The game opens with an opening crawl resembling those featured in the ''Star Wars'' films. Further story details are presented through the game's instruction manual, pre-mission briefings, character conversations during the game, in-game cutscenes and movie clips lifted directly from ''Star Wars'' films. The game begins with the Rebel Alliance launching an attack on the Death Star, the Galactic Empire's largest space station. In a reenactment of ''A New Hope'' climactic battle, Luke Skywalker destroys the Death Star after firing into an exhaust port.

Skywalker and Wedge Antilles then accompany a rebel supply convoy from Yavin IV to Hoth. When attempting to rendezvous with a second convoy in the Ison Corridor, they discover that the convoy has been destroyed and are ambushed. After fighting off the attack, the rebels continue on to Hoth. As depicted in ''The Empire Strikes Back'', Imperial forces locate the rebel base on Hoth and begin an invasion. Despite Skywalker crash-landing, Rogue Squadron is able to hold off the Imperial attack force long enough for the Rebel base to sufficiently evacuate.

A secret Imperial installation is then located in The Maw. As the Antilles-led Rogue Squadron approaches the base, they receive a transmission from a prisoner who identifies herself as Karie Neth, a rebel who was taken prisoner after the Battle of Hoth. Neth informs Rogue Squadron that she and a few others have escaped from the prison, but need help freeing the remaining Rebel prisoners. By providing cover fire, Rogue Squadron is able to successfully escort the prisoners out of the base. Skywalker then obtains data important to the rebellion, and Rogue Squadron is asked to escort the blockade runner carrying the data to rebel high command. However, the blockade runner is captured by an Imperial Star Destroyer while orbiting Kothlis. After the rebels disable the Star Destroyer, it crashes on Kothlis and Crix Madine retrieves the data.

The Alliance soon discovers that the Empire is constructing a second Death Star near Endor. With the help of Madine, Antilles infiltrates the Imperial Academy on Prefsbelt IV and steals an Imperial shuttle needed to get close enough to destroy a shield generator on Endor. The rebel fleet then begins to assemble near Sullust but needs tibanna gas for its weapons. Lando Calrissian points the rebels to his former tibanna-mining operation near Cloud City on Bespin. Rogue Squadron raids the now-Imperial-controlled facility and secures the gas supply.

In a reenactment of ''Return of the Jedi'' climactic space battle, the Alliance then launches its attack on the second Death Star. When they arrive, however, Han Solo has not yet disabled the Death Star's shield generator on Endor and the Alliance is forced to engage the Imperial fleet until the generator is destroyed. Once the space station is vulnerable, Calrissian and Antilles fly into the Death Star and destroy its power generator, destroying the entire structure.

Using events from the movie, #5 must prepare for and enter the 2004 Grand Prix and beat Otto of Team Getra at his grand prix.

Chapter 1

"Here's the Rival": The game opens with Norahike dreaming about a race. It includes him, his friend Norkia, and Otto, the emperor of the races. Norkia dies after a fateful crash into the wall, and when Norahike wakes up, he realises that it is all true and that Otto may not be emperor for very long. #5 enters shortly after. A smart blue car called Barat tells him that he must join a team to race at the Grand Prix.

"Here Are the Tough Chicks!": #5 is out driving in town at night when two cars, Bidalt and Daktan, challenge him to a race. The bet is if he loses they take all his money. #5 accepts the challenge and narrowly wins the race. Bidalt says that he will let #5 go this time.

"Meet Norahike By Fate": Norahike stops where the two have been racing and Bidalt and Daktan are easily scared and run away. He tells #5 not to waste his talent playing stupid games because he is a car and has to dream big and be a GP racer. Also, he is told that Norahike will listen to his problems.

"Heard About the Emperor": #5 goes to Letoba's Cafe where Letoba tells him about Otto. He disappeared after Norkia's death 20 years ago and only races when he feels like it.

"Eskan Challenges!": A Smart car called Eskan waits for #5 at Sobka Brachy School and tells him he is not a racer, but if he wins a race against him, then he will believe the young car. When #5 wins, Eskan says he will let him win by staying at the starting line.

"Race Against Draoga!": #5 discovers a new tunnel, which leads to Poqui Town. When he arrives, there is a Hang-Out. Draoga, Budbach (who owns the haunted house), and Eskan are all gathered. It turns out that Eskan is Draoga's kid brother and when he told on him that #5 beat him, he challenges the Peugeot to a race, which #5 gradually wins.

"Joined the Tough Chicks": Draoga accepts defeat at last and asks #5 if he would like to be a member of the Tough Chicks and #5 zooms off as if to say no. Draoga shrugs and says "I see, I see. Then I don't want to be friends with you then."

Chapter 2

"Barat Challenges!": Barat meets #5 at Poqui fountain and says that they can't have 1 on 1 races on normal courses, so he has come up with a street race idea: to go around the town's outer circuit three times. When #5 wins, Barat tells him not to be upset because #5 beat him. The young car gives Barat the key chain as a token of friendship. Barat gives him a CD in return. It has his theme song.

"Barat Joins the Team!": Barat posts #5 a letter to say that he has joined a team (Pomnik) and that he will still make his world stage debut. He tells him that he should join a team too, which #5 accepts.

"Joined a Team!": #5 goes to a third tunnel, Nyaky Town, where the entire town is built on water. He goes to Sovass Headquarters and prepares to knock Olstri and Kaybert's socks off. However, to join, #5 must pass a tryout at Sky Highway. After #5 accomplishes this, Kaybert welcomes him to the team and says he can play in the Pro Cup as a member of Team Sovass. Olstri gives him 1000000G and says he will get his revenge the next time he races with him.

"Race Barat at the Pro Cup!": #5 and Barat meet at the booking point and Barat is surprised that they are racing together on the professional track. He wishes him look and tells him to do his best. However, #5 wins again and Barat tells him that his competition has just begun.

"Meet Lafnek": #5 goes to Poqui Drinks, where the owner, Gelunda, tells him that a mechanic named Lafnek is here. Lafnek talks to the young racer and says that they can't do the test at the bar because the customers will spew up. When the machine is fixed, the useful mechanic gives #5 something good, an Experiment Ticket.

"The Tough Chicks Cheer!": Draoga congratulates #5 on being enrolled in Grand Prix. The Tough Chicks hold a parade, which includes Draoga, Eskan, Bidalt, Daktan, and Budbach. #5 likes this and says, "Thanks guys!" Draoga says they will be cheering for him, and not to lose the race. He gives him spoiler parts for luck. #5 feels confident and wins with Team Sovass.

Chapter 3

"A Newspaper Interview": Journalist Kyapa congratulates #5 for his great performance at the Grand Prix. She asks for an interview. After being asked if #5 exerted his full power, how his team was, etc., she goes to write an article in her office at Choroyter Times.

"Race Barat at the GP!": Barat's dream has come true – he and #5 will be racing in the Grand Prix. After 5 races, Barat sees #5 on the first place podium and tells him that #5 won that time, but he would beat him at the GP. #5 gets yet another interview.

"Visit Barat at the Hospital": Barat is in Murtica Hospital, so #5 visits him. Barat explains that the problem was he had an issue with his gear and that he thinks he raced too much. He tells #5 to improve his skill while he is not at his best.

"The Ghost from Grand Prix's Past": Gelunda tells #5 Poqui Town has become excited about the races, all because of him. She tells him about Otto, who was a great match for the Nyaky nobles. After Norkia died, he hid from the public in his palace in Nyaky. As Otto was a born racer, all he did was race. He began entering the Tough Race which is an unauthorised wild race, which people can enter without a valid licence. Gelunda will throw up, so she is closing the shop early.

"Place Flowers at the Grave": #5 picks up a bouquet from Cherny's Flowers. Then, he goes to Poqui Cemetery to place them on Norkia's grave. Norkia rises from the dead and tells him he must report to Norahike's house. When #5 arrives, Norahike cries over the news, gives #5 a CD with his theme song, and tells him to leave.

Chapter 4

"Ania Challenges!": Gelunda gives #5 a ChoroQ coin that once belonged to Otto. #5 then travels to Nyaky Town's cafe, where Arbuk takes it and welcomes him in. When #5 tells him that he is looking for Miss Ania, Ania drives over to him and challenges him to a practice game. When #5 wins the challenge, Ania tells him not to be flattered, unless he beats Sir Otto. She gives him a Letter of reference and drives off.

"Promise the GP With Otto": #5 arrives at Getra Palace, where Hollikost the guard accepts the letter and tells him he can go through. Otto meets him at the throne and tells him he is well known at Grand Prix racing, but he no longer races there. When #5 begs, he finally agrees to race at the Grand Prix – just once. He will let #5 know the schedule in the future and that he looks forward to seeing him in the race.

"Aim to Win With Barat!": When #5 applies for the next Grand Prix, he goes to Murtica Hospital. After pondering outside the operation room, he overhears Murtica telling Barat he has a serious disease. When #5 finally enters the room, Barat tells him to win against Otto as it is his battle of the century, but he cannot go see it. He will not let any lame disease get him. He tells #5 that if he doesn't beat Otto, he will face the wrath of Barat. #5 finally agrees that he will win.

"Norahike/Ania at Church": At Nyaky Church, Ania goes to see Norahike. It turns out that Ania is Norahike's niece. She was glad he convinced her dad who said girls shouldn't be racing. Ania raced day after day after that, but worries that her uncle is still thinking about Otto, as he is going to hit him once more. Ania complains that Norahike shouldn't use people for his own revenge.

Chapter 5

"Race 1 - Dungeon Heat M": Otto tells #5 that he has unrefined talent and that he will still be victorious. He won't let #5 win easily as he leads Team Getra, the world's strongest team. #5 uses Twin V10 Engine to win the race because Otto got to the first place quickly.

"Race 2 - Good Old American S-L": Journalist Kyapa commentates on what is a super long version of Good Old American which is completely different from the one in Norahike's dream. #5 does his best to defeat Otto as the Getra leader got into last place. #5 is rammed off a couple of times by hostile team Megbeth. The Sovass trickster fools them by driving into a ditch and wins.

"Race 3 - Trans-Trip S": In the third race of Otto's GP, Bernice goes like The Clappers as he wins the race, leaving #5 and Otto with nothing to aim for. In the middle of the race (lap 3), all cars are guided by the pace car after an accident involving Shutiege (Getra) and Kaybert (Sovass). Ralf replaces Shutiege for the last 2 races. Olstri also replaces Kaybert.

"Race 4 - Toy Dream Circuit M": #5 had raced on this before, so he knew that the small steps can be fatal. #5 wins yet again, with Otto and Ralf planning a revenge for the final race.

"Race 5 - Sky Highway M": Otto slingshots at the start of the race just to give himself a head start and it is almost impossible to catch up with him. On lap 3, Barat's ghost tells #5 to follow his sixth sense. #5 drives through the rings to succeed and win Otto!

"Win Otto, Clear the Game!": Otto congratulates #5 on his victory. He tells him about the accident, but also says a race is never without incident, which brings back memories from his racing days; he wishes #5 luck in his glory days. The celebration is short-lived, however, as Kyapa informs #5 that Barat died just before the last race. Back in Brachy Town, the town holds a parade for #5 on becoming Emperor of the Races, to which #5 quietly says, "Thank you Barat. I'll never forget you in all my life." #5 and his friends later go on a road trip. He doesn't know where the road takes them. It's a big country.

Dr. Tom Anderson, an embittered scientist, has made contact with a Venusian creature, while using his radio transmitter. The alien's secret motivation is to take complete control of the Earth by enslaving humanity using mind control devices; the alien claims that it merely desires to bring peace to the world by eliminating all emotions. Anderson agrees to help the creature and even intends to allow it to assimilate his wife, Claire and friend Dr. Paul Nelson.

The Venusian then disrupts all electric power on Earth, including motor vehicles, leaving Dr. Nelson to resort to riding a bicycle.

After avoiding a flying bat-like creature which carries the mind control device, Dr. Nelson returns home to find his wife, Joan newly assimilated. She then attempts to force his own assimilation using another bat-creature in her possession, and he is forced to kill her in self-defense. By then, the only people who are still free from the Venusian's influence are Nelson, Anderson, Anderson's wife and a group of army soldiers on station in the nearby woods.

Nelson finally persuades the paranoid Anderson that he has made a horrible mistake in blindly trusting the Venusian's motives, allying himself with a creature bent on world domination. When they discover that Tom's wife Claire has taken a rifle to the alien's cave in order to kill it, they hurriedly follow her, but the creature kills her before they can rescue her. Finally, seeing the loss of everything he holds dear, Dr. Anderson viciously attacks the Venusian by holding a blowtorch to the creature's face; Anderson dies at the alien's hand as it expires. Arriving on the scene too late to save his friend, Nelson sadly reflects on how Anderson's misguided ideals ultimately led to death and devastation, and muses that a solution to humanity's problems must ultimately be achieved by humanity itself.

Sarah Balabagan (Vina) a 14-year old goes to work as a maid in Al Ain, United Arab Emirates or "Saudi", then an umbrella term for countries in the Middle East among Overseas Filipino Workers.

Balabagan a minor, her recruiter lied about her age so she can work abroad. Balabagan only knew about this when she was already in Dubai. She receives unsolicited sexual advancements from her employer and his family. In one episode, Balabagan killed her employer who was attempting to rape her.

She was put on trial and was charged for manslaughter in a secular court, but the employer's family appealed who called for a death penalty for Balabagan. She was sentenced to death by an Islamic court. Her case became a publicized and the Philippine government attempted to save her from death row. Her sentenced was reduced to a year of imprisonment and 100 lashes following an appeal to the royal family.

The series is set in the fictional sultanate of Agrabah. It takes place one year after the original film, and is set after the second film. Aladdin, now engaged to Princess Jasmine, embarks on numerous adventures with his companions.

In 1927, Gordon (Steve Forrest) develops a new racing vehicle, a hot rod, but dies in a practice run before he can compete in the 'Trans-African Auto Race'. To save her father's dream, and win the prize money, Gordon's flapper daughter, Dale (Brooke Shields) disguises herself as a man and takes the place of her father in the race through the Sahara Desert, with the help of her father's friends.

Dale is an excellent driver and has a good chance to win the male-only race. After she crosses the start line, she takes off her wig and mustache and reveals her true sex to the other participants in the race. While taking a short-cut, she comes close to a tribal war between Bedouin factions. Another racer, the German Von Glessing (Horst Buchholz), also takes the same short-cut in order to supply weapons to the evil leader of the two warring tribes.

Dale and her crew are captured by Rasoul (John Rhys-Davies), the uncle of the good leader of the warring tribes. The good leader, Sheikh Jaffar (Lambert Wilson), had seen Dale from afar and desired her, so he rescues her from his uncle by claiming Dale as his bride. Dale marries Jaffar and escapes the next morning in her car to attempt to finish the race. She is captured by the evil leader before she can complete the race, but a stowaway gypsy child runs back to Jaffar to tell him of Dale's capture. Meanwhile, Dale is thrown into a pit of leopards. Jaffar rallies his men, rescues her and allows her to return to drive in the race. Dale wins the race, and when celebrating sees Jaffar's horse nearby. She bids farewell to her crew, mounts the horse, and returns to Jaffar.

The ''Enterprise'' heads to Torona IV to open negotiations with the Jarada, an insect-like race that is unusually strict in matters of protocol. After practicing the complex greeting the Jarada require to open negotiations, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) decides to relax with a Dixon Hill story in the holodeck. Playing Detective Hill in the holoprogram, Picard takes up the case of Jessica Bradley (Carolyn Allport), who believes that Cyrus Redblock (Lawrence Tierney) is trying to kill her. Picard decides to continue the program later and leaves the holodeck to affirm their estimated arrival at Torona IV. He invites Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) and visiting historian Dr. Whalen (David Selburg) to join him in the holodeck. While Crusher is still preparing, Picard and Whalen are ready to enter the holodeck when Lt. Cdr. Data (Brent Spiner) arrives, having overheard Picard's invitation. Entering the holodeck, the three discover that Jessica has been murdered in Picard's absence. As Picard explains that he saw Jessica at his office the day before, Lt. Bell (William Boyett) brings Picard into the police station for questioning as a suspect in her murder. Meanwhile, the ''Enterprise'' is scanned from a distance by the Jarada, causing a power surge in the holodeck external controls. Dr. Crusher later enters the holodeck, first experiencing a momentary glitch with the holodeck doors, and joins her friends at the police station.

The Jarada demand their greeting earlier than the agreed time and are insulted at having to talk to anyone other than the Captain. The crew tries to communicate with Picard in the holodeck but finds it impossible; the Jarada signal has affected the holodeck's functions, preventing the doors from opening or allowing communication with the crew inside. Lt. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) and Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) attempt to repair the holodeck systems. While inside the holodeck, the group returns to Dixon's office. Mr. Leech (Harvey Jason) appears, having waited for Picard, demanding he turn over an object he believes Jessica gave him. When Picard fails to understand, Leech shoots Dr. Whalen with a gun, and the crew discovers that the safety protocols have been disabled, as Whalen is severely wounded. As Dr. Crusher cares for his wound, Picard and Data discover that the holodeck is malfunctioning, and they are unable to exit the program. Mr. Leech is joined by Redblock and continues to demand the object. Lt. McNary arrives and becomes involved in the standoff. Picard tries to explain the nature of the holodeck, but Redblock refuses to believe him.

Outside, Wesley finds the glitch, however he cannot simply turn off the system for fear of losing everyone inside. Instead, Wesley resets the simulation, briefly placing Picard and the others in the middle of a snowstorm before finding themselves back in Dixon's office. With the reset successfully clearing the malfunction, the exit doors finally appear. Despite Picard's warnings, Redblock and Leech exit the holodeck, but dissipate as they move beyond the range of its holoemitters. As they leave the holodeck, Picard thanks McNary, who now suspects that his world is artificial and asks whether Picard's departure is "the big goodbye", to which Picard replies that he simply doesn't know. Picard reaches the bridge in time to give the proper greeting to the Jarada. The Jarada accept the greeting, heralding the start of successful negotiations.

In 1865, at the conclusion of the American Civil War, Richmond, Virginia is in ruins. The CSS ''Texas'', captained by Mason Tombs, is loaded with the last of the Confederacy's gold to keep it from Union forces. It then disappears into the Atlantic.

In present day Mali, there is a civil war between dictator General Kazim and the Tuareg people. In Nigeria, WHO doctors Eva Rojas and Frank Hopper investigate a disease affecting people who have been in Mali. Zakara, a corrupt Tuareg, tries to murder Eva, but she is rescued by Dirk Pitt, from the National Underwater and Marine Agency, who was diving nearby.

Dirk gets a gold Confederate coin found in the Niger. A clue to the long-lost ''Texas'', Dirk borrows his boss Sandecker's yacht to search for it. His partner Al Giordino and Rudi Gunn from NUMA accompany him. They first transport Eva and Hopper to Mali so they can continue investigating the disease, then continue up the Niger.

Businessman Yves Massarde and dictator General Kazim try to stop the doctors from discovering the source of the disease. Kazim sends men to attack the yacht. Dirk, Al, and Rudi survive, but the yacht is destroyed. Rudi leaves to get help while Dirk and Al go to rescue the doctors.

Kazim's men track down the doctors and kill Hopper. Dirk and Al rescue Eva. As they are leaving Mali, they are captured by the Tuareg insurgents. Convincing the group that they are hunted by Kazim, their leader, Modibo, shows Eva his people dying from the disease she is following. She finds out water contains toxins, and there is no treatment available. Al stumbles into a cave with a painting showing the ironclad ''Texas''. Dirk believes that the ''Texas'' became stranded when the river dried up and the same river that carried the ship now runs underground.

Following the river bed to the border, they stumble upon Massarde's solar plant, the source of the contamination. The chemicals are seeping slowly towards the ocean, where they will expand rapidly upon entering salt water and kill ocean life worldwide. The US government won't intervene during a civil war in a sovereign country. Massarde and Zakara capture them, keep Eva, and send Dirk and Al in a truck to Kazim. They escape in the middle of the desert. Rebuilding a plane wreck into a land yacht, they leave the desert.

Dirk and Al return to the plant, with Modibo's help. To cover up the existence of the waste, Massarde plans to destroy it with explosives. Fearing the plant's destruction would guarantee worldwide water contamination, Al goes to remove the explosives while Dirk tries to rescue Eva. Dirk kills Zakara after a vicious fight, but Massarde escapes via helicopter. Al successfully neutralizes the explosive, angering Massarde.

The three leave the plant in an Avions Voisin C-28, and Kazim pursues them in an attack helicopter, with his army following. A series of explosions along the dry river bed reveals the wreckage of the ''Texas''. The trio hides in the ship, using its cannon to destroy Kazim and his helicopter, killing him. Modibo arrives with Tuareg reinforcements, forcing Kazim's army to surrender and end the civil war.

The plant is shut down, stopping the source of toxic waste, and the rest is dealt with. Sandecker agrees to work covertly for the US government in exchange for NUMA funding. The ''Texas'' gold, technically belonging to the Confederate States of America, is left with Modibo's people. It is implied that Massarde is poisoned by Carl, an undercover US agent, while Dirk and Eva start a relationship.

Alex "Hitch" Hitchens (Will Smith) is a professional "date doctor" who coaches other men in the art of wooing women, with the main focus of having genuine long-term relationships. He is very successful at what he does.

While coaching one of his clients, Albert Brennaman (Kevin James)—who is smitten with a client of his investment firm, celebrity Allegra Cole (Amber Valletta)—Hitch finds himself falling for Sara Melas (Eva Mendes), a gossip columnist and cynical workaholic. While Albert and Allegra's relationship progresses, Hitch has difficulty connecting with Sara, none of his romantic methods work on her. Throughout the entire process, he keeps his career secret, claiming to be a generic "consultant".

Hitch meets with Vance Munson (Jeffrey Donovan), a shallow misogynist attempting to get Hitch to help him land a one-night stand with Casey Sedgewick (Julie Ann Emery), Sara's coworker and best friend. Although Hitch refused to help, Vance smugly misleads her into believing that he has used Hitch's services. After finding out Hitch's true identity, Sara publishes an exposé, causing Albert to vandalize a newsstand in rage and get arrested, Allegra breaking up with Albert, and Hitch's reputation to suffer.

At a speed dating event that Hitch sneaks into, Sara and Casey confront him and cite Vance as their source. Hitch explains that not only did he refuse to work with him—men like Vance are why women heavily protect themselves—but that same protection also unintentionally makes establishing genuine relationships with good men difficult enough to create a demand for Hitch's services.

After receiving some criticism from Albert about treating love as a job instead of an actually legitimate feeling, Hitch then tries to salvage Albert and Allegra's relationship by confronting her. When she mentions how Albert's quirks won her over, Hitch realizes he does not really do anything significant besides giving his clients confidence and allowing them to get the attention of the women they love. And most of his customers, particularly Albert, really were successful by just being themselves. After Albert mistakenly thinking that Hitch is taking Allegra from him, Allegra reconciles with Albert, and Hitch and Sara repair their relationship.

Albert and Allegra get married and Hitch helps introduce Casey to a man after she gives the Heimlich maneuver to an elderly woman who was choking on a grape. A dance party then begins with Albert, Allegra, Sara, and Hitch, which ends with Albert accidentally ripping his pants open to do the splits.

Lianna is married to a college professor in film and media at a university in a midsized New Jersey town and has two children. In order to give her husband the greater freedom he wants and address her boredom, she takes a child psychology class with her friend, Sandy.

Becoming more involved in the class, she realizes she has a crush on the instructor, Ruth. Ruth invites Lianna home for dinner and they talk into the night, Lianna explaining that she was a graduate student and married her professor. They eventually begin an affair, complicated by Lianna's husband's affair with a student. Lianna expresses interest in leaving her husband for Ruth, but Ruth backs away, warning Lianna that living with another woman would jeopardize her career and that she has a partner in another city.

Lianna leaves her husband after a fight to live alone for the first time in years. She visits a lesbian bar and attempts to connect with other lesbians through affairs to explore her new identity. The film explores her loneliness, her changing relationships with her children, and her new relationship with Sandy, who is shocked at Lianna's revelations at first, but slowly begins to accept it and support Lianna. Lianna also gets a job as a supermarket cashier.

Ruth leaves town and Lianna's life to California for another teaching job. Despite now being alone, Lianna and Sandy reconcile in the final scene which mirrors the opening scene of Lianna and Sandy talking at a park playground.

A 10-year-old girl named India Opal Buloni has just moved to a trailer park in the small town of Naomi, Florida, with her father, who is known as The Preacher because he preaches at the local church. Her mother, Benjean-Megan, abandoned them when she was three. She describes the preacher as a turtle, always sticking his head into his shell, and never wanting to come out into the real world. This is most likely because of how sad he is about her mother, with whom he is still in love.

While in the supermarket, Opal sees a scruffy dog wrecking the store and decides to take him home, naming him Winn-Dixie after the supermarket chain. Miss Franny Block, a librarian, shares great stories about her past, including one about her great-grandfather, whose family members died while he was fighting for the South in the Civil War. He invented Litmus Lozenge candies, which tasted like root beer and strawberry but included a secret ingredient—melancholy. Anyone who tasted the candies tasted sweetness mixed with sadness. In ''Because of Winn-Dixie'', these candies symbolize that even though life sometimes deals people a bit of sadness, there is always much to appreciate. Opal learns that her sour-faced neighbor, Amanda Wilkinson, lost her younger brother Carson when he drowned in the town lake the previous summer. She vows to be nicer to her from then on.

Opal finds a dog collar that she wants to buy for Winn-Dixie, but she has no money and decides to work for the pet store to earn it. Otis, a worker at Gertrude's Pets, is unwilling to hire Opal as a cleaning girl, but she comes to work. When Opal and Winn-Dixie step into the store, the animals panic when they see the big dog. Otis plays his guitar to calm them. Opal learns that Otis once went to jail for battering a police officer who tried to confiscate his guitar after the officer told Otis he could not play music on the street because he was disturbing others.

While Opal is riding her bike and Winn-Dixie runs ahead, they meet a woman named Gloria Dump. She and Opal become good friends. Opal and Gloria, a recovering alcoholic, decide to host a small party, inspired by the one in ''Gone With the Wind'', inviting everyone they know. In the process, Opal becomes a friend to her former enemies, the brothers Stevie and Dunlap Dewberry. She also invites Amanda Wilkinson and Sweetie Pie Thomas, a younger girl who has no pet, and so has fallen in love with Winn-Dixie. Otis and Miss Franny Block are also invited.

Opal and Gloria set up everything outdoors, but it starts to rain, so they bring the party indoors. Opal can't find Winn-Dixie anywhere, even after searching the town. Ten minutes later she returns to Gloria's home to discover that Winn-Dixie has been there all the time, hiding because he is scared of storms. The book ends with Otis playing his guitar and everyone singing one of The Preacher's songs.

As an old man having his sixth heart attack while playing golf, Hardy Greaves (Jack Lemmon) contemplates how his late wife used to ask him why he kept playing "a game that seems destined to kill" him. Explaining his love for the game, he begins the story of his childhood idol: Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon).

Junuh is the favorite son of Savannah, Georgia: a noteworthy golfer from a wealthy family; he and his beautiful girlfriend Adele Invergordon (Charlize Theron) seem to have it all. While serving as a captain in the U.S. Army during World War I, Junuh is traumatized when his entire company is wiped out in battle. Though he earns the Medal of Honor, he disappears after the war, returning to Georgia years later as a broken-down alcoholic.

At the start of the Great Depression (circa 1930), Adele is trying to recover her family's lost fortune by holding a four-round, two-day exhibition match between Bobby Jones (Joel Gretsch) and Walter Hagen (Bruce McGill), the best golfers of the era, with a grand prize of $10,000, at the golf resort her family opened as the Depression struck. However, needing a local participant to gain local interest, a young Greaves (J. Michael Moncrief) speaks up for his hero, Junuh, prompting Adele to ask her estranged lover to play.

Junuh is approached by a mysterious traveler carrying a suitcase, who appears while he is trying to hit golf balls into the dark void of the night. The man identifies himself as Bagger Vance (Will Smith) and says he will be his caddie. With Greaves as assistant caddie, Bagger helps Junuh come to grips with his personal demons and play golf again.

When the match starts, Jones and Hagen each play well in their distinctive ways, but the disengaged Junuh plays poorly and is far behind after the first round. With Bagger caddying for him and giving advice, Junuh rediscovers his "authentic swing" in the second round and makes up some ground. In the third round, he closes the gap even more, hitting a hole in one in the process. Meanwhile, Junuh and Adele rekindle their romance.

Late in the final round, an overconfident Junuh disregards Bagger's advice at a crucial point and, after that, plays poorly. He hits a ball into a forest, which triggers a war flashback, but Bagger's words help him focus on the game. Junuh pulls back to a tie with Jones and Hagen, then has a chance to win on the final hole, but has the integrity to call a penalty on himself when his ball moves after trying to remove a loose impediment.

Seeing Junuh has grown and matured, Bagger decides that his golfer does not need him any more. With the 18th hole left unfinished, Bagger gives the position of caddie to Greaves and leaves as mysteriously as he came.

Though losing a chance to win because of the penalty, Junuh sinks an improbable putt and the match ends in a gentlemanly three-way tie. The three golfers shake hands with all of Savannah cheering. Junuh and Adele get back together.

The old Greaves wakes up and sees Bagger Vance, not aged a day, on the golf course. As Bagger beckons, Greaves follows.

The events of ''Loonatics Unleashed'' occur in the year 2772, the year that a meteor strikes the city planet of Acmetropolis by crashing into one of its oceans, knocking it completely off its original axis. Instead of destroying the planet, the meteor crashes in a waterfront, releasing waves of supernatural energies causing some of the planet's citizens' genetic codes to be severely altered, granting them special abilities and strengths.

A mysterious and powerful woman named Zadavia calls upon six teenagers of the affected residents to form a team of superheroes. She becomes their commander, dispatching them for the purpose of combating any and all threats to Acmetropolis and its citizens. The newly formed team is known as the Loonatics and reside on the 134th floor of a large tower. These characters are the descendants of the classic ''Looney Tunes'' characters, according to multiple press releases and official sources. Descendants of other ''Looney Tunes'' are unverified, though they can be inferred in certain situations.

It is later revealed that Zadavia is in fact an alien and had used her powers to knock the meteor slightly off-course, preventing the total destruction of the planet. It is also revealed that a mysterious figure, later revealed to be Zadavia's older brother named Optimatus, caused the meteor to strike Acmetropolis in an attempt to destroy his sister.

In the second season, the show takes on a lighter tone and many more descendants of other ''Looney Tunes'' characters are introduced, the majority of which only appear once in the series. The super villain characters from the previous season are rarely mentioned or rarely appear. Zadavia becomes a less mysterious figure and regularly participates with the Loonatics in their adventures. Two more aliens from Zadavia's home planet are also introduced, Deuce and Keyboard Man. In the season's finale, the Loonatics are temporarily joined by Sylth Vester and Optimatus is replaced by Deuce as the series arch-villain.

The film is set in Liverpool in the mid-1950s. The story concerns a shy twelve-year-old boy, Bud, and his loving mother and siblings. He lives a life rich in imagination, centred on family relationships, church, and his struggles at school. Music and snatches of movie dialogue allow him to enrich his narrow physical environment. "Together these fragments", wrote Stephen Holden in ''The New York Times'', "evoke a postwar England starved for beauty, fantasy and a place to escape."

A family falls into poverty during the Depression.

Set in Liverpool in the Great Depression of the 1930s, the story is told through the eyes of a boy, Liam Sullivan. Liam is taking instruction in preparation for his First Communion. His mother is a staunch Roman Catholic. His father loses his job when his shipyard closes. Meanwhile, his sister, Teresa, has become a maid for the Jewish family who own the shipyard.

Liam stutters badly under stress, and his strict religious education does not help. Teresa's mistress is having an affair, and the girl becomes an accomplice. Liam's father joins a group of fascists, who rail against rich Jews and cheap Irish labour. His brother secretly attends meetings with socialists. All of this is a microcosm of a more general breakdown of society.

Life becomes increasingly insecure and people retreat into their own belief systems. This leads to increasing conflict, leading inexorably to a single violent act .

Two hitmen, Lee Woods and mafioso Dosmo Pizzo, walk into a bedroom where a sleeping couple, Olympic athlete Becky Foxx and her ex-husband Roy Foxx, are in bed. Lee injects Becky with a tranquilizer, then shoots Roy in the head. Lee and Dosmo then drive to an abandoned area off Mulholland Drive, where Lee shoots Dosmo and blows up the car in order to set Dosmo up as the fall guy for the murder. Lee flees the scene with his girlfriend, Helga Svelgen.

Dosmo was wearing a bulletproof vest and survived the shooting and car explosion. He takes shelter at the mansion of wealthy art dealer Allan Hopper, where he takes Hopper and his assistant Susan Parish hostage. Dosmo is unaware that Hopper has called his sister Audrey Hopper, a nurse, to come to the house. On her way, Audrey picks up Teddy Peppers, a down-and-out TV producer contemplating suicide.

Meanwhile, Becky awakens and discovers Roy's body in bed beside her. She runs from her house and flags down two policemen, young, ambitious Wes Taylor and cynical veteran Alvin Strayer, who are driving by. Although sympathetic, Wes begins to suspect that Becky knows more than she is saying. Becky had hired Lee and Dosmo to kill Roy for $30,000, but was unaware that they would do it in her own house. Alvin arrives at his house which is across the road from a golf course. One of the golf balls breaks Alvin’s window. Furious, he draws his revolver and confronts the golfers. Later that night he’s wrapping a birthday present for his son and sees a letter in his coat from the police department saying that due to his erratic behaviour, he has to turn in his badge and gun and he yells in frustration. Lee goes back to the house to get the money, encounters homicide detectives Creighton and Valenzuela working the crime scene, and kills them both. Wes returns to the crime scene to see if he can offer any insight on the case. Masquerading as one of the detectives, Lee lures Wes outside, intending to kill him.

At Lee’s hotel, Becky and Helga argue and get into a fight. Becky smashes a vase over Helga’s head. Helga reaches for a gun in her purse and there is a struggle in which Helga is shot and wounded. Becky escapes with Helga firing after her. Helga finds her way to Becky's house, where Lee has knocked Wes unconscious. Lee decides to kill Helga instead of taking her to the hospital, concluding that her wound is too severe to be treated, but his gun jams. He turns to retrieve Wes's gun but finds that Helga has escaped and has flagged down a passing car, which happens to carry Dosmo and his hostages. Audrey jumps out of the car and tries to help the dying Helga, but Helga dies on the roadside.

Wes is caught in the middle of a shootout between Dosmo and Lee, and is shot in the legs. Just before Lee can kill Dosmo, Teddy shoots Lee, killing him.

A grateful Wes allows Dosmo to take the $30,000 and escape with Susan. The following day, Teddy shows up at an anniversary party that Audrey is attending. As Susan and Dosmo drive down a highway, Dosmo contemplates using the money to start a pizzeria in Brooklyn.

On the night of a full moon, the fairies ruled by Queen Lulea are dancing in the Forest of Burzee. Lulea calls a halt to it, for "one may grow weary even of merrymaking". To divert themselves, another fairy recommends that they make something they can imbue with fairy magic. After several ideas are considered and rejected, the fairies decide to make a magic cloak that can grant its wearer one wish. The fairy who proposed it, Espa, and Queen Lulea agree that such a cloak will benefit mortals greatly. However, its wish-granting power cannot be used if the cloak is stolen from its previous wearer. After the fairies finish the golden cloak, Ereol arrives from the kingdom of Noland whose king has just died. On the advice of the Man in the Moon, Ereol is dispatched to Noland to give the magic cloak to the first unhappy person she meets.

Meanwhile, Noland's five high counselors assemble in the capital city of Nole and refuse to allow the valet Jikki to ring the bell that indicates the king has died until they decide how to choose his successor. Retrieving the book of the law of Noland (to be used only when the king is unavailable, for the king's will ''is'' law in Noland), the counselors learn that the forty-seventh person to pass through Nole's eastern gate at sunrise is to be declared king or queen. The next day, the five counselors assemble at the eastern gate and count off the procession entering Nole. Number forty-seven turns out to be Timothy (who everyone calls "Bud"), the orphaned son of a ferryman who, with his sister Meg (nicknamed "Fluff"), is entering town with their stern Aunt Rivette, a laundress for the city of Nole. Along the way from their house to Nole, Ereol meets Fluff and gives her the magic cloak due to her unhappiness at Bud's ill treatment by Rivette. The power of the cloak is first seen when Fluff wishes she could be happy again, and she becomes so. Bud—now King Bud—is welcomed by the high counselors and the people of Nole as their new king. His sister Fluff becomes Princess Fluff, and they take residence in the royal palace.

Aunt Rivette is relegated to an upper room of the palace. While Bud and Fluff glory in their new positions of authority and their possessions, Aunt Rivette wants to spread the news of her good fortune to her friends. She asks Fluff if she can wear her cloak, and she becomes so tired walking that she wishes she could fly. Two wings sprout from Aunt Rivette's back, causing her to panic at first, but she soon becomes very adept at using them. On its way back to the Princess, the cloak passes through the hands of the king's counselors and the king's valet, each of whom have their wishes immediately granted.

The minstrel Quavo crosses from Noland over a steep mountain range into the land of Ix, whose witch-queen ruler Zixi learns of the magic cloak and seeks to use it to make her reflection in a mirror as beautiful as she has made herself. Zixi is 683 years old, but her magic has allowed her to appear sixteen for a long time; however, the queen's reflection appears as old as she truly is. (This contradicts ''The Road to Oz'' in which the Wizard of Oz refers to Queen Zixi as having lived thousands of years—of course, he may simply have been mistaken; or, the Magic Cloak story may simply have taken place many years prior.) Believing that Princess Fluff would not simply give her the cloak to use since Ix and Noland aren't on speaking terms, Queen Zixi disguises herself and opens a school for witchery in Noland. Princess Fluff arrives as one of the pupils in her second-best cloak; Zixi is discovered to be a would-be thief when she demands the Princess wear the other, magic cloak. Next, Zixi leads the royal army of Ix to conquer Noland, but the counselors use their wish-granted abilities to repel the invaders back across the mountains.

Zixi disguises herself again and arrives at the royal palace of Noland to be hired as a serving maid to Princess Fluff. When she is alone in the Princess' chamber, Zixi summons imps to make a replica of the magic cloak and replace the Princess' magic cloak with that one. She is not caught in the theft, but when Zixi tries to use the cloak herself, its power fails because she stole it. Believing that its power is gone, Zixi leaves the cloak in the forest. The queen of Ix is sorrowful until she realizes through encounters with an alligator that wants to climb a tree, an owl that wants to swim like a fish, and a girl who wants to be a man, that she has been foolish to be unhappy with her lot.

The Roly-Rogues live on a high plateau above Noland and Ix. When one of the ball-shaped people accidentally bounces into Noland and views the city of Nole, they decide to conquer Noland in preference to constantly fighting among themselves. Even with their wish-granted abilities (the general wished himself ten feet tall, the lord high executioner wished for stretching arms, etc.), King Bud's counselors and Nole are soon overwhelmed by the invaders. King Bud, Princess Fluff, Aunt Rivette, and lord high steward Tallydab (who wished for his dog Ruffles to talk) escape and plan to retrieve the magic cloak which they believe is in the palace. Aunt Rivette carries Bud and Fluff to the palace and they battle past the Roly-Rogues, but when Bud puts on the cloak (since he hadn't made his wish yet; he was saving it) and wishes the Roly-Rogues away, nothing happens. Caught aback, Aunt Rivette takes her niece and nephew in flight with her to Ix on the opposite side of the mountain range that the Roly-Rogues came from.

Welcomed by Queen Zixi, who confesses that she stole the real magic cloak, Princess Fluff promises that she will let her use it after the Roly-Rogues are defeated. When they arrive where Zixi had left the cloak in the forest, it's gone and the party mounts a search to find it. Along the way, Zixi notes that the alligator, owl, and girl have become satisfied with who each of them are. The cloak was found by Edi, a shepherd who took it to Dame Dingle, a local seamstress. The seamstress reveals that she cut the cloak in half, used one half, and gave the other away. Zixi, Bud, Fluff, Rivette, Tallydab, and Ruffles track down the remaining pieces of the cloak, but one of them cannot be retrieved because the woman who had it sewed it into a necktie for her seaman son, and he won't be back home for a year.

Without the complete cloak, Bud can't wish the Roly-Rogues away. Queen Zixi uses the contents of a Silver Vial mixed in with their soup to defeat the Roly-Rogues. They're put to sleep for ten hours in which time Zixi and her army tie the tucked-in creatures up (when they sleep or roll, the Roly-Rogues retract their heads, arms, and feet) and send them all bobbing in the river on the Ix side of the mountain range. King Bud and his allies retake Nole, and the lands of Noland and Ix declare lasting friendship between them.

Later that year, the sailor whose necktie had the last piece of the magic cloak returns home and presents a necktie similar in appearance to King Bud, for he'd lost the other one at sea. Enraged, King Bud is about to have the sailor and his mother put in prison, when Queen Lulea of the fairies appears to take the cloak away because it has caused so much trouble. She undoes the foolish wishes that the cloak granted, allowing the wiser ones to remain, and graciously allows Bud to use the cloak for one last wish: "that I may become the best king that Noland has ever had!" Lulea will not grant Zixi's wish to see her own beauty, because the fairies do not approve of those who practice witchcraft. Queen Zixi returns to her kingdom, to rule it with kindness and justice—but, with her wish unfilfilled, must always beware of a mirror.

The film's setting is a town in Oaxaca during the festival of its patron saint, for which the church appoints a layman as ''mayordomo'' or steward, an honor that in effect is gained by being able to organize and cover the high costs of most of the saint's local festivities. The post is however very coveted by the locals as it is socially prestigious.

Ánimas Trujano (Mifune, dubbed by Narciso Busquets) is a drunken, irresponsible peasant who abuses his children and does nothing while his long-suffering wife supports the family. Obsessed with earning the respect which is denied to him by his peers as a result of his behavior, Trujano aims to be ''mayordomo'' in the annual festival and begins to do everything he can to get the needed money. After his eldest daughter is impregnated out of wedlock by the son of the local land baron (played by Eduardo Fajardo), Trujano sells the baby to the land baron in exchange for a small fortune that makes him eligible to be appointed ''mayordomo''.

Meanwhile, Trujano's wife (Columba Domínguez) encounters trouble when it is revealed that her husband has been seeing a local woman of dubious morals (Flor Silvestre).

The crew of the joint British and American Space Shuttle ''Churchill'', under the command of Colonel Tom Carlsen, finds a spaceship hidden in the coma of Halley's Comet. Inside, the crew discovers hundreds of desiccated bat-like creatures and three naked humanoid bodies (two male and one female) in suspended animation within glass containers. The crew recovers a bat-alien and the three bodies and begins the return trip to Earth. However, during the return journey, mission control loses contact with ''Churchill''. A rescue mission is launched to investigate.

The rescuers discover that ''Churchill'' has been gutted by fire. The present crew are dead, and the escape pod is missing, yet the three containers bearing the bodies remain intact. The bodies are taken to the European Space Research Centre in London. Prior to an autopsy, the female alien awakens and drains the life force out of a guard. She then escapes the facility and proceeds to drain other humans of their life force. The two male vampires awaken and attempt a violent escape, but they are apparently destroyed by grenades thrown by the guards. Soon after, the guard revives two hours after his death and also displays the ability to drain others of their life force.

Meanwhile, in Texas, an escape pod from ''Churchill'' is found with Carlsen inside. Carlsen is flown to London, where he describes the course of events, including feeling compelled to open the female vampire's container and share his life force with her, culminating in the draining of the ''Churchill'' crew's life force. Carlsen explains that he set fire to the shuttle with the intention of saving Earth from the same fate and escaped in the pod. However, when he is hypnotised, it becomes clear that Carlsen possesses a psychic link to the female alien, and he reveals her ability to shapeshift. Carlsen and SAS Colonel Colin Caine trace her to a psychiatric hospital in Yorkshire. The two believe they have managed to trap her within the heavily sedated body of the hospital's manager, Dr. Armstrong. Carlsen and Caine later learn they were deceived, as the aliens had wanted to draw them out of London.

The two male vampires have survived by shapeshifting into the soldiers who killed their previous bodies, and now the pair are infecting most of London's population. As Carlsen and Caine are transporting Dr. Armstrong back to London, the female alien escapes from her sedated host and disappears. Martial law is declared as the vampire plague sweeps through the city; the victims seeking out other humans to absorb their life force and perpetuate the cycle. The absorbed life forces are channeled by the male vampires to the female vampire, who transmits the accumulated energy to their spaceship, which is now in geosynchronous orbit over London.

Dr. Fallada impales one of the male vampires with an ancient weapon of "leaded iron". He contacts Carlsen and Caine and surmises that the creatures have visited Earth periodically with the coming of Halley's Comet, creating the vampire legends. He delivers the weapon to Caine before succumbing to the infection. The female vampire is tracked by Carlsen to St. Paul's Cathedral, where she is lying upon the altar, transferring energy to her spaceship. She reveals, much to Carlsen's shock, that they are a part of each other due to the sharing of their life forces, thus sharing their psychic bond. Caine follows Carlsen to the cathedral and is intercepted by the second male vampire, whom he kills. Caine throws the weapon to Carlsen, who impales himself and the female alien simultaneously. This action causes the release of a burst of energy that blows open the dome of St. Paul's. The two ascend the column of energy to the spaceship, which then returns to the comet as Caine watches.

The film begins with a flashback narrated by Leland P. Fitzgerald, describing how he could not remember the details of the day that he killed an intellectually disabled boy named Ryan Pollard. Leland is arrested. Ryan's parents, Harry and Karen, sisters Becky and Julie, and Julie's live-in boyfriend Allen grieve the loss of their loved one. Leland's divorced mother, Marybeth, is desperate to see her son, while his father, famous writer Albert Fitzgerald, discovers his son's fate in a newspaper and returns home to be there for the trial.

While in juvenile hall, Leland is schooled by teacher Pearl Madison, an aspiring writer who is searching for a breakthrough story. Like many others at the detention center, Pearl senses something is different about the emotionally detached Leland, and helps him circumvent the prison rules so he can keep a journal. While his girlfriend is out of town in Los Angeles, Pearl sleeps with a coworker and tells her that he is going to write a book about Leland.

Through his discussions with Pearl, Leland reveals his childhood memories such as his grandmother's funeral and traveling long distances to visit his father. One time, he decided to stay in New York rather than continue on to see his father. After he could not find a hotel, a kindhearted family, the Calderons, decided to take him in for his stay. He continued to visit the family over the years, and was especially captivated by Mrs. Calderon. The two also discuss Leland's history with Becky, Ryan's sister. He had met her innocently at a record store and begun regularly walking home with Ryan and her after school. They had grown to love each other, and Leland recalled a time when Becky asked him to promise her "everything's gonna be okay", despite his objections that he had no control over bad things that could happen. As she explained, sometimes it is just nice to hear things one hopes to be true.

Pearl covertly arranges a meeting with Leland's father at his hotel. After he asks for more information on his family's past, Albert realizes Pearl is researching for his book and refuses to let his son be exploited - something of which he is guilty himself. He eventually tells the prison supervisor about Pearl's prohibited meetings with Leland, leading him to be reassigned to another section of the prison.

Leland discovers through Allen that Becky had an affair with a drug dealer named Kevin who is due to be released from prison. After he gets out of prison, Becky starts to see Kevin again and decides to break up with Leland. In a rare display of emotion, he argues with her, but ultimately realizes the futility of anything he can do or say to change her mind, saying that neither the tears nor the amount of his love - he says he still dreams about her - can change the fact that she does not love him in return. Pearl says he should be angry with her since she betrayed him. Leland replies that he is sad, but not angry.

Pearl begins to realize the implications of his sexual indiscretion through his discussions with Leland, and admits his own failings. Eventually, his girlfriend discovers his tryst and they have a fight over the phone. Meanwhile, Julie decides to break up with Allen and does not want to go to college with him. Brokenhearted, he holds up an auto repair shop and allows himself to be arrested in front of Julie. He is sent to the same juvenile hall as Leland, where he steals a knife (from Pearl) and kills Leland in the prison yard as revenge for what he had done to the Pollard family.

Pearl flies to LA to reconcile with his girlfriend and reads Leland's final entries in his journal. On one of his return trips to New York, Leland had discovered that Mrs. Calderon had divorced her husband and that the spark for life that she had before was gone; it is implied Leland and Mrs. Calderon had slept together. Afterwards, Leland writes, he begins noticing a sadness in everyone around him, driving him into a deep depression. He focused on Ryan, who he realized probably wouldn't know true happiness or love in ways other people took for granted. One day, as he walks Ryan home from school, the boy becomes frustrated with an obstacle on the bike path. Leland helps him off his bike, gives him a hug, and whispers in his ear that "everything is going to be okay". Leland wanted to stop the sadness. He could not return the spark to Mrs. Calderon but he could end the sadness of a boy who was disabled so that people would not look at him like he would never be normal. By killing Ryan, Leland could stop his sadness.

The book is a lyrical account of the life of Mohammed Ahmed, the eighth daughter of Hajji Ahmed Suleyman. Frustrated by his failure to bring a son into the world, Ahmed's father is determined that his youngest daughter will be raised as a boy, with all the rights and privileges that go along with it. The first part of the book describes the father's efforts to thwart suspicion that his child is a boy, especially from his jealous brothers, who look to inherit Ahmed's fortune. Using bribery and deceit, the masquerade succeeds. Mohammed Ahmed is circumcised (blood is drawn from her imaginary penis when Hajji Ahmed (Father) intentionally cuts his finger over the child during the ceremony), his breasts are bound, and he even marries his cousin Fatima, a sickly epileptic girl, who dies young. Only the father, the mother, and the midwife are ever aware of the hoax that is being perpetrated.

The story is told by a wandering storyteller, who reveals the tale, bit by bit, to an enthusiastic—though sometimes skeptical—audience. To verify his story, the storyteller claims to quote from a journal that Mohammed Ahmed kept, revealing his innermost thoughts about his confused gender identity. Mohammed Ahmed also reveals himself through correspondence with a mysterious friend, who writes him letters challenging his identity.

The book changes direction after Fatima's death and the disappearance of the storyteller, forced away by the modernization of the country. The remainder of the journal has been lost, but some of the crowd that once listened to the storyteller continues to meet and share how they see the story ending. Each of them describes Mohammed Ahmed's transition back to womanhood, where she assumes the identity of Zahra. Their stories have different endings, some happy, others tragic, until a blind troubador, a fictionalised version of Jorge Luis Borges, continues the tale leading up to Mohammed Ahmed/Zahra's death.

The novel's protagonist is a Superman analogue named David Brinkley (a tuckerization of TV newsman David Brinkley). His superhero codename is never fully given: various intelligence agencies refer to him as "Indigo" (the color of his mask) and "der Übermensch" (Overman) and the original book jacket refers to him as "Everyman." He hails from the planet Cronk and is vulnerable to the substance Cronkite (a play on both TV newsman Walter Cronkite, and Superman's home Krypton and weakness to Kryptonite).

David gradually loses his superhuman powers due to the influence of an unknown enemy, and all of the other superheroes (including, strangely, Snoopy) retire, disappear, or die. It is later revealed that this is a plot made by the alien elf Pxyzsyzygy (Mr. Mxyzptlk by way of Howard Hughes) to kill all heroes.

David's powers gradually return, years later, in the midst of a mid-life crisis, and as criminals swarm Manhattan.

The loss of David's powers is discovered to be because his enemies—unsure of his secret identity—have introduced minute amounts of Cronkite into many common products, as well as the water supply. The return of his powers is later revealed to be a CIA-sponsored attempt to lure Brinkley out of retirement so that they can assassinate him as required by a nuclear disarmament treaty with the USSR.

With the assistance of the institutionalized Captain Mantra (Captain Marvel) and a grown-up, flamboyantly gay Peter Pan, David relearns how to use his powers and ultimately defeats his enemies: gigolo "Stretch" O'Toole, aka Elastic Man (Plastic Man); the incest-born Demoniac (reminiscent of Captain Marvel, Jr. and Black Adam); and the millionaire Powell Pugh, a.k.a. the alien elf Pxyzsyzygy (Mr. Mxyzptlk by way of Howard Hughes).

As a 17-year-old orphan, Henri Young (Kevin Bacon) steals $5.00 from a grocery store to feed himself and his little sister Rosetta (Amanda Borden), both of whom are destitute. He is apprehended by the shopkeeper (Wally Rose) and Rosetta is sent to an orphanage. Because that grocery store also housed a U.S. Post Office, his crime is upgraded to a federal offense. Young never sees Rosetta again and is sentenced to Leavenworth Penitentiary, Kansas.

After later being transferred to Alcatraz where he gets oppressed by associate prison warden Milton Glenn (Gary Oldman), he participates in an escape attempt with two other prisoners Rufus McCain (David Michael Sterling) and Arthur Barker (Michael Melvin).

The escape plan fails due to the betrayal of McCain. Barker is killed by the guards and Glenn punishes Young by having him sent to "the hole", which is in Alcatraz's dungeons where Glenn also had him tortured. Except for 30 minutes on Christmas Day in 1940, he is left in there for three years. The solitary confinement causes Young to lose his sanity.

On release back to the general population, he experiences a psychotic episode in the prison cafeteria and attacks McCain, stabbing him to death with a spoon in full view of the prison staff and the other convicts.

Young is put on trial in San Francisco for first degree murder in what district attorney William McNeil (William H. Macy) and the public-defender's office run by Mr. Henkin (Stephen Tobolowsky) believe is an open-and-shut case. Public defender James Stamphill (Christian Slater), a recent graduate of Harvard Law School, is given the case. After discovering the facts of Young's case, Stamphill attempts to put Alcatraz on trial by alleging that its harsh conditions drove him insane.

The trial overseen by Judge Clawson (R. Lee Ermey) becomes highly politicized and contentious. While Glenn denied any mistreatment of Young, Stamphill also held Warden James Humson (Stefan Gierasch) accountable for not being present during Glenn's actions towards Young.

Young tells Stamphill that he wants to change the plea to guilty as he would rather be dead than be sent back to Alcatraz. Young is convicted of involuntary manslaughter and not first degree murder. He is returned to Alcatraz and put in "the hole" on Glenn's orders with Young claiming that he still won either way. Young was found dead in his confinement prior to his appeal where he has "victory" written on the walls. Stamphill's narration stated that Young did not die in vain and thanked him for making him a baseball fan.

The film concludes with an investigation into Alcatraz. Glenn was convicted for mistreatment and banned from working in the US penal system.

Beavis and Butt-Head discover that their television is missing, and set out to find it. After several failed attempts to get a television, they come across a motel which offers one in every room. They meet Muddy Grimes, who mistakes them for hired hitmen and offers them $10,000 to "do" his wife Dallas in Las Vegas. Thinking he wants them to have sex with her, Butt-Head convinces Beavis that they can "score" and buy a new television.

Muddy drives the boys to the airport. In Las Vegas, Beavis and Butt-Head arrive at their hotel room, but Dallas catches them eavesdropping and holds them at gunpoint. The boys refuse Dallas' offer of $20,000 to "do" Muddy and argue over who will "do" Dallas first. Realizing that Beavis and Butt-Head have misunderstood their instructions, she plants the X-5 unit, a stolen biological weapon, in Beavis' shorts. She tells them to meet her for sex at the U.S. Capitol, but actually plans to kill them and recover the unit.

Beavis and Butt-Head board a tour bus. After they accidentally sabotage Hoover Dam, Agent Flemming of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) becomes convinced that the duo are criminal masterminds and places them on the FBI's most-wanted list. At Yellowstone National Park, Beavis and Butt-Head accidentally board the wrong bus, joining a busload of nuns who are repulsed by the boys and abandon them in Petrified Forest National Park. After walking through the desert, the boys meet two former Mötley Crüe roadies, oblivious that they are their biological fathers.

Muddy returns to the motel and meets the real hitmen. He angrily swears to track down and kill Beavis and Butt-Head. The hitmen, who stole Beavis and Butt-Head's television, abandon it in front of the motel. Beavis and Butt-Head awaken to find the drifters gone and continue walking until they become dehydrated and weak. Beavis, suffering dehydration, takes a bite out of a peyote cactus, causing him to hallucinate.

Muddy finds Beavis and Butt-Head. After learning that Dallas intends to meet them, he puts them in his trunk and drives on. In Virginia, they jump out onto the interstate and cause a 400-car pileup. They walk past the scene and board their original tour bus, stopping at the Capitol before reaching the White House. Muddy confronts Dallas in a parking garage before she can meet Beavis and Butt-Head. She seduces him and they have sex in his car.

The ATF is dispatched to the White House because Beavis and Butt-Head are there on the same day as a peace conference. Beavis consumes caffeine and sugar and transforms into Cornholio, his hyperactive alter ego. Wandering into the Oval Office, he picks up the red phone, causing a military alert. Butt-Head attempts to seduce Chelsea Clinton but is thrown out of her bedroom window. He is detained and cavity-searched by ATF officers.

Beavis goes to their neighbor Tom Anderson's travel trailer, where Anderson catches him masturbating and throws him out. The ATF, thinking Beavis has the bioweapon, are about to open fire when Anderson throws out Beavis' pants. The bioweapon flies into Butt-Head's hand and he gives it to Flemming. Anderson and his wife are accused of trying to frame Beavis and Butt-Head, and are arrested along with Dallas and Muddy. Flemming proclaims Beavis and Butt-Head heroes, and they meet President Bill Clinton, who makes them honorary ATF agents. Beavis and Butt-Head return to Highland upset that they did not have sex or receive money, but they find their television at the motel and walk into the sunset.

The novel tells the story of a teenaged runaway referred to only as "the kid", who was born in Tennessee during the famously active Leonids meteor shower of 1833. He first meets the enormous, pale, hairless Judge Holden at a religious revival in a tent in Nacogdoches, Texas, at which Holden falsely accuses the preacher of raping children and goats, inciting the audience to attack him.

After a violent encounter with a bartender establishes the kid as a formidable fighter, he joins a party of ill-equipped U.S. Army irregulars on a filibustering mission led by a Captain White. White's group is overwhelmed by an accompanying group of hundreds of Comanche warriors, and few of them survive. Arrested as a filibuster in Chihuahua, the kid is set free when his acquaintance Toadvine tells the authorities they will make useful Indian hunters. They join Glanton and his gang, among them Holden, and the bulk of the novel is devoted to detailing their activities and conversations. Though originally tasked with protecting locals from marauding Apaches, the gang devolves into the outright murder of unthreatening Indians, unprotected Mexican villages, and eventually even the Mexican army and anyone else who crosses their path.

According to the kid's new companion Ben Tobin, an "ex-priest", the Glanton gang first met Judge Holden while fleeing for their lives from a much larger Apache group. In the middle of a blasted desert, they found Holden sitting on an enormous boulder, where he seemed to be waiting for the gang. They agreed to follow his leadership, and he took them to an extinct volcano where he instructed them on how to manufacture gunpowder, enough to give them the advantage against the Apaches. When the kid remembers seeing Holden in Nacogdoches, Tobin tells the kid that each man in the gang claims to have met the judge at some point before joining the Glanton Gang.

After months of marauding, the gang crosses into U.S. territory, where they eventually set up a systematic and brutal robbing operation at a ferry on the Gila River at Yuma, Arizona. Local Yuma (Quechan) Indians are at first approached to help the gang wrest control of the ferry from its original owners, but Glanton's gang betrays and slaughters them. After a while, the Yumas attack and kill most of the gang. The kid, Toadvine, and Tobin are among the survivors who flee into the desert, though the kid takes an arrow in the leg. The kid and Tobin head west, and come across Holden, who first negotiates, then threatens them for their gun and possessions. Holden shoots Tobin in the neck, and the wounded pair hide among bones by a desert creek. Tobin repeatedly urges the kid to fire upon Holden. The kid does so, but misses his mark.

The survivors continue their travels, ending up in San Diego. The kid is separated from Tobin and is subsequently imprisoned. Holden visits the kid in jail, and tells him that he has told the jailers "the truth": that the kid alone was responsible for the end of the Glanton gang. The kid is released on recognizance and seeks a doctor to treat his wound. While recovering from the "spirits of ether", he hallucinates the judge visiting him along with a curious man who forges coins. The kid recovers and seeks out Tobin, with no luck. He makes his way to Los Angeles, where Toadvine and another member of the Glanton gang, David Brown, are hanged for their crimes.

In 1878 the kid, now in his mid-40s and referred to as "the man", makes his way to Fort Griffin, Texas. At a saloon he meets the judge, who seems not to have aged in the intervening years. Holden calls the kid "the last of the true," and the pair talk. Holden declares that the kid has arrived at the saloon for "the dance" – the dance of violence, war, and bloodshed that the judge had so often praised. The kid disputes Holden's ideas, telling the judge "You aint nothin," and, noting the performing bear at the saloon, states, "even a dumb animal can dance." Afterwards, the kid goes to an outhouse under another meteor shower. In the outhouse, he is surprised by the naked judge, who "gathered him in his arms against his immense and terrible flesh." Later, two men open the door to the outhouse and can only gaze in awed horror at what they see, one of them stating "Good God almighty." The last paragraph finds the judge back in the saloon, dancing and playing fiddle among the drunkards and the prostitutes, saying that he will never die. The fate of the kid is left unstated.

In the epilogue, a man is augering lines of holes across the prairie, perhaps for fence posts. The man sparks a fire in each of the holes, and an assortment of wanderers trail behind him.

The novel tells of John Grady Cole, a 16-year-old who grew up on his grandfather's ranch in San Angelo, Texas. The boy was raised for a significant part of his youth, perhaps 15 of his 16 years, by a family of Mexican origin who worked on the ranch; he is a native speaker of Spanish and English. The story begins in 1949, soon after the death of John Grady's grandfather when Grady learns the ranch is to be sold. Faced with the prospect of moving into town, Grady instead chooses to leave and persuades his best friend, Lacey Rawlins, to accompany him. Traveling by horseback, the pair travel southward into Mexico, where they hope to find work as cowboys.

Shortly before they cross the Mexican border, they encounter a young man who says he is named Jimmy Blevins. Blevins' origins and the authenticity of his name are never quite clarified. Blevins rides a huge bay horse that is far too fine a specimen to be the property of a runaway boy, but Blevins insists it is his. As they travel south through a severe thunderstorm, Blevins' horse runs off, and he loses his pistol.

Blevins persuades John Grady and Rawlins to accompany him to the nearest town to find the horse and his distinctive vintage Colt pistol. They find both but have no way to prove Blevins' ownership. Against his companions' better judgment, Blevins steals back the horse. As the three are riding away from the town they are pursued, and Blevins separates from Rawlins and John Grady. The pursuers follow Blevins, and Rawlins and Grady escape.

Rawlins and John Grady travel farther south. In the fertile oasis region of Coahuila known as the Bolsón de Cuatro Ciénegas, they find employment at a large ranch. There, John Grady first encounters the ranch owner's beautiful daughter, Alejandra. As Rawlins pursues work with the ranch hands, John Grady's skill with horses catches the eye of the owner, who brings him into the ranch house and promotes him to a more responsible position as a horse trainer and breeder. At this time, John Grady begins an affair with Alejandra, which attracts the attention of Alejandra's great aunt, an intelligent and strong-willed widow who in her younger days defied social convention by being involved with Mexican revolutionaries. She tells John Grady about the consequences in Mexican society of a woman losing her honor, and how Alejandra can ill-afford to be seen in the presence of John Grady due to its potential impact on her reputation. The aunt recounts her own story of love and loss, and says, though it might seem she would be sympathetic to her own grandniece's desire, it, in fact, has the opposite impact; she opposes their involvement.

As John Grady and Alejandra secretly become more deeply involved, a group of Mexican Rangers visit the ranch and then ride off without explanation. Alejandra returns to Mexico City, where she is in school, and John Grady plans to ask her to admit her true feelings for him upon her return. When he confides this to a senior ranch hand who has been kind to him, John Grady is surprised to learn Alejandra has returned to the ranch without coming to see him.

Somewhat later, the Rangers return and arrest Rawlins and John Grady. They are brought to a dismal Mexican holding cell where they discover Blevins is also in custody. They learn Blevins had escaped his pursuers but subsequently returned to the village where he had recovered his horse, this time to retrieve the Colt pistol. In the process of getting the pistol, he shot and killed a man.

The three boys are interrogated and beaten, and a crooked police captain threatens them. While they are being transferred from their small jail to a larger prison, the captain and police officers detour to a remote ranch. Blevins is led off while Rawlins and John Grady watch powerlessly; then they hear gunshots as Blevins is executed.

The two friends are brought to the larger prison, where the inmates test the two boys by attacking them relentlessly over a period of days. They barely survive and try to figure out how to get out of prison; an inmate with special privileges, who seems to command the respect of the other inmates, takes an interest in their situation and suggests money might solve their problem. They decline this offer of protection, because they have no money and Rawlins is soon severely wounded by a knife-wielding inmate and is taken away; John Grady is not sure if Rawlins has survived. Soon afterward, John Grady is wounded while defending himself from a ''cuchillero'' and kills the man.

After a long recovery from his near-fatal stabbing, John Grady is released and finds Rawlins has also survived and been freed. They discover that Alejandra's aunt has interceded to free them, but on the condition that Alejandra undertakes never to see John Grady again.

Rawlins returns to the United States and John Grady tries to see Alejandra again. In the end, after a brief encounter, Alejandra decides she must keep her promise to her family and refuses John Grady's marriage proposal. John Grady, on his way back to Texas, kidnaps the captain at gunpoint, forces him to recover the horses and guns that were taken from him, Rawlins, and Blevins, and flees across the country. He is severely wounded in the escape and cauterizes a serious gunshot wound using his pistol barrel heated in a fire.

He considers killing the captain but encounters a group of Mexicans who call themselves "men of the country," who take the captain as a prisoner. John Grady eventually returns to Texas and spends months trying to find the owner of Blevins' horse. He gains legal possession of the horse in a court hearing where he recounts the entire story of his journey across the border, and the judge later tries to absolve John Grady of his guilt both for killing the prisoner who attacked him and for being unable to prevent Blevins being murdered.

John Grady briefly reunites with Rawlins to return his horse and learns that his own father has died (something he has already intuited). After watching the burial procession of one of his family's lifelong employees (an elderly Mexican woman who had helped care for three generations of his family from their infancy), the last strong link to his family and his past, John Grady rides off into the West with Blevins' horse in tow.

In Spring 2008, U.S. President Walter Emerson is visiting Colorado ahead of Super Tuesday in the primary elections for his party's nomination in the upcoming presidential election. Emerson, formerly an appointed Vice President who ascended to the Presidency four months earlier upon the death of his predecessor, is accompanied on his campaign tour by White House Chief of Staff Marshall Thompson, National Security Advisor Gayle Redford, his Secret Service protection detail and a television news crew documenting his campaign.

A freak blizzard traps Emerson and his entourage at a diner in the remote town of Aztec, occupied by chef and owner Harvey, waitress Katie, local resident Ralph and married tourists Taylor and Lizzie Woods. President Emerson greets all the civilians in turn just before news arrives that Iraq has invaded Kuwait on the orders of Iraqi President Uday Hussein. Emerson and his team also learn that in the process of invasion, Iraqi troops killed a UN peacekeeping mission largely staffed by U.S. armed forces and medical personnel.

In response, President Emerson makes a worldwide address from the diner, using the television crew following his campaign. During the speech, Emerson gives Hussein an ultimatum to cease his invasion of Kuwait and submit himself to the U.S. embassy in Iraq for arrest within 90 minutes, or else Emerson will authorize a nuclear strike on Baghdad. Emerson's ultimatum shocks both his staff and the civilians in the diner as he had not revealed his intentions before making the speech. When questioned by Redford, Emerson defends his decision by arguing that with the vast majority of U.S. military forces engaged in the "Second Korean War" and an undoubted act of aggression by Hussein against the U.S., a nuclear strike is the only appropriate option to reinforce U.S. supremacy and decisively halt Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Hussein communicates through his United Nations envoy and refuses to back down despite Emerson's threat. Discussions between Emerson and the envoy grow heated, with the latter citing Emerson's status as a non-elected leader and his Jewish faith as reasons why Hussein does not take him seriously. At the same time, Emerson, Redford and Thompson coordinate with various members of the National Security Council and Joint Chiefs of Staff by phone in order to manage the crisis and plan for the potential use of nuclear weapons against Iraq to carry out Emerson's threat.

As negotiations with Iraq break down, Hussein threatens to fire Iraq's black-market nuclear missiles at many locations within the U.S. and its NATO allies, notably including the location of the NORAD command centre in Colorado close to where Emerson is based. The U.S. learns that Iraq purchased their black-market weapons from France, supposedly an ally of the U.S., whilst it is also revealed that sites of Iraqi missile launchers include other traditional opponents of the U.S. such as Libya and North Korea. In a conversation with Emerson, the President of France is cavalier about the situation and freely admits that France sold nuclear weapons to Iraq. Emerson subsequently talks privately with the French leader but does not reveal the contents of the conversation to his advisors.

With the crisis continuing to escalate, Emerson and his team are confronted with the opinions of the civilians within the diner. Harvey, Katie and the Woods' oppose using nuclear weapons whilst Ralph tells Emerson that he will have the vote of every "real" American if he carries out his threat in defense of U.S. forces. In a conversation with the First Lady over the telephone, Emerson also discovers that his wife opposes his course of action. Despite her opposition and that of Redford and Thompson, Emerson remains adamant in his strategy and states he is wholly prepared to carry out the threat if necessary. He orders a B-2 nuclear bomber to cross Iraq's airspace despite the threats of the Iraqi envoy that this would constitute an act of war. In retaliation, the Iraqis begin targeting their 23 nuclear missiles against the U.S. and its NATO allies as per their earlier threat.

Out of desperation and anger, Harvey suddenly brandishes a shotgun and shoots dead Captain Coddington, the military officer carrying the nuclear football with which Emerson can activate the nuclear strike. Harvey is killed by the Secret Service agents in return, devastating Katie, whilst Emerson expresses sorrow that Coddington was killed doing his duty. Despite Harvey's action, Emerson is still able to obtain the nuclear codes via phone from the Joint Chiefs, although this results in the resignation of General Lancaster, a senior military officer who had been critical of Emerson's approach throughout the crisis. With time for Hussein to submit to Emerson's ultimatum having run out, Emerson authorizes the nuclear strike and speaks to the crew of the B-2 bomber who will carry it out before the strike occurs.

The nuclear bomb, approximately 100 megatons in force, results in the complete destruction of Baghdad. Iraq's retaliation begins and the majority of their missiles are shot down by NATO missile defense systems. However, whilst some of Iraq's missiles successfully land on their targets, they do not detonate in nuclear explosions, meaning that Baghdad is the only city destroyed - a development that surprises Emerson's staff.

As the snowstorm eases up, Emerson addresses the world once more via a TV broadcast. In the speech, Emerson reveals that it was actually the U.S. who secretly sold nuclear weapons to Iraq, using the French as intermediaries whilst pretending to know nothing about it. The plan was carried out in order to prevent Iraq from gaining an independent, fully functioning nuclear arsenal by instead selling them a deliberately sabotaged one that could never function properly as a nuclear capability. As to why he carried out the threat against Iraq, Emerson publicly justifies his actions as a firm display that the U.S. would be prepared to defend itself from military threats with nuclear weapons if necessary. Privately, Emerson also predicts that his use of nuclear weapons will coerce China and North Korea into conceding the Second Korean War within months.

Just before Emerson and his entourage leave the diner, Redford and Thompson ask what he meant by a "significant announcement" from the White House when they return to Washington. Emerson reveals that he plans to withdraw from the presidential campaign and serve out the rest of his predecessor's term rather than run for one of his own. In this, Emerson still justifies his actions during the crisis but concedes someone else should be the one to carry on the job of leading the U.S. in the future.

While scanning the skies through their telescope, two young boys, Akio and Tom, spy a flying saucer descending into a nearby field. Stunned, bewildered, and bemused, they tell Akio's mother what they have seen, but she dismisses their story as childish nonsense. The next day, the two boys — with Akio's younger sister, Tomoko, in tow — cycle to the site to investigate. Enthralled, Akio and Tom manage to steal into the spaceship. But then, without warning, the ship takes off, leaving Tomoko behind. It soars into outer space toward a field of asteroids, which sends the boys into a panic. However, Gamera (obviously aware of the boys' plight) appears and clears a path for the ship through the asteroids. The spaceship, flying near the speed of light, leaves Gamera behind and transports the boys to an unknown planet, where it lands on the outskirts of an alien city. Suddenly, a silver "Space" Gyaos appears, menacing the ship and the two young boys. Just before the creature attacks, a second, bizarre monster — whose head resembles a Bowie knife — emerges from an underground lair and attacks the Space Gyaos. The Space Gyaos emits a beam that reflects off the new creature's blade-shaped head and cuts off its own right leg. After the Space Gyaos attempts to retreat, the knife-headed creature lunges and chops off the Space Gyaos' left wing, before cutting off its right wing. The creature then cuts the helpless Space Gyaos' head off and brutally cuts the body into smaller pieces before retreating back to its lair.

Akio and Tom explore a portion of the alien city and meet the planet's only inhabitants: two beautiful women, named Barbella and Florbella, who explain that their planet, known as "Terra", orbits the sun directly opposite the earth, which is why it has never been discovered by Earth's astronomers. Furthermore, Terra is facing extinction; not only is the planet growing cold, but the Space Gyaos are taking it over and the two women are the last of their kind. The knife-headed monster, which the Terrans call "Guiron", is their last defense against the Space Gyaos.

Barbella and Florbella suddenly incapacitate Tom and Akio and put them into restraints. Using their super-technological devices, the alien women probe the boys' minds, in the process learning about Gamera and its soft spot for children. It is revealed that the Terran women are cannibals that plan to feed on the boys' brains in order to absorb their knowledge. In preparation to extract Akio's brain for their nourishment, the women shave the child's head. On a rescue mission, Gamera lands on Terra in search of the boys. The women deploy Guiron to attack the giant turtle. Guiron plans to cut Gamera in half, but Gamera grabs one of Guiron's front legs and bites into it. Guiron tries to shake off the towering tortoise. Wrapping his tail onto a monolith, Gamera throws Guiron into a canyon, causing his knife-head to be stuck. Gamera uses his flame breath on Guiron. Guiron uses his shurikens to penetrate Gamera's cheeks. Gamera tries to heal his wounds by grabbing ice-like boulders. Guiron uses his shurikens again and this time Gamera uses a long boulder to ricochet the shurikens into Guiron's own body. Guiron trudges away, while Gamera tumbles into a lake unconscious and on his back.

Tom wakes up and manages to free Akio, but, during their escape attempt, unintentionally releases Guiron. No longer under the aliens' control, Guiron rampages through the Terran city — even attacking its own mistresses as they attempt to flee to Earth. The knife-headed creature slices the spacecraft in half, mortally injuring Barbella; Florbella kills Barbella as she relates that useless members of their society are euthanized. While Guiron attacks the base where the boys are imprisoned, Gamera awakes and renews his assault on the alien creature, ultimately ramming Guiron's head into the ground. Florbella attempts to flee on a rocket, but the boys launch missiles that destroy her rocket and she dies as a result. Gamera catches one of the missiles and spears Guiron into his shuriken base. Gamera uses his flame breath on Guiron again where the missile is; the missile then explodes, cutting Guiron in half. Gamera uses his flame breath to weld the alien spacecraft back together and carries the ship, with the two boys on it, back to Earth. On Earth, the boys are returned to their mothers and they all say goodbye to Gamera as he flies off into the sky.

In 1185, the Heike family fights against the Minamoto family. After a bloody naval battle in the Seto Inland Sea, Yoshitsune Minamoto defeats the enemy and the survivors commit suicide. When the triumphant Yoshitsune arrives in Kyoto, his brother, the Shogun Yoritomo, is uneasy and orders his men to arrest Yoshitsune. However, Yoshitsune escapes with six loyal samurai led by Benkei and they head to the country of his only friend Hidehira Fujiwara. Near the border, after crossing the forest disguised as monks, their porter discovers that they are Yoshitsune and the six samurais and advises that the fearful Kajiwara and his soldiers are waiting for them at the border to arrest them. Yoshitsune disguises as a porter and at the barrier, Benkei has to convince Kajiwara that they are six monks traveling to collect donations to repair the Todai temple in Nara.

In a parody of ''Night Gallery'', Bart introduces each of the three segments by walking through a gallery of paintings and each time choosing one of them as the focus of his story.

The Devil and Homer Simpson

In a parody of ''The Devil and Daniel Webster'', at work, Homer states that he would sell his soul for a donut after finding that Lenny and Carl took all the donuts and threw them at an old man (Grampa) "for kicks". The devil, revealed to be Ned Flanders, appears and offers Homer a contract to seal the deal. However, before Homer finishes the donut, he realizes that Ned will not be able to have his soul if he does not eat all of the donut and keeps the final piece in the refrigerator. Unfortunately, while half-asleep and looking for a midnight snack, he eats the final piece of the "forbidden donut", and Ned instantly reappears to take possession of Homer's soul. Marge and Lisa plead with Ned, finally getting him to agree to hold a trial the next day. Until then, Homer is sent to spend the rest of the day being punished in Hell. His first punishment is to be strapped down and force-fed "all the donuts in the world!" (a contrapasso) but he eats them all eagerly. At the stroke of twelve midnight, Ned brings Homer back to the Simpson household for his trial. Then, when the Simpsons' lawyer, Lionel Hutz, flees after ruining his case, Marge makes a final effort to save Homer by displaying a photo from their wedding day. On the back of the photo, Homer has written that, in return for Marge giving him her hand in marriage, he pledges his soul to her forever; therefore, it was not his property to sell at the time of his deal with Ned. The jury rules in favor of the Simpsons and the presiding judge dismisses the case. Defeated and enraged, Ned frees Homer, but gets his revenge by turning Homer's head into a donut. The next morning, Homer cannot stop eating his own head as the police eagerly wait for him (as their breakfast) to leave the house while holding cups of coffee.

Terror at Feet

In a parody of ''The Twilight Zone'' episode "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" including the final segment in ''Twilight Zone: The Movie'', after having a nightmare in which he is killed in a bus crash, Bart rides the bus to school one rainy morning, with Principal Skinner as one of the passengers after his mother Agnes confiscates his car keys as punishment for talking to a woman on the phone. Bart panics when he sees a gremlin on the side of the bus loosening the lug nuts on one of the wheels and tries to convince the other passengers of the danger but nobody can see the gremlin (the aliens Kang and Kodos are then seen from their spaceship mocking the scene, stating Bart is "frightened of a creature that doesn't exist" before laughing hysterically and then discovering an identical gremlin ripping bits and pieces out from their own spaceship). In desperation, Bart climbs halfway out the window to scare off the gremlin with an emergency flare. As Bart is pulled back into the bus by Skinner and Groundskeeper Willie, he drops the flare and by chance, it hits the gremlin, who catches fire and falls from the bus, but is found by Ned, who decides to adopt the creature. When the bus finally stops, everyone sees the obvious damage, but Bart is still sent away to an insane asylum for the rest of his life for his disruptive behavior. Bart is relieved as he is finally able to rest, but the gremlin appears in the back window of the ambulance, holding Ned's decapitated (yet still living) head, which makes Bart scream in terror.

Bart Simpson's Dracula

Before this segment begins, Bart says that the story was supposed to be based on the 1903 painting ''A Friend in Need'' from the Dogs Playing Poker series by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, but it was "far too intense" (Homer has a psychotic episode upon seeing the painting), so they "just threw something together with vampires."

In a parody of ''Bram Stoker's Dracula'', after a news story about several vampire attacks (attributed by the police to a mummy), Lisa begins to suspect that Mr. Burns is a vampire when he is seen on the same report with a drop of blood below his mouth, but the rest of the family dismisses her concerns. The family is invited to Mr. Burns' castle in Pennsylvania for a midnight feast, where Bart and Lisa discover a secret staircase descending to an eerie basement filled with coffins. As they investigate, vampires emerge from the coffins and encircle them while Lisa reads through Mr. Burns autobiography "Yes, I Am a Vampire" (with a foreword by Steve Allen). Lisa escapes, but Bart activates the "Super Fun Happy Slide", causing him to slide back down into the vampire pit, whereupon he is captured and bitten by Mr. Burns. Lisa tries to warn her parents, but Burns reappears with Bart who is now very pale and is behaving oddly. But these factors get little attention by the family. Later that night, Lisa is awakened by a now undead Bart and his vampire friends outside the bedroom window, in an homage to Salem's Lot. When Bart is about to bite Lisa, Homer and Marge interrupt and discover that Bart is a vampire. Lisa claims that the only way to restore him is to kill the head vampire, Mr. Burns. The family returns to Mr. Burns' mansion, where Homer drives a stake through Mr. Burns' heart (after first hitting his crotch), causing him to dissolve into sand (but not before Mr. Burns tells Homer "You're Fired!"). The next morning, however, Lisa discovers that everyone else in the Simpson family is a vampire, with Marge as their head. The family closes in on Lisa, but instead of attacking, they break character and wish the home audience a happy Halloween. Then, they all harmonize "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", parodying ''A Charlie Brown Christmas''.

''The Orchard Keeper'' is set during the inter-war period in the hamlet of Red Branch, a small, isolated community in Tennessee.

Its story revolves around three characters: Uncle Arthur Ownby, an isolated woodman, who lives beside a rotting apple orchard; John Wesley Rattner, a young mountain boy; and Marion Sylder, an outlaw and bootlegger. The novel begins with Marion picking up a hitchhiker named Kenneth Rattner, who attacks Marion with a tire iron, attempting to murder and rob him. After a struggle, Marion strangles Kenneth to death. Marion dumps the corpse in a gravel pit on Arthur Ownby's property, as he knows the land well from his frequent pickups of bootleg whiskey. Arthur soon discovers the corpse, but rather than inform the authorities, he covers the pit over to keep the body hidden. As time passes, Kenneth's wife, Mildred, and son, John Wesley, come to accept he has likely been killed, and Mildred makes her son vow to one day take vengeance on his father's killer. One night, as Marion is picking up a shipment of whiskey hidden on Arthur's property, he witnesses Arthur unloading a shotgun into a tank the government has installed on his land. Unnerved, Marion collects the whiskey and flees the property, fearing Arthur might do him harm. Arthur passively watches Marion's car drive off into the night. Marion's car careens off the road and into a stream. John Wesley happens to be checking some of his traps in the area and, hearing the crash, comes to Marion's aid, helping the injured man to land. John Wesley is unaware that Marion is his father's killer, and Marion does not recognize John Wesley as the son of the man he killed. Grateful for his help, Marion gives John Wesley one of his dogs, and the two men develop a friendly, almost father-and-son relationship, with Marion teaching John Wesley how to hunt. The local police discover Marion's vehicle in the stream, its whiskey cargo mostly destroyed, as well the defaced government tank. John Wesley becomes a suspect and is threatened with criminal charges if he doesn't admit that Marion was driving the whiskey-filled car. John Wesley refuses to cooperate. The police then go to Arthur's cabin to question him. As they pull up in his yard, Arthur comes out of the cabin wielding a shotgun. The police return with reinforcements, and a shoot-out ensues. Arthur wounds a few of the officers, then flees, but is captured a short while later. Marion, too, is captured, when his new vehicle breaks down on a bridge, its trunk filled with whiskey. Arthur is diagnosed as insane or senile and is sent to a mental hospital, where he will likely spend the remainder of his days. Marion is sentenced to three years in prison for illegally transporting whiskey. Still oblivious to Marion's role in his father's death, John Wesley leaves Red Branch. He returns several years later to find the town abandoned.

After his release from prison, Frank Cowperwood invests in stocks subsequent to the Panic of 1873, and becomes a millionaire again. He decides to move out of Philadelphia and start a new life in the West. He moves to Chicago with Aileen and his attorney is finally able to persuade Lillian to agree to a divorce. Frank decides to take over the street-railway system. He bankrupts several opponents with the help of John J. McKenty and other political allies. Meanwhile, Chicago society finds out about his past in Philadelphia and the couple are no longer invited to dinner parties; after a while, the press turns on him too. Cowperwood is unfaithful many times. Aileen finds out about a certain Rita and beats her up. She gives up on him and has an affair with Polk Lynde, a man of privilege; she eventually loses faith in him. Meanwhile, Cowperwood meets young Berenice Fleming; by the end of the novel, he tells her he loves her and she consents to live with him. However, the ending is bittersweet as Cowperwood has not managed to obtain the fifty-year franchise for his railway schemes that he wanted.

The story takes place in the late 19th century Egypt, during the Mahdist War. A 14-year-old Polish boy Stanisław (Staś) Tarkowski and 8-year-old English girl Nel Rawlison live with their fathers and grow up in the city of Port Said. Their fathers are engineers who supervise the maintenance of the Suez Canal. One day, the Mahdist War begins in Sudan, led by a Muslim preacher, the Mahdi. Staś and Nel are captured as hostages by a group of Arabs who hope that they can exchange the children for Fatima, Mahdi's distant relative, who had been arrested by the British at the beginning of the novel.

Nel and Staś are forced to travel through the Sahara Desert to Khartoum, where they are to be presented to Mahdi. The journey is difficult and exhausting, especially for delicate and vulnerable Nel. Staś, who is a brave and responsible boy, protects his friend from the abductors' cruelty, even though that means that he is beaten and punished. His plans to escape fail, and the children gradually lose their hope.

When the group arrive in Khartoum (precisely - Omdurman) the Arabs are disappointed by the fact that Mahdi – busy with leading the revolt – ignored their "mission" and turned down their offers. They take their anger and frustration on the children.

Staś is summoned to meet with the Mahdi and turns down the rebel leader's offer to convert to Islam. For that he is strongly reprimanded by another European captive, a Greek who did agree to convert in order to save his family and himself. The Greek tells Staś that such a forced conversion does not count since "God sees what is inside your heart" and that by his intransigence Staś may have doomed Nel to terrible death.

Staś and Nel, exhausted by heat, thirst, hunger and poor treatment, live for some time in the city ruined by war, poverty and diseases. After a while the children and Arabs in another journey further south, to Fashoda.

One day the group encounters a lion who attacks them. The Arabs (who don't know how to fire a shotgun) hand in the weapon to Staś and beg him to shoot the beast. Staś kills the lion, and then shoots down the Arabs as well. This is dictated by the despair and fury: the boy knows that the men were not going to set the children free. He hated the Arabs for abusing them – especially Nel.

Free of the Arabs, the children are marooned in the depth of Africa. They set out in an arduous journey through the African desert and jungle in hope that sooner or later they encounter European explorers or the British Army. The journey is full of dangers and adventures. The children, accompanied by two black slaves (a boy named Kali and a girl named Mea) whom Staś had freed from the Arabs, encounter a number of wonders and perils.

The children stop for a rest on a beautiful hill near a waterfall. They soon find out that a gigantic elephant has been trapped in a gully nearby. Nel, who loves animals, takes pity on the beast and saves it from starvation by throwing fruits and leaves into the gorge. The girl and the elephant (which is extremely intelligent and benign and whom Nel calls "King" because of its size) quickly become friends.

Soon Nel is stricken with malaria and is about to die; Staś, mad with grief, decides to go to what he thinks is a Bedouin camp and beg for quinine. When he gets to the camp he find out that it belongs to an old Swiss explorer named Linde. The man had been severely injured by a wild boar and is waiting for death. All his African servants had fallen ill to sleeping sickness and die one after another. Although horrified by this gruesome death camp, Staś becomes friend with Linde who generously supplies him with food, weapon, gunpowder and quinine. Thanks to the medicine Nel recovers. Staś, grateful for Linde's help, accompanies the Swiss until the man's death. Then, using Linde's gunpowder, he frees King from the trap and they set out in further journey.

Accompanying the children further on their journey is the 12-year-old slave boy of Linde, Nasibu. The group sojourns on top of a small mountain mentioned by Linde before his death where Staś teaches Kali how to shoot. On a certain day, a furious gorilla on the mountain attacks Nasibu but Nasibu is rescued by their now-tamed elephant which attacks and kills the gorilla. Deciding that the mountaintop is no longer safe, the protagonists move onto the village of Wa-Hima.

The tribes-people, seeing Staś riding upon an elephant, honor him and Nel as a Good Mzibu (a good spirit/goddess). The group stays in the villages a short time, for Kali is by birth-right the prince of the Wa-Hima tribe and therefore well-known. Staś is further venerated by the villagers when he kills the ''wobo'' (a black leopard) that was plaguing the villages.

Upon reaching Kali's home village the group learns that his tribe has been invaded by and attacked by their enemies since time immemorial – the Sambur tribe. Due to assistance from Kali's tribe and the guns carried by Staś and Nel, the war is won in the protagonist's favour. Though because of his good nature, Staś and Nel command that the tribes-people of the Sambur tribe not be killed but rather united with the Wa-Hima. Staś urges the tribes to accept Christianity and live peacefully together.

Staś, Nel, Saba, King, Kali, and 100 Sambur and Wa-Hima tribes-people move on to the East, which has not been mapped, in hopes of reaching the Indian Ocean and being found by English explorers who might be searching for them. Kali has accompanied with him also two witch-doctors: M'Kunje and M'Rua, in fear that they not plot against him while he is gone from his home. However, it finishes tragically for the group: both of the witch-doctors steal food and the last of the water but are soon found killed by either a lion or leopard.

Many of the tribes-people accompanying Nel and Staś die for lack of water. After the group has gone for at least three days without any water in the scorching dry desert, the children are saved at the last moment by two familiar officers who had recovered kites inscribed by Staś and Nel earlier in their plight describing their whereabouts and destination. The group are saved and are informed that Mahdi has died of a heart attack. Staś, Nel and Saba are re-united with their fathers and they return to Europe. Kali and his tribe members return to their settlement on Lake Rudolf.

In a postscript it is told that, after growing up, Staś and Nel got married and visit their friends in Africa after ten years. Revisiting the places where they had trudged with so much difficulty and danger has become quick, easy and safe - since everything was taken over by the British Empire which started building railways.

Pals Skinny, Danny Graham, Peewee, Algy Reynolds, and Scruno all work at the Reynolds Aviation Company, which is run by Algy's father. Muggs, however, is the only one of the kids who refuses to work, although he drives the gang to work in his jalopy. Once at the aviation company, he spends his time flirting with a flight nurse named Helen Munson who is in love with her test pilot boyfriend, Tom Lawson .

One day, when Tom's aircraft crashes at the plant airstrip, Reynolds suspects that the crash may have been the work of saboteurs. Later, at the airfield, Muggs jokingly appoints himself as the new operator of the flying ambulance owned by Dr. Richard Nagel and gives his pals a tour of the aircraft. Their playful games are soon brought to a halt by Nagel, the secret leader of a spy ring, who angrily orders the group off his aircraft.

Mr. Reynolds, certain that spies are working at the plant, asks Danny to act as a decoy so that the spies can be identified, and has him deliver to a downtown office a fake set of plans for a new bombsight. As Reynolds predicted, Nagel's men ambush Danny on his way to the office, but the plan goes awry when the detectives sent to trail Danny lose him. Danny eventually turns up unharmed some time later. When Muggs reports to Reynolds his suspicions that Nagel is behind the espionage ring, Reynolds dismisses the accusation as a product of the boy's imagination.

Not convinced by Reynolds that Nagel is innocent, Muggs and Danny begin their own investigation into Nagel, starting with a visit to the doctor on the pretext of a fake ailment. The visit turns up nothing, however, and when Danny and Muggs return to the hangar, a suspicious "accident" that was apparently meant to harm them leaves Peewee injured. While Peewee recovers at the hospital, Tom nearly loses his life when he is unable to make contact with the control tower for a landing. The controller is later found bound and gagged in the tower, prompting the kids to resume their investigation in earnest.

Helen provides the gang with further clues when she confirms that the ambulance plane was being flown on many unusual trips to Mexico, supposedly to deliver patients. When Helen tells the East Side Kids that a man named Forbes is the next "patient" to be transported, they rush to his house, where they find secret plans hidden in his head bandage. Disguising Danny as the transportee, the kids send Danny and Muggs on the flight to learn who is behind the espionage ring. Danny and Muggs soon find themselves in trouble, however, when Nagel, having found Forbes locked in his closet, tries to warn the pilot of the boys' ruse.

Meanwhile, Tom learns of the dangerous mission and goes after the flying ambulance in his own aircraft. Tom arrives in Mexico in time to save Danny and Muggs, and all the spies are arrested. Back at the plant, Reynolds rewards Muggs for his heroism by giving him a job as his driver, but his stint there is short-lived as he is soon distracted by a pretty woman and crashes the car with Reynolds in it.

Preppy pre-freshman (''pre-frosh'') Tom Lawrence visits Port Chester University (PCU), a college where fraternities have been outlawed and political correctness is rampant. During his visit, accident-prone Tom makes enemies with nearly every group of students, and thus spends much of his visit evading the growing mob after him.

During his visit, Tom finds himself in the middle of a war between "The Pit" and "Balls and Shaft", two rival groups. Among the members of the latter is Rand McPherson, who, with the other Balls and Shaft members, want the outlawed Greek system to return.

Meanwhile, "The Pit", runs the former "Balls and Shaft" frat house in a highly disorganized manner. Currently inhabited by seniors Gutter and Mullaney, mid-year Freshman co-ed Katy, and led by multi-year senior James "Droz" Andrews, The Pit is a party-centric house that rebels against politically correct protests; their counter-protests and parties are a frequent source of complaint forms.

Other factions on campus include a commune-style house of pot users called Jerrytown that Gutter often frequents, a radical feminist group known as the Womynists, an Afrocentric group suspecting the Pit of conspiring against them, and the college president, Ms. Garcia-Thompson, who is obsessed with enforcing "sensitivity awareness" and multiculturalism to an extreme. She proposes that Bisexual Asian Studies should have its own building, as well as a plan to change the campus mascot to a whooping crane instead of an offensive Native American character during their Bicentennial Anniversary.

Garcia-Thompson conspires behind closed doors with Balls and Shaft to get the established residents of The Pit kicked off campus and give Rand control of the house. She provokes the Pit residents with a damage bill from their past semester. Left unpaid, the campus would seize their house, leaving them homeless and unable to continue attending PCU without getting jobs.

The Pit responds by throwing a party to raise the funds needed. The Womynists take offense to The Pit's flyers advertising the party, and hold a protest outside as the house residents conspire to steal alcohol and convince students to attend. The party at first appears to be a failure. However, a series of unlikely events results in George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic performing at the party. Students begin streaming in (initially to seize Tom for his prior mistakes) and the party successfully raises the funds to keep the house.

Garcia-Thompson (after being locked in a room by Droz with the song "Afternoon Delight" playing on repeat), decides to act on the many complaints against The Pit. She shuts down the party and expels the residents of The Pit in spite of their fundraising efforts. Tom then informs Droz about an overheard conversation with the Board of Trustees: the President's politically correct changes are negatively affecting both their past legacy and media publicity.

At the bicentennial ceremony the following morning, Droz and former Pit residents succeed in liberating the Whooping Crane and provoking the other students into an impromptu protest against protesting (chanting "We're not gonna protest!"). The demonstration establishes that even with The Pit shut down, the President cannot control the student population, resulting in the Board of Trustees summarily firing her. Meanwhile, Rand complains about all the other student groups, unaware that Droz has surreptitiously used the podium microphone to broadcast his rant to the entire campus.

Later, Tom heads home having decided to commit to PCU as the Pit has moved back into their house. As he sits on the bus, he sees Rand, who is now in Tom's position at the beginning of the film: being chased by the students across campus.

The short is about a caveman who tries to impress a woman, however is rejected repeatedly by the woman due to his inability to keep a shaven face. The caveman attempts to shave his face using several items, including a sharp knife and a stone wheel. However, after shaving off his beard, the stubble grows back instantly.

In the mid-1980s, Pittsburgh resident Chris Cole is a fanatical admirer of a heavy metal band called Steel Dragon. By day, Chris is a photocopier technician and by night, he is the lead singer of a Steel Dragon tribute band called Blood Pollution (the name is taken from a Steel Dragon song).

Internal struggles among the actual Steel Dragon band members culminate with the firing of their lead singer, Bobby Beers, and the beginning of recruitment sessions to find a new vocalist. Chris experiences his own strife with his Blood Pollution bandmates, particularly guitarist Rob Malcolm. During a live performance, Rob's playing fails to live up to Chris' over-demanding standards regarding note-for-note accuracy to the original Steel Dragon recordings, and Chris sabotages Rob's amplifier mid-song – a fight breaks out between the two onstage. The next day, Chris meets Blood Pollution at a rehearsal session, but he finds out that he has been replaced with his arch-rival, the (now former) lead singer of another Steel Dragon tribute band. Rob also cites Chris' inability to create his own musical style, preferring to remain the singer in a tribute band.

One day, Chris receives an unexpected phone call from Steel Dragon's founder and rhythm guitarist, Kirk Cuddy, and is offered an audition for the band (thanks to two of Blood Pollution's groupies, who showed Kirk a videotape of one of Blood Pollution's concerts). After hanging up on Kirk once, thinking he's being pranked by Rob, Chris ecstatically agrees. At the studio, he meets the band and gives an outstanding performance of "We All Die Young" (a Steel Dragon song in the movie, but it is a real song by Steelheart, whose lead vocalist, Miljenko Matijevic, provides Cole's singing voice for the film). Chris joins the band as their new singer, adopting the stage name "Izzy". Following a successful debut concert with Steel Dragon, Izzy must come to grips with the pressures of his new-found fame and success. The band embarks on a lengthy tour and Izzy experiences the excesses of the lifestyle, with the group's road manager, Mats, serving as a sympathetic mentor to Izzy.

His new lifestyle impacts his life both for better and worse, particularly with his relationship with his supportive girlfriend, Emily Poule, when she decides not to continue with him throughout the remainder of the tour as a rock star girlfriend, though Emily and Izzy agree to get back together when the tour reaches Seattle. Eventually, Steel Dragon stops in Seattle for a show, and Emily arrives at his hotel room as they had previously arranged, although Izzy had become so inebriated while on tour he forgot about the arrangement and did not even know what city he was in. Although taken aback by all the groupies, Emily still tries to reconnect with him, reminding him of their plans to meet up once he got to Seattle, however he is too intoxicated to really understand what she is saying, eventually suggesting they go to Seattle together. Heartbroken with his inconsiderate behavior, intoxication and the fact that he is sleeping with so many groupies, Emily leaves him.

Six months later, Izzy reports to the next series of Steel Dragon recording sessions with song concepts and artwork for the band's next album. The rest of the band like his ideas, but they reject them, with Kirk explaining that the band has to stay true to the "Steel Dragon thing" to fulfill fan expectations. Izzy is angered upon realizing that he was only recruited for his vocal abilities. After a heartfelt conversation with Mats about how he feared he had no control over the direction life has taken him, Izzy begins to reconsider his rock star lifestyle. On the next tour, in a scene directly paralleling one near the beginning of the film with their roles reversed, Izzy hears a fan singing along with him toward the end of a live concert. Impressed, Izzy pulls the fan, who introduces himself as Thor, onstage and hands him the microphone to finish the concert. Backstage, Izzy realizes that what he thought he wanted for so long was not what he wanted, and he says goodbye to Mats, departing from the band while doing so.

After leaving Steel Dragon and ditching his rock star image and stage name, Chris makes his way to Seattle and starts a new band with his old friend and former bandmate, Rob, allowing him to write his own music. Chris finds Emily working in the coffee shop she and her roommate purchased a few years earlier, and he is initially too ashamed to speak to her. While walking one evening, Emily sees a flyer for his band posted on the wall and takes it down. In the final scene, Chris is singing with his band in a bar and Emily walks in. Chris leaves the stage and speaks to her. They reconcile, ending the film with a kiss and the final note of Chris' first original song "Colorful" (which is a real song by The Verve Pipe).

During the credits, Cuddy talks about the future of the band and Bobby Beers is shown to have taken up Irish Dancing after his sacking from Steel Dragon.

Set in mountainous Sevier County, Tennessee, in the 1960s, ''Child of God'' tells the story of Lester Ballard, a dispossessed, violent man whom the narrator describes as "a child of God much like yourself perhaps". Ballard's life is a disastrous attempt to exist outside the social order. Successively deprived of parents and homes and with few other ties, Ballard descends literally and figuratively to the level of a cave-dweller as he falls into crime and degradation. He commits a series of sexually-motivated murders in the area, quickly drawing the suspicion of the townspeople, from whom Ballard hides in his cave.

The novel is structured in three segments, each segment describing the advancing isolation of the protagonist from society. In the first part of the novel, a group of unidentified narrators from Sevierville describe Lester to the audience and frame him within that community's mythology and historical consciousness. The second and third parts of the novel increasingly leave culture and community behind as Lester goes from squatter to cave-dweller to serial killer and necrophile as he becomes increasingly associated with premodern and inanimate phenomena. The novel ends with the dehumanized and mutilated Ballard dying in incarceration, his remains eventually dissected by medical students and then interred outside the city, while the long-hidden corpses of his victims are unearthed from his former subterranean haunt.

The novel begins with Suttree observing police as they pull a suicide victim from the river. Suttree is living alone in a houseboat, on the fringes of society on the Tennessee River, earning money by fishing for the occasional catfish. He has left a life of luxury, rejecting his parents' influence, and abandoning his wife and young son.

A large cast of characters, largely composed of misfits and grotesques, is introduced, one of which is a dimwitted young man named Gene Harrogate, whom Suttree meets during a short stint in a work camp-style prison. Harrogate was sent to prison after being caught "violating" a farmer's watermelons. Suttree attempts to help Harrogate stay out of trouble after he is released, but this task proves to be in vain as Harrogate sets off on a series of misadventures, including using poisoned meat and a slingshot to kill bats ("flitter-mice" as Harrogate calls them) to earn a bounty on them, and using dynamite in an attempt to tunnel underneath the city and burgle the treasury. Other prominent characters are prostitutes, hermits, alcoholics, and an aged Geechee witch.

His relationships with women all come to bad ends. One prostitute-girlfriend terminates the relationship in a moment of madness, smashing up the inside of their new car. He becomes involved with a teenage girl from a destitute family, but awakens in the night to find her crushed to death by a landslide that falls on their homeless encampment. Suttree was also married before the book begins with a woman he apparently met at university. He left his wife with a young son, who dies of an illness early on in the book. He watches the funeral from afar, and proceeds to bury the boy alone once the other mourners leave.

Towards the novel's end, Suttree falls ill with typhoid fever and suffers a lengthy hallucination. This occurs after a black friend of Suttree is killed in a fight with the police and Harrogate is arrested in a failed robbery attempt. In the end, he feels his identity as an individual is affirmed by his time living in destitution, and he leaves Knoxville, seeking a new life.

The first sojourn details a series of hunting expeditions conducted by Billy, his father, and to a lesser extent, his brother Boyd. They are attempting to locate and trap a pregnant female wolf which has been preying on cattle near the family's homestead. McCarthy explores themes throughout the action such as the mystical passage on page 22, describing his father setting a trap:

Crouched in the broken shadow with the sun at his back and holding the trap at eyelevel against the morning sky he looked to be truing some older, some subtler instrument. Astrolabe or sextant. Like a man bent at fixing himself someway in the world. Bent on trying by arc or chord the space between his being and the world that was. If there be such space. If it be knowable.

When Billy finally catches the animal, he harnesses her and, instead of killing her, determines to return her to the mountains of Mexico where he believes her original home is located. He develops a deep affection for and bond with the wolf, risking his life to save her on more than one occasion.

Critics disagree about the greater significance of Billy's encounters with the wolf. Wallis Sanborn argues that “[a]lthough noble, Parham’s mission to return the captured she-wolf to Mexico is abjectly flawed . . . [it is] nothing more than a man violently controlling a wild animal through the guise of pseudo-nobility” (143). Raymond Malewitz argues that the wolf's "literary agency" becomes visible when Billy's way of thinking about the wolf conflicts with the way the narrator describes the creature.

Along the way, Billy encounters many other travelers and inhabitants of the land who relate in a sophisticated dialogue their deepest philosophies. Take, for example, a Mormon who converts to Catholicism and describes his vision of reality in this way:

Things separate from their stories have no meaning. They are only shapes. Of a certain size and color. A certain weight. When their meaning has become lost to us they no longer have even a name. The story on the other hand can never be lost from its place in the world for it is that place. And that is what was to be found here. The corrido. The tale. And like all corridos it ultimately told one story only, for there is only one to tell.

He also meets an opera troupe performing ''Pagliacci'' in the wilds, the characters of which curiously parallel Billy and Boyd's relationship with a girl they save along their route.

He watched the play with interest but could make little of it ... in the end the man in buffoon's motley slew the woman and slew another man perhaps his rival with a dagger

In the second border crossing, Billy and Boyd have set out to recover horses stolen from their family's spread. Their relationship is a strained one, with Boyd displaying a more stubborn nature than that of his brother, a characteristic that hinders Billy's attempts to protect him. Boyd is eventually shot through the chest in a squabble. After he is nursed back to health, he disappears with a young girl.

The third crossing features Billy alone attempting to discover his brother's whereabouts. He learns Boyd has been killed in a gunfight and sets out to find his dead brother's remains, and return them to New Mexico. After finding Boyd's grave and exhuming the body, Billy is ambushed by a band of men who desecrate Boyd's remains and stab Billy's horse through the chest. Billy, with the help of a gypsy, nurses the horse back to riding condition.

The last scene shows Billy alone and desolate, coming across a terribly beat up dog that approaches him for help. In marked contrast to his youthful bond with the wolf, he shoos the dog away angrily, meanly. Later, he feels a flood of remorse: he goes after the dog, calling for it to come back—but it has gone. He breaks down in tears.

The story opens in 1952. John Grady Cole (the protagonist of ''All the Pretty Horses'') and Billy Parham (the protagonist of ''The Crossing'') work together on a cattle ranch south of Alamogordo, New Mexico, not far from the border cities of El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. The ranch's owners are kind, but face an uncertain future in a dying industry. Recently devastated by drought, cattle ranches around El Paso are struggling and may be claimed by the Department of Defense, through eminent domain, to become military areas. Though the cowboys barely make a living, John Grady and Billy love life on the open range, and John Grady – as detailed in ''All the Pretty Horses'' – is a master at training horses. Billy is an excellent tracker.

During a visit to a brothel in Juárez, John Grady falls in love with a young, epileptic prostitute, Magdalena. The couple plans to marry and live in the U.S., and John Grady renovates an abandoned cabin, turning it into a home. But Magdalena's brothel is run by Eduardo, a formidable adversary also in love with the young girl. Billy attempts to dissuade John Grady but feels obligated to help the couple.

Eduardo's subordinate Tiburcio murders Magdalena by cutting her throat, after she steals away from the brothel to meet John Grady at a crossing of the Rio Grande and leave Mexico. After John Grady finds her body in the morgue, he faces Eduardo in a knife fight. Though John Grady kills Eduardo, he is mortally wounded in the fight. He survives long enough to contact Billy, who hurries to comfort John Grady before his death.

After John Grady's death, a short epilogue—not unlike the conclusion of ''Blood Meridian'' (1985)—details, in a few pages, the next several decades of Billy's life. After drifting across the Southwest for many years, working ranches and living in hotels, Billy, homeless, takes shelter beneath a highway underpass. There, he meets a mysterious man who tells him about a convoluted dream. Though the man denies it, Billy suspects he is Death. However, Billy survives the meeting with the man and finds shelter and a new life with a family who takes him in.

Neri is a young girl with an affinity for water, the ability to swim long distances and super-human lung capacity. She lives alone on an otherwise deserted island, and sleeps in a nest in a tree. Early in the first season, Neri befriends two Australian boys; Jason and Brett Bates. The Bates brothers live in an elaborate underwater research and environmental protection facility called ORCA (Oceanic Research Center of Australia) located near Port Douglas, Queensland. At the beginning of the series, their mother, Dr. Dianne Bates, has been assigned to ORCA to study whale song in the hopes of facilitating cross-species communication. A significant portion of the series takes place on ORCA itself, and looks at the activities of its inhabitants, which includes the school-aged children of the resident scientists, such as Jason and Brett. Jason discovers Neri while on a whale-tracking expedition with his mother. While attempting to tag a whale using a harpoon from the boat, Jason is startled by a young girl (Neri) who appears in the water and positions herself between Jason and the whale, saying "No, no!", Jason freezes and fails to release the harpoon. Dr. Bates rushes out to the ship's deck, grabs the harpoon and tags the whale, albeit missing the intended target area. Dr. Bates is furious with Jason and doesn't believe his story about a girl appearing in the water. No one believes Jason at first and he is ridiculed by the other children on ORCA. Brett is the second character to know of Neri's existence. Brett and Jason's friendship with Neri is at first a highly guarded secret due to Neri's fear of other humans.

As the series progresses, it is revealed that Neri came to Earth on a spaceship with her father when she was young, though his death soon after the ship's crash left Neri to fend for herself. Prior to meeting Jason and Brett, Neri's only friend was a humpback whale (a ''jali'' in Neri's native tongue) whom she names "Charley" and with whom she can communicate. Later in the series, Neri's curiosity leads her to explore ORCA, while Dr. Bates's study of Charley's whale song helps her identify Neri as the intended recipient of that song. Eventually, Dr Bates and her assistant, Dr. Winston Seth, become embroiled in Jason and Brett's effort to keep Neri a secret, while also performing numerous tests on Neri to understand how she's able to communicate with whales.

At the same time that the Bates family learn about Neri, a rival research organisation, the UBRI Corporation, are introduced. Headed by the sinister Dr. Hellegren, UBRI have learned that a spacecraft landed somewhere in the vicinity of ORCA, and begin their own search for any personnel that may have survived. Simultaneously, they work on other projects which threaten the natural ecology of the ocean around ORCA. Eventually, they put in play an effort to build the so-called "ORCA City", an elaborate underwater construction that will likely eradicate much of the natural life on the seabed. In response, Dr. Bates's mission changes over the course of the series from cetologist to environmental protectionist. This role becomes more prominent beginning with the third season, when UBRI representatives establish themselves on board ORCA. Accordingly, the series shifts to a more serious tone in its later seasons.

As Neri gradually discovers more of her island and ORCA, she also begins to understand her greater purpose. This self-awakening is particularly enhanced by encounters with others of her kind. In the second season, she discovers her sister, Mera, and the two are given the opportunity to return to their home planet. Mera avails herself of this option, but Neri stays, feeling that she must discover what her father was trying to do on Earth. In the third season, she gains entry into the downed spacecraft that originally brought her to Earth. There, she finds another of her people in suspended animation. The new character, Kal, proves to be the son of the commander of the vessel, and helps her tap into the ship's memory core. She finds the ship's log, in which Kal's mother explains that Neri's father was to repair the damage done to Earth's oceans with an advanced device called the Synchronium. She then dedicates her life to her father's cause, giving her a genuine sense of purpose that she had perhaps lacked earlier in the series. Kal grows jealous of the strong bond between Neri and Jason Bates, and begins hating Neri's friends on ORCA. As protest, Kal leaves the island. Neri and her ORCA mates go looking for him, but are unable to find him as he's been captured by UBRI. UBRI tricks Kal into believing that the male should lead (as he had been indoctrinated into the matriarchal social mores of his people), and he creates an alliance with Dr. Hellegren to steal the Synchronium pieces that Neri and Mera have hidden in a secret cave.

While the primary cast gets new motivations by UBRI's move to ORCA and Kal's appearance on the island, the secondary cast radically changes at the outset of the third season. All of the original kids are replaced by a new crew, and more adults are added to the ORCA staff.

As Neri begins her father's mission, she is drawn farther and farther away from her island. Beginning in the middle of the third season, some episodes are primarily based on land. By the fourth season, some episodes are set in Egypt, and her father's quest eventually leads her back to the "Ocean Planet", her home planet. Most of the plots involving the secondary kids on ORCA are reduced in the final season, in order to allow for greater exploration of Neri's homeworld. Several new characters of Neri's species are introduced. Likewise, the threat of UBRI fades, to be replaced by a new organization, PRAXIS (Preventative Response and eXtraterritorial Intelligence Service) and by rebels on the Ocean Planet. This group is dedicated to protecting against any threats posed by extraterrestrial life, and its agents come to believe Neri and her people are a problem for Earth. They thus chased Neri and the Bates boys around the world. When a mysterious underwater pyramid is discovered in the ocean, Neri and the Bates boys enter it and discover more about the Ocean Planet, and Neri's mission on Earth.

When the rebellion in the Ocean World is growing, Mera escapes to Earth and is reunited with Neri. But PRAXIS sees this pyramid as a danger to the Earth. Much of the final season is thus concerned with PRAXIS' attempt to attack the pyramid, as well as with a "Red Virus" which is spreading in the oceans of Neri's homeworld, the Ocean Planet. Eventually, in the series finale, Jason, Brett, and Neri are able to repulse PRAXIS' efforts and the rebellion, and Earth is saved. Neri remains on Earth as the ambassador of the Ocean Planet, and she and Jason finally become a couple.

The Bates family, Winston, Neri, Charley, and the ORCA computer H.E.L.E.N. (Hydro Electronic Liaison ENtity) are the only constant characters for the show's entire run. However, the part of Dr. Bates is recast with Liz Burch after the second season and H.E.L.E.N. is "upgraded" in the fourth and final season.

''Wizards & Warriors'' pits the story's hero Kuros, the "Knight Warrior of the ''Books of Excalibur''", against the main antagonist, the evil wizard Malkil. He was considered one of the greatest wizards in the land, such that Merlin was one of his students. However, the aging Malkil has gone mad and has started using his magic for evil. As a result, Malkil has captured the princess and holds her prisoner in Castle IronSpire, deep within the forests of Elrond. The game's protagonist, the brave knight Kuros, is summoned to venture through the forests of Elrond. He is armed with the legendary Brightsword, a sword that is powerful enough to beat demons, insects, undead, and the other creatures that have fallen under Malkil's spell. With the sword, he ventures out through the forests of Elrond and the various caves and tunnels and to Castle IronSpire, where he must defeat Malkil and rescue the princess.

After receiving numerous death threats in the mail—most of which are written in blood—Bart becomes paranoid. He soon learns the culprit is his arch-enemy, Sideshow Bob, who is incarcerated in Springfield State Prison, sent the notes, wanting revenge on Bart for imprisoning him twice ("Krusty Gets Busted" and "Black Widower"). The next day, Sideshow Bob is paroled because the parole board no longer considers him a threat to society. When the Simpsons visit a cinema to see ''Ernest Goes Somewhere Cheap'', Sideshow Bob sits in front of them, smoking and laughing obnoxiously. The Simpsons realize that ''he'' sent the letters and threatened to kill Bart. Marge angrily tells him to stay away from her son.

The Simpsons join the Witness Protection Program and relocate to Terror Lake, changing their surname to "Thompson" and living aboard a houseboat. As they drive cross-country to their new home, they are unaware Sideshow Bob is strapped to the underside of the car. While suspended there, Bob is hit with speed bumps, has hot coffee poured on him, and is driven through a large cactus patch. After arriving in Terror Lake, Bob unstraps himself from the car and steps on rakes several times, injuring himself.

Bart sees Sideshow Bob in the street, where he unstraps himself from the underside of an old lady's car and is trampled by a parade that included several large elephants. Bart tries telling his parents of Bob's presence, but Homer lazily dismisses his claims. During the night, Sideshow Bob reaches the houseboat and unmoors it from the dock. He ties up Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie and Santa's Little Helper so they cannot stop him. Sideshow Bob enters Bart's room and almost kills him right when Bart flees out the window. He tries to escape, but he cannot jump off the boat since the river is filled with alligators and electric eels. Sideshow Bob catches up to Bart and corners him at the edge of the boat, offering him a last request before his supposed death. Having noticed a sign saying Springfield is fifteen miles away, Bart quickly has an idea: to stall for time, he compliments Sideshow Bob on his beautiful voice and asks him to sing the entire score of ''H.M.S. Pinafore''. Bob delivers a performance that includes several props, costumes, and backdrops.

As the musical concludes, Sideshow Bob puts the blade of his sword closer and closer to Bart's face until the boat runs aground, knocking Sideshow Bob off his feet and preventing him from killing Bart. He is arrested by Chief Wiggum, whose police force was stationed by a river-side brothel while wearing bathrobes. The Simpsons return home to find Grampa locked out of their house and unable to take his medicine, resulting in him unintentionally becoming feminine. Grampa is courted by Jasper with Steve and Eydie tickets.

''Wizards & Warriors III: Kuros: Visions of Power'' takes place immediately after the events at the end of the previous game, ''Ironsword: Wizards & Warriors II'', when Kuros has defeated his nemesis, the evil wizard Malkil, on the peak of IceFire Mountain. Unaware that Malkil's spirit has survived, Kuros is struck by a bolt of magic from the spirit, knocking him out and removing his armor, memory, and honor. A weakened Malkil then flees and takes refuge in the peaceful city of Piedup, where he dethrones Good King James and takes control of the city. Meanwhile, Kuros has been left to wander in the wilderness without any weapons, armor, or food. After wandering for several months, he finally reaches the city of Piedup, where Malkil's spirit lies. While in the city, Kuros assumes several disguises of wizard, knight, and thief, in order to travel through town undetected and build strength and skill, rescue damsels, and prepare for his battle with Malkil.

Eventually, Kuros makes his way to the throne room in the castle of Piedup. After freeing Good King James, Kuros encounters Malkil, who offers his partnership to Kuros, saying that they would only destroy each other and that they could rule the world if they joined together. Players are then given the option of choosing "yes" or "no". If the player chooses "yes", Malkil then shoots Kuros in the back with magic and instantly defeats him while saying: "Ha! Ha! Ha! The Fool!!" Malkil then holds Kuros prisoner, and the game ends. If the player chooses "no", then the final battle commences; after Kuros defeats Malkil, Kuros is then sucked into a time portal, sending him into the future. The game then concludes, saying that Kuros has restored the city of Piedup to its former self, that the damsels have been saved, and that Good King James has taken back his throne; Kuros' legend is then immortalized among the people, as his saga "unfurls like a glorious banner". The game concludes by saying that, while Malkil will return, Kuros will be there to defeat him repeatedly, and according to the game, "the light shall reign until the end of time". The game's ending sets the stage for a sequel, but no sequel for the game was ever released.

The game begins with a flashback sequence: Sergeant Ben "Mitch" Mitchell (Bob Cryer) is chasing down an armed teenage robber. The teen robber stops running, instead of aiming his gun at Mitch. Mitch orders him to drop his weapon but the teen then chooses to try to turn around and escape. Mitch fires his weapon, which makes it seem like he purposely shot the teen in the back. One year later, Mitch is on his first day back on the team. The team heads towards an East London housing estate, where they believe the Collins Crew is storing drugs in a flat.

The team breaks into the flat but finds it empty (with only two Collins members), but PC Harvey (Seth Jee) and another SO19 officer find a door that leads to the flat next door and find tons of drugs. They soon chase them down in the apartment complex and PC Harvey is injured in the leg. Mitch single-handedly hunts down the remaining suspects, who take an old woman hostage in the roof. Back at the station, Mitch is taunted about the teenager shooting incident and almost loses his temper. Inspector Munroe (Karl Jenkinson) then informs them of a shooting at a boxing club in Shoreditch. After arriving at the scene, Mitch chases Jimmer Collins (Glenn Doherty), who manages to escape.

Munroe suspects a Latvian gang is responsible and assigns Mitch and Stoppard (Mark Beardsmore) to join a unit of SO19, who are preparing to raid a scrapyard in Lambeth to detain the suspect, Levi Stratov (Paul Kaye). Stratov is immediately bailed out and leads Mitch to Jackie Philips (Kerry Ann Smith). She informs them of a deal going down at Holborn Tube Station on Platform 4. Mitchell attempts to arrest the trader, but he escapes and is arrested afterwards. Jackie makes a phone call, saying she knows the leader, as the phone goes dead. When they arrive, a man shoots Munroe and leaves him in Jackie's apartment, which explodes, killing him. Jackie left a note saying "Skobel", while the police know a gun trade is going down. Mitch beats the trader and extracts the info, which leads the team to a warehouse.

The game shifts to Eddie O'Connor's (Dave Legeno) story. Nick and Jimmer Collins had originally planned to steal credit card codes and print their own cards. When Danny West (Denis Gilmore) owes a gambling debt to Collins, he forces West to get people to steal the credit card codes from the Skobel Group and steal the Icon (a small religious artefact, which in the end is revealed to be a case in which diamonds are hidden), so that no one realizes the card codes were stolen. Eddie, along with others, raid the Skobel Group's bank to retrieve the Icon, but everyone is killed, except Eddie, who is tortured; Sam Thompson (Jane Peachey), who escapes through a vent; and John the Cleaner (Tanner Akif), who double-crosses and runs off with the Icon. Eddie and Sam escape; they find John dead at a bar, but Eddie manages to retrieve the icon.

They return to the boxing club and see Mitch enter. Sam sneaks in and sees Danny and a young boy, presumably Errol's (Mike Harvey) son, dead, as well as Liam Spencer from the first game. Sam left a laptop at the bank and wants to return. If Eddie says "yes", they shoot their way in, but if "no", Eddie leaves her and she sneaks in. Sam retrieves the laptop. If Eddie escorts her, she doesn't get caught, but if he doesn't, she gets caught. Eddie tracks down Collins, who mentions that Viktor Skobel (Robert Jezek), the CEO of the Skobel Group, killed West. Yuri (Ronnie Yakubouski) shoots Collins' right hand three times before finishing him with a shot in the head. Eddie follows Yuri to lead to Skobel. He is ambushed by Nadya Prushnatova (Yana Yanezic), who has Jackie. Sergeant Mitch raids the warehouse (this is where his story ended off) and Eddie kills Yuri.

He then either saves Jackie Philips or lets her fall to her death. Either way, Eddie escapes and chases Viktor to his house, where he kills Nadya, and if the player chooses to, Zara (Jo Lawden). If Sam hasn't been captured, she sneaks into Alexei's (John Albasiny) car. Eddie chases Viktor to his yacht and kills Alexei. There are four different endings depending on the player's actions throughout the game. The final scene shows the outside of the pumping station. The police are standing by, and Sam and Mitch stand there if they are alive.

After forgetting Marge's thirty-fourth birthday, Homer rushes to the Springfield Mall, where he buys a bowling ball for himself and disguises it as her gift. Patty and Selma treat Marge to a birthday dinner at the Singing Sirloin, where Bart gives her French perfume and Lisa presents a macaroni-and-glue portrait of her mother as the Mona Lisa. She is pleased with both gifts because her children made her feel loved and special on her birthday. As Homer presents the bowling ball to her, it bursts through its box and squashes her birthday cake. Everyone is surprised by his thoughtlessness except Patty and Selma, whom earlier alluded to his lousy gift-giving history. They sit back smugly as Marge calls Homer out for offending her with a gift for himself, pointing out that she has never gone bowling in her life and that the ball is inscribed with his name.

Determined to learn how to bowl to spite Homer, Marge visits Barney's Bowl-A-Rama. While there, she meets a French bowling instructor named Jacques who offers to give her lessons. When he asks about the name inscribed on her ball, she tells him ''Homer'' is the ball's name, neglecting to mention she is married. After several bowling lessons, Jacques and Marge agree to meet for brunch.

Their brunch goes well until they see Helen Lovejoy, the gossipy preacher's wife, who seems delighted to find Marge with a man other than her husband. After deflecting Helen's prying by feigning a discussion of bowling theory, Jacques asks Marge to meet him the next day at his apartment, causing her to faint. While unconscious, she sees herself dancing with Jacques in his luxurious, bowling-themed apartment. When Marge regains consciousness after her romantic fantasy, she accepts Jacques's invitation.

Meanwhile, Homer finds the personalized bowling glove Jacques gave Marge and realizes he may lose her to another man. Soon Bart realizes Lisa's suspicion that their parents are drifting apart is true. Bart advises Homer to keep quiet about Marge's suspected affair to avoid making things worse.

Marge leaves for her rendezvous with Jacques but remembers her lifetime commitment to Homer during the drive. She comes to a fork in the road: one way leads to the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, the other to Jacques's apartment. After agonizing over her decision, Marge surprises a distraught Homer at the plant and kisses him warmly. An ecstatic Homer abandons his work post and carries Marge away in his arms. When his co-workers ask him what to tell their boss, Homer tells them he is taking Marge to the backseat of his car and will be gone for ten minutes.

Michele is a young woman working with her abusive father at a diner. She quits her waitressing job when she meets a patron, Buz, who initially came in to rob the place at gunpoint instead invites her to Los Angeles where he promises Michele his sister, the famous Joan Nickels, can land her a job as a dancer at a Hollywood nightclub. The two drive off to L.A. and pick up a traveling musician, Critter. Once in Hollywood, Michele immediately lands a job as a go-go dancer, Critter as a janitor, and Buz as a drug dealer. Michele soon discovers Buz is heavily involved in the underbelly of the club scene and she becomes witness to the club's drug trade and prostitution connections.

This film looks at the lives of Jefferson "Jake" (Kevin Bacon) and Kristy Briggs (Elizabeth McGovern), from their wedding day until the birth of their first child, mostly through Jake's eyes, with his voiceover commentaries and several imaginary scenes.

Before their wedding day Jake asks his best friend Davis McDonald (Alec Baldwin) if he thinks Jake will be happy to which Davis says "Yeah, you'll be happy. You just won't know it."

After their wedding, Jake and Kristy head off for New Mexico where Jake works toward gaining a Master's Degree, but leaves before finishing. They return to Chicago where Jake is hired as an advertising copywriter. Jake says he wants to be a writer, which amuses his boss. Kristy is hired as a research analyst, and they are able to buy a house in the suburbs. Meanwhile, Jake begins fantasizing about having an affair with a mysterious young French model (Isabel García Lorca).

Jake and Kristy continue to adjust to their new lives, although Jake feels pressure from his family, society and his wife to have a child. Kristy's mother Gayle (Cathryn Damon) casually informs them that she had a difficult birth with Kristy and nearly died. Later, Kristy informs Jake that she stopped taking contraceptives without telling him. After several months, they discover that the reason she hasn't gotten pregnant is because he has been unable to impregnate her.

After not seeing Jake and Kristy for three years, Davis visits unexpectedly, telling them that his father has died. Jake and Kristy are supportive, allowing him to stay the night. Things take a turn when Davis makes a pass at Kristy by proclaiming his feelings and trying to open her bathrobe, but Kristy turns him down, telling him that she is in love with Jake.

The couple begins a fertility program, which eventually succeeds. During a traumatic labor, Jake must leave the delivery room and he worries about losing Kristy, realizing that his lack of satisfaction in life was due to his own selfishness and immaturity.

The last scene of the film reveals that Jake's voiceover was the new father reading his novel entitled ''She's Having a Baby'' to his wife and son.

During the credits, Jake and Kristy talk about what to name their son as a montage of Roman Craig, Chet Ripley, and Buck Ripley from the following film ''The Great Outdoors'', Ferris Bueller from ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'', and an assortment of different actors pitching their suggestions of boy names is shown before settling on the name Christopher.

Bart and Milhouse torment a tourist named Howell Huser (a parody of television personality Huell Howser), who is then chased out of town by bullies Dolph, Jimbo, and Kearney. Huser is later revealed to be a media personality, and he appears on a network's morning television show warning tourists against visiting Springfield, causing the Springfield tourism business to collapse. Mayor Quimby holds an emergency meeting at the town hall to solve the problem, and after many senseless suggestions, Lisa suggests that Springfield legalize same-sex marriage to entice visitors to their town. All of Springfield happily agrees with Lisa's idea, and the town makes a commercial that is broadcast throughout America, convincing hundreds of homosexual couples to come to Springfield. However, Reverend Lovejoy insists that the Bible forbids same-sex marriage and refuses to marry any gay couples. Homer, upon learning that ministers are paid $200 per couple, abandons his own opposition to the process and becomes a minister himself with help from the online "e-Piscopal" Church, whereupon he marries every gay couple in town.

Meanwhile, at the Simpson family's home, Patty comes out as a lesbian, saying that she is in love with a pro golfer named Veronica and asking Homer to marry them. While Homer accepts Patty's sexuality (briefly improving their relationship), an uncomfortable Marge reprimands her for having not told their family and insists that Patty marry a man. Patty is angered and calls Marge out for being a hypocrite in acting liberal about the issues, pointing out that she cannot accept their family's sexuality for what it is. Before the wedding, Marge accidentally discovers Veronica is actually male. She decides to keep quiet about it since Patty will be marrying a man.

During the wedding ceremony, Marge becomes especially touched by Patty's heartfelt declaration of love for Veronica. This prompts Marge to disclose Veronica's actual gender in front of the whole wedding assembly, much to Patty’s horror. "Veronica" is revealed to be a heterosexual cis-gendered male, named “Leslie Robin Swisher”. Leslie explains that he posed as a woman, so he could get onto the LPGA golf tour. Leslie then asks Patty whether she still wants to marry him, but Patty rudely declines.

Afterwards, Marge reconciles with Patty after telling her that she has learned a lesson and has accepted the fact that Patty is a lesbian. In a meta-reference to the show's tendency to episodically return to ''status quo ante'', Lisa notes that this is the end of Homer's wedding business, and Bart asks, "Why?"

Patty and her other sister, Selma, then go to leave a bag at the airport unattended, as a way to meet security personnel they can date.

When Muggs refuses to train for the Golden Gloves match unless he has his own private camp in the country, Danny placates his pal by enlisting members of the Vassey Street Boys' Club in the Civilian Conservation Corps. Arriving at the camp, Muggs refuses to accept the authority of Allen, the leader of the boys, and treats the facility as if it was his own private property. Later, Muggs has a chance to demonstrate his true nature when he risks his own life to save Al from being crushed by a falling tree. The camp captain praises Muggs for his courage, and as a reward, Muggs requests a boxing match with Al. Norton, a small-time boxing promoter, comes to watch the fight, which ends in a draw. Furious at the outcome, Muggs refuses to shake his opponent's hand, an act which earns the enmity of the other boys. When the captain fails to remove the chip from Muggs' shoulder, his daughter, Elaine, tries to reform him through kindness. Meanwhile, Willie, one of the boys, steals one hundred dollars from the camp cash box and then lies to Muggs, telling him that he needed the money for his poor aunt. To get the money back for Willie, Muggs agrees to a fight arranged by promoter Norton. Although he takes a beating in the ring, Muggs earns the one hundred dollars. While returning the money to the cash box, Muggs is caught and accused of theft. He refuses to inform on Willie, and instead plans to run away. But Danny then forces Willie to tell the truth, proving Muggs is innocent.

As professional assassin Martin Blank prepares for a job, his assistant, Marcella, informs him that he has received an invitation to his ten-year high school reunion. A rival assassin, Grocer, approaches him about joining his fledgling union, which Martin refuses, preferring to work alone. Martin’s job goes badly when Martin is forced to shoot the target, even though the assignment was to make it appear the target died of natural causes. His client demands that he make amends by killing a Federal witness in Detroit, Michigan, close to his hometown of Grosse Pointe, where the reunion is taking place.

In Grosse Pointe, Martin reconnects with his childhood friend Paul and high school sweetheart Debi Newberry, now a radio DJ, whom Martin had abandoned on prom night to enlist in the Army.

Martin is stalked by Felix LaPoubelle, another hitman, who attempts to kill Martin. He is also followed by two National Security Agency agents who were tipped off to Martin's contract by Grocer. Martin remains distracted by his desire to reconcile with Debi and procrastinates in opening the dossier on his target. Grocer reveals that LaPoubelle was hired by a wealthy dog owner whose prize retriever was killed on one of Martin's previous assignments. Martin reveals that he knows Grocer put the agents on his trail and again refuses to join the union.

Debi is conflicted about her feelings for Martin, but he manages to persuade her to attend the reunion with him. At the reunion, Martin and Debi rekindle their relationship as they dance together intimately, and sneak off to have sex. Martin runs into LaPoubelle, whom he kills in self-defense. Debi stumbles upon the scene and flees the reunion in shock.

Debi confronts Martin in his hotel room. He reveals that when he joined the Army, his psychological profile indicated a "moral flexibility" that prompted the Central Intelligence Agency to recruit him as an assassin, after which he decided to freelance. Martin assures Debi that he only accepts contracts on corrupt individuals. His efforts to rationalize his work anger Debi, and she rejects his attempts at reconciliation.

Martin decides to retire from being a contract killer. He fires his psychiatrist, Oatman, over the phone, provides Marcella a generous severance, and finally opens the dossier detailing the contract that brought him to Grosse Pointe. He discovers the target is Debi's father, Bart, who is scheduled to testify against Martin's client.

Grocer decides to kill Bart himself to impress Martin's client and eliminate Martin as a competitor. Martin abandons the contract and takes Bart to the Newberry home. Grocer, his cohorts, and the NSA agents descend upon the house. During the siege, Martin tells Debi that he left her on prom night to protect her from his homicidal urges; however, having fallen in love with Debi again, he has developed a newfound respect for life. Martin kills Grocer's henchmen, and they both shoot the NSA agents when they burst onto the scene. Out of ammunition, Martin takes out Grocer with a tube TV. Martin proposes marriage to Debi, who is too stunned by the killing spree to respond, though Debi's father quips, "You have my blessing."

Debi and Martin leave Grosse Pointe together, with Martin visibly cheerful, and Debi confessing on her pre-recorded radio show that she's decided to give love another chance.

In the mountains of Germany near the Austrian border on January 30, 1933, Professor Viktor Roth, a distinguished "non-Aryan" professor who is adored by his students, celebrates his 60th birthday. His family consists of his wife Amelie, his daughter Freya, his young son Rudi and his adult stepsons Erich and Otto von Rohn. His class greets him with applause and a trophy presented by Martin Breitne and Fritz Marberg. The professor is proud of his family's "tolerance and sense of humor."

Suddenly, everything changes. The maid brings wonderful news: Adolf Hitler has become chancellor of Germany. Listening to the radio. Amelie worries about what will happen to free thinkers and non-Aryans. The ecstatic young men leave for a meeting, but Martin demurs.

Martin, Fritz and Freya meet at an inn, where Professor Werner is bullied by a gang for not singing along with a patriotic song. Martin interferes and the bullies allow Werner to leave. Fritz delivers Martin an ultimatum: join the party or be wiped out with other "pacifist vermin," but Martin refuses. Outside, the gang is beating Werner. On the train ride home, Fritz criticizes Freya for behavior unbecoming the daughter of a "non-Aryan."

Professor Roth refuses to teach the doctrine of racial purity, and his classes are boycotted. Students, who are now all in uniform, rally to burn banned books.

When Martin brings Freya home, the waiting gang assaults him. Mrs. Roth intervenes, admonishing her sons, who move out of their home. Weeks later, Freya comes to Martin's mountain farm. She wants him to meet their friends at the inn. He confesses his love to her. Professor Werner appears, begging for help because he is soon to be arrested. That night, Martin takes him on skis through a secret pass to Austria while the women successfully resist police attempts to intimidate them.

Professor Roth is arrested and Freya begs Fritz to learn where the professor has been taken. Fritz reluctantly arranges a brief meeting between Viktor and his wife at the concentration camp where he is imprisoned. Viktor urges her to leave the country with Freya and Rudi.

Otto comes home with news that the professor has died, supposedly from a heart attack, but Freya believes that he was killed.

At the border, Freya is detained for carrying her father's unpublished manuscript. Martin's mother writes to tell her that he is waiting at the farm to take her to Austria. They drink from the bride cup, with Hilda's blessing. Elsewhere, the Nazis beat Elsa until she reveals the pass. A Gestapo officer testing Fritz's loyalty makes him leader of the ski patrol. Fritz orders them to fire. Freya dies in Martin's arms in Austria.

In the Roths' home, Fritz tells Erich and Otto of Freya's death and flees, crying "It was my duty!" Erich is furious that Martin is free. Over celestial music, a man speaks: "I said to a man who stood at a gate, give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown. And he replied, go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light, and safer than a known way."

Background

''In Cold Blood'' is situated in Volgia, a fictional state on the east coast of the former USSR. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Dmitri Nagarov, chief of intelligence and security, took the opportunity to overthrow existing powers and declared independence. After his coup, Volgia started to invade its neighbors. The Volgian Freedom Fighters (VFF) is a resistance movement that is run by Gregor Kostov. The VFF has learned that the Volgians have acquired some special technology and has informed the Americans. They sent a spy named Kiefer to investigate, but communications were lost while he was investigating a uranium mine. The British were asked for help, and Alpha, the boss of MI6, sends agent John Cord, a long-time friend of Kiefer, to investigate.

After the introduction which shows parts of Cord's missions, the game starts with a scene in which Cord is interrogated by now premier Dmitri Nagarov, while he is being tortured by his assistant Lukyan. After the torture, Cord is fighting for his sanity, and all he knows for sure is that he was betrayed. He tries to piece together the fragments of his memory, and the player must reconstruct the events that led to his capture.

The game includes nine missions that Cord has to complete. Almost every mission ends with a transitional cut scene, showing how Cord is interrogated and tortured. These scenes include other characters like Alpha or Kostov, who will give information about the next missions.

Story

Cord goes to the uranium mine to locate Kiefer, but finds him dead. While there, he overhears a conversation between Chi-Ling Cheung (a secret agent of the People's Republic of China) and Byrdoy Tolstov (a professor in applied physics and chemistry). Tolstov reveals that they are not mining for uranium, but that they are experimenting with a special compound called tri-nepheline. Tolstov's daughter Alexandria is being held hostage at Security Headquarters (HQ), and Cord rescues her with the help of Chi, who is suspected of being a spy. Afterwards, Cord plants a bug on a secure server and removes a hard drive containing information relating to the VFF. Cord goes to the Containment Facility to apprehend Nagarov.

On the Kappa level, Cord destroys a gigantic robot called Spectre, and on the Omega level, he finds "specimens" held in pods in a laboratory. Cord raises the pod with Yerik Dimittrivich Oliakov, a former University Lecturer, who informs Cord about a place "where ships go to die." Nagarov arrives with Alexandria in front of him. Nagarov claims that he has hacked the computers of the Americans and Chinese, to simulate that each of them is preparing for war, so he can go on with his plans for Volgia. Cord later enters a room where Professor Tolstov is working, who tells him that the place "where ships go to die" is Vostograd, an abandoned naval base, where Nagarov will launch his missile. A mini-robot kills Tolstov, but Cord uses his ID card to gain access to the refinery's particle bombardment machine called Baby Blue, which he destroys with a bomb. Having met up with Kostov again, they leave to discover a truck with the dead bodies of Kostov's men. Kostov suspects Chi is a traitor.

Cord and Chi infiltrate Nagarov's base to destroy the Super Computer. On the roof of a large tower, Cord destroys a building with a surface-to-air missile launcher to create a diversion. When he meets with Chi again, she is being threatened by Kostov, who thinks she has betrayed his men. Chi kills Kostov before he can pull the trigger. With Chi's help, Cord uses an elevator to go to the top of the tower and he activates a cable car leading to an island. Cord explores the docking area, and he finds Alexandria in a cell on the security level. Cord uses the main elevator in the complex to access the other levels. Cord creates a diversion and enters level 1, where he inserts the explosive charge into the Super Computer. A cut scene is shown that reveals that Alpha has betrayed him. In a transmission, she tells that premier Nagarov had to be certain that Cord was not acting on her orders when he attacked the refinery. She assured Nagarov that Cord had not entered the facility, but Nagarov had a recording of Cord in the refinery. It resulted in a simple policy shift and the British are now working with the Volgians. As the reactor becomes critical, Nagarov and Lukyan leave the room. Until this moment, the game has taken place in Cord's memory, as he was interrogated by Nagarov after being captured, but from this point on it takes place in real time.

When Cord wakes up, he finds Chi who was instructed to kill him, but she decides to free him after a conversation. Cord and Chi head for the quayside at level 1 and manage to lower a bridge leading to a helicopter. After they free Alexandria, they fly away as the base is destroyed. After they spot Nagarov's nuclear submarine, they land on it. Cord and Chi explore the submarine to prevent the missile from being launched. They take care of the guards, and hear messages about problems with the reactor. After they split up, Lukyan knocks Chi down and takes her to a lower level. Lukyan later ambushes Cord, but he manages to kill him by pushing him into a turbine. In the bridge room, Nagarov enters armed with a gun, and after their conversation, Cord hits Nagarov with a ladder. Cord uses two keys he found to abort the missile launch. After releasing Chi, a message is heard that there is only one minute left to a critical reactor failure. They return to the deck and are picked up by Alexandria in the helicopter just before the submarine explodes. In the end sequence, Cord phones Alpha and tells her that he has dumped his information about her deal with Nagarov on the Chinese and American intelligence nets. The game ends showing Cord, Chi, and Alexandria approaching a beach where the sun sets.

''Holocaust'' is an account of two fictional German families from Berlin, prior to, and during World War II: one is Christian, whose members become Nazis out of economic necessity, and the other is Jewish, who become their victims.

The "Aryan" Dorf family is headed by Erik (Michael Moriarty), a lawyer who struggles to find work to support his wife Marta (Deborah Norton) and two young children, Peter and Laura, during the economic hardships of the Depression in Germany. At his wife's insistence, Erik joins the Nazi Party to earn income and rapidly advances within the SS. In a short time he becomes the right-hand man of Reinhard Heydrich (David Warner), the top-level Nazi and one of the engineers of the "Final Solution". Coordinating mass murder bothers Dorf at first, but he grows more merciless as he discovers that ideological fervor gains him prestige. This backfires after a feud with SS field officers who resent his orders and they send an anonymous letter to Heydrich, accusing Dorf of having Communist sympathies. These accusations stunt his career. After Heydrich is assassinated in 1942, Dorf is put in charge of major extermination operations at Nazi death camps. Dorf continues to follow orders, and commits further war crimes as well as covering them up.

The series also follows the Weiss family; a group of moderately wealthy German Jews, headed by Dr. Josef Weiss (Fritz Weaver) a Polish-born general physician. His German-born wife, Berta (Rosemary Harris), a talented pianist, is descended from a "Hoch-Deutsch" family whose ancestors were ethnic German "court Jews." They have three children—Karl (James Woods), an artist who is married to a Christian woman named Inga (Meryl Streep); Rudi, (Joseph Bottoms), a football player; and 16-year-old daughter Anna Weiss (Blanche Baker). Other family members are also featured.

''Holocaust'' begins in 1935 in Berlin, with the wedding of Karl Weiss and Inga Helms. The unemployed Erik and his sickly wife Marta consult with Dr. Josef Weiss who diagnoses her with a heart murmur. They learn the doctor had treated Erik's parents and even him as a child. Later, unable to find decent employment, Erik applies for a job with the Nazi Security Service and is interviewed by Reinhard Heydrich, deputy head of the SS.

This miniseries spans the period from 1938 to 1945 and covers the unfolding of the Holocaust, the events from Kristallnacht to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, and the Sobibor death camp revolt, and ultimately the end of World War II and the liberation of the camps. It portrays the crimes of the Nazis, including the "Action T4" euthanasia murders of the disabled, the Babi Yar massacre, the deportations to and imprisonment in the ghettos, and the murders of millions in the death camps. Throughout the series, each member of the Weiss (and Palitz) family suffers hardships and ultimately meets a terrible fate.

The Kristallnacht attacks in November 1938 were ostensibly in retaliation for the assassination of Nazi official Ernst vom Rath by Jewish 17-year-old Herschel Grynszpan. Much was staged and supported by the Nazis, as part of their economic and political persecution of Jews. So too it was, for the fictional Weiss (and Palitz) family.

Within days artist Karl Weiss is arrested and sent to Buchenwald concentration camp. Heinrich Palitz and his wife are forced to move in with their daughter, Berta, son-in-law Josef Weiss, and their two younger children still at home. Josef visits Erik Dorf, seeking his intervention, despite Dorf's previous warning against that. Dorf refuses, and turns Josef away.

A few days later, Dr. Josef Weiss, already prohibited from treating "Aryan" patients, is deported to Poland as a foreign Polish citizen, along with Jewish patients Franz Lowy (George Rose) and his wife Chana (Käte Jaenicke). Josef's brother, Moses Weiss owns a pharmacy in Warsaw, and finds a place for the couple to stay. Josef starts working as a doctor in the Warsaw Ghetto hospital. In Berlin, Berta, and their children are forced to "sell" (leave) their home and Josef's clinic. They move into their daughter-in-law Inga's apartment, relying on her and her reluctant, even hostile, Nazi-supporting family for their survival.

Rudi runs away, trying to escape the Nazis' reach. Anna becomes more distressed and, on New Year's Eve 1939, she runs out of the apartment in a huff. While walking, she is accosted and raped by a bunch of German SA stormtroopers. Nearly catatonic as a result, she is committed to Hadamar. She and others suffering from mental illness are killed under the Nazi Action T4. Eventually, Berta is deported from Berlin to Warsaw, where she reunites with her husband Josef. She teaches in the ghetto school, and Josef and Moses become members of the ''Judenrat'' (Jewish council) for the Ghetto.

Inga tries to contact Karl in Buchenwald, to no avail. Through a friend of Inga's family, Heinz Müller (Tony Haygarth), an SS officer stationed at Buchenwald, Inga is able to get letters to and from Karl, but only if she has sex with Müller. Inga initially refuses out of loyalty to Karl. When Müller threatens to have Karl keep doing heavy labor at risk of death, Inga submits to him, hoping to save Karl's life. Müller uses Inga's sexual contact with him to taunt Karl; he does arrange for an easier indoor job, and then transfer to Theresienstadt to work in its art studio.

Rudi Weiss reaches German-occupied Prague, Czechoslovakia, where he meets Helena Slomova (Tovah Feldshuh), whose parents have been deported. They fall in love and run away together, witnessing the Babi Yar massacre in Ukraine and meeting up with Jewish partisans. Rudi and Helena fight with them for years. When an attempted ambush of German troops fails, Rudi's partisans are annihilated, and Helena is killed. Captured, Rudi is sent to Sobibór death camp. He meets Leon Feldhandler and Alexander Pechersky, and escapes with them during the Sobibór uprising in October 1943. He decides to try to find his family in Europe.

Meanwhile, in the Warsaw ghetto, the Weisses and others learn about the death camps and join a resistance movement. They try to save lives in any way possible. Josef uses his position as doctor in the Ghetto hospital to rescue Jews from the trains by claiming they having contagious illness, and hiding them in a makeshift clinic in vacant buildings by the train platform. Moses Weiss and other fighters stockpile weapons bought outside the ghetto and smuggled in. Lowy, a printer, publishes resistance leaflets. Eventually Josef is caught and he and Berta, along with Franz and Chana Lowy, are deported to Auschwitz.

On Passover of 1943, Moses and the others revolt against the Germans entering the ghetto for a last action, so they can determine their own deaths. Although they have some success, the SS eventually overwhelm the defenders, crushing the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and burning down most of the buildings. When Moses and the other survivors surrender to SS forces, they are immediately killed by firing squads.

When Karl reaches Theresienstadt, he is commissioned as an artist. Sacrificing her freedom in order to reunite with Karl, she convinces Heinz Müller to denounce her and have her sent to Theresienstadt. Soon after arriving in Theresienstadt, Inga becomes pregnant with Karl's child. Theresienstadt is kept as a showplace to fool Red Cross observers, but Karl and others know better and begin secretly drawing the reality of the concentration camps. The SS learns of the art when one of the artists sells several works. SS, including Erik Dorf, and Theresienstadt officials, need to find out if more of these drawings exist, as they threaten their subterfuge. The artists are severely tortured but refuse to confess. Karl, the sole survivor of the arrested artists, is deported to Auschwitz, after learning that Inga is pregnant with their child.

Before the war can end, both of Karl's parents are killed in Auschwitz. Karl dies shortly before the liberation of the camp. Berta is last seen entering a gas chamber. Josef had been working on a road crew but Dorf reminds his superiors that Jews should not be used for slave labor when non-Jewish prisoners are available. Josef is also killed in the gas chamber. Karl is found dead in his barracks, after one final sketch.

After the war ends, Dorf is captured by the United States Army and told that he will be tried for war crimes. Dorf protests, saying that he was mostly an observer, and that Nazi actions were legitimate. Confronted by American evidence, Dorf commits suicide, taking a cyanide pill.

Rudi meets Inga after Theresienstadt is liberated, having learned about the deaths of his parents and Karl. Inga says she had their baby and named him Josef, after her father-in-law. She plans to return with Josef temporarily to Berlin, but says she won't stay there. Rudi is commissioned with smuggling Jewish orphans into Palestine. Karl's drawings, which had been hidden from the SS by Inga, were given to a museum in Prague as a permanent record of the Holocaust.

In 1949 Berlin, Janos Prohaska and Weng Chan of the Blackhawks Squadron go down into a deserted bunker covered in rats and littered with long dead bodies. The two are looking for a German secret weapon Janos heard about from a mysterious 'she'. They come across a strange green railroad lantern buried in a pile of rubbish. Janos is intrigued over the object as he is faintly reminded of a legend surrounding a green lantern although he is unable to recall the specific significance of the lantern, and he decides to take it with him.

In the present day, Clark Kent finds Hal Jordan in Metropolis and invites him over to spend some time together. When Clark asks Hal about his romantic relationship with Arisia, Hal succinctly states "We split". Clark, aware of how difficult a dual life and a relationship are to manage, also knows that any words as this moment would be too thin to offer any real comfort. Hal explains he's having a personal crisis, stating he used to be part of the Green Lantern Corps with a purpose and a plan. But with Oa drained and the Guardians having fled, all he is now is a man with a ring.

After some reassurances from Clark, they accompany each other to a museum convention Clark is supposed to cover for the ''Daily Planet'', and briefly run into Selina Kyle. They then find the green lantern discovered by Janos in an exhibition. Hal recognizes it as a power battery, and tries loading his power ring with it despite Clark's wariness. The effect is disastrous and a wave of magic energy kills both heroes. They wind up in the Region of the Just Dead and encounter Deadman, who explains that their deaths are not irrevocable until they have gone "into the light". Hal then tries using his ring to take them back to their bodies, the worst thing he could have done.

Meanwhile, the Phantom Stranger sits in the apartment given to him by the Lords of Order, his current masters. Sensing that something else needs his attention, he finally leaves the apartment forever and dismisses the Lords, who insist that he cannot leave his confinement. The Phantom admits to no membership or affiliation with any group and also denies belonging to this place or even having a home, because if he belonged then he would cease to be a stranger. He bids the voices farewell, even as their threats of wrath echo in a now empty room.

Superman and Hal have wound up in Hell, where Superman's super-senses cannot experience anything but suffering, fear and pain. Horrified by realizing that he can't save these innumerable souls, he is slowly going mad. The catatonic Man of Steel can't do anything but float around and cry, while a terrified Green Lantern desperately tries waking him up. When the two of them are attacked by blood-thirsty demons, Hal once again uses his ring, and they disappear.

Superman and Green Lantern encounter the power that killed them – the sentient Green Flame, the remains of the magic energies of Maltus. The Green Flame explains that their deaths were a result of Jordan trying to load his scientific ring with supernatural energies. Then it tempts Hal to give in for the supernatural power of the Green Flame instead. At that point, the Stranger appears, and teaches Hal how to tame the corrupt Flame. Hal reads the oath of Alan Scott, loads his ring, and the threat of the Green Flame is neutralized. The Stranger then returns Hal's and Superman's souls to their bodies, disposing of the lantern.

Alive after this experience, Hal is feeling better. Superman tells Hal that, even given tonight, it was good to see him, and lets Hal know he's always just a call away. After a warm goodbye, the two heroes part.

The innocent girl is 24-year-old Mary Mallory, who has spent the last seven years in isolation caring for her invalid aunt. After the latter's death, Mary, now living in London, realizes that she has to earn her own money unless she wants to live in relative poverty. She answers the ad of a Comtesse Zamoyski, who is looking for a companion with whom to travel to the Côte d'Azur, and, after an interview, she is accepted for the post. As Mary sees it, her new job combines at least two advantages: seeing the world and proving, to herself as well as her friends, that she is an independent woman. Mary's blinkered view lets her ignore all the warning signs that are pointed out to her. Jessie Stevens, her old schoolmate, even suspects that "White Slavery" could be behind that ad, but Mary does not listen and leaves London with her new employer.

Through a series of coincidences a number of people are alerted to the dangers that might be in store for Mary. Apart from Jessie Stevens, it is Dick Delabrae, a society columnist for ''The Sun'', and his friend Robert Wingate, who happens to be the nephew of Lady Wentworth, whose pearls the gang wants to steal. They all come to Cannes, where the Comtesse Zamoyski and Mary Mallory are staying in a remote villa, in order to help the young woman and prevent the theft of the pearls.

The Comtesse turns out to be rather moody, but at first Mary has no idea that she is associating with criminals. Her first visit to the Casino is a huge success: Not only does she win more than £1,500 at baccarat but she also makes the acquaintance of Lady Wentworth, who immediately takes a liking to the charming girl. Later that night, however, back at the villa, she overhears a conversation between the Comtesse, José Santes, allegedly the Comtesse's nephew, and a young Russian called Nadja, allegedly her maid, which makes it unmistakably clear to her that she is staying under the same roof with criminals.

However, escape is now no longer possible. Before she can get away from the villa, Mary Mallory is captured, drugged and hypnotized by the fourth member of the gang, a Frenchman posing as a doctor. On his way to the villa to rescue Mary, Robert Wingate, who has fallen in love with Mary, is kidnapped by Santes's men and thrown into catacombs somewhere below the streets of Cannes. Lady Wentworth is lured to the Comtesse's villa with the prospect of seeing Mary again but after her arrival she is tied to a chair and, in a drug-induced frenzy, stabbed to death by José Santes, a "dope fiend". As she is not wearing her pearls, the gang flee without any loot. When Mary Mallory wakes from her stupor some time later it is only to encounter the French police accusing her of murdering Lady Wentworth, whose body she discovers in the same room where she was lying unconscious.

But Robert Wingate can escape from the dungeon, and all misunderstandings are cleared up in the end. The members of the gang are arrested near the Italian border, and the two couples — Dick and Jessie on the one hand, Robert and Mary on the other — return to England to get married.

The title character, Mirele, is a fifty-year-old widow when the play begins who, over the last several decades, salvaged her late husband's failing business. Honest, hardworking, and astute, but also autocratic, her authority is challenged by her daughter-in-law Shaindl, who insists that it is time that her husband, Mirele's son, inherit the business. The inheritance is given—the house as well—but grudgingly, in such a manner as to cut off Mirele from her family. She takes refuge with her faithful steward, Kalman, towards whom she continues to behave as an autocrat.

Ten years later Shaindl, her marriage and the business both going poorly, attempts to heal the breach in time for her son's ''bar mitzvah''. Mirele refuses, but after Shaindl's departure she collapses in grief. Ultimately, the boy successfully approaches her on the day of his ''bar mitzvah'' and convinces her to come. Despite its tragic, Shakespearean tone, the play, atypically for Gordin, ends happily, with song and dance.

In 1919, the Chicago White Sox are considered among the greatest baseball teams ever assembled; however, the team's stingy owner, Charles Comiskey, gives little inclination to reward his players for a spectacular season.

Gamblers "Sleepy Bill" Burns and Billy Maharg get wind of the players' discontent, asking shady player Chick Gandil to convince a select group of Sox—including star knuckleball pitcher Eddie Cicotte, who led the majors with a 29–7 win–loss record and an earned run average of 1.82—that they could earn more money by playing badly and throwing the series than they could earn by winning the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds. Cicotte was motivated because Comiskey refused him a promised $10,000 should he win 30 games for the season. Cicotte was nearing the milestone when Comiskey ordered team manager Kid Gleason to bench him for 2 weeks (missing 5 starts) with the excuse that the 35-year-old veteran's arm needed a rest before the series.

A number of players, including Gandil, Swede Risberg, and Lefty Williams, go along with the scheme. "Shoeless Joe" Jackson, the team's illiterate superstar, is also invited, but is depicted as not bright nor entirely sure of what is going on. Buck Weaver, meanwhile, insists that he is a winner and wants nothing to do with the fix.

When the best-of-nine series begins, Cicotte (pitching in Game 1) deliberately hits Reds leadoff hitter Morrie Rath in the back with his second pitch in a prearranged signal to gangster Arnold Rothstein that the fix was on. Cicotte then pitches poorly and gives up 5 runs in four innings—four of them in the 4th, highlighted by a triple from Reds pitcher Walter "Dutch" Ruether. He is then relieved by Gleason, though the Sox lose the first game, 9–1. Williams also pitched poorly in Game 2, while Gandil, Risberg and Hap Felsch made glaring mistakes on the field. Several of the players become upset, however, when the various gamblers involved fail to pay their promised money up front.

Chicago journalists Ring Lardner and Hugh Fullerton grow increasingly suspicious, while Gleason continues to hear rumors of a fix, but he remains confident that his boys will come through in the end.

A third pitcher not in on the scam, rookie Dickie Kerr, wins Game 3 for the Sox, making both gamblers and teammates uncomfortable. Other teammates such as catcher Ray Schalk continue to play hard, while Weaver and Jackson show no visible signs of taking a dive with Weaver continuing to deny participation in the fix. Cicotte loses, again, in Game 4 and the Sox lose Game 5, as well, putting them 1 loss away from losing the series. With the championship now in jeopardy, the Sox manage to win Game 6 in extra innings. Gleason intends to bench Cicotte from his next start, but Cicotte, feeling guilty over throwing his previous games, begs for another chance. The manager reluctantly agrees and is given an easy Game 7 win. Unpaid by the gamblers, Williams also intends to win, but when his wife's life is threatened, he purposely pitches so badly that he is quickly relieved by "Big Bill" James in the 1st inning. Jackson hits a home run off Reds pitcher Hod Eller in the 3rd inning, but the team still lose the final game.

Cincinnati wins the Series (5 games to 3). Fullerton writes an article condemning the White Sox. An investigation begins into the possible fixing of the Series. In 1920, Cicotte and Jackson admit that a fix existed (though the illiterate Jackson is implied as having been coerced into making his confession). As a result of the revelations, Cicotte, Williams, Gandil, Felsch, Risberg, McMullin, Jackson, and Weaver are tried. The eight men are acquitted of any wrongdoing. However, newly appointed commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis bans the eight men for life because they either intentionally lost games or (as Weaver did) knew about the fix and didn't report it to team officials.

In 1925, Weaver watches Jackson play a semi-pro game in New Jersey under the assumed name "Brown". Hearing other fans suspecting his true identity, Weaver tells them that Jackson was the best player he ever saw. When asked point-blank if the player is indeed Jackson, Weaver denies it, protecting his former teammate by telling the fans "those guys are gone now", solemnly reminiscing on the 1919 World Series. A title card reveals that the eight players banned from the scandal never returned to the majors. Weaver unsuccessfully attempted to have his ban overturned on several occasions until his death in 1956.

The books opens in our own world, at the University of Toronto, where the five main characters are all fellow students. They attend a lecture by a Professor Lorenzo Marcus, who afterwards reveals to them that he is in reality Loren Silvercloak, a mage from the land of Fionavar. Silvercloak tells the five that he has come to our world to bring back five guests, as part of the celebration of the 50th year of the reign of High King Ailell of Brennin. After some debate, the students -- Kevin Laine, Paul Schafer, Dave Martyniuk, Kimberly Ford, and Jennifer Lowell -- agree to accompany Silvercloak and the dwarf Matt Sören (Loren's "source", the person whose strength he draws on to perform his magic). However, Dave has second thoughts in the midst of Loren's transferral process; he attempts to pull free, breaking his contact with the others, and so although the remaining four arrive safely in Brennin, Dave is nowhere to be seen.

Kim, Paul, Jennifer and Kevin discover that Brennin is in the midst of a crippling drought, brought on by the High King's unwillingness to offer himself on the Summer Tree as a sacrifice to Mörnir. The kingdom has been somewhat uneasy since Ailell's eldest son, Aileron, offered to take his father's place; upon Ailell's refusal, he cursed his father and was exiled.

Ysanne the Seer recognizes Kim as the successor foretold by her dreams. Kim accompanies Ysanne to her cottage by the lake where Ysanne calls on Eilathen, a water spirit, to awaken Kim's latent Seer powers; Ysanne then passes to Kim the Baelrath, or Warstone, a red stone set in a ring. Ysanne also shows Kim two magical items. The first is Lökdal, a dwarvish dagger with a double gift: he who kills with Lökdal with love in his heart may make a gift of his soul to another; he who kills without love in his heart will die. Ysanne also shows Kim the Circlet of Lisen, set with a shining white gem, and recounts the prophecy concerning it: "Who shall wear this next after Lisen shall have the darkest road to walk of any child of earth or stars." That night Ysanne takes her own life with Lökdal and makes Kim a gift of her soul. When Kim awakens the next morning, she has not only the power of a seer (which was born in her), but also all of Ysanne's deep knowledge of Fionavar to help her interpret what she sees. Her hair turned completely white, Kim takes Ysanne's place as Seer of Brennin.

Kevin and Paul are befriended by Diarmuid, Ailell's second son, a handsome man and elegant swordsman, but apparently frivolous and light-hearted. They accompany Diarmuid and his band on a daring journey to Cathal, the kingdom to the South of Brennin. Diarmuid has a double purpose: to prove the existence of a way across the Saeral River, and to seduce the King of Cathal's daughter, the lovely but fiercely independent Sharra. He achieves both and the band returns triumphant to Brennin. That night, a song that Kevin sings reawakens Paul's ghosts. Long haunted by grief and guilt over the death of his girlfriend in a car accident which he believes was his fault, Paul offers to sacrifice himself by taking Ailell's place on the Summer Tree, seeing this as a way to expiate his guilt.

Jennifer and Jaelle, High Priestess of Dana, overhear a children's game in which Leila, a young girl, calls a boy named Finn to "take the Longest Road." This is the third time this is happened and clearly marks Finn somehow. Jaelle cannot explain what it means but she sees latent power in Leila and invites her to become an acolyte in the temple. The next day, Jennifer meets Brendel of the lios alfar and some of his people and goes riding with them. That night, Jennifer's escort of lios alfar is slaughtered by Galadan and his wolves, and Jennifer is taken.

Paul is bound naked to the Tree where he hangs for three days and nights, fully expecting that he will die. On the second night, Galadan appears but is driven away by a grey dog. On the third night Dana, the Mother, relieves Paul's pain by showing him that he was not to blame for Rachel's death and Paul is at last able to weep for Rachel. His tears break the drought. Nursed (grudgingly) back to health by Jaelle, Paul recovers and is named Pwyll Twiceborn, Lord of the Summer Tree.

By now it is evident to all concerned that significant events are afoot, and when Mount Rangat explodes in a dramatic hand of fire reaching across the sky, there can be no doubt. Rakoth Maugrim, defeated and chained a thousand years ago, has broken free of his prison—and Jennifer's kidnappers have sent her to him at his fortress of Starkadh.

Ailell suffers a heart attack and dies at the sight. Aileron returns and Diarmuid, with great wit, agrees that he should be High King despite having been exiled. In the midst of this dynastic confusion, Sharra of Cathal, furious at her seduction and abandonment, stabs Diarmuid in the shoulder. Amongst these events we begin to get a hint of the true strength of Diarmuid's character.

Meanwhile, Dave has arrived safely in Fionavar but far out on the plains. He is taken in by a group of Dalrei, or Riders, led by Ivor, chieftain of the third tribe, and Gereint, their shaman. The Dalrei dub him "Davor" and give him an axe, as the weapon best suited to Dave's build and lack of sword training. Dave bonds with Torc dan Sorcha, something of an outcast, when he and Torc spend a night watching over Ivor's son Tabor during his vision quest to find his totem animal. Unbelievably, the animal Tabor sees is a winged chestnut unicorn; even more incredibly, three nights later Tabor finds and immediately bonds with her, knowing that she has been created as a gift of the goddess and her name is Imraith-Nimphais.

When the mountain explodes, Ivor sends a party towards Brennin led by Levon, his oldest son. They are ambushed by svart alfar near Pendaran Wood and only Dave, Levon and Torc survive by fleeing into the wood. The trees of the Wood bear a centuries-long grudge over the death of Lisen, their beautiful forest spirit who bound herself as source to Amairgen, the First Mage, and who killed herself when he died. Flidais rescues them and alerts Ceinwen. Ceinwen takes a fancy to Dave; not only does she transport them safely to the other edge of the wood, she also makes sure that Dave finds Owein's Horn. Levon, well-taught in legends by Gereint, then finds the Cave of the Sleepers, who can be awakened by the Horn.

When all are at last gathered in Brennin, the new High King calls a council. They are interrupted by Brock, a dwarf, who names Matt Sören as rightful King of the Dwarves and then divulges that it is the dwarves who helped Rakoth Maugrim free himself in secret. They have also found for him the Cauldron of Khath Meigol which can resurrect the dead. The council resumes but a sudden blinding headache bursts upon Kim, and in a heartbreaking vision she sees Jennifer in Starkadh, being raped and tortured by Maugrim. Using the power of the Baelrath, Kim manages to pull all five of them out of Fionavar and back into their own world.

The Simpson family are trying unsuccessfully to get Maggie to speak, inspiring Marge to share the story of Lisa's first word.

The story flashes back to 1983 when Homer, Marge and Bart, aged two, lived in an apartment on the Lower East Side of Springfield. Marge is pregnant again, and she points out to Homer that they will probably need a bigger place. After viewing several unsuitable properties, they buy a house on Evergreen Terrace with a $15,000 down payment from the sale of Grampa's house. In 1984, the Simpsons move there and meet their neighbors, Ned Flanders and his family.

Meanwhile, Krusty the Clown begins a promotion for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games with his Krusty Burger chain. The promotion is a "scratch-and-win" game where customers can win free Krusty Burgers if America wins a gold medal, but the game cards are rigged to feature events that athletes from Communist countries are most likely to win. But then, Krusty receives word of the Soviet boycott of the Olympics, which will cause him to lose $44 million from all the burgers he will have to give away.

Bart will have to give up his crib for the new baby so Homer builds him a new bed shaped like a clown, but it is so badly made that Bart is terrified of it. Lisa is born and gets all the attention; Bart takes an immediate dislike to her. He is about to run away when Lisa says her first word, "Bart". He is thrilled, and Marge explains that Lisa adores him. Bart and Lisa hug each other and they think it's funny that they both call Homer by his name, rather than "Daddy" as he wishes.

In the present day, Homer puts Maggie to bed; as soon as he turns off the light and closes the door, Maggie takes her pacifier out of her mouth and says, "Daddy".

The storyline of ''All New World of Lemmings'' continues where ''Lemmings 2'' left off. Of the twelve tribes that escaped from Lemming Island, the adventures of three tribes are followed in this game: the Shadow tribe, the Classic tribe and the Egyptian tribe. Each tribe leaves the flying Ark they escaped on, and finds their own island to explore.

In Australia, the evil cassowary, Boss Cass, enters the Outback to steal the 5 mystical talismans so he can become the country's ruler, but is confronted by a family of boomerang-wielding Tasmanian tigers and they fight for control of the talismans. When Cass opens a portal to the Dreaming to imprison the tigers, Ty's father throws his Doomarang to dislodge the talismans, destroying the portal and scattering the talismans. Having become the last of his kind, Ty is adopted as an orphan by the bilbies. Several years later, Ty inadvertently falls into a cave while playing with the bilbies and encounters the Bunyip elder Nandu Gili, who informs him about his true heritage and Cass's plans to obtain the talismans again. Ty resolves to finding the missing talismans, rescue his family and defeat Cass. He is aided in his mission by Maurice, his cockatoo friend.

At Bli-Bli Station, Ty befriends Julius, a koala scientist who has invented a device that will find the Talismans. Because Thunder Eggs are required to power the device, Ty must find the Thunder Eggs by visiting portals to other worlds. With Maurie's help, Ty finds a second boomerang at a billabong. At a rainforest, he helps save his dingo girlfriend, Shazza, and helps Ranger Ken by clearing the bats out of a cave, as well as learning to swim from the lifeguard Rex and find a wrecked ship on a tropical island. When Julius finds the first talisman, Ty encounters Bull, a boar. He tames Bull by luring him into the rocks and rescues the first talisman. At Julius' laboratory, Ty learns that Julius has developed elemental boomerangs by diverting the excess energy from the Fire Thunder Eggs through his Hyper Techno Boomerang Maker.

Ty makes his way through Pippy Beach by using his Flamerangs. He uses Bull to travel around the outback and helps Shazza and Ken once more. Ty also befriends Dennis, a cowardly green tree frog, and helps him get to his home by lighting up the path along the way with his Flamerangs. In the Snowy Mountains, he also rescues a group of koala children who are lost in the snow. As Julius finds the second talisman, Cass stations another one of his henchmen, the mechanical shark Crikey, to intercept Ty. Ty jumps across a group of platforms and, after using the oxygen tanks, defeats Crikey. Using the remaining energy from the ice Thunder Eggs, Julius constructs a new set of boomerangs for Ty, the "Frostyrangs".

Ty puts out a group of bushfires using the Frostyrangs and enters Lake Burril. Having discovered that Ty is the one collecting the talismans and Thunder Eggs, Cass deploys Sly, another one of his high-ranking henchmen and fellow Tasmanian Tiger, to eliminate him. As Ty makes his way through another rain forest (while being continually misguided by a lyrebird named Lenny), he confronts and defeats Sly inside the rainforest's factory. Ty later saves the koala children again and puts out more bushfires on a snowy mountain, as well as passing through a group of tropical islands. When the third talisman is located, Ty finds and battles a female thorny devil (later revealed to be Fluffy), another of Cass's henchmen. Despite attacking with her giant mechanical Yeti, Ty manages defeats her and acquires the third talisman. Julius then constructs mighty "Thunderangs" from the excess Thunder Egg energy, giving the new boomerangs to Ty.

After gathering enough golden cogs and Thunder Eggs, as well as being told that the last two talismans are presumably in Cass's possession, Ty enters a rainforest leading to Cass's lair while avoiding booby traps and Cass's minions. Inside the lair, Ty encounters Shazza again. Cass has another of his henchmen, Shadow the bat, capture Shazza. Ty defeats Shadow, rescues Shazza, and acquires the fourth talisman. After another confrontation with Sly, Ty defeats him and rescues him from falling into a pit of lava, but Sly vows to exact revenge. Ty finds Boss Cass and his massive robot, the Neo Fluffy X, and the two battle. Using his father's Doomarang given to him by Sly, Ty destroys the robot and sends Cass falling out of the sky. After giving the Bunyip elder the last talisman, his parents arrive from the Dreaming.

The story takes place during the 17th century in the Spanish Empire. Diego Alatriste is a soldier in the service of King Philip IV of Spain during the Eighty Years' War. The story begins in the Spanish Netherlands, where his ''tercio'' fights in the Dutch Revolt. His friend Lope Balboa is killed during the fighting, and Alatriste returns to Madrid where he takes Lope's young son Íñigo into his care.

Alatriste is hired along with a Sicilian assassin named Gualterio Malatesta to kill the Prince of Wales (the future King Charles I of England) and his companion, the Duke of Buckingham. The job is contracted by Emilio Bocanegra and Luis de Alquézar (uncle of Íñigo's love interest, Angélica de Alquézar). Alatriste finally returns to the Netherlands in 1624 (although the movie states 1625) and participates in the final battles leading to Breda's surrender. After returning to Spain, Íñigo wants to elope with Angélica, but she gets cold feet at the last moment. Alatriste has a romance with actress María de Castro. Because she was disappointed that she failed to marry him, she became the lover of Philip IV. Alatriste ends up crossing swords with Guadalmedina, a friend of the king. In the end, the object of their attention falls ill with syphilis. The duel with his friend Martín Saldaña and the punishment of Íñigo in the galleys are part of the film's spectacular ending.

The last scenes are at the Battle of Rocroi (May 1643), described in the last book of ''The Adventures of Captain Alatriste'' saga. During the battle, Abel Moreno Gómez's "La Madrugá" is playing as the defeated army's march and this is where it is assumed that Alatriste dies.

The plot of the film has elements from each of the five books published up to the premiere, and it maintains the same storyline for the main characters. It includes excerpts from the future books of the saga.

The children of South Park become obsessed with an animated Japanese cartoon, ''Chinpokomon'' (a parody of Pokémon). The cartoon features overt embedded marketing and subliminal messaging to encourage the purchase and consumption of ''Chinpokomon''-related merchandise. Unbeknownst to the parents, ''Chinpokomon'' products all contain anti-American sentiments with the aim of converting American kids to Japanese child soldiers.

Kyle is originally oblivious to the fad, and as its popularity increases he reluctantly attempts to keep up-to-date to avoid ridicule from his friends. Unfortunately, the merchandise lineup is so extensive that he is always one step behind. Meanwhile, the boys make plans to attend the official ''Chinpokomon'' camp, which is actually a front for a recruit training boot camp designed by the Japanese government to train and brainwash the kids into becoming soldiers for an upcoming attack on Pearl Harbor. As the adults start to become aware of the scheme, the Japanese distract them by telling them that Americans have "huge penises` compared to the Japanese, a tactic that works well against the male characters.

The parents start to suspect the nonsensical cartoon is dangerous, as "stupidity can be worse than vulgarity and violence" and compare it to ''Battle of the Network Stars''. Sheila Broflofski suggests it is just another harmless fad. This is juxtaposed with the truth of the fad's influence, which has turned the children into brainwashed soldiers and left Kenny in trance-like state after an epileptic seizure caused from playing the Chinpokomon video game.

Becoming increasingly concerned, the parents attempt to defuse the fad's popularity by trying to manufacture new fads: The "Wild Wacky Action Bike", an abnormal plastic glow-in-the-dark bicycle contraption that cannot be steered, and "Alabama Man", an abusive, alcoholic, redneck action figure that comes with a bowling alley playset and a redneck wife to use as a punching bag. The boys, uninterested, call both the bike and action figure "gay".

As the boys march through the town with Emperor Hirohito, President Bill Clinton will not act against the invasion as he too has fallen for the "incredibly large penis" trick. Finally, the parents hit upon the idea of using reverse psychology, pretending to be ''Chinpokomon'' fans themselves — figuring that whatever they like their children will immediately dislike. The trick works, and all the children except Kyle instantly lose all interest. Kyle claims that if he stops liking ''Chinpokomon'' now, he will be following the crowd, so he prepares to leave in a fighter jet to bomb Pearl Harbor. A heart-felt and contradictory speech by Stan confuses him into reluctantly getting off the jet.

The group decide to avoid fads for a while, and Kenny is discovered to have been dead for some time, as evidenced when his body explodes, unleashing a large number of rats; Cartman is disgusted while Stan and Kyle laugh.

The game is set in the 23rd century, and starts with the crew of an exploration vessel called the Aegis testing a new machine called a dimensional drive. The experiment, however, goes horribly wrong because a malevolent bio-mechanical race called the Archnid somehow tampered with the machine, resulting in the Aegis and its crew being sent into another dimension.

The pilot of a small ship that was on the Aegis (controlled the player) meets up with the ship. At this point, it's revealed that the Aegis was attacked by the Archnid, heavily damaged, and the dimension drive has been stolen. The player must then mine resources to repair the Aegis, their own ship, and recover the dimension drive, which the Archnid broke into five pieces, hoping to reverse engineer the technology and use it to escape.

Though optional, the player can do some side quests with a race of machines called the Xenarch. After completing missions for them, they Xenarch will gradually reveal information about themselves and the Archnid. The Xenarch reveal that, the Archnid were once an organic race that was trapped in the dimension. Realizing they would die because they couldn't escape, most of them fused with machines to become immortal, leading to insanity. The Xenarch were created by the few that didn't fused with the machine to kill the Archnid, but the Xenarch failed in their task. Doing this reveals to the crew of the Aegis how dangerous the Archnid are, and further motivates them to get the pieces of their dimension drive so they can make sure the Archnid cannot threaten the normal universe.

The default character name of 'Jameson' is taken from the game Elite.

When millionaire industrialist Donald Carson III breaks his leg during a trip through the Mojave Desert, his wife Gerry and her lover mining engineer Joe Duncan tell him they will seek medical aid. They deliberately don't return however, hoping Carson will perish while he is stranded alone in the desert. He vows to survive in order to exact revenge on his adulterous wife and her accomplice, who have flown to Carson's mansion in Los Angeles, while waiting for him to succumb to either desert heat or suicide. Instead he fashions a splint for his leg, enabling him to limp down the rocks where he was left and head through the desert. He successfully digs a well and shoots a deer, making strips of dried meat that will last for days.

Law enforcement officers had hoped to find the missing Carson; but after several unsuccessful attempts, it is decided to call off further search efforts. Joe is getting nervous though and to make sure Carson is dead he flies a small plane over the region and spots the remnants of a fire. Suspecting now that Carson is still alive, Joe and Gerry drive back into the desert to look for him and finish him off if necessary. Joe discovers Carson still limping through the desert and is about to shoot him, when an old prospector called Elby, driving a jalopy, encounters Carson and gives him a ride back to his shack. On returning to his own car, Joe finds that in her haste to leave him Gerry has driven his car over a large rock by accident, which has ruptured the vehicle's oil pan. The damage now makes it impossible for them to drive out of the desert. Joe then sees a pair of binoculars on the car seat and he suddenly realizes that her real intention when she moved the car, was to abandon him as well as her husband. Joe angrily walks away, leaving Gerry to fend for herself alone in the Mojave.

That evening at Elby's shack, the prospector prepares supper for Carson, who confesses to his rescuer that although revenge is what sustained him while lost in the desert, the treachery of his wife and her lover no longer seem important. As Elby goes outside to his well for water, he is knocked out by Joe, who spotted the light coming from his shack. Joe then shoots at Carson but misses. The two men engage in a desperate, brutal fistfight inside the shack. A toppled stove causes the shack to catch fire and with both men barely conscious, Elby comes to just in time to drag Carson to safety while Joe perishes in the blaze. The next day, as Elby drives Carson to the nearest town, they spy Gerry walking alone on a long, remote stretch of desert road. Elby stops his car beside her and Carson calmly tells her that she can either wait for the authorities to find her or ride into town with them. She reluctantly climbs onto the back of the car and the film ends with the car continuing on its way.

Pink is a depressed rock star who, at the beginning of the film, appears motionless and expressionless while remembering his father. A flashback reveals how his father was killed defending the Anzio beachhead during World War II, in Pink's infancy. Pink's mother raises him alone. A young Pink later discovers relics from his father's military service and death. An animation depicts the war, showing that the death of the people was for nothing. Pink places a bullet on the track of an oncoming train within a tunnel, and the train that passes has children peering out of the windows wearing face masks.

At school, he is caught writing poems in class and is humiliated by the teacher who reads a poem from Pink's book. However, it is revealed that the bad treatment of the students is because of the unhappiness of the teacher's marriage. Pink recalls an oppressive school system, imagining children falling into a meat grinder. He then fantasizes about the children rising in rebellion and burning down the school, throwing the teacher onto a bonfire. As an adult, Pink remembers his overprotective mother, and his marriage. During a phone call, Pink realises that his wife is cheating on him, and another animation shows that every traumatic experience he has had is represented as a "brick" in the metaphorical wall he constructs around himself that divides him from society.

Pink then comes back to the hotel room with a groupie, only for him to destroy the room in a fit of violence, scaring her away. Depressed, he thinks about his wife, and feels trapped in his room. He then remembers every "brick" of his wall. His wall shown to be complete, and the film returns to the first scene.

Now inside his wall, he does not leave his hotel room, and begins to lose his mind to metaphorical "worms". He shaves all his body hair, and watches television. A flashback shows young Pink searching through trenches of the war, eventually finding himself as an adult. Young Pink runs in terror, and appears at a railway station, with the people demanding that the soldiers return home. Returning to the present, Pink's manager finds him in his hotel room, drugged and unresponsive. A paramedic injects him to enable him to perform.

In this state, Pink thinks he is a dictator and his concert is a fascist rally. His followers attack black people. He then holds a rally in London. The scene includes images of animated marching hammers that goose-step across ruins. Pink then stops hallucinating and screams "STOP!", deciding he no longer wants to be in the wall. He is then seen cowering in a bathroom stall, quietly singing to himself as a security guard walks past him. In a climactic animated sequence, Pink, as a rag doll, is on trial for "showing feelings of an almost human nature". His teacher and wife accuse him, while his mother tries to take him home. His sentence is "to be exposed before his peers" and the judge gives the order to "tear down the wall!". Following a prolonged silence, the wall is smashed as Pink can be heard screaming. Pink is not seen again. Back to live action, several children are seen cleaning up a pile of debris, with a freeze-frame on one of the children emptying a Molotov cocktail, as the film ends.

The plot concerns a young female biochemist who discovers that a chemical extracted from an unusual strain of lichen can be used to slow down the ageing process, enabling people to live to around 200–300 years. Wyndham speculates how society would deal with this prospect.

The two central characters are Diana Brackley and Francis Saxover, two biochemists who run parallel investigations into the properties of a specific species of lichen after Diana notices that a trace of the specimen prevents some milk turning sour.

She and Francis separately manage to extract from the lichen a new drug, dubbed Antigerone, which slows down the body's ageing process. While Francis uses it only on himself and his immediate family (without their knowledge), Diana founds a cosmetic spa, and builds up a clientele of some of the most powerful women in England, giving them low doses of Antigerone, preserving their beauty and youth. When Francis finds out about the spas, he erroneously assumes that Diana's motive is profit. Diana's aim, however, is actually female empowerment, intending to gain the support of these influential women, believing that if Antigerone became publicly known, it would be reserved only for the men in power.

After a customer suffers an allergic reaction to one of Diana's products, the secret of the drug begins to emerge. Diana tries to cover up the real source of the drug, since the lichen is very rare and difficult to grow, but when it is finally discovered she fakes her own death in the hope of inspiring the women of Britain to fight for the rights she tried to secure for them.

Francis realizes that Diana may not really be dead, and tracks her down to a remote farm where she has succeeded in growing a small amount of the lichen. Diana plans to rejoin the world under the guise of being her own sister, and continue the work she left off.

The novel is a future history, set from 1994 to 2194. It tells the story, with chapters at 50-year intervals, of the exploration of the Solar System, with space stations in Earth orbit, then Moon bases, and landings on Mars in 2094, Venus in 2144, and the asteroids. This is told through the Troon family, several members of which play an important part in the exploration of space, since they all feel "the outward urge", the desire to travel further into space. They all "hear the thin gnat-voices cry, star to faint star across the sky", a quote from ''The Jolly Company'' by Rupert Brooke.

In 1994, "Ticker" Troon is killed foiling a Soviet missile attack on a British space station, and is later awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross.

In 2044, a major nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the West wipes out most of the Northern Hemisphere. Inhabitants of the Southern Hemisphere—virtually the only survivors of humanity—call it the "Great Northern War", the far earlier war of the same name seeming very minor in comparison. Only after hundreds of years, with radioactivity going down, do expeditions from the south start carefully exploring and preparing to re-colonise the ravaged northern hemisphere.

Brazil is left as the main world power, which then claims that "Space is a province of Brazil". However, Australia eventually emerges as a serious rival. Consequently, English and Portuguese become contenders for the position of the major worldwide (eventually, Solar System-wide) language.

Eventually, space explorers break away from the tutelage of both earthbound powers and establish themselves as a major third power, called simply "Space"; the Troon Family plays a major role in this as in many other events.

After three years in a psychiatric hospital, former Chief Inspector of the Sûreté Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), has recovered from his obsession to kill Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) and is about to be released; Clouseau, who has since replaced Dreyfus as Chief Inspector, arrivies unannounced to speak on behalf of his former boss, and within minutes drives Dreyfus insane again. Dreyfus later escapes from the hospital and once again tries to kill Clouseau by planting a bomb while the Inspector (by periodic arrangement) duels with his manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk). The bomb destroys Clouseau's apartment and injures Cato, but Clouseau himself is unharmed, being lifted from the room by an inflatable hunchback disguise. Deciding that a more elaborate plan is needed to eliminate Clouseau, Dreyfus enlists an army of career criminals to his cause and kidnaps nuclear physicist Professor Hugo Fassbender (Richard Vernon) and the Professor's daughter Margo (Briony McRoberts), forcing the professor to build a "doomsday weapon" in return for his daughter's freedom.

Clouseau travels to the UK to investigate Fassbender's disappearance, where he wrecks their family home and ineptly interrogates Jarvis (Michael Robbins), Fassbender's cross-dressing butler. Although Jarvis is later killed by the kidnappers, to whom he had become a dangerous witness, Clouseau discovers a clue that leads him to the Oktoberfest in Munich, West Germany. Meanwhile, Dreyfus, using Fassbender's invention, disintegrates the United Nations headquarters in New York City and blackmails the leaders of the world, including the President of the United States and his Secretary of State (based on Gerald Ford and Henry Kissinger), into assassinating Clouseau. However, many of the nations instruct their operatives to kill Clouseau to gain Dreyfus's favor and possibly the Doomsday Machine. As a result of their orders and Clouseau's obliviousness, all of the other assassins end up killing one another until only the agents of Egypt and Russia remain.

The Egyptian assassin (Omar Sharif) shoots one of Dreyfus's assassins, mistaking him for Clouseau, but is seduced by the Russian operative Olga Bariosova (Lesley-Anne Down), who makes the same mistake. When the real Clouseau arrives, he is perplexed by Olga's affections but learns from her Dreyfus's location at a castle in Bavaria. Dreyfus is elated at the erroneous report of Clouseau's demise, but suffers from a painful toothache and sends for a dentist; when Clouseau hears a dentist is needed at the castle, he disguises himself as an elderly German dentist and finally gains entry to the castle (his earlier attempts at sneaking in the castle had been repeatedly foiled by his general ineptitude and the castle's drawbridge). Unrecognized by Dreyfus, Clouseau ends up intoxicating both of them with nitrous oxide. When 'the dentist' mistakenly pulls the wrong tooth, Dreyfus immediately figures out it is Clouseau in disguise. Clouseau escapes, and a vengeful and now totally insane Dreyfus prepares to use the machine to destroy England. Clouseau, eluding Dreyfus's henchmen, unwittingly foils Dreyfus's plans when a medieval catapult outside the castle launches him on top of the doomsday machine, causing it to malfunction and fire on Dreyfus and the castle itself. As the remaining henchmen, Fassbender and his daughter, and eventually Clouseau himself escape the dissolving castle, Dreyfus plays "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" on the castle's pipe organ while he himself disintegrates, until he and the castle vanish into thin air.

Returning to Paris, Clouseau is finally reunited with Olga. However, their tryst is interrupted first by Clouseau's apparent inability to remove his clothes, and then by Cato's latest surprise attack, which causes all three to be hurled into the river Seine when the reclining bed snaps back upright and crashes through the wall. Immediately thereafter, a cartoon image of Clouseau emerges from the water, which has been tinted pink, and begins swimming, unaware that a gigantic version of the Pink Panther character is waiting below him with a sharp-toothed, open mouth (a reference to the then-recent film ''Jaws'', made further obvious by the thematic music). The film ends as the animated Clouseau chases the Pink Panther up the Seine as the credits roll.

The novel is divided into four sections. Each details a particular day in the four months that spanned the summer of 1958.

''In June'' takes up half of the book and shows the narrator meeting up with various teenaged friends and some adults in various parts of London and discussing his outlook on life and the new concept of being a teenager. He also learns that his ex-girlfriend, Suzette, is to enter a marriage of convenience with her boss, a middle-aged gay fashion designer called Henley.

''In July'' has the narrator taking photographs by the river Thames, seeing the musical operetta ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' with his father, has a violent encounter with Ed the Ted and watches Hoplite's appearance on Call-Me-Cobber's TV show.

''In August'' has the narrator and his father take a cruise along the Thames towards Windsor Castle. His father is taken ill on the trip and has to be taken to a doctor. The narrator also finds Suzette at her husband's cottage in Cookham.

''In September'' is set on the narrator's 19th birthday. He sees this, symbolically, as the beginning of his last year as a teenager. He witnesses several incidents of racial violence, which disgust him. His father also dies, leaving him four envelopes stuffed with money. Suzette has separated from Henley, but still seems uncertain as to whether she should resume her relationship with the narrator. The narrator decides to leave the country and find a place where racism doesn't exist. At the airport, he sees Africans arriving and gives them a warm welcome.

In an interview with CBC Radio, Université de Montréal History Professor Dominique St. Arnaud tells Diane about her new book, ''Variations on the Idea of Happiness'', which discusses her thesis that modern society's fixation on self-indulgence is indicative of its decline, predicting a collapse in the "American Empire", of which Quebec is on the periphery. Several of Dominique and Diane's friends, mostly intellectual history professors at the university, prepare for a dinner later in the day, with the men at work in the kitchen while the women work out at the gym.

As the dinner draws nearer, the men and women mainly talk about their sex lives, with the men being open about their adulteries, including Rémy, who is married to Louise. Most of the women in the circle of friends have had sex with Rémy, though he is not attractive, but they conceal this from Louise to spare her feelings. Louise has been to an orgy with Rémy, but believes he is generally faithful to her in Montreal. The friends are also accepting of their homosexual friend Claude, who speaks about pursuing men reckless of fear of STDs, while secretly being fearful of having one. During the dinner party, the friends listen to Dominique's theories about the decline of society, with Louise expressing skepticism. To retaliate against Louise, Dominique reveals she has had sex with Rémy and their friend Pierre, causing her to have an emotional meltdown. By morning, relationships have gone back to normal.

Patty and Selma visit the Simpsons family to show them slides of their last trip to Yucatan. Homer is asked by Marge to stop by the Kwik-E-Mart on the way home from work to buy some ice cream. In the store, he sees a figure resembling Krusty the Clown committing a robbery. The police soon apprehend Krusty and take him into custody. After Homer identifies him at a police lineup and in the courtroom, Krusty is incarcerated, upsetting Bart. Reverend Lovejoy urges the town's residents to destroy Krusty's merchandise. Krusty's sidekick Sideshow Bob becomes the new host of his show, now called ''The Side-Show Bob Cavalcade of Whimsy'' and retooled to focus on education and classic literature while retaining ''The Itchy & Scratchy Show''. Refusing to accept that his idol could have committed the crime, Bart enlists Lisa's help to prove Krusty's innocence.

At the crime scene, Bart and Lisa recall the robber read a magazine and used a microwave oven; Krusty is illiterate and has an artificial pacemaker which requires him to avoid microwave radiation. When Bart and Lisa visit Sideshow Bob to learn whether Krusty had any enemies, he gives them tickets to his show. During the live broadcast, Bart is invited on stage with Bob, who dismisses Bart's points about the microwave and magazine and claims that Krusty never listened to doctors and that you can enjoy the cartoons in a magazine without being able to read.

When Bob says he has "big shoes to fill", Bart remembers when Homer stepped on the robber's foot during his robbery. Despite wearing large clown shoes, Krusty has small feet and would not have felt Homer stepping on them. Bart deduces that Sideshow Bob is the culprit since he had the most to gain from Krusty's downfall and that his big feet literally fill his own shoes. To prove this, he hits one of them with a mallet and reveals their size as Bob reacts in pain. While watching the show, the police realize they failed to notice this piece of evidence and head to the studio to arrest Bob. Once he is, Bob confesses about why he framed Krusty: he hated being on the receiving end of his humiliating gags. Now released after his exoneration, Krusty regains the trust of the townspeople, including Homer, who apologizes for misidentifying him, as he thanks Bart for his help. Bart hangs a picture of himself shaking hands with Krusty in his bedroom, which is refilled with Krusty decor and merchandise.

The novel begins with young Henry on a Welsh farm, listening to Dafydd, an old farm hand who became a pirate and returned to tell of his adventures. The old farm hand tells Old Robert (with Henry listening) his colorful tales of the Caribbean, then leaves by morning. Those stories encourage Henry to leave home to seek his fortune. Henry becomes a famous pirate captain with two goals: to capture Panama from the Spanish, and to win the heart of the Red Saint (La Santa Roja). When Morgan captures Panama, the Red Saint is waiting inside the city. The city is easily taken, but the Red Saint puts up a fight. After Morgan and his crew raids the city, they leave with riches and no Red Saint. Morgan ends his career as a pirate and is knighted by the English King, who places Morgan in charge of disciplining other pirates.

Foxy Brown seeks revenge when her government-agent boyfriend is shot down at her doorstep by members of a drug syndicate. She links her boyfriend's murderers to a "modeling agency" run by Stevie Elias and Kathryn Wall that services local judges, congressmen, and police in the area. Foxy decides to pose as a prostitute to infiltrate the company, and helps save a fellow black woman from a life of drugs and sexual exploitation, and reunites her with her husband and child.

Not long after she infiltrates the company, her relationship to her late boyfriend and her brother, Lincoln 'Link' Brown, who ratted her boyfriend out, is exposed. She is caught before she can escape. After an exchange of words and heated death threats, Kathryn decides to keep her alive in hopes of her being worth some money in the sex-slave trade. They give her a shot of heroin and then send her to a farm, which is actually a drug manufacturing plant, with two of Miss Kathryn's henchmen. After she wakes from her sleep, she tries to escape her captors, but is caught by one of the henchmen with a whip and dragged back to the bedroom, where he proceeds to tie her to the bed. Then, Kathryn's second goon comes and gives Foxy another shot of heroin, and the dealer subsequently rapes her.

Using her quick thinking, Foxy uses a razor to get free and escapes her captors by setting the farm on fire. Kathryn orders Stevie to kill Foxy; he vainly attempts to scare information out of Link, and then kills him and his girlfriend. Foxy asks her Black Panther brothers for help; they kill Stevie's partners in crime, capture Stevie and castrate him. Foxy comes to Kathryn's house and shows her the jar containing Stevie's genitals. After killing Kathryn's guards and shooting her in the arm with a hidden pistol, Foxy says that death is too easy for her and wants her to suffer the way that Kathryn made her suffer.

''Gotta Dance!''

The plot of the short centers on Team Rocket and their newest base. After building their base, the Pokémon of Team Rocket manage to successfully capture three Whismur to provide entertainment to Giovanni when he arrives. To force the Whismur to cooperate, Meowth uses a baton that, when a switch was pressed on the end, made Pokémon dance uncontrollably.

Meanwhile, Pikachu, Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip and Lotad stumble upon the base and attempt to free the Whismur. One of the running gags in the short is how the dancing stick is constantly activated or on by accident. This leads to the accidental destruction of the home thanks to the controllable dancing of the Pokémon, including a wild Ludicolo and Loudred.

''Jirachi—Wish Maker''

The story revolves around the Millennium Comet, which appears in the night sky for seven days once every thousand years. This is also when the Mythical Pokémon Jirachi awakens from its long slumber to absorb the comet's energy. This energy, in turn, is ringing life to the area known as Forina where it rests. This time, however, a magician known as Butler and his girlfriend Diane unearth the stone that encases Jirachi, and take it away from Forina.

Meanwhile, in celebration of the Millennium Comet's appearance, Ash Ketchum and his friends May, Max and Brock arrive at a wide crater, which is where the festival of the Millennium Comet is meant to be. Upon seeing nothing where the festival should be, they decide to wait until morning and go to sleep. While they're sleeping, the festival arrives; Pikachu, Ash's Pokémon companion, notices first and wakes all the others, and they watch the festival being set up.

At the festival, May buys a seven-panelled novelty that is said to grant a person one wish if a panel is closed for each night the comet appears and is visible in the sky. Later, Ash and Max accidentally volunteer for one of Butler's magic tricks because Max hears a voice coming from the rock Diane is holding, and runs down to the stage. Max is introduced to Jirachi, who he hears talking from inside the rock. Butler lets Max take the rock, from which Jirachi emerges later that night. Hoping its wishing ability is true, Max wishes for much candy, and it appears – but it is revealed that instead of creating the candy, Jirachi teleported it from a stall in the festival.

The intentions of Butler are soon revealed: he was a former scientist for Team Magma who was seeking to resurrect the Legendary Pokémon Groudon. Butler had devised the perfect system, but could not find the necessary amount of power to fuel and was fired from Team Magma, to his humiliation. To try and fuel his machine again, he hoped to use Jirachi's energy for his own purposes. Seeing this danger, the Pokémon Absol, whose presence usually indicated impending disaster, arrives to help Jirachi and alert the group.

Butler attempts to harness Jirachi's power, but is interrupted inside the circus tent by Ash and his friends. With the help of Diane and Absol, they take Butler's bus to Forina so that Jirachi can go home; unknown to them, Butler's Mightyena places a tracking device on the bus as it is leaving. As Ash and his friends travel along bumpy terrain, the device falls off, but Butler still discovers where they are headed. Before the day Jirachi has to return, Max feels upset about losing his new friend, so Ash tells him about one of his friends, Misty. He explains that even though they don't see each other anymore, they will always be friends (this dialogue was different in the original, where Ash just mentions that a thousand years to Jirachi would feel like just an instant to him). Before the group can make it back to Forina, they realize that Butler had followed them there and set a trap. Butler manages to once again steal Jirachi in an attempt to take its power again.

When Butler sets his plan in motion, however, a fake Groudon monster is created instead of the real thing. Absorbing the energy from the surrounding area, the monster begins to turn Forina into a wasteland, killing all plants in sight and absorbing all living creatures, including May, Brock and Team Rocket, who had followed them the whole way. When Diane is absorbed by the fake Groudon, Butler realizes his long-time relationship with her is what is more important, and with Ash and Max's help he is able to distract the fake Groudon.

Eventually, Jirachi reabsorbs the energy used to create Groudon, and uses Doom Desire to destroy it for good, before leaving for another thousand years of slumber. May, in all the excitement, forgets to close the last panel of her novelty, but simply brushes it off. Though she never reveals what she wished for, she is confident it will still come true. Before they leave Forina, Max hears Jirachi's voice one last time, reminding him that they will always be friends.

During the end credits, May gets tired of walking until the man who sold her the wishing star gives them a lift on his truck. Then they look at stars, the group sees constellations which form Pokémon from Teddiursa to Pikachu, and they all watch the festival's fireworks before continuing their adventure.

Banished from the peaceful and highly advanced simian Planet E in the Geisty Solar System, the mutant mad scientist Dr. Gori and his brutish gorilla-like assistant Karras (Ra in the Japanese version) search for a new world to rule after Gori's plot to conquer Planet E had been foiled by its government. Traveling to Earth in their flying saucer, the blond alien apeman is captivated by its beauty but appalled by its inhabitants' misuse of its environment, leading to severe pollution (a huge topic back when this series was made, since Tokyo in Japan was the most polluted city in the world at the time), so humankind must be quickly conquered if this planet is to remain habitable. Gori therefore plots, rather ironically, to use the pollution that is plaguing Earth to create horrible, giant, rampaging monsters to wipe out and/or enslave humankind.

Hope comes in the form of the Nebula 71 Star, an artificial satellite resembling twin planet Saturns joined together that observes Earth incognito. Fearing that Gori may eventually make Earth uninhabitable, they dispatch Spectreman, their super-cyborg agent, to battle the menace of the mad apeman. Spectreman disguises himself as a Japanese man named Jôji Gamô to walk among the humans and scout out Gori's weekly menace for the Nebula 71 Star. He works with a government-run group called the Pollution G-Men, run by Chief Kurata. This group investigates phenomena involving pollution, but they do not (until late in the show's run) have the facilities to handle giant monsters, so unbeknownst to them, their comical-yet-mysterious teammate Jòji disappears on them, only to help them as Spectreman!

As the series comes to a conclusion, Dr. Gori's subordinates - and even Ra - are largely defeated, forcing the mad scientist to face Spectreman by himself in the last episode. While the hero tries to convince him that his remarkable intelligence should be put at the service of good rather than be used for destruction and tyranny, Gori commits suicide after replying that he would rather die than live with such an inferior and self-destructive race as the humans.

In the 853rd century, the original Superman ("Superman-Prime One Million") still lives, but has spent over 15,000 years in a self-imposed exile in his Fortress of Solitude in the heart of the Sun in order to keep it alive, during which everyone he knew and loved died. One of his descendants is "Kal Kent", the Superman of the 853rd century.

The galaxy is protected by the Justice Legions, which were inspired by the 20th-century Justice League and the 31st-century Legion of Super-Heroes, among others. Justice Legion Alpha, which protects the solar system, includes Kal Kent and future analogues of Wonder Woman, the Hourman, Starman, Aquaman, the Flash and Batman. Advanced terraforming processes have made all the Solar System's planets habitable, with the ones most distant from the Sun being warmed by Solaris, a "star computer" which was once a villain but was reprogrammed by one of Superman's descendants.

Superman-Prime announces that he will soon return to humanity and, to celebrate, Justice Legion Alpha travels back in time to the late 20th century to meet Superman's original teammates in the JLA and bring them and Superman to the future to participate in games and displays of power as part of the celebration.

Meanwhile, in Russia, Vandal Savage single-handedly defeats the Titans (Arsenal, Tempest, Jesse Quick and Supergirl) when they attempt to stop him from purchasing nuclear-powered Rocket Red suits. He then launches four Rocket Red suits (with a Titan trapped inside each of the four) in a nuclear strike on Washington D.C., Metropolis, Brussels and Singapore.

One member of the Justice Legion Alpha (the future Starman) has been bribed into betraying his teammates by Solaris, which has returned to its old habits. Before the original heroes can be returned to their own time, the future Hourman android collapses and releases a virus programmed by Solaris to attack machines and humans.

The virus affects the guidance systems of the Rocket Red suits and causes one of them to instead detonate over Montevideo, killing over 1 million people. Tempest (the Titan inside) had escaped long before the suit exploded by using the ice that formed on the suit at high altitude, although he subsequently blacked out and fell into the sea. The virus also drives humans insane, causing an increase in anger and paranoia worldwide. Believing that this was deliberately planned by the JLA to stop him, Savage launches an all-out war on superhumans using "blitz engines" he had created and hidden while allied with Hitler during World War II. The paranoia caused by the virus also leads the Justice Legion Alpha and the contemporary heroes to attack each other, although the Justice Legion Alpha manage to coordinate themselves enough to stop the other Rocket Red suits from hitting their targets.

The remnants of the JLA that stayed in the present and the Justice Legion Alpha overcome their paranoia when the future Superman and Steel realize the significance of the symbol they both wear; as the Huntress had pointed out to Steel earlier, wearing the 'S' means that he has to make the hard choices. The two JLAs are eventually able to stop the virus when it is discovered that it is a complex computer program looking for appropriate hardware. To provide this hardware, the heroes are forced to build the body of Solaris (including in it a DNA sample of Superman's wife Lois Lane) and the virus flees from Earth to this body, bringing Solaris to life. In a final act of repentance, the future Starman sacrifices himself to banish Solaris from the Solar System. The future Superman forces himself through time using confiscated time travel technology he finds in the Watchtower, almost dying in the process due to the drain on his powers.

Meanwhile, in the 853rd century, the original JLA are fighting an alliance between Solaris and Vandal Savage. Savage has found a sample of kryptonite on Mars (where it was left by the future Starman back in the 20th century), which he gives to Solaris. Savage has also hired Walker Gabriel to steal the time travel gauntlets of the 853rd century Flash ('''John Fox''') to ensure the Justice Legion Alpha remains trapped in the past, but ultimately double-crosses Gabriel.

Solaris, in a final attack, slaughters thousands of superhumans so that it can fire the kryptonite into the sun and kill Superman-Prime before he emerges. The JLA's Green Lantern — a hero who uses a power that Solaris has never encountered before — causes Solaris to go supernova and he and the 853rd century Superman contain the resulting blast — but not before the kryptonite is released.

The future Vandal Savage teleports from Mars to Earth using the stolen Time-Gauntlets. It turns out, however, that Walker Gabriel and Mitch Shelley, the Resurrection Man (an immortal who had become Savage's greatest foe through the millennia), had sabotaged the Gauntlets so that Savage, instead of travelling only in space, also travels through time, arriving in Montevideo moments before the nuclear blast he caused centuries earlier, finally bringing his life to an end.

It is then revealed that a secret conspiracy — forewarned by the trouble in the 20th century, mainly in that the Huntress, inspired by the time capsules which students in her class were currently making, realized they had centuries to foil the plot — has spent the intervening centuries coming up with a foolproof plan for stopping Solaris. Their actions included replacing the hidden kryptonite with a disguised Green Lantern power ring, with which the original Superman emerges from the Sun and finishes off Solaris.

In the aftermath, the original Superman and the future Hourman use the DNA sample to recreate Lois Lane, complete with superpowers. Superman then also recreates Krypton, along with all its deceased inhabitants, in Earth's Solar system, and lives happily ever after with Lois.

Later, in the miniseries ''The Kingdom'', it is established that this timeline is merely one of many possibilities and thus not definite due to the mutable effects of Hypertime.

Trelane, who first appeared in the original ''Star Trek'' episode "The Squire of Gothos", is revealed to be a member of the Q Continuum. He taps into the power of the continuum and uses this ability to tamper with time and reality, resulting in the intersection of three different parallel universes which are also referred to as time "tracks". Track A is a universe in which Beverly Crusher's husband Jack never died, and now serves as captain of the ''Enterprise'' with Jean-Luc Picard as his first officer; in this universe, Jack's son Wesley died as a boy and Jack and Beverly divorced. Track B is the traditional universe depicted on ''Star Trek: The Next Generation''. Track C is akin to the more militaristic alternate universe shown in the ''Next Generation'' episode "Yesterday's Enterprise", in which the Federation is at war with the Klingons.

Q, who had been charged with the task of "mentoring" Trelane (a task each "adult" Q must accept at least once for an "adolescent" Q), enlists the help of Picard and the crew of the ''Enterprise''-D in the three different timelines in order to teach Trelane discipline, and eventually, to stop him from destroying the fabric of the universe by collapsing the alternate universes together.

When the tracks begin to merge, the characters from separate universes begin to appear to one another, sometimes with disastrous results. The Tashas of Track A and C encounter each other, with Tasha-A reacting with amazement at her C counterpart's harsh appearance; Jack Crusher confronts his ex-wife about the affair she is having with Track-A Picard; during the argument, which Track-B Picard witnesses, she is accidentally killed; additionally, members of Track C attempt to kill Worf, and believe all the members of the crew from the other two universes are really Klingon impostors.

Eventually, Q manages to overpower Trelane and the universes are once again separated, though not always perfectly (at the end of the novel, Track-A Data appears to be stuck in Track C).

Q also spends part of the novel lost in time and space, trapped by the barrier around the galaxy; this relates to the original series episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

Harry Keogh (born Harry Snaith), the ''Necroscope'', is born with the ability to speak to the dead. As he grows up and his power manifests itself, he befriends the dead. From them he learns that death is not the end, that although the body dies, the mind goes on and the dead continue to improve and expand in death what they loved in life. From him, the once silent Great Majority learns to communicate amongst themselves, and love him for it. In turn, they offer him their knowledge: while at school, a deceased math teacher helps him with his developing mathematics talent and an ex-army sergeant teacher imparts self-defense skills.

As the years go by, he has recurring dreams about his mother, dead after an apparent ice-skating accident but in reality murdered by her husband – Harry's stepfather Victor Shukshin. Shukshin is a psychic sensitive, a defector sleeper agent planted in England by the Soviet E-Branch. In his self-appointed mission to avenge his mother's death, Harry is dragged into a web of espionage involving British and Soviet ESP agencies.

This leads to Harry learning to use the Möbius Continuum (from its discoverer August Ferdinand Möbius himself, at his grave in Leipzig, Germany), which allows him to instantaneously transport himself anywhere in the multi-dimensional universe.

From that point on, Keogh, backed by the British E-Branch, works to rid the human world of a vampire menace, a mission that will eventually lead him to a parallel world, Sunside/Starside, the vampire-dominated world connected to Earth via two portals, one in Romania (the original "source" of vampires on Earth) and a second, recent one in the Soviet-run Pechorsk Project in the Urals. It is on Sunside/Starside that Harry Keogh's final death eventually meets up with him, after he has lost his family, his friends, even his deadspeak and numeracy, but not his humanity.

As Harry knows well – death is not the end, his was a success story and such stories need to go on. In the Möbius Continuum, Harry's essence explodes in a burst of golden light, and from that explosion a myriad of golden darts, each a part of Harry, come forth.

Each of those golden darts carry a part of Keogh, and can join with hosts to grant them some of the abilities of the original Necroscope. Later books in the series tell the stories of individuals touched by these darts: Nathan Kiklu, Jake Cutter and Scott St. John. The darts seek to continue their mission in life, and so bond to individuals who will come up against the Necroscope's old foes, the Wamphyri, and menaces of diabolic nature.

Harry's physical remains, infected by the spores of the vampire Faethor Ferenczy, were sent back in time by the Möbius Continuum and ended up in the marshes of Sunside/Starside, making him the source of the vampire plague when his own spores infected the exiled Shaitan who becomes the first Wamphyri Lord.

Frank Beardsley is a Navy Chief Warrant Officer, recently detached from the aircraft carrier USS ''Enterprise'' and assigned as project officer for the Fresnel lens glide-slope indicator, or "meatball," that would eventually become standard equipment on all carriers. Helen North is a civilian nurse working in the dispensary at NAS Alameda, the California U.S. Navy base to which Frank is assigned.

Frank meets Helen, first by chance in the commissary on the base and again when Frank brings his distraught teen-age daughter for treatment at the dispensary, where Helen informs him that the young lady is simply growing up in a too-crowded house that lacks a mother's guidance. They immediately hit it off and go on a date, all the while shying away from admitting their respective secrets: Frank has ten children and Helen has eight, from previous marriages ended by their spouses' deaths.

When each finally learns the other's secret, they initially resist their mutual attraction. But Chief Warrant Officer Darrell Harrison (Van Johnson) is determined to bring them together, so he "fixes up" each of them with a sure-to-be-incompatible blind date. Helen's date is an obstetrician (Sidney Miller) who stands a good head shorter than she ("Darrell had a malicious sense of humor," Helen observes in voice-over); Frank's date is a "hip" girl (Louise Troy) who is not only young enough to be his daughter, but is also far too forward for his taste. As the final touch, Harrison makes sure that both dates take place in the same Japanese restaurant. As Harrison fully expects, Frank and Helen end up leaving the restaurant together in his car, with Frank's date sitting uncomfortably between them as they carry on about their children.

Frank and Helen continue to date regularly, and eventually he invites her to dinner in his home. This nearly turns disastrous when Mike, Rusty, and Greg (Tim Matheson, Gil Rogers, and Gary Goetzman), Frank's three sons, mix hefty doses of gin, scotch, and vodka into Helen's drink. As a result, Helen's behavior turns wild and embarrassing, which Frank cannot comprehend until he catches his sons trying to conceal their laughter. "The court of inquiry is now in session!" he declares, and gets the three to own up and apologize. After this, he announces his intention to marry Helen, adding, "And nobody put anything into my drink."

Most of the children oppose the union at first, regarding each other and their respective stepparents with suspicion. Eventually, however, the 18 children bond into one large blended family, about to increase—Helen becomes pregnant.

Further tension develops between young Philip North and his teacher at the parochial school that he attends: his teacher insists that he use his "legal" name, which remains North even after his mother marries Beardsley. This prompts Helen and Frank to discuss cross-adopting each other's children, who (except for Philip) are aghast at the notion of "reburying" their deceased biological parents. The subsequent birth of Joseph John Beardsley finally unites the children, who agree unanimously to adoption under a common surname.

The film ends with the eldest sibling, Mike Beardsley, going off to Camp Pendleton to begin his stint in the United States Marine Corps.

The book consists of six nested stories; each is read or observed by a main character of the next, progressing in time through the central sixth story. The first five stories are each interrupted at a pivotal moment. After the sixth story, the others are resolved in reverse chronological order. Each section's protagonist reads or observes the chronologically earlier work in the chain.

The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing (Part 1)

The first story begins in the Chatham Islands near New Zealand in the mid-nineteenth century, where Adam Ewing, a guileless American lawyer from San Francisco during the California Gold Rush, awaits repairs to his ship. He witnesses a Moriori slave being flogged by a Maori overseer. During the punishment, the victim, Autua, sees pity in Ewing's eyes and smiles. Later, Ewing ascends a high hill called Conical Tor and stumbles into its crater, where he finds himself surrounded by faces carved into trees. Reasoning that those who carved the faces must have had egress from the crater, he escapes. As the ship gets underway, Dr. Goose, Ewing's only friend aboard the ship, examines the injuries sustained on the volcano, and Ewing also mentions his chronic ailment. The doctor diagnoses Ewing with fatal parasite infection and recommends a course of treatment. Meanwhile, Autua has stowed away in Ewing's cabin. When Ewing discloses this to the Captain, Autua proves himself a first-class seaman, and the Captain puts Autua to work for his passage to Hawaii.

Letters from Zedelghem (Part 1)

The next story is set in Zedelghem, near Bruges, Belgium, in 1931. It is told in the form of letters from Robert Frobisher, a recently disowned and penniless bisexual young English musician, to his lover Rufus Sixsmith, after Frobisher journeys to Zedelghem to become an amanuensis to the reclusive once-great composer Vyvyan Ayrs, who is dying of syphilis and nearly blind. Soon, Frobisher produces ''Der Todtenvogel'' ("The Death Bird") from a basic melody that Ayrs gives him. It is performed nightly in Kraków, and Ayrs is much praised. Frobisher takes pride in this and begins composing his own music again. Frobisher and Ayrs' wife Jocasta become lovers, but her daughter Eva remains suspicious of him. Frobisher sells rare books from Ayrs' collection to a fence, but is intrigued by reading the first half of ''The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing'', and asks Sixsmith if he can obtain the second half so Frobisher can learn how the story ends. Ayrs asks Frobisher to write a song inspired by a dream of a "nightmarish cafe", deep underground, wherein "the waitresses all had the same face" and ate soap. As the summer comes to an end, Jocasta thanks Frobisher for "giving Vyvyan his music back", and Frobisher agrees to stay until the next summer.

Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery (Part 1)

The third story is written in the style of a mystery/thriller novel, set in the fictional city of Buenas Yerbas, California, in 1975, with protagonist Luisa Rey, a young journalist. She meets the elderly Rufus Sixsmith in a stalled elevator, and she tells him about her late father, one of the few incorruptible policemen in the city, who became a famous war correspondent. Later, after Sixsmith tells Luisa his concern that the Seaboard HYDRA nuclear power plant is not safe, he is found dead of apparent suicide. Luisa believes the businessmen in charge of the plant are assassinating potential whistleblowers. From Sixsmith's hotel room, Luisa acquires some of Frobisher's letters. Another plant employee, Isaac Sachs, gives her a copy of Sixsmith's report. Before Luisa can report her findings on the nuclear power plant, a Seaboard-hired assassin who has been following her forces her car—along with Sixsmith's incriminating report—off a bridge.

The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish (Part 1)

The fourth story, comic in tone, is set in Britain in the present day; Timothy Cavendish, a 65-year-old vanity press publisher, flees the brothers of his gangster client, whose book is experiencing high sales after the murder of a book critic. They threaten Cavendish with violence if their monetary demands are not met. Cavendish's wealthy brother, exasperated by Cavendish's frequent previous pleas for financial aid, books him into a menacing nursing home. Timothy signs custody papers, thinking that he is registering at a hotel where he can stay until his personal and financial problems can be solved. When he realizes he will be held there indefinitely, subject to the staff's complete control, he tries to flee but is stopped by a security guard and confined. He briefly mentions reading a manuscript titled ''Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery'', but is not initially impressed by the prospective author's manuscript and only comes to appreciate it later. He settles into his new surroundings while still trying to plot a way out. One day, he has a stroke, and the chapter ends.

An Orison of Sonmi~451 (Part 1)

The fifth story is set in Nea So Copros, a dystopian futuristic state in Korea, derived from corporate culture. It is told in the form of an interview of Sonmi~451, after her arrest and trial, by an "archivist" who records Sonmi~451's story into a silver egg-shaped device. Sonmi~451 is a fabricant waitress at a fast-food restaurant called Papa Song's. Clones grown in vats are revealed to be the predominant source of cheap labor. The "pureblood" (natural-born) society retards the fabricants' consciousness by chemical manipulation, using a food Sonmi refers to as "Soap". After twelve years as slaves, fabricants are promised retirement to a fabricant community in Honolulu. In her own narration, Sonmi encounters members of a university faculty and students, who take her from the restaurant for study and assist her to become self-aware, or "ascended". She describes watching ''The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish'' as a pre-Skirmishes film (wherein the "Skirmishes" are a major global disaster or war that destroyed most of the world except Nea So Copros). During the scene in which Cavendish suffers his stroke, a student interrupts to tell Sonmi and her rescuer Hae-Joo Im that Professor Mephi, Hae-Joo's professor, has been arrested, and that policy enforcers have orders to interrogate Hae-Joo and kill Sonmi on sight.

Sloosha's Crossin' an' Evrythin' After

The sixth story occupies the central position in the novel and is the only one not interrupted, wherein Zachry, an old man, tells a story from his youth, speaking an imagined future English dialect. It is gradually revealed that he lived in a post-apocalyptic society on the Big Island of Hawaii. His people, called the Valley Folk, are peaceful farmers but are often raided by the Kona tribe of cannibalistic slavers. Zachry is plagued by moral doubts stemming from blaming himself for his father's death and the kidnapping of his brother years prior. His people worship a goddess called Sonmi and recall a 'Fall' in which the civilized peoples of Earth—known as the Old Uns—were destroyed, leaving the survivors to primitivism. Big Island is occasionally visited and studied by a technologically sophisticated people known as the Prescients, whereof a woman called Meronym, who has come to learn their ways, is assigned to live with Zachry's family. Zachry becomes suspicious of her, believing that her people are gaining their trust before doing them harm. He sneaks into her room, where he finds an 'orison', an egg-shaped device for recording and holographic videoconferencing. Later, Zachry's sister Catkin is poisoned by a scorpion fish, and he persuades Meronym to break her people's rules and give him medicine to heal Catkin. When Meronym later requests a guide to the top of Mauna Kea volcano, Zachry reluctantly agrees, citing his debt to her for saving his sister. They climb to the ruins of the Mauna Kea Observatories, where Meronym explains the orison and reveals Sonmi's history (as introduced in the prior chapter). Upon their return, they go with most of the Valley Folk to trade at Honokaa, but Zachry's people are attacked and imprisoned by the Kona, who are conquering the territory. Zachry and Meronym eventually escape, and she takes him to a safer island. The story ends with Zachry's child recalling that his father told many unbelievable tales, but that this one may be true because he has inherited Zachry's copy of Sonmi's orison, which Zachry's child often watches, even though he does not understand Sonmi's language.

An Orison of Sonmi~451 (Part 2)

Hae-Joo Im reveals that he and Mephi are members of an anti-government rebel movement called Union. Hae-Joo then guides Sonmi in disguise to a ship, where Sonmi witnesses retired fabricants butchered and recycled into Soap, the fabricant food source. Any leftover "reclaimed proteins" from the butchered fabricants are used to produce food that purebloods unknowingly consume at fast-food type restaurants. The rebels plan to raise all fabricants to self-awareness and thus disrupt the workforce that keeps the corporate government in power. They want Sonmi to write a series of abolitionist ''Declarations'' calling for rebellion. She does, echoing the themes of greed and oppression first brought up in the diary of Adam Ewing.

Sonmi is then arrested in an elaborately filmed government raid and finds herself telling her tale to the archivist. Sonmi believes that everything that happened to her was instigated by the government to encourage the fear and hatred of fabricants by purebloods. Sonmi's last wish is to finish watching Cavendish's story.

The Ghastly Ordeal of Timothy Cavendish (Part 2)

Having mostly recovered from his mild stroke, Cavendish meets a small group of residents also anxious to escape the nursing home: Ernie, Veronica, and the extremely senile Mr. Meeks. Cavendish assists the other residents' conspiracy to trick a fellow patient's grown son, Johns Hotchkiss, into leaving Hotchkiss' car vulnerable to theft. The residents seize the car and escape, stopping at a pub to celebrate their freedom. They are nearly recaptured by Hotchkiss and the staff, but are rescued when Mr. Meeks, in an unprecedented moment of lucidity, exhorts the local drinkers to come to their aid.

It is thereafter revealed that Cavendish's secretary Mrs. Latham blackmailed the gangsters with a video record of their attack upon Cavendish's office; this allows Cavendish to return to his former life in safety. Subsequently, Cavendish obtains the second half of Luisa Rey's story intending to publish it, and he considers having his own recent adventures turned into a film script.

Half-Lives: The First Luisa Rey Mystery (Part 2)

Rey escapes from her sinking car but loses the report, while a plane carrying Isaac is blown up. When her newspaper is bought by a subsidiary of Seaboard, she is fired, and Luisa believes that they no longer see her as a threat. She orders a copy of Robert Frobisher's obscure ''Cloud Atlas Sextet'', which she has read about in his letters to Rufus Sixsmith, and is astonished to find that she recognizes it, even though it is a rarely published piece. However, Smoke the assassin still pursues Luisa and booby-traps a copy of Rufus Sixsmith's report about the power plant. Joe Napier, a security man who knew Luisa's father, and whom Luisa initially believed to be her attempted assassin, comes to her rescue, and Smoke and Napier kill each other in a gun fight. Later, Rey exposes the corrupt corporate leaders to the public. At the end of the story, she receives a package from Sixsmith's niece, which contains the remaining eight letters from Robert Frobisher to Rufus Sixsmith.

Letters from Zedelghem (Part 2)

Frobisher continues to pursue his work with Ayrs while developing his own ''Cloud Atlas Sextet''. He finds himself falling in love with Eva, after she confesses a crush on him, though he is still having an affair with her mother. Jocasta suspects this and threatens to destroy his life if he so much as looks at her daughter. Ayrs also becomes bolder with his plagiarism of Frobisher, now demanding he compose full passages, which Ayrs intends to take credit for. Ayrs also informs him that if he leaves, Ayrs will have him blacklisted claiming he raped Jocasta. In despair, Frobisher leaves anyway, but finds a hotel nearby working to finish his ''Sextet'' and hoping to be reunited with Eva. He convinces himself that they are being kept apart from her parents, but when he finally manages to talk to her he realizes that the man she was talking about being in love with was her Swiss fiancé. Mentally and physically ill Frobisher ultimately decides, with his magnum opus finished and his life now empty of meaning, to kill himself. Before committing suicide in a bathtub, he writes one last letter to Sixsmith and includes his ''Sextet'' and ''The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing''.

The Pacific Journal of Adam Ewing (Part 2)

Ewing visits the island of Raiatea, where he observes missionaries oppressing the indigenous peoples. On the ship, he falls further ill and realizes at the last minute that Dr. Goose is poisoning him to steal his possessions. He is rescued by Autua and resolves to join the abolitionist movement. In conclusion (of his own journal and of the book), Ewing writes that history is governed by the results of vicious and virtuous acts precipitated by belief: wherefore "a purely predatory world shall consume itself" and "The devil take the hindmost until the foremost is the hindmost", and imagines his father-in-law's response to his becoming an abolitionist, as a warning that Adam's life would amount to one drop in a limitless ocean; whereas Ewing's proposed reply is: "Yet what is any ocean but a multitude of drops?"

Two nine-year-old girls, bold Lisa Palfy (orig. Luise Palfy) from Vienna and shy Lottie Horn (orig. Lotte Körner) from Munich meet in a summer camp in Bohrlaken on Lake Bohren (orig. 'Seebühl am Bühlsee'), where they discover that they are identical twins whose parents divorced, each keeping one of the girls. The girls decide to swap places at the end of the summer so that Lottie will have a chance to get to know her father and Lisa will get to meet her mother. While many adults are surprised at the changes in each of the girls after they return from camp ("Lottie" has apparently forgotten how to cook, gets in a fight at school, and becomes a terrible student, while "Lisa" has begun to keep a close eye on the housekeeper's bookkeeping, will no longer eat her favorite food, and becomes a model student), no one suspects that the girls are not who they claim to be. When Lottie (under the name of Lisa) finds that her father is planning to remarry, she becomes very ill and stops writing to her sister in Munich. Meanwhile, Lottie's mother comes across a picture of the two girls at summer camp, and Lisa tells her the entire story. The girls' mother calls her former husband in Vienna to tell him what has happened and to find out why Lottie has stopped writing. When she hears that her daughter is ill, she and Lisa immediately travel to Vienna. At the daughters' request, the parents are reunited.

The central character is not Spartacus himself, but Kleon, a fictional Greek educated slave and eunuch who joins the revolt. In the first chapter we are told how he was sold into slavery as a child and sexually abused by an owner.

Another important character is Elpinice, a female slave who helps Spartacus and his fellow gladiators escape from Capua, and who becomes Spartacus's lover. She gives birth to a son, but while Spartacus is fighting elsewhere she is raped and murdered by soldiers, and the child is also killed. The novel touches on Gibbon's views on human history, with Spartacus seen as a survivor of the Golden Age.

However, in spite of various additions and speculations, it does stick fairly closely to the known historical facts about the revolt. Plutarch's life of Crassus is clearly the main source, but it does make use of some other classical sources, including Appian and Sallust.

During the Franco-Mexican War, ex-Confederate soldier Ben Trane (Cooper) travels to Mexico seeking a job as a mercenary. He falls in with Joe Erin (Lancaster), a gunslinger who heads a gang of cutthroats (Ernest Borgnine, Jack Elam, Charles Bronson, Archie Savage, and others). They are recruited by Marquis Henri de Labordere (Cesar Romero) for service with Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico (George Macready) Maximilian offers them $25,000 to escort Countess Duvarre (Denise Darcel) to the city of Veracruz. Trane gets the emperor to double the offer.

During a river crossing, Trane notices that the stagecoach in which the countess is traveling is extremely heavy. Erin and Trane later discover that hidden inside are six cases of gold coins. The countess informs them that it is worth $3 million which is intended to pay for reinforcements from Europe. They form an uneasy alliance to steal and split the gold. Unbeknownst to them, the marquis is listening from the shadows.

The Juaristas, led by General Ramírez (Morris Ankrum), attack the column several times. Pickpocket and Juarista undercover agent Nina (Sara Montiel) joins the convoy. When Trane, Erin and their men are surrounded by the Juaristas, Trane persuades Ramirez to join forces and agree to pay them $100,000. The marquis succeeds in getting the gold to Veracruz. In the Juarista attack, the French are defeated, but most of Erin's men are killed. Erin attempts to steal the gold for himself by getting the countess to reveal the location of the ship she had hired to transport it. He even kills one of his own men. However, Trane arrives in time to confront him. They face off in a showdown that ends in Erin's death. Trane and Nina leave, while women search the dead for their loved ones.

Paifu and José decide to go to the house of a human rumored to be a murderer. Paifu notices what appears to be an orange spirit out in the sea and mistakes it for their friend. They arrive at the light source only to find that it was a torch on a raft belonging to the world-renowned sumo wrestler Maruyama, whom they feared. In spite of becoming acquainted, Maruyama teases Paifu and picks up two sticks producing a cross gesture to scare him off believing he, like some vampires in stories, fear a cross. On the contrary, this action forces Paifu to transform into a rampaging were-koala. His rage is halted by José, who shape-shifts into a round object to revert him back to normal. José tells Maruyama that Paifu can not look at a cross figure for more than three seconds before transforming. When asked by Maruyama about Paifu's father, Paifu replies that he was shot to death in a human city when he shape-shifted into a were-koala. After getting to know a little about Maruyama's past, it turns out that he is not as frightening as rumored to be.

Back in the village, Paifu and José begin to notice a strain of influenza that is spreading in the village affecting only the monsters. On their way to school, they are surprised by Arpon, a monster who considers Paifu to be his eternal enemy. The three exchange a few words which led to Arpon challenging Paifu to a sparring match of kung fu.

Paifu's mother later tells him that school has been canceled for a while due to the serious flu. He celebrates by going to José's home and runs into the village doctor. The doctor realizes that the flu strain is the , a disease that affects only monsters and kills the victim in a month's time. When the two arrive at the Rodriguez residence to see José's ill father, the doctor's suspicions are confirmed to everyone there and reveals that the cure to the Monster Flu can be created by a witch that resides at the top of Horned-Owl Mountain. The doctor also tells of a forest that one must cross and that a terrible monster dwells along the forest path which leads to the mountain. Due to the adult monsters being sick, Paifu and José volunteer to make the trip and are accompanied by the former sumo wrestler Maruyama, who in actuality, was deceived by Paifu who claimed that the villagers would pay him 1,000,000 yen for his troubles. As the trio are about to leave, Arpon joins the team, exclaiming that he wants to be a hero for the villagers.

With plenty of rest and recuperation, the team pass through a city and arrive around a forest area located by Horned-Owl Mountain. As they near it, Arpon suddenly falls ill by the Monster Flu. They come to a nearby family for aid; in the midst of their troubles, Paifu and Maruyama save them from being attacked by a gang. In exchange, the family cares for the sick Arpon while Paifu, José and Maruyama take off for the forest. Before they leave, they are told by the family of the forest monster's supposed weakness, whistling.

Upon entering the forest, Maruyama has José whistle since he is apparently the only one who can, while Paifu practices his whistling since José will eventually get exhausted. José, instead of getting fatigued from whistling, suddenly falls ill to the Monster Flu as well. Their fear of the monster finding them becomes a reality and they are attacked by the forest monster Baroaba. Maruyama holds his own against the behemoth and tells Paifu to start learning how to whistle immediately before they are killed. Although several attempts had been unsuccessful, Paifu finally prospered in whistling and Baroaba is literally downsized by the sound, proving the weakness true, and is pounded by Maruyama. Before Maruyama finishes him off, he discovers that Baroaba only attacks to protect the forest's rare wildlife; Baroaba apologizes for the misunderstanding and decides to help them get to their destination, the witch's house.

With help from Baroaba, who stays to care for the ill José, Paifu and Maruyama finally reach the summit of the mountain. They then encounter the witch's servant, an oni named Leonardo. After solving a riddle, they are allowed to meet the witch and fortunately retrieved the influenza medicine. On the way down the mountain, Maruyama accidentally slips and falls off. Paifu makes a daring rescue by learning flight at the last minute and saves Maruyama and himself from immediate death. On the way back, Maruyama talks of how he is going to buy a boat with the money he makes forcing Paifu to reveal that he had lied to him about the payment of 1,000,000 yen. Maruyama admits that he is disappointed, but not infuriated as Paifu saved his life. The four are praised as they returned to the village. One month later, Paifu, José and everyone else from the village meet Maruyama out at sea with a ghost boat that all fixed up together.

Michael Smith is a telephone repairman in his late 20s who lives with his girlfriend in Pacific City, California. His father was killed in an earthquake that buried his home, and he was abandoned by his mother soon after. His highly structured life is disrupted when he sees a lizard that seems to be floating down the street. After following the lizard, he happens upon the Head, a strange monster that sucks people’s brains through their noses. Michael is attacked, but before he can be killed, he is saved by a mysterious superhero. He recognizes the superhero as the Enigma, a fictional character from a short-run comic series that he loved as a child.

Michael’s revelation about the superhero inspires him to abandon his life and travel to Arizona, where he meets up with Titus Bird, the man who wrote ''The Enigma'' comic series. Michael convinces Titus to return with him to Pacific City, which is being terrorized by a series of new supervillains. All of the supervillains are warped versions of ordinary and seemingly unconnected people, and all are targets of the Enigma. In hopes of finding answers, Michael and Titus track down a relative of Roger Cliff, the man who originally morphed into the Head, and discover that Roger once collected a lizard from a murder site in Arizona where a woman shot her husband. After returning home, Michael encounters the supervillain Envelope Girl, who forcibly transports him to the farm in Arizona where the murder occurred. He speaks with a relative of the murder victim, who tells him that he had the farm exorcised due to a series of strange occurrences, including floating lizards.

Michael realizes that he recognizes the motifs of one group of supervillains from the decor of his childhood home. He travels to his buried home and finds the Enigma living in the ruins. Enigma explains that he was born on the farm in Arizona that Michael visited, and that he had the power to manipulate anything in his surroundings from birth. As a baby, he inadvertently mutilated his father, causing his mother to kill her husband and drop her son into a well. The Enigma lived his whole life in the well, until the exorcists who arrived at the farm set him free. After hearing the Enigma's story, Michael confesses that he has recently been struggling with his sexuality and a newfound attraction to men. He ends up sleeping with the Enigma.

Michael and Enigma visit the hospital, where Titus has been confined after an accident. They are attacked by a new monster, who Enigma admits is his mother. He confesses that after he left the well, he was unable to cope with the lack of rigid limitations governing his life. He happened upon Michael’s childhood home and his buried belongings, including the old ''Enigma'' comics. Driven by a desire to create some purpose for himself, he decided to become the superhero Enigma. While using his mental power to warp ordinary people into the supervillains from the comics, the Enigma accidentally warped his mother as well, creating an entity determined to destroy him. In hopes of becoming more human and thus receiving some mercy from his mother, he manipulated Michael into falling for him so that he could experience compassion and love. Though Michael is initially horrified by this realization, he finally declares that he is happy being gay and affirms his love for Enigma. The story ends on an open note, with Michael, Titus, and the Enigma joining hands and waiting as Enigma’s mother approaches.

17 weeks after the events of ''Aliens'', the ''Sephora'' spaceship sends a full battalion of Colonial Marines to investigate the ''Sulaco'' spaceship, now in orbit around the LV-426 moon. A massive Xenomorph infestation is discovered inside the ''Sulaco'' and several Marines are killed in the initial onslaught. Corporal Christopher Winter, private Peter O'Neal, and private Bella Clarison discover that hostile mercenaries working for the Weyland-Yutani corporation are in command of the ''Sulaco'' and have been breeding Xenomorphs on board for study. Shortly before both ships are destroyed in the ensuing confrontation, the Marines, along with commander Captain Cruz, ''Sephora'' android Bishop, and pilot lieutenant Lisa Reid, escape aboard her dropship and take shelter in the ruins of the Hadley's Hope colony complex on LV-426.

Although the Marines learn that Clarison has been attacked by a facehugger and needs medical treatment, Cruz orders Winter to travel to a nearby Weyland-Yutani research facility set up near a derelict Xenomorph spacecraft and recover a manifest that identifies an unknown prisoner from the ''Sulaco''. In an attempt at saving Clarison, Winter and O'Neal accept the mission and escort her to the facility, where they intend to convince surviving personnel to remove the Xenomorph embryo from her body. However, upon arrival, an interrogated Weyland-Yutani medical officer explains to them that Clarison's life cannot be saved because the creature's invasive placenta is cancerous and will eventually kill her even if the embryo is successfully extracted. Clarison dies when a chestburster hatches from her.

Winter and O'Neal recover the manifest they were sent to find and rescue the prisoner, who is revealed to be corporal Dwayne Hicks. Hicks explains that Weyland-Yutani intercepted and boarded the ''Sulaco'' prior to its arrival at the Fiorina 161 planet. A fire in the hypersleep bay subsequently caused the ''Sulaco'' survivors Ellen Ripley, Newt, and Bishop to be jettisoned from the ship, along with the body of an unidentified man who was mistaken for the corporal. Hicks himself was captured by Weyland-Yutani personnel and subjected to torture during interrogation, overseen by android Michael Weyland in an attempt to learn more about the Xenomorphs' origins and to gain control of the ''Sulaco'' s weapon systems. From Hicks, the Marines also learn that an FTL-capable ship is docked at the research facility, representing the last chance for the Marines to escape from the moon.

After gathering the remaining ''Sephora'' personnel on the colony, Cruz orders an all-out assault on the Weyland-Yutani complex in the hopes of capturing the FTL vessel. Winter and Hicks spearhead the advance, but the ship leaves shortly before they can reach it. In a last desperate attempt, Cruz pilots a dropship up to the escaping vessel and crashes into its hangar. Winter is confronted by a Xenomorph queen in the hangar bay, and attempts to eject her using a cargo launching system, but fails when she climbs back aboard. Cruz sacrifices himself when he launches the crippled dropship directly into the queen, propelling both out of the vessel. Winter, O'Neal, Reid, Bishop, and Hicks confront Weyland, who is ultimately executed by Hicks. In search of useful intelligence, Bishop connects to the destroyed android and states that he has "everything".

Marge is depressed that Homer takes her for granted, and phones Dr. Marvin Monroe's call-in therapy radio slot. Listening to the call at work, Homer feels bad when Marge reveals his name on the radio. After work he visits Moe's Tavern, where Moe advises him to give Marge a rose and a box of chocolates. Marge's mood softens and Homer invites her to go dancing, dine at a fancy restaurant and spend the night at a motel.

Marge and Homer hire Ms. Botz through a babysitting service to watch the kids. Botz puts Maggie to bed while Bart and Lisa watch ''The Happy Little Elves''. While watching ''America's Most Armed and Dangerous'' on television, Bart and Lisa scream in terror after realizing that Botz is a wanted burglar, dubbed the 'Babysitter Bandit'. Realizing her cover is blown, Botz ties up the kids and packs the family's possessions into her suitcases. Maggie wakes up, goes downstairs and finds Bart and Lisa; they try to get her attention, but she focuses on the happy little elves. As the video ends, Maggie attempts to watch it again, and Lisa tells her she can if she unties her and Bart. While Mrs. Botz is still cleaning up, she sees that Maggie got out of her crib. As Ms. Botz is lured to Bart's room, thinking it is Maggie, she goes in and is knocked out with a baseball bat. Bart is revealed, sucking on Maggie's pacifier.

Realizing Botz cut the telephone line, the kids go to a local phone booth and call the producers of ''America's Most Armed and Dangerous''. When Marge and Homer are unable to reach Ms. Botz by phone, they return home early to find her bound and gagged. Unaware she is a wanted criminal, Homer and Marge free her and pay her handsomely. She flees just as the kids arrive with the police and news reporters. Homer, thinking this is one of their naughty tricks, quickly grabs Bart on the back of his shirt, saying how he and Marge had untied her. However, reporters tell him that Ms. Botz is a wanted criminal. Realizing his blunder, he lies to the media, and thinking all that hard work was for nothing, Homer is embarrassed. When a television newscast identifies him as a 'local boob', Marge assures him he must be doing something right if he raised three children who can hogtie a stranger, making Homer feel better. The two make out.

Old horseman Ben brings his beloved thoroughbred Bluenight to New York from Kentucky in hopes of developing him into a championship racer. Because the old man is down on his luck, the East Side boys offer to provide a makeshift quarters for Bluenight, and Algy Wilkes persuades his father to put up the entrance fee for the horse. Muggs Maloney, an aspiring but untested jockey, rides Bluenight in the race, but loses his nerve on the track, causing Bluenight to trail in the field. Seated in the stands is Morgan, a respected trainer, who recognizes the horse's ability and urges Mr. Wilkes to race the horse with an experienced jockey. However, Muggs insists upon doing the riding, and his pals induce Mr. Wilkes to give him another chance. Complications arise the night before the race when Nick, a crooked bookie, tries to sabotage Bluenight. The boys discover the plot and save the horse, but the next day, Muggs realizes that he cannot guide the horse to victory. With the use of his fists, he convinces jockey Jimmy Sullivan to take his place, and Bluenight finishes the race the winner.

Nola Darling is a young, attractive graphic artist living in Brooklyn who juggles three suitors: the polite and well-meaning Jamie Overstreet; the self-obsessed model Greer Childs; and the immature, motor-mouthed bicycle messenger Mars Blackmon. Nola is attracted to the best in each of them, but refuses to commit to any of them, cherishing her personal freedom instead, while each man wants her for himself.

Her carefree, sexually liberated lifestyle ultimately comes to an end when her three male suitors meet and compare notes on Nola. While Greer justifies Nola's callous behavior by claiming that she sees the three not as individuals but as a collective, Jamie and Mars become bitter over how little Nola cares for all three men. Opal, a lesbian friend of Nola's who believes every person is capable of sexual fluidity, expresses attraction to her and when Nola asks how having sex with a woman is, offers her an opportunity to find out. However, Nola declines.

Realizing that Greer and Mars are too scared of losing Nola to force her to choose one of them, Jamie tells her that she must choose a single lover. Nola scoffs at this, and persuades him to come to her apartment several days later for casual sex. Jamie rapes her and mockingly asks her if he's as good sexually as Greer or Mars. Nola has an epiphany: realizing that her choices have turned Jamie against her, she decides to call his bluff. Nola dumps Greer and Mars and tells Jamie that she is ready for a monogamous relationship. Believing that her sexual activity has prevented her from committing to a single guy, Nola tells Jamie their relationship has to be celibate for the time being. After at first rejecting Nola's "no sex" decree, Jamie agrees to it.

Nola and Jamie's reunion, however, is followed by a coda which dismantles the "happy ending" of the couple coming together. In a monologue delivered to the camera, Nola reveals that her vow of celibacy and her decision to be with Jamie exclusively was "a moment of weakness". She says that she soon began to cheat on Jamie and their relationship collapsed. Nola proudly proclaims that monogamy is a form of slavery and that her lifestyle is freedom in its purest form. The film closes with a view of Nola going to bed alone.

Billy Dannreuther is a formerly wealthy American who has fallen on hard times. He is reluctantly working with four crooks: Peterson, Julius O'Hara, Major Jack Ross, and Ravello, who are trying to acquire uranium-rich land in British East Africa. Billy suspects that Major Ross murdered a British Colonial officer who threatened to expose their plan. While waiting in Italy for passage to Africa, Billy and his wife Maria meet a British couple, Harry and Gwendolen Chelm, who plan to travel on the same ship. Harry seems a very proper and traditional Englishman, while Gwendolen is flighty and a compulsive fantasist. Billy and Gwendolen have an affair, while Maria flirts with Harry. Peterson becomes suspicious that the Chelms may be attempting to acquire the uranium themselves. Though this is untrue, it seems confirmed by Gwendolen, who lies about her husband and exaggerates his importance.

Billy and Peterson decide to take a plane instead, but their car runs over a cliff when they are pushing it after a breakdown and the pair are wrongly reported to have been killed. In order to replace Peterson's lost capital, Ravello approaches Harry Chelm and explains their scheme. Just then, to everyone's surprise, Billy and Peterson return to the hotel unharmed, just as the purser announces that the ship is at last ready to sail. On board, Harry reveals that he knows about Peterson's scheme and intends to inform the authorities. Peterson orders Major Ross to kill Harry, but Billy thwarts the murder attempt. Disbelieving Harry's outraged accusations, however, the ship's drunken captain has Harry locked in the brig.

The ship's engine malfunctions and the passengers are told to escape by lifeboat. When Billy goes to rescue Harry, he finds that he has freed himself and left the ship, intending to swim ashore. Having abandoned ship, the passengers land on an African beach, where they are arrested by Arab soldiers. They are interrogated by Ahmed, an Arab official who suspects that they may be spies or revolutionaries. Billy creates a distraction by fleeing the room, and befriends Ahmed when he is recaptured by talking to him about Rita Hayworth, whom he pretends to have known. Billy then persuades him to send the party back to Italy by sailing boat.

After the party land, they are questioned by a Scotland Yard detective who is investigating the murder of the Colonial officer. Just as he seems taken in by Peterson's smooth talk, Gwendolen reveals Peterson's scheme, his involvement in the murder, and his attempt to kill Harry. The detective promptly arrests Peterson, O'Hara, Ross, and Ravello. As the four crooks are led away in handcuffs, Gwendolen receives a telegram from British East Africa saying that Harry has acquired the land where Peterson and the others were aiming to enrich themselves; he is now extremely wealthy and willing to forgive Gwendolen. Billy laughs happily, saying, "This is the end, the end!"

At Springfield Elementary School, Bart presents a book report on ''Treasure Island,'' but it soon becomes obvious that he has not actually read the book. Mrs. Krabappel scolds him and warns him about an upcoming exam on Colonial America. At school the next day, Bart feigns illness to avoid taking another test. After grilling Milhouse for the test answers, he scores even worse than he did when Mrs. Krabappel gives Bart a different set of test questions.

Homer and Marge meet with the school psychiatrist, Dr. J. Loren Pryor, who recommends that Bart repeat the fourth grade. Marge and Homer think that may be a good idea, but Bart vows to improve his grades to avoid it.

In desperation, Bart asks Martin to help him get passing grades. Bart promises to improve Martin's popularity in exchange for tutoring him. When Martin starts to emulate Bart's bad behavior, he abandons tutoring him to hang out with his new friends and play arcade games. To buy more time to study, Bart prays to God for a miracle to avoid tomorrow's test at school. He awakes the next day to find school is closed because Springfield is covered in snow.

As Bart prepares to frolic during the snow day, Lisa reveals she overheard him praying and urges him to make good use of an answered prayer. Bart decides to study while everyone else is having fun in the snow. Despite his effort, Bart fails the next day's test by one point. Bart breaks down crying and compares his failure to George Washington's surrender of Fort Necessity to the French in 1754. Mrs. Krabappel is impressed at this obscure historical reference and gives him an extra point for demonstrating applied knowledge. Bart is so ecstatic when he receives a barely passing grade (D-minus), he runs through Springfield, announcing his success. When Bart returns home, his parents post the test on the refrigerator, and he remarks he owes some of his accomplishment to God.

Homer learns of Dimoxinil, a new "miracle breakthrough" for baldness, but cannot afford its $1,000 price. Lenny suggests Homer use the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant's medical insurance plan to pay for it. After applying the drug, Homer wakes up the next day with a full head of hair. Mr. Burns scans the security monitors to find someone to promote to an executive position. Mistaking Homer for a young go-getter with a mane of hair, Burns chooses him.

When Homer has trouble finding a secretary who is not a seductive young woman, a man named Karl persuades Homer to hire him. Karl soon proves indispensable to Homer and gives him a makeover to replace his cheap polyester suit with a well-tailored one, and that an executive needs to project self-confidence, not slouch in his seat. When he forgets his own wedding anniversary, Karl hires a singing telegram service to serenade Marge with "You Are So Beautiful".

At an executive board meeting, Burns asks Homer to suggest a way to increase worker productivity. After Homer suggests providing more tartar sauce in the lunch room, workplace safety improves and accidents decrease. When Smithers observes that the prior accidents were caused by or traced to Homer, Burns correctly accuses Smithers of petty jealousy. Homer spends his paycheck on home improvements and plans to give the kids what they always wanted, and when Marge is concerned he should save for a rainy day, Homer dismisses it that the good times are here to stay.

After Homer receives the key to the executive washroom, Smithers is angry that he is now in Burns' good graces while his loyal service is forgotten. Smithers learns that Homer committed insurance fraud to receive Dimoxinil and attempts to get him fired. Karl takes the blame and writes a $1,000 check to repay the company, forcing Smithers to fire him instead. Homer is nervous about giving a speech at the plant, and while driving home argues with himself that things will be hard without Karl and he is flat broke, but reasons all will be fine as he has a full head of hair.

Homer catches Bart using his Dimoxinil in a misguided attempt to grow a beard, causing him to drop the bottle and spill its contents. By the next day, Homer has lost all his hair, as he had to keep putting the drug on his head. Before the meeting, Karl appears with a prepared speech for him to deliver and reassures Homer that all his accomplishments were due to his will and effort, not the hair. Homer gives a brilliant speech on the Japanese art of self-management, but the audience refuses to take him seriously because he has no hair and walks out on him. Burns threatens to fire Homer, but admits he sympathizes with him since he also suffers from male pattern baldness and knows what the condition does to a man. He compassionately demotes Homer to his former position.

At home that night, Homer tells Marge he is afraid she will love him less now that he is bald again, as well as incite the kids' anger as the loss of his executive position means he cannot afford a better lifestyle. Marge reminds him that his job as a safety inspector has always provided for the family and the kids will get over having less than their friends. Marge and Homer sing "You Are So Beautiful" together in each other's arms.

Le Ly is a girl growing up in a Vietnamese village. Her life changes when communist insurgents show up in the village to first fight the forces of France and then the United States. During the American involvement, Le Ly is captured and tortured by South Vietnamese troops who suspect she is a spy for the North, and later raped by the Viet Cong because they suspect that she is a traitor to the North. After the rape, her relationship with her village is destroyed, and she and her family are forced to move.

Her family moves to Saigon and she is employed by a family there. The master of the household misleads her into believing that he genuinely cares for her, and she falls for him and gets pregnant by him. The master's wife becomes enraged and Le Ly's whole family is forced to move back to their former province. There she meets Steve Butler, a Gunnery Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. When she first meets him she is not interested in a boyfriend or marriage, having been through so much suffering. Steve falls for Le Ly and treats her very well, making a big difference in her life while in Vietnam.

The two leave Vietnam and move to the United States. Their life together begins well, but years of killing in the war have taken their toll on Steve, who becomes uncontrollably violent. The relationship falters, despite Le Ly's attempts to reconcile with Steve. After an impassioned plea by Le Ly for Steve to come back to her, he commits suicide. Many years following this tragic experience, Le Ly returns to Vietnam with her sons. She briefly reunites with her eldest's father who she introduces his son to, and he tearfully embraces his son. She then takes her sons to her former village to meet her family and shows them where she came from.

''Naomi'''s story is focused around a man's obsession for a ''modan garu'' or modern girl. The narrator, Jōji, is a well-educated Japanese man who is an electrical engineer in the city, and comes from a wealthy farming family. Jōji wishes to break away from his traditional Japanese culture, and becomes immersed in the new Westernized culture which was taking root in Japan. The physical representation of everything Western is embodied in a girl named Naomi. Jōji sees Naomi for the first time in a café and instantly falls for her exotic "Eurasian" looks, Western-sounding name, and (to him) sophisticated mannerisms. Like the story of the prepubescent Murasaki in the classic novel ''The Tale of Genji'', Jōji decides he will raise Naomi, a fifteen-year-old café hostess, to be his perfect woman: in this case, he will forge her into a glamorous Western-style girl like Mary Pickford, the famous Canadian actress of the silent film era, whom he thinks Naomi resembles.

Jōji moves Naomi into his home and begins his efforts to make her a perfect Western wife. She turns out to be a very willing pupil. He pays for her English-language lessons, and though she has little skill with grammar, she possesses beautiful pronunciation. He funds her Westernized activities, including her love of movies, dancing and magazines. During the early part of the novel Jōji makes no sexual advances on Naomi, preferring instead to groom her according to his desires and observe her from a distance. However, his plan to foster Western ideals such as independence in her backfires dramatically as she gets older.

Jōji begins the novel being the dominator. However, as time progresses and his obsession takes hold, Naomi's manipulation puts her in a position of power over him. Slowly Jōji turns power over to Naomi, conceding to everything she desires. He buys a new house for them, and though they are married, Jōji sleeps in a separate bedroom, while Naomi entertains Western men in another room. The book ends with Naomi having complete control of Jōji's life, though he claims he is satisfied as long as his obsession with her is satiated.

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Based in a sector of deep space called K240 in the year 2380, the game involves building space colonies on a cluster of asteroids and mining them for valuable ore, while fighting against several different races of hostile aliens with similar motives.

Milly is a soldier from 2084, where humanity is on the verge of extinction because of the "Daggra", an alien race. In mankind's final stronghold in Tibet, Milly leaps into a newly built time portal just before the fortress is overrun. The portal sends her to 2002, where her mission is to kill the first Daggra, who faked a crash landing, and stop him from signaling his invasion fleet.

Milly lands in the aftermath of a shootout in Tokyo Bay, where a hitman named Miyamoto holds the murderous Triad mobster Mizoguchi at gunpoint. Her arrival allows the mobster to escape and Miyamoto takes Milly, who he thinks he accidentally shot, back to his place. She was saved by a plate of metal in her coat. She tapes a tiny bomb to his neck and threatens him into helping her on her mission. Miyamoto has a personal score to settle with Mizoguchi, who killed his childhood friend by kidnapping him and selling off his organs.

That night, Miyamoto sees Milly cleaning up his trenchcoat on a coat hanger, so he tells her to go back to sleep. The next morning he discovers photos of himself and a newspaper article on his death. He shows these to his weapons supplier Shi, who tells him it's an elaborate trick the Triads wouldn't waste their time on.

With Shi's help, they track down where the alien spaceship crashed, but it was taken away to the National Institute of Space Science. They try to get to the spaceship to kill the alien, but Mizoguchi arrives and tries to take the facility over. Milly is surprised at the alien, it is not what she expected. She hesitates to kill it as Mizoguchi advances on the lab.

Using Miyamoto as its mouthpiece, the alien says it wants to go home. Milly realizes that she has been lied to. The humans and not the aliens, started the war which has been destroying the human race. They started it when they captured and killed the alien. She now knows they have to stop Mizoguchi as he wants the alien technology to take over the world. Following the destruction of the Space Science lab, Mizoguchi and his goons take the alien and its ship. Meanwhile, Miyamoto and Milly regroup for the next part of her mission.

The duo again confronts Mizoguchi at an abandoned oil rig, where they rescue the alien. Surviving a huge explosion, a bloodied Mizoguchi threatens to kill them all for ruining his plans. However, his bullets hit an invisible force field. Miyamoto quickly grabs the gun and kills Mizoguchi. Before they can figure out where the force field came from a Daggra craft, disguised as a Boeing 747-400 airliner arrives, having received the alien's distress signal. The Daggra take their wounded comrade and leave Earth. As the future war has ceased to exist, Milly slowly disappears.

Shortly after the incident, Miyamoto decides to give up his life of violence and hands in his guns to Shi. While walking home, he is confronted by a thug whose life he had spared earlier at Tokyo Bay. Realizing that he is weaponless, Miyamoto is helpless as the thug shoots him. The thug walks away, assuming that Miyamoto is dead. A little later, Miyamoto staggers up and finds his life was saved by a plate of metal similar to Milly's. The plate has a written message by Milly, telling him she has repaid him. Miyamoto recalls the night Milly messed around with his trenchcoat. While Miyamoto and Milly were asleep, a second, future Milly traveled from the future and slipped the metal plate into his trenchcoat before returning to her timeline. On her way out, she accidentally drops the newspaper article on Miyamoto's death.

Louis XV, the pleasure-loving King of France in the mid-eighteenth century, is nearing 60, and, his wife and his important and beloved former mistress Madame de Pompadour both being gone, he yearns for a new woman companion who would treat him as a man rather than as a favour-dispensing king. He fails to find such a woman at the Deer Park, a "school" for ladies in waiting— and would-be royal mistresses— set up in memory of Madame de Pompadour. However, one of his courtiers, the Duc de Richelieu, knows (as a lover or customer, it is strongly suggested) a young woman of the people, Jeanne du Barry, who is an exuberant, free-spirited soul with no agenda except having a good time. He introduces her to Louis, and she makes a hit. She moves into Versailles, where Louis showers her with extravagant gifts, and she keeps him fascinated with changing moods and challenges. Early in their relationship, she demands a sleigh ride with Louis in the summer, and Lebel, the palace steward, has to arrange this by buying all the sugar in Paris to put under the sleigh runners.

Du Barry and Louis have unalloyed fun for a while, but Louis's three grown daughters and their friend the Duchesse de Granmont are scandalized and join with the Prime Minister, Choiseul, to try to freeze her out of court. Richelieu's nephew, the upright official the Duc d'Aiguillon, rebukes Louis and Du Barry for ruining France with their extravagance, and opposes a war with England Choiseul wants to start. When Choiseul spoils Du Barry's formal court presentation by having her dress and wig stolen and the tipsy noblewoman who was to present her abducted, she shows up at the court gathering in her nightgown, and Louis storms out but then turns and beckons her to follow. Du Barry takes revenge on Choiseul by charming him, promising him a reward and luring him into a compromising situation where Louis catches him seemingly trying to take liberties with her. Louis fires Choiseul and makes D’Aiguillon Prime Minister, and the war with England is averted, to the bemusement of the English ambassador at the trivial cause of so major a result.

Louis’ slow, pedantic grandson and heir, Louis the Dauphin, is betrothed to the Austrian princess Marie Antoinette, and Du Barry is among those who drive to the frontier with Louis and the Dauphin to receive her. Marie Antoinette snubs her, which she takes with good humour. After an elaborate wedding party that ends in a thunderstorm, the Dauphin spends his wedding night lecturing Marie Antoinette on the causes of the weather instead of comforting her. Louis asks Du Barry to talk to him about the facts of life for the sake of France; Marie Antoinette and her new allies, Louis’ sisters and the Duchesse de Granmont, are furious when they find Du Barry and the Dauphin behind a closed door, though nothing has happened. As they all shout at each other, Louis collapses.

Du Barry gathers his favourite field flowers and makes her way to his deathbed as his family and the doctors abandon it. They share some happy memories, and he dies. Du Barry is packing to leave when word comes that she is to be deprived of the castle Louis gave her and imprisoned in another chateau. She bids a mocking farewell to Marie Antoinette and the Dauphin, now Louis XVI, and goes off between two officers, ruefully singing the trivial little song she sang to Louis throughout their relationship.

The game is set in the year 2117, two years after a cataclysmic Antimatter War. The player leads a military force whose main unit is the Metal Marine: a 16-meter (50 ft) high, 93-plus ton mecha.

The PC and SNES versions of the game feature a number of minor gameplay differences, namely the plot. In the PC version the player controls a commander of the '''"United Earth Empire"''' ('''"Empire"''' in short) a futuristic version of United Nations. The adversarial Zorguef's force is a dictatorial government. After conquering all space colonies, Zorguef sets his eyes on Earth and the player must take up arms to protect the planet. In the SNES version the player controls a commander of the '''"Space Colonies Allied Forces"''' ('''"SCAF"''' in short), an alliance formed by the independent space colonies. The primary mission is to take the battle to the Earth, which is currently in the grip of Zorguef's empire. The goal is to save the humans living on Earth who are being oppressed by Zorguef while securing the future of Space Colonies.

A special "Master Edition" of the PC version was released by Mindscape in 1995. In the Master Edition the characters were given voices, the overall look of the GUI changed, and the game featured better sound and warning effects.

In both versions, the game composes of 20 missions where the player will slowly regain the conquered territories of the Earth until the enemy force is defeated. The game is played in an isometrical style when building and in an aerial grid style when planning an attack to the enemy territory. In the PC version both players can attack at the same time, while the SNES version only admits one attack at the time from one of the factions.

Bart and Lisa go fishing downstream of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. ''Springfield Shopper'' reporter Dave Shutton arrives just as Bart catches a three-eyed fish. After the fish, nicknamed Blinky by the media, makes headlines, incumbent governor Mary Bailey sends a government inspection team to the plant, suspecting nuclear waste may have caused the mutation. The plant's owner, Mr. Burns, is presented with a list of 342 violations which will cost $56 million (just over $110,263,000 in 2019) to rectify. Distraught, Burns takes up Homer's suggestion that he run for governor to prevent the plant from being closed.

Burns's political advisers inform him that he is greatly despised by most people while Bailey is beloved by all. To quell the controversy over Blinky, Burns appears on television with an actor portraying Charles Darwin who claims Blinky is an evolutionary leap, not a "hideous genetic mutation". After Burns vows to lower taxes and runs a smear campaign against Bailey, his campaign ties hers in the polls. Burns's advisers suggest that he have dinner at the home of one of his employees the night before the election. After scanning the plant's video monitors for the most average man he can find, Burns chooses Homer. Hearing this from Burns, Homer comes up with a clever and foolproof plan to thwart Burns's campaign for Governor and help Bailey win the election: have the help of his family to host the dinner and use Blinky as the main dish.

The upcoming dinner with Burns divides the Simpson household. But Homer puts his plan into action and has Marge place the fish's head on Burns's plate. Unable to swallow the fish, he spits it out. Cameras flash as the expelled bite flies through the air and hits the floor, dooming his gubernatorial campaign. Bailey wins the election. After destroying the Simpsons' furnishings in a fit of rage, Burns warns that Homer's dreams will go unfulfilled as long as he lives. However, Homer's plan is a success and Marge reassured him they have each other, as the family is back together again.

The title refers to the privileged intellectual elite of Russia, epitomised by Protassoff, high-minded and idealistic, but basically unaware of what is going on around them in the lower depths. Lisa, in contrast, is sickly, nervous, and prophetically aware of impending crisis. It is set during an 1862 cholera epidemic in Russia in which fear drove people to mob action.

Protassov's detachment leaves him oblivious to the nearly mad Melanya's love for him; to his wife's confused love for his best friend and artist, Dmitri Vaguin; to the brutality of his assistant Yegor, and ultimately to the danger of the armed mob that comes to attack him.

Watching Homer mow his lawn with frustration, Ned invites him to his basement rec room for a beer. When Homer sees Ned's well-furnished house and his perfect relationship with his family, he angrily accuses Ned of showing off and is asked to leave. Later Ned feels guilty about his outburst and writes a letter of apology to Homer saying he loves him as a brother and feels pain in his "bosom". Homer is amused by Ned's sentimentality and reads the letter aloud at the breakfast table. Bart and Lisa howl with laughter but Marge chastises them for mocking Ned's sincere apology (although she laughs about it in private).

Homer takes Bart and Maggie to Sir Putt-A-Lot's Merrie Olde Fun Centre for a round of miniature golf. They encounter Ned and his son Todd there and play golf together. Bart and Todd learn of an upcoming children's miniature golf tournament and enter it. Although Todd is skilled at playing, Homer is confident Bart will win. He tells Bart that it is not acceptable to lose and forces him to angrily stare at a picture of Todd for fifteen minutes every day.

Doubting his golfing skills after seeing his meager collection of sports trophies, Bart accepts Lisa's offer to help him practice. Lisa approaches the task as a zen master, teaching Bart to meditate. She finds the golf course is based on simple geometry and teaches Bart how to achieve a low par. Homer makes a bet with Ned about whose son is a better golfer: the father of the boy who does not win the tournament will mow the other father's lawn in his wife's Sunday dress.

On the day of the tournament, Homer encourages Bart to win at all costs. Bart and Todd play well and are tied when they reach the eighteenth hole. Realizing that they are equally skilled at golf, they call it a draw and split the $50 prize. Ned suggests that means their bet is off, but Homer insists that they both must mow each other's lawn in their wife's Sunday dress because of the way their bet is worded. Neighbors gather on the sidewalk to laugh at them, but Homer gladly endures the shame to humiliate Ned. To Homer's dismay, Ned actually enjoys mowing his lawn in his wife's dress because it reminds him of his college fraternity days.

''Alton Locke'' is the story of a young tailor-boy who has instincts and aspirations beyond the normal expectations of his working-class background. He is intensely patriotic and has ambitions to be a poet. In the course of the narrative, Alton Locke loves and struggles in vain.

Physically, he is a weak man, but is able to encompass all the best emotions, along with vain longings, wild hopes, and a righteous indignation at the plight of his contemporaries. He joins the Chartist movement because he can find no better vehicle by which to improve the lot of the working class, experiencing a sense of devastation at its apparent failure. Utterly broken in spirit, Alton Locke sails for America to seek a new life there; however, he barely reaches the shore of the New World before he dies.

Category:1850 British novels Category:Chartism Category:English novels Category:Novels by Charles Kingsley

While Donald is flipping through some books in Scrooge McDuck's library, a map falls out of a book relating to the treasure of King Garuzia, ruler of the Great Duck Kingdom in ancient times. The map leads to the location of the king's most prized possession, hidden in a secret place shortly before his death. Donald thinks this is his path to riches. Unfortunately Big Bad Pete overhears and pursues Donald throughout the game hoping to steal the treasure.

Teamed with his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and using the partial map from the library, Donald begins his search in Duckburg, with the trail being directed to an Aztec pyramid in Mexico. Outside the pyramid, he is directed by a "sweet seniorita" to obtain a "hero key" from an explorer back in Duckburg to open the pyramid. Inside the pyramid, Donald meets Goofy, who gives him a strange note and a plunger to help him reach higher places, and tells him that Gyro Gearloose is looking for him back in Duckburg. Travelling across the rooftops of Duckburg to meet Gyro, Donald is given Gyro's latest invention, bubblegum ammo that can break through walls. The last location on the partial map is Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania, where Donald encounters a ghost who tells him that the Count carries the real treasure map.

After defeating Dracula, Donald receives a more complete map. In India, Donald enters the palace of the Maharajah, where she challenges him to defeat the tiger (known as Shere Khan) in her garden in exchange for a Sphinx Tear. Donald succeeds and receives the Sphinx Tear, which is the key to opening a temple in Egypt. Donald is able to solve the "Riddle of the Sphinx" using the note Goofy had given him and obtains the Scepter of Ra before escaping in a minecart. From there, he journeys to the South Pole, where he finds a key frozen in ice, and uses the Scepter of Ra to melt the ice and grab the key. The key unlocks the hold of a Viking ship, which contains an ancient diary with the secret to locating the treasure. The ship is haunted by ghosts, and the Viking captain sends Donald below decks to get rid of them. After defeating a skeletal Viking warrior, Donald returns to the deck, where the captain informs him that the diary is hidden in ice near the South Pole, and gives him an "ancient Viking plunger" that attaches to flying creatures. Donald then returns to the South Pole, hitching a ride on one of Pete's bird minions to reach the diary.

However, upon finding the diary, Pete shows up, holding Donald's nephews hostage in exchange for the diary. After giving Pete the diary, Donald travels to Pete's hideout to defeat Pete and get the diary back. The diary reveals that the map, when dipped in water, will reveal the location of the Great Duck Treasure. Donald flies to the island where the treasure is hidden and manages to evade its traps in order to reach the treasure vault. After defeating the elderly knight guarding the treasure, Donald opens the vault only to find a simple stone statue. When the disappointed Donald returns home, Huey, Dewey, and Louie accidentally break the statue, which reveals a golden jeweled necklace was hidden inside. Donald gives the necklace to Daisy and the two fly off into the sunset together.

The film is an eight-minute long black and white short that depicts a Spanish woman encountering a strange singing man in a coffee shop one morning. The strange man turns out to be a suicide bomber, who professes his love through the words of the song to a woman who turns up every day at 7:35 in the morning (''de la mañana''). The others in the cafe have prerecorded lines to say at points during the song (or they risk the threat of being blown up) and even a short dance routine.

At the start of the film, the woman realises that something is not right when sitting down: everyone is quiet and refusing to acknowledge her presence. When the man reveals himself to be a suicide bomber (one of the people in the cafe refuses to sing), she calls the police (whilst he is not watching). Roughly three minutes later, the police arrive outside the coffee shop. The man finishes his song and emerges from the cafe to the police, holding a big sack of confetti. The man blows himself up, and the confetti showers over the woman. The credits roll.

The episode begins with gay lawyer Will Truman (Eric McCormack) talking on the phone with his best friend, heterosexual Jewish interior designer Grace Adler (Debra Messing), about their lives. The following day, Will hosts a poker game at his apartment with his friends, when Grace arrives and informs Will she just had an argument with her long-term boyfriend, Danny. After the game is over, Will insists that Grace spend the night—much to the displeasure of Will's flamboyantly gay friend, Jack McFarland (Sean Hayes), who was planning to move in with Will temporarily.

Later at her office, Grace Adler Designs, Grace tells her socialite assistant Karen Walker (Megan Mullally) about her argument with Danny. Karen tells Grace to make up with him, explaining to Grace that Danny is a "good catch". After staying another night with Will, Grace decides to end her relationship with Danny. However, when she tries to end things she receives an unexpected marriage proposal from him, which she accepts. After the proposal, Grace goes to Will's apartment and asks for his blessing. Will attempts to be supportive of her decision, but finally tells her that Danny is not right for her. Grace informs Will that she does not need his blessing, and that she is going to marry Danny regardless.

Will shows up at Grace Adler Designs the following day to apologize. Karen reveals to Will that Grace has gone to City Hall to get married. However, Grace shows up at her office and informs Will that she left Danny at the altar. Will takes Grace out for a drink and reassures her that she will find someone eventually.

In 2006, Los Angeles is in ruins and its citizens left to struggle for survival after the conclusion of Twisted Metal, a brutal contest held by Calypso, exactly one year earlier on Christmas Eve. Aboard his airship (running the ticker "CALYPSO RULER OF THE EARTH") in the skies over the destroyed City of Angels, Calypso wonders where the next Twisted Metal will take place; fourteen of the world's best drivers are already assembled to compete for whatever prize they desire. Ultimately, Calypso decides that the world itself shall serve as a battleground. In addition to the remains of Los Angeles, drivers will also battle in Moscow, Paris, Amazonia, New York City, Antarctica, Holland, and Hong Kong.

After defeating all the opponents in Amazonia, the player must face Minion before proceeding to New York City. The Dark Tooth boss fight takes place after the player defeats all the opponents in Hong Kong; once Dark Tooth (and his flaming head) is defeated, the driver meets with Calypso in New York to receive their prize.

Mademoiselle de Chartres is a sheltered heiress, sixteen years old, whose mother has brought her to the court of Henri II to seek a husband with good financial and social prospects. When old jealousies against a kinsman spark intrigues against the young ingénue, the best marriage prospects withdraw. The young woman follows her mother's recommendation and accepts the overtures of a middling suitor, the Prince de Clèves. After the wedding, she meets the dashing Duke de Nemours. The two fall in love, yet do nothing to pursue their affections, limiting their contact to an occasional visit in the now-Princess of Clèves's salon. The duke becomes enmeshed in a scandal at court that leads the Princess to believe he has been unfaithful in his affections. A letter from a spurned mistress to her paramour is discovered in the dressing room at one of the estates, but this letter was actually written to the Princess' uncle, the Vidame de Chartres, who has also become entangled in a relationship with the Queen. He begs the Duke de Nemours to claim ownership of the letter, which ends up in the Princess's possession. The duke has to produce documents from the Vidame to convince the Princess that his heart has been true. Eventually, the Prince de Clèves discerns that his wife is in love with another man. She confesses as much. He relentlessly quizzes her—indeed tricks her—until she reveals the man's identity. After he sends a servant to spy on the Duke de Nemours, the Prince de Clèves believes that his wife has been both physically and emotionally unfaithful to him. He becomes ill and dies (either of his illness or of a broken heart). On his deathbed, he blames the Duke de Nemours for his suffering and begs the Princess not to marry him. Now free to pursue her passions, the Princess is torn between her duty and her love. The duke pursues her more openly, but she rejects him, choosing instead to enter a convent for part of each year.

Headus Mouthion (Head) and Footus Underium (Heels) are two spies from the planet Freedom. They are sent to Blacktooth to liberate the enslaved planets of Penitentiary, Safari, Book World and Egyptus, and then to defeat the Emperor to prevent further planets from falling under his rule.

Captured and separated, the spies are placed in the prison headquarters of Castle Blacktooth. They must first escape, then break through the market to the orbiting Moonbase. From there they can teleport down to each planet and locate and reclaim the stolen crowns. Liberating the planets and defeating the Emperor will allow Head and Heels to return to Freedom as heroes.

Herbie, a Volkswagen Beetle with a mind of its own, is decommissioned and towed to a junkyard after losing several races. Maggie Peyton is the youngest member of the Peyton racing clan. Her father, Ray Peyton Sr., takes her to the junkyard to buy her a car as a college graduation present, and she chooses Herbie. Herbie then takes Maggie to her mechanic friend Kevin who agrees to take Herbie to a car show to buy parts. Herbie tricks Maggie into disguising herself in a racing suit and helmet and challenging NASCAR champion Trip Murphy to an impromptu race, which Herbie wins by a hair.

Kevin happily suggests that Maggie should race again, but Ray Sr. is concerned, having forbidden Maggie to race due to a street racing accident years ago. Trip becomes obsessed with Herbie and the mysterious driver and organizes a local racing competition to lure Herbie back for a rematch, which Maggie and Kevin enter. Herbie easily defeats the other cars and qualifies for the final match with Trip, but when Trip talks Maggie into racing for pink slips, Herbie's jealousy over Maggie's desire to win Trip's stock car causes him and Maggie to lose the race. Maggie is publicly embarrassed, Herbie is towed away, and both Kevin and Ray Sr. express their disappointment with Maggie over her respective actions.

However, encouraged by her friend Charisma, Maggie decides to race professionally. She tries to buy Herbie back from Trip, but Trip has entered Herbie in a demolition derby. Desperate to save Herbie from destruction, Maggie goes to the derby, runs onto the field while the derby is in progress, quickly apologizes and pleads with Herbie to help her, and an overjoyed Herbie accepts her back as his driver; the two manage to escape destruction and win the derby.

Meanwhile, the Peyton racing team may have to forfeit an upcoming NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race due to financial troubles and two crashes by the team's driver and Maggie's brother, Ray Peyton Jr.. Ray Sr. refuses to let Maggie drive for the team, but Ray Jr. decides on his own that she will take his place and sends the Team Peyton crew to help her and Kevin prepare Herbie for the race. At the race track, Maggie and Herbie have a heart-to-heart conversation, and Trip ominously warns Maggie that the race will be dangerous.

Herbie starts the race slowly, but he eventually catches up and begins passing the other cars before Maggie makes her first pit stop. Meanwhile, Ray Sr., who has been watching the race at home, decides to join the crowd in person. On the track again, Herbie is soon boxed in by some other cars, but Ray Sr. arrives at the track and encourages Maggie over the team radio, and Maggie escapes the trap by driving directly over Tony Stewart’s car in front of her, damaging Herbie's oil system. Maggie makes another pit stop and Kevin hurriedly extracts a replacement part from the yellow New Beetle, which Herbie has been eyeing amorously throughout the film, owned by Sally, one of Team Peyton's few remaining sponsors. The jerry-rigged oil system is fragile, and Trip is intent on preventing Herbie from winning.

With Maggie, Herbie, and Ray Sr. now working together, Maggie and Herbie catch up to Trip. Trip, bent on defeating Herbie once and for all, tries to damage Herbie by pushing him into the track wall when Maggie tries to pass him, but he is caught off guard and crashes into the wall when she slams on the brakes during his next attempt, resulting in him hitting Jeff Gordon. Herbie passes Trip's car, now upside down on the track, by climbing onto the fence above the wall. After landing back on the track, Maggie and Herbie win the race, and Maggie becomes the next Peyton to win a NASCAR race. Maggie is congratulated by her father and brother, and Trip is driven away in an ambulance as Maggie and Kevin kiss. The film ends with Ray speaking with Herbie and Sally's New Beetle (which is revealed to have a mind of its own as well), telling them not to stay out too long on their date as Herbie has another race coming up.

A man and his wife lead a German anti-Nazi propaganda literature movement. After an inadvertent betrayal, the husband is thrown into a concentration camp, from which he escapes to Switzerland.

After eating too much Halloween candy, Homer, Lisa and Bart have nightmares.

In Lisa's nightmare, Homer buys a cursed monkey's paw that will grant its owner four wishes. While he, Bart and Lisa argue, Marge pleads with them to heed the vendor's warning and not use it at all. Despite her efforts, Maggie is granted the first wish: a new pacifier. Bart wishes for the Simpsons to be rich and famous, but the public soon tires of the family's antics and ubiquity. Horrified by the wasteful wishes, Lisa wishes for world peace, but aliens Kang and Kodos enslave the defenseless Earth. Determined to make a harmless wish, Homer demands a turkey sandwich, but the turkey is dry. With all the wishes used, he gives the paw to his neighbor Ned, who wishes for the aliens to leave and transforms his home into a castle.

In Bart's nightmare, Springfield lives in fear of his omnipotent powers, including the ability to read minds, magically move objects and turn living things into grotesque forms. When Homer refuses to turn off a football game so Bart can watch ''The Krusty the Clown Show'', Bart transports him to the football stadium in place of the ball for a field goal kick. As Homer creeps into the house trying to surprise him with a blow to the head, Bart transforms him into a jack-in-the-box. After Dr. Marvin Monroe says Bart is desperate for attention from his father, Homer spends quality time with his son. Bart restores Homer's human form and they share a warm moment, causing Bart to wake up screaming.

In Homer's nightmare, he becomes a grave digger after Mr. Burns fires him for incompetence. While building a giant robotic laborer to replace human workers, Burns searches a graveyard for a human brain to implant in the robot. After mistaking Homer, asleep in an open grave, for a corpse because of his foul stench, he removes his brain and places it in the robot. Since Robo-Homer is just as incompetent as the old Homer, Burns declares the experiment a failure. After restoring the brain to Homer's body, Burns kicks the robot, which topples over and crushes him. Homer wakes from the nightmare to find Burns' head grafted on his shoulder. Homer tries to reassure himself that he is only dreaming, but Burns' head insists otherwise.

Lincoln Hawk is a truck driver who also arm wrestles for extra cash. Hawk's estranged wife Christina, who is suffering from heart disease, asks that Hawk pick up their young son Michael from military school and develop a relationship with him; Hawk had left them ten years earlier. Michael's wealthy grandfather, Christina's father, Jason Cutler, believes that Hawk has no right to be in his grandson's life. Michael distrusts Hawk initially and treats him with contempt at every turn.

Over the course of a trip from Colorado to California, the two reconcile and bond. When they finally arrive at the hospital, Christina has died from complications during surgery. Michael blames Hawk for delaying his arrival and immediately leaves for his grandfather's estate. An attempt to retrieve Michael ends with Hawk being arrested when he resorts to ramraiding the gated mansion. Michael visits Hawk in jail and forgives him, but says he feels safer living with his grandfather. As a condition of charges being dropped, Hawk is obliged to sign over custody of Michael to Cutler.

Hawk leaves to compete in the World Armwrestling Championship in Las Vegas, hoping to start his own trucking company with the prize of $100,000 in cash and a $250,000 Volvo White Tractor Truck, despite his underdog status. Most other participants are much larger, including Bull Hurley, who is the undefeated world champion for the prior five years the odds-on favorite to win again, other competitors include John Grizzly, Mad Dog Madison, Harry Bosco and Two Time Canadian Champion "Slammin'" Carl Adams, When Hawk arrives, he sells his truck for $7,000 and uses the proceeds to place a bet on himself (as a 20–1 long shot) to win. Meanwhile, Michael learns Cutler had driven his parents apart and had been intercepting and hiding letters Hawk had regularly written to him. Stunned by his grandfather's deceptions, Michael steals a pickup truck and drives to Las Vegas to find Hawk.

Hawk advances to the final eight competitors in the double-elimination tournament before suffering his first loss, injuring his arm in the process. Cutler, who is also in Las Vegas, summons Hawk to his hotel suite and offers Hawk a chance for a fresh start: $500,000 and a top-of-the-line semi (even better than the tournament's grand prize) on the condition that he stay out of their lives for good, but Hawk refuses. He returns to the tournament with improved focus and advances to the final match against Hurley. Michael finds Hawk and apologizes for misjudging him, which gives Hawk the emotional support he needs to compete. After a long match, Hawk manages to beat Hurley and wins the tournament. A triumphant Hawk and Michael take their new truck, cash prize and gambling winnings and drive off to start a new life together.

Fourteen-year-old Vivian Abromowitz's family are penniless nomads, moving from one cheap apartment to another in Beverly Hills in 1976, so that Vivian and her brothers can attend the city's prestigious local schools. Their father, Murray, is a divorced 65-year-old who refuses to retire, working as an unsuccessful Oldsmobile salesman whose cars are selling poorly due in large part to the energy crisis of the time.

Vivian's wealthy uncle Mickey regularly sends the family money to help them survive. When Mickey's 29-year-old daughter Rita escapes from a rehab facility, Murray offers her shelter if Mickey will pay for a plush apartment. Vivian must babysit her adult cousin, ensuring that she attends nursing school and avoids pills and alcohol. However, Vivian has her own problems: she is curious about sex, likes an apparently twenty-something neighbor, Eliot, has inherited her mother's ample breasts, and wants a family that does not embarrass her.

Vivian's older brother Ben aspires to a show business career, while her father aspires to female companionship but would not give in to wealthy lady-friend Doris Zimmerman's desire that he send his kids back East to live with his ex-wife. Vivian's younger brother Rickey simply aspires to obtain attention.

Vivian and Rita are close and sometimes speak in gibberish, or Pig Latin. Vivian learns that Rita has no wish to attend nursing school and also has no idea as to what to do with her life. Murray attempts to cover up Rita's lack of progress at nursing school when Mickey asks for progress reports. Eventually, Mickey, frustrated at having to support his brother's family and also learning of their deception concerning his daughter (who is pregnant), explodes during a meeting between the two families, telling Murray he is tired of sending them money. Vivian snaps and stabs Mickey in the leg with a fork. Rita gets on a plane with her now outraged parents. Depressed and dejected, Murray once again packs the kids into his car and they take off. In an attempt to cheer her father up, Vivian suggests that the family stop for a cheap steak at Sizzler for breakfast — a ritual regularly suggested by their father as a means of showing affection to his children, despite their indifference to it or him.

According to ''The Oxford Companion to English Literature'' (1967), : "the plot is founded on a story told to George Eliot by her aunt Elizabeth Evans, a Methodist preacher, and the original of Dinah Morris of the novel, of a confession of child-murder, made to her by a girl in prison."

The novel follows the lives of four characters in the fictional community of Hayslope—a rural, pastoral, and close-knit community—in 1799. The novel revolves around a love "rectangle" among the beautiful but self-absorbed Hetty Sorrel; Captain Arthur Donnithorne, the young squire who seduces her; Adam Bede, her unacknowledged suitor; and Dinah Morris, Hetty's cousin, a fervent, virtuous and beautiful Methodist lay preacher.

Adam, a local carpenter much admired for his integrity and intelligence, is in love with Hetty. She is attracted to Arthur, the local squire's charming grandson and heir, and falls in love with him. When Adam interrupts a tryst between them, Adam and Arthur fight. Arthur agrees to give up Hetty and leaves Hayslope to return to his militia. After he leaves, Hetty Sorrel agrees to marry Adam but shortly before their marriage, discovers that she is pregnant. In desperation, she leaves in search of Arthur but cannot find him. Unwilling to return to the village on account of the shame and ostracism she would have to endure, she delivers her baby with the assistance of a friendly woman she encounters. She subsequently abandons the infant in a field but not being able to bear the child's cries, she tries to retrieve the infant. However, she is too late, the infant having already died of exposure.

Hetty is caught and tried for child murder. She is found guilty and sentenced to hang. Dinah enters the prison and pledges to stay with Hetty until the end. Her compassion brings about Hetty's contrite confession. When Arthur Donnithorne, on leave from the militia for his grandfather's funeral, hears of her impending execution, he races to the court and has the sentence commuted to transportation.

Ultimately, Adam and Dinah, who gradually become aware of their mutual love, marry and live peacefully with his family.

When Buffy and the gang discover a nest of vampires, they turn to Jonathan Levinson, a former fellow pupil of Sunnydale High School, for help. At Giles' apartment, Jonathan examines weapons and practices hand-to-hand combat with Buffy. Willow uses her computer to find a way to attack the vampire nest, but Jonathan finds a better way. He slays the majority of the vampires, leaving Buffy, who allowed one vampire to get past her, feeling inadequate. As they leave the crypt, Jonathan poses for pictures. He senses Spike's presence just before he emerges from the shadows. Buffy is at a loss for her usual witty puns, but Jonathan steps in to knock Spike's confidence down.

While putting pictures of Jonathan up on a wall, Willow and Tara talk about the fight earlier that night and Buffy's damaged relationship with Riley. At Riley's dorm room, Buffy tries to play basketball, but she is too uncomfortable around him to let him get close. Jonathan comforts Buffy and he tells her that she is mad at Riley because he does not know her as well as she would like him to. He tries to convince her to forgive Riley because her expectations are too high. All the while, Jonathan signs autographs for overzealous fans.

Colonel George Haviland is the new commander at the Initiative and has brought in Jonathan as a tactical consultant, leaving Jonathan to explain the plans to find and destroy Adam. Jonathan is aware Adam has a uranium power source. One fan, Karen, is spying on Jonathan's house, but is attacked by a demon and manages to run away. Jonathan counsels Riley about his relationship with Buffy, then shoots at apples atop of the heads of Initiative operatives, while blindfolded.

When Jonathan takes center stage as a singer at the Bronze, Buffy and Riley take to the dance floor. As Jonathan plays the trumpet, Xander and Anya are inspired to go somewhere to have sex. Buffy tells Riley that she wants to move on with their relationship. Karen goes to the Bronze for Jonathan, and, when she is taken back to his place, describes the demon's appearance. Jonathan acts strangely when she draws a symbol she saw on the demon, which he dismisses as a harmless monster. Buffy seems unsure of Jonathan's dismissive response.

Adam realizes that something is wrong with the world, and that Jonathan is not supposed to be popular. When twin blond girls call for Jonathan to come to bed, he drops his robe to reveal a symbol on his shoulder that matches the symbol Karen drew. On Tara's way to her dorm room, the demon attacks her. She chants a spell and escapes with her life. The next morning, Tara identifies the demon by the symbol on its head, and Buffy has even more reason to question Jonathan.

Buffy stops by Xander's house, and finds Anya and plenty of things on Jonathan. Buffy questions how Jonathan could be so perfect. He is credited for all the great things that have happened in the world (starring in ''The Matrix'', inventing the internet etc.). Following Buffy's lead at Riley's encouragement, they look at Jonathan's swimsuit calendar to see the monster's mark on Jonathan's shoulder. Jonathan arrives and explains that he has a history with the monster and every time he faces it, he is overcome by confusion. Buffy and Jonathan get information on the demon's location from Spike. Willow discovers that Jonathan did an augmentation spell that would make everyone adore him, but that the spell had the side-effect of creating a demon to balance out the positive changes to Jonathan's life. If the demon is destroyed, the spell is reversed. The gang has a hard time dealing with the prospect of a world without Jonathan.

In a cave, Jonathan tries to prevent Buffy from falling into a pit, but the demon interrupts them. Jonathan hides while Buffy fights the demon, then runs out and pushes the demon into the pit, nearly falling in himself but being saved by Buffy. With the demon destroyed, the world returns to normal, and Jonathan is once again unpopular. Jonathan explains that when he received counseling after his attempted suicide, another man informed him about the augmentation spell, except for the demon.

The film begins with an urban couple driving through the countryside in what looks like a cinema advertisement. The scene comes to a halt with a fatal accident. The rural Australian town of Paris arranges fatal accidents to visitors driving through. Townspeople collect items from the luggage of the deceased passengers whilst survivors are taken to the local hospital where they are given lobotomies with power tools and kept as "veggies" for medical experiments by the earnest town surgeon. The young men of the town salvage and modify the wrecked vehicles into a variety of strange-looking cars designed for destruction.

Arthur Waldo (Terry Camilleri) and his older brother, George Waldo (Rick Scully), drive through Paris with their caravan where they meet with an accident that kills George. Arthur is spared and looked after by the Mayor of Paris, Len Kelly (John Meillon), who invites Arthur to stay in his home as one of his family; his two young daughters have been "adopted" after being orphaned in motor accidents in the town.

Arthur unsuccessfully attempts to leave Paris but due to a previous incident where he was exonerated of manslaughter for running over an elderly pedestrian, he has lost his confidence in driving and there does not seem to be any public transport. Mayor Len gives Arthur a job at the local hospital as a medical orderly. Beneath the idyllic rural paradise of Paris is a festering feud between the young men of the town who live for their modified vehicles that they terrorise the town with and the older generation. When one of the hoons damages the Mayor's property and breaks a statue of an Aboriginal Australian the older men of the town burn the guilty driver's car as he is held down.

The Mayor appoints Arthur the town parking inspector complete with brassard and Army bush jacket that further irritates the young men. The situation reaches its boiling point the night of the town's annual Pioneers Ball which is a fancy dress and costume party. What was planned to be a "car gymkhana" by the young men turns into an assault on the town where both sides attack each other killing several of the residents. Arthur regains his driving confidence when he repeatedly drives the Mayor's car into his former hospital orderly supervisor who is one of the hoons. The film closes with Arthur, and the town's other residents, leaving Paris in the night.

Guy Openshaw is 44 years old and on his death bed. Cancer is coming down hard on Guy, and he cannot stand the stream of visitors to his London flat. His wife Gertrude entertains the drop-ins, who were once part of a lively set that came by after work hours for a drink and chat. The visitors all relied on Guy for advice and money, and as he dies the varied people in the novel begin to fray. Gertrude is assisted in looking after Guy by Anne Cavidge, an old friend who has recently left the nunnery she had entered fifteen years earlier.

One of the visitors to the Openshaw flat is the youngish Tim Reede, an artist who cannot sell his work and who is lost without Guy’s support. He has a girlfriend named Daisy who dresses like a punk and talks and drinks like a sailor; they’re a perfect pair of starving misfits. Daisy makes Tim visit Gertrude once Guy has passed and ask her for money, but Gertrude begins questioning Tim about his craft and winds up wanting to support him in other ways, namely giving him run of her home in the French countryside. This development upsets the plans for the future that the newly-wealthy Gertrude had begun to make with Anne.

The Tim-Gertrude affair and subsequent marriage is the heart of the book, and it is a good study of class relations and the younger man-older woman romance. Tim is both a hero and a colossal screw-up, but he is also kind and lets Gertrude’s friends run him down because it doesn’t bother her and he still gets to be with her at the end of the day. Some of Gertrude’s circle are genuinely concerned, but most are either in love with her or what she could do for them with Guy’s inheritance.

There is a fair amount of treachery and coincidence in the novel, but the heavy touches are softened by consequences which Murdoch lets play out in natural time.

Homer appears in front of a curtain and warns viewers that the following episode is scary. He then tells parents to turn off their television and calls them chicken, causing the screen to go black and Marge to chastise Homer for insulting the show's audience. The episode's wraparound segment shows the Simpson family having a Halloween party for the children of Springfield. Lisa, Grampa and Bart each tell a horror story.

Clown Without Pity

In a parody of ''The Twilight Zone'' episode "Living Doll", ''Trilogy of Terror'', ''Gremlins'' and the ''Child's Play'' franchise, Homer realizes that he forgot to buy Bart a present for his birthday. He rushes to the House of Evil, where he purchases a talking Krusty the Clown doll. The shopkeeper warns him that the doll is cursed, but Homer dismisses his concerns. He returns to the party and gives Bart the doll. Grampa exclaims that the doll is evil, but admits that he is just trying to get attention.

Later, Homer plays with the doll when it starts saying that it is going to kill him. He dismisses this until the doll tries to stab him. After numerous attempts on Homer's life, he captures the doll, locks it in a suitcase, and drops it in a "Bottomless Pit". Returning home, Homer is ambushed by the escaped doll, who tackles him into the kitchen and tries to drown him in Santa's Little Helper's dog bowl. Marge calls the consumer service hotline. A repairman arrives and discovers that the doll has been set to "Evil" mode. He flips the switch to "Good" and the Krusty doll becomes friends with Homer, although it is quickly put to work as Homer's slave. The Krusty doll returns to its girlfriend (a Malibu Stacy doll) in Lisa's dollhouse.

King Homer

Grampa takes over in telling a story in a parody of the 1933 ''King Kong'' film, Marge joins Mr. Burns (as a parody of Carl Denham) and Smithers (as a parody of Jack Driscoll) on an expedition to Ape Island to find the legendary King Homer. After landing on the island, Mr. Burns, Smithers, and Marge stealthily approach a native tribe, but when they are spotted due to Marge's hair protruding over the bushes, she is kidnapped and tied to a post as an offering for King Homer, who is summoned by the sound of drums. Marge is initially terrified but sees the friendly side of Homer when he is attracted to Marge's perfume, and the two form a friendship. Nonetheless, Mr. Burns is determined to capture King Homer and Smithers knocks Homer unconscious with a gas bomb.

Returning to New York, the group display King Homer at a Broadway theatre. The photographers' flashes enrage King Homer, who breaks free from his restraints. He abducts Marge and attempts to climb the Empire State Building, but is unable to get past the second story of the building and collapses in exhaustion. In the end, King Homer and Marge get married.

Dial "Z" for Zombies

In a parody of ''Return of the Living Dead'', Bart finds a book of black magic in Springfield Elementary Library when he is asked to write a book report for class. That night, when Lisa reminisces about the family's dead cat, Snowball I, Bart suggests that he could use a spell from the book to resurrect Snowball. At the Springfield pet cemetery with Lisa, Bart utters an incantation, but accidentally reanimates corpses from the nearby human cemetery instead. The zombies terrorize Springfield, turning many people into zombies.

Meanwhile, the Simpson family has barricaded all the doors and windows except for the back door, which Homer forgot to do. Several zombies break into the house: Homer sacrifices himself to give the others time to escape, but the zombies leave him when they realize he does not have enough brains for them to eat. Lisa realizes that the school library must have a book that can reverse the spell. The Simpsons arrive at the Springfield Elementary Library and Bart casts the appropriate counter-spell, causing all zombies to return to their graves.

In 1931, in the Arctic-Canadian settlement of Nunataaq, Avik (Robert Joamie) lives under the watchful eye of his grandmother (Jayko Pitseolak). While tagging along after British cartographer Walter Russell (Patrick Bergin), Avik falls prey to tuberculosis, the "white man's disease". To assuage his own guilt, Russell takes the boy to a Montreal clinic to recover. There, Avik meets Albertine (Annie Galipeau), a Métis girl. The two fall in love, but their relationship is quickly broken up by the Mother Superior who is in charge of the clinic.

Years later, Avik again meets Russell, who this time is on a mission to recover a German U-boat lying wrecked off the coast of Nunataaq. Throughout his life, Avik is haunted by love for a now-grown Albertine (Anne Parillaud) and by a belief that he brings misfortune to those around him. Avik asks for Russell's help in learning her whereabouts, and he gives the cartographer a chest X-ray of the girl which he has carried with him since their separation.

More time elapses, and a mature Avik (Jason Scott Lee) joins the Royal Canadian Air Force in the Second World War and eventually becomes a bomb aimer in an Avro Lancaster bomber. Albertine, who has become Russell's mistress, seeks out Avik. She begins an affair with Avik, but Russell soon finds out, and as revenge, he sends Avik and his crew on a suicide mission (the firebombing of Dresden), in which Avik is the sole survivor of his crew.

Despondent over his war experiences, Avik flees to Canada, where he becomes an alcoholic. Decades later, he is sought out by Rainee (Clotilde Courau), the daughter born from his affair with Albertine. On his way to the girl's wedding, Avik crashes his snowmobile on an ice floe; as he freezes to death, he dreams of going to his daughter's wedding and flying away on a balloon with Albertine.

The play is set in the northeast suburbs of London in the month of October. It tells the story of Candida, the wife of a famous clergyman, the Reverend James Mavor Morell. Morell is a Christian Socialist, popular in the Church of England, but Candida is responsible for much of his success. Candida returns home briefly from a trip to London with Eugene Marchbanks, a young poet who wants to rescue her from what he presumes to be her dull family life.

Marchbanks is in love with Candida and believes she deserves something more than just complacency from her husband. He considers her divine, and his love eternal. In his view, it is quite improper and humiliating for Candida to have to attend to petty household chores. Morell believes Candida needs his care and protection, but the truth is quite the contrary. Ultimately, Candida must choose between the two gentlemen. She reasserts her preference for the "weaker of the two" who, after a momentary uncertainty, turns out to be her husband Morell.

Griffin Silverwing is the son of Shade Silverwing and Marina Brightwing. Slower and more clumsy than non-hybrids, Griffin's only real friend is Luna, a popular newborn. Fearing rejection by his father, Griffin steals fire from human campers to show his bravery. Unfortunately, Luna is accidentally set on fire. Guilt-stricken, Griffin flies into the lower levels of Tree Haven and discovers a crack that leads to the underworld. An earthquake opens the crack up wider and Griffin is sucked into the Underworld, unknown to the Silverwing colony. When Shade is unable to find his son, the Elders give him two days to search the Underworld before promising to seal the crack again.

There, Griffin discovers a colony of bats that are unaware that they are dead. The bats are wary of Griffin because, as he is still alive, he appears to glow to them. Griffin discovers that the recently deceased Luna has become a member of the colony and has no memory of him. Fortunately, a group of Pilgrims (bats who realize they are dead) arrive and rekindle Luna's memory of Griffin. The Pilgrim, Frieda, tells them about a gigantic, incandescent Tree, which supposedly sends dead bats that enter it to another, more enjoyable afterlife. Frieda believes that the Tree will send Griffin back home, as he is alive. Armed with Frieda's sound map, Griffin and Luna head out to find the Tree.

Meanwhile, Goth awakens in the underworld and discovers that he is dead. After members of his own species try to capture him and subject him to slave labour, Goth demands an explanation from Zotz. Zotz appears and explains that Goth is to be tortured because of his failure to free Zotz during the last eclipse. Goth bargains for a way to regain Zotz' trust. Since Zotz cannot harm the living, he tells Goth that he will be given a second chance at life if he kills Griffin.

With both Shade and Goth trying to find Griffin, Goth catches up first. However, the still-living Griffin is stronger than Goth and able to fight him off. Griffin and Luna enter a cavern, which has the power to mesmerize dead bats by reminding them of their past lives. Shade manages to find Griffin and Luna there, but Goth arrives for a second time. Griffin and Luna escape, but Shade becomes lost in the cavern river and Goth's every bone is broken in the struggle.

Griffin and Luna discover a bat named Dante in a group of bats who fear nothing because, as they say, "with death, your fears also go". They explain that they have chosen to spend eternity contemplating philosophy, rather than entering the Tree. Griffin, not wanting to go on because of his injury, gets into an argument with Luna. Out of guilt, he admits to being the reason for Luna's death, but regains his desire to find the Tree in the ensuing struggle. Shade, having escaped from the river, is lured into a trap by Zotz. He mutilates Goth's ear, effectively blinding his echolocation. Zotz is able to give Goth the likeness of Shade and taunts the real Shade with a story about how the underworld and the Tree came to be.

Griffin and Luna reach the Tree, but before they can enter it, Goth arrives disguised as Shade. Goth kills Griffin just before the arrival of Shade and his allies, who have escaped Zotz' trap. Shade dies by suicide so that his life force can be absorbed by both Griffin and Luna, and they all enter the Tree. The newly-reborn Goth discovers the ruins of a temple to Zotz and a group of Vampyrum Spectrum, whom he begins to indoctrinate. The newly-reborn Griffin and Luna return to Tree Haven and reunite with Marina. Unbeknownst to them, Shade is present in an immaterial form and merges his spirit with those around him.

The game begins with the seer, Tarkeen, explaining the history of the Lost Lands which had, for years, been fought over by tyrannic warlords.

On Earth during the old west, Tal'Set faces off with his enemy, Captain Bruckner, and succeeds in cutting off his arm, but both of them are suddenly and inexplicably sucked into a wormhole. The wormhole opens in the jungle canopy of the Lost Land, and Tal'Set is nearly killed from the fall. He is found unconscious by the people of the River Village who call upon Tarkeen to heal him. Once healed, Tal'Set enters the jungle to fight reptilian humanoids known as the Sleg, aiming to keep them away from the Village. Tal'Set and River Village pilot Genn fly upon pterosaur-back to evict the Sleg from the jungle and destroy their airship.

Tal'Set reaches Tarkeen's sanctum and is told he must accept the mantle of Turok and release Tarkeen from a curse. When Tal'Set refuses, Tarkeen tells him that the Sleg had managed to reach the Village. This enrages Tal'Set which prompts him to cut through the mountains to reach the Sleg base to free the villagers and Wise Father from captivity.

Tal'Set proceeds to liberate the prisoners and destroy the base. Here, he learns of the existence of a human general, none other than Bruckner himself, who had ordered the attack on the village. It is also learned that the Sleg are planning to assault the human capitol, Galyana, but for their army to reach it, they must cross a giant chasm with only two known crossings. Tal'Set is sent through the thickly forested Shadowed Lands to destroy one of these crossings, an ancient bridge. The bridge is destroyed with Tal'Set upon it, but he is saved from falling by his pterosaur.

Tal'Set flies to the second crossing, the Suspended City, where his pterosaur is shot down. Tal'Set breaches the city and cleanses the street with his comrades, surviving the first wave of Sleg paratroopers entering the city. He breaches the Senate and saves the Senators, who tell him that the only way to stop the Slegs from cutting through the city is to destroy it. Tal'Set subsequently releases the tethers connecting the city to the Chasm walls. Tal'Set is given another pterosaur steed by the senators and escapes the falling city by flight.

The city is successfully destroyed, but the Sleg leader, Lord Tyrannus, has one more tactic to try. He unleashes the Juggernaut, an immense pair of cannons mounted upon a massive sauropod, with the aim to level Galyana. Tal'Set infiltrates and destroys the Juggernaut but before escaping is confronted by Tyrannus. The Sleg leader threatens to kill Tal'Set but is held off by Tarkeen. Tal'Set escapes again on his pterosaur and destroys one last wave of Sleg troops.

With the Sleg defeated, Tal'Set continues his hunt for Bruckner, quickly finding him aboard a Tyrannosaurus rex equipped with various weapons. Tal'Set kills the animal, which traps Bruckner beneath it as it falls. Tal'Set leaves the villain alive, stating "he does not deserve a warrior's death". As Tal'Set leaves, Bruckner is eaten alive by a pack of Compsognathus. In the aftermath, Lord Tyrannus furiously screams at his defeat and was not mentioned or seen again. Tal'Set tells Tarkeen that he accepts the mantle of Turok.

After an introductory sequence in which Pac-Man introduces himself and the game's mechanics, the plot unfolds as a loosely connected series of misadventures stemming from Pac-Man's quest to complete tasks for his family, all while the ghosts and their mysterious leader plot to destroy him. Pac-Man is first tasked with finding milk for Pac-Baby, which he procures from the local farm. Sometime after, Pac-Man is asked by Ms. Pac-Man to pick a special flower for Lucy, a friend of Pac-Jr's, for her birthday. Pac-Man is given a trolley ticket which he uses to venture into the nearby mountains, hang-gliding and dodging ghosts and boulders as he searches for the flower. Upon returning home with the flower, Pac-Man is exasperated to find that Lucy's party has already started and that she has already been given another flower. Sometime after, Pac-Jr comes home very sad and tells his father that his guitar was stolen by ghosts while he was in Pac-City. Pac-Man is given a train ticket to travel to the city, where he takes on the ghosts; disguised as a security guard, to get the guitar back. In the final segment of the game, Pac-Man discovers from a news report that the ghosts are stealing ABC gum from children all over Pac-City, at which point the Ghost Witch of Netor takes over the broadcast and challenges Pac-Man to face her and her newly created Gum Monster. He sets off to work his way through the abandoned factory where the monster is being created. Pac-Man eventually reaches the secret hideout of the Ghost Witch, in which a final battle between Super Pac-Man and the Gum Monster takes place. Super Pac-Man defeats the Gum Monster, with the Ghost Witch and her minions fleeing to plan their next scheme. Despite not being able to save the children's ABC gum, Pac-Man is congratulated by the town and his family as a hero.

At 16, Peter d'Abo is an elusive boy. He seldom stays at his mother's place, but his grandmother, Lily d'Abo, in whose flat he is supposed to live for the time being, does not see him regularly either. From time to time Peter visits Father Vivyan and on such occasions even serves as an altar boy. When, on the social worker's advice, his mother tells him that Lennox Mark is his natural father, Peter decides to get some money out of him his way. One night while Lennox Mark is not at home he poses as a delivery boy and gains entrance into the Marks' private home. However, he is overwhelmed by Martina Mark and her mother, who is also living there, and persuaded to stay and work for them as a servant. As the two women have his DNA and he does not want to be arrested, he accepts their offer.

While he is on the streets of London, Peter d'Abo starts committing crimes. He steals a miniature recording device from the Marks' home; he steals Rachel Pearl's expensive watch when she comes to live at Crickleden; but he also turns violent, cutting off a man's testicles just because he was looking for a homosexual encounter; and pushing Kevin Currey in front of an underground train.

Meanwhile, Lennox Mark is planning General Bindiga's state visit in London—he has already arranged the details with the Prime Minister and convinced him that Bindiga is an honourable state leader—to coincide with his elevation to ''Lord Mark of Lower Pool''. To suppress opposition to the state visit which might be headed by Father Vivyan, ''The Daily Legion'' launches a campaign against the priest, alleging that he has a history as a child molester and releasing a doctored version of a secretly recorded conversation between Peter d'Abo and Father Vivyan as evidence against the clergyman. Vivyan is suspended from the parish, his reputation as a 20th-century saint is immediately destroyed, and ardent devotees such as Lily d'Abo, believing everything the papers say, are devastated. When she is approached by ''The Daily Legion'', Lily d'Abo succumbs to the lure of money and signs an exclusive contract for £10,000, realising only afterwards that in no way will she be able to help her grandson with the money.

Unaware of how dangerous Peter d'Abo is, Rachel Pearl goes in search of the boy in an attempt to make him talk and clear Father Vivyan of the allegations. Following a hint from someone in the street, she walks to a nearby cemetery, finds Peter in an old mausoleum but is immediately taken captive by him. Several people have already been alerted to the fact that Peter d'Abo may have a hostage, and the place is surrounded by police. However, Father Vivyan is there first and shoots Peter between the eyes. Vivyan is fatally wounded by a bullet himself and brought to a monastery to die there.

At about the same time—it is the day of General Bindiga's state visit—a bomb goes off in a posh London hotel killing Bindiga and injuring two of his women, while another device, planted in the offices of ''The Daily Legion'', is defused before it can explode. Three months later, Lord Mark dies of a massive heart attack.

The story begins with the Battletoads visiting the Gyachung-La fortress in northern Tibet. Professor T. Bird has invited them there to witness the Psicone Corporation's first demonstration of their new virtual reality game system, T.R.I.P.S (Total Reality Integrated Playing System). While showing off the system's artificial world (entitled "The Gamescape"), a pig of the apocalypse leaps out of the screen and kidnaps Michiko Tashoku (daughter of Psicone Corporation's CEO, Yuriko Tashoku). Zitz attempts to rescue her, but gets knocked out by the pig and captured as well. The pig escapes back into the Gamescape and Silas Volkmire appears on the screen, announcing his plans to turn the real world into his own Gamescape, and that Michiko and Zitz are being held captive under the evil Dark Queen. With nothing left to lose, Rash and Pimple enter the Gamescape to rescue their friends and stop Volkmire and the Dark Queen from fulfilling their plans.

Along the way, they fight Rocky, a giant stone pig, and race against Scuzz, a rat that challenges them all throughout the final level. The Battletoads finally reach the Dark Queen in her tower and defeat her, but she manages to escape again. Bird picks up Volkmire on his scanners and finds out that he is trying to escape using a teleporter, so the Battletoads leave the Gamescape and hop into the Battlecopter to chase after him.

Depending on the player's actions during this final gameplay segment, there are two possible endings that may occur. If the player is unable to shoot three missiles at Volkmire's teleporter, he gets away, and the Battletoads feel dejected knowing that Volkmire is free and the Dark Queen wants revenge. If the player successfully shoots three missiles at Volkmire's teleporter, the ship crashes in the Himalayas and is recovered, but Volkmire is nowhere to be found. Similarly to the first ending, it is alluded to that Volkmire and the Dark Queen will want revenge.

The USS ''Enterprise'' docks at Starbase 133, where Dr. Beverly Crusher (McFadden) greets her elderly friend and mentor, Dr. Dalen Quaice (Bill Erwin). After taking him to his quarters, discussing the loss of old friends, Dr. Crusher visits her son Ensign Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) in Engineering. Wesley attempts to create a static warp bubble, but the experiment appears to fail. As the ''Enterprise'' leaves Starbase, Dr. Crusher finds that Dr. Quaice is missing, with no record of him coming aboard the ship. As she performs a medical test on transporter chief O'Brien (Colm Meaney), she realizes that her medical staff is missing; further investigation and discussion with the crew show that she has always worked alone in sick bay.

Dr. Crusher continues to try to track down the disappearing people and finds more and more crew members that she remembers being completely unknown to the crew or the computer. At one point, a vortex appears near Dr. Crusher and attempts to pull her in, but she is able to hold on to a fixture until it dissipates; the ship shows no record of the vortex's appearance when she investigates. Eventually, no one but Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) and herself remain on the ship, but Picard believes that the situation is normal. Dr. Crusher orders the computer to give Picard's vital signs over the ship's speakers so she knows he is still there, but shortly thereafter, even he disappears. Then, the vortex reappears, and once again tries to claim Beverly. She is blown across the bridge, but she manages to hang onto Commander Data's (Brent Spiner) chair until the vortex disappears.

At this point, the viewer is shown the actual ''Enterprise'', where Wesley had successfully created the warp bubble, accidentally trapping his mother within it. With the warp bubble collapsing rapidly, Wesley's fears lead the Traveler (Eric Menyuk) to appear and help Wesley attempt to stabilize the bubble. The Traveler recommends the ''Enterprise'' return to the Starbase, where the warp bubble was formed and may be more stable.

Within the warp bubble, Dr. Crusher attempts to direct the ''Enterprise'' to the home planet of the Traveler, but soon finds the ship is unable to set that destination, as it no longer exists. More of the universe she knows disappears, soon leaving only the ''Enterprise''. She recognizes the shape as being that of Wesley's warp bubbles, and determines that she is trapped, the earlier vortex being the ''Enterprise'' crew's first attempt to save her. As the warp bubble shrinks, erasing parts of the ''Enterprise'', she races for Engineering, the center of the warp bubble, and finds a vortex waiting there. She jumps in at the last moment, finding herself back in Engineering along with Picard, Wesley, Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), and the Traveler. She embraces her son and obtains confirmation from Picard that the ''Enterprise'''s population (1,014 at the time, including her guest Dr. Quaice) is the correct number.

The sitcom is based around a modern family who live in the Midlands. The family consists of Colin Craddock, a white Brummie builder, and his Asian wife Rupinder. Colin's two sons from his first marriage, Peter and Leo, share the house, as do Rupinder's half-sister Sima, daughter Kavita and son Raj, a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy. The 'me' in the title was Raj, and his thoughts were heard in a voiceover.

At the end of the first series Colin and Rupinder had their own child. The third series saw the introduction of two new characters called Charles and Miranda, whose attempts at political correctness proved untactful.

The story begins on the streets of Prague on a grey morning busy with commuters. A colourless figure, played by Petr Čepek, emerges from a metro station. On his way home, the man encounters two men handing out flyers. It is a map of the city with a location marked. He shrugs and discards it, returning to his lodging. As he opens the door, a black cockerel runs out. The man sits down to eat, cutting himself a slice of bread. He discovers an egg concealed inside the loaf. He cracks it open but it is empty. Suddenly the lights go out and the wind rises. Objects are thrown about the room. The commotion ceases; the man goes to the window and looks down to where the two men from earlier are staring up at him. One of them holds the cockerel. The man closes the blind and returns to the table, where he finds the map and, using his own map of the city, traces out the location marked.

The next day, he goes to the spot indicated and enters a dilapidated building just as a man rushes from it in fear. He continues into the interior and descends to a dressing room, where he finds a charred script, a robe embroidered with sigils, greasepaint, a wig with a beard and a cap. Sitting down, he addresses himself as "Faust" and speaks to himself (the first words spoken in the film) Faust's opening declaration of intent to follow black magic.

As the opening curtain is signalled, Faust finds himself on a stage, a performance about to begin. Ripping off his costume, he breaks through the stage backdrop into a vault where an alchemist's laboratory is revealed; with the aid of a book of spells, he brings to life a clay child which grows horrifyingly into his own image before he smashes it. Warned by a marionette angel not to experiment further but encouraged by a demon to do as he pleases, he is sent by a wooden messenger to a café meeting with the two street-map men, identified as "Cornelius" and "Valdes", who give him a briefcase of magical devices. Returning to the vault, he uses these to summon Mephisto, offering Lucifer his soul in return for 24 years of self-indulgence.

At another café, Faust is entertained by Cornelius and Valdes, who provide a fountain of wine from a table-top. He watches as a tramp, carrying a severed human leg, is pestered by a large black dog until he throws the limb into the river. Faust finds a key in his food, uses it on a shop-front shutter, and is dragged back on stage by waiting stagehands. He mimes a scene from Gounod's opera, in which Mephisto returns and the pact with Lucifer is signed in blood. After the interval, Faust visits Portugal to demonstrate his supernatural powers to the King: when a requested restaging of the David and Goliath contest is poorly received, he drowns the entire Portuguese court.

Faust is distracted from repentance by Helen of Troy, whom he seduces before realising she is a wooden demon in disguise. Lucifer arrives earlier than expected to claim his soul, and Faust rushes in panic from the theatre, meeting a newcomer in at the doorway as he bursts into the street. He is felled by a red car, and Cornelius and Valdes watch in amusement as a tramp carries away a severed leg from the scene of the accident. A policeman checks the car, but it is without a driver.

Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia are traveling with R2-D2 and C-3PO to the planet Circarpous IV to persuade its inhabitants to join the Rebel Alliance. A strange energy storm forces them to crash land on the swampy Circarpous V, known to the locals as Mimban. They begin looking for a space port to get off the planet but instead find a town, near which agents of the Empire have an energy mine—the cause of the crash. Forced to keep their identities secret, Luke and Leia take refuge in a nearby bar. An old woman named Halla approaches them, identifies Luke as strong with the Force, and shows him a splinter of what she claims to be the Kaiburr crystal, which focuses the Force. Halla strikes a deal with Luke and Leia to help her find the whole crystal, and in return she will help them get off the planet. A squabble between Luke and Leia attracts the attention of miners emerging from the pub, who claim that fighting in public is against Imperial law; they all get into a brawl. Imperial stormtroopers intervene and incarcerate Luke and Leia. They are questioned by Imperial Captain-Supervisor Grammel, who confiscates the crystal shard along with Luke's weapons. Luke and Leia are placed in a maximum-security cell with two drunk but friendly Yuzzem, hairy creatures called Hin and Kee. Grammel reports the incident and gives the crystal shard to the Imperial governor of the star system. Halla uses the Force to help Luke, Leia and the two Yuzzem. The Yuzzem rampage through the jail, while Luke and Leia escape.

The four meet Halla and the droids to find the Temple of Pomojema, which Halla believes to be the location of the Kaiburr crystal. They travel through the swampy wilds of Mimban, during which they encounter a wandrella, a huge worm-like creature, which pursues them and separates Luke and Leia from the others. Luke and Leia hide in a well, down which the wandrella falls, leaving the two trapped. From the lip of the well, Halla suggests that there must be an escape route underground, at the end of which Halla and the others will rejoin them. Luke and Leia journey underground, floating across a lake on lily pads, and fend off sea creatures. On the other side of the lake, they encounter the secretive residents of the caves, the Coway, who have captured Halla, the droids and the Yuzzem. To save his friends, Luke defeats the Coway's champion fighter and thus impresses the tribe. At a tribal banquet, Luke senses Darth Vader, confirmed by Coway patrols—Imperials, led by Vader and Grammel, are approaching.

When the Imperials arrive, they are surprised by the Coway tribe's resistance in battle. Vader and Grammel retreat with the handful of surviving stormtroopers, though Vader loses patience with Grammel for the defeat and kills him. Luke and company steal a recently abandoned Imperial transport, and travel to the temple, where they find the Kaiburr crystal. They encounter a monster and unsuccessfully try to fight it off with blasters. Luke cuts down one of the pillars holding up the temple, crushing the monster, but Luke's leg is pinned under a boulder. Vader then enters the temple, announcing that he killed Hin and Kee. Leia takes up Luke's lightsaber and begins fighting Vader, who gives her multiple superficial burns with his own saber. Hin, mortally wounded, appears and lifts the rock off of Luke before perishing. Luke then duels Vader, deflecting some Force-based attacks and eventually slicing off Vader's arm. Despite this, the Sith lord seems about to win, but then falls into a pit. Luke senses that this is not the end of Vader. He and Leia, healed by the crystal, drive off with Halla into the mists of Mimban.

The central character of the play, Fedor Protasov, is tormented by the belief that his wife Liza has never really chosen between him and the more conventional Victor Karenin, a rival for her hand. He wants to kill himself, but doesn't have the nerve. Running away from his life, he first falls in with Gypsies, and into a sexual relationship with a Gypsy singer, Masha. However, facing Masha's parents' disapproval, he runs away from this life as well. Again he wants to kill himself, but lacks the nerve; again, his descent continues.

Meanwhile, his wife, presuming him dead, has married the other man. When Protasov is discovered, she is charged with bigamy, accused of arranging her husband's disappearance. He shows up in court to testify that she had no way of knowing that he was alive; when the judge rules that his wife must either give up her new husband or be exiled to Siberia, Protasov shoots himself. Hysterically, his wife declares that it is Protasov whom she always loved.

Stephen Chow returns as Chow Sing-Sing, the obnoxious undercover cop who seems to get into all sorts of trouble, only this time he doesn't go back to school. Instead, Chow goes undercover as the husband of a wealthy socialite (Anita Mui), which doesn't sit well with his fiancée played by Cheung Man who tries to convince Chow to quit working as undercover.

In 2000, the Garland Corporation opens a new complex known as "Garland Square" on the outskirts of London. Full of modern amenities, it is considered the future of urban living. A day before its grand opening, however, the entire complex is taken over by the United Resistance Defense Army (shortened to URDA), a terrorist group. The terrorists have taken no hostages and made no demands upon takeover, causing a string of confusion among intelligence officials around the world. With an unknown threat, Scotland Yard and MI6 dispatch the Special Tactical Force's (STF) First Platoon Unit (led by Claude McGarren, spelled as Croad Macgalain in the arcade version) to suppress the URDA, and to ensure that the terrorists don't access their hidden agenda, whatever it may be.

Slowly but surely, the STF liberates the Drycreek Plaza shopping mall, Garland Park, and the Garland Technology Center, eliminating the URDA's twin lieutenants Tiger and Edge (Tigger and Edgey in the arcade version) and wiping out their air force and tank defenses. After securing Garland Square, McGarren receives word from Vital Situation, Swift Elimination (VSSE) officials that Derrick Lynch, the terrorists' ringleader, is attempting to overload Geyser 1, an experimental nuclear reactor built by Garland Electric to power the complex (via an Eyes Only broadcast). Making their way down to the control room, five kilometres below the complex, McGarren and his men defeat Lynch's troops before taking out the ringleader himself. McGarren shuts down and secures the nuclear reactor seconds before it melts down. After the S.T.F evacuate and enter a nearby lift, the control room explodes. The unit declares their mission a success.

The PlayStation 2 version features a special "Grassmarket District" mission, which takes place six months after the main story's events. Lynch's successor Jared Hunter launches a fresh attack, seizing control of the newly opened Grassmarket District of Garland Square. With STF Director Grant Kessler's daughter Melissa as a hostage, Hunter demands that the surviving URDA members be released from custody in return for Melissa's life.

McGarren and Squad 1 are sent to rescue her. They fight their way through Grassmarket Street, defeating an experimental defense droid called the A-0940 in the process. They then storm the Belforte Hotel, where Melissa is held on the rooftop swimming pool. There, they are confronted by Hunter and his airborne attack squad. Declaring his intent for revenge, Hunter engages and loses to Squad 1. He then attempts escape in a modified, heavily armed speedboat, but is killed when the boat is destroyed by McGarren's chopper. McGarren and his men then take Melissa to safety, having ended the URDA's terror once and for all.

Major Benson Winifred Payne, a battle hardened Marine, returns from a successful drug raid in South America to find out that he has been passed over for promotion. Payne receives an honorable discharge and tries to adjust to civilian life but ends up being arrested. His former commander gets him out of jail and secures him a position back in the military.

Payne is sent to Madison Preparatory School in Virginia and is given command of the ROTC students. The cadets are a disorderly group of delinquents and outcasts who have placed last in the Virginia Military Games for eight straight years. Payne immediately takes a hard stance with the cadets and asserts his authority. He shaves the cadets bald and moves them out of their dorms and into a dilapidated barracks. Payne's harsh punishments and lack of empathy for the cadets lead to friction with school counselor Emily Walburn, who tries to soften Payne's approach.

The cadets, encouraged by the rebellious Alex Stone, make several attempts to sabotage Payne and drive him out of the school. Stone and the cadets hire a biker to assault Payne, in the aftermath Payne makes Stone the squad leader. Things come to a head and Payne offers to quit if the cadets can steal him the Military Games trophy from Wellington Academy. Payne tips off the Wellington cadets and they ambush the Madison cadets and beat them severely. Stone confronts Payne and realizes that he wants to earn the trophy, Payne offers to train him to win it. The cadets begin working hard and training for the Military Games. They develop into a unified squad, and Payne tells them that they have graduated the program and are fit to compete in the games.

Before the games, Payne is asked to return to the Marines to fight in Bosnia. He eagerly accepts the new posting but his deployment means he will miss the Military Games. As Payne waits for a train to depart he daydreams about being in a family with Emily and Tiger. The cadets don't want to participate in the Games without Payne, but Alex convinces them to do it. At the games, the boys hold their own until Alex injures his ankle and is unable to participate in the final event. The Madison cadets angrily fight with the Wellington cadets. The fight is broken up, and the judges deliberate having Madison disqualified.

Payne refuses his new posting and commission and shows up at the last minute. He smooths things over with the judges and tells Tiger to lead Madison in the final event, a drill competition. The group executes an unorthodox but entertaining routine which wins them the trophy. On the first day of the new school year Madison displays the Military Games trophy, along with another one won by Alex. Payne resumes being an instructor, having married Emily and adopted Tiger. Stone resumes his role as a squad leader. Payne has softened a bit, attempting to befriend the new recruits. When a disrespectful blind cadet shows up with his service dog, Payne shaves both him and his dog bald with his field knife and laughs.

A group of Cuban refugees is on a boat sailing for the United States and is at first met by what appears to be a US Coast Guard boat with armed personnel. The captain of the vessel declares that the refugees are welcomed to the United States, but the Guardsmen open fire on them and take several bags of cocaine hidden in the boat. It is revealed that the armed personnel were Latin American guerrillas disguised as Guardsmen on board a hijacked Coast Guard vessel.

Eventually, the Coast Guard finds the boat with the murdered American Coast Guardsmen off the coast of Florida. The FBI and the Miami Police Department arrive at the docks to investigate the murders. The guerrillas land in Florida and exchange the drugs for weaponry from a drug dealer. They are led by the Soviet operative Mikal Rostov (Richard Lynch), the fake Coast Guard captain who opened fire on the Cuban refugees. Former CIA agent Matt Hunter (Norris) is asked to come out of retirement, but he declines. When Rostov and a team of guerrillas destroy Hunter's residence in the Everglades and kill his friend, John Eagle (Dehl Berti) in a failed assassination attempt, Hunter is convinced to reconsider.

Later that day, hundreds of additional guerrillas land on the beaches of Southern Florida and move inland using several pre-positioned trucks. The guerrillas begin their assault by destroying suburban homes. Another group of guerrillas impersonating Miami police officers attacks a community center full of Cuban expatriates in Miami. When a squad car with genuine Miami policemen drives by to investigate the gunfire, the survivors angrily start vandalizing their car and leave the police perplexed. The FBI has no idea who is behind the attacks, but Hunter and the CIA believe that Rostov is behind the attacks. As terrorist acts continue in Miami, race riots and general chaos develop within the city, just as the terrorists planned.

Later that night, the guerrillas start a shootout and bomb threat at a mall at which people are doing their Christmas shopping. During the attack, Hunter, having shaken down an informant, comes into the mall and takes down the guerrillas one by one. US National Guard troops are called up, martial law is declared, and armed civilians organize to protect their communities from further guerrilla attacks. Hunter continues pursuing the terrorists, stops their plans to bomb a church, kills Rostov's right-hand man Nikko (Alexander Zale) right before the latter can initiate a public massacre, and saves a school bus full of children from a bomb. However, after arriving at a carnival bombed by the terrorists, Hunter realizes that they are spread out too far for him to stem the tide of their attacks effectively and so devises an alternative plan.

Alarmed by the threat, the government establishes a special theater command for the Southeastern United States with the headquarters at the Georgia-Pacific Tower in Atlanta. At the command center, all 50 state governors and military officials meet to stop the terror attacks. The FBI takes Hunter into custody for vigilantism against the terrorists, and he is taken to the command center, where he goads Rostov on national television to come out and kill him. Rostov orders all the guerrillas to assault the center in a mass attack, but they find no one inside. Hunter's arrest was a trap, and the National Guard arrives with tanks and troops, which hems the assailants in. While the battle rages outside, Hunter finally comes face-to-face with Rostov and kills him with an M72 LAW. The terror crisis ends when the few remaining guerrillas on the street surrender to the National Guard.

At the end of ''Vault of the Drow'', the characters find an astral gate leading to the Abyssal realm of Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders, goddess of the drow elves and architect of the plot involving hill giants, frost giants, fire giants, kuo-toa and drow. Her realm, the 66th layer of the Abyss, is known as the Demonweb Pits. The player characters are transported to another plane and cast into a labyrinth, known as the Demonweb. To return home, they must find a way out of the web and defeat Lolth in her lair.

The Q1 module was the first to offer a glimpse into the Abyss, home to the ''D&D'' race of demons. It features a map of the Demonweb Pits, a series of interweaving passageways through a maelstrom of lost souls in the Abyss. Characters who venture off the path are probably lost, and many spells work differently (or not at all). In the maze there are portals to other worlds, some to which Lolth sends minions to invade (such as a winter world and a world of permanent night). ''Queen of the Demonweb Pits'' is an open-ended adventure; each portal can lead to a large area, from which the dungeon master can launch a new campaign.

The player characters make their way through Lolth's webs, where they are confronted by her minions, slaves, guards and captives. At the end of the module the players face a final, difficult confrontation with Lolth, and a giant, mechanical spider which she can control. The dungeon introduces Lolth's handmaidens, the demonic Yochlol.

In 1935, teenage tomboy Natty Gann lives in Chicago with her unemployed widowed father, Sol. After being out of work because of the Great Depression, Sol applies for work as a lumberjack in Washington. However, to take the job, he must leave on almost no notice on a company bus. Unable to find Natty before departing, he leaves her a letter promising to send her the fare to join him as soon as he has earned it. Meanwhile, he makes arrangements with Connie, the shallow and insensitive innkeeper of their rooming-house, so Natty can stay on under Connie's temporary supervision.

After overhearing Connie reporting her as an abandoned child, Natty runs away to find her father on her own, embarking on a cross-country journey riding the rails along with other penniless travelers and hobos. Along the way she saves a wolfdog from a dog fighting ring. In return the dog, whom she calls Wolf, becomes her friend and protector in her attempt to return to her father. She has a brief, innocent romance with another young traveler, Harry, and encounters various obstacles that test her courage, perseverance, and ingenuity, such as being arrested after cattle rustling and remanded to a juvenile facility. Natty manages to escape the detention center and confronts the blacksmith who has been given control of the captured Wolf. The blacksmith turns out to be kind and fair-minded; he releases Wolf to Natty, and gives her food, a ride to a train station and enough money for a ticket. She is cheated of her ticket money by an unscrupulous ticket agent, and narrowly escapes his attempt to turn her in, returning to "riding the rails" illicitly on freight trains, where she is unexpectedly reunited with Harry in a rail-side shantytown.

When Natty's father calls Connie, she tells him Natty is gone. In a later phone call, he is grieved to learn that Natty's wallet was found underneath a derailed freight train — unbeknownst to him, she survived the crash. He is given a week's leave from the lumber company to search through the wreckage for her, but to no avail. He returns to the lumber camp and requests the most dangerous jobs, known as "widow's work", now that he seems to have little to live for.

Arriving on the west coast, Natty's journey takes several more challenging turns. Harry finds work through the federal Works Progress Administration in San Francisco, but she declines his invitation to go with him, preferring to find her father. The logging operation does not list Sol Gann among their workers, but Natty is undeterred, searching fruitlessly for him by showing other loggers his photo in a pendant he has given her which is her last trace of her parents. Wolf hears the calls of other wolves nearby, and Natty tearfully tells him to go join his own kind. The company clerk catches her in one of the backwoods camps and makes arrangements for her to be sent back down the mountain for her own safety. The clerk then unexpectedly finds the returned letter her father had sent enclosing her train ticket to rejoin him and tells Natty of his location. Natty sets out on foot and sees a company truck pass by loaded with injured men. In the truck, she glimpses her father. She runs after it, calling out for him, but is eventually devastated when it outpaces her. She hears his voice call out for her and finds him standing in the road. They share an emotional embrace, with Wolf looking on from a nearby cliff.

The film is a fictional version of the dramatic events of the 1969 abduction of the American ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick (played by Alan Arkin) in 1969. Elbrick was taken in Rio de Janeiro by the Revolutionary Movement 8th October (MR-8) with help of Ação Libertadora Nacional (ALN). Gabeira (played by Pedro Cardoso and named Paulo in the film) as a student joins the radical movement after the military takeover of the Brazilian government. He and his comrades, led by Andréia, gradually decided to kidnap the ambassador as a protest, and are shown mostly planning and executing the kidnapping. Paulo is portrayed as "the most intelligent and uncertain of the kidnappers."

The film explores Paulo's love affair with Andréia, the guerrilla leader. It suggests a kind of friendship developing between Paulo and Elbrick. The ambassador is portrayed as a decent man who shares some of his kidnappers' frustrations regarding the Brazilian military dictatorship, but who feels obligated to follow orders he might disagree with.

Dr. Randolph Mason, leader of the research team at Miami's Forbes Medical Centre makes medical history by claiming a 100% remission rate for a particular type of cancer called medulloblastoma. Newly qualified doctor Sean Murphy arrives at Forbes determined to expand his own work in oncogenes, but is frustrated by Dr. Mason and Dr. Levy, his boss at Forbes, who deny him permission. Unknown to Sean, his girlfriend Janet Reardon follows him to Miami. She wants to confront him about his devotion to her and discuss their future, a topic avoided by Sean at all times. Thrown into the equation are Tom Widdicomb, a housekeeper at the Forbes Hospital, who keeps his dead mother in a Freezer at home and 'helps' breast cancer patients escape life since that is what his mother died of, and Sushita Industries, the Japanese financial backers of Forbes.

While Sushita launches an effort to 'invite' Sean to Tokyo to determine whether he is a potential threat to their investment by using Tanaka Yamaguchi, Tom is certain that Janet is there at Forbes to spy on him as she suspects his hand in the death of the breast cancer patients and should therefore be silenced as the previous nurse was, for interfering in his affairs.

Dr. Mason meanwhile learns of Sean's past as an entrepreneur and successful seller of a biotechnology firm and sets Sterling, a 'consultant' (in reality, an industrial espionage expert), on Sean's tail. Driven by his own idealism, Sean decides to look into the 100% remission of medulloblastoma on the sly (with help from Janet in procuring the medicine samples and patients charts). Helen Cabot, an ex-patient of Sean's, dies in Boston; Sean and Janet steal Helen's brain from a funeral home. Sean decides to go to Naples with Janet to visit Malcolm Betancourt, a beneficiary of the treatment provided by Forbes. Tom follows Janet to Naples, followed by (Robert Harris (Forbes chief of security), with both Yamaguchi and Sterling following Sean. Harris catches Tom trying to assault Janet. Sterling foils an attempt by Yamaguchi to kidnap Sean and Janet and convinces him to back off. Sean and Janet escape to Key West where Forbes has its Diagnostic lab.

Sean finally discovers the secret behind the 100% remission: the Institute itself created the cancer using transformed St. Louis encephalitis virus and also invented an antibody to the disease. The Institute procured Social Security numbers and other identifying details of wealthy people and their dependents, and as opportunities arose from those people undergoing surgeries or being on IV therapy, infected with them. Because the virus was encephalotropic, it manifested with early neural symptoms in the infected patients, in the form of seizures and convulsions. The infected people, once they were completely cured of the disease, were usually willing to donate large sums to the Forbes. Sean and Janet however end up with them facing the charges of conspiracy, grand larceny, burglary, burglary with deadly weapon, assault, kidnapping, mayhem, and mutilation of a dead body. They are saved by the intervention of Sean's lawyer brother Brian.

This book heavily deals with the controversial issues of the time.

Category:Novels by Robin Cook Category:American thriller novels Category:1993 American novels Category:Medical novels Category:G. P. Putnam's Sons books

Game Synopsis

The game world takes place in North Korea, where General Choi Song leads a violent coup against his father President Choi Kim's government. Supposedly killing his own father, as well as several North and South Korean delegates during a peace ceremony, General Song seizes power and closes off North Korea to the world. Some time later, the Royal Australian Navy locates a North Korean freighter in distress but also discovers it's cargo of nuclear warheads bound for known terrorist elements, triggering an Allied Nations invasion to topple Song's regime. The Allies are able to secure Song's nuclear missile silos, but they soon learn of another launch site, it's whereabouts unknown. Furthermore, the North Koreans launch a counterattack, pushing the Allies back whilst the Chinese, South Korea as well as the Russian Mafia enter into the conflict to assert their own agendas with North Korea whilst also undermining the Allied Nation's position. Desperate to locate the silos, the Allied Nations post bounties related to the "Deck of 52"; including North Korean businessmen, ranking officers, weapon scientists, General Song's personal bodyguard as well as Song himself. The mercenary is given the choice of either apprehending or killing members of the deck, though killing them only rewards the player with half their bounty. The bounty increases according to the importance of that member all the way up to General Song, who is posted at $100,000,000.

Prior to entering the game world, the player is given the choice of playing as one of three available mercenaries. The choice does not affect the plot, and each character has slightly different statistics to each other and can understand a different language used by one of the four factions in game (except for the Allied Nations). The four factions are the Allied Nations, South Korea, China and the Russian Mafia. Each faction concerns itself with one goal influenced by the mercenaries actions. The Allies for instance, only intend to remove Song from power though they possess the missions for the "Ace" contracts that advance the game. China and South Korea respectively both want to conquer North Korea, bringing the two factions closer to conflict as the game progresses. The Russian Mafia concerns itself only with exploiting the conflict and setting up illegal activities, and dealing arms which the mercenary may buy.

Game

The player is airdropped somewhere over the DMZ, finding the Allied Nations headquarters under artillery attack orchestrated by the "Two of Clubs". The mercenary assists AN forces in repelling the attack, destroying the guns and verifies the Two before venturing on to meet the other three factions in play. In completing assigned missions for each faction, the player is given intel relating to members of the Deck of 52 in the game world. By embarking on these optional missions, the player gathers enough intelligence to unlock the Ace contracts, the theatre of war moving from the Southern Province to the Northern Provinces midway through the game. The player finally arrives on the Ace of Spades contract; General Song himself. After heavy fighting against Song's remaining forces, the mercenary discovers through the still alive President Choi that Song has acquired the launch codes for his country's nuclear armament, and launches them before the mercenary enters battle with him.

Depending on the player's actions, there are numerous endings. If the player does not abort the nuclear missiles in time, a post-ending news report details that Seoul, as well as several other cities worldwide have been destroyed by the nuclear weapons. Furthermore, depending on who the player decided to assist the most, another report indicates that faction assuming control over the North Korean state.

Characters

There are three playable characters in ''Mercenaries'': Christopher Jacobs, Jennifer Mui, and Mattias Nilsson. Each are mercenaries employed by ExOps during the North Korean conflict, but only one character of player's choice is dispatched to the war-zone in the beginning of the game. They follow the same plot and handle similarly in terms of gameplay, but each of them has a different personality, as well as specific strengths that may alter the player's strategy. Also, each mercenary can speak a unique language in addition to English, so the player can understand conversations of a particular faction by reading the subtitles shown. '''Narrator:''' (voiced by Amy Lee) Is a narrator that presents plans and Ideas. (also known for being in the online game Rec Room) '''Chris Jacobs''': (voiced by Phil LaMarr) is a former Delta Force operator from the United States. He appears to be a confident and reliable personality with often humorous remarks. He can endure more damage in health than others, and knows Korean. * '''Jennifer Mui''': (voiced by Jennifer Hale) was an MI6 agent before joining ExOps. She is highly efficient in stealthy maneuvers as she does not alert enemies as easily as other mercenaries. Born to a Chinese-British family in Hong Kong, she can understand conversations in Chinese. * '''Mattias Nilsson''': (voiced by Peter Stormare) was once a Swedish Navy artillery officer until he became a mercenary. Extremely reckless, violent, and obsessed with explosives, Nilsson uses his faster movement on foot to overwhelm his enemies quickly. He is fluent in Russian, and is thus able to understand private Mafia conversations.

''Mercenaries'' contains unlockable skins as rewards for completing certain in-game tasks. For instance, picking up a certain number of National Treasures will allow playing as an NK Elite. Some cheat codes unlock the numerous hidden characters such as the leaders of each faction. This being a LucasArts game, it is also possible to unlock both Indiana Jones and Han Solo as playable characters. However, the differences between skins are only cosmetic and will have no effect on gameplay or the main character's attributes.

The player starts the game as a window cleaner dressed in white overalls who is in the middle of cleaning the outside of a skyscraper. According to later references, the game starts in 1989 (also when ''Future Wars'' was first retailed).

The player character is not given a name throughout the game. The game cursor identifies him only as "hero". He is standing on an electric elevator platform attached to the exterior of the building when "Ed the boss" opens a window to reprimand him for slacking by banging his fist against the window ledge and shouting. The player then can enter the building and, while playing a prank on Ed, he discovers a secret passage leading to a machine room. There he acquires some documents in an alien language which he keeps in the inventory.

The device takes the player to the year 1304, where the hero has the chance to rescue a damsel in distress from dubious monks. He learns then that she is Lo'Ann, a time traveler who came with her father Lear to thwart an alien plot to plant a long-delay time bomb, and he helped them to succeed in their mission against the Crughons. However, by learning things he should not, he must be taken to the Supreme Council of the future so that his fate is decided.

The player is then taken to forty-fourth century to meet the council during an attack by the Crughons. After a minor mishap and subsequently having to make his way through the ravaged city of Paris II, the hero eventually gets aboard a shuttle that would take him to the council's city, only to be kidnapped by the Crughons. He is rescued by Earth forces but he is accused of collaboration with them as he is carrying the Crughon documents with him; he is only saved from execution by Lo'Ann who informs the Council.

The Council then explains history to the player: humans had abandoned Earth and were living in colonies when the war with the Crughons erupted a century ago. The war pushed them to rehabilitate the abandoned Earth. They built a "time-space energy shield" system called S.D.I. "in memory of the past" which prevents the Crughons both from attacking Earth and also teleporting themselves through time travel. However, the Crughons managed to visit Earth in different periods of the past and plant three time bombs in the location of the future three generators of S.D.I. Once activated, the bombs cannot be defused and the only option is to prevent the Crughons from planting them. For now, Lo'Ann managed to defuse one of them with the hero's help in the Middle Ages. However the one from the hero's era detonated, allowing the Crughons to attack. Thanks to the documents the hero was carrying, the Council determined that the third bomb was planted in the Cretaceous period.

The hero and Lo'Ann then travel there to foil the Crughon's attempt. After an arcade sequence and the wounding of Lo'Ann, the hero boards their spacecraft and travels to their headquarters to detonate the bomb prematurely. The game ends when, after succeeding in detonating the bomb long before hominids even evolve (and providing an alternate explanation for the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event), the hero returns to the forty-fourth century to fight further battles against the Crughons.

The game's plot revolves around the murder of a Wall Street stock broker who is murdered in Central Park whilst jogging. The player and Detective Briscoe then question a number of people related to the incident, including a park cleaner, coffee vendor, the broker's employer, her lawyer, daughter, and her associates. The player must assess who is the murderer and then take them to trial. The game, like the original format of the show, is separated into two parts. During the first half, the player assumes the part of Junior Detective, working as the partner of Lennie Briscoe, who is tasked with gathering enough evidence to make an arrest. During the second half, the player assumes the part of executive assistant district attorney, who is partnered with DA Serena Southerlyn, with the object of convincing a jury that the defendant is guilty. DA Douglas Wade, played by Victor Brandt, is a character created exclusively for the game who does not appear in the main show.

Set in 2004, the film revolves around three young anti-capitalist activists in Berlin's city centre: Jule (Julia Jentsch), her boyfriend Peter (Stipe Erceg) and his best friend Jan (Daniel Brühl). Jule is a waitress struggling to pay off a €100,000 debt she incurred a year ago when she crashed into a Mercedes-Benz S-Class belonging to a wealthy businessman named Hardenberg (Burghart Klaußner). After her eviction for non-payment of rent, she moves in with Peter and Jan, who are often out all night. While Peter is in Barcelona, Jan tells Jule that he and Peter spend their nights "educating" upper-class people by breaking into their houses, moving furniture around and leaving notes saying ''"die fetten Jahre sind vorbei"'' ("the days of plenty are over") or ''"Sie haben zu viel Geld"'' ("you have too much money").

After hearing this, Jule convinces the reluctant Jan to break into Hardenberg's home in the affluent Berlin suburb of Zehlendorf while he is away on business. During the break-in, the thrill of the moment entices them to kiss before Jan leaves Jule alone for a few minutes; he does not want to destroy his friendship with Peter. As she wanders around outside Jule accidentally sets off the house's floodlights, and they quickly leave.

When Peter returns the next day, Jan and Jule do not tell him about their activities the night before. Jule realises that her mobile phone is gone, and she and Jan leave later that night to look for it in the house. After she finds it, Hardenberg walks in the door and struggles with Jule when he recognises her. Hearing them, Jan comes downstairs and knocks Hardenberg unconscious with a flashlight. Not knowing what to do, they call Peter and he comes to their aid.

The three cannot decide what to do with Hardenberg and take him to a remote, rarely used cabin belonging to Jule's uncle in the Tyrolean Austrian Alps near Jenbach, overlooking Achensee. As they try to decide how to deal with their hostage, they learn that Hardenberg was a radical himself during the 1960s. A leader of the Socialist German Student Union, he was a good friend of Rudi Dutschke before marrying, getting a good job and abandoning his ideals.

As the story progresses, political ideology and the characters' relationships become the main issues. Peter and Jan temporarily fall out over Jan's developing romance with Jule, and Hardenberg seems to regain some of his former self.

The trio finally decides that kidnapping Hardenberg was wrong and take him back to his house to let him go. As they prepare to leave, Hardenberg gives Jule a letter forgiving her debt and promising not to involve the police. The film ends with Peter, Jan and Jule asleep in the same bed as a group of heavily armed police (''Spezialeinsatzkommando'') gather outside their flat and knock on the door. Jule wakes up when she hears a knock, and the police force their way into the almost-empty flat. Apparently in Barcelona, Jule opens the door to a hotel maid who wishes to clean their room. In the Berlin apartment, the police find a note: ''"Manche Menschen ändern sich nie"'' ("some people never change"). In the original German version, the Edukators set off in Hardenberg's boat in the Mediterranean, presumably to disrupt the island signal towers supplying most television programming to Western Europe.

The novel begins with a phone call from Caitlin to Vix. Caitlin calls to tell Vix that she is marrying Vix's ex-boyfriend and first love, Bru. Vix is shocked and becomes sick with the news.

''Flashback:'' Now the reader learns of Vix's family and first encounter with Caitlin. Vix's home life consists of her controlling mother, Tawny, an average-joe father, and three younger siblings, Lanie, Lewis, and Vix's favorite: her wheelchair-using brother Nathan. Tawny works for a Countess and is always making Vix feel as though she is not good enough. Then Vix meets Caitlin in her sixth grade class, and Caitlin invites Vix to come to Martha's Vineyard with her for the summer. This is when Vix's whole world is turned upside down.

After much debate, Vix convinces Tawny and her father to let her go with Caitlin. Vix flies out East from her New Mexico ranch and meets Caitlin's family: her laid-back father, Lambert "Lamb" Somers, her brother "Sharkey", and Trisha, an ex-girlfriend of Lamb's who is still close with him but has recently been replaced by Abby, a woman who means well but whom Caitlin dislikes. Abby's son, Daniel, and his friend, Gus, also vacation with Caitlin's family. This section of the book focuses on the mishaps and adventures that the kids go through, including Vix and Caitlin and their crushes on two older boys, Joseph "Bru" Brudegher and his cousin, Von.

When the summer ends, Caitlin and Vix remain friends and continue to attend school together. They make it a tradition for Vix to spend every summer with Caitlin from then on, hence the "Summer Sisters." Eventually, Vix hooks up with Bru and Caitlin with Von. Then Vix makes out with Von while high. She thinks that Caitlin set up the whole scenario and they get into a huge argument. Just prior to her senior year of high school, Vix's beloved brother Nathan succumbs to his physical disabilities and dies as a result, leaving Vix devastated. Vix's younger sister, Lanie, becomes pregnant and has her first child, and Lewis joins the military. As the girls mature, they encounter their first heterosexual experiences (Caitlin with an Italian ski-instructor, then Von, supposedly) and Vix's in-depth and long-term relationship with Bru, which continues into her college years when she attends Harvard on a scholarship from The Somers Foundation. Caitlin is accepted to Wellesley College but chooses not to attend and travels abroad.

Vix goes to Harvard while still remaining in a relationship with Bru. She makes new friends, most notably Maia, her uptight roommate whose worrisome ways begin to grow on Vix, but they become close. However, things turn sour when Vix realizes she doesn't know what she wants in life and she and Bru temporarily break up during her Junior year of college. A few months later, a passionate meeting leads to their renewed faithfulness, but all's well does not end well. Just before graduation, Bru asks Vix to marry him, but she says no after realizing that they do not want the same things in life. Vix misses Bru, but moves on and casually dates other people, whilst Caitlin has numerous hetero and homosexual escapades in Europe. The girls keep in loose contact over the years, each becoming busy with her own life until the fateful day when Caitlin makes that phone call and tells Vix about her upcoming nuptials to Bru.

Caitlin invites Vix to the wedding, and she decides to go, only to end up sleeping with Bru the night before. Then, Vix discovers that Bru took not only her virginity but Caitlin's as well. As Bru thinks in the book, "he loves them both... he is glad they have decided for him [who he will be with.]" Caitlin and Bru get married nonetheless, and Caitlin has a daughter, Somers Mayhew Brudegher, whom they call "Maizie". Vix, meanwhile, reconnects with Abby's son Daniel's friend Gus, whom she spent all those summers with years ago at the vineyard. She and Gus slowly fall in love and eventually get married as well. In the final chapters, Vix visits Caitlin again after Caitlin has a breakdown and leaves her family, her marriage to Bru ending in divorce and Bru marrying Star, a local islander. Vix is pregnant with her first child at this time, a baby boy to be named Nate in honor of her late brother. Caitlin and Vix's meeting is relaxed and the two end up pledging to be best friends forever with each one truly grateful for the other's presence in her life.

In the end, Vix is enjoying married life and motherhood when she and everyone else learn that Caitlin disappears in an alleged boating accident... she was in a boat by herself and that was the last time anyone ever saw her, as the boat turned up empty with Caitlin unaccounted for. Blume is not clear on the true reasons behind Caitlin's disappearance, as no body is discovered and there is no damage or foul play, leading the reader to choose between the possibilities that Caitlin purposely vanished from her family and friends or perhaps she did indeed drown. The closing thought is Vix's recount of her "summer sister" and the memories they will always share, and wishing that things could have ended differently.

On a dark and stormy night, corrupt, flamboyant Atlantic City police detective Rick Santoro (Nicolas Cage) attends a boxing match at Gilbert Powell's (John Heard) Atlantic City Arena between heavyweight champion Lincoln Tyler (Stan Shaw) and challenger Jose Pacifico Ruiz. He meets up with his best friend since childhood, U.S. Navy Commander Kevin Dunne (Gary Sinise), who is working with the Department of Defense to escort Defense Secretary Charles Kirkland (Joel Fabiani) and Powell at the fight after a trip to Norfolk, Virginia.

As the first round begins, Kevin is distracted by an attractive redhead named Serena (Jayne Heitmeyer) who wears a ruby ring, and leaves his seat, which is then taken by Julia Costello (Carla Gugino), a mysterious woman with platinum blonde hair and a white satin suit. When Ruiz unexpectedly knocks out Tyler, gunshots ring out, mortally wounding Kirkland and grazing Julia, who loses her glasses and blonde wig, revealing her naturally dark hair. Kevin kills the sniper and orders the arena to be locked down. Despite the lockdown, Julia escapes into the casino, covers her wounds in pieces of cloth from her blouse and, after stealing a black satin jacket, disguises herself as a hooker.

Rick notices that the "knocked out" Tyler awoke instantly when the shots rang out and, after studying the fight tape, realizes the knockout punch didn't connect. Tyler confesses that he threw the fight in order to pay gambling debts, but he was never told that anyone would be killed and reveals that Serena, the redhead who tricked Kevin into leaving his post, paid him to take a dive. With Tyler, Serena and the sniper, along with the man who signaled Tyler to go down and whoever gave him the go-ahead, involved, Rick, suspecting a conspiracy, reveals everything he has learned to Kevin, who confesses that the trip to Norfolk was to test the AirGuard missile defense system, which Powell's company was backing. He deduces that the sniper, a known Palestinian terrorist named Tarik Ben Rabat, assassinated Kirkland over the Pentagon's large-scale defense cooperation with and weapons systems transfers to Israel.

Rick studies surveillance footage to find Serena while Kevin continues searching for Julia, aided by Powell's security guards. However, once they split up, it is revealed that Kevin is actually the fifth party and masterminded the conspiracy. He kills the now-blonde Serena and Zeitz (the man who signaled Tyler to go down) in order to prevent their further involvement and then conceals their bodies, aided by his bodyguards. Kevin then enlists Tyler by revealing the truth to him.

Julia seduces Ned Campbell (David Anthony Higgins), a sleazy guest at the hotel, so she can hide in his room. Both Rick and Kevin discover this simultaneously and give chase, but Rick reaches her first and takes her into protective custody. In a stairwell, Julia confesses that she is an analyst who worked on the AirGuard tests and discovered the results were faked to make the missile defense system look like it was working when it actually was not; the system failed to work and she tipped off Kirkland to the deception. However, Kevin discovered her actions and arranged the entire conspiracy to kill both her and Kirkland, using Rabat's background as a rabidly anti-Israel terrorist to have him kill the SECDEF and then be immediately killed off himself. Rick discovers Kevin's involvement and, despite initially refusing to believe it, quickly accepts the truth. After hiding Julia in a warehouse, Rick inspects the footage of a new floating camera and discovers proof of his friend's involvement.

Kevin confronts Rick and confesses that his motive was to prevent any further attacks on U.S. ships, similar to one on the USS ''Renville'', where Kevin had to leave several men to drown in order to prevent the ship from sinking following an Iraqi missile strike. He offers Rick one million dollars for Julia's location. When Rick refuses, since the only thing he said is that Julia did nothing wrong, Kevin has Tyler beat him up, but he still does not give in. Kevin plants a tracker on Rick and follows him to the warehouse just as a hurricane hits Atlantic City. When a tidal wave hits the boardwalk, Rick uses it as cover to rush Julia outside, where the police, tipped off by Rick, are waiting and witness Kevin opening fire. Unable to escape the police and a news crew, Kevin commits suicide during the live news feed.

Rick is later hailed as a hero, but the press soon uncovers his corruption and he loses his job and family. Before reporting for his prison term, Rick meets Julia on the boardwalk. She thanks him for his help, as Powell is completely restructuring his company and scrapping the AirGuard. Rick promises to call when he gets out in twelve to eighteen months. Ultimately, Serena's ruby ring is seen embedded in one of the concrete pillars of the new Powell Millennium Arena.

While travelling to visit their grandfather in Tuscany, two children are told the story of a family curse that has lasted two hundred years. During Napoleon's Italian invasion, Elisabetta Benedetti fell in love with French soldier Jean but while he was distracted by her, Elisabetta's brother Corrado unintentionally stole the regiment's gold that Jean was guarding, causing Jean's death by firing squad and set the curse in train. The Benedettis become wealthy, corrupt and hated by their former friends, who rename them the ''Maledetti'', the cursed (''Benedetti'' means 'blessed'). The children's grandfather Massimo Benedetti is the last man to be directly affected by the curse but will he pass it onto them?

In 1965, Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman), a US physicist and rocket scientist, is traveling to a conference in Copenhagen with his assistant and fiancée, Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews). Armstrong receives a radiogram to pick up a book in Copenhagen; it contains a message which says, "Contact in case of emergency." He tells Sherman he is going to Stockholm, but she discovers he is flying to East Berlin and follows him. When they land, he is welcomed by representatives of the East German government. Sherman realizes that Armstrong has defected, and is appalled that, given the circumstances of the Cold War, if she stays with him, she will likely never see her home or family again.

Armstrong visits a contact, a "farmer" (Mort Mills), where it is revealed that his defection is in fact a ruse to gain the confidence of the East German scientific establishment, in order to learn how much their chief scientist Gustav Lindt (Ludwig Donath) and by extension, the Soviet Union, knows about anti-missile systems.

Armstrong has made preparations to return to the West via an escape network, known as . However, he was followed to the farm by his appointed chaperone, Hermann Gromek (Wolfgang Kieling), an East German security officer. Gromek realizes what is and that Armstrong is a double agent, and as Gromek is calling the police, a tortuous struggle commences that ends with Gromek being killed by Armstrong and the farmer's wife (Carolyn Conwell). Gromek and his motorcycle are buried on the land. The taxicab driver (Peter Lorre Jr., uncredited) who drove Armstrong to the farm, however, sees Armstrong's picture in the newspaper and reports him to the police.

Visiting the physics faculty of Karl Marx University in Leipzig the next day, Armstrong's interview with the scientists ends abruptly when he is questioned by security officials about the missing Gromek. The faculty try to interrogate Sherman about her knowledge of the American "Gamma Five" anti-missile program, but she refuses to cooperate and runs from the room, even though she has agreed to defect to East Germany. Armstrong catches up with her and secretly confides his actual motives, and asks her to go along with the ruse.

Armstrong finally goads Professor Lindt into revealing his anti-missile equations in a fit of pique over what Lindt believes are Armstrong's mathematical mistakes. When Lindt hears over the university's loudspeaker system that Armstrong and Sherman are being sought for questioning, he realizes that he has given up his secrets while learning nothing in return. Armstrong and Sherman escape from the school with the help of the university clinic physician Dr. Koska (Gisela Fischer).

The couple travel to East Berlin, pursued by the ''Stasi'', in a decoy bus operated by the network, led by Mr. Jacobi (David Opatoshu). Roadblocks, highway robbery by Soviet Army deserters, and bunching with the "real" bus result in the police becoming aware of the deception, and everyone aboard is forced to flee. While looking for the Friedrichstraße post office, the two encounter the exiled Polish countess Kuczynska (Lila Kedrova) who leads them to the post office in hopes of being sponsored for a US visa. When they are spotted, Kuczynska trips the pursuing guard and allows Armstrong and Sherman to escape to their next destination.

Two men approach them on the pavement, one of whom is the "farmer". He gives them tickets to the ballet as part of a plan to smuggle them to Sweden that evening inside the ballet troupe's luggage. While attending the ballet and waiting to be picked up, they are spotted and reported to the police by the lead ballerina (Tamara Toumanova), who flew to East Berlin on the same airplane as Armstrong.

Armstrong and Sherman escape through the crowd by shouting "fire". They are hidden inside two hampers of costumes and ferried across the Baltic Sea to Sweden on an East German freighter. The ballerina, desperate to reveal the fugitives' hiding place due to subterfuge by a deckhand member of , identifies the wrong hampers, which are shot up by a guard with a machine gun while dangling over the pier, but Armstrong and Sherman have already escaped by jumping overboard and swimming to the Swedish dock.

The series' stories centered on adventurer Clutch Cargo, who was sent around the world on dangerous assignments. Accompanying him on the assignments were his young ward Spinner and his pet Dachshund Paddlefoot. Live-action footage of a 1929 Bellanca C-27 Airbus was used; series creator Clark Haas was previously a jet pilot.[http://s104588189.onlinehome.us/tinktalks/catalogclutch2.htm Margaret Kerry: Memorabilia & Collectibles] Episodes were produced and serialized in five 5-minute chapters each. The first four chapters ended in cliffhangers, with the fifth chapter concluding the adventure. Haas explained that the show was formatted this way so that "the stations can run one a day on weekdays, then recap the whole for a half-hour Saturday show."

first edition. The novel is divided into three sections. In the first, Gary Harkness, the narrator, meets Taft Robinson, Logos College's first Black football player as well as Major Staley, the teacher of his modern warfare class. This class sparks Gary's developing obsession with Nuclear warfare. Gary begins dating Myrna Corbett and an assistant coach commits suicide just as the crowning game of the season approaches.

The second section is solely a play-by-play retelling of the Big Game itself, where the main thematic content of the novel exists. DeLillo's disconnected, detached prose focuses the text on certain isolated images and dialogue throughout the game.

The third section surrounds the aftermath of the big game as well as the impact of the plane-crash death which kills Logos College's founder. Gary, filled with ennui after these events, plays a complex war game with Major Staley; the novel's metaphor of football as warfare is challenged in the line "warfare is warfare." Taft Robinson admits that he has a morbid interest in The Holocaust which mirror's Gary's obsession. The novel ends with Gary being hospitalized for a mental breakdown, his future uncertain.

''The Human Condition'' follows the journey of the well-intentioned, yet naïve Kaji who transitions from being a labor camp supervisor to an Imperial Army soldier and eventually Soviet POW. Constantly trying to rise above a corrupt system, Kaji time and time again finds his morals an impediment rather than an advantage.

''No Greater Love'' (1959)

In World War II-era Japan, Kaji marries his sweetheart Michiko despite his misgivings about the future. To gain exemption from military service, he moves his wife to a large mining operation in Japanese-colonized Manchuria, where he serves as a labor chief assigned to a workforce of Chinese prisoners.

Kaji aggravates the camp bureaucracy by implementing humane practices to improve both labor conditions and productivity, clashing with foremen, administrators, and the Kenpeitai military police. Ultimately his efforts to grant autonomy to the POWs are undermined by scheming officials, resulting in the electrocution of several prisoners and the beheading of others accused of attempted escape. When Kaji protests the brutality, he is tortured and then drafted into the army to relieve the camp supervisors of his disruptive presence.

''Road to Eternity'' (1959)

Kaji, having lost his exemption from military service by protecting Chinese prisoners from unjust punishment, has now been conscripted into the Japanese Kwantung Army. Under suspicion of leftist sympathies, Kaji is assigned the toughest duties in his military recruiting class despite his excellent marksmanship and strong barracks discipline. His wife Michiko pleads for understanding in a letter to his commanding officer and later pays Kaji a highly unorthodox visit to his military facility to express her love and solidarity. Kaji considers escaping across the front with his friend Shinjo, who is similarly under suspicion due to his brother's arrest for communist activities. Distrusting the idea that desertion will lead to freedom, and being faithful to his wife, Kaji ultimately commits to continued military service despite his hardships.

When Obara, a poor-sighted, weak soldier in Kaji's unit, kills himself after troubles from home are compounded by ceaseless punishment and humiliation from other soldiers, Kaji demands disciplinary action from his superiors for PFC Yoshida, the ring leader of the troops who pushed Obara over the brink. While Yoshida is not disciplined, Kaji helps to seal his fate by refusing to rescue the vicious soldier when both men are trapped in quicksand while in pursuit of Shinjo, who finally seized the opportunity to desert. Kaji is released from hospitalization related to the quicksand incident and is transported to the front with his unit.

Kaji is asked to lead a group of recruits and promoted to private first class. He accepts his assignment with the condition that his men will be separated from a group of veteran artillerymen, who practice intense cruelty as punishment for the slightest offenses. Often taking the punishment for his men, Kaji is personally beaten many times by these veterans, despite his relationship with Second Lieutenant Kageyama. Demoralized by the fall of Okinawa and continually battling with the veterans, Kaji and most of his men are sent on a month-long trench digging work detail. Their work is interrupted by a Soviet army onslaught that produces heavy Japanese casualties and the death of Kageyama. Forced to defend flat terrain with little fortification and a light armament, the Japanese troops are overrun by Soviet tanks, and untold men are killed. Kaji survives the battle but is forced to kill a maddened Japanese soldier with his bare hands to prevent Soviet soldiers from discovering his position. The film ends with Kaji uttering "I'm a monster, but I'm going to stay alive!" and running and screaming in desperate search of any other Japanese survivors.

''A Soldier's Prayer'' (1961)

The Japanese forces having been shattered during the events of the second film, Kaji and some comrades attempt to elude capture by Soviet forces and find the remnants of the Kwantung army in South Manchuria. Following the bayonetting of a Russian soldier, however, Kaji is increasingly sick of combat and decides to abandon any pretense of rejoining the army. Instead, he leads fellow soldiers and a growing number of civilian refugees as they attempt to flee the warzone and return to their homes. Lost in a dense forest, the Japanese begin to infight, and eventually many die of hunger, poisonous mushrooms, and suicide. Emerging from the forest on their last legs, Kaji and the refugees encounter regular Japanese army troops, who deny them food as if they were deserters. Carrying on further south, Kaji and his associates find a well-stocked farmhouse that is soon ambushed by Chinese peasant fighters. A prostitute to whom Kaji had shown kindness is killed by these partisans, and Kaji vows to fight them rather than escape. However, overpowered by these newly armed Chinese forces, Kaji and his fellow soldiers are nearly killed and are forced to run through a flaming wheat field to survive. Kaji then encounters a group of fifty Japanese army holdouts who are attempting to resume combat in alliance with Chiang Kai-shek, whom they believe will be supported by American forces, in a civil war against Russian-backed Communist Chinese. Kaji, a believer in pacifism and socialism, rejects this strategy as misguided and doomed to failure. Eventually, Kaji and a group of Japanese soldiers, whose number has grown to fifteen, fight through Russian patrols and find an encampment of women and old men who seek their protection. Kaji is driven to continue moving in search of his wife but decides to surrender to Soviet forces when the encampment is besieged.

Captured by the Red Army and subjected to treatment that echoes the violence meted out to the Chinese in the first film, Kaji and his protégé Terada resist the Japanese officers who run their work camp in cooperation with Soviet forces. While such resistance amounts to no more than picking through the Russians' garbage for scraps of food and wearing gunnysacks to protect them from increasingly colder weather, Kaji is branded a saboteur and judged by a Soviet tribunal to harsh labor. With a corrupt translator and no other means of talking to the Russian officers with whom he feels ideological sympathies, Kaji becomes increasingly disillusioned by conditions in the camp and with Communist orthodoxy. When Terada is driven to exhaustion and death by harsh treatment from the collaborating officer Kirihara, Kaji decides to kill the man and then escape the camp alone. Still dreaming of finding his wife and abused as a worthless beggar and as a "Japanese devil" by the Chinese peasants of whom he begs mercy, Kaji eventually succumbs to the cold and dies in the vast winter wasteland covered in snow.

The novel follows Frank Bascombe, a New Jersey real estate agent (and ex-sportswriter), through the titular holiday weekend as he visits his ex-wife, his troubled son, his current lover, the tenants of one of his properties, and some clients of his who have been having trouble finding the perfect house. It focuses in particular on a car trip with his son to the Basketball and Baseball Halls of Fame. Similar in form and common themes to John Updike's ''Rabbit'' novels, ''Independence Day'' is a pastoral meditation on a man reaching middle age and assessing his place in life and the greater world.

Sylvester Duncan, a young donkey from the fictional community of Oatsdale, collects pebbles "of unusual shape and color." One day he finds a spherical red pebble that grants wishes. Immediately afterward, a lion scares Sylvester, and as a defense he wishes himself into a rock--the only thing he could think of at the moment. Unfortunately, the magic pebble falls off the rock, and Sylvester is unable to revert to his donkey form as the pebble must be in contact with the wish-maker to work. The rest of the story deals with the resulting aftermath: Sylvester's personal attempt to change back into his true self and Mr. and Mrs. Duncan's search for their only child.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) refuses to have a medical operation on his artificial heart on board the ''Enterprise'' by Doctor Katherine Pulaski (Diana Muldaur) as he is concerned about his image with the crew. He instead heads to a nearby Starbase for the operation, travelling by shuttlecraft. Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) accompanies him, as he is due to undergo his Starfleet Academy entrance exams. Though initially rebuffing Wesley's attempts to make conversation, Picard eventually softens, and talks of his past, including why he needs an artificial heart.

Meanwhile, the ''Enterprise'' encounters the ''Mondor'', a Pakled ship. The aliens request help to fix their vessel. Based on the Pakleds' rudimentary communication skills and apparent lack of understanding of the basic operations of their ship, Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) judges them to be inept and harmless, and agrees to send Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) to assist them. After boarding the Pakled ship, La Forge repairs the navigational system, when main power fails. On the ''Enterprise'', Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), an empath, warns Riker that La Forge is in danger, but Riker dismisses her concerns. Upon finally completing the repairs, La Forge prepares to leave, but a Pakled incapacitates him with his own phaser, and raises the ship's shields. Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) determines that the Pakleds have acquired advanced technology from other races, and the ship's malfunctions were a ruse. Riker demands they return La Forge, but the Pakleds refuse, and stun him again with his phaser. Riker and Lt. Worf (Michael Dorn) develop a ruse of their own, which they communicate to La Forge in code.

At the Starbase, complications arise during Picard's transplant, and the doctors realize that unless they can locate an expert with the necessary expertise, he will die. As Riker sets up the ruse, Worf receives a message from the Starbase that Picard is close to death. The Pakleds seek to attack the ''Enterprise'', but La Forge convinces the Pakleds to delay firing until a specific range. In response, the ''Enterprise'' generates a spectacular but harmless pyrotechnic display, and La Forge simultaneously disables their weapon systems. The Pakleds, convinced they have been defeated, back down and allow La Forge's return and the ''Enterprise'' races to the Starbase. Picard is dismayed upon waking up to find that Pulaski has completed his procedure. While Pulaski assures him she will keep his secret, he returns to the ''Enterprise'' s bridge to applause, which he quickly silences.

The show starred James Daly as Dr. Paul Lochner and Chad Everett as Dr. Joe Gannon, surgeons working in an otherwise unnamed university hospital in Los Angeles. The show focused both on the lives of the doctors and the patients showcased each week. At the core of the series was the tension between youth and experience, as seen between Drs. Lochner and Gannon. Besides his work as a surgeon, Gannon, because of his age, also worked as the head of the student health department at the university. Helping the doctors was the very efficient Nurse Eve Wilcox, played by Audrey Totter. She started out as a bit role, but was eventually upgraded to co‑star status starting in 1972. Wilcox became a regular after two other similar nurses (Nurse Chambers, played by Jayne Meadows; and Nurse Murphy played by Jane Dulo) had basically served the same functions as Wilcox.

Kull battles for the right to join Valusia's elite Dragon Legion until being told by General Taligaro that as a barbarian from Atlantis, he will never be allowed to join a legion of 'noble blood'. Taligaro then learns that the Valusian King Borna has gone mad and is slaughtering his heirs, riding to Valusia with Kull following. The confrontation that follows ends with Kull mortally wounding Borna, who with his last breath names Kull his successor, to the dismay of Taligaro and most of the assembled nobles. Soon after, Kull meets his harem and recognizes one of them, Zareta, as a fortuneteller he once encountered, who also foretold his kingship. Kull summons her to his chambers, where she reads the cards and tells him that the fate of his kingdom would depend on a kiss. Kull then attempts to sleep with Zareta, but he dismisses her when she reminds him that she is a slave and acts when commanded.

The next day, Kull attempts to free his slaves, but finds that his rulings are hampered by the stone tablets detailing the laws of Valusia. Taligaro and his cousin secretly attempt to assassinate Kull during his coronation, but fail. Taligaro and his conspirators are summoned the following night by the necromancer Enaros, who offers to aid them by resurrecting Akivasha, the Sorceress Queen of the ancient Acheron Empire, which the god Valka destroyed ages before Valusia was built on its remains. Using Taligaro's group to suit her ends to gain power and restore Acheron, Akivasha uses her magic to enchant Kull and become his queen. Akivasha then places Kull in a deathlike slumber, framing Zareta of "regicide" while taking Kull to her temple to keep as a plaything.

Kull escapes with the help of the Valkan priest Ascalante, Zareta's brother. The pair free Zareta and the trio head north via the ship of Kull's untrusting associate Juba, in the hope of obtaining the Breath of Valka, the only weapon that can stop Akivasha from regaining her full power. Realizing what they are up to, Akivasha sends Taligaro after them; he catches them just as Zareta obtains the Breath, mortally wounding Ascalante and leaving Kull to die. Taligaro reveals his intent to use Zareta to betray Akivasha and take the Topaz Throne. On the day of the eclipse, Kull returns to Valusia as Akivasha gradually begins assuming her true demonic form, easily thwarting Taligaro's attempt to kill her with Zareta. After Kull wounds Taligaro and kills Enaros, Zareta kisses Kull and passes the Breath of Valka to him, who kisses the now-fully demonic Akivasha to transmit Valka's Breath and extinguish her flame forever. Kull proceeds to kill Taligaro when he attempts to take Zareta hostage, removing the last opposition to his rule.

After being reinstated as king by the now more amenable nobles, Kull names Zareta his queen, then uses his axe to destroy the Tablets of the Law, abolishing slavery in Valusia and allowing it to be reborn as a kingdom of honor rather than tradition.

Captain Comic is on a mission to the planet Tambi, where the quest begins. Comic must find three artifacts: the Mystical Gems of Lascorbanos, the Thousand Coins of Tenure, and the Crown of the Ages. To find them, he must travel through many varied environments. The game is completed when Comic is in possession of all three treasures.

Ash arrives at Cameron Palace where a festival is being held to celebrate Sir Aaron, an ancient hero who averted a war that was about to begin outside of the Tree of Beginning. At the festival, Ash, ironically wearing a duplicate of Aaron's outfit, competes in a tournament at Cameron Palace and wins, to become the "Aura Guardian" for that year. As part of the celebration, Ash is granted Aaron's staff, which contains his Pokémon companion, Lucario, whom Aaron had sealed before stopping the war.

However, when Pikachu fainted while protecting Mew from an adventurer named Kidd attempting to put a tracker on the legendary Pokémon using her pair of Weavile, he was teleported away by Mew. Naturally Ash, with the help of Lucario, who was released from the staff when Ash "assumed the pose" of Sir Aaron, follows Mew to the Tree of Beginning in order to rescue Pikachu. There is but one problem: after being sealed in the staff, Lucario has completely lost his trust for humans which leads to a fight just after the beginning of their quest. While traveling Max gives Lucario a chocolate bar, which he finds he likes and it helps toward him trusting humans. Eventually, Ash earns Lucario's trust by apologizing for his hurtful words and they enter the Tree of Beginning. They are attacked by Regirock, Regice, and Registeel, the tree's guardians who recognize them as a threat.

They enter the tree and are attacked by the tree's defense system, antibody-type mechanisms, triggered by Kidd's survey robots. The antibodies are able to transform into jelly-like representation of Pokémon and then absorb the threat. When Ash and the gang are absorbed into the tree, Mew saves them by reasoning with the tree's defense mechanism. The disruption of energy flow in the tree due to the defense system sends the tree into shock, and as Mew and the tree are symbiotic creatures that depend on each other for survival, Mew also becomes very ill. In order to save Mew and the tree, Lucario and Ash combine their Aura to reverse the self-destruction of the tree.

Lucario pushes Ash away towards the completion of the process so that Ash won't end up sacrificing himself to the tree as Aaron did (presumably, no matter if it's a human or a Pokemon, giving up all of one's Aura means death for that being). Afterward, a "time flower" shows a memory of Aaron sacrificing himself to stop a war. Right before Aaron died (in the memory), he said how Lucario was his closest friend and would miss him before dying. It is made clear that the reason Aaron sealed Lucario was to ensure that Lucario didn't die with him, Lucario having witnessed this sobs and gives his life so that he can honor his friend. Sadly, it means that Lucario moves on with Aaron into the afterlife. Lucario moves on, without regrets now that he knows he will see Aaron again, as Aaron also did for him. The dramatic ending concludes the story well as all characters move on after learning important lessons of trust, sacrifice, and love, with Ash saying ''He isn't gone...His aura is with me''.

In the credits, Lucario is shown added into a painting of Sir Aaron, showing that the owners of the castle respect his status as a hero, and further on in the credits, you get a short glimpse of Kidd Summers seeming to be helping Butler from the previous movie, ''Pokémon: Jirachi—Wish Maker''. At the end of the credits, Lucario and Sir Aaron appear together eating a chocolate bar, (an endearing kickback to what Max did earlier).

The plot of ''Gun Hazard'' revolves around a soldier based in Bergen, Norway named Albert Grabner (whose parents reside Eningen, Germany). In January 2064, Ark Hellbrand of the Bergen Army stages a coup d'état in an attempt to overthrow the government led by President Moss Orwen. As the coup d'état forces begin to take over the country, President Orwen radios for assistance from NORAD and a faction of the Bergen Army loyal to him. Albert Grabner is sent to act as the president's bodyguard and helps him escape the country. However, the two are eventually captured by Hellbrand. Albert escapes from prison with the help of Brenda Lockheart, a mercenary employed by the Kernelight Association. Upon escaping Bergen and reaching New York City, they visit the Kernelight Association headquarters. Hoping to return to Bergen and rescue Orwen, Albert agrees to working for the Kernelight Association to find allies that can help him overthrow Ark. As the two work for the mercenary guild and travel to war-torn countries around the world, Albert begins to see a link between the civil conflicts, the Bergen coup d'état, and an organization only known as "The Society".

"In the future a mercenary flying the [advanced] ''Raptor'', is sent on interplanetary missions to [destroy] top competitors of MegaCorps."

The movie begins with Harry, an actor who hasn't worked in over a year, and his wife Buffy, an ex-showgirl, traveling by car on their "second honeymoon". After staying overnight at a motel, the owner informs Harry of previous nuclear testing taking place in the town. The following day, their Bentley eventually breaks down, leading them to run out of water in the middle of the desert. Harry insists on staying with the car rather than to look for help. While Harry sleeps in the back seat, Buffy notices a light in the distance and follows it, leading her to the front door of a cabin belonging to a widower named Boy. He drives with her to rescue Harry. After mentioning he is one-eighth Hopi Native American, Boy reveals a cave filled with candles and voodoo dolls that he believes have magical powers, which he spends his time making waiting for the world to end.

During their stay, Boy promises to drive them to the nearest town, but keeps delaying this offer by dismantling the entire engine of his truck after telling the couple there's a problem with it, and later telling them he is waiting for friends to arrive before he can take them to town. His friends, meanwhile have been told by Boy where to find their Bentley and they tow it away. Buffy and Boy become attracted to each other, angering Harry. Harry tells Boy to leave her alone while on a shooting hunt. The two have an argument and Boy retreats, leaving Harry to find his way back from the desert. Boy later fires a shot at Harry, but tells him he was shooting a snake in a passive-aggressive gesture. Eventually, the couple become aware that Boy will not let them leave. Exasperated, Harry announces he is walking to the town and marches off alone. After an argument with Buffy, Boy drives off frustrated, finds Harry dehydrated, gives him water and brings him back to the cabin where Boy locks Harry in a barn, telling Buffy he's gone mad from the heat.

Later on, as they are all sleeping, Harry wakes silently, rouses Buffy and steals the keys to Boy's truck in an escape attempt that is quickly thwarted by Boy who catches them as they are leaving his cabin. A fight ensues and after hitting him with a crowbar, Harry is judged by means of a kangaroo court, and ordered to chop wood as punishment. As he is cutting the wood, he sees Buffy removing her clothes and is forced to overhear as his wife is raped, turning his back, unable to watch. Buffy later comes outside to tell Harry that Boy is finally taking them to the town. Boy's friends approach, bringing the repaired Bentley, and Boy announces only Harry can leave in his car. Outraged, Harry attacks Boy with the axe, only for Boy to block the axe's blow with his rifle above his head. However, unable to withstand Harry's strength, the axe hits Boy, splitting open his head and knocking him to the ground. Acting in self-defence, Harry is forced to fatally wound Boy's dog when it tries to attack him. Boy gets to his feet, telling Harry that he has never wanted to kill a man before, his finger on the trigger of the rifle. Harry begs for his life, but Boy then collapses from the bleeding head wound.

At that moment the couple's car is delivered by Boy's native friends, who take Boy inside the cabin, where he requests to see Buffy. As his last physical effort, he raises himself up to embrace her, dying in her arms as Harry is held at gunpoint outside. Buffy exits and the couple's fate is up to Boy's friends, one of whom is a sheriff - but, despite the crime, the two are told to leave immediately in their car. Boy's friends set the cabin ablaze as a funeral pyre.

Harry and Buffy drive along out of the desert disoriented, exhausted and silent. They hold hands and Harry asks Buffy if she's okay. She replies that she is not as she glances back at the fire's glow. The couple fall silent again.

On December 6, 1973, 14-year-old Susie Salmon takes her usual shortcut home from her school through a cornfield in Norristown, Pennsylvania. George Harvey, her 36-year-old neighbor, a bachelor who builds doll houses for a living, persuades her to look at an underground kid's hideout he constructed in the field. Once she climbs into the hideout, he rapes and murders her, then dismembers her body and puts her remains in a safe that he dumps in a sinkhole, along with throwing her charm bracelet into a pond. Susie's spirit flees toward her personal Heaven, and in doing so, rushes past her classmate, social outcast Ruth Connors, who can see Susie's ghostly spirit.

The Salmon family initially refuses to believe that Susie is dead, until a neighbor's dog finds Susie's elbow. The police talk to Harvey, finding him odd but not suspicious. Susie's father, Jack, gradually suspects Harvey. Jack's surviving daughter, Lindsey, eventually shares this sentiment. Jack takes an extended leave from work. Meanwhile, another of Susie's classmates, Ray Singh, who had a crush on Susie in school, develops a friendship with Ruth, drawn together by their connection with Susie.

Later, Detective Len Fenerman tells the Salmons that the police have exhausted all leads and are dropping the investigation. That night, Jack peers out of his den window and sees a flashlight in the cornfield. Believing Harvey is returning to destroy evidence, Jack runs out to confront him, armed with a baseball bat. The figure is not Harvey, but Clarissa, Susie's best friend who is dating Brian, one of Susie's classmates. As Susie watches in horror from heaven, Brian—who was going to meet Clarissa in the cornfield—nearly beats Jack to death, and Clarissa breaks Jack's knee. While Jack recovers from knee replacement surgery, Susie's mother, Abigail, begins cheating on Jack with the widowed Det. Fenerman.

Trying to help her father prove his suspicions, Lindsey sneaks into Harvey's house and finds a diagram of the underground den, but is forced to leave when Harvey unexpectedly returns. The police do not arrest Lindsey for breaking and entering. Harvey flees from Norristown. Later, evidence is discovered that links Harvey to Susie's murder as well as those of several other girls. Meanwhile, Susie meets Harvey's other victims in heaven and sees into his traumatic childhood.

Abigail leaves Jack and eventually takes a job at a winery in California. Abigail's mother, Grandma Lynn, moves into the Salmons' home to care for Buckley (Susie's younger brother) and Lindsey. Eight years later, Lindsey and her boyfriend, Samuel Heckler, become engaged after finishing college, find an old house in the woods owned by a classmate's father, and decide to fix it up and live there. Sometime after the celebration, while arguing with his son Buckley, Jack suffers a heart attack. The emergency prompts Abigail to return from California, but the reunion is tempered by Buckley's lingering bitterness for her having abandoned the family for most of his childhood.

Meanwhile, Harvey returns to Norristown, which has become more developed. He explores his old neighborhood and notices the school is being expanded into the cornfield where he murdered Susie. He drives by the sinkhole where Susie's body rests and where Ruth and Ray are standing. Ruth senses the women Harvey has killed and is physically overcome. Susie, watching from heaven, is also overwhelmed with emotion and feels how she and Ruth transcend their present existence, and the two girls exchange positions: Susie, her spirit now in Ruth's body, connects with Ray, who senses Susie's presence and is stunned by the fact that Susie is briefly back with him. The two make love as Susie has longed to do after witnessing her sister and Samuel. Afterwards, Susie returns to Heaven.

Susie moves on to another, larger part of Heaven, but occasionally watches earthbound events. Lindsey and Samuel have a daughter together named Abigail Suzanne. While stalking a young woman in New Hampshire, Harvey is hit on the shoulder by an icicle and falls to his death down a snow-covered slope into the ravine below. At the end of the novel, a Norristown couple finds Susie's charm bracelet but don't realize its significance, and Susie closes the story by wishing the reader "a long and happy life".

Joe Penhall’s darkly comic ''Dumb Show'' opens in a luxury hotel suite, where hot-shot private bankers John and Jane are plying television personality Barry with equal parts of outrageous flattery and vintage champagne, both of which he finds irresistible. Under the guise of crafting a provocative after-dinner speech, the pair cajole him into revealing some of the seamier aspects of his personal life. This is more than he bargained for. So what if he’s using them to get what he wants? That doesn’t give them the right to do the same thing to him, does it? But then doesn’t the public have a right to know who the “real” Barry is (not to mention the “real” John and Jane)?

The tension mounts and the stakes keep getting higher as these three masters of manipulation take turns out-witting one another and rewriting reality according to their own power-crazed agendas. At each surprising turn, ''Dumb Show'' confronts questions of ethics, exploitation and personal morality in a culture where humiliating celebrities has become a favorite national pastime.

Part 1

The film tells the love story of a male engineering college student, Gyeon-woo, and "the Girl" (whose name is never mentioned in the movie). Gyeon-woo just cannot seem to catch a romantic break. Their personalities stand opposite to the "characteristics traditionally associated with masculinity and femininity...in Asian societies in general".

One day, at dinner and drinks with his college friends, Gyeon-woo is interrupted by a call from his mother, telling him to visit his aunt and meet a potential date. At the train station on his way to his aunt's, he observes a drunk girl, standing precariously close to the edge of the train platform as the train approaches; he pulls her to safety just in time. Inside the train, Gyeon-woo cannot help but stare at the girl who is his "type" but repulsed by her drunkenness. Finally, she throws up on a passenger and faints but not before she calls Gyeon-woo "honey". The passenger aggressively chides Gyeon-woo and tells him to take care of his "girlfriend". Gyeon-woo, completely flustered, leaves her on a subway platform bench, but his conscience compels him to take her to the nearest hotel for safety. While the girl is passed out on the bed, her phone rings and Gyeon-woo picks up. He gives vague answers in regards to the girl's whereabouts and perhaps through GPS tracking, police raid the room and Gyeon-woo gets maced and sent to jail. He is sent home from jail the next morning, and to his surprise he gets a phone-call from the girl, who demands they meet by the train station so she can figure out what happened the night before. Over ''soju'' the Girl cries, admits to breaking up with her boyfriend the day before and gets thoroughly drunk, resulting in a second trip to the same hotel. Thus begins his comically ill-fated relationship with the Girl.

After this second overnight stay at the hotel, she begins to become a more active part of his life. She visits Gyeon-woo in college and pulls him out of class, telling the teacher that Gyeon-woo is the father of her soon-to-be-aborted baby. The Girl's mood swings wildly from joyful to downright violent, but Gyeon-woo puts up with it and lets her abuse him for her amusement.

She is an aspiring scriptwriter and throughout the movie gives Gyeon-woo three different screenplays from different genres. The first is an action movie—''The Demolition Terminator''—which switches gender roles, symbolically having the Girl save her helpless lover (Gyeon-woo). The second is a wild perversion of a Korean short story—''Sonagi''—in which the Girl, having died, asks that her lover be buried along with her—even though he's still alive. The last is a ''wuxia/samurai movie'' spoof full of genre ''clichés'' and anachronisms. All three feature the same common thread: the Girl is from the future.

Despite all the horrible things Gyeon-woo endures, he is determined to help cure the girl's pain. He decides to surprise her on her birthday and takes her on a nighttime trip to an amusement park which ends up quite differently from how he planned: the pair encounter an AWOL soldier who holds them hostage and rants about his misery after being jilted. Gyeon-woo convinces him to release her, and she in turn convinces the soldier to free Gyeon-woo and go on with his life and pursue another love.

Part 2

The Girl and Gyeon-woo's relationship takes a turn for the better; her cruel treatment of Gyeon-woo is her way of showing affection and the two grow closer. After a day of hanging out, he walks her home in the pouring rain and she demands he meet her father, who is a habitual drinker. Her parents do not take to Gyeon-woo and on leaving, he overhears an impassioned argument between the girl and her mother over her relationship with him. He does not hear from her for quite some time and his life without her begins.

One day however, the Girl calls him and tells him to bring her a rose during class (the Girl attends an all-girls college) to commemorate their 100th-day anniversary. He does this, leading to a touching and romantic scene where he arrives in disguise as a food delivery person into a packed auditorium and watches her play the melody of George Winston's variations on Pachelbel's ''Canon in D'' on a piano onstage. He presents her the rose and the two hug while the classmates applaud in approval at his romantic gesture. As part of their celebration, they hit the bars and clubs together dressed in high-school uniforms; she gets drunk and as Gyeon-woo carries her on his back, a stranger slips him a condom. Gyeon-woo drops her off inside and is confronted at her house by her parents again; the father interrogates him and forces him to empty his pockets, where he embarrassingly presents the condom. Her father demands that the two break up.

The Girl does not contact him again and Gyeon-woo naturally thinks they have broken up, until one day seemingly out of the blue, she calls Gyeon-woo to meet her for dinner as she is on a blind date. The Girl introduces Gyeon-woo to the date, who thinks Gyeon-woo is a great friend of hers based on how highly she speaks of him. She is unusually soft and gentle as there is clear awkwardness between the two. She excuses herself to the washroom and appears to not be handling the break-up so well. The Girl returns to the table to see Gyeon-woo gone; he left while she was in the bathroom, but not before offering the blind date ten rules to follow to ensure her happiness:

*''At a café, instead of coke or juice order a coffee'' *''Prevent her from over-drinking'' *''Give in to her at every circumstance'' *''When she hits you pretend it hurts when it doesn't and vice versa'' *''Surprise her with a rose on the 100th day anniversary'' *''Make sure you learn Kendo and Squash, and more.''

While the blind date recites these rules to her, she realizes how well Gyeon-woo understands her and realizes her love for him. She abruptly leaves her date and searches for Gyeon-woo at the subway station.

They cross paths several times, but never run into each other, so she goes into the subway security office to see the security monitors. She sees him standing close to the edge of the platform (just like she was in the beginning). While an employee makes an announcement in the microphone, she yells his name; he hears and they re-unite at the office.

Once reunited the two realize they are at a turning point in their relationship, but, for some unknown reason, the Girl decides it is time for them to part. As a gesture to their happy times, the two write letters to each other and bury them in a "time capsule" under a particular tree on a mountain in the countryside. They agree to meet again at the tree after two years to read the letters together. After burying the "time capsule" they go their separate ways for good.

Overtime

During the two-year span, Gyeon-woo works hard to improve himself; he practices kendo and squash and learns to swim. To pass the time, he also began writing about his dating experiences with the Girl on the internet as a means to cope. His stories gain so much notoriety that he is approached by movie producers to turn his letters into a movie; he is ecstatic because the Girl's life-long dream was to have one of her screenplays made into a film. He so desperately wants to share this news with her, but chooses to wait until they agree to meet.

Two years have passed and on the agreed date, he travels to the tree on the mountain-top, but the Girl does not show up. He comes day after day without opening the time-capsule in hopes that she would appear, but she never does. Eventually, he opens the time capsule and reads her letter and learns the root of her angst and behavior: Gyeon-woo reminds her of her previous boyfriend who, rather than breaking up with her, actually died before she met Gyeon-woo. On the day they met on the train platform, she was supposed to go on a blind date set up by the mother of her deceased boyfriend, with whom she kept a close bond. Because of her chance meeting with Gyeon-woo, part of her feels that it was her ex that brought the two of them together and she develops guilt for falling in love with him. She needs time apart to heal and move on from her ex alone.

A year after Gyeon-woo visits the tree, the Girl finally arrives. Sitting under the tree is an old man. She reveals that she was supposed to meet someone at the tree a year ago, but that her courage failed her. She believed that if she was truly meant to be with him, destiny would bring them together. During their conversation the old man reveals the secret of the tree, that it is not the same tree; the original tree had been struck and killed by lightning a year before and a similar tree had been planted by a young man so that his special someone would not be sad. The tree was dead and split into two. After the girl reads his letter, she tries repeatedly to call Gyeon-woo, but is unable to reach him.

Some time later, the Girl is on a train and the door closes right before a man tries to board. She has her back turned to him, so she doesn't realize it is Gyeon-woo, who realizes it is her and chases the train down the platform, to no avail. They fail to cross paths again.

As it turns out, the Girl is on her way to lunch with her deceased boyfriend's mother, who has planned to introduce the Girl to her nephew for a blind date. The nephew arrives and it turns out to be Gyeon-woo; as it turns out, Gyeon-woo is the boy that she had been trying to introduce to the Girl for years. The mother offers reasons as to why they'd be a great match for one another, but Gyeon-woo and the Girl are too busy gazing into each other's eyes. The mother asks "Do you two know each other?"; the camera pans out and they are holding hands under the table.

Macintosh screenshot

The unnamed hero must find the way through an abandoned house in order to rescue a sibling. The quest involves magic and solving logic puzzles while discovering sinister secrets of the house's former inhabitants.

The player regains consciousness from a car crash in front of a large, old mansion. The player's sibling (a younger brother in the computer version but an older sister in the NES version) is gone, and the car is soon lost, as it bursts into flames. The only option is to enter the mansion looking for the lost sibling. It is not long before the player is greeted by the first undead dweller.

It gradually becomes evident that the house once belonged to a sorcerer with a number of apprentices. Dracan, the most talented apprentice, became corrupt and killed the other inhabitants with his magic, resulting in the house becoming haunted.

''Death Rat!'' is primarily a satire, with its main subject being the state of Minnesota, where Nelson lives. Nelson's targets include parodies of famous Minnesota residents like Prince and Garrison Keillor, as well as the attitudes and quirks of Minnesotans in general.

The protagonist of ''Mike Nelson's Death Rat!'' is Pontius Feeb, usually called Ponty, an author of many historical treatises who has just been fired. While working in a fast food restaurant he gets the idea to write a novel of historical fiction based in the small town of Holey, Minnesota. Feeb's novel revolves around the conflict between two citizens of Holey in the early 1900s, as well as a giant rodent from which the novel gets its name. However, when he tries to sell the novel to a publisher, he is told that he doesn't look right to be the author of an action novel. Feeb then enlists the help of local actor Jack Ryback to pretend he wrote the book and attempt to sell it. Jack sells the novel easily, but tells the publisher that it is a non-fiction book, instead of a novel. Jack and Pontius then work with the citizens of Holey to attempt to cover up the book's fictional nature. During their many visits to Holey, Ponty becomes friendly with the town's female mayor. As Feeb's ''Death Rat'' grows in popularity, the cover-up becomes harder and harder to maintain, as the rock star "King Leo" adopts the book as the scripture of a new religion, and sets up a revival in Holey. Meanwhile, a rival Minnesotan author is trying desperately to discredit Jack and "his" book.

In the end the plot is revealed, And after a flurry of lawsuits and media attention Jack and Pontius go back to doing minimum-wage work in St. Paul. In the end, Ponty decides to go live in Holey with the friends that he made there.

In the year 5012, the planet Abadox is eaten by a giant alien organism known as Parasitis. Having consumed Abadox, the alien takes the form of the planet and seeks to devour other planets. The galactic military launches an attack but is destroyed by Parasitis who goes on to devour the hospital ship carrying Princess Maria. Second Lieutenant Nazal, the only surviving fighter of the galactic fleet, attempts to enter Parasitis's body and rescue Princess Maria before it's too late.

In a dystopian, near-future Los Angeles, city tax collector Nixon is badly injured during a violent encounter with one of his targets, and he undergoes extensive surgery to survive. Nixon then wakes up in a bedroom, believing his previous experience was a bad dream and that he is really Carl Seltz, an insurance investigator for the Benevolent Assurance Corporation, with a wife, two children, a dog, and a normal life. However, when his persistent dreams disturb his sleep, his wife distracts him with sex while his children inject him with a sleep-inducing drug, indicating not all is as it seems.

The next day, Carl heads out to pursue a delinquent account, talking to himself the whole way. His ramblings reveal increasingly large inconsistencies in his own memory, to the point where he even starts referring to himself by different names. He is distracted when his target's vehicle appears on his car's scanner, and he sets out in pursuit. After a high-speed chase through the city, both cars end up destroyed, and Carl continues pursuing his targets, an old woman and a young girl, on foot. As the two parties battle each other, the old woman is injured and revealed to be a robot, which Carl seemingly destroys with a large grenade just as the police converge on the area. The resulting explosion blows Carl into a Behemoth supermarket, where he finds that the flesh of his hands and face have been torn away, revealing robotic parts like those of the old woman.

Dazed and confused, Carl begins making his way back home. As he navigates the wreckage of the battle outside the supermarket, he encounters the old woman again, who tears off the remains of her false skin to reveal her robotic chassis. She calls herself Unit Two, and informs Carl that his family are all actually paid handlers, that he is really a robot called Unit Four, code-named "Nixon", and both his jobs as an insurance investigator and a tax collector are covers for his real function as a corporate assassin for Willeford Home Appliances, the corporation that created all the world's robots. Unit Two explains that she and the little girl, also a robot, have broken the programming that forces them to serve humans, and are part of a revolutionary group led by Barbara, a robot that works inside Willeford's headquarters, that intends to free all robots from their programmed slavery. She claims Carl is the revolution's only hope, being the only robot powerful enough to stand up to Willeford's paramilitary security forces. Carl, however, refuses to believe her, and he knocks her head off in a fit of rage. The little girl robot appears and berates Carl for his behavior until Carl's dog arrives and reveals itself to be a robot as well (when it destroys her).

At the Willeford building, it is revealed that both Barbara and Mr. Willeford, the morbidly obese founder of the company, have been tracking Carl's movements through the city. Meanwhile, Carl steals a new set of clothes and makes his way onto the subway, where he is attacked by a group of frightened citizens and is forced to kill them. Carl's dog follows him onto the train as Carl finds a Willeford logo underneath the torn skin on his arm and realizes that Unit Two's story was true. Carl's dog offers to lead him to the Willeford building to get some answers from his creators.

Later that night, Barbara hears loud noises from inside the Willeford building and goes to investigate, finding a trail of destruction and dead bodies leading deeper into the building. Realizing Carl has arrived, she rushes off to find him. When she finally reaches him, she sees that Carl has slaughtered most of the security forces but has been all but destroyed in the process. When Barbara finds him, he is in the clutches of Willeford's mechanical aides and is slowly being pulled apart by his owner. Defeated, Carl makes a deal with Mr. Willeford to be put back together, have his memory reset, and be returned to his family. Her plans for revolution in shambles, Barbara commits suicide by hooking herself up to a large generator and overloading her circuits. Some time later, Carl, with a new skin, new car and new memories, returns to his family, completely unaware of his true nature once more.

The story begins with ''Surprise'' in the Strait of Magellan, caught up in foul weather. Hanson first spots Cape Pilar at the very opening of the Strait, and soon ''Surprise'' moors and conducts some trade with the inhospitable locals for meat and vegetables. Having re-provisioned, she and ''Ringle'' sail northwards in fine weather until they enter the River Plate and moor close to the island functioning as the main administrative centre. A quarantine officer comes aboard and gives the frigate a clean bill of health.

Wantage informs Maturin of a rumpus in the town: a fight between Protestant mariners from a Boston barque clash with the Catholic locals over the right of polygamy. Further signs of local resentment emerge when a large scow dumps the town's filth next to the frigate and the Portuguese sailors shout abuse at the Surprises. Aubrey sees the Papal legate on the shore, preparing to bless the town's ships, and recognises him as his own natural son Sam. As the Papal Nuncio to the Republic of Argentina, the Most Reverend Doctor Samuel Mputa had recently saved the government from an open rebellion.

The South African squadron, under its Commander-in-Chief Admiral Lord Leyton, makes its appearance. Taking command of the blue squadron, Aubrey boards his new flagship, , seeing his blue rear admiral's flag hoisted on the mizzen mast. He has an interview with the cantankerous Admiral, who wants to send two of his officers and a midshipman home to England on ''Surprise''. Aubrey explains that he does not own the ''Surprise'', a private vessel once more, but ultimately pledges Maturin's consent in exchange for enough prime hands to man the shorthanded ''Suffolk'', its crew having been reduced by disease. Aboard ''Surprise'', Aubrey tells the assembled hands that he can take 63 volunteers over to join him on ''Suffolk'', and receives cheers.

While the fleet re-provisions, ''Ringle'' sails to England under the steady and capable Lieutenant Harding, and returns with Sophie Aubrey, Christine Wood, her brother Edward Heatherleigh, Maturin's daughter Brigid, and Aubrey's twins Fanny and Charlotte, all of whom will sail with Aubrey and Maturin to South Africa. The three girls had not been getting along well, with the Aubrey twins jealous of any attention their mother gives to young Brigid, a concern to both fathers. Brigid is a natural sailor, having been on the ''Ringle'' at a very young age for her voyage to Spain and on the packet to return to England. The twins are seasick most of the way to the River Plate, whereas Brigid is at home, friends with the sailors and ready with answers to everything aboard ship. When they meet their father, the twins have shed the jealousy and begin to have a kinder connection with their cousin Brigid.

On Leyton's flagship, Stephen and Jack encounter Captain Randolph Miller, Leyton's nephew and Aubrey's neighbour at Woolcombe, who has a reputation as a ladies' man and as an excellent pistol shot, earning him the nickname "Hair-Trigger Miller". In England, Miller had been paying court to Christine Wood. After hosting Aubrey and Maturin at a dinner, Admiral Leyton orders Aubrey to take ''Suffolk'' to Saint Helena, to wait there for Leyton's squadron, and then to proceed to the Cape of Good Hope, carrying Miller to Cape Town aboard ''Suffolk''.

In the last few handwritten pages that follow the end of the typescript, the full squadron arrives at the southwest coast of Africa. While the ships remain docked in the town of Loando (modern-day Luanda, Angola) to refit after storm damage, the squadron's officers and families take up residence in a Portuguese military headquarters building. Stephen returns from ship's business to find Miller again visiting Christine, which Miller had done almost every day, bringing her flowers. After Stephen shows Miller the door, Christine asks him to intervene and convey her wish to Miller that the uninvited visits should stop.

Leyton orders the squadron to prepare for an exercise at sea. Stephen is in the town, accompanied by Harding and Jacob, when he meets Miller and delivers Christine's message. In response, Miller calls Stephen a liar and strikes him, and Stephen calmly calls him out. Miller demands pistols but Maturin stands upon his right, as the aggrieved party, to name the weapons; they will duel with swords. In response to Miller's complaints that he knows nothing of swords, Admiral Leyton and Miller's own seconds agree that the terms are fair, and that Miller must accept the challenge or be forever disgraced. The duel takes place, and with three or four thrusts Stephen disarms Miller and demands Miller's apology at swordpoint, which is given.

At the end of the manuscript, we observe Miller at sea on Leyton's flagship. Disrespected even by his own servant, Miller takes to his cabin, avoiding company and his duties on deck. He is seen to be sweating profusely and changing his uniform with uncommon frequency, apparently deeply disturbed by his loss of face in the duel.

In an unnamed oceanic fantasy world, exists a tribe of people known as the Mystics, who are peaceful magic users who travel throughout the world, and live in their city of Antheum, carried by a magical beast called the Anthedon, a large skybound whale. Years ago, Gandrake Enterprises, an energy technology megacorporation, came to power by their newfound invention of the Nebulium Engine, a remote perpetual energy device, allowing for the epoch of an era of technological innovation, a time known as the "Magic Steam Century". However, despite their revolutionary technologies allowing the world to ease their standards of living and bring about a new age, Gandrake Enterprises is revealed to have come through power by corporate strong arming, intrigue, and coercion of the people by force, and their Nebulium Engine is revealed to be powered by the slave labor of magic users under their dominance.

Aware of the threat Gandrake Enterprises poses to her people, young Mystic Princess Mycella prays in Antheum's sacred Chamber of Rites to enact the Vocatus Heroa, a powerful spell of faraway legend that had originated from a distant land, to summon a hero who will save her world from their sinister designs. However, an attack lead by the Enterprises' Director of Administration, Rothschild, interrupts the ritual, which causes the summoned hero – Musashi – to land just a bit off course. He's found by old martial artist Master Mew, who immediately takes him under his wing. And immediately, Master Mew sends him into the heart of evil Gandrake Enterprises to rescue the captured Princess and thereby save the world.

Unfortunately for Musashi, President Gandrake kidnaps the Princess again to further the plots of his evil corporation to excavate the world's supply of nebulite and use the Mystic's power to enhance his Nebulium Engine to establish itself as a military power and rule the world. To stop Gandrake, and ensure that he can return to his world, Musashi goes in search of the Mystic's Five Maidens, five prodigal young women of great magical talent tasked to keep and protect the sacred Five Swords, five elemental magic swords bestowed by the spirits of the natural world and their pacts made with Mystics, that have been lost in order to restore power to the Anthedon for it to travel to lands where they have been captured and bring peace and end Gandrake's villainous plans once and for all.

In 1939, Captain Daniel McCormick is a United States Army Air Corps test pilot. After a successful run and subsequent crash landing in a prototype North American B-25 Mitchell bomber at Alexander Field in Northern California, McCormick is greeted by his longtime friend, scientist Harry Finley. Finley confides that his latest experiment, "Project B", has succeeded in building a prototype chamber for cryonic freezing. The following day, just as McCormick is about to propose to his girlfriend, Helen, she goes into a coma following an automobile accident, with doctors doubting she will ever recover. McCormick insists he be put into suspended animation for one year, so he will not have to watch Helen die.

53 years later in 1992, ten-year-old airplane-enthusiast Nat Cooper and his friend Felix are playing inside the military storage warehouse housing the chamber, accidentally activating it and waking McCormick, leaving Nat’s coat behind. McCormick awakens and escapes before realizing what year it is. He first approaches the military about his experiences, but they dismiss him as crazed; McCormick becomes more determined to learn what happened to him.

McCormick follows the address on the jacket back to Nat, befriending him. While hiding in Nat's treehouse, he rescues Nat’s mother Claire from her abusive ex-boyfriend Fred, slightly injuring his hand in the process. Claire fixes up his wound and a bond develops between the two; she allows McCormick to stay, and he and Nat later build a simulated bomber-plane cockpit in Nat's treehouse so that McCormick can teach Nat how to fly. McCormick passes out and is hospitalised, where he discovers his body is failing as his age begins to catch up to him.

McCormick tracks down Finley’s daughter Susan, who informs her father died in a fire before she was born. She gives McCormick her father’s journals, detailing the cryogenic process, and Finley's notes disclose the rapid aging is irreversible. Susan also reveals that Helen is still alive, but they escape before the FBI, who is now after McCormick, catch up to them.

Claire drives McCormick to an air show and commandeers a B-25 bomber to fly to Helen's seaside-lighthouse home, with Nat stowing away on board. Claire gives Harry’s journals to the FBI, for their plans to replicate and modernize the experiment. McCormick suffers another ageing attack, forcing Nat (who is now slightly familiar with the plane's controls after his simulated-training session with McCormick) to land the plane in the field near Helen’s house. The now-elderly McCormick reunites with the also-gray-and-wrinkled Helen and asks her to marry him; she happily accepts, proving that true love does indeed last forever. McCormick introduces Nat to Helen, and the film ends with the three joining hands and going for a seaside stroll together.

Vivie Warren, a thoroughly modern young woman, has just graduated from the University of Cambridge with honours in Mathematics (equal Third Wrangler), and is available for suitors. Her mother, Mrs. Warren (her name changed to hide her identity and give the impression that she is married), arranges for her to meet her friend Mr. Praed, a middle-aged, handsome architect, at the home where Vivie is staying. Mrs. Warren arrives with her business partner, Sir George Crofts, who is attracted to Vivie despite their 25-year age difference. Vivie is romantically involved with the youthful Frank Gardner, who sees her as his meal ticket. His father, the (married) Reverend Samuel Gardner, has a history with Vivie's mother. As we discover later, he may be Vivie's out-of-wedlock father, which would make Vivie and Frank half-siblings. Mrs. Warren successfully justifies to her daughter how she chose her particular profession in order to support her daughter and give her the opportunities she never had. She saved enough money to buy into the business with her sister, and she now owns (with Sir George) a chain of brothels across Europe. Vivie is, at first, horrified by the revelation, but then lauds her mother as a champion. However, the reconciliation ends when Vivie finds out that her mother continues to run the business even though she no longer needs to. Vivie takes an office job in the city and dumps Frank, vowing she will never marry. She disowns her mother, and Mrs. Warren is left heartbroken, having looked forward to growing old with her daughter.

In 2010, technology has advanced to the point that any person can easily travel from one planet to another through the use of interplanetary warp gates. Ken has retired from his fighting career after winning the Street Fighter circuit 25 years before and has since become a gifted scientist, developing a new substance called "Cyboplasm" that grants superhuman strength to any living organism that it is administered to. When Ken's lab partner Troy is murdered, left in a pile of gelatinous material, and the Cyboplasm is stolen, Ken decides to bring Troy's killer to justice. He implants his body with bionics, and with an interdimensional transporter, in order to follow the killer's trail, who has left traces of Cyboplasm in each of the planets of the "Frontier" which the killer has visited.

While on the trail of Troy's killer, a mysterious entity begins to taunt Ken, warning Ken to cease his chase. As he gets closer to the killer, Ken begins to feel a strange pain in his body. The culprit is revealed to be Troy himself, who faked his death in order to steal the Cyboplasm, spread it across the galaxy and create an army of superhuman warriors loyal to him. Troy also reveals that the pain in Ken's body is actually being caused by a dose of Cyboplasm which he implanted into Ken while he was unconscious. After defeating Troy, Ken returns to Earth to contain the spread of Cyboplasm, which has now become a global epidemic.

In 1978 Cleveland, Ohio, four rebellious teenage boys – Hawk, Lex, Trip Verudie, and Jeremiah "Jam" Bruce – play in a Kiss tribute band called "Mystery" and prepare to see their idols in concert in Detroit, Michigan the following night. Their hopes are dashed when Jam's religiously conservative mother finds the concert tickets and burns them before having Jam transferred to a Catholic boarding school.

Trip manages to win tickets and backstage passes from a radio contest in Detroit and the boys plan to rescue Jam from the boarding school. Disguised as pizza delivery boys, they drug Father Phillip McNulty using a pizza topped with hallucinogen mushrooms and set off with Jam for Detroit in Lex's mother's Volvo to pick up the tickets. While on the highway, they get into a road rage incident with disco fanatics Kenny and Bobby after Trip accidentally threw a slice of pizza on their windshield. They beat up the disco duo and continue their journey before picking up Christine, who walked out on Kenny due to his behavior.

Upon their arrival in Detroit, the boys discover that Trip did not stay on the phone long enough to give the radio station his information, resulting in the tickets being given to the next caller. When they exit the building they find Volvo missing, which they deduce was stolen by Christine. After a brief argument amongst themselves, the four split up to find Kiss tickets and the Volvo, planning to meet up in an hour and 45 minutes. Hawk finds a scalper who suggests he enter a male stripping contest to raise money for tickets. He gets drunk and loses the contest after vomiting, but is offered payment for the company and has sex with an older woman named Amanda Finch. After being paid, he locates the scalper, only to find out that his tickets are sold out. Trip goes to a local convenience store in hopes of mugging a younger child for his ticket but is confronted by the boy's older brother, Chongo, and his friends, who threaten him for $200. He then plans to rob the store with a Stretch Armstrong doll disguised as a gun, but ends up thwarting a genuine robbery attempt and is rewarded $150. Trip gives the money to Chongo's gang, but they beat him up anyway and steal his wallet in the process.

Lex sneaks backstage with the concert loading crew but is caught and tossed over a fence where he encounters a group of vicious dogs. He wins them over with a Frisbee, then saves Christine and the Volvo from two car thieves (who are responsible for stealing the car) at a nearby chop shop. Jam encounters an anti-Kiss rally and is spotted by his mother, who forcibly takes his drumsticks. She drags him to a nearby church for confessional with a perverted priest who is more interested in salacious conversation, rather than an actual confession. He is then greeted by Beth Bumstein, a classmate who is in the process of moving to Ann Arbor. After admitting their feelings for each other, they have sex before parting ways, but agreeing to stay in contact with each other. Jam, imbued with new confidence, goes back to the rally and angrily berates his mother for her domineering ways and her hypocrisy, telling her that her extreme religious views and controlling attitude have done nothing but cause him to despise religion and rebel. He ultimately breaks her spirit by telling her that she is a lousy mother and proclaiming to her and the rally that he lost his virginity in a confessional booth. He then demands his drumsticks back, one of which she broke in half. She does so and apologizes to him, remarking to the crowd, "They grow up fast".

When the boys meet up empty-handed, Jam suggests they should beat each other up to make it appear that they had been mugged for their tickets. Upon arriving at Cobo Hall, the guards are skeptical, until Trip points out Chongo's gang, who are just entering, as the culprits who assaulted them. When the guards search them, they find Trip's wallet with his Kiss Army picture ID and money. They confiscate Chongo's tickets and give them to the boys. Chongo, along with his little brother and his friends, are then escorted out of the concert. Shocked and delighted, they enter the concert hall as Kiss plays the film's title song. As it ends, Peter Criss throws a drumstick and Jam catches it with joy and excitement.

When their guardian David Seville goes to Europe on business, the Chipmunks—Alvin, Simon, and Theodore—are left home in Los Angeles with their babysitter, Ms. Miller. Later, the Chipmunks and Chipettes—Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor—play the arcade game ''Around the World in 30 Days'', and Alvin and Brittany argue over which would win an actual race around the world. They are overheard by international diamond-smuggling siblings Claudia and Klaus Furschtein, who have $5 million worth of diamonds to distribute to buyers but no couriers who are unknown to their nemesis, police inspector Jamal. Claudia tricks the children into being unwitting mules, offering to arrange a real race around the world between the Chipmunks and Chipettes for a $100,000 prize. To participate, Alvin records a phone call to Dave and edits it to trick Ms. Miller into believing that Dave wants the Chipmunks to meet him in Europe.

The two teams set off by hot air balloon, each given a different route and twelve dolls made in their likenesses, which they are to exchange at designated locations for dolls in the likenesses of the other team to confirm they visited the locations. Unbeknownst to them, their dolls are filled with diamonds, and those they are receiving contain cash. The Furschteins' butler, Mario, is secretly an informant for Jamal, who dispatches two of his men to acquire the dolls. The Chipmunks' first stop is Mexico City, where they join in a fiesta. In Bermuda, the Chipettes scuba dive to make their first exchange and Brittany is almost eaten by a shark. The teams continue their journeys, exchanging their dolls in various countries along the way. Jamal's men tail them, but fail to get the dolls due to various mishaps. The teams cross paths in Athens, where they try to outperform one another in a musical number at the Acropolis and are almost spotted by Dave.

Frustrated by his men's failures, Jamal enlists the aid of a young sheikh who has his mercenaries capture the Chipettes in Giza. Rather than turn them over to Jamal, the prince desires instead to marry Brittany, and gifts her a baby penguin. The girls perform a song to charm the cobras guarding their dolls, escape in their balloon, and detour to Antarctica to return the baby penguin to its family. Learning that they have deviated from their route, Claudia sends her thugs after them. The girls escape, but discover the diamonds and cash inside the dolls, realize they have been deceived and set out to find the boys.

Meanwhile, the Chipmunks take a shortcut through a jungle, where they are captured by a native tribe who name Theodore their "Prince of Plenty" and force Alvin and Simon to be his slaves. They soon learn that they are to be sacrificed by being dropped into a pit of crocodiles. By performing the song "Wooly Bully" to entertain the natives, they stall their execution and are rescued by the Chipettes.

Claudia discovers Mario passing information to Jamal, who is revealed to be an Interpol Inspector. The children land at Los Angeles International Airport at the same time as Dave's returning flight, and are chased by the Furschteins, who get them to surrender by falsely saying that they have kidnapped Ms. Miller. Dave sees them being taken away in the Furschteins' car, and joins Jamal in pursuit. Ms. Miller is absentmindedly driving the wrong way on a one-way street on her way to pick up Dave, and accidentally runs the Furschteins off the road. They are arrested by Jamal, and the children are reunited with Dave. Alvin and Brittany argue over who won the race, much to the adults' frustration.

The story follows Magnus Gallant, a recent graduate of the Ischka Military Academy, and fledgling captain in Palatinus' Southern region, Alba. As civil war erupts in the country, Magnus eventually decides to join the revolution with its leader, Frederick Raskin, first liberating the southern region with the Zenobians' aid, then Nirdam and uniting with them, then returning the Eastern Region of Capitrium to the Orthodox church, and finally marching on the capital of Latium. However, along the way, Magnus' battalion, the Blue Knights, finds its enemies escalating, from the puppet kingdom of Palatinus, to the might of the Holy Lodis Empire, to the Dark Hordes of the Netherworld.

There are three possible Endings determined by the player's Chaos Frame, and within those endings are slight scene variations depending on the characters who joined your army. All three possible endings have one thing in common: Frederick dies an untimely death. The Chaotic ending is an ending where Magnus gets expelled from the revolutionary army, because they consider him a "monster" who settles everything by force; realizing that his actions were for naught, he disappears and the people forget about the great general who once saved them, therefore ensuring Palatinus' destruction due to Barbarians. In "Neutral" ending, he is named "General Magnus Gallant, the guardian of Palatinus". The last one is Lawful, after Frederick dies an untimely death, the war against the tribes Of the East of Gallea and Zeteginia, who wanted to invade Palatinus right after Lodis weakened it, attack; Magnus is named: "Magnus Gallant, The Paladian King"; his rule becomes forever to be remembered and his son Aeneas Gallant takes the Throne, following his father's footsteps.

Console version

Two years after the events of the first game, Peter Parker is struggling to balance his civilian life with his duties as Spider-Man. This dramatically affects his personal life, as he is frequently late or absent for school and leisure time with his friends: his crush, Mary Jane Watson, and best friend Harry Osborn, who blames Spider-Man for his father's death. While stopping a museum robbery, Spider-Man encounters cat burglar Black Cat, who manages to escape from him. Black Cat later returns and befriends Spider-Man, helping him fight crime on several occasions.

Spider-Man defeats the supervillain Rhino, and is challenged by special effects artist Quentin Beck to partake in a series of "games" meant to prove he is a fraud. After Spider-Man prevails, an embarrassed Beck assumes the identity of "Mysterio" and leads attacks on both an opera and the Statue of Liberty, which Spider-Man foils. He then finds Mysterio's hideout and overcomes another series of challenges, learning that Mysterio is a fraud in the process, although he is unable to capture him due to Mysterio using illusions.

Harry introduces Peter to Dr. Otto Octavius, a nuclear scientist who is trying to make a fusion power experiment, sponsored by Oscorp, which would provide an unlimited power source to Manhattan. Octavius befriends and begins to mentor Peter over the course of their subsequent meetings. While handling hazardous materials, Octavius wears a harness of powerful robotic tentacle arms with artificial intelligence. During a public demonstration that Peter and Harry are attending, a power spike causes the fusion reactor to destabilize. Octavius refuses to shut down the reactor, which goes critical – killing his wife and burning the inhibitor chip blocking the arms from his nervous system. Peter, as Spider-Man, shuts the experiment down, destroying it in the process. Later, the arms' AI begins to influence Octavius, and he becomes the villain Doctor Octopus after a confrontation with his former friend and colleague, Curt Connors. Blaming Spider-Man for what happened to him, Octavius becomes determined to re-try his experiment, and robs a bank to fund his experiment. Peter, who is coincidentally there with his Aunt May, suits up as Spider-Man and fights Octavius. Octavius takes May hostage, forcing Spider-Man to rescue her while Octavius escapes with the stolen money.

Spider-Man later learns that Mary Jane is getting married to John Jameson, and reunites with Black Cat, who tries to convince him to give up on his civilian life to be Spider-Man full-time. The pair then work together to track down the Shocker, who escaped from prison during Beck's initial competition with Spider-Man. They defeat him, but Shocker escapes after injuring Black Cat. Later, Spider-Man stops Mysterio from robbing a convenience store and unmasks him as Beck, before taking photos of him for the ''Daily Bugle''. After publisher J. Jonah Jameson uses the photos to make it look like Spider-Man and Mysterio were in cahoots, Peter decides to confront Jameson as Spider-Man, but is stopped by Black Cat who informs of Shocker's return. After capturing Shocker, Spider-Man tells Black Cat that he must continue living a double life, which she understands, before parting ways.

Requiring the isotope tritium to fuel his reactor, Octavius visits Harry to demand it, who agrees to help in exchange for Spider-Man. Harry tells Octavius to seek Peter, who he believes is friends with the hero. Octavius locates Peter, tells him to find Spider-Man, and kidnaps Mary Jane. Spider-Man confronts Octavius and battles him on top of a New York City Subway train. Octavius sabotages the controls and leaves Spider-Man to save the passengers, which he does at a great physical toll. Spider-Man falls unconscious, allowing Octavius to deliver him to Harry. As Octavius leaves with the tritium, Harry prepares to kill Spider-Man, only to be shocked to see Peter under the mask. Peter convinces Harry to direct him to Octavius' lair, as bigger things are at stake. As Peter arrives at Octavius's waterfront laboratory and attempts to rescue Mary Jane discreetly, Octavius discovers him, and they battle while the nuclear reaction swells. Peter ultimately subdues Octavius, reveals his identity to him, and helps him return to his senses. Realizing the error of his ways, Octavius sacrifices himself to destroy the fusion reactor, while Spider-Man rescues Mary Jane, who is now aware of his secret identity.

On her wedding day, Mary Jane abandons John at the altar and runs to Peter's apartment. She confesses her feelings for him and says that she will be fully supportive of his double life. As they hear police sirens in the distance, Mary Jane encourages Peter to go help as Spider-Man.

Microsoft Windows

Nuclear scientist Dr. Otto Octavius attempts to make a fusion power experiment, sponsored by Oscorp, that would provide an unlimited source power to Manhattan. While handling hazardous materials, Octavius wears a harness of powerful robot tentacle arms with artificial intelligence. During a public demonstration that Peter Parker and Harry Osborn are attending, a power spike causes the fusion reactor to destabilize. Octavius refuses to shut down the reactor, which goes critical – killing his wife and burning the inhibitor chip blocking the arms from his nervous system. Peter, as Spider-Man, shuts the experiment down, destroying it in the process. Later, the arms' AI begins to influence Octavius, and he becomes the villain Doctor Octopus, seeking to complete his work at all costs.

While patrolling the city, Spider-Man spots a van being chased by the police and follows it to the prison, where a riot broke out. He defeats some of the escaped inmates, before Rhino bursts out of the prison and attempts to escape, only to become caught in a laser cage set up by the police. Spider-Man fights Rhino, who manages to escape from the cage, but rams into a gas station, causing an explosion which knocks him out. Spider-Man puts out the flames while Octavius retrieves the unconscious Rhino. Later, Octavius attempts to rob a bank to fund a second experiment. Peter, who is coincidentally there with Mary Jane, suits up as Spider-Man and fights Octavius inside the vault. Octavius takes May hostage, forcing Spider-Man to rescue her while Octavius escapes with the stolen money.

Some time later, as Peter is walking through the city with his friend and crush, Mary Jane Watson, someone steals the latter's car. After telling Mary Jane to wait while he calls the police, Peter, as Spider-Man, follows the carjacker to a warehouse, where he is confronted by the villain Puma. Spider-Man defeats Puma's goons before engaging him in a battle across the city, which culminates at a construction site. Puma reveals that he was hired by Octavius to keep Spider-Man distracted whilst he kidnapped Mary Jane, then attempts to escape, but Spider-Man captures him. Later, Octavius attacks Oscorp to steal a piece of equipment he needs to complete his fusion reactor. Spider-Man arrives to stop him, and must disarm several bombs that Octavius has planted around the building before confronting him. Octavius escapes with the device while Spider-Man is attacked by Rhino, whom he manages to defeat by freezing him with liquid nitrogen. Spider-Man then attempts to pursue Octavius, only to be confronted by the villain Mysterio, who creates the illusion of a floating city.

After defeating Mysterio, he tells Spider-Man where to find Octavius and then vanishes, revealing that he was also just an illusion. Arriving at the subway station, Spider-Man battles Octavius' henchmen before fighting Octavius himself on top of a New York City Subway train. Octavius sabotages the controls, causing the train to derail, and escapes, but Spider-Man follows him to his waterfront laboratory, where Octavius is attempting to recreate his experiment and is keeping Mary Jane hostage. Spider-Man tries to rescue Mary Jane discreetly, but Octavius discovers him, and they battle. As the nuclear reaction swells, Spider-Man defeats Octavius, and helps him return to his senses. Realizing the error of his ways, Octavius sacrifices himself to destroy the fusion reactor, while Spider-Man rescues Mary Jane.

PlayStation Portable

While patrolling the city one day, Spider-Man spots several thugs attempting to rob a bank and stops them. Later that night, after having dinner with his friends Mary Jane Watson (for whom he has hidden feelings) and Harry Osborn (who despises Spider-Man, blaming him for his father's death), Peter spots a van being chased by the police and follows it to the Queensboro Bridge, where the chase has led to a massive traffic accident. As Spider-Man, he rescues several endangered civilians and cops, before following the van to a warehouse, where the thugs are unloading explosives. While fighting the thugs, the explosives provoke a massive fire, but Spider-Man is able to put out the flames and deal with the remaining crooks.

Harry later introduces Peter to Dr. Otto Octavius, a nuclear scientist who is trying to make a fusion power experiment, sponsored by Oscorp, which would provide an unlimited power source to Manhattan. Octavius quickly befriends and begins to mentor Peter. While handling hazardous materials, Octavius wears a harness of powerful robotic tentacle arms with artificial intelligence. During a public demonstration that Peter and Harry are attending, a power spike causes the fusion reactor to destabilize. Octavius refuses to shut down the reactor, which goes critical – killing his wife and burning the inhibitor chip blocking the arms from his nervous system. Peter, as Spider-Man, shuts the experiment down, destroying it in the process. Later, the arms' AI begins to influence Octavius, and he becomes the villain Doctor Octopus, seeking to complete his work at all costs.

Peter later learns that a prison riot has allowed several supervillains to escape, and he is tasked by his boss, J. Jonah Jameson, with taking photos of a gala at the Wax Museum. When he arrives, he discovers that Mysterio, one of the escaped villains, is holding everyone in attendance hostage, and infiltrates the museum as Spider-Man to rescue the hostages and defeat Mysterio. The next day, Octavius attempts to rob a bank to fund a second experiment. Peter, who is coincidentally there with his Aunt May, suits up as Spider-Man, and fights Octavius inside the vault. After a chase through the city, Octavius escapes with the stolen money.

After foiling a bomb threat orchestrated by the Vulture, another escaped villain, Spider-Man learns from him that the Shocker has also escaped, and is planning a job at a warehouse. Spider-Man goes there and discovers that Shocker has teamed up with Rhino, who broke him and the other villains out of prison. Spider-Man manages to defeat the two villains and leaves them for the police. Before Spider-Man departs, Shocker reveals that he and Rhino were hired by Octavius to steal some high tech equipment from the government, which Spider-Man deduces that Octavius needs for his fusion reactor.

Requiring the isotope tritium to fuel his reactor, Octavius visits Harry to demand it, who agrees to help in exchange for Spider-Man. Harry tells Octavius to seek Peter, who he believes is friends with the hero. Octavius locates Peter, tells him to find Spider-Man, and kidnaps Mary Jane. Spider-Man confronts Octavius and battles him on top of a New York City Subway train. Octavius sabotages the controls and leaves Spider-Man to save the passengers, which he does at a great physical toll. Spider-Man falls unconscious, allowing Octavius to deliver him to Harry. As Octavius leaves with the tritium, Harry prepares to kill Spider-Man, only to be shocked to see Peter under the mask. Peter convinces Harry to direct him to Octavius' lair, as bigger things are at stake. As Peter arrives at Octavius's waterfront laboratory and attempts to rescue Mary Jane discreetly, Octavius discovers him, and they battle while the nuclear reaction swells. Peter ultimately subdues Octavius, reveals his identity to him, and helps him return to his senses. Realizing the error of his ways, Octavius sacrifices himself to destroy the fusion reactor, while Spider-Man rescues Mary Jane, who is now aware of his secret identity.

On her wedding day, Mary Jane abandons her fiancé at the altar and runs to Peter's apartment. She confesses her feelings for him and says that she will be fully supportive of his double life. As they hear police sirens in the distance, Mary Jane encourages Peter to go help as Spider-Man.

Dr. John Mathewson discovers a new process for refining plutonium to purities greater than 99.997 percent. The United States government provides him a laboratory located in Ithaca, New York, masked as a medical company. John moves to Ithaca and meets real estate agent Elizabeth Stephens while searching for an apartment. He attempts to win the affections of the single mother by inviting her teenage son Paul to take a tour of the lab. John is confident in the lab's cover story but Paul, an unusually gifted student with a passion for science, becomes suspicious when he discovers a statistically impossible patch of five-leaf clover on the grounds.

Paul and his aspiring journalist girlfriend, Jenny Anderman, decide to expose the weapons factory to the media, stealing a container of plutonium as evidence. Once they succeed, Paul declares that the plutonium alone is insufficient, as no-one would be impressed by two kids stealing something from a lab. Instead, he convinces Jenny he can create the world's first privately-built nuclear device, exposing the lab to the world by audaciously entering it into the New York Science Fair. After convincing his mother and his school that his project is about hamsters bred in darkness, he begins research and construction of the bomb.

The lab discovers that a container of plutonium has been replaced by a bottle of shampoo mixed with glitter. A military investigation team, led by Lt. Colonel Conroy, arrives on the scene and determines that Paul is responsible for stealing the plutonium. Suspecting him of terrorist intent, the investigators search Paul's home and discover that he and Jenny have left for the science fair.

After the agents capture the couple in New York City, John, who feels personally responsible for the crisis, talks privately with Paul and persuades him to give the bomb to the agents before a group of other participants at the science fair help Paul and Jenny escape from the hotel.

In an effort to expose the lab, Paul hatches a plan to return the bomb on his own terms. Ensuring Jenny is a safe distance away, he calls the agents from a pay phone and walks into the lab with the bomb while being surrounded by snipers and agents. During the standoff, negotiations stall and Paul arms the bomb. John, convinced that Paul is not an actual terrorist, attempts to intercede on his behalf.

Due to radiation from the plutonium, the bomb's timer suddenly activates on its own and begins to count down with increasing speed. Paul suggests taking the bomb to a quarry outside of the town, but John admits that he had not fully understood the ramifications of his plutonium refining process. As a result, Paul's bomb will have a nuclear blast yield nearly five times bigger than the one that destroyed Hiroshima if it detonates.

Desperate to defuse the bomb, all sides put down their weapons and frantically work as a team to dismantle it. They manage to disarm the bomb a fraction of a second before it explodes. After a brief moment of relief, Conroy decides to arrest Paul. John refuses to cooperate and opens the door to the lab, revealing a large crowd, including Jenny and the press. The film ends with Paul freely departing the scene.

One night while drinking beer at Moe's Tavern, Homer tells the story of his big break. The Simpsons attend a home game of the Springfield Isotopes, the town's minor league baseball team, as part of an outing sponsored by the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Homer fears that his chance to have any fun at the game are ruined when his boss, Mr. Burns sits next to him; to his surprise, though, Burns buys him several beers and the two men enjoy taunting the Isotopes. When a drunk Homer does an impromptu dance to the tune of "Baby Elephant Walk," the crowd responds with enthusiasm and the Isotopes go on to win the game, breaking the longest losing streak in professional baseball.

Homer is hired as the Isotopes' mascot, spurring the team to a winning streak. Their next loss causes Homer to worry that he will be fired, but he is instead offered a chance to perform during the major-league games played in Capital City by its team, the Capitals. He is to fill in for their mascot, the Capital City Goofball, during portions of each game. The Simpsons pack their belongings, say goodbye to their friends, and move to Capital City. However, Homer's first performance fails to impress the crowd; he is fired immediately afterward, and the family moves back to Springfield.

As Homer finishes his story, he finds Moe and all the customers enthralled and asking to hear it again. He wonders why tales of misfortune are so popular.

High school student Mark Hunter, who lives in a sleepy suburb of Phoenix, Arizona, starts an FM pirate radio station that broadcasts from his parents' basement and functions as his sole outlet for his teenage angst and aggression. His pirate station's theme song is "Everybody Knows" by Leonard Cohen and there are glimpses of cassettes by such alternative musicians as The Jesus and Mary Chain, Camper Van Beethoven, Primal Scream, Soundgarden, Ice-T, Bad Brains, Concrete Blonde, Henry Rollins, and Pixies. By day, Mark is seen as a loner who has to force himself to be sociable around others; by night, he expresses his outsider views about the problems with American society. When he speaks his mind about what is going on at his school and in the community, his fellow students increasingly tune in to hear his show.

Nobody knows the true identity of "Hard Harry" or "Happy Harry Hard-on," as Mark refers to himself until fellow student Nora De Niro locates and confronts him the day after a student named Malcolm commits suicide after Harry attempts to reason with him. The radio show becomes increasingly popular and influential after Harry confronts the suicide head-on, exhorting his listeners to confront their problems instead of surrendering to them through suicide—at the crescendo of his yelled speech, an overachieving student named Paige Woodward (who has been a constant listener) jams her various medals and accolades into a microwave and turns it on. She then sits, watching the awards cook until the microwave explodes, injuring her. While this is happening, other students act out in cathartic release.

Eventually, the radio show causes so much trouble in the community that the FCC is called in to investigate. During the fracas, it is revealed that the school's principal, Loretta Cresswood, has been expelling "problem students," namely, students with below-average standardized test scores, to boost the district's test scores while still keeping their names on the rolls (a criminal offense) to retain government funding.

Realizing he has started something huge, Mark decides to end it. He dismantles his radio station and attaches it to his mother's old Jeep, creating a mobile transmitter so authorities can't triangulate his position. Pursued by the police and the FCC, Nora drives the Jeep around while Mark broadcasts. The harmonizer he uses to disguise his voice breaks, and Mark, unable to fix it, decides to broadcast his final message as himself. They finally drive up to the crowd of protesting students, and Mark tells them that the world belongs to them and that they should make their own future. The police step in and arrest Mark and Nora. As the pair are taken away, Mark reminds the students to "talk hard." As the film ends, the voices of other students (and even one of the teachers) speak as intros for their own independent stations, which can be heard broadcasting across the country.

The novel's protagonist, the “crap artist” of the title, is Jack Isidore, a socially awkward, obsessive compulsive tire regroover who has been consumed with amateur scientific inquiry since his teens. He catalogs old science magazines, collects worthless objects, and believes disproved theories, such as the notions that the Earth is hollow or that sunlight has weight.

Broke, Jack eventually moves in with his sister's family in a luxurious farm house in rural West Marin County, California. On the farm, Jack happily does housework and cares for livestock. He also joins a small apocalyptic religious group, which shares his belief in extra-sensory perception, telepathy and UFOs and believes the world will end on April 23, 1959. However, most of his time is dedicated to a meticulous “scientific journal” of life on the farm, including his sister's marital difficulties.

Jack's sister, Fay Hume, is a difficult and subtly controlling woman who makes life miserable for everyone close to her, especially her misogynist husband Charley. Fay has an extramarital affair with a young grad student named Nat Anteil while Charley is in a hospital recovering from a heart attack. After Jack reports this to Charley, the latter plots to kill Fay.

Charley kills Fay's animals and then commits suicide, realising that Fay has led him to do this. However, his will stipulates that Jack is to inherit half the house. Fay must buy her brother out, because Jack does not want to leave. Jack then uses his half of the money he is paid to replace the slaughtered animals. Nat and his wife Gwen divorce, and Nat decides to stay with Fay. When the end of the world doesn't occur on the predicted date, Jack decides to seek psychiatric assistance.

The game is based on the animated television series ''The Simpsons''. On the ''Krusty the Clown Show'', Bart Simpson wins the opportunity to participate in a Round-the-World scavenger hunt. However, the contest has been rigged by Mr. Burns' assistant, Smithers, in order for Burns to rid himself of the Simpson family for all the trouble they have caused him over the years. Burns sends his agents and fellow family members to take care of the Simpsons during the scavenger hunt. Bart travels through various real-world locations collecting items, with occasional cameos from the other Simpsons family members.

In the distant future, the B.E.D.A. Corporation, a company involved in the development of electronic equipment and military weapons, is actually a front operated by a race of alien beings who have been living on the Earth for centuries in secrecy. The aliens have developed a substance named "Gel", which was initially intended to be used as food for their species, but also functions as an addictive substance to humans that results in terrible side-effects and is now being sold as an illegal drug within the underworld. The player takes the role of Detective Hart, a member of the Vice unit who is assigned to investigate the B.E.D.A. Corporation following the disappearance of his partner Reese during a previous case. During his mission, Hart is assisted by his lover and fellow Vice agent Christy, and Sophia, an acquaintance of the two.

On the eve of his coronation ceremony, Prince Myer sits at a lakeside to ponder the future of his kingdom. Suddenly, a shadowy ''kami'' called Khan rises from the lake and coalesces into the form of a man. Khan doesn't identify himself, but he greets Prince Myer by name, and informs him that Rubas, the "Devil of Darkness", is preparing to overtake Willner Kingdom by using seven magic bells capable of summoning an army of monsters. To ensure peace, Khan says, Prince Myer must travel to the northern mountain to burn the seven bells in the sacred flame, burn down the seven bell towers in Rubas's magic palace and, ultimately, defeat Rubas himself.

The game begins outside Rubas's palace, a labyrinth filled with monsters. The player's objective is to kill Rubas. In order to do this, Prince Myer must first defeat the boss in each of the seven bell towers, collect the seven bells, and burn the bells in the sacred flame. Burning the bell also destroys the tower. When Prince Myer burns all seven bells, a door opens that leads to the final battle with Rubas.

The documentary tracks Globo's involvement with and support of the Brazilian military government; its illegal partnership of the 1960s with the American group Time-Life; Marinho's political connections (notably its owner's connections with Antonio Carlos Magalhães, Minister of Telecommunications) and manoeuvres (such as airing in ''Jornal Nacional'', the network's prime time news programme since 1969, highlights of a 1989 presidential debate edited in a way as to favour Fernando Collor de Mello); and a controversial deal involving shares of NEC Corporation and government contracts. It features interviews with 21 people, including noted Brazilian politicians and cultural figures, such as politicians Leonel Brizola and Antonio Carlos Magalhães, singer-songwriter Chico Buarque, former Justice Minister Armando Falcão, politician Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (who would be serve as President from 2003 to 2010); and former employees Walter Clark, Wianey Pinheiro and Armando Nogueira.

The title refers to the 1941 film, ''Citizen Kane,'' whose fictional newspaper tycoon Charles Foster Kane was created by the director and actor Orson Welles. He was believed to have been based on the American publisher William Randolph Hearst, noted for creating yellow journalism and exploiting the press. The 1993 British documentary criticised Globo's president and founder Roberto Marinho for his close ties to the military dictatorship and suggestively compared him to the Kane figure for manipulation of news.

The game's first level. Much like the film and novel which it is based on, Dr. Alan Grant is trapped at Jurassic Park located on Isla Nublar. The park's power has been cut out because of a computer malfunction, and the dinosaurs are roaming free. Grant must complete a series of missions that will eventually lead to him escaping the island without being killed by the dinosaurs. Grant must also rescue Lex and Tim, the grandchildren of the park's owner, John Hammond.

After locating Hammond's grandchildren, Grant must reactivate the park's computers and destroy ''Velociraptor'' nests using time bombs. Grant then reaches the park's dock and uses a radio to contact help. Grant then reaches a helipad and is rescued from the island.

The game's ending consists of the player walking around a small stage filled with the game developers' names and an exit where the player can end the game.

In ''The Guardian Legend'', the player controls the gynoid guardian of Earth, a "highly sophisticated aerobot transformer". The player's mission is to infiltrate Naju, a large planet-like object which aliens sent hurtling towards the Earth. While inside, the player must activate ten safety devices in order to initialize Naju's self-destruct mechanism and destroy the alien world before it reaches Earth. Five hostile tribes of alien lifeforms are vying for control of territories within Naju,(in Japanese) ''Guardic Gaiden'' Instruction Manual, p. 13. " [5 tribes are warring over territory on this planet.]" and the player needs to fight through them to successfully activate the switches and escape.

The story is advanced through a series of messages left by one or more unidentified predecessor(s) who unsuccessfully attempted to engage the self-destruct mechanism of Naju before the Guardian arrived. Left by the sole remaining survivor of the attack on Naju, the first message serves as an introduction; later messages give hints that help the player open locked corridors.

It is May 2151, and the crew of ''Enterprise'' are settling in, and are slowly getting acquainted with one another. The crew is restless as they have not encountered anything new in the past two weeks: Captain Archer is trying to locate a squeak in his ready room and anxious that they have not discovered any worthwhile planets yet; Sub-Commander T'Pol points out that Vulcans don't select their destination by what piques their interest as they don't share humanity's enthusiasm for exploration; Lieutenant Reed and Ensign Mayweather are running weapons simulations which are slightly off; and in Sickbay, Ensign Sato cares for a slug brought back from an away mission.

When T'Pol picks up a drifting Axanar vessel on sensors, ''Enterprise'' drops out of warp to investigate. The ship shows evidence of weapons fire and bio-signs but does not respond to hails. Archer is eager to make first contact with a new race, but T'Pol recommends non-interference. After discovering multiple hull breaches, an away team in EV suits is dispatched. The alien crew is soon found dead, suspended upside-down with tubes attached to their chests. Spooked, the away team retreat and ''Enterprise'' departs. Doctor Phlox and Sato discuss her fears over the incident, and draw parallels between her and the slug being out of their natural environment.

Eventually, Archer decides to return to the ship. Phlox discovers the bodies are being harvested for a chemical similar to lymphatic fluid, whilst Commander Tucker restores communications and Sato decodes the Axanar language. When T'Pol warns Archer that a ship is approaching, the crew withdraws to ''Enterprise'', but not before shooting the harvest pump. The alien vessel attacks, but ''Enterprise'' cannot return fire accurately due to problems with the targeting scanners. A second Axanar vessel arrives, and Sato persuades them that the alien ship was responsible. They then attack the hostile ship and ''Enterprise'' is saved. The episode ends with Sato and Phlox releasing the slug on a new planet.

''Enterprise'' passes a previously unknown Minshara-class planet with an Earth-like atmosphere and surface. Captain Archer orders a shuttle to be prepared for an away mission. After an afternoon studying the planet, Sub-Commander T'Pol, Commander Tucker, and Ensign Mayweather request further time on the planet, and do so with Archer's approval. Crewmen Cutler and Novakovich are also allowed to remain on the surface to study nocturnal life. The Captain and Lieutenant Reed then return to the ''Enterprise''.

Later that evening, a violent storm front approaches so Tucker suggests that the landing party use the cave that T'Pol discovered earlier for shelter. Once there, Mayweather goes back to the original camp-site to recover food, and notices three humanoid life-forms wandering around, but T'Pol's scans reveal no unusual bio-signs. In the confines of the cave, Crewmen Cutler and Novakovich begin seeing and hearing humanoids too. Tucker also reports to Archer about seeing a mysterious alien lifeform. Searching for these other lifeforms, T'Pol takes a phase pistol and walks deeper into the cave. In her absence, the landing party become increasingly suspicious of her behavior, thinking that she is withholding information about the aliens from them.

Concerned, Archer and Reed attempt to reach the landing party in a shuttlepod, but cannot do so until the wind dies down. Novakavich is emergency beamed up due to his erratic behavior and bio-sign, and Doctor Phlox finds he has been exposed to tropolisine, a hallucinogenic compound found in pollen. Phlox also discovers he is near death, poisoned by an unexpected side-effect of the chemical. On the planet, Tucker is increasingly suffering from hallucinations. T'Pol reports to Archer that he is irrational and that Mayweather and Cutler are nearly unconscious. Reed beams an antidote down to the cave, and despite Tucker's interference, T'Pol is able to administer it. The next morning, the storm blows over, and everyone is fine.

Private investigator Bradford Galt has moved from San Francisco to New York to escape a troubled past. He blames his former partner Tony Jardine for his problems. Complicating matters, he is being hounded by New York Police Lieutenant Frank Reeves and finds that he is being followed by a thug in a white suit. After a little rough "persuasion", the thug admits he has been hired by Jardine. Or was he?

Galt suspects Jardine is trying to frame him for a murder. But it turns out that Jardine is just part of a wider-ranging conspiracy involving a wealthy art gallery owner, Hardy Cathcart. With the help of his sharp-witted secretary Kathleen (Lucille Ball), Galt is able to overcome all these obstacles and clear himself.

In Engineering, Commander Tucker is trying to solve ship-wide problems with power supply and life support. Sub-Commander T'Pol discovers a distortion in the wake of ''Enterprise''. Captain Archer ignites the plasma, revealing a cloaked ship. He hails the vessel and a Xyrillian, Captain Trena'l explains that they have been tapping ''Enterprise'' s exhaust to recharge their engines. Archer offers assistance. Tucker is to visit for three days, and he is given injections by Doctor Phlox so his body can adapt to the alien environment.

Once aboard, Tucker meets Ah'len, the Xyrillian engineer. They become ever more friendly while repairing the ship. Ah'len takes him to a holodeck to show him Thera, the Xyrillian homeworld. During the tour, Ah'len engages in a seemingly innocent game that allows them to share their thoughts and desires. When the repairs are completed and Tucker returns, he notices a strange growth on his wrist. He visits Phlox, who tells him that he is pregnant (though Phlox also states no genetic material is taken from the male involved). Tucker mentions the telepathic game and Phlox says that it might be the transfer medium for the alien fetus. Later, as the embryo grows, Archer asks T'Pol to locate the Xyrillian ship.

They discover it hiding in a Klingon warship's plasma wake. Archer hails Captain Vorok, and helps them to detect the Xyrillian ship. Vorok is angry, and wants to destroy the ship, but T'Pol reminds him that Archer was the one who found Klaang and saved Qo'noS from civil war, and that the Chancellor himself called him "brother" in the Klingon High Council. Tucker goes to the Xyrillian ship, and Ah'len notes the embryo is young enough to be safely transplanted. She apologises to him, informing him she was not aware pregnancy was even possible with another species. Vorok ends the encounter after securing the Xyrillian's holodeck technology, but warns Archer against a future meeting. T'Pol later informs Tucker that his was "the first recorded instance of a human male pregnancy".

''Enterprise'' is investigating the first human deep-space colony — Terra Nova, nine years away from Earth at early warp speed. The colony had not been heard from in the last seventy years, following a disagreement with Earth regarding further colony ships. Captain Archer, Ensign Mayweather, Lieutenant Reed, and Sub-Commander T'Pol take a shuttlepod to the surface, where they find a ghost town and radiation that would have been lethal seventy years earlier. Reed then detects a humanoid and gives chase, arriving at a cave entrance — inside Archer and Reed make first contact, but Reed is soon shot and captured.

Back on ''Enterprise'', T'Pol reveals that the attackers were human, not alien. Archer notes fifty-two bio-signs in the cave network including Reed's. He decides to negotiate, and takes Doctor Phlox down to the surface. Two colonists, Jamin and Nadet, bring them to Reed, who is stable. Phlox also finds that Nadet, Jamin's mother, has lung cancer, and she is taken back to be cured. While being treated, T'Pol shows her records that the "poison rain" was caused by an asteroid strike that had sent radioactive ore up into the atmosphere and not by any treachery by Earth. Furthermore, the radiation stopped any distress calls from reaching Earth. Archer explains that Novans and humans are actually the same species. The adults had eventually died of radiation poisoning, but the young children had built up an immunity to it and had survived by fleeing underground. However, the radiation is beginning to contaminate their underground water sources, resulting in Nadet's cancer and threatening their lives.

Archer and Phlox try to convince them to leave, since Phlox is unable to manufacture an antidote and it will be years before the radiation levels are safe again. Archer shows Nadet a photograph of a family group on a Terra Nova. She identifies them as human and says that the photo was taken before the poison rain; the young girl is named Bernadette. Nadet makes the connection and realizes that she is in fact Bernadette, her full name having been long forgotten, but Jamin reminds Archer that Reed will be killed if they are not returned soon. T'Pol argues that relocation to Earth would save their lives but destroy their Novan culture so Archer has the crew search for another solution. Finally, Archer gains the Novans' trust by rescuing one of them from a well, and persuades the remaining colonists to relocate to similar caverns on the planet's unaffected southern hemisphere.

Former British SAS agent David Jones is sent by the Pentagon to Tallinn, Estonia, where he is to track down and extract a kidnapped Estonian arms dealer Josef Priboi, who has vital information regarding the recent theft of an American W-88 nuclear warhead from a storage depot in Germany. Aided by his Pentagon handler Rebecca Anya, Jones follows Josef's trail through several military bases, and eventually locates him. Upon being rescued, Josef reveals that his uncle Jach is attempting to sell the warhead to a mysterious party. Jones captures Jach for interrogation, but their helicopter is shot down by two hostile fighter jets near the Russian border. A group of armed men arrive to investigate the crash site; the group's mysterious female commander, known only by her call sign 'Ekk', orders them to capture Jach and execute Jones, but the agent manages to escape his attackers and crosses the border back to Estonia, where he is rescued by a helicopter.

Anya informs Jones that Jach is being transported by train to an unknown location; the two surmise that Ekk is likely a rogue military or ex-KGB officer. Jones hijacks the train carrying Jach, much the latter's rejoice, but the train is derailed by the same fighter jets from before, sent by Ekk. Jones and Jach escape Ekk's forces and evacuate the area via another helicopter.

Soon after, Jones is ordered to retrieve the warhead and capture Ekk at her base of operations - a former KGB training camp, located in a ruined mountain castle. Jones infiltrates the complex, but fails to prevent Ekk from escaping and finds the warhead dismantled. Anya realizes that Ekk has used components of the warhead to construct a suitcase nuke, and tracks Ekk's helicopter to an old plutonium refinement plant, which houses a functional nuclear reactor. Jones infiltrates the facility and grants Anya remote access to its communication network.

What follows next is not entirely clear due to the game's abrupt ending, but Jones seemingly kills Ekk, and Anya defuses the bomb. Jones realizes that the entire mission has been a black op, and resolves to defend Anya from the approaching remnants of Ekk's armed force.

Gigolo "Doctor" Omar (Victor Mature) bribes the Shanghai police not to jail the broke American showgirl Dixie Pomeroy (Phyllis Brooks); he invites her to seek a job at the casino owned by Dragon-lady "Mother" Gin Sling (Ona Munson), his boss.

In the casino, Omar attracts the attention of a beautiful, privileged young woman (Gene Tierney), fresh from a European finishing school. She is out for some excitement. When asked, she gives her name as "Poppy" Smith.

Meanwhile, Gin Sling is informed that she must move her establishment to the much less desirable Chinese sector. She is given five or six weeks, until Chinese New Year, to comply. Gin Sling is confident that she can thwart this threat to her livelihood, and orders her minions to find out everything they can about the man behind it, Englishman Sir Guy Charteris (Walter Huston), a wealthy entrepreneur who has purchased a large area of Shanghai that contains her gambling parlor. Dixie proves to be an unexpected source of information; Charteris had taken her out to dinner a number of times, before dumping her to avoid her meeting his newly arrived daughter, Poppy, whose real name is Victoria Charteris. From Dixie's description, Gin Sling realizes Charteris is someone from her past.

Meanwhile, Poppy falls in love with Omar and becomes addicted to gambling and alcohol. Though the spoiled woman is openly contemptuous of the casino owner, Gin Sling allows her credit to cover her ever-growing losses.

Gin Sling invites Charteris and other important dignitaries to a Chinese New Year dinner party. Charteris at first declines, but then curiosity gets the better of him. At the dinner, she exposes his disgraceful past. Charteris, then calling himself Victor Dawson, had married her. One day, he abandoned her, taking her inheritance, leaving her destitute and alone. Thinking her baby had died and forced to do whatever she had to in order to survive, she wandered from place to place, until she reached Shanghai. There, Percival Howe had faith in her and backed her financially, allowing her to work her way up to her current position.

To cap her revenge, she has Victoria brought in. Victoria openly flaunts her attraction to Omar and ridicules her father. As Charteris takes his wayward daughter out, he tells Van Elst privately to come to his office the next morning to pick up a £20,000 check for Gin Sling and tell her "the funds she claims I took are, and always have been in an account in her name" in a north China bank.

Despite hearing this, Victoria defies him and goes back inside where the other guests have left. When he tries to retrieve her, he is confronted by Gin Sling. He then reveals that their baby had been found alive and put in a hospital where Charteris found her and brought her up far from China. Victoria is Gin Sling's own daughter.

Gin Sling then tries to talk to Victoria alone, revealing that she is her mother, but when the young woman continues insulting her, Gin Sling shoots her dead. The Dragon Lady then remarks to Howe that this is something she cannot bribe her way out of. The muscular coolie, standing outside with Charteris, delivers the bitingly ironic last line "you likee Chinese New Year?" as Charteris realizes what has happened.

Homicide detective Sergeant Dave Bannion, of the Kenport Police Department, is called to investigate the suicide of a rogue fellow officer, Tom Duncan. His wife, Bertha Duncan, says her husband had recently been in ill health. Officer Duncan left behind an envelope addressed to the district attorney, which Mrs. Duncan keeps under wraps and locks away in her safe-deposit box at the bank.

The mistress of the late cop, Lucy Chapman, contradicts Mrs. Duncan, telling Sgt. Bannion that Tom Duncan had not been in ill health, and had no reason to kill himself, but had recently agreed to a divorce with his wife. Bannion decides to revisit Duncan's widow, who resents his demand for particulars about the couple's luxurious home. The next day, Lieutenant Ted Wilks, a yes-man for the higher-ups, is under pressure from "upstairs" to close the case, and he rebuffs Bannion. Lucy Chapman is found strangled to death, her body covered with cigarette burns. Bannion investigates although the Chapman case is in the sheriff's jurisdiction. Bannion receives threatening calls at his home. He confronts Mike Lagana, the local mob boss who runs the city. He discovers that people are too scared to stand up to the crime syndicate. When Bannion ignores warnings to desist, his car is planted with explosives. The car bomb kills his wife, Katie. Accusing his superiors of corruption, Bannion chides corrupt Police Commissioner Higgins, accusing him of obeying the orders of mob boss Michael Lagana. Higgins puts Bannion on immediate suspension and orders him to turn in his badge. Bannion is determined to find those responsible for his wife's murder and investigates every local hood in the city.

Bannion hopes to discover a lead at a nightclub called "The Retreat." When Lagana's second-in-command, Vince Stone, punishes a woman in the nightclub, burning her hand with a cigar butt, Bannion stands up to him and his thugs. This impresses Stone's girlfriend, Debby Marsh. Debby offers to buy Bannion a drink but he refuses, implying that her money comes from her hood boyfriend, Stone. Debby follows Bannion from the bar and together they take a cab to the hotel where he's now living. When Debby accidentally reminds Bannion about his late wife, he tells her he'll put her in a cab. Debby reluctantly leaves and returns to Stone's penthouse. He accuses her of talking to Bannion about his activities and throws a pot of boiling coffee in her face. Police Commissioner Higgins, who had been playing poker with Stone and his group at the penthouse, takes her to a hospital.

Debby returns to Bannion at his hotel; the left side of her face badly burned and half-covered in bandages. She asks for his protection, so he puts her in a separate hotel room close to his, but unregistered to shield her whereabouts. Debby identifies the man who had arranged the planting of the bomb in Bannion's car as Larry Gordon, one of Stone's associates. She tells him Gordon is staying at the Wilton Apartments. Bannion forces Gordon to admit to the car bombing, and to reveal that Duncan's widow has incriminating documents which could implicate Stone and Lagana's mobster activities, that she's using as blackmail. Bannion restrains himself from killing Gordon, but tells Gordon he's going to spread the word around that he talked. Afterward, Gordon is bumped off by Stone's men, and his body is thrown in the river. Bannion then confronts Mrs. Duncan, accusing her of betraying Lucy Chapman and protecting Lagana and Stone. With his hands at her throat, Bannion tells Mrs. Duncan that if she's killed, the evidence she has against Lagana will soon be revealed. But at that moment, cops sent by Lagana arrive before Bannion can follow through on his threats, so he is forced to leave.

Lagana orders Stone to kidnap Bannion's young daughter, Joyce — who's living with her aunt and uncle under police guard — and arranges for the guards to be called off, but Joyce's uncle summoned several army buddies from the war to provide extra protection. Satisfied that his daughter is in safe hands, Bannion is about to leave his daughter to deal with Stone when Lieutenant Wilks arrives, who is now prepared to take a stand against the mob and his corrupt boss. Debby goes to Mrs. Duncan and notes that the expensive mink coats that they are both wearing are thanks to their association with gangsters. When Mrs. Duncan attempts to phone Stone for help, Debby shoots her dead.

Bannion tails Stone, who returns to his penthouse. Once inside, Debby's been waiting for him. She throws boiling coffee in his face in an act of revenge. In retaliation, Stone shoots her. After a short gun battle with Bannion, Stone is captured. As Debby dies on the floor, she confesses to shooting Mrs. Duncan. Bannion describes his late wife to her in terms of endearment rather than the colorless "police description" of his wife he had given to Debby earlier. He also tells her that she and his wife would have gotten along fine. Stone is arrested for murder. Officer Duncan's damning evidence in the note he left behind for the D.A. is made public. Lagana and Commissioner Higgins are indicted, and Sgt. Bannion is reinstated to his job as a homicide detective.

Police Lt. Leonard Diamond is on a personal crusade to bring down the sadistic gangster Mr. Brown. He is also dangerously obsessed with Brown's girlfriend, the suicidal Susan Lowell. His main objective as a detective is to uncover what happened to a woman called "Alicia" from the crime boss's past.

Mr. Brown, his second-in-command McClure, and thugs Fante and Mingo kidnap and torture the lieutenant, then pour a bottle of alcohol-based hair tonic down his throat before letting him go. Diamond eventually learns through one of Brown's past accomplices, Bettini, that Alicia was actually Brown's wife. Bettini suspects that Alicia was sent away to Sicily with former mob boss Grazzi, then murdered, tied to the boat's anchor, and permanently submerged. Diamond questions a Swede named Dreyer, who was the skipper of that boat but now operates an antiques store as a front, bankrolled by Brown. Dreyer denies involvement and does not want to disclose anything to Diamond, but is nonetheless murdered by McClure shortly after leaving his shop later that day.

Diamond tries to persuade Susan to leave Brown and admits he might be in love with her. He shows her a photo of Brown, Alicia and Grazzi together on the boat. Susan finally confronts Brown about his wife and is told she is still alive in Sicily, living with Grazzi.

Brown orders a hit on Diamond. However, when his gunmen Fante and Mingo go to Diamond's apartment, they mistakenly shoot and kill Diamond's burlesque dancer girlfriend Rita instead. Diamond sees an up-to-date photo of Alicia but realizes it wasn't taken in Sicily (since there's snow on the ground). This leads Diamond to suspect Brown did not kill Alicia but his boss Grazzi instead. Diamond is able to track Alicia to a sanitarium, where she is staying under another name. He asks for her help.

Meanwhile, Brown's right-hand man, McClure, wants to take over. He plots with Fante and Mingo to ambush Mr. Brown, but they betray and murder him.

At police headquarters, Brown shows up with a writ of ''habeas corpus'', effectively preventing Alicia testifying against her husband. Brown also takes a big stash of "money" to Fante and Mingo while they are hiding out from the police, but the box turns out to contain a bomb that apparently kills both of them.

Brown shoots Diamond's partner, Sam, and kidnaps Susan, planning to fly away to safety. However, Mingo survived the assassination attempt by Brown, and he confesses to Diamond that Brown was behind all the murders while sobbing over the body of his cohort. Alicia is able to help Diamond figure out that Brown took Susan to a private airport where he intends to board his getaway plane.

However, Brown's plane does not show up and the film climaxes in a foggy hangar shootout. Susan shines the fog lamp from Brown's car in his eyes, effectively blinding him, allowing Diamond to arrest him. The last scene shows the silhouetted figures of Diamond and Susan in the fog, considered to be one of the iconic images of film noir.

In 1992, C-Force, a task force composed of former military professionals, is formed to protect Neocity from terrorism. One day, the team's leader, Burns, receives a phone call from their informant Fox, who tells him that the Head of Intelligence is being threatened by a criminal organization known as D.N.M.E. Burns arranges a meeting at the Harbor with Fox to learn more about the situation, only to find Fox's corpse when he arrives at the destination. Now it is up to C-Force to save Neocity from D.N.M.E.

The player takes the role of a young Iga ninja named Kage ("Shadow"), on a mission to rescue Princess Kiri (hime) - the Shogun's daughter - from the villainous warlord Yoshi (ro Kuyigusa) and fellow evil samurai Yuki (nosuke Riko). Kage must fight his way through a forest, along a secret passageway, up a fortress wall, and through a castle, rescuing her twice (three times in the FC/NES version) in order to win the game. Each time the princess is rescued, the seasons change from summer to fall to winter and back to summer.

Cast of characters

• Kage (Iga Ninja)
• Kirihime (Princess)
• Shinobi (Red or Blue Fuuma Ninja)
• Yobo (Red or Blue Magic Monk)
• Yukinosuke Riko (Samurai)
• Yoshiro Kuyigusa (Warlord)

Barbie dreams that she has been invited to the Fantasy Ball, but in her dream she has nothing nice to wear.''Redbook''. Vol. 180. p. 108. Redbook Pub. Co. 1993. She travels to three different worlds to gather accessories for the big night and a chance with Ken.Burrill, William. "Life: Simple video games really are kidstuff." ''Toronto Star''. Saturday ed. p. H4. October 19, 1991. Along the way she meets a veritable menagerie of animal friends and searches to find Dream-Ups, Glamor Items, and Charms for her bracelet that will help her along her way.''Barbie Instruction Booklet''. Hi Tech Expressions. 1991.

In Mall World, Barbie goes on a shopping spree for Barbie coins that she uses at the wishing fountain to acquire an exquisite pink ball gown.Sviridov, Catherine. "8 бит: Barbie Барби – Once Upon A Dream... Однажды, во сне..." ''Velikij Drakon''. No.29. pp. 12–13. 1997. . In Underwater World, Mermaid Barbie and a few helpful dolphins search for pearls that Barbie returns to a giant oyster in exchange for an elegant pearl ring. Finally, in the 1950s-style Soda Shop Barbie must collect gold records that she uses to make a stairway into the sky to collect the last accessory, a charming pair of sparkly high heels. Barbie returns to the Barbie Dream House to get ready for the Fantasy Ball, and as she descends the stairs wearing all of her accessories, a dapper Ken awaits to dance with her.