Embedded in the SAT is a secret test that determines aptitude for espionage. Women who score highly on the test are recruited into D.E.B.S. (Discipline, Energy, Beauty, Strength), a clandestine paramilitary academy. Four D.E.B.S.—squad leader Max, naïve Janet, promiscuous Dominique, and Amy, who dreams of attending art school despite being the academy's top recruit—are tasked by Ms. Petrie and Mr. Phipps, the heads of D.E.B.S., to surveil Lucy Diamond. Diamond is an infamous supercriminal, known for her operations, thefts, an alleged attempt to sink Australia, as well as supposedly killing every agent that goes up against her. Amy in particular is interested in Lucy due to writing a senior thesis about her. It is believed that Lucy is meeting Russian assassin Ninotchka Kaprova. Unbeknownst to them, Lucy is a rather neurotic woman, who has trouble opening up to people. Her meeting with Ninotchka is, in fact, a blind date.

In the meantime, Amy has recently broken up with her pushy and controlling boyfriend, Bobby, a fellow agent. The D.E.B.S. observe Lucy's date with Ninotchka, and are interrupted by Bobby, who is on his own stakeout, with several intelligence agencies also observing Lucy. Lucy has trouble connecting with Ninotchka, and tries to call off the date. Amy gets into an argument with Bobby, demanding answers on their breakup, which catches Lucy's attention. A shootout ensues, and Lucy flees while being chased by the D.E.B.S. Lucy is caught in a standoff with Amy, but they end up having a friendly conversation. Lucy escapes when Amy's attention wavers, and the D.E.B.S. praise Amy for being the only person to have ever faced Lucy and lived.

Lucy quickly takes a liking to Amy, and against the advice of her friend and henchman, Scud, sneaks into Amy's dorm. Lucy initially says she wants to help Amy on her thesis, but ends up coercing her into joining her at a nightclub, along with Janet, who witnesses Lucy speaking with Amy. During this trip, Lucy and Amy grow closer and have a conversation about their lives and relationships. Lucy even clarifies that the deaths of the agents sent after her were happenstance. Janet and Scud also befriend each other. When the two open up to each other, Lucy and Amy are about to kiss, but are interrupted by Janet.

Later, Amy is promoted to squad leader, replacing Max, much to Max's jealousy. Ms. Petrie plans on using Amy's encounter with Lucy to boost the D.E.B.S. image and reputation. Amy is hesitant to talk about her encounter due to her growing feelings for Lucy. The D.E.B.S. respond to a bank heist orchestrated by Lucy, which she has committed in order to see Amy again. When Lucy and Amy are alone, the two kiss, and Lucy talks Amy into running off with her. The D.E.B.S. assume Amy has been kidnapped and organize a nationwide manhunt to find her. In the meantime, Lucy and Amy enjoy having an actual relationship with one another, while Janet covers for them (and also develops feelings for Scud, whom she has a secret correspondence with).

On the basis of a tip from a jealous Ninotchka, the D.E.B.S. and Bobby discover Amy and Lucy while they are having sex. When Amy returns to the academy, Ms. Petrie prepares to exile Amy, but Max convinces her to claim that Amy was kidnapped and brainwashed in order to protect their reputation. Amy becomes depressive when forced to go along with the story, and Bobby tries to coerce Amy into getting back together with him. When Lucy tries to see Amy again, Amy is forced to reject her. In the meantime, Lucy comes to realize she is not happy with her life of crime. In an attempt to win Amy back, Lucy returns everything she has ever stolen, and publicly turns over a new leaf.

At the time of the D.E.B.S. year-end dance, Amy is to be made D.E.B. of the year and deliver a speech where she is to denounce Lucy. Janet talks with Dominique and Max, who start to realize how unhappy Amy actually is. Lucy infiltrates the academy during the dance. When Bobby discovers this, he plans to track her down and kill her. Lucy evades Bobby only to hear Amy's speech about her experience as Lucy's captive. When Amy and Lucy meet eyes, Amy retracts her entire speech, and runs off-stage to be with Lucy. Petrie, Bobby and the rest of the academy try to track them down, when Lucy and Amy are cornered by Max, Janet, and Dominique. At Amy's insistence, they give their blessings to Lucy and Amy, and allow them to make their escape. Lucy and Amy ride off into the night, heads on one another's shoulders.

The player's character is a young inventor and marine scientist. A research facility called the Aquadome issues a call for help, indicating that the undersea structure is being attacked by a sea monster. With helpful assistant Tip, the player must navigate to the Aquadome in the new untested two-person submarine ''Scimitar'' and investigate the problem. But that isn't all... it looks like there may be a saboteur within the Aquadome as well.

The game has 30 locations.

''Might and Magic IV'' focuses on the events that occur after the adventurers of ''Might and Magic III'' set off to follow Sheltem after he escapes from Terra. Trouble is brewing in the land of Xeen. A mysterious villain by the name of Lord Xeen has imprisoned Crodo, overseer of Xeen, in a tower and is unleashing havoc across the land. A new band of adventurers must be formed to stop him and save the Clouds of Xeen.

''Darkside of Xeen'' concludes the story arc started by ''Might and Magic Book One: The Secret of the Inner Sanctum'' – the interstellar campaign against the Ancients' renegade creation, Sheltem. Picking up where ''Clouds of Xeen'' left off, the adventurers take King Burlock's advice and follow Prince Roland's trail to the other side of the world, where they find the rogue Guardian of Terra has already conquered its inhabitants, under the pseudonym of "Alamar" (the name of the king he impersonated on VARN in ''Might and Magic I'').

Meanwhile, the Guardian of the Darkside – the Dragon Pharaoh – contacts his rebel allies one by one, discovering that all have been imprisoned or converted to Sheltem's cause. In a desperate gambit, the Pharaoh sends a dragon hatchling into the night skies of Darkside, carrying a command orb holding some of his power. The hatchling is killed in flight by a magical bolt, directed by Sheltem, from his castle. The orb survives its fall to earth and is discovered by the adventurers. Passing through the city of Castleview, they scale the tower of the elven wizard Ellinger Hofenhager, an ally to the Pharaoh.

Because Alamar moved Castle Kalindra, seat of power to the eponymous Queen of the Dark Side, out of phase with the physical realm, Ellinger instructs the adventurers to gather enough energy discs to power a spell capable of restoring it to reality. They travel the realms of Darkside, liberating the city of Sandcaster from Alamar's sorcerer agents Morgana and Xenoc, collecting discs along the way. With Castle Kalindra restored by Ellinger, the heroes enter, only to find that Queen Kalindra has been defeated and captured by one of Alamar's minions, the vampire Count Blackfang.

Invading Castle Blackfang with the aid of the knight Ambrose and his griffin, the adventurers slay the Count only to find Kalindra has been turned into a vampire. They restore her from undeath using her lost crown's powers, and with her aid are able to reach the Ancients' pyramid where the Dragon Pharaoh resides. After they return the Pharaoh his command orb, he explains that Alamar holds the Ancients' Cube of Power, which enables him to direct the dual-sided nacelle world of XEEN (Xylonite Experimental Environment Nacelle) through the Void. Using the Cube, he plans to land Xeen on his homeworld, Terra, and continue his rampage against the empire of the Ancients.

The Pharaoh reveals that when Alamar fell to Xeen in his "shooting star" (in actuality an escape pod), a second pod also landed, but was snared in the volcanic mountains of the northeast. Investigating this second pod, the adventurers discover Corak, Sheltem's nemesis from ''Might and Magic II'' and ''III''. Corak instructs them to somehow teleport him into Castle Alamar so that he can put an end to his old enemy once and for all. The Dragon Pharaoh leads them to the airborne city of Olympus, where they obtain a Soul Box.

Transferring Corak's essence into the Soul Box, they fight their way to Castle Alamar and, battling Sheltem's hordes, manage to reach his throne room. Casting the Soul Box inside, they retreat as Corak emerges to battle his old foe, though the two are evenly matched. After a destructive skirmish, Corak is defeated, but compels Sheltem towards him and sacrifices himself, initiating their dual self-destruct command. The resulting explosion of power destroys both Guardians along with Castle Alamar, bringing the threat of Sheltem to a bittersweet end.

With the problem of the corrupt Guardian, Sheltem, finally dealt with in ''Might and Magic V: Darkside of Xeen'', the 1500-year war between the Ancients and a Devil-like race of alien beings, the Kreegans, spills over into nearby planets. One of these is the world of Enroth, on which a continent-nation of the same name lies. Seven years after the events of ''Heroes of Might and Magic II: The Succession Wars'', on a day later to be known as the Night of Shooting Stars, meteor-like spaceships fall from the Void, infested with Kreegans. The king of Enroth, Roland Ironfist, departs north with an army seeking to attack the devil-like creatures, but he is betrayed by a traitorous air mage named Sulman. Roland's forces are ambushed by an enormous Kreegan army, and he, his court wizard Tanir, and the noble Sir Ragnar are captured, while the rest of the Enrothian forces are devastated. The Kreegan King Xenofex secretly establishes the Temple of Baa, a doomsday cult dedicated to removing the Ironfist dynasty from power. With their King missing and his young son, Prince Nicolai, left to rule the kingdom alongside Regent Wilbur Humphrey, the people of Enroth begin to fear that the Ironfists have lost the "Mandate of Heaven" (the divine right to rule). The four player characters are from the town of Sweet Water, which is attacked and overwhelmed by the Kreegan invaders.

Falagar, a powerful warlock, intervenes and teleports them to safety, where he trains them until they are ready to make their own path in the world. They discover Sulman's corpse in an abandoned goblin camp with a letter addressed to him from Xenofex, and present it to Regent Humphrey in Castle Ironfist. Humphrey rewards them and asks their help in seeking out King Roland. Before battling the Kreegans, they require the guidance of the Oracle of Enroth in the city of Free Haven, governed by the members of the Enrothian Council. However, Nicolai escapes from Ironfist to follow the party but runs off to the Circus of the Sun, and must be found before Ironfist opens its gates again. Even with Humphrey's blessing, Slicker Silvertongue, his delegate, persists in refusing them entry to the Oracle. Humphrey suggests his mind is addled and instructs the party to try to heal him, but, cornered, Silvertongue reveals himself as the High Priest of Baa and disappears, cursing the Ironfists. The remaining delegates grant the heroes entry to the Oracle, who is actually a sentient computer named Melian, created by the Ancients. Melian, damaged by Roland's usurper brother, Archibald Ironfist, during the Succession Wars, instructs the heroes to recover its memory crystals. The party recovers two crystals from Castles Darkmoor and Alamos. In Castle Kriegspire they obtain the third crystal, along with Roland's journal, which explains that Sir Ragnar died from his wounds while the Kreegans transported Roland and Tanir elsewhere to be ransomed or tortured, as confirmed in ''Heroes of Might and Magic III''.'''Dorrell:''' After the liberation of Steadwick, a Kreegan envoy appeared before the royal court. He claims they have captive, King Roland Ironfist of Enroth. They are asking for one million gold ransom. We cannot validate this claim. True or not, Queen Catherine is unwilling to pay. After interrogating the envoy, we learned Roland is held deep inside Eeofol by Clan Kreelah.

Attacking the worshippers of Baa in their main temple on Hermit's Isle, the heroes obtain the last crystal, killing the traitor Silvertongue in the process. The Oracle, restored, explains the backstory of the Ancient-Kreegan war, and with a Control Cube from the Tomb of VARN, permits them to retrieve anti-Kreegan blasters from the Planetary Control Center. Before they can destroy the Kreegan, the heroes require a spell capable of preventing their apocalyptic last resort plans, and only Archibald knows of one.'''Melian:''' As I said, the Kreegan are resistant to most of the weapons available in Enroth, but not all. To rid the world of them, you will need to find where their vessel crashed and destroy the main reactor. The only problem is that the resulting explosions from the reactor will destroy this planet. You will need a powerful spell to prevent the explosion from damaging the planet, but no spell like that exists in the world today. The only person I can think of that would know of such a spell is Archibald, but he is in no condition to teach you. Nicolai agrees to release Archibald from his stone curse with Tanir's bell, and Archibald gratefully hands them the Ritual of the Void before teleporting away. Finally, the player characters return to their ruined hometown of Sweet Water and attack The Hive, the largest of the meteorite-like spaceships the Kreegans arrived in. Killing the Kreegan Queen, they destroy The Hive's reactor core and conjure the Ritual of the Void, eliminating The Hive and the Kreegans on the continent while sparing the land from the reactor's wave of destruction. The epilogue shows the heroes knighted and congratulated by Nicolai and Humphrey in a ceremony at Ironfist, with Archibald viewing the scene from afar through a crystal ball, sardonically thanking them for saving his kingdom, setting up for the events of ''Might and Magic VII''.'''Nicolai:''' For heroism and valor in the service of the realm, I thee knight. Rise, heroes! All of Enroth thanks thee! / '''Archibald:''' Yes, thank you heroes. Thank you for saving my kingdom for me.

The plot follows a soldier named Perry, through his experiences in Vietnam, at war, and through his life.

The film is set during the Belle Époque at the turn of the 20th century. While in Bois de Boulogne, Honoré Lachaille remarks that in Paris, marriage is not the sole option for wealthy young ''bon vivants'' like his nephew Gaston, who is bored with life. Gaston does enjoy spending time with Madame Alvarez and her granddaughter, the precocious, carefree Gilberte, affectionately known as Gigi. Gigi's mother (a singer who is heard but never seen onscreen) leaves her care mostly to Madame Alvarez.

Following the "family tradition", Madame Alvarez regularly sends Gigi to her sister, Alicia (Gigi's great-aunt) to be groomed as a courtesan, which is a more dignified euphemism for a wealthy man's mistress. She learns proper etiquette and charm, but Gigi disdains the trivial love between a man and his mistress. She prefers having fun with Gaston, whom she regards as an older brother.

Like his uncle, Gaston is a known wealthy womanizer in Parisian high society. When his latest mistress has an affair with her ice skating instructor, Gaston publicly humiliates her, resulting in her faux-attempted suicide. Gaston plans to retreat to the country, but his uncle insists he remain in Paris and attend even more parties.

While playing cards with Gaston, Gigi wagers that if he loses, he must take her and her grandmother to the seaside for the weekend. Gaston agrees, loses the bet, and the three travel to Trouville. While Gaston and Gigi have fun together, Honoré and Madame Alvarez unexpectedly reunite and reminisce about their once-passionate affair. As other women at the resort hold perfect poise with an air of boredom or disdain for anything unfamiliar, Gigi pulls Gaston out of his depressive rut with her carefree attitude.

When Gaston goes to Monte Carlo, great-aunt Alicia and Madame Alvarez scheme to turn Gigi into Gaston's mistress. Though initially dubious, Madame Alvarez agrees to Gigi being intensively trained before Gaston's return. Gigi accepts this as pre-destined.

When Gaston returns, he is discomfited when Gigi shows off her new womanly gown. Gaston insults the dress, preferring her juvenile outfits; Gigi mocks his taste in clothes. Offended, Gaston storms out, then quickly realizes his folly and returns to apologize. He offers to take Gigi to tea at the Reservoir, but Madame Alvarez interjects, telling Gaston that an unchaperoned Gigi being seen in public with him could damage her reputation.

Angered, Gaston storms out again. He walks and reflects on Gigi, realizing he has developed a romantic desire for her. Although hesitant due to her young age, Gaston realizes that he loves Gigi. He wishes only to be near her—an unheard-of behavior between a man and his mistress. Despite such conventions, he proposes a generous "business arrangement" to Madame Alvarez and Aunt Alicia for Gigi to become his mistress. The women are overjoyed by his offer, though Gigi is not.

Gigi refuses, telling Gaston she does not seek celebrity status only to eventually be abandoned by him and become another man's mistress. She wants their relationship to remain platonic, but when Gaston suddenly reveals that he loves her, Gigi bursts into tears. She chastises him, saying if he truly loved her, he would never expose her to a mistress's uncertain life. Gaston leaves dejected and is angry at Madame Alvarez, claiming she only emphasized the proposition's sordidness. He then speaks with Honoré, who says that Gigi's family has always been rather odd. Gigi later sends for Gaston and tells him that she would rather be miserable with him than without him, and agrees to the arrangement. When Gaston arrives for their first social outing, he is unexpectedly entranced by the transformed Gigi's elegant beauty.

The couple go to Maxim's restaurant. Gigi performs perfectly as his courtesan, which only upsets Gaston. After presenting her with an expensive diamond bracelet, he grows uneasy with the unrelenting scrutiny being heaped on them. Honoré delivers a crushing blow when he congratulates Gaston on his new courtesan and remarks that Gigi is so delightful that she will likely keep him amused for months.

Gaston, too in love with Gigi to subject her to an appalling life of uncertainty and social judgment, brusquely insists they leave. He drags Gigi up the stairs and into her grandmother's apartment. Sobbing hysterically, Gigi asks what she did wrong. Gaston leaves without answering, but realizing the depth of his love, soon returns. He asks Madame Alvarez for Gigi's hand in marriage. Gigi is overjoyed, as is her grandmother.

The final sequence returns to Honoré Lachaille, who proudly points out Gaston and Gigi getting into a carriage in the Bois de Boulogne: elegant, beautiful, and happily married.

The player's character is a reporter for the fictitious newspaper ''The Washington Representative''. Veronica Ashcroft-Wellman, a longtime friend and wealthy socialite, has sent an invitation to the annual Ashcroft Halloween Ball, where Maryland's high society bluebloods rub elbows, network, and congratulate each other on their fortunes. The paper's editor suggests covering the party as a story, smelling an easy article that could either praise or mock the wealthy. Since it is a costume party, the player's character suits up in a rented cowboy outfit and moseys over to the bash. Many attendees wear masks, making it difficult to initially identify them.

Not long into the party, however, Veronica is found dead—strangled with a very familiar-looking lariat, with a bullet from the costume's gunbelt lying near the body for good measure. But the player stashed the rope in the closet earlier, and the bullet is missing from the back of the belt; anyone could have taken them! Nevertheless, the player is the prime suspect in Veronica's murder. A lot of snooping has to be done to identify the real killer.

In ancient Egypt, the Fifth Doctor and Peri become involved in the intrigue surrounding the accession of a female Pharaoh. This play features the first appearance of the companion Erimem.

The Sixth Doctor and Mel come up against an impostor Doctor and his companion Sally-Anne.

During the serial, the Doctor and his companions undertake a quest to find the three greatest treasures of the Generios system.

The story was essentially Big Finish's Christmas panto, and features an extra Christmas scene as a hidden track at the end of the story. The episodes are heavily laden with comedy such as the impostor Doctor's name, Banto Zame, seeming to be an intentional rhyme with Panto Dame.

The Shelves of Infinity

Banto Zame and Mel Bush arrive on Generios Eight to try to locate one of the treasures, '''The Shelves of Infinity''' ('''Unit ZX419'''). The Shelves of Infinity were designed and created by the Assembler race on Generios Eight, considered the pinnacle of their race. The pieces that make up the shelves are constantly phasing in and out of this dimension, so they can never be completely assembled. The Shelves of Infinity were stored in Warehouse ZX under the code ZX419.

Banto and Mel encounter the Assemblers and manage to convince them to let them take unit ZX419, but only if they could assemble it. Banto scoffs, saying it will be easy. Once the two start building the shelves, they notice parts are going missing. The instructions make sense, but they never get any closer to actually building it. Eventually, they come up with a way to fool the Assemblers: since the building process can never be finished, the Assemblers do not know what the finished product would look like.

The Assemblers are fooled long enough for the Doctor to arrive in the TARDIS, and Banto and Mel escape with the Shelves of Infinity.

Mentos

Another of the treasures, '''Mentos''' (also known as the '''Mentos Device'''), is an advanced computer and information retrieval system. It is one of the three treasures of the Generios system in the far future, described by the Doctor as the "vulgar end of time".

Mentos appears in our universe as a small metal box that projects the holographic image of an old man which acts as its real world interface. The box is actually a portal to a shadow universe which is populated by countless information collectors—research devices that travel through time and space, constantly seeking out the answer to any given question. As a result, Mentos literally knows everything there is to know.

Mentos was made to participate in ''Superbrain'', a game show (a parody of ''The Weakest Link''). However, as Mentos was able to answer every question put to it, the game continued endlessly. Eventually, the two factions which were vying for control of the Mentos device fought and wiped each other out, along with the codes that would shut down the Questioner and end the game. Mentos, programmed to continue answering questions until it got a wrong answer, outlasted the civilisation that created it by over 330 centuries.

The Doctor arrived on Generios Fourteen to collect Mentos. An alien cylinder was holding Generios One, the capital planet of the system, hostage, threatening to destroy it unless the people of Generios handed over their three greatest treasures. Unable to disconnect the computer without ending the game, the Doctor tried to stump Mentos without success until he and Sally Anne Stubbins asked it what it did ''not'' know. With Mentos being unable to answer that question, the game ended, with its score a "pitiful" 679,330,567,010 credits. The Doctor was then able to disconnect the device and take it with him.

During the Doctor's initial attempts to outwit Mentos, the computer tiredly asked him if he was going to ask it "one of those tricky fox-the-computer logic conundrums", like the liar paradox. In the Third Doctor serial ''The Green Death'', the Doctor asked the rogue artificial intelligence BOSS the same question. Mentos, however, stated that it would not have made a difference—it is able to answer those kinds of questions as well.

The Lonely Jelloid!

The final episode of the play mainly focuses on the Doctor and co. attempting to retrieve a giant crystal from a planet guarded by a large, lonely jelloid organism (voiced by Matt Lucas — Lucas also voiced the cylinder). At the play's conclusion it is revealed that the cylinder was actually after the Doctor all along and the request for the three treasures was a trap — as only the Doctor could have retrieved them. Banto Zame is wrongly identified as the Doctor and is taken away to face punishment for the Doctor's future actions. The Doctor later comments that he shall rescue Zame from this fate.

Also, there are two hidden tracks that appear at the end of the CD. The first is a short scene in which The Doctor and Mel attempt to view the Queen's Speech on the Time and Space Visualiser. The Second is of Mentos and the Quiz Host. This latter scene is extensive and is composed of a question-and-answer format heard during the third episode. Both hidden scenes have the characters wish everyone listening a happy Christmas.

The player's character is bedazzled by the spectacle of the circus and the mystery of the performer's life. After attending a show of Tomas Munrab's "The Travelling Circus That Time Forgot", the player loiters near the tents instead of rushing through the exit. Maybe some clowns will practice a new act, or perhaps at least one of the trapeze artists will trip...

Instead, the player overhears a strange conversation. The circus' owner has hired a drunken, inept detective to find his daughter Chelsea, who has been kidnapped. Munrab is convinced that it was an outside job; surely his loyal employees would ''never'' betray him like this!

As the player begins to investigate the abduction, it soon becomes clear that the circus workers don't appreciate the intrusion. Their reactions range from indifference to hostility to attempted murder. In order to unravel the mystery, the player engages in a series of actions straight out of a circus fan's dream: dressing up as a clown, walking the high wire, and taming lions.

Tim Dingman and Nick Vanderpark are best friends, neighbors and co-workers at 3M. Nick is constantly coming up with crazy ideas to get rich quick, and when he invents Vapoorize, a spray that instantly disintegrates dog feces, he actually succeeds. As Nick's wealth continues to grow, so does Tim's envy, as he had initially scoffed at the idea and squandered an opportunity to invest and become mega-rich himself. Nick is blissfully unaware of Tim's envy, and his generosity only serves to make Tim more envious of him. Meanwhile, Nick's wife Natalie decides to run for state senate but is continually plagued by questions about her husband's product.

After Tim's wife Debbie and children temporarily leave and he is fired from 3M, Tim's envy reaches new levels. In a bar, he meets J-Man, a bizarre drifter, who lends a sympathetic ear and offers advice. After a drunken night out, Tim accidentally shoots Nick's beloved horse, Corky, with a bow and arrow, apparently killing him, and buries the horse in his abandoned swimming pool.

Nick offers a $50,000 reward for the return of his horse. J-Man and Tim concoct a plan whereby J-Man would discover the horse and claim the reward, splitting the proceeds. However a series of unfortunate events, including Tim's family getting holed up in J-Man's mountain cabin, leads to the horse's carcass being lost in a rain storm.

Nick reveals to Tim that he is going to Rome for the debut of Vapoorize there, and gives Tim the opportunity to join him in a 50-50 partnership, which he accepts. J-Man finds out that Tim is now rich, and, feeling betrayed, tries to blackmail him. After confessing to his wife, now enjoying her rich lifestyle, Tim agrees to pay J-Man; however, J-Man ups his demands and asks to be Tim's partner. Tim accidentally shoots him in the back with an arrow and J-Man, believing that Tim has tried to kill him, backs down in fear.

Tim eventually confesses all to Nick who forgives him for his jealousy and agrees to continue with the partnership; however, at a press conference for Natalie's electoral campaign (where she promises to withdraw her candidacy if it is proven Vapoorize is harmful to the environment in any way), Corky's body is seen floating down the nearby river. The animal's post-mortem reveals that the horse was not killed by the arrow as previously thought but actually poisoned by a by-product of Vapoorize, used by Tim to treat his garden after Corky came to eat the apples from his tree. The veterinarian informs the pair that she is obliged to notify the Environmental Protection Agency, and Vapoorize is immediately pulled from the market. Nick and Tim almost lose all their wealth and glory, until Tim comes up with an invention of his own: Pocket Flan, inspired by Nick's family's love for the dessert. J-Man is shown in the audience of Tim and Nick's infomercial for Pocket Flan, apparently reconciled.

As the favorite among all of actor-director Buddy Burbank and Hildegarde Montague's nephews and nieces, the player's character stands to inherit the entirety of the Burbank estate, including their palatial home Hildebud, if the player can find the ten treasures (props from Buddy's films) that crafty Aunt Hildegarde has hidden on the grounds, that is. It all has to be done in the space of one night.

Hildebud is filled with props, posters, and other memorabilia from Buddy's numerous films: a model of Tokyo with Atomic Chihuahua, the Maltese Finch, and a statue of "Buck Palace, the Fighting Mailman" (star of such films as ''Postage Due'' and ''Special Delivery''). There are hidden passages, a convoluted hedge maze, and other bizarre features of the estate. Strange noises sound like someone else is in the house.

In 1883, the volcano on the island of Krakatoa in the Netherlands East Indies begins to erupt, terrorizing the children at a mission school in Palembang on nearby Sumatra.

Meanwhile, across the Sunda Strait at her homeport of Anjer on the west coast of Java, the steamer ''Batavia Queen'', under the command of Captain Chris Hanson (Maximilian Schell), takes aboard passengers and cargo, including a diving bell and a balloon. Among the passengers coming aboard are Douglas Rigby (John Leyton), the designer, owner, and operator of the diving bell; Giovanni Borghese (Rossano Brazzi) and his son Leoncavallo (Sal Mineo), who own and operate the balloon as "The Flying Borgheses"; Harry Connerly (Brian Keith), a diver; Connerly's mistress Charley Adams (Barbara Werle), who is a professional soprano and former saloon hostess; four female Japanese pearl divers led by Toshi (Jacqui Chan); and Laura Travis (Diane Baker), a married woman who had an extramarital affair with Hanson in Batavia.

Laura was married to an abusive man with whom she had a son named Peter. Her husband did not want the marriage and threatened to take Peter away from her if she asked for a divorce. Wanting to be with Hanson, she had asked for a divorce anyway, and her husband had left her, taking both Peter and a fortune in pearls with him aboard the steamer ''Arianna''. The ''Arianna'' had sunk off Krakatoa during a storm, and a guilt-ridden Laura, fearing that Peter had died aboard the ''Arianna'' and blaming herself for his death, had spent a year in a mental institution before coming aboard the ''Batavia Queen''.

Hanson has organized the ''Batavia Queen'' s voyage to find the wreck of the ''Arianna'', salvage the pearls, and determine Peter's fate- and to find Peter if he is still alive. Hanson plans to use a variety of techniques to search for the wreck and salvage the pearls, with the Borgheses' balloon conducting an aerial search of shallow waters around Krakatoa, the pearl divers providing a mobile underwater search-and-salvage capability in shallow waters, Rigby in his diving bell searching in deeper water, and Connerly responsible both for recovering the pearls if they are in waters too deep for the pearl divers and for assisting in the heavy work of bringing the ''Arianna'' s safe to the surface. Colonial authorities arrive just before the ''Batavia Queen'' departs and force Hanson to take 30 convicts and their jailer aboard for transportation to Madura Island, countering his argument that the ship is not equipped to accommodate them and has no room for them by telling him to transport the prisoners in the ship's hold in appalling conditions. Hanson plans to deliver the convicts to Madura after recovering the pearls off Krakatoa. One of the prisoners, Lester Danzig (J. D. Cannon), is an acquaintance of Hanson's, and Hanson allows him to make the voyage on deck instead of in the hold. Aware that Krakatoa has begun to erupt and warned by a colonial official that the island is a "raging volcano", Hanson replies that the volcano had been quiet for the previous 200 years and posed no threat now.

During the ''Batavia Queen'' s voyage to Krakatoa, her crew and passengers observe strange phenomena: They see seabirds swarming in huge flocks by day, witness a series of fiery explosions erupting from the sea one evening, and hear a high-pitched, ear-splitting hissing and whistling sound like that of escaping steam on another night. During a conversation on deck one night, Danzig discovers that Connerly is using laudanum to kill the pain of a lung disease which he is keeping secret from Hanson because it might interfere with his diving abilities. Danzig informs Connerly of Laura's time in the mental institution, calling into question the veracity of her story about the pearls. The Borgheses, Connerly, Charley, Rigby, and Toshi confront Hanson about Laura's mental state, but Hanson assures them that Laura's story about the ''Arianna'' is true. Connerly takes so much laudanum that he hallucinates one night, attacks one of the pearl divers, and assaults several crewmen coming to her aid before they can subdue him. On Hanson's orders, the ''Batavia Queen'' s crew suspends Connerly in a slatted box above the main deck so that he will pose no danger to others aboard the ship; Charley tearfully pleads with Hanson for Connerly's release, and Hanson relents and frees him. Meanwhile, Leoncavallo and Toshi take a romantic interest in one another.

The ''Batavia Queen'' arrives off Krakatoa to find the island shrouded in thick smoke. It clears when she anchors off the island, and the Borgheses ascend in their balloon while Rigby descends in his diving bell. The Borgheses quickly discover the wreck of the ''Arianna'' and guide the ''Batavia Queen'' and the submerged Rigby to it. Immediately afterwards, the motor driving the propeller that allows them to steer their balloon fails and they careen helplessly over Krakatoa and into its active crater. They jettison the useless engine and propeller into the crater's lava lake to reduce weight and finally are blown clear of the crater by a volcanic explosion which sets their balloon afire. They drift away from the island, leap into the sea, and are rescued, but the fire destroys the balloon.

Danzig tells Hanson of Connerly's lung problems, and Hanson decides that he will dive on the ''Arianna'' instead of Connerly. While Connerly and Hanson argue over this, Rigby's diving bell becomes snagged on coral. The pearl divers, Hanson, and Connerly all dive into the water to free Rigby, and while they and the ''Batavia Queen'' s other passengers and crew are thus occupied, Danzig steals a pistol he finds in the ship's chart room, knocks the jailer unconscious, and frees the prisoners. They take over the ship, throw the unconscious jailer overboard to drown, and imprison the passengers and crew in the hold, where they also place Rigby and the pearl divers when they return to the ''Batavia Queen''. Before returning, and unaware of the turn of events aboard the ''Batavia Queen'', Hanson and Connerly swim to the wreck of the ''Arianna'', find the ship's safe, and attach a cable to it to have it hoisted aboard the ''Batavia Queen''. Upon their return, Danzig has Connerly lowered into the hold but forces Hanson to look on at gunpoint as he opens the ''Arianna'' s safe on the ''Batavia Queen'' s deck. They find nothing in the safe but a cheap pocket watch. When an explosion on Krakatoa distracts Danzig, Hanson overpowers him, takes the pistol from him, pushes the heavy safe over onto one convict, shoots two others, and uses steam from a hose to force the rest of the prisoners to jump overboard. They swim to nearby Krakatoa, never to be seen again.

After Hanson frees the passengers and crew from the hold, Rigby finds another compartment in the safe which contains the ''Arianna'' s logbook. Laura and Hanson examine the logbook for clues about Peter's fate. The logbook reveals that the ''Arianna'' made a last port call at Palembang before sinking, and a letter tucked into the logbook says that Peter disembarked there to attend the mission school. Hanson decides to steam to Palembang to find Peter. By now, Krakatoa is erupting continually, and the volcano's explosions begin to hurl lava bombs into the surrounding sea. A number of them strike the ''Batavia Queen'' as she gets underway for Palembang, starting fires which the crew puts out. As Toshi runs across the deck toward Leoncavallo, one of the lava bombs strikes and kills her.

The ''Batavia Queen'' arrives off Palembang to find the mission school heavily damaged, burning and abandoned. Hanson hails a passing junk, and someone aboard the junk tells him that the school's staff and students are all alive and had fled Palembang that morning aboard another boat, intending to sail to Java. The ''Batavia Queen'' soon comes to the assistance of an overcrowded and sinking sampan, which proves to be the school's boat. The ''Batavia Queen'' s passengers and crew rescue everyone aboard the sampan, including Peter, who has a joyful reunion with Laura. A chest belonging to Peter comes aboard the ''Batavia Queen'' during the rescue; it contains the pearls, and Connerly, Rigby, the Borgheses, and the three surviving pearl divers receive their shares of the fortune.

Krakatoa's violent explosions become larger and continuous; Hanson assumes that they will generate a tsunami and begins to prepare the ''Batavia Queen'' to ride it out. Although Hanson assures him that a tsunami will destroy nearby Anjer and that he is safer at sea aboard the ''Batavia Queen'' if she can get to deep water in time, Connerly disputes the ship's ability to survive and demands that Hanson allow those who wish to go ashore to row to Anjer with him in one of the ship's lifeboats. Giovanni Borghese, Charley, and the three surviving pearl divers join Connerly in the lifeboat and row to Anjer.

Krakatoa disintegrates in one final, cataclysmic explosion, which generates an enormous tsunami. It strikes Anjer shortly after the ''Batavia Queen'' s lifeboat arrives there; unable to outrun the wave, Connerly and Charley embrace for the last time before the wave engulfs and kills them. At sea, Hanson, Laura, Peter, Rigby, Leoncavallo Borghese, the refugees from the mission school, and the ship's crew ride out the tsunami successfully aboard the ''Batavia Queen''.

Ève and Pierre have never met each other in their respective lives. At the beginning of the book, Ève is very sick, and unknown to her, her husband André is poisoning her in order to marry her sister Lucette and keep the dowry. Pierre, on the other hand, is planning a revolution, but is killed by his friend Lucien. Both Pierre and Ève do not realize that they have been dead for a while. Pierre and Ève realize different truths about their own lives as they walk invisibly as ghosts amongst the living, with the power to interact only with other deceased souls. Pierre and Ève have difficulty adjusting to this powerless condition. They meet each other in line to register at a bureaucratic clearing house for the recently deceased where both of them slowly find out that there has been a mistake in the paperwork. They are surprised to learn that according to article 140, they were predestined to be soulmates.

Successfully appealing their case, Pierre and Ève are brought back to life and given twenty-four hours to show their love to each other, or their second chance at living will be revoked. However, they are each distracted by unfinished business from their previous lives. Because Ève was poisoned by her husband, she wants to convince her sister that he is not a good man. Pierre wants to stop the revolution to overthrow the Regency that he had planned, because in death he discovered the Regent knew about it, and realizes that if carried out, it will result in the massacre of his friends and the end of the resistance.

Unable to explain the unique circumstances in which they acquired their knowledge, they both have difficulty convincing their friends that they know what is the right thing to do. Neither is able to completely dissociate themselves from the things that were once important to them, and they realize that by not concentrating on their love they might be sacrificing their second chance at life.

On September 28, 1998, 24 hours prior to the events of ''Resident Evil 2'', most of Raccoon City's citizens have mutated as the result of an outbreak caused by the T-virus, a mutagenic virus secretly developed by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella. Jill Valentine, former member of the Raccoon Police Department's Special Tactics And Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.), is attacked in her apartment by an intelligent bioweapon known as the Nemesis T-Type, programmed by Umbrella to silence surviving S.T.A.R.S. members. Briefly accompanied by fellow S.T.A.R.S. officer Brad Vickers before he is killed by zombies, Jill evades Nemesis and is then rescued by Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service (U.B.C.S.) mercenary Carlos Oliveira. Carlos explains that he and his group of surviving U.B.C.S. mercenaries—Mikhail Victor, Tyrell Patrick, and Nicholai Ginovaef—have set up subway trains to evacuate civilians from the city. Jill helps them reactivate power to the subway and departs on a train with Nicholai and Mikhail, while Carlos and Tyrell remain behind to find Dr. Nathaniel Bard, an Umbrella scientist who may have developed a vaccine for the T-virus.

After Mikhail expresses his suspicions towards Nicholai over how their platoon was ambushed by zombies, Nemesis attacks the train and kills the civilians. Nicholai then betrays and locks Jill and Mikhail out, with the latter sacrificing himself by detonating an explosive that derails the train. Meanwhile, reaching the police department on the notion that Bard is at the S.T.A.R.S. office, Carlos and Tyrell learn the scientist took refuge at a nearby hospital. Carlos is then contacted by Jill, who survived the crash while being pursued by a mutating Nemesis. She manages to escape Nemesis, only to lose consciousness after the monster infects her with the T-virus. Carlos finds Jill half a day later and takes her to the hospital, finding Bard murdered along with the scientist's video entry revealing that Umbrella's board is wiping out the vaccines and any evidence connecting the company to the T-Virus. After Carlos retrieves Bard's vaccine and administers it to Jill, Tyrell discovers that the U.S. government plans to destroy Raccoon City in a missile strike to eradicate the T-virus infestation. Carlos travels to a lab underneath the hospital to find more vaccines, while Tyrell tries to contact whoever he can to prevent the missile strike.

Jill awakens on the day of the missile strike, October 1, and pursues Carlos to the lab. Tyrell then informs her that the U.S. government will not launch the missiles if they can retrieve a vaccine from the lab within a few hours. Although Nemesis kills Tyrell shortly afterwards, Jill manages to synthesize a vaccine. She also learns that Nicholai is a supervisor hired by an unknown contractor to sabotage Umbrella's efforts to hide their involvement while collecting combat data on the company's bioweapons, including Nemesis. An encounter with Nemesis prompts Nicholai to retrieve the vaccine from Jill as he leaves her to fight the monster. Jill eliminates Nemesis with a railgun and then meets up with Nicholai at a helipad. Nicholai destroys the vaccine, acknowledging that the city's fate is not important as long as he gets paid for sabotaging Umbrella. Carlos intervenes and restrains Nicholai, prompting Jill to shoot and injure him. Disgusted by his greed, Jill escapes the city with Carlos via helicopter, leaving Nicholai behind. As the city is destroyed by the missile strike, Jill vows to take down Umbrella at all costs.

Junior Healy tells a story from multiple drawings in a coloring book, and it switches to his classroom where he is told by Miss Hicks that he got an "F" for not finishing his science project, and he mentions that "it's all about sound waves", and the bell rings, causing a set of traps to trigger, and her to fall out a window. The audience is told that Murph, one of his classmates, ratted him out, and the principal called his dad, Ben, prompting him to take him to get help. They meet Sarah Gray, a therapist who tests him, and decides that he needs some activities to do, such as Boy Scouts, sports and ballroom dancing. Junior takes this harshly, and does not approve of these options.

He is taken to a dance school, run by Lila Duvane, a tyrannical debutante, and hates it at first; but then he meets Tiffany, a pretty little girl who recently moved to town, but Murph — who had asked him to dance with his sister, Bertha — informs him that three boys, Prairie Dog Scout Duke Phlim, bad boy and roller hockey team's captain Blade, and flamboyant child star Corky McCullum, have already laid claim. Junior tries to proclaim his love to Tiffany, but fails miserably. At school, he is given a new teacher, the overbearing Mr. Burtis, who he traps in the same way he did to Miss Hicks. In his victory, Junior bites into an apple and feels pain. He and Ben go to a dentist's office where it is discovered by the infamous Igor Peabody that he needs braces. Ben asks his father, Big Ben, for a $5,000 loan, which leads to disappointing results.

After meeting the trio and Tiffany, Junior decides to pursue scouting under Scoutmaster Eugene Phlim, also Duke's father. Afterwards, he decides to enroll in hockey. He gets beaten by Blade's team (a scene shows his gear flying up into the air after a critical hit, a parody of the first film). He then takes part in a ''Peter Pan'' play, where Corky is the star and Junior is stuck playing a weed. Ben meets Sarah at Big Ben's, and it is discovered that she was dating Phlim, and subsequently broken up with him. Meanwhile, after Corky rudely mocks Junior about his braces, Junior sneaks on to the horse grounds at Corky's mansion and uses a slingshot on Corky's horse, causing it to rear and hurl Corky into the pool.

When Junior comes back to get his braces tightened, he gets his revenge for his humiliation he received from them by releasing laughing gas that knocks Peabody and his nurse, Kiki, unconscious. They later wake up wearing braces, with her tied to the patient chair and him hanging from the ceiling fan.

Junior begins his plan of getting even with the three boys for bullying him. During the hockey tournament, Junior beats everyone of the opposing team players, and strikes Blade with a puck (quickly after sticking superglue on his mask). After this, he is banned for life, and then, in the production of ''Peter Pan'', he traps Corky by distracting the janitor, and pulling the rope attached to the suspension harness and crashing it down, severely injuring Corky and Duvane. Finally, seeking revenge for seeing Sarah, Philm and Duke challenges Ben and Junior to a relay race. Junior sabotages every obstacle on their side, and he and Ben win.

With the three boys seriously injured and terrified of him, Junior finally tries to spend some time with Tiffany. However, she turns out to be a rich brat. He pranks her by tying the sash ribbon on her dress to a statue, and as she walks forward, it rips off. In her underwear, embarrassed and laughed at, she runs out crying, and Bertha, blaming Junior, chases after her. Junior finds a kinder girl, dressed as a witch and also wearing braces, whereas Ben and Sarah get together.

Like the beginning, he depicts everyone in a coloring book, and signs off with a "So long, suckers!" as the words "The End" pop up.

On July 23, 1998, a train owned by the pharmaceutical company Umbrella, the Ecliptic Express, comes under attack from a swarm of leeches. As the passengers and crew are attacked, a mysterious young man watches from a hillside. Two hours later, the Bravo Team of the Special Tactics And Rescue Service (STARS) police force is sent to investigate a series of cannibalistic murders in the Arklay Mountains outside of Raccoon City. On the way to the scene, its helicopter has an engine failure and crash-lands in a forest. Searching the area, officer Rebecca Chambers of Bravo Team comes across the Express, now motionless. She begins to investigate the scene, only to find the passengers and crew transformed into zombies. She is unaware their transformation is a result of exposure to Umbrella's T-virus contained within the leeches. As she explores the train, she teams up with Billy Coen—a former Marine Force Reconnaissance officer, who was to be executed for killing 23 people until the military police van transporting him crashed in the region.

The pair notices the mysterious young man, moments before the train suddenly begins moving again. Unbeknownst to the pair, two soldiers from Umbrella, on the orders of Albert Wesker and William Birkin, attempt to take control of the train and destroy it, but are killed by leeches before they can complete their mission. As the train speeds out of control, Rebecca and Billy apply the brakes and avert its course towards an abandoned training facility for future executives of Umbrella. They discover that the former director of the facility and the corporation's co-founder, Dr. James Marcus, was responsible for discovering the so-called Progenitor virus in the 1960s, and decided to examine its potential as a biological weapon. He combined it with leech DNA to develop the T-virus that causes rapid mutations in living organisms and thus transforms humans and animals into zombies and monsters.

As the pair continue to explore the facility, Wesker decides to leave Umbrella and join its rival company, and makes plans for further research on the T-virus. William Birkin refuses his offer to join him, instead opting to complete his research on the G-virus. Later, Rebecca becomes separated from Billy. On her own, she encounters Captain Enrico Marini, who tells her that the rest of the Bravo team will meet up at an old mansion they found, but allows her to stay behind to find Billy. Just after Enrico leaves, Rebecca is attacked by the Tyrant. After temporarily defeating the Tyrant, Rebecca meets up with Billy again and, together, they defeat it and continue on towards a water plant.

Eventually, Rebecca and Billy catch up with the leech-controlling man, who happens to be Marcus' final experiment, Queen Leech. Ten years earlier, Marcus was assassinated on the orders of Umbrella's other co-founder, Oswell E. Spencer, who sought his research. After his corpse was dumped, Queen Leech entered his body and reanimated it, gaining his memories and the ability to shapeshift, thus believing itself to be the resurrected Marcus and orchestrated the T-virus outbreak in the facility and on the train as a means of revenge against Umbrella. After temporarily defeating it, Billy and Rebecca attempt to escape to the surface via a lift, just as William Birkin trips the facility's self-destruct mechanism. Pursued by Queen Leech, the pair eventually kill it and escape before the facility is destroyed. Following their escape, Rebecca notices the mansion that Marini mentioned and prepares to head for it. Before she does, she assures Billy that her police report will list him as another casualty of the incident. Thanking her for his freedom, Billy departs as Rebecca heads towards the mansion to seek out the whereabouts of her fellow Bravo Team members (seen in ''Resident Evil'').

The school attended by Dragon and his brother, Tiger is entered against a rival school in a Lion Dance competition. The school needs to win the prize money to remain open but their star performer, Tiger, is seemingly injured when he falls from a ladder, leaving his brother, Dragon, to take his place. During the competition, Dragon realizes that his brother feigned his accident in order to take part in the competition for the rival school.

The rival school wins the competition, but the truth emerges about Tiger's betrayal and he is exiled in disgrace. However, Dragon vows to bring back his errant brother so the pair can make amends to their master. Dragon sets off on his mission, but en route is mistaken for a criminal known as ''The White Fan'' by local police chief, Sang Kung along with his son and daughter. Meanwhile, Tiger collaborates with his employers (the rival school) by freeing a dangerous criminal known as Kam. However, Tiger is later framed for a bank robbery. To stop his brother from being arrested, Dragon promises to apprehend the escapee, Kam.

''The Young Master'' ends with a furious, brutal fight between Kam and Dragon, in which Dragon sustains substantial damage. At the beginning of the fight, it appears that Kam has the upper hand as he punishes Dragon with blindingly fast punches and kicks. However, after consuming water from an opium pipe given to him by a whimsical old man, Dragon becomes energized and defeats Kam. ''The Young Master'' ends with Dragon returning to his hometown, a hero (albeit one in full body cast from the many injuries he sustained).

The narrative of ''Clotel'' plays with history by relating the "perilous antebellum adventures" of a young mixed-race slave Currer and her two light-skinned daughters fathered by Thomas Jefferson. Because the mother is a slave, according to partus sequitur ventrem, which Virginia adopted into law in 1662, her daughters are born into slavery. The book includes "several sub-plots" related to other slaves, religion and anti-slavery. Currer, described as "a bright mulatto" (meaning light-skinned) gives birth to two "near white" daughters: Clotel and Althesa.

After the death of Jefferson, Currer and her daughters are sold as slaves. Horatio Green, a white man, purchases Clotel and takes her as a common-law wife. They cannot legally marry under state laws against miscegenation.

Her mother Currer and sister Althesa remain "in a slave gang." Currer is eventually purchased by Mr. Peck, a preacher. She is enslaved until she dies from yellow fever, shortly before Peck's daughter was preparing to emancipate her.

Althesa marries her white master, Henry Morton, a Northerner, by passing as a white woman. They have daughters Jane and Ellen, who are educated. Although supporting abolition, Morton fails to manumit Althesa and their daughters. After Althesa and Morton both die, their daughters are enslaved. Ellen commits suicide to escape sexual enslavement, and Jane dies in slavery from heartbreak.

Green and Clotel have a daughter Mary, also mixed race of course, and majority white. When Green becomes ambitious and involved in local politics, he abandons his relationship with Clotel and Mary. He marries "a white woman who forces him to sell Clotel and enslave his child."

Clotel is sold to a planter in Vicksburg, Mississippi. There she meets William, another slave, and they plan a bold escape. Dressing as a white man, Clotel is accompanied by William acting as her slave; they travel and gain freedom by reaching the free state of Ohio. (This is based on the tactics of the 1849 escape by Ellen Craft and William Craft). William continues his flight to Canada (an estimated 30,000 fugitive slaves reached there by 1852).Drew, "Preface" Clotel returns to Virginia to try to free her daughter Mary. After being captured in Richmond, Clotel is taken to Washington, DC for sale at its slave market. She escapes and is pursued through the city by slave catchers. Surrounded by them on the Long Bridge, she commits suicide by jumping to her death in the Potomac River.

Mary is forced to work as a domestic slave for her father Horatio Green and his white wife. She arranges to trade places in prison with her lover, the slave George. He escapes to Canada. Sold to a slave trader, Mary is purchased by a French man who takes her to Europe. Ten years later, after the Frenchman's death, George and Mary reunite by chance in Dunkirk, France. The novel ends with their marriage.

The series takes place in 16th-century feudal Japan. The original story (''Stealth Assassins'') revolves around two ninjas, Rikimaru and Ayame, who have both been members of the Azuma Ninja Clan since childhood. The two ninjas serve the benevolent Lord Gohda and work for him as his secret spies to root out corruption and gather intelligence in his province. However, the evil demonic sorcerer Lord Mei-Oh sought to destroy Lord Gohda, and using his demon warrior Onikage, wreaked havoc throughout Lord Gohda's province. Although Lord Mei-Oh was killed in the first game, Onikage appeared in all subsequent games (except ''Fatal Shadows'' and ''Tenchu Z'') as the archenemy of the two ninja, especially Rikimaru. Another major character who shows up frequently is Princess Kiku, Lord Gohda's daughter who often needs to be saved.

''Titanic'' follows three main story threads.

Isabella Paradine is traveling on the ''Titanic'' to join her husband after attending her aunt's funeral in England. On the ''Titanic'', she meets Wynn Park, her former lover. She falls in love with him again, and after a brief affair, she sends her husband a wireless saying they cannot be together anymore (despite their daughter). When the ship starts sinking, Isabella reluctantly leaves Wynn when he forces her to board a lifeboat. As the boat is lowered, Isabella confesses a long kept secret that her daughter Claire is actually Wynn's. Later on board the RMS ''Carpathia'' she is grief-stricken when she finds Wynn's lifeless body on deck, having died of hypothermia, but luckily, when the ''Carpathia'' reaches New York City she is reunited with her family who are blissfully unaware of Isabella's tryst because the telegram was never sent out due to the sinking.

Also in first class is the Allison family, a family travelling on the Titanic, returning home to Montreal with their two small children and new nurse, Alice Cleaver. They gradually become wary and suspicious of her hysterical and neurotic behavior. Later on, a fellow maid asks her if she'd seen her in Cairo the previous month, but soon realizes that she remembers her from the highly publicized trial where Alice was accused of throwing her baby off a train. When the ''Titanic'' starts sinking, Alice Cleaver panics and quickly boards a lifeboat with Trevor, the Allisons' infant son. The parents with their small daughter are unaware that the baby is safe and refuse to leave the ship without him, which in the end costs them their lives.

In third class, a young vagrant named Jamie Perse steals a ticket to get on board. He manages to become friends with one of the crewmen, Simon Doonan, who is also a robber, but later is revealed to be a much more violent and callous criminal than Jamie. The young man falls in love with Aase (pronounced "Osa") Ludvigsen, a recent Christian convert and missionary. On the night of the sinking, Aase is brutally raped and beaten by Doonan, causing her to lose her faith and will to live, but Jamie manages to get her into Isabella's boat. Unbeknownst to them, Doonan also sneaks aboard that same boat, disguised as an old woman. After the ship sinks, Aase is knocked off the lifeboat by Doonan after she recognizes him, and he attempts to hold the passengers in the boat hostage at gunpoint, but Officer Lowe, who is in charge of the boat, hits Doonan in the head with an oar, snapping his neck and killing him. Jamie himself manages to survive when he accidentally falls into one of the last lifeboats before the ''Titanic'' sinks. He subsequently atones for his past life after he finds Aase in the makeshift hospital aboard the ''Carpathia''. In the end, upon arriving in New York City, the two plan to start a new life together.

As the story opens, Nancy and friends attempt to thwart suspicious, masked party-goers from reaching valuable objets d'art on display. At the party, Nancy finds an odd, black velvet hood, which she retains as a clue; most of the guests are wearing simpler, smaller masks as the evening is very warm. Her acquaintance, Linda, who is an employee of the Lightner company, is suspected of wrongdoing. At subsequent Lightner events, Nancy encounters other thieves, and is nearly suffocated by an evil pair of crooks. Nancy and George rent wigs to switch identities; however, George is kidnapped, her disguise removed, is put under the influence of hypnotic, mind-altering drugs, and threatened. This results in a timid, frightened characterization; paralyzed by fear, George refuses to help in the investigation and urges Nancy to stop.

Nancy focuses on the executive assistant at Lightner's, Mr. Tombar, while she attempts to decode mysterious numbers written on the lining of the mask. She realizes that the numbers actually mark dates of events at which robberies took place, and starts attending each event in person as detective and as favor to Mr. Lightner. She encounters thieves at a wedding, a musicale, where they nearly smother her, and a lecture. Finally, Nancy attends another masquerade as a coat-check girl, and she stops a robbery in process, capturing a female member of the gang. She and Bess investigate the ramshackle Blue Iris Inn in the nearby countryside, trying to find out why Peter Tombar owns the property and what secrets it hides. On a hunch, she and Bess take an impromptu visit while talking with the recovering George Fayne, and fall victim to the evil Velvet gang. Only paranoid George knows where they are, and can identify the clothing last worn by Nancy. She must overcome her mental breakdown and get on the case when the girls fail to return.

Crime noir elements feature heavily in this book, and Ned Nickerson is prominently featured as a true partner in crime solving. Nancy is accosted by a woman in the opening chapters, comes face to face with a thief at a wedding reception, and is nearly suffocated when a pair of thieves wrap her face-down in a bedspread. George Fayne is drugged and a victim of criminal threat, and Ned is involved in two physical confrontations as well. Finally, Nancy and Bess are kidnapped, blindfolded, and abused verbally (this refers to an out-of-print version of the story).

The story takes place in Algeria and begins with two men climbing a rocky slope. One of them, the gendarme Balducci, is on horseback and the other, an Arab prisoner, is on foot. At the summit of the hill, a school teacher named Daru watches them climb their way up. There are no students at the school at this time because they stayed home during the blizzard. The two men reach the top of the slope and come to meet Daru. Balducci, an acquaintance of Daru, tells Daru he is ordered by the government to take the prisoner to the police headquarters in Tinguit as a service to his fellow officers. Daru inquires about the crime the Arab committed and Balducci says that he slit his cousin's throat in a fight for some grain, and adds that the prisoner is probably not a rebel. As Balducci is leaving, Daru tells him that he will not take the Arab to Tinguit. Balducci is angered by this and makes Daru sign a paper that states the prisoner is in Daru's custody, then he leaves them. Daru feeds the Arab and gives him a cot to sleep on for the night. In the morning, Daru takes his captive slightly down the mountain and sets him free. He supplies the prisoner with a thousand francs and some food and tells him if he goes east, he can turn himself in to the police in Tinguit. If he goes south, he can hide with the nomads. Daru then goes back to the school, leaving the prisoner to make his decision. A while later, Daru looks back and sees the prisoner heading east to Tinguit, most likely to turn himself in. When Daru looks back at the blackboard in his classroom, there is a message written on it that says, "Tu as livré notre frère. Tu paieras." (You have turned in our brother, you will pay).

Supervillain Nuclear Winter steals Time Master's inert body and uses it to steal nuclear missiles from the Cuban Missile Crisis in an effort to start a nuclear war between the United States and the USSR. The Freedom Force foils his plot, but on the return trip, the timeline changes and Freedom Force finds that the Axis powers achieved victory in World War II. Using the disturbance in the timeline to guide them, Mentor projects the heroes back in the time-stream to battle the villainous Blitzkrieg, who created the disturbance. These superheroes meet and team up with the heroes of that age. In the course of Blitzkrieg's defeat, Alchemiss gains powers from Time Master's body and frees Man-Bot from the Celestial Clock, but goes insane over the sudden expansion of her powers and becomes Entropy, who threatens time and space. Entropy is eventually defeated by Freedom Force with the help of the awakened Time Master. Briefly asserting her original personality, Alchemiss prevents herself from ever existing so she cannot become Entropy, but suddenly finds herself face to face with Energy X.

Jamal Walker is an everyday slacker with a job at a theme park called Medieval World, which is about to receive big competition from another theme park, Castle World. While cleaning a moat surrounding the park, he finds a medallion, and when he tries to retrieve it, he gets sucked into the past. He awakens in 1328 in England, where he is first met by a drunkard named Knolte. He finds a castle that he thinks is Castle World, so he decides to check it out. The tenants of the castle believe him to be a French Moor, from Normandy, because he tells them he is from Florence and Normandie, a famous intersection in South Central Los Angeles.

Jamal is soon taken in by the reigning king, King Leo. He is assumed to be a messenger from Normandy whom the king believes to be bringing news of an alliance between England and Normandy. Although at first Jamal thinks that all the people around him are just actors in a theme park, he changes his mind when he witnesses a beheading. He gives his name as Jamal "Sky" Walker after his high school basketball nickname, and, after gaining trust from the king by accidentally preventing his assassination, Jamal is made a lord and head of security.

While all of this is going on, Jamal learns from Victoria, a chambermaid, about the ruthless way the king came to power by overthrowing the former queen. Jamal, believing the situation to be beyond his control, states to Victoria that "He is not the guy you're looking for." After a brief debate with Victoria who states that he wears the medallion and this deems him to be a man of honor, Victoria becomes frustrated with Jamal's refusal to intervene and leaves, believing Jamal to be a coward. Later that night, the daughter of the king, Princess Regina (who is infatuated with Jamal) sneaks into Jamal's bedroom. Jamal, believing the princess to be Victoria, sleeps with Regina. When the real Norman messenger arrives, seeking the Princess Regina's hand in marriage on behalf of his liege, Jamal is exposed as a fraud. The actions of the previous night have rendered an alliance with Normandy impossible, infuriating the king. Jamal is thrown straight into the dungeon and arraigned for execution with the two assassins from the previous attempt on Leo's life.

In the dungeon, the two failed assassins tell the tale of the Black Knight. It is stated that the Knight could not be bought or bribed, but would only fight for justice. It was told that he was swallowed whole by a fierce dragon, but with a sword of gold, he cut himself from the belly of the beast and he himself could breathe the fire of the dragon.

The two rebels and Jamal are brought forth for execution. As a last resort and fearing his life, Jamal poses himself as a sorcerer and attempts to scare the superstitious onlookers to make his escape. As the executioner begins to choke on an apple, the crowd believes Jamal to have cast a spell of death upon him. In the commotion, Jamal saves the executioner using the Heimlich Manoeuvre. Using this distraction and flaming arrows fired from outside the walls, Jamal escapes the castle with the aid of Victoria and finally Knolte on horseback. Jamal also learns that Knolte was really a knight of the former queen who was disgraced when she lost her throne. Through their help and his own realization of the situation, Jamal soon understands he must help overthrow King Leo and help restore the queen to her throne.

With some effort, Jamal manages to convince the decimated rebels and townsfolk to band together to overthrow the king. Using modern-day tactics used in American football and pro wrestling, he gives the peasants the means to fight the armed and armored king's guards. Out of gratitude for helping him find his honor again, Knolte teaches some basic sword-fighting manoeuvres to Jamal, and also tells him that he has an idea that may give them an advantage in the upcoming battle.

The next day, Knolte and the rebels storm the castle, only to find themselves quickly surrounded by guards and Leo's bodyguard, Percival. Seemingly outmatched by armor, archers and cavalry, the rebels are pushed back. The tide turns briefly when the legendary Black Knight charges in, breathing fire and scattering the guards, but the plan goes awry when he falls from his horse and is revealed to be Jamal in disguise. Using their newfound skills, the peasants succeed in overpowering the guards, but Knolte is severely wounded by a longbow shot from Percival, who takes Victoria hostage. King Leo becomes scared as his troops are being defeated, and asks Percival for safety. Percival, who already sees Leo as pathetic and weak as a leader, kills him and throws him in the moat. Charging to the rescue, Jamal surprises Percival with his fighting skills, rescuing Victoria. However, after waking from being knocked out by Jamal, Percival is then shot dead by Knolte before he could administer a killing blow to Jamal. Jubilation surrounds the rebels when they realize victory is theirs.

After the queen's reign is restored, Jamal is knighted by her. During the dubbing, he awakes back at Medieval World surrounded by his co-workers and a medical team, who saved him from drowning in the moat, implying that Jamal's entire adventure was a dream. Jamal's whole attitude changes from his experience, and he helps his boss to make Medieval World better so that Castle World will not run them out of business. Later on, Jamal takes a walk around the new Medieval World and meets a woman named Nicole who looks just like Victoria. They talk a little and he asks her out to lunch. Unfortunately, Jamal forgets to get Nicole's number, and when he tries to catch up to her, he accidentally falls back into the moat, waking up in the Colosseum of Ancient Rome, where he is about to be devoured by lions.

Jean Valjean, a man arrested for stealing food, is released after spending 19 years in a prison labour camp. When no one is willing to allow a convict to stay the night, Bishop Myriel kindly welcomes him into his home. Valjean explains to Myriel that sleeping in a real bed will make him a new man. In the night, Valjean, interrupted by Myriel while stealing his silverware, strikes him and flees. When the police arrest Valjean for stealing and drag him back to Myriel, Myriel tells them that the silverware was a gift and scolds Valjean for forgetting to take his candlesticks as well. Myriel then reminds Valjean that he is to become a new man.

Nine years later, Valjean is now a wealthy industrialist and a mayor. Fantine, a single mother working at one of Valjean's factories, is fired when her manager learns she has had a daughter out of wedlock. However, Valjean is preoccupied with the arrival of Inspector Javert, who previously served as a guard at the prison in which Valjean was held. Fantine, in desperate need of money to pay the extortionate demands of Mr. and Mrs. Thénardier for looking after her daughter Cosette, turns to prostitution. Javert starts to suspect that the Mayor and Valjean are the same person. Fantine is attacked by some customers, and when she retaliates, Javert beats and arrests her, planning on sending her to prison. Citing his authority to do so as mayor, Valjean insists on her release and she is let go.

Valjean nurses Fantine back to health, and promises her that she will have her daughter back. However, the Thénardiers continue to extort more money from Valjean and Fantine on the pretence of Fantine's daughter being ill. Later, Valjean receives word that another man is mistaken as being him and is about to be arrested. Valjean arrives at court where the man is being tried and reveals his identity that he is the real Valjean. Valjean then returns home and finds Fantine at death's door. Before she dies, Valjean promises Fantine that he will raise her daughter as his own. Javert arrives at Valjean's home to arrest both him and Fantine, but Fantine dies when Javert tells her she will be sent to prison. Angry and grieving, Valjean fights Javert and knocks him out, then flees the town. Valjean eventually finds and rescues Cosette from the Thénardiers, the corrupt innkeepers who were supposed to care for her, but are actually forcing her to be their servant. They care little for the girl, seeing her merely as a way to bring in money (going so far as to offer up Cosette as a child prostitute to the as-yet unrevealed Valjean). Both Valjean and Cosette finally make it to Paris where they start a new life together as father and daughter, cloistered within a religious convent.

Ten years later, they leave the convent, and Cosette, now nineteen years old, falls deeply in love with a revolutionist, Marius. Meanwhile, Javert is now undercover as an insurrectionist, trying to undermine the organization to which Marius belongs. During an attempt to finally arrest Valjean, Javert is captured by Marius and is brought to the barricades as a prisoner to be executed. Valjean journeys to the barricades himself when he learns how much Cosette and Marius love each other, intending to persuade Marius to return to Cosette. When the soldiers shoot and kill Gavroche, a young boy allied with the revolutionists, Valjean uses his influence with Marius to have Javert turned over to him, so that he himself can execute him. Valjean takes Javert to a back alley, but instead of killing him, sets him free. Marius gets shot and Valjean takes him down a sewer to bring him to safety. Javert catches them, but agrees to spare Marius. Valjean takes Marius back to his home, also saying goodbye to Cosette. When Valjean returns to Javert, Javert tells him that he is now unable to reconcile Valjean's criminal past with his current lawful existence and the great kindness, generosity, and goodness that Valjean has shown. Stating, "It's a pity the rules don't allow me to be merciful," Javert finally sets Valjean free, shackles himself, adding "I've tried to live my life without breaking a single rule," and throws himself into the Seine thus taking his own life. Valjean walks down the empty street, finally a free man, with a smile on his face.

''Make Room! Make Room!'' is set in an overpopulated New York City in 1999 (33 years after the time of writing). 30-year-old Police Detective Andy Rusch lives in half a room, sharing it with Sol, a retired engineer who has adapted a bicycle to generate power for an old television set and a refrigerator.

When Andy lines up for their continually reducing water ration, he witnesses a public speech by the "Eldsters", older people forcibly retired from work. A riot breaks out after a nearby food shop has a surprise sale on "soylent" (soy and lentil) steaks. The shop is looted by the mob. Billy Chung, an 18-year-old Taiwanese-American, grabs a box of steaks. He eats some of them and sells the rest to raise enough money to land a job as a Western Union messenger boy. His first delivery takes him into a fortified apartment block, complete with the rare luxuries of air conditioning and running water for showers. He delivers his message to a rich racketeer named "Big Mike" O'Brien and sees Shirl, Mike's 23-year-old live-in mistress. Billy leaves the apartment, but fixes it so he can get back into the building later. He breaks into Mike's place, but when Mike catches him in the act, Billy accidentally kills him and flees, empty-handed.

A piece of evidence may connect an out-of-town crime boss who may be trying to expand into New York City, a threat to Mike's associates. They see to it that Andy keeps working on the case, in addition to his regular duties.

During his investigation, he becomes enamored of Shirl. He ensures that she is permitted to stay in the apartment until the end of the month. During this month, they enjoy the luxuries. Afterwards Shirl moves in with Andy. Shirl soon becomes disappointed with how little time the overworked Andy has for her. She eventually sleeps with a wealthy man she meets at a party.

To evade capture, Billy leaves the city, eventually breaking into the abandoned Brooklyn Navy Yard, where he comes to live with Peter, who is eagerly awaiting the new millennium as the end of the world. Soon they are attacked and displaced by a trio. They find a new home in a car. Months after the murder, Billy decides to visit his family, believing the police have lost interest in him.

Meanwhile, Sol decides he can no longer remain passive in the face of humanity's overpopulation crisis. He joins a march to protest the overturning of a legislative bill that supports population control. Sol is injured in a riot and catches pneumonia. A few days after his death, an obnoxious family takes over his living quarters, making Shirl and Andy's life much more miserable than before.

Andy stumbles upon Billy Chung, cornering him in his family's home. When Billy moves to attack Andy with a knife, he stumbles, and Andy accidentally shoots and kills him. The gangsters have lost interest by this point, but his superiors disavow Andy's actions, and he is temporarily demoted to ordinary patrolman. When he returns to his quarters, he finds Shirl has left him.

Andy is on patrol in Times Square on New Year's Eve, where he spots Shirl among rich party-goers. As the clock strikes midnight, Andy encounters Peter, who is distraught that the world has not ended and asks how life can continue as it is. The story concludes with the Times Square screen announcing that "Census says United States had biggest year ever, end-of-the-century, 344 million citizens."

Jeremy Dyson proposes to the other members of The League of Gentlemen a new series in which everyone in Royston Vasey wakes up with a tail. The other writers are keen to move on to new projects instead. He is confronted by three characters from the series - Papa Lazarou, Edward and Tubbs - and tries to run but falls off a cliff.

At the church the vicar, Bernice Woodall, tells Pauline Campbell-Jones and Mr. Chinnery that there are signs of The Apocalypse occurring.

Hilary Briss has escaped from prison and holds Herr Lipp hostage, using him to hijack a car driven by Geoff Tipps. Fleeing fireballs, Briss leads them through a door in the church crypt, emerging in the real town of Hadfield, Derbyshire, the setting for Royston Vasey in ''The League of Gentlemen'' television series.

With the situation explained to them by Lazarou and the Tattsyrups, Briss, Herr Lipp and Geoff Tipps travel to London. Lipp pretends to be his creator, Steve Pemberton, and goes to his home where he discovers Pemberton has been neglecting his family.

Briss and Tipps read through The League of Gentlemen's new project, a historical horror called ''The King's Evil'', while Briss chases after an escapee Pemberton and re-captures him. Returning to the hideout, Briss discovers that Tipps has written himself into ''The King's Evil'' as the hero.

Lipp meanwhile has become deeply attached to Pemberton's family, in particular his children. He searches Pemberton's belongings for his notes.

Briss takes Pemberton to Hadfield, where Pemberton telephones Reece Shearsmith. Shearsmith thinks that Briss is playing a joke on him, so Briss comes to the phone. Shearsmith initially believes that Mark Gatiss is joining in on the "joke" when he opens a door and Gatiss is standing right in front of him. Shearsmith and Gatiss find and capture Herr Lipp, and they travel to Hadfield.

They go back to Royston Vasey via the dimensional door and swap hostages, but Pemberton is killed by a stray gunshot. Dr Erasmus Pea, the villain of ''The King's Evil'', tries to persuade Briss to leave Royston Vasey and join him, but Briss refuses. Pea kills his fellow characters and turns them into a gigantic homunculus, which Briss fights. Shearsmith and Gatiss climb up the wall of the church to escape but Shearsmith falls to his death.

Briss kills the monster but is stabbed in the back by Pea. Before dying he tells Tipps that he is the only one who can save Royston Vasey. Tipps fights Pea while Gatiss tries to return to the real world but is held at gunpoint by Lipp. Tipps kills Pea using part of the homunculus. In the church, Lipp says he will kill Gatiss. The other characters try to dissuade him, saying that once all the writers are dead, Royston Vasey will cease to exist and they will die. Lipp claims that they will in fact be better off, because as long as they're controlled by someone else they have no free will and can never change for the better. Tipps tells Lipp that because he saved the day and can therefore change, Lipp need not kill Gatiss. He persuades Lipp to hand him the gun, only for Tipps to accidentally fire it and kill Gatiss.

With all the writers now apparently dead, the residents of Royston Vasey prepare for the worst. Instead, everything calms down and The Apocalypse is averted. The characters realise they now have free will. Herr Lipp adopts some orphaned children, the vet, Mr Chinnery, finds a rabbit and is able to take care of it without killing it, and Bernice and Pauline become romantically involved. Tipps leaves the church, waving goodbye to Edward, Tubbs and Papa Lazarou. It appears that Royston Vasey can continue to exist independently of its dead creators.

However, in a mid-credits scene, Dyson is revealed to be alive but in a coma after falling off the cliff. Everyone else in the world now has a tail.

Clearly frustrated at the refusal of his contemporaries to recognise the inequity and iniquity of society, Tressell's cast of hypocritical Christians, exploitative capitalists and corrupt councillors provide a backdrop for his main target: the workers who think that a better life is "not for the likes of them". Hence the title of the book; Tressell paints the workers as "philanthropists" who throw themselves into back-breaking work for poverty wages to generate profit for their masters.

One of the characters, Frank Owen, is a socialist who tries to convince his fellow workers that capitalism is the real source of the poverty he sees all around him, but their education has trained them to distrust their own thoughts and to rely on those of their "betters". Much of the book consists of conversations between Owen and the others, or more often of lectures by Owen in the face of their jeering; this was presumably based on Tressell's own experiences.

Candy company worker Howard Kind (Brendan Fraser) gains special abilities after being bitten by insects.

In the novel, "young" humans (recreations of the medieval originals) are transported through the Big Collapse, at the end of time, to seed the next cycle of the universe. They are transported to Hegira, an artificial environment of the scale of the planet Jupiter, which has habitats for several species on its surface. The habitats are protected and uncoupled from the universe's entropy by means of force fields projected by giant obelisks. In the human realm, these are inscribed with the recorded history of humankind, sorted chronologically from the bottom up, including the science that went with it. People try to understand and copy what they can read on the obelisks, using balloons in some places to reach higher points on the obelisks.

A legend tells the protagonist that his beloved (frozen in stasis) will awaken if he goes on quest to the rim walls of the habitat, and he does so. On the way, he lands on an island with a good view of an obelisk (at least high) which is just tumbling down in the distance. Its fall causes a tsunami and devastates a continent. After the devastation, the inscriptions at the top of the fallen obelisk about human history are revealed. The hero's quest to the rim succeeds. He makes contact with an artificial intelligence guardian of Hegira, who tells him the story and advises him to go and populate the new universe since he has become part of the last one.

Following the events on Resida in ''Planetfall'', the player's character received a promotion from lowly Ensign Seventh Class to Lieutenant First Class. The life of an officer in the Stellar Patrol is no better than that of a humble enlistee, however. Five years after the thrills of saving an entire planet from destruction, the character is stuck in a boring desk job that demands piles of tedious paperwork instead of menial cleaning duties.

A typically boring assignment comes in: accompany a spacetruck to a space station and pick up a load of "Request for Stellar Patrol Issue Regulation Black Form Binders Request Form Forms". To make things even more dull, spacetrucks are fully automated, so it will pilot itself once the proper coordinates are entered.

But the task does authorize the use of a robot assistant, and coincidentally enough, Floyd, a beloved companion revived at the end of ''Planetfall'', is one of the choices.

Once the player and Floyd reach the space station, they find it largely deserted. There are two living things on board: an ostrich and an Arcturian balloon creature, both apparently in perfect health. There are plenty of automated devices. It is unclear where the people have gone. The mechanical hull welders also seem intent on inflicting serious harm, which is unusual behavior.

Exploring the deserted complex, there are initially few clues. The station's missing commander audio log can be found, but it provides no solid answers. A ship of unfamiliar design is docked, empty except for an alien skeleton and a strange pedestal that looks like it should hold something but stands empty.

Floyd finds two fellow robots: an intellectual model named Plato and a not-yet-conscious "baby" named Oliver. Plato accompanies Floyd and the player, although his personality slowly changes from mild to sullen to aggressive. It is slowly revealed that every machine still functioning on the space station is hostile towards humans: besides the actively homicidal tendencies of the hull welders, the food dispensers manufacture poisonous food and drinks, and even seemingly harmless devices will explode unless powered down. Before long, Plato attempts to kill the player; Floyd is conflicted between the two friendships but reluctantly destroys the other robot. He moves from sadness over Plato's death to belligerence before disappearing altogether.

A pyramid-shaped artifact devised by the Zeenak race is emitting some sort of energy, the player discovers (thanks to Plato revealing everything upon trying to assassinate the player), and this energy causes anything mechanical to rebel against the human Hunji race. All the people on the space station were killed by the Hunji machinery. Whatever the Zeenak pyramid is, the machines are building countless replicas of it that will be sent to "infect" other installations and similarly take them over. Before the player can put a stop to this, however, Floyd reappears, completely under the evil influence of the Zeenak pyramid. In order to survive, the player has no choice but to kill Floyd. This time, however, the damage is too severe and there is no chance of repair for the robot. After the pyramid is defeated, Oliver finally comes to life, and seems almost to be a reincarnation of the once-childlike and playful Floyd.

Several weeks after the events of the first film, in which FBI agent Gracie Hart infiltrated the Miss United States beauty pageant, her new-found fame results in her cover being blown while she is trying to prevent a bank heist.

To capitalize on Gracie's publicity the FBI decide to make her the new "face" of the bureau. After being dumped by her boyfriend, fellow agent Eric Matthews (who gets relocated to Miami), Gracie agrees to the reassignment.

When FBI agent Sam Fuller gets relocated to New York City from Chicago, Gracie doesn't take to her at all. The feeling seems to be mutual as the FBI eventually makes Sam Gracie's bodyguard, much to Sam's disgust.

Ten months later, Gracie begins appearing on morning television shows, such as ''Live with Regis and Kelly'', ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' and The Food Channel, giving out fashion advice and promoting her book.

However, when Gracie's friends, Cheryl Fraser (the current Miss United States) and Stan Fields, are kidnapped in Las Vegas, she goes undercover to try to rescue them, accompanied by Sam who is following up on her own lead after video footage of the abduction suggests that Fields was the target rather than Cheryl. This puts Gracie at odds with the FBI, who are unwilling to lose their mascot and are unsure if she's still up to the task.

The kidnappers move Cheryl and Stan to the ship at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino which they plan to sink. Soon afterwards, Gracie, Sam and Joel (Gracie's new stylist) arrive at the Oasis Drag club where they end up singing Tina Turner songs and are given Cheryl and Stan's location by a contestant dressed as Dolly Parton. It is then up to Gracie to save the day once more, this time with the help of agent Sam.

Jesuit Joe panel. Text in the balloon: "Too much happiness in these woods." The laconic, anti-heroic and unpredictable main character, a Canadian native dressed in the uniform of a Sergeant in the Canadian Mounties, travels the wilderness during late 19th or early 20th century Canada, occasionally assisting those he finds in need of help. He rescues a kidnapped child and frees an imprisoned couple, but also shoots a bird for being too happy and stabs a priest in the hand.

The concerns of famed Italian cartoonist Hugo Pratt included responsibility, humanity, and social justice. Skepticism of European ideals in colonial settings is a common theme in his stories and forms the main thrust of ''Jesuit Joe''.

Marjorie Beaslie (Julie Walters) is a housewife in her forties who takes in a lodger named Harold Guppey (Rupert Graves), who has just stumbled into town to look up his long-lost brother (played by Les Dennis). Although seemingly prudish (she no longer sleeps in the same bed as her husband, for "medical reasons"), Marjorie takes a liking to Harold despite him being a good twenty years her junior. They begin to have a clandestine affair, sneaking into bed together at night. Ever since taking in her lodger, Marjorie insists that Harold refer to her as "mum", giving more than a little oedipal slant to their subsequent lustful antics.

Marjorie's youngest daughter is fourteen-year-old Joyce (Laura Sadler), a precocious, Lolita-like girl who alternates between trying to act grown up by putting on make up and smoking cigarettes, and acting childish by grossing people out with tales of medieval punishments and giggling at rude words.

Joyce is fascinated by Harold and with her teasing behaviour she cunningly turns him from being apathetic towards her to being intrigued by her. At one point, she catches Harold in bed with her mum, but seemingly does not realise what they are up to and merely thinks they're having an innocent "bunk up". She talks her way into getting them to let her climb into the bed, both Harold and Marjorie continue their ''intimate relations'' whilst Joyce is asleep, or rather, pretending to be and steadily realising what is actually going on. A few days later, Joyce blackmails Harold into taking her to a hotel for the night, where he turns the tables on her with every intent and purpose but actually diverts his attention by doing much the opposite as he seduces her before spurning her.

Marjorie's husband, Stanley (Matthew Walker), who is a one-legged World War I veteran, is much older than his wife. Stanley sleeps in a separate room from her and is as oblivious to all the sordid antics of his wife, and daughter, initially as the rest of the suburban neighbourhood is.

Sick of being caught between a mother and daughter, who are too old and too young for him respectively, Harold tries to get out of the house and move away, joining the army and getting a new more suitable girlfriend but Marjorie manages to emotionally blackmail him into coming back.

One day, Harold takes Marjorie and Joyce out for a picnic, although things are tense between the trio. Having sent her daughter Joyce away to play, Marjorie begins to ravish Harold, but Joyce returns and hits her mother with an axe. Harold panics and attempts to get Marjorie into the car to take her to hospital but, with blood streaming down her face, Marjorie manages to pick up a knife Harold drops and attacks him with it. Harold fights Marjorie off and stabs her to death. Joyce then tries to attack Harold and so he stabs her to death too. Finally, Harold stabs himself in the stomach in an attempt to emphasise that his actions were out of self-defence. It is said in the post-script to the movie the fact he, the real Albert Goozee, was sentenced to death for Joyce's murder, to revise the original decision made during the proceedings the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, with much demand and to further the matter the added charge of murdering Marjorie which had been included in the ruling was dropped because it was considered that there was not enough evidence suitable in the correct degree for this to stand.

The TARDIS is forced to land on a planet which the First Doctor (William Hartnell) recognises as Vortis, but he is puzzled by the presence of several moons around the normally moonless planet. A force acting through Barbara Wright's (Jacqueline Hill) gold bracelet draws her outside, leaving Vicki (Maureen O'Brien) alone. The TARDIS is pulled by an unseen force across the planet surface. Barbara is drawn into a trio of the butterfly-like Menoptra who free her of the trance by removing the bracelet. She escapes but is captured by the ant-like Zarbi who use her to find the Menoptra. The Zarbi take Barbara and Hrostar (Arne Gordon), a Menoptra, to the Crater of Needles to drop vegetation into acid rivers which feed the Animus (voiced by Catherine Fleming).

The Zarbi take the Doctor and Ian Chesterton (William Russell) to the Carsinome where they find Vicki and the TARDIS. The Animus forces the Doctor to help track down the Menoptra invasion force. Ian escapes and meets a Menoptra called Vrestin (Roslyn de Winter). He learns the Menoptra and the Zarbi are native to the planet. The Animus has taken control of the planet, and the Menoptra have fled to one of the moons that the Animus has pulled into orbit. The Doctor accidentally reveals the Menoptra spearhead plan to land near the Crater of Needles, giving the Animus the opportunity to ambush them. Ian and Vrestin meet the Optera, descendants of the Menoptra who fled underground, and convince them to help fight the Animus, digging upwards beneath the Carsinome.

At the Crater of Needles, Barbara and Hrostar fail in their attempt to warn the Menoptra and the spearhead is massacred. The Doctor deduces that the Animus uses gold to channel its mesmerising force and counteracts it to control a Zarbi and escape with Vicki. They meet Barbara and the Menoptra and devise a plan to attack the Carsinome. The Doctor and Vicki are taken by the Zarbi to the Animus, a great spider-like creature. Barbara and the Menoptra attack the Carsinome from outside while Ian, Vrestin, and the Optera reach the Animus from below. They defeat the Animus with the Isoptope, a cell-destroying weapon devised by the Menoptra. The Zarbi return to their docile state, and the planet turns to its purer state. The Doctor and his companions leave in the TARDIS, and the creatures of Vortis promise to tell stories of their saviours.

Set in the 1940s in Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, the film tells the story of a young girl living in a coal mining town where the death of men from accidents in "the pit" (the mines) has become almost routine. Margaret MacNeil (Helena Bonham Carter) has already lost her father and an older brother and for her, life alone would be preferable to marrying a mine worker—that is until the charming Neil Currie (Clive Russell) shows up. Against the wishes of her hard-bitten mother (Kate Nelligan) they marry, but, before long, financial woes lead to his doing what every other uneducated young man does in the town: take a job underground. His death in the mine, along with her younger brother, drives Margaret to a mental breakdown and, in her surreal world, she decides to create a "special" museum to the memories of all those who have died as a result of the horrific mining conditions.

Construction executive John and tech support consultant Jane are answering questions during marriage counselling. The couple has been married for "five or six" years, but their marriage is suffering to the point that they cannot remember the last time they had sex. They tell the story of their first meeting in Bogotá, Colombia, where they claimed to be together in order to avoid being questioned by Colombian authorities. They fell in love and got married.

In reality, John and Jane are both skilled field operatives working for different contract killing firms, both among the best in their field, each concealing their true profession from the other. They live in a large Colonial Revival house in the suburbs, and keep up appearances by reluctantly socializing with their "conventionally" wealthy neighbors. Under these cover stories, John and Jane balance their apparently mundane marriage—which both of them find after a few years to be growing dull and suffocating—with their secretive work. When both are assigned to kill DIA prisoner Benjamin "the Tank" Danz during a transfer, they encounter each other on the job and the hit ends up botched; Danz survives, while John and Jane are assigned to kill each other instead.

After making escalating attempts on each other's lives, the Smiths' conflict culminates in a massive shootout that nearly demolishes their home. In a protracted, evenly matched fight, they wind up with guns in each other's faces. John declines to shoot, his feelings for Jane rekindled, and lays his gun down. Jane finds she cannot shoot John either, and they share a passionate true love's kiss. The renewed Smith partnership is quickly threatened by their employers, who join forces to eliminate the couple. John's best friend and co-worker, Eddie, turns down a bounty of $400,000, but John and Jane find themselves under fire from an army of assassins. Fending off an attack which blows up their pockmarked house, the Smiths steal their neighbor's minivan and successfully destroy their attackers' three pursuing armored sedans, all while bickering over their fighting styles and newly discovered personal secrets.

After meeting with Eddie, the Smiths decide to fight together to preserve their marriage. They kidnap Danz from his high-security prison to use as a bargaining chip. He reveals he was merely bait, an intern hired jointly by their employers after they discovered the Smiths were married, in the hopes of the Smiths killing each other. John and Jane discard their separate contingency plans and make their last stand together, fending off an assault of heavily armed operatives inside a home decorating store. The film ends with the couple meeting the marriage counselor again, where the Smiths state how much their marriage has thrived, with John encouraging him to ask for an update on their sex life to which he quietly answers "10/10".

Setting

''Kingdom Hearts II'' begins one year after the events of ''Kingdom Hearts'' and ''Chain of Memories''. The game's setting is a collection of various levels (referred to in-game as "worlds") that the player progresses through. As in the first game, the player can travel to various Disney-based locales, along with original worlds specifically created for the series. While Disney-based worlds were primarily derived from the Disney animated features canon in the first game, ''Kingdom Hearts II'' introduces worlds that are based on live-action franchise ''Pirates of the Caribbean'' as well. Each world varies in appearance and setting, depending on the Disney film on which it is based. The graphics of the world and characters are meant to resemble the artwork style of the environments and characters from their respective Disney films. Each world is disconnected from the others and exists separately; with few exceptions, players travel from one world to another via a Gummi Ship.

Some worlds featured in the previous games reappear, but with new and expanded areas. There are also new worlds that are introduced, including the Land of Dragons (based on ''Mulan''), Beast's Castle (''Beauty and the Beast''), Timeless River (''Steamboat Willie''), Port Royal (''Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl''), Pride Lands (''The Lion King''), and Space Paranoids (''Tron''). Twilight Town, an original world first seen in ''Chain of Memories'', has a greater role as the introductory world. The World That Never Was is a new world that serves as the headquarters of Organization XIII.

Characters

The three protagonists of the game are Sora, a 15-year-old boy chosen as a wielder of the Keyblade, a mystical key-shaped weapon that can combat darkness; Donald Duck, the court magician of Disney Castle; and Goofy, the captain of the Disney Castle guards. Both Donald and Goofy are under orders from their missing king, Mickey Mouse, to accompany Sora and his Keyblade. Other original characters include Riku, who is briefly playable at the game's climax, and Kairi, Sora's friends from his home world of Destiny Islands; Roxas, a boy who can also wield the Keyblade and is playable in the game's beginning sequence; Naminé, a girl with the power to manipulate memories; and DiZ, a man in red robes with a vendetta against Organization XIII, who is later revealed to be Ansem the Wise, the mentor of Xehanort.

As in the previous games, there are numerous appearances of characters from both Disney and Square Enix works. While some make a return from ''Kingdom Hearts'', new characters from Disney fiction are also introduced, such as Scar from ''The Lion King'' and Scrooge McDuck. Pete appears as a persistent enemy who works with the resurrected Maleficent. Nearly twenty characters from ''Final Fantasy'' games appear, notably Auron of ''Final Fantasy X'', Tifa from ''Final Fantasy VII'', and the return of Squall Leonhart, Cloud, and Sephiroth. It was stated that although the first game strictly stuck to characters Tetsuya Nomura designed, this time around they were going to "take some risks", implying that characters not directly designed by Nomura might make an appearance. Other new characters to series are Vivi of ''Final Fantasy IX'', Seifer Almasy of ''Final Fantasy VIII'' and Setzer of ''Final Fantasy VI''.

The various worlds that Sora explores often have an optional party character from the film on which the world is based. Such party members include Fa Mulan, the woman who passes as a man in order to take her ailing father's place in the army; Jack Sparrow, a pirate who seeks to reclaim his ship, the Black Pearl; Simba, the self-exiled lion who is the rightful king of the Pride Land; and ''Tron'', a security program in Hollow Bastion's computer network who seeks to end the dictatorship of the Master Control Program.

Organization XIII, a group of powerful Nobodies—the "empty shells" left over when a strong-hearted person becomes a Heartless—introduced in ''Chain of Memories'', is established as the primary group of antagonists early on. Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII, serves as the main antagonist and final boss of the game. Villains unique to the worlds are still prevalent, and are often presented as challenges that Sora's group must overcome.

Story

Sora, Donald, and Goofy have been in suspended animation for the past year to regain their lost memories. Roxas, Sora's Nobody, is trapped in a virtual simulation of Twilight Town created by DiZ to merge him with his original self to restore Sora's power. DiZ's plans are threatened when Nobodies led by Axel, Roxas's former friend in Organization XIII, infiltrate the virtual town to extract Roxas. However, Roxas is able to repel the Nobodies and finally merge with Sora. Sora, Donald, and Goofy awaken in the real Twilight Town and meet King Mickey and Yen Sid, who send them on another journey; their goal is to find Riku and uncover the Organization's plans. Afterward, Maleficent is resurrected and joins with Pete to continue her quest for power.

Sora travels to familiar and unfamiliar worlds, where he resolves several problems caused by Organization XIII, the Heartless, and various local villains. During a visit to Hollow Bastion, they reunite with Mickey, who explains that the Heartless "Ansem" they defeated is an imposter named Xehanort, whose Nobody, Xemnas, is the Organization's leader. The Organization also reveal that they seek the power of Kingdom Hearts, creating one from the hearts Sora has released from the Heartless with his Keyblade, to regain their lost hearts; in addition, Sora discovers that the Organization is holding Kairi hostage to force him to comply. Sora revisits the worlds to solve lingering problems and new complications while seeking a path to Organization XIII's base of operations in the World That Never Was. Throughout his endeavors, Sora is secretly aided by a hooded figure whom Sora believes to be Riku.

Following a lead, Sora, Donald, and Goofy enter a passageway to the World That Never Was through Twilight Town, where Axel sacrifices himself to give them safe passage. Sora finds Kairi and Riku, the latter of whose appearance has been changed to that of Xehanort's Heartless after using his power to capture Roxas. Mickey encounters DiZ, who reveals himself to be the true Ansem, Xehanort's mentor. Ansem uses a device that dissipates some of Kingdom Hearts' power, but a system overload causes the device to self-destruct, both engulfing Ansem and miraculously returning Riku to his original form. Atop of the Castle That Never Was, Sora and company battle Xemnas, who uses what remains of Kingdom Hearts to fight them. After Sora and Riku destroy Xemnas, the two become trapped in the realm of darkness, where they discover a portal to the realm of light in a bottled letter sent by Kairi, allowing them to return to the Destiny Islands and reunite with their friends. In a post-credits scene, Sora, Kairi, and Riku receive and read a letter from Mickey, the contents of which are hidden from the player.

In Virginia, unknown assailants breach into an NSA bunker beneath the horse ranch headed by Agent Augustus Gibbon who fends off the attackers before barely escaping with Toby Shavers. To find help and a XXX with more attitude, Gibbons meets with Lieutenant Darius Stone, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, who is currently 9-years into his 20-year sentence in Leavenworth for disobeying orders and breaking the jaw of ex-four star General George Deckert, who is now the Secretary of Defence. The investigation into the attack on the bunker is led by NSA Agent Kyle Steele, who is informed that concurrently Xander Cage was apparently killed in Bora Bora.

Gibbons helps break Stone out of prison, who then sets himself up as their leader due to his lack of trust in Gibbons. Leading them to Washington, Stone meets with Zeke, his old partner in crime, and Lola Jackson, his ex-girlfriend, who now runs an exotic car shop. Despite having moved on, Lola agrees to let Stone, Gibbons and Shavers hide in her shop in exchange for the '67 GTO Shavers modified, and a promise that Stone wouldn't interfere in her life. Stone then infiltrates the NSA bunker, where Gibbons instructed him to recover a hard drive, whilst Gibbons returns to his house to recover evidence. However he is attacked in his house by Deckert and Sergeant Alabama "Bama" Cobb, who destroy the house and apparently kill Gibbons whilst covering up the evidence. Stone meets up with Gibbons' contact, Charlie Mayweather, to get information. Charlie directs Stone to a party where Stone recognizes that Deckert's bodyguards are members of his old SEAL Team, before overhearing Deckert getting into an argument with General Jack Pettibone VCJCS. Stone goes to Charlie's safe house but is framed for the murder of General Jack Pettibone, who is apparently her father, realizing that she is involved.

The police arrive, and Steele arrives to talks with Stone before escaping. While Shavers hacks into the Pentagon to retrieve Deckert's plans, Steele researches Stone and discovers why he was in prison: Deckert ordered his SEAL team to start a fire to clear civilians, but Stone and half of the unit refused and mutinied, resulting in Stone punching Deckert and being court martialed. Stone infiltrates Deckert's troops aboard an aircraft carrier and discovers Gibbons alive, being held prisoner along with the rest of their SEAL team. Stone realises that the men who sided with him against Deckert 9 years ago are prisoners, whilst those who stayed loyal are Deckert's security. Stone's presence is alerted by Mayweather, forcing him to escape.

After retrieving the plans, Stone learns that Deckert is not only corrupt, but is planning a coup against President James Sanford. Stone makes contact with Steele and shows him the plans. When Steele notes that his plans are not clear proof, Stone leaves in frustration, to Steele's initial disbelief. During a conversation with Deckert, Steele realizes Stone was right. He finds Stone and tells him that Deckert wants to kill Sanford and his successors so he can take Sanford's place as President, in opposition to Sanford's current plans to dismantle various military branches to focus on foreign aid.

Unable to trust legitimate law enforcement, Stone, Steele, and Shavers enlist the aid of Zeke and his crew. Together, they rob an civilian truck secretly hauling guns and equipment for the Department of Homeland Security under the guise of a cheese truck. They end up hijacking a tank, and Stone helps Steele infiltrate the Capitol building. A shootout starts, and Gibbons kills Mayweather. Deckert and Cobb abduct Sanford while he is making the State of the Union Address, and with Gibbons now free they escape on a bullet train. Lola arrives with a Ford Shelby Cobra Concept, and Stone uses it to chase and infiltrate the train. He engages and kills Cobb before engaging Deckert, while Gibbons flies a helicopter which Steele extracts Sanford by. Stone jumps out after Gibbons derails and destroys the train, killing Deckert.

The story is covered up, and Deckert is buried and branded as a hero. Sanford awards Steele and the unknown soldier (Stone) the Medal of Honor. Stone is officially released from prison, and making good on his promise not to interfere with Lola's life, says his goodbyes and goes back to his former lifestyle. In the now-rebuilt NSA Headquarters, Gibbons, Steele, and Shavers discuss what kind of person the next Triple X agent should be.

Constructed as a series of chapters that take place at a turning point in each character's life, the story moves from seven years in the past, to three years, to two, and finally arrives in the present day. Emily Friehl and Oliver Martin's first encounter is on a flight from Los Angeles to New York City. He has hopes of becoming an Internet entrepreneur and, certain of his future success, gives her his mother's phone number and suggests she call him in six years to see if his prediction came true.

Three years later, facing the prospect of spending New Year's Eve alone, Emily finds Oliver's number and calls him, and the two meet for dinner. Thus starts a series of reunions with the passing of time, as each drifts in and out of relationships with others, Oliver and his business partner Jeeter start an on-line diaper service, and Emily becomes a successful photographer. Each time they meet, one appears to be settled and content while the other is struggling to make headway in both life and career. Eventually, they come to the realization that each is exactly the person the other one needs for fulfillment. A few years later, Emily gets engaged, but she still has feelings for Oliver. Her sister later sees him at the drapers thinking that he's getting married. Upset, Emily goes to track down Oliver who asks her what is she doing here. The movie ends where Oliver says it's always gonna be you.

Set in 11th century Europe, the series concerns the efforts of the wandering noble Sir Aymar de Bois-Maury, knight, to reclaim his ancestral home, Bois-Maury. Less focused on action than the other series of Hermann (like ''Jeremiah''), ''Les Tours de Bois-Maury'' deals more with human thoughts and considerations.

Phil Weston is an average person who had to endure his father Buck Weston's over-competitiveness throughout his life; his upbringing has left permanent mental scars. Now middle-aged and married, with a young son named Sam, Phil runs a small vitamin store, while Buck operates a chain of sporting good stores.

Buck is coach of the Gladiators, the most successful little-league soccer team in the district. Sam is on the team, but to Phil's annoyance Buck keeps him on the bench, a humiliation he had also endured from him as a child. Buck eventually transfers Sam to the Tigers, the league's worst team.

At Sam's first game with the Tigers, their coach is absent. Rather than forfeit, Phil offers to coach them, a position he takes up permanently. However, despite his best efforts, the team does not improve. Desperate, Phil recruits Mike Ditka, Buck's neighbor and hated enemy, as assistant coach. Enticed by the opportunity to beat Buck, Ditka accepts the position. Despite grueling training, the team continues to lose.

Ditka introduces Phil to two exceptionally talented Italian brothers named Gian Piero and Massimo, sons of a local butcher. Phil convinces their uncle to let them play for the Tigers. They have an immediate impact, scoring repeatedly. The resulting winning streak makes the team a serious contender in the league. After finally winning a few games, Phil and Buck bet, if the Gladiators win the championship, Phil will sell his store and work for Buck. If the Tigers win Buck gives Phil his prized possession, 'The Pelé Ball', the soccer ball struck by the famous player which Phil caught as a child and Buck took from him.

Meanwhile, Ditka also introduces Phil to coffee, which rapidly changes him from a mild-mannered caring father, to an obnoxious, egotistical, over-competitive coach, not that different from his father, abusing kids and parents alike. The team's mantra becomes "Get the ball to the Italians", which, though effective, demoralizes the team. In an ultimate over-competitive act, Phil benches Sam for the entire semi-final game; furthermore, just prior to the game Ditka resigned as assistant coach due to Phil's unsportsmanlike behavior towards him, the kids and the rival team.

In the finals the Tigers face off against the Gladiators. At half-time, the score is 2–1 for the Gladiators. In a heart-to-heart discussion with Sam, Phil realizes the error of his ways. He tells his team to do exactly the opposite of what he taught them. Although the Gladiators score one more goal after half-time, the Tigers do not give up hope. Phil gives the goalie a vision test with glasses from the crowd. From there, Ambrose scores one goal—making the score 3–2. After another goal, the score is tied. The team rallies and produces a spectacular team performance to win 4–3, with Sam scoring the winning goal against his uncle Bucky (Buck's son from his second wife and Phil's younger half-brother, who was born on the exact day as Sam), using a move that he practiced when his dad benched him in the semi-finals.

Phil apologizes to Ditka for his earlier behavior, and Ditka accepts his apology. Honoring the bet, Buck tries to give Phil the ball, but Phil refuses. Making peace with his father, they merge their businesses, realizing there is more to life than winning.

The film ends with an adapted version of the "He's Got Balls" commercial originally produced by Buck. In it, the entire Tigers team appears, announcing the merger of Phil's vitamin shop—Phil's Pills—and Buck's Sporting Goods Store. The team shouts, after the "He's got balls" line, "And vitamins." Mike Ditka is last seen watching and criticizing the commercial before the credits roll.

The film, set during World War II, and released in 1944, is a prime example of a propaganda film. The film depicts the struggle of the workers at the Hiratsuka precision optics factory to meet production targets during World War II. They continually drive themselves, both singly and as a group, to exceed the targets set for them by the factory directors. The film’s factory directors push the girls to be their best for their country. The girls live in a dormitory, and every day they march and sing songs about Japan’s greatness while on the way to work. They live away from their parents but are happy to do so to serve their country. Every morning before work, they pledge that they will be loyal to Japan and will work to destroy the U.S. and Britain. There are encouraging signs posted everywhere about working hard for one’s country in the factory. During the film, one of the girls gets sick and has to stay home, making her incredibly upset about missing work and cries because of the tremendous guilt she feels. She begs not to be sent home because she wants to keep working. Later on, a girl falls off the roof and gets badly injured. Yet she says she is delighted that she didn’t harm her hands and will come to work on crutches. Their productivity decreases, the girls know their reputation is at stake, and they must work harder. One of the girls says that “one can’t improve productivity without improving one’s character.” Watanabe’s mother gets sick, her dad writes that under no circumstance should she come home, and her mother wants her to keep working, saying that her job is too important to leave. Near the end of the film, one of the girls gets a high temperature and tries to shake it off because she doesn’t want to get sent home or stop working. Later on, Watanabe accidentally misplaces a lens and spends the entire night looking for it, she is worried her mistake will cost a soldier their life. The film ends with Watanabe’s mom dying and her father telling her to stay at work. The factory directors ask her to go home. She refuses to go home and cries while continuing her work.

A vagabond family composed of Pop Kwimper (Arthur O'Connell), his good-natured but unsophisticated son Toby (Elvis Presley), and various informally "adopted" children, including their babysitter, a 19-year-old named Holly Jones (Anne Helm), is traveling through Florida. Pop drives onto an unopened section of a new highway. The car runs out of gas and the Kwimpers intend to wait until a government vehicle passes by to help them out. In the meantime, they set up a temporary camp.

After a time, the first vehicle to come by belongs to state highway commissioner H. Arthur King, who is appalled that the Kwimpers' presence on the pristine highway might negatively impact its dedication ceremony that day featuring the governor of Florida. King tries to have the Kwimpers forcibly removed, but when the governor arrives in advance of the ceremony, Pop informs him that they are invoking the state's homesteading laws and plan to live near the highway permanently. The governor applauds the Kwimpers' pioneering spirit and tells the police to respect "private property."

King, who considers the Kwimpers to be a huge nuisance, leaves angrily and vows to return. Holly tells Toby that she is thrilled by the prospect of homesteading because she has never had a real permanent home. A chance encounter with an avid fisherman (Herbert Rudley) gives Holly an idea: with the help of a $2,000 bank loan, they will build a thriving business catering to sport fishermen.

Trouble soon follows. King has the Kwimpers cut off from all social assistance from their home state. As the area is technically outside the jurisdiction of any law enforcement, two gamblers (Jack Kruschen and Simon Oakland) soon set up a raucous casino in a trailer. They attempt to buy the Kwimpers' land and belongings, but Pop refuses to sell at any price.

Shortly thereafter, Toby rejects the advances of an amorous social worker named Alicia Claypoole (Joanna Moore), an ally of King. In an act of revenge, she begins legal action to have the children taken away from Pop and make them wards of the state.

Toby becomes the new community's sheriff and tries to quell the noise coming from the casino every night. His presence as a law-enforcement officer causes the casino patrons to flee. The gamblers bring in a team of hit men from Detroit to eliminate Toby and build a bomb to destroy the Kwimpers' home. However, Toby naively but successfully deals with the casino's armed thugs, and after Holly returns a bag left under their front porch by their neighbors, the casino trailer blows up. The gamblers cut their losses and flee, convinced they are lucky to be leaving with their lives.

In the end, Toby's earthy wits and honesty win over the judge at the children's custody hearing. The judge orders the children to be returned to Pop and also praises the Kwimpers' pioneer spirit in his statement to the court. The family happily returns to its new land and home. Holly also gets Toby to recognize that she is now a grown woman, and it is implied they will soon marry.

Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning

About two years ago, Ayumu Narumi's older brother Kiyotaka, a famous detective and pianist, mysteriously disappears without a trace. Ayumu's only clue as to his brother's whereabouts is the phrase "Blade Children," the only words Ayumu could make out in Kiyotaka's final phone call. Now in his freshman year of high school, Ayumu becomes involved in solving a series of murders, crimes, and other incidents, all related to the Blade Children. Together with his school's journalist, Hiyono Yuizaki, and the unwilling assistance of his sister-in-law, Madoka, Ayumu tries to figure out who the Blade Children are and what are their goals.

The Blade Children are the central mystery of the series, known only as cursed children that few know about and are being pursued by so-called Hunters. They are distinguished by their cat-like eyes (though a few lack this feature) and by missing the seventh right rib bone. As Ayumu investigates them, he meets five Blade Children Kousuke Asazuki, Rio Takeuchi, Eyes Rutherford, Ryoko Takamachi, and Kanone Hilbert, and is tested in various ways by them. Those who meet him eventually conclude, some more reluctantly than others, that Ayumu does have what it takes to "save" the Blade Children, as they say Kiyotaka claims.

The anime series, which adapts the story through the sixth volume of the manga, compares the Blade Children to cuckoo birds, having been deposited in human "nests" to be raised, and suggesting that cuckoos go violently crazy toward the end of their lives. The manga continues the story, depicting Ayumu's discoveries about the origin of the Blade Children, their relationship with Kiyotaka, and why his older brother thinks Ayumu might be their savior.

Some thirty years ago, a man called Yaiba Mizushiro was born with one rib missing from his right ribcage. Like Kiyotaka, he excelled at everything he chose to put his mind to. When he turned twenty-three, Yaiba started his own secret society, which swiftly grew powerful enough to manipulate world events. Citing boredom, Yaiba initiated the "Blade Children Project": using in vitro techniques and his DNA, he created eighty children, and had a rib removed from each of them at birth as a mark of their relationship to Yaiba. These Blade Children were cursed in the same way Yaiba was: they would grow up as geniuses in their own right, but one day their blood would awaken murderously and take over their self-will, becoming Avatars of Yaiba. Yaiba's organization split into three parties over the Blade Children Project: * The '''''Savers''''' supported Yaiba's goals and desire to create more Blade Children. With Yaiba's death, they sought to protect the fact the future had not been determined yet. * The '''''Watchers''''' were neutral, wanting to observe the first batch of Children and gather results first. * The '''''Hunters''''' were against Yaiba, and tried multiple times to assassinate him, but repeatedly failed. After Yaiba's death, they worked to eliminate the Blade Children because of their potentially dangerous natures.

When Yaiba was thirty-six, a Japanese man came out of nowhere and easily killed him: Kiyotaka Narumi, Yaiba's counterpart—if Yaiba had been a destroyer, Kiyotaka was a creator. Yaiba had intended to remake the world literally in his own image; with his death, the Blade Children project was halted. Kiyotaka had his hands full trying to stop the Hunters from killing the Blade Children, while trying to check the Savers at the same time.

Just as Kiyotaka and Yaiba were linked, Ayumu eventually meets his own counterpart: Hizumi Mizushiro, Yaiba's younger brother, and the one who will awaken the blood of the remaining Blade Children.

Spiral: Alive

''Spiral: Alive'' is centered on a girl, Imari Sekiguchi, who falls in love with Shirou Sawamura, a boy who wants to become a detective. However, before Imari can confess to him, he unexpectedly quits school to pursue Kiyotaka Narumi. Imari learns that he also is dating Yukine Amanae, a beautiful girl at their school, and both Shirou and Imari are unaware that Yukine is actually a reluctant murderer. Meanwhile, Toru Saiki, a member of the Police Department's First Investigations Department, investigates the mysterious murders connected with Amanae and is unwilling to bring in Kiyotaka, believing that Tokyo's greatest detective is more demonic than divine. Imari, Shirou, and Saiki become involved in events that are mysteriously connected to the Blade Children. Several characters from the original series return, including Kiyotaka, Kousuke, Ryoko, Kanone, and Madoka.

The series reveals that of the eighty original Blade Children watched by the Hunters, Savers, and Watchers, thirteen have been completely erased from their lists of Blade Children. The one responsible for this had been a neutral party who committed suicide after accomplishing this. The only information about the thirteen missing Blade Children is contained in the Mikanagi File, named after Professor Isabel Mikanagi, who was responsible for their disappearance. With Professor Mikanagi's death, the file was entrusted to her associates, Yukine's parents. After their deaths as the result of a Hunter's actions, Yukine survived and currently holds in her memory the only record of the Mikanagi File.

The novel, written in the first person in the form of Cameron McCabe's confession, is set in London in the mid-1930s. McCabe works in the film industry and has made himself a name as a supervising film editor working mainly on feature films. One day his boss, Isador Bloom, orders him to cut out altogether a young aspiring actress, Estella Lamare, from a movie which has just been produced. As the picture is about a love triangle McCabe does not see the point in doing as he was told and immediately suspects some foul business. He does not know then that this is in fact Bloom's revenge on Lamare for "showing him a cold shoulder" when he made a pass at her.

One Friday morning soon afterwards, Lamare's body is found on the floor of John Robertson's workplace at the studio, which happens to be a state-of-the-art cutting room. The place is equipped with an automatic camera which, once it has been set, starts recording the moment the door to the room is opened. Estella Lamare has died from stab wounds, and although the roll of film showing her slow death can be found it cannot be decided exactly how she died. On the film Ian Jensen, her partner in her last movie (from which she was to be cut out), can be seen struggling with Lamare, but the cause of her death may have been either an accident or suicide, or murder.

As Jensen is nowhere to be found Scotland Yard assumes that he is Lamare's murderer and that he has escaped to his native Norway. However, four days later, on December 3, 1935, his body is found in a shabby rented room in a cheap boarding house in London. Jensen has been poisoned and then, after his death, shot in the head.

The police investigations are conducted by Detective Inspector Smith of Scotland Yard. Right from the start there is antagonism between Smith and McCabe: Each suspects the other of knowing more about the case than he admits, with McCabe repeatedly assuming the role of detective while Smith seemingly has no idea how to solve the crime. Eventually the confrontation between the two antagonists escalates—their "game" turns into a "fight"—when Smith has McCabe arrested for the murder of Ian Jensen. McCabe refuses to be represented by a lawyer during his trial ("a layman conducting his own defence"), and systematically tries to break down the case against his person and to win over the jury to his cause.

In the course of the trial a number of facts about the people involved in the two deaths are revealed. For example, we learn that McCabe himself is a "morally uprooted" man who has replaced "eternal values" with "values of the moment". Until his arrest he has a relationship with Maria Ray, the actress who, together with Lamare and Jensen, forms the love triangle in the recently completed film. Although Maria Ray is the love of his life, McCabe cannot help starting an affair with Dinah Lee, his secretary, and, by carrying on two relationships at the same time, double-crossing both women. In his defence he even goes so far as to use Ray's own promiscuity—she has had affairs with both McCabe and Jensen—to question her credibility as a witness for the prosecution. He also insinuates that Smith has used doctored evidence to build up his case against him.

The members of the jury are impressed, pronounce a verdict of "Not guilty", and McCabe is acquitted. Smith now turns out to be a policeman who cannot lose but who actually loses his job as a result of McCabe's acquittal. When McCabe eventually tells him that he '''is''' Jensen's murderer after all it is because he realizes that he has irrevocably lost Maria (as well as Dinah), who would not even speak to him on the phone, and that there is not anything left in this world that might keep him alive. Now that he has written his story down for posterity he no longer minds being the target of Smith's revenge, who thinks McCabe's belated confession is the last straw. McCabe posts his manuscript to an old journalist called A.B.C. Müller whose acquaintance he has recently made and immediately afterwards is found shot. Smith is arrested, tried, and hanged.

With Cameron McCabe dead, the addressee of his manuscript continues the narrative, a part of the book which is entitled "An Epilogue by A.B.C. Müller as Epitaph for Cameron McCabe". Müller sees to the proof reading and the publication of ''The Face on the Cutting-Room Floor'' and becomes an avid collector of reviews of the book, comparing it with the fiction of Hemingway, Dashiell Hammett, and even James Joyce. At the same time he deplores, and condemns, the "arrested development of the criminal mind", in particular of course McCabe's.

One day in London Müller bumps into Maria Ray, whom he has not seen again since the trial, and they have a talk. To Müller's surprise, she claims that McCabe committed suicide—as an act of revenge, in order to get Smith convicted for murder. She also tells Müller that Smith was in love with her. At the end of the novel, Müller on the spur of the moment wants to propose to Maria Ray but then decides instead to "shoot her dead".

Thus, in Borneman's novel, Estella Lamare is "the face on the cutting-room floor", both literally and metaphorically.

The series tells the story of Greg Feely, a bachelor whose main interests are his cat and masturbating to pornography. Feely is actually a member of a shadowy organization called The Hand and their attempts to keep society on the path to the "Status Q".

The Ninth Doctor and Rose are drawn by a distress signal to a massive bunker beneath Utah in 2012, filled with alien artefacts including a cyborg head collected by the bunker's owner, Henry van Statten. Rose is offered a tour of the facility by Adam Mitchell, a man who buys and catalogues artefacts for van Statten. Van Statten takes the Doctor to show him a living alien being, which the Doctor recognises as a Dalek, a race thought to have been wiped out in the Time War. The Dalek is seriously wounded and weakened, and unable to break its bonds, but when the Doctor attempts to destroy it, van Statten orders his guards to restrain the Doctor and return him to his offices. There, van Statten has the Doctor secured, noting that not only does he collect aliens, but also tortures them to gain information, and proceeds to invasively and violently study the Doctor's body to learn more about his physiology.

Meanwhile, Adam has taken Rose to the Dalek. Rose takes pity on the weakened creature and touches its casing; the Dalek promptly absorbs her DNA and the remnants of time energy she has from travelling in time, and is able to re-energise itself. It escapes its bonds, kills several guards, and connects to the Internet where it learns of the fate of the Daleks and realises it is the last surviving member of its race. With no other purpose, it proceeds to target and exterminate all non-Dalek life forms. Van Statten is forced to release the Doctor to help stop the Dalek, but the Dalek refuses to cooperate, and continues killing all those left in the Vault.

The Dalek readies to kill Rose but it cannot, having found compassion embedded in itself from Rose's DNA. The Dalek is tempted to kill van Statten out of revenge, but Rose instead convinces it to spare his life. The Doctor arrives and prepares to kill the Dalek but Rose stops him, convincing him he's becoming as which he swore to stop and that the Dalek has developed emotions. However, the Dalek is unable to cope with these emotions, and, now aware of the hopelessness of its situation, it asks Rose to order its self-destruction. Rose agrees to end its misery, and the Dalek implodes.

Van Statten's assistant Goddard takes over the bunker, planning to wipe van Statten's memories for the deaths he caused and to fill the bunker with cement. Rose offers Adam the chance to travel with her and the Doctor since he will have no job after this.

In the 1880s, a martial arts student continues his quest to become a judo master, from that discipline's founder. Eventually, he learns enough to demonstrate his skill in a boxing match between American and Japanese fighters at the end of the movie. The whole movie is actually about the rivalry between karate and judo martial artists, and Sanshiro's struggle to do what is right. On one side there is the morally right thing to do, and on the other the rules in the dojo. Eventually he decides to break all of the rules, leave the dojo, fight the American boxer and, also, the karate masters. He wins both fights and at the end of the movie smiles while washing his face, finally able to sleep and finally be happy.

In the Nevada desert, a group of men break into a military base and steal a top-secret project, intending to use Third Street School as their headquarters.

Meanwhile, after T.J. Detweiler and his friends pull one last prank before summer vacation begins, they shock him by revealing they will be attending different summer camps, departing the next morning. Two days later, T.J. notices strange activity occurring at the school before an aggressive bald man named Kojak intimidates him. Investigating further the next day, he sees some scientists inside levitating a safe with a tractor beam. When neither his parents nor the police believe him, he goes to Principal Prickly for help, who is dematerialized after putting his key in the lock. Desperate, T.J. blackmails his older sister Becky to drive him to the camps to retrieve his friends.

The group obtains a box from one of the vehicles at the school, only to find inconsequential documents inside. T.J.’s friends accuse him of deceit until a giant laser device emerges from the roof and Kojak emerges disguised as Prickly, verifying T.J.’s suspicions. They then formulate a plan involving going to camp during the day and meeting up at night. The following day, T.J. finds Prickly’s golf pants in the dumpster, with a “Help Me!” note in the pocket; they infiltrate the school that night to rescue Prickly, unaware of school snitch Randall Weems eavesdropping. Randall informs the school deputy principal Muriel Finster, who intends to apprehend them. After the kids discover the auditorium has been turned into a laboratory and are discovered, T.J. is captured by the guards while his friends escape, which a flabbergasted Finster and Randall witness. T.J. is then locked inside the stock room, encountering a bound and gagged Prickly. Both discover that Dr. Phillium Benedict, Prickly's ex-best friend, is overseeing the operation inside the school.

Prickly exposits Benedict's background to T.J.: in 1968, he, Finster and Benedict went to teacher training; Finster was Benedict's then-girlfriend. When appointed Principal of Third Street School, Benedict proposed abolishing recess to improve test grades, but furious parents protested it. Prickly asked the superintendent to encourage Benedict to rescind, but when he declined, the superintendent replaced him as principal with Prickly, with Finster disgustedly dumping him for his cruel plans. Swearing revenge on Prickly for his losses, Benedict went into politics, eventually becoming secretary of education, until he was fired by the President for reattempting to abolish recess nationwide.

While T.J.’s friends review papers inside the box, Spinelli acquires a date book that mentions lunar perigee (taking place at 12:22 pm the next day). Gretchen realizes the device they saw earlier is a tractor beam and deduces that Benedict plans to use it to move the moon when it nears Earth. T.J. and Prickly get to Prickly’s office, where they discover Benedict’s plan to eradicate summer vacation by creating a new permanent Ice Age that will force kids indoors year-round, and alert T.J.’s friends before they are recaptured, but eventually escape. Meanwhile, T.J.’s friends persuade Becky to drive them to the camps and pick up all the other students. Taking charge, Gus concocts a plan to invade the school, which succeeds, and most of Benedict’s henchmen are defeated.

Meeting up with T.J. and Prickly, the group confronts Benedict in the auditorium, who summons more guards to stop them. However, Finster bursts in with the other teachers to save Prickly and the students, and a battle ensues. Benedict attempts to activate the beam himself, but Prickly punches him out, causing him to fall on and activate the beam. With Prickly unable to reverse it, T.J. tosses his baseball to Vince and instructs him to throw it at the machine, destroying it. Finally aware of Benedict's plot, the police arrive at the school to arrest him and his henchmen for their crimes.

As the media praise the students and teachers for thwarting Benedict's plot, T.J.’s friends decide to spend the rest of their summer with him. T.J. goes to Prickly’s office to thank him; Prickly thanks T.J. for reminding him why he started teaching: to help kids. T.J. then joins his friends as Prickly dons his peace symbol necklace from 1968, then jokingly reminds T.J. he will still be reprimanded for his earlier prank when September comes.

Nick Pulovski and his partner are assigned to the case of taking down the criminal empire of a German felon, Strom, who engages in grand theft auto for his chop shop operations. During an encounter with Strom and his men, who are loading a semi-trailer truck with stolen cars, Pulovski's partner is shot dead by Strom. Nick, despite efforts to catch the criminals on the highway, ends up losing them and is subsequently taken off the case by Lt. Raymond Garcia, who assigns him a new partner, David Ackerman, a rookie cop only recently promoted to detective.

Against orders, Nick continues investigating Strom's gang and dealing with David's lack of experience, particularly a bar brawl during which David's badge is stolen by one of Strom's men, Loco. While attending the birthday party of David's mother, Nick meets David's wealthy father, Eugene, who attempts to bribe Nick to protect David no matter what. Nick threatens one of Strom's men, Morales, into helping him. Morales manages to plant a two-way radio inside Strom's house, but he is found out and killed by Strom and his lover, Liesl. While listening in on Strom's plans to flee the country, Nick and David ambush Strom at a casino, but David botches the operation when he cannot bring himself to shoot Liesl. He is shot in the back, but survives with his bulletproof vest, while Strom takes Nick hostage and demands a $2 million ransom.

Haunted by accidentally causing his little brother's death during their childhood and by his failure to help Nick, David finally snaps and goes on a brutal rampage, interrogating as many of Strom's associates as possible. He finds another of Strom's men, Little Felix, garroted to death in his own shop, and barely escapes the same fate by Loco, who escapes before David can subdue him. In desperation, David approaches his father to supply the ransom money in case he fails. David calls his girlfriend, Sarah, who tells him that Garcia is waiting to speak to him at their home, but detectives sent by Garcia intercept David for police brutality. Realizing that Loco is posing as Garcia, David escapes and races home to intercept Loco before he kills Sarah. They clash violently until Sarah shoots Loco dead. Though David needed Loco alive, Loco's car directs him to a garage where he and Nick had previously seen it.

At Strom's garage, Nick manages to free himself, steals a revolver and attempts to escape but is cornered by Strom and Liesl. David arrives and chases them off, and they barely escape the garage before Strom detonates the explosives inside it. Catching Strom's contact sent to collect the money, Nick and David reach Strom at the airport and a long chase ensues. Strom's pilot is shot in the head, causing him to crash into another plane, while Nick and David pursue Strom and Liesl into the airport. David shoots and kills Liesl, while Nick runs out of bullets and is shot by Strom. David shoots Strom in the shoulder while Strom shoots David in the leg. Heedless to Strom's request for medical aid, Nick shoots him dead.

Sometime later, Nick, David and Garcia have been promoted. As the new lieutenant, Nick assigns David another rookie partner.

Hitmen Charlie and Lee enter a school for the blind and shoot the unresistant Johnny North multiple times, killing him. Charlie is bothered that North refused to flee and notes they were paid an unusually high fee. He and Lee run through what they know about Johnny. He was once a champion race car driver whose career ended in a violent crash. Four years before his death, he was involved in a million-dollar robbery of a mail truck. Tempted by the missing money, Charlie and Lee visit Miami to interview Johnny's former mechanic, Earl Sylvester.

Earl tells them (in a flashback) Johnny was at the top of his profession when he met Sheila Farr. Johnny fell in love and planned to propose marriage. However, Johnny's career ended with a fiery crash. At the hospital, Earl revealed to Johnny that Sheila was the mistress of mob boss Jack Browning. Enraged, Johnny rebuffed Sheila's attempts to explain and cut his ties to her.

Charlie and Lee approach a former member of Browning's crew, who reveals (in a flashback) after the crash, Sheila found Johnny working as a mechanic. She told him Browning was planning the robbery of a U.S. postal truck. On Sheila's recommendation, he agreed to Johnny as his getaway driver. Johnny forgave Sheila and modified the getaway car. Johnny punched Browning and threatened to kill him after Browning slapped Sheila. They agreed to "settle this" after the robbery.

Browning and North placed a detour sign to send the mail truck onto an isolated mountain road. When the truck stopped, the gang held it up at gunpoint, loading more than $1 million into the getaway car. Johnny then forced Browning out of the moving car, driving off alone with the money.

Charlie and Lee pay a visit to Browning, who is now a real estate developer in Los Angeles. Browning insists he has no idea what happened to the money. He reveals that Sheila is staying at a hotel and arranges a meeting with her. To avoid an ambush, Charlie and Lee go to the hotel hours earlier than agreed, but a clerk spots them and calls Browning. At first, Sheila denies all knowledge of Johnny or the money. Charlie and Lee beat her and dangle her out the window. Terrified, she tells them the truth (in a flashback).

The night before the robbery, Sheila told Johnny that Browning was planning to kill him and pocket his share. Johnny wanted to kill Browning on the spot. Sheila insisted she had a better idea. On her advice, Johnny threw Browning out of the car and drove the money to Sheila, who double-crosses Johnny. As they entered a motel room, Browning was waiting. He shot Johnny, severely wounding him, before Johnny escaped. Fearing Johnny would seek revenge, Browning hired Charlie and Lee to murder him.

Browning is waiting outside the hotel with a sniper rifle. He kills Lee and wounds Charlie. Browning and Sheila return home, where they prepare to flee with the money. Charlie shows up and shoots Browning dead. He shoots and kills Sheila and staggers out the door with the money. Charlie falls dead on the lawn while spilling the money out of the suitcase as the police arrive.

In the 1880s, a British couple and their infant son are shipwrecked in Angola, Africa. The adults build a treehouse but are killed by Sabor, an African leopard. Kala, a gorilla who lost her son to Sabor, adopts the human infant and names him Tarzan; although Kerchak, her mate and the gorilla leader, objects.

Years later, Tarzan begins to befriend other animals, including Kala’s niece Terk and the paranoid elephant, Tantor. Tarzan finds himself treated differently because of his different physique, so he makes valiant efforts to improve himself. As an adult, when Sabor arrives on scene, Tarzan manages to kill Sabor with a spear, gaining Kerchak's reluctant approval.

Meanwhile, a team of human explorers from England, consisting of Professor Archimedes Q. Porter, his daughter, Jane, and their hunter escort Clayton, are looking to study the gorillas. Jane accidentally becomes separated from the group and is chased by a mandrill troop, until Tarzan saves her out of sheer curiosity. After comparing her to himself, he realizes they are similar. Jane leads Tarzan back to their camp, where Porter and Clayton both take interest in him; the former in terms of scientific progress, while the latter hopes to have Tarzan lead the group to the gorillas. Despite Kerchak's warnings to avoid the strangers, Tarzan repeatedly returns to the camp. Porter, Clayton, and Jane teach him how to speak English properly, and tell him what the human world is like. Tarzan and Jane begin to fall in love; however, she has difficulty convincing Tarzan to lead the humans to the gorillas, as Tarzan fears Kerchak's fury.

The explorers' ship soon returns to retrieve them. Jane asks Tarzan to return with them to England, but Tarzan, in turn, asks Jane to stay with him when Jane says it is unlikely that they will ever return. Clayton convinces Tarzan that Jane will stay with him forever as long as he leads them to the gorillas; Tarzan agrees, and leads the trio to the nesting grounds while Terk and Tantor lure Kerchak. Porter and Jane are excited to mingle with the gorillas, but Kerchak returns and attacks the humans on sight. Tarzan restrains Kerchak while the humans escape; afterwards, Kerchak furiously accuses Tarzan of betraying his family, causing Tarzan to flee in shame. Kala takes Tarzan to the treehouse where she found him, reveals his true past, and says that she wants him to be happy whatever he decides. Tarzan puts on his late father's suit, signifying his decision to go to England.

When Tarzan boards the ship with Jane and Porter the next day, they are ambushed by Clayton and his traitorous band of stowaway thugs. Clayton reveals his plans to capture and sell the gorillas for a fortune, knowing that he knows where the nesting grounds are, and imprisons Tarzan, Jane, and Porter to prevent them from interfering. Tarzan manages to escape with the help of Terk and Tantor, and he returns to the jungle, rallying the animals to come to the aid of the gorillas and scare off the thugs. Clayton then mortally wounds Kerchak and battles Tarzan across the treetops. Although Tarzan spares Clayton's life and breaks his rifle, Clayton tries to kill him with his machete. Their battle comes to a cluster of vines, and Clayton tries to cut free when a vine is tangled around his neck, hanging him to death. Kerchak, with his dying breath, finally accepts Tarzan as his foster son, and names him the leader of the gorilla troop before dying peacefully.

The next day, Porter and Jane prepare to leave on the ship while Tarzan stays behind with the gorillas. As the ship leaves shore, Porter encourages his daughter to stay with the man she loves, and Jane jumps overboard to return to shore; Porter shortly follows her. The Porters reunite with Tarzan and his family, and embark on their new life together.

A mysterious group of urban street racers known as the ''Midnight Club'' race for pride, power, and glory in sleekly customized, enhanced sports cars. As a regular New York City cab driver, the player learns about this secret club and decides to join.

The player begins with a relatively unmodified and slow vehicle, that being the Taxi. Through a series of races, each with different goals, they defeat other racers and win faster and more expensive vehicles. The goal is to defeat the world champion, who is revealed to be a young Japanese woman named Anika whose father manufactures concept cars in Japan. Being the only person to beat her in a race, the player is the only one who sees her identity and become the World Champion of the Midnight Club, along with winning her concept car. Anika returns to Japan afterwards.

In the desolate, decrepit village of Dunwich, Massachusetts, Wilbur Whateley is the hideous son of Lavinia Whateley, a deformed and unstable albino, and an unknown father (alluded to in passing by mad Old Whateley as Yog-Sothoth). Strange events surround his birth and precocious development. Wilbur matures at an abnormal rate, reaching manhood within a decade. Locals shun him and his family, and animals fear and despise him due to an unnatural, inhuman odor emanating from his body. All the while, his grandfather, a sorcerer, indoctrinates him into certain dark rituals and the study of witchcraft. Various locals grow suspicious after Old Whateley buys more and more cattle, yet the number of his herd never increases, and the cattle in his field become mysteriously afflicted with severe open wounds.

Wilbur and his grandfather have sequestered an unseen presence at their farmhouse; this being is connected somehow to Yog-Sothoth. Year by year, this unseen entity grows to monstrous proportions, requiring the two men to make frequent modifications to their residence. People begin to notice a trend of cattle mysteriously disappearing. Wilbur's grandfather dies, and his mother disappears soon after. The colossal entity eventually occupies the whole interior of the farmhouse.

Wilbur ventures to Miskatonic University in Arkham to procure the copy of the ''Necronomicon'' – Miskatonic's library is one of only a handful in the world to stock an original. The ''Necronomicon'' has spells that Wilbur can use to summon the Old Ones, but his family's copy is damaged and lacks the page he needs to open the "door". When the librarian, Dr. Henry Armitage, refuses to release the university's copy to him (and by sending warnings to other libraries thwarts Wilbur's efforts to consult their copies), Wilbur breaks into the library under the cover of night to steal it. A guard dog, maddened by Wilbur's alien body odor, attacks and kills him with unusual ferocity. When Dr. Armitage and two other professors, Warren Rice and Francis Morgan, arrive on the scene, they see Wilbur's semi-human corpse before it melts completely, leaving no evidence.

With Wilbur dead, no one attends to the mysterious presence growing in the Whateley farmhouse. Early one morning, the farmhouse explodes, and the thing, an invisible monster, rampages across Dunwich, cutting a path through fields, trees, and ravines, and leaving huge prints the size of tree trunks. The monster eventually makes forays into inhabited areas. The invisible creature terrorizes Dunwich for several days, killing two families and several policemen, until Armitage, Rice, and Morgan arrive with the knowledge and weapons needed to kill it. The use of a magic powder renders it visible just long enough to send one of the crew into shock. The barn-sized monster babbles in an alien tongue, then screams for help from its father Yog-Sothoth in English just before the spell destroys it, leaving a huge burned area. In the end, its nature is revealed: it was Wilbur's twin brother, but he "looked more like the father than Wilbur did."

In Los Angeles, Detective Graham Waters and his partner Ria are involved in a minor collision with a car being driven by Kim Lee. A subsequent exchange of racially-charged insults occurs. Waters later arrives at a crime scene, where the body of a "dead kid" has been discovered.

Anthony and Peter carjack District Attorney Rick Cabot and his wife Jean. As the men drive away, they see Waters and Ria investigating the death of a man killed by Detective Conklin. Conklin claims he fired in self defense, but Waters and Ria discover that the man he shot was a fellow officer.

At home, Cabot rails that the car-jacking incident could cost him re-election, because no matter whom he sides with, he will lose either the black vote or the law and order vote. Hispanic locksmith Daniel Ruiz overhears Jean, who suspects that Daniel is a gangster, demanding that the locks be changed again.

Sergeant John Ryan and his partner, Officer Tom Hansen, pull over a SUV driven by director Cameron Thayer and his wife Christine, after she appears to perform fellatio on Cameron while he is driving; Ryan molests Christine during the stop.

Hansen goes to his superior to report Ryan's conduct and request a transfer. The superior officer berates Hansen, knowing that upsetting the department's status quo will tarnish his career, despite the obstacles he has had to overcome to reach the higher ranks of the LAPD.

In the carjacked SUV, Anthony and Peter hit a man while passing a parked van. They dump him in front of a hospital and drive away.

Waters, while having sex with Ria, gets a phone call from his mother, which leads to an argument about Ria's ethnicity. Waters later visits his mother, who asks him to find his missing younger brother.

Ryan comes across a car accident and finds Christine trapped in an overturned vehicle. Recognizing Ryan, she resists frantically, but he pulls her out just before the car explodes.

Waters is summoned to a meeting with Detective Flanagan, who tells Waters that Internal Affairs has discovered that Conklin has two prior suspicious shootings. Waters informs Flanagan that he and Ria have discovered that the officer was driving someone else's car with $300,000 in it, possibly from a drug deal. Flanagan insinuates that if Waters co-operates in helping to burn detective Conklin, the DA will appoint Waters as his chief investigator and clear Waters's brother's criminal record. At the ensuing press conference, Waters reluctantly agrees that, given the evidence, Conklin was likely a racist cop.

Anthony and Peter carjack another Navigator, which happens to be Cameron's; a police chase ensues. Hansen, one of the pursuing officers, vouches for Cameron to be let off with a warning.

Hansen picks up a hitchhiking Peter, who offends Hansen by suddenly laughing; when Peter reaches for his pocket, Hansen shoots. Peter collapses dead, revealing a statuette of Saint Christopher, the patron saint of travelers, similar to the one on Hansen's dash. Hansen hides the body in some bushes and burns his car. Waters and Ria later arrive at the scene, revealed as the beginning of the film. Waters realizes that Peter is both his missing brother and the "dead kid". Waters's mother disowns him over Peter's death.

Anthony decides to sell the van of the Korean man he had hit, but when he drops it off at a chop shop, he discovers Cambodian immigrants chained in the back; the Korean man was a human trafficker. The chop shop owner offers Anthony $500 per immigrant, but Anthony refuses. He drives the Cambodians to Chinatown and frees them. Anthony passes by a fender-bender. One driver turns out to be the insurance adjuster Ryan had previously argued with, and the other is an Asian man. An exchange of racially-charged insults occurs.

The Kramdens and the Nortons are working-class neighbors; bus-driver Ralph Kramden (Cedric the Entertainer) and sewer worker Ed Norton (Mike Epps) are best friends. Ralph is constantly masterminding get-rich-quick schemes with which Ed tries to help. The driving force behind them is their wives, Alice Kramden (Gabrielle Union) and Trixie Norton (Regina Hall); the men are trying to make enough money to afford the homes they think they and their wives deserve. Meanwhile, Alice and Trixie make ends meet by waitressing at the local diner.

In the town of Acme Falls within the kingdom of Warnerstock, all the people (including the mime) live happily together. However, upon the death of their beloved king, Sir William the Good, Warnerstock enters a state of civil war. Taking advantage of the situation, the neighboring kingdom of Ticktockia (a parody of Time Inc. at the time of its merger with Warner Communications), led by King Salazar the Pushy (drawn as a caricature of classic film actor Basil Rathbone and wearing a cloak with a clasp that resembles rapper Flavor Flav's clock necklace), takes over Warnerstock, and makes all its people poor and miserable due to overtaxing (also a parody of the formation of Time Warner). Three siblings, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner, are particularly broke, as Dot needs an operation. Wakko finds work in another town to pay for it, but Plotz takes his pay – a ha'penny – from him for "taxes".

Wakko, saddened about Dot's illness and finding no other choice, wishes upon a star. A fairy (who calls himself a "Desire Fulfillment Facilitator" or "Pip") falls from the star and explains that Wakko had just chosen the only wishing star in the sky. The star itself [which Rita and Runt witness] falls shortly after in the mountains and the fairy tells Wakko that whoever touches the star first gets one wish. The following morning, the siblings tell the whole town in singing form about the star in their excitement, and all rush towards the glow in the mountains. Yakko, Wakko, and Dot travel by sleigh, Dr. Scratchansniff, Hello Nurse, Rita and Runt travel by a wagon pulled by Phar Fignewton the horse, Slappy and Skippy Squirrel travel by trees, and Pinky and the Brain use a wheel-powered airscrew. King Salazar finds out about the star, orders Taxman Plotz and Ralph to stop the Warners from reaching the star alive, and orders his troops, led by the Captain of the Guard (a caricature of Dennis Hopper), to secure it.

Plotz does not stop the Warners from reaching the star at the same time as all the other townsfolk. However, the King's army has already built a military base around the star, and a small ice palace to the side of it, and the townspeople (including Plotz) are all captured and locked up so that the King may have his wish. The Warners hint that the wishing process is not as simple as the king thinks in a desperate bluff. The King captures the Warners and tortures them in outlandish ways, from Mr. Director's terrible singing (Mr. Director being a caricature of Jerry Lewis), then a filthy gas station restroom, and lastly Baloney the Dinosaur (who is a parody of Barney the Dinosaur).

After being traumatized, the Warners tell the King that any wish, which he makes, may have an ironic twist and demonstrate this to his annoyance. He orders the Warners executed, but Dot uses her "cuteness" to save them. The Warners escape.

As the King is about to make his wish (for the Warners to leave him alone), the Warners show up, and he tries shooting them himself with a cannon. The cannonball explodes after landing just short of hitting the Warners, injuring Dot from the shock wave of the blast. Yakko tries to convince Dot that she can make it, tearfully telling Dot the story of how she was born one last time. Dot appears to die, causing Yakko and the people of Acme Falls to cry in sorrow, along with some of the royal army. The Captain of the Guard becomes furious with King Salazar and gives him a angry speech calling him out for his cruel nature.

As everyone turns on the King (who seemingly appears a little remorseful), Wakko seizes his chance to head to the star, reaching it in time. Dot reveals that she had been acting and was not actually dead, thanks to Dot's acting lessons she's been taking; the two were buying time for Wakko, who wishes for two ha'pennies, to the delight of Dot and Yakko and the rest of the cast. The Warners then lead the townspeople back to town to help them fulfill their wishes.

Wakko uses the second of these to buy food and "season tickets for the Lakers". The first one pays for Dot's operation, which is revealed to be a plastic surgery to give her a beauty mark. Wakko's first ha'penny, however, returns prosperity to the town as the butcher, the baker, and the grocer spend the money that they earned, and the people from whom they make purchases in turn do the same.

The hospital finds Yakko, Wakko, and Dot's birth certificates, and reveals they are the heirs to the throne. Their parents, seen for the first (and only) time in a portrait, were the king and queen of Warnerstock. They (literally) boot Salazar out of their palace, and he is attacked by his own dogs. The Warners use their newfound royal authorities to grant the citizens of Acme Falls their wishes – except for the mime (who is promptly crushed by a safe and Yakko stating, "I don't know about him, but that sure was ''my'' wish!").

Taking his siblings by the hand, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot spin the Wheel of Morality one last time, which specifies the moral of the story is "Just cheer up and never ever give up hope."

A man embezzles the fortune of a dead captain's daughter.

The film is presented as a safety instruction video for forklift truck drivers and shows the first day of work for newly qualified forklift truck driver Klaus. The film highlights, in a gory manner, the dangers of unsafe operation of machinery, as well as inattention as a result of chitchatting and distraction by a female coworker passing by.

Shortly after Klaus' first operation of the forklift, he nearly hit a co-worker who left the warehouse by walking through the garage door where walking is forbidden, instead of the pedestrian exit door. While this caused no injury, it is a hint for what would be coming. As the film progresses the injuries/deaths become more brutal, beginning with things like a man falling from the forklift after he was lifted without a safety cage to hold onto but a bare wooden platform, and closing with the most violent: ending in a stray chainsaw being driven around by a severed arm on the floor, reaching and ripping through a man who had already been cut in half waist-down due to Klaus' previous accident. A gory POV shot of the chainsaw chopping through the man is shown. The warehouse's alarm bell ends up falling from its mount due to corrosion from blood stains, and lands on a head as apparent from a screaming sound. The film ends as Klaus is decapitated by the chainsaw and two men are left impaled onto the forklift prongs, screaming. The forklift drives off into the sunset as the impaled men continue to scream with the chainsaw racing after them. The closing musical theme, "Happyland", was written by French composer Laurent Lombard.

On their way to Central, the Elric brothers Edward and Alphonse, who are being escorted by Major Alex Louis Armstrong, end up in the town of Heissgart when their train is attacked by terrorists claiming to be from the Amestrian military. The Elrics are separated from Armstrong while exploring the chimera-infested town, meeting a young girl named who is not attacked by chimeras. Edward decides to chase after she calls him "shorty". They eventually find her in New Heissgart when they save her from thieves and she requests that they teach her alchemy.

The Elrics meet Armony’s father , a famous alchemist and authority on catalytics – the study of making efficient alchemy - who was researching the "Philosopher's Catalyst", a legendary material similar to the Philosopher's Stone that can enhance the potency of alchemic transmutations. Wilhelm oversaw the construction of New Hiessgart following the military and chimera occupation. When Wilhelm requests the Elrics to bring them Etherflowers, they are accompanied by Armony who eventually convinces the brothers to act against her father’s wishes and reluctantly teach her alchemy. But she suddenly falls ill while two small wings appear in her back. Later, it is revealed that Armony is the result of Wilheim's daughter Selene being fused with the catalyst, creating an alternate identity with memories of believing herself a separate person from Selene. The catalyst in her body, presented by her wings, prevents Armony from safely using alchemy while keeping her from being attacked by the rampant chimeras.

Wilheim‘s assistant Greta Riddle reveals her true identity as , a rouge alchemist who sought the Philosopher's Catalyst to become immortal while she and Wilheim won over the compliance of the Hiessgart region’s overseer Brigadier General Mudi Nemda with weaponized chimeras for his agenda of establishing his own country. Camilla abducts Armony to take the catalyst while having Nemda’s forces attack the Elrics and Wilheim. But Camilla ends up falling to her apparent death when she attempts to the kill the Elric brothers after Wilheim sabotages her scheme with an Etherflower, which damages the catalyst with Armony mortally injured as a result. In the end, as Colonel Roy Mustang and Armstrong keep the Elrics from interfering, Wilheim sacrifices himself to completely destroy the catalyst and end Armony’s suffering. Mustang’s group arrest Nemda for court-martial while the Elrics resume their return to Central alongside Armstrong while reading Armony's letter to them.

While attempting to climb the unconquered crest of Parascotopetl (a fictitious mountain in Ecuador), a mountaineer named Nuñez slips and falls down the far side of the mountain. At the end of his descent, down a snow-slope in the mountain's shadow, he finds a valley, cut off from the rest of the world on all sides by steep precipices. Unbeknown to Nuñez, he has discovered the fabled "Country of the Blind". The valley had been a haven for settlers fleeing the tyranny of Spanish rulers, until an earthquake reshaped the surrounding mountains, cutting the valley off forever from future explorers. The isolated community prospered over the years, despite a disease that struck them early on, rendering all newborns blind. As the blindness slowly spread over many generations, the people's remaining senses sharpened, and by the time the last sighted villager had died, the community had fully adapted to life without sight.

Nuñez descends into the valley and finds an unusual village with windowless houses and a network of paths, all bordered by kerbs. Upon discovering that everyone is blind, Nuñez begins reciting to himself the proverb, "In the Country of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is King". He realizes that he can teach and rule them, but the villagers have no concept of sight, and do not understand his attempts to explain this fifth sense to them. Frustrated, Nuñez becomes angry, but the villagers calm him, and he reluctantly submits to their way of life, because returning to the outside world seems impossible.

Nuñez is assigned to work for a villager named Yacob. He becomes attracted to Yacob's youngest daughter, Medina-Saroté. Nuñez and Medina-Saroté soon fall in love, and having won her confidence, Nuñez slowly starts trying to explain sight to her. Medina-Saroté, however, simply dismisses it as his imagination. When Nuñez asks for her hand in marriage, he is turned down by the village elders on account of his "unstable" obsession with "sight". The village doctor suggests that Nuñez's eyes be removed, claiming that they are diseased and are "greatly distended" and because of this "his brain is in a state of constant irritation and distraction." Nuñez reluctantly consents to the operation because of his love for Medina-Saroté. However, at sunrise on the day of the operation, while all the villagers are asleep, Nuñez, the failed King of the Blind, sets off for the mountains (without provisions or equipment), hoping to find a passage to the outside world, and escape the valley.

In the original story, Nuñez climbs high into the surrounding mountains until night falls, and he rests, weak with cuts and bruises, but happy that he has escaped the valley. His fate is not revealed. In the revised and expanded 1939 version of the story, Nuñez sees from a distance that there is about to be a rock slide. He attempts to warn the villagers, but again they scoff at his "imagined" sight. He flees the valley during the slide, taking Medina-Saroté with him.

Set against the mounting dissatisfaction at the ineffective and over self-indulgent Tory government of John Major, all hell breaks loose when conservative tabloid media mogul Roland Voss is found murdered in his country house in Scotland.

Next to Voss's body is that of his murdered wife, while their two slain bodyguards lie outside their room. The culprits seem obvious: the burglars caught fleeing the scene covered in blood and almost immediately four men are arrested for the crime, including former burglar Thomas McInnes, his son Paul and a very strange guy who likes to be known as Spammy.

However, if it's really that obvious, why did McInnes pay a visit to his Edinburgh lawyer a few days before the crime took place, and what are the secret contents of the envelope he left with her?

When the lawyer, Nicole Carrow, turns up at the Police station demanding to see her client, announcing under the glare of intense media attention claiming to have a letter that proves her client's innocence, the last thing she expects is have an attempt made on her life within hours.

Category:1997 British novels Category:Novels by Christopher Brookmyre Category:Novels set in Scotland Category:Abacus books

In the Minoan Bronze Age, a shadow looms over the village of Thena. Every three years, under King Deucalion's order, eight youths are taken from the village to the capital of the Minos' Empire. There, they are placed in an underground labyrinth to be sacrifices to the Minotaur, the Minoan god.

Theo, son of Cyrnan, the village chieftain, is haunted by the loss of his love, Fion, in an earlier sacrifice. A leprous prophetess tells him that Fion is still alive in the labyrinth. Against his father's wishes, he replaces one of the sacrifices and is taken to the Minos Empire capitol. Other captives are Danu (Theo's best friend), Morna (Danu's love interest), Tyro (who initially resents Theo because of his standing), Didi (Tyro's love interest), Vena, Ziko and Nan.

After the group are dropped into the labyrinth, the Minotaur immediately begins hunting them and kills Nan. The survivors are approached by Queen Raphaella, Deucalion's sister and unwilling lover, who offers them a way out. Vena does not believe her, and when she attempts to leave the group, the Minotaur impales her in the back of her head with its horn. The rest of the group evade the Minotaur and, led by Raphaella, they get to a chamber at the center of the labyrinth. There, the monster lies asleep on its victims' remains, and a heavy wooden door leads out of the labyrinth. Raphaella had arranged for her servant Ramaya to open the door from the other side, but Deucalion catches the servant and has her executed. Desperate, the group attempt to break down the door. The noise wakes the Minotaur, which kills Ziko and splits up the group.

Theo, Danu, and Morna encounter Turag, a villager from a previous offering. Turag has managed to elude the Minotaur thus far, but has become slightly insane over the years. Looking at the map of the labyrinth Turag has drawn, Theo learns of Fion's supposed location and goes off alone to find her, but only finds her corpse, poisoned by an underground gas deposit. Meanwhile, Tyro and Didi find one of the holes that they were dropped through. Tyro climbs up and reaches down to pull up Didi. As the Minotaur arrives, Didi panics, loses her grip and falls onto one of its horns. The Minotaur then corners Danu and Morna, and Danu sacrifices himself to save his lover.

Raphaella reaches Theo again and explains the Minotaur's origin. Her mother gave herself to bestiality to create a living god, and gave birth to the Minotaur. As the monster grew, so did its appetite, culminating in it murdering Deucalion's brother. Theo's village was blamed for the prince's death, resulting in the human sacrifices to appease the Minotaur while ensuring Minos' own survival. Raphaella sent the leper to find someone in the village capable of killing the Minotaur, and thus the leper lied to Theo about Fion's survival to make him face the beast.

Theo discovers the underground natural gas vent in the labyrinth. When the Minotaur prepares to kill Theo, Tyro sacrifices himself to distract it. Theo tempts the Minotaur into attacking him, lures it towards the gas vent, and creates a spark with Fion's amulet. The gas ignites, engulfing part of the labyrinth, while Theo and Raphaella survive by diving into a pond of water. They emerge from the water as the flames die out, and find the beast still alive and enraged. As the Minotaur charges at him, Theo takes the monster's horn, which was broken earlier, and impales it in the mouth. It keeps charging forward, and collides with a rock which drives the horn through its head, finally killing it.

Theo and Raphaella reunite with Morna and Turag and leave the collapsing labyrinth. On the surface, they find out that the explosion also collapsed the palace and fatally wounded Deucalion. Raphaella smothers him to death, ending the cycle of fanaticism. Minos' empire ends with the deaths of the Minotaur and Deucalion; Theo becomes a legend for killing the monster.

Act 1

In the country estate of Lord Dudley Rancour in the English lake district in late Spring, 1935, Dudley's servants—Clive, the overworked widower butler, Lettie, the new maid, and Flint, the "gripper" handyman—prepare for the arrival of guests. The guests—flighty Hope Langdon, proper Doctor Grayburn, black sheep nephew Nigel Rancour, supposedly French grande dame Lady Manley-Prowe, retired military Colonel Gillweather, and artist/detective Miss Tweed—express surprise at the presence of other guests, but look forward to their stay. ("A Marvelous Weekend")

Soon after they arrive, Clive announces that a storm has made the estate inaccessible, the power is in danger, Lord Rancour is dead, and that dinner is served. He is immediately killed when the staircase explodes. Miss Tweed appoints herself as leader of the survivors, and they express surprise that "the butler didn't do it". ("Something's Afoot") Doctor Grayburn discovers that Lord Rancour has been shot, and that the revolver is missing. The men leave to confirm that the bridge is flooding, leaving the women alone. Miss Tweed, Hope, and Lettie comfort Lady Manley-Prowe about her fears ("Carry On") and the women patrol the mansion with ornamental spears. Geoffrey, a college student, arrives in the mansion drenched, and is immediately tied and interrogated by the women. When the men return, they examine him and find a pistol, but they find that it is a starting pistol for his college's rowing team. He suggests that they telephone for help, but they find that the wire on every telephone has been cut with Flint's garden shears. Doctor Grayburn is tricked into answering a ringing telephone emerging from the wall, which gasses and kills him.

Geoffrey and Hope are left in a room together, and they find that they have fallen in love. ("I Don't Know Why I Trust You") Nigel confronts Lady Manley-Prowe about a letter he finds from her begging Lord Rancour for money. She reveals that she is the ex-wife of Lord Rancour, and that they divorced after she had an affair with an army lieutenant named Shirley. Nigel enlists her in his search for Rancour's will, in which he expects to be named the legal heir. While trying to distract Colonel Gillweather from Nigel's search, she discovers that he is the same Shirley, and the two reunite. ("The Man With the Ginger Moustache") She tells him that she had had his child, but that Lord Rancour had taken it from her to make it his heir. Nigel discovers the two of them, and they bicker until Miss Tweed interrupts. Geoffrey discovers a gun on Clive's body. Miss Tweed examines the clues, but she herself is under suspicion by the other guests because she "knows too much indeed." ("Suspicious") The power suddenly goes out. The Colonel yells to flip the light switch, and it electrocutes Lady Manley-Prowe when she tries to turn it on, killing her too.

Act 2

Gillweather mourns Lady Manley-Prowe. Flint gets the power back on by means of the generator, and as the rest of the survivors go off to examine it, Nigel searches for the will. When he finds it corked in a bottle, he is dismayed to find that he is not his uncle's heir, before having his head bashed in by a mechanical sconce ("The Legal Heir"). Gillweather discovers Nigel's corpse and the will, which he reads before being shot with a dart. He recognizes the poison and diagnoses that he has five minutes to live, but most of his time is taken up by Miss Tweed confiding in him about Flint's "gripper" tendencies and the discovery of Nigel. He is finally able to reveal Rancour's heir to Miss Tweed—Hope Langdon, whom he realizes is his daughter by Lady Manley-Prowe—before succumbing, dignified, to the poison.

Lettie panics at the mounting pile of bodies in the library and the survivors decide to pack up and leave as soon as climatically possible. While the others are doing so, Hope expresses her joy at finding someone like Geoffrey ("You Fell Out of the Sky") and nearly misses being hit by the falling chandelier. Lettie takes this to mean that Hope was supposed to be next, and Hope, Geoffrey, and Miss Tweed go off to pack. Lettie turns the gas on to make tea, but is distracted by Flint, who offers a means of escape by proposing they take his boat off the island. She eagerly accepts his advances this time. ("Problematical Solution [The Dinghy Song]") After he runs to pack, Lettie finds a letter in her pocket, revealing that Lord Rancour stores large sums of money in a large Ming vase. Upon discovering the vase, she cannot resist, and peeks inside, only to be sucked in and ground to bits, the vase spitting out only her shoe.

When the rest of the survivors, Miss Tweed, Geoffrey, Hope, and Flint, discover Lettie's remains, Flint goes to finish the tea. However, as he was smoking and the gas had never been turned off, there is an explosion, killing Flint. Miss Tweed concludes that since Flint's death had been accidental, he had been the murderer, with a motive of insanity. She shows Lord Rancour's will to Hope, revealing her parentage and fortune. Delighted, Geoffrey and Hope ask Miss Tweed how she solves her cases. Miss Tweed replies that all her knowledge comes from reading mystery novels. ("I Owe it All") However, as she thinks over the facts while painting Geoffrey's portrait, she declares that Flint was not the killer. Before she can tell who the true murderer was, she is strangled with her own scarf by a mechanical ornamental spear.

Geoffrey and Hope turn on each other, each suspecting the other of being the killer. However, the portrait of Lord Rancour opens to reveal a victrola, which contains the confession of Lord Rancour. He himself had planned the murders, all in order to let Hope inherit her fortune. He had killed her parents and himself so that she would never have the burden of a guardian, Clive because he had known of the existence of a child, Doctor Grayburn because he had delivered her, and Miss Tweed because she had been Hope's nanny. Rancour assumed that if the truth were revealed, the three of them would stand in her way. Nigel had been killed because he would have contested the will, Lettie because she was blackmailing Rancour, and Flint simply because he was "a gripper." Rancour explains that each murder was planned according to the victim's habits: Clive punctually announced dinner on the stairs at 7:15, for example, when the bomb was to be set off. Grieved, Hope stops listening. She and Geoffrey drink a toast to the new world that awaits them. ("New Day") However, they begin to feel ill as Rancour explains that Flint's death was meant to come from poisoned wine, which they have evidently just drunk (rather than the accidental gas explosion, which Rancour could not have anticipated). Hope and Geoffrey fall dead, thus ending the play.

It is 1782, seven years before the French Revolution. The most reviled woman in France is the ambitious and immoral Comtesse de Vache, who stalks the halls of the Palace of Versailles, spreading terror into the hearts of her fellow aristocrats by gathering their darkest and most intimate secrets. The Comtesse's servants are her maid, former sex worker Lisette, and her flamboyantly gay couturier, Bouffant. Her constant rival is Madame de Plonge, who is accompanied by her naïve yet sharp-witted daughter, Eveline.

The film chronicles ambassador Davies' impressions of the Soviet Union, his meetings with Stalin, and his overall opinion of the Soviet Union and its ties with the United States. It is made in a ''faux-documentary'' style, beginning with Davies meeting with president Franklin D. Roosevelt to discuss his new appointment as United States ambassador to the Soviet Union. It continues to show the Davies' family's trip by boat to Moscow, with stops in Europe.

While in Moscow, the movie alternates between Davies' interpretations of Soviet politics and communism and his family's impressions of Russian life. It includes a memorable scene with Mrs. Davies at a Russian department store. The movie gives Davies' perspective on various points in Soviet history. It begins with the real ambassador Davies stating, while seated in an armchair, "No leaders of a nation have been so misrepresented and misunderstood as those in the Soviet government during those critical years between the two world wars."''Mission to Moscow'', produced by Robert Buckner, 123 minutes, Warner Bros., screenplay by Howard Koch. The film then cuts to Walter Huston (portraying Davies) and begins its narrative.

Davies is shown witnessing the show trials conducted by Stalin in the 1930s (known as the Moscow Trials), which are portrayed as trials of fifth columnists working for Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.

The voice-overs continue throughout the film, interspersing storyline with Davies' opinions. The film's narrative focuses on the journey of Davies and his family. First, their physical journey from the United States to the Soviet Union. And, second, their less tangible journey from skeptics of communism and the Soviet Union into converts and enthusiasts. The narrative of the movie and the book are almost identical.

Willy Grogan is a small-time boxing promoter and innkeeper based in the Catskills resort region of Cream Valley, New York. He is a contemptible man who is in debt and pays little attention to the woman who loves him, Dolly, a chain-smoking, love-starved woman residing at the camp. Walter Gulick arrives, a young man recently discharged from the army who loves the peaceful setting almost as much as he loves working on old cars. Walter wishes to find work as a mechanic at a nearby garage.

When Willy's younger sister Rose shows up unexpectedly, she becomes interested in Walter. Willy objects because he doesn't want Rose to fall for a "grease monkey" mechanic and two-bit boxer. Dolly is envious of the young couple's romance and resents Willy's interference.

Walter, in need of work, accepts a job as a sparring partner and knocks out one of Willy's top fighters. Willy is persuaded to let Walter, known as Galahad, try his hand in a real bout. Both men are reluctant but need money. Walter begins training under the watchful eye of Willy's top trainer Lew.

After several successes in the ring, Walter is readied for his biggest fight. Gangsters want him to take a dive so that Willy can pay off his debts to them, but Walter throws his muscle behind Willy and emerges victorious. He wins the big fight against Ramon "Sugar Boy" Romero as well as Willy's approval, retiring undefeated to his vintage car and his new love.

In Iceland, two sisters, Margit and her elder sister Katla, escape their home after their mother is stoned and burned for witchcraft. They go where no one knows them, and find Jóhann, a young widower who has a son called Jónas. Katla uses magical powers to seduce Jóhann and they start living together.

Margit and Jónas become friends. However, Jónas does not accept Katla as his stepmother and tries to convince his father to leave her. Katla's magic power is too strong and even though he knows he should leave her, he can't. Margit's mother appears to her in visions and Jónas' mother appears as a raven and to bring him a magical feather. Eventually, Katla kills the boy by challenging him to jump off a cliff to prove his mother will save him. Margit figures out what her sister has done but remains silent.

One day, she hears a bird sing and thinks it is Jónas returned. She tells Jóhann this and states that her sister did not mean to kill his son. Katla runs away leaving Margit to live with Johann. Eventually, Johann also leaves and Margit is left to console herself by creating folklore-type stories about birds.

The player's character is a young detective, asked by friend Tamara Lynd to investigate her new home of Tresyllian Castle in Cornwall, England. Tamara has recently become engaged to the castle's lord, Jack Tresyllian. She was very happy until she began seeing what appeared to be The White Lady, a ghost who has allegedly haunted the castle for centuries. As if seeing a ghost wasn't nerve-racking enough, she's also begun to fear for her life. Is Tamara's imagination just overly excited from living in a large old castle, or is someone really trying to kill her? And if her life is in danger, is it from a ghost or someone using it as a disguise?

During an inspection of the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Homer is placed in a test module van that simulates a power surge. He has no idea what to do, so he pushes buttons at random and causes a nuclear meltdown, even though the van contains no nuclear material. Despite Mr. Burns' offer of a bribe, the NRC officials tell him that Homer's job requires college training in nuclear physics. After Homer is rejected by every school he applies to, Mr. Burns helps him enroll at Springfield University.

Homer neglects his studies, instead living his fantasies of college life gleaned from adolescent movies and TV shows. Thinking college life is full of pranks, partying and rigid deans, Homer insults Dean Peterson, thinking he is a crusty, old administrator — when in fact the young dean relates well to the students and is a former bass guitarist for The Pretenders.

Homer is asked to demonstrate how a proton accelerator works and causes a nuclear meltdown in class. Dean Peterson recommends Homer receive tutoring. When his tutors — three nerds named Benjamin, Doug, and Gary — try to help Homer understand physics, he refuses to cooperate. Instead, he and Bart convince them to pull a prank on rival college Springfield A&M by kidnapping the school's mascot, a pig named Sir Oinkcelot. When the pig falls ill after Homer feeds it malt liquor, the nerds are blamed for the incident and expelled.

Homer invites them to move in with the Simpsons. Their presence quickly disrupts the normal family routine. When Marge orders Homer to evict them, he tries to get them re-admitted to college with an elaborate hoax: he will nearly run down Peterson with his car, but the nerds will push him from harm's way at the last moment. Homer hopes the dean will be so grateful to the nerds for saving his life that he will readmit them. The plan backfires after Homer's car actually hits the dean, seriously injuring him. At the hospital, Homer asks that Benjamin, Doug, and Gary be reinstated. The dean agrees and they move back into their old dormitory room.

The end of the semester is approaching and Homer is unprepared for his final exam, so the nerds help him cram for it. Despite his best effort, Homer slacks off and gets an F. The nerds hack into the school's student records and change his grade to an A+, but Marge finds out and forces Homer to take the course again to set a good example for Bart and Lisa. During the end credits, Homer's return to college is full of clichés: a food fight, phonebooth stuffing and fraternity hazing. Homer flashes the audience during his graduation ceremony.

Set in Louisiana in 1905, the plot revolves around Pepe Abellard Duvalle, a bayou fisherman with a natural singing talent, who falls in love with opera star soprano Suzette Micheline (Grayson). Micheline's manager (Niven) hears Duvalle sing and invites him to come to New Orleans to sing. Reluctantly, Duvalle allows himself to be groomed for the opera. At first resistant to his advances, Micheline also falls in love with Duvalle, but is disenchanted by his transformation into a cultured gentleman. Ultimately, Duvalle regains his former rough charm and the couple unite.

The film follows a group of kids growing up in a depressed rural town in North Carolina, as seen through the eyes of 12-year-old Nasia (Candace Evanofski). After breaking up with her show-off boyfriend Buddy (Curtis Cotton III), she withdraws from her delinquent friends and becomes romantically interested in a strange, introverted boy named George Richardson (Donald Holden) who is burdened by the fact that his skull never hardened after birth. Tragedy strikes when George accidentally kills Buddy, and the group, fearing punishment, decide to hide his body. In its aftermath, George takes up the unlikely role of town hero.

The time is November, 1831. African American slave Nat Turner sits in a Virginia jail awaiting execution for his crimes. Nat led a slave rebellion which ended in the deaths of dozens of white people as well as many of his own closest friends. Thomas Gray, a smug, oily prosecuting attorney, urges Nat to "confess" his crimes and make peace with God. Nat begins to think back on his past life and tells the novel in a series of flashbacks.

Nat's first master was Samuel Turner, a wealthy Virginia aristocrat who believed in educating his slaves. Nat learned to read and write, and also became a skilled carpenter. Unfortunately, when he was still a child Nat's mother was brutally raped by an Irish overseer while the master was away. This traumatic experience gives Nat both a burning hatred of white people and a secret revulsion from women's bodies and the sexual act.

Samuel Turner has vaguely promised Nat his freedom, but through a series of misunderstandings Nat is sold instead to an impoverished preacher named Reverend Eppes. Eppes is a filthy, drooling homosexual who is obsessed with young boys, and he is determined to make Nat "pleasure" him at the earliest opportunity. Though Nat is not especially interested in young women at this point, he finds Eppes physically distasteful and shies away from physical contact. Discouraged, Eppes soon sells young Nat to a pair of cruel redneck farmers who brutally whip the frightened, timid slave and treat him like an animal. This intensifies his growing hostility towards whites.

After bouncing around different masters for a number of years, Nat finally ends up as the property of a decent, hard-working farmer named Travis. Travis allows Nat to do skilled work as a carpenter and to read his Bible and preach to other slaves. During his religious fasts deep in the deserted woods, Nat begins to have strange visions of black and white angels fighting in the sky. Gradually he comes to believe these visions mean he is to lead the black race in a holy war to destroy all whites.

Complications arise, however, when Nat meets Margaret Whitehead, the beautiful, vivacious daughter of a wealthy widow who lives nearby. Though her family owns many slaves, high-spirited Margaret opposes slavery and openly admires Nat's preaching. Gradually the two of them become friends, though Nat is haunted by the fear that if his plans succeed lovely Margaret must die.

With several loyal slaves behind him, Nat finally launches his rebellion in late August 1831. This is a time when most wealthy whites are away on vacation, which will make it easier for the slaves to seize weapons and attack the nearby town of Jerusalem. From the very beginning, however, Nat's rebellion goes all wrong. His recruits get drunk and waste precious time plundering and raping. A crazed, axe-wielding, sex-obsessed slave named Will begins ridiculing Nat's leadership and attempting to seize control of the tiny slave army. And Nat himself, unexpectedly sickened by the sight of blood and the screams of his white victims, begins to doubt both his own mission and God's plan for his life.

The final crisis occurs as the slaves storm the Whitehead plantation. In a tragic twist, Margaret and her sisters have not gone away on vacation after all. Filled with unreasoning hatred, Will the axe-wielding maniac slays all the white women but Margaret, openly taunting Nat and daring him to prove his black manhood to the rest of the recruits. With a heavy heart, Nat grabs his sword and chases Margaret into a nearby field, where he slays her with great reluctance. As the breath leaves her body, the pure young maiden sighs her forgiveness for her unwilling executioner.

Back in the jail cell, lawyer Gray smugly announces that the hangman is ready to punish Nat for his crimes. As he concludes their final interview, he asks the failed black leader if he has any regrets for having caused so much suffering and death.

Two North Korean soldiers are killed in the DMZ in the Joint Security Area at a North Korean border house just across the Bridge of No Return, before Sergeant Lee Soo-hyeok (Lee Byung-hun), a wounded South Korean soldier on border duties, attempts to flee back to the South Korean side. The southern troops rescue him while gunfire erupts and, two days later, the fragile relationship between the two Koreas depends on a special investigation conducted by Swiss Army Major Sophie E. Jean (Lee Young-ae) on behalf of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission.

As Sergeant Lee Soo-hyeok has confessed to the shootings, Sophie investigates why the two Koreas have contradicting accounts of events; Soo-hyeok's states he was knocked out and kidnapped while relieving himself and, waking tied up in the North Korean border house, secretly freed himself and shot three North Korean soldiers, leaving two dead. The North Korean survivor Sergeant Oh Kyeong-pil (Song Kang-ho) states to Sophie that Soo-hyeok barged into the border house and shot everyone before retreating when the wounded Kyeong-pil returned fire.

The autopsy report shows that one North Korean soldier, Jeong Woo-jin (Shin Ha-kyun), was shot eight times repeatedly, indicating a grudge was held; additionally, a single bullet is not accounted for. Over the course of the investigation, witness Private First Class Nam Sung-shik (Kim Tae-woo) attempts suicide by jumping out of the window of the interrogation room and a strange emotional reaction between Kyeong-pil and Soo-hyeok during a meeting causes Sophie to confirm her suspicions that the surviving soldiers and Woo-jin held a mutual friendship and were attempting to protect one another.

Through flashbacks it is shown that Soo-hyeok had previously been on patrol with other soldiers, only to get lost on the North Korean side and to partially trip a mine; found by Kyeong-pil and Woo-jin, the two deactivate the mine, which later prompts Soo-hyeok to throw written messages over the border at the Bridge of No Return to maintain contact over the next several weeks. Eventually inviting Soo-hyeok across the border, the three become a group of friends that soon includes Sung-shik, with the four agreeing to leave politics out of their friendship so to remain loyal to their own countries.

As tensions rise between the North and South, Soo-hyeok and Sung-shik return to the North guard house one night to say goodbye and celebrate Woo-jin's birthday, only to be discovered by a commanding officer from the North and resulting in a Mexican standoff. Despite Woo-jin panicking and betraying his friends, Kyeong-pil convinces Woo-jin, Soo-hyeok and the officer to lower their weapons, only for Sung-shik to panic and shoot the commanding officer when he reaches for his radio; when Woo-jin draws his gun again, Sung-shik shoots him, and in a daze, shoots his corpse several times. Earlier in their friendship when Soo-hyeok is joking around with his gun, Kyeong-pil asked Soo-hyeok if he'd ever had to kill a man like he's had to, implying that Soo-hyeok doesn't know what it's like. Kyeong-pil slaps Sung-shik out of his daze, takes the gun from him and kills the still-alive officer, then persuades Soo-hyeok and Sung-shik to flee with a false alibi of being kidnapped, before throwing away the evidence that he and Woo-jin were fraternizing with Southern soldiers. After shooting Kyeong-pil in the shoulder to complete the alibi, Soo-hyeok and Sung-shik flee across the border, with the latter getting past unseen; as Soo-hyeok's wounded leg from the firefight prevents him from running, he is the only soldier seen and picked up by the South Korean soldiers.

Back in the present, Sophie is eventually removed from the case when it's discovered that her father, a former POW, had North Korean ties during the Korean War, thus technically making her a non-neutral. Before leaving Korea, she attempts to informally learn of the true events first with Kyeong-pil and then Soo-hyeok. Having asked Kyeong-pil if he had a message for Soo-hyeok, Sophie gives Soo-hyeok the lighter he first gave to Kyeong-pil. Before saying goodbye and wishing him well, she reveals that Kyeong-pil told her that he saw Soo-hyeok's gun actually shot Woo-jin first during the chaos before Sung-shik shot him. On his way out, Soo-hyeok steals an officer's pistol and commits suicide out of guilt for Woo-jin's death and Sung-shik's suicide attempt. The film concludes with an American tourist's photograph of the joint security area that accidentally contains all four soldiers prior to the incident.

A Christian musical procession waits with a symbolic block of tofu outside a prison for the release of Lee Geum-ja (Lee Young-ae), a reformed female prisoner. Convicted of kidnapping and murdering a 6-year-old schoolboy, Won-mo, 13 years earlier, Geum-ja became a national sensation because of her young age, angelic appearance, and eager confession to the crime. However, she became an inspirational model for prisoner reform during her incarceration, and her apparent spiritual transformation earned her an early release. Free, she is now intent on revenge.

Geum-ja quickly shows that her "kind-hearted" behavior in prison was a cover to earn favor and further her revenge plans. She visits the other paroled inmates, calling in favors that include food, shelter, and weapons. She begins work in a pastry shop and starts an affair with a young shop assistant, Geun-Shik, who would be the same age as Won-mo, had he lived.

It is revealed that Geum-ja did not smother Won-mo. The detective on her case was aware of her innocence, but helped her fake crime-scene details to ensure her confession looked credible. As a young high school student, Geum-ja had become pregnant and, afraid to go home to her parents, turned to Mr. Baek (Choi Min-sik), a teacher from her school, for help. Mr. Baek expected Geum-ja to provide sex and assist in his kidnapping racket in return. He used her to lure 5-year-old Won-mo to him, with the intent of ransoming the child, but murdered the boy. He then kidnapped Geum-ja's infant daughter and threatened to murder the baby if Geum-ja did not take the blame. She has spent her time in prison planning revenge on Mr. Baek for the murder of Won-mo, causing Geum-ja's child to grow up without a mother, and for sending her to prison.

Geum-ja discovers that her daughter was adopted by Australian parents. Jenny, now an adolescent, does not speak Korean and does not initially embrace her mother, though she does return with Geum-ja to Seoul to bond. Geum-ja plans to kidnap and murder Mr. Baek, now a children's teacher at a preschool, with the aid of his wife, another ex-convict. Mr. Baek hires thugs to kill Geum-ja and Jenny but Geum-ja kills them and Mr. Baek is subdued.

Mr. Baek wakes up tied to a chair in an abandoned schoolhouse. On his cell phone strap, Geum-ja discovers the orange marble from Won-mo's crime scene, which had been taken as a trophy, and is horrified to see other children's trinkets also on the strap. After shooting him in both feet, she discovers snuff tapes in his apartment of the other children he had murdered. He had not been part of a ransoming racket; he would kidnap and murder a child from each school he worked at because he found them annoying. After killing each one, he would fake a ransom call to the parents, collect the money, and move on to a different school.

Sickened that four more children died because Geum-ja did not turn in the real killer 13 years ago, Geum-ja and the original case detective contact the parents and relatives of the missing children to the school. After watching each tape, the group decides to murder Mr. Baek together. They take turns beating, mutilating and torturing him until he is dead, then take a group photo, ensuring that none of them can turn in the others without implicating themselves. They then bury the corpse outside.

Geum-ja, the detective, and the relatives all converge at Geum-ja's bakery. Afterward, she sees the ghost of the murdered child who then transforms into his grown self (the age that he would have been if he had lived). Later, she meets Jenny and instructs her daughter to live purely, like tofu. She buries her face in an all white frosting covered cake and weeps as Jenny hugs her.

Responding to a brief computer outage at its Cyber-Security Division by tracking down top computer hackers, the FBI, led by Deputy Director Miguel Bowman, asks NYPD detective John McClane to go to New Jersey to bring in hacker Matthew Farrell. McClane arrives just in time to save him from assassins sent by Mai Linh, who is Thomas Gabriel's lover and also working with him to carry out his plans.

On the way to D.C., Farrell tells McClane he had written an algorithm for Linh to crack a specific security system for white hat purposes. Meanwhile, Gabriel orders his crew of hackers to take over transportation grids and the stock market, while nationally broadcasting a threatening message to the U.S. government. Farrell realizes this is the start of a "fire sale", a cyber attack designed to disable the nation's infrastructure. As McClane and Farrell are driven to DHS headquarters, Linh, posing as a dispatcher, reroutes them into a helicopter ambush. McClane fends off the attackers, destroying the helicopter and all but one of the terrorists.

Desperate, McClane asks Farrell what would be Gabriel's next move. He deduces Gabriel's next target is the power grid, so they drive to a utility superstation in West Virginia. They find the superstation under control by a team led by Linh. McClane kills all but Linh. After an intense, violent struggle between the two, Linh falls to her death in an elevator shaft.

While Farrell is working on the hub computer to slow down the damage done, he is able to trace Gabriel and uploads his picture. He then sends it to Bowman at the FBI. McClane is shocked to learn that Bowman and Gabriel once worked together at the U.S. Department of Defense. Gabriel was the chief programmer for infrastructural security. He warned the department of weaknesses that made America's network infrastructure vulnerable to cyberwarfare, but he was ignored and his unorthodox methods got him fired, and he is out for revenge. Enraged over Linh's death, Gabriel redirects large amounts of natural gas to the superstation to kill McClane and Farrell, but they escape.

McClane and Farrell then travel by helicopter to the home of super hacker, Frederick "Warlock" Kaludis in Baltimore. Warlock identifies the piece of code Farrell wrote for Linh as a means to access data at a Social Security Administration building at Woodlawn, Maryland. He confirms Gabriel's former ties as a government employee. Doing a traceroute, Warlock locates Gabriel.

The Woodlawn building is actually an NSA facility intended to back up the nation's personal and financial records in the event of a cyber attack and designed by Gabriel himself. The attack on the FBI triggered a download of financial data to Woodlawn, data which Gabriel plans to steal. Meanwhile, ordered by Gabriel, one of his top men kills all but one of his computer hackers after they've outlived their usefulness. Gabriel then taps into the connection they made, which reveals the location of McClane's estranged daughter Lucy, whom he kidnaps. McClane and Gabriel then meet - virtually - McClane telling him he will lose.

McClane and Farrell race to the Woodlawn facility. Farrell finds the facility's main server and encrypts the data Gabriel's men downloaded before getting captured. Gabriel then takes Farrell and Lucy with him as he flees. McClane pursues them, hijacking their semi mobile base. Accessing the communication system of an F-35B Lightning II, Gabriel orders the pilot to attack the truck McClane is driving, but the jet is destroyed by falling debris. McClane survives and sees Gabriel's vehicle pull into a nearby hangar.

There, Gabriel demands that Farrell decrypt the financial data. When he refuses, Gabriel shoots him in the knee and threatens to kill Lucy. McClane arrives, killing two of Gabriel's men, but he is shot in the shoulder by Gabriel's last man, Emerson. Gabriel positions himself behind McClane, putting the barrel of the gun in his shoulder wound. McClane then pulls the trigger. The bullet travels through McClane's shoulder and hits Gabriel in the chest, killing him instantly. Farrell then grabs a handgun and kills Emerson as the FBI arrives. Afterwards, McClane thanks Farrell for saving Lucy's life, who takes a romantic interest in him.

The story begins in the wake of the four lead-in limited series, with Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman feuding, the JLA Watchtower destroyed, and the heroes of the world all facing a variety of menaces. Over this backdrop, Kal-L (the Earth-Two Superman), along with Earth-Two's Lois Lane, Earth-Three's Alexander Luthor, and Superboy-Prime escape from the pocket universe where they had initially fled to at the end of ''Crisis on Infinite Earths''. Kal-L seeks out his cousin, Power Girl, also a survivor of Earth-Two. Believing Lois' health will improve on her native world, he hopes to replace the current Earth with Earth-Two, which he considers perfect. ''JSA'' #82 (2006)

Kal-L tries to enlist Batman's support, stating that the Post-Crisis Earth's inherent "bad" nature caused Batman's recent mistrust and hostility. Batman refuses and tries to use his Kryptonite Ring. This fails as the Kryptonite is not native to Kal-L's universe, and Superman destroys it with his heat-vision. Afterward, Batman learns Superboy-Prime destroyed the JLA Watchtower.

Alexander reveals to Power Girl that he and Superboy-Prime had been leaving their "paradise" for some time, manipulating events to help create an inter-dimensional tuning fork. Using the Anti-Monitor's remains and captured heroes and villains specifically attuned to former universes (Power Girl among them after Superboy-Prime knocks her out), Alex restores Earth-Two, unpopulated except for the Earth-Two heroes transported there.

Superboy-Prime attacks Conner Kent, this world's Superboy. Multiple super-teams intervene. Superboy-Prime accidentally kills several heroes before the Flashes and Kid Flash force him into the Speed Force, assisted by the speedsters already within it. Jay Garrick, the only speedster left behind, says the Speed Force is now gone.''Teen Titans'' (vol. 3) #32 (2006)

Seeking to create a perfect world, Alexander restores many alternate Earths. When Earth-Two Lois finally dies of old age, an aggrieved Kal-L and the younger Post-Crisis Superman Kal-El fight until Wonder Woman separates them. ''Superman'' (vol. 2) #226–227 (2006)''Adventures of Superman'' #648 & #649 (2006) Bart Allen (wearing Barry Allen's costume and aged to adulthood) emerges from the Speed Force, warning that he and the other speedsters were unable to hold Superboy-Prime, who returns wearing Anti-Monitor inspired armor that stores yellow sun radiation to empower him, making him even stronger.

Batman's strike force destroys Brother Eye, a satellite AI created by Batman that had gone rogue and begun transforming civilians into nano-infused robots geared to hunt down and exterminate supers. Alexander selects and merges alternate Earths, trying to create a "perfect" Earth, until Firestorm blocks his efforts. Conner, Nightwing, and Wonder Girl release the Tower's prisoners.''Teen Titans'' (vol. 3) #33 (2006) Fighting each other, Conner and Superboy-Prime collide with the tower, destroying it. The multiple Earths recombine into a "New Earth" as Conner dies in Wonder Girl's arms. Power Girl soon arrives and asks Kal-El what happened to Lois. The answer causes her to break down prompting her to ask Kal-L why. He answers her simply, telling her it was because he chose the wrong Superboy to condemn and the wrong Superboy to condone.

When a horde of supervillains attack Metropolis,''Infinite Crisis Special: Villains United'' (2006) heroes, current and retired, fly off to the rescue, and they are joined by the National Guard. The battle results in multiple deaths on both sides, including many by Superboy-Prime himself, who kills villains and heroes alike. During the battle, Superboy-Prime takes off to destroy Oa, planning to collapse the Universe in a big bang event, and recreate it with himself as the only superhero. Superboy-Prime is slowed down by a 300-mile thick wall of willpower created by the Green Lantern Corps, but he kills thirty-two Green Lanterns before Kal-L and Kal-El carry him toward what is left of Krypton. It is essentially a huge cloud of kryptonite. The Supermen fly Superboy through Krypton's red sun, Rao, destroying his armor and causing all three Kryptonians' powers to diminish. Falling to the sentient planet (and Green Lantern Corps member) Mogo, they fight. Kal-El finally knocks Superboy-Prime out and the older Superman Kal-L dies of his injuries in the arms of his cousin, Power Girl.

Back on Earth, Batman, struggling with Superboy's death and Nightwing's severe injuries sustained during the Metropolis battle, contemplates shooting Alex. Batman is dissuaded by Wonder Woman. Alex manages to escape.

Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman later meet up in Gotham City. Wonder Woman plans to find out who she is. Batman plans a similar journey of self-discovery, revisiting the training of his youth, this time with Dick Grayson, now healthier, and with Tim Drake joining him. Superman retires from super heroics until his powers return."''Up, Up, and Away''"

Hiding in an alley in Gotham City and making new plans, Alexander Luthor is found by Lex Luthor and the Joker. The Joker mutilates Alexander by spraying acid onto his face, then electrifies it, and finally, kills Alexander by shooting him as Lex mocks him for making mistakes including not letting the Joker play in the Secret Society and underestimating Lex.

The Green Lantern Corps imprison Superboy-Prime inside a red Sun-Eater. The series ends with him carving an ''S'' into his chest with his bare hands and declaring that he has escaped from worse prisons than this.

Three men wait outside their settlement for an automated delivery truck. Five years earlier, during the Total Global Conflict, a network of hardened automatic factories ("autofacs") had been set up with cybernetic controls that determine what food and consumer goods to manufacture and deliver. Human input had been lost, and the men planned disruption to try to establish communication and take over control. They destroy the delivery, but the truck radios the autofac and unloads an identical replacement, then prevents them from reloading items. They act out being disgusted with the milk delivery and are given a complaints checklist. In a blank space, they write improvised semantic garble—"the product is thoroughly pizzled". The autofac sends a humanoid data collector that communicates on an oral basis, but is not capable of conceptual thought, and they are unable to persuade the network to shut down before it consumes all resources. Their next strategy sets neighbouring autofacs in competition with each other for rare resources and seemingly succeeds, but there is a hidden level.

Wilson Joel's (Philip Seymour Hoffman) wife Liza (Annie Morgan) has, for an inexplicable reason, died by suicide. Wilson's one-night discovers a sealed letter from his wife, which he believes to be her suicide note. In his grief-stricken state and with the added stress of finding the letter, which he cannot bring himself to open and read, he forms an addiction to inhaling gasoline fumes ("huffing"). His mother-in-law Mary Ann (Kathy Bates) tries her best to help her son and deal with her own loss at the same time. She becomes increasingly anxious to know the contents of the letter, but Wilson refuses to open it.

To hide his addiction from his coworker Maura (Sarah Koskoff), he informs her that the petrol smell in his house is from his hobby of flying remote-controlled planes. To try to engage an ever-distant Wilson, Maura asks her brother-in-law, Denny (Jack Kehler), a radio control (RC) hobbyist, to visit Wilson. Knowing Denny will soon visit him, Wilson heads to an RC hobbyist shop to buy a plane, and learns that model planes run on Glow fuel instead of gasoline.

When Maura eventually confesses her attraction to Wilson, he runs away from her and begins a road trip to New Orleans. He grows more disoriented as he huffs on the trip, and stumbles upon an RC competition in Slidell, Louisiana. Wilson goes swimming in the lake, disrupting the RC boat races. Denny greets him on the shore with a towel, and explains to all the upset racers that Wilson just lost his wife to suicide.

Denny drives Wilson back home. Along the way, he encourages Wilson to open Liza's letter, but he is horrified when Wilson wants to do it in front of him. Wilson's addiction grows out of control, and he loses a work opportunity when a client discovers him huffing glow fuel with neighborhood kids.

After breaking into Mary Ann's house to get pictures of Liza, Wilson finds her alone holding Liza's letter. He returns home with the letter and finally opens it. His late wife's final wish is for Wilson to find someone else to love in life, while holding onto her in his heart. After he reads the final words of the letter, "Love, Liza," Wilson strikes a match and burns the letter. The gas fumes in the house ignite his clothes. Wilson peels them off and throws them to the ground, only igniting more fumes on the carpet. In his underwear, he walks out of his burning house down the road in the middle of traffic.

The plot of the book Warriors of God follows the previous part of Sapkowski's trilogy, Narrenturm. The reader mainly follows the protagonist of the whole story, the Silesian nobleman, doctor and magician Reinmar from Bělava, who after his escape from Silesia joined the Czech Hussites and became a member of the orphans' union.

Reinmar, who became an ardent supporter of the chalice after leaving home, went to northern Bohemia together with his friend Šarlej, who had become a member of the Tábor union in an effort to acquire property.

It was there that they decided to look for the wizard Rupilius Slezák, with whose help their mysterious friend and alleged astral Samson Medák would be able to return to his world. Reynevan, who was also being followed in Bohemia by the Silesian Inquisition and the servants of the bishop of Wrocław, was captured by his enemies in Trosky Castle, from where he was only able to escape with the help of the sorcerer Rupilia.

Styled as the memoir of a famous composer named Kuhn, ''Gertrud'' tells of his childhood and young adult years before it comes to the heart of the story; his relationships to two troubled artists, the eponymous Gertrud Imthor, and the opera singer Heinrich Muoth. Kuhn is drawn to Gertrud upon their first encounter, but she falls in love with and marries Muoth, whom the composer befriended as well some years before. The two are hopelessly ill-matched, and their destructive relationship provides the basis for Kuhn's magnum opus.

The game is a science fantasy comedy set in the fictional country of Aquitania, which bears a strong resemblance to early-to-middle 20th century Britain. The central characters in the story are the Guardians, immortal guardian angel-like beings who look after and help people. The Guardians - members of ARSE, the Association of Registered Stochastic Executives - are described as liking to wear herringbone overcoats and eat cheese sandwiches. Centuries ago the country was threatened by the rising dark power of the wicked Green Witches until the good magician Turani created a magical object, called the Bracelet, which holds luck and distributes it throughout Aquitania to limit and keep in check the witches' magic, banning the dangerous parts of the witchcraft and rendering them relatively harmless. However, the new high witch Jannedor has enough of the restraints. She has obtained and disassembled the Bracelet, stripped it of its five magical charms and hid them in various places (the bracelet itself is worn by Jannedor), waiting for its powers to be weakened enough it could be destroyed so she would fulfill her schemes of jinx and conquest. If the charms of Turani are not reunited soon with the legendary Bracelet of Turani then luck could completely run out and the witches will regain all of their old magic and the country will again fall under their influence.

The player character is, pretty much accidentally, recruited by the Guardians to rescue his friend Xam, who was kidnapped by the witches, retrieve the charms, fix the Bracelet, and then use its powers against Jannedor to kill her and destroy her castle, thus defeating the witches and restoring luck to Aquitania. Once Jannedor's evil ambitions are put to an end, however, the player's character is put back just where he was before he began his adventure—in front of a speeding bus—and killed.

''Another Country'' is loosely based on the life of the spy Guy Burgess, renamed "Guy Bennett" in the play. It examines the effect the persecution of his orientation, and exposure to Marxism, has on his life, and the hypocrisy and snobbery of the English public school he attends. The setting is a 1930s public school where pupils Guy Bennett and Tommy Judd become friends because they are both outsiders. Bennett is gay, while Judd is a Marxist. Judd was based on John Cornford, who died fighting in the Spanish Civil War."

The play opens with the discovery that a pupil named Martineau has hanged himself after being caught by a teacher having sex with another boy. The first act follows the reaction of some of the students to his death as the senior boys try to keep the scandal away from both the parents and the outside world. Barclay, the Head of Gascoigne's House, moves towards a nervous breakdown, blaming himself for the boy's despair. Bennett, the only openly gay member of the school, pretends nonchalance but is deeply troubled by the suicide. His best friend Judd, the school's only Marxist, believes the death is a symptom of the school's oppressive regime. When the parents of the aristocratic Devenish threaten to remove him from the school in light of the scandal, Fowler (a prefect) attempts to crack down on the perceived perversion in his House, and to persecute Bennett in particular. The other students initially defend Bennett's provocative and incendiary behaviour (partly due to Bennett's ability to blackmail them with knowledge of their own same-sex trysts). Meanwhile, Judd is reluctant to become a member of the school's exclusive 'Twenty-Two' society (a name which references Eton's 'Pop') himself. This is because he feels that this would endorse the school's system of oppression. However, he agrees to do so – after much pressure from his peers Menzies and Bennett – in the hope of preventing the hated Fowler from becoming Head of House in the wake of the Martineau scandal. But in the end, Judd's moral sacrifice is for nothing. In the second act, Fowler intercepts a letter from Bennett to his lover Harcourt, and Bennett's supporters fade away. Bennett is beaten, Judd is humiliated, and it is Devenish who is ultimately invited to join 'Twenty-Two' in the place of Bennett, shattering Bennett's childhood dream.

In the play's closing scene, Bennett and Judd recognise that the school's illusory hold upon them has been broken and that the British class system relies strongly on outward appearances. They begin to contemplate life anew, inspired by the example of Devenish's rebellious uncle, Vaughan Cunningham (who, in a subplot, visits the school). Bennett picks up Judd's copy of ''Das Kapital'', and muses, 'Wouldn't it be wonderful if all this was true?’

The book uses a third-person narrator who is nevertheless closely aware of the characters' emotions.Weatherby, W. J. 1989. ''James Baldwin: Artist on Fire''. New York: Laurel (Dell). .

The first fifth of ''Another Country'' tells of the downfall of jazz drummer Rufus Scott. He begins a relationship with Leona, a white woman from the South, and introduces her to his social circle, including his closest friend, struggling novelist Vivaldo, his more successful mentor Richard, and Richard's wife, Cass. Initially, the relationship is frivolous, but it turns more serious as they continue to live together. Rufus becomes habitually physically abusive of Leona, and she is admitted to a mental hospital in the South. Depressed, Rufus returns to Harlem and commits suicide, jumping off the George Washington Bridge.

The rest of the book explores relationships between Rufus' friends, family, and acquaintances in the wake of his death. Rufus's friends cannot understand the suicide, and experience some guilt over his death. Afterwards, they become closer. Vivaldo begins a relationship with Rufus's sister Ida, which is strained by racial tension and Ida's bitterness after her brother's death.

Eric, an actor and Rufus' first male lover, returns to New York after years living in France, where he met his longtime lover Yves. Eric returns to the novel's social circle but is calmer and more composed than most of the group. Everyone's relationships become strained in the course of the novel. Ida starts having an affair with Ellis, an advertising executive who promises to help with her career as a singer. Cass, who has become lonely due to Richard's writing career, has an affair with Eric after he arrives in New York. At the novel's climax, Cass tells Richard about her affair with Eric, who in turn has a sexual encounter with Vivaldo, who himself learns about Ida's relationship with Ellis.

Mirroring the real-world tension of the Cold War in the 1980s, ''Border Zone'' is set in and around Ostnitz, located on the border between the Eastern Bloc nation of Frobnia and neutral Litzenburg. The celebration of "Constitution Day" in Ostnitz will include a speech by Litzenburg's American ambassador; there is a plot in motion, however, to assassinate the ambassador in an effort to provoke hostilities between the superpowers. ''Border Zone'' consists of three chapters, each of which places the player in the role of a different character. An American businessman, a KGB agent, and an American spy become entangled in the assassination plot and efforts to either stop it or ensure its success.

The tension is increased by the introduction of real-time events in the game. Unusual for a text adventure, game time continues to pass even as the computer waits for the player's next input. Certain actions, such as sneaking past a guard post, must be timed carefully to succeed.

Elvis Presley plays Ross Carpenter, a Hawaiian fishing guide and sailor who enjoys boating and sailing out on the sea. When he finds out his boss is retiring to Arizona, he seeks to find a way to buy the ''Westwind'', a boat that he built with his father.

Ross is caught in a love triangle with two women: childish, insensitive club singer Robin (Stella Stevens), and sweet Laurel (Laurel Goodwin). When Wesley Johnson (Jeremy Slate) makes advances on Laurel, Ross punches him out. Wesley owns the boat, so Ross thereby loses it. Laurel, however, is not who she pretends to be. Ross has to choose between her and Robin.

The novel, which Bellow initially intended to be a short story, is a ''roman à clef'' about Bellow's friendship with the poet Delmore Schwartz. It explores the changing relationship of art and power in a materialist America. This theme is addressed through the contrasting careers of two writers, Von Humboldt Fleisher (to some degree a version of Schwartz) and his protégé Charlie Citrine (to some degree a version of Bellow himself). Fleisher yearns to lift American society through art, but dies a failure. By contrast, Charlie Citrine makes a lot of money through his writing, especially from a Broadway play and a movie about a character named Von Trenck – a character modeled after Fleisher.

Another notable character in the book is Rinaldo Cantabile, a wannabe Chicago gangster, who tries to bully Citrine into being friends. Because his career advice to Citrine is commercially fixated, it is directly opposed to advice from Citrine's former mentor, Humboldt Fleisher, who prioritizes artistic integrity.

Following church choir practice in 1946 east London, Joe Kirby (Harry Fowler) reads aloud to his gang (The Blood and Thunder Boys) from the Trump boys' comic, but finds a page missing. He then buys a copy so he can follow the adventures of fictional detective Selwyn Pike. While reading one part of the latest story, Joe finds the comic adventure being repeated exactly in real life when he comes across two men carrying a crate (Joe thinks it contains corpses) into Mr Jago's fur shop. Even the truck number plate—GZ 4216—matches the comic.

Joe gets a friend to distract Jago so he can search the crates. Jago catches Joe and calls the police but he does not press charges. A policeman, Inspector Ford, tells Joe to stop letting his imagination run wild. Ford sends Joe to meet a Covent Garden grocer, Nightingale (Jack Warner), for a job. Nightingale likes Joe's stories.

Later, in a hideout in a bombed-out building, Joe's friends tease him about the incident, until another boy says he saw a truck with GZ 4216 plate that morning. Joe says he thinks criminals are planning jobs via the Trump. To find out more they visit the comic's writer, Felix Wilkinson (Alastair Sim). Joe and Alec find Wilkinson's house, find out the comic's editions are being manipulated and tell Wilkinson. He sees the criminals are using the codes from the comic to communicate their plans but, fearful of the gang, Wilkinson refuses to aid the boys.

Joe tells the police but nobody listens so he visits the offices of the Trump. Here Joe meets Norman and together they work out the code from the next issue - 'Tattoo Jack's’ plan to rob an Oxford Street department store. At the store, Joe's gang think they have overpowered the thieves but it is really the police, who have been tipped off anonymously. The kids scarper down a manhole.

Norman then tells the kids about Rhona Davis (Valerie White) who also works at the Trump. After following her home, the boys tie her up. Joe then telephones Nightingale, who then rescues Miss Davis. One of Joe's gang gets in the villain's car unnoticed and hears that stolen goods are being moved to Ballard's Wharf but without seeing that it is Nightingale.

Joe then gets Wilkinson to create a Trump story that sends all the criminals to Ballard's Wharf. Next day, Joe tells Nightingale the whole plan, but then realises he is the mastermind as his car number plate matches. Nightingale and Miss Davis review the latest Trump story and are amused at Joe's attempt to capture them, that is until Nightingale realises Joe has caught him out by sending the crooks to Nightingale's own warehouse.

Joe goes to the warehouse and finds the stolen furs but is disturbed by Nightingale. However, when the other crooks arrive, Nightingale doesn't know the password as he never finished the latest comic story. He's knocked unconscious by the crooks. Heading for Ballard's Wharf, the crooks are outnumbered by hundreds of boys who capture them. Nightingale tries to flee in a van, but Joe leaps aboard and causes it to crash. Nightingale runs into a bombed building and, after a fight with Joe, Nightingale falls through one of the many holes in the floor. Joe jumps on to Nightingale, sprawled out below, winding him completely just as the police arrive. The final scene returns to the same church choir session as at the film's beginning, but with many of the boys now sporting black eyes and bandages, war-wounds from their recent adventures.

In the late 1860s, Jim Coates leaves his wife Katie, his teenage son Travis, and his small son Arliss to collect cattle in Kansas. While Jim is away, Travis sets off to work in the cornfield, where he encounters a Black Mouth Cur he names "Old Yeller", as "yeller" is a dialect pronunciation of "yellow" and the dog's bark resembles a human yell. Travis unsuccessfully tries to shoo the dog away, but Arliss defends him from Travis. However, Yeller's habit of stealing meat from smokehouses and robbing hens' nests does not endear him to Travis, but his mother agrees with the idea of Arliss having a dog.

Later, Arliss tries to capture a black bear cub by feeding it cornbread and grabbing it. Its angry mother hears her cub wailing and attacks, but Old Yeller frightens her away, winning over the family. Travis grows to love and respect Old Yeller, who comes to profoundly affect the boy's life.

Bud Searcy and his granddaughter Lisbeth come for supper one day, and Lisbeth takes Travis aside to tell him Old Yeller has been stealing food all over the county. After she and Bud leave, Travis scolds Old Yeller. The next day, Old Yeller proves himself as a cow dog by protecting Travis from Rose, their cow, and restraining her while Travis milks her.

One day, Old Yeller's original master, Burn Sanderson, arrives looking for his dog. Realizing that the Coates family really needs Old Yeller, he agrees to trade him to Arliss for a horny toad and a home-cooked meal. Sanderson later takes Travis aside and warns him of the growing plague of hydrophobia (rabies).

One day, Travis sets out to trap a family of feral hogs. Advised by Bud Searcy, he sits in a tree, trying to rope them from above as Old Yeller corners them. However, Travis then falls into the group of hogs and is attacked by one. Old Yeller defends Travis as he crawls away with an injured leg. However, Old Yeller is severely injured by the hog and Travis hides him in a large hole. Travis' mother then retrieves Old Yeller and uses horse hair to suture his wounds. As Old Yeller recovers, Searcy warns the Coates family of hydrophobia in the area but Katie chastises him for trying to scare Travis. Searcy leaves, and Lisbeth stays with the Coateses to help them harvest corn. Travis assures Katie that the hogs were not rabid, and both he and Old Yeller recover.

Later, the family sees their cow, Rose, stumbling and foaming at the mouth. Travis confirms that she is rabid and shoots her. While Katie and Lisbeth burn her body that night, a wolf suddenly attacks them. Katie's scream alerts Travis, who runs outside with a rifle, just in time to see Old Yeller fighting off the wolf. Travis successfully shoots the wolf, but not before it bites Old Yeller on the neck. Katie tells Travis that because no healthy wolf would attack near a burning area, the wolf was rabid. Katie then suggests shooting Old Yeller, but Travis insists that they instead pen him in the corn crib to see if he shows symptoms of the disease. After remaining quarantined, the Coateses believe that Old Yeller escaped infection. However, one night, when Travis goes to feed Old Yeller, he growls at him aggressively. Travis suspects that Old Yeller may have been infected but says nothing. Later that night, Arliss obliviously tries to open the corn crib to release Old Yeller. Katie slams the door shut as Old Yeller snarls and tries to attack. Katie then tells Travis that Old Yeller is suffering and returns Arliss to the house. Katie returns with the rifle, but Travis takes it, reluctantly shoots Old Yeller and departs.

Upset over his dog's death, Travis declines a new puppy sired by Old Yeller. Jim then returns with money and gifts for the family. Katie tells him about the dog, and Jim discusses it with Travis. Upon returning to the farmhouse, Travis observes the puppy stealing a piece of meat, a habit inherited from Old Yeller. Travis then accepts the puppy, "Young Yeller," as his new dog.

''The Nail''

Twenty-four years ago, farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent experience a flat tire on their truck caused by a nail, which stops them from discovering a Kryptonian spaceship containing the baby Kal-El. In the present day, the Justice League consists of Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, the Flash, Hawkwoman, the Atom, Martian Manhunter and Green Lantern.

Journalist Perry White conducts an anti-metahuman propaganda campaign along with mayor of Metropolis Lex Luthor and deputy mayor Jimmy Olsen. After a battle with Amazo which resulted in the death of Hawkman, Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) became a bitter paraplegic who claims that the Justice League are aliens who are conspiring against humanity. Metahumans are eliminated or captured one by one: first the supervillains and then teams such as the Doom Patrol and the Outsiders.

The Joker liberates the prisoners in Arkham Asylum with energy-generating gauntlets which he uses to trap Batman and kill Robin and Batgirl. Catwoman attacks the Joker and frees Batman, who then damages the Joker's gauntlets and snaps his neck on live television as Arkham explodes. Batman retreats to the Batcave with Catwoman while the Joker's murder tarnishes the Justice League's reputation.

Metamorpho is brainwashed into killing the Thinker and Perry White and dies while trying to tell Martian Manhunter what happened. Green Lantern encounters the orbiting corpse of Adam Strange and discovers a force field around Earth that prevents anything from leaving the planet. The Flash saves Ra's al Ghul and the League of Assassins from an attack by Amazo while seeking the mastermind behind all of these events.

Wonder Woman is framed for the destruction of the White House. Riots erupt soon afterwards and Luthor takes control of the United States, using flying masked robots called the Liberators to enforce the law. The members of the Justice League are captured by the Liberators (who are shown to be Bizarro-like clones of Kal-El) until Batman, the Flash and the Atom are left.

Lois Lane, a journalist investigating the anti-metahuman propaganda campaign, suspects a conspiracy. At a metahuman research facility, Lois meets Dr. Lana Lang, who sends her to Smallville where the Kents help shelter escaped metahumans. Returning to Metropolis and discovering Luthor in an unresponsive fugue state, Lois confronts Jimmy, who reveals that LexCorp discovered Kal-El's empty spaceship and found traces of his DNA within it. Luthor used the alien DNA to create Bizarro clones and turn Jimmy into a Kryptonian-human hybrid. Metahumans have been imprisoned and harvested for their DNA in order to convert humans into Kryptonians and create a Kryptonian society ruled by Jimmy.

Batman, Batwoman (formerly Catwoman), the Atom, and the Flash free the captive Justice League members and destroy the Liberators, only to be confronted by a super-powered Jimmy. Jimmy defeats the League due to their inexperience with Kryptonian powers as the fight spreads to an Amish community. As Jimmy is about to kill Batman, he is stopped by a farmer who tries to reason with him; Jimmy unsuccessfully tries to incinerate the farmer with his heat vision.

The farmer is revealed to be Kal-El, who was found as a baby by an Amish couple and raised as their son. Jimmy attempts to persuade Kal to join him while his adoptive parents try to persuade him from getting involved in worldly affairs, but Kal refuses both of them, unable to ignore his conscience. Jimmy then kills Kal's adoptive parents in front of him with his heat vision and engages Kal in a fight. Despite the two of them being evenly matched, the stress of the fight causes Jimmy’s DNA graft to fail and his body to disintegrate. With Jimmy and the Liberators defeated, the Justice League (without Batman, who resigns from the League after he is acquitted of the Joker's murder) regains public confidence with the help of its newest member: Superman.

''Another Nail''

A year earlier, Apokolips goes to war with New Genesis, and the Green Lantern Corps is dispatched to stem the loss of life. One Green Lantern is killed, and her power ring selects Big Barda as its new host. Barda and Mister Miracle manage to reverse the effects of a device designed to vaporize all matter within millions of light years, causing Darkseid to disintegrate into nothingness and be scattered across the universe instead. Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) reveals to the Justice League that the Central Power Battery on Oa is weakening. Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) is dying from injuries caused by Amazo in the same fight that claimed Hawkman's life.

Kal-El is adjusting to his new life as Superman, devoting himself full-time to heroics with little rest. During a mission in Peru with the Martian Manhunter, Superman's strength begins to fade as he tries to save a village from an attack by Despero and Evil Star. Kal takes a sabbatical and bonds with Jonathan and Martha Kent, as well as Lois Lane, as they create a new secret identity for him.

The members of the Justice League investigate various disturbances in spacetime. Batman, who continues to fight crime separately from the League along with Batwoman (formerly Catwoman), encounters Deadman, who reveals that demons are escaping Hell and invading Earth. Batman is then attacked by a demonically-powered Joker.

Using the resources of New Genesis and the Green Lantern Corps, Barda and Mr. Miracle discover that the disturbances are coming from an entity known as the Limbo Cell, an organism that feeds on all matter and energy. Superman attempts to fly a bomb into the cell's nucleus, but is left helpless when the cell absorbs his energy. As he is about to die, Kal is rescued and revitalized by Amazo, now equipped with Oliver Queen’s brain. Queen sacrifices his life to detonate the bomb in the cell’s nucleus. With the Limbo Cell destroyed, reality heals and the disturbances in space and time are repaired.

Batman descends into Hell and drags the Joker with him. As they fall into the abyss, the Joker is swept away by an unseen force while Batman is rescued by the spirits of Robin and Batgirl. Batman is able to put the past behind him and rejoins the Justice League.

Marisa Ventura, a single mother raising her 10-year-old son Ty, works as a maid at the Beresford Hotel in the heart of Manhattan. When not in school, Ty spends time with Marisa's fellow hotel workers, who think she can be promoted to management.

While Marisa and her co-worker Stephanie are cleaning the room of socialite Caroline Lane, Stephanie convinces Marisa to try on a Dolce & Gabbana coat. Lane had previously asked for it to be returned to the store, and Stephanie argues that it "technically" does not belong to anyone at the moment. Elsewhere in the hotel, Ty befriends hotel guest and senatorial candidate Christopher "Chris" Marshall, whom Ty learns has an interest in Richard Nixon, the subject of his school presentation. Ty wants to go with Chris to walk his dog and the pair go to Caroline's room to ask Marisa for permission. Chris meets Marisa, who is wearing the designer coat, and is instantly smitten with her. He assumes that she is Caroline. The trio spend some time together at the park. Though Marisa and Chris are attracted to each other, Marisa is terrified that management will find out about the ruse and makes it a point to avoid Chris afterwards.

Chris asks the hotel's head butler, Lionel Bloch, to invite "Caroline Lane" to lunch, but is confused when the real Caroline shows up instead of Marisa. Marisa was present when she received the invitation and even offered Caroline advice on what to wear for their "lunch à deux". When the real Caroline shows up, Chris asks his assistant Jerry Siegal to find "the other Caroline Lane", promising that he will attend an important dinner and wishes her to go with him. Jerry asks Lionel to find her. Lionel, who has figured out that Marisa is the woman Chris has been looking for, tells her to go to the dinner and end the affair swiftly if she wants a future in hotel management. Stephanie and the hotel staff assist her in preparing for the evening by styling her hair and loaning her an expensive dress and spectacular necklace.

Marisa is unable to end the affair, and she spends the night in Chris' hotel room. The next morning, Marisa is spotted by the real Caroline and her friend leaving Chris' room. Caroline blurts out the truth to the hotel management and Marisa is fired in front of Chris in Lane's hotel suite. Both Marisa and Chris spend time apart with him still thinking about her. Marisa is also hounded by the media and her disapproving mother Veronica.

Some time later, Marisa secures another job as a maid at another hotel. Chris is giving a news conference at the same hotel. Ty attends it and asks Chris whether people should be forgiven if they make mistakes, referencing former President of the United States Richard Nixon. Ty leads him to the staff room where Marisa is having her break. Chris and Marisa are reunited, and the film ends with images of publications showing that Chris has been elected, he and Marisa are still together after a year, and Marisa and her maid friends have been promoted to management.

Captain Kathryn Janeway is surprised when Q appears in her quarters – and in her bed – one night. Q is intent on Janeway becoming the mother of his child, and plies the Captain with gifts in an attempt to win her affections. Q believes that his desire for Janeway should be regarded as an honour, but Janeway insists that he leave, and eventually he does.

Q's absence does not last long, as he abducts the captain and takes her to the Q Continuum, now appearing as an American Civil War period piece. He explains that there is a civil war brewing among the Q race, and Q hopes that he and Janeway can bring a child into the Continuum to avert the war. The Q authorities (represented as Confederate soldiers) fire on them, wounding Q, then arrive and capture Q and Janeway. The Q leader, appearing as a Confederate colonel, intends to execute them both.

On ''Voyager'', the remaining crew have been observing dozens of supernovae taking place throughout the area. A Q female (Suzie Plakson), Q's former partner, appears and says that the civil war among the Q is the cause. She helps the crew reach the Q Continuum by flying into a supernova, and provides the Voyager crew with Q weapons, which they use to attack the Q authorities' camp and free Q and Janeway. The two Qs resume their relationship and decide to become parents themselves, thus ending the war. Captain Janeway is witness to the two Q mating, which consists of simply touching fingers.

Q returns later to Janeway's quarters with his infant son and asks her to be his godmother, which she accepts.

In a near future, there will be an air combat tournament with planes from the World War II era. From the game's intro:

: ''This is coming to you from Aviation Radio Station. The year is 2045. Who thought of this? I don't know! But it's a crazy tournament of cool battles in the sky. Aviation Battle Championships begin! Proud Warriors of the world's skies gather in hopes of winning the prize!''

The player's character, Nicolas Sharp, was raised by his mother since he was a child. The only memories left of his father are his departure on a ship, as well as a golden medallion he gave him. Nicolas grows, and as his father did before, goes to sea to seek adventures. Soon, he is captured by the Spanish, but manages to escape with a small ship and a crew. He arrives at the central British colony, where he has to start a new life.

Since the game is nonlinear, the player may work for any of the three nations, as well as start a pirate's career. Searching for his father is always possible, but in order to succeed, the player will need to change his ship's flags a number of times. This quest will reveal the secrets of the main character's father's life story and his death, as well as his legacy.

Erik is an eleven-year-old loner who has just moved to a small town in Stillwater, Minnesota. Accompanying Erik is his newly divorced, emotionally abusive and neglectful workaholic mother, Gail. Erik and his neighbor Dexter, who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion, become good friends despite initial mutual dislike and their differences, as Erik seeks the familial relationships he grew up without in Dexter and his mother Linda. Erik hides the friendship from his mother, knowing that she won't approve due to her own prejudice regarding AIDS.

Gail discovers the friendship one night after Linda comes over to ask Erik about something Dexter ate in the boys' quest to find a natural cure for his disease. She furiously warns Linda to keep Dexter away, but Linda encourages the friendship. When the boys read an article in a tabloid about a doctor in distant New Orleans who claims to have found a cure for AIDS, they set out on their own down the Mississippi River with the hope of finding a means of saving Dexter's life.

The boys take a boat down the river with a bunch of degenerates who don't treat the pair very well. Eventually the boys steal their money and try to hitchhike the rest of the way. When the boatmen find out their money has been stolen, they locate the kids at a bus station and proceed to chase them until they reach a dead end of a dilapidated building. Erik draws a switchblade and one of the men draws a knife. Dexter suddenly grabs the knife from Erik and cuts his own hand. He threatens the boatman with his blood, saying that he has AIDS and could easily transfer the disease to him through the man's open wounds. This scares the men off. Dexter then realizes what he has done by directly exposing his blood to the outside environment. He suddenly feels sick, so Erik escorts him back to the bus station. Realizing that their journey must end if Dexter is to be treated, Erik resorts to calling Linda to have her pick the boys up when they reach Stillwater by bus.

Once they return, Dexter spends the rest of his time in the hospital. As his relationship with his mother has grown increasingly strained, Erik goes to stay with Linda who lets him visit Dexter. The boys joke and prank the doctors three times that Dexter has died, but when a third doctor arrives to check on him, Dexter has died for real. While driving Erik home, Linda notices a mother holding her young child while crossing the street. Reminded of her own son, she pulls over and breaks down crying. Erik apologizes to her, saying that he should have tried harder to find a cure. Linda, taken aback by his comment, embraces Erik, explaining that he was the happiest thing in Dexter's difficult life. Upon their arrival at home, a furious Gail confronts the pair. When Gail starts to hit Erik, Linda quickly intervenes, angrily and tearfully informs her of Dexter's death, and demands that she allow Erik to attend the funeral and never hit him again and threatens to report her to child protective services. Gail guiltily complies.

At Dexter's funeral, Erik places one of his shoes in the coffin and takes one of Dexter's to let sail down the river. This pays homage to an earlier moment in their trip when Dexter, who was having nightmares, was given one of Erik's sneakers to hold as a reminder that he's always by his side.

The telenovela takes place in Brazil between the end of nineteenth century and early twentieth century. This historical telenovela tells the story of these Italian immigrants. It focuses on the relationship of Giuliana Esplendore (Ana Paula Arosío) and Matteo Batistela (Thiago Lacerda) who meet each other during the voyage to Brazil. Most of the story takes place in a coffee farm in São Paulo.

Giuliana and Matteo immediately fall in love and plan a life together. Unfortunately, fate and some people do not plan it that way. A series of mishaps befall the couple and keep them apart. When they finally reunite, their conduct affects not only their lives, but also other people they have met along the way.

After docking, Giuliana and Matteo became lost and followed different paths. She is welcomed by Francesco (Raul Cortez), a banker millionaire friend of his deceased parents. Francesco is married to Jeanett, an haughty and arrogant woman, and father of Marco Antonio, a bon vivant.

Matteo meanwhile works on the farm of Gumercindo (Antonio Fagundes), a coffee baron who is married to Maria do Socorro. While he is a loving father to his daughter Angélica, he is cruel to his other daughter, Rosana (Carolina Kasting).

Marco Antonio, son of Francesco, falls madly in love with Giuliana, who rejects him in her determination to find her love, Matteo. However, when she discovers Matteo is expecting a son, Marco Antonio there sees the chance to be with her. Marco asks Giuliana to marry him and, in fear, she accepts.

Meanwhile, on the farm of Gumercindo, Matteo's charm enchants Angélica and Rosana. While Angélica is a shy girl, Rosana is impulsive and has strong personality. Rosana invests in Matteo despite being repeatedly rejected by him. However, to force Matteo to marry her, Rosana seduces Matteo and makes love with him. To Angélica Angelica join the convent, Gumercindo accepts the wedding proposal of Augusto, a young man with dreams of becoming a politician.

Augusto, however, maintains an affair with Paola, a beautiful and fiery Italian who arrived in the same ship that Matteo and Giuliana had. Anacleto, her father, forces Augusto to take responsibility of Paola and Augusto and purchases a home for the her in São Paulo, living together without being married. Subsequently Angélica and Augusto marry and move to São Paulo, and Paola becomes Angelica's friend. In realizing that Augusto is happily married, Paola relinquishes her hope of marrying him.

Gumercindo approaches Francesco with a business proposition. At this point, Matteo is already married with Rosana, with whom he is expecting a son, and Giuliana had a daughter, Annie, with Marco. But when the real desires of Giuliana and Matteo's son is uncovered, the marriage of Francesco and Jeanette falls apart, and Giuliana also separates from Marco.

The story concludes with Giuliana marrying Matteo and them expecting a child together, and Matteo adopts Aniña.

Moral issues arise which produce fruitful debate for the television viewers. There are no simple answers because none of the characters or issues are strictly right or wrong, black or white. The issues and personalities are gray and will cause the viewers to change their minds during the storyline.

After a fight with his wife on their anniversary, Scott Henderson, a 32-year-old engineer, picks up an equally unhappy woman at Anselmo's Bar in Manhattan and they take a taxi to see a stage show. The woman refuses to tell him anything about herself. The star of the show they are watching, Estela Monteiro, becomes furious when she notices that she and the mystery woman are wearing the same unusual hat. When Henderson returns home, he finds Police Inspector Burgess and two of his men waiting to question him; his wife has been strangled with one of his neckties. Henderson has a solid alibi, but the bartender, taxi driver and Monteiro deny seeing the phantom lady. Henderson cannot even clearly describe the woman. He is tried and sentenced to death.

Carol Richman, Henderson's loyal secretary, who is secretly in love with him, sets out to prove his innocence. She starts with the bartender. She sits in the bar night after night, staring at and unnerving him. Finally, she follows him home one night. When he confronts her on the street, some bystanders step in to restrain him. He breaks free, runs into the street and is run over. Later, Burgess offers to help (unofficially); he has become convinced that only a fool or an innocent man would have stuck to such a weak alibi. Burgess provides her with information about the drummer at the show, Cliff, who had tried to make eye contact with the mystery lady.

Carol dresses provocatively and goes to another of Cliff's shows, hoping to glean more information. By making intense eye contact with Cliff during the performance, she manages to capture his attention. Afterward, Cliff approaches her, and she returns to his apartment with him. Somewhat drunk, Cliff brags that he was paid $500 for his false testimony. However, he becomes suspicious when he accidentally knocks over her purse and among the spilled contents finds a piece of paper with details about him. Richman manages to escape, leaving her purse behind. After she has gone, the real murderer, Henderson's best friend Jack Marlow, shows up at the apartment and strangles Cliff to death.

Marlow has put aside business in South America to come home, ostensibly to help Richman save Henderson; secretly he works to frustrate her efforts, while hiding his own deteriorating mental state. Richman tracks down Monteiro's hatmaker, Kettisha. One of her employees admits to copying the hat for a regular customer and provides her name and address. With Burgess away on another case, Richman and Marlow go to see Ann Terry. They discover her under the care of Dr. Chase; the man she was to marry had died suddenly, leaving her emotionally devastated. Richman is unable to get any information from her, but does find the hat. Marlow suggests they wait for Burgess at Marlow's apartment. However, while she is freshening up, Richman finds her purse and the paper with Cliff's particulars in a dresser drawer. Marlow admits he became enraged when Henderson's wife refused to run away with him; she was only toying with him. Burgess arrives just in time. Marlow throws himself out the window to his death. With Henderson freed, things appear to return to normal. However, Richman is delighted to learn (from a dictaphone message) that her boss returns her love.

Pilot Mike Edwards finds himself in a dilemma. His partner and friend, Danny, has overspent the money that Mike had set aside to pay their debts. Without it, their aircraft called Bessie, a Boeing-Stearman Model 75 crop duster, is taken by the local sheriff. If Mike and Danny do not get the money in a week, Bessie will be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Mike and Danny become reluctant hitchhikers, looking for a lift to anywhere. They are picked up by apple farmer Walter Ling and his niece Sue-Lin. They end up in Seattle, Washington, location of the 1962 World's Fair. When the uncle is called away on business, Danny persuades Mike to take Sue-Lin to tour the fair. During a visit to a doctor at the fair, Mike falls for Diane Warren, an attractive but stubborn nurse who resists his advances. He gives a quarter to a boy who kicks him in the shin so that he can be treated by her. Diane's supervisor then convinces her to give Mike a ride back to his apartment, convinced that his leg is injured. Mike and Diane dine at the top of the fair's Space Needle. However, he also courts Dorothy Johnson.

Complications then arise when Walter inexplicably fails to return the next day to get Sue-Lin, leaving her with Mike. Sue-Lin feigns illness so that Diane will come to their apartment and examine her and see Mike again. When Diane discovers that Mike is not related to Sue-Lin, she wants to inform the welfare board so that Sue-Lin can be removed from Mike and Danny's apartment. A mysterious nightfall plane delivery is conducted for Mike and Danny's friend Vince, who smuggles valuable furs. The film ends with Mike and Diane in love.

''Serenade'' tells the story of poor vineyard worker Damon Vincenti (Mario Lanza), who becomes an operatic tenor, and is involved with two women — one a high society hostess, Kendall Hale (Joan Fontaine), the other a Mexican bullfighter's daughter, Juana Montes (Sara Montiel). The tenor has a breakdown because of his unrequited love for the society woman, but finds love (and a happy ending) with the Mexican girl. Highly melodramatic, the film features a great deal of operatic music, all of it sung by Lanza. Of note are the Act III Monologue from Verdi's ''Otello'' and an extract from the duet "Dio ti giocondi" from the same opera featuring Metropolitan Opera soprano Licia Albanese.

The U.S. Federal Government has run into a dead end trying to negotiate the lease of mountaintop land owned by Pappy Tatum, in the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee, for use as an ICBM missile base. U.S. Army General Alvin Donford gives Captain Robert Salbo seven days to secure the lease, or face permanent assignment to Greenland. After a quick computer search of military records, Salbo requests that U.S. Air Force pilot Second Lt. Josh Morgan, born elsewhere in the Great Smoky Mountains, be assigned as his number two. When they arrive in Tennessee with a small platoon, dark-haired Josh is surprised to meet his look-alike third cousin Jodie Tatum, a blond hillbilly.

Josh also meets his two beautiful country cousins, Azalea and Selena, who compete to win his affections. Josh eventually chooses Azalea and pairs off Selena with his friend, Master Sgt. William Bailey. Jodie, on the other hand, falls for Private Midge Riley, a beautiful but fiery soldier. There are also a group of 13 mountain maidens called the Kittyhawks who create havoc when they set their sights on the marriage-eligible soldiers.

Josh persuades Pappy Tatum to lease the mountaintop to the government for a monthly payment of $1,000 ($ today) as long as an access road is built from the far side and the military provide security to prevent government employees from accessing Tatum's side – which will prevent "revenoors" from interfering with Pappy's moonshining.

Each chapter of ''Nord and Bert'' is dedicated to a different style of wordplay. The first seven chapters can be played in any order, since each exists as an independent "short story" unrelated to the other chapters; to begin the eighth, however, the player must provide seven "passwords" provided by completing each of the other sections.

The only effort made to interlink the separate parts of the game is as follows: reality has somehow been altered around the town of Punster. Idioms and clichés are suddenly manifesting themselves quite literally, and it falls to the player, as it always does, to sort things out.

The sections of the game: "The Shopping Bizarre" - this portion takes place in a grocery store where normal products have been replaced by outlandish homonyms. The player must change all the oddities back to their original form by simply typing the correct names. For instance, when confronted with a large, awkward-looking mammal sporting hooves and antlers that smells of fudge, the player must type " " (a homonym for "moose"). "Playing Jacks" - this section is rather short and unfocused, and involves a gadget called the "Jack of All Traits" (which is, of course, a play on the phrase "Jack of all trades"). When presented with a series of unusual situations, this item proves useful by displaying attributes of other items whose name contains "Jack". For instance, when a mermaid tangled in fishing line washes ashore, the player can turn the Jack of All Traits into a Jackknife and cut the lines. "Buy the Farm" - this chapter takes place around a farm and requires the player to use a variety of clichéd expressions literally, for instance or . "Eat Your Words" - another section of idioms presented literally, this time revolving around a diner. The player must alternately insult and apologize to a waitress by using phrases such as or . When the waitress is sufficiently exasperated, she allows the player to enter the kitchen, where the chef is murderously hostile until the player "leaves the cook to his own devices" and "gores his ox". "Act the Part" - the player must take part in a 50s-style sitcom and perform visual gags and bits of slapstick comedy, including giving someone a "hotfoot" and playing along with knock-knock jokes. "Manor of Speaking" - this chapter takes place in a house filled with bizarre rooms. Although this section has several puzzles reminiscent of Infocom's "straightforward" interactive fiction games, they are played for surreal humor. As an example: a room called The Kremlin has a talking portrait of Karl Marx. The player must wind a clock and place it inside a box, and then enter the Kremlin. The portrait of Marx assumes that the ticking box is a bomb and falls off the wall, revealing a safe which can be opened using the clock's "winding" key. "Shake a Tower" - this section ties a number of situations into an absurd story using spoonerisms. The tangled phrase can be entered by itself, such as "pretty girl" for "gritty pearl". Sometimes certain actions must be performed first, such as feeding stones to set up the change from "fed rocks" to a "red fox". "Meet the Mayor" - the final chapter can only be played after the rest of the game has been successfully completed. Elements of many of the preceding sections are mixed here as the player tries to convince Punster's mayor to sign a law. Some puzzle solutions are phrases that are merely hinted at by the surroundings, such as "Possession is nine-tenths of the law" or "taking something under false pretenses."

Aylmer is a brilliant and recognized scientist and philosopher who drops his focus from his career and experiments to marry the beautiful Georgiana (who is physically perfect except for a small red birthmark in the shape of a hand on her cheek).

As the story progresses, Aylmer becomes unnaturally obsessed with the birthmark on Georgiana's cheek. One night, he dreams of cutting the birthmark out of his wife's cheek (removing it like scraping the skin from an apple) and then, realizing that the birthmark is deeper, continuing all the way to her heart. He does not remember this dream until Georgiana asks about what his sleep-talking meant. When Aylmer remembers the details of his dream, Georgiana declares that she would rather risk her life having the birthmark removed from her cheek than to continue to endure Aylmer's horror and distress that comes upon him when he sees her.

The following day, Aylmer deliberates and then decides to take Georgiana to the apartments where he keeps a laboratory. He glances at Georgiana with the intent to console her but can't help but shudder violently at seeing her imperfection; Aylmer's reaction causes her to faint. When she awakens, he treats her warmly and comforts her with some of his scientific concoctions but when he attempts to take a portrait of her, the image is blurred save for her birthmark revealing the disgust he has of it.

He experiments some more and describes some of the successes to her but as he questions how she is feeling, Georgiana begins to suspect that Aylmer has been experimenting on her the entire time without her knowledge and consent. One day, she follows him into his laboratory, and on seeing her there, Aylmer accuses her of not trusting him and says that having her birthmark in the room will foil his efforts. She professes complete trust in him but demands that he inform her of his experiments. He agrees and reveals that his current experiment is his last attempt to remove the birthmark, and Georgiana vows to take the potion, regardless of any danger it poses to her.

Soon after, Aylmer brings her the potion, which he demonstrates as effective by rejuvenating a diseased plant with a few drops. Protesting that she doesn't need proof to trust her husband, Georgiana drinks the concoction and promptly falls asleep. Aylmer watches and rejoices as the birthmark fades little by little. Once it is nearly gone, Georgiana wakes up to see her image in a mirror, the birthmark almost completely faded. She smiles but then informs Aylmer that she is dying. Once the birthmark fades completely, Georgiana dies.

In the midst of one of their arguments, Bart and Lisa fall into Professor Frink's basement. Frink uses an astrology-based machine to show the kids their future as teenagers.

Eight years in the future (2013), Bart and Lisa are getting ready for their high school graduation and Homer and Marge have separated after Homer blew the family savings on an undersea home. Lisa is graduating two years early and has a scholarship to Yale University, while dating a muscular Milhouse and Bart dates a skateboarder named Jenda. He also shows them a picture of Lisa at age 12 (2009) after she was saved by Milhouse from a fire, which she later learns that he started. After the prom, Jenda wants to have sex with Bart, but Bart has no plans for the future and wants Jenda to marry him and live an aimless life, so she breaks up with him.

Bart unsuccessfully seeks advice from Homer on dating. He then shows Lisa a hologram of the prom, and tells her love can be painful; she agrees, noting she broke up with Milhouse and he had an Incredible Hulk-style meltdown. Lisa suggests that to get Jenda back, he must show her he can provide for her. Bart decides to take Lisa's advice and gets a job at the Kwik-E-Mart. While delivering groceries to Mr. Burns, he rescues him from a robbery by Snake Jailbird. As a reward, Burns gives Lisa's scholarship to Bart. He accepts it, seeing it as a way to get Jenda back. He then tells Lisa about the scholarship causing present and future Lisa to both get angry at Bart. Bart reconciles with Jenda, and now has a good future. That night, Jenda again wants to have sex with Bart, but then he goes into Professor Frink's basement and sees Lisa's bleak future with Milhouse on Frink's machine. Jenda is furious at Bart (she notes she never had any problems sparking romance with Todd Flanders), and gives him an ultimatum: leave and they are finished. Bart does head out and saves Lisa from accepting Milhouse's dismal proposal, then tells his sister he is giving her scholarship back and will find a woman who loves him for himself. Professor Frink then tells present Bart he will get one at age 83, then die one minute later, and his brain would be buried in a pauper's grave.

Meanwhile, Marge has dumped Krusty and reunites with Homer in the underwater home. During the credits, Bart is shown to find the sequence boring, and instead watches Cletus Spuckler's future as the Vice President of the United States on his way to a funeral for the Sultan of Brunei.

In a small town in Sweden, Karin is a housewife, married to a hospital physician named Andreas and bringing up their two children. Visiting the clinic where her mother is ill, she finds her dead and, overcome with sorrow, is seen by David, an American archaeologist. The couple ask David to dinner at their house and he tells them about his work at a medieval church, where a 500-year-old wooden statue of the Virgin Mary has been uncovered. He also tells Karin that he fell in love with her the day he saw her at the clinic.

Karin visits David in his apartment and agrees to have sex with him. She tells him this is her first affair and that she is uncertain if she is in love with him, but it is significant for her. As the affair continues, David's moods always prevail and he is frequently distant, overbearing, and angry. When she shows up under the influence of alcohol, and having failed to quit smoking as they agreed, he slaps her. Later he shares his family history with her, telling her many of his relatives were murdered in Nazi concentration camps during World War II.

Eventually, Andreas visits David, revealing he has been receiving anonymous poison pen letters telling him David is having an affair with Karin. David dismisses the visit as absurd, and argues when Andreas reminds him that he had cared for David after an attempted suicide. In the church, David shows Karin the restored statue of Mary, telling her that it is being consumed from inside by a previously unknown species of insect. He then leaves for London, and Karin tells Andreas she feels she must go to find out why he left her. Andreas sternly tells her that if she leaves, she cannot return to their marriage, but she departs anyway.

Going to David's address in London, Karin finds a woman with congenital health problems named Sara and is surprised to hear Sara say she is David's sister, though he had told Karin he had no family left. Sara guesses Karin is pregnant, though Karin refuses to say if the father is Andreas or David. Sara also declares that David will never leave her. Karin goes, saying she does not think she will return.

Back in Sweden, David asks Karin to meet him. He tells her he has found life without her intolerable, and that their relationship has changed him, and that he now cares about what will happen to them. He says he has accepted a position at a Danish university and asks Karin to come with him, with her children. Karin rejects the offer, citing her "duty" to remain. He accuses her of lying and cowardice as they separate.

The audience is introduced to Andreas Winkelman, a man living alone and emotionally desolate after the recent demise of his marriage. He meets Anna, who is grieving the recent deaths of her husband and son. She uses a cane as a result of the car crash that killed them. While Anna uses Andreas' phone, he listens to her conversation, after which she departs visibly distraught. Anna has left her handbag behind and Andreas searches it, finding and reading a letter from her husband that will later prove she is deceptive.

The narrative of the film is periodically interrupted by brief footage of the actors discussing their characters.

Andreas is friends with a married couple, Eva and Elis (mutual friends of Anna) who are also in the midst of psychological turmoil. Elis is an amateur photographer who organizes his work based on emotion. Eva feels Elis has grown tired of her and has problems sleeping. One night while Elis is away, Eva visits Andreas, as she is bored and lonely. They listen to music and drink wine, which makes them drowsy, and finally Eva sleeps for several hours. When she wakes up, they have sex. Afterward, she explains that during her only pregnancy years ago, she went to the hospital to treat her insomnia. The medicine they gave her helped her condition but killed the child. She conveys that it allowed her and Elis to share a moment of emotional affinity.

Andreas visits Elis whom he promised could photograph him. Elis leaves the room for a moment and Eva enters. In their conversation, Eva reveals that Anna has moved in with Andreas, and though she is not displeased (as she likes both of them), she warns him to be wary of Anna. Elis enters the room; when Eva asks him why he looks angry, he says he only gets angry at human trifles (alluding to the affair).

Their relationship is not passionate, but Andreas and Anna start off relatively content. Anna appears zealous in her faith and steadfast in her search for truth, but gradually her delusions surface—reinforced by what Andreas read in the letter. For his part, Andreas is unable to overcome his feelings of deep humiliation about himself and remains disconnected, further dooming the relationship with Anna, as he prefers solitude and freedom to companionship.

Throughout the film, an unknown person among the island community commits acts of animal cruelty, hanging a dog and violently killing cattle. A friend of Andreas is wrongly accused of these crimes, leading the community to threaten and beat him, catalyzing his suicide. Within a few days of the friend's death, Anna and Andreas have a physical fight during which they reveal their strong distaste for each other. Afterwards, Anna lies in bed while Andreas follows two firetrucks that passed his home. They were headed to a large barn fire. When Andreas arrives, he is told that the unknown man who is the true culprit of the animal cruelty covered a barn full of animals in gasoline and lit it on fire, locking the animals in. It is obvious to the community that Andreas's friend was unjustly abused and committed suicide because of flimsy human suspicion; therefore, chances for healing are lost.

Anna shows up at the fire in her car. Andreas gets in. As they drive down the road beside the sea, Andreas explains that he desires his solitude again and that their parting will be best. He also reveals that he read the letters her husband wrote. As Andreas talks, Anna appears (to him) to speed up the car. He asks if she is going to kill him like she killed her husband and manages to stop the car safely. While Anna remains silent throughout the drive, Andreas tells her she is out of her mind and asks her to "say something" repeatedly. Eventually he asks her why she picks him up at the fire, and Anna replies "I came to ask for forgiveness." Anna drives away while Andreas paces back and forth on the side of the road.

In 1865, Aubrey Filmore works as a bellboy at the Palmer Hotel in St. Louis. Aubrey wants to work as a spy for the federal government and contacts Colonel Clifford M. Baker at the Secret Service to ask if he can help their elite spy unit, but Baker refuses the request.

Posters are distributed warning the public of a cunning spy named the Grey Spider. When Major Jack Drumman comes to stay at the hotel, Aubrey discovers that he is the Grey Spider, but the major catches Aubrey and tries to force him to wear Confederate clothes to look like the Grey Spider so that he can shoot him as a spy.

Before the major's plan is realized, Aubrey accidentally knocks him unconscious. Major Drumman's alluring accomplice Sallyann Weatharby enters and Aubrey falls in love with her. Aubrey agrees to join Sallyann, posing as the Drumman, to a meeting with important Confederate spies.

Before Aubrey leaves the hotel, he leaves a message for Baker telling him of his plans. Aubrey is then involved in a complicated scheme to intercept the Union forces and is given the important task of delivering the Union battle plans to the Confederate General Watkins. He is ordered to meet up with Sallyann at Morgan's Landing, a hospital near the battlefront.

Upon returning to Colonel Baker with the plans, Aubrey helps to make fake plans to replace the real ones, and is reluctantly ordered by the colonel to continue posing as Drumman and also to deliver instructions to a Union spy. Aubrey mixes up the plans and instructions and because he is wearing Confederate and Union uniforms at the same time, both armies shoot at him and he is knocked unconscious. He is carried to Morgan's Landing and Sallyann is there waiting for him as planned.

Sallyann's fiancé Kurt Devlynn, who is also a spy, is there. As Sallyann has fallen in love with Aubrey, she tells Kurt that she now loves Drumman. Aubrey wakes, finds the lost instructions and escapes the hospital.

Kurt tells his men to dress in Union uniforms and intercept Aubrey (whom he believes to be Drumman) to steal the battle plans. When arriving at Sallyann's father's plantation, Aubrey mistakenly delivers the spy instructions instead of the plans, and Union spies steal the plans and Confederate spies retrieve them. General Watkins receives the plans and Aubrey's Union spy contact Captain Lorford receives the instructions.

That night, Aubrey is courting Sallyann when he is supposed to be stealing the plans from the general. The Confederates realize that a Union spy is in the house and set a trap to catch him. But instead of catching Aubrey, they catch the real Grey Spider, Drumman, believing that he is a Union spy.

As everyone thinks that the Union spy has been caught, Aubrey is able to get the plans from General Watkins. But soon after, Drumman's father appears and exposes Aubrey. When Aubrey is brought outside to be executed for treason, he is saved by Sallyann, and end of the war is declared.

On a rainy night in an unnamed, deserted city where no one can be seen, a red unicycle named Red is lying in the clearance corner of a bicycle shop called "Eben's Bikes". Red dreams of being the center of a circus act, which is represented within a dream sequence in which it is ridden by a circus clown named Lumpy. After cycling onstage to little fanfare, Lumpy begins a juggling act with three colored balls, which he continually drops by accident, prompting the unicycle to roll out from underneath him and catch them. Eventually, Lumpy accidentally launches one of the balls out of the ring, prompting Red to go out and retrieve it without his notice. After realizing that his unicycle is out from beneath his feet, Lumpy falls and disappears from the dream, after which Red catches the other two balls and juggles them to an uproarious applause; however, the dream ends, and Red awakens after bowing to the audience, realizing that it is still in the bike shop. Depressed, it returns to the corner where it was previously resting and becomes inanimate again.

When the Mobile Infantry defeats an infestation on Pluto, the world is united as the Strategically Integrated Coalition of Nations (SICON) declares war on the insectoids.

The main story focuses on a group of troopers known as Alpha Team otherwise known as Razak's Roughnecks who are headed back to Pluto after Operation Pest Control.

After destroying Bug City on Pluto, SICON sights a giant Transport Bug. This reveals that the Bugs are not native to Pluto. They track it to the planet Hydora, which orbits a star in the Constellation Virgo and encounter a Brain Bug, an intelligent Bug that controls the other castes so they won't go insane and destroy each other. The Bugs are planning to take control of the entire universe and won't stop until the human race is extinct.

SICON attempts to set up a base on the planet Tophet, inhabited by a species nicknamed Skinnies. The Skinnies, however, have been enslaved by the Bugs to mine Xylon, a precious mineral used for Transport Bugs. The Mobile Infantry are able to destroy the Control Bugs overseeing the Skinnies and free Tophet, but the victory costs them their comrade Carl Jenkins, who has been put into a state of mental trauma. The Skinnies soon enlist in SICON to fight the Bugs, mainly due to their lack of interstellar travel technology.

SICON soon discovers the existence of the Bug homeworld Klendathu. They attempt to destroy the Bug Queen but she escapes, headed for Earth. Her Transport Bug is destroyed before she reaches the human homeworld, but she nevertheless makes it to Earth. With numerous battles on the home front and the arrival of Bug reinforcements, the battle had only just begun.

Campaigns

The series is divided into eight story arcs or "campaigns," with five episodes each. Each campaign takes place at a different location. In the DVD release, each campaign is on a single disk.

''The Pluto Campaign'' (5 episodes) Takes place on Pluto.

''The Hydora Campaign'' (5 episodes) Takes place on Hydora, which is almost entirely covered by water.

''The Tophet Campaign'' (5 episodes) Takes place on Tophet, a desert planet which is home to the Skinnies.

''The Tesca Campaign'' (5 episodes) Takes place on the jungle moon of Tesca Nemerosa.

''The Zephyr Campaign'' (5 episodes) Takes place on a frozen asteroid.

''The Klendathu Campaign'' (5 episodes) Takes place on the Bugs' home world Klendathu.

''Trackers'' (5 episodes) 1st takes place on the journey from Klendathu to Earth. The others are recaps. 4th has Rico floating through space. 5th investigates Razak.

''The Homefront Campaign'' (5 episodes; 4 others planned but never completed) Takes place on Earth.

A judge in an unnamed country interviews three actors, together and separately, provoking them while investigating a pornographic performance for which they may face a fine. Their relationships are complicated. Sebastian, a volatile heavy drinker in debt, is guilty of killing his former partner and is having an affair with Thea, the dead man's widow. Thea, a high-strung woman who is prone to fits and seemingly fragile, is currently married to Sebastian's new partner, Hans. Hans is the troupe's leader. He is wealthy, self-contained, and growing weary of the troupe. The judge plays on the trio's insecurities, but they may have their revenge when they finally perform ''The Rite'' in a private session with him.

While Marge takes the children on a leisurely Sunday afternoon drive (that the kids don't enjoy), Homer is forced to clean the garage at home. He accidentally gets spiders in his throat, and his neck is almost crushed by the garage door. When his family gets home, a suffocated Homer is saved by CPR by Lisa and Bart (via wrestling). After the incident, Marge insists that the family buy life insurance, but Homer is deemed impossible to insure because of his poor medical history; even boasting that he smokes to impress the consultant, a lie that fails to convince her. Marge decides to save money in a very paranoid way by buying imitation brands of cereal and coffee, and convinces Maggie to conserve her pacifier. Homer, however, becomes upset with Marge's petty attitude (especially when she will not let him spend even false money to buy a single beer) and tries to argue with Marge, remarking that he has the right to use at least a part of the money since he brings it home, but she denies his request, retorting that he does nothing in his job. Homer, now angry about Marge's new measures, takes the money she has saved and makes a down payment on a new motor home. After he buys his motor home, Marge tells Homer to enjoy it because she is not speaking to him.

Homer starts living in the RV, and he and Marge compete for the loyalty of Bart and Lisa. Homer's childlike ways give him an advantage. Homer discovers a convoy of RVs at a gas station, and he invites them to stay in his backyard. Marge, annoyed with their behavior, cuts off their electricity, causing Homer's newfound friends to ditch him. Homer and Marge proceed to get into an all night argument, to the point of Homer calling Marge's bed "a loveless slab of bossiness", and fearing that his parents could split up, Bart decides that he and Lisa should return the RV to the dealership for a full refund, and Lisa agrees.

Discovering that the children and RV are gone, Homer and Marge give chase in the car. Bart and Lisa accidentally get on the freeway and force their parents to kiss before they will pull over. But after they kiss, Bart asks Homer to raise his allowance, which angers Homer, who in turn strangles Bart. Lisa starts to lose control of the RV, which plunges off an uncompleted runaway truck ramp onto a Turkish container ship. The ship is leaving the port, but Marge convinces the captain to turn around after offering him 300 cans of mushroom soup she bought on sale. With their marriage restored, Homer tells Marge that he will return the RV in the morning for the refund, and uses the ship's crane to put the vehicle on a nearby pier. The RV's weight is too much for the pier to handle. So it collapses and sinks in the harbor, much to Homer's dismay, while Marge is unconcerned about the loss of money, because the Turkish sailors put a small amount of hashish in her food to keep her temporarily content.

The Simpsons go to Shelbyville to see a musical, which paints Springfielders as hicks and morons. An angry Marge goes to Springfield's Cultural Advisory Board to brainstorm a plan to make Springfield more sophisticated and gets the idea to hire architect Frank Gehry to build a concert hall. Opening night proves to be a bust, and the concert hall falls into shambles from disuse.

Mr. Burns buys the hall and turns it into a state prison. Homer applies for a job as a guard, but is rejected after Otto switches his drug-laded urine sample with Homer's. Mr. Burns forces Chief Wiggum to reinstate old and forgotten laws to fill his prison with convicts and make more money. Homer is convicted after getting caught kicking a can five times down the street.

Bart and Lisa notice that Snowball II has been gaining weight. Lisa follows her and discovers she has been visiting and eating food from another family, who believe she is theirs and named her "Smokey". Due to the love and care they show her, Snowball prefers her second family to the Simpsons to Lisa's dismay. Bart goes in to set the record straight, but instead the family fills him up with food and teaches him the same trick they taught Snowball.

Homer is sent to work in the prison kitchen and becomes a prison snitch after unwittingly alerting the guards of Snake's escape attempt. Homer is rewarded with food, special treatment, and a new plasma TV. The other prisoners learn he is a snitch after Marge shouts it out in the visitation room. After using a fake claim of a prison break to lure out all of the guards, the prisoners attack Homer. Using the key to the concert hall given to her as head of the Springfield Cultural Activities Board, Marge finds Homer in the kitchen with the other prisoners on his tail. They take refuge in the gas chamber, where Marge scolds Homer about being an informant. The guards come in with tear gas and riot gear. As they are released, Homer tells Governor Mary Bailey about the prison's deplorable conditions and food. Bailey tells the prisoners that since there is no room left in the prisons they were transferred from, they will be put on a garbage barge and bare-knuckle box until someone emerges as their king, a plan the convicts applaud.

Homer is released, which pleases Marge, and heads out to Moe's after she falls asleep. He bumps into Snowball, who is overweight and also approaching the bar. He promises not to tell on her if she does not tell on him.

Homer runs into the concert hall, claiming the building is a death trap in response to a dream he had after watching ''The Towering Inferno''.

The students of Springfield Elementary go on a field trip to the almost completely melted Springfield Glacier. Bart repeatedly bullies Lisa because she is enjoying the trip, and as revenge, Lisa obtains a restraining order against Bart that prevents him from coming within 20 feet of her. Lisa uses the restraining order - and a 20-foot pole made by Homer to enforce it - to continually torment Bart, making him ride behind the school bus in a shopping cart and eat his school lunch outside in the rain, and later forcing him into the "Gay Interest" section of the library in order to humiliate him.

Marge decides to get an appeal for lifting the restraining order, but Bart repeatedly insults Judge Harm during the hearing, leading Judge Harm to expand the order to 200 feet, forcing Bart to live in the Simpsons' backyard. He soon realizes that he can live the natural way, taking off his clothes, urinating anywhere he wants and playing with wild dogs. Seeing Bart's feral behaviour, Marge suggests to Lisa that she may have gone too far. Lisa responds that Bart has not done any nice things for her recently, but when Marge points out two examples to the contrary, she promises to destroy the order when she thinks of a third thing. She later sees Bart building a statue of her, and is impressed, but when she finds out that it was going to be burned, and Bart lies about why, Lisa says how she misses Bart's lies. She burns the restraining order and the pole, while the family reunites and plays ''Tijuana Taxi''.

In the subplot, Homer is hired as a greeter for Sprawl-Mart, a job he likes because there is no pressure to advance. The manager creates a fake Mexican ID card for him, in order to force him to work overtime without a pay bonus under threat of being deported, and Homer and his co-workers are later locked in the superstore late at night, with a chip implanted in the back of Homer's neck. He removes it and joins his co-workers in stealing from the store by using a forklift to move several plasma TVs.

Arnolphe, the main protagonist, is a mature man who has groomed the young Agnès since she was 4 years old. Arnolphe supports Agnès living in a nunnery until the age of 17, when he moves her to one of his abodes, which he keeps under the name of Monsieur de la Souche. Arnolphe's intention is to bring up Agnès in such a manner that she will be too ignorant to be unfaithful to him and he becomes obsessed with avoiding this fate. To this end, he forbids the nuns who are instructing her from teaching her anything that might lead her astray. Right from the very first scene, a friend of his, Chrysalde, warns Arnolphe that such a scheme will likely fail, but Arnolphe takes no heed.

After Agnès moves into Arnolphe's house, Arnolphe meets by chance Horace, the young son of Arnolphe's friend Oronte, whom Arnolphe had not seen in years. Not realizing that Arnolphe and Monsieur de la Souche are the same person, Horace unwittingly confides to Arnolphe he had been visiting Agnès for the past week while the master of the house, one Monsieur de la Souche, was away.

Arnolphe then schemes to outmaneuver Horace and to ensure that Agnès will marry him.

Arnolphe becomes more and more frustrated as the play goes on. Agnès continues to meet with Horace despite Arnolphe's displeasure until, finally, a misunderstanding leads Arnolphe to believe that Agnès has agreed to marry him and Agnès to believe that Arnolphe has given her permission to marry Horace. When they realize the actual situation, Arnolphe forbids Agnès from seeing Horace. Horace, in his distress, comes to Arnolphe, asking for his help in rescuing Agnès from "Monsieur de la Souche".

The final act introduces a powerful irony as Oronte and Enrique arrive on the scene and announce that Horace is to marry Enrique's daughter. The daughter turns out to be Agnès, rendering all of Arnolphe's scheming useless.

(r. 240-270). The story starts with the birth of Ardashir to Papak's daughter and Sāsān, a descendant of the Kayanian royal house. He leaves his home to be educated by Ardavan, but after an argument with Ardavan's son he is demoted to overseer of the stables. After some time, a favorite maid of the Parthian king Ardavan fell in love with Ardashir and informed him of a prophecy that had been announced to the sovereign by the chief astrologer about Ardashir's future greatness. The maid escaped Ardavan's domain and together with Ardashir, they escape on two horses stolen from his stables along with a sizeable quantity of treasure, weapons, and armor. Ardavan and his troops follow on the trail of the maiden and Ardashir. During this pursuit, Ardavan questions passers-by, who tell them that had seen the couple on the run followed by a large ram. The king interrogates his Dastur about the meaning of this scene, and the sage answers that the ram represents the royal xwarrah, which had not yet joined with Ardashir. In the Persian mythology, once a king possesses the divine xwarrah, he is invincible. During the second day of pursuit, Ardavan is told that the ram sat on the back of Ardashir I’s horse. He is then advised by the Dastur to stop his pursuit since Ardashir I now possesses the divine xwarrah. The story follows with the description of Ardashir's triumph over Ardavan in the battle of Hormuzagān. Then follows his campaign against a group of nomads and then his victory against Haftobād (a giant worm) through a stratagem suggested by the pious brothers Burzag and Burz-Ādur. He defeats Haftobād by pouring molten copper down the creature's throat.

The last part of the story relates to the son of Ardashir, Shapur I, and the life of the son of the latter, Ohrmazd. Ardashir’s wife, the daughter of Ardawān, instigated by her brothers, makes an attempt on the king’s life. The plot fails and Ardashīr sentences her to death, notwithstanding her but the wise and compassionate Zoroastrian priest, without the knowledge of Ardashir, spares her life so that she may give birth to Shapur. Shapur is raised in the house of the Mowbed. Ardashir had no knowledge of the priest sparing the life of his son. According to the Shahnama, the holy man castrates himself in order to be beyond all suspicion. Years later the Mowbed tells Ardashir that he saved Shapur I and consequently is rewarded by Ardashir I. An Indian astrologer foretells that Iran will only be strong if Ardashir's family is united with that of his mortal enemy Mihrag. Ardashir, however had fought the family of Mihrag and exterminated them. However, a girl from the family of Mihrag survives and marries Shapur. Thus the son of Shapur, Ohrmazd, is born and he unites the entire Eranshahr under his command and receives tribute and homage from the other kings of the time.

The novel depicts a mythical island, Bensalem, which is discovered by the crew of a European ship after they are lost in the Pacific Ocean somewhere west of Peru. The minimal plot serves the gradual unfolding of the island, its customs, but most importantly, its state-sponsored scientific institution, Salomon's House, "which house or college ... is the very eye of this kingdom."

Many aspects of the society and history of the island are described, such as the Christian religion – which is reported to have been born there as a copy of the Bible and a letter from the Apostle Saint Bartholomew arrived there miraculously, a few years after the Ascension of Jesus; a cultural feast in honour of the family institution, called "the Feast of the Family"; a college of sages, the Salomon's House, "the very eye of the kingdom", to which order "God of heaven and earth had vouchsafed the grace to know the works of Creation, and the secrets of them", as well as "to discern between divine miracles, works of nature, works of art, and impostures and illusions of all sorts"; and a series of instruments, process and methods of scientific research that were employed in the island by the Salomon's House.

The interlocutors include the governor of the House of Strangers, Joabin the Jew, and the Head of Salomon's House.

The inhabitants of Bensalem are described as having a high moral character and honesty, as no official accepts any payment from individuals. The people are also described as chaste and pious, as said by an inhabitant of the island:

In the last third of the book, the Head of the Salomon's House takes one of the European visitors to show him all the scientific background of Salomon's House, where experiments are conducted in Baconian method to understand and conquer nature, and to apply the collected knowledge to the betterment of society. Namely: 1) the end, or purpose, of their foundation; 2) the preparations they have for their works; 3) the several employments and functions whereto their fellows are assigned; 4) and the ordinances and rites which they observe.

He portrayed a vision of the future of human discovery and knowledge. The plan and organisation of his ideal college, "Salomon's House", envisioned the modern research university in both applied and pure science.

The end of their foundation is thus described: ''"The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible"''.

In describing the several employments and functions to which the members of the Salomon's House are assigned, the Head of the college said:

Even this short excerpt demonstrates that Bacon understood that science requires analysis and not just the accumulation of observations. Bacon also foresaw that the design of experiments could be improved.

In describing the ordinances and rites observed by the scientists of Salomon's House, its Head said:

And finally, after showing all the scientific background of Salomon's House, he gave the European visitor permission to publish it:

The story is set in 1969, a period of time in which Japan is experiencing intense economic and social development after the end of World War II in 1945. Unbeknownst to humans, alien/interdimensional beings have emerged with plans to take over the world by sending numerous agents to wreak havoc in cities, turning people into robotic minions. They are referred to as .

In an attempt to confront the Invaders and defend the planet, an elite but highly secret organization of peace-keepers called the Alien Exterminating Global Intercept System (more commonly known as A.E.G.I.S.), was set up with special funding from the government. They rely on the ability of "Gate Keepers", who have the power to open dimensional "gates" of a paranormal energy that give them their superpowers. These superpowers are the only weapons that have any effect on Invaders.

Although A.E.G.I.S. has branches around the world, the series focuses on the Far East division in Japan. The headquarters of the Far East branch of A.E.G.I.S. lies beneath Tategami High School, a facade created by the organization to mask the active recruitment of new Gate Keepers. Since many of the candidates were High School students, the location allowed the agents to be enrolled in school and be available for a mission at a moment's notice.

''My Teacher Is an Alien''

The plot is about three children, Peter Thompson, who is called a nerd, Susan Simmons, the protagonist, and school bully Duncan Dougal. Susan eventually discovers that Mr. Smith, their teacher, is actually an orange-eyed green alien named Broxholm, who seems to be planning to abduct five students from his class to take back with him. She calls Peter for help, and later Duncan. They later discover that Broxholm's motives are much more complex. Susan had earlier discovered that Broxholm hated music and especially her piccolo. At the end, the heroes publicly reveal Mr. Smith to be Broxholm by having the whole school band start to play "Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa in the auditorium. Broxholm then makes an escape with Peter.

''My Teacher Fried My Brains''

Three months later, in ''My Teacher Fried My Brains'', former bully Duncan Dougal discovers an alien's human disguise in the form of a human skin-like glove in a dumpster, which leads him to believe that there is still another alien posing as someone else at the school. While investigating, Duncan participates in an in-class demonstration of static electricity that he comes to believe has made him more intelligent. Since he believes this machine is making him more intelligent, he sneaks into his science classroom after school hours to use it. He gradually becomes a much more thoughtful and considerate person. One day when he is using the machine he discovers an alien creature “Poot” in the classroom refrigerator, which makes him even more suspicious of his science teacher.

One day after school when Duncan was having a terrible day, he goes into his home economics teacher Miss Betty Lou Karpou's classroom to seek advice. During this conversation, Miss Karpou is revealed to be the alien and identifies herself as Kreeblim. She freezes Duncan's body and uses his brain as a means of communication among other aliens in the galaxy who are trying to decide what they want to do with humans. Susan, the hero of the previous story, tries to save Duncan when Kreeblim is out of her house, however the two of them do not get out of the house in time.

At the end of the book, Peter (with enhanced eyesight and no need of glasses) and Broxholm return, and Duncan and Susan decide to help Peter prove to the Interplanetary Council, the ruling aliens of the galaxy, that the human race is worth saving.

''My Teacher Glows in the Dark''

Peter explains to Duncan and Susan what happened to him in the last few months, in ''My Teacher Glows in the Dark''.

The story begins in Kennituck Falls, as Peter and Broxholm evade those who are trying to capture the alien, quickly reaching Broxholm's ship and leaving the Earth. They swiftly travel to the far side of the Moon and rendezvous with the starship New Jersey (so named because the ship is the same size as New Jersey). Once on board, Peter is subjected to some rather unsettling albeit benign boarding procedures and finds himself in a truly alien world, on a starship crewed by aliens from various worlds throughout the galaxy. Peter is introduced to the alien Hoo-Lan who undertakes to serve as Peter's teacher to introduce Peter to the intergalactic society he has joined. Hoo-Lan can glow in the dark, giving the book its title, although this doesn't become a plot point (making this the only book in the series where the title isn't a plot point).

Peter quickly learns that the galaxy is stranger than he had previously believed, and also discovers that the assembled alien races think humanity is uncivilized and dangerous, and that humanity is close to discovering the secret of interstellar space flight, greatly worrying the aliens about the damage that humans could do if they discover interstellar travel while still warlike. This has led the aliens to study Earth to find out why we are the way we are, and divided the aliens into factions that variously believe Earth should be left alone, conquered, quarantined, or destroyed.

Peter agrees to have his brain examined, in an effort to determine if humanity's behavior is due to a biological condition. After much study, the aliens discover that Peter is latently and naturally telepathic, which is apparently quite rare in the galaxy. Unfortunately, while attempting to study this further, Hoo-Lan falls into a coma, which the aliens suspect is Peter's doing. Oddly, they are made even more suspicious when, despite having given Peter free rein of the ship, he goes to a communications room and contacts Duncan to try to warn Earth of the aliens' plans.

The book ends with the aliens agreeing to give Peter and Broxholm one last chance to find some redeeming characteristic of humanity that would save it, apparently having decided that otherwise they will destroy the Earth. Peter and Broxholm return to Earth, setting up their appearance at the end of ''My Teacher Fried my Brains''.

''My Teacher Flunked the Planet''

Peter, Susan and Duncan end up together again with Kreeblim and Broxholm for ''My Teacher Flunked the Planet'', as they decide to join their forces to defend Earth in front of the interplanetary council. After numerous discussions, with Hoo-Lan's help they make the case that humanity needs to largely be left alone to develop independently, while Peter also asks that the council send Earth alien teachers to help them learn and grow, so that Earth can seek the council's approval when it is ready.

James Wynnegate (Dustin Farnum) and his cousin, Henry (Monroe Salisbury), are upper class Englishmen and trustees for an orphans’ fund. Henry loses money in a bet at a derby and embezzles money from “the fund” to pay off his debts. When war office officials are informed of the money missing they pursue James, but he successfully escapes to Wyoming. There, James rescues Nat-U-Ritch (Lillian St. Cyr), daughter to the chief of the Utes tribe, from local outlaw Cash Hawkins (William Elmer). Hawkins plans to exact his revenge on James, but has his plans thwarted by Nat-U-Ritch, who shoots him dead. Later, James has an accident in the mountains and needs to be rescued. Nat-U-Ritch discovers him and carries him back to safety. As she nurses him back to health, they fall in love and later have a child.

Meanwhile, during an exploration of the Alps, Henry falls off a cliff. Before he succumbs to his injuries, Henry signs a letter of confession proclaiming James’s innocence in the embezzlement. Before Henry's widow, Lady Diana (Winifred Kingston) and others arrive in Wyoming to tell James about the news, the Sheriff recovers the murder weapon that was used against Cash Hawkins in James and Nat-U-Ritch's home. Realizing that their son is not safe, the couple sends him away, leaving them both distraught. Facing the possibilities of losing both her son and her freedom, Nat-U-Ritch decides to take her own life instead. The movie ends with both the chief of the Utes tribe and James embracing her body. Fritzi Kramer, ''The Squaw Man''(1914) A Silent Film Review, February 16, 2014.

The book tells the story of Chunky Rice, a small turtle who leaves his familiar surroundings, including his deer mouse best friend, to enter the next phase of his life. Other side characters in the novel also experience similar losses of friendship through tragedy or their own choice.

In the near future, the Moon has been colonized and supports a station on its surface. A lunar shuttle known as ''Mayflower One'' is being rushed to launch from Houston. The head of the ground crew, The Sarge, does not like what is occurring, but he defers to airline management.

On the flight crew are Captain Clarence Oveur, navigator/co-pilot Unger, and first officer/flight engineer Dunn. Also on board is computer officer Elaine Dickinson. Having dumped Ted Striker, Elaine is now engaged to Simon Kurtz, a member of the flight crew, and Ted has been committed to an insane asylum. He was declared mentally incompetent in a lawsuit following a test flight that Ted piloted and in which the lunar shuttle crashed. Ted believes the lawsuit was meant to silence him regarding dangerous safety issues related to the lunar shuttle. He is again haunted by his actions in "The War" – specifically the loss of his entire squadron above "Macho Grande" – resulting in a relapse of his "drinking problem". When Ted learns of the lunar shuttle's upcoming launch, he escapes the asylum and buys a ticket for the flight.

During the flight, ''Mayflower One'' suffers a short circuit, causing the artificially intelligent computer, ROK, to go insane and send the ship toward the Sun. Unger and Dunn try to deactivate the computer, but are blown out of an airlock. Oveur tries to stop ROK, but the computer gasses him. Simon abandons Elaine and leaves in the sole escape pod. Once again, Ted is called upon to save the day, but he must first figure out how to wrest control of the shuttle from the computer. Air traffic controller Steve McCroskey reveals that passenger Joe Seluchi had boarded with a bomb in a briefcase, intent on committing suicide to provide an insurance payout for his wife. Ted manages to wrestle the bomb from Joe, uses it to blow up ROK, and sets course for the Moon as originally intended.

The computer's destruction results in collateral damage to the shuttle; the flight is not yet out of danger. En route to the Moon, flight control shifts to a lunar base under the command of Commander Buck Murdock. Contemptuous of Ted because of Macho Grande, he nonetheless agrees to help and they manage to land the craft safely on the Moon. Ted and Elaine fall back in love and are married at the end. After the wedding, Joe looks into the cockpit and asks for his briefcase back.

A post credit message – "Coming From Paramount Pictures: ''Airplane III''" – inspires Murdock to remark, "That's exactly what they'll be expecting us to do!"

On July 26, 1942, the 1st Marine Division is sailing towards Guadalcanal. On August 7, the Marines land on Guadalcanal with no initial opposition. They find an abandoned village and capture an airfield, which the Americans work to complete, and rename it Henderson Field. Based on a tip from a Japanese deserter, the Marines leave by boat for the village of Matanikau, where there are supposedly a large number of Japanese troops who want to surrender. On the way, one boat is destroyed by a Japanese submarine before it is sunk by onshore Marine artillery.

The Marines walk into a trap, and only Private Soose Alvarez survives to make it back to American lines. The Marines then march on Matanikau in force and on the way, Private "Chicken" Anderson is wounded by a Japanese officer, who pretended to be dead. The Marines enjoy mail call but suffer Japanese air force bombing raids. Army troops land to support the Marines. They launch a campaign to root Japanese troops out of a series of caves and try to listen to the results of Game Two of the 1942 World Series, but static unfortunately prevents them from hearing the final score.

The Marines are both shelled by the Japanese navy and bombed by their air force. A force of Marine fighter planes land on the island. All the marines write letters home. They launch an attack on the Japanese during which Alvarez is killed. The Marines are relieved and evacuated from the island.

After Homer is hit by a falling girder at work and suffers a mild head injury, Mr. Burns gives him luxury skybox tickets to a hockey game in order to keep him from suing the power plant. Homer, Marge and Bart ignore the game in favor of enjoying the amenities, while Lisa leaves the box in order to watch the game from rink-side. One of the players gives her his stick in gratitude for her useful advice, and Homer mounts it on the wall above her bed that night. In so doing, though, he releases a swarm of termites that cause severe damage to the house overnight. The Simpsons are forced to move out for six months so the house can be fumigated.

Finding themselves without any suitable lodgings, they learn from Barney and Carl about ''The 1895 Challenge'', a reality show in which a family must inhabit a Victorian era house and adopt a lifestyle consistent with the title year. Homer is reluctant at first, but takes the family to audition for the show. The producers select the Simpsons after watching Homer's overreactions to trivial things. The family has trouble adjusting to the drastic changes in daily life at first, leading to high ratings among viewers who enjoy watching their misery. However, Homer soon rallies their spirits and their attitudes improve as they begin to adapt to 1895 life. When the ratings begin to fall as a result, the producers introduce Squiggy from ''Laverne & Shirley'' into the show, even allowing him to use a Taser as a means of disrupting the peaceful situation. After this ploy fails to boost the ratings, the producers secretly airlift the house off its foundations and drop it in a river while the Simpsons are sleeping.

The crew films the house's plunge over a waterfall and its collapse after running aground. Marge finds Squiggy dead in the ruins of their house. On the other hand, the Simpsons emerge unhurt from the wreckage, but they must forage for food and shelter in the wilderness since the crew refuses to give them lunch. They soon encounter a group of savage-looking people who turn out to be a tribe of contestants from another reality show, left to fend for themselves after they lost their final challenge. They team up with the Simpsons to overpower the crew and return to civilization. With the family back in their newly fumigated house, Homer decides he will only watch scripted television shows, but can find nothing good to watch. He eventually falls victim to Bart's pranks with the garden hose outside, to the enjoyment of Marge and Lisa.

Raised in the tranquil beauty of the Summer Country, Princess Guenevere has had a charmed and contented life until the sudden, violent death of her mother, Queen Maire, leaves the Summer Country teetering on the brink of anarchy. Only the miraculous arrival of Arthur, heir to the Pendragon dynasty, allows Guenevere to claim her mother's throne. Smitten by the bold, sensuous princess, Arthur offers to marry her and unite their territories, while still allowing her to rule in her own right. Their love match creates the largest and most powerful kingdom in the isles.

Arthur's glorious rule begins to crumble, however, when he is reunited with his mother and his long-lost half-sisters, Morgause and Morgan. Before Arthur's birth, his father - the savage and unscrupulous King Uther - banished his wife's young daughters, selling Morgause into a cruel marriage and imprisoning Morgan in a far-off convent. Both daughters have reason to avenge their suffering, but only one will strike the deadliest blows against the King and Queen, using her evil enchantments to destroy all Guenevere holds dear. When the Queen flees to Avalon, even her marriage with Arthur comes under threat.

In the chaos that follows, a new young knight comes to Arthur's court to offer his services to the Queen. Her loyalty to Arthur betrayed, Guenevere falls in love with Lancelot, a love that may spell ruin for Camelot.

The year is 1887, and all of England is gearing up for the celebration of Queen Victoria's golden jubilee, marking her 50th year as monarch. London, naturally, is especially frenzied. Reading the paper one morning, Sherlock Holmes seizes upon one seemingly unimportant notice: The Tower of London has been closed for "reasons of security". The great detective is unsurprised when, moments later, he is asked to investigate the theft of the Crown Jewels. The clues left behind, however, positively reek of a carefully laid trap; Sherlock decides that he must step aside and allow Dr. Watson to pursue the thief instead. If the jewels are not replaced within 48 hours, the British government will be forced to admit that their most prized possessions were stolen and suffer worldwide humiliation.

The player fills the role of Watson, travelling around London in Hansom cabs while attempting to recover the Crown Jewels while encountering many characters from Doyle's stories such as Mrs. Hudson, Mycroft Holmes, and Wiggins of the Baker Street Irregulars. A series of riddles and clues lead Watson on a hunt for inscribed jewels hidden at several famous sites across the city, including Westminster Abbey, Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, London Bridge, and Big Ben. Eventually, the villain is revealed as Professor Moriarty, who captures both Watson and Holmes. With quick thinking and the help of some humble medical supplies, however, Watson manages to subdue Moriarty and return the Jewels to the Tower in time.

Vianne Rocher, an expert ''chocolatière'' and her six-year-old daughter Anouk, drift across Europe following the north wind, like her mother before her. In 1959, they arrive in a quiet, traditional French village, overseen by village mayor the Comte de Reynaud at the start of the 40 days of Lent. Vianne opens a chocolate shop, much to Reynaud's chagrin.

Vianne wears more colourful clothing than the village women, is atheist, and is a single mother. Although not fitting in well with the townspeople she is nevertheless optimistic. With a friendly and alluring nature, she begins to make headway with some of the villagers. However, the austere Mayor Reynaud, whose pride will not admit his wife had left him, speaks out against Vianne for tempting the people during Lent.

Armande, Vianne's elderly eccentric landlady, is one of Vianne's first allies. Her cold, pious daughter Caroline will not let her see her grandson Luc as she is a "bad influence". Caroline is a widow and overly protective of Luc. Vianne arranges for him and his grandmother to meet in the chocolaterie, where they bond. After finding out about their secret meetings, Caroline later reveals her mother is diabetic, but Armande continues to eat the chocolate regardless.

Vianne later develops a friendship with troubled Josephine, who is being physically abused by her husband Serge, who runs the local café. Through their friendship, Josephine finds the courage to leave Serge after a rather violent beating, moving in with Vianne and Anouk. As she works at the chocolate shop and learns the craft, her confidence slowly increases. Simultaneously, under Reynaud's instruction, Serge attempts to make amends for his abusiveness, eventually asking Josephine to come back to him, but she declines. Later that night, a drunken Serge breaks into the chocolaterie, attacking both women, but Josephine knocks him out.

As the rivalry between Vianne and Reynaud intensifies, a band of river Romani camp near the village. Whereas most of the town objects to their presence, Vianne embraces them, developing a mutual attraction to Roux. They hold a birthday party for Armande with villagers and Romani on Roux's boat. When Caroline sees Luc dancing with his grandmother, she relents and begins to accept that Armande's influence in her son's life may be good.

After the party, Luc takes Armande home. Josephine and Anouk fall asleep on a boat, while Roux and Vianne make love. Later that night, Serge sets fire to boat Josephine is on as they sleep. They escape unharmed, but Vianne is shaken. Armande dies in her home with Luc discovering her unresponsive, devastating both him and his mother. After the fire, Roux packs up and leaves with his group, much to Vianne's sadness.

Reynaud initially believed the fire was divine intervention until Serge confesses to starting it, saying he thought it was what he wanted. Horrified that the fire was actually arson and fearing blame, Reynaud orders him to leave the village and to not come back.

With the return of the north wind, Vianne decides she cannot win against Reynaud's strict traditions, and decides to move on. Anouk, now attached to the town, refuses to go, and during a scuffle, the urn containing Vianne's mother's ashes breaks, scattering them over the floor. While recovering the ashes, Vianne sees the townspeople and the positive influence she's had on their lives, making chocolate for the festival she planned for Easter Sunday. Vianne decides to stay longer.

Despite shifting sentiment in the town, Reynaud remains staunch in his abstinence from pleasures such as chocolate. On the Saturday evening before Easter, seeing Caroline, whom he is attracted to, leaving the chocolaterie devastates him. Convinced chocolate will make people stray from their faith, he breaks into Vianne's shop that night, smashing the special chocolate creations for the Easter festival. After a morsel of chocolate falls on his lip, he eagerly devours much of the chocolate in the window display before collapsing in tears and eventually falling asleep. The next morning, Vianne calmly wakes him up and gives him a special drink to help him. Reynaud apologizes for his behavior. Mutual respect is established, and the town's young priest Père Henri gives an inspiring sermon, emphasizing the importance of humanity over divinity.

The narrator reveals the Easter Sunday sermon and the festival are a success. Reynaud and Caroline start a relationship half a year later. Josephine takes over Serge's café, renaming it Café Armande. The north wind returns, but this time Vianne throws her mother's ashes out into the wind, symbolizing her life path finally diverging from her late mother's. The narrator, a grown-up Anouk, concludes the story: Roux returns in the summer to be with Vianne, who stays, having found a home for herself and her daughter in the village.

Nightclub singer Rusty Wells (Presley) and his band have just closed their engagement at the club where they work in Chicago and are about ready to leave for their annual spring break trip to Fort Lauderdale, Florida—that is, until the club's owner, Big Frank (Harold Stone), extends their stay at his club, foiling the band's plans for some sun and fun in Florida.

At the same time, Big Frank's daughter, college student Valerie (Shelley Fabares) also takes her spring break in Lauderdale with her friends, which worries her father to no end. So at the suggestion of Rusty (who sees this situation as an opportunity for him and the guys to make Lauderdale after all), Big Frank hires Rusty and his band to make the trip to Lauderdale to look after Valerie to make sure she stays out of trouble. But the task isn't easy because Rusty and the guys struggle to keep sex-crazed Italian exchange student Romano (Fabrizio Mioni) away from Valerie, while at the same time Rusty has to keep explaining the situation to his date, a good-time girl named Deena (Mary Ann Mobley), who has no patience for guys who stand her up or keep her waiting.

Rusty's watch over Valerie eventually leads to the two of them falling in love (after Rusty walks Valerie to her motel room, serenading her with "Puppet on a String"). However, after Big Frank reveals to Valerie that he is paying Rusty to be her chaperone, Valerie becomes angry and devastated to the point of going to a local nightclub, getting drunk, and starting a riot, landing everyone there in jail.

When Big Frank arrives in Lauderdale to spring Valerie from jail, he is angry with Rusty at first. But after he sees that Valerie has fallen in love with Rusty, Big Frank makes amends with Rusty, allowing Rusty and Valerie to rekindle their relationship.

When Homer and Bart fight over the use of a beer bottle Milhouse wants to use, it lands them in the Simpson family court, which is held in the living room with Lisa presiding as judge. Bart dares Homer to tell if he ever kissed a girl as a 10-year-old, but when Marge says that Homer's first kiss was with her in high school, Homer confesses that it was not his first kiss. Homer recalls that when he was Bart's age, he went to a camp for underprivileged boys, Camp See-A-Tree, where he met Lenny, Carl, and Moe (who claims to be a counselor, although in reality Moe's parents had just abandoned him at the camp two years prior). It turned out during the evenings the summer camp was more like a prison as they had to work as servants in the kitchen at Camp Land-A-Man, the girls camp across the lake, because due to parents' lawsuits, the boys' camp could not afford the fees. Homer found a retainer and returned it to a girl who lost it, though he could not see her (they were separated by the kitchen wall). She asked Homer to see her later that night. He did so, even though he had to wear an eyepatch due to an accident with a switchblade. Homer tells the kids that she was the prettiest girl he had ever met until he later met their mother. However, Marge surprises everyone by admitting that she was the girl Homer met and that if she had known that Homer was the boy she would have never married him. Marge gives her side of the story, saying that she was with Patty, Selma, Helen, Luann and Cookie at Camp Land-A-Man. She fell in love with Homer after he returned her retainer, but the other girls joked at what his name could be, settling coincidentally with "Big Ugly Homer", prompting Homer himself to give her a false name "Elvis Jagger Abdul-Jabbar".

While ironing her hair to make it straight for the date, Marge burned it brown by accident, which she explains was why Homer did not recognize her in high school. She met Homer, and after a long awkward moment of self-consciousness for both, they finally kissed, leading each to dream of being in an imaginary paradise (both equally colorful, though Marge's paradise is a high fantasy fairy tale while Homer's is a darkly comedic candy land where Homer devours all living things that he sees ahead). They agreed that the following night they would meet again, but Homer did not come for Marge, who waited the entire night and left in the morning deeply saddened. Marge mentions that she could not trust another boy for years. Homer then gives his side of the story explaining why he did not show up. He claims that right after the date, during which he had given Marge a heart-shaped rock he had found, he was so dazed with bliss that he accidentally fell off a cliff into the lake and drifted to a fat camp, Camp Flab-Away, which counted a younger Mayor Quimby, Chief Wiggum and Comic Book Guy as its campers. He is caught by the Camp Instructor (who does not distinguish between boys who drift into the camp and actual participants).

While Homer was trapped at the camp, a devastated Marge decided to leave the camp and threw the rock that he had given her away, breaking it in two. Homer managed to escape the fat camp and make his way to Marge's camp, but Marge had left only seconds before he arrived, leaving Homer to be sexually harassed by Patty and Selma. Despite knowing the truth, Marge gets depressed over what happened thirty years ago and thinks that Homer did not care for her. However, Homer proves that he really did care about her for years after the date by showing her a piece of the broken rock that he had found. Pleasantly surprised, Marge reveals that she had kept the other piece (albeit for the very different reason of reminding her of the cruel things men can do) and forgets about the past. The two then put the rock together to form a heart and kiss until the light fades.

Ramona returns to the family ranch after years of being educated by nuns. Ramona reunites with her mother and brother and childhood friend, the Indian Alejandro. Ramona falls in love with Alejandro and the couple is faced with the prejudices of being an interracial couple.

The family selects a suitable husband for Ramona and a wedding is planned. Family secrets come to light exposing the truth of Ramona's birth and her Indian heritage. The ill-fated romance continues when Alejandro kidnaps Ramona at the altar.

The two enjoy a short-lived honeymoon before Alejandro is taken captive by the authorities and is hanged. Ramona returns home to live with her mother and Felipe who has loved her since childhood. Ramona is pregnant with Alejandro's child, so she and Felipe get married.

This ill-fated romance is played out against the backdrop of the impending statehood of the Mexican territory, which ultimately becomes what is most often referred to as California.

In the Arizona desert, truck driver Martin "Rubber Duck" Penwald is passed by a woman in a Jaguar XK-E, which leads to an encounter with a state trooper. Proceeding on his way, Rubber Duck runs into fellow truck drivers Pig Pen/Love Machine and Spider Mike, when another "trucker" informs them over the C.B. that they are okay to increase their speed. The "trucker" turns out to be Sheriff "Dirty Lyle" Wallace, a long-time nemesis of the Duck, who extorts them for $70 each.

The truckers head on to Rafael's Glide-In where the Duck's sometime girlfriend and Lyle's wife, Violet, works as a waitress. Melissa, the driver of the XK-E, is also there; her Jaguar broke down and she had to sell it and some of her belongings in an effort reach Dallas, as she's on her way to look for a job. The Duck offers Melissa a ride; Violet is unimpressed and ushers him away to give him a special birthday present. While they're away, Wallace shows up at the Glide-In checking plates. Pig Pen and Spider Mike start making fun of Wallace over the diner's base-station CB radio, leading to Wallace attempting to arrest Spider Mike for "vagrancy".

The Duck, having been warned by Widow Woman, enters and tries to smooth things over. But Lyle is determined and insults Mike, who is desperate to get home to his wife. Mike punches Wallace, leading to a brawl in the diner when some troopers arrive to assist Wallace. The assorted truckers prevail, and the Duck handcuffs Wallace to a bar stool. After pulling the spark plug wires and distributor caps out of the police cars, the truckers decide to head for the state line to avoid prosecution.

The truckers drive across Arizona and New Mexico, with Wallace in pursuit after he forces a local youth outside the diner to give up his vehicle when he finds him possessing drugs. He catches up with Duck, but matters are made worse when Melissa accidentally causes Duck to veer into the path of Wallace's vehicle, forcing him to crash through a billboard and into a ditch, infuriating him further. The initial police pursuit is foiled when Duck leads the truckers off the main highway and down a rough dusty desert trail, causing several of the police cars to crash. Wallace, in yet another vehicle, this time commandeered from one of the state troopers, is again thwarted when Pig Pen and Spider Mike crush his vehicle between their rigs. Additional independent truckers join them to form a mile-long convoy in support of Rubber Duck's vendetta against the abusive Wallace. The truckers communicate with each other via CB radio, and much CB jargon is sprinkled throughout the film. As the rebellious truckers evade and confront the police, Rubber Duck becomes a reluctant hero.

It becomes apparent the truckers have a great deal of political support and the Governor of New Mexico, Jerry Haskins, meets Rubber Duck. About the same time, Wallace and a brutal Texas sheriff arrest Spider Mike in Alvarez, Texas. He had left the convoy to be with his wife after she gave birth to their son. Wallace's plan is to use Mike as "bait" to trap Rubber Duck. A janitor at the jail, aware of the plan, send messages by CB radio that Spider Mike has been wrongfully arrested and beaten. Various truckers relay the message to New Mexico.

Rubber Duck ends the meeting with Haskins and leaves to rescue Spider Mike. Several other truckers join him and head east to Texas. The truckers eventually destroy half of the town and the jail and rescue Spider Mike. Knowing they will now be hunted by the authorities, the truckers head for the border of Mexico. On the way, Rubber Duck gets separated from the rest of the convoy when the others get stopped by a traffic accident. The film culminates with a showdown near the United States-Mexico border where Rubber Duck is forced to face Wallace and a National Guard unit stationed on a bridge. Firing a machine gun, Wallace and the Guardsmen cause the truck's tanker trailer to explode, while Rubber Duck deliberately steers the tractor unit over the side of the bridge, plummeting into the churning river below, sending Duck presumably to his death.

A public funeral is held for Rubber Duck. Haskins promises to work for the truckers by taking their case to Washington, D.C. Disgusted with the politics of the situation, Pig Pen abruptly leaves the funeral. A distraught Melissa is led to a school bus with several "long-haired friends of Jesus" inside. There she finds Rubber Duck in disguise sitting in the back. He asks, "You ever seen a duck that couldn't swim?" The convoy takes to the road with the coffin in tow, abruptly ending the politicians' speeches. As the bus passes Wallace, he spots the Duck and bursts into laughter.

After Homer steals the Olympic torch because the television broadcast of the sporting event preempted his favorite shows for the last time, the Olympic administrators chase the Simpson family in a helicopter as they flee in their car. When Marge returns the torch, the sight of its flame causes the helicopter to crash. The administrators survive the crash, but the Olympic flame is extinguished.

On their way home, the family go to a private school-held fair, where Bart meets Greta, Rainier Wolfcastle's daughter. Greta develops a crush on the oblivious Bart and the family enjoys the royal treatment Rainier provides them. However, Lisa discovers Bart not taking Greta seriously after he skipped her school dance to watch Principal Skinner bomb at an open mic comedy night. Upon Lisa's advice, Bart breaks up with Greta, who does not take it well.

After losing her, Bart discovers he actually wanted to be with Greta and goes to her house to ask her to come back to him. To his surprise, Greta has started a new relationship with Milhouse. Greta goes to Canada with Milhouse during her father's movie shooting, and Bart follows them with his family. At the set, Bart confronts Milhouse and they fight, ruining everything. They end up in front of Greta and demand for her to choose between them. Greta turns both boys down due to loss of interest in the two. The boys reconcile and join Canada's basketball team.

Set in the South Pacific Ocean in the year 1897, beginning right where the original film left off, a larger ship finds a little dinghy with three passengers. They quickly find out that the two adults are dead, but the infant snuggled between them lives- a little two-year-old boy who they assume is named "Richard" since that's the only name he knows. They take the baby aboard and he is given over to the care of the young widow who already has a young daughter named Lilli. Mrs. Sarah Hargrave, the widow, and the two young children are cast off from the ship they are travelling on because the ship's crew are infected with cholera. After days afloat, Kearney, a sailor who has been sent with them, tries to kill the boy because of his excessive crying. Sarah angrily beats Kearney to death with a harpoon and dumps his body overboard.

The trio arrive at a beautiful tropical island in the South Pacific. Sarah tries to raise them to be civilized, as the orphaned boy Richard was born and raised by young lovers on this same island. They grow up and Sarah educates them from the Bible, as well as from her own knowledge, including the facts of life. She cautiously demands the children never to go to the forbidden side of the island.

Eight years later, when Richard and Lilli are 10 and 8 years old, Sarah dies from pneumonia, leaving them to fend for themselves. She is buried on a scenic promontory overlooking the tidal reef area. Together, the kids survive on their resourcefulness and the bounty of their remote paradise.

Six years later, both Richard and Lilli grow into strong and beautiful teenagers. They live in a house on the beach and spend their days together fishing, swimming, and exploring the island. Both their bodies mature and develop and they are physically attracted to each other. Richard lets Lilli win the child's game Easter egg hunt and dives to find Lilli an adult's pearl as her reward. His penchant for racing a lagoon shark sparks a domestic quarrel; Lilli thinks he is foolhardy, but the liveliness makes Richard feel virile.

Lilli awakens in the morning with her first menstrual period, just as Sarah described the threshold of womanhood. Richard awakens in the morning with an erection and suffers a nasty mood swing, which he cannot explain. They then get into an argument regarding privacy and their late mother's rules.

One night, Richard goes off to the forbidden side of the island, and discovers that a group of natives from another island use the shrine of an impressive, Kon-Tiki-like idol to sacrifice conquered enemies every full moon. Richard camouflages himself with mud and hides in the muck; meanwhile, Lilli worries about his disappearance. Richard escapes unscathed, though he is seen by a lone native.

Ultimately, after making up for their fight, Richard and Lilli discover natural love and passion, which deepens their emotional bond. They fall in love and exchange formal wedding vows and rings in the middle of the jungle. They consummate their new-found feelings for each other for the next months.

Soon after, a ship arrives at the island, carrying unruly sailors, a proud captain, and his beautiful but spoiled daughter, Sylvia Hilliard. The party is welcomed by the young couple, and they ask to be taken back to civilization, after many years in isolation. Sylvia tries to steal Richard from Lilli and seduce him, but as tempted as he is by her strange ways, he realizes that Lilli is his heart and soul, upsetting Sylvia. Richard angrily leaves Sylvia behind in the middle of the fish pond, in plain view of the landing party.

Meanwhile, Quinlan, a sailor, ogles Lilli in her bath and drags her back to the house. He tries to rape her and steal her pearl before Richard comes to her rescue. Quinlan opens fire on Richard, who flees. Richard lures Quinlan to his death in the jaws of the shark in the tidal reef area.

Upon returning, he apologizes to Lilli for hurting her, and she reveals that she is pregnant. She tells him that if he wants to leave, then she will not stop him, but that she wants to raise their child away from civilization and away from guns. They decide to stay and raise their child on the island, as they feel their blissful life would not compare to civilization. The ship departs and the two young lovers stay on the island and have their baby, a girl.

At Springfield Minimum Security Prison, Sideshow Bob is disturbed when he hears the other inmates laughing at the inane antics of Krusty the Clown's television show. Believing that television is a fountain of "mindless drivel" and wanting to rid the world of it, Bob escapes while on work duty at a local Air Force Base. He gains access to a restricted area of the hangar, where he finds a 10-megaton nuclear weapon.

As the Simpsons and other residents of Springfield are attending an air show held at the base, the signal on the big screen is interrupted by Bob, who threatens to detonate the bomb unless Springfield disables all of its television broadcasts. Upon hearing the announcement, everyone flees the airfield in panic, except for Bart and Lisa. Unable to locate Bob, Mayor Quimby decides to give in to Bob's ultimatum. Krusty, refusing to submit to Bob's demands, takes refuge in a civil defense shack in the desert, which he uses to transmit a heavily improvised show.

Lisa deduces that the unusually high-pitched voice of Bob in his broadcast was due to inhaling helium, and locates him in the envelope of the Duff Blimp. Bob, having lost his patience thanks to Krusty, tries to detonate the bomb, which turns out to be a dud, because it had passed the expiration date of November 1959. Lisa alerts the police to Bob's location using the blimp's variable message sign, but Bob deflates the blimp and kidnaps Bart, before stealing the original Wright Brothers aircraft, which had been an exhibit at the air show. Holding a knife against Bart's throat, Bob attempts to carry out a deadly kamikaze attack against the civil defense shack where Krusty is hiding and kill him, Bart, and himself, but the slow-moving plane ends up merely bouncing harmlessly off the shack. The authorities quickly arrest Bob and take him back into custody while Bart is reunited with the rest of the family.

As a child, Mary Katherine Gallagher (Molly Shannon) rescues a boy with a distinctive birthmark at the public pool. An orphan, she lives with her grandmother (Glynis Johns), and becomes obsessed with achieving “superstardom” and having her first kiss.

At St. Monica’s Catholic high school, Mary dreams of kissing Sky Corrigan (Will Ferrell), the most popular boy in school, but her awkwardness brands her a social outcast. Caught kissing a tree, she is placed in special education, where she befriends Helen Lewengrub (Emmy Laybourne), and new “bad boy” student Eric Slater (Harland Williams) takes an interest in her.

A school talent show is announced with the chance to win a trip to Hollywood and be a movie extra. Mary’s grandmother forbids her from participating, but Helen urges her to audition anyway, as does a vision of Jesus (also Will Ferrell). When she tries to sign up, Mary finds herself in an altercation with head cheerleader Evian Graham (Elaine Hendrix), Sky’s girlfriend. Mary’s grandmother reveals the true reason she will not let Mary perform – Mary’s parents were stomped to death during an Irish stepdance competition.

Having witnessed the fight with Mary, Sky breaks up with Evian, who swears revenge on Mary. Auditioning for the talent show, Mary performs an impassioned rendition of “Sometimes When We Touch”. Evian dumps a bucket of paint on her, inspired by ''Carrie''; humiliated, Mary flees the school with Slater. He brings her to the pool, revealing that he was the boy she saved years ago, and they bond during an impromptu swim. Returning home, Mary finds her grandmother has been informed that Mary earned a place in the talent show. Finally allowing her to perform, Mary's grandmother coaches her and a chorus line of her special education classmates.

As the talent show begins, Evian apologizes to Mary, revealing she and Sky will be dancing together. Mary resolves to perform not to impress Sky, but for herself. In a last-minute confession, Mary relinquishes her dream of becoming a star, instead asking to survive the performance for her grandmother’s sake. Mary and her friends perform to “Out Here on My Own” as Slater, summoned by another vision of Jesus, arrives just in time to watch. The record player inadvertently speeds up, and Mary falls – echoing her parents’ fatal performance – but, encouraged by Jesus, she successfully leads her friends through their performance.

Met with a standing ovation, Mary wins the talent show. Sky kisses her, but she rejects him, and kisses Slater. The film ends as Mary, now dating Slater, again kisses the tree.

Lonnie Beale, an out-of-work rodeo star with a heart of gold, is trying to make ends meet until the season starts up again. He comes to the fictional Western town of Zuni Wells because a friend said that Lonnie could get a job on a ranch, but the friend cannot be found.

Having no other option, Lonnie begins singing in a local club, but he gets fired after a fight with one of the customers. Vera Radford sees his performance and offers him a job taking care of the horses at a ranch that she runs called the Circle-Z. However, the ranch is not what Lonnie had expected; it is a fitness salon referred to as Yogurt Gulch where actresses and models go to lose weight and get in shape.

After upsetting the staff a few times by disrupting activities with his singing, Lonnie follows Pam Meritt to the nearby ghost town of Silverado, where he learns that one of her relatives has hidden a treasure. They share a comical vision of what the town must have been like when it was still populated.

There is a brief interlude parodying Western films in which Lonnie becomes the Panhandle Kid, a milk-drinking cowboy, with Pam and ranch hand Stanley in costume as characters in the saloon.

Back at the ranch, people try to abduct Pam to find the location of the treasure, and they want a letter that Pam possesses. Lonnie defends Pam, and they begin a relationship, but matters are complicated when Vera throws herself at Lonnie and Pam walks in on them.

When rodeo season starts, Lonnie goes on the circuit. But because things were left unresolved with Pam, he is unable to do his job well. Every time he tries to call, she hangs up on him, and when he writes to her, she sends his letters back marked "Return to Sender" (an homage to a 1962 Presley hit). Eventually, Stanley finds Lonnie on the circuit and talks him into confronting Pam.

When the two reach the Circle-Z, Pam is on her way to Silverado, so they follow her. A fierce storm begins, so the trio spends the night in a hotel that seems to be haunted, as strange things happen to Pam and Stanley whenever Lonnie is not around. Eventually it is revealed that the ghosts and goblins in the hotel are actually masked men trying to capture Pam's treasure.

The men are unmasked and the hiding place of the treasure is discovered. Lonnie and Pam get married, with a big reception at the Circle-Z. Stanley gets tangled up in the decorations behind their car. Lonnie sings to Pam as they drive off toward their honeymoon, dragging Stanley in a metal tub behind them.

Twins Leila (Ashley) and Charli (Mary-Kate) Hunter go to Rome to participate in a Summer Intern Program along with four others: Paolo, Nobu, Dari, and Heidi. After beginning the intern program, the sisters are soon fired due to careless mishaps. They soon meet Derek Hammond, who re-hires them. They spend the day at Hammond’s house, where Leila meets bad boy Ryan, who happens to be Derek’s nephew. Leila and Ryan develop a liking for each other. Back at work, the girls are grasping more the concept of being responsible. They become great friends with the other interns. Charli and Paolo develop feelings for each other.

When attempting to deliver some designs for a shoot, Mr. Tortoni sabotages them by stealing the dresses. Leila, with Ryan’s help, captures pictures of the incident and delivers the pictures to Derek. Everyone helps to make new dresses, using Charlie’s designs, before the big day. In the end, the photoshoot goes well and Tortoni re-hires the interns. Derek arrives with the police to arrest Mr. Tortoni, and it is discovered that Tortoni was always jealous for having everything, the money, and the girl (Jamie).

The movie closes with Jamie and Derek and Charli and Paolo kissing. Ryan tries to kiss Leila, but she tells him she’s good with just a hug. Derek decides to take all the interns to New York with him.

Vincent Parry, wrongly convicted of murdering his wife, escapes from prison and is taken in by Irene Jansen, a wealthy socialite, and artist with an interest in his case and becomes bent on clearing his name. Helped by a friendly cabbie, Parry gets a new face from a plastic surgeon, thereby enabling him to dodge the authorities and find his wife's real killer. He has difficulty staying hidden, in part because Madge Rapf, the spiteful woman whose testimony sent him to prison, and who has an unhealthy interest in Irene, keeps stopping by.

The Springfield Retirement Castle holds a talent show, which the Simpson family attends. Grampa wins the show after performing his version of the song "What's New, Pussycat?". He wins a free autopsy, so the Simpsons visit a funeral salesman to claim the prize. While there, Homer decides to buy a casket and a tombstone for Grampa, who is then offered an expensive funeral plan that Homer cannot afford. The salesman tells Homer that the tombstone is produced from the same amount of cement as a tennis court, and this gives him the idea to build a tennis court in the family's backyard (although he initially regrets this, having confused tennis and foxy boxing).

The court is very popular with Springfield's residents, but these residents mock Homer and Marge for losing all the time, thanks to Homer's poor play. Marge pleads with Homer to take the game seriously, but he is too oblivious to how poorly he plays tennis. Instead, he tries to please Marge by entering the pair in Krusty's celebrity tennis tournament, the "Krusty Kharity Klassic". Marge, tired of being laughed at, ditches Homer and enters with Bart as her new partner. Homer is outraged that he was abandoned for a ten-year-old boy, and tries to get revenge by entering the tournament with Lisa as his partner, despite Lisa's disapproval.

The change in partners leads the Simpson family to begin arguing and aggressively competing against one another. The tournament takes place, and in the stands are leading tennis professionals Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams. At the tournament, Homer ditches Lisa for Venus. In response, Marge replaces Bart with Serena as her partner. Ultimately, Serena and Venus replace Marge and Homer with Sampras and Agassi, respectively. This forces the family to go back to the bench and resume their normal places in the family. As they enjoy the exhibition of top-class tennis, they agree that it is better to watch things than to do things, and Homer offers to buy the family dinner with money he took from Sampras' wallet.

The Simpson family attends a prison rodeo where Marge meets Jack Crowley, a convict whom she believes to have great artistic potential after becoming impressed with his work. She later teaches a class on being an artist to the prisoners and befriends Jack. With Marge's help, Jack is granted parole under her custody. Marge soon finds a mural-painting job at Springfield Elementary School for him. Jack paints a powerful mural symbolizing school spirit with a warrior woman riding a puma, which the whole school likes, but Principal Skinner demands he tone it down using his idea of a cartoonish puma walking with two children under a rainbow in a fantasy land. Jack reluctantly gives in to his wishes; however, upon its unveiling, the new mural is panned by everyone in town. Refusing to admit that he forced Jack to create it in the first place, Skinner instead blames Jack and fires him.

Sometime later, the mural is set on fire by a mystery arsonist, and everyone manages to get a look at the real one. Everyone in the school assumes Jack did it to get back at Skinner. While the police are out searching for Jack, Marge finds him hiding in the school playground. He swears to her that he did not start the fire. Marge believes him and distracts Skinner and Chief Wiggum so he can escape, but he instead sets fire to Skinner's car and dances around it laughing maniacally, revealing his true nature. Jack is arrested and Marge, furious that he lied to her face, demands Wiggum to take him back to prison.

Meanwhile, Homer suffers a back injury by a bull from the rodeo and sees a chiropractor, but does not follow his instructions. Later, Homer falls backward onto a malformed garbage can at home and discovers that it solved his back problems. He makes a business out of his discovery, which proves to be a successful method of solving problems with pain, causing the chiropractic business to decline. Eventually, two chiropractors disguised as investors trick Homer and destroy the garbage can at the Simpsons' home.

The drama charts the story of Michael "Midge" Kelly (Kirk Douglas), a boxer who pushes himself to the top of his game by knocking out opponents and back-stabbing his friends. He has no qualms about deceiving the various females he encounters and he eventually double-crosses Tommy Haley (Paul Stewart), the manager who found him and helped pave his road to fame.

Midge and his brother Connie (Arthur Kennedy) are crossing America by thumb and freight cars from Chicago to California, where they have bought a share in a restaurant. Along the way, they hitch a lift from a car carrying a top boxer, Johnny Dunne, and his girlfriend Grace Diamond (Marilyn Maxwell). They are driven to Kansas City where Dunne is fighting another contender that night.

Midge needs money and is offered a fight on the under-card for $35. After taking a beating, the promoter only pays him $10, claiming the remainder as "management and facility fees". The fight brings him to the attention of fight trainer Tommy Haley, who tells a disinterested Midge to come to his gym in Los Angeles if he ever needs a break.

Once they reach Los Angeles, however, they discover they have been conned in the restaurant deal. The brothers need to secure jobs waiting tables and washing dishes. Both strike up a relationship with the owner's daughter, Emma (Ruth Roman). When Midge is discovered with her, they are forced to marry by her outraged father. After the shotgun wedding, Midge abandons his new wife and flees with his brother to Haley's gym.

Midge enters his new field with a single-minded devotion. He defeats a number of local fighters, begins touring the country and is soon ranked as a contender. He is matched with Dunne, who is in line for a championship fight. Organized crime figures lean on Midge to throw the match, guaranteeing him a legitimate shot at the title the following year if he complies. Midge agrees, but then goes back on his word and destroys the complacent Dunne in a single round.

Seeing which way the wind is blowing, Grace now attaches herself to Midge, and persuades him to abandon his manager Haley and take on the management of Jerome Harris, an extremely wealthy and influential figure in the fight game with criminal ties. Realizing this is the only way he will get a shot at the title, Midge agrees. Connie is so disgusted that he walks out. He reconnects with Emma and convinces her to return to Chicago with him to help care for his aged and ailing mother.

Midge takes the title and becomes a popular fan favorite because of his rise from humble beginnings. He soon becomes involved with the wife of his new manager, Palmer Harris, a sculptor. She falls in love with him and persuades Midge to ask her husband for a divorce. Jerome refuses and instead offers Midge a large sum of money if he relinquishes his wife. Midge agrees, leaving Palmer brokenhearted.

After fighting a number of second-rate challengers, Midge agrees to fight Dunne, who is now in good shape and making a comeback. Midge quickly realizes he need to get in top shape in order to win, so he rehires Haley as his manager, and Connie and Emma come back into the camp as well. Connie and Emma are now contemplating marriage, although Emma is still legally married to Midge. As they are breaking camp, Midge rapes Emma, just to show he can.

Midge fights Dunne in the sporting event of the year. He knocks down the challenger in the first round. Dunne manages to get up and the balance of the fight shifts in his direction. He starts pounding Midge, pummeling his face. Haley tries to throw in the towel, but Midge refuses and fights on, taking more punishment. After seeing Grace in the audience, Midge, now enraged, rallies in the final round and knocks out Dunne, but he is seriously injured and dies in his locker room of a cerebral hemorrhage.

After delivering a favorable, but backhanded, eulogy to a reporter, Connie and Emma walk off into the darkness, now free to move forward with their lives.

After a police round up of street children, Pixote (Fernando Ramos da Silva) a 10-year-old boy is sent to a juvenile reformatory (FEBEM). The prison is a hellish school where Pixote uses glue sniffing as a means of emotional escape from the constant threats of abuse and rape.

It soon becomes clear that the young criminals are only pawns in the criminal, sadistic games of the prison guards and their commander.

When a boy dies of physical abuse by the guards, the officials frame (and ultimately kill) the lover of the trans woman known as Lilica (Jorge Julião) for the murder.

Soon after, Pixote, his friend Chico (Edílson Lino), Lilica and her new lover Dito (Gilberto Moura) find an opportunity to flee from the prison. First, they stay at the apartment of Cristal (Tony Tornado), a former lover of Lilica, but when tensions arise they go to Rio for a cocaine drug deal; there, however, they get duped by showgirl Débora (Elke Maravilha).

After some time bumming around the city, Pixote and his friends go to a club for another drug deal. While there, Pixote finds Débora and stabs her.

They become pimps for the prostitute Sueli (Marília Pêra) who is definitely past her prime and is ill — possibly from a botched abortion. The group conspires to rob her johns, but when Lilica's lover Dito falls for Sueli, Lilica leaves. The robbery scheme fails when an American john fights back (because he apparently does not understand Portuguese) so they have to shoot him. In the ensuing fight, Pixote accidentally shoots and kills Dito as well.

Pixote tries to gain comfort from Sueli, treating her as a mother figure by sucking on her breast, but she rejects him out of disgust. He leaves and is seen walking down a railway line, gun in hand, away from the camera, his figure disappearing in the distance, out of the camera's view.

Gohan and Oolong search for the magical Dragon Balls and their radar shows them that the orbs are being gathered by another, unknown party. They investigate near a large wall of ice where Piccolo is training. Meanwhile, the mad scientist , having successfully gathered all of the Dragon Balls, summons the eternal dragon Shenron and wishes for and his lab to be released from the ice. The ice breaks away as a building emerges and Gohan and Oolong are attacked by Dr. Kochin's . Piccolo saves them but is overcome by three mysterious warriors while Gohan and Oolong escape.

Dr. Kochin and his bio-men soon present themselves to Master Roshi who refuses to accompany them to Willow's lab and defeats the bio-men. Dr. Kochin kidnaps Bulma to force Master Roshi to pursue them. At Willow's lab, Master Roshi is forced to fight three "bio-warriors" but is swiftly defeated. Bulma discovers that Dr. Willow's mission is to obtain the body of the strongest warrior on Earth to become the host for his brain, which is currently separated from his deceased body and kept alive by his advanced technology. Bulma informs him that Goku will undoubtedly be coming to rescue them and that he is much more powerful than Roshi. Meanwhile, Goku learns of situation and he arrives at Dr. Willow's lab and is confronted by , , and – Dr. Kochin's three bio-warrior henchmen. Goku defeats Misokattsun but is frozen by an ice-like attack launched by Ebifurya. Gohan and Krillin arrive to help but are no match for Kishime. Goku breaks free from ice with his Kaio-ken technique, defeats the two remaining bio-warriors, and confronts Dr. Willow. Piccolo, who has been brainwashed by Dr. Willow, attacks Goku. Gohan tries to stop Piccolo but fails causing his anger to explode, shattering Dr. Willow's brainwashing device. Dr. Willow is stunned by Gohan's power and desires to steal his body instead. He breaks his robot body free from the ice wall, subsequently knocking Dr. Kochin down a shaft which kills him.

Dr. Willow attacks, overwhelms the fighters, and only Goku and Piccolo are left to oppose him. Goku knocks Dr. Willow into the atmosphere and begins to form a Spirit Bomb attack. Willow interrupts him before he can finish gathering the energy for it requiring Goku's allies to distract Willow. Goku's successfully launches the bomb and Willow is killed.

The mad scientist Dr. Gero is killed at the hands of his creations, the Androids 17 and 18. However, Gero had secretly copied his consciousness into an underground supercomputer that continued to manifest his dream of creating the ultimate android capable of killing Goku and destroying humanity.

At a shopping mall, Goku, Gohan, Chi-Chi, Krillin, Master Roshi, Oolong, and Future Trunks eat lunch in a restaurant. Two beings enter the city and begin causing mayhem as they hunt for Goku, eventually detecting his location in the restaurant above them. They use a massive energy attack in an attempt to kill Goku but he, Gohan, Krillin, and Trunks manage to survive and save the people inside of the restaurant from certain death. Goku is confronted by the culprits and correctly assumes that they are androids because he cannot sense their energy. Introducing themselves as Androids 14 and 15, they attack and overwhelm Goku before Trunks intervenes. Goku suggests that they take the fight elsewhere in order to avoid harming innocent people in the city, and they fly off as the androids pursue them.

Goku and Trunks engage the androids when another android soon appears - Android 13. He explains that despite Dr. Gero's death, his computer has been programmed to continue the mission to kill Goku out of revenge for defeating the Red Ribbon Army decades prior. 13 quickly overwhelms Goku while Trunks is outmatched by the combined assault of 14 and 15. However, Vegeta also arrives and joins the fight. Goku engages 13 while Trunks and Vegeta fight 14 and 15 respectively. Goku, Vegeta and Trunks all simultaneously power up to their Super Saiyan forms as Gohan and Krillin watch on. 13 manages to hold the upper hand against Goku, who is soon assisted by the arrival of Piccolo, while Trunks and Vegeta destroy 14 and 15. They surround 13 who is pleased that 14 and 15 have been destroyed and he proceeds to absorb their cores into his own being and undergoes a transformation into a hulking form.

With his newfound power, 13 completely overwhelms Goku and his allies. Seeing no other option for victory, Goku begins summoning energy for the ''Spirit Bomb'' attack while his allies attempt to hold off 13. 13 eventually realizes what Goku is doing and attempts to stop him, but Piccolo manages to hold him off just long enough for Goku to transform into a Super Saiyan again and he merges with the Spirit Bomb's energy. 13 attacks again, but Goku punches through 13's abdomen and sends him soaring into the core of the Spirit Bomb where he is obliterated by its massive energy. With 13's demise, the underground supercomputer shuts down for good. Krillin and Gohan are hospitalized where the group modestly celebrate their victory together. Elsewhere, Piccolo and Vegeta sit on an iceberg, isolated from the celebration.

A wealthy family hosts an intergalactic martial arts tournament on Earth in which fighters from across the galaxy compete including Gohan, Piccolo, Future Trunks, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, and Krillin. All but Yamcha effortlessly advance much to the concern of Mr. Satan who recognizes them from the battle against Cell and knows he will need to face whichever one of them wins. In the semifinals, Trunks fights Tien and defeats him and Piccolo is annoyed by the lack of challenge and forfeits against Krillin. Gohan, Trunks, and Krillin advance to the finals where they each battle an alien fighter. However, as the alien fighters are revealed, the fight promoter realizes that these are not the staged, fake aliens that he recruited for the event. Trunks is challenged by a sword welding alien warrior named Gokua, Krillin is defeated by a female alien named Zangya, Gohan confronts the mysterious alien Bujin, and another tournament contestant is killed by the alien fighter Bido. Meanwhile, having been complaining of fake stomach pain to avoid fighting, Mr. Satan gets trapped in a transportation pod and sent to the battlefield.

Trunks is surprised by his alien opponent's lethality and is forced to transform into a Super Saiyan to kill him. Trunks is then struck down by an unknown foe while Gohan continues his fight with Bujin until he discovers Trunks and Krillin have been incapacitated. Bojack arrives and tells Gohan about his plans to conquer the universe. Tien and Yamcha join the fight but are quickly defeated by Bojack's minions. Gohan fights them as Bojack watches on in amusement while in the Other World, Goku and King Kai watch the battle with concern and King Kai reveals that centuries prior, the galactic warlord Bojack had been sealed inside of a star by all four Kais, but when Cell exploded on King Kai's planet, this allowed Bojack to become unbound.

Gohan is overwhelmed by the trio of minions and is nearly killed by Bojack until Piccolo saves him. Piccolo challenges Bojack but is quickly defeated. Trunks also challenges Bojack but is paralyzed by Bujin's energy absorption technique and nearly impaled by Bido's spear before he is saved by the surprise arrival of Vegeta. Bojack pummels Vegeta and assumes his "full power" form while Trunks is overwhelmed by Bojack's minions. With Vegeta, Trunks, and everyone else incapacitated, Gohan fights Bojack alone but is paralyzed by the combined energy absorption techniques of his minions. Gohan is attacked by Bojack but the sudden arrival of Mr. Satan's incoming pod distracts them. Gohan prepares to fight once again but is struck down by Bojack and his minions as Goku watches on helplessly as his son is captured in a bear hug and tortured.

Against the rules of Other World, Goku abruptly uses his instantaneous movement technique to transport himself to the fight and strikes Bojack before he can kill Gohan. After some advice and reassurance, Goku places his son on the ground safely and vanishes. Gohan, reinvigorated by his father's words, transforms into his Super Saiyan 2 form. Now unaffected by their attacks, Gohan effortlessly kills Bido and Bujin and Zangya is killed when Bojack blasts her toward Gohan. Bojack is impaled through the abdomen by Gohan's fist and as a last resort, he powers up a massive energy blast which Gohan counters with a ''Kamehameha'' wave. The energy beams clash and Bojack is killed. Gohan, exhausted, falls in delight as Goku praises his son from Other World. After the battle, the warriors and their friends laugh as they watch the news from the hospital that Mr. Satan is the one who defeated the alien intruders. On the roof, Vegeta and Piccolo sit, unimpressed by the cheerful tidings.

Set in the late 15th-century Sultanate of Malacca and the Javanese kingdom of Majapahit, against a backdrop of war and mysticism, the film is about the forbidden romance that blossomed between Gusti Putri, a Javanese Hindu princess, and Hang Tuah, the famed Malay Muslim warrior from Melaka.

Gusti Putri Retno Dumillah (Tiara Jacquelina), a princess of the Majapahit Kingdom, has fallen in love with Malaccan warrior Hang Tuah (M. Nasir). The Princess leaves her assigned palace life without the consent of her king, traveling to Mount Ledang in the hopes of being reunited with her beloved.

Soon after the princess’ parting, Majapahit is attacked by the Sultanate of Demak. Desperate to quell the invasion, Gusti Putri's brother and King, Gusti Adipati Handaya Ningrat (Alex Komang), offers his sister's hand in marriage to the Prince of Demak. Her absence renders this solution impossible. The King's only hope for security is to forge an alliance with the Malaccan Sultanate by offering his sister's hand in marriage to Sultan Mahmud of Malacca (Adlin Aman Ramli).

Hang Tuah is ordered to head the royal delegation to present the royal proposal to Gusti Putri. The warrior leads the convoy up Mount Ledang. Gusti Adipati is angry that Hang Tuah is getting in his way and invokes supernatural powers to combat him. Despite his supernatural prowess, he is defeated by Hang Tuah and his magical Taming Sari kris. The injured Gusti Adipati expresses that the fate of his country is more important than love, and Hang Tuah's meddling has destroyed his only hope of saving his people. The guilty Hang Tuah resigns from his post as Admiral and cast his Taming Sari kris into the river, never to be found again.

After a fleeting reunion, the Princess is aware that her beloved's foremost duty is that of a warrior. Despite confessing his love for her, Hang Tuah will not forsake the Sultan's wishes. Brokenhearted, she agrees to marry the Sultan on the proviso that he can fulfill seven prohibitive conditions: * A bridge made of pure gold from Malacca to Mount Ledang; * Another bridge made of pure silver from Mount Ledang to Malacca; * Seven trays (''dulang'') of the hearts of mosquitoes; * Seven trays (''dulang'') of the hearts of the germs; * Seven jars (''tempayan'') of the juice of young betel nuts (Note: Young betel nuts do not have juice); * Seven jars (''tempayan'') of the tears of virgins * One bowl of blood from his fondest and only son, Prince Ahmad.

When the Sultan learns of the Princess' prohibitive conditions, he is more determined to marry her. But before he can draw blood from his son, a mental projection of Gusti Putri appears before him, explaining that her conditions were in fact an indirect refusal of his proposal. The angered Sultan plants a curse on her, stating that from next sunlight whomsoever sees the princess will die coughing blood.

Hang Tuah, having heard of the curse of the Sultan from the Bendahara, rushes to Mount Ledang to see her one last time. He only arrives after the sun has risen, but Gusti Putri reveals herself to him. It is unknown what their final fate will be.

Amélie, a young Belgian woman (Sylvie Testud), having spent her childhood in Japan, decides to return to live there and try to integrate into Japanese society. She is determined to be a "real Japanese" before her one year contract runs out, though it is precisely this determination that is incompatible with Japanese humility. Though she is hired for a choice position as a translator at an import/export firm, her inability to understand Japanese cultural and business norms and allocation to work for which she is not suited result in increasingly humiliating demotions.

Though Amelie secretly adores her immediate supervisor, Ms Mori (Kaori Tsuji), the latter takes sadistic pleasure in belittling Amelie. Mori finally manages to break Amelie's will by making her the bathroom attendant, and is delighted when Amelie tells her that she will not renew her contract. Amelie realizes that she is finally a real Japanese when she enters the company president's office "with fear and trembling," which was possible only because her determination had been broken by Mori's systematic humiliation.

The title, "Fear and Trembling", is said in the film to be the way Japanese must behave when addressing the Emperor. For Westerners, it calls to mind a line from Philippians 2:12, "continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling", which could also describe Amélie's attitude during her year at Yumimoto.

Amélie, a young Belgian woman who spent the first five years of her life in Japan, returns to Japan as a young adult, signing a one-year contract as a translator at the prestigious company Yumimoto. Through a series of comical cultural misunderstandings, Amélie, who begins at the bottom of the corporate ladder, manages to descend even lower. During her time at Yumimoto, she is the direct subordinate of Fubuki Mori, whose friendly demeanor quickly disappears when Amélie unwittingly oversteps herself.

Bored and frustrated with how she is apparently not assigned to do anything productive, Amélie tries to take the initiative by memorizing the company's list of employees and delivering the mail, only to be reprimanded for "stealing someone else's job." When she is assigned to photocopy the departmental manager's documents, which she discovers are the rules to his golf club, Amelie is forced to redo her work when the manager returns it with the complaint that the copies are off-centre and that she must not use the feeder for the copier. While she is redoing the task, the kindly Mr. Tenshi takes notice of her and asks for her help in drafting a report about the new method of manufacturing reduced-fat butter developed in Belgium. Amélie's contributions to Mr. Tenshi's report make it a big success and she requests not to be given credit. Though it seems her transfer to Mr. Tenshi's department is imminent, Fubuki feels offended as this constitutes a violation of the company's hierarchy and she exposes everything to the vice-president, who severely scolds Mr Tenshi and Amélie, and sees to it that Amélie writes no more reports and strictly sticks to doing duties assigned by Ms Mori.

Although advised by Mr Tenshi not to do so, Amélie decides to confront Ms Mori and talk to her personally. This encounter can be seen as the main juncture of the novel, as both characters feel the other should apologise, but at the same time each of them fails to recognise why she herself should do the same.

The main difference is that while Amélie feels her progress in her career from useless work to the place where she actually can use her skills has been hindered for no other reason than maliciousness, Ms Mori interprets Amélie's move as being against her as Amélie was trying to pass her by, thus violating the correct hierarchy. Ms Mori had to suffer and work hard for years to achieve her position and it was inconceivable to her to imagine that Amélie might achieve the same level of hierarchy within only a couple of weeks.

From that point on, the relationship between them changes from a fairly good one (which, though, only Amélie would describe as 'friendship') to animosity, although still accompanied by respect and admiration from Amélie's side, which Ms Mori either fails to notice or chooses to ignore.

Amélie proves herself useless at the tasks she is subsequently asked to do in the Accounts Department, as she apparently suffers from dyscalculia to some extent, while Ms Mori thinks Amélie is making mistakes on purpose to sabotage the company and the manager herself.

Another dialogue reveals the differences between the different concepts of responsibility in Japanese and Western cultures. While for Ms Mori the manager is directly responsible for the mistakes of their staff (''You made the mistakes deliberately only to expose me to the public ridicule''), Amélie thinks everybody is responsible for their own mistakes (''I ridiculed only myself, not you'').

The biggest mistake Amélie commits comes after Ms Mori has been severely abused by the vice-president in front of all the department. When Ms Mori, not having shown tears to her colleagues, goes to the bathroom to let her feelings out in private, Amélie follows her to console her. While from Amélie's point of view Ms Mori is not in a shameful position and offering a consolation like that is only a kind-hearted gesture, Ms Mori feels utterly ashamed to be seen showing her feelings and misunderstands Amélie's following her as vengefulness and hostility.

The next day Amélie is assigned the job of a bathroom cleaner by Ms Mori. With six more months of her one-year contract to go, Amélie decides to endure until the end, which might be shameful from the Western point of view, but from the Japanese point of view means not losing face.

After her contract finishes in January 1991, she returns to Belgium and starts publishing: her first novel ''Hygiène de l'assassin'' appearing in 1992, she receives a brief congratulation note from Ms Mori in 1993.

On the planet Venus, the native Plookhs —who require the participation of seven different sexes in order to reproduce — are corrupted by human film director Hogan Shlestertrap.

''Valérie'' is the story of a comely young woman, Danielle Ouimet, who, upon leaving a convent with the leader of a motorcycle gang, discovers the hippie culture of Montreal and turns to prostitution. This improbable storyline, made famous by the frank display of nudity and sexuality, came from a culture that was still labouring under a strong sense of Catholic guilt. It was the first of a group of films known as maple-syrup porn.

The family goes to a magic-themed restaurant. While there, Marge gets drunk on Long Island Iced Teas and Bart becomes so fascinated with magic that he buys a magician's kit from the gift shop. On the way home, a sturgeon falls from the sky (implicitly from the space station Mir) onto the family car's hood, which is severely damaged. Homer and Bart start their magic show as a way to make money, but the act becomes a failure, and Homer leaves Bart to do the rest of the act on his own. Bart is left out on the street, and people begin giving him money so he can get home on public transportation.

As Homer drives home, he sees Bart in a taxi, and when he gets home he sees him eating a steak dinner. They decide they can make money grifting, however Marge and Lisa begin suspecting them after they "worked" without Bart's kit, which they both left behind at home. Homer and Bart continue to grift after they have fixed the car, and Grampa volunteers to help them grift, since he was a con-artist during the Great Depression. Grampa, Homer, and Bart grift the residents at the Springfield Retirement Castle. While performing the grift, they are arrested by an FBI agent. When Homer and Bart get to jail, they realize the FBI agent himself is a con man, and conned them out of their money and the car.

Homer and Bart say the car was stolen in the church parking lot. The next morning they are surprised however to learn that Groundskeeper Willie was arrested for stealing the car, as he matched the description they gave of the carjacker as a "foreign loner with wild, bushy hair". Not wanting to admit they were conned, Homer and Bart go along with Marge's theory. At the trial, the Blue Haired Lawyer leads Homer to say that it was Willie who stole the car. After Willie is proven guilty, he snatches Wiggum's gun and shoots Principal Skinner. At this point Homer finally confesses that he got conned but Marge and the townspeople themselves tell Homer and Bart that they set up the trial and the carjacking to teach them a lesson on conning people, revealing that Skinner was not really shot (it was a fake blood pack and the gun was loaded with blanks), the judge was Grampa wearing a latex mask, and the con man who stole their car was an actor called Devon Bradley. (Willie, however, was not privy to this scheme.) As Lisa is ready to explain why the town, media and police officials had "nothing better to do" than show them the consequences of their actions, Otto runs through the courtroom doors, shouting, 'Surf's Up!'. The scene then cuts to Springfield at the beach, with characters from the episode surfing, including the waiter from the restaurant, the two astronauts from the Mir space station and the sturgeon swimming in the sea.

In the Straits of Sembaleng, five men are dispatched by submarine in Klepper canoes to rescue survivors of a shot-down plane on a nearby island which is occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army. Led by Paul Kelly, an inexperienced commando officer, the team secretly lands on the island and hides their kayaks. As they venture in land, Ted 'Kingo' King is hit by fire from an unseen machine gun post, the team quickly eliminates the Japanese defenders and return to their wounded comrade. King has been hit on the leg, the bullet smashing his kneecap. King cannot be allowed to fall into enemy hands and compromise the mission under interrogation, and after sharing a cigarette with him, Costello shoots him. The four remaining men return to their search; coming across a rice farmer, they learn of the area in which the plane crashed. The rice farmer is also killed in order to preserve secrecy.

But as they near their destination they spot a Japanese squad at a local house, after the Japanese leave they enter the house and meet the local resistance leader Lin, his grown up daughter Chien Hua and her younger brothers and sisters. With a guide to lead them, they head off to the plane but are attacked by Japanese soldiers at a Buddhist temple. Separated from the rest, interpreter Jan Veitch ends up returning to Lin's house where Chien Hua hides him from the returning Japanese. After the deaths of their soldiers, the Japanese officers Watanabe and Imanaka torture Chien to tell them the location of her father, who they believe is hiding the survivors of the crashed plane, but Chien Hua refuses. Lin's son Shaw Hu falsely tells the Japanese that Lin, the Z men, and the plane's survivors are heading for the island's capital. All the Japanese leave except for two soldiers guarding Chien Hua; Veitch kills both with help of Shaw Hu.

Meanwhile, within sight of the plane, Kelly watches as locals blow up the wreckage. Lin is evasive, and after quizzing the inhabitants of a village, the team head on to the plane. Kelly manages to get Lin to tell them that the two survivors are being taken to his home, so they turn around and head back. In the capital, Veitch is led to the survivors. One of them is a defecting Japanese government official Imoguchi, and he is believed to hold a secret that could end the war faster. Only Kelly knows that he must be rescued at any cost - or killed. As the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall together, Kelly must persuade his own men that Imoguchi is worth rescuing and the local resistance that it is worth fighting against their Japanese enemies.

The opening sentence has been described as "immortal": "It was not until several weeks after he had decided to murder his wife that Doctor Bickleigh took any active steps in the matter."

Edmund Bickleigh, a physician with a modest rural practice, is in a loveless marriage with the domineering childless Julia. He consoles himself with young unmarried women, in particular the accommodating Ivy. Into his village arrives Madeleine, a rich young woman, who succumbs to his attentions but warns she will not marry him if he divorces. Reasoning that she will however marry him if he is a widower, he cruelly starts to poison Julia. To relieve her increasing pain he gives her increasing doses of morphine, until she dies miserably.

Madeleine then rejects him, to marry a wealthy young man, while the rejected Ivy also marries a well-off lawyer. Rumours start spreading that Julia's death was not accidental, fuelled by the antagonism towards Edmund of Madeleine's husband and Ivy's husband, who both bitterly resent that he was the seducer of their wives. Attempting to stop the gossip, Edmund poisons both men and Madeleine as well, though only Madeleine's husband dies. Not unaware of the rumours and the suspicious deaths, the police investigate and Edmund is put on trial. Acquitted of murdering his unfortunate wife, a second trial convicts him for the death of Madeleine's husband and he is executed.

Faith Ferguson (Mimi Rose) is a relatively shy but intelligent teenager who is heartbroken when her mother informs her that she must spend Easter break at her Catholic girls' school as opposed to coming home. She's roomed with the rebellious Jamie (Sheeri Rappaport), who initially scandalizes Faith with her wild antics. Despite her initial misgivings, Faith finds herself bonding slightly with Jamie and the four other teen misfits that had to remain behind - Erica, Gina, Nicole, and Kelsey. The group is soon intrigued when construction work on the school's church uncovers a Satanic temple containing the mummified remains of several schoolgirls believed to have gone missing almost a hundred years ago.

The girls venture into the temple one night while everyone is asleep and they discover an ancient book written in Latin. Faith is fluent in Latin and translates the book, which outlines a spell that will summon a demon from the pits of hell. Jamie and some of the other girls are eager to practice the spell, but Faith is reticent due to the spell requiring a virgin sacrifice - especially after learning that the schoolgirls were murdered by a guardian devoted to keeping the spell from being cast. This reluctance, along with her interactions with a handsome construction worker named Daniel (Tommy Stork), helps alienate her from Jamie, who was somewhat attracted to him. Things grow more tense when the teens return to the hidden room and discover that there is still a guardian around, as the room was covered in graffiti that warned them that summoning the demon would lead to their deaths. Because Faith has refused to help translate the rest of the book, Jamie decides to play a cruel trick on her by inviting Daniel to their room and making it appear as if he was trying to rape her.

The girls' young schoolteacher, Sister Sherilyn (Jennifer Rubin), provides Faith with some guidance and has her bring meals to Mother Clodah (Zelda Rubinstein), a strange nun bearing a distinctive birthmark on her face. This ends up being to Faith's benefit, as she manages to avoid falling under one of Jamie's spells by praying with Mother Clodah. Unfortunately the encounter also ends with Mother Clodah's death due to Jamie poisoning her meal, believing Mother Clodah to be the guardian. Jamie, who has taught herself to read Latin due to Faith's refusal to translate, proceeds with the spell as planned. The movie implies that the teens will use Faith as a sacrifice due to her virginal nature, but Jamie ends up using Daniel instead after she learns that he is also a virgin. Horrified that they are moving forward with the spell, Faith receives help from Sister Sherilyn, who reveals that she is the guardian. They manage to stop the ceremony in time to save Daniel, but at the cost of the lives of Jamie and all of the other girls involved with the spell.

The story follows the fortunes of Simon Sparrow (Dirk Bogarde), starting as a new medical student at the fictional St Swithin's Hospital in London. His five years of student life, involving drinking, dating women, and falling foul of the rigid hospital authorities, provide many humorous incidents.

When he has to leave his first choice of lodgings to get away from his landlady's amorous daughter (Shirley Eaton), he ends up with three amiable but less-than-shining fellow students as flatmates: * Richard Grimsdyke (Kenneth More). A relative had left him a small but adequate annuity while he remains in medical school, so he deliberately fails his exams each year. * Tony Benskin (Donald Sinden), an inveterate woman chaser. * Taffy Evans (Donald Houston), a rugby fanatic.

Towering over them all is the short-tempered, demanding chief surgeon, Sir Lancelot Spratt (played by James Robertson Justice in a manner quite unlike Gordon's original literary character), who strikes terror into everyone.

Simon's friends cajole him into a series of disastrous dates, first with a placidly uninterested "Rigor Mortis" (Joan Sims), then with Isobel (Kay Kendall), a woman with very expensive tastes, and finally with Joy (Muriel Pavlow), a nurse at St Swithin's. After a rocky start, he finds he likes Joy a great deal. Meanwhile, Richard is given an ultimatum by his fiancée Stella (Suzanne Cloutier) – graduate or she will leave him. He buckles down.

The climax of the film is a rugby match with a rival medical school during Simon's fifth and final year. After St Swithin's wins, the other side tries to steal the school mascot, a stuffed gorilla, resulting in a riot and car chase through the streets of London. Simon and his friends are almost expelled for their part in this by the humourless Dean of St Swithin's (Geoffrey Keen). When Simon helps Joy sneak into the nurses' residence after curfew, he accidentally falls through a skylight. This second incident gets him expelled, even though he is a short time away from completing his finals. Sir Lancelot, however, has fond memories of his own student days, particularly of the Dean's own youthful indiscretion (persuading a nurse to reenact Lady Godiva's ride). His discreet blackmail gets Simon reinstated. In the end, Richard fails (as does Tony), but Stella decides to enroll at St Swithin's herself so there will be at least one doctor in the family. Simon and Taffy graduate.

The game is set in September 1977, two years after the events of ''Vigilante 8''. The southwestern United States has become peaceful in the wake of the Coyotes' defeat, but the Oil Monopoly Alliance Regime (OMAR) continues to dominate most of the world's petroleum market, well into the 21st century. With new Coyotes leader Slick Clyde leading OMAR during the twilight of his life by 2017, Clyde thinks that a failure to conquer America (which has adopted nuclear and sustainable energy) would be his biggest mistake. He plans to change history by stealing prototype time machines from Stanford University's quantum physics lab, travel back to the 1970s, and eliminate the Vigilantes to ensure OMAR's supremacy.

Characters

Many of the characters who previously appeared in ''Vigilante 8'' return in the game, and are joined by a cast of new characters. However, not all playable characters have their own Quest Mode campaigns.

The game's protagonists are the Vigilantes, which had been all but disbanded following the events of the first game. Their leader, Convoy, has married ex-Coyote Houston and now runs a trucking business, but is apparently killed in an ambush on September 17, 1977, presumably by the Coyotes. Also returning from the first game as members of the Vigilantes are gambler-turned-bounty hunter John Torque and Convoy's niece Sheila. The Vigilantes are joined by the Flying All-Star Trio (Team FAST), black stunt performers in search of their missing sister, and Dave's Cultsmen, a trio of hippie followers idolizing ''Vigilante 8'' character Dave.

The game's main antagonist is ex-Vigilante Slick Clyde, who has become the Coyotes' new leader after finding Houston's old mind-control armband. His underlings are Japanese orphan Obake, whose real name is Keiko Uzumi, and cyborg Dallas 13, who is in fact Uzumi's close friend Darius, who disappeared after a mistake during the Stanford University heist. Sid Burn's former lover, arms smuggler Nina Loco, is a new addition to the Coyotes, having safeguarded most of the advanced weapons they stole in the first game. Boogie and Molo are the only returning Coyotes from the first game; Nina breaks Boogie out of jail, while Clyde frees Molo, who is being transported to a correctional center by a prison bus, giving him the bus as his personal vehicle.

The game also introduces a third faction: the Drifters, individuals who somehow get caught in the Vigilante-Coyote war, but are not affiliated with either faction. They include Chrono Police (ChronoPol) agent R. Chase, who is investigating Clyde and OMAR's activities; former FBI agent Chassey Blue, whose Hollywood career is in shambles following a scandal the Bureau engineered to put her back on the job; former NASA astronaut Bob O; American Indian shaman Dusty Earth; doomsday preacher Padre Destino; and The Garbage Man.

Ending

As with the previous game, all playable characters with a Quest Mode campaign have their own endings, and each of these endings is connected to tell the whole story.

Dallas 13 captures Houston, who fights back and kills him. Using Dallas 13's time-machine, Houston goes back to stop Convoy from driving off a cliff as the Coyotes attack. Convoy activates special cannons in his truck and goes into battle. The Team FAST siblings reunite with their sister Houston, whom they have never seen since 1973, when she was abducted from a gymnastics class (presumably by OMAR agents).

Later, Agent R. Chase corners a defiant Slick Clyde. The Coyote leader fights back and is on the verge of killing him until Obake incapacitates Clyde and leaves with him through the time warp. Now back in 2017, Slick wakes up in his car with Obake on the wheel. Having discovered the truth about Dallas 13's real identity and how Clyde killed her parents, she maneuvers the bomb-laden car on a collision course with OMAR headquarters, where Slick dies in the explosion. OMAR's collapse prompts Uzumi to step up and unveil her father's clean energy technology to the world. Sulking over his failure to arrest Clyde, Chase smashes his ChronoPol badge and finally meets his childhood crush, Chassey Blue (who also threw away her FBI ID). Since his ChronoPol badge is destroyed, Chase is declared AWOL, and he drives off with Chassey as other ChronoPol agents go after them.

Sheila enters the FBI Academy with Chassey's blessing and graduates. Her first assignment is to take down Molo, who thought Chassey was chasing him.

Under the guise of a road accident victim, the Garbage Man runs off with Bob O's lunar rover. The Garbage Man is revealed to be ''Vigilante 8'' secret character Y The Alien, who then cannibalizes the rover to get parts for his spaceship. Bob O, revealed to be a NASA lab chimp, joins Y and jumps into the spaceship as it is about to launch.

Padre Destino is vaporized when a portal appears in the course of his prayers and shoots a blast of flame at him.

With the second defeat of the Coyotes, Nina decides to give the remaining Site 4 heavy weapons to a Mexican gang and rendezvous with them for the payoff. However, the shipment is actually a bomb that destroys the gang's limousine. Expecting to get away, Nina stops when she encounters John Torque, who has blocked the road and is about to capture her. After stashing Nina in the trunk of his car, Torque goes to the nearest jail to collect his bounty. He later changes his mind and heads to an island paradise for a vacation, with Convoy and Houston joining them.

The film opens to a shot of an abandoned office, where the main character (Pierre Jolivet), who is only identified as 'The Man' in the end credits, is having intercourse with a sex doll. The Man is then seen attempting to salvage parts from abandoned vehicles, but returns to his dwelling empty handed, where he works on building a makeshift aircraft. The Man ventures outside the office building he lives in, which is surrounded by a desert wasteland. A group of men are shown surviving in the wasteland. They hold a man, 'The Dwarf' (Maurice Lamy), captive, and force him to retrieve water for them. The Man, who has been observing the survivors, makes his way to their camp, stabs their leader, 'The Captain' (Fritz Wepper) and retrieves a car battery. Survivors pursue The Man, though he is able to escape in his now completed aircraft.

'The Brute' (Jean Reno) is seen approaching a hospital with a box containing canned food. The Brute rings a bell, and 'The Doctor' (Jean Bouise), instructs him to place the canned goods on the ground and back away from the door. The Doctor then takes the goods and closes the door before The Brute can get inside.

The Man's aircraft crash lands at night. The following morning he continues on foot. The Brute returns to the hospital with a new box of items, though this time he constructs a device that will keep the door open long enough for him to enter the building. The plan works, however, once back inside the building The Doctor pulls a lever which closes a secondary iron bar gate preventing The Brute from entering. The Man finds an abandoned bar, gets himself heavily intoxicated and passes out. When he awakes, he ventures outside where he is amazed that it is raining fish. While searching for a way to cook the fish, The Man encounters The Brute. A fight ensues; the Brute gains the upper hand though The Man is able to escape.

The Man, now badly injured, wanders around until he finds The Doctor. The Doctor treats The Man and cooks him some fish. The Doctor inhales a form of gas that allows him to, with some difficulty, say a single word: Bonjour. The Man also takes the gas and is able to reply with the same word. Both are ecstatic about being able to speak. The Man and the Doctor bond over table tennis and painting, before The Man ventures outside into a sandstorm to retrieve a painting he found in the bar. The Brute, who has been living in the bar, returns and notices the painting is missing.

The Doctor prepares some food and blindfolds The Man. He leads The Man to a part of the hospital where a woman is kept, and gives her the food. The Brute sets fire to the front door of the hospital, though The Doctor and The Man extinguish the flames. The Man and The Doctor go to bring food to the woman again, and The Man gives her a wrapped gift. They then catch The Brute attempting to saw through the iron bar gate, though are able to scare him off.

The Doctor and The Man prepare food for the woman, yet this time The Doctor permits the man to not be blindfolded, and encourages him to comb his hair. Meanwhile, it is revealed that The Brute has breached the iron gate to the hospital. The Doctor is killed on the way to the woman when chunks of rock rain down from the sky. The Man, who does not know how to find the woman without The Doctor, attempts to locate her, though he is confronted by The Brute. A fight ensues, with The Man eventually killing The Brute. The Man then locates the woman's room, though is devastated when he discovers that The Brute had already killed her.

The Man repairs his aircraft, and flies back to the original survivors he encountered. He kills their new leader and frees The Dwarf. The Dwarf shows the Man where The Captain keeps his concubine (Christiane Krüger). The Man greets her with a warm smile, which she returns.

An emotionally scarred waitress named Frankie attends her godson's baptism in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, a middle-aged man named Johnny is released from prison. Frankie returns home to New York City to her job waitressing at the Apollo Cafe. The owner, Nick, sends her co-worker Helen home early after she complains of dizziness. Johnny arrives looking for work and Nick hires him as a short-order cook despite his criminal record. After work, Frankie returns home to her apartment to find a stranger, Bobby, installing shelves, but he is revealed to be the boyfriend of her friend and neighbor, Tim. That night, Johnny solicits a prostitute, but merely asks her to lie clothed in bed with him.

The next day, Nick announces to his staff that Helen has been hospitalized. Frankie and her co-worker Cora visit an unconscious Helen and share their fears of dying alone like her. The next day, after helping a man who had an epileptic seizure, Johnny asks Frankie out on a date, but she refuses. Helen dies and Frankie, Cora, and fellow waitress Nedda are surprised to see Johnny at her funeral. Back at work, Johnny asks Frankie out again. After she refuses again, he has a one-night stand with Cora, which she shares the details of with Frankie and Nedda.

Weeks pass, and Johnny asks Frankie to be his date at a co-worker's going-away party, but she again refuses. He shows up at her apartment anyway, where Bobby and Tim help Frankie decide what to wear. At the party, Johnny attempts to convince Frankie that they are a good match. After the party, he buys her a flower and persuades her to take him back to her apartment, where they spend an intimate night together.

Now convinced that they are meant to be together, Johnny shows up at her bowling night and professes his love to her. Frankie argues that he cannot love her after such a short period of time, and reveals that she cannot have children after Johnny mentions starting a family. Afterwards, Frankie avoids Johnny, not answering his phone calls and switching her shifts. However, Johnny switches his shifts too and they talk to each other. Johnny confesses that he is divorced and has two children whom he has not seen since he got out of prison for check fraud. Frankie encourages him to see them, and she confesses that her last boyfriend cheated on her with her best friend.

After work, Johnny walks Frankie to her apartment, where they discuss their lives and listen to "Clair de lune". However, the intimacy makes Frankie uncomfortable and they argue. She asks him to leave, but before he does, he calls the radio station and asks them to play an encore of "Clair de lune". Frankie confesses that a previous boyfriend had physically abused her, at one point causing her to have a miscarriage which made her unable to have children. Frankie invites Johnny to stay and they watch the sunrise together.

Johnny and girlfriend Frankie are performers on a Mississippi River riverboat, which also has a casino. Johnny is a compulsive gambler who is down on his luck and in debt. Johnny and his friend Cully, a musician and composer, visit a gypsy camp to get his fortune told. A lady reads tea leaves and tells Johnny that he will soon meet a red-haired woman who will bring him luck.

Back on the boat, Johnny and Cully promptly encounter Nellie Bly, their boss Clint Braden's on-again, off-again girlfriend. Nellie has just caught Braden seducing another singer, Mitzi. Since she has red hair, Nellie is persuaded by Johnny to touch his chips for luck. After he wins, Johnny is convinced that the gypsy must be correct. Frankie finds out and becomes jealous, as does Johnny's boss.

In a bit of musical theatre, Frankie shoots Johnny for dancing with Nellie Bly while singing Cully's latest song. A Broadway recruiter sees the riverboat show and buys the rights to this new song, suggesting that Frankie and Johnny should work together with him in New York City. Landing in New Orleans, the musical cast and riverboat crew attend a masked ball. Frankie, Nellie and Mitzi all rent the same Madame Pompadour costume.

Johnny is eager for the luck of redhead Nellie to win more money, contrary to Frankie's expressed wishes. Being masked and in costume, Frankie and Nellie scheme to switch places to test Johnny's lucky-redhead theory. Johnny wins $10,000 at roulette, but when he kisses the woman he believes to be Nellie, he discovers the switch. Frankie is furious and throws all the winnings out of a window, into the street.

Blackie, a dim-witted stooge who works for the boss, hears Braden drunkenly complain about how he has lost Nellie. Thinking he can be of help, Blackie switches the blank cartridge in Frankie's stage gun for a real bullet.

The boss tries to prevent the impending disaster, but arrives on stage too late and Johnny is shot for real. Frankie forgives his gambling as the love of her life appears to be dying, but he stands up, apparently unhurt. Johnny was saved because the bullet struck a lucky medallion he was wearing that Frankie had given him.

Homer and Bart use fireworks to accomplish things Marge has told them to do: fix a stuck drawer, demolishing Santa's Little Helper's doghouse (while promising him another one would be built by January 2007), and attempting to fix Lisa's VCR, but end up destroying her room with fireworks instead. To make it up to her, the family spends a day at the Springfield Festival of Books for her birthday. There, they encounter famous authors such as Stephen King, Tom Wolfe, John Updike, and Amy Tan. While waiting in line for an autograph from Krusty, Bart strikes up a conversation with a girl named Sophie. When she gets to the front of the line, she reveals to Krusty that she is his daughter.

Sophie tells Krusty that he met her mother when she served as a soldier in the Gulf War, spending the night with her after a USO show; however, she dumped (and almost killed) Krusty the next day after he ruined her attempted assassination of Saddam Hussein to protect his comedy routine based on him and has hated Krusty and clowns ever since. Krusty proves a distant and unemotional father, and on a trip to the beach, he sees Homer playing with the kids and asks him for advice on how to be a good parent. Krusty and his daughter begin to bond, and Sophie shows Krusty her prized violin and plays a song for him. That night, Krusty plays in a poker game with Fat Tony, where he is dealt four aces with a king kicker, but is forced to bet Sophie's violin after running out of money and betting his Rolex watch, and loses the hand to Fat Tony, who had a straight flush (2-3-4-5-6 of diamonds).

Sophie loses her trust in Krusty upon hearing the news, and Krusty turns to Homer for help; the two attempt to break into Fat Tony's mansion while a mafia summit is being held. They find a room filled with violin cases, but most of them are filled with weapons. They attempt to sneak out with the cases, but they fall to the ground and a mob shootout erupts around them; Krusty finds the violin, and the two escape. The next day, Krusty gives the violin back to Sophie, who is delighted to find that the case has been lined with money. The episode ends with Homer still being pursued by the mafia.

The family take Bart out to dinner for getting his first "A" on an astronomy quiz. Homer's credit card is rejected, and the Simpsons are made to sing and entertain the other customers to work off their bill. On the drive home, Bart and Lisa notice that the back seats and floor of the car are missing. Homer explains that he had to sell them for gas money (and spent the latter on a novelty car horn).

The Simpsons learn from financial planner Lindsay Naegle that they have multiple mortgages and will need to declare bankruptcy several times. She even adds that even when he dies, Homer will lose more money and his grave will go unattended. The only reason why the family is broke is because Homer is too stupid to follow through a budget and he must find a way to make money. Homer decides to ask his boss, Mr. Burns, for a raise. Burns is looking for things to amuse himself while his assistant, Smithers, is in New Mexico performing in a Malibu Stacy musical that he wrote. Homer shows him how to use the salad bar at the cafeteria, then asks for a raise. Burns is unimpressed and, wanting a "larf", orders Homer to throw pudding at Lenny with the promise of four dollars. Homer does so, amusing Burns. He decides to make Homer his "prank monkey".

Burns pays Homer to perform embarrassing or cruel tasks, such as eating a copy of ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' #1 in front of Comic Book Guy and pretending to be a baby in a public toilet. At the Springfield Zoo, he has Homer put on a panda suit and masquerade as a new female panda named "Sim-Sim". Homer is zapped by animal handlers and implicitly raped by the zoo's male panda, Ping-Ping. When Homer tries to escape, he ends up in the skunk exhibit and gets sprayed.

Lisa discovers him and convinces Homer to stop being a "prank monkey" as his dignity is more important than money. Lisa suggests donating all the money he has earned to needy children, so he spends it on toys at Costington's Department Store. Mr. Costington, impressed by this show of generosity, suggests that Homer dress up as Santa Claus for the Thanksgiving Day parade, distributing the toys to the kids. During the parade, Burns tries to convince Homer to pull a prank on the whole town. Homer refuses, even when Burns offers one million dollars. Burns instead commandeers his Santa costume and throws bucketfuls of fish guts into the crowd himself, which results in an attack by seagulls. Homer thanks Lisa for giving him dignity.

Comprising two distinct but interrelated plots, the narrative runs back and forth between both plots, taking up each plotline in alternating chapters.

The odd-numbered chapters tell the 15-year-old Kafka's story as he runs away from his father's house to escape an Oedipal curse and to embark upon a quest to find his mother and sister. After a series of adventures, he finds shelter in a quiet, private library in Takamatsu, run by the distant and aloof Miss Saeki and the intelligent and more welcoming Oshima. There he spends his days reading the unabridged Richard Francis Burton translation of ''One Thousand and One Nights'' and the collected works of Natsume Sōseki until the police begin inquiring after him in connection with the murder of his father that he does not know he has committed. Oshima brings him to the forests of Kōchi Prefecture, where Kafka is ultimately healed.

The even-numbered chapters tell Nakata's story. They start with military reports of a strange incident in Yamanashi Prefecture where multiple children, including Nakata, collapse in the woods - Nakata, after the incident, is the only one of the children who came out of the incident without any memory and unable to read and write. The incident is initially blamed on poisonous gas, but it is later revealed that it was the result of a lustful teacher beating Nakata. Later on in the book, it is shown that due to his uncanny abilities, Nakata has found part-time work in his old age as a finder of lost cats (Murakami's earlier work ''The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle'' also involves searching for a lost cat). Having finally located and returned one particular cat to its owners, Nakata finds that the circumstances of the case have put him on a path which, unfolding one step at a time before him, takes the illiterate man far away from his familiar and comforting home territory. Nakata kills a man named Johnnie Walker, a cat murderer. He takes a gigantic leap of faith in going on the road for the first time in his life, unable even to read a map and without knowing where he will eventually end up. He befriends a truck driver named Hoshino, who takes him on as a passenger in his truck and soon becomes very attached to the old man. He heads for Takamatsu, an unknown force driving him there.

In response to a distress signal, the Seventh Doctor and Ace materialise the TARDIS near Lake Vortigern in England. At the Gore Crow hotel, they meet a young woman called Shou Yuing and a knight, Ancelyn, who addresses the Doctor as "Merlin". The Doctor shows interest in a scabbard which hangs over the mantelpiece in the hotel. The party is surrounded by an ominous group of knights led by Mordred. When Mordred begins an arcane ritual, the scabbard flies across the room, stirred by the magic. Morgaine then arrives on the scene through a rift in space and time.

The next day, archaeologist Peter Warmsly shows the Doctor where he uncovered the scabbard. Under the lake, The Doctor and Ace find a ruined spaceship containing the body of King Arthur, lying next to a sword. When Ace removes the sword from its plinth, she activates a defence mechanism. The Doctor ejects Ace from the spaceship, sending her shooting up through the water and "becoming" the Lady of the Lake.

Mordred and Morgaine go to the hotel to retrieve Excalibur. Meanwhile, UNIT troops are staging an evacuation, led by Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. Just as Mordred and Ancelyn are about to fight, the Doctor intervenes. Mordred reveals that the battle was a ruse to lure the Doctor, and that Morgaine has summoned the Destroyer of Worlds.

The Doctor finds the hotel in ruins, but Ace and Shou Yuing safe. In the debris, the Doctor finds a portal to Morgaine's castle. On arrival, the Brigadier shoots the Destroyer, to no effect. Morgaine releases the Destroyer's bonds; she and Mordred take Excalibur back through the portal.

The Brigadier marches back into the castle, tells the Destroyer, "Get off my world!", and empties his revolver into the monster's chest. It explodes.

Back at the convoy, The Doctor confronts Morgaine, telling her of Arthur's death. Mordred and Morgaine are then imprisoned.

''Plundered Hearts'' casts the player in a well-defined role. The lead character is a young woman in the late 17th century who has received a letter. Jean Lafond, the governor of the small West Indies island of St. Sinistra, says that the player's father has contracted a "wasting tropical disease". Lafond suggests that his recovery would be greatly helped by the loving presence of his daughter, and sends his ship (the ''Lafond Deux'') to transport her.

As the game begins, the ship is attacked by pirates and the player's character is kidnapped. Eventually the player's character finds that two men are striving for her affections: dashing pirate Nicholas Jamison, and the conniving Jean Lafond. As the intrigue plays out, the lady does not sit idly by and watch the men duel over her; she must help Jamison overcome the evil plans of Lafond so they have a chance to live happily ever after.

Rick Richards (Presley) returns to his home in Hawaii after being fired from his job as an airline pilot. He and his buddy Danny Kohana (James Shigeta) go into the helicopter charter business together. But Rick's reckless flying and his careless flirting with local women may cost Rick the business and Danny his home. This tendency seems to get in the way of their secretary, Judy "Friday" Hudson (Suzanna Leigh) and Rick getting together.

Disaster looms as Danny becomes overdue on a flight after Rick has been grounded by government officials. Rick must decide if he should risk losing his license forever by going to look for his friend.

''A Perfect Spy'' is the life story of Magnus Pym, a British intelligence officer and double agent. After attending his father's funeral, Pym mysteriously disappears. As his fellow intelligence officers frantically search for him it becomes clear that, throughout most of his career, Magnus worked as a spy for the Czechoslovak secret service. Although intrigue, wit, and suspense make up much of the novel, the story of Magnus Pym is partly an unadorned recollection of his childhood and memories of his father Rick Pym.

The non-linear narrative cuts back and forth between the present-day manhunt for Pym (being conducted by his mentor, boss, and longtime friend, Jack Brotherhood), and Pym's first-person reminiscences of his life as, in hiding, he writes a memoir explaining to his family and friends why he betrayed his country. It incorporates flashbacks to Pym's childhood with his father, the enterprising charismatic rogue and con-man, Rick; to his early years at school and university; to his amorous adventures, to his introduction to espionage and state secrets; and to his encounters with long-time friend and Czech spy Axel. The portraits reveal Pym as a man who for so long has manipulated his appearance to those closest to him that, in the end, he was unable to hold together the conflicting personae within him. Magnus Pym has been a perfect spy, but at the cost of his soul.

Rohan is heir to the throne of The Desert and its chief holding, Stronghold. His father, Prince Zehava, is unsure of his son's ability to rule, but is wounded in a dragon hunt and Rohan is suddenly the ruling Prince. He must solidify his right to rule by outwitting The Desert's antagonists, chiefly the High Prince Roelstra, in order to protect his lands and maintain peace throughout the world.

His aunt, Andrade, the Lady of Goddess Keep and highest ranking of the ''faradhi'', or Sunrunners, gifted humans who can use light to communicate, warns that the High Prince will try to take over the Desert by marrying one of his daughters to Rohan and then killing him. To decline a royal marriage would in turn insult Roelstra, so she offers a marriage with Sioned, another of her Sunrunners. Marriage between a prince and a Sunrunner is unheard of, but Rohan is smitten by a vision of Sioned that Andrade conjures in fire for him.

Rohan persuades Sioned to help him trick High Prince Roelstra into signing various treaties while he pretends to choose between princesses. Sioned pretends to be unsure of Rohan as her groom, and the two have a merry time with their charade at the tri-annual Rialla (a fair and gathering of princes). Rohan pretends to be a foolish, ignorant young man. The other princes initially believe the masquerade. Roelstra, in turn, is interested in Sioned, both as a woman and a faradhi.

High Prince Roelstra is an evil, cunning man and the father of seventeen daughters. Despite a marriage and a series of mistresses, he never succeeds at conceiving a son and heir. His latest mistress, Lady Palila, is pregnant during the Rialla. Roelstra's eldest daughter, Princess Ianthe, schemes with her sister Pandsala to switch Palila's baby for a girl if it is a son. Pandsala, thinking Roelstra will marry her to Prince Rohan if Palila helps her, plans to turn the tables on Ianthe and help Palila switch another daughter for a boy. They bring four pregnant waiting-women along, planning to induce labor in them when Palila's begins.

Rohan and Roelstra ultimately spar over Sioned, and Roelstra is infuriated to discover Rohan played him for a fool. Ianthe betrays Palila and her sister, and gains her father's trust. In return, she is granted the castle of Feruche, an important outpost on the border between Roelstra's and Rohan's lands. Roelstra gives Pandsala and the new baby, named Chiana (for "treason" in an old language), to Andrade. He burns Palila alive in her bed.

Rohan and Sioned are married and return to the Desert, but Sioned fails to conceive a hoped-for heir. She suffers a series of miscarriages, and the entire realm is decimated by Plague in the ensuing years. Sioned is comforted by a vision of herself with Rohan's child at her breast, although she knows she cannot bear his baby.

Ianthe's men capture Rohan and bring him to her at Feruche castle, where she seduces him, convincing the drugged prince she is Sioned. Rohan discovers the truth and violently rapes Ianthe. Ianthe also captures Sioned, locks her in a lightless dungeon underneath Feruche and allows her castle guards to rape her. Sioned realizes the child in her vision is Ianthe's, and refrains from killing her when Ianthe finally releases them.

Rohan and Sioned return to find Stronghold besieged. Rohan goes to war with Roelstra while Sioned waits out Ianthe's pregnancy. Rohan doubts he can claim this child as his, although Sioned is confident they can defeat Roelstra and claim Ianthe's son as their own.

When Ianthe gives birth, Sioned returns to Feruche, steals Ianthe's newborn son, and burns Castle Feruche to the ground. Sioned names the child Pol, which means "star" in the Old Tongue. At the same time, Rohan kills Roelstra in a duel and becomes High Prince in his stead. The novel ends with the other princes proclaiming fealty to High Prince Rohan and High Princess Sioned, and accepting Prince Pol, the new Sunrunner heir.

Mike McCoy (Elvis Presley), the lead singer for a traveling band who is also a part-time race car driver, enjoys his carefree single life, which is threatened by three different women who seek to marry him.

Enter Cynthia Foxhugh (Shelley Fabares), a spoiled heiress and "daddy's girl," who is determined to get what she wants, no matter the cost. Such as was the case when Cynthia's millionaire father Howard (Carl Betz) tricks Mike and his band into interrupting their music tour to travel to Santa Barbara and serenade Cynthia with "Am I Ready" for her birthday. Cynthia becomes first of the three women who want to marry Mike. Also, apparently knowing about Mike's racing skills, Howard is determined to hire Mike to drive Howard's Fox Five car in an upcoming road race, but Mike prefers to race his own car, a Cobra 427 sports car, which he tows around the region with his 1929 Model J Duesenberg.

Meanwhile, Mike is stalked and spied upon by Diana St. Clair (Diane McBain), an author of books for women about men. Diana is in the process of writing her new book, ''The Perfect American Male'', and uses Mike as one of her subjects. Actually, she later reveals to Mike that he is the "perfect American male," thereby planning on Mike to marry her—to the point of already making wedding arrangements.

The female drummer of Mike's band, Les (Deborah Walley), is looked upon by Mike and the other band members as a tomboy, and becomes fed up with such treatment. Mike and his other band members are taken aback when at a party, Les picks her moment and reveals her true feminine side, walking back out from a room dressed up in an evening dress. She reveals herself as the third woman who wishes to marry Mike.

Faced with this predicament, Mike must decide which of the three women he will marry—after the race (which Mike wins in a car he does not even own). So, he decides to marry all three of them—to other men. Mike marries Cynthia to Phillip (Warren Berlinger), a nervous employee of Howard's who is prone to fainting (he had a secret crush on Cynthia since he has known her, which he finally picks up the nerve to tell her). Next, Mike marries Diana to Howard, who fell in love with each other after they met at one of Mike's parties. And finally, Mike marries Les to Lt. Tracy Richards (Will Hutchins), a police officer whom Les won her way to his heart through his stomach (he likes her gourmet cooking). This allows Mike to reclaim his single and carefree life, which he dearly enjoys.

Jimmy faces a dilemma because he begins to experience random erections. This makes him afraid to perform his stand-up comedy routine at the South Park Elementary Talent Show for fear that he would be embarrassed in front of the entire school. He consults Butters, the only kid in town whom he expects not to make fun of him. Butters explains to him about sexual intercourse; Jimmy concludes that if he does not want to get an erection during his performance, he should have intercourse before he goes up. He attempts to arrange a date with a girl from school, with Cartman's help. When this ultimately fails, he goes to Colfax Avenue, the red-light district of town based on a suggestion from Officer Barbrady, looking for sex.

While the talent show begins at the school, Jimmy picks up an obese, STD-ridden prostitute known as Nut-Gobbler. The naïve Jimmy attempts to woo her but her pimp comes in and, thinking she is betraying him, grabs her and goes off to kill her. Jimmy summons a taxi, and a car chase ensues. In the end, Jimmy manages to distract the pimp with his comedy routine, while Nut-Gobbler subdues him with a club to the back of the head. Jimmy, presumably after having sex with the hooker, arrives at the talent show and hurries onstage at the last minute. He begins his routine, but then suddenly gets another erection.

The film is divided into two separate, unequal stories. In the first and shorter of the two, in August 1887 Holmes is approached by Rogozhin, on behalf of a famous Russian ballerina, Madame Petrova. Madame Petrova is about to retire, and wishes to have a child. She proposes that Holmes be the father, one who she hopes will inherit her beauty and his intellect. Holmes manages to extricate himself by claiming that Watson is his lover, much to the doctor's embarrassment. Back at 221B, Watson confronts Holmes about the reality of the ensuing rumours, and Holmes only states that Watson is "being presumptuous" by asking Holmes whether he has had relationships with women.

In the main plot, a Belgian woman, Gabrielle Valladon, is fished out of the River Thames and brought to Baker Street. She begs Holmes to find her missing engineer husband. The resulting investigation leads to a castle in Scotland. Along the way, they encounter a group of monks and some dwarfs, and Watson apparently sights the Loch Ness monster. They see both canaries and sulfuric acid being carried into the castle, and conclude that the canaries are used to detect chlorine gas produced when the sulfuric acid is mixed with sea water.

It turns out that Sherlock's brother Mycroft is involved in building a pre-World War I submarine for the British Navy, with the assistance of Monsieur Valladon. When taken out for testing, it was disguised as a sea monster. The dwarfs were recruited as crewmen because they took up less space and needed less air. When they meet, Mycroft informs Sherlock that his client is actually a top German spy, Ilse von Hoffmanstal, sent to steal the submersible. The "monks" are German sailors.

Queen Victoria arrives for an inspection of the new weapon, but objects to its unsportsmanlike nature. She orders the exasperated Mycroft to destroy it, so he conveniently leaves it unguarded for the monks to take (rigging it to sink when it is submerged). Fräulein von Hoffmanstal is arrested, to be exchanged for her British counterpart.

In the final scene some months later, Sherlock receives a message from his brother, telling him that von Hoffmanstal had been arrested as a spy in Japan, and subsequently executed by firing squad. Heartbroken, the detective retreats to his room to seek solace in a 7% solution of cocaine.

United States Navy officer Lieutenant Junior Grade (j.g.) Ted Jackson (Elvis Presley) is a former U.S. Navy frogman who divides his time between twin careers as a deep sea diver and nightclub singer. Ted discovers what he believes could be a fortune in Spanish gold aboard a sunken ship and sets out to rescue it with the help of go-go dancing yoga expert Jo Symington (Dodie Marshall) and friend Judd Whitman (Pat Harrington, Jr.). Gil Carey (Skip Ward), however, is also after the treasure and uses his girlfriend Dina Bishop (Pat Priest) to foil Ted's plans.

Presley sings six songs in the movie: the title song, "I'll Take Love", "Sing You Children", "You Gotta Stop", "Yoga Is as Yoga Does" in a duet with Elsa Lanchester, and "The Love Machine". The film would be the first starring Presley that had a ballad-free soundtrack since his 1956 film debut, ''Love Me Tender''. Despite this, only 30,000 copies were sold, making it the worst selling record that Elvis ever released for RCA Victor.

A little before the Scottie Pippen charity game, Michael Jordan's teammates are abducted by mad scientist Maximus Cranium. The protagonist must save them before it is too late.

Dr. Bill Cortner saves a patient who had been pronounced dead, but the senior surgeon, Bill's father, condemns his son's unorthodox methods and theories of transplanting.

While driving to his family's country house, Bill and his beautiful fiancée Jan Compton become involved in a car-accident that decapitates her. Bill recovers her severed head and rushes to his country house basement laboratory. He and his crippled assistant Kurt revive the head in a liquid-filled tray. But Jan's new existence is agony, and she begs Bill to let her die. He ignores her pleas, and she grows to resent him.

Bill decides to commit murder to obtain a body for Jan. He hunts for a suitable specimen at a burlesque nightclub, on the streets, and at a beauty-contest. Jan begins communicating telepathically with a hideous mutant, an experiment gone wrong, locked in a laboratory cell. When Kurt leaves a hatch in the cell door unlocked, the monster grabs and tears off Kurt's arm. Kurt dies from his injuries.

Bill lures an old girlfriend, figure-model Doris Powell, to his house, promising to study her scarred face for plastic surgery. He drugs her and carries her to the laboratory. Jan protests Bill's plan to transplant her head onto Doris's body. He tapes Jan's mouth shut.

When Bill goes to quiet the monster, it grabs Bill through the hatch and breaks the door from its hinges. Their struggles set the laboratory ablaze. The monster, a seven-foot giant with a horribly deformed head, bites a chunk from Bill's neck. Bill dies, and the monster carries the unconscious Doris to safety. As the lab goes up in flames, Jan says "I told you to let me die". The screen goes black, followed by Jan's maniacal cackle, welcoming her long awaited death.

Tandia, whose parents were a South African Indian man (Mr. Patel) and his house worker (a black woman), is raped by a police officer at her father's grave the day after his funeral. With Mr. Patel's death, Tandia knew things were going to be very hard for her. But after his wife (Mrs. Patel) kicks her out of the dark corrugated-iron shed in the back yard, her only house, her situation has been changed more drastically than she expected. She is arrested by the police and meets the policeman who witnessed the rape on her father's grave and becomes her lifelong enemy, Jannie Geldenhuis.

Tandia finds a home in the brothel where Geldenhuis drops her. The brothel's owner and the other residents adopt her and she learns a lot of life lessons. Some of the clients of the brothel end up becoming her sponsors for her ambition to enter law school.

While Peekay and Hymie (Morrie in the American version) go to Britain to read law at Oxford University, they want to conquer the world boxing field, Peekay as world welterweight champion and Hymie as Peekay's manager. They also want to pursue justice for the country they love, South Africa. When they arrive back in South Africa, their rivalry with Jannie Geldenhuis, which began in the school where they first met, extends to both boxing and politics.

Tandia grows up to be an intelligent and very beautiful lawyer. She joins the law firm formed by Peekay and Hymie and is dedicated to providing counsel to the under-represented black and coloured population of South Africa. Her defense of a black terrorist causes her to again confront her lifelong enemy Jannie Geldenhuis who is now a powerful officer in the police force.

Tandia and Peekay develop a romantic relationship, in a country where mixed relationships are outlawed. Their growing love is very dangerous and it leads them into the most fearful consequences.

The game starts at a chemical plant known as "The Corporation," with scientist Dr. Daniel Caine sneaking into the research lab where he worked, in order to find evidence that crimes were being committed using a toxic gas he created. Caine discovers that his colleagues are planning "Operation: Omega": a plan to release a plague upon the populace, and make a fortune because they hold the only cure. However, the Director of The Corporation discovers Caine in the lab. Caine is disposed of by means of chemical waste, but the chemicals do not kill him; instead, they alter him into the angry, sentient, formless creature known as "The Ooze". Swearing revenge, the doctor seeks two things: his former colleagues, and to assume his human form once again. He must now find the DNA helices scattered throughout the wasteland or else end up imprisoned in the Director's lava lamp.

The players control Goemon (loosely inspired by the historical Goemon) and Ebisumaru (the two are called Kid Ying and Dr. Yang respectively in all non-Japanese releases of this game).

After noticing some odd occurrences in their hometown of Oedo, involving a Ghost Woman at the local temple and ghost animals that come from the temple at night, Goemon and Ebisumaru decide to investigate. After defeating the Ghost Woman, she reveals herself to be Kurobei, a ninja cat. She explains that she was looking for strong people to help her, then offers the duo money and tells them to search for her boss, Koban, on Shikoku Island. Upon arrival, they find Hyotoko dancers in town during a festival, of whom some of the townspeople are suspicious. After finding and defeating the Lantern Man, leader of the evil dancers, they rescue Koban, who informs them that Princess Yuki, daughter of the Emperor, is believed to have been kidnapped by an odd group of mimes and clowns counterfeiters known as the Otafu Army. His clan of ninja cats were unable to investigate further because of devices the army has that disable their shapeshifting powers. He then directs the duo to nearby Awaji Island, where Goemon and Ebisumaru find that the army has set up a bizarre, anachronistic amusement park. The pair then make their way across the park to the nearby town of Yamato, where they discover that the army has been recruiting the townspeople. Upon invading the Otafu HQ and defeating its leaders, they free Yae, the ninja. She tells them that the Otafu Army never had Yuki, but that a wise man in Iga may be able to help them. The Old Wise Man's palace in Iga is guarded by an army of robotic clockwork ninjas, and the pair fight through the palace and its leader, Sasuke, to get to the old man's chamber. The Old Wise Man tells them that the White Mirror in the Dragon Pond of faraway Izumo can find what they seek. He uses his "Miracle Transport Machine" (which is only a cannon) to shoot them there. To save the princess, the protagonists must travel through different regions of Japan to find clues about the army and the location of the princess.

The setting is Hollywood, CA in the late 1940s, with two stories occurring simultaneously: a Hollywood comedy and a detective drama. The real-life scenes feature full-color sets and costumes, while the movie scenes are in black-and-white. Most of the cast (with the exception of the actors playing Stine and Stone) doubles as characters in the "real" world and their fictive counterparts.

Act I

Stone, a tough Los Angeles private eye, lies on a hospital gurney with a bullet in his shoulder and a lot on his mind. He flashes back to a week earlier, when his loyal Girl Friday secretary, Oolie, ushered in a rich, beautiful woman named Alaura. Alaura claims she wants Stone to find her missing stepdaughter, Mallory Kingsley, a beautiful "bad" girl. Against his better judgment, he takes the case.

A man at a typewriter appears onstage, and Stone and Alaura suddenly back up, "rewind," and play the scene with a few changes. The man at the typewriter is Stine, author of the popular detective novel ''City of Angels,'' which he is adapting into a screenplay at the behest of Hollywood producer-director Buddy Fidler. His wife Gabby has misgivings and wishes that he would stick to novels, but for now, Stine is enjoying the ride.

We begin to see the interplay between "reality" and fiction as Gabby (in the real world) and Oolie (in the story-within-the-story) lament how their men won't listen to them ("What You Don't Know About Women").

Stone, alone in his dreary bungalow, is listening to the radio: Jimmy Powers and the Angel City 4 are singing "You Gotta Look Out For Yourself". Two thugs break down his door, beat him up, and knock him out. Cut to Buddy Fidler reading this scene in the screenplay: we see that his secretary, Donna, is the model for Oolie, and that Buddy can't help meddling with everything ("The Buddy System").

Stone is rudely awakened by Lieutenant Munoz, who was Stone's partner on the force but now bears him a major grudge. Once, Stone loved a low-rent lounge singer named Bobbi, whom Stine based on Gabby ("With Every Breath I Take"). But Bobbi wanted stardom more than marriage, and when Stone caught her with a Hollywood producer (based on Buddy) tempers flared, a gun went off, and the producer was killed. Munoz has never forgiven Stone for "getting away with murder."

Stone, angry after the beating, confronts Alaura at her mansion and meets several more unsavory characters, including her lustful stepson, her polio-stricken elderly husband, and his quack doctor. Greed and malice hover like smog, but Alaura's charms and bankroll keep Stone on the case ("The Tennis Song"). He fruitlessly pursues the missing Mallory in a scene that recalls a film montage ("Ev'rybody's Gotta Be Somewhere"), only to find her waiting naked in his bed ("Lost And Found"). Stone somehow manages to resist temptation—which is more than can be said for his creator. After Gabby returns to New York, Stine takes comfort in Donna's bed.

A photographer breaks into Stone's bungalow and snaps a picture of him with Mallory. She runs off with his gun, which is subsequently used to murder the quack doctor. Stone is framed for the killing; Munoz gleefully arrests him ("All You Have To Do Is Wait").

Stine is having a lousy time of it too. Buddy is butchering his script, his conscience is nagging him about his infidelity, and Stone, his own creation, is disgusted with him. The curtain falls with each of them arguing, to a swinging big-band accompaniment ("You're Nothing Without Me").

Act II

In a recording studio, Jimmy Powers and the Angel City 4 are singing "Stay With Me", which then becomes a record playing in a bedroom that looks like Alaura's, but actually belongs to Carla Haywood, Buddy's wife, who will play Alaura in the movie.

Stone languishes in jail, attended only by Oolie, who like her alter ego, Donna, is feeling used by men ("You Can Always Count On Me"). Stone is mysteriously bailed out, but the two hoods catch up with him and nearly blow him up before he neatly turns the tables.

Stine has troubles of his own. Lonely at a Hollywood party of Buddy's sycophants, including a Hollywood composer ("Alaura's Theme"), Stine phones home only to find that Gabby has discovered that he cheated on her. He flies to New York with an elaborately prepared excuse, but she's not buying it ("It Needs Work").

Stone, fighting to clear his name, is led to a brothel ("LA Blues") where he is stunned to find Bobbi. We learn it was she who shot the producer; Stone has been covering for her all this time. Together, they face the wreckage of their love ("With Every Breath I Take").

In Hollywood, Stine is approached by a young starlet, Avril, who will be playing Mallory. She begs him to reconsider killing off Mallory near the end. He says he'll think about it.

Oolie, meanwhile, has discovered that Alaura is a fortune hunter who has already murdered one rich husband and is planning to do away with this one, once she had eliminated his son, daughter, and doctor. She tried to get her stepson, Peter, to kill the doctor and Mallory, but he couldn't bring himself to kill. Stone confronts her at the mansion; they grapple for her gun; shots ring out. Alaura falls dead, Stone is gravely wounded, and we're back where we started.

But where does that leave Stine? Gabby has rejected him and his lover, Donna, has been rewriting his script. Stine faces the collapse of his real and fictive worlds, and as his emotions take over, his wit turns bitter ("Funny"). When Stine arrives on the movie set to find that Buddy's name appears above his on the screenplay, and that the shallow crooner Jimmy Powers will play Stone, Stine boils over. With the "real" Stone, his conscience, finally leading him to make the right choice, he rages at Buddy, gets himself fired, and is about to get beat up by two security guards when Stone somehow appears at Stine's typewriter and writes him the fighting skills of a superhero, then tacks on a "Hollywood ending" in which Gabby returns, forgiving all. Together they celebrate ("I'm Nothing Without You") as the curtain falls.

The story begins by introducing Kane and Abel's past and the feud between them. It then tells the story of Kane and Abel from the perspective of their children, Florentyna Rosnovski and Richard Kane. Their childhood, and all the incidents and people who affected them, are portrayed in a similar manner as their fathers' lives were told in ''Kane and Abel''. There are some inconsistencies, however. For example, after Abel's divorce from Zaphia in ''Kane and Abel'' Abel gets the custody of Florentyna. But in ''The Prodigal Daughter,'' Zaphia has custody of Florentyna. Richard and Florentyna meet by sheer chance and fall in love. When their parents are told, both sets naturally react explosively; Abel goes so far as to slap the daughter he had raised with great affection. The two lovers run away that day to a friend's house in another city.

Later, they two create a chain of retail stores named Florentyna's, which are a huge success. Abel helps his daughter anonymously, but refuses to accept his son-in-law. The tale takes a twist with the senior Kane's death, when Abel learns that Kane was the anonymous benefactor who helped him launch his hotel empire. He thus accepts Richard and his grandchildren and considers it an honor that his grandson is named William Abel Kane.

Richard and Florentyna take charge of the Baron Hotels, with Florentyna as chairwoman, and then in a daring feat take over Lester's (Kane's bank).

Eventually Florentyna takes up politics due to the persuasion of a childhood friend named Edward Winchester. Florentyna's career becomes central to the plot, as she attempts to deal with the problems a very busy and successful mother faces, including the fact that her daughter has an abortion in the early 1980's and smokes marijuana in the mid 1970's. However, her career takes a back seat when Richard dies in a car crash in 1985. For some time, Florentyna loses the will to pursue anything, even her career. Then suddenly, seeing a homeless Vietnam Vet impels her to come "back with a vengeance." Working harder than ever, she comes very near her goal of becoming the first female U.S. President.

For the good of her party, she strikes a deal with her opponent, Pete Parkin to support him if he promises not to run for a second term, and if he makes her his vice presidential candidate. During Parkin's term, Florentyna averts many a crisis: actions for which the President takes full credit. At the end of his term, however, he not only reneges on his promises and wants to run, but undermines Florentyna's support by announcing Ralph Brooks, the other Illinois Senator as his running mate. It seems as though Florentyna's dream will never become a reality. Disgusted with the entire situation, she leaves Washington. While she is playing golf and discussing what to do with her life—her son William is now President of Lester's, with Edward, Secret Service agents arrive to announce President Parkin's sudden death from a heart attack, though there are insinuations that his death was orchestrated to put Florentyna at the helm. Florentyna thus becomes the President, and marries Edward Winchester, her childhood friend.

Two hitmen, Max and Al, arrive in Brentwood, New Jersey, to kill Pete Lund, a former boxer known as "The Swede". After being confronted by the pair in a diner Lund's coworker, Nick Adams, warns him. Strangely, Lund makes no attempt to flee, and he is shot dead in his room.

"The Swede" is soon revealed to have really been named Ole Anderson. A life insurance investigator, Jim Reardon, is assigned to find and pay the beneficiary of the Swede's $2,500 policy. Tracking down and interviewing the dead man's friends and associates, Reardon doggedly pieces together his story. Philadelphia police Lieutenant Sam Lubinsky, a longtime friend of the Swede, is particularly helpful.

In flashback it is revealed that the Swede's boxing career was cut short by a hand injury. Rejecting Lubinsky's suggestion to join the police force, the Swede becomes mixed up with crime boss "Big Jim" Colfax, and drops his girlfriend Lily for the more glamorous Kitty Collins. When Lubinsky catches Kitty wearing stolen jewelry, the Swede confesses to the crime and serves three years in prison.

After completing his sentence, the Swede, "Dum-Dum" Clarke, and "Blinky" Franklin are recruited for a payroll robbery in Hackensack, New Jersey, masterminded by Colfax. Complicating matters is the fact that Kitty is now with Colfax. The robbery nets the gang $254,912. When their boarding house allegedly burns down, all of the gang members but the Swede are notified of a new rendezvous place. Kitty tells the Swede that he is being double-crossed by his associates, inciting him to take all of the money at gunpoint and flee. Kitty meets with him later in Atlantic City, then disappears with the money herself.

In the present, Reardon stakes out the hotel where the Swede was killed. He witnesses Dum-Dum sneaking into the building, searching for a clue that might lead him to the loot. Reardon confronts him, but he flees before he can be arrested. Reardon subsequently receives confirmation that the safe house fire occurred hours later than it was alleged to have. With this piece of information, Reardon becomes convinced that Colfax and Kitty set the Swede up from the beginning and were responsible for his murder.

Reardon goes to visit Colfax, now a successful building contractor in Pittsburgh. When confronted Colfax claims no knowledge of Kitty's whereabouts. Reardon lies, claiming he has enough evidence to convict Kitty. A short time later Reardon receives a phone call from Kitty, who suggests they meet at a nightclub. Once there they order food, and Kitty claims she convinced the Swede that the others were double-crossing him so he would take her away from Colfax. She then admits having taken the money after her meeting with the Swede in Atlantic City and agrees to offer Colfax as a fall guy to save herself, believing Reardon's revelation that he has evidence against her. While Kitty goes to the ladies' room to "powder her nose", Max and Al arrive at the nightclub and try to kill Reardon. Anticipating such a confrontation, Reardon and Lubinsky manage to slay both hitmen instead. When Reardon goes to get Kitty he discovers she has escaped through the bathroom window.

Reardon and Lubinsky depart the nightclub and head to Colfax's mansion. When they arrive they find that Dum-Dum and Colfax have mortally wounded each other in a violent shootout only moments before. Lubinsky asks Colfax, barely hanging on, why he had the Swede killed. Colfax finally admits to the contract, saying he feared other gang members would locate the Swede and realize that Colfax and Kitty had double-crossed them all and absconded with the money. Kitty, kneeling beside her husband, begs him to exonerate her in a deathbed confession, but he dies first.

The game begins with the Turtles spending their vacation in Key West, Florida. While watching April O'Neil's latest news report, her broadcast is suddenly hijacked by the Turtles' nemesis, Shredder. Taking April as his hostage, Shredder reveals that he has also turned the entire borough of Manhattan into a floating island and challenges the Turtles to come to his lair to stop him.

When singer Guy Lambert and his entourage travel from Swinging London to Antwerp on a tour, he is followed by Jill Conway, a beautiful but unworldly heiress, and Claire Dunham, a sexy society sophisticate. Complicating matters are a pair of ineptly comical jewel thieves who have hidden smuggled diamonds in Jill's luggage, a trio of bumbling Clouseau-like Flemish detectives, and a mysterious murderer who seems bent on killing Jill.

Bridget Jones is 32, single, engagingly imperfect, and worried about her weight. She works at a publishing company in London where her main focus is fantasizing about her handsome boss, Daniel Cleaver.

At her parents' New Year party, Bridget is introduced to Mark Darcy, a childhood acquaintance and barrister, son of her parents' friends. Mark calls Bridget foolish and vulgar, and she thinks he is arrogant and rude. Overhearing Mark grumble to his mother about her attempt to set him up with "a verbally incontinent spinster who smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish, and dresses like her mother", Bridget forms the New Year's resolution to turn her life around. She begins keeping a diary to chronicle her attempts to stop smoking, stop drinking, lose weight, and find her Mr. Right.

Bridget and Daniel begin to flirt heavily at work, ahead of an important book launch, at which Bridget bumps into Mark and his glamorous and haughty colleague Natasha. Bridget leaves with Daniel and they have dinner, despite Daniel's notorious reputation as a womaniser. Daniel tells Bridget that he and Mark were formerly friends but as Mark slept with his fiancée, they now hate each other. Bridget and Daniel start dating.

Bridget is invited to a family party, originally a "Tarts & Vicars" costume party, so she ties it into a mini-break weekend with Daniel. They spend the day before the party at a country inn where Mark and Natasha are also staying. The morning of the party, Daniel says he must return to London for work and leaves Bridget dressed as a Playboy bunny to endure the party alone. When she returns to London and drops in on Daniel, she discovers his American colleague, Lara naked in his flat. Bridget cuts ties with him and immediately searches for a new career. She lands a new job in television, and when Daniel pleads with her to stay, she declares that she would "rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein's arse".

Bridget attends a friend's long-standing dinner party, where she is the only unaccompanied person. Once again she crosses paths with Mark and Natasha. He privately confesses to Bridget that, despite her faults, he likes her "just as you are". Sometime later, he allows Bridget an exclusive TV interview in a landmark legal case which boosts her career and allows her to see him differently.

Bridget begins to develop feelings for Mark, and when she misguidedly and somewhat disastrously, attempts to cook her own birthday dinner party, he comes to her rescue. After a happy dinner celebration with Bridget's friends and Mark, a drunken Daniel arrives and temporarily monopolises Bridget's attention. Mark leaves, but returns to challenge Daniel and they fight in the street, eventually smashing through a window of a Greek restaurant. The fight eventually ends, with Bridget chiding Mark and he leaving, but after a self-serving appeal from Daniel, she rejects him as well.

Bridget's mother, Pamela, has left Bridget's father Colin and begun an affair with perma-tanned shopping channel presenter Julian. When the affair ends, she returns to the Jones's family home and off-handedly reveals that Mark and Daniel's falling-out resulted from Daniel (then Mark's best friend at Cambridge University) sleeping with Mark's wife which Mark walked in on, not the other way around.

At the Darcys' ruby wedding anniversary party the same day, Bridget confesses her feelings for Mark, only to learn that he and Natasha have accepted jobs in New York and are on the verge of an engagement, according to Mark's father. Bridget interrupts the toast with an emotionally moving speech that peters out as she realises the hopelessness of her position. Although her words have an effect on Mark, he still flies to New York. Bridget's friends rally to repair her broken heart with a surprise trip to Paris, but as they are about to leave, Mark appears at Bridget's flat.

Just as they are about to kiss for the first time, Bridget flies to her bedroom to change into sexier underwear. Mark peeks at her diary, reads her earlier unflattering opinions of him, and leaves. Bridget, realizing what he has read and fearing she has lost him again, runs outside after him in the snow in her tigerskin-print underwear and a thin cardigan, but doesn't find him. Disheartened, she is about to return home when he reappears with a new diary for her "to make a fresh start". They kiss in the snow-covered street.

Cartman plays a prank on Butters by disguising himself in a crude cardboard suit as a robot named "A.W.E.S.O.M.-O 4000" and by putting himself in a crate "from Japan" on Butters's doorstep. Cartman is planning to befriend Butters so that he can discover his most embarrassing secrets, which will allow him to blackmail him and/or embarrass him in school. Butters falls for the trick and reveals highly embarrassing personal secrets. However, just as Cartman is about to reveal his identity, Butters mentions that he himself knows one of Cartman's secrets: Butters has a videotape of Cartman doing a Britney Spears dance routine to a life-sized cutout of Justin Timberlake while dressed as her and making out with the cutout, which he plans to show to his classmates the next time Cartman plays a prank on him.

Cartman, terrified of Butters' revenge plan, searches desperately for the tape (while having the robot suit on, or Butters will know AWESOM-O was another prank), but to no avail. Cartman soon begins to starve because Butters believes that he does not need to eat since he is a robot. Butters also forces the robot to do all his chores for him, including some of the more unpleasant tasks. With the agreement of Ms. Cartman, who is willing to temporarily let her son off punishment for trying to exterminate the Jews two weeks prior, Butters' parents (knowing who AWESOM-O really is, but thinking it is an elaborate game that Butters is in on) decide to let Cartman come along with Butters on a trip to Los Angeles to see his aunt. Cartman realizes that he will have to accompany Butters on the journey in order to keep up his disguise. Upon arriving, he is so hungry and worn out after wearing the suit for a whole airplane ride that he makes up an excuse to use the bathroom and proceeds to eat toothpaste.

During their visit to Universal Studios Hollywood, two movie producers find out about the "robot" and decide to hire him to create movie ideas. Cartman, as the robot, comes up with over two thousand terrible, nonsensical film concepts (800 of which would star Adam Sandler), which the movie producers all find brilliant. To make matters worse for Cartman, the fortune he makes from the movie ideas is donated to charity by Butters, who believes that AWESOM-O does not need the money. Meanwhile, the U.S. military hears about AWESOM-O and decides to capture it and make it into a weapon. Cartman flees the movie studio in panic after a film producer tries to engage in sexual activity with him, thinking that he may also be a "pleasure model." The military captures Cartman by shocking him and conveying him to a secret base.

Cartman tries to explain that he is really just a kid. Still, the military believes he is a robot with artificial intelligence enabling him to think like a human, going so far as to possess the memories of a nonexistent eight-year-old child. A scientist, moved by this, attempts to save Cartman, who is about to reveal that he is a human when Butters shows up to rescue him. He must maintain his disguise, allowing the military to kill the rebellious scientist. Butters pleads with the military to spare AWESOM-O, and the general is touched. Just as it appears he will get off undetected, Cartman accidentally farts, and his attempts to cover it up cause everyone—including Butters—to suspect and finally discover his true identity.

Butters carries out his promise and shows the video to the whole town, the movie producers, and the military at a special screening. The theater is filled with wall-to-wall laughter. As Butters finally celebrates his revenge and the military general calls Cartman a "little faggot," Cartman, ridiculed and upset, simply utters, "Lame."

''Assassin's Apprentice''

The narrator writes a memoir of his early life. His first memory is from the age of six, when he is brought from his mother to the kingdom of The Six Duchies. There he is given the name Fitz, meaning an illegitimate son; he learns that his father is Prince Chivalry Farseer, next in line to be king. As a result of the shame of fathering a bastard, Chivalry abdicates his position and retreats to the countryside; he dies a few years later, without ever meeting Fitz.

Fitz's Farseer bloodline makes him of interest to the throne; he swears loyalty to King Shrewd and is trained in secret as a royal assassin by master Chade. His bloodline also grants him access to a form of telepathic magic called the Skill, which he ostensibly trains in under the tutelage of Skillmaster Galen; however, Galen proceeds to telepathically torture Fitz and blunt his ability to use the Skill. This is later revealed to be at the behest of Fitz's uncle Prince Regal, whose political and personal machinations against him propel the plot of the trilogy.

One of the plot threads in the series concerns Fitz's ability to use the Wit, a type of magic used to form an intellectual and emotional bond with animals. This is, however, ill-regarded by the society of the Six Duchies, and Fitz's early attempts at using the Wit are discouraged by his guardian Burrich. His first Wit bond, with a dog named Nosy, ends when the dog is sent away by Burrich to the neighboring Mountain Kingdom. Fitz later adopts another dog, Smithy, and bonds with him in secret, but Smithy is killed defending Burrich.

Prince Verity, next in line to the throne, marries Princess Kettricken of the Mountain Kingdom in order to strengthen the Six Duchies against the threat of the Red-Ship Raiders. Prince Regal also plots to kill his older brother, but is thwarted by Fitz.

''Royal Assassin''

Fitz's bond with his next Witted partner, a wolf named Nighteyes, forms a significant part of the plot of the series. Rescued as a young wolf from an animal hunter, Nighteyes' partnership with Fitz occurs in ''Royal Assassin''. It develops in parallel with Fitz's friendship with the court jester, who is known as the Fool, and his romantic relationship with Molly, a young maid. Fitz attempts to keep both his Wit and obligations as an assassin a secret from Molly, but their relationship later ends with a conflict over his duties to the throne.

A parallel plot thread deals with the conflict between the Six Duchies and the neighboring Out Islands, who attack the shores of the kingdom using the Red-Ship Raiders. The raiders have the ability to turn the people of the Six Duchies into Forged ones; a form of zombification which makes them emotionless. Prince Verity attempts to wage war on the Red-Ship Raiders through his use of the Skill, and recruits Fitz as an apprentice, creating a Skill link between them. While Fitz's ability to use the Skill was blunted by Galen, he nonetheless helps in the war through the Wit, going into a berserker state where he and Nighteyes kill the Forged. They are however unable to turn the tide of the war, with Verity departing on a journey in search of Elderlings, beings from myth who may be able to help his people. In Verity's absence, Regal plots to kill his father, King Shrewd, and blame Fitz for the deed. He succeeds, resulting in a public trial where Fitz is exposed as a practitioner of the Wit, tortured and hanged.

Fitz is about to accept death, but at Nighteyes' plea, retreats to the wolf's body to survive. Burrich and Chade later exhume his human body and persuade Fitz to return to it, which he does with regret.

''Assassin's Quest''

Fitz spends the next several months fighting trauma and seizures, but eventually recovers. Taking on a new identity, he retreats to the edge of society and finds a community of Witted practitioners known as the Old Blood, whom he learns from but refuses to stay with for long. Fitz decides to take vengeance on and kill Regal, but is instead captured by his Skilled coterie who deceive his mind using illusions. He narrowly escapes with the help of Prince Verity, who uses the Skill through their link. Fitz learns through a Skill-dream that Molly is pregnant with their child and that both Molly and Burrich believe him dead. He wishes to return to them, but is instead compelled to find Verity due to a Skill-summons. Regal's forces continue to pursue Fitz; bleeding and injured, he collapses in the Mountain Kingdom where he is found and tended to by the Fool. There they meet Kettricken, who fled from the Six Duchies after Regal took over as King, and journey to the distant west in a quest to aid Verity.

On their journey, the group find a strange road paved with smooth stone, which Fitz terms the Skill road; it entraps Skilled users with memories of the past, making him wary about crossing it. At one point, he is consumed by the road's illusions and teleports through a Skill pillar to an abandoned Elderling city, but eventually finds his way back. The group find Verity in a quarry of Skill stone, surrounded by inanimate stone dragons. Verity attempts to carve a dragon himself and awaken it by Skilling his memories into the stone. In the process of creating his dragon, Verity loses all that makes him human. The group thwart Regal's attempts to stop their efforts, awaken the stone dragons and fly to the Six Duchies.

The trilogy ends on a bittersweet note for Fitz, who defeats Regal, the raiders and the Forged with the aid of the stone dragons, but loses his beloved Molly and their child to the care of Burrich. He masks his identity and stays an outcast, living with Nighteyes at the edge of society.

''Fool's Errand''

The start of the trilogy finds Fitz in his mid-thirties, living in a cottage with the wolf Nighteyes and his adopted son Hap. Visitors to his home include the Fool, who prompts him to recount memories of life away from society, as well as the minstrel Starling, who shares his bed on occasion. In remembrance of old times, Fitz proceeds on a hunt with Nighteyes and the Fool; it however ends with Nighteyes' collapse, a first sign in the book of the wolf's aging body. Fitz heals him with the Skill, bringing the wolf back from the brink of death, and nearly dies himself, but is saved by the Fool. He is also visited by Chade, who requests his help training prince Dutiful in the Skill; Fitz however refuses, preferring the quietness of life away from the crown.

Fitz eventually returns to Buck at the behest of his son Hap, who wishes to apprentice in the town. He becomes unwittingly embroiled in a quest to find the prince, who has disappeared, and tracks him to a distant estate filled with strange hunting cats. Fitz eventually realizes that the prince is Witted and bonded to a cat; he further discovers that while the animal has the body of a cat, it is controlled by its previous Wit-partner, who moved to the cat's body in violation of its desires. The prince's capture was engineered by a group of Witted called the Piebald, who seek to overthrow the Farseer throne by force. Fitz, the Fool and Nighteyes stand against the Piebald, but suffer injuries; Fitz breaks away with the prince using a series of Skill-pillars and defeats his captors.

On a wintry night, Fitz shares a Wit-dream with Nighteyes where the wolf bounds away alone to hunt in the snow; awakening, he finds that Nighteyes has passed away. Distraught, he returns to Buck.

''The Golden Fool''

Fitz's evolving relationships with Dutiful and the Fool form a prominent plot thread of ''The Golden Fool''. Dutiful regards Fitz as a father figure, even displaying jealousy on learning of Hap, his foster son; this catches Fitz unawares, and he agrees to return to Buck and teach Dutiful the Skill. In the castle he meets Thick, a servant who is strong in the Skill, and from whom Fitz learns the location of the remaining Piebald. He encounters and kills them in the city, but is grievously injured and arrested; a group led by Chade smuggle him to the palace and attempt a Skill healing on him. Fitz lies in a coma, but eventually awakens, to find that Dutiful has now learnt his true identity. Fitz is brought almost to a breaking point on hearing what he terms a terrible secret spoken out loud; a secret he kept masked for more than a decade. Recovering, he finds that Dutiful now looks to him in adulation, an emotion Fitz is unused to receiving.

Through these events, Fitz stays masked in the palace as a servant of the Fool, who dresses as Lord Golden. He learns that the Fool spent the events of the ''Liveship Traders'' trilogy as a woman, Amber, and that she loves Fitz, carving a ship's masthead in his likeness. Unable to process either of these statements, Fitz testily states to the Fool that he does not desire him physically, in response to which the Fool withdraws. In another plot thread, the Old Blood venture out of their exile to negotiate with Queen Kettricken, resulting in the establishment of a Witted coterie in the court of the Six Duchies.

In a parallel thread, the Narcheska, princess of the Out Islands, visits the Six Duchies in preparation for marriage with Dutiful. She asserts, however, that her marriage is conditioned on Dutiful bringing to her hearth the head of the dragon IceFyre, rumored to be an icy mountain in the north. Dutiful accepts, but the Fool is dismayed, and tries to persuade Fitz that he must instead return the dragons to the world.

''Fool's Fate''

Fitz, Dutiful and his Skilled and Witted coteries travel to the Out Islands by ship. Distrusting the Fool's intentions about dragons, Fitz bars him from their travels and leaves him on the shores of Buck before they depart. In the Out Islands, they meet the Narcheska's clans and its neighbors, who harbor distrust for them and their quest. They then journey to Aslevjal to slay the dragon IceFyre, where Fitz is surprised to discover the Fool waiting for him; using the Witness stones, the Fool teleported to the quarry in the Mountain Kingdom, where he persuaded the stone Girl-on-a-Dragon to fly him to Aslevjal. Fitz and the Fool reconcile, despite their opposing goals, and travel in search of IceFyre; however, all they find is an icy land, with little sign of the dragon.

Unknown to them, the Pale Woman, a self-styled White Prophet who claims to see the future, waits underground in the icy caverns of Aslevjal. She has IceFyre imprisoned in chains; it is later revealed that Dutiful's quest was a ploy by her to end the ''Farseer'' dynasty as well as to capture the Fool, the true prophet. She succeeds in the latter, torturing the Fool to death. Fitz manages to free the dragon IceFyre, with a battle ensuing between him and a stone dragon Forged by the Pale Woman; the dragon Tintaglia from the ''Liveship'' novels flies in to assist. The stone dragon is eventually defeated with the aid of Burrich, who wields the Wit as a weapon, but at the cost of personal injury and death. Fitz finds the Fool dead underground, wearing the crown of the Rooster King; finding a version of the Fool trapped in the crown, he swaps bodies with him and heals the Fool using the Skill.

Much to Fitz's reluctance, the Fool leaves him on a journey to his home Clerres. Over a score of years, Fitz meets and reconciles with Molly; the trilogy ends with them together in Chivalry's former estate.

The Drenai Empire is under threat. The tribal Nadir people have been united for the first time by the great warleader Ulric, who has forged a massive empire in the North. The Drenai leader Abalayn is trying to negotiate new treaties with Ulric, but war is brewing and an over 500,000 strong Nadir army marches on the fortress of Dros Delnoch, gateway to the Drenai heartlands. Dros Delnoch is the greatest fortress in the world, a narrow pass guarded by six high walls and a great keep, but under Abalayn its complement of defenders has been reduced to less than 10,000 men under the leadership of an unfit General.

The fate of the Drenai hinges on the defence of Dros Delnoch. If the fortress can hold the Nadir horde for three months, the Drenai general Magnus Woundweaver might be able to gather and train a Drenai army. However, given the odds, no-one truly believes that Delnoch can be held.

The novel follows the stories of two men who find their destiny at Dros Delnoch. Regnak Wanderer (Rek for short) an ex-army officer and natural 'baresark', seeing a war brewing, resigned his commission because he lacked the courage to risk his life and took to a life of wandering. Rek is an idealist and eventually he returns to Delnoch at the persuasion of the woman he falls in love with and finds his destiny as the Earl of Bronze. The other man is the greatest hero of the Drenai people - Druss the Legend. His death was foretold defending Delnoch and while given the choice to avoid it and fall into senility Druss (and his once possessed axe Snaga) marched to the great fortress to defend his people one last time. In this story Druss is in his sixties and much weaker than his prime but still a formidable warrior and an inspirational leader to the Drenai. The story also flicks into the perspective of several defenders during different stages of the siege as time goes on. It also follows The Thirty, a group of 30 warrior priests of the light whose purpose is to fight and die (except for one priest that leaves to continue the order at the end of each great battle) for the greater good and their people, the Drenai.

In City 17, Gordon Freeman and his ally Alyx Vance have destroyed the reactor at the heart of the Combine Citadel. As it explodes, the G-Man intervenes and extracts Gordon. Several Vortigaunts appear and rescue Alyx from the blast. The Vortigaunts appear before the G-Man and stand between him and Gordon. They teleport Gordon away from the scene, restricting the effect of G-Man's abilities on Gordon.

Alyx's pet robot Dog retrieves Gordon from rubble outside the Citadel, and Gordon reunites with Alyx. Alyx contacts her father Eli Vance and scientist Isaac Kleiner, who have escaped the city. Kleiner tells them the Citadel's core will soon explode, which will completely wipe out City 17. Alyx and Gordon re-enter the Citadel and temporarily stabilize the core.

Alyx discovers that Combine Elite soldiers are accelerating the destruction of the Citadel to send a "transmission packet" to the Combine's homeworld. She downloads a copy of the message, along with a transmission from Dr. Judith Mossman, in which she mentions a "project" she has located, before she is cut off by a Combine attack.

Alyx and Gordon board a train to escape the Citadel, but it derails. They proceed on foot in the city streets, fighting through the disorganized Combine forces and rampant alien infestations. They meet Barney Calhoun and a group of other survivors who are preparing to move to a train station to escape City 17. Alyx and Gordon lead and escort the survivors to the station, as the way there is constantly being swarmed and sabotaged by Combine forces.

Alyx and Gordon take a different train out of City 17, escaping just as the reactor detonates and the Combine's message is transmitted. Several rocket pods containing Combine Advisors launch from the Citadel as it detonates. The resulting shockwave derails the train.

The game reproduces many of the novel's scenes, few of which are interconnected in any way. The player assumes the role of John Blackthorne, pilot-major of the Dutch trading ship ''Erasmus''. During a voyage in the Pacific Ocean in the year 1600, the ''Erasmus'' is shipwrecked in Japan. Blackthorne must survive in a land where every custom is as unfamiliar to him as the language. After learning some of the society's ways, he is drawn into a political struggle between warlords and falls in love with a Japanese woman. Eventually, he embraces Japanese life and is honored as a samurai.

The novel is based on the events that occurred to Agee in 1915 when his father went out of town to see his own father, who had suffered a heart attack. During the return trip, Agee's father was killed in a car accident. The novel provides a portrait of life in Knoxville, Tennessee, showing how such a loss affects the young widow, her two children, her atheist father and the dead man's alcoholic brother.

In a small Spanish town on the edge of the Monegros Desert, the beautiful teenager Silvia spends her evenings making potato omelettes to sell at the factory where she works as a seamstress for the Sanson Corporation, a small but powerful men's underwear company that, along with the local ''Conquistador'' ham processing plant, serves as one of the two major local employers. Her mother, Carmen runs a local bar which doubles as a brothel, and where she herself used to work as a prostitute. Though comfortably middle class now, Carmen still carries a stigma from the townspeople for her past.

Unbeknownst to anyone, Silvia has been having an affair with José Luis, the kind but spoiled and immature heir to the Sanson empire. One day, Silvia tells him that she's pregnant and José Luis impulsively proposes to her with a soda can tab, promising to provide her with a real engagement ring once he has sought his parents' permission for marriage. Fearing disinheritance, José Luis tentatively tells his parents that he's dating Silvia without informing them of the pregnancy. His mother, Conchita, who exerts the most influence over the company, refuses to bless the union. His father Manuel bows to his mother's wishes, while also expressing sympathy for Silvia and Carmen, the latter of whom he used to frequent when she was still a prostitute.

Conchita decides to ruin José Luis and Silvia's relationship by finding a man to seduce her. She chooses Raúl, a ham delivery driver and aspiring bullfighter whom she meets when he's selected as the new Sanson model; Conchita promises the materialistic and ambitious Raúl ample reward should he succeed in his task. After Silvia repels his advances several times, Raúl becomes genuinely attracted to her and begins trying to win her affection in earnest. Meanwhile, Conchita becomes sexually obsessed with Raúl herself and the two begin an affair. When José Luis repeatedly refuses to stand up to his parents, Silvia herself begins an affair with Raúl, while José Luis seeks solace with Carmen, revealed to have been his lover before he began dating Silvia. Amidst the various affairs, Silvia begins having surrealistic dreams containing images of shepherds guiding their flocks through the desert, pigs, and images of herself kneeling nude in the desert cradling ham bones.

Learning of Silvia's betrayal, José Luis forces himself upon Silvia to avenge himself against Raúl. Desperate to keep Raúl, Conchita seduces him at the isolated ham warehouse where he works. José Luis goes to Carmen and tells her that his relationship with Silvia is over, but she refuses to rekindle their affair; a devastated José Luis goes in search of Raul. Meanwhile, Silvia, looking for José Luis, arrives at his home and encounters a departing Manuel, who makes advances on Silvia. Initially hesitant, she returns his advances.

José Luis tracks Raul down to the ham warehouse and catches him with Conchita. The two men fight using ham bones as weapons, ending with José Luis injuring Raul and Raul bludgeoning José Luis to death. Carmen, Silvia, and Manuel arrive and Silvia returns her soda can tab ring to José Luis's body before returning to Manuel; a weeping Carmen cradles José Luis's body while Conchita comforts Raul. A shepherd arrives with his flock of sheep, recreating a tableau from Silvia's dreams.

The story revolves around five wealthy and ambitious American girls, their guardians, and the titled, landed, but impoverished Englishmen who marry them as the girls participate in the London Season. As the novel progresses, the plot follows Nan and her marriage to the Duke of Trevenick.

The novel begins with three socially ambitious families looking for the status needed for their daughters to live successful lives, complete with European titles. The young women's fathers' money is very attractive to European aristocrats to maintain their version of wealth: collections of art, property, and societal status. While some girls live in unhappy marriages, they often take lovers to make their marriages work—or they file for divorce. While these young women were not in the best of situations, with high expectations from the dukes, some fall in love. Nan eventually falls in love with Guy Thwaite.

''The Algerine Captive'' tells the story of the upbringing, early career, and later enslavement of fictional Boston native, narrator Updike Underhill. The first volume chronicles Updike Underhill's youth and early adulthood in America; the Preface suggests that its aim is to "at least display a portrait of New England manners, hitherto unattempted." After detailing his family history, Underhill describes his birth, childhood, and early education. Upon the encouragement of a local minister, Underhill's parents agree to prepare the narrator for college by placing him under the minister's tutelage. Underhill's classical education, through which he learns Greek and Latin, provides him with the ability to recite copious lines of poetry, which his countrymen ridicule.Crain, Caleb (2002). "Introduction". In Royall Tyler, ''The Algerine Captive or, The Life and Adventures of Doctor Updike Underhill'', pp. xxvii. New York: Modern Library. Not only is he mocked for his spouting of Greek poetry, which is unintelligible to all but himself, but he is actually challenged to a duel after writing an unintentionally insulting Greek-inspired ode to a young lady. Luckily for Underhill, the duel is discovered and preempted by the local sheriffs and constables before it can take place. This volume also gives an account of Underhill's failed attempt to serve as a teacher in a village school, follows his travels through the Northern and Southern states as a physician, and discusses his service as a surgeon aboard a slave ship that heads to Africa by way of London. In the final chapter of this volume, while Updike is on the African coast nursing five sick slaves back to health, he is captured and taken as a slave to Algiers.

In the second volume, Updike describes his enslavement and gives an account of the country in which and the people among whom he is confined. By setting Algiers in opposition to America, this part of the novel leads Underhill to comment on and formulate his conception of what it means to be American. When he is freed at the novel's conclusion, therefore, the message he imparts to the reader is a nation-building one: "My ardent wish is, that my fellow citizens may profit by my misfortunes. If they peruse these pages with attention they will perceive the necessity of uniting our federal strength to enforce a due respect among other nations...BY UNITING WE STAND, BY DIVIDING WE FALL."

A rookie Los Angeles police officer, Chris O'Brien (Cochrane), is partnered with a hard-edged officer, Nora Hugosian (Gershon). They develop a relationship at the same time that Hugosian is suspected of being a serial killer that is roaming the city.

On the planet of Cybertron, war rages between the two factions known as the Autobots and the Decepticons over the race of smaller, power-enhancing Transformers called Mini-Cons. Seeking to flee the conflict that surrounds them, the Mini-Cons escape Cybertron with the aid of the Autobots, but an attack by the Decepticons cripples the ship as it flees through a spacebridge. The ship materializes in the Solar System and impacts with the Moon, breaking in two. One portion of the ship stays embedded on the Moon, while the other plummets to the planet below. The Mini-Cons, all locked in pentagonal stasis panels, are scattered across the globe. The ship crashes to Earth and 4 million years pass.

When Bradley "Rad" White and Carlos Lopez investigate the caves outside their city, they accidentally uncover the wreckage of the Mini-Con ship and activate it, causing it to send a signal that alerts both the Autobots and Decepticons as to the Mini-Cons' presence on Earth. Megatron and Optimus Prime's forces teleport to Earth from Cybertron as a result. Rad, Carlos, and their friend Alexis Thi Dang befriend the Autobots, along with the Mini-Cons High Wire, Grindor, and Sureshock (known commonly as the Street Action Mini-Con Team in the toyline). The Transformers assume earthen alternate modes, and the hunt begins to locate the scattered Mini-Cons.

After a series of battles, each of the Transformers successfully acquires a partner Mini-Con. Smokescreen arrives to join the Autobots' team. Hologram-recordings in a sunken city reveal the existence of the mighty Mini-Con weapon, the Star Saber. The Decepticons possess one component of the weapon, and invade the Autobot base to steal the remaining two pieces, only for the Autobots to seize possession of the sword.

A mysterious mercenary named Scavenger arrives on Earth and sides with the Decepticons, urging them to locate the components of the Skyboom Shield, another Mini-Con weapon that can counter the power of the Star Saber. At the same time, an Autobot drifter named Sideways enters the fray, but soon reveals his true allegiance to the Decepticons after he betrays Hot Shot, allowing the Star Saber to fall into the Decepticons' hands.

Concurrently Scavenger reveals himself to be an undercover Autobot, and rejoins his fellows, soon followed by Blurr, the latest arrival from Cybertron. When the Decepticons complete the Skyboom Shield, a mighty battle ensues that ends with the Autobots gaining possession of the shield. The two weapons unleash a powerful energy flare, drawing the Decepticons, Thrust, a master tactician, and Tidal Wave, a large and powerful warrior, to Earth.

Meanwhile, Sideways surreptitiously stirs up trouble in the Decepticon camp by playing on their contradictions. While luring the Autobots' human allies into cyberspace in an attempt to capture their Mini-Cons, Sideways reveals that he serves a mysterious higher power. Thrust arrives and puts his tactical prowess into play, only for his schemes to be foiled by the arrival of the Autobot, Jetfire, whose power to combine with Optimus defeats Thrust's schemes.

Eventually, Sideways' deception is discovered and Megatron proceeds to destroy him with the Star Saber, only for Sideways to escape by reforming his body. Tidal Wave arrives on Earth, and the Autobots prove vastly outmatched. Rad, Carlos, and Alexis are alerted to the existence of the Requiem Blaster, the third Mini-Con weapon by Sideways, and locate Skyblast, one of its components. Skyblast sings an eerie harmony that summons the other two Mini-Cons from their stasis, and they form the Blaster, allowing Optimus to defeat Tidal Wave.

Both sides soon gain new members in Sideswipe, an eager new Autobot, and Wheeljack, a former Autobot who has joined the Decepticons, believing that Hot Shot betrayed him on Cybertron. Thrust formulates a new scheme that allows the Decepticons to steal the Requiem Blaster, which involves mortally wounding Smokescreen in the process, causing Red Alert to re-format him into the more powerful form of Hoist. Starscream is his patsy, leading the already-alienated Decepticon to turn on Megatron and side with the Autobots. Starscream forms a friendship with the kids, particularly Alexis, and allowing the Autobots access to the Decepticons' base.

A raid allows the Autobots to free the Mini-Cons, but Starscream is soon deceived by Thrust, who in the meantime is being manipulated by Sideways, into stealing the Skyboom Shield and Star Saber and rejoining the Decepticons. With all three Mini-Con weapons now in their possession, the Decepticons create the Hydra Cannon, a weapon that combines all their power, and plan to destroy Earth from orbit. Optimus uses his Matrix to absorb the blast, but sacrifices himself in the process.

The Decepticons head for Cybertron in their craft, and the Autobots, now with Hot Shot in command, hastily construct a craft named the ''Axalon'' to pursue them. The Mini-Cons, now unleashing their true powers, accompany them into space, immediately leading into a battle that sees them use their full power to resurrect Optimus.

A black hole transports a small number of Autobots and Decepticons to a barren world where they are ravaged by Nemesis Prime, a twisted clone of Optimus, and have their power and armor enhanced by the Mini-Cons and with Megatron renaming himself Galvatron. Subsequently, the Decepticons return to Cybertron and quickly overthrow most of the planet through the powers of the Mini-Con weapons. Hot Shot assaults the Decepticon base solo, resulting in the revelation of Thrust's treachery. Thrust escapes with the Skyboom Shield and Requiem Blaster, delivering them to Sideways, who uses them to awaken the great and terrible Unicron, an enemy whose coming the Mini-Cons had foretold.

Rad and his friends are sent drifting through time, where it is revealed that via this, they played a part in the development of the Mini-Cons and the Mini-Cons are also revealed to be the cells of Unicron. Galvatron refuses to believe in the threat of Unicron and Starscream forces him into a duel - a duel Starscream purposefully loses, sacrificing himself to prove to Galvatron the threat of Unicron exists. Sideways steals the Star Saber, fully awakening Unicron, as the Autobots and Decepticons unite into one armada to attack the colossal Transformer who had been disguised as Cybertron's moon. During the battle, Galvatron confronts Thrust over his betrayal and leaves him to perish after the latter inadvertently gets himself crushed in Unicron's shoulder.

While Unicron attacks Cybertron, Galvatron and Optimus enter Unicron's body, where Sideways reveals himself to be created by Unicron as an emissary to bring the Mini-Cons back under his master's control only to have Rad re-awaken their minds, allowing the Mini-Con weapons to free themselves, de-powering Unicron. With Sideways eliminated and the threat of Unicron apparently gone, Galvatron challenges Optimus to a final battle, only for the energy released by their conflict to reactivate Unicron. Upon realizing his mistake to continue their hatred, Galvatron decides to sacrifice himself to end the cycle of hate that allows Unicron to exist. With Galvatron's death, Unicron mysteriously disappears and peace returns to Cybertron. Despite justice being given to all Transformers, Optimus feels dishonored, stating that he doesn't deserve the Matrix anymore, and goes into exile.

Scott Hayward (Presley) rebels against the plans and expectations of his father, extremely rich oil tycoon Duster Hayward (Gregory). He drives to Florida in his red 1959 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Racer to find himself. When Scott stops for gas and refreshments, he encounters Tom Wilson (Hutchins), who is on his way to take a job as a water skiing instructor at a Miami hotel. A chance remark by Tom gives Scott the idea to switch identities with Tom so he can find out how people react to him as an ordinary person rather than as a millionaire. Tom has fun staying at the same hotel and pretending he is rich.

Shortly after, hotel guest Dianne Carter (Fabares) insists on taking a lesson minutes after Scott checks in with his new "employer". However, once they are out on the water, Dianne proves herself to be an expert skier, performing fancy maneuvers to gain the attention of wealthy young playboy James J. Jamison III (Bixby). Later, Dianne confesses to Scott that she is a gold digger, assuming that he is one, too. Scott agrees to help Dianne land Jamison, but ends up falling for her himself.

Scott persuades boat builder Sam Burton (Merrill) to allow him to rebuild Burton's ''Rawhide'', a high-performance boat that was damaged when raced at high speed, and drive it in the annual Orange Bowl Race, which Jamison has won the last three years. Scott sends for some "goop", an experimental coating one of his father's companies spent a lot of money trying (and failing) to perfect. Between his day job and working on the goop at night, Scott is run ragged, but he thinks he has fixed the goop's major flaw: losing its strength in water. With no time for testing before the race, he applies it to the boat's hull and hopes it will hold the ''Rawhide'' together. Duster learns where his son is and comes to see what he is doing. To Scott's surprise, his father is enormously proud of what he is doing.

Meanwhile, Jamison proposes to Dianne. Scott enters the suite before she can give Jamison an answer, but the playboy informs Scott they are getting married right after he wins the race. Dianne, however, decides to give up her scheme and return home.

In the race, Jamison takes the lead in his boat, the ''Scarlet Lady'', but Scott passes him at the finish line. Scott then offers to give Dianne a lift. On the drive, he gives her an engagement ring he bought with the winnings from the race. Dianne insists that Scott take it back, but agrees to marry him. This prompts Scott to confess to Dianne who he really is. She does not believe him at first, but when he shows her his driver's license, she faints.

A funeral takes place at the side of Castle Acre Priory. The casket has a window allowing the face of a beautiful young woman to be seen. A black cat jumps on the coffin and seems to steal the soul of the woman.

The widower, Verden Fell (Vincent Price) is both mournful about and feels threatened by the death of his wife, Ligeia. He had sensed her soul's reluctance to die and was concerned about her near-blasphemous statements about God (she was an atheist). Alone and troubled by an eye condition that requires him to wear dark glasses, Fell shuns the world.

By accident, back at the graveside, he meets a headstrong young woman, Rowena (Elizabeth Shepherd), who pursues him even though she is apparently betrothed to an old friend, Christopher Gough (John Westbrook). Against Fell's better judgement, he marries Rowena. Ligeia's spirit seems to haunt their mansion, previously a medieval abbey, and nocturnal visions and the sinister presence of a cat (which may be inhabited by the spirit of Ligeia) distress Rowena. The cat, who first appears at Ligeia's burial, wounds and appears to attempt to kill Rowena several times and Fell unsuccessfully orders its destruction. Ultimately he must face the spirit of Ligeia and resist her or perish.

The climax of the film takes place when Fell has a showdown with Ligeia, now in the form of a cat. Fell is blinded by Ligeia, but gets the upper hand and strangles the cat, while the tomb around him burns down, due to an accident. Fell and Ligeia perish and Gough and Rowena start a new life together.

After the destruction of the first Death Star, Darth Vader has begun a new project for the Galactic Empire. Meanwhile, in the Rebel Alliance, rumors have grown concerning "ghost ships" attacking Rebel patrols.

Rookie One (played by Jamison Jones), while flying with his wingman on patrol near the planet Dreighton, receives a distress call from a YT-1300 transport, the ''Corellia Star'', which is being attacked by TIE fighters. The pilot has crucial information about the Empire's new project. After fighting off several TIE Fighters, Rookie One's wingman is destroyed by an unseen attacker, and Rookie One's ship is shot down, but he is able to eject himself before the rest of his ship explodes and crash lands on a planet, where the captured transport had been forced to land. Having survived the crash landing, Rookie One follows a tracking scanner to an Imperial station, where the ''Corellia Star'' is being held. After fighting stormtroopers, he finds the transport and its information, but the station's doors close before he can escape, forcing him to fly through mining tunnels. He is able to find another way out and escapes through hyperspace.

Back at Pinnacle Base, Admiral Ackbar helps the pilots understand the message from the freighter. The Alliance learns that the Empire has constructed a secret mining facility in the asteroid Belt of Arah, somewhere in the Dreighton Nebula, and Rookie One is sent along with a squadron of X-wings to destroy it. Along the way, they encounter derillium minefields and TIE Interceptors. The facility is not simply mining ore, but is supplying rare metals required to manufacture the new V38 "Phantom" TIE, equipped with a cloaking device invented by Grand Admiral Sarn. After the squadron opens a way into the facility's reactor core and destroys it, narrowly escaping the blast, squadron leader Ace Merrick is killed along with wingman Ina Rece by an ambush of TIE Phantoms. Rookie One manages to evade the TIEs and escape. At Pinnacle Base, Admiral Ackbar comes up with a plan for two people to infiltrate the facility building the Phantom V38s at Imdaar Alpha.

Rookie One takes a crash course in TIE piloting from Admiral Krane with two TIEs stolen from the Empire. Then, they head out to the jump point where they encounter TIE Interceptors. After defeating them, Rookie One heads to Imdaar Alpha alone and encounters sentry guns and force fields along the way. He meets with Ru Murleen (played by Julie Eccles), Rookie One's previous flight instructor from ''Rebel Assault''. They fly to an Imperial Landing Platform on the far side of a swamp on Speeder Bikes. Disguised as stormtroopers, Rookie One and Ru Murleen steal an Imperial shuttle and board Admiral Sarn's cloaked Super Star Destroyer ''Terror''. After defeating numerous stormtroopers within the Super Star Destroyer and later in the maintenance tunnels, they steal a TIE Phantom from the hangar. After the destruction of ''Terror'' from inside, along with many other TIE Phantoms, Darth Vader kills Admiral Sarn for his failures and escapes on his TIE Advanced. The Imdaar Alpha facility manufacturing the new fighters suddenly appears on Imdaar's moon, as it was also equipped with a cloaking device that was damaged when the ''Terror'' exploded. After destroying the facility and returning to a Rebel base, the leader of the Rebels thanks them for saving the day once again. Darth Vader informs the Emperor of what happened and the stolen TIE Phantom at the Rebel Base self-destructs.

The book tells the stories of two men born worlds apart. They have nothing in common except the same date of birth (18 April 1906) and a zeal to succeed in life. William Lowell Kane is a wealthy and powerful elite class while Abel Rosnovski (originally named Władek Koskiewicz) is a Pole who was born in a situation of great poverty and eventually migrated to the United States.

William follows the steps of his father, Richard Kane, to become a successful banker. When William was still a child, Richard dies in the ''Titanic'' disaster, leaving William fatherless and heir to the Kane & Cabot bank. William displays extraordinary discipline and intelligence as a young man at St. Paul's School and later at Harvard. His mother, Anne, marries Henry Osborne, who turns out to be interested in gambling and women (One of the godparents of William). William hates Henry from the beginning and spends most of the time at Harvard and at his best friend Mathew Lester's home. William dreams of becoming the chairman of Lester's bank one day. Henry spends every last penny of Kane's mother's money on the pretext of speculation. Anonymous notes warn Anne (who has been impregnated by Osborne, a matter which causes William some worry—until he finds out that he can toss Henry out easily without any money) about her husband whose real name is Vitorio Tossana. She hires a detective to find out the truth, and, in a twist, miscarries fatally from the shock—after which Kane ejects Henry from his home.

Władek Koskiewicz is born in a forest and raised by a trapper family. When he grows up and is found to have exceptional intelligence, Baron Rosnovski asks him to become a companion to his son Leon so Wladek might prove to be a competition to him. Władek agrees to go to the Baron's castle on the condition that he can bring along his elder sister Florentyna. Soon afterwards, World War I breaks out. Germans attack Poland and capture the Baron, his staff and son in his castle. Leon dies by the hand of a soldier. Before dying, the Baron hands Wladek his silver band of authority. Władek realises, in a twist, that the Baron was his father when he finds that, like him, the Baron also had a missing nipple. Florentyna, Władek's beloved sister, who was now his only family, is raped 17 times and killed brutally in front of young Władek by Russian soldiers.

Władek was then moved to Siberia from where he manages to escape to Turkey after facing many hardships. There he nearly loses his hand (a ''Hudud'' punishment for theft) for stealing food but is luckily rescued by two British diplomats, owing to the silver band given by Baron which he wore on the hand. They transfer him to the Polish consulate from where, with their help, he migrates to America and assumes the name Abel Rosnovski (as inscribed on the silver band).

He starts his life as a waiter in the Hotel Plaza, while taking night classes in economics at Columbia University. While Abel is working there, Davis Leroy, owner of the Richmond group of hotels, is impressed by his work and appoints him manager of his flagship hotel. Abel converts the ill-managed hotel to a profit-making one and buys stock in the chain. During the Great Depression, the hotel needs a backer and Davis, unable to find one, commits suicide, leaving the remaining shares in the Richmond Group to Abel. Before committing suicide, Davis mentions that Kane & Cabot was the bank that didn't support him. Abel thus plans for revenge and considers Kane his arch rival who was responsible for the death of his closest friend. The bank gets him an anonymous backer. Abel assumes it to be David Maxton, owner of Stevens' hotel. During this time, Abel catches up with his old time friend, George Novak and marries Zaphia—both Polish emigres he had met on the ship-journey to the United States from Turkey in his earlier life.

Abel changes the name of the hotel from Richmond to Baron and builds up a successful hotel chain. By collaborating with Henry Osborne, who had by now entered politics, Abel plans to ruin Kane and his bank. Abel begets a daughter, named Florentyna in memory of his dead sister, while Kane has a son, Richard and two daughters, Virginia and Lucy. Both Kane and Abel had volunteered to serve during World War II. Abel during World War II had saved Kane's life in France, unaware of each other. He divorces Zaphia when he returns home from the war.

Meanwhile Kane's bank and Lester's bank merge and a provision is made that anyone who has a share of 8% can summon board meetings. Abel tries desperately to obtain 8% of the bank's stock but Kane manages to thwart his attempts. They unknowingly meet each other many times throughout the novel.

Florentyna Rosnovski, daughter of Abel Rosnovski and Richard Kane, son of William Kane, happen to meet and fall in love without knowing about the rivalry between their fathers. They get married despite vehement protests from their fathers and start a chain of boutique stores named Florentyna's.

Finally, after Kane exposes Abel's dealings with Osborne and thwarts his ambition to be named Ambassador to Poland (the position goes to John Moors Cabot), Abel manages to obtain enough shares of the bank and ousts Kane from power. In 1967, Kane decides to forgive his son and daughter-in-law and expresses his wish to meet them. Both he and Abel observe the grand-opening of the New York branch ''Florentyna's'', from outside, and they wave at each other. He dies before he is able to see them and his grandson William. Finally, in a dramatic twist, Abel discovers that his backer was not David Maxton, but William Kane. Filled with remorse, he reconciles with his daughter and son-in-law. Abel dies soon after, and bequeaths everything to his daughter Florentyna, except his silver band of authority, which he leaves to his grandson, whom Florentyna and Richard have named "William Abel Kane".

The First Doctor (William Hartnell), his granddaughter Susan Foreman (Carole Ann Ford) and her teachers Ian Chesterton (William Russell) and Barbara Wright (Jacqueline Hill) arrive outside Paris in 18th-century France and venture to a nearby farmhouse. They find it is being used as a staging post in an escape chain for counter-revolutionaries during the Reign of Terror. They are discovered by two counter-revolutionaries, D'Argenson (Neville Smith) and Rouvray (Laidlaw Dalling), who knock the Doctor unconscious and hold the others at gunpoint. A band of revolutionary soldiers surrounds the house and both D'Argenson and Rouvray are killed during the siege. The soldiers capture Ian, Barbara, and Susan and march them to Paris to be guillotined. The soldiers set fire to the farmhouse, and the Doctor is saved by a young boy (Peter Walker), who tells him that his friends have been taken to the Conciergerie Prison in Paris. He sets off after them.

Ian, Barbara, and Susan are all sentenced to death as traitors. Ian is confined in one cell, while the women are taken to another. Ian's cellmate is an Englishman named Webster (Jeffry Wickham), who tells him that there is an English spy, James Stirling, highly placed in the French Government, who is now being recalled to England. Webster dies, and a government official named Lemaitre (James Cairncross) arrives and probes any conversation between Ian and the dead man. Lemaitre crosses Ian's name off the execution list. En route to the guillotine, Barbara and Susan's transport is hijacked by two men, Jules (Donald Morley) and Jean (Roy Herrick), who take them to a safe house. They are told that they will be smuggled out of France through the escape chain. Jules and Jean reassure Barbara that they will try to reunite them with Ian and the Doctor. They are then joined by another counter-revolutionary, named Léon Colbert (Edward Brayshaw).

The Doctor reaches Paris and exchanges his clothes for those of a Regional Officer of the Provinces. He heads for the Conciergerie, but finds his companions gone; Ian has successfully stolen the key to his cell and escaped. Lemaitre arrives and takes the Doctor to visit Maximilien Robespierre (Keith Anderson) to report on his province. Ian follows Webster's words and finds Jules Renan, who turns out to be the man sheltering Barbara and Susan; the latter is ill in bed. When Barbara takes Susan to a physician (Ronald Pickup), they are recaptured by revolutionary police. Ian meets Colbert only to find he is the mole in the escape chain and there are armed troops waiting for him. Jules rescues Ian, killing Colbert in the process. They return to Jules' house and are stunned to meet Barbara. The Doctor has returned to the Conciergerie, where Lemaitre reports that Robespierre wishes to see him again the following day. Lemaitre ensures that the Doctor spends the night in the Conciergerie in order that he remain in Paris for his second audience with Robespierre. He is still there when Barbara and Susan are brought in as prisoners. With Susan too weak to be moved, he engineers Barbara's release on the pretext that she can be trailed to lead the security forces to the core of the escape chain.

Robespierre suspects his deputy, Paul Barras (John Law), is conspiring against him and asks Lemaitre to track Barras to a secret assignation at an inn outside the city. When Lemaitre heads back to the Conciergerie, he privately unmasks the Doctor as an impostor. Lemaitre insists that the Doctor help him find Jules's house. With Susan held in the prison as a hostage, the Doctor takes him to Jules. Once there, Lemaitre reveals that he is in fact the English spy James Stirling. In response, Ian relays Webster's message and Stirling realises that the secret assignation at an inn on the Calais Road is where the conspiracy will take place. Jules, Ian and Barbara head to the inn and overhear Barras conspire with a young general, Napoleon Bonaparte (Tony Wall), in the indictment and overthrow of Robespierre. The following day, Stirling arranges Susan's release from prison. The coup against Robespierre has begun. Stirling heads for Calais and England, while Jules and Jean lie low as they measure the future. Meanwhile, the Doctor and his companions return to the TARDIS.