Pessimistic 10-year-old Richard Tyler lives life based on statistics and fears everything. His exasperated parents have tried multiple ways to build up his courage to little success. Richard is sent to buy a bag of nails for building a treehouse. However, Richard gets caught in a harsh thunderstorm and takes shelter in a library. He meets Mr. Dewey, an eccentric librarian/custodian who insists that he is in need of a special book and gives him a library card, despite Richard's protests. Searching for a phone, Richard finds a large rotunda painted with many famous literary characters. He slips on water dripping from his coat and falls over, knocking himself out. Richard awakens to find the rotunda art melting, which washes over him and the library, turning them into illustrations.
He is met by the Pagemaster, the mythical Keeper of Books and Guardian of the Written Word. Richard asks for directions to the exit, so the Pagemaster sends him through the fiction section toward the green neon exit sign. Along the way, Richard befriends three anthropomorphic books: Adventure, a swashbuckling pirate-like book; Fantasy, a sassy but caring fairy-tale book; and Horror, a fearful "Hunchbook" with a misshapen spine. The three agree to help Richard if he checks them out using his new library card. Together, the quartet encounters classic-fictional characters. They meet Dr. Jekyll who turns into Mr. Hyde, driving them to the open waters of the Land of Adventure. However, the group is separated after Moby-Dick attacks, following the whale's battle with Captain Ahab. Richard and Adventure are shipwrecked and picked up by the ''Hispaniola'', captained by Long John Silver. The pirates go to Treasure Island, but find no treasure except for one gold coin, nearly causing a mutiny between the captain and the crew. Fantasy and Horror return and defeat the pirates. Silver attempts to convince Richard to leave with him but surrenders when Richard threatens him with a sword.
In the fantasy section, Richard sees the exit sign on the top of a mountain. However, Adventure's bumbling awakens a dormant dragon. Richard tries to fight the dragon with a sword and shield, but the dragon swallows him. Richard finds books in the dragon's stomach and uses a beanstalk from ''Jack and the Beanstalk'' to escape through the dragon's mouth. He and the books climb the beanstalk to reach the exit. They enter a large dark room where the Pagemaster awaits them. Richard accuses the Pagemaster of causing the horrors that he suffered, but the Pagemaster reveals the journey was intended to make Richard face his fears. Dr. Jekyll, Captain Ahab, Long John Silver, and the dragon reappear in a magical twister and congratulate him. The Pagemaster swoops Richard and the books into the twister, sending them back to the real world.
Richard awakens, finding Adventure, Fantasy, and Horror lying next to him as real books. Mr. Dewey finds him, and, even though the library policy only allows a person to check out two books at a time, lets him check out all three books "just this once".
Richard returns home a braver boy, sleeping in his new treehouse with his books.
A year after the downfall of the Shadow Warriors, a new enemy threatens Billy and Jimmy Lee, as Marion is kidnapped by a mysterious organization. The only witness to her kidnapping, Brett, dies before he could divulge their leader's true identity. A fortune teller named Hiruko informs the Lee brothers that Marion's kidnappers are searching for the three Sacred Stones of Power that had been scattered around the world and that the only way to rescue her is to procure them before the kidnappers do. After the initial battle in the United States, the Lee brothers embark on a worldwide journey to find the stones, which takes them to China, Japan and Italy, where they face numerous formidable fighters in each country. The final stage is set in Egypt, where the Lee brothers uncover the truth about Marion's disappearance and come face to face with the true leader of the enemy.
At the start, the narrator is living with a Hispanic boy named Pedro and performing sex acts with older men in the basement of the dwelling for money, along with Pedro's teenage sister Maria. He engages in sex with Maria, Pedro, a gang of bikers, and a group of Black men. The narrator consistently assumes the bottom role in these sex acts. One out of the group of Black men chooses the narrator specifically, remarking that he appears of possible part-Black ancestry.
The second chapter takes place sometime after the narrator has left Pedro's. It introduces Hogg, first seen raping a woman in an alley. Hogg calls the narrator to him to "finish him up" orally. Hogg takes the narrator to his truck where he explains that while he is a trucker by trade, he prefers getting paid to rape women. Hogg also reveals a bit about himself and his personal history, painting a picture of his overall persona, which is one of extreme sociopathy, violence, and sexual sadism. They drive to meet Mr. Jonas, who despite his apparent wealth answers his own door and later is revealed to drive his own limousine. Mr. Jonas is Hogg's current client. After Mr. Jonas describes Hogg's next assignment Hogg states his intention to bring along several other men, and the narrator as well, to participate. At this point the narrator's place as Hogg's companion is solidly established.
Hogg and the narrator meet the other men—Nigg, Wop, and Denny—at the Piewacket bar. Nigg turns out to be the black man who the narrator first encountered at the beginning of the story. Wop is a violent Italian-American workman. Denny is a rather shy teenage boy, older than the narrator but quite a bit younger than the other men. The quintet of rapists set out to complete their jobs, which grow in succession from a single woman, a woman and her wheelchair-using daughter, and a nuclear family—mother, father and son. Each successive job increases in violence, and the victims' young children (male and female) are also descended on by the pack. During the third rape scene, Denny absconds to the family's kitchen where he decides to pierce his own penis using a nail. Soon Denny's penis begins to bleed, swell and pus, seemingly infected. At this point he begins repeating the phrase "it's all right."
When their last job is completed, the group retires to the Piewacket bar, where they fraternize with members of the Phantoms—the same biker gang encountered in the beginning of the novel. Nigg and one of the bikers, Hawk, hatch a scheme to sell the narrator to a black tugboat captain called Big Sambo. Without consulting Hogg, all three ride away on Hawk's motorcycle to meet Big Sambo at the docks in Crawhole. Big Sambo talks down the price and pays Nigg and Hawk fifteen dollars for the narrator. Big Sambo is a large, physically powerful tugboat operator who keeps his twelve-year-old daughter, Honey-Pie, around as a sex object for his own pleasure.
The narrator goes walking around the docks at night, where he overhears a radio on the deck of a garbage scow. The newscaster on the radio reports on a series of murders that has occurred recently—as it turns out, the suspect is Denny. This is confirmed to the reader when it is noted that the phrase "it's all right" is written in blood at the crime scenes. The Piewacket bar, where the gang had previously hung out, was attacked by Denny with gunfire. Several people including the bartender and some bikers were killed.
On the docks the narrator then meets two garbagemen: Red, a red-headed white man, and Rufus, a black man. While having sex with the narrator outside, they plan to "borrow" the narrator from Big Sambo and keep him at their scow on a collar and leash. They are interrupted by Whitey, a cop who patrols the area, who also has sex with the narrator. Whitey is called down to the waterfront to help investigate the murders of Mona, Harry and their year-old baby. Rufus, Red and the narrator return to the waterfront where a radio crew has recently arrived and reports live from the scene. Big Sambo sees the narrator by the docks and tells him to return to his scow.
Hogg arrives at Big Sambo's scow and assaults Big Sambo. Hogg and the narrator leave the docks in Hogg's truck, in which Denny was hiding from the police. After driving out of the Crawhole area and getting clear of the law, Hogg commands Denny to bathe himself, dress in clean clothes, and hitch a ride to Florida. While driving back from the truck stop Hogg declares his intentions to spend the next few months with the narrator and expresses his happiness that they are reunited. However, the narrator is formulating a plan to leave Hogg at the next opportune moment. Hogg finally asks him "What's the matter?" to which he responds, "Nothin,"—his only line of dialog in the novel.
The off-stage murder spree by Dennis "Denny" Harkner is described by radio reporter Edward Sawyer as "an afternoon and evening long rampage...that threatens to outdo Starkweather, Speck, and Manson together." Later in the novel it is revealed that the spree took place on June 27, 1969, more than a month before the Tate murders were perpetrated by the Manson Family on August 8, 1969.
During Bastille Day when most people are enjoying the French national holiday, a group of thieves prepare to commit a warehouse robbery at a massive industrial park. Meanwhile, Laborie, a special agent in the French special forces, is leading an international team that is escorting the captured leader of the Albanian mafia, Abedin Nexhep, who is due in court on charges of running an extensive European prostitution network. Despite the considerable security escort, Nexhep's henchmen still manage to set up an ambush.
Laborie manages to escape with Nexhep. They take refuge in the warehouse that is being robbed of computer equipment by the group of criminals. While facing off against the would-be thieves, the Albanian mafia surround the warehouse. Soon the three groups are involved in a long firefight with everyone involved struggling to survive.
Ángela, a university student in Madrid, is planning to write a thesis on audiovisual violence and the family. Her commuter train is evacuated after a man commits suicide by jumping in front of the train. While being led out of the station, Ángela moves toward the tracks in an attempt to see the man's remains. At her school, Ángela asks her thesis director, Professor Figueroa, to help her find the most violent films in the school's library, and seeks out a fellow student, Chema, who is known for collecting violent and pornographic videos. While Ángela watches a violent film with Chema, Figueroa finds a tape hidden in the school's audiovisual archives. The next day, Ángela finds Figueroa dead of an apparent asthma attack in the screening room and retrieves the tape. A younger professor, Castro, takes over the supervision of Ángela's thesis project. At Chema's house, Ángela discovers the stolen tape is a snuff film in which a woman is tortured, killed, and disemboweled. Chema recognizes the victim is a student from their university named Vanessa, who went missing two years previously. He is able to determine that the killer used a specific model of Sony camera with a digital zoom feature, and that the film was shot in someone's garage.
At the library, Ángela sees a handsome young man named Bosco using the type of camera Chema identified. When she leaves, he pursues and catches up to her. Bosco notices that Ángela has newspaper clippings about Vanessa's disappearance and states that he has information about the case. Ángela pretends she is filming a report about the disappearance and asks to interview Bosco about it. In the interview, Bosco insists that Vanessa must have run away with a boyfriend because she sent a note to her family saying that she was in love. Ángela is willing to accept Bosco's innocence, but Chema tells her that he is a psychopath. Once home, Ángela realizes that Bosco is inside the house waiting for her. Although she is initially frightened, Bosco charms her family and they invite him to stay for dinner. Once alone, Bosco attempts to seduce Ángela but she resists his advances. At the school, Chema asks a security guard to see the security tape of the video library on the night of Figueroa's death. That night, Ángela has a dream that Bosco threatens her with a knife, performs oral sex on her while videotaping it, and then stabs her.
Castro questions Ángela about Figueroa's death, showing her a security footage of her discovering the body and taking the videotape. As Ángela is about to admit why she took the tape, Chema calls and tells her to leave Castro's office immediately, saying that he is involved in the snuff film. Castro fails to catch Ángela as she flees his office. Bosco's girlfriend, Yolanda, confronts Ángela and explains that she, Vanessa, Bosco, and Chema, who was once a friend of Bosco, had gone to a series of director's workshops with Castro two years previously. Yolanda states that she left when they made Vanessa take off her clothes for a short film, that Chema was obsessed with snuff films, and that she believes he killed Vanessa after the workshop ended. Later, Chema admits to Ángela that he knew Bosco, but claims he also left the workshop when things got out of hand. At night, Chema shows Ángela a hidden tunnel he has discovered in the school's video library. In a room off the tunnel, they find shelves of video tapes like the one of Vanessa, indicating that many other women may have been murdered in other snuff films. Suddenly the door to the tunnel closes and they are locked inside. Fearing they will be killed, Chema and Ángela walk further into the tunnel with only matches to light their way. They find an editing room where they fall asleep in each other's arms.
When Ángela wakes, the lights have come back on and Chema is gone. She walks through a doorway and is chloroformed. She awakens tied to a chair facing Castro, who is videotaping her. Castro tells that he only edited the snuff videos, but that he has to kill her and that her death will be painless and much quicker than Vanessa's. As he aims a gun at Ángela's head, Chema appears and wrestles with him. The gun goes off, killing Castro. Ángela and Chema escape. Once at her house, Ángela's father tells her that her sister, Sena, is at a party with Bosco. Terrified, Ángela hurries to the party. Once there, Sena refuses to leave with Ángela, insisting that Bosco is in love with her. In order to persuade her sister to leave, Ángela approaches Bosco and passionately kisses him. The next day, Ángela tells Chema they need to go to the police. Although initially reluctant, Chema agrees but takes a shower before leaving. While he is in the bathroom, Ángela finds a Sony zoom camera among Chema's belongings, which contains a tape showing Ángela from outside her bedroom window. Convinced that Chema has been stalking her, Ángela flees. She goes back home to advise Sena to remain safe, then takes a taxi to Bosco's house. She is followed by a figure in a black rain coat.
At Bosco's house, he and Ángela talk about their relationship. Suddenly, the lights go out and Bosco goes downstairs to check on the power. When Ángela follows him, she finds him lying on the floor; Chema has followed her to the house and knocked out Bosco. However, Bosco revives and in the struggle that ensues, beats Chema to the ground. While Bosco fetches rope to tie up Chema, he tells Ángela to look in Bosco's garage. Ángela does so and recognizes the room from the snuff film of Vanessa. Bosco ties up Ángela and explains how he intends to torture and kill her. However, she cuts her bonds with a knife, slashes Bosco, grabs his gun, and shoots him dead. Ángela visits a recovering Chema in the hospital. On the television in his room, an announcer states that the bodies of six women were found at Bosco's home. Ángela gives Chema a book inscribed with an invitation to have coffee with her and tells him she is going to abandon her thesis. As they leave, the announcer states that footage from a snuff film will be shown on air.
Danny "The Mean Machine" Meehan (Vinnie Jones) is a retired footballer and former captain of England, who was banned from football for life for fixing an unspecified match they played against Germany. In the present day, after a long drinking session, he drives recklessly to a local bar, where he is pursued by police. Inside the bar, when asked to take a breathalyser test, he attacks two police officers and is arrested; he is later convicted and sentenced to three years in Longmarsh prison.
Once inside, his status as a celebrity immediately puts him at odds with the guards, and he is brutally beaten by the prison guards soon after arrival. Meehan is told to visit the prison governor's office, who tells Danny that he pulled strings to make sure he served his sentence in Longmarsh, wanting him to work as the head coach of the prison wardens' football team. Meehan declines, and instead suggests the guards allow him to train a team made up of other convicts, who will take on the wardens in a practice match to gear them up for the new season.
Meehan is met with an unwelcome reception from his cellmates, Raj, Jerome and Trojan. Outside, Danny meets and befriends an elderly convict, Doc, who teaches him how to survive in prison. While cleaning the yards with Doc, Meehan is introduced to Sykes, a gangster and one of the most respected inmates in the prison. Sykes also shows aggression towards Meehan, revealing he lost a large amount of money betting on the England game he had fixed. Later in the prison cafeteria, Meehan makes another ally, meeting the prison's fast-talking contraband dealer "Massive".
Danny and Massive begin the recruitment process for his team, but struggle, as many of the inmates are reluctant to join due to both Sykes' influence over the prison and their hatred for Meehan as a cheat. As Danny tries and fails to form a team, Massive is playing football in a prison hallway, when a racist guard approaches him and assaults him as the other inmates watch in horror. Meehan lunges at the guard and protects Massive from further beating, earning the respect of many of the other inmates.
Danny starts training up his team of cons, including a violent maximum-security inmate named "The Monk". Meanwhile, the warden gets himself into trouble with "Barry the Bookie," an unlicensed bookmaker who was recommended to him by Sykes. After being threatened on the phone by Barry, the warden decides to try to make back the money he owes by betting on the prison guards' team.
A psychotic inmate named Nitro accuses him of being a snitch, which leads to two other inmates and associates of Sykes ambushing Danny in the showers. As they threaten to cut his eyes out, they are caught by the guards who ask what happened, but Meehan refuses to tell, which earns him the trust of both Sykes' men and Sykes himself. The next day, Sykes and his associates offer to help the team, under the condition that Danny beats one of them in a fight. The fight takes place later that night, and Danny wins by knocking out Sykes' henchman. Sykes tells Danny all is forgiven if his team wins, which would allow Sykes to make back the money he lost on the England match.
Angry that his plan to have Danny killed failed, Nitro, a bomb expert, offers to have Meehan killed in exchange for a transfer to a lower security prison which one of the guards, Ratchett agrees to. Nitro crafts a bomb in his cell and places it in Danny's locker.
With almost all of the inmates on board and the game approaching, Danny and the rest of the team are going over tactics in one of the cells, when he realises he has left a tape containing footage of the guards playing last year in his locker. Doc offers to go and get it, and as he leaves, Jerome asks Danny why he fixed the England match. Danny reveals he was heavily in debt at the time, and was blackmailed into fixing the game with the promise of enough money to pay off his debt if he threw the game, or the threat of being crippled for life if not. As Danny is telling the other inmates, Doc arrives at the cell and is killed by the bomb. Nitro is subsequently sent to another facility, but not to the minimum-security prison he was promised but to a mental health facility.
The match commences shortly after Doc's death. At half time, the inmates' team is winning 1–0, and the morale is high until the governor, fearing what will happen if he loses a second bet, attempts to blackmail Meehan, accusing him of accessory to Doc's murder and threatening to sentence him to 20 years unless he throws the match. At first he puts his own interests before that of the team's, deliberately playing poorly and faking injury to be taken off the pitch. As the final moments of the game tick down, he redeems himself, bravely using a square-ball to fellow inmate 'Billy the Limpet' to win the game for the cons. Afterward, the Captain of the Guards, Burton, refuses to co-operate with the governor's attempts to get revenge on Danny, instead congratulating him on the win. The governor's vehicle explodes, and Sykes informs him that he, and Barry the Bookie, will retaliate if he tries anything. A victorious Danny and Massive walk triumphantly across the pitch.
This is the life story of Spaniard Ramón Sampedro, who fought a 28-year campaign to win the right to end his own life with assisted suicide. The film explores Ramón's relationships with two women: Julia, a lawyer suffering from Cadasil syndrome who supports his cause, and Rosa, a local woman who wants to convince him that his life is worth living. Through the gift of his love, these two women are inspired to accomplish things they never previously thought possible.
Ramón, now 54 years old, has been fighting for 26 years for his right to die following a diving incident which left him paralysed from the neck down. He is unable to end his life by himself and does not wish to implicate his family or friends, as by Spanish law, they would be charged with murder or assisting a suicide. Following the death of his mother, he is cared for by his sister-in-law, Manuela. Ramón's elder brother José does not believe he should have the right to die; both Manuela and her son, Javier, believe in his case.
Ramón's friend Gené, who works for a organisation fighting for the right to die, puts him in contact with Julia, a lawyer. As she seeks to learn more about him and his situation in order to fight for his cause, he recounts his past and his reasons for wanting to die: He says that there is no dignity in living paralysed. After seeing his story online, Rosa visits Ramón to convince him to live. He demands that she respects his wishes and she leaves, upset. Later, whilst DJing her part-time radio show, she apologises on air in the hopes that he is listening. She continues to visit, bringing her children, and the two strike up a friendship. Despite romantic interest in both women, Ramón maintains that he is spoken for by death.
Julia reads Ramón's memoir describing his life and experiences as a quadriplegic and urges him to publish it. He imagines flying from his bed to visit her on the beach. Later, she is hospitalised with a stroke and admitted to rehab to relearn how to walk. The two write letters to each other, sending updates of their lives. Ramón loses a court case for his right to die. Rosa, in tears, appears at his house and Ramón admits that he has planned a way to commit suicide without the direct and obvious involvement of anyone else.
Meanwhile, Padre Francisco, a quadriplegic Catholic priest, comes to convince Ramón to want to live. Ramón refuses to be carried downstairs and so the two men converse through the help of a church boy, who runs up and down to share their arguments. Angry and upset, Manuela asks him to leave. Julia visits to assist Ramón in writing his memoir whilst his family and friends discuss his right to die. Divided, they fight. But Ramón is unwavering in his wish. Again, he imagines that he is able-bodied, kissing Julia. Later, she admits that her condition will only become more severe and that she is planning to kill herself. But first, she would like to help Ramón.
Ramón and Javier work together to design and build a wheelchair for him in which he can appear in court to fight for his own right to die. His appeal is ultimately rejected, but Ramón eventually fulfils his wish nonetheless. Each of his friends and family complete a small action in his death; not enough to convict any of them of his murder or assisting his suicide. He records himself on a video camera, narrating his own death, before ingesting a cyanide-laced drink that kills him.
Dino Corelli marries Muffin Brenner and attends the reception at the Corelli mansion. Bedridden matriarch Nettie Sloan, mother of Dino's mother Regina Sloan Corelli, is being tended by disreputable Dr. Jules Meecham. While speaking with wedding planner Rita Billingsley, Nettie suddenly dies. Meecham informs Dino's father, Luigi Corelli, but Luigi is unable to tell his wife Regina because she is mentally unstable. Nettie's corpse remains in bed throughout the reception, while various attendees visit her room without realizing she's dead. By the time bossy daughter Toni finds out and plans a dramatic announcement, other family members are mostly unsurprised or not even too upset.
The Brenners are a nouveau riche family from Louisville, Kentucky, where Muffin's father, "Snooks", made millions in the trucking industry. The Corellis are an old money family from North Shore Chicago. Because of rumors that Luigi has mob connections, virtually every invitee sent regrets. Only one guest (other than family members) attends. Nevertheless, Rita is determined to run the reception by the book, setting up a receiving line for the one guest and asking family members and staff to go down the line so it will not look empty.
A series of disasters unfolds, including the display of an embarrassing nude portrait of the bride; caterer Ingrid Hellstrom becoming ill, then getting high and causing a disturbance after Meecham gives her a pill; and a tornado when the cake is to be cut, forcing everyone to find shelter in the cellar. Two guests arrive late: the groom and bride's disgruntled exes, Tracy Farrell and Wilson Briggs, who bond over their shared anger.
Unsavory family drama unfolds. Regina is a drug addict. Her marriage was arranged by Nettie after Luigi met Regina while working as a waiter in Italy. Luigi was forced to change his name and be estranged from his Italian family for 22 years. His Italian-speaking brother unexpectedly shows up, and when Meecham reminds Luigi that Nettie is dead and can no longer impose the marriage conditions, Luigi is thrilled to see his long-lost brother. Regina's sister Clarice has a romance with her African-American butler, Randolph; her other sister, Toni, is married to Mack Goddard, who falls in love at first sight with Tulip Brenner, mother of the bride, and tries to woo her.
Snooks has a borderline incestuous attachment to his nearly mute daughter Buffy, the maid of honor, who speaks at the reception only once, to tell Dino she is pregnant and he is the father. Not wanting to be upstaged by the bride, Buffy disrobes in front of Muffin's nude portrait. Dino confides to Wilson about Buffy's pregnancy; Wilson tells Tracy, who vindictively spreads the news. Snooks confronts Dino, who admits to sleeping with Buffy but says she also slept with nearly every member of his military-school barracks. Snooks's sister from New Jersey, Marge Spar, starts romancing the Corellis' gardener, while bridesmaid Rosie Bean is unaware her shy friend Shelby Munker is having an affair with Rosie's husband Russell.
Muffin and Dino prepare to leave for their honeymoon in a new car, the Corellis' wedding gift. Muffin is rattled when Rita makes an unexpected pass at her. She then finds Dino in the shower with his groomsman, Reedley Roots, seemingly engaged in a gay sexual encounter. Actually, Dino has passed out drunk and Reedly is just holding him up straight while trying to sober him up. The newlyweds' car is seen driving away, and the families assume Dino and Muffin left without saying goodbye. Snooks drives his family back to their hotel. They see Dino's car wrecked and in flames, and rush back to the mansion to share the awful news. The families are grieving when Muffin and Dino appear from upstairs, having never left because of Dino's passing out. When Luigi remembers that the car keys were last seen in Wilson's possession, it becomes clear that Wilson (presumably accompanied by Tracy, since she is nowhere to be found), out for revenge, stole the car and died in the crash. Tulip privately declares the incident was God punishing her for sinful thoughts of having an affair with Mack.
Luigi pays his respects to Nettie. He tells her corpse he kept his bargain for 22 years, and no one there knows who he really is. Now he will take his leave. He finds his brother in the bushes, making love with Buffy. Luigi and his brother happily drive away as a half-dressed Buffy waves goodbye.
In 1945, Grace Stewart awakens one day from a nightmare in the immediate aftermath of World War II. She lives in a remote country house in Jersey, a Channel Island formerly occupied by the Germans. She is with her two young children, Anne and Nicholas, who have an unspecified disease characterized by photosensitivity. Grace hires three new servants— housekeeper Mrs. Bertha Mills, gardener Edmund Tuttle, and a mute girl named Lydia. Mrs. Mills explains to Grace that she worked in the same house many years before. When odd events occur at the house, Grace begins to fear there are unknown "others" present. Anne claims to have seen a group of people in the house several times: a man, a woman, an old woman, and a child called Victor, who claimed that "the house is theirs". After Grace hears footsteps and unknown voices, she orders the house to be searched. She then finds a 19th-century photo album containing photographs of corpses. When Grace asks Mrs. Mills about her previous experience in the house, Mrs. Mills recounts that many left due to an outbreak of tuberculosis.
At night, Grace witnesses a piano playing itself and becomes convinced that the house is haunted. She runs outside in search of the local priest to bless the house. Before leaving, Grace instructs Tuttle to check a small nearby cemetery to see if a family has been buried there with a little boy named Victor. Tuttle finds the cemetery but covers the gravestones with leaves at the order of Mrs. Mills who assures him that Grace will learn the reasons behind the unexplained events in due time. Outside, Grace runs into her husband Charles, who she thought had been killed in the war. Charles greets his children after a long absence, but is distant during his short stay at the house. Later, Grace checks up on her daughter, Anne, whom she has left to play in a spare room. Instead, to her horror Grace finds an old woman on the floor in the room wearing her daughter's communion dress, veil down. The old woman claims in Anne's voice "I am your daughter". Frightened, Grace attacks the old woman only to find that the old woman is merely an illusion and Grace has inadvertently attacked her own daughter. Later, Anne tells her brother that their mother has gone mad in the same way she did "that day" but he does not recall. Charles says he must leave for the front, even though Grace claims that the war is over. The two embrace and lie motionless together in bed.
The next morning, Charles has left and the children are screaming that the curtains are gone, thus letting in the sunlight. Grace accuses the servants of having removed the curtains against her wishes and expels them from the house. That night, the children sneak outside and discover that the headstones in the cemetery belong to the recently banished servants. The children run away in fear when they turn to see that the servants are approaching them toward the cemetery in the foggy dark of night. Meanwhile, Grace finds a photograph that has slipped out of the Book of the Dead and fallen onto the floor under some furniture. The photograph displays the corpses of the three servants, Mrs. Mills, Tuttle and Lydia, who perished during a tuberculosis outbreak in 1891. The children run upstairs and hide in the bedroom where they are discovered by "the other" elderly woman. Mrs. Mills returns to the house and tells Grace to go upstairs and talk to the intruders.
Grace discovers that the old woman is in fact a medium in a séance with Victor's parents, who has found out via automatic writing that Grace smothered her children to death with a pillow in a fit of despair before committing suicide. Grace realizes that "the others" are the family that has moved into the house, and that she, her children, and the servants are, in fact, dead.
Following this display of supernatural and spiritual activity, Victor and his family vacate the house and leave it in the occupancy of the ghosts of its predecessors. However, because they are dead, Anne and Nicholas' ghosts are finally allowed to play in the sun. Mrs. Mills informs the Stewarts that others will come back to the house and they will have to learn to coexist together, but Grace ominously states that the house is theirs. As she says this, a "For Sale" sign is seen mounted to the gate.
Humankind has achieved space flight capability and built "The Wheel" space station in orbit above Earth. It is commanded by its designer, Colonel Samuel T. Merritt. His son, Captain Barney Merritt, having been aboard for a year, wants to return to Earth.
A giant spaceship has been built in a nearby orbit, and an Earth inspector arrives aboard the station with new orders: Merritt Sr. is being promoted to general and will command the new spaceship, now being sent to Mars instead of the Moon. As General Merritt considers his crew of three enlisted men and one officer, his close friend, Sgt. Mahoney volunteers. The general turns him down for being 20 years too old. Hearing that Mars is the new destination, Barney Merritt volunteers to be the second officer.
Right after the crew watches a TV broadcast from their family and friends, the mission blasts off for the Red Planet. The general's undiagnosed and growing space fatigue is beginning to seriously affect his judgement: reading his Bible frequently, he has doubts about the righteousness of the mission. After launch, Sgt. Mahoney is discovered to be a stowaway, having hidden in a crew spacesuit. Their piloting radar antenna later fails, and two crewmen go outside to make repairs. They manage to get it working just as their monitors show a glowing planetoid, 20 times larger than their spaceship, coming at them from astern. The general fires the engines, barely managing to avoid a collision, but the planetoid's fast-orbiting debris punctures Sgt. Fodor's spacesuit, killing him instantly. After a religious service in space, Fodor's body is cast adrift into the void.
Eight months later, the general is becoming increasingly mentally unbalanced, focusing on Sgt. Fodor's loss as "God's judgement". On the Mars landing approach, he attempts to crash their spaceship, now convinced the mission violates the laws of God. Barney wrests control away from his father, landing the large flying wing glider-rocket safely. Later, as the crew takes their first steps on the Red Planet, they look up and see water pouring down from the now vertical return rocket. Barney quickly discovers the leak is sabotage caused by his father, who threatens his son with a .45 automatic. The two struggle and the pistol discharges, killing the general. Sgt. Mahoney, who observed only the last stages of the struggle, wants Barney confined under arrest with the threat of court martial, but cooler heads prevail; Barney becomes the ranking officer.
Mars proves to be inhospitable, and they struggle to survive with their decreased water supply. Earth's correct orbital position for a return trip is one year away. While glumly celebrating their first Christmas on Mars, a sudden snowstorm blows in, allowing them to replenish their water supply. As their launch window arrives, they hear low rumbling sounds, then see rocks falling, and feel the ground shake violently. The ground level shifts during this violent marsquake. Their spaceship is now leaning at a precarious angle and cannot make an emergency blast off. To right the spaceship, the crew uses the rocket engines' powerful thrust to shift the ground under the landing legs. The attempt works and they blast off, the spaceship rising just as the Martian surface completely collapses.
Once in space, Barney and Mahoney reconcile. Impressed with Barney's heroism and leadership while on Mars, Mahoney concludes that pursuing Barney's court martial for his father's death would only impugn the general's reputation, tarnishing what previously had been a spotless military career. Better is the fiction that "the man who conquered space" died in the line of duty, sacrificing himself to save his crew.
Xavier (Romain Duris), a 24-year-old student from France, attends the Erasmus programme in Barcelona to further his career, against the wishes of his girlfriend Martine (Audrey Tautou). On the flight, Xavier meets a married couple from France, a doctor and his wife. They invite him to stay in their home while he looks for somewhere to live. Xavier finds a flatshare with students from England, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Denmark. The roommates develop a companionship as they struggle with their different languages and cultures.
Martine visits Xavier and returns disappointed when she realizes things are not the same. Xavier begins an affair with the French doctor's wife, using seduction tips learned from Isabelle (Cécile de France), his lesbian roommate from Belgium. William arrives from England to visit his sister Wendy and creates tension with his abrasive manner and culturally insensitive comments.
Xavier gets depressed and hallucinates after Martine breaks up with him. He seeks the doctor's advice, but the doctor tells Xavier that his wife has confessed everything, and tells him to stop seeing her.
Discord divides the roommates, but they come together to aid Wendy, who was nearly caught by her boyfriend in a romantic encounter with an American.
After saying goodbye to his new close friends, Xavier returns to Paris and gets his desired job at the ministry, but realizes that his experiences in Spain have changed him. He subsequently runs away on his first day on the job and pursues his dream to become a writer, recounting the story of his experiences in the ''Auberge Espagnole''. Towards the end Xavier can be seen getting together with his now ex-girlfriend Martine as well.
was adapted from "The Reconciliation", which appeared in Hearn's collection ''Shadowings'' (1900).
An impoverished swordsman in Kyoto divorces his wife, a weaver, and leaves her for a woman of a wealthy family to attain greater social status. However, despite his new wealthy status, the swordsman's second marriage proves to be unhappy. His new wife is shown to be callous and selfish. The swordsman regrets leaving his more devoted and patient ex-wife.
The second wife is furious when she realizes that the swordsman not only married her to obtain her family's wealth, but also still longs for his old life in Kyoto with his ex-wife. When he is told to go into the chambers to reconcile with her, the swordsman refuses, stating his intent to return home and reconcile with his ex-wife. He points out his foolish behavior and poverty as the reasons why he reacted the way he did. The swordsman informs the lady-in-waiting to tell his second wife that their marriage is over and she can return to her parents in shame.
After a few years, the swordsman returns to find his home, and his wife, largely unchanged. He reconciles with his ex-wife, who refuses to let him punish himself. She mentions that Kyoto has "changed" and that they only have "a moment" together, but does not elaborate further. She assures him that she understood that he only left her in order to bring income to their home. The two happily exchange wonderful stories about the past and the future until the swordsman falls asleep. He wakes up the following day only to discover that he had been sleeping next to his ex-wife's rotted corpse. Rapidly aging, he stumbles through the house, finding that it actually is in ruins and overgrown with weeds. He manages to escape, only to be attacked by his ex-wife's black hair.
is an adaptation from Hearn's ''Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things'' (1903).
Two woodcutters named Minokichi and Mosaku take refuge in a boatman's hut during a snowstorm. Mosaku is killed by a . When the turns to Minokichi she remarks that he is a handsome boy and takes pity by sparing him because of his youth. The warns him to never mention what happened or she will kill him.
Minokichi returns home and never mentions that night. One day while cutting wood he comes across Yuki, a beautiful young woman travelling at sunset. She tells him that she is on her way to Edo, as she lost her family and has relatives there who can secure her a job as a lady-in-waiting. Minokichi offers to let her spend the night at his house with his mother. The mother takes a liking to Yuki and asks her to stay. She never leaves for Edo and Minokichi falls in love with her. The two marry and have children, living happily. The older women in the town are in awe over Yuki maintaining her youth even after having three children.
One night, Minokichi gives Yuki a set of sandals he has made. When she asks why he always gives her red ribbons on her sandals, he tells her of her youthful appearance. Yuki accepts the sandals and tries them on. She is stitching a kimono in the candlelight. In the light, Minokichi recalls the and sees a resemblance between them. He tells her about the strange encounter. It is then that Yuki reveals herself to be the , and a snowstorm comes over the home. Despite the fact he broke his word, she refrains from killing him because of their children. Yuki then leaves Minokichi with the children, warning him to treat them well or she will return and kill him. She disappears into the snowstorm, leaving Minokichi heartbroken. Minokichi places her sandals outside in the snow, and after he goes back inside, they disappear as Yuki accepts them.
is also adapted from Hearn's ''Kwaidan'' (though it incorporates aspects of ''The Tale of the Heike'' that are mentioned, but never translated, in Hearn's book).
Hoichi is a young blind musician who plays the . His specialty is singing the chant of ''The Tale of the Heike'' about the Battle of Dan-no-ura fought between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the last phase of the Genpei War. Hoichi is an attendant at a temple and is looked after the others there. One night he hears a sound and decides to play his instrument in the garden courtyard. A spectral samurai appears and tells him that his lord wishes to have a performance at his house. The samurai leads Hoichi to mysterious and ancient court. Another attendant notices that he went missing for the night as his dinner was not touched. The samurai re-appears on the next night to take Hoichi and affirms that he has not told anyone. Afterwards, the priest asks Hoichi why he goes out at night but Hoichi will not tell him. One night, Hoichi leaves in a storm and his friends follow him and discover he has been going to a graveyard and reciting the Tale of Heike to the court of the dead Emperor. Hoichi informs the court that it takes many nights to chant the entire epic. They direct him to chant the final battle - the battle of Dan-no-ura. His friends drag him home as he refuses to leave before his performance is completed.
The priest tell Hoichi he is in great danger and that this was a vast illusion from the spirit of the dead. They tell Hoichi that if he obeys them again they will tear him to pieces. Concerned for Hoichi's safety, a priest and his acolyte write the text of the Heart Sutra on his entire body including his face to make him invisible to the ghosts and instruct him to meditate. The samurai re-appears and calls out for Hoichi. Hoichi does not answer. Hoichi's ears are visible to the samurai as they forgot to write the text on his ears. The samurai, wanting to bring back as much of Hoichi as possible, rips his ears off to show his lord his commands have been obeyed.
The next morning, the priest and the attendants see a trail of blood leading from the temple. The priest and the acolyte realize their error and believe the ears were a trade for Hoichi's life. They believe the spirits will now leave him alone.
A local lord attend at the temple with a full retinue. They have heard the story of Hoichi the earless and wish to hear him play his . He is brought to court of the lord. Hoichi says he will play to console the sorrowful spirits and allow them to rest.
The narrator indicates than many wealthy noble persons would come to the temple with large gifts of money and Hoichi-the-earless became a wealthy person.
is adapted from Hearn's ''Kottō: Being Japanese Curios, with Sundry Cobwebs'' (1902).
Anticipating a visit from his publisher, a writer relates an old tale of an attendant of Lord Nakagawa Sadono named Sekinai. While Lord Nakagawa is on his way to make a New Year's visit, he halts with his train at a tea-house in Hakusan. While the party is resting there, Sekinai sees the face of a strange man in a cup of tea. Despite being perturbed, he drinks the cup.
Later, while Sekinai is guarding his Lord, the man whose face appeared in the tea reappears, calling himself Heinai Shikibu. Sekinai runs to tell the other attendants, but they laugh and tell him he is seeing things. Later that night at his own residence, Sekinai is visited by three ghostly attendants of Heinai Shikibu. He duels them and is nearly defeated, but the author notes the tale ends before things are resolved and suggests that he could write a complete ending, but prefers to leave the ending to the reader's imagination.
The publisher soon arrives and asks the Madame for the author, who is nowhere to be found. They both flee the scene in terror when they discover the author trapped inside a large jar of water.
The novel begins when the construction of a golf course is announced, the site being the destroyed remnants of what used to be the Bottom.
The Bottom is a black neighborhood on the hill above the fictional town of Medallion, Ohio. In the first section of the novel, the origin story of the Bottom is revealed as well as how it got its name: a white farmer promised freedom and a piece of Bottom land to his slave if he would perform some difficult chores for him. Upon completion, the farmer regrets his end of the bargain. Freedom was easy, the farmer had no objection to that, but he did not want to give up the land. He tells the slave he was very sorry that he had to give him valley land, for he had hoped to give him a piece of the bottom land. The slave said he thought valley land was bottom land, to which the master said land on the hill, not the valley, was bottom land, rich and fertile" (Morrison 5). This is obviously untrue, but it is the story that black people told to illuminate the fact that white people's racism and lies have created this topsy turvy world in which up is down and down is up. "The white people lived on the rich valley floor... and the blacks populated the hills above it, taking small consolation in the fact that every day they could literally look down on the white folks" (5).
The story is organized by chronological chapters labeled with years. In "1919," the first named character, handsome Shadrack, a previous resident of the Bottom, returns from World War I a shattered man, suffering from shell shock or PTSD and unable to accept the world he used to belong in. Living in the outskirts of town and attempting to create order in his life, he develops methods such as keeping his shack in hospital-grade neatness. Another method is the invention of National Suicide Day, which exists on January 3rd to counter and compartmentalize the constant death he saw at war, and is essentially invitation for anyone that plans to die within the next year, to die on that day. Never assimilating, he curses even at children and whites, has regular acts of indecency, but also does odd jobs and sells fish to the townspeople and is begrudgingly woven into the urban fabric, which is this town's version of acceptance.
In "1920" and "1921," the narrator contrasts the families of the children Nel Wright and Sula Peace, who both grow up with no father figure. Nel, the product of a mother knee deep in social conventions, grows up in a stable home. Nel is initially torn between the rigid conventionality of her mother Helene Wright, who dislikes Sula's family instantly, and her inherent curiosity with the world, which she discovers on a trip. Her vow to venture out when she is older is juxtaposed by the reader being informed that not once did she leave the Bottom after that trip. This experience ultimately prompts Nel to begin a friendship with Sula. The Peace family is the opposite: she lives with her grandmother Eva and her mother Hannah, both of whom are seen by the town as eccentric, loose, yet Hannah was genuinely loved by all men, and Eva was very respected by all women. Their house serves as a home for three informally adopted boys and a steady stream of boarders. The extremely strained relationship between Hannah and Eva is revealed.
Despite their differences, Sula and Nel become fiercely attached to each other in adolescent friendship. They share every part of their lives. This includes a memory of an accidental traumatic event; One day, they playfully swing a neighborhood boy, Chicken Little, around by his hands. Sula loses her grip and he falls into a nearby river and drowns. They do not tell anyone of the event, and though Sula grieves with guilt, Nel feels a light happiness, which is implicitly revealed to be unspoken pride, because she has secretly decided that the event is Sula's fault and that she does not share the blame at all. What complicates things is Shadrack's shack, which has a direct view of the incident. To find out if he saw, Sula visits it alone and is surprised at its orderliness, but she is unable to ask the question through her tears. He comforts her and she runs away, accidentally leaving her belt, which Shadrack hangs on his wall as a sole ornament and memorandum of his only visitor.
One day, Hannah tries to light a fire outside and her dress catches fire. Eva sees this happening from upstairs and jumps out the window in an attempt to smother the flames to save her daughter's life. An ambulance comes, but Hannah dies en route to the hospital, and her mother is injured as well. The incident proves Eva's fierce love for her daughter despite previous tension. Sula, however, had stood on the porch and watched her mother burn. Other residents of the Bottom suggest perhaps Sula was stunned by the incident, but Eva believes she stood and watched because she was "interested".
Nel chooses to marry, which implicitly breaks the bond of the girls who promised to share everything. Sula follows a wildly divergent path and lives a life of ardent independence and total disregard for social conventions. Shortly after Nel's wedding, Sula leaves the Bottom for a period of 10 years. She has many affairs and attends college. When she returns to the Bottom and to Nel, now a conventional wife and mother, they reconcile briefly.
The rest of the town, however, regard Sula as the very personification of evil for her blatant disregard of social conventions. Their hatred in part rests upon Sula's affairs with the husbands of townspeople, though Hannah did this very thing with much less criticism. The hate is crystallized when the husbands start a rumor that Sula slept with white men, successfully turning the whole town against her, though it is implied at the end that Sula was not hurt by anyone's opinions except Nel's. Ironically, the community's labeling of Sula as evil actually improves their own lives, as her presence in the community gives them the impetus to live harmoniously with one another, as well as treat each other better. For instance, Sula's affairs give the wives a reason to soothe the bruised egos of their husbands, while Sula's lack of family at her age is scorned by all the women and causes them to be better mothers. What confuses the town even more is how Shadrack, who treats everyone poorly, always treats Sula with chivalry.
The final nail in the coffin of their friendship is an affair Sula has with Nel's husband, Jude, who subsequently abandons Nel. Just before Sula dies in 1940, they reconcile half-heartedly. With Sula's death, the harmony that had reigned in the town quickly dissolves, as the couples begin bickering again and the women complain about motherhood again. Sula dies alone, and the community doesn't even attend her funeral. Shadrack, whose PTSD has faded enough for loneliness to crawl back in, is the only one saddened by her death.
Nel never remarries and instead smothers her children, repeating every one of her mother's mistakes. The Bottom slowly dissolves after Sula's death, becoming a different place. Nel visits Eva out of cordiality in 1965 in a home for old people, where Eva tells her that she knew about her and Sula drowning Chicken Little. Nel replies that the blame was just on Sula, but later realizes that the girls shared everything back then.
Nel says goodbye to Sula at her gravestone, finally realizing that all this time she thought she was missing Jude, when really it was Sula, and cries in grief as she recalls the years spent without her.
''Beloved'' begins in 1873 in Cincinnati, Ohio, with Sethe, a formerly enslaved woman, and her 18-year-old daughter Denver, who live at 124 Bluestone Road. The site has been haunted for years by what they believe is the ghost of Sethe's eldest daughter. Denver is shy, friendless, and housebound. Sethe's sons, Howard and Buglar, ran away from home by the age of 13, which she believes was due to the ghost. Baby Suggs, the mother of Sethe's husband Halle, died soon after the boys fled, eight years before the start of the novel.
One day, Paul D, one of the enslaved men from Sweet Home, the plantation where Sethe, Halle, Baby Suggs, and several others were once enslaved, arrives at Sethe's home. He forces out the spirit, receiving Denver's contempt for driving away her only companion, but persuades them to leave the house together for the first time in years for a carnival. Upon returning home, they find a young woman sitting in front of the house who calls herself Beloved. Paul D is suspicious and warns Sethe, but she is charmed by the young woman and ignores him. Denver is eager to care for the sickly Beloved, whom she begins to believe is her older sister come back.
Paul D begins to feel increasingly uncomfortable in the house and that he is being driven out. One night, Paul D is cornered by Beloved, who demands sex. While they have sex, his mind is filled with horrific memories from his past, including the sexual violence inflicted upon him and the other men in the chain gang he was part of. Paul D tries to tell Sethe about it, but cannot. Instead, he says that he wants her pregnant. Sethe is afraid to have to live for a baby. When Paul D tells friends at work about his plans to start a new family, they react fearfully. One, Stamp Paid, reveals the reason for the community's rejection of Sethe.
Paul D confronts Sethe, who tells him that after escaping and joining her children at 124, four horsemen came to return her children and her to a life of slavery. Sethe, terrified of returning to Sweet Home and its vicious manager Schoolteacher, ran to the woodshed with her children to kill them, but only managed to kill her eldest daughter. Sethe says that she was "trying to put my babies where they would be safe". Paul D leaves, telling her her love is "too thick"; she retorts that "thin love is no love", adamant that she did the right thing.
Sethe comes to believe that Beloved is the daughter she had killed, as "BELOVED" was all she could afford to have engraved on her tombstone. She is overjoyed, holding onto a hope that Halle and her sons will come back and they will all be a family together. Out of guilt, she begins to spend all of her time and money on Beloved to please her and try to explain her actions, and loses her job. Beloved becomes angry and demanding, throwing tantrums when she does not get her way. Beloved's presence consumes Sethe's life. She hardly eats, while Beloved grows bigger and bigger, eventually taking the form of a pregnant woman. Denver reveals her fear of Sethe, having known that she killed Beloved, but not having understood why, and that her brothers shared this fear and ran away due to it. Sethe and Beloved's voices merge until indistinguishable, and Denver observes that Sethe becomes more like a child, while Beloved seems more like the mother.
Denver reaches out to the Black community for help, from whom they had been isolated because of envy of Baby Suggs' privilege and horror at Sethe killing her two-year-old daughter. Local women come to the house to exorcise Beloved. At the same time, their White landlord, Mr. Bodwin, arrives to offer a job to Denver, who had asked him for work. Not knowing this, Sethe attacks him with an ice pick, thinking he was Schoolteacher coming back for her daughter. The village women and Denver hold her back and Beloved disappears.
Denver becomes a working member of the community, and Paul D returns to a bed-ridden Sethe, who, devastated at Beloved's disappearance, remorsefully tells him that Beloved was her "best thing". He replies that Sethe is her own "best thing", leaving her questioning, "Me? Me?" As time goes on, those who knew Beloved gradually forget her until all traces of her are gone.
The play tells the story of a woman nicknamed Li'l Bit as she comes to terms with her sexually abusive relationship with her Uncle Peck throughout her adolescence. Aside from Li'l Bit and Uncle Peck, a Greek Chorus of three is on hand to play all of the other characters in their lives. The script is a memory play told largely out of chronological order, with the first scene taking place in 1969 in a parking lot in rural Maryland. Li'l Bit is 17 years old and sitting in Uncle Peck's car. Peck unhooks her bra through her shirt, an act that Li'l Bit finds uncomfortable. Li'l Bit mentions she is graduating high school and going to a "fancy college" in the fall, while Uncle Peck continues to admire her body.
Li'l Bit breaks from this scene to describe her family to the audience. She explains her family's penchant for handing out nicknames based on genitalia, which is why she was branded with the alias Li'l Bit for life. This includes her alcoholic mother, the "titless wonder", her misogynistic grandfather "Big Papa", her submissive grandmother, and her young Cousin BB (Blue Balls). A typical family dinner in 1969 has Li'l Bit's family (played by the three Greek Chorus members) cracking jokes about how "well-endowed" she is. Peck is the only family member who supports Li'l Bit's dreams of going to school. Frustrated, Li'l Bit leaves the dinner after Grandfather goes too far with his insults. Peck's wife Mary (Li'l Bit's maternal aunt) asks him to comfort Li'l Bit, indicating that she (Mary) is ignorant of his abuse.
Li'l Bit reveals that she eventually lost her scholarship and was expelled from college because of a drinking problem. She spent most of that year driving on highways, marveling at how well Peck had taught her to drive. She then has a memory of 1968, where Uncle Peck takes her to a fancy Eastern Shore restaurant as a reward for passing her driver's test on the first try. Peck slyly orders oysters and martinis for Li'l Bit to consume, while the girl's mother gives less than stellar advice on drinking alcohol. Li'l Bit and her mother both become increasingly drunk on martinis. Peck carries the drunk Li'l Bit to his car, where they discuss the nature of her relationship. Li'l Bit drunkenly kisses her uncle, but Peck refuses to go any further until she coherently says otherwise. Li'l Bit begins to question the appropriateness of her relationship with her Uncle.
The Teenage Greek Chorus member briefly takes over to introduce a memory that is not Li'l Bit's. In a monologue, Uncle Peck gives the unseen Cousin BB a fishing lesson, where it is strongly implied that he uses this as a cover to molest the boy the same way he used driving to abuse Li'l Bit. Li'l Bit takes control once again to recount a conversation she had with her mother and grandmother about sex. Mother tries to be helpful in explaining topics such as orgasms and consent, while Grandmother wails that Li'l Bit is too young to know about sex and uses scare tactics to keep her from doing it until she is married. The adult Li'l Bit breaks the memory to explain that she went on to have a one-night stand with a high school senior while she was twenty-seven, experiencing the allure of young flesh that her uncle once felt. She then returns to the memory, which turns into an argument between Mother and the Grandparents. Unable to deal with that memory again, Li'l Bit changes the memory (as part of the driving metaphor, she likens this to changing stations on the radio) to when Uncle Peck first taught her how to start up a car. Showing that he does have genuine concern for Li'l Bit beyond her body, Peck gives reasonable advice on how to be safe on the road. Li'l Bit becomes confused as to how Peck could abuse her while still being helpful.
The next scene is a series of vignettes on Li'l Bit's school days in 1966, where she faced ridicule and sexual harassment from the other students on account of her large breasts. A boy asks her to dance at a school sock hop, but Li'l Bit refuses, believing he just wants to see her breasts "jiggle" while she dances.
The scenes shifts to 1965, where Uncle Peck takes provocative "pin-up" photos of Li'l Bit. Aunt Mary takes the stage to defend her husband's actions to the audience. She claims that he is a good man, and that it is all Li'l Bit's fault for leading him on. She believes that her marriage can be saved as soon as her niece goes off to college.
On Christmas Day 1964, 13-year-old Li'l Bit helps Uncle Peck wash the dishes. Li'l Bit questions where Peck was during Thanksgiving, implying that he entered a rehab for his alcoholism. Peck reveals that drinking helped him deal with a hidden pain that no one, not even Aunt Mary, could fix. Li'l Bit offers to spend one day a week with Uncle Peck, so long as he never "crosses a line". This is how the driving lessons begin.
The scene flashes forward to 1969, Li'l Bit's freshman year of college. The Greek Chorus lists the letters and gifts that Peck sends her, with each note counting down how many days are left until her 18th birthday. Startled by how unhinged her uncle has become, Li'l Bit arranges a meeting in a Philadelphia hotel room on December 10, 1969. Li'l Bit yells at Uncle Peck for becoming so possessive, while he insists that his niece is the love of his life. Li'l Bit reveals that the years of trauma from Peck has finally caught up with her, leading to her not focusing in school and failing her courses. After he kneels and proposes to Li'l Bit, vowing to divorce Aunt Mary, Li'l Bit turns him down and cuts him out of her life for good. She never sees Peck again after she leaves the hotel room.
Li'l Bit returns to the present to explain what became of Peck after she left: He turned to alcohol after years of sobriety, leading to the loss of his job, his marriage, and his driver's license. He went on to die after drunkenly falling down a flight of stairs in his basement. Li'l Bit reflects on why her uncle may have molested her, wondering if someone did it to him when he was a child.
Li'l Bit has one more memory to share: the summer of 1962. An 11-year-old Li'l Bit fights with her mother about going on a seven-hour car trip to the beach with Uncle Peck. Mother is wary of him, but finally relents, telling Li'l Bit that she holds her responsible for any misdeeds. Li'l Bit sits in the car with Uncle Peck, only she doesn't speak her lines out loud. The Teenage Greek Chorus, acting as young Li'l Bit, does so. Peck molests his niece for the first time.
The script then returns to the present. Li'l Bit reflects on how she is ready to move on with her life, and that despite everything she has been through, she can thank her Uncle Peck for one thing: the freedom she feels when she drives. The final scene has Li'l Bit alone in her car, and as she adjusts her rear view mirror, she notices Uncle Peck in the back. After smiling at him, she steps on the gas pedal and drives away, finally leaving Peck in the past as she drives off to a new chapter of her life.
''Miyuki-chan in Wonderland'' consists of seven independent chapters linked together by the eponymous protagonist.
Kyoya Ida is a hard-nosed detective from the Shinjuku Police precinct, known to use lethal force to solve cases whenever they need to be solved. He works in a bleak, gritty representation of Shinjuku alongside his partner Tsuyoshi Yamaki in hunting down suspects and arresting them before he was killed in the line of duty. Ida was later assigned to another partner named Eriko Aizawa, the two working together to solve cases pertaining to the city's interests.
In the year 2008, Ida was beginning to suffer from the effects of Keratoconus after leaving the police force. He later gets wind of mysterious deaths of an unknown plague that killed the villagers in Ishikawa Prefecture's Amakura Island when he meets up with Taichi Kogure, a detective of the Ishikawa Police precinct and a now grown up Aya Koike, who is a known information handler in the underworld.
In the Southeast Asian nation of Shadaloo, civil war has erupted between the forces of drug lord-turned General M. Bison and the Allied Nations led by Colonel William F. Guile. Bison has captured several A.N. relief workers, and via a live two-way radio broadcast, demands Guile secure a US$20 billion ransom in three days. Guile refuses and vows to track Bison down and place him on trial for his crimes, but his assistant, Sergeant Cammy White, is only partially able to pinpoint Bison's location to the river-delta region outside the city. One hostage is Guile's friend Sergeant Carlos "Charlie" Blanka, who Bison orders taken to his lab for his captive doctor and scientist, Dhalsim, to turn into the first of his supersoldiers. Though Charlie is severely disfigured by the procedure, Dhalsim secretly alters his cerebral programming to maintain Charlie's humanity.
American con artists Ryu Hoshi and Ken Masters attempt to swindle arms dealer Viktor Sagat by providing him with fake weaponry. Sagat sees through the ruse and has Ryu fight his cage champion, Vega, but Guile bursts in and arrests everyone present for violating a curfew. In the prison grounds, Guile witnesses Ryu and Ken fighting Sagat's men, and recruits them to help him find Bison in exchange for their freedom, since Sagat is Bison's arms supplier. They are given a homing device and win Sagat's trust by staging a prison escape and faking Guile's death. However, news reporter Chun-Li, whose father was killed by Bison, and her crew, former sumo wrestler Edmond Honda and boxer Balrog, who are out for revenge against Sagat for ruining their careers, stumble across the plan. Over Guile's objections, they attempt to assassinate the two warlords at a party. To maintain Bison's trust, Ryu and Ken stop the assassination and reveal the conspirators to Bison.
Returning to his base, Bison inducts Ryu and Ken into his organization and orders Honda and Balrog imprisoned and Chun-Li taken to his quarters. Ryu and Ken break Balrog and Honda out of confinement and rush to confront Bison, who is fighting Chun-Li, but Bison escapes and releases sleeping gas, sedating them all. Guile plans his assault on Bison's base. He is impeded by the Deputy Secretary of the A.N., who informs Guile that the decision has been made to pay Bison the ransom, but Guile and his loyal troops nevertheless proceed with the mission. At the base, Dhalsim is found out by a security guard; during the ensuing fight, Charlie is released, and he kills the guard to protect Dhalsim. Guile arrives and sneaks into the lab, where he encounters Charlie. Guile prepares to shoot Charlie to end his suffering, but Dhalsim stops him. Bison prepares to kill the hostages by unleashing Charlie on them, but Guile emerges and engages Bison's guards until the remaining A.N. forces arrive. After Bison makes it clear that he will not surrender peacefully, Guile orders his allies to rescue the hostages and engages Bison in a personal duel. As Guile and Bison fight, Ryu and Ken defeat Sagat and Vega. Bison's computer expert Dee Jay flees through a secret passage, joined by Sagat. Bison's bodyguard, Zangief, engages Honda in a fight until learning from Dee Jay that Bison was the true enemy, and sides with Ryu and Ken to save the hostages.
Guile gains the upper hand against Bison and kicks him into a bank of hard drives, electrocuting him. A revival system restores Bison and he reveals that his suit includes advanced automatic first-aid mechanisms and electrical weaponry, including superconducting boots that enable him to fly. These gadgets allow Bison to gain the upper hand and beat Guile viciously. As he moves to deal the death blow, Guile counters by kicking Bison into his monitor wall which explodes, apparently killing him and overloading the base's superconducting energy storage system. The hostages are rescued, but Guile stays behind to convince Dhalsim and Charlie to return with him. They refuse, with Dhalsim wishing to atone for his responsibilities in mutating Charlie. Guile flees the exploding base and reunites with his comrades.
In a post-credits scene, the seemingly-deceased Bison is revived once again amidst his ruined command center to reattempt world conquest.
In the introduction, the Marquis de Sade exhorts his readers to indulge in the various activities in the play. He says that the work is dedicated to "voluptuaries of all ages, of every sex" and urges readers to emulate the characters. "Lewd women", he writes, "let the voluptuous Saint-Ange be your model; after her example, be heedless of all that contradicts pleasure's divine laws, by which all her life she was enchained." He then urges "young maidens" to copy Eugénie; "be as quick as she to destroy, to spurn all those ridiculous precepts inculcated in you by imbecile parents". Finally, he urges male readers to "study the cynical Dolmancé" and follow his example of selfishness and consideration for nothing but his own enjoyment.
Dolmancé is the most dominant of the characters in the dialogue. He explains to Eugénie that morality, compassion, religion, and modesty are all absurd notions that stand in the way of the sole aim of human existence: pleasure. Like most of Sade's work, ''Philosophy in the Bedroom'' features a great deal of sex as well as libertine philosophies. Although there is some torture, the dialogue contains no actual murder, unlike many of Sade's works.
Dolmancé and Madame de Saint-Ange start off by giving Eugénie their own brand of sex education, explaining the biological facts and declaring that physical pleasure is a far more important motive for sex than that of reproduction. Both characters explain that she will not be able to feel "true pleasure" without pain. Then they eagerly get down to the practical lessons, with Le Chevalier joining them in the fourth act and swiftly helping to take away Eugénie's virginity.
Eugénie is instructed on the pleasures of various sexual practices and she proves to be a fast learner. As is usually the case in Sade's work, the characters are all bisexual, and sodomy is the preferred activity of all concerned, especially Dolmancé, who prefers male sexual partners and will not have anything other than anal intercourse with females. Madame de Saint-Ange and her younger brother, the ''Chevalier'', also have sex with one another, and boast of doing so on a regular basis. Their incest — and all manner of other sexual activity and taboos, such as sodomy, adultery and homosexuality — is justified by Dolmancé in a series of energetic arguments that ultimately boil down to "if it feels good, do it". The Marquis de Sade believed this was his ultimate argument: if a crime (even murder) took place during one's desire for pleasure, then it could not be punished by law (Sodomy was illegal and punishable by death in France at the time the dialogue was written, and Sade himself was convicted of sodomy in 1772.)
The corruption of Eugénie is actually at the request of her father, who has sent her to Madame de Saint-Ange for the very purpose of having his daughter stripped of the morality her virtuous mother taught her.
The dialogue is split into seven parts, or "dialogues", and was originally illustrated by Sade himself. There is a lengthy section within the fifth dialogue titled "''Yet Another Effort, Frenchmen, If You Would Become Republicans''", in which the Marquis de Sade argued that, having done away with the monarchy in the French Revolution, the people of France should take the final step towards liberty by abolishing religion too. "Frenchmen, I repeat it to you: Europe awaits her deliverance from ''specter'' and ''censer'' alike. Know well that you cannot possibly liberate her from royal tyranny without at the same time breaking for her the fetters of religious superstition; the shackles of the one are too intimately linked to those of the other; let one of the two survive, and you cannot avoid falling subject to the other you have left intact. It is no longer before the knees of either an imaginary being or a vile impostor a republican must prostrate himself; his only gods must now be ''courage'' and ''liberty''. Rome disappeared immediately Christianity was preached there, and France is doomed if she continues to revere it".
In the final act, Eugénie's mother, Madame de Mistival, arrives to rescue her daughter from the "monsters" who have corrupted her. Eugénie's father, however, warns his daughter and friends in advance and urges them to punish his wife, whose person and virtue he clearly loathes. Madame de Mistival is horrified to find that not only did her husband arrange for their daughter's corruption, but Eugénie has already lost any moral standards she previously possessed, along with any respect or obedience towards her mother. Eugénie refuses to leave and Madame de Mistival is soon stripped, beaten, whipped and raped, her daughter taking an active part in this brutality and even declaring her wish to kill her mother. Dolmancé eventually calls in for a servant who has syphilis to rape Eugénie's mother. Eugénie sews up her vagina and Dolmancé her anus to keep the polluted seed inside and she is then sent home in tears, knowing her daughter has been lost to the corrupt, libertine mentality of Dolmancé and his accomplices.
Irish explorer Robert O'Hara Burke (Thompson) and British scientist William John Wills (Havers), have set out to make the first maps of the interior region of the Australian continent in 1860. During their journey, they and their compatriots run low on food and suffer from heat exhaustion until there is only one survivor.
The movie (told from the point of view of the two main characters), opens with Otto (Fele Martinez) hanging from a tree by a parachute after surviving a fateful plane crash. In voiceover he reflects on how he met Ana (Najwa Nimri), his stepsister and secret lover.
17 years before, when Ana and Otto were 8, Otto first sees Ana while rushing to retrieve a soccer ball in the forest outside their school, and is smitten immediately. Ana's voiceover reveals that she was also immediately enamored, but nothing is spoken. She had run into the forest in grief over her father's death and at first she thinks Otto might be her father's reincarnation, but she dismisses the idea after studying her father's photo in an album and finding absolutely no resemblance between them.
The next morning Otto writes a question about love on dozens of paper airplanes and sends them flying over the schoolyard. They're read by everyone, including Ana's mother Olga and Otto's father Álvaro, who meet for the first time while commenting on this question. After exchanging a few words, Álvaro offers Olga and her daughter a ride.
Otto hears his father yelling his name, and runs to the car. When he opens the car door, he's shocked to see Ana in the back seat. She greets him warmly and openly; through her point of view we learn that she knows his name from his father's yelling and that she's surprised and delighted to see him again. They ride in the back seat. While their parents talk, Otto's voiceover reveals that he's hopelessly in love with Ana and wonders how she feels about him.
Neither child has siblings; Olga is a widow, and Otto's parents are divorced. His mother Yolanda isn't taking that too well. Otto feels sorry for her, but he is thrilled when his father marries Ana's mother: he will be close to his one true love.
The story moves forward several years. The two children are now in their middle teens, their unprofessed love fanatically hidden from their parents.
Otto's mother has never gotten over her divorce and Otto is a comfort to her. He's concerned about her welfare and feels responsible for keeping her happy, but his longing for Ana overpowers him.
Desire finally eclipses responsibility, and Otto moves in with his father, desperate for Ana's love. One night they're doing homework together and they discuss Finland, the Arctic Circle, and the Midnight Sun. They fall silent and Ana rests her head on Otto's chest and listens to his heartbeat. They make out.
Soon after, during a family barbecue, Ana passes Otto a note inviting him to her bedroom. That night he goes to her. At last they confront their feelings and become lovers.
Several more years pass and we see that they've succeeded in keeping their affair a secret, in spite of the fact that they're conducting it right under their parents' noses. However, Yolanda has sunk deeper into depression since Otto's departure. Finally, feeling abandoned by both husband and son, she commits suicide. Otto, guilt-ridden and bereaved, leaves his father's house one morning without saying a word, and essentially disappears. In utter despair, Ana locks herself in her room and cries, refusing to answer when her mother asks her what's wrong. She leaves home. Becomes a schoolteacher.
Time passes. Otto falls into a series of fatuous affairs. During one of them, the subject of his mother comes up. He tells the girl "She died of love" and when the girl asks "How does one die of love?" he answers, "She died abandoned."
Ana and Otto almost meet again in a park. They arrive separately and sit with their backs to each other, each unaware of the other's presence. Otto sits alone; Ana is approached by a man who wants to talk to her. All they would need to do is turn around to see the other sitting there, but this never happens and it's clear that something karmic has been shattered.
Ana begins a relationship with the man in the park. Meanwhile, her mother Olga is seduced away from Álvaro by another man, also named Álvaro, and ends their marriage. Otto returns home to find Ana and Olga gone and his father distraught over Olga leaving him.
Running through the story like a thread is the subplot of how Otto got his name:
There was a German fighter pilot during WWII named Otto and related to Yolanda, whose plane crashed in Finland. He fell in love with a woman.
The other Otto understands that because he has left Ana, he has been left without a destiny. He becomes a pilot like his namesake and flies to Finland, a twist of fate which Olga cheerfully communicates to Ana via a video. Soon after, Ana's affair with the man in the park turns dangerously sour and she's forced to get away from him. Olga's lover knows someone who has a cabin in Finland: it's none other than the man for whom Otto was named, the German pilot whose plane crashed during WWII. Olga's lover makes clear that the cabin is just sitting there empty and that the German pilot would willingly let Ana use it until the crisis with her lover blows over.
Ana accepts, and writes a letter to her stepbrother: She wants them to meet in Finland. The time has come to reclaim their love. Flying to the cabin, Ana looks out and sees Otto's cargo plane, but doesn't even think that it might be his. Almost simultaneously, Otto looks out the window of his cargo plane and sees the 747 Ana is on, but is equally oblivious.
Ana arrives at the cabin, and sits outside in a straight back chair, waiting for Otto to arrive. When he doesn't, she panics.
Meanwhile, Otto is hanging from a tree, having survived a plane crash just like his namesake, and getting his parachute caught in the branches... Bringing us to the beginning of the film.
Hearing that a cargo plane has crashed, Ana frantically tries to find out if it was Otto's. Tearing through the local newspaper looking for clues, gets hit by a truck on her way across the street. By this time Otto has been rescued and hitched a ride with his rescuers.
There's a final, two-part epilogue:
In the first part, Ana crosses the street instead of getting hit by the truck. She runs up the stairs of an apartment building and is greeted by the German pilot who tells her that someone inside the apartment is waiting for her. She goes inside and sees Otto who's smiling warmly. They exchange soft words, and she embraces him, making it the perfect reunion. Until it's seen that Ana's eyes are wide open and dilated and that Otto's face is reflected in the lenses.
In the second part, Otto and his rescuers have stopped at an intersection. Otto, seeing Ana sprawled on the pavement, gets out of the car and runs to her. It then cuts to their reunion (which is only a dream), and it's revealed that Otto's face in Ana's eyes is the reflection of him leaning over her as she sees him one last time before dying.
We see a shot of Otto's destroyed cargo plane in the snow.
''Grenadier'' follows the travels of Rushuna Tendō, an expert gunfighter, and the samurai Yajirō Kojima, a mercenary swordsman. A Senshi or "Enlightened" is one who is skilled to some degree in the use of guns. The series begins with Yajirō and a small army of samurai launching a frontal assault against a fort in an attempt to free their lord, which was taken over by a group of gunners. The assault fails.
Yajirō orders a retreat, but is spotted by the enemy and chased to a small cliff, which he jumps off of to escape. With his pursuers still following, he follows a nearby hot-water stream upcurrent where he finds Rushuna bathing in a hot spring. She seems undisturbed by his presence or her own nudity and hides him in the hot spring with her ample breasts as cover until the enemy passes them by. After this, she introduces herself as a traveler and reveals the ultimate battle strategy to Yajirō; to avoid battle by removing an enemy's will to fight.
Hearing the gunfire of the renewed assault upon the fort, Yajirō leaves Rushuna to rejoin combat. He arrives in time to see the leader of the gunners use a Gatling gun to decimate the samurai. Rushuna also arrives at this point and shows her considerable gun talent and effectively ends the battle by defeating the lead gunner and rescuing the lord by herself.
Something in him changing, Yajirō decides to become Rushuna's partner and travel with her.
During their travels, Rushuna and Yajirō face a mysterious masked figure known only as "The Jester" who is responsible for a weapon called "Enlightened Evil". Then they discover that Tenshi, who sent Rushuna to travel in order to learn the "Ultimate Battle Strategy", had apparently put a price on her head. Joined by a young girl named Mikan Kurenai, a balloon maker, Rushuna and Yajirō make their way to the capital of Tento. Along the way they overcome many of the Juttensen, Tenshi's elite personal bodyguard.
When the three reach Tento they discover the truth and the final showdown against the Jester begins.
Yukinari Sasaki is an average high school student who is frequently ridiculed by girls to the point that he developed an allergic reaction to them. As a result, he breaks out in hives whenever he comes into contact with a female. One day, when he returns home from school, he is kicked into his bathtub by his neighbor Kirie Kojima, but is transported to , a mysterious world with a mostly female population. He befriends Miharu Sena Kanaka, who ends up following him to Earth. Other Seiren girls with various motives soon visit and join the household. They are taken on many adventures as Miharu discovers the wonders of Earth.
The story takes place in 2048, 51 years after scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory develop a force field generating device they term the Bobbler. The Bobbler creates a perfectly spherical, reflective, impenetrable, and persistent shield around or through anything.
The bureaucracy running the Laboratory decide to use the Bobbler as a weapon. Declaring themselves the "Peace Authority", they enclose the world's weapons and military bases in bobbles, and occasionally entire cities or governments. A brief war is triggered but ends quickly as the military is cut off from command, their weapons, and each other. It is presumed the people within the bobbles die due to a lack of air and sunlight. In this new world, governments are weak where they are permitted at all; the Peace Authority is the true bearer of power and becomes a worldwide government. In an effort to retain their monopoly on the Bobbler, the Peace Authority makes technological progress illegal and returns the planet to a level similar to the 19th century.
The story opens with the crew of a military spaceplane emerging from their bobble and being picked up by a group of Tinkers. The Tinkers are a rebel group who have continued to secretly develop technology to a point well beyond what the Authority allows. Their emergence reveals two previously unknown facts about bobbles; one is that they are not a force field, but a stasis field inside which time stops, and the second is that they do not last forever, but will eventually "pop" at a time depending on their original size. The bobble around the spaceplane popped because it was small, the one covering all of Edwards Air Force Base will presumably last much longer.
One of the original inventors of the bobble helped form the Tinkers. He develops a more advanced version of the bobbler which can produce bobbles of any size, unlike the Authority's original which is at least house-sized and required a huge amount of power to run. Using their new device, they learn that one cannot form a bobble around another. This provides a defence; one can carry a small bobble (in a pocket for instance), making it impossible for the Peace Authority to bobble that person. With the help of a young thief and mathematical genius, they lead a rebellion to try to bobble the power generators of the Peace Authority and thus neutralize its primary weapon.
New York City businessman James C. Pidgeon (Eugene Pallette) is on the verge of bankruptcy. His only hope is rich uncle Henry, who is on his deathbed. J.C.'s daughter Therese (Ruth Terry) persuades the rest of the family to take in a charity case for the holidays, not out of the goodness of her heart but to impress her upper-class boyfriend Stephen Bates (Robert Livingston) and his mother. From a newspaper list, they pick Anthony Marchand (Joseph Schildkraut), an actor injured in a car accident at the height of his career 10 years before, who is now a broken-down drunk.
J.C.'s son Reggie (David Holt) returns with bad news: Uncle Henry left his $5 million estate to Florie Watson (Ona Munson), a showgirl he had once seen perform as a child actress 30 years before in ''Uncle Tom's Cabin''. The will stipulates if Florie cannot be found within a reasonable amount of time, the estate goes to the Pidgeons. After bribing the sole executor, J.C. conspires to limit the search to just placing newspapers ads for a week without mentioning the inheritance. Furthermore, the executor believes the woman is in New York City, not Denver, where Uncle Henry died.
J.C. decides to look for Florie himself, so he can better keep the news from her. Marchand (awakening from an alcoholic binge) overhears the whole scheme and suggests he can probably find her easily through Actors' Equity. Reggie worries about a blackmail attempt, but Marchand makes a seemingly heartfelt speech about honor and his gratitude to the Pidgeons. He then eavesdrops and walks away without his customary limp, but is spotted by Angela (Anne Gillis), J.C.'s younger daughter. She lets him know that she is amused by his deception and he regains the limp.
Marchand and Willie Crawford (Raymond Walburn), J.C.'s freeloading brother-in-law, have little trouble locating Florie. Willie tells her that they are cousins and that the family wants her to spend the holidays with them. Florie recognizes Marchand's name and confides to him, one trouper to another, that she knows she is not related to the Pidgeons, but as she is broke and behind on her rent, she is eager to play along.
After the search ends up on the front page of the newspaper, the Pidgeons hastily relocate to an isolated house in the country to keep Florie in the dark. When they arrive, they discover that all of their servants have quit. J.C., having been raised there, refuses to hire new ones, fearing that they may be people he grew up with. The family, with the exception of Angela, pitch in. Soon, even Angela is helping out.
Meanwhile, two private detectives are closing in. When they show up at the house, they are lied to, but the detectives are not fooled and set about getting a search warrant.
That night Marchand alludes to the situation, implicitly comparing the family's deception to Jacob Marley's misdeeds in Charles Dickens' ''A Christmas Carol'' before passing out from too much drink. All of the Pidgeons are ashamed of themselves and finally confess everything to Florie. Later, Marchand wakes up and departs, leaving a note explaining his divided loyalties. Florie tracks him down at a bar in the nearest town and tells him she is going to give half the money to the Pidgeons.
In the story, a device exists that can create a "bobble", a spherical stasis field in which time stands still for a specified length of outside time, allowing one-way time travel into the future. The bobble can also be used as a weapon, a shield against other weapons, for storage, for space travel (combined with nuclear pulse propulsion), and other purposes.
People whose bobbles burst after a certain date in the 23rd century find the Earth completely devoid of human life, with only ambiguous clues as to the cause; possibilities include alien attack and humanity transcending to a new level of existence as a result of a technological singularity. The "low-techs" — those who bobbled earlier — have roughly late-21st-century technology. The "high-techs" — those who had the advantage of ever accelerating progress — have vastly superior technology, including cybernetic enhancements, faster and thought-controlled bobblers, personal automaton extensions of self, space ships, medical technology to allow practical immortality (barring accidents or fatal injuries), and individual arsenals greater than those of entire 20th century countries. Of the high-techs, even those who bobbled at slightly different times have significantly different technology levels.
The protagonist is Wil Brierson, a detective who also was the protagonist of the preceding novella, ''The Ungoverned''. Some time after the events in ''The Ungoverned'', Brierson was unwillingly bobbled 10,000 years into the future while he was investigating a routine theft, cutting him off forever from his wife and children.
Yelén and Marta Korolev, a high-tech couple, have spent 50 "megayears" (million years) gathering together all the survivors they can find to rebuild civilization, with the ultimate goal of creating their own technological singularity. They calculate that they will have just enough genetic diversity to pull it off once the bobble containing about a hundred members of the Peace Authority bursts.
Before one of their routine bobbles while waiting for that bobble to expire, the Korolevs' computers are hacked, and Marta is excluded from the automated bobbling. She is left stranded in "realtime", cut off from all advanced technology. Worse, the hacker has extended the duration of the bobbling far beyond what was intended, and Marta dies alone on a deserted Earth. When the "murder" is discovered, Yelén Korolev hires the low-tech Brierson to find the killer, who has to be one of the seven high-techs (Brierson does not rule out Yelén herself as a suspect).
Della Lu, a high-tech who was an agent of the Peace Authority during ''The Peace War'', agrees to assist Brierson with the technical aspects of the case. In the millions of years since the singularity, Della had spent most of her 9,000 years alone, exploring the galaxy. She discovered that intelligent life is extremely rare, and there were parallel vanishings in the few civilizations she found, but no definitive proof of the cause. The singularity is implied to be an explanation for the Fermi Paradox.
The novel thus deals with the investigation of two parallel locked room mysteries: the murder of Marta Korelev, and the "locked planet" mystery of the disappearance of the human race. Brierson interviews each of the high-techs, seeking evidence of any motive for murder while discussing their views on why the human race vanished. When the killer thinks Brierson is getting too close, Brierson, Korolev and Della Lu are horrified to discover that the criminal is able to gain control of ''all'' of the high-tech systems, except for Della's, and attacks. Della manages to defeat their combined forces, but at a ruinous cost: much of their equipment and about half of what remains of humanity are lost. Brierson, however, not only unmasks the murderer, he reveals the identity of another monster in their midst and finds a way to restore a second chance for mankind.
Inspired by true events, ''Stingers'' chronicled the cases of a deep undercover unit of the Victoria police. The series also followed their personal lives, which sometimes became intertwined with their jobs. The original unit was composed of Senior Detective Peter Church (whose real name was Mike Fischer) played by Peter Phelps, Senior Detective Angie Piper (Kate Kendall), Constable Oscar Stone (whose real name was Cameron Pierce) played by Ian Stenlake, Det-Sgt. Ellen 'Mac' Mackenzie (Anita Hegh) and Det-Sen Sgt. Bernie Rocca (Joe Petruzzi), who led the unit. Rocca was shot and left the unit in season two, and Mac became the new head.
Constable Danni Mayo (Roxane Wilson) joined the unit in season three, while season five saw two casualties: Stone was killed while Mac ran away with a diamond robber. Detective Inspector Luke Harris (Gary Sweet) took over as head of the unit until the end of the series, and Danni quit the force after being enraged by him. Constable Christina Dichiera (Jacinta Stapleton) joined the unit in season six. Her real name is Felicity Matthews, but this was not known to the force, as she had a criminal history under that name. Senior Detective Leo Flynn (Daniel Frederiksen) joined in season seven.
Season eight saw the arrival of Detective Katherine Marks, who was revealed as Harris' daughter from his first marriage. The revelation also ended Harris and Angie's already shaky relationship, which had produced a son.
In New York City, 1953, at the height of the anti-Communist investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), television screenwriter Alfred Miller is blacklisted and cannot get work. He asks his friend Howard Prince, a restaurant cashier and small-time bookie, to sign his name to Miller's television scripts in exchange for ten percent of the money Miller makes from them, i.e. to serve as a "front" for Miller. Howard agrees out of friendship and because he needs the money. The scripts are submitted to network producer Phil Sussman, who is pleased to have a writer not on the television blacklist. Howard's script also offers a plum role for Hecky Brown, one of Sussman's top actors.
Howard becomes such a success that Miller's two fellow screenwriter friends hire him to be their front as well. The quality of the scripts and Howard's ability to write so many impresses Florence Barrett, Sussman's idealistic script editor, who mistakes him for a principled artist. Howard begins dating her but changes the subject whenever she wants to discuss his work.
As investigators expose and blacklist Communists in the entertainment industry, Hecky Brown is fired from the show because six years earlier he marched in a May Day parade and subscribed to ''The Daily Worker'', although he tells the investigators he did it merely to impress a woman he wanted to have sex with. In order to clear his name from the blacklist, Hecky is instructed to find out more about Howard Prince's involvement with the Communist Party, so he invites him to the Catskills, where Hecky is booked to perform on stage. The club owner short-changes Hecky on his promised salary, and when Hecky confronts him, the club owner fires him, denouncing him as a "communist son of a bitch". The professional humiliation and the inability to provide for his wife and children take their toll on Hecky and he kills himself by jumping out of a hotel window.
Howard witnesses other harsh results of the investigative actions of the communist-hunting "Freedom Information Services" on the network's programming. Suspicion is cast his way, and he is called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. He privately tells Florence that he is not a writer, just a humble cashier.
Howard decides that he will respond to the Committee's questions evasively, enabling him to neither admit nor deny anything. After briefly enduring the HUAC questioning – including being asked to speak ill of the dead Hecky Brown, and being threatened with legal consequences for his admission of having placed bets in his capacity as a bookie (which is illegal), Howard takes a stand, telling the Committee that he does not recognize their authority to ask him such questions, and telling them to "go fuck yourselves" before leaving the interrogation room. The film ends as Howard is taken away in handcuffs, with Florence kissing him good-bye and many protesters cheering him on.
The show centered on two brothers named Johnny and Scott Stuart. While playing on the beach near Dead Man's Point, the two of them discover a friendly young sea monster named Sigmund who had been thrown out by his comically dysfunctional undersea family for refusing to frighten people. The boys hide Sigmund in their clubhouse.
Plotlines were very simple and straightforward, usually some variation on the idea of Sigmund doing something silly to arouse attention, and the boys working to prevent him from being found by Sigmund's brothers Blurp and Slurp who want Sigmund to scare people in order to impress their parents Sweet Mama Ooze and Big Daddy Ooze. The brothers also worked to hide Sigmund from their overbearing housekeeper Zelda, elderly neighbor Mrs. Eldels, and Sheriff Chuck Bevans. Strangely, the parents were never seen on the show, nor did they return home by the end of the series.
The episodes included songs as part of the plot development. The character(s), generally Johnny, would sing a song about what he was thinking or feeling about something going on in his life, from things that made him happy to anxiety about girls.
While videotaping the first episode of Season Two, a hot light fell and started a fire. No one was injured, but the fire destroyed all of the sets and much of the costumes and other props. Most of Season Two was taped with minimal sets.
Violinist Erique Claudin is dismissed from the Paris Opera House after revealing that he is losing the use of the fingers of his left hand. Unbeknownst to the conductor, who assumes Claudin can support himself, the musician has used all his money to help anonymously fund voice lessons for Christine Dubois, a young soprano to whom he is devoted. Meanwhile, Christine is pressured by Inspector Raoul Dubert to quit the Opera and marry him. But famed opera baritone Anatole Garron hopes to win Christine's heart. Christine considers them both good friends but doesn't openly express if she loves them.
In a desperate attempt to earn money, Claudin submits a piano concerto he has written for publication. After weeks of not hearing a response about his concerto, he becomes worried and returns to the publisher, Maurice Pleyel, to ask about it. Pleyel rudely tells him to leave. Claudin hears his concerto being played in the office and is convinced that Pleyel is trying to steal it; unbeknownst to him, a visiting Franz Liszt had been playing and endorsing the concerto. Enraged, Claudin strangles Pleyel. Georgette, the publisher's assistant, throws etching acid in Claudin’s face, horribly scarring him. Now wanted for murder, Claudin flees into the sewers of the Opera and covers his disfigurement with a prop mask stolen from the Opera house, thus becoming the Phantom.
During a performance of the opera ''Amour et Gloire'', The Phantom drugs a glass of wine which prima donna Mme. Biancarolli drinks, knocking her unconscious. The director puts Christine in her place, and she dazzles the audience with her singing. Biancarolli, who suspects that Garron and Christine are responsible for drugging her, orders Raoul to arrest them, but he says he cannot because there is no evidence. Biancarolli says she will forget the affair only if Christine's performance is not mentioned in the papers. The following night, the Phantom kills Biancarolli and her maid, and the opera is subsequently closed.
After some time, the opera's owners receive a note demanding that Christine replace Biancarolli. To catch the Phantom, Raoul comes up with a plan: not let Christine sing during a performance of the (fictional) Russian opera ''Le prince masqué du Caucase'' ("The Masked Prince of the Caucasus") to lure the Phantom out into the open. Garron plans to have Liszt play Claudin’s concerto after the performance, but the Phantom strangles one of Raoul's men and heads to the auditorium's domed ceiling. He then brings down the large chandelier on the audience, causing chaos. As the audience and the crew flee, The Phantom takes Christine down underground. He tells Christine that he loves her and she will now sing all she wants, but only for him.
Raoul, Anatole, and the police begin pursuing them underground. Just as the Phantom and Christine arrive in his lair, they hear Liszt and the orchestra playing Claudin's concerto. The Phantom plays along with it on his piano. Christine watches, realizing the concerto was written around the melody of a lullaby she has known since childhood. Raoul and Anatole hear the Phantom playing and follow the sound. Overjoyed, the Phantom urges Christine to sing, which she does. While the Phantom is distracted by the music, Christine sneaks up and pulls off his mask, revealing his disfigured face. At that same moment, Raoul and Anatole break-in. Claudin grabs a sword to fight them with. Raoul fires his gun at Claudin, but Anatole knocks Raoul's arm, and the shot hits the ceiling, causing a cave-in. Anatole and Raoul escape with Christine, while Claudin is seemingly crushed to death by the falling rocks.
Later, Anatole and Raoul demand that Christine choose one of them. She surprises them by choosing to marry neither one of them, instead choosing to pursue her singing career, inspired by Claudin’s devotion to her future. The film ends with Anatole and Raoul going to dinner together.
One day, while Wario was playing with his Game Boy Advance, he becomes frustrated with a particularly hard game on it and throws the system at a wall, causing it to bounce back and hit him on the head. After his temporary rage, he notices his GBA is broken. He requests Dr. Crygor's help in mending it. Crygor, however, places it in his new invention, the Gravitator, which spits out dozens of buttonless objects similar in form factor to a Game Boy Advance. It demonstrates that in order to play, the device must be physically moved. Mona and 9-Volt arrive and toy with these new units, enjoying themselves. Wario, taking note of their reaction, decides to take advantage of these motion-sensing abilities as a selling point, and recruits his friends to design microgames based on this concept.
The rest of the game features stories of all the characters in the game, each one going to Club Sugar once their stage is complete. Wario chases a mouse that breaks his watch. Mona tries to deliver pizza while avoiding a rival restaurant. Jimmy T. and his parents play on their phones at Club Sugar. Kat and Ana encounter a troll after getting lost on a field trip. Dribble and Spitz fix their taxi and add an additional feature that allows it to travel through space. Dr. Crygor attempts to upgrade the Gravitator. Orbulon tries to figure out the password to initiate warp drive in order to escape a black hole. 9-Volt becomes friends with a new student named 18-Volt at his school.
Finally, after an accident in the Gravitator, Wario turns into a superhero persona named Wario-Man. He takes Crygor's invention and turns it into a giant robot in space. Wario's friends use Orbulon's ship to get to Wario-Man, but they blast the robot not knowing Wario was inside. After falling into the ocean, Wario decides to fire everyone.
Dance-hall girl Rosie Velez, lost in the desert, is helped to safety by gunman Abel Wood. In the town of Chili Verde, at the saloon of Marguerita Ventura, word of a treasure in gold brings Abel into conflict with outlaw Hard Case Williams and his gang.
Bugs Bunny is vacationing in the Ozarks and stumbles into the territory of two hillbilly brothers, Curt and Punkinhead Martin. The brothers figure Bugs as being a member of The Coy Clan they are feuding with and make several attempts to shoot him. Bugs foils them each time. Curt and Punkinhead are determined to get revenge on Bugs for their humiliation. Bugs easily outsmarts them and eventually, dressed as an attractive hillbilly girl, tricks them into doing a square dance. The dance tune starts as a straightforward version of "Skip to My Lou" played and called by the jukebox band, "The Sow Belly Trio". Shortly into it, Bugs deliberately unplugs the jukebox, removes the dress and takes over fiddling and square dance calling, still to the beat and rhythm of the song, but manipulating the Martins through a series of slapstick comedy gags. Bugs proceeds to assign the Martins increasingly bizarre and violent directives, which the brothers unquestioningly follow with hilarious results. Finally, with the Martins having promenaded off a cliff, Bugs finishes the dance by having the Martins groggily bow to each other (before collapsing due to exhaustion from the whole "dance") and saying, "And THAT is all!" and playing six final notes on the fiddle, before the cartoon ends.
A severe drought has ruined the carrot crop in Bugs Bunny's northern home. Upon learning of a boom crop in Alabama, Bugs decides to happily make the trip to the fertile soils. After a lot of walking, he finds himself near the Mason–Dixon line that separates the drought-ravaged north from the fertile south; but as soon as he crosses the line, he is shot at by "Colonel" Sam, who chases Bugs back over the line.
Bugs asks Sam what the deal is, only to hear Sam somehow believes that he is a soldier of the Confederate States of America and has received orders from General Lee to guard the borders between the Confederate States and the United States. When Bugs points out that "the war between the states ended almost 90 years ago" (the cartoon itself was animated in 1953), Sam says "I ain't no clock watcher!", and that he will stay there unless he hears the orders to do otherwise from Lee, that, obviously, will never come. He shoots at Bugs and forces him to run away, prompting the rabbit to make several attempts to shake his antagonist.
First, Bugs disguises himself as a banjo-playing slave, singing "My Old Kentucky Home." When Sam asks for something "more peppy", Bugs promptly sings "Yankee Doodle", leading Sam to call Bugs a traitor. Bugs then forces a whip into Sam's hands, begs Sam not to beat him, and runs off. He immediately returns in disguise as Abraham Lincoln, scolds Sam for "whipping slaves", and hands him a card to "look me up at my Gettysburg Address". Bugs' cover is blown, however, when Sam sees his cotton tail sticking out of Abe's trenchcoat.
Infuriated, Sam chases Bugs into a tree. Bugs blows out Sam's match when he tries to light a bomb, and when Sam tries it again away from the tree, Bugs blows it out with an extended pipe. Sam goes even further away in the third attempt, but with more ground to cover, the fuse runs out as Sam runs back, and the bomb detonates in his hands.
Bugs then disguises himself as Stonewall Jackson (here as "General Brickwall Jackson"), fooling Sam into marching into a well. Afterwards, Bugs flees from Sam into a mansion, where he disguises himself as Scarlett O'Hara (from ''Gone with the Wind''), and when Sam attempts to search the mansion, he takes a cannon blast while looking inside a closet and is dissuaded from searching any further.
Bugs at last succeeds in getting Sam when, disguised as an injured Confederate soldier, he informs him that the Yankees are in Chattanooga. Sam heads to Chattanooga, and the finale has him threatening the New York Yankees, preventing them from competing in an exhibition baseball game against the Chattanooga Lookouts.
Darkseid makes a wager with the mysterious Phantom Stranger that he can turn humanity against its heroes. To win the bet, Darkseid sends his minion Glorious Godfrey to Earth, where Godfrey uses the sound of his voice to control people's minds and turn them against Earth's heroes. To further his scheme, Darkseid sends a fire elemental called Brimstone to Earth to defeat the Detroit-based Justice League along with Firestorm and a time-traveling Cosmic Boy. Darkseid also arranges for the cyborg villain Macro-Man to be killed by the mystic lightning that Captain Marvel uses to change into Billy Batson, and Captain Marvel is blamed by the media for Macro-Man's death. Batman suffers his own loss when Robin (Jason Todd) is trampled by a crazed mob. Fearing widespread panic, President Ronald Reagan (the U.S. Commander-in-Chief at the time of publication) declares martial law and bans all superheroic activities in America. This angers several members of Reagan's department of defense, who - at the behest of Amanda Waller - activate "Project: Task Force X", a.k.a. the Suicide Squad. Recruiting a team of expendable imprisoned supervillains, Amanda Waller has the Suicide Squad destroy Brimstone.
Doctor Fate is forced to intervene when Glorious Godfrey uses his army of followers to invade Washington, DC. Dr. Fate organizes Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Guy Gardner, Black Canary, Changeling, The Flash, and the Blue Beetle to oppose Glorious Godfrey. They are joined by the Martian Manhunter, who responds to a JLA distress call from the President. They defeat the forces of Glorious Godfrey, including Darkseid's cyborg Hounds of War. The masses are freed from Godfrey's power when Robin gathers an army of children untouched by Godfrey's powers to serve as a human shield between the heroes and Godfrey. Godfrey strikes one of the children, and the shock frees the mob from his power. Godfrey is defeated when he steals Dr. Fate's helmet and puts it on, rendering him mindless. In the aftermath, the Martian Manhunter, Batman, Blue Beetle, Guy Gardner, Black Canary, Captain Marvel and Dr. Fate form a new Justice League. Superman and the Flash decline membership, stating that they will assist if needed, Wonder Woman quietly exits and Changeling opts to remain with the Teen Titans.
Early 1980s housewife Francine Fishpaw watches her upper-middle-class family's life crumble in their suburban Baltimore home. Her husband Elmer is a polyester-clad lout who owns an adult movie theater, causing anti-pornography protesters to picket the Fishpaws' house. Francine's Christian beliefs are also offended by the behavior of her children—Lu-Lu, her spoiled, promiscuous daughter, and Dexter, her delinquent, glue-sniffing son who derives sexual pleasure from stomping on women's feet.
Francine's cocaine-snorting mother La Rue, a class-conscious snob, compounds her troubles by robbing her daughter blind, constantly deriding her obesity, and berating her for befriending her former housecleaner, Cuddles Kovinsky, a simple-minded woman who tries to console Francine with "seize-the-day" bromides and has inherited a large sum of money from a very wealthy former employer.
After Francine discovers Elmer having an affair with his secretary, Sandra Sullivan, she confronts them during a motel tryst and demands a divorce. Francine then falls into alcoholism and depression, exacerbated by her children's behavior: Lu-Lu becomes pregnant by her degenerate boyfriend Bo-Bo Belsinger (Stiv Bators) and announces she is getting an abortion, and after Dexter is arrested at a supermarket for stomping on a woman's foot, the media reveal that he is the Baltimore Foot Stomper who has been serially attacking and terrorizing local women.
Lu-Lu goes to a family planning clinic for an abortion, but anti-abortion picketers harass her. She returns home and tries to induce a miscarriage, causing Francine to call an unwed mothers' home. Two nuns arrive, force Lu-Lu into the trunk of their car, and take her to a Catholic home for unwed mothers. Bo-Bo and his friend, who have come to trash the Fishpaw house on Halloween night, shoot La Rue, but she retrieves the gun and shoots Bo-Bo dead. After Lu-Lu flees the unwed mothers' home, she returns home to find Bo-Bo's dead body and is so distraught that she attempts suicide. Francine comes home and faints after witnessing her daughter's suicide attempt—and the apparent suicide by hanging of the family dog, Bonkers, based on a suicide note left near the dog's dangling body.
However, Francine's life soon starts to change. Dexter is released from jail, having been rehabilitated. Lu-Lu suffers a miscarriage from her suicide attempt and is contrite about her past, becoming an artistic flower child who embraces macramé. Francine quits drinking, confronts and rebukes her mother, and finds new romance with Todd Tomorrow. Todd proposes marriage to an elated Francine, but she soon discovers that Todd and La Rue are romantically involved and conspiring to embezzle her divorce settlement, drive her insane and sell her children into prostitution.
Elmer and Sandra break into the house to murder Francine, but Dexter and Lu-Lu kill them: Dexter steps on Sandra's foot, causing her to accidentally shoot Elmer, and Lu-Lu uses her macramé to strangle Sandra. When Cuddles and her German chauffeur and fiancé Heintz arrive, their car runs over La Rue and Todd, killing them. The film concludes with a happy ending for Francine, her children, and newlyweds Cuddles and Heintz.
While traveling by airplane, Robert Wilson (William Shatner) sees a gremlin (Nick Cravat) on the wing. He tries to alert his wife Julia (Christine White) and the stewardess (Asa Maynor), but every time someone else looks out of the window, the gremlin hides itself near the engine, so Robert's claim seems crazy. Robert admits the oddness of the gremlin avoiding everyone else's sight but not his. His credibility is further undermined by this being his first flight since suffering a nervous breakdown six months earlier, which also occurred on an aircraft. Robert realizes that his wife is starting to think he needs to go back to the sanitarium, but his more immediate concern is the gremlin tinkering with the wiring under one of the engine cowlings, which could cause the aircraft to crash.
In response to his repeated attempts to raise an alarm about the gremlin, the flight engineer (Edward Kemmer) comes out to evaluate the situation and the stewardess gives Robert a sedative to stop him from alarming other passengers. Robert pretends to down it with water, but does not swallow and secretly spits it out. He then steals a sleeping police officer's revolver, straps himself in to avoid being blown out of the aircraft, and opens the emergency exit door to shoot the gremlin.
Once the airplane has landed, everyone believes that Robert has gone insane. In a straitjacket as he is whisked away on a gurney, Robert tells his wife that he is alone in his knowledge of what really happened during the flight. However, the final scene reveals conspicuous damage to the exterior of one of the aircraft's engines, confirming that Robert was right all along.
Justin Sanderson is a magazine journalist suffering from PTSD, who is boarding Golden Airways Flight 1015 for a flight to Tel Aviv. While awaiting his flight, he befriends Joe Beaumont, a former pilot for the company and alcoholic who suffered some unspecified failure in the past. At his seat, Sanderson discovers an MP3 player that has a podcast playing called ''Enigmatique'', which describes a "Flight 1015" which was lost without explanation. Sanderson begins to panic and tries to make sense of the situation, but is told to calm down. He listens further and hears speculation about passengers who might have been involved somehow in the plane's disappearance; his attempts to investigate only to annoy the other passengers and crew. He learns that the last words heard from the pilot were "Good night, New York", and desperately tries to warn the pilot not to say that, but is restrained by an air marshal. Beaumont approaches and confides that he believes him. Guessing that the flight number – and coincidental departure time – is the code to the cockpit, Sanderson gets Beaumont access, who overpowers the crew and takes control of the flight. As Beaumont subdues the passengers and crew with oxygen deprivation, he reveals his plan to crash the plane to atone for his past failures. As Beaumont signs off with "Good night, New York", it dawns on Sanderson that he indirectly causes the crash. He awakens on an island and learns from the MP3 player that all the passengers and crew actually survived and were rescued, except for Sanderson who disappeared. The other passengers and crew reveal themselves as they attack and kill Sanderson, whom they blame for the crash.
''Killer Instinct 2'' follows on where the first installment left off. Eyedol's death at the hands of Black Orchid accidentally sets off a time warp, transporting some of the combatants back in time and allowing the Demon Lord Gargos (Eyedol's opponent) to escape from Limbo.
Now, trapped 2000 years in the past, the warriors that survived ''Killer Instinct'', along with several new faces, fight for the right to face Gargos in combat. Each character that survived the journey from the first game have corresponding backstories, while new characters in this installment are native inhabitants of this past time period. Some fighters, like returning fighter T.J. Combo, just want to get home. Others, like new character Tusk, want to bring an end to Gargos and his reign of evil. This time there is no tournament or prize money, just a fight to the finish with the fate of the future hanging in the balance.
The game features a total roster of 11 characters. Black Orchid, Fulgore, Glacius, Jago, Sabrewulf, Spinal and T.J. Combo return from the previous title. Eyedol, Chief Thunder, Cinder and Riptor were omitted from the roster; in their place, Gargos, Kim Wu, Maya and Tusk were introduced.
Each character in the game has two or four different endings. Which ending the player gets depends whether or not the player kills (by using a finishing move instead of simply depleting their health) one or more certain character(s) during the course of the game. For example, Jago's endings both involve Fulgore and B. Orchid (if Fulgore does not kill Jago and B. Orchid, they team up and destroy him). Thus, killing or not killing them over the course of the game alters the outcomes of his endings: * If he kills both of them, he relishes his victory over Fulgore, but feels an inexplicable emptiness in his heart. * If he kills Orchid but doesn't destroy Fulgore, the cyborg will eventually make a lethal attack on him after he wins the tournament, and fulfills Ultratech's original purposes by seizing control of the world. * If he kills Fulgore but spares Orchid, his enjoyment of his enemy's demises is only sweetened by the discovery that Orchid is his older sister. * If he spares both their lives, he makes that discovery when Orchid saves him from Fulgore's attack.
At the beginning of the story, protagonist Haroun Khalifa lives with his father Rashid, a famous storyteller and doctor, and his mother Soraya, until the latter is seduced by their neighbor 'Mr. Sengupta' to leave home. Thereafter, Rashid is hired to speak on behalf of local politicians but fails his initial assignment. The two are thence conveyed to the 'Valley of K' by courier 'Mr. Butt', to speak for 'Snooty Buttoo', another politician. Attempting to sleep aboard Buttoo's yacht, Haroun discovers 'Iff the Water Genie', assigned to detach Rashid's imagination, and demands to speak with Iff's supervisor, the Walrus, to argue against this decision. They are then carried to the eponymous 'Sea of Stories' by an artificial intelligence in the form of a hoopoe, nicknamed 'Butt' after the courier. In the Sea of Stories, Haroun learns the Sea is endangered by antagonist 'Khattam-Shud,' who represents "the end".
In the Kingdom of Gup, King Chattergy, Prince Bolo, General Kitab, and the Walrus announce their plans for war against the neighboring kingdom of Chup, to recapture Bolo's betrothed Princess Batcheat. Rashid joins them here, having witnessed Batcheat's kidnapping. Thereafter Haroun and his companions join the Guppee army of 'Pages' toward Chup, where they befriend Mudra, Khattam-Shud's former second-in-command.
Haroun, Iff, Butt the Hoopoe, and Mali, the stories' gardener, investigate the Sea's 'Old Zone' and are captured by Khattam-Shud's animated shadow, who plans to plug the Story Source at the bottom of the Sea. Before he can do so, Mali destroys the machines used by Khattam-Shud to poison the Sea, and Haroun restores the Sea's long-annulled alternation between night and day–thus destroying the antagonist's shadow and those assisting him, and diverting the giant 'Plug' meant to seal the Source. In Chup, the Guppee army destroys the Chupwalas' army and releases Princess Batcheat; whereupon Khattam-Shud himself is crushed beneath a collapsing statue commissioned by himself. Thereafter the Walrus promises Haroun a happy ending of his own story. On return to the human world, Rashid reveals Haroun's adventures to local citizens, who expel Snooty Buttoo.
When Rashid and Haroun return home, the people of their city are loosened from the shackles of their misery and remember the name of their home, Kahani. Soraya returns to her son and husband.
The novel concludes with an appendix explaining the meaning of each major character's name.
Just before Christmas, wealthy advertising executive Drew Latham surprises his girlfriend Missy with first class tickets to Fiji, but she is horrified that he would want to spend Christmas away from his family. Citing the fact that Drew has never even introduced her to his family, she concludes that he will never get serious about their relationship and dumps him. Drew has his assistant send her a Cartier bracelet to apologize. Desperate not to spend Christmas alone, Drew calls all of his contacts to find a place to stay on Christmas, but he is not close enough to anyone to be invited.
Drew tracks down Missy's therapist Dr. Freeman at the airport, hoping to squeeze in a therapy session. The hurried doctor tells him to list all of his grievances and then burn them at his childhood home, which is now occupied by the Valcos, who are suspicious of Drew. When he sets his grievances on fire, Tom Valco sneaks up behind him and knocks him out with a shovel. Thrilled to see his old room, Drew impetuously offers Tom $250,000 to let him spend Christmas with the Valcos. Tom accepts, and Drew's lawyer draws up a contract that requires the Valcos to pose as his family.
The next day, Drew forces the family to go out and buy a tree together, requiring Tom to wear a Santa cap in public. While they are trimming the tree, the eldest child Alicia arrives for the holidays and is stunned by Drew's presence. He suggests that she could portray the maid, since she was an unexpected addition to the scenario. At dinner, Drew writes a script for the family to read at the table. He hires a local actor to play the part of his grandfather, whom he calls Doo-Dah. Drew takes Alicia and her brother Brian sledding the next day. After crashing at the bottom of a hill, he moves in to kiss Alicia, who sneezes instead. Recovering back home from their growing colds, Alicia shares a childhood memory with Drew about an old tree that was coated in ice during a storm. Tom asks Drew to leave because he was planning on divorcing his wife Christine, but Drew encourages the couple to indulge themselves. Tom buys a Chevelle SS, which he had when he was in high school, and Christine goes to a photographer for some glamour shots.
Drew takes Alicia to the old tree of her childhood, which he has had covered in ice again. She is touched by the gesture, but Drew overdoes it, bringing in a full pageant production to surround the tree. Disgusted by his lack of restraint, Alicia demands that he leave. Meanwhile, Missy was won over by the bracelet, and when Drew's assistant informed her that he was spending Christmas with his family, Missy visits the Valcos' house with her parents. Drew promises the Valcos an extra $75,000 if they will play along for the evening, and they agree to pretend to be his family. The visit between the two families steadily descends into chaos, culminating with everyone seeing Christine's glamour shots manipulated into pornography on Brian's computer. Missy's parents storm out, and Drew informs her that their relationship is over.
Alicia finally draws out of Drew the truth about his family: his father left them when he was just four, and his mother, who would give him an adult stack of pancakes until he was 18, died when he was in college. Drew returns to his apartment to spend Christmas alone. Tom visits him to collect his money, and the two decide to go watch the actor who played Doo-Dah perform in the local production of ''A Christmas Carol''. At the play, Tom and Christine decide not to divorce. Drew and Alicia make up outside the theater, while everyone eats in the diner where Drew's mother worked a double shift to make extra money.
In March 1917, Captain Hardt (Conrad Veidt), a World War I German U-boat commander, is ordered to lead a mission to attack the British Fleet at Scapa Flow, rendezvousing at the Old Man of Hoy. He sneaks ashore on the Orkney Islands to meet his contact, Fräulein Tiel (Valerie Hobson). Tiel has taken over the identity of a new local schoolteacher, Miss Anne Burnett (June Duprez), who female German agents had intercepted and chloroformed en route to the island. Hardt finds himself attracted to her, but Tiel shows no interest. The Germans are aided by a disgraced Royal Navy officer, the former Commander Ashington (Sebastian Shaw) who, according to Tiel, has agreed to aid the Germans after losing his command due to drunkenness, and Tiel implies that she has slept with Ashington to obtain his cooperation.
The plan is almost disrupted when Burnett's fiancé, Rev. Harris, arrives unexpectedly, but the spies take him captive. Then the local minister, Matthews, and his wife (who had already met Harris) come to the house, but Tiel manages to get them to leave. Now equipped with the crucial information he needs about the British fleet movements, Hardt rendezvous with his submarine to arrange for a fleet of U-Boats to attack. Returning to the house, and confident that all is going to plan, Hardt makes advances to Tiel, but she rebuffs him. She leaves the house, believing she has locked Hardt in his room, but he gets out and secretly follows her, discovering that she has gone out to meet Ashington. Hardt overhears them talking and learns the truth: the British are fully aware of his presence, and have turned his mission into a trap for the U-Boats. Hardt's "contacts" are really British double agents – Ashington is in fact RN Commander Blacklock, and "Fräulein Tiel" is Blacklock's wife, Jill.
As Jill prepares to leave the island, Blacklock returns to the house to arrest Hardt, only to find he has eluded them. Disguised in Rev. Harris's clothes, Hardt manages to board the island ferry, which is also carrying Jill, a number of civilian passengers, and eight German POWs. Blacklock reports Hardt's escape to the base commander, who explains that the British had learned of the Germans' plan because the real Anne Burnett luckily survived the German agents' attempt to kill her by throwing her into the sea.
At sea, Hardt manages to free the German prisoners and they seize the ferry. The Royal Navy pursue them, but before they can catch up, the ferry is intercepted by Hardt's submarine, and Hardt's first officer, Lieutenant Schuster (Marius Goring) decides to sink it. As the U-boat surfaces and prepares to fire, Hardt realises it is his own submarine. He frantically attempts to signal them, but too late – the U-boat shells the ferry, which begins to sink. By this time the British ships have arrived, and they drop depth charges, destroying the fleeing U-boat. As Jill, the other passengers and the crew abandon the sinking ferry, Hardt realises all is lost, and chooses to go down with the ship.
It is November 1939: the Phoney War-stage of the World War II. Denmark is still neutral, but (Danish) Captain Andersen (Conrad Veidt) and his freighter ''Helvig'' are stopped in the English Channel by Lt. Commanders Ashton (Joss Ambler) and Ellis (Harold Warrender) for a cargo inspection in a British Contraband Control Port.
He receives two shore passes for himself and his First Officer Axel Skold (Hay Petrie) to dine with Ashton and Ellis, but the passes (and ''Helvig'' s motorboat) are stolen by passengers Mrs. Sorensen (Valerie Hobson) and talent scout Mr. Pidgeon (Esmond Knight). From a cut-out newspaper train schedule, Andersen is able to figure out they are taking a train to London and catches up with them; but, when the train arrives in the blacked-out metropolis, he is only able to hold on to Mrs. Sorensen.
He invites her to dine at the restaurant of Skold's brother Erik (also Hay Petrie). Then she takes him to the home of her aunt, where they are captured by a Nazi spy ring led by Van Dyne (Raymond Lovell), a man Mrs. Sorensen has already had unpleasant dealings with in Düsseldorf, Germany. Van Dyne knows Mrs. Sorensen and Pidgeon are British agents. Van Dyne finds a message hidden on one of Mrs. Sorensen's cigarette papers, identifying her as "M47" and listing the names of neutral ships under which two German vessels are traveling. He decides to replace one of the names with that of an American ship to cause trouble, the United States being neutral at this time. Mrs. Sorensen and Andersen are tied up, but the captain manages to escape. He brings back reinforcements in the form of Erik Skold's staff and is able to free Mrs. Sorensen and knock out Van Dyne. With everything cleared up, Capt. Andersen and Mrs. Sorensen resume their sea voyage.
In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, ''U-37'', a German U-boat, sinks a Canadian freighter, then evades the RCN and RCAF by sailing into Hudson Bay. While a raiding party of six is ashore in search of food and fuel, the U-boat is sunk by RCAF bombers. The six survivors set out for the neutral United States, led by Lieutenants Hirth and Kuhnecke.
When a floatplane is dispatched to investigate reports of the sinking, the Germans open fire, killing the pilot and some of the local Inuit. They steal the aircraft, but cannot achieve takeoff because they are overloaded. One sailor steps out onto a float to throw out the guns and is shot and killed by a member of the Inuit, thereby lightening the load for take-off.
Heading south, the floatplane runs out of fuel and crashes in a lake in Manitoba, killing Kuhnecke. The Germans are welcomed to a nearby Hutterite farming community. The fugitives assume that the Hutterites are sympathetic to the Nazi cause, but some of them are refugees from Hitler's Germany, and Hirth's fanatical speech is eloquently refuted by Peter, the community's leader. One of the sailors, Vogel, would rather join the community and ply his trade as a baker, but he is tried by Hirth and summarily executed for desertion and treachery.
Hirth, Lohrmann and Kranz arrive in Winnipeg. Hirth decides they will travel west to Vancouver and catch a steamship for Japan. They hijack a car, then take a train that stops in Banff, Alberta, during Banff Indian Days. A Canadian Mountie addresses the crowd and Kranz is arrested when he panics.
Fleeing across the Rocky Mountains, the two remaining men are welcomed to a lakeside camp by an eccentric English writer named Philip Armstrong Scott, who takes them for lost tourists. They turn on him, burning his manuscript and his precious paintings. Scott and his men pursue them. Lohrmann finally rebels against Hirth's leadership and takes off by himself. Lohrmann is cornered in a cave. Scott is wounded, but enters the cave and beats Lohrmann unconscious.
Hirth, the last fugitive, meets Andy Brock, a Canadian soldier who is absent without leave, in the baggage car of a Canadian National Railway train near the Canadian-US border. Hirth knocks Brock cold with the butt of his gun and steals his uniform and dog tags. After the train crosses into the United States at Niagara Falls, Hirth surrenders his gun to a U.S. Customs official and demands to be taken to the German embassy. Brock explains that Hirth, now world famous, is wanted in Canada for murder, and points out that neither of them is listed on the freight manifest. The Americans send Hirth and Brock back to Canada. As the train returns over the bridge, Brock dons his uniform cap, tells Hirth to put his hands up, and a solid punch is heard.
The crew of an RAF Vickers Wellington bomber are forced to bail out over the Netherlands near the Zuider Zee after one of their engines is damaged during a nighttime raid on Stuttgart. Five of the six airmen find each other; the sixth goes missing. The first Dutch citizens they encounter, led by English-speaking school teacher Else Meertens, are suspicious at first as no aircraft is reported to have crashed in the Netherlands (the abandoned bomber actually reaches England before crashing). After much debate and some questioning, the Dutch agree to help, despite their fear of German reprisals.
Accompanied by many of the Dutch, the disguised airmen, led by the pilots, bicycle through the countryside to a football match where they are passed along to the local burgomaster. To their astonishment, they discover their missing crewman playing for one of the teams. Reunited, they hide in a truck carrying supplies to Jo de Vries.
De Vries pretends to be pro-German, blaming the British for killing her husband in a bombing raid (whereas he is actually in England working as a radio announcer). She hides them in her mansion, despite the Germans being garrisoned there. Under cover of an air raid, she leads them to a rowing boat. The men row undetected to the sea, but a bridge sentry finally spots them and a shot seriously wounds the oldest man, Sir George Corbett. Nevertheless, they reach the North Sea.
They take shelter in a German rescue buoy, where they take two shot-down enemy aviators prisoner, but not before one sends a radio message. By chance, two British boats arrive first. Because Corbett cannot be moved, they simply tow the buoy back to England. Three months later, he is fully recovered, and the crew board their new four-engine heavy bomber, a Short Stirling.
Sammy Rice (David Farrar) is a British scientist working with a specialist "back room" team in London as a bomb disposal expert during the Second World War. Rice is embittered because he feels military scientific research is being incompetently managed. He is also enduring unremitting pain from his artificial foot. The painkillers he has been prescribed are ineffective, and his use of alcohol as an analgesic has led to his alcoholism. His girlfriend Susan (Kathleen Byron) puts up with his self-pitying, self-destructive behaviour as long as she can, but finally breaks up with him, telling him that he lacks the ambition to better himself.
Rice is brought in by Captain Stuart (Michael Gough) to help solve the problem of small booby-trapped explosive devices (mines) being dropped by Nazi bombers, which have killed four people, including three children. They receive some useful information from a critically wounded young soldier (Bryan Forbes in his debut). Two further mines are found at Chesil Beach: they look like common thermos flasks. Stuart is first on the scene but has difficulty getting Rice on the telephone in his flat because Rice is alone following his break-up with Susan, angry, drunk and destructive. Rice quickly sobers up and travels to Chesil Beach, only to find that Stuart tried to defuse one of the mines and has been blown up. Rice sets to work on the second mine after listening to the notes Stuart dictated to an ATS corporal (Renée Asherson) during his attempt earlier in the day. He discovers that the mine has in fact two booby traps, not one, and manages to defuse them both.
When Rice returns to London, his self-esteem somewhat restored by his success, he is offered an officer commission as head of the Army's new scientific research unit. He accepts. Susan returns to him and they go back to his flat to find she has repaired and reinstated everything he damaged while drunk.
During the French Revolution, the Scarlet Pimpernel, who is really Sir Percy Blakeney in disguise, risks his life to rescue French aristocrats from the guillotine and take them across the English Channel to safety. As cover, Sir Percy poses as a fop at Court, and curries favour with the Prince of Wales by providing advice about fashion, but secretly he leads The League, a group of noblemen with similar views.
Chauvelin, the French ambassador to England, wants to find out who the Pimpernel is, so he can be brought to French justice. He blackmails Blakeney's French wife Marguerite into helping him by threatening to have her brother Armand (an associate of the Pimpernel) arrested and tortured. She intercepts a letter intended for the Pimpernel and gives it to Chauvelin, unaware that she has betrayed her husband. When she discovers the truth, she sets out to warn him of his great peril.
Hazel Woodus is a child of nature in the Shropshire countryside in 1897. She loves and understands all of the wild animals more than she does the people around her. Whenever she has problems, she consults the book of spells and charms left to her by her gypsy mother.
Local squire Jack Reddin sees Hazel and wants her, but she has already promised herself to the Baptist minister Edward Marston. A struggle for her body and soul ensues.
In the prologue, Hoffmann is in the audience at a performance by Stella, a prima ballerina, of "The Ballet of the Enchanted Dragonfly". Stella sends Hoffmann a note asking him to meet her after the performance, but the note is intercepted by his rival, Councillor Lindorf. Not having received her note, Hoffmann goes to the tavern in the interval, where he tells the story of a clown, Kleinzach, and three stories of his past loves — Olympia, Giulietta and Antonia, and gets drunk. In the first story, Olympia is an automaton created by scientist Spalanzani and magic spectacle maker Coppelius. Hoffmann falls for the doll, ignorant of her artifice and is mocked when he finally discovers she is 'automatic'. In the second story, Hoffmann in Venice falls for Giulietta, a courtesan, but she seduces him to steal his reflection for the magician Dapertutto. In the third story, Antonia is a soprano suffering from an incurable illness and must not sing, but the evil Dr. Miracle makes her sing and she dies, breaking the hearts of Hoffmann and her father, Crespel. *Finally, in the epilogue, Hoffmann explains that all three women are all aspects of his love, Stella, who then appears in the tavern and, seeing Hoffmann drunk and incapacitated, is led away by Councillor Lindorf.
In 1955 Vienna, during its post-war occupation, the black-market dealer Dr. Falke (Anton Walbrook) moves freely through the French, British, American and Russian sectors, dealing in champagne and caviar amongst the highest echelons of the allied powers. After a costume party, French Colonel Gabriel Eisenstein (Michael Redgrave) plays a practical joke on a drunken Falke, depositing him, asleep and dressed as a bat, in the lap of a patriotic Russian statue, to be discovered the following morning by irate Russian soldiers. Falke is nearly arrested until his friend General Orlofsky (Anthony Quayle) of the USSR intervenes. A vengeful Falke plans an elaborate practical joke on his friend, involving Orlofsky, a British major (Dennis Price) who is sent to escort the French colonel to jail for his misdemeanor, Eisenstein's beautiful wife Rosalinda (Ludmilla Tchérina), her maid (Anneliese Rothenberger) and a masked ball where no one is what they seem. Complicating matters is American Captain Alfred Westerman (Mel Ferrer), an old flame of Rosalinda's who is determined to take advantage of her husband's absence deliberately taking the room next to hers. When Frank arrives to arrest Eisenstein he takes Alfred for her husband. At the party, Adele, wearing one of her mistress's gowns is spotted by Eisenstein, who is unable to do anything about it, and catches the eye of both Orlofsky and Frank. When the masked Rosalinda arrives Eisenstein pursues her but she flees with his watch – which Falke slyly tells him will reappear again at his home. At midnight Eisenstein presents himself at the jail but realizes that the man wearing his robe was courting Rosalinda, so he rushes home to confront her. She retorts by showing his the watch he had at the ball and he begs forgiveness. All this is overhead by the rest of Orlovsky's party guests in the gardens below and Falke admits that he was behind the charade. As all sing and dance, Alfred allows his American guards to arrest him instead of Einsenstein.
During World War II, the Greek island of Crete is occupied by the Nazis. British officers Major Patrick Leigh Fermor DSO (Dirk Bogarde) and Captain Bill Stanley Moss MC (David Oxley) of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) land on the island and meet with other British agents and members of the Cretan resistance. In April 1944, they kidnap General Kreipe (Marius Goring), the German commander of the island's occupying forces and, in disguise, drive his car through a number of German checkpoints until they abandon it and set off on foot with the General.
Travelling mainly by night across mountainous territory, the group has to evade surveillance by German search parties looking for the General, but is given assistance by townspeople and other resistance partisans. Along the way, Kreipe seems to be resigned to having to cooperate, but he leaves personal tokens at several stops as clues for searchers to follow. He also feigns an injury to his shoulder to slow down the group's progress. After a final push to reach a secluded cove on the far side of the island where they are to be picked up by the Royal Navy, the group finds the area occupied by German troops.
A young boy travelling with the group is asked by the British officers to deliver a message to local partisans, but Kreipe tries to bribe the boy into going to the German camp, telling him that if the boy delivers a coin known to belong to the General, the Germans will give him a pair of boots. The boy seems to fall for the ruse when the group watches the shore from above and sees him going to the German camp. Instead of heading up the hills to engage with the British and retrieve the General, however, the Germans march into a valley where a partisan ambush is waiting for them.
The British and Cretans, along with Kreipe, who has stopped pretending that he was injured, arrive at the beach and finally are picked up by the British ship that is to transport them to Cairo, the Middle East headquarters of British forces. On board the vessel, Fermor and Moss return the items that the General had planted during their trek, comparing them to the "breadcrumbs" left by Hansel in the story of Hansel and Gretel and comparing the Cretan Resistance, once disdained by the General, as the "birds" who take the breadcrumbs in the story.
The game begins in the Arabian Desert, where the player's camel has gone lame, and they are out of food and water. Throughout the game, the player must avoid starvation, dehydration, poison traps, and other dangers. The game ends when the player either finds the crown, or dies.
Certain elements of the game are randomized. Although text-based, the screen is split into a map, area description, and inventory of items. At the bottom of the screen are statistics such as hunger, thirst, number of treasures found, total moves, and score.
In 1957, the Soviet Union attacks the United States with nuclear weapons, rendering most of the nation uninhabitable. The American government has collapsed with the exception of the haven known as Lost Vegas, ruled by King Elvis. The Red Army has been besieging Lost Vegas, but the lack of supplies over the years has relegated them to a gang of thugs. Forty years later King Elvis dies and radio disc jockey Keith Mortimer announces a call for all musicians to come to Lost Vegas to try to become the new King of Rock 'n' Roll. The ending of His message, "Vegas needs a new King!"
Buddy, a lone guitarist and swordsman, saves an unnamed boy he simply calls "Kid" from a group of bandits; consequently, as the Kid's mother was killed by the bandits he tags along with Buddy much to the latter's annoyance. As the duo travel through the desert wasteland, the heavy metal-playing Death stages several attempts to prevent Buddy from reaching Lost Vegas alive and claim the throne for himself. After enduring an attack by a bounty-hunting bowling team, Buddy and the Kid steal a car from another musician to continue their journey. They are later attacked on the road by bandits but escape.
When their car breaks down, Buddy and the Kid attempt to borrow a wrench from a suburban family, unaware that they are cannibals. Buddy leaves the Kid with them and takes off on foot. The Kid is about to be eaten but is spared after a group of Windmill People invade the home and the family flees with Buddy and the Kid's abandoned car after revealing they had a socket wrench needed to fix it. Buddy returns to defeat the Windmill People, the two reunite and continue their journey on an abandoned motorcycle. Meanwhile, Death has been killing off all other musicians coming across his path and taking their guitar picks as trophies.
Buddy and the Kid arrive in the town of Fallout, where he leaves the Kid with some locals and enters a bar to drink and spend time with a cheerleader. Death arrives but the Kid warns Buddy in time for them to flee. Before they do Buddy is approached by a young guitarist, whom he then humiliates. Continuing their travel, Buddy is attacked by the guitarist. Buddy unintentionally kills him in self defense, and, feeling guilty, he lays his sword down and walks away, but the Kid brings it back to him, still believing in Buddy and helping regain his confidence. Eventually the two begin to bond closer. Later, after they collapse in the desert, they are ambushed by Death and his bandmates, a trio of archers. Buddy slides the Kid and his guitar to safety while he battles the archers, but when the Kid is captured by a group of underground mutants, Buddy pursues the mutants to their lair. Death decides not to follow him as there are other musicians left to kill saving Buddy for last.
Buddy manages to save the Kid, and after returning to the surface, they find their road to Vegas blocked by the Red Army. After a grueling battle, Buddy is injured with the Kid dragging him to continue. Death finally catches up to them and engages Buddy in a guitar duel clashing their styles of music against one another; Buddy, Rock 'n' Roll and Death, Heavy Metal. When Buddy proves the better guitarist, an angry Death orders his bandmates to shoot him and the Kid with their bows. Buddy shields the Kid, getting shot in the back, but rises up and battles Death in a sword fight. Death mortally wounds Buddy in the end but the Kid discovers water is Death's weakness after spitting at him. The Kid then melts Death away with his water canteen.
With his defeat, Death's bandmates are in shock that the Kid bested him. They give him a card and tell him with admiration that if he ever needs them to call them, and they take their leave. The Kid, saddened by Buddy disappearing after dying, bravely accepts to finish Buddy's journey. He puts on his clothes and glasses, and carries his sword and guitar. With Lost Vegas now in sight, the Kid has completed Buddy's dream, and the film ends with him turning into Buddy, symbolizing he's inherited His spirit as a crowd cheers him from Lost Vegas.
After Twinsen defeated FunFrock at the end of ''Little Big Adventure'', Twinsun was peaceful, until a sudden storm covered Citadel Island. The Dino-Fly, a creature encountered in ''LBA 1'' is struck by lightning and crashes in Twinsen and Zoe's garden. Twinsen seeks help from Ker'aooc, a healing wizard, who lives on Desert Island. But ferry crossings are cancelled. He aids Bersimon, the island's weather wizard, resulting in the clouds disappearing. After the storm, alien creatures, who call themselves Esmers, land on the planet, under a false diplomatic guise and Twinsen begins training under the Wizard's School after hearing of missing children on the planet. The Esmers use their army to secretly capture Twinsun's Children and openly invite the Wizards to their planet (which is revealed later to be a trap to capture them). After graduating as a wizard, Twinsen is informed by his master of the possible plot of the Esmers and is sent to investigate their planet by accepting their invitation to all Wizards. Once Twinsen lands in Zeelich (the Esmers' two-layered, Jupiter-like gas home planet), the invitation proves to be a trap and he is arrested on the landing port. After tricking one of the guards with the help of another prisoner, Twinsen manages to escape imprisonment and escapes the planet in one of the ships. He eventually crashes in the mountains of Citadel Island, where he is attacked by an Esmerian soldier, after defeating him and making his way into the city he finds out that the Esmers have taken over the planet and have imposed martial law. After going home to check on Zoe he finds out that Baldino has left him a protopack (Prototype Jetpack; it can hover, not fly) in the warehouse, he retrieves it and sets out to find his friend. Once making it to Desert Island he finds out that Baldino has disappeared, he proceeds to investigate his house and discovers that Baldino has built a spacecraft and for some reason went to Emerald Moon (Twinsun's moon). He visits the Wizard's School and learns from his master that in order to proceed in his journey and face the Esmers, who prove to be more than he can handle, he must obtain a powerful artifact from beneath Citadel Island.
Home to several different species, Zeelich is a two-layered planet, the upper layer located above the sea of toxic gas that plagues the planet. The lower layer is located beneath the gas. Its inhabitants await the day when a certain prophecy will be fulfilled, and the Dark Monk, the shadow god, will emerge and restore Zeelich.
Twinsen eventually gathers together four fragments making up a key which must be placed inside a little temple on Celebration Island. He unmasks Dark Monk, who is really FunFrock, the villain from the first game. He kills FunFrock, and returns to stop the moon of Twinsun crashing into the planet.
When ''Licence Renewed'' begins, M reminds Bond that the "00" section has in fact been abolished; however, M retains Bond as a troubleshooter (pun intended), telling him, "You'll always be 007 to me". Bond is assigned to investigate Dr. Anton Murik, a brilliant nuclear physicist who is thought to have been having meetings with a terrorist named Franco. Franco is identified and tracked by MI5 to a village in Scotland called Murcaldy. Since Murcaldy is outside of MI5's jurisdiction, the Director-General of MI5, Richard Duggan, requests that M send Bond to surveil Murik. Relying on information that MI5 did not have, M orders Bond to instead infiltrate Murik's castle and gain his confidence.
Bond makes contact with Murik at Ascot Racecourse, where he feigns a coincidental meeting, mentioning to Murik that he is a mercenary looking for work. Later, Bond joins Murik in Scotland at Murik's behest and is hired to kill Franco, for reasons at the time unknown. Franco in turn has been tasked by Murik to kill his young ward, Lavender Peacock, because she is the true heir to the Murik fortune, which could only be proved by secret documents Murik keeps hidden in a safe within his castle.
Murik's plan is to hijack six nuclear power plants around the world simultaneously with the aid of bands of terrorists supplied by Franco. To ensure that Murik can never be associated with this deal, he attempts to use Bond to assassinate Franco. Ultimately terrorists do take over six nuclear power plants, but are prevented from starting a meltdown when they are given an abort code by Bond, who they believe to be Murik. Murik is eventually defeated by Bond and Lavender before his demands can be met.
Grégory Francœur, a brilliant professor from Quebec, leaves his family and political career behind to become the assistant to a distinguished academic in San Francisco. Because of a misunderstanding, typical of the ambiguity that has been Francœur's lot in life, he becomes involved in a dangerous case of illegal immigration.
For Cristina Moreno's Princeton University application essay, she tells the story of a year from her childhood, and how it shaped the person she is today.
In 1992, Flor Moreno, a poor Mexican single mother moved to America seeking a better life for her and her daughter, Cristina. With two jobs, she still cannot pay the bills, so her cousin helps her get work as a housekeeper for the Claskys: John and Deborah, their children Bernice and Georgie, and Deborah's mother Evelyn Wright.
John is a chef and an easygoing family man. Deborah was a businesswoman, now a stay-at-home mother, and Evelyn is a quiet alcoholic. Uptight and neurotic, Deborah upsets everyone, psychologically abuses and body-shames Bernice, and bullies John, demanding he always back her up. John is torn between defending his kids' mental well-being, and his domineering wife.
Flor is soon expected to work and live with the Claskys over the summer. Desperate to keep Flor employed with them, Deborah invites Cristina to join them. Deborah becomes attached to the beautiful and personable Cristina, ignoring Bernice; Flor does not approve of the attention. John unwittingly angers Flor when he offers to pay the children a set amount for each bit of sea glass they find on the beach. Cristina earnestly searches for hours, earning $650 for her efforts. Flor and John argue, with Cristina as interpreter; Flor wants to leave because of the awkward family dynamic. He convinces her to stay, to Cristina's delight, and Flor starts an English course to better communicate with the Claskys.
When John's restaurant receives an amazing review, John begins worrying about the added pressure, while Deborah begins an affair. She enrolls Cristina in Bernice's private school, upsetting Flor, who wants Cristina to maintain her Mexican roots and working-class values. Flor feels Deborah is overstepping her bounds and voices her concerns to John, who tells her he empathizes as Bernice has no support from her own mother. Flor tries to build Bernice's self-confidence with small acts of kindness, especially when Deborah is harsh.
Summer ends and Cristina and Bernice attend their first day of school. That afternoon, Cristina is allowed to bring her school friends back to the Claskys' house; however, Bernice is not. Flor, who was not asked permission, is upset at the situation; Deborah tries to cover for Cristina. The now-sober Evelyn, knowing about her daughter's affair, warns Deborah that her marriage is in trouble. She pleads with Deborah to end the affair, telling her she will never get another man as good as John.
Deborah tells John about the affair, begging him to talk it out. However, a dejected John walks out, bumping into Flor. Giving her a ride, she announces she is quitting, and they go to his restaurant, where he cooks for her. They kiss and have a genuine, deep conversation, realizing they cannot have a relationship. A desperate Deborah continuously tries to contact John and blames Evelyn's failings as a parent for the way she is. They have a frank conversation during which they become closer.
The next day, Flor comes to take her daughter home and informs her that she quit her job, upsetting Cristina. As they are leaving, John tells Flor he will envy whoever ends up with her. On the way home, Flor further upsets Cristina after telling her she cannot attend the private school. Cristina screams in the street, accusing Flor of ruining her life. After she asks her mother for "space", Flor says she needs to answer an important question: "Is what you want for yourself to become someone very different than me?" Cristina considers this on their bus ride home, and they make up and embrace.
Bond teams up with CIA agent Cedar Leiter, daughter of his old friend, Felix Leiter, to investigate one Markus Bismaquer, who is suspected of reviving the criminal organisation SPECTRE, which was believed to have been disbanded years earlier following the death of its leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, at the hands of Bond (in ''You Only Live Twice'').
The British Secret Service learns that Bismaquer is an obsessive collector of rare prints, so Bond and Cedar visit the man's huge ranch in Amarillo, Texas posing as art dealers. Their true identities are soon revealed, but not until Bond holds his own both in an impromptu (and fixed) car race arranged by Bismaquer, and in the bed of Bismaquer's frustrated wife, Nena. Nena, who has only one breast, quickly wins Bond's heart and his sympathy and Bond is convinced that Bismaquer is the one now being referred to as the new Blofeld.
Bond discovers that the revitalised SPECTRE plans to take over control of NORAD headquarters in order to gain control of America's military space satellite network. His true identity revealed, Bond is captured and brainwashed into believing he is an American general assigned to inspect NORAD. Although he has been set up to be killed in the ensuing attack by SPECTRE forces on the base, Bond regains his personality and his memory. Apparently Bismaquer, who is bisexual, has taken a liking to Bond and sabotaged the hypnosis.
When Bond returns to Bismaquer's ranch, he witnesses Bismaquer being killed by Nena, who is in fact the mind behind the operation and the daughter of Blofeld, a fact she confesses to Bond just before falling into the crushing grip of her pet pythons. She is later put out of her misery by Felix Leiter, who arrives on the scene to help rescue his daughter.
Anthony "Man" Stoner, an unemployed, marijuana-smoking drummer, is told to either get a job by sundown or be sent off to military school by his parents. Man leaves the house and later becomes stranded on the highway. Man is picked up while hitchhiking by the equally enthusiastic stoner Pedro de Pacas, and the two share a large joint, which is revealed to contain Labrador faeces after the dog ate Man's supply. When Pedro was having trouble breathing, Man accidentally gives him an extremely powerful dose of LSD. The police find their car parked on a traffic median with them in it, discover that they are high and arrest them. At trial, the pair are released on a technicality after Man discovers that the judge is drinking vodka.
In an attempt to procure more marijuana, they visit Pedro's cousin Strawberry, a Vietnam War veteran. During the party, a lady snorts a couple of lines of Ajax set up by Man, under the presumption it was cocaine, despite Man trying to warn her. They narrowly escape a police raid on Strawberry's house while Strawberry has a flashback and thinks the police are the Viet Cong, but are soon deported to Tijuana, by the INS, along with Pedro's relatives, who actually called the INS on themselves, so they could get a free ride to a wedding in Tijuana.
In order to get back to the United States, they arrange to pick up a vehicle from Pedro's uncle's upholstery shop, but arrive at the wrong address: a marijuana processing plant disguised as an upholstery shop. They end up unknowingly involved in a plot to smuggle a van constructed completely out of "fiberweed" (hardened THC resin derived from marijuana - a play on the word fiberglass) from Mexico to Los Angeles, with an inept police narcotics unit led by the insane and anti-drug Sgt. Stedenko hot on their trail. At the Mexican–American border, they almost get arrested but attention is diverted to a group of nuns (into whose car Man had thrown his joint unintentionally to avoid getting arrested). The duo then cross the border into America as Stedenko finds out from his unit that they have apprehended the wrong group. Stendenko realizes that Pedro and Man’s van is their target, and begin a pursuit; however, one of Stedenko's men accidentally shoots out one of their own tires, abruptly ending the chase.
Pedro and Man pick up two hitchhiking women who convince them to perform at a Battle of the Bands contest at the Roxy Theatre. After narrowly avoiding arrest by a motorcycle cop who had gotten high off fumes from the “fiberweed” van, they arrive at the venue to find that most of the bands performing are being negatively received by the audience, which causes Man to freak out. One of the women gives Man what she believes is an "upper", but mistakenly gives him the wrong drugs. The duo's band, Alice Bowie, win over the audience, including the cops, who get stoned due to a large amount of marijuana smoke from the burning van being funneled into the venue. The pair win the contest and a recording contract.
The film concludes with Pedro and Man driving in the former's car and dreaming how their future career will pay off. Man then lights a small portion of hash and gives some to Pedro. However, it falls into his lap, causing him to panic and swerve the car while trying to put it out; Man attempts to put the hash out with his beer. During the scuffle, the car swerves down the road and smoke billows out the windows.
Springfield is in the midst of a massive heat wave. Every building in the town has installed a large air conditioning device. However, this draws a lot of power from the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Despite the safety measures Mr. Burns has taken (cutting power to the orphanage), the plant is at full power. At home, without an air conditioning device, the Simpsons have to follow an old-fashioned fan. Homer decides to give them a taste of winter by plugging in his dancing Santa Claus. This overloads the plant and causes a town-wide blackout. After Lenny and Carl accidentally crash their cars into a store with no active alarm and decide to loot it, widespread rioting and looting occur. The police try to intervene, but are powerless to stop the massive crime wave.
The next day, Springfield has been devastated by the crime wave. Mayor Quimby decides to take legal action by forming a blue-ribbon committee. At the Simpsons' house, someone steals Lisa's Malibu Stacy collection. Homer decides to take action by looking for it. He finds the culprit, Jimbo Jones, and later foils a robbery by Snake Jailbird at the Kwik-E-Mart. He goes through a very long list of his previous jobs (during which Marge puts curlers in her hair offscreen) and decides that he likes the idea of combining his love of helping ''and'' hurting people. Homer forms his own security company called "SpringShield". Although it only has Homer, Lenny, and Carl, it is more efficient and more successful than the Springfield Police Department. When Quimby sees Chief Wiggum trying to shoot a Piñata with a shotgun while blindfolded, he dismisses Wiggum and (in a fit of rage) makes Homer the chief of police on live television.
After stopping one of Fat Tony's operations, Homer practically rids Springfield of crime. However, Fat Tony escapes and vows to kill Homer unless he leaves town. Homer is unable to get protection from the citizens he protects (only Ned Flanders volunteers, but Homer ignores his offer) and Lenny and Carl lock themselves in a jail cell. When Homer does not leave, Fat Tony arrives with a few of his own henchmen (including Johnny Tightlips), as well as mafia muscle—the characters of ''The Sopranos'' series. Just before they are about to kill Homer, an unseen sniper shoots the mobsters; injuring them and causing them to flee. Safe again, Homer resigns as police chief and offers the job to the first person who comes along, which is Wiggum (who notes that an identical situation is how he became chief in the first place). When Marge thanks him for saving Homer, Wiggum says that he did not shoot anyone, having lost his gun, badge and nearly his squad car. Unbeknownst to them, the person who saved Homer was Maggie, who fires at the mobsters from her window with a scoped sporting rifle.
The game begins with Kirby napping on a cloud, when he is awakened as a Waddle Dee walks by, carrying a round pinball-like bumper. He then sees King Dedede, carrying a long bumper. Suspicious of the King's intentions, Kirby hops on a warp star and follows him, determined to find out what he is up to. Soon, Kirby discovers that Dream Land has lost its stars and sets off to get them back.
Bond reluctantly finds himself recruited into a dangerous mission involving an equally dangerous and treacherous alliance of agents from the United States (CIA), the Soviet Union (KGB) and Israel (Mossad). The team, dubbed "Icebreaker", waste no time double-crossing each other. Ostensibly their job is to root out the leader of the murderous National Socialist Action Army (NSAA), Count Konrad von Glöda. The Count, who leads this secret neo-Nazi organisation in northern Finland at its secret headquarters known as the "Ice Palace", used to be known as Arne Tudeer, a one-time Nazi SS officer who now perceives himself as the new Adolf Hitler. The National Socialist Action Army is essentially a new wave of fascism as a means to wipe out communist leaders and supporters around the world.
The novel is full of double-crosses and even triple-crosses, where the agents and agencies go without sharing their true loyalties with one another. The American agent, for instance, first appears to be a good guy then later is in cahoots with Glöda, and then still even later is a good guy once again. Things become even more complicated when the Israeli agent, Rivke, is revealed to be the daughter of Glöda/Tudeer and her allegiance, although appearing to be legitimate, is doubtful. The Russian agent also double-crosses Bond in the hope of capturing him for KGB interrogation.
Bond gets several weeks of driving training from Erik Carlsson as preparation for this Arctic assignment.
After receiving a large inheritance, James Bond 007 is accused of improprieties and drummed out of the British Secret Service. Disgusted with his former employers, Bond places his services on the open market, where he later attracts the attention of representatives of SPECTRE who are quite willing to put their one-time enemy on their payroll. But the whole thing was a hoax, just a plan to get Bond inside the enemy's organization.
Prior to joining up, Bond spends a month in Monte Carlo with Miss 'Percy' Proud, a CIA agent who teaches him everything she knows about programming languages and computers in general. This background allows Bond to attract Jay Autem Holy, an agent of SPECTRE who left the Pentagon, faked his death, and later started a computer game company that creates simulations based on real-life battles and wars.
Bond's allegiance to SPECTRE is periodically questioned throughout the novel, even at one point going so far as to send Bond to a terrorist training camp (known as "Erewhon") to see if he has 'the right stuff'. Proving his worth, Bond becomes involved in a plot to destabilise the Soviet Union and the United States, by forcing them to rid the world of their nuclear weapons.
What SPECTRE leaders Tamil Rahani and Dr. Jay Autem Holy suspect, but never fully realise is that Bond's resignation is false. Along with Bond, the Secret Service plays a vital role in foiling SPECTRE; however, Rahani, the current leader of SPECTRE is able to escape Bond's clutches by parachuting out of an airship over Switzerland.
Ruthless Walter Ramsey runs Ramsey & Co., a Manhattan-based industrial empire he inherited from his father. He brings Fred Staples, a youthful industrial engineer whose performance at a company Ramsey has recently acquired has impressed him, in for a top executive job at the headquarters. Though Staples is initially clueless, Ramsey is grooming him to replace the aging Bill Briggs as the second in command at the company.
Briggs has been with the firm for decades, having worked for and admired the company's founder, Ramsey's father. His concern for the employees clashes repeatedly with Ramsey's ruthless methods. Ramsey will not fire Briggs outright but does everything in his power to sabotage and humiliate him into resigning. The old man stubbornly refuses to give in. Staples is torn by the messy situation, his ambition conflicting with his sympathy for Briggs.
The stress gets to Briggs, who collapses after a confrontation with Ramsey and later dies. This causes a heated showdown between Ramsey and Staples, in which Staples announces he is quitting. Ramsey rebukes him, asserting only men with his talent have what it takes to make a corporation like Ramsey & Company succeed. He offers Briggs' job and a enormous increase in salary to Staples, who resists. Ramsey increases the fever of his pitch, adding that Staples will never be able to reach his full potential anywhere else. Staples counters with double his salary, stock options, and the right to punch Ramsey in the jaw if he feels so inclined — adding that he will do all he can to replace him. Ramsey enthusiastically agrees to all of the conditions.
En route to retrieve his faithful housekeeper, May, from a European health clinic where she is recovering from an illness, Bond is warned by the British Secret Service that Tamil Rahani, the current leader of SPECTRE, now dying from wounds suffered due to his last encounter with Bond (as described in ''Role of Honour''), has put a price on Bond's head. "Trust no one," Bond is warned. Soon after, May and Miss Moneypenny, who had been visiting his housekeeper are reported missing, and Bond finds himself dodging would-be assassins while searching for his friends, assisted by a young débutante and her capable, yet mysterious, female bodyguard.
The price on Bond's head is a competition orchestrated by Rahani and SPECTRE known as 'The Head Hunt', and is an open contest to anyone willing to capture, kill, or present Bond to Rahani, where he would be subsequently decapitated by guillotine. Along Bond's journey of attempting to rescue Moneypenny and May, Bond is betrayed and chased by a number of people and organisations, including his own British Secret Service ally, Steve Quinn who has defected to the KGB, corrupted police officers, and agents of SPECTRE in disguise.
''No Deals, Mr. Bond'' begins with a mission in the Baltic Sea dubbed "Seahawk", which involves James Bond stealthily extracting two women that have completed an assignment in East Germany. After accomplishing his mission, the book continues five years later with Bond being called in by M to learn more background into what those women were doing there before being extracted. Their mission, dubbed ''Cream Cake'', was a honey trap that involved getting close to top Soviet personnel as a means to not only spy for the British Secret Service, but to secure the defection of two high ranking Soviet officers, an act that the Soviets occasionally performed against countries of the West. Involving four women and a man, the operation was considered a complete debacle that ended with the members being found out. After being extracted and given new identities, however, two of the women were discovered to have been gruesomely murdered. Bond is subsequently sent by M, "off the record", to find the remaining members of ''Cream Cake'' before they suffer the same fate.
During the adventure, Bond believes that Colonel Maxim Smolin, the primary target during operation ''Cream Cake'', is systematically killing off the former members of the ''Cream Cake'' operation and leaving a signature of having their tongues removed. This, however, is not the case, and, in actuality, Smolin is a turncoat now working with the British Secret Service. Instead, the former members, in addition to Smolin and another Soviet turncoat, Captain Dietrich, are being targeted by General Chernov, an agent of a department formerly known as SMERSH. The situation is further complicated after M gets a message to Bond warning him that one of the surviving ''Cream Cake'' members is a double and that he wants Chernov brought in alive.
Cheech & Chong are on a mission to siphon gasoline for their next door neighbor's car, which they apparently "borrowed," and continue with their day; Cheech goes to work at a movie studio and Chong searches for something to smoke (a roach), followed by him revving up an indoor motorcycle and playing extremely loud rock music with an electric guitar that disturbs the entire neighborhood. Cheech gets fired from his job for taking one of the studio vans home without permission and they go to see Donna, a welfare officer and Cheech's off and on girlfriend. Cheech successfully seduces Donna, under her objections, and gets her in trouble (and possibly fired) with her boss. The doped-up duo are expelled from the building and, in an attempt to find alternative means of income, start writing songs like, "Mexican Americans" and "Beaners."
Cheech answers the phone call from Donna, sets up a date, and goes to tell Chong to get lost so he can clean the house and get ready for Donna. The phone rings again with Cheech thinking it's Donna and turns out to be Red, Cheech's "kinda" cousin, with money problems and a plea for help. Cheech asks Chong to pick up his cousin and hang out with him as Cheech informs him they have similar interests like "go to clubs," "get plenty of chicks," and "likes to get high." Chong heads off to the hotel where Red is staying and arrives to find him in a dispute with the receptionist over how much the room is costing ("$37.50 a week, not a goddamned day!"). The receptionist is holding his luggage, consisting of a boom-box, a suitcase, and a 20-pound canvas bag full of high-grade marijuana, hostage and Red can't afford the bill. They break into the room around the back and Red retrieves his luggage and the receptionist is falsely arrested after calling the cops to arrest Chong and Red but accidentally assaults them and is taken away to jail.
Later, on the corner, a roller-skater invites them to a "party," which is in fact a brothel. They are kicked out of the place for causing too much commotion, sharing weed with the girls, and urinating in the Jacuzzi. They then play a recording from Red's boombox that Red recorded earlier when the police arrived at the hotel he was staying at over the dispute with his luggage, which scares everyone off. One of the girls from the brothel accompanies them and they all go onto Sunset Boulevard in search of adventure and more highness. After visiting the house of a girl's parents, whom they found at a music store on Ventura Boulevard, they all get into the parents' Rolls Royce, light up a spliff, and drive to a stand-up comedy club where they tell jokes and encounter the angry hotel receptionist who was falsely arrested earlier that day and begin a commotion with him and a large female bouncer leading to a rally fight. Later that night, they are chased by the cops as they check out Red's weed fields out in the countryside. They set off fireworks and are suddenly abducted by a UFO along with several of the cannabis plants. Cheech meanwhile gets so pumped and excited about the date that he wears himself out and ends up sleeping through it, while dreaming about what might have happened. He wakes up in the morning to find Chong (who was abducted by aliens alongside Red) bursting in, dressed in what appears to be a cross between Genghis Khan and a Viking, holding a jar of "space coke", which Chong says, "It'll blow your head off." The "space coke" causes Cheech to go berserk and starts trashing their next door neighbor's house with a surprised Chong following after. The film ends with the duo bursting through their neighbor's roof into outer space, achieving the ultimate high and Chong dropping the "space coke" back to Earth for others to try which leads to an animated sequence with Cheech and Chong ascending into a blunt which then takes off displaying the caption "That's It Man!"
Declan Desmond, an opinionated British documentary film producer, films a documentary at Springfield Elementary School on the students' lives. He interviews Bart as he gets hit by a ball of dirt thrown by Nelson and breaks down in tears. Later, Declan belittles Lisa as she talks about the multiplicity of her interests, insinuating that she could neither be happy nor successful juggling too many hobbies or passions. Hurt by his criticism, Lisa resolves to find a single passion to which she can devote herself; astronomy. She convinces Homer to buy her a telescope, but discovers that light pollution from the city is blocking her view of the sky. After a discussion with Professor Frink, Lisa starts a petition to reduce the city's light pollution. After gaining enough signatures, Mayor Quimby agrees to turn off the streetlights, leading to a clear view of the stars, at which many people from Springfield marvel.
Meanwhile, Bart is looking for a way to regain his popularity after being humiliated. After seeing Nelson parading around with stolen car hood ornaments, he decides to steal one off Fat Tony's car. Milhouse and Bart are foiled on their first attempt because Quimby is pressured to switch the lights back on due to rising crime. Yet the light level is set too high which means that no one can sleep so Lisa, still wanting to see the light pollution reduced, and Bart, still wanting to steal Fat Tony's hood ornament, take a now sleep-deprived Homer to the power plant and overload the generators causing a power outage, which ends the light pollution, but before the angry citizens can attack, Lisa points out a meteor shower and the town looks on in wonderment while Bart sneaks off and steals Fat Tony's hood ornament, with Don McLean's song "Vincent" playing in the background.
The show ends with a montage of clips from Declan's documentary.
In the middle of the night, Charlotte Elbourne, a young human woman, is abducted from her home by Baron Meier Link, a vampire nobleman. Several days later, Charlotte's wealthy and wheelchair-bounded father, John, hires D, a dhampir, to find her and rescue her, dead or alive. He offers D a large reward, then doubles it at D's request.
At the same time, Charlotte's older brother Adam has hired the Marcus Brothers, composed of their leader Borgoff, the hulking Nolt, the blade master Kyle, the frail/physically bedridden psychic Grove, and a woman named Leila, who holds a grudge towards vampires. D and the Marcus Brothers race after Meier, learning that Charlotte was not kidnapped but chose to accompany him out of love for the vampire.
Meier hires the mutant Barbarois to guard him, consisting of the shapeshifter Caroline, the shadow manipulator Benge, and the werewolf Machira. Nolt is killed by Benge, resulting in the brothers confronting the Barbarois in their home territory. At the same time, D visits them. Grove causes a large ruckus using his psychic powers, and D becomes trapped in a void that Benge creates. D escapes the void after, and the Marcus Brothers avenge Nolt by killing Benge but are forced to replenish their supplies. They travel to a nearby western town, where Leila convinces the town's local sheriff to stop D. Law enforcement is unsuccessful in preventing him from leaving when D is helped by an old man who recalls the dhampir rescuing him from vampires as a child.
Meier's carriage stops to rest during the daytime, and Charlotte wanders out, meeting D and Leila. The two fight against Caroline while Machira escapes with the carriage. D defeats Caroline but is forced to seek shelter after absorbing too much sunlight. Leila faces a revived Caroline and survives only by chance when lightning strikes the mutant, killing her instantly. She takes shelter with D after and reveals that a vampire back in her childhood had kidnapped her mother. This resulted in her being stoned to death by the people of her hometown when she returned as a completely different person, and killed her father. She then joined the Marcus Brothers to avenge her parents' deaths. The two make a pact to visit each other's graves upon who dies first. She remarks that D will likely be the only person who will visit hers since dhampirs do not age.
The Marcus Brothers trap Meier's carriage on a bridge by bombing it. However, their trap is foiled by Machira's enhanced senses, resulting in Kyle being killed and Borgoff falling off the bridge but surviving, losing an eye. Meier and Charlotte reach the Castle of Chaythe, where Countess Carmilla Elizabeth Bathory awaits them. Meanwhile, Machira stays behind to fight D, but the vampire hunter slays him.
It is then revealed that Meier and Charlotte had reached out to the Countess, hoping they could fly to the City of the Night, a vampire refuge located in space. However, Carmilla betrays the couple, temporarily slaying Meier and tricking Charlotte into being bitten. Revived by Charlotte's blood, she uses hallucinations to haunt D, Borgoff, and Leila. D is unaffected and saves Leila from her hallucinations depicting her tragic childhood, but Borgoff is tricked and turned. Grove reappears and saves Leila by blowing up the now vampiric Borgoff with an embrace. Grove then dies as a result. D confronts Carmilla and is able to destroy her spirit whilst a reawakened Meier destroys her physical body. D and Meier then clash for a final time, with D gaining the upper hand. During the fight, Charlotte dies from her wounds, with her ring tossed to D and Meier by Leila. D ultimately spares Meier's life and leaves the castle with Leila while taking Charlotte's ring as proof for her father and brother. As Meier uses the castle's ship to depart to the City of the Night, D and Leila look on, with Leila wishing the vampire success.
Years later, a funeral is held for Leila, with a large crowd attending. Among the crowd is Leila's granddaughter, who recognizes D from a distance and invites him to spend time with her family, but he kindly refuses. D reveals he is glad Leila was wrong about nobody being at her funeral and leaves contentedly.
Lee Majors plays Colt Seavers, a Hollywood stunt man who moonlights as a bounty hunter. He uses his physical skills and knowledge of stunt effects (especially stunts involving cars or his large GMC pickup truck) to capture fugitives and criminals. He is accompanied by his cousin and stuntman-in-training Howie Munson (Barr), who studied in Nashville - whom Colt frequently calls "Kid", and occasionally by fellow stuntwoman Jody Banks (Thomas).
Based on historic events, this dramatic film concerns the 1939 voyage of the German-flagged , which departed from Hamburg carrying 937 Jews from Germany, ostensibly bound for Havana, Cuba. The passengers, having seen and suffered rising antisemitism in Germany, realised this might be their only chance to escape. The film details the emotional journey of the passengers, who gradually become aware that their passage was planned as an exercise in propaganda, and that it had never been intended that they disembark in Cuba. Rather, they were to be set up as pariahs, to set an example before the world. As a Nazi official states in the film, when the whole world has refused to accept the Jews as refugees, no country can blame Germany for their fate.
The Cuban government refuses entry to the passengers, and the liner heads to the United States. As it waits off the Florida coast, the passengers learn that the United States also has rejected them, leaving the captain no choice but to return to Europe. The captain tells a confidante that he has received a letter signed by 200 passengers saying they will join hands and jump into the sea rather than return to Germany. He states his intention to run the liner aground on a reef off the southern coast of England, to allow the passengers to be rescued and reach safety there.
Shortly before the film's end, it is revealed that the governments of Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have each agreed to accept a share of the passengers as refugees. As they cheer and clap at the news, footnotes disclose the fates of some of the main characters, suggesting that more than 600 of the 937 passengers, who did not resettle in Britain but in the other European nations, ultimately were deported and were murdered in Nazi concentration camps.
The premise of the show is fairly simple: long, long ago, the race of Nisser lived happily in Denmark getting up to mischief with the humans, drinking, and making merry. Then the "Nå-såere" came - evil, vampire-esque creatures with an unhealthy obsession for money and counting - and almost eradicated the Nisser. A few Nisser survived and escaped to America, among them good old ''Gammelnok'' (literally, "old enough", the one character not to be played by a member of De Nattergale), who is now on the brink of death, as the music box that plays his life tune needs to be wound up.
''Gammelnok'' gathers three of the remaining Nisser (Hansi, Günther, and Fritz (all distinctly German names)) and sends them off to Denmark, to find the old Nisse cave where the key to wind up the music box is. He gives them ''The Big Book'' to take with them, an ancient tome that contains the answer to any and all questions, warning them to take great care that it does not fall into the hands of a Nå-såer. If this were to happen, all would be lost. They are also warned to take care, as the Nå-såere nowadays have taken the appearance of normal humans, but when they consume alcohol, they regain their original appearance, with fangs, and thick-rimmed glasses. The three merrily set off, and this is where the first episode begins.
One of the quirks of the series, and one which made up a good share of its appeal, is the strange language that the Nisser speak. They themselves call it English, but it is an odd mixture of both Danish and English vocabulary, grammar, and sentence structure, leading to some very humorous phrases and structures (at least, to anyone who speaks both English and Danish). This was likely a good-natured jest at the heavy Danish accent that many Danes speak with, and the (back then) fairly low level of English proficiency of Danes, especially outside of large cities. Examples of particularly interesting, odd, or funny phrases are listed here (without an understanding of Danish, the humour will likely be lost):
"He who first gets to the mill is he who first gets painted" "Think you da lige a little about" "Let us straks try to smake it!" "That is der simpelthen overhead not noget to do with"
Additionally, key characters, events, or items are also called by odd hybrid names: the music box, for example, is a ''play dåse'', Father Christmas is ''the Christmas man'' and the act of wood-carving is called "snitting". Since De Nattergale are actually musicians (albeit comedy musicians), the Nisser often burst into song, or find excuses to work music into each episode.
Another large part of the appeal are the highly stereotypical Danes that the same three actors also play: Oluf and Gertrud Sand, a country bumpkin couple that live and work on a potato farm in Jutland, and Benny Jensen, a travelling salesman (or so he claims) from Copenhagen (who turns out to be a Nå-såer). Oluf and Gertrud speak with a broad country dialect, often leading to Benny misunderstanding what they say. There is also a large clash between the two different ways of life (as Benny comes to move in with Oluf and Gertrud in an early episode, as his car runs out of petrol, punctures, breaks down completely, and then gets stolen, supposedly by the "Polish Mafia"). Benny also thinks Oluf's father's name, Anders Sand, is funny, because it closely resembles Anders And, the Danish name for Donald Duck.
Janosch (Sascha Backhaus) has problems at school and despises the lifestyle of his bourgeois mother. He runs away from home, to his friend Koma (Simon Goerts), who he had met at a holiday camp. Koma is an Oi! skinhead (also known as a punk-skinhead). He is a particular sort of skinhead who has little political motivations, preferring a lifestyle of partying and binge drinking, and whose musical tastes are a synthesis of skinhead and punk rock music.
Koma's girlfriend is pregnant, and wants him to change his ways. She blows up his secret hideaway with dynamite, but this only infuriates Koma, who blames this on the punks he had gotten into a fight with previously.
Meanwhile, Janosch meets Zottel (Jens Veith), a punk who earns a living with small circus acts at wealthy people's parties. The two fall in love, but their happiness is cut short when Koma attacks Zottel and kills him. In a fit of fury, Janosch grabs a brick and slays Koma.
Gordon Miller, a flat-broke theatrical producer, whose staff includes Harry Binelli and Faker Englund, is told by his brother-in-law Joseph Gribble, manager of the White Way Hotel, that he and his cast of twenty-two actors, who have run up a bill of $1,200, must leave the hotel immediately or face the wrath of supervising director Gregory Wagner. Miller has hidden the cast and crew of his play, ''Hail and Farewell'', in the empty hotel ballroom. Miller is planning on skipping out on the hotel without paying the bill when he receives word that one of his actresses, Christine Marlowe, has arranged for a backer. Miller must keep his room and the cast and crew hidden until he can meet with the backer and receive a check.
At the same time, Wagner discovers Miller's debt. Assured by Gribble that Miller had skipped without paying his bill, Wagner is surprised to find Miller still in his room, now joined by the play's author, Leo Davis, who has arrived in town and checked into Miller's room.
When Wagner threatens to evict Miller before the backer can arrive, Miller and Binelli convince Davis to pretend to be sick. To obtain food, Miller promises waiter Sasha Smirnoff a part in the play. When Davis leaves to meet with girlfriend Hilda Manney, Englund takes over as the sick patient examined by a doctor brought in by Mr. Wagner. Wagner leaves to confront the crowd in the ballroom, while the doctor examines the patient. To delay the doctor giving his report to Wagner, Binelli and Miller tie him up, gag him, and lock him in the bathroom. The agent for Zachary Fisk, the wealthy backer, arrives to sign over the check, the doctor breaks free in the bathroom, and the agent is hit on the head accidentally as Englund chases a flying turkey around with a baseball bat. The agent just wants to escape the madness, but reluctantly signs over the check, and leaves.
Davis returns and says he heard the agent say he will stop payment on the check, and just signed it to get out of the room. Wagner is fooled into believing all is well, and upgrades the boys to a fancier room and extends them more credit. Later, as the play is about to open, the check from Fisk bounces, Miller, Binelli, and Englund manipulate Wagner into believing he's driven the play's author to take poison. They pretend to give Davis large quantities of Ipecac (which is actually drunk by Englund), and he eventually pretends to die. Then Englund disappears and reappears pretending to have committed suicide. Wagner is bluffed into believing it's all his fault and helps take the "body" down to the alley. As Miller and Wagner prop Englund on a crate, a passing policeman asks what's going on. Miller bluffs their way out of the situation, so he and Wagner make an escape, leaving Englund "asleep". They go to watch the end of the play, which is a scene where the miners are bringing a body from out of the mine. The body on the stretcher is Englund's. Wagner realizes he's been duped as the play is greeted with thunderous applause and a revived Davis appears next to Wagner, causing him to faint.
Department-store owner Hiram Phelps has died, leaving half-ownership in the store to his nephew, singer Tommy Rogers. The other half is owned by Hiram's sister and Tommy's aunt Martha Phelps. Rogers has no interest in running a department store, so he plans to sell his interest in the store and use the money to build a music conservatory. Mr. Grover, the store manager, plots to kill Rogers before he can sell his half of the business, marry the wealthy Martha and then likely kill her, becoming sole owner of the store. Martha is suspicious, worried about Tommy's safety if anyone should suspect her of engaging in foul play to take over the store. Against Grover's wishes, she hires private detective Wolf J. Flywheel as a floorwalker and Tommy's bodyguard. Tommy is in love with store employee Joan Sutton and Flywheel romances Martha. Flywheel, Ravelli and Wacky eventually expose Grover and save Tommy.
Medical student Paula Henning wins a place in a summer course at the University of Heidelberg, where her grandfather had been a renowned professor. During one of her classes on anatomy, the body of David, a young man whom Paula encountered on her train to Heidelberg, turns up on her dissection table. Paula's instructor, Professor Grombek, humiliates her by daring her to dissect the heart. Paula finds that David's body bears strange incisions, and decides to investigate the mysterious circumstances surrounding his death. As she proceeds to cut a sample for an independent test, she is intrigued to find a triple "A" mark near David's ankle. She is then startled by the school's mortuary attendant, who wants to know if Professor Grombek is aware of her acts.
Paula finds clues pointing to an ancient secret society, the Anti-Hippocratic Society, which performs gruesome experiments on living people who they deem undesirable. Paula also comes across research about the rituals that they perform on transgressors of their rules, or those who inquire too much. One night, Paula sits on her bed and realizes it has been soaked in blood, with candles lit underneath, as a sign of warning from the Society. She then attacks a figure that enters her room, but it turns out to be her friend Hein, who is seeking consolation over his recent breakup from his girlfriend Gretchen, who has since started seeing Phil, another student. While they talk, Casper, Paula's romantic interest, stops by and is upset that she is not alone and storms off. Hein leaves, apparently more at peace.
As Gretchen and Phil prepare to have sex in one of the morgue halls, Hein murders Phil in a jealous rage. He then injects Gretchen with poison, telling her that he will preserve her body. He is so absorbed in the work that he falls asleep without having disposed of Phil’s body. Hein hides it in the morgue and removes the head to prevent identification. When Paula tries to share her findings about the Society with Hein the next day, he menacingly tells her it's dangerous to know too much. Grombek reveals that her grandfather was a member, and that the drug he became famous for developing was the result of his experiments in Nazi concentration camps. She flees to the hospital to confront her grandfather, but is told that he has died.
At the assembly of the Society, Hein expresses no remorse for the murders and defiantly accepts their punishment, slashing himself three times in the face. Grombek takes responsibility for the killings and leaves to call the authorities to arrest Hein. Later, while Paula destroys the diplomas granted to her grandfather, a crazed Hein kills Grombek in his house. Paula gets back to the school but is trapped by Hein and his accomplice, Ludwig. While they are preparing her for preservation, her bindings are partially cut by Casper. Paula gets loose, poisons Ludwig, and runs away until Hein strikes a high voltage cable and dies. Casper and Paula then escape together.
Halfway through the end credits, a sequence shows two of Paula's classmates praising Hein's abilities in dissection and preservation, discussing Grombek's imminent replacement, and how in their respective practices they will keep a low profile while experimenting for the Anti-Hippocratic Society.
M receives word that a terrorist organisation known as BAST (Brotherhood of Anarchy and Secret Terrorism) is planning to infiltrate and destroy a top-secret Royal Navy aircraft carrier-based summit, the "Stewards' Meeting", scheduled a year hence, comprising American President George H. W. Bush, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev. James Bond is returned to active duty in the Royal Navy and promoted from Commander to Captain, in order to infiltrate the aircraft carrier HMS ''Invincible'' and identify potential sleeper agents.
In the months leading to the top-secret summit, Bond spends his time training at Yeovilton learning to fly a Navy Sea Harrier jet. Learning of Bond's mission, BAST decides that he is a hindrance to their plans and attempts to kill him by attempting to shoot him down during a Sea Harrier training exercise. Later, when Bond goes on holiday in Italy, another attempt is made on his life. Bond escapes, but is apparently unable to save his then-current girlfriend, Beatrice Maria da Ricci.
Returning from holiday Bond boards HMS ''Invincible'' and is tasked with security for the "Stewards' Meeting", all while a massive war game is being carried out among the American, British, and Soviet Navies, known as ''Landsea '89''. Before long Bond is at the centre of a murder investigation of an American Naval Intelligence officer, and he leaves to report the incident, BAST executes its plans to capture the ship and hold the world's three most powerful leaders for a $600 billion ransom.
After expressing frustration over a lack of action after his year-long mission with the Royal Navy (as detailed in ''Win, Lose or Die''), Bond threatens to resign. Instead, M orders Bond to take a vacation. Bond travels to Victoria, British Columbia where he is intrigued by Lee Fu-Chu, a half-Blackfoot, half-Chinese philanthropist who is known as "Brokenclaw" because of a deformed hand.
Later, Bond is ordered to San Francisco where he is tasked to investigate the kidnapping of several scientists who have been working on a new submarine detection system and an "antidote" known as LORDS and LORDS DAY. Bond and CIA agent Chi-Chi Sue go undercover using the codenames Peter Abelard and Héloïse that were assigned to two agents from the People's Republic of China that are sent to evaluate the submarine technology before purchasing it.
Ultimately, Bond discovers that Brokenclaw is involved in this scheme on behalf of China, and also has plans of his own which involve sparking a worldwide economic disaster by bringing about the collapse of the dollar by tapping into the New York Stock Exchange, which would in turn bring down other major currencies worldwide. The plan, dubbed ''Operation Jericho'' was a long-term plan initially started by the Japanese, but now believed to have been worked on simultaneously by the Chinese before being acquired by Brokenclaw.
Brokenclaw's hideout in California is raided by Special Forces after he is located by Naval Intelligence officer Ed Rushia who was searching and attempting to help Bond and Chi-Chi while on their mission. Brokenclaw escapes the raid only to be tracked down by Bond and Rushia, off the books, to the Chelan Mountains of Washington where Bond is challenged to a torture ritual known as o-kee-pa. In the end, the competition comes down to a fight between the two using bow and arrows; Brokenclaw barely misses Bond and in turn is shot through the neck by Bond's arrow.
In the land of Lyr, an unpopular carnival jester called Fargus, and his stick-puppet Sid, are seeking a new career. Meanwhile, a talented acrobat named Nikki, bored of carnival life, runs away to pursue her dream of being a wizard. Fargus, Sid, and Nikki meet at a "Wizards in Training" seminar at Lancelot Castle. The seminar turns out to be rather boring, so during a break Nikki and Fargus steal the speaker's spellbook and take it to the high balcony overlooking the village.
When Nikki begins practicing with the magical book, Fargus and Sid urge her to perform a 10th level spell. With a few magical words, a green monster called Yungo appears and consumes the entire village. They search the book for how to get rid of the monster. The book reveals that they'll have to obtain a wish from the Wishing Engine. With a map from the book to help them, they set off on their journey.
When they find the Wishing Engine, it tells them to speak three wishes. Fargus wishes for a chicken just to confirm that it works. Nikki wishes that the village was returned to as it was before the spell was cast. Nikki and Fargus are then teleported back to the top of Lancelot Castle. Yungo spits out the village and is pulled back into his own dimension. Nikki ponders what happened to their third wish, and Fargus guiltily admits that out of desire to share his joy with the world, he wished that everyone back home could be just like him, inadvertently turning everyone in the village into Fargus clones. Nikki and Fargus resign themselves to another trip to the Wishing Engine.
''The Man from Barbarossa'' begins with a prelude that includes some background information on the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union codenamed Operation Barbarossa, the massacre at Babi Yar that occurred not long after, and information on Josif Voronstov, a fictional character said to be a deputy of real-life Paul Blobel who was primarily responsible for the massacre.
When the story begins, an elderly American living in New Jersey is kidnapped by a Russian terrorist group called the "Scales of Justice". The man, Joel Penderek, was captured under the belief that he is Josif Voronstov, the war criminal partially responsible for the massacre at Babi Yar. The group demands the Soviet government put the man on trial for his crimes, and begins murdering government officials when leaders refuse and are slow to react. The situation is slightly more complicated as the CIA and the Mossad believe Voronstov to be a man located in Florida who they had under surveillance.
Captain James Bond is partnered with an Israeli Mossad agent, Pete Natkowitz, and two agents from the French Secret Service, Henri Rampart and Stephanie Adoré. They are assigned to work with Bory Stepakov and his assistant Nina Bibikova from the KGB to infiltrate the Scales of Justice posing as a TV crew so as to discover their real motive. Accomplishing this, they learn that the group plans to sabotage ''perestroika'' and supply Iraq with nuclear weapons before the United Nations-led coalition invades.
The man behind the Scales of Justice, General Yevgeny Yuskovich, is a cousin of Josif Voronstov who is identified as Joel Penderek. The trial was staged in order to shift focus away from Yuskovich's other plans.
The aftermath of the Cold War provides the setting for the plot of ''Death Is Forever''. After the deaths of a British Intelligence agent and an American agent with the CIA working in Germany under mysterious and surprisingly old-fashioned circumstances, James Bond and CIA agent Elizabeth Zara ("Easy") St. John are assigned to track down the surviving members of "Cabal", a Cold War-era intelligence network that received a mysterious and unauthorised signal to disband. Soon, Bond finds himself playing a life-or-death game of "Who do You Trust?" as he and Easy track down Wolfgang Weisen, the power responsible for killing off Cabal's members one by one. Bond uncovers Weisen's plot to kill off the heads of each European country during the inaugural run of the Eurostar from London to Paris in an effort to create havoc in the west and usher in a second era of Communism.
More than most other Gardner novels, ''Death Is Forever'' is grounded in contemporary events, with the fallout from the end of the Cold War and the failed 1991 Russian coup being important backdrops to the story. The Eurotunnel connecting England and France, which was still under construction at the time the book was written, also serves as a major setting.
A murder in Switzerland of Laura March with MI5 connections follows assassinations in Rome, London, Paris & Washington. Left at each scene is a rose with marks of drops of blood on the petal. Bond is sent to investigate where he meets the lovely Swiss agent Fredericka von Grüsse whom he later calls Flicka when on better terms.
Trails lead to a former international stage actor, David Dragonpol, a friend of March who lives in a castle on the Rhine called Schloss Drache which he is turning into a theatre museum. They also meet a widow and flower grower, Maeve Horton.
With the help of his latest girlfriend Flicka von Grüsse, James goes after billionaire Sir Maxwell Tarn, who thinks he's the next Hitler. Captain Bond now works for MicroGlobe One rather than an ill M whom he visits to cheer up and keep informed of the plot. The global trail takes 007 to Puerto Rico via Spain, Israel and Germany.
During the story, Bond proposes to Flicka. An old friend reappears to aid James and split up this spy twosome.
The novel is split into two books, one called "Cold Front" and the second entitled "Cold Conspiracy". The time between each book appears to be the time period allotted to Gardner's previous Bond outings, ''Never Send Flowers'' and ''SeaFire''. The story opens with the crash of a Boeing 747-400 at Dulles International Airport in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., and the apparent death of Bond's friend and lover, the Principessa Sukie Tempesta. Bond is then sent by M to the airport with an investigation team which leads to meetings with FBI agent Eddie Rhabb.
The main action takes place in Italy at the home of the Tempesta brothers, Luigi and Angelo, where Bond gets caught in the act with one of the brothers' wives. As James later explains to M, the lady made the advances. The enemy of the story is provided by a terrorist army called COLD, which stands for Children Of the Last Days.
''The Facts of Death'' starts off with several deaths from mysterious diseases. We first find Bond in Cyprus, where a number of British troops have been discovered murdered under mysterious circumstances. Bond gets too close for comfort to the group behind the murders and is attacked, but rescued by a fiery Greek agent, Niki Mirakos, who becomes Bond's love interest. Bond then returns to Britain, where he is invited to attend a dinner party being held by Sir Miles Messervy, the former M. The current M and her boyfriend are also in attendance, and the latter is murdered after the party. M then tells Bond that all of the killings are connected—near all the bodies were statues of Greek deities and numbers, keeping a running count of the victims. Bond is sent to Greece and partnered with Niki. They are both suspicious of an internationally-known mathematic cult called the Decada. The head of the group is a Greek mathematician, Konstantine Romanos. Bond goes to a casino about two hours away from Athens and beats Romanos in a game of baccarat, catching the attention of an attractive woman named Hera Volopoulos, also a member of the Decada. After she and Bond make love, she drugs Bond and takes him to Konstantine. Konstantine orders Hera to kill Bond, but he manages to escape. Bond realises that Konstantine plans to start a major war between Greece and Turkey, and locates his hideout just in time to witness Hera murder Konstantine. She leaves Bond to stop a nuclear missile that will be fired from Greece into Turkey. Hera's plan is to profit from the chaos ensuing after she releases a new virus worldwide. Bond, with assistance from the Greek military, kills her and stops the missile.
Locations where the book takes place include: * Los Angeles * Tokyo * Austin, Texas * Cyprus * London * Greece
Bond faces off against a ruthless terrorist organisation called "The Union", whose trademark assassination technique is throat-slitting. Bond and his girlfriend Helena are attending a dinner party thrown by a former Governor of the Bahamas. The Governor, who owes a gambling debt to a member of The Union, has refused to pay up since he believes he was cheated. Accordingly, there is a heightened security presence at the event. However, an assassin disguises himself as one of the guards and kills the Governor, just as Bond realises the danger. Bond almost catches the assassin, who commits suicide before he can be interrogated.
A top secret British formula hidden in microfilm, codenamed "Skin 17", is stolen by two traitors, scientist Steven Harding and RAF officer Roland Marquis. The microdot is surgically implanted in the pacemaker of an unhealthy old man, a former Chinese intelligence agent. Bond is sent to recover it before the Union can sell the microfilm to a foreign power.
Bond tracks Harding and the Chinese ex-agent to Belgium, but they slip away while Bond kills Harding's bodyguard Basil. MI6 tracks the Chinese man to Nepal. It turns out, however, that Harding plans to double-cross the Union by having the plane carrying the pacemaker's host hijacked. Le Gerrant, the blind leader of The Union, immediately deduces Harding's double-cross and has him executed; Harding's body later washes up on the beach at Gibraltar.
The plane containing the pacemaker's host crashed in the Himalayas, so a deadly race commences to recover Skin 17. Bond, sexy mountaineer Hope Kendal, and Roland Marquis, also Bond's rival from schoolboy days, lead one of the expeditions. Early on, they destroy the Chinese base camp, forcing that team to withdraw. Not long after, however, everyone on the British expedition is killed, save for Bond, Hope and Marquis. It turns out that Marquis is in on the theft with Harding, though they don't plan to sell it to The Union. The race climaxes with Bond battling Marquis atop the peak of Kangchenjunga. After a physical high-elevation fight, Bond trades oxygen from a mortally wounded Marquis for Skin 17. Bond and Hope return to base camp to find Paul Baack, a team member believed to have died with the rest, who reveals his affiliation with the Union and demands Skin 17. Bond and Hope manage to kill Baack and Skin 17 is returned to the British.
Meanwhile, Helena reveals herself to be a reluctant agent for The Union, who threatened to harm her family if she did not do their bidding, but she is killed before Bond can reach her.
Locations where the book takes place include: * The Bahamas * London * Buckinghamshire * Hampshire * Belgium * Delhi, India * Morocco * Nepal * Mt. Kangchenjunga * Brighton
''DoubleShot'', the second novel in Raymond Benson's ''Union'' trilogy, again sets James Bond, 007 against the evil terrorist organization called the Union. Still smarting from their last encounter with 007 when he foiled their plans to get Skin 17 in ''High Time to Kill'', the Union has decided that Britain and James Bond are their new number one priority, and targets. Coming up with an elaborate plan to plunge Britain into war and destroy Bond's reputation in the process, the Union sets up their scheme. Domingo Espada, a Spanish Nationalist/Gangster/Ex-Matador who wishes to see Gibraltar returned to Spain from Britain, is approached by Nadir Yassasin, the Union's master strategist, as the centrepiece to their plan. They plan to help Espada forcefully take control of Gibraltar, killing the British Prime Minister and the Governor of Gibraltar, and having a Bond-Double do it, thus ruining Bond's career and life. But first, through an elaborate series of events, they convince Bond he is losing his mind, and force him to investigate these happenings on his own, without approval from M or SIS.
Since Bond's return from the Himalayas, he begins experiencing terrible headaches, hallucinations, and black-outs. This leads him to Dr. Kimberly Feare. She diagnoses a lesion on the back of Bond's skull that is causing these symptoms. After getting Dr. Feare in bed, Bond wakes up to find her murdered, her throat slit ear-to-ear, the Union's mark. This causes Bond to leave England. Bond's trek takes him from England to Tangier, where he encounters the Taunt twins, Heidi and Hedy, CIA agents asked by M to bring him back to London. Here Bond finds the connection between the Union and Espada, and that he has some part in the Union's plan. Convincing M and the Taunts to play out his hand, Bond goes to Spain. On arrival in Spain, he encounters Margareta Piel, Espada's female assassin and a member of the Union. Followed closely by the climax of Bond vs. his double in Espada's practice bullfighting ring, and the culmination of the Union's plot at the Gibraltar peace conference, Bond takes his double's place and along with the Taunt twins, prevent the assassinations, kills Espada, Piel, Jimmy Powers (a high-ranking American in the Union, and their number one expert in stealth and tailing), and captures Yassasin, foiling the Union's plans once again.
It begins when a police raid goes horribly wrong, killing innocent men, women, and even children. Bond knows the Union is behind the carnage, and vows to take them down once and for all. His hunt takes him to Paris, into a deadly game of predator and prey, and a fateful meeting with the seductive Tylyn Mignonne, a movie star with a sordid past, who may lead Bond to his final target—or his own violent end. Eventually it leads him to the Union's latest attack on society, which involves Tylyn's husband, Leon Essinger, and his new movie, ''Pirate Island'', which stars Tylyn.
The conclusion to Benson's Union Trilogy. Locations are Nice, Paris, Cannes, Monte Carlo and Corsica (also briefly in Los Angeles, Japan and Chicago).
Sonic and Tails are about to take a holiday when Tails notices an advertisement for a "World Grand Prix".[https://oldgamesdownload.com/wp-content/uploads/Sonic_R_Manual_Saturn_EN.pdf ''Sonic R'' Instruction Booklet]. North American, Sega Saturn version. p 3 (PDF) While not initially interested, Sonic notices that Dr. Robotnik is also participating in the race, which persuades him to change his mind and enter the race. It is revealed that Robotnik has recently learned of the whereabouts of the rare and powerful Chaos Emeralds, with which he aspires to enslave the world, and that he intends to gather them during the World Grand Prix while using a group of robotic henchmen he has built to best Sonic. Knuckles and Amy overhear of Robotnik's plan and decide to compete. Together, the four must balance both winning races and obtaining the Chaos Emeralds to keep them out of Robotnik's reach.
Officer Frank Williams and his partner Blaine investigate an abandoned house, where they find a young woman with her eyes ripped out. A large figure with an axe then murders Blaine and Frank has his arm chopped off before he is able to shoot the attacker in the head. Afterwards, detectives find seven bodies in the house, all of which have had their eyes ripped out.
Four years later, Frank and his partner Hannah take a group of delinquents - Christine, Kira, Michael, Tyson, Zoe, Melissa, Richie, and Russell to clean up the abandoned Blackwell Hotel in order to turn it into a homeless shelter, as explained by the owner Margaret.
That night, while Michael, Zoe, Russell, and Melissa go upstairs to the penthouse, Tyson and Richie decide to look for the previous owner's safe, and find what appears to be the body of a recently deceased man. Richie panics and runs off, only to be dragged into an elevator with a hook by Jacob Goodnight. When Margaret mentions the elevator is being used, Hannah goes to check on the group, but is killed in the elevator. Christine tries to help Kira escape the hotel, but Jacob attacks Kira with his hook and drags her into a dumbwaiter. Christine and Frank go upstairs to find the others, and run into Tyson who tells them what happened to Richie. Frank realizes it must be Jacob and is then pulled into the ceiling by the hook and killed.
Kira is held hostage by Jacob because of her religious tattoos, and is kept captive in a cage where she witnesses Richie having his eyes torn out. Melissa and Russell go off into a room on their own, but are chased by Jacob. Russell tries to lower Melissa out of a window, but he is killed by Jacob. Then, Jacob drops Melissa out the window. She survives her fall, but then she is killed by a pack of stray dogs. Jacob then attacks Michael and Zoe. Zoe nearly escapes from Jacob but her cell phone rings, alerting Jacob to her location. He subsequently kills her by forcing the cell phone down her throat. Michael finds Christine and Tyson as they try to rescue Kira, but they are attacked again by Jacob, who knocks out Michael while the other two escape up the elevator shaft.
The pair find Kira but are interrupted by Jacob before they can release her. Tyson creates a distraction but is electrocuted with his own taser and crushed with the bank vault. Margaret then shows up, and reveals herself as Jacob's mother, who lured Frank back to the hotel to get revenge on him for shooting her son, and explains the prisoners are merely a "bonus". Margaret attempts to shoot Kira, but Jacob intervenes and throws her headfirst into a nail on the wall. Michael reappears to help the girls battle Jacob, and the trio is eventually able to stab him through the eye with a pipe and throw him out of a window, where his heart is impaled by a shard of glass, apparently killing him.
In Iraq, John Triton, a U.S. Marine arrives at an al-Qaeda hideout, where a group of terrorists are preparing to behead several hostages. Disregarding direct orders to wait for reinforcements, Triton attacks the extremists and rescues the hostages. The next morning, his colonel informs Triton that he is being honorably discharged for disobeying direct orders.
Now retired, Triton finds it hard to settle back into normal life. He is fired from his job as a security guard for using excessive force on an employee's ex-boyfriend and his bodyguards. Triton's wife Kate decides the two need a vacation to help Triton adjust to his new life. Meanwhile, criminal Rome robs a jewelry store with his gang: girlfriend Angela, Morgan, Vescera, and Bennett. Rome is in collusion with an anonymous partner, with whom he is planning on sharing the profits from the diamonds. On the run, the gang stops at a gas station where Triton and Kate have stopped. When two policemen arrive to buy gas, Morgan shoots and kills one of the officers, causing Rome to shoot the other officer while Angela kills the gas station attendant. When Triton reacts to Kate being kidnapped, Bennett knocks him out. Triton regains consciousness and gives chase in the policemen's car. The chase leads to a lake, where Triton falls out of the patrol car and into the lake, seemingly to his death.
Rome and his gang walk through a swamp to avoid the police. Kate tries to escape several times. Triton emerges from the lake to find Detective Van Buren, who is pursuing the gang. Van Buren denies Triton permission to pursue the gang, but Triton heads into the swamp anyway. After an altercation between Morgan and Vescera, Rome decides to kill Vescera. Rome gets a call from his anonymous partner, and Rome tells him that he intends to cut the partner out of the deal.
The gang arrives at a lodge and decide to rest there for the time being. Meanwhile, Triton is kidnapped by two fugitives who believe he is a police officer looking for them. He subdues them and tracks the gang to the lodge. He kills Morgan and Bennett then drags the bodies under the lodge, where he again meets Detective Van Buren.
Kate rushes out of the lodge, but Angela attacks and recaptures her. Meanwhile, Triton enters the lodge and finds himself face-to-face with Rome and his gun. Van Buren enters the room but points his gun at Triton, revealing himself to be the anonymous partner. Rome opens fire on Triton, who uses Van Buren as a human shield, killing him. Rome makes his escape and joins up with Angela and Kate before firing at a gasoline tank and blowing up the lodge. Triton makes a narrow escape, having been blown into the swamp.
Rome escapes in Van Buren's car, but abandons it due to a police tracking device. Angela seduces then kills a truck driver for his truck. Triton is arrested by a marine patrol officer, but steals the officer's vessel after handcuffing him. He races to the marina that is Rome's destination, jumping on Rome's truck, throwing Angela into the windshield of an oncoming bus, killing her and spilling the diamonds. Rome scrapes Triton off the truck by driving into the side of a building, careening through a warehouse, then leaps out just before the truck crashes into a lake. Triton then engages Rome in fight in hand-to-hand combat and manages to gain the upper hand by punching several times overwhelmingly and knocks him out before he stumbles out, leaving Rome in the fiery warehouse, then rescues Kate, who is drowning in the truck. A badly-burned Rome returns and tries to choke Triton with a chain. Triton kills Rome by breaking his neck with the chain. The final scene depicts Triton and Kate kissing as the police arrive.
When a female agent in Mexico is killed before Helm can complete his mission to extract her, he finds himself teamed up with the woman's sister as he fights to save the lives of a number of scientists and Congressmen.
Rudolf "Dolf" Wega is a fifteen-year-old who volunteers for an experiment with a time machine. The experiment goes well, but accidentally Dolf is stranded in the 13th century. He saves the life of Leonardo Fibonacci da Pisa, without realizing who he is, and teaches him Arabic numerals. Together they join the German Children's Crusade, and through his modern-day knowledge, Rudolf manages to save a lot of children from horrible fates. However, his knowledge also leads to accusations of witchcraft.
In the book, two slavers delude a group of children into coming with them with stories of how the innocent shall liberate Jerusalem. Their actual intent is to sell them as slaves for profit. With the aid of his twentieth-century knowledge and skepticism, and the aid of a "magical" device or two (such as a box of matches), the boy manages to keep most of the children alive and eventually gets them to safety.
The novel is about two siblings who live in complete isolation with their father. They are both his "sons". One day the father kills himself by hanging and his sons decide one of them needs to go to the nearby village to get a coffin. While in the village it is revealed that one of the sons is actually a female, although she has no concept of that (she has no idea of sexuality and thinks she was castrated when she was very young and that is why she doesn't have testicles). It also becomes apparent she has been being used for sex by her brother and there are even more nefarious occurrences which have been happening on their property. However; she has such little understanding of the outside world, that she believes all of this to be completely normal and rejects the outsiders' views of her family situation.
The main character's only source of knowledge is from the books found in her household library. Most of these books are medieval stories about chivalry, knighthood and saving princesses. She becomes somewhat infatuated with the mine inspector she meets In the village who questions her about her living situation. She impulsively tries to get him to have sex with her, although this is more of a carnal urge and something she is probably used to with her brother and father. He succumbs at first but ultimately denies her, making her upset. He goes on to tell her that others will come and try to change her way of life. She flees in anger, riding the family horse back to their mansion.
Once there, she encounters her brother about to dismember and burn their father's body. She informs him about what she has learned in the village and urges him not to do anything to their father's corpse. Her brother then goes through the house and arranges mannequins to appear as if they have fortified the household. She believes her brother is going mad and moves to an area of the property she calls "the vault," somewhere her brother is afraid to go. She brings a book of spells which she continuously writes in.
Her brother begins building a shooting post from two letters on the property and dons himself king with a dead raccoon cap. She remains in the vault chronicling her thoughts. A figure emerges from the forest on a machine they have never seen before. It's the mine inspector who the main character now believes is her prince. He finds her in the vault, making a horrific discovery. He has looked at the baptismal records and sees that there are supposed to be twin sisters on this property.
The mine inspector ventures into the vault and sees a humanoid figure bandaged from head to toe, still alive and another figure, a skeleton, hidden behind a glass case. The narrator explains that she believes they have been there forever and her father used to attend to them and spend time with them but then stopped and she has been feeding and tending to them ever since. The living figure is referred to as the 'Fair Punishment'.
She makes it further obvious the Fair Punishment is her twin and the decomposed body in the glass case is her mother, although she does not understand it. When the twins were four years old, the Fair Punishment had a habit of playing with matches that resulted in a fire which killed their mother. The Fair Punishment survived but was severely burned, and the father believed being burned alive was her punishment for her misdeeds. The mine inspector then tells her he wants to take her to safety. He also points out that she is pregnant with her brother's child. They leave on his motorcycle. He is her prince and they are riding away on his steed. As they are riding into the pines, the inspector is shot in the back by the brother. He is killed instantly.
She returns to the vault as more villagers begin to appear at the property. As her brother surrenders, she packs up belongings and escapes into the pines. The book ends with her giving birth.
Smilla Qaaviqaaq Jaspersen, 37-year-old product of the stormy union of a female Inuit hunter and a rich urban Danish physician, is a loner who struggles to live with her fractured heritage. Living alone in a dreary apartment complex in Christianshavn, Copenhagen, she befriends Isaiah, the neglected son of her alcoholic neighbour, because he too is Greenlandic and not truly at home in Denmark. Smilla's friendship with Isaiah, recounted in the novel in flashback, gives some meaning to her otherwise lonely life. Isaiah’s sudden death is explained officially as a fall from the roof whilst playing, but Smilla’s understanding of the tracks the child left on the snowy roof convinces her that this is untrue. She complains to the police and quickly encounters obstruction and hostility from the authorities and other sources.
Working with Peter, a mechanic neighbour who had also known and liked Isaiah, and with whom she begins an affair despite her fear of dependency, Smilla discovers that there is a conspiracy centred on Gela Alta (a possible reference to the Latin verb gelo, "to freeze", and the places called Alta in North Norway or Alta Lake in Canada or the feminine Latin adjective alta, "high, deep"), an isolated glaciated island off Greenland. Previous expeditions have found something there (Isaiah’s father was a diver who died on one of them, allegedly in an accident) and now plans are afoot to return for it. Isaiah’s death is linked to this conspiracy in some way. After a long journey of discovery in Copenhagen, during which she learns that the mechanic is not who he says he is, Smilla braves intimidation and threats and eventually gets on board the ship chartered for the mysterious expedition to Gela Alta, ostensibly as a stewardess.
The final action takes place on the ship and the island. Smilla is held in deep suspicion by the ship's crew—who turn out to be all in some way compromised and in the pay of the mysterious Tørk Hviid, who is the expedition's real leader. Despite repeated attempts on her life by crew members, who assume she is from the authorities, Smilla doggedly pursues the truth, even when she discovers that Peter has deceived and betrayed her. The secret of the island is revealed to be a meteorite embedded in the glacier, certainly uniquely valuable—perhaps even alive in some way. However, the water surrounding it is infested with a lethal parasite related to the Guinea worm, which is what really killed Isaiah’s father. Isaiah was forced off the roof because he had accompanied his father on the previous expedition and had evidence of the meteorite’s location—and the parasite itself was actually dormant in his body. When Smilla learns that Tørk Hviid had chased Isaiah off the roof to his death, she pursues him out onto the frozen sea. He tries to reach the ship and force it to sail away, but Smilla chases him, using her intuitive ice-sense to head him off, out into isolation and danger. Here the novel ends.
In 1607, Pocahontas, the adventurous daughter of Chief Powhatan, and others from her tribe witness the arrival of three ships sent by English royal charter to found a colony in the New World. Aboard one ship is Captain John Smith, sentenced to death for mutinous remarks, but once ashore pardoned by Captain Christopher Newport, leader of the expedition.
While the settlement's prospects are initially bright, disease, poor discipline, supply shortages, and tensions with local Native Americans, whom Newport calls "the naturals", jeopardize the expedition. Taking a small group upriver to seek trade while Newport returns to England for supplies, Smith is captured by Native Americans and brought before Chief Powhatan. After being questioned, the captain is nearly executed but spared when Pocahontas intervenes.
Living as the Native Americans’ prisoner, Smith is treated well, earning the tribe's friendship and respect. Coming to admire this new way of life, he falls deeply in love with Pocahontas, who is intrigued by the Englishman and his ways. The chief returns Smith to Jamestown with the understanding that the English are to leave the following spring, once their boats return.
Smith discovers the settlement in turmoil and is pressed into accepting the governorship, finding the peace he had with the Natives replaced by privation, death, and the difficulties of his new position. Smith wishes to return to Pocahontas but dismisses the idea, thinking of his time among the Native Americans as "a dream". The settlers dwindle throughout the brutal winter, and are saved only when Pocahontas and a rescue party arrive with food, clothing, and supplies.
As spring arrives, Powhatan realizes that the English do not intend to leave. Discovering his daughter's actions, he orders an attack on Jamestown and exiles Pocahontas. Repulsing the attack, the settlers learn of Pocahontas's banishment. The English sea captain Samuel Argall convinces them on a trading expedition up the Potomac River to abduct Pocahontas from the Patawomecks as a prisoner in order to negotiate with her father in exchange for captive settlers, but not their stolen weapons and tools. Opposing this plan, Smith is removed as governor, but renews his love affair after Pocahontas is brought to Jamestown. Captain Newport returns, telling Smith of an offer from the king to lead his own expedition to find passage to the East Indies. Torn between his love and his career, Smith decides to return to England. Before departing, he leaves instructions with another settler, who later tells Pocahontas that Smith died in the crossing.
Devastated, Pocahontas sinks into depression. Living in Jamestown, she is eventually comforted by a new settler, John Rolfe, who helps her adapt to the English way of life. She is baptized, educated, and eventually married to Rolfe and gives birth to a son, Thomas. She later learns Captain Smith is still alive, news to which she has a violent reaction; she finds herself rejecting Rolfe and retreats to her loyalty to Smith, thinking fate spared his life and they are to be reunited. Rolfe and his family are given a chance to travel to England. Arriving in London and sharing an audience with the king and queen, Pocahontas is overwhelmed by the wonders of this "New World."
She meets privately with Smith, who admits he may have made a mistake in choosing his career over Pocahontas. He says that what they experienced in Virginia was not a dream but instead "the only truth." Asked if he ever found his Indies, he replies, "I may have sailed past them." They part, never to meet again. Realizing Rolfe is the man she thought he was and more, Pocahontas finally accepts him as her husband and love. The couple make arrangements to return to Virginia, but Pocahontas falls ill from pneumonia and dies near Gravesend. Rolfe still decides to return to Virginia with Thomas.
The film ends with images of the young adult Pocahontas and her young son happily playing in the gardens of their English estate. Rolfe, in a voice-over, reads a letter addressed to their only son about his deceased Native American mother, who is heard to say, "Mother, now I know where you live," with concluding images of nature in the New World.
The episode begins with Michael Chambers locked alone in a spartan room with a cot. A voice offers him a meal, delivered through a small aperture in the wall, which he grimly refuses.
The setting changes to several months earlier, on Earth. The Kanamits, a race of aliens, land on Earth as the planet is beset by international crises. As the secretary-general announces the landing of aliens on Earth to the worldwide public at a United Nations news conference, one of the aliens arrives and addresses the assembled delegates and journalists via telepathy. He announces that his race's motive in coming to Earth is to provide humanitarian aid by sharing their advanced technology, including an atomic generator that can provide electric power for a few dollars, a nitrate fertilizer that can end famine, and a force field that can be deployed to prevent international warfare. After answering questions, the Kanamit departs without comment and leaves a book in the Kanamit language, which leads to Michael Chambers, a United States government cryptographer, being pressed into service.
Initially wary of an alien race who came "quite uninvited", international leaders begin to be persuaded of the Kanamits' benevolence when their advanced technology puts an end to hunger, energy shortages, and the arms race. Trust in the Kanamits seems to be justified when Patty, a member of the cryptography staff led by Chambers, decodes the title of the Kanamit book: ''To Serve Man''. The Kanamits submit to interrogation and polygraph, at the request of the UN delegates. When they declare their benevolent intentions, the polygraph indicates that the Kanamit is speaking the truth.
Soon, humans are volunteering for trips to the Kanamits' home planet, which they describe as a paradise. Kanamits now have embassies in every major city on Earth. With the U.S. Armed Forces having been disbanded and world peace having been achieved, the code-breaking staff has no real work to do, but Patty is still trying to work out the meaning of the text of ''To Serve Man''.
The day arrives for Chambers's excursion to the Kanamits' planet. Just as he mounts the spaceship's boarding stairs, Patty runs toward him in great agitation. While being held back by a Kanamit guard, Patty cries: "Mr. Chambers, don't get on that ship! The rest of the book, ''To Serve Man'', it's... it's a cookbook!" Chambers tries to run back down the stairs, but a Kanamit blocks him, the stairs retract, and the ship lifts off.
Chambers is in the shipboard room now, and is again offered a meal. He throws it to the floor, but a Kanamit retrieves it and encourages him to eat: "We wouldn't want you to lose weight". At last, Chambers, in one of the few instances of the series where a character breaks the fourth wall, says to the audience: "How about you? You still on Earth, or on the ship with me? Really doesn't make very much difference, because sooner or later, we'll all of us be on the menu... ''all of us''." The episode closes as Chambers gives in and breaks his hunger strike.
The American Tom Ripley (Alain Delon) has been sent to Italy to persuade the wealthy Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet) to return to San Francisco and take over his father's business. Philippe intends to do no such thing and the impoverished Tom enjoys living a life of luxury, so the two men essentially spend money all day and carouse all night. Tom is fixated on Philippe and his girlfriend, Marge (Marie Laforêt), and covets the other man's life. Philippe eventually grows bored with Ripley's fawning and becomes cruel and abusive to him. The final straw is when, during a yachting trip, Philippe strands Tom in the dinghy and leaves him to lie in the sun for hours.
Back on board, Tom hatches a plan to kill Philippe and steal his identity. First, he leaves evidence of Philippe's philandering for an outraged Marge to find. After Marge goes ashore, Philippe confronts Tom, who admits his plan quite casually. Philippe, believing it to be a joke, plays along and asks Tom for the plan's details. Suddenly frightened, Philippe offers Tom a substantial sum to leave him and Marge alone, but Tom states that he can obtain this sum anyway and far more. At last, pretending to accept his offer, Tom stabs Philippe as the latter screams Marge's name. He casts the body overboard and returns to port.
Upon returning to shore, Tom informs Marge that Philippe has decided to stay behind. He then goes travelling around Italy using Philippe's name and bank account, flawlessly mimicking his voice and mannerisms; in effect, Tom has ''become'' Philippe, even affixing his own photo, with seal, in Philippe's passport. He rents a large suite in a Rome hotel.
When Philippe's friend, Freddie Miles (Billy Kearns), comes to the hotel to see Philippe and begins to suspect the truth, Tom murders him as well. Freddie's body is soon found and the Italian police become involved. Tom continues his charade, switching between his identity and Philippe's, depending on what the situation demands. After carrying out an elaborate scheme to implicate Philippe in Freddie's murder, Tom forges a suicide note and a will, leaving the Greenleaf fortune to Marge.
Tom survives a long string of close shaves, throwing the Italian police off his trail and seemingly having outwitted everyone. He even succeeds in seducing Marge, with whom he begins openly cohabiting. When Philippe's yacht is being pulled out of the water for inspection by a buyer, his canvas-wrapped body is found attached to the boat because the anchor cable it was wrapped in had become tangled around the propeller. The film ends with Tom being unknowingly called toward the police.
The movie begins three years after Detective Mike Logan's final appearance on ''Law & Order'' in 1995. At the end of the episode "Pride," Logan punches a corrupt, homophobic politician in the face on the courthouse steps after the man's acquittal on a murder charge, in front of several reporters. Although he does not lose his job, Logan is "administratively reassigned" to the Domestic Disputes Department on Staten Island. While he struggles to cope with feelings of resentment and isolation, fate offers him a chance at redemption when a forgotten homicide case unexpectedly drifts Logan's way.
The case may uncover a dirty-cop conspiracy (ultimately leading back to the 27th Precinct, the very precinct that banished him), and his commanding officer repeatedly orders him to leave the case to the "real detectives" in the NYPD. Logan sees solving the case as the long-hoped-for chance to resurrect his career and get reinstated as a homicide detective.
Logan also becomes romantically involved with the victim's relative. Soon, he must choose between one woman's feelings for him and doing whatever it takes to regain the only thing he has ever loved – being an NYPD homicide detective.
Following the death of his father Jeff (Matthew Chamberlain), renowned war photographer Paul Prior (Matthew Macfadyen) returns to his hometown in the South Island of New Zealand. Paul also reunites with his younger brother Andrew (Colin Moy), a pious local ostrich farmer, who is married to the very religious Penny (Miranda Otto). Under Andrew's pressure, Paul reluctantly prolongs his stay to help sort out the sale of their father's cottage and the adjoining orchard.
Returning to the dilapidated family property, Paul revisits his father's makeshift den in the equipment shed. Jeff, who secretly harboured a love of wine, literature, and free-thinking philosophy, found solace in the den away from his puritanical wife Iris (Vanessa Riddell). When Paul as a child had accidentally stumbled upon this wondrous booklined universe, his father had shared the den with him on the condition that he did not tell anyone else.
While back in his hometown, Paul accepts a temporary English teaching position at his old high school. Paul also forges an unlikely friendship with the 16-year-old Celia (Emily Barclay), a teenaged misfit who loves writing and dreams of traveling to Spain. Celia is the daughter of Paul's former girlfriend Jackie (Jodie Rimmer), the town's butcher. Believing Celia to be his daughter, Paul becomes a father figure for the teenager. Resenting the unwanted attentions of her mother's boyfriend Gareth (Antony Starr), Celia seeks solace in Paul's den.
Paul and Celia's budding friendship eventually comes under scrutiny from the judgemental Andrew and the envious Jackie. After Paul attacks Gareth for beating Celia, Jackie forbids Paul from having contact with her daughter. Despite the warnings, Celia continues to visit and Paul encourages her in her ambitions as a writer. In the middle of winter, Celia goes missing. Due to their close friendship, Paul becomes the prime suspect in her disappearance and endures the hostility of the town including Gareth and his teenage nephew Jonathan (Jimmy Keen), who fancied Celia.
The rest of the film is shown in flashbacks of Paul's teenage years interspersed with his interactions with Celia and final confrontation with Andrew. After Jonathan reveals that his father had confiscated his camera for illicitly photographing Celia, Paul confronts Andrew. Jeff is revealed to be Celia's biological father through an affair with Jackie. Grief-stricken and betrayed, Paul's mother Iris (Vanessa Riddell) had committed suicide. Despite the pleas of Andrew, Paul had left the family home at the age of 17. Hating his father, Andrew came to blame Paul for their mother's death.
Paul also learns that Andrew had invited Celia to view their late father's will. Jeff had left a third of his estate to Celia. Mistaking Celia for Andrew's mistress after accidentally viewing Jonathan's photos, an enraged Penny had pushed Celia over the balcony, killing her. To protect his wife, Andrew takes the blame for Celia's death. Believing his father killed Celia, Jonathan calls the police who arrest Andrew.
Celia's body is later found in a river. Following the funeral, Paul burns the den and reconciles with Jackie. The film closes with a flashback to the last time Paul saw Celia; they openly talk about being siblings, and they say goodbye as she walks down the road to her untimely death.
The novel begins with the death of a nun, Sister Miriam, who apparently starved herself to death in a ruined tower, known as the 'Tower of Ivory', which adjoins the grounds of the Convent of the Blessed Eleanor, a nunnery and a girls' school.
The tower has specific significance to the Order, as it was the original convent building. The tower and the ancient history of the Order are recorded in the ''Treasury of the Blessed Eleanor'', a manuscript that is referenced throughout the story. Though it is never stated explicitly, Blessed Eleanor is presumed to be Eleanor of Aquitaine, who was once Queen of England.
Television reporter Jemima Shore is a former schoolfriend of Sister Miriam, who was also known as Rosabelle Powerstock and was heiress to "the Powers fortune", one of the largest fortunes in Britain. Jemima is invited back to the convent by Reverend Mother Ancilla, where she uncovers a number of mysteries, including the suggestion that Miriam, whose family owned the convent lands, may have written a second will bequeathing them away from the Order, and into the hands of another charity.
The tension builds when the girls at the convent school tell Jemima that the Black Nun, a malevolent faceless spectre reputed to appear whenever a death is about to take place within the grounds, was seen just prior to Sister Miriam's death, and has been sighted again.
The central conflict in this film is whether African-American businessman Ernie Jones (played by Frederick O'Neal) raped Swedish immigrant and civil rights Freedom Rider Greta Mae Hansen (played by Annalena Lund). Jones was the proprietor of the hotel at which Hansen decided to stay during her time in Dallas. The movie is primarily a courtroom drama, with many of the key events portrayed in flashback sequences as Jones and Hansen testify.
Dr. Watson is called to tend Holmes, who is apparently dying of a rare tropical disease, Tapanuli fever, contracted while he was on a case. Watson is shocked, not having heard about his friend's illness. Mrs. Hudson says that Holmes has neither eaten nor drunk anything in three days.
Holmes instructs Watson not to come near him, because the illness is highly infectious. In fact, he scorns to be treated by Watson and insults his abilities, astonishing and hurting the doctor. Although Watson wishes to examine Holmes himself or call in a specialist, Holmes demands that Watson wait several hours before seeking help. While Watson waits, he examines several objects in Holmes's room. Holmes grows angry when Watson touches items explaining that he does not like his things touched.
At six o'clock, Holmes tells Watson to turn the gaslight on, but only half-full. He then instructs Watson to bring Mr Culverton Smith of 13 Lower Burke Street to see Holmes, but to make sure that Watson returns to Baker Street before Smith arrives.
Watson goes to Smith's address. Although Smith refuses to see anyone, Watson forces his way in. Once Watson explains his errand on behalf of Sherlock Holmes, Smith's attitude changes drastically. Smith agrees to come to Baker Street within a half hour. Watson excuses himself, saying that he has another appointment, and returns to Baker Street before Smith's arrival.
Believing that they are alone, Smith is frank with Holmes. It emerges, to the hiding Watson's horror, that Holmes has been sickened by the same illness that killed Smith's nephew Victor Savage. Smith then sees the little ivory box, which he had sent to Holmes by post, and which contains a sharp spring infected with the illness. Smith pockets it, removing the evidence of his crime. He then resolves to stay there and watch Holmes die.
Holmes asks Smith to turn the gas up full, which Smith does. Smith then asks Holmes if he would like anything else, to which Holmes replies - no longer in the voice of a man near death - "a match and a cigarette." Inspector Morton then enters - the full gaslight was the signal to move in. Holmes tells Morton to arrest Culverton Smith for the murder of his nephew, and perhaps also for the attempted murder of Sherlock Holmes. Smith points out that his word is as good as Holmes' in court, but Holmes then calls for Watson to emerge from behind the screen, to present himself as another witness to the conversation.
Holmes explains his illness was feigned as a ruse to induce Smith to confess to his nephew's murder. Holmes was not infected by the little box; he has enough enemies to know that he must always examine his mail carefully before he opens it. Starving himself for three days and the claim of the "disease's" infectious nature was to keep Watson from examining him and discovering the ruse, since, as he clarifies, he has every respect for his friend's medical skills.
On New Year's Eve, Trotty, a poor elderly "ticket-porter" or casual messenger, is filled with gloom at the reports of crime and immorality in the newspapers, and wonders whether the working classes are simply wicked by nature. His daughter Meg and her long-time fiancé Richard arrive and announce their decision to marry next day. Trotty hides his misgivings, but their happiness is dispelled by an encounter with the pompous Alderman Cute, plus a political economist and a young gentleman with a nostalgia, all of whom make Trotty, Meg and Richard feel they hardly have a right to exist, let alone marry.
Trotty carries a note for Cute to Sir Joseph Bowley MP, who dispenses charity to the poor in the manner of a paternal dictator. Bowley is ostentatiously settling his debts to ensure a clean start to the new year, and berates Trotty because he owes a little rent and ten or twelve shillings to his local shop which he cannot pay off. Returning home, convinced that he and his fellow poor are naturally ungrateful and have no place in society, Trotty encounters Will Fern, a poor countryman, and his orphaned niece, Lilian. Fern has been accused of vagrancy and wants to visit Cute to set matters straight, but from a conversation overheard at Bowley's house, Trotty is able to warn him that Cute plans to have him arrested and imprisoned. He takes the pair home with him and he and Meg share their meagre food and poor lodging with the visitors. Meg tries to hide her distress, but it seems she has been dissuaded from marrying Richard by her encounter with Cute and the others.
In the night, the bells seem to call Trotty. Going to the church, he finds the tower door unlocked and climbs to the bellchamber, where he discovers the spirits of the bells and their goblin attendants who reprimand him for losing faith in man's destiny to improve. He is told that he fell from the tower during his climb and is now dead, and Meg's subsequent life must now be an object lesson for him. There follows a series of visions which he is forced to watch, helpless to interfere with the troubled lives of Meg, Richard, Will and Lilian over the subsequent years. Richard descends into alcoholism; Meg eventually marries him in an effort to save him, but he dies ruined, leaving her with a baby. Will is driven in and out of prison by petty laws and restrictions; Lilian turns to prostitution. In the end, destitute, Meg is driven to contemplate drowning herself and her child, thus committing the mortal sins of murder and suicide. The chimes' intention is to teach Trotty that, far from being naturally wicked, mankind is formed to strive for nobler things, and will fall only when crushed and repressed beyond bearing. Trotty breaks down when he sees Meg poised to jump into the river, cries that he has learned his lesson and begs the Chimes to save her, whereupon he finds himself able to touch her and prevent her from jumping.
At the end of the book, Trotty finds himself awakening at home as if from a dream as the bells ring in the New Year of the day Trotty originally climbed the tower. Meg and Richard have chosen to wed, and all of her friends have spontaneously chosen to provide a wedding feast and celebration. The author explicitly invites the reader to decide if this "awakening" is a dream-within-a-dream. The reader must choose between the harsh consequences of the behaviour of the upper classes in Trotty's vision, or the happiness of the wedding.
''Trotty Veck'' by Kyd (Joseph Clayton Clarke)
John Peerybingle, a carrier, lives with his young wife Dot, their baby boy and their nanny Tilly Slowboy. A cricket chirps on the hearth and acts as a guardian angel to the family. One day a mysterious elderly stranger comes to visit and takes up lodging at Peerybingle's house for a few days.
The life of the Peerybingles intersects with that of Caleb Plummer, a poor toymaker employed by the miser Mr. Tackleton. Caleb has a blind daughter Bertha, and a son Edward, who travelled to South America and is thought to be dead.
The miser Tackleton is now on the eve of marrying Edward's sweetheart, May, but she does not love Tackleton. Tackleton tells John Peerybingle that his wife Dot has cheated on him, and shows him a clandestine scene in which Dot embraces the mysterious lodger; the latter, who is in disguise, is actually a much younger man than he seems. John is cut to the heart over this as he loves his wife dearly, but decides after some deliberations to relieve his wife of their marriage contract.
In the end, the mysterious lodger is revealed to be none other than Edward who has returned home in disguise. Dot shows that she has indeed been faithful to John. Edward marries May hours before she is scheduled to marry Tackleton. However, Tackleton's heart is melted by the festive cheer (in a manner reminiscent of Ebenezer Scrooge), and he surrenders May to her true love.
The movie is set in spring and centers around a tomgirl named Randy Dean. Randy Dean is a 17-year-old student in her final year with poor grades, only one friend - Frank, a gay Latino - secret cigarette and marijuana habits and a cashier's job at a gas station with fellow worker Regina. Shunned by other students for her tomboyish personality and appearance, she spends most of her free time either by herself or in illicit meetings with her romantic partner Wendy, a married woman who drops by the gas station when it pleases her, even though Randy knows they are in a dead-end relationship. Randy lives with her lesbian aunt Rebecca and her girlfriend Vicky, as well as Rebecca's ex-girlfriend Lena, who has no place to stay and is living with them until she finds somewhere else she can go to.
One day Evie Roy stops in a pristine Range Rover, unsure if her tires need air. Randy recognizes her from school and talks to her for the first time. Evie is an only child living with her well-off, cultured mother, Evelyn, who has a difficult relationship with her remarried husband. Randy and Evie start passing notes in school and hanging out with each other, although Evie does not reveal this to her cliquish friends. During this time, Randy is approached by Wendy's jealous husband Ali at the gas station, who grabs Randy and warns her to stay away from his wife. Randy spends much of her time with Evie hanging out in meadows, trading music (opera and Mozart from Evie, punk rock from Randy) and talking. When Wendy next visits her, Randy rejects her, telling her she has a new girlfriend, Evie.
Evie breaks up with her boyfriend Hayjay after he complains of her distant attitude towards him. Later, apparently on a spur of the moment, she lends Randy a copy of Walt Whitman’s ''Leaves of Grass'', which Randy starts to devour. Inviting Evie to her family’s small house for dinner one evening, Randy reveals to her that she has lived with Rebecca and Vicky since Randy's devoutly religious mother abandoned her to devote all her time to an Operation Rescue-like group. On the front steps of Rebecca's house, they kiss for the first time. Evie records it in her diary later, apparently wondering what it all means.
Randy and Evie experiment with how "out" they can be as lesbians, nervously holding hands at a local diner. Remembering Randy’s warning of how intolerant the town can be, Evie nevertheless breaks the news to her three closest friends. One girl is supportive (if confused), but the other two are hostile to the idea: one of them says, “God, Evie, if you were gonna turn gay you think you could at least choose someone who’s pretty.” Meanwhile, Randy's grades continue to plummet and the school warns her she will not graduate; Randy hides this information from Rebecca. When Evie's mother leaves on a business trip, the girls take the opportunity to cook a huge meal, indulging in wine and marijuana. That night, they make love, then fall asleep in Evie's mother's bed.
The next morning, it is Evie's 18th birthday; Evelyn returns prematurely with presents for her, but is shocked by the mess in the kitchen and the rest of the house. Furiously searching the upstairs, she discovers Evie and Randy, but only realizes Randy is a girl when she runs past her on her way out. Rebecca, who has learned that Randy will not be graduating high school, goes over to go to Frank's house with Vicky and Lena, where Randy had told them she would be staying the night. Rebecca threatens Frank until, panicked, he turns over Evie's phone number. She calls, but Evie and Randy have already absconded and she is left talking to a furious Evelyn.
Evie and Randy, crying, scared and accusatory, take refuge in a motel. Randy finally calls Wendy, who comes out, pays for the room and tries to comfort the girls. Ali sees her car in the parking lot, however, and comes bursting in, eventually attracting Evelyn, Rebecca, Vicky, Lena, Frank, and Evie's three friends, who were driving past reading aloud from Rita Mae Brown’s ''Rubyfruit Jungle'' (apparently still processing Evie’s news). The movie ends with Randy and Evie kissing and hugging in the open motel room doorway while everyone else argues in the background at top volume.
The film starts In 1973 in New York, and ends in 1992, with Gotti's imprisonment. Gotti's association with three mobsters is also highlighted in the film: a father-son like relationship with family underboss Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce, his deep but rocky friendship with Gotti crew member and longtime friend Angelo Ruggiero, and the respect and ultimate frustration that he felt for the man who became his underboss, Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano. The film details Gotti's rise within the Gambino crime family and his ranks from soldier, then captain (or ''capo''), and finally, boss. The final title was achieved through the dramatic murder in public of Gambino family boss Paul Castellano in 1985. Following the murder of Castellano, the film concentrates on the legal trials of John Gotti: one for assault and two for racketeering under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes. Gotti's famous personality, trial acquittals, and media attention are all dramatized. The film ends with Gotti's conviction and sentencing to life imprisonment at Marion Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois, because Gravano turns state's evidence and agrees to testify against Gotti. The film is primarily based on the columns of reporter Jerry Capeci, who also wrote the novel that documented Gotti's rise and fall inside the Gambino crime family, and served as executive producer of the film which was based on his novel.
Kinsey Millhone, 32, private detective investigates the death of prominent divorce lawyer Laurence Fife. His murder eight years earlier was blamed on his wife, Nikki Fife. Upon being released from prison, Nikki hires Kinsey to find the real murderer. In the course of the investigation, Kinsey becomes involved with Charlie Scorsoni, the late Mr. Fife's former law partner. She discovers Fife's death has been linked to that of a woman in Los Angeles, his law firm's accountant; both died after taking poisonous oleander capsules, which had been substituted for allergy pills. Kinsey tracks down the accountant's parents and former boyfriend. She then goes to Las Vegas to interview Fife's former secretary, Sharon Napier, who is killed minutes before Kinsey arrives. Back in California, Kinsey is mystified that Nikki's son, Colin, recognizes Laurence's first wife, Gwen, in a photograph. Kinsey surmises that Gwen was having an affair with her ex-husband at the time of his death. She accuses Gwen, who confesses. Shortly afterwards, she too is dead, killed in a hit-and-run crash.
Kinsey has solved the case she was hired to investigate; but in a plot twist, she discovers that her previous notions about the accountant's death were entirely wrong: in fact, it was Scorsoni who killed her when she discovered he was skimming dividend money from estate accounts under his management. Scorsoni used the same method that Gwen used to kill Fife, so it would be assumed the same person committed both murders. In a final confrontation, he chases Kinsey across the beach, armed with a knife. Kinsey hides in the shore line, and she is forced to remove her shoes and pants. Before Scorsoni can kill her, she shoots him dead.
A secondary storyline involves Millhone's surveillance of Marcia Threadgill, suspected of insurance fraud in a trip-and-fall case. Although Millhone believes she has successfully documented Threadgill's deception, the insurance firm that contracted Millhone to investigate Threadgill moves to pay her claim anyway, citing potential legal costs and complications, including the risk of reprisal.
Porky Pig purchases a new home from a real estate agent, which turns out to be an old Gothic-style house. His pet cat Sylvester is frightened of the creepy-looking place, but Porky finds it "quaint" and "peaceful" and looks forward to his first night there. Sylvester is already holding onto the bottom of Porky's coat, unwilling to let go, when he is spooked by a bat and jumps inside the coat. Porky chastises him for being afraid of the bat and says he is going upstairs to bed while Sylvester will sleep in the kitchen. Unknown to Porky, Sylvester clings to him all the way to the bedroom and into bed. When Porky discovers him in the bed, he kicks him down the stairs, telling him to stay in the kitchen. Suddenly, Sylvester sees that the house is overrun with murderous mice who in the process of carting off the previous owners' cat to be decapitated by an executioner mouse. Alarmed, Sylvester races upstairs and hides in Porky's nightshirt. Porky begins scolding Sylvester, who interrupts this by demonstrating (in mime) what occurred downstairs. Porky criticizes the "ridiculous acting" and orders Sylvester back to the kitchen. Too frightened to comply, Sylvester pulls a gun from a dresser drawer and prepares to shoot himself in the head rather than face whatever fate the mice have in store for the pair. Porky disarms him and cannot believe how desperate his cat is.
Realizing he has no choice, Porky allows Sylvester to share the bed. Four mice push the bed out of the window and it sticks on a pole. Porky, half-asleep and thinking it is cold in the room, asks Sylvester to close the window. Sylvester proceeds to do so, himself barely awake and walking on thin air, as the pole springs the bed back into the room. Sylvester closes a tiny curtain on a birdhouse, gets back into the bed that is not there and falls to the ground. He comes through the bedroom door with a big lump on his head. At that moment, he sees that the mice are about to drop an anvil on Porky from a crawlspace above the bed. Sylvester grabs the anvil at the last moment. Porky awakes and sees Sylvester poised above him with it in his hands. Porky questions Sylvester's intentions before dropping it on the cat's head and leading the way back down the stairs, heading for the kitchen. Sylvester sees the hooded mouse roll a bowling ball down the banister, targeted directly at Porky, who has reached the bottom. Sylvester races and shoves Porky out of the way - so hard he ends up in the kitchen headfirst in the cat basket - and is knocked unconscious by the ball.
Porky storms back from the kitchen (not noticing the basket being lowered below the floor) demanding to know why Sylvester pushed him. Seeing the cat knocked out, Porky suggests it is just a ploy to gain sympathy. Over the next few scenes, as he lifts Sylvester, carries him to the kitchen and puts him in the basket, a completely oblivious Porky barely escapes many attempts, via several tools and weapons, by the mice to kill him. Sylvester, out cold in the basket, is lowered below the floor just after 1:00 A.M. and is raised up again just before 4:00 A.M., without the basket and having turned completely light gray. Traumatized, he makes his way to Porky's room where he startles the pig awake with his gruesome appearance. Finally at his wits' end, Porky drags him downstairs, and goes into the kitchen by himself to show Sylvester there is nothing to fear. After a few seconds of silence, Sylvester looks in the kitchen and sees the mice parading as they did the cat, only now it is Porky, bound and gagged and on his way to be decapitated. As the mice take him away, Porky holds up a sign which reads "YOU WERE RIGHT, SYLVESTER".
Terrified, Sylvester scrambles out of the house. As he rests to catch his breath, his conscience (a miniature Sylvester wearing a wizard's robe and carrying a star-tipped wand) appears. He magically produces an easel on which the word "coward" is written; then, with diagrams and charts, he reminds Sylvester how Porky raised him from a kitten, shows him the "comparative sizes" of a cat to a mouse and demands that he return to the house to take action. Reinvigorated, Sylvester grabs a tree branch for use as a weapon, then decides to use the whole tree instead and races back into the mouse-infested house to fight. He sends the hundreds of murderous mice running for their lives, much to his conscience's delight.
With the mice now all supposedly gone for good, Porky graciously apologizes to Sylvester and thanks him for saving his life. One leftover mouse (the executioner) pops out of the longcase clock behind Sylvester, wielding a mallet. Seeing this, Porky yells at Sylvester to look out, but the mouse clobbers Sylvester on the head, knocking him unconscious, much to Porky's shock. The mouse then yanks off his hood, revealing a Lew Lehr caricature with a Napoleon army hat, and declares, "Pussycats is the cwaziest peoples!" and chuckles.
The cartoon opens with a circus featuring "Gracie, the Fightin' Kangaroo!". When Gracie goes off to perform, she leaves her young son, Hippety Hopper, alone in her dressing room. Hippety slips on a pair of his mother's boxing gloves, and wanders off (along the way, treading in wet cement, much to the anger of the workman who is paving the new sidewalk, falling into a pink dress and causing several cars to crash).
Meanwhile, Sylvester is bragging to his son about how he took on a mouse about his own size. Unfortunately, Hippety shows up behind him, leading Sylvester into a panic. Junior urges Sylvester to fight Hippety, as they both think he's a giant mouse, and says that if he doesn't, he'll "disillusion a child's faith in his father." The result is a fight between Hippety and Sylvester. Hippety wins at first, but then Sylvester chases him off with an axe. Along the way, they pass the workman, who treads in his own cement as if daring the participants in the chase to do the same – but when they do not, he stands in the center of the sidewalk and plays "Taps" on a bugle as he sinks.
Sylvester is led to the circus, and right when Junior enters his sight, he starts gloating again ("... and if I ever catch ya again, I'll give ya the same thing! Only '''THIS''' time, I'll break '''BOTH''' your legs, you giant mouse, you!"). After gloating, Sylvester says he wished Hippety was twice as big, with 4 arms and 2 heads. Ironically, Gracie comes out with Hippety in her pouch, causing both the cats to run off. Hippety gives them a friendly wave good-bye, and the cartoon closes.
Ten years after the events of the first film, Dante opens the Quick Stop convenience store to find that it is on fire; Randal had left the coffee pot on after closing the night before. Because Quick Stop and the adjacent RST Video have been destroyed, Dante and Randal begin working at a Mooby's fast food restaurant along with Elias and their manager Becky Scott.
A year later, Dante is planning to leave his minimum wage lifestyle in favor of family life in Florida with his fiancée Emma Bunting, whose father will provide them with a home and a business to run. Afraid of losing his best friend, Randal becomes resentful towards Dante and Emma. Jay and Silent Bob have followed Dante and Randal, and now loiter outside of Mooby's. Although they continue to sell drugs, Jay and Silent Bob have become sober after they were arrested for possession and sent to rehab; they become devout Christians after their release.
Dante tells Becky that he is worried about dancing at his wedding, so she takes him up to the roof of the restaurant to teach him some moves. Dante soon releases his inhibitions and begins dancing. When the song ends, Dante, caught up in the moment, confesses his love for Becky, and she reveals that she's pregnant; Dante and Becky had a one-night stand at work a few weeks before. Becky tells Dante not to tell anyone about the baby; however he tells Randal, and an angered Becky leaves when she finds out.
Randal encourages Dante to leave Mooby's in search for Becky, so he can set up a surprise going away party for him. Randal hires "Kinky Kelly and the Sexy Stud," a donkey show, with a fog machine for the party. When Dante returns, he mistakes the fog for fire and calls the fire department, but upon discovering that it's not a fire, proceeds to watch with Randal, Jay, Silent Bob, and Elias. The group discovers that "Kinky Kelly" is, in fact, the donkey, while the man, whom Randal thought to be the pimp, is "The Sexy Stud". When Becky returns, she admits that she too loves Dante. As they kiss, Emma arrives. She throws her engagement ring at Becky, dumps a cake she'd made for Dante over his head, and angrily walks off.
The fire and police departments arrive, and Dante, Randal, Elias, Jay, Silent Bob, and The Sexy Stud are arrested. Although they are informed they will soon be released without being charged, Dante blames Randal for ruining his life and expresses his eagerness to start a new life without him, while Randal condemns Dante for his willingness to live his life under the standards of others and for abandoning their friendship. During the argument, Randal proposes that they buy the Quick Stop and re-open it themselves, although Dante says that neither have the money to reopen the store. Jay and Silent Bob offer to lend them the money (from the royalties they collected following the events of ''Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back'') provided that they can hang out outside of the Quick Stop anytime they want without the police being called. Randal accepts their offer, but Dante is uncertain, prompting Randal to emotionally confess his fear of losing Dante.
Moved by Randal's confession, Dante agrees to the proposition, and after he is released, proposes to Becky, who happily accepts. After the Quick Stop and RST Video are rebuilt, Elias applies for a job and is hired at RST Video. In the very last scene, with the store open, Dante tells Randal, "Can you feel it? Today is the first day of the rest of our lives." The color evaporates from the film and the camera pulls back to reveal the milk maid from the first movie still going through all the gallons.
At the end of "Cold Station 12", Doctor Arik Soong and the Augments he secretly raised depart the space station, taking with them 1,800 frozen Augment embryos preserved from the time of the Eugenics Wars. Malik also steals pathogen samples from the station and sets the containment fields to fail. In "The Augments", Captain Archer restores stasis around the central compound, and is beamed from space to safety, with the ''Enterprise'' in pursuit of Soong, Malik, and the Augments on their stolen Bird of Prey. Soong and the Augments arrive in Klingon space where he shares his plan: Soong intends to hide out in a region (the Briar Patch) where Starfleet would have trouble tracking them down. Malik objects to Soong's plan, noting that Khan Noonien Singh also ran away on the SS ''Botany Bay''.
In pursuit of the Augments, ''Enterprise'' arrives in Klingon space having faked a Klingon warp signature. Soong releases a hostage on a Denobulan shuttle into a gas giant, forcing the ''Enterprise'' to abandon their pursuit and mount a rescue operation. Escaping, Malik proposes a new plan: trigger a war between Starfleet and the Klingons as a distraction by firing a pathogen-filled torpedo at a Klingon colony. He reasons that Starfleet will be too busy fighting the Klingons to hunt down the Augments. Soong will have nothing to do with Malik's genocidal proposal. On the ''Enterprise'', Commander T'Pol asks Commander Tucker about the distance between them after her recent arranged marriage , and he tells her he has come to terms with their new relationship.
Back on the Bird of Prey, Soong works on a way to remove aggressive behavior from the unborn Augment embryos. Malik, concerned by Soong's plan to hide from Starfleet and his tampering with the embryos, leads a mutiny which confines Soong to his quarters. With the help of Persis, Soong leaves the ship in an escape pod. ''Enterprise'', once again in pursuit, detects the pod and brings Soong on board. Heading towards the Klingon colony in high warp in an attempt to stop Malik's plan, the Klingons detect their ship. ''Enterprise'' is forced to disable a Klingon cruiser when it tries to board. Malik kills Persis for her betrayal, and continues with his plan to attack the Klingons. Scans of the ''Qu'vat'' colony reveal three main population centers; the torpedo is armed with pathogens and prepared for deployment.
The ''Enterprise'' arrives late, just after Malik fires the torpedo, but ''Enterprise'' destroys it, saving the Klingon colony. Soong helps disable the Klingon ship, hoping to save some of the Augments. However, Malik scuttles the Klingon ship, killing the remaining Augments and the embryos, and transports himself onto ''Enterprise'' in an attempt to kill Soong in revenge, but Archer manages to kill Malik first. The Klingons call off their retaliation against Earth, and Soong returns to the Starfleet Detention Center. In custody, he begins to doubt the feasibility of genetically engineering humans and wonders if perfecting artificial life has better prospects for the future.
Old family friends of Captain Archer, Doctor Emory Erickson and his daughter Danica, beam aboard ''Enterprise'' to test new sub-quantum transporter technology Erickson has developed. Catching up, Danica confides in Archer that her father has not been himself since the loss of her brother, Quinn, some 15 years ago in an early transporter experiment. After they arrive in "the Barrens" — a sub-space node void of starlight for a hundred light years — in order to test Erickson's new work, a strange anomaly is detected on the ship. Crewman Burrows is sent to investigate but is found dead, having been exposed to high levels of delta radiation.
In the meantime, Commander T'Pol takes time to rediscover herself in the light of recent events: the teachings of Surak held in the ''Kir'Shara''; the death of her mother; the annulment of her marriage; her cure from Pa'nar Syndrome; and her relationship with Commander Tucker. Tucker assists Erickson with the test, but is brushed aside when he seeks to learn more about the technology. Following a successful trial-run, which sets a new record for the longest transport ever conducted, Tucker confides in Archer that many of the upgrades and modifications to the ship's power systems were not necessary for the test.
The "photonic ghost" reappears, and T'Pol manages to visually scan it, revealing that it is Erickson's long-lost son. Archer now realizes that his old family friends have misled him, and are simply using the ship to somehow rescue Quinn from the node. Erickson freely admits the deception, and asks Archer to trust and help him. Despite the deception, he agrees, aggressively ordering a reluctant T'Pol and a dissenting Tucker to comply. Finally, Tucker and Erickson manage to recover Quinn, but he suffers severe cellular degeneration in the process and dies soon after. Erickson, aware of the consequences he may now face, is happy to finally bring him home and put him to rest.
''Enterprise'' Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart), who has always been a student of archaeology, is visited by his former mentor, Professor Richard Galen (Norman Lloyd). Galen, who Picard said is "like the father who understood me," states that he has come across something in his travels which could be the most profound discovery of their time. However, Galen will not tell Picard about what he has found unless Picard agrees to go with him, which means leaving the ''Enterprise'' and his career in Starfleet behind. Picard ultimately declines, although he is torn about disappointing his former mentor, who angrily remarks that Picard's job was like that of "A Roman centurion .... maintaining a dull and bloated empire."
Shortly after leaving the ''Enterprise'', Galen's transport vessel is attacked and boarded. When the ''Enterprise'' arrives, a critically injured Galen is beamed to Sickbay and, before he dies, he apologises to Picard for his earlier rude remarks. Picard decides to investigate Professor Galen's research, an investigation of Galen's ship yields no results other than a series of seemingly random number blocks.
After studying the ambiguous number blocks for hours, the discovery is made that these fragments are compatible DNA strands which have been recovered from different worlds all over the galaxy. The crew eventually believe that they have discovered an embedded genetic pattern that is constant throughout many different species, and it is speculated that this was left by an early race that pre-dates all other known civilizations. This would ultimately explain why so many races are humanoid.
Picard resolves that the answer to the 'puzzle' will be revealed when the remaining DNA samples are obtained, and so the ''Enterprise'' travels to a remote, uninhabited planet that Galen had mentioned was his next destination. They encounter Klingon and Cardassian ships that appear to be on the same trail, each group believing the puzzle will yield the design of a formidable weapon or the secret of an unlimited power source, respectively.
The ''Enterprise'' hosts representatives from the Cardassians and the Klingons, and they all agree to combine the DNA samples that they have found so far, since all three parties have pieces of the puzzle that the others cannot find. Using the shared information, they determine a pattern in how several planets were aligned millions of years ago and extrapolate the position of a final planet.
The Cardassian ship departs ahead of the others, firing at both ships and disabling them. However, Picard had already learned of the Cardassians' attempt to sabotage the ''Enterprise'' s defenses; the ship is fully functional, and he takes the Klingon captain to the last planet. Upon arrival, they discover that almost all life is extinct, but scans by the ''Enterprise'' detect residual lichens located on a fossilised seabed, and they beam down to investigate with their tricorders containing all previously known information. The Cardassians arrive, as well as an undetected Romulan force, creating a standoff. Reasoning that the seabed may not be completely fossilised and may still contain some DNA, Picard and Dr. Crusher (Gates McFadden) scan the sea-bed using the tricorder while the other parties argue.
They locate the final DNA fragment, which completes and runs the program. The program reconfigures the tricorder's emitter to project a holographic message. The recorded image of an alien humanoid (Salome Jens) is projected to the assembled company, and it explains that when the alien race first explored the galaxy there had been no humanoid-based life other than themselves, and so they seeded various planets with their DNA to create a legacy of their existence after they had gone. The alien ends its message by saying that it hopes that the knowledge of a common origin will help produce peace.
The Cardassians and the Klingons are outraged by this; only the Federation representatives seem optimistic. As all parties depart, diverging to their respective homes, the Commander of the Romulan ship hails Picard and expresses his own optimism, intimating that "Perhaps, one day..." [there may be peace].
Michael Strogoff, a 30-year-old native of Omsk, is a courier for Tsar Alexander II of Russia. The Tartar Khan (prince), Feofar Khan, incites a rebellion and separates the Russian Far East from the mainland, severing telegraph lines. Rebels encircle Irkutsk, where the local governor, a brother of the Tsar, is making a last stand. Strogoff is sent to Irkutsk to warn the governor about the traitor Ivan Ogareff, a former colonel, who was once demoted and exiled by this brother of the Tsar. He now seeks revenge: he intends to gain the governor's trust and then betray him and Irkutsk to the Tartar hordes.
On his way to Irkutsk, Strogoff meets Nadia Fedor, daughter of an exiled political prisoner, Basil Fedor, who has been granted permission to join her father at his exile in Irkutsk; the English war correspondent Harry Blount of the ''Daily Telegraph''; and Alcide Jolivet, a Frenchman reporting for his 'cousin Madeleine' (presumably, for some unnamed French paper). Blount and Jolivet tend to follow the same route as Michael, separating and meeting again all the way through Siberia. He is supposed to travel under a false identity, posing as the pacific merchant Nicolas Korpanoff, but he is discovered by the Tartars when he meets his mother in their home city of Omsk.
Michael, his mother and Nadia are eventually captured by the Tartar forces, along with thousands of other Russians, during the storming of a city in the Ob basin. The Tartars do not know Strogoff by sight, but Ogareff is aware of the courier's mission and when he is told that Strogoff's mother spotted her son in the crowd and called his name, but received no reply, he understands that Strogoff is among the captured and devises a scheme to force the mother to indicate him. Strogoff is indeed caught and handed over to the Tartars, and Ogareff alleges that Michael is a spy, hoping to have him put to death in some cruel way. After opening the Koran at random, Feofar decides that Michael will be blinded as punishment in the Tartar fashion, with a glowing hot blade. For several chapters the reader is led to believe that Michael was indeed blinded, but it transpires in fact that he was saved from this fate (his tears at his mother evaporated and saved his corneas) and was only pretending.
Eventually, Michael and Nadia escape, and travel to Irkutsk with a friendly peasant, Nicolas Pigassof. They are recaptured by the Tartars; Nicolas witnesses Nadia cruelly insulted by a Tartar soldier and murders Nadia's assaulter. The Tartars then abandon Nadia and Michael and carry Nicolas away, reserving him for a greater punishment. Nadia and Michael later discover him buried up to his neck in the ground; after he dies they bury him hastily and continue onwards with great difficulty. However, they eventually reach Irkutsk, and warn the Tsar's brother in time of Ivan Ogareff. Nadia's father has been appointed commander of a suicide battalion of exiles, who are all pardoned; he joins Nadia and Michael; some days later they are married.
Movie special effects expert Roland "Rollie" Tyler is hired by the Justice Department to stage the murder of mob informant Nicholas DeFranco. DeFranco is set to testify against his former Mafia bosses and go into witness protection, but the Justice Department is afraid he will be killed before the trial. Tyler rigs a gun with blanks and fixes DeFranco up with radio transmitters and fake blood packs to simulate bullet hits. The Justice Department supervisor on the case, Edward Mason, asks Tyler to be the "assassin" wearing a disguise. He is paid $30,000 and assured by Mason that he is "100% protected".
During the preparation, Lipton, the Justice agent in charge, handles Rollie's gun. DeFranco wears Tyler's rig to an Italian restaurant and the public "assassination" goes flawlessly. When Tyler is picked up by Lipton, the agent tries to shoot him. In the struggle for Lipton's gun, the driver is killed and the car crashes, allowing Tyler to escape. He contacts Mason, who is shocked by Lipton's actions and instructs him to wait for other agents to take him to a safe location. Another man thought to be Tyler is killed by the agents, proving that Mason is trying to kill him too. Rollie is worried that Lipton may have switched the blanks in the assassination gun with real bullets, meaning that Rollie really did kill DeFranco.
Rollie retreats to his girlfriend Ellen's apartment. In the morning, Ellen is shot and killed by a sniper aiming for Tyler. Tyler kills the sniper after a fight when he enters the apartment to finish the job.
Manhattan homicide detective Leo McCarthy investigates the death of Ellen and the sniper and realizes it is connected to DeFranco, whom Leo has been pursuing for years. He discovers that the assassination was faked and that Mason planned it. When he is suspended by his captain for his reckless methods, McCarthy manages to steal his boss's badge and gun.
Using an elaborate phone prank, Tyler lures Lipton out in the open and kidnaps him in his official car. He stuffs Lipton into the trunk and takes him on a rough ride to get Mason's address out of him. Tyler steals back his impounded van with the help of his assistant and escapes following a chase through Lower Manhattan with McCarthy's partner. Tyler goes to Mason's mansion where, using his special effects expertise, he incapacitates Mason's guards (and tricks some of them into killing each other). McCarthy arrives and seeing two unconscious guards at the gate, he alerts the State Police.
Mason and DeFranco figure out that Tyler has found them. DeFranco shoots out several windows in Mason's study and Tyler falls through one of the windows, appearing to be dead. Mason and DeFranco try to leave the house when a helicopter arrives, but DeFranco receives an electric shock when he touches the metal screen on an outside door, rigged by Tyler. The shock disrupts DeFranco's pacemaker. Before he dies of heart failure, Mason coerces and takes from him a key to a Swiss safe deposit box containing the funds DeFranco stole from the Mafia.
Mason prepares to escape, but is surprised by the appearance of Tyler, who points an Uzi submachine gun at him. Mason tries to bribe Tyler by giving him the key, proposing that they split the money, but urging immediate departure. Tyler places the gun on a table and tells Mason that the plan won't work. Mason picks up the gun and demands the key back. Tyler shows Mason the bullets for the gun and a tube of Krazy Glue. With the gun glued to Mason's hands, Tyler shoves him out the front door. Misinterpreting his action of walking towards them with a gun in his hands, yet making pleas that "It's a mistake", he is shot by the police.
Tyler's body is found and taken to the morgue. He then gets out of the body bag, removes the makeup simulating his death and exits out a window to escape. He is confronted by McCarthy. The film ends with Tyler impersonating DeFranco at the bank in Geneva and retrieving the $15 million in Mafia funds, after which he and McCarthy make a getaway with the cash.
Sir Lionel is a knight of the Round Table who is killed foiling an assassination attempt on King Arthur by the evil lord Ruber. Ruber is then driven off by Excalibur, Arthur's sword. At Lionel's funeral, Arthur tells Lionel's daughter Kayley and his wife Juliana that they will always be welcome at Camelot. Kayley dreams of becoming a Knight, like her father, and trains herself while working on their farm.
A decade later, Ruber's griffin attacks Camelot, where he steals Excalibur and injures King Arthur. Merlin's pet falcon, Ayden, attacks the griffin, causing it to drop the sword into the Forbidden Forest. The Griffin is driven away by the forest's sentient trees. When Kayley hears news of this she plans to search for Excalibur herself, which displeases her mother. Ruber turns his henchmen into steel men and a henpecked rooster into Bladebeak using a witch's potion to aid him. He attacks the farm and captures Kayley, planning to use her to gain entry to Camelot. After hearing Ruber's plans, Kayley escapes and heads to the forest, pursued by the griffin, steel men and Bladebeak. Garrett, a blind hermit, and Ayden, save her. They decide to search for Excalibur, and Kayley persuades him to let her join the quest.
They meet a wisecracking two-headed dragon named Devon and Cornwall, whose two heads can't stand each other and dream of being separated, and can neither fly or breathe fire. They fight off another attack from Ruber and his henchmen, and Devon and Cornwell join their quest. Garrett reveals he was once King Arthur's stable boy, who wanted to be a knight. He was kicked in the head while saving the King's horses from a fire, causing his blindness.
The next day, they find the belt and scabbard of Excalibur in a giant footprint. Kayley's insistence of distracting Garrett causes him to miss Ayden's signal, and he is injured by one of Ruber's men. Kayley uses the sentient trees to trap Ruber and his men, and escorts Garrett into a remote cave where the magic of the forest heals Garrett's wounds. Whilst in the cave, Kayley and Garrett profess their love for each other. The next day, the group goes into a giant cave where a rock-like ogre holds Excalibur, using it as a toothpick. They snatch Excalibur and flee from Ruber in the process.
They reach the edge of the forest Garrett says he belongs here, not in Camelot, and gives Kayley the Excalibur. Ruber captures Kayley, takes Excalibur and fuses it with his right arm. He imprisons Kayley in the wagon with Juliana. Devon and Cornwall, who witness this, rush to Garrett and convince him to save Kayley. By working together for the first time, Devon and Cornwall are able to fly and breathe fire, and they fly Garrett to Camelot. Bladebeak reconciles with his constantly henpecking hen and frees Kayley from her ropes, and she warns the guards of Ruber's trap, exposing him and his steel men. Garrett, Devon and Cornwall arrive shortly after and come to her aid. Garrett enters the castle while Devon and Cornwall rescue Ayden from the Griffin by breathing fire at the creature, roasting it to death.
Inside, Kayley and Garrett find Ruber attempting to kill Arthur with Excalibur, gloating about how all-powerful he has become now. They intervene and trick Ruber into returning Excalibur to its stone, causing its magic to disintegrate Ruber, revert the steel men, including Bladebeak, back to normal and temporarily separate Devon and Cornwall, but they decide to end up back together again. Later, with Camelot restored to its former glory, Kayley and Garrett marry and both become Knights of the Round Table. The movie ends with the newlyweds riding off into the distance together on their horse.
After losing his last baby tooth, Bart does not enjoy playing with his toys anymore and feels that he is maturing. To get out of his depression and express his emotions, Bart writes sarcastic and insulting phrases on his T-shirts. The shirts make him popular in town, and Bart sets up a stand in front of his house selling them. His business is shut down for not having a vending license, and he goes to a retailer's convention to obtain one. While leaving, he meets Goose Gladwell, a Willy Wonka-type salesman who sells joke products. Bart agrees to sell his shirts at Gladwell's store, making him the primary source of income in the family after Homer quits his job.
Fearing that Bart has replaced him, Homer decides to nurture Lisa. They quickly bond, and Homer sees her entry for the science fair: a history of nuclear physics and a scale model of the first nuclear reactor. However, Martin shows them his project, a childlike robot. Homer helps Lisa ensure her project's victory by stealing plutonium from the power plant and using it to make her reactor fully operational. Meanwhile, Bart learns that Gladwell has sold the rights to the shirts under a contract that allows him to stop paying Bart. Homer stands up for Bart by threatening to detonate his nuclear reactor and destroy Gladwell's store. Gladwell accepts defeat, giving Bart and Homer all the money he has. As they leave, Bart thanks Homer for straightening things out.
The film opens with a printed Dedication:
In all Wars, since the beginning of History, there have been men who fought twice. The first time they battled with club, sword or machine gun. The second time they had none of these weapons. Yet this [second fight], by far, was the greatest battle. It was fought with abiding faith and raw courage and in the end, Victory was achieved. This is the story of such a group of men. To them this film is dedicated.
During World War II, U.S. Army Lieutenant Ken Wilocek is shot in the back by a sniper, injuring his spinal cord. In the years that follow, he faces a series of ongoing struggles in accepting his condition, in rehabilitation and in re-entering society. The film also focuses on the challenges facing Ken and Ellen, his fiancée, as individuals and as a couple, before and after they marry. It also highlights events in the lives of the other men in the VA hospital, from a wedding celebration to a sudden death from meningitis. Dr. Brock heads the team of doctors, nurses and physical therapists. Near the end of the film, when Ken accuses him of not understanding the difficulties threatening his marriage, Brock tells Ken about his own frustration: “I can never see a patient walk out of here, never. I can keep a man alive, but in his heart he feels I failed him. You feel that way don’t you? Took me a long time to get used to that.” He reveals that he began specializing in paraplegia 18 years ago, after his wife was injured in a car accident. “Paraplegia was a new field, then. At least she didn't have to suffer too long…I’d give anything I’ve got to know that when I go home I'd find her there, waiting for me, in a wheelchair.“ He can't promise that everything will work out with Ellen, but if she loves Ken, and he behaves, chances are good. Anyway, he says, Ken has a lot of living to do, and he has to do it for himself.
Ken drives to Ellen's parents' home, some distance from the hospital, takes out his wheelchair and goes up the steep brick front walk until a step blocks him. Ellen comes out. “You've come a long way,” she says. “Do you want me to help you up the steps?” He replies, “Please.” The film ends in a long shot of Ellen helping him to push his wheelchair into the house.
The cartoon opens with people filing in to see ''The Barber of Seville'' in an amphitheatre. Unnoticed from up on the hills in back of the theatre, gunfire flashes are seen and shots are heard. Bugs Bunny and a hunter chasing him, who is soon revealed to be Elmer Fudd, run down from the hills to the theater's open backstage door. Bugs runs through the door and slams it shut to hide himself behind it as Elmer enters, and looking for Bugs, stalks unknowingly onstage behind the curtain. His back to the curtain, Elmer does not notice it rise nor hears the resulting applause from the audience when Bugs, using a carrot to do so, flicks the switch to raise it. The conductor, after a brief, confused glance at his watch, shrugs and starts the orchestra, making Elmer flinch and turn, wide-eyed, toward the audience. Bugs, dressed as a barber, steps out into the doorway of a staged barber shop set before a scenic town backdrop and starts singing as he speaks. He grabs Elmer, trying to sneak offstage, and gives him a shave, fiercely slashing the razor and rendering him "nice and clean, although your face looks like it might have gone through a machine."
Elmer retrieves his hunter's hat and rifle and starts the chase again, singing his only line "Oh, wait till I get that wabbit!", but is stopped by Bugs, dressed as a temptress, singing, "What would you want with a wabbit? Can't you see that I'm much sweeter? I'm your little señoriter. You are my type of guy, let me straighten your tie, and I shall dance for you." (no dialogue is heard again from this point on until the end). While Bugs sings to him, Elmer becomes smitten with Bugs' temptress disguise, and Bugs ties up the rifle into a bow (when he 'straightens' Elmer's supposed tie); now, dancing and using scissors like castanets, he snips off Elmer's pants' suspender buttons, and Elmer is thoroughly embarrassed when he realizes his pants have fallen down; he sees through Bugs' disguise, none withstanding that Bugs deliberately taunts Elmer with sticking his tail up at him, and shoots the tied-up rifle, resulting in him being blown back into the barber's chair. Bugs has another go on Elmer's scalp, beginning by giving his head a massage using both hands and feet, and then turning his head into a fruit salad bowl (complete with whipped cream and a cherry on top). Angered, Elmer chases after Bugs with a razor, but Bugs becomes a snake charmer, actually charming an electric shaver to chase Elmer. Elmer eventually disables the shaver with a shotgun blast and chases Bugs back to the barber's chairs. Bugs and Elmer each get on a chair that they raise to dizzying heights, Elmer shooting at Bugs all the way. Bugs cuts loose a stage sandbag which stuns Elmer as it lands in his lap, causing the chair to spin down back into the barbershop. Spirally sliding one-handed down the pole of the other chair, Bugs receives the traditional barber's gratuity from the dazed Elmer, then throws him in a revolving door to further daze him and, as Elmer staggers back out, waltzes him back into the barber's chair.
Before Bugs' third go-round with the scalp, he opens one of Elmer's boots with a can opener and does a pedicure using hedge clippers, file, and red paint. That is followed by pouring hair restorer on Elmer's face, then shaving off the resulting beard with a miniature mower and, finally, a masque for the face using 'beauty clay', which Bugs handles like cement. Then it's back to the scalp as Bugs thoroughly massages it with his hands and ears after adding hair tonic, then "Figaro Fertilizer", causing hair to grow which sprouts into flowers. As a result, a short arms race occurs during which Bugs and Elmer take turns pursuing each other back and forth across the stage, with increasingly bigger weapons (axes, guns, cannons). Finally, Bugs ends the chase by offering flowers, chocolates, and a ring to Elmer, who absentmindedly ducks offstage and returns as a blushing bride. Bugs dresses as a groom, and the tune briefly switches to the final part of the "Wedding March" by Mendelssohn as the two are "wed" by a priest; the performance concludes with Bugs racing his "bride" up a very long flight of stairs and, when they reach a false house front door at the top, Bugs picks Elmer up as if to carry him over the threshold. Instead he drops him head-first into a large wedding cake below, labeled, "The Marriage of Figaro". Bugs then looks at the camera, smirks, and breaking the fourth wall, says as he eats a carrot, in the same manner in which he delivers his catchphrase, "''Eh, next?''"
Thérèse Raquin is the daughter of a French sea-captain and an Algerian mother. After her mother's death, her father takes her to live with her aunt, Madame Raquin, and Camille, her valetudinarian son. Because her son is "so ill", Madame Raquin dotes on him to the point of spoiling him, and he is very selfish. Camille and Thérèse grow up side-by-side and Madame Raquin marries them to each other when Thérèse turns 21. Shortly thereafter, Camille decides that the family should move to Paris so he can pursue a career.
Thérèse and Madame Raquin set up shop in the Passage du Pont Neuf to support Camille while he searches for a job. He eventually starts working for the Orléans Railway Company, where he runs into a childhood friend, Laurent. Laurent visits the Raquins and, while painting a portrait of Camille, contemplates an affair with the lonely Thérèse, mostly because he cannot afford prostitutes anymore.
It soon becomes a torrid love affair. They meet regularly and secretly in Thérèse's room. After some time, Laurent's boss no longer allows him to leave early, so the lovers must think of something new. Thérèse comes up with the idea of killing Camille, and they become infatuated with the idea of being able to be together permanently while being married. It seems Camille is the only obstacle in this. They eventually drown him during a boat trip, though in defending himself Camille succeeds in biting Laurent on the neck. Madame Raquin is in shock after hearing of her son's disappearance. Everybody believes that the drowning was an accident and that the couple actually tried to save Camille. Laurent is still uncertain about whether Camille is truly dead and frequently visits the mortuary, which he persists in although it disturbs him, until he finally finds the dead body there. Thérèse becomes far more nervous and has nightmares; the previously calm and centered Laurent also becomes nervous. Their feelings toward each other are greatly changing, but they still plot to marry without raising suspicion and therefore reap the rewards of their actions. Thérèse acts very subdued around family and acquaintances and Laurent publicly shows great concern and care for her, so Michaud, one of the family's regular visitors, decides that Thérèse should remarry and her ideal husband should be Laurent. They finally marry but they're haunted by the memory of the murder; Laurent's bite scar serves as a constant reminder for them both. They have hallucinations of the dead Camille in their bed every night, preventing them from touching each other and quickly driving them even more insane. They vacillate between trying desperately to rekindle their passion to get rid of the corpse hallucinations (and trying to 'heal' the bite scar), and despising each other. Laurent, previously an untalented artist, is suddenly struck with surprising talent and skill, but he can no longer paint a picture (even a landscape) which does not in some way resemble the dead man. Sickened by this, he gives up art. They must also tend Madame Raquin, who suffered a stroke after Camille's death. She suffers a second stroke and becomes completely paralyzed (except for her eyes), after which Thérèse and Laurent accidentally reveal the murder in her presence during one of their many arguments.
Madame Raquin, previously blissfully happy, is now filled with rage, disgust and horror. During an evening game of dominoes with friends, Madame Raquin manages to move her finger with an extreme effort of will to trace words on the table: " ...". The complete sentence was intended to be " " (Thérèse and Laurent killed Camille). At this point her strength gives out and the words are interpreted as "Thérèse and Laurent look after me very well".
Thérèse and Laurent find life together intolerable. Laurent has started beating Thérèse, something she deliberately provokes in order to distract her from her life. Thérèse has convinced herself that Madame Raquin has forgiven her and spends hours kissing her and praying at the disabled woman's feet. The couple argue almost constantly about Camille and who was responsible for his death, so they exist in an endless waking nightmare. They are being driven to rashly plot to murder each other. At the novel's climax, they're about to kill each other when each realizes the other's plan. They break down sobbing in silent agreement of what they should do next, and reflect on their miserable lives. After a final embrace, they commit suicide by taking poison supplied by Laurent, all in front of the hate-filled, watchful gaze of Madame Raquin.
Set in the 14th century during the reigns of the last five kings of the direct Capetian dynasty and the first two kings of the House of Valois, the series begins as the French King Philip the Fair, already surrounded by scandal and intrigue, brings a curse upon his family when he persecutes the Knights Templar. The succession of monarchs that follows leads France and England to the Hundred Years' War.
The novels describe the experiences of a young married couple, Harriet and Guy Pringle, early in World War II. A lecturer and passionate Communist, Guy is attached to a British Council educational establishment in Bucharest (Romania) when war breaks out, and the couple are forced to leave the country, passing through Athens and Palestine and ending up in Cairo, Egypt. Harriet is persuaded to return home by ship, but changes her mind at the last minute and goes to Damascus with friends. Guy, hearing that the ship has been torpedoed, believes her to be dead, but they are reunited in the end.
The cycle also chronicles the pre-war and wartime experiences of the surrounding group of English expatriates who also find themselves on the move and the changes in Romanian society as the corrupt regime of King Carol II fails to keep Romania out of the war.
Returning home with his mother Vinn from a trip to Berlin, Michael Gant, the son of Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) director Robert Gant, is kidnapped and his security detail is wiped out by the attacker, ex-DIA agent Sever. FBI agent Jeremiah Ecks left the agency after his wife Rayne was killed in a car bombing. His old boss, Julio Martin, asks him to investigate the Gant case. He claims that Rayne is still alive and he will give Ecks the information on her whereabouts if he helps take down Sever. Ecks agrees and discovers Sever is an orphaned Chinese girl the DIA adopted to train as a covert operative and assassin with "no fear, no conscience, and no morality." Meanwhile, Robert Gant executes the only survivor of his son's security detail. He then orders his elite agents, led by A. J. Ross, to pursue Sever and rescue Michael.
Ecks joins Martin and CSIS agent Harry Lee in Vancouver, where Sever is hiding out. Ecks learns that Gant stole an experimental weapon codenamed Softkill, a nanorobot which operates in the human circulatory system and can cause heart attacks at will. Gant had implanted Softkill in Michael in order to smuggle it into the United States. Ross and his men surround Sever in a shopping plaza, but she wipes out Ross's forces in a lengthy gun battle. Sever shoots Martin, and Ecks pursues Sever, climaxing with a fight that's cut off when Ross starts shooting at them with an M60 machine gun, giving Sever a chance to escape.
Ecks is arrested by the Vancouver Police Department under the false pretense that he killed Martin. While being transported to jail, his convoy is attacked by Sever, who frees Ecks. After a lengthy car chase, Sever throws a piece of paper at Ecks and tells him to ask Gant about his wife. Ecks meets Rayne at an aquarium and it's revealed that her "death" was orchestrated by Gant. Rayne ended up believing Ecks had died while he thought she was gone. Rayne then married Gant under the name Vinn. It ends up that Gant had Sever's family killed; it was initially believed that kidnapping Michael was Sever's revenge. However, Rayne reveals that Michael is actually Ecks' son, and Sever's kidnapping was for his protection.
Ecks, Rayne, and Sever go to Sever's underground bunker in an abandoned trainyard, where Rayne is reunited with Michael. Gant and Ross arrive with an army of heavily-armed DIA agents, and a massive battle ensues. Ecks and Sever eventually gain the upper hand, and Sever kills Ross in a fight in the bunker. Gant tries to retrieve the Softkill in Michael's arm but is surprised to find it's not there. Sever kills Gant using a Softkill-loaded bullet and escapes as the police arrive. The film concludes with Ecks and Sever looking over the sea and Ecks thanking Sever for reuniting him with his family.
A routine physical exam at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant reveals that Homer is sterile after being exposed to radiation. Fearing a lawsuit, Mr. Burns awards Homer the Montgomery Burns Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Excellence and a US$2,000 prize in exchange for signing a legal waiver freeing the plant of all liability. To trick Homer into thinking he is receiving an actual award, Burns stages an extravagant ceremony hosted by Joe Frazier.
Homer plans to buy a vibrating chair as a replacement for the living room couch, which Bart and Lisa have broken while goofing off. Homer's half-brother Herb, broke and homeless after the events of "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?", learns of the prize Homer has won and stows away on a train to Springfield, planning to persuade Homer to lend him the money. Upon seeing Homer in person, Herb punches him in the face out of anger over the loss of Herb's company. After hearing a baby's cries, Herb devises a plan to regain his wealth by designing a device that can translate baby talk into comprehensible English so parents can respond to their infants' needs. His invention is an instant success that makes him rich again.
Herb repays Homer's loan and buys several gifts for the Simpsons, including a new washer and dryer for Marge, a NRA membership for Bart, and a monthly book club subscription for Lisa. Herb forgives Homer for ruining him earlier and buys him the vibrating chair to reward his faith and generosity, and the Simpsons use the original $2,000 to replace the broken couch.
The narrator Joshua—at first appearing to be just over 60 years old, wakes up May 27, 2109 in an apartment on human-settled Mars. With no memory of his past, he goes to his ''werp'', a voice-activated laptop computer, and learns that his name is Joshua Ali Quare and that he was born in 1968. From this frame story and a box containing several objects from his past, Quare pieces together what he believes is true about his life leading to the early 22nd century. It is soon clear that he is unburdened by any form of morality.
Joshua ran away from home early in his teens to escape his abusive father, and stayed in an upstairs apartment at Gwenny's Diner. Joshua's mother, a Communist party member, surreptitiously helped him. He entered the US Army at the behest of some Party organizers, and he was put in contact with a KGB operative who provided him with an injection to keep him from receiving or transmitting AIDS (which mutates and spreads soon after, wiping out a large percentage of the population of Earth). The injection also enhanced his memory, and periodically regenerates his body, so that he becomes 10 years younger with each 15-year life period. This makes him a ''longtimer'', and gives him the side-effect of having his memory wiped after every life period.
Joshua's US Army career is spent in Operation Desert Storm (the ''First Oil War'' in the novel) and the "Second Oil War" which culminated in a march on Tehran. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the KGB diversified and became "the Organization," a counter-insurgency group that supplied technical and logistic support to every side in the Eurowar, a NATO-Central European Union-Russian conflict in the early 21st century. Among the innovations of the Eurowar were ''Simulation Modeling Optimizing Targeters'' (SMOTs) a jump from smart weapons to "brilliant weapons" that attacked an enemy country's natural resources and means of production. These weapons cause massive environmental damage to the earth, and are the predecessors of the ''memes''. Joshua, as an agent for The Organization, begins his violent operative career with a gang rape involving US soldiers, and then sets out a series of terrorist-like missions to intensify the war. During the Eurowar, Joshua raped a woman and killed her and her family (perhaps the only disturbing memory he regrets), murdered many soldiers and civilians, suppressed science and research through rape and torture, and essentially caused mayhem along with other Organization ''longtimers'', for great sums of pay. After the Eurowar ended, Joshua took in "Alice", a war orphan from Prague in an incident where he got the dog tag – and inspiration for future alias – "John Childs".
In the 2010s, the Organization abandoned Joshua, who then joined the ''Reconstruction'' after the Eurowar and worked in Quito, Ecuador on the GeoSync Cable and saw with Alice the beginning of the development of memes that would unify all countries and religions, leading to the War of the Memes (referred to in some of Barnes' other books) that culminated in the takeover of Earth by ''One True''. Alice runs away, and the Organization finds and rehires Joshua to fight in the War of the Memes, for One True. By the time One True consolidated its hold on the people of Earth, Mars, the Jupiter and Saturn systems had been colonized for decades. Joshua steals another person's ID and becomes an ecoprospector on Mars.
The best scientists and engineers of free humanity had developed the technology to unleash a singularity at the edge of the Solar System that would provide a return point in time and space for the descendants of five transfer ships sent to colonize other nearby star systems. When Joshua finally ventures forth to meet his Organization contact in Red Sands City, he's confronted by a tremendous hustle and bustle of people preparing for the transfer ship descendants to arrive from the 25th century and either destroy One True (and the population on Earth under its control) or confine it there.
A fellow Organization agent named Sadi has been in Joshua's life one way or another since the inception of the Organization. On Mars, Sadi, who's also a longtimer, meets Joshua as a woman, Sadi's original gender, and now gender of choice. This is possible due to the Organization perfecting the regeneration process, now called 'revival', which also gave Sadi complete memory recovery and a permanent 20-year-old body. From Sadi, whom Joshua had met ''as'' a woman after the Eurowar and was partnered with when Sadi was male during the War of the Memes, Joshua learns that it's possible to go through the singularity to 1988, when the technology to construct it was first built and put into orbit by the Soviets. By the time of the novel's frame story, Sadi has done this thirty times, each time changing history to his/her benefit. After Joshua's revival and a time as Sadi's lover, Joshua, who's repeatedly refused to accompany Sadi on these excursions through the singularity, (also known as a ''closed timelike curve''), is sent by her via force on a preset course through the singularity once more. Sadi claims to have brought Joshua back in time with her before, without being revived, so she could 'help' Joshua love her as obsessively as Sadi loves him. Now she wants him to experience the freedom she's had, in hopes of having him come back to her for good. Joshua makes plans when he comes back to the late 20th century to change history himself, many times over, alone.
Bugs and Elmer are in the midst of their usual hunting-chasing scenario. After Bugs tricks Elmer into running through a hollow log and off a cliff ''three'' times (a comic triple of sorts originally used in Avery's ''All This and Rabbit Stew''; in fact, the same animation sequence was recycled for "The Big Snooze", with the stereotypical black hunter being redrawn into Elmer Fudd). Elmer becomes enraged and frustrated that the writers never let him catch the rabbit in the pictures from which they both appear. He tears up his Warner Bros. cartoon contract and walks off the set to devote his life to fishing, stunning Bugs, who piteously protests and unabashedly, ultimately fruitlessly, begs him to reconsider. During a relaxing fishing trip, Elmer falls asleep.
Bugs observes Elmer's nap, sings a little of "Beautiful Dreamer" and remarks that the dream he notices Elmer is having — that of a classic log and saw, representing snoring — is "a heavenly dream". Then, Bugs decides he had "better look into this", and downs a sleeping pill. He dreams he is inside Elmer's dream, in a boat crooning "Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat". He decides to use Nightmare Paint to disrupt the "serene scene".
Within Elmer's dreamland, Bugs creates incidences designed to unsettle: Elmer appears nearly nude, wearing only his derby hat and a strategically placed "loincloth" consisting of a laurel wreath. Despite the unexpected formula, he covers his body instantly. Next, in a musical parody of "The Campbells Are Coming", and a visual parody of the Pink Elephants on Parade sequence from the Disney film ''Dumbo'' (1941), Bugs creates a situation where "Ziwwions and twiwwions of wabbits" are dancing over Elmer while Bugs' voice is heard singing, "The rabbits are coming. Hooray! Hooray!" When Elmer asks where they are all coming from, Bugs replies, "From me, Doc." Then we see him literally multiplying them from an adding machine. Elmer then begins to throw a tantrum.
Looking for another way to torment Elmer, Bugs consults the book ''A Thousand and One Arabian Nightmares'', exclaiming, "Oh, no! It's too gruesome!" before peeking over the book to cheerfully tell the audience, "But I'll do it!" Elmer realizes what Bugs has in mind, pleading, "No, no! No, not that! Not that, please!" as Bugs ties him to railroad tracks, just as "the Super Chief" (Bugs in an Indian chief's war bonnet, leading a conga line of baby rabbits) crosses over Elmer's head.
Elmer's anger about a failed pursuit through the surreal landscape is promptly used against him by Bugs who inquires, "What's the matter doc, ya cold? Here, I'll fix dat." Before Elmer can react, Bugs dresses him in drag, (dress, wig, lipstick) transforming the inept hunter into a woman who resembles Rita Hayworth. Bugs inspects his handiwork, then lifts the backdrop to reveal a trio of literal wolves in Zoot suits, lounging by the sign at Hollywood and Vine. When the trio notice Elmer, one wolf howls, "Hooooow old is she?" while another begins flirting with the gender confused Elmer. Bugs enjoys watching the male wolves hit on Elmer, who exclaims "Gwacious!" before fleeing from the pursuing wolves; he briefly stops to ask the viewer, "Have any of you giwls evew had an expewience wike this?"
Bugs intercepts Elmer and proceeds to engage in the old "run 'this way'!" gag, putting Elmer through a bizarre series of steps which include flipping upside down to run on his hair (which reveals Elmer's matching panties and how complete the makeover was), hopping on all fours, and dancing a hopak.
As Bugs and Elmer fall off a cliff, Bugs drinks some "Hare Tonic (Stops Falling Hare)" and screeches to a halt in mid-air, while the dream Elmer continues to careen toward earth, finally crash-landing into the real Elmer's snoozing body. He wakes up with a start, exclaiming, "Ooh, what a howwible nightmare!".
Elmer dashes back to the cartoon's original background, pieces his Warner contract back together, and agrees to continue. The chase through the log begins anew. Bugs faces the viewers in a closeup, finishing with the catchphrase from the "Beulah" character on the radio show Fibber McGee and Molly, "Ah ''love'' dat man!"
The cartoon opens in outer space, and moves in slowly on the Earth, the United States, and a fictional state called "Mouseachewsetts." The camera continues to move closer, to an overhead view of Fluger's Delicatessen, wedged in between two skyscrapers. The camera pans the interior of the deli, finally coming to Catstello waiting patiently at the entrance of a mouse hole. He addresses the camera and audience: "I thought you'd never get here." He alerts Babbit that the people/audience are here, but Babbit is angry. Catstello failed to gather food as directed because he fears the cat.
After much resistance, Babbit hypnotizes Catstello and turns him, in turn, into Bing Crosby (voiced by Richard Bickenbach), Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Durante, Rochester (which is removed from Cartoon Network in the United States) and a chicken. Satisfied that his hypnotic powers work, Babbit then hypnotizes Catstello into believing he is a dog. He sends Catstello out to chase the cat away. At first Catstello's barking frighten the cat, who hides under a trash bin. But Catstello picks up the bin, and the cat is shocked to see Catstello, not a dog. Catstello comes out of his trance and flees back into the mouse hole, where Babbit hypnotizes him again. Catstello runs out barking to confront the cat, but the cat, with a hypnosis book, undoes Babbit's spell and Catstello flees back to Babbit. Then a battle begins between Babbit and the cat for control of Catstello. Like a ball in a tennis match, Catstello bounces back and forth several times between the hypnotic powers of Babbit and the cat. Finally, Catstello produces two hand mirrors that reflect the hypnotic beams at Babbit and the cat. Then Catstello, hypnosis book in hand, turns the cat into a bronco and Babbit into a cowboy. They ride off together out of the deli, leaving Catstello happily eating cheese, reading the book "Live Alone and Like It," and remarking "Oh — I'm a baaaaad boy!" (The book was written by Marjorie Hillis, the editor of Vogue, around 1936 for bachelor women.)
''Dirge of Cerberus'' centers on Vincent Valentine, who is the main playable character, although Cait Sith is also playable for a single level. The game's main antagonists are the members of an organization named Deepground, who are planning to use a creature known as Omega to destroy all life on the Planet. Their highest-ranking members are known as the , and their leader is . The second highest-ranking member is Weiss' brother, , who leads Deepground in the field. Other members of the Tsviets include , and .
The online mode of the game, which is only available in the Japanese version, also introduces a group called the Restrictors, the former leaders of Deepground before Weiss took over. The Restrictors' leader had implanted microchips into the brainstems of all Deepground soldiers so as to ensure they never turn against the group. However, Weiss was able to overcome this control method, and the Tsviets wrenched control from the Restrictors. Although Weiss was successful in overthrowing the Restrictors, however, the leader of the Restrictors was able to implant a virus into Weiss' bloodstream.
The game begins during the climax of ''Final Fantasy VII''. As Vincent and Yuffie Kisaragi help to evacuate Midgar, which is about to be destroyed by Sephiroth's Meteor spell, Vincent finds the body of Professor Hojo slumped at the controls of the Sister Ray cannon. After a flash of lightning, Hojo's body seems to disappear, and before Vincent can investigate, the cannon explodes, forcing Vincent to escape with Yuffie.
Three years later, Vincent is in the town of Kalm when it is attacked by a group of mysterious soldiers. Vincent, with the help of his former comrade, Reeve Tuesti of the World Regenesis Organization (WRO), an organization dedicated to helping the planet recover from the events of ''Final Fantasy VII'', fights the soldiers and forces them to retreat, but not before many of the citizens of the town have been captured, and many more killed.
Reeve explains to Vincent that the soldiers were members of Deepground, a military organization created as part of a covert Shinra operation to create genetically enhanced super soldiers. Vincent soon learns that he is one of Deepground's primary targets, as he is unknowingly in possession of "Protomateria", a substance which he uses to control the "Chaos" gene hidden inside him. Deepground claims they need the Protomateria to control "Omega". According to ancient tablets discovered some years previously, Chaos and Omega have an unknown but important relationship, with Chaos described as "Omega's squire to the lofty heavens." The Chaos gene was injected into Vincent over thirty years previously by the scientist Lucrecia Crescent, Hojo's research assistant, with whom Vincent was in love.
In an effort to find answers, Vincent goes to the town of Nibelheim where Lucrecia studied Omega and Chaos. Whilst at Lucrecia's research lab, Vincent is ambushed by Rosso the Crimson, who steals the Protomateria but is prevented from killing Vincent by the arrival of Yuffie. As they return to the WRO headquarters, they find that Deepground has launched an assault on the base. However, Deepground member Shelke the Transparent has been captured by the WRO, and reveals that she is synaptically interconnected to Lucrecia's memories, thus allowing the WRO to complete Lucrecia's research on Omega. Shelke's sister, Shalua Rui, a high ranking scientist in the WRO, soon discovers that Omega is a WEAPON, which activates when the Planet senses that it is in mortal danger (like the WEAPONs it activated in the original ''Final Fantasy VII''). Omega's function is to absorb the Lifestream from the Planet and then move to another planet, leaving the inhabitants behind to die. Deepground plans to slaughter a huge number of people at once so as to 'trick' the planet into activating Omega prematurely.
Vincent and the WRO launch a full-scale assault on Deepground's headquarters in Midgar. While Reeve's team battles the Deepground soldiers and attempt to destroy the Mako reactors which serve as a means to revive Omega, Vincent heads to Deepground's centre of operations to confront Weiss. He is surprised to find Weiss slumped in his chair, dead. However, as Omega begins to manifest itself, Weiss seems to revive, and confronts Vincent. It is revealed that Weiss is possessed by Hojo; before Hojo was killed in the Mako Cannon three years earlier, he uploaded his consciousness into the Worldwide Network, then took possession of Weiss's body while he was online attempting to find a cure for the virus with which the Restrictors had infected him. Hojo/Weiss and Vincent battle to a standstill. However Nero, who had been defeated earlier by Vincent, emerges from the Lifestream and destroys Hojo. Nero then merges with Weiss in order to help him fuse with Omega, just as Vincent is fused with Chaos.
While the WRO continues to fight the remnants of Deepground, Vincent transforms into Chaos in a desperate attempt to defeat Omega Weiss. Shelke dives inside Omega to find Lucrecia's Protomateria, and upon finding it, she gives it to Vincent, also telling him that his survival made Lucrecia happy. Vincent then takes control of Chaos and battles Omega. Omega sprouts wings and tries to ascend from the planet, but Vincent manages to destroy it, disappearing in the process. A week later, he is seen visiting Lucrecia's crystalline tomb in the Crystal Cave. He states that both Chaos and Omega have returned to the Planet, and he thanks Lucrecia for being the reason he survived. He is then found by Shelke outside the cave, and she tells him that everyone else is waiting for him.
In the secret ending of the game, "G", a legendary warrior with unexplained connections to Deepground, awakes beneath the ruins of Midgar. He finds Weiss's body, and picks it up. He tells the dead Weiss, "It is not yet time for slumber. We still have much work to do... My brother." He then sprouts a large black wing and flies into the night carrying Weiss with him. The ''Crisis Core Ultimania'', however, explains that "G" (Genesis) has returned from his three-year slumber to protect the Planet.
Margaret "Maggie" Fitzgerald, a waitress from the Ozarks, shows up at the Hit Pit, a rundown Los Angeles gym owned and operated by Frankie Dunn. Dunn is a cantankerous Irish-American trainer, revealed to be estranged from his own daughter. Maggie asks Frankie to train her, but he refuses as he does not train women and she is too old to begin a boxing career. Eddie "Scrap-Iron" Dupris, Frankie's friend and employee—the film's narrator—encourages and helps Maggie. Frankie's prize prospect, "Big Willie" Little, signs with successful manager Mickey Mack after becoming impatient with Frankie rejecting offers for a championship bout. Frankie then reluctantly agrees to train Maggie.
Maggie fights her way up in the women's amateur boxing division with Frankie's coaching. Since she has earned a reputation for quick KOs, Frankie must resort to bribery to get other managers to put their trainee fighters up against her. Scrap, concerned when Frankie rejects several offers for big fights, arranges a meeting for Maggie with Mickey Mack but, out of loyalty to Frankie, she declines. Frankie bestows Maggie a Gaelic nickname, embroidered on her boxing robe, ''Mo Chuisle'' (misspelled in the film as "mo cuishle"), but does not tell her its meaning. The two travel to Europe as she continues to win; Maggie eventually saves up enough of her winnings to buy her mother a house, but her mother berates Maggie for endangering her government aid, claiming that everyone back home is laughing at her.
Frankie is finally willing to arrange a title fight. He secures Maggie a $1 million match in Las Vegas against the WBA women's welterweight champion, Billie "The Blue Bear" Osterman, a German ex-prostitute who has a reputation as an unpunished dirty fighter. Maggie begins to dominate the fight, but Billie knocks her out with an illegal sucker punch from behind after the bell rings to end the round. Maggie lands hard on her corner stool, breaking her neck and leaving her a ventilator-dependent quadriplegic.
While in the hospital, Maggie looks forward to a visit from her family. They arrive only after first touring Disneyland and Universal Studios Hollywood. Accompanied by an attorney, their sole concern is to get Maggie's assets transferred to them. Disgusted, she orders them to leave and threatens to report their welfare fraud if they try to contact her again.
Maggie soon develops bedsores and undergoes an amputation for an infected leg. She then asks Frankie to help her die, declaring that she got everything she wanted out of life. Frankie refuses, so Maggie later bites off her own tongue in an attempt to bleed to death. Knowing the fatherly affection Frankie has developed for Maggie, Frankie's priest warns him that he would never find himself again if he were to go through with Maggie's request. Frankie then sneaks into the hospital one night, unaware that Scrap is watching from the shadows. Just before administering a fatal injection of adrenaline, he tells Maggie the meaning of "mo chuisle": "my darling, and my blood." He never returns to the gym. Scrap's narration is revealed to be a letter to Frankie's daughter, informing her of her father's actual true character.
In the 22nd century, mankind has begun to emigrate into outer space. Constructed at a Lagrange point were three huge space colonies: the Isis Cluster; two artificial biospheres, named Land-1 and Land-2, and a satellite. In the year Isis 0024 (55 years after the cluster was constructed), a biohazard outbreak occurred on Land-2. All attempts at contact were met with nothing but static. Now a research team led by their pilot, approaches Land-1.
Upon arrival, the team was attacked by a group of robots and the shuttle exploded due to the damage during the battle, knocking Gene out immediately after.
Gene then awakened in the medical center of Isis City to find one of his team members fatally wounded. Said team member informs Gene that their goal was to find a researcher at Land-2's Bio Research Lab, and Gene sets off to find him, wherever he is in Land-2.
In 1711 Usbek leaves his seraglio in Isfahan to make the long journey to France, accompanied by his young friend Rica. He leaves behind five wives (Zashi, Zéphis, Fatmé, Zélis, and Roxane) in the care of a number of black eunuchs, one of whom is the head or first eunuch. During the trip and their long stay in Paris (1712 to 1720), they comment, in letters exchanged with friends and mullahs, on numerous aspects of Western, Christian society, particularly French politics and manners, including a biting satire of the System of John Law. Over time, various disorders surface back in the seraglio, and, beginning in 1717 (Letter 139 [147]), that situation rapidly unravels. Usbek orders his head eunuch to crack down, but his message does not arrive in time, and the internal revolt brings about the death of his wives, including the vengeful suicide of his favorite, Roxane, and, it appears, most of the eunuchs.
The Chronology can be summarized as follows: * Letters 1–21 (1–23): The journey from Isfahan to France, which lasts almost 14 months (from 19 March 1711 to 4 May 1712). * Letters 22–89 (24–92): Paris in the reign of Louis XIV, 3 years in all (from May 1712 to September 1715). * Letters 90–137 (93–143) plus [Supplementary Letter 8 (145]: the Regency of Philippe d’Orléans, covering five years (from September 1715 to November 1720). * Letters 138–150 (146–161): the collapse of the seraglio in Isfahan, approximately 3 years (1717–1720).
Kyle, Sonia, and Michael are inmates at a rehabilitation facility. Bob, the administrator, tasks them with apologizing to those they have hurt with their addiction. When Kyle attempts to apologize to his teenage sister Charlotte, she angrily blows him off, and the principal kicks him off school grounds. Sonia goes to the hospital where her dying father is a patient, but she is unable to bring herself to face him. Michael visits his father in jail, but the conversation is cut short by his father's abusive threats. When Bob asks them to discuss their day in group therapy, they refuse, and Michael storms off. While discussing the pointlessness of Bob's therapy, Sonia learns that her father has died. As the trio tries to deal with their emotional pain, a storm rolls in, and each of them is shocked and knocked unconscious.
When they wake up in the morning, they find that it is the same day, and all the same events repeat. Kyle, Sonia, and Michael stumble through the day and repeat their actions in a daze. When they discuss the situation, Michael is intrigued by the consequence-free possibilities open to them, but Kyle convinces them to act on a news report that he recalls. They go to a dam but are too late to stop a jumper. Michael suggests that they take advantage of the situation, and they commit petty crimes that result in a stay in jail. Eventually, as the day repeats endlessly, they embark on a drug bender and crime spree, robbing a store and culminating in the violent kidnapping of Tiko, a drug dealer who has been selling to Charlotte and her friend Michelle. On another loop, Michael forces Kyle to slice Tiko’s throat. At the dam, Michael carelessly risks his life walking on top of the railing and dares Sonia to do the same. When she slips, Michael merely laughs and refuses to try to help Kyle save her. Sonia falls to her death, then wakes up with a gasp on the next repeat. Sonia claims to remember nothing of her death, and the trio become emboldened by their apparent immortality.
On one repeat, Kyle and Sonia save the jumper at the dam, then discover that Michael has raped Michelle. When Kyle and Sonia confront Michael, Michael accuses them of hypocrisy and says that all their bad actions are excusable because everything gets reset. Michael's behavior becomes more violent and antisocial as the days repeat. Shaken by Michael's behavior, Kyle ambushes him in the morning and ties him to a chair. Kyle and Sonia fall in love and work toward redemption, but Michael laughs at Kyle; he claims that Sonia's story of childhood sexual abuse is just an act, quoting a story he says she uses to seduce men.
Kyle and Sonia form a deeper relationship during the loops and make peace with their families. This causes the time loop to abruptly end, but they do not realize it until the next day in the middle of a violent rampage by Michael that ends with the senseless murders of two people. Freaked out, Michael takes Charlotte hostage, but he commits suicide after Kyle attempts to reason with him. Michael is surprised to wake up again, stuck in his own time loop, unsure if he can arrange peace with his own family to break the loop.
The story of Damian (Alex Etel), a 9-year-old Catholic school boy, whose family moves to the suburbs of Widnes after the death of his mother. Soon after the move, Damian whilst playing in a cardboard box by the train tracks, is disturbed by a bag of money flung from a passing train. Damian immediately shows the money to his brother, 12-year-old Anthony (Lewis Owen McGibbon), and the two begin thinking of what to do with it. Anthony wants the money all to himself, but Damian, kind-hearted, religious, and inspired by a lecture at school, looks for ways to give his share of the money to the poor.
Throughout the story, Damian commits small acts of kindness, such as buying birds from pet stores and setting them free, and taking beggars to Pizza Hut. On the other hand, Anthony bribes other kids at school into being his transport and bodyguards, and looks into investing the money in real estate.
The story takes place in the weeks leading up to The Bank of England's (fictional) change from the pound (£) to the euro (€), an event publicised as "€ Day". An assembly is held at Damian's school to inform the children about the change, as well as to educate them about helping the poor. Realising that the money, which is in pounds, will be no good after a few days, Damian decides that it would be best to give it away before the conversion. He drops £1,000 into the donation can at the assembly. The woman collecting the money, Dorothy (Daisy Donovan), reports Damian to the principal. Anthony lies that he and Damian stole the money from missionaries. Damian and Anthony are grounded that night. When their father collects them from school he chats with Dorothy, and there is an obvious attraction between them.
After the donation, Anthony's friend informs them that a train carrying banknotes, which were to be destroyed after the conversion, had been robbed. One bag was stolen in a diversion, the robbers then distracted the police before escaping into a crowd of football fans. However, a robber remained on the train disguised as one of the emergency staff, and the money had been dispersed by throwing it off of the train at various locations throughout the country, to be collected by other robbers. The boys logically conclude that their money was stolen, and Damian, who thought the money was from God, feels terrible.
Around this time, a mysterious man comes snooping around the train tracks, and asks Damian if he has any money. Damian thinks that the man is a beggar and tells him he has "loads of money". However, a suspicious Anthony gives the man a jar full of coins to cover Damian's tracks.
The man is one of the robbers looking for the bag. He eventually finds out where Damian lives and ransacks the house. Damian had informed his father about the money just before they came home to their destroyed house. The robber who came sneaking around hid in Damian's room after ransacking it, much in the way the original robbery was carried out. Damian's father, who had resolved to give the money back, decided that if the robbers were going to steal his family's Christmas, then he would steal the robbers' money. The family, as well as Dorothy, go on a massive shopping spree on Christmas Eve.
That night, after they are asleep, their house is bombarded by beggars and charities begging for contributions and, seeing the confusion that ensues, Damian runs off to the train tracks to burn the money, deciding that it was doing more harm than good. Meanwhile, the robber sneaks through the backdoor and is arrested by the police. While Damian was burning the money, he is visited by his dead mother, who tells him not to worry about her.
In the final scene, the audience sees Damian's dream of the family flying a rocket ship to Africa and helping develop water wells, while Damian narrates over the scene that each family member but him had hidden a little bit of the money beforehand. Damian convinced them to spend this money on the wells he is dreaming about. Earlier in the movie that was shown to be the cheapest way to drastically improve the quality of life for many African communities.
The Federation starship ''Enterprise'' responds to a distress call from a human colony, but on arrival finds no signs of any type of inhabited settlement. A landing party, including Captain Kirk and Ensign Chekov, beams down to investigate further. A few moments later, they are found and surrounded by Klingons who have transported to the surface from their own orbiting vessel. Commander Kang accuses the ''Enterprise'' crew of firing upon their vessel and demands that they surrender immediately. Suddenly, Chekov makes a move to attack the Klingons, claiming they had killed his brother. Kang's men subdue him and use an agonizer device to torture him, forcing Kirk to agree to surrender. However, upon contacting the ship and asking to be beamed up, Kirk secretly warns First Officer Spock about the Klingons. Spock uses the transporter to materialize the ''Enterprise'' crewmen first, followed by the Klingons, who are overpowered by ''Enterprise'' security personnel. Kang surrenders and he and the other Klingons, including his wife Mara, a science officer, are escorted to secure quarters on the ship.
Meanwhile, a glowing entity composed of pure energy, which had initially emerged on the planet below, enters the ''Enterprise'' undetected and interfaces with its controls. The ship lurches into warp at maximum speed headed for the edge of the galaxy. With the crew panicked, the entity then traps 392 members of the ''Enterprise's'' crew belowdecks by closing bulkheads and making them impenetrable. The 38 remaining members of the crew are equal in numbers to the Klingons. With tempers high – and spurred on by the sudden materialization of swords and other antique hand weapons – they begin to fight.
Spock soon detects the entity, apparently feeding off the violence. When informed by Lt. Sulu that Chekov never had a brother and is an only child, Kirk realizes that the entity is capable of implanting false memories in order to trigger aggression. Kirk and Spock try to calm the crew's escalating furor to no avail. Kirk believes that if he can get to Kang, the Klingon commander can help stop his crew from fighting and help return the ship to a normal state.
Kirk and Spock work their way through the animosity aboard the ship and happen upon Chekov sexually assaulting Mara. Kirk pulls Chekov from her and knocks him unconscious, relenting only when Spock reminds him that Chekov was not in control of himself. Bringing Mara along, they take Chekov to Sickbay, where Dr. McCoy reports that crewmen gravely wounded in the fighting are healing at a much faster than normal rate; the entity wants everyone alive and fighting. Mara is initially skeptical that the entity exists, but is persuaded after realizing Kirk is completely unwilling to kill her. She agrees to lead Kirk to Kang in Engineering. They travel by the risky technique of intra-ship beaming – using the transporter between two points within the ship.
In Engineering, Kang distrusts Kirk's explanation of the entity despite Mara's assurance, and believing she was assaulted, challenges Kirk to a sword duel. As they clash, and with the entity hovering and pulsating a bright red nearby, Kirk implores Kang to stop, telling him that they may become its puppets for a thousand lifetimes if they continue to fight. Kang acknowledges Kirk's warning and the fact that their fighting is pointless. Kirk and Kang order their respective crews to lay down their arms. To starve the entity, Kirk and Kang encourage their crews to act jovially and to laugh with one another loudly. The entity fades and leaves the ship.
In answer to a distress call, the Federation starship ''Enterprise'' arrives at the planet Scalos. Captain Kirk beams down with a landing party to a city with no evidence of life, except for an intermittent insect-like buzzing. Crewman Compton disappears before Dr. McCoy's eyes, and Kirk orders the away team back to the ''Enterprise''. Upon their return, the ship begins to experience strange malfunctions, and Engineering reports the sudden appearance of an unknown device attached to the ship's life support systems. Kirk and Spock attempt to disconnect the device but are prevented from doing so by an unseen force.
Back on the bridge, Kirk decides to allow the unseen enemy to take the next step, and asks for coffee. As he sips it, the bridge crew appear to slow down. A woman appears, who introduces herself as Deela, "the enemy". She explains that Kirk has been placed in a state of hyperacceleration, rendering him invisible to the rest of his crew, but allowing him to see and hear the Scalosians.
Kirk returns to Life Support and discovers that Compton is still alive, having also been accelerated, and is willingly working with the Scalosians. After a confrontation with Deela's chief scientist Rael, Kirk surmises that the unknown device is intended to turn the ''Enterprise'' into a cryogenic storage unit. He records a message to Spock explaining what he has learned; Deela, confident in her people's success, allows this. Their plan, she explains, is to use the ''Enterprise'' crew to help propagate their species, whose men have been rendered sterile by the same natural disaster that caused their accelerated state. After a heated debate on the ethics of this plan, Kirk rushes away and disables the transporter. Deela, finding it inoperative, pretends to believe Kirk's claim to be ignorant of the problem.
Kirk begins to exhibit the sort of docility seen with Compton; however, this is a ruse that allows him to seize Deela's weapon. On his way to Life Support, Kirk meets newly accelerated Spock, who has heard Kirk's message and determined the cause of his hyperacceleration was a dose of the polluted Scalosian water. The two arrive at Life Support, where Kirk uses the Scalosian weapon to stun Rael and destroy the cryogenic device. After transporting Deela and her party back to the planet, Spock reveals that he has brought a possible antidote to the Scalosian water. Kirk takes a dose immediately, while Spock takes advantage of his accelerated state to effect repairs on the ''Enterprise''.
During an orchestrated drug bust at a marine loading dock, Los Angeles Police Detective Stan Zedkov kills Triad lieutenant Peter Wei. Looking to exact revenge for his son's death, Peter's crime boss father Terence Wei sends for professional assassin John Lee. Paying off an old debt, Lee has already killed two targets for Wei, and the crime boss tells him that this third and final job will settle the obligation. However, Lee's conscience prevents him from completing his final assignment: to murder Zedkov's seven-year-old son Stevie before the detective's eyes. Realizing that his actions will result in retaliation against his mother and sister, Lee prepares to return to China, enlisting the help of old friend Alan Chan, a monk in a local Buddhist temple, to make arrangements to have his family moved to a secure location. Infuriated by Lee's disobedience, Wei orders his head lieutenant, Michael Kogan, to lead the hunt for Lee, and has his people in China begin the search for Lee's family.
No longer able to use the Triad network to get out of the country, Lee searches for alternative means outside Wei's sphere of influence, and looks to skilled forger Meg Coburn for a new passport. Before she can finish the job, Wei's men storm her office, destroying the computerized tools of her trade in the ensuing shootout. Lee escapes; Coburn is picked up by the police, unsuccessfully interrogated by Zedkov, and released as bait so the detective can see who tries to kill her. Meanwhile, Wei hires skilled out-of-town professional hitmen named Ryker and Collins to take over the hunt for Lee and the Zedkov contract.
Lee finds Coburn when she returns to her destroyed office. Having been made aware that the Triads are involved, Coburn wants out, but Lee forces her to finish her original task of creating a forged passport. Traveling with Coburn, with the two replacement killers, in pursuit, Lee gets pictures from a photo booth and phones Alan, who offers the use of his passport. When Lee arrives at the temple, he discovers that Alan has been tortured to the point of death. Alan tells Lee that his family was moved to Canton—but he told his torturers they were in Shanghai. Lee has little more than 24 hours before his family is found. The monk gives Lee his passport before dying in his arms.
Holed up in a hotel, Coburn finishes altering Allan's passport for Lee. The two exchange stories, and Coburn becomes sympathetic to Lee. Feeling compelled to stop the killing of Zedkov's son before leaving the country, Lee forces one of Wei's men to reveal the plan, which is to kill Stevie while he and his father are at a cartoon festival in a movie theater. Lee and Coburn, who insists on helping, arrive barely in time to prevent Ryker and Collins from killing the boy, and Ryker is killed by Lee in the subsequent gunfight.
Concerned that Lee and Coburn will make their way back to Wei's base of operations, the crime boss makes plans to flee the country and hunt down Lee's mother and sister himself. However, when two guards open the main gate for Wei and his entourage to leave in a limo, Lee is just outside and launches a two-handed handgun assault. Coburn surfaces moments later, driving a truck through the melee, incapacitating Michael Kogan, and later killing him. When Collins fires from a high perch on Lee and Coburn, Lee soon outflanks him, killing him from behind. Finally, Lee corners Wei on a fire escape platform. Though both men have emptied their guns, Lee is first to reload. Wei promises Lee that the boy and Lee's family will still die, but Lee replies, "Not in your lifetime," and kills him. Though Zedkov arrives before Lee and Coburn can get away, he lets them go, taking only their guns.
Coburn reluctantly bids goodbye to Lee at the airport, presenting him with one last gift, passports for his mother and sister.
A beautiful but cynical and manipulative noblewoman makes a bet with her free-spirited womanizing cousin that he can have sex with her if he is able to seduce a young woman of great virtue. He accepts the challenge with enthusiasm though not suspecting the nasty trap he is walking into.
17-year-old Cécile spends her summer in a villa on the French Riviera with her father Raymond and his current mistress, the young, superficial, fashionable Elsa, who gets on well with Cécile. Raymond is an attractive, worldly, amoral man who excuses his serial philandering by quoting Oscar Wilde: "Sin is the only note of vivid colour that persists in the modern world." Cécile says, "I believed that I could base my life on it", and accepts their languorous lifestyle as the ideal of privileged status. One of its advantages for Cécile is that her father, who has no intellectual interests, does not care if she studies or not. Another is that he gives her leeway to pursue her own interests, with the assumption that she will be an amusing addition to the superficial social gatherings he favors. In the next villa to theirs is a young man in his 20s, Cyril, with whom Cécile has her first sexual romance.
Their peaceful holiday is shattered by the arrival of Anne, whom Raymond had vaguely invited. A cultured, principled, intelligent, hard-working woman of Raymond's age who was a friend of his late wife, Anne regards herself as a sort of godmother to Cécile. The three women all have claims on Raymond's attention; the remote, enigmatic Anne soon becomes Raymond's lover, and the next morning she announces their engagement. Elsa moves out, then Anne tries to take over parenting Cécile. She tells Cécile to stop seeing Cyril and get back to her schoolbooks. Cécile is horrified at this threat to her pampered life as her father's darling, especially as Anne becomes the entire focus of Raymond's interest. She devises a plan to prevent the marriage, while nevertheless feeling ambiguous about her scheming.
To make Raymond jealous, Cécile arranges for Elsa and Cyril to pretend to be a couple and appear together at specific moments. When Raymond predictably becomes jealous of the younger Cyril, he renews his pursuit of Elsa. But Cécile has misjudged Anne's sensitivity. After she sees Raymond and Elsa together in the woods, with Raymond brushing pine needles off of his suit, Anne drives off in tears and her car plunges from a cliff in an apparent suicide.
Cécile and her father return to the empty, desultory life they were living before Anne interrupted their summer and consider the impact Anne has had on their lives. Cécile lives with the knowledge that her manipulations led to Anne's death and longs for the summer they shared.
Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) is a psychic who has been using his talents solely for personal gain, which mainly consists of gambling and womanizing. When he was 19 years old, Alex had been the prime subject of a scientific research project documenting his psychic ability, but in the midst of the study, he disappeared. After running afoul of a local gangster/extortionist named Snead (Redmond Gleeson), Alex evades two of Snead's thugs by allowing himself to be taken by two men: Finch (Chris Mulkey) and Babcock (Peter Jason), who identify themselves as being from an academic institution.
At the institution, Alex is reunited with his former mentor Dr. Paul Novotny (Max von Sydow) who is now involved in government-funded psychic research. Novotny, aided by fellow scientist Dr. Jane DeVries (Kate Capshaw), has developed a technique that allows psychics to voluntarily link with the minds of others by projecting themselves into the subconscious during REM sleep. Novotny equates the original idea for the dreamscape project to the practice of the Senoi natives of Malaysia, who believe the dream world is just as real as reality.
The project was intended for clinical use to diagnose and treat sleep disorders, particularly nightmares, but it has been hijacked by Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer), a powerful government agent. Novotny convinces Alex to join the program in order to investigate Blair's intentions. Alex gains experience with the technique by helping a man who is worried about his wife's infidelity and by treating a young boy named Buddy (Cory Yothers), who is plagued with nightmares so terrible that a previous psychic lost his sanity trying to help him. Buddy's nightmare involves a large sinister "snake-man.”
A subplot involving Alex and Jane's growing infatuation culminates with him sneaking into Jane's dream to have sex with her. He does this without technological aid—something no one else has been able to achieve. With the help of novelist Charlie Prince (George Wendt), who has been covertly investigating the project for a new book, Alex learns that Blair intends to use the dream-linking technique for assassination.
Blair murders Prince and Novotny to silence them. The president of the United States (Eddie Albert) is admitted as a patient due to recurring nightmares. Blair assigns Tommy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly), a mentally unstable psychic who murdered his own father, to enter the president's nightmare and assassinate him—people who die in their dreams also die in the real world. Blair considers the president's nightmares about nuclear holocaust as a sign of political weakness, which he deems a liability in the upcoming negotiations for nuclear disarmament.
Alex projects himself into the president's dream—a nightmare of a post nuclear war wasteland—to try and protect him. After a fight in which Tommy rips out a police officer's heart, Tommy attempts to incite a mutant-mob against the president, and battles Alex in the form of the snake-man from Buddy's dream. Alex assumes the appearance of Tommy's murdered father (Eric Gold) in order to distract him, allowing the president to impale him with a spear. The president is grateful to Alex but reluctant to confront Blair, who wields considerable political power. To protect himself and Jane, Alex enters Blair's dream and kills him before Blair can retaliate.
The film ends with Jane and Alex boarding a train to Louisville, Kentucky, intent on making their previous dream encounter a reality. They are surprised to meet the ticket collector from Jane's dream, but they decide to ignore it and keep on.
Benoît is a young teenage boy living in rural Quebec. He works at the town general store belonging to his aunt Cécile and his uncle Antoine, who is also the town undertaker. On December 24, he begins work, setting up the store display much to the delight of the town and flirting with Carmen, the young girl whom his uncle and aunt employ, and treat as an adopted child.
Madame Jos Poulin's eldest son, Marcel, dies that day, and she places a call to the store asking if Antoine can come to take care of the body. For the first time, Benoît is allowed to go with him. After they load the body into a coffin, they prepare to take it home. However, on the way home, Benoît encourages the horse to run as quickly as possible causing the coffin to fall off the sleigh. He tries to get Antoine to help put the coffin back on the sleigh; however, Antoine who has been steadily drinking throughout the day is unable to lift the coffin. He confesses to Benoît that he hates dealing with the dead bodies and that he is miserable in his life, wishing that he had achieved his dream of owning a hotel in the U.S. as he had wanted. He confesses that, although he treats Benoît and Carmen like his own, he regrets that his wife was unable to give him children.
Angry with Antoine, Benoît manages to get him back in the sleigh and returns home. He runs up the stairs to get help from his aunt and discovers her embracing Fernand, the help, in her nightgown. Realizing what has happened, Fernand takes Benoît out in the sleigh to look for the body. Traumatized by seeing his aunt and Fernand together, Benoît is no help in remembering where the coffin fell off the sleigh. Eventually they make it back to the Poulin household where they find the entire Poulin family, including Jos, the father, who had been away working, around the coffin mourning the loss of Marcel.
After the phenomenal success of her first novel, Metalious hastily penned a sequel centering on the life and loves of bestselling author Allison MacKenzie, who follows in the footsteps of her mother by having an affair with a married man, her publisher Lewis Jackman. The similarity of their situations bond Allison and her mother.
When she returns to her hometown following the publication of her first novel, ''Samuel's Castle'', she is forced to face the wrath of most of its residents, who are incensed by their barely disguised counterparts and the revelation of town secrets in the book. Despite that, certain members of the community stood by the MacKenzies, most notably, Seth Buswell, the newspaper editor; and his oldest friend, Dr. Matthew Swain. In fact, whenever anyone came into Dr. Swain's office and complained about Allison's book, he would roar them down and after a harsh tongue-lashing from him about some of the things that person had done, he or she wouldn't ever complain about Allison's novel after that.
However, Roberta Carter, a member of the school board (working in concert with the town attorney's wife Marion Partridge), makes it her mission to ban the book from the high school library.
She punishes Allison by firing her stepfather, Michael Rossi (a decision which she eventually reverses, to the anger of Marion); while at the same time trying to dissolve her son Ted's marriage to his snobbish bride, a Boston blue-blood named Jennifer Burbank.
Another union in trouble is that of Allison's mother Constance, who is shocked by her daughter's exposé, but nonetheless stands by her, and stepfather Michael Rossi, the school principal and one of the novel's defenders.
Betty Anderson returns from New York, after giving birth to Roddy, the child she had by Rodney Harrington and, along with her cohort and Roddy's babysitter, Agnes Carlisle, moves to Peyton Place, so she can allow Leslie, Roddy's grandfather to know him.
Selena Cross, who had been acquitted of murder in the previous novel, was trying to make a life for herself and her brother, Joey. She is manager of the Thrifty Corner Apparel Shoppe, and is a success. In this book, Selena and Allison had rebonded as friends, and Allison's New York roommate, Stephanie Wallace, was also part of their circle.
The blue-collar working world of 1950s Indiana, with period-style footage and clips from Fritz Lang's ''Metropolis'', is accompanied by Shepherd's voiceover narration as the adult Ralph. The fourteen-year-old Ralph and friends, Flick and Schwartz, endure bureaucratic "terminal official boredom", to get their "working papers", to be able to apply for their first summer jobs.
The next day at breakfast, Ralph announces that he, Flick, and Schwartz have job interviews, and Mom notices that the family dog, Fuzzhead (Shepherd's dog Daphne) seems to be missing. Adult Ralph describes this as the beginning of the "Scary Fuzzhead Saga, which traumatized our family for years". At dinner, Ralph fibs, saying he quit his job to spend time with the family. As a result, they are free to pack and, as adult Ralph describes, begin their "epic" road trip.
The trip includes drastic overpacking of the brown Chevy sedan, a reluctant starter motor, an endlessly carsick and complaining Randy, side trips to shop for unnecessary "slob art", a flat tire, running out of gas as the Old Man insists on only "Texas Royal Supreme Blue" gasoline, a misadventure at a gas station with an unseen enormous growling "meers hound", a boiled-over radiator as an occasion for a roadside picnic, and a missed detour sign and resulting circular detour due to squabbling among the kids. In the middle of a pasture, as cows surround the car, adult Ralph describes the scene: "beset on all sides by strange creatures, the lost mariner searches and searches, in the Sargasso sea of life". Rounding out the road trip, more unnecessary shopping, a Dutch lawn windmill being bought and put on top of the car, Ralph's confession of forgetting the fishing tackle, being stuck behind a live poultry truck, and panic over another "magically appearing" carbound bee. When they finally arrive at Clear Lake, the Old Man learns that the fish have stopped biting. Ralph discovers the Old Man had packed the fishing tackle after all, and they walk out onto the boat ramp to take in the view, as a few drops of rain fall. A torrential downpour develops, and in the cabin, leaks from the roof drip into every available pot and basin, as adult Ralph describes, all day, everyday of their vacation. At bedtime, Mom reassures him that the Old Man loves him, even though he never calls him by his real name (just "watermelon", "radish-top", "cookie cutter", etc.). A lightning strike knocks out power to the rain-drenched lakeside camp's welcome sign, and the credits roll.
The film takes place in the summer of 1941, after the events of ''A Christmas Story'', which took place in December 1940. It has several plot lines, one each for 10-year-old Ralphie, his father, and his mother, followed by a recurring subplot involving him and his dad on a fishing trip, that proves frequently fruitless until a single night when all fish are caught. This also feeds a needless obsession in Ralphie's 7-year-old brother Randy, much to Mrs. Parker's nerve.
Ralphie's plot for most of the film is to find a top tough enough to knock that of a bully's out of a chalk circle in a game of "Kill". Scut Farkus, the 13-year-old main bully, was demoted following the events of ''A Christmas Story'', with a new head bully, Lug Ditka, taking his place and ruling over the school. Despite his firm standing, Ralphie's tops are always defeated by Lug's top Mariah, prompting Ralphie to look for outside sources that also backfire, such as a top bought from an Eastern shop that is painted with roses, giving Lug all the mocking material. During the Parker family's visit to the world fair, Ralphie gets a top from a gypsy stand called "Wolf" just as powerful as Mariah, allowing Ralphie to challenge him again. However, at the climax of the challenge, both Mariah and Wolf end up disappearing into the sewer, never to be seen again; as a result, the game ends on a lose-lose draw.
Mrs. Parker's plot revolves around attempting to start a collection of celebrity dishes, one per each dish night, at the Orpheum Theatre run by Leopold Doppler. She acquires the first dish, a Ronald Colman gravy boat, though she accumulates more as Doppler announces the other dishes are unavailable due to 'misshipment'. The frustration of accumulating the gravy boats combined with the events throughout the movie get Mrs. Parker over the edge, resulting her in throwing the gravy boat she won at the theater in Doppler's head. All other housewives, encouraged by Mrs. Parker's act, also start raining down the surplus gravy boats towards Doppler, enraged at the frustration and the apparent fraudulent scheme. Mrs. Parker is arrested for the act, though with a relieved smile on her face.
Mr. Parker's plot revolves around his odds with the Parker's hillbilly neighbors, the Bumpuses (or Bumpi, as the Parkers tend to refer them in plural), especially due to their loud overplaying of hillbilly music, obnoxious behavior and the constant harassment on Mr. Parker by the Bumpuses' forty-three Bloodhounds named Big Red. The escalation turns into war when the Bumpuses inaugurate an outhouse bathroom, which Parker clearly perceives as a health code violation. When Mr. Parker attempts forcing the Bumpuses to demolish the outhouse, they respond by having Big Dickie, the largest of the Bumpus family, destroy their house's porch as a show of force. Parker attempts unsuccessfully to torment the Bumpuses with music, which they mistake for Parker calling a night party, prompting him to hurriedly escape to the fishing trip with Ralphie. Mr. Parker does a second attempt, this time with a sound effects record disk simulating a federal bust, but by the time he unleashes the sound disk, the Bumpuses have long moved away. Mr. Parker interprets this as a defeat, and the act earns the ire of the woken-up neighborhood, whom strongly suggest to bring the Bumpuses back and be rid of Parker.
In 1802 UK, Becky Sharp, orphaned daughter of a poor painter, has finished her studies and offered to be governess to Sir Pitt Crawley's daughters. Before starting, she travels to London with her close friend Amelia Sedley and family. While there she begins a campaign to charm Amelia's awkward and overweight brother "Jos" Sedley, a wealthy trader living in India. Smitten with Becky, he almost proposes, but is dissuaded by Amelia's snobbish fiancé George Osborne, reminding him that Becky has no dowry.
Not finding a rich husband, Becky takes up her post. Horrified by the house and her employer Sir Pitt, she diligently teaches his daughters and prepares the house for his half-sister Miss Crawley. His youngest son, Rawdon Crawley, an army captain, comes with them and immediately fancies Becky. She manages to secure a post with ill-tempered Miss Crawley.
Meanwhile, Amelia's prospective father-in-law, Mr. Osborne, is trying to arrange a more advantageous marriage for his son George. When George refuses to consider her, Mr. Osborne bankrupts Mr. Sedley, forcing George to break his engagement to Amelia. She now lives in squalor with her family, but hopeful he will come for her, believing the gift of a piano from George's friend Dobbin is from George himself.
Rawdon Crawley and Becky marry secretly, but Miss Crawley soon finds out expelling her from her house and disinheriting Rawdon. George Osborne marries Amelia, rebelling against his father, and is soon after deployed with Dobbin and Rawdon to Belgium, as Napoleon escaped Elba and returned to France. Becky and Amelia accompany their husbands. The newly-wedded Osborne tires of Amelia, and hits on Becky. The ball they are attending is interrupted by an announcement that Napoleon has attacked, and they must march in three hours. Before leaving, Rawdon gives Becky all he's won at cards. The next day, as she tries to flee the city, she sees Amelia in the mob and leaves her carriage to be with her in Brussels, waiting out the battle.
In the ensuing Battle of Waterloo, George is killed and Rawdon survives. Amelia bears his son, also named George. Mr. Osborne refuses to acknowledge his grandson, so Amelia returns to live in poverty with her parents. Now-Major William Dobbin, young George's godfather, continues to show his love for the widowed Amelia by small kindnesses. She is too in love with George's memory to return Dobbin's affections. Saddened, he transfers to an army post in India. Meanwhile, Becky's son is also named after his father.
Several years pass. Rawdon has been passed over for inheritance by both his aunt and father, and they are sinking deep into debt. Amelia struggles to raise her son and reluctantly gives him up to be raised by his grandfather Mr. Osborne, for a fine education and lifestyle. Bailiffs arrive to repossess the Crawleys' furniture, but Becky is saved by their neighbor Lord Steyne, who she remembers from the past as a keen buyer of her father's paintings. He becomes her patron, giving her money and introducing her into London high society.
On the night of her triumphant presentation to King George IV, Becky receives word that Rawdon has been arrested and thrown into debtors' prison. Lord Steyne insists she spend the night with him in return for the services he has rendered her, and Rawdon, after being bailed out by his sister-in-law, walks in on Steyne forcing himself upon Becky. He throws him out, but realizes Becky has been taking money for months in secret without sharing with him. He leaves her, entrusting the care of their son to his older brother, the new Sir Pitt and his wife.
Twelve years later, Becky is a card dealer at a casino in Baden-Baden, Germany. Rawdon died from malaria soon after leaving her, while posted to a tropical island by Lord Steyne. She comes across Amelia's grown son George Jr., who invites her to tea with his mother. Mr. Osborne finally accepted Amelia, leaving her and George Jr. a large inheritance. Becky confronts Amelia over her obsession with the late George, showing her a love note from him to her many years earlier. She urges Amelia to love Dobbin, who has been loyal for many years. Although at first angered, Amelia realizes her mistake and declares her love to Dobbin.
Alone again in the casino, Becky meets Jos Sedley, who has come to Germany after Amelia told him Becky was there. He invites her to come and live in India with him, and she delightedly accepts. They depart to make a new life for themselves.
When Porky Pig and Gabby Goat realize that they overslept to 10:00 after their alarm goes off at 06:00, they end up rushing to work at Peter Piper Pickled Peppers and sneaking in. When clocking in, Gabby tries to pull the lever, but ends up struggling and the clock goes crazy. Their boss catches them and initially states in a friendly tone that if they weren't going to make it, he would have sent their work to them. The boss then drops the friendly act and gets furious, warning them that if they are late one more time, they are fired. The boss then orders them to get to work.
At 08:00 that night after returning home from work and dealing with their irate boss, Porky sets the alarm clock as Gabby complains about having to go to bed early. Porky reminds Gabby about their boss' threat that if they are late again, they will be fired. Porky climbs into bed, and they both fall asleep until a bunch of cats next door wake them up; and later a fly bugs them, literally. Later that night, the moon comes out and its light wakes up Porky. One of Porky's attempts to close the window ends up wrecking his bed. As the night progresses, a thunderstorm occurs while Porky is sleeping in Gabby's bed. A leak in the roof disturbs Gabby, who then opens an umbrella in the house with Porky telling him that it's bad luck. Gabby ignores Porky's statement until lightning destroys the umbrella. When Gabby quips that he should try sleeping under Niagara Falls, a lot of water comes through the roof and down on them.
The next morning, Porky and Gabby are shown sleeping in the drawers when the alarm clock goes off at 06:00. They get themselves ready and drive off to work to make sure their jobs stay safe from termination. When Porky and Gabby arrive at Peter Piper Pickled Peppers, they see a sign on the door that says "Closed Sunday", revealing that their workplace is closed for the day. Porky and Gabby drive home, and when they climb back into the drawers to sleep, the alarm clock goes off again at 06:15 and Porky hits it with a mallet, leaving the clock dazed.
Rushon Askins, a tender-hearted, upwardly-mobile man, has been dating his self-righteous-to-a-fault girlfriend Nikki for seven weeks. They really like each other, but their relationship has not yet been consummated; Nikki is unsure if their relationship is ready for the next stage.
Rushon asks Nikki out to dinner, but Nikki wants it to be a double date. She brings her opinionated friend and neighbor Lysterine "Lysti", and Rushon comes with his "bad boy" buddy Bunz. Lysti and Bunz soon end up bonding as both are sexually adventurous and completely uninhibited, despite some initial bickering and resentment towards one another as each of them overplayed their roles by trying to come off as a player (Bunz) or overly high-maintenance (Lysti). Meanwhile, the more conservative and prudish Nikki decides it is time for her and Rushon to take their relationship to the next level, much to Rushon's surprise and excitement. However, they have one small problem: this is the 1990s, and Nikki wants to practice "safe sex." Rushon produces a rubber and just as he removes the wrapper, Nikki's mischievous, poorly trained, small terrier dog named "Killer" snatches and destroys Rushon's only rubber, forcing him to have to go out and buy more condoms. Nikki then calls lusty Lysterine and brainwashes her into her frame of moral logic and urges her to make Bunz (also condomless) rubber up as well. Therefore, Rushon (who has to take Killer along for his walk) and Bunz go on wild, late night adventures from store to store trying to find "protection" before everyone's mood evaporates. The two friends run across a wild assortment of characters which includes wacky Punjabi convenience store owners, a would-be armed robber, a hypocritical judge (Bernie Mac) and his female clerk/secret lover, and last but not least, a disobedient Killer who escapes his leash while Rushon and Bunz are in a store and leads them on a blocks-long chase.
Things soon lead to all four friends being at the hospital when Bunz accidentally shoots Rushon in the leg with a gun he took from a paranoid cabbie moments earlier. The group initially encounters a rude, unsympathetic admissions nurse who denies Rushon entry into the hospital because he has no insurance until Bunz runs across a doctor's credentials and impersonates the doctor to get his buddy admitted into the facility. However, "Doctor" Bunz is soon called in to help deliver a baby, which takes priority over a flesh wound, and he loses track of Rushon who is mistaken for a patient who is scheduled to be castrated (that patient shrewdly switched charts with Rushon upon finding out about his operation). The real doctor whom Bunz is impersonating eventually surfaces which leads the admissions nurse and security to search the hospital for the group. Bunz, Lysterine, and Nikki frantically searches for Rushon who is soon anesthetized and prepared for castration. Nikki finds him right when the surgery is about to begin and abruptly stops it by yelling to the doctor's that Rushon has no insurance. As both couples leave the hospital, everyone make up as both women take their men home for some long-delayed, kinky but "safe" sex.
It is the year 411 BC and the Peloponnesian War between Sparta (among others) and Athens has been raging for some 20 years. The women who want to see the conflict finally ended use a trick to make their husbands comply: led by the Feminist Lisístrata (Maribel Verdú), they barricade themselves on the Acropolis, where the Athenian treasure is kept, and refuse to have sex with their husbands until peace is restored.
The men soon sport gigantic erections, which as in Aristophanes' play are depicted by huge prosthetics that protrude from under the actors' clothes. This unfortunate state of "blue balls" hinders them in their capacity to fight. Luckily, the Spartans have the same problem.
To the rescue comes Hepatitos (Juan Luis Galiardo), the local homosexual and transvestite, who disguises himself as a medical doctor and advises the generals to order circumstantial homosexuality as a way to relieve the pressure in their men.
At first, the soldiers refuse, but quickly warm up to the idea — and soon everyone lives rather happily in male–male relationships. The women are not amused by this, as their plan has been foiled. However, as the soldiers begin to fall in love with enemy soldiers instead of fighting them, peace is finally established. The women end their strike (not to the delight of all men) and it is hinted that in the future, homosexual and heterosexual relationships will be regarded as relatively exchangeable.
While the film is primarily a bawdy comedy (even more so than the Greek play), it also contains interesting tidbits of historic truth, such as a relatively accurate life-size replica of the Pallas Athene statue by Phidias in the Parthenon.
The scene in which one soldier is about to kill an enemy fighter, but is moved by his beauty so much that he spares him and arranges a tête-à-tête with him after the battle, can be seen as being based on the legend of Achilles and Troilus, son of Priam.
The following is taken directly from the NES instruction manual:
''On a fateful day in 20XX, the Earth's moon exploded into four large fragments and a multitude of meteors. Aliens from afar had succeeded in destroying the West's moon base. One after another, mankind's other military industrial space complexes were being lost. What mankind dreaded had come to pass. Scores of unidentified fighters were in the area. In addition, the moon's main computer, still intact after the explosion, had a strange vegetation coiled around it. Their trademark evil exploits being a dead giveaway, invaders from the Boondoggle Galaxy had arrived to take over the Earth. To counter these evil forces, leading scientists from all over the globe created the "OF-1" Fightership. Combat pilots depart the Earth to fend off the invaders and earn everlasting glory.''
The novel takes place in a world where online "tribes" form, where all members set their circadian rhythms to the same time zone even though members may be physically located throughout the world.
The protagonist, Art Berry, has been sent to an insane asylum as a result of a complex conspiracy. Told mostly in flashbacks, Art explains that he works in London as a consultant for the Greenwich 0 tribe. In reality, though, both he and his associate Fede are in fact double-agents for the Eastern Standard Tribe. Despite his talents as a human experience engineer, Art delivers subtly flawed proposals to the GMT tribe in order to undermine them and enable his own tribe to get a coveted contract.
He meets a girl, Linda, after he hits her with his car at 3am. Art has an idea for peer-to-peer music sharing between automobiles, and plans to give it to the EST (taking a cut to himself.) However, his girlfriend meets his coworker, Fede, and they plan to double cross the EST and sell the idea to another tribe. Knowing Art won't approve of the plan, they do it behind his back.
Fede later claims he would have cut Art in on the deal afterwards. However, Art figures out what is going on, and as a result they have him committed to an insane asylum to protect their plot.
The book alternates between two points of view: Art meeting Linda in London, and Art in the asylum. The London plot culminates in his attack on Fede when he discovers his betrayal. The asylum plot takes place after his attack on Fede, and culminates in his escape from the asylum and founding of a new company to market health care products using his inside knowledge of psychiatric institutions.
The plot revolved around the trials of medical students at St Swithin's hospital in London.
On the day before the summer holiday, Ichika Tachibana discovers that the charm attached to her cell phone has somehow wound up inside a mirror in the old school building. A girl named Manatsu Kuroki, inside the mirror, offers to return the charm and phone in exchange for a favor. When Ichika accepts, Manatsu emerges from the mirror, but Ichika finds to her chagrin that the charm's stones' have taken on different colors. Her indignation soon turns to delight as she is transformed by the charm and given an incredibly moving experience in the skies above Kamakura.
After returning to the old classroom, Manatsu asks that Ichika use all the colored stones in the charm and record her experiences and thoughts. Starting with the facade of Manatsu as her text-message pal, Ichika begins to entangle herself in a web of small lies and deceptions.
When Ichika faces dangers during the summer holiday, she at first uses the Djinn's power in the stones to resolve them supernaturally. But as the summer draws on, she begins to use the power even though there is no imminent danger. Through each experience with the Djinn she learns about her willfulness and that of others. Slowly, the power of the Djinn erodes her emotional, physical, and mental strength, and she abuses the power to the point of attempting murder.
Meanwhile, Ichika's tutors, Sei and Kai, are tormented by Ichika's ordeal — Sei went through the very same thing six years ago. They very much want to prevent Ichika from experiencing the same trials but are bound to the rules of the ritual. When Sei tried to interfere, he was turned into stone as a penalty. Although Ichika tries to abandon using the Djinn's power altogether, she finds herself losing control over her actions. Faced with fear, sadness, or anger, she finds that the Djinn grant her power against her will. Not only this, she finds that she cannot discard the charm, as it will fly back to her.
Ichika had been subjected to a ritual judgment determined from the time she was conceived. Saya, the final Djinn, would take a person of fourteen years — the age between the innocence of childhood and the hardness of adulthood — and show him or her the world through the eyes of the Djinn. The individual would experience seven trials that contrasted seven virtues and sins: affection and resentment, temperance and hubris, devotion and rebellion, honesty and treachery, reason and envy, passion and lust, wisdom and machination. When Ichika is thus led to despair in humanity and disgust of herself, Saya binds her to the mirror and asks her to decide whether to destroy humanity or herself.
In response, Ichika refuses to choose either. Saya declares that as a violation of the rules and drives her scythe toward Ichika's body. Sei shatters his stone skin and tries to stop the scythe, but Ichika decides that it is better that she die rather than see him hurt. Manatsu, in defiance, drives herself into the scythe, saving Ichika's life. Kai returns the life energy that kept him in human form to Sei, and he and Manatsu revert to their original forms: shards of the old mirror.
When school resumed in the fall, Ichika decided to remain at Kamakura rather than join her parents in Italy. Elsewhere, Saya determined to move on and judge the next teenager.
In the OVA , Ichika hears that Manatsu has been seen again, one week before her birthday. Not long after the fall term had begun, Sei had transferred to a German university in an exchange program. On Christmas Eve, both discover that Manatsu and Kai's shards had vanished, and they reunite with Ichika and Sei, respectively. They had returned for one last night and to say goodbye. After an evening with Ichika and Sei, the shards return to Saya's old mirror during the night. The next spring, Ichika enters a new school year with her friends, while Saya's experiments continue with a new test subject.
In a cold open cameo appearance, Lucy entices Charlie Brown to kick a football she is holding, calling it a Thanksgiving tradition; she pulls the ball away as usual, stating that some traditions fade away. Lucy makes no other appearances after she pulls the football away from Charlie Brown.
The Browns are preparing to go to their grandmother's for Thanksgiving dinner when Charlie Brown gets a phone call from Peppermint Patty, who is alone for Thanksgiving (her father is out of town) and wants to come over for dinner. Two quick subsequent phone calls from Peppermint Patty add Marcie and Franklin to the guest list for a dinner that didn't exist. Linus suggests to a perplexed Charlie Brown that he could have two Thanksgiving dinners. The first Thanksgiving feast can be for himself, Sally, Peppermint Patty, and the others, while the second one can be at his grandparents's house for his family. Charlie Brown says his cooking skills are limited to "cold cereal and maybe toast," so Linus recruits Snoopy and Woodstock to help. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock and Linus prepare a feast of toast with margarine, pan-fried popcorn, pretzel sticks and jelly beans; later, Snoopy sets up a ping pong table and chairs (sparring with a lawn chair that comes to life), then dresses himself and a reluctant Woodstock (at pop-gunpoint) in Pilgrim attire for the occasion, though Charlie Brown rejects the latter idea.
The guests arrive and make their way to the backyard for the Thanksgiving feast. Linus leads the group in prayer that details the First Thanksgiving in 1621, and then Snoopy serves up the feast. Patty's initial shock at the unconventional meal quickly turns to outrage, and when she loudly berates the chefs, Charlie Brown timidly leaves the table. Patty's tirade continues until Marcie quietly reminds her that she had invited herself along with Marcie and Franklin. Coming to her senses, Patty asks Marcie to apologize to Charlie Brown on her behalf; Marcie reluctantly agrees, but Patty soon follows and apologizes to him herself. Following this, Charlie Brown is reminded that he and Sally are due at their grandmother's house for dinner, so he calls her and explains his situation. When he mentions his friends are there, and that they did not eat, his grandmother invites them all to Thanksgiving dinner, which is welcomed with cheers from everyone.
Finally, the kids leave for Charlie Brown's grandparents's house. They sing "Over the River and Through the Wood". At the end of the song, much to Charlie Brown's dismay, he disqualifies the song's name: his grandmother actually lives in a condominium. Meanwhile, Snoopy and Woodstock go to the doghouse and cook up their own traditional Thanksgiving meal. They then pull the wishbone which Woodstock wins. Over the end credits, the two friends each devour a large piece of pumpkin pie then sit back with contented smiles as Woodstock pats his full stomach.
Colonel Archie Taylor, a gruff aristocrat, has difficulty enjoying his men's club because of the constant chatter of fellow member Jamie Tennyson. In an effort to shut Tennyson up, Taylor proposes a wager: he bets $500,000 that Tennyson cannot remain silent for one year. If Tennyson accepts the wager, a small glass-walled apartment will be erected in the club's game room to house him. There, he will be monitored by microphones so that he cannot speak without detection. He may only write notes to communicate or make requests, and the other members may observe him through the glass at their leisure.
Tennyson is offended but agrees, telling fellow club member George Alfred that he deeply loves his wife and needs the money to pay the debts incurred by her exorbitant spending. He requests that Taylor put a check on deposit in his name. This measure is refused by all in the club as the Colonel has a strong standing of honor and credit. "My courage against your credit" is then accepted by both, and the challenge begins at 10:00 the following night.
Though he had assumed Tennyson would be successful for only a few weeks, after nine months Tennyson remains silent. Taylor gets nervous and offers Tennyson first $1,000, then $5,000, and finally $6,000 to call off the bet. He begins suggesting that Tennyson's wife is planning to leave him for another man rather than wait out his year of silence. Though Tennyson has sent several notes requesting that she visit, his wife has never responded, giving weight to Taylor's insinuations. Tennyson seems gripped by despair at the thought of losing his wife, but nonetheless refuses to call off the bet.
On the last evening of the year, Alfred tells Taylor his behavior over the past few months, particularly using Tennyson's wife as a threat, has severely damaged the club members' esteem for him. As the clock chimes to officially signal one year has passed since the start of the bet, Tennyson emerges to the congratulations of his fellow club members before he approaches Taylor and silently puts his hand out for the money. The embarrassed Taylor admits that he had lost his fortune several years earlier. He praises Tennyson's resolve and character and then announces his decision to resign from the club.
The distraught Tennyson scribbles furiously on a sheet of paper, perplexing the other men who wonder why he does not speak aloud. Taylor reads the note aloud: "I knew that I would not be able to keep my part of the bargain, so one year ago I had the nerves to my vocal cords severed." Tennyson, with tears in his eyes, displays the scar on his throat from the operation, which he has concealed for the past twelve months under scarves and turtlenecks.
6 year-old Yoon-hee and her elder sister Tae-hee were raised by their widowed father. Their mother had died giving birth to Yoon-hee. After years of struggles, their father who had already suffered from cancer was killed in a car accident, leaving the girls with no choice but to find their rich paternal grandfather who lost touch with them due to his disapproval of their mother. At the train station, they were robbed by a group of gangsters. Tae-hee, while chasing them, did not notice that Yoon-hee, who followed her, got knocked unconscious by the Oh family's truck. Tae-hee got beaten by the gangsters and was helped by a boy named Jae-hyuk until both got to see her grandfather. They looked for Yoon-hee in despair, unaware that she has lost her memories after regaining consciousness and moved away with the Ohs. Based on the name carved on her mother's ring, Yoon-hee assumed that her name was 'Sun-woo' and used it as her identity.
15 years later, Tae-hee works in her grandfather's company, and is romantically involved with her childhood crush and co-worker Jae-hyuk (unbeknownst to Tae-hee it was Jae-hyuk's revenge plan on her grandfather who had indirectly caused his grandfather's death years ago). In contrast, Sun-woo grows up in the Oh family and often gets abused (especially by Seung-hee). She almost gets raped by Seung-hee's step-father thus gets kicked out of the house by his wife. Seung-hee's crush Chul-woong has desires on Sun-woo, so he lets her take refuge at his home. Tae-hee, not giving up on finding her sister, tracks down the Oh's address and confronts Seung-hee upon seeing her wearing Sun-woo's ring. Quickly learned that Sun-woo is Tae-hee's long-lost sister, out of jealousy and greed, Seung-hee pretends to be Yoon-hee and moves in the Kim's family. Tae-hee seems happy while her grandfather remains suspicious of Seung-hee. He overhears Seung-hee's phone conversation with her mother and right away exposes her deceptive plan. However, Seung-hee lied that the real Yoon-hee's fate is unknown, not saying a word about Sun-woo. He is devastated thus decides to keep the truth from Tae-hee.
Coincidentally, Sun-woo gets a job in her grandfather's company and frequently interacts with Tae-hee and the grandfather. They are fond of Sun-woo until Jae-hyuk becomes so in love with her which breaks Tae-hee's heart. He aborts his revenge plan in order to run away with Sun-woo, but the grandfather soon finds out and sends him to prison for a few days before Tae-hee bails him out. Unable to forgive Tae-hee's grandfather, Jae-hyuk ends his relationship with Sun-woo and engages to Tae-hee. Sun-woo moves out on her own and subsequently becomes ill. She is diagnosed with leukemia, which can be cured only if her sibling or relative donates suitable bone marrow. As Sun-woo cannot remember any of them, she is ready to give up and spend her time left with Chul-woong. In the meantime, Tae-hee's grandfather assigns his chauffeur who is Chul-woong's father to find his real granddaughter. Being told by Seung-hee's step-father, Chul-woong's father informs that his missing granddaughter is indeed Sun-woo, who recently gets fired by him for the sake of Tae-hee and Jae-hyuk. In shock and regret, he rushes to see Sun-woo before the car accident kills him, as well as puts Chul-woong's father in a coma. Seung-hee bribes her step-father to keep secret, which makes him (and his wife) feel bad for Sun-woo. Jae-hyuk, who never stops loving Sun-woo, secretly covers her hospital bills while looking for evidence to expose Seung-hee. By chance, he meets Seung-hee's step father and is revealed the truth about her, which he tells Tae-hee right away. At this point, Sun-woo dreams about her father and the family's past moments. She wakes up as soon as Tae-hee arrives, the sisters share a long hug upon reunion. After kicks Seung-hee out of the house, Tae-hee donates her bone marrow for surgery to save Sun-woo. Sun-woo forgives the Ohs, but Seung-hee still holds grudge against her.
Sun-woo recovers well from the surgery. Jae-hyuk maintains a good companionship with Tae-hee while trying to get back with Sun-woo. Understanding her sister's feelings, Sun-woo rejects Jae-hyuk and accepts Chul-woong's marriage proposal. Before their wedding, Seung-hee orders a gang to kidnap Sun-woo. In order to protect her, Chul-woong fights against them and gets stabbed, thus dies in Sun-woo's arms and tears. Seung-hee is put to prison and still blames Sun-woo for having stolen her entire life from her. Jae-hyuk is taking a flight to U.S. Sun-woo, all of sudden, shows up at the airport and they share a brief farewell moment. Sun-woo and Tae-hee return to the house where they lived as children.
The TARDIS materialises on an aged space station. Sarah is overcome by lack of oxygen. While Harry and the Fourth Doctor explore, Sarah is transported away and placed into cryonic suspension by the station computer. Harry and the Doctor explore and realise the station is a kind of ark. Discovering Sarah, Harry searches for a resuscitation unit but discovers a mummified human-sized insectoid lifeform instead.
A woman called Vira revives from suspended animation. Vira revives both Sarah and Noah, Space Station Nerva's leader. The Doctor tells Vira that Nerva's inhabitants have overslept by several millennia, thanks to the insect visitor that sabotaged the control systems. Noah and the visitors clash, and Noah accuses them of murdering a missing crewmate.
Noah investigates the power room and is infected by an alien creature. The Doctor realises the alien insect laid eggs inside the missing crewman, who became an alien now inhabiting Nerva. Noah kills a crewmate, but recovers enough to order Vira to revive the remaining crew and evacuate, but the Doctor realises the alien pupae will mature too quickly for this. He proposes that they destroy the Wirrn while they are in their dormant, pupal stage.
Dissection of the Wirrn corpse reveals the Wirrn are vulnerable to electricity. As he tries to reactivate the station power, the fully transformed Noah attacks him. Noah reveals that the Wirrn were driven from their home by human settlers and now intend to absorb all human knowledge.
The Doctor plans to electrify the cryogenic chamber to prevent the Wirrn from attacking more of the human crew. Because the Wirrn have disabled the station's power supply, the crew decide to use the generators on board a transport ship docked at the space station. Sarah volunteers to crawl through a narrow conduit carrying the power cable from the ship, and the Doctor succeeds in electrifying the cryogenic chamber. Set back, Noah, as the Swarm Leader, offers the others safe passage from Nerva if they leave the sleeping crew for the Wirrn, but the crew declines.
Noah leads the entire swarm in an assault on the transport ship. Vira and the rest of the crew escape the transport ship after setting the autopilot. The transport blasts off carrying the entire swarm away from the station. The Doctor wonders whether this was Noah's plan all along, to save Nerva, and that there was some spark of humanity left in him. Noah transmits one final good-bye to Vira before the transport explodes with the entire Wirrn swarm on board.
In the closing sequence, the TARDIS party teleport down to Earth to repair the receiver terminal and allow the ark colonists to repopulate the Earth.
Set at the fictional Woodrow Wilson High School in Seattle, Washington, ''Life as We Know It'' focuses on three teenage best friends–Dino Whitman, Ben Connor, and Jonathan Fields. Dino (Sean Faris) is a star ice hockey player whose parents' marriage falls apart when his mother has an affair with his hockey coach. Dino has an uneasy relationship with his girlfriend, Jackie Bradford (Missy Peregrym), a soccer player. Jackie's best friend is Sue Miller (Jessica Lucas), a very competitive academic star. Ben (Jon Foster) becomes interested in Sue, who is unaware he was involved in an affair with a teacher, Monica Young (Marguerite Moreau); and Jonathan (Chris Lowell), a clumsy jokester, is teased by Dino for his attraction to the overweight Deborah Tynan (Kelly Osbourne).
As part of the show's narrative structure, characters broke the fourth wall by stepping out of the scene — which proceeded behind them in slow motion — and directly addressing the camera.
''Into the West'' is a film about two young boys, Tito (Conroy) and Ossie (Fitzgerald), whose father "Papa" Reilly (Byrne) was "King of Irish Travellers" until his wife, Mary, died during the birth of their second son, Ossie. The boys' grandfather (David Kelly) is an old story-telling Traveller, who regales the children with Irish folk-tales and legends. When he is followed by a beautiful white horse called Tír na nÓg (meaning "Land of Eternal Youth" in Irish), from the sea to Dublin, where the boys and their father have now settled down in a grim tower block in Ballymun, the boys are overwhelmed with joy and dreams of becoming cowboys. The horse is stolen from them and they begin their adventure to get their mystical horse back. They escape the poverty of a north Dublin council estate, and ride "Into the West" where they find that Tír na nÓg is not just a horse.
In 2004, Kiryu undergoes repair and modifications after its battle with Godzilla one year earlier. However, the Shobijin warn the Japanese government that Godzilla continues returning to the country because they used the original Godzilla's skeleton in Kiryu's construction. If they return the bones to the sea, Mothra will take Kiryu's place in defending Japan. Due to Mothra attacking Japan in 1961, Prime Minister Hayato Igarashi refuses, but agrees to discontinue Kiryu once it kills Godzilla. Godzilla and Mothra fight, but the former has the upper hand. With the repairs finished, Kiryu joins the fray, but Godzilla knocks both it and Mothra out.
Meanwhile, on Infant Island, twin Mothra larvae hatch from Mothra's egg and rush to help their mother. As lead scientist Yoshito Chujo heads in to repair Kiryu from its internal backup cockpit, the Japan Xenomorph Self-Defense Forces (JXSDF) and larvae try to hold Godzilla off, but Mothra sacrifices herself to protect the latter from Godzilla's atomic breath. Concurrently, Yoshito finishes repairing Kiryu, allowing it to weaken Godzilla. As the larvae bind Godzilla in silk and Kiryu's remote pilot, Kyosuke Akiba, receives the order to destroy Godzilla, Kiryu's spirit is reawakened by Godzilla's roar. The cyborg lifts Godzilla, uses its boosters to carry them both out to sea, and turns over to let Chujo escape before it plunges into the ocean.
In a post-credits scene, an undisclosed laboratory is shown with canisters containing the DNA of numerous kaiju. In the Japanese version, an unidentified voice announces that a "bio-formation" experiment involving an "extinct subject" is about to take place.
On Christmas Eve in Alberta, Canada, the Mason family is bickering about their wealth and material possessions while eating Christmas dinner when Santa Claus comes down the chimney and kills them all in various graphic displays of Christmas-themed violence, such as drowning the matriarch Virginia in eggnog, using the star atop a Christmas tree as a ninja star, and stabbing the patriarch's hands to the table with silverware and suffocating him by stuffing a leg of turkey in his mouth.
Riding on his sleigh driven by his "hell-deer", a Buffalo-like beast, Santa arrives at Hell Township and decimates the locals in various holiday-themed ways. In one of his kills, Santa slaughters the occupants of a local strip club. Pastor Timmons, a crooked minister, manages to survive the massacre. Later, Santa murders the local Jewish delicatessen owner Mr. Green using his own menorah.
Meanwhile, teenager Nicholas Yuleson is living with his grandfather, a crackpot inventor who has built a bunker in their basement to survive Christmas. When Nicholas asks Grandpa why he hates Christmas, he is shown "The Book of Klaus", which reveals the origins of Santa Claus. Apparently, Santa was the result of a virgin birth produced by Satan. Christmas was "The Day of Slaying" for Santa until A.D. 1005, when an angel defeated him in a curling match and sentenced him to deliver presents on Christmas for 1,000 years. This means that Santa is free to kill again in 2005.
Upon arriving at the delicatessen, Nicholas is taken to the police station for questioning about Mr. Green's murder. He is bailed out by his love interest, Mary "Mac" Mackenzie, just before Santa arrives and kills all of the officers. Santa pursues Nicholas and Mac in a police car, but they are able to escape, thanks to a shotgun in Mac's truck. They flee to Mr. Yuleson's bunker, with Santa still in pursuit. Nicholas and Mac manage to escape using Grandpa's snowmobile; but Grandpa is run over by Santa's "hell-deer" and killed.
The two teens hide in a local high school, hoping that Santa's powers will end once Christmas ends; but they are eventually forced to confront him in the gym. They are almost killed by Santa on a Zamboni but are saved by Grandpa, who is actually the angel who originally defeated and sentenced Santa. With Christmas over and his powers gone, Santa flees; but his "hell-deer" is shot down by Mac's father with a bazooka. Pastor Timmons is found dead in a Santa suit and is presumed to be the killer, while, in fact, the real killer Santa Claus (using the name Mr. Shatan) is boarding a flight from Winnipeg to the North Pole. Nicholas notes to Mac that Santa is bound to come back, stating he's finishing what his grandfather started. He and Mac then share a kiss to pursue a relationship.
After the credits, Santa is seen looking over his Naughty List, when he looks into the camera and says "Who's Next?"
Junior wants a chicken for dinner, saying that he is a chicken hawk. His mother insists he eat a worm, or he will get no supper. Junior refuses, much to the worm's relief. Junior's mother puts him to bed and tells him to "go right to sleep". Henery sneaks out his house at bedtime, then goes to the chicken coop and soon finds a rooster and his hen, Hazel, who has a panic reaction at the sound of the words "chicken hawk". The rooster chases him until his mother spots him and sends him home. He is again told to eat a worm and again refuses and says he wants a "chicken", at which point the worm gives him a big kiss on the beak.
''Young Americans'' is set in the town of New Rawley at a prestigious boarding school, Rawley Academy. Will Krudski, a working class New Englander, earns a scholarship to his hometown's posh boarding school, starting with the summer session, as a means of escaping his abusive father. In a moment of carelessness he confesses to his roommate Scout Calhoun that he cheated on the entrance exam. Their professor, Finn, overhears Will and Scout discussing what to do. Before making a final decision about expelling him, Finn has Will write an essay on who he is.
Throughout the series, Will faces moral dilemmas as he struggles to find his place at school while not alienating his friends in town. There is also the forbidden love between Scout and Bella Banks, Will’s childhood friend who may or may not share the same father with Scout. Jacqueline Pratt, in an attempt to see if her mother notices her, enrolls at Rawley Academy posing as a male student with the name Jake. Things get complicated when she develops feelings for Hamilton Fleming, the dean's son. Hamilton begins to wonder if he is gay as he realizes he has feelings for Jake. The story lines do not converge until the final two episodes of the show as Bella seeks the truth about her biological father.
17-year-old Eugene Martone has a fascination for blues music while studying classical guitar at the Juilliard School for Performing Arts in New York City. Researching blues and guitar music brings famed Robert Johnson's mythically creative acclaim to his attention; especially intriguing are the legends surrounding exactly how Johnson became so talented – most notably the one claiming he "sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads", as well as a famed "missing song" that was lost, supposedly evermore, to the world.
In his quest to find this song, he researches old archived newspaper clippings, learning that Johnson's longtime friend, musician Willie Brown, is alive and incarcerated for murder or attempted murder in a nearby minimum security hospital. Eugene goes to see the elderly man, who denies several times that he is ''that'' Willie Brown. He finally admits his identity after hearing Eugene play some blues (but notes that Eugene "plays with no soul"). Willie then says he knows the missing Robert Johnson tune in question but refuses to give it to Eugene unless the boy breaks him out of the facility and gets him to Mississippi, where he has unfinished business to settle. Eugene agrees and they head south. The boy soon realizes, however, that Willie is constantly running minor scams such as claiming that he has more money than he actually has to cover their bus tickets. With only $40 on them, they end up "hoboing" from Memphis to rural Mississippi.
During their quest, Eugene and Willie experience the blues legacy of Robert Johnson first-hand, taking part in an impromptu jam session at a "jook joint" (as Willie calls it), where Eugene is given the nickname "Lightning Boy" by Willie because of his musical skill. Eugene jokingly suggests to Willie that he himself ought to "sell his soul to the Devil at the crossroads", Willie angrily slaps him and demands he not joke about that.
The pair meet 17-year-old Frances, who is fleeing her abusive stepfather. She hitchhikes with them, and she and Eugene start a relationship. When she abandons them, to continue her own journey, Eugene is left heartbroken but with a deeper feeling for the blues.
Willie helps Eugene buy a portable Pignose amplifier, through which Eugene plays his old Fender Telecaster. Willie tells Eugene that the secret of playing the blues is using a slide. Willie confesses that there is no missing Johnson song, but tells the boy that he has proven himself far beyond what learning any blues song could ever teach him.
They reach a deserted crossroads in rural Mississippi, where Willie reveals his secret: his ability on the harmonica came about because of a deal with the Devil, which he made at this very location. Willie now hopes to end the deal. The Devil, who calls himself Scratch and Legba, shows up and insists that the contract for Willie's soul is still valid, even if Willie is dissatisfied with how his life turned out.
Eugene, believing the other two are joking around, steps into the conversation. The Devil offers a challenge: if Eugene can come to a special concert and win a guitar battle against his ringer guitarist, then Willie gets his soul back. If Eugene loses, then Eugene too forfeits his soul. Despite Willie's protests, Eugene agrees to the deal. Willie and Eugene are transported to a music hall, where metal-blues guitar master Jack Butler, who also sold his soul for musical ability, is wowing the crowd with his prowess. Eugene, now understanding the situation, receives a mojo bag from Willie to hold in his pocket. He also slips his slide on, giving him a perceived advantage over his opponent.
Eugene and Butler trade flamboyant guitar parts, with each able to top the other. Eventually, Eugene falls back on his classical training (ALA Yngwie Malmsteen and his neoclassical shredding), playing a fast and difficult piece that Butler cannot match. Dejected, Butler drops his guitar and strides off, and the Devil tears up Willie's contract, freeing the bluesman's soul.
Willie and Eugene are transported back to Mississippi, where they start walking again, talking of cities they plan to visit.
In contrast to the original series, there is little plot continuity between episodes and most of them can stand alone, needing very little recap, if any. The only break from this pattern is a handful of two-part stories which are told over two episodes. Most of the stories in ''Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu'' are adaptations of plots from the original ''Full Metal Panic!'' short stories written by Shoji Gatoh and published in the ''Dragon Magazine.''
The creators of ''Full Metal Panic!'' planned to give the new series title ''Full Metal Panic?'' - with the exclamation mark exchanged for a question mark. However, they quickly realized that such a minor alternation was insufficient to properly differentiate between the new series and the original. For that reason, it was decided that the fictional word "Fumoffu" would be used.
"Fumoffu" is the sound made by Bonta-kun, the series' fictional mascot, which resembles a human-sized, yellow teddy bear, seemingly parodying Gonta-kun from the educational show ''Dekirukana''. It is a personal armor suit, designed by Sousuke for the purpose of providing aid in tactical situations. Even though only capable of moving with human running speed and limited by its size, the suit is essentially a miniature Arm Slave. However, due to the suit's main computer's malfunction, all syllables uttered by the pilot are changed to either ''Fu'', ''Mo'', ''Ffu'', or ''Ru''. The suit's Operating System immediately crashes if the pilot tries to deactivate the ''voice changer''. For that reason, Kaname has to translate what Sousuke wants to say using a headset radio, which is a frequent cause of humor in the series.
There is a mouse invading Porky Pig's house, but so far Porky's attempts to rid the mouse have failed. Porky gets a cat to catch the mouse, only for the cat to get bound and launched out of the house. Next Porky borrows a mountain lion, but the mouse has petrified, stuffed and mounted the lion. Next Porky hires a gangster cat, but he leaves (portrayed by the same animations in reverse) straight after a bonk on the head with a bowling ball.
Without any success so far, Porky constructs a robotic cat. The mouse retaliates at the robot cat, which flawless being unaffected by a bowling ball, a flamethrowing boiler, dynamite and a pistol shot. The robot cat then blocks the mouse's ways into the mouse holes. The robot cat further resists the mouse's tricks from electrocution, more flamethrowing, decapitation and battering. Finally the mouse blows up the robot cat with a dynamite laced clockwork mouse, destroying Porky's house. Despite this, Porky Pig is relieved to be rid of the mouse, who then emerges to say "Shall I tell him?"
Two cats, Babbit and Catstello, are looking for food to alleviate their hunger. Babbit gets a ladder when they see a bird. Catstello is at first reluctant, but manages to go up the ladder. After several failed attempts, Babbit and Catstello construct a makeshift glider and try to swoop down and catch the bird, but the bird reports an air raid, followed by a blackout, and Catstello is shut down. The bird walks by, and just as Babbit and Catstello are about to catch him, the bird screams at the cats to turn out the lights.
A lovebird decides to commit suicide after his wife Sweetypuss kicks him out of their nest. The bird wants Sylvester to eat him, but the cat thinks the bird is poisonous and refuses. For the rest of the cartoon, the lovebird attempts to get Sylvester to eat him many times. The cartoon ends with the lovebird getting a telegram saying Sweetypuss is moving out, so he escapes from Sylvester in order to keep himself from being eaten. When he gets home, he finds out she has decided to stay, and he starts looking for Sylvester again in order to get himself eaten.
Sylvester (called "Thomas" in this short) captures Tweety, whom he finds outside in the snow, getting warm by a cigar. Thomas' unseen owner, Emma, sees him and saves Tweety from being eaten by Thomas, whom she promptly reprimands when he tries to eat him again. Tweety is brought inside, and Emma warns Thomas not to bother Tweety. Ignoring this command, Thomas initiates a series of failed attempts to get Tweety from his cage, many of which end in a noisy crash that brings Emma of the house downstairs to whack Thomas with a broom while calling him names, and then finally, throw him out altogether.
Undeterred, Thomas tries to get back into the house through the chimney. Tweety puts wood in the fireplace, pours gasoline on it and lights it. The ''phoom'' sends Thomas flying right back up the chimney and into a bucket of frozen water.
However, Thomas gets back in the house via a window in the basement (or study) and creates a Rube Goldberg-esque trap (virtually identical to one in Charles M Jones' 1945 Porky Pig short ''Trap Happy Porky'') to capture Tweety. Of course, the trap narrowly backfires and injures Thomas instead.
Finally, Thomas tries to capture Tweety by running up to the attic and sawing a hole around Tweety's cage to remove it that way, but he instead ends up causing the entire inner ceiling to collapse (sans Tweety's cage, which is being held in place by a beam). The ''faux pas'' creates such a racket and mess that Thomas is sure that Emma will come downstairs to wallop him and possibly kick him out again, this time for good. In a desperate attempt to avoid this, he takes her broom, breaks it in half, and tosses the pieces into the lit fireplace. This proves to be meaningless, as he then immediately finds himself being walloped repeatedly with a shovel...by ''Tweety''.
The novel centers on the life of Athanasius Pernath, a jeweler and art restorer who lives in the ghetto of Prague. But his story is experienced by an anonymous narrator, who, during a visionary dream, assumes Pernath's identity thirty years before. This dream was perhaps induced because he inadvertently swapped his hat with the real (old) Pernath's. While the novel is generally focused on Pernath's own musings and adventures, it also chronicles the lives, the characters, and the interactions of his friends and neighbors. The Golem, though rarely seen, is central to the novel as a representative of the ghetto's own spirit and consciousness, brought to life by the suffering and misery that its inhabitants have endured over the centuries.
The story itself has a disjointed and often elliptical feel, as it was originally published in serial form and is intended to convey the mystical associations and interests that the author himself was exploring at the time. The reality of the narrator's experiences is often called into question, as some of them may simply be dreams or hallucinations, and others may be metaphysical or transcendent events that are taking place outside the "real" world. Similarly, it is revealed over the course of the book that Pernath apparently suffered from a mental breakdown on at least one occasion, but has no memory of any such event; he is also unable to remember his childhood and most of his youth, a fact that may or may not be attributable to his previous breakdown. His mental stability is constantly called into question by his friends and neighbors, and the reader is left to wonder whether anything that has taken place in the narrative actually happened.
Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton) is devoted to her family, looking after her husband and children, her elderly mother, and a sick neighbour. Her shy daughter, Ethel (Alex Kelly), works in a lightbulb factory, and her son, Sid (Daniel Mays), tailors men's suits. Her husband, Stanley (Phil Davis), is a car mechanic. Although Vera and her family are poor, their strong family bonds hold them together. During her working day as a house cleaner, Vera performs constant small acts of kindness for the many people she encounters.
She is a kindly person who is eager to help others. Unknown to her family, she also works secretly, providing abortions for young women. She receives no money for providing this service because she believes that her help is an act of charity to women in trouble. However, her partner Lily (Ruth Sheen), who also carries on a black-market trade in scarce postwar foodstuffs, charges two guineas (two pounds and two shillings: ) for arranging the abortions, without Vera's knowledge.
The film also contains a subplot about an upper-class young woman, Susan (Sally Hawkins), the daughter of one of Vera's employers. Susan is raped by a suitor, becomes pregnant, and asks a friend to put her in contact with a doctor, through whom she can obtain an abortion. The doctor refers her to a psychiatrist, who prompts her to answer questions in a certain way, so that he can legally recommend an abortion on therapeutic psychiatric grounds: that she has a family history of mental illness and that she may commit suicide if not allowed to terminate the pregnancy. The abortion costs her a hundred guineas.
After one of her patients nearly dies, Vera is arrested by the police and taken into custody for questioning. She is held overnight and appears before a magistrate the next morning. Sid is shocked by his mother's secret activities and tells his father that he does not think that he can forgive her. However, in a later conversation with Vera, he expresses fear for what could happen to her in prison, before finally telling Vera that he loves her.
Vera is bailed to appear at the Old Bailey. None of Vera's employers will give her a character reference. Her solicitor thinks she will receive the minimum sentence of 18 months in jail; the judge sentences her to two and a half years imprisonment "as a deterrent to others." This affects all the people who previously depended on Vera's kindness.
While in prison, Vera meets others who have been convicted of performing illegal abortions. They discuss their sentences, explaining that it's not their first time in prison for performing illegal abortions, and that she'll probably only serve half her sentence. Vera tearfully leaves to go to her cell.
''Storm of Steel'' begins with Jünger as a private entering the line with the 73rd Hanoverian Regiment in Champagne. His first taste of combat came at Les Éparges in April 1915 where he was first wounded.
After recuperating, he took an officer's course and achieved the rank of ''Leutnant''. He rejoined his regiment on the Arras sector. In 1916, with the Battle of the Somme underway, Jünger's regiment moved to Combles in August for the defence of the village of Guillemont. Here Jünger was wounded again, and absent shortly before the final British assault which captured the village — his platoon was annihilated. In 1917 Jünger saw action during the Battle of Arras in April, the Third Battle of Ypres in July and October, and the German counter-attack during the Battle of Cambrai in November. Jünger led a company of assault troops during the final German spring offensive, 21 March 1918 when he was wounded again. On 23 August he suffered his most severe wound when he was shot through the chest.
In total, Jünger was wounded 14 times during the war, including five bullet wounds and earned Golden Wound Badge. He was awarded the Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, House Order of Hohenzollern and was the youngest ever recipient of the ''Pour le Mérite''.
On Christmas Eve in 19th-century London, Fred is sliding on ice on a sidewalk. He meets Peter and Tim Cratchit, sons of his uncle Ebenezer's clerk, Bob Cratchit. When Fred reveals who he is, the boys take off in terror. Fred soon arrives at the counting-house of his miserly maternal uncle, Ebenezer Scrooge. After declining an invitation from his nephew to dine with him on Christmas, Scrooge rejects two gentlemen collecting money for charity. That night, Scrooge reluctantly allows his employee Bob Cratchit to have Christmas off with pay but orders him back all the earlier the day after. Later Bob accidentally knocks off Scrooge's hat with a snowball. Scrooge dismisses Bob and withholds a week's pay to compensate for his ruined hat, also demanding a shilling to make up the difference. Bob spends the last of his wages on food for his family's Christmas dinner.
In his house, Scrooge is confronted by the ghost of his deceased business partner, Jacob Marley, who warns Scrooge to repent his wicked ways or he will be condemned in the afterlife as Marley was. He tells Scrooge he will be haunted by three spirits.
At one o'clock, Scrooge is visited by the youthful Ghost of Christmas Past, who takes him back in time to his early life. Scrooge is shown his unhappiness when he was left to spend the holidays alone at school, and his joy when his sister, Fran, came to take him home for Christmas. The spirit reminds Scrooge that Fran, dead for some years, is the mother of his nephew. Scrooge is shown his early career in business and money lending as an employee under Fezziwig.
At two o'clock, Scrooge meets the merry Ghost of Christmas Present, who shows Scrooge how others keep Christmas. At a church service, Fred and his fiancée, Bess, are seen as happy and in love. The couple must wait to marry because of Fred's financial circumstances, and the spirit observes that perhaps they will not marry at all and their love may end, just as Scrooge lost his fiancée in his youth. Scrooge is then shown the Cratchit home. Despite wearing a cheery manner for his family's sake, Bob is deeply troubled by the loss of his job, though he confides in no one except his daughter Martha. The spirit hints that Bob's youngest son, Tim, will die of a crippling illness by the same time next year if things do not change.
At three o'clock, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives, appearing as a silent, cloaked figure. The spirit shows Scrooge what will happen if he does not change. Scrooge discovers Tiny Tim is dead and his family mourns for him. Scrooge also discovers that his own death will not be mourned. Scrooge promises to repent and returns home.
Awakening in his own bed on Christmas Day, Scrooge is a changed man. He orders a boy in the street to buy a turkey for him, meaning to take it to the Cratchits. Running into the two men who petitioned him for charity the evening before, Scrooge gives a large donation. He visits Fred and makes him his new partner, then goes to the Cratchit house where he rehires Bob and increases his wages.
In northern Arizona near Corazón Canyon, a married couple driving through the desert encounter an elderly man. They take him to a hospital in Gallup, New Mexico. Hospital staff learn that he works for the company ITC. After he suddenly dies, an autopsy reveals that he had unexplainable abnormalities in his blood vessels.
In the Dordogne region of southwest France, Professor Edward Johnston leads a group of archaeologists and historians as they study a site that includes the fourteenth-century towns of Castelgard and La Roque. Suspicious of the detailed knowledge of the site shown by their funds provider ITC, Johnston travels to New Mexico to investigate. During his absence, the researchers make disturbing discoveries in the ruins, including the lens to Johnston's eyeglasses, and a written message from him that is determined to be over 600 years old. Four of the researchers—graduate students Chris Hughes and Kate Erickson, assistant professor André Marek, and technology specialist David Stern—are flown to ITC's research headquarters in Black Rock, New Mexico.
During the flight, ITC vice president John Gordon informs them that Johnston traveled to the year 1357 using their undisclosed quantum technology. After touring the facility and meeting with ITC president Robert Doniger, the historians decide to venture into the past to rescue the professor. Stern chooses to stay behind because the time period is extremely dangerous.
Soon after Chris, Kate, and Marek arrive in 1357, they are attacked by knights chasing a boy. Their ITC guards are killed, and one activates a grenade before he is fatally wounded and initiates his return, causing the present-day transit pad to be severely damaged by the explosion. Stern and the ITC employees struggle to repair it so the team can return home.
Kate and Marek find Johnston at a monastery, but he is soon taken captive by the soldiers of Lord Oliver de Vannes, an English knight and resident lord of Castelgard, who is convinced Johnston knows the secret passageway to the otherwise impregnable castle of La Roque, which Oliver controls. Oliver's enemy, French commander Arnaut de Cervole, plans to attack Oliver's domain, and Oliver wants the secret to defend it.
Separated from the others, Chris follows the boy and inadvertently identifies himself as a nobleman. The "boy" leads Chris to the castle of Castelgard, and is revealed to be Lady Claire d'Eltham in disguise. She is being pressured to marry Sir Guy de Malegant. Chris and Marek (who has since found Chris) are challenged to a joust by Guy: Chris's apparent nobility and him accompanying Lady Claire have turned him into the enemy of Guy. The two survive the challenge thanks to Marek's knowledge of medieval combat.
Oliver orders the historians' imprisonment. They escape Castelgard and are pursued by Sir Robert de Kere, Oliver's advisor. Meanwhile, Oliver relocates to La Roque, taking Johnston with him. In order to rescue Johnston, the historians search for clues to the location of the secret passage to La Roque. After gathering information at the monastery, they find a clue in a water mill, but get captured and interrogated by Arnaut. After escaping Arnaut's forces, Chris and Kate find the entrance to the passage at a decrepit chapel while Marek gains entry into La Roque by posing as Johnston's assistant. Marek learns that the professor is helping Oliver build an incendiary weapon to use against Arnaut's forces, believing that Oliver will lose the siege anyway as he historically does.
The historians have learned that another person from the present is helping Oliver's forces. The person is revealed to be de Kere, who is really Rob Deckard, an ITC employee driven insane from errors in the process of teleporting to another time that built up in his body over multiple trips, much like the elderly man the couple in Arizona found. Deckard plans to prevent the historians' return to the present and kill them.
Chris and Kate use the passage to enter La Roque. Arnaut begins the siege of La Roque, and later enters the castle by apparently using the passage. During the battle, Kate is chased by Guy and sends him falling to his death. Marek and Chris free Johnston from a dungeon. Arnaut duels with Oliver, resulting in Oliver being trapped in a pit of putrid water. As the historians flee, Chris is attacked by Deckard, but kills him by setting him on fire with Johnston's incendiary weapon.
Stern and the ITC employees repair the transit pad just in time for the historians' return. Marek, who has always wanted to live in the Middle Ages, decides to stay behind, while Chris, Kate, and Johnston return to the present.
The historians and Gordon confront Doniger, who had little concern for the travelers' safety and intends to exploit the quantum technology for corporate gain. Gordon renders him unconscious and sends him to 1348 Europe, during the Black Death.
In an epilogue, Chris and Kate are implied to be a couple, and Kate is pregnant. While examining a site in England, the researchers find the graves of Marek and Lady Claire, whom he married. They have bittersweet feelings knowing that Marek had a happy life, but also miss him.
On the planet Kembel, Marc Cory and Gordon Lowery of UN Deep Space Force Group 1 attempt to repair their spaceship to reach their rendezvous when they are attacked by their crew member Jeff Garvey, who was in a violent state of mind upon waking up in the jungle. Cory shoots Garvey dead when he was about to fire at Lowery, pulling out a long thorn from behind his ear. Bringing Lowery into the spaceship for debriefing, Cory explains himself to be a Space Security agent assigned to investigate a possible Dalek base for universal invasion with the presence of a Varga plant confirming their presence. Outside, Garvey gradually mutates into a Varga. At the Daleks' base, Dalek Supreme is informed that the representatives from the seven planets will soon arrive while sending a Dalek platoon to destroy Cory and Lowery.
Cory stands guard against the slow-moving Varga plants while Lowery finishes building a rescue beacon. They notice a spaceship flying above them, Cory deducing the Daleks are planning something big. As Lowery was about to record a message, Cory notices something moving in the jungle, ducking behind some bushes. The Dalek platoon arrives and destroys their ship with Lowery accidentally stabbing his hand on a Varga thorn as he and Cory flee. In the Dalek base, the representatives from the seven galaxies have gathered in a conference room. Dalek Supreme assures representative Malpha that the human intruders will be dealt with. Cory is forced to kill Lowery upon learning he became infected and records a message, only to be surrounded by the Daleks and exterminated before he could launch the beacon. Back at the Dalek base, the representatives all approve in forming an alliance with the Daleks' plan to take over the Solar System while chanting "Victory."
The Earth is visited by large, enigmatic alien spheres, who take up residence in colonies on several prairies and deserts across the world. They make visits to cities, factories and other areas of human activity, seemingly to merely float and observe. All attempts at communication are unsuccessful and despite the best efforts of mankind, no one is able to decipher their intentions. Some, however, have come in to close encounter with the aliens, and emerged dramatically altered beings. These people, called humanity-prime, and dubbed 'primeys', are highly intelligent, can bend matter to their will, but are also, by human standards, quite, quite mad. Algernon Hebster is a highly successful businessman, owing mostly to his dealings with primeys, who supply him with the knowledge for advanced technologies which he puts to use in commerce. The problem is that primeys are so dangerous that dealing with them is highly illegal and every attempt is made to confine them to the reservations around their perceived alien masters.
In the far future a law is passed enabling citizens to serve out sentences for crimes they ''intend'' to commit, serving the full term, but with a 50% pre-criminal discount. Post-criminals and pre-criminals alike are sent to carry out hard-labour on hellishly perilous, far-flung Convict Planets. Few return. Those pre-criminals who are not killed, drop out before their terms are up, with nothing but scars and nightmares to show for their troubles. Two pre-criminals however, 'Blotto' Otto Henck and Nicholas Crandall, manage against all the odds to serve out two full terms for murder, and return to Earth as minor celebrities, with the right to kill one person each. Things, however, do not go quite as planned. Blotto Otto has his scheming wife in mind, only to find out she died the previous year in an unfortunate accident. For Crandall, whose life has been a perpetual series of failures, things go even worse. He intends to kill Frederick Stephenson, a man who stole his great invention. However, on his return, he receives a call from his terrified beloved ex-wife, who thinks she is his intended victim for her series of infidelities whilst they were married. Next he receives a call from his ex-business partner, pleading for his life because he thinks ''he'' is the intended victim for secretly cheating him out of vast sums of money. Crandall was previously unaware of either of these things. Still reeling, he meets his own brother, who thinks he is the intended victim, and reveals it was he with whom Crandall's wife was cheating. Finally, Crandall calls his intended victim, Stephenson, the only one who fails to twist and squirm, but instead offers Crandall fair settlement for his invention. Shattered by the day's events, Crandall succumbs to the realization that he is one of life's born losers, and sets out with Otto to have some fun.
The Earth finds itself on the brink of catastrophic nuclear war between Russia and the United States. As a last-ditch symbolic gesture of peace and cooperation, the two nations, presided over by India, launch a joint crewed venture to Mars. On their arrival to the red planet, Nicolai Belov, a Russian member of the crew, discovers a vast and amazing city once populated by human-like beings. However, once he returns to the ship he quickly develops a strange fever and is quarantined. This raises tensions in the already fraught atmosphere on board, and threatens to throw power amongst the crew out of balance. Equilibrium is restored, however, when American crew member Smathers also comes down with what is now dubbed Belov's disease. One by one the crew succumb, falling through several stages of fever and delirium, leaving prospects of return ever slimmer, and prospects of war on Earth ever greater: Mutual suspicion over the loss of the mission would trigger the final conflict. Soon just one crewmember remains healthy, American astronaut O'Brien. Just when he thinks all is over, Belov and Smathers awake from their fevers, only they aren't quite the same. They have acquired super-human powers and intelligence, able to shape matter at will and communicate telepathically. O'Brien discovers that Belov's isn't a disease at all, but a fantastic symbiotic bacilli. Just when he realises that the problems of the Earth are over and a new era has dawned, Smathers reveals one final thing: Some people, like him, are naturally immune...
Front cover of a Russian edition of "Winthrop Was Stubborn".
The unstated present has been contacted by the future, when time travel is possible and hedonism is the norm. Five present individuals have been selected to travel to the future, while five compatible individuals have been selected to travel to the past. The compatibility of each time traveler to one traveling in the opposite directions is described as vital to the method, without a perfect balance of travelers it is impossible. The story opens when the present day travelers find themselves stranded in the future. The problem is the oldest of them, Winthrop, refuses to return to the past thus leaving all of them trapped. In the present he was merely a bum, but in the future he's a curio and encouraged to indulge his tastes to the point of gluttony. Each of them is forced to confront the part of the future they find the most distasteful. The first, an elderly lady, has to meet with Winthrop and plead with him to release them by returning. The scientist has to attend the great computer to seek advice on the situation, which he finds morally objectionable. In any case, the computer tells him to simply return to the others, as the story concludes with a twist.
The story is told in a series of vignettes and musical numbers that serve to show events in flashback. Our narrative link is New York radio star Jed Potter, who once was a renowned Broadway hoofer. The conceit is that he is on the air, telling his life story, which does not yet have an ending.
The tale starts just after World War I and centers on two men who became friends in the Army: rising dancer Potter and business-minded Johnny Adams. While hardworking Potter dreams of stardom, the more laid-back and less disciplined Adams has hopes of becoming a successful nightclub owner.
In time, dancer Potter falls in love with a band singer, Mary O'Hara. He takes Mary to Adams' nightclub, where she takes a shine to Adams. Potter warns Mary that his old buddy is not the marrying kind, but she marries Adams. The union is not a happy one, despite the birth of a child. Adams' nightclub business is anything but a resounding success, and it turns out Potter was right: Adams is self-centered and unable to commit to his nightclubs, his marriage, or his daughter.
The couple divorces, and Mary tries again with Potter. The two even become engaged, but Mary can't go through with the wedding and takes off. A devastated Potter turns to booze and subsequently suffers an accident that puts an end to his dancing career. He winds up behind a radio microphone, sharing his story with his audience, hoping that wherever Mary is, she can hear him.
The main protagonist is Conrad Hart who, in ''Flashback'', destroyed the planet of hostile aliens called the Morphs and went into suspended animation in a spaceship that floats aimlessly through outer space. In the year 2190 (50 years later), he is found by the Morphs and imprisoned in the Lunar prison of New Alcatraz. There, he is rescued by a man who introduces himself as John O'Conner, who tells him that the Morphs beat him to Conrad's ship, and leaves Conrad a few items "of interest" (a PDA and a handgun), before destroying the camera. On the PDA is a message from John, who tells Conrad to sneak around the base. Mandragore agents left a radar-scrambler there. Conrad soon makes it to John's ship. As they blast off, Morph ships start attacking them. They teleport to Mandragore base Shadow just as the ship is destroyed.
They meet Sarah Smith, the leader of the Mandragore resistance. Later, in a meeting with Mandragore commander Hank, she tells Conrad that while he was in suspended animation the Morphs attacked Earth with superior forces, which made the governments surrender. The Mandragore has far fewer people, but they refuse to give up. Agents then call Sarah and tell her that they have found the location of Professor Bergstein: Morph asteroid base D321. Sarah sends Conrad and John there to rescue him. Conrad eventually finds Bergstein, who tells him that the base must be destroyed because it contains the Morph's new mind-manipulating weapon. He gives him a datacube (similar to the holocube that is in ''Flashback''), which he explains contains a virus that he programmed in. The virus will blow up the base when the datacube is connected to the core. They connect the virus to the core and escape the base with John as it blows up, along with the asteroid itself.
Conrad is then sent to a mining facility on Mars and gets the coordinates to a Morph base, where he rescues and meets Ageer. He tells Ageer about his previous adventures. Ageer tells Conrad that he and his people, an ancient alien race referred to as the "Ancients", want to join the Mandragore and can lead them to victory. Soon, Ageer tells Conrad that he must find the oracle in Pluto, the homeland of the Ancients. Conrad travels to Pluto with Ageer, who then tells Conrad that the oracle will lead him to the pyramid. As he travels, he finds a glass eyeball that he gives to a hand creature that then gives him the oracle. The oracle does lead Conrad to the pyramid, which Ageer uses to give the history of the Ancients to Conrad: "The Ancients live in peace until the Morphs arrive. The Ancients think that they come in peace and they welcome them. However, the Morphs attack the ancients. The Ancients put their souls in the pyramid, which is then captured by the Morphs."
The Morphs stole the pyramid and a new and apparently invincible creature, the Super Morph, arrives to kill Conrad. After avoiding him, he is teleported by Ageer to a Morph base in which he makes through looking for the stolen pyramid. In the meantime, he sees John telling Master Brain that their plan has become a success; with his identity, he has managed to infiltrate Shadow and put in an active detonation device. Master Brain tells John that someone is spying on them. John looks back, sees Conrad, and then transforms into his true identity: the Super Morph. After avoiding him, Conrad quickly takes the pyramid with a Morph ship and returns to Shadow, which is then attacked by the Morphs. Conrad fights his way through the Morphs as agents get killed. Conrad gets a key from a rescued soldier, which gives him access to the command room, where Conrad meets Hank. He tells Conrad that Sarah can give him the code to disable the detonation device, but she has been taken hostage by a Morph. Conrad gets to the floor and saves Sarah, who then gives him the code and teleports away.
After Conrad disables the device, Ageer and Hank enter the command room as Sarah explains their new plan. The Ancients have given the Mandragore the ability to know where the Master Brain controlling the solar system is on Easter Island in planet Earth. She and Conrad will teleport there and destroy it. As they arrive, they separate. Conrad eventually teleports to the Master Brain and throws the pyramid in front of it. As he then teleports away, the pyramid fights and defeats the Master Brain. As Conrad flees Easter Island, it starts exploding, and the Super Morph gives chase. From here there are two endings:
Travis was born in 1900, yet he has not aged since 1919, because he accidentally called up a demon from hell named ''Catch'' as his servant, presumably forever. Ever since then, Travis has been trying to get rid of Catch, but he is unable to do so because he has lost the repository of the necessary incantations. He traces their whereabouts to a fictional town called ''Pine Cove'', along Big Sur coast, where he thinks the woman he gave them to may be residing. Interactions with the townspeople and with a djinn, who is pursuing Catch, create considerable complications.
Several characters from this novel continue their lives in later novels by Moore. Catch appears in a later book (''Lamb''), but a much earlier period of history; in addition, the setting of ''Pine Cove'' itself is revisited for ''The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove'' and ''The Stupidest Angel''. The fictional town of ''Pine Cove'' is described as being within easy driving distance of San Luis Obispo, California.
The film takes place in Sweden around the turn of the twentieth century. Fredrik Egerman is a middle-aged lawyer married to a 19-year-old beauty, Anne. Their two-year marriage is still unconsummated, due to Anne's reluctance. Fredrik has a son, Henrik, from his marriage to his late first wife. Henrik is in his early twenties and is studying to be a minister but is currently tormented by his love for his step-mother, who secretly loves him in return. Henrik is distracting himself from his urges by attempting an inconclusive affair with Fredrik's lusty young servant, Petra.
Between his two marriages, Fredrik had an affair with a prominent stage actress, the beautiful Desiree Armfeldt, but she broke off the relationship. Desiree now has a young son named Fredrik, born shortly after her affair with Fredrik Egerman. (It is implied, but never directly stated, that little Fredrik Armfeldt is the son of Fredrik Egerman.) Desiree is now having an affair with an army officer, Count Carl-Magnus Malcolm. The Count's wife, Charlotte, is an old friend of Anne Egerman.
Fredrik goes to see Desiree one night to pour out his marital troubles to her and ask for her help. Fredrik falls into a puddle outside Desiree's house, and Desiree dresses him in the Count's nightshirt. The violently jealous Count shows up and orders Fredrik to leave. After Fredrik goes, the Count and Desiree argue and subsequently decide to part amicably. When the Count returns home, he tells Charlotte about the encounter and orders her to tell Anne Egerman about Fredrik's supposed infidelity (though no infidelity actually occurred). When Charlotte visits Anne, she confesses that she loves the Count despite everything and would do anything to be loved in return.
To solve these woes, Desiree has her mother invite all the characters to her country house for Midsummer Night, the shortest night of the year, a traditional observance in Sweden, when many party-goers stay awake all night until dawn. Desiree and Charlotte become temporary allies. Henrik and Anne, unexpectedly finding themselves alone together in a bedroom, consummate their relationship and elope with the assistance of Petra and her new lover Frid, another servant. Charlotte then joins Fredrik in the garden pavilion. Learning his wife is with Fredrik, the Count bursts in and challenges Fredrik to a game of Russian roulette. Fredrik loses but the Count had loaded the revolver with soot so neither party was ever in danger. The Count reunites with his wife, his feelings for her renewed by his jealousy. Desiree comforts Fredrik and he asks her not to leave him. The dilemmas of the four pairs of lovers appear to be happily resolved in the course of a night, said by Frid to have smiled three smiles upon them all.
The game starts with PreCrime Captain John Anderton pursuing future murderer Andre Serena throughout a meat packing facility. Anderton bests Andre and fellow PreCrime officer Barry arrives to subject the latter to virtual reality (the preferred form of punishment).
Anderton arrives at PreCrime HQ in Washington, DC where he is greeted by FBI agents Danny Witwer, Ben Mosely, and Ken Nara. Witwer explains that he was sent by the Attorney General to overlook the operations of PreCrime. Barry alerts Anderton to a vision by the Precogs: John Anderton will be murdered by Nikki Jameson, a consultant of SOL Enterprises. Anderton, Barry, and Mosely arrive at SOL to apprehend her, but she escapes. Returning to HQ, the Precogs generate a new vision, revealing that he will murder Roy Verhagen, a man he had never met. Barry witnesses the vision and attempts to help John escape. As Anderton fights his way to escape PreCrime HQ, he confronts Mosely and soundly defeats him.
Anderton goes to the mall to find Rufus, a former criminal that runs a club. Back in his apartment, Barry informs him that the city has a bounty on him. He also tells Anderton that 2 out of the 3 Precogs have a report, with the last one's MIA, suspecting a glitch. Anderton has Barry send him info on Iris Hinemen, the woman who initiated the Precogs program. PreCrime officers arrive to arrest him, and he makes his way to the rooftops, where Witwer confronts him in a hovership.
As this happens, Verhagen talks with Nikki, revealed to be a contractor hired to kill Anderton. Anderton reaches the botanical gardens, and finds Iris in the greenhouse, where she tells Anderton that he has fallen upon a scenario known as a "minority report": The Precogs are never wrong with their visions, but, occasionally, disagree on the outcome. This is kept secret from PreCrime and the perpetrator, and erased from the system. Both Anderton and Iris agree that public knowledge of the minority report would shut PreCrime down. Iris instructs him to find the dissenting Precog and download the information needed to clear his name, at which point PreCrime arrives, and Anderton has to protect Iris and leave the gardens.
Anderton meets a black market doctor at the Pepper Hotel to change his eyes and bypass the city's optical scanners. After commotion occurs, Anderton leaves, witnessing a riot against PreCrime. He evades the riots, and runs into agent Nara, beating him in a shootout.
Anderton arrives at PreCrime HQ to find Barry, who reveals Verhagen is the leader of SOL Enterprises, a multimillion-dollar company specializing in robotics, and a major weapons dealer in the black market. Anderton frees Agatha, a Precog, and they make their way out of PreCrime HQ.
After some evasion, Anderton takes Agatha to Rufus, who decodes her visions, and tells him about Shinya Okawa, former employee of SOL. Agatha returns to PreCrime as Anderton goes to meet Okawa.
On a subway train a PreCrime officer notices Anderton. With help from civilians that fought against PreCrime, Anderton commandeers the subway train car and defeats Mosely again.
In the ruins of the Sprawl, Anderton sees ongoing riots. He finds Okawa inside his fortune cookie factory. After a heated discussion, Anderton retrieves Okawa's computer in exchange for Verhagen's location.
Anderton fights through a waste management facility which has a backdoor to Verhagen's lair. Nikki joins the fight; she is beaten by Anderton. Anderton pursues Verhagen as Witwer and two PreCrime officers arrive. As Verhagen attempts to escape, Anderton cuts him off and holds him at gunpoint. Verhagen begs for mercy, offering Anderton bribes, which he refuses, and a gunshot is heard as the screen fades to black. As it cuts back, Verhagen sees that Anderton deliberately missed the shot.
Anderton witnesses Verhagen's imprisonment firsthand. Content with the results, Anderton is reinstated into PreCrime.
In 1949, Joe King, pilot for hire and owner of the ''Amazon Queen'' airplane which he uses for his work, arrives at a hotel in Rio de Janeiro to transport his next customer, famous film actress Faye Russel, only to be ambushed by his Dutch rival Anderson. Locked in a hotel room and trapped by Anderson's goons, Joe quickly gains assistance from Lola, a showgirl at the hotel and a former love interest, and escapes, making it back to the airport with his mechanic Sparky, just in time to stop his rival taking Faye. Wasting no time, Joe quickly pilots the Amazon Queen towards the location of Faye's shoot, only for a storm to cause him to crash-land in the Amazon jungle. After getting Faye and Sparky to safety, Joe begins searching for help, soon encountering a parrot named Wedgewood with a message for help. Seeking out the person the message was for, Joe meets with Trader Bob, a merchant who lives amongst an indigenous tribe in the jungle, who soon asks for his help in rescuing a princess named Azura from Floda, a lederhosen company that Bob suspects is a cover for something much more sinister.
Joe quickly begins searching for the jungle, encountering an entire tribe of Amazon women who capture him and took in Faye when she decided to seek help herself. Released by the tribe, Joe agrees to help them rescue Azura as well. Finding the princess within a hidden base beneath Floda, Joe frees her and returns to her tribe, only to find himself coming face-to-face with Floda's leader - Dr. Frank Ironstein, a mad scientist who seeks to conquer the world by turning Amazon women into dinosaur warriors through the use of his DinoRay invention. Seeing that Joe was smart to get around his security, Ironstein coerces him into helping him find an artifact from a temple that he requires known as the Crystal Skull, threatening to harm Azura if he doesn't. Left with no choice, Joe agrees, and heads for the temple, navigating traps and puzzles and eventually finding what he needs. Returning it to Ironstein, Joe quickly finds himself betrayed and trapped in Floda's base, but soon escapes and goes after Ironstein with the help of Anderson, his former rival having originally been hired by the scientist to assist but later deciding to turn against him. Heading into the valley, Joe assists in trying to find Ironstein and manages to stop him, saving the day, before taking the scientist's Zeppelin and flying into the sunset with Azura.
The series is composed of three storylines: "The Warriors Teen" (issues #1-6), "Enchanted" (issues #7-9), and "Worthy" (issues #10-12).
In ''Thor: Son of Asgard'' #1-6, titled "The Warriors Teen," Thor and his friends, Sif and Balder, have sneaked into the trophy room and Thor tries to lift Mjolnir, without success. He states that someday, he will be worthy enough to lift it. Three giant spiders enchanted by Loki attack them. Working together, the three young warriors defeat them. After this feat, Odin decides to send them on a quest to find four mystical elements that will then be fashioned into an enchanted blade. The four items are: a scale from the dragon Hakurei; a feather from the snow eagle Gnori; a jewel from a mine of Jennia; and a vial of water from the Lake of Lilitha.
Both the Norn Queen Karnilla and Loki learn of the quest and separately try to stop the trio from completing it. However, when Karnilla captures Loki and attempts to convince him to aid her in overthrowing Odin, he refuses and instead informs Thor, Sif, and Balder of her plan. Sif, Balder, and Loki return to Odin to prepare for Karnilla's attack, while Thor completes the quest.
After the attack, Karnilla kills Thor with an arrow, but he is revived by the healing power of water from the lake and Sif's tears of love. Then the Norn Queen menaces the life of Loki. Balder offers his life in exchange for Loki's. He explains his action by the value of life and that there is good in every soul. Karnilla flees.
One month after the battle, the enchanted blade is finished. During a banquet, Odin presents the sword Svaden and gives it to Balder for his mercy and compassion.
In ''Thor: Son of Asgard'' #7-9, titled "Enchanted," Sif is the only girl in a class of male warriors until the arrival of Brunnhilda. With this female warrior and Amora, Sif now has now two rivals in the competition for Thor's affections. The two blondes remind her that she lost her golden hair, after Loki jealously cut it and replaced it with enchanted black hair made by dwarves. Taking advantage of her vulnerability, Amora and Loki work together to trick Sif into stealing the Mirror of Mycha.
The Mirror of Mycha is an enchanted mirror that, when the proper spell is cast upon it, will cause the person who is looking into it to fall in love with the person holding it. The legend says that only a woman's touch can give life to the mirror.
Loki casts the spell. Amora steals the mirror from Sif and uses it on Thor. Brunnhilda and Sif decide to fight together against the sorcerers. During the fight, Brunnhilda breaks the mirror and the spell over Thor vanishes. Sif has to apologize and explain why she would have tricked him with the Mirror of Mycha. Thor forgives her and they exchange their first kiss.
In ''Thor: Son of Asgard'' #10-12, titled "Worthy," Thor, frustrated by his incapacity to wield the hammer Mjolnir, decides to travel to the Norns to learn how to succeed. They tell him that he must first face death. After his return to Asgard, he discovers that the Storm Giants have attacked the city and kidnapped Sif. Odin tells Thor to stay and guard Asgard and he and the gods will go rescue her. Due to his feeling for the young woman, Thor disobeys his father and finds himself worthy to lift Mjolnir.
On his horse Treibold, Thor travels to Jotunheim. He defeats many Storm Giants to face Rugga, their king. Rugga tells him he was offered immortality by the Goddess of Death, Hela, if he turned Sif over to her. Thor goes to confront Hela. During the confrontation, Hela threatens to kill Sif. However, when Thor offers himself in her place, Hela decides against killing him because it would not break Odin's heart as she had hoped since Thor would die an honorable death.
The game begins on Crater Planet and revolves around the story of an insane astrophysicist, Baron Aloha. Planning to make a large profit from his evil ingenuity, Aloha removes giant pieces of land from the planet using machines to turn them into private resorts. Aloha also removes and hides the twelve jet pods that propel each world. Witnessing the destruction, the residents of Crater Planet call for help, and in response the Universal City Hall dispatches one of their agents, a mechanical rabbit named Robbit. Robbit is ordered to explore each world to retrieve the jet pods, stop Aloha, and save Crater Planet from destruction. At the end of the game, Aloha flees to his home, Little Muu, and vows revenge on Robbit.
Throughout the game, Aloha surrounds himself with creatures called MuuMuus that appear as small, white, five-limbed creatures with miniature palm trees on their heads. Many of the game's full motion videos feature the MuuMuus in an izakaya tavern, recounting their defeat at the hands of Robbit.
Earth 2140 takes place in the year 2140. Previous wars have left much of the Earth a nuclear wasteland, forcing most of the world's population into underground cities. Tensions rise between the Earth's two major factions, the Eurasian Dynasty (ED) and the United Civilized States (UCS), as both sides vie for the world's steadily dwindling resources. A UCS raid on an ED base is enough to ignite the rivalry into full-scale war as the ED fails in its bid to control Mexico and the UCS counterattacks Scandinavia, Great Britain, France, and the Iberian Peninsula.
Martin W. Harrow (David Wayne) is a compulsive child-murderer, and the public demands of the mayor and police that he be caught. The police start a crackdown on criminal operations, dive bars and hangouts in the city, hoping that the murderer will turn up in one of the many raids. This pressure is preventing the city's crime syndicate from doing business, and its boss, Marshall (Martin Gabel), organizes his forces to find and stop the murderer so that the police will stop the crackdown and Marshall can go back to business as usual. Meanwhile, Police Inspector Carney (Howard Da Silva) has a psychiatrist examining patients who have been released from mental hospitals as possible suspects.
At the same time that the police focus on Harrow, finding incriminating evidence – the shoes of the dead children – in his apartment, the criminals track him down with his intended next victim. They capture him, and place him on trial by his "peers" in the Los Angeles criminal underworld. Harrow makes an impassioned plea for his life, explaining that he is unable to stop himself from committing his unspeakable crimes. Just as he is about to be killed by the crowd, the police arrive to take him away, but not before Marshall has shot and killed his alcoholic lawyer, Dan Langley (Luther Adler).
''Decay'' is set in the same location and timeframe as ''Half-Life''. ''Half-Life'' takes place at a laboratory called the Black Mesa Research Facility, situated in a remote desert in New Mexico. In ''Half-Life'', the player takes on the role of Gordon Freeman, a scientist involved in an accident that opens an inter-dimensional portal to the borderworld of Xen, allowing the alien creatures of Xen to attack the facility. The player guides Freeman in an attempt to escape the facility and close the portal, ultimately traveling to Xen to do so. Like the previous expansions, ''Decay'' shows the story of ''Half-Life'' from the perspective of a different set of protagonists. In ''Decay'', players assume the roles of Colette Green and Gina Cross, two doctors who work in the same labs as Freeman, analyzing anomalous materials and specimens retrieved from Xen in prior teleportation experiments. After the experiment that causes the alien invasion takes place, Green and Cross must work with two ranking members of the science team, Dr. Richard Keller and Dr. Rosenberg, to contain and stabilize the deteriorating situation in Black Mesa.
''Decay'' begins with Gina Cross and Colette Green arriving at the Anomalous Materials Labs at Black Mesa and reporting to Dr. Keller, who is readying the day's analysis of an unknown specimen. Despite the objections of Dr. Rosenberg to pushing the analysis equipment beyond its design capacities, Cross and Green are assigned to assist setting up the experiment for Gordon Freeman. When Freeman inserts the specimen into the scanning beam, however, it triggers a "resonance cascade", causing massive damage to the facility and teleporting alien creatures into the base. Keller and Rosenberg agree that Black Mesa cannot deal with the situation on its own, and so decide to call for military assistance. Cross and Green escort Rosenberg to the surface, where he sends a distress signal to the military. However, the military are ordered not only to contain the situation, but to silence the base by killing its employees. Rosenberg elects to stay behind to meet with the military on arrival and Cross and Green return to Keller.
Once reunited with Keller, Cross and Green work to seal the dimensional tear to stop the invasion. The military arrive and try to remove all personnel as well as the alien force. After resetting key equipment to prevent a second dimensional rift, the two are tasked with preparing a satellite for launch. The satellite, which is launched by Freeman in ''Half-Life'', is used in tandem with ground-based equipment to significantly weaken the effects of the resonance cascade. Keller tasks Cross and Green with activating this set of prototype equipment, a displacement beacon, which through the satellite may be able to seal the dimensional rift. However, after activating the beacon, both characters are caught up in a "harmonic reflux", a distortion caused by the rift. Despite this, Cross and Green are able to return safely and Keller congratulates them on their success.
The unlockable vortigaunt mission provides background information explaining how the orange crystals used by the rift-sealing machine in ''Half Life: Decay'' are acquired and used by the Nihilanth during the final boss battle in ''Half Life''. The two player-controlled vortigaunts battle through Marines and Black Ops in the underground Black Mesa complex to find the orange crystals in the back of a military van. At this point the screen fades and the mission is declared a success; it is presumed that the Nihilanth warps them back to Xen and installs the crystals in his cave.
A young man named Billy Coleman rescues a redbone hound under attack by neighborhood dogs. He takes it home with him so that its wounds can heal. In light of this event, he has a flashback to when he was a ten-year-old boy living in the Ozark Mountains.
Young Billy Coleman wants nothing more than a pair of Redbone Coonhounds for coon hunting. After seeing a magazine ad for coon hounds, Billy spends the next two years working odd jobs to earn the $50 he needs to buy two puppies. Billy's dogs are delivered to Tahlequah, over 20 miles away. Billy decides to walk the distance. As he returns with the dogs, he sees a heart carved on a tree with the names "Dan + Ann" and decides to name the puppies Little Ann and Old Dan. With his grandfather's help, Billy teaches his dogs to hunt. Both dogs are very loyal to each other and to Billy.
The first night of hunting season, Billy promises the dogs that if they tree a coon, he will do the rest. They tree one in a huge sycamore, which Billy believes is far too large to chop down. Remembering his promise to his dogs, Billy spends the next two days attempting to chop down the sycamore. Exhausted, Billy prays for the strength to continue, whereupon a strong wind blows the tree over.
Billy and his hounds become well-known as the best hunters in the Ozarks. Billy's grandfather makes a bet with Rubin and Rainie Pritchard that Old Dan and Little Ann can tree the legendary "ghost coon" that has eluded hunters for years. After a long, complicated hunt, Old Dan and Little Ann manage to tree the raccoon, but having seen how old and smart the ghost coon is, Billy cannot bring himself to kill it. Billy tries to stop the Pritchards from killing the raccoon, leading to a fight with Rubin. The Pritchards' dog Old Blue joins the fight, provoking Old Dan and Little Ann to attack Old Blue to drag him away from Billy. Rubin tries to drive Billy's dogs away with an axe, but trips, falls on the blade, and dies. Billy is deeply troubled by the tragic turn of events, but does not regret his choice to spare the ghost coon.
Billy's grandfather enters him into a championship coon hunt against experienced hunters. Before the main hunt starts Billy enters Little Ann into a beauty hound competition. She wins, so Billy gets to take home a small silver cup as his prize. The hunt is scheduled during a particularly cold week, and many of the other hunters are forced to give up. However, Billy, who is used to mountain winters, is able to reach the final round. On the last night, Old Dan and Little Ann trap three raccoons in a single tree, but a sudden blizzard forces Billy to take shelter. The following morning, the dogs are found covered in ice but still circling the tree. All three raccoons are captured and Billy and his dogs win the championship and a $300 prize.
One night while the trio is hunting, a mountain lion attacks the dogs. Billy fights to save his dogs, but the mountain lion turns on him. The dogs manage to save Billy by killing the mountain lion, but Old Dan later dies of his injuries. Over the next few days, Little Ann loses the will to live and finally dies of grief atop Old Dan's grave, leaving Billy heartbroken.
Billy's father tries to comfort his son by explaining that he and Billy's mother have long wished to move to town where their children can get an education, but could not afford to do so without the extra money brought in by Billy's hunting. Knowing that Billy's dogs would suffer in town and that Billy would be devastated to leave them behind, they intended to allow Billy to live with his grandfather. Billy's father believes that God took the dogs as a sign that the family was meant to stay together.
On his last day in the Ozarks, Billy visits Old Dan and Little Ann's graves and finds a giant red fern growing between them. Remembering a legend that only an angel can plant a red fern, Billy also comes to believe that perhaps there truly was a higher power at work.
The adult Billy closes by saying that although he hasn't returned to the Ozarks, he still dreams of visiting his dogs' graves and seeing the red fern again one day.
Pil-gu is a high school athlete and the leader of an underground club called Shock. Along with the Shocks, the judo club and a girls' club called Sexy Wave led by Hee-jeong cause plenty of trouble and mayhem in the school. The arrival of a pretty young teacher named Yoo Yuna gets the students in gear for another big scheme. Each club sets up a strategy to lure the new teacher. After beating numerous contenders, Pil-gu approaches Yuna.
Maximo, a brave king, returns to his castle from the far off war to find his kingdom is falling with the sorceresses being imprisoned throughout. Worst of yet was that his once trusted advisor Achille has forced Queen Sophia to marry him. He attempts to rescue her from his clutches who has awoken the power of the underworld. However Achille proves too powerful and strikes down Maximo with one blast of his dark magic, killing him. Now floating in the underworld, Maximo is approached by Grim who reveals that Achille is drilling into the underworld to harvest souls, fueling his undead army. Feeling that he would be out of the job if there are no more dead, Grim makes a deal with Maximo to bring him back to life in exchange for stopping Achille's evil plans; sending him back to the earth in the process where his journey begins.
Springfield holds a ceremony dedicating their newest national park, Geezer Rock, a rock formation which resembles the face of an old man in profile. As Lisa Simpson prepares to read a poem there at the behest of Mayor Quimby, Homer notices that there is a small tree growing in the eye of the rock. Fearing that it will destroy Geezer Rock over time, he rushes over and pulls it out. This causes Geezer Rock to fall apart, and everyone runs for their lives — except for Mr. Burns, who winds up in a landslide. Smithers is fearful he has lost Mr. Burns.
Lisa is saddened that no one ever heard her poem, and she publishes it on Marge's suggestion. Meanwhile, it turns out that Burns survived the horrible landslide through slithering his way out and subsisting on centipedes, insects and mole milk. However, Springfield's local news instead reports on the destruction of Geezer Rock and then labels Mr. Burns as being a hateful man nobody liked.
Lisa distributes the very first issue of her newspaper, ''The Red Dress Press'', which is well received. She enlists the help of Bart, Milhouse Van Houten, Martin Prince, Nelson Muntz, and Ralph Wiggum among others, to publish her newspaper's second issue. Meanwhile, to improve his image after the landslide, Burns acquires all media outlets in Springfield except Lisa's newspaper. He even makes an episode of ''The Itchy & Scratchy Show'' promoting nuclear power. Later, Burns tries to bait Lisa with ponies in an attempt to acquire her newspaper, but she will not give up. Lisa is saddened that all the others employees of the newspaper left her, but is relieved when Bart decides to stay and help Lisa publish more issues.
Burns gets back at Lisa by cutting off the Simpsons' power, so Lisa is forced to write her next issue through an old mimeograph that Principal Skinner used in Vietnam. Mr. Burns finally wins the war by interrogating Homer with a truth serum so he can damage Lisa's reputation; the following day's ''Springfield Shopper'' boasts the headline, "LISA’S A TOTAL WACKO, IMPLIES FATHER", and goes further by humiliating Milhouse's crush upon her. Lisa writes her final "I Give Up" edition and shuts down the ''Red Dress Press''. Homer responds by creating his own newspaper, ''The Homer Times'', with which he defends Lisa and her journalistic integrity, while many of the townspeople, inspired by Homer, also create their own newspapers to voice their individual opinions. Burns realizes that, while he succeeded in defeating Lisa and her journal, he cannot possibly buy out everyone nor stop people criticizing him. As a result, he is forced to acknowledge that no one besides Rupert Murdoch can truly control the whole media. Then, he goes out on a shopping spree with Smithers for relief.
In part, it was a portrait of Harold Geneen, the chief executive of ITT from 1959 until 1977. Geneen was a legendarily hands-on manager, who believed it necessary to penetrate through layers of "false facts" to get to the "unshakable facts" about any of the markets or divisions of his conglomerate. In terms of its broader themes, though, this book was one of a spate of early-70s books that promoted the thesis that multinational corporations were taking over the traditional prerogatives and functions of national governments.
In a review of Sampson's book in the ''Sunday Telegraph'', Sir Frank McFadzean, Vice Chairman of Royal Dutch/Shell, took issue with that thesis. Such corporations are "prisoners of their past investments," he wrote, because "even the most puny government can nationalize, and the only redress is to seek compensation."
Although as Sampson's book shows ITT has used other means of redress to defend its own business interests from nationalisation, that have not been confined to the courts. These have ranged from supporting the 1930s military takeover by General Franco in Spain, investing in Hitler's war machine throughout World War II, and funding a CIA-backed coup led by General Pinochet in Chile 1973.
Harris's narrator Henry "Author" Wiggen, a star pitcher, tells the story of a baseball season with the New York Mammoths, a fictional team based on the New York Giants, as noted in the author's book ''Diamond: The Baseball Writings of Mark Harris''. In the novel, Wiggen befriends a slow-talking catcher from Georgia named Bruce Pearson who is more ridiculed than respected by his teammates. When Pearson learns he is terminally ill with Hodgkin’s disease and is to be sent to the minor leagues, Wiggen rallies his teammates to keep the catcher among them and inspires Pearson to become a better player before his time runs out.
Above the town of Monterey on the California coast lies the shabby district of Tortilla Flat, inhabited by a loose gang of jobless locals of Mexican-Indian-Spanish-Caucasian descent (who typically claim pure Spanish blood).
The central character Danny inherits two houses from his grandfather where he and his friends go to live. Danny's house, and Danny's friends, Steinbeck compares to the Round Table, and the Knights of the Round Table. Most of the action is set in the time of Steinbeck's own late teenage and young adult years, shortly after World War I.
The following chapter titles from the work, along with short summaries, outline the adventures the dipsomaniacal group endure in order to procure red wine and friendship.
1 ''How Danny, home from the wars, found himself an heir, and how he swore to protect the helpless.'' — After working as a mule-driver during The Great War, Danny returns to find he has inherited two houses from his deceased grandfather. Danny gets drunk and goes to jail. He and the jailer drink wine at Torelli's. After escaping, Danny talks his friend, a clever man named ''Pilon'', into sharing his brandy and his houses.
2 ''How Pilon was lured by greed of position to forsake Danny's hospitality.'' — Danny fails to get the water turned on. Pilon kills a rooster, rents Danny's second house for money which it is understood he will never pay, and exchanges paper roses for a gallon of Señora Torelli's wine.
3 ''How the poison of possessions wrought with Pilon, and how evil temporarily triumphed in him.'' — Danny and Pilon share wine, two women, and a fight. Drunk a second time, Pilon sublets half his house to Pablo.
4 ''How Jesus Maria Corcoran, a good man, became an unwilling vehicle of evil.'' — Pablo, Pilon and Danny discuss women and the payment of rent. Pablo and Pilon sublet their house to Jesus Maria. Since he has just $3 and a dime with him, they take a $2 deposit and leave him the rest to buy a woman he likes a present.
5 ''How Saint Francis turned the tide and put a gentle punishment on Pilon and Pablo and Jesus Maria.'' — Pilon and Pablo enjoy two gallons of wine. Monterey prepares for night. Pablo enjoys dinner, firewood and love from Mrs. Torelli. Jesus Maria is beaten up by soldiers because he enjoys their whiskey and their girlfriend Arabella. Pablo's candle, dedicated to St. Francis, burns down the house, while Danny, who is with Mrs. Morales next door, pays no attention.
6 ''How three sinful men, through contrition, attained peace. How Danny's friends swore comradeship.'' — Pablo, Pilon and Jesus Maria sleep in the pine forest. They wake up smelling a picnic lunch which becomes theirs, and is shared with Danny, into whose remaining house they move.
7 ''How Danny's friends became a force for good. How they succored the poor pirate.'' — The pirate, a mentally handicapped man who is followed by 5 dogs, is invited by Pilon to stay at Danny's house. Pirate promised that if God would save his sick dog, he would buy a golden candlestick for St. Francis. The sickly dog recovered, though he was soon after run over by a truck. Pirate is determined to keep his promise to buy a gold candlestick for St. Francis with 1000 quarters, or "two-bitses" ($250). The Pirate is the only paisano who works, and makes 25 cents a day selling kindling, but lives on food scraps given in charity, and saves the cash. He has hidden a great bag of quarters, known about by all. When he reveals his treasure to them, they are guilted into aiding him in his endeavor.
8 ''How Danny's Friends sought mystic treasure on Saint Andrew's Eve. How Pilon found it and later how a pair of serge pants changed ownership twice.'' — Joe Portagee returns from army jail, burns down a whorehouse, goes to jail again. He and Pilon seek treasure in the woods on ''St. Andrew's Eve'' (29 Nov), and see the faint beam from a spot which they mark. Next night, with wine Joe has gotten for a blanket he has stolen from Danny, they dig at the spot and uncover something labeled "''United States Geodetic Survey + 1915 + Elevation 600 Feet''". Realizing it is a crime to take, they get drunk on the Seaside beach. Pilon, to punish Joe for stealing from his host, recovers the blanket and trades Joe's pants for wine, leaving Joe naked on the beach.
9 ''How Danny was ensnared by a vacuum cleaner and how Danny's friends rescued him.'' — Danny trades stolen copper nails for money for a vacuum cleaner from Mr. Simon, to give to Sweets Ramirez (who has no electricity). Sweets contentedly pretends she has electricity, pushing the machine over the floor while humming to herself, and Danny wins her favors. He spends every evening with Sweets, until Pilon, telling himself he misses his friend, takes the vacuum and trades it to Torelli, the local shopkeep, for wine. Torelli then finds the vacuum which has been "run" with pretend electricity, actually has a pretend motor.
10 ''How the friends solaced a corporal and in return received a lesson in paternal ethics.'' — Jesus Maria befriends a young man with a baby, and brings him to the house. The baby is sick. A ''Capitán'' has stolen the man's wife. The baby dies, and the man explains why he wanted the baby to be a ''Generál'', saying that if a mere Capitan could steal his own wife, then imagine what a general could take. The friends take few moments to digest the moral of this, then make a satirical statement in support.
11 ''How, under the most adverse circumstances, love came to Big Joe Portagee.'' — Joe Portagee comes out of the rain into Tia Ignacia's. He drinks her wine, goes to sleep, and wakes up to a beating from the woman because he drank her wine and did NOT take advantage of her. In the midst of fending off this attack in the middle of the street and in the rain, he is stricken with lust. A policeman happens by and asks them to stop doing what they're doing in middle of the muddy road.
12 ''How Danny's friends assisted the pirate to keep a vow, and how as a reward for merit the pirate's dogs saw a holy vision.'' — The pirate finally trusts Danny and delivers his bag of quarters into the house, whereupon the bag disappears. Big Joe is beaten into unconsciousness for stealing the money. The friends take the thousand quarters which the pirate has earned over several years of woodcutting, to Father Ramon for him to buy a candlestick and feast. In San Carlos Church on Sunday the Pirate sees his candlestick before St. Francis. The dogs rush into the church and must be removed. Later the pirate preaches all of Fr. Ramon's St. Francis stories to the dogs, which are suddenly startled by something behind him, which the pirate believes must be a vision.
13 ''How Danny's friends threw themselves to the aid of a distressed lady.'' — The unmarried Teresina Cortez has a menagerie of nine healthy babies and children, who all live on nothing but tortillas and beans, but nevertheless are found amazingly healthy by the school doctor. Teresina gleans the beans from the fields. As the Madonna of the tale, Teresina produces the droves of babies with seemingly no particular help. When the bean crop is ruined by rain, Danny's housemates steal food all over Monterey for the children. It makes them sick. However, the arrival of some stolen sacks of beans at the door is deemed a miracle, the children regain their health, and Teresina is also pregnant again. She wonders which one of Danny's friends was responsible.
14 ''Of the good life at Danny's house, of a gift pig, of the pain of Tall Bob, and of the thwarted love of the viejo Ravanno. Why the windows shouldn't be cleaned.'' The friends tell stories. Danny: how Cornelia lost Emilio's little pig to its sow. Pablo: how everyone laughed after Tall Bob blew his nose off. Jesus Maria: how Petey Ravanno got Gracie by hanging himself and being rescued at exactly the right moment, thus convincing her of his love; and how Petey's father the ''viejo'' (old man) hanged himself to get the same effect, but the door blew shut at exactly the wrong moment, and nobody saw him.
15 ''How Danny brooded and became mad. How the Devil in the shape of Torelli assaulted Danny's house.'' — Danny moves to the forest and cannot be found by his friends. When Torelli shows the friends the bill of sale for Danny's house, they steal and burn it.
16 ''Of the sadness of Danny. How through sacrifice Danny's friends gave a party. How Danny was translated.'' — Danny is deeply remorseful. His friends work a whole day cutting squid for Chin Kee. All of Tortilla Flat makes a party at Danny's home. He enjoys many women, and challenges all men to fight (wielding a table leg). He dies after a forty-foot fall into the gulch.
17 ''How Danny's sorrowing friends defied the conventions. How the talismanic bond was burned. How each friend departed alone.'' — Danny's friends cannot dress adequately for his military funeral. They tell stories of him beforehand, in the gulch. Afterward, they drink wine stolen by Pilon from Torelli's. Pablo sings "Tuli Pan". A small fire is accidentally set in the house, and the friends watch in approval, doing nothing to save it. No two walk away together from the smoking ruins.
Bernard Valcourt, a documentary filmmaker from Quebec, has been sent to the Rwandan capital Kigali to set up a television station. He falls in love with a Rwandan girl, Gentille, who in reality is an ethnic Hutu, but she is often mistaken for a Tutsi. With the Hutu government encouraging violence against Tutsis, Gentille's life becomes endangered. Encouraged by his love for Gentille, and a desire to complete a documentary to bring the tragedy of AIDS to the attention of the outside world, Valcourt refuses to leave Rwanda. When the two are married, they become separated, leaving Valcourt believing that Gentille has been killed. He then determines to document her life story, and sets out to discover the story of her final days.
''Mega Man X Command Mission'' takes place during an unspecified year in the 23rd century ("22XX AD"); about 100 years after the events of other games in the ''Mega Man X'' series. A new substance known as "Force Metal" is extracted from the debris of a small meteorite. Technology based on the metal revolutionizes the field of Reploid Engineering. Giga City, an artificial island in the middle of an ocean, is built entirely for the mining and smelting of Force Metal. Everything is well until a band of Reploids arm themselves and launch an assault on the island. Its leader, Epsilon, is branded a "Maverick" by the government, and a "Maverick Hunter" team is dispatched by Colonel Redips to Giga City in order to liberate it from the grasp of Epsilon's "Rebellion". X, Zero, and a Hunter named Shadow travel to the ruins. However, Shadow betrays the team and Epsilon's cadre appears and knocks Zero away.
X has no choice but to escape and gather a resistance team led by Chief R to assist in defeating the minions of the Rebellion Army. His new allies Spider, a bounty hunter who was originally hired to kill X; Steel Massimo, a Reploid who is the successor of the former Massimo who was destroyed by the Rebellion Army; Nana, a navigator who was abducted by Epsilon's forces; Marino, a thief interested in targeting trade secrets; and Cinnamon, a Reploid capable of producing Force Metal. X also reunites with Zero and his other ally, Axl, who is searching for somebody who possesses his own copy abilities. X's group manages to defeat the Rebellion Army but Spider presumably dies in the process. However, it is later revealed that Epsilon was not a Maverick, but Redips is instead. He and the presumably deceased Spider are revealed to be one and the same. X and his friends chase him to the top of the tower where he uses the Force Metal to take on a god-like form. Luckily for X's team, one of Epsilon's commanders, Ferham, helps the group by removing part of the Force Metal from Redips, giving X and company a chance to defeat him. With Great Redips weakened, X's party is able to finally defeat him.
Redips reverts to his original form. He berates the heroes for their unwillingness to evolve using Supra-Force Metal before dying. Ferham appears holding the Supra-Force Metal and apologizes to X for all the trouble she caused before leaping off the elevator, planning to self-destruct. The elevator then begins to crumble, forcing them to get inside to survive the fall back to Earth. Meanwhile, Nana watches from the Earth as Ferham destroys the Supra-Force Metal, creating a shower of aurora as it hits the atmosphere. Elsewhere, the heroes exit the fallen elevator, having landed in the middle of the ocean.
In epilogue narration, it is revealed that due to Colonel Redips' treason being unveiled to the public, Epsilon was posthumously cleared of his Maverick status, and peace returned to Giga City.
''So Long a Letter'' is written as a series of entries in a long letter from the main character Ramatoulaye Fall to her best friend Aissatou following the sudden death from heart attack of Ramatoulaye's husband Modou Fall. The letter is written while Ramatoulaye is going through 'Iddah, a four month and ten day mourning process that widow of the Muslim Senegalese culture must follow. Ramatoulaye begins by recalling and describing the emotions that flooded her during the first few days after her husband's death and speaks in detail about how he lost his life. She transitions the tone and time by discussing the life she had with her husband, from the beginning of their relationship to his betrayal of a thirty year marriage by secretly marrying his daughter's school best friend to the life he had with his second wife. Throughout this short and compelling novel, Ramatoulaye details to Aissatou, who experienced a similar but different marital situation, how she emotionally dealt with and was changed by his betrayal, his death, and by being a single mother of many.
Alerted to impending trouble by the TARDIS's Cloister Bell, the Fourth Doctor decides to stay out of trouble, and instead repair the TARDIS's broken chameleon circuit by materialising around a real police box on Earth and recording its exact dimensions with Adric's help. With those, he can give the mathematicians of the planet Logopolis the right block-transfer computations to repair the circuit. The Master learns of the Doctor's plan, and materialises his TARDIS around the police box first, causing a recursion loop with the Doctor's. The Doctor eventually breaks his TARDIS out of the loop, but when they step outside, he sees a figure in white, the Watcher, telling him to go to Logopolis immediately. En route, they find they have gained a passenger, Tegan Jovanka, an airline stewardess who entered the Police box seeking help for a broken-down car.
At Logopolis, everything seems normal as the Doctor provides the Monitor, the lead mathematician, his measurements to give to the others and perform their verbal calculations. They soon discover that the Master had arrived first, with several of the mathematicians killed by his tissue-compression eliminator. The Master's TARDIS materialises, and he and Nyssa, under his hypnotic control, seize the control center and use a device to silence the other mathematicians, demanding the Monitor to explain the purpose of a radio telescope on the planet. The Monitor begs for the Master to stop the silencing device. The Master does so, but to the Monitor's horror, the mathematicians remain silent, and they find the planet starting to turn to dust. The Monitor quickly explains that their calculations were used to power Charged Vacuum Emboitments (CVEs) which were used to funnel off excess entropy from this universe to prevent its approaching heat death; without the CVEs, entropy is taking over. The Monitor urges the Doctor to use their program to open a CVE, before he disintegrates. The Doctor and Master agree to work together and, after releasing Nyssa, bring Tegan with them to the Master's TARDIS and depart for Earth. Adric and Nyssa try to follow in the Doctor's TARDIS, but initially end up far outside the universe, and watch as entropy obliterates the sector of space with Nyssa's home planet, Traken. However, they fix the controls to track and follow the Master's TARDIS to Earth.
On Earth, the Doctor and Master use the radio telescope of the Pharos Project – from which the Logopolitans modelled theirs – to send the CVE program, while the Doctor's companions help to waylay the project's guards. However, the Master locks the Doctor out of the control room, and broadcasts a message across space, effectively blackmailing the rest of the universe to submit to him before he activates the program. The Doctor climbs out onto the telescope to stop the broadcast and reinitiate the CVE, ending the Master's threat; the Master quickly flees and escapes in his TARDIS. The Doctor falls off the telescope a great distance, as Adric, Nyssa, and Tegan gather around him. The Doctor has visions of his past companions and enemies. His three companions see the Watcher appear, and the Doctor explains that "It's the end... but the moment has been prepared for." The Watcher touches and merges with the Doctor, causing him to regenerate into the Fifth Doctor.