During World War II, Lieutenant Commander Quinton McHale (Borgnine) is the commanding officer of the U.S. Navy PT boat ''PT-73,'' stationed at the Pacific island base of Taratupa. In the late spring of 1942, the Japanese heavily bomb the island, destroying the base. Only 18 of 150 naval aviators and marines on the base survive. With Japanese patrols in the region too heavy for a Navy rescue mission, McHale and his men survive by hiding on the island. Assisted by the native tribes whom they befriend, the sailors live a pleasant island existence. After months of leisurely life, strait-laced, by-the-book Annapolis graduate Lieutenant Durham (Ron Foster) parachutes onto the island. His job is to assume duties as McHale's executive officer and help him get the base on Taratupa back into action.

Durham faces an uphill battle: The men have gone native. One man has started a native laundry service, and McHale operates a still, making moonshine for the men and the natives. In addition, McHale is friendly with the native chief and even bathes with him. When Durham informs McHale of his orders, McHale refuses to follow them. It is clear that while McHale is as loyal as any American, following the devastation caused by the Japanese on the island, he is reluctant to risk losing more men. His concern now is for their survival until they can be rescued, which creates friction between Durham and McHale. When they get word that a Marine battalion is pinned on a beach and an enemy cruiser is planning to attack the beachhead in the morning, McHale's attitude changes. McHale is ordered to use all their boats to protect the beachhead and the Marines, but he has no boats, since the Japanese sank them all. However, McHale manages to capture a Japanese PT boat patrolling the island. Surprising the men and Durham, McHale does not plan to use the boat to evacuate his men or the Marine battalion. Instead, he will attack and destroy the Japanese cruiser. He estimates that since they are on a Japanese boat, flying a Japanese flag, they can move in and torpedo the cruiser twice and send it to the bottom.

"Seven Against the Sea" is available for public viewing at the Paley Center for Media (formerly the Museum of Television and Radio) in New York City and Los Angeles.

The basic plot is that McHale's crew schemes to make money, get girls and enjoy themselves, and the efforts of Captain Binghamton (McHale's superior) to rid himself of the ''PT-73'' crew for good, either by transfer or court martial. Although they often get into trouble, they typically manage to get out of it. Despite their scheming, conniving, and often lazy and unmilitary ways, McHale's crew is always successful in combat in the end. This bears close resemblance to the British radio programme ''The Navy Lark,'' broadcast around the same period. The entire show is based on only two locations, one in the South Pacific at a fictional base called Taratupa — the inferred location (first episode) is islands north of New Zealand — and an equally fictional town in Italy called Voltafiore. The first few episodes merely indicate it is "somewhere in the South Pacific 1943." While in the South Pacific, McHale's crew lives on "McHale's Island," across the bay from Taratupa. It keeps them away from the main base, where they are free to carry out their antics and even fight the war. In the final season, Binghamton and the entire ''PT-73'' crew move to the liberated Italian theater to the town of Voltafiore "in Southern Italy" "in late 1944."

Book I (the original novella)

Leisha Camden, born in 2008, is the twenty-first human being to have the genemod for sleeplessness. She is the daughter of one of Yagai's most noted sponsors, financier Roger Camden, who felt he had wasted far too much of his life in sleep, and his wife Elizabeth Camden, an Englishwoman who wanted a normal child. Sleeplessness confers a number of secondary benefits—higher IQ and a sunnier disposition most notably, as well as 50% more productive time (vs the time the unmodified spend asleep); Sleepless not only don't need sleep, they ''cannot'' sleep (though they can be knocked unconscious).

By the age of fifteen Leisha has become a part of the community of Sleepless, few though there are in the world; she, like all of them, is several grades ahead of her age; the oldest, Kevin Baker, has already become the most wealthy computer software designer since Bill Gates at the age of 16 (in 2020). The first she meets, Richard Keller, becomes her lover; the others become friends and confidants. Two, however, trouble her. One is Tony Indivino, whose mother had problems adjusting to his Sleepless ways and forced him to live as a "Sleeper." Tony advocates a banding-together of all Sleepless in a sort of socio-economic fortress. He predicts that the Sleepers will soon begin to discriminate against Sleepless, and is quickly proved right: a Sleepless athlete is barred from the Olympics, for instance, because her 16-hour practice days are impossible for other competitors to compete with. Likewise some cities forbid Sleepless from running "24-hour" convenience stores. Tony is eventually jailed (for illegal actions on behalf of the Sleepless community), though not before attracting the attention of Jennifer Sharifi, the other person who makes Leisha nervous. The Sleepless daughter of a movie star and an Arab oil tycoon, Jennifer's money purchases land in upstate New York (Cattaraugus County, specifically) to create a Sleepless-only community known as Sanctuary. Finally, Leisha faces rocky relations with her twin sister Alice. By sheer chance, Elizabeth conceived a natural daughter at the same time Leisha was implanted in vitro, resulting in fraternal twins, only one of whom is Sleepless. Alice is constantly in her sister's shadow: "Whatever was yours was yours, and whatever wasn't yours was yours, too. That's the way Daddy set it up. The way he hard-wired it into our genes."

When Leisha is approaching her bar exams at the age of 22, her father dies of old age. On the drive home from the funeral, Leisha's surrogate mother Susan Melling (not only Roger Camden's second wife, but the genetic researcher who devised Sleeplessness) reports some startling news. Bernie Kuhn, a Sleepless in Seattle, has died due to a road accident at the age of 17. Autopsy reveals every one of his organs is in pristine condition. Evidently Sleeplessness unlocks a heretofore-unknown cell regeneration system. The bottom line is that Sleepless will not physically age. Their estimated lifespan is totally unknown. They might be immortal.

Leisha passes her exams, but shortly thereafter she is informed by Richard that various acts of prejudice and violence against Sleepless have culminated in the murder of Tony Indivino by fellow inmates. The Sleepless have no choice but to retreat to Sanctuary. However, Leisha is sent out on one last errand of mercy: a Sleepless child, Stella Bevington, is being abused by her parents. Alice turns the tables by masterminding and almost singlehandedly carrying out the kidnapping, not only saving both Leisha and Stella but proving that even the most privileged and elite can be beggars too. Leisha is left with the revelation that trade is not linear, but rather an ecology, and that today's beggar may be tomorrow's savior.

Book II (2051)

The book opens on Jordan Watrous, Alice's son (born 2025), an employee at a We-Sleep factory. The "We-Sleep" movement is an attempt by founder Calvin Hawke to rejuvenate working-class pride by buying and selling only products made by Sleepers; despite the fact that the products themselves are often shoddy and over-priced, revenues have been lucrative. He shepherds his aunt Leisha on a tour of the factory; afterwards she meets with Hawke to "rail against stupidity;" since America is founded on the premise that all men should be ''treated'' equally, encouraging class hatred will only lead to destruction.

Leisha then receives an unusual client at her law firm: a genetic researcher, Dr. Adam Walcott, who claims to have discovered a post-partum gene therapy to turn Sleepers into Sleepless. Unfortunately for him, his research has been stolen from the safe-deposit box in which he left it; even worse, his patents have already been filed ... In the name of Sanctuary, Incorporated. Thankfully, the research is incomplete, but evidently Sanctuary is concerned about keeping its edge. Leisha asks Susan Melling to attempt to complete it and determine its legitimacy.

Leisha also discovers that Sanctuary Council leader-for-life Jennifer Sharifi has decided to institute a loyalty oath, in which all Sleepless swear to place the needs of Sanctuary above their own. Jennifer has always been convinced of the need to protect her people from the Sleepers, but her husband, Richard Keller, has his own reservations about the paranoid atmosphere his children are being fostered in. He doesn't think his wife is capable of murder, though ... Until Jennifer is indicted for the murder, via sabotage and destruction of his vehicle (a We-Sleep scooter), of Dr. Walcott's primary research partner.

''The People vs. Jennifer Fatima Sharifi'' is a circus. Though the sabotage was clearly performed by a Sleepless, a piece of jewelry that serves as Sanctuary's equivalent of a garage-door opener was found on the scene, which no Sleepless would be sloppy enough to leave behind. Meanwhile, Leisha's life is slowly unraveling: Sanctuary has voted in the oath of solidarity and, furthermore, voted to ban Leisha for life; her partner Kevin Baker chooses to take the oath and abandon her; Stella Bevington, the closest thing she has to a daughter, is considering the same; and Susan is dying of an incurable brain condition. Fortunately, Alice comes to save the day, knowing (evidently through twin ESP) that her sister needs her; Stella confesses that the pendant is hers, which was stolen from her at a party; and Susan discovers that Walcott's research is a sham, completely infeasible. With that information, Leisha now knows who has orchestrated the entire campaign: Calvin Hawke. He stole the pendant from Stella at a house-warming party Alice threw; he propagated the research, which he knew to be false, hoping that Sanctuary would react as it did; and, for reasons that remain unspecified, he had Walcott's assistant killed. The volume ends with Leisha on retreat with Susan and Alice, and Jennifer informing her children that she will keep them safe: Sanctuary is moving into space.

Book III (2075)

In the year of America's tricentennial, all is placid. America has re-stratified itself into a three-tiered society. At the bottom are the "Livers," an under-educated but well-fed 80% of the population who enjoy a life of leisure. Above them (or below them) are the "donkeys," the genemod white-collar force who run the infrastructure and are elected into office by the Livers, earning votes via bread and circuses. Finally, the Sleepless are the source of just about all technological, genetic and scientific advances.

Two new faces swiftly turn the tables. One arrives at Leisha's Susan Melling Foundation in New Mexico, a ten-year-old Liver named Drew Arlen. He is intent on enrolling in the Foundation, which (in Leisha's words) "asks beggars why they're beggars and provides funding for those who want to be something else." Drew has charisma and a harmless nature, but runs afoul of Eric Bevington-Watrous, second son of Jordan and Stella; a fistfight between the two leaves Drew paralyzed from the waist down. Attending various private schools, Drew finds a flair for artistic expression, but consistently fails or flunks out of each of them; by nineteen he has becomes a delinquent. Eric forces him into an experimental therapy in which the pathways between the limbic system and the neocortex are strengthened, supposedly forcing the brain to cope with its more primitive, bestial nature. In Drew, the treatment backfires, and he gains access to a sort of genetic collective unconscious, which he perceives in visual terms (in the next book, in which Arlen is a first-person narrator, he constantly describes people, things, concepts and emotions as having shape, texture, color and so on). Drew learns to project these shapes in holographic form and becomes the '''Lucid Dreamer''', a performance artist who places his viewers in a waking dream, the contents of which are determined by the holograms.

The other new face is born at Sanctuary Orbital: Miranda Serena Sharifi, the first of the "Superbrights." Her genemods cause her brain to operate at three or four times the speed of a standard Sleepless, at the cost of muscle control (she and all the other Supers, including her brother Tony, twitch, jerk and vibrate with "manic vitality"). Within the first few years of Miri's life, it becomes clear that she and all the other Supers think differently than do normal Sleepless; their thoughts take the form of "strings," which are entire piles of data arranged in geometric shapes and involving analogy and cross-reference. Her growth is set against a Sanctuary becoming even more careful and even more suspicious of the earth-bound Sleeper haters. Five children have been conceived that, through regression to the mean, lack the dominant Sleeplessness gene, and Jennifer is obsessed with declaring Sanctuary independent of America. To that end, Sharifi Enterprises begins research into an airborne, instantly-fatal biological weapon which can be used as a deterrent.

Book IV (2091)

In 2080 the United States loses its exclusive patents on Y-energy, leading to a massive economic depression. In October 2091, a new sliding-scale tax package is proposed to take advantage of the huge revenues going to Sanctuary Inc. and all associated businesses, which are, after all, incorporated in America. (To be specific, Sanctuary Inc. will be taxed a staggering ''92%'' of total income.) With this in mind, Jennifer and the Sanctuary Council prepare to bid for their independence.

Miri starts the volume with a trauma: her beloved younger brother Tony receives neural injury in a playground accident. Regardless of the total damage to his person and faculties, he will doubtless need to sleep for at least a portion of the day. Miri flies into a rage when Jennifer reminds her of Sanctuary's Yagaiist, community-first philosophy, and must be sedated; when she wakes, she is told that Tony has died of his injuries. Regardless, she and the other Supers band together for defense, recognizing that the Sleepless of Sanctuary have become so nervous of outsiders that even the Supers, created by the community and to serve it, constitute a threat due to their sheer alienness. Miri names the group "the Beggars."

Miri's thought-strings—indeed, the thought-strings of every Super—have had structural flaws from the beginning, gaps where information ought to go that they don't have. Miri rectifies this gap when she is introduced to one of Drew Arlen's Lucid Dreaming concerts; the ability to tap into their unconscious allows the Supers to make a number of technological, medical and conceptual breakthroughs, including allowing Miri to cure the twitching and stuttering. The Beggars decide to install defensive overrides throughout Sanctuary's systems so that they can take over if necessary, discovering in the process the Sharifi Enterprises bioweapon. Packets of the organism have been secreted in several cities across the United States and it can be deployed at the touch of a button.

On 1 January 2092 Sanctuary declares independence from the United States of America. The Internal Revenue Service decides to wait until non-payment of taxes on January 15 and then seize the orbital as collateral, but before then Sanctuary demonstrates its bioweapon on a cattle-ranching space station purchased solely for the purpose (all human tenants were evicted prior to the demonstration). The stand-off is averted when Miri and the Beggars use their overrides to force Sanctuary to stand down. Jennifer refuses Miri's offer to surrender in exchange for immunity to the rest of the Council, proving that "all of Sanctuary's political philosophy ... comes down to [Jennifer's] personal needs."

The novel ends with Miri and the Superbrights moving to the Susan Melling Foundation complex in New Mexico, and Leisha deciding to act as the counsel for the defense in Jennifer Sharifi's trial. There are, after all, no ''permanent'' beggars in Spain.

The plot follows a nonlinear course through time and space. It imagines an alternate history in which Captain James Misson's Libertatia lives on. His way of life is based on ''The Articles'', a general freedom to live as one chooses, without prejudice. The novel is narrated from two different standpoints; one set in the 18th century which follows a group of pirate boys led by Noah Blake, who land in Panama to liberate it. The other is set in the late 20th century, and follows a detective tracing the disappearance of an adolescent boy.

The machine evermind Omnius is continuing with his plans to eradicate all humans in the universe. After first being suggested by the traitor Yorek Thurr, an RNA retrovirus is designed by the captured Tlulaxa Rekur Van and the independent robot Erasmus. Omnius then launches capsules containing the retrovirus to infect the planets inhabited by the hapless humans. With a 43% direct-mortality rate, the virus succeeds in effectively crippling the League of Nobles, leaving them vulnerable to attack.

It is discovered that consumption of the spice melange has the effect of both bolstering immunity to the retrovirus and stopping its progression in some of those already infected. Omnius, unaware that the virus has been effectively stopped, prepares for the second phase of its attack. Gathering the bulk of the machine armies stationed at the different synchronized planets, the evermind launches the massive fleet towards the League capital Salusa Secundus. After learning of the imminent destruction headed their way in the form of the machine fleet, Vorian Atreides formulates a plan whereby the humans can launch pulse-atomic attacks on all of the undefended Synchronized Worlds, ridding the universe of Omnius altogether. However, this plan called for the use of the still unreliable space-folding technology in order to carry out the attacks before the machines have a chance to recall the fleet en route to Salusa. The Great Purge is successful in destroying Omnius on all but one planet, albeit with an appalling cost in human lives because each planet was turned into slag, and while all the machines were obliterated, all the captured humans and slaves on these planets were also killed. Each time the human armies fold space to a new location there is a 10% attrition rate due to the undependable space-folders because of the uncertainty principle. In all, it amounted to billions of lives lost. The humans are also unable to destroy Omnius on the primary synchronized world, Corrin. While the other Evermind incarnations are being attacked, the cogitor Vidad travels to Corrin and warns Corrin-Omnius of the human counter-offensive. The machine fleet is recalled to defend their last remaining stronghold. Despite this, Serena Butler’s Jihad is declared over. The Great Purge ended with an impasse between humans and thinking machines on the planet Corrin. While unable to destroy the machines, the human army is able to trap them on Corrin by surrounding the planet with a net of scrambler satellites, so that any thinking machine attempting to leave would have its gelcircuitry mind destroyed. This situation continues for almost 20 years with the machines unable to escape, and most humans unwilling to enter another battle.

Omnius, again at the suggestion of Thurr, sends machines with primitive minds that can evade the scrambler network to attack Salusa Secundus and Rossak. These attacks have a limited effect, but are enough to remind the humans that the machines are still a threat. Touting his victory over the Titans (see below), Vorian Atreides convinces the League to attack Corrin. Facing robots using human shields and unable to use their main tactical weapons due to treachery by Abulurd Harkkonen, the Army of Humanity is bogged down around Corrin. They are forced to use most of their atomics to destroy the robot defenders. There is a ground offensive by Ginaz mercenaries that finally destroys Omnius, but not before he sends out an unknown radio message into space. Following the Battle of Corrin, Viceroy Faykan Butler renames himself Faykan Corrino in commemoration.

The Cult of Serena

Having seen her parents succumb to the Machine (“demon”) Scourge, and barely surviving herself, Rayna Butler begins her personal crusade against the thinking machines. Claiming to have had a vision of Serena Butler herself (possibly a hallucination caused by her illness), Rayna begins smashing anything resembling thinking machines, including even innocuous devices, and desperately needed medical equipment. A new group known as the Martyrists who worship The Three Martyrs: Serena Butler, Manion the Innocent, and Iblis Ginjo, are instantly taken up by Rayna’s mission. Led by Rayna, the Cult of Serena causes even more mayhem for humans. Despite inherent hypocrisy (such as the destruction of some technology, but the continuous use of spaceships) within the group, the cult’s legacy endures. The primary commandment in the Orange Catholic Bible, “thou shall not make a machine in the likeness of a human mind” is attributed directly to Rayna Butler. Furthermore, the group is responsible for the strict laws banning all thinking machines under pain of death (and sometimes torture).

Destruction of the Titans

During the 20-year impasse the three remaining Titans, Agamemnon, Juno and Dante, are struggling to rebuild their cymek empire. While surveying Wallach IX, which has been devastated during the Great Purge, for possible survivors in need of aid, Primero Quentin Butler (Faykan and Abulurd Harkonnen's father) is captured by cymeks, and taken to the Titan stronghold on Hessra. There he is tortured and converted into a cymek himself. After learning about this, Vorian Atreides feigns retirement and travels to Hessra. Once there he regains his father Agamemnon’s trust. In a final coup, Vorian and Quentin successfully kill the Titans and their cymek underlings, but at the cost of Quentin’s life.

Upon returning home early from a business trip, attorney Mitch Martin walks in on his girlfriend Heidi watching porn. Initially relieved, it turns out she has planned an orgy. Learning she regularly partakes in them, he decides to break up with her. A few days later, Mitch encounters his high school crush, Nicole, at the wedding of his friend Frank and makes an awkward impression. Later, he moves into a house located near the campus of the fictional Harrison University in Upstate New York.

Mitch's other friend Bernard throws a housewarming party at Mitch's house, dubbed Mitch-A-Palooza, which is a huge success. Frank gets drunk and is seen streaking by his wife Marissa and her friends, putting a strain on their new marriage. The following morning, the trio run into an old acquaintance whom they used to ridicule at school: Gordon Pritchard, who is now the college dean. He informs them they must vacate the house because it's exclusively for campus housing. Bernard proposes starting a fraternity that is open to anyone to meet the housing criteria. The new fraternity carries out several hazing events throughout campus, attracting the attention of Pritchard and other faculty members.

At a birthday party for one of Bernard's children, Nicole brings her boyfriend Mark, and Mitch later walks in on him in the bathroom as he hooks up with another girl. While initially discreet, Mitch is forced to recount the incident to Nicole when Mark lies that the girl was with Mitch instead of himself. Later, the oldest fraternity member, Blue, dies of a heart attack during a "KY lube wrestling" match with two college girls at his birthday celebration. At Blue's funeral, Marissa asks Frank for a divorce.

Plotting revenge against the group, Pritchard asks the student council president, Megan, to revoke the fraternity's charter. Megan, who met her boyfriend at one of their parties, initially remains loyal to the fraternity until the dean bribes her with promises to help her get into Columbia Law School. By video, he claims that the group is violating university policies, subjecting the students in the non-sanctioned fraternity to expulsion.

Mitch learns that the group has the right to bypass Pritchard's ruling if all of their members complete various activities to prove their legitimacy. Frank is able to defeat James Carville in a debate session. Next, the fraternity successfully navigates its way through an academic exam largely due to the assistance of two of Mitch's co-workers, who help everyone cheat. In the school spirit evaluation, the fraternity loses points when Frank unsuccessfully attempts to jump through a ring of fire while dressed as the school mascot. He catches fire, resulting in firefighters being summoned.

Afterwards, Megan confronts Pritchard, telling him that she sabotaged the fraternity's charter, but she wasn't accepted into Columbia Law School. Pritchard walks away, leaving Megan with nothing—but not before telling her, "I bribe people all the time, but I changed my mind. It's a free country, okay? Lesson learned."

Burned and humiliated, Frank rallies to give a strong performance in the floor exercise routine of the gymnastics competition. Bernard manages to complete the rings routine, leaving only the vault exercise remaining. Pritchard chooses Weensie, an obese member of the fraternity, to perform the vault. Weensie executes a perfect landing, allowing the fraternity to pass gymnastics.

The fraternity completes the activities with an 84% average. However, Pritchard tells them that their average has dropped to a failing 58% after accounting for the absence of Blue. While the students are in despair, Megan arrives with tape recorded evidence of Pritchard's bribery. After a chase throughout campus, Frank obtains the tape and uses it to get Pritchard fired. The fraternity's charter is reinstated and they move into Pritchard's former residence.

Nicole visits Mitch as he moves out of the old fraternity house, and tells him she dumped Mark after catching him cheating. The two reconcile, intent on moving their relationship forward. Mitch and Bernard decide to withdraw from the fraternity. Frank, now divorced, takes over the leadership role.

In mid-credits, Mark, who is driving his sports-car, suffers an accident, striking and killing Pritchard while he is fly-fishing. They both die when the car explodes. Frank meets Heidi while shopping, who then invites him to a "get together," an invitation that he enthusiastically accepts, knowing about her sexual escapades.

Weary of continuous losses in tournament battle, Shao Kahn, who lost to Liu Kang in the Outworld tournament in the previous game, enacts a 10,000-year-old plan. He would have his Shadow Priests, led by Shang Tsung, revive his former Queen Sindel, who unexpectedly died at a young age. However, she would not be revived in the Outworld, but in Earthrealm. This would allow Shao Kahn to cross the boundary lines and reclaim his queen. When Sindel is reincarnated in Earthrealm, Shao Kahn reaches across the dimensions to reclaim her, and as a result, Earthrealm gradually becomes a part of Outworld, stripping billions of their souls. Only a few are spared, protected by Raiden. He tells them that Shao Kahn must be stopped, but he cannot interfere; due to his status, he has no power in Outworld, and Earthrealm is partially merged with Outworld. Shao Kahn has unleashed extermination squads to kill any Earthrealm survivors. Also, Raiden's protection only extends to the soul, not to the body, so his chosen warriors have to fight the extermination squads and repel Shao Kahn. With his final defeat, every human on Earthrealm is restored.

The game also contains several subplots: * Having defeated Shao Kahn in Outworld, Liu Kang now finds himself as the prime target of Shao Kahn's extermination squads. In response to the upcoming threat, he aligns himself with Kung Lao and leads the rebellion against Shao Kahn and his Outworld minions. However, he also has an ulterior motive: he seeks to free Kitana's home realm of Edenia. * With the latest advancements in human technologies, the Lin Kuei decide to automate their human assassins into soulless machines. Four ninjas, Cyrax, Sektor, Smoke, and Sub-Zero, are selected to serve as the first automation prototypes, but Sub-Zero and Smoke refuse to participate, forcing them to leave the clan. Unfortunately, Smoke is captured and is automated along with Sektor and Cyrax and all three are programmed to hunt down and kill Sub-Zero. Meanwhile, learning of the looming Outworld threat, Sub-Zero joins the rebellion against Shao Kahn. * Jax discovers the location of both Sonya and Kano while in Outworld, and in freeing Sonya, he also frees Kano. Knowing that his near future means arrest, Kano uses this opportunity to escape into the depths of Outworld and ultimately joins Shao Kahn's forces. Sonya and Jax return to Earth and try to warn their government about the looming Outworld threat, but when their pleas are ignored, Sonya and Jax instead prepare themselves for the upcoming war by joining the rebellion. * Despite both serving Shao Kahn, the Centaurs and Shokan have been at war with each other for years. Suspicions arise when Sheeva, who is appointed Sindel's bodyguard, learns that Motaro is appointed as Kahn's General in his armies. With the apparent, yet unconfirmed, "deaths" of both Kintaro and Goro, Sheeva begins to fear for her own race and makes plans to turn against Kahn should her suspicions prove to be true. * Largely dependent on a respirator and an undying thirst for revenge against the Black Dragon clan (who he believes was responsible for his brutal attack), Kabal joins the rebellion upon learning of Kano's survival. * Though he realizes that he is the lone survivor of New York City following the Outworld Invasion, Stryker remains ignorant as to why he survived the attack. However, upon receiving a vision from Raiden and being informed of what has transpired, Stryker decides to find and join the other Earthrealm warriors. * For many years, Nightwolf received visions that foretold and warned him of the upcoming invasion. Largely ignoring them, he feels guilty for not preventing it, and so joins the human offensive against Kahn by casting a magical protection over his ancestors' traditional homeland in North America. This region becomes a threat to Kahn's occupation of Earth. * Johnny Cage was hunted down by one of Shao Kahn's extermination squads and killed, apparently by Motaro.

Issues 1 – 10: Key To The Door

Jenny Weaver, a normal lonely girl recently relocated to a new town, stumbles across Zot, a superhero from an alternate world who is chasing a troop of robots in pursuit of a key that will open a door hanging out in space. Jenny returns with Zot and her brother Butch to his world. They retrieve the key and take it to the authorities, but it is stolen again. Eventually their pursuit leads them to Sirius IV, a drab theocratic planet, home of the key. While there they uncover a plot to use the key, and the subsequent door opening, as an excuse to lead a holy war against Earth. To foil the plot Zot and Jenny take themselves through the door where they converse with the spirit of Sirius IV. Once out again they lead the revolt against the acting leader of planet who is tricked into goading his subjects on live television. Zot defeats the tyrant, but refuses to lead the planet, stating that they must learn to look after themselves.

Issues 11 – 27

The next sequence features a series of super villains, each of which Zot must defeat in turn. * Ignatius Rumboult Bellows was his planet's foremost scientist, pioneering the Industrial Revolution, but all his work is made obsolete when more sophisticated worlds share their technology. Bellows responds by determining that he will wipe out the technocrats of Earth. * Zybox was a huge supercomputer, channelling most of North and South America's communication. When his creator is let go by the government, Zybox escapes to our world, plotting to kill everyone simultaneously and steal a soul for himself in an attempt to fully understand the human condition. * A cult of de-evolutionaries who believe that coming down from the trees was a bad idea turn the lead cast into monkeys, before Zot manages to save the day. * Dekko, a villain previously seen in the Key arc, engineers his release from a mental institution and turns up to Zot's birthday party. He is apparently determined to destroy the universe and recreate it with his own sense of order, but instead ends up delving further into his own psychosis. * '''Getting to 99''' is the only story not drawn by McCloud and features Zot flying deep into the bowels of an underground city (to the 99th floor) just in time to prevent it from being accidentally blown up. * The Blotch was a gangster with a purple splotch for a head, who appears to be made entirely of some form of viscous liquid. When he becomes upset he loses control of his physical form and "melts down" into a large puddle. * 9-Jack-9 (J9AC9K), who also featured in the Key to the Door arc, was an electronically transmitted assassin hired to finish off the president and his family of a distant planet. Zot tracks him down to his base, and during the ensuing battle Jack accidentally electrocutes his human operator, Sir John Shears. However, Jack, the programme, survives independently. * Following a poll in which Zot! readers could vote for a character to be hit by a pie in the face, a special New Year's party is held in which all the villains and friends of Zot turn up, with said pie making many forays into the air, until finally hitting one of the assembled cast. At the end of this story Zot is stranded on Earth.

Issues 28 – 36

These stories are usually referred to as the "Earth stories" as they feature Zot being stranded on Jenny's Earth. They are more character driven than the earlier stories and focus on Jenny's band of misfit friends. The final culmination of the arc is a cliff hanger in which the whole ensemble leaves to go to Zot's world, though not permanently. The arc also contained an entire Eisner Award nominated issue with Zot and Jenny talking about sex, and an issue dealing with Jenny's friend Terry being a lesbian.

Issues 10½ and 14½

Matt Feazell usually drew a non-canonical stick figure back-up strip to ''Zot!'' in which the characters from the main story were featured in absurd or surreal situations, as well as having crossovers with Feazell's work and other Eclipse books. For two issues Feazell was allowed to take the helm and produced these stories, set in "dimension 10½", with McCloud providing a one-page back-up to issue 14 .

This fear reached its high point in the late 1630s and early 1640s, when Thomas Wentworth, Lord Deputy for Charles I, was known to be planning widespread new plantations. A crisis point was reached in 1641, when the Scottish Covenanters and English Long Parliament threatened to invade Ireland to finally subdue Catholicism there. In this atmosphere of fear and paranoia, Phelim O'Neill became involved in a plot hatched by fellow Gaelic Irish Catholics from Ulster, to seize Dublin and swiftly take over the other important towns of Ireland. After this, they planned to issue their demands for full rights for Catholics and Irish self-government in the King's name. O'Neill's role was to take towns and fortified places in the north of the country whereas Maguire was tasked with seizing Dublin Castle.

O'Neill was a latecomer to the plot, brought into it by Lord Maguire in early September 1641. On 23 October 1641 he surprised Caulfield in Charlemont Fort. O'Neill was instrumental in shaping many of the political objectives of the rebellion. He rapidly assumed command of the Ulster rising.

The player takes on the role of the Director General of the "Department of Agriculture and Fisheries", a non-existent executive agency that conceals a secret police which keeps the government popular by any means necessary. Answering only to the Prime Minister, the Director General has the power to use wiretapping, surveillance, smear tactics, disinformation, burglary, kidnapping, torture, and assassination to keep the government popular with the people.

In addition to the Director General's regular duties suppressing and removing those who threaten the status quo, there is also a subplot involving his membership in a secret society called "The Secret Masters of Thoth". These missions, which are received from a "Secret Master" wearing the vestments of an Egyptian pharaoh, involve more bizarre opposition than regular missions; these missions include protecting a fellow member from a Mafia assassination, foiling an attempt to subvert the nation by pod people in key positions, the protection of the Church of the SubGenius from a scandal, and restraining the growing power of the Illuminati, among others.

The game contains numerous references to real-world groups, trends, scandals, and unusual occurrences that were newsworthy in the 1980s and early 1990s, including the Irish Troubles, Shining Path, the BCCI scandal, and the apparent suicides of Roberto Calvi and Jonathan Moyle.

Set in the second half of the 22nd century, Mars has been 84% terraformed, giving the planet an Earth-like atmosphere. Martian society has become matriarchal, centring on the city of Chryse, with smaller, far-reaching outposts connected by an expansive network of trains. In the wake of a series of mysterious 'incidents', Mars Police Force officer Lt. Melanie Ballard is called before a tribunal to give testimony following a disastrous mission to the remote mining outpost Shining Canyon to retrieve convicted felon James 'Desolation' Williams of which she is apparently the sole survivor.

Through a series of flashbacks, and flashbacks within flashbacks as new perspectives are incorporated into the narrative, Ballard recounts her mission to Shining Canyon. Accompanied by commanding officer Helena Braddock, cocky sergeant Jericho Butler and rookie officers Bashira Kincaid and Michael Descanso, Ballard arrives at Shining Canyon to find the town seemingly deserted. Investigating the town's jail, Braddock discovers a trio of individuals who appear to have sealed themselves into one of the cells; among them science officer Dr. Arlene Whitlock.

Ballard and Butler discover a number of disoriented miners and an escaped Desolation. The group are soon attacked by several of the miners, forcing Ballard and Desolation to band together and incapacitate them. Ballard is forced to shoot and kill one of them, causing their affliction to be passed on to one of the three survivors. Butler, venturing out to the edge of town in pursuit of one of the feral miners, discovers a row of severed heads mounted on spikes, including the head of Commander Braddock, and a large assembly in the canyon below committing horrific acts of self-mutilation and ritualistic execution.

Desolation's associates soon arrive and force Ballard and Butler to release him. While they originally plan on leaving the officers and remaining miners to die, Ballard convinces them to work together to survive. Their initial effort to escape is halted when the army of feral miners converge on their position, killing, injuring and infecting several of their number. Confronted by Ballard, Whitlock eventually explains that she fled from her post after discovering an ancient underground vault created by an extinct Martian civilisation. When the door to the vault was opened, it released hostile spirits or "ghosts", which took possession of the workers, causing their violent behaviour. Killing a possessed human merely releases the Martian spirit to possess another host. Ballard surmises that these Martian spirits believe humans to be an invading race. Ballard is briefly possessed until Desolation feeds her a hallucinogenic drug, which forces the Martian spirit to leave her body.

The group are forced to flee as the possessed workers breach the jail, leaving only Ballard, Desolation, Butler, Kincaid and Whitlock left alive. While they are able to make it to the train, Ballard realises that they have a duty to exterminate the Martian threat and decide to return to Shining Canyon to overload the outpost's nuclear power plant, assuming that the ensuing atomic blast will vaporise the spirits. While they are able to initiate the meltdown, Whitlock is possessed, while Butler, Kincaid and the two train operators are killed. Boarding to the train, the two watch as the army is engulfed in the explosion. Desolation tends to Ballard's wounds. Unwilling to face the authorities, he handcuffs Ballard to her cot and leaves. Ballard moves to shoot him, but realises her respect for him and lets him to make his escape.

Resting after her tribunal, Ballard is woken by an alert that the city is under attack. Realising their attempt to destroy the spirits failed, she readies herself to face the onslaught alone until she is greeted by Desolation, who hands her a weapon. The two agree to fight their way out of the city together.

Jack Crow leads his team of Vatican-sponsored vampire hunters in a daylight raid on an abandoned house in New Mexico. Finding a 'nest' of vampires, the team subdue the creatures with gunfire, pikes, and wooden stakes, using a modified crossbow attached to a mechanical winch to pull them outside, where they are incinerated by sunlight. Despite disposing of nine 'goons', Jack is concerned about not having found their older, more powerful 'master'.

While the team drunkenly celebrates with prostitutes at a local motel, the master vampire Valek arrives and bites one of the prostitutes, Katrina, initiating her transformation into a vampire. He swiftly murders the hunters, with only Crow and his trusted lieutenant Tony Montoya escaping alive with Katrina. Disturbed that Valek recognized him by name, Crow orders Montoya to lay low with Katrina, hoping to use her growing psychic link with Valek to track him down.

After burying his team and burning down the motel, Crow reports to his superior Cardinal Alba, who confirms that Valek was a disgraced priest who led a rebellion against the church, leading to his execution and transformation into the first vampire. Valek has already killed another group of slayers in Germany, and Alba instructs Crow to form a new team, accompanied by archivist Father Adam Guiteau. Suspecting that his team was betrayed, Crow interrogates Guiteau and dispels his heroic notions of vampire hunting, showing him a map of vampire activity that indicates the vampires are searching the southwest for an unknown object.

Guarding Katrina at a hotel, Montoya explains the changes she is experiencing. Horrified, she attempts suicide and bites Montoya when he rescues her, which he hides from Crow and Guiteau when they arrive. Crow decides to pursue Valek without gathering a new team, and Katrina is linked with Valek when he questions and kills a priest. Sensing Guiteau is hiding something, Crow threatens him, recounting that he killed his own father for being bitten by a vampire and killing Jack's mother in front of him. Guiteau reveals that Valek is seeking an ancient relic, the "Black Cross" of Berziers, and Crow welcomes him to the team as his new slayer.

Using Katrina's psychic link, Jack, Montoya, and Guiteau learn that Valek has roused seven additional masters. They follow the vampires to a Spanish mission, where Valek has slaughtered the monks and seized the cross. Guiteau realizes that Valek plans to complete his own exorcism, making him immune to sunlight and virtually unstoppable. Searching a nearby abandoned town, they suspect at least thirty new goons have been transformed. Guiteau volunteers as 'bait' for the masters, allowing Jack to harpoon them and Montoya to drag them into sunlight. While they manage to kill most of his lieutenants, Valek and his undead army overwhelm them at sundown; Crow is captured, Guiteau takes cover, and Montoya and Katrina flee, only for her to fully transform and bite Montoya on the throat before joining Valek.

Cardinal Alba reveals himself as Valek’s ally; having grown to fear death, he has agreed to help Valek recreate the original ritual in exchange for becoming a vampire himself. The ritual requires the participation of a priest, and the blood and crucifixion of a "crusader" — Jack. Guiteau kills Alba before he can complete the ritual and holds off the vampire horde by threatening to kill himself and leave Valek without a priest. Montoya and Guiteau rescue Crow as the sun rises, and Crow confronts Valek, impaling him with the Berziers cross and destroying him in daylight.

Guiteau and Crow prepare to slay Montoya and Katrina, knowing their transformations are irreversible; however, to repay Montoya’s two days of loyalty after being bitten, Crow grants them a two-day head start. As Montoya and Katrina depart, Jack and Guiteau head off to kill the remaining vampires.

The Stranger returns from his unknown previous mission. His superior assigned him a new mission, along with a dhampir named Svetlana. The mission is to infiltrate a small village in Germany, to recover a relic that can grant every vampire who possess it immunity to their vampiric weakness. In the village, the mayor tells them that a vampire Count has the relic in a castle outside the village. During their journey to the castle, they witness strange occurrences, such as vampires attacking and killing each other rather working together. After arriving, Svetlana suddenly becomes hostile and attacks The Stranger, before escaping inside the castle. After the count's servant tips off The Stranger that the count has mind-controlled Svetlana in order to groom her, The Stranger enters the castle and kills the Count after battling his minions and brides, returning Svetlana to normal. The village mayor suddenly appears in front of them, revealing that he was the Count's father. After the latter usurped him to become the Count, he, along with his loyal servants, flee to the village. They kill its previous inhabitants before pretending to be them. For ages, he battles the Count in order to retake the castle but to no avail. This explains the fighting between the vampires. He thanks the Stranger for killing his traitorous son, and promises not to abuse the relic. The Stranger and Svetlana leave with the Count's bride to-be, who is not turned into vampire.

In the next mission, The Stranger is asked to investigate the small town where the dead come back to life and attack the townspeople. While on board a train, The Stranger is suddenly ambushed by a pack of werewolves who have a grudge against The Stranger for killing members of their pack in the past. After killing the werewolves, The Stranger jumps off the train before it explodes. After meeting with his contact and the town's reverend, The Stranger battles the zombies and saves any survivors he finds. One of the survivors says that the zombies came from the abandoned mine in the town. Descending into the mine, The Stranger discovers that insectoid-like monsters are the source of the zombie outbreak. With the help from his contact, The Stranger manages to seal off the mine to prevent them coming up to the surface.

On the third mission, The Stranger is asked to destroy the factory run by Al Capone's gang that secretly created an army of undead gangsters. After meeting with the informant, Icepick, (one of the reanimated mobsters that went rogue) The Stranger infiltrates a movie theater to get the proof of Capone's factory. There, he is confronted by Smiley, the gang's enforcer. With the help from Icepick, The Stranger manages to kill him. Entering the factory, he meets Smiley for the second time, and kills him again. After sabotaging the factory, The Stranger attempts to escape the factory. He finds Smiley blocking the exit. The Stranger kills Smiley for good by dropping him into a vat of acid.

In the final mission, The Stranger is asked to help Killian Hammond, Spookhouse's former operative. In France, Killian requests The Stranger clean the graveyard of zombies and demons. While investigating the graveyard, The Stranger concludes that it is Killian who summons them. When he goes to his mansion to confront him, Killian subdues The Stranger and locks him in his dungeon. As The Stranger tries to make his way out of the dungeon, Killian taunts him and reveals the reason why he is doing this; he was forced to retire from Spookhouse, because of his hatred and disapproval towards supernatural creatures who join the ranks of the organization, ever since a vampire killed his wife. The Stranger also meets Moloch, a demonic member of Spookhouse who were declared missing. After freeing him and helping him recover his strength, The Stranger and Moloch escape the dungeon and confront Killian, who begs The Stranger to save him. The Stranger ignores his pleas and silently leaves the mansion as Moloch exacts his revenge on Killian. While debriefing The Stranger, the Colonel apologizes to him for his ordeal and what Killian became. He advises The Stranger not to let his distaste of monsters get the best of him if he doesn't want to end up like Killian. To this, The Stranger agrees.

In Epilogue, The Stranger enters Spookhouse's headquarters only to discovers that all of its staff are gruesomely mutilated. Shocked and confused, The Stranger enters the briefing room where he reads a message on the wall, written in blood that said; "I finally found you, Stranger!" as the screen fades to black.

A human ship is sent to investigate a distress signal sent 212 years ago from the previously unknown planet. The mother ship is destroyed and nearly all of the crew killed in a surprise missile attack (in some editions the mother ship and its crew do not appear). Only two scouts survive, crash-landing on Tschai in their damaged scout-boat. After his companion is killed by human nomads early on, Adam Reith is left stranded alone on an unknown world. The four books describe the attempts of a man of singularly strong will and resource to return to Earth: in the first book to recover his damaged spacecraft, in the second to steal one, in the third to build one, and in the fourth to escape the Pnume, by whom he is kidnapped before he can depart Tschai. In the process, he overcomes the obstacles of dealing with four different alien races and various human groups, often profoundly disrupting the societies, human and alien, with which he is forced to deal.

Reith acquires two faithful human companions in the course of his travels: Traz Onmale, the dour, proud boy-chieftain of a nomad tribe obsessed with emblems, and a renegade Dirdirman, Ankhe at Afram Anacho, who is loquacious, fastidious and flamboyant. (Vance has said that the novels were commissioned as a juvenile series, which was why he included Traz; but the action is no less 'adult' than in his other works.) Anacho and Traz play lesser roles in the fourth book, which chronicles Reith's adventures in the underground world of the Pnume, and subsequently on the surface with the rescued Pnumekin woman Zap 210. Romantic interest is provided both by Zap 210 and by the aristocratic Flower of Cath, who features in the first two novels. The third novel also introduces a villain in the fat and avaricious contractor Aila Woudiver.

Tschai, like Earth, is a world of several discrete continents. The action covers most of the planet, and the second and fourth books describe lengthy sea voyages taken by Reith and his companions. Vance described blue-water sailing as one of his favorite recreations.

The vast teeming planet with its clashing civilizations and multifarious cultures affects Reith to the point that he realizes that if he succeeds in returning to Earth, his life will seem dull and colourless in comparison.

Jerry is a freshman attending an all-boys Catholic high school called Trinity, while coping with depressive feelings and existential questions that stem largely from his mother's recent death and his father's enduring grief. Jerry is quickly recruited onto Trinity's football team, where he meets Roland "The Goober" Goubert, a fellow freshman and instant friend.

Vice-principal Brother Leon has recently become acting headmaster and overextends his rising ambition by committing Trinity to selling double the previous year's amount of chocolates during an annual fundraising event, quietly enlisting the support of Archie Costello, the genesis and leader behind The Vigils: the school's cruelly manipulative secret society of student pranksters.

Archie arrogantly plans to alternate between betraying and supporting Leon in a frenzied series of power plays. His first "assignment" is to incite Jerry to refuse to sell any chocolate for ten days. However, Jerry, inspired after reading a quotation inside his locker: "Do I dare disturb the universe?" from T. S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," feels strangely determined to sell nothing even after the ten days have passed, thus estranging himself from both Leon and The Vigils.

At first, Jerry's refusal to cooperate with the corrupt school culture and fundraiser is seen by many classmates as heroic, but the gesture threatens Brother Leon and The Vigils' ability to coerce the student population. Leon presses Archie to put The Vigils' full force behind the chocolate sales, so they set up Jerry as an enemy for the rest of the student body to harass through bullying, prank calls, and vandalism. Only The Goober remains Jerry's friend but does little to protect him. Ultimately, Archie enlists the school bully Emile Janza to beat up Jerry just outside the school, but, even in the aftermath, Jerry maintains his defiant nonconformity.

Finally, Archie concocts a showdown: a boxing match at night between Jerry and Emile. On the football field, the match is watched by all students, who can select which blows will be laid during the fight through a randomized lottery system; however, the fight ends when a teacher shuts down the electrical power on the field, and Jerry is brutally injured in the ensuing darkness. Half-conscious, he tells The Goober that there was no way to win and he should have just complied, conceding that it is best, after all, ''not'' to "disturb the universe." Though Archie is apprehended as the mastermind of the fight, Brother Leon intervenes on his behalf and privately praises his efforts in the unprecedented success of the chocolate sales. Leon implies that next year, if he is officially made the new headmaster, he will work to preserve Archie's power.

Continuing from ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' are the characters of Brad and Janet Majors (now portrayed by Cliff De Young and Jessica Harper), now married. The film takes place in the town of Denton, USA, which has been taken over by fast food magnate Farley Flavors (also De Young). The town of Denton is entirely encased within a television studio for the DTV (Denton Television) network. Residents are either stars and regulars on a show, cast and crew, or audience members. Brad and Janet, seated in the audience, are chosen to participate in the game show ''Marriage Maze'' by the kooky, supposedly blind host Bert Schnick (Barry Humphries). As a "prize", Brad is imprisoned on ''Dentonvale'', a soap opera that centers upon the local mental hospital run by brother and sister Cosmo and Nation McKinley (Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn).

Janet is given a taste of showbiz as Farley molds her into a singing diva superstar in an attempt to take her away from Brad. Her compliance is assured through the use of drugs supplied by the McKinleys. Betty Hapschatt (Ruby Wax) and Judge Oliver Wright (Charles Gray) investigate Farley and other people involved in DTV and eventually discover that Cosmo and Nation are not doctors, but merely character actors, and Farley Flavors is Brad's jealous, long-lost twin brother, seeking to destroy Brad and take Janet for himself. The pair rescue Brad from ''Dentonvale'' and have him confront his twin on his show ''Faith Factory''. Farley imprisons the three and Janet, but they manage to escape in a car along with a local band while the remainder of Denton's citizens follow Farley and commit themselves to ''Dentonvale''.

Springfield Elementary School holds a casino night as a fundraiser, hosted by student body president Martin Prince. Homer wins big, but when Martin says his winnings can only be redeemed for cafeteria scrip and not real money, the angry casino patrons riot. After the chaos has cleared, Principal Skinner tells Martin he must resign as the president. An election for a new president is announced and Lisa signs up. However, initially popular Nelson Muntz is favored to win, providing students (and some teachers) with answer keys to tests. During a debate in the school auditorium, she sings a song ("Vote For a Winner", a parody of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina") about how she will fight for student rights, winning them over.

Lisa easily wins the election. Worried by her determination and popularity, the faculty discusses how to control her. Following Mrs. Krabappel's suggestion that a woman's weakness is vanity, they sing another song ("I Am Their Queen", a spoof of "Rainbow High") and make Lisa over into a fashionable Eva Perón lookalike. She is initially resistant, but gives in since she reasons she will still be able to fight for the kids. The students love the new Lisa more than ever, but the faculty uses her as a scapegoat for dropping music, gym, and art from the curriculum to save on the budget. Facing an outraged student body, Lisa resigns as president, goes back to her old red dress and spiky hair, and leads the students into a strike.

Filmmaker Michael Moore shows up to take their side, stating that children who do not receive music, gym and art are more likely to become unemployed and end up in one of his movies. The police arrive at the school, but Lisa convinces them to take their side too. Realizing there is no other way out of the crippling strike other than disposing of Lisa, Skinner has her transferred to a school for the "Academically Gifted and Troublesome". As her bus departs, her classmates and the rest of Springfield are saddened, but she reassures them by telling them that "[they] can still reach [her] via email ("Smart Girl Six Three", a parody of "Eva's Final Broadcast").

Just as Lisa arrives at her new school, Homer pulls up and refuses to let her attend, not wanting to deal with the extra driving time. Springfield Elementary is eventually able to restore music, art and gym by cancelling flu shots and selling loose cigarettes. As an endnote, the writers say that at the advice of their lawyers, they have absolutely no knowledge about a musical based on the life of Eva Perón.

Teenage lovers Jordan White and Amy Blue pick up a handsome drifter named Xavier Red while driving home from a club. Jordan gives Xavier the nickname "X". A late-night stop at a convenience store leaves the three on the run when X accidentally kills the store's owner, forcing the trio to hide in a motel to avoid arrest. Jordan and Amy have sex in the bathtub, while X watches from an outside window. X then learns from the local television news program that the store owner's wife disemboweled her children with a machete before committing suicide. This leads X to believe that the trio won't be considered suspects or be found by police.

Later that evening, Amy has sex with X, despite their mutual dislike of each other. Eventually Jordan finds out, and things become tense as the two men develop a lingering sexual attraction for one another. As the trio journeys around the city of Los Angeles, they continue to get into violent (almost comedic; every item the trio buys always comes out to $6.66) situations due to people either claiming to be Amy's previous lovers or mistaking her for such. These incidents get the attention of the FBI, and their goal is to find Amy and kill her (exactly the same sentiment is voiced by several other parties in the film). She is mistakenly identified by a fast food window clerk as "Sunshine" and later by a character played by Parker Posey as "Kitten".

Jordan, Amy and X spend the night in an abandoned warehouse, where they engage in a threesome. While Amy goes to urinate, Jordan and X are attacked by a trio of neo-Nazis, one of whom had previously mistaken Amy for his ex-girlfriend "Bambi". The gang first severely beats up X, then holds Jordan down as the aforementioned neo-Nazi ties up and rapes Amy on top of an American flag. The group finally cuts off Jordan's penis with pruning shears and forces the severed penis into his mouth. After Amy breaks free, she kills the neo-Nazis with the shears and escapes with X, leaving Jordan for dead. The film ends with Amy and X driving in her car. X offers Amy a Dorito, to no reply. Aimless on an empty road, the credits roll.

On a frosty Sunday morning, Marge gathers the family to go to church. Homer refuses to go, much to her annoyance and dismay, after he sees the weather outside and accidentally splits his church pants. He stays behind as he sleeps in late, dances in his underwear, makes his special waffle recipe, wins a radio trivia contest, watches an action-packed football game, and finds a penny. Homer attributes his good fortune to skipping church and declares it the best day of his life. Meanwhile, Marge and the kids shiver their way through the sermon, only to find themselves trapped at the end since the door has frozen shut. The congregation is forced to stay longer while Groundskeeper Willie defrosts the doors, after which Marge discovers her car has broken down.

When Marge and the children finally get home, Homer says that since so many good things have happened to him because he skipped church, he will never go to church again, much to Marge's horror. That night, Marge prays for her husband at their bedside. Homer tries to entice her to join him in bed, but then falls asleep suddenly and has a dream in which God personally appears to him. God is enraged with Homer for forsaking His church but agrees to let Homer worship in his own way. Homer starts following his own religion tailored to his personal tastes, including holidays he invents to get out of work.

Marge, Reverend Lovejoy and Ned attempt without success to bring Homer back to the congregation. One Sunday morning, while everybody else is at church, Homer falls asleep on the couch smoking a lit cigar, which ignites magazines and ultimately sets the whole house ablaze. Homer wakes up but is quickly rendered unconscious from smoke inhalation and faints. Apu, chief of Springfield's volunteer fire department, rushes to the Simpson house with other firefighters including Krusty the Clown, Chief Wiggum, and Barney. Meanwhile, Ned runs into the burning house to rescue Homer and pulls him out just as the firefighters arrive. After the fire is extinguished, Homer declares that God was delivering vengeance. Reverend Lovejoy counters that God was working through Homer's friends, despite their different faiths. Homer agrees to give church another chance and the next Sunday is there, yet snoring loudly through the service. God consoles Homer on the failure of his religion and is about to tell him the meaning of life when the credits begin.

''SilverFin'' is broken up into three parts in addition to a prologue. In the prologue, an unnamed school boy is attacked by eels, attracted to a bleeding fishhook cut, while fishing in Loch Silverfin. Then from nowhere a mysterious eel-like man runs and jumps into the loch and sacrifices himself to save him.

The first part of the book chronicles James Bond's starting attendance at Eton College, an elite English boarding school. There he meets Pritpal, the son of an Indian Maharajah. The two become good friends and live together in the dorms along with another of his friends, a Chinese boy named Tommy Chong. Bond also comes into contact with George Hellebore, an American bully three years older than James. George's father, Lord Randolph Hellebore is an armament dealer who sold weapons to various countries after World War I. It is later revealed that Lord Hellebore knew Bond's father, Andrew Bond, who also sold arms while working for Vickers after the war. Lord Hellebore arrives at Eton to direct and host a tournament cup ("Hellebore Cup") for the boys. The competition is divided into three events: shooting, swimming, and running, It is rumoured that George Hellebore is supposed to win, but an unexpected rival named Andrew Carlton manages to beat him. Bond places seventh in shooting, fourth in his heat in swimming (which was not good enough to qualify for the final race), and first in cross country running. During the running sequence Lord Hellebore attempts to help his son cheat so that he could win the tournament; however, Bond after seeing George take a shortcut a first time decides to follow George the next time, and being the superior runner then passes him to win the race. George tries to trip James with his leg but loses his balance and falls into a mud puddle. Because Bond won first in running, Andrew Carlton is the winner and George Hellebore came in third place in the cup overall, which was unacceptable by his father's standard.

The second part of the novel details the spring break. James travels to Scotland to meet with his Aunt Charmian who is visiting Bond's ailing uncle, Max, who is dying of cancer. Both Charmian and Max are siblings of Bond's father, Andrew. It is also in this part of the novel that Higson reveals the details of Bond's parents' death, first mentioned in Ian Fleming's ''You Only Live Twice''. While travelling to Scotland, Bond befriends an older boy named "Red"(for his bright red hair) Kelly who is travelling to the same place in search for his missing cousin, Alfie who disappeared whilst out fishing (thus tying in with the prologue). James also meets a girl called Wilder who loves riding horses. While staying at his uncle's place Bond learns how to drive his uncle's car and finds out that his uncle was a spy during World War I. Bond also learns that Lord Randolph Hellebore owns a large stretch of land nearby that includes Loch Silverfin. He later meets back up with Red and ventures to Hellebore's estate where the two encounter Mike "Meatpacker" Moran, a Pinkerton's detective from New York City sent to investigate Lord Randolph Hellebore at the behest of Hellebore's wife, who suspects Lord Randolph of having killed his brother, her lover, Algar. However, they later discover the detective dead and eaten in Loch Silverfin, which is full of eels.

The boys plan to infiltrate the castle by climbing a tree, but Red falls out of the tree and breaks his leg, and is unable to continue. James succeeds in entering the castle. After snooping around he bumps his head and is captured. When James regains consciousness he is tied to a table and Lord Hellebore begins to interrogate him. Hellebore explains to James that he and his brother set out to create better and stronger soldiers by manipulating the endocrine system. Because it is difficult to find humans to test on, Algar tested the first "SilverFin serum" on himself. Initially it worked, but later an increased dosage transformed Algar physically, giving him a distorted body that is eel-like. Lord Hellebore subsequently perfected the serum and was able to turn it into a pill. The pill essentially acts as a steroid making anyone who uses it more agile, stronger, etc. for a temporary set of time. Hellebore even tests this pill on his own son (as James had witnessed during the cross-country race). Lord Hellebore reveals that he tested the SilverFin serum on Alfie Kelly, the boy whom Bond is searching for, but Kelly's heart gave out and he died. The wastes poured into Loch Silverfin made the eels vicious. Later Bond is also drugged with the SilverFin serum and locked in a cell. Bond, however, uses his enhanced abilities to escape the cell and the estate by finding an underwater entrance to Loch Silverfin and swimming through, with the help of Wilder Lawless (who kisses him at some point), only to return shortly later with George Hellebore as an ally to destroy Lord Randolph's lab. George has increasingly become upset with his dreadful father and his work, and secretly wishes to be with his mother more than anything. The two destroy the lab and are later confronted by Lord Hellebore who intends to kill them both. Hellebore attacks them with a double-barreled shotgun. However, Algar intervenes at the last moment and forces himself and Hellebore into Loch Silverfin. Algar is wounded by his brother's shotgun and his blood attracts the eels who kill both the brothers while they are fighting.

James collapses due to a lung infection and exhaustion shortly after and for ten days lies unconscious. When he regains consciousness he learns that George has moved back to America to be with his mother, and that his Uncle Max has died, leaving James his car.

Guillaume, a foundling supposed to be of low degree, is brought up at the court of the emperor of Rome, and loves the emperor's daughter Melior who is destined for a Greek prince. The lovers flee into the woods disguised in bear-skins. Alfonso, who is Guillaume's cousin and a Spanish prince, has been changed into a wolf by his stepmother's enchantments. He provides food and protection for the fugitives, and Guillaume eventually triumphs over Alfonso's father, and wins back from him his kingdom. The benevolent werewolf is disenchanted, and marries Guillaume's sister.

John "Jack" Sommersby left his farm to fight in the American Civil War and is presumed dead after six years. Despite the hardship of working their farm in Vine Hill, Tennessee, his apparent widow Laurel is content in his absence, because Jack was an unpleasant and abusive husband. She makes remarriage plans with one of her neighbors, Orin Meacham, who has been helping her and her young son with the farmwork.

One day, Jack seemingly returns with a change of heart. He is now kind and loving to Laurel and their young son, Rob. In the evenings, he reads to them from Homer's ''Iliad'', which the old Jack would never have done. He claims that the book was given to him by a man he met in prison. Jack and Laurel rekindle their intimacy, which leads to Laurel becoming pregnant.

Displaced from his courtship of Laurel, Meacham suspects Jack to be an impostor. The town shoemaker also finds that this man's foot is two sizes smaller than the last made for Sommersby before the war. Jack finds the local economy ruined, and his own land mortgaged and exhausted. To revive the economy, he suggests Burley tobacco as a cash crop. He persuades the townsfolk to pool their resources to buy seed, offering them to share-crop on his land, and to sell them their plots at a fair price once the mortgage is cleared. This raises further doubts in his old neighbors, who believe that the "old" Jack would not give away his father's land, and resentment about the inclusion of former slaves.

Joseph, a black freedman living on Sommersby's land, is brutally attacked and brought to Sommersby's door by hooded night riders proclaiming themselves the Knights of the White Camellia (one of them is Meacham). Jack is threatened, in an attempt to force him to exclude black people from the landowning, but he refuses.

Upon taking the townspeople's money, he buys the tobacco seed claiming that the crops will raise enough funds to rebuild the town church. All those that bought in on the deal set to work, transforming the plantation into a breeding ground of promise and prosperity. Laurel gives birth to a daughter, Rachel.

Shortly after Rachel's baptism, two U.S. Marshals arrest Jack on the charge of murder, which carries the death penalty. Laurel's attempts to save her husband focus on the question of his identity: whether this "Jack" is who he claims to be, or a lookalike who met the real Sommersby whilst in prison for deserting the Confederate Army. Laurel and Jack's lawyer agree to argue that her husband is an impostor. This would save him from hanging for murder, but he would still be imprisoned for fraud and military desertion. Meacham devises this plan in exchange for Laurel promising to marry him upon "Sommersby's" imprisonment.

Jack fires the lawyer and sets about re-establishing himself as the real Sommersby. Several witnesses are brought up to discredit this Sommersby as a fraud, who state that he is Horace Townsend, an English teacher and con artist from Virginia. One witness says that the man currently posing as Jack defrauded his township of several thousand dollars after claiming he wanted to help rebuild the schoolhouse there. He is also said to have deserted the Confederate Army and ended up in prison. Sommersby discredits the man's testimony by identifying him as one of the Klansmen who had threatened him earlier. He points out that Orin Meacham was another of those men and that this is all a set-up to try to rob the new black farmers of the land they have bought.

When Laurel is called as a witness, she reveals that his kind nature convinced her of his being an impostor, admitting "…because I never loved him the way I love you!". Judge Barry Conrad Isaacs calls Jack to his bench to ask whether he wishes to be tried as Jack Sommersby, even if it will certainly mean death by hanging. Jack states that he wants to be tried as John "Jack" Sommersby.

Jack is convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death by hanging. While awaiting death, he is asked by Laurel to tell the truth about his identity as Horace Townsend. Laurel mentions the book on Homer's works that he holds. Jack tells her the story of how a man had to share a cell with another man, who looked like they could have been brothers. After sharing a cell for four years, they came to know everything about each other.

Upon his release, Jack Sommersby killed another man, then died from a wound he got during the fight. Horace Townsend then buried Jack Sommersby, which is seen in the opening scene of the film. Horace decided to assume Jack Sommersby's identity. 'Jack' (who is, in fact, Horace) concludes by saying he cannot admit his true identity, because Laurel and the children would lose everything, and the newly-freed slaves who had bought plots of land would lose them.

As Jack is taken to the gallows, he asks Laurel to be amongst the crowds, as he cannot "hang alone". As Jack is about to be hanged, Laurel makes her way to the front of the crowd. Jack calls for her, claiming to the executioner that he "isn't ready". She calls back to him, and the two see each other before he is executed.

The closing scenes show Laurel walking up a hill with flowers. She then kneels by the gravestone of "John Robert Sommersby" and lays the flowers down for him. It is revealed that work is being done on the steeple of the village church, as Jack had wished.

1890s Mexicos

Tejon is a young gunslinger who joins the gang The Nine. While he enjoys robbing banks and trains, he is not as bloodthirsty as his associates, this eventually leads to a fallout. His leader- Tennessee Vic shoots him in cold blood.

After Tejon is left for dead by Tennessee Vic, he is found by the corrupt General Blanco who leaves him to rot in a prison. Tejon's cellmate is the leader of the resistance fighting the general. His men come to free him and Tejon.

Tejon's first trip is to Sanchez. He was the drunk of the group but also known to find hideouts for the group. After gunning down Sanchez and his men. He is approached by his former lover who hears about it and seeks to aid in his quest. He refuses saying it is personal and dangerous.

Flat Iron is Tejon's next target. Flat Iron is a renegade Comanche whose skilled with knives. He is a much more formidable opponent, on the account of his speed and sharp knives. After confronting Flat Iron, Tejon kills him.

In between missions, Tejon hunts down a criminal known simply as BlackJack- an overweight drunk- who’s a crack shot with a rifle.

Tejon then confronts “Numbers”. Numbers was the banker of the group. He was also seen as cowardly and easily pushed around. Numbers heard about Sanchez and prepares. Tejon also kills him with ease. Along the way Tejon, picks up bounties who are either helpful to find the nine or extra money.

He goes to the lumber mill owned by Big Guns Grissom, the strongman of the Nine. What he lacks in intelligence he makes up for in brute force. He proves to be a more tough opponent as he is capable of throwing axes with accuracy. Tejon confronts him and blows up what is left of his mill.

Next on the list is Father Zeke, a jacklegged preacher who hustles his congregations to help build his lavish lifestyle. He often quotes scripture when taunting his enemies. His signature weapon is whiskey bombs. Tejon confronts him in one of his churches, after he kills Zeke, he goes to his house and destroys it.

Remembering that his cellmate Iago needs his help, Tejon goes back to Mexico to fight General Blanco. While he is battling the general, he rallies to the remaining rebels and defeats him once and for all.

He then returns to the trail of the Nine. He is seeking a well known gambler, whose name is Kendall. Kendall has local connections and uses them to hide. Tejon kills the sons of the local madam who knows where Kendall is. He then confronts the Madam himself. After killing her, he is able to clear a path to his own friend. Kendall is the smooth talker and ladies man of the Nine. Known to be a quick draw when needed. He too is a much harder opponent to kill as he is crafty and shrewd. Tejon finds him and kills him at his saloon.

Tejon is once again confronted by his lover, he agrees to let her help after they find themselves hunted by now Senator Vic’s corrupted marshal corps.

With not many enemies left- he begins to hunt for the Twins- two identical twins who can read each other’s mind. He travels to find their lumber mill and kills them both.

Vic now has prepared for Tejon’s arrival, he has a trained fitted with mercenaries and marshals to stop Tejon. When he guns his way through, Vic admits he never wanted to kill Tejon because he viewed him as a son, but Tejon refuses, as Vic attemperà to flee, Tejon blows up the tracks and the train crashes, both men survive. What’s left of Vic’s bodyguards try to kill Tejon but he dispatches them once and for all. Vic now left defenseless is killed- Tejon and his lover both ride off in the sunset, with his revenge now gone full circle.

In April 1953, during the Korean War, K Company, 31st Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, under the command of Lieutenant Joe Clemons, is assigned to recapture Pork Chop Hill from a larger Chinese People's Volunteer Army force. Clemons leads 1st Platoon, puts his friend Lieutenant Tsugio Ohashi in charge of 2nd Platoon, while 3rd Platoon is kept as a reserve. They succeed in taking the hill, trench by trench, but at the cost of high casualties. Clemons is promised another company as reinforcements, but L Company is ambushed, and only about a dozen infantrymen reach him. They prepare for a large-scale Chicom counterattack.

Meanwhile, at nearby Panmunjeom, cease-fire negotiations continue, and U.S. Army High Command are unwilling to reinforce the hill because its value is not worth further losses. Yet they will not abandon the hill either, because it is a point of negotiation in the talks. Eventually, American negotiators come to the conclusion that the Chinese are pouring soldiers into the battle for a militarily insignificant hill to test the resolve of the Americans. Thus, the decision is made to reinforce the hill, saving the lives of the survivors of Clemons's unit.

The elderly and pious Protestant sisters Martine (Birgitte Federspiel) and Filippa (Bodil Kjer) live in a small village on the remote western coast of Jutland in 19th-century Denmark. Their late father was a pastor who founded his own Pietistic conventicle. Lacking new converts, the aging sisters preside over a dwindling, but faithful, elderly congregation.

The story flashes back 49 years, showing the sisters in their youthful loveliness. They have many suitors, but their father rejects them, as he selfishly wishes to retain the assistance of the young women to further his pastoral mission. Martine is courted by an impassioned young Swedish cavalry officer, Lorens Löwenhielm, who is visiting Jutland. Filippa is courted by a famous baritone, Achille Papin, from the Paris Opera, on hiatus to enjoy the silence of the coast. Both sisters decide to spurn their suitors and stay with their father.

Thirty-five years later, Babette Hersant (Stéphane Audran) appears at their door. She carries a letter from Papin, who in it explains that she is a refugee from counter-revolutionary bloodshed in Paris and recommends her as a housekeeper. The sisters cannot afford to employ Babette, but she begs to work for free. Babette serves as their cook for the next 14 years, producing improved versions of the bland meals typical of the abstemious nature of the congregation and slowly gaining their respect, and that of the other local inhabitants. As the years go by, the sisters are deeply distressed by the increasing number of querulous arguments between the congregants. Babette is also troubled, and at one point, interrupts the arguments with a stern rebuke.

Babette's only link to her former life is a lottery ticket. A Parisian friend annually renews the ticket. One day, she wins the lottery and receives 10,000 francs. After her win she decides to prepare a delicious dinner for the sisters and their small congregation on the occasion of the founding pastor's hundredth birthday. More than just a feast, the meal is an outpouring of Babette's appreciation, an act of self-sacrifice.

The sisters accept both Babette's meal and her offer to pay for the creation of a "real French dinner". Babette arranges for her nephew to go to Paris and gather the supplies for the feast. The ingredients are plentiful, sumptuous and exotic, and their arrival causes much consternation and discussion among the villagers. As the various never-before-seen ingredients arrive and preparations commence, the sisters begin to worry that the meal will become a sin of sensual luxury, if not some form of devilry. In a hasty conference, the sisters and the congregation agree to eat the meal, but to forgo speaking of any pleasure in it and to make no mention of the food during the dinner.

Martine's former suitor, Lorens, now a famous general married to a member of the Queen's court, comes as the guest of his aunt, the local lady of the manor and a member of the old pastor's congregation. He is unaware of the other guests' austere plans and as a man of the world and former attaché in Paris, he is the only person at the table qualified to comment on the meal. He regales the guests with abundant information about the extraordinary food and drink, comparing it to a meal he enjoyed years earlier at the famous Café Anglais in Paris. Although the other celebrants refuse to comment on the earthly pleasures of their meal, Babette's gifts break down their distrust and superstitions, elevating them physically and spiritually. Old wrongs are forgiven, ancient loves are rekindled and a mystical redemption of the human spirit settles over the table.

Bereft, the sisters assume that Babette will return to Paris. However, when she tells them that all of her money is gone and that she is not going anywhere, the sisters are aghast. Babette then reveals that she was formerly the head chef of the Café Anglais, where a dinner for 12 cost 10,000 francs. Martine tearfully says, "Now you will be poor the rest of your life", to which Babette replies, "An artist is never poor." Filippa then says: "But this is not the end, Babette. In paradise you will be the great artist God meant you to be" and then embraces her with tears in her eyes saying: "Oh, how you will enchant the angels!", which is precisely how the short story ends.

Three hundred years ago, the god of thunder, Taishakuten, rebelled against the Heavenly Emperor, killing both him and the guardian god Ashura-ō. With the help of Ashura-ō's wife Shashi, he usurped the throne and began his cruel reign as the new Emperor. However, a prophecy was made by the stargazer Kuyō, first to Ashura-ō and then to Yasha-ō:

"Six stars will fall to this plane. The dark stars that will defy the Heavens. And you shall undertake a journey. One that begins when you find the child of a vanished race. I cannot discern the child's alignment. I only know that it is he alone who can turn the wheels of Tenkai's destiny. For it is by Heavenly Mandate that through this child, the Six Stars shall begin to gather. And then someone shall appear from the shadows. Even my powers cannot clearly make out his figure, but he knows the future and can manipulate both evil and heavenly stars. A roaring flame shall raze the wicked. Six stars will overpower all others. And inevitably, they will be the schism that splits the Heavens."

Following this prophecy, the Guardian Warrior of the northland, Yasha-ō, awakens the genderless child of Ashura-ō, Ashura, who has slept the last three hundred years under a magical seal. Believing the prophecy to mean that the "Six Stars" together can overthrow Taishakuten, he and Ashura set out to find the "Six Stars". Over time, five of the Six Stars gather as Yasha-ō and Ashura, the first two stars, are joined by Sōma, Ryu-ō and Karura-ō, the other three. A mysterious character who appears and disappears quite regularly, Kujaku, gives them helpful advice, but his nature and intentions are unclear.

The gentle and childlike Ashura (who is usually referred to as "he" out of convenience, though some translations use a female pronoun) soon reveals a deadly alter-ego, a youth who delights in death and destruction, but this side remains for the longest time more or less suppressed, also by Ashura's affection for Yasha-ō.

Seeking to bring Taishakuten's reign to an end, the Six Stars finally enter Zenmi-jō, Taishakuten's palace. They are met there by the three remaining "Four Generals" (''Shitennō'') (one was killed by Yasha-ō earlier), warriors who swore to protect Taishakuten. The Six Stars are shocked to discover that the sixth Star, Kendappa-ō, their friend and ally, is among them as Jikokuten, the previously unknown general. By the meeting of all the Six Stars, Ashura's dark nature is brought to the surface. He kills his mother, the traitorous Shashi, takes the seal on her forehead and merges it with his sword Shura-tō, to awaken the true Ashura; the god of flame, blood and war, whose aim is to destroy heaven, earth, and hell.

The true Ashura proceeds to complete his awakening by killing the remaining Six Stars (some of them were killed earlier). He kills the stars one by one, absorbing their power, until only Yasha-ō is left. Surprisingly, Taishakuten stands against him. It turns out that his cruel reign was really a plot by him and the deceased Ashura-ō to prevent the gathering of the Six Stars and the true Ashura's awakening. However, it is not Taishakuten who stops Ashura, but Ashura himself. As he is about to deal Yasha-ō the final blow, Ashura at the last moment stabs himself instead. He is then enveloped in a cocoon and enters into a deep sleep. Ashura is awakened hundreds of years later when Kujaku sacrifices his own life, on Yasha-ō's promise that he will not let Ashura become the God of Destruction again.

While reading a newspaper advertisement, taxi driver Tarek Fahd discovers an invitation to participate in an experiment, in which 4,000 German marks are offered to the participants of a simulation of a prison situation. The experiment is led by Professor Klaus Thon and his assistant, Dr. Jutta Grimm. He decides to join in.

Tarek participates as a journalist while wearing a pair of glasses with a built-in mini-camera. After a car accident he suffers shortly before the experiment, Tarek meets a woman called Dora. She spends the night with him and Tarek keeps thinking of her, shown in flashbacks. The 20 volunteers are pronounced guards and prisoners, 12 prisoners and 8 guards, and are being observed by a team of scientists.

In the experiment, the prisoners lose their civil rights and have to obey arbitrary rules, such as the obligation to completely finish their meals. The guards are given nightsticks, but are told not to use violence in any case. Each prisoner's name is taken away and replaced by a number. Tarek (prisoner number 77) initially refuses to acknowledge the guards' superiority by drinking the milk of one of his co-prisoners because of that prisoner's lactose intolerance, or by throwing his blanket out of his cell to provoke the guards. He befriends his cellmates Steinhoff and Schütte. Psychological changes develop and the situation deteriorates. The circumstances seem to be escalating after only a few days. It becomes clear that limits are not only being reached, but being surpassed when the guards kidnap Tarek from his cell late in the night, order him to strip fully naked, shave his head bald and urinate on him.

The guards become excessively aware of their power and use the prisoners' fear to make them obedient. On both sides, one person is considered dominant. On the prisoners' side, this is Tarek, and on the guards' side, it is the quiet guard Berus, a sadist, whose motto during the experiment is: "Humiliation is the only way we can solve these troubles." From that moment on, the guards start to use more and more violence against the prisoners. The scientists engage in a discussion whether or not to abort the experiment. Dr. Grimm suggests putting an end to the alarming situation, but Professor Thon refuses to stop the experiment until the violence has reached a maximum.

Dora meanwhile returns to Tarek's apartment and discovers his participation contract for the experiment. She surprises him by showing up for a visit day. Tarek, who was forced to clean the toilet with his own clothes, pleads to the friendly guard Walther Bosch to secretly bring her a message. Berus intercepts Bosch, however, and tells Dora that everything is all right and refuses to let Tarek see Dora.

The situation becomes critical and more violence is involved. The prisoners are being abused and their self-esteem is drastically decreased by the guards' power. Most of the violence is directed against Tarek and he is locked up in solitary confinement inside a "black box" resembling a safe. Schütte, protesting this, is beaten severely, bound and gagged with duct tape and forced to sit on a chair. Later he suffocates to death due to his bloody nose drying up while gagged.

Bosch is beaten by the other guards for his "betrayal" and is put into confinement. Lars, a member of Thon's team, notices this and attempts to contact Professor Thon, who is attending a conference. The guards, who are aware that the professor cannot be reached by phone, are convinced by Berus that the entire situation is a test put up by Thon's team, in order to make the guards handle an exceptional situation. They take over control of the facility and capture Lars, Dr. Grimm and the other scientists, who are put into confinement as well, and gradually start their own prison in which they engage in brutally sadistic games with total control.

Dora comes to the facility a second time to speak to Tarek and is lured into a room by Berus, where he locks her up. Dr. Grimm is handcuffed and gagged with duct tape while the guard Eckert attempts to rape her. He is stopped by Tarek, who escaped from solitary confinement through the use of a screwdriver that he found inside the "black box". Tarek knocks down Eckert and frees Lars, Bosch, Steinhoff, Dr. Grimm and the other prisoners. They manage to escape by removing the wall paneling of one of the cells with the screwdriver. Meanwhile, Professor Thon hears Lars' desperate message in his voicemail and leaves for the facility.

Meanwhile, Steinhoff and Tarek stay behind in order to prevent Berus from coming after them. Professor Thon reaches the facility and demands an explanation from Eckert, who accidentally injures him with a pistol. The fleeing prisoners are ambushed by the guards and trapped. Bosch, who could not keep up with the others, loses his sanity and kills Eckert with a fire extinguisher. Dora then escapes the room she was locked up in, and steals Eckert's gun. She injures one of the guards while he is engaged in fighting Tarek and Steinhoff, leaving only Berus to fight them. Tarek incapacitates Berus, who is nearly choked to death by Steinhoff until Tarek convinces him not to kill Berus.

The film ends with a news break, confirming two deaths (Schütte and Eckert) and three severely injured (Thon, Berus, and Bosch). Both Berus and Thon will be put on trial, Berus for multiple homicides and torture with rape, and Thon for allowing an illegal and unethical experiment. In last scene Dora and Tarek are sitting together happily on the beach.

The story of the game begins in 1996 when inventor/scientist Dr. Fluke Hawkins believes he has made a revolutionary discovery; an outer space phenomenon he calls "Flange Orbits". However, when he approaches the scientific community with his discovery, he is ridiculed. Determined to prove his colleagues wrong, Hawkins builds a space station, the ''Jim Dandy'', and bribes aboard his laboratory janitor, Kurt Hectic, by means of Hungarian goulash. He then launches the station into orbit, projecting that the mission will last five days. However, after a week, Hawkins realizes Flange Orbits do not actually exist, but rather than return to Earth in shame, he decides to remain on the ''Dandy'' to try to discover something, anticipating another week in space. Kurt is extremely unhappy with this development, but once Hawkins shows him how to program the VCR, he calms down.

A year later, having made no discoveries, Hawkins begins work building a genetically engineered robotic dog, which he plans to call "Bones". After a year, Bones is fully operational, although both Bones and Kurt prefer the name Max. Despite having four arms and two legs, and being full of energy, Max proves more than a little reluctant to help Hawkins with the chores on the ''Dandy'', proving more interested in tending to his vegetable garden.

Another year passes without Hawkins making a breakthrough until he notices streams of energy moving through the Solar System towards Earth. He sends a warning down to Earth (along with some of Max's oranges), but is ignored. Upon reaching Earth, the streams disgorge gigantic "Minecrawlers", city-sized vehicles designed to strip mine the natural resources from a planet, crushing anything in their path. The aliens, known as "Streamriders", and under the command of Gunter Glut, easily demolish Earth's military forces, and so Hawkins decides to take action to save the planet. Hawkins reasons the only way to fight the aliens is with his newly invented "Coil Suit", but due to his advancing years and Max's extra pair of legs, Kurt is the only one who can wear it, and, thus, becomes the very reluctant hero.

As such, Kurt is dispatched on "Mission: Deliver Kindness", entering the Minecrawlers from above, and destroying them from the inside-out, shooting his way through to the pilot, whom he then kills, before being extracted back to the ''Jim Dandy''. Kurt fights his way through a number of Minecrawlers, destroying them one by one, until he reaches the Crawler piloted by Gunter Glut himself. Kurt destroys the final Minecrawler, but Glut captures Max, and escapes into an energy stream leading to his base ship. Kurt gives chase and frees Max, who tricks Glut into eating him. Max then kills Glut by exploding him from within. The two then escape and destroy Glut's ship. The ending sequence is a monochrome mix of a French music video ("Non Non Rien N'a Changé" by Billy Ze Kick) and clips from the ''MDK'' promotional video.

Setting

The film opens with the statement: "The German invasion of Britain took place in 1940 after the retreat from Dunkirk." After months of fierce resistance and brutal reprisals, the occupying forces manage to restore order, largely suppressing the resistance movement. However, due to demands from the Ural Mountains front, most German troops are eventually removed from Western Europe, and the garrisoning of Britain is largely carried out by local volunteers in the German army and the SS.

England appears to be governed by the British Union of Fascists (the situation in the rest of the British Isles is unclear but presumably similar); the followers are referred to as "Blackshirts", wear uniforms with the Flash and Circle, and a framed portrait of Oswald Mosley appears in a government building, alongside one of Adolf Hitler. Meanwhile, the United States, having entered the war, stations its Seventh Fleet off Ireland. The Americans begin bombing raids on the southwest coast of England, as well as supplying men and equipment to a resurgent partisan movement.

Story

Set in 1944–1945, the story focuses on an apolitical Irish district nurse, Pauline. Following an upsurge in partisan activity in her area, she is forcibly evacuated from her village by the Germans and their collaborators and witnesses an attack on German forces by a group of British partisans, during which a number of her friends from the village are killed in the crossfire. The attack (and more particularly the deaths) influences her subsequent views and decisions.

She is evacuated to London, where she reluctantly becomes a collaborator, joining the medical wing of the Immediate Action Organisation (IAO), a quasi-paramilitary medical corps and is re-trained as an ambulance attendant. Although at first reluctant and intent on remaining apolitical, Pauline begins to show the effects of fascist indoctrination in her behaviour. It is a reunion with old friends (an antifascist doctor and his wife) that gives Pauline pause, and when she subsequently discovers they are harbouring an injured partisan, she reluctantly agrees to help.

Gradually Pauline learns more about the impacts of the German occupation, and she sees her friends arrested. The discovery of her association with the antifascist couple by her superiors in the IAO leads to her demotion and transfer to another part of the country. She welcomes the move at first, as her new job appears to have less of the paramilitary trappings. However, Pauline discovers that she has unwittingly taken part in a forced euthanasia programme and killed a group of foreign forced labourers who had contracted tuberculosis.

The film ends with Pauline being arrested after protesting and refusing to continue; but before she can be put on trial, she is captured by the resurgent British Resistance and agrees to work for them as they fight to liberate the country with the help of arriving American troops. In the finale, Pauline tends a group of wounded partisans while, out of her view, a large group of soldiers from the Black Prince Regiment of the British Legion of the Waffen-SS who had surrendered are summarily shot.

The entire film is set inside a Lansing, Michigan motel room. Vince, a drug dealer and volunteer firefighter who lives in Oakland, California, rents the room in his hometown to support his old high school friend's entry into the Lansing Film Festival.

His friend, documentary filmmaker Jon Salter, joins Vince in his motel room and the two reminisce about their high school years. At first, the two are happy to see one another, but friction soon develops. Eventually, they get on the subject of Amy, Vince's former girlfriend. It appears that, while they dated for some time, Vince and Amy never had sex. However, after or at the point when their relationship had ended, Amy slept with Jon.

Vince claims Amy had told him that Jon had raped her. Vince becomes obsessed with, and eventually succeeds in getting a verbal confession from Jon. Immediately after Jon's admission, Vince pulls out a hidden tape recorder that had been recording their whole conversation, much to Jon's horror. Vince then tells Jon that he has invited Amy to dinner, and that she will be arriving shortly.

Eventually Amy does arrive and, even though all three of them feel awkward, they begin to talk. Amy explains that she is now an assistant district attorney in the Lansing Justice Department. Eventually, the three discuss what actually happened between Jon and Amy that night at the party, 10 years in the past.

Jon asks Amy's forgiveness for raping her, but Amy claims that the encounter was consensual, leading Jon to believe that she is in denial or is toying with him. After Jon becomes annoyed that Amy is refusing to accept his apology, Amy calls the police. She asks for a squad car to pick up one person in possession of drugs (Vince), and one for “sexual misconduct” (Jon). After concluding her phone call, Amy warns the men that they only have about four minutes to make a run for it.

In order to prove to Amy that he is truly remorseful, Jon decides to stay and wait for the police. Vince, realizing that there is nowhere for him to run, flushes his narcotics down the toilet and destroys the tape containing Jon's confession. Soon after, Amy reveals that she didn't really call the police and leaves.

Brantley Foster is a recent graduate of Kansas State University who moves to New York City, where he has accepted an entry-level job as a financier. Upon arriving, he discovers that the company for which he is supposed to work has been taken over by a rival corporation. As a result, Brantley is made redundant before even starting work.

After several interviews for another job, he is unsuccessful due to over- or underqualification, or having no experience. Brantley ends up working in the mailroom of the Pemrose Corporation, directed by his "uncle" Howard Prescott, a distant relative he's never met. Pemrose was founded by Howard's father-in-law. Howard achieved the presidency by marrying his boss's daughter, Vera Pemrose.

After inspecting company reports, Brantley realizes that Howard and most of his fellow "suits" (executives) are making pointless or damaging decisions. Brantley notices an empty office in the building due to one of Howard's frequent firings. He uses his access to the mailroom and his understanding of the company to create and assume the identity of Carlton Whitfield, a new executive.

While handling two jobs (switching between casual apparel and business suits in the elevator), Brantley sparks romantic interest from Christy Wills, a fellow financial wizard who recently graduated from Harvard. Brantley meets Vera by driving her home in a company limo at his employer's request. She persuades him to stay for a swim and seduces him. Seeing Howard arrive, Brantley and Vera realize they are related by marriage. Vera had seduced Brantley out of revenge against her husband for having an affair with a woman at the office. Brantley changes as fast as he can and narrowly escapes the mansion without being spotted by Howard.

Howard, unbeknownst to Brantley, is having an affair with Christy. When Howard asks her to spy on Carlton Whitfield he suspects as a corporate spy for Donald Davenport, Christy falls in love with "Whitfield", not knowing he is actually Brantley. The Pemrose Corporation is preparing for its impending takeover by the Davenport Corporation. If Davenport Corporation absorbs Pemrose, all workers get fired. Howard, unaware that Whitfield and Brantley are the same person, suspects "Whitfield" is a spy for corporate raider Davenport. Brantley's double identity is discovered when he, Christy, Vera and Howard end up in the same bedroom after a party at Howard's home that all four are attending. Brantley and Christy end their blossoming relationship. Brantley gets sacked from his job as Whitfield, as does Christy for refusing to continue her affair with Howard. Vera is divorcing Howard, since she found out about Howard's affair with Christy and his plan to propose to her.

While both Christy and Brantley are moving out of their offices, they end up in the same elevator and reconcile, conceiving a revenge plan together with Vera. They raise enough cash, bonds, and stocks to take control of the Pemrose Corporation, and to proceed with a hostile takeover bid of Davenport's corporation. Vera, already hating Howard for his inept business practices which were driving her father's empire into the ground, tells the board about his affair with Christy. Vera promptly replaces him with Brantley, with Jean (Carlton's secretary), Christy and Melrose (Brantley's mailroom colleague) at his side. While security guards escort Howard and his aide, Art Thomas, from the Pemrose Building, Brantley and Christy start planning their future together, personal as well as professional.

Irish-American Terry Noonan returns to Hell's Kitchen in New York City after a long absence, where his unpredictable childhood friend Jackie Flannery is involved in an Irish crime organization run by older brother Frank. Terry rekindles an old relationship with Jackie's sister Kathleen.

Terry is actually an undercover cop, and confesses it to Kathleen. She is reluctant to have anything to do with him after being told by her brother Frank that Terry is now a member of his gang after killing two people, although Terry explains to Kathleen the killing was staged by his police boss Nick, with blanks used.

Jackie is drinking in a bar one night when three members of a rival Italian gang enter. Suspecting their involvement in the killing of his friend, Stevie, Jackie snaps and ends up killing all three for intruding on his gang's territory. Frank is summoned to a meeting with Italian Mafia boss Joe Borelli and is told he must kill his brother Jackie. Frank has told his men to lie in wait in case the meeting goes wrong, and manages to avert a shoot out by hugging the Italian leader outside the restaurant in full view of the gang, causing them to retreat.

Frank arranges for Jackie to collect $25,000 after lying to him that the Italians are actually supporting them and that this is their reward, telling him to go to Battery Park. Terry tags along as Jackie's secret backup, finding that the location has been changed to Pier 84. As they wait at Pier 84, Frank arrives with his enforcer Pat Nicholson just as Terry has stepped away to frantically phone his police handlers to inform them that they have been sent to the wrong location. Frank shoots Jackie in cold blood. The police finally arrive and Terry tells Nick that he is quitting as an undercover operative.

At Jackie's funeral, Terry reveals to Frank that he was at Pier 84, and also hands him his police badge. Hours later, while Kathleen is watching the St. Patrick's Day parade alone, Terry goes to the bar where Frank and his gang are. In a shootout, Frank and all of his men are killed. Having been shot three times, Terry slumps to the floor.

The characters of Rocket Power are just about to start their summer vacation when they realize all of the sand in Ocean Shores has been taken away by a mysterious criminal. After investigation, they find out a company called Golem Industries has stolen all of the sand and decide to stop them.

The characters go to the lakes, where they discover that the water from there has also been stolen by Golem Industries. The water is found out to be used to ship electricity to a secret base. They destroy the water plants, and after a confrontation with the "Barramundi Bot", return to Ocean Shores.

They eventually arrive at "Wishing Waters", the location of the secret base, which is revealed to be a giant robot factory underneath a water park controlled by a sentient supercomputer. Sam hacks into the computer's programming to build a robot to gain access to robot only areas. After exploring most of the base, they come into contact with "Cyrax", the supercomputer controlling the factory. Cyrax destroys the robot thereafter. After Team Rocket Power destroys all of Cyrax's computer chips with skateboards, Cyrax promptly explodes and they get away. After coming back to Ocean Shores for a second time, the characters challenge Lars to a downhill dirt track race, and after winning manage to convince Lars to give them the secret location to Golem Industries' headquarters.

Once they make it inside the base, they find a massive earthquake machine that Golem Sr, the owner of Golem Industries is controlling. In the cutscene that follows, Golem turns the machine on, the base rumbles a pipe knocks into him, sending him into a pool of lava. Golem then comes out of the lava and is revealed to be a robot. The characters confront Golem and destroy him.

After the gang returns to Ocean Shores for a final time, they find out that the mastermind behind the entire plan has been Eric Golem Jr, the alleged son of Golem Sr. He threatens to destroy all of Ocean Shores with a giant tsunami machine. In order to stop this, they challenges Eric to a final set of race challenges. After the third battle however, Eric quits the challenges and runs to the control room, prompting Otto to race him via hoverboard to get to the control room before he does. After winning, the base is destroyed. During the final scene, everyone forgives Eric for everything that he has done, and says that he should make some friends that are human.

After the defeat of Sheltem and his forces on CRON in ''Might and Magic II: Gates to Another World'', a new party of adventurers from Sheltem's "homeworld" of Terra find themselves embroiled in the battle between the two Guardians. The adventurers must aid the mysterious Corak in attempting to stop Sheltem once again and putting an end to his evil machinations. In canon, these adventurers are named Sir Caneghem, Crag Hack, Maximus, Resurrectra, Dark Shade, Kastore, Robert the Wise and Tolberti.

Throughout the game, the adventurers travel the Isles of Terra, a grouping of separate, flat "nacelle" worlds drawn from the Void onto the oceanic planet of Terra by Sheltem himself in previous years. Driven against the Ancients, Sheltem is now launching their nacelles into the suns of various worlds, snuffing out countless lives in his wake. Driven by the tales told in Corak's journals regarding the Ancients, the Elemental Lords and the "Forces of the Dome", the heroes pursue the Guardians, battling terrors along the way.

Finally, the heroes enter the so-called "Maze from Hell" and earn the title of "Ultimate Adventurers" from the maze's defenses. Uncovering revelations about Terra's past, they gain access to the Pyramids of the Ancients, stumbling upon what is named a 'Main Control Center'. They find themselves within the underwater seedship originally used by the Ancients in centuries past to colonize Terra with human life before its submersion beneath the waves.

At the game's conclusion, Sheltem pilots an escape pod within the underwater ship and sets off for the nacelle of Xeen, with Corak in close pursuit. After departing, Corak hastily contacts the adventurers from his escape pod, instructing them in the means of matter transferral to land the seedship - named the "Lincoln" - safely. They set off to pursue Corak and Sheltem in the Lincoln, and it is implied that they actually do so in Might and Magic IV: Clouds of Xeen. However, they did in fact drift off-course and are next seen as powerful non-player characters in ''Might and Magic VII: For Blood and Honor''.

One Christmas Eve after watching a children's performance of the nativity scene, three homeless people – a middle-aged alcoholic named Gin, a transgender woman named Hana, and a dependent teenage runaway girl named Miyuki – discover an abandoned newborn while searching through the garbage for presents. Deposited with the unnamed baby is a note asking the unknown finder to take good care of her and a key, leading to a bag containing clues to the parents' identity. The trio sets out to find the baby's parents. The baby is named by Hana, based on the Japanese translation of "Silent Night" literally meaning "pure child", as she is found on Christmas Eve. Outside a cemetery, the group encounters a high-ranking yakuza boss trapped under his car. The man happens to know the owner of the club where Kiyoko's mother used to work; his daughter is going to be marrying the club's owner that day. At the wedding reception, the groom tells them that the baby's mother is a former bar girl named Sachiko. He gives them Sachiko's address, but the party is interrupted when a maid, revealed to be a Latino hitman in disguise, attempts to shoot the bride's father. The hitman kidnaps Miyuki and baby Kiyoko while holding them hostage at gunpoint and takes them back to his home. There, Miyuki befriends the hitman's wife who happens to have a child of her own and they begin bonding (despite their language barrier). While looking through old photo albums, Miyuki tearfully confesses to fleeing her home after stabbing her over-controlling father Ishida when her beloved cat Angel went missing (believing that he had gotten rid of it).

Hana searches for Miyuki and Kiyoko while Gin takes care of an elderly homeless man who is dying in the street. After giving Gin a little red bag, the old man peacefully passes away. Some teenagers show up and beat up Gin and the dead old man's corpse. Meanwhile, Hana finds the girls and they go off to find a place to stay. They go to Angel Tower, a club where Hana had worked at before quitting her job for assaulting a rude and intoxicated customer years ago. Gin, who was rescued by another member of the club, is also there. While there, it's learned that Hana had become homeless when her lover Ken had died from injuring himself after slipping on a bar of soap in the bathroom. The trio set out to find Sachiko's house, but they discover that it has been torn down. They are informed of the unhappy relationship between Sachiko and her husband, who is a gambling alcoholic. The group rests at a store until they are told to leave by the clerk. Hana collapses, and is taken by Gin and Miyuki to the hospital. Once at the hospital, Gin finds his estranged daughter, who is also named Kiyoko, working as a nurse. Hana berates Gin in front of his daughter and storms out of the hospital, with Miyuki following behind with baby Kiyoko in hand. Hana and Miyuki find Sachiko about to jump off a bridge. Sachiko insists that her husband got rid of the baby without her knowledge, and that they return the baby to her.

Gin finds Sachiko's husband, who confirms a TV report Gin saw earlier that Kiyoko was actually stolen by Sachiko from the hospital. They chase after Sachiko and Kiyoko. After an intense car chase, Miyuki chases Sachiko to the top of a building. Sachiko reveals she became pregnant in hopes it would bring her closer to her husband. When her baby was stillborn, she decided to kidnap Kiyoko from the hospital's nursery, thinking, in her grief, the baby was hers. As Sachiko is about to jump off the building intending to commit suicide with Kiyoko in her hands, her husband comes out of his apartment, located just across the street, and begs her to start over with him. Sachiko jumps off nevertheless, but Miyuki manages to catch her before she falls, but then Sachiko accidentally drops Kiyoko. Hana jumps off the building after Kiyoko, catches the baby, and lands safely due to a miraculous gust of wind. Hana, Miyuki, and Gin are taken to the hospital. Miyuki hands Gin his cigarettes and drops the old man's small red bag on the floor, revealing a winning lottery ticket. Kiyoko's real parents want to ask the trio to become her godparents. When a police inspector introduces them to the trio, the inspector is revealed to be Miyuki's father.

Nursery school teacher Jenny Greengrass and her boyfriend Steve Taylor journey to a remote lake in the wooded English countryside. Steve has visited the spot before, and remembers it as an open area, but since his visit the land has been bought up by a development company. Despite “Keep Out” signs, they proceed to the lakeside, where they meet Adam, a young boy gathering insects.

As Steve and Jenny relax beside the lake, the peaceful setting is disrupted by a gang of rowdy teenagers, who have ridden their bicycles to a spot within a few metres of the young couple. Steve asks them to keep the noise down, but is met with abuse, and one boy accuses Steve of ogling his girlfriend. The next morning Steve and Jenny find their food supplies infested with insects, and their car tire damaged by a bottle left behind by the teens.

Driving into town for breakfast, Steve spots a house with bikes outside that he thinks belong to the teens. When no one answers the door, Steve enters the house and proceeds to snoop around. But on the return of Jon, the surly homeowner, Steve is obliged to make his escape from an upstairs window.

Back at the lake, Steve goes scuba diving while Jenny sleeps on the shore. Steve has been planning to propose, and is starting a story about “finding” the ring in the lake when he discovers that the bag with their car keys, phone and wallet is missing; their car is also gone. Returning to town on foot, they avoid collision with their own car, driven recklessly through the woods by the gang's psychopathic leader, Brett.

Finding the gang in the woods after nightfall, Steve demands the return of his belongings, only to be pounced by the knife-wielding teens. In the scuffle, Brett's rottweiler Bonnie is mortally knifed, provoking Brett into a maniacal rage. The couple grab the keys and drive off, but the gang throws stones at them, causing Steve to crash the car. With Steve trapped, Jenny is forced to run for help.

At daybreak, Jenny sees Steve tied to a rock with barbed wire. Brett orders each reluctant teen to torture him. When Paige, a female gang member, records Steve's torture on her phone, the gang realize they have no choice but to kill Steve.

Jenny acts as a decoy and the gang give chase, while Steve buys time to free himself. Jenny evades the gang and finds Steve, but is unable to nurse his fatal wounds. She finds the engagement ring, and Steve proposes to her. Jenny runs off to find help but accidentally steps on a large spike and her scream catches the gang's attention.

Steve dies from his injuries. Jenny runs into Adam and thinks he will help her but he ends up texting the gang their location. They tie Jenny, with Steve's body, to a pile of wood. Brett forces Adam to light the bonfire while Paige films. Jenny is able to escape, and the gang burn Adam to death in retaliation. Jenny continues to evade the gang, killing gang member Cooper who was actually attempting to help her.

After finding the body, Brett is thrown into further rage and beats Harry, another gang member, to death. Paige runs away in fear. Jenny reaches a road and is picked up by a driver who is looking for his brother Ricky, another gang member. When the driver exits the van to talk with Ricky and fellow gang member Mark, Jenny panics and steals the van, speeds off, and runs over Paige while making her way back to town.

Jenny makes it to town, crashes into a fence at a large backyard party, and collapses. After awaking and finding herself being comforted by an unknown woman and her husband Jon, she realizes she is in Brett's house. Jenny is led to the bathroom after saying that she feels sick, and Jon notices Reece’s van on his lawn before one of the parents receives a call informing him of the dead gang members, who are the children of the adults at the house.

A commotion begins in the house and the bathroom door is kicked open as Jenny is confronted by Brett, his father Jon, and the other party guests. Brett has convinced the adults that Jenny and Steve sadistically murdered the gang members and accuses Jenny of stealing the van. Jenny begs Jon to call the police and then tries ineffectually to attack him with a razor she found in the bathroom, but Jon quickly subdues her. Jon tells Brett to go upstairs, then takes Jenny back into the bathroom with two other men. Brett shuts the door of his room, blocking out her screams. He deletes the videos of the gang's crimes from Paige's phone, puts on Steve's sunglasses, and stares blankly into a mirror.

The story is narrated by Alan-a-Dale. He introduces Robin Hood and Little John, who live in Sherwood Forest, robbing from the rich and giving to the overtaxed townsfolk of Nottingham. The Sheriff of Nottingham tries to catch the two, but he fails every time. Meanwhile, Prince John and his counselor Sir Hiss arrive in Nottingham. Earlier, Sir Hiss hypnotized Prince John's brother King Richard to go off on the Crusades, allowing Prince John to take the throne as ''de facto'' King. Unfortunately, the Prince is greedy and immature, even sucking his thumb whenever his mother is mentioned. Robin and Little John rob Prince John by disguising themselves as fortune tellers, prompting the Prince to put a bounty on their heads.

The Sheriff, under Prince John's orders, taxes the inhabitants of Nottingham excessively. However, Robin gives back some money to a family of rabbits, and gives a bow, arrow and one of his hats to the young rabbit Skippy for his birthday. Skippy and his two sisters and his friend, Toby, test out the bow, but Skippy accidentally fires the arrow into the grounds of Nottingham Castle. The children sneak inside, meeting Maid Marian and her lady-in-waiting Lady Kluck while they were playing a game of badminton. Marian reveals that she and Robin were once childhood sweethearts, but she was sent to London and has not seen him for years, only recently returning to Nottingham and assuming Robin has forgotten her.

Friar Tuck, the local priest, visits Robin and Little John to report that Prince John is hosting an archery tournament, with a kiss from Maid Marian as the prize. Robin disguises himself as a stork and enters the contest, while Little John masquerades as the Duke of Chutney to get close to Prince John. Robin wins the tournament, but Prince John recognizes and exposes him, sentencing him to death despite Marian's pleas. Little John threatens Prince John with a dagger, resulting in a fight between Robin's forces and Prince John's soldiers, culminating in Robin's party escaping with Marian and Lady Kluck in tow.

In the forest, Robin and Marian share a romantic evening, then are surprised by Robin's "merry men", who sing a funny song dubbing John the "Phony King of England". Prince John learns of the song and spitefully triples the taxes; most of the town cannot pay, and are imprisoned. The Sheriff visits Friar Tuck's church to steal from the poor box, and the mortified Tuck attacks with a quarterstaff, resulting in Tuck's arrest for treason. Prince John learns of this and orders Tuck's execution, hoping to lure Robin into doing something rash to save him.

The night before the execution, despite the precautions of Prince John, Robin Hood and Little John sneak into the castle. Little John manages to free all of the prisoners, Tuck included, whilst Robin steals all of Prince John's gold. Hiss awakens, and tries to stop them, rousing the castle. Chaos ensues as Robin and the others try to escape to Sherwood Forest, and Robin is forced to return to the castle to rescue Skippy's sister, Tagalong. The Sheriff chases Robin through the building and attacks him with a lit torch, setting the castle ablaze and forcing Robin to jump into the moat. Little John and Skippy anxiously watch as the water is pelted with arrows, and for a moment, it seems as if Robin has been killed, but he eventually emerges unharmed. Hiss chides a despairing Prince John for his failed trap, and points out the castle (belonging to Prince John's mother) is afire, which drives Prince John to insanity.

Later, King Richard returns to England, and sentences Prince John, Hiss, and the Sheriff to hard labor in the Royal Rock Pile. He pardons Robin Hood, who marries Maid Marian and leaves Nottingham, with Little John and Skippy in tow.

In Edwardian London, George and Mary Darling's preparations to attend a party are disrupted by the antics of their boys, John and Michael, who are acting out a Peter Pan story told them by their elder sister Wendy. An irritated George demands that Wendy drop the stories and move out of the nursery, since "sooner or later, people have to grow up". Later that night, Peter himself arrives in the nursery to find his lost shadow. He persuades Wendy to come to Neverland, where she will never have to grow up, and she and the boys fly there with the begrudging help of the pixie Tinker Bell.

A ship of pirates is anchored off Neverland, led by Captain Hook and his first mate, Mr. Smee. Hook wants revenge on Peter for cutting off his hand, but fears the crocodile which consumed the hand, knowing it is eager to eat the rest of him. When Pan and the Darlings arrive, Hook shoots at them with a cannon, and Peter sends the Darlings off to safety while he baits the pirates. Tinker Bell, who is jealous of Pan's attention to Wendy, convinces the Lost Boys that Pan has ordered them to shoot down Wendy. Tinker Bell's treachery is soon found out, and Peter banishes her. John and Michael set off with the Lost Boys to find the island's Native Americans; however, the Natives capture the group, believing them to be responsible for taking the chief's daughter, Tiger Lily.

Meanwhile, Peter takes Wendy to see the mermaids, who flee in terror when Hook arrives on the scene. Peter and Wendy see that Hook and Smee have captured Tiger Lily, to force her to disclose Peter's hideout. Peter frees Tiger Lily and returns her to the Chief, and the tribe honors Peter. Meanwhile, Hook takes advantage of Tinker Bell's jealousy of Wendy, tricking the fairy into revealing Peter's secret hideout.

Wendy and her brothers eventually grow homesick and plan to return to London. They invite Peter and the Lost Boys to join them and be adopted by the Darlings. The Lost Boys agree, but Peter does not want to grow up and refuses. The pirates lie in wait, and capture the Lost Boys and the Darlings as they exit the lair, leaving behind a time bomb to kill Peter. Tinker Bell learns of the plot, just in time to snatch the bomb from Peter as it explodes.

Peter rescues Tinker Bell from the rubble, and together they rescue Wendy, confronting the pirates, and releasing the children before they can walk the plank. Peter engages Hook in combat as the children fight off the crew, and defeats him. Hook falls into the sea and swims away, pursued by the crocodile. Peter commandeers the deserted ship and, assisted by Tinker Bell's pixie dust, flies it to London with the children aboard.

George and Mary Darling return home from the party, and find Wendy sleeping at the nursery's open window. Wendy awakens and excitedly tells about their adventures. The parents look out the window and see what appears to be a pirate ship in the clouds. George, who has softened his position about Wendy staying in the nursery, recognizes the ship from his own childhood.

Rover is a Basset Hound that lives a life of luxury in Las Vegas with his owner Connie, a showgirl. He gambles and flirts with girls with his best friend Eddie. One night, he sees Connie's boyfriend, Rocky, in a transaction with a pair of gangsters, and accidentally disrupts it. Thinking that Rocky is an undercover cop setting them up, the gangsters flee, telling Rocky that he has blown his last chance. The next day, Connie goes on tour for two weeks, leaving Rocky to look after Rover. In retaliation for ruining his deal, Rocky stuffs Rover in a bag, drives him to Hoover Dam and throws him into the water. The bag is later pulled out of the water by two passing fishermen, who take Rover back to shore and place him in the back of their pickup truck. Rover regains consciousness and jumps out of the truck when the fishermen stop for gas, and begins to wander down the road. He ends up in the countryside, and eventually runs into a farmer, Cal, and his son, Danny, who convinces his father to take the dog in. Cal agrees on one condition: at the first sign of trouble, he'll be sent to an animal shelter, and if nobody claims him, the animal shelter can put him down.

Rover has difficulty adjusting to life on the farm but with a help of Daisy, a beautiful collie next door, and the other dogs on the farm, he succeeds in earning their trust. Rover spends Christmas with the family, and begins to fall in love with Daisy, who returns his affections. However, one night, a pack of wolves attempt to kill a turkey on the farm. As Rover attempts to save the turkey, the wolves run off, but the bird ends up dead and Cal mistakenly believes Rover to have been responsible. The next morning, Cal takes Rover into the woods to shoot him, but he hesitates and is attacked by the wolves. Rover manages to chase off the wolves, and rallies the other farm dogs to get the injured Cal home.

Rover's heroics make the papers, allowing Eddie and Connie to find out where he is. Danny informs Rover of his trip back to Las Vegas and he departs the farm. Although initially happy to be reunited with Connie and his friends, Rover soon begins to miss his life on the farm. When Rocky comes into Connie's dressing room, and upon seeing him, Rover initiates revenge. After Rocky accidentally confesses to what he did, Connie angrily punches him in the face and breaks up with him. Infuriated, Rocky tries to retaliate against Connie, but Rover and his dog friends chase him out of the casino, where he runs into a limo filled with the gangsters. At first, Rocky is happy to see them, but then questions their presence in the first place. One of the gangsters proudly reveals that they set him up and are going to throw him over Hoover Dam, much to Rover's delight as he watches the limo drive off with a horrified Rocky.

Sometime later, Rover, missing Daisy, becomes depressed. Connie, realizing he has met someone, takes Rover back to the farm to stay and allows Cal and Danny to keep him this time. Rover is reunited with Daisy, who leads him to the barn and reveals to him that he is now a father, unveiling six puppies: Five of them resembles Rover and one resembles Daisy. The story ends with Rover teaching his kids how to play cards, and playfully chasing Daisy around the farmyard.

A young boy is awakened on Christmas Eve night by the sound of a train. To his astonishment, he finds the train is waiting for him. He sees a conductor who then proceeds to look up at his window. He runs downstairs and goes outside. The conductor explains the train is called the Polar Express, and is journeying to the North Pole. The boy then boards the train, which is filled with many other children in their pajamas.

The Polar Express races north past towns and villages, through boreal forests, and over mountains, but the train never slows down. When it arrives at the North Pole, the conductor explains that Santa will select one of them to receive the first gift of Christmas.

The boy and the other children see thousands of Christmas elves gathered at the center of town waiting to send Santa Claus on his way. The boy is handpicked by Santa to receive the first gift of Christmas. Realizing that he could choose anything in the world, the boy asks for a bell from one of the reindeer's harnesses. The boy places the bell in the pocket of his robe and all the children watch as Santa takes off into the night for his annual deliveries.

Later, on the train ride home, the boy discovers that the bell has fallen through a hole in his pocket. The boy arrives home and goes to his bedroom as the train speeds away. On Christmas morning, his sister Sarah finds a small package for the boy under the tree, behind all of the other gifts. The boy opens the box and discovers that it contains the bell, delivered by Santa along with a note explaining that he found it on the seat of his sleigh. When the boy rings the bell, both he and his sister marvel at the beautiful sound. His parents, however, are unable to hear the bell and remark that it must be broken. The book ends with the following line:

In Lapine language mythology, the world was created by the god Frith. All animals were grass eaters, living harmoniously. The rabbits multiplied, and their appetite led to a food shortage. Frith ordered the rabbit prince, El-Ahrairah, to control his people, but was scoffed at. In retaliation, Frith gave special gifts to every animal, making some into predators to hunt the rabbits. Satisfied that El-Ahrairah has learned his lesson, Frith gives rabbits the gifts of speed and cunning.

In the present, in a warren near Sandleford, a rabbit seer named Fiver has an apocalyptic vision and takes his older brother Hazel to beg the chief for evacuation. The chief dismisses them, and orders Captain Holly, the head of the warren's Owsla police force, to stop those trying to leave. Fiver and Hazel along with other rabbits named Bigwig, Blackberry, Pipkin, Dandelion, Silver, and Violet manage to escape, passing a sign (meaningless to them) confirming that a residential development is coming.

They journey through the woods, avoiding several dangerous situations; until Violet - the group's only doe - is killed by a hawk. The others eventually meet a rabbit named Cowslip, who invites them to his warren, where a farmer leaves Cowslip's group ample vegetables. They are grateful, but Fiver leaves when he senses something unsettling in the atmosphere. Bigwig follows, berating Fiver for causing tension when a snare catches Bigwig. Bigwig's friends manage to free him, and Fiver learns that the farmer is protecting and feeding Cowslip's warren so that he can snare rabbits for his own meals. The group returns to its journey.

The rabbits discover Nuthanger Farm, which contains a hutch of domesticated does. Before they can free the females, the farm cat and dog chase them away. Later, they are found by Captain Holly, who recounts the destruction of Sandleford by humans as well as vicious rabbits called the "Efrafans". Fiver finally finds the hill he envisioned, Watership Down, where the group settles in with Hazel as their new chief.

They soon befriend an injured black-headed seagull named Kehaar, who flies out in search of does. That night, the rabbits return to Nuthanger Farm to free the does, but an attempt to free them fails which ends with Hazel getting shot. Fiver follows a vision of the mythical Black Rabbit to his injured brother. Kehaar returns and, while pecking out buckshot from Hazel's leg with his beak, reports of the many does at the large Efrafa warren. Captain Holly describes it as a dangerous totalitarian state, but Hazel feels they must go there. Bigwig infiltrates the warren and is made an Owsla officer by their cruel chief, General Woundwort. Bigwig recruits several potential escapees to his cause, including Blackavar and Hyzenthlay. With Kehaar's help, the escapees find a boat to float down the river. That night, Kehaar leaves for his homeland with the gratitude of the warren.

Efrafan trackers eventually find Watership Down. Woundwort rejects Hazel's offer of peace and demands that all deserters must be turned over or Watership Down will be wiped out. While the Watership rabbits barricade their warren, Fiver slips into a trance, in which he envisions a dog running loose in the woods. His mumblings inspire Hazel to try and release the farm dog and lead it to the Efrafans. When they arrive at the farm, Hazel unties the dog and releases it while Blackberry, Dandelion and Hyzenthlay use themselves as bait to make the animal follow them. Meanwhile, when the Efrafans break through the warren's defences, Woundwort goes in alone; Blackavar attacks him but is easily killed. Bigwig ambushes Woundwort and they fight to a standstill. When the dog arrives and starts attacking the Efrafans, Woundwort abandons Bigwig and fearlessly attacks the dog. However, no trace of Woundwort is ever found, which leaves his fate a mystery.

Several years later, an elderly Hazel is visited by a strange ghostly rabbit, who invites him to join his own Owsla, assuring him of Watership Down's perpetual safety. Reassured, Hazel accepts and dies peacefully. His spirit follows the visitor through the woodland and trees towards the Sun, which metamorphoses into Frith, and the afterlife, as Frith's parting advice to El-Ahrairah is heard once more.

The Simpsons drive to the park for a picnic but discover that it has been overrun by mosquitoes. While heading home, the family finds a Native American casino. Bart is turned away because he is 10 years old but is able to sneak in by hiding in ventriloquist Arthur Crandall's dummy case. During Crandall's performance at the casino, Bart bursts out of the case and gets caught by casino guards. He is sent to the casino manager's office, where the Native American manager shows him a vision of how his future will turn out if he does not change his ways.

Thirty years into the future, Bart is a 40-year-old beer-drinking slacker trying to launch his music career after dropping out of the DeVry Institute. He lives with his bandmate Ralph Wiggum in a beach cottage by the shore, where they are struggling to make ends meet and have resorted to mooching off Bart's parents and their neighbor Ned Flanders. The only gig Bart and Ralph can get is at a beach bar owned by Nelson Muntz, and even then, they are only paid in popcorn shrimp. The morning after their disastrous concert at Nelson's bar, Bart and Ralph find out that they have been evicted from their house.

Meanwhile, 38-year-old Lisa becomes "the first straight female President of the United States", and moves into the White House, to where Bart quickly moves in and invites their parents to live in, and his antics prove a burden on Lisa's political activities, much to Lisa's discomfort. Homer uses the time to search for gold buried by Abraham Lincoln on the grounds of the White House. When he finally locates the "''gold''", it is in fact a chest with a scroll in it that Lincoln had written on explaining that his "gold" is "in the heart of every freedom-loving American." Homer does not appreciate the metaphor and angrily curses Lincoln; when present-day Bart asks the manager about this subplot, he claims that he needed filler after the main vision became "too thin".

Bart disrupts one of Lisa's addresses to the nation to promote his music career, which leads Lisa to be branded unpopular when Bart sings to the public on live television that Lisa will be imposing a tax rise to get the country out of debt; the leaders of America's creditor nations then demand that America pay them back. Frustrated with his antics, Lisa distracts Bart by making him "Secretary of Keeping it Real." His conscience manifests in the form of Billy Carter's ghost, who reminds him that he is an embarrassment because of his actions and suggests he atone for his mistakes (although he does endorse the casino within the vision).

Bart steps in at Lisa's meeting with the leaders and uses his skills at stalling debt collectors to save the day, promising the money will soon be repaid in full, pleasing Lisa. As a thank-you, Bart asks Lisa to "legalize it", and Lisa says she will. After the vision is over, Bart promises that he will change; the manager then disappears. Lisa finds Bart and tells him that the family has been kicked out of the casino after Homer pushed a waitress and Marge lost $20,000. Bart tells Lisa about his vision of the future where he has a rock band and a moped, while downplaying Lisa's future presidency as "some government job".

Set in England in the lead-up to and during World War II, it portrays Lewis Eliot's friendship with the gifted scholar and remarkable individual Roy Calvert, and Calvert's inner turmoil and quest for meaning in life.

In 1881, Edgar Rice Burroughs attends the funeral of his uncle, John Carter, a former American Civil War Confederate Army captain who died suddenly. Per Carter's instructions, the body is put in a tomb that can be unlocked only from the inside. His attorney gives Carter's personal journal for Burroughs to read.

In a flashback to 1868 in the Arizona Territory, Union Colonel Powell arrests Carter with hopes that Carter will help in fighting local Apache. Carter escapes his holding cell, but fails to get far with U.S. cavalry soldiers in close pursuit. After a run-in with a band of Apaches, Carter and a wounded Powell are chased until they hide in a cave that turns out to be filled with gold. A Thern appears in the cave at that moment and, surprised by the two men, attacks them with a knife; Carter kills him but accidentally activates the Thern's powerful medallion and is unwittingly transported to a ruined and dying planet, Barsoom, known to Carter as Mars. Because of his different bone density and the planet's low gravity, Carter is able to jump high and perform feats of incredible strength. He is captured by the Green Martian Tharks and their Jeddak, Tars Tarkas.

Elsewhere on Barsoom, the Red Martian cities of Helium and Zodanga have been at war for a thousand years. Sab Than, Jeddak of Zodanga, armed with a special weapon obtained from the Thern leader Matai Shang, proposes a cease-fire and an end to the war by marrying the Princess of Helium, Dejah Thoris. The Princess escapes and is rescued by Carter.

Carter, Dejah, and Tarkas's daughter, Sola, reach a spot in a sacred river to find a way for Carter to get back to Earth. They discover that the medallions are powered by a "ninth ray" that is also the source of Sab Than's weapon. They are then attacked by a vicious race called the Warhoon under the direction of Shang. Carter and Dejah are taken back to Zodanga. A demoralized Dejah grudgingly agrees to marry Sab Than and gives Carter instructions on how to use the medallion to return to Earth. Carter decides to stay and is captured by Shang, who explains to him the purpose of Therns and how they manipulate the civilizations of different worlds to their doom, feeding off the planet's resources in the process, and intend to do the same thing with Barsoom by choosing Sab Than to rule the planet. Carter goes back to the Tharks with Sola to request their help. There they discover Tarkas has been overthrown by a ruthless brute, Tal Hajus. Carter and an injured Tarkas battle with two enormous Great White-Apes in an arena before Carter kills Hajus, thereby becoming the leader of the Tharks.

The Thark army charges on Helium and defeats the Zodangan army, while Sab Than is killed and Shang is forced to escape. Carter becomes prince of Helium by marrying Dejah. On their first night, Carter decides to stay forever on Mars and throws away his medallion. Seizing this opportunity, Shang briefly reappears and gives Carter another challenge, sending him back to Earth. Carter embarks on a long quest to find one of their medallions on Earth; after several years he appears to die suddenly and asks for unusual funeral arrangements — consistent with his having found a medallion, since his return to Mars would leave his Earth body in a coma-like state, and makes Burroughs his protector.

Back in the present, Burroughs runs back to Carter's tomb and uses clues to open it. Just as he does so, a Thern appears and raises a weapon before Carter appears and shoots the Thern in the back. He reveals that he had never found another medallion; instead, he devised a scheme to lure a Thern from hiding, thus winning Shang's challenge. Carter then uses the dead Thern's medallion to return to Barsoom.

One Thursday morning, Arthur Dent discovers that his house is to be immediately demolished to make way for a bypass. He tries delaying the bulldozers by lying down in front of them. Ford Prefect, a friend of Arthur's, convinces him to go to a pub with him. Over several pints of beer, Ford explains that he is an alien from the vicinity of Betelgeuse, and a journalist working on the ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', a universal guide book. Ford warns that the Earth is to be demolished later that day by a race called Vogons, to make way for a hyperspace bypass.

As the Vogon fleet arrives in orbit to destroy Earth, Ford rescues Arthur by stowing aboard one of the Vogon ships. The pair are shortly discovered and thrown out an airlock, only to be picked up by the starship ''Heart of Gold''. They find Ford's "semi-cousin" Zaphod Beeblebrox, the newly elected president of the Galaxy. He has stolen the ship along with Tricia "Trillian" McMillan, an Earth woman whom Arthur had met previously, and Marvin the Paranoid Android, a clinically depressed robot.

Zaphod seeks the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything to match with the disappointing answer given by the supercomputer Deep Thought: "42". He believes that the answer lies on the planet Magrathea, only accessible using the ''Heart of Gold'' improbability drive through trial and error.

On one attempt, they arrive at Viltvodle VI, where Zaphod's opponent, Humma Kavula, resides. Kavula offers the coordinates for Magrathea in exchange for Zaphod recovering the Point-of-View gun, a gun created by Deep Thought that makes anyone it blasts temporarily see things from the shooter's perspective. Trillian is captured by the Vogons as they depart, and the three mount a rescue effort on the Vogon homeworld. Before her rescue, Trillian learns that Zaphod signed the order for the destruction of Earth, thinking that the Vogon with the permission form just wanted his autograph.

The group escapes the Vogons, followed by Galactic Vice-President Questular Rontok and the Vogons. They arrive at Magrathea, but trigger its automated missile defense systems. Arthur re-activates the improbability drive to transform the missiles into a bowl of petunias and a whale, allowing them to land safely on the planet. Zaphod, Ford, and Trillian enter a portal to arrive at Deep Thought, though Arthur and Marvin are stranded outside the portal. They learn from Deep Thought that after coming up with the Answer "42", its creators had Deep Thought design another computer to come up with the Question, that being Earth. They recover the Point-of-View gun, though Trillian uses it on Zaphod to show him her resentment for his accidental destruction of the Earth. They are captured by unknown entities.

Meanwhile, on Magrathea, Arthur is met by Slartibartfast, one of the planet builders. Slartibartfast takes Arthur to a pocket dimension inside the planet where he shows that a new version of Earth is near completion. Slartibartfast takes Arthur to his recreated home, where inside, the others are enjoying a feast provided by the pan-dimensional beings who commissioned Arthur's original Earth, and who resemble a pair of mice. With Arthur, who was on Earth up until the last minutes, the mice think they can discover the Question by removing his brain. Arthur manages to escape and crush the mice under a teapot; they disappear without a trace.

Suddenly, Questular and the Vogons arrive outside the home and open fire. The group takes shelter in a caravan, but Marvin, left alone, uses the Point-of-View gun to make the entire Vogon force too depressed to continue fighting. The Vogons are taken away, while Zaphod reunites with Questular. Arthur decides to explore the galaxy with Ford and Trillian, allowing Slartibartfast to finalise the new Earth without him. The Heart of Gold crew decides to visit the Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

Mortal Kombat is a martial arts tournament that is held once every generation between representatives of the realms of Earth and Outworld, conceived by the Elder Gods amid looming invasion of the Earth by Outworld. If Outworld achieves ten consecutive victories, its emperor will invade and conquer the Earthrealm. They have already won nine times. Shaolin monk Liu Kang, movie star Johnny Cage, and special forces officer Sonya Blade are chosen by Raiden, the god of thunder and defender of Earthrealm, to prevent Outworld from winning their tenth straight tournament. Liu seeks revenge against the tournament host Shang Tsung for killing his brother Chan, a death for which he blames himself; Sonya is lured onto the ship headed for Shang Tsung's island by crime boss Kano, who murdered her partner; and Johnny seeks to debunk media claims that his martial arts skills are faked.

Tsung orders the creature Reptile to prevent Princess Kitana, the Emperor's adopted daughter, from allying with the Earth warriors. Liu, Johnny, and Sonya advance to the final rounds of the tournament, with Sonya killing Kano by snapping his neck, Johnny defeating Scorpion, and Liu killing Sub-Zero.

Soon, most of Earthrealm's warriors are defeated by the reigning tournament champion, Prince Goro, including one of Johnny Cage's peers, Art Lean, whose soul is taken by Shang Tsung. This causes the few remaining Earthrealm warriors to lose hope. Raiden warns the Earth warriors that their own fears and egos will make them lose to Goro, but that Goro can still be beaten by mortal men and women. Hoping to protect Liu and Sonya, Johnny challenges Goro. Shang Tsung allows the fight, under the stipulation that he may, in turn, choose anyone to face him in the final fight, in any place of his choosing. Raiden initially rebukes Johnny for challenging Goro, but is impressed when Johnny shows his awareness of the gravity of the tournament.

During their fight, Johnny uses guile and the element of surprise to defeat an overconfident Goro. Now desperate, Tsung takes Sonya hostage and takes her to Outworld, intending to fight her in the final fight for an easy win. Knowing that his powers are ineffective there, Raiden sends Liu and Johnny into Outworld to rescue Sonya and challenge Tsung. In Outworld, Liu is attacked by Reptile, but gains the upper hand and kills him. Kitana meets up with Johnny and Liu. She reveals to them that her home was once a beautiful and peaceful place, until the Emperor came from a third realm and brought Outworld to ruin after winning ten consecutive Mortal Kombat tournaments there. He then adopted Kitana and took the throne for himself. Not wanting the Emperor to succeed in taking over Earthrealm, Kitana helps them infiltrate Shang Tsung's fortress, disguised in the robes of his followers.

Before Shang Tsung can fight Sonya, the trio reveal themselves. Kitana berates Tsung for his treachery to the Emperor and for breaking the rules of Mortal Kombat, distracting him while Liu and Johnny free Sonya. Tsung then challenges Johnny but is counter-challenged by Liu. During the lengthy battle, Liu faces not only Shang Tsung but the souls that he took in past tournaments. To take advantage, Shang Tsung morphs into Chan to confuse Liu. Finally accepting that he is not responsible for Chan's death allows Liu to see through the charade. As Shang Tsung begins to lose his power over the souls he took, Liu Kang fires an energy bolt at him, knocking him off and landing onto a bed of spikes. Tsung's death releases all of the captive souls, including Chan's. Before ascending to the afterlife, Chan tells Liu that he will remain with him in spirit until they are reunited.

The Earth warriors return to Earthrealm, where a victory celebration is taking place at Liu's Shaolin temple. The jubilation stops when the giant Outworld Emperor Shao Kahn appears and declares he has come for everyone's souls. Raiden and the warriors take up fighting stances.

The Simpson family visit a Renaissance fair, where Lisa finds a fortune-telling booth. The clairvoyant says she will predict Lisa's future and tell the story of her true love.

In the year 2010 – 15 years in the future – 23-year-old Lisa meets a fellow university student named Hugh Parkfield from London. The pair fall madly in love and soon plan to marry. Lisa and Hugh travel to Springfield, where they plan to hold the wedding. Marge is still a housewife, Bart is a 25-year-old who works as a twice divorced building demolition expert (and plans on going to law school), Maggie is a 16-year-old teenage girl who apparently never shuts up (although she never talks in the episode, and whenever she tries to she is interrupted), and Homer still works at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant (in Sector 7G, with Milhouse as his supervisor). Despite Lisa's hopes, Hugh does not get along with her family; he is particularly dismayed when Homer wants him to wear family-tradition cufflinks resembling pigs on his wedding day.

Lisa begs Hugh to wear the cufflinks and he agrees on the condition that Lisa abandon her family after the wedding because Hugh is deeply embarrassed by them (except for Marge who can visit once they have children). Outraged, Lisa insists she cannot marry him if he cannot understand that she loves her family members – despite their shortcomings – and calls off the wedding. Hugh returns to England and never sees Lisa again.

In the present, Lisa questions the fortune teller about her "true love" and the fortune teller reveals that although Lisa will have a true love, she specializes in foretelling doomed romances. Lisa leaves the booth and finds Homer, who is excited to tell her about his day at the fair.

The story is presented from the perspective of Gonzalo Infante – the 11-year upper-class boy – and it takes place in an agitated time in Chile, when the working class was demanding social vindications and profound changes to the national socioeconomic structure, having elected a Socialist president. In that context, the higher classes grew fearful of the socialist movement and some of its most prominent members comploted against the government of Salvador Allende. Gonzalo's father, while sympathetic to the less favored and not part of the right-wing movement, wants to leave the country with his family for Italy, where he frequently travels due to his work at the UN FAO. Gonzalo's mother is rather hopeless with the state of things, and is having an affair with a wealthy and much older Argentinian.

Gonzalo attends a private school where the strong-willed school principal, Father McEnroe, has launched a social integration project, which is deemed by some of the parents as a 'lefty venture' rather than a Christian, charitable work. When five underprivileged students are admitted to Gonzalo's class, he makes friends with Pedro, for he feels compassion for him because some rich classmates pick on him.

Gonzalo accompanies Pedro and his neighbor Silvana to sell flags and cigarettes at demonstrations on the streets: first, nationalist flags at a right-wing demonstration; and later, socialist flags at a leftist rally in support of the government. Silvana calls Gonzalo a snob and names him 'strawberry-face', but eventually they grow fond of each other and even get to kiss.

Pedro visits Gonzalo's home and is impressed by Gonzalo having a room for himself, with toys and a closet full of clothing, but also witnesses the tensions and cruelty latent in Gonzalo's family. When Gonzalo visits the shantytown dwelling of Pedro, he is appalled by the extremely poor conditions he lives in. Their friendship mirrors the friendship between the Lone Ranger and the Native American Tonto in Gonzalo's favorite comic-book series. Gonzalo becomes aware that their friendship is against all odds when Silvana finds them reading an issue of the magazine and comments on the plot being implausible because "Has a white person ever been seen to be friends with an Indian?"

As the political unrest grows in Chile, the boys' friendship is put to the test. Pedro's drunk father taunts him, telling him that, while his alleged friend will grow up to be rich, he will be stuck in the lower class for good, most likely cleaning toilets for the rich. The wealthy parents of the students at St. Patrick's school have divided opinions on Father McEnroe's project. While some support Father McEnroe's new policies — Gonzalo's father among them — many others — including Gonzalo's mother — think that, for the country's sake, social classes are better off not mixed.

The vegetable garden that the students take care of at school turns out to be a failure, which jeopardizes the financing of Father McEnroe's project. At an anti-Communist demonstration, Gonzalo's mother snatches Silvana's merchandise when the latter is being threatened by other protesters, so Silvana retaliates spitting on Gonzalo's mother's car windshield and calls her a whore. This increases the tension between Gonzalo and Pedro, which leads them to get into a fight and be driven apart.

Then comes the coup and Father McEnroe is removed by the military, not even being allowed to perform mass at the school's chapel. So, when he attends the first mass performed by a new priest, he receives communion but does not swallow the sacramental bread to preserve it from desecration, and declares the place profane. Pedro leads the other students in honoring the priest and therefore is expelled from the school.

Gonzalo goes to visit the shantytown where Pedro and Silvana live but he arrives there only to see it being raid by soldiers, and he witnesses an unfortunate incident between the dwellers and the military that ends up with one of the later shooting Silvana, who dies right there. Spotted by a soldier and finding himself dragged into the incident, Gonzalo struggles to convince the soldier that he does not belong there, until he shows him his nice clothing and fair complexion. The soldier lets him go and warns him never to return, so Gonzalo is forced by the circumstances to forsake his friend.

Gonzalo returns to his family's new home – which is now even more opulent than before thanks to his mother's lover and the redistribution of wealth the new government has imposed – and is left distraught over the events he has just witnessed, remembering the last time he saw Pedro, staring at the ruins of their dwellings.

The main character Roy Eberhardt moves from Montana to Florida and into the fictional town of Coconut Cove, where a 7th grader, Dana Matherson, starts to bully him. On the bus to school, Roy sees a boy running barefoot outside. Roy tries to leave the bus, but Dana viciously chokes and strangles him. He escapes after punching Dana in the face, breaking his nose, and then exiting the bus. However, Roy can't catch the running boy because a golf ball hits Roy in the head. Vice-Principal Viola Hennepin suspends Roy from the bus for two weeks and orders him to write an apology to Dana. Roy calls for a truce, but Dana refuses to accept.

A restaurant called Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House decides to build a franchise in Coconut Cove, but vandalism delays the work. Roy learns the running boy is the vandal known as "Mullet Fingers" and they become friends. Mullet Fingers vandalizes and delays construction overseen by Chuck Muckle to save the endangered burrowing owls that live on the site.

The construction foreman Leroy "Curly" Branitt denies the owls' existence. Roy helps Mullet Fingers prove otherwise and tells his class including Beatrice Leep about the owls, how construction will kill the endangered species, and encourages them to join him in protests.

Roy and his classmates attend the groundbreaking and expose the truth. This includes the company's illegal removal of an environmental impact statement from their files. This revelation saves the owls and their habitat. Mother Paula's All-American Pancake House blames former employees and promises to preserve the property as an owl sanctuary. Muckle is sent to anger management for attacking a reporter. Dana is later arrested and sentenced to a detention camp. Mullet Fingers's mother sees him protesting with Roy and his classmates and goes in front of all the cameras and attempts to hog all the attention.

Two days later, Mullet Fingers climbs out his home's bathroom window and is mistaken for a burglar. Mullet Fingers's mother lies to the police and says he stole a very valuable toe ring. They believe her and he's sent to a juvenile detention center where he escapes. In the last chapter, Roy discovers that Mullet Fingers's real name is Napoleon Bridger Leep.

After suffering a small breakdown in front of her students (and then being forced to hear a neighbor play Chopin's Étude in A Minor, "Winter Wind", incessantly), Sybil Dorsett is given a neurological examination by Dr. Cornelia Wilbur, a psychiatrist. She admits to having blackouts and fears that they are getting worse. Dr. Wilbur theorizes that the incidents are a kind of hysteria, all related to a deeper problem. She asks Sybil to return at a later date for more counseling. Sybil says she will have to ask her father.

Sybil's father, Willard Dorsett, and her stepmother, Freida, are in New York on a visit. Sybil meets them at a cafeteria for lunch. She explains to her father that the problems she used to have as a young girl have returned and that she wants to see a psychiatrist, Dr. Wilbur. Sybil's parents make it clear to Sybil that they disapprove of psychiatry. Sybil becomes upset and dissociates into Peggy, who becomes enraged and breaks a glass. Peggy angrily storms out of the cafeteria. Later that evening, Dr. Wilbur receives a late night call from someone who identifies herself as Vickie and says Sybil is about to jump out a hotel window. Dr. Wilbur rescues Sybil, who denies knowing Vickie. Suddenly, Sybil becomes hysterical and begins speaking like a young girl. This girl introduces herself as Peggy, and Wilbur realizes that Sybil is suffering from multiple personality disorder (now known as dissociative identity disorder).

Vickie introduces herself to Wilbur at the next session. Vickie, who knows everything about the other personalities, tells Wilbur about some of them, including Marcia, who is suicidal, and Vanessa, who plays the piano although Sybil has not played in years and swears she has forgotten how to play piano.

Over the weeks, each of the personalities introduces herself to Wilbur. At the same time, the personality Vanessa falls in love with a charming neighbor named Richard.

Wilbur finally explains to Sybil about the other personalities. As proof, Wilbur plays the session's tape to allow Sybil to hear their voices, but when a voice that sounds like Sybil's mother Hattie speaks, an infant personality named Ruthie emerges. Wilbur is unable to communicate with the pre-verbal child and must wait until Sybil returns.

Life becomes more chaotic for Sybil as the other personalities grow stronger. The personalities make Dr. Wilbur a Christmas card, but Sybil made everything purple, a color that frightens Peggy. Dr. Wilbur hypnotizes Vickie and asks about the purple. Vickie relates a memory of a time Sybil's mother locked young Sybil in the wheat bin in the barn. Thinking she was smothering, Sybil used her purple crayon to scratch on the inside of the bin so someone would know she had been there.

Vanessa invites Richard and his son Matthew to have Christmas dinner, after which Richard spends the night in Sybil's apartment. Sybil has a nightmare and awakens as Marcia, who tries to throw herself off the roof. Richard rescues her and calls Wilbur. Soon afterwards, Richard moves away, crushing both Sybil and Vanessa. Once again confronted with her diagnosis, Sybil attempts to convince Wilbur that she has in fact been faking all of the other personalities the entire time and denies that multiple personalities exist within her.

Wilbur goes in search of Sybil's father, who mentions that Sybil's mother Hattie was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia but denies that she ever abused Sybil. Wilbur also seeks out Sybil's pediatrician. The doctor gives Wilbur a frightening account of extensive internal scarring he found while treating Sybil for a bladder problem. Finally, Wilbur visits the old Dorsett house, where she discovers the green kitchen Sybil's selves have described many times. She also finds the purple crayon scratches inside the wheat bin. She takes them back to New York City to prove all the memories really happened.

Dr. Wilbur takes Sybil for a drive, during which Peggy reveals the horrific physical abuse she suffered at her mother's hands. After Peggy exhausts herself, Sybil emerges, remembering everything that Peggy has just said. Finally, she is able to express her rage against her mother.

Dr. Wilbur hypnotizes Sybil to introduce her to the other personalities. Sybil, who has always been frightened of Peggy, meets her at last and is surprised that she is only a young girl. Sybil embraces a weeping Peggy. A voiceover from Dr. Wilbur explains that after this incident, Sybil recovered her memories and went on to live a full and happy life as an academic.

Set in the small town of Guadalupe, New Mexico, just after World War II, Antonio Márez y Luna (Tony) tells his story from the memories of his adult self, who reflects on his growing up. The novel opens as the protagonist, Antonio, approaches the age of seven when his family decides to house Ultima, an elderly curandera. Ultima, known as “La Grande” in the Márez household, embodies the wisdom of her ancestors and carries the powers to heal, to confront evil, knowledge of how to use the power of nature and the ability to understand the relationship between the living and the spirits. Tony's parents both hold conflicting views about Tony's destiny and battle over his future path. In the first chapter Anaya establishes the roots of this struggle through Tony's dream—a flashback to the day of his birth. In his dream, Tony views the differences between his parents' familial backgrounds. His father's side, the Márez (descendants of the sea), are the restless ''vaqueros'' who roam the ''llanos'' and seek adventure. The Lunas, his mother's side, are the people of the moon, religious farmers whose destiny is to homestead and work the land. Each side of the family wants control of the newborn's future. His mother's dream is for him to become a Roman Catholic priest, his father's dream is to embark on a new adventure and move west to California with his sons to recapture the openness of the ''Llano'' he has foregone in moving to the town. As the two families argue over Antonio's destiny, Ultima, serving as the midwife, declares, “Only I will know his destiny.”

Following an immediate bond with Ultima, Antonio learns of the many herbs and barks, which she uses in her ceremonies. Tony's progress in learning about life is grounded in Ultima, who is highly respected by his parents. However, one night Antonio witnesses the death of a man back from the war, which makes him question his religion and identity, and sparks his journey towards manhood. Antonio begins school in the fall, where he is portrayed as an excelling student, which greatly pleases his mother.

Tony's First Communion experience leaves him disillusioned as he did not receive the spiritual knowledge he had expected. He begins to question the value of the Catholic Church, concentrated on the Virgin Mary and a Father God, and on ritual, as unable to answer his moral and metaphysical dilemmas. At the same time, realizing that the Church represents the female values of his mother, Tony cannot bring himself to accept the lawlessness, violence and unthinking sensuality which his father and older brothers symbolize. Instead through his relationship with Ultima, he discovers a oneness with nature. Through his discovery that "All is One" he is able to resolve the major existential conflict in his life. One day, while socializing with his friends they tell him the story of the Golden Carp. Antonio also continues to be an example for the children, who praise his religious savant as they dress him as a priest while preparing for first communion. Antonio's admiration for Ultima strengthens as he continues to question his faith, hoping to understand once he takes communion for the first time.

When Antonio's Uncle Lucas falls ill, presumably due to a curse by Tenorio's three evil daughters, Antonio must come to grips with the opposition between good and evil. Ultima, in her role as protector, uses her knowledge of healing and magic to neutralize the evil witchcraft and, despite lacking priestly recognition, emerges as the only one who can save him from death.

In another traumatic death, Antonio witnesses the murder of Narciso, known as the town drunk, by Tenorio, a malicious saloon-keeper and barber in El Puerto. As a result, Antonio becomes ill and enters a dream-like state. Tenorio blames Ultima for the death of one of his daughters, claiming that his daughter passed because Ultima cursed her. Tenorio plots his revenge on Ultima throughout the duration of the novel.

The determined Tenorio emerges in the final scenes as he chases Antonio back to the Màrez house, where Tenorio shoots Ultima's owl. Following the death of the owl, Ultima quickly follows and is accompanied by Antonio at her bedside as she dies. Before her death, she instructs Antonio to collect her medicines and herbs before destroying them by the river.

At the conclusion of the novel, Antonio reflects on the tension that he feels as he is pulled between his father's free, open landscape of the ''llano'', and his mother's circumscribed river valley of the town. In addition, he reflects on the pull between Catholicism and the continuation of Ultima's spiritual legacy and concludes that he does not need to choose one over the other, but can bring both together to form a new identity and a new religion that is made up of both. Antonio says to his father: text=Take the llano and the river valley, the moon and the sea, God and the golden carp—and make something new... Papa, can a new religion be made?

Characters

'''Antonio Juan Márez y Luna''' – Antonio is seven and serious, thoughtful, and prone to moral questioning, and his experiences force him to confront difficult issues that blur the lines between right and wrong. He turns to both pagan and Christian ideologies for guidance, but he doubts both traditions. With Ultima's help, Antonio makes the transition from childhood to adolescence and begins to make his own choices and to accept responsibility for their consequences.

'''Gabriel Márez and Maria Luna''' – Tony's parents. Both hold conflicting views about Tony's destiny and battle over his future path. While Gabriel represents the roaming life of a vaquero and hopes for Tony to follow this path of life, Maria represents the settled life of hard-working farmers and aspires for her son to become a priest.

'''Ultima''' – An elderly ''curandera'', known in the Márez household as "La Grande" is the embodiment of the wisdom of her ancestors and carries within her the powers to heal, to confront evil, to use the power of nature and to understand the relationship between the seen and unseen. Her role in the community is as mediator. "She preserves the indispensable contact with the world of nature and the supernatural forces inhabiting this universe (255)."Cazemajou, Jean. (1990). The search for a center: The shamanic journey of mediators in Anaya's trilogy, ''Bless Me, Ultima;'' ''Heart of Aztlán,'' and ''Tortuga.''In César A. González-T. (Ed.), ''Rudolfo A. Anaya: Focus on criticism'' (pp. 254–273). La Jolla, CA: Lalo Press. She is the spiritual guide for Antonio as he journeys through childhood. Ultima knows the ways of the Catholic Church and also the ways of the indigenous spiritual practices over which she is master. Ultima understands the philosophy and the morality of the ancient peoples of New Mexico and teaches Tony through example, experience and critical reflection, the universal principles that explain and sustain life. Although she is generally respected in the community, people sometimes misunderstand her power. At times she is referred to as a ''bruja'', or witch, but no one—not even Antonio—knows whether or not she is truly a witch. Finally Antonio puts pieces of the puzzle together and the revelation of who she is comes to him. She holds Antonio's destiny in her hands, and at the end of the story sacrifices her own life so that Antonio might live.

'''Tenorio Trementina and his three daughters''' – Tenorio is a malicious saloon-keeper and barber in El Puerto. His three daughters perform a black mass and place a curse on Antonio's uncle Lucas Luna. Tenorio detests Ultima because she lifts the curse on Lucas and soon after she does so, one of Tenorio's daughters dies. Hot-tempered and vengeful, Tenorio spends the rest of the novel plotting Ultima's death, which he finally achieves by killing her owl familiar, her spiritual guardian. Afterwards, he tries to kill Antonio but is shot by Uncle Pedro.

'''Ultima's Owl''' – Embodies Ultima's soul, the power of her mysticism, and her life force. The song the owl sings softly outside Antonio's window at night indicates Ultima's presence and magical protection in Antonio's life. Ultima's owl scratches Tenorio's eye out as he stands in Gabriel's doorway and demands the right to take Ultima away from Gabriel's house. By the end of the novel Tenorio has figured out the connection between Ultima and her owl. By killing Ultima's owl, Tenorio destroys Ultima's soul and life force, which leads quickly to her death. Antonio takes on the responsibility of burying the owl and realizes that he is really burying Ultima.

'''Lupito''' – A war veteran who has post-traumatic stress disorder. After Lupito murders the local sheriff in one of his deranged moments, he is killed by the sheriff and his posse as young Antonio looks on from his hiding place on the banks of the river. Lupito's violent death provides the catalyst for Antonio's serious moral and religious questioning.

'''"Lucas Luna"''' – Antonio's uncle, who gets cursed by the Trementina sisters when he tries to stop them from practicing black magic. As a result, he gets so sick that Ultima is summoned to cure him. She concocts a potion of herbs, water, and kerosene as a purgative and uses Antonio's innocence as a mediator to effect the cure.

'''Narciso''' – Although known as the town drunk, Narciso cuts a large, strong figure of a man. Narciso and Gabriel are good friends because they share a deep and passionate love for the ''llano''. Narciso has a deep abiding loyalty and love for Ultima because of her extraordinary efforts to save his young wife who had succumbed to an epidemic that struck the town. Narciso demonstrates a strong appreciation for the richness of the earth —his garden is a lush masterpiece full of sweet vegetables and fruits. Tenorio kills him as he is on his way to warn Ultima that Tenorio is after her. As he lies dying in Antonio's arms, he asks Antonio to give him a blessing.

'''Téllez''' – One of Gabriel's friends. He challenges Tenorio when Tenorio speaks badly of Ultima. Not long afterward, a curse is laid on his home. Ultima agrees to lift the curse, explaining that Téllez's grandfather once hanged three Comanche Indians for raiding his flocks. Ultima performs a Comanche funeral ceremony on Téllez's land, and ghosts cease to haunt his home.

'''Antonio's friends: Abel, Bones, Ernie, Horse, Lloyd, Red, and the Vitamin Kid''' – An exuberant group of boys who frequently curse and fight. Horse loves to wrestle, but everyone fears Bones more because he is reckless and perhaps even crazy. Ernie is a braggart who frequently teases Antonio. The Vitamin Kid is the fastest runner in Guadalupe. Red is a Protestant, so he is often teased by the other boys. Lloyd enjoys reminding everyone that they can be sued for even the most minor offenses. Abel, the smallest boy in the group, frequently urinates in inappropriate places.

'''Samuel''' – One of Antonio's friends. He is also the Vitamin Kid's brother. Unlike most of Antonio's friends, Samuel is gentle and quiet. He tells Antonio about the golden carp. It is here that Antonio starts questioning his faith.

'''Florence''' – One of Antonio's friends who does not believe in God, but goes to catechism to be with his friends. Florence shows Antonio that the Catholic Church is not perfect. He dies in a very bad drowning accident.

'''Jasón Chávez''' – One of Antonio's friends. He disobeys his father when he continues to visit an Indian who lives near the town. He is described by Antonio as being moody.

'''Jasón Chávez's Indian''' – A friend of Jasón's who is disliked by Jasón's father. Cico tells Antonio that the story of the golden carp originally comes from the Indian.

'''Andrew, Eugene, and León Márez''' – Antonio's brothers. For most of Antonio's childhood, his brothers are fighting in World War II. When they return home, they suffer post-traumatic stress as a result of the war. Restless and depressed, they all eventually leave home to pursue independent lives, crushing Gabriel's dream of moving his family to California.

'''Deborah and Theresa Márez''' – Antonio's older sisters. Most of the time, they play with dolls and speak English, a language Antonio does not begin to learn until he attends school.

'''Antonio's uncles''' – Juan, Lucas, Mateo, and Pedro Luna – María's brothers are farmers. They struggle with Gabriel to lay a claim to Antonio's future. They want him to become a farmer or a priest, but Gabriel wants Antonio to be a ''vaquero'' in the Márez tradition. Antonio's uncles are quiet and gentle, and they plant their crops by the cycle of the moon.

'''Father Byrnes''' – A stern Catholic priest with hypocritical and unfair policies. He teaches catechism to Antonio and his friends. He punishes Florence for the smallest offenses because Florence challenges the Catholic orthodoxy, but he fails to notice, and perhaps even ignores, the misbehavior of the other boys. Rather than teach the children to understand God, he teaches them to fear God.

'''Chávez''' – Chávez is the father of Antonio's friend Jasón. Distraught and vengeful, he leads a mob to find Lupito after Lupito kills Chávez's brother, the local sheriff. He forbids Jasón to visit an Indian who lives near the town, but Jasón disobeys him.

'''Prudencio Luna''' – The father of María and her brothers. He is a quiet man who prefers not to become involved in other peoples’ conflicts. When Tenorio declares an all out war against Ultima, he does not want his sons to get involved, even though Ultima saved Lucas's life.

'''Miss Maestas''' – Antonio's first-grade teacher. Although Antonio does not speak English well, Miss Maestas recognizes his bright spark of intelligence. Under her tutelage, Antonio unlocks the secrets of words. She promotes him to the third grade at the end of the year.

'''Miss Violet''' – Antonio's third grade teacher. He, with Abel, Bones, Ernie, Horse, Lloyd, Red, and the Vitamin Kid, set up a play about the First Christmas on a dark and snowy night, which turns into a hilarious disaster because of the ever crazy Bones.

'''Rosie''' – The woman who runs the local brothel. Antonio has a deep fear of the brothel because it represents sin. He is devastated when he finds out that his brother Andrew frequently goes to it.

'''The flying man''' – This man was Ultima's teacher and was also known as ''el hombre volador''. He gave her the owl that became her spirit familiar, her guardian, and her soul. He told her to do good works with her powers, but to avoid interfering with a person's destiny. The invocation of his name inspires awe and respect among the people who have heard about his legendary powers and incites fear in Tenorio Trementina.

Nick Rivers, an American rock star ("Skeet Surfin' "), travels to East Germany (which is represented as like Hitler's regime) to perform at a cultural festival, which secretly serves the East German government as a diversion for a military operation with the intent of reuniting Germany under their rule. At a dinner, Nick encounters Hillary Flammond, a member of the local resistance movement who is attempting to avoid the authorities. He pretends to be her date to get to know her, and performs an impromptu song and dance ("Tutti Frutti"), mistakenly thinking he was asked to do so, to the delight of Hillary and the diners but to the annoyance of General Streck, the mastermind of the "reunification" plot.

Nick later sees Hillary at a ballet, where she expects to rendezvous with the resistance leader but is met by the police instead. Nick saves her and they try to escape, but Nick turns himself in so that Hillary can get away. He is taken to a prison where he is questioned and tortured, but he knows nothing and does not break. In an escape attempt, he ends up in the secret prison lab of Dr. Paul Flammond, a brilliant scientist developing the "Polaris naval mine", a device that can destroy the entire NATO submarine fleet as part of the government's plot. The East Germans force him to work by threatening to kill his daughter Hillary. Nick is recaptured and scheduled for execution.

The East Germans decide that Nick must perform to avoid an international incident, and he does so to the rapturous joy of the local girls ("How Silly Can You Get"/"Spend This Night with Me"). He is rescued by Hillary at the end of his performance, after which they spend the night in the loft of a Swedish bookstore. Nick plays for her ("Are You Lonesome Tonight?") and they make love. The next morning, they are moved to the "Potato Farm" where they meet members of the French Resistance, led by Nigel "The Torch", who was Hillary's lover from when they were stranded on an island as youths. Nick is upset by Hillary's love for Nigel, but accepts that they must work together for the cause. After fighting off an attack by the East Germans (who were tipped off by a mystery traitor) they move to a pizza restaurant, where Nick proves his identity by performing for the locals ("Straighten Out the Rug").

The resistance group stages a rescue of Dr. Flammond, where Nigel and Du Quois, a resistance leader, dress up in a fake cow outfit to disable the prison's defenses. While the other members successfully infiltrate the prison, Nigel reveals himself as the traitor. Dr. Flammond is rescued, but Nigel makes off with Hillary, and Nick is forced to rescue her in an underwater bar fight. With their flight about to leave, Hillary chooses to go with Nick and her father to America.

Krill, a powerful evil warlock, is spreading chaos and destruction. None of the more experienced members of the Circle of Enchanters dare to attempt to stop him. In desperation, the player, a novice Enchanter with only a few weak spells in his spell book, is sent in hopes that Krill will either fail to detect him or dismiss him as harmless. More powerful spells can be found on scrolls hidden in various locations, but as the player becomes more of a threat, Krill will respond accordingly.

''Clannad'' story revolves around Tomoya Okazaki, a third year high school student who dislikes his life. Tomoya's mother (Atsuko) died when Tomoya was young, leaving his father (Naoyuki) to raise him. After the accident, Tomoya's father turned to alcohol and gambling, and had frequent fights with his son. One day, Naoyuki, while arguing with his son, slammed Tomoya against the window, dislocating Tomoya's shoulder. This injury prevents Tomoya from playing on the basketball team, and causes him to distance himself from others. Ever since then, his father has treated Tomoya nicely, but distantly, as if Tomoya and he were strangers rather than a family. This hurts Tomoya more than his previous relationship with his father, and the awkwardness of returning home leads Tomoya constantly to stay out all night. Thus his delinquent life begins. Tomoya's good friend Youhei Sunohara, who was thrown out of the soccer club over a dispute with his seniors, is also a delinquent and often hangs out in his dorm room with Tomoya doing nothing much.

The story opens on Monday April 14, 2003 at the beginning of the school year, when Tomoya meets Nagisa Furukawa, a soft-spoken girl who is one year older than he is but is repeating her last year in high school due to being sick much of the previous year. Her goal is to join the drama club which she was unable to do due to her sickness, but they find that the drama club was disbanded after the few remaining members graduated. Since Tomoya has a lot of time to kill, he helps Nagisa in reforming the drama club. During this period, Tomoya meets and hangs out with several other girls whom he gets to know well and help with their individual problems.

After Story

In the second part of the story, which starts immediately after the end of the first part but extends into the next seven years, Tomoya and Nagisa start living together, and eventually get married. Tomoya has to endure several hardships that the family has been suffering from, especially Nagisa's illness. Just after Nagisa gives birth to their daughter Ushio, she dies, which causes Tomoya to become severely depressed. He is barely able to function, let alone look after an infant. As a result, Nagisa's parents, Akio and Sanae, take care of their granddaughter. Five years later, Tomoya meets with Shino Okazaki, his paternal grandmother. Shino tells Tomoya of his father's traumatic past, which is eerily similar to Tomoya's current situation. Afterwards, Tomoya resolves to raise Ushio and acknowledges Naoyuki as his father. Shortly after Tomoya overcomes his depression, Ushio is stricken with the same disease that Nagisa had. Tomoya, Sanae and Akio struggle to save her—Tomoya even quits his job—but all of their efforts turn out to be in vain. In the coming winter, wanting to do anything for his daughter, Tomoya takes her on a trip, but she dies shortly after.

Tomoya's psychology is developed in his dreams of a bleak world, called the , where small orbs of light float around. In the first few dreams, he sees a world devoid of all life, except for one girl. Each time he dreams, he finds out more about the world. Tomoya discovers that the girl has a special ability to fuse junk together to create new things, which she uses to create a body for him. Over time, Tomoya comes to the conclusion that only the two of them are "alive". To pass time, Tomoya and the girl try to build another doll with more junk they find, but as it has no soul, it fails to come to life. Remembering the distant world where he came from, Tomoya convinces the girl to build a ship so that the two can escape the approaching winter and continue to live a happy life. Eventually, winter sets in, and the girl becomes cold to the point where she cannot move any more. The girl tells Tomoya that he has another chance to go back and make things right. To do so, he must collect certain "lights" (symbols of happiness) similar to those floating around in the Illusionary World. If all the "lights" are collected throughout both story parts, a chance to save Nagisa from dying will become available, as well as the true ending, where she survives and lives with Tomoya and Ushio.

Setting and themes

There are important locations featured in ''Air'' that are based on places in the city Kami in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. ''Air'' is set in the Kasumi district of Kami; during the course of the series' creation, Kasumi was an individual town that has since merged with two others to form the city of Kami. Many of the locales in ''Air'', such as the seawall, the train station, the shrine, and the school are based on real places. As ''Air'' is set in the middle of summer, the season offers bright, sunny skies for the town during the day. In the manga adaptation, the town is described as a "quiet town with few people...with nothing but beaches and countryside." Scenario assistant Yūichi Suzumoto has commented that his impression of ''Air'' is similar to that of a folk song due to the rural setting and heartwarming story progression.

As indicated by the title, air, skies and wings are important themes: Yukito is searching for the "girl in the sky", and Misuzu believes that her other self is flying in the sky above her. Other characters show a similar relationship to the sky, such as Minagi who is a member of the astronomy club, and Michiru who has a fondness for bubbles that float in the air. Kano wants wings to fly, and Kanna already has them. Misuzu names a crow she finds —Japanese for "sky". Another major theme is the maternal bond, as the four heroines' stories, as well as Yukito's, revolve around their mothers, either biological or adoptive. Main scenario writer Jun Maeda commented that he prefers to include mothers in games if given the choice between only including a mother or a father, as is what happened with ''Air'', though he backs this up by noting that in bishōjo games, women are the main focus anyway. Complicated relationships involving family members and friends play a key part throughout the story. One of the sub-themes in the story is magic. Uraha, Yukito's mother, and Yukito himself have the ability to use magic, though Yukito is the least skilled among them. Kano was told by her sister that when she grows up and takes off her yellow ribbon, she will gain the power to do magic. However, the problems of parents leaving their offspring and poverty are displayed realistically.

Characters

The player assumes the role of Yukito Kunisaki, the protagonist of ''Air''. He lives a poor life going from town to town with little money, trying to make a living off his show with a puppet. As a young adult, Yukito sometimes acts childishly if provoked. Yukito tends to be helpful to those around him while trying to earn any money at the same time, and does his best to look after Misuzu in the Dream arc. Misuzu Kamio, the main heroine of ''Air'', makes Yukito quite mistrustful at first by being too friendly, but eventually earns his affection. She is a cheerful but introverted, slightly clumsy and simplistic high school girl, and often utters the pseudo-dinosauric phrase ''gao'' when she feels troubled, a habit she retained from childhood. Misuzu has a great love of dinosaurs, finding the story of their glory and extinction "romantic". As a child, her fascination with dinosaurs stemmed from thinking chicks would grow into them; her adoptive mother Haruko Kamio thinks it is ridiculous.

The second of the three heroines Yukito meets after Misuzu is Kano Kirishima, a girl attending the same school as Misuzu. She is usually energetic, playful, and tells jokes by saying nonsensical things. Kano is friends with a strange stray dog named Potato that follows her around and is able to communicate in his strange manner of speech. Kano still believes in things she was told by her older sister Hijiri as a child as a way of coping with her past. The third and final heroine Yukito meets is a girl in Misuzu's class at school named Minagi Tohno, a top student in the school who is introverted as well. Until she met Yukito, her only friend was Michiru, with whom she often blows bubbles at the abandoned train station in town.

Story

''Air'' story begin on Monday, July 17, 2000, when traveling street performer Yukito Kunisaki arrives at a small seaside town. As a young adult, he has been traveling around Japan in continuation of his late mother's search for the "girl in the sky" who, according to a family legend, has been cursed to spend eternity all alone. Yukito's sole way of earning money is by performing a puppet show by moving a doll that has been passed down in his family with magic, but he fails to gain anyone's attention by doing so in this town. The next day, he meets Misuzu Kamio—a sincere yet clumsy high school girl who is eager to become friends with him. He accepts her offer to eat lunch at her home, and Misuzu's aunt and foster mother Haruko Kamio is later persuaded to let him stay for the time being. A few days later, Yukito meets two other girls who go to Misuzu's school—Kano Kirishima and Minagi Tohno—who, like Misuzu, have strange personalities connected with mysterious pasts. As Yukito grows closer to Misuzu, he realizes from the dreams she has been telling him about that she is in fact the girl in the sky. Yukito recalls his mother telling him that after the dreams, the girl in the sky would start to first physically weaken, followed by feeling pain from an unknown source, then forgetting about those closest to her, and finally be doomed to die alone. Yukito realizes that his mother had once had her own encounter with the girl in the sky, but she had been unable to save her from her fate. Ultimately, Yukito decides to stay with Misuzu, regretting that he did not play with her more when they first met. Yukito uses all of the accumulated wishes that his ancestors have imputed into the doll to grant his own wish to stay by Misuzu's side, and as a result, Yukito disappears.

In the summer 1,000 years prior during the Heian period, Kanna is one of the last winged beings who has been held prisoner at a Shinto shrine for much of her life. Kanna is set to be executed following a political change in the Imperial Court, but she escapes with the help of Ryūya, a member of her samurai guard, and her loyal retainer Uraha. They decide to go in search of Kanna's mother Yaobikuni, who according to rumor is imprisoned somewhere south of Kanna's shrine. Although they eventually find Yaobikuni and free her, she is killed by a group of archers soon after. In an attempt to save Ryūya and Uraha, Kanna sacrifices herself, leaving herself cursed by Buddhist monks to relive painful memories in the sky for eternity. This eventually weakens but does not go away entirely, allowing Kanna to continuously reincarnate as a human girl, with Misuzu being one such reincarnation.

Yukito's final wish to stay with Misuzu is granted in the form of his memories inhabiting a young crow Misuzu finds on July 16, 2000 and names Sora. The events of the previous timeline with Yukito play out again, but after Yukito disappears after the doll grants his wish, Yukito's memories within Sora surface, allowing him to give Misuzu the necessary encouragement to be strong until the end. Haruko tries to show Misuzu more affection than she has over the past ten years they have been living together, but by this point, Misuzu's condition continues to worsen, eventually mentally reverting to how she was when she and Haruko first met. Haruko continues to care for Misuzu, and Misuzu shows that she truly cares for Haruko by choosing to stay with her instead of leaving with her father. Haruko and Misuzu spend the next three days together as mother and daughter, culminating in Misuzu's death. As a result of Misuzu dying happily with her family, it is implied that she takes her happy memories back to Kanna, effectively breaking the curse. Metaphysically, Yukito's and Misuzu's present incarnations are shown to be a young boy and girl playing on the beach on July 17, 2000 as they are watched by Misuzu with Yukito asleep next to her.

''Dragon Quest III'' is set many years before the original ''Dragon Warrior'' in a world separate from the first two games. A wicked fiend named Baramos threatens to destroy the world. The story revolves around the Hero, son or daughter (the player can choose to be either male or female, with few gameplay changes) of the legendary warrior Ortega. On their sixteenth birthday, the Hero is summoned to the castle and is given by the King of Aliahan the challenge to rid the world of the evil archfiend Baramos, which Ortega attempted in the past but seemingly perished in a volcano. The Hero then is able to recruit up to three traveling companions to help fight Baramos.

The Hero leaves their home country of Aliahan to travel the world and complete their father's quest to defeat Baramos. A major portion of the adventure is the quest to acquire the last two of the three keys needed to open doors throughout the game. After saving two people of the town of Baharata from the rogue Kandar and stealing back the King of Romaly's crown, the Hero receives Black Pepper, which they then trade for a sailing ship at Portoga. With the ship, the Hero acquires the Final Key and the six mystical orbs which are used to revive the legendary bird Ramia. Ramia allows the Hero and their party to travel to Baramos' castle, which is surrounded by mountains.

After defeating Baramos in a ferocious battle and returning to Aliahan, the Hero's celebration is cut off as Zoma, Baramos's master and the game's true villain, reveals his existence. He attacks and opens a pit to the Dark World, which the Hero jumps into. The Dark World is, in fact, Alefgard (of the previous installments of the series), where the Hero must acquire several of the artifacts that were collected in the original ''Dragon Quest'', including the Sun Stone and the Rain Staff. Rubiss, a legendary sage, has been turned to stone and is rescued by the Hero, and the Hero receives the Sacred Amulet in return. These items, as in the original game, create the Rainbow Bridge which leads the Hero to Zoma's castle for the final confrontation. Along the way, the Hero briefly reunites with Ortega as he is slain by Zoma's monsters, then continues on to defeat the revived Baramos, now turned into the powerful Baramos Bomus and later into the skeletal Baramos Gonus. With the Ball of Light given by the Dragon Queen, the Hero defeats Zoma and frees Alefgard, but Zoma boasts that evil will eventually return to the land and the Hero will not live long enough to stop it. For their bravery, the Hero receives the title of "Erdrick" ("Loto" in the Japanese version). The Hero later vanishes from Alefgard, leaving their sword and armor to be passed down throughout the ages so that their descendants can continue to protect the world from evil.

On a bookshelf filled with vacation-themed souvenirs, a lonely knick-knack named Knick the Snowman (who is Frosty the Snowman's cousin, according to the audio commentary), who resides in a Nome, Alaska snow globe, wants to reach a female "Sunny Miami" knick-knack that shows an attractive blonde and tanned pool-lounger, wearing a blue two-piece swimsuit with sunglasses (she has a double-K bust size in the 1989 original). Knick tries several unsuccessful methods to break out of the globe, which includes ramming the glass with the snow globe's igloo backdrop, using his carrot nose and a hammer on the glass, using a jackhammer (which causes his facial features to fall off), trying to cut the glass using a blowtorch and an igniter, and detonating TNT explosives. The latter causes the globe to fall over the edge. Knick notices an emergency exit in the base and frees himself just before he and the globe fall into a fishbowl. Here Knick sees an identical mermaid souvenir from "Sunny Atlantis" and starts gawking at her, this only backfires when he attempts to run towards her, the globe settles to the bottom and traps him again, much to his annoyance.

This film adaptation's storyline begins around 1920 and concludes in 1933. In its opening scene a limousine is traveling down a road outside London. In the car are two passengers, Amelia Sedley (Barbara Kent) and her friend Becky Sharp (Myrna Loy), young ladies who agewise are in their twenties. Amelia is from a rich, well-connected family, while Becky is from very modest means and has no family at all. Given Becky's circumstances, Amelia has invited her to her home for the Christmas holidays.

At the Sedley estate Amelia's family welcomes their guest, but the mother is soon wary of her. Those suspicions are warranted, for Becky aims to use her beauty and guile to gain wealth and privilege by climbing England's social ladder. Her first target for achieving those goals is Joseph, Amelia's much-older brother (Billy Bevan). After Becky tries unsuccessfully to trap him into marriage, Mrs. Sedley sees her cuddling in the home's drawing room with her daughter's fiancé, George Osborne. Disgusted, the mother calls "Miss Sharp" into the adjoining room, where she advises Becky to leave immediately so she can begin the job she had accepted before the holidays, that of governess for the family of Sir Pitt Crawley. Becky heeds the thinly veiled advice and departs.

Upon her arrival at the residence of Lord Crawley, Becky quickly stirs the passions of both the elderly Sir Pitt and his son Rawdon (Conway Tearle). The new governess entices them with her suggestive comments and by allowing each man into her bedroom at night while she glides about in her satin pajamas. Soon she and Rawdon begin a secretive affair, but Sir Pitt finally catches them together in Becky's bedroom. There they inform him they had married the previous day. That news enrages the old man, who orders his son and his "shameless little hussy" out of his house.

Relocating to a townhouse in London's Mayfair district, Becky and Rawdon feel the financial strains of being cut off from Lord Crawley and his wealth. The couple at first brings in money by betting and cheating their friends playing bridge. That income, however, is insufficient for their mounting bills, so Becky schemes to find other ways to get money. She does so through blackmail and by obtaining gifts from a string of lovers, including George Osborne, now the husband of her friend Amelia. Eventually, even Rawdon cannot tolerate his wife's wanton, criminal behavior. On the evening he is released from police custody for writing bad checks, Rawdon finds Becky at their home with another lover. He declares their marriage is over and gives her only ten minutes to vacate the premises. As she leaves, he informs Becky that his father had just died, and he is now the new Lord Crawley. He then warns her that if she ever dares to refer to herself as "Lady Crawley," he will track her down and kill her.

Several years pass and Becky lives in a far less affluent, largely French-speaking area of London. There she prowls the area's bars and casinos, getting money from the assorted men she meets. One evening in a casino, she sees Amelia's brother Joseph, who updates her about his sister's situation. While Becky already knows that Amelia's husband George had died five years earlier in a horse-riding accident, she learns from Joseph that Amelia still refuses to remarry. Subsequently she also learns that her friend's devotion to George's memory and her mistaken belief in his fidelity have led Amelia to refuse repeated marriage proposals from Dobbin, a gentleman who has adored her for years. Sometime later, Becky invites Amelia to her apartment and confesses her affair with George. She then calls Amelia a fool for revering a dead "cad" and urges her to wed Dobbin, who is waiting outside in a car. When Amelia rejoins him after Becky's disclosures, she rests her head on Dobbin's shoulder, implying that his next proposal will be accepted.

The film sequence that follows shows the passage of more years and the ongoing disintegration of Becky's life, which has become a daily struggle marked by petty crimes, prostitution, and meager funds. In the final scene Becky enters her shabby one-room apartment. Lying on the bed is Joseph, stirring from his latest binge. She addresses him as "my love" and informs him that his sister had just given her another check. He is infuriated and tells her never to accept money again from Amelia. Becky turns, sits at a dresser, and stares into its mirror. In the reflection she watches her face transform from the reality of its present haggard appearance to its former beauty. She then notices that Joseph has quietly departed. She also notices on a small bedside bureau that he has torn up his sister's check, and in the dust that coats the bureau's surface he has written ''Finis'' ("The End"). The film concludes with Becky lowering her face into her hands and weeping.

The novel explores a range of possible attitudes toward space exploration and science in the early twenty-first century in which he lays down his concerns about anti-intellectualism and the loss of the pioneering spirit in modern American politics and culture. In ''Titan'', the United States is ruled by a fundamentalist Christian President named Xavier Maclachlan who, believing Earth is the centre of the universe, orders the equal treatment of the Ptolemaic model of the Solar System in high school curricula, all the while youth culture goes into a rebellious downward spiral with the widespread adoption of digital entertainment technology. Due to its far-right isolationist policies, the United States have severed ties with the rest of the world (including within themselves with seceding nation-states), especially while tensions grow with the emerging power of China, which is engaged in a determined bid to gain control of space after the American Shuttle program comes crashing down with the loss of ''Columbia'' (but not in the same way as actual events. In this timeline, instead of disintegrating on re-entry the shuttle makes an irreparable crash landing with the loss of two of the crew), and NASA has no public or political support to help recover from the accident. Consequently, under Maclachlan's executive plans, the US military merges with the space agency for its resources to be diverted into defence spending, including using its space-faring vehicles as weapons platforms and forcing NASA to develop ethnically-targeted biological weapons tailored to attack Han Chinese.

Amid this negative climate and seeing no future for themselves after the permanent shutdown of the space program or for the decadent future of humanity, a small team of scientists and astronauts consisting of Paula Bencerraf, a survivor of the Columbia disaster, Isaac Rosenberg, a JPL scientist, Siohban Libet and Nicola Mott, two International Space Station astronauts and lovers, and Bill Angel, an astronaut, must persuade NASA to fund a crewed mission to Titan to confirm findings of life from the ''Cassini'' and to rejuvenate interest in space exploration to the world. They do so by recycling older spacecraft for several purposes: space shuttle ''Atlantis'' is refitted to carry cargo into orbit as well as a restored Saturn V for construction of the main ship (a heavily modified version of ''Discovery'' using the Shuttle OMS engines for chemical propulsion and powered by a TOPAZ nuclear reactor), using habitat modules from the mothballed International Space Station, and Apollo re-entry capsules are adapted to become Titan landers. On the day of the last launch to begin the mission, with the shuttle ''Endeavour'' ready to carry the crew to space, an insane USAF general driven by shallow militarism and hatred for space exploration tries to shoot down the shuttle during lift off. Despite damage sustained from an anti-satellite missile fired from a restored X-15, ''Endeavour'' successfully makes it into orbit, and the five crew members begin their six-year journey to Saturn by following the gravity-assisted Interplanetary Transport Network.

En route, Siohban Libet, one of the astronauts, dies after a solar storm. The use of a CELSS greenhouse for life support provides a continuous food supply, and the astronauts rely on vegetables, grain and fruit from the greenhouse as they travel on, and dispose of waste via supercritical water oxidation. But things take a dark turn as funding and support for resupply and Earth-return retrieval are cut by Maclachlan's administration (proposed and carried out by the very same men that tried to shoot the shuttle down), leaving the team with no hope for survival beyond what they may find on Titan. Once they reach Saturn and prepare to land on Titan's surface, another crew member is lost during the landing procedure with another effectively crippled. Titan is discovered to be a bleak, freezing dwarf-planet containing liquid ethane oceans, a sticky mud-like surface composed of tholins, and a climate which includes a thick atmosphere of purple organic compounds falling like snow from the clouds; and the only traces of life they find are fossilised remains of microbic bacteria similar to those recovered from Martian meteorites. The remaining astronauts relay their findings back to a largely uninterested Earth.

Meanwhile, the Chinese, to retaliate for biological attacks by the US, send an astronaut(incidentally the first Chinese to go into space) to cause a huge explosion next to an asteroid (2002OA)in a suicide attack, with the aim of deflecting it into Earth orbit and threatening the world with targeted precision strikes in the future. Unfortunately, their calculations are wrong as they didn't take into account the size of the asteroid which could cause a Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. The asteroid strikes Earth, critically damaging the planetary ecosystem. The Titan team members are presumably the last humans left alive.

As the surviving astronauts slowly die of disease and in-fighting, they decide to try to ensure life will continue to survive: they take a flask of bacteria and drop it into a crater filled with liquid water, in the hope that some form of life will develop.

The novel's final sequence depicts the final two crew members returned to life through some unspecified alien process on Titan where they died, several billion years in the future. The sun has entered its red giant phase, warming the Saturnian system and aiding the evolution of life, in the form of strange, intelligent beetle-like creatures, on Titan. The astronauts watch as the creatures build a fleet of slow interstellar probes to seed new solar systems before the expanding sun boils off the surface of the moon.

Lucky Jackson (Elvis) goes to Las Vegas, Nevada to participate in the city's first annual Grand Prix Race. However, his race car, an Elva Mark VI Maserati, is in need of a new engine in order to compete in the event.

Lucky raises the necessary money in Las Vegas, but he loses it when he is shoved into the pool by the hotel's young swimming instructor, Rusty Martin (Ann-Margret). Lucky then has to work as a waiter at the hotel to replace the lost money to pay his hotel bill, as well as enter the hotel's talent contest in hopes of winning a cash prize sizable enough to pay for his car's engine.

During all this time, Lucky attempts to win the affections of Rusty. His main competition arrives in the form of Count Elmo Mancini (Cesare Danova) and his Ferrari 250 GT Berlinetta. Mancini attempts to win both the Grand Prix and the affections of Rusty. Rusty soon falls in love with Lucky, and immediately tries to change him into what she wants.

Martha (Maren Jensen) and Jim Schmidt (Douglas Barr) live on an isolated farm named 'Our Blessing', where most of its population are "Hittites", an austere religious community who, according to one of the characters, "make the Amish look like swingers". Jim was a Hittite, but left the community when he got married. Jim tells a neighbor, Louisa Stohler (Lois Nettleton), who is the mother of Faith (Lisa Hartman), that his wife, Martha, is pregnant and that Louisa's services as a midwife will soon be needed by them. Louisa and Faith are not part of the Hittite community, either. In fact, they do not like them due in part to the constant harassment of Faith by William Gluntz (Michael Berryman), who chases her and calls her, and all "outsides", "Incubus." That night, Jim searches in the barn after hearing strange noises from inside, but is murdered when a mysterious figure runs him over with his tractor. This is alleged to be a mechanical accident.

Friends Lana Marcus (Sharon Stone) and Vicky Anderson (Susan Buckner) visit Martha after Jim's funeral. When William goes to the house at night to search for his shoe he accidentally left earlier when sneaking around, he is stabbed through the back by an unseen figure. The following day, William's father and Jim's father and the leader of the Hittites, Isaiah Schmidt (Ernest Borgnine) come to the farm looking for William. Martha tells the men she has no idea where William is and as they start to leave, Isaiah goes back and offers to buy back the farm from Martha, but she reminds him that he shunned Jim from his community and slams the door.

Martha is now being accused of being the incubus. Lana enters the barn the next day to look for something inside it, in a toolbox for the tractor but all the doors and windows suddenly close, trapping her inside. In a panic, she searches for a way out but encounters a figure dressed in black. When escaping out the now open barn door, William's corpse swoops down at her, hanging from a rope. The police clean up the mess as the Sheriff (Kevin Cooney) advises the three friends to leave town, as someone may be after them. However, Martha decides to stay where she is and buys a gun for protection. Multiple events follow, such as a snake being put into Martha's bathroom while she's taking a bath by an unseen figure who sneaks into her house. She manages to get out of the bath tub and kill the snake with a fireplace poker.

John Schmidt (Jeff East), Martha's brother-in-law, is unwillingly engaged to Melissa (Colleen Riley), his cousin. However, John feels attracted to Vicky. John is eventually sent away from home and the community when he retaliates against his father who begins hitting him. John meets Vicky outside the cinema and she lets John drive her car, giving him a sense of freedom. They stop at the side of a road and begin to make out but they are attacked by an unseen figure who stabs John multiple times and sets fire to the car, which eventually explodes with Vicky still inside.

Lana has a nightmare in which a pair of hands take hold of her head, forcing her to open her mouth as a spider falls in. When she wakes up, she finds blood in a milk carton as Martha finds a scarecrow tied in her room with a flower that was buried with Jim. When Martha hurries to Jim's grave she finds his body had been dug up. Martha also discovers it was Louisa and Faith who committed the murders as they attack Melissa. Martha is chased back to her home where she engages in a quick battle with Faith. During the struggle, Faith's shirt is ripped open, revealing her to be a man who has been in love with Martha. Lana and Martha fight with Louisa and Faith. When Martha shoots Faith, she is confronted by Louisa with a shotgun. Fortunately, she, too, is shot by Lana. However, Faith has survived her gunshot and tries to kill Martha once more, but she is killed when Melissa stabs her in the back. Isaiah turns up and tells them that the messenger of incubus is now dead. The day after, Lana leaves Martha to go back to LA. When Martha enters her home, a ghost of Jim warns her about the incubus. The film ends immediately after the real incubus bursts through the floor and pulls Martha down below.

The Train from Salonika

In 1939, Savarone Fontini-Cristi is the ''padrone'' of an immensely wealthy and powerful Italian family. At this time, the Order of Xenope, a remote Greek monastic brotherhood, possesses ancient religious manuscripts, some of which, if authentic, are considered to be of enough significance to shatter the Christian religion. The Order of Xenope knows that the Nazis and Italian Fascists are seeking these long-rumored documents so must hide them. Because of his stature as a man of unsurpassed integrity, the Order entrusts the custody of these holiest of relics to Fontini-Cristi. Savarone schedules the circuitous shipment by train from Salonika, through Yugoslavia and Italy, and finally into the Alps. If the contents of the shipment are discovered at any time, the consequences are explosive.

The Executions

Though extremely wealthy, Savarone Fontini-Cristi has grown to abhor the Fascist regime of Il Duce, Benito Mussolini. He actively supports the ''partigiani'', the disorganized Communist opposition to Il Duce. Savarone's involvement with the train from Salonika becomes known to the powerful Roman Catholic Cardinal, Donatti, who must have the hidden documents at any cost.

Incorrectly believing that Savarone has shared the secret location of the vault containing the documents with his first-born son, 36-year-old playboy Vittorio, Cardinal Donatti orders the execution of the entire Fontini-Cristi family at the family compound ''Campo di Fiori'', just outside Milan. The family's massacre by an execution squad, consisting of German soldiers overseen by Donatti, is secretly witnessed by Vittorio, who can hardly believe the horror - father, mother, brothers, wives, children - all murdered in front of his eyes.

World War II

To Vittorio Fontini-Cristi's surprise, the British take extraordinary steps to evacuate Vittorio from Italy, expecting that he will tell them of the vault's location. Unfortunately for them, he doesn't know anything about the train from Salonika or its contents.

The British take advantage of Vittorio's business skills during World War II, establishing a covert network of displaced European professionals, whose purpose is to discreetly sabotage the business processes of the German war machine: Shipping fiascos and printing mistakes, resulting in mild chaos in the back office of the war effort. The British decided to anglicize his name to Victor Fontine. Throughout the war, periodic incidents arise related to the hidden documents that put Victor's life, and the life of Jane, his new-found bride, in danger. In June 1942, in the midst of a German bombing related to the vault, Jane gives birth to twins, whom she calls her '''Geminis'''. Victor vows that, immediately after the war, he will put the mystery of Salonika behind him, and convince his pursuers that he knows nothing about it.

At the war's end, he returns to ''Campo di Fiori'', site of the execution grounds, where he hopes to end his involvement with the documents. After barely escaping with his life, he is met at the gates by five zealous priests, including the despised Cardinal Donatti. Proclaiming for the hundredth time that his father never told him about the train, Donatti orders Victor to be tortured until he confesses. Since Victor knows nothing, the priests torture him by breaking every single bone in his body, finally administering the last rites, and leaving him to die.

1973

Having barely survived the torture, Victor sells all of his holdings in Italy and establishes an extremely successful post-war consulting business in America. His twin sons, Adrian and Andrew, have grown up with privilege, with Adrian attending Princeton and Harvard Law, while Andrew, a West Point graduate, is a Major in the Vietnam War.

The sons are on opposite sides of the Vietnam war, but Andrew has grown into a sociopathic man, for whom the end justifies the means. Adrian is on the verge of exposing some of the crimes that his brother, and his cabal of elite officers, have committed.

At the same time, Victor is alarmed to learn that the train from Salonika has leaped through the past 30 years in the form of one of the zealous priests, who vows that Victor knows where the documents are and that he will force Victor to tell him. Remembering comments and gestures by his murdered father, the 70-year-old Victor travels back to Campo de' Fiori, and discovers key clues to the vault's location. The priest observes Victor's discovery, and attempts to pick up the torture where it was left off back in 1945. Badly injured, Victor returns to America to charge his Geminis with the responsibility of locating the hidden documents, realizing only that the sons have grown apart, but not that Andrew should not have such crucial information to be used for ill purposes.

Killing anyone who gets in his way, Andrew pursues the Salonika documents, leaving Adrian far behind. Adrian knows his brother's nature, and that he cannot be allowed to have the documents that could cause the collapse of Christianity, and the worldwide chaos that would ensue.

Brother vs. brother

In Champoluc a little town in the Aosta Valley, Adrian catches up with the murderous Andrew just as Andrew discovers the vault. In a monumental struggle, Adrian righteously triumphs over his evil twin brother, leaving Adrian to have the documents interpreted and to decide what to do with them.

The Documents

A parchment was taken from a Roman prison cell in the year 65 A.D. It is a letter supposedly written by a prisoner named Simon Bethsaida, renamed Peter by Jesus. In the letter, the author claims that Jesus Christ did not die on the cross, but instead another prisoner was substituted. Jesus allegedly committed suicide three days after the incident.

After surviving their expedition to King Solomon's Mines, Allan Quatermain and Jesse have settled down in colonial Africa. They are engaged to be married and Jesse plans that they will travel to America for the wedding. But Allan is restless.

A man chased by two strange masked men emerges from the jungle, and is recognised as one of Quatermain's friends. He is delirious and is cared for by Jesse and Allan, but at night, his pursuers return and kill him.

Before he dies, he tells Allan that his brother, supposedly lost, is alive, and that they have found the legendary 'Lost City of Gold'. Quatermain immediately starts preparing for an expedition to find his lost brother. Jesse is furious and stalks off, but then realises how important this is to Allan.

Allan and Jesse are assisted by Umslopogaas, a fearless warrior and old friend of Allan's, to put together an expedition. Swarma, a spiritual guru, and five Askari warriors, accompany them. The group crosses a desert and reaches the Walls of Japora; two Askari are lost when Swarma trips a boobytrap that opens a pit under the road to the city. Another member of the party is lost when savage Eshowe warriors attack the group. Many spears are thrown at Quatermain and his friends, but Umslopogaas deflects most of them with his giant axe. The remaining askaris are lost in a subterranean river.

Quatermain and his friends indeed discover the city. The inhabitants, both black and white, are friendly, and Allan meets his brother Robeson, seemingly in good health and at peace in the society. The city has two queens — the noble and beloved, Nyleptha and her power-hungry sister, Sorais. But the real leader is the evil High Priest, Agon, feared by all.

Allan raises the population against Agon and Sorais, who musters an army to recover the city by force. Allan realizes that they can make all the weapons they need out of gold, which is mined by the population. The final battle ends when, atop the temple, during a lightning storm, Allan uses Umslopogaas' axe to channel the lightning and melt the gold, causing it to flow off the side of the structure and pour over the attacking horde, turning Agon and his army into gold statues.

The story concerns the attempts of a fictional Greek village community deep in Anatolia in 1921 to stage a Passion Play - which, as the title suggests, ends up with their in effect re-enacting the events of Jesus Christ's trial, suffering and death. The name of the village is Lycovrisi (Wolf-spring), under Ottoman rule.

The village holds Passion Plays every seven years and the elders of the village choose the actors from among the villagers. Manolios, who is chosen to play the role of Christ, is a humble shepherd boy who was once a novice in a monastery. Yannakkos becomes Apostle Peter. He is a merchant-peddler who travels with his donkey through the villages and sells his items. He is warm-hearted, naïve and loves his donkey above all else. Michelis, the son of the wealthy nobleman old Patriarcheas, becomes Apostle John. Kostandis, the owner of the village café, is Apostle James the Great. He is good-hearted, willing to share, but confused. Then comes Panayotaros, who is chosen to be Judas. He is a wild, passionate man, waiting for revenge. The widow Katerina is Mary Magdalene. She is the village's prostitute. She is beautiful, but of course an outsider in the village, not caring about anybody's opinion. But she is the most generous one and in the end gives her life for what she believes in.

Then the Elders of Lycovrissi are introduced. There is the Priest Grigoris — a domineering man who bends God's will to his own. Archon Patriarcheas is the leader of the village. He only lives for his own pleasure. Old Ladas is a miser who is obsessed with his money but lives in poverty so that he doesn't have to spend any of it. Hadji Nikolis is the schoolmaster, who means well but is ineffectual, haunted by fear of his brother the priest.

The whole story is made colorful by the Turkish household consisting of the Agha, the Lord of Lycovrissi. He lives surrounded by oriental splendor, drinks himself crazy and enjoys rakı and pretty boys. He is guarded by Hussein, a giant Oriental who does everything his master asks of him.

Another character is the Priest Fotis. He comes to the village with a whole group of starved villagers from a devastated village which has been overrun by the Turks, and they are looking for shelter in Lycovrissi. Denied this by the priest Grigoris, the refugees retire to the barren slopes of the nearby mountain Sarakina, where they continue to starve.

The villagers, simple, earnest people who are fond of Manolios (who is to play Christ) Yannakos (Apostle Peter), Michelis (Apostle John) etc. are indoctrinated by the elders. The main factor is a real saintly priest, Father Fotis who comes to the village to ask for help with hundreds of hungry and dying people and who is turned away from the village and finds a refuge on the barren mountain. There he tries to survive with the help of Manolios, Yannakos, Michelis and Konstandis. Father Grigoris is afraid to lose his power over the villagers and starts a hate campaign first against the priest and his people and then against the rest of the group. At one point Manolios offers his life to save the village, but in the last minute he is saved. The venom of the village elders appalls even the Agha, but he is too comfortable and too afraid to lose his power to do anything.

Manolios loses his shepherding job and lives up on the hill praying to God and following His voice. Michelis gives up his riches and comes to live with Manolios. This of course infuriates and in the end kills his father. One main character, Panayotaros (Apostle Judas), doesn’t really change in character, but he becomes very dangerous and a real Judas. He doesn’t care for his life anymore after widow Katerina dies, for whom he has a crazy desire. He is the one who spies on the people up on the mountain and on Michelis and Manolios and reports to Father Grigoris, one of the main villains.

In the end, Father Grigoris assembles the villagers in the church, where he instructs Panayotaros to stab Manolios to death in front of the mob of baying villagers:

“For an instant Manolios’s heart failed him, he turned to the door - it was closed; he looked at the three lit lamps and, under them, the icons loaded with ex-votos: Christ, red-cheeked, with carefully combed hair, was smiling; the Virgin Mary, bending over the child was taking no interest in what was happening under her eyes. Saint John the Baptist was preaching in the desert. He raised his eyes toward the vault of the church and made out in the half-light the face of the Almighty, bending pitilessly over mankind. He looked at the crowd about him; it was as if in the darkness he saw the gleam of daggers. The strident voice of old Ladas squeaked once more: “Let’s kill him!” At the same moment, violent blows were struck upon the door; all fell silent and turned toward the entrance; furious voices could be heard distinctly: “Open! Open!” “That’s the voice of father Fotis!” someone cried. “Yannakos’s voice,” said another; “the Sarakini have come to take him from us!” The door was shaken violently, its hinges creaked; there could be heard a great tumult of men and women outside. “Open, murderers! Have you no fear of God?” came the voice of father Fotis, distinctly. Priest Grigoris raised his hands. “In the name of Christ,” he cried, “ I take the sin upon me! Do it, Panayotaros.” Panayotaros drew the dagger and turned to father Grigoris. “With your blessing, Father!” he asked. “With my blessing, strike!”

Priest Fotis and his people bring the dead body of Manolios to the mountain. He kneels next to him and holds his hands.

“Toward midnight the bell began ringing, calling the Christians to the church to see Christ born. One by one the doors opened and the Christians hastened toward the church, shivering with cold. The night was calm, icy, starless.”

“Priest Fotis listened to the bell pealing gaily, announcing that Christ was coming down on earth to save the world. He shook his head and heaved a sigh: In vain, my Christ, in vain, he muttered; two thousand years have gone by and men crucify You still. When will You be born, my Christ, and not be crucified any more, but live among us for eternity.”

After Homer notices that his coworkers Lenny and Carl enjoy special privileges at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, he learns they are part of an ancient secret society known as the Stonecutters. To join, one must either be the son of a Stonecutter or save the life of a Stonecutter. While extolling the secret society at the dinner table, Homer discovers that his father is a member and is admitted.

After his initiation, Homer takes great pleasure in the society's secret privileges. During a celebratory dinner with his fellow Stonecutters, he unwittingly destroys their Hallowed Sacred Parchment. He is stripped of his Stonecutter robes and sentenced to walk home naked. Before he leaves, the Stonecutters see that Homer has a birthmark in the shape of their emblem, signifying he is the Chosen One who will lead them to greatness.

Homer is crowned the new leader of the Stonecutters. He soon feels isolated by his power when the other members treat him differently because he is their leader. When Homer asks Lisa for advice, she suggests that he have the Stonecutters perform volunteer work for the community. The Stonecutters resent being made to help other people and form a new society, the Ancient Mystic Society of No Homers.

Homer becomes despondent about losing his secret club. Marge consoles him by telling him he is a member of a very selective club: the Simpson family. To initiate Homer, Bart and Lisa paddle his butt.

Elminster: The Making of a Mage

As a young boy, tending sheep in the fertile countryside of the nation of Athlanthar, Elminster has his first encounter with magic: the destruction of his entire hometown by a vicious dragon-riding magelord. The only survivor of the tragedy, Elminster joins a troupe of bandits and later a gang of thieves in the nearby city of Hastarl. Fed up with the rule and power of arrogant mages, Elminster sneaks into a temple of Mystra with the intent of defacing it, leading to a face-to-face confrontation with the goddess. Instead of unleashing her wrath upon the upstart youth, she questions him, and based upon his wise and honest answers and his exceptional potential, Mystra instructs Elminster in the ways of magic and he becomes a powerful cleric and mage, one of her Chosen, a title rarely given and accompanied by a host of powers and duties.

Elminster in Myth Drannor

After winning the freedom of Athlanthar from the power-mad magelords, becoming crowned king, and subsequently abdicating his throne, Elminster follows the edict of Mystra to enter the forest of Cormanthor. Stumbling upon a patrol of elves beset by monsters, he rescues the sole surviving elf and comforts him in his dying moments. Given a sacred duty to return the family's mind stone (kiira) to its rightful place, he sneaks into the City of Cormanthor, under threat of death (as elves will kill any non-elves on sight in Cormanthor) to return the kiira and complete his vow. Though not accepted by most of the noble caste, Elminster convinces the ruling Coronal and the powerful guardian of the forest the Shrinshee to trust and teach him. Surviving many tests of strength and will, as well as attempts at assassination, he learns much powerful elven magic, and plays a large part in the eventually seeding of Cormanthor's Mythal.

The Temptation of Elminster

Tempted by Mystra and Shar, Elminster must choose to follow his heart or his goddess.

Elminster in Hell

Thrown through a portal into the Hell-plane of Avernos, Elminster is captured by the outcast archdevil Nergal and struggles to survive his memories being replayed and torn from his mind.

Elminster's Daughter

This novel views the long-term effect of Elminster's meddling on the nation of Cormyr, which Elminster played no small part in creating and protecting, through the lens of his daughter, Narnra, a thief from Waterdeep.

Elminster Must Die

When the goddess of magic was murdered, Elminster's world shattered. Once the most powerful wizard in the world, immortal, beloved of the goddess of magic, and the bane of villainy, he is now a tired old man. He is powerful but mortal, and with all the enemies a man who makes a habit of saving the world tends to accumulate.

To make matters worse, Elminster has needs—feeding powerful magic items to the Simbul, his lover, is the only thing that keeps her sane—but their increasingly risky collection leads his enemies right to him.

This telenovela tells the story of Maria Salomé, a young and stunning gypsy woman, played by Mexican actress Ana de la Reguera. She falls in love with a "gayó" (a non-gypsy man), Sebastián - played by Colombian actor Manolo Cardona. From the moment they meet in the fishing village of Topolobampo (Sinaloa), it is love at first sight. However, their love is forbidden by the gypsy code and judged because of the racism that exists against Maria's culture.

Other important characters include Salomé's grandfather (El Patriarca) and her mother Jovanka (Dolores Heredia), Rafael Domínguez (Carlos Torres Torrija), Padre Juan Domínguez (Saúl Lisazo), Doña Victoria Domínguez (Saby Kamalich), Mamá Pasca, Jonás (Erick Elías) and his father Drago, and Salomé's sisters Maria Sashenka and María Magdalena, as well as the iconic image of Santa Sara (Saint Sarah).

Wrongfully accused of a crime she didn't commit, 16-year-old Guadalupe Santos is sentenced to 30 years in jail, while in jail she gives birth to a baby girl who is taken from her by her older sister Milagros. 15 years later she escapes jail and meets with Daniel Moncada who turns out to be the brother of the man she was accused of killing. Searching for Love, Truth and her Daughter, Guadalupe finds herself a Prisoner of life.

Series overview

Season 1

Bernardo Elizondo is the owner of a hacienda, where he lives with his wife, Doña Gabriela, their daughters: Norma, Jimena and Sara, Norma's husband: Fernando Escandón, and his father-in-law, Don Martín Acevedo, a retired military man who is paralyzed. Norma and Fernando's marriage was arranged by Doña Gabriela to hide that Norma had been the victim of a rape, but the marriage is in name only and has not been consummated, due to her trauma. Apart from that, Gabriela is in love with Fernando, so she forces her daughter to marry him to keep him close. Although Bernardo is in love with Libia Reyes, a humble young woman, he knows that he could not marry her, since Gabriela, a very despotic woman and very old-fashioned, would never give him a divorce. Bernardo is determined to break with everything in order to live out his love for Libia, and he decides to formally appear before the young woman's brothers; Juan, Óscar and Franco Reyes, who did not support the relationship but approve it, since the happiness of their sister depends on it. Unfortunately, Bernardo has a horse accident and dies. At the same time, Libia discovers that she is pregnant and finds out that Bernardo has died, so she decides to go to the Elizondo to claim the money, although she is scared and not convinced if she should go. When she arrives at the Elizondo house, Doña Gabriela humiliates and despises her family. Libia flees desperate and commits suicide by jumping off a bridge.

When the Reyes brothers find out everything, they swear to avenge the death of their sister and go to the Elizondo estate, posing as some bricklayers that Doña Gabriela has contracted to build a cabin for Norma and Fernando. This is achieved thanks to the Elizondo housekeeper, Eva Rodríguez, who also wants revenge on Gabriela for having forced her to give up her only daughter, Ruth, for having kept her single and having no resources to support her. By meeting the Elizondo sisters, Óscar Reyes intends to convince his brothers to change their revenge plans and seduce the Elizondo sisters, to pay them with the same price, although what he really intends is to get the Elizondo money to improve their situation. His brother Juan does not agree with their plans, but when he meets Norma Elizondo he changes his mind because they are instantly attracted to each other. This attraction makes Juan completely forget his revenge plans, but the couple will find many obstacles in the way that they must overcome.

Season 2

Taking place 20 years after the first season, the Reyes and Elizondo family will face new challenges that threaten their family. The death of a teacher shakes the family as evidence points to one of the sons of one of the couples as the possible culprit, triggering a series of heartbreaking events that will, once again, put their love and loyalty to the test.

Four girls (Mónica, Elena, Leticia and Isabel) enroll in an art academy to pursue their dreams of careers in acting and singing. The four are from different backgrounds:

Monica is wealthy but humble and sweet. She dates Rodrigo, who works under her father at their supermarket and drives a taxi on the side. When Rodrigo is framed by Monica's cousin Federico and sent to jail for industrial espionage, she stands by him, but she cannot forget her previous boyfriend Roger, who was also the object of attempted murder by Federico. Elena is poor and tough. She was Rodrigo's first girlfriend, but Rodrigo dumped her for Monica, causing a rift between the two girls. Later, however, it is revealed that Elena's father is also Monica's biological father; their respective mothers, also active in theater, had been friends and rivals. Isabel is middle-class and selfless. She lives with her widowed father. She gets involved with Pedro, who turns out to be married, but though Pedro's terminally ill wife forgives her and entrusts her with the care of their daughter, Betty, she distrusts Pedro. Leticia is a middle-class social climber, who is not hesitant to speak her mind and to pretend to get on with rich men. She eventually "marries" Federico, not realizing that the wedding has no legal effect (the license was not properly filed). She is later sent to work for her grandmother, who was also once a social climber but has mellowed and grown wiser.

''Life Lessons''

Lionel Dobie is an acclaimed abstract artist who finds himself unable to paint during the days before a scheduled gallery exhibition of his new work. Paulette is Lionel's assistant and former lover. Lionel is still infatuated with her, but Paulette wants only his tutelage, which makes things difficult since they live in the same studio-loft. Paulette dates other people, including a performance artist and a painter.

These deliberate provocations on Paulette's part make Lionel insanely jealous—and fuel his creativity. Lionel and Paulette, it becomes clear, have been using each other: Lionel using her sexually, Paulette using him as a means of entry into the higher spheres of the New York social and art scene. Paulette wants to give up and go home to her parents but Lionel persuades her to stay because New York is where a painter needs to be.

Lionel pours his anxiety and repressed passion into his work. Paintings around the studio show visual metaphors from relations past: stormy skies, burning bridges, and tormented clowns. Lionel realizes that he needs the emotional turmoil of his destructive relationships in order to fuel his art. At the art exhibit, Lionel meets another attractive young woman, a struggling painter. He persuades her to become his assistant and potentially his lover, beginning the cycle anew.

''Life Without Zoë''

Zoë is a 12-year-old schoolgirl who lives in a luxury hotel. She helps return to an Arab princess a valuable piece of jewelry that the princess had given to Zoë's father and had been subsequently stolen and recovered. Zoë tries to reconcile her divorced mother, a photographer, and father, a flautist.

''Oedipus Wrecks''

New York lawyer Sheldon Mills has problems with his overly critical mother Sadie Millstein. Sheldon complains constantly to his therapist about her, wishing aloud that she would just disappear. Sheldon takes his ''shiksa'' fiancée, Lisa, to meet his mother, who immediately embarrasses him. The three, as well as Lisa's children from a previous marriage, go to a magic show. His mother is invited on stage to be a part of the magician's act. She is put inside a box that has swords stuck through it and she disappears, just as she is supposed to, but then she never reappears.

Although he is furious at first, this development turns out to be great for Sheldon because, with her out of his life, he can finally relax. But soon, to his horror, his mother reappears in the sky over New York City. She begins to annoy Sheldon and Lisa (with the whole city now watching) by constantly talking to strangers about his most embarrassing moments. This puts a strain on his relationship with Lisa, who leaves him. Sheldon is persuaded by his psychiatrist to see a psychic, Treva, to try to get his mother back to reality. Treva's experiments fail, but Sheldon falls for her. When he introduces Treva to his mother, she approves and comes back to Earth.

On the night of Mardi Gras, a wealthy old man named Jason Foster is attended to by his physician, Dr. Sam Thorne, who warns him that his death is imminent. Cranky and candid, Jason is not cheered by the arrival of his cowardly hypochondriac daughter, Emily Harper, and her family: greedy businessman husband Wilfred; oafish, sadistic son Wilfred Jr.; and vain daughter Paula.

After openly insulting the Harpers, Foster says he has a special Mardi Gras party planned for them that night. Following dinner, the family gathers in Foster's study, where he instructs them to put on special one-of-a-kind masks that he says were "crafted by an old Cajun". Explaining that an old Mardi Gras custom involves wearing a mask that is the opposite of one's true personality, Foster sarcastically gives a sniveling coward mask to Emily, a miserable miser to Wilfred, a twisted buffoon to Wilfred Jr., and a narcissist to Paula while he dons a skull mask, saying that it represents death as opposed to his life. The Harpers initially refuse to participate until Foster correctly accuses them of only being there to claim his fortune upon his death. As such, he informs them that his will is drawn up so that they inherit everything if they wear their masks until midnight.

The Harpers reluctantly concede, but as the hours pass, they beg to remove their masks, saying that they are unbearable. However, Foster delivers a final tirade until the clock strikes midnight, calling them all caricatures before he dies. The Harpers rejoice in their newly inherited wealth and unmask, but discover to their horror that their faces now conform to the hideous features of their masks. Foster's face, on the other hand, proves to be superficially unchanged. Dr. Thorne observes, "This must be death. No horror, no fear, nothing but peace."

Mixing history and legend, it presents a situation in which pagan and Christianized Basques unite under the first king of Navarre and ally with Pelayo, the first king of Asturias to defend Catholic Iberia against the invading Muslims.

Amaya is a Christian noblewoman, daughter of a Basque woman and Ranimiro, the ruthless Visigoth general. She is a niece to pagan leader Amagoya, who prefers her other pagan niece as heiress to the secrets of Aitor, the Basque ancestral patriarch. Pacomio is a Jew conspiring in disguise among Muslims, Visigoths and Basques. Eudes, duke of Cantabria, is Pacomio's son, but, by hiding his Jewish origin, has reached a high post in the Visigoth kingdom and aspires to power beyond what his allies and his father would allow.

At the end, the secret of Aitor is revealed, to recommend Christianity; the pagan Basques (except for Amagoya) convert and Amaya marries the Basque resistance leader, García, becoming the first monarchs of Navarre. The legends of Teodosio de Goñi and San Miguel de Aralar, the Caba Rumía, the Table of Solomon in Toledo, and others are also mentioned in the plot.

''The Food of the Gods'' is divided into three "books": "Book I: The Discovery of the Food"; "Book II: The Food in the Village"; and "Book III: The Harvest of the Food".

Book I

Book I begins with satirical remarks on "scientists", then introduces Mr. Bensington, a research chemist specialising in "the More Toxic Alkaloids", and Professor Redwood, who after studying reaction times takes an interest in "Growth". Redwood's suggestion "that the process of growth probably demanded the presence of a considerable quantity of some necessary substance in the blood that was only formed very slowly" causes Bensington to begin searching for such a substance. After a year of research and experiment, he finds a way to make what he calls in his initial enthusiasm "the Food of the Gods", but later more soberly dubs Herakleophorbia IV. Their first experimental success is with chickens that grow to about six times their normal size on an experimental farm at Hickleybrow, near Urshot in Kent (where H. G. Wells was born and grew up).

Unfortunately Mr. and Mrs. Skinner, the slovenly couple hired to feed and monitor the chickens, allow Herakleophorbia IV to enter the local food chain, and the other creatures that get the food grow to six or seven times their normal size: not only plants, but also wasps, earwigs, and rats. The chickens escape, overrunning a nearby town. Bensington and Redwood, impractical researchers, do nothing until a decisive and efficient "well-known civil engineer" of their acquaintance named Cossar arrives to organize a party of eight to ("Obviously!") destroy the wasps' nest, hunt down the monstrous vermin, and burn the experimental farm to the ground.

As debate ensues about the substance, popularly known as "Boomfood", children are being given the substance and grow to enormous size: Redwood's son ("pioneer of the new race"), Cossar's three sons, and Mrs. Skinner's grandson, Caddles. A certain Dr. Winkles makes the substance available to a princess, and there are other giants as well. These massive offspring eventually reach about 40 feet in height. At first the giants are tolerated, but as they grow more and more, restrictions are imposed.

With time, most of the English population comes to resent the young giants, as well as changes to flora, fauna, and the organisation of society that become more extensive with each passing year. Bensington is nearly lynched by an angry mob, and subsequently retires from active life to Mount Glory Hydrotherapeutic Hotel.

Book II

Book II offers an account of the development of Mrs. Skinner's grandson, Albert Edward Caddles, as an epitome of "the coming of Bigness in the world." Wells takes the occasion to satirize the conservative rural gentry (Lady Wondershoot) and Church of England clergy (the Vicar of Cheasing Eyebright) in describing life in a backward little village.

Book III

Book III begins with a chapter entitled "The Altered World" that dramatizes how life has changed by portraying the shocked reaction of a Rip van Winkle-like character released from prison after being incarcerated for 20 years. British society has learned to cope with occasional outbreaks of giant pests (mosquitoes, spiders, rats, etc.), but the coming to maturity of the giant children brings a rabble-rousing politician, Caterham - nicknamed "Jack the Giant Killer" - into power. Caterham has been promoting a program to destroy the Food of the Gods and hinting that he will suppress the giants, and now begins to execute his plan.

By coincidence, it is just at this moment that Caddles rebels against spending his life working in a chalk pit and sets out to see the world. In London, he is surrounded by thousands of tiny people and confused by everything he sees. He demands to know what it is all for and where he fits in, but no one can answer his questions; after refusing to return to his chalk pit, Caddles is shot and killed by the police.

The conclusion of the novel features a tenderly described romance between the young giant Redwood and the unnamed princess. Their love blossoms just as Caterham, who has at last attained a position of power, launches an effort to suppress the giants. But after two days of fighting, the giants, who have taken refuge in an enormous pit, have held their own. Their bombardment of London with shells containing large quantities of Herakleophorbia IV forces Caterham to call a truce. The British leader is satirized as a demagogue, a "vote-monster" for whom nothing but "gatherings, and caucuses, and votes – above all votes" are real.

Caterham employs Redwood ''père'' as an envoy to send a proposed settlement, whose terms would demand that the giants live apart somewhere and forgo the right to reproduce. The offer is indignantly rejected at a meeting of the giants, where one of Cossar's sons expresses a belief in growth as part of the law of life: "We fight not for ourselves but for growth, growth that goes on for ever. Tomorrow, whether we live or die, growth will conquer through us. That is the law of the spirit for evermore. To grow according to the will of God!" The novel concludes with the world on the verge of a long struggle between the "little people" and the Children of the Food, whose ultimate victory is perhaps suggested by the novel's final image: "For one instant [a son of Cossar] shone, looking up fearlessly into the starry deeps, mail-clad, young and strong, resolute and still. Then the light had passed and he was no more than a great black outline against the starry sky, a great black outline that threatened with one mighty gesture the firmament of heaven and all its multitude of stars."

François, a dentist, and his wife Françoise, an illustrator, move to Paris and place their daughter Vic, aged 13, in one of the capital's best schools. Making friends, her free time becomes a whirl of discos, cinemas, and parties. François is contacted by Vanessa, a former lover, who insists he spends another night with her and, when he tries to go home, rings Françoise to say he is in hospital. Seeing through this ruse, Françoise kicks François out, smashes up Vanessa's shop, and starts an affair with Éric, one of Vic's teachers. who is then punched in the street by François. Trying to make sense of her parents' behaviour, Vic is helped by her great-grandmother Poupette, who encourages her in her relationship with Matthieu, the boy of her dreams, that results in a night together in a beach cabin. When François goes to pick Vic up from school, Matthieu insults him, not knowing who he is, and gets punched in the street. Françoise discovers that she is pregnant and decides to reconcile with François. At her 14th birthday party, Vic is in the arms of Matthieu when she suddenly sees the boy of her dreams …..

Peter Colt, a British professional tennis player in his thirties whose ranking has slipped from 11th to 119th in the world, has never really had to fight for anything, as his wealthy family allowed him to easily pursue his tennis ambitions. Though he earns a wildcard spot to the Wimbledon tournament, he feels it's time to admit he's getting too old to compete with fitter up-and-coming younger players and intends, after this last Wimbledon, to take a job with a prestigious tennis club.

As Wimbledon begins, he bumps into Lizzie Bradbury, the American rising star of female tennis. They fall in love and her interest in him changes his entire perception, even giving him the strength to win again. As their love grows, Peter's game becomes better and better. Lizzie's overprotective father-manager Dennis Bradbury is determined to nip their relationship in the bud, believing it detrimental to her career. One day, Dennis comes to Peter's old flat and yells at him for spoiling his daughter's game. Lizzie overhears this and decides to leave him and focus on her game.

The night before their semifinal matches, Peter sneaks into Lizzie's hotel room and persuades her to have sex. The next day, he performs above expectations and wins in straight sets, but Lizzie loses. Lizzie angrily breaks up with Peter, claiming his selfishness made her lose, and decides to immediately return to the United States to train.

Peter has to play the final match against Jake Hammond, an arrogant American star and world number 1. At the airport, Lizzie watches an interview on TV in which Peter apologizes and declares his love for her. She returns to Wimbledon.

As Lizzie reaches the stadium, Peter has lost two sets in the final and is behind in the third. When the game is suspended due to rain, Lizzie appears in the dressing room and forgives him. She tells him the secret of Jake's tricky serves and Peter fights back to win the title (3–6, 2–6, 6–4, 7–6^(8-6), 6–4). Now a national hero in Britain, he and Lizzie get married. With his support, Lizzie goes on to win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon twice, ultimately achieving her dreams. In the last scene, Peter is with their younger child, a boy, watching Lizzie and their elder child, a girl, playing tennis on a neighborhood court in New York City.

''Corridors of Power'' is concerned with the attempts of an English MP to influence the country's policy on nuclear weapons in the 1950s. The central character is Roger Quaife, an ambitious politician and Cabinet Minister. He is widely attacked for his stand on Britain's position in the thermonuclear arms race; at the same time his affair with another woman leads to potential blackmail. Lewis Eliot attempts to assist him in covering up the affair as he supports Quaife's stand on the nuclear question.

George Passant is a solicitor in a small English town, whose idealism and eccentricity lead him to accumulate a group of young followers in a mentor-like capacity. Narrated by Lewis Eliot, the novel has the more general background of Eliot's rising career and the changes in English society through the 20th century.

There is a tremendous rumble and the Simpsons' house shakes. There is a new flight path to Springfield International Airport overhead. A complaint to an airport official has no effect, and the house is now unsellable. Homer and Marge then go to their congressman, who has been Springfield's representative since 1933. He is so upset by their misfortune that he drops dead.

Bart asks Krusty the Clown to run for Congress and he agrees, thinking he can also eliminate everything with which the Government is harassing him. He is adopted as the Republican candidate. His campaign starts badly because he has offended so many minorities with his politically incorrect jokes, but Lisa helps him turn his campaign around by having him connect with regular families and citizens. With this advice and a very helpful Fox News programme, he is elected.

To Krusty's chagrin, no-one pays attention to a freshman Congressman, and he is appointed to useless committees, or set to work cleaning the graffiti off the walls. He, and the Simpsons, are about to give up, but Walter Mondale, who is working as a janitor in Congress, explains to them how a bill really becomes a law. With his help, Bart blackmails a key congressman with a videotape that shows him abusing the free mail policy. Homer manages to get another congressman drunk (and himself as well). Finally, during a session in Congress, Mondale and Lisa, with Homer's drunken diversion, fix the Air Traffic Bill with a paperclip to another bill giving orphans American flags. When the bill comes up for a vote, both the blackmailed congressman and the drunk one consent, and it is passed. Krusty praises the processes of democracy. At home, the Simpsons are happy to get the peace and quiet that they heroically fought for. Homer says that the planes are now flying where they belong — over the homes of poor people.

The novel follows the activities of a group of west gallery musicians, the Mellstock parish choir, one of whom, Dick Dewy, becomes romantically entangled with a comely new village schoolmistress, Fancy Day.

The novel opens with the fiddlers and singers of the choir — including Dick, his father Reuben Dewy, and grandfather William Dewy — making the rounds in Mellstock village on Christmas Eve. When the little band plays at the schoolhouse, young Dick falls for Fancy at first sight. Dick seeks to insinuate himself into her life and affections, but Fancy's beauty has gained her other suitors including Shiner, a rich farmer, and Mr Maybold, the new vicar at the parish church.

Maybold informs the choir that he intends Fancy, an accomplished organist, to replace their traditional gallery singing and string accompaniment to Sunday services. Reuben Dewy and the rest of the band visit the vicarage to negotiate, but reluctantly give way to the vicar's wishes.

Dick seems to win Fancy's heart, and the two become secretly engaged. When he is informed, Fancy's father is initially opposed, but changes his mind when as a consequence Fancy stops eating and her health deteriorates. Some months later, after Fancy's first Sunday service as organist, Maybold unexpectedly proposes marriage and promises Fancy a life of relative affluence; racked by guilt and temptation, she accepts. The next day, however, at a chance meeting with Dick, Maybold learns that Fancy is in fact already spoken for. Maybold writes her a letter, admonishing her to be honest with Dick and to withdraw her commitment to him if she indeed meant what she said in accepting Maybold. Fancy withdraws her consent to marry Maybold, and asks him to keep her initial acceptance forever a secret. Maybold again urges her to be honest with Dick about the episode.

The final chapter is a joyful and humorous portrait of Reuben, William, and the rest of the Mellstock rustics as they celebrate Dick and Fancy's wedding day. The novel concludes after the ceremony with Dick telling Fancy that their happiness must be due to there being such full confidence between them. He says that they will have no secrets from each other, "no secrets at all". Fancy replies “None from to-day” and, changing the subject, thinks "of a secret she would never tell".

In ''Desperate Remedies'' a young woman, Cytherea Graye, is forced by poverty to accept a post as lady's maid to the eccentric Miss Aldclyffe, the woman whom her father had loved but had been unable to marry. Cytherea loves a young architect, Edward Springrove, but Miss Adclyffe's machinations, the discovery that Edward is already engaged to a woman whom he does not love, and the urgent need to support a sick brother drive Cytherea to accept the hand of Aeneas Manston, Miss Aldclyffe’s illegitimate son, whose first wife is believed to have perished in a fire; however, their marriage is almost immediately nullified when it emerges that his first wife had left the inn before it caught fire. Manston's wife, apparently, returns to live with him, but Cytherea, her brother, the local rector, and Edward come to suspect that the woman claiming to be Mrs. Manston is an impostor. It emerges that Manston killed his wife in an argument after she left the inn, and had brought in the impostor to prevent his being prosecuted for murder, as the argument had been heard (but not seen) by a poacher, who suspected Manston of murder and had planned to go to the police if his wife did not turn up alive. In the novel's climax, Manston attempts to kidnap Cytherea and flee, but is stopped by Edward; he later commits suicide in his cell, and Cytherea and Edward marry.

The book describes the love triangle of a young woman, Elfride Swancourt, and her two suitors from very different backgrounds. Stephen Smith is a socially inferior but ambitious young man who adores her and with whom she shares a country background. Henry Knight is the respectable, established, older man who represents London society. Although the two are friends, Knight is not aware of Smith's previous liaison with Elfride.

Elfride finds herself caught in a battle with her heart, her mind and the expectations of those around her – her parents and society. When Elfride's father finds that his guest and candidate for his daughter's hand, architect's assistant Stephen Smith, is the son of a mason, he immediately orders him to leave. Knight, who is a relative of Elfride's stepmother, is later on the point of seeking to marry Elfride, but ultimately rejects her when he learns she had been previously courted.

Elfride, out of desperation, marries a third man, Lord Luxellian. The conclusion finds both suitors travelling together to Elfride, both intent on claiming her hand, and neither knowing either that she already is married or that they are accompanying her corpse and coffin as they travel.

At the beginning of the book, it is told that Ethelberta was raised in humble circumstances but, through her work as a governess, married well at the age of eighteen. Her husband died two weeks after the wedding and, now twenty-one, Ethelberta lives with her mother-in-law, Lady Petherwin. In the three years that have elapsed since the deaths of both her husband and father-in-law, Ethelberta has been treated to foreign travel and further privilege by her benefactress, but restricted from seeing her poor family.

The events of the story concern Ethelberta's career as a famous poet and storyteller as she struggles to support her family and conceal her secret—that her father is a butler. Beautiful, clever, and rational, she easily attracts four very persistent suitors (Mr. Christopher Julian (a struggling musician), Mr. Neigh and Mr. Ladywell, both gentlemen and friends, and Lord Mountclere, a 65-year old aristocrat with a dubious past, but is reluctant to give her much-coveted hand. She finally elects for Lord Mountclere, after he discovers the secret of her low birth and family, and she comes to dominate him, running his estate and saving him from bankruptcy. Her unrequited suitor Christopher Julian realises he would never have been happy with her had she married him, and settles for her younger sister Picotee who had been in love with him for years.

The novel takes place entirely in the environs of Egdon Heath, and, with the exception of the epilogue, ''Aftercourses'', covers exactly a year and a day. The narrative begins on the evening of Guy Fawkes Night as Diggory Venn is slowly crossing the heath with his van, which is being drawn by ponies. In his van is a passenger. When darkness falls, the country folk light bonfires on the surrounding hills, emphasising the pagan spirit of the heath and its denizens.

Venn is a reddleman; he travels the country supplying farmers with a red mineral called reddle (dialect term for red ochre) that farmers use to mark their sheep. Although his trade has stained him red from head to foot, underneath his devilish colouring he is a handsome, shrewd, well-meaning young man. His passenger is a young woman named Thomasin Yeobright, whom Venn is taking home. Earlier that day, Thomasin had planned to marry Damon Wildeve, a local innkeeper known for his fickleness; however, an inconsistency in the marriage licence delayed the marriage. Thomasin, in distress, ran after the reddleman's van and asked him to take her home. Venn himself is in love with Thomasin, and unsuccessfully wooed her two years before. Now, although he believes Wildeve is unworthy of her love, he is so devoted to her that he is willing to help her secure the man of her choice.

At length, Venn reaches Bloom's End, the home of Thomasin's aunt, Mrs. Yeobright. She is a good woman, if somewhat proud and inflexible, and she wants the best for Thomasin. In former months she opposed her niece's choice of husband, and publicly forbade the banns; now, since Thomasin has compromised herself by leaving town with Wildeve and returning unmarried, the best outcome Mrs. Yeobright can envision is for the postponed marriage to be duly solemnised as soon as possible. She and Venn both begin working on Wildeve to make sure he keeps his promise to Thomasin.

Wildeve, however, is still preoccupied with Eustacia Vye, an exotically beautiful young woman living with her grandfather in a lonely house on Egdon Heath. Eustacia is a black-haired, queenly woman, whose Italian father came from Corfu, and who grew up in Budmouth, a fashionable seaside resort. She holds herself aloof from most of the heathfolk; they, in turn, consider her an oddity, and some even think she's a witch. She is nothing like Thomasin, who is sweet-natured. She loathes the heath, yet roams it constantly, carrying a spyglass and an hourglass. The previous year, she and Wildeve were lovers; however, even during the height of her passion for him, she knew she only loved him because there was no better object available. When Wildeve broke off the relationship to court Thomasin, Eustacia's interest in him briefly returned. The two meet on Guy Fawkes night, and Wildeve asks her to run off to America with him. She demurs.

Eustacia drops Wildeve when Mrs. Yeobright's son Clym, a successful diamond merchant, returns from Paris to his native Egdon Heath. Although he has no plans to return to Paris or the diamond trade and is, in fact, planning to become a schoolmaster for the rural poor, Eustacia sees him as a way to escape the hated heath and begin a grander, richer existence in a glamorous new location. With some difficulty, she arranges to meet Clym, and the two soon fall in love. When Mrs. Yeobright objects, Clym quarrels with her; later, she quarrels with Eustacia as well. "Unconscious of her presence, he still went on singing." Eustacia watches Clym cut furze in this illustration by Arthur Hopkins for the original ''Belgravia'' edition (Plate 8, July 1878).

When he sees that Eustacia is lost to him, Wildeve marries Thomasin, who gives birth to a daughter the next summer. Clym and Eustacia also marry and move to a small cottage five miles away, where they enjoy a brief period of happiness. The seeds of rancour soon begin to germinate, however: Clym studies night and day to prepare for his new career as a schoolmaster while Eustacia clings to the hope that he'll give up the idea and take her abroad. Instead, he nearly blinds himself with too much reading, then further mortifies his wife by deciding to eke out a living, at least temporarily, as a furze-cutter. Eustacia, her dreams blasted, finds herself living in a hut on the heath, chained by marriage to a lowly labouring man.

At this point, Wildeve reappears; he has unexpectedly inherited a large sum of money, and is now in a better position to fulfill Eustacia's hopes. He comes calling on the Yeobrights in the middle of one hot August day and, although Clym is at home, he is fast asleep on the hearth after a gruelling session of furze-cutting. While Eustacia and Wildeve are talking, Mrs. Yeobright knocks on the door; she has decided to pay a courtesy call in the hopes of healing the estrangement between herself and her son. Eustacia looks out at her and then, in some alarm, ushers her visitor out at the back door. She hears Clym calling to his mother and, thinking his mother's knocking has awakened him, remains in the garden for a few moments. When Eustacia goes back inside, she finds Clym still asleep and his mother gone. Clym, she now realises, merely cried out his mother's name in his sleep.

Mrs Yeobright, it turns out, saw Eustacia looking out the window at her; she also saw Clym's gear by the door, and so knew they were both at home. Now, thinking she has been deliberately barred from her son's home, she miserably begins the long, hot walk home. Later that evening, Clym, unaware of her attempted visit, heads for Bloom's End and on the way finds her crumpled beside the path, dying from an adder's bite. When she expires that night from the combined effects of snake venom and heat exhaustion, Clym's grief and remorse make him physically ill for several weeks. Eustacia, racked with guilt, dares not tell him of her role in the tragedy; when he eventually finds out from a neighbour's child about his mother's visit—and Wildeve's—he rushes home to accuse his wife of murder and adultery. Eustacia refuses to explain her actions; instead, she tells him ''You are no blessing, my husband'' and reproaches him for his cruelty. She then moves back to her grandfather's house, where she struggles with her despair while she awaits some word from Clym.

Wildeve visits her again on Guy Fawkes night, and offers to help her get to Paris. Eustacia realises that if she lets Wildeve help her, she'll be obliged to become his mistress. She tells him she will send him a signal by night if she decides to accept. Clym's anger, meanwhile, has cooled and he sends Eustacia a letter the next day offering reconciliation. The letter arrives a few minutes too late; by the time her grandfather tries to give it to her, she has already signalled to Wildeve and set off through wind and rain to meet him. She walks along weeping, however, knowing she is about to break her marriage vows for a man who is unworthy of her.

Wildeve readies a horse and gig and waits for Eustacia in the dark. Thomasin, guessing his plans, sends Clym to intercept him; she also, by chance, encounters Diggory Venn as she dashes across the heath herself in pursuit of her husband. Eustacia does not appear; instead, she falls or throws herself into nearby Shadwater Weir. Clym and Wildeve hear the splash and hurry to investigate. Wildeve plunges recklessly after Eustacia without bothering to remove his coat, while Clym, proceeding more cautiously, nevertheless is also soon at the mercy of the raging waters. Venn arrives in time to save Clym, but is too late for the others. When Clym revives, he accuses himself of murdering his wife and mother.

In the epilogue, Venn gives up being a reddleman to become a dairy farmer. Two years later, Thomasin marries him and they settle down happily together. Clym, now a sad, solitary figure, eventually takes up preaching.

Alternative ending

In a footnote towards the end of the novel in some compendium editions, Hardy writes:

; Act I Auditions for 1933's newest show, ''Pretty Lady'', are nearly over when Peggy Sawyer, fresh off the bus from Allentown, Pennsylvania, arrives in New York City with valise in hand. Billy Lawlor, already cast as one of the juvenile leads, notices her and hopes to charm her into accepting a date with him ("Young and Healthy"). He informs her she has missed the audition but he can help her bypass that process, but choreographer Andy Lee has no time for Billy's latest conquest and tells her, "Amscray, toots." Embarrassed and flustered, she rushes off, only to run into director Julian Marsh. One-time star Dorothy Brock, indignant at being asked to audition for a role, is reassured by co-writer and producer Bert Barry that he merely wants to make sure the songs are in her key ("Shadow Waltz"). Despite feeling she is a prima donna past her prime, Marsh agrees to cast her in order to get financial backing from her wealthy beau, Abner Dillon. Outside the theatre, co-writer and producer Maggie Jones and chorus girls Ann "Anytime Annie" Reilly, Phyllis Dale, and Lorraine Flemming take pity on Peggy and invite her to join them for lunch and some advice. They encourage her to show them a dance routine that is witnessed by Julian, who decides there might be room for one more chorus girl after all ("Go Into Your Dance").

Dorothy and Billy rehearse a kissing scene, but Abner refuses to put money into a show where he has to watch Dorothy kiss someone else. The kiss is removed from ''Pretty Lady'' ("You're Getting to be a Habit With Me"). Peggy faints and is taken to Dorothy's dressing room. Pat Denning (Dorothy's secret long-term boyfriend and former vaudeville partner) is there and tries to help her. Dorothy finds them there together and, assuming they are having an affair, blows up at them. Julian overhears the argument and, fearing that Abner will pull funding for the show, decides to end the affair between them. A phone call to an unsavory acquaintance brings Pat a visit from a couple of thugs who convince him to break it off with her. The show's cast then departs to Arch Street Theatre in Philadelphia, for the out-of-town tryout ("Getting Out of Town").

The scenery and costumes will not arrive on time, but the cast begins their dress rehearsal regardless ("Dames/Keep Young and Beautiful/Dames (Reprise)"). Peggy asks Julian if he will be attending a planned party, and he accepts because he is attracted to her. At the party, a drunk Dorothy, who misses Pat, tells Abner she was only with him because of his money and breaks up with him. Abner wants to close the show, but he is convinced to keep it running. Dorothy finds Pat, but he is once again driven off by Julian at the hands of the gangsters. Peggy tries to warn Pat, and Dorothy catches them together, becoming greatly upset ("I Only Have Eyes For You" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams").

"Pretty Lady" finally opens ("We're in the Money"), but someone bumps into Peggy, which causes her to knock over Dorothy. When Dorothy cannot get up, an angered Julian immediately fires Peggy, and tells the audience that the show is canceled.

; Act II Dorothy's ankle is broken, and the show may close, but the chorus kids will not give up ("Sunny Side to Every Situation"). The chorus kids, certain Peggy could fill the lead role, find Julian and tell him that she's a fresh young face who can sing and dance circles around Dorothy. He decides it is worth a shot and rushes off to the train station to catch her before she departs. At Philadelphia's Broad Street Station, Julian apologizes to Peggy and asks her to stay and star in the show, but she responds that she has had enough of show business and wants to go home to Allentown. Dumbfounded, he tries to coax her with the words "Come on along and listen to the lullaby of Broadway..." After the cast joins him in the serenade, she decides to accept his offer ("Lullaby of Broadway"). Forced to learn the part in two days, Peggy is about to mentally collapse when Dorothy, who has been watching the rehearsals, unexpectedly visits her and realizes that beneath her nervous exterior, Peggy is good, "maybe even better than I would have been". She even offers a little friendly advice on how to perform the last song, "About a Quarter to Nine."

It is time for the curtain to rise again ("Shuffle Off to Buffalo"). The opening night curtain is about to rise when Julian, now completely in love with Peggy, stops by for a last minute lip-lock and pep talk in which he utters the now iconic line, "You're going out there a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!" The show is a huge success sure to catapult her into stardom ("42nd Street"). In addition, although she is invited to and expected to attend the official opening night party, she decides to go to the chorus one instead. Julian is left alone onstage with only a single ghost light casting his huge shadow on the back wall. He quietly begins to sing, "Come and meet those dancing feet on the avenue I'm taking you to...42nd Street" ("42nd Street (Reprise)").

The plot of the game revolves around the Fur Fighters, a group dedicated to fighting against General Viggo, the game's main antagonist. At the beginning of the game, Viggo kidnaps the families of the Fur Fighters, stranding their children around the game's various locations and turning the spouses (Or in Tweek's case, mother) into robotic beasts. The story is rather loose, revolving around the Fur Fighters' quest to rescue their babies, save their family and stop General Viggo.

;Act I The setting is Oxford University in the year 1892 where a group of college seniors are bidding farewell to the years gone by ("The Years Before Us"). In his dorm room, graduating Jack Chesney is excitedly talking with his butler, Brassett, making sure that luncheon will be ready for later that afternoon. He is so excited because his roommate, Charley Wykeham, has gone to the train station to meet his aunt, Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez, who is coming in from Brazil for a visit. Having Charley's aunt there as chaperone will make it quite easy for their two girl friends, Kitty Verdun and Amy Spettigue, to come for a visit.

Charley does return – but without his aunt. Apparently, she never was on the train. After reading her letter more carefully, Charley realizes that he made a mistake – she will be coming on a later one. Not having Charley's aunt there will make it impossible for the girls to stay – no decent girl would remain with two young men unchaperoned. The girls arrive early, and just as expected decide they must leave – not seeing Charley's Aunt Donna Lucia. ("Better Get Out Of Here"). Actually, they are more worried about being caught by their guardian, Mr. Spettigue, (Amy's uncle) who keeps a tight rein on the girls. The girls do leave.

After the girls' departure, the boys are a bit depressed; nevertheless, they know that the girls will return when Charley's Aunt is there. In the meantime, Charley tries on his costume for the upcoming student production in which he is appearing. While Charley is doing this, Jack's father, Sir Francis Chesney, makes a surprise visit and informs his son that they are actually penniless. Jack suggests that possibly a wealthy marriage could alleviate their problems and suggests that Charley's rich widow Aunt Donna Lucia might just be the woman for his father to wed. All Sir Francis needs to do is charm her when she comes for lunch later that day. The plan seems to be perfect.

After Jack's father leaves, Charley re-enters in costume rehearsing his lines for the school play. It appears that he will be playing a rather mature older woman – much like his Aunt Donna Lucia. Just then, he is informed by telegram that his aunt will not be arriving for lunch. Instead, she will surprise him at a later date. Jack is upset most of all because this will be his last chance to propose to Kitty – tomorrow she leaves for Scotland. The young ladies unexpectedly appear again assuming that a chaperone is there, and in a fit of desperation, Jack suggests that Charley pose as his aunt – anyway he's wearing the costume right now. Charley does pose as his aunt and fools the girls. They cover for Charley saying that he's not feeling well and has retired to his room.

The girls' guardian, Mr. Spettigue, comes looking for the girls, and everyone rushes out to hide from him – everyone except Charley who stays to tell Mr. Spettigue that she is "the only young lady present." She finally hits him with her fan and says "Be gone my good man and don't bother me any longer." Utterly baffled and confused, Mr. Spettigue leaves, and the girls and Jack return. Sir Francis then enters the scene and escorts Charley to lunch all ready to woo a rich woman into marriage. Just then, Mr. Spettigue re-enters and sees the girls there just as he suspected. He is quite angry until he learns that this "woman/chaperone" who dismissed him only a few moments earlier is actually the wealthy Donna Lucia D'Alvadorez from Brazil – "where the nuts come from." He, too, is smitten by this rich available widow and is ready to make his move. Together, Sir Francis, Charley, and Mr. Spettigue go off to lunch. It's Charley's job to keep them occupied. Jack, Kitty, and Amy all go off to watch the parade and look for Charley.

The scene shifts to a street where the students' band is marching. Everyone is excited by what they hear and see. ("The New Ashmolean Marching Society and Students' Conservatory Band")

In a garden, Charley is returning from having just entertained both men. Charley is ready to change back into his regular clothes and go and find Amy who must be wondering where he is. Jack is still frantic and begs Charley to continue for a short while longer so he can talk with Kitty. Charley doesn't care – he has had just about all he can take and goes off to change and find Amy. Kitty comes looking for Donna Lucia, but instead finds herself alone with Jack. It is there that the two are finally able to express their undying love and devotion for each other ("My Darling, My Darling").

Jack's father finds Kitty and Jack together and asks that he speak with his son. It appears that he is going to take his son's advice and marry Donna Lucia. Jack tells him that this is impossible; however, Sir Francis is now more determined than ever. Charley then appears as himself and finally gets to talk with Amy. He apologizes for his absence, and rushes to talk to Amy about their future together before her uncle returns and whisks her away. While Charley only wishes to propose marriage and speak of a future together, Amy only wants to speak of the future – a time of progress with wireless telegraphy, horseless carriages, and stereopticons that move. ("Make A Miracle")

Mr. Spettigue enters to find Amy with Charley and tells her to collect her things. They are leaving for good! He has been waiting for far too long for Donna Lucia, and is now ready to take Amy home. In a desperate moment, Charley tells Mr. Spettigue that his aunt really is in love with him. In fact, she's up in Charley's room right now resting from the emotional shock of meeting him. He knows that she'll be back soon. It's just that she has some business to attend to – like writing letters to her banks. The greedy Mr. Spettigue agrees to wait and ponders his possible future and fortune with Lucia ("Serenade with Asides")

Charley returns as Donna Lucia, and chases Mr. Spettigue around the garden. In the midst of all this, Jack informs Charley that his father is going to propose to him. In fact, Sir Francis enters and asks Charley to marry him. Charley turns him down, but runs off again as he hears a playful Mr. Spettigue approaching.

In the midst of all this, a woman (Charley's real aunt) enters and approaches Sir Francis about finding Charley. As the two look at each other, they realize that they know each other from more than twenty years ago. Sir Francis doesn't know that she is actually Charley's rich Aunt Donna Lucia; in fact, he points out to her that Charley's aunt is right there with them – running around being chased by Mr. Spettigue. She is quite intrigued by it all, and poses as Mrs. Beverly Smythe to better survey the situation. The two then look at each other once more and recall that time long ago when they first met. ("Lovelier Than Ever").

Jack and Charley are going over things, and Kitty and Amy enter to inform Jack that the only way they'll get to marry the girls is to get Mr. Spettigue's consent in writing. The girls also confide in Charley that they are actually really in love with Charley and Jack, but if they don't get consent to the marriages in writing from Mr. Spettigue, they will be financially cut off for good. Charley agrees to get the written consent from Mr. Spettigue and goes off to do so. Kitty and Jack leave Amy alone to think about Charley and all that is happening. Just where has Charley been? She's crazy about him, but can't help thinking that he's off with another girl – possibly the girl she saw in a picture sitting on his piano. ("The Woman In His Room")

Brassett enters and sets tea. Charley returns still dressed as his aunt and tells Amy that Charley has sent a message to her – he loves her very much. Sir Francis and the real Donna Lucia (still posing as Beverly Smythe) enter and unexpectedly join them for tea. During a madcap tea party, Donna Lucia presses Charley for information about his/her life in Brazil. Charley tells her about the place where Donna Lucia lived – Pernambuco. A song and ballet sequence (seen through Charley's eyes) revealing just how Donna Lucia and her rich husband met and lived together ends the first act. ("Pernambuco")

;Act 2 The act opens with the Oxford senior graduates posing for their class picture – complete with caps and gowns. They are all there except for Charley. He promised that he'd be there. ("Where's Charley?") Fortunately, he does make it there – just as the picture is being taken.

Walking along a street, Charley tries to explain all of his disappearances to Amy, who tries her best to believe him. She also tells him that her uncle is ready to sign a wedding consent form, but Donna Lucia must meet him to get the document. Charley assures her that "she'll" be there, but also tells her that he can't be there at the same time. She doesn't quite know what is going on; however, she trusts him and is excited about marrying him. She leaves Charley alone, and there on that street he thinks about Amy – the most wonderful girl in the whole world ("Once In Love With Amy")

Later that day, the girls are in the dressing room preparing themselves for the evening's big dance. While dressing and primping, they also go over all of the most recent events. ("The Gossips") Kitty drags a reluctant Charley – once again dressed as Donna Lucia – to the dressing room. The real Donna Lucia enters and has a good bit of fun making Charley feel uncomfortable while all the ladies ready themselves for the evening's fun. The ladies eventually all leave and Charley is left alone to talk with Mr. Spettigue who comes to play with his new love. Charley fights off Mr. Spettigue's forced advances and finally demands that he be given the letter of consent that has been promised all along. If Mr. Spettigue goes and gets the letter right now, Charley promises that they can announce their own engagement at the ball. Mr. Spettigue excitedly, dashes off to get the letter and meet his love at the ball.

Strolling down a garden path Donna Lucia asks Sir Francis if it isn't strange that they have never seen Charley and his aunt together at the same time. Sir Francis has no interest in any of that. All he cares about is dancing the night away with his long lost love. The same is true of Jack and Kitty. In fact, everyone is dancing the night away in love ("Red Rose Cotillion") Charley even makes an appearance as himself to keep poor little Amy happy and content.

Mr. Spettigue finally appears and announces the engagement of Kitty and Amy to Jack and Charley. He gives Charley (again dressed as his aunt) the letter of consent. Charley sneaks off and reappears as himself once more. Mr. Spettigue wants to see Charley's aunt one more time, so Charley goes to get her. Mr. Spettigue asks to see Charley, the nephew, once again, and a rather "tired" Charley dashes off to get him. While rushing, Jack accidentally steps on the hem of Charley's skirt and all is "revealed." Charley admits to Amy and everyone that he did it all because of love. Mr. Spettigue is angry and doesn't care that they are in love. Charley tells him that they have the letter of consent, which is all they need. Mr. Spettigue fights them by telling them that he will dispute this. The real Donna Lucia finally steps forward and says that indeed the letter of consent was addressed to her and is a legal document – and she puts her blessing on the wedding. There is nothing Spettigue or anyone can do. All is forgiven and everyone (except for Mr. Spettigue) is happy. (Reprise: "My Darling, My Darling")

In the town of Cottonwood Springs, Texas at the turn of the century, Marshal Frank Patch is an Old West style lawman in a community determined to be modern. When Patch kills drunken Luke Mills in self-defense, the town decides it is time for the marshal to resign. But Patch refuses, reminding the citizens that when he took the job, the agreement was he could have it as long as he wanted. Afraid of Patch because of his knowledge of their misdeeds in the town's wilder days, the city fathers then decide the only way to remove Patch from office is by violence.

Patch humiliates one of the town's councilmen, a cowardly shopkeeper, by slapping him. The man plans to kill Patch, but when Patch faces him down, he turns the gun on himself. The man's son swears revenge, supported by local leaders. They plot to ambush Patch. Aware that he will probably be killed, Patch marries his long-time girlfriend Claire, the local brothel madame. The marriage is on the same day as the shopkeeper's funeral, after which Patch's death is planned by the councilmen. The dead man's son attempts to kill Patch on his own, but is shot by Patch. Patch explains to the dying youth that his father had murdered a man many years ago. Patch covered it up because he had agreed to raise the dead man's child. Patch pursues one of the instigators of the plot to kill him, a man named Locke. He wounds and captures him, but then insists on going back out after the councilmen, knowing he will be gunned down. After stopping by the church, he is killed in cold blood by hidden gunmen on the rooftops. Claire is seen leaving town that night on a train.

Eliza Thornberry plays with a family of cheetahs in East Africa's Kenya after their mother, Akela puts her in charge of the cubs. When Eliza accidentally strays too far from the cheetahs' home, poachers kidnap one of the cheetah cubs, Tally. Eliza is determined to save the cub, causing her older sister Debbie to tell her family about Eliza's antics. This prompts her caring but straight-laced grandmother Cordelia to send Eliza to a boarding school in London for her safety - much to Debbie's dismay, since Debbie wanted a normal life. Upon arriving, Eliza discovers that her pet chimpanzee, Darwin, stowed away in her suitcase. He attempts to blend in, but gets himself and Eliza in trouble.

After having a dream in which Shaman Mnyambo tells her to save Tally, Eliza convinces her roommate Sarah Wellington to buy plane tickets for her and Darwin to return to Africa. While taking a train from Nairobi, they encounter an injured male rhinoceros, who was shot at the river by the same poachers who kidnapped Tally. They jump off the train to save the rhino with the help of veterinarians Bree and Sloan Blackburn. Meanwhile, Debbie is left alone with her feral adoptive younger brother Donnie at their Comvee, while their parents, Nigel and Marianne, go to film a solar eclipse at Tempo Valley. Eliza returns to the Comvee for supplies, and has a small confrontation with Debbie, who demands to know why Eliza ran away from London and gave up her chance for a normal life. Eliza locks her in a cage. Debbie escapes and pursues her, Darwin, and Donnie. Cordelia and her husband, Colonel Radcliffe, try to find Eliza and take her back to London before Nigel and Marianne find out; however, they meet up with Nigel and Marianne to inform them of Eliza's escape. They also begin searching for Debbie, Eliza, Donnie and Darwin.

Darwin, Eliza, and Donnie meet a gorilla who mentions seeing people setting up a fence across Tempo Valley. They then run into the Blackburns again. Eliza concludes that the poachers are targeting the elephant herd traveling through the valley. Later, the trio are invited to spend the night at the Blackburns' RV, but the next day, they find Tally inside the RV. The Blackburns reveal their true agenda as the poachers and capture them, revealing that the fence is electrified. Eliza and Darwin have an argument and Eliza intervenes. Meanwhile, Debbie meets a local Mbuti boy named Boko, who is sent by his village elders to assist her. The two reach the Blackburns' RV, but Sloan holds Debbie hostage after she reveals she's Eliza's sister. When Sloan threatens to kill Debbie if Eliza does not tell him how she discovered their plan, Eliza admits it was because of her ability to talk to animals. A storm comes and takes away Eliza's powers while the Blackburns flee. Eliza, Debbie, Darwin, Donnie and Tally ride a log on the river.

After the storm, Eliza tells Debbie about her ability to talk to animals and that she lost it because she revealed her secret to the Blackburns. Debbie reconciles with Eliza when she learns Eliza gave up her powers to save her. They reach Tempo Valley in time to see the elephant herd heading for the electric fence. When Eliza becomes doubtful of herself, Debbie reminds her that she has been helping animals long before gaining her powers, restoring her confidence. The Blackburns, riding a helicopter, order their men to set off explosives, scaring the elephants and making them charge toward the fence. Eliza triggers the fence's electricity prematurely, causing the herd to stop temporarily, then convinces the lead elephant to turn around. Infuriated, Sloan throws Eliza into a river. He then attempts to shoot the elephants, but they pull the Blackburns' helicopter out of the air by its rope ladder and destroy it, causing Sloan and Bree to fall. Eliza nearly drowns until Shaman Mnyambo saves her; he praises her for rescuing the elephants using her heart instead of her powers. As a reward, he returns her powers, on the condition that Debbie will also keep Eliza's powers a secret.

Following the eclipse, the Blackburns are arrested by rangers. Eliza reconciles with Darwin and she reunites with her family, who decide not to send her back to boarding school since she rescued the elephants. Boko returns to his village, keeping Debbie's watch as a memento. The Thornberrys return to the Savannah, where Eliza reunites Tally with his family. Debbie is upset when Eliza tells her she will turn into a baboon if she reveals Eliza's secret, and in the process frightens a group of baboons Nigel and Marianne are filming. One of them activates the radio, which plays music that the Thornberrys and the baboons dance to.

Recently discharged from service in World War II and surviving on a government pension for unspecified battle wounds, Hazel Motes returns to his family home in Tennessee to find it abandoned. Leaving behind a note claiming a chifforobe as his private property, Motes boards a train for Taulkinham. The grandson of a traveling preacher, Motes grew up struggling with doubts regarding salvation and original sin; following his experiences at war, Motes has become an avowed atheist and intends to spread a gospel of antireligion. Despite his aversion to all trappings of Christianity, he constantly contemplates theological issues and finds himself compelled to purchase a hat and suit that cause others to mistake him for a minister.

In Taulkinham, Motes initially finds an address in a bathroom stall and seeks out Leora Watts, a prostitute. He walks into her house, sits on her bed, and places his hand on her shoe without speaking to her first. He befriends Enoch Emery, a profane, manic, 18-year-old zookeeper forced to come to the city after his abusive father kicked him out of their house. Emery introduces Motes to the concept of "wise blood," an idea that he has innate, worldly knowledge of what direction to take in life, and requires no spiritual or emotional guidance.

Together, Emery and Motes witness a blind preacher and his teenage daughter crash a street vendor's potato peeler demonstration to advertise for their ministry. The preacher introduces himself as Asa Hawks and his daughter as Sabbath Lily Hawks; Motes finds himself drawn to the pair, which Hawks attributes to a repressed desire for religious salvation. Angry, Motes begins shouting blasphemies to the crowd and declares that he will found his own anti-God street preaching ministry. Motes' declarations are lost on everyone except for Emery, who becomes infatuated with the idea.

After Leora destroys his hat for her own amusement, Motes moves into the boarding house where Asa and Sabbath Lily live. Motes becomes fixated on the 15-year-old Sabbath Lily and begins spending time with her. Asa has Sabbath Lily give Motes a newspaper clipping reporting Asa's announcement that he will blind himself with quicklime at a revival in order to detach himself from worldly pursuits. Initially intending to seduce Sabbath Lily in order to corrupt her spiritual purity, Motes discovers that she is in fact interested in him.

Now skeptical of her and of her father's entire ministry, Motes slips into Hawks' room one night and finds him without his sunglasses on, with perfectly intact eyes: Hawks had faltered when he had attempted to blind himself because his faith was not strong enough, and ultimately left the ministry to become a con artist. His secret found out, Asa flees town, leaving Sabbath Lily to fend for herself. The 15-year-old moves in with Motes, and he begins to more aggressively pursue his ministry, purchasing a dilapidated car to use as a mobile pulpit.

Meanwhile, Emery, believing that Motes' church needs a worldly "prophet," breaks into a museum attached to the zoo where he works and steals a mummified dwarf, which he begins keeping under his sink. He ultimately presents it to Sabbath Lily to give to Motes on his behalf; when Sabbath Lily appears to Motes cradling it in her arms in a parody of the Madonna and Child, Motes experiences a violent revulsion to the image and destroys the mummy, throwing its remnants out the window.

Inspired by Motes' fledgling street ministry, local con artist Hoover Shoats renames himself Onnie Jay Holy and forms his own ministry, the "Holy Church of Christ Without Christ," which he encourages the disenfranchised to join for a donation of $1. The absurdity amuses passersby and they begin to join as a joke. This angers Motes, who wants to legitimately and freely spread his message of antireligion. Despite Motes' protests, Holy moves to the next level in promoting his ministry, hiring a homeless, alcoholic man to dress up like Motes and act as his "Prophet."

During a rainstorm, Emery seeks refuge under a theater marquee, and learns that as a promotion, a gorilla will be brought to the theater to promote a new jungle movie. An excited Emery stands in line to shake the gorilla's hand, but is startled to find that the gorilla is actually a man in a costume who, unprovoked, tells Emery to "go to hell." The incident causes Emery's "wise blood" to give him some inarticulated revelation, and he seeks out a program of the "gorilla's" future appearances. That night, Emery stalks the man to another theater, stabs him with a sharpened umbrella handle, and steals his costume. Enoch takes the costume out to the woods, where he strips naked and buries his clothes in a shallow "grave" before dressing up as the gorilla. Satisfied with his new appearance, he comes out of the woods and attempts to greet a couple on a date by shaking their hand. Emery is disappointed when they flee in terror, and finds himself alone on a rock overlooking Taulkinham.

Back in town, Motes angrily watches as Holy begins to grow rich from his new ministry. One night he follows Holy's "prophet" as he drives home in a car resembling Motes's. He runs the car off the road. When the man exits the car, the stronger, more forceful Motes threatens him and orders him to strip. The man begins to comply, but Motes is overcome by a sudden rage and repeatedly runs the man over. Exiting the car to ensure he is dead, Motes is startled when the dying man begins confessing his sins to Motes.

The next day, Motes is pulled over by a strange policeman with unnaturally blue eyes, who claims to be citing him for driving without a license. He orders Motes to drive to a nearby cliff, orders him out of the car, then, remarking that someone without a license doesn't need a car, pushes it off the cliff. The incident, coupled with the false prophet's death, causes Motes to become sullen and withdrawn. Motes purchases a tin bucket and sack of quicklime and returns to the boarding house. Completing the action that Hawks couldn't finish, he blinds himself with the quicklime.

During an extended period of living as an ascetic at the boarding house, he begins walking around with barbed wire wrapped around his torso and sharp rocks and pebbles in his shoes. After paying for his room and board, he throws away any remaining money from his military pension. Believing that Motes has gone insane, the landlady, Mrs. Flood, hatches a plot to marry him, collect on his pension, and have him committed to an insane asylum. In attempting to seduce Motes, Mrs. Flood instead falls in love with him. After she suggests to Motes that they marry and she care for him, Motes wanders off into a thunderstorm.

Motes is found three days later, lying in a ditch and suffering from exposure. Angry at being asked to return what they believe is a mentally-ill indigent, one of the cops who find Motes strikes him in the head with his baton. Motes dies in the police car on his way back to the boarding house. When the dead Motes is presented to Mrs. Flood, she mistakenly thinks he is still alive. She has him placed in bed and cares for his lifeless corpse, telling him he can live with her for as long as he likes, free of charge. Looking into his empty eye sockets, Mrs. Flood thinks she sees a light twinkling inside them.

Sometime after the defeat of the Mad Gear gang, Mike Haggar and his friends, Cody and Guy, have returned to their normal lives; Cody goes on vacation with his girlfriend Jessica, Guy departs on a training journey, and Haggar continues to run Metro City as Mayor. However, the surviving Mad Gear members have secretly regrouped under a new leader to seek their revenge. They begin by kidnapping Guy's fiancée Rena in Japan, along with her father, Guy's former sensei Genryusai.

Rena's younger sister, Maki Genryusai, calls Haggar and informs him of the situation. Accompanied by his friend Carlos Miyamoto, Haggar travels to Eurasia and meets up with Maki, and the three of them join forces to take on the newly revived Mad Gear. After a series of fights in several countries, the trail leads to Japan where they fight Retu, the new leader of the Mad Gear. The three defeat Retu and rescue Genryusai and Rena. Guy then writes a letter to his friends from abroad thanking them for all they have done.

Following the annihilation of the Mad Gear Gang, a new criminal group named the Skull Cross Gang emerges as the new dominant criminal organization in Metro City. When Guy returns to Metro City from his martial arts training and reunites with his old friend Mike Haggar, the Mayor of Metro City, the two are suddenly alerted that the Skull Cross Gang has started a riot in the downtown area of the city. Joined by Lucia, a detective in the Metro City Police's Special Crimes Unit, and Dean, a street fighter whose family was murdered by the Skull Cross Gang, Guy and Haggar must once again save Metro City from its newest menace.

''Riders of the Purple Sage'' is a story about three main characters, Bern Venters, Jane Withersteen, and Jim Lassiter, who in various ways struggle with persecution from the local Mormon community led by Bishop Dyer and Elder Tull in the fictional town of Cottonwoods, Utah.

Jane Withersteen, a born-and-raised Mormon, provokes Elder Tull because she is attractive, wealthy, and befriends "Gentiles" (non-Mormons), namely, a little girl named Fay Larkin, a man she has hired named Bern Venters, and another hired man named Lassiter. Elder Tull, a polygamist with two wives already, wishes to have Jane for a third wife, along with her estate.

The story involves cattle-rustling, horse-theft, kidnapping and gunfights.

The film is set in 1980. Vince Lombardi High School keeps losing principals to nervous breakdowns because of the students' love of rock 'n' roll and their disregard for education. The leader of the students, Riff Randell (P. J. Soles), is the biggest Ramones fan at the school and also the worst behavioral problem, in that her disciplinary record fills an entire filing cabinet. She waits in line for three days to get tickets to see the band, hoping to meet Joey Ramone so she can give him a song she wrote for the band, "Rock 'n' Roll High School".

When the tyrannical Principal Togar (Mary Woronov) takes her ticket away, Riff and her best friend Kate Rambeau (Dey Young) have to find another way to meet their heroes: winning a radio contest. Riff succeeds in delivering her song to Joey Ramone, but the next day Principal Togar and a group of parents attempt to burn a pile of rock records. In response, the students, joined by the Ramones (who are made honorary students), overthrow the teachers and hall monitors to take over the high school, with Principal Togar asking the musicians "Do your parents know you're Ramones?" When the police are summoned and demand that the students evacuate the building, they do so, but then the students and the Ramones burn down the school as a final act of youthful rebellion.

Master thief Max Burdett and his girlfriend, Lola Cirillo, steal the second of three famous diamonds, known as the Napoleon diamonds, from FBI Agent Stanley P. Lloyd. But Lloyd shoots Max before passing out from being gassed by the thieves. Max survives and tells Lola to get the diamond. She does, leaving in its place the one-dollar bill that she had received as a tip for washing the agents' windshield (while in disguise). Max and Lola then fly to Paradise Island in The Bahamas.

Agent Stanley P. Lloyd shows up 6 months later and accuses Burdett of planning to steal the third Napoleon diamond, which is on a cruise ship that will be docking for a week on the island. He denies this, and unwittingly turns the tables and befriends the frustrated detective Lloyd, showing him the pleasures that Paradise Island has to offer, even paying for the most expensive suite, the bridge suite, for as long as Lloyd is there. Lloyd, out of his element, adapts quickly to the easy-going Caribbean lifestyle and partners up with Sophie, a local constable, to try to capture Max at last when he steals the diamond, which Max visits and later gives in to the temptation to steal. Henri Mooré, a powerful, popular tycoon thought of by some as a gangster, learns of Burdett's impressive history as a thief and offers him additional island-life benefits and pleasures in return for stealing the diamond.

Burdett, still wanting the diamond for himself, pretends to work with Mooré, and gives him a fake plan as to how he would steal the diamond (which he had earlier related to Stan), having no trouble keeping ahead of his nemesis in the meantime. Lola kicks Max out after he breaks his promise to spend their first sunset on her new deck she had been working on and after she finds out he lied about writing his vows to her. Max is forced to bunk with Stan, and they share their thoughts about each other's lives. The next morning, the authorities and Sophie discover them, revealing that Stan's FBI license is suspended. They team up to win back Sophie and Lola, but Max still gives in and uses the dive trip as a distraction to steal the diamond, which works perfectly when Mooré's man tries at the same time but is caught after the fake plan doesn't work. After the fallout, Lola leaves Max after Lloyd shoots Mooré dead when he comes for the diamond. Max realizes his error, writes his vows, and manages to win back Lola at the airport before she leaves, proposing to her with "the first diamond he ever bought".

The next day, Max is met by Stan while celebrating, who reveals he set him up and let Max do all the work while he later recovered the diamond. Max concedes that his nemesis has won this time, and is simply happy to live out his life with Lola, watching sunsets with her. As Max and Lola are enjoying themselves on the beach, Max uses a remote control on Stan's car that has arrived at the airport, using it to mess with Stan, who quickly realizes what is going on and is unable to do anything about it. Lola asks Max if this is the "last time", which he agrees to.

Through her stepsister Claire Clairmont, Mary Godwin and her future husband Percy Shelley come to know Lord Byron. During the summer of 1816, Lord Byron invites them to stay for a while at Villa Diodati in Switzerland. There they meet Byron's physician friend, Dr. John Polidori. On 16 June, while a storm rages outside, the five of them amuse themselves by engaging in a game of hide-and-seek. Later in a parlor, Percy proclaims his fascination with science; Polidori tells him of his interests in sleepwalking and nightmares. Lord Byron shows his guests ''Phantasmagoria'', a book of horror stories he purchased from a shop in Geneva, and the three alternately read excerpts. This inspires them to hold a séance gathered around a human skull, during which Claire has an apparent seizure. Mary describes them as Claire's "horrors," and recalls instances during their childhood when unexplained phenomena would occur during them, such as Claire's bed inexplicably shaking, and doors slamming shut by themselves. Polidori brings Claire upstairs to rest.

During the night, Mary witnesses a shadowy apparition outside the window she and Claire share. Believing Mary was startled by a slamming barn door outside, Percy goes to shut it. While investigating the barn, he is startled by a grotesque creature. Mary speaks with Lord Byron in the billiard room, confronting him about his intentions with Claire, and reveals to him that Claire is pregnant with his child. He suggests she has an abortion, and the two argue, resulting in a physical confrontation.

Later, Lord Byron performs oral sex on Claire, during which she has a miscarriage. Meanwhile, Mary consoles Percy, who has grown increasingly paranoid and claims to smell an overpowering scent of decay. From the bottom of the staircase, Mary hears a noise, and feels liquid dripping on her. As she looks up, she sees Polidori leaning over the banister, clutching a bleeding wound on his neck. Once the bleeding is controlled, he claims to have been bitten by a vampire in his room. Byron accuses him of self-inflicting the wounds, while Percy and Mary believe him. Percy raves that the group collectively gave birth to something during the séance, manifesting their worst fears, while Polidori is scared of damnation for his homosexuality. He attempts to poison himself to death with cyanide, but is stopped by Byron.

Claire goes missing from her bedroom, and is discovered by Percy; he watches in horror as her breasts metamorphose into eyes; Mary attempts to flee the house, and inadvertently crashes through a glass door. Percy infers that the presence haunting them is feeding off of the group's fear. During a failed attempt to hang himself in the barn, Polidori witnesses a figure flee on horseback. Percy and Byron attempt to recreate the séance to banish their creation. Byron and Percy, both atheists, believe it must be returned to the recesses of their minds, while Mary questions the metaphysical and supernatural events plaguing them.

In the basement, the three discover Claire nude and covered in mud. Byron attempts to hold the séance there, but Mary refuses. During the event, Mary crushes the skull, and attempts to stab Byron with a shard. Percy stops her, and begins kissing Byron passionately. As she flees through the home, Mary witnesses an apparition of her son, William, in a coffin, followed by a vision of her suffering a miscarriage. In the madness, she attempts to throw herself off a balcony, but is stopped by Percy. Mary awakens the following morning and joins Byron, Percy, and Claire in the garden.

In the contemporary era, tourists visit the Villa. A voice-over informs that Mary's son, William, died three years after that night in June 1816, followed by Percy's drowning in 1822; Byron would die two years after Percy, and Polidori committed suicide in London. From Mary's previous experience of miscarriage came the desire to raise her child from the dead, which led to her writing ''Frankenstein''. From Polidori's homosexuality, suicidal thoughts, and fascination with vampires came the story "The Vampyre."

''Dragondrums'' is the coming of age story of Piemur, a small, quick, clever apprentice at Harper Hall. When Piemur's clear treble voice changes, his place among the Harpers is no longer certain. He is sent to the drum towers to learn drumming, the primary method of long-distance communication on Pern for non-dragonriders, while his voice settles. There he has to deal with the jealousy and bullying of the other drumming apprentices. When Masterharper Robinton secretly asks Piemur to be his apprentice, Piemur begins journeying through Pern, gathering information and running discreet errands for the Masterharper. In his adventures throughout Pern, Piemur has only his knowledge and wits to deal with a cruel Lord Holder and rogue dragonriders. He Impresses one of the coveted fire-lizards – a gold he names Farli – as a companion, discovers his place in the world, and earns journeyman status among the Harpers.

The events in ''Dragondrums'' take place after ''Dragonsinger'' and are contiguous with some events in ''The White Dragon'', which discusses characters and events elsewhere on Pern.

Hong Kong Land tendered the Government $4.76 billion for the plot in February 1982, when the market was at a record high. Prices subsequently dropped, necessitating its debt to be restructured. In February 1983, HKL obtained an eight-year loan of $4 billion, a record. In December 1983, it announced that the plot was to be mortgaged to secure a $2.5 billion loan facility. The second instalment of $2 billion on the plot was due in the financial year 1984/85. <!-- Commented these out since there's no information yet. --~~~~

As the opening credits roll, an abbreviated version of Ogami Ittō's (Tomisaburô Wakayama) past as Shogunate Decapitator and his wife's murder by ninja are seen, with Daigorō (Akihiro Tomikawa) providing the narration.

Two hooded samurai attack Ogami while he is pushing a cart with Daigorō inside. Ogami fends off the attack of the first, breaking the samurai's sword and splitting his head. The second attacker jumps over the first, with the first still clasping Ogami's blade. Ogami pulls off a handrail from the cart and a blade shoots out, transforming it into a spear that impale the second attackers. As the first is dying, he reminds Ogami that he is marked for death.

As Ogami and Daigorō sit by a roadside fire and eat their evening meal, Ogami remembers how he offered the infant Daigorō the life–death choice: either Ogami's sword (which would mean that Daigorō would join him on his mission of vengeance against the Shogun) or Daigorō's ball (which would mean that Daigorō would be killed so that he could be with his mother in heaven). Daigorō chooses the sword. The next day, the Shogun's officials bring Ogami the Shogun's orders: either swear eternal loyalty or commit ''seppuku'' with Daigorō. Ogami chooses to fight his way to freedom with Daigorō, only to have his path blocked by the Shogun and his men. The Shogun challenges Ogami to fight his son Kurando in a duel; if Ogami wins, he wins his freedom. Ogami accepts. Despite Kurando's having the strategic advantage of having the sun behind him and Daigorō riding on Ogami's back, a mirror bound on Daigorō's forehead reflects the sun into Kurando's eyes, blinding him long enough for Ogami to slice off Kurando's head.

Ogami and Daigorō journey on, never stopping in one place for very long as the Shogun's ninjas are always following them. As they wander, Daigorō recalls how the Shogun's other son Lord Bizen (Taketoshi Naitô) and his men were given orders to kill him. Even though Bizen's men are wearing chain mail beneath their robes, Ogami's skill and blade are too powerful. Ogami lures Lord Bizen into the middle of a stream and uses an underwater sword-slash technique to kill him. Ogami sees the Shogun watching from a distance and he swears to the Shogun that he will destroy him and all of his ninjas.

The Supreme Ninja (Kayo Matsuo) receives orders from the Shogun to kill Ogami and Daigorō. Lord Kurogawa (Akiji Kobayashi) does not believe the Supreme Ninja's women are up to the task, so she proves otherwise by having her ninjas to kill Kurogawa's strongest ninja Junai.

Ogami and Daigorō meet secretly with a client to discuss an assassination request. Ogami is asked to kill Lord Kiru (the Shogun's brother), and in return he will receive a thousand pieces of gold. Ogami accepts the mission and is told that Lord Kiru is being escorted by a three-brother team known as the 'Masters of Death.'

During Ogami and Daigorō's journey, they are attacked several times by The Supreme Ninja's women, but Ogami kills them each time. Ogami finally faces the Supreme Ninja herself. She attacks Ogami with a weighted net that contains fishhooks, but Ogami cuts himself free and the Supreme Ninja flees by running away backward.

Ogami and Daigorō keep on traveling, but they now come face-to-face with Lord Kurogawa's entire ninja force. Pushing Daigorō in his cart to safety, Ogami uses the spear blades in the cart's handrails to attack. All but two of the ninja are cut down, but Ogami is left wounded. He manages to push Daigorō to the safety of a deserted hut before collapsing from loss of blood. Daigorō goes in search of water for his father, finally bringing it back in his mouth, then takes some food offerings from a roadside shrine, leaving his jacket in honorable exchange.

The Supreme Ninja meets with Lord Kurogawa to report her failure, but Lord Kurogawa has another plan: to strike at Ogami through Daigorō.

Later that night, Daigorō is lured outside the hut by the sound of a woman singing. Waking up to find Daigorō gone, Ogami searches for his son. He finds Daigorō is a prisoner of Lord Kurogawa and the Supreme Ninja. Daigorō is tied up and suspended over a deep well; Kurogawa demands that Ogami surrender or he will drop Daigorō down the well. Ogami refuses, so Kurogawa and his men attack. Kurogawa lets go of the rope suspending Daigorō over the well, but Ogami manages to stamp his foot down on the rope and kill Kurogawa (and his two ninjas) at the same time. Ignoring the Supreme Ninja, who has not moved throughout the fight, Ogami carefully pulls Daigorō, who has survived, up to safety. Instead of killing the Supreme Ninja, Ogami walks away with Daigorō.

Ogami and Daigorō board a ship which is carrying the 'Masters of Death' to their rendezvous with Lord Kiru. Also on board is the Supreme Ninja. Rebels attack the 'Masters of Death', but are easily dispatched. During the night, the remaining rebel starts a fire on board the ship. In the ensuing inferno, the 'Masters of Death' tell Ogami that they recognize him but that they will not attack him as long as he makes no move against them, and they leave him. The companionway is blocked by flames, so he cuts through the deck planking. Ogami then puts Daigorō in his cart and throws them both overboard to safety before pole-vaulting himself into the sea. The Supreme Ninja attacks Ogami from underwater but he overpowers her. Getting Daigorō, himself and the Supreme Ninja to shore and to the shelter of a fisherman's hut, he strips all three of them naked and gathers them close together, telling the Supreme Ninja that they must share their body heat or die. The Supreme Ninja does not understand why he would save her and realizes she cannot kill Ogami or his son. The next day, Ogami and Daigorō leave her there, knowing that she will have to return to the Shogun, report her failure and commit suicide.

The 'Masters of Death' escort Lord Kiru and his entourage through a desert of sand dunes, where they are attacked by a rebel force concealed under the sand. The 'Masters of Death' then fight off and kill all of the rebels, and Lord Kiru is taken to safety. However, they have not gone far before they see Daigorō standing in their way. He points to Ogami, who is waiting. The 'Masters of Death' finally face off against Ogami, but one by one they are cut down and killed. Ogami then chases after Lord Kiru's procession, killing and driving off the guards. Lord Kiru protests that he is the Shogun's brother, but Ogami tells Kiru that the "Shogun means nothing" to him. Ogami then cuts Lord Kiru down.

As he and his father walk away from the carnage, Daigorō looks back one last time and says via voice-over, "I guess I wish it was different ... but a wish is only a wish". The final shot is a freeze-frame close-up of Daigorō's face looking back.

The plot centers around Chevette Washington, a young bicycle messenger who lives in the ''ad hoc'', off-the-grid community that has grown on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake.

Chevette, on a whim, steals a pair of dark-rimmed glasses from a man at a party because she is offended by his demeanor. Soon after, she realizes that the glasses have unlikely importance, as security company henchmen begin tracking and following her. Among the pursuers are Svobodov and Orlovsky, two Russian immigrants who reside in San Francisco and are employed as cops, as well as Loveless, a ruthless corporate hitman with gold canine teeth. The glasses contain plans by a powerful corporation to rebuild San Francisco entirely using nanotechnology, and for that reason, they are highly coveted and present a danger to the person who possesses them.

Meanwhile, Berry Rydell, a former cop turned private security agent, is contracted to recover the pair of glasses for Lucius Warbaby, an intimidating and presumably successful "skip-tracer", a sort of bondsman/bounty hunter. When Rydell is given the mission, he is not informed of the significance of the glasses and the information they contain.

Eventually, the plot climaxes when Rydell, Loveless, Warbaby, Orlovsky, and Svobodov all catch up with Chevette. The cops want the glasses, as does Rydell. Realizing the inherent danger of the situation, Rydell is forced to decide whom to side with. He decides to fight off Orlovsky and Svobodov and shirk his agreement with Warbaby. Instead, Rydell runs off with Chevette, and they embark upon a wild and treacherous journey in which they must remain one step ahead of their enemies, who have all the advantages of wealth and technology on their side. A subplot also focuses on a romantic relationship between Chevette and Rydell, which is initially restricted because of the nature of their circumstances, but is eventually allowed to flourish.

Another subplot focuses on a Japanese sociologist named Shinya Yamazaki, who is currently studying the bridge dwellers and the history of their settlement. The subplot largely focuses on his interactions with Skinner, an old man who lives in a shack high atop one of the bridge's support pylons, who happens to share his home with Chevette.

In the post Tokyo/San Francisco earthquake world of the early 21st century, Colin Laney is referred to agents of mega-rock star Rez (of the musical group Lo/Rez) for a job using his peculiar talent of sifting through vast amounts of mundane data to find "nodal points" of particular relevance. Rez has claimed to want to marry a synthetic personality named Rei Toei, the Idoru (Japanese Idol) of the title, a claim stranger than usual and therefore questioned by his loyal staff, particularly by his head of security, Keith Blackwell. Blackwell believes that someone is manipulating Rez, and wants Laney to find out who. Simultaneously, the Seattle chapter of the Lo/Rez fan club is discussing exactly the same topic of the unbelievable marriage of human and AI construct. Fourteen-year-old Chia Pet McKenzie is chosen by the group to go to Tokyo and meet with the Tokyo chapter to find out what is really happening. On the flight she meets a woman named Maryalice, who dupes her into unwittingly carrying a contraband item through customs in Tokyo.

Laney accepts his new position warily, but is conflicted throughout much of the novel by his past involvement with a powerful infotainment organization, "SlitScan", which thrives on destroying media personalities by exposing their secrets. In the course of this earlier job he feels responsible for the death of an innocent party. His talent had allowed him a foreshadowing of a probable suicide but SlitScan had tried to limit Laney's role to passive observer. However, Laney's conscience snapped and he attempted at the last moment to stop the suicide, but instead became mired in a scandal. Yet another organization claiming to be a media watchdog steps in and tries to pull Laney away from SlitScan to use his story to expose SlitScan’s involvement in illegal spying. This goes awry and Laney is left high and dry and alone. Further complicating Laney’s life is that Kathy Torrance, his controller from SlitScan, is attempting to blackmail him with false evidence into betraying his current employers, Lo/Rez, by exposing whatever secret she thinks they are hiding.

Chia, after being brought to the club run by Maryalice’s boyfriend Eddie, is helped to escape by one of the club’s employees who perceives that she is in danger. She takes with her the contraband which was slipped into her luggage. When she meets with the local Tokyo chapter of the Lo/Rez fan club she is disappointed by their seeming indifference to the impending "wedding" and they inform her this is merely an unfounded rumor. Disbelieving, Chia decides to investigate on her own and seeks the help of her host Mitsuko’s brother Masahiko, an otaku who is a member of the hacker community the "Walled City" (a virtual community based on Kowloon Walled City). Masahiko and Chia embark on a search for the truth to the marriage of Rez and Rei by going to the club where Rez announced the event, though the club no longer exists in the rapidly changing Tokyo scene. Masahiko is informed by other denizens of Walled City that he is being watched, both on the net and physically at his (and his sister’s) home. Chia admits to Masahiko that she has found something in her luggage and that might be what the unknown men are seeking. The contraband turns out to be a highly illegal nanotech assembler, a device used for high-speed material fabrication, which Eddie smuggled in on behalf of the Kombinat. Chia and Masahiko go to a love hotel to try to hide from the searchers. It is here that all the parties converge. When Chia and Masahiko link into the net, the Idoru (Rei) manifests herself in Chia's Venice simulation after she realizes that Chia is playing a part in her evolution. Maryalice finds the hotel through their taxi record, letting herself into their room. Lamenting her recent breakup with Eddie over the botched smuggling operation, she tells them that giving back the device won’t stop them from being killed as witnesses.

Masahiko and Chia go onto the Net to get the help of Chia’s friend Zona Rosa, who claims to be the leader of a Mexico City "girl gang" and from the denizens of the distributed system, Walled City. In short order, Maryalice’s boyfriend Eddie shows up with a member of the Kombinat to reclaim the nanotech device. This prompts Zona Rosa (who has been viewing events over the net) into making a terrible personal sacrifice to save Chia. Events rapidly come to a head when Rez and Blackwell arrive. Laney sees events occurring (and about to occur) in the datastreams and rushes with Lo/Rez’s support crew to the love hotel. A deal is struck and most of the parties are accommodated. The ultimate resolution is left open as to whether the Rez/Rei union is made possible with the nanotechnology that they have obtained.

In contemporary Russia, Ivan and his older brother Andrei have grown a deep attachment to each other to make up for their fatherless childhood. Both their mother and grandmother live with them. After running home after a fight with each other, the boys are shocked to discover their father has returned after a 12-year absence. With their mother's uneasy blessing, Ivan and Andrei set out on what they believe will be a simple fishing vacation with him.

Andrei is delighted to be reunited with their father and Ivan is apprehensive towards the man whom they know only from a faded photograph.

At first, both brothers are pleased with the prospect of an exciting adventure, but they soon strain under the weight of their father's awkward and increasingly brutal efforts to make up for the missing decade. Ivan and Andrei find themselves alternately tested, rescued, scolded, mentored, scrutinized, and ignored by the man. Andrei seems to look up to his father while Ivan remains stubbornly defensive.

As the truck stops and cafés give way to rain-swept, primeval wilderness coastline, Ivan's doubts give way to open defiance. Andrei's powerful need to bond with a father he's never known begins, in turn, to distance him from Ivan. Ivan and his father's test of will escalates into bitter hostility and sudden violence after the trio arrives at their mysterious island destination.

Ivan has an outburst of anger after witnessing his father strike Andrei. He shouts at his father, runs into the forest, and climbs to the top of the observatory tower. Andrei and their father run after him. The father tries to reason with Ivan, but this only stresses Ivan further. He then threatens to jump down from the top of the tower. The father tries to reach out to him, but falls to his death.

Ivan and Andrei take the body across the forest, bring him on board the boat, and row back to where they came. While the boys are putting their gear in the car, the boat starts to drift away. Andrei screams, "Father!" and starts running towards the shore, followed by Ivan, but it is too late. The boat and the body are sinking. Ivan screams "Father!" for the first and the last time from the bottom of his heart. They get into the car and drive away. The film ends with photographs from their journey; since the father does not appear on any of them, there is no proof that Andrei and Ivan went on a trip with him.

''Nitemare 3D'' follows the story of Hugo, from the ''Hugo'' trilogy, a series of graphic adventure PC games consisting of ''Hugo's House of Horrors'', ''Hugo II, Whodunit?'', and ''Hugo III, Jungle of Doom!''. Penelope, Hugo's girlfriend, has been kidnapped by the evil Dr. Hammerstein for use in heinous experiments. Hugo must battle through Hammerstein's bizarre mansion, caverns complete with prisons and laboratories, and finally through a twisted alternate dimension of demons and aliens in an attempt to save her.

Ray Charles Robinson is raised in poverty in Florida by his mother, Aretha. Learning to play piano at an early age, Ray is haunted by the accidental death of his younger brother George, who drowns in their mother's washbasin. Ray loses his vision and by age seven is completely blind. Aretha teaches him to be independent, eventually sending him to a school for the deaf and blind.

In 1946, Ray joins a white country band and wears sunglasses to hide his damaged eyes. Two years later, he travels to Seattle and joins a nightclub band, though the club's owner demands sexual favors and controls his money and career. After discovering he is being exploited, Ray signs his own record deal and leaves the band. Touring on the Chitlin' Circuit as “Ray Charles”, he is introduced to heroin.

Ray is discovered by Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records and records his first hit with Ertegun's song "Mess Around". In Houston, Ray falls in love with Della Bea, a preacher's daughter. Though she and others are unhappy about Ray mixing gospel with his music, he marries Della and continues to gain fame with "I Got a Woman" and "Hallelujah I Love Her So".

A pregnant Della finds Ray’s drug kit and confronts him. They reconcile after the birth of their first child, but Ray begins an affair with singer Mary Anne Fisher. In 1956, as Ray's popularity grows, he hires a trio to become "The Raelettes" and immediately falls for lead singer Margie Hendrix. They begin their own affair, and a jealous Mary Anne leaves.

A few years later, when Ray's band finishes a set early and the club’s owner demands they play the remaining time, Ray performs "What'd I Say" on the spot. His popularity rises through the 1950s and he moves his family to Los Angeles but continues to use heroin, straining his relationships with Della and Margie. In 1960, he signs a better contract with ABC Records, negotiating to own his master tapes.

Ray continues to experiment with his music, writing such hits as "Georgia on My Mind". Margie reveals she is pregnant, and cuts off their affair when Ray demands she end the pregnancy. He writes "Hit the Road Jack" with a solo by Margie, who uses her newfound recognition to embark on a solo career, while Ray struggles with his addiction.

In 1961, Ray encounters civil rights protestors outside his concert in Augusta, Georgia. Deciding not to play at the segregated venue, he cancels the concert and is banned from playing in Georgia. After he allows black and white audience members to dance together onstage during a concert in Indianapolis, his hotel room is raided by police. His arrest for heroin possession is made public, to Della’s dismay, but his record label has the charges dismissed.

In St. Louis, Ray performs the country-influenced "I Can't Stop Loving You" and is impressed by announcer Joe Adams, who joins his tour. Ray moves his family to Beverly Hills, and learns that Margie has died of an overdose. Joe alienates Ray’s band and his longtime friend and manager Jeff Brown, whom Ray fires.

In 1965, Ray returns from a concert in Montreal and is again arrested for heroin possession. Dismissing his excuses, Della pleads with him to overcome his habit, and he is sentenced to drug rehabilitation. Suffering vivid nightmares during withdrawal, Ray has a vision of George and their mother, who chastises him for letting his addictions cripple him.

By 1979, Ray has permanently quit heroin and receives an official apology from the state of Georgia, which names "Georgia On My Mind" the official state song. Ray goes on to have a long and successful career as a world-famous entertainer until his death in 2004.

Tom Jeffords comes across a wounded, 14-year-old Apache boy dying from buckshot wounds in his back. Jeffords gives the boy water and treats his wounds. The boy's tribesmen appear and are initially hostile, but decide to let Jeffords go free. However, when a group of gold prospectors approaches, the Apache gag Jeffords and tie him to a tree. Helpless, he watches as they attack the prospectors and torture the survivors. The warriors then let him go but warn him not to enter Apache territory again.

When Jeffords returns to Tucson, he encounters a prospector who escaped the ambush. He corrects a man's exaggerated account of the attack, but Ben Slade is incredulous and does not see why Jeffords did not kill the Apache boy. Instead, Jeffords learns the Apache language and customs and plans to go to Cochise's stronghold on behalf of his friend, Milt, who is in charge of the mail service in Tucson. Jeffords enters the Apache stronghold and begins a parley with Cochise, who agrees to let the couriers through. Jeffords meets a young Apache girl, Sonseeahray, and falls in love.

A few of Cochise's warriors attack an army wagon train and kill the survivors. The townsfolk nearly lynch Jeffords as a traitor before he is saved by General Oliver Otis Howard who recruits Jeffords to negotiate peace with Cochise. Howard, the "Christian General" condemns racism, saying that the Bible "says nothing about pigmentation of the skin.” Jeffords makes a peace treaty with Cochise, but a group led by Geronimo, oppose the treaty and leave the stronghold. When these renegades ambush a stagecoach, Jeffords rides off to seek help from Cochise and the stagecoach is saved.

Jeffords and Sonseeahray marry in an Apache ceremony and have several days of tranquility. Later, Ben Slade's son spins a story to Jeffords and Cochise about two of his horses stolen by Cochise's people. Cochise says that his people did not take them and doubts his story, as he knows the boy's father is an Apache hater. They then decide to go along with the boy up the canyon but are ambushed by the boy's father and a gang of men from Tucson. Jeffords is badly wounded and Sonseeahray is killed but Cochise kills most of the men, including Ben Slade. Cochise forbids Jeffords to retaliate, saying that the ambush was not done by the military and that Geronimo broke the peace no less than Slade and his men, and that peace must be maintained. Jeffords rides off with the belief that "the death of Sonseeahray had put a seal upon the peace, and from that day on wherever I went, in the cities, among the Apaches and in the mountains, I always remembered, my wife was with me.”

According to Gaimar

This plot summary is based on the translation of Hardy and Martin.

King Adelbrit is a Dane ruling Norfolk under Constantine, King Arthur's nephew, along with a part of Denmark (71-74). King Edelsie is a Briton and King of Lincoln and Lindsey. His sister Orwain marries Adelbrit, and their child is Argentille. Orwain and Adelbrit die at much the same time (lines 1-94). When Adelbrit dies, Edelsie marries his niece to a serving lad called Cuheran in order to clear the way for taking over Adelbrit's kingdom himself (93-104, 165-80).

Cuheran is handsome, magnanimous and the freemen and nobles of the household would have given him anything he wanted if only he weren't so humble that he asks for nothing (95-154). In something of a blind motif which does, however, serve to suggest Cuheran's boorishness, it takes a few nights for Cuheran to get round to having sex with Argentille (177-94). Argentille has a prophetic dream (195-240). Argentille awakes to find Cuheran sleeping on his back, with a flame burning at his mouth. She wakes Cuheran and he explains the dream as a prophecy of the feast he will be cooking the next day and adds that he doesn't know why a flame burns at his mouth when he sleeps (241-310). Argentille decides she would rather live with Cuheran's family than in shame with her uncle (301-28). Cuheran believes he has two brothers (who are in fact not his brothers, 155-60) and a sister Kelloc, and that they are all the sons of a fisherman and salt-seller called Grim (330-34) and his wife Sebrug (369-70). Kelloc and her husband Alger, a fisherman (331) and a merchant (455-62, 481-84), resolve to tell Cuheran that he is actually called Havelock and is the son of King Gunter of Denmark and Queen Alvive, daughter of King Gaifer. Kelloc and her brothers are in fact the children of Alvive by one of her retainers, Grim. Gunter was killed by King Arthur; Alvive fled with Grim, their children, and Havelock/Cuheran, but was herself killed by pirates on the way (426-40, 582-85). Kelloc's husband trades with Denmark and reckons that the people would be happy if Havelock came to claim his inheritance (334-468). Havelock and Argentille sail to Denmark with the merchants (469-504).

Denmark is ruled by the evil King Odulf/Edulf, brother of King Aschis, one of Arthur's knights (510-28). On arrival, Havelock is attacked and Argentille seized. Havelock defeats the attackers and rescues Argentille, but the two are forced to flee to a church tower where they defend themselves (533-54). Fortunately, Sigar Estalre, Gunter's one-time steward, sees Havelock's resemblance to Gunter and rescues him from his predicament (505-9, 555-70). Sigar hears Havelock's story and checks its veracity. First, by looking for the flame when he sleeps (571-645), and then by getting Havelock to sound a horn which only the rightful heir of Denmark can sound, whereupon everyone takes Havelock as their lord (646-734). Havelock defeats Edulf in battle (735-758) and then Edelsie, having used the tactic taught to him by Argentille of propping up the corpses of his army to make it look like he has more men. Edelsie dies a few days later, allowing Havelock and Argentille to inherit both Edelsie's and Adelbrit's old lands. Havelock rules for twenty years (735-818).

The Middle English romance

''Havelok'' is intricately constructed, consisting of a double arc in which the royal heirs of both Denmark and England are unjustly displaced as children but later restored to their rightful positions. The poem opens in England during the reign of Athelwold, who is described in ideal terms as a just and virtuous king. He dies without an adult successor and leaves his young daughter Goldborow to the care of Godrich, Earl of Cornwall, who is to rule as regent until Goldburow can be married. Athelwold stipulates that she should be married to the "highest man in England". After Athelwold's death Godrich immediately betrays his oath and imprisons Goldborow in a remote tower in Dover.

The poem then shifts to Denmark, where a similarly virtuous king, Birkabein, dies, leaving behind two daughters, Swanborow and Helfled, and a son, Havelok. Godard, a wealthy retainer, is appointed regent. Godard too betrays his trust: he brutally murders the daughters by cutting their throats and hands the three-year-old Havelok over to a thrall, the fisherman Grim, to be drowned in the sea. Grim recognizes Havelok as the rightful heir to the kingdom when he sees a pair of miraculous signs: a bright light that emerges from the boy’s mouth when he is sleeping, and the “kynemerk,” a cross-shaped birthmark on his shoulder. Grim is persuaded to spare Havelok's life, but tells Godard that he has killed the child. Grim flees with Havelok and his family to England, where he finds the town of Grimsby at the estuary of the Humber. Havelok is brought up as part of Grim's family and works as a fisherman alongside Grim and his sons. (Several versions tell that Havelok was raised under a false name, Cuaran, in order to protect his identity, though the Middle English version omits this detail.)

Havelok grows to an extraordinary size and strength, and has a huge appetite; during a time of famine, Grim is unable to feed him, and Havelok leaves home to seek his subsistence in Lincoln, barefoot and clad in a cloak made from an old sail. In Lincoln he is taken in by Bertram, a cook in a noble household, and works for him as a kitchen-boy. Havelok's humility, gentleness and cheerful nature make him universally popular, especially with children, and his unusual height, strength and beauty draw attention wherever he goes. During a festival, Havelok takes part in a stone-throwing competition and far surpasses the efforts of the other young men with his near-superhuman strength. This victory makes him the subject of discussion and brings him to the notice of Godrich, who is present in Lincoln for a parliament. Godrich notices Havelok’s unusual height and decides to arrange a marriage between him and Goldburow, as this will fulfil the literal terms of his promise to Athelwold that Goldboruw should marry the 'highest' man in the kingdom; believing Havelok to be a peasant's son, he intends to deprive Goldboruw of her inheritance by the marriage. Havelok is reluctant to marry because he is too poor to support a wife, but he submits to the union after being threatened by Godrich. Havelok and Goldborow marry and return to Grimsby, where they are taken in by Grim’s children. That night Goldborow is awakened by a bright light and sees the flame coming out of Havelok’s mouth. She then notices his birthmark, and an angel-voice tells her of Havelok’s royal lineage and his destiny as king of Denmark and England. At the same time, Havelok has a dream in which he embraces the land and people of Denmark in his arms and presents the kingdom at Goldboruw's feet. When he wakes, they share their visions and agree to return to Denmark.

Havelok sails to Denmark with Goldborow and Grim’s three eldest sons in order to reclaim his kingdom. Disguised as a merchant, Havelok is sheltered by Ubbe, a Danish nobleman. Ubbe is impressed by Havelok's strength in an attack on the house, and at night notices the light coming out of Havelok's mouth; he recognises Havelok as the son of Birkabein and immediately pledges his support to Havelok in overthrowing Godard. When Havelok has received the submission of many of the Danish lords amid great rejoicing, he defeats Godard and the usurper is condemned to be flayed and hanged. Havelok invades England, overthrows Godrich in battle and claims the throne in Goldborow's name. As king of Denmark and England, Havelok rules justly for more than sixty years. He and Goldborow enjoy a happy, loving marriage, and have fifteen children: all their sons become kings and all their daughters queens.

In November 1942, at the Wolf's Lair in East Prussia, Fuhrer of Nazi Germany Adolf Hitler invites a number of young women to interview for the position of his personal secretary. Traudl Junge is overjoyed when he chooses her. Three years later, the Red Army has pushed Germany's forces back and surrounded Berlin. On Hitler's 56th birthday, the Red Army begins shelling Berlin's city centre. ''Reichsführer-SS'' Heinrich Himmler tries to persuade Hitler to leave Berlin, but Hitler refuses. Himmler leaves to negotiate terms with the Western Allies in secret. Later, ''Gruppenführer'' Hermann Fegelein, Himmler's adjutant, also attempts to persuade Hitler to flee, but Hitler insists that he will win or die in Berlin. SS doctor ''Obersturmbannführer'' Ernst-Günther Schenck is ordered to leave Berlin per Operation Clausewitz, though he persuades an SS general to let him stay in Berlin to treat the injured. In the streets, Hitler Youth child soldier Peter Kranz's father approaches his son's unit and tries to persuade him to leave. Peter, who destroyed two enemy tanks and will soon be awarded a medal by Hitler, calls his father a coward and runs away.

At a meeting in the ''Führerbunker'', Hitler forbids the overwhelmed 9th Army from retreating, instead ordering ''Obergruppenführer'' Felix Steiner's units to mount a counter-attack. The generals find the orders impossible and irrational. Above ground, Hitler awards Peter his medal, hailing Peter as braver than his generals. In his office, Hitler talks to Minister of Armaments Albert Speer about his scorched earth policy. Speer is concerned about the destruction of Germany's infrastructure, but Hitler believes the German people left behind are weak and thus deserve death. Meanwhile, Hitler's companion Eva Braun holds a party in the Reich Chancellery. However, her brother-in-law Fegelein tries to persuade Eva to leave Berlin with Hitler, but she dismisses him. Artillery fire eventually breaks up the party.

On the battlefield, General Helmuth Weidling is informed he will be executed for allegedly ordering a retreat. Weidling comes to the ''Führerbunker'' to clear himself of his charges. His action impresses Hitler, who promotes him to oversee all of Berlin's defences. At another meeting, Hitler learns Steiner did not attack because his unit lacked sufficient force. Hitler becomes enraged at what he sees as an act of betrayal and launches into a furious tirade, shouting that everyone has failed him and denouncing his generals as cowards and traitors. He finally acknowledges that the war is lost, but that he would rather commit suicide than leave Berlin.

Schenck witnesses old men being executed by German military police for supposedly refusing to take part in the fighting. Hitler receives a message from ''Reichsmarschall'' Hermann Göring, requesting state leadership. Hitler declares Göring a traitor, ordering his dismissal from all posts and his arrest. Speer makes a final visit to the ''Führerbunker'', and admits to Hitler that he has defied his orders to destroy Germany's infrastructure. Hitler, however, does not punish Speer, who decides to leave Berlin. Peter returns to find his unit dead and runs back to his parents. Hitler continues to imagine fantastic ways for Germany to turn the tide. At dinner, Hitler learns of Himmler's secret negotiations. Hearing that one of his most loyal followers has abandoned him sends him into another rage, and he quickly orders Himmler's execution. He also finds out that Fegelein has deserted his post, having him executed despite Eva's pleas. SS physician ''Obergruppenführer'' Ernst-Robert Grawitz asks Hitler's permission to evacuate for fear of Allied reprisal. Hitler refuses, leading Grawitz to kill himself and his family.

The Soviets continue their advance, Berlin's supplies run low, and German morale plummets. Hitler hopes that the 12th Army, led by Lieutenant General Walther Wenck, will save Berlin. After midnight, Hitler dictates his last will and testament to Junge, before officially marrying Eva. The following morning, Hitler learns that the 12th Army is unable to relieve Berlin. Refusing surrender, Hitler plans his death. He administers poison to his dog Blondi, bids farewell to the bunker staff, and commits suicide with Eva. The two are crudely cremated with petrol in a ditch in the Chancellery garden.

Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels assumes the Chancellorship. General Hans Krebs fails to negotiate a conditional surrender with Soviet Marshal Vasily Chuikov. Goebbels declares that Germany will not surrender as long as he is alive. Goebbels' wife Magda poisons her six children with cyanide, before committing suicide with Goebbels; Weidling announces unconditional surrender of German forces in Berlin afterwards. Many government and military officials including Krebs commit suicide after learning of Germany's defeat. Peter discovers his parents were executed. Junge leaves the bunker and tries to flee the city; Peter joins her as she sneaks through a group of Soviet soldiers before the two find a bicycle and leave Berlin.

In 1991, dissident officials in the Soviet Union launch a nuclear missile at Donetsk from a site in NATO member Turkey. The Soviet automated defence systems, believing that a NATO attack is in progress, execute a measured launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) at the United States. After Donetsk is destroyed, the Strategic Air Command (SAC) scrambles its forces and SAC Commander General Renning urges the US president to authorize a large-scale counterattack. The Soviet leader explains the dissidents' actions to the US president. He asks the US to stand down, but he is willing to accept a US counterstrike comparable to the Soviets' strike, costing each side six to nine million people. If the United States launches an all-out attack, the Soviets will respond in kind and doom the whole planet.

As the president and General Renning argue it appears that the Soviets have launched a second attack. The president authorizes a multi-part all-out attack, with US ICBMs launched immediately, then submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) in a few hours, coincident with the arrival of US Air Force bombers over the Soviet Union. General Renning issues the orders just before the first wave hits SAC headquarters and then quickly passes command of SAC to "Alice," the codename of an Air Force general in command of Looking Glass, a flying command aircraft for the Air Force and the US Navy. The president takes off in Marine One and learns the second Soviet attack was directed at China, since it had launched its own missiles against the Soviets. Realizing his mistake, the president tries to cancel all-out nuclear retaliation, but before he can, a nearby nuclear detonation forces his helicopter down.

A B-52 bomber, commanded by Major Cassidy and his co-pilot, Captain Moreau, takes off with callsign "Polar Bear 1" minutes before Fairchild Air Force Base is destroyed. The crewmen are shaken by the unfolding events, and a nuclear flash injures Moreau and kills another crew member. An American admiral, codenamed "Harpoon," is in command of Nightwatch, a presidential flying command platform. With the president presumed dead, they swear in the US Secretary of the Interior as president, codenamed "Condor." Harpoon briefs Condor regarding the Soviet president's message, the mistake regarding China, and the matching damage already done by the initial retaliation. Colonel Fargo, a hawkish advisor on Nightwatch, advises Condor to continue American retaliatory strikes. Condor agrees with Fargo's plan for a submarine missile and bomber attack and orders Alice to execute the remainder of the attack plan. Alice reluctantly orders bombers for the attack. Cassidy and Moreau react emotionally to these orders, and convince the crew to abort their mission. Crewman Tyler, despondent over the loss of his family, displays increasingly erratic behavior and attacks Cassidy. After trying to shoot the pilots he escapes by ejection seat, blowing everyone but the two pilots from the aircraft.

The original president is discovered at the crash site of Marine One, blinded and injured, and is taken to a FEMA emergency shelter where he learns of Condor's orders. He contacts the Soviet president and they agree to a one-hour stand off. Aboard Looking Glass, Alice notices that Polar Bear 1 has abandoned its attack, and a Soviet squadron has apparently also turned back in response. Alice begs Condor to recall the rest of the US bombers so a ceasefire can be arranged. Condor instead orders Alice to send US Navy carrier-based fighters to shoot down Polar Bear 1. Alice hesitates and Fargo informs Condor that they can send the launch commands from Nightwatch. Condor cuts off communication with Looking Glass.

The original president contacts Alice and Looking Glass agrees to recall the bombers but lacks the authority to call off the submarine attack. Two US Navy fighters intercept Polar Bear 1 over the Pacific Ocean to shoot it down, but when their aircraft carrier is sunk they call off the attack and wish Polar Bear 1 good luck instead. The real president finally connects with Condor. Fearing he is an impersonator (or seeing a threat to his agenda), Condor orders the Nightwatch staff to contact the US submarines. Alice and the Looking Glass staff agree to ram their plane into Nightwatch before Condor can send out launch orders and the Nightwatch pilots obligingly sacrifice themselves by turning their aircraft into the path of Looking Glass. The real president successfully issues a message to stand down on the American attack, leaving Cassidy and Moreau to wonder what happens next.

The story follows a man of "a noble descent" who calls himself William Wilson because, although denouncing his profligate past, he does not accept full blame for his actions, saying that "man was never thus ... tempted before". After several paragraphs, the narration then segues into a description of Wilson's boyhood, which is spent in a school "in a misty-looking village of England".

William meets another boy in his school who has the same name and roughly the same appearance, and who was even born on the same date (January 19, Poe's own birthday). William's name (he asserts that his actual name is only similar to "William Wilson") embarrasses him because it sounds "plebeian" or common, and he is irked that he must hear the name twice as much on account of the other William.

The boy also dresses like William, walks like him, but can only speak in a whisper. He begins to give advice to William of an unspecified nature, which he refuses to obey, resenting the boy's "arrogance". One night he steals into the other William's bedroom and recoils in horror at the boy's face—which now resembles his own. William then immediately leaves the academy and, in the same week, the other boy follows suit.

William eventually attends Eton and University of Oxford, gradually becoming more debauched and performing what he terms "mischief". For example, he steals from a man by cheating at cards. The other William appears, his face covered, and whispers a few words sufficient to alert others to William's behavior, and then leaves with no others seeing his face. William is haunted by his double in subsequent years, who thwarts plans described by William as driven by ambition, anger and lust. In one caper, he attempts to seduce a married woman at Carnival in Rome, but the other William stops him. The enraged protagonist drags his "unresisting" double—who wears identical clothes— into an antechamber, and, after a brief sword fight in which the double participates only reluctantly, stabs him fatally.

After William does this, a large mirror suddenly seems to appear. Reflected at him, he sees "mine own image, but with features all pale and dabbled in blood": apparently the dead double, "but he spoke no longer in a whisper". The narrator feels as if he is pronouncing the words: "In me didst thou exist—and in my death, see ... how utterly thou hast murdered thyself."

In an apartment somewhere in Sweden, a woman, a man and his friend are recording an amateur porn movie, while the one man's teenage son is trying to stay out of their way in his room. As time progresses, their filming gets out of hand. All the while, the father is concerned that his son has no respect for him, and the son is concerned about how his father treats the woman.

Act 1

In the 1970s, Hirst, an ageing man of means begins a night of heavy drinking in his drawing room with an anonymous peer whom he only just met at a pub. Hirst's talkative and somewhat disheveled guest, calling himself a poet, long-windedly explains how he is penetratingly perceptive, until he finally introduces himself as "Spooner". The pair becomes increasingly intoxicated, Hirst remaining quiet as Spooner rambles on, culminating in his taunting Hirst's masculinity and wife. Suddenly, Hirst rises and throws his glass, merely commenting "No man's land...does not move...or change...or grow old...remains...forever...icy...silent", before collapsing twice and crawling out of the room. Two domestic employees of Hirst's, younger men named Foster and Briggs, enter, talk aimlessly, and question Spooner, who now becomes the softspoken man in the room.

Eventually, Hirst reenters and struggles to remember a recent dream. All are now drinking, and Hirst mentions an album of photographs he keeps, commenting on the appearances of the people in the album. He does not seem to remember Spooner's identity, insisting that his true friends are kept safely in the album. Becoming less and less coherent, Hirst continues to ponder his dream—involving someone drowning—when Spooner abruptly says that he was the one drowning in the dream. Hirst drunkenly collapses again and Spooner now rushes in to Hirst's aid, brushing away the two younger men and claiming to be Hirst's true friend. The younger pair becomes defensive and accusatory, asserting their obligation to protect Hirst against "men of evil". Briggs helps Hirst out of the room, and Foster concludes to Spooner, "Listen. You know what it's like when you're in a room with the light on and then suddenly the light goes out? I'll show you. It's like this". He flicks off the lights, causing a blackout.

Act 2

Alone the next morning, Spooner stands from his chair and attempts to leave, but the door is locked. Briggs, Hirst's manservant, soon enters; he delivers food and champagne, ignores Spooner's queries about the locked door, and calls the other men poets. Hirst himself then bursts in, delighted to see Spooner, whom he strangely mistakes for, or pretends is, an old friend. He speaks as though he and Spooner were Oxbridge classmates in the 1930s, and the two bizarrely discuss scandalous romantic encounters they had with the same women, leading to a series of increasingly questionable reminiscences and ending with Spooner directly accusing Hirst of having an affair with his wife.

Hirst separately launches into a rant about once-known faces in his photo album, and all four men are soon present once more, drinking champagne. An odd dynamic emerges where Spooner first pities the younger men's employment but then ends up requesting employment from Hirst himself. After all this, Hirst merely replies "Let's change the subject for the last time", which he instantly regrets, since this is taken to mean that Hirst will be unable to change the subject ever again. He thinks back to his youth, when he mistakenly thought he saw a drowned body in a lake. Spooner now comments, "No. You are in no man's land. Which never moves, which never changes, which never grows older, but which remains forever, icy and silent." Hirst responds "I'll drink to that!" and the lights fade slowly to black.

The story revolves around Shirou Emiya, a hardworking and honest teenager who unwillingly enters a to-the-death tournament called the Fifth Holy Grail War, where combatants fight with magic and Heroes from throughout history for a chance to have their wishes granted by the eponymous Holy Grail. Orphaned and the sole survivor of a massive fire in Fuyuki City as a child, Shirou was taken in by a retired mage named Kiritsugu Emiya, who would die years later. His perceived responsibility to those who died and his salvation through his father formed a strong desire for justice and peace in him. Thus, he earnestly trains his body and minuscule ability with magic to someday greatly help others, even if people often abuse his generosity at his stage.

One evening, after seeing two devastatingly powerful beings trading blows at his school with swords and spears, he is attacked, as witnesses to the Holy Grail War are generally supposed to be eliminated. Chased to his home by the spear-wielding warrior Lancer and barely able to avoid his attacks, Shirou is about to be killed when he is saved by Saber. Saber, the personification of a renowned figure in history (Arturia Pendragon in her case), was created to aid participants in the War. In her supposedly accidental summoning and the appearance of the marks on Shirou's hand, his entry as a Master into the Holy Grail War is formalized.

Fate

The first of the three heroines, Saber is a mighty warrior who keeps her identity secret, hence her substitute name after her role as a member of the Saber class. She also serves as the route's servant protagonist. She was the victor of the Fourth Holy Grail War with another Master and claimed to be the strongest out of all Servants in the Saber Class. However, Shirou is against Saber's constant aim for conflicts with other servants and instead seeks to ally with Rin. Shirou decides to drop his pacifism when he discovers that his former friend, Shinji Matou, is a Master with the Servant Rider, aiming to sacrifice all students from their school to increase Rider's powers.

Following Shinji and Rider's defeat, Shirou learns that Saber cannot fight at her full strength without exchanging Mana energy with her Master. During a confrontation with Master Illya and her Servant Berserker, Shirou passes Saber his Mana and later assists her in defeating the enemy by projecting one of Arturia's swords in combat. As Shirou seeks to aid to keep Saber in their world, he learns from the priest Kirei Kotomine that the Holy Grail is cursed. It is revealed that Shirou's late guardian, Kiritsugu, once used Saber to destroy the Grail. However, it instead caused the fire where Shirou lost his family.

Shirou rejects the idea of accepting his wish of the Holy Grail as he decides to accept his past and not forget Saber. Moved by Shirou, Saber also rejects the Holy Grail, believing she should not change Britain's history. As Kotomine aims to use Illya's body to recreate the Holy Grail, Shirou and Saber confront him, and his servant, Gilgamesh. Following Shirou's and Saber's victories, Shirou orders Saber to destroy the Grail. This causes Saber to go back to her last moments before her death. In the ''Réalta Nua'' version of the game, a new ending can be unlocked where Shirou becomes a heroic spirit in order to meet Saber in the afterlife of heroes, Avalon.

Unlimited Blade Works

The second of the three heroines is Rin Tohsaka, a model student and idol of Shirou's school who is secretly a mage and Master of Archer in the Holy Grail War. Her servant Archer serves as the servant protagonist of the route. She descends from a long, distinguished line of mages. Though she lacks a formal magic education, she is strong and gifted in her own right. Rin is dubbed "The Ice Queen" by classmates for her cold, unreachable persona at school; however, this is simply a front to hide her actual status as a mage. Her presence in the story is established after Lancer mortally wounds Shirou at school. Upon seeing him, she revives him due to his connection with Sakura Matou, with whom Rin is closely acquainted. The two decide to become allies in the war, unaware of Archer's true identity as an adult Shirou from one of the series' numerous alternate universes.

Shirou loses control of Saber during the story but aims to fight with his magical strength to stop the war. Archer betrays Rin and reveals his despondency and bitterness over his past choices to Shirou. He subsequently challenges Shirou to a fight, hoping to destroy his story of being a hero. However, Shirou accepts his future regardless of the regrets and misery, deciding to stick to Kiritsugu's ideals. Gilgamesh tries to kill Archer and Shirou, with the former seemingly sacrificing himself to protect the latter. Later, Rin passes Shirou her Mana to fight Gilgamesh to replicate Archer's powers. As Gilgamesh almost dragged Shirou into their deaths, Archer uses his last strength to save the latter. In the True Ending, Shirou and Rin move to London to study magic, as well as start a romantic relationship.

Heaven's Feel

The third and final heroine is Sakura, a first-year high school student and longtime friend of Shirou's, who often visits his home to help him with his daily chores. A quiet, soft-spoken girl, Sakura can be surprisingly stubborn and holds a deep, unparalleled affection for Shirou. She is revealed to be Rin's long-lost sister, raised by the Matou family, and has since suffered their abuse while in training as a mage. Sakura is also discovered as the true Master of Rider, whom she reasserts control of from Shinji, making Rider the servant protagonist of the route. In the route, Saber and Berserker are consumed by the shadows of Angra Manyu. In the ensuing battle with True Assassin and the corrupted servants, a mortally wounded Archer transplants his left arm to save a dying Shirou.

Zouken, Sakura's grandfather, places a shard of the lesser grail from the 4th Holy Grail War in her body, infecting Sakura with Angra Manyu. She becomes Dark Sakura, killing Shinji in his attempt to rape her. Despite the threat Sakura poses to humanity, Shirou, having fallen in love with her, abandons his ideal in favor of saving Sakura, despite Rin's initial objections. Upon learning that Illya is another sacrifice to create the Grail, Shirou teams up with Kotomine and uses Archer's powers to save Illya from Berserker. Rin is injured after finding herself unable to kill Sakura, while Rider and Shirou successfully eliminate Saber Alter. Shirou talks to Sakura and helps her regain her humanity, freeing her from her contract with Angra Mainyu. He then faces Kotomine in a final battle to later destroy the Grail. In True Ending, after Kotomine dies in combat, Illya sacrifices herself to destroy the Grail and extracts Shirou's soul using forbidden magic (her weaker version of the Third Magic). Rider later returns to the cave to grab and bring Shirou's soul home, and Rin places it within a puppet body. Shirou, Sakura, and Rider live a peaceful life while Rin moves to London to study magic.

Tarquin "Quinn" Blackwood, heir to a powerful old family in New Orleans, has been plagued by a mysterious spirit named Goblin for his entire life. Made a vampire in his youth, Quinn seeks out Lestat de Lioncourt looking for help in getting rid of Goblin, who has become more and more malevolent. Quinn recalls his youth, his family, and his forced transformation into a vampire by Petronia. His stories allow Lestat to better understand the reach and power of Goblin, and clue in Lestat to the fact that Quinn is connected to the Mayfair family of witches. After his own failure defeating Goblin, Lestat asks the witch Merrick Mayfair, also a vampire, for assistance. Meanwhile, Quinn has fallen in love with heiress Mona Mayfair, and the ghost of their mutual ancestor Julien Mayfair warns him against making Mona a vampire. Goblin is revealed to be the spirit of Quinn's twin Gawain, who died days after being born. He is bound to Quinn, and is relentlessly jealous to experience whatever Quinn does. Merrick performs a ritual using Gawain's corpse to exorcise Goblin. She sacrifices herself by carrying the child's spirit into the hereafter with her, and Lestat is heartbroken.

The show follows the adventures of Professor Ian Hood (originally Alan Hood), played by Patrick Stewart, a Special Advisor to the government's Joint Sciences Committee, who troubleshoots threats stemming from or targeting "scientific endeavour." He is joined by Rachel Young, played by Ashley Jensen, a Special Branch operative who acts primarily as his bodyguard, as Hood has made powerful enemies through his work. The first episode was broadcast on 19 January 2006.

Hercule Poirot takes a quiet holiday at a secluded hotel in Devon. He finds that the other hotel guests include: Arlena Marshall, her husband Kenneth, and her step-daughter Linda; Horace Blatt; Major Barry, a retired officer; Rosamund Darnley, a former sweetheart of Kenneth; Patrick Redfern, and his wife Christine, a former teacher; Carrie Gardener, and her husband Odell; Reverend Stephen Lane; and Miss Emily Brewster, an athletic spinster. During the initial part of his stay, Poirot notes that Arlena is a flirtatious woman, who flirts with Patrick much to the fury of his wife, and that her step-daughter hates her. One morning, Arlena heads out for a secret rendezvous at Pixy Cove. By midday, she is found dead by Patrick and Brewster while they are rowing. An examination by the local police surgeon reveals she had been strangled by a man.

Both Poirot and the investigating officer, Inspector Colgate, interview the possible suspects about their movements during the morning – Kenneth had been typing letters; the Gardeners had been with Poirot all morning; Rosamund had been reading above Pixy Cove; Blatt had gone sailing; Linda and Christine went to Gull Cove and didn't return until before midday; and both Lane and Major Barry were absent from the island. At noon, Christine, Rosamund, Kenneth and Odell all met to play tennis. Poirot learns that Brewster was nearly hit by a bottle during the morning, thrown from one of the guest rooms, while the hotel chambermaid recalls hearing someone running a bath at noon. At a cave within Pixy Cove, Poirot notes smelling perfume that Arlena used there. Poirot later invites everyone to a picnic, which he uses to secretly observe their behaviour and test their vertigo. Following the picnic, Linda attempts suicide with Christine's sleeping pills. Poirot later discovers she felt guilt-ridden, after assuming she killed her step-mother through voodoo.

Via a request for similar cases to the current one, Poirot receives details on the strangulation of Alice Corrigan from Surrey police – her body was found by a local teacher, while her husband Edward had an alibi. Poirot is supplied with a photo of both people. Bringing together the suspects, Poirot denounces Patrick and Christine Redfern for Arlena's murder. She had been murdered to prevent her husband learning that she had been conned into investing a large inheritance towards "fabulous opportunities". The murder was well-planned to falsify the time of death. While Christine was with Linda, she set Linda's watch forward twenty minutes, asked for the time to set her alibi, then returned the watch to the correct time. Afterwards, Christine returned to her room and applied fake suntan makeup, which she concealed from sight, before tossing the bottle out the window. Sneaking out to Pixy Cove, Christine made certain Arlena saw her; Patrick had instructed Arlena to hide should his wife turn up before their rendezvous. Once Arlena was gone, Christine impersonated the dead body to fool Brewster, who immediately left to get help while Patrick remained behind. After Brewster's departure, Christine rushed back to the hotel to remove the makeup. Patrick then called out an unsuspecting Arlena and strangled her.

Poirot reveals that Christine lied about having a fear of heights, as she managed to traverse a suspended bridge during the picnic, and foolishly threw out the bottle of makeup from her room when Brewster was present outside. Linda's attempt at suicide was provoked by her. As further proof, Poirot reveals that the murder of Alice Corrigan happened in the same manner – the photo from Surrey Police identified Patrick as Edward Corrigan, who killed her, and Christine as the teacher who found the "body", before the murder had been committed. Poirot goads Patrick into a near-violent fury to expose himself, despite his wife trying to keep him quiet. With the case closed, Poirot tells Linda she did not kill Arlena and predicts she will not hate her next "step-mother", whereupon Kenneth and Rosamund rekindle their old love.

The plot of ''Viewtiful Joe 2'' continues immediately from the ending of the previous game. Having just saved Movieland, Viewtiful Joe and his girlfriend (and new partner) Sexy Silvia learn from Captain Blue that the world will be threatened twice more. Joe and Silvia leave Captain Blue's space station to attend to an alien invasion from the forces of Gedow. The leader of Gedow, the Black Emperor, suddenly attacks Captain Blue and turns him into a statue called a "Rainbow Oscar", one of seven in a set that represents Movieland's power of the happy ending. With their power, the Black Emperor intends to conquer Movieland.

Cast off to "the fringes" of Movieland by Gedow, Joe and Silvia fight their way through a prehistoric film and defeat the Tyrannosaurus rex soldier, Big John. Joe and Silvia obtain a Rainbow Oscar from Big John just as Joe's father Jet arrives in the theater and demands that they come back to the real world and clean up the mess they made. Silvia manages to convince Jet to help them rescue Captain Blue, and Jet agrees by setting up new films for her and Joe to journey through in search of the Rainbow Oscars.

Joe and Silvia continue their battle against Gedow through an adventure film in an ancient temple, where a narcoleptic golem named Flinty Stone guards the second Rainbow Oscar, and then journey into a futuristic film where Gedow's top scientist Dr. Cranken and his creation Cameo Leon reveal the Black Emperor's plan to combine the Oscars with an evil reel of celluloid called the Black Film. Later, Joe's rival Alastor interferes during a samurai movie and tries to steal the spotlight. Jet changes films after Alastor is defeated, but unwittingly puts on the Black Film and sends its evil into Movieland, which also transforms Alastor into a murderous beast. After Joe defeats Alastor a second time, Jet destroys the Black Film.

With four Rainbow Oscars, Joe and Silvia are sent to a movie that takes place in the frozen mountains, where Frost Tiger (brother of Fire Leo, a boss from the previous game) protects the fifth Oscar and demands that Joe prove his inner strength in order to be worthy of it. Though successful, Joe's victory is short-lived when he is fooled by an impostor Silvia into giving Gedow the Oscars. Faced with his disastrous mistake, Joe and Silvia return to the original ''Captain Blue'' movie where they encounter Dr. Cranken again. The mad scientist reveals the impostor Silvia as Miss Bloody Rachel, a shapeshifting android programmed to destroy the heroes. As Rachel transforms into the previous bosses to fight back, Joe and Silvia attempt to reason with her by introducing the concept of a heart to her programming. Slowly, Rachel begins to understand and eventually chooses to side with the heroes. After Joe and Silvia finish off Dr. Cranken for good, Rachel gives them the sixth Rainbow Oscar.

The final movie, a science-fiction film set in deep space, is where the Black Emperor and the last Rainbow Oscar reside. When confronted by the heroes, the Black Emperor throws a fully restored Black Film onto the projector and uses its added power to summon his giant robot Dark Kaiser. Joe and Silvia summon their own "Six x Six Majin" to destroy Dark Kaiser and recover the last Oscar, but Jet suddenly appears in the movie and steals all seven. Revealing a Black V-Watch on his wrist, Jet transforms into the Dark Emperor and thanks Joe for giving him the Oscars, then infuses their power into himself to become Jet Black, the Dark Hero.

Now able to use his Movieland powers in the real world, Jet Black crashes the Viewtiful Awards Ceremony, leaving Joe and Silvia powerless to stop him. As they put up a futile effort to fight back, the crowd starts cheering for Joe and Silvia, which gives them the power to transform and ultimately defeat Jet Black. Captain Blue is restored to normal and reveals that Jet was his best friend and cinematographer, but had found the Black Film one day and became entranced by its power and that of the Rainbow Oscars. In the end, it is revealed that all Jet really wanted was to prove himself as a hero to his own son Joe.

As Joe and Jet reconcile, a dark castle appears in the distance, heralding the arrival of Captain Blue's last foreseen threat. Jet explains that the secret of the Black Film and his Black V-Watch lies within the castle, as well as an enemy unlike any other. Undeterred by Jet's ominous warning, Viewtiful Joe and Sexy Silvia strike a pose as they set out to save the world once more.

The series follows former priest John Strange, dismissed from the clergy under mysterious circumstances. He was implicated in a number of gruesome murders, murders that he says were done by demons. Now he seeks those responsible and to clear his name. To help him in his hunt for demons, John has Toby, a technological expert who is in charge of the equipment John uses to sense the presence of demons, and Kevin. Kevin has Down's syndrome, which appears to enable him to sense the presence of demons and is often an early warning that something supernatural is about to happen in the area. Jude, a former scientist who works as a nurse, is interested because she found out that her partner Rich was a demon. With Rich dead, her main concern is that the son they had together, Joey, could also be a demon. John's mission is hampered by Canon Black, who is intent on denying the presence of dark forces.

The play concerns the "seditious knight" Sir Timothy Treat-all and his rakish Tory nephew Tom Wilding. Both vie for the affections of Charlot, the eponymous city (London) heiress. Treat-all keeps an open house for all of those who oppose the king, and he has disinherited Wilding.

Wilding launches a complex scheme to triumph over Treat-all. First, he introduces Diana (his mistress) to Treat-all as Charlot, allowing Treat-all to woo her. This allows him to court the real Charlot himself. Diana cares for Wilding, but after seeing him pursue both Charlot and Lady Galliard, she decides to make an advantageous marriage with the wealthy Treat-all.

During a staged entertainment, Wilding assumes a disguise and pretends to be a Polish nobleman. He offers Treat-all the throne of Poland, which the greedy Treat-all accepts. Wilding then arranges for a burglary, where he and Treat-all both end up bound, and the burglars take all of Treat-all's papers. The burglars are Wilding's confidantes, and the papers contain evidence of Treat-all's treason.

Wilding ends up marrying Charlot, and Treat-all marries Diana. However, Treat-all is forced by blackmail to treat Wilding well and to leave him his estates.

In a sub-plot, Wilding successfully seduces the rich widow Lady Galliard. Shortly afterwards, one of her drunken former suitors (Sir Charles) breaks into her chamber and begins to undress. In order to get rid of him (and thinking that he will not remember their conversation), she agrees to marry him. She is then shocked to discover that two other people have overheard her make a legally binding promise of marriage.

''Hurlyburly'' depicts the intersecting lives of several low-to-mid-level Hollywood players in the 1980s. Fueled by large quantities of drugs, they attempt to find meaning in their isolated, empty lives.

The peaceful Morris family moves to a small town and buy the town grocery store, only to run into the Cullens, a family that has been bullying the townspeople for years, and they begin to torment the Morrises every chance they get. Matt Morris (Jonathan Crombie) begins seeing a girl named Becky (Olivia d'Abo), whose last name is unfortunately Cullen. In this ''Romeo and Juliet''-esque relationship, Matt and Becky have to keep their relationship a secret, but when the feuding families find out, harassment is elevated to vicious assault.

For centuries, the Mano family has been slaying demons. Yohko's grandmother, Madoka, is the 107th Devil Hunter, and Yohko's mother, Sayoko, would have been the 108th, but for a small hitch: A Devil Hunter must be a virgin to take on the power and responsibility. Sayoko became pregnant before Madoka could reveal the family's secrets, and so the job fell to Yohko. Now the 108th Devil Hunter, Yohko must face off against demons while trying to live her life as a boy-crazy schoolgirl.

Each episode found the Pussycats and crew en route to perform a gig or record a song in some exotic location where, somehow, often due to something Alexandra did, they became mixed up in an adventure. The antagonist was always a diabolical mad scientist, spy, or criminal who wanted to take over the world using some high-tech device. The Pussycats usually found themselves in possession of the plans for an invention, an item of interest to the villains, a secret spy message, etc., and the villains chased them to retrieve it. Eventually, the Pussycats would ruin the villain's plans, resulting in a final chase sequence set to a Pussycats song. With the villain captured, the Pussycats would return to their gig or recording session, and the final gag was always one of Alexandra's failed attempts to interfere with the Pussycats' performance or steal Alan away from Josie.

In Southport, Maryland, Susan Morrison, recently divorced from her husband Frank, a struggling boat builder, is marrying a younger and wealthier man, Rick Barnes. Danny, Susan and Frank's twelve-year-old son, is clearly unhappy that his mother is remarrying. Susan asks Frank to allow Rick to go sailing with him and Danny, to help Danny bond with and accept Rick as a stepfather.

After the wedding, Danny and Rick play a game of catch, where Rick clearly becomes agitated with Danny's ambivalent playing style and starts criticizing him harshly. The revelation that Susan and Rick are having a baby worsens the situation. After finding out about the baby, Danny stows away in Rick's Chevy Suburban, planning to drop off it en route and visit his father. But while Danny is inside, he sees Rick murdering mysterious stranger Ray Farmer, who earlier attended the wedding unannounced, claiming to be an ex-business associate of Rick.

Danny reports the murder to his father and to the local police. Rick, however, has managed to dispose of most of the evidence, and is widely considered a pillar of the local community as he invested his money in the area, whereas Danny has a history of lying and misdemeanors. Frank believes his son, though, stemming from Rick's notable unease around Ray at the ceremony and the fact that Danny never lies to him.

Frank does some investigating of his own and unearths Rick's criminal past, which now stands to put his son and ex-wife at risk. Frank learns that Rick's true identity is Jack Parnell, a criminal who was acquitted while his partners, Ray among them, were convicted because he framed them all for the crime. Ray had planned to get revenge on Jack by exposing him at the wedding. Jack tries to kill Frank by setting his boathouse on fire, but Frank manages to escape and expose Jack's true identity to the police, who begin heading for Susan's house.

At the house, Susan also realizes the truth when she sees a large burn on Jack's arm, having heard about the fire at the boathouse minutes earlier. She tries to escape with Danny, but Jack knocks her out and takes Danny as a hostage, intending to flee. Frank arrives to confront Jack, and they both engage in a vicious fight, ending when a tied-up Danny pushes Jack into a fuse box, electrocuting and killing him. Susan has no serious physical injury from the conflict, aside from suffering a miscarriage. The police apologize to both Danny and Frank for not believing them about Jack, and the reunited father and son follow Susan as she is taken to the hospital via ambulance.

Cordelia emerges from her coma after experiencing a vision of the symbols painted on Eve's apartment door and tattooed on Lindsey's chest. After Angel and Wesley collect Cordelia from the hospital, she reveals that the vision which woke her from the coma showed Angel in peril. She finds the symbols from her vision in a book, and Wesley recognizes them as runes to protect and conceal, effective against surveillance. Cordelia apologizes to Wesley for killing Lilah while under Jasmine's control.

Spike complains to Lindsey (who is impersonating Doyle) that the deranged slayer chopped off his hands. Lindsey reveals he also had one of his hands severed. Spike bites Cordelia until Angel fights him off. Spike explains he was tasting whether she was evil, as his source claimed. Angel questions the source, and Spike says it was Doyle. Angel confronts Eve, suggesting she is working with the Doyle impersonator manipulating Spike. Eve confesses that Lindsey is activating a fail-safe left by the Senior Partners to destroy Angel. When Spike mentions "Doyle" had a hand chopped off, Angel deduces that "Doyle" is Lindsey. Angel battles Lindsey, who is strengthened by his runes. While Angel and Lindsey fight, Cordelia disables the fail-safe. Wesley and Fred perform a spell that causes Lindsey's tattoos to disappear, making him visible to the Senior Partners. Lindsey is sucked into a portal.

Angel and Cordelia say their goodbyes and share a kiss. Angel receives a phone call informing him that Cordelia has died. He realizes Cordelia never awoke from her coma and breaks down in tears.

While multi-millionaire Tom Mullen and his wife Kate attend a science fair, their son Sean is kidnapped. Sean is taken to an apartment by Maris Conner, a caterer working for the Mullens, along with brothers Clark and Cubby Barnes, as well as tech expert Miles Roberts. NYPD Detective Jimmy Shaker is Maris' boyfriend and the mastermind behind the kidnapping. The kidnappers send Tom and Kate an e-mail demanding $2 million. Tom calls the FBI, who begin operating from his New York City penthouse under Special Agent Lonnie Hawkins. In private, Tom voices his belief that a union machinist, Jackie Brown, who is in prison following one of Mullen's business scandals, may be behind it. They visit Brown in prison, but he angrily denies any involvement.

Tom agrees to the FBI's plan for delivering the ransom. Receiving a phone call from Shaker, who electronically disguises his voice, Tom follows his instructions. He meets Cubby in a New Jersey quarry but refuses to hand over the money when Cubby fails to give him Shaker's promised directions. A fight ensues and the FBI intervene and shoot Cubby. He dies before revealing Sean's location. Shaker later arranges another drop off. While Tom initially agrees to take the money alone, he realizes there is no guarantee Sean will be returned alive; he instead appears on television and offers the ransom as a bounty on the kidnappers, promising to withdraw the bounty and drop all charges if the kidnappers return Sean alive and unharmed.

Despite Kate and Agent Hawkins' pleadings, Tom sticks to his plan, believing it is the best chance for Sean's return. Shaker lures Kate to a meeting where he presents Sean's blood stained t-shirt as a warning to pay the ransom or Sean will die. Tom responds by doubling the bounty to $4 million. Shaker calls Tom and gives him one final warning to pay the ransom, but Tom still refuses, and Shaker fires a gunshot after Tom hears Sean scream for help, leading Tom and Kate to believe Sean is dead. Clark and Miles attempt to abandon the plan and flee, but Shaker calls in the NYPD to request backup and kills both Clark and Miles while making it look like Miles shot first, and kills Maris after she shoots him in the arm from behind. The NYPD arrive and find Shaker with Sean, believing Shaker found and rescued Sean. Hawkins informs Tom and Kate and they are reunited with Sean while Shaker is hospitalized.

Shaker arrives at Tom's penthouse to claim the reward. He intends to immediately leave the country before his connection to Maris is discovered. Sean, however, recognizes Shaker's voice as the kidnapper, causing Tom to notices his son's frightened reaction. Realizing his cover is blown, Shaker plans to kill everyone in the apartment, but Tom persuades him to accompany him to the bank to gain the money and leave peacefully. On the way, however, Tom discreetly alerts Hawkins, and the police and FBI converge on Tom and Shaker outside the bank. As soon as Tom and Shaker exit the bank, two police officers approach and attempt to detain Shaker, but Shaker shoots them. Tom knocks Shaker to the ground and the two struggle. Tom picks up Shaker's dropped gun and points at him. Hawkins and other police officers demand that Tom drop the gun and walk away. In desperation, Shaker draws another gun, but is shot dead by Tom and Hawkins. Tom finally drops the gun and police rush in to arrest Tom; Hawkins orders them to stand down, and Tom and Kate leave the scene.

After years of pursuing Cullen Crisp, an infamous drug dealer, LAPD detective John Kimble arrests him for murder; a witness saw Crisp murder an informant after getting information regarding the whereabouts of his former wife, Rachel, who he claims stole millions of dollars from him before fleeing with his son, Cullen, Jr. Partnered with former teacher-turned-detective Phoebe O'Hara, Kimble goes undercover in Astoria, Oregon to find Rachel and offer her immunity in exchange for testifying against Crisp in court. O'Hara is tasked with finding Rachel through her son by acting as a substitute teacher in a kindergarten class at Astoria Elementary School. However, she is incapacitated by a severe stomach flu, so Kimble takes her place.

The suspicious school principal, Miss Schlowski, is convinced Kimble will not last long before quitting. Though initially overwhelmed, he adapts to his new status quickly, despite not having any formal teaching experience. With the use of his pet ferret as a class mascot, positive reinforcement, his police training as a model for structure in class, and his experience as a father, he becomes a much admired and cherished figure to the students.

Kimble begins to enjoy his undercover role. At one point, he deals with a case of child abuse by assaulting and threatening the father of the abused child, winning Miss Schlowski's favor. She assures him that even though she does not agree with his methods, she can see that he is a good teacher. Kimble also becomes fond of Joyce, a fellow teacher whose son Dominic is one of his students. She is estranged from her husband and will not speak of him, telling Dominic that he lives in France. Conversing with the gradually more trusting Joyce, Kimble deduces that she is Rachel and that Dominic is Cullen, Jr. Back in California, the case holding Crisp in jail is closed after the witness dies from using tainted cocaine provided by Crisp's mother, Eleanor. Crisp is subsequently released from prison, and quickly travels to Astoria with Eleanor to search for Dominic.

When Kimble learns Crisp has been released, he confronts Rachel about her identity, saying he can protect her if she cooperates. She is outraged that he misled her, but she tells him that Crisp lied about her stealing money from him, to convince drug dealers to help him find her. Crisp's real reason for searching for her was to find his son, as he was irritated that Rachel disappeared with him.

Crisp starts a fire in the library as a distraction to kidnap his son, then uses the boy as a hostage when Kimble arrives. Just as Crisp declares his intention to take his son away and prepares to shoot Kimble, Kimble's ferret, which was hiding in Dominic's sweater, bites Crisp in the neck, allowing Dominic to escape. In pain, Crisp wildly shoots at Kimble, hitting him in the leg; Kimble then fatally shoots Crisp. Outside, Eleanor injures O'Hara with her car before going inside and discovering Crisp dead. She shoots Kimble in the shoulder and demands he tell her where Dominic is, but O'Hara appears and knocks Eleanor unconscious with a baseball bat. Eleanor is then arrested and the unconscious Kimble is hospitalized with O'Hara, with both of them making a full recovery. O'Hara returns to the police force in Los Angeles while Kimble decides to resign, staying in Astoria to become a kindergarten teacher at the school full-time. Joyce joins him and the two share a kiss while everyone cheers.

The movie picks up with the now married Mollie (Kirstie Alley) and James (John Travolta) preparing for the birth of a new baby girl (voice of Roseanne Barr), while teaching Mikey (voice of Bruce Willis) how to use the potty. Meanwhile, James is working diligently to bring in more income for the family. Mikey looks forward to meeting his sibling as well as being a responsible big brother. When the baby is about to be born, her umbilical cord gets caught around her neck, putting her in distress. Given the name "Julie", she is born through a c-section and is taken to the nursery area for observation.

When Julie meets Mikey, she is unimpressed. Mikey, on the other hand, quickly begins to resent his sister when his dreams of being a responsible big brother don't match the reality. Meanwhile, Mollie's slacker right-wing younger brother, Stuart (Elias Koteas), comes to stay, to whom James takes an immediate dislike. This, combined with James being pressured into taking a demanding piloting job arranged by Mollie's parents and his belief that Mollie is too protective of Mikey, causes several arguments between the pair which eventually lead to James leaving. Mikey is upset about this and, believing he has left because of Julie, tears up one of his sister's stuffed animals. James occasionally hangs out with his kids (including scamming their way into a movie theater) and has fun with them. Following a burglary, Mollie's best friend Rona (Twink Caplan) moves in with her and she soon starts dating Stuart.

Following the 'death' of her beloved stuffed penguin (whom she named Herbie), Julie decides to learn to walk and leave. Later, Julie manages to walk to the sofa without support (during which the Tri-Star Pictures theme plays during her walk). Mollie sees this and is initially excited but then saddened that James isn't there to share the moment. As he watches Julie sleep one night, Mikey realizes how badly he's treated her and resolves to change his ways. Mollie decides to win James back and dresses sexy for him, but he isn't interested. As the two bicker, Mikey uses the toilet for the first time and calls his parents, who are immensely proud of him and share a happy moment.

One night as James prepares to fly, Mollie watches the news and learns that storms are all around the area. She goes to get James before he takes off, leaving Stuart with Mikey and Julie. She catches him and tries to persuade him not to take off, just as the control tower cancels the flight. The two then make up. Meanwhile, a burglar (presumably the same one who also robbed Rona) breaks in and runs when Stuart comes in with his unloaded gun. Stuart pursues him having forgotten about the kids and completely oblivious to the fact that he left paper on a hot stove which quickly causes a fire to start. Mikey doesn't panic and takes charge, pushing Julie out of the apartment to safety. Stuart and the burglar run into James who subdues the thief. Mollie and James soon find out the kids were left alone and spot the fire in the apartment, only for Mikey and Julie to emerge from the elevator as the two prepare to head in to save them. James then puts out the fire before it can cause too much damage.

The next day, James, Mollie, Stuart, Rona and Mollie's parents attend a barbecue. There, Julie asks Mikey why he saved her when they're always fighting. Mikey tells her that for as much as they get on each other's nerves, they're the kids and should stick together since the grown ups never make any sense to them. The two then walk off hand in hand.

Guy Holden, an American writer traveling in England, falls madly in love with a woman named Mimi, who disappears after their first encounter. To take his mind off his lost love, his friend Teddy Egbert, a British attorney, takes him to Brighton, where Egbert has arranged for a "paid co-respondent" to assist his client in obtaining a divorce from her boring, aging, geologist husband Robert.

What Holden does not know is that the client is none other than Mimi, who in turn mistakes him — because he is too ashamed of his occupation to say what it is, namely pseudonymously writing cheap "bodice ripper" romance novels — for the paid co-respondent.

At the end, when her husband appears, he is unconvinced by the faked adultery—but is then unwittingly revealed, by the waiter at the resort, to have been genuinely adulterous himself.

It is the first day of school and the kids wait on the school steps with long faces and pouted lips. Worried about the new teacher they'll be getting this term, Spanky and Alfalfa come up with a scheme to get themselves excused from school: Spanky has Alfalfa pretend he has a toothache, going as far as to stuff a balloon in his mouth to sell the idea.

Unknown to the kids, however, the new school teacher, Miss Lawrence, has overheard Spanky and Alfalfa's scheming and has ordered ice cream as a first-day surprise for the class. She sees right through Alfalfa's fibs about being too sick to sing "Good Morning to You" with the rest of the class, and knowingly grants him an excuse to go home (and Spanky an excuse to take him home). The two boys' triumph backfires when they see the ice cream man as he makes his delivery to the rest of their class. Now needing to find a way to get back into school, Spanky pops the balloon in Alfalfa's mouth, and explains to Miss Lawrence, "Funny thing, teacher; he's all well now".

Miss Lawrence agrees to let the boys back in for the ice cream party, but only if Alfalfa will make up for not singing "Good Morning" by rendering another song. However, Alfalfa has accidentally swallowed the stopper from the balloon that constituted his "toothache", so as he steps in front of the class to sing '"Believe Me, if All Those Endearing Young Charms'", a strange wheeze accompanies every breath he takes between lines. At the conclusion of his song, Spanky and Alfalfa go to get their ice cream only to find that it has melted, but the kind and clever Miss Lawrence hands the boys two fresh ice cream bars.

The scene descends upon Pimento University ("good old P.U."), and the school anthem is sung in a 1910s barbershop style.

The narrator then introduces the three inseparable Dover brothers: athletic oldest brother Tom (on a tandem bicycle with a perpetual wheelie), middle child Dick (on a self-propelled penny-farthing whose pedals are too far away for Dick to reach), and portly, curly-haired youngest brother Larry (on a tricycle). "A gay outing at the park has been planned by the merry trio, and they are off to fetch 'their' fiancée, dainty Dora Standpipe, at Miss Cheddar's Female Academy, close by."

The Boys are called upon to rescue Dora when she is kidnapped by the nefarious stock villain Dan Backslide. "The former sneak of Roquefort Hall, coward, bully, cad, and thief, and arch-enemy of the Dover Boys," his feelings for Dora are summed up in his comment, "How I love her! … (father's money!)" Backslide then steals a conveniently placed, unoccupied runabout (after loudly declaring his intention to do so, claiming that "No one will ever know!"), which he uses to kidnap an oblivious Dora while she and the Dover Boys are playing hide-and-seek, spiriting her away to a remote mountain lodge. But Backslide soon discovers that, despite appearances, Dora is anything but dainty; she proceeds to administer a sound thrashing to the villain, all the while acting the damsel in distress—crying for help and pounding on the door (with the locks on her side) and on Backslide—until he is himself crying out for help from Tom, Dick, and Larry.

Although the boys had heard Dora's cries for help, it is not until "an alert young scout" witnesses Dora's captivity, then sends a distress signal via semaphore, then via telegram, to the boys that they respond by breaking the messenger's tandem bike into three unicycles and race to the scene. When the Dover Boys finally arrive, they lay a few punches on the by-now barely conscious Backslide before managing to knock each other out in unison as Backslide collapses to the floor safely beneath their swinging fists. Dora is then escorted away by an odd grey-bearded man in a nineteenth-century bathing suit and sailor's cap who was a running gag throughout the cartoon, appearing periodically to interrupt the story by shuffling across the screen to the tune of Ed Haley's "While Strolling Through the Park One Day". He and Dora proceed to shuffle off into the sunset as the cartoon concludes with a Silent-Film era iris out.

Act I

Sisters Hellena and Florinda's fates have been decided for them by the men in their life, mainly their brother and father. Hellena is to enter the convent after Carnival has ended. Florinda's father wants her to marry elderly Don Vincentio and her brother, Don Pedro, wants her to marry Don Antonio. However, she has feelings for Belville, an English colonel. The women, not approving of these plans, dress up for Carnival in an attempt to avoid their chosen fates.

Belville, Blunt, Frederick, and Willmore are also enjoying Carnival when they run into Florinda, Hellena, and Valeria (their cousin). Willmore and Hellena flirt with one another; Hellena agrees to meet Willmore again later. Meanwhile, Lucetta begins to seduce Blunt. Florinda begins to set up a meeting with Belville when she sees her brother approaching. She hastily gives him a letter and runs off with Hellena and Valeria. Florinda's letter contains instructions for Belville to come to her garden at ten that night and carry her off. Blunt sneaks off with Lucetta.

Act II

Willmore, Belville, and Frederick go to see Angellica, a famous courtesan. Angellica's servants hang up a portrait of her outside of her house. The Englishmen are astounded by her beauty, but leave when they realise they do not have the money to buy her—one thousand crowns a month. Don Pedro enters and sees the picture and the price. He has the money and runs to fetch it.

Angellica laments that no one has taken her up because of the high price, but when she learns of Don Pedro and Don Antonio, both of whom are rich, she decides to pursue them, then goes back inside. Pedro soon enters from one side of the stage, and Antonio enters from the other; both men are masked. Antonio is also struck by Angellica's portrait and wonders out loud if he could get away with sleeping with Angellica and still marry Florinda. At the mention of Florinda, Pedro recognizes Antonio. They fight. Willmore and Blunt enter and break them up. Pedro challenges Antonio to a duel the next day over Angellica. Antonio accepts.

Meanwhile, Willmore sees a smaller picture of Angellica and tries to steal it. Antonio tells him to put it back. Willmore refuses and says that Antonio has the money to pay for the real thing. Angellica enters just in time to see another fight break out. Angellica asks Willmore to speak with her inside as she was initially very excited and impressed by him. Willmore goes, despite Belville and Frederick's fears that Angellica is angry with him. Willmore tries to persuade Angellica to sleep with him for free. Normally Angellica would not agree to this, but she has fallen in love with Willmore, with his wits and his way. She agrees, despite the warnings from her maidservant Moretta.

Act III

Hellena says that she is not in love, but she cannot stop thinking about Willmore. The women see Belville, Blunt, and Frederick approach, and eavesdrop on the men. Belville, Blunt and Frederick have come to retrieve Willmore from Angellica because he has been inside with her for two hours. Willmore comes out and brags about having enjoyed Angellica's charms for free.

Hellena, who has seen and heard everything Willmore said, comes out of hiding and pretends as if nothing has transpired. As Willmore begins to flirt with her again, Angellica enters, masked, and sees Willmore betraying the vows he made to her. Hellena finally reveals her face to Willmore, who praises her beauty. This is the last straw for Angellica. She orders one of her servants to find out who Hellena is and storms out. Hellena asks what Willmore was doing in Angellica's house; he denies that anything transpired. Hellena then attacks him, quoting to him what he had just said about Angellica. She makes Willmore promise never to see Angellica again. Meanwhile, Florinda and Valeria are testing Belville's loyalty to Florinda by trying to seduce him while he doesn't know who they are. He stands firm. The women exit, but Florinda leaves Belville with a locket. Belville recognizes Florinda's picture in the locket and resolves to rescue her that night, with Willmore and Frederick's help. Meanwhile, Blunt is tricked out of his money and clothes by Lucetta.

Florinda waits in her garden for Belville wearing a nightgown. Willmore enters, drunk, mistakes Florinda for a prostitute, and tries to persuade her to sleep with him. When she resists he attempts to rape her, but when Belville and Frederick enter, Florinda runs off. Willmore and Belville almost fight, but Frederick intervenes. The noise however, brings Pedro and his servants to the garden. A fight breaks out and the English are driven off.

Willmore tries to explain to a furious Belville that he didn't know who Florinda was and mistook her for a whore. Belville and Frederick leave to find Florinda.

Antonio enters, hoping that his page has paid Angellica so he can sleep with her. Willmore sees this and starts a fight with Antonio. Antonio falls, wounded. Willmore believes he has killed Antonio and runs off. Belville runs in, fearing that it is Willmore who has been hurt. Soldiers enter and arrest Belville, believing him to be the attacker. Antonio finds his strength and orders Belville taken to his house.

Act IV

Don Antonio does not believe that Belville is innocent of having injured him; however, he offers Belville an alternative to imprisonment. Since Antonio is wounded and cannot duel Pedro, Belville could dress up as Antonio and go instead. Belville agrees, believing the fight to be over Florinda.

Florinda frets that Belville did not come to her window as planned, and fears that the impending duel is between Belville and Pedro. Pedro enters, masked, and reveals that he will be fighting Antonio, relieving some of Florinda's fears. Belville enters, disguised as Antonio. Florinda runs in to stop them. Belville is confused as to why Florinda would defend his rival but they push her away and fight. Florinda stops them again just as Belville disarms Pedro. She begs him spare Pedro. Belville lays his sword at Florinda's feet and swears his love to her. The action redeems him in Pedro's eyes, so he gives his sister to the man he believes to be Antonio, demanding that they get married at once. Florinda protests, but Belville secretly lifts his mask to show her who he is.

Just then, Willmore and Frederick enter. Wilmore greets him by embrace. The embrace makes Belville drop his mask. Pedro now refuses to allow the wedding, since it was Antonio's fight, not Belville's. He drags Florinda away, accusing her of trying to trick him. Belville, furious at being thwarted yet again, turns on Willmore and chases him away. Angellica enters with her servants Moretta and Sebastian, furious that Willmore loves Hellena. Sebastian runs after Willmore to bring him back. Angellica accuses Willmore of having another woman. Willmore, as usual, attempts to charm her back.

Hellena enters disguised as a man. She decides to interfere and approaches Angellica pretending to be one of Hellena's servants. She tells a story about a young girl who fell in love and was left standing at the altar because her lover came to Angellica. Then she reveals the lover to be Willmore. Angellica is moved by the story, Willmore is only excited and impatient to find out who the woman in question is. Suddenly, Willmore recognizes Hellena and figures out what's going on. He turns to Angellica and starts describing Hellena as a Gypsy, ugly, a monkey, etc. He tells Hellena to go back to her mistress. Angellica is outraged with Willmore and vows to take revenge and sends Willmore away. Willmore exits with an aside in which he says he plans to try to win Hellena back.

Florinda and Valeria enter, disguised in different costumes, having momentarily escaped Pedro. Then Don Pedro, Belville, and Willmore enter. Pedro and Belville seem to be having a serious conversation. Willmore follows Florinda when she walks past, again thinking she is a courtesan. Frederick comes in and relates Blunt's misadventures to Belville and Pedro. They all go off to find him. Florinda reenters, still being chased by Willmore. Then Hellena arrives and sees Willmore pursuing this "unknown" woman. She sends a page to find out where they go. Florinda ducks into a door to avoid Willmore; it turns out to be Belville's house. The page Hellena sent goes off to relay the information.

Blunt is staying in Belville's house. Florinda enters, sees Blunt and asks him for help. Blunt then attempts to rape her based on his new contempt for women. Frederick enters, also convinced that Florinda is a prostitute, and joins Blunt. Florinda gives them a diamond ring and asks them to consult Belville. Frederick fears that she might be a lady of some worth and asks Blunt to wait. Blunt is still sceptical but agrees. Frederick locks Florinda in a room.

Act V

Belville, Willmore, Frederick, and Pedro break into Blunt's room and laugh at him. Blunt says that just a moment before there was a wench in his chamber and shows them the ring Florinda gave him. Belville recognizes the ring as the one he gave Florinda when they exchanged vows. The other men, unaware that the girl is Florinda, decide to let her out and have their way with her. They draw swords to see who has the longest. Don Pedro wins and unlocks Florinda's door.

Florinda runs in, still masked and pursued by Pedro. She is saved when Valeria arrives and persuades Pedro to leave by telling him that Callis knows where Florinda is hiding. Once he is gone, Florinda removes her mask. Valeria tells Belville and Florinda to get married quickly, before Pedro returns. Frederick and Valeria decide to get married as well. Belville sends a boy to fetch a priest. Frederick and Blunt realise that they almost raped Florinda and apologise, returning the ring. Florinda forgives them. Belville, Florinda, Valeria, and Frederick exit to get married; Blunt goes off to see a tailor. Willmore stays behind to guard against Pedro's return.

Angellica enters, pointing a pistol at Willmore; she rages at him while threatening him with the gun. Willmore offers to pay her for her services; she refuses. As she prepares to kill him, Don Antonio enters with his arm in a sling. He takes the gun from Angellica, then recognises Willmore as the man who stole Angellica's picture. He offers to shoot Willmore. Pedro enters. Angellica decides to let Willmore live, and leaves. Don Pedro asks why Don Antonio missed the duel; Antonio tells him what happened, and leaves in a huff. Pedro decides to give Florinda to Belville in revenge. Willmore informs him that the marriage has already occurred. Pedro exits.

Hellena enters, still in boy's clothes, and banters with Willmore, who wants to sleep with her but doesn't want to marry her. Hellena finally convinces him for marriage. Pedro, Belville, Florinda, Frederick, and Valeria enter. They learn of Willmore and Hellena's engagement and Pedro approves, tired of fearing for his sister's honour (virginity). Blunt enters in a Spanish habit, looking ridiculous. Music plays and masquers from Carnival come in dancing. The play ends with vows of love between Hellena and Willmore.

The wedding of Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann is interrupted when Lord Cutler Beckett, chairman of the East India Trading Company, arrives with arrest warrants for them, and also for Commodore James Norrington, who allowed Captain Jack Sparrow to escape. Norrington has resigned and disappeared after losing the Navy's flagship, HMS ''Dauntless'', in a hurricane while pursuing Jack. Meanwhile, Jack is visited by Will's father, Bootstrap Bill Turner, aboard the ''Black Pearl''. Bootstrap is a crewman on the ''Flying Dutchman'', captained by Davy Jones. Jack previously bartered a deal with Jones to raise the ''Pearl'' from the depths, and must now join the ''Dutchman'''s crew or be dragged to Davy Jones' Locker by the Kraken. Meanwhile, Beckett promises to free Elizabeth if Will brings him Jack's magical compass, which points to whatever the holder wants most.

Will finds Jack and the crew on an island and frees them from cannibals. After escaping the cannibals, Jack and the crew visit voodoo priestess Tia Dalma, who reveals Jones' weakness is his heart, locked within the Dead Man's Chest; Jack intends to find it and free himself from Jones' service. Locating the ''Dutchman'', Will makes a deal with Jack to find the key to the chest in return for Jack's compass, but is tricked into joining Jones' crew in Jack's stead. Jones agrees to release Jack from their bargain in exchange for ninety-nine more souls. Will meets his father aboard the ''Dutchman'' and learns that Jones possesses the key to the chest. Despite losing a game of Liar's Dice to Jones, Will escapes with the key and is taken aboard the same ship Elizabeth was on. Jones sends the Kraken after him and sinks the ship, but Will again escapes.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth's father Governor Swann frees her from jail but is captured himself. Elizabeth bargains with Beckett to find the compass herself and makes her way to Tortuga, where she finds both Jack and a drunken Norrington. Jack hires a new crew, including Elizabeth and Norrington, and Elizabeth uses the compass to find the chest. All parties arrive on Isla Cruces, where the chest is buried, but a three-way sword fight breaks out between Jack, Will, and Norrington, who all want the heart for their respective goals: Jack wants to call off the Kraken and negate his debt to Jones; Will wants to release his father from the ''Dutchman''; and Norrington wants to regain his life as a Navy officer. In the chaos, Norrington secretly steals the heart and runs off, pretending to lure away the ''Dutchman'' s crew. Jones attacks the ''Pearl'' with the Kraken, which kills most of the crew and destroys all but one of the ''Pearl'' s lifeboats, but Jack, who briefly fled the battle, returns and wounds the Kraken with a net full of gunpowder and rum.

Jack orders the survivors to abandon ship, but Elizabeth, realizing the Kraken only wants Jack, tricks him by kissing him and chains him to the mast so that the crew can escape. The Kraken drags Jack and the ''Pearl'' to Davy Jones' Locker, and Jones declares their debt is settled, but then opens the chest and discovers, to his rage, that his heart is gone. In Port Royal, Norrington gives Beckett the heart and the Letters of Marque meant for Jack, allowing him back into the navy, as well as allowing Beckett to gain control of Davy Jones and the seas. The ''Pearl'' s crew takes shelter with Tia Dalma, where they all agree to rescue Jack. Tia Dalma introduces the captain who will guide them: the resurrected Hector Barbossa.

The plot centres on retrieving items from a Type XXI U-boat sunk off the Portuguese coast in the last days of World War II. Initially, the items are forged British and American currency, for financing a revolution in Portugal on the cheap. Later, it switches to heroin (the "Horse" of the title), and eventually it is revealed that the true interest is in the "Weiss list" – a list of Britons prepared to help the Third Reich set up a puppet government in Britain, should Germany prevail. Thrown into the mix is secret "ice melting" technology, which could be vital to the missile submarines then beginning to hide under the Arctic sea ice.

The voidhawk ''Oenone'' reaches Jupiter and docks with one of the 4,250 habitats orbiting the planet. Whilst medical assistance and trauma counselling begin to help heal Syrinx, the information from Laton and the events on Atlantis is transmitted to the Jovian Consensus. As they become aware of the scale of the crisis, the Edenists immediately switch their economy to a war footing, rendering Jupiter space impregnable to attack. They also develop personality-query systems which should render all Edenists, voidhawks and habitats immune to possession. They detach a quarter of the voidhawk fleet and assign it to reinforce the Confederation Navy. Admiral Aleksandrovich summons an emergency session of the Confederation Assembly on its meeting world of Avon.

On Avon the Confederation Assembly is stunned to learn of the threat from the possessed. The Confederation Navy shuts down all interstellar flights to contain the threat and goes to its highest state of alert. In a startling move, the Tyrathca immediately cut themselves off from all contact with humanity for the duration of the crisis. The Kiint ambassador reveals that, many thousands of years ago, they also suffered a 'possession crisis', as the secret of death is one that is eventually discovered by all sentient races. They claim that their solution to the crisis is not applicable to humanity, who must find their own way.

Alkad Mzu departs from the blackhawk ''Udat'', leaving behind a virus in its jump system which causes the destruction of ''Udat'' whilst making a wormhole transit. She does this both to protect knowledge of her whereabouts and also as revenge: ''Udat'' was one of the blackhawks which crippled the ''Beezling'' just before the Garissan Genocide.

On the planet Norfolk, the possessed succeed in over-running most of the planet. Louise Kavanagh's father, Grant, is possessed and gives up his home estate to forces loyal to Quinn Dexter. However, Dexter's attempts to have Louise and her sister Genevieve possessed are thwarted by another possessed, who assists Louise and Genevieve in reaching the nearest aerodrome. He reveals his name – Fletcher Christian – and vows to protect them from those who mean them harm. He bemoans the lack of chivalry and honour among his fellow returnees. They flee to the capital, which is in danger of falling, and briefly find refuge with Louise's cousins, the Hewsons. One of the cousins, Roberto, attempts to rape Louise, but fortunately is thwarted. After this, with her parents declared missing, Louise takes control of the Kavanagh fortune and is able to use this to book passage on a starship fleeing the system for Earth. They end up on a ship owned by SII (Mars' national company) and eventually reach High York, an asteroid in the O'Neill Halo in orbit above Earth. Christian's true nature is detected and he, Louise and Genevieve are all arrested.

On Ombey Ralph Hiltch assists the local police and military in tracking down the possessed from Lalonde. Princess Kirsten authorises the use of lethal force and, in a move which establishes a precedent across the Confederation, the planet's own strategic defence platforms are turned against the possessed, destroying an aircraft and several buses carrying them. One bus manages to get onto Mortonridge, a hilly peninsula, and the entire human population of nearly two million is possessed. SD platforms and the military manage to seal off the peninsula, containing the possessed in this one area. The leader of the possessed, Annette Ekelund, agrees to a cessation of hostilities until a more permanent solution to the crisis is found. However, the Kulu Kingdom is unwilling to look inactive whilst its citizens are in danger, and contingency plans are made. Hiltch visits Kulu itself and is shocked to learn that there was an outbreak of possession in Nova Kong, the capital, but it was put down hard by the authorities. King Alastair agrees to authorise an alliance with the Edenists, who will provide bitek soldiers to help retake Mortonridge. They know now that the possessed fear zero-tau and plan to use thousands of zero-tau pods to force the possessed to give up their bodies. The campaign will likely be bloody, but the Confederation badly needs a victory.

Joshua Calvert and the crew of the ''Lady MacBeth'' return to Tranquillity with news of events on Lalonde. Kelly Tirrel becomes an overnight celebrity for her reports of the conflict on Lalonde, and the children rescued from the planet are well-treated in the habitat's children's home. Ione asks Joshua Calvert to take his ship and pursue Alkad Mzu and ''Udat'' wherever they have gone. Ione believes that the Alchemist may pose as great a threat as the possessed. Joshua reluctantly agrees. Before he departs, Father Horst Elwes relates to him a story about how he was able to 'exorcise' a possessing spirit on Lalonde and tells Joshua to have faith.

On New California a few possessed manage to get loose on the planet, but they are disorganised and unable to make much headway. One of the possessed appears to be a raving lunatic, but as the days pass the possessing soul's presence in a normally-functioning brain restore his sanity and his memory. The possessing soul turns out to be Al Capone, a famed gangster from 20th century Chicago. Capone organises the possessed and they take over the planet in a matter of weeks. Capone realises they need to keep the planet's economy and starship-building capability going to defend themselves from any counter-attack, so many citizens are spared from possession (the act of which interferes with electrical systems nearby) as long as they contribute to the expansion of Capone's 'Organisation'. The interstellar superstar Jezebelle (a singer and 'mood-fantasy' artist) is on the planet at the time and she rapidly becomes Capone's lover, but also proves to be a valuable source of intelligence on the Confederation. The Organisation spreads to another planet and its ships begin causing problems for the Confederation Navy. First Admiral Samual Aleksandrovich learns that the Organisation's next conquest will be the planet Toi Hoi and develops a plan to intercept and destroy their fleet there.

Quinn Dexter leaves Norfolk and travels to Earth, hoping to infiltrate the arcologies there. However, Earth's defences and security measures are far too strong for him to penetrate. He instead travels to a planet called Nyvan, one of the earliest colonies founded before the policy of ethnic-streaming colonies came into effect. As a result, the planet is locked in a permanent state of cold war. Dexter effectively takes over one of the orbital asteroids. During his conquest he discovers it is possible to shift his body into a 'ghost realm', where he finds more dead souls. They claim that when someone dies only some are trapped in a beyond, whilst others become locked in a ghost-like state. Although he has no use for the ghosts, Dexter realises he can use this new ability to break through Earth's security again.

In the Valisk habitat, the possessed, aided by Dariat, become organised and swiftly take over much of the habitat. Rubra, the personality controlling the habitat, tries to reason with Dariat to little avail. Kiera, the leader of the possessed on Valisk (and the possessor of Marie Skibbow), travels to New California and is able to secure an alliance with the Organisation. Thanks to Dariat's knowledge of bitek systems, he is able to arrange for several dozen blackhawks to be possessed. The resulting 'hellhawks' become a valuable asset and Kiera is able to sell their skills to the Organisation. However, Dariat becomes gradually opposed to the possessed, due to their brutal tactics and penchant for destruction. He decides to side with Rubra, helps some of the non-possessed population to evacuate, and then merges his personality with Rubra's in the neural strata. The resulting blast of energy ends the threat of the possessed but also rips Valisk out of the material universe and into a strange realm of grey mists. Dariat is horrified to wake up and discover that he is now a ghost.

At Jupiter, Syrinx recovers from her injuries. She visits Eden, the original habitat, where the personality of Wing-Tsit Chong, Edenism's founder, lives on in the habitat's neural strata. With his guidance, Syrinx is able to overcome both the trauma of her experience and also her prejudice against Adamists. Syrinx and ''Oenone'' begin flying again and are assigned to a Confederation Navy squadron commanded by Rear-Admiral Meredith Saldana, which is assigned to the upcoming Toi Hoi interception mission. Saldana's squadron travels to Tranquillity, where Ione Saldana agrees – reluctantly – to let them use the habitat as a staging ground for the attack.

On Trafalgar, the Confederation Navy HQ asteroid orbiting Avon, a possessed prisoner demands a hearing to confirm her human rights and stop the Navy personnel running tests on her. However, she nearly escapes during the hearing and manages to have several other people possessed, one of whom has knowledge of the Toi Hoi operation. She re-kills this individual, and then surrenders to the staff.

At New California the possessing soul from Trafalgar manages to get reincarnated and warns Capone of the Toi Hoi ambush. Capone prepares his own plan in response.

In Tranquillity the Kiint researchers at the Ruin Ring project become intrigued by reports reaching them about a Tyrathca religion they previously did not know about (when one of the children from Lalonde tells a Kiint youth about it). They acquire the relevant data about the Sleeping God from Kelly Tirrel. Tranquillity observes this and Tirrel gives Ione a copy of the data. Ione is puzzled – the Tyrathca are a notably unimaginative species and have no need for supernatural deities – but her advisors suggest that the Sleeping God is actually a real entity who was able to aid the Tyrathca centuries ago, and may be able to aid humanity now against the threat of the possessed.

Joshua Calvert's hunt for Mzu and the Alchemist takes him to several worlds and asteroid settlements. On Ayachuko asteroid, in the Dorados, he is shocked to discover that he has a half-brother, Liol, the result of a liaison between Joshua's father Marcus and a local woman nearly thirty years ago. With possessed loosed on Ayachucko, Joshua agrees to let Liol depart with them. Joshua is attacked by a possessed but his attempt to 'exorcise' him as per Elwes' instruction fails, apparently because the possessing spirit was a Sunni Muslim and has no fear of Joshua's crucifix. Joshua and his crew manage to escape. Mzu's trail leads them to Nyvan. Joshua's pursuit is hampered by agents from the Edenist Intelligence service (led by Samual) and the Kulu External Security Agency (led by Monica Foulkes) who have surprisingly joined forces in their own pursuit of Mzu. Possessed loosed on Nyvan have also learned of Mzu's weapon and are searching for her. The pursuit culminates in a showdown at an iron yard. Joshua and his companions survive thanks to the intervention of a man with strange abilities named Dick Keaton, and are able to extract Mzu safely, although they also have to pick up Monica and Samual. Dexter destroys an orbital asteroid with nuclear bombs, causing a rain of asteroid chunks to fall on and annihilate the planet's biosphere. Satisfied with the chaos he has caused, Dexter departs for Earth. He abandons his comrades, slips into the ghost realm to evade security, and reappears in the space elevator descending towards the planet.

Safely aboard Joshua's ship Mzu explains how thirty years ago she and other Garrisan starships were on a mission to deploy the Alchemist when they were ambushed and left for dead by Omutan hired blackhawks (as portrayed in the first chapter of ''The Reality Dysfunction''). They were left with two badly damaged ships, one with an active ZTT drive and the other without. With a difficult decision ahead, they decided to place 30 crewmembers in zero-tau and the Alchemist on the damaged Beezling, and send them to the nearest uninhabited star two and a half light-years away at sub-light speed (9% the speed of light due to the lack of a ZTT drive), what would be a 28-year journey. Mzu and others escaped via ZTT jump on the remaining ship with the intentions of rendezvousing with the Beezling upon its arrival in 28 years.

Mzu finally reveals the location coordinates of the uninhabited star that the Beezling is now orbiting and Joshua and his crew race to the star with the intentions of intercepting and destroying the Alchemist. Upon their arrival they discover the Alchemist and the Beezling with most of its crew intact. During the rescue Joshua's ship is ambushed by two Organization hellhawks that pursued them from Nyvan. Finding himself greatly outmaneuvered, Joshua pulls off a daring stunt by deploying the Alchemist into a nearby gas giant causing it to go nova, destroying the two Organization ships. Joshua meanwhile uses his ship's anti-matter drive to safely accelerate away from the nova at forty-two gees to a distance where they can make a proper ZTT jump.

With knowledge of the Confederation's Toi Hoi assault fleet grouping and refuelling at Tranquility, the Organisation fleet, aided by a large number of hellhawks, stages a massive assault on Tranquillity, surrounding the habitat and its few blackhawk mercenary and Confederation Navy defenders. They demand Tranquillity's immediate surrender. When Ione hesitates, they launch over 5,000 anti-matter weapons at the habitat.

Later, when ''Lady Macbeth'' arrives at Mirchusko, they find a vast radioactive dead zone where Tranquillity used to be. However, there is insufficient debris or disintegrated matter in orbit to suggest the station was destroyed. Its fate is unknown.

The story concludes in ''The Naked God''.

Jay Hilton, one of the surviving children from Lalonde, is awoken when Tranquillity falls under attack by the Organisation and its hellhawk allies. With the habitat in imminent danger of destruction, the Kiint personnel immediately evacuate by triggering their 'Emergency Exodus Facility', personal wormholes that transport them to the real Kiint home star system. An infant Kiint, Haile, decides that she can't let Jay be killed in the attack and activates the Emergency Exodus Facility on her, removing her from Tranquillity as well, to the displeasure of her parents, Nang and Lieria. Jay finds herself on a planet which appears to be just one in a necklace of hundreds orbiting a star in the same orbit. Haile's parents reluctantly confirm that this, the Kiint home system, is actually in another galaxy, and the supposed Kiint homeworld of Jobis was actually just a single scientific outpost. They regretfully announce that Tranquillity has either been destroyed or forced to surrender to the possessed.

The Jovian Consensus is placed on an emergency alert when a colossal wormhole opens above Jupiter. They are shocked when the habitat Tranquillity appears. Ione Saldana reveals that Michael Saldana feared that whatever destroyed the Laymil might return to its system, and gave Tranquillity the means to escape that threat.

The ''Lady Macbeth'' journeys to Trafalgar and there reveal the events of their mission to the First Admiral, who is happy that the Alchemist has been destroyed and Alkad Mzu is no longer at large. Because Joshua Calvert knows the mechanics of the Alchemist he must not risk death due to the event his soul is brought back in a different body and is tortured/interrogated by the possessed about his knowledge of the Alchemist. After thoroughly debriefing the crew, the First Admiral allows them to travel on to Tranquillity. A meeting is held and Ione proposes that Tranquillity and the Jovian Consensus join forces to track down the Tyrathca Sleeping God and see what use it could be in the fight with the possessed. Syrinx and the voidhawk ''Oenone'' volunteer for the mission and Joshua Calvert agrees to take the ''Lady Macbeth'' on the mission. The Confederation Navy and the Kulu ESA also agree to support the venture. Because the mission will involve travelling several thousand light-years far outside Confederation territory, ''Lady Macbeth'' is authorised to use antimatter on this mission. The Confederation Navy has located the antimatter production facility that is fuelling Capone's Organisation. They allow ''Lady Macbeth'' to fuel up and then destroy it. The Organisation hellhawk ''Stryla'' observes the attack and notes that the ''Lady Macbeth'' jumped to the Tyrathca prime colony world in Confederation space, and delivers that information to the Organisation. Several Organisation ships are despatched to pursue and investigate.

On Ombey, the Liberation Campaign begins with a massive assault on Mortonridge by tens of thousands of regular troops and Edenist bitek soldiers. Although the campaign is costly, ground is won and thousands of the possessed are forcibly ejected from their hosts. Eventually the possessed fall back on a small patch of land at the tip of the peninsula and by combining their energistic powers are able to teleport the entire patch of land into a strange grey realm. The possessed and the attacking soldiers agree to a truce until they can work out how to survive in this strange place.

The Valisk habitat is trapped in yet another realm, nicknamed "the dark continuum". Energistic power is weak in this place, and entropic decay is far more powerful than normal. As a result, Valisk's energy is being lost into the 'dark continuum', as it has been named. Even worse, what energy it does manage to generate attracts the attention of monstrous, immortal, shape-shifting predators known as Orgathé, who attack the habitat with enthusiasm to feed on its power. There is a gravitational incline in this dimension which leads to a horrifying place called the Mélange, a liquid nitrogen–cold sea of beings trapped in this continuum, unable to accumulate enough energy to escape. Dariat escapes from Valisk in an escape pod with Tolton before it hits the Mélange and explodes, but they ponder that it is only a matter of time until the pod runs out of fuel and dissolves, forcing them to join the tortured beings outside.

The Confederation Navy research team discovers a possible way of killing the possessed, an 'anti-memory' device that will eradicate both the possessed and the possessing soul. The First Admiral is horrified about the weapon and even more horrified when President Haakar, panicking as the possession crisis spreads to more worlds, authorises its development. The scientists hope to create a more powerful version that will obliterate all of the tens of billions of souls in the beyond, which becomes a controversial idea among the Confederation government. Although the first weapon is completed, further research is suspended when a lone Organisation suicide attacker detonates an antimatter bomb right outside the habitat, irradiating it and destroying dozens of ships outside. The internal staff survive, but have to transfer their personnel and equipment to Avon. Furious, the First Admiral orders that the Organisation be permanently eradicated.

A fleet of over a thousand Confederation warships mobilises and attacks the worlds the Organisation have conquered, forcing them to withdraw back to New California. The other worlds, freed from the need to supply the Organisation with materials, are shifted out of the universe by their possessed populations.

Joshua Calvert and Syrinx begin their search for the Sleeping God by visiting the only known Tyrathca planet in the Confederation, breaking into the abandoned arkship in orbit around the planet, to determine the origin of the Tyrathca, whose original home planet appears to be on the far side of the Orion Nebula. On the way, however, the Tyrathca break into the arkship as well and pursue the expeditionary team, who also find evidence in the arkship's systems of prior use by the Kiint. The humans manage to escape by duplicating the manoeuvre of the blackhawk ''Udat'', swallowing into a hollow chamber in the arkship and swallowing out again to extricate the expeditionary team.

On Earth, Louise Kavanagh returns to London after warning Banneth of Quinn Dexter's intention of killing her. It is eventually revealed that Quinn's actions had been discovered by a secret Govcentral security council named B7. They are in contact with Banneth and attempt to use her as bait, to lure Dexter out of hiding and then hit the building he is in with an orbital gamma laser. Quinn sees through their trap though, and arranges for a double of himself to be in the building while it is destroyed, thereby killing Banneth and the double, and making B7 think he is dead. His plan is foiled, though, by a person calling himself "a friend of Carter McBride" (the boy Laton killed to expose Quinn's cult on Lalonde), and B7 is once again on Quinn's tracks. Louise is summoned by a member of B7, the Western Europe Supervisor. He reveals to her the truth about B7: it is a consortium of incredibly wealthy individuals whose "financial institutions own a healthy percentage of the human race". They believe themselves to be immortal, as they use affinity to transfer their memories and personality into clone bodies to avoid death, in much the same way as Edenists (although the Kiint reveal that souls are different from "memory constructs", and that therefore they actually died every time their old bodies were destroyed, with their souls moving on). He also reveals that they were the actual cause behind the schism between Adamists and Edenists, which began as their attempt to keep bitek technology all for themselves (a plan that was foiled when Wing-Tsit Chong created Edenism). He arranges for Louise to meet up with Fletcher Christian in London. From there they would find Dexter and use the anti-memory device to kill him forever. The operation fails, and Louise finally confronts Quinn at St Paul's Cathedral in London, where he attempts to bring the Night to the Universe by opening a dimensional rift to summon "fallen angels" to Earth. The first creatures to emerge from it are none other than Dariat and Tolton (as the rift turns out to lead directly into the Mélange). A confrontation ensues, with Louise, Fletcher, Dariat, Tolton, and a returned-from-the-beyond Powel Manani (the friend of Carter McBride) faced off against the army of the possessed and the entities fleeing the Mélange.

The ''Lady Macbeth'' and ''Oenone'' continue on to the Tyrathca home system, now swallowed by a red giant. At first they believe the system is uninhabited, until they catch sight of dozens of habitats ringing the Red Giant. They contact the nearest and make contact with the Mosdva, who turn out to have once been the Tyrathca's slaves, being used to mine and build the ships and habitats since they were more versatile in zero gravity. The ''Lady Macbeth'' s arrival leads to a war breaking out amongst the dominions on the habitat, which ends when they gain a Tyrathca star map, and give the dominions their FTL technology. After a lengthy journey they find the ''Sleeping God'', a naked singularity supplied by controlling vacuum energy. The Sleeping God was originally created to remove its creator race from the current universe, and was built to help sentient entities. It reveals, among other things, that souls remain trapped in the beyond because they are unable to accept their death; all souls are indeed destined for the Beyond, but those that let go travel through the time of the spaceless dimension to the "omega point", the end of the Universe where all souls combine into one and contribute to the nature of the next universe to be born. Joshua Calvert uses the god to return every stolen Confederation planet to the Universe, before moving them out of the Galaxy, altering the wormholes to remove the possessed. He also makes Quinn into a vessel for all of the human souls in the beyond, to transport them all to the Omega point instead of letting them suffer in eternal purgatory. He then gives himself affinity and returns to Tranquility, marries young girl Louise and settles down to live on Norfolk.

Numerous plot strands are also tied up in the closing pages, revealing Dariat's reunion with Anastasia in some unknown realm, the fate of the members of B7 and Andre Duchamp (who Joshua ironically strands on a penal planet), Ralph Hiltch's 'conversion' to Edenism, Syrinx reawakening Erik Thakrar, and the settling of the Hiltons on Norfolk.

As the game begins, the player's character is spending a final day of a London vacation in the Kensington Gardens. The evening flight back to the United States is looking increasingly unlikely for a number of unusual reasons. Hordes of nannies are blocking all exits from the Gardens, and the grass actively resists efforts to be walked upon. Worst of all, a gleam on the horizon soon heralds the unwelcome arrival of a Soviet nuclear missile. Time begins to slow as the missile approaches, and with some ingenuity the player's character finds an incongruous door hovering in mid-air. There's no telling where it may lead, but it cannot possibly be worse than the alternative of being at ground zero of a nuclear detonation...

The doorway leads to a strange land, where impossible objects exist. Space and time do not seem to behave in the familiar ways here. Exploring this new environment, the player finds several other mysterious doors, each of which leads to another chapter in the history of nuclear weaponry. After visiting test sites (including ones in Siberia, Nevada, and the Eniwetok Atoll) and Nagasaki just before each device is detonated, the player has one scenario left to deal with. The final door leads to the New Mexico desert on July 16, 1945, mere minutes before the test-firing that will change the course of history. But something is wrong at the "Trinity" site, and without the player's intervention things will go horribly awry.

The player is witness to, or rather narrowly escapes being a witness to, a number of nuclear explosions in the game. The sites visited, and the markings on the sundial that represent them, are: * London, near future (fictional, Omega) * Low Earth Orbit, near future (fictional, Mercury) * Nevada (underground), 1970 (historical, Pluto) * Eniwetok Atoll, Pacific Ocean, 1952 (historical, Neptune) * Siberia, 1949 (historical, Libra) * Nagasaki, Japan, 1945 (historical, Mars) * Trinity, New Mexico, 1945 (historical, Alpha)

Each of the symbols has a meaning relevant to the incident it represents. Trinity was the site of the first atomic explosion, and is therefore represented by an alpha, which is the first character of the Greek alphabet. The bombing of Nagasaki was an act of war, and Mars is the Roman god of war. The test in Siberia (actually in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic) was an example of another superpower attempting to establish balance in the nuclear arms race, and the zodiacal sign of Libra is represented by the scales, making a reference to restoring the balance. The Eniwetok Atoll test took place in the middle of the ocean; hence it is symbolized by Neptune, the Roman god of the sea. The Nevada test is underground, and thus represented by Pluto, god of the underworld. The fictional incident in London was chronologically the latest to take place, and omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. The symbols also appear at the corresponding locations in ''The Illustrated Story of the Atom Bomb'' comic, which was included with the game. The fictional Low Earth Orbit (Mercury) detonation is very likely a reference to the space interceptor subproject of the Strategic Defense Initiative, nicknamed "Star Wars", contemporary with the game's development. ''Trinity'' also includes numerous references to British children's literature, including the Alice books of Lewis Carroll, the Mary Poppins books of P. L. Travers, and especially J. M. Barrie s novel ''The Little White Bird''.

The story followed Roy Race, a striker for the fictional football team Melchester Rovers, based in a town of the same name in an unspecified part of England, where Roy lived with his family. In the first episode, a teenaged Roy and his best friend, Blackie Gray, signed for the Rovers after being spotted playing for a youth club team. Eight months later, Roy and Blackie made their first-team debuts against Elbury Wanderers in a game that ended in a 3–3 draw, with Roy scoring twice. He soon became a star, leading the team to either the Football League title or a cup almost every season. In January 1975 he was made player-manager, a position he retained for most of the next 20 years. Although the strip followed the Rovers through nearly 40 seasons, Roy did not age at the same rate and appeared to be at most in his late thirties by the time the weekly comic ended. This unrealistic longevity was never remarked upon by the weekly comic, although the monthly comic attempted to address the anomaly by explaining that more than one Roy Race had played for Melchester over the years.

Roy won a number of trophies during his career with Rovers, including nine league titles, eight FA Cups, three League Cups, three European Cups, one UEFA Cup, and four Cup Winners' Cups, and he also made several appearances for England. He married club secretary Penny Laine at the end of the 1975–76 season, with whom he had three children: Roy Jr. (later known as Rocky), Melinda, and Diana. Penny left Roy in the early 1980s, in a high-profile storyline that was covered on national television news. The following year Roy was shot in his office by a mystery gunman, in an incident clearly mirroring the shooting of J. R. Ewing in the hit television series ''Dallas'' the previous year. Roy lay in a coma for several weeks. The culprit was eventually revealed to be Elton Blake, an actor who had been cast as Roy in a television series about the Rovers, but who blamed him for his dismissal. In early 1983 Roy swapped Melchester Rovers for ambitious London side Walford Rovers after a fallout with the Melchester directors, but his stint away was short-lived and he was back at his spiritual home by the end of the year. In July 1986 eight members of the Rovers team were killed during a club tour of the fictional Middle Eastern country of Basran, when terrorists accidentally crashed a bomb-laden car into the team bus. Roy escaped with a dislocated shoulder. Author Mick Collins has commented that "Even as youngsters, we knew that this certainly bordered on bad taste, and probably overstepped the mark."

The final incident of Roy's playing career came in the closing pages of the last weekly issue, in March 1993, when he lost control of his helicopter and crashed into a field. Thus the weekly strip ended its 39-year unbroken run on a downbeat and unresolved cliffhanger, as Roy was taken into hospital while fans, the media and his family awaited news on his condition. The mystery of whether or not Roy had survived his crash was unresolved until the first issue of the new ''Roy of the Rovers Monthly'' in September 1993, in which readers discovered that the accident had resulted in the amputation of his famous left foot, ending his playing career and resulting in his move to Italy as the manager of Serie A side AC Monza (a fictional top-level Italian club, rather than the real club of the same name).

Reconciling the continuity of the monthly strip with the stories that preceded and followed it presented difficulties, forcing the story's writers to alter its history in a number of ways, a technique known as retroactive continuity. Significantly, the strip rewrote various parts of Melchester's history, and shortened Roy Sr.'s recorded playing career to a more realistic level.

By the time the strip ended in March 1995 Melchester were in dire straits, on the verge of bankruptcy, and their long-term future far from certain. When the strip returned in ''Match of the Day'' magazine in May 1997, much of the monthly comic's new continuity was ignored, although the basic thread of the club having struggled against relegation and being severely in debt was continued. It was revealed in the first strip that in the intervening years, while Rovers had managed to survive the threat of bankruptcy, a bribery scandal had caused a mass exodus of players and eventual relegation to Division One. Rocky, meanwhile, was playing for fierce local rivals Melborough, after a bitter falling-out with his father over a car accident in Italy in which his mother, Penny, had been killed. Roy, who had quit football as a result, was blamed by some (including his son) for the accident, even though he had no memory of it, and the precise circumstances surrounding the event were never resolved.

Roy was persuaded to rejoin Melchester as manager and part-owner, backed by the unscrupulous Vinter brothers, and he arrived just in time to save the club from relegation. The following season, Roy and Rocky resolved their differences. Rocky rejoined Melchester, and the club was promoted back into the Premier League at the end of the year. When the magazine closed in 2001, Rovers were attempting to achieve a league placing that would secure them UEFA Champions League football, giving them financial security. Although this storyline was never resolved, there was nevertheless a certain sense of closure as, shortly beforehand, Roy Sr. had wrested full control of the club from the Vinters, thus completing his 44-year progression from player to owner.

2018 revival

The 2018 revival series of graphic novels and younger reader novels follows 16-year-old Roy Race as he attempts to earn a trial at Melchester Rovers, a once-proud club that now sit down in League One. Roy divides his time between college and looking after his disabled father, but dreams of playing for Melchester as a striker. He impresses Melchester manager Kevin "Mighty" Mouse and coach Johnny "Hard Man" Dexter at his trial, and is signed on as a trainee – but suddenly finds himself, along with the rest of the youth team, promoted to the first team squad when the club's entire roster of professional players are sold to ensure Melchester's financial survival. The first season follows Roy and the Melchester squad as they strive to qualify for the playoffs and gain promotion to the Championship.

Along with Mouse and Dexter, several other characters from ''Roy of the Rovers'' history are repurposed for the reboot, including goalkeeper Gordon Stewart (formerly the star of backup series ''The Safest Hands in Soccer''), club captain Vic Guthrie (a Welsh under-17 star and Roy's main rival in the series), towering central defender Lofty Peak (brought to Rovers by his friend Roy after showing his prowess playing basketball), and Roy's childhood friend William "Blackie" Gray, who joins Rovers on loan from Premier League side Islington. New characters created for the series include Roy's younger sister Roxanne, nicknamed "Rocky" (a homage to Roy's son from the original series), and Vic Guthrie's sister Ffion.

Eastern front

In the Soviet campaign, the player first controls Private Aleksandr Sokolov. Sokolov participates in The Battle of Stalingrad following Sergeant Oleg Puskov. The sergeant is eventually killed by a sniper, sacrificing himself to save Sokolov. A female Soviet sniper, named Tanya Pavelovna appears and shoots the German sniper, then sends Sokolov on a mission to liberate Mamayev Kurgan hill. After the mission is completed, Sokolov becomes Pavelovna's spotter as the two work to harass the Germans. Pavelovna and Sokolov navigate through the sewers to help defend a tractor factory to ensure the safety of a T-34, supervised by Major Nikolai Badanov. In the tank, the major fights his way to General Belov's headquarters. Nikolai has orders from Belov to deliver a radio to a spotter team at the train station in order to coordinate a Katyusha rocket barrage on German armor. Afterward, Badanov is involved in the Soviet assault on a German airfield at Tatsinskaya, codenamed Operation Little Saturn. Nikolai and other T-34s proceed to the airstrip to destroy German aircraft. Upon destroying the airfield they meet up with more Soviets to assault the German headquarter's air traffic control.

North Africa

The British campaign follows Edward Carlyle. Carlyle embarks on a night raid in Matmata with a commando team led by Sergant Starkey to storm a German fortress and destroy a fuel depot. After the Matmata raid, Starkey and Carlyle evacuate in a jeep. By daybreak Starkey drives through German infested roads, while Carlyle mans the 50. Cal machine gun. Eventually Carlyle and Starkey make it to a besieged British fort, where they rescue Sergeant Dehart and a cartographer and ultimately neutralize the German presence in the fort.

Western Front

The American campaign follows Sergeant Chuck Walker. The first three missions concentrate on the capture of Aachen, with Chuck protecting the tank column along the way. After the capture of Aachen, the story shifts focus to M4 Sherman tank commander Sam Rivers, a young African-American who fends off Germans around the town of Tillet. After that, the newly promoted Lieutenant Walker infiltrates the city of Remagen to scout the Ludendorff Bridge and escort Rivers' tank squad to the bridge. Upon reaching the bridge, a huge hole in the ground prevents the tanks from moving on. Chuck eliminates the German garrison, delivering the bridge into Allied hands, so they can push into Germany.

The game takes place in the year 2172; mankind has colonized Earth's, Mars', and Jupiter's moons. A military force known as BAHRAM sends its primary offensive unit to attack Antilia, a Jupiter colony, in an attempt to secure two advanced machines known as Orbital Frames. One of the few colony survivors, a young boy named Leo Stenbuck, witnesses a falling Laborious Extra-Orbital Vehicle (LEV) killing his friends. He flees to a hangar, where he finds an Orbital Frame by the name of Jehuty. Using this suit and its built-in intelligence, A.D.A, he fends off the BAHRAM forces led by officer Viola who seek to claim Jehuty on the orders of their leader, Nohman. Leo is then contacted by Elena Weinberg, the commander of the civilian transport vessel Atlantis; it belongs to Earth's military forces, the United Nations Space Force. As Jehuty's original pilot died during the attack, Elena requests Leo's assistance to deliver Jehuty back to them so they can take it to Mars. Leo, however, refuses to kill enemies.

Battling through Antilia, Leo rescues civilians, including Celvice Klein, a friend; he defends the colony from destruction, defeating the BAHRAM forces and their commanders one by one. Before reaching Atlantis, Leo encounters Viola, who seeks a rematch; Leo defeats Viola and spares her. Later, Atlantis pilot Rock Thunderheart meets Leo in person, revealing that BAHRAM forces are still determined to obtain Jehuty and are threatening to destroy the colony. Thunderheart requests Leo's help to pilot Jehuty, as he has realized Leo's skills are superior. Viola then appears, shooting Celvice this time, forcing Leo to fight again. Celvice is taken to the Thunderheart to be treated while Leo goes to save the colony.

Leo goes to the docks and Viola battles him once more. However, Viola is defeated again and killed when a leftover bomb blows her out of the colony and into Jupiter's atmosphere. Nohman himself then appears in Jehuty's superior twin Frame Anubis, forcing Jehuty's escape. As Jehuty is docking, A.D.A. reveals to Leo its programming: when taken to the fortress Aumaan on Mars, the mechas is to eject its pilot and self-destruct Jehuty, destroying the frame and the fortress. Leo leaves Jehuty's cockpit and meets up with the crew of the Atlantis and Celvice, who survived a gunshot wound.

Over the Pacific Ocean, TransPacific Airlines Flight 545 experiences severe pitch oscillations, leading to dozens of injured passengers and several deaths. The plane, a Norton Aircraft N-22, has an excellent safety record, and the captain is highly skilled, making the possibility of human error unlikely. Casey Singleton, a vice president in quality assurance at Norton, is assigned by COO John Marder to the Incident Review Team (IRT) to investigate. The IRT has one week to identify the issue in order to prevent a major sale with China from falling apart over safety concerns.

Due to issues with the flight recorders, the team is forced to manually check each system of the aircraft. At first, all signs point to the plane's slats accidentally deploying mid-flight. Though other N-22s had exhibited similar slats errors in the past, Norton assumed the problem had been fixed. Their search uncovers a counterfeit part in the wing, but this would not have been enough to cause the accident on its own. Meanwhile, Casey grows suspicious of Bob Richman, an arrogant Norton family member assigned to assist her. Additionally, the factory union is concerned the China sale will offset the wing to China, threatening employees' jobs, and the union seeks to sabotage the deal.

An unrelated N-22 engine failure and the release of passenger camera footage from Flight 545 draws heavy media attention to Norton. Jennifer Malone, a producer for the news program ''Newsline'', is interested in reporting on Norton's flaws and pursues the story; Marder asks Casey to conduct an interview for ''Newsline''. Later, Casey realizes the plane was equipped with a Quick Access Recorder (QAR) – the team did not know the plane was equipped with one because QARs are optional. Casey locates the QAR and pieces together the events that caused the accident. First, the counterfeit part caused a sensor in the plane's wing to malfunction, which produced an error message in the cockpit. This error message could be cleared by deploying and retracting the plane's slats. Although deploying the slats would change the shape of the wing, the N-22's autopilot could adjust without incident. However, the pilot at the time of the accident was the captain's son, who was not certified to fly the N-22; he manually overcorrected, overriding the autopilot and sending the plane into a series of oscillations.

Casey realizes she cannot publicize this information. Publicly pinning the blame for the accident on a TransPacific employee would sour relations with the airline, ruining future sales just as surely as any N-22 safety issues would. During her ''Newsline'' interview, she also discovers Richman has set her up to fail as part of a larger conspiracy. Richman and Marder had secretly prepared a larger sale to a South Korean airline, which included offsetting the wing. They hoped to use the accident to sink the China deal and oust CEO Harold Edgarton, confident that the accident would not jeopardize the Korean deal.

Casey thwarts the plan by allowing Malone onto a test flight for the N-22 from the accident, where it is shown a slats deployment alone would not cause the accident. Once Malone is shown the evidence, she cannot air her segment as planned without opening up ''Newsline'' to a defamation lawsuit. She is also unable to report the true story, since her boss thinks it is not exciting enough to hold people's attention. With the N-22's reputation cleared, the China deal goes off without a hitch. Afterwards, Edgarton promotes Casey to head the company's Media Relations Division. Richman is arrested in Singapore for narcotics possession, while Marder leaves the company, supposedly on good terms.

Characters

Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Judea * Jokanaan, the Prophet The young Syrian, Captain of the guard Tigellinus, a young Roman A Cappadocian A Nubian First soldier Second soldier The page of Herodias Jews, Nazarenes, etc. A slave Naaman, the Executioner Herodias, Wife of the Tetrarch Salome, daughter of Herodias The slaves of Salomé

Synopsis

Jokanaan (John the Baptist, Iokanaan in the original French text) has been imprisoned by Herod Antipas in a cistern below the terrace of Herod's palace, for his hostile comments about Herodias, Herod's second wife. A young captain of the guard admires the beautiful princess Salome, Herod's stepdaughter. A page warns the captain that something terrible may happen if he continues to stare at the princess. Salome is fascinated by Jokanaan's voice. She persuades the captain to open the cistern so that the prophet can emerge, and she can see him and touch him. Jokanaan appears, denouncing Herodias and her husband. At first frightened by the sight of the holy man, Salome becomes fascinated by him, begging him to let her touch his hair, his skin and his lips. When she tells him she is Herodias's daughter, he calls her a "daughter of Sodom" and bids her keep away from him. All Salome's attempts to attract him fail, and he swears she will never kiss his mouth, cursing her as the daughter of an adulteress and advising her to seek the Lord. He returns to his underground confinement. The young captain of the guard, unable to bear Salome's desire for another man, fatally stabs himself.

Herod appears from the palace, looking for the princess and commenting on the strange look of the moon. When he slips in the captain's blood, he suddenly panics. Herodias dismisses his fears and asks him to go back inside with her, but Herod's attention has turned libidinously towards Salome, who rejects his advances. From the cistern, Jokanaan resumes his denunciation of Herodias; she demands that Herod hand the prophet over to the Jews. Herod refuses, maintaining that Jokanaan is a holy man and has seen God. His words spark an argument among the Jews concerning the true nature of God, and two Nazarenes talk about the miracles of Jesus. As Jokanaan continues to accuse her, Herodias demands that he is silenced.

Herod asks Salome to dance for him. She refuses, but when he promises to give her anything she wants, she agrees. Ignoring her mother's pleas – "Ne dansez pas, ma fille" – "Do not dance, my daughter" – Salome performs the dance of the seven veils. Delighted, Herod asks what reward she would like, and she asks for the head of Jokanaan on a silver platter. Horrified, Herod refuses, while Herodias rejoices at Salome's choice. Herod offers other rewards, but Salome insists and reminds Herod of his promise. He finally yields. The executioner descends into the cistern, and Salome impatiently awaits her reward. When the prophet's head is brought to her, she passionately addresses Jokanaan as if he were still alive and finally kisses his lips:

Herod, frightened and appalled at Salome's behaviour, orders the soldiers, "Tuez cette femme!" – "Kill that woman!", and they crush her to death under their shields.

The novel opens with a distressed letter from Lady Howard to her longtime acquaintance, the Reverend Arthur Villars, in which she reports that Mme (Madame) Duval, the grandmother of Villars' ward, Evelina Anville, intends to visit England to renew her acquaintance with her granddaughter Evelina. Eighteen years earlier, Mme Duval had broken off her relationship with her daughter Caroline, Evelina's mother, but never knew of the birth or even existence of Evelina until Evelina was in her late teens. Upon this discovery, Mme Duval desires to reclaim Evelina and whisk her away to France as her closest blood relation. Reverend Villars fears Mme Duval's influence could lead Evelina to a fate similar to that of her mother Caroline, who secretly wedded Sir John Belmont, a libertine, who afterwards denied the marriage. To keep Evelina from Mme Duval, the Reverend lets her visit Howard Grove, Lady Howard's home, on an extended holiday. While she is there, the family learns that Lady Howard's son-in-law, naval officer Captain Mirvan, is returning to England after a seven-year absence. Desperate to join the Mirvans on their trip to London, Evelina entreats her guardian to let her attend with them, promising that the visit will last only a few weeks. Villars reluctantly consents.

In London, Evelina's beauty and ambiguous social status attract unwanted attention and unkind speculation. Ignorant of the conventions and behaviours of 18th-century London society, she makes a series of humiliating (but humorous) ''faux pas'' that further expose her to social ridicule. She soon earns the attentions of two gentlemen: Lord Orville, a handsome and extremely eligible peer and pattern-card of modest, becoming behaviour; and Sir Clement Willoughby, a baronet with duplicitous intentions. Evelina's untimely reunion in London with her grandmother and the Branghtons, her long-unknown extended family, along with the embarrassment their boorish, social-climbing antics cause, soon convince Evelina that Lord Orville is completely out of reach.

The Mirvans finally return to the country, taking Evelina and Mme Duval with them. Spurred by Evelina's greedy cousins, Mme Duval concocts a plan to sue Sir John Belmont, Evelina's father, and force him to recognize his daughter's claim to his estate in court. Reverend Villars is displeased, and they decide against a lawsuit, but Lady Howard still writes to Sir John Belmont, who responds unfavourably. He does not believe it possible for Evelina to be his daughter, as he already has a young lady who is his supposed daughter (who, unbeknownst to him is actually illegitimate), and therefore assumes Mme Duval to be trying to dupe him for his money.

Mme Duval is furious and threatens to rush Evelina back to Paris to pursue the lawsuit. A second compromise sees Evelina return to London with her grandmother, where she is forced to spend time with her ill-bred Branghton cousins and their rowdy friends, but she is distracted by Mr. Macartney, a melancholy and direly-poor Scottish poet. Finding him with a pair of pistols, she supposed him to be considering suicide and bids him to look to his salvation; later he informs her that he has been contemplating not only self-destruction but more-so highway robbery. He is in dreadful financial straits, is engaged in tracing his own obscure parentage, as well as recovering from his mother's sudden death and the discovery that his beloved is actually his sister. Evelina charitably gives him her purse. Otherwise, her time with the Branghtons is uniformly mortifying: during her visit to the Marylebone pleasure garden, for instance, she is attacked by a drunken sailor and accosted by several rowdy men before being rescued by prostitutes—and in this humiliating company, she meets Lord Orville again. Sure that he can never respect her now, she is stunned when he seeks her out in London's unfashionable section and seems interested in renewing their acquaintance. When an insulting and brash letter supposedly from Lord Orville devastates her and makes her believe she misperceived him, she returns home to Berry Hill and falls ill.

Slowly recuperating from her illness, Evelina agrees to accompany her neighbour, a sarcastically tempered widow named Mrs. Selwyn, to the resort town of Clifton Heights, where she unwillingly attracts the attention of womanizer Lord Merton, on the eve of his marriage to Lord Orville's sister, Lady Louisa Larpent. Aware of Lord Orville's arrival, Evelina tries to distance herself from him because of his impertinent letter, but his gentle manners work their spell until she is torn between attraction to him and belief in his past duplicity.

The unexpected appearance of Mr. Macartney reveals an unexpected streak of jealousy in the seemingly imperturbable Lord Orville. Convinced that Macartney is a rival for Evelina's affections, Lord Orville withdraws. However, Macartney has intended only to repay his financial debt to Evelina.

Lord Orville's genuine affection for Evelina and her assurances that she and Macartney are not involved finally win out over Orville's jealousy, and he secures a meeting between Evelina and Macartney. It appears that all doubts have been resolved between Lord Orville and Evelina, especially when Mrs. Selwyn informs her that she overheard Lord Orville arguing with Sir Clement Willoughby about the latter's inappropriate attentions to Evelina. Lord Orville proposes, much to Evelina's delight. However, Evelina is distraught at the continuing gulf between herself and her father and the mystery surrounding his false daughter. Finally, Mrs. Selwyn is able to secure a surprise meeting with Sir John. When he sees Evelina, he is horrified and guilt-stricken because she clearly resembles her mother, Caroline. This means that the other Miss Belmont (the false daughter) is recognized as a fraud. Evelina is able to ease his guilt with her repeated gentle pardons and the delivery of a letter written by her mother on her deathbed in which she forgives Sir John for his behaviour if he will remove her ignominy (by acknowledging their marriage) and acknowledge Evelina as his legitimate daughter.

Mrs Clifton, Berry Hill's longtime housekeeper, is able to reveal the second Miss Belmont's parentage. She identifies Polly Green, Evelina's former wet nurse, mother of a girl 6 weeks older than Evelina, as the perpetrator of the fraud. Polly has been passing her own daughter off as that of Sir John and Caroline for the past 18 years, hoping to secure a better future for her. Ultimately, Lord Orville suggests that the unfortunate girl be named co-heiress with Evelina; kindhearted Evelina is delighted.

Finally, Sir Clement Willoughby writes to Evelina, confessing that he had written the insulting letter (she had already suspected this), hoping to separate Evelina and Lord Orville. In Paris, Mr. Macartney is reunited with the false Miss Belmont, his former beloved: separated by Sir John, at first because Macartney was too poor and lowly to marry his purported daughter, and then because his affair with Macartney's mother would have made the sweethearts brother and sister, they are now able to marry because Miss "Belmont"'s true parentage has been revealed and the two are not related at all. They are married in a joint ceremony alongside Evelina and Lord Orville, who decide to visit Reverend Villars at Berry Hill for their honeymoon trip.Frances Burney, ''Evelina, or, the history of a young lady's entrance into the world: authoritative text, contexts and contemporary reactions, criticism'', edited by Stewart J. Cooke, New York: Norton, 1998, .

Carol Ledoux, a beautiful and shy Belgian manicurist, lives in London with her older sister Helen. Carol is remarkably detached and struggles in her daily interactions. A suitor, Colin, is enamoured with her and makes fervent attempts to court her, but Carol seems uninterested. Carol is troubled by Helen's relationship with a married man named Michael, whom Carol seems to dislike. She is bothered by his habit of leaving his razor and toothbrush in her glass in the bathroom, and at night struggles to sleep, bothered by the sounds of her sister and Michael having sex.

When Carol walks home from work one day, she is bothered by a crack in the pavement. Colin happens upon her and she struggles to converse with him. He drives her home and tries to kiss her several times, but she pulls away, running upstairs and vigorously brushing her teeth before weeping. That night, Helen questions Carol for dumping Michael's toothbrush and shaver in the bathroom trash bin. At the salon, Carol becomes increasingly distant, barely talking to her coworkers and customers, so much so that her boss decides to send her home for the day.

That night, Helen and Michael depart for Italy on holiday, leaving Carol alone in the apartment. Carol takes a rabbit out of the fridge for dinner. Instead of cooking it, she is distracted by a number of Michael's possessions left around the apartment, including an unwashed shirt whose odour makes her vomit. After trying on one of her sister's dresses, Carol sees a dark figure in the mirror. That night, she hears footsteps outside her bedroom. Carol's isolation begins to take its toll on her, and she misses three days of work. One morning, she runs a bath and walks away, causing it to overflow. As she turns on a light, the wall cracks open. She locks herself in her room and again hears footsteps. This time, she hallucinates that a man breaks into her room and rapes her. She is awakened in the hallway by a phone call from Colin, but she hangs up.

After returning to the salon, Carol finds the uncooked rabbit's head in her purse. While she is giving a manicure, she cuts her client's finger and is sent home early. At the apartment, Carol stares at an old family photo and the wall behind the photograph shatters like a mirror. Colin subsequently arrives at the apartment, but Carol refuses to open the door so he breaks in. He declares his love for her, and she responds by bludgeoning him to death with a candlestick. She cleans the blood, barricades the front door, and places Colin's corpse in the bathtub. In bed, she experiences the same rape hallucination. She wakes up the next morning, naked on the floor. In a subsequent scene, she walks down the dark hallway of her apartment where hands appear out of the walls and grab her. Later, the angry wife of Michael calls looking for Helen, causing Carol to cut the wire of the telephone.

The landlord arrives to collect Carol and Helen's rent. After he is unable to get in due to the barricade, he breaks into the apartment and sees Carol. She pays him the rent, but he is disgusted by the state of the apartment. He sees the uncooked rabbit, still sitting out, rotting. He propositions Carol, offering to forget about the rent if she "takes care of him", and tries to rape her when she doesn't respond. She pushes him off and then hacks him to death with Michael's straight razor. She then sinks deeper into hallucination.

When Helen and Michael arrive home, Helen is dismayed at the state of the place. Michael happens on Helen hyperventilating and finds Colin's dead body in the bath. Helen finds Carol under her bed in a catatonic state. Her neighbours flood in as Michael picks her up and carries her out, smiling. In the living room, a family photo—the one Carol pondered earlier—shows Carol as a child, staring at an older male family member in the photograph with a look of loathing, while others in the photo smile for the camera.

Dead End City is a place controlled with a firm grip by the "Dead End" gang, an endless parade of violent criminals. Their only obstacle is the opposing hero gang, called The Cobras. The Cobras number five members: Blood (former prizefighter, with a passing resemblance to Wesley Snipes), Hawk (former professional wrestler, with a passing resemblance to Hulk Hogan), Boomer (a martial artist, possibly based on Jean-Claude Van Damme), Sledge (a military ex-convict with a passing resemblance to Mr. T) and Kate, the damsel in distress, described as Hawk's protegee and wearing a blue shirt similar to his. One day, Kate is kidnapped by the Dead End Gang under the leadership of Faust, who is looking for the leadership of all street gangs in an attempt to take full control of the city. The four men go to enemy territory to save Kate, fighting through the waves of enemies sent against them.

In 1854 in Texas, the outlaw Butch Cavendish (Christopher Lloyd) and his gang of outlaws are chasing a young Comanche boy. He rides into a thicket and falls off his horse and down an embankment. A boy who was already there hides him and the outlaws turn their attention to a small village, and kill everyone except the boy, John Reid (Marc Gilpin). The Indian boy, whose name is Tonto, takes John to his reservation, where Tonto (Patrick Montoya) teaches him to shoot a bow and arrow with precision, how to fight, and overall the way they live. The two eventually become blood brothers, and John later leaves the reservation for Detroit, grows up to become a lawyer, and takes a stagecoach to a town to set up his law practice. The coach is robbed by Cavendish’s gang, with the shotgun rider getting killed and the driver wounded. John stops the coach and the outlaws take a mailbag containing property deeds. At the town, John meets the uncle (the owner of the local newspaper) of a beautiful young woman named Amy who was on the same stagecoach as John. John tells them he is going to the Texas Rangers station to visit his brother Dan. During his visit, word reaches them about the whereabouts of Cavendish after some of the gang ride into town during a festival and kill Amy’s uncle. Collins, one of the Rangers, rides ahead to scout for signs of Cavendish, unbeknownst to the Rangers that he is part of Cavendish’s gang. Cavendish and his gang ambush the Rangers (Reid among them), killing all except Reid, who is rescued by Tonto. When John recovers from his wounds, Tonto teaches him to shoot with silver bullets, and he captures and tames a white horse, which he names Silver. He dedicates his life to fighting the crime that Cavendish represents. To this end, John becomes the great masked western hero, The Lone Ranger. Cavendish takes President Ulysses S. Grant (Jason Robards) hostage, revealing that he is attempting to take over Texas and secede it from the Union as his own independent country, using the President as a bargaining chip. John and Tonto sneak into the Cavendish compound and rescue Grant, and blow up the compound with dynamite they found while avoiding the guards. Cavendish attempts to flee the United States Cavalry, but John pursues and ultimately apprehends Cavendish, who is arrested. The President thanks John and Tonto, and the pair ride away as President Grant asks, “Who is that masked man?”

Party guests at a smart London hotel are stranded by a thick evening fog. All rooms end up being taken. Leslie Steele, a young, pretty but madcap socialite, barges her way into Everard Logan's suite. He promptly registers one objection after another, but all of his efforts to evict Leslie are to no avail. He thus agrees to a compromise, allowing her use of the bedroom, while he takes another room in the suite. She spends the entire time teasing and taunting him.

By breakfast, Logan changes his tune and insists they meet again. But while he's out of the room, dressing, she mysteriously bolts for home, which she shares with her grandfather/judge. He informs her that Logan is a barrister specializing in divorce cases. The zany, impulsive Ms. Steele then tells her grandfather she intends to marry Logan. To her surprise, she learns that Logan will be pleading a case before her grandfather's court that day. So she attends the proceeding to observe her intended in action – and to her further surprise, sees him mercilessly rip to shreds a woman accused of adultery.

As Leslie and Everard spend the rest of the film struggling to adjust to each other's whims and differences, a subplot involving Lord Mere, one of Logan's clients, is interwoven into the complicated story-line. A confusion of identities ensues, as at one point, Logan is led to mistakenly believe that Leslie is actually Lord Mere's wife. But after a weekend fox hunt at the lord's manor, all conflicts are satisfactorily explained away, and the two lovers are reconciled.

By the story's end, Leslie has successfully transformed Everard from the inhumane, hostile, woman-browbeating counselor she witnessed earlier into an empathetic, understanding, sensitive courtroom-interrogator of "the gentle sex".

Set during the Second World War, the film recounts the adventures of William Potts (Will Hay) after it is discovered that he is an exact double of a German spy who the British have just captured. Potts is flown into Nazi Germany to impersonate the spy and instructed to seek out and bring back details of a new German secret weapon.

On arrival, however, Potts is placed in charge of a group of apparently rabidly-fascist young students who are being trained to work as spies in Britain. Potts attempts to undermine this by convincing the youngsters that the proper British way of saluting a great leader is to apply the V-sign, which they therefore do repeatedly and enthusiastically in the direction of a portrait of the Führer. At a function where he hopes to gather information about the weapon (a gasfire bomb), Potts succeeds only in getting blind drunk and admitting that he is a British agent. Luckily, some members of his class of Nazi youths turn out to be sympathetic Austrians and they help him obtain the secret he seeks. Potts and his new friends eventually commandeer a plane and fly back to Britain, crashing in a tree outside the War Office in London.

A newsreel sets the scene for summer 1940, showing Nazi advances in Europe with Britain facing invasion and aerial attacks on the island increasing. On 15 September 1940, during the Battle of Britain, RAF Squadron Leader Geoffrey Crisp, the station commander of a Spitfire squadron, recounts the story of how his friend R. J. Mitchell designed the Spitfire fighter.

His pilots listen as Crisp begins with the 1922 Schneider Trophy competition, where Mitchell began his most important work, designing high speed aircraft. While watching seagulls with his binoculars, he envisages a new shape for aircraft in the future. Crisp, an ex-First World War pilot seeking work, captivates Mitchell with his enthusiasm and the designer promises to hire him as test pilot should his design ever go into production. Facing opposition from official sources, Mitchell succeeds in creating a series of highly successful seaplane racers, eventually winning the Schneider Trophy outright for Great Britain.

After a visit to Germany in the 1930s, a chance meeting with leading German aircraft designer Willy Messerschmitt, and hearing talk of German re-armament, Mitchell resolves to build the fastest and deadliest fighter aircraft. Convincing Henry Royce of Rolls-Royce that a new engine, eventually to become the famous Merlin, is needed, Mitchell gets the powerplant he requires. Faced by the devastating news that he has only one year to live and battling against failing health, Mitchell dies just after hearing word that the government has ordered the Spitfire into production. Crisp ends his account when the squadron is scrambled to counter a German attack. The Germans beaten, with the Luftwaffe losing more planes than the British.

In the end, Crisp is relieved with victory and looks to the clouds to Mitchell, voicing a thanks to him for creating the Spitfire. A single aeroplane ascends towards the sun, followed later by three others.

This comedy sees Will Hay playing a seedy lawyer, who finds himself marked for assassination by a forger whom he previously defended unsuccessfully. He teams up with an incompetent solicitor to try to prevent the deaths of others involved.

The film climaxes with a sequence where Hay hangs from the hands of the clock face of Big Ben in an attempt to prevent a time bomb being detonated.

Sumire is an aspiring writer who survives on a family stipend and the creative input of her only friend, the novel's male narrator and protagonist, known in the text only as 'K'. K is an elementary school teacher, 25 years old, and in love with Sumire, though she does not quite share his feelings. At a wedding, Sumire meets an ethnic Korean woman, Miu, who is 17 years her senior. The two strike up a conversation and Sumire finds herself attracted to the older woman. This is the first time she has ever been sexually drawn to anybody. Miu soon asks Sumire to come work for her. This meeting and the ensuing relationship between the women leads to Sumire changing: she starts wearing nicer clothes, gets a better apartment, and quits smoking; however, she also develops a writer's block.

K suddenly begins to receive letters from Europe written by Sumire. With them, he is able to track Sumire's and Miu's business travels across the continent. In her last letter, Sumire mentions that instead of coming home as originally planned, she and Miu are to spend some extra time on a Greek island vacationing.

After a short while, K begins to call Sumire's house wondering when she will return. The only answer he gets, however, is from her answering machine. He soon gets a surprising call from Miu, who asks him to fly to Greece and mentions that something has happened to Sumire. Miu doesn't explain much, but it's clear the matter is urgent. The connection is shabby, and their phone connection is soon lost.

K's new school year is starting the week after Miu's call, but finding Sumire's well-being more important, he leaves for Greece the next day. He meets Miu for the first time, and she tells him that Sumire has vanished without a trace. She tells him about the string of events that led to the point of Sumire's disappearance, in which Miu was unable to reciprocate physically when Sumire initiated a sexual encounter. Miu is very pleased to have K around, but worries that Sumire may have committed suicide; K reassures her that Sumire would not do that.

Miu leaves the island for Athens in order to get help from the Japanese embassy and to call Sumire's parents. K spends a day on the island thinking about Sumire and her fate, coming to a realization that there might be some clue in Sumire's writing that Miu mentioned. He finds Sumire's computer and a floppy disk that contains two documents, named simply "Document 1" and "Document 2". One contains Sumire's writing about a dream of hers in which she tries and fails to reach a version of her mother, who died when Sumire was young. The other is a story that Miu told her about an event that transformed her 14 years ago. She was trapped in a Ferris wheel overnight and, using her binoculars to see inside her nearby apartment, witnessed another version of herself having a disturbing sexual encounter with a man. The event caused her hair to turn completely white and divested her of sexual urges. Miu says that she feels that she was split in two on that night, and has lost that other part of herself forever. Trying hard to connect the dots, K concludes that both the stories suggest the existence of multiple worlds, and Sumire has left this world and entered a parallel one, perhaps to be with the other version of Miu. He then has a mystical experience during the night.

Miu returns after a couple of days. K feels his time there is up, even though he feels a connection to Miu. Going back to Japan, he returns to his everyday life. In Sumire's absence, however, he feels he has lost the only precious thing in his life. He receives another distressed call, this time from his girlfriend who is also a married mother of one of his students. She tells him that her son – a boy nicknamed "Carrot" – had been caught stealing in a supermarket a few times, and she needs his help in order to convince the security guard to let him go without contacting the police. The security guard is unhappy with both Carrot's lack of regret for his crime and K's outward appearance and manner, which he perceives to be one of an easy lifestyle. After a tedious conversation wherein the guard chastises K for his attitude toward him, he lets Carrot go. K sends the mother home and takes Carrot to a coffee shop. Carrot doesn't say anything the whole time. Even so, feeling a sort of connection to him, K tells him the story about Sumire. After dropping Carrot at his mother's house, K tells her that he cannot see her anymore.

He continues with his solitary life. Despite their promises to the contrary, he never sees Miu again except for one chance encounter: Miu drives past him in her Jaguar but doesn't seem to acknowledge he is there. She has stopped dyeing her hair, and it is now pure white. K senses she is now an "empty shell," lacking what both Sumire and K were once drawn to about her.

Without warning, K receives a phone call from Sumire, who tells him that she is in the same phone booth near her apartment that she had always called him from. She asks him to come to get her from the phone booth. As with other Murakami works, Sputnik Sweetheart lacks a clear, concise ending.

The story begins with an exchange of letters and news clippings between Alan, a scientist working on parasite eradication using sterile insect technique in Colombia, and his wife Anne Alstein at home in the U.S., concerning an epidemic of organized murder of women by men.

The murderers feel it is a natural instinct and have constructed elaborate misogynistic rationalizations for it. For example, a new religious movement is spreading along with the murders: the Sons of Adam, who believe that women are evil, that the Garden of Eden was a paradise before women were introduced, and that God is telling them to get rid of all of the women, and after that, God will either make everyone live forever or reveal a better way to reproduce (they were unclear about what exactly would happen). When the religion initially arises, prior to the organized murders, little is done to stop the ideology’s spread, nor are their actions of evicting women from the areas the men control prevented.

Meanwhile, women remained strangely passive amid the waves of killing. A few fought back, such as three women who stole an Air Force plane and bombed Dallas, but there was no organized resistance.

Initially, there was extensive censoring of the news, as the government believed that it was a case of mass psychological hysteria, and could be snuffed out by suppressing the news, thus preventing its spread.

However, a minority of scientists figured out the truth: Some kind of infective agent is spread in the atmosphere, turning human male sexual impulses into violent ones. Meanwhile, human female sexual impulses were turned into a kind of generalized, extreme passivity – remaining immobile, and not reacting to the males' aggression.

Alan, a sensitive, kindly man, realizes that he himself is succumbing and tries to resist the impulses, as well as isolate himself from women. While this occurs, his wife and teenaged daughter have a number of mother-daughter conflicts: the daughter, faithful to her father, refuses to believe her mother’s warnings about him. She sneaks off to visit her father, and he murders her, killing himself after the horrific realization of his action.

Anne flees north, to Canada, since the disease began in the tropical zones and spread outward. After most of the world’s women are dead, adult men start murdering boys. In the end, Anne, pursued by an entire society bent on femicide, discovers the source and motivation behind the plague: an alien species is intentionally causing the human race to destroy itself so that the aliens can have Earth for themselves.

The story portrays a crew of three male astronauts launched in the near future on a circumsolar mission in the spaceship ''Sunbird''. A large solar flare damages their craft and leaves them drifting and lost in space. They make repeated attempts to contact NASA in Houston, to no avail. Soon, however, they begin to pick up strange radio communications.

They are puzzled that almost all of the voices are female, usually with a strong Australian accent. They overhear conversations about personal matters (including the birth of a cow) as well as unknown slang terms. Various theories are discussed by the perplexed astronauts: hallucinations? A hoax? A hostile power trying to trick them? They record and playback the conversations over and over, trying to figure out what is going on. Soon, they realize that these unknown people are aware of them and are offering to help.

At first, the ''Sunbird's'' commander refuses to communicate with them, suspicious of their motives. As they continue to plead with the astronauts to accept their rescue offer, the men are chilled to hear their mission referred to in historical terms. They come to realize that they were not only thrown off-course in space but in ''time'' as well and that their flight was lost centuries ago. They are given bare details of the current Earth: an undefined cataclysm has reduced the human population to a few million. Eventually, the ''Sunbird'' agrees to rendezvous with the spaceship ''Gloria'' to allow the astronauts to spacewalk to safety.

The ''Gloria'' is an enigma to them. Besides having an almost all-female crew, the ship is haphazard and cluttered with plants and animals on board. The technology used on the ship does not appear to them to be as advanced as they would have thought the world to be after such a long passage of time, and they think it odd that some of the ship's functions are powered by stationary bikes. Their culture shock is compounded by the cryptic and incomplete answers they are given concerning the Earth.

Little by little, the three gather clues from both observations and slips of the tongue. While crew members often refer to their "sisters," there is no mention of husbands, boyfriends, or families. There are twins on board (both named Judy), yet one seems older than the other. The one male, a teen, named Andy, seems strangely feminine. Technology, and science and culture in general, seems to be relatively unadvanced considering the centuries that passed.

Eventually, they learn the truth. A plague wiped out most human life, including all males. Only about 11,000 women survived, mostly concentrated in Australasia and a few other areas. Until recently, they reproduced only by cloning, so most women are clones of the original 11,000 genotypes. Babies are raised communally in crèches, and all members of each genotype are encouraged to add their story to a book that is passed on for the inspiration and education of future "sisters." Certain genotypes are given early androgen treatments (hence, Andy, who the astronauts thought was male) to increase their bulk and strength for more physical tasks.

The ''Sunbird's'' crew reacts to these revelations in different ways. The commander considers this to be a great tragedy and believes he was chosen by God to subjugate the women to their intended roles and lead them back to the true path with men as leaders of society and family. Another eagerly anticipates the prospect of millions of women who have not known a man's touch, believing that the women are all sexually unfulfilled without a man, and he engages in violent sexual fantasies of domination.

The third crew member — the narrator — differs from the other two in that he is an intellectual man without much physical development — the other two men look down upon him for his nerdy qualities, and he thinks back to all of the abuse and bullying he has been the victim of over the years by men like them. He realizes that their feelings of superiority and importance are blinding them to what is really going on: he and his crewmates have been given a mind-altering drug — it disinhibits them and causes them to show their "true selves" and voice their thoughts. He realizes that the traits they have exhibited of violence and domination are unacceptable in the new world of women, and they are all going to be killed, even himself. He tries to explain to them that though he expressed sexual thoughts in aggressive, violent words, he would never act on such thoughts. The women explain that they do not even have such thoughts. They are content to live in a world of women, and they don't want for leadership or sexual fulfillment without men. Their study of these three astronauts has shown that allowing men on Earth will pose unacceptable risks, so they are now merely studying the men and obtaining useful information and (in the case of the over-amorous astronaut) sperm samples, presumably to introduce fresh genetic material and create new genotypes.

Moggadeet is a spider-like creature who has decided that, since he is intelligent, he will resist the instincts which lead his species through an exceptionally violent life-cycle which they call "the Plan"—including a drop in intelligence during winter.

As the years go by, Moggadeet gradually realizes that the winters are becoming longer and longer, and it is more and more difficult for him to resist becoming an unintelligent animal. In summer, he devises a plan to break out of the cycle: he captures and stockpiles prey for himself and his mate Lilliloo to eat during the winter, while holed up in a relatively warmer zone, in an attempt to keep his intelligence. However, after Lilliloo grows bigger than Moggadeet, she eats him. This too turns out to be part of the Plan, which Moggadeet was unable to escape.

Michael Moore (Jerry Trimble), a Vietnam vet, pulls off a bank heist with his gang, which includes the bank's manager. To ensure the loyalty of everyone involved, a set of keys is made to the hiding place for the loot so it can only be opened if all the members are present. These sets of keys were encrusted in a fake pizza mold that was later sliced and given to the gang. The bank manager gets cold feet and tries to back out, but Michael and his henchman arrive to kill him and his wife in their home.

The bank manager's daughter Annie (Laura Hamilton) gets hold of the key and runs for help to David Moore (Ed Neil), one of her father's old friends and also a Vietnam vet as well as Michael's brother. David does some investigation, alongside Michael's two sons, Charlie (Jonathan Ke Quan) and Tony (Eddie Saavedra), to find out who murdered the girl's parents. During his investigation, a disguised Michael cripples David. Charlie and Tony, having seen David fight, are impressed with his skills and asks him to train them. At first, David refuses. However, when the brothers are able to prove their bravery when they kneel on bricks overnight. David begins training the brothers. When the brothers' investigation leads them to one of Michael's gang members, Tank (Wendell C. Whitaker), a confrontation leads to Tank having a change of heart for the sake of his mother. Tank decides to help the brothers gain intel but Michael eventually finds out and kills Tank. Meanwhile, Tony and Charlie use their new skills first on gang member Alan (Allen Tackett) and eventually, the hulking Thunder (Bolo Yeung).

When David and Charlie eventually learn Michael is the gang leader and the one who killed the bank manager, Michael confronts the two. However, trouble brews up when Michael reveals why he adopted his son Charlie. During their time in Vietnam, David caught Michael killing Charlie's birth mother and had convinced him to adopt the orphaned baby. Shocked, Charlie is at first upset but then attempts to reason with Michael. However, Michael's arrogance and ultimatum leads to a showdown between father and son. When Michael is arrested, Tony arrives and not knowing the truth, puts the blame on Charlie. Tony vows to settle the score with Charlie at the national taekwondo tournament. Both Charlie and Tony eventually make the finals and Charlie at first refuses to fight Tony. After getting berated by the referee, Charlie finally fights back until he lets Tony knock him out. Tony wins but is even more in regret when he sees an unconscious Charlie. Tony attempts to help wake Charlie up and when he does, the brothers finally make amends with Tony the winner of the tournament.

''3×3 Eyes'' follows the adventures of Pai, the last remaining , and her new ''Wu'' (Chinese reading of 无; an immortal companion), Yakumo, as they desperately try to find a way to make Pai human so that she can forget her troubled past. Pai travelled to Tokyo searching for the artifact, but shortly after she arrived, a thief snatched her backpack and cane from her. A teenage lad, Yakumo, tackled the crook and managed to get the pack back for her, though the thief escaped with the cane. Yakumo took her to his work, where Pai was able to get cleaned up, and where she discovered that he was the son of Professor Fujii, an archaeologist she had met in Tibet four years prior. The Professor had been researching the legends of the Sanjiyans and had befriended her and offered to help her find the Ningen, only to fall ill and die. Pai had his last letter to his son in her backpack, which asked Yakumo to help Pai with her quest. Although he didn't believe his father's tales of Pai being a monster, he agreed to assist her.

Their discussion was interrupted by news reports of a giant monster flying over the city. Pai recognised the creature as her pet Takuhi, who must have been released from his home in Pai's cane by the thief, and who was now looking for her. Pai set out to retrieve him, with Yakumo close behind. However when Yakumo saw Takuhi fly towards Pai, the lad mistook the beast's welcome for an attack, and shoved Pai out the way; immediately Takuhi ripped into the lad, fatally wounding him. Unwilling to lose the boy she had been hunting for and just located, Pai's third eye opened, and she absorbed his soul. This restored his body, but tied him to her as her undead servant. Linked to her, he can only become human again when she becomes human. In the way of this goal are hordes of monsters and demons from the Shadow World, some desiring Pai's powers, others who seek the Ningen for their own. Yakumo can again become mortal and end his constant need to protect Pai because if Pai dies, then so will he. Along the way, they encounter many followers of the now-dead demon god Kaiyanwang, all of whom wish to kill Pai or siphon off her power in order to resurrect their deity and/or gain immortality.

A Catholic archbishop returns home, walks into a room and puts on a record. He opens his cupboard and sees the reflection of a similar looking man staring back at him. He turns around quickly and is killed by a knife thrown into his chest.

While attending a party overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, recent San Francisco divorcée and shy librarian Gloria Mundy sees a handsome young man, Tony, at the bar, who ruins the moment by stumbling and spilling all the drinks there. Gloria sits with a friend and is encouraged to open herself to new experiences. Driving home, Gloria picks up an attractive man named Bob "Scotty" Scott (Bruce Solomon) when she encounters him next to his broken down car at Powell and Market streets. She impulsively accepts Scotty's invitation to join him at the movies that evening, and before they part ways, he asks her to take his pack of cigarettes to help him curb his smoking. Unknown to her, Scotty has secreted a roll of undeveloped film in the cigarette pack. That evening, a seriously wounded Scotty meets Gloria in the movie theater and asks her about the film. He bleeds into her popcorn and warns her to "beware of the dwarf" before he dies. When his body mysteriously disappears while Gloria seeks help from the theater manager, she is unable to convince anyone of what has transpired. At home she tells her elderly neighbour/landlord Mr. Hennessey (Burgess Meredith) of the events.

At the end of the next day, Gloria is attacked in her library by albino Whitey Jackson (William Frankfather) who tries to use ether on her. She runs off and hides in a singles bar where she asks a stranger, Stanley Tibbets (Dudley Moore), to take her home, but Stanley, an aspiring British womanizer, who assumes she is picking him up to have sex, mixes a cocktail laced with Spanish Fly and puts on the Bee Gees.

Shocked by his misunderstanding, she flees and returns to her apartment, where she is attacked by a man with a scar who demands the cigarette pack Scotty had given her. When he attempts to strangle her with a scarf, Gloria stabs him in the stomach with a pair of knitting needles and calls the police for help. When the attacker tries to stop her, he is killed by a knife thrown by Whitey through the kitchen window, and Gloria faints in shock. When she awakens, all traces of what has happened have disappeared, and she is unable to convince two San Francisco police officers, Lt. Tony Carlson (Chevy Chase) and his partner Inspector "Fergie" Ferguson (Brian Dennehy), or even her landlord Mr. Hennessy that she was attacked.

Gloria is abducted by Turk Farnum (Ion Tedorescu), the chauffeur of a limousine in which she earlier had seen Whitey riding, but she manages to subdue him with mace and brass knuckles given to her by her friend and fellow library employee, Stella (Marilyn Sokol). Upon further investigation, Tony discovers that Scotty, an undercover SFPD inspector who had received a tip that a major assassination would take place in the city on a certain night, was investigating contract killer Rupert Stiltskin (alias "the Dwarf"). Now assigned to protect Gloria from her would-be killers, Tony later takes her to his houseboat, where the two fall in love.

When Tony and Fergie discover that the limousine is registered to the archdiocese of San Francisco, they visit the office of Archbishop Thorncrest (Eugene Roche), unaware that their interviewee is actually the archbishop's twin brother Charlie, who is involved in a plot to assassinate Pope Pius XIII (played by prominent San Francisco businessman Cyril Magnin) during his upcoming visit to San Francisco, and has murdered his twin in order to impersonate him. The following day, Rupert kidnaps Fergie and uses him to lure Gloria into a trap. She manages to hide in a massage parlor, where she encounters Stanley yet again, but Whitey and Stiltskin then find and abduct her.

At Gloria's request, Stella has researched an organization known as the Tax the Churches League, and discovered that the league is a radical fringe group founded by Delia Darrow and her husband. For the Darrows, organized religion is a corrupt, greedy sham involving powerful billion-dollar corporations. Stella gives the results of her findings to Tony, who returns to the archbishop's residence with Mr. Hennessy. Sneaking into the wine cellar, Tony discovers the imprisoned Fergie, who informs him that the Darrows hired Stiltskin to assassinate the Pope during a performance of ''The Mikado'' at the San Francisco Opera House that evening. Tony is attacked by Rupert and kills him in self-defense by toppling shelves of wine upon him, but the fake archbishop's assistant Gerda Caswell (Rachel Roberts), who is really Delia Darrow, holds him and Gloria at gunpoint.

Darrow then details her "contingency plan" to eliminate the pope: If the pope is not dead at the end of act I, Whitey Jackson will open fire from one of the auditorium's two organ bays ("He will also open fire should the pope unexpectedly leave his seat, or if the police arrive in the auditorium", Darrow explains). Mr. Hennessy knocks out Charlie and defeats Delia in a duel of martial arts, after which Tony and Gloria drive to the opera house, having some unusual problems along the way (such as crashing into an Italian restaurant and commandeering an airport limousine carrying a pair of Japanese tourists). After making it backstage, Gloria is grabbed by Jackson, who kills one of several security guards who have joined the pursuit. An enraged Gloria attempts to attack Jackson, who simply shoves her to the floor. This gives Tony the room he needs to shoot the albino, thus thwarting the plan to kill the pope. As the performance ends, Gloria and Tony are revealed onstage along with the now-dead bodies of Jackson and the guard, but the pope, who seems not to have noticed anything unusual, leads the audience in applause for the cast, the orchestra, and the conductor—Stanley Tibbets.

Each of the books follows the struggles and writing career of Roth's novelist alter ego Nathan Zuckerman.

Celebrated singer and actress Edda Vivian (Haid), who has secretly married her lover, Prince Alba (Iván Petrovich), has arrived in Vienna as part of a promotional tour. Her manager, Toni Miller (Lingen), who is completely unaware of her married state and the husband she is hiding in her hotel suite, has arranged a publicity stunt—an auction to be held at a ball where Edda Vivian is supposed to give a kiss to the highest bidder, with the money to be given to charity.

At the same time Franz Angerer (Rühmann), a student of philology, arrives in Vienna, where he wants to attend a conference. He is put up by his Uncle Ferdinand (Karl Hellmer), who works as a butler for Direktor Wiesinger (Moser in rather an unusual role), the owner of a record company.

In the course of the action Angerer is mistaken for several other people, in particular Prince Alba. However, he only has eyes for Wiesinger's daughter, Dore (Susi Lanner). The happy ending consists in the real Prince Alba showing himself to the public together with his wife Edda Vivian, and in Franz Angerer, who by his wit has made her sign an exclusive contract with Wiesinger's company, becoming engaged to Dore.

Focusing on the growing problem of children living in hardship - especially as a result of AIDS - the film follows the abrupt journey of two children into a world of adult responsibility. Itayi and Tamari are devastated following the death of both parents, shunned by family and friends, and left with nothing. Frustrated and in despair, Itayi tries his luck in the big city, leaving Tamari at home to look after herself and her younger brothers and sisters.

''Oroonoko: or, the Royal Slave'' is a relatively short novel set in a narrative frame. The narrator opens with an account of the colony of Surinam and its inhabitants. Within this is a historical tale concerning the Coramantien grandson of an African king, Prince Oroonoko. At a very young age Prince Oroonoko was trained for battle, becoming an expert captain by the age of seventeen. During a battle the best general sacrifices himself for the Prince by taking an arrow for him. In sight of this event, the Prince takes the place of General. Oroonoko decides to honorably visit the daughter of the deceased general to offer the "Trophies of her Father's Victories", but he immediately falls in love with Imoinda and later asks for her hand in marriage.

The king hears Imoinda described as the most beautiful and charming in the land, and he also falls in love. Despite his Intelligence saying she had been claimed by Oroonoko, the king gives Imoinda the royal veil, thus forcing her to become one of his wives, even though she is already promised to Oroonoko. Imoinda unwillingly, but dutifully, enters the king's harem (the Otan), and Oroonoko is comforted by his assumption that the king is too old to ravish her. Over time the Prince plans a tryst with the help of the sympathetic Onahal (one of the king's wives) and Aboan (a friend to the prince). The Prince and Imoinda are reunited for a short time and consummate their marriage, but they are eventually discovered. Imoinda and Onahal are punished for their actions by being sold as slaves. The king's guilt, however, leads him to lie to Oroonoko that Imoinda has instead been executed, since death was thought to be better than slavery. The Prince grieves. Later, after winning another tribal war, Oroonoko and his men visit a European slave trader on his ship and are tricked and shackled after drinking. The slave trader plans to sell the Prince and his men as slaves and carries them to Surinam in the West Indies. Oroonoko is purchased by a Cornish man named Trefry, but given special treatment due to his education and ability to speak French and English (which he learned from his own French mentor). Trefry mentions that he came to own a most beautiful enslaved woman and had to stop himself from raping her. Unbeknownst to Oroonoko, Trefry is speaking of Imoinda who is at the same plantation. The two lovers are reunited under the slave names of Caesar and Clemene.

The narrator and Trefry continue to treat the hero as an honored guest. The narrator recounts various entertaining episodes, including reading, hunting, visiting native villages, and capturing an electric eel. Oroonoko and Imoinda live as husband and wife in their own slave cottage, and once she becomes pregnant, Oroonoko petitions for their return to the homeland. After being put off with vague promises of the governor's arrival, Oroonoko organizes a slave revolt. The slaves, including Imoinda, fight valiantly, but the majority surrender when deputy governor Byam promises them amnesty. After the surrender, Oroonoko and Tuscan, his second-in-command, are punished and whipped by their former allies at the command of Byam. To avenge his honor, Oroonoko vows to kill Byam. He worries, however, that to do so would make Imoinda vulnerable to reprisal after his death. The couple both decide that he should kill her, and so Imoinda dies by his hand. Oroonoko hides in the woods to mourn her and grows weaker, becoming unable to complete his revenge. When he is discovered, he decides to show his fearlessness in the face of death. Oroonoko cuts off a piece of his own throat, disembowels himself, and stabs the first man who tries to approach him. Once captured, he is bound to a post. Resigned to his death, Oroonoko asks for a pipe to smoke as Banister has him quartered and dismembered.

The novel is written in a mixture of first and third person, as the narrator relates events in Africa secondhand, and herself witnesses, and participates in, the actions that take place in Surinam. The narrator is a lady who has come to Surinam with her unnamed father, a man intended to be the new lieutenant-general of the colony. He, however, dies on the voyage from illness. The narrator and her family are put up in the finest house in the settlement, in accord with their station, and the narrator's experiences of meeting the indigenous peoples and slaves are intermixed with the main plot of Oroonoko and Imoinda. At the conclusion of the narrative, the narrator leaves Surinam for London.

Structurally, there are three significant pieces to the narrative, which does not flow in a strictly biographical manner. The novel opens with a statement of veracity, wherein the narrator claims to be writing neither fiction nor pedantic history. She claims to be an eyewitness and to be writing without any embellishment or agenda, relying solely upon real events. A description of Surinam and the Southern American Indians follows. The narrator regards the indigenous peoples as innocent and living in a golden age. Next, she provides the history of Oroonoko in Africa: the betrayal by his grandfather, the captivity of Imoinda, and his capture by the slaver captain. The narrative then returns to Surinam and the present: Oroonoko and Imoinda are reunited, and Oroonoko and Imoinda meet the narrator and Trefry. The final section describes Oroonoko's rebellion and its aftermath.

Kenneth McLaughlin is a 10-year-old boy living on Goose Bar Ranch, just out of Cheyenne, Wyoming, with his practical father, Rob; his mother, Nell; and his older brother, Howard. Rob is often unsatisfied with Ken, who daydreams when he should be attending to practical matters; Nell, however, shares her son's sensitive nature and is more sympathetic. Howard, the older son, who looks and acts more like Rob, was allowed to choose and train a colt from among the Goose Bar herd (thoroughbreds that Rob McLaughlin is raising in the old-fashioned way, on the open range), much to the jealousy of Ken. Although Ken loves horses, Rob doesn't think his wool-gathering son deserves such a privilege yet.

where Mary O'Hara wrote ''My Friend Flicka''. It was added to the main house by O'Hara and her husband around 1931.

At the beginning of the novel, Ken has angered his father by returning home from boarding school with failing grades and will have to repeat fifth grade, an expense Rob can ill afford. After a few mishaps in his first few days home, Nell convinces Rob to give Ken a colt, saying it will give him something to work towards and improve himself and his sense of responsibility. Ken is unable to decide which yearling he wants until he sees a beautiful sorrel filly running swiftly away from him.

Rob, once again, is annoyed with his son; this particular filly has a strain of mustang blood that makes her very wild – "loco", in ranch idiom. The mustang blood comes from a wild horse called the Albino, named for his pure white coat. All the Goose Bar horses with this strain have been fast and beautiful, but untameable, and after many years of trying to break just one of them, Rob has decided to get rid of them all. Ken persists, however, and Rob reluctantly agrees to let him have the filly. Rob, Ken, and the ranch hands make two attempts to capture her. During the second attempt, she tries to escape by attempting to jump an impossibly high barbed wire fence and injures herself severely.

Ken spends the rest of the summer nursing the filly. He names her Flicka – Swedish for "little girl" – and spends hours every day tending to her needs and keeping her company. Flicka comes to love and trust the boy, but her wounds fester and cause a dangerous blood infection, still young Ken perseveres in his care of her. During this time, he writes his overdue essay well enough to convince his fifth-grade English teacher to promote him to the next grade. Unfortunately Flicka grows so thin and weak that Rob decides she must be shot to put her out of her misery. The night before the order is to be carried out, Flicka wades into a shallow brook, falls, and is unable to rise. Ken sneaks from the house and spends the night sitting on the bank of the stream, with his legs in the cold water, holding her head to prevent her from drowning. When he is found the next morning, he has developed chills then a high fever but Flicka was alive. As the days pass, Ken's fever turns to pneumonia, and his condition continues downhill. On the other hand, Flicka gains strength steadily. By the end of the book, Ken has not only regained sufficient health to return to school he learns that his beloved horse is alive.

The premise of this novel is the banishment to the seemingly metal-poor planet Treason of a group of people who attempted to create rule by an intellectual elite. The novel centers on the descendants of these anti-democratic thinkers who remain imprisoned on the planet. Through the ages, these descendants have formed nations which warred and allied with one another to gain advantages over their rivals in the race to build a starship. Due to the metal-deficiency on Treason, nations are forced to obtain it through a system of barter using teleportation devices known as Ambassadors.

The protagonist of the book is Lanik Mueller, heir apparent to the Mueller family kingdom. The Muellers, through generations of eugenics, have the ability to heal at an accelerated speed and regrow body parts naturally. The dark side to the Mueller nation is that, in order to obtain iron and other metals, they trade organs and body parts, which are harvested from radical regeneratives ("rads"). Radical regeneratives are people whose bodies can't distinguish between health and injury, and so grow extra appendages as well as organs of the opposite sex; although this is a normal phase for most Muellers at the age of puberty, the bodies of radical regeneratives never outgrow it.

After it is discovered that Lanik is a radical regenerative, Lanik's father must essentially banish him from the kingdom, so as to avoid sending him to the "pens", a place where radical regeneratives are kept in order to harvest their body parts; exile also functions to get Lanik out of the eye of the Mueller public, as well as to prevent harm from coming to Lanik's supposed younger brother Dinte. The banishment comes in the form of sending Lanik as an emissary and spy to the Nkumai, a rival nation. Due to his radical regenerative body, Lanik has grown breasts, which makes him appear to be a woman. Using this subterfuge, he poses as an ambassador from the matriarchal nation of Bird in order to discover what the Nkumai are trading in exchange for their abundant metals, which have allowed them to dominate their region militarily.

This mission is only the beginning of the adventure for Lanik, who discovers the secrets of the most powerful nations and at the same time gains additional abilities to save his people and determine the fate of his planet.

Ro-Man Extension XJ-2 referred to as just Ro-Man (a creature with an ape-like body and an antenna-equipped helmet covering its head and emits electric flashes), has destroyed all human life on Earth with a Calcinator death ray to prevent Humanity from challenging his race, except for eight humans who remain alive in a protected facility. The survivors are a professor, whose name is never mentioned; his wife; their two daughters, Alice and Carla; their young son, Johnny; the professor's assistant, Roy; and space pilots Jason and McCloud (neither of whom is seen or heard). Both pilots depart in a rocket ship for an orbiting space platform. All eight have developed an immunity to Ro-Man's death ray, having received an experimental antibiotic serum developed by the professor intended to cure all diseases.

Ro-Man must complete the destruction of all humans, even if it means his physically killing them one by one, before his mission to subjugate the Earth is complete. After fruitless negotiations, Ro-Man destroys Jason and McCloud's spaceship that had been sent into space to escape, along with the space platform. The Professor uses the machine intended to contact Jason and McCloud to instead contact Ro-Man, pleading for him to let them go as they pose no threat to him. Ro-Man instead demands to talk to Alice alone, who agrees despite her family's protests. When Johnny leaves to find Ro-Man, Alice ventures out with Roy to find him. Johnny confronts Ro-Man and reveals his immunity to the death ray, causing Ro-Man to begin planning a method to counteract this immunity.

Alice and Roy find Johnny, and after inexplicably kissing each other while still in danger, return to the facility. Alice and Roy announce their desire to marry to the Professor, who declares it the biggest event of the year. Ro-Man contacts Great Guidance (referred to as "The Great One"), leader of the Ro-Man Empire, to announce his plan, and is told that he must complete this goal before the Earth finishes revolving. The marriage is conducted, with the Professor asking the Lord for a victory in Mankind's struggle, Ro-Man discovers Carla outside the facility and strangles her.

Ro-Man's mission is waylaid, however, when he develops an illogical attraction to Alice and cannot bring himself to eliminate her, asking the Great One if he may keep one human but is demanded to continue the mission. Ro-Man rediscovers Alice and Roy, and throws Roy off a cliff. He explains to Alice that the source of his energy lies in his cave, where he takes her and attempts to woo her before being interrupted by the Professor's broadcast. They ask for a quick death at the ravine, and Ro-Man agrees. Immediately after this, the Great One contacts him, angry at him for rejecting the plan to keep the girl and accusing him of bearing free will in violation of Ro-Man law. He gives Ro-Man one last chance to destroy the girl, which Ro-Man refuses to. Johnny distracts him, allowing the family to save Alice. Both Johnny and Ro-Man are suddenly killed by the Great One with a Calcinator blast. The Great One continues the genocide with Cosmic June Rays, which cause prehistoric reptiles to appear (stock footage from the movie ''One Million Years B.C.''); and psychotronic vibrations, which "smash the planet Earth out of the universe".

But Johnny is alive, having just awakened from a concussion-induced fever dream. Up to now, all that has happened has just been his nightmare. His sisters, their mother, and the two scientists, whom the family met while picnicking in Bronson Canyon, rejoice at finding him. Johnny and his family invite the scientists home for dinner; they accept.

Suddenly, Ro-Man, his arms raised in a threatening manner after having just arrived on Earth, walks out of his cave directly ''toward'' the audience.

'''Note: This synopsis applies to the European and Japanese productions only. The Broadway version was heavily rewritten. In addition, portions of this synopsis may reflect later changes to the European show, which will become clear when one reads the song list below.'''

Act I

Some time in the late 19th century, Professor Abronsius and Alfred, his young bumbling assistant, arrive in a small Jewish shtetl somewhere in the Carpathians, where they hope to prove Professor's theory that vampires do exist. Nearly freezing to death in the nearby woods (''He, Ho, He''), the two are taken in by Chagal, an innkeeper who spends most of his free time lusting after Magda, his beautiful chambermaid, much to the disdain of his long suffering wife, Rebecca (''Knoblauch'' – Garlic). Professor, upon noticing the countless strings of garlic hung about the place and around people's necks is overjoyed, confident of the nearness of his goal, and immediately starts probing Chagal for information. The villagers, evidently frightened, pretend to be completely oblivious, silencing the local fool who still manages to blurt something about the castle and the Count that lives there. After exploring the rooms upstairs in which they are staying (''Bitte, meine Herren'' – Please, Gentleman), Alfred discovers and is smitten by Chagal's beautiful seventeen-year-old daughter, Sarah. Chagal is very protective of his child, going as far as boarding up her room so she wouldn't bathe around the two guests (''Eine schöne Tochter ist ein Segen'' – A Beautiful Daughter is a Blessing). That night, Alfred and Sarah sing of their mutual attraction, while Chagal tries to coerce his way into Magda's bed, and Abronsius is swiftly knocked on the head by Chagal's wife (''Nie geseh'n'' – Never Seen). Unknown to Alfred, late at night Sarah is serenaded by a mysterious stranger, promising her eternal life and power (''Gott ist tot'' – God is Dead).

The next morning, the Professor bears witness to a small business exchange between Chagal and Koukol, a hideous hunchback living somewhere in the woods (''Alles ist hell'' – Everything's Bright). He inquires about the odd man (''Wahrheit'' – Truth), but Chagal refuses to discuss the matter. That same night, Sarah tricks Alfred into giving up his bath for her (''Du bist wirklich sehr nett'' – You're Really Very Nice) and as she joyfully soaps her sponge, Count von Krolock, an aristocratic vampire breaks into the bathroom from the roof above and invites her to a midnight ball at his castle (''Einladung zum Ball'' – Invitation to the Ball). He is about to bite the girl, but Alfred, who has been spying on Sarah's bathing ritual, screams for help. Chagal and Rebecca arrive, furious. Sarah's father spanks her and forbids her to ever go outside.

However, later that night, Koukol arrives by the inn and leaves a red bundle for Sarah on the doorstep. She sneaks outside and discovers it to be a pair of expensive red boots. Alfred comes outside as well and professes his love to her (''Draußen ist Freiheit'' – Outside is Freedom). The two plan on running off together and Sarah asks Alfred to go back into the house to fetch her sponge. With Alfred gone, Sarah fantasizes about the fantastical, romantic vampire ball she could be missing and decides to accept the Count's invitation (''Stärker als wir sind'' – Stronger Than We Are). She runs off into the woods. Alfred starts a panic, Chagal and Rebecca rush outside, but it's too late and Sarah's gone. Chagal wraps himself in garlic and runs into the woods after his daughter.

The next morning, Chagal's frozen body is found; Rebecca is devastated (''Trauer um Chagal'' – Mourning For Chagal). Professor Abronsius discovers small puncture wounds all over the body, but the villagers, still in denial, (wrongly) assume they came from wolf bites. The Professor hands Rebecca a wooden stake and explains she must puncture Chagal's heart in order to prevent him from becoming a vampire. Hysterical, Rebecca chases him and Alfred out of the room, covering her husband with a bedsheet and swearing that she would never let anyone violate his corpse.

In the middle of the night, Magda sneaks downstairs to look at Chagal's corpse, expressing mixed feelings about his death (''Tot zu sein ist komisch'' - To be Dead is Strange). Suddenly, Chagal sits up, now a vampire. Magda tries to fend him off with a crucifix, but being a Jewish vampire, he manages to overpower her and feed on her blood, killing her in the process. Alfred and the Professor sneak into the room as well, planning to stake Chagal, but they find Magda's body there instead. A chase ensues and the two finally corner Chagal, who begs for mercy and promises to show them the route to the vampire's castle where his daughter supposedly is held if he's spared.

Chagal leads the two heroes to a giant castle in the woods (''Durch die Wildnis zum Schloß'' – Through the Wilderness to the Castle), where they are greeted by the mysterious Count von Krolock and his flamboyant son Herbert, who is instantly attracted to Alfred (''Vor dem Schloß'' – In Front of the Castle). Von Krolock invites the two men into his domain and the two reluctantly accept his invitation.

Act II

Sarah is indeed at Count von Krolock's castle, wandering the dark empty halls and considering what her relationship with the Count truly is. The Count appears to welcome her and manages to resist biting her, planning to save her for the ball the next night (''Totale Finsternis'' – Total Eclipse). At the same time, Alfred is asleep with the Professor in a guest bedroom in another part of the castle, suffering from terrifying nightmares, with one nightmare, in which he loses Sarah to the bloodthirsty vampires (''Carpe noctem'').

The next morning, Alfred wants to find Sarah and flee the castle (''Ein perfekter Tag'' / ''Für Sarah'' – A Perfect Day/For Sarah), but Professor Abronsius is more concerned with staking Von Krolock and Herbert. Alfred and the Professor make their way to the crypt (''In der Gruft'' – In the Crypt), where they locate the two vampires. The Professor becomes stuck on a bannister as he attempts to get into the crypt and assigns Alfred to kill von Krolock and his son, but Alfred can't bring himself to drive a stake through their hearts. Before the Professor can think of something else, he hears a noise and the hapless duo flee the crypt just as Chagal arrives with Magda's coffin. Magda climbs out, now a vampire, and finally concedes to having a sexual relationship with Chagal.

Alfred and the Professor continue searching the castle and separate in the library (''Bücher, Bücher'' – Books, Books). Alfred comes across a small bedroom where he finds Sarah in the bathroom, apparently unharmed. Alfred begs for her to leave, but Sarah refuses, saying she wants to stay for the midnight ball. She coaxes Alfred to leave the room (involving another encounter in the library, ''Noch mehr Bücher'' – Even More Books) while she gets dressed, but when Alfred returns, Sarah is gone and Herbert is in her place. Herbert tries flirting with the confused and terrified "hero" (''Wenn Liebe in dir Ist'' – When Love is Inside You), which culminates with him lunging at Alfred's neck, but the Professor comes in the nick of time and hits the young vampire with an umbrella

As Alfred and the Professor make it outside, the sun sets and they are confronted by von Krolock, who mocks the Professor's naive attempt to destroy him (''Sie irren, Professor'' – You're Wrong, Professor). To their horror, the two watch a whole mob of vampires rise up from a nearby church yard and head towards the ballroom (''Ewigkeit'' – Eternity). As the vampires leave their resting places, von Krolock reflects on his painful damnation as a member of the undead (''Die unstillbare Gier'' – The Insatiable Greed), which Alfred overhears, but the Professor dismisses von Krolock as nothing more than a monster.

The vampires arrive in the castle and the ball begins (''Tanzsaal'' – The Dance Hall). Alfred and Professor Abronisus sneak their way inside dressed as members of the undead. Count von Krolock appears at the top of the stairs to introduce his "guest," whom he forbids the other vampires to touch. Sarah enters the ballroom in an elegant red ball gown and approaches von Krolock. He is quick to embrace her with a bite, draining her blood. The Count then proceeds to dance with the weakened Sarah as the other vampires join them in a menuet. Alfred and the Professor plan to sneak Sarah out during the dance, but unfortunately for them, a mirror is unveiled, blowing their cover since they're the only ones reflected. Von Krolock commands his vampire flock to attack Alfred and his mentor, but the former manages to form a makeshift cross out of two candelabras, causing a diversion. The three humans make their escape as von Krolock, furious, sends Koukol chasing after the girl.

Koukol chases Alfred, Sarah and the Professor through the woods, but is attacked by wolves and killed. The three heroes stop on a small hillside to rest. Alfred once more professes his love to Sarah and the two lovers embrace (''Draußen ist Freiheit – Reprise'' – Outside is Freedom – Reprise). However, Sarah is already turned and bites Alfred mid-song, turning him into a vampire as well and both of them flee into the woods. Professor Abronsius, too consumed by his note taking, does not see what is happening behind him, until it is too late. In the epilogue, all vampires rejoice in their eternal dance (''Der Tanz der Vampire'' – Dance of the Vampires).

The book opens with a turf war between two computer design groups within Data General Corporation, a minicomputer vendor in the 1970s. Most of the senior designers are assigned the "sexy" job of designing the next-generation machine in North Carolina. Their project, code-named "Fountainhead", is to give Data General a machine to compete with the VAX computer from Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), which is starting to take over the new 32-bit minicomputer market. Meanwhile, at the corporate headquarters at Westborough, Massachusetts, the few remaining senior designers there are assigned the much more humble job of improving Data General's existing products. Tom West, the leader of the Westborough designers, starts a skunkworks project. Code-named "Eagle", it becomes a backup plan in case Fountainhead fails, and then the company's only hope in catching up with DEC. In order to complete the project on time, West takes risks: he elects to use new technology, and he relies on new college graduates (who have never designed anything so complex) as the bulk of his design team. The book follows many of the designers as they give almost every waking moment of their lives to design and debug the new machine.

:''Note: This plot summary refers to the original Italian version of the film.''

"The Telephone"

Rosy, a French call-girl, returns to her basement apartment at night. She receives a series of strange phone calls. The caller eventually identifies himself as Frank, her former pimp who has recently escaped from prison. Rosy is terrified knowing that it was her testimony that sent Frank to prison. Rosy phones Mary for solace. The women have been estranged, but Rosy is certain that only Mary can help her. Mary agrees to come over that night. Seconds later, Frank calls again, promising that no matter what Rosy does he will have his revenge. Rosy doesn't realize that Mary is impersonating Frank on the telephone. Mary arrives at Rosy's apartment and attempts to calm Rosy's nerves. Mary provides Rosy with a large knife for protection before she goes to sleep.

As Rosy sleeps, Mary writes a confession explaining that she made the calls to force a reunion, knowing that Rosy would call on her for help. While she is writing, an intruder enters the apartment. The intruder is Frank, who strangles Mary. The sound of their struggle awakens Rosy, and Frank realizes he murdered the wrong woman. Frank approaches Rosy's bed, but she seizes her knife and stabs Frank. Rosy drops the knife and breaks down in hysteria.

"The Wurdulak"

In 19th-century Russia, Vladimir D'Urfe is a young nobleman who finds a beheaded corpse with a knife plunged into its heart. He takes the blade, and finds shelter in a small cottage. Durfe is approached by Giorgio, who explains that the knife belongs to his father, who has not been seen for five days. Giorgio offers a room to Durfe and introduces him to the rest of the family: his wife, their young son Ivan, Giorgio's younger brother Pietro, and sister Sdenka. They all await the return of Giorgio, Pietro and Sdenka's father, Gorca, who has gone hunting for a Turkish brigand who's actually a wurdalak, a living cadaver who feeds on human blood, especially of loved ones. At midnight, Gorca returns to the cottage with a sour demeanor and unkempt appearance. After the family goes to sleep, Ivan and Pietro are attacked by Gorca, who flees the cottage with Ivan. Giorgio chases after Gorca but only returns with Ivan's corpse. Giorgio plans to stake and behead Ivan to prevent him from reviving as a Wurdalak, but is prevented from doing so by his wife. The two agree to give their son a burial.

That same night, their child appears outside and begs to be invited in. Giorgio is stabbed by his wife while she attempts to let in her son. On opening the door, she is greeted by Gorca, who bites her. Vladimir and Sdenka flee from their home and hide in the ruins of a deserted monastery. As Vladimir sleeps, Sdenka walks outside and finds Gorca and his family surrounding her. Vladimir awakens and searches for Sdenka, finding her lying motionless in her bed at home. Sdenka awakens and, upon receiving Vladimir's embrace, she bites into his neck.

"The Drop of Water"

In 1910s London, Nurse Helen Chester is called by the maid of an elderly medium to prepare the latter's corpse for burial. As she dresses the body, she notices a sapphire ring on its finger. Chester steals it, accidentally tipping over a glass of water which drips on the floor; she is then assailed by a fly. Chester takes the ring home to her flat and witnesses strange events. The fly returns and continues to pester her, and the lights in her apartment go out as the sound of the dripping water is heard from various locations. Chester finds the woman's corpse lying in her bed. It rises and floats toward her. Chester begs for forgiveness, but ultimately strangles herself. The next morning, the concierge discovers Chester's body and calls the police. The pathologist arrives to examine the body and only finds a small bruise on her left finger where her ring once was. As the doctor announces this observation, the concierge appears distressed and hears the dripping of water.

The documentary tells the story of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius from the point of view of assorted inhabitants of Pompeii and Herculaneum whose names and occupations are known, including a local politician and his family, a fuller, his wife, and two gladiators. Historical characters include Pliny the Elder and his nephew Pliny the Younger. It draws heavily on the eyewitness account of Pliny the Younger, as well as historical research and recent discoveries in volcanology. Extensive CGI was used to recreate the effects of the eruption.

Death throes

Most of the people who were in Pompeii when the fourth pyroclastic surge hit either died instantly or slowly suffocated to death.

The death throes of those in the family of '''Julius Polybius''' are based upon the 1975 discovery of the skeleton of a heavily pregnant girl (Julia) surrounded by her family, in the actual House of Julius Polybius. Julia's husband, '''Sabinus''', is shown to have most likely poisoned himself and presumably was the skeleton lying near the foot of the bed Julia's body was found on, along with the bones of her fetus. The death of '''Stephanus the Fuller''' is based upon a cast found of a man in the fetal position (the cast is locked up in an onsite warehouse for safekeeping ). The death of Stephanus' wife, '''Fortunata,''' is based upon the discovery of the body of a rich bejeweled lady in the gladiator barracks, alongside those of gladiators. In Herculaneum, the death throes are much simpler, as most people were found during excavations either on the beach or inside the boat houses. Additionally, unlike Pompeii, when the pyroclastic surges hit Herculaneum, people there were instantly killed, whereas most Pompeians slowly suffocated, although some died instantly.

During the 1950s, John Groberg (Gorham) graduates from Brigham Young University and is called on a 3-year mission to Tonga. Throughout the film, Groberg and his fiancée Jean (Hathaway) exchange letters monthly. After a long journey across the Pacific, Groberg arrives in Tonga and is sent to a group of very remote islands. He is assigned a native Tongan companion, Feki (Joe Folau). As a new missionary, he struggles with learning the language, and studies it intensely and learns more about Tongan culture.

Groberg encounters a number of obstacles in his mission. One night, he forgets instructions he received to cover his feet and rats bite his soles while he is asleep. A local Christian minister warns the people not to listen to Groberg and Feki. Later, he sends four men to beat them. However, one of the men, Tomasi, prevents the attack. Groberg learns from the drunken Tomasi that he had been baptized a member of the LDS Church many years ago as a boy. Tomasi later begins attending church meetings. When a young boy falls out of a mango tree and becomes unconscious, Groberg gives him basic first aid and prays for him. When a young woman, at the behest of her family, attempts to seduce Elder Groberg, he responds by teaching her about marriage. A typhoon destroys trees, homes, and crops. People die in the storm, and many die due to starvation and dehydration. Groberg is close to dying himself when the local minister gives him the last of his food. After the supply boat finally arrives, the minister is found dead. Later, while traveling at sea, Groberg and his two counselors are caught in a large storm. He is washed overboard and fears for his life. He swims until he finds an island where he also locates his counselors, and they are later rescued and return to Tonga.

Groberg returns one day to his hut to find that his mission president has come to visit the island. He is unhappy because he has not heard from Groberg since he came to this island many months prior. Groberg describes some of the success they have experienced, and the president is shocked to learn of new branches and meeting places on outer islands that have not been authorized. Groberg and his counselors spend the entire night filling out the church records the president requested. In the morning, he finds the president is about to board a boat, and gives him a large sheaf of forms documenting all they have accomplished. When his time as a missionary comes to an end, Groberg receives a telegram instructing him to return to New Zealand where he will travel to Idaho Falls, Idaho. When he is ready to depart, many islanders gather in their best clothing to see him off, testifying to the impact he has had during his stay. Once he arrives, he marries Jean and the two spend their honeymoon in a cottage by a beach.

Angelo Barberini is the oddball son of Italian immigrants Gino and Maria, who inadvertently ended up in Canada rather than the United States. Angelo shocks his parents – and his sister, Anna – by moving out on his own without getting married, and, shortly after that, shocks them further still when he reveals he is gay. But his boyfriend (and childhood best friend), policeman Nino Paventi, isn't as ready to come out of the closet – especially not to his busybody Sicilian mother, Lina.

When property developer Robert Stiles' limousine gets stuck in a sink hole on Possum Lodge's property and several attempts to recover it send it into the lake, Stiles takes the matter to court. The town council and the presiding judge, who have been looking for decades for a way to shut down the Lodge, fine the lodge $10,000 and give them thirty days to pay, after which, if they are not successful, the Lodge ownership will revert to the town. Red's nephew Harold Green (Patrick McKenna) pleads with the judge for a change to the time limit and she agrees - she makes it ten days instead.

The Lodge members try to brainstorm a way out of the mess, but once again Harold is the only one with a viable idea - 3M is running a duct tape sculpture contest in Minnesota, with a third prize of $10,000 (which the members feel they have a shot at). The members beg, borrow and steal enough duct tape to construct a goose, and Red, Harold and Dalton Humphrey (Bob Bainborough) set off for the long ride to the contest.

However, sinister forces are at work. Stiles has convinced the town's sheriff (Darren Frost) to stop the trio by any means necessary. The sheriff is accompanied by Dawn (Melissa DiMarco), his beautiful deputy, who against all logic is smitten with Harold, although Harold is currently smitten with Dalton's indifferent daughter.

The sheriff attempts a number of dirty tricks in order to waylay Red. At one point he and Dawn flatten the Possum Van's tires, only to find out that Dalton has siphoned all the gas out of their police car, and that the nearest working gas pump is 20 miles away. At another point, the sheriff digs a hole in the road with a backhoe, but finds the police car on the opposite side from the van. In attempting to use the backhoe to move the police car to the other side of the hole, the sheriff instead drops the car into the hole, and the Possum Van drives right over it.

Eventually, Stiles takes matters into his own hands and kidnaps Harold. Red sends Dalton back to the lodge for reinforcements, as he plans to get away with both Harold and the goose. While Harold is suffering the company of Stiles, Stiles reveals that his father was a lazy Possum Lodge member, and that his mother's frustration over this fact drove him to succeed at any cost. He plans on buying Possum Lodge to convert it into a women's club called "Possum Landing."

At noon the next day, Red and Stiles meet with Red backed by his lodge members, and Stiles backed by his gang of workers. Just as the exchange is made, Red makes a getaway with Harold and the goose as the lodge members steal the cars of the workers.

Just as Red feels he has made his getaway, he finds that Stiles is chasing him with the only vehicle left from the site of the exchange – the bus that brought the lodge members to the showdown. Nevertheless, Red and Harold manage to make it to the contest just before they award third prize, winning it when the goose (pulled behind the Possum Van on a small trailer) detaches and flies over the contest to land majestically with all of the other entries.

After the contest the members of the lodge gather in the meeting room to celebrate with a large cake. Harold has invited Stiles to the meeting, who takes it as an attempt to humiliate him, before realizing Harold has invited his elderly mother as well and the two reconcile. While the candles on the cake are lit, Dawn entices Harold outside where they share a passionate kiss before the candles (which are revealed to be dynamite) explode. The film ends with a dazed Harold rejoining the group as Red asks for the duct tape to repair the damage.

The series begins shortly after ''Attack of the Clones'', as the failing Galactic Republic and the Jedi are under siege from the Separatist Confederacy of Independent Systems and the Sith. As the war rages, more and more planets slip from Republic control.

Synopsis

The main storyline of Volume One features the Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi leading an assault on the planet Muunilinst, home of the Intergalactic Banking Clan, benefactors of the Separatists wishing to break away from the Republic. The Banking Clan have hired the bounty hunter Durge to command their droid armies on the battlefield. Obi-Wan's apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, is personally appointed to lead the space forces by Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Meanwhile, Separatist leader Count Dooku takes the Force-sensitive Asajj Ventress as his Sith apprentice and sends her to eliminate Anakin. On Yavin 4, Anakin manages to defeat Ventress in a lightsaber duel by drawing on his anger.

Surrounding this storyline are various battles focusing on other Jedi and their wartime exploits: Master Mace Windu faces a droid army unarmed on Dantooine, Master Yoda travels to the ice world Ilum to save two imperiled Jedi, the amphibious Kit Fisto leads an aquatic regiment of clone troopers on the waterworld Mon Calamari, and a group of Jedi encounter the dreaded Jedi hunter General Grievous on Hypori.

In Volume Two, Obi-Wan sends his team of ARC troopers to Hypori to rescue the Jedi from Grievous. The Republic is desperate and, after much consideration, the Jedi Council decides to promote Anakin to the rank of Jedi Knight. The series then jumps ahead to nearly the end of the war, when Anakin has become a more powerful Jedi. He aids Obi-Wan in capturing a fortress, saves Saesee Tiin in space battle, and rescues Jedi from crab droids.

Anakin and Obi-Wan are assigned to search for Grievous on the planet Nelvaan, but instead end up liberating a group of Nelvaanians who had been enslaved and mutated by the Separatist Techno Union. While rescuing the Nelvaan warriors, Anakin sees a cryptic vision of his eventual transformation into Darth Vader. Meanwhile, Grievous leads an assault on Coruscant and, despite the best efforts of Yoda, Mace Windu, Shaak Ti, and others, kidnaps Palpatine. Anakin and Obi-Wan then set out to rescue the Chancellor over Coruscant, leading directly into the beginning of ''Revenge of the Sith''.

Continuity

Several attempts were made to maintain continuity with the overall saga, most notably bridging ''Attack of the Clones'' and ''Revenge of the Sith''. Anakin appears with his new lightsaber (as it appears in ''Episode III'') after his first was destroyed in the previous film. In "Chapter 21", makes his first appearance in gold plating and Anakin is knighted; he sends his Padawan braid to Padmé, who stores it with the necklace he gave her in ''The Phantom Menace''. In "Chapter 22", Anakin appears with the facial scar he has in ''Revenge of the Sith'', and it is implied that Anakin and Padmé may have conceived the Skywalker twins on Naboo.

The series is notable for introducing ''Revenge of the Sith'' villain General Grievous (in "Chapter 20"), although some of his personality traits had yet to be finalized. According to Tartakovsky, George Lucas initially pitched Grievous to him and his crew as "this ruthless, totally capable Jedi killer," but later developed him into "one of those old B-serial villains who does something bad ... twirls his mustache and then he runs off." The character was given a cough in ''Revenge of the Sith'', intended to emphasize his organic nature as well as the flaws of having cyborg prosthetics. His depiction in ''Clone Wars'' lacked a cough until the concluding episode, in which Mace Windu Force-crushes the chestplate housing Grievous's internal organs; this was intended to create continuity with the film and was mentioned in its novelization.''Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith'' DVD commentary featuring George Lucas, Rick McCallum, Rob Coleman, John Knoll and Roger Guyett, 2005.''Clone Wars: Connecting the Dots'' featurette. ''Star Wars: Clone Wars Volume Two'' DVD, 2005. Conversely, the CGI ''The Clone Wars'' series (2008–2014, 2020) depicts Grievous as already being in this weakened state.

Volume Two shares aspects of its storyline with the novel ''Labyrinth of Evil'', which was created at the same time. Both the cartoon and book climax with the Jedi chasing Grievous on Coruscant to save Palpatine. The book features a different final duel between Windu and Grievous, but in both titles Shaak Ti acts as Palpatine's primary guardian. In the series, Anakin and Obi-Wan investigate a possible base for Grievous on Nelvaan before being called back to Coruscant. The novel depicts the Jedi duo pursuing Count Dooku on Tythe; while fleeing to Coruscant, Dooku stops at Nelvaan to leave a false trail. While the final season of ''The Clone Wars'' references Shaak Ti being sent to guard Palpatine, it depicts Anakin and Obi-Wan in yet a different location just prior to ''Revenge of the Sith''.

''Clone Wars'' served as a pilot for the half-hour CGI ''The Clone Wars''. The character designer for the latter series attempted to translate aspects of the character designs from the 2D series to 3D. It was originally reported that the 2008 series would not supersede the continuity of the 2003 series, but following Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, in 2014, it was announced that the CGI ''The Clone Wars'' would officially be considered canon, while most other spin-off works would not.

Tony, an Anglican priest newly arrived in Australia from the United Kingdom, is asked to visit the notorious artist Norman Lindsay, out of the church's concern about a blasphemous painting of the crucifix that the artist plans to exhibit.

Estella, the priest's wife, accompanies him on the visit to the artist's bucolic compound in the Blue Mountains, New South Wales. There, they meet Lindsay's wife, Rose, two models, Pru and Sheela, and the maid, Giddy, all of whom pose for Lindsay. Devlin, the half-blind "odd-job" man, also poses for Lindsay.

Initially, Tony and Estella are both disturbed by the frank conversations about human sexuality in which the members of the bohemian group all participate. They are further startled by the amount of nudity they encounter, both in the studio and outside. As the story unfolds, both Tony and Estella find themselves observing the young women bathing naked in a nearby pool and instead of turning instantly away, each pauses to watch.

Joining the models to swim one morning, Estella is shocked when they bathe naked (she and the maid have come in swimming costumes). Estella is further shocked when Devlin arrives on the scene and the naked women flirt with him, knowing that he cannot see them. On a later occasion, Estella observes the two models caressing the maid, and joins them in stroking her. She doesn't realise that her husband, walking nearby, observes this and is disturbed by the scene's sexual content. At another time, Estella observes Devlin sunbathing naked, and flees when she realises he knows she is there.

Estella is increasingly affected by the sensuality of her surroundings and the bohemian attitude towards sexuality. Her relationship with her husband includes intimacy and commitment, but lacks passion.

The surroundings and the lives of the models are siren calls that lead Estella to fantasize with increasing intensity, and (with encouragement from the models) act on a few of her impulses. She suffers morning-after remorse about a late-night visit to Devlin. Influenced by supportive words from her husband, who had witnessed her earlier intimacy with the models, Estella shares a passionate moment with her husband.

While Tony is outraged to discover his wife's naked likeness included in one of Lindsay's paintings of a group of naked women, Estella merely observes that it is a good likeness, thus deflating her husband's moral outrage and threats to sue. The next day Tony and Estella leave the bucolic compound. They travel back home on a train in a shared suite and, showing a changed attitude, Estella caresses Tony with her stocking-covered foot. She falls asleep on the train, and dreams she is naked on a cliff with the other women.

The film opens with an animated sequence in which a prince awakens a princess with a kiss, though she rejects his romantic advances and runs away. The scene shifts to live action beautician Joy Miller, who teaches at a New York City beauty school. One of her students accidentally sets the classroom ablaze by igniting hair spray with a cigarette. She escorts her class and some caged animals to safety, prompting the ''New York Post'' to run a headline praising Joy as a hero. Ira Grushinsky, a diplomat from the Eastern European country Slovetzia, mistakes Joy for a science teacher after seeing a newspaper photo. He hires her as a tutor for the four children of Boris Pochenko, Slovetzia's dictator. However, she misinterprets his job offer as teaching hairstyling. Although she has never heard of the country, she accepts the job despite her initial hesitation. After arriving at Slovetzia, Ira is surprised to discover Joy's true identity, but she convinces him to keep it a secret.

Despite making a bad first impression with Boris, Joy gets along with his children Katrina, Karl, Masha, and Yuri. While teaching them about life outside Slovetzia, she also helps them to gain confidence in themselves. She learns about Katrina's relationship with Alek, the leader of the youth rebellion, and encourages Karl to pursue his dream of becoming an artist. Joy frequently clashes with Pochenko, who is disturbed by her independence and his inability to frighten her. Joy and Katrina go to a nightclub which also operates as a base for those planning the rebellion; Prime Minister Leonid Kleis follows the pair and arrests Alek.

Growing closer to Joy, Boris confesses to her that he wants to change his reputation as a "beast" among Western nations; she encourages him to form closer relationships with his citizens and shaves his mustache. During a trip to a factory, Joy realizes that Slovetzia lacks trade unions and encourages the workers to hold a strike. She also arranges a secret meeting between Katrina and Alek in his cell. Despite Leonid's advice to fire Joy, she convinces Boris to hold a party for visiting emissaries during a summit meeting to debut his new image; he places her in charge of the preparations. As part of the summit, Boris considers releasing Alek despite Leonid's disapproval. On the day of the event, Joy reveals her identity to Boris, but he does not care about her credentials. He thanks her for bringing happiness to him and his family.

During the party, Leonid confronts Joy about her role in Katrina's secret meetings with Alek and threatens to have her arrested for treason. Following Boris' decision to keep Alek in jail, Joy informs him that she had set up meetings between Alek and Katrina; he argues with Joy over her meddling in Slovetzia's political affairs. She quits and returns to New York City. Over the course of several weeks, Leonid quietly takes over administrative duties and signs death sentences in Boris' name. When Ira informs Boris that Leonid is usurping his power, he strips Leonid of his duties and arrests him on charges of treason. Boris reunites with Joy in New York City and informs her that he has freed Alek and agreed to hold free elections in Slovetzia. Boris kisses Joy after admitting his feelings for her.

Amanda Shelton inherits her late mother's restaurant, but lacks the ability to cook. The restaurant is failing when Amanda meets a mysterious and possibly magical man at the local market. He introduces himself as Gene O'Reilly and claims to be an old friend of her mother's. He sells her crabs, one of which escapes cooking to become her personal mascot. While chasing the crab, Amanda meets Tom Bartlett, a department store manager at Henri Bendel on Fifth Avenue, who is opening an ambitious new restaurant inside his store. Though they are clearly attracted to each other, Tom is involved with a clingy but beautiful woman named Chris.

Later that day, Tom and Chris are on their way to lunch, where Tom plans to break up with Chris, but the cab driver drops them at the wrong location— Amanda's restaurant, the Southern Cross. Tom sees Amanda outside, and decides they should have lunch there instead.

For unclear reasons, Amanda begins cooking her feelings into her food, and she miraculously becomes an impressive, creative chef. She makes a crab dish for Tom that is so delicious he's unbothered as Chris, driven by Amanda's negative feelings toward her cooked into her own food, breaks up with Tom and begins smashing plates in the restaurant.

Amanda visits Tom at Henri Bendel so that he can replace the plates that Chris broke. When he shows her the space where the new restaurant will be, they have a shared fantasy wherein they dance flirtatiously and they begin a romance.

Meanwhile, Tom's assistant Lois begins romancing Jonathan Bendel, the owner of Henri Bendel, seducing him after feeding him eclairs from Amanda's restaurant, which Amanda baked her passion for Tom into.

As a result of her food improving overnight, the Southern Cross becomes increasingly successful. One night, Tom visits Amanda after the restaurant has closed and after tasting a dish of hers, they begin to kiss and start floating. Tom panics and breaks things off with Amanda, believing she is some kind of witch who is manipulating his feelings with magic.

When Amanda goes to confront Tom one last time at his office, she witnesses the violent tantrum and resignation of a celebrity French chef hired for Tom's new restaurant. When Jonathan realizes that Amanda cooked the eclairs Lois had fed him, he demands that Tom hire her for the opening, despite his protests.

On opening night, Amanda is initially shunned by the snobbish French staff and that, coupled with her continued heartbreak over Tom, causes her to unknowingly cook her sorrow into one of the first courses, causing the entire restaurant to sob uncontrollably. She eventually overcomes her self-doubt and reaches her full potential as a chef, and the opening is a complete success.

Stunned but enchanted by the remarkable effect Amanda's food has had on the guests, Tom goes after Amanda as she's leaving the opening. He convinces her to come back and admits his love for her, and the two reconcile on the dance floor, not noticing Gene is gleefully conducting the orchestra behind them, implying the magic that sparked in Amanda came from him.

Ann Darrow, a down-on-her-luck actress looking for work, meets film director Carl Denham, who offers her a job in a new film. They board the Venture to leave for the film shoot. The monkey that lives on board causes trouble throughout the trip. They arrive on the island and after a run-in with the natives, Ann then sacrificed to the giant ape King Kong who makes off with her into the jungle. Together they fight a Tyrannosaurus, Pterodactylus and a Gigantophis.

The film then follows Kong's rampage of New York City. Kong takes Ann up on top of the Empire State Building. The biplanes come and attack Kong with guns, but miss most of the time. When all the planes have been knocked down the army sends two blimps with a net in between them to catch Kong. They catch him successfully. Kong tries to get out of the net, but the net rips and when Kong reaches for Ann, he falls from the net and plummets to the streets of New York. However, Kong survives the fall.

The novel is a sequel to the author's first book, ''Typee'' (1846) and takes up where the earlier story leaves off. The un-named narrator has just escaped an “indulgent captivity” among the natives of Nuku Hiva by joining the crew of an Australian whaling ship from Sydney. Soon after coming aboard he meets and forms a friendship with the vessel’s surgeon, a tall thin man known to his crew-mates as “Dr Long Ghost”.

Cutey Bunny (sometimes labeled "QT Bunny" for short) is secretly Cpl. Kelly O'Hare, a special agent for the United States, based in Washington, D.C. and employed by an unspecified branch of the United States Armed Forces. She is dispatched on special missions, usually directly by the President, and encounters action and adventure; frequent adversaries include Vicky Feldhyser, a kinky lesbian fox who's described as a "four-ple" agent (one level beyond "triple") for various intelligence services, and "Uncle Joe", a transparent caricature of Joseph Stalin.

The plot revolves around a Union Army regiment and an artillery battery from the American Civil War which get transported to an alien world. The 35th Maine Infantry regiment and the 44th New York Light Artillery battery travel to a different world using a ship that emerged from a mysterious electrical storm. The alien world is populated by descendants of medieval Russians (or "Rus") who still live a feudal existence at a medieval level of technology. They learn from their new hosts that there are various civilizations on this world made up of the descendants of people from various eras of Earth's history.

The Union soldiers eventually discover a terrible secret their Russian hosts have been keeping from them when the Tugar arrive. The Tugars are ten feet tall aliens with a culture and technology similar to that of the Mongol Horde. They ride a never-ending circuit around the planet. They have subjugated the human populations in their territory and used them as food. The Tugars visit each human society once a generation and cull part of the population for food. This culling keeps the humans docile and compliant and the Tugars make sure that none of the human societies become advanced enough to challenge them. The Union men are horrified by this revelation and kill the Tugar advance scouts. In the aftermath they support a peasant rebellion against the Tugar-appointed lords and begin modernizing the Russian society. When the Tugars arrive they encounter a semi-modern army equipped with cannons and smoothbore muskets. In a hard-fought battle, the humans manage to prevail, weakening the Tugar Horde forever.

The next several books take up the story a few years later. The Russians have begun to explore the possibilities of a union with the Romans who live in the territory next to theirs and who were spared from the Tugar depredation by the Russian victory. Meanwhile, they face a renewed threat from the Merki Horde, members of the same alien race as the Tugars. The Merki make the same circumnavigation of the globe as the Tugars do but in a zone further south. Once the Merki learn of the Tugar horde's weakening, they seek to take advantage of the Russians. Realizing the disastrous effects that would come from an industrialized enemy, they seek to maintain their racial dominance over the humans through the annihilation of those who have learned the secrets of gunpowder and industrialization. The Merki are aided by a group of Union sailors who fled the Tugar war on the ship which brought the 35th Maine and 44th New York to this world. In exchange for their survival, the humans help the Merki develop firearms and other technology. The Merki attack is more successful than the Tugar one and forces the humans to abandon the Russian territory in a scorched earth campaign, but eventually, they win with their use of trains.

Several years later, the expanding human alliance faces a new threat in the form of the Bantag. The Bantag are a horde from even further south. They are led by a member of their race who arrived from another world that has a late 20th-century level of technology. This alien, a soldier in his own world, assumes a messianic role among the Bantag and modernizes their society to equal, and even surpass that of the humans. He is familiar with atomic reactors as well as centerfire rifles. The Bantag scavenge engines from decaying cities abandoned by their people millennia ago and use them to power airplanes. The reader learns that the people of the Bantag had once been a technologically advanced star-faring race, visiting many different planets and seeding teleportation devices across them. The Bantag homeworld collapsed in a nuclear war but the teleportation devices remained sporadically active and ended up transporting various humans to the planet Vallenia (the location of the novel), though Vallenia was not the homeworld of the Tugar/Merki/Bantag race. Using their advanced technology the Bantag attacked the Union (introducing steampunk tanks and 20th-century mortars). However, the humans developed their own flying machines (mainly blimps and early Zeppelins) and formed a counterattack.

The final book in the series, ''Down to the Sea'', takes place a generation after the arrival of the 35th Maine. With the children of the original regiment members reaching adulthood, they face a new threat from across the southern sea, the Kazars, aliens who have an early 20th-century level of technology and who also have a selectively bred slave race of human assassins, the Shiv.

Ever since Seth Warner's (Aidan Quinn) wife died two years ago, his life has gone to pieces. In his rage, he affronts God who seemingly responds by stopping his suicide attempt and his screaming at God above by crippling his dog and putting Seth in the hospital. So Seth sets out to break all of the ten commandments. Moving in with his sister-in-law, Rachel (Courteney Cox), and her reporter-husband, Harry (Anthony LaPaglia), he systematically starts breaking each of the commandments, increasingly aided by Harry and Rachel. When Rachel finds out Harry has been having an affair, she responds by having an affair with Seth. Seth then steals all of Harry's personally autographed guitars and pawns them, subsequently lying to the police that it was part of an insurance scam and Harry was in on it. Harry loses his job and finds out Rachel is pregnant with Seth's baby. Seth attempts to kill himself, but is swallowed by a whale and the belly is cut open and Seth is released. Rachel decides to marry Seth and raise the baby with him. Harry stands on top of a building with Seth's crippled dog the same way Seth did before and asks for a sign from God. Perhaps to be saved like Seth was.

This is the story of Mexican diva Reny, Puerto Rican singing legend Chayanne, Lalo, Tony, Sandra, Poncho and Jessica. Reny is a 26-year-old whose father leaves her a fortune upon dying, and who dreams of someday meeting Chayanne, who is (in real life and in the telenovela) an international singing star and teen idol.

The dream comes true because Reny's boyfriend, named Santiago is a music producer and he arranges for the meeting to happen after one of Chayanne's concerts. As the drama unfolds, Reny becomes famous and she and Chayanne start a close friendship which later turns into romance.

Santiago becomes increasingly jealous and evil. Reny becomes afraid of Santiago and starts seeing him less and less. Then Santiago's lawyer, Tony, starts to develop an interest for Reny. While all this is going, in Reny's house, her sister Sandra, becomes increasingly jealous of Reny's success and the fact their father left Reni the family fortune.

Unknown to the TV viewer for most of the soap is the fact Sandra had a degenerative mental illness and that was why Reny's father left Reny the fortune and not Sandra. Sandra and Santiago have a diabolic plan where they will make Reny have an accident during one of her concerts, and the plan works, leaving Reny paralyzed and with amnesia after her fall.

Eventually, she recovers her mind and begins to walk again, and she plans her return to the world of show business under the name of Chaquira (not to be confused with the real life singer Shakira). She uses that name so not to tip off her enemies as to who she really is and that she's still alive.

Through all of this, and before Reny's accident happened, a fan of hers, Lalo, becomes her friend and falls in love with her, causing the ire of Jessica, who has just broken up with Poncho. Jessica becomes enemies with Reny and her attraction towards Lalo in turn makes Poncho mad and jealous too.

Chayanne had to go away from Reny because of his professional compromises and Tony started to move in on her. He became her greatest friend during the time she was in the wheelchair, and a great deal of love grew between them.

Tony ended up protecting Reny from Santiago, who ends up paralyzed. Jessica moved to Guadalajara, Jalisco after finding she was suffering a terrible disease, Lalo purposely gets himself killed in a motorcycle crash, Chayanne decides that he and Reny should stay only as good friends because of their busy singing career schedules.

Sandra gets committed to a mental hospital, Reny starts using her real name again and makes a big comeback into the musical world, she goes on tour, and Tony marries her and they have a family.

Episode one

Mr Charles Bingley, a wealthy gentleman from the north of England, settles down at Netherfield estate near Meryton village in Hertfordshire for the autumn. Mrs Bennet, unlike her husband, is excited at the prospect of marrying off one of her five daughters (Jane, Elizabeth, Mary, Kitty, and Lydia) to the newcomer. Bingley takes an immediate liking to Jane at a local country dance, while his best friend Mr Fitzwilliam Darcy, rumoured to be twice as rich, refuses to dance with anyone, including Elizabeth. Elizabeth's poor impression of his character is confirmed at a later gathering at Lucas Lodge, and she and Darcy verbally clash on the two nights she spends at Netherfield, caring for the sick Jane who fell ill after riding in the rain.

Episode two

Mr William Collins, a sycophantic dimwitted clergyman, visits his cousins, the Bennets. As Mr and Mrs Bennett do not have a son, he is the entailed heir of their home and estate, Longbourn. He intends to marry a Bennet daughter as an act of benign goodwill, to reassure Mrs Bennet that she and her unwed daughters would not be rendered homeless once Mr Collins inherits the estate. He therefore invites himself for a two-week visit to get to know the Bennets better and select a daughter to marry. However, the Bennet girls judge Mr Collins to be a rather ridiculous man, an "oddity" with many peculiarities of speech and deportment. They nevertheless treat him civilly and take him to balls and social events in Meryton. One day, while on a walk around Meryton village, they meet members of a newly arrived militia regiment, including Mr George Wickham. At a social event, Wickham befriends Elizabeth and says that his father was the steward for Darcy's late father, and that he originally planned to join the clergy. However, Darcy denied Wickham the "living" (a curacy) that Mr Darcy's father promised him. At a ball at Netherfield, Darcy asks Elizabeth to dance, which she grudgingly but politely accepts. Mrs Bennet tells Mr Collins that she expects Jane to soon be engaged, so he instead proposes to Elizabeth. She resoundingly rejects him. While Mrs Bennet reacts angrily to Elizabeth's decision, her close friend, Charlotte Lucas, invites Mr Collins to visit at Lucas Lodge.

Episode three

Elizabeth is stunned and appalled to learn that Charlotte Lucas has accepted Mr Collins' marriage proposal. When the Netherfield party departs for London in autumn, Jane stays with her modest London relatives, the Gardiners, but she soon notices that the Bingleys ignore her. After befriending Mr Wickham, Elizabeth departs for the Collins' home in Kent in the spring to visit Charlotte. They live near Rosings, the estate of the formidable Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Darcy's aunt. Elizabeth meets Darcy several times. Elizabeth learns of Darcy's direct responsibility for Jane and Bingley's separation. Soon after, Darcy unexpectedly tells her that he admires her and loves her, so much that in spite of her greatly inferior social standing, he proposes marriage. Elizabeth flatly rejects him, noting his arrogant, disagreeable, and proud character, and for his part in her sister's failed romance and Mr Wickham's misfortune.

Episode four

Darcy justifies his previous actions in a long letter to Elizabeth: he misjudged Jane's affection for Bingley, and he exposes Wickham as a gambler who once attempted to elope with his young sister, Georgiana, to obtain her inheritance. Back at Longbourn, Mr Bennet allows Lydia to accompany the militia to Brighton as a personal friend of the militia colonel's wife. Elizabeth joins the Gardiners on a sightseeing trip to Derbyshire and visits Pemberley, Darcy's estate, during his absence. Greatly impressed by the immense scale and richness of the estate, Elizabeth listens to the housekeeper's earnest tales of her master's lifelong goodness, while Darcy refreshes from his unannounced journey home by taking a swim in a pond. After an unexpected and awkward encounter with Elizabeth, a damp Darcy is able to prevent the party's premature departure with an unusual degree of friendliness and politeness.

Episode five

Elizabeth and the Gardiners receive an invitation to Pemberley, where Darcy and Elizabeth share significant glances. The next morning, Elizabeth receives two letters from Jane, revealing that Lydia has eloped with Wickham. As Elizabeth is about to return to Longbourn, Darcy arrives and offers help, but upon hearing the bad news about Lydia, becomes disturbed and leaves in haste. Elizabeth supposes she will never see him again. The Bennets are all dismayed by the scandal, until Mr Gardiner writes that Lydia and Wickham have been found. They are not married, but soon will be under the Gardiners' care. The Bennets are relieved, but Mr Bennet wonders what it cost Mr Gardiner to get Wickham to marry a girl with no fortune. Elizabeth tells Jane of her last meeting with Darcy, including her ambivalent feelings for him.

Episode six

After Lydia carelessly mentions Darcy's involvement in her wedding, Mrs Gardiner enlightens Elizabeth: Darcy found the errant couple and paid for everything, including a large payoff to Wickham. When Bingley and Darcy return to Netherfield in the autumn, Darcy apologises to Bingley for interfering in his relationship with Jane and gives his blessing for the couple to wed. Lady Catherine de Bourgh, who intends for Darcy to marry her sickly daughter, Anne, has heard rumours of an engagement between Darcy and Elizabeth. She calls on Elizabeth, demanding that she deny the engagement and renounce Darcy forever. Elizabeth confirms that there is no engagement, but refuses any pledge for the future. When Elizabeth thanks Darcy for his role in Lydia's marriage, he says that Lady Catherine's story had encouraged him to reconfirm his feelings for Elizabeth. Elizabeth admits the complete transformation of her feelings and agrees to an engagement, taking her family by surprise. The series ends with a double winter wedding: Jane to Bingley, and Elizabeth to Darcy.

In Revolution-torn 1913 Mexico, Juan Miranda, a Mexican outlaw leading a bandit family, robs a coach of wealthy men and rapes a female passenger who insulted him. Passing by on a motorcycle is Sean H. Mallory, an early Irish Republican explosives expert, who is working in Mexico as a silver prospector. Juan, who mistakenly thinks Sean's name is 'John' and keeps calling him John thereafter discovering his skill with dynamite and nitroglycerin, asks 'John' to help him rob the Mesa Verde National Bank. After John initially refuses, Juan frames him for the murder of his employer and several soldiers, making him a wanted criminal and offering to "protect" him in exchange for his help. John reluctantly agrees to help Juan rob the bank, but escapes on the way to Mesa Verde.

Arriving in the city before Juan, John makes contact with Mexican revolutionaries led by physician Dr. Villega and agrees to use his explosives in their service. When Juan arrives, John inducts him into the revolutionaries' ranks. The bank is hit as part of an orchestrated attack on the Mexican army. Juan, interested only in the bank's money, is shocked to find that it has no funds and is instead being used by the army as a political prison. John, Juan and his family end up freeing hundreds of prisoners, inadvertently (and against his wishes) causing Juan to become a "great, grand, glorious hero of the revolution."

The revolutionaries are chased into the hills by an army detachment led by Colonel Günther Reza. John and Juan volunteer to stay behind with two machine guns and dynamite. Much of the Mexican army's detachment is destroyed while crossing a bridge, which is blown up by John. Colonel Reza, who commands an armored car, survives. After the battle, John and Juan find most of their comrades, including Juan's father and children, have been killed by the army in a cave which served as the rebels' hideout. Grief-stricken and enraged, Juan goes out to fight the army single-handed and is captured. John sneaks into camp, where he witnesses executions of many of his fellow revolutionaries by firing squad. They had been informed on by Dr. Villega, who has been tortured by Colonel Reza and his men. This evokes in John memories of a similar betrayal by Nolan, his best friend in Ireland. After Nolan identified John, John killed two British soldiers and then killed Nolan, making him a fugitive and forcing him to flee Ireland. Juan faces a firing squad of his own, but John arrives and blows up the wall with dynamite just in time. They escape on John's motorcycle.

John and Juan hide in the animal coach of a train. It stops to pick up the tyrannical Governor Don Jaime, who is fleeing (with a small fortune) from the revolutionary forces belonging to Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. As the train is ambushed, John, as a test of Juan's loyalty, lets him choose between shooting the Governor and accepting a bribe from him. Juan kills Jaime, also stealing the Governor's spoils. As the doors to the coach open, Juan is greeted by a large crowd and once again is unexpectedly hailed as a great hero of the revolution. The money is taken away by revolutionary General Santerna.

On a train with commanders of the revolution, John and Juan are joined by Dr. Villega, who has escaped. John alone knows of Villega's betrayal. They learn that Pancho Villa's forces will be delayed by 24 hours and that an army train carrying 1,000 soldiers and heavy weapons, led by Colonel Reza, will be arriving in a few hours that evening, which will surely overpower the rebel position. John suggests they rig a locomotive with dynamite and send it head on. He requires one other man, but instead of picking Juan, who volunteers, he chooses Dr. Villega. It becomes clear to Villega that John knows of the betrayal, but John says he used to judge people but he doesn't anymore. John pleads with him to jump off the locomotive before it hits the army's train, but Villega feels guilty and stays on board. John jumps in time and the two trains collide and explode, killing Villega and a number of Mexican soldiers.

The revolutionaries' ambush is successful, but as John approaches to meet Juan, he is shot in the back by Colonel Reza. An enraged Juan guns down the Colonel with a machine gun. As John lies dying, he continues to have memories of Nolan, and of a young woman they both apparently loved. Juan kneels by his side to ask about Dr. Villega. John keeps the doctor's secret and tells Juan that he died a hero of the revolution. As Juan goes to seek help, the fatally wounded John, knowing his end is near, sets off a second charge he secretly laid in case the battle went bad. Horrified by his friend's sudden death, Juan stares at John's burning remains, before turning to the camera and asking forlornly, "What about me?".

Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are sitting on a beach one day when they come across some mysterious objects that resemble barrels. Fearing they had something to do with King K. Rool, they take them to Cranky Kong. Cranky explains that they are bongos, so Donkey tries playing them, as does Diddy. Then, when Donkey claps, the bongos start glowing. Cranky explains that the bongos have some kind of power inside them. Donkey and Diddy continue to play the bongos, but they both play terribly. Cranky advises them to practice. At first they are against this, but then they realize if they can become successful in playing the bongos, they could afford as many bananas as they wish, so they start practicing.

Pierre Lachenay (Jean Desailly), a well-known writer and editor of a literary magazine, is running late for his flight to Lisbon. His friend gives him a ride to the airport, with his daughter Sabine going along for the ride, and they arrive just in time. On the airplane he makes eye contact with a beautiful air hostess named Nicole (Françoise Dorléac). Upon landing, he is greeted by photographers who ask that he pose with the air hostess.

Pierre checks in at the Hotel Tivoli, and then leaves to attend a conference. As he's walking through the lobby he notices Nicole walking past him. At the conference he gives a talk titled "Balzac and Money" based on one of his books. Back at the hotel, he sees Nicole in the lift and notices her room number. In his room he calls her room and asks if she'd like a drink, but she declines because of the late hour. Shortly after hanging up, Nicole calls back, apologizes, and accepts his invitation for drinks the next day at the hotel bar.

The next evening, Pierre and Nicole spend hours talking through the night. She is captivated by his stories of Balzac and the world of literature. In the early hours they return to the hotel and make love in her room. On the aeroplane the next day, Nicole slips him a matchbook with her phone number. Back in Paris, while he and his wife Franca (Nelly Benedetti) entertain friends, Pierre sneaks off and tries calling Nicole, but there is no one home. The next day he tries again from a phone booth, and this time he gets through, and they meet briefly. In the coming days, they spend time together between her flights. One day they meet at the airport and decide to spend the evening at a nightclub, ending up at her apartment where they make love.

Later that week, Pierre and Nicole travel to Reims where Pierre is scheduled to present a showing of the 1952 documentary film about André Gide at a conference. They check into the Hotel Michelet before Pierre heads over to the theatre. After Pierre takes to the stage, Nicole arrives without a ticket and is forced to wait in the lobby during his speech. Afterwards, Pierre's friend insists on having a drink before Pierre returns to Paris. As they leave, Pierre ignores Nicole who has been waiting in the street. When his friend invites himself to accompany him back to Paris, Pierre sneaks back to the hotel where an upset Nicole tells him he should leave without her. He apologises and they decide to leave. After driving through the night they find a romantic cabin.

The next day, Pierre and Nicole enjoy their time together taking photographs. Their happiness is cut short, however, when Pierre calls his wife to tell her he had to stay in Reims overnight. Having called Reims the previous night, Franca suspects he's lying and hangs up in anger. After driving Nicole home, Pierre faces his wife and they argue. Franca accuses him of having an affair and Pierre walks out of their apartment, spending the night sleeping in his office.

The following morning, Franca calls him at the office informing him that she will never forgive him for walking out on her and that he'll be contacted by her divorce lawyer. Pierre goes to Nicole's apartment, but she is unable to talk because her father is about to visit. Pierre passes her father on the stairwell as he's leaving. Back at his apartment, Pierre and Franca discuss their divorce and Franca falls apart, sometimes hitting him and at other times begging for his forgiveness. They make love, and afterwards she asks if he will be coming back. He tells her it would never work out with all that's happened. She slams the door behind him.

Overcome with depression, Franca is comforted by her friend Odile, who throws away the sleeping pills she finds in the bathroom fearing her friend may attempt suicide. Later that week, Pierre and Nicole have dinner and argue after Pierre gets annoyed and embarrassed by her talking loudly; the stress of divorce after fifteen years of marriage is having an effect on him. Later, as he shows her their future apartment under construction, Nicole expresses regret at having become involved with him and breaks off their relationship.

Meanwhile, Franca is given a photo shop receipt from one of Pierre's jackets by a dry cleaner and goes to pick up the photographs - the ones Pierre and Nicole took on their weekend away together. After seeing the photos, Franca goes home, gets a shotgun from her closet, drives to Le Val d'Isère Bar which Pierre frequents, walks up to his corner table, tosses the photos at him, and then shoots him dead.

''Ninja Nonsense'' is an absurdist comedy centering on Shinobu, a ninja apprentice, who is attempting to pass her ninja exams while Kaede, a normal schoolgirl, studies for her school exams. As a part of her exam, Shinobu is ordered to break into Kaede's room to steal her panties by her instructor, Onsokumaru. Shinobu, who despite her enthusiasm, possesses little if any actual ninja skills, believes herself to be invisible and 'sneaks' into Kaede's room. Since Shinobu is perfectly visible to Kaede, the mission does not go as planned. Despite all of this, Kaede takes pity on Shinobu and the two become close friends. Shinobu trains alongside other male ninjas identical in appearance, though one is known as Sasuke.

The Narrator, an automobile recall specialist, is unfulfilled by his job and possessions and suffers from chronic insomnia. To cure this, he attends support groups, posing as a sufferer of diseases. His bliss is disturbed when another impostor, Marla Singer, begins attending the same groups. The two agree to split which groups they attend.

On a flight home from a business trip, the Narrator meets soap salesman Tyler Durden. The Narrator returns home to find his apartment and all his belongings have been destroyed by an explosion. Disheartened by the loss of his material goods, he calls Tyler and they meet at a bar. Tyler tells him he is trapped by consumerism. In the parking lot, he asks the Narrator to hit him, and they have a fistfight. They find the experience cathartic, and agree to do it again.

The Narrator moves into Tyler's home, a large dilapidated house in an industrial area. They have further fights outside the bar, which attract growing crowds of men. The fights move to the bar's basement where the men form the eponymous Fight Club, which routinely meets.

Marla overdoses on pills and telephones the Narrator for help; he ignores her, leaving the telephone with Marla on the line sitting on top of the phone stand (not hanging up the call). Tyler approaches the phone, picks it up and goes to her apartment to save her. They begin a sexual relationship, much to the Narrator's irritation. Tyler warns the Narrator never to talk to Marla about him. The Narrator blackmails his boss for his company's assets to support Fight Club and quits his job.

More new members join Fight Club, including Robert "Bob" Paulsen, a man with testicular cancer whom the Narrator had previously met at one of his support groups. Tyler then recruits their members to a new anti-materialist and anti-corporate organization, Project Mayhem, without the Narrator's involvement. The group engages in subversive acts of vandalism, increasingly troubling the Narrator. After the Narrator complains that Tyler has excluded him, Tyler reveals that he was the one who caused the explosion at the Narrator's condo.

Tyler disappears one night, and when Paulsen is killed by the police fleeing from a sabotage operation, the Narrator tries to halt the project. He follows a paper trail to cities Tyler had visited, discovering Project Mayhem has spread throughout the country. In one city, a project member addresses the Narrator as "Mr. Durden." Confused, the Narrator calls Marla and discovers that she also believes he is Tyler. Tyler appears in his hotel room with a different haircut and clothing, and reveals that they are dissociated personalities; the Narrator assumed the personality of Tyler when he believed he was sleeping.

The Narrator blacks out. When he returns to the house, he uncovers Tyler's plans to erase debt by destroying buildings that contain credit card records. He apologizes to Marla and warns her that she is in danger, but she is tired of his contradictory behavior and refuses to listen. He tries to warn the police, but the officers are members of the Project. He attempts to disarm the explosives in one building, but Tyler subdues him.

With Tyler holding him at gunpoint on the top floor, the Narrator realizes that, as he and Tyler are the same person, the Narrator is holding the gun. He fires it into his own mouth, shooting through his cheek. Tyler dies, and the Narrator ceases mentally projecting him. Project Mayhem members bring a kidnapped Marla to the building. The Narrator and Marla reconcile, and holding hands, the two watch as the explosives detonate, collapsing buildings around them.

Stranded in the space between the human world and the demon underworld, the series central characters are a Japanese vampire girl named Miyu and her Western Shinma companion Larva. Miyu is the daughter of both a human being and a Shinma (a name for a race of "god-demon"). She was born a vampire and as such, she was awakened as the guardian whose destiny is to hunt down all stray Shinma and send them back to "the Darkness"; charged with the responsibility of returning the evil demons away. Before turning 15 years old, she yearns to return to the darkness herself but not until she has banished all the Shinma from Earth. And since her awakening, she remains cut off by the facts of who and what she is.

Most locations in the series are evocative of traditional Japan.

The plot of ''The Last Hurrah'' focuses on a mayoral election in an unnamed East Coast city. Veteran Irish, Democratic Party politician Frank Skeffington is running for yet another term as mayor. As a former governor, he is usually called by the honorific title "Governor." While the city is never named, it is frequently assumed to be Boston. Skeffington is assumed to represent Boston Mayor and Massachusetts Governor James Michael Curley. The story is told in the third person, either by a narrator or by Adam Caulfield, the mayor's nephew. Skeffington is a veteran and adept "machine" politician, and probably corrupt as well. The novel portrays him as a flawed great man with many achievements to his credit.

At the beginning of the book, Skeffington is 72 and has been giving signs that he might consider retiring from public life at the end of his current term. He surprises many by announcing what he had always intended to do: run for another term as mayor. The main body of the novel gives a detailed and insightful view of urban politics, tracking Skeffington and his nephew through rounds of campaign appearances and events, thereby showcasing a dying brand of politics and painting a broad picture of political life in general. His opponent, Kevin McCluskey, is a neophyte candidate with a handsome face and good manners, a good World War II record but no political experience, and no real abilities for politics or governing. However, McCluskey gets support from a new campaign medium: television advertising. Surprisingly, McClusky defeats Skeffington on election day.

One of Adam's friends explains that the election was "a last hurrah" for the kind of old-style machine politics that Skeffington had mastered. Developments in American public life, including the consequences of the New Deal, have so changed the face of city politics that Skeffington no longer can survive in the new age with younger voters. Also, prophetically, for the first time, television ads win the day.

Immediately after his defeat, Skeffington suffers a massive heart attack and another soon afterward. When he dies, he leaves behind a city in mourning for a pivotal figure in its history but no longer with room for either him or his kind.

An acting company prepares to rehearse the play ''The Rules of the Game'' by Luigi Pirandello. As the rehearsal is about to begin, they are unexpectedly interrupted by the arrival of six strange people. The Director of the play, furious at the interruption, demands an explanation. The Father explains that they are unfinished characters in search of an author to finish their story. The Director initially believes them to be mad, but as they begin to argue among themselves and reveal details of their story, he begins to listen. The Father and The Mother had one child together (The Son), but they have separated and Mother has had three children by another man – The Stepdaughter, The Boy and The Child (a girl). The Father attempted to buy sex from The Stepdaughter, claiming he did not recognize her after so many years, but The Stepdaughter is convinced he knew who she was the entire time. The Mother walked in on The Father and The Stepdaughter shortly after The Father's proposal and informs The Stepdaughter that he is her ex-husband; they both express their disgust and outrage. While The Director is not an author, he agrees to stage their story despite disbelief among the jeering actors.

After a 20-minute break, The Characters and The Company return to the stage to perform some of the story so far. They begin to perform the scene between The Stepdaughter and The Father in Madame Pace's shop, which the Director decides to call Scene I. The Characters are very particular about the setting, wanting everything to be as realistic as possible. The Director asks The Actors to observe the scene because he intends for them to perform it later. This sparks the first argument between The Director and The Characters over the acting of the play because The Characters had assumed that they would be performing it, seeing as they are The Characters already. The Director continues the play, but The Stepdaughter has more problems with the accuracy of the setting, saying she doesn't recognize the scene. Just as The Director is about to begin the scene once more, he realizes that Madame Pace is not with them. The Actors watch in disbelief as The Father lures her to the stage by hanging their coats and hats on racks, and Madame Pace follows, "attracted by the very articles of her trade".

The scene begins between Madame Pace and The Stepdaughter, with Madame Pace exhorting The Stepdaughter, telling her she must work as a prostitute to save The Mother's job. The Mother protests at having to watch the scene, but she is restrained. After The Father and The Stepdaughter act half of the scene, The Director stops them so that The Actors may perform what they have just done. The Characters break into laughter as The Actors try to imitate them. The Actors continue but The Stepdaughter cannot contain her laughter as The Actors use the wrong tones of voice and gestures. The Father begins another argument with The Director over the realism of The Actors compared to The Characters themselves. The Director allows The Characters to perform the rest of the scene and decides to have the rehearsals later.

This time, The Stepdaughter explains the rest of the scene during an argument with The Director over the truth on stage. The scene culminates in an embrace between The Father and The Stepdaughter, which is realistically interrupted by the distressed Mother. The line between reality and acting is blurred as the scene closes with The Director pleased with the first act.

The final act of the play begins in the garden. It is revealed that there was much arguing among the family members as The Father sent for The Mother, The Stepdaughter, The Child, The Boy, and The Son to come back and stay with him. The Son reveals that he hates the family for sending him away and does not consider The Stepdaughter or the others a part of his family. The scene ends with The Child drowning in a fountain, The Boy committing suicide with a revolver, and The Stepdaughter running out of the theater, leaving The Son, The Mother, and The Father on stage. The play ends with The Director confused over whether it was real or not, concluding that in either case he lost a whole day over it.

Stan Ross is the franchise player of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team. After recording his 3,000th hit, the selfish, narcissistic Ross immediately retires, leaving the team without one of its star players in the middle of the 1995 playoff race, showing every bit of disregard for his teammates' feelings. During the next nine years, Ross uses his nickname as a business tool, owning several profitable properties under the name "Mr. 3000" that make him increasingly wealthy.

In 2004, the Brewers retire Ross' number to boost attendance for their now-struggling team. Although many fans do come to the ceremony, other players, including teammates and fellow stars Robin Yount, Cecil Cooper, and Paul Molitor, stay away. Only his best friend Anthony (Boca) Carter and a middle relief pitcher from his early days in the majors named Bill (Big Horse) Berelli attend, and the ex-pitcher chastises Ross for his arrogant attitude.

Ross learns that, due to a clerical error, he retired with 2,997 hits instead of 3,000. The error also partially contributes to Ross not being voted into the Baseball Hall of FameVoters have elected all eligible (Pete Rose is ineligible) players with 3,000 or more hits to the Hall of Fame, except for controversial player Rafael Palmeiro. and makes his "Mr. 3000" marketing gimmick inaccurate. Ross seeks to return to the game at the age of 47 to get three more hits, secure his place in the record books, and keep his local post-career marketing gimmick intact.

A top Brewers executive, citing the large attendance at Ross' number retirement ceremony and the fact that the Brewers are out of playoff contention, agrees to bring Ross back during the September roster expansion. The team's younger players only know of Ross as a self-centered player, and team superstar Rex "T-Rex" Pennebaker, who is pompous and arrogant like Ross, sees him as unneeded and too old to play. Manager Gus Panas refuses to speak to Ross because of his abrupt retirement, and the sportswriters continually criticize him.

Despite his predictions to the contrary Ross struggles to regain his baseball form. He goes hitless in his first 27 at-bats. His comeback is reported by television sportscaster Maureen "Mo" Simmons, who resumes a former romantic relationship with Ross. He gets two hits, including a home run, to increase his career total to 2,999.

Ross becomes a mentor to the younger players and urges Pennebaker to learn from his own mistakes as a baseball star and to be a team player, so that Pennebaker will not end up like him – all alone. This inspires the Brewers to a late-season comeback and a respectable finish. Ross attempts to become serious with Simmons and make her a permanent part of his life, but she is reluctant to believe he is a changed man, particularly after he skips a team practice to go on national television with Jay Leno and begin boasting again.

In his last at-bat of the season, with a chance to be a hero, Ross has a vision of his earlier years, when he was considered always dependable for the team. It inspires him to sacrifice his last chance with a bunt instead so the team can win a game and finish third in its division. Although Ross never reaches the "3,000" milestone, his newfound generosity and attitude gets him inducted into the Hall of Fame. He renames his businesses "Mr. 2,999", and is last seen driving an ice cream truck with the slogan "2,999 possible combinations!".

Matt Simon, a young advertising executive, returns to Chicago with his fiancée Rebecca, after spending the last two years in New York. He bumps into his old friend Luke on the way into a meeting at a restaurant, in preparation for a business trip to China. Once inside, Matt thinks he overhears Lisa, the beautiful dancer he was in love with two years before, who had vanished overnight. Unable to confront the woman he believes may be Lisa, he blows off the trip and instead embarks on an obsessive search for her, as the story of Matt and Lisa's romance unfolds in flashbacks.

A key card which the woman leaves at the restaurant leads Matt to a hotel, where he finds Lisa's silver compact and an article marked in a newspaper. He leaves a note for Lisa at the restaurant bar, borrows Luke's car, and trails the man from the newspaper article to an apartment. There Matt discovers a note to Lisa under the door, with her key enclosed. The apartment is deserted, but he leaves Lisa a note himself, to meet him in Wicker Park, and keeps the key. An ecstatic Matt returns the car to Luke, who is furious because he has missed a date with his new girlfriend Alex. When Alex calls, Matt takes the blame and Luke is mollified.

The next day, after waiting in vain at Wicker Park, Matt goes back to the apartment and is caught by a woman who is also named Lisa. She says the apartment is hers, but she has a coat and red-soled shoes with a broken heel identical to Lisa's—shoes that came from Luke's shop, where Lisa first met Matt. She says that she was at the hotel because the man in the newspaper was stalking her, and asks Matt to stay the night. They end up sleeping together. Flashbacks reveal that this "Lisa" is actually Alex, Lisa's old neighbor and friend. Alex had fallen in love with Matt from afar, but he met and fell for Lisa before Alex found the courage to speak to him. The man from the newspaper was stalking Lisa, and Alex agreed to swap apartments with her for a few days before Lisa left for a new job in London.

Luke persuades Matt to come with him that night to see Alex perform in ''Twelfth Night''. She is unrecognizable in stage makeup, but panics after she sees Matt in the audience with Luke. Matt returns to the apartment, feels the real Lisa's presence in spite of its emptiness, and spends the night. Alex sleeps with Luke that night; in the morning, when Matt calls Luke, she answers the phone then drops it in a panic. She overhears Luke say Matt is at the apartment, and runs out to call him and meet him there. After receiving Matt's note at the restaurant, the real Lisa calls and asks Luke to tell Matt to meet her at three o'clock, saying he will know where. When Alex arrives at the apartment, Matt gives her another pair of red-soled shoes, Lisa's size, but they are too big. She realizes he suspects something, but Matt says he can exchange them and leaves. Alex then calls Luke and asks him to meet her at the restaurant.

Now suspicious, Matt follows "Lisa" (Alex), bumps into Luke, and follows him into the restaurant to finally meet Alex, the girl Luke is in love with. Matt confronts Alex, her deception revealed. A flashback reveals that two years ago, the same day that Matt asked Lisa to move in with him, Lisa was offered a last minute job touring with a show in Europe and had to jump on a plane. Lisa had given Alex a note to deliver to Matt, telling him she loved him and wanted to live with him. Instead, Alex had kept the note, deleted all the messages Lisa had left for Matt on his answering machine, and told Lisa that she had caught Matt in bed with another woman. Matt never learned why Lisa left, seemingly without a word. In the present, a confused Luke tells Matt that Lisa called and wants him to meet her at three o'clock before she returns to London. Matt is unsure where to meet, but Alex gives him Lisa's old note and he realizes that Lisa is at Wicker Park. Arriving too late, Matt then races to the airport, and is met by Rebecca, who has come to pick him up from the business trip to China he never went on. He confesses that he still loves someone else and cannot marry her. Lisa is nearby on the phone, listening to Alex admit what she has done and apologize. Matt sees Lisa through the crowd and comes up behind her. She senses he is there, turns to kiss him, and they are reunited.

In 1950, during the Cold War, František (Franta) Sláma (Ondřej Vetchý) is incarcerated in Czechoslovakia, because of his prior service in the RAF. His recollections of the war begin in 1939, just days prior to the German invasion of Czechoslovakia. After the invasion, the Czechoslovak Army is disbanded and its Air Force has to surrender its aircraft. However, Franta and his young friend Karel Vojtíšek (Kryštof Hádek), among others, refuse to submit to their occupiers and flee to the United Kingdom to join the RAF.

The British make the Czechoslovaks retrain from the basics, which infuriates them, especially Karel, who is both impatient to fight the Germans and humiliated at being retaught what he already knows. Karel also sees the compulsory English language lessons as a pointless waste of his time. The RAF is in such a dire need of pilots during the Battle of Britain that eventually the Czechoslovak airmen are allowed to fly. After their first sortie they realise why the British have trained them so intensely: a young Czechoslovak nicknamed "Tom Tom" is shot down by a Messerschmitt Bf 109 and killed. Franta becomes the unit commander, with the younger Karel under his charge.

While shooting down a Heinkel He 111 bomber, Karel's Spitfire fighter aircraft is shot down. However, he manages to survive and find his way to a farm. There he meets and falls in love with Susan (Tara Fitzgerald), although she thinks he is far too young. The next day, after returning to the aerodrome, Karel brings Franta to meet Susan. The latter begins to get attracted to Susan, although Karel believes that Susan is interested in him.

Following a mission to France where the squadron attacks a train, Karel is shot down, but Franta lands and rescues him, a move that shows that their friendship endures. Soon after, however, Karel learns a sort of love triangle has developed, with Susan being involved with Franta, which leads to a quarrel between the two friends. Later in the war, while escorting American bombers, Franta's Spitfire malfunctions and he is forced to ditch into the ocean. His life raft bursts as he tries to inflate it, so Karel tries to drop his own raft, but he flies too low and fatally crashes. The raft emerges from the water, allowing Franta to survive.

Afterward, when the war is over, Franta drives to Susan's home, only to find her with her injured husband recently returned from fighting overseas. Knowing he has no future with Susan and wanting to preserve her honour, he pretends to have lost his way and asks directions to the next town. Franta returns to Czechoslovakia and finds his old girlfriend has married the neighbourhood jobsworth, has given birth to a child, and has taken over Barča, his dog. All the disappointed Franta can do is endure the situation as stoically as he can. In prison, he only has his memories of his friendship with Karel to sustain him.

Twelve-year-old Glen has a nightmare of finding his home abandoned, then going into his tree-house only for it to be struck by lightning and collapse. When he wakes he finds that in his backyard, workers have cut down the same tree from his nightmare and unearthed a geode. Glen returns with older friend Terry to investigate. Though the workers attempted to fill the hole left by the tree, Glen and Terry breach the surface, finding a large geode. Glen catches a splinter and leaves a small amount of blood behind.

Glen's parents leave town for three days, placing his 15-year-old sister Alexandra ("Al") in charge. While Al throws a party, Terry and Glen break open the geode after discovering it has left strange writing on a notepad, and read the incantations aloud. They go downstairs just as the party-goers are playing a levitation game. Everyone is shocked when they levitate Glen.

That night Glen sees his bedroom wall stretching, and Terry embraces an apparition of his dead mother that turns out to be Glen's dog Angus, who dies as a result. The next day, Terry brings a heavy metal album to Glen's house with lyrics based on "The Dark Book". He believes the hole in Glen's backyard is a gateway to a domain of evil gods, and speculates that their actions opened it. He concludes that the only missing element would be to deposit a sacrifice into the hole. Unknown to them, a friend of Al's dumps Angus's body into the hole, completing the summoning. After reading a section from "The Dark Book" that is supposed to close the gateway, the boys find the hole closed and assume their efforts succeeded.

That night, a swarm of moths shatter Glen's bedroom window, and Angus' corpse is found in Terry's bed. Demonic arms try pulling Al under her bed; Terry and Glen barely save her. They try fleeing the house, but are greeted outside by Glen and Al's parents, actually disguised demons. After returning to the house Al volunteers to inspect the yard, but the others see it swarming with small demons and call her back. Terry leads everyone to the basement to retrieve "The Dark Book", but it bursts into flames. They then attempt to stop the creatures by reading the Bible. Terry reads from Psalm 59 and the hole begins to close, but he slips and falls into the hole. Terry is attacked by the small demons before Al and Glen pull him out. Terry reads from Genesis, then throws the Bible into the hole, causing an explosion that appears to seal the hole.

That night, a wall breaks open and a construction worker's corpse falls through (Terry had previously lied to Glen that when his house was built one of the workers died and the other workers had sealed him inside a wall). The worker pulls Terry into the wall, which seals behind him. Upstairs, Al notices a hazy image of the construction worker in her mirror before Glen bursts into her bedroom. Al throws a stereo at the construction worker and he disintegrates into dozens of little demons. Al holds the bedroom door shut while Glen races downstairs to find their father's gun. A demonic version of Terry appears, biting his hand before Al stabs Terry in the eye. Al and Glen hide in a closet, but the construction worker breaks through an interior wall and drags Al away.

Glen realizes that Terry and Al represent the two human sacrifices that would fully open the gate. He also realizes that the rocket he had given Al for her birthday, a symbol of love, light and purity, may stop the rise of the Old Gods. He makes his way upstairs as the floor collapses, revealing a chasm beneath the house. Glen attempts to launch the rocket, but his matches keep blowing out. The wind sucks Glen onto the foyer, where a giant serpentine demon emerges. The demon pats Glen on the head and touches his hand before returning to the hole. Glen discovers the demon's touch has placed an eye in the palm of his hand. He stabs the eye, then struggles to descend the staircase, at which point the demon re-emerges. Glen uses a battery-powered launcher to fire his rocket into the demon, causing it to explode. Angus emerges from the front closet, seemingly restored to life. He is followed by Terry and Al, also unhurt. The kids worry about how to explain the wreckage of the house to their parents.

Harare, 1990. Neria and Patrick, a married couple, both work and earn money in the city and live a modern egalitarian lifestyle. But when Patrick is killed in an accident, his family uses traditional Shona custom to deprive Neria of her property and children.The film starts showing Neria and Patrick enjoying a modern life in the city with their two children. The couple goes to visit their family in the rural where they are persuaded by Patrick's mother to stay home rather than in the suburbs away from the rest of the family. Patrick objects stating that he and Neria have built a home in the surbab and their life belongs there. Back in the city, Patrick's car refuses to start as he wants to go to work, he then uses the bicycle instead. On his way from work his bicycle is hit by a truck and he dies on the spot.

Tibby, the wife of Samuel Sweetland (Jameson Thomas) dies, and shortly afterwards his daughter marries and leaves home, leaving him on his own with his two servants. His wife had told him that he should remarry after her death, so he pursues some local spinsters who were at his daughter's wedding after he and his housekeeper Minta (Lillian Hall-Davis) make out a list of possibilities.

First is Widow Louisa Windeatt, but Sweetland is shocked and angry when she rejects his advances and says she is too independent for him. Next, he attempts to court Thirza Tapper, a nervous wreck who almost collapses when Sweetland proposes to her. She, too, rejects him because she says she has no need for a man, and he is furious yet again. He wanders outside as other guests arrive for her party. His grumpy servant Ash is helping at the party, wearing an ill-fitting coat and trying to keep his trousers up while doing his work at the party.

While the others are outside listening to some singers, Sweetland proposes to Mary Hearn, but she rejects him as too old, and then becomes hysterical when he angrily tells her that she too is "full blown and a bit over."

Later Sweetland tells Minta that he is not going to finish the list of women because he is so dejected. He leaves the room and Ash returns and tells Minta what an embarrassment to men that Sweetland is by going around and practically begging any woman to be his wife. Sweetland overhears this and orders Ash to saddle his horse because he is going to try number four on the list, Mercy Bassett, a barmaid at a local inn. After he leaves, it is revealed that Minta is in love with him. Bassett rejects him too and he comes home dejectedly. Meanwhile postmistress Hearn and Tapper compare notes and Hearn decides she should marry him after all and she goes to his house with Tapper.

Having run through the women who have turned him down, Samuel sees Minta for the first time as more than a housekeeper and decides that she is the woman for him, if she'll have him. He tells her he has got used to being rejected and will not be angry if she rejects him, too. She accepts him and he tells her to put on the dress Tibby gave her. As she goes to the room, Hearn and Tapper arrive. Hearn says she is now willing to be his wife. Samuel says all should drink a toast to his wife to be and Hearn is sure it is her, until Minta comes down the stairs in an attractive dress. Hearn lapses into hysterics again as Sweetland reveals that Minta will be his bride.

Sir Bowen, an English knight of "the Old Code," mentors the Saxon Prince Einon in his ideals to make him a better king than his tyrannical father, King Freyne. While suppressing a peasant rebellion, rebels ambush and kill Freyne. Then a young peasant girl named Kara accidentally mortally wounds Einon's heart. Einon's Celtic mother, Queen Aislinn, has Einon taken before a dragon and asks him to save the boy's life. The dragon makes Einon promise to rule with honor and replaces Einon's wounded heart with half his own. However, Einon proves more oppressive than his father by enslaving the former rebels that killed Freyne and forcing them to rebuild a Roman castle. Einon also has Kara's father, who led the insurgents, blinded. Believing the dragon's heart corrupted Einon, Bowen swears vengeance on all dragons by hunting them down.

Twelve years later, Bowen has become a skilled dragonslayer. Meanwhile, an adult Einon has rebuilt his castle. Kara asks that he free her father after years of slavery; Einon agrees but kills him to "release" him. Monk and aspiring poet Brother Gilbert witnesses Bowen's prowess and follows him to record his exploits. Bowen stalks a dragon to its cave, not knowing it's the one who shared his heart with Einon. The confrontation ends in a stalemate, during which the dragon states that he's the last one alive; they agree not to kill each other and instead form a partnership to defraud local villagers with staged dragon "slayings." Bowen later names the dragon after the Draco constellation, unaware of Draco and Einon's connection, through which they feel each other's pain.

Kara, seeking revenge on Einon, is imprisoned after a failed assassination attempt. Realizing she is responsible for his near-death as a boy, Einon tries seducing her and making her his queen. Despising what her son has become, Aislinn helps Kara escape the castle. Kara tries to rally her village against Einon, but they sacrifice her to Draco instead. After Draco takes Kara to his lair, Einon arrives to recapture her and fights Bowen. While fighting, Einon demoralizes Bowen by declaring he never believed in the code and only used Bowen to learn how to fight. He gains the upper hand and nearly kills Bowen, but Draco intervenes and reveals his half-heart to Einon, making him flee in fear. Kara asks Bowen to help overthrow Einon, but the disillusioned knight refuses.

Bowen reunites with Gilbert at another village, while Kara tries exposing Bowen and Draco, appalled by their actions. The villagers don't believe her until after the staged slaying while Draco plays dead. He bolts when the villagers decide to carve him up for meat, revealing the scam. Then they surround Bowen, Kara, and Gilbert, wanting to eat ''them'' instead; Draco rescues the trio and takes them to Avalon, where they take shelter among King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table's tombs. Draco reveals the truth about himself and Einon: He hoped to change Einon's nature by saving him, reuniting the races of Man and Dragon, and earning a place in the constellation—the Dragon's Heaven. Draco fears his choice has cost him his soul, and his spirit is doomed to disappear upon death like he never existed. After hearing that Kara and even Gilbert intend to oppose Einon, Draco agrees to help. After a vision of King Arthur reminds him of his knightly honor, Bowen also agrees.

Bowen, Kara, Gilbert, and Draco organize and train the villagers into a formidable army. They're nearly victorious against Einon's forces when Gilbert strikes Einon in the heart with an arrow; however, Draco, feeling Einon's pain, falls from the sky and is captured. Realizing he is immortal as long as Draco lives, Einon is determined to keep Draco safe. Knowing their connection, Aislinn attempts to kill Draco at his request, but Einon intercepts and kills her.

The rebels invade Einon's castle to save Draco. Bowen and Einon duel through the halls, ending with Bowen throwing Einon from atop a tower. While he tries freeing Draco, the dragon begs Bowen to kill him and end Einon's reign; Bowen can't bring himself to kill his friend, so Draco tries and fails to provoke him. Then Einon rises and charges at Bowen, so Bowen reluctantly throws an ax into Draco's exposed half-heart, killing him and Einon, thus ending his reign of terror for good. Draco's body dissipates as his soul joins his fellow dragons as a new star in the constellation. Gilbert concludes the film with narration by saying that Bowen and Kara went on to lead the kingdom into an era of justice and peace, with Draco's star shining brighter than ever in troubled times.

In the year 2078, the planet Sirius 6B, once a thriving mining hub, has been reduced to a toxic wasteland by a war between the mining company, known as the New Economic Block (N.E.B.), and "The Alliance", a group of former mining and science personnel. After miners discovered that their extraction of ore released toxic gases, they went on strike, and the mining company hired mercenaries as strike breakers. Five years into the war, Alliance scientists created and deployed Autonomous Mobile Swords (AMS) — artificially intelligent self-replicating machines that hunt down and kill N.E.B. soldiers on their own. They are nicknamed "screamers" because of a high-pitched noise they emit as they attack. Screamers track targets by their heartbeats, so Alliance soldiers wear "tabs" which broadcast a signal canceling out the wearer's heartbeat and rendering them "invisible" to the machines.

A fragile stalemate is in effect between the two exhausted, poorly supplied, and undermanned armies. The Alliance recovers a message from a dead N.E.B. soldier, killed by screamers as he approached the Alliance compound, guaranteeing safe passage through N.E.B. territory to discuss a truce. When Alliance commanding officer Joe Hendricksson reports this development to his Earth-based superiors, he is told that peace negotiations are already underway on Earth; but Private "Ace" Jefferson, newly arrived from Earth, says that is untrue. Hendricksson is not surprised; he has long suspected that both sides have simply written off Sirius 6B and abandoned their armies.

Hendricksson decides that the only realistic chance of survival for himself and his soldiers is to accept the N.E.B. truce offer. He sets out for a meeting with the N.E.B. commander, accompanied by Jefferson. While traveling through a destroyed city they come upon a war orphan, a young boy named David, clutching a teddy bear. Unwilling to abandon a defenseless civilian, they bring the boy along. The following night they are attacked by a reptilian screamer that they have never before encountered. Hendricksson is alarmed that their Alliance tabs did not protect them.

As the group nears the N.E.B. compound, two enemy soldiers, Becker and Ross, open fire on David, whose chest explodes in a shower of gears, bolts, and wires. They explain to the astonished Alliance men that David was a new "type 3" screamer impersonating a human. Most of the N.E.B. contingent has been wiped out by another "David" screamer that a patrol unwittingly brought into the base; Becker, Ross, and a black marketeer named Jessica are the only survivors.

The group heads to the N.E.B. command center but finds only an empty building and large pools of blood. Locating the mainframe computer, Hendricksson learns that the N.E.B. truce offer was just as false as the Alliance message from Earth. The group retreats to the N.E.B. bunker, pursued by "Davids". The discovery that the screamers have "evolved" new versions on their own that are indistinguishable from humans, and immune to Alliance tabs, leads to paranoia and distrust. Becker becomes convinced that Ross is a screamer and kills him, only to discover that he was human. The four survivors retreat to the Alliance base, only to find that the "Davids" have gained entrance to that compound as well, with equally devastating results. As dozens of "Davids" pour out of the bunker's entrance, Hendricksson fires a micro-nuclear missile into the bunker. Jefferson rushes to the aid of Becker, who was apparently injured in the blast, but Becker's cries of distress are a ruse; he is a "type 2" screamer, and he kills Jefferson. After Hendricksson destroys Becker, only he and Jessica remain.

Now paranoid, Hendricksson worries that Jessica could be a screamer as well. He slashes her hand, and is relieved to see blood dripping from the wound. They locate an emergency escape shuttle. As they prepare it for launch, they are attacked by another "Becker" that Hendricksson destroys. With the shuttle now prepared, they discover it can carry only one person. Hendricksson offers the shuttle to Jessica; but a second "Jessica" arrives, confirming that she is a screamer after all, and even more human-like. Hendricksson resigns himself to death; but to his surprise, Jessica shields him, then sacrifices herself in battle with her lookalike. With her last breath, Jessica confesses her love for Hendricksson.

Hendricksson departs for Earth on the escape shuttle with a single souvenir, the teddy bear carried by the original "David". As the screen fades to black, the bear slowly begins to move on its own.

In 1954 a French unit (based loosely on the Groupement Mobile No. 100) on patrol during the First Indochina War is ambushed by Viet Minh forces. Viet Minh commander Nguyen Huu An orders his soldiers to "kill all they send, and they will stop coming".

Eleven years later, the United States is fighting the Vietnam War. US Army Lieutenant Colonel Hal Moore is chosen to train and lead a battalion. After arriving in Vietnam, he learns that an American base has been attacked and is ordered to take his 400 men after the enemy and eliminate the North Vietnamese attackers although intelligence has no idea of the number of enemy troops. Moore leads a newly-created air cavalry unit into the Ia Drang Valley. After landing, the soldiers capture a North Vietnamese soldier and learn from him that the location they were sent to is actually the base camp for a veteran North Vietnamese army division of 4,000 men.

Upon arrival in the area with a platoon of soldiers, 2nd Lt. Henry Herrick spots an enemy scout and runs after him, ordering his reluctant soldiers to follow. The scout lures them into an ambush, which results in several men being killed, including Herrick and his subordinates. The surviving platoon members are surrounded and cut off from the rest of the battalion. Sgt. Savage assumes command, calls in the artillery, and uses the cover of night to keep the Vietnamese from overrunning their defensive position.

Meanwhile, with helicopters constantly dropping off units, Moore manages to secure weak points before the North Vietnamese can take advantage of them. Despite being trapped and desperately outnumbered, the main US force manages to hold off the North Vietnamese with artillery, mortars, and helicopter airlifts of supplies and reinforcements. Eventually, Nguyen Huu An, the commander of the North Vietnamese division, orders a large-scale attack on the American position.

Back in the United States, Julia Moore has become the leader of the American wives who live on the base. When the Army begins to use yellow cab drivers to deliver telegrams that notify the next of kin of the soldiers' deaths in combat, Julia personally assumes that emotional responsibility instead.

At the point of being overrun by the enemy, Moore orders 1st Lt. Charlie Hastings, his forward air controller, to call in "Broken Arrow," which is a call for all available combat aircraft to assist and attack enemy positions, even those close to the US troops' position because a position is being overrun and can no longer be defended. The aircraft attack with bombs, napalm, and machine guns, killing many PAVN and Viet Cong troops, but a friendly fire incident also results in American deaths. The North Vietnamese attack is repelled, and the surviving soldiers of Herrick's cut-off platoon, including Savage, are rescued.

Moore's troops regroup and secure the area. Nguyen Huu An plans a final assault on the Americans and sends most of his troops to carry out the attack, but Moore and his men overrun them and approach the enemy command center. Before the base camp guards can open fire, Major Bruce "Snake" Crandall and other helicopter gunships attack and destroy the remnant of the enemy force. With no more troops to call on, Huu An quickly orders the headquarters evacuated.

Having achieved his objective, Moore returns to the helicopter landing zone to be picked up. Only after everyone (including the dead and wounded) is removed from the battlefield does he fly out of the valley. Sometime later, Nguyen Huu An and his men arrive on the battlefield to collect their dead. He claims that the Americans will "think this was their victory. So this will become an American war".

At the end of the film, it is revealed that the landing zone immediately reverted to North Vietnamese hands after the American troops were airlifted out. Hal Moore continued the battle in a different landing zone, and after nearly a year, he returned home safely to Julia and his family. His superiors congratulate him for killing over 1,800 North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong soldiers. An older Moore visits the Vietnam War memorial and looks at the names of the soldiers who fell at Ia Drang.

''The Ebony Tower''

Henry Breasley is an elderly painter whose secluded retirement is invaded by a brash young artist commissioned to write a biographical study of the great man. Breasley shares his home with two young English girls, both former art students, Diana and Anne. In this strange ménage, David is left in no doubt about his host's views on modern abstract art. However, he is puzzled by the old man's relationship with the girls, especially when he himself is attracted to Diana.

''Eliduc''

Eliduc, the shortest tale in the book, is a translation of a Breton lai by Marie de France, in which a hero goes into exile in England, leaving his wife behind. While in exile, he falls for the daughter of a local king. The story is deliberately placed after ''The Ebony Tower'' as a clear parallel of and influence on the title story.

''Poor Koko''

An elderly writer has borrowed a country cottage from friends in London. On the first night of his stay, the house is burgled. ''Poor Koko'' tells of his encounter with the burglar.

''The Enigma''

John Fielding, British Member of Parliament, disappears without trace. Was foul play involved, or did he fake his own disappearance? The case presents few clues for the police officer in charge.

''The Cloud''

A seemingly idyllic picnic in the south of France for a group of English family and friends hides deeper, troubled undercurrents.

With his 10,000 year reign coming to an end and after torturing Adolf Hitler by shoving a pineapple up his rump, Satan must decide which of his three sons will succeed him as ruler of Hell. Adrian is the most devious, Cassius is the cruelest, and Nicky is the kindest. Adrian and Cassius claim that Nicky's mother is a goat and torment him by controlling his body with their minds. Nicky has had a speech impediment and a disfigured jaw since Cassius hit him in the face with a shovel. Satan assembles his sons to tell them that they are not yet ready to succeed him as he will continue ruling Hell.

Angered by this decision, Adrian and Cassius travel to Earth to create a new Hell by possessing religious and political leaders in New York City. As they leave, they freeze the entrance to Hell, preventing more evil souls from entering and causing Satan to begin to disintegrate. To stop Adrian and Cassius, he sends Nicky to Earth with a silver flask that traps whoever drinks from it inside.

Nicky has difficulty surviving on Earth and he is killed several times, landing in Hell and returning to New York each time. While learning how to eat and sleep, he meets a possessed, talking bulldog named Mr. Beefy, rents an apartment with an actor named Todd, and falls in love with a design student named Valerie Veran. Nicky encounters Adrian, but fails to capture him and scares Valerie away. Nicky then observes Cassius on television possessing the referee of a Harlem Globetrotters game. Nicky arrives at the game and successfully tricks Cassius into the flask. Satanist metalheads John and Peter swear loyalty to Nicky. That evening, Nicky apologizes to Valerie and they reconcile.

The following day, Adrian possesses the Chief of the NYPD and accuses Nicky of mass murder. Nicky has Todd kill him so he can go back to Hell and ask his father for advice, but Satan has trouble hearing because his ears have fallen off, and his assistants are panicking because the deadline to capture Adrian and Cassius is approaching. Back on Earth, Nicky and his friends devise a plan to capture Adrian in a subway station, but Adrian discovers their trick and, in the ensuing fight, grabs Valerie and dives onto the track as a train approaches, but Nicky throws her aside, leaving himself and Adrian to be killed by the train.

Arriving in Hell just minutes before midnight, Adrian begins taking over Hell by pushing what remains of his father aside and sitting on the throne, rising to Central Park, and starting a riotous party. Meanwhile, Nicky wakes up in Heaven as a reward for sacrificing himself and meets his mother Holly, an angel who tells him that he can defeat Adrian with the "inner light" that he inherited from her. After she gives him a mysterious orb, he confronts Adrian in Central Park where he covers Henry Winkler in bees. Adrian appears to win the battle by transforming into a bat and locking Nicky in the flask. However, Nicky escapes from the flask and shatters the orb, causing Ozzy Osbourne to appear, bite Adrian's head off, and spit it into the flask.

With his brothers captured, Nicky prepares to save his father. After he re-covers Winkler in bees to make sure he goes to Hell, he and Valerie express their love for each other and she kills him. In Hell, Satan regains his body and suggests Nicky stay with Valerie.

One year later, Nicky and Valerie live in New York with their infant son named Zachariah who has demonic powers. John and Peter die in a plane crash and end up happily in Hell as honored residents who have been given Nicky's old bedroom to party in.