralty decisions were official acts of the government, which could not be sued without its consent—traditionally expressed by the attorney general responding to a petition of right with the formula "Let Right be done".
The Winslows succeed in engaging the most highly sought-after barrister in England at the time, Sir Robert Morton, known also as a shrewd opposition Member of Parliament. Catherine had expected Sir Robert to decline the case, or at best to treat it as a political football; instead, he is coolly matter-of-fact about having been persuaded of Ronnie's innocence by his responses to questioning (in fact, a form of cross-examination, to see how young Ronnie would hold up in court) in the presence of his family, and is shown mustering his political forces in the House of Commons on the Winslows' behalf with little concern for the cost to his faction. Catherine remains unconvinced of Sir Robert's sincerity, perhaps not least because of his record of opposition to the cause of women's suffrage, but also due to his dispassionate manner in the midst of the Winslow family's financial sacrifices.
The government is strongly disinclined to allow the case to proceed, claiming that it is a distraction from pressing Admiralty business; but in the face of public sympathy garnered through Winslow and Catherine's efforts, and of Sir Robert's impassioned speech on the verge of defeat in the Commons, the government yields, and the case is allowed to come to court. At trial, Sir Robert (working together with Desmond Curry and his firm) is able to discredit much of the supposed evidence. The Admiralty, embarrassed and no longer confident of Ronnie's guilt, abruptly withdraws all charges against him, proclaiming him entirely innocent.
Although the family has won the case at law and lifted the cloud over Ronnie, it has taken its toll on the rest. His father's physical health has deteriorated under the strain, as to some degree has the happiness of the Winslows' home. The costs of the suit and the publicity campaign have eaten up his older brother Dickie's Oxford tuition, and hence his chance at a career in the civil service, as well as Catherine's marriage settlement. Her fiancé John Watherstone has broken off the engagement in the face of opposition from his father (an Army Colonel), forcing her to consider a sincere and well-intentioned offer of marriage from Desmond, whom she does not love. Sir Robert, on his part, has declined appointment as Lord Chief Justice rather than drop the case. The play ends with a suggestion that romance may yet blossom between Sir Robert and Catherine, who acknowledges that she has misjudged him all along. The last couplet of the dialogue ("How little you know women, Sir Robert" and "How little you know men, Miss Winslow") seems to bolster this implication.
In the play, Rattigan quotes from actual parliamentary debates and court transcripts but makes major changes to the characters and the timing of events.
In the play, it was Ronnie's father who first believed in his innocence; in fact, it was his older brother, Martin, who persuaded their father, and used his influence as an MP to involve Carson in the case.
Martin Archer-Shee junior was a very different character from the failed university student, Dickie Winslow, of the play. He was a Conservative Member of Parliament from 1910, and in his mid-thirties at the time of the case. Arthur Winslow was also made less prosperous than his factual counterpart.
Although Archer-Shee did have a sister, she did not have much in common with Catherine Winslow in the play, a suffragette and, as we learn in the final lines of the play, a potential future politician. To some extent then, Rattigan has reversed the character and roles of the brother and sister. Also, her erstwhile fiancé, John Watherstone, and Desmond Curry, a solicitor who eventually proposes to Catherine, appear to be fictional.
Whilst the play gives only indirect reference to the court case and the parliamentary debates, the 1948 film introduces scenes from these events that are not in the play.
Rattigan also moved the events closer to the start of World War I, though the conflict is remote from the characters. In fact, both George and Martin Archer-Shee fought in the First World War; Martin commanded an infantry battalion, and George was killed, at the age of 19, at the First Battle of Ypres. His name is inscribed on the war memorial in the village of Woodchester, Gloucestershire, where his parents lived; on the memorial plaque outside the Catholic St Mary on the Quay church in Bristol city centre, where he had been an altar boy; on the war memorial at the University of Roehampton, established by the Society of the Sacred Heart (George's half-sister Winefrede Archer Shee having been a religious follower of the Society); and on Tablet 35 of the Menin Gate in Ypres, as he has no known grave.
Philadelphia:
A theater group is rehearsing a play. The time of the rehearsal is the present, and the time of the play being rehearsed is 1792 to 1902. The play being rehearsed is a history of the White House and the servants who serve the President. One actor plays all the Presidents, and one actress plays all the First Ladies. The main serving staff are the African-American characters of Lud Simmons and Seena. Three generations of adult and young Lud's are played by the same two actors. Lud is an escaped slave who later marries Seena. The events covered in the play include the selection of a new capital city, the Burning of Washington in 1814, the prelude to the U.S. Civil War, the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, the 1876 presidential election, and the administration of Chester Alan Arthur. In between rehearsing the various scenes, the actors offer commentary and reflect on the past injustices suffered by black people throughout the time period covered by the play. This culminates in the Actor Playing the President and the Actor Playing Lud refusing to continue rehearsing the show. After reflection, the Actor Playing the President realizes all he wanted was to feel proud of his country and that he loves this land.
New York:
The four main cast members address the audience and inform them that the play covers the first one hundred years of the White House. They say America is a play that is always in rehearsal, undergoing revisions and improvements. The plot then covers the same historical material as the Philadelphia version; however, the actors' commentary is entirely removed.
Leonid, the narrator and protagonist of the story, is a Bolshevik revolutionary and mathematician living in St. Petersburg. The novel begins with an explanation of Leonid's few relationships within the revolutionary movement and with his love interest, Anna Nikolaevna. Despite his intimate relationship with Anna, Leonid confesses in the opening pages that their ideological differences concerning the revolution were too extreme for him to overcome. It is at this point in his life that Leonid, informally known as Lenni, is visited by Menni, a Martian in disguise. Almost immediately after they become acquainted, Menni invites Leonid to assist in a project designed to study and visit other planets, such as Venus and Mars. At first, however, Menni fails to reveal that the true purpose of the visit would be for Leonid to teach his own culture to Martians and to simultaneously understand and experience theirs; this point is only revealed to Leonid after he has embarked on the journey to Mars.
The trip is accomplished by the "etheroneph", a combination of nuclear rocket and anti-gravity device. On their way to Mars, Leonid is exposed gradually to Martians and their society. He is introduced to all of the other Martian travelers, such as Netti and Sterni, who he remarks as bearing very few individually distinguishable features, even when comparing opposite genders. With the help of Menni and Netti, his doctor, Leonid is able to speak the Martian language by the time they arrive. During an attempt to acquaint himself with all of the other travelers, Leonid partakes in a scientific experiment with an elder Martian named Letta. However, the experiment fails and causes a puncture in the etheroneph's hull, causing Letta to sacrifice himself and plug the hole with his body. As a result of this, Leonid feels responsible for the elder Martian's death. This is also the first notable instance of a strong emotional response by the crew, as they are deeply saddened by Letta's passing (especially Netti).
Part 1 concludes with their arrival on the planet of Mars.
At this point in the novel, Bogdanov details some of the aspects of the socialist Martian society as seen through Leonid’s eyes. First, Leonid comments that the red hue of Mars is actually due to the red vegetation that covers the planet. Secondly, he remarks on the living conditions of the Martians, noting that they are indistinguishable from one another. Thus, even a Martian like Menni, whom Leonid perceives to be more accomplished individually than most of his peers, lives in the same housing as the rest of his Martian compatriots. Thirdly, Leonid learns that there is no professional specialization among Martians such that an individual can enroll himself for work in a clothing factory one day and switch to food production the next day. In fact, job assignments are chosen based on societal need, and there is furthermore no requirement for an individual to work at all; yet, almost all Martians decide to work a varying number of hours anyway in order to feel fulfilled and accomplished. Leonid soon learns that there is no focus on or appreciation for the individual whatsoever in this Martian society, but rather admiration arises for collective effort and decides to leave.
Eventually, the unfamiliarity of Mars and the stress of his mission exhaust Leonid to the point of being delusional and he becomes bedridden with severe auditory and visual hallucinations. Just in time, Netti is alerted to his condition and treats him for his severe illness. While Leonid is recovering, he finds out, contrary to his original assumption, that Netti is female. His previous feelings for her are then only deepened and they quickly fall in love with one another as Part 2 comes to a close.
As Leonid continues to build upon his relationship with Netti, he finds himself increasingly enjoying his time on Mars. He has formed strong bonds with a number of Martians, such as Netti and Menni, and has found himself a steady position working at the clothing factory, albeit at a noticeably less efficient pace than the Martians around him. However, it is soon after this period that both Netti and Menni are called away for what is described initially as a mining expedition to Venus. While they are away, Leonid develops a relationship with Enno, another fellow shipmate from his arrival to the planet whom he assumed to be male but is in fact a female. During their time together, Enno revealed that she used to be the wife of Menni, and likewise Netti used to be married to Sterni (yet another shipmate). This revelation of Netti's previous marriage emotionally shakes Leonid, and he resorts to speaking with Netti's mother, Nella, who produces a note written by Netti in which she confesses her love for Leonid despite her previous relationship. It is here that yet another idealized socialist aspect of Martian society is realized - the fluidity of love and the ability for a Martian to have multiple lovers and maintain multiple relationships, both at once and over the course of a lifetime.
While discovering many other things about the nature of personal relationships on Mars, Leonid uncovers frightening information. He discovers that the council in charge of the Venus expedition was vying for either Venus's or Earth’s colonization as a possible solution to their hitherto untold problem of overpopulation on Mars. It is revealed to Leonid here that the true motive behind Menni and Netti's expedition to Venus was to consider its hospitality. Yet, as the recording of the debate that Leonid is watching seems to conclude, Venus is seemingly inhospitable, leaving Earth as the sole suitable host to be colonized by the Martians, for slowing population growth was out of the question and seen as regressive. The argument presented by Sterni in this conference states that colonization of Earth is the only feasible solution and that such an expansion would only be made possible if Earth’s human population was eradicated. It is only through the negative feedback presented by Netti and Menni that a final effort to visit Venus is allowed. As Leonid’s emotional state is not fully recovered from his exhaustion, this news sends him into a state of psychosis. His resolution is to murder Sterni, which he proceeds to do. Part 3 closes with Leonid's realization that his act of murder likely only cast Earth and its inhabitants into a worse light, and he commits himself to leave Mars and subsequently returns to Earth in a hopeless mental state.
Leonid finds himself in the mental health clinic of Dr. Werner, an old comrade. In a meeting with Dr. Werner, Leonid attempts to confess his murder of Sterni but Werner casts it aside as a symptom of Leonid's disease, and tells Leonid that none of the events on Mars actually occurred, and that his memories are simply an effect of his delirium. In his stay at Werner's clinic, he spends one day searching through Werner's office and finds the scraps of a letter containing Netti's handwriting, thus convincing him that Netti is on Earth. Once he is fully recovered, Leonid leaves the hospital with the assistance of a friendly guard and rejoins the revolutionary fight, but this time with a matured perspective. The novel ends with a letter from Dr. Werner to Mirsky (a character assumed to be Plekhanov). In this letter, Leonid’s reunion with Netti is described and it is inferred that they have returned to Mars together.
Chance Harper, a freelance photographer, is afflicted with a bizarre tendency to always be in the wrong place at the right time. As Chance himself says, "If I go to a restaurant, somebody chokes. If I walk into a bank, it gets robbed." Harper's strange luck began when, as a small child, he was the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed everyone else aboard, including his mother and sister.
The novel tells the history of Hawaiian Islands from the creation of the isles to the time they became an American state through the viewpoints of selected characters who represent their ethnic and cultural groups in the story (e.g. the Kee family represents the viewpoint of Chinese-Hawaiians). Most of the chapters cover the arrivals of different peoples to the islands.
'''Chapter 1: From the Boundless Deep''' describes the creation of the Hawaiian land from volcanic activity. It goes into flavorful detail describing such things as primary succession taking root on the island to life finally blooming.
'''Chapter 2: From the Sunswept Lagoon''' begins on the island of Bora Bora, where many people, including King Tamatoa and his brother Teroro, are upset with the neighboring isles of Havaiki, Tahiti etc. because they are trying to force the Bora Borans to give up their old gods, Tāne and Ta'aroa, and start worshiping 'Oro, the fire god, who constantly demands human sacrifices. Tamatoa suggests to his brother and friends that they should migrate to some other place where they might find religious freedom. After finally agreeing to this plan, his brother secretly sets fire to Havaiki to take revenge for the human sacrifices they have been demanding from Bora Borans. Later they take the canoe ''Wait for the West Wind'' and sail to Hawaii. Later some return to Bora Bora to bring back with them some women and children and an idol of the volcano goddess, Pele.
'''Chapter 3: From the Farm of Bitterness''' follows the journey of the first Christian missionaries to Hawaii in the 1800s and their influence over Hawaiian culture and customs. Many of the missionaries become founding families in the islands, including the Hales and Whipples.
'''Chapter 4: From the Starving Village''' covers the immigration of Chinese to work on the pineapple and sugarcane plantations. The patriarch of the Kee family contracts leprosy (a.k.a. the ‘Chinese sickness’) and is sent to the leper colony in Molokai. Chapter 4 includes a fictionalized version of 1893 historical events known as the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
'''Chapter 5: From The Inland Sea''' focuses on Japanese workers brought to the islands to replace Chinese laborers; the latter begin to set up their own businesses. It also covers the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
'''Chapter 6: The Golden Men''' summarizes the changes in Hawaiian culture and economics based on the intermarriages of various groups in the islands.
The kingdom of Harmonia, ruled by King Reginald, has been under siege from dungeon keepers for a while, and his wizards have devised a device known as a Portal Gem to confine evil creatures to the underworld, while still allowing good forces access. Reginald has twenty Portal Gems, each assigned to a realm and safeguarded by its guardian. These devices have forced even serious dungeon keepers into retreat. An evil warrior known as the Horned Reaper (or "Horny") believes he has the ability to remove Portal Gems from Harmonia, and has enlisted the player's assistance in conquering its realms so he can claim the Portal Gems.
The story is based on a war that breaks out in Tethyr amongst the Bhaalspawn. The player character (PC) must venture through regions including the city of Saradush, which is under siege by fire giants, a fortress in the Underdark, and a monastery in Amkethran. Through the game, the PC has to defeat five legendary Bhaalspawn, known as The Five.
As the story progresses, The Five kill all their brethren, despite the efforts of Melissan, a woman trying to save all the innocent Bhaalspawn and keep them safe in Saradush. Only when the PC kills off The Five and uncovers his own power is the truth revealed: Melissan is in fact Amelyssan the Blackhearted, the mastermind behind both The Five and the slaughterer of all the Bhaalspawn. She was once Bhaal's high priestess, to whom he entrusted the task of his resurrection. She does not intend to resurrect the god, however. Instead, she is preparing to become the Goddess of Murder herself.
With all quests finished and all Bhaalspawn killed, the PC must journey to the planar Throne of Bhaal for the great final battle against Amelyssan. Ultimately, the PC is presented with the choice of either ascending the throne of Bhaal or destroying it and returning to peaceful life as a mortal. If the PC chooses to ascend, they have the option of either becoming the new God of Murder or becoming a deity dedicated to good and righteousness.
Melissan is a mysterious woman who meets the main character early in the game and offers help and information. Melissan claims to help the innocent Bhaalspawn who are caught up in the war and solicits the main character's help throughout the story. Her real motives remain mysterious throughout most of the game. Her true name is revealed to be Amelyssan the Blackhearted, and she is the mastermind behind the Five and the deaths of all Bhaalspawn. She is to become the new goddess of Murder and is the final enemy in the ''Baldur's Gate'' saga. She is voiced by Heidi Shannon. Illasera is a weak elven Bhaalspawn with a lot of bravado. She is the first Bhaalspawn the PC encounters in the ''Throne of Bhaal''. She is voiced by Grey DeLisle. Yaga-Shura is a fire giant besieging the city of Saradush with his army. He would be invulnerable but for his Achilles' heel, his heart, whose destruction renders him vulnerable but no less fearsome. He is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. Sendai is a drow cleric and mage. The PC does not get the chance to battle her immediately, but must first defeat wave after wave of statues of Sendai. She is voiced by Vanessa Marshall. Abazigal is a half-dragon of great power. The PC has to first kill his son, Draconis, outside Abazigal's lair before setting up a meeting with him. Both Abazigal and Draconis begin fighting in human forms before changing into their immensely more powerful dragon forms during their respective encounters. Abazigal is voiced by Jim Cummings. Balthazar is a good-aligned monk of immense power, who feels the only way to destroy the curse of Bhaal is to become the Lord of Murder and then end his own life. He is voiced by Jeff Osterhage. Gromnir Il-Khan is a half-orc Bhaalspawn who is the leader of the town of Saradush. While at the beginning it is believed that he is mad and paranoid, his wild theories about Melissan turn out to be true. He is voiced by Jim Cummings. Cespenar is an imp who can refer to his "secret recipes" in order to forge wonderful weapons from special bits of items that the PC collects along his journey. He claims that he is the main character's private butler and respects them as the "Great One". He is voiced by Jeff Bennett. Solar is a celestial being who teaches the player character in the PC's pocket plane. She is voiced by Charity James. Demogorgon is a demon prince of tremendous power included in the Watcher's Keep expansion area as an optional boss. He is voiced by Jim Cummings.
Two years after the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, Heihachi Mishima and his scientists have captured samples of Ogre's blood and tissue to splice with Heihachi's genome, in order to make him immortal. The experiment fails since Heihachi lacks the Devil gene. His grandson, Jin Kazama, possesses the Devil gene but has been missing since the previous tournament. Meanwhile, Heihachi learns that the body of his son, Kazuya, who also had the Devil gene and whom Heihachi killed by throwing into a volcano twenty years ago, is stored in the labs of the G Corporation, a cutting edge biotech firm making revolutionary advances in the field of biogenetics research. Heihachi sends his Tekken Forces to raid G Corporation facility in order to retrieve Kazuya's remains. However, the mission fails when the Tekken Force is wiped out by none other than Kazuya himself, who has been revived by G Corporation a few days after his apparent death. Unknown to Heihachi, Jin has been in a self-imposed training exile in Brisbane, to unlearn the Mishima karate style and master traditional karate, loathing anything to do with his bloodline since Heihachi's betrayal.
In an attempt to lure Kazuya and Jin out, Heihachi announces the King of Iron Fist Tournament 4, with the ownership of the Mishima Zaibatsu being the top prize. At Stage 7, where Jin and Kazuya are scheduled to fight, Jin is ambushed and captured by the Tekken Force and taken to Hon-Maru, a Mishima Dojo in the woods. Kazuya is declared the default winner of Stage 7 and meets Heihachi at the final stage later questioning him of Jin's disappearance. They clash and Heihachi emerges victorious. After the fight, instead of killing Kazuya outright, Heihachi leads him to Hon-Maru, where an unconscious Jin has been chained. Before Heihachi can enchain his son as well, Kazuya's body is suddenly taken over by Devil, who explains to Heihachi that 21 years ago, after throwing Kazuya into a volcano, half of its entity split from it and possessed Jin. Devil telekinetically knocks out Heihachi and then subconsciously taunts Jin, which causes him to wake up with his Devil powers activated. Breaking the chains, an enraged Jin fights Kazuya and defeats him. Heihachi regains consciousness and goes to fight against an exhausted Jin, but is also defeated. As he is about to finish Heihachi, a vision of his mother, Jun Kazama, causes him to spare Heihachi in her honor. Stretching his Devil wings, Jin takes flight, leaving the unconscious Kazuya and Heihachi in Hon-Maru.
Two years after the events of the King of Iron Fist Tournament, the Mishima Zaibatsu, under the leadership of Kazuya Mishima, has become more corrupt and powerful than ever before, and is involved in many illegal operations. While his father Heihachi Mishima was rather ruthless in his endeavors, Kazuya acts completely without a conscience. He hires assassins to eliminate any of his critics and rivals, attempts to extort money from several businesses and organizations, and smuggles endangered species to conduct genetic experiments on them. The reason for his evil deeds is because he has allowed the Devil Gene within him to consume him as a result of his hatred towards Heihachi.
Meanwhile, Kazuya is sentenced to being arrested by animal rights activist and operative Jun Kazama for his experiments. Heihachi on the other hand, whom Kazuya had defeated and thrown off a cliff two years ago, has climbed back up and is training himself, plotting to overthrow Kazuya. In an attempt to rid himself of Heihachi and his enemies once and for all, Kazuya announces the King of Iron Fist Tournament 2, with a large cash prize of one trillion dollars, knowing that Heihachi will appear.
When Jun eventually comes face to face with Kazuya, she tries to arrest him, but instead the both of them can not help being drawn to one another, propelled by a mystic force beyond Jun's control. She later gets pregnant with Kazuya's child, resulting in her leaving everything behind to raise their child. Meanwhile, Heihachi arrives at the tournament, winning against the opposing fighters but losing to Paul Phoenix.
In the final round, eventually reaching Kazuya, Heihachi replaces Paul when he was forced to forfeit after getting stuck in traffic as result of a multi-car collision on the expressway, and therefore unable to make the match on time, Heihachi confronts Kazuya and they battle once again. The Devil Gene takes over Kazuya's body, resulting in Kazuya becoming a Devil creature. However, despite this, Kazuya is not strong enough to overpower Heihachi because of the internal conflict within him, between his evil side - represented by Devil within him - and his good side - represented by an unknown entity called Angel, which was brought forth after his meeting with Jun. Heihachi takes Kazuya's unconscious body to a volcano, and throws him into it before escaping on a helicopter just as the volcano erupts behind him, having taken his revenge and regained the Mishima Zaibatsu. In the meantime, Jun gives birth to Kazuya's illegitimate son.
Fifteen years after the King of the Iron Fist Tournament 2, Heihachi Mishima has established the Tekken Force: a paramilitary organization dedicated to the protection of the Mishima Zaibatsu. Using the company's influence, Heihachi is responsible for many events that have ultimately led to world peace. One day, a squadron of Tekken Force soldiers search an ancient temple located in Mexico under the premise of an excavation project. Soon after arriving there, Heihachi learns that they were obliterated by a mysterious and malevolent creature known as Ogre. Heihachi, having captured a brief glimpse of Ogre before its immediate disappearance, seeks to capture Ogre in the hopes of harnessing its immense fighting power for his own personal gain. Soon after, various known martial artists end up dead, attacked, or missing from all over the world, with Ogre behind all of it.
Jun Kazama has been living a quiet life in Yakushima with her young son, Jin Kazama, fathered during the events of the previous tournament by Heihachi's son, Kazuya Mishima. However, their peaceful life is disrupted when Jun begins to sense Ogre's encroaching presence and knowing that she is now a target, instructs Jin to seek Heihachi if anything happens. Sometime after Jin's fifteenth birthday, Ogre attacks. Against Jun's wishes, Jin valiantly tries to fight Ogre off, but he knocks him unconscious. When Jin awakens, he finds that the ground surrounding his house has been burnt and his mother is missing and most likely dead. Driven by revenge, Jin is confronted by the Devil, which brands Jin's left arm and possesses him. Jin goes to his grandfather, Heihachi, explaining his situation and begging him for training to become strong enough to face Ogre. Heihachi accepts and takes Jin under his wing, as well as sending him to Mishima High School where Jin meets a classmate named Ling Xiaoyu and her pet Panda.
Four years later, Jin masters the Mishima karate style. On Jin's nineteenth birthday, Heihachi announces the King of Iron Fist Tournament 3, and Jin himself prepares for his upcoming battle, having no idea that his grandfather is secretly using him, Xiaoyu, and the rest of the competitors as bait in order to lure Ogre out into the open.
Paul Phoenix makes it to the final round of the tournament, after defeating the opposing fighters including Kuma, Jin Kazama and Heihachi Mishima in the previous rounds. He enters a large temple, defeats Ogre, and walks away from the tournament; thinking he is victorious. However, unbeknownst to Paul, Ogre morphs into his second, monstrous form known as "True Ogre" after absorbing Heihachi's power and the tournament continues after his departure. Jin who was reinstated in the tournament and replaces Paul Phoenix in the final round confronts True Ogre and manages to defeat him as Ogre completely dissolves, avenging his mother's death and winning the Tournament as a result. Moments later, Jin is suddenly gunned down by a squadron of Tekken Force led by an awakened Heihachi, who no longer needing him, personally fires a final shot into his grandson's head. Jin, however, revived by the Devil within him, reawakens and dispatches the soldiers, smashing Heihachi through the wall of the temple as he survives the fall. Jin then sprouts black, feathery wings and flies off into the night as Heihachi looks on from the ground.
Set moments after ''Tekken 4'' s ending, Jin Kazama's departure from the Hon-Maru dojo, G Corporation helicopters approach and begin deploying Jack-4 pods into the building. Heihachi Mishima and his son, Kazuya, are awoken to a squadron bursting through the walls. At first, the two battle the Jacks together until Kazuya leaves Heihachi for dead while escaping. The Jacks hold down Heihachi while one activates its detonator, creating a huge explosion that seemingly kills Heihachi. The only witness to the event is Raven, a mysterious ninja clad in black, who relays Heihachi's death to his superiors. Heihachi's death is declared all over the world with everyone foreseeing the end of the Mishima Zaibatsu. However, somebody else takes over the company from the shadows and business continues as usual.
Two months later, the King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 is announced. Meanwhile, Jin is plagued by nightmares triggered by his Devil Gene and decides to enter the tournament in hopes of ending it. His father, Kazuya deduces that the Jack-4s were sent by G Corporation to assassinate him and decides to enter the tournament to take revenge against whoever had sent them. The secret sponsor of the tournament and owner of the Mishima Zaibatsu is finally revealed to be Jinpachi Mishima, the father of Heihachi who was confined below Hon-Maru by Heihachi after a coup forty years ago. However, he was possessed by a vengeful spirit who granted him insurmountable power, after which he broke out of Hon-Maru during the Jacks' attacks. Jinpachi, in his last act of morality, had announced the tournament in the hope that someone would be able to kill him before his potential reign of terror could start.
Hwoarang faced Jin and defeated him in the later stages of the tournament. While Jin was lying on the ground, suddenly, he roars paranormaly and produces a gale that blows Hwoarang away. From Jin's back, two black wings spread, and Jin stands up in his devil form. Hwoarang is at his wits end. He is not able to fight back, and soon he is knocked unconscious. In the end, presumably because Hwoarang could not continue, Jin was allowed to continue in his place, and progress through the tournament and finally, he faces his devil powered great-grandfather, Jinpachi in a ferocious duel. Ultimately, Jin manages to defeat Jinpachi, who dissolves into dust and disappears shortly after, with his wish being fulfilled. With this victory, Jin becomes the new head of the Mishima Zaibatsu, setting in motion the events of Tekken 6.
''Abe's Oddysee'' focuses on a variety of species that inhabit the game's setting of Oddworld: the Mudokons, a species with a rich history and culture who have been slowly transformed into meek, obedient slaves, leaving many who are born into captivity ignorant of their kind's past; the Glukkons, a species that covet power and money, lacking any morals or restraints on achieving their goals, and who have established large industries that have stripped Oddworld of its natural resources; and the Sligs, who have escaped enslavement by willingly serving as guards and hunters for the Glukkons. The game mostly focuses on Abe, a Mudokon slave employed as a floor waxer, who acts as both the narrator and the game's protagonist. Abe is described as a "klutz", and is portrayed with his mouth sewn shut, possibly to prevent his outcry.Ballistic Publishing, ''The Art of Oddworld: The First Ten Years 1994–2004'', page 33 During his adventure, Abe is joined by Elum, a stubborn, loyal assistant. Abe and Elum were originally envisioned as beginning ''Abe's Oddysee'' together, living off the land until thrust into an industrial factory, but the developers determined that the story would be stronger should Abe come from a factory existence and gradually learn to become self-sufficient.Ballistic Publishing, ''The Art of Oddworld: The First Ten Years 1994–2004'', page 46
The primary antagonist of the game is Molluck the Glukkon, the ruthless CEO of RuptureFarms, a massive meatpacking company and one of Oddworld's most profitable businesses. Molluck and his fellow Glukkons are often portrayed as wearing smart clothing or suits, and sometimes smoking cigars. They rely heavily on the Sligs and a highly advanced security and surveillance system to maintain control of their Mudokon slaves.
and film production. While working late at RuptureFarms a large-scale meat-processing plant on Oddworld Mudokon slave Abe inadvertently overhears the plant's owner Molluck the Glukkon in conversation with his fellow Glukkons. Due to the decline in the population of animals that supply meat for the plant's products one of which has now gone extinct RuptureFarms is losing money. To return to profitability, Molluck proposes making a new product out of Mudokons.Ballistic Publishing, ''The Art of Oddworld: The First Ten Years 1994–2004'', pages 56–59 Frightened at learning his species will be harvested for meat, Abe decides to escape from the plant, causing him to become a fugitive in the eyes of the Glukkons.'''Abe:''' The Glukkons were scared, 'cause profits were grim, / Paramites and Scrabs were turning up thin. / But Molluck was cool—he had a plan, / A new source of meat was already at hand. / Finding New and Tasty would not be a fuss, / This new kind of meat—it was us! / I had to escape, I had to be free, but there was no escaping my destiny. Managing to overcome the Glukkons' security force of Sligs, Abe escapes and reaches the region known as the Free-Fire Zone.
Upon looking to the sky, Abe sees a moon with its face in the shape of a Mudokon handprint, but becomes so focused on it that he falls down a cliff and smashes his head. A shaman of the Mudokons, whom Abe calls Big Face due to the mask he wears,Ballistic Publishing, ''The Art of Oddworld: The First Ten Years 1994–2004'', page 96 helps him to recover while explaining that only he can save his enslaved brethren from RuptureFarms. In order to do this, Big Face states that Abe must undergo spiritual trials in the lands of the Paramites and the Scrabs, and traverse a set of labyrinthine, abandoned temples. Upon doing so, the shaman marks Abe's hands with a scar, each representing the two species,Ballistic Publishing, ''The Art of Oddworld: The First Ten Years 1994–2004'', page 95 granting him the power of the Shrykull, an invincible demigod.Ballistic Publishing, ''The Art of Oddworld: The First Ten Years 1994–2004'', page 71
With this ability, Abe returns to RuptureFarms, rescues his Mudokon brethren, and deactivates most of the factory's power. Molluck discovers this and decides to flood the entire factory with poisonous gas. Abe races to the boardroom to try to stop the gas, using his powers to destroy the Glukkon execiutives summoned there under the pretense of an emergency board meeting. After Abe deals with the gas, Molluck manages to capture him, and prepares to send him to a meat grinder. If the player failed to rescue at least 50 Mudokons throughout the game, Abe succumbs to his fate; if the player manages to rescue at least 50 Mudokons, the freed slaves summon magical lightning to zap Molluck, with BigFace rescuing Abe and bringing him home to a hero's welcome.Ballistic Publishing, ''The Art of Oddworld: The First Ten Years 1994–2004'', p. 97
Following the destruction of SoulStorm Brewery, the Glukkons commercially harvest the froglike Gabbits nearly to extinction, harvesting them for their eggs, to create a caviar-based delicacy called "Gabbiar", and their lungs, needed to replace their own because of their excessive chain-smoking habit. Munch, the last surviving Gabbit, is captured and brought to Vykkers Labs, a floating research fortress, where the Vykkers prepare to convert him into a slave to find animals for them, to allow them more time for their research. After having an electronic device attached to his head for that purpose, Munch finds he can use it to help break free captured Fuzzles, who help him to break free from his own confinement. At the same time, the Mudokon hero Abe is instructed by the "Almighty Raisin", an ancient oracular creature, to find and rescue Munch upon learning of his predicament. Abe reaches the Lab, just as Munch manages to escape via a waste chute, and work together to return to the Raisin.
Upon returning to see him, the Raisin reveals that both need to work together to get back into Vykkers Labs, where Abe can find the eggs off unborn Mudokons that he needs to save. Although not willing to return, Munch learns that the only way to save his species from extinction is to recover the last can of Gabbiar in existence, which is due to be auctioned in the Labs. The duo discover that the only way to infiltrate the Labs and the auction is to assist a lazy Glukkon named Lulu, who desire to achieve a fortune from other Glukkons and elevate himself to the highest rank amongst his species. To assist in this, the duo track down and force various wealthy Glukkons to donate their money to Lulu's accounts, swiftly making him a multi-millionaire. Lulu then heads to Vykkers Labs to bask in his new-found fame and wealth, to which Abe and Munch use the opportunity to break into the Labs. What happens next depends on the overall level of Quarma the player has attained by this point
If the player fails to rescue enough Fuzzles and Mudokon scrubs, attaining less than 50% Quarma, the duo find themselves ambushed by the Fuzzles, who turn on them for not rescuing their kind from the Vykkers. As a result, Abe is killed and has his head displayed as a trophy, while Munch is killed by the Vykkers while extracting his lungs for the Glukkon queen, Lady Margaret. If the player achieves the level of "Black Quarma" (10% Quarma), it's revealed additionally that the Gabbiar has been eaten and the Mudokon eggs have hatched into a new labor force.
If the player has saved a reasonable number of Fuzzles and Mudokons scrubs, attaining 50% Quarma or more, the duo begin working to rescue the eggs of the Mudokons before the auction is to take place, sending them to a transport commandeered by Abe's fellow Mudokons. Eventually, the duo manipulate Lulu to attend the auction and take part in it, with Abe managing to maintain control on him win the auction. In the resulting chaos, the duo rescue the can of Gabbiar and escape from the Labs. On the ship, As the duo leave across the skies, Abe and Munch watch as Vykkers Labs are destroyed by explosives planted within by the Fuzzles, and witness a second moon in the sky baring the footprint of the Gabbits on its face. If the player achieves the rank of "Angelic Quarma" (90% Quarma), it is revealed that in the aftermath of the destruction of Vykkers Labs, and the liberation of the Mudokon eggs, the industrial economy is thrown into disarray at the hands of Abe and Munch, and Lulu is blamed for it.
Walter Davis (Bruce Willis) allows his brother, Ted (Phil Hartman), to set him up on a blind date with Ted's wife's cousin, Nadia (Kim Basinger).
Nadia is shy and the two experience some awkwardness. However, as the evening goes on, Nadia begins to drink and behave in a wild manner. (A warning about her behavior under the influence of alcohol had been given by Ted's wife, but when Ted relayed the warning to Walter, he made it sound like a joke and strongly hinted that Walter might actually benefit from giving her alcohol.)
To make matters worse, Nadia's jealous ex-boyfriend, David (John Larroquette), shows up and exacerbates the situation by stalking the couple all night, assaulting and attempting to assault Walter several times, even ramming Walter's car with his own.
Walter ends up being driven insane by Nadia's mishaps and David's pursuit; she gets him fired at the dinner; his car is destroyed; after wreaking havoc at a party, Walter gets arrested for menacing David with a mugger's revolver. He even forces David to do a moonwalk before firing at the frightened man's feet.
Nadia posts $10,000 in bail and agrees to marry David if he will help Walter avoid prison time. Before the wedding, Walter gives Nadia chocolates filled with brandy and attempts to sabotage the marriage. Chaos ensues.
In the end, Nadia humiliates David by rejecting him to the delight of their guests as she and Walter decide to give their relationship another shot. The final scene shows Nadia and Walter on their honeymoon on a beach, with a two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola chilling instead of champagne.
Residents of the small, isolated, 19th-century, Pennsylvania village of Covington live in fear of "Those We Don't Speak Of," nameless humanoid creatures living within the surrounding woods. The villagers have constructed a large barrier of oil lanterns and watchtowers that are constantly staffed. After the funeral of a child, the village Elders deny Lucius Hunt's request for permission to pass through the woods to get medical supplies from the towns. Later, his mother Alice scolds him for wanting to visit the towns, which the villagers describe as wicked. The Elders also appear to have secrets, keeping physical mementos hidden in black boxes, supposedly reminders of the evil and tragedy in the towns they left behind.
After Lucius makes an unsanctioned venture into the woods, the creatures leave warnings in the form of splashes of red paint on all the villagers' doors.
Ivy Elizabeth Walker, the blind daughter of Chief Elder Edward Walker, informs Lucius that she has strong feelings for him and he returns her affections. They arrange to be married, but Noah Percy, a young man with an apparent developmental disability, stabs Lucius with a knife, because he is in love with Ivy himself. Noah is locked in a room while a decision awaits regarding his fate.
Edward goes against the wishes of the other Elders, agreeing to let Ivy pass through the forest and seek medicine for Lucius. Before she leaves, Edward explains that the creatures inhabiting the woods are actually members of their own community wearing costumes and have continued the legend of monsters in an effort to frighten and deter others from attempting to leave. Two young men are sent to accompany Ivy into the forest, but they abandon her almost immediately, fearful of the creatures. While traveling through the forest, one of the creatures attacks Ivy. She tricks it into falling into a deep hole to its death. The creature is actually Noah wearing one of the costumes, which he discovered under the floorboards of the room where he had been confined after stabbing Lucius.
After she climbs over the wall at the woods edge, Ivy encounters a park ranger driving a patrol car who is shocked to hear that she has come out of the woods. Ivy gives the ranger a list of medicines that she must acquire.
The ranger talks to his boss, not mentioning his encounter with Ivy, and it is revealed that it is the early 21st century instead of the 19th century. The village was founded in the late 1970s by Edward Walker, then a professor of American history at the University of Pennsylvania. Recruiting people he met at a grief counseling clinic, they join in creating a place where they would live and be protected from any aspect of the outside world. Edward's family fortune purchased a wildlife preserve, built Covington in the middle, funding a ranger corps to make sure no one got in, and even paid off the government to make it a no-fly zone.
The park ranger retrieves the requested medicine from the ranger station and Ivy returns to the village, unaware of the truth of the situation.
During her absence, the Elders secretly open their black boxes, each containing mementos from their lives in the outside world, including items related to their past traumas as crime victims. They gather around Lucius's bed when they hear that Ivy has returned and that she killed one of the monsters. Edward points out to Noah's grieving mother that his death will allow them to continue deceiving the rest of the villagers that there are creatures in the woods.
The New Adventures significantly expanded the ''Doctor Who'' universe. The character of the Doctor was recast as Time's Champion, which was sometimes interpreted figuratively and sometimes literally – Time, Death and Pain are occasionally seen as personified beings (possibly Eternals), who were worshipped as gods in Ancient Gallifrey. The Doctor was also shown to have a link to the Other, a figure from the time of Rassilon and Omega; the nature of this link was most explicitly shown in ''Lungbarrow''.
Many new parts of the TARDIS were seen in the New Adventures, including a tertiary console room made of stone. The Doctor was also seen to have a house in Kent which he used as a base of operations at different points in the 20th and 21st centuries; this "House on Allen Road" first appeared in ''Cat's Cradle: Warhead''. Also appearing in ''Warhead'' and its sequels, ''Warlock'' and ''Warchild'' (all by Andrew Cartmel) are the ecological activist Justine and psychic Vincent Wheaton.
Alien races created for the New Adventures include the Chelonians (who first appear in ''The Highest Science'') and the Pakhars (who first appear in ''Legacy''). Another group of adversaries who appear in several New and Missing Adventures are the Great Old Ones, derived from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. In the New Adventures, these beings are survivors of the universe before this one, who therefore exist in accordance with a different set of physical laws. A being calling itself Azathoth in ''All-Consuming Fire'' turns out to be an impostor, but the novel identifies several other ''Doctor Who'' monsters with Lovecraftian entities: the Great Intelligence is Yog-Sothoth, the Animus is Lloigor, Fenric is Hastur the Unspeakable, and an Old One encountered in ''White Darkness'' is Cthulhu.
The early New Adventures were explicitly linked in story arcs, indicated in the books' titles. Later novels in the series were often, but not always, linked in looser story arcs, which were noted in publicity materials but not in the titles.
:During a visit to Ancient Mesopotamia, the Doctor accidentally grants a cybernetically enhanced alien queen the ability to travel freely in time, thus creating the Timewyrm. The Doctor and Ace pursue the Timewyrm through time and space, from a Nazi-occupied Britain to the far future. Eventually, after a battle within his own mind, the Doctor is able to trap the Timewyrm in the body of a mindless baby, forcing it to relinquish its power and memories but giving it a new chance at life.
:The TARDIS is damaged by a three-way collision with an alien parasite and time explorers from ancient Gallifrey. While the TARDIS attempts to repair itself, the Doctor and Ace fight the sinister Butler Corporation in the early 21st century. The final repairs to the TARDIS's link to the Eye of Harmony require organic material, which the Doctor eventually acquires after a visit to Wales and Tír na n-Óg, a planet inhabited by beings modelled after figures from Celtic mythology and English folklore. However, unbeknownst to the Doctor, the organic material is tainted with a demonic intelligence, which infects the TARDIS.
:On the planet Heaven, Ace falls in love with a Traveller named Jan. However, when Heaven is threatened by the deadly fungal Hoothi, the Doctor manipulates Jan into sacrificing himself to destroy the Hoothi. Furious, Ace leaves the Doctor's company, and he is joined by archaeologist Bernice Summerfield. Benny and the Doctor travel through the history of Earth and its colonies from the 22nd through 26th centuries, having adventures alongside Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart and William Blake. Both the TARDIS and the Doctor begin behaving more and more erratic as a result of the TARDIS's infection. As part of his plan to remove the infection, the Doctor brings Ace back on board the TARDIS, but she has spent three years fighting Daleks in Earth's Spacefleet, and has been somewhat hardened by the experience. Ace rejoins the Doctor, and turns the tables on him by manipulating him into a mission on the planet Lucifer.
:The Doctor continues to stage manage events like a chess master playing on multiple boards. At one point he even deposits Benny and Ace in 1909 and the distant future, respectively, to defeat an alien invasion on their own, while he uses the TARDIS's "Jade Pagoda" and defeats a Cyberman plot in 2006.
:The TARDIS lands in a tar pit in an Earth ruled by the Silurians. This is an alternate universe in which the Third Doctor died in a Silurian prison and was not able to prevent the Silurian plague from devastating the human race. The Doctor recognizes that this universe is draining energy from the real one, and creates a Time Ram with his counterpart's TARDIS and his own, to destroy the altered reality; his own TARDIS is apparently destroyed, and he leaves in his counterpart's. The Doctor realises that someone has been altering the past, including the Doctor's own timeline. An alteration of the Doctor's encounter with the Matrix allows an ancient Gallifreyan evil to be resurrected; the psychic force of a dead Aztec priest-king survives for much longer than it should; and the Land of Fiction survives the Doctor's previous visit, with a new Writer (a young man named Jason) who traps the Doctor in a poorly constructed fictional world. Eventually the changes are revealed as the work of the Meddling Monk here named "Mortimus" and using a captured Chronovore to alter the timeline. He frees the Vardans from the time loop the Doctor had imprisoned them in, but the Doctor and UNIT are able to defeat an attempted Vardan invasion of Earth in 1976. Ace pretends to join the Monk and frees the Chronovore, who restores (most) of the altered realities to their ''status quo ante''. Her encounter with the Monk also helps Ace to forgive the Doctor for his past manipulations.
:After a visit to Peladon, Benny briefly leaves the Doctor and Ace to join an Ice Warrior archaeological team on Phaester Osiris. She rejoins them in time for the trio to become involved in a complex scheme by Irving Braxiatel to defeat a civilization of theatre-obsessed conquerors who had been threatening the Braxiatel Collection. In 1887, the trio join forces with Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson and encounter the Giant Rat of Sumatra before eventually traveling to Bombay and the planet Ry'leh to foil an alien impersonating the Great Old One Azathoth.
:After spending several months running a speakeasy in 1920s Chicago, the Doctor returns to E-Space to face a renewed Vampire threat, and is reunited with Romana, who returns with him to Gallifrey. At an Air Force base in 1957 New Mexico, the Doctor, Benny and Ace encounter the Master, who has used nanotechnology provided by a race known as the Tzun to restore and regenerate his body. Later, the three travelers meet one of the oldest beings in the universe, a "grey man" who tries to weaken the good-and-evil dualism which his people had instilled in the universe's structure.
:On Earth in the 21st century, the Doctor, Benny and Ace investigate a new drug called "warlock" which has the power to enable the user to transfer his or her mind to another place or body; they discover that drug is actually an alien gestalt intelligence, and help it to leave the Earth. A series of rifts in time and space (created by a crude time machine used by Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart) sends Ace to Ancient Egypt, Benny to France in 1798, and the Doctor to the Paris Commune of 1871; the three are eventually reunited, but Ace decides to stay behind in Paris, keeping one of Kadiatu's time hoppers. She takes the title of Time's Vigilante.
:After Ace's departure, Benny has a series of painful losses. First, her friend Darius Cheynor (a 24th century officer first encountered in ''The Dimension Riders'') survives an encounter with powerful Sensopaths from the end of time, only to be killed in a conflict with the cybernetic Phractons. Shortly thereafter, Bernice falls in love with the 13th century Knight Templar Guy de Carnac, who apparently dies defending a Cathar village in the Albigensian Crusade. Unable to understand Benny's grief on a human level, the Doctor purchases a device which alters his biodata, transforming him into a human named Dr. John Smith. Smith lives as a history teacher at an English public school, and falls in love with a fellow teacher named Joan. However, when alien Aubertides, hoping to acquire Time Lord abilities, attack the school, Smith sacrifices himself and becomes the Doctor once more; as the Time Lord, he is unable to love Joan in the way the human John Smith did. Joan gives the Doctor her cat Wolsey.
:Investigating a mysterious warning about Earth in the 30th century, the Doctor and Benny meet Adjudicators Roz Forrester and Chris Cwej. The four discover extensive corruption in the Earth Empire, and a trail which leads them to the Doctor's old enemy Tobias Vaughn, who had survived his betrayal by the Cybermen and worked for centuries behind the scenes to ensure that Earth was victorious over alien foes. Vaughn is a driving force behind the Earth Empire, but is defeated by the Doctor. Roz and Chris cannot return to the corrupt Adjudicator force, and join the Doctor and Benny in the TARDIS.
:The four travellers have several adventures in quick succession, from a journey to the strange pocket dimension known as the System, to an encounter with Chelonians on a distant planet. They also stop the abduction of children from 1919 Earth to fight in an unending war on the planet Q'ell.
:The Land of Fiction and its new Writer, Jason, trouble the Doctor again, this time creating a fictional "Dr. Who" whose two-dimensional morality contrasts with the complex manipulations of Time's Champion. In this adventure, the Doctor is temporarily reunited with both Ace and his former companion Mel, who is dismayed at the changes the Doctor has undergone since she knew him. The Land of Fiction's energy had escaped into the real world as a side effect of Kadiatu Lethbridge-Stewart's time travel, so the Doctor finds Kadiatu and takes her to the Dyson Sphere inhabited by the culture known as the People, who are so highly advanced that they have a non-aggression treaty with the Time Lords. While the Doctor, Roz and Chris investigate a possible murder, Benny helps Kadiatu overcome the programming which had turned her into a killing machine.
:Following this, the crews of both the TARDIS and the solar yacht ''Tiger Moth'' become involved in the ongoing Sontaran/Rutan conflict. In 1941, Benny spends several months incognito in Nazi-occupied Guernsey, investigating a German weapon which has the potential to change the course of the Second World War – a weapon inspired by a passing remark made by the Doctor to a German scientist in 1936.
:The TARDIS travellers next have several adventures involving humans with psychic abilities. Many of these involve a shadowy organization known as the Brotherhood. The first psi-powers encounter is a final encounter with Vincent Wheaton, who has lost his powers but is manipulating his psychic son Ricky. Next, the time travellers investigate an outbreak of psychic powers on the planet Yemaya 4 in the 23rd century, which turns out to be carrying the mind of a sentient computer. The travellers have several other adventures before their next encounter with the Brotherhood.
:In the distant Dagellan Cluster, while the Doctor attempts to mediate an interplanetary war between three stellar empires, a war which Roz and Chris become caught up in, Benny meets and falls in love with a displaced human drifter and con-artist named Jason Kane. The two decide to get married. The Doctor arranges a gala wedding in the English village of Cheldon Boniface, in the early 21st century, home of Ishtar Hutchings, the former Timewyrm. He invites and provides transportation for guests from points throughout time and space, including Ace, Kadiatu, Irving Braxiatel and Sherlock Holmes and Watson. The wedding is interrupted by the Master, who had stolen a Gallifreyan relic to build himself a new body, and had created a Fortean flicker to distract the Time Lords with improbable coincidences; however, his plan had backfired when the flicker caused the Doctor to coincidentally arrive to arrange Benny's wedding. The Master's backup plans are defeated with the help of Ishtar; the temporal energy she releases also rejuvenates the aging Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. The Fortean flicker also returns the Doctor's original TARDIS from the alternate reality where it had been seemingly destroyed. The Doctor gives Benny and Jason two time rings as wedding presents.
:On Mars shortly before the Dalek invasion of Earth, the Doctor, Roz and Chris discover a plan by a rogue Ice Warrior faction to assemble an ancient Osirian weapon to wreak revenge on the human colonists who have driven them off their planet. Returning to his investigations of human psi-powers, the Doctor travels to New York State in 1799, where he battles Cacophany, the Carnival Queen, representative of the irrationality banished from the universe by the earliest Time Lords.
:Benny then contacts the Doctor, asking for his help in discovering what happened to her father Isaac Summerfield, a Spacefleet Admiral who disappeared during a crucial battle with the Daleks. The Doctor and Bernice discover that Isaac's ship was caught in a time rift and ended up on Earth in the twentieth century. They find Isaac in an English village in 1983, running an underground railroad for stranded aliens. While Chris and Roz become closer, the Doctor and Benny deal with a plot to change human history.
:The Doctor recovers the trail of the mysterious Brotherhood in 1880s Paris, where several secret societies are using psychic powers to their own advantage. Investigating an unusually deadly shipment of cocaine in a London council estate in 1987, the Doctor, Roz and Chris discover that an ancient Gallifreyan weapon called an N-Form has been activated, in part by the distorted psychic bond between twins separated at birth. In the 2980s, while human nobles (including Roz's sister Leabie Forrester) fight for control of the Earth Empire, the Brotherhood (which has become a powerful player in galactic politics) hopes to use another Gallifreyan artefact, the Nexus, to induce psychic powers in all human beings. While the Doctor and Chris focus on the threat posed by the Brotherhood, Roz joins her sister in her bid to reform the corrupt Empire. Although the Doctor is able to defeat the Brotherhood utterly, he is unable to save Roz from dying in battle. Leabie becomes Empress, and at Roz's funeral the Doctor suffers a heart attack.
:While recovering from Roz's death in 1958 London, the Doctor and Chris encounter Moriah, an alien king who has been creating artificial life-forms in an effort to bring back his dead wife, and the Doctor's former companion Peri, who has been trapped in a loveless marriage to King Yrcanos since she and the Doctor parted. In 2003, when Benny and Jason join two archaeological teams searching for Noah's Ark, a ruthless Iranian soldier accidentally causes a deadly biological agent to be released in the Earth's atmosphere, killing hundreds of millions, including Liz Shaw. Benny and Jason agree to divorce.
:In 16th-century Japan, the Doctor meets Victorian time-traveller Penelope Gate (whom later BBC novels suggest may be his mother) and comes to terms with his recent losses and impending regeneration (of which he is aware). Chris also begins to heal and discover his own form of heroism. Finally, the Doctor returns to his family home on Gallifrey, where long-buried secrets are revealed. Chris decides to remain on Gallifrey and Romana, now Lady President, sends the Doctor to Skaro to retrieve the Master's remains. This leads into the events of the television movie.
:The Eighth Doctor meets Benny at the house on Allen Road in 1997, and the two of them (alongside the Brigadier) defeat an Ice Warrior invasion. At the story's end, the Doctor takes Benny to her new job in the 26th century, a position at St. Oscar's University on the planet Dellah.
The fictional town of Grantville, West Virginia (modeled on the real West Virginia town of Mannington) and its power plant are displaced in space-time, through a side effect of a mysterious alien civilization.
A hemispherical section of land about three miles in radius measured from the town center is transported back in time and space from April 2000 to May 1631, from North America to the central Holy Roman Empire. The town is thrust into the middle of the Thirty Years' War, in the German province of Thuringia in the Thuringer Wald, near the fictional German free city of Badenburg. This Assiti Shards effect occurs during a wedding reception, accounting for the presence of several people not native to the town, including a doctor and his daughter, a paramedic. Real Thuringian municipalities located close to Grantville are posited as Weimar, Jena, Saalfeld and the more remote Erfurt, Arnstadt, and Eisenach well to the south of Halle and Leipzig.
Grantville, led by Mike Stearns, president of the local chapter of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA), must cope with the town's space-time dislocation, the surrounding raging war, language barriers, and numerous social and political issues, including class conflict, witchcraft, feminism, the Reformation and the Counter-Reformation, among many other factors. One complication is a compounding of the food shortage when the town is flooded by refugees from the war. The 1631 locals experience a culture shock when exposed to the mores of contemporary American society, including modern dress, sexual egalitarianism, and boisterous American-style politics.
Grantville struggles to survive while trying to maintain technology sundered from twenty-first century resources. Throughout 1631, Grantville manages to establish itself locally by forming the nascent New United States of Europe (NUS) with several local cities even as war rages around them. But once Count Tilly falls during the Battle of Breitenfeld outside of Leipzig, King Gustavus Adolphus rapidly moves the war theater to Franconia and Bavaria, just south of Grantville. This leads to the creation of the Confederated Principalities of Europe (CPoE) and some measure of security for Grantville's ''up-timer'' and ''down-timer'' populations.
The game opens with Ecco, a bottlenose dolphin, as he and his pod are swimming in their home bay. A podmate challenges Ecco to a game to see how high he can jump into the air. When he is in the air, a giant waterspout forms and sucks up all marine life in the bay except Ecco, leaving him alone in the bay. Upon leaving the bay, Ecco swims around meeting other marine life including other dolphins who tell them they have felt the storm and the entire ocean is in chaos. An orca that Ecco encounters tells him to travel to the Arctic to meet the "Big Blue", an ancient blue whale revered by marine life for his age and wisdom, who might be able to help Ecco on his journey. Arriving in the Arctic after a long journey through the ocean, Ecco finds the Big Blue, who says that the storms occur every 500 years. Though the Big Blue doesn't know what causes the storms, he suggests that Ecco should seek the Asterite, the oldest life form on Earth. Acting on this advice, Ecco leaves the Arctic and travels to a deep-sea cavern, where he finds the Asterite. To his dismay, though the Asterite would otherwise have the power to aid Ecco, it currently can't, as some orbs from its body were lost a long time ago. The Asterite tells Ecco to go to the sunken ruins of the city of Atlantis, where he can use the time machine left behind by the Atlanteans to retrieve the orbs.
Ecco travels to the sunken city of Atlantis, where he discovers an ancient library filled with Glyphs, giant crystals filled with information. From the library, Ecco learns about the source of the storms: an alien race known as the Vortex lost the ability to produce food on their planet. According to the texts, when the planets align once every 500 years, the Vortex use their technology to harvest from the waters of Earth. The Atlanteans fought a long war with the Vortex, which only ended when the Vortex fired a beam at Atlantis, sending the city into the depths of the ocean. Learning this, Ecco activates the time machine and travels 55 million years into Earth's past. While Ecco is in the past he learns an ancient song to communicate with a ''Pteranodon''. Ecco locates the Asterite in the past but is immediately attacked by it. Forced into battle, he manages to dislodge a globe from it. This opens a time portal and he is sent back into the present. After receiving the globe, the Asterite grants him the power to turn his sonar into a deadly weapon against the Vortex, as well as the abilities to breathe underwater and to slowly regenerate lost health. The Asterite instructs him to use the time machine to travel back in time to the hour of the harvest. This time he manages to be sucked into the waterspout with his pod. Ecco is sent flying through outer space to a giant tube-like machine. Making his way through the construct Ecco arrives on the planet Vortex engaging the aliens in combat. He makes his way to the Vortex Queen and engages her in a fight. When the Queen is defeated, she spits out Ecco's pod, and the dolphins make their collective escape back to Earth.
An English bon-vivant osteopath is enchanted with a young exotic dancer and invites her to live with him. He serves as friend and mentor, and through his wide range of contacts and his parties she and her friend meet and date members of the Conservative Party. A scandal develops when her affair with the Minister of War comes to public attention.
"Daryl" (whose name is an acronym for "Data-Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform") (Barret Oliver) is an experiment in artificial intelligence, created by a government company called TASCOM. Although physically indistinguishable from an ordinary ten-year-old boy, his brain is actually a super-sophisticated microcomputer with several unique capabilities. These include exceptional reflexes, superhuman multitasking ability, and the ability to "hack" other computer systems. The D.A.R.Y.L. experiment was funded by the military, with the intention of producing a "super-soldier".
One of the original scientists, Dr. Mulligan, has misgivings about the experiment and frees Daryl. Pursued by a helicopter, Dr. Mulligan drops off Daryl in a mountain forest in South Carolina, and tries to escape from the helicopter. The chase ends when Dr. Mulligan drives his car off a cliff and dies.
Daryl is found by an elderly couple and taken to an orphanage in the fictional town of Barkenton, South Carolina; he does not remember who or what he is. Though a normal pre-adolescent boy in most respects, Daryl begins to exhibit extraordinary talents after he goes to live with his new foster parents Joyce (Mary Beth Hurt) and Andy Richardson (Michael McKean). He is also introduced to the neighbors of the Richardsons: Howie (Steve Ryan) and Elaine Fox (Colleen Camp) and their children Sherie (Amy Linker) and Tyler "Turtle" (Danny Corkill). Due to being raised in isolation, Daryl's social skills are rather limited, but Turtle, a sarcastic, foul-mouthed wisecracker, manages to help him develop such skills.
Turtle wonders how Daryl can remember his name and how to read, but does not remember anything else about himself. Daryl tells him that he was diagnosed with amnesia, and that his real parents might pick him up one day. At Turtle's house, Daryl notices Turtle playing ''Pole Position'', and decides to try it out, playing and reacting faster than humanly possible.
Andy decides to teach Daryl how to improve his social skills by teaching him how to play baseball, to which Daryl shows uncanny abilities, including hitting multiple home runs; one of them shatters a window. When Andy shows Daryl how to use an ATM, Daryl helps Andy to rectify a problem when it won't accept his credit card. Daryl then makes a transaction with the ATM, which results in Daryl withdrawing $100 from Andy's account, but then manipulates the ATM to show $1,426,372 in the account.
The baseball game starts with Andy's team, the Mohawks, facing the Warriors, coached by Andy's rival, Bull MacKenzie (Hardy Rawls). Daryl shows off his impressive ability, and the Mohawks start winning the game, but Turtle — who had noticed that Joyce is slightly annoyed that she cannot do anything for Daryl, because Daryl can look after himself perfectly — tells him that it is all right for him to not always be perfect and to mess up sometimes; Daryl ends up striking out his next turn, so Turtle ends up taking over for Daryl as the cleanup hitter. Turtle manages to hit a home run, winning the game for the team, and everyone is joyous over the Mohawks' victory.
However, just as the Richardsons have truly begun to form a bond with Daryl, their new-found happiness is shattered when government agents find him and return him to the TASCOM facility in Washington, D.C. where he was created. Once there, his memory is restored and he is debriefed on the lessons he learned during his time with the Richardsons. Notable items in the debriefing include his decision to strike out at a baseball game, because sub-optimal performance in some areas can be more beneficial when building relationships with others, as well as his subjective preference for chocolate-flavored ice cream over vanilla-flavored ice cream. Because Daryl has revealed a capacity for human emotions, including fear, the D.A.R.Y.L. experiment is considered a failure by the military and the decision is made that the project be "terminated".
Dr. Jeffrey Stewart (Josef Sommer), one of Daryl's designers, decides to free Daryl so he can return to the Richardson family. Unfortunately, despite the cooperation of Dr. Ellen Lamb (Kathryn Walker) — who was originally skeptical about Daryl's humanity and had alerted the military to Daryl's continued existence — they do not get away cleanly. When asked by the military to justify her complicity, Dr. Lamb offers a reformulation of the Turing test: "General, a machine becomes human ... when you can't tell the difference anymore," implying that she is no longer certain that Daryl is not human.
Daryl and Dr. Stewart manage to escape the first wave of pursuers, thanks to Daryl's advanced driving skills, apparently acquired through playing the ''Pole Position'' video game. As the sun comes up, they drive into the Northern Virginia countryside and steal a pickup truck to avoid being recognized. However, when passing two police roadblocks, Dr. Stewart is mortally wounded by a police officer's shotgun. With his dying words, he assures Daryl that he is indeed a real person and Daryl continues his escape.
That night, Daryl sneaks into a nearby USAF airbase, hacks into a computer to trigger several faraway alarms as a distraction, and steals a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Daryl sets a course for Barkenton, and contacts Turtle telling him and Sherie to meet up with him at Blue Lake, a lake where he and Turtle had been before.
Because their missiles cannot intercept the plane, the Air Force tells Daryl that the plane will be vaporized mid-flight using a self-destruct mechanism. Daryl ejects at the last moment to fake his own death, as the plane is blown apart over Barkenton. In the meantime, Turtle and Sherie bike to the lake to meet up with Daryl. Unfortunately, the ejection had knocked Daryl unconscious, and he plummets into Blue Lake in his ejection seat with a deployed parachute. The added weight of both the seat and the parachute causes him to sink and Daryl drowns. When his body resurfaces, Daryl is rushed to the hospital, but shows no signs of life and is officially declared dead.
Everyone is depressed over Daryl's death, even though Turtle says that since he is a computer, he can't die. In the hospital, Dr. Lamb finds him and reactivates his electronic brain, restoring him to life. Now that he is declared dead, Daryl is no longer on the run from TASCOM and is free to return to his foster family. As Turtle walks out of the Richardsons' house, he sees Daryl running back to the house, and they joyfully reunite with everyone.
''The Tides of Time'' continues from the ending of the original game, in which Ecco had saved his dolphin pod and the Earth from the Vortex aliens. Still wielding the powers granted to him by the ancient life-form known as the Asterite, Ecco has since returned to his peaceful life in Earth's waters. One day, while Ecco is out exploring an underwater cave, a powerful earthquake goes off and causes an avalanche. As Ecco recovers, he learns that the Asterite's powers have left him (indicated by the return of his need to surface for air). His fellow dolphins explain that something has killed the Asterite and is now spreading fear among the ocean life.
Soon after, Ecco meets a dolphin with unusually long fins. She is his descendant, Trellia, who takes him to the distant future to speak with "an old friend". In the future, the ocean has developed its own mind and is connected across the planet by waterways traveling through the sky. The dolphins of the future have also evolved, as they are now able to fly through a combination of internal helium sacs and telekinetic powers.
After exploring the future, Ecco finds his old friend the Asterite, who explains the events that had transpired in Ecco's time. Though Ecco had defeated the Vortex, the Vortex Queen survived and followed him back to Earth, where she killed the Asterite of Ecco's time and now nests and feeds to restore her brood. The Asterite then tells Ecco that when he used the Atlantean Time Machine to save his pod, he split the stream of time in two. One possible future for Earth is a bright, happy world of flying dolphins, while the other is a dead, mechanical world sucked dry by the Vortex. As a result, Ecco is referred to as "the stone that split the stream of time in two".
Once back in his own time, Ecco travels to the Moray Abyss, where he finds the first two globes of the Asterite after clearing out the giant moray eels. He then journeys to revive the Asterite by finding its many globes that have been scattered across the ocean. Slowly, the Asterite begins to recover, and eventually is able to hold a full conversation with Ecco. However, it cannot help Ecco, as the Vortex of the dark future took its last pair of globes back to their own time. As the Atlantean Time Machine can only go into the past, Ecco must find another way to reach the dark future.
Ecco makes his way to the Lunar Bay, which the Vortex have stripped of all ocean life as they continue to grow and multiply. As he explores, Ecco is ambushed by Vortex drones and taken to the dark future. Unlike the future of before, the Vortex Future is a lifeless planet-spanning machine consisting of water tubes, artificial gravity, and dangerous Vortex creatures. Ecco locates the Asterite's last two globes in a chamber, where a bubble-chained holding device called the Globe Holder resides. After destroying it, Ecco obtains the globes and is warped back to his era.
With the Asterite complete again, Ecco's former powers are restored, and the Asterite summons all of Ecco's fellow dolphins to join in fighting the Vortex. As the dolphins and the Vortex do battle in the now-transformed Lunar Bay, Ecco swims to the deepest parts and infiltrates the Vortex's New Machine, then finally confronts the Vortex Queen and seemingly destroys her once and for all.
As his pod celebrates their victory over the vanquished Vortex, Ecco returns to the Asterite and is told to go to Atlantis and destroy the Time Machine in order to prevent the stream of time from ever being split again. Arriving in the sunken city, Ecco discovers that the Vortex Queen is still alive as a larva after her supposed death, and the two of them race to the Time Machine. The Vortex Queen uses the Time Machine first and is sent to the Prehistoric Era, where she finds herself unable to rule over the creatures that reside there. Faced with the need to survive, the Queen is forced to adapt to Earth's own life-cycles, and through the eons, the Vortex are integrated into the ecosystems of Earth as arthropods. Ecco chooses to use the Time Machine instead of destroying it, and vanishes into an unknown era.
''Defender of the Future'' bears a different storyline from that of the Mega Drive/Genesis games; it is generally regarded as taking place in a separate continuity. The story was written by science fiction author David Brin, who had already written a few stories about intelligent dolphins in his Uplift Universe. The storyline and game are divided into four parts.
The film begins in live-action and introduces the protagonist Michael Corleone, a 22-year-old virgin playing pinball in New York City while asking himself philosophical questions. As he plays on and ponders, Michael then begins to envision how he sees things as the scene then transitions into an animated and dangerous New York neighborhood. Michael's Italian father, Angelo "Angie" Corleone, is a struggling mafioso who frequently cheats on Michael's Jewish mother, Ida. The couple constantly bicker and try to kill each other at every opportunity. The unemployed Michael dabbles in cartoons and often wanders throughout the city to avoid family skirmishes and to artistically feed off the grubbiness of his environment. He regularly hangs out at a local bar where he gets free drinks from the female black bartender, Carole, in exchange for sketches of the somewhat annoying Shorty, Carole's violent, legless bouncer devotee. One of the regular customers at the bar, a nymphomaniac cross-dresser named Snowflake, gets beaten up by a tough drunk in a hard hat after Snowflake seduces him into a lot of passionate kissing and heavy petting, during which the man reaches down between Snowflake's legs to discover Snowflake has a penis. Snowflake loves the beating due to his masochism, but the drunk causes property damage. Shorty throws the drunk out and brutally kills him soon after, while the bar's white manager abusively confronts Carole over this. Fed up with her manager, Carole quits.
Shorty offers to let Carole stay at his place, but not wanting to get involved with him, Carole tells Shorty a lie that she's staying with Michael. Meanwhile, Angie manages a strike at a mob-controlled factory, but when he reveals his plan to replace the strikers with unemployed black workers, the Godfather abandons him in disapproval. Michael allows Carole to stay with him, but the Corleones' deteriorating domestic situation convinces Michael and Carole to move out of Michael's parents' house and try to earn enough money to move to California, in order to avoid Shorty, who's been stalking Carole since she quit the bar. Michael gets a chance to pitch a comic strip idea to an old executive lying on his death bed, who seems enthusiastic enough to listen to the idea. The abnormally dark tone of Michael's story is too much for the mogul and he dies during the pitch. Meanwhile, Carole tries to work as a taxi dancer. Michael, acting as her manager, tries to pass her off as "the fourth Andrews Sister" ("'cause she was black, they kept her in the background"). A quick flash of her panties gives an old man a heart attack, who she subsequently dances with without realizing he's dead, thinking he was just passed out, and Carole is fired over this. Meanwhile, Angie tries to use his Mafia connections to put a murder contract out on his son for "disgracing the family" by dating a black woman. The Godfather refuses to do this, because the hit is "personal, not business", and Angie realizes he is out of favor with the mob. Drunk and depressed, he is seduced by Snowflake. However, Shorty eventually meets up with Angie and agrees to fulfill the contract.
Michael and Carole turn to crime as a means of getting by, with Carole taking the role of pretending to be a prostitute. Carole flirts with a sleazy businessman and brings him to a hotel room, where Michael beats him to death with a lead pipe so they can rob him. As the two walk out with the dead man's cash, Shorty arrives and shoots Michael in the head. Following a kaleidoscope of shocking images and horrifying events, the fantasy ends as the film reverts to the live-action story. The "real" Michael destroys a pinball machine in anger after it tilts (symbolizing the end of his fantasy) and walks out onto the street. He bumps into the "real" Carole and follows her into a park. He confronts her and she doesn't seem to know him, expressing a desire to get away from him. The two are seen briefly arguing before they finally take each other's hands and begin happily dancing in the park.
''Starsiege'' takes place in the 29th century, portraying the conflict between humanity and the artificially intelligent Cybrid war machines. Played out in various locations throughout the solar system, the story examines both civil unrest in the colonies and an all-or-nothing genocidal invasion by the machines. Bipedal mecha known as HERCs are the mainstay of ground-based combat, and the focus of gameplay.
Humanity is nominally united in an interplanetary Empire, led from Earth by the Immortal Emperor Solomon Petresun. Petresun's policy is the defence of Earth at all costs. While Earth is prosperous and well protected, the colonies on Luna, Mars, and Venus suffer from increasingly harsh regulations and production quotas. The combat units of the Empire are represented by the Imperial Police, Terran Defense Force and the Imperial Knights. The former paramilitary group is responsible for maintaining order in the colonies. The Terran Defense Force are the standard military with bases from Mercury to Titan. The Knights, led by Grand Master Caanon Weathers, are the military's elite and are provided with the best pilots and equipment.
The inequality between the colonies and Earth foments rebellion. In 2802 there are two guerilla movements on Mars, one that concentrates on destroying and capturing Imperial infrastructure and supplies and another bent on killing Imperial personnel and sympathizers. Both groups operate from underground bases and make do with modified mining HERCs and tanks. The rebels partially offset their disadvantages with superior weapons taken from the alien "Tharsis Cache"; an underground stockpile of alien technology discovered by rebels while digging new tunnels. Eventually the rebellion becomes too great for the police to contain and the Knights are deployed to Mars to crush the insurrection.
The Cybrids are a race of sentient robots responsible for the first Earthsiege. They are led by the first Cybrid, Prometheus, who is revered with god-like status. The Cybrids established themselves in the outer solar system after being defeated two centuries before during the first Earthsiege. Since then they have built up their strength for another bid to destroy humanity and claim Earth for their own. Like the Martian rebels, the Cybrids discover their own cache of alien weapons and adapt it to use, but their cache is inferior to the Tharsis Cache.
The game offers two story campaigns, with different endings. The Human campaign puts the player in control of a Martian rebel, initially fighting the Empire before humanity unites against the Cybrid invasion midway through the campaign. The human campaign culminates in an attack on Prometheus on Pluto. The Cybrid campaign starts with their invasion across the outer colonies and proceeds to Earth, ending in an assault on the Imperial palace to kill Petresun.
Following interference from both the White and Black Guardians, the Fifth Doctor materialises the TARDIS in what appears to be the hold of an Edwardian yacht, though the Doctor senses something is amiss. The human crew have no idea how they got there nor where they are, but know they are taking part in a race. The Doctor and his companions, Tegan and Turlough, discover that the yacht and several other historical Earth ships are competing in a solar sail race through the Solar System. The ship's officers reveal themselves to be "Eternals", in contrast to the Doctor and the humans, whom they somewhat dismissively call "Ephemerals". The Eternals live in the "trackless wastes of eternity" and rely on Ephemerals for their thoughts and ideas. This race is being held by the Guardians and the prize is Enlightenment, the wisdom to know everything. The Doctor finds that the Eternals have made his TARDIS vanish, forcing him and his companions to stay until the race's conclusion.
As the race continues, several of the vessels are destroyed by explosions. The Doctor suspects that the crew aboard the ''Buccaneer'', which is a 17th-century pirate ship, is responsible, as it was the closest vessel at the time of destruction. Turlough, while attempting to escape control of the Black Guardian, ends up aboard the ''Buccaneer'', and meets the Eternal Captain Wrack, professing his desire to join her crew and learning she too is working for the Black Guardian. He finds equipment aboard her ship that appears to be the source of the device destroying the other ships and hears the Black Guardian's voice nearby. Later, Wrack offers the Edwardian officers a reception aboard her ship. During the reception, Turlough demonstrates the Wrack's advantage-providing equipment to the Doctor, while Wrack hypnotizes Tegan and implants Tegan's tiara (Tegan and Marriner attend Captain Wrack's reception in full Edwardian costume) with a red crystal. After the reception and continuation of the race, the Doctor sees the ''Buccaneer'' nearing the Edwardian ship, determines that the red crystal is used as a focal point of the weapon, and gets rid of the tiara before Wrack can destroy the ship.
Nearing the end of the race, the solar winds dissipate and the ''Buccaneer'' pulls ahead of the Edwardian ship. Not wishing to see Wrack win, the Eternals return the TARDIS to the Doctor, allowing him to travel to the ''Buccaneer''. However, he is captured, and Wrack's first mate suggests that the Doctor be thrown overboard. From the Edwardian ship, Tegan and the others watch as two bodies are ejected from the ''Buccaneer'' just before it crosses the finish line.
The ships and their human crews are returned to Earth and the Guardians dismiss the other Eternals. It is revealed that the Doctor won the race, with Wrack and her first mate having suffered "an unfortunate accident". The Doctor refuses the prize, but as Turlough helped the Doctor, he is entitled to a portion of the prize. The Black Guardian reminds Turlough of their bargain, and says that he can give up the diamond, or sacrifice the Doctor to gain both Enlightenment and the TARDIS. Turlough hurls the diamond at the Black Guardian, who vanishes in screams and flames. The Doctor points out that Enlightenment was not the diamond, but the choice itself.
To commemorate the show's anniversary, every story during Season 20 included the return of an enemy from the Doctor's past. During this trilogy (begun in the serial ''Mawdryn Undead'', and concluding with ''Enlightenment''), the enemy was the Black Guardian, who was last encountered by the fourth incarnation of the Doctor at the conclusion of The Key to Time saga in the 1979 serial ''The Armageddon Factor''. The story also saw the return of the White Guardian, who had also not been seen since 1979.
The play is set in the quiet community of Baile Beag (later anglicised to Ballybeg), in County Donegal, in 1833. Many of the inhabitants have little experience of the world outside the village. In spite of this, tales about Greek goddesses are as commonplace as those about the potato crops, and, in addition to Irish, Latin and Greek are spoken in the local hedge school. Friel uses language as a tool to highlight the problems of communication — lingual, cultural, and generational. Both Irish and English characters in the play "speak" their respective languages, but in actuality it is English that is mostly spoken by the actors. This allows the audience to understand all the languages, as if a translator was provided. However, onstage, the characters cannot comprehend each other. This is due to lack of compromise from both parties, the English and Irish, to learn the others' language, a metaphor for the wider barrier that is between the two parties.
The action begins with Owen (mistakenly pronounced as Roland by his English friend), younger son of the alcoholic schoolmaster Hugh and brother to lame aspiring teacher Manus, returning home after six years away in Dublin. With him are Captain Lancey, a middle-aged, pragmatic cartographer, and Lieutenant Yolland, a young, idealistic and romantic orthographer, both working on the six-inch-to-the-mile map survey of Ireland for the Ordnance Survey. Owen acts as a translator and go-between for the English and Irish.
Yolland and Owen work to translate local placenames into English for purposes of the map: ''Druim Dubh'', which means "black shoulder" in Irish, becomes Dromduff in English, and ''Poll na gCaorach'', meaning "hole of the sheep" in Irish, becomes Poolkerry. While Owen has no qualms about anglicising the names of places that form part of his heritage, Yolland, who has fallen in love with Ireland, is unhappy with what he perceives as a destruction of Irish culture and language.
A love triangle between Yolland, Manus, and a local woman, Máire, complicates matters. Yolland and Máire manage to show their feelings for each other despite the fact that Yolland speaks only English and Máire only Irish. Manus, however, had been hoping to marry Máire, and is infuriated by their blossoming relationship. When he finds out about a kiss between the two he sets out to attack Yolland, but in the end cannot bring himself to do it.
Unfortunately, Yolland goes missing overnight (it is hinted that he has been attacked, or worse, by the elusive armed resistance in the form of the Donnelly twins), and Manus flees because his heart has been broken but it is made obvious that the English soldiers will see his disappearance as guilt. It is suggested that Manus will be killed as he is lame and the English will catch up with him. Máire is in denial about Yolland's disappearance and remains convinced that he will return unharmed. The English soldiers, forming a search party, rampage across Baile Beag, and Captain Lancey threatens first to shoot all livestock if Yolland is not found within twenty-four hours, then evict the villagers and destroy their homes if he is not found within forty-eight hours. Owen then realizes what he should do and leaves, seemingly to join the resistance. The play ends ambiguously, with the schoolmaster Hugh drunkenly reciting the opening of Virgil's ''Aeneid'', which tells of the inevitability of conquest but also of its impermanence.
Friel's play tells of the struggle between England and Ireland during this turbulent time. The play focuses mainly on (mis)communication and language to tell of the desperate situation between these two countries with an unsure and questionable outcome.
In 1904 in the nursery of the Darling household, located in central London, England, Wendy Darling tells her younger brothers John and Michael stories of Captain Hook and his pirates. Unbeknownst to the children, Peter Pan listens to Wendy's stories from outside their nursery window. When their Aunt Millicent arrives, she judges Wendy to be reaching womanhood and advises the Darlings to focus on Wendy's future prospects. One night, Wendy sees Peter return to the nursery to watch her sleep, but he is chased off by the family's nurse dog, Nana. At school, Wendy is caught by her teacher drawing a picture of Peter. During an attempt to stop the messenger from delivering a disciplinary letter, Wendy embarrasses her father in front of his superiors when Nana chases her into the bank. Mr. Darling chains Nana outside and declares that Wendy will leave the nursery.
Peter and Tinker Bell visit the nursery again to look for Peter's shadow, which Nana had bitten off during his previous visit. He introduces himself to Wendy, who then sews his shadow back onto him. Peter invites Wendy and her brothers to Neverland so she can tell her stories to his gang of Lost Boys. They use Tinker Bell's fairy dust, and fly to Neverland. Nana breaks free and alerts Mr. and Mrs. Darling, but they arrive too late. Captain Hook and his pirate crew are alerted to Peter's return to Neverland and fire a cannon at Peter, Wendy, Michael, and John. Tinker Bell tricks the Lost Boys into shooting Wendy out of the sky with an arrow, who mistake her for a bird. When Peter arrives, they find her alive, as the arrow hit the acorn he had given her which she had made into a necklace. Peter banishes Tinker Bell and ends their friendship.
Wendy awakens and agrees to the Lost Boys' request to be their “mother”, while Peter takes the role of their father. Meanwhile, John and Michael encounter Tiger Lily, a Native American princess, and all three are captured by Hook and his crew, who take them to the Black Castle. Peter, Wendy, and the Lost Boys save them, as Hook is chased by the crocodile who has followed him for years. After a celebration at the Native American camp, Peter shows Wendy the fairies' home and the two share a romantic dance. Hook spies on the two of them and convinces Tinker Bell that Peter will eventually choose to leave Neverland for Wendy. When Wendy asks Peter to express his feelings, he angrily demands she return home, refusing to believe that he can ever feel love without having to grow up before flying off. Peter then returns to the Darling nursery and tries unsuccessfully to shut the open window, determined to keep Wendy in Neverland.
Tinker Bell leads Hook's men to Wendy's makeshift "house" and they carry a sleeping Wendy back to the Jolly Roger, where Captain Hook tries to entice Wendy to become a pirate and sends her back to the Lost Boys, unaware she is being followed. Wendy ultimately decides against becoming a pirate but urges her brothers to return home with her, as they are starting to forget their parents. The Lost Boys eventually decide to join them, to Peter’s dismay. As Wendy says goodbye to Peter, she leaves him a cup of medicine to drink. When Wendy leaves the hideout, she is ambushed by Hook's crew, who capture her along with the rest of the boys. Captain Hook poisons Peter's medicine but Tinker Bell intervenes and drinks the poison. Devastated, Peter repeatedly proclaims his belief in fairies, which reaches out to the residents of London and revives Tinker Bell. Peter saves Wendy and frees the Lost Boys and the children fight Hook's crew. Hook forcefully uses Tinker Bell's fairy dust to grant him the ability to fly. During their duel, Hook taunts Peter about Wendy wanting to abandon him, and how she will eventually grow up and marry another man. Weakened, Peter falls to the ship and is incapacitated. Hook allows Wendy to say goodbye to Peter before he kills him, and she kisses him, which brings back his happiness.
Peter finally defeats Hook, who is swallowed up by the crocodile. Peter covers the Jolly Roger in fairy dust and flies Wendy and the boys back to London where they are reunited with Mr. and Mrs. Darling, who decide to adopt the rest of the Lost Boys. Slightly, who got lost on the way to London and arrives at the house late, is adopted by Aunt Millicent. Mr. Darling shows the kids how sorry he is for his previous action. Peter promises Wendy that he will never forget her and that one day he will return to visit her, before heading back to Neverland with Tinker Bell. Wendy, now an adult, narrates that she never did see Peter again, but she continues to tell his story to her own children, and in turn to their grandchildren.
In 1881, a wanderer known only as "The Lady" arrives in the Old West town of Redemption, which is ruled by a ruthless outlaw named John Herod. Herod announces a fast draw single elimination shooting tournament with the following rules: any contestant may challenge any other, no challenge can be refused, every contestant must fight once per day, and a fight continues until one contestant either yields or dies. The Lady announces her participation, insisting that she is only interested in the large cash prize.
During the sign-up, Herod's henchmen arrive with Cort, a former member of their gang with exceptional gunfighting skill. Cort has given up violence to become a preacher and refuses to participate in the tournament. Herod and his men attempt to lynch him, but The Lady shoots through the rope, saving his life.
The Lady meets "The Kid", a brash young gun dealer who believes Herod is his father and hopes to earn his respect by winning the tournament. In the first round, Herod, The Kid, and The Lady easily defeat their opponents. Herod gives Cort a cheap gun and declares that he can only have one bullet at a time, to prevent him from shooting his way out of town. Despite previously swearing not to draw, Cort reflexively does so when threatened and wins his first-round duel.
Before the second round, Herod meets with Clay Cantrell, a professional gunfighter hired by the townspeople to kill him. Herod declares that all duels are now to the death and proceeds to kill Cantrell with three precise shots. The Kid goes next, and also wins. That evening, The Lady faces off with Herod's associate Eugene Dred after he rapes the saloon owner's young daughter but refuses to kill him until forced to defend herself. Horrified by having taken a life, she rides out of town.
The next day, Cort duels a Native American gunfighter named Spotted Horse. Cort shoots his opponent, but Herod refuses him a second bullet to finish the wounded Horse as the native stumbles around firing wildly. However, Cort is tossed a cartridge by a blind sundries boy and succeeds in finishing Spotted Horse, much to Herod's amusement and satisfaction at turning the preacher back into a killer. Doc Wallace finds The Lady at a nearby cemetery and tells her that he recognizes her and knows why she is there. Flashbacks reveal that the Lady's real name is Ellen. Her father was the marshal in Redemption until a young Herod and his gang left him to hang. Herod gives Ellen his own custom pistol (similar to the one she carries as an adult) to shoot the rope and save him, but Ellen accidentally shot her father instead. Doc hands Ellen her father's old badge and begs her to help rid the town of Herod.
Ellen rides back to town and convinces Cort to help her defeat Herod. Ellen challenges Herod, but he has already accepted a challenge from The Kid. As Ellen and Cort are the only fighters left, Herod orders them to fight, threatening to kill them himself if they refuse. Herod urges The Kid to withdraw, but he refuses. He wounds Herod but ultimately loses the duel. Herod coldly refuses to take his hand while he dies, only saying that it was never proven that he was the Kid's real father.
When Cort and Ellen face off, Cort shoots her in the chest and Doc declares Ellen dead. Cort angrily demands to fight Herod immediately but settles for dawn of the next day. That night, one of Herod's men, Ratsy, breaks Cort's right hand. Before the duel, Herod personally kills Ratsy for dishonoring the tournament. Herod confesses that he fears Cort, which is why he forced him to enter the tournament. As a matter of honor, he offers to fight Cort left-handed, but still instructs his henchmen to kill Cort if he wins.
At the moment Herod draws, several buildings explode, including Herod's house and the clock tower. Ellen emerges from the smoke and flames, having faked her death with help from Cort, Doc, and the blind sundries boy. Cort kills Herod's remaining henchmen while Ellen faces off against Herod, revealing her identity by throwing her father's badge at his feet. Herod wounds Ellen but she shoots him through the chest and finishes him off with a bullet to the eye. Tossing the badge to Cort, she says, "The law's come back to town", then saddles up and rides away.
Sixteen-year-old Guillermo (Israel Rodríguez) does not exactly hide his sexual orientation, even though his parents disapprove of it. He also seduces his English language tutor who introduces him to the pleasures of anal sex, and moves on to frequently cruise the toilets of the local mall for gay sex, getting caught once by mall security guards. As a consequence of that incident, his parents learn of his activities, and take him to a mental health therapist, who pronounces Guillermo to be mentally healthy and in no need of conversion therapy but recommends further sessions for his parents to help them accept their son's sexual identity.
This short film was shown on British television network Channel 4. It is included in the gay and lesbian short film collection ''Boys Briefs 2''.
A convicted murderer asks to make his confession on the day of his execution. He is visited by an old friend, Father Flanagan (Spencer Tracy) who runs a home for indigent men in Omaha, Nebraska. When the prison officials suggest that the condemned man owes the state a debt, Father Flanagan witnesses the condemned man's diatribe to prison officials and a reporter that describes his awful plight as a homeless and friendless boy who was a ward in state institutions. After the convicted man asks the officials to leave, Father Flanagan provides some comfort and wisdom. On the train back to Omaha, Father Flanagan is transformed in his humanitarian mission by revelations (echoed in the words) imparted by the condemned man's litany of hardships suffered as a child, without friends or family, and a ward of the state.
Father Flanagan believes there is no such thing as a bad boy and spends his life attempting to prove it. He battles indifference, the legal system, and often even the boys, to build a sanctuary that he calls Boys Town. The boys have their own government, make their own rules, and dish out their own punishment. One boy, Whitey Marsh (Mickey Rooney), is as much as anyone can handle. Whitey's elder brother Joe, in prison for murder, asks Father Flanagan to take Whitey—a poolroom shark and tough talking hoodlum—to Boys Town. Joe escapes custody during transfer to federal prison. Whitey stays, though, and runs for mayor of Boys Town, determined to win with his "don't be a sucker" campaign slogan.
Winning the election for mayor is Tony Ponessa (Gene Reynolds), a disabled boy. Whitey has an outburst after finding out the results. This nearly causes a fistfight between Whitey and outgoing mayor Freddie Fuller (Frankie Thomas). Since Whitey's arrival at Boys Town, him and Freddie did not get along too well. To settle their differences once and for all, a boxing match is held. Freddie defeats Whitey with Father Flanagan and all of the boys watching.
Whitey leaves Boys Town after getting defeated in the boxing match. Pee Wee (Bobs Watson), the Boys Town mascot, catches up with him and pulls on his sleeve, pleading, "We're going to be pals, ain't we?" Whitey, nearly in tears, refuses and pushes the child to the ground and tells him to go back. He storms across the highway and Pee Wee follows him. Pee Wee is suddenly hit by a car; Whitey leaves, feeling guilty and hurt. During an aimless walk in downtown Omaha, Whitey runs into his brother Joe, who mistakenly shoots him in the leg. Joe takes Whitey to a church and calls Flanagan anonymously, after which Whitey is taken back to Boys Town. The sheriff comes to get Whitey, but Flanagan offers to take full responsibility for the boy.
Whitey refuses to tell Flanagan about the robbery, because he has promised Joe not to inform on him. But when he realizes that his silence could result in the end of Boys Town, he goes to Joe's hideout. Joe, realizing with Whitey that Boys Town is more important than they, releases his brother from his promise. Joe protects him until Flanagan and some boys arrive at their hideout. The criminals are recaptured and Boys Town's reward is a flood of donations. Whitey is elected the new mayor of Boys Town by acclamation and Dave resigns himself to go into more debt as Flanagan tells him of his new ideas for expanding the facility.
The play is set in 18th-century Bath, a town that was legendary for conspicuous consumption and fashion at the time. Wealthy, fashionable people went there to "take the waters", which were believed to have healing properties. Bath society was much less exclusive than London, and hence it provides an ideal setting for the characters.
The plot centres on the two young lovers, Lydia and Jack. Lydia, who reads a lot of popular novels of the time, wants a purely romantic love affair. To court her, Jack pretends to be "Ensign Beverley", a poor army officer. Lydia is enthralled with the idea of eloping with a poor soldier in spite of the objections of her guardian, Mrs. Malaprop, a moralistic widow. Mrs. Malaprop is the chief comic figure of the play, thanks to her continual misuse of words that ''sound'' like the words she intends to use, but ''mean'' something completely different (the term ''malapropism'' was coined in reference to the character).
Lydia has two other suitors: Bob Acres (a somewhat buffoonish country gentleman), and Sir Lucius O'Trigger, an impoverished and combative Irish gentleman. Sir Lucius pays Lucy to carry love notes between him and Lydia (who uses the name "Delia"), but Lucy is swindling him: "Delia" is actually Mrs. Malaprop.
As the play opens, Sir Anthony arrives suddenly in Bath. He has arranged a marriage for Jack, but Jack demurs, saying he is in love already. They quarrel violently. But Jack soon learns through the gossip of Lucy and Fag that the marriage arranged by Sir Anthony is, in fact, with Lydia. He makes a great show of submission to his father, and is presented to Lydia with Mrs. Malaprop's blessing. Jack confides to Lydia that he is only posing as Sir Anthony's son. She annoys Mrs. Malaprop by loudly professing her eternal devotion to "Beverley" while rejecting "Jack Absolute".
Jack's friend Faulkland is in love with Julia, but he suffers from jealous suspicion. He is constantly fretting himself about her fidelity. Faulkland and Julia quarrel foolishly, making elaborate and high-flown speeches about true love that satirise the romantic dramas of the period.
Bob Acres tells Sir Lucius that another man ("Beverley") is courting the lady of Acres' choice (Lydia, though Sir Lucius does not know this). Sir Lucius immediately declares that Acres must challenge "Beverley" to a duel and kill him. Acres goes along, and writes out a challenge note – despite his own rather more pacifist feelings, and the profound misgivings of his servant David. Sir Lucius leaves, Jack arrives, and Acres tells him of his intent. Jack agrees to deliver the note to "Beverley", but declines to be Acres' second.
Mrs. Malaprop again presents Jack to Lydia, but this time with Sir Anthony present, exposing Jack's pose as "Beverley". Lydia is enraged by the puncturing of her romantic dreams, and spurns Jack contemptuously.
Sir Lucius has also learned of the proposed marriage of Jack and Lydia, and determines to challenge Jack. He meets Jack, who, smarting from Lydia's rejection, agrees to fight him without even knowing the reason. They will meet at the same time as Acres is scheduled to fight "Beverley".
At the duelling ground, Acres is very reluctant to fight, but Sir Lucius will have no shirking. Jack and Faulkland arrive. Acres learns that "Beverley" is actually his friend Jack, and begs off from their duel. However, Jack is quite willing to fight Sir Lucius, and they cross swords.
David informs Mrs. Malaprop, Lydia, Julia, and Sir Anthony of the duel, and they all rush off to stop it. Sir Lucius explains the cause of his challenge, but Lydia denies any connection to him, and admits her love for Jack. Mrs. Malaprop announces that ''she'' is Delia, but Sir Lucius recoils in horror, realising that he has been hoaxed. Sir Anthony consoles Mrs. Malaprop, Julia is reconciled to Faulkland, and Acres invites everyone to a party.
The game takes place after the planet Xerxes exploded causing its 8 orbiting colonies to drift into deep space. The inhabitants of these colonies must locate a new home planet so they each send a survival pod out into space to achieve this mission.
The book follows the journey of an Anabaptist radical across Europe in the first half of the 16th century as he joins in various movements and uprisings that come as a result of the Protestant reformation. The book spans 30 years as he is pursued by 'Q' (short for "Qoèlet"), a spy for the Roman Catholic Church cardinal Giovanni Pietro Carafa. The main character, who changes his name many times during the story, first fights in the German Peasants' War beside Thomas Müntzer, during which time he takes part in negotiations which are eventually formalised as the Twelve Articles. Following this, he battles in Münster's siege, during the Münster Rebellion, and some years later, in Venice.
The game takes place in San Miguel, Django's home town. As Django arrives he is confronted by a mysterious vampire who steals the ''Gun Del Sol'' (Solar Gun) and somehow uses it on Django. Unarmed, he makes his way through the dungeon and is greeted by Zazie the Sunflower girl. She bestows upon him the ''Sol de Vice'' (Solar Glove), which gives Django the ability to enchant ordinary weapons, like a sword, with the power of the sun.
He arrives at what is left of San Miguel. Upon arriving he finds out that the vampire who stole the ''Gun Del Sol'' has been through here. He hears that Smith, the town blacksmith, is missing. He decides to go find Smith in hope of finding out something about the vampire. He is told by Zazie that she saw Smith head towards the cathedral. Django decides that was the best place to start looking for him. The story evolves from here into something much larger.
Towards the end of the game, Django will regain his Solar Gun; however, it will be greatly damaged due to the use of it by the vampire otherwise known as Ringo. Although the character known as Smith will repair it, it is unable to be restored to its original functionality.
If the player chooses to continue their game after beating the game, he or she will start off from where the game was last saved, rather than how the continue function worked in ''Boktai 1'', where the player needed to restart the game. There are four different endings that are somewhat the same, other than the characters who are talking with Django, who basically talk about dark and light needing to be together in order for both to co-exist, and who, exactly, helped Django during the final battle. The characters include Earthly Maiden Lita, Dark Boy Sabata, the librarian named Lady, and Smith's granddaughter named Violet (Sumire in Japan).
The paths to each ending is dependent on the number of times the player has defeated the final boss, the Doomsday Beast Jormungandr. After defeat him the first time, the player will talk with Zazie. After Jormungandr's first defeat, the player cannot fight him again until the Megaman (Rockman) side-quest has been completed with Shademan. When that's completed and Jormungandr is defeated again, the player will talk to Violet again. When Jormungandr is defeated for the third time, the player will get to talk to Sabata. Defeat Jormungandr again, and the player will talk with Lady. One last time, and the player will talk with Lita. The cycle then repeats itself when defeating Jormungandr.
There are a total of two bad endings. The first bad ending is in the Spiral Tower while Django and Sabata are talking to the Black Dainn. Dainn will tell Django to become their "Dark Sun," and a choice will be appear reading “Join Black Dainn” or “Refuse!!” Choosing to “Join Black Dainn” will result in a short cut scene and then the credits. The second bad ending takes place after fighting the Ancestor Piece Jormungandr. If the player fails to solar charge enough energy within the ten second time limit, Jormungandr will swallow Django and the player will fail to seal the Doomsday Beast.
There are a number of new characters added in this installment of the series. Kid, who runs the potion/armour shop, is met at a certain point in that game. Lady runs the library, serves as a guild master, and is also a tarot master. Cheyenne the Wind Warrior runs the weapon shop once the player defeats him in combat. A grim man runs a coffin shop with many specialty coffins. Also, Solid Snake (from the ''Metal Gear'' series) makes a cameo as ???.
Older characters such as Master Otenko, Sabata, and Lita (who happens to run the item shop) return as well. However, Lita's function has changed somewhat; in addition to tending the solar tree, she now sells fruit, eliminating the need to grow them like in the first game. Her prices depend on how much solar energy was collected the previous day.
In the year 3028, a groundbreaking scientific project known as "The Titan Project" incurs the wrath of the Drej, a hostile race of aliens with bodies of pure energy, who fear that it will allow humans to challenge them. Determined to wipe out humanity, the Drej destroy Earth in a massive attack, forcing the surviving humans to evacuate and flee into space. During the evacuation of Earth, Professor Sam Tucker—head researcher on the Titan Project—leaves his young son Cale in the care of his alien friend Tek as he flees Earth in the spaceship ''Titan''. Before he leaves, he gives Cale a gold ring, promising him that there will be hope for humanity as long as he wears it.
Fifteen years later, with humanity on the verge of extinction following the destruction of their planet, a jaded and cynical Cale works in the salvage yard of space station Tau 14. Ex-military officer Joseph Korso, a former friend and confidant of Cale's father, tracks Cale down and reveals that the location of the ''Titan'' is encoded in his ring, allowing him to find the long-missing ship by following a holographic map in the palm of his hand. Korso invites Cale to join the crew of his spaceship ''Valkyrie'' as they seek the ''Titan''. Accepting Korso's offer, Cale befriends Korso's pilot Akima Kunimoto and his three alien crew members: first mate Preed, weapons officer Stith, and scientist Gune.
After Cale and Korso escape Tau 14 with the Drej in pursuit, Cale's map leads the crew of the ''Valkyrie'' to the planet Sesharrim, where the alien Gaoul help them interpret the map, revealing that the ''Titan'' is hidden in the Andali Nebula. On Sesharrim, Drej fighters abduct Cale and Akima and copy the map. Akima is rescued by the crew after being jettisoned by the Drej Queen, while Cale escapes the Drej mothership in a stolen fighter and makes his way back to the ''Valkyrie''. The map changes to reveal the ''Titan'' s hiding place within the Andali Nebula: the ice rings of Tigrin, a labyrinthine asteroid field.
While resupplying at human space station New Bangkok, Cale and Akima discover that Korso and Preed are planning to sell the ''Titan'' s location to the Drej. Cale and Akima manage to escape the ''Valkyrie'', but are left stranded on New Bangkok when Korso and the remaining crew leave for the ''Titan''. Determined to beat Korso to the ''Titan'', they fix up the dilapidated spaceship ''Phoenix''.
Cale and Akima navigate the ice rings of Tigrin and dock with the ''Titan'' before the ''Valkyrie'' arrives. They discover DNA of animals onboard and a pre-recorded holographic message left by Cale's father explaining that the ship was designed to create planets, but the ship's power cells were drained in the escape from Earth, and lack the energy necessary to create a planet. After Korso and Preed arrive, Preed reveals that he has betrayed Korso and made his own deal with the Drej. Korso kills Preed by snapping his neck, and Korso seemingly falls to his death in a fight with Cale.
As the Drej attack the ''Titan'', Cale and Akima fight them off with the help of Stith and Gune. During the battle, Cale realizes that he may be able to recharge the ''Titan'' by converting its systems to use the Drej's bodies of pure energy, but a circuit breaker stalls before he can complete the process. Korso, who survived his fall, has a change of heart after overhearing Cale's plan and sacrifices his life to repair the circuit breaker, while Cale triggers the ''Titan'' s systems, killing the Drej as the ''Titan'' absorbs their mothership.
Cale and Akima embrace in the rain on the newly created human homeworld, and ships filled with human colonists arrive to start a new life.
In the fictional isolated planned community of New Granada, east of Denver, Colorado, Carl Willat and his friends Richie White, Claude Zachary, and Claude's younger brother Johnny hang out at "the Rec" (Recreation Center), which closes at 6 p.m. and is the only place where kids can spend time together. They are supervised by Rec counselor Julia Vogel.
From an overpass, Mark Perry and his friend shoot a BB hole in the windshield of a passing patrol car and flee on their bikes. They pass Carl and Richie, telling them to hide. Sgt. Ed Doberman arrives shortly, pulls them from their hiding place and finds a pocket knife on Richie. He apprehends them and notifies Carl's father Fred, a local businessman. After questioning the pair about the BB gun, Doberman lectures Carl about potential imprisonment in "the Hill", a juvenile detention facility.
The next day, the students assemble in the school's cafeteria for a presentation about the previous day's events, where Carl meets and befriends Cory. That evening, Carl asks about the land opposite the Rec, and Fred explains that he talked to Homeowners Association president Jerry Cole about having wealthy landowner Mr. Sloan buy the land and build an industrial park there instead of the planned twin cinema and roller rink and bowling alley, infuriating Carl.
At the Rec's playground, Claude buys a gram of hash from Tip. The group migrates to a nearby house after notification about a party there. After Carl witnesses Mark and Cory making out, Mark warns Carl against mentioning his name to the cops. After Doberman arrives in his patrol car and busts the party by announcing the 9:30pm curfew, Carl walks home alone, unknowingly followed and assaulted by Mark and his friend. He is caught by his parents, who interrupt their meeting with Cole.
The next day, Doberman visits the Rec; ignoring Julia's objections, he finds drugs on Claude and apprehends him. He emerges from the Rec among the rowdy teens to find Richie standing defiantly atop the patrol car. After a brief foot chase, Richie escapes.
Richie and Carl encounter Cory and her friend Abby, who have just stolen a pistol from a house. They all go to a half-finished town home that the boys call their condo and plan a 'picnic with a gun' the next day. Noticing Mr. Sloan's car at his house, Carl plants firecrackers under the hood, which go off as the men are departing, and Sloan's plans are sabotaged.
At the picnic, the kids alternate shooting until the ammunition runs out. Later, Claude tells Carl that Tip sold him the hash, and Cory announces that Tip had recently gotten busted. Under interrogation, Tip admits he told Doberman whom he sold the hash to. When Carl gets home, his mother Sandra forbids him to see his friends and explains that the Rec will be closed until a new counselor can be found to replace Julia, this further angers Carl who swears at his mother and when he leaves, he gets slapped by his father.
The next day, Carl overhears Tip's mother naming her son's assailants. He grabs Richie and they run to Richie's house, where Richie grabs the pistol and the keys to his mom's Bronco. Doberman chases them; they flip the Bronco and split up. After Doberman fires a warning shot, Richie points his unloaded pistol at him and Doberman kills Richie. Carl escapes to the condo, and Cory later meets him there and they spend the night together. The next morning, en route home to grab money, Carl spots and shoots Mark in the shoulder with the BB gun, causing him to crash his dirt bike; the pair argue, then reconcile. Carl goes home, sneaks in and after seeing his mother on the phone discussing a community meeting about the kids at the school occurring that night, flees to the Rec, meeting up with his friends.
Deciding to confront the parents during the meeting, the kids chain the doors and begin lighting fireworks and trashing the school. After beginning to destroy cars in the parking lot, they break open a patrol car and pull out guns, eventually blowing up several cars and starting fires. Police later arrive and the kids flee, with Doberman locating and arresting Carl. Waiting down the road, Mark shoots Doberman's car, causing it to crash into the Rec and catch fire. Carl escapes, leaving the unconscious Doberman inside the car to die in a massive explosion.
The next morning, Carl boards a bus with the other teens involved in the vandalism for their ride to the Hill. As the bus goes beneath an overpass, Carl smiles as he sees Claude, Johnny, and Cory waving down to them.
Set in the 22nd century in New London, Inspector Beth Lestrade of New Scotland Yard is chasing the grotesquely deformed French rogue geneticist Martin Fenwick, when she realizes that his companion is none other than the 19th century criminal mastermind Professor James Moriarty. She then discovers that this is not the original Moriarty, but rather a clone created from cells taken from his corpse, which Sherlock Holmes had buried in a Swiss ice cave after Moriarty's death in 1891. Lestrade knows that Holmes died of natural causes many years later and that his corpse is preserved in a glass-walled, honey-filled coffin in the basement of New Scotland Yard. She takes the body from the basement and delivers it to biologist Sir Evan Hargreaves (who resembles Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle), who has just invented a process of cellular rejuvenation. Hargreaves uses his process to return life and youth to Holmes's body so that the detective can again battle Moriarty. Holmes also returns to his old Baker Street rooms, which had been preserved as a museum. Lestrade's compudroid reads the original journals of Dr. John H. Watson and assumes his name, face, voice, and mannerisms in order to assist Holmes in both his crime-solving duties and his difficult assimilation to Great Britain in the 22nd century.
During the series, Holmes and Watson often work on retainer for New Scotland Yard, with Beth as their supervising officer and Chief Inspector Charles Grayson as hers, but they also work for private citizens. They are often assisted by the new Baker Street Irregulars: the football player Wiggins, the Cockney Deidre, and the paraplegic Tennyson, who communicates through electronic beeps (which Holmes understands after learning about 22nd century advances in technology and Morse code). The primary villains are Moriarty and Fenwick (who Moriarty has manipulated into being his loyal henchman), appearing as they do in almost half of the produced episodes.
Each episode is inspired by one of the literary works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Many of these are direct rewrites of the original stories—such as "The Adventure of the Empty House", "The Adventure of the Speckled Band", "The Five Orange Pips", "The Red-Headed League", and "The Adventure of the Engineer's Thumb"—while others are drastically different from the stories on which they are based.
Visually, the series is a blend of traditional 2-D and 3-D CGI animation.
''New Spring'' describes events that take place twenty years before the events of ''The Eye of the World'' (Book 1). The story begins in the last days of the Aiel War, and the Battle of the Shining Walls around Tar Valon. It is set primarily in Tar Valon and the Borderlands, specifically Kandor.
''New Spring'' focuses mainly on Moiraine Damodred and Siuan Sanche, two Aes Sedai new to the sisterhood, and how a young Moiraine became Aes Sedai, met Lan Mandragoran and made him her Warder. The novel also explains how Moiraine and Siuan witnessed a prophecy of the Dragon's rebirth and came to begin investigating the ''Karaethon Cycle'', the Prophecies of the Dragon, decades before discovering Rand al'Thor.
The series is set in the New York City Police Department's Eleventh Precinct (the building shown was actually Ninth Precinct), Manhattan South Patrol Borough. The series was also filmed in New York City.
The show revolved around the efforts of the tough and incorruptible Lieutenant Theodopolus ("Theo") Kojak (Telly Savalas), a bald, dapper, New York City policeman, who was fond of Tootsie Pops and of using the catchphrases, "Who loves ya, baby?" and "Cootchie-coo!" Kojak was stubborn and tenacious in his investigation of crimes—and also displayed a dark, cynical wit, along with a tendency to bend the rules if it brought a criminal to justice.
In the context of the script, Kojak's was seen as typical squad room humor, which was picked up later in the TV drama ''Hill Street Blues''. Savalas described Kojak as a "basically honest character, tough but with feelings—the kind of guy who might kick a hooker in the tail if he had to, but they'd understand each other because maybe they grew up on the same kind of block." Kojak's Greek American heritage, shared by actor Savalas, was featured prominently in the series.
In the early episodes of the series, he is often seen smoking cigarettes. Following the 1964 Surgeon General's Report on smoking, cigarette commercials were banned from American television in 1971, and public awareness of the dangers of cigarette smoking increased dramatically during the 1970s. To cut down on his own deadly habit, Kojak began using lollipops as a substitute. The lollipop made its debut in the Season 1 episode "Dark Sunday", broadcast on December 12, 1973; Kojak lights a cigarette as he begins questioning a witness, but thinks better of it and sticks a lollipop (specifically, a Tootsie Pop) in his mouth instead. Later in the episode, Kevin Dobson's character Crocker asks about the lollipop and Kojak replies, "I'm looking to close the generation gap." Although Kojak continued to smoke, as he was frequently seen lighting a cigarillo, the lollipop eventually became his identifying characteristic; in fact, when the series debuted a new opening montage in season five, Kojak is seen both lighting a cigarillo and popping a lollipop into his mouth.
His longtime supervisor was Capt. Frank McNeil (Dan Frazer), a man who never seemed to know what was going on. Later in the series, McNeil was promoted to Chief of Detectives in Manhattan. Kojak is the commander of the Manhattan South Precinct's detective squad. His squad includes one of his favorite employees, young plainclothes officer, Det. Bobby Crocker (Kevin Dobson). Detective Stavros, played by Telly's real-life brother George Savalas, used the name "Demosthenes" as his screen credit during the first two seasons. George Savalas, under his real name, also received a Production Associate credit during the first season and a Production Assistant credit for the second season. Detective Saperstein (Mark Russell), and Detective Rizzo (Vince Conti), all gave Kojak support. Roger Robinson appeared in 12 episodes as Detective Gil Weaver.
Although the show primarily focused on Kojak's police work, it occasionally veered into other areas of the character's lives, such as the first-season episode "Knockover" which included a subplot involving Kojak romancing a (much younger) female police officer. In 1976, crime writer Joe Gores received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Episode in a TV Series Teleplay for the third-season episode "No Immunity for Murder" (first aired November 23, 1975).
The show was canceled after five seasons in 1978, due to falling ratings. Reruns of ''Kojak'' became successful in syndication and on TV Land.
Years after the series ended, Savalas reprised the role in two CBS TV movies, ''Kojak: The Belarus File'' (1985) (an adaptation of the John Loftus book ''The Belarus Secret'') and ''Kojak: The Price of Justice'' (1987) (based on Dorothy Uhnak's novel ''The Investigation''). Kojak is not a character in either book. Dan Frazer, George Savalas, Mark Russell and Vince Conti made their final appearances in ''The Belarus File''.
In 1989, ABC revived the series again with five additional TV movies. These films saw now-Inspector Kojak lead the NYPD's Major Crimes Squad. Andre Braugher was cast as Winston Blake, a young detective assigned to Kojak's command. Kevin Dobson returned for the fourth film ''It's Always Something''.
Telly Savalas and Dan Frazer are the only cast members to appear in every episode of the original series. Kevin Dobson appeared in all but two episodes, whilst George Savalas appeared in all but three.
The Master arrives on Earth and steals the sole surviving Nestene energy unit from the National Space Museum. He then hijacks the Beacon Hill radio telescope, which he uses as a bridgehead to channel energy into the Nestene unit, and kidnaps Professor Philips, a Ministry of Technology research scientist. Reports of the theft and sabotage bring the Doctor, his new assistant Jo Grant and Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart to investigate. At Beacon Hill the Doctor encounters a fellow Time Lord, who warns him that an "old acquaintance" is on Earth and will certainly try to kill him. The Doctor then identifies and successfully neutralises the boobytrap, which the Master has left behind.
The Master takes over Farrel Autoplastics, a nearby plastics factory, to build Autons. Jo, investigating the factory, is discovered by the Master, who hypnotises her and wipes her memory of their meeting. He sends her back to UNIT with a booby-trap, a box ostensibly containing the stolen energy unit. The Doctor realises she has been hypnotised and disposes of the bomb.
UNIT traces the missing Professor Philips to Rossini's Circus at Tarminster. The Doctor visits the Circus, and is captured by Rossini, but freed by Jo, who has followed him there against orders. The Doctor removes something from the Master's TARDIS but is attacked by Rossini and his men. Rescued by two policemen, the Doctor becomes suspicious and unmasks one of them as an Auton.
Fleeing from the Autons, the Doctor and Jo hide in a quarry until the Brigadier and Captain Mike Yates arrive. A firefight breaks out between the soldiers and the Autons, enabling the Doctor's party to escape. Meanwhile, a larger group of Autons, disguised in weird Carnival masks, are touring the country handing out free plastic daffodils to the public. Soon deaths from asphyxiation, shock, and heart failure are being reported all across the country.
The Master infiltrates UNIT headquarters disguised as a telephone engineer, and installs an extra-long telephone flex in the Doctor's laboratory. At the now-empty plastics factory, the Brigadier and the Doctor discover that Farrel, the owner, has chartered a coach. They also find a plastic daffodil, and a lurking killer Auton, proving the connection between the factory and the Master.
In the Doctor's lab, as he tries to decode the Nestenes' instructions imprinted on the cells of the plastic flower, a radio signal from a walkie-talkie accidentally activates it. The daffodil sprays a plastic film over Jo's nose and mouth, nearly suffocating her, until the Doctor dissolves it with a chemical solvent. The Master makes another attempt to kill the Doctor, by calling him on the telephone he installed earlier, and using a sonic signalling device to activate the plastic telephone cable. The extra-length cable attempts to strangle the Doctor, but thanks to the Brigadier's quick thinking, fails.
The Master then breaks into UNIT HQ. As a bargaining counter, the Doctor reveals that he has possession of the Master's dematerialisation circuit, and threatens to destroy it: but he is foiled by the presence of Jo, who the Master takes as a hostage. The Master takes both Jo and the Doctor to the quarry near the radio telescope, to force the Brigadier to abort a planned RAF airstrike on the Autons sheltering there. But Farrel, struggling to break free of his hypnosis, unexpectedly causes a diversion, and while the Master is busy subduing him the Doctor and Jo escape.
UNIT troops engage the Autons, while the Doctor and the Brigadier pursue the Master into the radio telescope's control cabin. The Doctor convinces the Master that the Nestenes are so utterly different they will not be able to distinguish between him and the humans once they arrive. Together, they use the channel opened for the invasion to force the Nestene energy back into space, causing the Autons to collapse. The Master flees, returning to the coach only to re-emerge, apparently surrendering. When he pulls out a gun, Yates shoots him dead, but the Doctor peels back a facemask on the body to reveal it is the hypnotised Farrel, disguised to look like the Master. The real Master escapes in the coach. However, with his dematerialisation circuit in the Doctor's hands, the Master is now trapped on Earth.
All of the Gaul area is under Roman control, except for one small village in Armorica (present-day Brittany), whose inhabitants are made invincible by a magic potion created periodically by the Druid Getafix. To discover the secret of the Gauls' strength, Centurion Crismus Bonus, commander of a Roman garrison at the fortified camp of Compendium, sends a spy disguised as a Gaul to the village. The Roman's identity is revealed when he loses his false moustache, shortly after he discovers the existence of the magic potion; whereupon he reports his discovery to the Centurion.
Crismus Bonus, hoping to overthrow Julius Caesar, orders Getafix captured and interrogated for the recipe; but to no avail. Protagonist Asterix learned of Getafix's capture from a cart-seller; infiltrates the Roman camp in the latter's cart; and hears Crismus Bonus revealing his intended rebellion to Marcus Ginandtonicus, his second-in-command. Following Asterix's suggestion, Getafix pretends to agree to the Centurion's demand of the potion when Asterix pretends to give in to torture, and demands an unseasonal ingredient: strawberries. While Crismus Bonus' soldiers try to find strawberries, Asterix and Getafix relax in relative luxury; and when the strawberries arrive, consume them all, and console Crismus Bonus that the potion may be made without them.
After all the ingredients are found, a potion is prepared that causes the hair and beard of the drinker to grow at an accelerated pace. The Romans are tricked into drinking this potion and before long, all of them have long hair and beards. When Crismus Bonus pleads Getafix to make an antidote, the druid makes a cauldron of vegetable soup (knowing that the hair-growth potion shall soon cease to take effect), and also prepares a small quantity of the real magic potion for Asterix. As Getafix and Asterix escape, they are stopped by a huge army of Roman reinforcements commanded by Julius Caesar. Upon meeting Asterix and Getafix, Caesar hears of Crismus Bonus' intentions against himself; deports Crismus Bonus and his garrison to Outer Mongolia; and frees Asterix and Getafix for giving him the information, while reminding them that they are still enemies. The two Gauls then return to their village, where their neighbors celebrate their return.
The game is set in the year 1590 AD, four years after the events of ''Soulcalibur''. The wave of slaughters that terrorized Europe reached a sudden end. The knight in azure armor, Nightmare, and his followers were successful in collecting enough souls and were about to start the restoration ceremony on the ruins of the once-proud Osthreinsburg Castle. But just as the ceremony was about to start, three young warriors assaulted the castle. In a matter of time, the cult was defeated, and Nightmare stood in front of the young warriors while wielding Soul Edge. After an intense battle, Nightmare fell, but then the evil soul inside Soul Edge sent the young warriors into a vortex of hellfire and stood to confront them. As a result of Soul Edge's evil aura, Krita-Yuga revealed its true form: that of the Holy Sword, Soul Calibur. The intense battle ended with the victory of the holy sword, but when the vortex of Inferno collapsed, both swords along with the Azure Knight Nightmare were sucked into the void and expelled to another place. Siegfried Schtauffen, who was until a moment before the Azure Knight, reclaimed his own mind. Recognizing his sins, he set on a journey of atonement. Still, the blade held a strong bond, and every night, it took control of his body and absorbed souls of those nearby. The efforts made by the young knight were fruitless, and four years later the Azure Knight returned. Around those times, various warriors came into contact with the blade's remaining fragments, revealing Soul Edge's ultimate survival. After its defeat, the fragments began causing chaos and evil to grow in the world. Driven by the need to either possess or destroy the evil sword, each warrior embarks on a new journey, while Nightmare starts his rampage anew, seeking souls to gain the power to restore Soul Edge once again...
The film begins in 1988 as the Soviet Bloc is beginning to disintegrate. František Louka, a middle-aged Czech man dedicated to bachelorhood and the pursuit of women, is a concert cellist struggling to eke out a living by playing funerals at the Prague crematoriums. He has lost his previous job at the Czech Philharmonic, having been half-accidentally blacklisted as "politically unreliable" by the authorities. A friend offers him a chance to earn a great deal of money through a sham marriage to a Soviet woman to enable her to stay in Czechoslovakia. The woman then uses her new citizenship to emigrate to West Germany, where her boyfriend lives.
Due to a concurrence of circumstances, she has to leave behind her 5-year-old son, Kolya, for the disgruntled Czech musician to look after. At first Louka and Kolya have communication difficulties, as they don't speak each other's languages and the many false friend words that exist in Czech and Russian add to the confusion. Gradually, though, a bond forms between Louka and Kolya. The child suffers from suspected meningitis and has to be placed on a course of carefully monitored antibiotics. Louka is threatened with imprisonment for his suspect marriage and the child may be placed in a Soviet children's home. The Velvet Revolution intervenes though, and Kolya is reunited with his mother. Louka and Kolya say their goodbyes.
Louka returns to the Czech Philharmonic and plays ''Má Vlast'' with the orchestra under the conductor Rafael Kubelík at the Old Town Square in 1990, while his pregnant girlfriend Klára watches from the crowd.
Anya unsuccessfully entreats D'Hoffryn to restore her demonic powers.
Principal Snyder browbeats Willow into tutoring basketball star Percy West. At Giles's request, Willow hacks into Mayor Wilkins's files; when Faith finds out, she alerts him of the intrusion. The Mayor presents Faith with a fully furnished apartment and then tells her he plans to have Willow killed.
Percy makes it clear that his idea of tutoring is that Willow should do his homework, and Willow does not correct him. Frustrated and unhappy, Willow then quarrels with Buffy and Xander and storms off. Willow assists Anya with a spell, but their conjuration goes awry, summoning Vampire Willow from Cordelia's previous wish that Buffy never came to Sunnydale rather than retrieving the magic amulet Anya sought. Neither Anya nor Willow realize the consequences of their spell.
Vampire Willow sees Sunnydale is a lot different. No one is afraid of her and there are more humans than vampires, which means the city is very peaceful and corruption-free. Vampire Willow goes to the Bronze, where she fights with Percy and throwing him across the pool table. Vampire Willow runs into her old lover Xander and realizes that he is alive. She also sees Buffy who is alive and despises her a lot worse. She shows her vampire face to Xander and Buffy. Two vampires sent by the Mayor attack her, but she turns them to her side. Buffy and Xander tell Giles that Willow has been killed and turned vampire, but the genuine Willow arrives to demonstrate their error. None of them are aware of Vampire Willow's true origins.
Angel and Anya drop into the Bronze. Vampire Willow and her new minions arrive and capture the crowd. Angel escapes to find Buffy. Anya recognizes what has happened, offers to restore Vampire Willow to her own world in return for help in retrieving her amulet, and suggests capturing the other Willow to assist in the spell. Angel, Buffy and Xander head for the Bronze, but Willow turns back to get the tranquilizer gun and is grabbed by her doppelganger. Willow manages to shoot the vampire with the tranquilizer gun. The others arrive back in the library and they lock the unconscious vampire in the library cage, then Willow exchanges clothes with her in an attempt to pass herself off as Vampire Willow. They return to the Bronze.
Cordelia arrives at the library and unwittingly releases Vampire Willow, who immediately attacks her, but Wesley intervenes and drives the vampire away. At the Bronze, although Anya exposes Willow's disguise, Buffy defeats the other vampires, then captures the returning doppelganger. Anya returns vampire Willow to her own timeline, where the alternate Oz immediately kills her. The next day, Percy, thoroughly intimidated by Willow's doppelganger (and believing she was the real Willow), shows up for tutoring with all his work completed and makes it clear he intends to please her from now on.
During a college lecture where Professor Walsh is discussing the difference between language and communication, Buffy has a dream in which Riley kisses her. They are interrupted by a young girl holding a distinctive box, singing a cryptic rhyme about "the Gentlemen". Riley and Buffy speak after class and they almost kiss, but are unable to stop talking. They leave when it becomes awkward. Buffy calls Giles to tell him of her dream and the details of the little girl's rhyme. In the middle of Xander and Anya's argument with each other over the meaning of their relationship, Giles asks Xander to allow Spike to stay over at his house, as Giles' girlfriend Olivia will be visiting him from London for a few days.
Meanwhile, Willow attends a meeting of the campus Wicca group, hoping to meet others who share her interest in studying witchcraft, but is disappointed when they only talk about bake sales. Willow raises the subject of spells but is chastised for pandering to the stereotype about witches performing magic. A shy woman in the group, Tara Maclay, starts to speak up to support Willow's suggestion, but falls silent when the attention turns to her.
That night, as Sunnydale sleeps, white wisps float from each person's mouth to a belfry, where they settle in the box from Buffy's dream as ghoulish skeletal figures, with metal-toothed grins and impeccable black suits, look on. In the morning, Buffy and Willow discover they are unable to speak and become visibly distressed; they soon discover that everybody is unable to speak. The group gathers at Giles' where they see that the news is reporting that Sunnydale is suffering from an epidemic of laryngitis. Buffy and Riley, each concerned that chaos will ensue, find each other attempting to keep order on the streets. Buffy does not know about Riley's paramilitary role as an agent of the Initiative; he in turn is unaware that she is the Slayer. They exchange a look and then their first kiss, before parting to continue their efforts.
The next night, the ghouls leave the belfry and float into town accompanied by their straitjacketed, deformed minions. They knock on the door of a student. When he opens it, roused from sleeping, they hold him down and carve out his heart while he tries in vain to scream. At Giles' apartment, Olivia is frightened by one of the Gentlemen outside Giles' window. The following morning in a campus classroom, Giles uses a series of overhead transparencies to explain to the others that the Gentlemen steal the townspeople's voices so no one can scream as they gather the hearts they need, and that folklore indicates that they have been vanquished before when a princess screamed: the only thing that will kill them is a live human voice.
On her own, Tara finds a spell to help the town get their voices back, and goes out to show it to Willow. On the way to Willow's dorm she trips, turns around and sees the Gentlemen floating toward her. In Willow's dorm she frantically knocks on doors which no one will open; the Gentlemen steadily pursue her. Willow hears Tara's panicked knocking down the hall and exits her room as Tara sprints into her, sending them both tumbling. They lock themselves into a laundry room and try to barricade the door with a vending machine, but it is too heavy for them to move. Willow, injured, sits and concentrates on moving the machine with telekinesis; she fails, but Tara sees what she is doing. They clasp hands and the machine moves swiftly across the room, blocking the door.
On patrol, Riley notices shadows in the belfry and goes to investigate. Buffy finds two of the Gentlemen's minions, kills one and runs after the other. Riley fights his way into the belfry and while he is embattled, Buffy crashes through a window, fighting. He turns to attack and finds himself face to face with Buffy; she sees him as an agent of the Initiative for the first time. When a minion pins her down she sees and recognizes the box from her dream and gesticulates wildly for Riley to destroy it. When he does so, the stolen voices escape. With her voice returned, Buffy screams until the heads of the Gentlemen and their minions explode.
The next day, Tara tells Willow she is special and has significant power. Olivia tells Giles that she now believes that everything he told her about witchcraft and darkness is true and that she is scared by the experience. Riley comes to visit Buffy in her dorm room and they awkwardly begin to talk about the events of the previous night.
In summer 1958, James Henry Trotter is a young orphan living with his sadistic and domineering aunts Spiker and Sponge. One day, after rescuing a spider from his hysterical aunts, James obtains magical "crocodile tongues" from a mysterious old man, which grows a colossal peach on nearby old peach tree that Spiker and Sponge exploit as a tourist attraction. At night, James eats through the peach to find a pit with several human-sized anthropomorphic insects: Mr. Grasshopper, Mr. Centipede, Ms. Spider (who was actually the spider he saved from Spiker and Sponge), Mr. Earthworm, Mrs. Ladybug, and Mrs. Glowworm. As they hear Spiker and Sponge searching for James, Centipede cuts the stem connecting the peach to the tree and the peach rolls away to the Atlantic Ocean.
The insects drive on the peach to New York City, as James has dreamed of visiting the Empire State Building like his parents wanted to. Obstacles include a giant mechanical shark and undead skeletal pirates in the icy waters of the Arctic. When the group arrive, they are suddenly attacked by the tempestuous form of the rhinoceros that killed James' parents. James, though frightened, gets his friends to safety and confronts the rhino before it strikes the peach with lightning. James and the peach fall to the city below, landing on top of the Empire State Building. After he is rescued by firefighters, Spiker and Sponge arrive and attempt to claim James and the peach. James tells the crowd of his fantastical adventure and exposes his aunts' mistreatment. Enraged at James' betrayal, Spiker and Sponge attempt to hack James with stolen fire axes, but are stopped by the insects and arrested by the police.
James introduces his friends to the New Yorkers and allows the children to eat up the peach. The peach pit is made into a cottage in Central Park, where James lives happily with the bugs, who form his new family and also find success and fame in the city. Mr. Centipede runs for New York mayor and is now James’ father, Miss Spider opens a club and is now his mother, Mr. Earthworm becomes a mascot for a skin-care company and is now James' uncle, Mrs. Ladybug becomes an obstetrician and is James' aunt, Mr. Grasshopper becomes a concert violinist and is now James' grandfather, and Mrs. Glowworm becomes the light in the torch of the Statue of Liberty and is now his grandmother. James celebrates his ninth birthday with his new family and friends.
Munich 1942: The student group White Rose, among them the Scholl siblings, calls for resistance against Hitler and his regime with leaflets. Risking their lives, they take leaflets to other cities and write slogans such as "Down with Hitler" on the walls of houses at night. As the Gestapo's noose tightens around the students, they make contact with other resistance groups and even with high military officials. In early 1943, the Gestapo strikes. Hans and Sophie Scholl are arrested in the courtyard of Munich University. The People's Court under its chairman Freisler sentences them to death. The sentence is carried out on February 22, 1943.
In the credits, the director points out that the death sentences of the People's Court were still legally valid at the time the film was completed. It was not until 1998 that the sentences of the People's Court were repealed by the Law on the Repeal of National Socialist Unjust Sentences in the Administration of Criminal Justice.
A nuclear powered cyclotron facility in some caves under a moorland is experiencing mysterious power drains and mental breakdowns amongst staff. The Third Doctor and Liz Shaw meet Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart there to investigate. A worker who was potholing in the caves is found dead with giant claw marks on his body, and his companion has been traumatised. Lawrence, the Director, resents UNIT's presence and feels that it will interfere with the working of the plant. Major Baker, the security chief, believes there is a saboteur in the centre, and the Doctor discovers that the logs of the nuclear reactor's operation have been tampered with. When the Doctor makes his way into the caves, he is attacked by a dinosaur-like creature before it is called off by a strange whistling sound.
The Doctor analyses blood from a man-sized creature Major Baker shot at and finds similarities to "larger reptiles". In the meantime, the creature goes to the moorland on the surface and stumbles into a barn to hide. Quinn goes into the caves to a hidden base, where he demands the knowledge he was promised. He is told that he must first help the wounded creature and is given a signal device, which emits the sound heard earlier.
The creature attacks a farmer and his wife when they discover it in the barn. The farmer dies of a heart attack after being frightened by it, but the wife survives and identifies her attacker. While investigating the barn, Liz is knocked unconscious by the creature, and it flees. The Brigadier and the Doctor follow the creature's tracks and find they end in tyre marks.
Breaking into Quinn's office, the Doctor finds a globe that depicts the Earth's continents as they were 200 million years ago along with notes about the Silurian period of Earth's history.
Quinn is discovered dead. The Doctor retrieves the signal device from his body and is surprised by the wounded Silurian creature. The Doctor tries to talk to the creature, but it runs away. Baker is captured and interrogated by the Silurians about the strength of humans. The Doctor and Liz follow Baker's route and open the entrance to the Silurian base with the signal device, where they find him in a locked cage. They witness a Silurian being revived from hibernation by a machine, explaining the energy drains that the reactor has been experiencing.
Masters, the Permanent Under-Secretary in charge of the centre, arrives. The Doctor tells them about the Silurians in the caves, urging peaceful contact. However, this is ignored when Quinn's assistant reveals that he was killed by the Silurian he held captive. The Doctor attempts to warn the Silurians, but they put him in a cage. The older Silurian tells the Doctor how their race retreated underground when they saw the Moon approaching Earth millions of years ago. The hibernation mechanism malfunctioned, and they did not revive until a new power source was discovered. A young Silurian orders Baker infected with bacteria before he is released. The older Silurian releases the Doctor, giving him a canister of the bacteria so he can discover a cure. The younger Silurian usurps and kills the older one for this act, becoming the new leader. The Doctor reaches the centre and warns everyone to stay away from Baker, who collapses with the infection. Masters decides to return to London, unaware that he has been infected. Baker is taken to a local hospital and dies.
The Doctor begins to work on a cure. Masters has reached London and eludes the search parties looking for him. The bacteria spreads, and deaths begin. The Doctor finds a cure, but the Silurians attack the centre and abduct him. Liz discovers the formula for the cure, which is soon mass-produced and distributed. The Silurians intend to force the Doctor to use the reactor to provide power to a weapon to destroy the Van Allen Belt and make the Earth's environment hostile to humankind.
The Doctor overloads the reactor and tells the younger Silurian that the area will be irradiated for at least 25 years. The Silurians re-enter the caves to hibernate until the danger has passed. Since the mechanism is faulty, the younger Silurian will stay awake to operate it and sacrifice his life. The Doctor and Liz repair the reactor. The younger Silurian realises he has been duped into sending his race back to sleep. He attacks the Doctor but is shot by the Brigadier.
Later, the Doctor tells Liz that he proposes to revive the Silurians and try to reach a peaceful compromise between them and humanity. However, the Brigadier has other orders, and the Silurian base is blown up. The Doctor is horrified at this act of genocide, but Liz suggests that the Brigadier was acting on orders of his superiors.
The Third Doctor and UNIT are called in to investigate a murder at Project Inferno, an effort to drill through the Earth's crust to harness great energies within the planet's core. It transpires that the drilling is producing a green ooze that transforms all who touch it into savage humanoid creatures called Primords, who can only be killed via extreme cold. Unbeknownst to anyone, the project leader, Professor Stahlman has been infected and is in the early stages of the change. After quarrelling with Stahlman, the Doctor attempts an experiment on the detached TARDIS console, but a freak accident transports him into a parallel space-time continuum.
In this new universe, where Great Britain is a fascist republic, the Doctor is captured and interrogated by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart's counterpart, a sadistic, eyepatch-wearing military commandant known as the Brigade Leader, along with the counterpart of the Doctor's companion Liz, who in this universe became a military officer instead of a scientist. When the drill penetrates the Earth's crust it unleashes immense amounts of heat and poisonous gases, along with more of the ooze, which Stahlman's counterpart uses to transform most of the remaining project staff into more Primords. The Doctor determines that the unleashed energies of the core will eventually disintegrate the planet, and is able to persuade the surviving staff members to help him return to his own dimension and prevent a similar catastrophe. They eventually succeed in restoring power to the TARDIS console despite repeated Primord attacks, but Liz's counterpart is forced to kill the Brigade Leader when he turns on the Doctor, who narrowly escapes as the Project Inferno facility is destroyed by a massive volcanic eruption.
Back in his own reality, the Doctor urgently tries to have the drilling stopped, but like in the other reality his warnings are ignored. This time, however, the slower pace of the drilling means that Stahlman fully transforms into a Primord before the crust is penetrated instead of afterwards, and after the Doctor kills him with a fire extinguisher, the drilling is stopped in time to prevent disaster. Satisfied that the TARDIS console is now working again, the Doctor attempts to depart, only to end up landing in a local rubbish dump.
Mr Barber Rynde comes to a country hotel to assist a wealthy widow. He endures a nature cure diet and exercises under Rumbelow. When the widow is poisoned, Barber Rynde and Rumbelow join forces to win a reward offered by the hotel manager Crossley. Crossley is next murdered but this leads to the original criminal. The reward however has been inherited by the widow's Pekinese.
Sir Reginald Styles, a British diplomat trying to organise a peace conference to avert World War III, is in his study at Auderly House when a soldier wielding a futuristic looking pistol bursts in and holds him at gunpoint. However, before the man can fire, he vanishes, leaving Styles to shakily tell his secretary he has been visited by a ghost. When the Third Doctor, Jo and the Brigadier go to Auderly House, Styles denies ever seeing the "ghost", even though the Doctor notes the presence of muddy footprints in the study. The Doctor discovers a crude time machine and an ultrasonic disintegrator. He and Jo spend the night at Auderly House to monitor any activity.
The machine turns out to be from the 22nd Century and contains a homing device which will alert its owners, the Daleks, upon its activation. The next day, as the Doctor tries to reactivate the time machine, three rebel fighters--Anat, Boaz, and Shura--appear from the time vortex and demand the machine be deactivated. The Doctor complies, but not before the Daleks detect the frequency and launch their attack. The ensuing battle shifts back and forth between the 20th and 22nd Centuries. Eventually, the Dalek attack is defeated when Shura detonates a bomb made of dalekanium, a powerful explosive that will even affect Dalek body casings.
The Doctor tells Styles that it is now up to him to make the conference a success. Styles assures the Doctor that it will be, because they know what will happen if they fail. The Doctor, nodding at Jo, says that they know too.
Rangers Gabriel "Gabe" Walker and Jessie Deighan are dispatched to rescue their friend Hal Tucker and his girlfriend, Sarah, after Hal suffered a knee injury and stranded them on a peak in the Colorado Rockies. As they try to rescue Sarah, part of her harness breaks. Although Gabe is initially able to grab her, her gloved hand slips out and she falls to her death. Hal blames Gabe for Sarah's death and Gabe is overcome with guilt, taking an extended leave.
Eight months later, Gabe returns to the ranger station to gather his remaining possessions and persuade Jessie to leave with him. While there, they receive a distress call from a group of stranded climbers. Hal goes to locate the climbers and Jessie is able to persuade Gabe to help out. Hal remains bitter towards Gabe over Sarah's death, at one point threatening to push Gabe off a ledge. When they find the climbers, they discover the distress call was a fake and are taken prisoner by a ruthless gang of international thieves led by psychotic former Military Intelligence operative Eric Qualen. The surviving thieves are the brutal Kynette, sadistic Delmar and pilot Kristel. Qualen, along with turncoat U.S. Treasury agent Richard Travers, were able to steal three suitcases full of uncirculated bills valuing over $100 million from a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 on a mid-air transfer to a Lockheed Jetstar. Their escape plan backfired when a supposedly dead FBI agent shoots and damages the hydraulics, sending their plane crashing into the mountain, and they now require Gabe and Hal's help to locate the cases with the help of beacon locators.
At gunpoint, Hal and Gabe lead them to the first case, located upwards on a steep rock face. Gabe is tethered and forced to climb up the face to reach the case, but when Qualen plans to have Gabe killed once he's got the case, Hal warns him not to come down. Before Delmar pulls him back and hold him at gunpoint, Qualen orders Kynette and one of the thieves try to yank him down, prompting Gabe to sever the rope. Qualen orders one of the thieves to open fire on Gabe, causing an avalanche that kills one of their members. When they see the money from the first case fluttering away, Qualen believes Gabe is dead, and orders Hal to lead them onward. Gabe races ahead to find Jessie at an abandoned cabin. They recover old mountaineering gear to reach the second case before Qualen does. By the time Qualen arrives, Gabe and Jessie have emptied the case and left only a single bill with the taunting message "Want to trade?" on it. Qualen orders his men to split up, allowing Gabe to impale Kynette on a stalactite in an underground cavern. Gabe attempts to call for help from Frank, their rescue helicopter pilot, on one of the mercenaries' radios, but Hal alerts him to explosives Qualen has rigged above them on the mountain. Gabe and Jessie escape the falling debris in time. Elsewhere, when Hal sees two friends, Evan and Brett, he warns them away before Qualen orders his men to open fire. Brett is killed while Evan is wounded, though he manages to ski off the mountain and parachute to safety. Night falls on the mountain and both groups take shelter. Frank, having not heard from Gabe or the others, scouts the mountain in the helicopter, spots Evan's parachute, and is able to get him to safety while contacting the authorities.
When morning breaks, Gabe and Jessie beat Qualen to the last case. Meanwhile, the mercenaries flag down Frank in the helicopter, but by the time he realizes it's a trap it is too late and he is fatally shot by Delmar. While hugging Frank's body, Hal discreetly grabs Frank's knife. As the mercenaries split up to look for the other case, Hal is able to use the knife to stab Delmar, kill him with his own shotgun, and escape. Travers sees Gabe and gives chase. While on the surface of a frozen river, Travers observes Gabe under the ice and tries to kill him, but Gabe uses his bolt gun to shoot Travers and his lifeless body is carried away by the river current. However, at the same time, Qualen takes Jessie hostage when she waves down the helicopter, believing that Frank was flying it. Qualen tells Gabe and Hal over the radio that he is holding Jessie captive on board the helicopter, demanding Gabe and Hal to surrender the money from the third case at a high elevated rendezvous point and threatens to kill her should they refuse to cooperate.
Gabe and Hal agree, and they meet at a cliff side bridge. However, Qualen tries to challenge Gabe into throwing the case into the helicopter, but when he also threatens to kill Jessie again, Gabe orders Qualen to free her at a safe distance away from the cliff. Qualen reluctantly agrees, and uses a winch to lower Jessie to the ground. Once Jessie is safely down, however, Gabe throws the bag of money into the helicopter's rotors, shredding the money. Enraged, Qualen attempts to use the helicopter to kill Gabe, but Gabe has used the winch cable to tether the helicopter to a steel ladder up the cliff face. Hal arrives and helps via shooting the helicopter down. The ladder snaps and leaves Gabe and Qualen atop the wreckage of the helicopter hanging by the cable. Gabe fights Qualen and manages to climb to safety as the wreckage snaps off the cable and falls to the bottom of the mountain, killing Qualen. Gabe reunites with Jessie and Hal as they are found by Treasury agents led by Walter Wright in a helicopter. Wright arranges to send a rescue helicopter as Gabe, Hal, and Jessie are seen sitting on top of a mountain peak, reminiscent of Gabe, Hal, and Sarah at the beginning.
The story follows the exploits of Arslan, the crown prince of the kingdom of Pars ("پارس" or "فارس" is equivalent word to Persia and what the land of Persians "پارسیان" was called), and it is divided into two parts. In the first part, Pars is taken over by the neighboring nation of Lusitania after Arslan's father, King Andragoras III, falls victim to a treacherous plot led by some of his most trusted retainers. After barely escaping with his life, Arslan rejoins his loyal servant, Daryun. Backed up by only a few more companions, including the philosopher and tactician Narsus and his young servant Elam, also Farangis, an aloof, cold priestess, and Gieve, a travelling musician and con-man, Arslan stands against overwhelming odds to assemble an army strong enough to liberate his nation from the Lusitanian army which is led by the elusive warrior known as "Silvermask", who is later revealed to be another contender to Pars' throne. In the second part, Arslan, now king of Pars, divides himself between defending his country against several external threats, including Silvermask, who is still at large, seeking to claim the throne for himself, and addressing the needs and hopes of his subjects.
''Homeworld 2'' continues the struggle of the Hiigarans and their leader Karan S'jet. While in the original game the player could select either the Kushan or Taiidan races, in the sequel the Kushan are established as the canonical protagonists.
During the events of the original game (and played out in the prequel ''Deserts of Kharak''), the Kushan race of the planet Kharak discovered the wreckage of the ''Khar-Toba'', an interstellar transport starship, in the Great Desert. Inside, they found an ancient Hyperspace Core, and a galactic map etched on a piece of stone that showed that the Kushan had been transplanted to Kharak long ago, and pointed the way to their long-lost homeworld, Hiigara. The Kushan built an enormous self-sufficient Mothership, powered by the Hyperspace Core from the ''Khar-Toba'', to carry 600,000 people across the galaxy to Hiigara. Throughout their journey, the Kushan battled the forces of the Taiidan Empire, which had exiled them, and endured numerous other hardships along the way. With the aid of the Bentusi, a powerful and enigmatic race of traders, the Kushan reached Hiigara and destroyed the Taiidan Emperor, laying claim to their homeworld.
The story continues that the Hyperspace Core found in the ''Khar-Toba'' was the second of only three known to exist in the galaxy, left behind by an ancient race known as the Progenitors. The First Core was possessed by the Bentusi; the third was lost until approximately one hundred years after the Exiles reclaimed Hiigara, found by a Vaygr Warlord named Makaan. With his massive Flagship empowered by the Third Core, Makaan began a campaign of conquest, seizing control of the remnants of the Taiidan Empire and surrounding star systems, and—as of the beginning of ''Homeworld 2''—began attempts to capture Hiigara. The story states that religious beings of the galaxy consider the discovery of the Third Core to announce the End Times, during which Sajuuk, thought to be an immensely powerful being, will return. Makaan believes himself to be the ''Sajuuk-Khar'', a messianic figure that will unite the Three Cores and herald the return of Sajuuk.
The game begins with the commissioning of a new Mothership, the ''Pride of Hiigara'', at the Great Derelict at Tanis. The ''Pride of Hiigara'' is similar in shape and design to the original Mothership and commanded by Karan S'jet, as in the original game. The ship is attacked by the Vaygr during the final stages of construction, but escapes to rally the Hiigaran fleet. Makaan's fleet lays siege to Hiigara, and the Warlord offers a deal to the Hiigarans: if they surrender the Second Core to him, he will spare their Homeworld.
The Bentusi inform the Hiigarans that they must find Balcora Gate, left behind by the Progenitors, behind which is something essential for stopping either the Vaygr threat, the End Times, or both. The Hiigarans find a Progenitor Dreadnought in the wreckage of the old enginnering section of the Old Protgenitor Mothership, and find that it is required to unlock Balcora Gate. The Hiiigarans breifly engage with a Protengitor Keeper, an ancient AI controlled vessel impervious to almost all damage. The Great Harbor Ship of Bentus, last of the Bentusi, sacrifices itself after being ambushed by 4 Progenitor Keepers , leaving its Core for the Hiigarans to claim in order to stop Makaan. But the Warlord learns of the Balcora Gate as well, and the game's penultimate mission takes place on the other side, where Hiigarans and Vaygr alike discover that Sajuuk is in fact a Mothership-sized Progenitor starship, with sockets for the Three Hyperspace Cores.
The Hiigaran fleet engages Makaan's Flagship and destroys it, claiming the Third Core from the wreckage. With all three Cores, the Hiigarans reactivate Sajuuk, abandoning the ''Pride of Hiigara'', and bring it back to Hiigara to break the Vaygr siege, destroying the Vaygr's planet-killer weapons and saving Hiigara from destruction. Sajuuk is later found to be the key to a galaxy-wide network of hyperspace gates, ushering in a new age of trade and prosperity for all civilized races in the galaxy - the Age of Karan S'jet, the true ''Sajuuk-Khar''.
Like the original ''Homeworld'', there are only a handful of individual characters with a prominent place in the narrative: * '''Karan S'jet''': The main protagonist, the scientist who volunteered to become the living core of the Mothership during the original game, returns once again as Fleet Command on the ''Pride of Hiigara'' to lead the Hiigaran fleet against the Vaygr. She is voiced by Jennifer Dawne Graveness, taking over for Heidi Ernest (the original voice of Fleet Command in the first game and in the training missions for ''Cataclysm''). It was announced at PAX South in 2015 that the voice change was due to personal circumstances that left Ernest unable to reprise her role as Fleet Command, though she returned to the role for the Remastered Collection.[http://www.relicnews.com/archives/2015/01/homeworld-remastered-details-galore/ Relicnews | Homeworld Remastered Details Galore!] * '''Fleet Intelligence''': Much like in the original game, Fleet Intelligence is a male character who analyzes sensor data and generates mission objectives during the single-player campaign; also like in the original game, he is not heard in multiplayer. He is voiced by Eli Gabay in the original release. Michael Sunczyk, the voice of Fleet Intelligence in the first game, returned to the role for the Remastered Edition in 2015. * '''Captain Soban''': Commander of the Ferin Sha fleet that aids in the defense of the ''Pride of Hiigara'' during a Vaygr attack. * '''Captain Elohim''': Commander of a Kiith Nabaal shipyard that eventually joins the Mothership fleet. * '''Makaan''': The main antagonist, Makaan is a warlord of the Vaygr and ruler of an interstellar domain that includes the remnants of the Taiidan Empire. He believes himself to be the ''Sajuuk-khar'', the Chosen One who will unite the Three Cores and bring about the return of Sajuuk. Unlike the Taiidan Emperor in the original ''Homeworld'', Makaan is a battle-hardened warlord and brilliant strategist. He is voiced by Mark Oliver.
''Ruins of Adventure'' contains four short Forgotten Realms adventure scenarios which are connected and adapted from the ''Pool of Radiance'' computer game, and take place in the devastated town of Phlan.
The adventurers are hired to remove evil forces from Phlan, presumably by killing them. They hear rumor of a ''Boss'' controlling them and seek him out. This ''Boss'' proves to be a worthy adversary, but in the end the adventurers defeat him.
There are various locations in the fictional city of Phlan. Each of these locations comes with a map and detailed area description. These locations include: * Kovel Mansion * The Slum District * The Temple of Bane * Kuto's Well * Mantor's Library * Stojanow Gate * Podol Plaza * The Cadorna Textile House * Valhingen Graveyard * Valjevo Castle * Sorcerer's Island * Zhentil Keep Outpost
There are numerous pre-generated characters in this book. Monsters each have their own stats prepared and there are quite a few non-player characters.
George Giles is a boy raised as a goat who rises in life to be Grand Tutor (spiritual leader or messiah) of New Tammany College (the United States, or the Earth, or the Universe).Guido Sommavilla, [https://books.google.com/books?id=fQlMwgfR8RMC&pg=PA285 ''Peripenzie Dell'epica Contemporanea''], p. 295 He strives for (and achieves) herohood, in accordance with the hero myth as theorized by Lord Raglan and Joseph Campbell. The novel abounds in mythological and Christian allegories, as well as in allusions to the Cold War, 1960s academia, religion and spirituality. Rather than ''discovering'' his true identity, George ultimately ''chooses'' it, much like Ebeneezer Cooke does in Barth's previous novel, ''The Sotweed Factor''.
The principle behind the allegorical renaming of key roles in the novel as roman à clef is that the Earth (or the Universe) is a university. Thus, for example, the founder of a religion or great religious leader becomes a Grand Tutor (in German ''Grosslehrer''), and Barth renames specific leaders as well: Jesus Christ becomes Enos Enoch (meaning in Hebrew "The man who walked with God" or "humanity when it walked with God"), Moses becomes Moishe, Buddha becomes the original Sakhyan. As the founder of the maieutic method, Socrates becomes Maios; Plato (whose Greek name ''Platon'' means "broad-shouldered") becomes Scapulas (from scapula, shoulder-blade); Aristotle, as the coiner of the term ''entelekheia'' (lit. "having an end within," usually translated "entelechy," or glossed as the actualization of a potentiality), becomes Entelechus. The heroes of epic poems tend to be named after the Greek for "son of": Odysseus becomes Laertides (son of Laertes), Aeneas becomes Anchisides (son of Anchises), and so on. The subtitle ''The Revised New Syllabus'' means, in the novel's Universe=University allegory, a parodic rewriting of the New Testament. Satan is the Dean o' Flunks, and lives in the Nether Campus (hell); John the Baptist is John the Bursar; the Sermon on the Mount becomes the Seminar-on-the-Hill; the Last Judgment becomes the Final Examination. Among the parodic variations, a computer replaces the Holy Spirit, and an artificial insemination the Immaculate Conception.
As claimed in the opening prefaces, the text is "discovered" by the author. A hypertext encyclopedia also figures in the book, years before the invention of hypertext and three decades before the Web became part of society at large. The character Max Spielman is a parody of Ernst Haeckel, whose insight "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" is rephrased as "ontogeny recapitulates cosmogeny" and "proctoscopy repeats hagiography". The "riddle of the universe" is rephrased as "the riddle of the sphincters". The novel also contains a forty-page parody in small type of the full text of ''Oedipus Rex'' called ''Taliped Decanus''. The digressive play-within-a-book is grossly disproportionate to the length of the book, parodying both Sophocles and Freud.
The adventure begins with PCs falling down an earthen tunnel. It is suggested that the portal to Dungeonland be a barrel within the dungeon of Castle Greyhawk, but the Dungeon Master (DM) may work in any premise to get them to this stage.
Upon landing, the player characters (PCs) find themselves in a surreal, oddly-shaped hallway which contains The Pool of Tears and the entrance to a diminutive garden. Once they have explored these areas, they cross a fungi forest and arrive at The Wilds of Dungeonland, which is essentially a wooded area containing several connected clearings.
Over the course of the adventure, the PCs run into variations of Lewis Carroll's ''Wonderland'' creatures and characters, presented in a ''Dungeons and Dragons'' style. For instance, instead of the Mock Turtle, a Mock Dragon Turtle is present. The March Hare is a lycanthrope, and so on.
The story loosely follows the ''Alice in Wonderland'' novel, with all of the characters converted into hostile monsters with treasure. The PCs may leave Dungeonland when they choose, by returning to the Great Hall and wishing themselves back up the tunnel. The PCs may also explore The Land of the Magic Mirror, which adjoins Dungeonland to the West, if they are able to find the way.
In this module, the player characters plummet into a strange partial plane. They encounter the Jabberwock, the Bandersnatch, and the Walrus and the Carpenter, and become involved in a gigantic game of chess.
Claude Hooper Bukowski of Oklahoma is sent off to New York City after being drafted into the Army ("Age Of Aquarius"). Before his draft board-appointment, Claude begins exploring New York, where he encounters a close-knit "tribe" of hippies led by George Berger. He observes the hippies panhandle from a trio of horseback riders including Short Hills, New Jersey debutante Sheila Franklin ("Sodomy") and later catches and mounts a runaway horse, which the hippies have rented, exhibiting his riding skills to Sheila ("Donna") before then returning the horse to Berger, who offers to show him around.
That evening, Claude gets stoned on marijuana with Berger and the tribe. He is then introduced to various race and class issues of the 1960s ("Hashish", "Colored Spade", "Manchester", "I'm Black/Ain't Got No"). The next morning, Berger finds a newspaper clipping which gives Sheila's address in Short Hills, New Jersey. The tribe members—LaFayette "Hud" Johnson, Jeannie Ryan (who is pregnant), and "Woof Dacshund"—crash a private dinner party to introduce Claude to Sheila, who secretly enjoys her rigid environment being disrupted ("I Got Life"). After Berger and company are arrested, Claude uses his last $50 to bail him out of jail—where Woof resists having his hair cut ("Hair").
When Sheila is unable to borrow any money from her father, Berger returns to his parents' home. His mother gives him enough cash to bail out his friends. They subsequently attend a peace rally in Central Park, where Claude drops acid for the first time ("Initials", "Electric Blues/Old Fashioned Melody", "Be In"). Just as Jeannie proposes marriage to Claude, in order to keep him out of the Army, Sheila shows up to apologize. Claude's "trip" reflects his inner conflict over which of three worlds he fits in with: his own native Oklahoman farm culture, Sheila's upper-class society, or the hippies' free-wheeling environment.
After his acid trip, Claude falls out with Berger and the tribe members, ostensibly due to a practical joke they pull on Sheila (taking her clothes while she's skinny-dipping, which forces her to hail a taxi in just her panties), but also due to their philosophical differences over the war in Vietnam—and over personal versus communal responsibility. After wandering the city ("Where Do I Go?"), Claude finally reports to the draft board (“Black Boys/White Boys”), completes his enlistment, and is shipped off to Nevada for basic training.
It's now Winter in New York when Claude writes to Sheila from Nevada ("Walking In Space"), who subsequently shares the news with the others. Berger devises a scheme to visit Claude in Nevada. Meanwhile, Hud's fiancée—with whom he has a son, LaFayette Jr.—wants to marry as they had apparently planned to earlier ("Easy To Be Hard"). The tribe members trick Sheila's brother Steve out of his car, then head west to visit Claude.
Arriving at the Army training center where Claude is stationed ("Three-Five-Zero-Zero", "Good Morning Starshine"), the hippies are turned away, ostensibly because the base is on alert, but also because the MP on duty loathes their appearance, proceeding to condescendingly caricaturize Berger's perceived vernacular. Sometime later, Sheila chats up army sergeant Fenton at a local bar, using sex to lure him to an isolated desert road and acquire his uniform. The hippies steal his car, and Berger cuts his hair and dons the uniform (symbolically becoming a responsible adult), then drives it onto the Army base. He finds Claude and offers to replace him for the next headcount so that Claude can meet Sheila and the others for a going-away picnic in the desert.
Unfortunately, just after a disguised Claude slips away to the picnic, the base becomes fully activated with immediate ship-outs for Vietnam. Berger's ruse is never discovered; clearly horrified of potentially joining the war, he is herded onto the plane to be shipped out. Claude returns to the empty barracks and frantically pursues Berger's plane but is unable to reach it before it takes off for Southeast Asia ("The Flesh Failures").
Months later, Claude, Sheila, and the tribe gather around Berger's grave in Arlington National Cemetery, whose grave marker shows that he was killed in Vietnam ("Let the Sunshine In"). The movie ends with what appears to be a full-scale peace-protest in Washington, D.C.
The story begins with the catastrophic failure of an elevator which Watson had inspected just days before, leading to suspicion cast upon both herself and the Intuitionist school as a whole. To cope with the inspectorate, the corporate elevator establishment, and other looming elements, she must return to her intellectual roots, the texts (both known and lost) of the founder of the school, to try to reconstruct what is happening around her.
In the course of her search, she discovers the central idea of the founder of Intuitionism – that of the "black box", the perfect elevator, which will deliver the people to the city of the future.
The story involves a party of player characters (PCs) who travel to the land of Barovia, a small nation surrounded by a deadly magical fog. The master of nearby Castle Ravenloft, Count Strahd von Zarovich, tyrannically rules the country, and a prologue explains that the residents must barricade their doors each night to avoid attacks by Strahd and his minions. The Burgomaster's mansion is the focus of these attacks, and, for reasons that are not initially explained, Strahd is after the Burgomaster's adopted daughter, Ireena Kolyana.
Before play begins, the Dungeon Master (or DM, the player who organizes and directs the game play) randomly draws five cards from a deck of six. Two of these cards determine the locations of two magical weapons useful in defeating Strahd: the Holy Symbol and the Sunsword. The next two cards determine the locations of Strahd and the ''Tome of Strahd'', a book that details Strahd's long-ago unrequited love. In this work, it is revealed that Strahd had fallen in love with a young girl, who in turn loved his younger brother. Strahd blamed his age for the rejection, and made a pact with evil powers to live forever. He then slew his brother, but the young girl killed herself in response, and Strahd found that he had become a vampire. All possible locations are inside Castle Ravenloft.
The fifth and final card selected determines Strahd's motivation. There are four possible motivations for Strahd. He may want to replace one of the PCs and attempt to turn the character into a vampire and take on that character's form. He may desire the love of Ireena, whose appearance matches that of his lost love, Tatyana. Using mind control, Strahd will try to force a PC to attack Ireena and gain her love by "saving" her from the situation he created. Strahd may also want to create an evil magic item, or destroy the Sunsword. If, during play, the party's fortune is told at the gypsy camp in Barovia, the random elements are altered to match the cards drawn by the gypsy.
As the party journeys through Barovia and the castle, the game play is guided using 12 maps with corresponding sections in the book's body guide. Example maps and sections include the Lands of Barovia, the Court of the Count, five entries for each level of the Spires of Ravenloft, and the Dungeons and Catacombs. Each location contains treasure and adversaries, including zombies, wolves, ghouls, ghosts, and other creatures. The main objective of the game is to destroy Count Strahd. The DM is instructed to play the vampire intelligently, and to keep him alive as long as possible, making him flee when necessary. In an optional epilogue, Ireena is reunited with her lover. They leave the "mortal world" as Ireena says, "Through these many centuries we have played out the tragedy of our lives."
Spike confronts Buffy about their sudden passionate kiss the previous night and she tells him it will never happen again, then defends him from an attack by a demon loan shark. Willow, Xander, Anya and Tara discuss their discovery that they called Buffy back from Heaven, not Hell. Willow suggests fixing the mess with a spell and Tara confronts her about her excessive use of magic. At the threat of losing Tara, a desperate Willow pledges to go a week without magic.
At the Magic Box, Giles tells Buffy he is leaving for England so she can learn to stand on her own and Buffy takes the news very badly. With the gang on the way to the Magic Box for a meeting with Giles, Willow hangs back and begins another spell in the fireplace using a crystal and some Lethe's Bramble (the forgetting herb) that will make Tara and Buffy forget their troubles. Pocketing the crystal, in her rush, she accidentally leaves a full bag of the herb on the hearth.
At the shop, Giles informs the Scoobies, including a disguised Spike on the run from the loan shark, that he is leaving, and Buffy tearfully reveals that she feels deserted by everyone. Back at the Summers' house, a spark from the fireplace sets the entire bag of Lethe's Bramble on fire, causing the whole gang to fall unconscious. They wake up that evening with no knowledge of who they are. Spike suspects Giles is his father (because they are both British and Giles feels a gut-wrenching disappointment towards him), Anya assumes she is marrying Giles (because she is wearing an engagement ring and they jointly own the magic shop) and Willow and Xander think they are a couple (because they woke up next to each other and Willow is wearing his jacket). Giles, Anya, Xander, Willow and Tara figure out their names from their IDs and Dawn's from her necklace. Spike assumes his name is "Randy" because of the label inside his coat, and Buffy, with no evidence to her identity, names herself "Joan".
A pair of the loan shark's vampires attack the shop, looking for Spike, and frighten the gang. Buffy discovers she has super strength when she stakes one of the vampires and saves Spike. Anya and Giles remain at the magic shop to work on spells, while Buffy and Spike head outside to fight more vampires and the rest of the Scoobies retreat to the sewers in an attempt to get to a hospital. Unfortunately, they are menaced by a vampire, too. When attacked, Spike unknowingly assumes his vampire visage, which sends Buffy running away in fear. When he catches up with her, Buffy attacks him and informs him that he is a vampire. He is confused, but assumes he is a good vampire because he does not want to hurt her. The loan shark and his minions attack the two and a fight ensues.
Back in the shop, Anya tries spells from a book and conjures numerous bunnies, frightening her and exasperating Giles. Giles and Anya fight while hiding behind the counter and Giles reveals that he found a one-way plane ticket in his pocket for London, assuming he must be abandoning Anya. Anya begs him not to leave her and they kiss passionately. In the sewer, Xander fights with the vampire chasing them and finally stakes it, but then accidentally steps on Willow's crystal, which fell from her pocket during the commotion. The crystal shatters and the spell is broken, finding Giles and Anya kissing, Willow atop Tara after a fall, and Spike and Buffy deep in mid-action conversation. Tara and the others in the sewer realize that Willow broke her promise not to use magic. With the spell broken and her memories rushing back, Buffy is momentarily too stunned to duck a few painful hits. Spike finishes off the rest of the vampires and promises to make up his debt to the intimidated loan shark.
Back at the house, Tara packs her belongings and leaves as Willow cries in another room. Giles takes his plane back to England. Spike finds Buffy at The Bronze, but she turns her face away and he stalks off. Later, however, she follows him and they kiss passionately beneath the stairs.
The series begins in the year 1867 and centers on a proper and wealthy female physician from Boston, Massachusetts, Michaela Quinn (Seymour), familiarly known as "Dr. Mike". After her father's death, she sets out west to the small wild west town Colorado Springs, to set up her own practice. She makes the difficult adjustment to life in Colorado with the aid of rugged outdoorsman and friend to the Cheyenne, Byron Sully (Joe Lando) and a midwife named Charlotte Cooper (played by Diane Ladd). After Charlotte is bitten by a rattlesnake, she asks Michaela on her deathbed to look after her three children Matthew (Chad Allen), Colleen (Erika Flores, later Jessica Bowman), and Brian (Shawn Toovey). Dr. Mike settles in Colorado Springs and adapts to her new life as a mother, with the children, while finding true love with Sully. She acts as a one-woman mission to convince the townspeople a female doctor can successfully practice medicine.
Kitano plays Azuma, a police detective who lives with his intellectually disabled sister Akari (who he is extremely overprotective of), has a gambling problem that forces him to constantly borrow money, and has a reputation for using excessive violence when dealing with criminals, ignoring police rules and regulations when they become inconvenient, and for his strong sense of morality, which is shown when, after witnessing a gang of teenage boys beat up a homeless man for fun, he enters the home of the gang's leader and beats him before making him promise to turn himself and his friends in, which he does the next day. Azuma's superiors, who admire him for his ability to get results, overlook his constant violations of the police code by making him write "apologies" whenever he does something unlawful.
Azuma and his new partner, Kikuchi, are assigned to a case involving a murdered dope pusher, and break up an attempted drug deal in the bathroom of a nightclub. The seller, who works for yakuza boss Nito, names Azuma's close friend Iwaki, a cop on the vice squad, as his supplier. Azuma is subsequently asked to help find Iwaki, who has seemingly gone into hiding due to newspapers uncovering his ties to the yakuza. A fisherman then finds Iwaki's corpse hanging from a noose under a bridge.
Refusing to believe that his friend committed suicide, Azuma attempts to track down the dealers from before, but both men are executed by Kiyohiro, a sociopathic yakuza hitman. Unable to take action against the well-connected Nito, Azuma resorts to planting drugs in Kiyohiro's apartment, then taking him back to the station and having Kikuchi stand guard while he tortures the gangster and threatens him with a gun. This goes too far for the deputy chief, who forces Azuma to resign from the police to protect the force from investigation.
Azuma spends his first day of unemployment visiting an art gallery, hitting baseballs at a batting cage, and people-watching at the park, while Kiyohiro and his men pick up Akari at a shop and bring her to their hideout, where they take turns raping her and getting her hooked on drugs. Kiyohiro also defies Nito's orders and tries to stab Azuma on a busy street; Azuma grabs the knife and Kiyohiro pulls a gun, accidentally killing a young woman when his shot misses. Azuma manages to stab Kiyohiro in the leg and escapes. The next day, he purchases ammo and an unregistered gun from a friend at the gambling parlor and practices shooting it.
Knowing that Azuma will come for him, Kiyohiro goes back to his hideout and orders his men to arm themselves for a shootout; he shoots one dead for refusing his orders and kills another when the man unsuccessfully tries to kill him. The third man flees and Azuma takes him out as he opens the door. A wounded Kiyohiro grabs two guns from his stash and empties them both into Azuma, who calmly fires back. Just as Kiyohiro goes for a third gun, Azuma shoots him in the face. Akari runs out and starts searching his pockets for more drugs. Knowing that she's too far gone, her brother puts his last bullet in her head.
Azuma, badly wounded, starts to walk towards the door, but Shinkai, Nito's former advisor, guns him down in revenge after Azuma executed Nito under the mistaken belief that he had ordered Kiyohiro to go after Akari. Sometime later, Kikuchi, now a senior member of the vice squad, meets with Shinkai, who explains that with the heat surrounding Azuma's actions dying down, he wants Kikuchi to take over for Iwaki and continue to sell drugs through the police force. Kikuchi eagerly accepts Shinkai's offer and leaves.
A deaf garbage collector happens upon a broken and discarded surfboard. The discovery plants in him dreams of becoming a surf champion. Encouraged by his also deaf girlfriend, he persists against all odds.
When the story begins, Nick Scryer has no memory of who he is, his mind having been wiped in order to infiltrate a terrorist organization known as The Movement. After being imprisoned, the player is released by Sara and given a drug to regain his memory and lost abilities. It begins with the game's most prominent power, telekinesis, and moves from there.
Nick also faces off against a plethora of former PSI-Operatives, all of whom have defected with the general that formerly led the PSI-Ops project. Each is specialized in a certain field of psychic ability (the first boss, for example, is an expert in mind control) and far more powerful in that field than Nick. Nick defeats them one by one; usually through creative combinations of his weaker but more varied psychic abilities.
As Nick moves his way through the organization, he learns of mysterious, psi-based objects that have been the focus of wars over the last century (a cutscene suggests these artifacts are in fact the causes of wars such as World War II). At the same time, he begins noticing strange behavior in Sara, who seems to rotate between friend and foe for no apparent reason. It is eventually discovered that Sara in fact has a twin, who is killed by Sara near the end of the game.
As the game comes to an end, the many artifacts are combined into a single device, which when combined with a special machine give the user nearly limitless psychic power. Nick regains his full memory while attempting to stop this. The general uses this device on himself, and is summarily defeated by Nick. Though his defeat is the same regardless of how the player goes about doing it, the point of the battle is to absorb some of the immense psychic power before the general, giving Nick a special weapon to use and a much better chance of defeating the general than if he had missed the opportunity to do so.
After the general is defeated, the device is broken back into its component artifacts, and two helicopter gunships promptly appear to recover them, not concerned with the lives of Nick or Sara. In the game's final cutscene, Nick crashes one of the helicopters with telekinesis. The screen fades to black and the words "TO BE CONTINUED" appear.
Murakawa, a Tokyo-based ''yakuza'' enforcer, has grown tired of gangster life. He is sent by his boss to Okinawa, supposedly to mediate a dispute between their allies, the Nakamatsu and Anan clans. Murakawa openly suspects the assignment is an attempt to have him removed and even beats up one of his colleagues, Takahashi, but ends up going with his men. He finds that the dispute is insignificant; the group's temporary headquarters is bombed and his men are ambushed in a bar, leaving several of them dead.
Fleeing to the seaside, the survivors take refuge in a remote beach house belonging to a brother of one of the Nakamatsu members and decide to wait for the trouble to blow over. Whilst spending time at the beach, the group engages in childish games and pranks and begin to enjoy themselves. However, the games frequently have a violent undertone. When two of his men alternate shooting at a beer can on each other's head, Murakawa turns it into a game of Russian roulette. Putting the gun to his head, he pulls the trigger on the last chamber, which is only then revealed to be empty.
Murakawa later dreams of the Russian roulette game, although in his dream, the revolver is loaded and he dies. When he wakes up, he walks down to the shore and witnesses a man attempt to rape a woman. Murakawa shoots the man, but to his companions he claims the woman shot him. She then joins Murakawa and the gang at the beach house and comes frequently to visit, spending time with Murakawa. Later, an assassin, disguised as a fisherman, kills the boss of the Nakamatsu clan and one of Murakawa's men. Learning that Takahashi is arriving in Okinawa, Murakawa and two of his surviving men visit his hotel.
Unable to find him at first, they unexpectedly run into Takahashi and the assassin in the elevator, which results in a shootout, killing the assassin and Murakawa's men. Murakawa learns from interrogating Takahashi that their boss had intended all along to partner with the Anan clan and had sent Murakawa on a suicide mission to take over his turf. He also learns that the boss will be meeting with the Anan that night in a hotel. Takahashi is killed and Murakawa sets off with the only survivor of the group, a member of the Nakamatsu clan, who helps him by rigging the electricity in the hotel to go off at a certain time. Murakawa tells the woman that he might come back.
Later that night, Murakawa goes into the hotel and slaughters both clans with an assault rifle. The next morning, while the woman continues to wait for him, Murakawa is dropped off nearby. He gets into the woman's car alone and commits suicide by shooting himself in the head.
In ''Getting any?'', Minoru Iizuka (also known as "Dankan") portrays Asao, a naive and goofy man who lives with his grandfather in Saitama Prefecture. Even though Asao is 35 years old, he is very inexperienced with girls, but he absolutely wants to have sex. One day as he watches an erotic TV film, he realizes that all he needs to get girls and sex is a fancy car, so he runs to the closest car dealer.
In the TV film, the male character had a Porsche 911 Cabriolet, so Asao aims for a luxury import car dealer. To the seller asking what kind of cars he is looking for, Asao naively answers that he wants "a car for having sex". After trying a cabriolet, with the assistance of a very helpful and somewhat helpless hostess, Asao confesses he is strapped. All he can afford is a used domestic budget-car, so he is forced to buy a Honda Today, a modest K-car which is very cheap compared to the Mercedes-Benz, Rolls Royce, Aston Martin and Ferrari displayed in the show room.
Then, he quickly restages the scene he has seen in the TV film, with the help of a female mannequin, before aiming for street girls. Quickly, Asao realizes that male-female social relations are not as simple as in porn, and that real life girls are not as naive as in fictional works.
After several humiliating and unsuccessful tries, Asao comes to the conclusion that roadsters are more efficient. Such cars are expensive but Asao is without money, so he asks his grandfather to help him. After cashing in his grandfather's liver and kidneys, he returns to the car dealer. The seller convinces him to buy an Austin Healey Sprite MkI, a classic British roadster, but once he learns how much money Asao really has, he changes his mind and sells him a Mazda Eunos Roadster (Mazda Miata), a popular Japanese roadster, claiming it is the same car. When Asao insists, the seller claims the '50s Austin-Healey was old-fashioned and the Eunos is a better model for cruising. The Eunos is driven a few meters and starts falling apart. Asao complains to the seller, but the latter is a con-man and refuses to talk with him any more, so Asao picks up the fallen pieces and attaches them to the back of his car.
The young man tries his luck anyway with girls on the street, but does not succeed, so he finally sells his wrecked car to a local salvage company.
As he walks home, he finds an apparently abandoned, parked, Mazda RX-7 Series 5 Turbo (FC), and he decides to steal it. Asao drives a few miles when he encounters a young woman walking along the road and decides to talk to her, as shown in the erotic film, but the sports car does not brake anymore and he runs over the girl, and crashes the car into a billboard. He is lucky enough to not get hurt and he ditches the coupé.
Asao imagines stewardesses are naked and offer "on-board sex service" to first class 747 customers, so he decides to travel by plane. Since he does not have any money, he will do an armed bank robbery, but first he needs a weapon, so he heads to Kawaguchi City (near Tokyo) where he will be able to make his own revolver in the local iron foundry.
Eventually, he has many adventures such as joining the yakuza, becoming Zatoichi, becoming invisible, and getting transformed into a giant fly-man ''a la'' the film ''The Fly''. The movie ends with his capture after diving into a large reservoir of feces. After the credits, there is a scene where Asao jumps around Tokyo as the fly-man before landing/getting impaled on Tokyo Tower.
Shinji and Masaru are high school delinquents, terrifying their classmates, stealing money, and even setting their teacher's car on fire. After some of their victims hire a boxer to beat up Masaru, he decides to get revenge, and takes his shy friend Shinji along with him to a boxing gym. To their trainers' surprise, Shinji is naturally-talented at boxing and easily defeats Masaru in a sparring session. Masaru encourages his friend to keep going at it, and quits boxing, opting instead to join the yakuza. As Shinji focuses on becoming a successful boxer, Masaru aims to become a gang leader, and their paths diverge.
While the two of them climb to the top in their respective areas, Shinji adopts an unhealthy lifestyle that results in the end of his boxing career. Likewise, Masaru's arrogance and disrespect for his boss gets him kicked out of the yakuza. In the end, they are both left with nothing, and meet again. As they ride their bike together in the schoolyard, Shinji wonders if this is the end of their lives, but Masaru assures him that "it's only the beginning".
Yoshitaka Nishi is a violent former police detective who had to retire after a tragic accident during a botched arrest in which a detective, Tanaka, was killed by the suspect while two others, Nakamura and Horibe, were severely injured. Becoming unemployed, Nishi spends most of his time taking care of his sick wife Miyuki, who has terminal leukemia. To pay for his wife's care, Nishi borrows money from the ''yakuza'', but is having difficulty repaying them.
Meanwhile, Horibe, who becomes paralyzed after the incident, experiences a deep depression after his wife and daughter leave him. In a conversation with Nishi, Horibe hints he considered committing suicide, while adding that he would like to paint but cannot afford to buy himself the necessary materials. After a botched suicide attempt, Horibe receives art supplies mailed to him by Nishi. He then takes up painting and creates surreal works of art, and later in a pointillist style.
Nishi buys a second-hand taxi cab and repaints it in police colors. He arms himself with a revolver and robs a bank dressed as a policeman. Using the money, he pays off the ''yakuza'' and gives some to Tanaka's widow. Nishi then leaves with his wife for a road trip. Nakamura learns from Tanaka's widow about the gift and advises her to keep the money. He also learns about the paints for Horibe and soon realizes who committed the robbery. Nakamura and his partner attempts to reach Nishi, eventually tracing his route as he and his wife embark on their trip.
Meanwhile, even though Nishi has paid his debt to them, the ''yakuza'' deduce Nishi committed the robbery and attempts to extort additional money from him. The ''yakuza'' track down and confronts Nishi, but he kills them all in a violent shootout. The next day, Nishi and his wife are at a beach when they are found by Nakamura and his partner. They prepare to arrest Nishi, but Nishi asks Nakamura to spare him a moment of time and lies alongside his wife on the beach. The couple comforts each other before the camera pans away towards the ocean before two gunshots are heard in the distance.
Masao, who lives alone with his grandmother in an old Shitamachi area of Tokyo, receives a package, and in looking for a seal finds a photo of his long lost mother. He finds her address in Toyohashi, several hundred miles to the west. Leaving home to see his mother, he meets his grandmother's neighbors, Kikujiro and his wife. Kikujiro's wife forces Kikujiro to accompany Masao on a journey to see his mother, telling Masao's grandmother that they are going to the beach.
At the start of their journey, Kikujiro is not serious about reaching Toyohashi. He gets absorbed in track cycling races and gambles away their winnings. Later, left outside a yakitori restaurant, Masao encounters a molester. After a narrow escape, Kikujiro promises to keep to the journey and take Masao to his mother. When the taxi Kikujiro steals breaks down, they are forced to hitchhike to Toyohashi, meeting various people along the way. They get lifts from a juggler and her boyfriend on a date, and a travelling poet who delivers them to Toyohashi. When they finally reach the address of Masao's mother, Kikujiro finds her living as a housewife with another man and their daughter. Masao's mother lives a completely different life from what he expected. It is almost as if she has forgotten him. Kikujiro tells Masao that she has just moved away, pretending not to have seen her. He tries to comfort Masao with a small blue bell shaped like an angel bullied from two bikers whom he happens to come across.
Masao is so disappointed that Kikujiro cannot help but try to brighten up their return trip to Tokyo. He tells him an angel will come at the sound of the bell.
They visit a summer matsuri held in a local Shinto shrine. While Kikujiro gets into trouble with some yakuza over a fixed shooting game, Masao dreams of dancing ''tengu''.
Back on the road, they meet the poet and the two bikers again. They decide to camp a few days together. Masao enjoys playing some traditional games with them.
Kikujiro is reminded of his own mother (it is implied that she, like Masao's mother, also left him as a child). Kikujiro gets one of the bikers to take him from their camp to his mother's nursing home in Daito-cho, a small country town, but he eventually decides not to see her and returns to the camp.
The men continue to do their best to entertain Masao by larking about for a few more days. Before they are to return to Tokyo, Masao dreams about them appearing over the Milky Way. In the morning, the bikers say goodbye to them and leave the camp. Masao and Kikujiro get a lift in the poet's car to Tokyo. After dropping them off at a bridge, the poet continues on his way to Osaka and Kyūshū.
Before Masao and Kikujiro part, Kikujiro says, "Let's do it again sometime," and Masao thanks him. Kikujiro tells Masao to take care of his grandmother. Masao asks Kikujiro's name and Kikujiro answers, "Kikujiro! Now scram!" Masao passes a small bridge with the angel bell ringing.
Yamamoto (Takeshi Kitano) is a brutal and experienced Yakuza enforcer whose boss was killed and whose clan was defeated in a criminal war with a rival family. Surviving clan members have few options: either to join the winners, reconciling with shame and distrust, or to die by committing seppuku. Yamamoto, however, decides to escape to Los Angeles along with his associate Kato (Susumu Terajima). There he finds his estranged half-brother Ken (Claude Maki), who runs a small-time drug business together with his local African-American friends. At the first meeting, Yamamoto badly hurts one of them, Denny (Omar Epps), for an attempt to fraud him. Later, Denny becomes one of the Yamamoto's closest friends and associates.
Used to living in a clan and according to its laws, Yamamoto creates a hapless gang out of Ken's buddies. The new gang quickly and brutally attacks Mexican drug bosses and takes control of their territory in LA. They also form an alliance with Shirase (Masaya Kato), a criminal leader of Little Tokyo district, making their group even stronger. As time passes, Yamamoto and his new gang emerge as a formidable force, gradually expanding their turf to such an extent that they confront the powerful Italian Mafia. Now everybody respectfully addresses Yamamoto as Aniki (兄貴, elder brother). But soon Aniki suddenly loses any interest in their now successful but dangerous business, spending his time with a girlfriend or just sitting silently thinking about something. However, the Mafia ruthlessly strikes back, and soon Yamamoto and his gang are driven into a disastrous situation of no return as they are hunted down one by one.
As an English teacher and lecturer at Albert Mission College, Krishna has led a mundane and monotonous lifestyle comparable to that of a cow. But he also plays an important role in protecting Indian culture. His life changes when his wife, Susila, and their child, Leela, come to live with him. With their welfare on his hands, Krishna learns to be a proper husband and learns how to accept the responsibility of taking care of his family. He feels that his life has comparatively improved, as he understands that there's more meaning to life than to just teaching. However, when they search for a new house, Susila contracts typhoid after visiting a dirty lavatory, keeping her in bed for weeks. Throughout the entire course of her illness, Krishna constantly tries to keep an optimistic view. However, Susila eventually passes away. Krishna, destroyed by her loss, has suicidal thoughts but gives them up for the sake of his daughter, Leela. He is lost and miserable after her death, but he receives a letter from a stranger who indicates that Susila has been in contact with him and that she wants to communicate with Krishna. This makes him more collected and cheerful, leading to a journey in search of enlightenment, with the stranger acting as a medium to Susila in the spiritual world. Leela, on the other hand, goes to a preschool where Krishna gets to meet the headmaster, a profound man who cares for the students in his school and teaches them moral values through his own methods. The Headmaster puts his students as his top priority but he does not care for his own family and children, eventually leaving them on the day predicted by an astrologer as the day of his death, which did not come true. Krishna is influenced by the headmaster, eventually learning to 'communicate' with Susila on his own, thus concluding the entire story with the quote that he felt 'a moment of rare immutable joy'.
In the village of Devil's End an archaeological dig is excavating the infamous Devil's Hump, a Bronze Age burial mound. A local white witch, Olive Hawthorne arrives to protest, warning of great evil and the coming of the horned beast, but she is dismissed as a crank. After watching a television broadcast about the dig the Third Doctor tells Jo that Miss Hawthorne is right – the dig must be stopped, and they go there.
Miss Hawthorne goes to see the new local vicar, the Reverend Magister who is actually the Master – he tries to assure her that her fears are unfounded, but his hypnosis fails to overcome her will. Backed by a group of followers, the Master is conducting ceremonies in the cavern below the Church to summon up Azal, a force of evil. The Doctor and Jo reach the mound and the Doctor rushes inside to stop the dig, but it is too late. The tomb door opens and icy gusts of wind rush out, while the eyes of a gargoyle, Bok, flare with a reddish glow.
Captain Mike Yates and Sergeant Benton arrive at the village the following morning, but the Brigadier, arriving later, finds himself unable to enter the village, as there is an invisible dome-shaped barrier, 10 miles in diameter and one mile high, surrounding it that causes anything trying to enter to heat up and burst into flame. He contacts Yates and is briefed on the situation while the Doctor and Jo return to the dig where they find a small spaceship in the mound, which has been condensed. From this, the Doctor realises that the Master is trying to conjure up an ancient and all-powerful demon, who is seen on Earth to be the Devil but is actually an alien. The Doctor explains that the Dæmons have used Earth as a giant experiment throughout its history, becoming part of human myth. The Master has called the Dæmon up once, and right now, it is so small as to be invisible. The third summoning, however, could signal the end of the experiment, and the world.
The Master summons up Azal again and demands to be given the Dæmon's power, but Azal warns him that he is not the Master's servant. Azal says on his third appearance, he will decide if Earth deserves to continue existing. If so, he will give it to the Master. Azal then vanishes in another heat wave.
The Doctor is captured by a mob of villagers working for the Master. They tie him up to a maypole and plan to burn him alive, but with the help of Miss Hawthorne and Benton he escapes. In the Church cavern Jo and Yates watch as the Master summons Azal one last time. They try to interrupt the ritual but are taken prisoner. As Jo is prepared as a sacrifice to Azal, the Brigadier manages to get through the heat barrier and enter the village. The Doctor manages to avoid Bok, who is guarding the Church and gets into the cavern, where the Master is expecting him. Outside, UNIT troops are held back by Bok.
The Doctor and the Master both try to appeal to Azal but for opposite reasons. The huge, devil-like figure decides to give his power to the Master, and fires electricity at the Doctor to kill him. However, Jo, steps in front of the Doctor, asking Azal to kill her instead. Azal is unable to comprehend this illogical act of self-sacrifice, and his power turns against him, destroying himself and the Church. The Master tries to escape but is captured by the UNIT troops and taken away. The Doctor, Jo, Miss Hawthorne and the UNIT team join the villagers in their May Day celebrations.
The book follows the lives of an apple tree and a boy, who develop a relationship with one another. The tree is very "giving" and the boy evolves into a "taking" teenager, a middle-aged man, and finally an elderly man. Despite the fact that the boy ages in the story, the tree addresses the boy as "Boy" his entire life.
In his childhood, the boy enjoys playing with the tree, climbing her trunk, swinging from her branches, carving "Me + T (Tree)" into the bark, and eating her apples. However, as the boy grows older, he spends less time with the tree and tends to visit her only when he wants material items at various stages of his life, or not coming to the tree alone (such as bringing a lady friend to the tree and carving "Me +Y.L." (her initials, often assumed to be an acronym for "young love") into the tree. In an effort to make the boy happy at each of these stages, the tree gives him parts of herself, which he can transform into material items, such as money (from her apples), a house (from her branches), and a boat (from her trunk). With every stage of giving, "the Tree was happy".
In the final pages, both the tree and the boy feel the sting of their respective "giving" and "taking" nature. When only a stump remains for the tree (including the carving "Me + T"), she is not happy, at least at that moment. The boy does return as a tired elderly man to meet the tree once more. She tells him she is sad because she cannot provide him shade, apples, or any materials like in the past. He ignores this (because his teeth are too weak for apples, and he is too old to swing on branches and too tired to climb her trunk) and states that all he wants is "a quiet place to sit and rest," which the tree, who is weak being just a stump, could provide. With this final stage of giving, "the Tree was happy".
The story takes place just before the 1715 Jacobite Rising, with much of Scotland in turmoil.
Frank Osbaldistone, the narrator, quarrels with his father and is sent to stay with an uncle, Sir Hildebrand Osbaldistone, in Northumberland. Frank falls in love with Diana Vernon, Sir Hildebrand's niece, whose father has been forced to go into hiding because of his Jacobite sympathies. Frank's cousin, Rashleigh, steals important documents vital to the honour and economic solvency of Frank's father, William, and Frank pursues Rashleigh to Scotland. Several times his path crosses the mysterious and powerful figure Robert Roy MacGregor, known as Rob Roy, an associate of Diana's uncle Sir Hildebrand. There is much confusion as the action shifts to the beautiful mountains and valleys around Loch Lomond. A British army detachment is ambushed and there is bloodshed. All Sir Hildebrand's sons but Rashleigh are killed in the Jacobite Rising, and Rashleigh too meets a bloody end. Following this, Frank inherits Sir Hildebrand's property and marries Diana. The plot has been criticised as disjointed. Robert Louis Stevenson, however, who loved it from childhood, regarded Rob Roy as the best novel of the greatest of all novelists.
The novel is a brutally realistic depiction of the social conditions in Highland and Lowland Scotland in the early 18th century. The Highlanders were compared with American Indians, as regards to their primitive, isolated lifestyle. Some of the dialogue is in broad Scottish, and the novel includes a glossary of Scottish words.
The central character is Jason Matthews, General Manager of the Grand Waimea. In the first episode, Nicole Booth is hired as the new Director of Guest Relations. She is the daughter of a ruthless billionaire, and an old flame of Jason's who broke his heart years before. At the end of the first episode, Nicole reveals to Jason that she broke up with him because her father wanted her to date someone more successful, and he threatened to have Jason fired from the hotel he was working at the time. The chances for rekindled romance are then dashed when Nicole reveals she has become engaged since they broke up.
Later in the series, Nicole told Jason that she returned to Hawaii to seek him out before getting married, because she wanted to know if there was still a chance for their relationship.
The title comes from a story in which Winnie-the-Pooh and Piglet build a house for Eeyore. In another story the game of Poohsticks is invented. As with the first book, the chapters are mostly in episodic format and can be read independently of each other. The only exception to this is with Chapters 8 and 9 – Chapter 9 carries directly on from the end of Chapter 8, as the characters search for a new house for Owl, his house having been blown down in the previous chapter.
Hints that Christopher Robin is growing up, scattered throughout the book, come to a head in the final chapter, in which the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood throw him a farewell party after learning that he must leave them soon. It is made obvious, though not stated explicitly, that he is starting school. In the end, they say good-bye to Christopher Robin. Pooh and Christopher Robin climb a hill overlooking the Hundred Acre Wood, and say a long, private farewell, in which Pooh promises not to forget him. The book closes with the narrator remarking, "Wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest, a little boy and his Bear will always be playing."
Three years after his adoption, Stuart Little finds himself overprotected by his adoptive mother Eleanor. He questions his abilities following a disastrous soccer match alongside his adoptive brother George, who accidentally kicked him with a soccer ball, despite kick scoring the winning goal for their team. Stuart's relationship with George is strained further after he accidentally crashes a model airplane they both just built. Stuart's adoptive father Frederick consoles him by telling him that "every cloud has a silver lining".
One day, a seemingly injured young female canary bird named Margalo falls into Stuart's roadster on his way home from school. Stuart takes her home and introduces her to the Little family, where he invites Margalo to stay with them for a while, to which she accepts. Unbeknownst to the Littles, Margalo is secretly in cahoots with a greedy peregrine falcon. Orphaned as a fledgling, she was forced by the Falcon to steal valuables from households in exchange for a home, but Margalo grows reluctant to steal from the Littles. Unable to concentrate on her assignment, Margalo becomes close friends with Stuart. The Falcon eventually loses patience and threatens to kill Stuart unless Margalo steals Eleanor's wedding ring. Concerned for Stuart's safety, she reluctantly complies.
That night, when the Littles discover that Eleanor's ring is missing, they mistakenly think it has fallen down their kitchen sink, unaware that Margalo had actually taken it. Stuart offers to be lowered down the drain on a string to get the ring, but the string snaps while he is down the drain. A guilt-stricken Margalo saves him and later leaves the Littles' house to protect Stuart. The next day, upon realizing her disappearance, Stuart assumes she has been kidnapped by the Falcon and decides to rescue her with assistance from the Littles' cat Snowbell. Before he leaves, Stuart asks George to cover for him.
Following advice from Snowbell's alley cat friend Monty, Stuart and Snowbell discover that the Falcon resides in the Pishkin Building. Making his way to the top of the building, Stuart confronts the Falcon and Margalo assures him that although she was following her master's orders, she is still his friend. Stuart begs her to come home with him, but the Falcon refuses to let her leave. Despite the mouse's best efforts of attack, the Falcon decides to drop him off the building, but Stuart narrowly survives the fall by landing in a passing garbage truck. The Falcon then traps Margalo in a paint can as punishment. Snowbell, who has become concerned about Stuart, also makes his way to the top of the Pishkin Building and finds Margalo while the Falcon is absent and she explains what had happened, making Snowbell tearfully believe Stuart was killed by the Falcon, unaware that Stuart is still alive.
Regaining consciousness on board a garbage barge departing from the harbor, Stuart sadly considers giving up until he finds his and George's broken yet still-functioning model airplane on the barge. He cobbles it together with various pieces of junk and uses it to rescue Margalo and Snowbell. Meanwhile, the Littles discover that George has lied to them about Stuart's whereabouts because he is nowhere to be found and confront him, demanding that he truthfully tell them where Stuart is. George tries not to break his promise, but when his parents point out that Stuart's safety is more important, he finally confesses Stuart's whereabouts. However, Frederick assures George that he is still in trouble for lying, as they head out and find Stuart.
Meanwhile, the Falcon discovers Snowbell in Margalo's place after he frees her from the paint can and prepares to push him off the building to his death. Before he can do so, he is intercepted by Margalo, who threatens to drop the ring if the Falcon harms Snowbell before disowning him as her master. The Falcon, furious that Margalo has turned against him, then pursues her and attempts to take the ring from her, only for Stuart to intervene as he swoops in on his plane to rescue her. The Littles follow them by taxi as Stuart and Margalo fly through Central Park, with the Falcon in hot pursuit. The Falcon then claws the upper wings of Stuart's plane, dropping him and Margalo with the plane temporarily inoperative. As they plummet towards the ground, the Littles and Margalo encourage Stuart to regain control and continue.
Eventually, knowing they cannot outrun the Falcon, Stuart decides to attack him directly. Using the light of the sun reflected in Eleanor's ring to temporarily blind the Falcon, Stuart jumps out of the plane just before it smashes into the Falcon, sending him falling out of the sky before landing in a trash can in front of Monty, who was searching for food. Margalo catches Stuart as he falls and they reunite with the Littles, where Margalo safely returns Eleanor's ring before Snowbell also reunites with them.
Sometime later, Margalo says goodbye to the Littles and leaves to migrate south for the winter, with Stuart's infant sister Martha finally saying her first words "Bye, bye, birdie".
In 1965, two poor Singaporean children, Chew Kiat Kun (Shawn Lee) and his younger sister Seow Fang (Megan Zheng) live with their mother (Xiang Yun) who is late in her third pregnancy and their father (Huang Wenyong) who is in debt to a local rice merchant. The children make the best of what little they have, while their father works long hours doing odd jobs.
The family's problems are compounded when Kiat Kun accidentally loses Seow Fang's only pair of shoes after taking them to be repaired. The children conduct a frantic search but find nothing; a karung guni man had claimed the shoes as unwanted rubbish. The Chew siblings are frustrated and rendered helpless by the situation until their father inspires Kiat Kun to share his shoes with his sister, trading off between classes so they can both attend school. Unfortunately, this plan brings additional problems: Seow Fang is chastised for wearing oversized shoes to school, while Kiat Kun is repeatedly late as he must wait for his sister to exchange shoes with him.
At school, a wealthy schoolmate of Kiat Kun's named Tan Beng Soon (Joshua Ang) runs an amateur football team with his friends. Kiat Kun and his friends strike a bargain with Beng Soon to play on the team using the other boys' football shoes, in exchange for helping them cheat on their homework. However, the boys quarrel, causing an angry Beng Soon to renege on the deal and remove Kiat Kun and his friends from the team.
Without their assistance, Beng Soon and his friends are punished for producing substandard homework. Although the boys try to resolve their differences, they eventually give up on reaching an agreement, and Beng Soon's grades continue to fall, so his parents decide to send him away to study in England. Kiat Kun, on the other hand, is often late, so the headmaster decides to expel him, but he was accepted again thanks to another teacher's defense, acknowledging his dire family background.
Meanwhile, Seow Fang sees her classmate wearing her lost shoes to school. She and Kiat Kun follow the girl home, but after realising her father is blind and that her family was in a more dire situation than theirs, they decide not to reclaim the shoes. However, a few days later, Seow Fang notices that her classmate is wearing a new pair; upon confronting her, she discovers that the girl has discarded the old pair at the kampung rubbish dump. The Chew siblings frantically search the rubbish dump for her shoes, but only discover them as they are destroyed during a trade unionist riot against a policeman (Wakin Chau).
Kiat Kun is dejected until he learns that the third prize in the 1965 National Primary School Cross Country Competition is a pair of shoes. Because he was sick on the day his school selected representatives for the race, he pleads with his P.E. teacher to let him enter. The teacher, initially reluctant, relents when Kiat Kun rushes to get his cough medicine, demonstrating his running ability. As the competition begins, Kiat Kun notices that Beng Soon is also participating.
Once the starting gun fires, Kiat Kun pushes himself to the limit and eventually establishes himself among the lead runners. Kiat Kun appears assured of third place, but unexpectedly trips over a stone and thus finishes first. Beng Soon ends the race in third place. While Kiat Kun is running, Mrs Chew goes into labour, forcing Seow Fang to run across a long path littered with broken glass to find a midwife. Finally, Mrs Chew gives birth to a baby boy and Beng Soon gives Kiat Kun and Seow Fang new pairs of shoes before departing for London.
In the beginning, Sazae was more interested in being with her horse than dressing up in kimono and makeup to attract her future husband. Hasegawa was forward-thinking in that, in her words, the Isono/Fuguta clan would embody the image of the modern Japanese family after World War II.
Sazae was a very liberated woman, and many of the early plotlines revolved around Sazae bossing around her husband, to the consternation of her neighbors, who believed that a man should be the head of his household. Later, Sazae became a feminist and was involved in many comical situations regarding her affiliation with her local women's lib group.
Despite the topical nature of the series, the core of the stories revolved around the large family dynamic, and were presented in a lighthearted, easy fashion. In fact, the final comic, in 1974, revolved around Sazae's happiness that an egg she cracked for her husband's breakfast produced a double yolk, with Katsuo remarking about the happiness the "little things" in life can bring.
In current culture, the popular ''Sazae-san'' anime is frequently viewed as a nostalgic representation of traditional Japanese society, since it represents a simpler time before many of the changes brought by modern technology. Its social themes, though very liberal at the time of its publication, are evocative of a bygone and nostalgic era.
Taking advantage of the fame of Los Chicos in Puerto Rico and Central America, and after the relative success of the movie Una Aventura Llamada Menudo, producer and director Orestes Trucco wrote a script for the movie aimed at the pre-teen and teen markets. Puerto Rican actors Juan Manuel Lebrón and Otilio Warrington starred as members of a mafia-type organization in charge of the so-called Conexión Caribe (Caribbean Connection). Movie starts at a concert location for Los Chicos where Migue, the oldest member of the band, was kidnapped prior to the show. This opportunity is used to introduce the new member of the band, Alex Rodríguez. After the concert, the band received a call to attend a port in Fajardo to rescue Migue. The members of the band escape police protection and they make their way to the port, where Migue is safely in a boat with a group of girls and ready for a vacation trip around the Caribbean. However, the owner and captain of the boat is also member of the plot, which eventually ends in another kidnap, a visit to Casa de Campo in Dominican Republic and the eventual return to a deluxe hotel in San Juan, where the secret operation is revealed: it was only a ploy to bring Los Chicos to Don Padrone's (Warrington) daughter 15th year birthday party. A special participation by Sandra Zaiter, spokesperson for Society of Handicapped Children and Adults, ends the movie with a diving exhibition by Los Chicos in an olympic-style pool.
''Queen of Angels'' describes our world just prior to the binary millennium (2048 AD) through several parallel (and to some degree interlocking) tales. Nanotechnology has transformed almost every aspect of American society, and its application to psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience has resulted in new techniques for mental "therapy" that have created new forms of social stratification. Increasingly, individuals are "therapied: "by means of "nano-therapy," they are turned into well-integrated personalities capable of productive work and constructive social interaction, which does not threaten the social order. Therapied individuals have access to the best jobs. There are two other classes: the "high naturals," who possess such a positive mental makeup that they do not need any therapy, and the "untherapied," who find themselves increasingly marginalized.
The central unifying element involves a famous writer, Emmanuel Goldsmith, who has committed a gruesome series of murders, a crime almost unheard of in the age of therapy. One storyline involves Mary Choy, a high natural police detective assigned to the case to track down and arrest the murderer. Mary is a transform since she has chosen to have her body extensively altered by nanotechnology to enhance her abilities as a policewoman and also for aesthetic reasons.
A second storyline involves Richard Fettle, a good friend of the murderer, also an untherapied writer, who must come to terms with what happened to his friend and how his artists' lives, and all of the untherapied must change. The third plot line concerns Martin Burke, a pioneer in psychotherapy who uses a technique which allows him to directly enter and interact with a patient's psychology, the "Country of the Mind," through a sort of virtual reality. Although disgraced at the story's opening, Dr. Burke is given the opportunity to use his technique to explore Goldsmith's mind, which turns out to be one of the most fascinating and dangerous minds imaginable.
Finally, the fourth plotline considers the nature of artificial intelligence, as an AI robot space probe discovers life on a planet in the Alpha Centauri system and simultaneously achieves its own independent self-awareness, as does its twin back on Earth.
The novel deals with issues of technology, identity, the nature of justice, and the existence of consciousness and the soul. ''Queen of Angels'', set in 2047, was written just before the creation of the first website in 1991 and describes a global network based on the exchange of text (a sort of super USENET), whereas the sequel, ''Slant'', set in 2055 and written in 1997 after the coming of the World Wide Web, describes a global network which has inexplicably changed to resemble a vast shared virtual reality.
Also in the novel is "Citizen Oversight," a quasi-governmental agency that collects data on citizens: medical, financial, legal. It also collects information from public sources such as video cameras with facial recognition and has the ability to track individuals. Local police agencies can appeal to Citizen Oversight to conduct a query on an individual and Citizen Oversight may or may not give out the requested information, based on their interpretation of the "Raphkind Amendment."
It tells the story of a Hollywood star (Shelah Fane), who is stopping in Hawaii after she finished shooting a film on location in Tahiti. She is murdered in the pavilion of her rental house in Waikiki during her stay. The story behind her murder is linked with the three-year-old murder of another Hollywood actor and also connected with an enigmatic psychic named Tarneverro. Chan, in his position as a detective with the Honolulu Police Department, "investigates amid public clamor demanding that the murderer be found and punished immediately. "Death is a black camel that kneels unbidden at every gate. Tonight black camel has knelt here", Chan tells the suspects."Roseman, Mill ''et al.'' ''Detectionary''. New York: Overlook Press, 1971.
Inspector Duff, a Scotland Yard detective and friend of Chan's, first introduced in ''Behind That Curtain'', is pursuing a murderer on an around-the-world voyage; so far, there have been murders in London, France, Italy and Japan. While his ship is docked in Honolulu, the detective is shot and wounded by his quarry; though he survives, he is unable to continue with the cruise, and Chan takes his place instead. Eventually, Chan finds the killer before the next port of call.
Once again, the setting of the novel is rural California, where Chan has been invited as a houseguest. He meets a world-famous soprano, Ellen Landini, who is murdered not too long after the meeting. Chan does not have far to look for suspects—the host is her ex-husband, as are three of the other house guests. Her servants, entourage and husbands all come under suspicion. Once again, Chan is expected to solve the murder, which he does by understanding the key clues—the actions of a little dog named Trouble, two scarves, and two little boxes. When he understands how the murder is committed, he learns the role of elderly house servant Ah Sing—the keeper of the keys.
Following their victory over Adam; Buffy, Xander, Willow, and Giles meet at Buffy's to relax with movies, including ''Apocalypse Now''. They quickly fall asleep and are each confronted by the First Slayer in their dreams.
Willow's dream opens with Willow painting Sappho's love poem, Hymn to Aphrodite, in Greek onto Tara's back. She then finds herself on the Sunnydale High school stage, about to perform in a radically changed ''Death of a Salesman'', with Riley playing a cowboy, Buffy as a flapper and Harmony (a popular girl in high school who snubbed Willow, and who became a vampire at the end of Season 3) goofily trying to bite Giles' neck. Willow realizes with increasing uneasiness that she knows neither her lines nor her role. Buffy then takes Willow to stand in front of a classroom in the same nerdy clothes she wore in "Welcome to the Hellmouth" and "The Harvest" at the beginning of the series. Xander mocks her as she nervously begins to read her book report. Oz and Tara—Willow's ex-boyfriend and current girlfriend—flirt with each other while watching Willow recite. Suddenly, Willow is attacked and has the life sucked out of her by the First Slayer.
Xander's dream begins when he wakes on Buffy's couch. After excusing himself to use the restroom, he finds himself the object of an attempted seduction by Joyce. In the restroom, he starts to unzip, then realizes that the bathroom is attached to a large white room with many men in white coats ready to observe and take notes on his performance. He then meets Buffy, Giles, and Spike in a playground; Spike – unaffected by daylight – tells him that Giles is going to teach him to be a Watcher, as Buffy plays in a sandbox. Xander then finds himself in an ice cream truck with Anya; Willow and Tara (wearing skimpy clothing and garish make-up) are in the back, and they invite him to join them. He tries to do so, only to end up in the basement where his parents allow him to live. He goes to the university and comes across Giles, who starts revealing the reason for the dream, but who suddenly switches to speaking in French. Xander next finds himself in a reenactment of the ''Apocalypse Now'' scene between a captive Captain Benjamin Willard and Colonel Walter Kurtz, with Principal Snyder as Kurtz. Throughout the sequence Xander finds himself in his basement again and again, chased by an unseen pursuer, who is revealed as the First Slayer when she tears his heart out.
Giles' dream begins with Giles swinging a watch in front of Buffy. They are in Giles' apartment, which has been stripped of furniture but for a chair and a bed. She laughs, and Giles' dream cuts to a family scene with Buffy and his girlfriend Olivia at a fairground. Quicker than the others to understand that something is wrong, he confronts Spike, who is posing for a photo-shoot in his crypt. In The Bronze, he meets Anya failing as a stand-up comic, and Willow and Xander (with a bloody chest wound), who warn him of their attacker. He breaks into song, giving suggestions on how to deal with what hunts them, but when the sound system breaks down, he crawls backstage to trace a wiring fault. He begins to realize his pursuer is the First Slayer, just as she scalps him.
In the final dream sequence, Buffy is woken by Anya in her dorm room. She then finds herself in her room at home, where Tara speaks cryptically about the future. At the university, Buffy talks to her mother, who lives in the walls, then meets Riley at the Initiative. He has been promoted to Surgeon General and is drawing up plans with Adam (now in ordinary human form) for world domination. The three of them are interrupted by a demon attack, and Riley and Adam start to make a pillow fort. When Buffy finds her weapons bag, the only thing in it is mud, which she smears on her face. She is then transported to the desert and finally confronts the pre-verbal First Slayer; Tara is present to speak for her. Through Tara, the First Slayer tells Buffy that she cannot have friends and must work alone, which Buffy rejects. The Slayers fight in the desert and then in Buffy's living room next to her dying friends until Buffy realizes that she can stop the fight mentally by simply ignoring the First Slayer. She refuses to fight and walks away from the First Slayer; the First Slayer vanishes, and everybody wakes up.
After they wake up, the four of them then discuss the significance of having tapped into the power of the First Slayer, and Buffy privately recalls Tara's words from her dream as she looks into her bedroom.
A homeless man, identifying himself only as "Mister," enters the offices of the powerful Washington D.C. law firm Drake & Sweeney and takes many of the lawyers hostage while angrily demanding information about some kind of eviction that took place. Although he is eventually shot and killed by a police sniper, one of the hostages, an antitrust lawyer named Michael Brock, is concerned by what he has learned and feels compelled to investigate further.
Brock finds his way to the 14th Street Legal Clinic, where he meets Mordecai Green, an advocate for the homeless. Green, along with his abrasive but brilliant staff, work to provide legal help to the most downtrodden members of society. Brock discovers that Drake & Sweeney were involved in the sudden approval of a federal building project on the site of a condemned building that had been serving as rent-payment housing for formerly homeless families. These individuals were tenants and thus entitled to a full legal eviction/contestment process, but a senior Drake & Sweeney partner ignored this information because the firm had a large stake in ensuring the federal project start on time, and thus illegally evicted the tenants in the middle of winter, resulting in the death of a homeless family. Brock takes a confidential file, intending to copy it, but is quickly suspected of its theft.
Shocked by what he has found, Brock leaves Drake & Sweeney to take a poorly paid position with the 14th Street Legal Clinic, which works to protect the rights of the homeless. This leads to the severing of his links to his previous white collar life, as his already-dying marriage officially ends in an amicable divorce. Brock later becomes emotionally involved in the case of a woman named Ruby, whose drug addiction led to her losing custody of her son. He also meets a young homeless advocate named Megan and they start a relationship. As Drake & Sweeney comes after Brock with theft and malpractice allegations, the clinic files a lawsuit against the firm and its business partners. The firm makes a deal where Brock has his license temporarily suspended, while they settle for a large amount of money and fire the partner whose actions led to the young family's deaths.
Drake & Sweeney's head partner, deeply troubled by the events, offers to make his entire staff available for ''pro bono'' work to assist the clinic in fighting for the rights of homeless people. The book ends with Brock taking a short vacation with Megan and Ruby, and them reflecting on their lives.
The story takes place during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in Ming China. The entire plot in the Tale of Kiều spans over fifteen years. At the beginning of the story, set in Peking, Vương Thuý Kiều ( ) ( ) — a beautiful and educated girl — visits her ancestors' graves with her younger sister Thuý Vân ( ) and brother Vương Quan ( ). On the way she identifies with the grave of a dead performer—Đạm Tiên ( ), who was said to be as beautiful and talented as she is but lived a life full of grief. There, she meets and later promises to marry Kim Trọng ( ), a young and promising scholar, but their marriage is delayed because Trọng has to go back home to mourn his uncle for half a year.
During that time misfortune begins to befall Kiều. Her family is framed by a silk dealer and has all their wealth taken away by the government: her father and brother facing imprisonment. Kiều decides to sell herself to Scholar Mã (Mã giám sinh; ) to free her family, while asking Thúy Vân to fulfil the marital promise with Trọng. Mã turns out to be a pimp who is in charge of finding girls for a brothel run by Madam Tú (Tú Bà; ). He rapes Kiều and takes her back to the brothel in Lin-Tzu (modern day Xindian in Shandong), but she refuses to serve any guests and attempts to commit suicide when she is forced to do so. Madam Tú concocts a plan to crush Kiều's dignity by hiring Sở Khanh, a playboy and con artist, to meet Kiều and coerce her into eloping with him, and then lead her to Tú. With nothing left to hold on to, Kiều finally submits and becomes a prostitute. Kiều's beauty attracts many men, including Student Thúc (Thúc Sinh; ), who uses his wealth to buy Kiều out of the brothel and marry her, although he already has a wife named Lady Hoạn (Hoạn Thư; ), who is the daughter of prime minister Hoạn. Upon learning of this, Hoạn burns up with jealousy and secretly tells her henchmen to kidnap and force Kiều to become a slave in her house when Thúc is on the way to visit her. Thúc is shocked at the sight of Kiều as a slave, but never dares to reach out to her in front of his first wife.
Kiều runs away from the estate, stealing some valuable decorations on the altar in the process. She goes to a Buddhist temple, where nun Giác Duyên ( ) graciously accepts her. However, after realizing that Kiều is carrying stolen property, Giác Duyên sends Kiều to Madam Bạc's (Tú Bạc; ), whom Giác Duyên thinks Kiều will be safe with. However it turns out that Madam Bạc runs a brothel, so Kiều gets tricked into the brothel again where she meets , leader of a revolution army. Từ Hải and Kiều get married and live together for five years, together reigning over a temporary kingdom. Later tricked by , Kiều convinces her husband to surrender all in favor of amnesty. This eventually leads to the invasion of Từ Hải's kingdom, and the death of Từ Hải himself. Mesmerized by Kiều's beauty, Hồ Tôn Hiến forces her to perform in his victory banquet, where he rapes her. To avoid bad rumors, he hurriedly marries Kiều off to a local official. Feeling devastated, she throws herself into the Qiantang River. Once again, Giác Duyên saves her, as she knew about Kiều's fate when she consulted with Tam Hợp, who is believed to be able to see into the future, long ago. Meanwhile, Kim Trọng, Kiều's first love, becomes an official and is providing housing for Kiều's parents. He has been searching for Kiều, and eventually finds her with the buddhist nun Giác Duyên. Kiều is reunited with her first love and her family, thus ending her cycle of bad karma. She is married to Kim Trọng, but refuses to have a physical relationship with him because she thinks she is no longer worthy.
Short story writer Jennifer Hills lives in Manhattan and rents an isolated cottage in Kent, Connecticut near the Housatonic River in the Litchfield County countryside to write her first novel. The arrival of the attractive and independent young woman attracts the attention of Johnny Stillman, the gas station manager, and Stanley Woods and Andy Chirensky, two unemployed men. Jennifer has her groceries delivered by Matthew Duncan, who is mildly mentally disabled. Matthew is friends with the other three men and reports back to them about the beautiful woman he met, claiming that he saw her breasts.
Stanley and Andy start cruising by the cottage in their boat and prowl around the house at night. One day, the men attack Jennifer. She realizes that they planned her abduction so Matthew can lose his virginity. She fights back, but the three men rip her bikini off and hold her. Matthew refuses to rape Jennifer out of respect and pity for her, so Johnny and Andy rape her instead. After she crawls back to her house, they attack her again. Matthew finally rapes her after drinking alcohol. The other men ridicule her book and rip up the manuscript, and Stanley violently sexually assaults her. She passes out; Johnny realizes that she is a witness to their crimes and orders Matthew to go and murder her. Matthew cannot bring himself to stab her, so he dabs the knife in her blood and then returns to the other men, claiming that he has killed her.
In the following days, a traumatized Jennifer pieces both herself and her manuscript back together. She goes to church and asks for forgiveness for what she plans to do. The men learn that Jennifer has survived and beat Matthew up for deceiving them. Jennifer calls in a grocery order, knowing that Matthew will deliver it. He takes the groceries and a knife. At the cabin, Jennifer entices him to have sex with her under a tree. She then hangs him and drops his body into the lake.
At the gas station, Jennifer seductively directs Johnny to enter her car. She stops halfway to her house, points a gun at him, and orders him to remove all his clothing. Johnny insists that the rapes were all her fault because she enticed the men by parading around in revealing clothing. She pretends to believe this and invites him back to her cottage for a hot bath, where she masturbates him. When Johnny mentions that Matthew has been reported missing, Jennifer states that she killed him; as he nears orgasm, she takes the knife Matthew brought with him and severs Johnny's genitals. She leaves the bathroom, locks the door, and listens to classical music as Johnny screams, bleeding to death. After he dies, she dumps his body in the basement and burns his clothes in the fireplace.
Stanley and Andy learn that Johnny is missing and take their boat to Jennifer's cabin. Andy goes ashore with an ax. Jennifer swims out to the boat and pushes Stanley overboard. Andy tries to attack her but she escapes with the ax. Andy swims out to rescue Stanley, but Jennifer plunges the ax into Andy's back, killing him. Stanley moves towards the boat and grabs hold of the motor to climb aboard, begging Jennifer not to kill him. She repeats the order he made to her during the sexual assaults, "Suck it, bitch!", then starts the motor, disemboweling him with the propeller as she speeds away.
A classic survival story, told partly through flashbacks to Zachary Bass's past. After being left for dead by his fellow trappers, he undergoes a series of trials and adventures as he slowly heals and equips himself while he tracks the expedition, apparently intent on retribution for his abandonment, while earning the respect of the American Indians he encounters. However, when he finally confronts his fellow trappers and Captain Henry, he chooses not to seek revenge, but instead to focus on returning to his infant son.
Wendall Rohr and his team of tort lawyers have filed suit on behalf of plaintiff Celeste Wood, whose husband died of lung cancer, against the tobacco company Pynex. The trial is to be held in Biloxi, Mississippi, a state thought to have favorable tort laws and sympathetic juries. Before the jury in the Pynex trial has been sworn in, a stealth juror, Nicholas Easter, has begun to quietly connive behind the scenes, in concert with a mysterious woman known only as Marlee.
Rankin Fitch, a shady "consultant" who has directed eight successful trials for the tobacco industry, has placed a camera in the courtroom in order to observe the proceedings in his office nearby, plotting many schemes to reach to the jury. He plans to get to Millie Dupree through blackmailing her husband through a tape that has him trying to bribe an official. He gets to Lonnie Shaver by convincing a company to buy his employer and convince him through orientation. He also tries to reach Rikki Coleman through blackmail of revealing her abortion to her husband. As the case continues, Fitch is approached by Marlee with a proposal to "buy" the verdict.
Meanwhile, Easter works from the inside to gain control of the jury – being warm-hearted, sympathetic and helpful to jurors who might be won over, and rather ruthless to those who prove impervious to his efforts. Eventually, he becomes jury foreman after the previous one falls ill (resulting from Nicholas spiking his coffee). He also manages to hoodwink and repeatedly manipulate the judge. Meanwhile, Marlee Easter's partner/lover acts as his agent on the outside, convincing Fitch that Easter controls the jury and can deliver any verdict on demand through a series of highly secretive meetings, in which Marlee repeatedly threatens to disappear if Fitch's team attempts to track her.
Marlee gives Fitch the impression that the pair's objective is purely mercenary – to sell the verdict to highest bidder. Still, he makes a great effort to discover her true name and antecedents to satisfy his mounting curiosity. This turns out to be extremely difficult, and the detectives employed by Fitch express their grudging respect for her skill in hiding her tracks. As the trial reaches its climax, Fitch – still in the dark about Marlee's past – agrees to her proposal to pay $10 million for a favorable verdict. Only after the money is irrevocably transferred to an offshore account do the detectives discover the truth: Marlee is in fact an anti-smoking activist whose parents both died from smoking. Thus, Fitch realizes that he lost Pynex's $10 million in addition to having lost the trial.
Inside the closed jury room, Easter convinces the jury to find for the plaintiff and make a large monetary award – $2 million in compensatory damages, and $400 million in punitive damages. While not able to sway the entire jury, Easter gets nine out of twelve jurors to back him – sufficient for a valid verdict in a civil case. Pynex and its defense lawyers are devastated. In the Cayman Islands, Marlee short-sells the tobacco companies' stocks and makes an enormous gain on the original $10 million. Easter quickly disappears from Biloxi and leaves the US. While Easter and Marlee are now wealthy and satisfied that they served justice, the tobacco industry, once undefeatable, are now vulnerable to an avalanche of additional lawsuits.
The book closes with Marlee returning the initial $10 million bribe to Fitch, having almost doubled the money on the derivatives market, and warning Fitch that she and Easter will always be watching. She explains that she had no intention to steal or lie, and that she cheated only because, "That was all your client understood."
On January 6, 1904, spinster sisters Kate and Julia Morkan and their unmarried niece, Mary Jane, host their annual Epiphany dinner party at their townhouse in Dublin. Horse-drawn carriages arrive with guests on the snowy night. Three of Mary Jane's music students, Miss O'Callaghan, Miss Furlong, and Miss Higgins, enter, accompanied by the young bachelors Joseph Kerrigan and Raymond Bergin, who Miss Furlong formally introduces to Kate and her frail older sister, Julia.
Dan Brown, the only Protestant invited to the party, arrives next, followed by Kate's favorite nephew, Gabriel Conroy, and his wife, Gretta. Kate is worried that Freddy Malins will show up drunk and, when he does, Gabriel promptly escorts the man to the restroom to sober him up. After a few more drinks with Mr Brown, Freddy goes to talk to his mother, who lives in Scotland with her daughter, and Mrs Malins berates him for failing to meet her for tea earlier.
The guests dance, Mary Jane performs a virtuosic piece on the piano, and a guest named Mr. Grace recites a poem he calls "Broken Vows", which is a lament of lost love, during which Gretta's eyes grow misty. When the dancing restarts, Kate pairs Gabriel with Molly Ivors, an Irish nationalist colleague of his. She chides Gabriel for writing for an English newspaper and not learning Irish, and, in response, he declares that he is sick of Ireland.
While Gretta is attempting to persuade Gabriel that they should go on a summer trip to the Aran Islands that Molly mentioned, Kate announces that Julia is going to sing "Arrayed for the Bridal", an operatic piece from her "concert days". Despite her warbling voice, Freddy drunkenly gushes over the performance, and Kate complains about the Pope ending her sister's singing career in the church choir when he replaced the women with boys.
When it is time to eat, Molly leaves the party to attend a union meeting. During the sumptuous feast, conversation topics range from opera to morality. Freddy reliably utters the wrong things, but, despite his nerves, Gabriel gives a rousing speech praising the wonderful Irish hospitality shown by Kate, Julia, and Mary Jane.
As the guests are leaving, Mrs Malins asks Gabriel to look after Freddy when she returns to Scotland, and Gabriel awakens Mr Brown and puts him in a carriage with the Malins. When almost everyone is gone, Bartell D’Arcy, a "celebrated tenor" who had not sung anything all evening, sings "The Lass of Aughrim" to Miss O'Callaghan, and Gabriel watches Gretta as she listens, transfixed, from the stairs. Her pensiveness continues in the carriage on the way to the hotel where she and Gabriel are staying the night, and she dismisses Gabriel's attempts to cheer her.
In their hotel room, Gabriel asks Gretta what she is thinking, and she explains that, when she was young and lived with her grandmother in Galway, a boy she knew named Michael Furey used to sing "The Lass of Aughrim". She says she feels responsible for his death at age seventeen as, on the night before she returned to the convent in Dublin where she went to school, Michael left his sick bed and stood outside her window in the cold and rain to say goodbye, and he died a week later. Gretta cries herself to sleep, and Gabriel thinks that he has never felt love like the love Michael must have felt for Gretta and that it is better to die young, but passionate, than to wither and fade away, like Julia and, presumably, he will. Looking out the window, he imagines the snow falling all over Ireland, "upon all the living and the dead."
In New Orleans, an ex-employee perpetrates a mass shooting with a machine pistol at a stock brokerage firm. Eleven people are killed and several others are wounded in the incident. Among the dead is Jacob Wood. Two years later, with attorney Wendell Rohr, Jacob's widow Celeste takes Vicksburg Firearms to court on the grounds that the company's gross negligence led to her husband's death. During jury selection, jury consultant Rankin Fitch and his team communicate background information on each of the jurors through electronic surveillance to defense attorney Durwood Cable, who is in the courtroom.
In the jury pool, Nicholas (Nick) Easter attempts to get himself excused from jury duty. Judge Frederick Harkin refuses, claiming he's giving him a lesson in civic duty, and Fitch tells Cable that the judge has now given them no choice but to select Nick as a juror. Nick's congenial manner wins over his fellow jurors, but Frank Herrera, a Marine veteran, takes an instant dislike to him.
A woman named Marlee makes an offer to Fitch and Rohr by phone: she will deliver the desired verdict to the first bidder. Rohr dismisses the offer, assuming it to be a tactic by Fitch to obtain a mistrial. Fitch asks for proof that she can deliver, though, which Nick provides by getting a juror expelled. By observing the jurors' behaviour through concealed cameras, Fitch identifies Nick as the influencer and orders his apartment to be searched, but finds nothing. Marlee retaliates by getting one of Fitch's jurors bounced. Fitch then goes after three jurors with blackmail, leading one, Rikki Coleman, to attempt suicide. He also sends his men to find a concealed device in Nick's room, on which key information has been stored, after which they set fire to the apartment. Nick shows the judge video footage of Fitch's men breaking into his apartment, and the judge orders the jury sequestered.
Rohr's key witness, a former Vicksburg employee, doesn't show up. After confronting Fitch, Rohr decides that he cannot win the case. He asks his firm's partners for $10 million to pay Marlee. Fitch sends an operative, Janovich, to kidnap Marlee, but she fights him off and raises the price to $15 million. On principle, Rohr changes his mind and refuses to pay. After the CEO of Vicksburg Firearms loses his temper under cross-examination as a witness and makes a bad impression on the jury, Fitch agrees to pay Marlee to be certain of the verdict.
Fitch's subordinate Doyle, who is investigating Nick, finds that Nick is, in fact, Jeff Kerr, a law school drop-out. He then travels to Gardner, Indiana, where Jeff and his law school girlfriend Gabby (ie. Marlee) both come from. Doyle gently quizzes Gabby's mother, who reveals that Gabby's sister died in a shooting years ago when she was in high school. At the time, the town of Gardner sued the manufacturer of the guns used and lost; Fitch had helped the defense win the case. Doyle concludes that Nick and Marlee's offer is a set-up, and he calls Fitch, but it is too late as the money has already been paid.
Nick receives confirmation of receipt of payment, and he makes a speech, asking them to review the facts, and says that they owe it to Celeste Wood to deliberate, much to the chagrin of Herrera, who launches into a rant against the plaintiff, which undermines his support. The gun manufacturer is found liable, with the jury awarding $110 million in general damages to Celeste Wood.
After the trial, Nick and Marlee confront Fitch with a receipt for the $15 million bribe which they will make public unless he retires. Fitch asks how they got the jury to vote for the plaintiff, to which Nick replies that he didn't; clarifying he stopped Fitch from stealing the trial by getting the jury to vote with their hearts. Nick and Marlee inform an indignant Fitch that the $15 million "fee" will benefit the shooting victims in Gardner.
An unmanned scientific probe sent to Mars discovers an alien artifact. A follow up robotic explorer lands and verifies that an enormous alien ship is partially buried on Mars. So a crewed expedition is sent to explore this apparently abandoned alien ship. The expedition members are captured and taken underground to the habitat occupied by a combined society of humans living harmoniously with the alien Krsh.
The expedition learns that, in previous millennia, the technologically advanced Krsh were won over to the religion of the humans. This society practices Judaism but accepts Jesus as their Messiah. Included in their Bible is the ''Book of Matthias'' which is the testament written by Judas Iscariot. However, unlike mainstream Christianity, this society views Jesus as a man and not as God (see Nicene Creed).
Originally, the Krsh had arrived at Earth on an exploratory mission. To study humans, the Krsh had offered to bring injured humans to their spaceship for medical treatment. Then, the ship was attacked by another alien species which is especially hostile and xenophobic. Even though the attack was repelled and the ship of the xenophobic aliens was destroyed, the Krsh's own ship was damaged. So they landed on Mars to hide from more potential hostility which never arrived. During the years of camouflage, the Krsh and humans crew joined together into a unified society.
Halfway through the novel, we learn that Jesus himself miraculously arrived among these people almost two thousand years earlier and had been living with them ever since. The proximity of Jesus is overwhelming and convincing both in terms of concrete, scientifically verifiable miracles as well as a strong visceral presence. This proximity convinces even the scientifically advanced Krsh. Also, three of the four crew members accept this Jesus and convert to this hybrid form of Judaism and Christianity. The fourth crew member, an atheist and the only female crew member, commits suicide. She is subsequently resurrected using advanced technology but not before she suffers brain damage that erases much of her personality.
Towards the end of the novel, Jesus leads a flotilla of spaceships back to Earth in a reenactment of the Second Coming. Although desiring peaceful interaction and offering immortality and boundless manna, they are prepared for hostile action. As can be expected, Jesus is accused of being the Antichrist.
Such doubts afflict Richard Orme who is the astronaut leading the crewed expedition from Earth. In the penultimate chapter, Orme wavers on his conversion and submission to this Martian Jesus. He then prepares to assassinate the Jesus but throws himself upon a grenade from another assassin so as to save Jesus. In the final chapter, he awakens naked and disoriented to discover that he has been resurrected by Jesus while the world media looked on. Then, Orme reaffirms his commitment and the novel ends abruptly with a sense of the years of impending struggle against the forces of evil.
''Polgara the Sorceress'' begins with Ce'Nedra entreating Polgara to write a book about her life, filling in the gaps left by her father's story, ''Belgarath the Sorcerer''. The main part of the story then opens, revealing that Polgara and her twin sister Beldaran were raised by their adoptive uncles, the deformed Beldin and the twin sorcerers Beltira and Belkira (all disciples of Aldur, like Belgarath), after the apparent death of their mother, Poledra. Their mother was a shape-shifting wolf at birth; she was distressed that her human babies would be born deficient in lupine instinct, and therefore educated them telepathically prior to parturition. After the birth of the twins, Poledra was presumed to have died; but continued communication with Polgara.
For many years, Polgara resented her father's long absence from her own upbringing; and when Belgarath resumed care of his daughters, Beldaran was quick to forgive him but Polgara often fled to the Tree at the center of the Vale of Aldur, where she learned to speak to birds and ultimately mastered the Will and the Word. Belgarath (with Beldaran's help) eventually negotiated an uneasy peace, and Polgara began her training under him. Following Beldaran's marriage, Polgara also resented the "loss" of her sister; but the shared loss eventually reconciled her to Belgarath. Over the years, she maintained a relationship with the descendants of Beldaran.
A relatively young Polgara spent many years in the Arendish duchy of Vo Wacune, where she mitigated the Arendish civil wars. Ultimately she was proclaimed the "Duchess of Erat". When Vo Wacune was destroyed, Erat became part of the new kingdom of Sendaria. When the Rivan King (Beldaran's descendant) was assassinated, Polgara became the guardian of a secret line of surviving heirs, incognito in Sendaria and its neighboring domains. At the Battle of Vo Mimbre, Polgara learned that in the prophecies of her enemies, she was the intended bride of the dark god Torak, whom she therefore defied at each meeting. Following Torak's defeat at Vo Mimbre, Polgara returned to caring for the descendants of Riva, eventually raising Garion.
''Dynasty Warriors 4'' is set in Ancient China during the time of the Three Kingdoms era. The game begins at the fall of the Han Dynasty, shortly before the death of Emperor Ling when the Yellow Turban Rebellion led by Zhang Jiao begun an uprising against the Empire. A number of elements in the game build on aspects of Chinese Mythology and there is a mix between fact and fiction as the game is built on the story of ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''.
Many of the locations, characters, and events in ''Dynasty Warriors 4'' are reported to have happened in Chinese history although many have been exaggerated to make the game more appealing to the player. There are also some features that are historically inaccurate. The game features environments resembling that of ancient China and various items from the era. Common items throughout the game include Fairy Wine and Dim Sum's.
Many of the stages are recreations of notable battles present historically or from the novel ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'', while original creations became more common with the newer installments. Of course, the battlefields are not exact reproductions of the original locations, as newer establishments, buildings and other facilities have been built on top of them. For example, He Fei, a key site in both the game and in the historical context, has been developed and expanded into an urbanised area, making an exact replication impossible. Instead, levels are designed to be vaguely accurate, focusing more on expression of mood and effects; these are not re-used in every game, but are instead updated in every ''Dynasty Warriors'' game, save the games' extension packages - in this case, ''Dynasty Warriors 4: Xtreme Legends'' and ''Dynasty Warriors 4: Empires''
''* Denotes new characters to the series''
''* Denotes new characters to the series''
'''''Bold''' denotes default characters''
'''Note:''' Fu Xi and Nü Wa were removed in DW4
Although ''Dynasty Warriors 4'' does allow for some player input into how the story unfolds, the three main kingdoms' 'Musou Modes' follow the main events of the ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' story.
In 184 AD, with the corruption and poverty within the Han dynasty, Zhang Jiao and a religious sect known as the Way of Peace start a rebellion within China, attracting hundreds of thousands of followers. In response to this threat, Regent Marshal He Jin gathers generals from across the land to combat the "Yellow Turban Rebellion". Among the volunteers for the Han Forces are Cao Cao of Chang'an, Sun Jian of Jianye, and Liu Bei. The Han forces are able to destroy Zhang Liang, who is laying siege to Huangfu Song at Xiapi Castle. They proceed to drive Zhang Bao out of his fortress at He Nan Yin and the whole Han army triumphs over Zhang Jiao himself in Ji Province (If Zhang Jiao withdraws from the battle, one of the forces, either Wei, Wu, or Shu, will defeat Zhang Jiao and Zhang Lu in Hanzhong).
With Zhang Jiao and his followers dead, it is Dong Zhuo who seizes power within the Imperial Court. Followed by Lu Bu and Diaochan, he enslaves Emperor Xian and makes himself regent in place of the deceased He Jin. In 190 AD, the powerful nobleman Yuan Shao rallies an army of warriors from across the land, including Cao Cao, Sun Jian, Liu Bei, Gongsun Zan, and many fresh warriors. These forces defeat Li Jue and Hua Xiong at Si Shui Gate and, at Hulao Gate a year later, they defeat Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu; Dong Zhuo survives, and burns down Luoyang.
After defeating Dong Zhuo, Liu Bei and his sworn brothers Zhang Fei and Guan Yu are forced to wander the land in search of a home. Since the people love Liu Bei, Cao Cao sets out to destroy him. In 200 AD, Guan Yu returns to Liu Bei after an escape ("Tales"), making it through many gates to ships on the river. At Ru Nan ("Tales"), Liu Bei is rejoined by Guan Yu and is now followed by Zhao Yun, who saves him from advancing infantry. Cao Cao is defeated, but Liu Bei must continue wandering. In 208 AD, Liu Bei finds talent in a strategist known as Zhuge Liang, who agreed to follow him after Liu Bei visited him three times. Zhuge Liang proves his worth by defeating Cao Cao's army in a series of ambushes at the Battle of Bo Wan Po and Liu Bei successfully manages to flee to Sun Jian in Wu after the Battle of Changban, where Zhao Yun saved his son. Sun Jian agrees to assist Liu Bei in his goal of defeating Cao Cao, and Wu strategist Zhou Yu teams up with Zhuge Liang to execute a fire attack that destroyed Cao Cao's fleet at the Battle of Chi Bi.
After Chi Bi, Liu Bei focused on building up his kingdom. He took over Luo Castle from his cousin Liu Zhang after the people pleaded for his guidance (although he lost Pang Tong), and also unified Jing Province after defeating Han Xuan of Changsha, Liu Du of Lingling, Zhao Fan of Guiyang, and Jin Xuan of Wuling. He gained Huang Zhong and Wei Yan as officers after this battle, and his great army conquered the rest of Yi Province at Chengdu in 214 AD. Soon after, he assisted Ma Chao at the Battle of Tong Pass ("Tales") against Cao Cao, and gained him as a general after Chengdu.
Liu Bei then attacks either Wei or Wu, depending on if the fire attack at Chi Bi succeeds or not. Either Wei or Wu will be the final battle where you attack their capital; the battles are the same.
Liu Bei proceeds to campaign in the southlands to get rid of Wu's threat, as Wu had backed a Nanman rebellion by King Meng Huo. In Nanzhong, he systematically defeated Meng Huo for a total of seven times, as Zhuge Liang cleverly resisted the Nanman armor troops and also pacified the poison marshes. After taking down Meng Huo, Shu proceeded to capture Fan Castle from Wei's Cao Ren, and also defeated Wu reinforcements under Lu Meng and traitors under Mi Fang and Fu Shiren. The final battle with Wu was at the Battle of Yi Ling, where Liu Bei braved a Wu fire attack and defeated (if Wu falls first, kills) Sun Jian and his officers. If Wei has been defeated before Wu, Liu Bei proceeds to attack Jianye, and sees through Sun Jian's body double trickery and kills Sun Jian, Sun Ce, Sun Quan, and Sun Shangxiang.
He also attacks Wei in campaigns masterminded by Zhuge Liang. Zhuge Liang gains Jiang Wei as a general after isolating him and tricking Wei general Ma Zun into thinking that he was betraying him, in a clever ploy at the Battle of Tianshui ("Tales"). He proceeds to defeat the Wei after a failed prisoner exchange at the Battle of Mt. Dingjun and saves Ma Su from defeat at the Battle of Jieting. His final battle with Wei is at the Battle of Wuzhang Plains, where he fakes his death, only to ambush the Wei forces and defeat Sima Yi. If Wu has fallen before Wei, Shu will attack Xuchang, the co-capital of Wei, and take it, with Wei's officers fighting to the death.
Having united the land, Liu Bei will ride on a victory march with his generals, and enter the capital in a glorious procession.
After Dong Zhuo's defeat, Cao Cao focuses on uniting the land. He is surrounded by enemies: Dong Zhuo's general Lu Bu has taken over all of Dong Zhuo's troops and taken Xiapi Castle; Zhang Xiu has rebelled in Wan Castle; to the north, Yuan Shao threatened to swallow the north whole. Cao Cao defeated Zhang Xiu at Wan Castle, with his guard Dian Wei holding foes back in the burning castle. Cao Cao, having escaped, defeats Lu Bu in alliance with Liu Bei at Xiapi in 198 AD, exterminating his army and gaining several officers. Cao Cao's final victory is at the Battle of Guandu in 200 AD, where he destroys Yuan Shao's army before he even arrives.
After defeating Yuan Shao, Cao Cao proceeds to fight against Liu Bei, who is wandering the land in search of a master. Xiahou Dun pursues and defeats Guan Yu, Liu Bei's brother, who is trying to escape to boats on the Huang He ("Tales"). In 208 AD, Cao Cao wins victories over Zhuge Liang's trickery at Bo Wan Po, defeats a fleeing Liu Bei at Changban, and stops a fire attack ploy by an allied fleet of Sun Jian and Liu Bei at Chi Bi.
Although his southern foes were still very alive, Cao Cao focused to the north to crush Ma Chao and his rebels at Tong Gate in 211 AD ("Tales"). He also chooses to defend against Lu Bu, who is terrorizing Xiapi, and in a fireattack, he ends Lu Bu's Offensive ("Tales"). Cao Cao's generals then destroy the army of the alive Dong Zhuo piecemeal at Ji Province ("Tales"), and he eradicates all of his foes. Cao Cao then chooses to go after Shu or Wu, depending on the result of the Chibi fire attack.
Cao Cao defends against Shu's attacks, with Xiahou Yuan defeating Huang Zhong at Mt. Dingjun in 218 AD after a failed prisoner exchange. Zhuge Liang then makes a new attempt to go north, appointing Ma Su as a subordinate, but Ma Su is encircled at Jieting in 229 AD and his army is decimated by Sima Yi, Cao Cao's strategist. Cao Cao and Sima Yi then defeat Zhuge Liang at the Wuzhang Plains in 234 AD, defeating (or killing, depending on order of conquest) Liu Bei. If Wu has fallen first, Cao Cao proceeds to attack the Shu capital of Chengdu. He gets Wei Yan to defect to his forces and the Wei army seizes both Luo Castle and Chengdu from the Shu forces, and Liu Bei and his peasant militias are killed.
Wei strikes back against Wu, who have attacked them at Fan Castle. Cao Ren successfully defends the fortifications against Lu Meng, who fails to lay siege layers against the walls. At Shiting in 228 AD, Cao Xiu narrowly survives a defection ploy by Zhou Fang, with aid from Sima Yi, who destroys Lu Xun's army. The final battle is at He Fei Castle, where the Wei general Zhang Liao defeats Sun Jian in a series of ambushes. If Shu has been defeated first, Wei will attack the capital at Jianye and every member of the Sun family is killed as the Three Kingdoms come to an end.
Cao Cao and his generals will then make a victory march into the capital, waved at by local peasants.
Dong Zhuo's defeat has left him holed up in Luoyang, so Sun Jian and his army attack and defeat him in the city, finding the Imperial Seal in the process ("Tales"). Sun Jian then leads his army home, but finds out that Liu Biao has taken over Jing Province, Yan Baihu, Wang Lang, and Liu Yong have conquered the Wu Territory, and Liu Xun has allied with Yuan Shu. At Xiangyang in 192 AD, Sun Jian falls into a trap in the castle but survives and defeats the attackers. His generals also kill off many of Liu Biao's generals and defeat Yuan Shao's reinforcements, and Liu Biao is defeated after interrogating why he invaded Jing. His son Sun Ce continues his conquest, and proceeds to conquer the Wu Territory from the regional lords; Zhou Yu plans his campaign for the lands. With Wu secure, the Sun Family continues on to Mt. Xingshi, where they attack Jiangdong and defeat the armies of Liu Xun and Yuan Shu in 198 AD. If only Liu Xun has been defeated, Sun Jian and his family will participate in a unification of Jing Province, securing all of the cities from the forces of Liu Biao and the three Wu lords.
With their home base secured, Wu looked to external threats. Huang Zu, who had formerly supported Liu Biao, prepared a pirate fleet to attack. Nanman king Meng Huo had shown signs of revolt in the south. In the north, Cao Cao prepared an armada to invade the south. Sun Ce and Zhou Yu defeated Huang Zu with a naval fire attack at Xiakou and convinced Gan Ning to join them, and Zhou Yu inflicted a decisive defeat on Meng Huo's elephant troops in Nanman. To fix the problem with Cao Cao, Sun Jian allied with Liu Bei and defeated Cao Cao's fleet at Chi Bi.
After Chi Bi, Wu continued their conquests. Depending on the result of the fire attack, they will either attack Wei or Shu. Before either, the Wu defeat Dong Zhuo and Meng Huo's combined forces at Chang Jiang ("Tales").
The Wu secured Xiangyang, the Nan Territory, Jiangling, and Jing Province from Wei before Shu's Zhuge Liang could, and also defeated Meng Huo for a second (or third) time in the south. Their final battle against Shu is at Yiling, where they use a fire attack to force Liu Bei to retreat to Bai Di Castle, where he is then defeated (or killed). If Wei has fallen first, Wu will defeat the Shu at Chengdu and occupy the lands of Shu Han, killing their officers.
Wu then faces off with Wei, taking Fan Castle with siege engines. Lu Xun, a new strategists, then defeats Wei at Shiting with a defection ploy involving Zhou Fang. Their final victory at He Fei Castle gives them control of the region. If Shu has fallen first, the Wu will proceed to Xuchang and take it after a siege.
With the land in their hands, the Wu have a victory march into the capital city.
Yuan Shao, having humbled the Yellow Turbans and the army of Dong Zhuo, proceeded to attack his rival Cao Cao. After defeating Cao Cao at Guan Du, Yuan Shao destroys Wei and kills all of their generals. With the tyrant dead, he focuses on defeating Liu Bei and Sun Jian. He fights two campaigns against them, defeating Sun Jian at Hefei and Liu Bei in Xiapi. The two heroes' deaths let him take control of the whole land.
The Nanman are absent from both the Yellow Turban Campaign and the War against Dong Zhuo. Instead, they are living peacefully in the south, but are defeated several times by Shu invaders. King Meng Huo is infuriated, but his wife Zhu Rong invigorates him to send them back to their lands and destroy them. After a single battle for Nanzhong, Meng Huo forces Zhuge Liang's army out of his home.
Meng Huo's army marches northwards to attack Liu Bei. However, his army is swept down the Changjiang and end up in the Kingdom of Wu, ruled by Sun Jian. The Nanman resolve to take Jianye from Wu, and Meng Huo kills every member of the Sun family in rapid succession. With Jianye down, Meng Huo proceeds to attack into Wei. He captures Xuchang and kills every Wei officer, although Sima Yi's efforts to launch an attack on the Nanman supply depot cause temporary chaos.
Meng Huo and his Nanman army then march on Chengdu, the Shu capital. The Nanman troops are held back from the bridges by Zhang Bao and Guan Suo, who hold the Nanman back to defend the legacy of their fathers (Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, respectively). Meng Huo kills the last of Shu's generals and conquers the land.
Lu Bu fights for Dong Zhuo at the Battle of Si Shui Gate, fighting off invaders that are supposed to depose him. Lu Bu then defeats the Coalition at Hu Lao Gate, but they are not done for yet. Also, he finds that Dong Zhuo is truly a monster, and starts a revolt in Wan Castle and cuts him down. Now in charge of Dong Zhuo's army, he defeats Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Jian in several campaigns, and takes over the land.
Dong Zhuo learns that the Coalition of Yuan Shao has finally started to attack, and he defeats them at Si Shui Gate and Hu Lao Gate. Afterwards, he defeats Lu Bu, who is trying to revolt against him, and defeats the rebels. His final act is to destroy Cao Cao, Liu Bei, and Sun Jian at Guandu, Xiapi, and Hefei. He rides into the capital on a victory march, taking over the land.
Zhang Jiao, leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, finds out that the Han army has moved at last, and they are preparing to attack him. He defeats Sun Jian, Liu Bei, and Cao Cao in a series of campaigns at Hefei, Xiapi, and Guandu, respectively. He then defeats the Han at Xiapi Castle, held by Huangfu Song, and then defeats Zhu Jun at He Nan Yin. Finally, he defeats the Coalition (including Dong Zhuo and Lu Bu) in Ji Province, and the Han fall to his feet. His men enter the capital, as the Way of Peace have taken over the land.
Buffy is still hurting because Parker dumped her after a night together. In a daydream during one of Professor Walsh's classes (pointedly, about the role of the id in Freudian psychology) she saves Parker's life and he swears to do anything to get her back. A dialogue with Willow later shows how much Buffy is not over him yet.
In the real world, Xander gets a job as a bartender with a fake ID, and has to endure the insults from students. He gets to test his empathy skills with none other than Buffy who then proceeds to get drunk on "Black Frost" beer with four college boys. Oz and Willow are in The Bronze together, but he feels a strange connection to the pretty singer Veruca when she gets on the stage with her band ''Shy''.
The next morning, Willow not only has to cope with Veruca having called her a "groupie", but also with Buffy, who seems to be suffering from "Black Frost." That evening when Buffy drinks herself further and further, it is soon revealed why: somebody has a chemical lab set up and is putting more into the beer than just malt. Xander finally sends Buffy home. When her four drinking buddies turn into violent Neanderthals, he finds out that the owner of the pub has been brewing the beer as revenge for 20 years of college kids taunting him. Despite the pub owner explaining that the effects wear off after a day or so, Xander heads off, knowing the damage that could be done in that time. While the boys escape to the streets of Sunnydale, Xander gets Giles to help. They find Buffy drawing cave paintings on her dorm wall saying "Parker bad." Giles and Xander are unable to keep Buffy in her room when she gets a craving for more beer.
Meanwhile, Willow confronts Parker with what she says he has done to Buffy. When he turns his charm on her, she plays along then asks how gullible he thinks she is, before going into a rant about how primitive men are, just when the four Neanderthal students burst into the room. They knock Willow and Parker unconscious and start a fire that rapidly burns out of control. Xander catches up with Buffy and when they see smoke from the Neanderthals' fire, they rush to help. Though afraid of the flames and unable to figure out how to use an extinguisher, Buffy saves Willow and Parker. In the end, Parker thanks Buffy for saving his life, and apologizes just the way she had dreamt — just to get knocked unconscious by Buffy's club. The neanderthal students become subsequently locked in a random van.
Wyatt Frame, an executive with the pop music record label MegaRecords, is confronted on a private jet by successful boy band DuJour over a strange backing track they have discovered on their recent single. Wyatt and the plane's pilot parachute out of the jet, leaving it to crash with the band still on board and "killing" them.
Landing outside of the town of Riverdale, Wyatt begins searching for a replacement band for DuJour, eventually discovering struggling local rock band The Pussycats: lead vocalist and guitarist Josie McCoy, drummer Melody Valentine, and bassist Valerie Brown. The group accepts Wyatt's immediate offer of a major record deal despite its seeming implausibility, and they are flown to New York City with their manager Alexander, his sister Alexandra, and Josie's friend Alan M. Wyatt renames the band "Josie and the Pussycats" without their permission.
Meanwhile, MegaRecords CEO Fiona, in a meeting with world government representatives, details how the United States government has conspired with the music industry to hide subliminal messages in pop music to brainwash teenagers into buying consumer products. Musicians who discover the hidden messages in their music are made to disappear via staged plane crashes, drug overdoses and similar disasters.
The band's first single is released and, due to subliminal messaging, instantly becomes successful. Valerie begins to resent the attention the label gives Josie, while Melody's uncanny behavioral perception makes her suspicious of Fiona. Fiona orders Wyatt to kill the pair before they uncover the conspiracy; they are sent to a fake appearance on ''Total Request Live'' where two fake Carson Dalys attempt to kill them, though they survive due to their incompetence.
Wyatt gives Josie a copy of the group's latest single, which contains a subliminal message track designed to brainwash her into desiring a solo career. After arguing with her bandmates, Josie realizes that the single caused the fight. Her suspicions are confirmed when she uses a mixing board to make the subliminal track audible. However, Fiona catches her unawares.
MegaRecords have organized a giant pay-per-view concert that will be streamed online, wherein they plan to unleash a major subliminal message via themed "cat ears" headsets that viewers must buy to hear the audio. Fiona and Wyatt plan for Josie to perform solo, but when the band insists on performing together, the pair threaten to kill Melody and Valerie in a staged car explosion if they do not comply. However, the badly injured members of DuJour arrive and thwart the pair's plan, having survived the plane crash by landing the plane in the middle of a Metallica concert, where they were severely assaulted by fans.
Josie, Valerie and Melody fight Fiona, Wyatt and their security guards. During the tussle, Fiona accidentally destroys the machine used to generate the messages, revealing the new subliminal message to be one that would make Fiona universally popular. Fiona reveals that her lisp made her a social outcast in high school, while Wyatt reveals that his appearance is a disguise—he went to the same high school as Fiona, but was a persecuted and unpopular albino; the two immediately bond. The government agents colluding with Fiona arrive, but with the conspiracy exposed, they arrest the pair as scapegoats to cover up their involvement in the scheme. They abandon the idea of spreading subliminal messages via music, revealing that movies are much more effective.
Josie, Valerie, and Melody perform the concert together. Alan M arrives and confesses his love for Josie, who returns his feelings. The concert audience removes their headsets at Josie's suggestion and, able to judge the band on its own merits for the first time, roar their approval.
''Before Crisis'' opens with the trainee Turks on a mission in the city of Midgar to investigate AVALANCHE activities. With help from Reno, AVALANCHE retreat. However, the attack proves to be a diversion for a greater strike at the town of Junon, where President Shinra is set to give a speech. President Shinra is shot, but survives, and calls in Sephiroth. However, it transpires that even the attack on the President was a diversion, and AVALANCHE's real target was a weapon called the Mako Cannon, which they planned to fire at Midgar, destroying the city. Elfé and Sephiroth do battle at the cannon, but the fight ends inconclusively, and AVALANCHE withdraw. AVALANCHE next target Rayleigh, a professor carrying data on the SOLDIER members and their creation. The Turks are sent to protect Rayleigh, accompanied by several Shinra guards, including Cloud. Fuhito, a scientist working for AVALANCHE, is able to corrupt Rayleigh's data when the Turks disobey orders and save Rayleigh instead of protecting the information. Using the SOLDIER data, Fuhito develops an elite unit known as the Ravens, using them to capture two SOLDIERs, Essai and Sebastian. The Turks succeed in rescuing the pair, and are then sent to destroy AVALANCHE, accompanied by Zack. Essai and Sebastian, however, are captured once again, and turned into Ravens. Even though Zack is able to bring them back to their senses, he is unable to save them.
Meanwhile, President Shinra becomes suspicious of the Turks' activities, believing that someone within the organization is leaking sensitive information. He concludes that it must be Veld, and removes him from command, instead placing the company's security leader Heidegger in charge. In his first operation however, Heidegger nearly destroys Junon, and the President reinstates Veld. In his first mission back in command, Veld plans to defeat AVALANCHE. An assault is launched at a Mako Reactor, during which Rufus Shinra is revealed to be the traitor supporting AVALANCHE. He is captured by the Turks and placed under house arrest. At the same time, Shears defects to the Turks in an effort to save the gravely ill Elfé. Veld discovers that Elfé is his daughter Felicia, whom he thought dead in a botched Shinra operation, and resigns from the Turks. With Elfé continuing to weaken, Fuhito takes over the command of AVALANCHE. It is revealed that a Materia owned by Elfé is Zirconiade, an ancient and powerful summoned monster that Fuhito intends to use to destroy humanity and stop them harming the planet. However, the Materia is broken, and is slowly draining Elfé's life energy. To save her, the four Support Materia must be found. Fuhito holds one, and the Turks and Shears hold another.
Meanwhile, not wanting Rufus' betrayal become known, the President orders the Turks' destruction. Despite this imminent threat, the Turks manage to find two more Support Materia. Under Fuhito's control, the remainder of AVALANCHE is turned into a vicious army of uncontrollable Ravens, and he manages to steal all the materia needed. In the final battle, Fuhito summons Zirconiade, fusing the summon with his own body, and Shears sacrifices himself to save Elfé. Fuhito transforms into a monster, but he is defeated by the Turks. After the battle, Tseng falsely claims that both Veld and Elfé are dead, so as to protect them from being hunted by Shinra. The Turks are then reorganized, with Tseng reinstated as their immediate leader, but they are now sworn to loyalty to Shinra as part of the bargain for their survival. The original Turks find new lives for themselves in hiding, and are later seen helping in the evacuation of Midgar during the events of ''Final Fantasy VII''.
''Children of Paradise'' is divided into two parts, ''Boulevard du Crime'' ("Boulevard of Crime") and ''L'Homme Blanc'' ("The Man in White"). The first begins around 1827, the second about seven years later. The action takes place mainly in the neighbourhood of the Boulevard du Temple in Paris, nicknamed "Boulevard of Crime" because of all the melodramas and bloody scenarios offered to the largely plebeian public each evening. There are two principal theatres: the ''Théâtre des Funambules'' ("Theatre of Tightrope Walkers") specializes in pantomime, since the authorities do not allow it to use spoken dialogue, which is reserved for the "official" venue, the Grand Theatre.
'''Part I: Boulevard of Crime'''
A young actor and womaniser, Frédérick Lemaître, dreams of becoming a star. He meets and flirts with Garance, a beautiful woman who earns her living by modestly exhibiting her physical charms in a carnival show. Garance staves off Frédérick's advances and goes to visit one of her acquaintances, Pierre-François Lacenaire, a rebel in revolt against society. Lacenaire is a proud, dangerous individual who works as a scrivener to cover his organized criminal enterprises. Shortly thereafter, Garance is accused of stealing a man's gold watch while she is watching a pantomime featuring Baptiste Deburau and a barker (Baptiste's father) in front of the Funambules Theatre. Lacenaire is in fact the guilty party. Baptiste, dressed up as the stock character Pierrot, saves her from the police by silently acting out the theft, which he has just witnessed. He reveals a great talent, a veritable vocation for pantomime, but falls immediately and irremediably in love with Garance, saving a flower she thanked him with. In the background, there is a price list for various seats, including ''Paradise'', which is visible over the mime's shoulder.
Baptiste's father is one of the stars at the Funambules. The daughter of the theatre director, Nathalie, who is a mime also, is deeply in love with Baptiste. Before the performance that evening, a used-clothes pedlar named Jéricho reads in her palm that she will marry the man she loves, as he knew her father was worried about her mood affecting her performances. When a fight breaks out that evening between two rival clans of actors, Baptiste and Frédérick manage to calm the crowd down by improvising a mime act, thus saving the day's receipts. The most enthusiastic of the spectators are those seated in "paradise" (''paradis''), a term denoting in French theatrical language the top floor of the balcony, where the cheapest seats are located.
Later that night, Baptiste catches sight of Garance with Lacenaire and his accomplices in a seedy restaurant/dancehall, "Le Rouge Gorge" (a pun: this means "The Robin" or "The Red Breast", but literally translates as "The Red Throat", a reference to the previous owner's throat having been slit). When he invites Garance to dance, he is thrown out of the restaurant by Avril, one of Lacenaire's thugs. He turns the situation around and leaves with Garance, for whom he finds a room at the same boarding house where he and Frédérick live. After declaring his love, Baptiste flees Garance's room when she says she doesn't feel the same way, despite her clear invitation to stay. When Frédérick hears Garance singing in her room, which is next to his, he quickly joins her.
Baptiste becomes the star of the Funambules; fuelled by his passion, he writes several very popular pantomimes, performing with Garance and Frédérick, who have become lovers. Baptiste is tormented by their affair, while Nathalie, who is convinced that she and Baptiste are "made for each other", suffers from his lack of love for her.
Garance is visited in her dressing room by the Count Édouard de Montray, a wealthy and cynical dandy who offers her his fortune if she will agree to become his mistress. Garance is repelled by him and mockingly rejects his proposition. The count nonetheless offers her his protection if the need were to arise. She is later unjustly suspected of complicity in an abortive robbery and murder attempt by Lacenaire and Avril. To avoid arrest she is forced to appeal to Count Édouard for protection. The first part of the film comes to an end with this development.
'''Part II: The Man in White'''
Several years later, Frédérick has become famous as the star of the Grand Theatre. A man about town and a spendthrift, he is covered with debts – which doesn't prevent him from devastating the mediocre play in which he currently has the main role by exposing it to ridicule in rehearsal and then playing it for laughs, rather than straight melodrama, on opening night. Despite achieving a smashing success, the play's three fussy authors are still outraged and challenge him to a duel. He accepts and when he returns to his dressing room, Frédérick is confronted by Lacenaire, who apparently intends to rob and kill him. However, the criminal is an amateur playwright and strikes up a friendship with the actor instead. He and Avril serve as Frédérick's seconds the next morning, when the actor arrives at the duel dead drunk.
Baptiste is enjoying even greater success as a mime at the Funambules. When Frédérick goes to a performance the day after surviving the duel, he is surprised to find himself in the same box as Garance. His old flame has returned to Paris after having travelled throughout the world with the Count de Montray, who has kept her these several years. She has been attending the Funambules every night incognito to watch Baptiste perform. She knows she has always been genuinely in love with him. Frédérick suddenly finds himself jealous for the first time in his life. While the feeling is highly unpleasant, he remarks that his jealousy will help him as an actor. He will finally be able to play the role of Othello, having now experienced the emotions which motivate the character. Garance asks Frédérick to tell Baptiste of her presence, but Nathalie, now Baptiste's wife, is first informed by the spiteful rag-man Jéricho. She sends their small son to Garance's box to mortify her with their family's happiness. By the time Frédérick alerts Baptiste and he rushes to find her, the box is empty.
When Garance returns to the Count's luxurious mansion, she finds Lacenaire waiting for her. Lacenaire satisfies himself that Garance has no love for him and, on his way out, encounters the Count, who is irritated to see such an individual in his home. Lacenaire reacts to the Count's challenge with threats, revealing the knife at his belt. Later, Garance declares to the Count that she will never love him since she is already in love with another man, but declares she will continue to try to please him, and offers to spread the word on the streets that she is "mad" about him, if he would like.
Frédérick has finally achieved his dream of playing the role of Othello. The Count, who insists on attending the performance with Garance, is convinced that the actor is the man she loves. At a break in the play, the Count coolly mocks Frédérick, trying to provoke him into a duel. Elsewhere Baptiste, who is also in the audience, encounters Garance at last. When Lacenaire takes Frédérick's side in the verbal jousting, the Count attempts to humiliate him as well. Lacenaire takes revenge by calling him a cuckold and, dramatically pulling back a curtain, reveals Garance in Baptiste's embrace on the balcony. The two lovers slip away to spend the night together in Garance's former room at the Great Post House.
The next morning, at a Turkish bath, Lacenaire assassinates the Count. He then calmly sits to wait for the police and meet his "destiny", which is to die on the scaffold. At the rooming house, Nathalie walks in on Baptiste and Garance. Garance is in a hurry to exit in order to prevent the duel between Frédérick and the Count, whom she is unaware has been murdered, but Nathalie blocks her way, insisting that leaving is easy, while to stay and share someone's everyday life, as she has for the past six years with Baptiste, is more powerful. Garance responds that she has lived with Baptiste for six years as well, that she felt him every day and night even though she was with another. Nathalie dismisses Garance's experience as unimportant and moves past her to Baptiste, allowing Garance to leave. Nathalie pleads with Baptiste for reassurance as he attempts to follow Garance. Baptiste pushes past her and is soon lost in the frantic Carnival crowd amid a sea of bobbing masks and unheeding, white Pierrots. The film ends as a desperate Baptiste is swept away with the crowd and Garance leaves in her carriage, her face impassive.
The novel centers on three character groups: that of Hockenberry (a resurrected twentieth-century Homeric scholar whose duty is to compare the events of the ''Iliad'' to the reenacted events of the Trojan War), Greek and Trojan warriors, and Greek gods from the ''Iliad''; Daeman, Harman, Ada, and other humans of an Earth thousands of years after the twentieth century; and the "moravec" robots (named for scientist and futurist Hans Moravec) Mahnmut the Europan and Orphu of Io, also thousands of years in the future, but originating in the Jovian system. The novel is written in first-person, present-tense when centered on Hockenberry's character, but features third-person, past-tense narrative in all other instances. Much like Simmons' ''Hyperion'', where the actual events serve as a frame, the three groups of characters' stories are told over the course of the novel and begin to converge as the climax nears.
In Brooklyn, New York in 1969, a group of four boys walk up to Bleek Gilliam's Brownstone apartment and ask him to play baseball with them. Bleek's mother insists that he continue his trumpet lesson. His father becomes concerned that Bleek will grow up to be a sissy, and a family argument ensues. Bleek continues playing his trumpet, and his friends depart.
Over twenty years later, an adult Bleek performs on the trumpet at a busy nightclub with his successful jazz band, The Bleek Quintet. Giant, childhood friend and the band's manager, advises Bleek to stop allowing his saxophone player Shadow Henderson to grandstand with long solos.
The next morning Bleek wakes up with his girlfriend, Indigo Downes. She leaves to go to class, while he meets his father for a game of catch, telling him that while he likes Indigo, he likes other women too and is not ready to make a commitment. Later in the day while he is practicing, another woman named Clarke Bentancourt visits him. She suggests that he fire Giant as manager; he suggests that they make love (which he refers to as "mo' better"). He becomes upset when she bites his lip, saying, "I make my living with my lips."
Giant meets with his bookie to place bets. He meets Bleek at the club with the rest of the band, except for the pianist, Left Hand Lacey, who arrives late with his French girlfriend and is scolded by Giant. Later Giant goes to the club owners’ office, points out how busy the club has been since Bleek and his band began playing there, and unsuccessfully attempts to renegotiate their contract.
Giant meets his bookie the next morning, who is concerned that Giant is going too deep into debt. Giant shrugs it off, and places several new bets. He then stops at Shadow's home to drop off a record. Shadow confides in him that he is cheating on his girlfriend. This leads to the next scene where Bleek is in bed with Clarke, and she asks him to let her sing a number at the club with his band. He declines her request.
Bleek and Giant fend off requests from the other band members for a raise due to the band's success. Bleek goes to the club owners to ask for more money, which they refuse, reminding him that Giant locked him into the current deal.
That night, both Clarke and Indigo arrive at the club to see Bleek. They are wearing the same style dress, which Bleek had purchased for them both. Bleek attempts to work it out with each girl, but they are both upset with him, and though he sleeps with them each again, they leave him (after he calls each of them by the other's name). However, tension rises with Shadow who has feelings for Clarke.
During a bike ride together, Bleek insists that Giant should try to do a better job managing the band. Giant promises to do so, and then asks Bleek for a loan to pay his gambling debts. Bleek declines, and later Giant is apprehended by two loan sharks who demand payment. Giant can't pay and gets his fingers broken. Later Giant tells Bleek that he injured himself during a cookout, but Bleek doesn't believe him. Giant asks the other band members for money, and Left loans him five hundred dollars. When loan sharks stake out Giant's home, he goes to Bleek for a place to stay who agrees to help him raise the money but fires him as manager.
Bleek misses both his girlfriends and leaves messages for each, but Clarke has begun a new relationship with Shadow. Bleek finds out about it and fires Shadow. The loan sharks find Giant at the club, take him outside, and beat him while Bleek plays, but before Bleek can raise the money. Bleek goes outside to intervene and gets beaten as well with one loan shark taking Bleek's own trumpet and smacking him across the face with it, permanently injuring his lip and making him unable to continue playing the trumpet.
Over a year later following his recovery and slump, Bleek reunites with Giant, who has become a doorman and stopped gambling. He drops in to see Shadow and Clarke, who got out of the former club's contract and are now performing together with the rest of Bleek's former band. Shadow invites him on stage, and they play together. Still with scars on his lips and unable to play well, Bleek walks off the stage, gives his trumpet to a supportive Giant, and goes directly to Indigo's house. Angry with him because he hasn't contacted her in over a year, she tries to reject him but agrees to take him back when he begs her to save his life.
A montage flashes through their wedding, the birth of their son Miles, and their happy family with Bleek teaching his son to play the trumpet. In the final scene, a ten-year-old Miles wants to go outside to play with his friends. Indigo wants him to finish his trumpet lessons. However, unlike in the opening scene, Bleek relents and allows his son to play with friends.
The story begins with a strange voice (Peter Daltrey) calling out to the eight characters that are taken from various planes of time. The mysterious voice tells them they are in a place of "no-time and no-space". Urging them to continue, the voice gives them a task: to reach The Electric Castle and find out what's inside.
After various steps, they come to the Decision Tree where the voice tells them one of them must die. They must then go through the Tunnel of Light, but the Highlander (Fish) refuses to reach the light, stays behind, accepts his death slowly, and lays himself down to die while the others continue. Then in the Garden of Emotions, the Egyptian (Anneke van Giersbergen), overwhelmed by her emotions, becomes convinced that Amon-Ra is coming to seal her fate. She loses her will to continue and wanders alone until she lays herself down and dies as well.
The surviving characters finally reach the Electric Castle, penetrating the Castle Hall. On the Tower of Hope a breeze draws the attention of the Indian (Sharon den Adel), luring her away towards the sun despite the warning of the Knight (Damian Wilson) and the Futureman (Edward Reekers). On the breeze, she encounters Death itself (George Oosthoek and Robert Westerholt) who takes her while she screams.
The characters then come to their final test: the voice tells them that beyond them stand two gates, with one of them leading to oblivion and the second to the desired time of the heroes. One of the gates is old, deteriorated, and ugly, and the other made of gold and appears at first glance to be paradise. The Barbarian (Jay van Feggelen), in his arrogance and pride, walks through the golden gate in spite of his companion's choice, and falls into oblivion forever.
Finally, the Knight, the Roman (Edwin Balogh), the Hippie (Arjen Anthony Lucassen) and the Futureman, who had chosen the right gate, discover the true nature of the voice: it is called "Forever of the Stars", and claims that its kind is an alien race who lost all emotions. It also claims its kind caused the emergence of humanity on Earth, and that the eight heroes were in an experiment in understanding and/or rediscovering emotions. Feeling tired, the voice tells them to go on ahead and open the door, and that they won't remember what has happened.
Back in their real time, the heroes all wonder what has happened, with the Hippie asking himself if this journey was the result of his drug abuse, the Futureman wondering if his memory has been erased, the Roman feeling stronger and the Knight thinking he found the Grail in a magic dream. The voice of the Forever of the Stars is then heard, asking them all to remember Forever.
''Castlevania: Symphony of the Night'' begins during the ending of the previous game in the series, ''Castlevania: Rondo of Blood'', where Richter Belmont confronts and defeats Count Dracula. Four years later, in 1796, Richter goes missing and Dracula's castle reappears. Alucard arrives at the castle to destroy it, meeting Maria Renard, who once fought alongside Richter and is searching for him. Alucard meets Richter, who claims to be the new lord of the castle. Convinced that Richter is under somebody else's control, Maria urges Alucard not to hurt him and gives him the Holy Glasses, which allows him to see past illusions. In the castle's keep, Alucard confronts Richter and learns that he plans to resurrect Dracula so the two can fight for an eternity. During a fight, Alucard breaks the spell controlling Richter, and Dracula's servant Shaft appears and tells them that Dracula will still be resurrected soon.
Alucard leaves Richter and Maria to confront Shaft, venturing into an upside-down duplicate of the castle to seek him out. Shaft reveals he planned to end the threat of the Belmont clan by controlling one of them and forcing the clan to fight one another. After defeating Shaft, Alucard faces his father, who vows to bring an end to humankind because Alucard's mother Lisa was executed as a witch. Alucard refuses to join his father in his revenge and he defeats him. Alucard tells Dracula that he has been thwarted many times because he lost the ability to love after Lisa's death, and that Lisa's final words were of eternal love for him and a plea not to hate or at least harm humanity. Before Dracula dies, he asks for Lisa's forgiveness and bids his son farewell.
After escaping the collapsing castle, Alucard rejoins Maria and Richter. Maria is relieved that he escaped while Richter blames himself as the reason for Alucard's fight with his father. Alucard tells Richter, "the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing", (a quote attributed to Edmund Burke) and resolves to disappear from the world because of his cursed bloodline. Depending on how much of the castle the player has explored, Maria either chases Alucard in the hope of changing his mind, or resigns herself to Alucard's fate and leaves with Richter.
Sinatra, apparently playing himself, takes a break from a recording session and steps outside to smoke a cigarette. He sees more than ten boys chasing a dark-haired boy and intervenes, first with dialogue, then with a short speech. His main points are that we are "all" Americans and that one American's blood is as good as another's.